SanDiego, November 25th, 2007

Last week end was a great example of thinking outside the box! A testimony to over coming earth shattering obstacles. Proof that even as I settle into middle age I can successfully adapt and overcome.

The problem arose in late August when it was announced that the Van Halen tour would arrive here in Phoenix on Friday the 23rd of November. This was devastating news since I was scheduled to make some serious money that very night and would loose it all if I attended this concert. Gloom, dispair and agony descended rapidly on me. I had made a solemn vow to a couple of friends of mine and them to me, that we would attend the Van Halen reunion tour and pay tribute to the return of Diamond David Lee Roth. My friends Rick and Lee also would be getting a good cash rake the night of the show and did not want to miss out on the score. So I pondered and thought and thought and pondered, and then it hit me! Sandiego was the place we would need to be! Eddies crew would be playing there Sunday! We would grab enough cash Friday to finance the trip and still leave a nice Roll of $$ in our pockets!

Tickets were scored, hotel rooms were booked, Ricks compact luxury sedan was gassed and tuned and we were set. Then disaster, Lee had a family commitment spring up and could not go. The two survivors would not be detoured. On Sunday morning flush with cash and a desire to "Go west young men" we struck out. Now if any one has ever driven from Phoenix to SD on I-8 you will know that the next few hours were.... B.O.R.I.N.G. until we passed through Yuma Arizona. Yuma has two things worth while, one being Criteens Restaurant which Rick introduced me to on the return leg, and the other being possibly the worlds most eclectic Radio station. The first song after tuning to the station was a Ethel Merman number, so we settled in expecting to hear a little Singers and Standards action, maybe Some Big Band. Imagine our Shock when the next song was a System of a Down Tune! Followed by Cole Porter, Olivia Newton John and Rob Zombie! We were rocking out, loving every minute and every crazy turn of this D.J.s awesome song lineup when it got even better, going to a commercial break we realized that this was a Spanish Speaking station! I vowed right then and there to return to Yuma some day play a little Poker in the Local Casinos and record this awesome station so I can enjoy it back home (guess I should see if it is online). But that is how radio should be, a mixture of all the best music no mater the era or type. As the station faded away we heard the fuzzy refrains of Robert Cray and Finally, Mozart.

Around 1:00am we arrived at the Surfer Hotel in Mission Beach. Walked the beach, had lunch and checked into our Junior "Suite". Surveying the room Rick and I looked at each other with raised eye brows did a 180 and returned to the front desk. I calmly explained to the desk clerk that while Rick and I were good friends, we were not THAT good of friends. A few minutes later we were in a room with TWO beds. The view was not as good but still decent. The weather was great, about 70 degrees and the beach was not crowded. We went down to the beach walk and visited with "Mackey" a 62 year old Surfer who runs a tiny Surf Shop near the Crab Shack. Mack looks about 46, he is about 5 foot 7 with Salt and pepper hair in a pony tail and is real cool. He showed me a picture of him riding a huge wave on the North Shore just last year! We got some ideas for Next summers Surf Camp and he made us promise to visit him again. People Like him are one of the main reasons I like to travel, if you get your mind right, smile allot, and be polite you will meet 10 Mackeys to every 1 Joe Asshol'e. We returned to our room and before long it was Show Time.

I had never been to Cox Arena SD before but was pleased to see it was a small venue. We had spent $160.00 +each on our tickets alone and it was reassuring to see we would be fairly close to the stage. I will not waste time describing the show as it is reviewed all over the Internet. I will Say that they rocked hard! It was a great show and it is amazing to see how changed Eddie and Dave were from sad pictures of them taken in the not too distant past, they looked great, Sounded awesome and brought the house down! There were allot of parents with kids in the crowd and I had to smile as I overheard a kid about 12 telling his parents friends that this was to be his first concert. His mom laughed and said hers was Captain and Teneal. My first was The Carpenters (who I still love). I really believe that having Wolfgang on tour with Eddie will help keep dads head on straight.

From Sedona to Hawaii, ought seven

Last month I had the honor of attending my good friend Chads wedding to his sweetheart Patty. I must say it was the best wedding I have ever attended. It was held in beautiful Sedona at the best resort in town on the banks of Oak Creek. My daughter Sarah went with me and we spent two days among the Red Rocks. I had big plans for hiking and exploring, however a slight miscalculation of my Blood Pressure medicine the day after the ceremony left me in a near coma in the hotel room. My daughter was unfazed by her dads imitation of Keith Richards and spent the morning happily texting her friends and periodically checking my pulse. By afternoon I was able to drag myself out the door and we enjoyed the rest of our stay.

Chad and Patty then went to Hawaii and stayed at a mansion on the ocean for eight days. Good Luck kids, I sure think your off to a awesome start on the rest of your lives! A very positive omen was sighted by several wedding guests on the way to Sedona the day of the wedding. A man riding a giant unicycle was sighted on the freeway in the middle of nowhere. Always a good sign.

Massacre Rocks, Idaho. 1966 Part 1

As a child growing up in Idaho I had the rather dubious pleasure of having a father who fancied himself a rodeo cowboy. I therefore was considered the heir apparent to carry on the great White family Cowboy tradition. Some of my earliest memories were of spending weekends during the summer at a local Rodeo located at what is now the Massacre Rocks State Park in Southern Idaho. In the 1960s it was privately owned and had a small hotel, Saloon and Rodeo grounds.

Massacre Rocks got it's name from a Indian attack that took place in 1862. This area being a part of the Oregon trail. I remember well the spectators sitting around the pine pole grounds cheering the contestants on as they competed for portions of the prize pool made up of entry fees. The mild summer afternoons at the rodeo grounds located next to the Snake River was a pleasant way for a young apprentice Cowboy to spend his week ends. The smell of Juniper trees and sawdust along with the sounds of Hank Williams, Hank Snow and Johnny Cash filled the air. The adults gathered around steel troughs filled with ice and water, containing cans of Olympia, and Ham's beer. I remember the cans were tin in those days and had to be opened with a beer opener. Yes this was a great time until the dreaded words of " Time for the sheep ride!!" rang out. That's when the shivers of terror would set in.

For anyone not blessed enough to having been raised in Americas rural west. Sheep riding or Mutton Busting is a sadistic rodeo activity where innocent children are placed on the back of equally innocent sheep and turned loose for their gleeful parents to watch and cheer on. I do not believe there has ever been a case where a child looked forward to this always embarrassing and sometimes crippling event. It was all for the adults.

I remember being put on a very angry Ewes back and griping a string placed in my hands and hearing my fathers booming voice saying " Hang on boy, she looks like a mean one"! My sense of survival quickly helped me decide that the string was not the best handle and I grabbed two fist fulls of Suffolk wool, Right then the gate flew open and the she devil of mutton launched herself into the Idaho sky. The following few seconds seemed like a eternity as the woolly kangaroo I was clinging to did its best imitation of a jack hammer. I soon found myself wrenched free of the beast and I flew through the air and landed with a resounding plop on the ground. As my senses came back I picked my self up, and started dusting off my britches realising I was unhurt! I could hear the small crowd cheering. And was about to take a bow when I heard my Dads unmistakable voice laughingly shout " run boy! Run for your life"! I stole a look over my shoulder and saw that the sheep had made a circle around the arena and was now on a high speed course to run me down. I let out a scream of absolute terror and headed at top speed for the corral fence. All around me I heard adults laughing and cheering me on. I was obviously providing them with more entertainment then they had bargained for. Just as the pole coral seemed within reach I felt a horrible burst of pain on my young butt as the Ewe collided with me and for the second time in about sixty seconds I was airborne. By some miracle I flew between the poles on the corral, not hitting them and landed in a heap outside the arena. As I was deciding if I was alive or not I felt myself being picked up and my father was dusting me off. I will never forget the pats on my back and adult congratulations heaped on me. I was just astonished that I had survived such a horrible experience and was about to take the aforementioned bow when I heard my Dad say. "Good job Son, you made the finals! you get to go again in about 10 minutes"!

Let there be BLOG....LAW 2007