The Manilow Condition: Graphic content!
Current mood: rejuvenated

You know what I"m talking about here.  There's a band that you absolutely love and you'd never admit it to your friends.  If you were listening to them and someone walked in on you, you'd dive towards the iPod like a fat kid that dropped a piece of chocolate cake.  For me, that band is Iron Maiden.  And no, I don't like Manilow.

I'm not apologizing for it anymore.  These guys have had my ear since I was in 7th grade thru my senior year of high school.  I went on a huge hiatus spanning many years and I've just rediscovered them on YouTube.  Man, it's crazy to see the band I loved so much for so many years- the band that to this day has had such a huge impact on my song writing- play live. 

Man, they're old now!  Hell, I think they've been rocking it since 1980!  They still have a HUGE career ahead of them and they are still selling out arenas around the world.  It's amazing to see how they've adapted to the digital age.  But back on track...

These guys commanded the colliseum-sized staged (and probably still do) and they had one hell of a live show.  They were all athletes (Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer, turned down the Olympic draft for fencing so he could tour) and they occupied every square inch of the stage, running the length of it and up and down stairs around their props.  Their live show told a story.

Now, gone are the days of opera-inspired lead rock singers and amazing, dueling/harmonized guitar solos.  I'm kind of sad to be honest.  And I'm still a bit embarassed to admit that I love them as I do, but hey, maybe it's the drugs from my prior dental procedure wearing off...

If you want to know what I'm talking about, feast your eyes on this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaKl4ZTJrQA&feature=related

Yeah, I sure as hell wouldn't rock leather anything on stage, except maybe my guitar strap, and even that gets me lude glances from the rest of the guys, but dammit, these crazy English guys brought in a new era of rock and they did it with class. 

If you fail to believe that these guys attract contemporary audiences, have a listen to this- it's a modern artist's rendition of the same song above...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1WKYmx4i1Q

Yes, I'd probably buy this man a beer.  Oh, come on, don't even act like you didn't try it after you saw this!

~F

Edit:  I had to add one of my personal favs:  Look at this energy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeYRQJmuM-c&feature=related

The song below is O L D and yet it's still relevant- because it rocks.  The style of writing echoes in todays music.  This is Maiden at their finest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctsFUaK_7Tg

1:57 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Living to bite another day II
Current mood: numb

The numbness in the left side of my face is slowly giving way to an increasing amount of radiating pain in my lower jaw.  Yes today I had the root canal.

I am surprised that the procedure went as painlessly as it did.  Once the topical anesthetic was swabbed onto my inner cheek, two injections went in after it.  Five minutes later I couldn't tell if I was drooling on myself and I kept thinking back to that old Bill Cosby stand up bit.   The whole thing took about an hour and the worst parts of it were the sounds and scents that come along with the procedure. 

I thought I'd have some room for humor here, but maybe I'll add it in later when the pain gets worse.  'Till then, I'll be watching the Discovery channel with Ollie (who's in desperate need of a bath- any volunteers?).  Have an awesome Tuesday, people.

~F

6:41 PM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

The I

Commitment is doing everything within your power to keep your word; it's demonstrated in actions of those with resolve to accomplish what they have spoken.

Team work is the putting aside of one's personal and often selfish agenda for the benefit of  the team as a whole.  It's what occurs after acknowledging that one is tethered to the next and the boat is harder to row with two less hands. 

Transparency is what you have when there are no hidden agendas.  Tied to team work and commitment, it's the clear demonstration that the serving of the self isn't the driving force behind one's actions.

Selfish people acting with hidden agendas expose themselves by failing to demonstrate the above. People using other people to fulfil their desires burn bridges and trample over people to achieve their goals.  It's always obvious.

Be transparent. 

6:09 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Dragonflies & Olympic Table Tennis
Current mood: adventurous

Every once in a while nature seems to go out of it's way to reach out to humanity.  Today, I was able to experience one of those rare moments.  Let's take a trip back in time- a trip back to a time when ol' Franco was just a young buck. 

When I was 6, my parents bought me a microscope kit.  It had everything a budding young biologist needed: a microscope, some plates and coverslips, some specimen jars, and a few dissection tools.  How cool?!

It totally opened my eyes to the outside world.  I began collecting insects and dissecting them and studying them.  It was amazing and it was at this time that I discovered the coolest bug around- the Dragonfly!  They seem to have an inordinate amount of curiosity about humans and a level of comfort around us that I've never seen in other insects.

As you might have guessed, I didn't have many friends when I was a boy; we moved around alot and I preferred to spend my time exploring the woods and canals around my house.  Dragonflies were always around and always captured my imagination.

Fast forward to today.  I spent a few hours tanning and swimming at the apartment with Erica.  There was a huge orange Dragonfly buzzing around.  It was swooping over the water, almost skimming the surface and it seemed to be having a great time enjoying some of updrafts from between the buildings.

It kept on making fly-by's and almost came close to landing on my big toe or my finger tip.  In fact, I was encouraging it to do so, much to the chagrin of Erica, who was not comfortable with the large flying insect's agenda.  In fact, she kept freaking out about it saying how she couldn't even relax knowing it was swooping down at us like a WWII dive bomber. 

I kept laughing out loud at the expression on her face because I was in utter shock and disbelief that someone could detest a magnificent and harmless creature such as the noble Dragonfly and be horrified that it just wanted to hang out and catch some sun with us..  At one point, I looked to my left and saw her brandishing one of my sandles, preparing to unleash some Puerto Rican whoop ass on the poor unsuspecting little guy. 

I used to love how they would allow me to walk up on them and would climb upon my finger when I put it near them.  Maybe it's those huge eyes, but I feel as though there are a few neurons firing upstairs and they have some sense about them.  Anyway, this is probably getting creepy.

After drying off we walked to Panini Cafe (The best pizza in West Hollywood.  In fact, I've had pizza on 3 different continents and it's still the benchmark).  We met a friend at the cafe and ordered a Chicken Pesto pizza.  Wow. 

The cafe's TV was showing a heated game of Table Tennis, or ping-pong as us plain folk know it.  These two contestants were Asian and were sporting some serious spandex; a little too serious for ping-pong I thought.  As it turned out, what I was seeing was part of the Olympics.

Now, call me crazy, but how the hell does that count as a sport?  Moreover, when was this added to the roster?  I'm not saying that these ladies weren't getting after it, because they were fierce, but come on now.  Come on.   

If you dig Dragonflies, chime in.  If you dig Olympic Ping-Pong and spandex, well, I can't help you.

~F

12:10 AM - 2 Comments - 3 Kudos - Add Comment

Fortune Cookie Phrases of the Sleep Deprived
Current mood: talkative

Have you ever seen a person repeatedly burn themselves at the stove without learning not to touch the fire?  Chances are you probably haven't, yet every day of our lives we are surrounded by people making the same decisions with their lives and never understanding why things never seem to change. 

Have you ever heard of cancer leaving the body of a man without the aid of the scalpel or introduction of the medicine?  There are people who live their lives pretending not to see the obvious.  Willfully ignoring facts and truths which demand attention is foolish and easy to do when their implications are painful and involve hard decisions.  Admitting that you see the truth is the hardest thing to do when you are faced with having to act once you acknowledge it.

You should always take what people tell you with a grain of salt, but when those that love you bring their concerns to you, you should strongly consider what is said, as it was likely painful to deliver.   A prideful person is not receptive to criticism and would rather continue to burn themselves at the stove.

Compared to my other posts, this is probably a bit morose, but sometimes you have to be real.  Every day of our lives, we interact with people, some of them are strangers or acquaintances; some of them are colleagues or peers; some of them are family, friends, and lovers.  On which level of this hierarchy of familiarity do you feel compelled to intervene when you see the sort of behavior above being exhibited?  Phrased differently, at what point do you say, "I love you as a _____ and I must tell you what I have been seeing…"?

Aren't we all born with an internalized or inherent sense of obligation (in the greater sense) to reach out and pull each other up and to correct the courses of those who are falling when we recognize this?  Who reading this would not stop and help a person who has fallen or to confront a person who is pulling people down, even unwittingly?

I felt absolutely compelled to write and post this even knowing that only a handful of people will ever see this or consider the things I've written.  If you care about the people around you, you should act like it.  Every day you influence others by your actions or failure to act.  There's no neutrality; even for the Swiss, who hold and protect the money of the just and unjust.  Tell someone the truth today.

~F

3:18 AM - 5 Comments - 10 Kudos - Add Comment

Cesar and the Wee-Wee Pad: WWII Content!
Current mood: thankful

Be aware!  This blog has absolutely nothing to do with the Dog Whisperer.

I was in Orange County with Erica, her friend from Jersey, Desiree, and Ollie- the dog.  We were at Fashion Island (I don't feel like explaining this) and walked around all morning and afternoon.  Shopping is an Olympic event for women- I don't even have the time to go into this.  Do you know why they call that store,"Forever 21"?  It's because it feels like it takes forever to check out. For a guy like me, it's murder. I decided to get out with Ollie and soak up some nature whilst the ladies shopped .

I was sitting around trying to stop the dog from eating what appeared to be 2-week old french fries when out of the crowd of diamond-studded, silicon-enhanced cougars emerged an old guy in a wheelchair being propelled by a younger man.  They locked eyes with Oliver and they sauntered over.  As a sidebar, everyone stops to check out Ollie; he's quite the lady's man.  We then broke into conversation concerning my furry little friend, who is known as the Mayor of my apartment building.

As it turns out, the old cat's name was Harry and during WWII he was a Naval Artillery Sgt on a WWI era battleship.  He was deployed into the European theater of operations and particiapted in 3 invasions spanning the length of the war.  While your (great)grandmother was turning wrenches on tanks and riveting the panels of bombers together, he was spending his time shelling the shores of North Africa, Italy, and Sicily.

This guy's still among the living and he's got his wits with him, I can tell you.  Sarge asked me if Ollie was house-trained and I told him that he only goes on his "wee-wee pad"- don't laugh.  Sgt. Harry then gestured towards his younger aid, Cesar, saying, "It's the same thing with him." Hahaha!

Sarge continued cracking jokes at the expense of his aid throughout the course of our conversation and Cesar took it and dished it back, saying things like, "Say it louder, he's hard of hearing.." or, "We have to go, he's tired."  Haha, these two went back and forth.

Anyway, the stories this guy has are unbelievable; he was the guy firing the giant cannons on the battleship at onshore targets prior to the landing crafts (filled with our soldiers) hitting the enemy beaches.  How cool is that?  Come on now.

Men (and women) such as Sgt Harry are getting rarer as the days pass on; these cats are getting up there in age- ol' Dirty is 90+ years old.  Do yourself a favor- go out of your way to find these people and thank them.   Listen to their stories and their wisdom!

In fact, thank every veteran or service person you see for laying it down for you.  While we bitch and moan about trivial things, these people are giving up greater things for the good of not only us here in 'Merica, but those unable to defend themselves abroad. 

Love,

~F

Leave a comment in honor of Sgt. Harry on my front page!

3:04 AM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Sorry an unexpected error has occurred.
Current mood: drained

I hate MySpace technical errors.  I was deep in the midst of posting some philosphic tripe in response to a blog on a friend's page and I get:

"Sorry, but an unexpected error has occurred..."

After my third attempt, I began expecting it.

~F

6:32 AM - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Living to bite another day
Current mood: contemplative

People,

I'm in a strange, strange place mentally.  I just returned from the dentist's office with some disturbing news; ol Frankie's getting a root canal!  Yay!!  I thought I was the poster child for good dental hygiene; I swish, I floss, and I brush on a consistent, daily basis.  Where did I go wrong?  I never went on routine visits.

This dentist has quite the reputation- at least according to all of the autographed headshots in the patient lounge; Hollywood is an interesting place.  My eyes scanned over them and fell upon a real relic- Ernest Borgnine. 

Now, most people would have left immediately after having found this picture in of all places, a dentist's office, but being the glutton for punishment that I am, I stayed.  I'm such a risk taker.  You'd sooner have Margaret Thatcher up on your wall of fame...Oh, for those of you who aren't familiar with EB or Margaret Thatcher, look them up, haha.

I sat in my dentist's chair, which was totally state-of-the-art and equipped with a large flatscreen monitor/camera (if only Ernest could see me now). The camera was atttached to a probe and it gave me a breathtaking view of my mouth- breathtaking because the highly magnified images I saw were totally alien to me and it was dizzying, a flick of his wrist sent the landscape of my mouth spinning as the camera shot past the bicuspids and over to the suspicious molar, where the probe orbited unitl it found its mark!

It was like watching the old videos of the first moon landing, except this time, John Glenn and Neil Armstrong weren't going to come springing out of my damned molar.  No, they wouldn't be driving a lunar rover- bounding along craters, swinging golf clubs, or collecting moon rocks.  No, no. The only probing going on was painful and I was only able to watch in horror as beads of sweat rolled down my brow while I heard my dentist's voice echoing in the distance, "Stop running away from meeeeeeeeee...", in his German/Hungarian accent.  It was glorious.

As he probed, I watched in utter shock as the side of my molar collapsed beneath his pick and pain rifled through my jaw.  He seemed amused as he collected the little bits of my tooth and showed them to me, as though he had found gold in my mouth! 

I should've gone in for a checkup as soon as I noticed a little sensitivity while flossing a few months ago.  As it turns out, I had a decent sized soft cavity between my teeth.  He said that these sorts of things take years to develop.  Did I really have a little nugget of crawfish hiding in there?  Nice.  At least the rest of these choppers are healthy.

Now I'm home and I should be driving to rehearsal.  My jaw hurts like hell and I need to schedule a torturuous procedure for myself [how masochistic]- but it needs to happen.  I'm not liking this temporary filling.

It's going to hurt, but hey, I'll live to bite another day.  Learn from me kiddies, unless you fantasize about having a strange man with oddly hairless forearms man-handle your molars, see your dentist every 6 months or 3,000 miles- whichever comes first. 

Love,

Franco "The Tooth" De Salvo

...if you've got any snappy dental levity you want to throw my way, feel free to reply to this; I'm a sucker for good oral humor.

If you'd like to have my blogs emailed to you, then simply email me your best email address using: frank.desalvo@yahoo.com!

1:04 AM - 5 Comments - 5 Kudos - Add Comment

The 3 hour gig and pizza you can’t refuse.
Current mood: breezy

There are just some people in this world you don't wanna piss off.  At the top of this list you will find Rocco.

Rocco's Pizza is located at the Kaleidoscope Courtyards shopping plaza in Mission Viejo, CA.  Flanking the Edwards Cinema, you'll find Rocco's pizzaria cranking out the goods, and man, you'd better like it.  Besides the fact that Rocco's got a poker face from hell, he's got some guns to back up the mug.  I looked at the two employees serving up the pie with mixed feelings.  

One one hand, I wondered what it was like to work with such an intimidating guy. It begged the question: "If Rocco wasn't around, would you eat a piece of the pizza without telling him?"  No.  No, you wouldn't.  Rocco's the only man I know of that could make Chuck Norris flinch.  Yeah, he's pretty much badass.

On the other hand, it must be nice knowing that no one would ever even consider robbing Rocco's joint.  You'd have to go in there packing some serious heat- and you'd better pray you didn't miss; bullets only make Rocco angry.

Obviously, we decided the best place to set up shop for our 3 hour acoustic show was right outside of Rocco's pizza factory.  In fact, we decided to use one of his tables to display our merchandise.  He didn't seem to mind.  Though when he came outside and asked us to move the table back a ways, we immediately did so.  When Rocco gives you advice, you take it.

So we broke the set up into 3 45 minute segments to save our fingers and voices and to gage where Rocco was mood-wise.  He might not "Wanta any stinkin' punks disrupting hisa business..." and we would agree.  As it turned out, Rocco digged the tunes.  When Rocco digs the tunes, you dig the tunes.  Capisce?

After the first set, we decided to take the camcorder in and interview Rocco, so Derek and I went in.  As we walked in, we found Rocco sitting at the back of the restaurant at last table grubbing down on a slice of his own pie.  I think he was eating a slab of the pepperoni, but I could be mistaken.  Rocco doesn't like mistakes.  Oh, and he had it folded down the middle- lengthwise.  You east coasters out there know what I'm talking about there.   There's science behind it, too.  First of all, it keeps your fingers cleaner.  Secondly, it allows some of the grease to run off of the pizza onto your plate.  No one says Rocco makes greasy pizza.  Get it?  If you can think of another benefit of the creased pizza, reply to this and let's discuss.

Looking back, I don't think I'd walk up on Rocco again while he was eating, but admittedly, I was feeling pretty brave last night.  I introduced myself and he gave us the tour of the pizza bar.  I tried breaking the ice by throwing some of my most clever jokes at him, but it was all for not; Rocco doesn't smile.  Smiling = weakness.

I gave Rocco an Attic Attic Card and he said, "Eh, you're a pizano, eh?"  I said, "Yes I am.  Don't let my New Orleans' accent fool you, my dad's from Brooklyn."  Thinking that this was a tender moment and that we bonded, we left Rocco to his devices and turned the camera's eye over to the two aforementioned employees, one of which dove behind the bar, not wanting to give us any incriminating information regarding Rocco's operation.

By the time we finished filming, it was already time to start the second set.  By the way, I did try the "White Pizza", which was rediculously delicious with its lucious layers of ricotta and alfredo! 

The rest of the night went witout a hitch.  We ended the show with 5 minutes of battery life left in the camcorder and I had the itch to go back in for a second round of candid interviews.  As it turned out, one of Rocco's employees, the less shy of the two, came out to greet us as we were packing up our gear.  He plays the bongo's and was ready to give Scott a lesson.  It happens. 

I though this would've been a great opportunity to get some probing question answered by Rocco's employee without the man being around.  I looked around and saw Rocco's piercing orbs peeping through the window, his icy gaze fixed onto me and his employee.  I dared not jeopardize the life of this man and put the kybosh on my chances of playing outside of the pizzaria or cinema in the future.  Thanks to Scott's advice I kept the lid on my curiosity.

Hey, for those of you that showed up and those of you that we met for the first time last night- thanks for the support!  We had a blast!  Seriously, Rocco's a cool guy, though I still wouldn't want to be on his bad side.  One wrong move and you might end up in tomorrow's marinara sauce!

Love,

~F

P.S. The next time you find yourself in Mission Viejo, drop by Rocco's and tell him Adam's Attic sent you, haha.

If you'd like to have my blogs emailed to you, then simply email me your best email address using: frank.desalvo@yahoo.com!

6:07 PM - 5 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

The Hospice

I might get fired if this gets out, but I took off for an extended lunch this afternoon.  I left Downtown LA and spent 3 or so hours of my day in Torrance, CA meeting with the executives of Trinity Care Hospice- a Not for profit organization I learned about from an amazing encounter with a seemingly random stranger on an airplane. 

This woman, as it turns out, was the founder of ths organization and was mainly responsible for shining the spotlight on this need and chief lobbyist responsible for much of the legislation that's currently in place today.  Chances are, if your family member is receiving hospice care, Claire Tehan, is the reason why.

Did you know that while adults can enjoy the benifits of Medicare, children with terminal illness don't have these benefits, and in their final months of life, may be left with no insurance funds left.  To them, this translates into not having the medicine or medical equipment needed to give them comfort and peace in their last days on this planet.

This is something I was ignorant of until recent times and there's no excuse for these little guys having to suffer while some some troll at the big insurance company denies their claims because they reached the ceiling of their policy's monetary output 6 months too soon.

If you want to help these guys out, let me know.  If we can give any one of these kids a few months of the comforts we take for granted, then it will be well worth it, don't you agree?  If this moves you, then move.  Help me help these kids. 

"To the world you may be just one person.  To one person, you just may be the world."

http://www.trinitycarehospice.org/ 

~F

2:48 AM - 1 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment