Thunderbolt

It was a ruthlessly cold night in Cleveland and the city streets were covered with ice. The church was still decorated with the red poinsettias from Christmas. Before the wedding, one of our friends was mugged and had her purse stolen. By reception's end, the bar would be out of booze and the groom was dragged around on the dance floor by his best man and cousin. One of the groomsmen spent the night puking in the bathroom and another member of the wedding party nearly came to blows with his brother. To say the least, it was quite a memorable night for everyone... including Julie and myself. 14 years later, we're still happily married and strong. Here are some photos from our wedding album. Here we are, Mr. & Mrs. Malchus for the first time. Budd and me before the wedding. Julie and her sisters, Michelle (left) and Sue, before the wedding. One of my favorite pictures of Steve and his future bride, Marianne. Still one of the greatest pictures of Matt (with Julie's ...

I don't know if I have ever listened to an entire Foo Fighters album, but he day hey put out a greatest hit record, I will be the first in line. The latest single from the band, "Long Road to Ruin" is an exercise in pop/rock excellence. For a band that was supposed to be a "side project" for the Nirvana drummer, the Dave Grohl experience has developed into one of the tightest bands around. Moreover, they have ecome of of the remaining groups from the 90's to still put out outstanding, radio friendly songs while many of their peers fell apart. I still wish Grohl played drums more often, but Taylor Hawkins is fine in my book. It's been another one of those vacations when I plan so many things and none of them get done. Some day I will get it through my thick skull that when I'm on vacation, my poducivity shuts down, too. I will say that it has been wonderful just spending time with the kids and being a family in our own home for a week. Bittersw...

We're getting hooked up to broadband Internet this weekend and I can tell you it is going to change our lives. Julie does so much of her work for the PTA through email and the time she spends just WAITING for the dial up to connect she could be relaxing or recovering from her early morning shifts at the cafe. And of course, there are the countless times in which we get disconnected, usually in the middle of a download that should only take mere seconds, not twenty minutes. Worse, AOL is terrible. I shouldn't complain because I have gotten it free since I began at the network, but seriously, AOL sucks. I'm pretty excited, too, because I'll be able to log on anytime and make entries to thunderbolt and work on my columns for Popdose. One of the reasons I have been so infrequent with entries to thunderbolt is because it feels so labor intensive waiting for our slow PC to hook up to the web. This all reminds me of the first computer we ever owned. Back in '95, whil...

So many things have taken place this week that it's difficult to choose what to write about. The Mitchell report on steroid/HGH use in baseball is the hot topic right now. Yesterday, every front-page headline across the nation had a headline about the Senator's findings on the rampant use of performance enhancing drugs in baseball. To many of us, it wasn't so much that he'd discovered steroids and human growth hormones were juicing baseball players; it was the names of some of the games superstars, many of which are known as "good guys", that was such a revelation. I must say that I didn't realize Major League Baseball had installed a drug policy on steroids back in 1991. It would be another seven years, at least, when Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa pursued the record for most home runs in a season that the whispers about roids began to creep up in conversations on a regular basis. And it wasn't until Barry Bonds became a name that every American kne...

So I've been putting off making an announcement about future Basement Song posts until I had an exact idea when they would begin appearing again. If that sounds like I'm suddenly under the thumb of some corporate mastermind dictating when I can write I don't mean to. A few months back, probably around the time I wrote mt last entry, I was approached by my friend Jeff, who was the operator of Jefito, one of the best music web sites on the Internet. A number of things transpired and he had to begin rebuilding his site from the ground floor again. However, he decided that instead of focusing primarily on music, he would expand and cover all facets of popular culture. In addition, he also decides to branch out and act more like an editor in chief and lasso a group of his favorite bloggers and put them under one roof. Thus, "Popdose" was born. Yes, you guessed it, he asked me to begin writing Basement Songs editions for Popdose on a weekly basis. I quickly accepted, no...

I'm usually pretty cynical about reunions of bands, especially groups who haven't performed together for over 19 years. But I have to tell you, I am so frickin' stoked about this Zeppelin show that took place in England tonight. My first reason is that it came together for a good reason. Ahmet Ertegun shephearded the band on to Atlantic Records and let them do their thing. They never had hit singles and rarely got air play on the radio, but they were the biggest band in the world! So when they were asked to participate in the charity concert in honor of Eretegun, it was a no brainer for the three surviving members. And then, when asked if they could play an hour, they had to say 'no' because an hour wasn't long enough! Dude! Unlike past excursions as a "band", they took this show very seriously. The recent Rolling Stone cover featuring Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones had me feeling like a 9th grader again (which is when I discovered...

Yesterday, amazing and hopeful news about stem cell research was released to the world. The article below was written for the 12/7/07 L.A. Times and mentions cystic fibrosis specifically. Although they are years away from experimenting on humans, this is the kind of news parents pray to hear every day. Stem cells reverse sickle cell anemia in mice Rodents treated with reprogrammed adult cells show vast improvement after three months. The therapy is several years away from being applied to humans. By Karen Kaplan Los Angeles Times Staff Writer December 7, 2007 Taking the next step in a series of breakthrough stem cell experiments, scientists have cured sickle cell anemia in mice by rewinding their skin cells to an embryonic state and manipulating them to create healthy, genetically matched replacement tissue. After the repaired cells were transfused into the animals, they soon began producing healthy blood cells free of the crippling deformities that deprive organs of oxygen, scientis...

Julie's new job began yesterday and it was quite a morning. Jake woke up at 4:00 with her and stayed awake (very upset) which means we all stayed awake from 4 am on. Today was 100% better as Jake must have realized that sleeping in until 7:00 is better. I'm wiped, though. I got home last night and had to go over to Vill's to design the dvd cover art for "King's Highway." What's that? I haven't told you that KH has been picked up by an independent distributor and will be released in 2008? Must have slipped my mind. Actually, I was waiting until the paperwork was signed by lawyers (which it is) to actually begin discussing it on the old thunderbolt. I can't believe the day is finally coming. I can tell all of my friends and family to spend their hard earned cash on something I created (with the help of many other people). As I have more details I will let you all know. But for now, let's all crack open a bottle of our favorite beverage an...

Sorry I haven't been doing so well on keeping up the blog posts. Beginning tomorrow I am going to make another effort to write every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. That way all of you can plan your lives around ME! Julie's folks returned from their trip to Big Sur and we spent one last night together before they had to return to Ohio. It was a festive night, but also one full of sadness. That we won't be flying back to Cleveland for Christmas is a drag. The past few years we have managed to eek out the money to get back there. Not this year. Although, we're not that different from most middle class families. Who can afford a $700 ticket? The harsh reality of this day and age is that most families need double incomes to survive. Somehow, our family has kept our heads above water for the past five years. But times have gotten tight, my friends. Julie begins a second job tomorrow. She'll be waitressing at a new breakfast cafe opening near our house. She has...