Free 411 Service

If you have every used the normal phone company or cell phone company 411 service for directory assistance, you were probably surprised when you received your bill to find out how much they charge for this simple convienence.

There is a new service available at 1-800-FREE-411 (1-800-373-3411) that gives you this service at no charge. All that is required is that you listen to a very short (10 seconds or so) ad related to the service itself or the business you may be inquiring about.

I have used this a couple of times and it is great. The computer uses voice recognition to interpret your response to questions about the listing (unfortunately for me, every time I try I end up speaking to a live operator, must be the ever so slight southern drawl), plays a short ad, and then gives you the number and connects you.

Their website is located here: Free411.com

This is an awesome number to remember for you cell phone users that don’t have a data plan that lets you Google for numbers from you phone.

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Review – Butch Walker Live at Budokan DVD

I just received and watched Butch Walker’s live DVD Live at Budokan and in a word it is awesome. There are two live sets on the disc. The first set is the concert at Budokan in Tokyo, Japan from March 2005.

Live At Budokan – Tokyo, Japan – March 2005

Intro
Radio Tokyo
Uncomfortably Numb
#1 Summer Jam
Last Flight Out
Mixtape
Best Thing You Never Had
Lights Out

Running about 45 minutes, this show is from Butch’s tour with Avril Lavigne. The sound from the show is great and captures the crowd noise very well (which of course makes you feel like you are there). Butch does a bit of conversing with the crowd in Japanese (subtitled of course for us English speakers). In between each song there are small clips of Butch and his band hanging out in Tokyo (including a very funny scene of them all singing in a karaoke bar). Definitely a great set to watch.

The second set is from a concert Butch put on at the Variety Theater in Atlanta, GA from June 7, 2003. Part of this show was recorded and sent out as a bonus live CD entitled This is Me…Justified and Stripped to those that pre-ordered his Letters album from the Sony Music Store.

This Is Me… Justified And Stripped
Intro
Sober
Promise
Race Cars and Goth Rock
Diary of a San Fernando Sexx Star (Slow version)
Mixtape
Don’t Move
Best Thing You Never Had
Cigarette Lighter Love Song
Suburbia
Grant Park
Over Your Head
Every Monday
Freak of the Week
Let Me Go
Take Tomorrow (One Day at a Time)

Butch puts on a fantastic show in this set. The stage is set up like a living room (which he says is so he can feel more like being at home where he writes the songs). He starts off just playing acoustic guitar and is later joined by JT Hall on Bass and Kenny Cresswell on drums. As happens often during Butch Walker shows, Butch takes a turn on the piano and cranks out Cigarette Lighter Love Song and a bit of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

Next comes a fantastic surprise as Butch brings up his former bandmates from the Marvelous 3, Jayce Fincher and Mitch “Slug” McLee, to perform Every Monday and their big hit from the mid nineties Freak of the Week.

Then comes the encores which are the Marvelous 3 song Let Me Go with Butch solo on piano and then Take Tomorrow (One Day at a Time) which he plays unplugged, purely acoustic and from out in the middle of the crowd (which is how he best likes to perform it). All in all, an amazing show that really demonstrates how talented a musician, songwriter, and performer the great Butch Walker is. I highly recommend picking it up. Makes a great stocking stuffer to any music fan that appreciates good rock and roll.

Posted in DVD, Music, Reviews | 2 Comments

The Don And Mike Show

Let me tell you a little story. All through college I enjoyed listening to an awesome afternoon radio show based out of Washington D.C.’s WJFK 106.7 called the Don and Mike Show. This show was syndicated via the Westwood One Radio Network. Here Don Geronimo (real name Mike Sorce) and Mike O’Meara would make me laugh out loud every afternoon (their show ran from 2-6pm CST). They played here in Mobile first on the sports channel WNSP 105.5 and then moved to AM 1480 WABB where they remained for many years. Unfortunately, the local radio station did not get the kind of ratings they wanted for the show, and they were banished from Mobile. Much to my and many other fans’ dismay, their timeslot was replaced with the absolute bore and cliched Sean Hannity (I like conservative talk but this guy is terrible).

Now this was quite a few years ago before radio broadcasting via the Internet was commonplace. There were various people that would set up streaming feeds occasionally that I could find and listen to, but these would disappear once Westwood One found out about them (amongst the fans, the feeds were referred to as “Fight Club”, and anytime someone outed a feed in a public forum, the response would be about the first rule of Fight Club…fun stuff).

For some reason a couple of weeks ago, I thought about this show and decided to google it and see what was up. Much to my surprise and pleasure, I found that they now have an official website – www.donandmikewebsite.com and are now streamed online during their show (2-6pm CST). On their official site they have Daily Audio Highlights and also Show Recaps.

It is like I have reconnected with some old friends. The cast of characters involved with the show hasn’t changed much since I last listened and the material is even funnier than I remember. It is great to hear you guys again, Don, Mike, Buzz, Robbay!

One unfortunate thing I discovered upon reading their site was that Mike Sorce (Don Geronimo’s real life alter ego) lost his lovely wife Freda earlier this year. Freda was a frequent participant in the show and she was a joy to listen to. Though I’ve never met these people in person, I spent quite a bit of time listening to their show and hearing details of their lives. So I guess I felt a bit like I knew them and hearing news of Freda’s death saddened me greatly. Don took some time off and upon returning to the show did a segment by himself, as himself, Mike Sorce, talking about what he had gone through and as a tribute to his dear Freda. Here are links to a 4 part mp3 of the tribute show. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Be prepared though before you listen, for me this was one of the saddest things I’ve ever listened to. I feel for Don and his family, but it seems he is continuing his life as best as one can expect after something like this, and I am very happy to be able to listen to the show again. They truly are quality entertainment at its finest.

Oh and if you are in the greater Balitmore area, be sure and eat at O’Meara’s (owned by Mike O’Meara and affectionately dubbed by Don as Hank’s Look-Around Cafe).

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One Year of Blogging

I just noticed that my one year anniversary for blogging has just passed. So 63 posts later I’m still here. I have finally set up my own domain and site (hosted by TextDrive that was just aquired by Joyent), I just have to get around to doing some webdesign on the non-blog portion of the site.

I’ve got a couple of posts in the works just have to get around to finishing them. The quick summary is:

Butch Walker Concert in Atlanta (with pics and video)
PowerBuilder Developer’s Journal Article coming soon
The Second Lower Alabama .Net User Group meeting
Visual Studio/SQL Server Launch Event in Birmingham, AL

I’ll try to get those out to you in the coming days, weeks, months. So here’s to a second year of blogging.

Posted in Misc | 2 Comments

Hot 7 Layer Dip

Awhile back I found a great recipe for a hot 7 layer dip that I’ll post here for posterity. It disappears very quickly at work (which doesn’t actually indicate it is good, since those guys will eat anything), but everyone raves about it when I bring it in.

Hot 7 Layer Dip

* 1 (16 oz.) can Refried Beans
* 1 (15.5 oz.) can Black Beans, drained
* 1 (1.25 oz.) package Taco Seasoning Mix
* 1/2 cup sour cream
* 1 cup Salsa
* 1 (4 oz.) can Diced Green Chiles
* 2 to 3 tablespoons Diced Jalepeños
* 1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese
* 2 large green onions, sliced
* 1 package tortilla chips

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375° F.
  2. Combine refried beans, black beans, and seasoning mix in medium bowl. Spread bean mixture in ungreased 8-inch-square baking dish
  3. Spread sour cream over bean mixture. Top with salsa, chiles, jalapeños, and cheese. Cover with aluminum foil
  4. Bake for 20 minutes at 375° F. Remove aluminum foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the dip is bubbly. Garnish with green onions. Serve with chips.

Makes 10 servings.

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