T-shirt #334: The Empire Strikes Back - If you only knew the power of the Dark Side

I know. You’re jealous of my original Vader figure, complete with the cape and lightsaber.

With the recent passing of Irvin Kershner (http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-irvin-kershner-20101130,0,1523496.story), I was glad I had an Empire Strikes Back t-shirt left to wear.

Even though Empire wasn’t my favorite Star Wars movie when I was young, it has made its way to the top of my list. I think that’s because when I was 6 I liked happy endings; I wanted the good guys to win. Instead, the first thing I saw was the words “It is a dark tie for the rebellion.” And, I got to see the main good guy get his hand sliced off and find out the second-in-command bad guy is his father. I was left wondering what would happen to Han Solo as Boba Fett took his frozen body away. I remember thinking that Vader must have been lying to Luke, there’s NO WAY he’s his father (My nephew had a similar reaction when I told him, a story you can read here: http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/01/t-shirt-14-star-wars-kids-drawings.html). I did really like Yoda though (how could you not?).

Now, I love Empire because the bad guys win. I love seeing Darth Vader at his worst, choking admiral after admiral. I never get tired watching the tension between Han and Leia. I love the AT-ATs (in case you don’t know: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/All_Terrain_Armored_Transport). Yoda still rocks. Bounty hunters are badass. And the final scene between Luke and Vader, well, I put it on a t-shirt.

(Yes, this is one of my own design. Well, I used the pictures and sayings that are listed at http://shop.starwars.com/catalog/category.xml?topcatID=1300264;category_id=1301512, but I created this one.)

Even though it has been 30 years since its release (wow), The Empire Strikes Back remains among the best sequels ever made (It’s the best in my opinion, but I can see how others might argue for The Two Towers, Godfather II, The Dark Knight, or Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo). It is also the US #12 top grossing movie of all time when you adjust for inflation (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm). I guess what I’m saying is I’m not alone in thinking it’s a damn great movie.

If you are one of those people I run into that says “Nope, I’ve never seen any of them” when Star Wars comes into the conversation (it tends to around me), I hope someday you at least watch Episodes IV (a.k.a Star Wars: A New Hope or Star Wars the original or Star Wars, the first one that was released) and V (The Empire Strikes Back). Then at the very least you can tell if someone’s Yoda impersonation is crap!

Even though it was last week, I like to remind myself what I am thankful for every day. Today, I am thankful for Irvin Kersher. He was a huge part of a movie that has been a big part of my life. I hope to be part of a movie someday and although I know it won’t be as good as Empire, you can bet there will be Empire quotes and references in it (see also: Kevin Smith). Thanks Irvin, the Force will be with you. I am off to star setting up my Star Wars Christmas tree with the Hoth scene below it…

For more on Irvin Kershner:

Career: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0449984

Irvin Kersher – Remembering The Empire Strikes Back: http://www.starwars.com/hyperspace/member/insideronline/11/indexp2.html

For more on The Empire Strikes Back: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_V:_The_Empire_Strikes_Back

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080684

For my other Star Wars shirts (still one more to come!):

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/01/t-shirt-7-dont-close-blast-doorsto-your.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/01/t-shirt-30-family-guy-something.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/02/t-shirt-44-ig88-and-boba-fett.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/03/t-shirt-68-vader-was-framed.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/04/t-shirt-96-mysterious-symbol.html

Donated this one to my Little Brother: http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/04/t-shirt-102-star-wars-revenge-of-sith.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/04/t-shirt-108-family-guy-star-wars.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/04/t-shirt-114-jedi-training-academy.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/05/t-shirt-141-empire-strikes-back.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/06/t-shirt-171-whos-your-daddy-darth-vader.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/07/t-shirt-number-202-darth-tater.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/10/t-shirt-302-chewbacca-costume.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/11/t-shirt-323-admiral-ackbar-its-trap.html

Wow, that’s a lotta Star Wars shirts!

T-shirt #333: UPEI - University of Prince Edward Island

When I think of PEI, there are a lot of things that come to mind.

For most of the summers I have been alive, I have taken a trip up to The Island from Massachusetts (I know, I’m lucky). When I was a child, that meant traveling over 650 miles in a van with 6 other people. These trips usually went something like this:

Night before:

• Family outing to Burger King for dinner
• Mom panicking that trip preparation isn’t complete
• 5 restless kids getting excited for journey
• Parents attempting to calm children down
• More panicking from Mom
• Final trip preparation done as kids finally fall asleep

Morning of:

• 3:30 AM wakeup call
• Packing of family van
• 4:00ish AM departure
• I ask if we’re there yet at around 4:05ish AM
• Mom worries that something wasn’t brought/locked/turned off
• Some kids fall back asleep
• Stop at McDonald’s in Maine (which led to a very important life discovery – syrup is good on sausage paddies!)
• Post-McDonald’s “PEI Surprise” given to each child that behaved up to that point on trip (G.I. Joe figures were a favorite one year)
• Some sort of argument/fight breaks out between siblings (never started by me!)
• Dad threatens to turn van around
• Mom reminds kids of possibility of future “PEI Surprises”
• Kids hopefully start behaving
• One or more children get car sick
• Van makes it through Maine and reaches Canadian border
• Mom sings “Oh, Canada!” and encourages everyone to sing along

Afternoon of:

• Picnic lunch stop in Canada
• Younger kids fear using sketchy bathroom on picnic grounds
• Post-lunch second round of “PEI Surprises”
• “How much longer until the ferry?” questions begin
• Sibling rivalry starts back up (again, never my fault)
• Dad stops threats, actually stops the van, and all five children become suddenly silent
• Van becomes hot, sweaty, and smelly (okay, this one usually was my fault)
• Mom reminds us “We’re almost at the ferry”
• Dad turns van into race car, trying to make an earlier boat
• Van reaches ferry and waits for next available boat
• Family makes bets on what ferry we will get
• Third and final round of “PEI Surprises”
• Ferry trip – brothers play video games and/or see how many jellyfish they can see in the water
• Sight of red dirt / entrance into PEI
• Siblings stretch arms forward to claim “I was the first one in PEI this year!”
• “How much longer until we get there?” questions begin
• UPEI planetarium sighting – a sure sign we were almost there

Evening:

• Countdown chanting begins after turn onto street the cottage is on (Dun, dun, dun, dun. DUN, DUN DUN DUN)
• Arrival at “Big Stone Farm” in Millcove
• Greeting from Gram and Grandpa Dave
• Sit down to dinner already prepared by Gram
• Unpacking of van
• Mom, Dad, and all children do not take long falling asleep

Please note: Bathroom stops along the way only coincided with stops for meals – one of the reasons I believe my siblings and I can “hold it” better than most!

Although the trips these days are a bit less eventful now, I still always get excited for my annual trek to PEI. It is a trip full of relaxation, beaches, Celtic music, and hockey. It is a place I can hang out with my family and feel peace. Although I highly recommend going there, I must admit I hope not too many people find out about it. Although I didn’t realize it when I was young, I really am lucky to have PEI in my life.

Some PEI sites:

Official Page: http://www.gov.pe.ca/

UPEI site: http://home.upei.ca/

Newspaper: http://www.theguardian.pe.ca

NHL players from PEI: http://www.hockey-reference.com/friv/birthplaces.cgi?country=CA&province=PE&state=

Funny story about a PEI Judge: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2010/04/09/pei-doyle-assault-verdict-584.html

Favorite PEI musicians:

Richard Wood - http://www.rwood.ca/

Cynthia MacLeod - http://www.cynthiamacleod.com

Fiddlers’ Sons - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2455051974

Lucy Maud Montgomery: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Maud_Montgomery

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=20238247864

(I looked for an official LMM page, but couldn’t find one)

My other UPEI t-shirts:

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/03/t-shirt-63-university-of-prince-edward.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/06/t-shirt-164-upei-dept-of-athletics.html

Other PEI t-shirts:

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/05/t-shirt-129-canada-prince-edward-island.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/08/t-shirt-219-cow-wars.html

PS- this shirt would have been perfect for me/today: http://shirtcrazy.com/BIZyCart.asp?ITEM=TR-ATA1885-AT&NEXTPAGE=Detail-F.htm&CLIENT=ShirtCrazy

T-shirt #332: The Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Much like struggles I have faced in my life, I couldn’t have made it through this t-shirt blog without the help and support of my family and friends. This shirt was donated (along with many others) from my awesome friend Patrick, who I met my freshman year in college…

It was September of 1992, and I had just moved into my dorm at Boston College. I had been getting chemotherapy treatments all summer long for my cancerous brain tumor, so I wasn’t feeling or looking my best. My roommates had not arrived in our tiny forced triple home away from home, so I still didn’t know anyone in my dorm. I left my door open as I settled in, and Patrick was the first person to walk in and introduce himself.

We quickly bonded over two things. One, both of our fathers had gone to schools that were rivals of BC. His dad went to Notre Dame, and mine had gone to Holy Cross. Although I don’t think that qualifies either of us as being rebels, we got a kick out of it. Two, our taste in music was very similar. Although The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (http://www.bosstonesmusic.com/index1.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mighty_Mighty_Bosstones) weren’t in our conversations yet, we both liked Extreme and were looking forward to the upcoming release of their third album. We would find out later that we shared many other interests (hockey being a big one), but these two were definitely enough to form the foundation of what would be a life-long friendship.

As freshman year continued and my health improved, Patrick and I found out we were among the very few in our dorm who weren’t interested in going out drinking every weekend. It provided more bonding time, and we went to BC hockey games and played a “few” video games together. We often shook our heads while watching all the drunken students stumbling back into our dorm.

This quickly changed second semester when I decided I wanted to see what all the fuss over drinking was about. I told Patrick’s roommate Tim that I was ready to give it a shot, and we planned a whole night of it. Like we did this summer (http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/08/t-shirt-213-wimpy-slacker.html), we made a stop at “Godzilla Burger” (a.k.a. The Eagle’s Deli) before going to the party (The idea was to provide a nice base of hamburger for the alcohol that would be coming later that night). After eating we made our way to 1711 Comm Ave (yes, I still remember the address), and my relationship with alcohol began.

I ended up puking all over myself in the middle of the party, and Patrick made sure I got home okay. He even handed me a Tic-Tac while he helped me make my way to the bus that took us back to campus. Unfortunately, it wasn’t nearly enough for me to learn my lesson.

That summer, Patrick and I kept in touch by (yes, I know!) writing letters and making the occasional long distance phone call (he was in California). We talked about all the BC babes we lusted after, and how cool it was going to be living together our sophomore year – even though we wouldn’t be living on lower campus like most second year students.

Not long after we moved into 107 Roncalli Hall (for everyone keeping score at home) my drinking escalated, but Patrick still took care of me. It was really fitting that this year one of the albums Patrick started listening to was The Mighty Mighty Bosstones Don’t Know How to Party (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Know_How_to_Party), because I did not know how to party. There was the night BC beat #1 Notre Dame on the last play of the game and I puked all over my friend’s floor. There was the night I was taken to the ER in an ambulance. There were nights I was violent, nights I blacked out, and nights I did both. I was selfish, stubborn, and out of control. But, Patrick never moved out. He worried about me and he put up with me.

I was crushed when Patrick told me he was going to be living with a group of other guys for junior year, but really how could you blame him? Anyone else would have moved out during that sophomore year, but Patrick didn’t. And even with all the crap I caused, he still hung out with me during junior year. We did enjoy sober activities like watching and playing hockey, going to concerts, and checking out all of the female coeds. But, he still watched me get drunk and act like an idiot. He still was a great friend even though my drinking was taking my life away. And he helped me after what would end up being the last time I drank (May of my junior year).

Senior year would be the only year at BC that I didn’t drink. Although Patrick and I didn’t live in the same place on campus, he quickly became known as the “7^th Man” in Mod 40A. The absence of my drinking immediately made our friendship stronger and I was actually able to remember all the fun times we were having. And even though we watched Tommy Boy 384 times, played 7382 hockey video games, and had a few run-ins with the BC police, we managed to graduate on time!

After graduation, I took a road trip to California (http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/01/t-shirt-24-alcatraz-506938.html) with Patrick and a couple of our buddies. Patrick was returning home, and he wouldn’t be back in Massachusetts for another three years…

I am happy to say Patrick has stayed in the Bay State since then and we are still hanging out on a regular basis. He has been one of my biggest supporters ever since we met, and gave me a bunch of t-shirts for this blog without even thinking about it. I think one of the best things about our friendship is that his son calls me Uncle Dave – it really is an honor. Many people have more money than me. Many people have a better car than me. But if any of these people don’t have a friend like Patrick, I feel sorry for them. Thanks for everything Patrick…your friendship and support are truly priceless.

PS- here is the link to Patrick’s favorite MMB song, Everybody’s Better: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1250&bih=587&q=mighty+mighty+bosstones+everybody%27s+better&aq=1&aqi=g2&aql=&oq=mighty+mighty+bosstones+everybo&gs_rfai=Cn2JwyAzzTIWPK6W2iwOPp4FUAAAAqgQFT9C0mrc

T-shirt #331: A Video Game Odyssey

Even though this is my 8^th (maybe last?) t-shirt that has something to do with video games, (you can click on links all 7 others listed below), they aren’t the only kind of games that I play.

Every week, a group of Holy Cross students come over to Hope Lodge and hang out with the guests. We usually end up playing Apples to Apples, which is one of the most fun “party games” I have ever played.

It takes just a minute to learn: there are cards with nouns/pronouns/proper nouns and cards with adjectives. Each player holds 7 noun cards in their hand while “judges” take turns picking one adjective card. Each player then gives the judge the noun he/she thinks the judge will think is the best match for that adjective. If the judge picks your noun, you keep the adjective card as a way of keeping score. As described here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apples_to_Apples), we usually play the “Infinite Apples” version, where you play until you all agree it’s time to stop (or whenever the HC students have to head back to school).

Apples to Apples comes with blank cards that players can write on to make what they think is the perfect match for the adjective. The game we play with at Hope Lodge contains the home made cards “Hope Lodge”, “Dave’s Ass”, “flavory”, and “Alderaan” (you can look that one up, but I believe it was picked for the words hot, rebellious, and revolutionary. “Dave’s Ass” is usually picked for words like Perfect, Wonderful, or Stupendous. We also had a match of Fuzz and Fuzzy and Helen Keller with Visionary.

I think the best thing about Apples to Apples is that it’s fun win or lose. Yes, it is more fun to win, but this game is entertaining whether the cards are with you or against you.

Cranium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranium_(board_game)) also tops my list of favorite all-time board games. I love it because it is a combination of skills used in Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit, Charades, and other word games. Creative Cat has you drawing, drawing blind, and making things out of clay. The Data Head questions can be true/false, multiple choice, or just a regular trivia question. Star Performer questions might make you hum a song, act like a famous person, act out a regular charades-type answer, and the Cranium Wow has a new one where one person moves another like a puppet and the “puppet person” has to guess what they are acting out. With Word Worm questions, you have to spell as a group, spell backwards, define words, solve puzzles with missing letters, or rearrange letters to get the answer.

Playing Cranium over the years has produced many memorable and hilarious moments (and yes, some of these you had to be there). One night, my brother’s wife was trying to act like the Kramer character from Seinfeld. She left the room and came running in (much like Kramer), did her best Kramer face and sound effect, and blurted out something like, “I want a pizza place where you make your own pizza!”. Another time my father was trying to act like Jacques Cousteau and in some sort of French accent was telling us “I am on zee boat and I want to look at zee aneemals in zee water”. Damn, I wish I had that on video! One of the first times I ever played Cranium my cousin Matt picked a Star Performer card where he had to act like a famous person. He read the card just as my aunt walked in and started to laugh. As he was laughing he said, “I just can’t do this with my mother in the room”. After thinking about possible ways he could act it out, he just kept laughing and had to refuse an attempt. The card was “Monica Lewinsky”. I think the funniest happened a couple of years ago at Hope Lodge. It was the first time we were playing with the “puppet” category, and one of the Holy Cross students had me moving my hands and I thought I was driving a car (see picture). He then made me get down on my knees and I quickly guessed I was milking a cow. A few turns later, I picked a card up with a word one of the HL guests had to draw. Looking at the word (which was Tea Bag) I started laughing hysterically and said “Well, it’s a good thing this one wasn’t in the “human puppet” category!” (If you don’t understand, feel free to look up tea bag at http://www.urbandictionary.com). Luckily, the guest had no idea why the Holy Cross students and I were all laughing to the point of tears.

Last year at my cousin’s house, we were gathered for our usual post-Turkey Day game night (which was also a surprise birthday party for my sister Megan) and we tried the game Liebrary. This one (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/20130/liebrary) is similar to Apples to Apples because people take turns being the judge each round. But this game is all about books. Each judge reads a card with a book title, author, and synopsis. Then each player writes down what they think is the first line of this book. The judge then reads all of these first lines including the actual first line randomly placed with the others. Players then guess which line they think is the correct first line and get a point for guessing correctly and a point if anyone guesses the line that they wrote. Sometimes it’s really hard to come up with a good first line in time, so I try to relate the synopsis to some other story I am familiar with (I think last year there was a book about twins trying to trick other people and my line was about the Brady Bunch episode when Peter meets his twin and they try to do just that (see “Two Petes in a Pod” Episode 113 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Brady_Bunch_episodes).

Oh yes, the t-shirt. This one was donated from Psycho Reindeer (http://www.psychoreindeer.com, http://www.psychoreindeer.com/t-shirt/a-video-game-odyssey), and is a spoof of the 1968 classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. If you haven’t seen it (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(film)), I highly recommend putting it on your Netflix list or seeing if your library has it. Here is the list of my other video game t-shirts and the sequence from the movie that this t-shirt is referring to. Looking forward to game night tonight!!!

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/01/t-shirt-2-video-games.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/03/t-shirt-78-know-your-mushrooms.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/06/t-shirt-155-super-mario-brothers.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/08/t-shirt-226-if-this-shirt-is-not-sweaty.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/09/t-shirt-253-up-up-down-down-left-right.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/10/t-shirt-295-8-bit-stickup.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/11/t-shirt-321-oregon-trail-you-have-died.html

T-shirt #330: ASSHOLE

When I took this shirt out of a package donated from Foul Mouth Shirts (http://www.foulmouthshirts.com/funny-t-shirts, http://www.foulmouthshirts.com/New-Shirts/ASSHOLE-FASHION-T-SHIRT.htm), I knew it would have to be a weekend shirt and I knew I would most likely save it for a day I hung out with my friend Carl. And that’s not because Carl is an asshole, he just knows the difference between someone being a “funny asshole” and an “asshole asshole”:

(That little clip was part of a larger project called R.B.I. that you can watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Iyi0aM6xtM)

But, what how does the rest of the world define “asshole”?

Dictionary.com (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/asshole) defines an asshole as “a stupid, mean, or contemptible person” or a “worthless and annoying person”.

Wikepedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asshole) describes asshole as a variant of arsehole, and is used as a profanity towards someone the speaker does not like or approve of. It also makes reference to my favorite song using the word, Denis Leary’s “Asshole”:

Wiki has another listing for the card game Asshole (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asshole_(card_game)), which I played many hands of when I was drinking. I usually volunteered to be asshole for the game because I never understood drinking games – I just wanted to get drunk as quickly as I could.

Not sure if you’re an asshole? You can take this online questionnaire to find out: http://electricpulp.com/guykawasaki/arse/

This survey goes along with the book The No Asshole Rule (http://www.amazon.com/Asshole-Rule-Civilized-Workplace-Surviving/dp/0446526568/sr=8-1/qid=1170371963?ie=UTF8&s=books), which argues that assholes in the workplace need to go.

While I would like to think that generally speaking I am not an asshole, I know my friends (especially guy friends) and I definitely act like assholes towards each other. But, it’s all in fun. We say things and do things we never would to the general public and we make each other laugh. We compete and talk trash, but it’s all good. Sure, sometimes if someone is in a bad mood it can get ugly, but we always forgive. I think it’s actually one of the ways guys show affection towards each other. Whether I’m an asshole or not, I know I am looking forward to some video game hockey with Carl later…

T-shirt #329: HAPPY THANKSGIVING

When my nephew helped my sister pick this shirt out for me, I was hoping he had today in mind for the day I would wear it.

It was another great Thanksgiving for me today, and I have a lot to be thankful for:

- My awesome family who has always shown me love, support, and understanding

- My great friends who have stayed with me through some hard times

- All of the many, many, many laughs I have shared with these people

- My health – 18 years cancer free, 22 years with Crohn’s but only 2 hospitalizations

- My job at Hope Lodge and all the great, brave people it has put in my life along with everyone that works and volunteers there

- Hockey – playing, watching the Bruins, BC, and Worcester Sharks, and beating Carl in video games

- The first annual Thanksgiving Morning Roller Hockey Game today

- Star Wars

- All of the US troops who have served, are now serving, and will serve

- The fact that I have never had to worry about getting my next meal

- All of the people and companies who helped me with this blog

- Music - Especially The Beatles, Extreme, and Pearl Jam

- Kevin Smith movies

- That I was privileged enough to get a college education

- All of the teachers I had that made learning interesting

- Jon Stewart and The Daily Show

- My mother’s and aunt’s cooking (especially today!)

- My Little Brother

- The Red Sox (and their World Series titles in 2004 and 2007)

- Comedians, especially Denis Leary and all the laughs he has given me

- Prince Edward Island

- Growing up in Westboro, MA

- My Crohn’s doctor and every doctor and nurse that has helped me

- I have always had a warm, safe place to sleep at night

- Glen teaching me guitar

- Sunblock with SPF strong enough for me

- The freedom I have to write…

My list is longer, and I hope yours is too. It’s a nice list to keep in your mind whenever you are having a bad day. Trust me, it helps. I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving!

T-shirt #328: Pearl Jam (Choices - 9 out of 10 kids prefer crayons to guns)

Outside of the obvious family and friends I am thankful for (see tomorrow’s blog for them), Pearl Jam is right up there on my list.

Pearl Jam came into my life during my senior year in high school, the same time another very influential entity entered in it: my brain cancer. I first heard “Alive” played on WAAF and loved watching Eddie’s acrobatics in the “Even Flow” video, but I didn’t really get into PJ until the summer I was going through cancer treatment. My older brother Jon (looking out for me as always) brought me in his Discman (high-tech for 1992!) and a bunch of his CDs. One of them was Ten, and I was sold. Unlike the party/get chicks music of the 80’s, this stuff was a lot darker and was about real life. I have no doubt it helped me visualize the chemo killing my cancer, and I had no doubts then I would be a Pearl Jam fan for life.

By the time their second album Vs. was released, I had already taken many punches and lost many fights in my battle with alcohol. But much like my fight with cancer, Pearl Jam was also with me through the “Drinking Days”. My ritual was to pop in my Ten cassette with the goal of being drunk before the end of the first side. I often made my goal, and left to fulfill my second goal: get to the party.

As I began listening (and drinking) to the Vs. more, I started making my own version of the lyrics that related to my drinking. “Don’t call me daughter” became “Don’t call me sober” or “Don’t call Dave sober”. “Got a gun, fact I’ve got two” was “Got a drink, fact I’ve got two” and “Glorified version of a pellet gun” became “Glorified version of a Gordon’s bottle” (Gordon’s was my cheap-o vodka of choice). It was a perfect mix of Pearl Jam angst and post-cancer anger, brewing into an alcohol explosion.

I was very excited when my buddy across the hall in my dorm said his Dad could get us tickets to the Pearl Jam show at the Garden. The concert ended up being less than a week after Kurt Cobain killed himself, which definitely added to the feel of the night. Eddie and the boys rocked the place on a stage full of candles and with a great set list (http://pearljam.com/show/boston-garden-apr-11-1994). It was the first time I heard “Corduroy” (and it was only the 4^th time they played it live: http://pearljam.com/song/corduroy), which has become one of my favorite PJ songs. It was definitely a bright spot during a year that was darkened with drinking and drinking-related ER visits and rehab and even more drinking.

A year later I stopped drinking, but continued to abuse Pearl Jam and would continue to over the years. I bought the albums, went to shows, and defended them (to this day, thanks to Carl!) whenever anyone dared badmouth them around me. When my friend Glen taught me how to play guitar, Pearl Jam songs were among the first I wanted to know (I recorded myself playing a few for the blog, but thought the originals would serve it better). Simply, these guys became “my band”.

Not only are they my band because of the music, I admire how they take on responsibility with their fame. And even though I might ask “Hey, what happened to that whole Take on Tickemaster thing?”, I know they have helped and continue to help people. Guitarist Mike McCready suffers (like me) from Crohn’s Disease, and has played benefit shows and been active trying to increase Crohn’s awareness (http://www.ccfa.org/about/news/mccreadypsa, http://pearljam.com/news/mike-mccready-discusses-restroom-access-law-king-5-tv). Mike also struggled with drinking – I think I need to meet this guy!

So if you’re reading this Pearl Jam (and Eddie, I know you’re just a guy like me), I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for helping me through some tough times and for inspiring me. You are to me what The Beatles are to you. Thanks, I really hope we get to hang out someday…

T-shirt #327: BlahBlahBlahRockCrawlingBlahBlahBlah

Okay, I admit it. Before today, I had no idea what Rock Crawling was. Lucky, Google and my friend Christi (who donated this t-shirt) helped me, and now I will show you…

From (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_crawling): Rock crawling is an extreme form of off road driving using vehicles anywhere from stock to highly modified to overcome obstacles. In rock crawling, drivers drive highly modified four-wheel-drive vehicles such as trucks, Jeeps, and "buggies" over very harsh terrain. Driving locations include boulders, mountain foothills, rock piles, mountain trails, etc.

Rock crawling is about slow-speed, careful and precise driving, and high torque generated through large gear reductions in the vehicles drivetrain. Rock crawlers often drive up, down and across obstacles that would appear impassable. Such vehicles to rock climb are primarily 4x4s.

Rock crawling competitions range from local events to national series. A rock crawling competition consists of obstacle courses that are about 100-200 yards long. Each obstacle is set up with gates, similar to a ski course.

Here are some visuals:

And believe it or not, there is even a site for the World Extreme Rockcrawling Championship Series: http://www.werocklive.com

It took a while for this to load, but there is a rock crawler game here: http://www.flashracingonline.com/node/1098/play

So, now you can go and ask people if they have ever heard of rock crawling. And when they say “no”, you can tell them all about it.

You’re welcome.

T-shirt #326: LET IT BE (The Beatles)

I know it’s not quite Thanksgiving yet, but I’m really thankful that my mother was a Beatles fan. And I’m thankful she passed her albums down to my older brother Jon. And I’m really thankful I got to listen to all of those albums with my family. My name is Dave, and I’m a Beatles fan…

Although it could be argued that Abbey Road was the last Beatles album (most of it was recorded after Let It Be), Let It Be was the last studio album released by the band – on May 8, 1970. But I hadn’t even been born yet, so I always just referred to it as one of their “later albums”. My favorites from Let It Be (most likely because they were the ones I heard the most when I was a kid) are Let It Be, The Long and Winding Road, and Across the Universe. See them below for your listening pleasure:

One thing I learned doing research for this blog was that there was a Let It Be documentary shot while the album was being recorded (http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0065976/). It includes footage of an unannounced rooftop concert and a peek at the tension that would eventually lead to their breakup. I really hope I get to watch this movie sooner rather than later, but there is no set DVD release date right now.

Speaking of recent release dates, The Beatles recently made their way into the “Wonderful Digital Music World of iTunes” - http://www.apple.com/the-beatles/. And as I type, I just saw a commercial for this release during the commercials for House (and in between Bruins periods 1 and 2). I have mixed feelings about this. I think it’s good that another generation will have access to The Beatles and all the great albums they put out. But, I would rather have those songs passed from person to person than iTunes to computer. I don’t think The Beatles or Apple needs any more money. But I also think that many Beatles albums are a lot better than anything you can get on iTunes. Why didn’t Apple include the “Let It Be” documentary as part of the release? One of the many things that make me say, “If I was in charge I would have…”

Regardless of if you are a Beatles fan or what Beatles album is your favorite or how you feel about the iTunes release, one thing is for sure: The Beatles are here to stay and their songs will continue to be listened to, sung along to, and played. I’m very thankful for The Beatles, and I’m really hoping Glen can come through for me with a “Let It Be” movie bootleg…

For my Rubber Soul t-shirt, see: http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/09/t-shirt-258-beatles-rubber-soul.html

More Let It Be album info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_It_Be

PS – In case you didn’t know, Paul wrote Let It Be about his mother, not the mother of Jesus.

T-shirt #325: WANNA GO? (Worcester Sharks)

My name is Dave and I love hockey. And I will freely admit that I do like the fights quite a bit. But as a huge fan of college hockey (where fights are very rare), they aren’t the reason I watch the game. Although when I’m at a Bruins or Sharks game and a fight does break out, I am usually one of the fans cheering the loudest.

Some argue that fights shouldn’t be a part of the game and they are the reason hockey isn’t as popular as baseball, football, or basketball. I think these people either don’t watch hockey enough and/or have never played hockey. Fights are part of the game and I think they eliminate some of the “wimpy” things you might see in other sports: trash talking, cheap shots, showboating, bean balls, or disrespect of the opposition. If you do any of this stuff in hockey, you are asking for a fight so you’d better be ready.

Denis Leary had it right in the book version of his show No Cure For Cancer (p. 39): “That’s why I like hockey: you drop your gloves and beat the shit out of them right there. They’ve got a special box where they make you sit for a couple of minutes, have a rest, a drink of water, and then you come back out whenever you’re ready. I think that’s a great idea. I think we should combine that with real life. I think everybody should have a penalty box at their jobs. You don’t like your boss? Beat the shit out of him-take a five-minute penalty. People would be showing up to work at five o’clock in the morning: “I’m gonna hip-check you into the Xerox machine! I hate you!”

The Love of Hockey is no secret in the McGrath house, and there were years Santa brought me VHS tapes with titles like “Best of Terry O’Reilly Fights”, “Blood on the Ice”, or “Best Fights of John Kordic”. One year, I got a tape that was simply called “Probert vs. Domi”. They had two fights in 1992, and while Domi skated around like he won the first one, the second one is pretty one-sided. But, I’ll let you judge for yourself…

Even though hockey isn’t just about the fights for me, there is a fight in hockey that I think everyone should be behind. Hockey Fights Cancer (http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=25343) has been active since 1998 and you can order really cool t-shirts like this one (http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/04/t-shirt-95-hockey-fights-cancer.html) from my t-shirt blog here: http://shop.nhl.com/category/index.jsp?categoryId=10777782

I wore this shirt today (thanks, Sam!) because I went to watch a Worcester Sharks (http://www.sharksahl.com/index.asp) game with my Little Brother and one of the Hope Lodge guests. Like I described here, http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/07/t-shirt-199-worcester-sharks.html, we got the tickets for free from the Sharks. There were a few scrums, but nothing that turned into a full fight (my companions and I were hoping for at least one!). Oh yeah, the Sharks also came back with two 3^rd period goals and won the game 4-3! Thanks again for the free tickets, Sharks!

Looking around online for what I wanted to include in this blog, I found a site I can’t believe I had never be on before: http://www.hockeyfights.com. If you’ve never seen it before, you’re welcome. And you might also want to check out their YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/hockeyfightsdotcom

Oh yeah, in case you didn’t know, “Wanna Go?” is what you ask someone if you are playing in a game and want to fight. I’m betting a few other choice words are spoken between hockey players about to fight, but those are the ones that will get it started. And in case you missed it, here is a nice, old school, slugfest from a recent Bruins game: