Labor Day 2008

Ugh, the last weekend of Summer 08 is upon us. It’s a time to look back. The fall is looking us right in the fucking face. Can the summer really move that fast? Yes, upon reflection, it can. My God, can the summer really be over? Yes, yes it is, and fall is in the wings. But fuck fall, I still choose to cling to summer memories.

Labor Day is harsh. It’s like the last big Sunday of the summer. The summer hinges around 3 holidays; Memorial Day starts it all, 4th of July is the tent pole, and Labor Day closes it all out. But to go ahead requires us to go a step behind. Now this is starting to sound like a Hollywood BS movie. The kind of movie I ask my wife to explain everything that’s going on. But, dear reader, I hope you can tell the difference. So let’s take a step back.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to me. The signs have been there for some time. When there is a sudden chill to the night, where we don’t even need the fan anymore. I’ve seen the leaves committing Harry Carrey or some such name. I’ve seen waves of dead leaves blowing across the lawn. Somehow, the sun just doesn’t seem to burn as orange as it did in July.

Sometimes I see summer going by when things just don’t seem right. Take the hammock for example. While we usually keep it out through fall, it just doesn’t seem as ‘right’ when I’m resting my lazy ass in there during the summer. I pretty much stop listening to Margaritaville after Labor Day. I can’t tell you why, other than Jimmy Buffet just doesn’t seem as right in November as he does in May. Unless, of course you’re talking about the Desperation Samba. And I really can’t listen to my SummerSongs mix after today. It just doesn’t sound right. Lately, I’ve gone running at the park down the street. And I’ve had the SummerSongs on, just to fill up my memories of running in the summer. Sure, it’s nowhere near running by the ocean, but it is a little bit relaxing to me.

And speaking of summer songs, I can only think of a few that will forever remind me of Summer 2008. One is that I Kissed a Girl song by Katie Parry. That type of music isn’t usually my thing, but I have to ‘fess up to liking that song. Another one is 3 Doors Down Not My Time. Just a good piece of rock music that I heard a lot this summer. Roger Clyne’s Turbo Ocho disc was a huge soundtrack to this summer for me. I highly recommend it. The latest Los Lonely Boys is good summer music, too. But I am disappointed that there weren’t more songs to this summer.

So obviously, this “last weekend of Summer” has to be important. How did I spend it? Let’s start at Thursday night.

As fate would have it, the Pat McGee Trio was playing roughly a half hour away from us. These guys are retarded when it comes to picking out the right time to play around me. I won’t spooge here, but these guys inspire me every time I see them. PMB (Pat Mc Gee Band) was a major inspiration to make it through this week. I hinged my week around this event. And these guys did not disappoint. It was Pat on vocals and rhythm guitar, Chardy on percussion and Brian on lead guitar. Brian brought out the Resonator for this gig. The Resonator is Mark Knopfler’s (Dire Straits) stock in trade. Funny, as how I’ve always considered Dire Straits being a summer band. So to hear PMB songs with a Resonator effect was quite the thrill. Brian is truly one of the most talented musicians I have ever seen.

So we’re there at the Sellersville Theatre. It’s a great venue. It’s an intimate theatre setting. There are tables up front, and then rows of seats. I highly recommend this venue. Not a bad seat in the house. So PMB takes the stage. Some anonymous asshole yells bout “What are you doing in Sellersville?” Pat got right on and replied “what are you doing in Sellersville?”

I didn’t have to **** the next day, so I could afford to throw back a few brews. I got a fair buzz going on. At one point I had to pee and get another beer. Now this theater is pretty small, and noise carries. As I stumble back to my seat, I manage to kick all the empty plastic glasses out from underneath my seat. OK, that was a bit embarrassing. Halfway through the set, someone in the crowd alerts Pat that all the bars close at 11 in Sellersville. Believe me, there ain’t that much to do in Sellersville, so why close the bars at 11 is beyond me. We meet up with the guys afterwards, and after not much clear thought, we decide that the strip club next to their hotel surely must have boobs…er..booze. Did I mention that my wife is with us, and she’s the only girl in the group? She’s cool with it, though. So we traipse back to their hotel.

On the way, we do what most people do in these parts at midnight. We hit a Wawa. It is here that we get another piece of bad news; the strip club is BYOB. D’oh! So we just end up hanging with them a bit at the hotel and going home. It was kind of a good thing we didn’t have a late night with them. Friday I didn’t have to **** so it was nice having a 4 day weekend. Friday T hosed me into helping her set up her classroom. Kind of funny since I always hated school growing up, and here I am setting up the room for the kids. I could hear many tiny voices crying out in anguish that they are heading back to school. The rest of the weekend was nice and low key. We hung out, took Bauer out, made bottles of rum and pizzas disappear. But now, tomorrow is “back to”. Back to ****, kids get ready to go back to school.

I once wrote in a Klog many, many years ago, I hate how when summer’s over, it’s the whole “back to” mentality. There is just some sort of cool, laid back attitude people get during the summer. And now it’s like someone is saying “yo, funtime is over, get back to work.” That is of course if you actually have ‘work’ to go back to. I know some people really look forward to the fall, and enjoy the season. Not me, I fucking hate it. I know folks who really enjoy the color of the leaves. And that’s cool and all, but it’s for such a brief period of time. Then, the leaves die.

Fall to me has always been gloomy. It’s when everything dies. Leaves, flowers, grass, my fantasy football teams’ hopes, etc. It gets cold and nasty. Leaves blow everywhere. I’ve often said you can’t shovel heat. I hate raking, I hate shoveling. I try to fight the good fight though; keep summer here as long as I can. I wear flips and shorts for as long as I possibly can. I’ll try to grill as often as possible. But I know it’s all in vain. I know the days will grow shorter and colder.

There are good things in fall I look forward to. Football starts up, and hockey is just a few weeks away. Halloween is coming-on a Friday this year, no less. Of course, Hallowmas season follows, so make all your Hallowmas plans early this year. But that’s about it.

Musically, I find myself going to the more acoustic stuff during the fall. I get into Gothic stuff around Halloween. But all the songs seem to be dark and sour. There’s a great song called Summer’s Gone by Beth hart that I try to post for you guys, but I am never able to find it. I can listen to that song over and over like I’m a mental patient. Please go out of your way to find it and give it a listen.

It’s kinda ironic as I look back at this summer now. I have probably spent more time outside than I’ve had in years. I have the redneck to prove it, and it will probably stay with me clear through till November. Ironically enough, I find myself looking back to our OCNJ week a lot these days. Those walks on the beach, playing lacrosse on the beach, hanging on the deck just staring at the ocean. I really kinda dreaded that week, but looking back now, it was really good for me. Every night when the hamster goes off, I envision those walks on the beach to calm me down.

For now, that’s all over. Who knows when we will get to the beach again? Every fall, we always wanna take Bauer to the beach, but we never do. I hope we do this year. Who knows if we will get back to the beach next summer? Or do Sand Soccer?. I have T working on our own Endless Summer logo where it’s us in the picture. When she gets that done, I’ll put it up here.

Awright, my inspiration has run out, and this post is going to shit, so I will end it here, and maybe enjoy these last few hours of the summer outside.