Quick Hits For December 18- Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

(1). A massive snowstorm has hit the DC area and will be churning up the coast to blanket the Middle Atlantic States and New England, bringing a halt to travel and retail activity on the last weekend before Christmas.

The rumor is tomorrow (Saturday December 19th) Republican House leaders John Boehner and Eric Cantor will call a press conference to blame the Obama Administration for not knowing about the storm a week ago.

(2) Obviously I'm here, in soon to be buried New Jersey, instead in sunny St. Petersburg, Florida where 8,000+ of my fellow Rutgers fans traveled to watch our beloved Scarlet Knights take on the University of Central Florida in St. Petersburg Bowl. While going to five straight bowl games is an accomplishment and it shows vast improvement from the way things used to be- little fan support, losing seasons and year upon year of bad football, it is unfortunate with the scheduling of the game right in the middle of the the Christmas frenzy with less than two weeks notice. Its hard to drop everything and go when there have been prior commitments, and in the students case bowl week is right in the middle of finals.

And even worse....ESPN and the bowl organizers should know better than to violate Rules One and Two- "Thou Shalt Not Schedule a Sports Event Opposite an NFL Game" and "Thou Shalt Not EVER Schedule a Sports Event Opposite an NFL Game Featuring the Dallas Cowboys". Organizers of the bowl were crowing the other day about scheduling the game in the evening against no other college football bowl game competition on ESPN at 8:00PM Saturday- and that's a good thing.

Now the bad stuff- the St. Petersburg Bowl will be on opposite the undefeated New Orleans Saints vs the Dallas Cowboys on the NFL Network. True, many cable systems don't have the NFL Network as part of their basic package, and some don't carry them at all. But still, in a situation where there is one team with a national following and another trying to make history by going undefeated, the TV schedule makers did neither the fans of Rutgers or UCF, or for those nationally who love bowl games any favors. Moving the game from an afternoon start to opposite the Cowboys and Saints was a colossal blunder....and you can't spin it any possible way.

(3). The other day I wrote about the inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and touched on Genesis for a bit. I came upon this amazing video of the classic five piece GENESIS lineup from 1971, featuring charter members Peter Gabriel, Mike Rutherford, and Tony Banks and introducing the two new kids, Steve Hackett and Phil Collins. Hackett replace original guitarist Anthony Phillips and drummer Collins took over for John Mayhew (who replaced John Silver, who replaced Chris Stewart). This stabilized lineup recorded the band's third album Nursery Cryme, released in November, 1971. This lineup went on to record Foxtrot (1972), Selling England By The Pound (1973), and the ambitious double album The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (1974), after which Peter Gabriel left to embark on his very successful solo career. The group then auditioned 400 singers to take over the lead vocalist chores....but Phil Collins came out from behind his drum kit, and sounded (according to several British critics) more "like Peter Gabriel than Gabriel did".

This early video, from a Belgian TV show, is the then new lineup of Genesis performing THE MUSICAL BOX, from Nursery Cryme. And check out the hair on the now very bald Phil Collins!



BE SURE TO TURN OF THE PLAYLIST IN THE LEFT HAND MARGIN BEFORE CLICKING ON THE VIDEO!

(4). This is another abbreviated version of QUICK HITS. In the past three days I must have driven 300 miles and never left a two county area of New Jersey, just Christmas shopping and getting stuff together for the holidays. To be blunt....I'm beat! Time for a beer or two, and then start counting the snow flakes, because they're a-comin'!

I'll be back with my final "12 Hours Later" segment about the 2009 Rutgers Football season on Sunday or Monday. Stay well, stay warm....just STAY! And avoid those treacherous and icy roads.

Quick Hits For December 16, 2009 -ABBA , The Hollies, and The Grinch From The Nutmeg State

(1). Don't even get me started on what has happened to the health care reform package. Its a travesty that I'll talk about extensively in the coming weeks. All I'll offer for now is....Joe Lieberman, you've proved one thing to me- the insurance companies of America own you. But in the spirit of the season I'll reserve any further judgement. Enjoy the coal in your stocking.

(2) The inductees for the 2010 class of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were announced, and making it were Genesis, The Hollies, Jimmy Cliff, The Stooges....and ABBA. ABBA...who woulda thunk it? The Stooges were a precursor to punk rock, Jimmy Cliff was a reggae pioneer, Genesis began as prog- rockers but became a megastar arena rock band, and the Hollies were one of the most successful bands from the British Invasion. I know ABBA sold a ton of records, and were big worldwide (and held Godlike status in Australia)....but I never really saw them as a rock n' roll band. They were musically talented and the four members were obviously attractive- but I always saw them as like bubble gum for bigger kids. I will admit this; I liked Frida's Something's Going On, I thought it was a tremendous record....but Genesis' Phil Collins played and sang on it, and was its co producer (with Hugh Padgham)- and it had a Phil Collins feel to it more than an ABBA sound. And I was admittedly a big fan of Genesis and of Phil Collins.

I'm still wondering what KISS has to do to finally be inducted, as well as the most progressive of all the prog-rockers, YES (in all of their various incarnations)

(3). Many years ago I met The Hollies in a hotel I was working at in New Jersey. It was a reunion tour they were doing in the early 1980's, and they were scheduled to play Great Adventure in Jackson. Graham Nash hadn't arrived yet, but Tony Hicks, Bobby Elliot, and Allan Clarke showed up early, right after lunchtime. The problem was they were hungry and wanted something to eat, and our dining room closed until dinnertime, roughly three hours later. I was not even the front desk manager....I was something like the assistant front desk manger's apprentice or something even lower than that, but I took it on myself to keep the dining room open, and coerced the telephone operator to watch the front desk while I cooked up some food for The Hollies.

A few hours later, I got called into my general manager's office to explain "by what authority did I keep the dining room open?". My boss, "Mr. G", usually had a demeanor like an SS officer with a bad case of hemorrhoids- that was on his good days.

My only response to Mr. G was...."B-b-b-but- those guys are THE HOLLIES!!!"

Mr. G was not amused. My career at that hotel was doomed from that point on...

No big deal. The food sucked there anyway. And no health care...there we go again.

(4). This is a quick version of Quick Hits...mainly because I've spent hours Christmas shopping today, and have driven a lot of miles....and quite frankly, I'm more than a little out of gas. One more time, congrats to the Rock and Roll HOF inductees.

And Joe Lieberman....you are morphing into the Grinch.