I took a page out of the Dave Matthews book with the title of this post. If your a fan of the band, you’ll get it. If not, sometimes when they can’t come up with a good title they just call it the number song they wrote.

Since I last posted some brain dribble our government passed some fairly historical legislation. I have to say I’m happy our country has decided to take a step in the right direction to provide a basic need for all Americans and not just those who can afford it. Sadly though, I feel it’s a baby step. I have no party affiliations, and I’m registered to one but I am of a full independent mindset. My problem with the current bill, is that it’s not good enough. It’s not good enough because the silly children who operate in the US government all have different agendas. Sadly, those agendas don’t put the best interests of the majority of heir constituents first. In my honest, struggling middle class opinion, our elected officials only have themselves and their retirement pensions first.

I do not think the new health care bill covers enough or provides enough or does enough. I think we need to look at what our friends in England and Canada and use what they have as a blueprint. Spare me your scare tactic crap about quality of care. The people in those nations are doing fine. We are America and we are the richest nation in the world and we need to put our money where our mouths are. We can do better, if there is a better. We can spend a few less dollars invading other countries and put that money into the people that live here. Money seems to flow to the major corporations that pay for campaigns and then to the “retired” politicians after their “service” is done.

Funny how that service never gets done. Why do multi-millionaire and even billionaire’s ever get into politics. They have power already. The answer seems simple. These super rich and elite are protecting their interests. Some ideas to return the government to the people are as follows:

• Term limits (3 of any kind in any order but includes senate, congress, potus so do 1 of each to reach your 3)
• No tenures or pensions (unless they participate in a 401k like the rest of us). Although they do protect those that steal from 401k’s. Let them buy the same retirement plans as the rest of us.
• Participate in Social Security. Maybe if they’re non-pension asses paid in like the rest of us, they might do a better job of protecting it.
• No more pay raises unless the will of the people says so. I tried voting my own raise at work at I was not obliged. Matter of fact, I took a pay cut 18 months ago and still haven’t gotten it back.
• No more “socialized” free health care for legislators. They can buy their own just like the rest of us.
• Abide by the same laws as the rest of us. Think if one of us yelled “baby killer” in a courtroom or house floor we would have been able to walk out without a free pair of bracelets and an escort?

These are just a few ideas. Really the goal is to stop the money trails of lobbyists and indirect or direct pay offs.

Alright, there’s my political rant for a while. Just my opinions here. I don;t think we need big government or full on true capitalism. I think we need a balanced mixture of both where everyone has the best interests of the country and people they serve. Stop buying bombs and whatever else your biggest contributors are selling and start simple. Like say, books. Pump up our education system and you’ll see the economy get better. It all starts there.

Soon my site will be getting a badly needed makeover, I look forward to unveiling it. I also look forward to a week off work ad seeing many friends and family along the way. So if you live in Birmingham or Atlanta, we’ll be in your neck of the woods.

Until then, and in the spirit of my post, here is a fitting song by Mr. Folds. I promise I listen to other performers. This song just fits.

So last night I got to see Ben Folds and his piano at the House of Blues here in Orlando. Go ahead and read that first line again. If you’ve been around here for any amount of time, you’ll know I love Mr.Folds and his craft. Way back in the day I wrote the dinner party post and Mr. Folds was my number two person named. I know I said no particular order, but he would certainly be there regardless of how many I could have.

Anyway, this show was different from the last time I saw him live. This time it was Ben Folds sans his band, and just his piano was on stage this time. The level of awesomeness was no different. We got to hear some new songs, some songs no one knew he ever wrote but had funny stories behind, and of course he played all the songs we came to sing along with. He even dazzled us all with a blues version of his famous improv song, Rock This Bitch. The only thing about this song that remains the same is the name of it. Hands down this is the version I wish I could have seen in person, only I live pretty far away from where it was done.

What made this show great though was the venue. The house of blues is by far one of my favorite places to see a show. The inside is intimate, and the decor is really cool, but its the sound inside that makes it so great. It’s located in Disney World so it has many perks simply because of its location. I have seen many shows there and never been disappointed. I will suggest if the show is sold out, and you don’t do the pass the line program, try to hang out upstairs. Down on the floor, unless you get right up front, can get a little crowded. However, if you do pass the line there are a few booths upstairs that you can sit down in and that is by far the best way to see a show here. Well, I’m too old to stand and dance around now, so that’s just my opinion. Plus I don’t dance. Seriously, I just don’t unless its an amazingly special occasion, I’ve had lots to drink, or its with my babies. Bars all around on the inside and did I mention how great the acoustics are? Seriously, they are awesome. I once heard Gavin DeGraw sing the chorus of Sexual Healing without any microphone or instruments and his voice boomed through the venue and I was standing in the back.

My perspective for the first 2 songs and pretty much the entire second half of the show was this.

Sorry for the crooked pic, I had about 40 others that I actually lost when I was downloading them last night. I was pissed. Yes Jon, I even lost the paper airplane pic. All I have remaining of him performing was my artsy angled shot. I also hate how my phone seems to back up from the actual point of the shot. I was actually close enough to read the name New Balance on his sneakers and ALMOST make out the set list on his Steinway & Sons piano. The other cool thing was if I looked straight down, I was dead even with the edge of the stage. So there was a cool effect of hearing the audience the same way as Ben did. Applause sounds better that way I must say. If everyone was quiet, I could have had a chat with him without yelling.

I also purposely requested we sit on this side of him because I wanted to watch him play and that was really impressive. Damn can that guy play.

I got to be there because of someone I know. No, this post was not sponsored by anyone. All these opinions are genuinely my own. Thanks to the magic of facebook, I was ale to reconnect with an old friend. Someone who lived at the end of my block and someone I hung out with every day. She was always my friend and we had not seen each other for 18 years until this night. She just happened to work there and was able to get me and my best friend into the show. Sadly, the wife couldn’t come because we had no sitter and Ben Folds is not someone I will miss for anything. Still though, it was really awesome seeing my old friend again. Chatting about memories of the old neighborhood was lots of fun mixed in with the catch up conversations. At least what we could get in between songs and sets. We will not wait another 18 years to hang out again and I look forward to introducing her to my family. She was definitely one of my best friends and we hadn’t seen each other since we were awkwardly 15.

Naturally, I cannot thank her enough for the Ben Folds tickets. I love Ben Folds. Whats even better is I have been able to reconnect with an old friend. Once again we are neighbors just not on the same street. We’ve actually been neighbors again in the same city for several years, but we just never knew until a month or so ago. How cool is that? Thanks Internet!

I will leave you with my theme song that was written and performed by Ben Folds. Uncensored. He drops the F bomb so mind your volume if at work. But with the f bomb, it is my theme song.

No, I’m not joining the army. Although I would like to go through boot camp, just to do it. Call me crazy, but I want to get whipped into that kind of shape and I am intrigued by the challenge. Perhaps though, my body is too old to handle it. I know, I’m still young. But I am sore all over right now. Yesterday I played hockey in a higher than my normal league and played really well. I lost 12-2, but I say I played really well because I made 46 saves. Yes, 58 shots came my way including 2 or 3 three man breakaways. I stopped one of those 3. Tonight I played soccer. It’s the playoffs so if we won our first game we had our second game against a team with a first round bye IMMEDIATELY following. We won the first match 1-0 and then lost the second match by the same score. We played really well, but alas, our season ended for 2 whole weeks.

Tomorrow night I will see one of my most favorite artists. He’ll be performing without his band, just him and his piano and I cannot wait. None of you came through for a sitter so my wife cannot come. Sad she cannot be with me, but I’ll be with my best bud of many years and the tickets came courtesy of an old friend. An old neighbor I don’t think I’ve seen since my sophomore year in high school. So I look forward to seeing my old friend again and perhaps catching up a little bit. For your enjoyment, here is one of my favorite songs Mr. Folds plays live.