Has anyone been to Seattle before? I never have and neither has Kim, but that will change come the end of this month. We’ll be staying in Seattle for two nights before heading off to the Gorge and I need some advice. The most important thing is figuring out where to stay. I’ll probably use priceline to book the trip and therefore I’m betting that we’ll want to be in the downtown zone, but let me know if there are other places to consider. We also need to decide on what we should do while there, taking into account that we only have one full day there. Is the Space Needle worth going up? What about Pike Place Market? Someone help!

Well there was at least one good thing resulting from my trip to Cincinnati, I was able to pickup an extra window air conditioner unit that was sitting in my parents’ basement. I believe that I mentioned before how hot the upstairs of the house can get, but it’s worth mentioning again. The bedroom can stay a little cooler as long as we keep the door closed and fans on. On the other hand, the office is the hottest room in the house. I’m sure the dark brown wall color doesn’t help, and neither do the two computers and the basking light for the turtle tank. So we are in the process of solving this problem using the air conditioner unit. We installed the unit in one of the windows in the office last night. Now we need to decide if it is powerful enough for the entire upstairs, or if we would be better closing the office door as well to keep the cool air in there. This will require some trial and error.

Speaking of the heat, what is up with this summer? It seems hotter than any other summer of the past. And I don’t think it’s just a Kansas City or Cincinnati area problem, just look at this current US map from weather.com. The entire eastern half of the US is colored red! And even when we get a break from the heat, the rain always comes with it and ruins the better temperatures. This is why I haven’t played tennis in weeks, the weather is permanently crappy.

I think my Dad said it best when he wrote the following, which appeared inside of the program at the funeral.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our family and friends who have helped us make a better place for Bryan. With your support and encouragement we were able to provide Bryan with everything he needed. The love and dedication showed towards Bryan was so overwhelming no matter where we went. We can’t thank everyone enough for the wonderful well wishes and gifts we have received during this challenging time. As we struggle with our loss, we are comforted in knowing all the people who have touched Bryan’s life.

Bryan is a unique individual who can break your heart with a simple crooked smile. We have so many fond memories of Bryan to take with us wherever we go. We are so thankful for the years we have been blessed with Bryan’s love in our lives.

He will forever be in our dreams, it is there where he can be free of all his handicaps and be the normal nineteen year old that he deserves to be. We love him so much and miss him so much already. We can always remember the great times he has given us, and the ways he taught us all to be better.

Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts,

Ed, Claire, Ed Jr., and Tim

I am back in Kansas City after making the drive back last night. The few days that I spent in Cincinnati were full of so many different emotions and it was pretty hard to leave. Please continue to keep my family in your thoughts, at least until they leave this coming weekend to spend a week at the beach. :)

If you didn’t already know, I’m back in Cincinnati for the next few days. There’s not much that I can say right now, perhaps that will change with time. Please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers…

Bryan Robert Paff
May 14, 1987 – July 25, 2006
Loveland, Ohio

Visitation: Family and friends will be received on Friday from 6 to 8 pm. July 28, 2006 at Tufts Schildmeyer Family Funeral Home 129 N. Riverside Dr. Loveland, Ohio 45140
Funeral Service: Mass of Christian Burial will be held 11 am. Saturday July 29, 2006 at St Columban Catholic Church 894 Oakland Rd. Loveland, Ohio 45140
Interment: at Gate Of Heaven Cemetery Montgomery, Ohio

Beloved son of Edward J. and Claire (Busch) Paff Sr. Loving brother of Edward J. Paff Jr. and Timothy C. Paff. Grandson of William and Lorraine (Grafe) Busch and the late Clarence and Monica (Knue) Paff. Survived by many aunts, uncles, cousins, and dear friends.

Attended the Thomas A. Wildey School in Batavia

The family requests memorial gifts in Bryan’s memory be directed to the Thomas A. Wildey P.T.A. c/o Lisa Davis P.O. Box 156 Batavia, Ohio 45103 OR the St. Joseph Home Respite Center 10722 Wyscarver Rd. Cincinnati, Ohio 45241

As I mentioned a couple of months ago, the Cincinnati Bengals will be visiting Kansas City to open up the 2006-07 season against the Chiefs. Luckily for us (including 24 other people) our group ticket order is officially confirmed for the game! The “bengal growl” will be making a return to Arrowhead Stadium on September 10th. I’m hoping for better results than the game that took place on January 1st of this year, but regardless of the outcome this weekend will be another one to remember forever.

If you are one of the lucky ones who will be joining us watch for an email from me later today. Now that we have tickets it is time to knock out some of the other details of the trip. I promise that a return trip to Gates will NOT be in the itenerary. I think everyone had enough “burnt ends” the last time we went.

Over the weekend I finally gained some key Kansas City knowledge, how to use a smoker for cooking. Our friend Todd gave us a smoker shortly after we moved into our house. He won it on eBay and then realized that he had nowhere to put it at his apartment complex. I gladly accepted the device and even put it together, but then it sat covered and unused for many weeks. That was until this past Saturday afternoon.

I asked Phil “Dr. Brisket” Kenagy to come over and assist me in smoking a couple of chickens. We did one “beer butt chicken” and another chicken with a can of Pepsi inside. If you’ve never heard of this BBQ method, it involves a whole chicken that is resting on a can of your favorite beverage. This helps to keep the bird nice and moist and also adds even more flavor. I forgot to keep track of which was which, so I’m not sure if one was better than the other, but I must say that it was all very tasty.

After a pool party up at Woodside we had a little after party at our house. Kim and Amy, who was in town for the weekend and desperately needs to update her blog, put together lots of side dishes for the party. Everyone in attendance agreed that the chicken was really good. Phil and I think that we may have cooked it just a bit too long, but it was definitely a successful first effort. The guys over at Triple Fat Back Barbeque better watch out!

The place to be in KC tonight is the City Market, as long as you aren’t afraid of a little rain. Don’t worry, you won’t melt. My boys O.A.R. will make it all worth it. Who am I kidding? Almost everyone who reads this that lives in KC is going to the show anyway. I’ll see you all tonight!

Don’t forget, we are having a little gathering before the show at our house. Stop by anytime after five. We’ll probably be there until around seven. If you need directions just let me know.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate. We don’t need anything like this happening.

For those of you who wanted some new tunes, here is your chance. I finally got around to cutting up the recording I made of MER‘s performance at Pig-Fest. Unfortunately it’s only the second set since I forgot to get setup before he started playing, but it does include the sing-along classic Friends In Low Places as performed by all of Pig-Fest. There are loads of good cover songs in this set and a few really good original MER songs.

I’ve uploaded the performance to archive.org where you can download the whole concert or if you prefer single files. Better yet, you can stream the entire performance using the flash interface. After clicking the link above you should see a media player in the top right corner (you must have flash installed). Just click on the first track and enjoy. I have become addicted to the streaming player while at work. I have even been going back to past recordings that I’ve uploaded to be sure that they are streaming. Be sure to look around the Live Music Archive. There are over 37,000 different recordings uploaded there.

MER
07.08.2006
Pig-Fest XIII
Loveland, OH

Taper: Ed Paff (edpaff_jr@oarsa.org)
Source: SP-CMC-4 Cardiods -> SP-SPSB-1 @ 69Hz -> Creative Nomad Jukebox 3

Conversion: Ed Paff (edpaff_jr@oarsa.org)
Equipment: Creative Nomad Jukebox 3 -> USB -> Audacity

———————————————————————
Disc 1: 43:51

01: Introduction 00:20
02: All I Want 04:12
03: Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You (Frankie Valli) 03:20
04: Moondance (Van Morrison) 05:06
05: Tina Lynn 04:37
06: Rocket Man (Elton John) 04:17
07: Home <-> No Woman No Cry / Three Little Birds (Bob Marley) 07:36
08: Solid Love -> 05:10
09: Angel (Shaggy) -> The Joker (Steve Miller) 04:22
10: Champagne Supernova -> Wonderwall (Oasis) 04:47

Disc 2: 41:19

01: Introduction 01:08
02: Thank You Tease (Led Zeppelin) 00:58
03: Nice And Slow (Usher) -> 01:23
04: Seven Days (Craig David) 03:34
05: In Your Eyes (Peter Gabriel) 07:47
06: Kiss (Prince) 05:47
07: Here Comes The Rain Again (Eurythmics) 04:44
08: Every Rose Has It’s Thorn (Poison) 05:05
09: Revealed 06:04
10: Friends In Low Places (Garth Brooks) * 04:45
———————————————————————

Notes:
MER played an earlier set that was not recorded. There was also another
partial track at the end of this set, but it was left off as it was incomplete.
* Unplugged with all of Pig-Fest. Volume was increased (normalized).

Compiled by Ed Paff on 07.20.2006

This weekend we also got together with many of our friends to celebrate the recent engagement of Amanda and Joel. In case you may have forgotten, Amanda and Kim work together, not for the same company but their respective companies do work together. Their wedding will take place just less than a year from now on July 8th, 2007. Amanda was concerned when she thought that Pig-Fest was on the same day every year. Contrary to that belief, we’ve never had it on the same day in it’s thirteen years of existence. So around this time next year we should be making a trip to North Carolina (or was it South Carolina?) for their wedding.

Our night of celebrating took place at O’Dowd’s on the plaza, the site of their first date. Before Saturday night I don’t think I’ve been on the plaza since we moved to our house. It was nice to make a return, especially since the bars are so close. The roof-top deck wasn’t too packed, probably due to the recent heat wave, so we sat outside for most of the night and had many celebratory drinks.

Speaking of heat waves, is anyone else sick of this crap? The upstairs of our house has been hitting 90 degrees or higher for the past few days. Our little air conditioner can’t keep up. Help!

Last Friday night I finally saw Rusted Root for the first time. I’ve been a fan of theirs since high school at which time I would listen to the “When I Woke” CD before almost every hockey game. The mix of intense percussion songs and laid back acoustic songs was the perfect mix for my pre-game warm-up. Kim has also been a fan of the band since around the same time as well, so it was a no-brainer when making the decision to go.

Unfortunately the show was at the Beaumont Club, my least favorite venue in all of KC. Luckily Zox, a band from the east coast that I’ve seen a few times before, was opening the show adding even more reasons to go.

The show was awesome and the crowd at the Beaumont was not too big, which made the show even more enjoyable. Zox played very well and I was pumped to finally take Kim to her first show of theirs. She loves the studio CDs and enjoyed their show just as much. After the Zox set, Rusted Root took the stage playing three songs off of the previously mentioned CD. They followed it up with a song I wasn’t too familiar with but then immediately after that played their biggest hit to date, “Send Me On My Way.” All in all they played every song I wanted to hear and spaced them between the lesser known songs (at least for me). It was a perfect night of music. I’m not sure why it took me so long to see these guys, but it won’t take me as long to see them again, that’s for sure.

A big thanks to my friends who went to Bonnaroo this year and encouraged me to go to this show after seeing Rusted Root perform a set of almost all older songs at the festival.

Update: My recording of Rusted Root can be found here.