HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN, MD

Last Saturday, Ak, myself and Jeffe (our weekend guest) headed south on Route 1 to Rising Sun, MD, to the home of one of my best buddies, Bobby, for a BBQ. Bobby and I met in the early 90's during my 6 year corporate stint at MBNA. We had a "crew" that we rolled with daily, and we called ourselves the DBS ... the Dirty Bankers Society. I can't tell you the fun we used to have ripping it up in DE and MD-our exploits can still be heard about in the bowels of the Blue Wing-our MBNA domain.

Anyway, Bobby, his wife Kathy and their 2 boys, Vincent and Marcus, built their dream home in Rising Sun last year. Bobby and Kathy were both born and raised there. Bobby's family has tons of land due to their mushroom farm, so all of their family members have built there homes on their vast acres, and it is awesome-an actual dynasty. The crops surrounding Bobby's house are all corn...think Field of Dreams and Signs...cool but creepy. He calls it his green fence.



There were about 15-20 young-uns running around. As you see in the pictures, there was a huge blow-up waterslide, and the Disney Princess castle moonwalk. We all wished that we were under 10 again and could run around in our bathing suits all day, because it was HOT!



There was an adult volleyball tournament, which got funnier as the sun went down and the players got more intoxicated. I tried to play, but Coach Ak pulled me out-he knew I would bust my hiney!

















It gets pitch black down there at night, and the stars were amazing to see without any city haze. We had a bonfire, smores and ghost stories, and JGlow herself got a little scared around all that corn :) It was such a great day, and I got to see alot of old co-workers that I haven't seen since '99. It was quite something to see all the "boys" with their wives and kids ... funny what happens in 7 years!

DELCO IDOL

Last Wednesday, July 5, myself, CNN, PinF, Sophie, Matt, PinF-mama, Lynn and Jerry attended the first round of Delco Idol at the Media Theatre. There were 30 singers ranging in age from 14 to 21. In the program, Idol is described as an "outreach program for area young people who are interested in theatre and the performing arts". Therefore, it differed a great deal from the TV show; 95% of the performers sang show tunes from current and moldy oldy shows (ie: Wicked, Aida, West Side Story, Thoroughly Modern Milly). We only got to hear 4 "modern" songs, and they are the ones we remember the most.







CNN and Sophie before the show starts!









Sophie was an excellent judge of the singers-we rated each with a thumbs up, down, or waving in the middle. The critique most heard from Sophie was "his/her voice was too pitchy". Look out Paula Abdul-we have your replacement ready!

Sophie's fave was Erika Graham, who did a great rendition of Alicia Key's "Fallin". I liked Dan Wolf, who also played guitar during his song, as well as Jamai who did a great John Legend song. We met a few of them after the show, and got some pictures taken, and got the chance to shake hands and congratulate those moving on the the next round...it felt very Hollywood!


Sophie and Erika










Dan Wolf and Sophie











Now, there were some Seinfeld moments during the event...the straining button, the guy starring in the Media Theatre production of West Side Story whose notes were flatter than a pancake, the beanpole with the blackbelt that sang like a Vienna Boys Choir member, to the last performer who was singing in English, but made it seem like a strange foreign language. Lynn and Jerry had to remove theselves during the first part of the show because they got the giggles so bad! However, the bottom line is that these kids got up there and did their thing, and that was amazing to watch, and now Sophie wants to attend their summer theatre program....that's what it is all about.

The night was a total success, beginning with dinner at Sligo with the Pinfers and Pinf-mama, to the after party (Sligos again!) where we recapped the highs and lows of each performer. Due to some of the atrocious clothing that these kids wore, I may offer up my fashion services for free to help some of these kids out...we couldn't believe that some of the performers had parents that actually let them out in public in those outfits! Bad pantyhose, leggings, 80's prom dresses....and most of the girls looked 40 with the make-up they had on. Like I said, I may have a new job calling!

Thanks, Sophie for our tickets to Idol...a great time was had by all of us, and I know we'll always remember that night! Missing the Pinfers already, and can't wait until we see them again...Ciao!


The Girlz, enjoying ourselves @ Sligo