Sound Track 2 Your Like; Rock Me Mamma Like a Wagon Wheel

I have a page on this blog dedicated to one of the best things... MUSIC 

The soundtrack to my life where now its not current but give me a week or so...

Come on, who doesn't wish for those special times in their life they could have a little Grey's Anatomy music playing softly in the back ground as they did the voice over where they could say just the right thing, at just the right time...

Who hasn't had a night go perfect with someone, that led to a special kiss, who will be transported back in time, even years latter when you hear that song, your mind drifts back to that night, the song will trigger other senses, you are able to smell the fall in the air, taste the sweetness of the night, feel that persons embrace.... all because of the image that song conjures up in one's mind.... Who that reads this won't related to the song "Brown Eyed Girl" to that Julia Roberts movie "Sleeping with the Enemy" 

For guys, I know others will relate to going back to college in the fall and hearing the song "The Boys are Back in Town" .... Yeah every guy with their bud's have had a TOTAL ENTOURAGE moment with this song.... memories become burned into your permeant memory with certain songs....


Guys, everyone has bought the Sarah McLaughlin album because some chick they were interested was just SOOOO into that "Arms of a Angel" song... 


Well these are the reasons I have to share the sound track to my life on this blog... Todays song ....
comes from a recent experience in Nashville, Tennessee... 


I have been to Nashville a couple of times now, but never there to experience the "NITE LIFE" and last month I planed a night out... and it was was amazing however it could have been my guide of the city ...

My lovely friend Casey was a great host and showed me all the hot spots and what made this night memorable and slightly magical was the the atmosphere in the town this night, now my guide lives close to Nashville and informed me that most nights were pretty much the same, if you chose to enjoy a laid back style and enjoy the city it was a blast...Now their was more then a fair share of DRUNK college girls with body parts fixing to make surprise appearances, and more then enough guys with big muscles in graphic tee's looking for a fight like the cast of Jersey Shore looks for tanning lotion....

"Broadway" The main street in on "Music Row", where all the hot spots are, just shuts down and folks roam the streets, if your a people watcher... this place is a paradise for you.

Both of us are people watchers, so she taught me 

a new game (....Now don't worry I am getting to the music, but if you have been reading this blog long you know you must indulge me some leniency in getting to the point.....) This game is called "Who's Getting a Deal" .... You'll love it, we all have seen those couples in public, they seem to be most prevalent at the mall around Christmas and at the local fairs and festivals. One is much more attractive then the other, and we have seen it both ways, a very attractive girl and a very average looking, maybe even slovenly looking guy, or the really handsome fellow and the plain below average girl.... The smart beautiful girl with the drunk slacker with no goals... Ok, I am probably sounding like a ass as your read this but you've all done this, you have judged the outward appearance of a couple and thought, hmmm they really don't look like they "fit" together, Well in this situation, some one is getting the deal.... 

The game is played by picking out a "Mutt & Jeff" Looking couple, and playing pretend... You imagine the scenario that brought them together..... just make stuff up and the more wild and outlandish the story, the more fun it is..... but I will warn you, if you giggle to much folks might think your KRAZY. 

~ On to the song ~

Well the song ends up on my soundtrack from this night is most defiantly just a great, feel good song..... That night we seemed to hear the song covered in every bar, by every band and it was Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show.... Love this song... Now not really being a drinker, I was stone cold sober and was high just on the atmosphere that surrounded me. The song has the "Sway" to it, you just can't help to just "Sway" to the rhythm to it... just side to side, but your arms around the people next to you and just..... Sway....

Now looking for the video to put on here, I discovered the Old Crow music video is well Sucky ... but I did find find this young man and his band below that I really think just captures the magic of the song and the festival atmosphere that I enjoyed that night...

This young man is Nate Hall from Ontario,  Canada 

I am a strait man and can say with out a homophobic fear, these young men are beautiful, could be there boyish charm, the fact that they are so at ease in this video, the tone and texture of his voice, his sprit comes across like he is the type of guys you could visit with at the gas station or would come to your picnic with a guitar and sing songs all night by the campfire and dance with all the children letting them stand on his toes.........

I love the camera work, very nice, with the guys coming in and out of foucs but that gives it a dream "like" feel ...... Just love it ....  

Poor Elvis, he was loving every second of this.....
By the way..... that night as far as our game went, she was so getting a deal... She ask me and that was my answer ..... wouldn't you agree?

Earth Day 2012

My real job is as a Livestock Marketer and as of late I have one client who is all about Guerrilla Marketing and my creation of viral videos to promote his company.  I am really enjoying it... Well, I had this Idea for a special video promotion showing farmers as the 1st environmentalists... well it misses the mark and if I had more free time I would think this could be a very worthwhile project... one I hope to revisit .. but here is a 1st cut... and you can get the feel as a person can build off of it....Kevin Mears 2012 Earth Day Video

Healthy Cooking; Tonight Steak and Vegetables

I'm a carnivore, and my passion is a good steak. I honestly think I could eat steak every night. I know that some say red meat in excess isn't really "Heart Health" and my favorite cut is a Ribeye and maybe I should switch to a leaner cut like a filet... but the cost of a Ribeye for the favor you get... Oh my...

My doctor put me on a diet plan for weight loss.... nothing like getting your butt chewed and told you were at risk to have a Heart Attack before your 40 to get your attention... So... We (I should say "I" but I prefer to say "we" as in my stomach and I...Kinda nice to know I'm not in it alone)  have cut out all soda's, all breads, all candy.... All Starchy foods like potatoes.... I really thought that would be tough but hey, its not near as bad as I was afraid....

Bread, well thats another story... I have found these whole grain, bran wheat thin deals that I can cheat with, they seem to tame the bred hunger beast, also the occasional pretzel helps (not really allowed, but you won't tell will you?) I can have dairy but not milk..... even fruit is limited because of the sugars...

With all this said I really have got to be a big Meat & Vegetable guy..... That really is all that is left to eat... LOL

So I will enjoy being a carnivore, at my doctor's orders.

Ribeye cooked Medium with Broccoli and Cauliflower steamed with a garlic oil
lightly salted and sprinkled with mild cheddar cheese shreds.  

Love this iPhone app

Since this diet has been in effect I have dropped from 305 lbs. to 270, at one time I was down to 265.... With all my traveling its hard to stay faithful on a strict diet plan but I try...

I have found all kinds of neat iPhone and iPad apps to get acceptable meals and recipes....The Spark Recipes app pictures at right is a great one...I found a great Sloppy Joe recipe that I have to share soon, as well I LOVE CABBAGE SOUP... which is a good thing cause I always end up making way more than I think....


My Kitchen is always a mess and with my new forte into to the world of healthy cooking, it looks like a train blew though it most nights ... but you know there I really believe that cooking is one leisure that everyone should engage in... If I ever have a family I would plan to spend lots of quality time in the kitchen eating drinking while getting lost in authentic communication

Easter Post ... The Cross

I’ve got some good stuff to get to in a second but we need to tell a little back-story first…

Good Friday, the day that Christ was crucified, with out this we cant have Easter, as a child growing up Baptist I know I heard the story of the crucifixion at least a hundred times. As adult maybe another hundred times I’ll promise you sometimes of the telling of this event were particularly horrid… I know its wrong for me to think that some of the preachers or teachers receive some twisted pleasure on seeing just how much frightening imagery and appalling detail they can conjure up in the telling of the story.

We know it’s a tool they use to portray the sacrifice made for Christians to have salvation. It works quite well, like I’ve said I have heard the telling of the story hundreds of times and as adult who now understands a little bit about life and how precious life is, its not a far stretch for tears to come to my eyes.

I remember when my friend “April” (Coming Attractions) who I will be talked about in a future blog, told me, or tried to tell me of the horror, that was played out on the big screen, in the movie The Last Temptation of the Christ, with tears just streaming down her face, for what seemed like forever, describing in vivid detail how he was treated….

To me it just sounded horrible, unbearable and perhaps unwatchable. I remember being mid-twenties and thinking “Huh, my mother wants to see that, I don’t know I want her to see this, might give her nightmares….”

I always thought it was egocentric of me thinking it was my call to say a movie would be to “graphic” for a parent to watch, not just my parent but for any child to tell a parent what they could or could not watch.

If you have seen this movie you know what I am talking about its hard not to be overtook by grief, to turn your head away from the screen, to reluctantly admit to ourselves the price paid, then you have the disgust and distain for those who persecuted him.  

And honestly some misunderstanding as to what the heck happened and who was doing what, to whom and why…

Ok Let me get back on track, this isn’t about a movie review or to retell the story of the crucifixion…this is about a question that came to me during Ash Wednesday service, the question stirred when the pastor talked about how the cross has became the symbol of Christians the world over…  I thought to myself how true… that USE TO be… as a kid I was afraid if I wore a cross and I did something wrong it might burn my neck…. I never have wore necklaces, therefore I have never wore a cross, then lots of the things I’ve done I felt wearing a cross would be terribly hypocritical.

Now it seams a the cross is more of a fashion accessory than a declaration of Christianity, There is a Bling’ed – Out cross on almost everything that a woman could buy, purses, wallets, belts, boots, ear rings, the pocket of $120 “Miss Me” jeans…. You can get diner plates, electric light switch covers, doorknockers, … and hundred of other knick-knacks with crosses on them. The other day while loitering in a southwest furniture store, I saw these fifty gallon barrels filled to the top with metal crosses to use as decorations in a home, there were even table chairs with the Cross branded into the chair-backs….

A ex-girlfriend, got me a cross to hang as peace of wall art ….It is the cross pictured above… she thought I should have a cross…. she thought it was odd that I did not have a cross anywhere in my house…. Me… I thought it was odd that she looked to see if I had across in my house… no better that I pay attention some days… Heck I would have never noticed that I didn’t have a cross in my house…. I am glad she got it for me… its one of my favorite things.

I guess what I am getting at is that the cross’s image is or has became less effective…

My other thought is WHY?.....Why did it become so popular?  The cross was the ultimate form of humiliation; it was not something to be looked up to… to be admired….

No one would get a tattoo of an eclectic chair? Or wear a emblem of one around ones neck?....Would they?

The cross was punishment, it was again a sign of humiliation, where you would be poked at, spat at, and ridiculed…. then it became glorified…. Or at least it was…. Don’t get me wrong I understand, why it was glorified as a holy symbol… the stained glass in old churches with Jesus hanging from the cross… as a kid it was quite scary… least for me it was… In Catholic Churchs they have crosses who still have Jesus hanging from the it… My mother use to have a some kind of problem with that… not sure why… I don’t know if it matters.

I don’t have a real solid closing to this blog, I guess most times I start with a Idea… and by the time I get done traveling down what ever path I seem to let my mind wander…

I end up with some form of conclusion…

Not this time…

Well maybe…

On the other just might have.

I do, I have a parting thought,

“What if folks in society stopped using the cross as a decoration and started useing it as a declaration”.

Hope you had a great EASTER....

Good Friday

Today is good Friday of  passover week and that was the day of the crucifixion of Christ... and well that means for Christians, all the rotten stuff you do that you know isn't right, all the bad things you thought all the ....

Well you know what you do...

Now wether you admit those things to yourself, well thats a whole other item all together...  

But today is a very important day, because of what happened today we can have GRACE...


Hope everyone has a great day... I have a NEW POST that goes up tonight

The Last Super

It’s Holy Thursday of Easter week and I have had blog Idea’s, and theme’s just pouring out of my head for weeks, on all sorts of topics that I hope to find time to explore and expand on…. and a few of these will tie together for a Easter series  

Remember I have no agenda to my blog, it’s just a way for me to do a little self-discovery and if someone grabs something to think on, or about, that helps them… cool.

With it being Easter, several things I would like to write on but… I don’t want to focus on the things you might think would customary not wanting to sound “Churchy” or more honestly… hypocritical, but with this season, no way I can keep from expounding on certain things…

Today I would like to share a story, which was one of my mother’s favorites, which she would share around Easter. 

The story of The Last Supper, which would have, took place today,  Holy Thursday of Passover week.

No, not Jesus predicting his betrayal or the apostles denying him, not the first communion, but; The painting of The Last Supper, by Leonardo Da Vinci.

Duke Ludovico Sforza of Milan, Italy commissioned Da Vinci for the work. The paining represents The Last Super from the final days of Jesus as it is told in John 13:21. The work was painted on a wall 15 by 29 feet; this was a major undertaking and is some have the event recorded to have taken better than seven years to complete…

Think about this, if you or I told a client a project would take seven years to complete… We would never get the chance… Folk’s back then must have had way more patience that we do as a society now.

The story goes that Da Vinci searched personally for live models to represent each of the12 Apostles and Christ… Di Vinci had the models sit in the hall where the mural was panted. For each person in the painting a model would have set for about six months while his likeness was created to represent someone in the painting.

The first person Da Vinci sought out was a model of Jesus, who, the story tells was quite difficult to find…Because of the artists desire to find a model who was not only beautiful to represent the Son Of Man, but someone who was pure of heart, and whose life was not scared by sin, the story goes that hundreds and hundreds of men were carefully viewed before the young man who would serve as the model of Jesus was decided on…..

Kind of like the modern day casting call…guessing none of them had 8x10 glossy headshots however….

Da Vinci found who he was looking for in a young man, 19 years of age whom he models Christ’s likeness off of. For six months he stared upon his face studying the shape and contour of his face to transpose it to the mural.

After the likeness of Jesus was complete the artist continued the process of painting each the twelve apostles, one by one until the last to be completed was the image of Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus with a kiss, for thirty pieces of silver.

Da Vinci wanted a special model for Judas just like with Jesus, he searched at length for just the right model whose image would allow for a likeness that would show the soul of the man who would betray his best friend, then sink into state of madness, and who would take his own life for the evil he committed.  The search was for a man who was hard of heart and callous, whose face would be marked with scars, whom had deceit and treachery written on his face.

Word came to Da Vinci the man he sought was murderous, drunkard whose life was filled with crime and evil acts and was imprisoned in Rome, and that he was to be put to death soon for his crimes.

Upon arrival at the dungeon, the monster he had heard about was lead out for him to see, bound in chains and heavy guarded. In a glance the artist saw what he had envisioned, this was the person who he was searching.

This prisoner was dark and swarthy, he possessed cold, dead, eyes, long and unkempt hair partially covered his face, which cast the image of man whose life was in complete and utter ruin.

With permission from the king and under heavy guard the prisoner was taken to Milan and sat in the hall where the mural was being painted. Armed guards watched over him every moment in fear he might try to escape his fate. After six months under Di Vinci’s eye fixed on him as the master spent this time replicating the mans face and transferring his likeness to the painting, he took his last brush stroke and proclaimed he was finished then the artist turned to the guards and instructed them to remove the prisoner….

The prisoner suddenly broke lose from his bondage and the guards control, and rushed to Da Vinci crying and speaking for the first time  “Oh Da Vinci Look at me! Do you not know who I am? ….. Da Vinci look him up and down, the artist was taken back and perhaps even in fear for his own existence. We might imagine that his mind raced as he strained to remember who this was or how he would have ever known this monster.

Da Vinci Shouted  “No, I have never seen you in my life, until that day in Rome where you were led from the dungeon”

The prisoner fell to the ground weeping…. And said “O God have I fallen so low?” Then lifting his head to the painter he cried out “Leonardo Da Vinci, look at me again for I am the same man you painted years ago as the figure of Jesus Christ.”

This man who just a few years prior had been perceived and painted as the likeness of Christ had turned to a life a crime, had became a cheat a drunkard and a murder was now resembled the perceived likeness of the most notorious character for that time, in the known world….

As I said in the being my mother loved this story… or should I say she loved telling ME this story. She was a preachers kid, and well, I don’t doubt she knew full well the trouble her son could get into if left to his own accord… It was for sure a cautionary tail meant to detour me from trouble…

You can look on the Internet and find articles calming this to be a true story and others denying its truthfulness…. But you can find claims online that will convince you Elvis, John Lennon, and Amelia Airhart are alive and well playing cards in a shared Cabana somewhere in the Caribbean….

Just as the man in the story fell into a life of trouble and trials, wrong decisions and taking the wrong path that can happen to us… but because of the events we celebrate at Easter a person can change the road or path their on…

This reminds me of a poem I heard in High School that I have never forgotten…. 

The Touch of the Masters Hand 

'Twas battered and scarred,
And the auctioneer thought it
hardly worth his while
To waste his time on the old violin,
but he held it up with a smile.

"What am I bid, good people", he cried,
"Who starts the bidding for me?"
"One dollar, one dollar, Do I hear two?"
"Two dollars, who makes it three?"
"Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three,"

But, No,
From the room far back a gray bearded man
Came forward and picked up the bow,
Then wiping the dust from the old violin
And tightening up the strings,
He played a melody, pure and sweet
As sweet as the angel sings.

The music ceased and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said "What now am I bid for this old violin?"
As he held it aloft with its' bow.

"One thousand, one thousand, Do I hear two?"
"Two thousand, Who makes it three?"
"Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
Going and gone", said he.

The audience cheered,
But some of them cried,
"We just don't understand."
"What changed its' worth?"
Swift came the reply.
"The Touch of the Masters Hand."

And many a man with life out of tune
All battered with bourbon and gin
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd
Much like that old violin

A mess of pottage, a glass of wine,
A game and he travels on.
He is going once, he is going twice,
He is going and almost gone.

But the Master comes,
And the foolish crowd never can quite understand,
The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought
By the Touch of the Masters' Hand.
Myra Brooks Welch

Palm Sunday

Hey everyone...

Hope today was great for you with Palm Sunday as Easter is just a week away!

Next weekend is Easter and if you don't have anyplace to go, let me invite you to Easter at UD Arena.

Stay tuned

New blog posts uploaded tomorrow on the blog ... be sure to stay tuned... been real busy with my real Job ... kinda feel like this poor fellow looks..