Rockin' It Through August

Hey peeps... been awhile... AGAIN!
Anyway... just trying to make August go as slow as possible so I can spend my last waning days of freedom from the daily grind in peace and happiness.

Last couple weeks....
Attended and played at the Shnag-Dang-Doodle.... a party very similar to Tomten located down in way West Duluth - or Fon du Lac... whichever... we had a great time and helped fry the keg!

Sid and Mark "The Stalwart" Macham rockin' the djembe...


Nice night shot of the "stage" with Colleen Myhre doin' her thing....


Caught the Hoghed Festival fireworks in Proctor, MN last night... as always a great show!

Other than that... just livin' the dream!

Garden tomatoes.... the yellow ones are "Lemon Boys" and are yellow when ripe... just so ya know... DellMarie gave some to one of her clients last summer and she let them sit on her counter to ripen cuz she was waiting for them to turn red... won't happen... they're awesome tomatoes though! Made salsa today!!! YEAH!



Cover of the week... very short snipet of some half-assed pep band doing a cover of Waiting Room by Fugazi at a kickball tourney ... the guitarist is LOST but I'm LOVIN' IT! In a word... inspiring!

Hey Hey...
Wrapping up July with the 7th annual (if my memory serves)... FREE RANGE FILM FESTIVAL right here in Wrenshall, Minnesota. In fact, we have to drive about 2.5 miles to get to the barn where they show the films... that's right... the BARN!
Not sure you can find any other independent (or dependent for that matter) film fest held in an actual barn. So this is special for sure.
Took in some nice films - a couple highlights included a documentaries on a hockey mom from a suburb of the Twin Cities who gave up her 9 to 5 and became a stay at home mom but supplemented the family income by hosting sex toy parties at night... or the doc on the 69-year old "Cocksman" dubbed "Dynamic Tom" who talked explicitly about his sexual exploits and desires... imagine your grandpa talking about bangin' chicks and shaved you know whats... wow!
A doc on the co-founder of Jelly Belly and how he sold out and basically got SKEREWED big time... interesting... oh, and a little short on the photo archive in England and the crazy requests they get for photographs... like the Dodo Bird in the wild - never mind the Dodo went extict in the 1700's before photography was even invented... or a picture of Hitler at the 1948 Olympics???? WHAT?

And a nice addition to the event this year was a pretty entertaining band from Minneapolis-town playing outside the Barn during the breaks... complete with keys, bass, guitar, drums and ukelele...

The other ultra-cool thing about this deal is that they don't give a flying funk what you bring on it to supplement your movie watching... so most folks haul in a few brews or a jug of wine or cocktails... again, where can you do that in this freedom-filled country... Wrenshack... that's where!
The night session was packed... the entire upstairs was full - probably a good 100+ folks and they have two screens going down stairs as well... so it was well attended.
So pics from the event...

Some crazy dude in a clown wig trying to shag some film-goers in...


DellMarie, Carrie and Kenny in the Barn...


The big sceen in the barn...


The Barn outside at dusk...

Sorry...

Just needed a place to post my picture for my new Fantasy Football team... The Wrenshack Ramble....
So pay no attention unless you are a fan of the Sasquatch...

WHOA DIG-A-LYE.... It's been a while!

So we've been pouring all our energy into the big TomTEN and have been neglecting blog posts for anyone who is actually reading.

Since the big Dingwop, we've been attempting to get back to normal with some berry picking, muffin making and hay bale moving. On a sad note, in the early morning hours of the day after the party, Chloe, our oldest girl, passed on to join her siblings in the sky. She did have one helluva last night... I'm sure she had more beef brisket and table scraps than any dog should hope for. Anyway...
Our girl Chole... rest in peace...


A few pics from the big TomTEN party...








The other big news is that I did even more damage to my hand yesterday... as the folks know who made it to TomTEN... as I was preparing the beef brisket I was gonna put on the grill at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday... I was slicing some fat off the thing and sliced my pointer finger on my guitar fretting hand... and then I fire up the grill at 4:30 in the a.m. and about a half hour later I go to open a vent, not thinking the thing is hot as hellfire... and psssssssss... that's the sound of a finger burning... the same pointer finger... so I had to super glue (no shit) my finger in order to play that night... anyway, so I was washing out a glass I make cocktails in and the whole bottom busts out of it and in the confusion, I slit my finger wide open across the top knuckle... no doubt I could have used stiches... but I took it like a man and wrapped it up and will tell kids about the scar years from now... this is what it looked like today...

Oh, and lastly... RASPBERRIES... this is just the crop from the back little patch... not the big garden patch... so yeah... the berries are freakin' HUGE! Like little strawberries! Can you tell I'm excited???

The Wrenshack Victory Garden

So this year has been probably the best year for the ole garden in quite some years. We have corn that is knee high by the 4th of July... eating lots of radishes already... tomatoes are on the vine... peas are climbing the fence... squash is beginning to squash it... and DellMarie ate her first two raspberries of the season today!
So... a couple pictures...

DellMarie with a bunch of radishes...


And DellMarie with the "Popster"...


And DellMarie finding her way out of the raspberry patch... she walked into it 2 days ago and finally made her way out today!


And tongiht... a 2-fer... following up with the regular guy does good with a cover...
First up... for all you old-skool Van Halen fans... an obscure gem... Big Bad Bill Is Sweet William Now... Major props to the psuedo horn solo!!


And another blast from the past from the same cat... so good I couldn't resist... I LOVE HALL & OATES... And obviously I'm not afraid to admit it... once I tried to play a early H&O greatest hits tape that Mama D bought me at some Esko garage sale and everybody at the party - including my sister - told me to shut it down!! WHAT THE HELL??
So this one's for all you Hall & Oates haters...

The Countdown Is On!

Officially less than 2 weeks out from the big TomTEN!
Excitement abounds!
Final preperations are being made... new guitar strings have been purchased... tunes are being frantically practiced... lawns will be mowed... or at least our lawn will be mowed... the Love Log is being prepared for loving and giving love... beers are being chilled... well not quite yet but...

So a new twist on the song of the week... going with the cover of the week... some wanna-be rock-star... much like me... decides to cover a tune and throw it up on YouTube... so I'm gonna pick what I think are top-notch covers... for the underdogs of the world...
Let's get it rollin' with...

Not much happenin' here... just ramping up for TomTEN...
Oh, a fun addition to the festivities will be the famous LOVE LOG!
I know I've professed my affinity for it already but be prepared to take your picture kissing/hugging/caressing/feeling-up the storied Wrenshack LOVE LOG... it will bring your lovingness a special something you can't get anywhere else... it's the Northwoods Viagra!!


And a couple new pictures of Fin... he's still most happy when he is carrying something around... so happy!!!



Alright... So I tried and tried to find a decent live vid of this tune but was unable... so you get a big nothing for visual but the Felice Bros got it happenin... check it out...