MH400 Watt.

That's a big ass light bulb. Picked it. Now I have to figure out what to do with it.

Read more!

Jeff's Fav Xmas Albums. "Merry Christmas, Johnny Mathis".

I love Christmas and I love Christmas songs. So - here are my favorite 10 Christmas albums. No particular order so I didn't number them - just the album title.

 

Let's start with "Merry Christmas, Johnny Mathis" (1958), produced by Mitch Miller. You'll notice some of these albums are dated - that's because I listened to them every Christmas season with my parents and Brother Jas growing up. I'll try to include a Spotify link, or you can peruse the Internet and find it on your own.

Johnny Mathis – Merry Christmas

Notice this is an ALBUM list - not a SONG list. Some of my favorite tunes are omitted as they don't appear on any of these albums. I'll give you an a few examples:

Anything by Dean Martin, including "Marshmellow World".
Anything by Frank Sinatra, including, "Have Yourself A Merry Christmas".
"The Christmas Song", Nat King Cole
"Do They Know It's Christmas", Band Aid
"You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch", How the Grinch Stole Christmas
"Happy Xmas (War is Over)", John Lennon & Yoko Ono
"Blue Christmas", Elvis
"Merry Christmas, Everybody", Slade
"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day", Wizzard
"Wonderful Christmas Time", Paul McCartney
"Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", Gene Autry
"Holly Jolly Christmas", Burl Ives
"Little Saint Nick", The Beach Boys
"I Believe in Father Christmas", Greg Lake
"Sleigh Ride", Leroy Anderson
"Ring Christmas Bells", Ray Conniff & The Ray Conniff Singer

All songs - not albums. As I progress through the list, I'll recap the previous albums. Oh - I know you have your favorites as well. These are mine. Season's Greetings!

Read more!

TGIF! presents...Thank you, Mr. Brubeck

Jazz legend/pianist/composer Dave Brubeck passed away Wednesday - a day shy of his 92nd birthday. His most famous piece, "Take 5", written by writing partner/saxophonist Paul Desmond in 1959 (Desmond was a member of The Dave Brubeck Quartet), is considered a jazz standard - my favorite jazz tune and still fucking radical.

Take a listen.

.

Read more!

Happy Birthday, Dennis!

The only surfer in The Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson (brother to Carl and Brian) banged the drums harder than anyone, according to legendary session drummer Hal Blaine. Hard to believe Denny would've been 68 today. Many consider him the heart and soul of The Beach Boys, lost at the early age of 39. He's my favorite of the "Boys...we never met but I have met two of his sons and one ex-wife (Barbara) on a couple occasions and I knew another ex-wife, model/actress Karen Lamm the last year of her life (she passed in 2001 at the age of 49).

A film about Dennis' life is in pre-production starring Aaron Eckert. What a ride that will be for Mr. Eckert. I miss Dennis every day. He was quite the writer/producer, evident in his solo albums, Pacific Ocean Blue and Bamboo). Here's one of Denny's most popular solo efforts, "River Song", featuring behind-the-scenes recording and other vid shots.

"They say I live a fast life. Maybe I just like a fast life. I wouldn’t give it up for anything in the world. It won’t last forever, either. But the memories will."

Surf's always up with you, Denny. Peace - and Happy Birthday, brotha.

Read more!

3rd Annual Kahuna Rendezvous!

 

In late October, we had our 3rd Annual Kahuna Rendezvous camping trip at the Buckhorn State Park in Necedah, WI (near Mauston). We've bow hunted this area for decades so it wasn't much of a stretch to camp here.

 

We renamed the Rendezvous, the "Kahuna Rendezvous", after our dear friend and bow hunting leader, Kenny Koepsel. His nickname has always been "The Big Kahuna". He was diagnosed with terminal leukemia late summer, early fall and, unfortunately, wasn't feeling well enough to make the camping trip this year.

 

Kenny passed on to that big hunting grounds in the sky two weeks ago this morning. You can read more about the Kahuna here. Still can't believe he's gone, but we will continue to hunt and camp in his honor.



 

 

Top:  Me and Brother Jason. Bottom:  Uncle Fran Ircink and Dad. If you'd to see more pictures, click on READ MORE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tiki torches...for the Kahuna. 

Read more!

"The Atheist".

I'll be starring in this short film by Milwaukee filmmaker Anthony Presti. Small role, actually. We're doing an Indiegogo fundraiser after January 1 which will feature a promo trailer. Stay tuned.

I'm the guy with the dark glasses and hat...

Read more!

Congrats, Wisconsin Badgers & Montee Ball!

Rose Bowl-bound! 3rd straight year. And 3rd straight Big 10 Champion! Wisconsin snuffed #12 Nebraska last night, 70-31 for a trip to Pasadena. Montee Ball picked up three more TD's to bring his season total to 82, adding to his NCAA record for career TD's (set last weekend against Penn St.) and was named Big 10 Champ MVP.

 

For more on Ball, read here. For highlights of the Big 10 Championship rout, read here.

Read more!

Ingrid E. Newkirk. "Get a life!"

 

I hate it when people use the phrase, "get a life" (or the phrases, "lighten up" and "you have way too much time on your hands", for that matter). However, in the case of PETA president Ingrid E. Newkirk, the phrase fits.

Our own Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan was the receipient of PETA's 2012 Bad Dad award for taking his daughter deer hunting with him.

Ho-hum.

So, Ingrid...you and your organization are behind many great causes which I support. Which begs the questions:  Why don't you limit your activities to areas where you at least have a chance to effect change (which is what your organization is all about) instead of fumbling uselessly over some misguided publicity stunt to get your organization in the news? All you're accomplishing is the risk of alienating potential supporters AND running the risk of being considered "crackpots". Paul Ryan is not going to stop hunting with his daughter. If his daughter loses interest, then she loses interest. But it won't be because of a "bad dad" award.

It's like years ago when PETA petitioned the Green Bay Packers to change their name (Packers) as it referenced the meat packing industry which first sponsored the team. I mean, if God came down to earth and asked the Packers to change their name they wouldn't. again. Why makes such useless, innane demands that will NEVER be met? Idiocy.

Newkirk writes, “I live only for [animals], because if I didn’t have them I would have killed myself a long time ago.”

Hmmm...I would think a PETA person would even frown upon that, Ingrid.

Read more!

Fair thee well, Kahuna.

 

The "Kahuna" under the light of a Coleman lantern.

 
 

Our dear friend, Kenny Koepsel - The "Kahuna", for he organized and lead us on our bowhunting trips - has passed peacefully on to that great hunting ground in the sky. Kenny lost his battle with leukemia a week ago tomorrow after having just celebrated his 84th birthday on Saturday. If he looks familiar to you, Kenny bartended at Ray & Dot's - "The Legion" (Ray was his brother) since the late 1950's (retiring in the late 1990's) - a Greendale watering hole known well by the Ircink family, extended family and many of Kenny's hunting buddies. My father began hunting with Ken when Dad was 15 and those who hunted with the Kahuna have shared decades of wonderful moments with him. He was a husband, father, grandfather, a teacher, an outdoorsman, a hunter and unselfish every step of the way. I, like so many others, learned much from Kenny and loved him deeply. Thank God I was lucky to see him in perfect spirits just three weeks ago.

 

We - the guys in our immediate group of bow hunters - were all asked to write a few words about Kenny (by his three daughters). My words are what follows:

"Farewell, my friend,

my beautiful friend,

farewell.

You take the high road,

I’ll take the low road,

and we’ll meet again…”

 

– from Dennis Wilson’s “Farewell My Friend”, 1977

 

I had just shot my first deer the fall of my senior year in high school. The hunters gathered around to hear my story and give chase. Enter the Kahuna – who quickly settled me down (as well as the anxious bow hunters) and set into motion a plan to track and surround the deer so it wouldn’t venture too far into the woods. Once a small group of hunters had encircled the deer – it hadn’t run more than a hundred yards or so – they were to wait for Kenny’s command to move in. I took up my position and Kenny walked up, kneeling down beside me. He started asking me questions – where did I think I hit the deer, how far a shot was it, was it doe or a buck. Then he put his hand on my shoulder and gently said, “I want you to know the deer is not suffering, Jeffrey. We’ll just give it a few minutes and see what happens, OK?” A tender moment…which gave me more insight into the man behind “the Kahuna”.

Over the years I’ve learned much about hunting from my father, brother, Uncle Fran, Cousin Gerry, Dave, Bruce, Gary, Rick, other hunters in our party – and, of course, Kenny. My time with him was spent not only pursuing deer with bow and arrow – we laughed, joked, broke bread, swapped stories, talked about life and my interests outside of hunting. Once we got back to the actual hunt, Kenny switched into “Kahuna-mode”, receiving the respect which he was so deserving of. For above all, Kenny was a teacher. A taskmaster when it came to the hunt, but one of the kindest, gentlest souls I’ve ever met and unselfish to the core. I have the deepest respect for many of the men I hunt with and I am fortunate to know many great men. But the mold was broken with Kenny. Though he has passed from this life, in truth – Kenny will always be with us. From the smell of the earth beneath our feet, to the sound of an arrow whizzing through the air, or the cry of a hunter as a deer is spotted, Though he will not be seen – Kenny’s presence will be felt. The camaraderie we share during future hunts – and within our daily lives – will continue and most certainly reflect Ken’s lasting influence. On Thanksgiving Day, as I was saying goodbye to my family, my father – a man of few words – yelled after me, “Say a prayer for Kenny.” And, of course, I did.

“…I am not to speak to you, I am to think of you when I sit alone or wake at night alone,

I am to wait, I do not doubt I am to meet you again,

I am to see to it that I do not lose you.”

– excerpt from Walt Whitman’s “To A Stranger”, Leaves of Grass

What an honor it has been to be your friend and share so many moments in Nature with you, Kenny. I wish you Godspeed. You have my deepest admiration and love. May every arrow I launch fly true, and be in your memory, Kahuna.

Love, Jeffrey

(Above:  Brother Jason, Ken and me. Mid 1990's.) For more picture of Kenny and the men who loved him dearly, click on READ MORE!

Mauston Bow Hunt - 2006. Left to right: Kenny, Bill Dudi, Bill Prouka, Greg Pilot, Cousin Gerry Kraus, Brother Jason, Dad in foreground.

 

Mauston Bow Hunt 2006. Dad & Kenny.

Mauston Bow Hunt. December 1985. Left to right: Gary Schmidt (kneeling), me, Cousin Gerry Krause, Kenny, Jason, Big Jerry Graham, Uncle Fran Ircink.

Mauston Bow Hunt - 1988. Left to right: Daryl (Kenny's brother-in-law), Kenny, Ken's grandson Andy, Dave Hranicka, Dad.

Mauston Bow Hunt. Ken with Brother Jas. 1990, plus or minus?

The Kahuna telling a bowhunt story at the Rendevous camping trip in Mauston, October 2010.

Rendevous camping trip in Mauston, October 2010. Uncle Fran and Kenny.

Rendevous camping trip in Mauston, October 2010. Kenny and Uncle Fran.

Rendevous camping trip in Mauston, October 2010. Kenny's van. If you know Kenny, need I say more? ;)

Rendevous camping trip in Mauston, October 2010. Dad and Kenny.

Rendevous camping trip in Mauston, October 2011. Left to right: Kenny, Ted Witorek & wife, Bill Dudi, Dad and Brother Jas.

 

Rendevous camping trip in Mauston, October 2011. Brother Jason and Kenny.

Read more!

december one.

Read more!

"Days of Future Passed". 45 years & still a classic.

November 2012 marks the 45th anniversary of the landmark album by The Moody Blues...Days of Future Passed. If you're not familiar with the album, you may recollect two songs - "Nights in White Satin" and "Tuesday Afternoon". "Satin" has reached #1 on Billboard on three separate occasions and most "Moody" fans consider it their greatest song.

My father, who played lead guitar and sang lead vocals in the Glen Lemar Trio from the late 1950's to the early 1960's, loved this album. When Brother Jason and I were very young, my dad used to make us listen to it WITH the stereo headphones on. "Listen to the album from start to finish," he'd say. "But we don't wanna listen to the whole album," we'd counter. "It's a concept album (like we knew what he was talking about!) You have to listen from start to finish! Now listen to it!".

Haha...I'm glad we did. Days of Future Passed is indeed a concept album. From the very first song, "The Day Begins" to the the last song, "Satin", the album depicts the day in the life of one man. And the album is peppered with drummer Graeme Edge's poetry, like "Late Lament":

Breathe deep the gathering gloom

Watch lights fade from every room

Bedsitter people look back and lament

Another day's useless energy spent.

Impassioned lovers wrestle as one,

Lonely man cries for love and has none.

New mother picks up and suckles her son,

Senior citizens wish they were young.

Cold hearted orb that rules the night,

Removes the colors from our sight.

Red is grey and yellow white,

But we decide which is right.

And which is an illusion?

 

Left to right:  Mike Pinder, Justin Hayward, Ray Thomas, Graeme Edge, John Lodge. Pinder left the band around 1978 and Thomas retired in 2002.

 

Catch up on the Moodies in this recent article. I'm now 48 and my brother is 46. The Moody Blues continue to be one of my favorite bands (Hayward, Edge and Lodge continue to perform), having seen them many times in concert (most recently at Summerfest in Milwaukee in 2011). I cherish the band love and their music. If you haven't heard the album (or want to refresh your memory), you can listen on Spotify here. Or just look for it on YouTube. And of course, you'll wanna listen from beginning to end, straight through.

Read more!

Cranberry relishit.

Thought I'd try it this year at Thanksgiving. I don't think I've tasted this since I was a kid. Hated it then and I still hate it.

Read more!

TGIF! presents....Chuck Kraemer's "Ode to Christmas"!

Or Ode to Black Friday, as this is the Friday after Thanksgiving - the biggest shopping day of the year. A day reserved, quite frankly, for the insane.

Read more!

I hate cranberry sauce.

 

Be thankful....for the Wisconsin cranberries you're eating today.

"You might think that Massachussetts is the country’s primary producer of this native bog-growing berry — after all, it was one of the foods available to the Pilgrims — but you’d be wrong. Wisconsin grows more of the tart red berries than any other state in the nation." - from MSN. 

18,000 acres of these babies. I do like cranberry jelly. Brother Jason made some this year. 

Read more!

Nick & Ava.

My buddy Nick in Cedar Rapids & daughter, Ava, at a sophomore football game (he's coach) in Marion, IA. Great shot.

Read more!

Be careful how you talk to little children...

i was scanning some pictures for my mother. i always get a bit nostalgic - perhaps maudlin - when i look at these. my one-year-old Cecil B. DeMille moment.

then i got to thinking...we've all had people who've made nasty, uncalled for comments about us - in person, on social media, or behind our backs. that's life. some of these people you know. some you know barely. and so for future reference, when you decide you wanna sling barbs in my direction (which i have no problems with), remember - you're talking to THIS little guy. his patience is saintesque - but if you push him to the limit, his wrath is limitless.

(i shoulda been a Gerber baby. sorry, but not all babies are cute. this kid is...)

Read more!

Happy 74, Gordo!

Gordon Lightfoot - Canadian songwriter, musician, minstrel and poet. Can't figure for the life of me why he's not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I know he's "folk" and "adult contemporary". So what. Leonard Cohen isn't "rock and roll" and he was inducted. Hell...Gordon should get inducted solely on "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald".

GORDO! Listen here.

Read more!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Ruthie!

My dad's middle sister. Aunt Ruth and I (above) at her retirement block party last weekend. Dr. Ruth ain't in the house no more!

Read more!

TGIF! presents...The Civil Wars' "Kingdom Come"!

Read more!

Happy Veterans Day.

To my father - all those who have served - thank you. The poet Walt Whitman wrote extensively on the Civil War. Here is an excerpt:

"O strong dead-march you please me!
O moon immense with your silvery face you soothe me!
O my soldiers twain! O my veterans passing to burial!
What I have I also give you.

The moon gives you light,
And the bugles and the drums give you music,
And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,
My heart gives you love."

from "Dirge for Two Veterans", Drumtaps, from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass

Read more!

Romney.

I'm not happy with the job performance of Barack Obama. I believe Mitt Romney can perform better. But vote - vote Tuesday for whomever you want. Just get out and VOTE!

Read more!

TGIF! presents...President Obama's latest campaign ad!

FAIL. Oddly, the video has been been pulled by Vimeo off of every website it was embedded just a few days ago. Watch this link.

Imagine an America
Where strip mines are fun and free
Where gays can be fixed
And sick people just die
And oil fills the sea

We don’t have to pay for freeways!
Our schools are good enough
Give us endless wars
On foreign shores
And lots of Chinese stuff

We’re the children of the future
American through and through
But something happened to our country
And we’re kinda blaming you

We haven’t killed all the polar bears
But it’s not for lack of trying
Big Bird is sacked
The Earth is cracked
And the atmosphere is frying

Congress went home early
They did their best we know
You can’t cut spending
With elections pending
Unless it’s welfare dough

We’re the children of the future
American through and through
But something happened to our country
And we’re kinda blaming you

Find a park that is still open
And take a breath of poison air
They foreclosed your place
To build a weapon in space
But you can write off your au pair

It’s a little awkward to tell you
But you left us holding the bag
When we look around
The place is all dumbed down
And the long term’s kind of a drag

We’re the children of the future
American through and through
But something happened to our country
And yeah, we’re blaming you

You did your best
You failed the test

Mom and Dad
We’re blaming you!

Read more!