another year, another 266 gigs...

Space reserved for January...

Blueshirts Best Bruins In Boston.

Rangers 6, Bruins 1
YAY!! The boys got their hockey freak on last night in Beantown, crushing the Bruins. And because it was on VS. network, i got to watch it with my father. YAY!
Petr Prucha scored 2 goals, showing some of last year's rookie flash, and fellow linemates Matt Cullen and Jed Ortmeyer also contributed in a big way. In fact, the entire 3rd line comprised the game's 3 star selection. That can't happen very often!
Henrik was again pure goaltending gold, and the Rangers played excellent team defense. The playoff push is underway, and the boys are on the bubble, hovering around 8th/9th place in the conference standings. Only the top 8 make the postseason...
LET'S GO RANGERS!!

Road Win! (Updated with lovely pictorial awesomeness!)

Rangers 2, Flyers 1. YAY!!
Jagr got a goal, Krog (who's he?) got the game-winner, Lundqvist made lots of beautiful saves, and Philly fans went home unhappy. And isn't that what it's all about, the abject devastation of Philly fans?
hee hee. LET'S GO RANGERS!!

Oh, Atlanta.

Thrashers 3, Rangers 1.
guh. Last night I sat through 2 ESPN scoreboard crawls (that thing at the bottom of the screen that goes through all of the different sports action of the day) and I swear to God they did not list a Rangers game, so I didn't even realize they had played and lost until looking at my newspaper today. It was the 2nd worst news I had all day. The worst was that, once again, my pulse rate was deemed too slow to give blood at the church blood drive. (44 bpm) So you fill out the forms, wait for your turn, and then they take your pulse and say they can't take your blood??? But my blood is so good!!! And to add insult to injury, of course, since i didn't give them any of my awesome blood, i don't get a t-shirt. *frak*
So... where was I? Oh yeah, the game. Well, they scored 3 (including an empty-netter at the end) and our boys got 1, from Jagr.
So the Blueshirts have a week off for the NHL All Star game. Rest up, eat your Wheaties, wash your filthy jocks, and Let's Go Ranguhs!!

Last week in a SMART player personnel move, the Rangers signed Martin Straka for another year, and gave him a tidy raise in pay. He's leading the Blueshirts in goals, and he also has a great 'hockey name'.

Be-Deviled.

Devils 1, Rangers 0. guh.
Oh sure, Martin Brodeur is great; the Devils play a stifling defensive game; Jay Pandolfo is gonna shadow your superstar all game long--- yada, yada, yada. I believe we've heard this song before. You're gonna lose if you do not score. Henrik Lundqvist only gave up 1 goal and offensively, the boys had some chances, but couldn't get anything past Brodeur.
2nd place, 10 points behind New Jersey. C'mon boys, bear down! Let's Go Ranguhs!!

Jed's Got Heart!

Rangers 3, Bruins 1. YAY!!!! A Win!!
Goals by Nylander and Straka gave the Blueshirts a 2-1 margin, and tight defensive play meant few shots on goal for the visiting Bruins. I'm not sure if they're conversing in Russian, Swedish, English or a mix of all 3, but check out Fedor Tyutin and Henrik Lundqvist making plans:

Jed Ortmeyer missed much of this season with a pulmonary embolism; he recently returned to the lineup, and he was one of the stars of the afternoon, scoring the Rangers 3rd goal on a penalty shot. (Different angle of the top photo, click to see a larger version.)

Here he is receiving congratulations from a couple of high scoring teammates on his rare goal. (1st of the season, and 1st career penalty shot) Way to go, Jed!!

Ok, Let's make this the start of another winning streak, and...
LET'S GO RANGERS!!

Very Impressive... (for 7 minutes)

Ottawa 6, New York 4. guh. You can't spot a talented team like the Senators a 5 goal lead and expect to win, right? Well the Rangers certainly tried, scoring 4 goals in a span of 7:10 in the 3rd period, but it wasn't enough to overcome their earlier piss-poor play. Kevin Weekes got the start in goal, made some spectacular saves, but received no defensive (or offensive) support. He was removed for Henrik Lundqvist after giving up the 4th goal. Poor Kevin, he works so hard but gets no love...
Ranger goals were scored by Prucha, Ward, Hossa and Betts. Henrik gave up 1 goal, and Ottawa added an empty netter to thwart the comeback. [During my gig last night, i spotted the 3rd period score on a tv in the corner of the room, and at the time, the Sens led 5-4. So for the next 20 minutes, when I wasn't busy singing/strumming/stomping, I was mentally pleading 'please score, please score, please score", but I didn't get any love, either. *flings guitar pick in protest*
Let's Go Ranguhs!!

Frakking Fishsticks.

Islanders 5, Rangers 3
guh. It's just not right that 1.) the visiting fishsticks break up the 4 game win streak and 2.) the fishsticks have taken all 3 games @ MSG this season. *wtf?* Not a lot to say, really, the Isles scored 2 goals in less than half a minute in the 3rd period to dash our hopes and piss me off. So, we'll get 'em next time, mmkay?
Let's Go Ranguhs!!

Too Fab For Le Habs!

Rangers 4, Canadiens 3 YAY!!!! *dances* Somebody give me a hug! *continues to dance*
This is what happens when a team that has gotten over the flu meets a team that is decimated with the bug... VICTORY for the NYR! 2 goals for Matt Cullen, 1 each from Michal Rozsival and Martin Straka. There was a bit of a downer amidst all of this Ranger joy, with Jaromir Jagr suffering what is being termed a 'slight groin strain'. Sometimes these slight strains turn into chronic conditions. *says 2 Hail Marys*
Although the boys gave up their initial 2 goal lead, they never lost focus in the defensive zone, and Henrik Lundqvist limited Les Habitants to 3 goals on just 21 shots.

Alright, the winning streak is now at 4, and 2007? So far, so YAY!
LET'S GO RANGERS!! NYR Photos/Videos here!

Straka Strikes Thrice!

Rangers 3, Flyers 2 YAY!! After the winning streak of 5 followed by the losing streak of 7, I'm not going to allow myself to get overexcited about the current winning streak...
Oh, who am I kidding? Three! ¡Tres! Trois! Drei! *throws cat into the air, does a little dance*
Straka scored a goal in each period, here's #3: (click to enlarge this nice photo by Barton Silverman!)

Ranger fans then lost their heads, tossing their hats onto the ice. I always wonder if you can retrieve your thrown hat after the game, or do they just get thrown away?

Henrik Lundqvist was brilliant in net, especially the 2nd and 3rd periods, when he stopped a couple of breakaway chances to keep the Blueshirts lead intact. He did survive one momentary lapse of sanity, when he tried to score from his crease into the Flyers' empty net at the other end of the ice. His 'shot' hit Flyer Mike York in the chest, and York put the puck in past Lundqvist to bring Philly back to within 1 goal. D'oh! Oh well, a minor blemish on an otherwise lovely evening at The World's Most Famous Arena

LET'S GO RANGERS!! NYR Photos/Videos here!

Hoss Shows Devils Who's Boss

Rangers 3, Devils 2 (OT/SO)
YAY!! The visiting Rangers gave up a 1st period lead, but battled back to take 2-1 lead on goals by Nylander (Slump? What slump?!) and Petr Prucha. (Slumping? Not me!)

Petr celebrates, and notice how unhappy the Devil fan (guy in the white jacket) is in the background. *hee hee hee hee*

The Devils scored a late goal to send the game to overtime. Goalies Marty Brodeur (NJD) and Henrik Lundqvist (NYR), so solid during regulation, were perfect in the 5 minute OT, so it was on to the shootout. 8 rounds of shootout drama! After Marcel Hossa scored on his shootout attempt, it was up to Henrik to close the door on Jersey, and he did just that:

Nice way to start 2007, and after 7 losses the boys have a 2 game winning streak. YAY!!
LET'S GO RANGERS!! NYR Photos/Videos here!

UPDATED! January. Another Year, Another 218 Gigs??

Some changes, take a look. =)
Happy New Year!!
I hope you all had a pleasant holiday season, and may 2007 be a safe and prosperous year for all of us! YAY!
Thank you to everyone who came out (or even thought about coming out) to hear me play in 2006. Thank you to anyone who hired me, or recommended me to a friend for hire. Any kind of support is very much appreciated! And I want you to have some M&Ms:

So obviously I blew off my first New Year's resolution, the one where I send out my calendar and update the web site by the beginning of the month. Oh well, my resolution to exercise/make my pants fit me again is not going all that well, either.
January:
1. No gig, but January 1 was the 23rd anniversary of my 1st gig. (In Syracuse, NY, with the band Quintessence) It was fun then, and it's still fun to this day. YAY!
2 Tue. Vine Wine Room 6-8:30 (12420 Memorial Dr., just west of Gessner)
3 Wed. Grappino 6-9:30 (West Dallas, just east of Waugh)
5 Fri. Molly's Pub 9-1:30 (Corner of Wilcrest & Westheimer)
6 Sat. Wed. Grappino 6:30-11:00
9 Tue. Vine Wine Room 6-8:30
10 Wed. Grappino 6-9:30
11 Thurs. Marriot in the Woodlands 7:30-11:30
12 Fri. BlackJack's Bar & Grill, 9-1 (16103 W Little York Rd, just west of HWY 6)
13 Sat. Vine Wine Room 5-9
16 Tue. Vine Wine Room 6-8:30
17 Wed. CANCELLED DUE TO ACTUAL WINTER WEATHER (was Grappino)
18 Thurs. Special Assignment (Pine Forest Country Club)
19 Fri. Molly's Pub 9-1:30
20 Sat. Grisby Grill 6-10:00 (Grisby, just south of I-10/HWY 6)
23 Tue. CANCELLED! (was Vine)
24 Wed. Grappino 6-9:30
30 Tue. CANCELLED! (was Vine)
31 Wed. Grappino 6-9:30