[Jim Price]

WEEKEND/VACATION RECAP 8/16/06

THE MARAUDERS @ WING-OFF, LAKEMONT PARK 8/10/06

This Thursday, I returned to the Lakemont Park Wing-Off. The wing flavors would remain the same, but the musical flavor would be rockabilly and roots rock, courtesy of The Marauders.

After threatening rainy weather the past few Thursdays, the Wing-Off finally had another dry evening. A good crowd was on hand early on as singer/guitarist Ben Dumm, upright bass player Chris Lawson and drummer Abe Weber commenced their evening of boisterous, early rock-flavored sounds. Their first set included original song favorites such as "Oh My My," "Midnight Rhythm," and "Satisfied;" as well as a rendition of the Stray Cats' "Rock This Town." The group introduced a new song, "Leavin' You Behind." An interesting highlight during this set was Chris climbing atop and playing his upright bass almost like a surf board, as he held the bass at a 60-degree angle off the stage floor.

The Marauders' second set featured more rowdy rockabilly thrills and chills. The Marauders celebrated with more songs from their own catalog, including "Last Call," "She Put A Curse on Me," "Kill Pop Radio" and more. The group introduced few more songs, including "Johnny Don't Like It." And the group tapped into some diverse sources for a few select covers, including Johnny Cash's "Cry Cry Cry," Fats Domino's "I'm Ready," and a Lakemont Park-friendly rockabilly rendition of the Misfits' "Astrozombies."

A good-sized crowd continued to gather around the stage and picnic table area, including a lot of the Marauders' fan base, out and showing their support.

Soon the group was ready to go again, and commenced their nightcap set with "Late Night Livin.'" The group performed all original songs during this set, including favorites such as "Dead of Night," "New Tattoo," "Roadkill" and more. The group introduced more of their new songs, including the tune Brian Setzer wrote for them, "We Are the Marauders." Other highlights included Ben stepping atop Chris' bass during "Alibi," and a repeat performance of "My Revolver" by request to end the show.

The Marauders were sharp and on target throughout their Wing-Off performance. Their presentation was focused and tight, and delivered with ample energy, thrills and chills. The wing-eating contingent and Marauders fans alike seemed to enjoy it – in all, a good time.

Chris Lawson of The Marauders.

Ben Dumm of The Marauders.

The Marauders rock the Wing-Off.

Two revelers dance as the Marauders perform.

The Marauders' dance party continues.

As the sun sets, The Marauders.

Ben Dumm goes atop Chris Lawson's upright bass.

Reaching a fiery crescendo, The Marauders.

Fans cheer from the side of the stage as The Marauders rock the Wing-Off.

OUTER BANKS VACATION RECAP 8/11-8/15/06

DAY ONE 8/11:

It was vacation time again! I was really looking forward to this getaway after long hours on both the work and home fronts. The Outer Banks was the destination, and I was eagerly anticipating logging some beach time.

The journey would begin Friday evening after I wrapped up my Q94 duties. Sparky D'Engineer met me in the Q94 parking lot for departure, along with two other friends, Rocky and Kate, who would travel along in another car. Recalling the motor oil episode that plagued our Florida vacation trip back in February (oh yeah, the Florida report isn't posted yet – oil leaked out of Sparky's engine during the trek between the Carolinas and Florida, resulting in engine damage and the Pathfinder logging some repair shop time during our Florida stay), Sparky and Rocky did an oil check, and added oil to make sure there would be no repeat episode this time around. That task completed, we were on our way, departing Altoona around 9 PM.

The first stop in our journey would be in the acknowledged crossroads of the known universe, Breezewood, PA; where we stopped at The Gateway Restaurant/store complex to purchase batteries for Sparky's walkie-talkies. This would now enable us to maintain steady contact between our two vehicles.

From Breezewood, we traveled the familiar I-70/Route 522 corridor southward out of PA, through Maryland (it takes about a full minute to traverse this narrow strip of Maryland near Hancock) and into West Virginia. We had to make a stop at Rocky's mother's home near Berkeley Springs, where we got to witness this woman's immense doll collection. She had hundreds of dolls on display throughout her home, some were definitely antiques and keepsakes – quite impressive! As we departed to resume our journey, she gave us all beaded American flag keepsakes – thanks again!

Our next portion of the journey was a short one, as we crossed the state border into Virginia and proceeded to Winchester to pitstop for the ever-traditional meal stopover at Waffle House. I think this was Rocky and Kate's first experience at this fine, low-priced eatery. We enjoyed Texas cheese steaks, waffles (of course!) and more, promptly served up by Oprah the waitress (not the television icon).

By this point, it was late on Friday evening, and we continued on our journey, with about another 5 or 6 hours of road time to go before we would arrive at our hotel destination in Kitty Hawk. It was pretty much an uneventful journey the rest of the way, as the only stop we needed to make was a gasoline stop. Traffic was relatively light on I-95 and I-295 past Richmond, and on Route 664 as we traversed the Chesapeake Bay area past Newport News and Norfolk. We arrived at The Border Station on the Virginia-North Carolina border just before sunrise. After doing the photo op thing there, we continued into North Carolina for the last leg of our journey to the Outer Banks. It was at about this point that Rocky, referencing our arrival time and plans upon arriving at the hotel, uttered these words, which would serve as the theme for the remainder of our trip: "We'll kiss the beach good morning, and kiss my ass goodnight!" Then, when we arrived at the Holiday Inn Express and checked in, we did exactly that: we strolled across the road to the beach, and then strolled back to our hotel rooms and crashed. Vacation was under way!

Yours truly, overwhelmed by suds at a Berkeley Springs, West Virginia car wash.

Sparky, straddling two states at once at the Border Station.

DAY TWO 8/12:

As we didn't hit the sack until 7 AM, we didn't return to consciousness until mid-afternoon. Well, at least Rocky, Kate and myself...Sparky - in a trend that would stretch through the course of our vacation - was the late riser, catching an additional hour or two of Z's before getting up. He definitely caught up on rest!

Once we all arose, we dined on some vittles that Kate brought along (we nuked some lasagna - great stuff!). We then hit the beach for a little while, sitting out and taking in some sun and surf. We then headed out to shop for some supplies and souvenirs.

After retirning to the hotel rooms for a short time, we decided to investigate the Outer Banks nightlife on a Saturday night. After checking local listings, we decided to head to Port O'Call in Kill Devil Hills to check out a Grateful Dead tribute band called The Kind. We found a good vantage point in the upper balcony to watch The Kind, a six-member band with two drummers, three guitar players and a bassist. (We heard keys, but couldn't see a keyboard player; maybe somebody had a guitar synthesizer?) The Kind did a lot of deep cut Grateful Dead numbers; the only Dead tune I readily recognized was "Fire on the Mountain," sung by the band's female guitarist. The group also did renditions of The Who's "Pinball Wizard," Bob Dylan's "Tangled Up In Blue," "Iko Iko" and more. Admittedly, I wasn't paying especially close attention to The Kind; because first, I'm not a big Grateful Dead fan, and second, I was on vacation, and didn't have to! (And third, because there was a good movie showing inside my eyelids; apparently, Rocky was watching an even better movie, his snoring was waking me up, lol!)

So for the most part, Saturday was the rest-up day from the Friday nocturnal journey. By Sunday, we would all be fully rested up and ready to so some hardcore serious beachside vacation celebrating!

Yours truly, en route from the hotel to the beach.

Yopurs truly, celebrating the beach!

Rocky, nodding off on the beach.

A balcony-level view of Grateful Dead tribute band The Kind at Port O'Call.

DAY THREE 8/13:

Now rested up, I was ready for some serious beach action this day. And by mid-mroning, I was off to catch some rays and ocean!

I learned my lesson from last year, and wasn't taking any chances this year - I brought the sunscreen, and applied liberal dosages of it.

I was soon joined by Rocky and Kate, and after he awoke, Sparky. We had a blast, wandering into the ocean to get buffeted around by the surf! We sat at the edge of the shore and let the ocean water swirl in around us - a relaxing, good time, except when we stood and had to empty the accumulated sand our of our swim trunks, it looked like we all had severe dysentary!

As the afternoon progressed, we prepared for the arrival of two more beach revelers - Big Jim and Guv'nor Jesse, who embarked on their journey towards the Outer Banks earlier in the morning. After the two arrived, we made our meal plans, and headed to a place that Rocky and Kate had been raving about, Sam and Omie's. We gorged ourselves on some excellent seafood cuisine, enough so that we headed back to the hotel rooms to hang out and watch television for the duration of the evening, too stuffed to do anything else! We definitely enjoyed Sam and Omie's, even if Jesse kept jokingly referring to it as Salm-an-Ella's!

Rocky, getting run over by ocean waves.

Did anyone catch the license of that boat?

Outside of Sam and Omie's: Kate, Rocky, Big Jim and yours truly.

DAY FOUR 8/14:

This day featured the same agenda as the day before - BEACH! Only this time, there were six of us to partake instead of four.

Guv'nor Jesse and I were the first to hit the beach by mid-morning. Jesse was apparently anxious to test the ocean waves, he soon looked like a speck on the ocean horizon as he swam close to an eighth of a mile out. He soon realized that he was a bit far, and retreated his way back closer in. As Kate Rocky, Big Jim and Sparky arrived, all of us (except Big Jim) made our way out into the ocean and bobbed up and down on the waves on the sandbar. We looked like a bunch of little kids reliving our second childhood out there! What a blast!

As we started entering late afternoon, we departed the ocean and beach and got ready to do our evening meal. I was eagerly anticipating this meal, as we were heading to Jimmy's Seafood Buffet...if you're a fan of all-you-can-eat kickass seafood, this place had it! We had to wait 45 minutes to get a table, but man, was it worth it! Maximum surf and turf! King crab and snow crab claws and legs out the wazoo, shrimp, clams, scallops, crayfish, various sea fish, chowders; for about the 90 minutes it took me to get full, I was in seafood heaven! Guv'nor Jesse, food fancier that he is, went through eight plates of grub!

We had entertained the idea of doing miniature golf after our meal, but made the mistake of heading back to the hotel rooms first. We never made it to the miniature golf course, but we did revisit the beach after it got dark (sans Big Jim, he channel surfed in the hotel room). We sat and chatted while the moon arose on the ocean horizon. I set out to spot and photograph ghost crabs as they pranced along the beach. Eventually, we were joined by a visitor vacationing from Louisiana, who Jesse entertained with conversation about unions and labor laws. Eventually, we all retired to our hotel rooms to catch some rest before dealing with the harsh reality of the next day - we had to leave the paradise of the Outer Banks and return home.

Celebrating at Jimmy's Seafood Buffet: Big Jim, Jesse, Rocky and yours truly.

DAY FIVE 8/15:

Alas, all good vacations must come to an end; and sadly, after the blast we had during this one, it too was ending. We packed up our luggage and souvenirs and loaded up our respective vehicles, checked out of the hotel, kissed the beach goodbye and began our trek home.

The trip home wouldn't be without at least a few highlights. As we began heading inland from the Outer Banks, we stopped at a familiar location - the Grandy Farm Market in Grandy - where we loaded up on peaches. "So what," you ask? These aren't just any peaches you can buy here - these peaches, simply put, are the fruit equivalent of crack cocaine, or at least Krispy Kreme donuts. You eat one, you're sure to do one or two or a half dozen more! (I bought two bags of them; they were gone by month's end!)

From Grandy's, we headed further inland, to hopefully hook up with our friend, Ted Etheridge, and find out what was new at his Music Box Recording Studio near Hamilton. Due to bad timing (he was out when we arrived), we didn't get to see Ted or go inside the studio. We did, though, get to do lunch at another favorite place we like to visit, R&C's Diner in nearby Williamston. As I've described in past years, R&C's Diner is a quaint, blue-collar diner serving up southern food at low prices! I did the barbecue chicken dinner, with two sides - corn and black-eyed peas - and corn bread. And we're talking REAL corn bread, too, not the sugar-coated Pillsbury variety! Discovery: a dash of Frank's Red Hot Sauce on corn bread...kicks ass!

From there, it was back up to I-95 and the remainder of our journey home. Again, it was an uneventful trip, with an encore stopover at the Winchester, VA Waffle House for a supper break. We arrived back in the 'Toona just after midnight. Vacation over.

But for this extended weekend, we had a blast! Plans are already under way for our Outer Banks getaway next August, and for next year we are talking a full week!

Guv'nor Jesse at the Grandy Farm Market.

Kate and Rocky at the Grandy Farm Market.

Outside of R&C's Diner, Kate, Rocky, Jesse and yours truly.
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[Jim Price]

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