As I predicted...

I will give myself a pat on the back for calling the American Idol winner back in April. I also predicted the top three finalists. I predicted Jordin would win and she did. Here is why she won.

See my prediction post on April 18th.

First, she was the most marketable person on that show. She' young, pretty and she can sing. She has a pop voice that will fit into mainstream pop.

Second, she really didn't have much competition. Yes, Melinda was and still is my favorite but realistically she's not very marketable to the public. She will for sure have a record deal and I would buy the cd for sure, but the market is young America.

Lastly, Blake Lewis will follow in the footsteps of past American Idols that did well like; Taylor Hicks, Ruben Studdard and Justin Guarini. There are tons of beat boxer's in the world and how many do you hear on the radio? None.

So congrats to Jordin Sparks!!!


See my prediction post on April 18th.

Happy Birthday!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARRIE!!

Love - Paul, Neil and Zachary

Stitches

It's the end of the week and I am looking forward to the weekend. I was planning on leaving work early today since I have to work this Sunday, which is fine. I was headed home going to pick up Paul and Zachary at school. Paul calls me to tell me the school called and said Zach fell down and has a "bump" on his head and it's bleeding. I was already on my way to get them; not thinking it was anything major.

As I pull up to the school I see Paul carrying Zach to the car and I see that this "bump" is a lot more than just a bump it's a gash over his left eye. A large open gash. So I start to get all sweaty and hyper and sad for Zach because as I am talking to him in the backseat I realize that he will have to have stitches. Poor guy:-(

Above: Zach with his gash over his eye and the "bloody collar"
not to be confused with Schilling's bloody sock.

Paul and I arrived at the hospital with Zach, Carrie and Iggy were on their way as well. All of us were in the hospital waiting for the inevitable, Zachary getting stitched up by the doctor. I do have to give the hospital props for there great staff. There was a woman there named Nelle who was just there to calm kids down and she did a great job. Zach had to put a gauze patch over his eye while he waited for the doctor and Paul, Carrie, Iggy and I did the same thing so we all had this big gauze patch taped to our faces. It lightened the mood for sure.

Finally it was time to stitch Zachary up. Zach had to put away the bag of jellybeans clutched in his hand and be a tough guy. Paul had to lie in the hospital bed holding Zach tight and the nurse had to hold his head. The doctor started to numb Zach's wound and out came the screams. Once I heard the first scream I just started to cry, I wanted his pain to go away. If I could have traded places with Zach to take away his pain I would have without hesitation. It's really hard to watch a child you love experience pain. All of us watched the doctor sew him up and the minutes seemed like hours as Zach screamed.

Above: Future heavy-weight champ!

Zach is at home right now playing with his cars and sitting on the couch smiling. This will be a memory we will talk about when he is older, a memory that when we look at him as a young man and see that scar over his eye we will all say remember that day when...

Above: What a trooper...back to his fun loving smiley Zeebs!

Billboard Magazine

I have always loved music. Throughout my entire life I have always had musicians I have looked up to, admired and idolized. My first memories of adoring a musical artist(s) were Donnie and Marie Osmond. I was only three years old and I watched them on TV and I would sing to their songs. I desperately wanted the Donnie and Marie Osmond dolls and my mom got them for me on Christmas one year. I was thrilled! They both were dressed in purple outfits and had little plastic microphones; I would bring them out and play with them while watching them on television. My father was not as thrilled as I was and eventually the dolls “disappeared” and so did my fixation with Donnie and Marie.

Above: There they are! My beloved Donnie and Marie dolls!

My next two fascinations were groups, Captain & Tennille and Heart. I was four-five years old and I wore out the 1979 Captain & Tennille album “Make Your Move” and their 1975 album “Love Will Keep Us Together.” I have no idea why I liked them so much maybe it was their catchy love songs. Heart is still one of my all time favorite bands and I have followed them throughout their entire career. Some of my favorite songs by them are “Dog & Butterfly,” “Alone” and “Crazy on You.” I think they are completely underrated as a group and attend their concerts any chance I can.




As the eighties started, I moved on to what would be the first of many musical divas I would worship. This is where the gay Neil started to really “come out” at the tender age of six years old. I remember listening to the radio over and over to this song and then going to the store with my mom and buying this 45 record, “On the Radio” by Donna Summer. I was hooked on this song and I would play it over and over, mostly in the kitchen and dance around the floor. I even remember the linoleum was a hideous yellow color. This is the song that started my interest in dancing.



Once 1981 and 1982 came, I was exposed to more of a rock sound and fell in love with Stevie Nicks and her album “Bella Donna.” My parents used to listen to Fleetwood Mac when I was young and I enjoyed that but Stevie on her own was what sold me. Not only did I enjoy every song on this album but also I thought she was the most beautiful woman at the time. I played this album to no end and loved her “witchy” ways that she had. I still enjoy listening to Stevie now and again.


By 1983, I moved away from the female divas and was hooked on Michael Jackson (well I guess he could be considered a female diva now). I think everyone in the world was into Michael Jackson and the Thriller album. I had a red leather jacket and I even had a silver glove I would wear. I remember having a roller skating party in the basement of our new house and all of my school friends were singing and skating to “Billie Jean” and “Beat It.” The Thriller album still holds up as the most successful album of all time!



1984 was the birth of Madonna and, as I stated in my previous post, she was the most influential artist for me growing up and still is. Madonna stayed a constant inspiration to me and I mimicked her in many regards. One of my fondest memories of mimicking Madonna was a talent show that our neighborhood was having and I was going to lips sync and dance to a Madonna song BUT I needed two backup dancers. So, since I was the oldest of three boys I recruited my younger brothers to be my back-up dancers. At this stage of their lives they were pretty much molded to whatever music I listened to and they “liked” Madonna’s music at the time. I was able to choreograph a dance routine with them and we ended up winning the neighborhood talent show! Obviously there wasn’t much competition if three boys under the age of 12 were dancing to Madonna and won. I do however think this scarred my brothers for life, as they are adults now in their 20’s. They have no interest in Madonna.


The mid-80’s for me was a collaboration of old favorites and new artists. I fell in love with Whitney Houston and her amazing voice. She was my favorite singer and still is to this day. She was flawless and had the best slow songs. As we all know, Whitney went down the wrong path with drugs and alcohol and by 2000 fell into a rut and has been rumored to have lost her signature voice. However, I strongly believe that Whitney WILL make a comeback, a new album is slated for release later this year. My fingers are crossed for her. I also enjoyed Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul and praised them for their dancing. However, both Janet and Paula really didn’t hold up well in the music world and their music is pretty much dated now.






Once 1990 came around I started to follow the Billboard music charts more closely and decided to start my own music charts. Every week I would right down my top 20 songs and top 10 albums for that week. I would listen to the radio and sneak into bookstores and look at Billboard Magazine, which was and still is way too much to purchase. After a year was complete I would compile the charts and rank the songs in the order from the number one song of the year down to 100. I did these charts from 1990-2000 and kept everyone of them, looking back from time to time to see what songs I was listening to and how they ranked. I really thought I was odd for doing this and wondered if anyone else kept personal music charts for songs they liked on a weekly basis.

When I left my hometown at the end of 2000, I also left behind my beloved charts. Ten years of tracking songs was left behind and I stopped doing the charts. Over he next five years, I still would track the charts and listen to popular music on the radio and predict what would be a number one sing and what would be a radio hit. I would always say, “That song would have been number one on my chart” and I deep down inside wished I was still doing my charts. At the end of 2004, I met Paul and we hit it off instantly. We had many similar interested and many different hobbies as well that we exposed each other to and enjoy. One of the most bizarre things about Paul and I is that we both had similar music pasts. We both were into pretty much the same music and believe it or not we both kept our own private music charts. We were both in shock when we discovered that we both kept music charts that tracked weekly songs.


After discovering this common bond, Paul and I wished we both were keeping weekly music charts. We both still love music just as much and we look at the Billboard charts on a weekly basis. So we both decided a little over a year ago to start the charts back up again! Every week, Paul and I look at the Billboard charts and rank the songs in the order that we like them the best, with guidelines of course and then we combine our charts together and the result is our weekly chart. It’s kind of funny that we both did this when we were younger and I am enjoying reliving the excitement of seeing the charts every week and seeing what will be number on our private charts.

Here are this weeks top ten songs below based on Paul and my charts:

1. Makes Me Wonder - Maroon 5
2. Becasue of You - Ne-Yo
3. Never Again - Kelly Clarkson
4. Give it to Me - Timberland
5. Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne
6. Home - Daughtry
7. I Tried - Bone, Thugs & Harmony
8. U & UR Hand - P!ink
9. Glamorous - Fergie
10. Buy You a Drank - T-Pain

Photo Gallery

Above: Paul, Me, Jon Kevin & Jon in front of an amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Above: See what happens when you don't brush your teeth!

Jon and Kevin left late last night for Boston. We all had such a great time as you may have read in the three previous posts below. We will miss you guys!! Here's a photo gallery of some of the great times we shared, the majority of these photos were taken by Jon and passerby’s that we asked to take group pictures of us. Here are some of my favorite pictures. Enjoy!

Click on images to see a larger view.

Above: Kevin and Jon in front of Golden Gate Bridge.

Above: Paul, Me, Kevin and Jon at AT&T Park. One of these things is not like the other??

Above: Me and Jon at the Giants game!

Above: Jon and Kevin bought us these shirts. How cute!!

Above: Best martini bar in San Fran, Martuni's!

Above: Now doesn't THIS look like fun?

Above: Can you spot Paul and I on the Cave Adventure ride?

Above: Me on the bumper cars. Don't need a license to drive this!

Above: Jon, Kevin, Me and Paul at the amusement park in Santa Cruz.

Above: Me running into home base to score a run! YEA!

Above: Caught in the act!! And I'm the Yankees whore???..I think not!

Above: My favorite picture of Paul. So cute!

Above: Jon and Paul in Napa.

Above: Luke use the force!

Above: Great picture of Jon and Kevin.

Above: Me freezing my ass off at a scenic view area for the Golden Gate Bridge.

Above: The gang at the Golden Gate Bridge! Look at that view!!

Above: Us.

Above: Probably one of the most beautiful views in the country!

See below for detailed adventures of our weekend in San Francisco!!!!

Friends and Fun Part I

Above: A woman at The Mint enjoying the Karaoke!

Paul and I had two of our best friends; Jon and Kevin come to stay with us this past weekend. They arrived on Wednesday and stayed for almost a week (They are still with us☺). I had to work late on Wednesday late; working late for me is 2am!! I was at work from 9am -2am Wednesday night/Thursday morning and then I went back to work on Thursday morning for 7:30am. I know, I know you all think I am crazy for working those kinds of hours BUT I love my job AND hard work pays off. At this point I think Kevin and Jon were thinking I no longer existed and Paul was hiding my body somewhere. So I didn’t get to hang out with Kevin and Jon the first night they were staying with us. That first night Paul, Jon and Kevin tramped around the cities gay bars and checked out the nightlife in San Fran. I did leave work early on Friday and was able to catch some ZZZ’s and rest up for the SF Giants game we were going to go to that night. So, Jon and Kevin did see that I was alive and somewhat well.

Above/Below: Views from outside and inside of AT&T Park, Home of the SF Giants!

After taking a nice afternoon nap, we were all ready to head to the Giants game at AT&T Park. Paul and I have been to the park for a few games since we have been out in SF and we really love the park. It’s mammoth, great roomy seats, cup holders, tons of plasma screens, it’s right on the ocean. It’s probably the perfect ballpark. After being at this park I vote they tear down Fenway Park, bulldoze it and rebuild. Every Red Sox fan should experience this park and THEN make a decision if they want to keep the old Fenway the way it is. Not only is it AT&T a great park but every game there they hand out great gifts. Last game we attended they gave out SF Giants foam fingers and this game they gave away really cool comfy Giants blankets. Thankfully, they gave these blankets out so Jon and Kevin had something to cover themselves while sleeping at our house. SF Giants has so much love for the fans, Fenway needs to follow suit! We all rushed to get our free gift and then headed across the street to a bar called “MoMo’s.” Surprisingly enough there were a few "Momo’s" there, we weren’t the only ones☺

Above: Paul and I wearing matching shoes in Red Sox colors!

Above: Kevin and Jon at "Momo's."

We finally made our way to our seats, really nice seats with a great view, no Fenway poles to get in the way of your view of the field. The Giants played the Phillies so there were a few obnoxious Phillies fans in the back of use taunting the Giants fans, which was actually kind of funny. Paul, Kevin and I were in Red Sox gear. Kevin and Jon bought Paul a Matsuzaka blue shirt and bought me a Dice-K shirt in red so we were both matching; we even had matching shoes to boot! We received a ton of Red Sox love at the field, never have I seen another city give so much love to a ball team other than their own. It was quite comical the love and cheers we got for being Red Sox fans. The game started off bad for the Giants but ended up with them making a comeback at the end to win the game! We had a great time at the park even though we all smelled like garlic after eating a carton full of tasty garlic fries and Jon had a bread bowl with corn chili. The combination of Jon and Kevin both sharing a bed that night after, eating those classic foods, must have been an earful of “air music” that night! Good Lord!

Above: Hmmmm, garlic fries!

Above: This is how Kevin plays softball.

Above: This is the glove Jon will be using when playing for the Brushbacks.

After the park, we headed back to the city and decided to go for a nightcap. We made our way to this cool martini bar called “Martuni’s.” We again got a ton of Red Sox love and had a few tasty martinis. We then made our way to the famous karaoke bar, "The Mint." Oh, how I love this place. Every time I have been here it’s not only a new experience but also so much fun! When we arrived it was packed, it appeared to be a birthday party for someone so the place was in full swing. We made our way into the middle of all the action and started to get into the song that was being sung to “Waterfalls” by TLC. After being at The Mint for a short time we were getting hoots and hollers from the patrons, in a positive way, for being in Red Sox gear, we even got some love from a Yankees fan that was there. The Yankees fan was best friends with the person who was having a party there. She was an incredibly beautiful Asian women and she immediately latched onto me and started touching me and calling be beautiful and saying how cute I was. She then saw PJ and said the same thing, saw Kevin and said the same thing and then saw Jon and said the same thing. She was pretty drunk and was coming on to all four of us even though her husband was there watching the whole thing! After we shocked her with the news that we were ALL gay (it’s pretty hard to figure out) she then tried to hook me up with her gay Yankees friend, he was pretty excited at first but I had to break the news that not only do I have a boyfriend but I am not into Yankees fans, sorry!

Above: Kevin and "The Asian Lady" at The Mint. I think Kevin was thinking about...

Above: Feelin' the love!

Above: More lovin'

After we pried the Asian woman off of us, we really got into some of the great Karaoke songs that were being sung, “Video Killed a Radio Star” and " I Wear My Sunglasses at Night.” It was yet another amazingly wild and interesting night at The Mint. We headed home that Friday night and rested up for the things to come for Saturday. Keep reading to see what happened on Saturday and Sunday….

Above: She's watching you too!


Aww.. My love!