July 4th Ramblings

-Is there anything more disgusting than hot dog juice? I don't think I have a particularly weak stomach (A picky stomach? Sure. But not weak.) and yet something about that stuff makes me just gag. I can't wash my hands fast enough when some of it spills.

-Yesterday I was walking with my nieces in the annual doll carriage parade through Norwood center. Now, I love this parade, but it's always a bit of a cluster because trying to get a couple hundred people to do anything in an organized fashion is going to be really hard, never mind when it's a couple hundred kids. With that being said, this year seemed more disorganized than normal. For example, at one point we had to stop at the top of a hill because I'm not totally sure they gave the police enough of a warning that we were starting to make sure the traffic coming down the street was stopped (kind of an important detail in a parade). Still, I would never voice these concerns out loud because the greatest fear about any type of local event is that you will be roped into running it. So, yeah, great job everybody.

-Alright, twist my arm for one more comment: to the guy wearing the 'parade official' shirt: you know that it's just a shirt, right? It doesn't come with any special powers or actual authority. Much like my Patriots sideline jacket doesn't make me a special teams coach, you can't actual expect any adult to do what you say just because you put your arm up. You're like one step below a bouncer at a crappy local bar.

-I'm not a big classical music guy, so admittedly I don't see the Boston Pops perform all that much. Still, I feel as though I have to ask: is Keith Lockhart particularly necessary? I assume to become a member of the orchestra you need to be an astounding musician, so do you really need someone there to tell the pace for the 1812 Overture? I would think most of the people up there could play it in their sleep. Whenever I watch him I think back to Rick Pitino coaching the Celtics and trying to coach professionals the same way he used to coach college kids, reminding them to do things they already knew. After a while the team stopped listening because they didn't need to be told to run the clock down for the last shot of a quarter. I just picture some guy playing the oboe and looking up a Keith, thinking, "Oh, this is when my part comes in? Just like the 1,500 other times I've played this piece? Thank God you're here to tell me."

-I haven't attended the big, local parade in years, but that doesn't mean I won't check in on it on the local public access channel. Now, for some reason we not only have Norwood public access, but several other towns' as well. So, as I was flipping trying to find the Norwood parade I landed on some other town's coverage of their parade, which featured a large marching band. In the band was a bass drummer (as you would expect). The only thing was this bass was on a stand with wheels. The guy didn't have to carry it on his stomach like most drummer, but instead could push it along. That feels like cheating to me. I was left wondering if he's seen as the black sheep of the marching band community.

-I tweeted this yesterday, but couldn't expand on my point thanks to the 140 character limit: if you use Katy Perry's "Firework" during your firework display it tells me you put exactly zero effort into coming up with the music for your show. It would be the equivalent of playing "Love Stinks" at an anti-Valentine's Day party; shows a complete lack of originality. I mean, at least try and put some thought into the music. You already know to end with the 1812 Overture, so the hard part is done. Just show me that you have a little bit of pride about your work and spend more than 10 seconds thinking up the playlist.