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So as most of you may have known, (except for Dianne, that is) Ali and I went out to Louisiana this past weekend.

Driving out there always makes me want to see more of America, because as much as I’ve seen and/or been to, it’s no where near close to what America is.

I’ve been to 27 states, all but 2 states east of the Mississippi River (Kentucky and Michigan), the only states west of the Mississippi that I’ve been to are Louisiana (dir), Texas (dir dir) and Nevada.

Being from the northeast and now living in the south, I see differences in culture, environment and everything in between everyday. That’s a given. But if you go from state to state up there, things don’t change all that drastically. Driving from Texas to Louisiana, things change quite a bit. Hell, things change in Texas quite a bit once you start driving away from the cities.

I would love to be able to one day drive across the country, and visit all the places in America that you hear about and see pictures of. Mountains, hills, farm after farm, little white churches in the middle of nowhere, miles between houses, last chance for gas for 300 miles signs, the desert, the plains, the nothingness and the everythingness.

This site is going to chronicle a trip by blogger/vlogger Cali Lewis of 50 states in 50 weeks. It’s going to be an awesome blog/vlog to follow once they get started around September by their estimates.
http://www.bigtrip.tv/

I will definitely be following that blog in my RSS reader and living through them. One day I would love to have the opportunity to do something like this. Ali and I in an RV, driving across the country at our own pace, stopping where we want, exploring the country, the people, our history.

I mentioned in a previous blog that Ali and I were going to see a performance by a group of musicians in Houston calling themselves “The Fab 40.” The group consisted of 40 musicians (actually I think before the performance they said there were 43 musicians) who played the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album from front to back at a brand new (and beautiful) park in the heart of downtown Houston called Discovery Green.

First, the park. It is located right behind the convention center in the city. It is 12 acres, has a one acre lake (I’m assuming man-made) playground, water fountains, stage and sloped hill for attendees, restaurants, and to top it off, it’s green friendly. And WiFi hot too, which this web geek loves.

It’s a great family park and it is dog friendly too, which is awesome.

Now, the performance. It was incredible. It opened with Beatles music on traditional Indian instruments which sounded out of this world. It’s really amazing how many different genres and cultures. “Across the Universe” on a sitar and tabla is something you need, need, to hear.

After that, the musicians played a few random Beatles tunes to warm up and launched right into Sgt. Pepper’s.

I sound like a broken record, but it was incredible. Sgt. Pepper’s holds a special place in this Beatles’ fan’s heart. It was the first Beatles album (CD) I ever owned. I got it for Christmas when I was in 6th grade, and didn’t stop listening to it until Easter. I studied the people on the cover, looking them up in encyclopedias learning what I could about who was there. If only the internet was around back then I could have read so much more.

People were singing along, grooving to the music, and it wasn’t just an older crowd. Families were there, some looked 4 generations deep, couples sat arm in arm, swaying back and forth, it really was quite an experience.

The music, the people, the energy was intoxicating.

After a while Ali and I got tired of sitting on a blanket on the ground so we decided to find a new spot to sit.

After walking around we ended up on the other side of the stage (facing the musicians backs) across the lake.

Ending the album, “A Day in the Life” was surreal in person. The song, the crescendo, stunning. The horns and the strings sounded great in the park.

After Sgt. Pepper’s was over the band wasn’t done playing and went into a few more random songs and ended the night with a huge sing-a-long to “Hey Jude.”

As I have said countless times in this blog, it was an awesome night. Ali and I had a great time and found a new spot in Houston to go and hang out at. We love living downtown, there are so many cool things going on like this around the city. I can’t wait for our life to slow down after the summer so we can enjoy more events like this.

Check out some write ups on the show:
http://houstonist.com/2008/04/27/houstonist_was_4.php
http://www.houstonpress.com/2008-04-24/music/sgt-pepper-at-discovery-green/1

And some photos by some real photographers:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/98693566@N00/tags/42608/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/baldheretic/sets/72157604765731102/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/deneyterrio/2445524309/

This morning I got up at the usual ungodly hour (anything before at least 9:30 on a weekend is ungodly) and I listened to a few podcasts, namely You Look Nice Today. A podcast by @hotdogsladies, @lonelysandwich, and @scottsimpson, some of my favorite Twitters.

After the podcasts, I popped on the TV to see if there were any good movies on, or at the very least something halfway decent that I could ignore and play poker. I came across “When It Was A Game” and it’s sequels on HBO. “When It Was A Game” is a documentary series about the heyday of baseball, and it tells the story of baseball and it’s impact on America from the depression and onwards. Watching it, I was really amazed at how much the game of baseball has changed.

It really did used to be a game. It still is, but not nearly on the same level. It’s more business now, and that’s a little sad.

Watching the documentary, I saw kids who were awestricken watching their heroes play ball, dying to get an autograph, or just to get a nod or a wave from the gods on the diamond. Does that happen today? Possibly. No where near the way it was 40 or 50 years ago. I used to go to a bunch of Yankee games a year, at least 15 to 20 and there were kids there, but it was mostly people my age and up. I see the same thing on TV. I remember watching the Yankees on TV with my Dad, him explaining to me what was going on, what the rules were, who the players were. I remember my first trip to Yankee Stadium, or the first trip that I remember that is. I was 8 years old, and I was in heaven. I had my Yankee t-shirt on, my baseball glove in hopes I would catch a foul ball. I will blog about this experience at a later time, hopefully this summer when I make my last trip to Yankee Stadium before it closes its doors at the end of this season.

Growing up, Don Mattingly was the end all be all for me. Donnie Baseball. I had the shirt, the poster, the bat. I wore number 23 in little league a time or two. My friends and I used to play whiffle ball all the time. They were from Boston and were huge Boston Red Sox fans. When we played ball at their house, it was Fenway Park. My house was the grand cathedral Yankee Stadium. Do kids even do that anymore? I have no idea.

My glove is my father’s old glove. It’s broken in perfectly. I don’t really have anyone to play catch with, but I like to throw a ball to myself as a break in between working. It relaxes me and gives me a moment to think. Same thing with my baseball bat. It’s never seen contact with a ball, and it may never, but I just like to hold it in my hands.

But back to the documentary. The games were smaller back then, but so much bigger than today. Everything hung on whether your team won or lost. And not just championships, but every single game. The players were gods, but they were also human and tremendously approachable. The doc said that the reason that is, is because players are paid so much that they lost familiarity with the working man.

Most ball players had winter jobs back in the glory days. They rode the subways and buses into the stadium with the fans. There are stories that Jackie Robinson used to stop and play stickball with kids in Brooklyn after playing a game with the Dodgers.

Today, the league minimum salary is $390,000 a year. If you are a major leaguer, you are making at least that. That’s a huge difference to what some of the all time greats of yesterday made. It’s fifty times more (and up) than some of the salaries that the documentary mentioned.

I love baseball movies. “Field of Dreams” is one of my all time favorite movies. “The Sandlot” is one of my favorite baseball movies. “The Sandlot” captures that feeling that kids used to have towards baseball.

From “Field of Dreams:”

The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. Its been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But, baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and could be again.

I hope that baseball does return to glory, past this era of steroids and gets back to being what it is. A game. A game where if you team wins, you are walking on clouds, and if by some chance they lose, you kick the dirt but keep your hopes up for tomorrow’s game.