Posting daily at 1pm central about all kinds of things. One day it's dating, the next it's TV commercials. I hope you're entertained. Professional photos on SmugMug – https://benwilder.smugmug.com
All of these were found in two of my junior high yearbooks from 1991 to 1992. God bless Stafford Middle School in Stafford, Virginia!
You can’t say bomb on a plane!
And the honorable mention goes to virus-free Apple computers… some things never change I guess. 
Hey there! If you’re reading this, chances are you’re a fan of music and boy, do I have a story for you! It starts with a guy who’s sort of a dork (me) catching 2 bands at Nashville’s 3rd and Lindsley (making me a little bit cooler?). I’d only heard of one of them from listening to “Nashville’s independent radio” Lightning 100. The band Matrimony has a great song out called “Last Love” and when I heard tickets were on sale for this weekend, I jumped at the chance. I suppose it can all be summed up this way: both bands delivered! Very different in their music and I came away from it with an appreciation for both.
First up was a band called El El (like the letter… L L).
This band was great. My friend there with me said they had a Jamaican/islandy vibe on some of the songs and I’d agree. Tonight they had 8 band members playing everything from the bass guitar to the triangle to trumpets, a sax, drums, and cowbell (Christopher Walken would’ve been so proud). They put on a good show, and of course, when you have 2 drummers, that’s an automatic win in my book. At one point they even had 3 guys banging it out, so that was really cool. They reminded me at times of a band from the 80s I only came across recently, Boney M. Like music that could be popular all over the world, that kind of appeal. A lot of their songs were anthemic. Not to mention they were really fun to watch: the bass guitarist was so animated, the guys playing brass (and the triangle, can’t forget that) were great, keyboards, drums, they all did great. I also thought the song they finished with was about as perfect of a choice as I’ve heard in a long time. But for the life of me I can’t find the title. It was about bees and beehives and girls. It was really good. If I can find the title, I’ll edit it in here: [ ]
Once El El finished it was time for Matrimony.
They call themselves a family band and without getting into my sappy personality (remember I’m a dork?), I’m big on family so I love that they’re all related (most by blood, one made it in through marriage). I had only heard “Last Love” on the radio and purposely didn’t do much online listening before tonight’s show. I like to hear music for the first time live so I have limited expectations going in. So for this band, since I’d heard one song, I was expecting something along the singer/songwriter lines. But what I got was so much more… it was rock! All their voices matched well with their style, and the lone girl, her voice definitely has a great singer/songwriter quality to it, which I love. Think Duffy mixed with a little Taylor Swift. Plus, when you can toss in a guy who plays banjo really well it’s pretty much an automatic score, especially in Nashville. It’s like, yep, pass Go and collect $200!
Not to mention they all had a lot of tattoos that looked awesome. If I had to pick one song that stood out, of course it would be “Last Love” but if I had to pick two, it would be the anthem “I Believe in Love.”
And since you’re still awake, might as well take a look at this video from the show. It’s Matrimony performing “Last Love.” Enjoy and thanks for reading!
-Out of the Wilderness
There are scenarios where having your tongue out is a good thing. For instance, when it’s snowing and you want to catch the snowflakes. Or if you’re Jordan. Or when the doctor uses that wood stick to “get a closer look.” So can you blame Miley Cyrus for letting her tongue hang out like a labrador? Yes, yes you can. But as silly as she is, I’m a victim of the same exact habit.
Stafford, Virginia. It was my 5th grade year and I noticed I had a habit of sticking my tongue out when I was concentrating. Not knowing how to resolve this, I enlisted my friend Robin’s help.
I said, “Every time you see me with my tongue out, laugh.” I was sure when I heard Robin laughing at me, I’d know why and it would trigger a positive response. Let’s just say she laughed a lot. In hindsight, I should’ve expanded the team of helpful volunteers to more friends. Like JR, Chris, Meghan (who I still owe $5,000), Michelle, Joey, Whitney, Heather (who I loved?), Carson, and Lisa. All that laughing surely would’ve helped!
But I guess if Aristotle is right, that “we are what we repeatedly do,” then I’ll always be exactly like Jordan, in every way, especially basketball.
-Out of the Wilderness
It wasn’t that long ago that I scoffed at the idea of NASCAR being the sport with the most fans. All they do is go around in circles! I can’t imagine that being fun to watch. But then, for some reason my sister became a huge fan of Jeff Gordon. To say she’s a die-hard fan is an understatement! Not sure why. Especially when there are guys like Jimmie Johnson out there. Yes, I’ll admit it. I’m a Jimmie Johnson fan. Would you believe I rush home from church so I can hear the famous quote, “Gentlemen, start your engines!” … well, I do. But it hasn’t always been that way.
It was only a few years ago that I had my first NASCAR experience. It wasn’t a Sunday race, but I was there for the weekend on the company’s dime. The show I worked for at the time had a deal with Lowe’s so we went out get shots from the Kobalt Tools 400. Ok, ok, I won’t bore you with all those details (because I bet you’re not a huge NASCAR fan like I– I mean, my sister, is– right?)
Today at the time of this posting my guy Jimmie Johnson is leading the pack, and my arch nemesis Jeffy Gordon is #2. It could come down to a photo finish, but Jeff will need more Pepsi Max if he wants to keep up with Jimmie!
I’ve toyed with the idea of giving up meat, but only for about a half second. It’s not that I love eating chicken, or turkey, or burgers too much. It’s just that I can’t imagine only eating vegetables, fruit, and bread and only drinking water and juice. Vegans don’t drink milk or eat cheese either. Or eggs. Actually the more I think about it, my diet is everything the vegans isn’t.
How am I supposed to have a ham and cheese sandwich without ham and cheese?
I have a friend, Nick Shell, who’s been posting extremely convincing and very sensible reasons why going vegan is (in my own words) not just a thing hipsters do. He and I caught up a bit on Sunday and he challenged me to go a weekend without dairy. Why didn’t he just stab me with a knife? I love cheese and all things cheesy! Like, what did the guy say when he walked into a… Oh, nevermind. I’ll stick to cheesy food.
Nick’s reason for giving up dairy is simple: allergies. Since he’s been off dairy, his allergies have vastly improved. He could’ve said anything else but allergy conversations get my full attention. Because it’s crazy out here, y’all! Tennessee’s got to be one of the toughest environments for allergies. Pretty much everyone and their brother suffers a few times a year. And my brother’s in Orlando so I’m suffering for the both of us here! But Nick links dairy consumption with allergy symptoms which is radical to me. Just radical enough that the scales of my curiosity are tipping in favor of giving this no-dairy-weekend thing a shot.
I share some of Nick’s enthusiasm for being healthy, but I know for me it’s a slow process of changing my diet, and giving up food I enjoy (Coke floats!) to replace it with food I’ll learn to enjoy (cherry tomatoes, yuck!). That time is not right now. I will take his challenge though, and anyone who’s reading feel free to check back periodically for an update. I can tell you this, the first post after going vegan cold turkey for a weekend, (isn’t it ironic, don’t you think? Going vegan… cold turkey!) will include some sort of rant on how great milk is and how drinking it gives me strong bones and helps me say Aaron Burr whenever I need to.
-Out of the Wilderness
Out of the Wilderness 