The other day I got really crazy and reckless and went to the Square and sat by the fountain for awhile. It was getting dark, but being the daredevil I am, I stayed on the bench.

Some guy was walking around, and I felt his eyes fixing on me. His footsteps slowed, and he said, "How ya doin'?" I acknowledged him with a nod, noticing some sort of badge -- not a police badge, I mean like a employee ID -- hanging from his belt that suggested he had just gotten off from work somewhere, so maybe he wasn't a beggar. He then sat down on the next bench over. Oh...goody.

"I'm not doin' too good. I'm burying my son tomorrow," he said. Oh, really? How about that. Not only are you mighty outgoing, you're also mighty eager to share your personal tragedies with absolute strangers in the park. Maybe you should go discuss this with your wife, your kids, close relatives, a preacher? I didn't say it, but I thought it.

I gave a grunt of acknowledgment but kept my gaze fixed in the opposite direction. "I'm not trying to bother you," he said. Color me cynical, but I expected a pitch for, "I just need $25 to give the funeral home..." to come next. Finally he walked off.

What do you think the chances are this story was true? Maybe I gotta stay away from the Square.

---

Scroll is Brilliant!



In the past couple of posts I've told you about my band and the second singer that we got. Well, we never got famous, but the guy who drove the singer over for his audition is!

Scroll, as he was known, was formerly a DJ on the top classic rock station here in Atlanta. Not only that, he married one of the best-looking girls in my high school. Now he continues to amaze me by getting a slot on Howard Stern's Sirius radio channel!

It was only February that Scroll started a podcast called The Frustrated Rockstars. He and this other guy (who I think was also on the classic rock station) were going to discuss music like sports radio shows talk about sports. Scroll was putting this on YouTube, MySpace, Frustrated Rockstars.com...do a search and you'll see he's diligent about uploading it everywhere. "We're ubiquitous!," they say.

This sounded like a excellent idea. The only critique I offered was that he needed better graphics. But what do I know? I took a look at one of Scroll's recent episodes, and out of nowhere he mentions he's got a slot on Howard Stern's "Howard 101" Sirius satellite radio channel!

The Frustrated Rockstars apparently have a regular spot on this show called The Miserable Men Show that airs on Sunday nights at 10 PM. The Rockstars get a corner of that show where they take calls from all over the country. It's my guess Sirius and Howard will see how it goes by giving them a piece of this Sunday night show, and then, who knows? Howard might give them their own show (this is all my own speculation)!

He's just boggling my mind. Hats off to Geoff, a.k.a. Scroll!