Hello again friends…time again for me to express my self by written word.  Let me remind you as well that I do done write good.  HA!

The summer solstice is behind us, the weather is starting to get just a tad bit hot and school is out.  Granted with all the construction happening in the heart of our dear city, traffic still sucks.  But hey…WE’RE NUMBER 1!  TAKE THAT L.A.!

I will tell you this as well, there is no better place to be during the summer than Georgia, I’m talking non-tropic here.  I don’t know what it is.  I’ve been here my whole life and every summer the smells the sights and the feel of this state always makes me proud to be a Georgian.  Whether it’s the sound of the cicadas or the smell of fresh cut grass or the way the sun sets against our city, either way, I love this town during the summer. 

I’m also a season music kind of guy.  I have songs I like during the winter, spring, etc.  Summer songs that you HAVE to listen to while driving around during this time of year…

1. Death Cab For Cutie - Summer Skin

2. The Editors - Munich

3. The Cult - She Sells Sanctuary

4. The Killers - Somebody Told Me

5. Don Henley - Boys of Summer (I will also accept the Atari’s cover)

Granted these songs are just a few of the MANY I listen to, but these I think you’ll like them.  I do hope that you will share your music love with me as well because if we can’t learn from each other, who can we learn from? 

Enjoy the summer friends, fall is sure to come.

The NHL draft is tonight. (Well, it’s fun for me at any rate!) The Thrashers drafted Zach Bogosian. The first ever Armenian drafted into the NHL. As an Armenian, I can assure you we are not noted for our sports prowess. This is kinda cool.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

My Morning Jacket “I’m Amazed”

Elbow “Grounds for Divorce”

Los Lonely Boys “Staying With Me”

A.A. Bondy “How Will You Meet Your End”

Teddy Thompson “In Your Arms”

Shelby Lynne “How Can I Be Sure”

Nada Surf Lucky

The Black Keys Attack and Release

The Whigs Mission Control

Robert Plant/Alison Krauss Raising Sand

Old 97’s Blame It On Gravity

Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes

I’m indulging in a guilty pleasure as I write. I’m listening to Eddie Money’s album No Control. It reminds me of high school and hot summer nights filled with not much to do but watch a CBS late movie on the little black and white TV in my bedroom, or cruise the strip with my girlfriends (all the windows rolled down and blasting the radio, of course) and look up at the night sky and wonder if he liked me as much as I liked him.

I wouldn’t go back to being 16/17 for anything but I sometimes miss the feeling of discovery. It was that time that I discovered he did like me as much as I liked him, that the few decades that passed before I was born would always ignite a simmering nostalgia in my soul and that music was an important component to all the summer longing, musing, and silliness. 

It was a time that I volunteered to babysit my sisters so I could watch Night Flight and MTV on the cable TV in my parent’s bedroom. (I always hoped to see Duran Duran’s video for ‘Save A Prayer’ …or Mellencamp or Eddie Money or the Cure or Modern English or Greg Kihn or…)

I had dreams of being a photographer, an interpreter for the U.N., a curator, a historian.

25 years later I sit on another hot summer night, I think about those times and how life never takes you where you think you will go, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Music–good, bad, and guilty pleasure, has been woven into how I see my past and my future as long as I can remember and as long as I have it I can go anywhere I want to go in memory or possibility.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Another weekend is here and I am sooo pumped! Not that I have anything big planned. I am just psyched that it’s the weekend! Do you ever feel that way?

Did you happen to see the big comeback by the Boston Celtics in game 4 of the NBA Finals on Thursday? They were down by 24 and came all the way back to win by 6! I watch a lot of basketball and that’s something that you don’t see very often – especially in the Finals, and especially for the road team to make the comeback! It was awesome to watch. One of the things I like most about the game is when the bench players can come in and really make an impact. Eddie House and James Posey are not superstars in this league, but they were key ingredients in that win last night. And Paul Pierce. He’s a star, but how can you not be happy for this guy? Been in Boston his whole career – through the good and bad – and now sits on the threshold of the NBA Title! I love this game!

Game 5 Sunday night from Staples Center, 9:00 on ABC.

Fathers Day is Sunday too and I wanted to share something about my dad. He’s the oldest of 4 and has three sisters. He’s retired. He’s remarried. And he’ll gladly admit that he’s not perfect. But I will. My dad is an example to me. At 67 he is living happier than ever before. How does he do it? He takes risks. He has surrounded himself with good people. He’s loyal to his friends and family. He takes delight in the simple things in life.

Dad never was one to teach me about how to build a deck or change the oil in the car. But it has been only recently that my dad has taught me about the greatest thing in life: happiness. And I know about it because he lives it. Thanks, dad! And not sure whether it’s his or not, but a quote my dad used to say all the time relating to careers was “if you’re good, there’s always room for you”. That’s one of my favorite quotes ever.

Happy Fathers Day to you dad.

That’s all I got…. Heading to the Loafing Leprechaun Friday for karaoke and then I’ll be back up there for the Cure show Sunday night. I’m on the air Saturday 12-4. And that’s about it. See you on the radio this afternoon.

Sully

Get the Flash Player to see this player.