What I am thankful for…. Thursday, Nov 27 2008 

Thanksgiving, a time to consider that our lives are not just random events, but rather guided paths for ultimate reasons. It’s a time to consider that we all have gifts and we should all take the time to have enough sense to thank the man upstairs for each and every day.

What I am thankful for:

~An incredible gift of music. I cannot imagine life without the ability to express myself through music.
~A fantastic family. My mother, father, sister, brother-in-law, and niece are simply the definition of what I hope to be in life. If I could achieve a quarter of what they have done, my life would be successful.
~A very incredible group of friends. My friends are my family in many ways. I know that, when push comes to shove, the people that I consider my friends really do have my back. These people know who they are.
~An understanding for what I am here to do. It’s tough to know from an early age what you’re here on earth to do, ultimately. I am very fortunate to know this and to be able to work towards a life’s goal.
~My Faith. Like everyone else, it’s been tried and tested. I am thankful to have a clear understanding of what I believe and WHY I believe it.
~My City. There’s no reason why I should be typing this in the New Orleans area at 2am on a Thanksgiving morning. We are blessed to be here, most of us know it. There is no greater place in the world that aligns with my beliefs like New Orleans. There is no place i’d rather be.

There is so much more, but it’s time for bed so I can join the family tomorrow at the Fair Grounds.
I hope everyone has a fantastic day today and gives the time to say Thanks for all of their blessings.

Chuck

The wait is over! Tuesday, Nov 18 2008 

Credo election re-cap Monday, Nov 10 2008 

Good luck!

President elect Barack Obama was not my candidate. Not by a long shot. While the democratic party once stood for the TRUE middle class, we have now been forced to dine with a party that knows no boundary of left. When the term “far left” is used, the actual term is about as objective as one can imagine. Did the Democrats win? No. The Republicans LOST!

My view on the Republican Party today is that of a tired old man sitting in a rocking chair. He has a fundamental RIGHT to be in that rocking chair, he has the FUNDAMENTAL right to be old and cranky, and he has THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT to do and say whatever the hell he wants. When you become so disinterested in the general public that you host a 70-something year old man for your candidate and SOCIALLY counteract that with an inexperienced, good looking woman to try to win over the Hillary vote…..that plan was dumb from the start and they knew it. HOW CAN YOU NOT MAKE A WORLD CANDIDATE OUT OF RUDY GUILIANI? This is a national HERO, how can the Republicans NOT get behind and shape this man into our next President? From a PR standpoint, McCain was the WORST choice out of anyone in the primary.

My opinion is that the Republican Party has become so uninterested in what’s going on in the rest of the country, their FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT to govern is no longer being swallowed by the American public. Why? A War with no game plan! A busted economy with no game plan! A TERRIBLE foreign relations program……NO GAME PLAN for victory.

So now we have President Barack. As much as I would love to dislike the man, the fact is, I am going to give him a shot. He wants to change everything, go right ahead. He thinks he can change Washington, please, by all means. The American public will wake up in two years when they realized that CHANGE was a campaign slogan DESIGNED to get YOU to pull a voting trigger in a booth, NOTHING MORE. The expectations of his campaign are so high, NO ONE could possibly be responsible for executing all of those ideas. Let him try, though. If he can fix a few things, let him do it.

My biggest concern, as brought up by my friend David McDonald, esq., is his ability to pick THREE Supreme Court justices during his term, thus counteracting all of the work Bush Jr. did during his time in office. The Right to Life movement is something I care greatly about, and so should you. I believe that there is a lot of grey in life. You can’t go through life living in black and white….EXCEPT for abortion. You nor I will EVER be able to discover when God puts a soul into a human being. That choice is left up to the Almighty for the obvious reason to remind us of who is really in charge. SINCE WE CAN’T KNOW ANY OF THIS THROUGH SCIENCE, we can logically assume that the soul is created during inception. Note: This is not a hypothetical guess. Since we have inconclusive data, we must then logically assume that life is created at a time and place we know not of, and must respect any form of life in a mother’s womb. Since pro-choice people cannot prove that a soul does not exist at inception, I believe that we must treat any form of growth inside the mother as a life form and assign him/her any of the unalienable human rights as the rest of us.

If you don’t agree with me….well, you’re wrong. Since neither side can prove/disprove the existance of a soul, I will error on the side of the Church and not inconclusive science.

Obama’s appointments to the Supreme Court will allow Roe v. Wade to continue for decades to come, thus destroying the great work that has been conducted in the past few years to overturn the abortion process. MY CALL TO ACTION: We all have a responsibility to protect the unborn and for all innocent life to be protected. My point? If you a supporter of the pro-choice movement, WAKE UP! “But Chuck, really, how can those CELLS in a mothers womb be life?” Prove to me that it isn’t! “I would rather abort a child than have a child grow up in a poverty stricken, drug world.” ……

Choice? Pro-Choice? YOU DON’T HAVE A CHOICE! Life does not work by committee!

I get really fired up about this because I find it MIND BLOWING that the general public is so ignorant to the basic fundamental necessities of life and the natural flow of the universe. DON’T STOP AN INNOCENT LIFE CYCLE and futhermore DON’T ALLOW THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT to allow us the option to do so.

TODAY, NOVEMBER 9th 2008, I will announce my support for BOBBY JINDAL FOR PRESIDENT IN 2012!
C’mon Bobby, help us fix this mess in four years, PLEASE!

Weekend Recap: LSU vs Alabama Monday, Nov 10 2008 

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The day that’s been on everyone’s mind since August has been NOV. 8th 2008. Nick Saban’s return to Tiger Stadium as a football coach in the SEC is one of the highlights of the year. LSU got by Saban last year at Alabama with a quick win at the end of the game. Although Saban got us this year right at the end, I cannot help but LOVE the fact that Alabama is now enemy #1 again. It’s a great feeling to have them in our scopes for next year. I loved hating Steve Spurrier during college…but now to beat Saban on his on turf again next year will be even better.

Following the evening at Mellow Mushroom that ended for me around 5 am, I was on campus by noon to meet up with the rest of the crazies at the tailgate. The Krewe De Spanky really does have a fabulous tailgate. I sometimes will call it “my” tailgate, but I have NOTHING to do with it. Max, Edwin, Dave, and company really do an incredible job each week…and with five weeks in a row, they haven’t dropped the ball once (unlike our receivers). To hang out with such a great group of people, plus relatives, friends, and family…tailgating is seven weekends a year I will not miss. Don’t plan your wedding on those weeks, I won’t be there. Neither will half the state of Louisiana.

Kristen and I basically walked right to great seats in the student section 20 minutes before the game. We were right above the band, but high enough this week so that our view wasn’t blocked. The entire experience was great until an entire drink of bourbon was basically poured all over us. This happened all the time to me when I was in college, but the student section has calmed down 100% since then. When I was a freshman in 1998, drinks were thrown at every touchdown….thus dousing the entire student section in Bourbon. It never fails that the person on the end of the row gets the worst of the bourbon bomb, so Kristen took the hit….it almost feels like they are aiming for you. Gotta love those mid-season student section tickets….

I will forever remember the blocked field goal attempt at the end of the game. When LSU stopped the regulation Alabama win, the eruption in Tiger Stadium was awesome. This alone was worth the price of admission.

The loss to Saban was really hard to take. Leaving Tiger Stadium in defeat felt like a funeral…and losing is honestly a feeling that we’re not use to anymore. This has been a lousy week…my political candidate LOST, my high school LOST, my college LOST, and my pro team got DESTROYED!

Although I feel it is the natural ebb and flow of college football, the good and the bad, I really believe we are back in the championship game in two years. GENERAL LEE, I have faith in you brother…keep on keepin’ on. We’ll get back to the championship, and in the meantime, I am PROUD as ever to wear my purple and gold. Geaux Tigers!

Weekend Recap: MELLOW MUSHROOM Monday, Nov 10 2008 

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This picture about says it all. Trying to balance a Jim Beam bottle on your head is one of the hardest thing any red-blooded american male can try to do…a full Jim Beam bottle. If you succeed, everyone waits for you to drop it. If you drop it, everyone yells at you. Kind of mirrors life, doesn’t it?

Mellow Mushroom was a real kick in the ass. It always seems to be one of the best places we play….It’s been eight years that we’ve played there. I really do love the place because no one is afraid to rock out…no one’s afraid of rap music….no one is afraid of oldies….it’s all combined out there to the great appreciation of some great people. Our crowds at Mellow are never rowdy (I can remember one time in eight years that I had to kick somebody out). The show is always packed…with this show ranking among the top five ever.

Eddie Malera is my boy. Eddie is always our front of house engineer, meaning, he controls the mixing board where everything is balanced. He does a KILLER job out there. On Friday, he got behind the drum kit to fill in for Paul who tore his leg muscle during a sex change operation. Eddie kicked ass behind the drum kit…didn’t miss a beat. Eddie is the man, pure and simple. He gets the Mike Nestor “Hey Bra” award.

Mellow Mushroom and The Mixed Nuts…it’s really a fun time and THE BEST way to get ready for an LSU game. We just always hope the next day is a NIGHT game to let everyone recover for a few hours…no such luck this time. More on that in the next blog.

Oh and if you drop the bottle of Jim Beam off your head and it crashes on the ground, here’s another life lesson to answer your critics…

“At least it wasn’t Crown.”

Chuck Berry’s E Street Band Monday, Nov 10 2008 

BRUCE, one of the coolest men alive.
CHUCK, is the coolest man alive.

The Band, 1994 Monday, Nov 10 2008 

It feels like the first time… Monday, Nov 10 2008 

it feels like forever since I wrote something in here. Life’s been living itself lately, now it’s time to have COFFEE TALK! Wait, here’s a topic:

Duran Duran is neither a Duran nor a Duran. talk amongst yourselves.
here we go!