SPRING CLEANING AT MY PLACE!

Yes, much nicer!

The Boys on "The Ed Sullivan Show"
(Ed reportedly took them to Mass!)

"Interesting that we should happen to find ourselves in love with the same woman"

"Find Mr. Lazlo's luggage and put it on the plane."

No, not this kind of trading!

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It's been a fun couple of days trading. No, not on the New York Stock Exchange! On The Michael Manning Exchange! Yes, of course there are many "exchanges" from Euro's to Dollars and so forth. But there are also e-mails and Blog Posts. However, mine began with a cool trade. A former musician with "The Temptations" in 1993 and I traded Fender Strat Guitars. So, I came out pretty good. I now have a 2008 Eric Clapton Fender Strat with a Maple fretboard. I know, I know. I've heard several people say there is no difference, but for me there is a difference in the way the strings resonate on different wood. My rule of thumb with is "lighter wood, brighter tone". But I could be wrong (hell, I've been wrong before)! Truth be told, I was never totally happy with my Jeff Beck model Strat because of the Redwood fretboard. So, that's resolved. Now, I have three standing offers for my amp set up which weighs in quite a bit--as in heavy. See, in Phoenix apartments are not required to install elevators (and now I can hear Bud Buckley's song "Elevator" with Deni Bonet's violin present--that always gets stuck in my head now!). Thanks Bud! So, anyway I'm located on the Julia Roberts/"Pretty Woman" 3rd floor--remember? Richard Gere: "The top floor?" Julia Roberts: "It's the best!" (yeah, crank up the Roy Orbison song...briefly for effect). No amp gear is friendly with 39 steps and three landings! Especially when your speaker cabinet is technically a "two man up" lift. So, I'm considering selling. "Considering". Moving along...

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I consigned a 1900 Irish poker table and a 6 place Oak table. In Phoenix, I discovered that Oak isn't "in". Neither were my bar stools, so up on "the block they went", along with a storage trunk (I use 2 to pack my stereo speakers when I move and the second one was a bad fit). In Ohio, I snagged a floor rug that I will make a killing out here along with an Indian wall rug that may be harder to consign because it has bright Red in it--considered an angry color. I try telling people that the Red is actually for an "Amorous" effect. What the hell, right? A little salesmanship. As I traveled from Antique and Consignment Shops (which are fun for me) I ran across a certain sideboard from the East that Californian's are paying HUGE bucks for and I snapped it up for pennies on the dollar! We (as in the consignment staff and I) compared a tiny end table by the same (un-named) manufacturer and it went for $898--yeah, ridiculous I know. I grabbed my find and had a delivery guy tote it up here before anyone discovered it.

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Some Die Cast automobile models were right-sized before The Smithsonian came calling. I found a very cool frame shop that preserved my Emcee gig materials from this past February's National Parkinson Foundation Gala in a frame I already had from home along with a variation of The Rolling Stones movie poster from Scorsese's film, "Shine A Light", an 8" X 10" of The Beatles performing on The Ed Sullivan Show, and two 8" X 10" glossies from the movie "Casablanca". Very cool too: The top shot is Rick Blaine, Ilsa Lund and Victor Lazlo standing outside "Rick's Cafe Americain" bar, and the one below it of the airport scene. What follows is hysterical! The framing lady and her husband love "Casablanca", although he can't stand it when she does the dialogue aloud! So I said, "How about the scene at the airport?". And we acted it out with sound effects right there in the store! I did Bogart and Claude Reins. The sales lady did Ilsa Lund and the background music. What a hoot!

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HAVE A FUN SUNDAY!