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A very special wrist shot for me


P4GTR

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So I got down on one knee and asked the girlfriend to marry me yesterday, beachside! Went for a great dinner afterwards. She said yes and wore the ring, I wore the TAG!

I know you guys are all about the details, so I should say that she's a nurse; she can't really have long nails & nail polish.

SDC11958.jpg

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condolences ......... oops i meant congratulations ! :D

:lol:

True story, on my dear departed mother's eyes and the health of my children:

I got engaged and married in '92. It was, aside the births of my daughters, to date, the best year of my life.

My best man, whom I have known since kindergarten was working as a sound engineer @ 'Bearsville Recording Studios' in Woodstock, New York. The studio was then owned by Todd Rundgren. If you are younger than 40, the name probably doesn't ring any bells, but Todd was with the band the "Nazz" in the late sixties and had a few hits on his own in the seventies. He also produced 'Meatloaf' 's Bat Out of Hell album at Bearsville when no other producer or record company saw the genius behind that body of work. He also help raise Steven Tyler's daughter Liv in Woodstock with her biological mother, model Babe Buell.

I was married in St. Petersburg, Florida. The wedding party was staying at, and the reception was held at the Don Cesar resort on St. Pete Beach. Give it a Google. It has a lot of history and is beautiful.

On the friday before the wedding we held the rehearsal dinner at the Hurricane and retired to the Don for night caps. Exiting the elevator on the lounge mezzanine the maitre d' excused himself on behalf of the resort but informed us that the entire lounge area was reserved for a private 'banquet'. There were three men only sitting at the bar. With a hmmm, and an "Oh well" we were deciding on an alternate plan.

From the bar; "Chris! Chris! What are you doing here?!" One of the men at the bar was Todd Rundgren, of course he recognised my best man as his balance engineer from Bearsville. He motioned Chris over to the bar and there was some back slapping and gesturing toward our party. We were invited in. The two other men at the bar were Joe Walsh and Nils Lofgren. They were all on tour with Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band probably gigging in Lakeland or perhaps the USF campus. Ringo was absent having long since sworn off partying. Such is the pity for this die hard Beatle fan. Oh well, never meet your heros, they will only disappoint..............

We all settled in for drinks and the casual demeanor of the musicians quickly defused any 'star struck' emotions. Another member of my wedding party happened to be the 'Bergen County (New Jersey) Yo-Yo Champion" running consecutive years in the seventies. As a lark he had brought a bag on Duncan Yo-Yo's as party favors to the rehearsal dinner. They were the 'light up' models, we all had one and the musicians were intrigued. They all tried their hand and all failed miserably to great waves of laughter. It was a hoot. That and my old Air Force Dad concurring with Joe Walsh that Frank Sinatra was "real music" were the high lights. Then...........

.......and meanwhile, my fiance'e, an English 'Roedean' girl, and accomplished classical pianist had grown bored, all the significance of "Pop Culture Icons", "Yo-Yo's" and "Bushmills shots" completely lost on her, had wandered over to the baby grand piano and was running some scales, then into, I dunno, probably some Chopin. This piqued Joe Walsh's interest and he sauntered over for some fun. Coming up from behind, he bracketed my fiance'e with his arms and started banging out a raucus 12 bar boogie woogie on the keys. At this point in his career Joe Walsh had been very haggered by the rock and roll lifestyle all those years. He and Keith Richards could very well made a nice pair of Halloween book-ends. She spun around on the bench and was brow to brow with the man. She shrieked, escaped his loose embrace and ran quite shaken to the coven of her bridesmaids. I never laughed so hard in my life. It was a golden moment.

Just previous, Todd had ordered another 'round of Bushmills to toast my day. Doubles. Rejoining the group at the bar, grinning like the Cheshire Cat, and looking back over his shoulder at my fiance'e 's distress with complete satisfaction Joe querried; "Hmmmmm, doubles? What's the occaision?" "Our boy here is getting married in the morning". "Great! I'm in! To who?", "The girl at the piano", he; "Good God, make them triples!".

As it was all winding down and the guests were retiring, Joe Walsh, who was by that point in his life working on his fourth marriage, put his arm around my neck in a tight squeeze; "Boyo, let me tell you something..........." He hesitated, reflected on me and my fiance'e who was sitting by my side, much more composed now, and shook his head. "Nevermind boyo, every man reserves the right to jump off that cliff. You wouldn't take my advice anyway, I won't waste my words."

I knew what he was getting at surely, but every couple "know" they are different from everyone else who walked down that aisle before them. "For us it will always be milk and honey."

No it won't, but, it will still be the best, most honorable thing you can do on this Earth. It is why we are here. Where God and nature coexist in their independent design for 'man'; be fruitful, and multiply. Be earnest in your endeavor and you will make this a better world.

Old Scottish adage: "A man is not a man, until his father dies and he finds himself the patriarch of the clan."

Hang tough P4, you go where many fools have tread, but too, many, many more "men". Welcome to the clan.

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:lol:

True story, on my dear departed mother's eyes and the health of my children:

I got engaged and married in '92. It was, aside the births of my daughters, to date, the best year of my life.

My best man, whom I have known since kindergarten was working as a sound engineer @ 'Bearsville Recording Studios' in Woodstock, New York. The studio was then owned by Todd Rundgren. If you are younger than 40, the name probably doesn't ring any bells, but Todd was with the band the "Nazz" in the late sixties and had a few hits on his own in the seventies. He also produced 'Meatloaf' 's Bat Out of Hell album at Bearsville when no other producer or record company saw the genius behind that body of work. He also help raise Steven Tyler's daughter Liv in Woodstock with her biological mother, model Babe Buell.

I was married in St. Petersburg, Florida. The wedding party was staying at, and the reception was held at the Don Cesar resort on St. Pete Beach. Give it a Google. It has a lot of history and is beautiful.

On the friday before the wedding we held the rehearsal dinner at the Hurricane and retired to the Don for night caps. Exiting the elevator on the lounge mezzanine the maitre d' excused himself on behalf of the resort but informed us that the entire lounge area was reserved for a private 'banquet'. There were three men only sitting at the bar. With a hmmm, and an "Oh well" we were deciding on an alternate plan.

From the bar; "Chris! Chris! What are you doing here?!" One of the men at the bar was Todd Rundgren, of course he recognised my best man as his balance engineer from Bearsville. He motioned Chris over to the bar and there was some back slapping and gesturing toward our party. We were invited in. The two other men at the bar were Joe Walsh and Nils Lofgren. They were all on tour with Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band probably gigging in Lakeland or perhaps the USF campus. Ringo was absent having long since sworn off partying. Such is the pity for this die hard Beatle fan. Oh well, never meet your heros, they will only disappoint..............

We all settled in for drinks and the casual demeanor of the musicians quickly defused any 'star struck' emotions. Another member of my wedding party happened to be the 'Bergen County (New Jersey) Yo-Yo Champion" running consecutive years in the seventies. As a lark he had brought a bag on Duncan Yo-Yo's as party favors to the rehearsal dinner. They were the 'light up' models, we all had one and the musicians were intrigued. They all tried their hand and all failed miserably to great waves of laughter. It was a hoot. That and my old Air Force Dad concurring with Joe Walsh that Frank Sinatra was "real music" were the high lights. Then...........

.......and meanwhile, my fiance'e, an English 'Roedean' girl, and accomplished classical pianist had grown bored, all the significance of "Pop Culture Icons", "Yo-Yo's" and "Bushmills shots" completely lost on her, had wandered over to the baby grand piano and was running some scales, then into, I dunno, probably some Chopin. This piqued Joe Walsh's interest and he sauntered over for some fun. Coming up from behind, he bracketed my fiance'e with his arms and started banging out a raucus 12 bar boogie woogie on the keys. At this point in his career Joe Walsh had been very haggered by the rock and roll lifestyle all those years. He and Keith Richards could very well made a nice pair of Halloween book-ends. She spun around on the bench and was brow to brow with the man. She shrieked, escaped his loose embrace and ran quite shaken to the coven of her bridesmaids. I never laughed so hard in my life. It was a golden moment.

Just previous, Todd had ordered another 'round of Bushmills to toast my day. Doubles. Rejoining the group at the bar, grinning like the Cheshire Cat, and looking back over his shoulder at my fiance'e 's distress with complete satisfaction Joe querried; "Hmmmmm, doubles? What's the occaision?" "Our boy here is getting married in the morning". "Great! I'm in! To who?", "The girl at the piano", he; "Good God, make them triples!".

As it was all winding down and the guests were retiring, Joe Walsh, who was by that point in his life working on his fourth marriage, put his arm around my neck in a tight squeeze; "Boyo, let me tell you something..........." He hesitated, reflected on me and my fiance'e who was sitting by my side, much more composed now, and shook his head. "Nevermind boyo, every man reserves the right to jump off that cliff. You wouldn't take my advice anyway, I won't waste my words."

I knew what he was getting at surely, but every couple "know" they are different from everyone else who walked down that aisle before them. "For us it will always be milk and honey."

No it won't, but, it will still be the best, most honorable thing you can do on this Earth. It is why we are here. Where God and nature coexist in their independent design for 'man'; be fruitful, and multiply. Be earnest in your endeavor and you will make this a better world.

Old Scottish adage: "A man is not a man, until his father dies and he finds himself the patriarch of the clan."

Hang tough P4, you go where many fools have tread, but too, many, many more "men". Welcome to the clan.

It doesn't get much more awesome than that, thanks for sharing :):good:

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My best man, whom I have known since kindergarten was working as a sound engineer @ 'Bearsville Recording Studios' in Woodstock, New York. The studio was then owned by Todd Rundgren. If you are younger than 40, the name probably doesn't ring any bells, but Todd was with the band the "Nazz" in the late sixties and had a few hits on his own in the seventies. He also produced 'Meatloaf' 's Bat Out of Hell album at Bearsville when no other producer or record company saw the genius behind that body of work. He also help raise Steven Tyler's daughter Liv in Woodstock with her biological mother, model Babe Buell.

As a former audio engineer and studio technician here in LA I have always wondered what happened to that fantastic studio and more importantly the custom console they had there (which, as I understand it, was originally owned by the Who)

Great story Dems! Thank you for sharing that! Definitely getting closer to the big day myself and your story was quite inspiring!

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@ T'J,

You're certainly welcome. I wanted to relate the story in your own wedding topic previous, but did not want to divert your moment with a hijack, so I demured. As this is P4's 'engagement' thread I took the liberty as the anecdote is apropos to the scope of his most imminent journey.

@redwatch,

Unfortunately the studio died a slow frustrating death. It didn't go out with a bang, it fizzled. I think the real death knell tolled when Aerosmith tentatively booked the studio for rehearsals in preparation for the "Pump" album. It seemed a no brainer as the band wanted to record 'real time' as an ensemble for a live show/bar gig atmosphere and sound. Kind of like the sound The Band's 'Brown Album' delivered in the same room. After a week of jamming in studio A, getting a feel, and listening to the playbacks, they came to the conclusion; "We really don't need to be here, we can get these sounds at home in our own basement studios". Uh oh. I think they (Aerosmith) failed in their quest though. "Pump" sounds great, but perhaps a bit over produced, like a Mutt Lang record. Oh well.

Studio A was all analogue, the dim orange glow and heat of vacuum tubes. The equipment was massive. Not sure if the Who's console was there or not, but studio A is where it would have been if anywhere.

The studio tried to remain competitive by transforming studio B to 'state-of-the-art' MIDI et al. A lot of investment. It faultered. As you would imagine, people who booked studio B, the likes of Dave Mathews and Blues Travellers all wanted to return to "A" where all the magic happened for Levon and Robbie. The room is/was amazing. I think the last big record made there was Ozzy's Osmosis album. A "meh" record with regard to material, but a big fat sound with great bottom end. I think they largely mixed it there as well.

I'll call my friend and ask about the console.

OK, this is a shameless hijack by now..............best of luck to the two of you!

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Wow, great stories all around! I feel the presence of greatness here.

Congrats on the nuptials! After 25 years with the ever-delectable Ms. Nanuq I can say it only gets better and better and better.

:tu:

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