GrandSlampion!: The summer began nicely when I was able to take home honors as First Annual NYC GrandSlam winner of the Moth Storytelling group. The Moth event pitted eleven winners of monthly StorySlams from the previous year against one another [the extremely popular Slams are now held every 3 weeks, and after the second year the GrandSlams became a twice-yearly event]. For me the toughest part- besides the sheer talent of the competition - was trying to keep the story to the five minute limit [I tried but failed].

Don't Count Your Chickens Department: The first Moth GrandSlam was truly a dramatic night. Writer James Brady had gone on early and remained in the lead for the rest of the evening; I think both he and the audience assumed it was a done deal when I came onstage as the final performer. They were wrong: I managed to edge past him for the upset. Brady, who went on to win the event the next year, has appeared as a finalist in nearly every GrandSlam since, as well as winning a second Slampionship . Like Marciano, however, I retired undefeated. Hey James!

The forces of synchronicity were in full effect when Cathy and I took an 8-day trip to England in November of 2003. With just enough time to visit London for one day before we went home, I chose one at random, called ahead to schedule a BBC Six radio interview with punk-era legend Tom Robinson [whose album TRB1 had been a key influence for me in the mid-70'] and jumped on the British Rail for the capital. When I arrived for my 2 PM interview I discovered my cousin Joe Pernice was also in London, and was doing a 3 PM interview in the same building with a different D.J.!

At BBC Six studios.

Joe Pernice onstage at London's LaScala Theater: After making my way to a Burger King for a second quick interview -- this time with a writer working on a Pixies book -- I headed over to LaScala, the well-known club where the Pernice Brothers were playing. Soundcheck hadn't begun yet, and I ended up behind the mixing board. Afterward we followed the guitarist's father [!] to a boarded up bar that turned out to be a surreptitious strip club, and then returned to the club where I mixed the band for that night's show. After a great set we went back to a club that the promoter ran, and Joe was nice enough to let me highjack half his band for an after-hours set of off-the-cuff covers. I crashed with producer and filmmaker Dan Kramer, who screened a rough cut of his Boston Rock film Counting Backwards for me over breakfast [I had acted as a sort of "consultant without portfolio" to Dan's crew when they made the film, and I turn up in a number of shots looking overweight and decidedly seedy]. Then I took the train back to Tunnbridge Wells. Two interviews, a live sound gig, ot bad for just under 24 hours in London!

At Six months with Dad.

At six months with Mom.

Our future home on Fourth Street in Asbury Park, as it appeared on the first day we saw it. Would Cathy ever realize her dream of living a few blocks from the ocean?

Civil War Re-enactment on the beach....November, '02. Jen Hixson and I are getting the range for our high-faluttin' neighbor, Ocean Grove. Jen bought a home in AP a few months after we did, and right on the same street to boot!