Things I Don't Do

I don’t hit you

I don’t call you names

I don’t sleep around

To you it’s all the same

I don’t smoke, do drugs

I don’t drink

I don’t gamble my pay

All the same you think

I don’t go to parties

I don’t stay out late

I don’t sleep around

And yet you start to hate

I don’t pay enough attention

I don’t give enough love

I don’t spend enough time

And that you let go of

I can write the words

But have trouble speaking

I can see my flaws

Too slow to change them

Is it too late

I don’t know

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

New Episodes Of Both Podcasts Are Finally Ready!!

It seems like it's been forever since I've put up any new episodes of either of my podcasts so good news is in order, both of them have new episodes ready to explode into your ears. As of late I haven't had much time to dedicate to writing or editing the podcasts, especially last week when I was on vacation. Originally I thought I'd be able to get it done but with trying to spend time with the family and all it just didn't happen. Once it was over work was crazy too. Sometimes it seems as if it would be better to not take any time off rather than clean up the mess that is waiting for me when I get back but that's just crazy talk. During my one week off I was able to de-stress quite a bit (when my wife allowed me to that is). This was my first vacation in over two years so you could say I was more than ready for it.

Before I could put up any new episodes of Ten For Tuesday I had to deal with a problem first. I was out of room on Podomatic and couldn't upload a new episode until I'd done something about it. Since I don't have the cash to upgrade to a Pro account I did the next best and cheapest thing possible. I went to the Internet Archive and set up a free account with unlimited space and started archiving the podcast there. To date I have five episodes available and in the near future will have them all. Once I get caught up I'll put all new episodes in both locations. Now the first three episodes can only be found there. As this goes on I'll be rotating out the episodes on Podomatic whenever I have a new one to post. To find them just go to www.archive.org and search for Ten For Tuesday, it's that easy. I'll also be moving notmovingpictures there and will host my other projects as well once I have time to start on them.

With that done I put together Episode 14 comprised of songs from some of the artists I was listening to from 1992-1995. Believe me the tracks are not indicative of everything that I listened to but comes pretty close. The artists featured are Helmet, Clutch, Life Sex and Death, Soudgarden, Jesus Lizard, Nirvana, Gruntruck, Hammerbox, Stompbox, Monster Voodoo Machine and The Screaming Trees. And yes I'm quite aware that there are eleven bands listed. To find out why you'll need to listen to the show. This episode came about because of the conversation that my guest host on notmovingpictures and I had about music from that era. I think he'll enjoy this one.

Just who was the guest host? His name is Richard Shockey and we met because our kids were in school together and they became best friends. Late in the year we found out that we had a few things in common so I finally got around to asking him to do the show. Tommy was out of town so it was a perfect fit in the schedule (I have a schedule?). If you tune in you'll hear our rambling discussion (as well as our kids in the background) on bands, local music, the Internet radio show he does (High Voltage Horror Show) with his friend Justin Edlich, my story of missing out on seeing Helmet and then finally getting to see them as well as how work and family problems can turn into good fodder for lyrics.

So there you have it, new episodes of the podcasts that you (hopefully) love to listen to. I'll do my best to get them out at a faster pace. I really want to do that but often it's a question of doing things with the family or around the house or working. I've gotta pay the bills, these things don't make any money. That's why they're done as lo-fi as they are. Of course if anyone wants to give me some free equipment in exchange for being mentioned or want to sponsor the show I'm open to suggestions so long as it's a product I can get behind. Who am I kidding? I've got to get a lot more listeners before stuff like that happens but I can dream so I'll dream big. Until the next time keep listening and reading and I'll keep putting it out there.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

I'll Eat At A Hole In The Wall Anytime

I've been watching a lot of Anthony Bourdain's show No Reservations lately in an effort to try and catch up on the last two seasons. I'd seen some of season seven before but not all of it and none of season eight. Watching the European episodes brought back memories of my two years in Germany from 1988 to 1990 while in the U.S. Army. Mainly it was how Tony likes to go somewhere at the end of a night of drinking and get some food, preferably street food, to "soak up" the alcohol. Back in those days I used to drink but no more. Still, I have a certain amount of fondness for things that happened in those days.

On my first Friday night at my unit I was taken by a team member into Stuttgart from Boeblingen because he wanted to show me the ropes. At the end of the night he decided that before we caught the Bahnhof (think above ground subway) back to Boeblingen he just had to show me a food stand that he said was amazing. The only problem was that he had consumed a large amount of beer and couldn't quite remember where the stand was. We went up one street and down another and eventually we found the stand in question.

At the time for some reason I thought the food was called Hackfleisch and that perhaps it originated from somewhere in the Mediterranean. I was wrong about that. Now I know that Hackfleisch literally means "hack flesh" (the Germans can be so straight forward in their descriptions) which really means chopped meat so I'm not entirely sure what it was that I was eating back then. I am sure however that it was delicious. That was the first of many times that I visited that stand late at night to taste their wares. One bad thing about the night though was that it took so long to find the stand that the last train had left and we had to spend the next four or five hours sleeping on the benches at the Bahnhof station. A small price to pay for the culinary delight I was shown.

My other favorite place to eat was at a stand at the Bahnhof station in Boeblingen that served currywurst. Their version was fairly straight forward. The wurst was cut into small pieces and a sauce comprised of curry and ketchup covered it. It was outstanding! I always made sure that I had room in my belly when I was using the Bahnhof to go into or come from Stuttgart. Once and only once I ordered currywurst at a nicer sit down restaurant thinking that it would at worst be comparable and at best be much better than my beloved version from the Bahnhof booth. I was wrong.

The nice restaurant version was just the wurst cooked with some curry and you had to try and add ketchup to make your own sauce. It just wasn't the same. That experience was one of many that taught me how simple I am when it comes to food. I very much prefer street food or hole-in-the-wall restaurants over fancy gourmet places. As a matter of fact I have no use for gourmet restaurants at all. They just don't appeal to me. Too often they seem to place the look of the food and the ambiance of the experience over the taste of the food. I'm all about the taste, as my belly can attest.

Thinking back it seems to have always been this way. In college my favorite place to eat was Jerry's, a greasy, run down place with cheap food and low prices. In Washington D.C. after a night out there was a hamburger place that my friends and I loved to go to. It didn't look like much on the outside but the waitresses had sharp tongues to go with the great food. Here in Tulsa my favorite Mexican restaurant (Rio Verde) looks like a rundown joint on the outside and that I'd be the only gringo there but once you get inside the food is great and authentic and people from all races can be found.

I guess this all ties into my personality. I just have a preference for the simpler things and could care less for anything flashy. What's most important to me is not outward appearances but what's on the inside. I'm not out to impress anybody, I just feel that the best experiences in life for me are the simple ones and the best food is usually in the least likely places. Give my theory a chance, you might be surprised at what you find.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

The Mysterious Case Of The Vanishing Underwear

Last week after noticing I was running low on underwear and white socks I deduced that it was time to look in the laundry baskets. My wife had just done the laundry a few days before so there should have been a lot of both. What I didn't find had me worried. Where were the white clothes? What had had happened to them? The best my wife could figure was that someone had taken them accidentally or that she had left them (also accidentally). Against all hope we drove over to the laundromat to check but our fears were confirmed. They didn't have them.

If she left them I could see the laundromat throwing them out after a day or two. After all, they are not in the business of storing clothes for people. However if somebody took our clothes from the dryer "accidentally" why would they not bring them back to the laundromat? I know I would if I made such a monumentally dumb mistake. I may not know all of my wife's clothes but I know what most of them look like so in all likelihood I never could have even left the place without noticing I had something that wasn't mine. Some men though would just grab what was in the dryer and not give it a second thought.

That makes me then wonder if they were taken on purpose. If they were, what kind of a loser do you have to be to steal someone elses undergarments? I don't care how many times you wash them I don't want to wear somebody elses underwear. Yes it's all in the mind but to me underwear is personal, I don't share mine with anybody, I don't even like it if I have to borrow someone elses socks or t-shirt in emergency situations. Perhaps other people don't think of underwear as being intimate like I do. Besides, mine were all old, some were torn and some, well, let's just say they'd seen a lot of action.

What kind of a twisted mind would see those and think "I've got to have them!" Hopefully I'll never meet anybody who will share their deep, dark secret of how they just have to steal strangers underwear. If I do I don't know how I could keep the look of horror off of my face. It's too sick to think of. More than likely the person who could do such a thing was scarred for life at a very young age. Sorry, is my sarcasm showing?

So now we have to go out and replenish my stock of socks and underwear. Luckily I hadn't used most of my white t-shirts although I'm sure there are a few that will be missed. We still need to buy some new socks for our son as well. Since money is very tight in our household it's definitely a cost that could have been avoided but what can you you? We all make mistakes, like trusting people not to be thieves with our underwear. Now I just need to find some cool t-shirts that are inexpensive. Not an easy thing to do for someone in their early (okay late) forties who is super picky. I'll try and find a way to move on.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Wolf In Sheep's Clothing

These lyrics came to me today at work. I guess you could say it's something that's been stewing in my mind for a long time. While it is the nature of working 2nd shift to have people leave as soon as a day shift position opens it does get rather tiring. I guess after having it happen one too many times I decided to vent. However, f I didn't say this was the source of my angst would you have known from reading the words? Hopefully the answer is no. More than likely what brought this on was the way that I found out about the latest defection. The bomb was dropped as if I already knew all about it so I was totally shocked, and angered and pissed if you want to know the truth. Ah, but angst does help to make great or in this case so-so art.

Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing

Another one exits

Another takes their place

Another spreads lies

Another welcomes the fake

Wolf in sheep’s clothing

Hiding your true self

Secret plans comes first

Desire gained by stealth

Who are you

Who are you

Too many names forgotten

Too many days gone by

Too many faded photographs

Too many memories died

Emotion’s burned out

Ambition buried in the pile

Karma might catch you

Add your name to the file

Who were you

Who were you

Better not to speak now

Better left unsaid

Better to go our own way

Better off dead

Now I know your purpose

It’s all in the game

Time to pay the toll

With it comes the blame

Who are we

Who are we

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Care To Prove You're Different?

I've always known I was different but in reality I am proof that God has a sense of humor. That is a bold statement but I can back it up with proof. If you look beyond my personality (which some might say is proof enough) and look at my physical side you will begin to see how true my statement is. First are my legs. I'm bowlegged and slew footed which together combines for a strange look.

Every time I had to do the sitting stretch during my time in the military I always had difficulty doing it in their prescribed manner. To do it you sit on the ground with your legs stretched out in front of you with your feet pointing up. Then you simply lean forward and try to touch your toes or go even further if possible depending on your level of fitness.

It always seemed as if I should be able to reach a lot further than I actually was. Then it occurred to me that if I allowed my legs to lay in their normal state, that is legs stretched out and toes pointing outward with my feet horizontal, I would be able to fully stretch myself out and reach past my feet. It does look very abnormal when I sit that way but it's how I'm comfortable so I go with it.

About eight years ago or so I was taking an Aikido class and found out that my elbows are weird as well. We were doing a drill in which you have wrist control on your opponent and take them to the ground face first. There with their arm twisted you put the back of their hand against your chest and lean forward thereby locking it in with your hands free to wreak havoc if need be.

My partner for the exercise did everything properly only to have me simply pull my arm out. Convinced he was doing something wrong he said let's do it again. After many repetitions which all ended in the same manner he gave up and called our instructor over. The Instructor watched us perform the drill once again and then stated "Oh, Don's just put together weird" which is such a wonderful thing to hear.

He showed us how if you make a fist and put it on your hip with your elbow pointing outward then you can feel where the point of your elbow is. For most people it is in the middle but for weird people like me it's somewhere different, in my case it's on the outside. That was what was allowing me to pull my arm out but once armed with the knowledge that someone can do that you merely have to rotate the arm a little more in order to lock it out.

But wait. there's more. I can pop my ankles while standing although I'm pretty sure that's not so good for you. I used to be able to stretch my right hand out and turn it back and forth rapidly and it would produce a clicking sound but that went away in the last year. Then there's my snapping scapula which doesn't hurt and....well I could go on with more tales of my weirdness but I guess that's enough for now. It's all just proof that I am one weird put together dude, not that it wasn't apparent at first glance.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Episode 13 of Ten For Tuesday Podcast Is Ready

Lucky episode 13 of the best music podcast that I do, Ten For Tuesday, is now ready. Go to http://www.tenfortuesday.podomatic.com/ to listen, download or subscribe to via Itunes. Or just click on the player below. Don't I make it easy for you? After three weeks off I'm back for a musical attack that features music from the U.S., Australia, Italy and Canada. There's lot's of ska, music from the 80s, music from this year and music from somewhere in between. I put all of the songs on a playlist for my Ipod and then just hit shuffle. This is the way it came out:

The Snails - Young At Heart
Alejandro Escovedo - Man Of The World
Banda Bassotti - Guantanamera
The Expos - Dying Too Long
The Resignators - Offbeat Feeling
The Call - The Walls Came Down
Dear Enemy - Restless
Jesse Malin - All The Way From Moscow
The Jayhawks - Bad Time
Drivin' N' Cryin' - Whisper Tames The Lion



Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.