Still drying off from last nights soaker?  The National Weather Service reports we received 1.73 inches of rain at the airport to set a new record for rainfall on May 28.  So congratulations!  If you love water and need bath products to go with it, check out a cool site I found from some listeners in Charleston SC. It’s www.NikiLeighSpa.com. Cool stuff!  I rode out the storm at the first annual Lambfest at Brad & Michele Haarr’s beautiful estate in Victor.  B-rad cooked up a feast for a small army of lunatics led by T-Foot of Fairport, Keith Friel from the Razorsharks, John McElroy of Fairport, Thomas Dow from Cobblestone via Long Island and my lucky self.  Apparenly red wine must pair well with tasty lamb because there were a few empty bottles of the tasty grape at the end of the delicious dinner.  As long as I am fed like that during storms, and the weather improves for the weekend, no problem on my end when we get lots of rain mid-week.  As long as it doesn’t become a habit during the summer.  Let’s keep our fingers crossed for a dry weekend for the following events:

>> The Taste of Penfield  brings music and great chow (it will be tough to beat B-Rad’s gourmet stylings).  12 of Penfield’s best dining spots take it to Veterans Memorial Park behind the Town Hall.  Munchin’ and dancin’ starts at 5 today.

>> Speaking of great food, there’s lots of it available all weekend at the Greek Festival on East Ave. at Anunciation Orthodox Church.  The rain led to a soggy start last night, but the greeks are resilient and will not be held down from a big party.  Just think of all the frat and sorority parties you went to in college….like Flounder from Animal House: “this is gonna be grrrrrreat!”

>> The Relay for Life in Fairport will be held tonight at Center Park West. Good luck to our chum Mary Brown who will be raising cash to support the work of the American Cancer Society.  Other Relays will be held all over the area in the coming weeks to support the cause.

>> Don’t miss the annual Mendon Carnival off Rt. 64 as the summer carny season kicks into gear.

>> Need more water?  The big event for the weekend is the ESL Air and Water Show at Ontario Beach Park in Charlotte.  Traffic will be tight on Lake Ave. so take the shuttle from Eastman Park (better known to real Rochestarians as Kodak Park….remember that once vibrant complex?). It will only cost you a buck to avoid the traffic hassles and get dropped off right at the shore to watch the Canadian Snowbirds, the US Air Force F-15 Strike Force, the US Navy’s F-18 Super Hornet and the US Army’s Golden Knights parachute team, along with lots of other displays on land and Lake Ontario.  Best of luck to Sue and Jim LeBeau as they organize the big show.  and God bless all members of the military, whether they’re in town for the show or wherever they may be stationed across the globe. God bless our troops.    

If you live in beautiful Genesee County, here’s a great way to help your fellow residents.  The Genesee Co. chapter of the American Red Cross is having a fundraiser this Saturday from 5 – 9pm at BW’s Restaurant, located at Davis’ Countryside Meadows golf course on Perry Rd. in Pavilion.

This is the 14th year that the chapter has sponsored the 19th Hole Golf Raffle in order to raise funding to provide essential services to the Genesee community.  For more information call 343.6098.   or log on below:

http://www.thedailynewsonline.com/articles/2009/05/16/news/5473224.txt.

They do great work at the Red Cross, there for you when you need them most. God bless the Red Cross and God bless our troops.

I’m sitting in my chair next to the window here at our High Falls Studios when I look out and see someone put their drink on top of my car.  Is it a big deal? Probably not, but it annoyed the hell out of me! Who does this? Set it on the ground jackass! I’ve never placed my drink on top of a complete stranger’s car. What if it spilled and got all sticky? Just plain rude man. Here’s the pic…

Judging by all the mileage I put on my truck this weekend, I am very relieved the cost of gas is $1.50 cheaper than last summer.  First mileage was gained by rolling north for dinner in Charlotte at Mr. Dominics Friday.  Chicken french was delicious as always, as was Romy my waitress.  Then I put 1/10th of a mile on my odometer as I checked out the new Pier 45 bistro inside the former fast ferry terminal.  Congrats to Joe Floreano and his staff for opening such a beautiful spot.  You can take in gorgeous views from the patio over-looking the river and Rochester Yacht Club.  Certainly seems more like you’re in Florida or the Caribbean than Charlotte.  It will be a fine viewing area for this weekends ESL Air Show. From the Pier I toured over the Stutson Bridge to Summerville to check in on the action at Olies.  The usual chaos was swirling and all were happy as summer was officially back for the crew.

Saturday I added up the mileage while heading for an Ontario Co. tour.  Started at the Canandaigua lacrosse game against Fairport.  A well coached and well played game by both teams, with the Braves coming out on top 10-7.  My nephew Mitch Buck then took his Uncle Mayor to Eric’s Office and treated me to a tasty lunch before his bro Chad joined me on a cruise south to Vine Cottage on Canandaigua Lake.  We enjoyed the hospitality bestowed upon us by Mae and Tom Dow as they celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary.  Chad and I then joined the pirates of CA as Donny Graham and crew kept the Sandbar rockin’ on the north end at the Inn on the lake.  Please join me at the Sandbar Wednesday as we continue the summer celeebration with a Buzz happy hour beginning at 6pm.  Live tunes from 34 Feet Deep and plenty of Buzz prizes to throw out.

After resting comfortably in CA Sat night, Sunday’s mileage was increased with a trek north through Fairport and Webster for a quick lunch with Patrick Hickey and my former boss and Big-Cheese-in-Charge Bob Morgan at the Bayside, nestled between Irondequoit Bay and Lake Ontario on Lake Rd.  A great spot to hang when you wanna lay low.  From there we ventured to the top of the bay for a great party poolside at the beautiful Jennifer Johnson and lucky hubby Vinny Esposito’s fantastic home. I even managed to get heckled by my dumbass buddy Zane who plays football at Victor High.  It’s always charming to get verbally abused by a high school kid.   So to continue the abuse, we headed back north to the King of all heckling bars Olies. It was a perfect day on the north coast of America, a fitting venue to salute all the veterans who were enjoying the Memorial day holiday weekend.

On the actual holiday, I celebrated with the staff from Mario’s Italian Steakhouse and Bazil restaurants at King’s Bend Park in Pittsford.  Thanks to Mario, Anthony and Danny Daniele for the fine food and stimulating conversation at the annual staff picnic.  My final few miles of the long weekend were tallied up as I headed to a flip cup tournament in Corn Hill.  Supermodels Joy Schiebel and Lucy Smith hosted as a large group of my fellow radio geeks descended upon the beautiful historic neighborhood.  If you’re not familiar with “flip cup”, you’re lucky. Even though I did not participate in these shananigans, the basic idea is that teams of 4 or 5 flip a beer cup while partaking in drinking large amounts of sudsy beer from a keg.  My A-D-D doesn’t allow for me to take part in such foolishness, but it is a great place to heckle and harass people who you like to hang with. We were joined by members of the Red Wings and Razorsharks organizations. They seemed rather amused by the stupidity displayed by the radio freaks.  God bless ‘em all and God bless our troops.   

New idea. Snippets of my life 30 seconds at a time. Everyone has 30 seconds right?  Keep an eye out. I hope to post a new 30 Seconds vid pretty regularly.

Thanks to everybody who responded about my last post regarding Dr. Maurer. Apparerently the good Doc has affected many people around the area, including my buddy Jennae Moran.  You can read her reply on our site.  She eloquently explains how Dr. Maurer has helped, influenced and guided her along a tough path in life.  As Jennae points out, Doc is a very special man.  And a decorated Major from the US Army, the people who we owe our thanks to this weekend.

Off and running with a long holiday weekend.  Here’s some prime spots to find a good celebration this weekend:

** Party like an animal tonight at the Seneca Park Zoo. It’s ZooBrew.  what’s better than beer and monkeying around in the beautiful park?

** Irondequoit hosts their annual Memorial Day parade Sunday @ 5:30 on Titus Ave. 

** Canandaigua’s parade is Monday @ 10am on Main St., starting at the American Legion.  When I was a kid, I was always in the lead car with my dad the real Mayor leading the charge to Woodlawn Cemetary for a solemn service honoring all of our fallen heroes.

** Chili’s parade rolls down Chili Ave. starting at 8:30am Monday

** Fairport honors the military with the hometown parade Monday on Main St. beginning at 10am.

** Geneseo’s parade tours Main St. Monday morning. It’s a revolving parade, meaning that it comes down Main, then turns around and comes back.  2 parades in one!

  ** Greece could use some good news, as the town parade takes over Long Pond Rd. Monday at 2pm. Keep an eye for my man Sen. Joe Robach, cuz nobody works the streets harder than Joe Ro!

** Hilton’s annual tribute to the troops starts at the high school on East Ave. Monday @ 10am.  I’m sure Queen Kimberly from the Breakfast Buzz will be trolling the parade route with her beautiful daughter Chloe.

** over in Orleans Co, Medina’s parade is Monday @ 11am on Main at State St.

** Pittsford sends the marchers down Jefferson Rd. to Main St. Monday @ 10am.

** My buds from the Haarr family will take in the Victor parade action Monday @ 10am on High St. I’m sure Mason and Gavin will be posted on Main St. to catch the fire trucks.

** Life is worth living when there is a parade in Webster Monday starting at 10am at Spry Middle School.

** Scottsville cruises Rochester St. for the annual parade kicking off at 9:30am Monday.

** In Spencerport, Main St. is the place to be Monday at 9:30 for the parade near the canal.

** and the city’s annual Memorial Day parade rolls down East Ave. to Main St. starting Monday @ 10:30am.

Please remember during your celebrations this weekend to thank a veteran.  Without them, where would we be?  Being the son of a decorated Marine, I know all too well about the sacrifices that many have made for our freedom.  God bless our past heroes, today’s warriors and God bless all of our troops and their families on Memorial Day weekend!         

Nancy Mule got a new tatoo and decided to show it to me… it’s HOT.

Once in awhile you meet somebody who impresses the hell out of you.  That happened to me last night while acting as Master of Ceremonies for the Brighton Police Dept. awards dinner at Mario’s Italian Steakhouse on Monroe Ave.  The featured speaker at the dinner was Dr. Paul Maurer, the Chief of Neurosurgery at the University of Rochester.  The good Doc is the man who helped to save Officer Tony DiPonzio’s life on January 31.  Dr. Maurer gave a power point presentation last night about how President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.  Let’s just say the good Doc is the smartest man in any room he walks into.  He blew me away with his knowledge and how he could relate it to ordinary people at the dinner.  As I told everyone there last night,  I was smart enough to get a 48 on the Regents exam for biology in high school (yeah, that’s right…out of 100). Science ain’t my thing. So, I basically grasped about half of what the good Doc was talking about.  But I am smart enough to spot a genius when I meet one, and Dr. Maurer certainly fills that title properly. His resume (which I read before introducing him) is about 5 pages long and includes the fact that Dr. Maurer was awarded the Bronze star as a Major in the US Army for excellent service in a battlefield environment for his service to us in Iraq in 1991.  The guy is on an entirely different level than most humans, as proven when he successfully operated on Tony DiPonzio and saved his life back on that fateful day in January.  God bless Dr. Maurer and God bless all of our incredible soldiers like him!  

Summer must be upon us because it seems every weekend fills up with fun events quickly. This weekend was no exception.  It began Friday with a meeting at the Bushnells Basin offices of Canandaigua National Bank.  We’re prepping for the annual Employee Celebration coming up in a few weeks as our favorite local bank honors its star performers.  After my high level meeting with Director Dave, Steve Martin and Lindsay Morrow, I met up with some pals at Champs at Eastview Mall to toast our friend Mae Squier-Dow. My bud Maesy was in the house celebrating her birthday with hubby Tom and a great cast of characters, including my CA buds Dino and John Parkhurst.  Nothing like hangin’ with the Queen to bring out the best in all of us!

Saturday I met up with a crew for the John Halas Retirement Pub Crawl.  My bud Johnny is ending his career as a champ with the Rochester Razorsharks so he can go back to school to get his Masters while being an assistant coach at Amherst College.  26-years-old and already retired as a champion. We should all be so lucky. So our team toured the Monroe Ave. scene Sat. afternoon under the watchful leadership of Coach Rod Baker and Keith Friel, the Sharks MVP.  We crawled from the Sports Page to Acme Pizza, O’Cals to the new Park Bench.  We ended up with a grand dinner at Grinnells, the city’s greatest spot for chicken french.  Ricky and David Grinnell treated us to a fantastic meal with lots of laughs as appetizers, thanks in part due to the addition of Pistol Pete Barry and the legendary T-Foot of Faiport.  I’m stil laughing from the stories that were shared.

It was a workday (if that’s what ya call it) for yours truly Sunday as I was honored to be the Master of Ceremonies for the Employee Awards Dinner at the Hyatt Regency Hotel downtown.  It’s an annual ritual for me as the Hyatt shows appreciation to all of their hard working associates who do such a tremendous job of keeping the hotel top notch.  Thanks to GM Nassy Saidian, Patrick Miller, Gary Young, Paul Walters, Lyndsey, Julie and the entire Hyatt team for letting me be part of the family.  It’s nice to see companies in town who recognize how important their staff is to the companies success.  It was a very enjoyable, first class event.

Cal Ripkin Jr. is in town tonight to speak at the Press-Radio Club Dinner.  It’s too bad all athletes don’t have the class and style of Cal.  He grew up here when his dad was with the Red Wings and ended up playing for the Wings before going onto spectacular success with the Baltimore Orioles.  Mr. Ripkin hasn’t forgotten his roots even though he’s a Hall of Famer. The sports world would be in much better condition if other athletes followed Cal’s example.  God bless him and God bless our troops.         

This is freaking adorable…