Have a blast on the 4th!

[clinthopson]

I want all you guys to have a great 4th of July holiday w.e.

For us, it's vegging, watching the Angels kick the Dodgers' butts and hope the bullpen gets back to normal and powering down some good grub and adult beverages.

I'm, planning on making tamales in the Vera Cruz style - pork with chile wrapped in banana leaves with black beans cooked with chorizo and a white peach flan.

KA-BOOM!

[Monte Smith]

Whoo-hoo! Time to break out the star-spangled wingtips! I may park my family at the base of the Marine memorial (the Iwo Jima) in Arlington. That's what we always used to do when I was a kid...you get the view of the fireworks on the Mall from across the Potomac, but don't have to face the crowds. And I hate crowds. Or I might cook some hot dogs and hamburguesas on the new grill.

Best 4th of July to all the posters in each and every of the 50 states, and abroad. And a special shout out to our troops at home and over there.

[cookie]

Star-spangled wing-tips! Yeah! I like your sartorial leanings for the 4th, Monte.

The town fireworks are tonight and I'm not working so I think it will be a family thing this year (though I'm not so into fireworks, the boys love them. They will be begging me for explosives all weekend. They might get some sparklers).

We will be barbecuing on the 4th and spinning loud jazz. I always play Louis Armstrong on the 4th of July. I think some friends may come over and since one of them is a fine bass player, we may end up playing some American music of our own.

And as always, I'm flying the colors. I may disagree with much of what is going on in the country and the world right now, but I still love my country. Just the fact that somebody like me can get an education and vote is precious.

Happy Independence Day!


PS: One of my favorite 4ths ever was on the Mall in D.C. I have a good girlfriend who was married to a saxophonist in the Navy band. It was very, very crowded, but we had passes to hang out with the band and eat their food and drink their beverages. It's good to be with the band!

Anyway, the concert was great. There was a choir and the Navy band. If you're going to listen to patriotic music and marches, nobody but nobody beats the military ensembles. They also played some stuff with famous guest singers, but damned if I remember who they were.

We did venture out onto the Mall proper to get the feel of the crowd. It was packed, but people were great.

Since I'm from the backwoods, being in DC is very glamorous to me. To be there on July 4th for a concert of patriotic music played by such fine musicians was such a great experience.

[Enforcer]

Happy Independence Day to all of you.

Me? I don't know for sure, but I'll probably do the usual stuff. Pick up some wine coolers at the corner store, call up my friends on the phone. Take a nice, hot bath and put on my pajamas, curl up on the sofa. Eat some Ben & Jerry's right out of the carton. Watch Beaches. Just the usual stuff a guy like me does when it's time to celebrate.

Larry

[stonemonkts]

Have a nice time, everyone.

For me, it is a tradition of drinking very cold beer and eating grilled sausage and pepper sandwiches on kaiser rolls.

[jaka]

Originally Posted by Monte Smith

Best 4th of July to all the posters in each and every of the 50 states, and abroad.

Thank you. I wish everyone a nice time too.

I'll start celebrating on the 3rd of July though with the Shorter/Hancock/Holland/Blade show here in Paris, followed by a solo set by my god Marc Ducret + drinking/chatting/eating after that.
This should do the trick to lead my in the early hours of the 4th.

Cheers,

[moneyp]

Barbeque/pool party at my cousin's house. Good times.

[Alastair]

So tell me again, what's 4 July all about?

I might go and see Joe Williamson (from Trapist) play a solo bass set at 323 Rekkids on Saturday afternoon, see a friend in the evening and then watch the French Grand Prix and the Euro 2004 "soccer" final on Sunday. I have Greece in the office sweepstake, so I have a monetary interest in the final,much to everyone's surprise .

There's some game being played in SW19 over the weekend but that doesn't really float my boat.

[Monte Smith]

Originally Posted by Alastair

So tell me again, what's 4 July all about?

You know, one of the first things I did when I moved to England in the 11th grade was check out history textbooks in the Berkshire Public Library to see if British accounts of the War of Independence were substantially different from American accounts. They were not. You bastards tried to tax us and we got ornery.

[frankiepop]

Have a blast on the 4th!


mmk

[Monte Smith]

Originally Posted by Alastair

....the Euro 2004 "soccer" final on Sunday.

Hey, I'd join you on that one. Only when we declared our independence from the Old World, we seem to have nixed proper broadcasts of European football in this country. Direct TV wants $19.95 for pay-per-view for the final. $19.95! It's outrageous. I feel like I am being taxed for being an American. I feel like throwing a bag of tea at the screen. By God, I do.

[Chris D]

Monte, why do get a feeling you would have been a Tory back in the day? (Jes' kiddin', me friend.)

We'll have a party on the 3rd to coincide with the Midwest's largest fireworks display, which draws 300,000 people just down the street from us. The Thunderbirds routinely light up their afterburners right over our house.

[Alastair]

[Monte Smith]

Different Thunderbirds, Alastair.

Dupre, certainly when you look back on history, the oppression of the American people does not stand out as a particularly cruel injustice. I mean, looking back on it, the oppression of the American people by George III does not even rise to the heinousness of the oppression of some American peoples by other American peoples! So yes, I can see justice on both sides of that argument of 1776.

Having said that, in 2001 when Carmen and I were visiting Windsor Castle, we both took the opportunity to dance on the grave of the dead English king. George III? Hey macarena!

[Gary Sisco]

Strange how over time what was called The Revolutionary War when I was in school has been changed to The War For Independence. As if there wasn't a revolution made here that permanently altered world politics.

But back to the thread. Farmers don't get days off, so I'll be doing more of the same and then some. Turns out that for all of the alleged wave of patriotism since 9/11, even in Vermont, where there is a huge proportion of vets in the population, the local Legion post can't find enough guys to commit to showing up for color guard duty in the local parade -- an entire half hour's worth of commitment. And of course, there can't be a 4th parade without a color guard. So, the old timers (the greatest generation, as always) turned to their favorite commie and asked if I'd help fill it out for them with my pinko presence.

We're breeding our mare Suzy on Saturday, and possibly again on Sunday, depending on how Saturday goes, but I told them I'd fall out for color guard duty if all goes well on Saturday. Haven't actually marched with a rifle, or done the drill, in many years, but I'm guessing it will be like riding a bicycle and it'll all come back pretty quickly.

So, that's what I'll be up to this weekend. And it will be a great honor to march with the old guys.

[Gary Sisco]

Hell, Monte's still a Tory today for chrissake, never mind then.