Happy Father's Day!

So, being that The Mole has been on earth nearly 3 decades, he now has multiple friends with kids. Some have even managed to keep it narrowed to one woman, a feat indeed. Anyway, the Mole has no kids, the Mole is the kid, but I respect my buddies that do.

So to The Deuce, Dub-C, Cage, The Devil, and one buddy who has been quoted but not aliased, here's hoping you all have a Father's day like this.

Your buddy,

Mole

Inward Singing

One the big vice I have is spending money on music. The Mole has never been a vinyl snob, and while 99% of my old tape collection has been replaced with CDs my music buying habit seemed to be in check over the past few years. While on my spree, the Mole racked up a collection of over 600 albums that span the likes of Bach, Type O Negative, The RZA, and Tony Bennett. While each album holds a special place in my heart, it seemed that for around 15 years or so the Mole was like a crack addict when Tuesday rolled around, always searching the new release racks looking for the next cool new sound, it was crazy. We won't even get into the paper dropped on Beastie Boy EPs and singles picked up off EBay, but lets just say that the Beastie's are the Mole's favorite band and my collection is VERY nice. Anyway, the past few months and the current month has seen some awesome releases by some people you've heard of, and probably some you haven't but here's a selection of what I've been listening to and what I have currently pre-ordered on iTunes.

April 3rd - Kings of Leon - Because of the Times: Southern Rock for a new generation

May 1st - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (B.R.M.C.) - Baby 81: Jesus and Mary Chain? Pretty close

May 15th - Wilco - Sky Blue Sky - Hard to classify as a genre, but this album steers back to their country roots

June 19th - The White Stripes - Icky Thump - For me, it'll be hard to out shine their second album De Stijl

June 26th - Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger - Song writing at it's finest, there's no one better right now

June 26th - Beastie Boys - The Mix Up - It's been over 10 years since the B-Boys have released an all instrumental album with The In Sound from the Way Out, but with Money Mark back on the keyboards; this is my second most anticipated release of the year behind Ryan Adams new one.

The habit may have been in check for a little bit, but the music monkey is rearing its head and the Mole is buying a ton of music.....again. iTunes is just too easy.

Junior Joins the Cartier Of Ca-Ca

Thanks to the likes of my buddies Dub-C, and The Communist, I guess the Mole should address my feelings about the move of Dale Jr. to Hendrick Motorsports. Most of you probably don't give a shit about the technical aspects of it, so I won't put you to sleep with the analysis the rest of the unwashed NASCAR fans are talking about. Here's the long and the short of it. The company in which Dale Sr. publicly stated was started for his kids (DEI) hasn't been competitive in two years. They are easily Chevrolet's 4th best team, and possibly 5th behind Ginn racing, and it's been a fucking miracle that Junior has been able to race as well as he does; it's a testament to his talent as a driver, and the talent of his crew chief Tony Jr. to do more with less.

Last month everything finally boiled over with Jr. deciding to leave DEI, and becoming the sport's first big free agent. There was speculation of sponsor change, car change, and just about every team in the garage was mentioned to want the guy. Today we find that Dale has moved from the 4th or 5th best Chevy team to the top. He's moved to the team in which all 4 cars have won this season, a team that has won 10 of the first 14 races this season, a team with 6 championships in the past 12 years, and the team who fields the car for the defending cup champion. The Mole should be excited right? The Mole should be bathing in the excellence of Junior's piss next year right?

Wrong.



If you look at the pics above it's easy to tell why the fans of Jr. Nation love the guy and can't stand the two top dogs in the Hendrick stable. Jr., He is the everyman. When I first started watching NASCAR after they opened the track in Ft. Worth, I purposely picked Dale Jr. Not because he was Dale Sr.'s son, but because I could relate. He was my age, loved drinking, partying, and women. He was more at home mudding in a pasture, than on the arm of a super model walking the red carpet. He would rather hunt and fish, than yacht and get his eye brows waxed (Jimmie Johnson). He was a guy that even I could be friends with.

It's a tough day, with a lot of mixed emotions if you're a Junior fan. I know he made this decision to get into the best equipment on the track week in and week out. I know he made this decision to win races and championships. I just hope that this decision doesn't change the person that he is and turn a good ole' boy into one of those leprechauns that race the 48 and the 24.

I's N Vaygus, Misn Ur Stricuz

Sorry, but lolcats make the Mole laugh. This weekend P and I went to Vegas to call in a college showcase. What's a college showcase you ask? It's a tournament where teams get together and play games where the scores don't matter. The purpose is to obtain a scholarship from the various collegiate coaches that fly in to watch. Since the Mole is people who know people, I was invited this year (and now every subsequent year) to call the 18 Gold games. 18 and under Gold is as good as you can get in youth fast-pitch. How good can that be? Well, ESPN broadcasts the national championship games, that's now good. Anyway, P, once again, lost her ass on the tables, I pretty much broke even, and we both met some great people while I got to call some of the world's elite fast pitch umpires.

There are things to be learned when traveling to Vegas, and for those not initiated, here's a few tips from the old Mole:

*Never use the toilets outside of an all you can eat seafood buffet

*The hooker cards that are handed out on the strip that say $79. It's $79 off a starting price of $200 (the bastards)

*Don't split 10s (I'm still pissed at that guy)

*Don't slurringly tell the people at the TSA checkpoint your wife is the drunk one.

*Don't call the pit boss a "mangina"

*Do tell unfriendly yankees to go fuck themselves

*Do get married there (WAY more simple)

*Don't buy La Salsa's Yard Margarita's

*Don't stay at the MGM Grand, it's a shit hole

These are just a few lessons I've learned over 6 years and 5 or so trips I've made, and the Mole hopes you'll find them useful.