Underground lyrical poetry music draws folks from around the world

Bondi Beach, Australia surf (photo by Duncan Rawlinson)

As I thought you might be wondering why folks around the world are listening to and liking our new lyrical poetry music, here's where we're most popular and a sampling of comments from folks about our songs. 

In the past week folks from cities around the US and world and talking about our music on Facebook:

Saint Augustine, FL

London, England, United Kingdom          

Cleveland, OH  

Ypsilanti, MI      

Apple Valley, CA              

Saint Louis, MO

Elazıg, Elazig, Turkey

Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, Espirito Santo, Brazil  

Omagh, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom        

Saint Augustine Beach, FL           

San Francisco, CA            

Tietê, São Paulo, Brazil  

Scottsdale, AZ  

Santa Barbara, CA           

New York, NY   

Berlin, Germany

Malibu, CA         

El Paso, TX          

Elgin, IL

Knoxville, TN

Where is our music most popular?  While our underground poetry music isn't drawing tons of folks, people listen from all over the world.  The following are the top countries of fans of our music on our Facebook page (you're welcome to join them):

United States of America

United Kingdom              

Canada

India     

Australia             

Ireland 

Germany            

Italy      

New Zealand    

France 

Indonesia           

Brazil    

Greece

Russia  

South Africa      

Nigeria 

Thailand              

Philippine

Mexico

Argentina

I also want to share with you some of our many listener comments and reviews of our music:

"I continue to be amazed by your remarkable talent and the beautiful artistry of your lyrics. Such a refreshing musical experience! " - Chrystee McCabe, author, journalist, Manhattan

 "A superb song (Woody Blues) and a great salute to Woody Guthrie!" -
Graham Butterfield, #1 Folk Music Artist, Exeter, UK

"When spoken-word merges with music, hip-hop is just one of the ways it can come out. If the poet doesn't go for the verbal athletics of speaking on the beat, his voice becomes incantatory...Mike Marcellino... a show that spoken-word fans shouldn't miss." - Michael Gill, Cleveland Scene

"The pieces depict different parts of New York City from its jarring traffic to its more calming fountains. His (Mike Marcellino's) words incite a sense of dreams embodied by the city: “Flew into New York/ on wings of Peter Pan./Flew into New York/ on wings of Babylon./ Jupiter in the right now/ not as bright,/ on this clear an' quiet night” (Marcellino, “Flatbush”)." - Niya Panamdanam, The Review Review

"West of the Pecos is a masterpiece, the voice, poetry, rhythm and the music. " - Maz Las, journalist, Algeria

 "(Into the nowhere zone) has killer base lines and a tight rhythm groove. The spoken word is spot on. Good work! You caught the spirit of the wave in this one...! - James Owen Sherpard, blues guitarist

 "Very enlightening and extremely creative! You are a brilliant soul! " - Judy Giles, poet, San Diego, CA

 "I listened to your amazing music-lyrics-words,I love it (Taipei subway), great work" - Farid Bitar, poet, New York City

 "Keep up the beautiful work! You are an inspiration to many " - Agata Zak, actor, New York City

"This (The Walls of Fire) lovely and haunting piece of poetry should be a world wide sensation" - Paul Donohoe, writer's review, Tasmania, Australia

"I really like West Of The Pecos: beautiful. There's a tautness to the language, a compression that works well for me in my ears & heart & head. " - Duane Esposito, English professor, poet, NYC

"Mike, not everyday you get sensory poetry from Flatbush to West of the Pecos, with a little bit of Las Cruces thrown in for good measure. Very cool. " - Gordon Basichis, author, Los Angeles

"It's (Alphabet Coffeehouse) wonderful!...Reminds me very much of the East Village and that day." - Rebecca Turner, New Jersey singer songwriter,

 "Wow Mike, I'm mesmerized by your spoken words/poetry with background music. Your body of work here is just stunning. I bow to you in your channeling of the beat poets. " - Eve Paludian, author,

Lyrical poetry music on fire, Mike Marcellino beaks into Top 100 Folk Artists in US

Our lyrical poetry music rises to #67
on ReverbNation's Folk Chart in the US.  

We soared into the Top 100 Folk Artists from somewhere in the 900s.

Thanks to my readers and our listeners for your support.  Help us keep it going.

To celebrate our recent rise, we're offering a free download of "Woody Blues."

Today we added a free download of "Scottish Pipes" as further thanks for making us one of the Top 100 Folk Artists in America on ReverbNation charts.  Pretty cool considering our poetry music is far out of the main stream and there are nearly 3 million music artists on ReverbNation.

Most of our tracks are now available for download and half of our sales on ReverbNation goes to Oxfam America to help end poverty and injustice.  For now we've settled in at #69 on the Folk chart in the US, #106 in the world and #1 in St. Augustine, Florida, our home base.

To listen and download use our music box on my Notebook Writer blog or visit our music site on ReverbNation and join as a fan.  Please invite your friends to listen.

Mike

the constant gardener, a poem by Mike Marcellino

 
 Photo courtesy of Hortus 2 Wordpress blog

the constant gardener
by Mike Marcellino

the constant gardener
rake and hoe
rake and hoe
sowing words
planting plantations
of pink Kalanchoes
leaves of miracles
er
yellow-orange
tropical Lantana
sown on the chest
of a Spanish general
in the tropics
of the Americas.

Fingers finding their way
into black and sandy-brown
earth
the soil that made us;
forget your nails.

Rake and hoe
rake and hoe
sowing words
planting plantations
ideas
roots
giving birth

Beginnings
never ending
hope.





the constant gardener copyright Mike Marcellino 2013

Photo courtesy of Clark's Nursery, Naples, Florida 

In the clearing of sand pines, a poem by Mike Marcellino

In the clearing of sand pines
by Mike Marcellino

In the clearing of sand pines,
but a small patch on the planet
Button and i find our
peace
solitude,
when the sun
kindly shines
on the clearing of sand pines.
Patchwork.

Some sap stuck on
the paw of Button, the standard, curly
white Poodle,
picking up needles
and match sticks.

We search inside churches
temples and chapels
for the meaning in our lives,
philosophy of life.

Button and me,
we find ourselves
under the sun
in the clearing of sand pines,
her burnt golden needles
soft beds
to rest our weary minds.
in the pines,
in our clearing of sand pines.

"We don't own 'anything',
i thought to myself, suddenly
light speed.

Everyone owns everything -
the things we and our fellows make
with our own hands.

The real treasures
though
lie
in the clearing of sand pines.

In the pines,
in the pines,
in the clearing of sand pines.

The clearing of pines by Mike Marcellino, copyright 2012

Do You Really Want to Go There? - a Vietnam War memoir

Search and destroy, Vietnam War, 1968 Photo by Mike Marcellino

Do you really want to go there?
By Mike Marcellino


“Do you really want to go there” the counselor said to me.  I had just told her a story that continues to haunt me of the night I went blank in 1968 talking with two soldiers filling sandbags in a wooded wasteland in the jungles along the Cambodian border northwest of Saigon in South Vietnam.

I’ve written hundreds of stories for newspapers and magazines, poetry and songs.  The past four years with musicians I’ve recorded and performed what I call poetry music, including songs about the Vietnam War and its aftermath.

This is my own story, a view behind the camera, pen and mic - behind the scenes of my life of a writer, photographer and folk music artist.  The story I find so difficult to write.

After the war as a newspaper reporter back in the states, I covered murders, fatal fires, bloody airplane crashes, a Brinks armed car robbery, and the most brutal business of all – politics.  I’ve interviewed presidential candidates, Hollywood stars, two of the longest held POW’s from the Vietnam War, acclaimed folk singers but most often the man on the street, aspiring artists, teachers, scientists, workers in factories and farms.  This story is personal and one I’ve never told, just alluded to in poems and songs.  It’s really the story of a life behind pens, notebooks, computers and cameras – my life as a writer and artist.

The U. S. Army bird colonel laughed as he looked at me just as I was jumping down from his Huey chopper.  I’m still trying to figure out what was so funny – maybe me with camera hanging from my jungle fatigues and only a jungle hat on and without a weapon.  Maybe he thought this story would make him a one star general.  One of the batteries of a battalion of the 23rd Artillery Group was firing in support Operation Yellowstone, our largest offensive at the peak of the Vietnam War when we had more than a half million troops in country.

I did ‘want to go there,’ find out what happened to me as the night was broken by continuous automatic weapons fire.  The lieutenant said we had mercenaries out there to defend the sandy dirt pile bulldozers had just carved out so the 155 mm self-propelled howitzers that look like tanks could slip in.  A barrel of one of the guns read “Alpha’s Angles” and maybe there was an angel out there over no man’s land that helps me survive.

Though the heat of the day I took pictures of the guns booming and the U.S. Army soldiers sweating.  I interviewed them, though I’m now not sure just how I did it as the guns never stopped firing.  Then I noticed the guns were silent and soldiers were stripping and taking cold showers from suspended canvas bags flown in by helicopters.

I didn’t get a shower.  I don’t remember eating anything either.  Then a wise –ass lieutenant walked up to me and told me I’d better start digging my hole.  Before the bulldozers stopped pushing huge piles of dirt over the corrugated half-moon steel roofs to cover the holes, I almost dug the hole - looking much like a perfect rectangular grave - too wide so the roof would have collapsed into the hole.

Sometime that night I walked over to my hole and found someone had put in an air mattress and pillow into my hole.  Were they pulling my chain or was it a sign of respect, or both?

To cool off I sat and talked with two bare-chested soldiers filling sand bags. The wooded perimeter looked like "no man's land" and automatic weapons fire was continuous. 

Suddenly bullets whizzed by.  And that’s the last thing I remember.  I have no idea how I got out of Firebase Ord along the Cambodian border.  My photographs and stories were published in Starts and Stripes and military newspapers.  I remember being told that Firebase Ord was overrun by a ground attack the next night.  I never have found out the fate of those artillerymen and engineers.

“Do you really want to go there,” the counselor said to me, adding that I was probably experiencing some form of traumatic amnesia.

Yes, I do want to know what happen to me that night.  I want to know what that war has done to me, to my fellow soldiers and to my country.  I want to know that some good has come from it.

Hundreds of stories later I still search for answers.  I wrote stories of a search and destroy mission in the rice paddies and an all-night helicopter mission they called “Firefly.” I photographed refugees in a new village we helped the build after destroying the one they had lived in for generations, bandaged children in darkened makeshift hospitals and scenes of utter destruction reminding me of photographs of World War II.

My return to the ‘world” as we called the United States, wasn’t easy either.

Near the end of my year tour of duty as a combat correspondent and photojournalist, I must confess, I was hiding out from the war in Saigon.  I decided to do a story on “rural electrification.”  With only days left until I was scheduled to leave country, they called it your ETD, estimated time of departure, I got a strong feeling that my number was up.  I thought that I was too lucky too many times as a covered the war from the Highlands, throughout III Corps and into the Delta, more than half of South Vietnam.

None new where I was or how to find me in Saigon. Hiding out gathering photos of how electricity was bringing work to the Vietnamese people almost led me to miss my “freedom flight” back to the USA.  I was unaware I had been given a “seven-day drop” or in other words I was getting out of Vietnam seven days early and I couldn't be found.

They finally found me as I had happened to meet an officer I served with in a Hawk missile command in West Germany before I volunteered for Vietnam.  (I found the Col War boring and had grown tired of of alerts in the dead of winter, giving me frostbitten toes and finger tips.

I did make my "freedom flight" home but remember nothing of it.

I do remember finding myself alone at five o-clock in the morning in my dress green U.S. Army uniform in the Denver airport waiting for a connecting flight back to my home in Cleveland.

Yes, Virgina, 'the times, they are a changin'

Oh, Obama!

President Barack Obama speaks, as a tear streams down his face, at his final campaign stop on the evening before the 2012 presidential election, Monday, Nov. 5, 2012, in Des Moines, Iowa. ((Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo))

Obama 'change' sweeps old guard 
by Mike Marcellino

Yes, 'Virgina'...'the times, they are a changin' 

If you think this is just a Bob Dylan song and a rallying cry for 'hippies' read what the Dali Lama had to say about President Obama's victory Tuesday.  The Democrat president gathered 303 electoral votes (33 more than he needed), defeating the former Wolverine now Bostonian businessman Gov. Mitt Romney by more than 2.7 million votes.

American singer songwriter Bob Dylan wrote "The Times They Are A Changin' nearly 50 years ago in 1964.

"When you were elected in 2008, you inspired the world with a call to take responsibility for the problems we face as global citizens. Since then, you have made earnest efforts to live up to that great hope and trust placed in you by the American public. I believe you have been re-elected now in recognition of that effort." — the Dalai Lama.


I didn't think it would happen, but it did.  

The new grass roots coalition of liberals, youths, blacks, Latinos, the poor and working class showed up again, turning out in great enough numbers to give the offbeat (or 'new beat') charismatic president four more years in the White House to wrangle Congress for real change, creating a strong country in which everyone has a fair shot at reaching 'the American dream.'

Here's President Obama's victory speech on CSPAN -

 On the eve of the most expensive presidential election in history - seemingly endless, often bitter and divisive, President Obama foretold his victory and those who would make the difference.  He loudly proclaimed, without hesitation,  himself as the champion of poor and working class, the less fortunate Americans.  At the polls Tuesday these folks showed that they believe in him.

Also in the waning days of the campaign, Romney foretold his own demise.  He took a punch at the Obama coalition, calling them freeloaders taking government handouts and it had to end.  Mitt forgot these folks pay taxes and they proved that they show up.  

While I expected Romney to lose a close election, he even lost his  double digit lead in Florida, an old South state now changing with an invasion of Yankees. He lost by 47,493 votes.  

Majorities of 63 and 57 percent of folks making less than $30,000 or $50,000 backed the nation's first black president. Obama's call for "change" again ignited a majority of Americans.  He drew large, enthusiastic crowds that actually reflected our nation's changing face of 2012.  In contrast, Romney's crowds, while enthusiastic, were overwhelmingly white and aging, southern and western (minus the West Coast). 

Obama even carried Romney's 'home states' of Massachusetts and Michigan, capturing nearly 61 and 54 percent of the vote.  

As a testament to his response to the Hurricane Sandy disaster, Obama carried New York and New Jersey, reeling form Hurricane Sandy and now a northeaster, by nearly 63 and 58 percent, landslides.

And, yes, President Obama did carry 'ole Virgina' by more than 108,000 votes.  Now it may be 'so goes Virginia, so goes the nation.'  I say this in all due respect to 'the bell weather state' Ohio, which Obama won by more than 100,000 votes.  A Republican has never won without Ohio.  Perhaps it's Virgina's time to call the future again.

And, I haven't heard of any 'civil war' going on just yet, as a Texas county judge had predicted.  Romney did win Texas with 57 percent of the vote.  

Oh, by the way, Money.com reports that Colorado and Washington state voters approved the legalization of marijuana for recreational use.  Yes, 'the times, they are a changin.'

 

Voters have approved marijuana legalization in Washington and Colorado, where this smoker celebrated the "420" holiday in Denver earlier this year. But it's still illegal, according to the feds. 

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Voters in Washington and Colorado passed ballot initiatives Tuesday to legalize marijuana for recreational use, the biggest victory ever for the legalization movement.

"The significance of these events cannot be understated," said NORML, a pro-legalization organization, in a news release. "Tonight, for the first time in history, two states have legalized and regulated the adult use and sale of cannabis."

Meanwhile, as the states ad feds fight over pot, here's more world reaction to Obama's second term as president of the United States -

One of the first things I want to talk to Barack about is how we must do more to try and solve this crisis (in Syria). Above all, congratulations to Barack. I've enjoyed working with him, I think he's a very successful U.S. president and I look forward to working with him in the future."— British Prime Minister David Cameron, on a visit to Syrian refugees on the Jordanian border.

"Your re-election is a clear choice in favor of an America that is open, unified, completely engaged in the international scene and conscious of the challenges facing our planet: peace, the economy and the environment." — French President Francois Hollande.

Pope Benedict XVI sent a message to Obama expressing hope that "ideals of liberty and justice, which guided the founders of the U.S.A., may continue to shine on the road ahead for the nation." — Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi

As if a prediction of the outcome of the 2012 presidential election, Bob Dylan performs his classic song of change, "The Times They Are A Changin" first recorded in 1964 on an album of the same name.

New Jersey Republican Gov Christie praises Democratic President Obama's leadership in an about face amid Hurricane Sandy devastation

'Praise' and 'scorn' all in a day's politics

amid Hurricane Sandy's devastation  

 by Mike Marcellino

New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie, the main surrogate for Mitt Romney in  tight race to unseat President Barack Obama, may have discovered that praising your political enemy beats "scorn." In the past Christie has been anything but timid in wailing against Obama's "lack of leadership."  In any case Gov Christie made the rounds on the morning shows to do his flip flop.

"President Obama has been outstanding" - New Jersey Gov Chris Christie

Republican Gov. Chris Christie, Mitt Romney's chief surrogate, walks hand in hand with Democratic President Barack Obama during a Hurricane Sandy stop.

Writing this opinion piece reminds me of reading Nineteen Eighty Four, the George Orwell fictional satire on totalitarianism and the dictatorship's "doublethink" and "doublespeak."  Now in 2012 and the Internet age, it's getting awfully hard to know the truth when you hear or read the words of our national political leaders.

In American government and politics, especially in these days of federal government gridlock, it's not what appears to be evident that matters; it's what lies below the surface, in the wheeling and dealing in our nation's capital and the state capital.  Case in point:  Republican Gov. Chris Christie, who almost ran for president in this election though he was only in his second year as governor. 

Christie today on CNN's Piers Morgan show praised Democratic President Barack Obama for being "very cooperative" aiding New Jersey, including the beach towns like Seaside Heights where Christie grew up, devastated by super storm Hurricane Sandy. 

On the surface folks think like Piers, who gushed over Christie, that the Republican governor is a straight shooter, not playing politics.

Think again.  Christie appeared to care deeply and sincerely about his state and its people reeling from 12 foot storm surges, heavy rains and high winds.  Sandy caused three deaths in New Jersey and a total of more than 40 in the U.S. and $10-20 billion in damage.  

But, praising President Obama for doing his job could play very well among independent and wavering Democrats for Obama.  His tact could also play well when Governor Christie runs for president most likely in 2016,  unless Mitt Romney wins the election less than seven days away. Christie appeared on television as a good guy and operating in a non-partisan governing fashion, rather than the political same ol' same ol', so prevalent in recent years.

If Christie had criticized Obama for his handling of the natural disaster that could have hardened his support among Democrats and independents. 

One must also look at Christie's record of being implicated but never prosecuted on one scandal after both as U. S. Attorney in New Hersey and governor.

So, when reading the headlines and stories or watching on television, look below the surface to try to get at true motivation for words and deeds.

One thing we know for sure - President Obama must be doing one hell of a good job dealing with killer super storm Hurricane Sandy. If you don't believe me, as his opposition.

New Jersey Republican Gov Christie', a sharp critic of President Obama's failed leadership, does an about face on Democrat Obama's leadership amid Hurricane Sandy devastation.  Christie, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's chief surrogate,  calls Obama's leadership "outstanding.   Maybe we should call off the election and declare Obama the winner.  With Romney suddenly adopting most of President Obama's domestic and foreign relations stances, I am starting to see a Republican strategy of embracing your political enemy in order to defeat him. 

Here's some "political intelligence" from the Boston Globe on Gov. Christie's about face on President Obama's leadership.

Campaign 2012 , Mitt Romney , Politics , President Obama

Chris Christie, fierce Obama critic, praises president’s response to Hurricane Sandy

By Callum Borchers, Globe Correspondent

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who has blasted President Obama’s leadership, heaped praise on Obama on Tuesday for his handling of Hurricane Sandy.

“The president has been outstanding in this and so have the folks at FEMA,” Christie said on NBC’s “Today” show.
Christie, whose state is among the hardest hit by the storm, made appearances on several morning talk shows on Tuesday and applauded Obama at each stop.

On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Christie said “the president has been all over this, and he deserves great credit. He gave me his number at the White House and told me to call him if I needed anything and he absolutely means it, and it’s been very good working with the president and his administration.”

On CNN’s “Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien,” Christie added that Obama “has been incredibly supportive and helpful to our state, and not once did he bring up the election.”
Raise Your Voice
Click to contact candidates or elected officials about this issue. Christie is a prominent surrogate for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and was tapped to deliver the keynote address at the Republican National Convention in August. During that speech, Christie used variations of the word “leader” 17 times, often in the context of criticizing Obama.

“It’s time to end this era of absentee leadership in the Oval Office and send real leaders to the White House,” Christie said at the convention in Tampa.
“I believe in America and her history,” he added at another point. “There’s only one thing missing now: leadership.”



Callum Borchers can be reached at callum.borchers@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @callumborchers.

Here's the Piers Morgan 'chat' with Gov Christie

Gov. Christie "not playing politics"? 

Is 'Money' the root of America's downfall?

If you will notice this one dollar bill with George Washington, our father and general, is not backed by gold or silver, but by faith in the United States of America

Notebook Writer:  Sound Off One Two

Is 'Money' at the root of America's downfall?

Dear Folks, 

Preface:

I've come to find out in writing this piece out of the blew looking at a scary graphic of Hurricane Sandy bearing down on our nation's capital, where I had just been and barely survived.  (I might as well be at The Ritz in Cleveland rather than Union Station in DC, except for McDonald's where I totally lucked out and got a second Big Mac for one cent.  Being rather busted nearing the end of the month in this great soggy depression in the USA, this two Big Macs maybe $3.71 (a good guess as i don't save Big Mac receipts kept me from starting on Amtrak's Silver Meteor to Florida.)

The train ride thanks to some great folks from all over creation and a super friendly and professional Amtrak staff made the 24 hour ride from Cleveland to Jacksonville a fun trip with coffee and cigarette breaks coming in the nick of time. And, this time I did not like my brothers before me get thrown off the train for no reason into the abyss of North Charleston, South Carolina where it costs $30 to look at a cap driver once you get past the city police. See my first of a series of stories on 'ridin' and rollin' on Amtrak'
 aka Wetlands to Badlands Tour 2012-3: Beat Poetry Music of Mike Marcellino

Choo Choo Amtrak....Part One 'Ridin' and Rollin' Amtrak

They don't call "money" the "root of all evil" for nothing.  "Money" has become persuasive lifestyle in American society and our "gold rush" mentality and excessive quest to possess material things. 

Texas businessman Ross Perot recently warned that the USA is at risk for "disaster" and "takeover" due to the federal government's 'alcoholic' like spending and 16 trillion debt.  Perot ran as a third party presidential candidate in 1992 and 1996.  Well, wish it were just that simple but on the other hand, the American people are asleep at the switch in electing federal representatives that perpetuate the decline of America.

 

In spite of his piles of money, Perot failed in his bid for president.  In 1992, an independent group of Cleveland, Ohio Vietnam veterans started Veterans for Clinton, the Vietnam draft dodger along with George W. Bush.  We met up with Bill's Arkansas boys across northern Ohio, even caught by Australian television, joined with union workers, women and peace an environmental activists and helped sweep Clinton into the White House for eight years of prosperity, progress and lack of wars.

A handful of veterans sitting on a Cleveland curb literally energized Clinton's campaign in Ohio and across the country.  He won the veteran vote, Ohio and counties never won before by a Democrat. 

You ask, what's your point Mike?   The point is I was there on the curb and that anything is possible if Americans take action to make our country 'all it can be' (I'm an Army veteran of Vietnam). 

Clinton did emphasize veterans who have served and sacrificed for their country, not just in the elections but all year long.  That's rare.  He never thanked us formally, but I guess we didn't want his 'thanks" but his actions.  When I met for coffee in the Map Room of the White House in the bitter winter of 1992-3, I remember writing notes on some white slips of paper and said to President Clinton and those dozen or so grass roots folks and senior political aides.  I simply asked him to test all he does on whether it will strengthen the American family.  He did a pretty good job.

Frontline produces some of the best, most accurate and fair news coverage in the world.  The influence of 'Money' on our freedom is the greatest challenge of our time.  I invite you to watch along with me and swap notes on the future of the United States of America.

Note:  this column by journalist Mike Marcellino was written in response to a graphic of Hurricane Sandy about to give a left hook into the nation's East Coast, perhaps centered on our capital, Washington, D.C, the house of emptiness.  Mike just arrived in St. Augustine Beach, Florida after leaving by train just in time, from the District of Columbia, where he could not get a ride to the Vietnam Memorial, not even from Congress or the Office of the President or Vice President.  More about Mike's DC Road Trip coming soon on his Notebook Writer Blog.

Take care,

Mike

PS:  Be great to hear from some of you folks about what's doing on in our country and where we're headed.