The Heart of Rock n' Roll is in Cleveland

All,

Greetings from the BUCKEYE STATE!!! Yeehawww! Back to the roots of my childhood I've arrived after several months spent everywhere else it seems. I'm working mainly in northern Ohio this week, as I began the week in Sandusky and the last two weeks I've been staying in Mansfield. I must admit, there have been some boring drives through the cornfields, but it feels good to be back, nevertheless. Today, I was in and around Cleveland. The weather was beautiful today; Sunny and in the middle 60s. It doesn't get any better than that for me! Cleveland gets a bad rap back where I'm from, probably because we hate the Browns and Indians...and the Ohio River never caught fire...but it's not so bad. My girlfriend's from up here, though, so I guess I'm developing a soft spot for C-Town!

Thinking of Cleveland and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that's here, I wanted to share a cool story from a few weeks ago when I was in New York City. A guy I worked with in Brooklyn was an interesting dude who didn't really fit the mold of a typical hardware salesman. When I asked him "Yankees or Mets?" he replied with, "Led Zeppelin." Hearing this, I laughed and knew where this one was going. Luckily, my love for sports is rivaled by my affection for good music, so I had a feeling this would be a day filled with enlightening conversation! Turns out, this guy was in a heavy metal band back in the day that was pretty small time. They got a huge gig one night, though, as they opened for someone at the famed CBGB Punk Rock club in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan. I thought this was really cool as you hear a lot about CBGB being THE underground venue of the late 70s-early 90s. The Ramones (pictured above) got their start here, and many other bands played here, too. The club is closed now, but it's well-known with the leather pants crowd, of which I'm not a member. Just a poser who knows a little, I guess. This guy was an original, and that's refreshing since most of the people I work with on a daily basis are as apple pie and white bread-American as they get. He just sold hardware to pay for his guitars and amps! I love that.

Anyway, I'll be in northern Ohio working tomorrow, then tomorrow night I stay in Lancaster and work in SE Ohio Thursday. Thursday afternoon I'll drive to Charlotte. Friday afternoon, Stephanie and I fly to LA for the game Saturday at the Coliseum, and a weeklong trip up the coastline of California for a long-overdue vacation. More details and pictures to come.

Thanks for reading and everyone cross your fingers and shout out loud for the scarlet and grey Saturday when they take on Southern Cal. OH......IO!!!!

On the road,

Matt