1 Something appears to be dreadfully wrong with today's DN.

2 Naturally it happens after a long, long day and night.

3  Last night was the fourth in a series of evenings in which I was again trapped at the Chill until past 9 p.m.

4  The nice part of last night was that I got to work in The Booth.

5  The Booth is the tech booth at the Chill-on-the Hill. 

6  Our band is going to Carnegie Hall in a little over a week, and gave the perfomance of their lives, and I enjoyed all of it from the vantage point of The Booth.

7  Joining me to enjoy the immortal wind ensemble and their interpretation of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor was Mr. Ken Ponticelli.

8  We both stood astonished as this remarkable group played their hearts and souls out for the home crowd, culminating in a well-earned standing ovation.

9  I got home pretty late and wrote the DN all about the concert, and about how amazing it was to enjoy it from the peace of The Booth, the only thing that makes any sense these days.

10  Well, I made the mistake of falling asleep at the computer and awakening to around six-thousand commas and b's, which my computer does on occasion.

11 I awoke at 2 a.m. and finished bringing in pictures and editing the piece when my computer went completely wonky.

12  Just as I was putting the finising touches on the DN, it enlarged and took over my entire living room, and then the street outside, and is presently approaching perhaps where YOU live.

13  They may offer you fortune and fame.

14  They may offer you instant acclaim.

15  But whatever they offer you...

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington

The Daily News

1  SHARKS!

2  Some fun.

3  Anyone sorta watching Idol these days?

4  Last night Paula looked like she was hanging out all night with squirrels.

5  Ah iono.

6  Ever just been devoid of idears?

7  Like you get home and then look inside your own head and it's like an empty goldfish bowl?

8  So yeah.

9  Empty cupboard.

10  Empty heart.

11  I just added that last one because it was beginning to sound like a cowboy song around here.

12  Funny thing is that in between number 9 and number 10 I took about  half-hour nap.

13  I got so kicked back last night that I literally put my laptop on top of my lap.

14  It was then that it occurred to me that there is a reason we call those contraptions laptops.

15  They oughta call mines the "a"-less wonder.

16   Somehow immediately after having put the thing on my lap, the letter "a" decided not to work.

17  Never did that before.

18  It almost made me understand what life would be like without my thumbs.

19  Anyway, I had to keep hitting the "a" key with a sledgehammer in order to get anything written.

20  I'm going into my fourth straight night of staying down at the school until past 9 p.m.

21  Don't ask.

22  So I think that's aboot it.

23  We'll call it another day.

24  Arsenic tonight at 8, don't forget.

25  Y'all have a great day.

26  Peace.

~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington

  The Daily News

1  Is there anything stupider than watching political campaigns?

2  All the glad-handing and hollering, pausing, posing and going back and forth on poll results and such.

3  And when they yell into a microphone, they become freaks of nature.

4  At some point, they are supposed to tell us what they stand for, but you don't hear much of that.

5  Ah, whatevuh. For once I think I'm saying what everyone else is saying: the democrats have a VERY interesting race, and either one would certainly be a new direction.

6  I'm not into George Bush or any oil millionaires for that matter.

7  If we're playing pretend, then I like Barack.

8  I think I like the guy because he just isn't the same old crapola. And every time someone tells me, "Yeah, but can he lead?" my answer is, "Can the guy who's in there now?"

9  Okay enuf. I don't wanna get all political.

10  My "political" agenda is pretty simple: rich bastards own everything and control everything, and it needs to change.

11  Everything else stems from that.

12  Democrats? Republicans? We just need someone who won't be bought.

13  Anyway, it's a lot of fun. I'm enjoying it.

14  And no matter what happens, it sure is interesting.

15  Moving on: Yeah I'm just not interested in pissing off DN regulars, so I'll get off my high horse.

16  Old school alumni who had me when I first started may be happy to know that yesterday I taught the King Arthur legend for the first time since it actually happened.

17  Ha! It was grand. Felt great to be talking of chivalry and knights and maidens and all.

Gustav Dore' Elaine

18  Moving on, Part the Second: Don't forget that this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights  the Northside Theatre Company brings Arsenic and Old Lace at 8 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Sunday.

19  And coming up: San Jose City College's Vagina Monologues, and I got an e-mail from a great friend and wonderful actress, Christine Choi, who will be appearing in that play later in the month. It was awesome hearing from her last night. A great big DN hello!

20  Well I believe I had better head off here.

21 The school has me getting home late again this week, so I think I'll just get on my noble horse and ride out of here.

22  Is there a more beautiful animal than the classic horse?

23  That one goes out to the Jaycees, and especially to Cindy!

24  Thanks for straigtening me out.

25  I stopped throwing rocks at my neighbor's horse and now we both have a lot more horse sense.

26  Anyway, I'm oughta here.

27   Peace.

~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington

  The Daily News

1  Hope y'all enjoyed the Dave Clark Five yesterday.

2  Sorry if I got a little too deep into it, but the truth is that I just had heard Mike Smith had passed away, and I hit You Tube just to give a listen.

3  In many ways, I re-discovered a band that I had written off as a joke for years.

4  But when I sat back and listened to the talent of Mike Smith, I became a researcher, and wound up realizing the talent of that band after all these years.

5  Like most people, I always looked at them as a joke, a flash-in-the pan to whom people originally gave too much credit.

6  Turns out I was wrong. A few re-plays on You Tube and I heard a good, solid rock band in its early days.

7   Anyway, I hope you discovered, or re-discovered this rare and wonderful band in the same light.

8  I sure did.

9  Moving on:  So anyway, I am suddenly on my hundred millionth diet in my personal lifetime.

10  I figure it won't work. It's a point system where something like a tea leaf wrapped around a pea is twelve points, and you can have only eleven.

11  Yeesh.

12  Everyone is on some sorta diet it seems.

13  I once figured that the best diet in the world is to buy bigger clothes.

14  Only THIS diet I'm now on stemmed from having been in a bathroom in REEEEEEEEENO!

15  For some reason, the bathrooms in Reno have two things wrong with them.

16  One, the shower heads are at chest level, which makes you feel like an idiot when you want to wash anything from your neck up. It feels like you've lost a contact lens the entire ride.

17  And two, they have HUGE mirrors everywhere, making the bathroom look enormous, but making YOU look enormous right along with it.

18  ...all of which explains the diet.

19  Scary man.

20  I wanna lose like a million kajillion pounds.

21  So last night for dinner I started.

22  I had a bowl filled with broccoli, carrots, snow peas, some sorta peppers, and four grains of parmesan cheese.

23  It was great.

24  I ate it at around 7 p.m.

25  By 7:17 all I thought about was that I wanted to eat a neighbor's horse.

26  Well I'm happy to say I held off, and made it.

27  Tonight I had a shrimp salad.

28  It was great.

29  I ate it at around 9 p.m.

30  By 9:19 I started throwing rocks at my neighbor's horse.

31  But I'm on it.

32  Gonna go now.

33  See y'all later. Have a great Tuesday.

34  Fly low.

35  Peace.

~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington

"They actually made the most powerful records of anybody. . .They were a tremendous band."

--Steve Van Zandt, on the Dave Clark Five

Mike Smith, 1943-2008

1  So...Mike Smith walks into a bar...

2  Mike was the REAL brains behind the amazingly talented Dave Clark Five during the rock era known affectionately as The British Invasion.

3  Who were the Dave Clark Five?

4  They were far and away the Beatles' strongest competition in the very early days. Dave Clark was a drummer of the original band but it wasn't until Clark invited Smith to join that the band took off. Smith could write, sing powerfully, and play both organ AND guitar.

5  Clark and Smith penned some of the best songs of the era, including the legendary Glad All Over, followed by other awesome hits including Can't You See That She's Mine, Bits and Pieces, I Like It Like That, and the beautiful ballad Because (not the same tune as the Beatles').

 6 Historically, the Dave Clark Five were the Beatles' number one competition when they first hit the scene, matching the Beatles song for song in the early days. At one point, they recorded Twist and Shout, only to be beaten to the punch by the Beatles!

6  The Rolling Stones came on the scene a year later, but when the Beatles were first making headlines, the DC5 emerged simultaneously and with equal power, matching the boys from Liverpool stride for stride.  Smith was the key player in the power and success of the DC5. The entire British "look" wasn't owned by the Beatles, it was the way it was, and these bands took America by storm, very much WITH American-style music inspired by Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and a mutitude of others. Smith was a huge fan of Little Richard.

7  Smith's life wasn't without tragedy. He lost his son several years ago, and in 2003 he was in a riding accident and became paralyzed. He had lived in a hospital until last December, when he came home. Shortly after having arrived, he and his wife Charlie got word that the Dave Clark Five had been chosen to be inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. Here is a poignant note to his friends and fans on learning that the DC5 had finally made it:

ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING!

(December 2007 Update)

Elvis has left the building, and after over 4 long years so have I !!! Yep, your eyes are not fooling you......on my birthday I was finally discharged from the hospital and allowed to go home!!!!! There were times when I thought I would never make it, but thanks to the love of my wife, and all of your prayers and encouragement, I finally said goodbye to all the nurses, doctors and staff that have looked after me, and I made a bee line for the door before they changed their minds!!!

This first week home has been quite an adjustment for me. On Friday, I developed colic, on Sat. the paramedics had to come out twice because I was having difficulty breathing, the district nurse has been here every day to check on me, and the local GP has also been out to see me and make sure I'm doing all right. On my discharge, the bed the NHS provided for me was way too small for me, so I ended up with a bed sore!! Guess they thought I was a little guy but boy did I fool them...I'm 6'2 !!! Today I'm happy to report that a new longer bed arrived and I'm looking forward to my first really good night's sleep!!!! Two carers were scheduled to take care of me but I quickly wore them out so they had to send a third one out for us. I now have two ladies from South Africa and one bloke from Wales looking after me 24 hours a day. Our poor dog was so stressed out the first few days she even threw up twice!!! But I am now happy to report that after a week of chaos we are all finally settling into our routines and Charlie is cooking away like mad for all of us. I'm feeling much better and have gone from a ghastly hospital grey to a healthy looking Englishman thanks to her home cooking!!! It's absolutely great being home!!!

Last night, David called us and told us the good news about the DC5 being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!!! Tonight, Margo Lewis, my agent from TCI in New York, called and congratulated me, and gave us all the details about when and where the induction will take place. This is something I have worked for all of my life, and to put it mildly, I am absolutely thrilled to death!!!!! Charlie and I are definitely already making plans for crossing the pond in March to receive my award, and we can't wait to see all of you again. David is coming over for dinner on Sunday and we will all celebrate the good news!!! I haven't spoken to the other boys yet but I can tell you that David and I are really honored, and thank everybody that voted for us. WOW WOW WOW!

Next week we have another huge event coming up!!! Our very dear friends Bruce Springsteen and Steve Van Zandt are coming over to England, and we have been personally invited to their concert. I haven't seen the guys since 2003, when they invited us to their concert at Wembley, so I'm really looking forward to it. It will be my first big outing in 4 years!!!! What a December this is turning out to be!!

Before I close, I want to again stress how truly grateful I am for all of you that stood by my Charlie & I these last 4 years. Your love and support meant more to us then any of you will ever realize. We just couldn't have done it without you. God truly has answered our prayers. I pray that He may bless all of you, and that you have a wonderful holiday season.
Lots of love from my home

Mike

8  Wow, wow, wow! It's really good to know that Mike Smith and the Dave Clark Five will be inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of fame on March 12.

9  I may actually tune into that one.

10  I'm not sure exactly why it is that I decided to devote an entire DN to the DC5 except that when I heard Mike Smith had passed I went to You Tube to see if there was any footage of the band.

11  I had headphones on and within seconds the rock 'n' roll coming through kicked instantly into gear.

12  It occurred to me that this marvelous band, this band that went toe-to-toe with the Beatles, became almost an asterisk in the history of rock. The Beatles dominated rock for most of the sixties, followed very closely by the Rolling Stones (and there will always be arguments here!) but in all of that, this jewel of a rock band, the Dave Clark Five just never quite made it past the early days, even though their style of rock was powerful and amazing.

13  I'm really glad that Mike Smith finally got inducted, and knew he was going "across the pond" to pick up his lifelong dream.

14  I have a link below that could get you to some rare footage of the Dave Clark Five in action. Forget the Austin Powers look, just listen to the joy and drive of a truly memorable rock band.

15  Mike Smith was a lot of the reason there was this much fun. He's the organ player and lead singer of the Dave Clark Five. If you have some great speakers or headphones, go here and come right back:

http://www.noolmusic.com/youtube_videos/dave_clark_five_-_do_you_love_me_-_music_video.php

16  It's fun to hear such pure and innocent music pounding through the years and maintaining its early quality.

17  Hope you've enjoyed this.

18  Have a great Monday.

19  Hope this makes you feel glad all over.

20  And Mike, the name of the place is I like it like that!

21  Peace.

~H~

http://www.noolmusic.com/youtube_videos/dave_clark_five_-_glad_all_over_-_music_video.php