Neall Alcott

And he’s afraid of girls! LOL

The man who writes the songs won’t be singing any of them on “The View” — not as long as Elisabeth Hasselbeck is there.

Barry Manilow has backed out of his scheduled appearance on the morning talk show after the show refused to pull Hasselbeck from the interview, “Access Hollywood” has learned.

If you read the article, what is actually happening is Rosie O’Donnell and Barry are friends and I guess he’s sticking up for his friend.

But from a business point of view, he’s an IDIOT!

Here’s the equation:
1. He’s going on the View to hawk his new album.
2. Middle-aged/older women love Barry Manilow.
3. Middle-aged/older women watch the View.

Result: Barry sells albums

So here’s the new equation:

1. He doesn’t go on the View.
2. Announces that he doesn’t like conservative Elizabeth Hasselbeck.
3. Middle-aged/older women love Barry Manilow and watch the View, but about 50% are conservative (or don’t like Rosie - actually we might have to up that percentage).
4. Not only is he not on the show, but news outlets are now trumpeting why…

Result: Barry doesn’t sell as many albums.

It’s not like he’s going to have another hit song, so he needs to play the game. But instead he boycotts the View for political reasons and stands by Rosie.

At least he is standing by his friend, I’ll give him that. But I don’t think she would do the same. If Barry disagreed with her publicly, she would completely disown him - just like she did with Hasselbeck.

I mean Redskins 20, Eagles 12. Ugh… I’m afraid this is going to turn into a loooonnnnnggggg season.

I don’t know what the issue is. The most obvious is the same thing that has plagued the Eagles in the past: dropped passes. The Eagles coaches have said (for years) that their system doesn’t require top-tier wide receivers, but I don’t buy it. I know we hate to mention him, but T.O. is a great example of what can happen when a great wide receiver is paired up with McNabb… on the other hand, Garcia did pretty good last year with the same players…

Which brings up McNabb… is this it? I don’t think so. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt since he’s not 100% yet. But time will tell…

Finally, we have Coach Reid. In the news conference afterwards, he really looked rattled / scared. He was giving his usual “it’s my fault. I take full responsiblity. blah blah blah” - but this time it wasn’t quite the same monotone delivery - it was a bit frantic. I think he sees pissed off Philly fans looking at him and he doesn’t have an answer.

I personnally think that he needs to be with his family. I can’t imagine keeping my own head straight if something happened to one of my kids. There is no way he can mentally be in the game with all of the things that are going on with his sons. He should take a leave of absence and let Mornhinweg run the team for this season. They say he has delegated tasks to the other coaches, but come on. Give it up and hopefully we can pull out of this.

Once the Patriots’ CHEATING SCANDAL broke, this is the 1st thing that came to my mind:

Sheldon Brown and the Eagles hoped a blitz would rattle Tom Brady.

One problem: Every time the Eagles rushed Brady in the Super Bowl, the Patriots nullified the defensive attack with screen passes. Lots of them. On almost every play defensive coordinator Jim Johnson called for a blitz, the Patriots used the short pass to confuse the Eagles.

After the Patriots beat the Eagles 24-21 in 2005 to win the Lombardi Trophy, Brown thought the Patriots beat them with nothing but sharp offensive playcalling. Now, he’s not so sure.

With spying accusations leveled this week against the Patriots, some of the Eagles left from the NFC title team are wondering if New England used bootleg film to their advantage in the Super Bowl.

“Do I think about it? Mmm hmmm,” said Brown, their starting cornerback. “It’s crazy. I just don’t know how far back it goes. Something’s not right about that.”

After reading about what the Patriots have done in order to “win”, I’m questioning all of their Super Bowl wins…

ESPN - Some Eagles question Pats’ tactics in Super Bowl - NFL

Hat Tip: Mr. Jon Spahr

It’s finally time to cut the ribbon on my new album project…

My new album is called “Rittenhouse Square.” It’s my first full length album and thanks to the encouragement of listeners and friends, I decided to make the leap and go for a professionally produced CD.

Rittenhouse Square is a collection of 12 songs that I recorded between Jan. 2007 and June 2007. The songs are in the pop rock realm, with different influences (Beatles, XTC, Squeeze, Lindsey Buckingham, Michael Penn, U2, others) that are blended together.

I had a lot of fun putting the album together (maybe too much fun!) but I think it is worth it.

Please go and check out and take a listen to the songs. If you enjoy the songs, I hope you’ll consider purchasing a CD and maybe encouraging a half dozen friends to do so as well. :)

Seriously though, I need your help spreading the word about the album. So if you have friends, family members, and / or coworkers who you think might like this, please forward this message to them or send them a link to my site. If you have a website or blog, please consider writing about it or maybe posting a review of the album. Anything we can do to generate some interest in the album will help. I don’t have the muscle of a big record company to help me market this, so I need the help of all of my friends. Without your help, it will be much harder to get this album out into the world.

As always, thanks for listening, spreading the good word and for reading my blog…

Thanks!

Neall

Well, we’re a week away from the release of Rittenhouse Square on Sept. 15. CDBaby has the CDs and they are building the ordering pages and setting up their site. They are also digitizing the songs and artwork and sending the CD to iTunes, eMusic, Napster, Rhapsody, and a bunch of others. If everything goes according to plan, CDs will be available on 9/15.

The songs have been getting quite a bit of airplay too. I’ve had a number of podcasters contact me to let me know they want to play the songs in their shows. In the past week, several shows have aired featuring songs from the CD:

Jersey Toddshow - Todd Wachtel (aka JerseyTodd) puts together a very good and very entertaining podcast show every week. Todd played the title track, Rittenhouse Square. Check it out:

Jersey Toddshow #98

If you are an iTunes user, click below to check out the Jersey Toddshow!

The Jersey JamCast

Rob Usdin is the host of the Jersey JamCast show and his show focuses on new music from New Jersey artists. He played When The World Comes Down On You. He also played a lot of other very good songs that you should check out. Rob also runs the podcasts for the BlueJersey blog, which is a blog for liberal New Jerseyites (is that right?). Check it out if that is your thing or if you’re a conservative and you want to hear what your fellow citizens are saying. It’s a pretty good site. I’m not exactly a liberal and I spent quite a bit of time reading BlueJersey on Saturday. They are on the right side of several New Jersey issues near and dear to my heart, like corruption, pay to play, and dual office holders. I’m glad to see some common ground.

Rob also has his own personal blog which focuses on some things near and dear to his heart, in particular the New Media (blogging, videocasting, podcasting). Check that out too! In the meantime, check out the Jersey JamCast:

The Jersey JamCast #23

If you are an iTunes user, click below to check out the Jersey JamCast!

The Daily Pod

Christoph Till is the host of the Daily Pod. The Daily Pod is a podcast out of Berlin, Germany. To be honest, the show is all in German and since I don’t know German all I can tell you is that he played When The World Comes Down On You… or should I say Wenn Die Welt Unten Auf Sie Kommt?

If any of you speak German, maybe you want to check it out and let me know what he is saying (spoken like a true ignorant American): ;-)

The Daily Pod #202

If you are an iTunes user, click below to check out the Daily Pod!

I want to thank all of these hosts for playing my songs! Please visit their sites and check out their hard work!

Ugh… well in my opinion the Eagles pretty much won that game. The defense played well, the offense played OK. But the special teams… man, that was ugly. They cost us the game. Greg Lewis and JR Reid really screwed up and obviously can’t make good decisions like a return man should. Why Andy Reid did not use Brian Westbrook I have know idea. If Westbrook was back there, the game would have turned out differently.

Oh well… let’s see if Andy makes any changes for next week.

From his new album called “Magic” which comes out in October:

The Phillies are running a “buy one get one free” offer for the 9/10 and 9/11 (7:05pm) games against the Colorado Rockies.

Get ‘em while they’re hot! The promotion code is ROCKIES.

Click here to buy the tickets.

Ginny and I are taking the kids to the 9/11 game. Let me know if you are going and I’ll see you there.

Here’s an article about a Russian mayor that has banned members of his staff from saying certain phrases, such as “I don’t know”. Basically “helplessness” phrases. Anyone saying one will be fired.

Russian mayor bans phrase ‘I don’t know’

“I don’t know” is a phrase that really annoys the mayor of our household (it annoys me too!). It drives Ginny up the wall and the mere utterance of the phrase from any our children’s mouths will send her into a fit of rage. ;-) In particular, Lindsey (our 11 yr. old) is a connoisseur of the phrase “I don’t know”. This is a typical dialog in our house:

Ginny: “Lindsey, did you clean your room?”
Lindsey: “I don’t know”
Ginny: “What do you mean, I don’t know?”
Lindsey: “I don’t know”
Ginny: “You’re not allowed to use that phrase. Did you clean your room?”
Lindsey: “(pause) I don’t know”
Ginny: “Do I need to go upstairs to check?”
Lindsey: “I don’t know”

At this point my wife explodes and forces Lindsey to go clean her room. Lindsey gets mad and stomps her feet up the stairs and gets in more trouble.

Next day: Repeat

We’ve considered instituting a solution like the Russian mayor, but our lawyers said we can’t fire the children…

The title track from my new CD, Rittenhouse Square, was played on the Jersey Toddshow! Todd puts together a very good and very entertaining podcast show every week. Check it out:

Jersey Toddshow #98

If you are an iTunes user, click below to subscribe to the Jersey Toddshow!

America: The Last Best Hope (Volume II)

By William J. Bennett

America: The Last Best Hope (Vol II) is a very good American history book by William Bennett. Vol II covers American history during the 20th century (from World War I up to the end of Reagan’s second term).

I enjoyed it for two (2) primary reasons:

First, being a child of the eighties (aka post-Watergate, post-Vietnam), history tended to be taught in more of a world perspective. That in and of itself was not bad, but a lot of American history tends to be glossed over (in particular the timeframe that this book covers). We all know that FDR was instrumental in leading the US to victory in World War II - but how many American schoolchildren are taught about the relationship FDR had with the “honorary American” Winston Churchill. The friendship between these two men helped forge an alliance that fought fascism around the globe.

After the attack at Pearl Harbor, Churchill rushed to Washington and spent a month living in the White House consulting with the President. There are many humorous stories in the book regarding Churchill’s visit/stay, but I enjoyed this one the most:

Churchill asked FDR if he could bring the British Marines in for a tour (of the White House). “Hell no!” FDR roared without missing a beat. “The last time they were here, they burned the place”.

FDR was referring to the burning of the White House by Royal Marines during the War of 1812.

Second, the details of the relationships and lives of important Americans - Woodrow Wilson, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, Johnson, RFK, MLK, Nixon, Carter, Reagan - are written about in such vivid detail that you end up getting a fresh perspective on these men, their families, and the trials and tribulations they went through leading our country.

If you want a detailed, vivid account of American history (warts and all) definitely get this book. If you want to supplement your children’s American history education, definitely get this book.

In 2003, President Bush fell off a Segway which prompted British journalist Piers Morgan to write “You’d have to be an idiot to fall off, wouldn’t you Mr President. If anyone can make a pig’s ear of riding a sophisticated, self-balancing machine like this, Dubya can.”

I don’t quite get the pig’s ear reference… maybe it was on Mr. Bean or Benny Hill or something. Anyway, 4 years later… like a pouncing tiger… Karma strikes:

Result - 3 broken ribs for Mr. Morgan

Mother Nature seems to keep finding ways to poke fun at Global Warming pundits. In the past we’ve seen it manifest itself as the “Gore Effect” such as snowing while Al Gore delivers a speech on global warming. Here is another instance of the Gore Effect:

British yachtsman Adrian Flanagan is trying to prove global warming by sailing along the Northern Sea route, which sailors have pursued for centuries.

He’s run into the same problem that sailors have run into for centuries: Ice.

Don Surber » Blog Archive » Ice blocks global warming trip

Hat tip: Instapundit.com

Jon called me on Thursday and unfortunately I was unable to attend (had to go a soccer tournament you know…). But it looks like the boys carried on without me! ;-)

Jon Bon Jovi’s star-filled Hamptons party is a rock & roll ball of fame

Well, I’m sitting here staring at a kid with a Mickey Wizard hat… I must be at Orlando airport.

It was a pretty good week down here. I got a lot of people excited about SharePoint 2007 and they learned a lot about how to manage and customize their SharePoint sites. One of the things I consistently find with current SharePoint users and organizations is that they limit themselves to a lot of the “out of the box” functionality. While SharePoint’s out of the box features are great and help organizations get up to speed quickly, in the long run they may actually hinder an organization’s abilities to use SharePoint as a business platform.

In a series of upcoming posts, I am going to explore this issue and start demonstrating ways that Site Managers and Administrators can leverage SharePoint beyond the basic functionality. For the most part, I will be showing you how to do this without the need for coding or SharePoint Designer / Visual Studio. You can do a lot with SharePoint lists and libraries using just your browser. Down the road we’ll explore other capabilities as well.

Stay tuned…