All I Want For Christmas is Barbies, Smurfs, and a Bible

My body's been trying to suck every inch of productivity out of me, but this year's Christmas entry made it with a few days to spare! I went with some slightly more mainstream stuff out of the holiday bag, and the results were certainly interesting. Let's dive under the tree to see what we got...

Barbie - Holiday Party Mix

Every Barbie album I've reviewed in the past has been abysmal. The hype sticker (yes, it's sealed) brags that KIDS are singing along on these songs. WHY???? Why does Barbie need kids to help her sing? Why does ANY children's music require children singing it? However, I honestly think they've pushed the limits of what defines a "child" on this album. All of these kids sing in tune. They're all probably 17 year olds who spent significant time in high school choirs.

Immediately after hitting the play button, this album kicked me in the face with electric guitars. I did NOT expect that. I expected some froo froo Kidz Bop rip off, but this fucking album is more punk rock than Green Day's latest release. I often tell people that there was a "good music revival" from the early to mid-2010s, and this album (being from 2012) falls perfectly in line with that theory. Some of the songs feature "Ken" singing which are almost universally mediocre and skippable. The Britney Spears cover is perfectly fine, the Mariah Carey cover should have been scrapped (because nobody likes that fucking Mariah Carey song), and the Wham cover was a complete surprise (and perfectly mediocre). The album starts off with a cover of Aly & AJ's "Greatest Time of Year", and dare I say that Barbie does a much better job of it.

A good half of this album is perfectly enjoyable. Given how unexpectedly decent this was, I'm giving you the better tracks off this one...

Listen to Let It Snow

Listen to Little Drummer Boy

Listen to Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

Listen to Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree

Merry Christmas With The Smurfs

Where the hell is Father Abraham? He would make a great Smurf Santa!

In preparation for this entry, I watched The Smurfs Christmas Special. It was a waste of time since none of the songs on the album were in the special. All I learned is that Smurfette has some amazing high heel shoes that allow her to walk ON TOP of the snow. I thought for sure she was going to sink to her untimely death.

The Smurfs have a very odd back-story. They had a hit song before they became a Saturday Morning cartoon series, but the series had almost NOTHING for Smurf-based music. Regardless, they continued to sell albums while the animation studio continued to pump out shows. The Smurfs is, in my opinion, the first animated series to overstay their welcome. I was around for the very first episode, and I abandoned them before they went off the air. They kept adding new Smurfs (Grandpa Smurf, Nana Smurf) and non-Smurf characters (Smoogle) who did absolutely NOTHING to make their adventures more interesting. After watching the Christmas special, I realized why they kept adding characters... Each Smurf has a very distinct characteristic that they can't venture outside of. Jokey gives everyone an exploding box, Clumsy is a clutz, Grouchy hates everything, and Brainey writes shitty books that nobody wants to read. Even when everything goes wrong, Papa Smurf is a wizard who just fixes everything with magic. Looking back, I'm actually quite baffled as to why the Smurf fad lasted for so long. Anyway, enough of my bellyaching about the cartoon series...

This Smurf Christmas album is certainly not the worst thing I've ever heard. If anything, I'd compare it to the Boney M Christmas album. Nobody knows who's singing on either of them, but they're both very rich musically and their accents make them sound like they came from the same country.

The most puzzling thing about this album is the song "Churchbells Are Singing". I don't remember The Smurfs having a church. There was no "Pastor Smurf" nor was there any scandal involving Smurfette getting paid for sex. Also, as a smurf, how do you interpret Jesus when the only human you know is a cat-owning-wizard who keeps trying to kill you? Is Jesus actually a Smurf?

Also, Deck The Halls appears to be smoking doobies and having a gay guy ringa dinga your dong. Don't ask me why...

Listen to Smurfing Bells

Listen to Churchbells Are Singing

Listen to Deck The Halls

Various Artists - Yo! Ho Ho!

I don't care what anybody says, Christian music is influenced by what they call "Secular Music". The only problem is that the Christian music scene is filled with a LOT of talentless wannabees. Nothing demonstrates this better than "Yo Ho Ho". Of course we're gonna get some Christmas rap songs out of this one, but I can tell the difference between a good Christmas rap song and a bad one. Run DMC's "Christmas in Hollis" is a great Christmas rap song. Eazy E's "Merry Muthafuckin' Christmas" is one of my favourites. And then there's "Yo Ho Ho"...

DC Talk was one of the most successful Christian rap groups in the early 90s. Then Christian Gangsta Rap came along and ended their career (yes, this genre actually exists). This is essentially a DC Talk & Friends album. I guess there wasn't enough Christian rappers to fill an entire album with different artists, so we have DC Talk dominating the album and the other five artists get a lower billing.

The track "Yo Ho Ho" is flat out embarrassing. It reminds me of when everybody was trying to rap because it was cool. Rap music was put into TV commercials, childrens shows, cartoons and everything in-between, and it was sadly embarrassing.

D-Boy Rodriguez does a rap version of Winter Wonderland. If you want to hear it, just go to Youtube, load up the song "New Jack Swing" by Wrecks-N-Effect, hit play, sing your bad rendition of "Winter Wonderland" over top of it, and you essentially have the same fucking thing.

E.T.W. - Can't Spell Christmas Without Christ is yet another weak attempt of being a good rap song. What the hell does "E.T.W." stand for anyway? Extra-Terrestrial Wimps? Anyway, the plot of this piss poor attempt at a song is this.... The rappers went to the mall and are offended that the letter X replaced "Christ" in "Christmas". NEWS FLASH.... It's just an abbreviation. It's like replacing "Doctor" with "Dr". It doesn't mean he's no longer a doctor, it's just shorter and everyone knows what it means. These guys would probably get offended if they look at Jesus' name in it's original Greek text. Guess what? "Christ" in Greek starts with the letter X. In other words, you can't spell "Christ" without "X". There's your education for the year.

M.C. Ge Gee - Mary Had A Little Lamb.... First of all, what the hell kind of name is "M.C. Ge Gee"? ANYTHING would have sounded better. Even "M.C. Yahtzee" would be more respectable. Second. I learned that she's D-Boy Rodriguez's sister. Even more fucked up.... D-Boy Rodriguez was killed by a gunshot wound. These Christian rappers mean business!!! Anyway, The Lamb in this version of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" is Jesus. M.C. Ge Gee breaks down the story in a very unenthusiastic fashion while a bad Boyz-2-Men knock off sings the chorus.

This is hands down, one of the lousiest Christmas albums I've ever heard. It's dated, it's ridiculous, it's cheesy, it's lame, and it just plain sucks. This is probably why I rated The Smurfs and Barbie so much higher after listening to this shit.

Listen to Yo! Ho Ho!

Listen to Can't Spell Christmas Without Christ

Listen to Mary Had a Little Lamb

Listen to Winter Wonderland

And that's a wrap for 2024! It's still good to be back at he blog, but it's sadly taking about twice as long to get an entry out due to my health crap. I don't have an update on that, but hopefully 2025 will be filled with better news. I still would like to get some bad album live streaming going, but I need a bit more energy before I can get something like that off the ground. Regardless, we shall see you in the new year!

Torn & Frayed - A Winnipeg Band Un-Earthed

A couple years ago, I picked up a stack of formerly blank 8-tracks. Some had labels with what was on them, some did not. These tapes ended up containing some absolute treasures on them. Today we're gonna focus on one of them. (Yes, this is one of those "good band" entries!)

Torn & Frayed was a Winnipeg band who formed in 1977. They went on to be one of Canada's first "new wave" bands. They released their first EP in 1978 with a highly anticipated album on the way. Two years later, their one and only album "First Legg" (also released as "Not Frayed of Nothin'") was finally released. Apparently the EP set peoples' hopes quite high and those who patiently waited for this album were mildly disappointed due to the sub-par mixing job.

Today I'm bringing you two exciting things... A first-spin from a sealed copy of their album, and an interview with the band from Feb. 13, 1979 broadcast on the University of Manitoba radio station. The 8-track I pulled the interview from contains both rougher versions of songs what would appear on their album plus some songs that never made it. I'm currently missing their EP, but I will post a copy here when I get my hands on one.

I had never previously heard of this band until I bought the 8-track. The rough versions of their songs are absolutely fantastic. I would say they're comparable to what ended up on the debut album by The Cars. This is what moved me to track down their album. When I finally got their album, I realized that it sounded much different from the recordings on the 8-track. This time, they were more comparable to The Talking Heads than The Cars. The album is still good, but the early recordings were more raw and dare I say, more enjoyable (including the twelve minute "Mainstream"). I'd love to find a better copy of the versions played on the radio, but I have a feeling that this 8-track is the only remaining copy in existence. Therefore, WE MUST SHARE! If by some chance I'm wrong about owning the only copy, feel free to let me know. 

The band's lineup seems to be all over the place between these two recordings. The only thing that's evident is how much the band members hated disco music. There is very little information available on the internet about this band. I'm only guessing that they split up after the release of their album. If you remember this band from back in the day, feel free to share your memories in the comments section.

Interview: 11th Hour Special

Songs in interview:

1) Rock n' Roll's Goin' Underground

2) Gimme Little Hit

3) South Dakota Line

4) 1984 Anti-Sex Brigade

5) Time Warp Town

6) 70s Kids

7) Mainstream

* Rock n' Roll's Goin' Underground is an early version of Never Leave Alive

Click on each song to listen

Listen to the entire interview

Download only the songs

First Legg / Not Frayed of Nothin'

01) Through The Past 

02) Rolling Down

03) And You Show Well

04) Come On Now

05) South Dakota Line

06) Gimme Little Hit

07) Never Leave Alive

08) Sweet Baby J.R.

09) Take What You Want

10) 70s Kids

11) Head Down The Road

Download The Entire Album

Guess what? Christmas is coming! We need some holiday cheer (or sadness). We'll be diving into something Christmas related in the very near future.

Halloween 2025: Let's Laugh and Narrate Everything

People who make crappy albums have been capitalizing on Halloween for decades. The scariest thing about all these albums is that people keep dropping money on them. Lots of them are re-hashed sound effects records, and these examples are no exception.

Halloween Horrors

Do you know what's scarier than listening to birds sing? How about listening to some guy who won't shut the fuck up? That's what side one of this album consists of. It's supposed to be scary, but it's just some guy narrating all the stuff he's seeing and thinking. You're going to want to shut this thing off half-way through because it's just boring as hell.

Side two is nothing but creepy sound effects such as gun shots, a funeral organ, squeaky violins, somebody taking a shower, fire, and a person doing a bad cat impersonation. We might get something creepy by mixing a bunch of these sounds together, but when they're in succession, it's just a run-of-the-mill sound effects record.

Listen to the story (Side A)

Listen to the sound effects (Side B)

Laff Tracks

A wise man once said that laughter is infectious. That person was a fucking idiot who obviously never listened to a tape like this. Although this isn't specifically a Halloween-themed cassette, it's terrifying enough that someone was twisted enough to purchase this. The laughter on this tape is very poorly executed, at least when it's not stolen from somewhere else. You get all kinds of laughter here... Men laughing, women laughing, people snorting, gagging, farting, and all those other really annoying laughing traits that would cause you to dump your girlfriend over. There's even some audience laughter taken from the Bill Cosby 49 video. I didn't find that one credited in the inlay, although Bill Cosby doesn't deserve any royalties from this release.

I whole-heartedly understand the purpose of sound effects albums. I own many myself and have used them on various audio projects. Three or four laugh tracks are useful. This fucking tape is nearly 40 minutes long, and too long by about 35 minutes. I paid 25 cents for this cassette and I still feel like I wasted my money.

As for it's usability for Halloween, I think it's perfect. I wouldn't want to go trick or treating at someone's house who was playing this fucking thing.

Listen to Side A

Listen to Side B

Sounds to Haunt Your House

K-Tel was once a big name in the budget compilation album game. Now they just license bottom-of-the-barrel garbage to re-hash for the sole purpose of making money. This is just another run-of-the-mill mashup of sound effects to play while trick-or-treaters laugh at your jack-o-lantern-printed garbage bags full of leaves. I'll give credit where credit is due... This CD has a lot more "creep" factor than the fucking "Sounds of Halloween" record.

For your benefit, I've not only provided you with this album, but with the sound effects from the previous two mixed in to make it completely chaotic. It works much better than the three of these individually.

Listen to Sounds to Haunt Your House

Listen to the chaotic mess that I made

Due to the Halloween and Christmas season, I've decided to wait until 2025 to continue posting the 2022 Junq Tour. However, I may post one or two regular entries before I get to this year's Christmas goodies. We shall see you soon!

Uncle Bob Swarts Discography (with Archie Wood, Marvin Mouse and Petite!)

I figured I'd get the blog active again by going back to what inspired me to start it in the first place... Covering weird-ass shit that came out of Winnipeg Manitoba. Not only that, I'm re-visiting something that I've covered previously, albeit in pieces. Today I'm going to tie together all of the albums put out by Bob Swarts and his puppet characters. It was also by sheer co-incidence that a reader requested me to cover this topic after I had already begun working on this entry.

Bob Swarts had two local (and live) childrens' television shows which aired in Winnipeg, Manitoba from 1965 to 1986. These were "Archie and his Friends" in which Swarts took on the character of "Uncle Bob", and "Funtown" in which he took on the roll of "Mayor Bob". I was around to watch the tail end of the run between 1983 and 1986. During this time, my neighbor had a garage sale where I had purchased two of the albums featured here (Funtown & Petite Sings). They became childhood staples in my messed up musical palette (along with The Mini Pops and Engelbert Humperdinck)

And now for a few notes about these albums... Only one of these albums has a date on it, so I'll be piecing together the correct order of release solely based on album packaging, the progression of the album contents, and professional involvement (and yes, there was a bit of it). The copies I own are pretty good condition-wise, and two are first spins from sealed copies. Given the feedback from readers (and my own experience), "Petite Sings" appears to be the most difficult one to find and also the most sought after.

Anyway, enough of my yapping. Let's get to the albums!

Archie Wood and his Friends Christmas Album

Just look at this thing. It screams 1960s with it's drab Christmas presentation. Every single song is sung by Bob in his characters' voices along with our friend Agnes Forsythe on Funeral Organ, giving the entire album a "death of Christmas" vibe. Bob spits out a few witty comments here and there to liven up the funeral, but it's obvious in comparison to the following albums that he hasn't hit his true peak yet with his ventriloquism nor his witty humour.

All the performances on this album are 100% original, a feat that would never be repeated again throughout the rest of the discography. Sadly, there is absolutely no information on the back of this album as to who pressed it.

Listen to Jingle Bells

Listen to Frosty The Snowman

Download the entire album

Archie Presents Petite in Doggie in The Window

We have some very drab green-ish photography for this album cover. Our friend Agnes Forsythe continues her role on Funeral Organ for the majority of the songs, and the banter between Bob's characters is much more entertaining. We also have our first sped-up recordings. Petite "sings" two Patti Page numbers (How Much is that Doggie in the Window and Mockingbird Hill) and one song by Sue Thompson (I Think I'll Eat a Tadpole). This will sadly be Agnes's last appearance on funeral organ. She would eventually follow her life long dream of playing organ at the Norwood hotel for talent competitions.

This album was distributed by the absolutely wonderful people at Clay-Mor sales, whatever the fuck that is.

Listen to Pop Goes The Weasel

Listen to Home On The Range

Download the entire album

Funtown

This is probably the most common Archie Wood album out there, making it the album with the most destroyed copies of it in existence. I've been constantly upgrading my copy over the years as I find better ones. The one you're getting is a first spin from a sealed copy!

This album showcases Petite the dog and Marvin Mouse "singing" songs. Instead of Bob Swarts singing in character to the funeral organ, he uses existing recordings by mostly famous artists. The songs that Marvin "sings" are just straight copies of commercial recordings. The songs Petite sings are just 33 RPM records sped up to 45 RPM to make them sound more "girl-like". I'm pretty sure crediting commercial recordings to your puppet characters is illegal, but Bob got away with it on four albums. I will list the original artists for these recordings wherever possible.

Due to being a cheap bastard, Bob Swartz mastered this album on a tape that had been recorded on at least thirty times prior. The amount of dropouts in this recording is absurd. Add in the obvious inferior-sounding 8-tracks he used as music sources (which is extremely obvious at the beginning of "Steppin' Out") and you have a master tape that sounded like it was deteriorating before it was even released.

This album also came with an order form to buy a Petite puppet. I can't help but wonder how many were sold and how many may still be in existence today. Regardless, I dug through the bowels of the internet and found a picture of one...

Looks just like the one on the show, doesn't it?

My copy of this album has a pen-written note on it, claiming it was won by some kid named Kevin at the EKY Swimathon on March 1, 1978. That gives us an approximate year of 1977 when this album was recorded, although given that Mayor Bob mentions that the song "You're Sixteen" came out recently, it could have been recorded at any point between 1973 and 1977.

This album was lovingly distributed by Play-All LTD, whatever the fuck that is.

Side A:

Jean-Jacques Perrey - The Little Girl from Mars

Yes Kids - Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah (probably re-branded)

Norma Tanega - Walking My Cat Named Dog

BJ Thomas - Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

Anne Murray - Snowbird

Phil Harris - The Thing

Petula Clark - England Swings

Side B:

Guy Marks - Loving You Has Made Me Bananas

Doris Day - Please Don't Eat The Daisies

Ringo Starr - You're Sixteen

Anne Murray - Put Your Hand In The Hand

Tony Orlando & Dawn - Steppin' Out (I'm Gonna Boogie Tonight)

Anne Murray - Sing High, Sing Low

Download the entire album

Petite Sings

I have to point out that the title of this album is a complete lie!

If there's one thing I can say about this album, it's that I get more emails, messages, and comments (both online and offline) about it than any other one in the discography. I honestly don't understand why. The album cover is pretty unforgettable, so maybe that's the reason? I've also come to the conclusion that this is the rarest album of the bunch. Although I had it as a child, I almost never see it when I'm doing my thrift store digging. The fact that I have a copy as clean as this one is a friggin' miracle. I usually aim for copies that are a bit better than this, but I'll take this over every other trashed copy that I've seen.

The premise of this album was to give Petite her own album which angers the hell out of Marvin Mouse (and makes a nice plot for the entire record). Petite was obviously the favourite character on Bob's TV show.

Not only was this album distributed by the mutants at Clay-Mor Sales (over at 507 Furby Street in Winnipeg), but it was custom pressed by everyone's friends at PICKWICK RECORDS! You all know that Pickwick gives you the guarantee of a quality product.

Side A:

Eddie Osborn - Barbara Polka

Eddie Osborn - Ma, He's Making Eyes At Me

Lynn Anderson - Rose Garden

Sue Thompson - Paper Tiger

Kay Lande & Wade Denning - Fun in Fall

Doris Day - Teacher's Pet

Margaret Whiting - There's a Kind of Hush

Side B:

Lynn Anderson - Snowbird

unknown - These Boots Are Made For Walking

Loretta Lynn - Put Your Hand In The Hand

Burl Ives - Little White Duck

Loretta Lynn - Me and Bobby McGee

Download the entire album

Funtown - 20 Favourite Selections

As much as I shit all over Pickwick for their terrible releases, I have to give them credit for getting everything right on the "Petite Sings" album jacket. This album was put out by K-Tel International in 1978, and they didn't give a single fuck about the accuracy of anything on the album cover. They got a good half of the puppet song credits wrong.

This album took the longest for me to acquire, mainly because I didn't even know it existed. On the plus side, I got this album SEALED! That means you're getting a fresh, clean, first-spin transfer of it.

There is little to no dialogue between the songs on this album. Each track was likely done in one take because Bob made lots of lyrical and timing errors. All of Petite's songs are the usual 33 RPM records played at 45 RPM, but everything else used some of the most absurd sounding backing tracks I've ever heard in my life. The only one that's not out in left field is Grandma's Featherbed which I'm guessing is an original performance by some uncredited guitar player. There's also lots of Beatles songs on here to keep the average Beatles fan angry as hell.

As a side note, if anybody can identify the backing tracks that I couldn't figure out, please comment below or send an email. These instrumentals are obviously taken from some very well-deservedly-forgotten albums.

Side A:

Patti Page - How Much Is That Doggie In The Window (re-recorded version)

Marty Gold - Hey Jude

unknown - Rhinestone Cowboy

Bobby Crush - By The Light Of The Silvery Moon / Cecilia

unknown - Grandma's Feather Bed

Danny Davis & The Nashvile Brass - Wabash Cannon Ball

Sue Thompson - Paper Tiger (re-recorded version)

Billy Bond - Walkin' My Cat Named Dog

George Martin and his Orchestra - All My Loving

Chet Atkins - Snowbird

Side 2:

unknown - Back Home Again

Lesley Gore - Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows

Paul Martin and his Old-Timers - Side By Side

Russ Morgan & Eddie Wilser - Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Goodbye

unknown - Put a Little Love In Your Heart

George Martin and his Orchestra - Can't Buy Me Love

unknown - Carolina in the Morning

Russ Morgan - Zing Went The Strings of My Heart

unknown - Sweet Georgia Brown

Patti Page - Mockin' Bird Hill

(Put a little love in your heart, Hey Tuttle, All My loving)

Download the entire album

If you would like to dive more into this local TV show, there are two episodes (one Funtown, one Archie & His Friends) posted on Youtube. There are also some older clips that are fairly entertaining if you seek them out. I'm hopeful that more episodes will be unearthed in time, but not every family was recording kids TV shows in the early 1980s mainly because VCRs were expensive at the time.

Guess what? Halloween's a coming! This blog is scary enough without a Halloween entry, but it's been too long since we've done one. It'll be coming your way soon!

Time To Dust This Place Off...

 First of all, I'd like to thank everyone for your comments, concerns, positive energy, and all the warm fuzzy stuff you have sent. I appreciate it. It's also good to know that many people enjoy the content I put out, specifically the contents of this blog. I'm happy to announce that I'll be pumping out content again starting this Fall. My other half gets the summers off from work, so it only makes sense that I spend what little energy I have with her during that time.

As for news on the health front, not a lot has changed. However, I'm going to come right out and tell you that I'm 90% sure I have an autoimmune disease called Polymyositis. My bloodwork tells me my CK levels are high, my symptoms are identical to others who have been diagnosed, and I was able to discover that the drug initially used to treat this disease (Prednisone) got me up and back on my feet for a total of 10 days over the summer. It was a joy being back to my old pain-free self (with weakness being the exception, but I expected that). Unfortunately, Prednisone has nasty side-effects if used for extended periods of time, so I'm unable to stay on it. Going back to my achy-breaky self sucked after briefly having my life back, but knowing that treatment exists has had a positive effect on my mental health.

Another thing I'm going to come right out and say is that I highly suspect the COVID vaccine to be responsible for me having this disease. I was one of the first to receive the vaccine due to my (then) job in the health care industry. My symptoms came on quite slowly, initially being difficulty when getting up from a seated position. I just figured I was getting a bit older and it was perfectly normal. Over the course of about a year, it progressively got worse until my body was in full blown burning pain. The proof for me was when someone in the Facebook Myositis support group asked if anyone had developed the disease after receiving the vaccine. The amount of "yes" responses was staggering. I also recently realized that there were two other people from my workplace who suffered from new ailments after receiving the vaccine. Sadly, nobody seems to be allowed to talk about the horrible consequences that are affecting lots of people. Everyone's afraid of a lawsuit.

These days, my body still throbs and is over-exhausted from the minute I wake up. I usually nap at least twice per day. I've also gained a lot of weight due to my lack of movement which concerns me. I'd hop on the bike to lose it, but any sort of extreme exercise actually causes more problems. I don't like getting stuck on the toilet, nor being stuck on the couch when I have to go to the toilet.

As some of you may know, I opened my own thrift store in 2022. I enjoyed running it while I was physically able to. Sadly, I had to close it earlier this year due to my inability to haul around inventory and clean the place. As of this writing, I have no income. I applied for Disability in April 2023 and got rejected once. I have since appealed with letters from doctors and am waiting for a response.

Manitoba's health care system is incredibly fucking slow. Tests, Doctors appointments and specialist appointments are all spaced about 6 months apart. I'm absolutely tired of waiting to get SOMETHING solved. A friend of mine suggested that I should quit looking for an official diagnosis and attend a pain clinic which I'm highly considering.

So there you go. You're all up to date now. After shutting down my shop, my body has been easier to manage mainly due to a lack of strenuous exercise. I feel I can get back to putting out content, at least on here. Unfortunately, I'll be excluding Junq Tours until I get some sort of treatment. One trip to the grocery store leaves me wrecked. Two days of thrifting would sadly be torture at this point. However, I still pop into the occasional thrift store and I have an enormous queue of horrible shit just waiting to be posted on this blog. There is absolutely no shortage of material.

We shall see you soon! I want to get a regular entry up, just to help me get back into the groove of things. Then we have an unfinished Junq Tour to tackle. Two years late is better than never!