Poll's verdict: Go Cardinals! (Update: Oh, well)

By an underwhelming margin, family members who took part in the latest survey by the Birch Street Media Polling Institute favored the underdog Arizona Cardinals to win Super Bowl XLIII on Sunday.

The Cardinals captured 37 percent of the votes, to 25 percent for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers tied for second place with "Who cares? Baseball Spring Training begins in a couple of weeks."

(Update 2/1: The Cardinals came close, but with a last-minute touchdown the Steelers pulled out a 27-23 win.)

POLL RESULTS:
Who are you rooting for in the Super Bowl?
Steelers: 2
Cardinals: 3
Neither, but I'll still watch the game: 1
Who cares? Baseball Spring Training begins in a couple weeks: 2

The Institute noted that as of Saturday the Steelers were favored by oddsmakers to win the game by about a touchdown. The Institute also noted that this poll garnered eight votes, one more than its last effort, encouraging it to continue with future surveys. Finally, the Institute smacked itself in the forehead for not including "I'll tune in just for Springsteen's halftime show" as a possible answer.

"And I'd like to thank..."

Brien continues to provide the Birch Street Web with exclusive inside stories behind BKM's new album.

In my incisive analysis of the groundbreaking album "Soothsayer" I forgot to mention the following supporters. Much love to all!

A BKM Shoutout and Diva Wave to ... Shanna! The TV star, yes, THAT Shanna...... The designer, conceptualizer, and photographer of our CD album cover. (Three separate bills, would you believe? Only kidding!) Shanna you are in demand for our next album.

All our love and a tip of the hat to ... Daniel and Lorraine, a.k.a Grandpa and Grandma, a.k.a Mom and Dad. Thanks for the summertime access to Midland Recording Studios! And much appreciation for your support when, as parents of youthful music prodigies you provided us with our love of music and our first instruments. And then put up with the noise until we could actually play our guitars! The last song on the CD, "My Mirror," is dedicated to our Dad: Kevin wrote this song about 25 years ago.

A heartfelt "right on, Bro!" to Dan, the esteemed editor of this website and our first producer and sound man at our earliest, legendary 1970-1971 gigs. Though Dan was our producer, soundman, and big brother, I don't recall him listening to our music too much back then - he was too preoccupied with hippie musicians like The Beatles, The Band, Jefferson Airplane, The Who, the Grateful Dead, and the like. Go figure, it was his loss.

Much appreciation and love to our sister Kathy, who I apologize to, belatedly. Why, you ask? Because, by choice or not, Kathy did listen to my creatively tuned and musically questionable 70s guitar playing, usually very loud and usually while she was trying to do her homework. Her frank, insightful and instructive comments and suggestions made on these occasions have served me well as sound, humbling advice on my ego-inflating rise to lofty fame, critical acclaim from music-biz giants, and soaring chart success as one-half of the astoundingly gifted BKM. Love you Kathy! In those days Kathy would rather listen to Cat Stevens, Carole King, James Taylor, and Renaissance than my playing but who could blame her? I can't; I have to be honest with myself.

Of course a big shout out to Kevin's wife Kathy, for her support and encouragement, as well as use of their house for additional recording.

Also putting up with us last fall was Kevin the younger, a.k.a. Young Kevin. a.k.a Kevin the Yuteful, a.k.a. Wizard, a.k.a. Blackjacket, a.k.a. Cyber Clipper. He is the guy I send after people I don't like. A cool guy but a cyber weapon.

And hugs and kisses to Aunt Pat, our dedicated fan in snowy Saratoga; if you liked our CD "Changes," you will love "Soothsayer"! Your copy will soon wing its way to the frozen north for you to play endlessly, thrill your friends with, and treasure forever! BKM loves you Aunt Pat!

As mentioned earlier, there are yet more amazing, exciting stories and anecdotes associated with the "Soothsayer" CD that all fans would thrill to, but until further notice they remain missing or just plain forgotten.

--Brien

Fordham Prep wins Archdiocesan championship

Above, Patrick celebrates with his teammates after the Fordham Prep track team won the New York Archdiocese Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) Varsity Indoor Championship on Sunday (1/25).

FP finished with 94 points, more than half again as many as second-place Msgr. Farrell HS from Staten Island. Journal-News sports reporter Dan Marra wrote on his track and field blog that "Fordham Prep is the most complete team in our area. ... (Coach) George Febles and his team all but dominated that meet."

See more on the FP track website.

New artwork by Christine added to our site

Here's a new picture by Christine of a couple of Pokemon critters called Eevees playing in a grassy field. It was drawn in pencil, inked, scanned into a computer, and colored in Photoshop Elements 3.0 using a Wacom tablet. This and a couple of other recent pictures are now in Christine's Gallery Two, and earlier works are in Christine's Gallery One.

Holiday season concludes with Julie's birthday

At the home base of the Birch Street Web, the "holiday season" extends late into January, through Christine's birthday on the 8th and Julie's on the 22nd.

Happy birthday Julie!

(Now maybe we oughta take down that Christmas tree...)

Family divided over issue of snow!

Snow outside Shanna's house on Jan. 19.

A survey by the Birch Street Media Polling Institute has found that our extended family is sharply split on the question of whether they want to see more snow in the coming days.

In the survey conducted the week ending Jan. 21, Birch Street Web readers were asked whether they've had enough snow this season. Forty percent of respondents answered, "Yes, that'll do, thanks, really." Likewise, 40 percent responded "No, bring it on!"

The remaining 10 percent said "No snow here, and that's fine."

Analysts noted that early responses to the survey ran in favor of "bring it on," but that as days passed, "that'll do, thanks" moved up into a tie. They speculated that the snowfall which occurred during the survey week may have influenced the result.

A spokesperson for the polling institute noted the survey received a total of seven responses and said the pollsters hope to get a larger sample size in their next survey.

Secrets behind BKM's new album revealed!

Brien has taken a break from his and Kevin's promotional tour for their new album, Soothsayer, (hope you caught them on Letterman!) to share some inside info exclusively with the Birch Street Web:

Hi Everybody, Kevin and I hope those who have our new album like it. For those who can't stand another day without it, I feel sorry for you, but contact the BKM website and get one. It's so good it's incredible.

Here is some info on our album, Soothsayer;

1. After much thought, it was titled after one of the songs on it. Not a bad idea!
2. Recorded over the past two years, mostly in the summer.
3. All songs and music written by us and played by us.
4. Kevin plays his black Ovation guitar, Yamaha keyboards.
5. Brien plays Gibson Firebird and J-100 guitars, 79 Fender Stratocaster, bass guitar, Casio keyboards.
5. The Joker who appears on our album goes back to our Jokers Dream album cover -made in 1979! I was the amazingly talented artist who drew him, and though he looks quite a bit like the joker in a Bicycle Card deck, that is entirely a coincidence. Okay, answer this: Ever see a playing card Joker with a guitar? I thought not! I rest my case.
6. More absolutely thrilling anecdotes and tidbits related to our hugely successful album have either been forgotten or cannot be found.
7. LOOK at the BKM website run by Kevin. LISTEN to the four samples from our Soothsayer album! If your toes are a-tappin and your neck is a-snappin then you need more BKM! Attract Kevin's attention somehow (remember he is married) and order your copy of Soothsayer today!

For those in the frigid zone, call between 3:08 and 3:09.5 AM or, if too frozen to call, send smoke signals. For those in the temperate zone do whatever you want.

Stay Groovy -- Brien

Marie and Xander arrive in NJ

QUICK UPDATE:

Marie and Xander flew cross-country on Sunday to join Brian in New Jersey, completing their move from California. Once they're rested from the journey and settled into their new surroundings we hope to get a full report.

A snowy weekend at Deep Creek Lake (Updated - more photos)

Dan and Julie, Christine and Andy took a quick 3-day-weekend trip (Jan. 17-19) to Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland for skiing and other winter fun.

At the Wisp ski resort on Sunday, all four spent a couple of hours snow-tubing. Then Andy and Christine hit the slopes, with Dan tagging along. Both kids are getting to be good skiers, zipping down the trails while their Dad lags far behind.


On Monday they visited Swallow Falls State Park, which looked dazzling in freshly fallen (and still gently falling) snow. Muddy Creek Falls was a spectacular display of rushing water and huge icicles.

Here are more photos from both days.

Patrick vaults over 10 feet in sectionals

The Fordham Prep track and field team took first place in the New York Archdiocese Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) sophomore sectional championship competition held at Rose Hill on Friday (1/9).

In the pole vault event, Patrick placed third, clearing 10 feet for the first time in competition.

Patrick also was a member of the 4x200 meter relay squad that took first place in that event with a time of 1:41.9, more than a second ahead of Iona. See more details on the team's web site.

The Fordham Prep team was favored going into the competition, having won the title last year on the freshman level.

Ahead: the CHSAA Sophomore City Championships Feb. 8. Patrick says that will have "the same schools competing plus about 15 other schools from the Brooklyn/Queens section and the Long Island section. And we won that as freshman last year too so we should win again this year."

Becky curls in Olympic qualifying trials (Updated)

Becky and her curling teammates competed in a regional qualifying round for the 2010 U.S. Olympic Team trials held Jan. 7-11 in Ardsley, N.Y.

This was separate from the Women's Junior Nationals competition where her team will play in the championship tournament next month.

Unlike the juniors competition, there's no 21-year upper age limit in the Olympic trials, "so competition is very tough," explains her mother, Lisa.

Her team was seeded 6th out of the nine in this competition, and finished in a tie for 6th place with a record of 3 wins and 5 losses. The top three finishers will go to the Women's Nationals tournament in Denver Feb. 21-28, and the winner of that competition moves on to the Olympics. (See all the results at the U.S. Curling Association web site. Look in the right-hand column for the scoreboard for the Women's East Qualifier. Rebecca's team is identified by the name of its skip, Katlyn Beebe.)

Rebecca's mom, Lisa, says the team has its eyes set on the Olympics eight years from now, and "this shows them how far they need to improve before making it. It also is a great practice for the junior nationals."

Cousins get together in California

While Genevieve was in California around New Year's, celebrating with John their newly announced engagement, the couple paid a visit to her California cousins.

Genevieve and John got to see how much Xander has grown since they first met him at Christmas 2007. Marie, Dan, his girlfriend Eyvonne, Genevieve and John all went out to dinner together and spent the rest of the evening at the house in Morgan Hill talking and catching up. (Any of you have any pictures of this gathering to share?)

Dan completes A.A., heads to S.J. State

Dan looks serious

Dan recently completed his Associate's degree at Gavilan College, finishing with an outstanding 3.99 grade point average.

After about a month's break, he's preparing to begin studies at San Jose State University on Jan. 22, majoring in communications. His AA is in Spanish and he also earned a certificate of proficiency in communications.

Dan's days start early, as he works the morning shift at Peet's Coffee and Tea in Morgan Hill. He plans to continue that and then commute by car and light rail to the SJSU campus a little more than 20 miles away.

Brennan centers Saratoga Catholic basketball team

At Saratoga Central Catholic High School, Brennan is in the midst of basketball season.

The 6'5" sophmore (standing in the middle of the back row of players) plays center and power forward. According to stats kept by the maxpreps web site, Brennan is averaging 12.4 points per game, second highest on the team, and leads the team in rebounds.

Brian's back in Jersey

Brian has completed his cross-country trip, arriving at his parents' home near Trenton N.J. on Sunday. Marie and Xander will make the trip east by airplane later this month.

Brian's last tourist stop along the way was at Luray Caverns in Virginia, where he especially enjoyed seeing the "Great Stalacpipe Organ."



It's billed as the world's largest musical instrument. As the web site explains, "Stalactites covering 3 1/2 acres of the surrounding caverns produce tones of symphonic quality when electronically tapped by rubber-tipped mallets. This one-of-a-kind instrument was conceived by Mr. Leland W. Sprinkle of Springfield, Virginia, a mathematician and electronics scientist at the Pentagon."

New photo of the newly engaged couple

From The Birch Street Web

As they say in the tabloids... Exclusive! First photo of happy couple!
Vivien snapped this shot of Genevieve and John moments after they became engaged over Christmas weekend.

Scenes from Brian's cross-country trip

Brian is on a cross-country auto tour from California to New Jersey. Here are a few of the photos he's taken along the way.



As previously reported, Brian and Marie are moving from California back to their native New Jersey. They originally considered making the cross-country car trip together with Xander, but changed plans. Marie and Xander will fly east later in January.

Christopher & Stephanie enjoy first Ohio Christmas

Cathy writes:

Here are some pics from Christmas - our first in Ohio. The kids were happy to get Webkins & Bionicles & a Wii & ipods.

Hope you all had a great holiday!