• This ‘n’ That

    Before I get to some more notes on what’s been going down around here, a quick warning that I’m going to be doing some of my patented “jacking around with the blog” over the next few days. I’m hoping I can do it in a way that doesn’t prevent you from finding the site when you look for it. If…

  • Roughin’ It

    It’s been a few days. A couple of you checked in – which I appreciate – and all is well. The girls and I spent a few days out in the wilderness. OK, that might be overstating it a bit, but here’s a breakdown. We went with our old neighbors to Turkey Run state park, about two hours east of…

  • Lazy Days Already

    Just a couple weeks in and we’ve already entered the lazy days of summer. Swim most days. Have some family or small group of friends over on the weekends. Hope it doesn’t rain yet complain when it’s too hot. That happens quick when there’s no place else to go. S popped into the nearest mall one day last week to…

  • Ten Influential Albums

    I think I’m done with Facebook for awhile. I’m not a huge user to begin with. But over the past week I’ve been disappointed at both Mark Zuckerberg’s continued stance that FB has no role to play in reining in posts that are meant to deliberately mislead people and spread lies and with a few friends who have posted/shared things…

  • Friday Playlist

    Another week in the books that was a little worse than the week before. I don’t know what the end point is, when things will start getting better, but I fear where the next worst week will take us. For this week’s playlist, some songs that both sum up what’s happening and how I feel about it. Not the most…

  • What I’m Watching, May 2020

    My goal for May was to knock a bunch of movies off my To Watch list. At first glance it will look like I did exactly that. But I must admit I watched eight of these movies in that last nine days of the month. That was solid work! The Last Dance Well, shit, I never got around to writing…

  • Heartbreaking Times

    It is hard to know what to write today. We are in day four of an absolutely glorious run of weather. We got to see a few friends this weekend. The SpaceX launch was very cool. There’s a new wave of openings here in Indianapolis today which is making life feel a little more normal. But all that is offset…

  • Friday Playlist

    It’s been a slow music week for me, so I’ll stick to some older tunes for today’s offerings. “Great Expectations” – The Gaslight Anthem One of the great Side One, Track Ones of the digital era. The kids today don’t even know what a Side One, Track One is. “Test Transmission” – Kasabian Kasabian had their moment right when I…

  • Reader’s Notebook, 5/28/20

    Say Nothing – Patrick Radden Keefe My brother-in-books Sir David and I often share recommendations with each other. I don’t know that he’s ever pushed a book as hard as he did this one. I think he got a little nervous he had oversold it, but this turned out to be a great recommendation. Keefe provides a thorough but quick…

  • Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 43

    Chart Week: May 10, 1986 Song: “Be Good To Yourself” – Journey Chart Positions: #20, 5th week on the chart. Peaked at #9 the week of May 31. Remember when it used to be a surprise when new music arrived? At least for kids. Before the internet, before I had cable TV, and before I could read music magazines regularly,…