Heavy-hearted in the Midwest since 2011
At this point now it seems like it’s a given that if I take some time off I’m going to get sick. It’s the vacation playbook; take a couple days off for a nice 4-day weekend and 24 hours in I’m going to start feeling like crap. It was the case last week, as I […]
Read More Took Some Days Off, So I thought I’d get SickMandy, Indiana’s debut I’ve Seen A Way dropped back in 2023 and was quite the listening experience. Mixing post-punk’s jagged hard edge with dance-heavy moments, all delivered in the urgent and frenetic vocals of lead singer Valentine Caulfield’s and her native French language. The album was as catchy as it was disorienting. Mandy, Indiana has […]
Read More Mandy, Indiana : URGHI still remember the palpable excitement when Mondocon 2019 arrived and everyone was talking about someone named Mr Eff and his album Eyes Down. I wasn’t there, so I figured I’d never get a chance to hear it. Well, that’s just the naive music-obsessive in me. Of course I was able to get a copy(just […]
Read More Fight Night : Mr Eff Returns With Meditation For ViolenceMan, this week has not been the best. Started out Sunday where I had that weird little twinge in the pit of my stomach that usually indicates anxiety is just around the corner. Ended up going to the Y and walked three miles which helped that twinge. It went away, thankfully. But once I got […]
Read More Check-In : Extended-Release AnxietyI had a dream late last week that I’d gotten a call at work from someone wanting to hire me. It was the company that we currently share a building with. This medical company out of Kentwood, MI actually bought our facility when my employer was planning on closing and moving our manufacturing to Costa […]
Read More Wishful Thinking(Monday Thoughts)Dave Mustaine had said earlier last year that the next Megadeth album would be the last. At 64-years old the speed metal icon has seen, drank, ingested and experienced more life than most do in their entire time on this rock. Between decades of addiction, battles with fellow metalheads(including fans), a revolving door of musicians […]
Read More Megadeth : MegadethIt was another tragic and infuriating weekend here in the US. If you saw the news you would have heard about a 37-year old VA nurse who was unarmed by ICE, then as he lay on the ground after a mob of these so called “law enforcement officers” beat him, pepper sprayed him, and then […]
Read More Bitter Cold EverywhereIt’s been a long week. The cross training continues at work, with my second week learning the many laborious facets of shipping. I’m done already with this crap, and there’s still more to be dumped upon me. My workmate of nearly 27 years told me he’s retiring May 1st. Said he can’t do this cross […]
Read More Long Week, Quiet Weekend, Another Throat Punch From Jack Frost, Another Brick In The WallJust a little reminder that we’re going thru a bit of a cold spell here in the Midwest. Supposed to last through the week. Currently in the pre-Dawn hours the windchill is making it feel in the negatives. This is not conducive to wanting to leave my bed, let alone my house. Yesterday I spent […]
Read More It’s Cold. Stay In. Drink Coffee. Make Art.Tony Williams was my first jazz drummer hero. I discovered him on Miles Davis’ Nefertiti, which was the first Miles Davis album I bought. I loved his nuanced playing; intricate and informed while still having a lot of power behind the set. When Nefertiti was released in 1967 Tony Williams was all of 22 years […]
Read More ‘Emergency!’ : The Tony Williams Lifetime