Under The Weather…Getting Over The Hump

The concept of sick seems to have changed dramatically in the last two and a half years. Before Covid you could say you felt like shit and nobody would blink an eye at you. Coughing, sore throat, sniffles, maybe even a slight wheeze in your chest and it was “Oh, well I’ll stop at CVS […]

Record Cleaning For The Soul

Lately I’ve found a lot of comfort in cleaning my record collection. Maybe it’s just a distraction for a tired brain, or maybe it’s my anal-retentive, OCD tendencies up to their old tricks. Or possibly it’s just as simple as records need cleaned regardless of how shiny they look on the surface. Even those brand […]

My Airwaves

For the first decade of my existence I pretty much lived in a dead zone. My dad was too cheap to get cable, so we relied on a 40′ antenna tower for our television needs. I didn’t really miss cable till I got a little older and things like USA Up All Night, movies with […]

Another Year(Nearly) Gone

Rounding out the weekend following one of the last big yearly holiday markers we call Thanksgiving. That means December is only a few days away, which also means my 49th birthday is just a few days away(cue The Beatles.) It was a decent Thanksgiving weekend, though today(Sunday) is an especially dreary one. Dark gray clouds, […]

Durham’s Magic Fingers

So coming up through middle school and high school as an introverted wannabe guitar shredder is tough business. I could barely strum chords in front of my parents at home, let alone cut heads like Jack Butler in Crossroads in front of my peers. There was a definite “who’s the best?” vibe in high school. […]

Feeling Good(Or Better), The Art Of Art, and Thanksgiving Incoming

A lot can change in the course of a few days. I’ve made a real attempt to pull myself out of the doldrums and it seems to be working. Tired of being tired, I’ve said the hell with letting it all pull me into the deep end and have waded into shallow waters, so to […]

Exile On Meh Street

The week before Thanksgiving is usually a time of the year I love. Lots of dark overcast days, the temps drop, and the thought of having a four-day weekend coming up helped me push through those final, few work days. And in year’s past I would typically take the whole week off. Take a whole […]

“You’re dressed as what?”

It’s October 31st, 2022. All Hallow’s Eve, the day where ghosts, goblins, and ghouls rise from the netherworld to steal souls, cook kids in in cauldrons, and give you lip when you don’t give them a full size candy bar(Fun Size? What’s so fun about it?) Yes, it’s Halloween. The one time of the year […]

Kids Are Dating, Hermit Culture, Other Land Mines

It’s a weird feeling having all your kids dating. It’s one of the big transitions in the parent/child dynamic. All my children are in it now, with my youngest having started to date someone at school. I do feel lucky in that none of them started dating until they were either out of school or […]

Make Time For Rock and Roll

I think nearly everyday of my life since I was about 12, the idea of playing guitar has popped in my head. Maybe not on my wedding day, or the day my kids were born, or at funerals, but most other days. Ever since being a 3, 4 year-old and hearing Zeppelin, Aerosmith, The Doors, […]