48 Going On 49, The Inevitability Of Time, And Feeding The Creative Fire

It seems this creativity thing is still moving forward. Despite my best efforts to be lazy and leave my musical toys to collect dust this new music “thing” is progressing. I’m almost up to two full tapes of music, which in 4-track terms that’s two sides of two 45-minute cassettes. So I’ve got like 5 […]

Blueberry Bagels and Painkillers

When you find a great bagel in the Midwest it’s kind of a big deal. Typically in the flyover states we’re stuck with chain restaurants like Einstein Bagels, Panera Bread, or Big Apple Bagels when you want a New York-style bagel. And while they may be okay, they’re not the real deal. If you don’t […]

Everything Reminds Me Of My Mortality And Other Fun Revelations

Monday night I noticed our 11-year old dog was starting to limp. I’d gotten home from work and he seemed his fine, his over-excited self yelling at me as soon as I walked through the door for his treat. This is what we do; this is our ritual. As soon as I get home he […]

Plants And Chairs And Trees And People Forming As One

I was off work the last week. No trips to the beach or cabin in the woods, not that kind of time off. I spent the first four days in the hot Midwest sun taking apart the play set that my dad, father-in-law, and I put together in May of 2005 for our kids. It […]

Stoned On Ideas…

Creativity comes in phases for me anymore. It used to be that I was always in some kind of creative groove, and working on music was that one constant groove. I didn’t start writing regularly on this site till 2011/2012, so before that my creative side was pretty much making music in my basement. And […]

Parades, Mermaids, Strip Bars, And Tootsie Rolls

I’ve never been much of a parade person. Not even as a kid was I moved to stand sidelined watching tractors, fire trucks, flat bed trailers made to look like scenes from movies, and local politicians throwing candy at kids while said kids clamored on small town main street for the candy they typically tossed […]

Empathy Lives In The Gray Area : Some Thoughts On Roe V Wade

The first time my wife and I became pregnant was April of 1998. We’d been trying to get pregnant for a year with no luck, but then it happened. We were ecstatic. We got married just two years prior, had built a house, both were gainfully employed, and were a pretty good aunt and uncle […]

Final Vinyl?

I got into collecting vinyl because I’m a fan of ritual, lover of album art, I’m mildly OCD, and ever since I was a little kid I’ve been obsessed with music. I’m not one of those people that theorizes about how much better vinyl sounds than any other format. I still think CDs are the […]

Father’s Daze

This is probably the most absent Father’s Day that I’ve had since getting my “Father” membership card on May 13th, 2000. Every Father’s Day since my oldest was born has been a big deal. Some kind of gathering, cards, and sometimes a shared Father’s Day celebration between our household and having my own father over […]

Sorry Mrs. Jackson(I Am For Real)

I feel like growing up everyone had that one friend that lived in the neighborhood whom you kept in a very particular relationship bubble. You had your school friends and sports friends and maybe some weird YMCA club friends that might have intermingled and bled over into each other. You have your best friends that […]