Valentine’s Day Hustle

Was it that 40+ years ago Valentine’s Day meant something more? Or was it just because I was 10 years old 40 years ago that it meant something more? It was a big deal back in those days. I mean it wasn’t Christmas or Memorial Day-level big deal, but it was pretty big. Mom took […]

Halloween 2023

Depending on how tight of a grip religion has on you – or maybe you’re just a curmudgeon who hates fun – today is everyone’s favorite non-holiday holiday, Halloween. The day the kiddos(and some adults) dress up as their favorite monster and ghouls and go door to door in search of Fun Size chocolates. Of […]

“This Was An Important Place in Their Lives” : ‘Dawn Of The Dead’ 45 Years Later

If asked what my top five movies were, I’d first say “That’s an impossible question, dammit!” But eventually I’d relent and give it a real go to make that list. A top five would definitely have Silence of the Lambs and Apocalypse Now. It would also have George Romero’s Dawn Of The Dead. Depending on […]

Dualing Cassettes

Not sure if I should be as excited as I am, but you know what I don’t care. I ran over to Ignition Music this morning with my wife and picked up a used Sony Dual Cassette Recorder. It’s a little over 20 years old, but it’s a clean looking machine. And by the fact […]

Radiohead, James Bond, And Growing Up A Little Sad

A couple days ago I was rifling through Youtube when I searched ‘Radiohead “Nobody Does It Better”‘. I vaguely recalled hearing Thom and company cover the Carly Simon Bond theme years ago on some live bootleg, or possibly in some fever dream while sick with a gifted virus. Turns out it wasn’t my fever-y brain […]

Danish Butter Cookies, Cigarettes, And Resentment

As a kid I never saw my paternal grandparents as much as my maternal grandparents. My mom’s mom I saw the most because my mom was really close to her mom. We’d spend many summer days at my grandma’s house on the lake. We’d fish, take the pontoon out, go get lunch at the Streamliner […]

Summer’s Almost Gone(rejoice)

I’m not a summer person. I enjoy moments of it; individual afternoons, or perhaps a warm Saturday afternoon walk with my wife in town talking about her job. Or grabbing tomatoes and jalapenos from the farmer’s stand for fresh salsa. Farmer’s stands, that’s one of the few reasons I enjoy summer. Nothing better that fresh […]

“There Must Be Some Misunderstanding” : Growing Up With Phil And Genesis

There were a select group of artists that I grew up with. Not artists that I was a fan of and bought their albums necessarily, but more so were hoisted upon my ears via radio waves; Casey Kasem’s Top 40 Countdown, 80s FM chart toppers, school bus rides to middle school, and extended drives with […]

Hot Wheels, Reminiscing, And Memories In Boxes

I was buzzing thru the grocery store yesterday, doing the Wednesday afternoon post-work routine of buying groceries for the week. At the end of one of the freezer aisles Kroger had put a bin full of Matchbox ‘Hot Wheels’ cars. It seemed kind of out of place at Kroger. I could see it at Walmart […]

My First (Electric) Guitar

It was December of 1987 and I was looking down the barrel of my 14th birthday. By that point I’d been playing guitar for a year and change(first lesson was August of 1986.) Of course I wanted to start out with an electric guitar. It wasn’t like I’d been inspired by acoustic troubadours and the […]