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  • Impersonal Problems.1: Thanissara

    We’re used to thinking of problems as a word that goes hand in hand with “personal.”  Of course, there are problems in our professional lives.  But when we struggle with things that happen or come from outside of that realm, we tend to look at them as personal.  I’ve been interested in several articles I…

  • Top 40 Over 40.15: Bill Callahan – Made For the Stage?

    One of the cliches about aging performers is that they usually have to navigate the decline of their sex appeal by finding other ways to make something happen onstage.  There are some who escape this fate.  Kris Kistofferson was called a sex symbol during an interview with CBS’s Sunday Morning news program well into in…

  • Are you ready for some futbol? History and the World Cup

    During the recently concluded qualifying rounds for next summer’s 2014 World Cup, I was reminded of Paraguay’s run at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.  So much hope for a more equitable world seemed to mis/dis-placed onto the upsets Ghana and Paraguay scored to advance to the quarterfinals of that event. The tournament ultimately…

  • Top 40 Over 40.13: Weird Al’s “Party In the CIA”

    I can think of few more unlikely candidates for creative growth after 40 than Weird Al Yankovic.  Back when I was in grade school, he came on the pop culture radar with “Eat It,” his parody of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.”  His string of similar Dr. Demento style hits willfully sucked all of the sexual…

  • New LP/CD announced

    New LP/CD announced You can read a one page preview of my forthcoming album Spare Parts, and see a snap of the front cover, at the link above thanks to Nathan at Riot Act Media.

  • Top 40 Over 40.11: Wurst is also Best!

    I cannot pretend to write an objective review of today’s entry into my Top 40 Over 40 countdown, Transcendental Youth by the Mountain Goats.  You see, I compete in an annual NFL pool with John Darnielle and Peter Hughes.  I’m indebted to Peter for running this pool and to John for keeping me out of…

  • Secrets of the Temple.1: More Than A Doorstop

    The operations of the Federal Reserve board are notoriously shrouded in mystery.  Technocratic decisions on monetary policy that supposedly need to be protected from the fickle pressures of politics are carried out by an appointed board of governors who like to operate behind closed doors.  William Grieder set out to demystify this institution in the…

  • Top 40 Over 40.9: Jandek….live?!?!

    I didn’t pay much attention to what was going on in the undie music scene during the aughts.  I listened to some things that were current, but mostly I was just writing lyrics on my own and listening to a lot of modern classical music.  When I started lending an ear indie-ward over the last…

  • “You should know from the kindness of a dog how a man should be” – Captain Beefheart

      From Faces and Masks: Trilogy of Fire volume 2 by Eduardo Galeano 1833: Arequipa “Happy creatures,” says Flora Tristan. Flora is travelling through Peru, her father’s country, and in the mountains discovers the only animal man has not been able to debase. The gentle llamas are more agile than mules and climb higher.  They…

  • I fought the law, and I won

      A former babysitter of mine just posted this as his profile picture on Facebook.  I’m waiting for a follow up picture of the seagull pooping on the sign a minute later.