This morning while channeling my inner klutz, I spilled a full cup of coffee right next to my chair, with the splash zone covering the end table, the rug, and a stack of books and magazines. Dryness was soon restored, and most of the mags were old Sports Illustrateds I'd been planning to get rid… Continue reading New Yorker nostalgia
Category: music
Gone Blue
Even if you're not a college football fan or a resident of Michigan, you've probably caught a whiff of the circus parade that began when a quarterback who'd been blasted by a defender and was obviously wobbly was allowed to stay on the field. I don't have the space or the stomach to recap the… Continue reading Gone Blue
The blues and the truth by degrees
As much as I love a good old-fashioned Sunday paper in print, the online version of today's New York Times has a leg up on the hard copy: a multimedia version of the cover story of the Times Magazine, “The Ballad of Geeshie and Elvie.” It's a fascinating account of the search for information about… Continue reading The blues and the truth by degrees
Center of the mindless
When I was growing up in Michigan back in the late 60s and early 70s, we took a lot of pride in all the great Detroit rock bands that the rest of the country hadn’t discovered yet. We had the MC5, Iggy and the Stooges, Mitch Ryder, the Rationals, and of course Bob Seger, who… Continue reading Center of the mindless
A binder full of the blues
A few days ago I invited you (yes, YOU. The whole Internet) to join me in "Blues by Committee." For those of you who actually have lives away from Facebook: "I'm going to give y'all the first line of a blues song that's just begging to be written ...
Boomer bust
Browsing the New York Times website today, I was greeted with, in big red letters: "Booming." (Hint: this isn't about the economy). You guessed it: a proud, shiny new section of the Nation's News(?)paper dedicated to my g-g-g-generation (sorry, I ...