Warning: Language Monkey Gone to Heaven—if you know a Pixies song, this is probably it. It’s the only one I ever heard on the radio. Or maybe Where is My Mind?—the musical backdrop to Tyler Durden’s anarchist Project Mayhem explosions at the end of the movie Fight Club. You might know these, but not You … Continue reading Rage/Recovery
Introspection
Fill my Eyes with that Double Vision
Fill my eyes with that double vision. Do you know this lyric? It’s from Foreigner’s 1978 hit song, Double Vision. Christmas time, 1978, I sat at the tail-end of my first relationship. Sue Witt and I hooked up at my high school homecoming rally and walked home together. For the next three months, we toyed … Continue reading Fill my Eyes with that Double Vision
We had Such a Brainiac-Amour *
* Why write a blog post no one wants to read about a song no one wants to hear? I love American music. I also love British rock from the late seventies and early eighties. In fact, at that time—the late seventies and early eighties—I graffitied my high school and then college desks by drawing … Continue reading We had Such a Brainiac-Amour *
Been Drinking Brew for Breakfast
My brother Dana bought London Calling right when it came out. The 1979 Clash album hit the record stores in December. By the time Dana returned to college at the end of January, I was hooked. Our bedrooms sat across the hall from each other—his room facing the street, my room facing the back yard. … Continue reading Been Drinking Brew for Breakfast
Frenzy
Thanks to Jim Adams, for hosting Song Lyric Sunday. Each week my blogging friend Angie at King Ben’s Grandma plays his game. He gives a prompt (or a series of prompts) and bloggers write a post related to the prompt. Every week, I find myself writing long, rambling comments on Angie’s blog related to the theme du … Continue reading Frenzy
All Roads Point North
We arrived at five-thirty. Hours earlier than I expected. As late as eight seemed possible, but more likely seven. And no, we didn’t get an early start, we simply had a smooth ride. Mostly. We pulled off the highway in Easton to use a bathroom. The blue amenities sign before the exit showed a McDonalds … Continue reading All Roads Point North
The Quiet Grace of Rosasharn Joad
Rosasharn: that’s a marble-mouth pronunciation of Rose of Sharon, the third or fourth oldest child of Ma and Pa Joad. Blessed with a beautiful name at birth, her whole family mangles it as if they've crammed a massive plug of tobacco in their mouth. Her age is unclear and hard to compare against her brother … Continue reading The Quiet Grace of Rosasharn Joad
Rain on My Parade
Take it easy, take it easyDon't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazyLighten up while you still canDon't even try to understandJust find a place to make your standAnd take it easy That’s the 1972 hit song Take It Easy written by Jackson Browne and recorded by the Eagles. I loathe both … Continue reading Rain on My Parade
Queen of the Coast
Queen of the Coast by Laura Cantrell, so beautiful it makes me ache. Susan often talks about the divine. Specifically, musicians being touched by it… the divine. Her favorite example is the Beatles—really just John and George. I need to think about that, my favorite Beatles song is Don’t Pass Me By, written and sung … Continue reading Queen of the Coast
Blaiku
Blossom blizzards blowbelow blust'ry blissful blue,blanket blushing blooms.
Questions with Jeff
Do you talk to yourself? Years ago, I took on an accounting position that sat vacant for eight months. My new desk languished in a sea of paper—two-hundred-forty stacks of daily accounting records waiting to be entered. Each day’s data took five to ten minutes to input unless there was a variance to research. There … Continue reading Questions with Jeff
The Wait
Every conversation is pretty much the same. “Mao?” *“Mao.” “Meow?”“Meow.” “Mew?”“Mew.” This goes on as long as I want. Tommy loves to talk. Typically, water is involved. He sits on the vanity at the edge of the sink, neck extended like a duck or a goose and rubs his head on the faucet, waiting for … Continue reading The Wait
Meditation
Jeff Cann, Meditation Practitioner. Cool title, maybe I should print business cards. I toyed with calling myself a meditator—Jeff Cann, Meditator—but I don’t like how it sounds. And who gets to decide which words end with or versus er? We’ve got bakers, renters, fighters and even practitioners. But then we’ve got meditators, mediators and aviators. … Continue reading Meditation
A Plate of Shrimp
Suppose you're thinking about a plate of shrimp. Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate of shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in looking for one, either. It's all part of a cosmic unconsciousness. -- From the 1984 cult-classic movie Repo Man. Today, the cosmic unconsciousness is clicking in … Continue reading A Plate of Shrimp
One Hit
Rosemerry wrote of regret. A taste of winning… once. Fleeting fame and a lifelong slide. One hit wonder. Wonder how my life turned out without that one big hit. Rosemerry wrote about choices. Decisions and consequences. Success or failure, which is worse? Sip the elixir now, it dries to sawdust in your throat. Rosemerry wrote … Continue reading One Hit
An American Obsession
What countries lead the world in You are an obsessionYou're my obsession --Animotion I have a few. Obsessions, that is. Not regrets a la Mr. Sinatra. Obsessions. The world map in WordPress being one of them. I hope to fill it up one day. To score a visit from every country. 195 of them according … Continue reading An American Obsession
Stimulated
The building where I work I feel like he bought my vote (Biden, not Lincoln). If you’re a middle-class American like me, you’ve probably watched the twists and turns of Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid stimulus package with trepidation. What’s in, what’s out, salary cut-offs, rogue senators, Republican derision, that sort of thing. My family … Continue reading Stimulated
Iron Man
Trigger Warning: Boring medical stuff. Good news, my heart looks beautiful. Can you believe it? I’m still trying to figure out why I get dizzy all the time. I’ve hit the end of the road, there’s nothing left to check. The MRI showed nothing. The electroencephalogram (EEG), normal. My stress test, perfect. The echocardiogram, essentially … Continue reading Iron Man
Beyond the Bottom
I still check the news twenty time a day. When I finish a task at work, a breaking-point. After a run. When I wake up, when I go to bed. When I head off to the loo. Sometimes I go to the bathroom simply to read the news. No prying eyes, no one counting my … Continue reading Beyond the Bottom
Motherless Brooklyn
His latest book is crap—in my mind anyway. Jonathan Lethem’s The Arrest takes place in the near future, some years after everything stops. You know, everything: electronics, motors, hydraulics, solar power, indoor plumbing. Amenities, creature comforts. It all stops, but you never learn why. Witchcraft is my guess. As good a reason as anything else. … Continue reading Motherless Brooklyn
