I was just thinking about how nothing has really changed in the national dialogue in 40 years.

I mean, you still have this Flag cult, which the southern-fried masses confuse with patriotism. 

You still have the same impotent peace movement.

 You… Read full post »

Before Viagra and all his little brothers, I think probably most men never conceived of a 4-hour erection. And certainly, within the general public there is, I can safely say, much less alarm over the possibility of a medication-induced 1/2 day boner than the disclaimers warrant.

"Honey!!!"

&… Read full post »

I first saw Rusty Wier the night he opened for BW Stevenson at the new arena at North Texas State University in 1974. Little Ricky drove up from Longview to see BW, and I had bought two tickets to the concert so that he could introduce me to… Read full post »

  Read full post »

 Yesterday, I “managed”.

I’m really more of a worker bee type. Several years ago, I did a 5 year stint in management, mostly without success and with only a lot of emotional scars and a Prozac habit to show for it. I took a new job a couple of years ago,… Read full post »

 Apropos of nothing, here is Eliza Gilkyson performing one of her best tunes, Borderline. That appears to be Slaid Cleaves stepping out of the spotlight. He's great, too!

Here is a bit closer view of the undustable Bark Museum (along with my favorite refere… Read full post »

I love to see what's on other people's shelves! Any interior view of any OSer's home-twenty piques my curiosity. I expect there are others who share my prurient interest.

So, here are some of my favorite shelves. (Click to enlarge any of these images.)

This is the… Read full post »

She sits inside her faux whiskey barrel, beside the Sassafras tree and beneath the Escarpment Cherry. I turn to spy her out the window to ensure she does not take flight. She stares back through the window at me, knows me for the ape who feeds her the delicious… Read full post »

One of my friends lives somewhere in the great Northwest, and I was noticing a picture of some fresh apples over on her FaceBook, apples she had picked from her own apple trees. Man, what I wouldn't do for some fresh apples! I live in central Texas where most… Read full post »

There are few rules at my house, but one of the strictest rules has always been this: "There shall be no pet reptiles. So saith Laura." The corollary to this rule states that "Should ever there be a pet reptile, then Laura is so out of here." (In earlier times, these… Read full post »

One of the best songs written by the late, great Townes Van Zandt.

Butch Hancock performs a more striking rendition, but he is still jealousing that Townes wrote this one. Read full post »

And so will I.

 This is partly in response to wakingupslowly's challenge. It is also offered as my contribution to an open call I mostly wasn't paying attention to, sometime in May. (Thanks, Cherie, for directing me to your post!)

Leaving a bit more to the imagination--and… Read full post »

Some people are annoyed that "Open", as Sloan calls it, is using advertising to make ends meet. Me, I'm annoyed at the people who are annoyed. This seems like a pose to me. Listen up, because I'm only going to say this once: it's called a scroll bar; you'll find it… Read full post »

 An unauthorized video of an anti-war song, by Hamell on Trial.  A solo act who was even based in Austin for a time (so saith the Interwebs), in recent years Ed Hamell has been a recording artist for Righteous Babe Records (Ani diFranco's label) and holes up in New… Read full post »

At the bait store, and getting a bit of a late start on the fishing.

No mullet in sight and the water the color of Thai tea does not bode well for the fishing. That's my son James, heir to the house of Clay, and darned handy… Read full post »

One of my favorite stories of my father is one he liked to tell on himself. Seems like he and my mother, when they were dating, drove out with a couple of friends to the newly-completed Grapevine Lake, just north of Dallas. At some point during the outing, my dad… Read full post »

Sometimes, my confidence is so high, I don't need a belt to hold my pants up. And then there are other times I am deer-in-the-headlights timid. This year, my swagger has been repeatedly interrupted by the need to dive into a foxhole. Being named a team lead on a Mission Impossible… Read full post »

I don't go out much. After I "retired" from government, I went back to work. For the government. Only now, I have the hardest job ever.Most nights I am just completely spent.

 But I want to go out. I want to live the life I imagine, the one where I… Read full post »

Last night it stormed, and there were tornadoes dropping out of the sky all over town. With a sixteen-year-old roof, I'm not averse to a few quarter-sized hailstones ricocheting off the shingles, and I went out back to check out the prospects. What I found instead was a… Read full post »

My friend Debbi hosted a tie dye party the other weekend, and I never miss a tie dye party when I can. This time I outsmarted myself, bringing with me nine t-shirts and two pairs of briefs to put through the process.

Problem is, tie dye is something… Read full post »

The Skeetape - Jason Torres feat. TLUV - 55:02
Thiriyambagam Mantra - Aboorvass - 44:03
Budda 2 - Budda - 27:59
Budda 1 - Budda - 26:58
The Decline - NoFX - 18:20
Only Skin - Joanna Newsom - 16:53
Highlands - Bob Dylan - 16:32
Slate's Spoiler Specials: Borat - Slate's Spoiler Specials - 14:16
Denchu Ninjo… Read full post »

On-line friendships are a funny, strange thing.  Despite the fact that Josie Ortez and I had never met face-to-face, and quite likely never would have met, I still considered her a friend. I remember the day last October when I ran across a sculpture in the Art Institute of… Read full post »

I continue to dig and to dig into the SXSW 2009 gold mine. Still, I overlooked this great song after two complete passes over of the 1,000 or so danged mp3s. I finally gave it a chance, and it just became my new song of the year.… Read full post »