I've had a long week and I'm fairly tired. I don't really have the intellectual fortitude to write a singular, cohesive post, so I thought I'd just throw out random observations that are rolling around my brain about the campaign.

I don't see the Sarah Palin star shining for too… Read full post »

So, it seems wrong to me that we all just assume that Obama is right that if you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig. No one even second guesses the built-in assumption.

Because of the importance of this issue, I felt the need to test this theory, hoping… Read full post »

Gregorian Nominee For Best Album 2007

Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog

 Free mp3 - "Boy With a Coin" (courtesy of Sub Pop Records)

 My father-in-law, who spent his career in public radio playing jazz and classical music, once told me that the term "low-fi" means "a really… Read full post »

I thought I'd compile a list of some of my personal favorite youtube videos. Many of these have views in the millions, suggesting the odds that you've seen them are high.

But maybe not. Nevertheless, this is like a Greatest Hits compilation.

 First off - the political gotchas that I… Read full post »

Since reaching my 30's, my body has started to randomly do minor, yet unnerving, little things. It's as though it had spent all its life focused on growing up and developing into an adult that when it reached the 30's, there was really nothing new left for it to do, so… Read full post »

We had a wake-up call last night, Senator. And I think it behooves us to get up and take notice. The Republican Party is still the same party it was when George W Bush was running and re-running for election. They know what works and they do what they do very well.… Read full post »

It’s Labor Day. We’re lounging around the house enjoying the holiday, taking it easy with the exception of my wife who refuses to join in our lethargy. My 8-year-old son is playing Lego Indiana Jones on the Xbox 360 that I bought (for me) and his 5-year-old… Read full post »

All this constant babbling about glass ceilings has started to smart a bit.  For one thing, being picked for the slot as a not-even-yet-two-year governor of a state smaller than mine with a resume thinner than the sheet of ice that will be protecting the polar bears in a… Read full post »

Gregorian Award Nominee For Best Album 2007

Crowded House - Time On Earth

 Australian band Crowded House produced one of the most accomplished series of albums in the late 80's and mid-90's. Their music displayed a remarkable consistency of shimmering pop craft with sometimes play… Read full post »

I'm actually astonished that there has not been more outrage from Hillary supporters about the brazen tactlessness and transparent marginalization of Hillary Clinton's historic campaign when Sarah Palin actually invoked the 18 million votes that Hillary EARNED by her historic run for the PRESIDENCY o… Read full post »

For at least a couple of months during the beginning of the primary season, I was genuinely worried that the Democrats were positioning themselves for failure. Keep in mind, this was in late 2007 before I spent much time watching, listening to and reading about each of the candidates.

Both… Read full post »

Update: I'm fairly confident that it was NOT Craig Finn that I saw in the audience tonight at the DNC. The man I saw was clean shaven and a photo of Finn just yesterday shows him at a radio station in Minneapolis (!!!) with a beard going on.  I'm pretty sure… Read full post »

In the words of the infamous Frank Rizzo, I have a chest like a shithouse.

 Partly genetic and partly the result of my quasi-slovenly ways, my chest is so inglorious that I always hesitate and visibly wince when I take my shirt off. Even if I'm in the bathroom by myself.… Read full post »

Gregorian Award Nominee for Best Album 2007

Arcade Fire* - Neon Bible

_{In the crowd - Arcade Fire audience at the Coachella Music Festival 2005}

It’s difficult to overstate the emotional and spiritual experience of being in the middle of an Arcade Fire concert. The seven-p… Read full post »

Gregorian Award Nominee For Best Album of 2007

Andrew Bird* - Armchair Apocrypha

Andrew Bird's first commercial endeavor was as an "honorary member" of the swing schtick act Squirrel Nut Zippers, back when the genre grabbed a strangely focused, yet mercifully brief, fascination in the late… Read full post »

Every year, the Gregorian Committee gathers, consults and then writes a roundup of what they decided were the best albums of the previous year. USUALLY, this comes out in January or February of the following year. Sadly, for some unknown reason (*coughprofoundlazinesscough*), the committee dragged it… Read full post »