PicoBlog

I'm lucky to have had Tracy as a classmate in college, would regularly see her playing on campus. A highlight was her playing at the center of a student protest gathering as we surrounded the administration building. For the most part, the protest did not successfully "get student voices heard," but Tracy's voice stopped forward motion of time. 'Twas truly deeply holy. We were all tickled when the first album came out, played it endlessly, but secretly yearned for the days when we could hear her voice and guitar live without any mechanical intrusion.

I’m gonna explore in more detail the story of my recent adventures living (again) at my aunt’s assisted living facility — expect that within the next two newsletters — but today I’m writing about the song that has been stuck in my head since I returned home a couple days ago. “Forever Young.” It was Rod Stewart’s 1988 version that appeared to me first. Then it morphed into Alphaville’s 1984 version.

“but Steal Stoppin’ Sammy couldn’t give a fuck about any of that. ethics be damned. impartiality be damned. an election was stolen from Dear Leader, and that’s all that matters. hell, Alito shouldn’t just be recusing himself — he should resign, effective immediately. but he won’t. why not? because fuck you, that’s why.” ncG1vNJzZmirpZfAta3CpGWcp51kjauxxZ%2Brop2Up7aktI6npq2dX5h6doKVam9saWA%3D

Forty years and not much change. The Specials Ghost Town, written by Jerry Dammers, is still a work that speaks to me at 66, as it did when I was 27. The entire EP of three songs has a morbid and even sad presence in its compositions and mood. Sadness is very much the coat we put on when we leave the house. Even we go back in, the coat is off, but the sense of lack of purpose or disappointment is weighty on one's consciousness.

I suppose most every Beatles fan can remember some formative moment that fully led them down the path of becoming a fan for life. In my case, I can attribute it to a couple of things, starting with my next-door neighbor, Betty Steiner, giving me a copy of 20 Greatest Hits as a gift, but it was the purchase of Nicholas Schaffner’s invaluable tome The Beatles Forever that provided me with the deep dive I needed to become a Beatlemaniac for life.

Not to elect one Dutchman as the representative of an entire nation, but when my new friend Harald (host of the excellent Verwondering Podcast) told me that “Going Dutch” implies that the Dutch are cheap or ungenerous, I was like huh! I had never thought of the phrase that way. Truly, when someone proposes to split a bill, I take it as a sign of equity, candor, and practicality. And that strikes me as very Dutch indeed.

Sunday, Monday, Happy Days Tuesday, Wednesday, Happy Days Thursday, Friday, Happy Days Saturday What a day Rocking all week with you Lyrics by the late Norman Gimbel (who passed in 2018) It’s hard to see those words, and not start singing along to the familiar melody, as composed by Charles Fox! Here’s Fox, now 82, in a recent interview about writing the song: The sitcom, Happy Days, originally aired on ABC-TV from January 1974 through July 1984, a good 10 1/2 years—11 actual seasons for a total of 255 eps, solidly placing them in the coveted land of lucrative syndication opportunities.

The recent “surprise” death of Logan Roy in Succession and how it was pseudo-telegraphed through the series had me thinking a lot about another TV demise, one from my favorite series of all time: “Wild Bill” Hickok’s assassination in Deadwood. Roy’s death, while sudden in the microcosm of the episode, seems all but inevitable in the grand scheme of the show. After suffering from a nearly fatal stroke in the first episode, the patriarch of the Roy dynasty was essentially living on borrowed time going forward.

This exchange was interesting. In terms of ROI, I think terms like High v Low demand are useful. A PHd’s inability to sidestep their own personal biases is also useful. Here is the original tweet: People who LEAVE refer to it as high demand. Does that mean that people who stay don’t feel the same way? FourSquare & Catholocism are high-demand - even though others seldom refer to them as such.