Artists have always had a particularly useful place in society; as my SCA bard friends could tell you, it’s the jesters and fools who are often given leave to tell the truth when others can’t. The Hamilton cast proved that this weekend, Saturday Night Live has been doing it for pretty much my entire lifetime […]

happy friday, folks. It’s been a week of ups and downs, not the least of which involves waking up to find that somebody hacked my ebay account and bought a few unauthorized steam/itunes gift cards. It was thankfully only 45 bucks’ worth, and I’ve already nipped it in the bud, but this isn’t the kind […]

I’ve got a safety pin on my sweatshirt; it’s small, unobtrusive, and kind of blends in with the background, but if someone’s looking for it, they can see it. If you’re not familiar with this trend, the idea goes back to post-Brexit solidarity with refugees in Britain earlier this year (and, based on some other […]

Originally, the post directly below this one was going to be the lead-in to my usual end-of-week random ten eleven post, but started to take on a life of it’s own, so that’s how I let it go out into the world. This post, other than the oblique mention in the previous paragraph, will be […]

So that was a week. Look at the news, look at the social media feeds, look out your window. For all the (absolutely appropriate, as we need to hear it as part of the process) language about “coming together” and “peaceful transfer of power”, the country certainly doesn’t feel united. After sitting on things for […]

well shit. From a poetic standpoint, I guess the fact that it was chilly and raining when I left the house this morning was appropriate. The rain was falling like the markets started to do last night as I was going to sleep, not particularly confident of the result I was looking for, but still […]

Okay. Today’s the day. Get out there and vote. Put a welcome period on this whole ugly business of this election season, even if, like me, you’ve been obsessively following it these however many months or years. Do it. It’s the absolute least you can do to participate.

Sunday night, my lovely wife and I hit The National Theater for a pretty great show from Dweezil Zappa’s amazing band playing the music of his immensely talented (and musical influence of millions, particularly a couple of musical mentors of mine going way back) father, Frank Zappa. For the last decade or so, Dweezil’s been […]

Once again, I’m taking a long weekend (use-or-lose leave, planned gig didn’t work out), so I’m tossing this out there on Thursday again, because while I may be on a computer, I don’t want to feel like I *have* to be on a computer, even though these are totally arbitrary self-imposed obligations, but whatever. Other […]

Back in June, I pretty much already did an endorsement post, which I’ve just re-read, and it is pretty much still on point, though as this is my space, I reserve the right to revise and extend remarks, so that’s what I’m going to do. I’m still very much of the opinion that Hillary Clinton […]