This week’s been less than optimal for several reasons. Taking the day off for some medical stuff that I’m stressed enough about left me with almost eighty emails to sort through this morning, and getting up at all this morning felt awful because yesterday felt at all times exactly like Saturday.

All that busy probably comes from the fact that I’m doing some filling in for the boss and the boss’s boss this week as they’re out on limited hours or leave, which is ideal, because so much about this week has been about rushing to prepare last-minute for the training symposium scheduled less than two weeks from now that was originally supposed to be in-person at a Florida conference center, then when there wasn’t money for travel, it became virtual or perhaps canceled, until all of a sudden there was money enough available to do it in-person again, for at least some people (not me, thank $diety). I’ve had to spend the week herding cats working with some less-than-easy folks rushing to prepare three or four hours of programming for the program management track, and the schedule keeps shifting every few hours.

Nothing like having to pull off miracles at the last minute, huh?

One team that seems to have managed it though is the Harris campaign, doing damned near everything right over the last couple of weeks, raising ridiculous amounts of money, and really sticking the landing on one of the most effective attack strategies the Democrats have come up with in recent memory:

Just calling them weird.

I mean, we’ve known this forever, but actually just going ahead and doing it has seriously thrown the opposition for a loop, and the article I linked above gives an excellent reason why:

Here’s why this line of attack is so effective as counterdisinformation. It runs on vibes rather than facts, which meets disinformation purveyors on their own turf with their own weapons and doesn’t give anyone details to get bogged down in.

Then it stakes a claim to normalcy, the same one that far-Right fascists crave and can never attain.

“Weird” suggests something other than normalcy; and to a political party that puts such value on conformity, it’s one of the worst things to be called.

TFG, his extra-weird running mate, and pretty much all the surrogates are unable to offer up anything but variations of “I know you are but what I am I” is that the one thing these narcissistic and fascist types truly crave is legitimacy and respect, and simply pointing out how weird and out of the mainstream they are, and rolling our collective eyes about it totally denies them that, and it drives them nuts.

Laugh at ’em, they hate that.

This election cycle has indeed been more about attitudes and “vibes” than about policy; it’s not been so much about what a candidate’s going to do upon election, but rather how a voter “feels” about some aspect of the candidate, be it age, attitude, or alleged opinions on furniture. Policy will be there, but the big concepts that have driven things are comfort with the candidates and polling concepts like “double-haters” and the aforementioned “vibes;” and for once, the Democratic camp has managed to find a way to gain the advantage.

I, for one, am here for it.

So, yeah…tunes. Lots of fun 80s and 80s-adjacent stuff, all of which generally feels good, which fits with the optimism so many of us are still feeling, at least in one particular aspect of our lives:

1. “2000 Man” – KISS
2. “School of Rock” – School of Rock cast
3. “LABOUR – the cacophony” – Paris Paloma
4. “Dead Girl Walking” – Jensen McRae
5. “Dancing with Myself” – Generation X
6. “Growing on Me” – The Darkness
7. “Head Over Heels” – The Go-Go’s
8. “You Might Think” – The Cars
9. “Angel of the Morning” – Juice Newton
10. “Better Thing” – The Romantics
11. “Stupid Boy” – Gear Daddies
12. “Rock You Up” – The Romantics
13. “Land of Canaan” – Indigo Girls
14. “Animal” – Def Leppard

So I haven’t done one of these in a while. I’ve had a rough couple of months. Really busy time at work, some personal health challenges, some communal health challenges (hello, COVID round two!) that killed some much-anticipated plans (goodbye, ConGregate), some puppy growing pains, and a national and global political situation that’s been looking down-right apocalyptic.

Things have pretty dark, to be honest.

This week, though, watching the outpouring of excitement and enthusiasm in Democratic politics, the sheer disarray the party finds itself in, is infectious, and I’m maybe seeing some light at the end of the tunnel.

Watching my friends here on the left side of center, both in person and online, smiling, feeling relief, and, dare I say it, optimism…it’s a good feeling.

Oh yeah, I totally kicked Microsoft Project’s ass yesterday at work, so there’s that. I’m riding high, at least for the moment.

As for tunes this week, a nice mix; a little modern, a little classic, and a tune at #9 from the concert that was one of my first dates with my lovely spouse of twenty-six years and eight days (yeah, missed posting about that as well when we were sick…). I’ll take it.

1. “What I Like About You” – The Romantics
2. “Dancing on My Own” – The Regrettes
3. “Save It For Later” – Eddie Vedder
4. “Big Yellow Taxi” – Joni Mitchell
5. “She’s So High” – Tal Bachman
6. “Fox on the Run” – Sweet
7. “Our Own Worst Enemy” – Lit
8. “Stacy’s Mom” – Fountains of Wayne
9. “Romeo and Juliet” – Indigo Girls
10. “Only The Young” – Journey
11. “All Over You” – Live
12. “Friday I’m In Love – The Cure
13. “Alone in America” – Hotel Mira

So, this afternoon, after weeks of speculation and agitation from the chattering pundit class, Joe Biden has given up his bid for re-election and endorsed Vice President Harris. It’s surprising, but given the last couple of weeks’ activity in the op-ed pages and commentary spaces, it’s not a surprise. The party elite, for what it’s worth, decided that a change was in order, and it kind of feels like Joe was done a little dirty. Sure, in the end, it was his decision to make, but over the last couple of weeks since the debate (which, honestly, wasn’t good), he was kind of backed in to making it. I’m not saying it was the wrong choice, but the circumstances leading up to it could have much better optics.

Biden’s Presidency has been one of the most significant, transformational, effective, and progressive of my lifetime, and history will look back on it kindly. He and his team achieved a hell of a lot, against significant pressures and severely divided government. Tons and tons of stuff, more than I can probably list at the moment, though this graphic does a pretty good job of listing things, and it’s not exactly exhaustive (click to make it bigger):

The fact that such an effective holder of the office and lifelong public servant has been consistently (though narrowly) trailing against a self-centered, arrogant, twice-impeached, thirty-four times convicted felon is inconceivable to me. The fact that someone with TFG’s record is considered a viable candidate for election at all says a lot about this country, none of it good.

So, what comes next? Who knows, though if the party is smart, they’ll line up behind VP Harris immediately (which looks like it’s starting to happen), and kick off the abbreviated campaign in earnest by having her both thank President Biden, claim credit for the tremendous accomplishments of their time in office, and come out low-key swinging, making full use of her skills as a prosecutor, attorney general, and regular slayer of senate committee witnesses. Do this right, and it’ll be awesome. For an example of how such a campaign might look, Jonathan V. Last over at The Bulwark posted this piece earlier this week describing an excellent way forward.

My primary vote in 2020 went to Senator Warren, though honestly, Harris was my number two pick. I was, and remain a fan. And not just because of the historical nature of her candidacy, which I only semi-sarcastically refer to her very good chance of being the first…Gen X* president ;-).

So, thank you President Biden, for being way more effective than you had any right being; as I said, you’ll go down as one of the greats. And, going forward, I’m going to go all in for Kamala.

As Deadpool and Wolverine have been saying since the spring, Let’s F**king Go!

_______________________

* – Yeah, I said it. I’m not going to sweat a year of this Generation Jones quasi-boomer crap. She’s got the proper Gen X attitude.

I’ve probably got it in me to write a 10,000 word essay all about how this term’s Supreme Court rulings, in particular, Trump v. United States, a.k.a. The Immunity Thing™, though between all that, the polls, the hair-pulling and infighting related to Biden’s lackluster debate performance last week, as well as some more personal developments I’m dealing with, I simply don’t have the spoons.

But, I’ve got to say something, because we should be better than this. I don’t want to have to say that 248 years was a good run for American Democracy, but I’d be lying if I didn’t feel like that wasn’t how I was feeling about the whole business, and I’m far from the only one, be it innumerable pundits writing their essays this week or my grocery store drinking buddy Margie as we drowned our collective sorrows in a couple of pints of decent craft IPA the other afternoon.

All other difficulties in practical applications aside, this country was based on the concept of everyone being equal under the law, up to and including the chief executive. And, again a few exceptions aside, things mostly worked up until a few years ago, because we all operated under acceptance of that premise.

Sure, we had Nixon’s assertion to David Frost that “Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal,” but up until this past Monday, things at least seemed to operate as if that statement was incorrect. Now, thanks to Chief Justice Roberts and the other five right-wing justices, that statement’s basically established law as long as the “it” the President does is determined to be an “official act” by the courts.

It was a garbage decision that goes against both the spirit and letter of the Constitution and the ideals upon which this country was built. The above is the best I’ve got right now, but I’ll close this with a hearty endorsement of Rep. Jamie Raskin of MD-8’s statement on the matter:

“Today, the Supreme Court took a bulldozer to the democratic credo that no one—including presidents and former presidents—is above the law. Three years ago, after Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, Mitch McConnell explained, ‘We have a criminal justice system in this country… And former Presidents are not immune from being held accountable.’ But today, far-right justices embedded with the ‘Stop the Steal’ movement conferred broad immunity on Donald Trump, even going so far as to help him keep evidence of his criminal actions from coming to light in a court of law. Today’s ruling, postponing any prosecution of Trump until after the election and holding that Presidents are presumptively immune from criminal prosecution for using their office to assassinate political rivals, organize a military coup, or take bribes, is a radical break from the rule of law which underscores how much our democratic values have been eroded and are on the line in November. Donald Trump has made it clear that, if he wins election, he will use his presidential powers to pardon all his co-conspirators and weaponize the Justice Department by firing career employees and replacing them with an army of sycophants willing to engage in retributive harassment against his political opponents. All of this would be presumably allowable under today’s horrific decision.”

No More Kings. We’re better than this…aren’t we?

So, after that “Am I going to even keep doing the thing?” post back in May, there’ve been a bunch of things worth talking about (apart from that Dragoncon post pinned up there ↑, that is)…

As I alluded to in that post, I’m working on a new record, currently untitled, that I hope to have wrapped before ConGregate in July, so I can sell a few copies to folks I know are already fans there who have my other discs, and be ready with some fresh new stuff to sell (along with the old records I’m not all that in love with any longer) to the new folks who’ll see me down in Atlanta,perhaps for the first time as a solo artist.

Said record’s coming along; I’ve got a bunch of tracks in process, a couple of covers licensed (because they’re popular live), and should be able to get things finished, mixed, tracks ordered, and title and cover art conceptualized and created in time to get something printed before mid-July.

Wish me luck…

Otherwise, I’m pretty busy, rushing headlong into the program managers’ deadlines ahead of fiscal year end, especially since, as usual, at work I’ve picked up a bunch of orphan requirements that someone else couldn’t handle, because I’m a superhero when it comes to acquisition paperwork. I’ll feel pretty good come the end of June when I ideally have all this stuff done, but until then? Crazy.

As if I didn’t have enough going on, I’ve also signed up for the Capital Trail Summer Challenge, this year, being the trail’s 9th birthday, I’m working on knocking out the equivalent of nine times the trail’s length (465.3 miles total) before the first week of September. So far, I’m making solid progress.

I also recently took a little vacation, camping with the spouse and someone-else-to-be-named-in-a-later-paragraph at Smith Mountain Lake State Park for a couple of days last week/weekend, and hitting four other parks besides, bringing my Trail Quest total up to 25 parks as of this writing. It was nice, and I even forgot about the work stress for a few days.

…and that someone-to-be-named-later? Meet Tifa:

Yeah, about eight or nine weeks ago, my lovely spouse brought this eight month old, sixty-five-pounds-and-counting mixed breed puppy into our lives. I was, at first, skeptical, though I’ve since come around, because she’s so damned sweet and eager to please, even if she’s still in the midst of a bunch of Big Toddler Energy™ that comes with puppyhood. That said, apart from her puppy chewing tendencies we’re stuck with for the moment, tearing up a bunch of things like rugs and oven mitts and toys and mail and whatever else she can get a hold of, she’s really quite well behaved, has done wonderfully in obedience classes at the local Petco so far, and last week on the camp-out, she earned all kinds of complements from fellow campers for her excellent behavior.

I think I’ll keep her.

But yeah, the size thing is, for now, kind of a lot. While she’s far from pure-bred, our research so far has suggested that she’s got a lot of Greater Swiss Mountain Dog in her (one of these days we’ll confirm with one of those doggy DNA tests), which means we’re looking at her topping out around 100 pounds, so I expect I’ll be shopping saddles before long.

So anyway…those are the kind of things that are going on around here; it’s keeping me pretty busy, so if I don’t throw up the usual “life’s been happening, here’s a playlist” post every Friday these days, it’s because I have shit to do (some of which I’ve not talked about yet), and life is cranking on and on, and I need to keep living it.

Wanna know about the music I make? Here’s the info:

A performer for more than 35 years, Chuck Parker has filled many musical roles: heavy metal guitarist, singer/songwriter, jazz sideman, open mic host, filk circle regular, session player, and World’s Okayest Bassist™.

Chuck has been a regular on the con circuit for more than a decade, and he’s played ballrooms, biergartens and backyards all over the country, both as a solo performer and as the bassist for wizard rock icons The Blibbering Humdingers. He plays slice of life, confessional geek tunes that are often kind of funny, and his lyrics have been called “sensitive”, “literate”, and “hard to sing…”

He is also a published poet, avid cyclist, spouse, father, and a herder of cats, both figuratively and literally.

Tunes:

• Bandcamp: Songs/Albums for sale/download
• Spotify
• Apple Music
• YouTube Artist Channel
• …and very likely on your other favorite streaming service!
• The Blibbering Humdingers, the wizard rock/nerdmusik band I’ve played bass with for most of the last ten years
• Stuff I Made – live recordings, other people’s records I’ve appeared on, rare stuff, writing, etc…

Gigs

• Chuck’s Gigs Page

Thanks for checking in, and if you like, stick around to read two decades’ worth of blog posts!

The web site and the social media posts are now live…so it’s totally official to talk about the fact that…

As most folks who read this know, I’ve been doing this huge convention for most of the last decade with The Blibbering Humdingers, though being booked as a solo performer on the filk track is a different kind of big deal. While I’m known for backing up all kinds of different performers in the community, being chosen as me as a performing guest at one of the biggest sci-fi/fandom conventions in the country is a big deal.

I’ve definitely leveled up. I just hope I can run with the big dogs; folks like Tom Smith, The Brobdingnagian Bards, Mikey Mason, and The Faithful Sidekicks!

This means I definitely need to finish that new record (tentatively titled “Warmest Regards”); I’ve got a pretty good start on it, but now I have a serious deadline.

Updated 7/31 – here’s the tentative schedule!…

Insert generic “I haven’t posted in a while” macro text here

I’m growing tired of repeating myself here. Life is happening, I’m too engaged with what’s actually happening out there most of the time to throw up some thoughts about it in a post. I kind of wish I was, but I’m struggling to get excited about the whole “blogging” thing after two decades. I don’t do much anymore apart from promote the occasional gig or musical project, and introduce a music playlist by complaining about work. I mostly use this space for quickly referencing what I was doing on a random weekend nine years ago now and then.

It’s still somewhat useful for that, and a couple of domains and basic web hosting is cheap, so it’s worth it for me, though mostly as a promotional tool for my artistic endeavors; thus I keep doing it.

Apart from that, though? I’m not engaging myself much right now with this whole business, and I’m almost certainly boring anyone wandering by to read it. And thus far, I haven’t come up with an interesting angle since I was reviewing all my old CDs I listened to on my long commute a decade ago.

So? What does this all mean?

I have no idea. Just getting it out there, which is I guess what the purpose of this sort of thing has always been.

May the circle be unbroken

This space has been pretty quiet for the last little while; not much but playlists most weeks and complaining about work stuff. That’s honestly been the standard agenda with life lately, and I’m tired of repeating myself. Also, it’s just been busy; long hours, getting yanked into unpleasant temporary supervisory stuff, and I’d rather sit down with a book and a beer than look at a computer screen any longer.

There’s been some other stuff going on, and I’ll likely talk about that other stuff eventually, but not necessarily right now – still getting used to a few things and would rather have some accomplishments to talk about than basic incremental progress like in my Monday morning staff meeting…

It’d be that and complaining about pollen. Damn, my eyes itch.

Anyway, here are some tunes I’ve been listening to this morning; kind of some cool alt-grrl business with a pleasant pop flavor, and some local stuff…

1. “Girls Talk” – Tegan and Sara
2. “Cornfields and Roadkill” – Humbird
3. “DON’T GET FRESH WITH ME” – Low Cut Connie
4. “Hello Stranger (*feat. SG Goodman)” – Kelsey Waldon
5. “Sinner” – The Last Dinner Party
6. “Burial Ground” – The Decemberists, James Mercer
7. “Possibly Alaska” – Maddison Krebs
8. “Honey” – Farmer, Dave Matthews
9. “Good Old Days” – The Revivalists, The Head and the Heart
10. “Cowboy Gangster Politician” – Goldie Boutilier
11. “Funhouse” – Suburban Key Party
12. “Make Some Time” – Deau Eyes
13. “Mysterious (This Time It’s Serious)” – Talisman

So, that’s the second time I had to call for a rescue due to biking mishaps this season so far. This one was a popped tire that sounded like a gun going off, on the same stretch of the Virginia Capital Trail where hit the pine cone last August and dripped blood for four miles back to the car.

This time it was nine miles.

Thankfully I only ended up walking the bike back a mile or so thanks to a helpful rider along the way who spotted me a tube (the hole was way too big to patch), though the tire kind of split as well, so I limped it back to my pick-up spot (I truly don’t deserve my lovely spouse and her willingness to come find me), but once I got back home, I ordered new tires and tubes which should be here early next week…so I’ll be riding the mountain bike a few days, at least.

I’m beginning to suspect that this particular stretch of road has it in for me…

3/31 Edited to Add: So to exact my revenge against the trail today, I rode fifty miles, in less than four hours, on a mountain bike. I did not ride the offending section this time (I started from the east side), though I did flip it off while I passed it on the way to the trailhead.