My favorite singers list tilts toward women. Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell and Patsy Cline are in and so are Joan Baez, Gracie Slick and Judy Collins. Each has stood the test of time and have fans measured in legions. Joni Mitchell would also be near the top of my favorite song writers, too.
There are only two rockers on my [...]
I had one of those calming moments when kicking back is better than keeping on schedule. After I parked the car, I opted not to run inside the state store to buy wine. Instead, I listened to a NPR story about my Queen of Country Music, Patsy Cline. As a teenager, I’d hid my admiration for her work [...]
Today, I read an old Sports Illustrated with one of my childhood baseball idols on the cover: Stan the Man Musial.
Back in the 1950s, my idols list was topped by Richie Ashburn mostly because he was a small man who played against larger men and often came out on top.
Musial was my favorite non-Phillie. While my friends differed on [...]
Two current topics have collided in my mind and dislodged two small points loose.
First up: some Americans believe Barack Obama was born in Kenya and not Hawaii. Why would this matter? We have the US Constitution, Article II, Section 1 detailing exactly who can be our President. The movement afoot back then was to prevent Englishmen from rising [...]
* song title by Joni Mitchell
The event was an Irish wake for a man I’ve met but didn’t know. He was my co-worker/boss’ father, and he’d recently lost his battle with cancer. I felt honored to be included in the celebration of his life.
I knew a small number of people at the wake and counted on my [...]
Definition #3 of paradigm:
set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality especially in an intellectual discipline.
Inside us, we have paradigms sitting, waiting and craving the proof they are dead-on. They usually are not distracted by conflicting evidence.
One of my paradigms is difficult to deal with. I believe we have inner racists lying [...]
Music has been my companion since birth and will be with me until my final breath. My favorite choices in music remain while others lose favor only to return later. Then there are some genres that do get limited play time with me - country - while others never make it at all - opera.
How I listen to music has changed though. When [...]
Every where we go there are learning experiences. Often called failure, it is possible to actually learn prior to entering any destructive phases.
This brings me to iTunes.
My journey started when I was gifted with an iPod by my wife, Lyn. To use this then cutting edge technology, I would download songs from iTunes at the fire sale price of [...]
In his song by this name, Keni Thomas educates us about special markings on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC. A cross means the inscribed name was Missing In Action or MIA. If he or she surfaced later, a circle would be placed around the cross to signify the circle of life. There are no [...]
My Aunt Theresa passed away this week after battling Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases. Our extended families were saddened, and we paid our last respects to her and acted to comfort her immediate family.
At the funeral, I watched as people positioned themselves in the Church. I saw my 91 year old Aunt be escorted to a front [...]