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  • 20. This One Goes Out to the Ones I Left Behind

    My first scribblings as a forty-four year old man.  Sitting in an airport 6:50 a.m., legal pad and Uniball pen, Pete Townshend’s “I’m One” on the headphones.  Halfway to eighty-eight, that being ten years past average for an American male.  At thirty-nine I acknowledged that I was at my life’s fulcrum point.  At forty it just…

  • 19. Who Can Go the Distance?

    I am unsettled.    Sitting again in this restaurant, but there are no corner tables to be found.  A  few months ago I would have stood distraught in the center of the dining room, turning in slow circles as if the next rotation would magically reveal a previously overlooked empty table.  Eventually I would concede defeat,…

  • Deep Cuts: Eight Reasons To Reconsider KISS

    Sure, they were campy, their lyrics were juvenile, and they weren’t really that good,  but every discography has its nuggets.    Here in no particular order are eight reasons to give KISS a little respect.              

  • 18. If Never I Met You

    KISS released Unmasked shortly after my thirteenth birthday.  I begged my sister to drive me to the record store the day it was released.  Brand new KISS!  I couldn’t wait to get it on the turntable. What an absolutely unlistenable piece of dreck.  Hearing “Shandi” was my “say it ain’t so, Champ” moment.  “I Was…

  • 17. Like A World Without Sun

    The cool kid at Holden’s Chapel Middle School was Chuck Morris. He had a dirt bike, never took a turn on the twirly slide, and flirted with Lisa’s mother every afternoon when she rolled up in her ’55 Thunderbird. Harold, Chuck, and I were in the smart class together, but Chuck was too cool for…

  • 16. Your Lightnin’s All I Need

        “Life is too short to have anything but delusional notions about yourself.” – Gene Simmons My first KISS sighting was in 1976 in the Chicago Tribune.  It was a feature story about the band and their upcoming area concert.  I don’t remember much about it, but I remember the photos and the uproar they…

  • 15. A Rambling Prologue To A Long Overdue Post

    Growing up there were three of us kids, and our first allowance was tiered 50/35/25 cents, oldest to youngest.  At age seven a quarter per week was fine by me.  That was a quick trip to 7-11 on my Wards knock-off Stingray for some Lik-m-aid or candy cigarettes.  But when adolescence rolled around a quarter just…

  • 14. What Time Is It?

    The deeper I get into this little exercise the more I recognize that there aren’t distinct epochs inherent to one’s own musical soundtrack.  The development of musical taste isn’t a linear continuum where the Beatleassic is followed by the Frampticene.  It’s more of a primordial ooze where evolutionary experiments sometimes lead to abominations  and others reap mastodons.  Never…

  • 13. Never Before Have I Turned On You

    Ted Nugent is a bit of a cartoon character today.  With his hunting shows,  Fox News appearances, and general lack of ability to possess an unspoken thought, he’s either hero or embarrassment to his fans.  He’s not the only formerly dangerous soul to be softened by the pop culture machine.  Ozzy Osbourne, once considered the epitome of evil…

  • After These Messages We’ll Be Right Back

    “I don’t seem to get done with any text, but it doesn’t matter, I’m not interested in getting done with anything.  I am only interested in talking along and wandering around as much as I want to, regardless of results to the future reader.  By consequence, here we have diary and history combined; because as…