Leaving on a Jet Plane

Let's see....

Plane Tickets--check!
Passports*--check!
Cat Sitter/House Watcher--check!
Pesos--check!
Plane Reading--check!
Hotel Reservations--check!
Suitcases Packed--check!
Camera Charged--check!

Time to go to Mexico!

I'm not sure how often I'm going to be able to blog until we get back, but I'm going to try, so check back here from time to time.

Other Stuff:

I mailed my Burn THIS Pal! discs yesterday. (Yes! I met a deadline for once!)

Thanks, Roger for all the answers.

*You still don't need a passport to go to Mexico at this moment, but having one makes things a little easier. After the first of the year, you will need one.

No TIme! NoTime! Oh My!

Got too much going on this week getting ready to fly out on vacation on Thursday, so blog-time is a tad limited right now.

How about an Emmylou Harris video to pass the time?



Maybe more later!

I Have Failed You Grasshopper

A little while ago, Lefty named me as his “Musical Guru #5,” which is really kind of cool. I know Lefty listens to and likes a LOT of music, so it’s pretty neat that he thinks that much of my own musical tastes. However, I didn’t realize that being a guru carried so much responsibility!

In July, he turned to me and several other of his gurus for some musical recommendations for his birthday shopping, and I was just too busy to get back to him in a timely manner. I’m a failure as a guru, I guess. Worse yet, he called me out on it. And it's still taken me this long to get back to him! Looks like I’ll never get promoted out of the number 5 slot, and I could actually be dropped down the list!! Worse, I totally missed out on his birthday music excursion!

Still, I couldn’t pass up the chance to throw out a few ideas for the next time he’s in a mood to pick up some music. So here, for Lefty and anyone else who might be interested, or my picks from some of the current musical releases. I decided to stick with 2006 releases because I thought they would be easier for Chris to track them down.

I know he’s got this year’s releases from Kris Kristofferson, plus the Mark Knopfler/Emmylou Harris collaboration, the Springsteen Seeger album, and the Gram Parsons boxed set, so he’s already got the best of the year, in my opinion.

Still, there’s quite a bit to recommend:

Rhett Miller: He’s the lead singer of the Old 97’s (a band I know Lefty likes), but does side projects from time to time, including this solo album that just came out this year. Like his band, Miller blends rock, alt-country, folk, and power pop in his songs. I really like him a lot.

Teddy Thompson: He’s Richard and Linda Thompson’s son, which means he’s got good musical genes, and it shows. He also had a new CD come out this year.

Linda Ronstadt: This one hasn't been out for too long. She’s teaming up with Anne Savoy to do a Cajun/zydeco album. I’ve loved Ronstadt for ages and ages, and am so glad to see her stretching back to more roots oriented music.

Some Day Things Will Be Much Worse--Meat Purveyors: Anyone who likes punk as much as Lefty does should have some Meat Purveyors in his collection. They’s made a career out of playing traditional, string band-style music with punk rock intensity. Their stuff is really compelling. I love the lead singer’s voice! For the first time in their career, they used electric instruments on the new album. Sadly, they're also breaking up. Sigh!

Lost John Dean--Kieran Kane/Kevin Welch: Love, love, love Kieran Kane, whether on his own or with Kevin Welch. Dark, moody music about desperate characters! Gotta love it. The new album features “Postcards from Mexico” a call and response song about a man who took the rap for a robbery his girlfriend committed. It’s awesome.

Unsung--Slaid Cleaves: One of my favorite singer-songwriters. He also spends a lot of time on the lonely side of town with the down and out. His new album is covers of songs by songwriters from the Austin area, which is where he lives. He wanted to try and give some attention to other local talents, which is way cool.

T-Bone Burnett: Lord, the man only releases albums every decade or so! What other reason do you need to pick this one up?

Well, that should be enough to keep anyone busy for a while. Oh yeah, happy VERY belated birthday, Chris! Can I hold on to that number 5 slot?

This and That

Just randomness on a soon-to-be rainy Friday morning:

Roger's taking questions at his blog again. Go stump him, won't you? And tell him Eddie sent you! (Don't try to stump him with Algebra, though. He's good at that.)

Dorian posts some queer comix stuff I've been forgetting to do. I envy those lucky dogs in San Francisco.

Beaucoup Kevin has the best commentary on the Groth-Ellison suit.

And, finally, from Tosy and Cosh: An excellent review of Bob Dylan's new album. Lefty, do you have it yet?

More Musical Miscellany!

Carrie Newcomer has some great new demos up at her site. I particularly like the one about email!

Delia Bell is a bluegrass artist, one I'd be willing to bet that you are not familiar with. She's got a really big fan, though, in the form of Emmylou Harris, who produced an album for Bell in 1983. It's been out of print and unavailable for decades, but it is soon to be re-released on CD! That's your musical good news for today.

My Morning Jacket fall tour dates.

Remodelling

I’m trying out a new template. I got tired of the old one. The type was too hard to read and the dark background was problematic. It would look fine on my computer, but another computer I used to check the blog would show the background as totally white, making the type impossible to read. No one else has complained about that, but I was afraid that it might be happening to other folks. So far, it doesn’t seem to happen with this one.

However, now I’m seeing lots of html gobbledygook in places. Is anyone else seeing it? It only happens for me on one computer out of the three or four I use to check the blog.

Can anyone tell me how to hide it?

I also thought this template would look nice with the logo I’ve been working on for the blog, if I can figure out how to get Blogger to accept it. I wish I know more about what I’m doing here. Sigh!

Two Comic Thoughts

1. Forget Marvel, their back and forth policies, and their gay characters created solely to be cannon fodder! This is the kind of gay comic book I want to be reading: intelligent, subversive pornography! (Not at all work safe!)

I wonder how many fans of Rader’s Catwoman are coming along for this ride.

2. Harlan Ellison is suing Gary Groth and Fantagraphics. That feud has been going on for so long that this is almost like one big yawn, except for two things that hit me when I first read the news.

First, the timing of the suit seems funny to me, given the long history of the feud and Ellison's willingness to sue seemingly at the drop of a hat. A commenter at Comics Worth Reading came to the same conclusion I did: Thanks to Peanuts, Fantagraphics finally has some money to sue for!

Second, the way the Groth-Thompson relationship ("shared house" "secret vacation") is described in the complaint (3 mb PDF file), it sounds more like they are lovers than business associates. A commenter at Journalista! picked up on that too. The cynic in me is wondering if it this is a deliberate wording choice.

In another place in the complaint, there's a reference to Groth having a "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" routine. It looks to me like they are trying to paint Groth as being somehow "less masculine" than Ellison, between that statement and the subtle gay implications (using the old stereotype here that gay = feminine).

It's like they're trying to hook into the line of thinking that says a man who isn't sufficiently "manly" really shouldn't be trusted, because, after all, who knows that someone "like that" will do.

I'm not saying it's deliberate, because I have no way of knowing, but when I read the complaint, I see a veiled attempt to play to stereotype and homophobia. It's distasteful and if the suit really does have merit (which I am in no position to judge), totally unnecessary.

Musical Miscellany!

Best music-related promo of the summer:

It’s for Todd Snider’s (Warning: Pop-ups and Flash at the link) new album, The Devil You Know, but interestingly the phrases are all from a song ("Conservative Christian Straight White American Males") on his previous release, East Nashville Skyline. Not sure why they're reusing them, but it makes a cool giveaway.

The whole thing is a sticker set! Each phrase is a separate decal, which you can peel off and use to decorate notebooks, bulletin boards, walls, refrigerators, or a nearby Keith.*

*You’ll have to get your own Keith, however. This one’s mine.

-----------------------
If you’re not already an InRadio supporter, then this month’s issue might just be what you need to join the flock. I love getting these bi-monthly collections of music from independent artists and labels, but this month they surpassed themselves. From start to finish, there’s not a bad track on this disc, which is amazing, considering it covers a lot of musical territory: pop, indie rock, neo-folk, Americana. It’s really great!

---------------------------

I’ve been cataloguing all of our CD’s into a spreadsheet, because it’s getting harder to keep up with them. I’m finding myself in a used music store staring at a disc and trying to remember if we’ve got it or not just a little too often. I’m only about ¾ of the way through and I’ve already got a thousand discs listed. Is that excessive?

------------------------------

Query: Been listening to What’s New, Linda Ronstadt’s first collaboration with Nelson Riddle from 1983. Eventually, they ended up doing several albums of standards together. Was she the first singer from a “more contemporary” genre not known for singing standards to record an album of standards? I know she’s gotten a lot of concert mileage of those albums. I think some folks probably know her more as a singer of standards than as a rock or country performer.

Nowadays, it’s become almost a cliché for artists to do these type of albums. Elton John actually mocked the trend in a Rolling Stone interview that I can't seem to find a link to. (Of course, given some of the mediocre pop he churned out in the 80’s and 90’s, he doesn’t have a lot of room to talk.) Did Linda start the whole movement? If so, then why did it take a couple of decades for anyone else to catch on?

Finally! I Reveal What's REALLY Distracting Patricia

Is it too late to do this? I hope not. I'm operating on Eddie-time as per usual. However, the extra time has allowed me to ascertain beyond the shadow of a doubt what is truly distracting Patricia:

Either she wants a cute, cuddly kitten of her own...

(Oh come on! You saw that one coming!)

Or, she's haunted by the image of the most disturbing comic cover ever!


Now you know.

Screwing Up the Mix (Part 2)

Well, Kelly's decided that only she, Roger, and Lefty actually particpated in her exchange, which I guess is probably true. But, I promise, my discs are finally on the way!!!!! To kind of make up for being so late, I decided to include a couple of bonuses, so maybe folks wouldn't think quite so poorly of me.

First off, I threw in copies of When Bloggers Collide, the mix I made for Gordon when we got together in July. It's all Americana, all the time, but that's largely because I didn't decide to make the disc until the day before we went to Saint Louis. When in a hurry, I tend to work with what I know best. Plus, I already had those songs ripped.

I apparently did not save the artwork for the cover, so I did a new one, which means that Gordon has an exclusive, limited edition, which is the way it should be, I think. Anyway, here's what's on that disc:

Tennesse Bird Walk (Jack Blanchard and Misty Morgan): Just a silly little country ditty from the 70's that I happen to love. When I was a kid, I actually drew a comic strip to go along with the verses.

Leather Britches (Adrienne Young and Little Sadie): I'm always partial to contemporary bands who work in traditional stylings.

Day Like Any Other (Amy Levere): I also like artists that manage to combine musical genres in forms that actually utilize the best parts of each one. Amy Levere does this so well, I don't know whether to call her stuff twangy jazz or jazzy twang.

Valentine (Old 97s): Interestingly enough, Lefty was listening to Fight Songs, the album this comes from, a few weeks ago. One of these days I want to put together a collection of the saddest pretty songs (or should that be prettiest sad songs?) I can find. This one will be on the list. I like that these roots rockers can do a song that sounds so folky.

This is Us (Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler): I just love this song!

I'll Oilwells Love You (Dolly Parton): Somewhat of a throwaway from her very first album, but I like its "tongue in cheek-ness." This was recorded several years before she wrote I'll Always Love You.

Sweet Old World (Lucinda Williams): Taking a slightly morbid turn, now.

Can't Make It Here (James McMurtry): And then a shift to something more political. This country is reaping the bitter harvest of the Reagan revolution and it ain't pretty. This song sums it up perfectly.

Mists of Down Below (The Duhks): Just another band I love in that neo-traditional mode. They have a new one coming out this month.

Don't Be Sorry (Meat Purveyors): "Don't be sorry. Just be gone." They're not ones to mince words. I love the Purveyors and their spin on the string band. This is from their new one.

Vincent Black Lightning 1952 (Del McCoury Band): Again. (Honestly, I'm really not trying to brag about this or flaunt it, but it's one of the coolest things that's ever happened to me. I can't help being a little verbose about it.)

The Rowing Song (Patti Griffin): This is my favorite from her release a couple years ago. I love the trumpet part and the repetition.

My Sweet Love Ain't Around (Rhonda Vincent): Love, love, love Rhonda Vincent. I think she captures that classic "high, lonesome" bluegrass sound perfectly, mixing it with just a twinge of old country honky-tonk.

Acres of Corn (Iris Dement): Again with Iris and a sad immigrant's tale from a Tom Russell album.

Dirty Little Town (Kieran Kane): Emmylou appearance. I like Kane's dark take on country music.

My Own Mind (Lyle Lovett): Who doesn't love Lyle Lovett?

Great Hank Williams (Robert Earl Keen): A stranger turn from REK, who usually isn't quite this off the wall. I couldn't resist the image of Hank Williams in drag!

Jesus is Coming (John Eddie): As the Teletubbies say "Again! Again!

When I started this project, I wasn't intending to send Gordon's disc to the Summer mix folks, so I re-used a couple of songs. I figured it wouldn't hurt, since the discs were going to different folks. So I hope that Chris, Kelly and Roger don't mind the repeats when they finally get their discs. (Plus the artist overlap that resulted.)

I also decided that I needed to include something special for each recipient, so each participant also has a disc that none of the others got.

For Kelly, I put together a compilation of songs by Kate Campbell and Carrie Newcomer, two of my favorite singer-songwriters. I've always found comfort in their music, along with a non-threatening spirituality and a respect for others and the roads they've traveled. I'm hoping it might take her mind off her pain for a little while, or at least make it a little easier to bear. It's not much, but since I'm kind of short on medical miracles, it's the best I can do.

Lefty got an EP of songs from Hammell on Trial, which I think he will appreciate. When I played Hammell's new disc, Songs for Parents Who Enjoy Drugs, I kept thinking "Chris has got to hear this. He'd love it!" I didn't want to copy the whole disc for him, so I made him a teaser EP, that I hope will prompt him to seek it out and buy it. And, Chris, I do mean that tag that says you'll probably get fired if you play this at work!

Finally, for Roger, I'm returning his copy of the Songs Eddie Mitchell Should Own mix and asking nicely that he actually send me his summer mix disc.

Finally, if anyone would like a copy of Backpack Full of Tunes or When Bloggers Collide, drop me a line at eddieboyky (at) gmail (dot) com. I'll try to get one out to you before we leave on vaction next week. Right now, I'm working on actually surprising everyone in Gordon's Law and Order exchange by having my stuff out on time!

Welcome to Music Week!

I'm thinking that I'm going to do a music-related post each day this week. There may be some other stuff too, but mainly it will be lots of music. I'm just in that kind of mood.

Screwing Up the Mix (Part 1)

I guess Kelly’s never going to speak to me again, since I’m just now getting around to getting the discs for her summer music exchange in the mail. Sigh! What can I say, except, I am what I am? (Sadly, everything’s been ready for several weeks, waiting for me to remember to mail them. Double sigh!)

I really enjoyed Kelly’s Disc (School’s Out for the Summer) quite a bit. Good variety and lots of great songs. I take some issue with including Trace Adkins and Kenny Chesney (no offense, Kelly, but, blech!), but the Go-Go’s, the B-52’s and The Band more than make up for it. Plus, a Death Cab for Cutie song I actually like! And, I have to find some more Husky Rescue!

I’m grooving to Lefty’s KLFT mix right now. I’m enjoying the whole conceit of the radio station quite a bit, and his choices are full of surprises!

I can’t comment on Roger’s disc, because for some unknown reason he sent me his copy of the Eddie Mitchell disc that Lefty made. Sorry, Roger. It’s a good disc, but I’ve already got one!

My idea was to put together a set of music devoted to Summer music festivals. A Backpack Full of Tunes is full of artists that Keith and I have seen live and is designed to be pre-festival listening to get one in the mood for joining the crowd and grooving to the music. Fortunately, since I missed the summer festival circuit, there are music festivals happening all year round!

Here’s the content list for my disc, which is heading (finally) to the others even as I type.

Home-Grown Tomatoes (Guy Clark): Summer also means gardening time, so this ode to growing it yourself is a good opener. It’s just lots of fun! We’ve seen Guy live several times now, and are really looking forward to January, when he’ll be here as part of a songwriter’s showcase with John Hiatt and Lyle Lovett.

All My Life (Todd Snider): We listen to lots of Snider on the way to various shows. This song is one of our favorites. Keith laughs that it’s about us, since on road trips I tend to read magazines until I fall asleep, while he drives. We’ve probably seen Todd Snider perform live more times than any other artist, at this point.

Return of the Grievous Angel (Gram Parsons): Emmylou Harris appearance number 1, as Gram’s “girl singer.” This is my favorite GP song, even though it’s really difficult to establish exactly what time period he intended to be the setting for the song. This is one of those songs I find myself singing to myself at odd times during the day. We’ve obviously not seen Parsons perform, but I have seen Emmylou do this song in concert.

Tear My Stillhouse Down (Gillian Welch): I love the new breed of artists who are taking traditional music and performing it with a modern sensibility. Gillian Welch is about the best of the bunch. We’ve seen her perform a couple of times.

Burgoo (Sarah Elizabeth Whitehead): Local artist singing about a local dish. I love the imagery in this song! She performs regularly in Louisville with her husband who is an author and poet.

Birdhouse in Your Soul (They Might Be Giants): If I were president, I’d pass a law that every mix CD be required to include a TMBG song. This is one of my favorites. It helps break up the “all Americana all the time” groove I kind of settled in by default when I chose my theme. We saw TMBG last year when they opened the Lebowskifest.

Thank Misery (Jill Sobule): Nothing like a real downer in the mix. Especially one with such a cheery, mixed message: “If I had been normal and well-adjusted I never would have met you.” Nice. We’ve not seen Jill live yet, but she is very close to the top of my list of artists I have to see.

Vincent Black Lightning 1952 (Del McCoury Band): This is the one I requested that they perform at my house. I love the storyline of this song, which was written by the legendary Richard Thompson. When it gets to the line at the end about the angels in leather and chrome, the hairs on my arm stand up every time I hear it. We’ve seen them perform maybe a half-dozen times, interestingly; nearly all of them have been free shows. This one, of course, was the best one.

Mama Used to Dance (Reel World String Band): Kentucky group that we’ve seen quite a few times. Their music sometimes goes places that bluegrass and traditional don’t always go: women’s issues and stories, environmentalism, peace and justice.

Lydia (Slaid Cleaves): Just saw him perform a few weeks ago. He’s the nicest guy, and really easy-going. Not at all the kind of person you would expect to meet after listening to his hard-luck, dark, despairing songs.

Birds (David Olney): David Olney is one of the most unjustly overlooked songwriters currently performing. We saw him last year in a small club here in town, with about a dozen other people. I felt bad for him, but he gave us a fabulous show just the same. He says the bird names in this song are all made up.

Become You (Indigo Girls): Love, love, love the Indigos. We were going to their shows even before concert-going became a regular past time for us. This is the title cut to one of their recent albums. There are some feelings you really have to be from the south to fully understand. This songs cuts to the heart of them. I think we've seen them every time they've been to Louisville.

Making Pies (Patti Griffin): This is my favorite Patti G. song, the story of an older woman going to work at the restaurant where she’s baked pies for many years. I love the lines that tell about her going to church because it gets her out of the house and because Father Mike “ain’t hard to like.” Then there’s her description of Jesus with “his big blue eyes and his honey-brown hair.” Perfect! She needs to come back to this part of the world!

Mama’s Opry (Iris Dement): Iris is an acquired taste for some, but I love her twangy delivery and her song writing, which can be both tender and touching and offbeat at the same time. I love the lines in this song that are made up of the titles to old gospel numbers. Oh, and that’s Emmylou appearance number 2, doing harmony vocals and giving Iris an early career boost. Iris is one of my favorite artists to see live, because she really holds folks. No one chatters during an Iris Dement performance.

Before the Revolution (Tim Easton): This is an unreleased demo from a New West sampler. Mised the chance to see him last week. Bummer.

Red, Red Rose (Emmylou Harris): Finally, the lady appears on her own. I do try to use something Emmylou-oriented on every mix I do. Lately, I’ve been trying to make some of those choices a little less obvious. This comes from Brand New Dance, one of her last releases for Warner Brothers. It’s not a big fave among a lot of Emmylunatics, but it’s one of my favorite albums. I’m contrary like that.

Angel from Montgomery (Bonnie Raitt/John Prine): This is my all time favorite song. I prefer Prine doing it solo, but I always thought Bonnie Raitt did a fine job with it.

Jesus is Coming (John Eddie): Love, love, love John Eddie, and not just for his last name. Love the bit about Jesus and Santa having cocktails at the Atlanta airport. Of course, the kicker comes at the end with the reminder that Jesus doesn’t have to come, as he’s supposedly been here the whole time. I know Chris and Roger write freely about their faith, so I’m hoping they have a bit of a sense of humor about it too. John Eddie had some label troubles a couple years ago, so he hasn't been around these parts much lately.

That covers everything on my disc for the swap. Tomorrow, I'll talk about the mea culpa gifts I threw in for everyone.

From Yesterday's Yard Saling

The street that one of Keith's friends lives on had their annual yard sale yesterday, so we were there.

At one house, I found an alumni directory from my alma mater! It's eleven years old, but it's more current than the one I have and it was only a quarter.



At another one, a lady gave me this:

Um, thanks. I think....

No comics this week! :-(

Just a Linkin'

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, some corner of comics fandom burps up something else. (For those of you tired of the whole deal, it’s a Meely link.) Thanks to Comics Worth Reading for the link.

For the record, you can count me among the many who have declared their linking policy to be: Yes! Please! Link to me!

Greg Burgas’ Top Ten Favorite Albums

Gon is coming back! Yay! (That really belongs in yesterday’s “Happiness Is” post, but I forgot it. I just have a small nagging doubt in the back of my mind that the typical manga fan the CMX line is aimed at will also go for Gon. (Selfishly, what I want is a nice over-sized hardcover collecting Gon in an archive-like edition, but that’ll never happen.)

Never underestimate the audience for arsty porn!

Drawn and Quarterly has a link to a commercial for SPX.

Other comics readers look forward to Marvel starting to publish Civil War again, or whatever it is they’re supposed to be doing. I just can’t keep up with them any more. Me? I look forward to this.

Happiness Is...

Getting in and out of the very dreaded meeting with no major problems!

Taking the shirt that you bought last year on clearance, but put aside for “when it fits” and, after putting it on, finding out that now is that time. (I did that with a shirt and a pair of pants last year. I wore the pants on Monday.)

Being linked by Progressive Ruin! (Was it wrong of me to have really loved Wolverine week as much as I did?)

A cute, cuddly kitty! (Are you tired of seeing him yet? We need to get some more pics.)

Seeing “FRESH!” beside your blog name on Gordon’s blogroll! (Even if he didn’t include me in his list of readers.)

Vacation in two weeks! (All together now: “Vacation’s all I ever wanted! Vacation, had to get away! Vacation, meant to be spent alone! WHATEVER!”*)

Realizing people are still interested in reading this blog!

Payday Friday!

Running into the manger who does the orders at your comics shop who tells you how much they appreciate you as a customer and that it’s okay if you don’t pick stuff up until after vacation.

A link from Roger! (Even if he wasn’t feeling well at the time.)

Bully Says! (Here’s why: the most disturbing comic cover ever, Lois Lane fashions, and seven line, seven word reviews! It may, indeed, be hard to count to seven on hooves, but this is one clever little stuffed bull. He's cute too!)

The return of Journalista!

A link from Lefty’s brand new LinkMaster 3000!

The annual Ear X-Tacy Sidewalk Sale!

*If you got my last Mixed Bag CD, you understand the reference.

Video Extravaganza

No time this morning. We've got to take Chiquito to the vet for a very important appointment. He'll be a very different kitty when we come back. That means we can't feed him, which he of course doesn't understand. That also means we can't feed the others until he's gone (there's no way to keep him out of their food), and they definitely don't understand that.

"They're going to remove my what?
I don't recall being consulted about this!"

Then I have to rush to work for a meeting I don't want to attend so badly that I'd almost rather switch places with the cat. (Okay...maybe not that badly...but I really, really, really don't want to go.)

So how about some music videos?

Old Crow Medicine Show’s new video is here. (Choose "Down Home Girl" from the list.) We saw them in concert right after their new CD dropped and they really kicked ass. I think they’re on the verge of becoming an act that we listen to, but don’t see live. There are way too many frat boys in their audience who just want to hear them sing songs about drinking and cocaine. After a while. That kind of crowd just becomes too damned annoying. They're still an awesome band, though. (And a couple of them are pretty cute, too.) You can check out their other vids while you're there.

Scott Miller and the Commonwealth also have a new disc out. They shared the Waterfront Wednesday stage with OCMS. (For the record, they kicked ass too.) Here’s a video diary of some of their recent exploits.

Moving from one Sugar Hill artist to another, here’s Sam Bush’s newest video, featuring a fabulous guest appearance from the Goddess of Music herself. If you look quick, you’ll catch Buddy Miller playing guitar. (His wife Julie wrote the song.)

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to post this, but the video of the Del McCoury visit to my house is up at Amazon. I’m the one babbling like an idiot. You kind of have to ignore the host, who keeps trying to make Louisville play a bigger role in the history of bluegrass than it actually did. Still, it makes me smile every time I watch it. That was such an awesome day! You can see Keith in the background of some shots taking pictures.

We managed to get it up on YouTube as well. It’s missing the opening narration, however. I think that actually makes it a little better, except that you don’t get to see the scenes of Louisville.

A few weeks ago, Amazon sent me a few of the pics they took that day.

And, just to wrap up with something completely different, here’s an old Teen Idols video.

Sprucing Up the Place!

Just did a little repair work to the ole blogroll. Finally fixed the link for The Beat, so that it points to the new site, for one. After all, it's only been, what, several months since they moved? It was time.

Also added a link to the much heralded, much welcome, recently resurrected Journalista! (And there was much rejoicing!)

Added the Drawn and Quarterly blog.

Retitled the links section after my favorite Dr. Seuss book.

Added some new links sections, with links to follow some day:

Do Good!: Links to causes I endorse. Currently, the three sites that are there are "free click" sites that get support from the sponsors for every daily click they get. They're on the up and up. I use one of them as my home page, and click on through the others to start my a.m. surfing. Give it a try!

Louisville/Kentucky Music Resources: This will be links to local and regioanl bands, clubs, festivals, etc.

More Good Music!: Links to favorite artists.

Coming to Louisville?: Links to information about my fair city.

Places I Like to Go!: Some of my favorite travel destinations and thing to do and see in other cities.

Speaking of Yard Sales

Speaking of yard sales, I had one of those experiences that comics geeks dream of. One of the small cities in the eastern ‘burbs was having its annual citywide yard sale. We love to do those kind of sales, because they’re in the nicer (richer) part of town and you can generally get some pretty good stuff really cheap.

At one house, there were a couple dozen tables set up in the driveway. It looked like the remnants of a flea market booth or antique store. I was wondering if the two women running the sale were getting rid of the stuff after the proprietor died. Several things had two or three different price tags on them. I guess it could have also been the drabs of an estate sale.

Anyway, on one of the tables, there were about a dozen short boxes of comics, each with a sticker that said “$25 for whole box.” Nearly all of them were full of 90’s Marvel and Image stuff—including about 2 dozen copies of Venom #1. In other words, it was mostly crap. Except for one box.

Admittedly, none of it is any kind of great, unheralded find, but from my perspective, it was a treasure trove: obscure teen humor titles from the 50’s, Charlton romance books from the 50’s, SA Superboy, DC romance books, just a hodge podge of oddball stuff—which just happens to be the stuff I’m interested in reading and collecting these days.

I had to borrow the money from Keith to get it, but I walked off with that box, for $20 yet! (My motto for yard sales is “Don’t be afraid to negotiate.”)

It may not seem like discovering a trove of Golden Age stuff in someone’s attic, but I kind of felt that way. There were nearly 70 comics in that box!

Interestingly enough, the week before, we had our yard sale, and I got rid of the last of the comics and graphic novels I’ve been clearing out for over a year now. After several trips to the comic shop, Half-Price Books, and two previous yard sales, I was down to a half dozen or so gn’s and three short boxes, none of which were packed full. (They probably all could have been condensed into two boxes.) I sold a few things, but most folks were ignoring them. Then, a fireman (seriously) came along and offered 20 bucks for all of it, and I let him have it.

I probably could have haggled a bit or turned him down. Even though it was kind of the dregs of what I had to sell, he was getting a deal. If I had been able to sell everything at the prices I was asking, I would have made a lot more than that. I just wanted the stuff gone, though, so I took his twenty.

I’m kind of thinking my super 20 buck find was some kind of karmic payback for being easy to get along with that day.

As Everyone Is on the Verge of Dropping Me from Their Blogrolls

Okay, where to begin? Mmmm…

Well, I guess I can start with this little guy. His name is Chiquito, and we rescued him from the street in front of our house a couple of weeks ago. We’re back to being a three cat household and the social order is still adjusting.

He’s just a sweetie pie! And he has the biggest ears I’ve ever seen on a kitten.


This Friday, he’s got an appointment to get his little boy parts taken care of. I’m hoping that will settle him down a little. He's quite the little bundle of energy!

Then there’s the garden. From this lowly start to this:

Anyone want any Roma tomatoes? We've been hauling in batches like this all summer! We’ve also been having lots of lovely homemade salsa!

Saw this in the post office the other day, stuck to the back of the stamp machine.


While I do think the Bush=Nazi imagery is a bit simplistic and over-used, I did have to applaud the artistic initiative and the use of the priority mail label. After all, if you're going to vandalize the Post Office, let them supply you with the materials.

Little Known Fact:

Public trash cans are entitled to breaks, just like any other municipal employee.

When I was a kid, it seemed like it was awfully hard to find personalized stuff with my name on it. I’ve never quite figured out why, since Eddie really isn’t that uncommon. We always found lots of stuff for Edwards and Eds, but no Eddies, unless we had it special ordered. As a result, when I do see Eddie scrawled on something, it catches my eye.

I think this must be for a band or a street gang. Maybe a performance art troupe.

Saw this at a yard sale over the weekend:


It actually rocks like a see saw. The people selling said it was an old prop from a play at Actor’s Theatre of Louisville. Once I took out the phone to get a pic, they started working the hard sell on me.


I think it either looks like something upon which one would sacrifice children and small animals to the nether gods, or something that would come alive in the middle of the night and eat everyone in the household. I politely declined the offer to purchase it.

Lastly, a word to the wise:

The all-knowing Eddie-torial Eye is watching you!