Lit City Blues

I haven't done a complete dive into Led Zeppelin's 1-4, but I might have to after this because I'm curious to see if my opinion changes. Prior to really giving III a good listen, I was very much a Zoso/IV fan, but now I think I might have to shift. I might have to lower the boom and say it: Led Zeppelin III is the best of the first four albums. (A full dive into Zeppelin's catalogue might change my opinion still further. I was surprised at how top-to-bottom excellent, no skips, Houses Of The Holy is as well.) Dipping back into the Albums2010 Archives , it looks like I did Led Zeppelin II (#20) and Led Zeppelin IV. (#27) in the original run-- #68-#80 were lost to the Unfortunate Wordpress Experiment, so it's possible I got more Zeppelin in the original run, but I don't know if I did Led Zeppelin III- so, without further ado: III: It feels like a tone shift from prior Zeppelin albums, and after consulting with the interwebs, that turns out to be true because tha...

Look, I'm just going to say it, because someone who lives in this county should: just lower the flags . I don't know what it is about Progressives, but something just unhinges their brains in moments like these and they choose to pick fights over the stupidest fucking shit. This, this is the hill you're going to die on? You're going to defy an unpopular Governor who is not running for re-election? I'm stunned at the bravery on display. I marvel at the profiles in political courage it must have taken to decide to chase some Progressive internet clout in a moment that demands, if nothing else, basic human decency . Do I have a very high opinion of our county board of supervisors? Not really. But I am disappointed in Jon Green. Progressive though he was, he struck me as a dude who had his head screwed on straighter than most of the rest of the local Progressives, and it turns out, I was wrong. He's exactly as myopic and clout-chasing and small-minded as all the ...

Ok, I'm three years in, and I'm going to start expanding some of these and defining them a bit more clearly. You'll notice some blank spaces because I'm still thinking about what to do for a lot of them and will add them over the course of the year to hopefully be fully updated by next year. (Also, I'm not sure I did this last year at all? So if I skipped a year, I'm sorry.) My 42nd revolution around the sun began with a trip to Colorado to see Brandi Carlile in concert with the Missus. We went to see the sunrise over Rocky Mountain National Park. We did some hiking. It was a great way to spend a birthday. 50 Before 50 Self Improvement 1. Run a 5K: I honestly don't think I'll do it more than once, because I'm not a runner by any stretch of the imagination, but I'd like to do it once, unless there's a walking challenge or something I can do? 2. Ride the whole week of RAGBRAI:  Again, I did a day, so why not the whole week? (Plus, I know it mig...

This was going to be a completely different post, but as usual, the never-ending slurry of chum that is the political feeding frenzy in this country changed all that. Originally, I was thinking I would chip away at this notion that the internet seems to be convincing itself that the Democratic Party's approval rating is somehow indicative of their impending doom. Arguably, the generic ballot at this point in the cycle paints a different picture, and a lot of the disapproval of the Democratic Party is coming from their own voters, angry at the party's general impotence and the fecklessness of the DNC in general. So, it's a talking point I don't particularly rate all that much. At this point on Twitter, it's essentially clickbait/ragebait more than anything else. (Ditto with any tweet that ends with THIS IS HUGE-- I assure you, it's not particularly HUGE. So, calm down... and stop inventing Tweet genres. It's annoying.) That got me thinking, though: are we in ...

I think the first time I ever listened to Talking Heads was on CD in my parents' old stereo system. I know technology is a wonderful thing and blah blah blah, but I was thinking about that stereo system the other day. The speakers were strategically placed around the room. The record player, the CD player, the cassette player, all in one cabinet with storage below for vinyl records. The way the sound bars jumped and shifted with the music in that late 80s-'90s kind of way. (Side note: am I the only one old enough to remember seeing neon markers for the first time? That was like an event when someone had magenta, electric blue, hot pink, and neon yellow markers in elementary school.) But the album that introduced me to Talking Heads was Stop Making Sense . It took me years before I actually got around to watching the movie (often cited as one of the best concert movies ever made, something I would co-sign.) I had a greatest hits compilation on CD ( Sand In The Vaseline: Popular ...

If you ever watched The X-Files when it was on back in the day, you will be very familiar with the poster that hangs in Agent Mulder's office of a UFO hovering over the landscape with the bold caption: I WANT TO BELIEVE.  In our current time of nonsense, I find myself drifting more and more to the position of I DON'T WANT TO BELIEVE, because every time the internet gets all riled up over some sign that our populist fever is breaking or some indication that there's a scandal that might finally have the current President dead to rights, it never seems to go anywhere. But very quietly, I'm starting to wonder about the following: 1. The Nativist Delusion: Real Or Cope? Illegal immigrants have become the Right's answer for every social ill, in much the same way that structural racism was blamed for every social ill by the Left at the height of Woke. We can slice and dice Medicaid and Medicare because it's costing so much because of all the illegals on it. Can't f...