When musical cynicism softens for Valentine’s Day Flashbulb moment: June 18 in the late 1990s. A friend of mine invited me to do some day drinking in honor of Paul McCartney’s birthday. Not having much to do, we spent the afternoon working through Sir Paul McCartney’s catalog…the Beatles, Wings, and…

The portable polyester era of music Marvin Lee Aday was an unlikely rock star. A classically-trained singer with a great stage persona. Early in his career, he stumbled across Jim Steinman, who was looking to write the next broadway hit. Instead, Steinman penned “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” and later…

Guides to help a meditation journey In April of 2019, I got up a half-hour earlier than usual and quietly sat down in my home office. I used my fingers to close right nostril and inhaled deeply through the open one. I held my breath and pumped my stomach muscles…

The Soundtrack Synopsis to a weird year Happy New Year all! 2021 is officially in the books and it will go down as a year when things got weirder. Think of it as the “hold my beer” year to 2020. And in response, we got weirder. And those who were…

It’s what you put in your brain. If I ever pursued my PhD, I would choose the thesis “Americans will put anything in their mouths.” There’s enough news stories where I’m pretty sure I could prove it to a committee of academics. …

The first grass fire I ever saw up close happened when I was young. My neighbor started it intentionally, burning something else. This was the kind of neighbor who rarely noticed Mother Nature’s moods and hints. It was a dry late spring day with a fast wind that flew across…

And that’s great! A few weeks back the company Unilever decided it would scrub the word “normal” from its products. If you’ve never heard of Unilever, get up right now and go to your bathroom. …

…and that’s a good place to start 2021

A tale of a small town and its mascot meets 2020. Disclaimer: Two things: One, this is my hometown so want to be upfront about that. Second, this is an opinion piece aimed at being respectful and thoughtful. No disrespect is meant to anyone. It is meant to be thought-provoking…