Thunderbolt

My buddy, Jeff Marsick, and I have been recording a podcast devoted to American Horror Story: Coven . The podcast is produced by Southgate Media Group and we've done three so far. The third one has just gone live on the SMG webpage. You can download the first two eps on iTunes or from the SMG webpage. The theme music is by the band Expiate, which was the group my brother-in-law, Seann, was in before his death. It makes me feel good to be able to use the song "No Doubt" as our theme music. Check out the podcast. I can't promise any brilliant insight, but I think you may be entertained. This week I was starting to get a cold, so I was a little loopy in the head. Here's the link: http://www.southgatemediagroup.com/disturbed-an-american-horror-story-fan-podcast/ Aloha

I can't say that the list of Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame nominees this year are a bad bunch. Some people (i.e. critics) may scoff at the inclusion of KISS, but whether you like the band or not they did alter the landscape of  rock music. I'm thrilled to see the Replacements and Peter Gabriel get nominated. The 'Mats helped establish what we call indie rock and Gabriel is one of the founding fathers of alternative music. Also, he opened the eyes of young people who otherwise may not have taken interest to the plight of black South Africans living under the thumb of apartheid. Gabriel's moving anthem, "Biko," remains a cornerstone in the movement to end apartheid. Although it's not going to happen (again), Chic deserves to get in. They were more than just a disco band. Listen to their songs and you'll be amazed and how groundbreaking they were. Now, will someone explain why Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble were not nominated? If you check out thi...

Julie cooked her homemade meatballs tonight. Oh my God, they are the best meatballs you will ever taste. Don't tell her dad, whose recipe she is working from, but Julie makes them better. Budd, Karyn and their family came over for dinner and they introduced us to their their new dog. It felt like old times, those nights ten or fifteen years ago when we'd get together on a whim. These days, with high school children, everything is planned. You can't just pop in on a Sunday night anymore. Nevertheless, it was wonderful just to have a casual night together. Last night I saw Gravity , the new film starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, directed by Alfonso Cuaron. It was incredible. I've never seen Bullock better, and Cuaron is a director whose career I will follow for the rest of my life. He is one of those rare directors who can mine human emotion out of spectacle and populous material. As I drove Sophie to church this morning, I began describing the plot of Gravity. ...

The Kindle version of Basement Songs is being offered at the discount price of $2.99. If you have a Kindle and you've been hesitating to buy the book, now's your chance! Thanks!

I was out of the country for a week and fell behind on my writing. That and the typical crap that happens when you're trying to be a dad and husband. But here I am, back behind the typewriter and feeling somewhat refreshed. I did do a few reviews. Patty Griffin's Silver Bell came out this week. This is the official release of her third solo record that was supposed to come out in 2000. You can read about Silver Bell and what I thought about it here: http://popdose.com/goin-country-patty-griffins-silver-bell-finally-gets-a-proper-release/ Also, I saw one hell of a great movie. A DIY teenage comedy called Gimme the Loot . I LOVE this movie. Check out my review here: http://popdose.com/dvd-review-gimme-the-loot/ That's all I have for now. Korea? Oh yeah, I'll talk about that in a bit. Aloha.

It's been a long time since my last post. So much has been going on in our house that it's been difficult to find the time and inspiration to sit down at my keyboard. That's the funny thing about writing, it does the soul good to release the demons haunting you by writing them on paper or in a blog, but when you're so emotionally drained that the thought of typing or writing anything personal sounds like torture, you just go to bed at the end of the day or watch another 15 minutes of the Today show before heading to work in the morning. It's a vicious cycle. The less you write, the less you feel like a writer. And the less you feel like a writer the more you find ways to knock yourself down and pick apart your failures. This weekend I cleaned the office in an attempt to create a work environment. I went through the four drawer file cabinet in the room and began throwing away old stories and random ideas I wrote down 5, 10, even 15 years ago. Where has all of the ti...

Wow, what a crazy week this has been. Jacob began 6th grade and Sophie entered high school. It's the end of elementary school for Jacob and the beginning of high school for Sophie and I'm not sure it could have been any more stressful. As a parent, I worry to death that the two of them will have good teachers, that they'll do well in class, and that they'll avoid the pitfalls that befell me when I was their age. I recall my last year of elementary school as a weird year in which hormones were raging through my body. I was bigger than most of the other kids, had hair growing in strange places, had experienced a voice change that took me from soprano in the school choir to bass, and felt like a complete nerd because of big hair, big glasses and a low self esteem. In other words, 6th grade kind of sucked. I was lucky to have my best friend, Matt, to hang around with, but I don't recall ever being 100% happy during that year. I'd talk back to my teacher, have outbur...