Where were you the first time you heard Gorillaz? I was on vacation in Florence. We were relaxing after a relentless day of sightseeing and trying to decide what to do for dinner. We had the TV on a music video station and up came this hip, trippy vid by a band I had never heard of. How cool it
Read moreI think we’d all love to live every phase of our lives in happy accord with high moral and ethical principles. We’d love it if we were never confronted by logical contradictions and cognitive dissonance, by cases where our walk was at odds with our talk. But the truth is that we live in a society that’s complex, at best,
Read moreShe was my first great love, and I have written about her more than any woman I have ever known (here, for instance). I hope she’s happy. (Sorry there isn’t a real video for this one, but Van Morrison doesn’t really need video, does he?)
Read moreBella ragazza, I’m sorry.
Read moreAt so many points along the way I have felt like music was life. There is music on most of the day when I’m working. There’s music when I’m driving around. Music when I’m riding my bike or working out. Music when I go to sleep. Music in my best and worst moments. I was a club DJ and I
Read moreRemember how I said yesterday that naming my favorite song was really, really hard? Uh-huh. Piece of cake compared to naming my least favorite song. At the root of the issue is a basic math problem: if 99% of everything is crap (and that’s probably understating the case) then there are 99 times as many crap songs as great ones.
Read more“Hey, Sam. What’s your favorite song?” This is about as hateful a question as it is possible to ask a guy like me. I own somewhere in excess of 4,000 CDs probably and if you put a gun to my head I could make a case for at least several dozen songs that fit the bill. I could pick a
Read moreIf you have a Facebook account it’s damned-near inconceivable that you haven’t tripped across the 30-Day Song Challenge. You may even have done it (or be in the midst of doing it) yourself. I was thinking about having at it myownbadself, but I couldn’t imagine just posting a song on some of these days (come on, my favorite song? The
Read moreThe National Basketball Association has a World Wrestling Entertainment problem. Actually, it has several problems, none of which look like they’re going to be easily solved. (And I’m not even talking about the officiating, although I have in the past and no doubt will again in the future). The collective bargaining agreement is up after this season, at which point
Read moreThis morning, over at Smirking Chimp, something legendary has happened. Blogger Jim Wright, retired USN and sometimes military consultant, cracks off perhaps the most pointed, unrelenting rant on those who pretend to love America that I have ever read. Here’s just a small snippet: What I really wanted to ask is this: Proud American? Really? What is it exactly that
Read moreI wrote this maybe 20 years ago and it was published in The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature in April, 1993. Zen and the Art of Rainfall 1. Out last night, couple of beers with her friends. Yes, her: that one, the one, gone now. Pale sweet ghost, thin blade of lip, profusion of mahogany curl.
Read moreIn Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell posits what we might call the 10,000-Hour Theory – that is, to become exceptional at something, you have to dedicate 10,000 hours to it. Whether you’re an aspiring concert violinist, a hockey player, a business analyst, whatever, it takes the equivalent of three hours a day, every day, for more than nine years to separate yourself
Read moreToday is World Poetry Day. We here at S&R appreciate great poetry (we even launched our own literary journal) and we invite you to share with our readers your favorite poem or poet. We’ll go first. Yesterday was the Equinox, and we’re now barreling headlong into longer days and beautiful weather. One of the greatest expressions of natural beauty ever
Read moreEarlier today I offered some comments on the trending controversy surrounding Dillard’s and its involvement in an upcoming Houston event staged by anti-abortion advocate Heroic Media. That article noted some parallels with last year’s dust-up involving Target and Tom Emmer, a social reactionary running for Minnesota governor. My friend and colleague, Sara Robinson, turns out to be a devoted Dillard’s
Read moreDillard’s operates 330 stores across 29 states, including nine here in Colorado. I have, in the past, been a Dillard’s customer, but am afraid they have now earned their way onto the growing list of places I will no longer be able to patronize in good conscience. In August of 2010 I spent some time analyzing one of the more
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