Coolhand Band

My poor pal, the mini-boss sent a shout out to me re: Coolhand Band, our rock-n-roll mentors, and I failed to respond.

So, better late than never, here's a hastily compiled album (of sorts), of our favorite Coolhand hits. I don't think any of this ever happened, but if it did, I know mini-boss was holding my hand.



1. Learning to spell
2. She sees by degrees
3. 33
4. Turning down
5. Cocktail walk
6. Chocolate box
7. Would
8. Lightn'ng fence
9. Halby learns guitar (what's with all the learning?)
10. Out'tha freaks
11. Wired & ready
12. Save me bravely

Did I really overlook Acetate?

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Caveat:

"Never happened" - or something like that - comes from some pre-show banter of an REM bootleg I have circa 1983/84. Someone shouts "Athens Georgia." Mike Mills deadpans into the mic "Never exsisted." Never thought it meant a thing until tonight.

Caveat too:

I've been accused of not posting enough pictures of my daughter. Blame me, I'm overprotective (Kitt, these are for you). You can't have her, you can't have her, no, not for free.

One giant leap for Western Civilization

Behold: The Beer Shirt!

Available from the wonderful BREW CITY.

What more needs to be said?

For further explanation - sigh - click here.

Tough part of town

A squirrel sat near a dumpster at 10th & Lincoln this morning with a cigarette butt dangling from its mouth.

Apparently city squirrels grow up fast, forsaking eternal salvation for earthly pleasures.

The people in your neighborhood II

The heat finally wavered as the sun went down, so I headed out for a walk through Cheesman Park before it got too dark.

No sooner had I entered the park and started down its tree lined paths than a bum shouted at me from a bench. I had my headphones on and kept walking, but something caught my eye. His face was bloodied and his hands were drenched in blood. I do not know how this happened.

I stopped and pulled my earplugs out and he asked for a cell phone. His hands were drenched in blood. I told him I did not have one. (I lied.)

Within shouting distance you could hear children shrieking on the playground and beyond them the laughter from folks wrapping up their weekend picnics.

"Could you use a few bucks?" I asked. He laughed, as he should have. Then he nodded his head. Yes, he could use a few bucks. I gave him whatever I had in my wallet, which wasn't much, and continued on my way.

A moment later the sirens of a fire truck interrupted my music and I turned back. The City of Denver came out in full force. I watched as they patched him up. He was joking with the EMTs as they led him to the ambulance.

The people in your neighborhood

This afternoon I walked back from my lunch break on the 16th Street Mall where they were setting up for an evening concert. I happened to pass two police officers who animatedly discussed something or other.

Not far off, a saggy fellow of indeterminate middle age watched on. He wore a volunteer fire department cap. He looked as though he'd just dropped his ice cream.

I think he just wanted to go up to the officers and ask if they'd be his buddy.

Woah-ho I'm Excited Now

If you haven't noticed, Prince Fielder is having one of the great seasons in Milwaukee Baseball History.





Prince hit his 26th ding of the year tonight, he had 28 all of last year. And the Brewers currently enjoy a 7 game lead in the NL Central.

Cure for the Summertime Blues

With summer fast upon us it was time for Oscar the Cat's summer shearing. Though you couldn't tell it from his expression, this always makes him very happy.

Before

After

The Case of the Missing Books

The Case of the Missing Books: A Mobile Library Mystery
by Ian Sansom

Israel Armstrong is your other-than-average man about Londontown; at least he'd like to think so. He knows a great cappuccino when he encounters one, loves art house flicks and can speak at length on Dostoevsky.

But can he run a small, Northern Ireland public library? Especially when that library happens to have been shuttered for years, is now on wheels, and, most distressingly, all the books have disappeared? It'll take more than a bibliophile's knowledge of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot to recapture the missing library in a hilarious whotook'em that relies more heavily on Sansom's memorable characters than the mystery that envelopes them.

At a time when the literary anti-hero is most often a leather-clad, drinking and smoking, but ultimately big-hearted rebel, the passive aggressive, less than gifted Israel Armstrong is truly enjoyable precisely because he is so utterly unlikable.

Sansom also succeeds in depicting modern Northern Ireland without succumbing to the specter of the Troubles. His junk food munching bureaucrats, small town bullies, knowing baristas and seductress journalists humanize the region in a way that a more overwrought narrative might not. The effects of the Troubles exist in these characters, but they do not dominate their quotidian lives.

Thankfully, my sister passed The Case of the Missing Books on to me, which, after a slow start, I delightedly sunk my teeth into. With a baby at home my recent fiction reading experiences have been filled with false starts, frustration and boredom. For some reason nonfiction has been easier to hang with while sleep-deprived and listening for the tiniest sounds emanating from the nursery. Fortunately, book two of the Mobile Library Mysteries, Mr. Dixon Disappears, is available in the States next month.

On the web:
Ian Sansom for your information
Ballykissangel

Caveat to Pepper

This weekend witnesses the 40th anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Last month saw the 40th anniversary of a more subtle, but no less gorgeous pop moment, the release of the Kinks "Waterloo Sunset."

If the Beatles "got by with a little help from their friends," then Ray Davies seems almost bemused to admit "but I don't need no friends."

No disrespect to the Beatles, but I think I'll hang around North London with Terry and Julie. I don't think Lovely Rita Meter Maid will miss us.

On the web:

Sanctuary Records 40th Anniversary Waterloo Sunset release.