New tunes – WE by Parsonsfield

It's no secret that Parsonsfield are among my favorite artists making music and performing today (I waxed rhapsodic about them here and here). I had the opportunity to give their new album, entitled WE, a listen prior to its release, and it was everything I've come to expect from them plus some. "Through sincere and…

Content forthcoming. Standby.

I'm sure you've noticed that I've been a bit derelict in posting original content on here. Sorry about that...I haven't had much time alone with my thoughts of late. But it just occurred to me (because I'm super quick on the uptake like that) that I do have stuff to share, stuff that you might…

A butterfly trapped in a spider’s web

One of my co-workers died the night before Thanksgiving. That would have been sad enough. But what pushes this news into the tragic is that she wasn't some wizened old librarian. She wasn't someone who had been lucky enough to accumulate many decades. She wasn't someone who was at the end of a good, long…

The Eighth Loser

I originally submitted this to my friend Rich Chizmar of Cemetery Dance Publications to be included as a guest essay for his Stephen King Revisited project. But after talking to him and getting his blessing (and since he's still a long way from revisiting IT), I decided the timing was right to share it with you…

The last plot twist, I never saw it coming

"The chapters of your life might take you by surprise, and the last plot twist, you never saw it coming." Thanks, Arkells, for the perfect summation of my state of mind. Apparently I'm a music journalist now? Did NOT see that one coming. But to say that I'm thrilled wouldn't even come close to describing…

What I’m Spinning – If We Were Vampires

"It's knowing that this can't go on forever. Likely one of us will have to spend some days alone. Maybe we'll get forty years together, but one day I'll be gone or one day you'll be gone." This post wasn't supposed to be about this song. Up until yesterday, I'd been obsessively listening to another…

What I’m Spinning – Fake Money

"Oh, it's just a game, a silly little game. Everyone's a fool so you don't take any blame. With entitled narcissism, you speak courageously. You're praying to gods who are meaningless to me. You're preying on the weak and those who don't believe." Letting the Arkells do the talking today. Get angry, people.

My pin-up moment; or, why social media is awesome

Social media gets a bad rap. Yes, it has its unpleasant sides; the misinformation that spreads like wildfire, the bullying that can go on (although I think this happens more with the younger set, yes?), the plummeting sense of self-worth when you follow people who are seem to be far cooler than you (don't deny it,…

Anniversaries and missed deadlines

This is post number 52. Which, had things gone according to plan, should have been published two months ago. But nothing seems to go according to plan for me these days, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. When I started my blog, I'd hoped to average about a post a week, if not more. I didn't…

What I’m Spinning – Postcards from Ursa Minor

"And I remembered all the things that I used to care about and I realized that they have faded; they don't matter to me now. They are just moments in a lifetime which I'll never understand. Just a glance across a room, a cigarette burn on my hand; just a second of conversation on a Sunday…