Aziz Is My Hero

For your viewing pleasure...

A long stream of David Caruso lines from the best unintentional comedy series on television: CSI Miami.

Two Things About Songs

1. Neil Young's Words (Between the Lines of Age) is freakin' awesome.

2. A couple of weeks ago I went to the Long Winters' show at the Showbox. The set closed with a cover of Feelin' Stronger Everyday. Horns and everything. If anyone has a recording of the Long Winters version, they should first listen to it and then make it available to the whole wide world. John Roderick is a beautiful man.

I Have Some Words For You:

If you are fighting the disease of depression, or even if you think you might be and you aren't sure, go get some help. Talk to a doctor. Take it very seriously. Don't just assume it will go away. And if you know someone who is fighting this, encourage them to get help also. Do it today.

On April 4th, my brother Rick lost his fight with this disease and he took his own life. The past few weeks have been hell, of course. As I write this, I've returned from his service in San Diego. I really didn't think I would write about Rick's death on this blog since that's not generally the kind of thing I do here. But it is with great resolve and all the strength I have remaining that I pledge that some hope must emerge from the wreckage of his passing. The hope is this: someone will get help, someone will find a path to better tomorrows, someone's family and friends won't go through what we've all been through.

Here was what ran in the paper. But what I'm writing here is not an obituary since this isn't the place. I offer only a plea: get help. Mental health issues are tricky because the thing that's wrong isn't as obvious as when there's a physical injury and there's still an unfortunate social stigma attached to them. Get help anyway. Just get some help. I'm leaving comments open but I really don't need any condolences. Honestly. But if you have some thoughts on leading yourself or others toward hope, please share.

Monsters of Metal Detection

Bill Wyman's post-Stones career offers this for anyone who demands their beach combing devices be approved by 97-year-old bass players.

A Conversation with Charlie (Age 6) About Sports

(Setting: in the car, listening as always to Movin 92.5, music to make you feel good. Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack" is playing. The chorus features the incessantly repeated line "Go ahead, be gone with it" but with all the engineering and funkification it sounds like "Go hippy go".)

HIM: What does she mean, "Go hippy go"?
ME: He.
HIM: He. That's a man?
ME: Yeah.
HIM: What does it mean about "Go hippy go"?
ME: Well, do you know what a hippy is? Like long haired guys, they wear a lot of brown, say "man" a lot?
HIM: Yeah, I think so.
ME: Well, people used to race them. They'd put numbers on their backs and line them up at a starting line on a race track and then see how fast the hippies would run and which hippy would come in first.
HIM: Really?
ME: And you could place bets depending on which hippy you thought would be fastest. So in the song Justin Timberlake is perhaps recalling some old hippy races he attended as a boy, the practice faded out in the early 90's due to some lawsuits resulting from injuries, and he's remembering how he used to cheer for his favorite racing hippies.
HIM: Hm. Cool.

Big Comeback Planned

I'm going to be all Elvis '68 y'all. Not sure why I've been so out of touch. Might have something to do with Charlie (age 6) reaching the point in his maturity where perhaps quoting him online all the time is somewhat discourteous. Or not. Might be the new job.
Might be the tense negotiations with Kate (age 4)
HER: Dad, can I have a guinea pig?
ME: No.
HER: Can I have one when I'm five?
ME: No.
HER: When can I have one?
ME: When you're 33, I'll buy you a guinea pig.
HER: Alright.

But I do plan to ramp up posting soon.

Meantime, I'll be in the bushes, controlling things with my mind.