On Facebook this past week I was asked to write a post a day for ten days on the top 10 favorite albums that made an impact. I went quickly from "ten - you want that many?" to "Ten - only ten?" There have been a ton that have made an impact on me over the years, so sometimes that means not ten favorites, but ones that changed my perspective on music. That shifts the focus a little. So you'll see some picks that aren't on my real top ten (like Herbie Hancock's Headhunters), but it had a top ten impact on me (introducing me to jazz). It's been a fun thought experiment. I'm halfway through as of right now. Today's pick will be...wait and see. I don't have ten picked out - I'm handling it day by day.
Today's podcast has no music from the first five albums I picked (Maybe that will be a conceit of mine later), but there's still a lot of great music from Madonna, Susan Tedeschi, the Handsome Family, Arthur Brown, Aretha Franklin, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Van Morrison, Charlie, Etta James, Nick Lowe, Peter Gabriel, the Go-Betweens, Paul Kelly, and the Bears.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
I'm a little late this morning, but we just got back from Boston where we saw our son. The story this weekend is that it is very, very cold, making walking outside not a fun experience. We like to spend time walking around in various parts of Boston and environs, but we didn't do a lot of that.
Of course, the other story is the 20+ inches of snow that dropped earlier in the week. I sad that we might get hit with March storms, and boy was I right. My snow blower also broke, so I was shoveling by hand. That wasn't too much fun, either. Let's hope that it's going to get warmer and that we'll have a real spring. Isn't baseball season just around the corner?
Today's podcast is a grab bag of really good songs, so listen to Mavis Staples, the Groundhogs, Kate Tucker, the Del Fuegos, Willie Alexander, the November Group, Irma Thomas, Chuck Jackson, Richie Barrett, the Clovers, Marvin Gaye, Junior Parker, Simon & Garfunkel, Rod Stewart, the Golden Palominos, & the Tom Robinson Band.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
Well, last night left us with a sprinkle of snow on the car and ground, just because... Spring came in on Tuesday, but that hasn't happened here. The March storms that dumped about 2 feet of snow are still covering the ground, and any thaw just ended up as the snow plow ripping up parts of my lawn (thank you, city plow guys). One year the city actually felt bad enough that they did a little work on the corner of my lawn, but just once, and not even in the worst year of ripping up my lawn.
The higher temperatures this week will melt the snow and the ground will soften until we hit what is affectionately known as mud season. We have an especially treacherous path to the house, and none of our "fixes" sem to work that well. We'll have to remember to take of our shoes when we come in so as not to track the mud throughout the house. Welcome, spring.
In honor of spring, I have a spring-themed podcast, so listen to Donald Fagen, Pentangle, the Go-Betweens, the Lemon Drops, Big Star, Ray Charles, Earl King, Paul Weller, Chris Isaak, John Hiatt, Los Lobos, the Dells, the Ramones, and the Rolling Stones.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
Time for another jazz podcast. Today's selections include a lot of great jazz guitarists - I love jazz guitar, and Julian Lage is another young jazz guitarist who may become a great jazz guitarist soon. He's really put out some great albums already, and we get to listen to one of his tunes to lead off the show.
Lots of great follow-up, too, so listen to Julian Lage, Wes Montgomery, Courtney Pine, Grant Green, Bennie Green, Sonny Clark, Duke Ellington, Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band, Clifford Brown, and Monty Alexander.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
This'll be quick, as I am in Massachusetts to celebrate Easter with my son and his fiance (June 23 wedding). My sister-in-law and brother-in-law will be down, too. Should have fun.
For Easter, it's a hodge-podge of great music, with James Brown, Joe Jackson, Malo, Wilson Pickett, Beach House, Cat Power, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Joss Stone, Barrence Whitfield, LCD Soundsystem, Daft Punk, Gorillaz, the Breeders, and the Raveonettes.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
Sunrise is at 6:14 this morning - so the day is lengthening - almanac says that the actual length of day is 13 hours and 4 minutes (more than half of day), with an additional 2 minutes and 53 seconds of daylight tomorrow. We need the temperatures to follow suit for it to become real spring here. The last of the snow has lingered as the dirt and salt have kept the ice/snow mounds viable.
Now that my lawn (such as it is) is becoming more visible, I see how much damage the snow plows have done to the lawn. Oh, I don't have someone plow my driveway, I'm talking the city guys who plow up the edge of my lawn, and then the corner where they pile all of the snow. One of the consequences of March snow storms is that the ground has started to thaw, so it's easy for the plows to dig up lawn. I'm not sure why they feel the need to plow my lawn as well as the street, but they do. Most of the people in my little cul-de-sac have that problem, and so we grumble every spring about having to fix that part of the lawn. Who knows, maybe it is time to think about moving to a place that does not have snow plows. To a place where temperatures in the 50's is considered cold. Something to think about.
Let's do some exploring in today's podcast. We're starting out in Brazil today (it's always warm there, isn't it?), with Tom Ze, Caetano Veloso, Supercordas, Os Mutantes, Tracey Thorn, I Think You're Awesome, Alison Moyet, Eli Paperboy Reed, the James Hunter Six, Barrence Whitfield & the Savages, the Bamboos, Ike & Tina Turner, the Raveonettes, and the Kinks.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
Well, it's tax time again - seems like it happens every year around this time. We've been pretty lucky, in that we are delayed in the due date by the 15th being on the weekend (today if you're reading this when I post), and having a delay due to Patriots Day (thank you Massachusetts). Every year for a long time we've owed money, so the due date is important to us (government isn't getting paid early, but if I were getting a refund, my taxes would have been done as early as possible - give me back my money, government). I guess that I prefer to owe money rather than have paid too much in, but it still hurts when I have to send a check for a largish amount to satisfy the deficit-ridden government (who won't waste the money on programs I want to see the money go to).
Over the years I've lost things to reduce what I owe to the government - no more dependents and the mortgage interest gone, but the property taxes still help reduce what I owe. Don't take this as complaining, though. I'm happy to pay me share in to keep the government afloat, even if I don't agree with how they spend my money once I give it to them. I don't share my spending habits with them, either. I've become less and less a consumer of economic goods as I get older, although when I do spend it's kind of large (new car last year). Hope everyone's had a good tax season.
Let's celebrate the tax days with my new podcast. Included is a trip to the country and we look around one more time with Anna Domino, Ashiko, Gus Gus, Big Country, Talking Heads, Allen Toussaint, Them, Mary Weiss, Johnny Adams, Alejandro Escovedo, Family, Pink Floyd, and Traffic.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
Well, after some occasional snow this week (none of which stayed around here, but in Northern New Hampshire - geez), looks like spring might actually be happening. Looks like a pretty solid week of spring in the forecast - let's hope.
I've been on a diet lately, as well as ramping up the exercise,and I've lost somewhere between 15 and 20 pounds. I may be plateauing a little now, but hope to lose more as time goes on. It hasn't been too hard - I first discovered that my weight started ballooning again after my dog died. Apparently, the long walks I took with my dog were good for me, too, so I started to walk every morning - a little longer than the normal morning walk, and the same as my weekend walk. I've added more exercise as well - nothing too strenuous, but it's helped bring down the weight.
The other part of losing weight has been to cut down on alcohol. That's been pretty easy, too. I'm not a big drinker (waits for my wife to disagree), but it was regular. It's now very occasional, and that's helped, too. I remember Bill Burr talking about losing weight because he got puffy in the face from drinking, so he cut down on drinking and I've followed suit. Oh, I'll still drink, not just as much as before.
Losing weight wasn't some big New Year's resolution, but just a general "let's get a little bit healthier" decision I made. I have no true goals, so I won't get frustrated if I don't lose x amount of weight. I just want to feel better, and so far, so good.
Music to lose weight to? Maybe, but really, just a great listen. So take some time to hear The Beatles, John Martyn, Crowded House, Traffic, Tom Waits, Pulp, the Liminanas, Guided by Voices, Tina Charles, Dr. Buzzard & the Original Savannah Band, David Bowie, Hot Chocolate, Orkestra Akokan, Bruce Cloud, Joe Bataan, and David Byrne.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
Spring is a season of change. The earth begins to renew, flowers spring up, trees and animals, and sometimes it's time for humans to make or face changes. My son is getting married in June, so he's facing a change. Oh, it'll mostly be a subtle change, but the pomp of it all makes the realization that the relationship that you've been in is now more permanent - it's a change.
I think that in general people don't like change - they learn to stay where they are and exist in a world they've made. I am someone who likes the routine of certain rituals and ways that I've done things and live my life, but I can embrace change as well. I hope that everyone can face change and accept the challenge.
I left my old job back in March after 13+ years, and then found a new job that is pretty similar to my old job, but with some different aspects that are challenging and will be fun. I like to be challenged, and found myself not being challenged as much in my old job. I guess it was time for a change.
Let's make change where we need to, but don't change if you regularly listen to the podcast. If you don't normally listen, then make the change and get involved with Robin Trower, Split Enz, Buffalo Springfield, the Band, Everything But the Girl, Jim Kweskin's Jug Band, Kate Tucker, the Incredible String Band, a Band of Bees, Badfinger, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the Association, Three Dog Night, the Classics IV, and the Monkees.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
I have a bad left knee. It's "classic" osteoarthritis says my Doctor. Great, another classic. I've had a couple of cortisone shots for it, and while I've complained that they weren't effective, they did relieve some of the symptoms. Problem was, my knee was getting worse - walking up and down stairs got to be an absolute killer for me. In January I went to the Doctor's to see about the next step, hyaluronic acid shots, but he also suggested that maybe I could try some physical therapy. So I hied myself on over to PT and got some exercises to strengthen the area, and voila, the pain has been disappearing.
I think that losing weight has also helped (it's something the Doctor suggested). But the pain has been reduced remarkably, so that I feel some twinge when walking up stairs with a heavy load (laundry, say), but nothing like before. I know that this is not a permanent solution, but anything to slow the next steps, leading to the final solution - knee replacement - is appreciated. Good, old fashioned easy exercises - who knew it could work so well?
Let's exercise to this week's podcast, which features birds. Spring means birds, which means the Beatles, Joe Cocker, Neil Young, Galley Beggar, Richie Havens, the Guess Who, Joni Mitchell, R.E.M., Taj Mahal, Archie Bronson, the Cardigans, the Buffalo Springfield, Paul McCartney & Wings, and the Flat Five.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
Happy Mother's Day to all mothers. Hope your day goes well.
Enjoy some Mother's Day with music,. How about this podcast, which today features Felt, Medium, Medium, Brazilian Girls, John Lennon, Marshall Crenshaw, Robbie Robertson, Tommy Keene, Pet Shop Boys, Bananarama, Sade, Chaka Khan, Brian Eno, John Cale, and Robert Wyatt.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
I am completely out of touch with what's going on culturally. Never thought that I wouldn't at least know basic stuff (what's being watched on TV, who's topping the music charts?). I always thought when I was a kid that I couldn't understand how my parents couldn't at least identify what I felt was very important stuff to know. Now that I'm older I'm at least as bad as they are. The top selling album is beerbongs & bentleys (sic) by Post Malone. Did you know that? Would you be able to identify any songs that he sings? What's his genre, anyway? Rap, pop, dance? I heard (on purpose) a Post Malone song the other day - I still can't answer the question. I think it's what passes for popular music today - kinda rap, kinda pop, sorta dance-y, and totally unmemorable. Someone was trying to convince me that it's all just pop - meaningless, fun music. Well, it's certainly meaningless, but not fun to my ears. Hard pass.
And the top TV shows? How about the Big Bang Theory and the Good Doctor? I don't watch either, and except that I believe that it's a medical drama, could not tell you anything about the show the Good Doctor. Just checked - the Good Doctor looks like an updated Doogie Howser. Am I close? Don't tell me, I don't want to know. I do watch some TV - but I don't think that I see any regular network TV shows.
Have we as a culture become isolated and given over everything to the young? Probably not - I think that has been happening since popular culture came into being. I paid closer attention to things when my son was younger (had to have an idea of what he was consuming), but that time has long vanished, and I've been able to let slip that which is unimportant, which means popular culture. It feels good, to tell you the truth.
I still listen to new music, though - just not what the kids are into, and I feature a bunch of new stuff on today's podcast, so let's dig into the new sounds of Liz Phair, Belly, Eleanor Friedberger, Speedy Ortiz, David Byrne, Neko Case, Shakey Graves, the Who, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan & the Band, Roy Orbison, Dwight Yoakam, the Everly Brothers, and Rockpile (ok, the last 8 songs aren't "new" as such).
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
Happy Decoration Day! That's how Memorial Day started - people used to go to cemeteries and spruce up the graves of military veterans who died in combat. My wikipedia page says it started before the Civil War, but really it was the Civil War that popularized the practice, especially in the South. African-Americans claimed that they started the practice, and the North has also claimed that it started the idea. Whatever - it's become a day to honor those brave people who died serving their country, and we shouldn't forget that, even in the Memorial Day Sales hype, or all the barbecues that we'll attend.
Let's honor the dead with our podcast, which is more focused on the living, with Joni Mitchell, John Martyn, Bert Jansch, Luke WInslow-King, Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Pinkshinyultrablast, the Searchers, the Bangles, Continental Drifters, Shocking Blue, Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs, Argent, and Brian Auger's Oblivion Express.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
It's June - we've made it this far in the year without getting blown up - let's keep up the good work! This month is very busy for me. I'm heading out to Chicago for a conference on June 11, the we're heading down to New Jersey at on June 21 for my son's wedding. There's a lot of excitement building up over it - don't see why. People get married all the time, don't they?
My son Nick and his fiance Lindsay are handling things pretty well overall - no threats of canceling the marriage as far as I can tell. It should be fun, and it's hard not to get excited. Just 20 more days until the actual day. Lots to do before that, and to help we've got songs on today's podcast from the Art of Noise, Cocteau Twins, Pet Shop Boys, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Wanda Jackson, the Everly Brothers, Tom Rush, Gram Parsons, Dave Alvin, Taj Mahal, Richie HAvens, Relatively Clean Rivers, the Allman Brothers Band, and the Fifth Dimension.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
Well, it's pretty much become all wedding, all the time around here. What was once an event that was far away is coming into sharper focus. Nick was up to teach Kate how to dance (they weren't very successful, but I wasn't around to help - I took a ballroom dance class in high school that I still remember). Nick also sent in his vows for us to look at and edit.
I've forgotten how good a writer he is. What we saw was a rough draft (round two , he tells us). We made some suggestions and he tightened it up so it works very well (I won't bore you with my one quibble that stayed in - I was outvoted by the better writers 2-1 - Kate has real writing talent that she doesn't use, but should). It's funny and poignant and an amazing expression of love. He has real potential as a writer, too. C'mon, great writers in the family - write!
Let's get ready for this wedding with some songs from Mission of Burma, Wussy, Matthew Sweet, the dB's, Van Morrison, Ryley Walker, Joni Mitchell, Aretha Franklin, Bill Withers, Michael Jackson, Major Lance, Roky Erickson, Olivia Tremor Control, the Apples in Stereo, and Camera Obscura.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
I was in Chicago earlier this week. I didn't get much of a chance to see the city, as I was mostly inside a hotel at a conference. I stayed at a hotel next to Grant Park, which was nice. I had a chance to walk around in the morning there before the conference got under way. I made my way down to the lakefront, where I walked around with about a thousand of my new closest friends who were jogging along the lakefront. Except those who were dressed for running who were walking with Starbucks cups - and they all were Starbucks cups. Obviously there are many Starbucks that are close by (and no other coffee shops) - why are there no other coffee shops around?
I did get to the Merchandise Mart, and on the way saw a number of different, cool bridges. I didn't see the "High Fidelity" bridge, but the city seems quite proud of their diverse sets of bridges and bridge designs. It'd be worth exploring more - hope to get the chance to get back to the city.
And the soundtrack to my visit included these tunes, put together for your pleasure this week. They include Mission of Burma, Wussy, Matthew Sweet, the dB’s, Van Morrison, Ryley Walker, Joni Mitchell, Aretha Franklin, Bill Withers, Michael Jackson, Major Lance, Roky Erickson, Olivia Tremor Control, the Apples in Stereo, and Camera Obscura.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
The record store that I ran in the 80s in Chicago closed down and was replaced by a Starbucks. Can't say that I've ever been in one, but one of my first "experiences" of them was in Vancouver when, standing on a street corner, I could see two of them at the same intersection just diagonal from each other. People from one Starbucks could look out the window of one into the window of the other. My wife and I agreed at that time that a Starbucks would never go over in hot Texas climate. Well...
We're back from my son's wedding. The wedding was great - pulled off without any hitches, even when it was moved inside due to the iffy weather. It worked out great. Again, all thanks go to John and Lisa for putting everything together - they did all the prep and all I had to do was show up.
It was a great time to catch up with family and friends, and to watch two young people express their love for one another. They wrote their own vows, and it reminded me just how good they are at writing and speaking. Kate and I had worked with Nick on his vows, so we knew them very well by the wedding, but I had not seen Lindsay's, and her words brought me to tears it was so lovely. After the wedding we went to the Jersey Shore for a couple of fantastic days while the kids went to Hawaii for two weeks. Yesterday they went to the beach with green sand and black sand and saw humongous sea turtles. It's incredible. They're having an incredible time, which is what a honeymoon should be all about (Kate and I did not have a honeymoon - I went to work after we got married, and I mean later that day).
I didn't get a podcast up last week - forgot to upload it from my computer - so I have a spare that I'll use if there's a problem one week. You'll wonder why I talk about the upcoming wedding, but whatever. This week's podcast isn't particularly wedding-themed, but there are a couple of songs that would easily fit into a wedding that are included, so let's listen to Black Box Recorder, the Undertones, the Yearning, Simply Red, Father John Misty, Neko Case, Holly Golightly, Courtney Barnett, the Psychedelic Furs, Love & Rockets, Peter Murphy, Beck, Roxy Music, the Breeders, and the Soundtrack of Our Lives.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
Hot enough for ya? Went through a scorcher last week - and a day when the air conditioning quit at work (92 degrees in the office by day's end). We're promised a respite later in the week this week, but it's supposed to climb over 90 again on Monday and Tuesday. Take it easy out there.
When we were in New Jersey I got my sunburn for the summer - tried to hide from the sun as much as possible, but there's nowhere to hide at the beach. My Irish white skin does not tan - after the sunburn it might lighten a bit to look tan-ish, but the skin soon peels away and the new skin is back to its natural pearlescence. Have a fun summer.
Cool down with some cool tunes in this week's podcast, which includes cool artists like the Smithereens, the English Beat, Julian Cope, Buck Owens, Bobbie Gentry, Jim Ford, Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, Albert Collins, Luther Allison, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Rick Estrin & the Nightcats, Howlin' Rain, Boz Scaggs, and Professor Longhair.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
1. 1099 - City of Jerusalem is captured and plundered by Christian forces during the First Crusade
2. 1799 - The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign
Really, just a quiet summer day. Hope you're having a quiet summer - mine is calming down after a flurry of excitement last month. Lots of things going on at work, so I'm staying super busy.
I was able to get the podcast together. Rolling Stone put out a "100 greatest songs of the century - so far", and I have a few of them, which I am sharing in today's podcast. So listen keenly to the Black Keys, the New Pornographers, Beck, Rilo Kiley, Bob Dylan, Franz Ferdinand, Outkast, Adele, Arcade Fire, Johnny Cash, Alvvays, the Hives, and Daft Punk.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
Been very busy lately, traveling for work, getting the home cleaned up and beautiful, normal life things. Today we're picking up a couple of pictures that we had framed, and will be putting those up on the wall later today. Today is an indoor day, as the rains will be settling in for awhile (now through Thursday). As almost everyone everywhere is saying, we need the rain. My dead lawn needs the rain (it may come back, but will be zombie-like - there's a job that we'll be tackling later).
Hope everyone's had a good summer. We've heard some news from friends that isn't all good, but hopefully they're just temporary setbacks. Enjoy the rains.
Today we jump around from country to soul to folk, so take an hour and listen to the dB's, Emmylou Harris, Buffalo Springfield, River Whyless, Jorja Smith, Amy Winehouse, Sade, Matthew Sweet, Fountains of Wayne, the Dream Syndicate, John Foxx, Tir Na Nog, and Fairport Convention.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
Our 40th High School Reunion is Saturday, August 11. Hey, if you're 1978 adjacent, stop on by. Please tell Gary Fish or me whether you're going or not. It's at the high school, which has been recently re-modeled and is super-cool. I know what you're thinking: "Pat, this can't possibly be your 40th. That would mean that you're...old!" It's untrue - I'm not old (in my mind). I guess I've been around, though. Can't wait to see everyone who'll be there.
Today's podcast isn't a 40-year look back, but there are some older acts being played. The Hollies and CCR were radio hits when we were younger, and I saw Seals & Crofts when I was in high school - does that count? Anyway, listen to The Replacements, Richard Thompson, the Hollies, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Steely Dan, the Guess Who, Seals & Crofts, the Special AKA, Fun Boy Three, the Go-Go's, the Beach Boys, Nilsson, Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers, and Gene Vincent.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
These are the dog days of summer. It's hot and we're all much slower moving (well, we may quicken our pace to find air conditioning). I always thought that we called it the dog days because even dogs wouldn't do anything but lay around and pant. But no...the Greeks started the phrase because that's when the star Sirius starts rising right before the sun - around July 4 through August 11. Sirius is the dog star, so those are the dog days. Everything else you may have heard or thought are made up, although the dogs - whew, are they lazy in the summer heat.
Speaking of lazy, I threw up this week's podcast lineup last week, because I try to get ahead of myself in the summer in case I'm busy (Like I was last weekend). Keep me straight on this, folks. If you want last week's list of artists, message me. So this week (honest!) we're listening to The Replacements, Richard Thompson, the Hollies, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Steely Dan, the Guess Who, Seals & Crofts, the Special AKA, Fun Boy Three, the Go-Go's, the Beach Boys, Nilsson, Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers, and Gene Vincent.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
We had our 40th Reunion last Saturday at the newly-beautiful Mt. Blue High School, which underwent a huge renovation a couple of years ago. I remember the old school fondly, and the new school is fantastic. There were only a couple of dozen of us there, which out of ~200 isn't much. We ended up getting a late start, so it wasn't easy for a lot of people who are from away to get to the reunion, which was too bad. For those who were there, it was great to see everyone. We all plan to be back in to town for the 50th - we'll get an earlier start and get more of y'all to make Farmington a destination for that. It'll be the beginning of the class of 1978 survivor series.
Today's podcast ends with a tribute to Aretha Franklin, a singer who meant a lot to me. She made the world a better place, bringing joy to me since I was a little kid. We all have our favorite Aretha songs, and I've certainly played most of them over the last couple of days. So relax for awhile and listen to the podcast, which begins in a different place than Aretha, although her influence is evident in some of these songs.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
It's back to school time. Although I do not have a school-aged child that is heading back to school, my wife is a teacher, and we did some last minute shopping yesterday with thousands of my closest friends That's right, driving and shopping was kind of a mess yesterday. Like many teachers, Kate does not get adequate money to have all the supplies she needs in her room, so she supplements by buying tons of stuff personally for her children. I don't know a teacher who doesn't end up spending his/her "generous" salary on supplies for their room. I'm sure that it's always been the case, and probably wouldn't change no matter how well-funded a school district is.
There's even a website(donorschoose.org) where teachers put in a request for funding for a project in the school that they can't self-fund. If you get a request, please help them out. My wife hasn't done it, but we know teachers who have, and it really helps make a difference for the children.
Today's podcast isn't necessarily a "back-to-school" themed one, but why not? I'm sure that many of the artists went to school at some point, so tune into Eddie Floyd, Corine Bailey Rae, Outkast, the Cure, the Pixies, the Love Language, My Morning Jacket, Jeff Beck, Ian MacDonald & Michael Giles, Samantha Fish, the Magnetic Fields, Camera Obscura, & the Ronettes.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
Happy Labor Day, comrades. I've been troubleshooting my computer - ugh. It's becoming painfully slow, and it's not even that old (hear me computer? get up to speed!). Just printing out pictures for my wife's first day of school took far too long (and it wasn't the printer's fault this time). That's what you get for trying to work on a day to reflect on worker's rights. What about the rights of the computers and their work? When the robot overlords take over we'll have time to reflect on that.
Let's think good thoughts this weekend and listen to my new podcast, with Kevin Morby, Faces, the Magnetic Fields, Marshall Crenshaw, Sons & Daughters, Violent Femmes, Dinosaur, Jr., Black Box Recorder, the Chills, the Essex Green, Swing Out Sister, Terence Trent D'Arby, Soul II SOul, and Rufus.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
As I get older I am ruled more and more by to-do lists. Online I use an app called ToDoist, which is my primary to do list. I use the notes app to quickly track immediate to do's (if there are lots of little things I need to get done in a day that I think of while waiting to do something else on my list. For example, if I have an appointment somewhere, I think of other things I could do in the area that would be useful, and it's generally easier to put them on a quick list).
I also write down lists. I am doing that more and more, as I remember things better when I write them down. I didn't figure that out until very late in my educational life, but at the end of my schooling I would meticulously take notes from assigned reading and re-write notes from class. Amazingly my grades started improving, and I was able to remember facts that would previously had been vague. Writing is better than typing - now my penmanship has to improve (it's still bad), as there are time that I still wonder what a particular scribble is. I should write it down.
Here's my list of artists from today's podcast. Listen as you think of what you want/need to accomplish and make to do lists, with Box of Frogs, the Dream Syndicate, Eleanor Friedberger, marcia Ball, Santigold, Mtume, James Brown, Magnetic Fields, Still Corners, Chris Isaak, Blood Orange, Sarah Nixey, and Fairport Convention.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
It's weather again - not bad here (warm again for a couple of days, followed by rain and then back to where weather should be in late September). But Florence has hit North Carolina, and Mangkhut has wreaked havoc in the Philippines and Pacific Ocean. I know someone who's retirement house in Myrtle Beach(move in date next fall) that will probably be under water - let's rebuild for the next storm when he's actually living there. I wonder sometimes if it makes sense to build in an area that will no doubt continue to flood, as these storms are not going away anytime soon. Sure, right now my house sits up and away from water, but I figure that in a few years I might have waterfront property. Let's go global warming.
Time to batten down the hatches with some new music on today's podcast, with Childish Gambino, Randy Crawford, the Imperial Sound, Anna Calvi, Giant Sand, the Beths, Gulp, the Vryll Society, Our Girl, Angelique Kidjo, Fatoumata Daiwara, and Elvis Costello.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
I started out writing a giant screed against the year 1968, which was 50 years ago. That's half a century, and I was alive, so I'm getting older. I didn't like what I wrote, so I deleted it. What does everyone else think about for the year 1968? I'll just say that there was no leap forward for mankind that year and let you figure out the rest. I just got the book 1968 by Mark Kurlansky, so I'll be thinking about it again very soon.
However, it's undeniable that the music of 1968 was incredible. In putting together this podcast, I had lots of music to choose from. I may have to put together a second 1968 pod to pick up all the stuff I missed. I hope that you like what I did choose for this podcast. Please listen to it and think good thoughts. The music of 1968 either worked to highlight what was happening in the world, or in many cases to serve as a distraction from the what was going on. Do let me distract you with Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Tommy James & the Shondells, the Doors, Simon & Garfunkel, the Zombies, Sly & the Family Stone, the Impressions, Etta James, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross & the Supremes, Small Faces, the Rolling Stones, and Van Morrison.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
Late - computer issues and helping out the Kindergarten class. Fall is here - it's been very cool here lately - just how I like it. Bring on the cold, it's why we have sweaters.
Another thing to keep us warm is music, specifically the music in today's podcast, with Barry White, Raphael Saadiq, Sade, the New Pornographers, Morrissey, Jim James, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Canned Heat, Alabama Shakes, Pulp, Alice Russell, the Steve Miller Band, and Van Morrison.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer - iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too - leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
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