One of the pleasures of living in New York City was having access to some of the best pizza on the planet. I’m not talking about that shitty Famous Ray’s stuff that tourists think is New York pizza — I’m talking the REAL deal, you know, Totonno’s over in Coney Island; Lombardi’s on Spring St….
Kites
I’m obsessed with the Lee Pockriss, Hal Hackaday pop standard, “Kites.” I think it’s one of the corniest songs ever recorded but at the same time one of the most beautiful. It’s relatively simple — two parts really — but it’s soaring chorus makes it special. A number of artists have released versions. Most of…
Tomorrowpeople, Radiohead
Wow. What a weekend. There was certainly no shortage of things to be done and did, not the least of which was the return — after an eight year absence — of my rock and roll group, Tomorrowpeople. We had a well-attended and, if I might say so, artistically successful gig at Doublewide on Saturday….
My First Job
The very first paying, “professional” job I ever had back in high school was at a greasy old steak house on Highway 80 on the dusty, east side of Abilene, Texas. The place was called Towne Crier. The building was a Tudor-style structure and the dark interior, lined with faded vinyl booths, smelled of oily…
Drawastar.com
Up and coming webblog DRAWASTAR.COM has turned me into a published artist. My ultra-realistic sketches of “Sawyer” and “Jack” from LOST have earned me entry into the pantheon of celeb-obsessed doodlers…enjoy.
Sterling Hayden – 1916-1986
Happy birthday to actor and author Sterling Hayden who would’ve turned 92 today. I’ve long admired Hayden’s presence in gritty, ’50s-era film noirs such as Crime Wave and Stanley Kubrick‘s The Killing but he’s probably best known for his role as “General Jack D. Ripper” in Kubrick’s 1964 satire Dr. Strangelove as well as his…
Sleep Lab
Last night I participated in a sleep study set up by my doctor. I had heard complaints from friends about my snoring so I mentioned it during my last check-up. Within one week I made an appointment to spend the night in a facility off of I-35 and W. Mockingbird here in Dallas. I was…
Muscle Shoals
Interesting article on the Muscle Shoals sound here. Check it out. “Most Jimmy Cliff fans would assume “Sitting in Limbo” from The Harder They Come soundtrack was recorded in Kingston. Nope. Like other “secret” Shoals sessions, it was never officially credited on liner notes because Cliff was not properly papered to “work” (i.e. record) while…
Band to Band
I don’t know who is behind this site, Bandtoband.com…but I think it’s pretty interesting. They even have me in there. And you can draw less than six degrees of separation between me and GWAR. I think that’s pretty cool.
RIP Lois Nettleton
Some interesting coincidences in the past couple of weeks. I started reading about chess and how to play the day before Bobby Fischer dies. And I recently watched some classic Twilight Zone episodes, most notably the great 1961 offering Midnight Sun…only to learn that the show’s star — the incredibly talented and kinda hot (pun…