Some of these works were new last year. Some were just new to me. Considering I spent almost half the year plodding through Gravity’s Rainbow, my reading list wasn’t too bad. Hoping to ramp that up this year. Most of my new music is coming from listening to my favorite radio stations via the Internet: […]
Category Archives: Assorted Bob
New Year’s Rainbow
(with apologies to Thomas Pynchon, Monty Python and the Kenosha Kid) May there be no masturbators in your stacks No Trumps in your tulips No communists in your kitchen, eating your wife’s jam May the pig hero Plechazunga Drive off the Norse invaders in your life. May Slothrop’s holy hardon Keep you safe from alt-right […]
There’s gold at the end of Gravity’s Rainbow … I think
It wasn’t pretty, but after six months of following Slothrop through the debris of post World War II Europe, I’ve finally arrived at the end of Gravity’s Rainbow. Our attempted reading group crashed and burned as members, including me, were pulled away by their respective realities. There was a solid 8 weeks or so where I was […]
Back for seconds at Pho Peace Ranch
We enjoyed last week’s pho and music so much we went back to Fur Peace Ranch for seconds today. John and Jorma were awesome (nice versions of All Along the Watchtower, I Shall Be Released, Sugaree and other great tunes, but This Land Is Your Land really resonated with me as 2016 lurches to a […]
Winter solstice sunset from Radar Hill, Athens, OH
The opioid scourge, brought to you by big pharma
I’ve read several great pieces on the opioid epidemic recently. It’s good to see this getting the coverage it deserves, but I can’t help but wonder how it would differ if the victims were minorities instead of poor whites. Somehow I suspect we’d be (wrongly) blaming it on their lack of work ethic, etc. Regardless, this story in […]
Because he’s a businessman …
“But that’s just what you folks need,” Bloody Chiclitz interjects. “Get some business people in there to run it right, instead of having the government run everything. Your left hand doesn’t know what your right hand’s doing! You know that?” — Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
Io Saturnalia!
Remove the wool that binds Saturn’s feet. It’s time to party. Saturnalia has fascinated me since 9th grade Latin class at St. Anselm’s, when Magister Switalla would tell us about the Roman holiday that Christians coopted for their Christmas holiday. For some reason, one of the details that stuck with me was the idea of […]
Chowing down at Pho Peace Ranch …
One of the many advantages to living in southeast Ohio is being neighbors with Jorma Kaukonen, the guitarist who fueled the musical explorations of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. He and his wife, Vanessa, created an oasis about 20 miles outside Athens that they’ve dubbed Fur Peace Ranch. The ranch is mostly a guitar camp, which […]
The end-of-the-semester-head-clearing hike
As the semester grinds down, I catch myself looking intently at any stand of trees I encounter. For 16 weeks, I’ve allowed my urge to hike, bike or kayak be suppressed by teaching duties. It’s bullshit, really. I could easily carve out time to spend in the woods during the semester. But I don’t, leaning […]