Insomnia is a form of slow, involuntary suicide. I am convinced of that now.
Just wanted to start a new thread. Because that’s all I’m capable of, these days. However! I like to think this will be a good thread. Because only positive thinking will overcome insomnia.
First, for the love of God, can someone please read this stupid story I wrote, that practically NO ONE ELSE read and shared? Even the people in the story, all of whom were emailed a link, have failed to respond, except for “Bruce Springsteen.” It’s about tribute artists, and it did dogshit traffic. I hate the internet.
But speaking of dogshit, this is very funny: The look at how a dog park has divided upscale Chevy Chase, Md. Rich people are so awful.
Me, I’m off to nuke a hurricane. Maybe then I’ll be able to sleep.
Nancy said on August 28, 2019 at 1:14 pm
If you haven’t tried them already, I’ve found the “Nothing Much Happens” podcast and the sleep stories on the Calm app to be somewhat helpful with my insomnia.
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Scout said on August 28, 2019 at 1:29 pm
I enjoyed your story about the tribute bands. We recently saw a Beatles Tribute Band at a park in Scottsdale. They did a great job with the earlier more rockabilly stuff, but they struggled a bit with some of the later material that relied so heavily on studio editing tricks. It was great fun, though, a free concert where you could bring a picnic and your own adult bevvies, sing and the top of your lungs and do the twist for hours.
Last night the Twitterverse was all abuzz with the news that Donnie Demento’s Deutschbank loans were secured only because two Russian oligarchs co-signed for them. If this is true, it proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is owned by a foreign power. It makes his whining about Pootie not being in the G7 make more sense too. This thread was posted a day before the story broke on Maddow.
https://twitter.com/blakesmustache/status/1166338399642558465
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Deborah said on August 28, 2019 at 1:45 pm
The tribute story is terrific, I’m glad you gave the little push to read it.
There are a lot of casinos around here (northern NM) and they have lots of billboards up for Tribute shows. I always wonder if the original artist, or the artist’s estate (if dead) gets anything for the use of their name and art?
We have a 4 CD set of Dylan covers that is terrific, by various artists who sing way better than Dylan.
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Jakash said on August 28, 2019 at 2:01 pm
Well, I was blindsided by this one, I gotta say. I try to refrain from posting a comment when I figure that a new post is imminent. But, 1:00 on a Wednesday, with the comment total only in the 50s? Didn’t see that coming. But I think that a new thread 4 minutes after I posted a link might be a new record for futility for me, so there’s that! ; )
Tribute bands are frequently found at Chicago street fairs. I believe it was a Led Zep outfit, whose playing was actually pretty good, but whose lead singer opted for no shirt with some — uh — *really* low-riding jeans, that made actually watching them too creepy for my taste… I don’t think he’d have had much of a following if he’d run for “mayor of Tributesville.”
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jcburns said on August 28, 2019 at 2:29 pm
Nancy, there’s no one who can sit down and craft a sentence where the hyphens float us from one side of the screen to the other like you can.
Someday, I will be your tribute band.
Also: Todd Stoney? Stoney!?
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Joe Kobiela said on August 28, 2019 at 3:05 pm
I read it shortly after it posted thought it was great although Patsy Cline died in a plane crash not a car crash. I actually have been to the airport she took off from that night, they ran a dc-3 out of fuel. I have also stood on the spot Buddy Holly the big bopper and Richie Valines boarded their plane in Iowa.
Pilot Joe
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basset said on August 28, 2019 at 3:16 pm
Joe, you’re thinking of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and it wasn’t a DC-3, it was a Convair. Aerosmith had been offered the same plane and crew and refused, their air travel manager said no way, not safe. at least that’s how the Aerosmith oral history puts it.
The Patsy Cline crash was a single-engine Piper, non-instrument-rated pilot got disoriented in bad weather, similar situation to the Buddy Holly crash.
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Julie Robinson said on August 28, 2019 at 3:38 pm
The Beatles Tribute Band we heard were pretty good; at least I think so. Sitting behind us were tribute fans who screamed all the way through the concert. Jeesh. I understand why they gave up touring.
Neither of us gets good sleep anymore, yet we don’t get sick and continue to muddle through our lives. I’ve come to accept it as the new normal.
Nance may be nuking that hurricane, but I’m flying into it. Bound for Orlando in the morning!
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Jakash said on August 28, 2019 at 3:53 pm
“Trump steadily fulfills goals on religious right wish list”
The “goals” referenced in this article are, essentially,
a.) Limiting reproductive health choices available to millions of women.
b.) Allowing federal contractors (and others) to discriminate against people based upon their sexual orientation.
c.) Appointing judges whose interpretation of the Constitution is supposedly more in line with that of select, slave-holding, misogynistic 18th-century white men than the majority of present-day citizens.
I don’t know which translation of the Bible the evangelicals are most fond of, but I’m pretty sure none of those topics are prominently featured in any of them. No mention of their appreciation of the efficacy of nuking hurricanes, caging children or boasting of one’s predilection for random pussy-grabbing.
https://apnews.com/c8626c6bdbab4e3f8232ea1499a6954b
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Joe Kobiela said on August 28, 2019 at 3:54 pm
Basset,
I stand corrected, it was a Comanche and yes Skynyrd went down in a convair, Patsy Cline was in a car wreck and wasn’t expected to live, might be why Nancy was confused in her article. Love hearing Patsy sing Crazy which was written by?(anyone)Basset knows who I bet.
Pilot Joe
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jcburns said on August 28, 2019 at 3:57 pm
Willie.
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LAMary said on August 28, 2019 at 4:00 pm
Willie Nelson
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jcburns said on August 28, 2019 at 4:05 pm
No wait, Nelson Eddy.
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LAMary said on August 28, 2019 at 4:05 pm
There was a successful Doors tribute band in my hometown in NJ. Crystal Ship. They seemed to get a lot of gigs.
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alex said on August 28, 2019 at 4:07 pm
You sure you didn’t misread that, Joe? The article said plane crash.
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jcburns said on August 28, 2019 at 4:13 pm
Pilot Joe is correct. (ish.) “Patsy Cline died in a plane crash in 1963, but she very nearly lost her career and her life in a terrible car accident two years before.”
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Joe Kobiela said on August 28, 2019 at 4:23 pm
Alex,
It now says plane crash, but I’m pretty sure it said car crash when I first read it. Yes Willie Nelson wrote Crazy.
Pilot Joe
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Suzanne said on August 28, 2019 at 4:25 pm
Jakash up above: familiarize yourself with Jeff Sharlet and his research on the creepy religious forces that have shaped the modern Conservatives. I watched the Family and am now reading the book. I can’t tell you how eye opening it is. Jesus is no longer really the Son of God, but a manly CEO who loves business & hates labor.
I have been to a few tribute bands but really didn’t get too excited. I mean, it’s not the Beatles.
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Deborah said on August 28, 2019 at 4:42 pm
I’ll say it here rather than FB: Happy Birthday Jeff tmmo.
I finished the 2 books I got at the Erica Jong / Molly Jong Fast interviewers and book signing last week. The MJF one (Normal Girl) was more interesting and funnier than the one her mother wrote (Fear of Dying). The EJ one started out bad, I almost stopped reading during the first chapter. It got better in the middle and then it got bad again at the end. IMO.
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nancy said on August 28, 2019 at 5:31 pm
It did say car crash, but someone emailed to correct us, and we changed it. At a real publication we’d have acknowledged the error, but we’re pretty fly by night. It was a pretty minor error, all things considered.
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Scout said on August 28, 2019 at 5:48 pm
Gillibrand is out. She didn’t make the cut for the Sept debate. It’s good the herd is finally thinning.
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Dorothy said on August 28, 2019 at 8:58 pm
Happy birthday my fellow Virgo, Jeff tmmo! Basset and I will raise a glass to you soon in acknowledgement of your passage around the sun once more. And maybe we’ll raise a glass to me, too, since my birthday is Saturday. Yay – a three day weekend! Then Mike & I work three days and THEN we start our 40th anniversary adventure! Stay tuned.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 28, 2019 at 10:05 pm
Huzzah for the August birthdays! My wife turned 60 on Monday, and I’m 58 today, and our son’s senior year is off to a great start in Athens, OH, beloved of many readers here. He managed to *not* trigger the words “not my tempo” and got tapped for the top group in his music program; this Saturday is Band Day in Peden Stadium, where for our last first game as band parents there will be 21 high school marching bands sharing the field with The Most Exciting Band in the Land. Huzzah for the Marching 110!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl1utsrSbrE
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alex said on August 28, 2019 at 10:13 pm
58 is pounding on my door and will be here right quick.
Gillibrand can pound sand. Her phony pro-gun gimmick wouldn’t win her a single vote from the NRA dupes and only costs her the respect of progressives who see her for the whore that she is.
Warren is starting to get the respect she deserves and if I were to lay money on it, that’s where we’re headed. And if Trump calls her Pocahontas, she’d be perfectly within her rights to call him Herr Fuhrer.
Cannot believe Labor Day is upon us already. Having just taken a vacation, we’re gonna be spending this one a-laboring. Even though we repainted the house a coupla months ago, the gutters and soffits (factory finished) are sounding a sour note, so we’ve decided to customize them by neutralizing them with the same dark bronze finish we used on other trim. I’m halfway across the front of the house this evening and wondering why the fuck we didn’t do this months ago. Even though it’s a minor functional detail, it’s a transformation.
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Deborah said on August 28, 2019 at 11:10 pm
I’m looking at 69 in October and that means I’m a little more than a year away from the dreaded seven-oh. I remember not being able to imagine life beyond 50. But honestly, I love my life now, except for living through the reign of our horrible president.
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Dexter Friend said on August 29, 2019 at 2:00 am
Scout, I was saddened all-to-hell that L.O.D. had to retract and apologize on-air last night…the oligarchs-Trump story was phony. Lawrence is really careful about this stuff and he was obviously fed shit. Lawrence has a horrible temper and I know he must have been furious to be corrected and sort of shamed last night. He could easily be fired over this, ala Dan Rather and Brian Williams. Goddammitt anyway. Fuck. L.O.D. is just the best.
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Suzanne said on August 29, 2019 at 9:08 am
Another idiotic Trumpian idea. You join the military and have a baby while stationed overseas? Hmmmmm, we might let you bring the baby back but not as a US citizen.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/trump-administration-ends-automatic-citizenship-for-some-children-of-military-federal-workers-born-abroad/2019/08/28/29b811c6-c9d7-11e9-a1fe-ca46e8d573c0_story.html
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Sherri said on August 29, 2019 at 9:46 am
While Bretbug Stephens is flouncing away from Twitter, Ijeoma Oluo isn’t going anywhere despite real abuse: https://medium.com/@IjeomaOluo/the-thing-about-safety-a3e4cac767c2
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Bitter Scribe said on August 29, 2019 at 9:55 am
Nancy, that was a nice story about tribute artists, except that you failed to answer the one burning question about them: Why do Elvis impersonators always go for fat Elvis?
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Julie Robinson said on August 29, 2019 at 10:09 am
Seems pretty obvious to me, Bitter. It’s because they too are fat.
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lisa said on August 29, 2019 at 10:17 am
I thought your article on tribute bands was a great read. My city has a huge free summer in the park series of tribute bands, etc. each year. It’s a big deal with thousands attending. Three years ago, a Journey tribute band played, called Resurrection. I love Steve Perry and his years in Journey and this band sounds so much like Journey. They drew the largest crowd ever for any concert in almost 50 years. A local artist took his drone up above the crowd and got a gorgeous photo of the crowd. I’ll have to go look up the next largest crowd……I think it was in the 60’s or early 70’s and was Count Basie or someone like him.
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ninja3000 said on August 29, 2019 at 12:00 pm
Love your writing, as always. But while the Patsy Cline impersonator may have ginned up a “Deep South” accent for the gig, Patsy herself was actually from the rather-northerly burg of Winchester, Virginia.
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alex said on August 29, 2019 at 12:23 pm
Still another reason why the NYT can suck an egg:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/29/new-york-times-omits-mention-race-history-tea-party/
Is it really so difficult to call out disingenuousness and bad faith for what they are?
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JodiP said on August 29, 2019 at 1:24 pm
Whew! Finally coming up for air with my new job. I’ve been able to visit here, but little time to comment. Happy belated, Jeff (TMMO)!
As always, I wish we could see pics of Alex’s projects. Your place sounds so wonderful.
Speaking of religious stuff: I have to find a new dentist as my insurance changed. I was reviewing profiles online on the official HealthPartners site, and one dentist mentioned he does daily devotions with his wife. I also have to get a new PCP, and one of the nurse practitioners at my clinic noted that her Bible study group is very important. I find this deeply weird, and no way would I ever go see either one of them. In my experience, the people who need to proclaim their faith are the conservative type of Christian. As a lesbian I have zero interest in experiencing their discomfort/distaste.
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Scout said on August 29, 2019 at 1:29 pm
If he and I weren’t both gay, I’d marry this guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW2SEpWWqXM
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MarkH said on August 29, 2019 at 5:08 pm
Deb and I both looking at 68 in December, three days apart. I’d take 50 again in a heartbeat, but back no further, really. OK, OK, 40 is more like it. But the good news is we’re celebrating 32 years of marriage today.
Happy Belated, Jeff(tmmo)!
On another, more somber note – from the archives, 14 years ago today, lest we forget:
— “It’s over. It’s all fucking over. I’m homeless. It’s gone:
ALL RESIDENTS ON THE EAST BANK OF ORLEANS AND JEFFERSON REMAINING IN THE METRO AREA ARE BEING TOLD TO EVACUATE AS EFFORTS TO SANDBAG THE LEVEE BREAK HAVE ENDED. THE PUMPS IN THAT AREA ARE EXPECTED TO FAIL SOON AND 9 FEET OF WATER IS EXPECTED IN THE ENTIRE EAST BANK. WITHIN THE NEXT 12-15 HOURS
That’s all folks.”
—- Ashley — RIP
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Jeff Borden said on August 29, 2019 at 7:51 pm
Anybody see the loathesome Todd Courser is gonna do jail time? Boo fucking hoo!
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LAMary said on August 29, 2019 at 9:45 pm
I just sent you a restaurant recommendation for Kate and then I realized she’s vegan so seafood holds no attraction. When you visit her you can check it out. It’s a famous old beachy place with great fish and fries.
https://la.eater.com/2019/8/29/20837238/neptunes-net-malibu-seafood-restaurant-63-years-photos-food-inside-beach
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basset said on August 29, 2019 at 10:13 pm
I’ll be 64 on Monday… will you still need me, will you still feed me?
Tribute bands… in Nashville a few summers ago a Steely Dan tribute was playing a bar near downtown while the real Steely Dan was on at an outdoor stage maybe three blocks away.
Best tribute band I know of is the Earls of Leicester, keeping the Flatt & Scruggs sound alive.
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Colleen said on August 29, 2019 at 11:19 pm
Another August baby here. I hit 52 on the 4th. I can’t really wrap my brain around it.
We are awaiting Dorian. Hoping it’s died down a bit by the time it gets to us. Even the weather dude said there was no reason for people in Tampa to panic. And those guys love to get people all freaked out.
Re tribute bands…husband is the Production dude for a cluster of Fort Wayne stations. Since we both work from home and share an office, I’ve been hearing him put together all the commercials for summer concerts. A TON of tribute bands have made it through the Fort this summer. Some of them sound pretty good, too.
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beb said on August 30, 2019 at 1:23 am
69 / 40 and Aquarius.
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Connie said on August 30, 2019 at 8:22 am
Basset, same for me on Tuesday.
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LAMary said on August 30, 2019 at 9:01 am
Pffff. Bunch of youngsters. I’m going to be 67 next January. I’m down to watching news, Jeopardy and baseball on television which sounds very old fartish to me. When the baseball season is over I’ll probably go to bed after Jeopardy. I have a freaking cataract. That’s geezer territory. I am planning to soak my feet in warm water and Epsom salts this weekend. My grandmother used to do that. On the other hand, I don’t chase off teenagers or eat at IHOP for the senior discount.
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LAMary said on August 30, 2019 at 9:19 am
Facebook just told me it’s PeeWee Herman’s 67th birthday today.
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Joe Kobiela said on August 30, 2019 at 9:27 am
Little known fact, Pee Wee Herman’s dad was a U.S. fighter pilot in World War Two and after the war helped start and flew for the Israel Air Force.
Pilot Joe
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Julie Robinson said on August 30, 2019 at 9:38 am
Happy birthday to all the August babies!
Randy Rainbow is perfectly on point as well as perfectly groomed, of course. For those who don’t know musicals, all the songs in Scout’s link are from Jesus Christ Superstar.
Jody, being lesbian and being Christian aren’t mutually exclusive and you and your partner would be very welcome at our church. I agree about conservative Christians and can’t get far enough away from them, but don’t want to be painted with the same brush just because we share the name.
Watching Mike’s Weather Page and making our plans. Colleen, it’s looking more like you’ll also have some problems. Good luck to you and yours.
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JodiP said on August 30, 2019 at 10:19 am
Julie, I absolutely know of many Christians who in my opinion, embody the faith at its best. Some of our closest friends are quite religious–one is entering seminary at age 41. We have many welcoming congregations in Minneapolis. When I came out in 1999, a local Lutheran pastor, Anita Hill, had just come out and it was very helpful in bringing some of my family along the path towards acceptance.
My thought, though, is if you feel you need to put that on your professional page, you’re the conservative type who feels under attack. I could be completely wrong, but my white religious friends rarely mention their faith. They just live it. My black friends are different–if they are religious, it gets talked about in terms of how important their faith is to their success, their strength, and their resilience. I have one Muslim black friend who credits faith in her FB posts. It’s a very different vibe than some folks who need ot make a point of their Christianity.
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Julie Robinson said on August 30, 2019 at 11:25 am
I’m glad to hear that Jodi, and my apologies for misspelling your name.
Besides the house, we have to worry about the church roof, which still sports a tarp from Irma in 2017. They’ve been in negotiation/litigation with their insurer ever since. Many other homes are in similar situations with at least one blue roof per block.
They claim the roof damage is from age, not the hurricane. Funny, the older areas of the roof were untouched.
At our house we had to put a new roof on the second it turned 20 years old, or no insurer would cover us. We had contracted to have it done the week after the hurricane hit, and the old one came through without a problem. Insurance company didn’t care. Bastards.
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deni menken said on August 30, 2019 at 12:51 pm
Just flew in this morning from beautiful Sanibel Island. Plane was jam-packed. I hope this storm is mostly hype and over-prep but it just looks massive. Folks are very nervous about evacuation possibility. Don’t know which is worse, fire or water. Nobody needs this.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 30, 2019 at 2:55 pm
JodiP, I understand the concern, and like Julie would easily be able to welcome you and your partner in worship here — but this is also one of the downsides of “life online” and boutique-ish-ness of everything: we learn stuff about our service providers that I don’t want to know, often. My childhood doctor was an Olympian figure whose faith or hobbies I never had a clue of; my teachers were likewise a mystery, not always sure if they left the building at night or just curled up under their desks. When my fifth grade teacher was a lady in my church, it felt . . . strange.
In many ways it’s good people can be themselves today in ways they didn’t used to — my mom had to resign when her pregnancy with me became visible, because a teacher’s contract said she was supposed to tell her principal immediately on learning of a pregnancy, which she was about to do until a friend and next door teacher caught her and said “we’ll tell him when you’re showing, hon, and not one day before it’s unavoidable!” And so on, back in the day.
But there’s letting people be themselves, and learning that your cable repair tech or home health aide “loves watching WWF and making furniture out of scrap lumber” in their employee profile, let alone that your doctor is a big fan of David Jeremiah — I’d just rather not know. And not that long ago, you didn’t, and that’s just fine with me, because then I don’t have to have an opinion, like that he’s a pain in my assessment of TV preachers. I don’t want to discuss exegesis with my doctor, I want to talk about my cholesterol levels and blood pressure. Talking about Jeremiah gets the latter up, which is what we’re here to lower, right?
So I hope you can find the right match, but I worry about having too much information on the table in some cases. Heck, I’ll bet there’s people on here who like Coldplay, but I just don’t need to know that, any more than you need to hear I still enjoy listening to the Eagles from time to time. Shut up, Mr. Lebowski, I heard you the first time.
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Bob said on August 30, 2019 at 2:59 pm
Basset, since you’re in Nashville and you like the Earls of Leicester, you should be sure to catch Chris Scruggs and the Stone Fox Five at The Local some Sunday night. Chris is the grandson of Earl Scruggs, and The Stone Fox Five is his pickup band of Nashville heavy hitters, who play 1940s and 1950s honky tonk. They’re really great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my3gM6XxPws
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Jakash said on August 30, 2019 at 4:29 pm
Speaking of bluegrass, tonight PBS is airing “Big Family: The Story of Bluegrass Music” for 2 hours.
Here’s a 3 1/2 minute clip, “Earl Scruggs Joins Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys.”
https://tinyurl.com/y69a57lb
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MarkH said on August 30, 2019 at 4:32 pm
I’m still older than you, LAMary.
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Dave said on August 30, 2019 at 5:37 pm
I’m older than most of you but not all, I believe Dexter is a few months older but I don’t want to brag about being old, surviving, perhaps I would brag about that but I think some of it is about as chancy as playing a slot machine, once you pull the lever, you never quite know what might come up. Folks I know keep passing on, in the last two weeks, an old neighbor, a classmate, and a good friend who was two years younger.
Colleen, we’re across the bay from you in Palm Harbor and we are torn about what to do. When Irma came, we ran, our son lived in Nashville at the time and we loaded up our pictures, a few other keepsakes, and went there. Our next door neighbor stayed home and said there was wind and rain but nothing terrible. We lost a tree and a lot of branches from the other trees. Our neighbor boarded up his back porch today but none of his other windows so I don’t quite know what he’s expecting.
If we decide to run this time, all of our children live farther away.
I believe that David Jeremiah, early in his career, started the Blackhawk Church on East State out by Georgetown in Fort Wayne. We knew people who just thought he was IT and always spoke of him in such exalted ways. Me, I had to look up what exegesis means, I didn’t know.
Oh, and playing a slot machine, bad example, there’s not a lot of risk in that, unless you put everything you’ve got into it with no return.
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Bob (not Greene) said on August 30, 2019 at 5:48 pm
OK, in order to beat this horse truly dead, I have to share this video of Lester Flatt on the Porter Wagoner Show. Playing mandolin is a 14-year-old Marty Stuart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omEiAbcPslU
Chris Scruggs now plays bass in Marty Stuart’s band, as does The Stone Fox Five’s lead guitar player, Kenny Vaughan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS7xPPcR4Bc
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Suzanne said on August 30, 2019 at 8:08 pm
Yes, David Jeremiah did start Blackhawk Baptist. It was the place to be back in the day. Now, not so much. They also now call themselves Blackhawk Ministries although they are still affiliated with the Baptists. I know a guy who is very involved with the church. He explained to me that they felt the term “Baptist” put people off so they changed the name. Seems a little like the old bait & switch to me.
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LAMary said on August 30, 2019 at 9:29 pm
I’m impressed with long marriages. Mine sucked and I think I probably shouldn’t have got married at all. My kids are great and I don’t regret having them but their father was not much help with raising them and I might have been just as good on my own. I had a sketchy upbringing in some ways and I don’t think I ever got used to trusting or relying on anyone. My ex wasn’t very trustworthy so the frail bit of trust I had was trashed and never restored.
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Deborah said on August 30, 2019 at 11:15 pm
Julie, how are things in Orlando?
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Jessica Weissman said on August 31, 2019 at 12:02 am
I’m heading right at 68 at the end of the year, and wouldn’t go back any earlier than 40. However, the physical decline sped way up when I hit 66. Nothing life-threatening, just muscle aches and rebellious knees, and not being able to walk more than 3-4 blocks uphill without getting winded, and not being able to hand off the Torah from the ark when I am floor gabbai (the person who keeps the choreography of a Jewish service going, and that includes taking out the Torah and passing it to the person who will be carrying it around the pews). The Torah scroll is heavy – many yards of parchment, wooden handles and a thick velvet covering-and I just can’t lift it safely any more.
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jerry said on August 31, 2019 at 1:48 am
For me it’s 74 (until November) and 52 years married. And I’m waiting on a hip operation, which has caused cancellation of this year’s trip to Australia.
As I used to say to my mother when she complained of getting old: you may not like it but it’s better than the alternative.
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Dexter Friend said on August 31, 2019 at 2:12 am
Yeah, I’ll be 70 in a few days, no more Mackinac Bridge Walk for me and Carla Lee. The entire generation of our mothers and fathers is gone, leaving 7 cousins to begin dropping dead…whenever. Not too sad or depressed, except pondering the woeful Detroit Tigers, the worst-by-far baseball team in many years. Like many young men, I made some seemingly good decisions which backfired, mainly marrying a 19 year old woman when I was 22. I regret that, even though we split up 45 years ago…listening to comedian Jim Florentine’s similar story of his awful first marriage made me feel better lately…I am not the only man who married a deceiving wicked young … well, not-ready-for-marriage woman.
Our daughter ( from my current marriage) in Port St. Lucie , along with Pilot Steve and the Weimaraners, have decided not to run, since they have hurricane-proof windows all around in their new house . TWC doctors said about 6 hours ago that Dorian is a Cat. 4 now and may reach Florida as a Cat. 5 “or something above that”. But…the “kids” are banking on the European model; which shows Dorian shooting up the coastline…watch out Georgia. Carla Lee is coming home this evening from a visit at the new house of Vanessa and family in Commercial Point, near Grove City. The new house is sort of what I call a mini-McMansion, damn it’s a huge house. Vanessa is ready to take another step in the journey back to freedom and normalcy…breast removal of the other healthy one, and reconstruction, in 11 days. She is excited to get it over with. She is cancer free now and fer crissakes we hope forever. Also, Carla Lee’s junkie grandson moved back to Toledo with his babymama. A few hours ago it was released that pitcher Tyler Skaggs of the LA Angels of Anaheim died of an opiates/alcohol “accidental overdose”—will this wake up our grandson? Fuck no it won’t…he listens to a drumbeat that we can’t hear let alone understand. This opiate crisis is horrible and when it’s in your family, it’s a bitter pill. I have hated heroin and these opiates since I knew what they were as a kid and later when I ran a drug-rehab as a young soldier and saw it first hand. That shit, which was called skag back then, never tempted me to ever even think about trying it. I really, really, hate it.
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Julie Robinson said on August 31, 2019 at 7:54 am
Orlando is still waiting and preparing. Dorian has slowed down and seems certain to hit the east coast. Last night most of Broward County was put under mandatory evacuation, including Cape Canaveral.
It’s looking much better for Colleen and Dave on the west coast. But, it’s a BIG storm.
We will still have high winds and lots of rain even if the eye doesn’t come here. Some say 25 inches. This further loosens the sandy soil and makes the trees more susceptible to going down, which then takes down power lines. So our purchases included battery operated fans and many, many batteries. Also two new board games.
Best news of all was that a roofer in the area saw Sarah’s Instagram post about the church roof and brought a crew over yesterday afternoon. It’s such a relief, especially since all the stores are sold out of tarps.
Our son works for the county and will be taking a 12 hour shift Sunday night delivering cots and other supplies to emergency shelters. He called home first to see if he thought we could spare him, and we told him to go earn overtime.
We will be fine. We are all here together and will face it together.
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JodiP said on August 31, 2019 at 9:03 am
I hope everyoe will be all right and make it safely through Dorian. Friends on Vieques (part of Puerto Rico) were so relieved. Lots of rain and wind, and eery skies and spectacular sunsets after. If you go to Vieques Beach Watch group on FB, a photographer by the name of Diego took some really stunning shots.
Dexter, I hear you. Having a loved one deal with cancer is no joke. I hope Vanessa’s treatment has well and truly kicked it. My sympathy on your step grandson’s situation.
And now: it’s the small things that can make you happy. MN has had online vehicle registration renewal for some time, but upgraded it. It took me maybe 60 seconds, as they keep all your data. No more looking up that VIN! I remember hearing about major problems with the rollout, but everything was aparently resolved.
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LAMary said on August 31, 2019 at 12:29 pm
I keep hearing DURIAN instead of DORIAN and thinking it’s a stink hurricane. I’d be ok with that hitting Mar a Lago.
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Deborah said on August 31, 2019 at 12:39 pm
Having lived through a number of hurricanes in my youth, I remember it being both exciting and terrifying. Today’s hurricanes are so much worse than they used to be.
I wish I could click on that link to the photos of Vieques but I’m in Abiquiu, our last full day and night here until October. Monday LB and I go to a Sting concert in Taos and Thursday we all go to Chicago. LB will stay in Chicago for a week.
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Jakash said on September 1, 2019 at 1:52 pm
“We get distracted by the loners writing their manifestoes and arming themselves like Rambo before heading out to kill. Most gun deaths happen because somebody gets mad or drunk or depressed and there’s a gun there. Until that instant, he’s a ‘good guy with a gun.'”
https://twitter.com/petersagal/status/1168007095683342336
While that’s a good point, solving that problem is even harder than keeping AR-15s out of the hands of Manifesto Guys. And this country doesn’t even seem capable of working on that, with Massacre Mitch running things.
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beb said on September 1, 2019 at 3:37 pm
Apparently Bret “bedbug” Stephens wrote a whole NYT column attacking the man who had called him a bedbug. While a lot of commentators on Twitter are saying ‘dude, give it up,’ I realized that he can’t give it up, he won’t give it up because he’s acting out Donald Trump’s playbook. If someone insults you, you attack them. If they continue, raise the ante, repeat until they surrender. It works for Donald Trump why shouldn’t it work for Stephens. Of course it’s not working because Stephens isn’t high enough on the food chain to avoid criticism.
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Sherri said on September 1, 2019 at 7:16 pm
What’s worse that Bretbug writing that column is an editor letting it run.
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Bill White said on September 29, 2019 at 12:51 pm
The tribute band piece leaves me thinking “Hmm… I wonder if I could do that?”
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