Great news today about everyone’s favorite troubadour of one-eyed dwarves, Tom Waits: he’s apparently in a schoolhouse in Mississippi recording his new album. Well-aware as he must be of his status as a walking set of arcane yet familiar tropes, he describes the new songs as being about “politics, rats, war, hangings, dancing, automobiles, pirates, […]

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After almost two years without it, I decided on Monday that it might be a good idea to finally get my diploma from my MLS program at Simmons. When I graduated in the summer of 2002, I remember being told I could pick it up, or pay ten bucks to have it mailed to me. […]

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When I went to eat my cereal this morning, this sight greeted me out my kitchen window: I asked myself, “What is the official motto of the U.S. Navy?” Because I can’t believe that alongside the Marines’ “Semper Fidelis” and the Army’s “This We’ll Defend” (ok, had to look that one up), the Navy would […]

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On the way from the gym to work on Monday, I spotted a new store going in where the old hi-fi repair shop used to be next to Cafe Pamplona. It’s called Quick-Flix, and apparently, it’s the world’s smallest dvd rental shop. Well, that’s not their claim to fame, but it looks that way to […]

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We headed to the Paradise tonight for a double-shot of sensitive foreigners, as Teitur opened for Alexi Murdoch. I had only heard of Murdoch from Aaron’s friend who drove us to the airport last year when we were heading to SxSW, and had never heard his music. Teitur I hadn’t heard of at all, but […]

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And what a trip it was… I won’t be able to cram in everything Aimee and I did last week in San Francisco, but I’ll give it a shot tonight, and I hope to post more pictures on a page of their own in the near future. In the Biggest News to come my way […]

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In the summer of 1997, George and I made a massive post-graduation road trip from Amherst to Anchorage. Day 32 (of 42) found us in San Francisco, over 8000 road miles from where we’d begun. It was the first time I’d ever been to California, and it was destined to be a brief stay. We […]

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I got fitted for my orthotics today, which meant another morning in Brookline, another square bagel at Bruegger’s, and another chance to marvel at how short my podiatrist is when he’s seen in multiple photographs standing next to Larry Bird. My orthotics are full-length, and they smell exactly like the Testor’s glue we used to […]

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As Aimee and I get ready for our trip to San Francisco next week, I’ve been doing some research on things to see and do. After a memorable visit to the McSweeney’s Store in Brooklyn last summer, and an unsuccessful visit in January when we found it boarded up, I checked in on what’s going […]

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I spent Easter weekend with Aimee and her family in Newport, an unexpected and relaxing break filled with food and extended family. That doesn’t really sound appealing – maybe “filled with” isn’t the right term. Anyway, we had a great time, I got to experience the Cliff Walk, I got in a somewhat long run […]

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Aimee won the Oscar pool we had (by a hair, I might add, and but I’m a gracious loser), and so it was up to me to take us out to any movie of her choice. I was pleased when Jersey Girl defeated The Prince & Me, because at least Kevin Smith might entertain or […]

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Thanks to Jason and Pitchfork for directing me to this phenomenal cover of “Paranoid Android” by the UMass Drumline today. Last Christmas (or was it birthday?) Scott gave me Christopher O’Riley‘s cd of Radiohead covers on piano, and the Christmas before that, I got the Strung Out on OK Computer string quartet covers album. And […]

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One of the more entertaining spam messages came in this morning. It tells me to consider the following points, among others: Your life is so monotonous. You are working too much. But the best part is that the author, “Boyd,” encourages me to visit the following site to help with these issues: www.letsgout.com. I’m sure […]

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I just figured out how to make it so my blog doesn’t publish commenters’ email addresses by creating links out of them. So feel free to use your real email addresses now (or feel free to continue to make up creative ones, unless you’re going to be insulting in your comment, and then I’ll need […]

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I’m making a list of songs by bands from the British Isles that borrow lyrics from songs performed by bands that didn’t exist organically but were created for television or film. Got all that? This probably doesn’t make sense, and certainly doesn’t warrant an entire list, but when I heard a second song that would […]

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