After voting to pass same bill in June, 25 Republican Senators abruptly changed their votes, blocking the legislation from passing. — Veterans and their families gathered in Washington DC last week for what was supposed to be a celebration. The Senate was finally going to pass a bill providing health care and benefits to millions of veterans exposed to toxins- from Agent Orange in Vietnam to the burn pits in the…

Songs for when you’re on the go — I have a confession to make: I am a transportation junkie. I’m not picky, either. I'll check it out if it moves — or it moves something. Remember that kid that would stop everything and look up if a place went by? That was me. …

The far-right’s favorite TV network suffers another blow. One America News (OAN) — the network for those that think Fox is too mainstream — suffered a another blow yesterday with Verizon announcing it will stop carrying the channel. That represents a loss of ~3.5 million cable subscribers. By week’s end…

Clearer guidelines, how to be added as a writer, and more — All music starts with an idea. Maybe it’s a note, maybe it’s a chord progression. Perhaps it’s a verse that materializes in an artists mind. Eventually each of those individual parts parts come together and form a whole; a whole verse, a whole song, a whole idea. As listeners, we each have own ideas about music…

Out of the oughts and into today! — For those who read Part IV, you may recall my talking about entering and leaving the “baby cave.” The next decade(ish) saw music make a roaring return in my life, but so did “real life.” In many ways, that was wonderful; having ambulatory kids is an adventure. …

If you like it, odds are there’s a newsletter tailor-made for you — Substack is booming right now, and there is a flourishing community of music writers. Unlike traditional social media, readers only subscribe to the newsletters/authors they want to read. That formula also makes directly supporting your favorite authors possible (and easy). The physics are different, and it makes for a much…

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! — We’re back with another edition of rate-a-record, the fun series based on a long-running segment on American Bandstand. I went with a Sunday-related theme because, well, it’s Sunday. The game is easy, the rules simple. For those that are new, they are: Listen to the 2 songs below Rate each…