It's been three months

Still here. Still alive and COVID-Free. Still maintaining amid death, batshit crazy and being in place. My father in law died earlier this month of a non-COVID condition and that's taken a lot of good emotions away from us. 

I was referred for cataract surgery in September, had the surgeries in November and that has changed my life significantly. Now I can see distance but need readers for up close. It's been a profound adjustment. 

Still buying music, listening to it when I can. It's hard to focus and my guitar playing time has suffered.

Here's the list of what I bought this year. The stars mean I really liked it. My two faves are Bob Dylan's Rough and Rowdy Ways and Emma Swift's Blonde on the Tracks. It's been a Bob year. 

Have not bought much vinyl due to COVID, but my recent nothing else to do but buy shit during COVID phase brought me some wonderful Japanese pressings, and the Dave Clark Five record is a revelation of rock and roll energy.

Wishing you all a peaceful Christmas, and I'll probably post a movies I watched entry next week. Be safe. 

1. Bobby Rush - Sittin’ on Top of the Blues
2. Rough Guide to World Guitar Music
3. Algiers - There is No Year
4. Bill Fay - Countless Branches
5. Basic Plumbing - Keeping Up Appearances *
6. Ben Watt - Storm Damage
7. Michael Kiwanuka - Home Again *
8. Ann Peebles - I Can't Stand the Rain
9. Guided By Voices - Surrender Your Poppy Field
10. Buddy Guy & Junior Wells Play the Blues
11. Nadia Reid - Out of My Province
12. Maria McKee - La Vita Nuova
13. Lily Hiatt - Walking Proof *
14. John Prine
15. John Prine - The Missing Years
16. Dan Berggren in Concert (CD)
17. Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters
18. The Jam - The Gift (LP)
19. The Amazing Nina Simone (LP)
20. Lucinda Williams - Good Souls, Better Angels
21. Ric Napoli
22. Ric Napoli - The Atlanta Sessions
23. Fela Kuti - Expensive Shit
24. Tony Allen - NEPA
25. COVAID-614
26. Cherry Chrome - Place of Love *
27. Nick Tolford & Company - Lost My Mind
28. Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - Reunions
29. Badly Drawn Boy - Banana Skin Shoes
30. Nicole Atkins - Italian Ice (LP) *
31. Sondre Lerche -Patience
32. The Explorer’s Club
33. The Explorer’s Club - To Sing and Be Born Again
34. Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways *
35. Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
36. Eccentric Soul - The CapSoul Label (Vinyl)
37. The Jayhawks - Xoxo
38. Freddie King - Let’s Hide Away and Dance Away
39. Pretenders - Hate For Sale
40. Gillian Welch - Boots No. 2. The Lost Songs Vol. 1
41. Robyn Hitchcock - The Man Upstairs: Demos and Rarities
42. Davey Horne
43. Emma Swift - Blonde on the Tracks (download and LP) *
44. Bebel Gilberto - Agora
45. Feargal Sharkey
46. Justin Townes Earle - Harlem River Blue 
47.  The Who - Odds & Sods (RDS vinyl)
48.  Funkadelic - Maggot Brain (Vinyl)
49. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Henry’s Dream
50. P.J. Harvey - To Bring You My Live (demos)
51. Toots & the Maytalls - Best of
52. Lydia Loveless - Daughter
53. Denise Johnson - Where Does It Go *
54. Jeffrey David DiCicca - The Unlikely Optimist and His Domestic Adventures
55. Catherine Anne Davies & Bernard Butler - In Memory of My Feelings *
56. Betty Davis - They Say I’m Different
57. Tom Petty - Wildflowers & the Rest (3LP & download)
58. Bruce Springsteen - Letter To You
59. Busta Rhymes - Extinction Level Event Two: The Wrath of God *
60. The Dirty Knobs - Wreckless Abandon
61. Deep Sea Diver - Impossible Weight
62. Straight Scared: A Columbus Tribute to New Bomb Turks
63.  Jill Lorean - Not Your First
64. Belle and Sebastian - What To Look For In Summer (2-LP)

 Used Vinyl

1. Johnny Nash - I Can See Clearly Now
2. XTC - Skylarking
3. The Marachi Brass featuring Chet Baker - Double Shot
4. Beatles For Sale (Japanese pressing)
5. Rabbit - Broken Arrows
6. Beatles - Abbey Road (Japanese pressing)
7. Beatles - Help! (Japanese pressing)
8. Issac Hayes - For the Sake of Love
9. Dave Clark Five - 16 Greatest Hits (Japanese pressing)

I Can't Even Touch the Books You've Read

Today is the 70th birthday of Bob Dylan. He's written a few songs in his life but to me, his best tunes are the angry ones. Positively 4th Street is a middle finger raised epic.

He's the king of the divorce song, Blood on the Tracks is the best assemblage of divorce songs, with Shoot out the Lights by Richard and Linda Thompson coming in a close second.



You poets talk about spitting. None of you will ever come close to the viciousness of this song.

Football sestina, not the best idea

I know there were some harsh words about the Bob Dylan Christmas record said here. There is a video out now. It has to be seen to be believed. Bob's wearing a wig that makes him look like Iggy Pop, or Tom Petty. There's a hellacious party going on. I think the guy swinging from the chandelier is the Jack of Hearts.

The boy went to bed at 10PM, woke up at 2AM and is still awake. At least it gave me the opportunity to see that what I started writing last night was total nonsense. It's been a tough month on the page, especially with the 30/30 project happening. I'm not getting much out of it, nor am I putting anything in. Writing the pantoum, getting only one response then seeing another poet write this short throwaway piece (that had a Springsteen song as a title) get scads of attention completely turned me off. Sure I'm being petty and unnecessarily jealous but this was not a clique I was a part of from day one.

The new Margaret Atwood book is rather bleak and fierce. It picks up around the time of Oryx and Crake and runs with bioengineering, pandemics and massive changes in the way humans live. Atwood has some wicked humor going on, and her satire is top notch.

I also liked I'm Dying up Here, a well told story about stand up comedy in Los Angeles in the 1970's. It's a quick read about the founding of the Comedy Store and the early careers of Letterman, Leno, Boosler, George Miller, Richard Lewis and many other comedians. It also has the story of a boycott of the Comedy Store and its operator, Mitzi Shore, that is rather detailed. I wonder how fair the book is toward everyone involved but it seemed a rather balanced reporting of events to me.

Alright, I think the kid's back to sleep. Maybe I can get another hour or two of shuteye.