Stay The Course

100yroldgrandma(inhales) yeah (exhales) I was disappointed when my entry wasn’t one of the top 10 tracks on KCRW’s 7th Annual Radio Race– but y’know what? I’m gonna keep on keepin’ on. That’s right, I’m gonna channel my inner geezer and keep plugging away, recording weird little stories like the one that got left on the audio heap two weeks ago. I got a million of ‘em. The hits just keep on coming.

Nevermind The Turbulence

Screenshot_20190813-214330 “Koochie koochie koo! There’s my favorite frequent tiny flyer! Do you need more brandy in your formula Mr. Snookums? I’ll be right back to empty your ashtray!” The good folks at weird vintage everyday have unearthed another gem that gives a whole new meaning to the phrase rock a bye baby.

Saturday Night @ The Boardroom

usWe had a great time at theĀ Boardroom with Todd and Michelle last Saturday. They are two of our oldest friends. I’ve known Todd since I was 13, and we both have known Michelle since college. We made plans to eat dinner and play board games a few weeks ago, and that’s exactly what happened. The first two games required brain power and strategy. The last one, Pass The Pigs, was pure fun and chance.passthepigsThe game has two tiny pigs that are rolled like dice. It’s like a craps game without the side bets. Scores depend on the different positions in which the pig dice land, but if you roll too many times you WILL pig out (crap out).piggyback

Undying Love For Dead Malls

deadmallCOVERLike a distant echo from a forgotten retailer, the latest token of love for the dead mall is this: a collection of remixed mall music muzak! A friend that belongs to the Facebook group, Dead Mall Enthusiasts, sent me a link and said, “as a fellow dead mall lover, you may enjoy this.” I do. Here’s the first track.

Number Neighbor Sequel

numberneighborIILast week I got texts from one of my number neighbors. Everybody has two. They are the people whose phone numbers are one digit higher and one digit lower than you. They are also known as text door neighbors. This is how the original exchange went. When my neighbor wanted to know more personal information about me, I kindly suggested that they go bug the other neighbor on the north side.

Australia 1975

collarsandshortsSometimes checking social media is like turning knobs and pushing buttons on a time travel machine. Destination: Australia 1975! What’s with all the wrong combinations? Short sleeve shirts & ties? Ties & shorts? Shorts with socks pulled up to the knees? Well, actually I remember doing that from time to time. weird vintage everyday puts amazing old photos like this on Instagram. Imagine the kind of story you could make up about these two businessmen! I can see them being door to door salesmen, because if they worked behind a retail counter, we’d never see those walk socks!

Inhale, Exhale

birdciggytippiwhew! i got the cartoons drawn & the radio piece submitted. when church was over i just stayed home and relaxed. a couple of hours later jenny said, “let’s go for a sunday drive.” we meandered down 87th street and stopped at a turkish coffee shop along the way. other stops included shawnee mission park & desoto.

Kamikaze Cram Sessions

HSTworkspace the next 48 hours are going to feel like i’m cramming for college finals. jim mathis has commissioned me to draw cartoons for his next book called the camel and the eye of the needle. i read most of the book yesterday, and i’ll crank out some material for him today. then starting at noon tomorrow, i’ll be in a 24 hour race against other radio producers. it’s a contest to see who can write, edit, and produce the best 4 minute non-fiction piece for a santa monica radio station. when the dust clears in a couple of weeks, the winner will collect $1000.

From Bad To Worse

badelvifunny but painful, laughing through the hurt, side splitting nausea… those are the first phrases that come to mind when i think of bad elvis impersonators. i also imagine that they would be accompanied by theĀ portsmouth sinfonia aka the world’s worst orchestra. i can’t stop laughing… ow!

Number Neighbor

numberneighbormy number neighbor reached out to me on monday. if you’re wondering what that means, it’s this: someone out there has my phone number, except for the last digit, and they texted me. so if my phone number ended in 4461, my number neighbor would be 4460. when i asked a few folks at the coffeehouse if they had received a similar text, one guy said “yeah,” and showed me a picture of a cat that his number neighbor had sent him. the screenshot above is how my exchange went. i guess i could have been friendlier.