I’m not writing much because I’m spending a lot of time looking into behind-the-scenes changes to this site, including a different look, a different video player and, most of all, a much bigger and better bucket to hold all of my multimedia files. Since being forced to make an emergency switch from iPower to Bluehost way back in March — what a terrible weekend that was — I have restored only a small percentage of the sound and movie files that I had posted, out of concern that I will once again use too much of my “unlimited” storage. By using Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service), my hope is I will be soon able to put the old MP3, FLV and MP4 files back online, but before I can do that there are some technical considerations to work through.
Author: DOuG pRATt
The Boss isn’t boss
“Boss” was an expression in the mid-60’s, before “groovy,” that meant something was very good. The most recent equivalent is to say that something “rules.”
Whenever I reveal that I’m not a Springsteen fan, I get surprised and/or disappointed looks. What can I say? I’ve never felt a connection with The Boss, the hero of the working man. Yes, I know how dedicated he is, and sincere, and hard-working but, sorry, the feeling just isn’t there for me.
What got me in the late 70’s was Punk and New Wave, although I never lived a lifestyle even remotely reflecting the external manifestations of the rougher element of the genre. I remained purely a drug-free nerd, with the visceral, therapeutic intensity of listening to Elvis Costello’s “This Year’s Model”, in particular, being something that has always stayed with me. Here are two tunes from those days that conveyed more to me than anything I’ve ever heard by Springsteen.
The Ramones album “Road to Ruin”, with Marky taking over drums from Tommy, who helped produce, was a stunning accomplishment — this achingly heartfelt song, most of all…
…and the great “Union City Blues”, from Blondie’s ultimate achievement, “Eat to the Beat”…
Palin in comparision
Stephen Colbert deftly dissected Sarah Palin’s self-serving defense against the latest criticisms about her place in American political discourse.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| The Word – Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Angriness | ||||
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Truth taken to the grave
Dr. Timothy Stryker is dead, and with him goes the truth of whether or not he murdered Dr. Linda Goudey. My first mention of the case was this item, which resulted in me being contacted by a CBS-TV producer.
Boston after dark
This was how it looked last night, starting a couple of hours after I had left downtown Boston.
Snow day
We have snow. Here’s the view of the backyard as seen from the laundry room.
It’s still coming down, and our street hasn’t been plowed yet. I’ll fire up the snow thrower in a while.