#694: F is for Finneas

The brother of Billie Eilish, and the mastermindbehind most of her production choices, one mightthink that this young man would just be a kind of boy-version of his sister. Not even close. Listeningto Finneas, the last record, The Optimist, or this one, For Crying Out Loud, brings into stark contrast the two projects. Oddly, givenContinue reading “#694: F is for Finneas”

#693: F is for Ferry, Bryan

Here’s a super groovy late 80’s album for you. I think I heard Bryan Ferry on the Roxy Music Avalon album and I didn’t even make the connectionbetween this guy and “Love Is The Drug.” And while I loved that Roxy Music album,I have never taken the plunge into Roxy Music’s back catalog, which goesContinue reading “#693: F is for Ferry, Bryan”

#692: F is for Feist

It’s been decades since I participatedin any kind of record club situation. When I was young and poor it was the easiest and cheapest way to accumulate a CD collection, and whenI was a kid, my dad allowed me to orderrecords from his subscription at Columbia House. When I became an adult, I put awayContinue reading “#692: F is for Feist”

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program to Announce that Michael Jarmer Has Posted to the Blog Site 1000 Times Since 2011.

1000 blog entries ago, on February 11, 2011, I wrote the following under the title “Inaugural Blog.” Here it goes, for better or worse. The impulse strikes and I’ve set up a blog. Whatever for? I’m a writer, first of all, and I suspect that I might have a few things to say about stuffContinue reading “We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program to Announce that Michael Jarmer Has Posted to the Blog Site 1000 Times Since 2011.”

#674: D is for The Doors

For such a humorless lot, they sure were funny, those Doors: Let’s, for example, be the first band in rock to feature an organ.Let’s write the most iconic organriff, as iconic perhaps as the guitarriff in “You Really Got Me” or “Satisfaction,” and we’ll featurethat organ riff in our most successful hit song from ourContinue reading “#674: D is for The Doors”

#659: An American Sonnet for the Fraction 3/14

I asked google to convert the fraction3/14 into decimals. The artificial intel (default now in a google search),tells me that I am approximately 0.2142857 of the way throughmy entire record collection, andthat the six digits that follow the tenthsare apparently a series of numbersthat will repeat indefinitely, infinitely, forever and ever, amen. I started thisprojectContinue reading “#659: An American Sonnet for the Fraction 3/14”

#658: C is for Crowded House

Brothers, fathers and sons. That’s where I want to begin. Brothers Neil Finn and Tim Finnrose to rock stardom in the unlikelyand miraculous success of Split Enz, the weirdest, nuttiest, and earliestimport from New Zealand ever. At some point in the mid 80’s, that group dissolved, and Neil went on without his brother to formContinue reading “#658: C is for Crowded House”

#592: A is for Arooj Aftab

I go to a tequila bartonight, not for tequila, but for food, in part because it’s right behind the liquor store, where I reallywant to go, but also becauseI need something to eat. No kitchen. Everything on the food menu is preparedhere inside of an air fryer.I can easily go elsewhere,elsewhere, but for convenienceand economicsContinue reading “#592: A is for Arooj Aftab”

#588: On Not Going Back to the Schoolhouse on the First Day of School for the 4th Year In a Row

I hardly give it a thoughtuntil my wife heads out of the housewith a tub of red vines for the drum line info table where herstudents will entice the 9th gradersinto joining indoor percussion. Then, I give it a thought. This is the fourth school yearin a row that I have not reportedback to workContinue reading “#588: On Not Going Back to the Schoolhouse on the First Day of School for the 4th Year In a Row”

#587: A musician of a certain age. . .

. . . sits on his drum throne and bends overto tighten the floor tom legs and the agonyis immediate. He’s not sure if he hears an actual crack or if the pain synapses inhis brain are exploding his auditory nerves. What is most likely is that the pain hascaused him to yell. He’s settingContinue reading “#587: A musician of a certain age. . .”