Living in a Virtual Cave

Hello and welcome to another Difficult Listening Hour, where we play none of the hits and your landlord keeps banging on his ceiling with a broom to demand you turn it down. This week we’ll spend quality time with  Season Of Changes from Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band.  Before we get to the album let me just say, 5/5 stars for a band name! Things are already off to a good start with an unintentional Tolkien reference. No Hobbits were harmed in the making of this music. Season  is an album best described as contemporary jazz - wait - where are you going? You haven’t been excused, yet. The best thing about this genre is how broad it is. Yes, on one end of the spectrum is what a guy I know calls “Bop-Squeak” (perfect, right?), but this album is modern and warm and lyrical without slipping into dreaded smooth jazz territory. The other best thing about the genre is there really is no wrong way to do it. There is so much freedom in the choices the artists can make! As th...

So much in the world right now is majorly en fuego, possibly irrevocably broken. Which is why it’s so nice we can enjoy a really good strawberry season! 🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓

Hello and welcome to another Difficult Listening Hour, where we play none of the hits and your Spotify listening history is wrecked forever. This week we are tucking in the earbuds for Michael Tippett’s A Child Of Our Time . Tippett was a left wing poster child: artist, conscientious objector, and queer. He wrote this oratorio partially as a response to Kristallnacht. Here is an English composer using African-American spirituals in the form of Handel’s Messiah to promote a message of pacifism and reconciliation. Good stuff! Check it out. Used without permission from Universal Music Group. Neener-neener!

Ever heard of the Fermi Paradox? If not, here's a great, long form explanation:  Waitbutwhy  is generally amazing. I've been thinking (entirely too much) about The Great Filter: "The Great Filter theory says that at some point...there’s a wall that all or nearly all attempts at life hit. There’s some stage in that long evolutionary process that is extremely unlikely or impossible for life to get beyond. That stage is The Great Filter." Theories about what exactly The Great Filter might be include biological (the very origin of life itself, the leap to complex cell organisms), cosmological (avoidance of an E.L.E such as another doomsday meteor striking earth), or perhaps as science fiction would have it, the technological: development of something akin to "warp drive". But what if The Great Filter is something less spectacular, less of a one-in-a-trillion shot like any of these examples, but equally daunting? Something rare not because it is nearly unachievab...

Brown, winter leaves swirling in the wind on the pavement Low morning clouds streaming overhead A boxer, a dachshund, and a mutt of some kind, all getting more exercise than me The occasional, possibly forgotten Christmas decoration Five grackles surveying from the top of a billboard The scrape of the dry leaves on the sidewalk  Metal lawn chairs clattering as the barber sets them out for waiting customers Snippets of conversation from a trio of friends passing by The electric lift the workmen next door are using makes the same beeping noise as a delivery truck backing up Coolness of the metal rail my chair is propped against The smooth feeling of a coffee mug on my lips Early signs my top leg is falling asleep because I sat cross-legged too long Clean cotton of the hoodie I am wearing Lavender from my hand soap Guatemalan, single origin ☕️

A  gradeschool boy at a lesson with his math tutor A young mother with one child in a carrier; the other in a stroller Sunset bands of orange, purple, and blue A low, solitary cloud just peeking over the tops of trees in the distance Cartoon hearts stitched on children’s clothing, set out for a boutique sidewalk sale Wooshing traffic. Always. Children shouting to each other as they line up for the bus 80s tunes from the boutique hosting the sidewalk sale Sibelius 2, mvt 1, now that my earbuds are in (muuuuuch betterrrrr) The dryness of my eyes - it’s been a long day The textured pattern on this wicker chair A really fine porch breeze to be thankful for, this time of year The perfume of the young mother passing by Faint grassiness on the breeze Last bite of the chocolate chip cookie I rewarded to myself. Good job, Self. You made it

Late afternoon sunshine filtered through a glass entry door hazed by fingerprints Paper receipts impaled on a metal spike next to the kitchen service window  A blue police box (non-TARDIS edition) An ancient Houston Oilers pennant The tutu-wearing chihuahua in the lap of the old lady next to me sipping G&Ts Shitty hip hop muzac The hum of a hard working margarita machine The clink of bottles Old lady with dog ordering another G&T, water back The polished bar surface The cool of the pint glass My uneven stool, rocking back and forth Industrial bar cleaner Fried food Guinness #2