I needn't write any more, right? The algae mess, the bleach fix, the cheap paint that's peeling... it's an allegorical amalgamation. Some things mean everything.

My Perfect Records project is on a hiatus as I adjust the criteria. I abandoned a few posts devoted to albums that probably already received the praise I was bestowing. Better to concentrate on albums that are either somewhat underappreciated by purists or inconceivably overlooked. Hey, pausing that project provides me an opportunity to shout about a couple of prolific and talented musicians: Mark Ryan (The Marked Men, Mind Spiders, High Tension Wires) and Jake Roberson (Ali

Yeah, 4 steps sullies the clean rule-of-three elegance of the Declaration. Let's assume that one of the four stalls in a committee or cannot overcome the special interests of the Bigs: Pharma and Oil. 3/4 would be an achievement. Shucks, half would go a long way in improving lives. Frankly, passing just one (any one of the four) revitalizes the Country. These are not empty popular promises. They're perfectly doable. We'd need proper enforcement of Eisenhower Era taxation, but

Tumultuous times make good music. This here is a soundtrack to last year's tumult. All songs were released or re-released in 2025, except when I break that one rule. Seun Kuti, Egypt 80, De la Soul - Sand Well Well. Kuti’s kids have filled some big shoes. This record has such a groove and this song offers an exquisite visit from De La Soul. Leave ‘em wanting more, gentlemen. Gypsy Caravan - Soweto Mujibha. This track from Roots Rocking Zimbabwe: The Modern Sound of Harare

I never employ a theme while compiling these year-end lists. They are purely objective compendiums of the songs I most enjoyed. But this...

The San Francisco Chronicle refused to print this Sunday Doonesbury.

2023 . The songs that follow were released or re-released this year, except where noted. Cover Image: about 15 minutes from home and 1 minute to surf. Let's get into it, shall we? 01. [EXCEPTION No.1] Hate the Christian Right - Team Dresch 2023 saw a surge in new interest in Riot Grrrl era bands. 1993's Personal Best was my favorite. It's a perfect blend of punk + twee. This song is a fine way to start an election year. 02. Can't Hardly Wait - The Replacements An enginee

Gosh, I'd intended to make more headway cataloging the perfect records in my possession. But here I am at the end of 2023, writing...

The clip sorta sums up March for me and why the tournament is my favorite sporting event by leagues. The play is decidedly...

Republicans are simple. KKK + OIL = GOP. Ancient, old-world ideas clinging to a wrinkled patriarchy. The transparency of the Republican...

All songs debuted or were reissued this year except where noted and explained. Butcher Brown - Freeze Me. Every year, I look to start...

I probably own about 1,200 albums in various forms, scattered in various closets. It's not a colossal record collection (especially compared to my pals), but it's a respectable swath of music that includes rock, punk, soul, country, rap, industrial, and plenty of the sub-genres invented by music journalists and record store proprietors. Of the 1,200, only a few dozen are perfect. This is a select group. A sonic hall of fame. There's plenty of imperfection in sporting hall of

I wrote a piece some years ago about reparations. It concluded: the recognition of how impossibly lucky a white man is in the United States of America is a critical first step and, frankly, that reparations are the least we can do. My White Male ancestors arrived in 1600-something. They claimed land that wasn't theirs. Ever since that first land was proclaimed, no one in North America has ever denied or stolen land from these White Men. Sure, some have been robbed by the pen.

There's been some chatter about Celtics vs. Warriors fanbases. There are perfectly objective (or mostly objective) systems for judging...

Some sonic goodness to counter a fanatical, plague-filled Dark Age. As always, all songs were released or rereleased this year, except...

Honestly, it was not lazily constructed. First, there's Trudeau's historical insightfulness. Also, the source image needed to be re-inked...

No preamble this year's collection. We know what we know. Terms & Conditions: Since about 2010, I've tried to match the number of songs...

I tried various sizes. The containers were just too small to visibly fit 200,000 dead people (there are actually about 199,400 represented in panels 5-7... painstakingly plotted so that they were tidy and evenly spaced). When it appeared in print today, the carnage was blurred to gray. Below is a closeup from the original source image... each dot is a death. Not all of 'em at the hands of ineptitude and negligence... but enough are dead due to deceit and scientific ignorance

About a month ago, despite losing his summer job coaching basketball, my son donated ten of his last 11 bucks to George Floyd's GoFundMe...

Preface: Among dozens of unpublished posts are a few worthy of the light of day but woefully out of date & step with most everything....