brainsplotch

Well, we made it through another year. With the way things are going in the world, and the barrage of nonsense that comes out of our presidential administration on a daily basis, that's no small feat. Here's hoping we all survive 2026, too. I have spent the bulk of today reading as much as possible to get my 2025 book total to a modest 30 titles. (Several of those are children's books that I've read while at work--so it's even less...well... "impressive" is not exactly the correct word. Maybe, "more pathetic"?) It's certainly paltry compared to people I know who routinely crank out 75+ books every year. When I see them post those statistics, I wonder what exactly they're reading and whether they do anything else in their lives other than read books. Then I can't help but ask how many of those are audiobooks. It all concludes with me feeling like an underachiever who should resolve to watch fewer movies and less television. But who am ...

I said I was gonna write another "Seattle post" and, as usual, didn't get on that when I should have. So here's part two of this very loosely based on Seattle theme. In this case, it's the band Screaming Trees. I wrote about the Trees a few years ago when bassist Van Conner died. I have been on a Screaming Trees jag recently after finding a cache of their CDs at my favorite local record shop, Flat Back & Circular. The CDs in question ar the 1985-1989 SST Records anthology, and the two Epic Records albums I didn't already have, Uncle Anesthesia and Dust . It reaffirms my opinion that the Trees were among the most under-appreciated, underrated bands of the '90s "grunge" era. I know "underrated" is thrown around too often, but it is wholly appropriate here. If Mudhoney were the most Stooges-inspired garage punk of the Seattle grunge bands, then Screaming Trees were the most '60s psychedelia-inspired (not that all of their songs ca...

Hello loyal readers. Consider this part one of a few Seattle-related posts. The Fabulous Baker Boys  (1989) is a movie that long eluded me. I'm not exactly sure why, but I think I had misconceptions about it. I assumed it was a glitzy period piece with overwrought musical sequences. I was wrong on all those points. The movie takes place in a still grimy Seattle, circa 1988. This is a Seattle that is a blue collar port city, decidedly pre-tech industry and pre-grunge music explosion.  Frank and Jack Baker are piano playing brothers who have their own semi-successful lounge act playing in slightly seedy joints in Seattle and environs. Older brother Frank (Beau Bridges) is married with a family, while younger brother Jack (Jeff Bridges) is single and lives in a bohemian apartment in Seattle's Pioneer Square area.  Frank is the leader of the duo, booking all their shows and bantering with the audience with an arsenal of corny jokes. (Frank, however, is a bit of a pushover whe...