brainsplotch

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the American release of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. This significant anniversary got me to thinking about my own relationship with this album. Pepper is an album I don't listen to that much anymore, and when I recently wrote a list of my favorite Beatles albums*--a challenge issued by Bill and Brian of  The Great Albums podcast (check it out if you've never heard it, it's a good podcast), I had Pepper at number seven of the 13 Beatles studio albums. This isn't to say that Pepper is a bad album--not at all. (I mean, come on, it's the Beatles for chrissakes!) It's just far from my favorite album by the Fab Four. However, there is a time when it was about the only Beatles album I knew. If you want to put a fine point on it, and if anyone out there really cares, Rubber Soul was the first Beatles album I remember listening to straight through. That's because my older cousin Suzy went thr...

I've not written about politics in here recently, mainly because something either terrible or crazy happens seemingly every day and it's impossible to keep up. That's life in Trump's America, where every day there is either a) a new wrinkle to Russia's (possible/probable) interference in the election, b) a bizarre tweet from the Donald, c) a new bit of draconian policy that Trump wants to push through, d) a hate crime somewhere in the US, or e) other miscellaneous crazy shit. Today we learn that Trump will be withdrawing the US from the Paris Climate Accords. Suddenly, a guy who has no problem flying to his Florida resort every weekend on the American peoples' dime declares that he is withdrawing because he cares about the American taxpayer. Yep, it's just too darned expensive ensuring we have a livable planet. I don't know if I find it more sad or amusing that in his announcement today, Trump acted like he cares about anyone besides himself and his c...