Tag: music

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What you think you know about Botswana is probably wrong

My impression is that few people in the US know much about Botswana, and if they are familiar with it at all it is probably because of the #1 Ladies Detective books and TV show. Or Animal Planet shows about the Okavango Delta. Neither of which is a realistic representation of this funky little landlocked nation. The Ladies Detective thing is cutesy and quaint, but it is as realistic a representation of life in Gaborone as the TV show Northern Exposure was of life in Alaska. In other words, not very.  Continue reading “What you think you know about Botswana is probably wrong”

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No More Christmas Music!

It’s been weeks since I’ve done a music post. I need a little musical mouthwash to cleanse the palate of the aftertaste of Christmas music. I swear if Burl Ives were alive today I’d punch him in the nose for ever making a Christmas album. Have a holly jolly Christmas, my ass.

So I was just in my local Food Lion picking up some beer and I heard this song over their system. Every time I shop there I hear something groovy. Back in high school when I worked in Wal-Mart we only had orchestral muzak, which drove a younger teenaged version of me out of his mind. I suspect the manager of the Food Lion is a fellow Gen-Xer with similar musical tastes to mine, a fact which kinda makes me sad in some ways. I can picture a Zach Braff movie about this Food Lion manager entering middle age filled with angst because life hasn’t dealt him the hand he thought it would. Maybe I should get to work on the screenplay. Continue reading “No More Christmas Music!”

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Musical Friday: Featured Artist

Time again for another musical Friday post. This week I’m mixing it up a little and instead of selecting a musical melange, I’m going to take a more in depth look at a single artist. This week’s featured artist is Grant Lee Phillips, both his solo work and the work of his band, Grant Lee Buffalo. In my opinion GLB and Grant Lee Phillips are among the most underrated artists of my generation and will hopefully someday receive the recognition they deserve. Amazingly talented, with songs of incredible depth and substance, each one of which reaches out and grabs you and demands your attention. Continue reading “Musical Friday: Featured Artist”

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Friday’s Tunes: Flashback to the 80’s

If a blog that is less than one month old can be so presumptuous as to claim that it has any traditions, then let musical Friday be this blog’s first tradition. Not one to let my loyal readers down, I present this week’s selections of what I’m listening to. I welcome comments and I’m open to requests or suggestions for future playlists.  Continue reading “Friday’s Tunes: Flashback to the 80’s”

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Further thoughts on living the Upscale Shack life

So one of the main tenets of upscale shack living is being able to make something out of nothing. When I was about 5 years old (way back in the late 70’s), my grandpa Harry Prettyman taught me how to make a toy “tractor” from a wooden thread spool and a rubber band and a match stick. It was my favorite toy, and I was amazed that he could make something so cool out of nothing but junk. Continue reading “Further thoughts on living the Upscale Shack life”