Gerry Stanek

I wrote about Bob Seger and @countyhwy decided to put it in the paper. The paper showed up in my mailbox. Now my sixteen year old daughter is reading it on her bed. She might have this newspaper thing down.

I grew up with and even worked in local radio. Rural radio. What's apparent about all these @NPR folks is that none of them know a thing about rural or small town America; they know nothing about local radio.

Actually, most family vacations back then consisted of visits to family members in exotic places like Iselin, New Jersey. Or camping at the lake ten miles away.

The front porch editorial is worth the price of admission and reminds me that the 4th of July in Pennsylvania with family is, for my three teenage daughters, far ahead of Christmas on the holiday scale. The oldest is on the fireworks crew, so worry about hands is in play, too.

Joe Jackson was like Holden Caulfield and offered plenty of smart aleck commentary on annoying couples, public displays of affection, the dishonest news media, and the nature of time. Every song on Look Sharp presents something about the adult world that just smells fake.

"Ride Captain Ride" is warm and cozy, a sonic pillow of an arrangement that allows for a dynamic, underrated guitar solo and super cool harmonies that lift the choruses into the ether. Mystery ship, indeed.

When you understand that Picasso was reacting to Einstein and challenging perceptions of space and time, you don't easily dismiss his work.

Somewhere along the line, Jack Kerouac asked who would notice the frost on a fence post in Iowa when he was gone. I suppose it won’t be ChatGPT.

💯

I mow right up to my neighbor’s driveway every time.

I've never watched Colbert or Stewart, and I really don't care if they're on or off the air. The more important question goes to why anyone thinks this is funny. It's not.

The Beatles worked quickly on every LP until the fall of 1966. Sgt. Pepper is an anomaly and, perhaps, not true to the spirit of rock and roll. The real band, the better band, was the one that recorded songs in a few takes, and that's evident in the Get Back documentary.

I know we're not talking about cars here, but I'm reminded of Freedy Johnston's "Tucumcari" and that amazing lyric: "Get your feet of o' my dashboard. Whaddaya think the damn thing's for?" @freedyjohnston

Lookin' for love in all the wrong places.

This is cool. I know lots of guys like this. But when you say "I work in the trades" you sound like a political plant, not a blue collar guy. I mean, what do you actually do to get your hands dirty?

As a high school English teacher, and as the father of three teenage daughters, I'd say that this largely depends on parents. My kids read. Middle daughter, 17, just read a book in a day on Tuesday. The 11th graders I teach...a lot of them read. There's no one-size-fits-all.

I sometimes think about the Rolling Stone interview where The Eagles revealed that Steve Miller was the cheapest man in rock and roll.

Keep on rockin’ me, baby. Well, maybe not if it’s raining. The cycles of circular motion will no longer protect you and keep you from harm. And everything’s not better when wet.

My fourteen year old daughter is totally into this movie. On board.

I drove tractor-trailers for eight years. This is about going too fast, not hydroplaning.

America has always been a bundle of contradictions, and maybe people aren't as dumb as Eric thinks they are.