So much of my life has been spent in libraries. Some of them tiny. Some like Boston, yuge. Schools, neighborhood, city, state, federal. Private ones too. So many hours. I can’t imagine a world without them. Apparently a lot of folks out there can. I weep for them.

It takes an extraordinary person to carry themselves as if they do not live in hell. That's deep. Just like prison if one is jailed none are free. If one is in Hell, we all are. And like Krishnamurti said it's no great sign of achievement to act sane in an insane world. Just more illusion.

As I get older explaining what I do & why takes more time & energy than just doing it. Not that I have less patience now (not sure that's possible), but I really need u 2 actually want to know b4 I tell you. Some things tho I don't care if u wanna know. I must say them or they get stuck in my brain.

From personal experience the only way to cruise through Memphis late at night is while cranking a random playlist that includes only four soundtrack albums: Shaft (Isaac Hayes), Superfly (Curtis Mayfield), Trouble Man (Marvin Gaye), and Black Caesar (James Brown). That will set the mood and vibe 🤯🫠😎

If I cancel my subscription to your bullshit doesn't mean I'm trying to cancel your "culture". We all need to grow up. And stop hanging on to worn-out traditions, institutions and practices that reinforce stereotypes, prejudices, and stupid ideas of inequality and superiority. Hatred isn't culture.

You know when soloing is fun? When you know, trust and believe in those supporting you. You know they will follow you no matter you want to go. And you know they can push you further than that. But at that point, it ain't really soloing, is it? #MusicSky #LiveMusic #Interdependence

f we are truly interdependent, then any kind of self-harm is injurious to everyone isn’t it? Likewise, when we hurt anyone else, we hurt ourselves. There is no division of labor or responsibility. No middle ground, path, or way. There is no Other. It’s all you. So take care of it. All.

In which the band does its thing and I wax philosophic on music and history. LOL youtu.be/u9DXBkUiDqY?...

Thanks to Jane Huey for shooting this so long ago. These guys plus Rick Pierce are playing at tomorrow's Natchitoches Jazz/R&B Festival as the Snake Doctors. Be sure to check it out. They're opening the show... youtu.be/tU2dhlyqtGg?...

Verrrrry Scary!!!😱

The World is a Small Town radicaldruid.com/blog/2006/12...

On a lark I created a playlist that highlights other people's songs I've sung since 1976. Any of these 100 tunes I could do right now at the drop of a hat. YMMV depending on the hat of course :) music.apple.com/us/playlist/...

Every time you use the excuse well it could have been worse you always could have done better, right? Maybe next time you will. Your call as always.

From a couple years ago, my own personal definition of loving-kindness: Loving like this is not the same as being loving (wishing well & safe from harm). It's truly interdependent loving: seeing them as you (and maybe also You) and doing no self-harm.

What's another way to say non-interference and complacent passivity? Oh yeah: Evil is and does what Evil lets allows to happen while saying and doing nothing. Not guilt by association or "indirect" culpability. All it takes, to put #OrsonWelles in a nutshell, is a single #TouchOfEvil. #MovieSky

If u a Democrat u got the blues. If u a Liberal u tryin to get rid of em. If u a Republican u breeding em in the back yard. But once they grown they gone. That's why u don't teach em nothing. U R the blues. And u contagious & fertile. It's hard 4 a Republican 2 sing the blues. It requires the truth.

Some may argue but I think my sense of groove came from getting this album in a radio station contest at 9. The studio version is great, and a lot of folks including me have covered it but this one is magical. #AlKooper In the intro, Al says it paid for his car. Somebody quips, Al has a VW. #Blues

If u say u want me in your boogie rock band just confirm that u understand this song's supremacy in that genre :) #MusicSky #FrankZappa #BoogieRock youtu.be/L-GyJU1PD7A?...

They are not afraid to stand against him. They are not hoping he doesn't come for them. They are NOT just following orders. They are complicit. They are equally guilty. They ALL need to be removed from office everywhere - at every level, from the top down. It doesn't matter who is MORE or MOST evil.

Annals of James Brown history: Mother Popcorn was recorded on this day in 1969. youtu.be/w_W-I2jdFG0?...

Who was the last “boy band” that sang and played all the instruments on their records and live on stage? I’ll wait cause I think it’s been a while, right? Maybe the #BayCityRollers? LOL. #MusicSky #popmusic #noautotune

If u struggle w how to get by or make it through, recall this: no matter what it looked like at the time, your parents didn't have a clue either. Everybody at all times, in all places, is simply doing the best they can with the data they have at hand. That's not that high a bar. Do the best you can.

All the lessons you learn in childhood affect the way you engage with the world. The only way to change that is to recognize it. Once you see it for the illusion it is, you can choose to let it control your life, or let it go. It’s addiction or withdrawal. You choose.

Revolution idea #14: before starting every and any conversation, whisper sotto voce inner monologue the question, “and who are we pretending to be today?”. Make sure all parties answer before continuing. One way to keep things short if not sweet.

If this is not the PERFECT Richard Thompson throw-away quip lyric, I don't know what is: "It's easier to smile when your mouth is running."

To be #AmbroseBierce for a day. Sarcasm (noun): a passive-aggressive method for expressing one's thoughts on the world without directly telling everyone they're dumber than u. We reach for the stars yet find like Evel Knievel we r unable to actually get across the canyon (sorrow chasm / sarcasm).

I am neurodivergent non-Christian left-wing liberal free-thinking educated well-read & as compassionate & empathetic as I can be. I'm also a musician poet singer computer analyst & all-around bon vivant. But we can't all be perfect. We're all a work in progress. Not individually. As a collective.

Knowing who I am is not the same as knowing me. We may be related but we don’t know each other. We ain’t friends just due to that. And I define my family by other criteria than blood and inheritance. So my visibility notoriety or online presence isn’t an invitation to a reunion.

Nobody's talking or listening to u or me. That makes it a narrative, not a dialogue. So the question is who controls the narrative (because someone is always trying) and for what ultimate purpose? Focusing just on everyday normal lives as if nothing else is really going on, u are problem & solution.

I'd like to make a heartfelt but ultimately gutless protest in the most passive, non-threatening way possible. I'll write a letter to the editor of a paper nobody reads, about a subject everybody thinks is stupid, in a barely legible hand or using a seriously delinquent typewriter, and just see.

Social media truth #12: the only people in the world who actually give a rat's ass about your opinion (on anything) are those who probably know what it is. And that ain't influencer level by any yardstick. Useful to bear in mind, I think. IMHO.

I posted a thing recently asking where the left-wing liberals hung out around me & someone commented, "Why would you admit to being a left wing loonie?" My response: "Why would you make the effort to come on the page of someone you don't know & say something so stupid?" Honestly, mic drop. Come on.

Data request paradox #12: if you ask me to identify all the patients you send to me for services, how do you know that I'm reporting the right data? After all, if YOU don't keep track of who you're sending me, what exactly are you doing? All I can do is verify YOUR numbers. If you have them.

Don't post a lot of it but I've spent some serious time in #Bluegrass. I last saw Peter Rowan at a festival in Lima, OH (maybe 1997-1998) where he shared the bill with John Hartford, Allison Krause, and Ricky Skaggs. youtu.be/tJWBh-yE-OQ?... #MusicSky

I’ve said it before but the diff between jazz blues and blues blues is w jazz u play around the melody, hinting & weaving it. It’s a starting & ending point. When BB King plays, he’s creating the song’s melody each time he plays it.

Revolution idea #321: it’s high time the left regained control of ALL coffee shops in the US. Infest them w caffeine fueled declarations of nothingness & being, manifestos for a new world disorder, bargain debasement for the filthy rich, etc. Make your heroes proud. Do it in groups. Start with u+1.

My kingdom for an intelligent conversation that lasts longer than 255 characters. With someone other than my wife, every once in a while. Of course I ain’t got much of a kingdom or even a dirty, rundown fiefdom. Don’t really need one, but a coffee chat would be nice. #NoKings

May the Fourth be with YOU, from the Obama Presidential Center. Opening June 19.

You know I’m no celebrity lol but if we don’t have at least two mutual friends or haven’t met IRL I’m probably not gonna be sliding into your DMs. Or needing anything you’re selling. Or changing my lifestyle. Or talking or thinking about you when you leave the room. To anyone but my wife.

You’ve done something bad. Wrong. Whatever. Are you sorry you did it? Sorry you got caught? Sorry you paid for it? Sorry it happened? Sorry you let it? Sorry it was such a hard decision. But decisions are like that. Deserve, intention, duty, devotion, don’t none of that matter in the long jump.

Drinking hot grape jello tea reminds me of a couple of things: that grape soda w everclear & homemade wine coolers & Cisco & all kinds of other karmic madness. But much more soothing going down. And staying down. And still getting up again.

Thanks 2 4H: when someone says “you’re the best” I’m always: in [class breed show]? You’re never the top of EVERY damned thing. Not necessary u know. Best right now. Sometime not at but b4 the end of the day. During but not at the end of the long run. Because to be long, it started a while ago.

When feelings are involved, every action has consequences. How sweet. How insightful. How naive. Everything [action, word, thought] has consequences. And is a consequence. Because your status as one thing lasts inconsequentially long. Poof. You’re it. Poof. You’re not. Poof. Stop. Poof. Go. Not two.

Watching Netflix dating shows w my wife, my advice to singles: don’t ever pretend to be dumb to attract someone not “at your level.” That works both ways. Don’t start out limiting yourself. Life does that soon enough already. Every choice u make is your karma, not anyone else’s. But u can let it go.

Maybe because I didn’t grow up singing with others like in church. I sang with brothers, sister, dad, cousins, mom, grandparents, at holidays and gatherings. That’s why when I sing with someone else, they become family. Harmony IS harmony, rite?

I'm officially thru giving people the benefit of the doubt. That act assumes everyone is or really wants to be like me. And THAT obviously ain't so. So if y'all say something stupid, I'm not gonna pretend u didn't mean it or had no idea. Own your shit. And admit it stinks. Heads up.

Here's an idea: when anyone is giving a press conference, interview, speech, or making any kind of public statement, how about when they start lying we do what we did when David Duke tried to parade at Mardi Gras in New Orleans? The entire crowd turned their backs and ignored him. They walked away.

Our enemies are NOT stupid. They are not senile. They are just playing a game that the rules do not allow anyone but them to win. Even when they are losing. Stop giving them the benefit of the doubt - don't EVER say they MEAN well. Or don't really mean it. That just makes you look really stupid.

Overheard at my house: well, I know. We’re both very smart. And in America, being very smart also makes you a little bit mental. That’s why Americans are so enthusiastically self-medicated. Even those who aren’t plagued with neuroses succumb to the social acceptable excesses, at a minimum.

OK here's the thing. The 1955 TV series theme from Sherlock Holmes (archive.org/details/tvtu...) is quite obviously repeated to some degree in the #NickDrake song #WayToBlue. youtu.be/DW2m0wp8zO0?...