The thing about this new season of “The Bear” is how thoroughly the show has conditioned me to refuse to accept that any of the apparently good things might actually be good.

Nashville is a great city in which to be a vinyl collector.

I got a press release today that contained the most obviously AI-generated quote I've ever seen. In related news, I have officially banned the "It's not just this—it's that" and "It doesn't just do this—it does that" sentence structures at the newsletter I edit.

It occurs to me that when the couple from Rotterdam asked if it was OK to park on the side of the street on Music Square East that it might’ve freaked them out a bit when I replied, “Sure, now walk around with me to the back of this building and let me show you a little piece of a quonset hut.”

The Lower Broadway of Earthly Delights.

If you think the weather in Nashville is crazy these days, you should’ve been here on St. Patrick’s Day in 1892.

One of the most unnerving experiences I ever had was standing outside a school in Camden, Tennessee, on March 5, 2003, and seeing a guy come up the sidewalk with a rear wing from a Piper Comanche in his arms.

The one time I got to see Badfinger's Joey Molland — who died Saturday night at 77 — was in 2019 at one of the weirdest bills I've ever witnessed: Mickey Dolenz, Todd Rundgren, Christopher Cross, Chicago's Jason Scheff and Molland performing songs from the Beatles' White Album in Danville, Kentucky.

Two straight Fridays seeing Zach Top. Yeah, that’s a good thing.

Today in my personal concertgoing history: I sold my baseball card collection to raise the money to buy tickets for this concert. A friend had floor seats, so I snuck down to hang with her. Bruce jumped into the audience right in front of us. He raised his hand into the air, and I grabbed it.

Twice in the past week, I've heard a prominent country act sing a song positioning his Christianity as self-satisfied rebelliousness against cultural enemies. Today, I have Andrew Duhon's "Shotgun Religion" on repeat to drive the first song's memory out of my head. www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWtr...

Started the day with a surprise Beatles sighting, ended it watching Jelly Roll play the grand opening of his new Nashville club. In between somewhere, I got a look at a new Nashville venue and saw Lainey Wilson sing "Livin' on a Prayer." It was a busy day.

23 years ago tonight, I had just finished writing Waylon Jennings' obituary when I heard my wife scream upstairs. Our infant daughter, who had undiagnosed whooping cough, had stopped breathing and was turning gray. Here’s the 911 call. on.soundcloud.com/FqP2viZjrSb2...

The people who licensed the song may not get "Personal Jesus," but I guarantee you Johnny Cash did.

“What am I missing here?” has saved me a lot of professional embarrassment over the years.

I think Michigander's "I'll Be OK" is going to be my theme song for 2025. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFCi...

My daughter’s snake, which mysteriously disappeared two months ago, has mysteriously reappeared. Alive. We have so many questions.

Sixty-six years ago, the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper was front-page news in these papers.

Did Taylor Swift just grab Janelle Monae's coat and put it on during "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" at the GRAMMYs?

I’m a 61yo old cis white male music fan from the South. Without knowing anything else about me, Black music fans, recommend the music you want to set the tone for my listening during Black History Month

Re-watched a few episodes of “Parks and Recreation” over the weekend, and I can’t help but wonder what Ron Swanson’s thinking right about now.

Somebody took Dr. Johnny Fever's breaks from "WKRP in Cincinnati," inserted the songs he introduces and back-announces, and got a full three-hour aircheck out of it. It's the best thing you'll hear all day. www.awphooey.com/wkrp

My wife and I have decided we need to plan a Chocolate Gravy Brunch some Saturday morning and have all our friends over.

Tonight we eat NI

Happy 80th birthday to my wife's teenage crush, Tom Selleck.

You want to know why I take pictures at every event I go to? Because Mojo Nixon interviewed Kris Kristofferson at SiriusXM's Nashville studio on January 29, 2013. We lost both Mojo and Kris last year. And SiriusXM moved its studio.

@prestonshipp.bsky.social I took the TDOC volunteer training tonight.

Sometimes those early phone cameras took great photos.

Nothing makes me question my beliefs and opinions faster than being mortified by the behavior of people that I thought I agreed with.

It’s the Taylor Swift Super Bowl. She grew up a Philadelphia Eagles fan, and now she’s dating one of the Kansas City Chiefs. We’re all just living in her world.

I don’t think I’ll be going to lunch here today …

Punk band in a tiny room. After all these years, still a great way to spend a Friday night.

Love this music-trivia tidbit: In Black Sabbath's non-Ozzy days, when singer Ronnie James Dio left the group in the early '80s, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler briefly considered replacing him with a young Michael Bolton.

Little-known fact I learned from reading Peter Wolf's forthcoming memoir, "Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses": Wolf and David Lynch, whose death was announced today, were roommates during their college days in Boston.

Update: I played the 5yo granddaughter Elmore James' "Dust My Broom" today. This is her reaction: "I like this more than any other song." She did, however, stop short of requesting that it be added to her "The Princess Loves Songs" playlist, which is the true litmus test.

Six years ago this week, a coyote found its way into a bathroom in Nashville's convention center. No one knows how it got there.

Mourning the passing of Buck White, the Grand Ole Opry's oldest member at 94. I first heard Buck on Ricky Skaggs' early albums while I was in college. I often thought if could play piano like any one country player, it'd be Buck. I later worked with him at the Opry, & he lit up the room every time.

I spend entirely too much time thinking about concerts I wish i could have gone to. Like this one from 1997 when Jason Aldean opened for Hank Williams III.

Lots of people are discovering Bob Dylan’s songs via Timothée Chalamet and “A Complete Unknown,” but when our daughter was younger, we introduced his music to her by driving down to Mississippi and sticking her out there on Highway 61.

Reading a NetGalley advance of Peter Wolf's memoir, "Waiting on the Moon" (out March 11), so it's a good time to break out my J. Geils Band albums. Not seeing them live is one of my great regrets, though I did run into Peter at Mosko's in Nashville once. Got a favorite J. Geils/Peter Wolf track?

Today, my 5yo granddaughter told me she likes John Lee Hooker’s “Boogie Chillen’,” but she likes Jimmy Reed’s “Bright Lights, Big City” more. She had to leave before she could offer an opinion on Elmore James’ “Dust My Broom.” I can't wait for her next visit.

I've had this 1968 Tompall and the Glaser Brothers album for a while now, but I had never noticed the blue-ink signatures of Jim and Chuck Glaser on the cover until today. If Tompall signed it too, he hid it better.

I only had it on cassette at the time, but the Kinks’ “One for the Road” is what was playing when I had my first real kiss.

Earl Scruggs’ copy of “Mott the Hoople Live.” You’re just gonna have to trust me on this one.

How it started with the granddaughter, how it's going. From Moon Mullican to Dr. John.

Summer 1984: I'm a college student in NYC for the first time, attending a major science-fiction convention. Harlan Ellison, who I have idolized since my early teens, is speaking. Near the end of his talk, he mentions that he has books and records for sale in the back of the room. I raise my hand. ⬇️

Remember that Rolling Stones fan-designed bootleg boxed set I posted a few days ago? Here’s a Beatles box from the same guy.

If you've been enjoying Bob Dylan's songs in the wake of "A Complete Unknown," let me introduce you to my favorite Dylan interpreter: the late Jimmy LaFave. The Austin singer-songwriter cut Dozens of Dylan's songs. Nobody else sang them with such earnest emotion. open.spotify.com/playlist/6SK...

Here's where I was 43 years ago tonight — watching Elvis Costello at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, one of three stops on the Almost Blue tour. Got the T-shirt and made a low-quality cassette recording. Somehow, I lost both of those along the way. But I still have a few snapshots.