I stopped using Facebook regularly just a short time after I created my account. I have a philosophical problem with Facebook: it’s a walled garden that seeks to suck the remake the Internet and indeed our every social interaction into business assets. They say that if you’re not paying for it, you are the product. […]
Monthly Archives: September 2011
In Four More Minutes
Wed, 21 Sep 2011, 09:41 PM (-06:00)
We’re sitting here far back from the stage in the chairs-allowed zone. We’re waiting for Cee Lo and for Stevie after that. But here’s the thing… Skattex. Scabex. Shrillex. Who are these guys? Over there on another stage more than a football field away, a band is playing: Skrillex. They’re way over there, yet the ground […]
Waiting for the Festival to Start
Tue, 20 Sep 2011, 08:14 PM (-06:00)
At precisely the time when Black Dub was supposed to start, the guy in front of me moved stood up. He looked down at his girlfriend and up at the stage and started hooting, “Come on, guys! It’s time to start!” And at that very moment, the band came out. They began playing and singing, and the […]
ACL Saturday
Mon, 19 Sep 2011, 10:59 PM (-06:00)
An airplane is flying overhead pulling a banner advertising a Snowball Fest in Colorado in March. The two women standing in front of me are now sitting down studying tomorrows festival lineup. Some people to my left are standing next to me in a circle laughing and talking and drinking beers. There are lines at […]
One or the Other
Mon, 19 Sep 2011, 09:45 PM (-06:00)
So I set up my chair when I get to ACL. I set up my chair far back from the AMD stage, where I can sit in middle-aged comfort and look around and take out my notebook and jot a few notes while I wait for the music to start. And then the skies darken. […]
Hot Air In Our Faces
Wed, 14 Sep 2011, 10:11 PM (-06:00)
I saw you walking in the dark with your dog. I walked beside a fence with the baying neighborhood hound on the other side, and I was sure that you would hear the howling and turn to catch me following you. I saw you walking in the orange glow of the mercury vapor lamps at […]
Special Rocks
Tue, 13 Sep 2011, 09:12 PM (-06:00)
“So … are those special rocks?” James asked after we had been talking a while. Trudy laughed. I smiled and looked down at my hands that were holding five rocks roughly half the size of a baseball each. It’s a funny thing about the soccer fields, I explained. The rocks just come up out of […]
Lost Pines
Wed, 7 Sep 2011, 11:12 PM (-06:00)
Bastrop State Park is gone. Close to a thousand homes are gone. People have died. As of this afternoon, they only had the fire partially contained. This is really, really bad. On Tuesday I drove to Houston which normally takes me thru Bastrop. The photo above is a view of the city as you come […]
GNP 275
Mon, 5 Sep 2011, 06:41 PM (-06:00)
She groaned out loud and hit the steering wheel with her hands—not typical Trudy. “What?” I asked. I thought we had forgotten something. “I can’t believe … that lady … with wind like this and the fires … that lady just flicked her ashes out her car window.” The light turned green. The lady went […]