Apropos of Nothing

And of course, the immortal Big Dipper. Taken from the wharf, August 15.

XVII. The El Lay Sound There was a time when I probably would have said that of the artists in this group, Linda Ronstadt was my favorite. I...

XVI. “Keep Your Feet On the Ground, and Keep Reaching For the Stars” I can’t remember exactly when it started, but at some point around 1971...

One of the things that used to raise my blood pressure when I worked in a governmental affairs office was when one of the houses of Californ...

This is something that, eventually, I would have gotten around to writing myself (but probably not until my next lifetime), so I'm very ...

Last night was the party for my parents' 50 th wedding anniversary. I'd been nervous about it for a while, because the expectations...

XII. “We’re More Popular Than Jesus” Depending on one's point of view, this was either the period of the Beatles’ greatest work, or the ...

The California State Senate is leading the latest crusade to excoriate the state's public universities for not being in compliance with...

IX. Would You Let Your Daughter Marry A Rolling Stone? I'm sure that I heard "Satisfaction" and some of the other great early ...

The A to Z idea comes courtesy of Tom the Dog , but rather than general obsessions or albums I decided to give movies a whirl. There were so...

Governor Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver have announced this year's inductees into the California Hall of Fame: photographer...

Son #2: Mom, do you think Jerry from ER could beat up dad? Mom: I think so. He'd probably just sit on him.

VII. Mid Sixties Melting Pot Now we move into a period where I actually remember hearing some of these songs as a kid, either on the radio o...

Geoff Shackelford wraps it up nicely . Essentially, Tiger Woods' decision to skip the first tournament of the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup i...

On the 30th anniversary of the death of Elvis, another musical titan passed away. Max Roach was likely known to but a small fraction of tho...

On the day I found out a new Springsteen (with E Street Band) album is to be released, a tribute: the great Patty Griffin singing "Raci...