Back in ’86, I somehow came across the Boston trio Christmas, made up of guitarist Michael Cudahy, drummer Liz Cox and bassist Dan Salzmann. I loved their album In Excelsior Dayglo. Like much of my favorite songs from the Eighties, it’s kinda punk and kinda poppy. I lost track of them after that, but they [...]
It is, by-and-large, a wonderful life. Mostly.
In 2007, I had a major argument with an acquaintance of mine about whether Frank Capra’s film It’s a Wonderful Life is — at its heart — a life-affirming, warm-hearted positive view of humanity (as she maintained) or a dark, bitter view of a guy who figures out how to carve out a sliver of [...]
The Roots of Green Chri$tma$
From An Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power by John Steele Gordon: Even in rural areas that were still beyond the reach of the railroad, new merchandising techniques opened up new markets. Peddlers increasingly took advantage of the improved roads to sell such newly available manufactured goods as pails and tubs, [...]
It’s all in the details
Matthew Baldwin over at defective yeti has a marvelous seasonal post about the challenges of being married to a botanist: Me: Why didn’t you put holly in our wreath? Queen: Because holly berries are poisonous, and when Squiggle saw them he pointed excitedly and yelled “cherries!” M: Ah, good call. But what about the pine [...]