McG's farmer's market scores

Was very mild weather here for late December (50 degrees and kinda sunny), so I headed out to the farmer's market. Here's what I found:

John Fahey - Old Fashioned Love LP
Billie Holiday - A Rare Live Recording LP
Yusef Lateef - Psychicemotus LP
Miles Davis - Friday Night in Person at the Blackhawk, SF Vol. 1 LP
J.J. Johnson - Trombone and Voices LP
Sonny Rollins - East Broadway Run Down LP
Jimmy Smith - Bashin' LP
Pete Shelley - On Your Own 12"

plus...

Henry Miller - Opus Pistorum (book)

Death of the mom and pop bookstore

Here's an article about the dying off of independently owned bookstores.

yahoo.com: Competition is killing independent U.S. bookstores

The Internet has certainly played a role in the decline of the bookstore, but chain stores such as Borders, Barnes & Noble and Wal-Mart have also taken away business from d.i.y. booksellers.

I think the importance of mom and pop businesses can be summed up by Kate Bearce, a bookstore owner in Iowa.

"Customer service is not the same. When somebody walks in [my] store I know them, their kids, their parents, their grandparents. I put books in their hands. That's what my customers really like," she said.

"I have many customers that tell me, 'If I send my kids to you, I know you will provide them with appropriate titles,"' said Bearce, adding that that kind of service cannot be duplicated at the bigger bookstores and discount outlets.

Amen.

Doctor Who Christmas special hokey

I gotta say how disappointed I was with the Doctor Who Christmas special, "The Runaway Bride."

The plot was ridiculous: The Doctor had to get a bride who materialized in the Tardis to her wedding on time. I've seen silly plots on Doctor Who, but this one seemed like a reject episode penned by a fan.

The villain in the episode was just plain corny. And the bride, was an annoying see you next Tuesday.

And the way the Doctor was overly-sentimental and pining for Rose Tyler, who has been banished to another dimension, was a failed attempt to tug on viewers' heartstrings.

That said, I'm four episodes in to Torchwood and am finding I'm liking it more than Doctor Who!

Brian Walsby on Honor Role

Brian Walsby has posted an excerpt of a book he's been working on about the N. Carolina region punk rock scene.

In the excerpt, Walsby spiels (quite well) on Richmond, VA's Honor Role.

Honor Role by Brian Walsby

Video: John Lennon - Merry Xmas (War is Over)

This music video juxtaposes Lennon's beautiful Christmas melody and anti-war message with brutal images of the pain and suffering caused by war.

Not easy to watch ... but something you probably SHOULD watch.

All hail the Cosmic Commander

If you're a punker with a Sirius satellite radio subscription, you MUST listen to the Cosmic Commander's Sonic Reduction!

It's on every Sunday night at 10:00 p.m. EST on Left of Center 26.

Cosmo, who is a veteran Philly punker, plays REAL PUNK ROCK.

I can't tell you how refreshing it is to hear classic U.S. bands like Negative Approach, Void, VKTMS and Sonic's Rendezvous Band along side of a bunch of Aussie bands such as Died Pretty, Scientists and The Victims.

Cosmo's show takes me back to the days of college radio in the 1980's, when out of nowhere, I would stumble upon a dude like Eddie Hacksaw broadcasting hardcore punk on a Philly station (WXPN, I believe, before they went lame).

The Sonic Reduction has that same amazing vibe of the excitement and passion of the underground music culture and people making cool music for the sake of making cool music.

The Sonic Reduction is a breath of fresh air - even for Sirius satellite radio. I can only hope more and more people tune in and turn on to some genuine punk rock and roll.

New wedding pic

Here's a new wedding pic.

This is one of about 700 images that we're currently sifting through.

Thanks to Thom Thompson, our official wedding photographer, for doing such a great job.

Will be posting more pictures as I get them in.

You'll be able to browse through all the photos on flickr and print out any you want copies of via snapfish (link coming ... eventually).

Kelly feeds baby goats in Hawaii

Had a great one-week honeymoon in Maui.

One of the things Kelly and I did was visit the Surfing Goat Dairy in Kula.

We took the chores tour, which included herding the adult goats and feeding and milking them.

We tried some of their goat cheese which was super delicious. My fave was the Rolling Green, which has fresh garlic chives.

We also got the chance to feed the baby goats.

Here is video of Kelly doing just that.




More baby goats ... cute overload!




And a final, very brief video of the baby goats that Kelly fell in love with.

Maui pics

Here is the first set of pics from Maui.

Haven't had a chance to edit or tag yet ... just 238 photos.

flickr.com: Dave and Kelly Maui pics.