[This is part of The John M. Higgins Memorial Xmasganza .] John always used to joke that he was starting an organization called Adult Children of Functional Families. He got along with his parents (both now gone) and his siblings (his sister Megan also died way too young). For most of us, family relations are a lot more complicated and holidays are a great time to celebrate that. Perhaps with a lot of alcohol. Or distance. Texas singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen, Jr. offers a snapshot of Christmas trailer park-style [...]
Welcome to this week's edition of Politics Tuesday. The subject for today is global warming. It will be a (slightly) shorter entry today, since working on this substitute computer is really cutting into my efficiency. I've spent several years of my life studying fossil fuel consumption, the politics of energy, and climate change so I could talk for hours and hours, but I'll try to keep it minimal now and go into more detail some other time. In particular, I'm going to completely ignore the way our fossil fuel dependence shapes foreign policy matters (support for [...]
While the election has tilted the house out of Republican control, and we have an inkling that the Senate is leaning Democrat as well, however the best news of the day is that Rumsfeld is out... perhaps only 4 yers too late... but hey, it's a start... Oranger - Donald, You're Freaking Out Change is Good... The Gits - A Change Is Gonna Come [...]
Friday Random Five (#20) 1 - Jill Sobule has unearthed another lost gem: this version of "Texas" (MP3) also features Steve Earle on vocals and guitar and dates back to the reign (rain?) of a certain Texas governor (not Ann Richards, rest her soul). 2 - Now three-quarters of the way to their year of monthly EPs, Bishop Allen returns with the September EP , which, as always, is available at their website for a [...]

bluegrass // folk I've never seen Cletus and the Burners live, but I feel like I have a pretty good idea of how it would go down. They're from Ithaca, so the crowd would be equal parts aging hippies and youthful hipsters; the light in the room would be a dusty, dark brown; and the air would be lazily floating around, disturbed by a couple of asthmatic ceiling fans. Oh, and the music would be really good. (I've never seen Jill Sobule live, either, though I was once on the other [...]

Longtime readers know I’m a big fan of this quirky, androgynous folk-popster. On May 9, 2005, Jill played a sweet little acoustic show at Café Du Nord in San Francisco. This boot is great quality and a lot of fun. I hope you all like it. My favorite cut is the Missy Elliot cover. Under the Disco Ball-Jill Sobule Cinnamon Park-Jill Sobule Hot in Herre (Nelly cover) -Jill Sobule [...]