Soundtrack in my head: The Pretenders, "Boots of Chinese Plastic" mohamed_hassan / Pixabay When unsubscribing from any petition sites, please include a link to this article. But first, of course, read the article, and you'll see why you'll want to unsubscribe. It seemed like a great idea at the time.   I first saw online … Continue reading time for clear thinking about petition sites and dot-org spams

Soundtrack in my head: Wolf Alice, "Roar" I absolutely love creative cover versions of familiar songs.  From a DJ's standpoint they're a great way to engage the dance floor while at the same time turning them on to other types of music. Sometimes the cover versions bring a previously undanceable song to the dance floor, … Continue reading one nice thing about top 40–a great source of awesome cover versions

Soundtrack in my head: Madonna, "Ray of Light" Top 40 at Christmas 1970 (Photo credit: kevin dooley) If you read about my musical influences, you can see that there is a long history of me running away from mainstream radio ever since the vast majority of radio stations refused to play songs that appeared on … Continue reading making friends with top 40

eroyka / Pixabay The Dance As You Are event is still cooking, but continues to be on the back burner. I am training with a local DJ company to do weddings and other events.  While it's easy to knock wedding DJ work, it is a good source of income, and furthermore, the events are a … Continue reading still cooking, but wedding DJ is on the front burner

Soundtrack in my head: The Church, "A Different Man" A little bit after 1 a.m. on September 11th, firefighters were called to a fire that broke out at Lothlorien Co-op, one of Madison Community Co-op's oldest and most legendary co-ops.  Thank goodness everyone got out safely, but over thirty people are in limbo right now. … Continue reading september 11th at Lothlorien Co-op

David Jones [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)] So, with my last posting about twerking and cultural appropriation, you probably have an idea of where I am going when it comes to talking about the development of rock 'n' roll.  Yes, this is about race and the roots of rock 'n' roll. Writer Robert Palmer wrote, "Rock … Continue reading race and the roots of rock ‘n’ roll

Soundtrack in my head: Robin Thicke, "Blurred Lines" Sometimes the mass media has this way illustrating my point for me, even if it's a bit clueless in the way that it does so.  So that's why I'm going to talk about Miley Cyrus and twerking. By now, everybody has probably heard about THAT VIDEO.  I … Continue reading i wasn’t going to talk about Miley Cyrus and twerking–but it’s relevant

When I did DJ work for the Barefoot Boogie, we sought to get feedback from our sets from attendees.  We had a form that people could fill out so that people could provide constructive criticism.  One night, I was surprised to discover two forms sharply critical of the hip hop songs that were in my … Continue reading in defense of hip-hop

Didgeman / Pixabay Five years ago, three adults and a baby moved into an empty co-op house with a big and somewhat overwhelming mission--revive the co-op house and turn it into a thriving community. Co-op house changes that we're now undergoing will make us a very different co-op. I, as one of the adults, barely … Continue reading co-op house changes mark an end of an era