Sam Amidon I SEE THE SIGN (2010)

Sam makes a devastating cameo for a verse of a song in CYRANO, a daring triumph of a film. This collection of covers has been a comforting stand-by for me over the years, Relief being the song that puts me back on my feet when I think I'm down for the count.

The Weather Station HOW IS IT THAT I SHOULD LOOK AT THE STARS (2022)

 

something went wrong when we stopped hearing churchbells, when the hour first went unrung

  Driving on the Rim by Thomas McGuane
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

McGuane can craft a helluva sentence. Maybe books should be written in Montana but edited in Utah, if you catch my drift.

Punning History, as Written by the Victors

As you all doubtless recall, today marks the 17th anniversary of the greatest pun the world has ever known emerging via its humble vessel, yours truly, debuting on this very website, this holy ground of cyberspace.  I am most pleased to announce that the official youngest brother of The Gravy, Geoff, has engineered the elusive SIXTH (6th!) layer to the pun, playing on the fact that the word bore itself has dual meanings. "Full bore," of course, refers colloquially to maximum capacity.  Without further ado, the new and improved greatest English language pun:

"So around 1920, a famous physicist was visiting South Africa, and during his presentation on the structure of the atom, he suddenly got on his hands and knees, and, speaking in Cape Dutch, he began to describe and act out, in excruciating detail, the mating practices of the African wild pig. Initially amused, the audience soon fell into a stupor, at which time the physicist's wife walked on stage, grabbed him by the ear, and said "Niels, stop going full Bohr/Boer/boar/boor/bore/bore!""

There you have it.  My thanks to Geoff for his titanic contribution to the art of punning.  The world will never be the same. You're welcome.

Marisa Anderson/William Tyler LOST FUTURES (2021)

 

heart:soul::sprinter:marathoner

The Devil's Broker: Seeking Gold, God, and Glory in Fourteenth- Century Italy by Frances Stonor Saunders
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Vatican, Avignon, and Italian city-states employ mercenary companies in petty wars with each other; leave it to an Englishman to profit of it for three decades.

Raum DAUGHTER (2022)

two titans of ambient pay tribute to a lost friend

The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan by Michael Hastings
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

RIP Michael, feel free to reincarnate, we need some help

aspire to be nothing more than a vessel for the Holy Spirit