If there are tasks that breed procrastination more than cleaning closets, I can’t think of any. When one views this process as a form of exploration, however, there is a plus side. Our long neglected linen closet recently yielded a source of entertainment that had not seen the light of day for at least […]
It is the summer of 1967. Herman’s Hermits and The Who are touring the United States. Which band is the opener and which is the headliner? This is a trick question because technically, the opening band was The Blues Magoos with The Who second on the bill and Peter Noones’ lightweight pop band Herman’s […]
Have you had a family grill out lately? If you did, it was probably on a gas grill or a good old fashioned charcoal grill, which is my personal favorite. Either way, we all owe a debt of thanks to Henry Ford for kick starting this little piece of Americana tradition. When Ford’s Kingsford, Michigan […]
In the fall of 2016, we spent two editions of FTV discussing the end – as in “when a band comes to an end” and not “The End of the world” (9-28-16 and 10-5-16 if you care to backtrack a little). A couple of months ago, we spent sometime talking about the sudden end, and […]
Part one of this column began when I was ruminating about things that get passed along to graduates by various commencement speakers. Somehow things kind of swerved into a discussion of how bullying each other has changed since I was in junior high those many eons ago. Being mean to each other with pencil […]
It is always interesting to hear the sound bites that the news media gather in the graduation season. Every person tabbed as a graduation speaker will put their spin on “Oh the places you will go”, with some resorting to reading the whole tome of the same name written by the late Dr. Seuss. […]
For the purpose of this two parter, we are defining ‘Celebrity Sightings’ as casual encounters with persons who have a reason to be widely known to the public. Getting to see the Black Crowes first at the Hollywood Palladium and later at the Wiltern Theater don’t count as ‘encounters’. Seeing a celebrity standing five feet […]
One of my favorite cartoonists these days is Pearls Before Swine creator Stephan Pastis. I have never met him, but I always enjoy reading the introduction he writes for his daily cartoon strip compilations. Many of them involve his dealings with fans and/or other cartoonist. In his honor, I almost called this FTV Sometimes […]
“Look them in the eye and give them a good, firm handshake. None of that ‘wet dishrag’ stuff.” If you had this conversation with your father at some point in your younger years, welcome to the fraternity. I am not exactly sure how far back in time this goes, but when this piece of […]
Our old buddy Puddles Pity Party has a new posting at Post Modern Jukebox. The site has many of the newer posts besides Puddles so enjoy! This link will take you directly to Puddles take on Blink 182 .