“We are the facillitators of our own creative evolution.” – Bill Hicks
We are a service economy. Or if you are feeling all high falutin’ you can call it the tertiary sector of the economy. Agriculture and mining still rank as the first and second economic sectors. If one is curious how we ended up here, you need only look to two presidents, Reagan and Clinton. They…
The primary argument for globalization was that it was going to make the world “smaller.” As recently as 16 years ago the world was big! In order to find good music, you had to work for it. Jay-sus, now I sound like that Dana Carvey “Grumpy Old Man” character, “That’s the way it was and…
During my lifetime, I’ve witnessed America develop into a nation with a political and cultural fissure so large it seems nothing short of a revolution can correct it. To wit: There are Coke people. There are Pepsi people. We have Yankee fans. We have Red Sox fans. Almond Joy has nuts. Mounds don’t. We have Marriott…
The more I read and hear about Bernie Sanders, the more I am beginning to realize I have heard some of this before (not in a bad or critical way.) I am of the school of thought that can see more and more of Bobby Kennedy in Bernie Sanders, which is a good thing. I can’t…
I just woke up for my midnight feeding and started thinking about Prince. Again. Of course, I then realized what kind of blogger, music nerd or writer would I be if I didn’t contribute to the outpouring of love and remembrance that is coming from everywhere to celebrate this man, Prince Rogers Nelson (it was…
If you think about fog thematically, there are two kinds to consider. There is the thematic fog akin to taking a hit of some really potent weed which makes you feel somewhat “murky” but still pleasant and clear-headed enough to remain very functional and social. Then there is the other kind where you wake up…
OUCH! FUCK! Like a sore tooth you can’t help but touch, I, like most media watchers, just can’t seem to stay away from talking about this Donald J. Trump mess (anyone else notice that the J. just sort of appeared, I don’t deny it’s legitimacy, but still…and btw Trump looks an awful lot like cartoon…
Well, last night saw another gathering of the loony tunes characters that has come to be known as a Republican “debate”. In actuality, it’s really just a forum of meglomaniacs who blather on about their xenophobia, misguided economic views and outright fascism under the guise of political discourse (notice I left out the part about…
Dear Jann S. Wenner, et al, What. The. Fuck. I was an avid Rolling Stone reader for close to 20 years. I even collected the magazines. You try lugging around 15 years of wrapped magazines…this was a source of much consternation with an ex (who eventually took the liberty of throwing them out in my…
Or put another way, Donald Trump is to politics what Kanye West is to music (shitty). They’re both only good because they keep telling us they’re good. I assure you, NEITHER are good, let alone great. To think that anything Trump says is either substantial or has political merit is to be completely ignorant to…
Well, it’s kinda true.
The truth to being a New Yorker is that it is a lot like being in an abusive relationship. I should know, my relationship with NYC lasted 13.5 years and I still love that damn place. I always will. Now, don’t get all knotted up. I mean no disrespect to anyone involved in any sort…
Found an updated classic for Donald Trump. Wanted to share: Your Brain on Donald Trump from Keith R. Higgons on Vimeo.
Greetings from the city of lost angels…and souls. So I watched the last hour of the Republican debate the other night. Trying to find it on the hotel television was as complicated as trying to understand the success of the Kardashian family. I eventually ended up streaming it on the Fox News website. Incidently, big…
Do you know how I know this? Because I’m broke. I realize it’s trite to be prattling on about income disparity and the 1% versus the 99%. Incidentally, a more than viable term that has somehow sadly devolved into a punchline. As trite as it may be, it is still relevant. And no matter how…
No no, I don’t mean the United States of America. I mean the United States of Advertising (Bill Hicks). As a card-carrying member of the Democratic Party I wanted to watch the first debate last night on CNN. Now, I should point out, I don’t have television. I HAVE a television fer chrissakes, I am…
For the past seven years, I’ve lived in Brooklyn. New York. Before moving to Williamsburg, the worldwide epicenter of hip, I lived in Billyburg’s kissing cousin, Greenpoint. Both have been subjected to an aggressive gentrification agenda. One of the most aggressive in recent years. With gentrification comes hipsters. A lot of hipsters. Revelation 9:3-10 “Then…
Many moons ago, I was in film school. I went to the School of Visual Arts. About four years ago, I discovered a 16mm film I shot, Hells Ugly Sister, and had that digitally transferred and I put it together as best I could based on my original idea. This summer my 8mm first year…
It’s no secret that we got way too much email these days. And if you work in an office environment, odds are it’s worse. You’re probably on way too many distribution lists (or DL’s to us in the trade) and they jam up your in box, unless your IT team has given you unlimited inbox…
Donald Trump is leading the Republican polls (ahead of a GOP dynasty). Hillary is being pilloried about e-mails (seriously, how does anyone NOT know the only way to erase a hard drive is to burn it?) and Bernie Sanders, a Socialist from Vermont is gaining ground (I got nothing); you’d think this presidential election cycle couldn’t…
“I think we should banish expectations and re-instate wonder.“* Consider it re-instated. Season three of the Sundance Channel’s show “Rectify” wrapped up last night with a few tears from the actors (and this viewer) and an uncharacteristic hint of optimism. For the past month I’ve tried to muscle up words to describe how good the…
I’m writing from a place of sadness. A kind of empty sadness unlike any other I have ever known. I lost my mother recently. Well, it’s not like I misplaced her, she passed away. And wrestling with my emotions surrounding it is, on the best day, odd. On the worst? Painful. These days are the…
“We all pay for life with death, so everything in between should be free.” – Bill Hicks I am the youngest of my mothers four children; born breach during what is often considered the most tumultuous year in modern history (the year of unraveling). I grew from a collicky baby into a petulant child then…
It’s true…and not in some sort of existential “we’re all dying a little more each day” kind of way. As I type this out my mother is in hospice. You see, a couple of weeks ago my mother suffered a heart attack and a “series of strokes” (no less than six according to the neurologist)…
Outside of certain environments neoliberalism is a word you don’t hear very often, but I suspect that is going to change in the very near future. With that in mind, I thought I would take a moment to shed a little light on what the word means. Oh, I know right out of the gate you are…
The animus that exists between traditional media and new media (linear media and digital media) befuddles me. I understand it as much as I do the longstanding battle between the Hatfield and McCoy’s…let’s hope this media battle isn’t as long. But why the hate? Is it ego? Hubris? Lunacy? All three? I find it hard…
Even though I’ve called the east coast my home for well over half my life, I am a Midwestern boy through and through. One of the many traits we Midwesterners carry with us is a solid work ethic. It’s certainly something I’ve carried with me through the years and it’s definitely something I look for…
Comcast still doesn’t give a f*ck. They’re still the largest Telecommunications lobbying force in D.C. to the tune of almost $17 million dollars in 2014 lobbying for Telecommunications…by way of comparison, they spent $100,000 lobbying for television. Guess which category the Internet falls under? Control the media, control the message. This is happening now and you…
I just flew in from Detroit…and boy is my heart tired. Detroit is in rough, rough shape and yet to me it still is the quintessential American city. The whole package, the good, the bad and the ugly. The good: it was built on the backs of the melting pot of Americans. At one time,…
I am noticing a trend among people today. And not a good one. Of course I am alarmed by so many things taking place across the globe and, in the ultimate scheme of things, this concern barely registers…but it is annoying as f*ck. People can’t seem to answer a God damn question. For example, these…
Last week I was on site for work and woke up to find a note scribbled “the heart collapses” beside my bed. I don’t know what I could have been dreaming about that made me make this note. I am not a lucid dreamer. I recall looking at that and scratching my head, quite curious…
Black Box Radio Podcast On Soundcloud
Sammy Hagar’s first album for Geffen Records, Standing Hampton, initially put the self-proclaimed “Red Rocker” on my musical radar. While not a huge fan, he was always on my radar. Frankly, if I am being honest, that’s really the only Sammy Hagar solo album I like. Sure, I like the Van Halen stuff a lot,…
So about one year ago (January 13, 2014) I wrote about Charlie Brooker’s television show, Black Mirror. I said you should really be watching it. Last week, Brooker was interviewed for WNYC’s On The Media and talked about it, A Paranoid Reflection of our Digital Age. Because all too often people have come up to…
I do these writing prompt deals from time to time. They help stimulate a little creativity and get the tappers on the keyboard. This one came from Medium. The prompt was “What Prepares You for the Day“. For the uninitiated, Medium is a writing platform created by Ev Williams, one of the creators of Twitter….