Dave Brigham's Blog, page 11

Rock and Writing

This is Tales From the House Band, Volume 2. It is an anthology featuring 15 short stories at least tangentially related to music. One of the stories from my collection, (C)rock Stories: Million-Dollar Tales of Music, Mayhem and Immaturity, is included in this new book. I hope you'll consider buying it and telling your friends and neighbors about it and suggesting that, "Hey, you know, you really don't have enough Dave Brigham in your library."

The book came out without much fanfare back in...

Selective Memory

I've long thought that I have a poor memory, but in working on a memoir about a road trip I took nearly 25 years ago, I've come around a bit to give myself some credit, and feel as though I've learned a bit about how my memory works.

First, let me state that there are times when my memory isn't all that great. My wife will tell me something about an upcoming plan for the weekend, and later that day I'll ask her, "What are we doing Saturday?" She just looks at me and says, "Weren't you listeni...

Waltham Empire

I'm a big fan of HBO's "Boardwalk Empire," which stars Steve Buscemi. I also liked him in HBO's "The Sopranos," and movies including "Ghost World," "Fargo" and "The Big Lebowski."

So I was excited when on a recent drive through the neighboring town of Waltham I spied this:

In "Boardwalk Empire," Buscemi is the king of Atlantic City and its illegal casinos, speakeasies, theaters, cat houses and more. Here are a few shots of the empire that Waltham's S. Buscemi lords over....

(A Christian boo...

Let There Be Light!

I get a laugh from Jack Handey and have deep respect for W.C. Handy, the father of the blues. But as for my own handiness, well, it leaves a lot to be desired.

My snow blower refused to work during last weekend's storm, but I have no clue how to fix it. When Beth put in a bulldog bottle opener on our deck last summer, and couldn't get the screws to bite all the way, I looked at it and said, "Oh well." Then I felt really stupid when I mentioned this to one of my neighbors and he showed up with...

Happy New Year!

Better late than never....

Merry Christmas!

Last week I started writing down some thoughts about the horrendous school shooting in Newtown, CT. But I got overwhelmed with what to write, as I thought about those poor little kids and their families and friends, and my own kids and how vulnerable they are, not just at school but everywhere.

I'm sure we've all thought about the numerous issues around this incident -- gun control, mental illness, school safety, the NRA's outsized influence over Congress -- and gotten a bit fried.

So I'll ju...

"On the Road," again

James A. Reeves has written the road trip memoir I wish I could write.

Bastard....

Reeves recently published The Road to Somewhere: An American Memoir, which is a "photo memoir of one man’s journey through America that is as sprawling and chaotic as the country itself. Contains 55,000 miles and 416 colorful pages with a map and an index," according to the book's back cover.

I can't wait to read, and look at, this book.

According to the publisher's description: "While working at a design studi...

UFO Playlist

My last post was all about UFO sightings and a research paper doubting that such crafts and their occupants were truly of extraterrestrial nature (see 11-28-12 "The Truth Is Out There?"). Today I wanted to present something a little more frivolous: a UFO playlist.

This list includes songs I have in my collection, as well as tunes compiled by the BlogCritics web site. It is by no means exhaustive.

So here, in no particular order, are some cool UFO songs. I've included a bunch of videos to make...

The Truth Is Out There?

I haven't paid much attention lately to one of my pet subjects, UFO's. For this, my dear aliens and conspiracy lovers, I apologize. But today, I return to the murkiness that is unidentified flying objects.

As I've stated before, my fascination with this topic was kindled when, as a child, I read my parents' copy of Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past. We also had at least one book in the house about the Bermuda Triangle, which also fed my imagination.

I've never seen a UFO, b...

NaNoWriMo Revisited

Five years ago I took part in National Novel Writing Month. Known as NaNoWriMo, the endeavor challenges folks to write a 50,000-word novel between 12:01 a.m. on November 1st and 11:59 p.m. on November 30th each year.

Encouraged by my buddy Jay, I decided to devote as much time as possible to this adventure. I did so knowing I wouldn't get enough sleep, as my daughter was just four months old and was waking up regularly during the night for feedings. Regardless, I wrote until midnight on many...