“And now, the power and class of New England, the Minuteman Marching Band!” George Parks loved to say that every time his band would get ready to play. Since the 1970s, Parks directed the beloved UMass Band. Sadly, this week, he had a heart attack at age 57, and died […]
Today I made a bunch of decisions that I’ll be living with for years to come. I decided on a few paint colors, (easy) and then on a carpet, a honey-colored shag, ( easy). But then it got harder when it came time to decide about flooring. I’ve got four […]
The other night we watched a movie with one of my favorite character actors…who has the distinction of appearing more than any other actor on Saturday Night Live. Christopher Walken. The movie is called $5 a day, and is the story of a father and son road trip where nobody […]
I like it when things turn out the way you hoped they would; even in a long projecting arc from start to finish. Today I read a book review in the Recorder that was syndicated by the Dallas Morning News about Peter Heller’s new book, called Kook. Peter and I […]
S Sometimes stories write themselves, while you’re traveling. It’s just so obvious what to write, that you do it, and soon enough the entire arduous task is over. Writing isn’t hard. It’s just frustrating and torturous and some times takes way, way longer than you think it will. Below is […]
Today was the usual whirlwind, but it was controlled and ended up being a damn productive day. I learned a few new terms today when I had a meeting with some credit card processing people. It’s clever…the attractive blond sales gal was very savvy, got us interested. But when it […]
Dan Neil has won my fandom for injecting wittiness and precise prose into the narrow intellectual confines of the car reviews he writes for the WSJ. Every time I see his new reviews I snap to reading them, even though I care less about cars than most men. Here he […]
We celebrated the last day of business for a new adventure outfit based out of Red Lodge on August 31. As we read stories of our east coast friends sweltering in 95 degree heat, we were headed to the top of Beartooth Pass, in a biodiesel-powered school bus towing a […]
On our last night in Montana we were treated to something with which most Montanans are familiar. We stayed at the Chico Hot Springs Resort, in the tiny town of Pray. The long straight road leading up the 110-room hotel is flat as a runway. In fact, up until a […]
I’m at the Coffee Roasters Cafe in downtown Red Lodge, and the place is full of men who don’t take their hats off when they sip their coffee. Outside the sun is bright against some distant mountains. I have a coupon for a free breakfast at the Pollard Hotel, but […]
Sometimes I experience a moment that I know is transcendent. It’s a combination of where I am, what I am doing, and what it all means when put together. About 3 o’clock this afternoon, I was riding a docile horse named Domingo on the wide open countryside outside the Lazy […]
We drove out of the airport after arriving in Billings and the first thing we saw were a giant wall of mountains, which we learned were called ‘The Rims,” dramatic brown bluffs rising up from the flat land. The weather was bad and as we drove 65 miles to Red […]