Radio stations have a new problem to add to their woes. They’re being challenged by a proposal by record labels and artists to require them to pay up to $500 million more in royalties for the priviledge of playing their songs. Radio stations already pay out hefty fees to songwriters […]
The day is coming to a close, and I feel peaceful and relaxed as I sit here at the Wired Gallery and Cafe in Bethlehem, PA. It’s a college town that’s full of revitalized apartments, a huge new arts and housing complex to be built at the former steel works […]
I often read book reviews…much more than the actual books. I like the way people can digest and tighten up a message that is as long and sometimes boring in a 400 page book, but works in a newspaper column or even as a little blog. One I read the […]
I made up the name of a contest that my friends at Airport Parking Reservations are holding. It’s a chance to take out your camera even before the trip begins by being creative with shooting the parking lot, your parking driver, and the friendly people behind the counters. They’re giving […]
It’s a glorious day to sit on the back patio and what better to read than the weekend WSJ? Here I found out about the prophet Mohammed’s career as a pirate, and how today’s Somali pirates are carrying on a long Islamic tradition. Stephen Prothero writes that when Mohammed and […]
Frank Moro Jr. has left this green earth. I didn’t know anything about his illness, I just remember his smiling face, whenever I’d come in with car problems. Frank was one of the first and friendliest people I met when I moved to town in 1990. He ran Fisher’s Garage, […]
Hey DeWolf, don’t let the door hit you on the way out! Chris DeWolf was infamous, in my view, when he declared that he’d prefer a profit to 300 pageviews. He said he’d give up all of those eyeballs to just make a darn bit of money. And abandoning your […]
I’m on a roll with my chronicles of life’s little joys. I’ve found another. For years, almost decades, I suppose, the top drawer in my kitchen cabinet has stuck. It was frustrating to open it, resisting and veering slightly off course, so you’d have to really grab it and it […]
At the crack of dawn this morning Nathan crept into my room and woke me up. I don’t mind; these early morning sessions where we go downstairs before Mommy and baby wake up are among my most cherished. Before I was made to play kid’s games on the laptop, I […]
On my last night in Texas we did it up in style. I was picked up in an SUV by our lovely hosts Stephanie and Ashley who took us to an upscale Mexican joint called Pablanos. There we joined Stephanie’s husband Sean and sat in a cozy circular table, where […]
Michael W. Hoke makes nature, plants and his incredible garden come alive. He speaks with vigor and boundless enthusiasm for teaching children about nature and about the gifts that the Shangri La Botanical Gardens provide the entire Southeast Texas region. In a pounding rain interspersed with thunder and lightning, we […]
The name Rao’s Bakery Cafe brings a smile to anyone’s face who lives in Beaumont. There are four such establishments here in town and one in Houston. We met Jake Tortorice Jr, the owner of them all when we stopped by for a groaning plate of his goodies…kolache, spicy sausages […]