Aggie87

The Orb - Buddhist Hipsters

Renting a car - that sounds right, thinking back. I think over its history, as the U.S. expanded west, cities gradually became more spread out, and not quite as centralized as those in the general northeast quadrant of the country. The Phoenix metropolitan area may be a good example of that. Philadelphia is a fascinating city (more interesting to me in many respects to Phoenix). There are board members in that area that live there and lived there longer than I did, so can speak to it better. In the 1750's Philly was the largest city in the U.S., and the second largest city in the British Empire, behind London. Later the Declaration of Independence was adopted there, and the U.S. Constitution was ratified there as well. Our first two Presidents (George Washington and John Adams) lived and served in Philadelphia while Washington D.C. was being built as well. So there are parts that have some architectural similarities to parts of Europe, but certainly much has grown and evolved since then as well.

I live in the Phoenix area, and agree. It's a very spread out, sprawling metropolitan area, with no real public transportation system to speak of. There is a light rail in the center of town, but it's limited in where it will take you. And there are city buses, but they aren't that effective either. I think I mentioned this to Rabshakeh prior to his visit here. I live on the north side of Scottsdale, and to go to downtown Phoenix for anything is a minimum 45 minute drive if there's no traffic. Or further if you're going to Mesa or Chandler or other areas. It's got its charms, but it's not a (relatively) compact city with a center where many people live, work and play. Unlike Philadelphia, where I moved from, which has a very effective subway and bus system. Just don't pay attention to panhandlers - as in most larger cities.

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Mark Knopfler - Privateering

Is that a cover of this?

I moved from TX to NJ in 2019, and then NJ to AZ in 2023. Both moves involved a moving companies, and relocating my music collection. In one of the moves at least one large box of CDs disappeared. I am assuming it accidentally stayed on the truck and wasn't offloaded at my new home. In both moves the truck was shared with other customer's boxes for their cross country moves too, and the shipping company puts moving stickers on the boxes that are color coded for each customer. But it seems like this opens you up to some level of risk, and that hit me. So either some other customer got a box of cds that they probably weren't interested in, or the box ended up left on the truck after the final delivery and was discarded. There are specific titles that I decide I want to listen to and can no longer find, but I didn't notice until well after the timeframe for making a claim had expired. Oh well.

Hawkwind - Love in Space

Spacemen 3 - For All the F'd up Children of this World

Khruangbin - The Universe Smiles Upon You II

I like Bruce, think his heart's in the right place, and mostly has been his whole career. He seems sincere, so I hope it's not all an act, but I tend to believe it's legit. He's not necessarily an all-time favorite of mine, but man he gives it his all on stage like few others in rock and roll over the past 50 years. I saw him in Austin in 1984, and the energy and conviction of Bruce and everyone in the band still resonates with me. Then saw him again in 2023, our last Philly area concert before moving to AZ, and despite being a lot older, still gave his all that night and it was a great show. I don't know if this song changes anything for me, I'm pretty convinced of my position with this administration and what they've done, well before this. But I appreciate his intent, and I'm not so jaded that I think this song can help motivate younger listeners. People who don't have the benefit of having lived through the 60's/70's and been part of culture that will stand up for what they think is right, in the face of the government. So for that I applaud Bruce and others who are using their art to address a worthy cause.

I travelled from Phoenix to Philly this past Wednesday for a family funeral, and returned last night. Highs here north of Phoenix have been in the upper 70's and low 80's lately, which is nice (though warmer than usual - thanks climate change). Anyway, arrived in Philly, drove down and picked my wife up in Atlantic City where she had been attending a work conference since the previous Saturday (she flew in early because of the pending storm), and drove back to the city. About a foot of snow in the area we were staying (Burlington NJ this time, since the services were in Bristol PA). But it had been on the ground for days, and had turned to ice. My 2 yr old grandson (who also lives here in AZ and doesn't often see snow) wanted to make snowballs, but quickly gave up. The weather hadn't gotten above about 20-25F the entire time, and the overnight low on Friday was 1F. That was cold for me, even having just recently moved out of the Philadelphia area. And our local family and friends said they couldn't remember a sustained cold that has been THIS cold and lasted this long in decades. On the bright side I got to eat again at Amy's Omelette House in Burlington, which is a very local breakfast diner, but was worth the drive when we lived in that area (not much else in Burlington is).

As an aside, I always thought "youse" or "yous" was a Philly thing, based on my regular visits and living in the area between 2008-2023 (and still visiting regularly). Is it a upstate/non-NYC thing as well, and I simply never heard it up there?

My family in the Texas hill country had a pipe burst and have dealt with graupel, but are otherwise ok. Supposed to warm up a bit and then refreeze, so may be messy soon. My wife is in Atlantic City for work, and they had 6" overnight. I'm supposed to go join her on Wednesday, hopefully flights are closer to normal by then.

Neil Young - Noise & Flowers