I keep hearing it buzzing but can’t find it. Where's that bug?

I’m up from Florida visiting mom, and since I work remotely, I might as well continue working while I’m here. I can’t work at her place, so the only other option living the life at the library.

It used to be diesel, urine, and burned pretzels. You can still catch a whiff of that old smell, particularly near a subway entrance. All I smell now New York City is weed.

North of a Miracle by Nick Heyward was originally released in 1983 following his success with British band Haircut 100. It epitomized the resurgence of that time using real orchestral instruments instead of synthesizers, so prevalent in years previous.

Okay I did it. Now what? I posted 52 blog posts in 52 weeks. A few times I wrote them in bunches and I also went a few weeks without writing any. What it amounts to is 52 in a year, which is just what the goal was.

That is, what is the percussion sound (on beats 2 and 4) that dominates “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” - the album's biggest hit - and recurs throughout the rest of the record?

In a week I’ll be heading north to Connecticut. Not sure if I’m going to rough it and go non-stop, which will take 20 hours, or give myself a break and stay a night at a hotel.

I had to watch Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder last night. I haven’t seen it in decades, and it’s the details I’ve forgotten about.

Podcasts are the radio I always wanted.

Ken Ascher: piano, keyboards, arranger, conductor, is one of those guys. A common sight for decades on the liner notes of an album.

Ken Ascher. You might not know the name, but he’s a legend as a session musician and composer.

Don't Read This Either if You're Under 50. People had to live in the 1970s. I just happen to be one of them.

TV was a big deal in our house, and I had a front-row seat to all 70s classics: Mary Tyler Moore, M*A*S*H, Happy Days, The Brady Bunch, Love, American Style, The Odd Couple, Starsky & Hutch.

By Bob Deakin "Let me have some coffee and then I'll listen," said a groggy voice-like that of a mother to a child who rises early and...

By Bob Deakin When was the last time I planted my face in snow? I think it was backstage at a Grateful Dead show in the early 90s. Oh...

“Hello, I’m with a charity that provides shirts to men who run without shirts.” Cartoon by Ellis Rosen

They weren’t a band, but they were. Mike Nesmith, Davy Jones, Peter Tork, and Mickey Dolenz. All Monkees go to heaven.

Here in central Florida, I’m an hour away from the east coast (Atlantic Ocean), so I don’t have a good excuse not to go. Whenever I do, I always think I’m going to stay for an hour, get my fill of sun and waves, then head back.

My eyes aren’t getting better all the time, but my two computer monitors are.

By Bob Deakin It used to be so Christmassy. But used-to-bes don’t count anymore They just lay on the floor ‘til we sweep them away Neil...