Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, protected the couch as the keeper and Phyllis boarded the Vista West bus as activities director Caitlin drove it to Fort Atkinson for an afternoon show at the Fireside Dinner Theater. The feat of ticketing, feeding, seating and presenting a bang-bang rock and roll …
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Category:Music
The Pen in Hand Collection of Unconventional Christmas Moments: An Evening with Jon Batiste
Attribution: Possibly Jenny Nyström (1854-1946), Swedish illustrator, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter The holiday season is all about family tradition. Whether it’s about going to Midnight Mass, carving the Christmas ham, avoiding the mother-in-law’s homemade eggnog, or sampling Grandma’s oyster stew, traditions are what makes our holidays special. We are lucky to …
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The Pen in Hand’s Collection of Unconventional Christmas Moments: “Fairytale of New York”
Attribution: John Tenniel , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter Katzenjammer and Ben Caplan The holiday season is all about family tradition. Whether it’s about going to Midnight Mass, carving the Christmas ham, avoiding the mother-in-law’s homemade eggnog, or sampling Grandma’s oyster stew, traditions are what makes our holidays special. But some people are …
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Blue Christmas
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter As we were trimming the tree last weekend, my wife asked me to bring in the laptop so we could listen to Christmas music. I complied—as any trained husband will—and set up the sound system in our dining room. And so we trimmed the tree and drank some …
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The Pen in Hand’s Collection of Unconventional Christmas Moments: “Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis” by Tom Waits
Happy Holidays from The Pen in Hand Blog
Attribution: Archives Branch, USMC History Division, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christmas_Card,_1_December_1941,_page_2_of_3.jpg
The Pen in Hand Guide to Spinning Classic Christmas Vinyl
Photo by The Retro Store on Unsplash By Geoff Carter While those of us at The Pen in Hand will always be slavishly devoted to his TV home entertainment center, this week he will be putting down the universal remote in order to turn his focus solely on another entertainment form—music. Part of the reason for this departure …
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The Pen in Hand’s Collection of Unconventional Christmas Moments: “Fairytale of New York”
Attribution: John Tenniel , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Katzenjammer and Ben Caplan The holiday season is all about family tradition. Whether it’s about going to Midnight Mass, carving the Christmas ham, avoiding the mother-in-law’s homemade eggnog, or sampling Grandma’s oyster stew, traditions are what makes our holidays special. But some people are hurting. Many are …
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The Pen in Hand’s Collection of Unconventional Christmas Moments: “Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis” by Tom Waits
Happy Holidays from The Pen in Hand Blog
Attribution: Archives Branch, USMC History Division, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christmas_Card,_1_December_1941,_page_2_of_3.jpg
Blue Christmas
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter As we were trimming the tree last weekend, my wife asked me to bring in the laptop so we could listen to Christmas music. I complied—as any trained husband will—and set up the sound system in our dining room. And so we trimmed the tree and drank some …
Read
The Pen in Hand Guide to Spinning Classic Christmas Vinyl
Photo by The Retro Store on Unsplash By Geoff Carter While those of us at The Pen in Hand will always be slavishly devoted to his TV home entertainment center, this week he will be putting down the universal remote in order to turn his focus solely on another entertainment form—music. Part of the reason for this departure …
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Kickass and Taylor Swift
Attribution: Cosmopolitan UK, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes the keeper’s less than stellar record of relating to female singers beginning with Dale Evans, including Kate Smith and moving on from the Andrews Sisters to Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughn. Somewhere when the pop musical focus went from …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Steven Van Zandt: Disciple”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo A Force of Nature: Review of Steven Van Zandt: Disciple By Geoff Carter There are celebrities, there are rock stars, there are music icons, and then there are forces of nature. For one force of nature to exist and work in the shadow of another larger force of nature cannot be …
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