Attribution: Photo by Colton Jones on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, hears—frequently, the keeper’s lament about not having made music a larger part of his life. The early indications were that his high volume singing to the cows was well received whether they were tightly restricted in individual stalls or meandering up the lane ahead …
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Category:Music
Kickass and Oil Barrel Drums
Attribution: Steelasophical, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in posing the question: can the senior residents of an Independent Living facility be satisfactorily entertained by a man using sticks to pound on what was once part of a 55-gallon oil barrel? If the facility is Vista …
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The Joey’s Song Concert 2024: A Night to Remember
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter I was recently invited to go to the recent Joey’s Song concert in Madison, Wisconsin, by my brother-in-law Michael DiMilo (also a gifted artistic contributor to the Pen in Hand). Michael had been asked to create some of his signature animations for the show, which is an annual …
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Dialogues on Mr Jingles: The Highs and the Manilows
Attribution: PhilipRomanoPhoto, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Dave S., Mark M., Mark O., Dennis C., Paul C., and Geoff Carter Listening to Fresh Air again—the dark days of December have arrived. I’ve always cringed, punched the buttons to escape, (back when there were buttons on the car radio), whenever Barry came …
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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
Attribution: Archives Branch, USMC History Division, CC BY 2.0, 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. But some people are hurting. …
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Kickass and Willie’s Birthday
Attribution: Robbiework, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joined the keeper and Phyllis in watching the parade of old country music stars celebrate Willie Nelson’s 90th birthday on Sunday night TV, and proclaimed the time well spent considering the age group involved and alternative entertainment options. As a symbol of …
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Blue Christmas
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter (Originally posted December 2020) 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 …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to Spinning Classic Christmas Vinyl
Photo by The Retro Store on Unsplash By Geoff Carter (Originally posted in December 2019) While the Couch Potato 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 Guide to the Movies: Film Review of “Neil Young: Heart of Gold”
Attribution: Fernando de Sousa from Melbourne, Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Golden Years: Film Review of Neil Young: Heart of Gold By Geoff Carter The Ryman Auditorium: Nashville, Tennessee Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons The concert film is a genre that is as idiosyncratic as the artists it documents. From the frenetic …
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Goodbye, Robbie, and Thank You…
Robbie Robertson: 1943-2023 Capitol Records, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robbie_Robertson_(1971).png “The Weight” from The Last Waltz https://youtu.be/Z2eTW8qZBtk
Kickass and Old Music
Attribution: Film screenshot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the day started for the keeper and Phyllis with sipping and listening to a jazz trio at “The Cider Farm” Sunday afternoon; and it morphed into an evening at home with Phyllis searching out the old stuff of …
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