I ain’t much of a songwriter, I don’t suppose. I never sold anything or made any money from it. Once or twice, years ago, I recorded a cassette tape and sent it to a music publisher. A couple of times I tried to audition as a folksinger. To no success. Still, over the years I think I wrote a couple of good ones. Nowadays, I … Continue reading Another Blues “Original”
Welcome to September. Yikes. Time flies when you’re having a good time, and even when you’re not. September is the ninth month, and nine is a beautiful number. Three threes. The number nine signifies completion. After nine, in our counting system, you hit 10, and you have to “carry over” and start a new column. From there, it’s just a matter of recycling the same … Continue reading The Annual Bumbastories Tri-Centennial September Magazine
You’ll forgive me for singing another sad song. You can’t blame me. There I was in the beginning of the summer thinking that we were finally going to come out of this covid mess, and maybe finally get back to living normally and doing all those things we said we wanted to do. But no. It wasn’t in the cards. It seems a variant slipped … Continue reading Another Old Song, Another Sorry Lament: St. James Infirmary
I only today heard that Don Everly had passed at age 84. An era has passed. A beautiful voice is gone. I recalled a passage I wrote in my novel One Life or The Lives of Chester Knowles where, for reasons unknown to myself, I talk about my love for the Everlys…. But Marsha sat motionless, looking out the window at the god-awful 405 freeway. … Continue reading The Everlys
“It’s been the ruin of many a poor girl” Many and various are the versions of The House of the Rising Sun. It was first written down and introduced to the world outside Appalacia by Alan Lomax in 1932, but the song’s origins lie a century earlier. The earlier lyrics tell of the lamentable downfall of a young woman. Later on in the history … Continue reading House of the Rising Sun
Once again, good ol’ Yogi Berra, the late, great Yankee catcher and, according to my statistics, the most quoted American since Mark Twain, offers valuable perspective in these difficult covid/delta variant times: “It ain’t over ’til it’s over,” said Yogi. Thank you, Yogi. Yogi was also quoted as saying, “it’s deja vue all over again”, which again is an apt description of this second (or … Continue reading It ain’t over ’til it’s over
Hurray for paleontology! I think that paleontology, the study of ancient animals and plants, is one of the most interesting subjects to study that there is. If you’re a fan of history, well then, paleontology is the thing for you, because paleontology is the history of all of history, all of life. Not just us humans. If you just enjoy a good story, well then, … Continue reading On Paleontology
Happy August. Happy eighth month of the year! For your information, the month August is named after the Roman emperor Augustus, who named the month after himself in order to celebrate, er, himself. August means admirable, and reverential, and implies all things good, which is why Augustus, nee Octavius (which already meant the eight man), re-named himself Augustus in the first place. Ol’ Augustus thought … Continue reading The Bumbastories’ Semi-Annual August Magazine
Welcome to the month of July, the seventh month. Bumbastories continues its walk through the numbers. Let’s talk about the seven. Lucky Seven. Mathematically, the seven doesn’t seem very promising. And indeed it isn’t. A regular seven sided heptagon or septagon is hard to construct, doesn’t tesselate, and doesn’t appear to be of much use. Nevertheless the seven is surprisingly significant to our psyches. It … Continue reading Another Bumbastories Bi-Millennial July Magazine
Welcome to June, the sixth month. And Bumbastories is again obliged, nay compelled, to celebrate the number six, the “perfect number” six. The six has long been regarded as “perfect”. Its factors: 3, 2, and 1, when summed, add up to 6. The world was created in six days according to the Bible. There are six colors in the color wheel and six strings on … Continue reading Bumbastories Semi-Annual June Magazine, and Tri-Centennial Re-Post
