Posts by Benjamin
Waiting At Graceland (First In Line) – MP3
“I ran down Elvis Presley Boulevard beneath a sky bruised purple and gray and orange at the edges,” I scribbled in a journal entry dated October 21, 1996. “It’s the type of sky that removes roofs indescriminently.” “It’s rumbling now, waiting to break, I’m sure, just as I step from the tour bus to the…
Read MoreGoing To Graceland
“It always rains when I’m at Graceland.” Thus began my journal entry (the old fashioned paper kind) on Monday, October 21, 1996. The dateline was Memphis, Tennessee. Just thirty-six hours earlier, I’d hatched a half-baked (actually, I was really baked), last-minute plan to squander the weekend prior to my start date at MTV News on…
Read MoreSixteen Thousand Nine Hundred And Three
I posted to this site every single day in February. Midway through the month, I realized that I had a streak going, and resolved to see it through. There were plenty of opportunities to regret the goal, usually when — as Abbi went to bed — I remembered that I hadn’t posted yet. Instead of…
Read MoreThe NyQuil Weekend
We took the day off, reserved the rental car, packed the ski pants, and even MapQuested the route. But alas, it was not to be. You’ll recall that Abbi and I were planning on spending the weekend in Vermont with Chris and Meg Abad. We were going to ski by day, play beer pong at…
Read MoreLeap Year – MP3
I wrote “Leap Year” fifteen years ago, in the deep, dark winter of 1993. Syracuse winters were brutal. It’s nation’s snowiest metropolitan region, averaging 114.6 inches a year. I happened to be there for three of the top five worst years, the penultimate being the year in question in which 192.1 inches fell. That’s over…
Read MoreCardmember Since, Um, Noon
I’m not gloating. It’s just that it blows my mind that I’m now, officially, the kind of guy who carries a corporate card. “Corporate” has always been a dirty word for me. It makes me think of unethical, hob knobbing straw men in generic suits. It makes me think of greed, uniformity, and homogeneity, anonymous…
Read MoreR.E.M. Accelerate: A First Listen
The day job affords me the occasional perk: random Paramount Picture DVDs, semi-annual trips to Park City, access to Lollapalooza’s scrappy craft services tent. In general, though, mine’s a desk job. I write email all day. Today, though, provided a brief respite from the usual. For fifteen minutes this afternoon, I was fifteen-years-old again. Record…
Read MoreTaking Requests
Ok, so when we spoke last, I was talking about this “Magic Mountain EP” idea of mine. Remember? Right! That five-song, online-only recording I wrote about yesterday. The one Chris Abad and I are going to knock out this weekend somewhere between snowboarding and beer pong. Yeeeaaah! That one. So lemme’ restate the premise: I…
Read MoreComing Soon: The Magic Mountain EP
Magic Mountain Ski Resort near Londonberry, Vermont, is — if my pal, singer/songwriter Chris Abad’s description is correct — “the slacker’s Okemo.” Chris and his wife, Megan, invited Abbi and I to join them there next weekend. “It’s an awesome place for drinking beer, skiing, board games, cooking, writing music, etc,” he said. “Any interest?”…
Read MoreOscar! Oscar! Oscar!
Ok, so we’ve almost made it through Colossal Televised Event season. I live blogged Super Bowl XLII three weeks ago, and the Grammy Awards two weeks ago. Tonight: The Academy Awards. 7:53 – My head literally explodes as Tim Kash — who’s been navigating the Oscar Red Carpet minefield for nearly an hour straight on…
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