Category: Friday Fives

1. Anti bucket list. What’s something you never want to do again?

Jump out of an airplane with a parachute – absolutely too frightening.  Also, I would like to add to my anti-bucket list going on a sea cruise. I can’t imagine a more miserable time.

2. What is something you find easy, but most people have trouble with?

Driving with patience and using my blinker when I change lanes.

3. If there were a show called Moderately Uncomfortable Factor (instead of Fear Factor), what would be some tasks or stunts?

Forced confrontation over a nagging issue with a close friend or family member.

4. What are three items you cannot live without?

Cell phone (it is amazing how since about 1996, these little computers are so ubiquitous.)  My fancy ink pen and my Amazon Kindle

5. if you had to choose one “life hack” to win people over, what would it be?

Ask questions about them and what their interests are – inclusion.

1. Without saying your age, what was something that was trending during your childhood?

Tang breakfast drink.

2. Have you ever known a murderer?

Unfortunately, yes. My first cousin Mark is doing time in the state prison in Sterling for killing his wife back in 2018 or so. Spooky. My parents basically raised the kid, sheltering him from a lot of domestic violence in his home and watching him after school. He is about four or five years older than me – we aren’t close but is was pretty close to my mother.

3. You’ve just been granted a superpower that only causes a minor but extremely irritating inconvenience for the villain. What is it?

Immediate volcanic irritable bowel syndrome.

4. What random sentence can end an argument?

Yes, but Billy Joel now has all the butter!

5. What song did you realize was actually really dark when you got older?

Dr. Hook’s “When you’re in Love With a Beautiful Woman.” The dude is a bit possessive and paranoid. I don’t think that relationship is going to last.

1. What’s your favorite song that’s not in English?

Miyaabele by Baaba Maal If you haven’t heard of him, you probably have as he sung the song “Wakanda” from Black Panther. He is a big deal Senegal singer, and look up his live performances on YouTube. He is compelling. I had an Uber driver from Senegal once and we spent the ride listening to Baaba and it was just great.

2. What’s a song where another musician or band is referenced in the lyrics or title?

Tom Petty mentions Del Shannon’s Little Runaway in his song “Runnin’ Down a Dream”

3. What’s a great song that mentions an animal, or can you hear an animal sound in it?

Pink Floyd’s “Pigs on the Wing.”

4. What’s a song that’s not from your generation, but you love?

Glenn Miller’s ” Moonlight Serenade.” (Or most any of the big band era classics. )

5. What’s a great song based on actual events?

“America Pie” by Don Mclean

1. What feelings do you want to experience more often?

Well, sure – joy. Who doesn’t want to live in bliss and joy?

2. Do you believe that “everything happens for a reason?”

Karma is a bitch. I think there is a Yin and Yang to the world and balance but not a full-on tit for tat kismet.


3. Do you believe in “toxic positivity”?

Yes – it can blur reality when you live in a world where nothing ever goes wrong.

4. When friends come to you to vent, is your response more empathetic or solution-oriented?

I tend to default to problem-solving mode but have learned over the years that often my job is to just listen as folks work through their issue and often come to their own solution.

5. What is the saddest movie, song, or story that you know?

“Night” by Ellie Wiesel.

1. Six years ago this week, Prince died. What’s your favorite Prince song?

This is so easy – the super bowl performance montage.

2. Who sucks more – Phil Collins or Billy Joel ?

Billy Joel. Really jump on the treadmill, put Billy Joel on the headphones, and take a walk. You will fall asleep.

3. Who sucks more – The Who or The Doors?

The Doors. Maybe not fair but having lived in college dorms for three years and in army barracks for three years, I never need to hear the Doors again as their greatest hits were part of the constant soundtrack for that part of his life.

4. What sucks more – a drum solo or a guitar solo?

This is difficult. I am currently going down a Wilco rabbit hole listening to a deep play list of Wilco on Spotify and they have lots of drum solos and guitar solos. But I am going to go with a drum solo in response to Grateful Dead shows where I always skip the drum solo jam on every show.

5. What’s the song you have been listening to for years and still love it?

Probably goes back to high school and late ’70s rock and an old stand-by from Foreigner “Jukebox Hero.”

1. Without naming them, who is your favorite artist of all time?

“Chim Chim Chimery Chim Chim Cheri “

2. What movie scene did you literally cheer at?

When Rudy got to play in the game.

3. What character in The Breakfast Club did you relate to the most?

The crazy girl, Ally Sheedy probably although I was and remain quite nerdy so maybe Anthony Michael Hall

4. What album do you think you’ve owned the most copies of throughout all the different formats out there?

“Almost Blue” by Elvis Costello. I probably bought this thing about four or five times.

5. What song can’t you get enough of right now?

“My Funny Valentine” by Chet Baker.

1. What album would you consider to be a 10/10?

“The Rising” by Springsteen. The first time I heard was riding back to Denver from Gunnison/Blue Mesa Reservoir with Bernstein and I had tears in my eyes – it is so well done.

2. What is a misheard lyric that you prefer over the actual lyric?

“I’d Really Like To See You Tonight” by England Dan and John Ford Coley. There is a lyric where he sings “I won’t talk about movin’ in” But for years and years I heard “I won’t talk about the linens” which is so specific that it is cute and I kind of miss now knowing the real lyric.

3. Which musician’s passing affected you the most?

Tom Petty. I miss him.

4. That one song that comes on the radio and remember exactly what life was like when you first heard it.

Faithfully by Journey Such a high school weekend bus trip to some speech team event in the winter across the highways of western Colorado song of memories.

5. What’s a song that calms you?

Adagio For Strings by Samuel Barber

Friday fill-in:

1. I can’t get enough of ___.

Ted Lasso – this show is the sweet syrupy schmaltz that I need in these crazy times.

2. If only I had ___.

The winning lotto ticket for “Lucky For Life” yeah, sweet life it would be.

3. I want to listen to ___.

Some live electric Neil Young really really loud.

4. I have too much ___.

General stuff, mostly books. I need to wean the books and maybe drop off / donate books that I will never read again.

5. If only I could see ___.

Such an existential question. Perhaps historically it would have been a treat to see the signing of the Declaration of Independence or a Lincoln speech. Or the original seven wonders of the world.

1. My earliest reading memory:

Paging through the encyclopedias spread out on the floor of the living room. I would haul down many different volumes and just read away for hours and hours.

2. My favorite book growing up:

Curious George and also the Cowboy Sam series

3. The book that changed me as a teenager

I really dug two books that were above my age/reading level that really affected me. Vonnegut’s “Galapagos” the first of Kurt’s books I ever read. And “Logan’s Run” is exponentially better than the movie and very sexy and deeply philosophical.

4. The book I discovered later in life:

“Moby Dick” I read parts of Moby Dick and parts of Billy Budd is a survey of American literature class in college but never read the entire book until about six or seven years ago and have since read it twice. It truly is a remarkable book – give it a chance.

5. The book I am currently reading:

“Is Fat Bob Dead Yet” by Steven Dobbins. A fun murder mystery/caper story written by a poet – it has some wonderfully crafted sentences and descriptive scenes.

1. What are some of the best cartoons/TV shows you grew up watching?

I loved “Battlestar Gallactica” and “Space 1999” On the Roku channel you can watch Space. And it does not hold up! Not a good show.

2. What are some good YouTube channels to discover?

Letterman (!#!##!!) That right – World Wide Pants has an official YouTube channel of Dave’s stuff.

3. Who is an actor whose presence in a movie will make you not watch the movie?

Not specific by name, but no reality tv stars turned movie actor.

4. What movies from the past are completely ruined watching with today’s mindset?

I recently watched “The French Connection” considered one of the greatest movies of all time – but it does not hold up – very racist and bigoted characters and dialog.
5. What are you watching that you love and seems like no one else is watching it?

5. What are you watching that you love and seems like no one else is watching it?

Over on Amazon Prime, I really like “Bosch” but it seems like I am the only one I know who watches it. It’s forgivable as there is so much content nowadays. If you get the chance on AMC (Maybe available on Roku) is “Lodge 49” only two seasons but it is great, although it was canceled because I was the only one who watched it.