Downcast

Shameful

So, I woke up this morning and discoverd that my worst fears about Pope Francis's visit to Cuba yesterday had come true...

That Pope Francis agreed to meet with this monster, who has enslaved his country and exploited its people for decades, and exchanged gifts with him was bad enough. That he consented to do so after being denied an opportunity to speak with dissidents languishing in Castro's jails is shameful.

St. Thomas of Villanova

So if it is all the same to you, Holy Father,
I would rather not spend any time trying to figure out what you see as the "contributions" Fidel Castro has made to "world peace."

I would prefer to spend my day thinking about St. Thomas of Villanova, whose Feast Day we celebrate today. St. Thomas was famous for his generosity to the poor, and so far as I know he never gave audiences to the rich and powerful. Just sayin'...

Another One Bites the Dust

Scott Walker

Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin ended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination yesterday, joining former Texas governor Rick Perry on the sidelines.

It does not speak well for Republican voters that accomplished conservatives like Walker and Perry can't find any traction. It is a familiar pattern: GOP grassroots-types complain endlessly about how there are no "true" conservatives in the race, ensuring that the very kind of candidates they ought to embrace are forced out for the likes of Mike Huckabee and Rand Paul.


I'm a conservative by temperament, a Republican strictly for convenience. If the GOP continues to make it all but impossible for conservative candidates to be nominated, it has no future.

Cat Parkour

Roy the Cat shows his prowess...

Origin of the "Honey Do" List

From the wry comic strip Non Sequitur, by Wiley Miller, which you should read every day, as I do (even though Wiley is a squishy liberal).

Until Next Time...

On September 22, 1969 I happened to stop by my favorite record shop after school. Tiger's Records was owned by Kansas City organized crime figure Anthony Cardarella, but all kids like me cared about was that they had the best selection and lowest prices in the city. We didn't care about the how or why. The familiar brick building is still there on Independence Avenue, but it is a clothing store now.

They didn't have the album I was looking for that day (I don't even recall what it was, now), but I happened to come across a record in the "Released Today" bin that was almost ostentatiously plain, if that makes any sense. The album cover looked like this:

What made it especially odd was that it was the group's second album. People already knew who they were, sort of. They had had a minor hit (peaked at No. 63) with "The Weight" from their debut album, Music From Big Pink, and everyone knew they used to be Bob Dylan's "house" band for a few years. They had performed at Woodstock.

Intrigued, I took a flyer and bought the album so I wouldn't go home empty-handed that day. One listen to the record that came to be called "The Brown Album" and I was hooked. A few more listens and I became a staunch fan, which I remain to this day. Their music is difficult to characterize, but it is engaging, and their musicianship is stellar. Uniqueness is a key attribute of musical greatness, and The Band had it in spades.

Today's send-off is "Rag Mama Rag," a rollicking bit of nonsense in which the guys show off their prowess on a variety of instruments, including mandolin and tuba. Enjoy...