My Music Monday

Never let it be said that National Public Radio isn't a gem. 

I mean - never buy a book that is featured on Fresh Air. Terry Gross has made bad books sound way too intertesting, certainly much more than they are. 

But it has exposed me to music over the years. 

It was there I first heard Dar Williams back in 1993. It was there I found Mountain Stage, from West Virigina Public Radio, and heard so many artists - though mostly folk and bluegrass. 

KEXP in Seattle exposed me to Kerala Dust. 

Apparently they've been around for years, but via Berlin. They are part art rock, part electronic(a), part just rock rock. 

I've been sampling their stuff, though first heard them via KEXP. The show they put on there - linked here - honestly sounds better than their records, including the track I selected "That's How the Light Gets In".

The rest of which I've been listening is equally low key, electronic semi-monotone. 

There are some early 80s post punk vibes here, but honestly they seem to break into more originality as they go. The lead vocalist has a tenor-baritone (verse-chorus) thing going on, I would say similar to Matt Johnson from The The.  Or maybe more accurately compare him to Matt Berninger from the National. The drums are uncomplicated yet perfect. 

I'm totally digging this. 

Cooking with Blobby

I think I've said it before, but while I love to cook, it is coming up with ideas for dinner that drive me nuts. I get that from my mother. 

Tell me what you want for dinner and it's done. Usually I can come up with something, but now and then I'd like some kind of direction. 

710 shoots me ideas now and then. The other day it was 'Marry Me Chicken'.  

He walked back in the room and I held up my hand to show him my ring saying I didn't actually have to make that. 

And the plan was for me to make Chicken Parm, but I finally looked at this recipe and I already had everything needed to make it, so........what the fuck. Of course, if I did, he'd think he "won".  And I just can't have that. 

Now and then, I give in - and I did. 

I swear Ina has a recipe called this, but I don't think it's the same one. I think there are a lot of recipes out there with this name that aren't the same. 

But let's get into it. 

There are seemingly a lot of ingredients, but putting it together went pretty fast. I know it says 10 minute prep and 50 minute cook, but it didn't seem that long. The biggest part of the prep was grating cheese and butterflying the chicken breasts. 

As always, having things laid out and the ready to go make things go way quicker. 

Ingredients 

Yield: 4 servings (maybe 5)

3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, or 6 chicken cutlets (about 2¼ pounds total), patted dry 

Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) and black pepper 

¼ cup all-purpose flour 

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed 

3 tablespoons unsalted butter 

3 garlic cloves, chopped 

1 tablespoon tomato paste 

½ teaspoon dried oregano 

Red-pepper flakes, to taste 

1 cup low-sodium chicken stock 

½ to ¾ cup heavy cream 

½ cup (1½ ounces) grated Parmesan 

⅓ cup sliced sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil 

Fresh basil, for serving 

Procedure

Step 1 

If using chicken breasts, start from the thickest end and slice each chicken breast in half horizontally so you end up with a total of 6 cutlets (see Tip). Season both sides of the chicken cutlets well with salt and pepper. 

Step 2 

Scatter the flour on a large plate and coat the cutlets, shaking off the excess. Transfer the cutlets to a sheet pan or large plate in a single layer. 

Step 3 

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-high. Once hot, reduce the heat to medium and add the butter. As soon as it melts, add the cutlets and cook until golden on one side, about 5 minutes. Flip the chicken and cook the other side until golden, 4 to 5 minutes. Do this in batches, if needed, adding more oil, if needed. Transfer the cutlets to a plate or sheet pan. 

Step 4 

Reduce the heat to low, add the garlic and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste, stirring until the color deepens, about 2 minutes. Add the oregano and red-pepper flakes, to taste. 

Step 5 

Increase the heat to medium, add the stock and bring to a simmer, scraping up any bits from the bottom of the pan, until the liquid is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. 

Step 6 

Add ½ cup of the cream and warm through, stirring, until it thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Watch the cream closely, reducing the heat if necessary, to maintain a gentle simmer. Stir in the Parmesan and the sun-dried tomatoes. Add more cream, if you like, and season the sauce. 

Step 7 

Place the chicken back in the pan to warm through, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and scatter basil on top.

The dish name is spot on. I mean, I can't marry myself, but fuck this was good. Had someone made this for me, I might have said "I Do!". 

All the flavours meld extremely well, yet some can stand out at the same time. There isn't a lot of any one item (maybe the parm) - though as always, red pepper flakes 'to taste', is always going to have me shaking more in than less. So while it wasn't super spicy, there was a kick. 

710 thought this would be good served over noodles (I had some on the side), but I'm telling you, the sauce to mop up with rustic bread was incredible. 

This goes into a rotation of at least 1-2 x month. 

Crazy Eyes

It is STILL Winter.  

So much so that, as I draft this, we are expecting 4-6" of new snow yesterday (Friday) and today with windchill it will be  -20°F (yes, you read that correctly).  There will be no outdoor run today, though the training group suggests not doing it, they give instructions on how one should dress should they still go.  <eye roll emoji>

Once again, pics are limited due to snow and cold. Poor Shep who usually gets three big walks per day - he's lucky if he gets one at this point - and it ain't long. 

He's weird, but always present. 

Dash!  again. 

I don't know if he greets all, but always greets me. 

Dash's crazy eye - and my cousin's dog, Siggie, beyond the black lab mix. 

Lake Erie is completely frozen over - U.S. to Canada. 

Not Bailey

Bailey.  In a flying leap at my sister.

Post walk snooze. 

Kaya wanted all my attention one day. 

Kaya got all my attention. 

Walk through the park. 

The snow was knee deep in some places. My knees - not Shep's. 

Song by: Poco

Hallucinate

I'll take you on a small journey regarding a part of my mental health. 

In previous posts (ok, at least one), I referenced having Hypnagogic Hallucinations. 

I have them. A lot. 

Some days / weeks / months are better than others.

But they started a while ago and it took me almost a year to mention to my shrink, as I didn't know exactly how to explain them where they made sense. And because it made me sound crazy. And I was afraid I was.

I told him I knew I was awake and they almost all happened in the wee morning house. They were like a light show (most of the time) and lasted what seemed like 7-10 seconds each, but they were just continual until I'd finally get up. Mine weren't all light shows, some had people, places, scenarios. 

And somehow in those 7-10 seconds I back storied everything. It was exhausting. 

But the light shows were are all very Laser Floyd-ish.   .....or was Laser Floyd just something that happened in our Cleveland Planet-arium?

My psychiatrist put my mind at ease, giving it a name and telling me while it was considered a hallucination (which was the word I used to describe it - so yay for me for self-diagnosis), it was not due to, or indicative of, any psychosis. 

Oddly, I almost immediately felt better. 

If AI is to be believed, 70-80% of people experience these, usually when falling asleep. Mine are usually in the middle of the night. But make no mistake, these aren't dreams. I know I'm awake. I tell myself (internally) that I'm awake just to reassure myself I know 'this is happening'.

I should say 'told' myself. Past tense.  Oh, I still have the hallucinations, but now I lean into them, so to speak. I'm learning to co-exist with them and just let them ride. In a way, that has helped. 

Since they happen quickly, and there are so many of them, I almost never remember a single one, though I always think I will. 

.....until early morning yesterday. 

Technically, I don't remember anything about it - except two words. And you see them in the upper image. 

I literally reached over, got my phone, and wrote a memo with those two words - though I'm 99.9999% sure the first word isn't real. Then I tried to go back to sleep, but that didn't happen, so I started my NYT games instead.

I am aware that the volume and intensity of these hallucination happens during stress. I feel a lot of that with Minneapolis, ICE, the probability of ICE being sent to polling stations to intimidate voters to NOT show up, hoping the mid-terms won't be detrimental to the GOP.   So, they've been pretty constant lately. 

My doc asked about them at our Wednesday appointment. He didn't really respond when I said I was just trying to co-exist with them. At least I didn't get a negative reaction.  .....but there isn't really any solution to them. No medical or medicinal treatments. 

But there you have it - one aspect of my mental heath journey.

Song by: Dua Lipa

Shopping with Blobby

Yet another installment in the drudgery that is everyday shopping. The camera-phone makes it a bit more fun - though I get looks whenever I take pics of products. Like I care what people think!  

Admittedly, I know enough about women's anatomy to be dangerous. Not Brett Kavanaugh dangerous, but like spouting knowledge with any degree of certainty. 

So in a way, I am just like a straight white male.  ....except I don't need to control a woman's body. So maybe I'm not like a straight white male. 

Anyhoo.......this popped up in my amazon feed. 

For the life of me, I had not idea women and coumunity pools had some much in common!  ....except for the fact you can get pregnant in one!

I'll give you the full description - as I must.

At-Home Vaginal pH Test Kit: 30 Strips + 30 Individually Wrapped Swabs - Fast & Accurate Feminine Health Monitoring for pH Balance, BV & Yeast Infection - Professional Grade

Let's start with, I have zero idea what 'BV' stands for. Yes, that's where I'm starting. 

Other than drinking cranberry juice and a scrub brush, what does one do for a yeast infection?  

I kid. I kid. I know there are probably pills and salves and the likes. 

Probably. 

Still, pH?  I see nothing about chlorine, so maybe a vagina is not just like pool maintenance. Though they both seem like a lot of work. 

30 strips?  How many yeast infections must one get to use a box of these?

I'm not even sure I should touch on 'professional grade'?  Makes me wonder what kind of other items are out there which are not 'professional'. 

I feel like this ranks up at something in the Walgreens aisles to forgo actual medical care - like the 'lost filling repair kit' for less than $7.00. Have we not seen the drill scene in Marathon Man to know one must go to a dentist ?? A real one?

Ditto with a GP or OB-GYN Kenobi. 

Anyway, for the low low price of $9.99 - this can be yours. C'mon - that's $0.33 a swab.

I think your vagina is worth that. 

I Won't Crap Out

I don't know if this is true or not - nor do I care. 

MAGA and the GOP are fine with making up stories and lies to further whatever agenda they might have - or just for the fun of it.

But it is said that BLOTUS became VonShitzinPantz a few days back - in the oval office filled with people. 

There is allegedly auditory and olfactory "evidence" of this event. 

I hope to g-d it's true. 

Say what you will about Pappy Joe and his age, I never heard that he fell asleep in meetings or behind the desk, let alone crapped his trousers. 

It got me thinking how many identical suits, shirts and ties VSP has in closets all over the White House. Plus the power washer to clean out that crevASSe. Oh, and the incinerator to put all those Depends and bio-hazard bags into the fire. 

I mean you know he probably shits himself several times per day. So, there has to be this huge wardrobe and on-site dry cleaner working 24/7 - though they probably LOVE it when he goes golfing. Open the windows and air the place out. 

I understand they do (or can) change out the carpet in the oval office - and I hear it matters which way the eagles head is facing and which talon holds the arrows et al. But now, they probably just have to swap that out now and again to Bissell the fecal stains out of the fibers. 

Truth be told, I did search out the video, but I couldn't hear "the accident". Though people in the room were ushered out quickly.  

g-d, I'd love to see the résumé of these aides whose sole job it is to scoot people out of harm's way. 

And let us remember that years ago Bob Woodward already let the world know this. 

Song by: Iggy Pop

Oh No

Winter still plagues us here in NE Ohio. 

At least for the next 10 days we still won't get above freezing, which will make it like three weeks in a row. Bother. 

And it won't stop snowing. 

Mind you, it's not inches upon inches like last week, but there is always a new covering - which for aesthetic purposes is nice - it covers all the grey and brown slush. But one-quarter to one-half inch daily starts to add up. 

Not enough to pull out the snowblower and well, shoveling is now off the table for moi. 

Last week did me in. We couldn't get the snowblower to work, so Blobby did it all by hand - all 15-17".  And then, out of the kindness of my heart (no honest!), I did it for my sister in law. 

My core was sore for sure. Painfully sore. Until it wasn't. 

.....then all the pain centered in my lower back, which manifested when I bent over to pick something up. 

As Dr. Zachary Smith might have yelled - "oh, the pain!". 

The weekend consisted of naproxen, flexeril and heating pads. And no running. 

Things were better when I moved. Sitting and getting up from sitting were the pains - literally. I was doing so well - until yesterday morning. Another crouch to get something and wham-o. 

Granted it's not AS bad as Friday, but it ain't great. More of the meds. More of the pad. None of the running. 

Technically half / marathon training started last week (though cancelled due to horrible weather). Actually it now starts this evening - which I'm not planning on attending. A 3 mile run in single digit temps isn't going to put me that far behind. The drive each way would take longer than the run. 

710 was so worried about me having a heart attack by shoveling, no one saw the back thing coming. 

Insult to injury?  After I finished with that 15-17" clearning, 710 got the snowblower working. 

Bother!

Song by: Don Dixon

My Music Monday

Peter Gabriel has a new disk slated for 2026. O\I.   

This is not to be confused with his 2023 release, I/O. 

Two disks in three years!  He hasn't been that quick in output since the early '80s. And assuming this is like I/O, it will have two versions - the "light side" and the "dark side".  Same songs. Different mixes. 

Like I/O, he seems to be doing the same thing with O\I - releasing one song on every full moon. Or one song per month. When all songs are released, then comes the album release. It's an interesting concept but not sure how that impacts "record" sales at all. 

"Put the Bucket Down" is his new song, which came out yesterday - with the February full moon. I totally missed his January release, "Been Done".

While Gabriel continues his sound of world music, "Put the Bucket Down" is very accessible. I mean, not radio accessible per se, but it's a good and interesting almost seven minutes.  The percussion is just spectacular. 

I have always admired Gabriel. He is a perfectionist, which probably gets in his way more than it should. As they say, "perfect is the enemy of good". 

But the sounds, the vocals, the arrangement here all work perfectly. 

Now I have to go back and listen to "Been Done". 

Catherine Wheel

I guess I'm kind of glad to have had some buffer time with the pet post yesterday to reflect on Catherine O'Hara. 

No doubt everyone will be posting pictures of Moira Rose everywhere - and deservedly so. It was a stellar character who could have been played by no one else.  Ever. 

Me? I was the kid in high school who would rather stay home on Saturday nights to watch SCTV.  

That show was always a moving target of time and station, depending who gave them funding or was airing the show. Every season could be different. You had to want it.  But a better cast of folks could not have been assembled. 

Arguably, women on SCTV were underrepresented, but that made O'Hara and Andrea Martin that much more indispensable.

She had great characters on that show - and then subsequently in other shows and in movies. 

O'Hara shined like almost no other in Christopher Guest's movies, each of her characters played perfectly - and almost always paired with SCTV alum and Schitt's Creek husband Eugene Levy. They performed together for almost 50 years. 

If you haven't seen Martin Scorses's After Hours you should. It's almost 40 years old, but I think it might have been the first thing outside of SCTV I saw O'Hara in - and she's brilliant. She was also the voice on the far too short lived The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley (I still have that lunch box, btw....). 

One could go on and on regarding all her roles, but who has that kind of bandwidth? I'm sure there are blogs just dedicated to that, and that alone. And rightfully so. 

It is for Moira Rose that she will be remembered, I believe. And what a way to be remembered. Iconic might be an understatement. I know people have talked of a reboot / update of Schitt's Creek, but hopefully that is off the table for good. There's no reason. 

Should you have not watched SCTV back in the day, go to YouTube and watch some skits. They didn't all transfer well. Some are grainy but it still makes me laugh and smile. 

....and if for nothing else, these days, scrolling clip to clip that anything could make me laugh or smile is something worth watching. 

Catherine O'Hara had that power.  I will miss her terribly. 

.....and for fun, back in 2021, I posted a short film she and Martin did for the first David Letterman Film Festival (there were only two).  It is brilliant - and linked here. 

Song by: Crowded House

In the Snow

Doggies. Doggies. Everywhere.  So let's all have a drink?   

I think that's how the phrase goes. 

We are still in the dregs of Winter. I believe yesterday, Cleveland broke the record cold streak last set in 1899 !!!!

Yesterday morning it was -2°F on my way out of the gym. On the way in 75 minutes earlier it was allegedly 6°F.  Anyway, our doggie time outdoors is limited. Even with his outerwear it's too cold, slushy, salty for dog paws. It pains Shep, so they are quick outings. He hasn't equated his normal routine and weather. 

So some images look the same:  brown dog against white snow. Same as it's been since Thanksgiving of last year. 

Blobby and Mr. Pickle rescue Shep from daycare. 

Bailey walking herself. Or she has my sister on a leash. 

Backyard snow zoomies. 

Dash is the Weimaraner. He always makes a beeline for me. I always accommodate him. 

When you want to be Gladys Kravitz, but you're also kind of lazy. 

Nothing about this pic says "happiest". 

Most vocal, probably. 

She was SO adorable. She got lots of love from me. 

We walked out into the middle of the lower Shaker Lake. 

The lake has deep ice at this point, we we were in little to no danger, but he was a little freaked out. 

Chest deep. He makes it work somehow. 

Me? My boots fill with snow. 

Song by: Red Hot Chili Peppers

Record of the Month

I figured I'd do a monthly 'what I'm listening to' kind of thing. This could be viewed as a lame placeholder kind of post. And probably it is. But it's my blog! So there!   

Lucinda Williams has a new disk out as of a week ago - World's Gone Wrong.

As spot-on as that title may be, I usually like to have more than a week's worth of listening to a disk before reviewing, but a) I had no other new disks to review. b) I don't set the release schedules - no matter how much I lobby. 

Williams has been pretty consistent in the last few years with output. Some stuff better than others, but all of it beating stuff from a decade ago. So I was semi-excited for a new disk. 

As the title suggests, it might not be an 'up' album. And it ways it is not. 

Since it was recorded in the Spring of 2025, we'd already gone through the election cycle and start of this administration. It would be difficult to believe that "How Much Did You Get for Your Soul?" isn't about you know who, when there is a lyric that is: "you sold the one thing given by God, ’cause you thought it would make you rich / You’re nothing but a worthless fraud, it was all just bait and switch.”

In "Something's Gotta Give" Williams sings of "we've lost our way".  But it's a good song and well done. 

Yeah - you could equate it to a relationship song, but again, the title of the disk. 

It's Lucinda, so it is roots oriented rock with an overlay of blues. Gritty guitars. Gritty vocals (still better than they were a decade ago). 

She teams up with Norah Jones for a piano driven closer with "We've Come too Far to Turn Around". I want their voices to work better together. Or at all. Their tones don't match or compliment each other. She does better pairing with Mavis Staples with "So Much Trouble in the World".  That is one of the highlights of the album - for me. 

I like "Freedom Speaks" too. 

There isn't a huge divergence in William's style here. The songs are clearly more protest oriented and that's ok. Any voice railing against what we've become as a country (or world) is fine by me. 

It's a good kick off to music for 2026.......I hope. 

Burning

I keep saying people should be doing more to protest. I think what I'm really saying is *I* need to get involved in protests. 

I mean, we all should, but I can only control me........................................for now!

There is a group here in Cleveland - the Burning River Brigade that puts in the time and effort and shows up. Not in great numbers, but in visible places. And that's more important. 

I-90 seems to be their big focal point, getting all the west bound travelers who hopefully look up. I mean, you almost have to see them. I don't think they cause accidents by their visuals, but if someone takes their eyes off the road to read their stuff - good for them. 

And they're out in all weather and year round. You gotta admire that.   ....and they make trips to DC to protest as well. 

I'm gonna have to reach out to them even if I can only do it once in a while. Community is where we are at. Community is what Minneapolis is doing day in and day out. 

Resist. 

Anyway - here is some of Burning River Brigade's handy work.  Enjoy. 

Only funny if you know it's a medication to slow down Alzheimers 

Bernis is our immigrant Senator who ironically wants single citizenship for anyone entering the US. 

Song by: the War on Drugs