"I don't know about you, but the only rocking I'll be doing is in a chair!" When it comes to my favorite music, I live in the past with classic rock. Classic rock is struggling to remain relevant. In fact, CNN recently proclaimed that this summer “marks the twilight of classic rock.” Bob Dylan is 81. Paul McCartney is 80. Carlos Santana, one of the youngest rock icons at 74, was rendered unconscious by heat stroke at [...] READ MORE
Camels were cool in the old days and reportedly the favorite bad habit of doctors who would walk a mile for one. As a member of the jingle generation, I have all kinds of stuff cluttering my mind. Blame it on TV commercials— the most pervasive purveyor of advertising slogans and jingles. I had a good time with this subject a few years back, and some bear repeating— along with a few others in this updated version. [...] READ MORE
Joe Camel: From cool to out in the cold. Washington legislators can’t agree on much of anything anymore when it means crossing party lines, but they do seem to find common ground on one thing. That’s right, something has to be done about Facebook. A Senate Subcommittee heard testimony this week from a Facebook insider who was part of a “misinformation team” intent on stealing the hearts and minds of our youth — and, undoubtedly, a whole [...] READ MORE
Words come and go as the years go by. One of the great things about being young— as in late adolescence and well into the vague parameters of young adulthood— is you get to make up your own language and toss words and expressions your parents and grandparents are fond of onto the scrapheap. Words like scrapheap, for instance. I explored that subject a few years back in a newspaper column entitled: “Outliving a Big Chunk of [...] READ MORE
Something for those scared to death of dying? It seems that people are becoming increasingly aware of the value of history and the lessons we should be learning from it. Museums and historical societies are all around, supposedly to sustain our understanding of the past, as well as its impact on our present while providing guidance for the future. Driving across the wide expanse of Virginia over the weekend I saw a big billboard proclaiming Cooter’s Place, [...] READ MORE
