On Saturday, August 2nd, 1986, a few friends and I found out that The Jazz Butcher was going to be playing that night at The Underground, a bar (at the time) in downtown Milwaukee. The Jazz Butcher was the brainchild of Pat Fish (aka Pat Huntrods), who along with lead guitarist Maximillian T. Eider and the rest of the band was touring the United States for their first time ever. Pat Fish was an absolutely critical player in my youth and my wide and deep interest in music. Back in the 80s, when I was in high school, any…
We’re not taking this seriously
A few days ago, I chose to engage in a Nextdoor.com thread about a woman who took her daughter to Burger King drive-thru only to be met with workers who weren’t wearing masks. (It’s important to note she took great pains to point out she was not proud of taking her daughter to Burger King, and she would probably never do it again, lest you’re judging her right now.) For a neighborhood thread involving COVID, it stayed remarkably on-topic. Sure, there were a few posts of COVID or mask studies, but generally, the conversation was centered around whether people…
A recession is the perfect time to promote conservatism
Many think the best time to advertise is during a recession. The ads are less expensive. Your competition is in expense-cutting mode. There’s less clutter on the airwaves. You can establish a reputation in the quiet time so when business heats up again, people are familiar with you and what you do. Instead of only reacting to every single Tic Tok video abnormality, Biden misstatement, COVID statistic, proposed vaccine mandate, and piece of bad economic news, there’s a better strategy. Sure, in real time, those things are standard operating procedure. But with the election over and the mid-terms still…
When did we get so excited about work?
Back in the day, families and friends were high on the list of priorities for people who went to work. My Dad went to work to support and pay for his and our family’s personal endeavors. He would often say, “No one ever lied on their death bed and lamented that they didn’t make more time for work.” Life is about experiences with friends and families. Sure, it’s about accomplishment, and people accomplish some noteworthy, if not great things, at work. But when it’s all said and done, you’re going to remember all of the unique, interesting, and impactful…
If you don’t do what I want, you should die
Isn’t this what leftists are saying about pretty much everything these days? If I want you to get vaccinated, and you don’t, you shouldn’t be allowed access to society, and we hope you die. If you think we need ID to vote, you don’t deserve the right to exist within any community. If you don’t wear a mask, we hope you catch a terminal disease and die. If you don’t believe that all whites are racist, you need to be destroyed. If you don’t believe the events at our Capitol on January 6th was the worst insurrection in the…
Always pay more than they ask
A few years ago, I was looking to hire a copywriter. My budget was around $65-$70K. A few weeks into the process, I found an excellent copywriter who had a lot of great experience and had proven her ability to write truly concise and impactful copy. I had a good feeling about her, and sure enough, she went on to quickly become one of my most effective writers. When it came time to start talking to her about logistics like benefits and salary, I asked her how much she was looking to make. She sheepishly said, “$35,000? Is that…
What would Jesus do?
This is actually a pretty difficult question to answer because, as we know, the Lord works in mysterious ways. Who could possibly predict?
Driver IQ test
If you are, or have ever been, unfortunate enough to drive in Seattle, you’ve been privy to what amounts to a driver IQ test. If you want to know who the smart citizens are and who the dim ones are, you need only to camp out at an intersection with two lanes on each road and a stop light. All of the people lined up behind one another, one after the other, are the low IQ drivers. The one person in the other lane is the smart driver. The one driver in the line of 10 cars, next to…
The cultural appropriation of Juneteenth Day
Two days ago, Joe Biden and the United States Congress officially made June 19 a federal holiday. They did this under the auspices of June 19, 1965, or “Juneteenth Day,” marking the end of slavery in the United States. Not only was this inaccurate political pandering, but also cultural appropriation. June 19, 1965, was when federal troops arrived in Texas to free the remaining slaves. This is a Texas-specific event that has been recognized there for some time. For a long time, people not from Texas weren’t even aware it was a thing. September 22, 1862 was the day…
Definition of common sense
Many have attempted to define “common sense,” so I figured… why not? Ideally, “common sense” would be something that was, well… common. That means most people have it. I’m not sure how much “common sense” is left in this country, so it may have morphed a bit into a nostalgic romantic ideal. A sort of way of thinking that seems to have passed us by. Some will tell you “common sense” is gone because we tend to over-think or over-engineer everything. We have too much time on our hands, and we make all sorts of assumptions that usually end…