b.rox

OK, so here’s a mix of my favorite music that came out in 2008. Seventeen tracks — an hour’s worth of audio for your listening pleasure.

8tracks allows you to listen to the mix in sequence only once. If you listen a second time, playback is randomized, and that might make the following “liner notes” confusing.

“Smoke [...]

Forty tracks to rock her fortieth birthday (which is today):

(Starts off mellow and ramps up. Contains plenty of my favorite songs by Xy’s favorite bands, and cover versions of her favorite songs, as well as a few topical selections. And buried deep in there is a bit of standup by Patton Oswalt that is not [...]

We went to the Celebration in the Oaks last night, the three of us as a family unit. There’s something about lights in the darkness at this time of year. It struck me that this is some of the same magic that drives the bonfire ritual. (And in case you haven’t heard, the bonfire is [...]

Playing the hand that was dealt me.

My co-worker Jim has said there’s been many a warm Xmas Day in New Orleans throughout his life, Xmases where he finds he’s quite comfortable wearing shorts. But I think this is the first such Xmas I’ve experienced here. I was hanging out in shorts all day. Warm summery weather. Loved it.
I did not love [...]

Good Yule y’all!

…from Persephone, Sebastian and Santa.
And from Xy and me as well.

One of the key tensions in my relationship with Xy has to do with television. To put it bluntly, she’s for it and I’m against it. I long ago gave up the battle to keep television out of our home, but at least we don’t pay for cable or satellite. We get our TV off [...]

You started crawling in earnest right after you made nine months. Now it’s hard to remember when you weren’t mobile.
Of course you’ve been getting into all kinds of trouble — mostly falling over and bumping your head. You’ve started grabbing hold of things to haul yourself up into a standing position, but your balance isn’t [...]

Nightcap number three.

It took me a while to get around to scanning this photo/art from the girl’s daycare. Better late than never, yes?

So we got a new range to replace our ancient fire hazard. A few gotchas along the way.

The old stove was 36″ wide. Most modern stoves are 30″ wide. You can get ‘em in a 36″ size but it’ll cost you. The cheapest 36″ range at Sears was $1700. So we went with 30″ and [...]

There’s nothing I want to do on New Year’s Eve except run around the Christmas-tree bonfire on Orleans Avenue. New Year’s Eve is usually a big let-down, but the bonfire is fantastic. I would probably just stay home otherwise.
According to some accounts, this is a tradition that’s been going on for close to a hundred [...]

My sleep is interrupted by the peal of a semiautomatic weapon being discharged. Three spurts. Close by. I’m too groggy to check the time but it feels like midnight or two in the morning. Did someone just arrange another funeral? Did someone’s son (or daughter) meet their untimely end? But there’s only silence afterward, no [...]

Title: Nova
Author: Samuel R. Delany
Published: 1968
Nova is a seminal work by one of my favorite authors. It’s a relatively short novel, written in an easy and accessible style, with poetic flourishes that don’t overwhelm, beautiful imagery, iconic characters, and just a dash of of avant-garde ambition.
And I liked it OK. I mean really, it was [...]

As of this moment, a bit of doggerel I wrote last year is the number one search result in Google for “christmas eve poem.” (Update: Five minutes later and I’ve already slipped down two notches.) (Update: 36 hours later and I’m back on top again. Didn’t realize Google fluctuated so much.)

Against my better judgment, I’ve set up a new site for the podcast known as J&B’s Nightcap. It’s at nightcap.rox and the second installment is now available.
In answer to Mr. Konrath’s query, yes, there is a magical way you can add these to your iPod. Just go to nightcap.rox and look for the iTunes link. [...]

I upgraded this blog (and a few others) to WordPress 2.7 “Coltrane” today; it’s a great package, but the built-in upgrade installation feature is simply irresistible.

Here’s something I’ve never seen before: It’s snowing in New Orleans.

Update: So early this morning as I was taking the girl to school, I thought to myself, “It’s cold and wet and damp and nasty — but at least it’s not snowing.” Rimshot.
Boss Lady and O were beside themselves. Sadly enough, the only thing they [...]

Here’s a number of Mid-City things on my mind lately:

Looks like they’re working to renovate the bar at the corner of Bienville and Rendon. Anyone know if they’ve applied for a liquor license? We should keep an eye on this. I don’t mind a bar near my house as long as they know how to [...]

I really don’t mind a long convalescence. It’s the initial descent that I hate. Anyway, I’m on the upswing now. Still a little unsteady but close enough to function. I went back to work today and was fairly productive despite some lingering queasiness. Today was the day of the big Fifth Floor Xmas Potluck. (In [...]