Well, that was interesting...
And welcome to a new batch of subscribers!
I wrote a little piece yesterday about how the NY Times finally reported on what we all could see with our own eyes, that Trump’s public speaking has degraded pretty consistently as a thru-line to anyone who pays attention, that one would assume that professional (aka PAID, working for places like, I don’t know, the NY Times) journalists would consistently make note of.
Anyhow, that led to a LOT of traffic, and my best day ever:
And with that YUGE bump in traffic, has come a big slug of new subscribers.
Thus, it seems to me that this is a good time to welcome the new members (HI!) and to lay out what it is like here. Yeah, I know, you probably got the welcome email, but if you’re like me, you ignored that.
A few things:
This is a free newsletter. I do not charge money and will never charge money for it. I resist all entreaties by Substack to “just” connect my page to Stripe and turn on the floodgates of lucre. Truth is, this is a hobby for me. My day job is being a product manager at an old-line Tech company, so I have plenty to keep my days full.
Once or twice a week I will post about politics. I am center-left, and post from that opinion. If that makes your blood boil, then you might as well head for the exits. I will not be upset to see my subscriber count go down.
Oh yeah, I am sweary. Occasionally someone will bitch about the cursing. If you are offended by prose peppered with profanity, this might not be the place for you.
I post a lot of music. I am a guitar player, having been turning money into noise for over 40 years. As such I am always on the lookout for great guitar talent. Also, I particularly look for women who play, because rock guitar players is a veritable sausage fest, and I find that there are many fantastic ladies out there if you look for them and I do. And I share them. I hope you enjoy them too.
Comments are open, and I read all of them. I can’t reply always (day job) but I do enjoy the back and forth.
Anyhow, thanks for stopping by. We1 appreciate your decision to add to your inbound email, and daily reading load.
Enjoy your stay!
That is the Royal “We” as it is just me
Music helps make life worth living.
Hey Geoff! It's great to know several things about you, to wit: you're a rocker! That's awesome! I'm 64 and crazy about metal, which I rediscovered when I heard Tool for the first time at my daughter's friend's house more than 30 years ago. I was instantly in love (it was Lateralus).
Weirdly, I loved metal when I heard Black Sabbath as a kid, but I worked for several years at a music store in Alaska in the late 70s/early 80s, and listened to mostly classical and the then-new trends of jazz and jazz-rock fusion. Rediscovering ass-kicking rock has been great fun, and discovering world metal is absolutely amazing! Anything very unusual is always going to intrigue me, especially if the musicians are technically excellent and the time signatures are complex. It's great to read someone well versed in music and enthusiastic 🥰.
As for the swearing, I'd always rather read someone who feels free to cuss up a storm when the moment calls for it, and fuck anyone who's too fragile to handle it! They can buy a sense of humor 🤣🤣🤭 (I love Jeff Tiedrich, so you can imagine).
I came to Substack mostly for the political commentary, but your column is always fun, and I love that you love music.
To sum up, to Hell with the haters, have some fucking FUN!