Things I think I think.

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so sure of themselves, and wiser people are so full of doubts...Bertrand Russell.

  To my horror I found this week that I could lose a lifelong friend really easily just by continuing a political discussion. Thankfully we both decided to back off because our friendship was more important than scoring political points. I mean Donald Trump isn't going to talk about the Crimson Tide or the Atlanta Braves with my pal and Joe Biden isn't going to talk Bama football or Braves baseball with me. So, at the end of the day we kept things calm. That seems to be getting harder these days and this political season will be one of "gotcha" on both sides. So, with that said I thought I would civilly list things that "I think" right now.

 There is a scientist who I really like and respect named Michu Kako who if you google him is a well known Physicist. Anyway one of the things he often says that I can appreciate when speaking of scientific knowledge is "This is what we know  right now." That means that as more knowledge is provided and discovered that we will perhaps know more or even differently than we do right now. So, when I say this is what I think. I do so with the right to think something else later on if I discover I'm wrong or incomplete in my current thinking.

I say that because people tend to come back at you and say "you said something different last year or yesterday or just a minute ago" as if that makes your current thoughts a lie at best or crazy at worst. So, from my over six decade journey so far this go around (life is a wheel) are some of my thoughts on as Douglass Adams author of "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" said "Life the Universe and Everything."

Donald Trump: Love him or hate him you have to admit that he is extreme. I think he is of low intelligence, obnoxious and a liar. I also think he's narcissistic. Everything is about him. He takes no responsibility for anything he has ever done wrong. Then he takes responsibility for hard work by other people. For instance telling his supporters how smart he is while talking about how the doctors are amazed at how much he knows.

 Calling for someone to punch somebody out during a campaign rally or making fun of a handicapped reporter. What made the last part so bad to me was his gutless response when challenged. Instead of manning up and saying "Yeah I did it." which at least would have been true. He started making excuses and people who know better (you know who you are) started defending him and saying "he didn't mean it that way." Shame on you! If you give him a pass for his cruelty that's your right. You feel his politics are the important part. I get that. But, don't lie for him. He's a shit person as a human being. As a president? Well he's not very inspiring but he's not a nazi either. Despite the left wing media's insistence that he is.

 I wouldn't vote for him as dog catcher. But, hey if you do and you honestly support him on strict political policy or as the lesser of two evils then that's your opinion and I can live with that and still love you. But, I will never respect "The Donald."

Donald Trump Part Deuce: First I have zero sympathy for people who think other people shouldn't be able to criticize the president. We have lost countless men and women in war for our right as a free people to let our voices be heard. One of the biggest freedoms we have is freedom of speech. The right as a citizen to voice our displeasure at the rulers and those responsible for the welfare of our nation. I remember Rush Limbaugh (no friend of liberals to say the least) talking about Bill Clinton in the 90's. He caught some push back from the left on his Clinton Bashing. But, he said (and I agree) that Bill Clinton (now Donald Trump) is the most powerful ruler on earth.

So, it's silly for somebody to  think Rush limbaugh could hurt Bill Clinton by not agreeing with his policies and speaking out. Now, Rush and other's think that I shouldn't have the same right to speak out against Trump that they had to speak against Clinton.

It's silly. It's also dangerous to our liberty to have a man like Trump now or Clinton then placed above the law. To see poor people and struggling working people who are one pay check away from disaster crying about "poor Donald Trump" is pathetic. So, yeah I reserve my right to criticise the president. No matter who they are. Don't worry my little ass isn't big enough to hurt your precious Donald. So, Chill y'all. He will still be rich and powerful when this is all over and you will still be living paycheck to paycheck. Same with the people who didn't want Clinton criticised. Hold em all accountable.

Republicans: I'm from Alabama. that means that I have had an up close and personal view of GOP politics. So, just from that I will say this. We are among the last in health care, birth mortality rates and education. We spend thousands of tax dollars a year over the state line in Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Mississippi supporting the state lotteries there.

We lost and are losing hospitals over not accepting millions of dollars in Medicaid funds from the federal government while the governor at that time "Mr. Doctor Governor Bentley" went to Vegas to gamble and have sex with his mistress on the state tax payers dime. But, he's a "gawdly" man don'tcha know? Not like those sinful democrats.

I grew up at a time when conservative Republican actually meant responsible government. But, right now it seems to mean feeding the corporations and the big pharma drug and insurance companies while the people live in mobile homes and wave Confederate flags and vote for people that wouldn't spit on them.

Let me ask y'all this. I'm being serious so please understand I can't understand this. You say you are pro life and you vote for people who rob you simply on the basis of them being anti abortion. Okay, I get that. Abortion is a nasty business and I'm not a fan.

But, then you vote for people who cut Medicaid and cause nursing home cuts and hospital failures and cause poor folks not to be able to afford to raise a child. You don't care if kid's on the border are put in cages and you begrudge a person getting food stamps. Yet, you have no problem with going to church and acting like the God of the whole universe blesses the American Flag and is more concerned with your latest war than he or she is with the hungry and cold.

 How many of you (and I admit I don't know) you can search your own heart. But, how many of you think about the children and the mothers and the elderly who die under the bombs of war that you celebrate on the Fourth of July or the times that you brag about American firepower. Now, don't come at me and say I'm anti 4th of July or anti American. That's not true. I just can't look at a weapon of war and not be aware that the rich rulers in Iraq or Afghanistan or Iran are in their bunkers while the rubble and bodies you see on the nightly news often belong  to women and children who had no place to hide from war.

So, if you want to guard the border and wage war on our enemies I understand. I honestly do. But, if you can look at a family coming across the border (even if you feel they are illegal) and not care about the hunger and poverty that drives many of them then you may be a lot of things But, you are not following the heart of Jesus Christ. That does't mean I think you are wrong for wanting border security. It does mean that I think you are wrong if you worry more about a rich Donald Trump than a poor Mexican kid on the border.

Donald Trump Part Tres: Finally and I'm asking my friends and anybody who honors me by reading this. Please don't come back and start trying to take this apart and asking me to do your research for you. I'm not going to try and point you to every time the GOP has cut Medicaid in Bama or the number of food stamps vs the number who deserve them. I'm just asking you to look into your own heart and think about it. You might disagree with me and that's fine. But, don't be knee jerk to demonise the Democrats and I will try not to be knee jerk to demonize the Republicans.

Finally, and then I'm done with "The Donald." I remember being on a forum back in the day of the Gadsden Times which was my old hometown paper and I was delighted to be able to connect though the technology of the web.

 I was in Colorado at the time. Anyway, there was this young atheist who was also a liberal. I disagreed with him on religion but agreed with some of his politics.

Well, he made some comments about Jesus (not really nasty just not real reverent either) I knew a guy who was also discussing in the forum and I thought "Oh boy, he's gonna jump in with both feet now because he is a devout Christian." Well, he didn't. He didn't challenge the young man on any point and let it go. But, then the young atheist said something bad about the Republican party and the Republican President (Would have been Bush at that time.) OMG! This Christian jumped in with both feet to defend the honor of the GOP and the Republican Prez. I have noticed that alot. I don't know when being a person of faith started meaning you had to defend corrupt politicians. But, it said a lot to me on what some of these so called devout people put first. And it wasn't the love of Christ by any stretch. It was the love of a political party and political power. Just sayin'.

This was going to be a longer blog on my thoughts. But, this went way longer than I intended. So, for now I'll end it and do another blog later. Cause I've go more stuff I've "thunk" about y'all. 😆

So, if you read Part one to the end I'm honored. Even if you disagree I thank you for reading.

Peace.

Ten Albums.

Recently I accepted a facebook challenge to list an album a day for ten days and challenge a friend a day to do the same. It was low key. No pressure and no expectation so I thought "Why not?" I never do these things. Well, it lasted exactly one post. 😏 I know but I'm not really good at tasks. You could ask my wife. I grumble if I have to get up and hand somebody a remote control. Still, music has been a big influence on my life and so I decided "Whut the heck." I'll just do it in one broad stroke. So, here are ten albums that had a big effect on me growing up.

 Now to be honest individual songs had more effect than whole albums. But, I grew up in an era where if we liked a song we only had a few choices. Buy the whole album for one song. Call in a local radio station if the DJ was doing a request show. Or get a cassette player and patiently wait for that certain hit to be played and mash record and then right as the song ended mash stop unless you wanted to end up with about 30 seconds of a following song you didn't like or a commercial . 😨

But, there are albums that I couldn't wait to buy and that I haunted my local record store for until they came in. Here are 10 of them.  In no particular order. Just saying they had an effect.

1. One of These Nights (Eagles) If I absolutely had to be on a desert island with only one album then I think this would be it. It's a hard choice to make but this is for me the last pure "Eagles" album. This one has Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner and the original Eagles line up. It also has Don Felder who wasn't in the first lineup but was instrumental to the band. I don't care what Don Henley said later. It's not that I didn't continue to love the band. I did. But, when I  think of the Eagles and the greatest single album they did I always come back to this one. If you are not old enough to have heard the original "Take to the Limit" with Meisner on lead vocals then you really don't realize what a tight vocal group the Eagles were from the start.

2. Rumors (Fleetwood Mac) This was the start of the Stevie Nicks era for Fleetwood Mac. Once she took the lead and started "Dreams" and that little twirl she did on stage the hearts of young rock and roll men were won. This is for me the only "Greatest Hits" album I would ever need from Fleetwood Mac. Now to be honest Fleetwood Mac was a really good blues group from the start in Britain. They did some seriously classic stuff way before they hit American shores and I can't argue that the band once Buckingham/Nicks joined was as deep as the original. Google it sometime and you will find how deep and serious musically they were. But, at the same time I have to admit. I love the sound and the songs once Stevie Nicks became the centerpiece. More of a top 40? Well, yeah. But, there is a reason stuff makes the "top 40" It's fun and it has a beat and it touches something. I mean look Prince or Jim Morrison and certainly Beyonce and the current "stuff" will never be Beethoven. I mean in music theory they couldn't touch the hem of his garment. But, their stuff is played and has a pull and draw. While Beethoven is now regulated to elevator music and NPR fund drives. Not saying it's right. Just saying it is what it is.

3. Frampton Comes Alive (Peter Frampton) I Hated this album! 😡 Never did like it. But that is why it's included here. See the top 40 conversation above? Well this is the reverse of that. It's top 40 crap. I bought into the hype. I remember trading a really good Steve Miller 8 track for this. Yeah, it had some cool guitar slides and tricks. But, nothing that I really wanted to listen to over and over while driving around. To this day when I hear the title "Frampton comes Alive" I silently think to myself "Arrgghhh")

4. Eagles Greatest Hits (Eagles) I wouldn't put a greatest hits album on any list. Mainly because a greatest hits isn't really an album. It's just a compilation. But, for those who don't know much about rock history you can google it. The Greatest Hits album was historic in the number of sales for this type of album. I played it over and over and over. Gotta include it if I'm honest about stuff that had an effect on my musical journey.

5. Second Helping (Lynyrd Skynyrd) I loved Southern Rock and this is the absolute best of a Southern Rock band. Sweet Home Alabama, Ballad of Curtis Loew, Don't ask me no questions, The Needle and the Spoon. But, it also reminds me of one of the funniest experiences of my youth. Well, funny now. Not so funny then. I was talking to a really cute girl and I was of  course shy. She started talking about rock groups. Back then my generation always talked our favorite groups and if you were cool you had to know your rock stars. I didn't know much about the band that would become one of my life long favorites. So, when she mentioned Lynyrd Skynyrd I remember saying "Yeah, He's pretty good." I didn't understand the "look" she gave me when I said "he." But, believe me I was really embarrassed later when I found out Lynyrd Skynyrd wasn't a he. 😰😖

6. Running on Empty (Jackson Browne) Always loved this one and always a fan of Jackson Browne.

7. News of the World (Queen) Until you've heard Freddie Mercury doing "Melancholy Blues" you don't know what you're missing. I also liked "All Dead" and "Spread your Wings"

8. Paul Simon This is his second after he left Garfunkel. "Mother and Child Reunion" "Me and Julio" and just a really underrated album.

9. Heart Like a Wheel (Linda Ronstadt) I know some people say Linda Ronstadt didn't write anything. Well, maybe not and if she did I haven't seen it. But, she made those songs she didn't write her own. I have to  tell you that she did Desperado better than my favorite all time group the Eagles. She did Faithless Love and Willin' and Heart like a Wheel and owned them. You haven't heard Dark End of the Street until you've heard the Ronstadt version. She is one of the most versatile of all the artist male or female. Those big brown eyes and that powerful emotional voice. Yeah, she's a hall of fame talent to say the least.

10. Destroyer (Kiss) This is awful as far as vocal and instrumental talent. It's also one of the most entertaining and fun albums I've ever owned and partied with in my youth. I only later as an old fart decided that the musical ability wasn't that great. But, back in the day I loved it. "God of Thunder" "Detroit Rock City" Beth.

Now these are not the greatest albums of my youth. I wouldn't say I absolutely loved all of them. But, they made an impact for various reasons on my musical journey. So, in some ways I really do love all of them. Except for Frampton comes alive. Arggghhh! ✌😈😎

You can check out anytime you like.

  I start listening to Hotel California and for just a minute the world shifts. It's 1976 and I need to push the hair out of my eyes. The slow start as Felder and Walsh start the slide guitar. Henley hits the drum kit three times and we're off. I can taste just a little warm smoke from so many years ago. Still just a hint of a Pony Miller and my 18, 19 year old body feeling like it could go on forever. Just like that. Youth and idiocy and who knew what the "future" would hold. Right then I was just going to lean back and put my head on the speaker and take another sip.

  Life is a journey. You might not think so in youth. But, you look around and that crazy wild kid is now 60 something and the hands that first fumbled with the chords of Hotel California on the guitar now have age spots. Crazy stuff. Yet, we all live under the illusion of normalcy. I hear that a lot these days. Normal. Just want to get back to normal.

But, what is normal? Normal at 35 isn't the normal of 55 and normal at 65 won't be the normal of my twenties. Normal. Just gotta get back. Everybody is going stir crazy. The 70's station changes from Hotel California to Freddie Mercury leading Queen in Bohemian Rhapsody. I wish I could be normal. As in 18 years old and bulletproof. "Goodbye everybody. I've got to go." Freddie now gives way to the lead guitar. "Anyway the Wind Blows."

I'm an introvert. That doesn't mean that I hate people. I don't. It doesn't even mean I never want to be around people. I just like to be around people in smaller doses than I did in my youth. But, people want to get back to normal. Maybe that's part of it. I don't know what normal is. Everybody's normal is different depending on the time of life and the current situation you find yourself in.

One thing about life that is constant is change. I would feel better if I thought the government had the backs of the people the same way it has the backs of the corporations. Because I promise you be it Donald Trump or Barack Obama be it lib or con they ain't going to let the big banks and big corporations fail. Discharge the debt of Chase Manhattan Bank? Hell Yeah! Forgive the mortgage of all the struggling middle class and give a year of jubilee? Why even those great "Christian" business men and women won't do that. Socialism don'tcha know. But, we keep voting them in. As long as they are on our team then we good.

Happy Easter!

   I write this with "Chant of the Mystics" Divine Gregorian Chant playing in the background.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuK59jQ5bwU&t=2417s


 So I approach this season and this sanctuary as one who struggles with the concepts of my faith. No longer able to give credence to an angry old man in the sky who thirsts for the blood of the innocent to appease his vengeance towards the guilty. Yet I still find the communion of the saints and the thought of the Divine lover of my spirit and soul taking on flesh to be the most holy of acts ever conceived in the mind of God or man.

That one who walked and had compassion on those of a different race or class or status. That one who had pity even on the arrogant rich and prejudiced. The one who wept at the death of a friend not because he felt his friend was lost forever but because the pain of the loss was so great for his friend's loved ones who felt they had lost him forever. That one who calls to me even in my agnosticism and still come's up close to me in times of meditation and prayer and sends me the sanity to keep going and keep hoping in the face of materialist atheist and religious bigots and the hypocrisy of the "saved."

Even in this he draws me to think of their journey and the hurts and bruises that lead others who don't agree with me to their own path. The Hippie Jesus who loves his neighbor more than a nation or political system may be a naive and even an unsound theological construct to some evangelicals. It really doesn't matter. He still come's up close to me and says "don't give up yet."

I stood at my grandparents grave once in Altoona, Alabama. My very deout grandmother who came from what she called Shanty Irish but still that was her stubborn faith and her journey and she was one of the few people I knew who lived her faith. She would have been ostracized by the Trump evangelicals. Of that I have no doubt. She was a Roosevelt Democrat from the depression era. My Granddaddy of Black Dutch Heritage and the high cheekbones and red skin from his Cherokee heritage. Hard drinking but loved unconditionally. It's where I got it from or got the influence from. I stood there remembering my frustrations of youth and the way in which I had pushed both of them away in my youthful anger and struggles. The lines I may have helped add to their faces.

But, what I heard that day as I stood there was "Happy Easter." It wasn't a certain holiday or season and I knew what "Happy Easter" meant. They were not in the ground or stuck in a physically beaten down and aged body. That love was still with me. Not in a hypothetical "they will live in my heart" sense. But, in a very real objective existence. What looked to be lost wasn't lost. What looked broken was repaired. What was sick was healed.

So I still hold on to my faith. In my vulgarity and weakness and lack of faith in the letter of the law of the bible. In my agnosticism of creeds and just so Sunday School Stories. I still hold on to that hope of one who walked a road that was later told by devotees and later by priest with an agenda.

Still, as I walk my road and in my struggles I still hold on to the hope that such a life as the Rabbi from the Tribe of Judah lived. Even to death. I think he tried to say that we can be like him. That we are as much son's and daughter's of God as him. Even the chosen people of Israel who were maybe the first to try and understand an omnipotent God.

I had a dream once as a child. As I journey now in the early years of my sixth decade on earth I still remember it. There was a staircase and I heard "Everytime you make a mark on the stair you get closer to God." I started to climb and everytime I looked down I would see the footprint my step made. I remember getting to the very  top and at the top looking down and seeing the mark of my footprint. I belonged. I never forgot that dream.

So, let my heretical self say this. I understand some think God is exclusive to them. Some think we are "adopted" into the family by reciting a creed or a prayer. But, I know and I have never forgotten. I'm not adopted. I'm not grafted in. I was born belonging. And I believe you are too.

So, I don't miss the creeds or the dogma. I don't claim that you have to believe what I do or believe anything at all. Actually, I don't know that you should "believe" anything. It tends to cause you to stop thinking. But, I'm glad I haven't given up on my journey or on him. At least in the way that I have come to know. I'm still on the journey. So, I may not believe in virgin births or molecules and skin knitting back together and coming physically out of a tomb. I have no religion to try and convert anybody to. I don't think it matters. But, I still say and still proclaim Happy Easter. He has Risen. He is Risen indeed. So will I and I honestly feel that all will be regathered in time. But, that is my thoughts on this week. A week that I used to celebrate as a Born again Christian. A week that in my own way I still celebrate. I hope you find peace and whatever the direction you are going. Keep on Truckin.

You say I took the name in vain. I don't even know the name. But, if I did then really, what's it to you? There's a blaze of light in every word, It doesn't matter which you heard. The holy or the broken Hallelujah....Leonard Cohen

 I know some will find this heretical.  But, in my later years I've become adjusted to my hallelujah's being broken. All I can assure you is I'm not trying to start a new religion or tell you that I have some hidden knowledge that you can follow. I'm trying to express in this season. My own personal hope and a little of my own personal journey to where I presently am standing. But, I hope to keep moving. I kind of think that's what it's about. We have an eternity to learn and to "BE" and even then we are just starting out.

I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you.And even though it all went wrong. I'll stand before the Lord of Song. With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah...Leonard Cohen "Hallelujah."

Peace.

Just Breathe

  I see a lot of angry and scared people these days. I'm not being smug. I'm often anxious and easily triggered into anger too. I often see people posting on social media about loving Jesus but then the next post they make is how we need to put America first and if the poor are on the other side of the border then so be it. I'm sure that makes Jesus proud. After all in the fifth gospel of Americanus it does say to put "Nation" before your fellow man if they are not on this side of the border. No? You mean Jesus wasn't American and there is no book of Americanus? OMG! Next thing you will tell me is that Jesus doesn't care anymore for Merica than he does for Palestine.

 Then I see people blaming Trump for the rampaging gangs of white people slaughtering black people and the local police out hunting down black people. Why just the other day I saw the police squad as they hunted black folks down my street and shot...Wait, you don't beleive me? Well that's odd because some of you have no problem with seeing a mentally ill person goaded into saying racial slurs on the subway and then saying that is an example of white racism.

 I guess it's just seeing all this "Us vs Them" crap on my facebook newsfeed everyday. People who say they believe in the 10 commandments of which one is "Don't bear false witness" but then they share any rumor that pops up on their newsfeed as long as it has an unflattering picture of Nancy Pelosi or Michelle Obama or some lie about how the democrats are going to eat your children right out of the womb while diverting Social Security funds to the Clinton Foundation. Guess what folks? It's not the Democrats that have tried to cut Social Security and call it an entitlement as if the government is doing you a favor by giving you your own money that you paid in taxes towards your own retirement. That would be Mr. Paul Ryan and the repugs.

  I also see a lot of Democrats yelling racist every time a person say's they vote conservative and hate abortion. Caring about the snail darter and the eggs of the penguin is being sensitive and enlightened. But, when it's a baby in the womb it's okay to say it's only a fetus and if it's inconvenient for the momma then the rest of us should consider it a holy right of womanhood to tear "it" out of the womb. Now, before the shrill "life of the mother" folks start let me say this. The life of the mother is protected as far as I know in any operating room I also agree that it's a woman's right to choose to have a baby or not. But, let's stop sugar coating it and be honest. A rape victim should never be made to carry a rapist's child. A minor should never be made to have a baby. But, most abortions are targeted at poor women often African American and yet the liberals (of which I am one) seem to turn a blind eye to that fact.

On the other hand the republicans have cut Medicaid to poor people and caused rural hospitals to close therefore causing children already born to suffer. How is that any better morally than aborting them in the womb. Also conservatives love to wave the flag and cheer the bombs falling on others. How is blowing up a kid or a family in Iraq something to cheer about? At least have the decency before God to morn the loss of life and lively hood of other humans even if you do support your own nation.

  So, that's why I just breathe. Instead of  sharing the latest picture of Nancy Pelosi with horns or the latest meme of a mean old white person spouting racism on the subway. I try to find the middle and realize that we all have an opinion. But, we also have the responsibility to be honest and not treat politics as if it were a football game instead of life and death for the people who the politicians make policy for and against.

Just say no to the zombie apocalypse.

Children of the night. What music they make...Dracula

  I guess I'm a horror aficionado. From the time of my youth I loved the supernatural. I devoured horror novels and loved horror movies. At dear old Walnut Park Elementary School in Gadsden, Alabama we would get a little publication called The Weekly Reader. I would order books from it. They were often the Ghost Story books. Kid friendly however writers from way back in the day. Still, I loved it. I found some old ghost and horror comics and devoured those. Now, as I've gotten older my love of horror has changed. I don't like to linger in the darker depths of fiction or movies as much as I once did.

As a matter of fact I like a good old Film Noir these days with good guys and dolls. An action western especially the Clint Eastwood kick butt type. I also have found that watching or reading horror doesn't really mix well with my end of the day meditation. But, still there is something about the horror section at a book store or the online Amazon Prime or Netflix video's that still draws me.

I am...Dracula. I bid you...welcome. (Dracula)

I don't read as much as I used too. I have to admit that if I try to read on my Kindle Fire I keep checking facebook or links or twitter. I don't have the attention span that I once did. But, sometimes I'll pull out the Kindle Paperwhite and it's mainly a reading device. That helps me to concentrate.

I'm not being fancy. I would love to read the old fashioned way like I did in my youth. The heft and smell of a new book or even a musty old library book. But, my aging eyes appreciate the ereaders. The ability to adjust the font or the lighting on my Kindle. The ability to carry the equivalent of a small library in my pocket. These days I find myself reading more non fiction than fiction. I read for knowledge of a subject or a biography of a rock star or the paranormal, religion and even politics.

But, when it comes to my favorite books and movies and memories of my youth it's horror and a little sci fi that I think about. We had an actual drive in theatre in my neighborhood when I was a kid. Around Halloween they would have a "Dusk till Dawn" horror marathon. My mother would make and pack the popcorn and hotdogs and off we would go to the drive in.

You would play your brains against mine. Against me who has commanded nations?...Christopher Lee Draula A.D. 1972

Boris Karloff and Vincent Price in the old Hammer Horror Movies. Christopher Lee as Dracula. I still remember being transfixed as a 8 to 10 year old as Dracula was finally killed in living technicolor. As I munched my popcorn and bit into the ketchup of my hot dog the vampire would draw blood out of the neck of the young heroine. But, finally as the hero's fought the vampire and right before the vampire would have won. The sun is coming up. All of a sudden Dracula's skin is sizzling. He's turning to dust. Right on the giant screen he starts to shrink. You see his hands turning to dust. His face then his skeleton and finally...finally...nothing. Just a pile of dust where the monster was just standing a few moments ago.  As you can see I never forgot that scene.

That brings me to my all time favorite novel. "Salem's Lot." by who else? Stephen King. Now, I had grown up with ghost stories and old horror movies. But, by the time I was in my teens and getting towards the end of my teens. The horror section was getting kind of tired. Still, I was in a bookstore in the old Gadsden Mall when I came across a paperback. The blurb was something about a small Maine town and hearing sucking sounds in the night. It was a simpler time in some ways so as corny and even mildly lewd as that might sound today it was a spooky teaser back then.

You'll enjoy Mr. Barlow. And he'll enjoy you...Mr. Straker "Salem's Lot."

So, I'm looking at the blurb on the back and the little blurbs from newspapers and other authors praising the book and this young author Stephen King and wondering if I should give this one a try. A clerk comes up and says "you will really like that one." "The young writer is named Stephen King and he's going to be good."  So, I gave it a try and devoured it. Then I of course was thrilled to learn that he had written a previous novel called "Carrie." I quickly read that one and the rest is of course Constant Reader History. Stephen King calls his lifetime readers "Constant Readers" and I guess I'm one of the early members of that club.

Anyway, I loved vampires. I always thought they were cool. First they were always young. They could get any girl  they wanted and they could turn anybody they wanted to be with into a vampire. Now please understand. I'm talking about a young kid and so please don't get offended. In this day of political correctness some of the old ways of thinking are not considered proper conversation. That's not always a bad thing. Because some of the old ways of thinking were really bad. But, in this case I'm just talking about youth and fun so chill out.

I always hated zombies. Now full disclosure. The original George Romero movie "Night of the Living Dead" is a classic and I did enjoy that one as a ten year old. I know it's a little intense but drive in night in Walnut Park was easy to get into with parents and my mother was not a helicopter parent. She loved us but she didn't coddle or overly worry about movies or TV shows. In later years I also liked "The Walking Dead." on AMC. But, I also quickly tired of it and found it to be depressing and after all how many ways can you stomp a friggin zombie. Enough already.


"I happen to like vampires more than zombies. A vampire quite honestly, you could have a conversation with. He has a sexuality...Martin Scorsese.


So, yeah I hated zombies and I really hate zombies now. I'm so tired of hearing about the Zombie Apocalypse. Especially these days. I don't even want to read Stephen King's "The Stand" right now. At least vampires had personality. Dracula was smooth and debonair and could entertain guest. Zombies are brain dead and just ugly pac man like creatures with no soul and no personality and no reason. They are just boring. I can't imagine a young person with a fantasy to become a zombie or make the object of their affection a zombie. So, I hate zombies man.

"I hate the f...ing Eagles, man....The Dude "The Big Lebowski."

I'm always reminded of the Dude in The Big Lebowski. Now I love the Eagles. They wrote the soundtrack of my youth. But, in The Big Lebowski the Dude hilariously doesn't share that opinion. So every time he's a little hung over or irritated it seems like an Eagles song comes on and he is always saying "I hate the f..king Eagles man."

That's how I feel about zombies. I hate fu...ng zombies man. I loved Salem's Lot and at the time I was living with my grandparents in Altoona, Alabama. Very small rural town in Northeast Alabama. An old coal mining town. The characters and small Main town of Stephen King's Salem's Lot reminded me so much of the little town in Northeast Alabama that I was drawn into the story. The really smart hero who comes into town and doesn't really belong. But falls in love with a town beauty. Yeah I identified. The town constable who warns him to keep straight. The guy who care takes the town dump and shoots rats with his gun and cusses and keeps score. The town employee who care takes the grave yard and finds the dog killed and butchered on the cemetery fence and the dark satanic minion of the vampire reading and saying the rites in the graveyard at midnight to raise the vampire and prepare the sacrifice. It was intense and I knew this guy could write.


Evil is away's possible. And goodness is eternally difficult...Ann Rice "Interview with the Vampire."


Not very long after that I picked up a book called "Interview with the Vampire." by Ann Rice. Now she went on to write a series of the books and a movie was made starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. But, it was the first book "Interview with the vampire" that was the best. I felt it went downhill from there. But, anyway again you have the intelligent thinking vampire. The female vampire in a young girl's body but a grown woman's point of view. After all she was ancient but trapped in the youthful body that she was turned to a vampire in. No idiot zombies with no personalities and no pac man type eating everything in sight.

 So this generations fixation on zombies is a major weakness as far as I'm concerned. This "lets run to our safe places and eat gluten free snacks and shut out all debate that we don't want to hear." I mean you can say "Okay Boomer." But your movies and music is still lame and I lived in the greatest era in rock and roll and horror movie's and books history.


"You may scream all you want, but no one will hear you...Barnabas Collins.


Of course I also loved the old soap "Dark Shadows." Barnabas Collins was a smooth operator. He had this cool cane and an English accent and a very expensive flashy ring. He had an eternal love that he was able to go back in time and be with. The sexiest witch this side of Samantha Stevens in my opinion Angelique was in love with him and of course the huge family home was totally haunted. Ghosts and Werewolves with personalities. Not idiot zombies.

I hate @#$%&@# zombies man.

But, I am not going to read a lot or watch a lot of horror right now. The real world is depressing in so many ways at the moment. I'm going to look for the sun to come out sooner or later and melt all the monsters. Until that happens I hope to take it one day at a time and not take myself too seriously.

"So this is how it ends. Your beautiful face. How quiet, as if you were asleep.Am I never to see your eyes again? So often, they looked at me with love, and I returned nothing but hatred. I was blinded by my fury that my rejection of you caused. And so, through the years, we battled and fought. And I never guessed that beneath my rage. I felt a love as strong as yours...Barnabas final farewell to Angelique.

Now try those lines with a brain dead zombie.

  So, if the final Zombie Apocalypse is upon us. Just remember.

They can chew ya up. But they have to spit you out..."The Wire."

Peace.