Oops — In a story about book banning last month, I opened with this line: “Every time I think I’ve run out of things to rant about, some elected official in my state proves me wrong.” That article referred specifically to county commissioners in a local school district, but my prophetic comment…

School can be tough — Just after the store opens on Friday morning, Ramon walks through the front door of The Last Word Bookstore. Sal looks up from a box of books he’s sorting through, surprised. Ramon has a downcast look, like someone just ran over his dog. “No school today, sport?” he asks. …

I’m old, but these twelve songs are timeless — Last night I was flipping between two documentaries (do I know how to spend a Friday night, or what?): the final episode of “The Secrets of Hillsong” (about the Australian megachurch scandal) and “Dirt: The Last Great American Sport” (about dirt track racing). During one segment of “Dirt,” they were…

An American icon — Today is John Wayne’s 116th birthday, and both the Duke and my grandfather will rise from their hallowed resting places and haunt me if I let the auspicious occasion pass without comment. I’ve written about his films before, so I won’t rehash that here (not much, at least). …

I’m surprised it wasn’t quicker — A few days ago I wrote a piece detailing why I thought it might be time to stop ranting. Apparently, the ranting gods were not amused, because since then I have encountered enough rant-worthy topics to last for months. …

And much more enjoyable than yard work — Summer is almost upon us, which means it’s time to choose a summer reading challenge (and time for me to write about it again). It already feels like summer where I’m at, which is what reminded me that I need to pick one for myself as well as offering a…

Gone far too soon — I normally don’t write more than one Rate-A-Record piece a week, but this isn’t a normal week. When I published the latest installment on Sunday (about Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers deep cuts), I had not heard about the passing of Smiths bassist Andy Rourke from cancer two days earlier…

“The New Neighbor” — Inspired by the lovely and talented Simon Dillon, over the past few months I shared the first five chapters of my novels The Last Word and Writer in Residence. Over the next few weeks I am sharing the first chapters of the third book in the series, Book Town, in…

Because they deserve it — If you only went by the number of mentions in my articles, you would assume that my three favorite bands are Judas Priest, The Smiths, and Springsteen (and not in that order). …