tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-332183732015-09-16T11:53:51.378-05:00The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.comBlogger524125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-78967541009059141772012-10-03T10:20:00.000-05:002012-10-03T10:20:07.122-05:00

It is a rainy morning in Chicago. I drink coffee and listen to the cars shushing past my home. I can tell when the light at the corner changes; the sound shifts from a whisper to what sounds like titans pushing around great columns of water. The trucks make a deeper sound, somewhere between elephant and sled dog, translated into water.Yesterday morning was the first Tuesday of the month, and at

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-44883729749007055512012-08-27T00:23:00.000-05:002012-08-27T00:23:55.735-05:00

We set out early. I hadn't slept much for several days, and I know I was still awake about two hours before the phone rang to wake me with the news that Ian was on his way to Chicago. It was about 6:30 am. I blinked, bemused for a long moment, and reminded myself not to be angry with Ian for calling more or less when he was supposed to. Our destination was a park near a college campus, to embark

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-21958847548387123802011-05-05T17:55:00.004-05:002011-05-05T18:35:13.210-05:00

Day Two: Your least favorite song.I'll admit it: I started on this thing without reading what the 30 different categories were. I'm starting to get the sense that they were written by someone in their formative years.When I was 19, I had occasion to interview the sing for the Judybats, a band I dearly adored. We were scheduled to speak by phone and I departed from my normal interviewing routine

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-31305130614541184572011-05-03T17:58:00.003-05:002011-05-03T18:26:40.609-05:00

Day One: Your Favorite SongA couple of friends on Facebook have been doing this (the Facebook page is here), and I figured I'd leap in as well, but do it over here where I can take a bit more time to discuss why a particular song made the cut or whatever. This way, I'll have a way to blog daily with a relatively easy meme.Already, though, I'm in trouble. Day one asks you to post your favorite

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-56530903350562327512010-08-31T11:45:00.003-05:002010-09-01T09:47:28.367-05:00

The last Tuesday in August finds me somewhat reflective, although not more so than normal in terms of visible light. It's 90° again. This has been a hot summer in Chicago, coming on the heels of no spring at all.Soon the weather will break, the chill will set in, and we can all get back to complaining about how cold it is. In the meantime, I'm mainly tired of sweating so much.*****I recently took

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-86041122937023541722010-04-05T12:39:00.001-05:002010-04-05T12:40:28.120-05:00

Spring barges in likea petulant pubescentwith a heart of gold

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-20246787271736448462010-02-01T20:36:00.003-06:002010-02-01T21:08:19.551-06:00

I'm back among the Workers these days, the curious folk who live in the building where I am sometimes called upon to build documents for money. I try not to show up too early, so that they will be up and breakfasted before my arrival.Many of the people I used to know among them are no longer there. This financial crisis thingie has hit and hit hard. There have been layoffs, and a few times those

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-48874016224816488642010-01-31T15:35:00.000-06:002010-01-31T15:36:39.607-06:00

They need to be shorter. I'll try harder with the next one.

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-42099106605845901112010-01-31T01:15:00.005-06:002010-01-31T14:51:45.262-06:00

The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington. 1918, 520 pages.*****So last night I finished up The Magnificent Ambersons a little after one, and then spent about 90 minutes wringing out a rather wordy reaction to it, before recalling—with my cursor hovering over the "publish" button—that I am not a book critic.I think this little project of mine will go a lot more smoothly for both of us,

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-35921651262568504552010-01-30T00:18:00.006-06:002010-01-30T01:26:23.826-06:00

Hello, again, Blogreader.In the couple of years since I last kept this blog regularly, I have often thought about keeping it again. The various attempts are still preserved below, carcasses of decent intentions made laughable with the benefit of hindsight.What happened, primarily, was that I felt I had little to say, and I had begun to believe that the majority of my writing was below the

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-28679954598734235912009-12-11T14:51:00.004-06:002009-12-11T15:00:47.217-06:00

The charity marathon I did last weekend raised $600 for Heifer International, plus I think a couple of people donated directly to Heifer as well. Since my target was to raise $300, I'm calling this a success. It was also a lot more fun (most of the time) than staying at a computer for more than a solid day has any right to be.In all, I played some 476 songs in 26.2 hours.I donated the money this

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-78222759055518746322009-12-04T12:06:00.004-06:002009-12-04T12:25:42.176-06:00

Hello, Blogreader.Beginning today at 4:48 CST, I will be doing a charity fundraiser to benefit Heifer International. Basically, it consists of me streaming a 26.2-hour dj set over the internet.If you would like to tune in, you can click here. It works fine through iTunes. I think it also works through Windows Media.It'll be mainly indie music from this decade, but I'm likely to take plenty of

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-17263945687827686542009-08-07T00:08:00.003-05:002009-08-07T01:05:56.443-05:00

As part of my preparation for Lollapalooza, I looked into various ways I might be able to use my phone to communicate with the outside world. It turns out that I have two different ways to update my blog from my weird little mobile device, and three different ways to update via Twitter/Facebook statuses. That seems like at least two too many ways to stay "in touch" during a three-day music

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-30232011056524058012009-08-01T22:07:00.002-05:002009-08-01T22:19:55.202-05:00

When last we saw our erstwhile blogger, he was spewing forth yet another apology for not blogging more often. Even though he seemed to mean it, it was nonetheless a bit tedious. The only thing more tedious is the several half-hearted attempts he had made to keep the blog alive during his ridiculously lengthy absences. Such attempts typically began with some sort of announcement that he was back

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-7844902633259987832009-03-07T18:09:00.003-06:002009-03-07T18:19:48.881-06:00

Normally, if I am asked to liken myself to a Peanuts character—which is no longer as much of a rarity as it should be, in the age of memes—I'd have to say I'm Charlie himself. I'm a bit hapless at times, prone also to repeating mistakes and finding myself crushed all over again even though I should know better. Also, I am not a good baseball player.But thinking about this blog, I realize I have

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-61544350466790730662009-01-13T04:33:00.001-06:002009-01-13T04:33:00.333-06:00

We're a week away from getting our new President, the one we ordered back in November from the catalog. This will be the seventh peaceful transfer of power in my lifetime, as I was born in the vaporous remnants of the Nixon administration, around the time Butterfield admitted before Congress that tapes were made of conversations within the Oval Office.Good times.And if there is one thing our

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-65933177798439185032008-10-15T22:32:00.008-05:002008-10-15T23:20:13.188-05:00

Frog and Toad are friends (Blog and toad...?)What I was supposed to be shooting, when I was gazing moonily at the weeds from my previous post, were a small frog and a toad who I am told is his friend. Both had been constructed by my friend, who is designing the poster for a production of "A Year With Frog and Toad" in one of the suburbs with a grain in the name.When he first asked me to shoot

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-91824663472070534982008-10-13T22:51:00.004-05:002008-10-13T23:21:14.472-05:00

Yes, I am behind in my Phoctoberly duties. Apologies. Illness and other things wedged between me and you, Blogreader, but I am returned. And many Phoctober links adorn the bottom of this post. I hope it catches me up. At least it's all of those who came and said to link them, plus one I went and found, from the very talented Jefferson Davis.*****Weeds and soft housesSaturday, I drove out to the

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-43645093520743246142008-10-05T22:10:00.005-05:002008-10-05T22:40:30.744-05:00

Night, Part TwoThese were taken on Michigan Avenue or Wacker Drive on a clear night in January.Same again, in sepia...*****Other Phoctobering:All 2008 Phoctober posts from this site.Kyklops and a sleepy feline.Taffiny and bathing birds.Absolute Vanilla takes us to the seashore.It isn't too late to join the fun. Just do a photo post, mention Phoctober, and come and tell me about it in the comments.

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-52209656759675187752008-10-04T12:17:00.009-05:002008-10-04T12:57:52.129-05:00

Yes, I know it is the fourth. I got home last night and simply crashed out until this morning. I had nothing to drink or anything, and yet still have no clear recollection of returning home, or of going to bed. My work life is sort of complicated right now, apparently exhausting, and I suspect I've caught a minor bug during the annual "Let's everyone get sick because the weather is changing"

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-20454178051239976222008-10-02T23:54:00.001-05:002008-10-03T00:08:22.499-05:00

ChicagoA friend of mine went through and read a bunch of this blog once she learned I had one. Her main comment was "wow, you really love Chicago."I guess it's true. I pine for London, but Chicago does just fine for now. And it is a beautiful city, even if it is sometimes a flawed sort of beauty.*****Other Phoctobering:All 2008 Phoctober posts from this site.It isn't too late to join the fun.

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-85464126572984322002008-10-01T22:34:00.001-05:002008-10-01T22:36:56.023-05:00

BaseballI stepped outside of my normal routines last night, watching a sporting event in a local bar with some friends. It was the Chicago White Sox Baseball Club Team League Players versus the Bishops of Montreal or Minnesota or something. The two teams had identical records for the season, and the game's outcome would determine which team would advance to the playoffs and the which would begin

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-67336820581181222672008-09-29T11:08:00.003-05:002008-09-29T11:15:25.802-05:00

Internet is working again here on the moon, but my return was delayed again due to the recent loss of a friend and colleague. The funeral was sort of lovely (as much as such a thing can be), and I was glad to have a chance to meet his family and share stories of the man we all had in common, who shuffled off his coil at the still-tender age of 41.His name was Kyle. He was a private man, so I

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-73867579471547181462008-09-18T17:56:00.002-05:002008-09-18T17:58:52.675-05:00

Apologies, gentle Blogreader, for my lack of recent posts. I currently lack internet access at home, and the place I am working gets all frowny when we use the internet for non-work stuff. I expect to be back sometime this weekend.

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33218373.post-18297461255439443232008-09-15T10:39:00.002-05:002008-09-15T10:40:11.763-05:00

She has breadInstantly, at themere sight of the old woman five hundred pigeons

The Moon Toppleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12717446064777879248noreply@blogger.com3