This blog is about a song by the Grateful Dead and, eventually, my dad. That's ironic because to my knowledge, Dad has never listened to the Dead. He would probably call them a bunch of dope-smoking hippies. While he wouldn't be wrong, I suppose I don't take that to be such a negative thing. A lot of my favorite music was made by dope-smoking hippies...

I've taken great pains to introduce my son to a variety of music. In doing so, I had him listen to some Kiss a couple of months back. While the boys from Detroit Rock City have never exactly been my favorite, they made some charming, straightforward rock music over the years...

This post is a last-minute change. I had already written a blog about a pair of Kiss songs, but you'll have to wait for those. This song was just released yesterday and I got an email about it when I was sitting at my desk shortly after midnight...

When each of my kids has started to talk, my wife and I have almost immediately tried to get them to do so correctly. Correct pronunciations. Correct grammar. Correct usage. Complete sentences. It’s not that we put pressure on them, telling them to “Do it right!” but we try to pattern the correct way to speak. Soothing tones, but no baby talk...

It's probably inaccurate to even call this my Friday Jam because My Morning Jacket has been in my head all week. While that may sound maddening, they are a darn good band with a pretty deep catalog. What I wish I had for you, though, is not the My Morning Jacket version, but the version that War Radio played last Friday night at the Swizzle Stick...

I've commented a number of times over the years that my weeks at the Banner Graphic the inverse of what they should be. With no deadline, Mondays are fairly easy going -- a day to get some things done but without too much to stress about, what with no deadline and all...

I came to Greencastle nearly 10 years ago thinking there would be some kind of great athletic rivalry between Greencastle and Crawfordsville high schools. After all, the institutes of higher learning located in the two small cities -- Wabash College and DePauw University -- are of course bitter rivals, particularly in football...

Fair week is taxing around these parts. It's always hot, busy and demanding. In spite of it all, I think the staff here enjoys it -- although I might be the only one who will admit it publicly. The Putnam County 4-H Fair is a good time to get out and see people I don't see much otherwise. Some of them don't even exist the other 51 weeks of the year, as far as I can tell...

Look at the intensity of this kid. It's like he's seen someone else do this sort of thing. Frame 1: Feet sill moving but the mind's already racing, lining up the perfect shot. Frame 2: Stop. Squint. Take a good look at what you want to shoot. (As he gets more polished, he'll learn to do this through the viewfinder.)...

It seems the spam or scam callers (Which is it?) are employing new, more tricky methods for trying to cheat us out of our money. Lately it's been calls from local numbers to make it look like it's not just a random criminal from Teaneck, N.J. No, you think, "This might be someone I know. I better take it."...

Having spent an undue amount of time working on our upcoming education magazine (due for insertion into the Friday, May 20 Banner Graphic if things go according to plan), I feel I've become something of an expert on what the workforce is going to look like 20 years from now...

If you spend much time listening to a police scanner, you're eventually going to hear a name or address you know. There's a sincere hope that it won't happen, but it will. It happened to my parents the night my grandpa died. Dad was a volunteer firefighter, so he and Mom heard the call even before calls to the family started...

DISCLAIMER: If you weren't born between the years 1977 and 1983, this is likely to be incomprehensible rambling. It may not make sense even if you are the right age. Proceed at your own risk. You've been warned. Ever go back and look at something from when you were a teenager and wonder what the heck was going on?...

When I showed this to my son recently, he couldn't stop laughing. That alone makes it worth sharing. But besides that, as a second-time parent, I find myself much more tired, busier and less full of wonder the second time around. That makes me sad because it means I'm not sharing every little thing that Hannah does the way I did with Miles...

I'm tired of blogs revolving around the deaths of rock stars, but people important to my fandom keep dying. (Apologies to Lemmy, who died between Christmas and New Year's and got lost in the shuffle. For anyone interested, here's a link to my favorite Motörhead song.)...

This is my first memory of David Bowie: I know the Starman may have just died last night, but can we all agree that was terrible?...

It's easy to fall almost deaf to the music of this time of year. In my mind there are Christmas songs and Christmas hymns, but at a certain point they become one and the same. In a way, I think this is a wonderful thing. For all the other meanings (some good, some bad) we might ascribe to Dec. 25, the deeper purpose of this holiday will always be to celebrate of the birth of Jesus Christ...

Call me a bleeding heart (I've been called much worse), but I'm a real sucker for a good protest song -- even at Christmas time. This explains my fondness for songs like "Pretty Paper," "Father Christmas" and "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (even if Yoko's voice nearly ruins it). They are all songs that say, enjoy your season of cheer, but remember life isn't so great for everyone.....

As a band whose most famous song centered on wanting to be wanted, veteran rockers Cheap Trick seems to have found the formula for continuing to be wanted. Forty-one years after their founding in Rockford, Ill., the power pop stalwarts continued to thrill audiences by giving them what they want: The songs we know...

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Not this year. DePauw came into its annual rivalry game against Wabash with its best team since its 2010 playoff berth, maybe better. Sure, Wabash was favored to retain the Monon Bell, but it was gonna be close, right?...