I hurt my back a few days ago. Actually, I ruined my back in 1992, when I was working as a field representative for a document-retrieval service. More on that later. Though I have more problems than you can imagine, denial isn’t one of them. That’s an emergency-room wrist band. At 8:00 a.m. I drove…
In too much pain to post
November 1, 2023
I have a swivel chair that regularly throws me out of it, like it’s a bucking bronco. Two days ago it dumped me on my back, and now I’m in too much pain to think. I have to walk bent double. This has happened several times before. Only bed rest will solve it. So here’s…
Gratitude will get you through
October 24, 2023
Last night I went to meet my brother Eric and his girlfriend at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). They had a long layover, so Tim and I picked them up, took them to their hotel, had dinner with them, and then came home. It’s the longest trip I’ve made in four years. I’ve changed completely…
A post for my brother Pat
October 16, 2023
My brother Pat Wictor is a folksinger. Yesterday he called from the road in New York, and we had a two-hour conversation about our father Edward, who died on February 23, 2013. Ed was a mystery to us. He was the most secretive person I’ve ever known. In fact he scared me my whole life…
Someone sends a message to Iran
April 20, 2024
There’s some amazing video of a massive explosion next to the Faj Attan neighborhood of Sana’a, the capital of Yemen. We’ve been told that the target was a SCUD missile depot or a missile base. There’s a difference between the two: A missile depot is where you store the weapons, while a missile base is…
An interview with my proofreader
April 1, 2024
The proofreader of Ghosts and Ballyhoo: Memoirs of a Failed LA Music Journalist is named Tom Pickel. He generously did the job for free. A professional would’ve charged me $2000 at least. Tom is a great proofreader; today he informed me that he’s also a very odd fellow, which is truly excellent. I’m a huge…
I pass AND Fail the Israel Test
October 30, 2023
An Israeli alerted me to George Gilder’s Israel Test. Although I pass the test as Gilder lays it out, I fail it miserably in other ways. First the test. You won’t regret the four minutes and thirty-seven seconds you invest in watching this video. I’ve never been envious of anybody for any reason, because as…
Cancer of the mind
October 21, 2023
There’s a cancer of the mind. It’s called “fantasy.” Like cheesecake, fantasy is great in controlled dosages. My brother Paul and my sister Carrie once made a cheesecake with strawberry topping, split it in half, and finished it down to the last crumb of graham-cracker crust. Neither of them ate cheesecake again for over twenty…