We Are All Apes

Bernie got a call to sing and play the piano at a hotel lounge for one night.  He asked, of course, if the piano needed tuning, hoping to g...

Ever since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became the president of Iran, I have been watching the sand-box struggle between him and George Bush.  Mahmou...

I'm sure by now you've all read the whale vomit story , about the lady who gave her sister a grotesque lump of God-knows-what as a g...

My neighborhood is chock-full of characters.  I suppose I'm one of them - this time of year my resemblance to Santa Claus garners a lot ...

It has been some time since my last update, my apologies.  My wife and I continue to be quite busy with our project, and I am pleased to rep...

My wife and I began attending a blues jam nearby.  At the time, we were rank beginners, and not a little intimidated.  The first thing you d...

I have thrown the last of the glossy full-color political "literature" into the recycle bin, and my telephone has been relatively ...

Bernie arrived at the shop with a bundle of clothes.  He explained that he was going out that night with his wife.  She was going to pick h...

When I moved to Woonsocket, I already knew about its history as a mill city dominated by French-Canadians.  In Rhode Island, Woonsocket is f...

While reading about the attack at the Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania, a detail caught my attention.  This is from the New York Times,* Oc...

I've always loved the affectation "Ye Olde . . ."  The attempt to establish venerability is laughably misguided.  And as a mar...

There was a time when friends of mine were hosting musical events in their home.  These home concerts were small, cozy events with food, dri...

Neanderthals are back in the news .  Evidence has been found that seems to locate Neanderthals in the caves of Gibraltar some 28,000 years a...

My favorite Rhode Island-ism is the phrase, "Not for nothing."  Aside from the unique pronunciation (full of glottal stops and om...

This story is true, but with altered names. I went to play music at an open blues jam recently.  I arrived at the club expecting to see Perc...

A woman brought her piano to Bernie to have the finish touched up.  She also brought her favorite houseplant.  "Please change the pian...

With the recent scares about airline safety, the discussion has come up (again) about the use of fear as a way to manipulate and exploit peo...

Update Below Recently, a group of astronomers met to begin deciding a weighty question - should the planet Pluto really be called a planet? ...