Have you ever wondered about the expression ‘tooting your own horn,’ as in, “not to toot my own horn, but I play a mean saxophone”? While blowing smoke up someone’s skirt makes far less sense as a means of complimentary admiration, tooting your own horn seems like a perfectly fine thing to do, especially if you play a mean saxophone. If you’ve got a nice horn, you should probably be tooting it. What, are we supposed to let other people toot our horns for us? Or maybe this expression refers to the bugles or trumpets used to announce arrivals or decrees, like in the days of olde or those tiny horns that clowns use to get your attention and abuse it. Maybe it refers to car horns, like when a station wagon full of girls drives by me ... read more >
I have friends who have trained for and completed marathons. I am very proud of them, and in most cases, I am even a bit impressed. Running without stopping for 26.3 miles is certainly not something someone does on a whim, much less without a bit of training and a really nice pair of shoes. But at the same time, I could totally do it. If I was being chased by a gang of deadly chainsaw-toting toddlers that never surpassed the pace of a nine-minute mile, or perhaps a swarm of deadly bees that insisted on chasing me at safe speeds at or around 6 miles per hour, I could probably go at least 30 miles before I’d give up. I’d probably even have time for an emergency roadside poop. Regardless, there is no chance that I’ll ever willingly... read more >
My first encounter with The Wartime Blues was when I was standing outside “The Church” ,where we do most of our shows, getting ready for our show with Adam Arcuragi. Three summertime-looking fellows walked up to me and asked me about the show. I mentioned that Adam Arcuragi was a folk artist from Philidelphia and that the opening band, Wartime Blues, was a folk-rock band from Missoula. That was about all I knew at the time, as Keith had booked them to open up for Adam fairly close to the show’s date. That’s when they corrected me. “Actually I’m from Idaho, and go to school in Missoula”, answered Ben. A little embarrassed, we shook hands, and I asked them about their set. They explained that they were a roots band, led by Canadian Nate... read more >
