Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Can we have a best of in 2020? Is that possible in this year? Of course, I never label things as such – I think about it more as stuff I like. In 2020, there was more good music than I thought would be the case. There were few standouts or “classics” that were released…

On this Thanksgiving week, Sly Stone says: Oh, Sunday morning, I forgot my prayerI should have been happy, I still be thereSomething could have come and taken me awayBut the mainman felt Sly should be here another day That’s why I got to be thankful, yeah, yeahI gotta be thoughtfulHey, hey, hey, oh, thankful, thank…

We raked leaves in October. The ground was pretty bare afterward. This weekend we’re raking leaves. The ground is full of leaves – oak leaves. Why do oak trees hold their leaves after the maple and other trees have all lost theirs? Just to make us rake leaves multiple times? I’m not a big acorn…

I got nothing – what do you have? Today’s podcast focuses on nothing, with lots of something great artists, like Van Morrison, Small Faces, Los Lobos, Bonnie Raitt, the Alley Cats, Roky Erickson, Guided by Voices, Pavement, Tommy Keene, Dum Dum Girls, the Heavy, the Specials, the Del Fuegos, the Flirtations, Sade, and Sinead O’Connor.…

That’s right – temperatures in the 70’s this weekend. Happens every November, doesn’t it? It’s supposed to stay warm through Veteran’s Day. Totally normal. Just as I was getting used to scraping the ice off my car off in the morning. We’ve got a new President in the United States. He’ll bring a sense of…

Got some more jazz for you today. We need a jazz break today, I think. Something to take us out of the world for a bit. This is a mix of classic and new jazz, with most of the hard edges taken off. So listen to John Zorn, Artemis, the Christian McBride Big Band, Bobby…

November..sigh. Did we ever think that we’d make it to November? The “summer to remember” was not memorable for the right reasons. We’re now heading into a “winter to remember.” Probably as memorable (and miserable) as summer was. Let’s do our best and be careful out there. There was snow in the Boston area on…

As local newscasters like to say, it’s spooky season. Yes, Halloween is once again upon us, but it will be a lot different this year. The pandemic is stopping trick or treating this year in most places (I believe that locally it is officially “discouraged” in most of the surrounding area), so I’m not sure…

Hi. Let’s listen to some jazz, shall we? I’ve put together a set of music released in 2020 and recorded for release in 2020 (no lost sessions or anything). There are great tunes from new jazz artists and the old-timers, who show us that they’ve still got the chops. Lined up for today are Nubya…

How’s everyone feeling? I feel pretty good, considering. It’s been a long year for me. I’ve gotten a new knee (left), a torn meniscus (right knee), and some glaucoma-related eye problems, so I’m doing well. I guess that I’m starting to feel my age a little more. I’ll “celebrate” another one this week, but honestly,…