2024 Year in Review: MJ Lender(Hit)man

Typically, the character of a particular calendar year is best explained by a very specific, recently released musical recording (or recording artist’s outfit, see: 2020 Bridgers skeleton pjs). Something with a sound, lyrics, and theme that unquestionably match what everyone was universally going thru for those 365.25 days. And typically it’s not too hard forContinue reading “2024 Year in Review: MJ Lender(Hit)man”

“I Won”

Graduation weekend was always the busiest in the cab. Everyone partying hard before they left for the semester. All the families in town for commencement. You could really clean up before the summer lull. It was also one of the most self-reflective weekends in the cab, looking back on my own graduations – Revere HighContinue reading ““I Won””

im not a writer im a hockey player

Me and the neighbors were all standing outside our building. The fire alarm had gone off, and we were waiting for the fire department to give us the okay to go back in. It was cold, people were anxious, someone didn’t have time to find their shoes.  As the sole writer in the group ofContinue reading “im not a writer im a hockey player”

My Hoodie Smells Like Greg

My green hoodie I wear like every day still kinda smells like this guy, Greg, from Black Canyon City, Arizona, a little town just north of Phoenix on the Agua Fria River.  It was supposta smell like a Philadelphia Vireo, a very rare species for the area, which had been spotted there several times overContinue reading “My Hoodie Smells Like Greg”

The Cuddle Zone

Last time I saw Krystal Summers we were at Jomancy’s salon in Golden, and everyone was saying their goodbyes at the end of the night. Krystal was giving everyone big hugs. Like ya know wide open arms, her body really pressing into someone else’s body, face mushed against jackets and sweaters, little mmm’s seeping outContinue reading “The Cuddle Zone”

Vitally Essential and Damn Near Irreplaceable Karaoke Contacts (my point person at Sushi Zanmai is movin’ to New Orleans)

If you’ve been in a town long enough you feel like you should know a person of significance at every local business establishment. Door guys and hostesses and managers. Baristas and bartenders and supervisors. Clerks and owners and secret back-alley mystery merchants.  Knowing people of importance can come with a lot of perks, ya know.Continue reading “Vitally Essential and Damn Near Irreplaceable Karaoke Contacts (my point person at Sushi Zanmai is movin’ to New Orleans)”

2023 Year in Review (boygenius’s “Not Strong Enough”)

There were a couple weeks in the summer of 2023 when everyone was obsessively watching old Bryan Adams videos on Youtube. Many discovered that videos for three different songs from the Reckless album all featured 80s babe Lysette Anthony. In “Summer of ’69” she’s the girl ’standing on your mother’s porch” who Adams nostalgically dwellsContinue reading “2023 Year in Review (boygenius’s “Not Strong Enough”)”