Music

#30DaySongChallenge, Day 2: A Song With A Number In The Title

Dolly Parton has always been a idol of mine, partly for her gifted-by-God voice and incredible songwriting ability, but more so for her uniquely Tennessean flavor of sass. She was born in the southern end of Appalachia, raised in poverty as one of 12 children, brought up in the Church of God, married only once (to…

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#30DaySongChallenge, Day 4: A Song That Reminds You Of Something You’d Rather Forget

You know what I’d rather forget? Donald Trump. I’d like to forget that he currently sits in the Oval Office, guzzling Diet Cokes, downing McDonalds cheeseburgers, drooling over Fox & Friends, and firing off barely-literate tweets. I’d like to forget the circus he manufactured leading up to his 2016 election, and the dumpster fire he’s…

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30 Day Song Challenge 2018

For five straight years, from 2011-2016, I dedicated the entire month of June on this blog to the #30DaySongChallenge. Each day, I would select a song in response to a daily prompt, and then post it here along with some (long or short) account of why I chose that song for that day’s prompt. Music…

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SPEP Guide to Memphis

Pictured: Chic Jones, legendary Beale Street singer The Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy (SPEP) will be holding its annual meeting in Memphis this year on October 19-21. As a native Memphian, I’m excited to share my city (the 901) with all of you who will be attending. There are so many hidden gems in this…

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30 Day Song Challenge, Day 23: Your Favorite Song This Time Last Year

It’s funny how quickly pop songs start to sound “old.” In order to figure out what I was listening to this time last summer, I’ll admit that I had to consult iTunes and a couple of music blogs to see what the top tracks were for June 2015.  In almost every case, my first thought…

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30 Day Song Challenge, Day 22: A Song You Wish You Had Written

Ok, at this point– I’m writing this on June 37– I’m already six days behind on the 30 Day Song Challenge.  I was just about to give up and call it quits, but then I remembered that I’ve been doing this for a long time and, even if this year’s iteration ends up being the…

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30 Day Song Challenge, Day 12: A Song From A Band You Hate

I don’t actually “hate” a lot of bands, mostly because I don’t really listen to bands that I don’t like long enough to log the emotional time it takes to generate real hatred. For today’s 30 Day Song Challenge selection, I was going to pick a song by Creed… but then I figured everyone with any kind of musical taste at all…

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30 Day Song Challenge, Day 10: A Song That Helps You Fall Asleep

I don’t usually listen to music when I’m trying to sleep, mostly because I find it difficult to not actively listen. At the same time, I absolutely cannot abide total silence. When I’m in my office, I always have earbuds in. When I’m at home or in my car, there is always something playing. And so, against…

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30 Day Song Challenge, Day 14: A Song No One Would Expect You To Love

As I’ve grown older, I’ve become far less confident in my ability to correctly predict what other people think. That seems counterintuitive to me, since one would expect that more years of experience– more interpersonal “data points”– would make it easier to recognize patterns and improve one’s predictive capabilities.  Not so in my experience.  Rather,…

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30 Day Song Challenge, Day 13: A Song That Is A Guilty Pleasure

Oh man, seriously, I love ABBA soooooo much. I once said that if I were ever to get a tattoo, I would have “Super Trouper” tattooed on my shoulder. For the record, no tats here. My skin remains as clean as the driven snow. I kind of wish I did feel guilty about my ridiculously unrestrained ABBA fandom, but…

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