Papa Johnny Road

Okay, this Michael Jackson thing….I have to comment on the King of Pop.  Since they are selling “Velvet Elvises” of the Gloved One and MJ t-shirts on street-corners in West Philly, this must be some real shit.  Was he talented?  Yes.  Off The Wall stands up as one of my favorite records ever.  Come on, (and I don’t care who you are….black, white, blue, green, or purple, a Democrat, a Republican, a little bit country, or a little bit rock-n-roll…) any time in someone’s living room after 2am anything off that record had been played your ass has both felt that beat AND rode the boogie respectively.  Deny it all you’d like….I know the truth.

Now I can’t speak to whether or not he fiddled with kids or not.  Yes, I find the thought reprehensible.  I think there is little difference between “indicted” and “convicted”…ask anyone that’s taken a seat for Chris Hansen.    MJ lived a twisted and tortured life by most accounts and I’m not so sure all parts of it should be celebrated.  His music, for a time though, was undeniably the most powerful force in the Universe.  Right or wrong, I will celebrate that….

Plus….I’m sorry…..the jokes are just so damn funny.

Farrah.  I really don’t have an opinion either way.  As for Billy Mays…..Oxi-Clean is the bomb.  I love that stuff.  Why does the hooker loving Sham Wow guy get to walk the Earth while good-ole Billy kicks the bucket?  For the same reasons I’ll never get to see SRV play live and we’ll never get Akon to ever set foot on a helicopter.  Life just isn’t fair.  (disclaimer:  I can make all the helicopter jokes I want to…..)

The guys over at Ctrl + Alt + Del got it right….

Welcome back to Papa Johnny Road.  I’ve been meaning to get the site back up and running for sometime time now…and well, I’ve finally started the process.

(First things first, I have to thank someone before I get too far ahead of myself.  I took the header image from a buddy and photography hero of mine, Brad Kuntz.  If you are a fan of beautiful photography you owe it to yourself to see his work.  If you’re like me, a wandering soul with an insatiable love affair with live music…well, you’ll just have to thank me later.  Brad’s stuff is the real deal. Link: Brad Kuntz Photography on Smugmug)

So it is a quiet night where I work and I’m thankful.  While I won’t spend much time going in to what exactly it is I do (if you find yourself here, you have a pretty good idea anyway) I will simply state that I find things are better in the universe on nights that I sit still.  I’ve enjoyed a few simple pleasures tonight and I’m once again thankful.  I forgot how much I used to enjoy tinkering around on this blog and making it kind of work….  I’ve forgotten the genius of Mark Knopfler…the guitar work, the incredible tone, the songwriting….Dire Straits is just one of those things you just have to file under perfect sometimes (as is James Taylor, Albert King, and Miles Davis all in the proper context…and to a lesser degree the works of Kenny Loggins, especially in relation to the movies Caddyshack and Over The Top, which are also quite perfect.)  I’ve forgotten that I sometimes like to write my thoughts out on a tiny screen for an even tinier group to view.  For a while now I’ve forgotten a lot of things and hope to get back on track with a few of them.  Stay tuned to PJR in the coming weeks as I make a triumphant return to rule the interwebz.

Peace.

Johnny Courage