Hammer Mill Days

How old is the Moon? That is totally the wrong question, man. What you really want to know is, how much does the Moon weigh? Or if you want to be more sensitive about it, ask it how young it feels. Just reacting to the news this week about those Apollo 14 rocks. Man, those suckers took a long time coming back from the processing lab. Like my entire adult life ... and then some. (Editor's note: I was 12 when Apollo 14 landed on the Moon, so I was probably in the second year of building my four-foot-tall detailed Revel model kit of the Saturn V rocket. Now, of course, I am in my 47th year. Those damn engine cowlings!) News about the Moon always gets some attention around the mill, particularly in the dead of winter when there's precious little else to think about. Any upstate New York musician knows this better than his/her own name. January and February have been the traditional dead zone for performing musicians in this area of the country. Of course, we don't really pe...

Okay, a lot happened this week. It's been a bit like drinking from a fire hose, but then I suppose that's what we should expect for the next four years - these clown-like Trump people tossing flak at us left and right, doing their cheap-ass parlor tricks, trying to cloud the most salient issues. It is, of course, a collusion between the Republican clasleadership in the House and Senate and Herr Mr. Hair. That's why you can see them scheduling five confirmation hearings on a single day, as well as Trump's first press conference in six months on that same day. They want to keep your eye off of the most important issues, like their efforts to scuttle the Affordable Care Act and throw millions off of their health insurance. That last issue got a boost from the Senate over the past few days, setting up the budgetary framework for pulling the whole thing down. The end of the ACA will of course mean an enormous tax break for top earners, particularly the top tenth of one per...