2017 - October 3 - Into The Great Wide Open

What a weekend... I took time off from just about everything to spend with my parents before they left for Norway again. I had to teach on Friday, but other than that I didn't do much that could be considered productive... So over the scope of this one weekend, we ended up watching soccer, celebrating my mom's birthday, visiting Grand Rapids' tourist trap #1, Artprize, where I ran into Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top but was too starstruck to get a picture taken, having them leave - and then take in news of death and destruction. I won't comment directly on the shooting in Vegas outside saying it's a tragedy. However, too many news outlets and people are doing too much speculation, and it's not doing anyone any good. Just report the facts as they come out. Talk about the aftermath. But this incessant analysis of what could be behind the shooting is bullshit in its purest form. Until trained people gather a ton of information and have the full picture, it is a waste of air to speculate based on the steady trickle of information leaking from who knows where...

And then there was Tom Petty. I wasn't the biggest fan, but I liked him a lot. I like that he got to finish what he already had labeled his final tour. There is poetry in that to me. But I will miss his voice. Free Falling has had a great place in my heart for a long time, but today I want to play another one of his great songs: Into The Great Wide Open, the title track from his 1991 album. How many stars can you identify in this video?