Author: J T. Ramsay

  • Headed to Outer Banks, NC

    I was just read­ing a post I wrote last year about OBX and I chuck­led. Sure, the shop­ping is a mess and the tv pack­ages may not be up to snuff, but I can’t tell you how much I’m look­ing for­ward to being down there again, espe­cial­ly after every­thing that hap­pened with Irene. The thought…

  • In Praise of Spoon

    I know peo­ple have cooled on their steely grooves, but I don’t know how I would’ve got­ten through 2002–2007 with­out steady dos­es of Spoon. Two songs in par­tic­u­lar that gal­va­nized my will when it was bent near the break­ing point: “That’s the Way We Get By” and “The Underdog.” Can’t lis­ten to either of these…

  • A Few Thoughts on That Thurston Moore Gig

    First, I love Demol­ished Thoughts. I feel like I’m get­ting to that age where I’m com­fort­able enjoy­ing albums by my ’90s heroes unapolo­get­i­cal­ly, despite know­ing in my ratio­nal mind that they’re sad imi­ta­tions of their Great Works. To me, Demol­ished Thoughts is a great Sun­day morn­ing album, and last I checked, there are lots of…

  • Hurricane Irene Made for a Hectic Weekend

    Here’s how I fought Hur­ri­cane Irene last week­end in Philadel­phia, PA: Drove wife and son to be with fam­i­ly in north­ern Va as they pre­pared to vaca­tion in, gulp, Corol­la, NC this week. Watched news at moth­er-in-law’s house. Won­dered if Out­er Banks would still exist. Slept. Drove home to Philly at 6 AM. Caught in traf­fic twice behind…

  • I Went to the Gym

    Not earth-shat­ter­ing news by any stretch of the imag­i­na­tion, but for this dad, a major step toward get­ting back in shape after an ardu­ous two-year hiatus. Now that Char­lie’s sleep­ing more nor­mal­ly, I’ve decid­ed to hit the gym three times per week in the evenings. I’m not quite ready to give up the addi­tion­al sleep…