Hiatus

Hi Dear Readers!

It has been a little while since I have posted. I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, and/or action steps for defeating the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs). Indeed, the reason for my lengthy hiatus from your life is that I was diligently battling DFUs via intentional acts of positivity, joy, kindness, compassion, and altruism (you know...the Jesus-y type things).

Yesterday was Monday and a recovery day from Sunday, which is when my rock-n-roll acoustic super duo GUPPY EFFECT performed a superb house concert for a bunch of cool peeps (videos forthcoming shortly). I thoroughly enjoy performing at house concerts. The main reason is that it's at a house, and thus private property, where the performers and attendees have a lot of autonomy and control over the experience. Typically, there is no charge to attend a house concert, but people are asked to bring a tribute, usually in the form of a snack, side dish, or beverages to share. Optionally, there is typically a tip jar, into which people can reposit legal tender, if they determine that: 1. they were too lazy to acquire the requisite shareable OR 2. the requisite shareable provided was inferior to the sheer magnitude of the awesome rocking happening at the house concert (which they would not have known in advance).

GUPPY EFFECT is going to showcase the open mic at Brix Cider House in Mt Horeb WI this coming Thursday night (8/14). If you're in the area, swing on by. We plan to go on about 8 PM ish.

Fin.

Weekend Looming

Hi Dear Readers!

I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, and/or action steps for defeating the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs).

I wish this blog found more people. Because a lot of the insights here are pretty good, if I do say so myself. Today's insight is that social media (SM) is a toxic thing that causes mass psychosis in the population, unbeknownst to them. I am sure everyone reading this is like, "Oh, that's not me...I have free will and critical thinking capabilities." And that's the issue. Everyone reading this is wrong about that. Social media decides what you will see (and therefore prioritize) on it and it will give you opinions to hold on it that reinforce your preexisting notions about whatever it is. I think everyone knows this by now. Until you accept its power over your thoughts and feelings - and sometimes actions - you will be enslaved to it. AI has only made the problem exponentially worse.

It's Deborah's birthday this weekend and we are going to fill the time with FUN. We're getting dinner tonight at Luigi's Pizzeria, with some additional family joining (not gonna lie...I could do without the additional family and both Deborah and I would prefer a one on one outing with each other...but convention dictates we have to accommodate the family, who are probably going to stick us with the tab, totally against convention...sigh!). On Saturday, I think we are going to head downtown and hit the farmer's market followed by the Art Fair Off the Square. I'm hopeful that I can encourage Deborah to ride bikes downtown instead of driving, to avoid traffic and parking, or at least agree to take the BRT bus down there.

On Sunday, I might do a morning bike ride, and I definitely have GUPPY EFFECT band practice in the afternoon.

Fin.

Shabbat

Hi Readers!

Happy Shabbat! I hope this blog post finds you and brings you some insight and joy. If you've been following along, you know that Monday is the Sabbath Day in the secular Church of Bike with Joe. Because the Church is secular, there's no religious or spiritual underpinning for having a Monday Sabbath. It's more about "sticking it to The Man," where The Man is the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs)...and there are many!

Unlike the Jewish Shabbat that runs from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, adherents of the Church of BWJ can still do all the fun things in life on Mondays. The idea is to NOT work in the traditional sense of labor that you give to The Man in exchange for money, and sometimes perks like weekends off, vacation/sick time, and retirement savings.

Unlike the Christian Sabbath that is mostly on Sundays (though occasionally Wednesdays and Fridays, depending on the sect of Christianity, for whatever reason), adherents of the Church of BWJ don't go to an actual, physical church. Instead, we engage in the things that bring us JOY. And one of the things that brings us joy is NOT working for The Man on Mondays.

GUPPY EFFECT rock-n-roll super duo had a good rehearsal yesterday. We workshopped and woodshedded vocal harmonies and ran through almost a full set of material. We are hoping to perform an open mic or open jam some time in February.

Well, I think I'll leave it there for today.

Fin.