I can play in front of an audience all day and not think twice about ooooooh...being on stage.  Don't give a shit.   Make me play in front of my peers?  I give a BIG shit.  Usually right in my pants.  There's nothing worse for me than playing music while my peers sit and critique me.   So, since day 1 of my career as a US Navy musician, I have dreaded going back to the Armed Forces School of Music, because I've been petrified to audition in front of my p...

Just a little update on life and whatnot.   After a grueling trip that my friend Charlie referred to as "The Great Migration," Mari and I are finally back on home soil in the US of A.  Here's a brief synopsis of what "The Great Migration" entailed.   During the summer months, there is an embargo on traveling with pets.  If the temperature at the departing airport is 85 degrees or higher at the time of departure, or if the projected temperature at the time of arriv...

I don't even have the patience now to find the right category for this, so it goes in misc.  Tough.   Dear reader, this a full on cathartic rant.  You're not likely going to understand what the hell I'm talking about, but it's either this or I start breaking shit.  And since I don't have any shit to break at the moment, the point is moot.  Welcome!  Welcome to my blog!   I'm a musician.  And on occasion, I have to write music.  Ye...

With the recent addition of a "Karma" button, I was reminded of a story from my college days.  I am not sure whether I really believe in karma as a functional system that is truly in action, but this story is definitely an example that it's at least possible, and it's something I'm fond of reminiscing about 20+ years later   The year is 1985.  The place is in a parking lot just up a hill from a football field where the University of South Carolina Marching Band practices in ...

Now I hope this gets some sort of wide dissemination, and I hope everyone that sees this answers and answers honestly.  It's a poll of sorts.   Who here ever wanted Crackerjacks or bought Crackerjacks solely for the prize at the bottom.  Raise your hand.   * OckhamsRazor raises his hand *    

Just a quick blog to emphasize a point that I'm sure we all agree with.  It's very important to teach our kids what to think about a lot of stuff.  After all, they aren't born with the ability to reason, so things like religion and political affiliation and other various belief systems need to be put into them while they're young. That's the great thing about having kids.  You've already got it all figured out, and so it saves them a lot of trouble if you just tell them what to...

Just for kicks I'm going to put up several quotes. The subject, as you will see is religion. Don't let that bother you. I'm not out to debate the statements made by the authors of the quotes, they just happened to be on my mind recently. Play the game. Try not to cheat by googling them and guess who said them. 1. I don't try to imagine a personal God; it suffices to stand in awe at the structure of the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it. 2. The...

I have proclaimed that 31 January is Inanity Day in Ock's World. Next year it may be a different day, or there may not even be one next year - such is the nature of such a holiday. At any rate, I wanted to warn people to be especially careful in their lives today. I plan to divide 6.23 by 0 later, so if anything bad happens to you, you can blame me. Of course, if anything good happens, I get the credit. Cheers.

Yeah folks, the title is not a ploy. Apparently having a white asshole is now important, so Anal Whitening™ is becoming the latest rage among a really insecure species. Here's just one article about it. Anal Whitening I don't know what else to say, really. In fact, I'm just not going to say anything. Except maybe "God dammmnnn" But that's all I'll say. Really.

Someone, somewhere, had an idea one day. They said "Hey...what if...just what IF! NO no no...hear me out. WHAT IF we actually helped some third world countries take care of themselves so that LATER they didn't become a breeding ground for all manner of ne'erdowells?" It's a pretty good premise. I can attest now, first hand, that security, at least in the seas that surround many West African countries, is in a sad state of disrepair. Here's what that causes to the West Africans. There...

Naval tradition. The two words are often synonymous in the US Navy. Particularly for a musician, hereafter referred to as “MU.” Much of what MUs do is so wrapped up in ceremony that, for us, the line between tradition and the Navy is a very thin, very fuzzy one. One look at non-MU sailors at work (which you’ll never see on the 7 o’clock news) is different from one look at an MU (which you just might see on the news). Coveralls are well named if you’re referring to paint and other unknown...

In about a week, I leave home again to float around the coast of West Africa bringing American rock and roll to the denizens of several African countries. I'll be back (hopefully) before Christmas (not that Mari and I are really attached to the holiday, but friends and family are, so we celebrate it with them.) LW and MM, I'll send you an e-mail from the ship once we have e-mail addresses there. Letters are always appreciated on deployments. Be well, all. Ock

I've said it before. I use this site to spew a random amount of stuff into the blogosphere. And once again, I thank the creators of it for the space to do just that. Today's spewage is a dedication to a wonderful woman. I am a lucky lucky man, and I'll tell ya...it took me a long time to get lucky. (*rimshot*) Dear Mari, I just wanted to tell you that I love you - here - in public. You're brilliantly intelligent. You're an awesome cook. You put up with me, and that, by itself,...

Somewhere around 1994 I began to read a fantasy epic series called "The Wheel of Time." I learned a really good lesson about reading series of books - namely - don't start the series until it is finished. It's a really good series if you like the genre, but five books into it, I found out that I'd have to wait to continue. Two years passed before the next one came out, and I bought it immediately and finished it in short order, and then....two more years. Good god. Write faster, RJ..."...

The sad thing is, my Dad, a retired full bird Colonel in the USAF who was in Viet Nam, was born on September, 11. Now he doesn't want to celebrate his birthday anymore. I've asked him, on my wife's suggestion, to have a half-year birthday on March 11. Maybe he'll go for that. In any case, I started looking at 9/11 in history, and thought some people might be interested in the other things that have happened on that day. So here it is. September 11, 1995 Eastern Tennessee begins...