New Site!

You can find my new blog at this link.  The name is Dr. John's Record Shelf and Photo Gallery, and you'll notice right away it looks a bit different from the Journal.  Consider it a work in progress, though it may take a few weeks to get it entirely set up, what with the holidays coming up. But you will find the most recent Top Five List there, and it has an interactive component, so check it out.  And thanks once again to all who were regular, or even intermittent, visitors to Dr. John's Journal, which I've enjoyed  providing over the past four years.

Dear Readers...

As you've likely noticed, recently postings here have become more erratic than in the past. This is partly due to some other demands on my time, but mostly because I've been having space problems with the site host which has inhibited my ability to post photos (which is one of the main points of having the blog in the first place).  Yesterday, I could not post the latest Top Five List, even though videos have never presented a problem in the past.  I entertained the idea that it might be time to give up the blogging life altogether, but then figured there must be another option.  So... I'm in the process of creating a new blog, one which will probably not be quite as active as this one was in its prime (though I hope to post something at least several times a week).  I think I will make the new site somewhat more complementary to my radio show, so the Top Five Lists should continue, along with playlists and perhaps some other snippets from the show.  I'll also continue to post photos that I've taken, of family and travels and whatnot, and (because my Mom likes it) I'll probably continue Toonerville Thursdays.  I'm still hammering out the layout and other aspects of the new site, but I should have a link posted here by the end of the week.  So I hope you will all join me "over there" once it is up and running.  And thanks for reading Dr. John's Journal-- I hope it's been worth your time to stop by once in awhile.   

I Like This

A cool Christmas message from Blondie and Dagwood.

More Saturday Family Blogging

Here's another oldie but goodie (the older picture files are smaller, and so don't count against my space allotment).  Helen's got her mind on something, you can be sure of that!

Saturday Family Blogging

It's snowy and cold out here today, so naturally I'm thinking of sunny skies and beaches.  Here are Ben and Thomas at the Erie Basin Marina (where Lake Erie flows into the Niagara River), from about 2006.

Spain Rodriguez, RIP

For the past several months I've been looking forward to getting back to Buffalo to see the Spain Rodriguez retrospective at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center (just a couple more weeks until I get the chance). My anticipation rose considerably after recently reading his collection of stories about growing up in Western New York (Cruisin' With the Hound-- a really great read, especially if you're from the area). Sadly, Spain passed away about a week ago.  There have been some great tributes to the man and his career, including the Zippy strip above by Bill Griffith, and the anonymous murals that suddenly appeared in an abandoned part of the old Central Terminal in Buffalo.  All of which makes me even more anxious to check out the show at the Burchfield, though its sad to think he won't be adding anymore great work to his legacy.  

Toonerville Thursday

After missing last week, our visits to Toonerville resume with a couple panels focussing on Granpaw Futty.

This Week's Top Five List

This past Sunday we celebrated the 400th episode of Dr. John's Record Shelf on KDWG. In honor of the occasion, we played some clips of earlier shows, including several "classic" Top Five Lists, including the following (one of my all-time favorites). This may have been posted before, but I don't mind repeating myself in this instance:

Holidays in Vegas

When I was in Las Vegas a couple weeks back, I stumbled on some kind of holiday festival in the plaza in font of the Venetian Hotel.  It was a procession and something akin to a theatrical dance performance involving elaborately costumed actors.  Here are a couple fo closeups of two of them.  The first was actually on stilts, and as you can probably tell, dressed as a tree.  The woman below wore a mask that caused her face to change as she bowed to the crowd.  I'll probably post some more pictures from the event, but I'm still a bit uncertain if I'm going to run into issues with Blogger, so just these two for now.

The Valley of Fire

Well, I managed to get another picture up, though it took forever to upload (still haven't entirely licked the recent problems I've been having here).  But at least I can let you know the blog still lives, for now.  This was taken a couple of weeks ago at the Valley of Fire, about sixty miles northeast of Las Vegas.  To get to this overlook, I had to walk along an ancient river bed for about a mile and a half, but the view was definitely worth the hike.  Here's a slightly different view from the same spot:

 

A Christmas List

Just on the off-chance that anyone reading this is considering getting me a Christmas gift this year, I thought I would post this list of books I'd like to read.  If anyone would like to reciprocate by posting their own "list to Santa" in the comments, by all means feel free to do so.

Paul Strathern, The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior (history)

Matthew F. Delmont, The Nicest Kids in Town (music history)

Candace Millard, Destiny of the Republic (history)

Richard Zacks, Island of Vice (history)

Richard Rhodes, Hedy's Folly (history/biography)

Michael Kazin, American Dreamers (history)

Bill Zimmerman, Troublemaker (memoir/history)

Lee Sandlin, Wicked River (history)

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Goodbye Cinema, Hello Cinephilia (movies)
Robert Pinsky, Thousands of Broadways: Dreams and Nightmares of the American Small Town (history)
Beth Gates Warren, Artful Lives (Art history/biography)
William M. Adler, The Man Who Never Died: The Life, Times and Legacy of Joe Hill (Biography/history)
Jackson Lears, Rebirth of a Nation:The Making of Modern America 1877-1920 (history)