Here is a question that a friend of mine who happens to be an African-American in his 20s sent me today:

“Jeff. I know that you’re a conservative and that’s cool. I like you and you have the right to be apart of any party that you want. With that being said, I would like to know your thoughts on the healthcare opposition rally that Michele Bachman and and House GOP leader John Boehner led on the capitol building the other day. Do you think that the national GOP is becoming a party of hate and bigotry?”

Good news for a change in the local manufacturing sector:

Unifi, a yarn manufacturer based in Greensboro, reported Thursday net income of $2.5 million in its first quarter of fiscal year 2010. It was the highest quarterly profit since 2002, according to Bill Jasper, the president and chief executive of Unifi.

This is a note from PBPS Prez. Casey Hazelman about some goings-on this weekend:

##
Hello Blues Family,

Over this past Summer Max Drake began hanging out at the Backstreet Buzz Coffeehouse in Reidsville. He occasionally picked some songs but mostly drank coffee and befriended David & Susan Glick, Backstreet’s owners.

Fast forward several weeks. Max’s wife Teresa needed surgery and could not wait until her new job’s insurance kicked in. So still repaying the bills from Max’s Heart surgery a couple of years ago, more medical bills were coming.

David Glick decided something must be done to help his new friends. He asked my partner in a Cup of Blues Mike Carter what could be done. The obvious answer was what the Blues Family does for one of our own; hold a benefit.

So with great thanks to Art at the Clubhouse, 435 Dolley Madison Rd., Greensboro the venue was provided. The Teresa Drake Benefit will start at 2PM Sunday and will be excellent.

A $5.00 raffle ticket purchase will get you in the door. More tickets may be purchased of course ($20 will getcha 5) for even better chances in the Raffles. A beautiful Ibanez Artcore guitar, amp & Stand is the BIG prize. Also raffled will be a hand carved bowl along with cash and other possible items.

The lineup is stellar:
Mel Melton & the Wicked Mojos,
Tad Walters,
The Fairlanes,
Matt Hill & the Buzzkillz
The Swang Brothers,
Lawyers, Guns & Money and
the Not Dead Yet Blues Band.

Plus Matt Walsh is coming in and will be sitting in with many of these bands.

So come out Sunday, help one of our Blues Family and…

As always, please continue supporting live Music and…
Until next week, keep your mojos workin’.

And have a SAFE and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Blues it or lose it,
Casey
##

I’ve commented in the past on how I would like to ride my bike around Reidsville more than I do now, but am fearful because of the busy roads and increasing number of cyclist killed on local roads.

Now comes this:

The Highway Patrol has seized a vehicle that investigators believe was involved in a Saturday hit-and-run that killed a bicyclist in northern Guilford County.

Some of the comments below the story are atrocious.

Related.

Being a starry-eyed minion of Dostoevsky and Turgenev I don’t go much for modern fiction.

I tried two years ago with “Bearing the Body” which I found via the NYT Top 10 list of new fiction fro 2007.

I’m trying again with “Crossers” by Philip Caputo.

Seems like an interesting read.

This is a song I wrote in 1995 about how I wished I could get out of the situation I was in at the time. I sort of feel that way again now. The song is called “I’d Try”

If I could leave this town
I tell you what I’d do
I’d cruise around the world
And bring the best right back to you

I’d try
I just might
I don’t lie
I don’t mind

Here’s how it would be if
I could fly through the sky
I’d soar across the oceans to
Catch the tail of time

Yeah I’d try
I just might
I don’t lie
Not this time

But we’ve failed to perceive
Building ten story jails brings no relief

Here’s how it would be
If there was justice in the world
Every one’s star could shine just brightly
And every kid could smile like pearls

If we tried
It just might
I don’t mind
Not this time

But we’ve failed to perceive
Don’t we got ten story jails and no relief?

c. 1995 Mushy Mind Music

A few months ago I played a solo gig at the local coffee shop. It went really well and I laid out a few songs I had never performed.

This is one of them. I like the lyrics of this song and it’s one of the first I put together in my early 20s after I decided to try and really be a songwriter.

The video is complete with an instance of my videographer having her camera grabbed by a pretty strong 4-year-old.

Inspiration.

I was gonna argue with Ged about his recent health care post by posting this link about the Democratic senators who control the fate of the reform in Congress, but then I scrolled down and found this cool visualization of Beethoven’s 5th and all that political stuff seemed unimportant.

Not unrelated.

I may start deviating from the current conservative paradigm from time to time. I hope that doesn’t get me in too much hot water.

For starters, I don’t find any reason for our troops to remain in Afghanistan. Historically, I can think of a lot of reasons why our being there is a bad idea.

I agree with Kristoff:

Remember also that the minimum plausible cost of 40,000 troops — $10 billion — could pay for two million disadvantaged American children to go to a solid preschool. The high estimate of $40 billion would, over 10 years, pay for almost half of health care reform. Are we really better off spending that money so that more young Americans could end up spilling their blood in Afghanistan without necessarily accomplishing much more than inflaming Pashtun nationalism?

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. My grandmother is a survivor for more than 25 years now.

A friend of my mom’s recently beat back the cancer and shared her experience on a blog set up by CaringBridge.