I have a soft spot for old English rock and rollers.  When I saw that Steve Hackett, one of the greatest guitar players ever to reach for a pick, was going to be playing at The Brown County Music Center in Nashville, Indiana there was certainly a tug to head that direction this past Thursday evening.  The tug won.

I remember something Justin Hayward said in 1992, “There’s nothing more disgusting I think sometimes in the English countryside than that old sort of English rock and roller sitting there in his stately home, you know, plinking his guitar and wondering what to do next.”

Cue Steve Hackett.  Hackett had a desire on this tour to play places he and his group had not been to.  The man who can fill up The Royal Albert Hall was bringing the goods in earnest at a Brown County Music Center that I doubt had 400 in attendance.  Still, there was a power on that stage led by a guitar hero in his 70s that doesn’t come around very often.  The man, whose finger picking on the neck inspired Eddie Van Halen, has more dexterity in his fingers than anyone I have ever seen.  A Rock and Roll Hall of Famer from his time (1971-1977) as the lead guitarist and composer in the group Genesis during a time when this band was making music that was ahead of its time and music that will stand the test of time long after I’m here to tell you about it.  Hackett and his boys on stage were the real thing.

My newspapers these days are on my new laptop. I am using my new computer to write this post.  My dear wife, Carrie, got tired of me looking at my online newspapers on my phone or my Chromebook.  This new HP has a much larger screen.

The daily Louisville Courier-Journal is no longer delivered to our address.  This has been a terrible adjustment for me.  I read The Tribune from Seymour.  It only publishes properly two days a week now.  Your old Uncle Dan can remember The Seymour Daily Tribune back in the day.  I can keep up with my native Jackson County and folks I still know well there.

These days I am reading the Indianapolis Star online daily.  This is paper is better than the Courier and in its last days on my kitchen table, The Courier was not giving us any Southern Indiana news.  This was both disconcerting and offensive.

I finish things off with The New York Times.  If there is something there to catch my eye, I read it closely.  If not, I pass it by.  I enjoy the music, theatre, and arts a great deal.

I miss the tangible experience of holding a paper and folding it up.  When I go out of town, I relish handling some of the papers I truly enjoy.

I found this picture recently.  It was a halftime chat my Dad was giving his team at Brownstown Central in 1978.  Looks like they were on the wrong side of the scoreboard at halftime.  You don’t see photos like this in school yearbooks anymore.

The latest North Harrison High School Hodgepodcast featured senior Zachary Miller.  I had a blast listening to The Miller’s Tale.  I am looking forward to watching this young man pitch for the NH Baseball Team.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson