tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36522530911864676452012-02-13T17:15:26.828-05:00Official site of Jon Gorey: Boston-based singer/songwriter, wordsmith, and, most would argue, good bloke.Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.comBlogger661100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-31099047715930828842012-02-10T14:06:00.006-05:002012-02-10T15:59:50.004-05:00

It's been a while since we had a good old-fashioned Top Five Day. As you may know, I work smack in the heart of downtown Boston. It's awesome. After working for years at the fringe of civilization on the outskirts of Brighton, it's been an invigorating and exciting change of scenery. Steps from my office you'll find any meal you can imagine (and probably some that you can't, a few blocks south

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-49668084731188546542012-01-03T07:29:00.009-05:002012-02-03T13:14:58.664-05:00

 Our first dance. Photo by Kate Rose. When Gina first moved in with us on Commonwealth Ave. in 2003, I was working on a bunch of new songs (most of which appeared on Indeed!). But one in particular was very important to me: I was trying to write a song that I would play for my future wife, whoever she may be, on our wedding day, whenever that may be. It was a daunting endeavor, and I

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-32198574889832930362011-12-07T15:21:00.005-05:002012-01-04T10:28:31.509-05:00

Some of my oldest friends call me "Hot Rod." No, I’m not all that into cars. It's a sarcastic reference to the fact that I tend to do things... very... very... slowly. I like to stroll rather than stride. I'm always the last one to finish eating (unless my dad’s around). And I'm chronically late. If you're reading this, there's a good chance you've been stuck waiting for me -- you might be

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-37787035160088447952011-09-07T22:45:00.008-04:002012-01-04T11:51:42.580-05:00

Are those fondue pots on the wallpaper? Yes. Yes they are. We've been planning to do a kitchen makeover for a long time now -- since the moment we bought our house three years ago, in fact. But we kept putting it off, partly because everyone says you should wait to see how you use the room -- it will tell you what it needs and what it doesn't as you live in it -- and partly because, well, we

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-81745797086525635442011-07-14T17:31:00.002-04:002012-01-04T11:50:32.307-05:00

Yesterday I spent a full 12-hour day recording a batch of new songs with out-of-my-league musicians at Q Division -- where rock goddesses such as Kay Hanley have recorded masterpieces -- courtesy of my friend and musical godfather Will Dailey. I use the term "new" rather loosely, since some of these songs have been kicking around since 2006 -- like the one I played to Gina at our wedding,

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-51304947824970027022011-05-20T16:28:00.001-04:002012-01-04T11:55:00.527-05:00

Listen to this album and tell me it's not in your top 5 of all time. Last night we saw Weezer play at the BofA Pavillion, and they were terrific. They played no fewer than 8 songs off the Blue Album -- and only one off Pinkerton, which I like better -- but that’s why we caught their front-to-back Pinkerton show in December. It actually worked out pretty well! Anyway, they closed the main set

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-72154274324128255442011-03-14T19:49:00.005-04:002012-01-04T11:53:30.577-05:00

Everyone clap your hands! Most years on Saint Patrick's Day, I'm lucky enough to find myself singing Irish songs for a crowd of drunks. It can be a lot of fun, but it can wear on you, too. I imagine the Wiggles and other toddler acts face this kind of challenge at every show: a messy, unruly audience that shouts demands at you, drools, staggers around... and sometimes even spits up on the floor.

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-54564474203419343492010-12-08T23:28:00.002-05:002010-12-08T23:32:29.292-05:00

Yikes that's cold! I mean, don't get me wrong, I like the cold. But it all happened so fast, didn't it? I feel like fall -- my favorite season -- gets shortchanged, lost in the shuffle: It doesn't really get going until mid-September, and by November 1 there are already holiday commercials popping up. Then, before you know it, you find yourself paralyzed with cold, shivering in the darkness of

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-4524277623783931092010-10-28T16:39:00.002-04:002011-09-21T11:23:41.268-04:00

I just finished "The Fiddler in the Subway," a collection of feature stories by Washington Post writer Gene Weingarten. It's one of the best books I've read in years: hilarious, heartbreaking, and human. But the title story -- the Pulitzer Prize-winning one about renowned violinist Joshua Bell performing in a D.C. subway station and the commuters who paid him absolutely no mind -- is the one

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-9348821225694951132010-10-16T17:53:00.003-04:002010-10-17T21:39:52.535-04:00

Dance by Lissa Schneckenburger 2010, Footprint Records Running by the ocean at sunset, I was listening to the lilting, Celtic notes of a fiddle. As I inhaled the salt air in gulps and looked out at the gray sea, I could almost convince myself it was Galway Bay out there beside me. But that couldn't be true. For one, the Boston skyline was just ahead. Also, I was far too busy busking and

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-91314691683803818742010-10-13T16:45:00.001-04:002010-10-13T16:52:12.567-04:00

I remember reading a story about H&M when they first opened up stateside, where the CEO or spokesperson referred to it as "disposable fashion." The clothes are stylish and cheap, but poorly made. (To wit, my wedding suit was from H&M; the pants were unraveling at the seam by the end of the ceremony.) And the whole idea is: that's ok. You buy a cheap-but-trendy sweater, wear it to your big party

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-20153412564945798422010-08-18T22:49:00.002-04:002010-08-18T23:03:44.240-04:00

Or are you more of a planner? Well, now's your chance to find out. It's like a real-life Cosmo quiz, but without all the mindlessness and tampon ads. So here's your quiz: Edgar and I, a.k.a. The Decks, are playing Thursday night -- which may be tonight by the time you see this -- back at the Irish Village in Brighton. Short notice you say? Well, summer is the season for impulse. When an

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-18242669343770105232010-07-23T16:56:00.002-04:002012-02-10T14:15:52.039-05:00

I’ve written about this before – how an excess of choice can actually be more crippling than freeing. No place embodies this concept quite like the free will bonanza that is Faneuil Hall in Boston. If you don’t live here, or have somehow managed not to visit the 2nd most famous tourist attraction in a city chock full of tourist attractions, Faneuil Hall is an all-pedestrian shoptropolis/

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-51603470902295136152010-07-12T22:48:00.001-04:002010-07-12T22:55:13.814-04:00

Well hey there! It's been awhile, eh? I hope you’re enjoying your summer! And it sure is summer. Around this time last year, after the second rainiest June on record, we were still wondering where the hell summer was. (Just futzing around in 2010, apparently.) Now, I love the 15-hour days and 75-degree nights of midsummer. But I am a fair-skinned, sweaty fella. (As I type, I am the color of a

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-76598004157075245242010-05-25T10:21:00.002-04:002010-05-25T10:25:01.862-04:00

This Friday will be my last day at WGBH. Next week I'll be working alongside some esteemed friends at TheStreet.com — which means that I will no longer report to Big Bird (that tyrant!), but rather the madman behind "Mad Money," Jim Cramer himself. It should be quite the change of pace — wish me luck! The night before my last day at work is exciting in its own right. My friend Edgar and I have

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-32700999162184436482010-05-04T08:26:00.002-04:002010-05-04T15:39:50.383-04:00

I wasn't really in Mexico for the weekend, sadly. It was just really hot, and we couldn't drink the water. And I had some chips and salsa, if that counts for anything. People were so crazy about the water situation! (If you don't live in Boston, quick recap: a big pipe that supplies 2 million of us with drinking water burst on Saturday, and they had to start using untreated water from backup

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-65979178489075197402010-04-13T17:27:00.005-04:002010-04-14T17:47:33.818-04:00

There is a picture out there, somewhere, of my friend Paul. It is marvelous; it is sublime in its absurdity. His hair is dyed orange, because we were in London, it was 1997, and that was the thing to do. It was meant to be Prodigy red or Sick Boy blonde or something, but it didn't come out right. He is looking upward, squinting, and smiling in a coy-but-drunken way, with engorged lips... like

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-19164173550903468412010-03-16T10:53:00.002-04:002010-03-16T10:56:34.193-04:00

Now that I've got dry socks on for the first time in days, I can finally think about something besides water and where to put it. And that brings us to tomorrow: I'll be playing a Saint Patrick's Day show from 4-8pm at the Sweetwater Cafe downtown (view map). With a sunny forecast in store, what better way to welcome this annual rite of spring? Come by after work, say hello and have a pint, and

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-87109087242409498292010-03-04T11:41:00.002-05:002010-03-04T11:54:28.567-05:00

Check that out, right there. For the time being, my alma mater Syracuse is #1 in both college basketball polls. They've been surging all season (27-2! insane), and even in the past few weeks, with their best player banged up, they managed to beat Georgetown (ranked like #10 at the time) and Villanova (#7). Oh, and Providence, which was especially awesome, because a few of us took the 3:30pm

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-24057384128224659342010-02-19T08:28:00.008-05:002010-02-19T09:47:47.005-05:00

Gina and I have a theory about surviving winter: at some point, you either have to get the hell away to someplace warm, where you can charge your solar battery, or you have to go all in and embrace the season — skiing, sledding, hot cocoa, roaring fires, snowmen, whatever. It doesn't matter which method you choose, but doing one or the other is essential to dodging the doldrums of midwinter;

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-19048424012948718872010-01-19T18:05:00.003-05:002010-01-22T10:37:25.816-05:00

With some distance now separating myself from many of the songs I've written — let's call that distance "perspective" rather than "age," shall we? — certain songs outlast others, enduring beyond their original context to resonate just as strongly in new chapters of my life. The one that really might be my favorite of all, that still just breaks my heart for some reason, is "Song I Wrote for You."

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-53663487794251227022009-12-30T10:42:00.003-05:002009-12-30T10:45:24.243-05:00

My #4 most successful friend — Hollywood hotshot Sarah Kucserka — recently posted a "Top 10 TV Shows of the '00s" missive on Facebook that I won't even try to compete with. Shamefully, I've probably only seen two of the shows on her list anyway. (Less shameful is that the list was littered with teen dramas, so I don't feel that bad.) I can't compete with Sarah for many reasons, not least because

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-24652777172960962142009-12-15T13:05:00.004-05:002009-12-15T13:13:16.041-05:00

It's extremely hard for me to fathom that the 2000's are coming to a close. I mean, I've barely accepted that the nineties are over, much less this decade. Plus, it was unquestionably one of the most action-packed ten years I'll ever experience, both universally and personally. A helluva ride! (I just wanted to use "helluva.") I find lists and statistics to be a helpful coping mechanism in times

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-53599559344941563542009-12-10T10:46:00.002-05:002009-12-10T10:49:49.534-05:00

I really loved the commercials for Bing, Microsoft's newish search engine, when they came out. Except... it's hardly a "decision engine," as advertised. It's just another search engine — and not even a particularly good one, based on my limited experience with it — only with pictures. Somewhere along the way I signed up for their travel deal alerts — actually, I think it's because they bought

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-52591152642934175352009-12-09T08:56:00.000-05:002009-12-09T08:56:07.449-05:00

So we've got the ol' wintry mix heaving down upon us today. What a crock. I'll admit, I'm not ready for a full-on snowstorm, but it doesn't mean I want to be drizzled with frozen mush droppings all day. Gross! Anyway, over the weekend we picked up our Christmas tree, decorated, bought some presents, and sat by the fire with the house all aglow... I'm officially in the spirit. I love Christmas.

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-43968511363041445042009-11-20T11:27:00.007-05:002009-11-20T11:36:46.264-05:00

I am, and always have been*, a Mac guy. This should come as no surprise — anyone who does anything remotely creative for a living typically works in a Macintosh environment. It's just the way it is. Using Adobe software on a PC is about as fun as, well, using Internet Explorer on a Mac. Around November of 2004, I bought a few shares of Apple stock. (Literally, three or four shares. I am not a

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-59249362947886087572009-11-04T12:27:00.001-05:002009-11-04T12:33:38.770-05:00

Tonight is the semi-annual "Wine Experience" at Blanchard's in Jamaica Plain (a more appropriate name would be the "Million Wine Tasting"). They have about 20 tables set up, one for each of their wine reps, and each rep has five or six wines that they distribute. You get to taste and savor them all, from smooth $8 malbecs you can take home (at a 20% discount no less) to $70 cabernets that you'll

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-77971183122416665582009-10-23T13:37:00.005-04:002009-10-23T13:44:30.635-04:00

Yesterday, we got audited — but in a good, non-IRS kind of way. If you're a National Grid (or NStar) customer, you can get a free energy audit through MassSave thanks to what I imagine is some government- or state-funded program. The guy was wicked nice, and he inspected the entire house — including basement, walls, attic, etc. — for insulation (or lack thereof) and places where we might be

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-37334259426309663322009-10-05T23:39:00.004-04:002010-05-08T15:56:30.625-04:00

On Saturday we went to a friend's wedding at the Charlestown Navy Yard (outside the Commandant's House — class!). The all-day downpour was unfortunate, but it was still a good time. It typically takes a (very scientific) combination of gin, tonic, and inspired music to get me out on the dance floor, even at a wedding. On Saturday night, without any gin on hand, it was Sam Octoberfest and the

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-41394558483117853552009-10-01T22:03:00.008-04:002010-04-20T17:43:59.418-04:00

I'm not exactly successful by conventional standards. I mean, I earn less money now than I did three years ago... is taking a pay cut to sate your idealist nature one of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People? I can't imagine it is! But, by my own standards, I consider myself a success. I've been played on the radio. I've been published. I found love. I live by the ocean! These were all on

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-86929892730450487042009-09-29T11:00:00.024-04:002009-09-29T12:27:05.356-04:00

The first people to ever hear this song were my wife-to-be and her friend Kerri, who were stopping by to check out our apartment on Comm Ave. I had just finished writing it and wanted to play it for someone. (Yeah, and so maybe I wanted to impress Gina, too, which makes me embarrassed. I was pretty smooth, let me tell ya.) Anyway, I've always loved this song, even though it's kind of dark and

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-52474157956198983742009-09-28T12:07:00.009-04:002009-09-28T12:15:18.906-04:00

Well, I can't fight it any longer. The sick has finally got me. Oh, don't worry, I'm not swine flu sick or anything like that poor college kid. (Can you believe that? It's wicked sad. Whole campuses are like, infirm! It's mad. The first week of college should be the best week of your life, meeting hundreds of new people on equal footing, with a chance to define yourself on a blank slate. You

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-63860813265894251632009-09-21T14:09:00.005-04:002009-09-21T15:05:45.260-04:00

Saturday night, after a gorgeous day watching Will Dailey perform outdoors and savoring some Great Pumpkin Ale at the Cambridge Brewing Company, we finally returned home to a chilly house — and lit our first fire of the fall. Summer, I barely knew ya. Now, I'm a huge fan of fall; October is even my favorite month, by far. But between the second cloudiest June on record, my workaholic month of

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-13812383624882964292009-09-15T13:07:00.005-04:002009-09-16T10:27:07.085-04:00

It's been a little over a week since we got back from Ireland. Gina and I promised ourselves we'd try to bottle (mentally) the inspiration and exhilaration we felt, to keep us going for awhile upon our return... it's lasted this long anyway, which is more than I expected! In related news, I just took my first of 12 Irish fiddle lessons through Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éire, which was awesome. I'm so

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-55835445970313361102009-08-13T08:38:00.005-04:002009-10-02T12:44:39.924-04:00

Growing up, there was nothing exciting to eat in our house. There was no microwave popcorn or string cheese. There was no soda. There were no cookies, or Pop Tarts, or ice cream sandwiches. Once in a while there were plain potato chips — or on blessed, rare occasions, Doritos — left over if my parents had thrown a party. Friends described our refrigerator as "full of nothing." It was always

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-66436088365500699782009-07-28T16:38:00.005-04:002009-07-28T16:57:38.056-04:00

Those sly rascals at Dunkin Donuts just up-sold me! For those of you not familiar with the shame and disillusionment associated with Excessive Buzzword Exposure, "up sell" is markety-speak for making me buy more than I was initially going to.There's a big sign up by the register offering any number of wonderful treats — five munchkins, a raspberry danish, those toasted home fry things — for "just

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-49843402437387177682009-07-14T23:29:00.002-04:002009-07-14T23:29:09.634-04:00

So, like, we're in the middle of summer? When did that happen? What was this, the fifth nice day we've had since April? I'm way behind on my summer fun!Anyway — let me just say that I love our president. And it feels great to say that.Also, the Red Sox (and my fantasy team, for that matter) are somehow in first place as of the midsummer classic. It feels great to say that too!

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-45776744569864509802009-07-01T10:13:00.005-04:002009-07-14T23:24:57.089-04:00

Well, it finally happened — I woke up this morning with over a hundred dollars charged to my bank account from a random grocery store in Brooklyn, N.Y. That's just swell!The amazing thing is I had a voicemail from Bank of America waiting to tell me about all this. They froze my account and everything before I even know it happened, and will reimburse me for the fraudulent charge. Good on them!

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-75169443992758484172009-06-25T15:06:00.005-04:002009-06-25T15:59:50.117-04:00

My wife's birthday is today (happy birthday, babe!), and as we were driving in to work this morning, the perfect birthday gift hit me... except, it was a little late for that. If I were a more awesome husband, with more (ok maybe some is the word) discretionary income, I would have secretly booked a trip to someplace fabulous for the weekend, sorted it out ahead of time with her coworkers and

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-5049959111356541862009-06-23T10:09:00.004-04:002009-06-23T10:38:15.000-04:00

This article in the N.Y. Times details the latest textbook publishing vendor to collapse as the industry continues to flounder. It was a small shop in New York, and my alma mater Houghton Mifflin (ugh, fine, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), probably their biggest client, allegedly stopped paying them, so they stopped paying their employees. More likely, they just weren't paying them quickly

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-82525008172699699862009-06-22T16:02:00.004-04:002009-06-22T16:55:03.041-04:00

There used to be a CompUSA on Market St. in Brighton when I lived in the area, and while it was good to have a giant, cheap, computer/gadget superstore nearby, it also made for the single worst retail customer service experience ever. You couldn't find one helpful employee in there to save your life. (You could find, now and then, an old, strange weirdo guy, who may or may not have worked there,

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-90228148937885882582009-06-15T22:20:00.002-04:002009-06-15T23:46:58.636-04:00

Last week I finished 1776 by David McCullough, a weighty enough volume o' nonfiction that I figured I ought to brag about it just a little.As I've mentioned before, thanks in large part to my Dad and my second grade teacher Mrs. Walsh, I learned just about everything there is to know about the American Revolution at an early age. From Lexington and Concord to Paul Revere's house to the Old North

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-45968661190745298572009-06-11T11:33:00.012-04:002009-06-11T15:11:25.694-04:00

The Yankees are in town, meaning the greatest rivalry in American sports is writing another page of another chapter in its storybook history. (Apologies to fans of UNC, Duke, Green Bay, Bears, Michigan, OSU, and others who think their rivalry is superior. They are great rivalries. They are not, however, the Red Sox-Yankees.) Somehow the Sox have managed to win all seven of their match-ups with

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-89972400193633314722009-06-10T14:05:00.002-04:002009-06-10T15:15:28.405-04:00

No, not quite. But it makes my list of nominees: Apple, Banana, Blueberry, Grape, Nectarine, Peach, Raspberry, Strawberry, Watermelon.ApplePros: Grows virtually anywhere; incredibly diverse, with a type to fit every taste and every purpose, from homemade pies to boozy hard cider; acts as nature's toothbrush and keeps those damned doctors away; portable and well-sized for a snack; nice to pick in

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-7848441668959361042009-06-05T08:33:00.005-04:002009-06-05T10:03:52.375-04:00

Often, the intent of an analogy is to illustrate a difficult or abstract concept more clearly to someone by likening it to a situation he or she is familiar with: The colonists didn't win at Bunker Hill, but it was a moral victory, because they held their own and inflicted so much damage on the reigning, more powerful champ... like in Rocky. It's an — perhaps the? — essential tool to

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-85693093166211955332009-06-01T10:49:00.006-04:002009-06-01T11:21:54.236-04:00

And the results are in:Buzz Cut: 1Helmet Hair: 0Since I first cut off my long hair (a good three years later than would have been appropriate; I'll admit it, I have trouble letting go), I've had no idea what to do with this thing people call "hair." Or, you might even call it "thinning hair." (I guess if you're mean you'd call it that. Meany.)After some initial trial and error — it had been

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-12788636730962390572009-05-28T23:02:00.008-04:002009-05-29T13:11:40.057-04:00

It was cold and raw enough today that we had to fire up the wood stove, even though it was supposed to be on summer vacation. It instantly brought me back to winter — but, mercifully, I hope only for tonight!This brings us to today's Top Five list:Top Five Months5. December Between the first snowfall (when you're not all cold and jaded and bitter about winter yet), Christmas (and its associated

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-69958645360276617302009-05-20T09:24:00.008-04:002009-05-20T11:13:24.138-04:00

The Massachusetts Senate approved a sales tax increase last night, raising it to 6.25%. By a veto-proof margin, at that. Booooo.After all that hemming and hawing about not raising the gas tax during a recession, they're raising a tax that applies to... everything else! I understand they need to raise revenue, and quickly. But you're telling me that instead of raising the tax on gasoline, which

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-45186560135116335932009-05-18T22:56:00.005-04:002009-05-20T09:20:08.865-04:00

I went to lunch today at Friendly's, with my friend and his toddler, and I gotta tell you... it's not the joy factory I remember as a child. The BBQ chicken supermelt was pretty good, and I even got a sundae — chocolate ice cream with peanut butter topping, yum — but, well, my friend said it best: "Halfway through lunch I started feeling inconsolably depressed about my own mortality." (Besides

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-47966732033172139492009-05-14T14:29:00.005-04:002009-05-14T17:23:26.875-04:00

After receiving only one ticket for an expired inspection sticker this year (side note: when we lived in the Back Bay and my sticker would lapse — it always does, I can't remember even once when I got an inspection ahead of time — my car, just sitting there, minding its own business, not going anywhere, would get pasted with tickets, like two a day, until I'd finally find a way to skip work and

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-74185948747771445782009-05-13T08:05:00.003-04:002009-05-14T10:56:32.295-04:00

A couple of weeks ago we tackled the first of our two... let's call them "vintage" rooms. (The other is the kitchen — an epic undertaking by comparison, so we thought we'd start off with the easy one!)Here's what it looked like before, in all its peeling, stained, wallpapered glory:After stripping off the wallpaper, the exposed plaster walls gave the room a kind of abandoned Greek island cottage

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-85066892281455183362009-05-11T11:37:00.004-04:002009-05-11T14:10:48.585-04:00

I spent three weeks in a very cool volunteer (work-for-room-and-board) program in France a few years back, and one of the other volunteers had grown up in East Berlin. I was kind of fascinated to learn her perspective on things — what must it have been like to grow up behind the “Iron Curtain” (or giant concrete wall topped with barbed wire and AK-47-wielding guards, as it were)?What was

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-78801041684430036322009-05-08T08:01:00.011-04:002009-05-14T10:57:36.362-04:00

So last weekend we took a (long-overdue) vacation to New Orleans for Jazz Fest. It was awesome. It was hot, and sunny, and everywhere you looked there was music (and booze to go, of course). We went to the actual fairgrounds on Saturday, which was a little mental — apparently it was the largest turnout they've had since the first festival after Hurricane Katrina hit. This could have something to

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-2791636856811995902009-04-29T14:04:00.005-04:002009-04-29T17:08:18.210-04:00

You may as well know, today's my birthday. Hooray for me! Anyway what's funny is that I had almost as many "Happy Birthday" emails from quasi-spam mailing lists as from actual friends this morning. Check it out:I mean, even "Medianext Cron User" wished me well — just how many mailing lists am I on? And this doesn't count all the other birthday emails I got two days ago, since I often give a fake

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-77819273067958340912009-04-28T16:28:00.009-04:002009-06-01T10:43:12.204-04:00

Today's song — one of only a dozen or so of mine that I'm still happy with, to be honest — takes us back to my scathing indictment of Andrew Jackson. I wrote this song around the time I learned about the Trail of Tears, though I didn't record it until years later.This is a fine time to plug an excellent new American Experience series, called We Shall Remain, airing this month on WGBH — you can

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-55070435496595635482009-04-24T15:20:00.006-04:002009-04-24T16:09:47.522-04:00

I just got a text message from Guinness, inviting me to join — him? it? — for a pint at the Irish Village after work (a block away from my office). A flurry of questions and thoughts sprang to mind:1. What, are they reading my mind now?2. That's pretty ingenious. 3. And yet another example of life in our Crazy New World. 4. In the span of 20 minutes I received happy hour invites from a good

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-37544756449833159602009-04-21T14:32:00.003-04:002009-04-21T14:43:32.786-04:00

Perhaps you've caught on to the fact that I'm trying to move anything of value from my archaic old site onto this shiny (and free, woohoo!) new blog. (If not, well, I didn't want to be the one to tell you this... but you're pretty slow on the uptake, kiddo!) Maybe you've also noticed I have an affinity for a) alliterations and b) theme days. To that end, I'm going to start posting the lyrics and

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-4349627336879546522009-04-16T09:38:00.007-04:002009-04-16T11:46:49.903-04:00

Near the end of college — second semester of senior year, the home stretch — I signed up for U.S. History: 1620–1865. I needed the social science credits and I thought, come on, I'm from Boston... I learned all of this in the second grade. This will be a piece of cake!And it was easy... up until John Adams or so. After that — well, how much do you know about the early 1800s? Yeah, that's what I

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-17804589657898203832009-04-15T11:18:00.002-04:002009-04-15T12:11:32.711-04:00

I'm an organ donor myself, and you really have to respect what this guy and his family agreed to do (if you're too lazy to read the article, a man who died during open-heart surgery donated his face — his face! — to someone who was badly disfigured in an accident, marking the second-ever face transplant). But the whole thing just makes me really, really squeamish. I'm not what you'd call "

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-3644611147477116862009-04-14T13:24:00.003-04:002009-04-16T12:58:51.569-04:00

Like many of you out there, my wife loves cold pizza. I, however, do not. I don't know what my deal is; perhaps my years of suckling at the school cafeteria's teat (it was just as gross as it sounds) left me conditioned to eat a hot lunch each day. But anyway, when we have pizza leftovers for lunch, she's all set, while I'm at the mercy of whatever heat source I can find. At work, that amounts to

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-52232594809777411842009-04-08T16:33:00.004-04:002009-04-15T11:17:02.079-04:00

God, I hate acronyms. Is there anything more soul-sucking than trying to decipher a line of acronym-laden buzzword jargon or a teenager's text message? Working in public broadcasting certainly involves using an unfortunate amount of acronyms  — hell, the whole industry begins at TV and FM — but it still (gratefully) doesn't compare to my days in textbook publishing.  {{{shudder}}}Which brings us

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-17590603871831176482009-04-07T14:10:00.004-04:002009-04-15T11:17:22.200-04:00

...as sung to the A-Team theme song:O-pening Day! Oh-pen-ing DayO-pen-ing Day! Oh-peh-nee-ing Day(repeat ad nauseam)So, yeah, I get that in my head about once a year. But this year, it's happened twice, since the opener was rained out yesterday. Honestly, can you imagine the caliber of politicking and/or bribery that takes place behind the scenes at MLB to allow a season opener in Boston (or any

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-16741169853649472972009-04-06T22:48:00.006-04:002009-04-15T11:18:19.103-04:00

Friday night we attended a classical choral concert, drank wine in the basement of a Back Bay church, and rediscovered the joy of Uno's — or, more specifically, their draft beer special.You see, a couple of years ago, fed up with the $5-and-up beer policy of Back Bay establishments, we started frequenting Uno's on Friday nights — where they had $2 Killian's drafts (22 oz. at that) and a

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-41699001584184955192009-04-03T10:50:00.000-04:002009-04-03T10:55:18.297-04:00

So tomorrow I'm attending a tiling workshop at the Boston Building Materials Co-op. (I like taking classes and pretending I'm handy, so it's a good fit for me.) I'm gonna learn how to tile the hell out of our ugly kitchen — you'll see. We're planning a low-budget overhaul (I'd like to take a moment to thank our official sponsor, the Federal Housing Tax Credit for First-Time Home Buyers), and it's

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-59381027945394339502009-04-02T22:06:00.000-04:002009-04-03T10:54:52.904-04:00

Henceforth (! I just used henceforth, awesome), Thursday is going to be Top Five Day. Because by this point in the week, I'm pretty much scattered and need some structure to rein in my mind's wanderings.Today's Top Five is about bridges. Not the cutesy covered kind in N.H., or the engineering marvels made of steel and cable, but song bridges. (Quick lesson, if you don't give much thought to music

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652253091186467645.post-51527972159469264012009-03-23T15:44:00.000-04:002009-03-23T16:16:49.279-04:00

Last week felt a little collegiate to me, for a couple of reasons. For one thing, nothing says college like trying to remedy months of slacking off by frantically cramming for a test, or, in this case, two: my NCAA tourney pool and our fantasy baseball draft. I subjected my brain to dangerous levels of ESPN, player and team rankings, and statistical analysis until finally I had spit up stats all

Jon Goreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305782572939542306noreply@blogger.com0