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"smokey stevenson"

@kurtblumenau.bsky.social

860 followers 380 following 10K posts

https://sabr.org/authors/kurt-blumenau/ It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black.

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"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · Jun 27

Mick Jagger as seen in the video for the Stones' "Waiting On a Friend." He is standing in a doorway wearing a multi-colored striped shirt and a sort of jazzy salmon-coloured fedora. He is looking off to the side. The closed captioning says "I'm trying to make sense," which, y'know, isn't that just all of us?

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"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 1h

I remember the issue of Guitar Player in which Steve Stevens dissected the guitar parts on each track of the Atomic Playboys album in loving detail. I never heard the record and have no idea if anyone else did either.

"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 4h

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"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 4h

a good Sunday for waking and baking

"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 4h

Supposed to dip them in butter and roll them in cinnamon sugar but I try to save a few calories, me.

Hand (left, Caucasian, mostly out of shot) holds a dinner plate on which sit six freshly baked cider donuts, plain and unadorned

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"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 4h

Time to make the donuts.

A batch of six baked apple cider donuts sits unbaked in a pan. A big jug of apple cider sits behind it. I bought way too much apple cider for my small household; time to do some drinkin’ of it

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"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 15h

there are notebooks full of old DJ playlists, too, and it's at least briefly fun to glance down them and imagine the music going out into the Western Mass. ether.
In this case, I imagine the jazz DJ stepping outside for a heater during at least one of several long cuts.

two pages in a notebook filled with handwriting. as it happens, these are playlists for various programs aired on WMHC, the Mount Holyoke College radio station, on November 6, 1979 -- including jazz, classical and rock programming.

"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 15h

why am I reading the DJ comment logs from the Mount Holyoke College radio station? b/c @archive.org has 'em, and included them in their promotion for National College Radio Day a week or so ago.

Happy College Radio Day! Explore Student Radio’s Past and Present in the DLARC College Radio Collection | Internet Archive Blogs

blog.archive.org

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"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 15h

from the Mount Holyoke College radio station DJ comment log, circa March-April 1978. Genius is pain!

handwritten note asks a person named Beverly why a National Lampoon album has disappeared from a radio station library. Beverly notes in relpy that the album has been temporarily pulled due to the "overly obscene nature" of its John Lennon parody track "Magical Misery Tour" (which is liberally dotted with "fook"s)

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"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 15h

"what if he hadn't pissed quite so close to some stranger's car?" is about as weird and sad and baffling as baseball what-ifs come.

Anyway.

"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 15h

all of this is definitely valid. there is nothing wrong with its absence, and opting on the side of sensitivity makes sense.

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"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 15h

BTW I was surprised your October 2 piece didn't go deeper into the Miguel Fuentes story; seemed like the kind of dramatic angle that would grab you.

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"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 15h

I can imagine some reporter asking a player about Avenging a Half-Century-Old Regional Debt, and the guy going, "I dunno, they just bring me in to pitch to left-handed hitters"

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"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 16h

If social media had existed back then, would Jim Morrison just have posted all his stuff, one line at a time, and been some guy in the basement with 250 followers?

"PINNED TWEET: I wanna tell you about Texas Radio and the big beat"

Nate Patrin @natepatrin.bsky.social · 16h

also sometimes I think one of the reasons the Doors are treated as a joke by a certain type of music geek is that it is uncomfortable to consider the possibility that in some situations, really stupid lyrics can't actually diminish a song's power

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"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 16h

ouch: Christgau suggests that some critics "detect in the eyes of the Cars and Cheap Trick the blank gleam that gives away artists who are turning to platinum from the soul out"

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"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 16h

*somebody* on my feed will get this and find it funny; resharing to find out who.

"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 22h

I’m pleased to report that killing that preachy English sergeant produced exactly the desired result!

"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 17h

Somebody down the street from me has put these out, if anybody wants to steal some childhood athletic valor.

an assemblage of youth sports trophies set out on a peeling old wooden case with a crudely painted sign underneath that says FREE. several trophies show soccer players. a few are baseball players. and one has a young woman in a top hat and a leotard; I'm trying not to think that they give trophies to teenage showgirls but I'm not real sure what other organized activity the pose suggests. (maybe baton twirling and they just leave the baton off for simplicity?)

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"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 19h

Hello! I’m Mike Nesmith and I’m one of the Monkees.

Frank Zappa, in knitted tuque, “portrays” Mike Nesmith on a circa-1968 episode of The Monkees. Not shown is Nesmith, who “played” Zappa with a rat’s-nest brown wig, false facial hair and a large prosthetic beak

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"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 19h

Let it snow! (Well, not quite yet. But let the cold wind blow and the leaves fall and the days get shorter.)

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Reposted by "smokey stevenson"

MarinerMatt01 🇺🇦 @marinermatt01.bsky.social · 19h

Ugh, never play mini golf with someone with an engineering degree. I think I’m already down $300

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"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 19h

As opposed to Keef, who brought the blindfold test portion of a late ‘80s interview to a halt with a series of insults when the interviewer put on a Prince record.

"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 20h

the bin of fall and winter clothing is upstairs and I am wearing the first items taken out of it which means the season has totally and absolutely changed. 🍁 💨

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"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 20h

Keep your hands off my power supply, indeed

"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 22h

I’m pleased to report that killing that preachy English sergeant produced exactly the desired result!

"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 1d

it is a small pleasure to wake up in the morning, check the result of a ballgame, and then go look at the social media feeds of the fans you know and revisit their nail-biting and squeee-ing from the previous night over a cup of coffee.

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"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 1d

not my absolute favorite of their tunes, but a wonderful album.