one of the very first concerts i went to when i was in high school was they might be giants. i think it was for their “john henry” album release in 1994. though so many of their albums are terrific, this one is noteworthy because it was the first one recorded with a full band; previously it has just been the johns on their own.

still the video i’m sharing today is “ana ng” from another album, “lincoln,” released in 1988.


they might be giants, though i don’t often listen to them anymore, are one of my favorite bands and among the best live performers i’ve ever seen.

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this week’s throwback thursday was an easy one, thanks to facebook.


this is me, looking like some kind of fancy dwarf, with the very attractive ashley kruse on my arm. she was kind enough to be my date to the equality hawaii gala at aloha tower in september of 2013.

the gala was a formal fundraising event for the organization as we made the final push for marriage equality in hawaii. i reluctantly agreed to don a suit, newly acquired, just for the occasion…. it a fun night all around, though the highlight for me was having ashley accompany me.

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several progressive and bernie supporters gathered last night at the ward center consolidated theater to see the movie snowden, directed by oliver stone.

the movie, in case you’re not familiar, follows edward snowden through his career in intelligence until june 2013 when, working with reporters, leaked information about various spying programs by the NSA.

i’d definitely recommend it. the movie is well done and, rightly, portrays snowden as a hero who risked his career and freedom to make public the illegal spying being conducted by the NSA.

at the conclusion of the movie, i thought i should go back and read the original articles from the guardian and washington post. check them out as well.

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as i’ve been bogged down in actual work today, this will be a quick post.

one. i want to invite everyone to the fifth annual laborfest.

it’s a great event, put on by good, solid progressives and supporters of economic justice concerns and organized labor. please attend if you can and spread the word.

two. in an effort to encourage more people to read my blog, i thought it might be worth asking people what they might like to see me write about. current events, politics, personal… whatever, are just some examples. of course, if the suggestion is, for me, boring or too personal, etc. i just pass it over. but maybe there are some good ideas, interesting topics that folks might want to see written about here.

i’d really appreciate any suggestions on topics you can share.

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the national is one of my all-time favorite bands. i dig their sound and their style.

i found them in a very random way. writing a post about a friend’s wedding… several years ago… i was looking for a website for the late-night dinner we had gone to after the reception was over. both the that post and the name of the dinner are lost to me, but i still have the national. a great find.

this is the very first song i stumbled upon so many years ago.


and this one… well, i just like pretty much everything about this video.

as they’re one of my top five bands, you’ll likely be seeing more of them here, but in the meantime, i’d encourage you to check them out.

happy monday!

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