Sorry, readers, for my lapse in writing. Time gets the best of us. Resolved: I will taste and write about more beers in 2016. I’ve tasted a few really good beers since our last visit, but the challenge has been to meet up with a local brewer while doing so. I’m bending my own rules…

As a young child in the 50s I remember sitting at a pullout-top desk in our living room, writing my letter to Santa. If selected, it would be read at 4 p.m. on a local radio station. Santa would be sure to say that he had received all our letters even if he didn’t have…

Editor’s note: The following is the third in a series of reviews of randomly selected, low-quality, made-for-TV Christmas movies. Why do adults watch Christmas movies? I think we do it in large part to convince ourselves that Christmas exists. The made-for-TV Christmas movie, in particular, transports us to an alternate reality in which Christmas occupies…

Submitted Acoustic Ruckus If you want to ring in the new year with some good original music, then there are two new bands I suggest you go see. The Clear River Tavern’s New Year’s Eve party will be rocking with Acoustic Ruckus at 9:30 p.m. and the Wobbly Barn might need a new roof after…

This week's Horoscopes are coming out under the light of a Leo Moon, with aspects that could actually give us a reason to show up for work this morning. In the wake of whatever our holiday madness consisted of, a Grand Fire Trine between Saturn, Uranus, and the Moon, should make it easier to get…

By Dom Cioffi I haven’t wanted to physically assault anyone in a long time, but over the past week I came close on several occasions. I’m not sure if it was the stress of the holiday season or the fact that some people just decided to abandon social graces, but I genuinely got pushed to…

Courtesy of Dave Hoffenberg HAMJOB Alex Abraham said this weekend is “fixing to be one of the better weekends” of his life and it could be yours too if you head to the Wobbly Barn on Friday night, Dec. 18, to see his band, “Hamjob.” It’s a free show if you’re 21 and over and…

By Cal Garrison, a.k.a. Mother of the Skye This week's Horoscopes are coming out under the light of a Taurus Moon, with an extra dose of power being generated by the Sun as it crosses the Winter Solstice threshold, and moves from Sagittarius into Capricorn. Now that the red carpet of holiday energies has arrived…

By Declan McCabe By December, foliage season is long over for us humans, but it’s peak season under the water. Last month, as the last bus of tourists departed for home, fallen leaves accumulated in our streams and rivers, starting a process that’s critical for the nourishment of everything from caddisflies on up the food…

Dec. 11 was a day for reflection. It was a day where I left behind my usual psychotic musical diet of Beatles and metal, and cranked up Desmond Decker and the Aces, The Specials, English Beat, and even some Rancid and Timebomb Tim. It was a day where I remember who I am, and why…

By Daris Howard I always look forward to our family reunions, not only because I get to see all my family, but because I get to check out the newest technology. My brother David works in the tech industry, and one of his assignments is to test the newest computers to determine what items his…

Editor’s note: The following is the second in a series of reviews of randomly selected, low-quality, made-for-TV Christmas movies. In the first scene of “The Mistle-Tones” (2012), our heroine—running late for an audition—slips in the shower, tumbling into a pratfall that deposits her uninjured on the bathroom floor, the torn-down shower curtain handily covering her…

By Dom Cioffi Years ago, when I was between the ages of 10 and 12, I attended an overnight summer camp in northern Vermont. It was affiliated with our church. Along with the requisite games of capture the flag, swimming in the lake and s’mores by the campfire, there was also a light smattering of…

By Cal Garrison, a.k.a. Mother of the Skye This week's Horoscopes are coming out under the light of an Aquarius Moon, with aspects that make it easier for me to understand why the Hermetic Axiom always applies, and why the world appears to be coming apart at the seams. Let's look at the main aspects,…

By Brady Crain I won’t go so far as to say you get a bad rap, Texas.  You are the purveyor and exporter of so many things that I neither care about nor need. Football, exceptionalism to excess (exceptionalism that is exceptional even for American Exceptionalism). For example, there is a myth that Texas is…