The College Crowd Digs Me

"Astral Yacht" - Astral Yacht (2025)      Hailing from the little cornhusker state of Nebraska, Astral Yacht is the creative duo of Derek Fisher and Jacob Pavlik .  This self-titled album brings a variety of heady fuel to provide safe passage on the psychedelic mind train.  The music is atmospheric, hypnotic, fuzz-speckled, and spacey, all with a good psych-dusting to sweeten the pot.        The influences heard here are many, but Astral Yacht has very much its own distinct way of delivering the mail.  It's not a concept album, but the tracks do flow nicely from one song to the next.  Different, but never drifting too far away from the picnic basket.  To be sure, this square is a neo-psych demogorgon with a few upside-down treats to be devoured. "Astral Yacht" - Astral Yacht (back) "Astral Yacht" - Astral Yacht (insert front - back) Favorites include: "Short-Circuit Mind" "Concentrated Skies" "Dreamer" "Follow Th...

"Then Play On" - Fleetwood Mac (1969)      This isn't the "early" early  Fleetwood Mac blues rock, which I never really had an ear for.  However,  "Then Play On,"  the band's third studio album, is an almost spiritual revelation.  There is an overall lysergic dusting that's hard to finger, but it's there.  Guitars are floaty and moody and often beautiful. And when the jamming arrives, the tracks are also welcome and enjoyable.       Mac doesn't abandon blues rock completely, but they do allow room for new ideas to stretch its legs.  It's like the neighbor from across the street who visits, drops off her tasty green-bean casserole, and leaves.  Only to come back later with some chocolate Oreo pudding.  And I really dig it when the neighbor drops by for a few minutes, and I'm also glad when they bring something different.  It makes for a groovy day.      Best of all, the album has a timeless ...

7 Favorite  Books  I  Read  In  2025 "Every book is a new book if you haven't read it!"   And so, let us begin. Sarum: The Novel Of England by Edward Rutherfurd (1987) Paperback, 1035 pages      Sarum, England, also known as Salisbury, is home to Stonehenge and the famous Salisbury Cathedral. The novel takes us from the Stone Age to the mid-twentieth century, introducing a variety of characters across many generations.  Sarum is over a thousand pages, but don't let that discourage you. The book reads easily and is a fun and fascinating page-flip. (full review) Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King  (2017) Hardcover, 702 pages      Sleeping Beauties is not exactly horror.  It doesn't have a significant thrill factor.  However, the novel's idea is interesting.  The story is okay for what it is, but the characters are just not developed enough to separate the wheat from the chaff.  So...

You Like It Darker by Stephen King (2024) Hardcover 512 pages NO SPOILERS:      At least two of the 12 stories in You Like It Darker fall into the novella bucket, which is fine because they both shine.  As for the rest of the tales, they range from good to fantastic.  Not a bad one in the bunch.  The stories are not as dark as you might have hoped, but they suck you right in just the same.  And all the stories have subtle degrees of creepy effluvia that keep everything a wee bit unsettling.  A dusting of uneasiness, if you will.       There's an Easter Egg or two to be found within these pages for the Constant Reader to appreciate, or at least bring a smile to their faces.  Perhaps best of all, Stephen's character development is solid as ever.  It's this special talent that wins the day.  For me, this is King's best short story collection since Skeleton Crew and Nightmares & Dreamscapes .  Not as dar...

"A Mouth In The Clouds" - The Group Image (1968 )      I recently added another psych album to my collection, and one that still flies a bit under the radar.   The album " A Mouth In The Clouds"  has a West Coast folk-psych spirit, although the band hails from Manhattan, New York.  Midtempo vibes drift from an easy rub to more jammier fortes.   The lyrics are interesting and trippy with an even mix of male/female trade-off.  I had no luck identifying the main male vocalist, but it’s all good.  The Group Image definitely enjoys adding a mildly lysergic hippie panache all over the wax, and it’s easy to imagine friends sitting on shag pillows, passing a few strawberry Bamboo twists around while discussing whatevers as hippie lamps throw colored lights on the walls.  It's an interesting spin if you find one.       “A Mouth In The Clouds”  was the band's only album,   and though not rare, it is a hard one ...

Showcase Presents: The House of Mystery, Vol. 1 Len Wein (Writer) and Bernie Wrightson (Artist) DC Comics (2006) (first published in 1968-1971) Graphic softcover, 552 pages      This is all about the nostalgia. A whopping 552 pages of reprinted stories from the DC comic The House of Mystery .  The pages have a bit of the lowest-tier Twilight Zone panache, filled with atmospheric stories of people making bad choices and receiving their comeuppance.   Each tale has some kind of "gotcha" twist ending that can be seen coming a mile away.  But it's fun nonetheless. Showcase Presents: The House of Mystery (inside)      There are plenty of groaners and eyerollers here, but there are a few good 'uns that have legit payoff.  I mean, the scares are lame, but they were always lame, so just let it go.  The House of Mystery is definitely not one you'll want to binge.  I recommend reading two or three stories and then setting the book a...