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Posts published in “from the archives…”

Broken Backs and Bottom Lines

A week into the Teamster strike against UPS we visit the picket line put up by Local 70 outside the big UPS hub on Pardee, a mile or so from Oakland Airport. It’s a sunny…

Just a Guy Named Joe

Highway 128 is a favorite drive of mine, winding through the Alexander Valley from Napa County (though the prerequisite here is that you must like the looks of vineyards), then on from Cloverdale to the…

Knafta Knees

A fat man in a pin-striped Yankees t-shirt comes out of the Podiatrist's office across the street. He stops on the sidewalk, takes out a pack of cigarettes and lights up. He fills his lungs…

Part-Time America & The UPS Strike

Just past the stroke of midnight in the Monday pre-morn of August 3, Ron Carey, Teamster president, called a strike against UPS. What we have here is a struggle over the basic tilt of the…

Reggae on the River

I told the mighty editor last Tuesday morning that I’d been to Reggae on the River, and he gave me an incredulous guffaw as if I’d confessed to joining a Robert Bly men’s circle. His…

More Mediocrity & Music

For one reason or another, I’m on a mission to document the trials and tribulations, the travails, of an adult musician (me) in his (my) efforts to work, even exist, in a small town whose…

Cafe Life

Two middleaged men are sitting at a sidwalk table at Enrico’s in North Beach. Their mood seems foul as if they have been stewing in their impotence for so long the broth has begun to…

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