Archive | July, 2008

Newest recording: “River”

by on July 31, 2008 in Music and lyrics

After I reformatted my Web site, I misplaced this recording of my song “River.”

I recording the piano in my dining room, using my Yamaha digital piano and an Apple GarageBand Steinway sample. The vocals were recorded at my friend Tim Bushong’s studio.

If you’ve never seen this style of audio player before, just click the arrow below to listen.

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Follow the Crumb Trail to local produce

by on July 29, 2008 in Church and theology, City and culture

A post from The Good City:


Wondering when all those farmers markets around the area are open and what they might have? And realizing that they’re not listed in the phone book?

The author of a new blog, The Crumb Trail, has as its stated purpose:

Sources for locally grown produce, meat, and dairy in Allen and surrounding counties in IN.

Find out about new and favorite farm markets by keeping to the Crumb Trail.

– Photo from The Crumb Trail

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The geography of happiness

by on July 29, 2008 in Church and theology, City and culture

A post from The Good City:

How much is your happiness dependent on what country you live in?

That’s tough to say, but by and large, Americans are pretty happy; in fact, we’re ranked 16th in the world. From Science Daily:

Denmark tops the list of surveyed nations, along with Puerto Rico and Colombia. A dozen other countries, including Ireland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada and Sweden also rank above the United States, which maintains about the same relative position as it did in WVS’s 2000 survey.

“Though by no means the happiest country in the world, from a global perspective the U.S. looks pretty good,” says Ronald Inglehart, a political scientist at the university, who directs the study. “The country is not only prosperous; it ranks relatively high in gender equality, tolerance of ethnic and social diversity and has high levels of political freedom.”

And Richard Florida correctly points out the money quote, by Inglehart: “Ultimately, the most important determinant of happiness is the extent to which people have free choice in how to live their lives.”

Read the article here. HT: Richard Florida

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Mary’s grandfather

by on July 26, 2008 in History and heritage

This photo was posted to Flickr quite a while ago, but I just realized I never posted it here.

Seated is Mary’s grandfather, Giovani “John” Maltese, on her mother’s side. The photo was likely taken in Wheeling, W.Va. Man standing is also unknown. This was printed on a postcard.

The date is unknown, but someone over on the Flickr page has a good guess:

The calf skin, hard cap toed shoes and ankle laces plus the “barbershoppe” stripe shirt and bow tie place the time square in the mid ’20s. These two were rather “dapper” at that. Very well dressed for the time. Pre-depression.

You can find a few more historic photos in our Flickr account’s Our Heritage set.

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“The X-Files: I Want To Believe the Rocky Mountains Can Stand in for West Virginia”

by on July 26, 2008 in Story and design

Note to Chris Carter, director of “The X-Files: I Want To Believe”:

If you want us to believe your movie is really happening in West Virginia, you should probably visit it once, or maybe look it up on Google. The Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia look nothing like The Rockies in British Columbia, where you filmed your movie. Thank you.

Billy Connolly (pictured) plays convicted pedophile and psychic Father Joseph Crissman. Behind Connolly are mountains that are obviously not West Virginia.

Maybe Carter figures pedophiles live only in Appalachia?

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The DVD is in hand

by on July 24, 2008 in Music and lyrics

The DVD is in hand, originally uploaded by Jon B. Swerens.

Here it is! It’s a video recording of my concert in Angola earlier this year. Once I figure out how to copy it and pop it into iMovie, I’ll get at least a snippet online.

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What I did on my summer vacation, Part 2

by on July 23, 2008 in Friends and family

We took some photos in and around Wheeling:

Cherry Hill Road

I think that power plant in the distance is in Brilliant, Ohio.

From Wheeling Hill

Here’s an old abandoned railroad bridge that goes into an old abandoned train tunnel that, on the other side, crossed the river in to Martins Ferry, Ohio. We’re looking down the hill from McCullough’s LEap.

This photo is taken from about the same location, looking out into the valley where the Fulton area of Wheeling lies.

Pogues Run Road

This is Pogues Run itself, right beside the “back road” to Oglebay Park.

Wild turkeys!

Seen from Pogues Run Road, on the way to Oglebay Park.

See all of the photos on Flickr.

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Be kind to your web-footed friends

by on July 23, 2008 in Odds and ends

I don’t want to be in Texas right now, but I wouldn’t mind warning signs that mention large funny birds.

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