There is a free, full-length Firefly novel. I’ve written about this, in passing in the past, but I wanted to take a few minutes today to talk in more detail about the book, and it’s weird, wacky origin story. Buckle up, we’re heading back to the ‘verse.

In 1937, Billie Holiday and Count Basie performed a few tracks at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. These were broadcast over the radio, and a radio transcription disc survived, with relitively high quality versions of the performance. Listen:

You know what you need in your life? A swamp-rock protest song, with strong country and jazz influences. Something like Bourgeois King from Canyons of my Mind by Andrew Combs. Seriously, this thing has it all. It’s a foot-stomping, barn burning rock song, with guitars that sound like Lousiana or Texas garage, but then you notice the complex instrumentation (there’s some overblown jazz flute!), and the lyrical content that is very much not typical of southern rock. It’s wonderful! Listen:

I started using Mastodon a few days ago, and it has been great so far! I’d like to take a few minutes to talk about what makes Mastodon special, and to provide some counter-arguements to the FUD that I’m seeing about Mastodon all over my feed on birdsite.

In my last newsletter, I talked about Journalism as a weapon against corruption and lies. Of course, in that instance I was talking about Police Brutality and the lies our president tells us. I was not talking about new school officials with fake degrees, but some students in Pittsburg just proved that the truth is equally effective there.