[Silverback Digest selects subject that contribute to a real and caring world view. Occasionally, however, you do your own reality check by visiting a subject on the other end of the spectrum. Fashion tends to be a non-subject in The Jungle. We are naked apes; we are covered with hair. End of story. If one... Continue Reading →
[Remember the poster of Elvis, wearing a sneer and a gold-lame suit, with the words "74 Million Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong?" That's how I feel about the World Cup, currently underway in Qatar. I know it's a sports spectacle, and I like sports spectacles as much as the next gorilla, but something about it... Continue Reading →
Remem-boring Thanksgiving in the Fifties [These memories date from the 1950s. SB SM] What do you remember of Thanksgivings of yore? I remember it, above all else, as being the most boring day of the year. Here's why: There are no other kids to play with. Everyone else has gone over the river and through... Continue Reading →
Meet Madame Jeanne Louise Calment, who had the longest confirmed human lifespan: 122 years, 164 days. Apparently, fate strongly approved of the way she lived her life. She was born in Arles, France, on February 21, 1875. The Eiffel Tower was built when she was 14 years old. It was at this time she met... Continue Reading →
[Everyone knows that THE GAME is not THE EVENT that the people participating in it make it out to be. But, reality aside, it's still can be cool in its own pointy-headed, effete, nattering-nabobs-of-negativity-kinda way. In 2004, for instance, Yale pulled off a prank that has set a new standard for nuttiness in college football... Continue Reading →
[Every issue of Green Living contained a Publisher's Page in which I tried to sound like a mature, adult-like person, not the eternal adolescent who brings you the Silverback Digest. Wearing my publisher hat, I always try to sound like a fellow who in another era would smoke a pipe. SB SM] by Stephen Morris... Continue Reading →
[Big News ... Part 3 of Grendel: The Four-Chord Opera has now been published. Now, back to the silliness. SB SM] Here are two very different takes on what it means to be a resident of the contemporary Jungle. Could there be more contrast. A minute or so of the Carrie Underwood Jungle will give... Continue Reading →
[Garrison Keillor sends me his columns two, or is it three?, times a week. They're not as good as they used to be, but I'm willing to cut him some slack. Hey, the guy's over 80, and his output is still impressive for both quality and quantity. The columns are still engaging enough, and usually... Continue Reading →
Poutine Pizza? Really? [From time to time I will re-purpose a post from The Silverback Film Society, Gilead Brook Road Troop. And before anyone castigates me for being homophobic, I will point out that the characterization of Bye-Bye Birdie as "the gayest musical ever" was made by SB Bennett, whose husband, SB Chef Tom, created... Continue Reading →
An excerpt from Part 2 of Grendel: The Four-Chord Opera: The summer was magic. Days at the beach with Cassandra, then nights playing in clubs. Grendel became a semi-big deal, for Rhode Island, that is. Then, another twist of fate, but not a cruel one! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU0Bh8PL7Jw
