Cartoon Thunder

This clearly tells us something (a few things) about our protagonist. Y’might say he has a Jones for a lot of things, but top of that list is gears, wrenches, scoots, and riding. No point, really, in getting into the list after that, as its contents are legion. I’m pretty sure that means a whole bunch in biblical terms.

Doing dishes tonight I popped my iPod into the speaker on top of the fridge and got down to John Mellencamp’s Scarecrow.  There are a few tracks that get me to the edge of tears, and I’m never sure why, but a few are on that album.  ”Minutes to Memories” has a nostalgic thing that gets me every time, in a way that Springsteen’s Thunder Road does on just about every song.  I appear to be something of a nostalgic sap when it comes to music.

Later, after I scanned the art and polished off the digital end of things, I put on John Hiatt’s Beneath This Gruff Exterior. Both Hiatt and Mellencamp seem like old friends to me.  I remember buying a cassette of Mellencamp’s Lonesome Jubilee as I was dropping out of college and quitting two jobs to run off on some adventures.  I’d been diggin’ his work long before that, and, regardless of some of the crap the critics throw at him, I think he does a great job getting at some good stuff in nearly all of his music.  If you don’t like it, don’t listen to it.

I started listening to Hiatt around Fall of 1995, I think, as I started my teaching career and went through a few other more personal changes in life, including a divorce.  Something about his music rang true.  I hung on to one disc for years, Walk On, which came out that same year, but this year I managed to pick up a few more albums, including Gruff Exterior and Same Old Man.  If you haven’t yet, give him a listen– you might really enjoy it.

And if you have a spare minute, check out the early stages of the Jones Platform game.  Kinda like Mario Bros. biker style. It runs out of space/obstacles at the end and has a lot of work yet to be done, but will be in development for a while. Your input is welcome.