Life

Mr. Not PC

  • by Drew

At the risk of sounding like a jerk, I need to point something out. This comes from exposure to a lot of volunteers in a lot of volunteer groups. In fact, a lot of parents we deal with on fundraising duties and the like. the reality is that most of these people are really wonderful. They are selfless and hardworking and giving a million and one for their kids. Truly. But there are always those few that just really drive me nuts. While they lack anything that could be called relevant real world experience, the fact that there are plenty of available print shop websites that can hook you up with business cards with any title they like, suddenly everybody is a marketing professional. Seriously. Does anyone out there have ANY respect for actual study, training, discipline, or experience? Just wondering.

PS Blog

Reading with my ears

  • by Drew

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I’m an audiobook junkie! I started out on Old Time Radio cassettes and Lake Wobegon tapes like 15 years ago when I was crossing the great state of Massachusetts in my ’87 Corolla to make it to band practice or late night gigs. These days when I hear books on audio free I go kabloomie-nuts ‘cuz there’s nothing better than having someone tell you stories while you do stuff you just gotta do. Like dirving. And mowing. And washing dishes. Love it.

Noise

Rockin’ Out

  • by Drew

Hey music lovers! If you’re going to be in the Hudson Valley on April 20th, I’ll be plying an acoustic set at the Whale of a Concert fundraiser for the Chancellor Livingston Elementary School 5th Grade whale watch trip. That’s a mouthful, right? But it should be fun. come dig the music, tickets are cheap, and I won’t blush if you wish me a happy birthday.

Cha cha cha.

Life

Pinned

  • by Drew

Back when I got that futon in Boston, I had a visit from my Mom, Grandma and Aunt. They were the little trio of ladies that would come up from time to time. They were all 5 feet ad under, so they’d sleep sideways on the futon. All three of them on the mattress. It was kind of hilarious, but really pretty practical. I had another, much smaller and crappier futon I would usually have folded up as a chair that I’d use when they visited.

The first time they visited, when I wasn’t paying attention, my Grandma pinned a Sainte Anne de Beaupre medal to the mattress. Some people wear a St Christopher Necklace. Grandma went with the French Canadian hunk of wood from a cross that didn’t burn. And that was supposed to keep me safe. What with my dirty little rock and roll lifestyle and all…

Life

Anywhere I lay my head

  • by Drew

I remember calling mattress stores Boston style back in the day when I got my first studio all those years ago. I ended up buying a queen sized futon, mostly because I already had a queen sized futon frame I’d pulled form an Amherst dumpster with a broken slat. It was an easy fix and gave me a great place to lay my head. I even got a deal on a thicker mattress than planned because it was the only one left on the truck by the time they got to me. It was like 2 inches thicker than I’d planned on but I only paid a teenie markup. It was like I got an inch and a half for free.

Is there a that’s what she said joke in there somewhere?

PS Blog

Hangin’ it old school

  • by Drew

A couple of months ago I had some trouble with the little flat screen that hangs in front of my elliptical when I exercise. I was thinking hard about buying a new TV and even started looking into TV mounts. See, the old TV was on this wood corner unit thing. The short term solution was to use a CRT 11″ I had in the kitchen, but then I got my old flat screen working and forgot all about buying new.

Then I realized that the old school flat screen actually has a built in stand AND the stand can be twisted to use as a wall mount. How cool is that? What was Philips thinking when they sold that thing? Didn’t they see the potential of selling separate televisions, stands, and wall mount units? Those wacky Dutch.

Life

Strings that last forever

  • by Drew

I was never a big fan of high end strings. At least. not until I bought my Taylor 214. Like all Taylors, it came with elixir strings. And man, I love me them things. I will say this – if you want strings that last like three times longer than the norm, try these guys. But go with the nanoweb ones if possible. The original, polyweb strings feel a little heavy and gunky. So yeah. Go with the nanowebs. I can’t feel the difference between those and plain strings, but man… they just seem to last forever with a ring a ding ding.

Noise

Sweet soundin’

  • by Drew

I just made a purchase, a slightly impulse purchase, but man, I can’t wait to get it. I bought a new Taylor guitar. I mean, I love my 214, but this will be a big step up. The step from laminat Rosewood back and sides to solid rosewood is just… wow, I’m excited as can be. And if you don’t get it… well, not your fault. But if you were a guiatr player, maybe it would get your juices flowing.

Noise

Whale of a what?

  • by Drew

I’ve been slowly breaking back into live performance lately. Did a thing at the library, just booked a whale watch fundraiser. Pretty soon I’ll rocking a Peel session and the King Biscuit Flower hour. It’ll be mostly acoustic and vocals. Maybe a little ukulele, harmonica, dulcimer, and Ashbory bass. (Look it up, it’s awesome.) Who knows, an affordable lyre might sneak its way in.

Rock ’em sock ’em robots. Right kiddos?

Life

Skin down

  • by Drew

When I got my elliptical and started exercising daily, I tried a few different footwear options. First I wore the best sneakers I owned. I thought the support was probably key. But given the number of times I’ve messed up my feet and ankles, maybe it wasn’t the best. I put checkerboard grip tape on the foot pedals of my elliptical  particularly bitchin’ if I do say so myself, but it was really tearing up the soles of my sneakers. And honestly I didn’t love wearing them.

I moved on to socks after considering other more conventional footwear options. Non Conventional too. Yogitoes, for example, have always held more than a passing interest. Ultimately, though, I went with socks. I’ve seen so much about going barefoot when it comes to walking or jogging or similar exercise. Who knew how rough the griptape would be, though. After a couple of weeks I needed a new bag of socks to replace all my holey failures.

Now I do it barefoot. Totally barefoot. And without griptape, because the first couple of days before I removed it ut calluses on my calluses.

© 2026 Drew Bancroft. All rights reserved. Totally.