Author Archives: dave brandt • author

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About dave brandt • author

From Colorado, I am the youngest of six. I have also lived in California, Michigan, Texas, Tennessee, and Virginia—which is home now. There was always interesting music around the house, and I was encouraged to spend time reading. As a kid, I would listen to music and read along with the lyrics, study them. I actually enjoyed diagraming sentences and I always preferred essay questions. At VCU in Richmond, I majored in English. In the nineties, I became involved in zine culture. I cut my teeth as a writer with my publication, 'The Crisp Fabric.' I have formed meaningful friendships with writers and artists I have never met. My favorite novelists are Kurt Vonnegut, Hermann Hesse, Italo Calvino, and Franz Kafka. The nonfiction writers I like are Buckminster Fuller, Hunter S. Thompson, and Frank Zappa. Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson are my favorite poets.

The Last Thing I Did for Fun

Thirty-three years ago, I lived in Richmond, on Marshall Street, with three roommates. Back then, everything was fun. As I’m getting older, though, my definition of fun is shrinking. This past fall, some family and I took a short vacation … Continue reading

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The Media-Industrial Complex

What I have could be called basic basic cable: the major networks, C-Span, and a bunch of channels that show sitcoms from the eighties. I get YouTube on the wi-fi via my Blu-ray player. I watch the Democracy Now! podcast. The morning … Continue reading

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Acoustic Guitar and Voice

My first performance as a musician was playing bass in high school. We did “Johnny B. Goode” and “Louie Louie” after the senior play. The girls were actually screaming. It was exhilarating. My bass solo on “Louie Louie” was absolutely … Continue reading

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Pulling Teeth

PARENTS: Instill in your children the necessity of brushing and flossing their teeth twice each day. Mouthwash is recommended, but optional. Genetically, Brandt teeth are good and strong. One dentist told me that the only way I could have problems … Continue reading

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Free Society

The first time I saw it, I was driving home from the mall. It was so out of character with the surrounding energy that it seemed a mirage. The LU in the logo stands for Liberty University, a private religious … Continue reading

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Government and Free Society

“Anyone who wears their religion on their sleeve is not to be trusted.” Jon GraysonRadio Personality Everybody knows that the words “Separation of Church and State” are not in the Constitution. But the concept clearly is. This beautiful 45-word sentence … Continue reading

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Graphic Testimony

I was puttying raw wood in one room while they were spraying the final coat in the next. For some time, house painting was my only marketable skill. I don’t remember much about the crew I worked with. One time, … Continue reading

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Blood of the Martyrs

The Taliban was in control of Afghanistan. They gave Al-Qaeda, the international terrorist organization, a safe base of operations. That was where the plans for the attack on September 11, 2001 were formulated. President Bush’s reaction to 9/11 was swift … Continue reading

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A Nation Under Surveillance

United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was assassinated outside of a New York City hotel on December 4, 2024. The story was big news. If the suspect, Luigi Mangione, had killed a homeless person, no one would have known or cared. … Continue reading

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Regarding Abortion

My belief is that life begins at conception. Half of Americans disagree. I am in no position to impose my system of values on anybody. I believe that abortion up to the point of viability should be safe, legal, and … Continue reading

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1996: A Good Year for Music

The year began in Virginia and ended in Tennessee. My friend Brian, who was born there, summed it up: Harrisonburg is a rest stop on the road of life, it’s a nice place to stop and take a leak, but … Continue reading

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Playing with Feeling

I did a lot of temp work in Nashville, some of my fellow temps were failed musicians who were “between gigs.” A theme running through their chatter was how difficult it is to play with feeling; as if that’s some … Continue reading

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My Time in Nashville

Dustin and my friends in Harrisonburg respected me as a songwriter. I followed Dustin to Nashville, under the pretense of recording my music in a friend’s studio. We had made serious headway on a couple of songs, but Dustin moved … Continue reading

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A Calm Place

My Dad liked to travel. He and I took two vacations down the East Coast several years ago. I was sleep deprived, so I didn’t drive much. I wish I had done more driving with all the trouble we had … Continue reading

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The Flower that Became a Boy

On a mild Wednesday evening in August of 1970, I was born.  My first home was a ranch house with a full basement in Greely, Colorado.  I was the youngest of six.  My only sister had three older brothers and … Continue reading

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