Author Archives: dave brandt • author
Who Can It Be Now?
l live in a cookie-cutter…in a small town…in the South. I’ve been here longer than anybody else on my floor. I don’t bother anyone, and nobody even cares that I’m here. It happened a few times in Nashville: Some Jehovah’s … Continue reading
Trifling with Peril
When I was living on Belmont Avenue, I worked forty hours a week, painting. Saturday mornings were a restful ritual. I would wake, bake, and listen to rap. It was usually Check your Head by the Beastie Boys and Public … Continue reading
The John Birch Society
When I turned twenty-one, I was living in a third-story apartment on Belmont Avenue in the Fan district of Richmond, Virginia. It was the second apartment I had all to myself. It was my home for about a year. For … Continue reading
Top 5: Albums
These are the greatest albums in the history of recording technology. I don’t care what Rolling Stone or their cohorts think. Abbey Road is just too obvious. There are several pieces not featured that exemplify quality music making. It was … Continue reading
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 seventies. I get YouTube on the wi-fi via my Blu-ray player. I watch the Democracy Now! podcast. The morning … Continue reading
Pulling Teeth
It began with an injury, in sixth grade. I was bicycling to school, and there was a small piece of asphalt ahead of me. I thought I could jump it, but I hit it and was knocked off my bike. … Continue reading
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
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
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
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
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
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