I was driving my car the other day, through a bunch of twisting, wooded back roads in central Massachusetts – driving past all kinds of new, cookie-cutter housing developments and I realized that I consider these to be the bane of our peaceful existence. Someday we’ll look back on these character-less, souless, identical sets of homes the same way we look at those perfectly circular cement-domed baseball stadiums which were built in the ’60s – an eyesore. An insult to the otherwise pleasant aesthetics of all things rural. Why do I sometimes feel like robots – real robots – live in these houses? They all look exactly the same, the layout inside is the same and whenever I drive anywhere near them, I don’t feel any…….life. Am I wrong? I very well might be unfairly pigeon-holing these, but I think I may be close to correct. By the way, I am not talking about condo developments – those are for a different type person alltogether, and far more justified.
Speaking of suburbia, does anyone remember the “Tot Finder” stickers? Do they still have those? Did they have them outside of Massachusetts? Frankly, I don’t remember. For those of you who don’t know, the Tot Finder sticker was a large sticker placed in the windows of children’s rooms so firefighters knew where the children were sleeping or cowering in fear if the house were on fire. I had totally forgotten about those stickers – they eventually came off my bedroom window at some point, although I don’t remember when and I had obviously blocked it from my mind for at least 15 years before it popped into my head again yesterday. Tot Finder. Makes me laugh for some reason. Here’s a pic:
For those of you who are fans of one of Earth’s greatest rock bands, Sloan’s latest offering, calledAction Pact, hit the streets yesterday. I’ve only heard the single thus far, but it’s vintage Sloan – insanely catchy. Their last album was good, but not their best, so let’s hope this one kicks some ass. Now we wait for the tour……
Song now playing: The Bottle Rockets – “Gas Girl”