Your friendly reminder that Elon's DOGE cuts have already resulted in mass death.

Jesus that sucks I’m sorry

And please tell Desiree and Bryan hi!

Wish I could be there. I hope it is great. I know it will be.

I’m glad I got to meet you, Todd. We’re all poorer for your passing.

Anyway, here’s this:

And I don’t think he ever let the truth get in the way of a good stories. And so many of his stories were powerful and moving and all the more true, for all that.

He was just a one of a kind writer, always mining that place where humor shades into pathos, with a deep sympathy for people who don’t fit in and a deep feeling for people who are on the wrong end of the class system in this country, too. There was so much wisdom in his humor.

I heard him on Robert Earle Keene’s podcast like ten years later, and he told a completely different story about the origin of the song in which he was the guy in the song.

But then they saw him play it live, when the audience almost always starts applauding after the bridge, when a cop lets the couple in the song go, and it made them realize that the song wasn’t making people laugh at them. It was making people root for them.

During that same convo he told me an incredibly moving story about one my favorite songs, ”Just Like Old Times,” saying he’d written it for two friends he’d known since high school. They didn’t especially like the song.

He explained that he didn’t often tour with a band because he couldn’t afford to. From where I was sitting, I just assumed he had it made, that he could tour with a band if he wanted to, since he was “successful” and all that. That was a real insight into the realities of the music industry.

Lol