Mighty Toy Cannon Manifesto

When I was invited to add my observations on art and life in Portland Oregon at Culture Shock, I started paying closer attention to the bazillion other bloggers creating this age of information overload. I've read posts from erudite analysts, witty banterers, and egomanical diarists. While many are creating new content, most are recycling flotsam discovered on their own expeditionary journeys. That's okay by me. With so much information floating about, it helps to have curators sorting and sharing. (A few of my favorites are linked on my blog list to the right).

With that in mind, this blog will be akin to your friend with the big record collection. You know, the one who can stay up all night spinning tunes, with each song triggering a recollection of another in an attention-deficit-disorder frenzy of free association.

What I post won't be from my own collection, but what I find on YouTube or similar video warehouses. Like most, I thought YouTube was all skateboarding dogs, things being blown up, and adolescent ravings. I quickly discovered that it is also a rich source of music, both new and vintage. As a musician and glutton for music, YouTube has served me as an able research tool. I'm often surprised at what I discover. And, I'm the kind of sharing person who is wont to say, "Hey, look at this cool thing I just found!"

I'm not a music writer, nor do my insights into music go very deep. Don't expect Greil Marcus here. This will be a tour of my eclectic musical tastes and influences. I'll try to make each post fit within a thematic framework, and include just a few comments to explain what I've posted and why. I'll try to limit the number of videos I embed in each post to no more than three. And I'll try to add a few new posts every week.

Perhaps nobody will ever drop in to visit, or stay very long when they do. Some of my links may go dead if a video is removed from the original source. I encourage you to comment, but won't expect that you will. If this site is only my private repository of free associations and discoveries, so be it.

Why the sobriquet "Mighty Toy Cannon?" I explained the name's origins in my first post at Culture Shock.