Night Owl Cards

I have gone through many music phases in my lifetime. Radio pop. Radio rock. Progressive rock. New wave. British pop. College radio. Alternative. Canadian alternative. Alternative country. '50s blues. '60s soul. Female blue-eyed soul. Late '90s pop/dance. Turn of the century garage rock. '70s songwriters. Southern-fried rock. Retro arena rock. Electronic. And, finally, Whatever The Kids Are Playing These Days. But it all began with one music obsession. And while once I was too embarrassed to admit it, I am no longer. It was the Electric Light Orchestra. ELO. If you grew up in the '70s, you know all about ELO. It was a grown-up rock group that kids could appreciate. It was big, bright, melodic and featured goofy songs like "Diary of Horace Wimp" and "Mr. Blue Sky" that would appeal to any child. But even though it was hugely popular in the late '70s, ELO never had any cred in the rock world. When the band was at its height, Randy Newman...

I will probably never watch an NBA game, for more than a couple minutes, for the rest of my life. This is no surprise. I've made it through half a lifetime without doing it so far. A guy tends to get set in his ways the second half of life. But it came to mind about a week or so ago when I heard about how excited Los Angeles was about its sports teams. The Dodgers -- the best team in baseball -- could barely get any coverage because the NBA's Lakers and Clippers were deep in the playoffs, and the NHL's Kings were making an unexpected charge to the Stanley Cup. And I thought, "if I was living in Los Angeles, I'd be pissed about this." I am a Dodger fan, and almost nothing else. The NHL sort of exists for me, but the NBA is a non-entity. Who cares what the Lakers, Clippers and Kings are doing? Who are they? The DODGERS are the best team in baseball!!! Everyone in L.A. should be paying attention to them! But then I'm an odd bird. Even when Mich...