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GUITAR NIGHT STARTER PACK

August 21, 2026 by David Gillaspie Leave a Comment

Guitar night always starts the same: With a plan. Plan to sound musical, nothing more, nothing less. The plan is successful when two people play together the first time and agree they sounded good. For at least ten seconds. Why ten seconds?

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Baby Boomer blogger, bad childhood, band practice, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, dna, dreams, dropout, fender, fender telecaster, Get better, GUITAR, guitar night, guitar practice, hopes, improve, learning, music, musical dna, new guitar, open mic, parents, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, practice, repeating, sing, singer, telecaster, travel, twitter, writer, writers

LIFE BEFORE SOCIAL MEDIA

August 18, 2026 by David Gillaspie Leave a Comment

As a seasoned blogger I’ve grown immune to social media. Is someone who discovers boomerpdx on their own any different than someone who lands here based on algorithms and exposure? With subscription numbers I can present to sponsors as a metric, they are not. People, people like you, me, them, subscribe to blogs on a […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: attention, Baby Boomer blogger, blog, blogger, book, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, college, daddy, facebook, global platforms, instagram, interest, learning, miracle, music, poem, poetry, reading, Social media, story, sylvia plath, tiktok, twitter, wechat, whatsapp, wife, writer, writers, writing, youtube

THE GREEN BOOK MOVIE REVIEW

August 13, 2026 by David Gillaspie Leave a Comment

I saw The Green Book after watching documentaries on Bill Russell and Quincy Jones. The sequence matters because real people in the docs had already explained in pretty stark terms how it was to be black. The harsh reality they told showed up in scene after scene in a different context. How different?

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, Baby Boomers, blogger, boomer blogger, brooklyn, deep south, education, facebook, family, friend, friends, friendship, gay, green book, learning, life lessons, movie review, music, new york, race relations, racial strife, Social media, the army, the green book, travel, writer, writers, writing

JAKE’S WALL OF FAME FOR NOTABLE OREGONIANS

July 29, 2026 by David Gillaspie Leave a Comment

If you’re a notable Oregonian your picture is in Jake’s Famous Crawfish. They they are, senators, governors, a president. Who’s missing? Mayors, councilmen and women, maybe a famous chef or two. If you’re going to have a can kicking Hemingway on board, why not reach out for others?

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, crawfish, education, everclear, fame, famous, food, history, Jakes, jakes famous crawfish, learning, new life, notable Oregonians, notables, Oregon, oregon notables, Portland, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, Portland Oregon, Portland west hills, restaurant, rich history, Social media, story, travel, wall of fame, writer, writers, writing

THE BIGGER WORLD AT YOUR DOORSTEP

July 26, 2026 by David Gillaspie

With the question in my last post answered so soundly, I think I’m on a roll to solve problems, shed light in the darkness, and make the world a better place for others to roam freely. Just between us, how does this work? My wife. Marry the right woman and the clouds part, the sun shines, […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Baby Boomer blogger, bigger world, blog, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, education, find food, fitness, food, food bank, food for all Oregonians, food shortage, history, hunger, learning, married, mend, millennials, money, music, Oregon, oregonians, Portland, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, Portland Oregon, reddit, Social media, story, travel, writer, writers, writing

WRITING TIME CHALLENGE TO PITY BOOMERPDX

July 25, 2026 by David Gillaspie

Non-writers will never understand writing time, which I get. Who sits down daily, or any time, to tap out sentence after sentence. One day? Maybe. Once in a while? A few times a week? Sure, go entertain yourself. But why get all weird and drag it on for, let me check, drag it on since […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Baby Boomer blogger, Baby Boomers, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, challenge, education, entertain yourself, family, great man, Hemingway, j.d.salinger, learning, millennials, non-writers, powerful writer, Social media, useful writer, wife, writer, writers, writing, writing desk, writing projects, writing time, young love

OLD PORTLAND, NEW PORTLAND, TODAY PORTLAND WITH MARK ROTHKO

July 23, 2026 by David Gillaspie

This is a scene of old Portland, a painting by Mark Rothko, hanging in new Portland. A single bridge, a barren Eastside, a cloudy sky. Yep, looks like Portland. Here’s how I know:

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Baby Boomer blogger, blog, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, civic negligence, Don Schollander, education, famous Oregonians, mark rothko, millennials, Oregon, Oregon Encyclopedia, oregon historial society, Portland, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, Portland Oregon, Portlandia, Rick Sanders, story, travel, writer, writers, writing

ADULTISM: JUST DO IT?

July 14, 2026 by David Gillaspie

Adultism: making mistakes and passing the knowledge on without admitting how you learned it. “Mistakes? Not me. I just know things because I’m smarter than you.” If you haven’t said those words, you’ve heard them and thought, ‘this is what smart people say?’ And we wonder why young people don’t respect their elders any more […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: adultism, baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, Baby Boomers, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, boomers, common sense, facebook, good news, learning, Oregon, patience, peak happiness, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, Portland Oregon, Social media, story, twitter, wife, writer, writers, writing, X

NOT LOST, BUT STILL A HISTORY OF LOSING

July 7, 2026 by David Gillaspie

You are not lost if you still have enough gas in the tank and sunlight in the sky to keep going. But, not everyone agrees. I chalk it up to those who’ve experienced enough losing to know the symptoms. They’ve seen losers, been losers, and know what they’re talking about when they call you a […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: attention, baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, blog, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, Death, education, facebook, family, fitness, history, interests, kids, learning, lost, Love, not lost, personal history, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, real life, Social media, wife, writer, writers, writing

WALK THAT LONESOME VALLEY, OR BABY SHARK, PICK ONE

June 28, 2026 by David Gillaspie

You know you’ve got to walk that lonesome valley. That’s just how it is. The part about walking it by yourself? I’m not so sure about that. I tried walking it by myself and got pretty far, even though I wasn’t alone. Technically.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, baby shark, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, lonesome valley, North Bend, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, Portland Oregon, Social media, story, travel, wife, writer, writers, writing