Give Jazz a Chance
Give Jazz a Chance 3000 words • 10 minutes Many years ago, when I was an officer in the military, I attended a “talking head” conference that featured a number of high-profile speakers from the defense industry. Nearly all were gifted with impressive rhetorical...
Van Halen– The Band That Came to the Rescue
Van Halen– The Band That Came to the Rescue 3100 words • 15 minutes Imagine dear reader that you are having a nightmare in which you find yourself as a teenager back in the late 1970’s. As you look around at the cultural and musical landscape you note, with disdain,...
The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson– Interrupted Brilliance?
The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson– Interrupted Brilliance? 2980 words • 12 minutes After my recent article about the Beatles I was pleased to have received thousands and thousands of comments and emails asking about what other musical groups might have found a bit of...
The Beatles—Books, Drugs, and Immortality
The Beatles—Books, Drugs, and Immortality 2500 words • 12 minutes It is hard to imagine that at this point anything more can be written about the Beatles—what is there, after all, to say? It’s very possible that more ink has been spilled about the Fab Four than about...
About Your Average Author
Bios are normally the place to list great achievements and accolades, but since Neal’s are a bit thin the recap of his life is refreshingly brief.
Quite early Neal caught the attention of his teachers as being on the fast track to the cherished 50th percentile in life. It might have been his noteworthy lack of skill, not to mention talents, in areas such as academics, athletics, the arts and drama, or social life. Together they destined him to observer status only. Tragic? No, for it was there that he found his comfortable place in the just average bleachers.