Up on Saturday morning, chugging espresso and Silk creamer, and listening to cable music. I have digital cable now and I still can't quite get into the habit of sitting in front of the tv and focusing on something but I am really liking having music. There are a ton of channels (hey Comcast? Who had the idea to put "Bluegrass" on the main music page?) and the playlists are different than what radio has. I like a lot of oldies, for instance, but the radio wants to play the same ones over and over again. I could go the rest of my life without hearing "Hang On Sloopy" again but oldies radio doesn't feel that way. But last night on "Golden Oldies" I heard Conway Twitty.

I had always heard that the rock star Conrad Birdie from the musical BYE BYE BIRDIE was based on Twitty not on Elvis as it might seem. Twitty indeed sounds like a poor man's Elvis, bluesy and pouty and not bad at all. And digital cable's got him!

Here's a cool MSNBC "Year in Photos" wrap up. There were wildfires this year, remember those? I had already forgotten.