Lifestyle Archives - Hal Phillips

Medieval Politics Suit a World Informed by Watching & Listening

Hal Phillips — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 14:53:49 +0000

Turns out Moms & PBS were right: Reading is fundamental — to democratic stability. Neo-fascist leaders and their movements are ever more prevalent and powerful in 2026 because so-called low-education voters are ever more prevalent and easily led. These are the constituents famously preferred by Donald Trump. Yet these voters are proliferating worldwide, because the […]

The post Medieval Politics Suit a World Informed by Watching & Listening appeared first on Hal Phillips.

Ernie D Built the Big East, One Local College Basketball Broadcast at a Time

Hal Phillips — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 20:46:39 +0000

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Jan. 5, 2024) — It’s never too late to mark and quantify the impact of Ernie DiGregorio. Not in New England. Not when the subject is college basketball. Yet here’s the immediate news peg, the reason to contemplate Ernie D and his attendant rabbit hole early in 2024: It was 50 years ago […]

The post Ernie D Built the Big East, One Local College Basketball Broadcast at a Time appeared first on Hal Phillips.

Pocket Full of Mumbles Ruminate on their Tribute Band Origins

Hal Phillips — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 23:01:51 +0000

Heartiest New Year’s greetings from the band to everyone out there in Mumbles Nation. We wanted to share some content here and encourage you to monitor this space, as 2026 is shaping up as a busy year on the gig calendar. We should soon have news about a cool April date at a new, prestige […]

The post Pocket Full of Mumbles Ruminate on their Tribute Band Origins appeared first on Hal Phillips.

Cassette Tape Revival? Hipsters Need a Primer on What They’re Getting Into

Hal Phillips — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 20:29:46 +0000

It’s weird to learn via media report that specific, intimate aspects of one’s own cultural history are making “comebacks”. Maybe 15-20 years ago, a certain American demographic started collecting and playing vinyl records again, for example. Out of nowhere this became trendy. Today, folks of all ages are still giddily sourcing records from Discogs and […]

The post Cassette Tape Revival? Hipsters Need a Primer on What They’re Getting Into appeared first on Hal Phillips.

Oh, Pioneers! GenX Rediscovers the Moderate Joys of Microdosing

Hal Phillips — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 11:56:58 +0000

Observing the proliferation of dope stores here in my former mill town is, by now, old hat. They’re everywhere across the Great State of Maine and their attendant foot traffic has even begun to attract pleasantly parasitic commerce, like the Casa Del Taco truck that took up residence beside one shop, the Cure Cannabis Co., […]

The post Oh, Pioneers! GenX Rediscovers the Moderate Joys of Microdosing appeared first on Hal Phillips.

What Made Grandma Grandma? Graver Fleshes her out, using Family History and Fiction

Hal Phillips — Mon, 15 Jan 2024 20:16:03 +0000

Book Review There is historical fiction. There are the literary cousins of memoir and family history. Then there is the canny, lyric hybrid Elizabeth Graver conjures in Kantika, the 2023 novel that tracks her own family’s 20th-century journey from Constantinople to America, by way of Barcelona and Havana. Don’t worry: Ellis Island and its many […]

The post What Made Grandma Grandma? Graver Fleshes her out, using Family History and Fiction appeared first on Hal Phillips.

RIP Robbie Robertson, The Man who Understood Branding a Bit Too Well

Hal Phillips — Sun, 13 Aug 2023 16:59:03 +0000

[August 12, 2023] My parents, like so many elder Americans, loved The Band. And so it was no surprise the Aug. 8 passing of lead guitarist and songwriter Robbie Robertson resulted in a widespread outpouring of praise and reflection. Yet very little of The Band’s long-term renown never made obvious sense, including why its reputation […]

The post RIP Robbie Robertson, The Man who Understood Branding a Bit Too Well appeared first on Hal Phillips.

Universal NCAA Bids: Let’s Qualify every D1 Team for March Madness

Hal Phillips — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 15:37:46 +0000

Another bout of March Madness has come and gone. And now the money-grubbing power conferences are looking to further sully its pristine symmetry. From the moment the play-in gambit was instituted, in 2001, the slope got very slippery indeed. At first, just two small-conference champions squared off for the right to get boned, on 36-48 […]

The post Universal NCAA Bids: Let’s Qualify every D1 Team for March Madness appeared first on Hal Phillips.

Iceland Travel: Where the Fun is Truly a Matter of Degree

Hal Phillips — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 21:40:11 +0000

While rounding a mountainous spit of land north of Husavik, my Iceland travel companions and I reckoned we’d better stop the car and get a picture. We’re honestly not the selfie-taking types, but 66.201 degrees was as far north as any of us had ever traveled before — or were likely to travel again. So we smiled […]

The post Iceland Travel: Where the Fun is Truly a Matter of Degree appeared first on Hal Phillips.

Great Moments in Getting Towed: A Brief, Late ’80s Anthology

Hal Phillips — Sun, 06 Jun 2021 13:34:55 +0000

It’s been a long time since I’ve lived in Boston, which is to say it’s been a long time since I’ve experienced the complicated sensations of getting towed. Cars do get towed in Maine, I suppose. But vehicular hazards here are more often centered on large antlered mammals in the roadway, as opposed to somewhat […]

The post Great Moments in Getting Towed: A Brief, Late ’80s Anthology appeared first on Hal Phillips.