Up until the summer of 1983, there were a few bits and pieces (odds and sods?) of mod-ism in DC, but they hadn’t yet fully fused into a scene. Count 4 was definitely the first mod band, and their (and later Modest Proposal’s) bassist Perry Flint was arguably the first…

In high school I pretty much had a new band each year, and each band was a bit more mod than the last. Scott Stuckey and I had been partners in Stones-mania through most of middle school, but when I sat in at his talent show it…

“We are the mods, we are the mods, we are, we are, we are the mods” [from Brighton riot scene in Quadrophenia] Well, I wasn’t always, obviously. Following my middle school Rolling Stones fixation, I was more of a Neil Young disciple by 9th grade or so (left). I believe…

Something going, something coming. #BelarusSolidarity

Belarusians have taken the leap, now there is no going back. The goon squads won’t be able to beat the entire population into submission. What is inspiring to me, as someone who has been there and has gotten to know people, is how their typical qualities of modesty, stoicism, lack…

It’s not even a very good photo. But as our five-day Serbia road trip neared its end, my friends and I had decided to pull over one more time when we saw her. This was one of my last frames before we noticed a small group of soldiers approaching us…

(At the Moment of Leaving Earth Forever) Come on rise up Rise and disguise the pain Come on feel the wind again Soak your eyes Pull the thorns Hold your heartbeat in your hands Too late now we’re torn apart Too late we’ve been joined apart Lay down and over…

The girl had actually agreed to go out on the river with him. He tried to row with strength and certainty and not say foolish things. She loved this part of the city center, with the lights from shore she could squint and imagine she was in Paris. In the…