Buttkickin’ Holiday Songs: “Miracle” — Matisyahu (2010)

Eight is the number of infinity One more than what you know how to be And this is the light of festivity When your broken heart yearns to be free Here’s a Hokeyboy Fun Fact: my Hebrew name is also Matisyahu. Hah! And let’s also be really real for a moment: the pool of “buttkickin’”…

Buttkickin’ Holiday Songs: “White Winter Hymnal” — Fleet Foxes (2008)

This is song of beauty and of timeless atmosphere. Fleet Foxes’s celebrated 2008 song White Winter Hymnal has the rich, swirling atmospherics of memory, all detail twirling like wisps in the corners of our vision and trailing out of focus the moment we try to stare too intently. I picture cold winter mornings, gray skies…

Buttkickin’ Holiday Songs: “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” — Ronnie James Dio, Toni Iommi, Rudy Sarzo, Simon Wright (2008)

Ahh, Christmas and heavy metal music. Despite what little minds might think, the two go together like your veritable chocolate and peanut butter. In the hands of Ronnie James Dio and Tony Iommi — two of metal’s founding fathers, architects of the genre if you will — the myths, legends, and spiritual truths of the…

Album Review: “Rock And Roll Over” — Kiss (1976)

Kiss’s 1976 LP Rock And Roll Over is one of the most celebrated albums by die-hard Kiss fans, held in high relief as the sweet spot at which everything seems to be in synch: great production values, strong songs, iconic Kissography, and the entire band performing and recording together with minimal intrusion from outside songwriters…

Buttkickin’ Holiday Songs: “Silver Bells” — The Ventures (1965)

No big write-up on this one, as you already know the song, and if you know the theme to “Hawaii Five-O”, you know The Ventures pretty goshdarn well. We’re talking ’60s instrumental guitar rock at its most influential, and their take on the perennial Christmas classic Silver Bells is an easy addition to your playlist. Especially if…

Buttkickin’ Holiday Songs: “Someday At Christmas” — Stevie Wonder (1967)

Someday at Christmas man will not fail Hate will be gone and love will prevail Someday a new world that we can start With hope in every heart… There’s something about Stevie Wonder’s voice that gives me just the incredible sense of… I don’t know if peace is the word. Euphoria? No, that’s too strong.…

Race Review: 2014 Space Coast Marathon (11/30/2014), or: “Just like the light of a new day, it hit me from out of the blue…”

You know, it always comes down to this eternally ponderous struggle: The Journey vs. the Destination. Wherein lies the biggest payoff? That’s sort of the theme for today’s race review, and no, the video won’t be by Journey, because we’ve all had enough of that lately. And by “lately” I mean “since 1983”. Anyway, let’s…

Race Review: 2014 Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon (11/8/2014), or: “Look around, leaves are brown, there’s a patch of snow on the ground…”

This race review was originally published here at the amazing Sparkly Runner blog. If you enjoy Hokeyblog, go give my amazing friend Sarah’s blog a lookover. She’s incredibly forthright and entertaining, and really cool people too. She’s the real deal, Hokeyfolk! There was this magical moment of clarity that occurred as I turned eastbound onto…

Buttkickin’ Holiday Songs: “Last Man At The Party” — Jethro Tull (2003)

Well the Holiday Season is in full swing, isn’t it? People are still digesting their Thanksgiving dinners nearly a week later, legions of American consumers with peace and love and good cheer in their hearts are butchering their fellow citizens like pigs at the slaughter at Black Friday events all over the country, and DVRs…

My next great running adventure, or: “When the mind is willing, it gets downright perilous….”

Well no rest for the wickedly awesome, they say… November has been an incredibly busy month for the staff here at Hokeyblog. We’ve just come off two weeks of back-to-back half marathons at Disney parks on TWO COASTS, and if my carefully-curated budget spreadsheet is any indication, I should pretty much be wearing a barrel…