I had a nice long chat on the telephone last night with one Buck Simmons. He's been a friend ever since Neal Boortz one day suggested his listeners go check out the anti-boortz, and of course he's 1/3 of smijer & Buck. But this is the first time we had a voice conversation in the two years that we've been friends.

Last night, I came home from work and what did I find in the mailbox? A box had come from Georgia with the return address marked "BUCK". That's right. A Christmas gift came. In fact, there were two. One was David Gilmour in Concert... and I'm blown away. The other was kind of exclusive. It was the John Cowan Band, recorded live at Buck's uncle's farm, on two CD's. Now, how about that???

This second one is one that I will share... we'll have a podcast or two featuring the JCB in the coming weeks.

So, any way, I felt like such a generous, thoughtful surprise deserved at least a phone call of thanks, and we had a very nice talk about everything from Pink Floyd to domestic spying. Friends, Buck Simmons is the real thing. The embodiment of easy-going southern gentility. Thanks for everything, Buck!