John Schneider

Winging it

Walking the beach a couple of days ago, I spotted this great blue heron perched on its built-in stilts hunting in the shallows 50 yards away. My real camera was back at the cottage; all I had with me was my cell phone.

As I tried to get closer to the bird for a better shot, it took flight and I winged it with my phone as the bird soared over the lake.

The long road to success

In a FB post a few days ago, Jim Barry, papa of Lord Huron’s percussionist par excellence, Mark Barry, reminded us that Aug. 6 was the 16th anniversary of Lord Huron’s first live performance.

That gig launched the Bubs on the long road that eventually led to arenas, tour busses, and semi-trailers full of instruments and stage sets. From an L.A. jazz club, to Madison Square Garden. From one EP, to gold and platinum records.

But it all started, as Jim Barry pointed out, in a rented van pulling a U-Haul trailer. The Bubs took turns driving from one gig to the next. Yellow lines in the dead of night.

In text exchanges, I pried a couple more details about the show from the front Bub:

The venue was the Grand Star Jazz Club in L.A.’s Chinatown. LH wasn’t the headliner; they were merely one of four bands playing that night. The audience, as Benjamin recalls it, included about 100 souls.

At the time, the band was managed by Benjamin’s younger sister, Caitlin. It included Benjamin, Mark, Miguel, Pete Mowry and Brett Farkas. Mowry and Farkas left the band fairly early; Tom Renaud joined later.

Baiting backflip

Wait a second ... Wasn't the whole purpose of banning deer-baiting in Michigan to prevent the spread of disease ...?

Remember ... ? The big problem with baiting the argument went, was that it brought deer nose-to-nose, which allowed deer infected with chronic wasting disease to pass it along to other deer.

Well ... on July 27, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law a bill that now permits the "backyard feeding" of deer for "recreational feeding." There are restrictions -i.e., the "feed" is limited to two gallons and must be within 300 yards of a residence.

What the hell ...? Nose-to-nose is nose-to-nose, regardless of whether the deer are eating "feed" or "bait." And remember, the baiting ban had nothing to do with the debate over whether shooting deer over bait is fair, or humane, or sportsmanlike. It was strictly to stop the spread of a disease fatal to dear.

And, in case you're wondering, CWD is still with us. It's been confirmed in free-ranging deer in 18 Michigan Counties.

Hot fun in the summertime

Word had it that the gaggle of young cousins staying at the small cottage (plus a camper) down the beach numbered 15 strong.

For the most part, they were in the water, or on the beach, from dawn until dusk and were clearly having a blast together.

Here they line up for rides on a jet ski operated by one of the adults in camp.

The flowers are blooming at night

I'm forever intrigued by these flowers that defy the rules of photosynthesis and bloom in the dark of night, after all the other flowers have gone to bed.

We call them moon flowers, but you may know them as moon bush, devil's trumpet or tropical white morning-glory. But their glory shines not in the morning sun, but in the shadows of night.

Looking back

Big news from the Bubs ...

After spending a couple of months catching their breath, Lord Huron will be back on the road Dec. 1 with a brand new tour - "28 Nights at the Broken Bottle with Lord Huron: A Rambling Residency."

They're calling it " ...a neon and moonlit journey across the years," which is what most people would call a retrospective.

The word is sour; the corn, sweet

Yes, the world is a mess at the moment, but the sweet corn we've been eating in recent days has been nothing short of fabulous.

The latest batch came from Meijer - for two bits an ear - and it was flawless in taste and texture.

It seems to me that sweet corn used to be hit-or-miss. You had to look carefully or risk ending up with corn that was tough, mushy or tasteless. It seems more reliable now. I hope it's due to natural evolution, not chemical enhancement.

We've also been lucky with that other summer treat - watermelon. And before long vine-ripened tomatoes will come rolling in from the backyards of our friends.

Cosmic selection

Lord Huron's recent swing through the southern states included a show in St. Augustine, Florida. A World Ender spotted this menu at the Myth and Legend Coffee Shop.

It got me thinking about some other possibilities ...

"Bag of Bones" chicken wings

"Twenty Long Years" aged bourbon

"Fire Eternal" cherries jubilee

"Frozen Pines" Italian ice

"Time to Run" eggs (sunny side up)

The deflection pool

I learned as a journalist to pay special attention to what’s known as the Friday Afternoon News Dump, in which breaking news stories that somebody wishes to camouflage get released when all eyes - so the theory goes - are focused on the weekend.

Take, for example, the dramatic revelation two days ago in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool fiasco …

Despite the obfuscation, the juicy stuff tends to dribble out onto the weekend. So you probably know by now that the Justice Department dropped its case agains the purported pool vandal, former Olympic canoeist David Hearn.

When Trump’s new pool lining - installed by a no-bid contractor - failed, he claimed Hearn and others had vandalized it. In his typical tempered fashion he called them “thugs … sick people … sleazebags …radical LEFT SCUM that hate our country …”

At first, Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in Washington, sang the same song, telling reporters she had positive proof the lining was vandalized. Hearn was charged with felony property destruction.

On Friday the charge against Hearn was dropped and Pirro did a 180, admitting that shoddy construction - not vandalism - doomed the lining to failure. Hard evidence can be a bitch.

Drama in The D

The two big dramas in Detroit this summer: When would the Gordie Howe Bridge (from the D to Windsor) open and when/if Tigers ace Tarik Skubal - arguably the best pitcher in the game - would be traded.

The bridge opened last Monday. As I write this, Skubal technically is still a Tiger, but he has one foot (and an arm) on anther team, yet to be determined.

The MLB trade deadline is Monday at 6 p.m. It’s highly unlikely the Tigers will keep Skubal, mainly because his contract with the team will end this season; after that, his price tag will be - and should be - beyond the Tigers’ budget

He’s expected to command $350-$400 million for a six-year deal. Likely, he’ll join a team with deep pockets and a good chance of making a run for the Word Series this year.

My prediction: Skubal will go to the L.A. Dodgers, a team bent on winning a third consecutive championship. And with Dodgers ace Ohtani battling an injury, Skubal would be an excellent fit.

Mail-order dreams

I wrote recently about son Justin's influence (with a major assist from the Columbia Record Club) on younger brother Benjamin's musical development.

It so happens that Sharon watches the Apple TV series "The Morning Show" and had to chuckle at this monologue delivered by Billy Crudup to Marion Cotillard.

It makes me wonder how many other teenage rock 'n' rollers were weaned on those CDs that arrived so copiously in mailboxes throughout the land.

They're just plaques

Parting with the guitars and drums; the amps and synthesizers; the tambourines and jingle sticks and keyboards and all the other accoutrements of rock and roll ….? That’s understandable.

They’re merely tools of the trade and, every so often, musicians have to make room for different tools.

But the Gold and Platinum Record plaques …?

It surprised me to see them, along with all the other Lord Huron gear for sale on Reverb, the internet site dedicated to buying and selling musical instruments and audio equipment.

The next time I talk to the Front Bub, I’ll be sure to ask him about the decision to part with those plaques, although I think I already know what he’ll say.

He’ll say that the creative process is important. That connecting with fans is important. That touching the hearts and souls of people through LH’s music is important ... And that LH’s validation comes from the fans.

But the plaques …? They’re just plaques.

Disengagement

I first noticed this phenomenon in casinos, where some players would pass up live blackjack dealers and go for the blackjack machines, where virtual dealers ran the game from a screen.

It made no sense to me, mainly because the payouts of any gaming machine can be adjusted (I’m not saying they are; only that they could be), whereas a live game is pretty much impossible to rig.

I figured that the gamblers who preferred the machines were new to the game and were afraid of being castigated by other players for making mistakes.

Then I noticed something similar in grocery stores - people standing in line at the entrance to the self-checkout machines, while live cashiers stood idle.

It made no sense to me until I came upon a newspaper story that offered an explanation I hadn’t considered:

“The popularity of self-checkout, then, could suggest a subliminal shift in some shoppers’ priorities—an aversion to waiting might be outweighed these days by a reluctance to engage with other people.”

I’m not sure what this says about the current state of our society, but I don’t think it’s a positive development.

Cosmetic surgery

We did what we could, then faced the fact that our beloved white birch trees needed professional help.

As you may recall, the March 2025 ice storm in northern Michigan was a birch tree’s worst nightmare. Our limited skills and irrational audacity took us only so far toward restoration. Nobody got hurt, but the trees still looked like deformed stick figures.

So, we brought in pros to administer the final touches. They came Monday with heavy equipment to remove the hangers and danglers, the fractured limbs that loomed over us like guillotines, accusing us of neglect. (More than one summer guest has eyed them warily while passing underneath).

We salvaged what we could, but one particularly ravaged victim of the calamity - naked, except for the leaves that clung to a limp arm stretched uncertainly over our roof - had to go (bottom photo). Not even the pros could save it.

'May you browse until you buy!'

The Bubs are cleaning house at Whispering Pine Studio, unloading gear they no longer need on Reverb, an internet site dedicated to buying and selling new, used, and vintage musical instruments and audio equipment.

The sale, which starts Wednesday, will include more than 100 pieces from the band’s recording sessions, touring rigs, music videos, and artifacts from Whispering Pines. Some highlights:

A 1950s Gibson double-neck console lap steel used for Alive from Whispering Pines and seen in the “I Lied” music video

A 1960s Epiphone Cortez heard on every album since Vide Noir, including "Lost in Time and Space," "The Balancer’s Eye," and "Emerald Star"

A Danelectro U2 that was Ben Schneider’s second guitar and was later used on "The Yawning Grave"

A 1969 Ludwig Black Oyster Pearl drum kit used on Vide Noir, Long Lost, The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1, and Alive from Whispering Pines

A late-’50s Guild M-65 Freshman used on every Lord Huron album since Strange Trails, including "Frozen Pines

The Up North experience

Yes, Independence Day '26 is long gone, but the 250th birthday celebration continues.

Who says you can't light birthday candles all summer long ... ? And who even needs a reason ...?

We had a bunch of Morning Glories left over from July 4th and a couple of young guests at that lake over the weekend who were more than willing to put them to good use. (Here Sharon demonstrates the proper technique.)

The birds are back in town

A week or so after they flew the coup - grounded by the wildfire smoke and forced to hunker down in the brush - the shore birds are back on the job.

A few days ago, overnight, a cleansing wind blew in from the north and a fresh morning dawned. Blue sky, blue water, air like crystal - the whole Northern Michigan palate. A breath of fresh air in every sense of the word.

The birds soon followed - the ducks, the loons, the plovers ... and all the rest, flocking back to their hunting grounds. Survivors.