Author: Spoke

Wonder how this would have played in 2020 Woke America? I was 17 when I heard those words. I distinctly remember thinking that everyone was kind of shaken by his off hand comments. But I also knew I liked Reagan. I didn’t know why. I […]

Ch 14 Torrance The Day After Antietam             After all these years, I could not put on a pair of shoes without thinking back to that terrible day after Antietam. Seeing the bloated, bare feet of the dead soldiers in my dark memories made me […]

I have a new favorite band. I feel like in many ways I’m very much with the times as I’ve always been sort of fluid when it came to my favorite band. I know guys in their 50s who have the same favorite band they […]

  In late September 1982 I saw The Who in concert on their Its Hard tour. My parents let me skip school so I could go and purchase tickets at the Civic Arena box office. There were 17,200 tickets available and it would sell out […]

When E made a reference during his April 27th performance at Mr. Smalls as “Dad Rock” I got the joke. There were plenty of dads in attendance. And there were also plenty of grand parents. And plenty of Millenials. And plenty of every group in […]

The first time I visited Bicycle Heaven was in the fall of 2011. My book “Around Troy Hill, Spring Hill and Reserve Township” had just been published and we had a book signing at the Penn Brewery. I don’t remember the exact circumstances, but I […]

  You start thinking this time of year, maybe a little bit more than at other times. If you are truly lucky and blessed like I am then you realize the great things in your life. You think about family and challenges and good times […]

I have five bicycles. Some get ridden more than others for sure, but generally speaking they all get put into the rotation. The problem in recent years has been a serious lack of time in putting them to use. I’m hoping to rectify that in […]

All I know is…I’ve ignored Ironspoke for so long that I’m struggling with actually posting something. Anything. Even if it’s wrong. Having a place to craft words and phrases is important to me. I’ve really been spending all of my spare time creating a comfortable, […]

I grew up during a pretty amazing time as it relates to American movies. As a nine year old I distinctly remember sneaking out of my bedroom and into the hallway to listen to the announcement of “Rocky” as the best picture winner of the […]