As I mentioned on Monday, things with Mr. Norris have come to an end. It is unfortunate and there are things I regret about my own behavior and etc., but as I am not yet totally done processing this internally yet I'll leave off for the moment in providing more explanation. The best news I can offer at this point, about the parting of ways, is that I have more information about myself. That is, I know what I want and need a little bit better now, and I guess that's all you can hope for in this life.

So. Since I am not yet ready to say any more than that, I did want to share a bit of news with ya'll: my dad's latest album was released this month. It's called "Almost Paradise," and you can listen to some snippets of it at cdbaby.com and iTunes. (And for those of you in the Portland area, it is also available at Music Millennium.) The album features 15 songs written by his longtime friend Tim Otto.

I've written before about growing up listening to my dad's various musical collaborations and bands when I was a kid. Tim was a housemate of ours for part of that time, and in addition to serving as long-suffering babysitter on occasion and torturing me with his granola-hippy cooking, Tim also did a lot of song writing while he lived there. So in addition to knowing the words to (almost) every one of his songs from that era, there were also a number I heard in their very early stages but that were never performed or released anywhere.

Tim has an enormous catalog of music, most of which has never been heard before, so my dad hand-selected all 15 of the tunes you'll find on this new album. Several of those songs I'd heard before, but most of them are new to me as well. My favorites are, "Gunfighter Man," "The Road to Nowhere," "Still Can't Believe That You're Gone," "Old Memories" and "Hey Vaquero."

Give it a listen; I hope you hear something you enjoy. :)