The Homepage of Keenan Powell

The Powell Family Archives My Wall of Fame Chicagoisms The John Ono      Lennon Memorial A long time ago      in a state of mind far away . . . The Biograph Theater Another Monty Python Site

     Okay, so you haven’t run away. You may end up regretting that, but here goes.

      Hi. My name is Keenan Powell. This is my personal web site, yada, yada, yoda.
      I’m a Chicagoan by birth, by inclination, still. I’m residing in Owensboro, Ky., but I still consider Chicago "Home," with a capital "H." You can take the kid out of the smog, but you’ll never quite get the smog out of the kid. I don’t expect non-Chicagoans to understand that, they’re not from there. I was able to return home a short while ago. Someone mentioned new Comisky Park and I made a comment about how they should have named it after someone else. (Understand: Charlie Comisky and his penny pinching did more than the gamblers did to cause the "Black Sox" scandal.) The way the comment came out was "Bah, dey shou’da named dit afta’ someone else." I hadn’t been back in the city for ten minutes and I started sounding like the "sou’sider" I guess I am at heart.

Shame on you! You didn't trust your Mothers!

      From this main page, you can reach other portions of my site via the menu on the left.
      As for me, I'm not that interesting of a person, I don't think. My main interests are writing, reading, films, music and, of course, computers and the web designing.
      I like reading mostly history, pop culture, some fiction (A note to prospective correspondents: There is a severe lack of John Gresham, Steven King, Tom Clancy et al from my reading list and I intend to keep it like that!), sci-fi/fantasy. My favorite authors are people like Kurt Vonnegut, Franz Kafka, Edgar Allen Poe, E. T. A. Kaufman, T. S. Elliot, Robert Frost and more.
      I like most kinds of films. Classic horror films have always been a favorite of mine. I still hear an occasional comment from my parents about how I use to stay up on Friday & Saturday nights to watch Svenghoulie and Creature Features on TV (on WGN, Channel 9, if you're interested).
      But films appeal to me. All types, almost all types. I'm not the biggest fan of westerns/action films. They bore me. There are a few exceptions, even I like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (Is that the right last name? I don't remember) and I like True Lies. I even like silent movies. As far as any of us can tell, anymore, I was first exposed to silent films at the Museum of Science and Industry, whom I thank for inspiring that and several other interests over the years.
      I like jazz, down and dirty blues (aka "Chicago blues" or "Urban blues"), rhythm and blues ("Memphis blues", "Soul", etc.). As I type this, I'm listening to a John Lee Hooker collection, again. I couldn't tell you how many times I've listened to this collection and I plan on listening to it some more. I dearly adore John, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Arthur Crudup (sp?), Robert Johnson, Etta James, Mama Thorton, Leadbelly, Susan Tedeschi among many, many more.
      I like all kinds of jazz, from the Dixieland of the early days to contemporary jazz, but I suppose I'm partial to the bebop of people like Bird Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and the cool style of people like Miles Davis and Dave Brubeck. And there ain't a vocalist that could ever top Billie Holiday.
      I'm still partial to the rock I grew up with ("Come on over to the place where I work . . ." See if you can figure out what and who I'm listening to now) like the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon (with/without Garfunkle), the Rolling Stones, Frank Zappa, among others. But I also like Joan Osbourn and the wonderful, sexy Sheryl Crow.

Click it to enlarge the photo

      People say that I have an unusual outlook on life. I probably do. Everybody keeps telling me how much America has changed since 9/11, but I don't see it. I still see Americans as thinking we are the center of the universe. Even though we didn't deserve what happened on that day, we still don't realize how much our attitudes, our policies, caused 9/11 to happen.
      I don't think America is the worst country in the world. I honestly do love my country. But I don't think she's quite lived up to her own promises, her potential. Somewhere along the way, we lost our way. But, I guess, like Paul Simon said, "You can't be forever blessed."
      We put more emphasis on a piece of cloth than we place on the rights and freedoms that piece of cloth is suppose to represent. No one, I repeat, no one has ever died for our flag. They died defending the rights and freedoms that the flag represents. But we would rather destroy those rights and freedoms the flag represents in order to protect the symbol? To me, that is more dangerous and far more unpatriotic than any one who would burn the flag.

      Well, that's all for now. Hopefully, sometime in the future, I will set up a literature site that will include some of my own writings.

      For now, though, if you care to write me, write care of kwpowell.geo@yahoo.com, or simply click on Thing wherever you see him do his thing.