26 Comments
Oct 24, 2023Liked by Steve Goldberg

Fabulous writing, as always. I really enjoyed this. I am not ashamed to admit that I’ve always been rather scared of spiders. When faced with the demon, I would always call my husband to do the honours (and he would always try to let them out without killing them, which I found slightly irritating yet extremely sweet). The other day I saw one (admittedly small, but certainly not the smallest I’ve seen). I was going to deal with it myself, but suddenly I felt bad and decided to let it live, expecting it to let me live too. I think I’m (finally) becoming an adult 😅

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I'm convinced 50 percent of the reason we live with our partners is so that one of the pair can handle the stuff the other either hates, ignores or is simply horrible at accomplishing. Yes, if the spiders in my studio didn't agree to leave my computer, chair, drums and records alone, our relationship would be quite different.:)

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Oct 24, 2023Liked by Steve Goldberg

This is spot on 😅 As a half-joke, my husband and I often delegate tasks to each other as “head of finance” (him) and “head of legal” (me). Which is kind of true, but we’ve taken it to the extreme and now say things like “hey, you’re head of folding the tea towels, not me” 🤣

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My first thought was "Spiders from Mars", which of course were a band, not a song. As soon as I saw your title, I had Ziggy-worms bouncing around in my head. So, I never kill spiders, for a simple reason: I discovered that when I kill something, it comes back to haunt my dreams. Guilt in full operation! So I leave them alone or help them out the door. Besides, they eat a lot of things that are creepier.

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Yeah, I am almost finished with a variant of the post on Medium for Substack and go into detail on my criteria for song inclusion and explain the disqualification of Ziggy Stardust. If the album had a song with the word "spider" in the title, then maybe....Guilt is a great tool to remind oneself the benefits of non-harming. I don't kill any insects, with the exception of the moth. Those MF'ers have infiltrated my kitchen cabinets too many times for me to practice any form of cohabitation.

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Not a big fan of spiders at all. Quite terrified of them in fact (the big hairy ones anyway).

For my spider song it would have to be The Cure’s Lullaby: https://youtu.be/ijxk-fgcg7c?si=P8lMrBbtp0YgOGqJ

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I had forgotten that Lullaby was spiderriffic! I'm not sure I'd seen the video before. Thanks for sharing -- that is definitely going into the playlist! I would think you'd come across a good amount of spiders on your hikes. Not so much in England and other countries you travel in?

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Actually we probably see more spiders in Bermuda than on our hiking trips. Although we rarely see spiders in our home because the bug guy comes every month to treat the house. I’m getting better though. I use to be terrified of cockroaches but now I can tolerate them. Maybe the same will happen with spiders one day!

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Oct 20, 2023Liked by Steve Goldberg

Not a fan of spiders (much less of spiderlings ... I'll never forget the first time that I nudged what I thought was a seedpod or something and it erupted into hundreds of individuals), but I don't kill them if I can help it. Though I will help them to leave the house ASAP. But I think I'd change my policy for earspiders ....

Looking forward to your insect-related playlist!

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be on the lookout either later today or tomorrow!

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Not really spooked by spiders, other than the fact that some are dangerous and/or poisonous, and they crawl. My childhood spook of choice is the lizard. Mainly 'cause my big bro used to chase me around the yard wagging one of those green chameleon things in my direction. In other words, he weaponized the the lizard for me! I was a little wienie, so I just ran around yelling, "QUIT!"

Warn me if you do a piece on lizards!

Which reminds me: Maybe do an article focusing on predators of lizards (or spiders)....."Roadrunner" by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers?

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Roadrunners are predators of lizards? And you know I’m going to save my lizard info for when you least expect it! I will have to write about our neighbors who owned a monitor lizard and how they would walk around the hood carrying it on their shoulders.

Also, our neighbors had an iguana that we would watch when they would go out of town. But it rarely ever came outside of it’s heated “pod” in the aquarium, so it was a bit boring.

I am planning a snake/rat post though! So that is your warning for that newsletter!

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Oct 21, 2023·edited Oct 22, 2023Liked by Steve Goldberg

You sound incredulous! Here's plenty of documentation of *meep-meep* roadrunners (bless 'em) with lizards between their "lips": https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=575459775&q=roadrunner+with+lizard&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjTt8KRuoeCAxWbGVkFHYUsAUgQ0pQJegQICxAB&biw=1366&bih=651&dpr=1

I remember, in junior high, a rather large iguana was propped on a stool in front of some lockers. Aside from that rather odd visual, he actually had a whistle around his neck and was also holding a clipboard and a pencil. Seems he was our hall monitor lizard.🦎

Snakes and rats are fairly benign creatures in my universe. I'm sure had Clint chased me around the yard with either or both, I'd feel differently, but I look forward to your treatise on rodents'n'reptiles!

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Not a spider fan but also appreciate that they eat insects that I like less

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Well, you gotta start somewhere!:)

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What an honor to be among the ranks of an Entwistlian favorite! I mean of course, I guess it’s what happens when you write about Spiders!

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You deserve to be spoken of (and listened to) in the same company! Oh, by the way, I discovered this song on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/track/45tHa0JrWgd1QpyRQo2idJ?si=216ea6fc5a3f4a0c

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I love Les Claypool and I feel like every couple of years, I find out that there is yet another musical project that he has begun and I had no idea. What a great day!

Also, Earspider is the most terrifying coupling of words ever uttered

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You are in for a couple hours of treats! And earspiders eat earworms for lunch!:)

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A thought for each leg:

- love your Spider song choices

- "Spider" by TMBG lives in my head rent free and just pops out sometimes.

- Britta's spider song is rad!

- Is Boris the Spider the best/most well known Entwistle song?

- I guess Spiders from Mars is jsut part of the album title and lyric, but maybe that counts?

- "Good Morning Spider" is a song, but just filler really, the next track on the album is "Sick of Goodbyes" and talks about a vampire planet, so that counts.

- Oh no, is this all connected to: "the world is vampire" and Smashing Pumpkins? (Bullet with Butterfly Wings a bad song IMO)

- WE LOVE YOU SPIDER

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I thought I'd stick to spider songs as opposed to albums or band names, so disqualified Bowie, but if there weren't a ton of great songs available, I'd widen my web! And, you can bet that "Good Morning Spider" is on the mix (even if a filler track). "Sick of Goodbyes" does count, but I'm not counting it for these purposes.

And don't get me started on Smashing Pumpkins. I can appreciate that album (and even that song) but I was an early fan that more or less jumped ship after Siamese Dream. Corgan is just one of those people that rubs me the wrong way. Listening to their latest opus was fairly tortuous (and I tried to keep an open mind).

I would listen to TMBG doing a song for song cover of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness though.

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"Mellon Collie"? You triggered a Dad memory! So, my bro and I are, like, 12 (late '60s), and he's playing that old chestnut, "Melancholy Baby," on a record. He said, "I used to have a melancholy baby, once.....she had a head like a melon, and a face like a collie!"

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Ok, so:

1. Earspiders!

2. I have a spider themed PC post coming on Halloween, so loved seeing this today!

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