When my sweetie Paula announced she was taking me to the Big Apple for my 46th birthday, I was thrilled and overwhelmed. Also terrified, since I spent what little walking around money I’d socked away on our trip to St. Thomas, the U.S. Virgin Islands, earlier this year...

There’s also a fun informal version on our 30A Songwriter Radio Guest DJ spot that Shannon Ireland extracted and posted on his Web site, www.30asongwriterradio.com...

I remember one cruise in particular that took us to Shell Island in St. Andrews Bay. I think we nearly ran aground getting there that night. Another vacation took my family on a five-day voyage from Isla Mujeres, Mexico. That sense of adventure I experienced on Niña will stay with me forever...

The field of intellectual disabilities has evolved over the last few decades. Thirty years ago, when an individual was born with an intellectual disability, he or she would usually be institutionalized. Today, we understand that people with intellectual disabilities can live a full and rewarding life in their community...

But let’s face it, Panama City Beach. The bottom line is our spring breakers are way cooler than yours. And they are always welcome here as long as they clean up after themselves, spend lots of money, and post cool beach videos on YouTube that will render the TDC useless...

My lady and I have been together for five years now, and we’ve grown pretty comfortable together. I like to think she’s gotten used to my annoying traits, and with that in mind, I’m trying really hard not to develop any new ones. I hope she knows how much I love her, even if I don’t say it as much as I should...

As longtime readers are well aware, I have appointed myself Mayor for Life of Beachcomberland (which includes Destin, Fort Walton Beach, South Walton, all of 30A, Navarre and sometimes Pensacola, especially when there’s a good show at the Vinyl Music Hall).

Every year, I email the 30A Songwriters Festival (winner, Best Music Event of 2011, Beachcomber Music Awards) folks with my “wish list”—Smokey Robinson, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Paul McCartney, Todd Snider, Alejandro Escovedo, Bruce Springsteen, Dolly Parton, and Ray Wylie Hubbard for starters—and every year my heart gets broken...