Don Kowalewski
Writer. Ad Sales and Marketing. Social Media Content Creator. Aeropress Coffee. Makes the best salsa in the world.
Weezer Has a New Song, Tour, and Album (soon)
Today’s a good day. No. A great day. Because Weezer has a new single … “Shine Again”, written by Weezer’s drummer, Patrick Wilson, and is the first song released off their yet-to-be-named and yet-to-be-color-coded new Album. All part of a new Weezer tour this Fall (September/October and the Detroit date is 9/23).
This Blog, my Blog, isn’t where Weezer fans come for breaking news, but if there’s some fans who just love more gushing, glowing things written about Weezer, you could do worse than DonKowalewski.com.
“Shine Again” feels like an anthem. Maybe not for you, but for me … a 52-year-old who loads and unloads the “dishwasher” with great precision and pride, and someone who knows a thing or two about a “dog walk.”
I quoted lyrics from the new song, if you’re wondering. Read More
A Lesson from Sourdough
Since the age of 17 (1990), my favorite kinda literature has been “self-help” and “self-improvement.” Always romanced by the idea that I’m one pithy quote or one piece of sage advice away from greatness, happiness, and self-fulfillment, and perfection.
Do you have, or did you write, a time-management book? I’m in. How about a book about health and longevity? Me, me, me! Do you have a book, and a Podcast, and did you produced a 2-hour documentary on food and how it can help (or hurt) me? As the kids say … I’m leaning (way) into that.
I’ve always kinda figured, well, I might as well fill my brain with “good stuff” and immerse myself in positivity and good habits and time-saving routines and pepper my psyche with little bits of wisdom and advice that make me just a tiny bit better than I was yesterday or a moment ago (Kaizen Methodology … see? How would I know that if I wasn’t an A+ student of self-improvement).
But why? Read More
The Top-10 Songs of All (My) Time, #2: “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper
I’m sappy. I can’t help it. Not all the time, but when I feel like being sappy and when I want the world to be more kind and beautiful, I can lay it on thick and Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” is my #2 song of all time (because I’m sappy … does that make sense?).
“Time After Time” is a song I’ve listened to thousands of times and completely missed that it was a “break-up” song. But I’m not the only one because it’s among the most-played songs at wedding receptions and it’s very popular with graduating classes.
The song was written by Cyndi Lauper, inspired by her failed (failing?) relationship with her boyfriend and manager, David Wolff. She wrote it with Rob Hyman (of The Hooters) when her label told her that her album needed, “one more song.” They wrote it that same evening and deep into the morning and they swear what we hear and fell in love with was one take – we hear the “demo”.
Donlight Savings Time (the Solution to Daylight Savings Time)
Here’s something I never really thought about … Daylight Savings Time. When I was a kid, we did the “Fall Back” in the Fall and then “Spring Forward” in the Spring. Teachers told me it was invented by farmers, or created for farmers so they would have daylight when working outside.
That was good enough for me.
And I liked when one morning I would walk to school in the dark and the next morning … poof … I was walking to school in daylight.
For some reason, over the past decade, something I’d never thought about has become some sort of polarzing, Political football tossed around and how you feel about Daylight Savings somehow paints you a liberal or a conservative and “it’s dumb” or “other countries don’t have it” or “some states don’t have it” and “who is this for” and anger, anger, anger.
What the Heck is Tai Chi Walking and Why Is It’s Marketing So Effective?
If you’re like me, and by that I mean an overworked, overstressed, overeating, undersleeping, slightly overweight 50-something Male that spends a little too much time on Instagram and far too much time listening to Podcasts, then you’ve probably seen an advertisement for Tai Chi Walking.
It’s a miracle! It promises, in 30 days, to take me from Dad-Bod to ripped Middle-Aged Man.
It looks better than GLP-1 and “the shots.” But I’m skeptical.
The Reese’s Oreo and Perfect Advertising
Regular reader(s) of my Blog know (a) I work in advertising, (b) I love Oreo cookies, especially Double Stuffs and have claimed I would eat multiple boxes of them if ever on death row and asked what I want for my “last meal”, and (c) I can’t resist a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (in any form).
So? Look? At? This?
It’s a Reese’s Oreo Cup, combining a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and an Oreo cookie. Did you need that explanation? Maybe it’s obvious. Read More
Lent 2026 (Better Late Than Never)
It’s Lent 2026! Here! We! Go! Or … here … we … went.
I’m writing this 10-days into Lent 2026 and, ahem, I’m off to a slow start (slow start = haven’t started). I haven’t listed my ridiculous Lenten promises and give-up’s (called “Penances,” I think). I haven’t cross-referenced my New Year’s Resolutions against my past Lenten promises (successes and failures) and as of writing this … it’s been 10-days of Lent and I’m finally getting around to getting started.
“Write the Ending First.”
That’s from Tish Rabe and her interview on Tim Ferriss’s Podcast. She was a writer and contributer in the early days of Sesame Street and while her goal was to write music and sing professionally, she said “yes” when they asked her to write a book and since then, she’s written 300+. Something she said she learned early from other writers at the time was this . . .
“Write the story’s ending, first.” Read More
A Newer Morning Routine: 2026 Edition
I’ve obsessed over my wake-up and morning routine for my entire adult life. Stops and starts. Stops and starts. My problem is … I love my bed, love being warm and cozy, and when I’m laying their at 5:30 a.m. and I’m cozy and happy, I start to question, “what is the point of making myself angry and dragging myself outta bed?”
I know. I know. The daily grind. Focus. Chores. To-Do lists. Anxiety or lack of anxiety and worry. I know it’s all tied to sleep and routine and *gasp* some exercise. So, I’m gonna give this one a try.
2026 Resolutions (1st Month Update)
“Who’s this update for,” you ask? It’s for me. You know the old saying about goals … something, something … write them down … make them measurable. Something, something. Adjust, evaluate, and …something, something … don’t give up.
Smart guy Gary Vaynerchuk says it over and over again … “you have SO MUCH time.” I do (especially with football almost over). But I need to assess how I use my time and what better way than to look at the first 30-days of 2026 and see how I’m doing on my Resolutions.
I’ll do this monthly (there’s another Resolution). No way to know how I’m doing if I’m not tracking.
A Morning at WWJ Newsradio 950
I work in Radio. I capitalize the word “Radio” out of respect. I’ve worked in Radio for 28-years! Nowadays I guess I say I “work in Audio“, but between me and you … it’s Radio. Radio formats have come and gone. There’s no more Oldies, Jazz, or Classical radio stations. Classic Hits and Classic Rock are “oldies” now when you consider the music they play is from the ’70s, ’80s, and early ’90s, which means the music is between 30- and 50-years-old. And I’m somewhere between 40- and 53-years-old. I guess us Gen Xrs just don’t want to think of our music as “Oldies” (even if it is).
I’m not here to list all the Radio formats (even though I could … because I’m kind of a nerd when it comes to Radio), but instead I want to talk about one, specific format . . . Newsradio.
And one specific station … WWJ Newsradio 950 AM in Detroit. Read More
Don Kowalewski 