"Wonderland"

Hey...I saw a shooting star fallin' down
Forgot to make my wish and now it's too late...
Hey...When the clouds begin to clear
The moon seems so near that you could almost touch it...
Hey...all my friends have gathered 'round
Hey...and I'd really love to stay
...but when my sanity returns they'll come and take me
Into Wonderland I'll go screaming
Into Wonderland I'll go screaming
Into Wonderland

Yea...I have seen the subtle transformation of the man into the god
...then back again
Yea...We were plotting out the destiny of a universe smaller than a grain of sand...
Yea...I'm playing tricks with time
Yea...I know it's only in my mind
...but I wish that you were coming with me
Into Wonderland we'd go dreaming
Into Wonderland we'd go dreaming
Into Wonderland
Come with me

"The Ladder"

If your days on earth are numbered
Count them on your hands
Then all the burdens you've been under
Disappear into quicksand (Yes and)
Let it be a witness to the hopeless in these times
You can lead a fool to the ladder
But you cannot make him climb

You can lead a drunk to the whiskey
It ain't hard to make him drink
And I've heard it said "A life sentence
Is a good long time to think"
But some folks just want a hand-out
Of my money and my time
You can lead a fool to the ladder
But you cannot make him climb

If your inner child is a bastard
And he promises a lie
People always tellin' you
Where you're going when you die
You talk but noone listens
They leave you far behind
You can lead a fool to some water
He'll try to turn it into wine

You can lead a drunk to the whiskey
It ain't hard to make him drink
And I've heard it said "A life sentence
Is a good long time to think"
But some folks just want a hand-out
Of my money and my time
You can lead a fool to the ladder
But you cannot make him climb

You can give until you've given
Everything you've got away
And dream of caterpillars
Who'll be butterflies one day
But you're livin' on a love
That was not repaid in kind
You can lead a fool to the ladder
But you cannot make him climb

"Funk Daddy #6"

She said, She said
As her eardrums slowly bled
"Is it possible to love a man
Who takes out his frustrations in the bed?"

(I don't care)

"It's been my understanding
That life is seldom fair..."
She said this with conviction
As if I were the only man who cared

(But I don't care)

I woke up Sunday Morning
In an unfamiliar room
Sorting out the fiction from the truth
A body still beside me
Broken bottles on the floor
I grabbed my clothes and said a prayer
She never stirred
And then I hit the door...

"Chop! Chop! Chop!"

Well, my shoes are muddy and my clothes are torn
My daddy left town on the day that I was born
Mama left me in a basket on the butcher's porch
And that's where I learned about knives...

For 30 years I've been a travellin' man
Carving out my way with a cleaver in my hand
May sound crazy but you better understand
You wanna get cut? Step aside!!!

Now some boys dream of a guitar in the hand
Bringing all the noise in a rock and roll band
Or they wanna be a lawyer, wanna be a cop
All I ever wanted was to CHOP! CHOP! CHOP!

(Go, Sweetcheekers!)

From early morning to late at night
Cuttin' all you turkeys by the candlelight
...!!!...!!!...!!!...!!!
And they ain't caught up with me yet...

Observations Gleaned from 30 Minutes w/CMT

The VanZant brothers' new album Get Right With The Man just earned a top slot on my wishlist, after hearing the song "Help Somebody" on CMT this morning. It's a down-home rough hewed tribute to our grandparents' words of wisdom, and these VanZants must have had some incredibly wise ancestors.
Check this out:
"It's better to be hated for who you are
Than loved for who you're not..."
That's sage advice, indeed, but my favorite line in the song is this one:
"If you want to hear God laugh
Tell Him your plan..."
Oh, man, I cannot tell you how hard that hit home. I immediately got up off my rear-end, fetched my Bible and wrote it down on one of the empty pages in the back. I felt like it belonged there.

I'm really happy to see major country music performers making bold statements of faith in their songs. Randy Travis is the most obvious example among many, but I am especially fond of the last couple of Tim McGraw singles. "Live Like You Were Dying" has already been to the top of the charts with it's message that life is too precious to waste. I can only hope that his new track, "Drugs & Jesus", will follow suit. It's theme is much more blatantly Christian, with no less than an outbreak of exuberant "Hallelujah"s towards the end. McGraw sings of the distance between right and wrong. He affirms that we're all basically looking for the same thing in life and that the paths we take in searching for it often lead to drugs or Jesus. McGraw makes his choice and proclaims "All I need is Jesus".
Hallelujah, indeed.
Apparently he has two kinds of Faith in his life. :)
More power to him.

The multitudes of people who complained in the 80's and 90's that country was starting to sound too much like soft rock, what with groups like Alabama and the Kentucky Headhunters...I have to wonder what they think of the all-out barrier-breaking of the "MuzikMafia" (the most prominent members being Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson and now Cowboy Troy)...Somebody out there likes it...a lot of somebodys, I assume, seeing how enormously popular the cadre has become. But there's something disheartening about seeing Big & Rich try to throw down and merge rap with C&W in "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)"...which is, in my opinion, one of the most annoying songs to ever get stuck in my cranium without my permission.


Gretchen Wilson at least has the voice to keep the heritage alive in "When I Think About Cheating", a song and vocal delivery that puts me in mind of Patsy Cline.
Quite a departure from the whiskey-bent cowgrrrl anthem "Redneck Woman" that was the first impression she allowed us.


But what, pray tell, will the good old boys at Billy's Roadside Tavern think of Cowboy Troy, who takes the rap-country crossover route to the next level with "I Play Chicken With the Train"? Backed by those mischevious MuzikMafia kingpins Big & Rich, the only things that set this song apart from the hip hop the young thugs approve of are the REAL instruments played by real people, the conspicuous absence of "Parental Advisory"-worthy profanity and a fiddle solo tucked in the middle that sounds about as out of place as Trick Daddy in Mr. Rogers' Neighbourhood.

No, it's not country. The argument that it should not be played on country radio has a lot of merit, as far as I'm concerned...but the truth of the matter is that, yes, the cowboys like it. So who am I to complain?
I'm tellin' ya...I know this from experience working in a CD store. When the National Youth Rodeo Finals blew through town and the cowboys would come in the store (always decked out in their Wranglers with official NYRF number tag and obligatory cowboy hat for easy identification) they would head straight to the RAP section. No doubt they loved George Strait just as much as the next guy, but they were buying CDs by Eminem, Tupac, Ludicrus, the Notorious B.I.G. and the rest of the hardcore crew. The only thing they liked better than rap was Rodney Carrington.

So hat's off to Big & Rich and the whole MuzikMafia cartel. They may be diluting the music to an unbearable degree, but what the hey? We still have Brad Paisley, Dierke Bentley, Alan Jackson and a whole slew of others to pick up the slack, keeping the flame of REAL country burning. And there's a lot to be said for their business savvy as well as the degree to which they really are in touch with the younger, rowdier cowpokes who speak of Kid Rock and Bocephus with equal amounts of reverence.
Save a horse? Who needs a horse when you can afford a fleet of Bentleys? And these cowboys are riding 'em straight to the bank, you can bet your bottom dollar on that, Festus.
And that's what Nashville is all about, right?

"No Parades"

Is there something wrong?
Is there something wrong?
The glass answers with a smirk
A teardrop stains a photograph
Is there something wrong?

This was your war cry
Rally 'round, vanish into summer sky
With no parades for your returning
Protest songs were on the radio

Is there something wrong?
Is there something wrong?
The glass drops to the floor
Shattered nerves and broken mirrors
Is there something wrong?

This is surrender
A laying down of arms and a reckoning of sin
With no parades for our returning
This is how it feels to lose a war

Shattered nerves, broken mirrors
Shattered nerves, broken mirrors
Shattered nerves, broken mirrors
Is there something wrong?

"Isolated"

To the crowds around me…I’m invisible
To the ground below me…I keep falling
Always alone in a crowd
Always alone in a crowd
Isolated

In a dark, empty house
It’s cold but it’s my life
There lives a man who has tied his tongue
To silence all the good he’s done
And he calls it “freedom”
But he’s always alone in a crowd
Always alone in a crowd
Isolated
Isolated

It’s the price for all the hatred that’s built up for so long
We trade the pain for bitter pills that leave us numb and sitting still
To each his own throughout the years
Manipulated ’til we’re always alone in a crowd
Always alone in a crowd
Isolated
Isolated

In the corner of my eye there is a vision of a life that could have been
In the corner of my mind there is a memory that I have held too dear
In the corner of my life where you once spent some of your time
I…I could spend all of my life

"Happy Home"

Who would care to feel the pain?
Who would dare to know the shame
Of this hateful, hurtful game?

I've kept your secret here with me
I've got a lock for every key
And I don't break so easily
(No, I won't break)

The doors are locked, windows closed
I will not let them into our happy home.
Your eyes are closed, my heart is cold
But I will not let them into our happy home.

I've got a history unknown
I've got a need to be alone
I've got a pocket full of stones

There is no need to be afraid
This is not the first time that I've played
And I always walk away

The doors are locked, windows closed
I will not let them into our happy home.
Your eyes are closed, my heart is cold
But I will not let them into our happy home.

Meme #3: Getting To Know ME!

Not that anyone cares, but what the hey...

1. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING?
Usually between 8:30-9:30 am

2. IF YOU COULD EAT LUNCH WITH ONE FAMOUS PERSON, WHO WOULD IT BE?
I prefer to eat alone.

3. GOLD OR SILVER?
Gold

4. WHAT WAS THE LAST FILM YOU SAW AT THE CINEMA?
It's been awhile. Probably Big Fish

5. FAVORITE TV SHOW?
NYPD Blue

6. WHAT DO YOU HAVE FOR BREAKFAST?
I don't eat breakfast, but I usually drink about a liter of Dr. Pepper in the
morning, if that counts.

7. WHAT WOULD YOU HATE TO BE LEFT IN A ROOM WITH?
A skunk.

8. CAN YOU TOUCH YOUR NOSE WITH YOUR TONGUE?
No.

9. WHAT INSPIRES YOU? WHY?
God. Sunsets. Music. Good writing. Whenever Good triumphs over Evil. Why? Because that's how God made me.

10. WHAT'S YOUR MIDDLE NAME?
Arthur

11. BEACH, CITY, OR COUNTRY?
Country, but beach sounds nice if it's a secluded one.

12. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Winter, without the ice.

13. FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Vanilla almond Häagen-Dazs. Breyer's Heath. Blue Bell's Pecans, Pralines & Cream. Baskin-Robbin's chocolate almond/vanilla double dip. Breyer's Reese's. Cookies and Cream. What can I say, I like ice cream. But the Häagen-Dazs is the best.

14. BUTTERED, PLAIN, OR SALTED POPCORN?
Buttered & salted. You can keep yer plain.

15. FAVORITE COLOR?
I have never had a favourite color. I like 'em all.

16. FAVORITE CAR?
Corvette convertable.

17. FAVORITE SANDWICH FILLING?
Swiss cheese.

18. TRUE LOVE?
Married since 94, so I hope so.

19. WHAT CHARACTERISTICS DO YOU DESPISE?
Condescension. Selfishness. Greediness. Machismo.

20. FAVORITE FLOWERS?
No preference. They're all pretty.

21. IF YOU HAD A BIG WIN IN THE LOTTERY, HOW LONG WOULD YOU WAIT TO TELL PEOPLE?
I don't play the lottery, but if someone insisted on giving me a large sum of money, I probably could not keep it a secret for more than 5 minutes.

23. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR BATHROOM?
White, with a "ladybug theme"...that's the wife's thing, of course. I'd just as soon do without all the ladybugs, but it's HER bathroom...

24. HOW MANY KEYS ON YOUR KEY RING?
Seven, although there's one that I have no idea what is used for...

25. WHERE WOULD YOU RETIRE TO?
A lakeside mansion.

26. CAN YOU JUGGLE? IF YES HOW MANY?
No.

27. FAVORITE DAY OF THE WEEK:
Sunday.

28. RED OR WHITE WINE?
Not much of a wine drinker, but I sometimes get a hankering for Burgundy.

29. WHAT DID YOU DO FOR YOUR LAST BIRTHDAY?
Nothing special.

30. DO YOU CARRY A DONOR CARD?
Not yet, but I am planning on becoming an organ donor when my driver's license is up for renewal this time last year...

31. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL?
I think horses are pretty cool, but I can't say I prefer them over any other animal.

32. IF YOU HAD TO EAT ONE FOOD FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Pizza...but man, would that get old after a few years...

8-Tracks Remembered

The following is an essay I wrote in June 2004, which I originally posted to the RS.com Castaways community boards. I figured I'd re-post it here, since I don't have anything new to say.. It's a bit rambling...

It's been almost 20 years since the demise of the 8-Track tape, and boy do I miss 'em!

Actually, no...I don't.In fact, having been spoiled by the pristine audio fidelity of the compact disc, I often wonder how in the world I ever tolerated the murky sound of 8-Tracks, not to mention the "bleed-over factor"...in case you're too young to remember, inevitably you could faintly hear music from, track 2 during soft passages or between songs on track 1 or 3 (depending on whether the head on your player was misaligned to the north or the south). Music from track 3 could very well be heard on tracks 2 & 4. And so forth and so on... Classical music, with it's dynamic range, was virtually impossible to enjoy on 8-Track for this very reason.

If that weren't bad enough, the very nature of the way music had to be sequenced on 8-Track tapes left you with no choice but to listen to at least 10 minutes of other tunes until you could hear your favourite song again. If you wanted to hear "Tomorrow Never Knows" twice you were required to listen to "Yellow Submarine" and "Got To Get You Into My Life" on the same track before the tape loop returned to "Tomorrow Never Knows". Now that particular example is not so bad, since there's not really a "bad" song on Revolver (with the possible exception of "Yellow Submarine", that is), but what about an album with 2 or 3 good songs plus a bunch of filler? Albums like that were a dime a dozen in the era of 8-Tracks (or at least it seemed that way). Tough. You just HAD to suffer through the songs that came before or after the ones you liked. Even that was not the worst thing about 8-Tracks. Inevitably, due to time restrictions, many songs recorded on 8-Tracks faded out in the middle to be continued on the following program (for those unfamiliar with the 8-Track medium, they contained 4 "Tracks" or "Programs", which contained about 15 minutes worth of music each and played in a successive loop). This was especially frustrating if you were really getting into a song, rockin' out and singing along when all of a sudden the volume starts to dwindle. Then you'd have to wait for the loud "click" that let you know the programs had changed (and if your player was old and worn out there was always the chance that it wouldn't "click", and instead would just repeat the program). By the time the song resumed you'd most likely lost the spirit of the whole thing.

I listened to Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here so many times on 8-Track that I can tell you exactly where the first program-change fade-out was...the volume began fading right in the middle of the baritone saxophone solo about 16 minutes into "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". By the time the volume was back to normal on the 2nd program the tenor sax solo had taken over. Even now, when I hear that passage on CD, I half expect it to start fading out around that time.
Another feature of the 8-Track tape which was facilitated by time restrictions was the "repeated song(s)". On some 8-Tracks, in an attempt to avoid the hated "fade-out", they would just duplicate a couple of songs spread out on multiple tracks. If you were lucky, the repeated songs would be the good ones you wanted to hear again, and if you timed it right you could switch programs and replay the song having only to hear a short portion of the one that preceded it. Which was fine and dandy, unless you were playing an album straight through, and then the repetition would inspire deja vu.

When 8-Tracks were at the height of popularity (a phenomenon proving that even total crap can catch on and spread like wildfire) you could buy what we used to call "bootlegs". 8-Track bootlegs weren't the same thing as vinyl LP bootlegs, but they were just as illegal and a bane to the record companies whose revenue was tapped into by the inexpensive, inferior copies. Bootlegs were sold mainly in truck stops and 5 & dime stores (though I used to purchase them in a restaurant my family dined in often). The people who made them would simply record a vinyl album to 8-Track, make a few hundred copies, paste an amateurish looking song list on the front or back and then sell 'em for a fraction of the cost the "better sounding" originals were going for.I confess that I owned a TON of bootlegs, and my favorite ones were the compilations, where the guys who made them would choose what they considered to be "The Best of British Rock" or "Acid Rock Monsters of the 70's" or "Super Hits Volume 35", etc. (some less imaginative bootleggers simply titled their compilations after the genre of music contained on it...for instance, you might find a bootleg with the one word moniker "Rock"). I used to LOVE my copy of "The Best of British Rock Volume 2", but now whenever I hear the closing chords of The Who's "Baba O'Riley" I get all pumped up and ready to hear the opening riffage of Jethro Tull's "Aqualung" (which followed hot on the trail of the Who song on the compilation). Nowadays I get somewhat confused when "Bargain" starts up on my CD of Who's Next because I'd become accustomed to the song order on the "Best of British Rock" collection. Oh well, it was a crash course in some great music...

Another thing about bootleg distributors...they weren't above selling half of a 2-record set as an individual product. I remember seeing The Beatles (White Album) Volume 1 sold seperately from Volume 2. And I vividly recall listening to the second half of Jesus Christ Superstar, even knowing it by heart before hearing the first half many months later. While vacationing with an aunt and uncle in Missouri I happened upon their copy of the entire rock opera and I spent several hours getting familiar with the part I'd never heard before. But ya know, I never really minded only having "Part 2"...There's STILL a "freshness" to the first half that I hear which sort of fades away when "The Last Supper" begins...
Still, if it had not been for cheap bootlegs I might never have heard Frank Zappa's We're Only In It For The Money, The Moody Blues' In Search Of The Lost Chord or Alice Cooper's early works, Easy Action and Pretties For You. Not only was I financially strapped, too much so to buy the "originals", but we didn't have a record/tape store in our small town that sold 'em. What we DID have was a revolving supply of bootleg 8-Tracks that rack jobbers would supply to the 99'er restaurant...

I did, however, have my share of "original" 8-tracks, most of which were purchased in the clearance racks at Sound Warehouse in OKC (which I always made a point to visit whenever we were up that way), all bought for between a quarter and a dollar. I got some pretty doggone good stuff in those bargain bins, if I say so myself. A short list would include bands like Nektar, Magma, Sparks, the Pretty Things, the Faces, P.F.M., Focus...a real prog-rockers wet dream. At one point I had at least 30 8-Tracks on the Beserkley label, including a COMPLETE Jonathon Richman & the Modern Lovers collection.

As my family's personal economy improved I was able to buy more "original" label 8-Tracks, facillitated by the grand opening of the much missed "Record Parlour" in a nearby city. My pride and joy was a complete Led Zeppelin catalogue on 8-Track. Yep, I was actually very proud of that, believe it or not. My brother, inspired by my completist tendencies, wound up collecting all of the KISS albums on 8-Track, and he seemed to be as fond of them as I was my Zeppelin tapes. At least the KISS songs were usually too short to require fade-outs...the same could not be said of "Achille's Last Stand"...

The only thing I ever had that probably sounded just as good on 8-Track as it did on vinyl was Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music. Each selection on that album was exactly the same length anyway (13:01, I think), so there were no fade-outs or song repeats, and with this album you could randomly switch between the four programs and not be able to tell that you were listening to something different (the bleed-over factor probably even worked to this tape's advantage, making it even more densely noisy than it already was). I always thought Metal Machine Music sounded like someone fiddling around with a short wave radio during a bad electrical storm...

I hear that copies of Metal Machine Music on 8-Track sell for hundreds of dollars to 8-Track collectors these days. I've read an article where Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore was singing the praises of it's 8-Track incarnation, so maybe that's helped spike the interest amongst collectors. Can't imagine why anyone would want one, though...Yes, the glory days of 8-Track tapes are long gone history. Anyone who complains about the sound quality of even a non-remastered CD was most likely not around during the 8-Track age, or (as is the case with me) has become spoiled by digital audio's superior fidelity.

If this essay has brought back nostalgic memories of the bygone 8-Track era or whetted your appetite to know more about those neat little cartridges we used to shove into the player...usually also requiring a matchbook inserted between the tape and the player's receptacle to prevent wobbly sound or excessive bleed-through...I suggest you check out 8-Track Heaven. These guys seem to hope the 8-Track will one day make a grand comeback...

Playlist 4.25-26.05

Last night I worked 8 training hours with the individual I will be providing service for and so he was the one who chose the music we listened to.
First he played a compilation CD of really old rap hits, like "You Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer, "Wild Thing" by Tone Loc, "Bust-a-Move" by Young MC, "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice, "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-Lot...you get the picture.
Crazy thing is, I actually found myself sorta enjoying it.
Can't say the same for the Grease soundtrack he played next. Ugh. What a wretched collection of dreck that is.
He also played a select few songs on the soundtrack from The Matrix, and it was the first really hard rock I've listened to in quite awhile.
Inspired me to pull out Tool's Undertow this morning as I cleaned house. Overall, I have always liked Undertow quite a bit, but there are a couple of songs that take me back to some negative emotions I used to associate and nurture with them ("Swamp", mainly). Don't like to go there, if you know what I mean, but can't deny that the album seriously rocks.

But an old geezer like me can only take so much of the hard stuff...
So I followed it up with Ultra-Vivid Scene's Joy 1967-1990 and am currently listening to UVS's self-titled debut.

OT: Random Thoughts 4.20.05 Edition

Random Thought #1: It's been over three weeks since the agency I work for split up the individuals in the house I was staffed in. I'm a bit miffed about it because as far as I'm concerned I should have been given the choice of continuing to work with MM, who I've been with since January 04 and was the first HTS he had. Did the area director know, when she made the staffing assignments, that the HTS who wound up working with him had repeatedly broken policy by basically letting MM stay at his (the HTS's) house EVERY SINGLE TIME he was scheduled to work with him? In other words, this HTS never spent a single night at MM's own house, which is what he's paid to do...instead, he just stayed at his OWN house and let MM stay with him.
It's no use complaining...what's done is done.

It was my own choice to leave the house after MM and DC were moved out, with TM being the only one of the three left...and I made that choice partly because I didn't want to work with TM anymore, but mainly because I knew that the other two individuals who were being moved into the house were 10 times more volatile and difficult than even TM. I'll never understand the logic in putting these three guys together. I had occassion to speak to one of the HTSs who still work in that house a week ago...he told me it was a madhouse, with windows being broken, holes being punched into the walls, and non-stop chaos. He showed me a vicious looking abrasion on his arm that he explained was the result of one of the individuals biting him while he attempted to restrain the guy from fighting with another individual.

I knew this was going to happen, and I also knew that I wanted none of it. When
I talked to the area director I made it perfectly clear that my bottom line from now on is that I WILL NOT WORK WITH "FIGHTERS". I'm just too old and I don't enjoy the adrenaline rush that is part and parcel of successfully dealing with these situations.

It took them long enough to reassign me to another individual, but today I spend 8 training hours with BL, who I will be staffed with full time beginning next week.

Or maybe not...

BL has 3 cats in his house and I am allergic to their dander to the point where I cannot be around them for even an hour without severe reactions. When I was first introduced to BL in his house I was there for about 45 minutes and I paid for it the next two days with itchy, watery eyes and sinus congestion.

I have been taking Claritin for the past 6 days, hoping for a preventative when I go in today...I don't mind taking the stuff on a regular basis if it will protect me from the allergies, but here's the deal...if it DOESN'T work there is no way I can work in that house. Period.

We shall find out today.

As much as I dread the thought of having to go out and hustle up a new job, there is a part of me that would MUCH rather take on something new and different. I've been in this field (working with the developmentally disabled in their homes) for 2 years now, with 3 years previous experience working in a group home situation. I just don't know if this is where I want or need to be. I have strong doubts that I have the patience required to do this job the way it needs to be done (the last 2 years notwithstanding).

Random Thought #2: Why does my computer make such funny noises?

Random Thought #3: I finished up Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night. Wow, what a depressing play it is! I checked in my copy of the Video & DVD Guide 2003 and found that the movie version that features Katherine Hepburn received the full 5 star rating. I'm anxious to see that, but I doubt any of the video stores in town have it.

Random Thought #4: I don't know the population figures for the town where I live...suffice to say that it is the textbook definition of "small town"...but it amazes me that we have 3, count 'em, THREE video rental stores here. Is the video rental business really that good? Is this town so hard-up for entertainment that it can support all three of 'em? You'd think ONE would be enough. And of all three video stores, I'd bet they have at least 75% of the exact same titles in stock between them. AT LEAST and probably up into the 85-90% mark. Sigh.
Random Thought #5: Mainly listening to XM the last few days, especially Audio Visions and The System. Here are the last 3 CDs I've listened to in their entirety:


Anoushka Shankar Live at Carnegie Hall

King Crimson Larks Tongues in Aspic

King Crimson The ContruKction of Light

Niteshade...Stupid Name, Great Band

Niteshade 1991. Left to right: James Casey (bass, vocals), Mark Bronson (vocals, guitar), Gregg Dobbs (lead guitar), Alan Spicer (drums, vocals)

This is a publicity photo of a country band I played in way back in 1990-1991. At the time this shot was taken we called ourselves NITESHADE. Dumb name, I realize. It was the drummer's brainchild. The drummer was also the weakest link in the musical chain...nice guy, don't get me wrong, nothing personal, he just was not a very good drummer. Eventually we replaced him and, figuring he would be upset if we kept playing as Niteshade, we gladly changed our name to MARK BRONSON & THE BROOKLINE BROTHERS BAND. There is a story behind the "Brookline Bros.", having to do with how so many people thought Gregg and I were brothers, but that's really about as much as I'd want to share regarding it's origin.

We played on a regular basis at the Diamond Ballroom in OKC, back when they had huge country music dances every weekend. We were also much beloved at the Watering Hole in Edmond, Ann's Club in Sulphur, the 200 Club (where the Village Inn used to be at the 200 Mile exit of Interstate 40) and were always a big hit at the Continental Club, which was also in Sulphur. There were a few other dives we got booked in periodically, but those were our mainstays.

Niteshade/MB &the BB Band were your typical Okie money-making honky tonk band. We played everything from Merle Haggard and George Jones to Clint Black and George Strait. Our ace in the hole was an ability to play rock songs with authenticity, as we had all played in strictly rock bands at different stages in our "careers". Most C&W acts around these parts sounded like honky tonk bands TRYING to play rock when the inevitable request for a rock song was made. Trust me, there's nothing quite like a honky tonk band playing rock and roll to make you stop requesting rock songs and be content with the country tunes. But we were different, and so everybody was happy regardless of the kind of music they wanted to dance to.

Made a ton of money with these guys and had a great time, for the most part.
Here's to 'em.

Welcome to the Ring

Now that my Listening Room is officially a member of the Music of All Kinds webring, I've been surfing the ring to get an idea of what kind of company I'm hanging with. Here are a few of the sites I happened to stumble upon.

If you read my recent post about the "against pop" website, you know I'm not a classical music snob. Still, there's a part of me that recoils in horror at this headline I found at the Alicia Keys-Siren of the Streets website, "MOVE OVER BEETHOVEN...ALICIA KEYS HAS ARRIVED".

Neil Young, in his song "Union Man", stood up for the working musician and gave us a slogan we could call our own: "Live Music Is Best". Somehow, I don't think this guy qualifies...Ladies and Gentlemen, all the way from Parkland, Florida I bring you GARY LAWRENCE AND HIS VIRTUAL QUINTET!!!

Can't say I've ever heard of GREY, but now that I've stumbled across his website I admit to being a tad curious. Especially after reading this: "Grey blends the psychedelic, progressive, acoustic, and alternative stylings of Rush, Yes, the Beatles, the Doors, and Pink Floyd to create a unique rock and pop sound sometimes compared to that of Dave Matthews Band, Phish, and David Bowie".
If it were me blending those band's stylings to create my own unique sound and someone compared it to the Dave Matthews Band, I think I'd take that as a.) a greivous insult and/or b.) a firm indication that I need to put down my guitar and concentrate on another hobby...
But that's just me...

"We have a technical...
...normal service will resume shortly"
Sounds like a Gary Numan lyric, doesn't it?
Apparently Night Talk, a Numan fan site is having some difficulties of the technical kind.

JILLIAN SANTELLA WANTS TO ROCK YOUR SOCKS OFF!
Well, if I weren't so old and so married I think my socks would indeed enjoy being rocked off by this melodious vixen. Maybe your socks are in the mood for being rocked off and you don't have the same restrictions I've imposed upon myself...sample Jillian's wares at Steve Hammontree's personal website.

Okay, enough already. I feel as if I have wasted much precious time this afternoon. Click on the Music of All Kinds banner below if you, too, have some time to waste. It's a real eye-opener, lemme tell you.

Joy Division Obsession Remembered

Ian Curtis of JOY DIVISION

There was a time in the very early 80's when I listened to the music of Joy Division obsessively. I'd read a review in Creem magazine of their album Still, which was released about a year after frontman Ian Curtis had hanged himself, and the review had piqued my interest, to say the least. It spoke of the music as being haunted, psychotic glimpses into the mind of a man on the edge of life, threatening to jump...or at least, that's how I remember it...'s been over 20 years, but that was the gist of the over-all positive review.

I immediately went to Shadowplay Records in Norman, the only record store in the state that I knew would be cool enough to have a copy in stock, and laid down about 30 bucks for the import 2 record set (which came with a neat little Joy Division stick-pin button). At the time my depression periodically manifested itself in an extreme interest in dead rock stars and I had to hear these messages from beyond from a guy who looked the grim reaper straight in the eyes and said, "I won't wait, let's get outta here NOW!"

A bit strange, I admit, but that's who I was after I had tasted freedom immediately after graduating high school, trying to figure out what I would do with my life. It was a difficult period, fighting back the demons inside that hoped to convince me that I was wasting my time.

I listened to anything and everything I could find by Joy Division. For a time their music was practically all I would listen to.

I still have the Heart and Soul box set (which includes remastered versions of both classic JD albums, Unknown PLeasures and Still, along with much more), a few rarities discs, and a copy of Still on CD, but truth be told I rarely listen to them anymore. I still acknowledge that they are essential recordings of the post-punk era and they have lost none of their power. But hearing those songs now takes me back to a time in my life that I'm not fond of remembering, for various reasons..not all bad.

Anyhoo, I only bring it up because I'd found the swell photo of Ian Curtis above that I don't recall having seen before and I wanted to share a link to a Guardian interview with his ex-wife, Deborah.

Happy (early) Birthday To Me!

Nothing fancy, mind you, but it's exactly what I've wanted and needed for the bedroom. This is the RCA Model 2041 compact audio system (photo removed). 100 watts of power (plenty for it's intended purpose), 5-disc CD changer, tuner and a line-in for another component...well, that's all I need, in the stereo itself, at least...I'm still gonna have to spring for another XM Home Stereo adaptor to run into the auxilary, but I can find one of those for around $25. It shouldn't take me too long to get it all set up.
Anyhoo, it fits nicely on my bedside table with the speakers perched on either end of the bedposts. Sounds mighty good.
The only down side of the whole deal is that in accepting this as an early birthday gift, I may have to wait a while to get that new Autechre CD.

FOLLOW-UP: This stereo turned out to be a complete piece of shit. I replaced it with another RCA product which also turned out to be a piece of shit. I no longer purchase RCA products and am quite happy with the Sony I use now.---March 2008

EnTranced

Victor Dinaire (host of FUTURE PROGRESSION)

Sometimes you just have to forget your preconceived notions of what you like and/or don't like and flush them down the toilet. Admit to yourself that tastes change with age and experience. It's that way with food (how I used to hate onions and green peppers, but they sure taste good to me in a Philly Steak submarine sandwich these days). It's that way with television shows (I can hardly believe that I actually watched Family Ties on a weekly basis and it took me until NYPD Blue's run was nearly finished before I finally caught on to the genius of that great show). It's that way with reading (I never thought I'd ever WANT to make it through Tolstoy's War And Peace, but last year after I plodded through the lengthy tome I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it).
So it only stands to reason that it's the same with music. Just because I never gave trance the time of day and dismissed it outright because I found the pulsating, persistant metronomical bottom-end beat to be more than I was willing to subject myself to at the time...well, that didn't mean I'd never come to a point in my musical evolution where I might actually enjoy it.
Tuesday night wanting to try something different from my usual fare, I threw caution to the wind, tuned into XM Radio's "The System", put on the headphones and caught DJ Victor Dinaire's program, FUTURE PROGRESSION. I had finally caught on to the idea that the repetitive beat, in trance music, is the equivalent of the watch a hypnotist swings in front of your face and tells you to stare at, then lulls you into the hypnotic state where the mind is most vulnerable to suggestion. The constant sequenced beat, I deduced, was meant to serve as a sort of grounding mechanism to keep me from getting swept away by the layers upon layers of swirling sound that bloomed, blossomed and faded around it's thud. In a way, I was reminded of Autechre and the IDM/Glitch that I already champion, in that there's so much going on you may not notice something that's been happening for several seconds until it has moved to the forefront of the mix, catches your attention and plays out, letting you discover something else that you may have missed when it creeped into the sonic jungle, your mind being occupied by the last melody/rythmic construction and, of course, that ear-drum pounding thump.
Long story short, I found myself quite immersed in the seamless flow of Dinaire's jockeying. Having never really listened to trance all that much in the past, I can say that he is "the best I've ever heard"...which means absolutely NOTHING since I can't compare his technique to anyone else's. I could not for the life of me throw out an opinion on how his mixing compares to that of other trance giants like Paul Oakenfold and John Digweed.
Now that Dinaire has eased me into an appreciation of trance music (and look ma! No drugs!), I'll have to seek out some tracks by Oakenfold, who was always very popular at the CD store I used to work at. I'll also pull out that BT CD I never really listened to and give it another whirl.
No, I have no idea where Victor Dinaire rates on the chart of Who's Who In Trance, but I don't really care. I enjoy his work, and it opened my ears to a whole new world of sound. I'll be listening to FUTURE PROGRESSION whenever I can.

A Cobra Amongst Us!

As a member of an internet community comprised of people who used to post on the now defunct Rolling Stone.com message boards, I have had the opportunity to converse with and get to know some very interesting people.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to one of them...the enigmatic genius who goes by the name "Meursault".
Perhaps a clue to his personality can be gleaned from the knowledge that he took the name of the main character from Albert Camus' The Stranger as his community username. Those of us who have had the opportunity to read the thoughts he shares in his posts can attest to his being a sincere seeker on a quest for spiritual enlightenment...
But only today, when he posted the above photo, were we allowed to see the side of his psyche that reveals his true nature...
Now we know, and the knowledge is somehow both comforting and yet terrifying.
Meursault is a COBRA!
Never, in a million years, would I personally have suspected that Meursault had been initiated into that most illustrious sect, the Cobras. Not that I didn't think he had what it took to hang with that rough-and-tumble lot, but he just seemed too...I dunno...innocent, maybe, to even know what the Cobras stood for. More fool me. Can't judge a book by it's cover, that's the lesson I'll not soon forget after recovering from the shock that hit me when I first saw him clad in his Cobra attire.
Call it a fit of jealousy on my part, I suppose, this overblown reaction I'm having to Meursault's newfound status as a member of the Cobras. After all, I have wanted to be a Cobra ever since the first time I saw a regiment of them protesting out front of the CD Warehouse I once was employed at. I had the nerve to ask one what they were so mad about and he told me that they were upset because they'd heard that the owner had refused to give a job back to the best employee he'd ever had, and even though they didn't know the particulars of the situation, they were more than glad to be able to exercise their freedom of assembly to protest the principle of the matter.
I didn't even have the heart to tell him that I was that ex-employee...that I had been the one to offer my services once again to the musically illiterate owner and that I was the one who had been so cold-heartedly snubbed. I like to think that the reason I withheld that information from that Cobra was because I didn't even WANT to go back to work there, since the current batch of bozos who run the place had let it turn into such a big dump that I doubted even I could have fixed up. But the REAL reason I kept my silence was because of a strange mixture of intimidation and respect that I harbored for these Cobras. "Let 'em protest", I figured, "Maybe they'll teach those numbskulls a lesson!"
And now I find that my old internet buddy Meursault is hooked up with 'em.
Hats off to ya, Meursault.
You are da man.

BTW, Meursault DID give me permission to post this photo, but he wanted me to let it be known that the Chicago poster in the background belongs to his roommate. I don't think he's much of a fan of that band. However, he says, the T Rex poster beside it DOES belong to him.
Would have expected no less from a Cobra.

Post Secret

On a regular visit to one of my favorite blogs, this is not for you, I learned about this blog, Post Secret. It is a project in which people are asked to send a postcard of a secret they've never shared with anyone before, with the understanding that it will be shown on the blog. A sort of Postal Confessional shared with the world under the blanket of anonymity.

Heart-wrenching...when it's not deeply troubling.

I just wanted to share it with you.

Be forewarned, however...there's some disturbing stuff to be found here...

Burn These "Bridges"!

I finally did it!

After owning the album for all these years, at last I was able to sit through the Stones' Bridges To Babylon from start to finish!

Part of the problem with the album is that it's just too long. It's nice that the digital CD medium allows for 61 minutes of music (never coulda got that much on an LP), but the sad truth is that there's barely 25 minutes worth of decent songs here (and the keyword is "decent", since none of these tracks measure up to the Stones' better material).
That's somewhat harsh, I suppose, since it's always entertaining to listen to Keith Richards' guitar ideas, and there are many good ones here. Still, that hardly makes up for Jagger's over-wrought vocals and the slew of cheesy, half-baked lyrics. There's something very creepy about a man his age singing, "Might as well get juiced". Yeah, go ahead and get juiced, Mickey. After all these years that's the best course of action your acquired wisdom can offer? Life must REALLY be worth living, eh?

"Gunface" has our hero trying his best to be sinister by threatening a female with a gun. "I taught her everything," he boasts, "I taught her how to dream,

I taught her everything, I'm gonna teach her how to scream." Ooooh, that's frightening. He goes on, "I got a debt to repay, I ain't gonna lie , I put a gun in your face, You'll pay for the crime..."

Jagger seems to be trying so hard to be relevant to this big, bad, mean old world we live in that he has to resort to homicide fantasies. That's a long stretch from the days when he could provide genuine goosebumps by introducing himself as Lucifer, telling about the nature of his game.

But there are a couple of enjoyable songs amongst the dreck. "Too Tight", with it's core of Keef's trademarked slop-riffing, is a fun tune. Richards proves that he can do "creepy" with much more finesse than Jagger with "Thief In The Night" (though that one segues into one of the worst tracks on the album, the closer which asks the musical question "How Can I Stop?"...to which the logical answer is, "I dunno, but I sure wish you'd find a way"). "Always Suffering" shows a depth and maturity that is lacking throughout most of Bridges To Babylon.

It's not a ghastly terrible album...the Rolling Stones have been around too long and have too much collective talent to put out a total flop (though Voodoo Lounge comes awfully close)...and speaking of the band's collective talent, I have to say that Bill Wyman is seriously missed throughout this batch of songs. I've never really thought that Wyman was ever one of the genre's most notable bassists, but comparing his work on previous Stones albums to the uninventive ones on Bridges To Babylon and I find myself reconsidering. Keith probably likes it that way, though. Doesn't steal attention from his playing.

Now that I've listened to this record in it's entirety I feel as if I've accomplished something. Don't ask me what, but something, I'm sure. And it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be all the times when I yanked it out of the player around the time "Low Down" (the 3rd track) hit it's stride. But there is the very real possibility (might as well call it an inevitability) that I will never listen to the whole thing again for as long as I live.

And the album cover is so gaudy and over-done that it's frightening. Definitely one for the Kitcsh files. It's like a portrait of Mick Jagger reincarnated as a lion. Hoo-boy.

Random Thoughts: 4.9.05 Edition

Well, I hope everyone likes the little photo stream at the top of the page. You wouldn't believe how frustrating it can be when I make even a tiny mistake. Basically the photos are of the groups/artists/composers that I've listed in the "Music I Like" sidebar, in the same order (with the exception of Charlie Hall, who I can't seem to find a picture of). I realize that the size of the images makes some of them hard to recognize (there's no way anyone could tell that the Grateful Dead is in their slot)...but that's why I chose to simply reproduce the sidebar list. The perceptive viewer will figure it out. Not that this blog has any regular viewers at all, perceptive or not...
Anyhoo, a few random thoughts...
RANDOM THOUGHT #1: I mentioned my local video store in the Final Cut review I posted the other day. There's something about that store that really bugs me. They take it upon themselves to place "NC-17" stickers on certain "R" rated movies they think deserve it. There are several examples, but the only ones I can think of off the top of my head are We Were Soldiers (the Mel Gibson WWII vehicle) and the Kevin Costner/Robert Duvall film Open Range (a GREAT movie, if you haven't seen it, by all means you should).
It kinda bugs me that the proprieters of this store think their judgement is more reliable than that of the Motion Picture Ratings folk. Saving Private Ryan is a much more violent film than We Were Soldiers, and yet it retains it's "R" rating. For the life of me I cannot figure out how Open Range merited an "NC-17". Sure, there's a bloody shoot-out at the end, and it's pretty graphic, but no more so than several of the other westerns on their shelves they haven't bothered to re-rate.
It just doesn't make a lick of sense to me.
RANDOM THOUGHT #2: Here's a shout out to the Blog Oklahoma web ring that I've been a part of for about a week now. I'll have to start posting some stuff with a "local flavor" for all my fellow Okies who might just stumble in here from surfin' that excellent ring.
RANDOM THOUGHT #3: Might as well start now with the "local flavor"...and "flavor" is the key word here. The last week I've rediscovered just how delicious Robertson's ham is. If you've never tasted Robertson's ham, well, m'friend, you just have not enjoyed the best ham on the face of the earth. I'm not even much of a pork eater, and rarely eat ham, but that's because I'd forgotten just how delicious Robertson's is. The Robertson's store I patronize is the one located at I-40's 200 Mile Exit (the Prague-Seminole exit, about 50 miles east of OKC), and the proprieter there, Gary Bloomer, is one of the nicest fellers you could ever want to do business with. They also serve up some mighty fine bacon, sausage & beef jerky, among other delicacies, but you REALLY need to get ahold of some of that ham. It's a tad pricey (around 7 and a half dollars a pound, with the tax), but I'm here to tell you that it is SO worth every penny, you won't regret spending the difference ahead of any brand of ham you can name.
And NO, Mr. Bloomer has NOT paid me to advertise for him!
RANDOM THOUGHT #4: Those Spiderwick books for young 'uns are pretty doggone entertaining! Y'see, I've been reading to my 10 year old son quite a bit the last couple of days, and that's one that we're getting through together. It's something I never would have chose to read on my own, but I'll be derned if it I'm not enjoying it as much as my boy is! And the same goes for all the Hank The Cowdog books that I read to him. Funny, funny stuff...
RANDOM THOUGHT #5: Well, it's back to the old grindstone for me. The agency I work for has FINALLY gotten around to re-assigning me after 2 weeks of my waiting, each passing day finding me more and more content to just sit around and tinker on the computer (that's one of the reasons I've been able to mess with this blog so much). But they sho' nuff don't pay me to do this and a man's got to earn his keep (at least that's what the Good Book and the wife tell me), so the unpaid vacation is coming to a screeching halt this Wednesday, when I'm scheduled to get my annual CPR re-certification. I'll also meet the individual I'll be working with earlier that morning, and if all is hunky dory (and I don't have any reason to think that it won't be) I imagine we'll work my name into the staffing pattern. Then on Thursday I'll take care of that pesky annual Medication Administration Training refresher (a requirement for the job itself, but kind of a waste of time when one considers that the guy I'm working with doesn't even take medication at this point).
Not to worry, O legion of devoted Listening Room readers (and there are, what, at least 2 or 3 of you out there, right?), I'll still have lots of down time to tinker with this silly blog (as well as Nausea & Bliss, it's weird sibling).
RANDOM THOUGHT #6: Of all the genres of music available for the discriminating ear to savour, there is only one that I can say I truly detest. Broadway show tunes. I mean, I'd rather listen to elevator muzak than that junk. The only exceptions I can think of are Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar, and I can't even enjoy that last one cuz of all the shoddy theology that makes me cringe throughout.

The Legendary Simple Plan Break-up Hoax

Last year around this time the music world was alternately shocked and delighted by the news that A Simple Plan had broken up. For those of you who don't know (and that would likely include the majority of people over the age of 15), A Simple Plan is an "emo" band very popular with ritalin addicted youth struggling with major depression.
When I found out about the group's dissolution, I wrote this letter that I sent to the editors of Rolling Stone magazine. In their infinite wisdom they decided not to publish it, so I would like to share it with you:

Big MTV newsflash...apparently A Simple Plan has
broken up.
No doubt this event will shake the popular music world to it's very foundations, the repercussions of which will effect the creativity of all musicians currently
performing and recording worldwide. The break-up of A Simple Plan may well go down in history as the most notorious disintegration of a band since the Beatles
called it quits in 1970. Fans and non-fans alike will one day find themselves wondering "what could have been" had the bozos in A Simple Plan worked out their
differences and continued on...
A Simple Plan is dead...
...Long live A Simple Plan
I can't stop the tears from flowing...My sadness at the close of A Simple Plan's reign is overwhelming. The look on John Norris' face when he broke the news to all those TRL teeny boppers said it all...it was the expression of a man whose entire universe has been sucked into a black hole, chewed up, swallowed down
and then vomited back out to continue on without the crutch of A Simple Plan's awesome tunes. It was reminiscent of Walter Cronkite's despair when he
announced to the world, on a CBS Breaking News spot in 1963, that president John F. Kennedy had been shot. The sorrow in Norris' voice put me in mind of the radio
announcer from whom I'd learned of John Lennon's murder almost 25 years ago, and the mourning was not long in enveloping me, drowning me in it's black acid grief. I cannot even begin to count the tears that have already fallen from my swollen eyes since first finding out about A Simple Plan's demise.
And to make it even more heart- breaking, Norris talked to the lead singer on the phone (I should be shot in the head for not knowing his name...shame on me) and he
explainied how the guys in the band were all wanting to move in different musical directions and how he just couldn't tolerate 'em right now. I heard no hope for a
reunion in his discouraged voice as he tried to bring optimism to the crushed audience members by suggesting a possible solo career. Such a concession was just not enough to soften the blow that A Simple Plan is no more.
But alas, A Simple Plan is no more...
What's worth living for NOW, I ask you???

I don't know about you, but I thought that was pretty doggone funny.
And it would have been even funnier if the whole thing had not been a prank pulled by the members of A Simple Plan, who had never really broken up. I figured it was some sort of test they were giving their fans, to gauge the level of dissappointment that would break out at the news of A Simple Plan's cessation. If I remember correctly, there were a lot of sad faces in the TRL crowd that day when the news was announced.
But none of them were nearly as sad as the look on my own face when I found out that A Simple Plan was still a force to be reckoned with.

Just Plain Weirdness Indeed

Okay...I just heard something on XM Online's Special X channel that completely validates it's description of "Just Plain Weirdness".
A lounge jazz version of Metallica's "Enter Sandman" as performed by PAT BOONE!
The scary thing about it is...I actually kinda like it.
In fact, I think it's superior to the original!
Ha!
Sorry, Metallica fans.

"The Final Cut"...This IS Sci-Fi

The Final Cut
Robin Williams, Mira Sorvino, Jim Caviezel
directed by Omar Naim

In between listening to Shostakovich string quartets and reading Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh I found time to watch a DVD last night. I don't watch a whole lot of movies these days. I rarely go to the theater. I don't know what's wrong with me, cuz I just don't see all that much on the shelves of the local video/DVD rental store that appeals (the blame for that may fall on the store itself, which doesn't exactly have the most diverse selection). But yesterday I came across a fairly new release on DVD, The Final Cut, that looked promising from the blurb on the back of the box, which read:

Welcome to the not-so-distant future, where implanted microchips record every single moment of a person's life. Upon death, it becomes the job of a "cutter" like Alan Hakman (Oscar-winner Robin Williams) to edit down the deceased's lifetime into a fitting memorial film. For years he has used his god-like power of final cut to absolve the dead of a multitude of sins. But when, on his latest assignment, he views a terrible secret that can't be erased, Hakman finds his own life in jeopardy in this riveting science fiction thriller.

That's a pretty good summary of the film's premise (though I'm not so sure about this "terrible secret that can't be erased" bit). Robin Williams is in fine form as the "cutter" (picking up the mantle of playing the "creepy guy" like he did so well in One Hour Photo and Insomnia). Director Omar Naim has a firm grip on his craft and leaves quite an impression, especially considering that this is a first-time effort.

The Final Cut passed, with flying colors, my test of a film's quality...it was exceptionally thought-provoking. It made me think outside of the film itself in considering the ramifications of having everything one sees (all that memory is made of) recorded and stored for posterity. It also tackles the notion that our memories are not always in alignment with what actually happened, how they can be tainted and completely changed by our own perception as well as our personality.

The "cutter" really does have certain "god-like powers", in that he is privy to EVERYTHING that his/her subject has ever seen and done...the good and the bad. It is the cutter's job to choose the memories that will be shown at the deceased's "rememory", a strange morphing of funeral and cinema in which a relatively short film of their memories (as edited by the cutter in accordance with the family's wishes) is shown for the benefit of family, friends and loved ones.
Can you imagine a life lived with the knowledge that a stranger is going to one day see all that you have done, even the things you don't remember doing? All that you've mentally blocked out will be on display for the cutter to edit. And what kind of person is it that can do this cutter's work, eyewitness to the depths of depravity and sin that everyone, in one way or another, succumbs to at some point in their life? Williams' character, Alan Hakman, is exceptionally successful at his vocation, and you have to wonder if it's because he enjoys his work so much, being a peeping tom staring into the dark side.

But it's not like that. Hakman, by cleaning up the memory-life of others, is only doing something for them that he wishes he could do for himself. For you see, he is tormented by a memory from his own childhood. All his life he has blamed himself for what he remembers as the death of a 10 year old boy who made his acquaintance when he was that age. He sees himself, in his role as cutter, as the modern equivalent of a "sin-eater". The "sin-eater", in ancient tradition, was a social outcast who took on the sins of a dead person through a ritual in which they ate bread and salt placed upon the corpse by relatives, accepting payment for this act by removing coins placed upon the eyes.

Hakman sees himself in this role and justifies himself as one who "forgives people's sins long after they've been punished for them". Perhaps, in so doing, he seeks forgiveness for his own sins. By taking on the burden of the iniquity of so many others, he hopes for atonement (from God?) for what he perceives as the damning transgression he "committed" in his youth.

I won't spoil it and say what happens, but take my word that this really is a "thriller" in the best sense of the word, and that it doesn't rely on what has become the cliched stock-in-trade for these types of movies, the "twist". Oh, there's a bit of a twist in it...I guess that's become the expected norm...but the entire movie does not depend upon it and it doesn't really leave you wanting to see it again with an eye to how the twist plays into it (like, for instance, The Sixth Sense).

You'll want to see it again because the concept is so intriguing and the execution, on behalf of director and cast, is so well done.

This is TRUE science fiction, in the tradition of Memento and Twelve Monkeys. I get so frustrated with the local video store when I look at their sci-fi/fantasy section. It's obvious that their definition of "science fiction" ALWAYS involves outer space and their view of "fantasy" is pretty much boiled down to "a movie starring dragons". They keep the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the Action section (where you can also find Twelve Monkeys, Minority Report and even Starship Troopers...you'd think they'd at least figure that last one into their own scheme of what sci-fi is). The Final Cut, even though the blurb on the box explicitly spells it out for you that this is a SCIENCE FICTION THRILLER, is located in the Drama section (right there with Memento). Okay...so it IS a drama, as opposed to a Comedy or a Horror film, and I guess it didn't pass their credentials as an "action" movie (not enough explosions, I guess).

But take my word for it; as one who has read an awful lot of science fiction (used to love Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction) I can attest that The Final Cut is science fiction at it's very best. The kind that not only helps you envision the possibilities of the future but also makes you consider the ramifications (moral, ethical & practical) of what those possibilities entail.

If I were using a Five Star rating system, this film would easily earn 4 and 1/2 stars. I noticed that Siskel and Roeper had both given it the coveted "Thumbs Up", and I would have to agree.

On a Shostakovich Jag

The last several days I have been obsessed with one particular piece of music. I often go through stages where I will listen to the work of one artist/composer/band almost exclusively for a period of days...I call these "jags". Periodically I find myself on a "Dylan jag", where I plumb the deep resources of my Bob Dylan CDs. Red House Painters jags are not uncommon, depending upon my mood. Autechre jags crop up fairly regularly and they will often morph into "general electronic music jags".
But rarely (if ever) have I found myself immersed in a jag such as the one I'm on now, which is all about one single piece of music...namely Dmitri Shostakovich's 8th String Quartet.
I very much enjoy string quartets as a general rule. I have complete collections of Beethoven's and Dvorak's, and believe it or not, I actually have three different recordings of Shostakovich's complete string quartets (the one performed by the Fitzwilliam String Quartet is the one currently getting so much attention, though I also very much enjoy the live recording I have by the always great Emerson Quartet and I can't dismiss the first versions I obtained of the works, as rendered by the Eber String Quartet). I love the Beethoven quartets and they're probably my favorite. The Dvorak quartets have not revealed their genius to me just yet...I'm probably not at the point in the evolution of my musical appreciation to fully grasp their charms.
Can't really explain why I am so enamored of the Shostakovich quartets, but I am. And I find it very difficult to write about this music, or to even explain why the 8th String Quartet has me in it's sway to the point where I have listened to it before going to sleep every night for the last week. As with any great classical piece, it only gets better the more familiar one becomes with it.
It's a mournful piece, and I've read it described as "an instrumental war requiem". That is as good a description as I could come up with. I have a penchant for melancholy music (see the afore-mentioned Red House Painters reference)...perhaps that explains why the 8th so appeals to me.
This may be the first time I've obsessed over a single piece of music, but it will not be the last, because I hope to develop the same admiration for other masterworks that such repeated exposure inherently spawns.

XM 'Bonuses' Kick In

Well, the "bonuses" XM subscribers were offered with the $3 rate increase kicked in on April 2. Now those of us who didn't think the Opie & Anthony show sounded like it was worth paying extra for can find out. And I kinda feel sorry for those XM listeners who don't have a computer, because they wont be able to enjoy the XM Online that was the only other bonus we got for the extra 3 bucks. Those poor folks (as well as those who are still on dial-up) are basically paying $3.00 for something they didn't feel was worth $1.99 when it was a Premium option.
Doesn't seem fair, ifn' you ask me.
But alas, my wife and I recently made the upgrade to DSL and so I can enjoy the Online service and the two "Online Exclusives" that, IMO, are worth logging in for...I think I've already mentioned in a previous post that if I'm gonna listen to XM it's gonna be through my hi-fi, not the cheesy computer speakers we've got. Still, there are 2 channels (EnLighten and Special X) that may just give those chincy little Realistic computer speakers a work out.
EnLighten is a channel devoted exclusively to Southern Gospel music. I really wish this were available as a regular XM channel, as I find that I enjoy this style of music more and more as time goes by. There's an earnestness and sincerity to these songs that is sadly missing in a lot of contemporary Christian music these days.
Special X is described by XM as "Just Plain Weirdness". That's a fairly accurate description of the music they play, though it doesn't quite meet the "bizarre criteria" of, say, The Dr. Demento Show. At the moment Tom Waits' "Step Right Up" is playing, and I suppose most folks would call that "weird"...those of us who have already developed a taste for Waits don't really think of it as such. It's just the Tom Waits we know and love, weird or not.
I dunno, Special X is kind of a clearing house for the slightly oddball and the campy and/or kitsch elements spanning the myriad varieties of music in the vast XM library. There's nothing inherently "weird" about "Bi Mir Bist Bouchene" (sp?) by Steve Lawrence & Edie Gorme, which they just played, and even the "camp" elements could be disputed by people who enjoy that style...but then they follow that up with "Honky Tonk Hermaphrodite" by the "Reverend" Billy C. Wirtz, and there can't be too many out there who wouldn't consider this song "weird" ("Doggone, I just chipped a nail and I'm all out of Red Man").
So maybe I will check in with XM Online now and again. I've already got my presets entered, so that's some form of commitment, right?
As for Opie and Anthony on the High Voltage channel...I haven't even bothered to check it out yet. From what I know about it, it doesn't sound like something I would enjoy, but I won't rule out the possibility that it could surprise me and actually be entertaining...the odds are against it, though, as I generally cannot stand to listen to DJs spouting off their version of humour and their even less significant opinions. But I'll be sure and post when I finally get around to it and let you know.

Farewell, John Paul II

John Paul II
1920-2005

Though I am a Protestant Calvinist, nevertheless I sincerely wish to express my heartfelt sympathies to the faithful in the Catholic Church and would like to unite with them in their hour of mourning for the Pontiff, John Paul II. If ever there was an example of grace, dignity, compassion and integrity, it was this Pope.

Against Pop: Music Snobs Proselytize

Cultural elitism and snobbery are taken to new levels at against pop, a website that purports, in an extremely wordy manner, to make a "case against pop & rock" music.
I've always been more amused than appalled by those who think their personal tastes in music are intrinsically superior by virtue of the complexity of the style of music they prefer. Lots of jazz fans are like that, turning their nose up at conventional pop & rock (don't even mention country) because of the relative simplicity involved in the composition and performance of those types of music compared to jazz. Indeed, it does require significantly more technical skill ("chops") to play jazz than your typical pop/rock song (though I would posit that the very best pop/rock musicians in the field can hold their own with any jazz-bo).
Then again, I've met people who are classical music snobs who feel the same way about jazz as jazz snobs feel about pop/rock. For whatever reason, jazz just doesn't rise to their standards...perhaps it's the loose, relatively unstructured nature of the music (as compared to classical), or maybe it's the focus on improvisation that bugs 'em. I dunno (although I'm sure the site administrators for against pop could educate us, since they appear to fall into the "classical snob" camp).
Classical snobs do tend to be a tad more uppity than jazz snobs, at least that has been the impression I've noticed. I'll never forget an incident that occurred when I was working at CD Warehouse a few years ago. I was playing a George Strait CD on the store's stereo, as I liked to mix it up quite a bit and play all different kinds of music. There was a lady who had come in the store and had spent all her time there in the classical section. She eventually came to the counter and purchased a CD, but she had this disgusted look on her face. She said, "How can you stand to listen to that stuff? That's not music!"
"I dunno", I answered, "I guess it's because I like it".
And there, in a nutshell, is why all the high-falutin' arguments purporting ANY style of music's superiority over another (case-in-point: against pop) are futile execises in pompous elitism that not only will never change anyone's mind but come off as laughable.
People listen to whatever kind of music they listen to BECAUSE THEY LIKE IT...because it sounds good to them. Most people could care less about the virtuosity required to produce a piece of music, and that's just fine because virtuosity itself is not necesarilly a requirement for a song to have the ability to touch someone, to move them to whatever extremes of emotion it aims for, and so on.
For instance, a simple Nick Drake song, to my ears, is every bit as moving as Samuel Barber's Adagio, which is, in it's choral version, my favorite classical composition. Why? How should I know? It just is...it just has that power over my emotions, the sound of his voice, the feeling he puts into his singing, maybe even the simplicity of the song itself culminates in a response that is every bit as musically satisfying as that provided by the most complicated, yet beautiful piece of classical music I've ever heard.
At any rate, it seems to me to be a futile gesture and a waste of time and energy to make such a case against any genre of music in the way that against pop does with pop/rock. We're going to listen to what we enjoy listening to, and that is all there is to it, whether it's a lame Britney Spears song on the radio or an old recording of Maria Callas singing a Verdi aria. And why should those of us who enjoy the sound of a good, distortion drenched, guitar heavy rock and roll song every once in a while CARE about what anyone thinks?
The philosophy of the classical snob, the jazz snob, the snob that thinks ANY kind of music is superior to all others is the antithesis of my own philosophy about music, which is summed up in the ancient adage, "Variety is the spice of life". Indeed, I would have been burned out on music years ago if I only listened to one genre. I'll concede that at this point in my life I listen to more classical music than any other kind. But I'll never become one of the snobs who rejects all other forms of musical expression.
Fer cryin' out loud, listening to Autechre has helped me get a firmer grip on classical, ifn' you can believe that.