Can You Ever Really Get Too Much of Explosions and Peter Cooper

It’s a fabulous Saturday here in middle Tennessee. The Girl is away for the day canoeing with other middle schoolers; Wife, Boy, and I spent some time this morning at book stores and the library and had pizza for lunch. This afternoon, Boy and I vedged-out in front of the television for about an hour watching this show called “Shockwave” on the History Channel. From the trailer below, you get the idea that the show involves explosions and crashes of various sorts.



After absorbing enough of this (can you ever truly have enough air plane crashes and house explosions?), I handed the remote control over to the Boy and migrated up stairs to see what I could find on YouTube. About a half-hour later, I heard an alarming loud noise—loud enough to upset a couple of car alarms. I run down stairs and the Boy was running upstairs to meet me. “What was that?” we both asked. I stepped outside and realized the noise was only thunder—pretty amazing thunder, but thunder nonetheless. I stepped back inside and said “Buddy, I think you and I have been watching too much of the History Channel.”

When I wasn’t jumping out of my skin from thunderstorms, I was enjoying this two-part Peter Cooper interview. The thing I like best about Peter, and it comes through in his writing and when you hear him speak, is how much he loves music.




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Music I’m Listening to Now: Grayson Capps, Songbones; although Cooper has inspired me to cue up some Hank Williams, The Complete Singles Collection, and Peter Cooper, Mission Door on Rhapsody.com
What I’m Reading Now: The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard

A Trio of Hayes Carll Songs

On his first live album, Jimmy Buffett memorialized the following observation prior to playing the song “Why Don’t We Get Drunk and Screw”:

“People ask me sometimes—interviews, I do these interviews—and they’ll ask me […], ‘How can you write those real sensitive songs and then sometimes write that real trash?’, and I said, ‘Well, I can be very sensitive on occasions and real trashy on others’…”

So I’ve taken this as one of my guiding life principles. Consistency maybe desirable for mechanical things, but it’s not a requirement for the soul. So let those multiple personalities shine, while also trying to make sure that none of them gets arrested or does something that screws it up for the rest.

I’ve been obsessing over Hayes Carll music lately and was quite bummed that I missed him in his recent Nashville stop. Hayes has a broad range of songs. Here is a sample, including a sensitive one, a trashy one, and a gospel song.

This is the sensitive one. It’s title is “Beaumont”, so I was destined to like it.


Here’s the one that’s a little trashy, called “Flowers and Liquor”.


And here’s the gospel song, titled “She Left Me for Jesus”.


What? You mean just because a song has “Jesus” in the title, its not necessarily a gospel song? Oh well; I just wish most of the “music” we sing in church was half this clever. Maybe I could stay awake.

Talking Folk Singer Blues (Happy Birthday Bob Dylan)

Prompted by my interest in Todd Snider, I have developed a renewed interest in Bob Dylan’s earliest work. Through Rhapsody.com, I have started with the earliest record—“Bob Dylan”—and have been listening album by album, trying to observe the changes in content and style.

Growing up, I didn’t listen to much Bob Dylan, in large part because I didn’t really get Bob Dylan. I appreciated him indirectly, either through those who covered his songs, or through Bruce Springsteen who was clearly influenced by Dylan, but whose lyrics weren’t quite as mystical as Dylan’s and the delivery of which was more easily understood. My impressions of Dylan, therefore were (i) talented song writer, (ii) vocal stylist who had paved way for the likes of Springsteen, and (iii) difficult to get my arms around.

I saw Bob Dylan in concert at the Chastain Park Amphitheatre in Atlanta on August 16, 1989. I had been living about an hour away in Athens for a few months at the time. Steve Earle opened for Dylan, and I was motivated to travel to the show because of the prospect of seeing Steve Earle, whose second album “Exit 0” was ever in my car’s tape player. The chance to catch a classic like Dylan was a bonus despite the fact that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s review of the show from the previous night was that “Bob Dylan has become almost a parody of Bob Dylan” because his singing was nearly inaudible. That show didn’t do anything to convert me to a Dylan fan; and I remember being amused at Steve Earle, who railed on the people sitting in the tables in front of the stage for spending so much money for their seats. Through the magic of the Internet, I have found set lists for the shows that night for both Dylan and Earle.

I have enjoyed getting to know these earlier Dylan recordings, and I now see him as much more accessible, although I don’t know that I’ll ever really be able to truly say “I get Bob Dylan”. A lowly accountant like me can only free his mind so much; still I will keep trying.

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Music I’m Listening to Now: Bob Dylan, John Wesley Harding
What I’m Reading Now: The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard