Nearly any good thing that can happen can happen during a long lunch. You can skip work to see a movie or a baseball game. You can hide out at a coffee shop or some other relaxing place and read. Or, you can eat lunch with a friend and just have it take forever. This blog is dedicated to such things.
Wife and I watched Vicky Cristina Barcelona this weekend. It was an enjoyable movie. I got a little sleepy at about the hour mark, which was about at the height of all the Spanish guitar and Spanish-speaking dialogue, but before the part where ScarJo and Penelope Cruz make out; otherwise, it kept me engaged. My only advice to others would be to tread lightly in watching this movie with your spouse. There are several places in the movie where expressing your preferences for what the characters should do might get you in trouble. Think twice before you say these things out loud: “That Vicky is so uptight”, “Well, yeah, you girls should get on the plane”, “She should dump that guy”.
Tune in next time to this space for my mock interview with Woody Allen. Here’s a preview:
Me: In this movie, there is a lingering kiss between Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz. Was this a difficult idea to sell to the producers, or to anyone involved in the distribution of the movie, because it might be controversial?
WA: One night I had a dream where Scarlett and Penelope were at my house watching Friends reruns, and they started making out on the couch during the commercial. I woke up, but thought, hey, I’m a famous writer and filmmaker. I can make this happen.
From: English Wikipedia Article of the Day <daily-article-l@lists.wikimedia.org> To: daily-article-l@lists.wikimedia.org Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 6:24:17 PM Subject: [Wikipedia] January 30: Music of Athens, Georgia
The music of Athens, Georgia includes a wide variety of popular music, and was an important part of the early evolution of alternative rock and New Wave. The city is well known as the home of chart-topping bands like R.E.M. and The B-52's, and several long-time indie rock groups. Athens hosts the Athens Symphony Orchestra and other music institutions, as well as prominent local music media, such as the college radio station WUOG. Much of the modern Athens music scene is based around students from the large University of Georgia campus in the city. The University sponsors Western classical performances and groups specializing in other styles. Athens became a center for music in the region during the American Civil War, and gained further fame in the early 20th century with the foundation of the Morton Theatre, which was a major touring destination for African American performers. The city's local rock music scene can be traced to the 1970s, with international attention coming in the following decade when R.E.M. and The B-52's released best-selling recordings. Athens-based rock bands have performed in a wide array of styles, and the city has never had a characteristic style of rock; most of the bands have been united only in their quirky and iconoclastic image.
I saw a short article about a new Neil Young single “Fork in the Road” in the current issue of Rolling Stone. (I also saw barely pixilated topless photos of Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen, but those are outside the scope of this blog.) That article referred to “…the hilarious single-cam YouTube video on which he plays air guitar and listens to earbuds plugged into a red apple.” So, being the active reader that I am, I went out and found that YouTube clip.
Clearly, Neil is jumping on to the wave of “record the video in your backyard” movement that is changing the landscape of soundstages and film studios across the world. I first became aware of this emerging trend from Todd Snider. Watching the dance moves at the end of this “Fork in the Road” video reminded me of Todd Snider in the video below talking about the importance of kick-ass dance moves to a performer’s success.
Magazines I Subscribe To: Rolling Stone, National Geographic, Glimmer Train, and Southern Living. I also steal my son’s copy of Boy's Life, and rifle through my wife’s copy of Vogue.
************* Music I’ve Been Listening To: Undone: A MusicFest Tribute to Robert Earl Keen on Rhapsody What I’ve Been Reading: Just finished Paint It Black by Janet Fitch, quite possible the most heart breaking book I’ve ever read. There were days when it fit my mood and I somewhat reveled in it, and days when I had to just put it down and listen to the radio instead. But I enjoyed the experience of reading the book. I’d loan you my copy but the Springhill Public Library has suggested gently that I may have kept it too long already.
I was in my local Starbucks the other morning and I noticed that they had rearranged the furniture. Before the rearrangement, there was this one table—I may have mentioned it here before—tucked away behind some displays, that I would almost always see this same lady sitting at every morning, reading her Bible. Sometimes, if I got there before she did, I would sit there instead, just to throw her off her routine. But on my recent visit, I noticed that the table was not there anymore, and my first thought was “I wonder where that lady will sit now?”
So, I wrote a poem about that missing table, and instead of the lady with her Bible, sat a couple there. Then I chased off the girl and broke the guy’s heart. Moohoohahaha.
An Empty Space
They’ve rearranged the tables in that coffee shop where we sat that first morning here, together in our new world, hopeful, nervous.
They’ve rearranged the tables so that, where once we sat and I touched your hand and told you it was all good, there is now an empty space.
An empty space, between a display of gold coast beans and a stack of mugs, like the space in my life where you sat once, legs crossed, smiling.
From: English Wikipedia Article of the Day <daily-article-l@lists.wikimedia.org> To: daily-article-l@lists.wikimedia.org Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009 6:01:47 PM Subject: [Wikipedia] January 19: Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (1809 –1849) was an American poet, short-story writer, editor and literary critic, and is considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective-fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career. In January 1845, Poe published his poem "The Raven" to instant success. His wife died of tuberculosis two years later. On October 7, 1849, at age 40, Poe died in Baltimore; the cause of his death is unknown and has been attributed to alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, and other agents. Poe and his works influenced literature in the United States and around the world, as well as in specialized fields, such as cosmology and cryptography. Poe and his work appear throughout popular culture in literature, music, films, and television. A number of his homes are dedicated museums today.
______________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
From childhood's hour I have not been As others were — I have not seen As others saw — I could not bring My passions from a common spring — From the same source I have not taken My sorrow — I could not awaken My heart to joy at the same tone — And all I lov'd — I lov'd alone.
Dang this economy that makes it so I can’t quit my job and stay home and listen all day to the new album “Undone: A MusicFest Tribute to Robert Earl Keen”. The album apparently will be released in early February, but its available now on Rhapsody.
Here’s what Vintage Guitar magazine had to say about the album:
A Who's Who of young Texas/Americana artists and musicians gathered last winter at the annual MusicFest in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to honor a man who has blazed an important trail for them: indelible songwriter/singer/musician Robert Earl Keen.
Undone is a moving tribute to Keen's important legacy as a singer, songwriter, performer, and pioneer of the Americana music movement. As part of Dickson Productions' annual "Tribute to a Legend" at MusicFest in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, The Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University helped bring together some of today's best young Texas and Americana artists to celebrate Keen's impact on their musical careers. With a great deal of respect and a healthy dose of humor and energy, each one of these musicians adds his or her own interpretation of Keen's material to the mix.
I'm listening to it now. Hearing these songs again as reinterpreted by some of my favorite Texas-Americana music voices, including heavy doses of the Braun brothers from Reckless Kelly, and stripped down for live performance feels like that first sip of whiskey from a good glass at a quiet bar with a friend who has been away for too long. I think I’ll be sitting here for a while.
The songs are:
Disc One 1. "Think It Over One Time" Reckless Kelly 2. "No Kinda Dancer" Max Stalling (vocals & guitar), Dale Clark (guitar) 3. "Lynnville Train" Wade Bowen 4. "What I Really Mean" Brandon Jenkins 5. "Paint the Town Beige" Walt Wilkins 6. "I'll Be Here For You" Randy Rogers 7. "I Would Change My Life" Roger Creager 8. "I'm Coming Home" Kathleen Braun (vocals, guitar), Cody Braun (harmony vocals, fiddle) 9. "Christabel" Matt Skinner 10. "Carolina" Brandon Rhyder (vocals & guitar) James Hurtless (harmony vocals) 11. "Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight" Josh Grider 12. "I'll Go On Downtown" Cory Morrow (vocals, guitar), Tanya Cargill (harmony vocals) 13. "Travelin' Light" Matt Powell 14. "Front Porch Song" Dub Miller (vocals, guitar), Doug Moreland (fiddle), Matt Skinner harmony vocals and guitar) – 15. "Daddy Had a Buick" Doug Moreland (vocals, fiddle), Matt Skinner (guitar, backing vocals)
Disc 2 1. "Mariano" Jason Boland 2. "Shades of Gray" Cody Canada (vocals, guitar), Jason Boland (guitar) 3. "Undone" Chris Knight (vocals, guitar), Cody Canada (guitar) 4. "Not A Drop Of Rain" Bonnie Bishop 5. "Willie" Muzzie Braun (vocals & guitar), Micky Braun (vocals & guitar), Gary Braun (harmony vocals & harmonica) 6. "Corpus Christi Bay" Darren Kozelsky (vocals, guitar), Chris Claridy (harmony vocals, guitar) 7. "Loves A Word I Never Throw Around" Rich O'Toole 8. "Wild Wind" Robert Earl Keen 9. "Dreadful Selfish Crime" Robert Earl Keen 10. "Goodbye Cleveland" Robert Earl Keen 11. "For Love" Robert Earl Keen 12. "Road Goes On Forever" Robert Earl Keen (Cody Canada on guitar w/REK)
During dinner last night my sister-in-law mentioned that her son was traveling into town on a bus and that the trip was taking forever because of all the stops. She read a text message from him referring to the fact that he was seated next a 400 pound Russian woman. It brought to mind that first bus trip from On the Road—“It was an ordinary bus trip with crying babies and hot sun, and country folk getting on at one Penn town after another…”
I read On the Road by Jack Kerouac for the first time this past year. My 2008 reading list looks like a log of books that most people read in high school and college. I’m not sure what I was doing when I was supposed to have read some of those books, but I didn’t read them. Books like The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, and Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, or Dubliners by James Joyce and Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. In 2008, I did read some of the new stuff too, including The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski.
So my interest in Kerouac is consistent with my desire to make up for lost time and read things that I probably should have already read before now. However, that interest was accelerated by an August trip I took to San Francisco with my wife, who was attending a convention for romance writers. The following is an excerpt from my journal on the day I walked around North Beach.
I went walking because I didn’t want to sit in the hotel room. That hotel room is hot, I’ll tell you. It’s cool and breezy outside but stuffy hot in that room. Even with the window up its unbearable, I’ll tell you. So I’m not hanging out there. No way.
There’s a part of town called North Beach. That name is funny because North Beach is nowhere near a beach. But it’s where these famous poets got famous back in the fifties and sixties. To be honest with you, I never really read any poetry from these guys before—Kerouac, Ginsberg—never read anything by them in fact. I really never got into any sort of poetry until Billy Collins and he’s not exactly a beat poet, right. But I like bohemian things. I don’t know how I wound up being a republican accountant. I was supposed to be a bohemian, hanging around in bars drinking and smoking cigarettes after all sorts of wild parties and poetry readings.
Right now, I’m in this bar called Vesuvio’s and it’s on Jack Kerouac Boulevard. They have a drink named after Kerouac. I thought about getting it, but it’s got tequila, rum, and orange/cranberry juice. I thought about getting it but thought “Who am I kidding?” I never even read the first thing by Jack Kerouac and the last thing I need to do is get wasted mixing rum and tequila, which is exactly what would happen. So I ordered a Jack Daniels.
* * * * *
I’m wearing this stupid Hard Rock Café shirt. I feel like an idiot. Why couldn’t I have worn my Robert Earl Keen “Crack of Noon” shirt to be out in North Beach with these weird bohemian people. There is nothing bohemian about the Hard Rock Café.
I ordered a slice of pizza from this place that was on the map. They have these two guys playing music—its Italian music I guess. I don’t know any of the songs. Once I thought they were playing Red River Valley but that wasn’t right. I was stupid to think that. All these places have a million pictures on the wall of people who must be someone special. I don’t recognize any of them. In this place opera is a big thing. There’s a picture up there signed by Pavaratti. Then there’s Bill Cosby. That’s it though. I don’t’ know anybody else. Supposedly this place is another favorite spot of the beats.
I’m such a phony. I don’t know anything really about the beats or the opera and yet here I am sitting with my Hard Rock Café shirt on soaking up the beat poet thing and these two guys playing Italian music. Get a load of that.
While I encouraged my sister-in-law to tell her son to enjoy the bus ride, I did so recognizing my hypocrisy. As much as I enjoyed On the Road, I found myself challenged to think of what I would have done in many of Sal’s situations. Would I have found Dean Moriarty to be “the holy con-man with the shining mind”, or “the Holy Goof”—found him a hero and friend, or thought him noisy, overly complicated, and bothersome? Would I have hitched rides and spent all my money on bus fair to Chicago, or just have stayed home?
I fear that instead of talking to the 400 pound Russian woman, I would have turned the volume up on my iPod. But who knows—I’m working on it.
From: English Wikipedia Article of the Day <daily-article-l@lists.wikimedia.org> To: daily-article-l@lists.wikimedia.org Sent: Friday, January 9, 2009 6:26:12 PM Subject: [Wikipedia] January 10: Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie (1912–1967) was an American singer-songwriter and folk musician. Guthrie's musical legacy is sizable and includes hundreds of songs, ballads and improvised works covering topics from political themes to traditional songs to children's songs. Guthrie performed continually throughout his life with his guitar frequently displaying the slogan "This Machine Kills Fascists." Guthrie is perhaps best known for his song "This Land Is Your Land", which is regularly sung in American schools. Many of his recorded songs are archived in the Library of Congress. Guthrie traveled with migrant workers from Oklahoma to California and learned traditional folk and blues songs. His songs are about his experiences in the Dust Bowl era during the Great Depression and he is known as the "Dust Bowl Troubadour." Guthrie was associated with, but never a member of, Communist groups in the United States throughout his life. Guthrie was married three times and fathered eight children, including American folk musician Arlo Guthrie. He is the grandfather of musician Sarah Lee Guthrie. Guthrie died from complications of the genetic neurologic disorder known as Huntington's disease.
I chose this clip because it contains a couple of the verses that were omitted from later recorded versions of the song. ("If you want a hit you got to make it fit, so they cut it down to 3:05"--Billy Joel.)
Two of my favorite Todd Snider songs done a little bit differently, from a recent show in Dallas, Texas.
“You’re gonna’ get me into trouble…” “A woman like you walks into a place like this [and] you can almost hear the promises break.” “You’re gonna’ make me do something I’m afraid I won’t regret.”
Not sure what you are doing Monday night, but I’m going to be at Norm’s River Road House to see DADDY—the newest teamwork of Will Kimbrough and Tommy Womack. I happened upon this video tonight on YouTube—actually that’s not right… happened upon would be like some sort of freak cosmic thing where Providence guided me to the clip; in this case I actually searched for “Tommy Womack Will Kimbrough” and this came up. Anyway, I’m posting it today because it has the line about “Give me Jesus if Elvis ain’t in…” and today is Elvis’ birthday.
I briefly mentioned before that I had seen Tommy Womack at the Southern Festival of Books. But I didn’t tell you about that I scored the very very very last copy of the first print run of Tommy’s cult classic book “Cheese Chronicles”. Well, that’s exactly what I did. And I got him to sign it. I took pictures, because well, I take pictures of stupid stuff.
It says “You got the last one. Don’t loan it.”
Trouble is that I haven’t read much of it. What I have read is hilarious mind you. But between now and Monday I’m going to read more of it because, just in case I get to chat with him at the end of the show, and just in case it comes up that I’m the guy that got the last copy of “Cheese Chronicles” and just in case he says “So, how did you like it?” I don’t want to say “I haven’t read any of it.”
Hmmm… I’ve been told that I think about things too much. I wonder if the fact that I have given myself a homework assignment to be completed before going to a bar to hear a couple of guys pick and sing speaks at all that accusation. I'll have to think about it. (badump bomp bomp.)
************** What I’m reading: Tommy Womack, “Cheese Chronicles” What I’m listening to: Jimmy Buffett “You Had to Be There” on Rhapsody.
Today is January 6, Twelfth night, the day of Epiphany—the celebration of the day the wise men made it to see the Christ child. It’s the first day of Carnival, that marvelous something-for-everyone time leading up to Mardi Gras. In New Orleans, the Phorty Phunny Phellows open the season with a street car ride on the St. Charles Avenue line.
While living in New Orleans I never made it out to see the PPP, but in our home we had our own traditional Twelfth Night party where we would eat crawfish etouffee (made from a Times Picayune recipe that tasted just like the crawfish etoufee at the Piccadilly), eat king cake and read Mardi Gras poems from “Throw Me Somethin’ Mistuh”, all while wearing our favorite beads from parades carnival seasons gone by.
“Throw Me Somethin’ Mistuh” is a collection of thirty poems by New Orleans poets Brod Bagert and Charlie Smith about the Mardi Gras experience, from the first bite of king cake to an ash Wednesday trip to the cathedral altar.
We continue to honor the day, despite living in Middle Tennessee. We’ll actually have our full celebration on the weekend, since January 6 this year falls on a Tuesday which is also scout night; we’ll also probably have shrimp creole, since the only crawfish we could find at the Publix was from Spain and cost $14 a pound.
But at breakfast this morning we did pull out the book of poems and I read our favorite, while the Wife, the Girl and the Boy recited it from memory so that together we sounded like Catholic school children reciting the “Our Father”:
It ain’t no surprise she got the doll, She ate two-thirds the cake. I said, “Please Aunt Louise, save some for us, Slow down, for goodness sake!”
She said,“Baby, I can’t help myself. These cakes was good from the start, But now there’s icing on the top And cream filling in the heart.
Yep! She got that doll fair and square. Nope! She didn’t feel or poke. But she ate so fast we was all scared Poor Aunt Louise would choke.
The book is out of print, but there are a few used books listed for resale at Amazon. For more about the authors, see their websites—Brad Bagert and Charlie Smith.
Oh, I met this girl I swore was close to perfect. I could see the ring, the dress, and the whole nine yards. I had a country station on and she reached and turned it. Said she couldn’t stand the sound of a steel guitar.
Later this year, Wife and I will mark twenty five years together (counting dating and marriage). I’ve posted previously here about her initial cool reception of me. Listening to Ray Scott this morning reminded me of another reason that either (A) it’s a miracle from above that we made it as far as we did or (B) we have ignored all the signs that Providence was giving us and stubbornly pushed ahead anyway.
On our first date-date (date-date meaning that I picked her up at her house, which is in contrast to what we consider as our first date, where we met at a bowling alley, which is a whole ‘nother story about how I almost screwed up big time), I picked her up from her house and we went to a football game for my high school. (We were both high school seniors at the time and attended different schools in towns 20 miles apart.)
Future Wife (FW) and I got along fine on the drive back from her house. I had to tell her that I needed to pick up two of my friends because I was their ride to the game. She took that well, perhaps because I quickly added that they had other rides home and wouldn’t be hanging out with us the entire time, or maybe just because she was committed to making the best of it. I had argued with my friends Dave and David (my three best friends at that time were named Dave, David, and David) that they really needed to find another way to get to the game, but Dave was persistent with his single talking point, which was “But man, you said you’d take us.” And of course David was the most honest when he said, “Besides, we really want to see what kind of girl will go out with you. Does she have big boobs?” As promised, once FW and I picked them up, they were well behaved.
We did, however, listen to a Hank Williams, Jr. cassette tape, because well, that’s just what you did in general, and particularly what me and my friends did. Besides, Hank Jr. was the party music of that time in that part of the country, like it says in that that line from that Tim McGraw song—“Got old Hank cranking way up loud, coolers in the back, tailgates down…”
The football game went fine; nothing memorable happened, which must mean I didn’t say or do anything stupid. After the game, we (it was just the two of us now, Dave and David having met back up with David, who had a truck) headed off to grab a bit to eat. I cranked the car, returned to the soothing sounds of Hank Jr., and she said “Can we not listen to that?”
There was a big sonic boom noise followed by complete silence for about two seconds that seemed like all of eternity as the earth suspended its motion. “Sure,” I said, and popped out the cassette.
Next I said we were going to McDonalds, with no more thought than someone would give to saying they were going to wake up after sleeping. Football game, McDonald’s (the one on Thomas Road; you didn’t want to be going across the river to the one on North 18th, that’s where the Neville kids and the Ouachita kids hung out), Cruise the Loop through Forsythe Park. Dating, Marriage, Babies. Sunday School, Church, Piccadilly. It was just the order of life.
But then she said “Can we go somewhere else? I don’t like McDonalds. They put mustard on their hamburgers. I’d rather go to Wendy’s.” That is when the earth began to spin backwards.
I honestly remember thinking, “Dang it. I was really hoping that I’d get to see her again, but anyone who doesn’t like Hank Jr. and McDonalds, well I don’t know. I don’t think this is going to work out at all. And she was cute, too.”
Nothing else that happened that evening stands out in my memory. Wendy’s must have been fine. And to be honest with you, there really weren’t many people at the McDonalds who liked me in the first place—I had only wanted them to know that I had a girl and a cute one at that.
She has warmed up to my kind of music, and shares some of it. After a Roger Creager/ REK show at Wild Bill’s in Beaumont, she suggested we go to the Waffle House at 1 am. She forgets sometimes who the Reckless Kelly CD’s belong to (me, but she keeps them in her car). She went to the Elmo Buzz show with me at the 3 Crow and she puts up with me scrounging for set lists and getting artist autographs. Grayson Capps autographed his new CD to the two of us together and signed it “Love, Grayson”. And I bought her the Guns-N-Roses CD for Christmas.
I think she still doesn’t cares much for Hank Jr., though.
My all time favorite movie is that one where those two people who have never met each other, under pressure learn to work together. They survive impossible odds, to save the president and become great friends, then the one kisses the other on the cheek and the movie ends.
Our family—the Wife, the Boy, the Girl, and me—rang in the New Year last year with video games and a movie night. The video game was “Need for Speed: Pro Street for Wii”. The movie was “Eagle Eye.” There were originally plans for fireworks in the driveway and roasted marshmallows over a fire in the pit outside. But, we just felt that such extravagance in a time of global economic distress was insensitive to anyone who might be out of work. Also, it was, like 30 degrees outside, and the Boy, the Wife and I didn’t want to go out in it.
We wrapped up the movie at around 10 pm, and then had to find something else to watch until the ball dropped at 11 pm. I really can’t stand to watch the New Year’s Eve shows. It reminds me of when we lived in New Orleans and would watch Endymion on television. I don’t want to watch it on TV. I want to be out there in it. Next year…
* * * * *
“I see I’ve been outvoted,” said the Girl, upon hearing that no one else wanted to get fireworks at 7 pm on New Years Eve in 30 degree weather.
“Eagle Eye” was rated PG-13, mostly for language. When the Boy realized it earned its rating because of language, he did fist pumps in the air. (The Boy is 10 years old and has an inordinate fascination with curse words.) The kids enjoyed the movie, and if I may comment for just a moment, they should have canned all the curse words and just made it a straight PG movie, because unless you are a devout conspiracy theory person you will not be able to suspend disbelief enough as an adult to really take this movie. It has a National Treasure feel to it. But, I’m just an accountant, so I’ll keep my movie marketing thoughts to myself. Did I say the kids enjoyed it—they freaking loved it. It must have cost a kajillion dollars to make, it had so many car crashes. ("In America, we like our bad guys dead. Preferably after some kind of kick ass car chase." Todd Snider)
I rented two Wii games last night at the Blockbuster, both of which are for me. The Pro Street Racer, and Madden Football. I have long resisted getting a Wii (or any other game system) because I don’t trust myself to not quit my job and become a full time gamer. As soon as I could get Pro Street Racer plugged up, I was on it, enjoying the thrill of finally getting to smash into the cars of drivers who do not have the good sense to get out of my way.
I’m already thinking about my goals for 2009. Where to do I want to get my Wii Fit age down to? In which Wii Sports do I want to be a pro? How many Wii games do I want to accumulate?
Whatever I decide about those other things, I know that one of my goals will be to defeat the Boy in Wii boxing. He has a wicked round house body punch.
****************************** What I’m Listening To Now: Jamey Johnson, That Lonesome Song on Rhapsody. What I’m Reading Now: Janet Fitch, Paint It Black.
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