Off The Record -- Version 5.L

Rock, Roll, and Remember (Substitute Revolution)

2012-01-06T02:26:00.000-08:00

I remember it well, twenty or so years ago, a rock critic/teacher at a Smithsonian course in the history of rock and roll remarked that true rock and roll is a revolution of sound, turmoil, the swirling sounds of the underworld, the music of the underdog. With its roots in the jazz, the blues, and country, it was the sound of the those who hadn't made it to the so-called professions; it was the music of the truck drivers, the factory workers, the lonely, the misplaced, the unemployed, or the underemployed. It was wild and untamed, the music that was not played in polite company, on commercial TV, on commercials. It was the sound of rebellious teens, the rolled in the t-shirted James Dean, the hip, the rebels, the down and outs in the straight and narrow 50s, and into the rebellious sixties and early seventies. Back then, classical music was the sound of the privileged, the well-dressed, the upper class, the professions.

So, where are we now, spin ahead twenty years. Rock is the plaything of the corporate, the conglomerate, it entertains the millionaires, it has the corporate sponsors, there are special concerts for investors, and their friends in chic music halls that used to host classical music. Fans pay thousands for special concert packages, complete with access and swag and all else that glitters and is gold. Rock has its glitzy shows and packaged sounds, struggling for its next successful business model and encompassing all that it was once was not.

It is rare when a reunited Van Halen plays a concert "[r]emoved from their stadium-sized pedestal and placed on the foot-high stage, David Lee Roth, Eddie and Alex Van Halen seemed to be reduced to their key elements as a blues-rock power trio." The Times report is at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/07/arts/music/van-halen-at-cafe-wha-review.html?hp

It is a treat when a rock troubador plays a free acoustic concert for a protest group. It still happens and that it is when it seems to be the true rock and roll that it once was, still surviving way under the glitz of the corporate rock that has come to dominate--away from the glitz, just playing the music for what it does to the artist and the listener. It needs no costumes, stadium glitz, or any explosives, or any millionaire greed--it is just rock 'n roll after all.

Rock of old, rock of now gone underground--that is where some of the classical music seems to be headed now, striving for an audience, exploring new sounds, trying new things, doing more free shows, workshops, getting the message out to the people--artist and the listener. That is what Alex Ross wrote about in his review of the year in classical music, in his blog the Rest is Noise, at:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2011/12/the-best-classical-performances-of-the-year.html

While"[t]here’s no denying that classical music routinely serves as an ornament for extreme wealth," it is also becoming relevant again, taking up "a more enlightened stance," a way for the music and the art to survive.

And so it is, much of the rock world labors on listlessly for its corporate sponsors in a bloated state, while classical music thins out and becomes an exploration of themes of our day including war and civil disobedience and gets out of its genre and explores new areas to play and partner with, even reaching out to its once enemy, rock, to survive. Both search for a successful business model as we are spoiled by the onrush of free information and music and accessibility on the Internet, but one seems to be seeking its meaning in life and music, and the other is over amplified, glitzy and fat with excess and the rest is noise.

2011 in Review--Stalking the Wild Billboard

2012-01-01T00:53:00.000-08:00

It has been every year since '55. Towards the end of the arbitrary period, a year, just 365 days, I try to buy the year end issue of Billboard and whatever other periodical has a good year in review issue. In some years, it was also Cashbox, Record World, and Radio and Records, and the Village Voice's "Pazz and Jop" issue, and some British music publication--Uncut, Q, or Mojo. Lately, for the last few years at least, it has been harder and harder to find Billboard, while many of the other American competitors have dropped away altogether.

The adventure of finding Billboard, has been almost as exciting as reading the year end issue; when it is ultimately found, it is almost anti-climatic. This year the adventure included a number of calls to the reduced number of book stores, and newsstands, a few false leads and wasted trips, which were not entirely wasted because of the nice helpful people I met along the way. And ultimately there was success, at an out-of-the-way newsstand that is barely surviving sitting almost undercover in a well-traveled part of town.

And there it was--a big glossy oversized reality in a declining world of print media, when we have many other less physical outlets for satisfying our year end fix. It has become glossier in design and taste and more pop-oriented in an effort to attract more of a crowd in this dying ember of printed time. And so on the tale goes, the adventure of fighting the growing receding distance of the printed page in the physical world as parts of the real world fade away teetering on the virtual brink of extinction with nary a crutch holding it up and alive for another year. On the other hand, some things have gotten better in this era of virtual reality. I used to have to stay up on new year's eve or new year's day to hear the top 40 or top 100 on the radio--now the top songs of the year seem always available as they stream endlessly on Internet.

So, into the abyss of another year past we go, and with it we take the sounds and themes to mark it and commemorate it that may reappear in later years to rediscover. Every year and it's music has its own adventure and character. And this year is no different, even though the music industry has also been falling away and in decline, and the streaming world is bulking up in new sounds, new mashing, new mixes, new genres, and rediscovering some of the old and weathered sounds too. So this year was a mixture of the past, present, and a mashing view of the future, in this remarkable, swirling cauldron of sights and sounds. The NY Times called it a year "when rock just spun its wheels," but it continued to dazzle and reinvent itself in new and interesting ways, even while the business model of music kept out of sight.

Timeless and floating to the top was the delightfully voiced, Adele, with her prime "21" cuts of a fine British voice reinterpreting American blue-eyed, and soft and velvety sounding soul. Her confections like the never-tiring "Rolling In The Deep" are a very pleasant almagm of new and old sounds that always sound fresh out of the box, standing alone ahead of her imitators. And then there is Birdie, a possible British imitator who covers sounds of newies and oldies, such as the luscious "Skinny Love" in another soft-soaked approach that also engages you in the fresh and deep. Florence and The Machine had a successful follow-up album "Ceremonials," which was a timeless wonder that should expand her audiences.

Almost as long as I have been searching for Billboard, there has been the lost tapes of the Beach Boys, which finally came together in the release of the legendary "Smile," which is dated in the late 60s but sounds fresh and traditional with the still-experimental mixing of voices and sounds. The past also came up in Paul Simon's "So Beautiful or What" which consisted of finely-crafted, tuneful songs that fell pleasantly on the ears in a worldly wise way. For more timeless classics, we got a new/old entry from Tom Waits, "Bad As Me," celebrating the seamy underside of life in decline, and Steve Cropper, celebrating the music of the 50s Five Royales in "Dedicated." There were also the perennial pop country sounds of Miranda Lambert, and Pistol Annies, her harmonious side project, and Lady Antebellum, which contributed "Need You Now" as one of this year's anthems for capturing the loneliness or desperation of life extremely well as rock once did.

Leaving shades of the past behind, we are well tuned to the year 2011 with the adventurous sound of TUnE-yArDs or Merrill Garbus with "w h o k i l l." Her war painted-faced music has its unexpected starts and rough spots of sound collages that flow or are shaped in a fluid junkyard-like manner, unleashed in a world of sound of afrobeats and percussion of all kinds, and varied voices, which alternately croon, chirp, and yelp in raw emotion to pointed and often sophisticated lyrics. It's both a strange and warm, alien and native sound. There was also an auspicious debut from budding starlet Lana Del Ray, who had the jewel of sexiness, "Video Games." Another interesting new styled entry is from Mexican singer, Ximena Sariñana, whose first English-language eponymous effort comes less than three years after her Spanish-language debut, and unlike many crossover attempts, little is lost in the translation, and she contributes a quirky and bouncy talent, mixing pop and indie forms seamlessly. There were also impressive outings from PJ Harvey, with "Let England Shake," M83 with the value-packed "Hurry Up we're Dreaming," Coldplay's "Mylo Xyloto," James Blake's eponymous album, Foster the People "Pumped Up Kicks," and Girls's ambitious "Listen to Father, Son, Holy Ghost."

The sounds of 2011 further soften with Bon Iver whose also eponymous album sounded a lushly sweet note for the year. A group of folk-oriented groups also really impressed this year--led by the breakthrough effort by Laura Marling - "A Creature I Don't Know," the follow up by Fleet Foxes -"Helplessness Blues," The Decemberists – "The King Is Dead," The War on Drugs- "Slave Ambient," Smoke Fairies- "Through Low Light and Trees," Wailin' Jennies- "Bright Morning Stars," and Gillian Welch's- "From the Harrow and the Harvest."

Also deserving of honorable mention are the following: Feist- “Metals,” Shabazz Palaces- “Black Up,” Eleanor Friedberger- “Last Summer,” Real Estate- “Days,” and St. Vincent- "Strange Mercy."

And so another year end in review closes out as we lurch forward into the world of musical discovery already in progress. I continue to look for artistic genre bending and found some in the music of Gabriel Prokofiev, and in the delicious mixture of world and classical sounds in "Chamber Music," from Malian kora player Ballake Sissoko and French cellist Vincent Segal. I also found the mixing in a top 100 list from jazz writer, Ted Gioia, which bends and brakes and crosses the genres. It is at: http://tedgioia.com/100best2011.html He sums up the year as "[e]ven as music becomes more omnipresent and accessible, new barriers prevent listeners from hearing the most talented and creative artists." It is a good place to stop and put a bookmark in the year for future ease of finding.

Loud and Louder

2011-11-20T10:35:00.000-08:00

I have been to two concerts of two highly-regarded groups in a week--Ted Leo and the Pharmacists and two other punk bands in a church basement, and Los Campineros at the Black Cat, a DC rock club. And both suffered from over the top loudness.

The sound systems at each venue were ill-equiped to handle the sounds of either group, and the resulting muddled music mix was a thick cereal of noise. But in both cases, the crowd seemed to eat it up with enthusiasm. The difference between the rest of the crowd and me may have been that I was not really familiar with either band's catalog of music, and the fans were--they could make out the songs even with the murky mix. But that should not matter. Judged on the quality of the real sound that was present for all, the fans and all music listeners deserve much more from the groups and the clubs, and until the groups and clubs ensure the appropriate sound, the appropriate place for the fans and music listeners is at home.

Selling Out

2011-11-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

It was a cloudy day at first in center of culture in NYC as we lined up to drink at the trough of corporate excess and greed--it was Baron's day of food, talk, and entertainment all bought by Ron Baron to honor his corporate accomplishments and achievements. The corporate honchos talked about their philosophies and played up their growth and visions. A few were thoughtful and impressive, but most were blocked in their vision by their ids, their egos, their libidos, and achievements. One's business plan had at its center a brutal criticism of the geeks who probably had a lot to do with his success as he moved away from them and criticized their complications. Ron Baron set up his philosophy which seem above politics and somewhat enlightened, but in response to a question, he seemed blinded by his own politics, and said the President should resign as a joke (maybe) that was applauded by many in this slobbering crowd.

James Taylor was one of the lunchtime entertainers, and while I wondered why he had sold out his caring soul to the corporate concert sponsors, he gave a warm and pleasant concert. Sting was the surprise headliner, and he seemed to phone in his pedestrian performance with his pleasant songbook sung in a perfunctory manner. The day ended with the handout of a corporate goody bag, and I felt like it was a final nail in a day of selling out to the corporate largesse, and I needed some good spirit from a music-laden Friday night service at Romomu to save the day and the soul.

open door--musical interconnectedness

2011-10-23T04:19:00.000-07:00

Coming to this concert of mixed traditions, was a crowd for India Arie and a crowd for Idan Raichel, and then there were a smaller group who wanted to see and hear them both together. On one level, it was an unlikely pairing and melding of a multi-talented African-American rhythm and blues singer, India Arie, who has built up a decent treasure of songs and fanbase, with a jazzy Israeli pianist/composer, Idan Raichel, who fuses singers from around the world into the music of his Israeli trio. On another level it's a natural blend of voices, talents, and visions into a deep feeling of togetherness that sparks a menu of songs for interconnectedness.

At the beginning of the concert, India greeted the crowd by turning up the lights to see them and and greet each section of the vast hall, thanking them for trusting in the artists in a new experiment of song. And she asked the audience to experience the concert in three ways--to see the concert, to listen especially for the poetry of the words, and to keep their hearts (and souls) open. The concert hung together loosely and tightly as the night weaved its musical threads through the varied work of the two artists together and then separately and then together again--crafting a musical vision of relations and unity even when there are clearly distances between the songs.

She set up a striking stage presence, almost luminous in a flowing white dress that was made by her mother, that is accented by a high white turban and a personality that lights up the stage with its warmth and engagement. Arie introduced each of the songs and built a direct relationship with the audience that is so rare in modern music. From the moment she asked for the light to come on and she walked along the stage waving at the various sections in the theater, she had the audience with her.

Her music, though, is what really grabbed the crowd. She and Raichel and their backing musicians performed many songs from “Open Door,” their album that’s due out next spring, but as much as the show was billed as an international pairing of sounds (aside from an occasional interlude from the oud, a Middle Eastern instrument somewhere between a banjo and sitar), it is still rooted in Arie’s intense American-soul approach. Her voice ascends to unexpected heights and often dips into a husky deep when it needs to, carrying Raichel’s jazzy-pop melodies along for a sweet soulful ride.

As vivid visually as the concert was – her nimble dancing and presence with Raichel's swinging curly locks, gave the show a strong feast for the eyes – it definitely felt like Arie’s vehicle with Raichel's support more than a fusing of two equals. Raichel seemed comfortable with the role, for his group, The Idan Raichel Project, while featuring music written and played by him, always has a variety of guest singers. Idan seemed like the perfect party host for a celebration of music and ideas built around world unity.

While sometimes Arie’s lyrics, built around world unity and understanding of other people and other cultures, seemed too literal and bordering on preachy, she and Raichel are so sincere and devoted to their uplifting messages that the show never bogged down. For me , the most interesting moments came on a couple of tunes when Arie and Raichel sang in Hebrew. Another high, if not chai moment was when Arie and her two backing singers dove into the funky, soulful “Complicated Melody,” an already interesting song that flashed when Arie’s mother came out and joined them with a voice that was surprisingly skillful. It was clear that Indie Arie’s had a good source for her talent.

Indie and Idan blended well into a style that is becoming their own--Indie’s lyrics along with her Afro-American soulful sounds blend nicely with Idan’s authentic Middle Eastern musical expression--and together their multilingual lyrics sung in forged cultural divides to created a performance that was uniquely personal and uplifting. Together with their very different backgrounds, they tell a story of a world of healing and love, of brotherhood that can be shaped with little pain and no hatred. Through spoken word and music, they lead you through a lilting journey of their meeting, their friendship, and their appreciation of each other's talent and culture. Their music and lyrics were politically correct, but filled with energy and emotion and life affirming. It is more than what I usually receive from a concert.

Labor Day Reset--Take the Risks for Freedom

2011-09-04T06:33:00.000-07:00

With skyrocketing profits for American companies, but lack of confidence in investing in new jobs in America, it is time for leaders in all sectors of the economy and the body politic to grow up and step forward together and take steps to affirm their belief in what America is and stands for. While men and women continue to die across the world to defend what America believes in, it is time for other sectors of America to take a risk, and contribute to America stands for; they need to put aside political squabbling and corporate, owner, and stockholder selfishness, and invest in America and what it stands for. It may not be the most profitable and the safest politically, but it is time to put pure profits aside and other priorities and make a decision that America as we know it is worth it. It is what soldiers, and policemen and fireman and many other people and their families do everyday for each one of us.

It is simple plan, and all politicians should step forward to come together and forget about elections and partisian politics and come together for the good of America. For now, we seem at a crossroads. We have heard enough debates about whether stimulus packages, bail outs or tax reforms are the answer--there are merits to each of them, but there may not be just one answer, and it is time to step away from the debating, and do something simple for America.

If there is one thing that seems clear, it is that our leaders need to step away from the fractious political discourse and mature if they want to earn the right to be our leaders and our chief businessmen and women. The business people need to commit to invest in America (and put aside their shaky sense of confidence in America and their decision to invest in cheaper foreign workers, and other choices for a profitable moment), whether it is making new investments in creating new jobs and contribute through donations to our social well-being. And we need to report clearly on the results so that the public can decide whether to buy their products and services or decide to pass them buy for those who care about us and America, or until they care about us. One place that companies can invest in is customer service, which is woefully poor in so many companies with putting people on hold for literally hours (and then when we finally connect with a person (often in a foreign country), the service is woefully poor and uncaring).

We are in this together, and it is time that we did something about it. We need to grow up and invest for the great democratic and free society that we all believe in. We know that the world is flat and we need to be globally competitive and globally connected. But for the moment, if our country is worth saving, it is worth investing in. We cannot just think about how best to deal with the current situation ("momentary situation ethics"), we need to address our situation for more than just the immediate moment. We cannot just ask our soldiers, policemen, and firefighters to take the risks. If it is worth it for all of us to take the risks, we need to grow up, and invest in us for a better America.

Whole Lot of Shaking and Raining Going On

2011-08-29T00:39:00.001-07:00

In a week of a earthquake and a hurricane/tropical storm, it is useful to look back and see what stood out as memories or lessons learned. One feeling is of gratitude for relatively little damage, harm or inconvenience. Another standout is the positive and cooperative attitudes of people who shared in these events. Driving up and down to NYC and back on Saturday in particular demonstrated people's good humor, friendliness and helpfulness in times of shared troubles ahead. People in shared experience came through for one another and that is great to experience and remember.

Search for Meaning--A Work in Progress

2011-07-04T05:16:00.000-07:00

This may have been straight out of a book that John Updike did not get to write. It had those same privileged guests in it--the suburban couples--glamorous, somewhat cold, and not clear what their jobs or meaning are. They are still at it with some of the same exclusive emotion if that what it is, and the same air of upper class-ness that excludes just about everyone else. They may have lost a step in the process of life and aging, but they are still at it.

The wedding had stabs at religion in it--a rabbi who wore a black robe and a tallit with little observable meaning. She reminded me of Diane Keaton just playing another role that never got really defined. At one point during the ceremony, she passed a tallit onto the couple being married--for just a brief moment, she said a brief blessing without much emotion, and placed the tallit down on the dais--after it served its brief and limited purpose, all alike an artifact, a prop, like the glass to be crushed without the usual meaning. We were just visiting this artifact of history.

And then there were the words of advice or meaning to the couple--the rabbi just spoke the words of the couple on why they said that they loved each other--from the dog to being smart and honest to loving the Redskins to being up when the arrived home late from work. This couple lived together for awhile and knew the surprises of togetherness; so some of the newness of marriage was gone--maybe to be redecorated.

The reception began with the appetizers and bar--dominated by the sushi of a trendy hotel that just made it into the traditional Jewish wedding reception. But at this wedding trendy was in, and was dominant while tradition and ruach or spirit was an artifact of life and just receding in the background. When the hora finally came out or was brought out from the closet, it was late after many meandering speeches and searches for meaning in relationships that were dominated by phone calls and connections that seemed like tall grass unmowed like the weed mentioned by the bride's brother who asked that the couple "don't go married on me."

Even the music played professionally enough by the loud 12 piece band whose vocalists screeched out too many of the words, and drained all energy or subtlety out of many of the new and old songs. Kay Perry and AC/DC in one medleyed into each other and everything else.

The dancing was fun of sorts but it all was just an artifact for another part of the visiting of the wedding ceremony and celebration. I am sure it had a different meaning for the wedding participants.

The father of the groom said that he wanted Yiddishkeit in the events and hired part of a klezmer group the night before for the rehearsal dinner--not the main event, but an attempt to have some meaning for a part of our tradition that seemed like just another piece of the evidence, an artifact to the visiting of the tradition and the spirit. Ruach a receding gene in the tapestry of this beautiful event at a trendy hotel in a part of town that is artificially built on a circle that goes nowhere and overlooks everything.

Lost Childhood

2011-07-04T05:10:00.000-07:00

With my mother's recent passing, my period of elongated childhood ended and so did a piece of great luck. For I had a special relationship with my mother that cannot and should not be repeated or duplicated. Now there is no one who will provide that undying love and connection that only my mother provided. It seems almost surreal that I had that special relationship when it is gone--you earned it just by being a son, hopefully a good one in return. A lot of good memories are what stand in its place, it is irreplaceable, as maybe it should be.

Suze and the Duke

2011-03-01T23:32:00.000-08:00

It is indeed a sad day in Flatbush, and in certain other parts of my receding childhood.

The Duke of Flatbush passed away at age 84. He was my favorite player as a Brooklyn Dodger fan in the 50s, and even as a Met fan in the 60's. He had a unique kind style and grace, and power and speed that he brought to his batting and fielding, and in his attitude on and off the field (at least during the late 40s, and the 50s). He had a regal air about him as he strode and patrolled the green outfield at Ebbets Field. He often was compared to Mays and Mantle in the 50's in the NYC center field sweepstakes, and tended to be the underdog in that comparison.

Unfortunately, when I met him at a baseball card show many years later in the 80's, he seemed a little too money-driven and unfortunately was on his way to tax difficulties, and some "wrong choices." But I will always have my childhood memories of this wonderful ball player.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Suze Rotolo, will always be remembered for her romantic relationship with Bob Dylan in the 60s and her inspiration to him. But she will be best remembered, in one of the iconic images of the decades, walking arm-in-arm with the Bobster on the cover of the legendary “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.” She died recently at the young age of 67.

In the picture she seemed like the romantic muse for the ages for the creative Mr. Dylan. As Dylan wrote in “Chronicles: Volume 1, “Right from the start I couldn’t take my eyes off her.” “She was the most erotic thing I’d ever seen." "Cupid’s arrow had whistled past my ears before, but this time it hit me in the heart and the weight of it dragged me overboard.”

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of reading her book, “A Freewheelin’ Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the 60s”, and I enjoyed her description of Mr. Dylan as among other things, “oddly old-time looking, charming in a scraggly way.” She also accounted for herself as more than just a walking companion.

Her views on social issues, especially her commitment to the civil rights movement seemed to have a deep and early influence on Mr. Dylan’s writing, along with her interests in theater and the visual arts, which may have opened him up beyond his world of folk music and his self-made image as the Guthrie-esque troubadour.

Her ultimate absence from Mr. Dylan's life was supposed to have inspired “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” “Boots of Spanish Leather” and “Tomorrow Is a Long Time.” She played a key role in inspiring and shaping one of the great songwriters of our time.

The Best of 2010: Music That Is

2011-01-16T21:28:00.000-08:00

I think it was Descartes or another philosopher, who said that "once a rock critic, always a rock critic." Once you review music as a job or avocation, you can never just return back to the safety and security and relaxed attitude of the normal listener. Listening as a critic is a little more disciplined and a little less joyful.

So I will begin this look back to the best of the year with a confession that my selections for top songs and albums of this year involved some unnatural, repeated listening for the sake of this once and always critic's summary; the results are albums and songs that are some new, some borrowed, and even some blue. That may be par for the course for a once and forever rock critic; the boundaries of a year are arbitrary and somewhat flexible, and lists are imperfect and always leave out some great music. The bad things about lists of top music of the year are well covered in the discussion at this web address:

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/reverb/2010/12/the_top_10_reasons_i_hate_year.php

Even with many shortcomings, here goes my observations about the best music of this arbitrary year period--

The best album of the year for me was "Suburbs" by Arcade Fire--which stood out in its variety of song styles, its effective messages, and its overall theme that made it work as an complete album, at a time when albums are being discarded and disregarded by orderless downloading. There are so many good songs on the album--songs that are well-crafted, well-performed and had enough variety to keep all of the songs fresh and successful, no matter how many times I heard them.

Vampire Weekend had my second favorite album, "Contra," which was a sprightly trip through some world-influenced pop rock. They may be going a little too mainstream and popular, as evidenced by "Holiday" becoming a friendly car company reminder. But even in their concerts, they play very tightly yet still with enough joy and organization to make it work well and produce happy and contagious music.

My next favorite was "Broken Bells" by Broken Bells, which was as close to a super group as we would get this year--and the down-tempo and smooth vocals and interesting arrangements help. "High Ground" was as good a song as anyone could craft this year, and the sound is intricate and fresh each time I hear it.

Beach House came in next with a good sound in "Teen Dream" (as in the song "Zebra"), even though it all sounded like they were still trying to figure out what direction to go in. In person, they were louder, sloppier, less careful, and not nearly as artful, but they continue to have a lot of potential.

My next two groups showed artful promise in 2010, but were not quite ready for a larger stage of success. LA's Warpaint placed in the top 5 with some interesting sounds on the "The Fool," but the sound is a little thin and they lack an ingredient or two to fill out their repetiore and sound.

Avi Buffalo's 'Avi Buffalo' included the simple, catchy, and wonderful "What's In It For?" with a fitting video, but their album and their live show is also a little thin, and uni-dimensional, yet they show some promise.

The rest of the year's favorites are a mixed group that all played well, but lacked a certain level of musical power when compared to those above them.

Gil Scott-Heron, one of original rapper/poets returned to center stage with his sometimes powerful "I'm New Here." "Your Soul and Mine" provided a good explanation of where he is and has been, and where we are and have been too.

Neil Young's "Le Noise" was a punned title that hailed the work of the eternally electronic, never old Mr. Young with veteran producer Daniel Lanois. The results are mixed with the intimate instant classic sounding "Love and War" and "Hitchhiker" alternating with the more noisy and less rhymical sounds of "Walk with Me" and "Angry World."

The rest is the best of the rest:

Belle and Sebastian - "Write About Love"

LCD Soundsystem - "This Is Happening"

Sleigh Bells - "Treats"

Band of Horses - "Infinite Arms"

The National - "High Violet"

Manic Street Preachers - "Postcards from a Young Man"

First Aid Kit - "The Big Black & The Blue"; "Ghost Town" (EP)

Best Coast - "Crazy For You"

Black Keys - "Brothers"

Deerhunter - "Halcyon Digest"

Hey Marsielles - remastered version of 2008's "To Travels and Trunks"

Lost in the Trees - "All Alone in an Empty House"

Yeasayers - "Odd Blood"

Newspeak - "Sweet Light Crude"

MGMT - "Congratulations"

Mumford & Sons - "Sigh No More"

Broken Social Scene - "World Sick"

Kanye West - "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy"

Jens Lekman - "The End of the World is Bigger Than Love"

John Grant - " Queen of Denmark"

Sleigh Bells - " Rill Rill"

The New Pornographers - "Together"

And it was the year of Glee, including Gwyneth Paltrow's performance of "Follow Me" that played proper homage to the great version by Cee Lo Green.

Finally, there is the hope of classical music reviving itself in reaching across boundaries and there is a good indie classical scene evolving as reported in this article and broadcast:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2010/12/31/132415391/the-year-in-music-indie-classical-blossoms-on-small-labels?ft=1&f=100

It was a good year for a varied diet of interesting music, and the music business is spinning and evolving into new business models with the end or landing point nowhere in sight. I wish all a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

2010-12-26T06:57:00.000-08:00

It is almost that time of the year to look back on the year we are leaving behind and to look forward to the year ahead. It was a good year with some recoveries from past economic lapses, and it was a year to do a little blaming and learn from some of the errors we made. The election was partly an effort to blame our current leaders and a time to try a few new ideas, and visions, and people. But voters did not go for the totally new, and kept in some of the old, and more tested and true.

We have a basis for an optimistic look ahead with some victories at the end of the year for compromise and reason at the end of the year for the President and the Congress, and hopefully for all of the people. We hope to build on these victories and work on new compromises and understandings and new ideas and reasons.

For me, it was a time of new and old discoveries, with a monumental trip to Auschwitz, and Krakow, and Berlin, and of course, Detmold, and with a trip to help present the United States' human rights records and to look ahead to help build on the record and make it better and help make the world a better place for all people.

Now as I watch Sunday Morning's summary and tribute to some of the momumental people who died this year, I think of all of those who passed our way this year. Here is short list of those who passed away this year:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/12/24/ap/national/main7181544.shtml?tag=mncol;lst;3

Hopefully, their lives will inspire us for 2011. Let's go for it together and more unified with less disagreements.

Strictly Speaking: Modern Society and the Death of Edwin Newman

2010-09-18T05:38:00.001-07:00

Edwin Newman, a clear mellow, kindly, avuncular, and authoritative voice of the news of the 50s, 60s and 70s, passed away in August. His family in Oxford England, waited a month to share and announce the news of his passing--they wanted to mourn his death in private. It was a nice anachronistic touch to handling the news that seemed to fit--in Newman's day or the day of the real news man, news was given more thought, and traveled slower, and it was often saved for another day.

Mr. Newman, with balding head and dark eyebrows, was a striking and prominent voice to three decades of postwar television viewers. He was known for his learned style, his priceless wit and his penchant for punditry. He began his association with NBC in the early TV years of the 1950s and was a frequent NBC correspondent, bureau chief, anchor and critic before retiring in 1984.

He was a news anchor and sometimes foil on the “Today” show in the early 1960s and a presence on the program for many years afterward; Mr. Newman also appeared regularly on “Meet the Press,” where he moderated for forty or so episodes. He won seven New York Emmy Awards for his work in the 1960s and ’70s with NBC’s local affiliate, WNBC-TV, on which he was a drama critic and the host of the interview program “Speaking Freely.”

He was the moderator for two Presidential debates — the first Ford-Carter debate in 1976 and the second Reagan-Mondale debate in 1984. He said he was always in the wrong place at the right time, but he covered many key events of the 20th century from Queen Elizabeth II's coronation to the assassination of President Kennedy, to the Martin Luther King shooting.

He was a newsman who cared about the quality of the news reporting, and in Mr. Newman’s best-known books, he declared what he called “a protective interest in the English language,” which, he warned, was falling prey to windiness, witlessness, ungrammaticality, obfuscation, words that lost their meanings, and other depredations.

Newman was a trusted voice who was a prominent critic of phony language and hypocrisy and spoke up in his books, "Strictly Speaking: Will America Be the Death of English?" (1974), and "A Civil Tongue" (1976), and in his commentary. He could be a little prissy around the edges, but that often added to his charm and authoritativeness. He also showed signs of not taking himself too seriously with his appearance on Saturday Night Live in which in one routine, he corrected the grammar of a caller on a suicide hot line.

Modernity and the lack of attention to careful speaking and thinking was an anathema to Newman, and it must have been harder for Newman to function in the wireless and grammar-less world of today. His sobering visions will still be with us to face modern America, but his stilled voice will be missed.

Life on the Shuffle (if not the Fast Lane)

2010-07-05T09:10:00.000-07:00

It was an extraordinary Fourth of July. I left at 9 a.m., and I was heading north from DC to visit my mother. The weather was hot but not oppressive, and I felt free, and playful and unencumbered (it is a day of liberty, after all) as I shot north on I-495 and I-95. I heard the special radio shows of the Fourth, of the Past Americana and Europe (a history of Paris), and the state of past, current and future US politics and philosophy, and culture lept before me, and I was able to feel deeply with my emotions and sensory nerve endings exposed, and able to take it in with a clarity that was unusually sharp and focused and extra-sensory. It was jet propelled, and HDTV all rolled into one, and yet it felt oh so natural at the same time.

It was music that was a custom slice of America and more. It was "on the media" on the present and future status of the book with its promise of public collaboration; it was an American tribute from the Beach Boys and Gershwin, and everything in between. It was Summertime in French and beautiful harmonies that included Coldplay and hip hop hotter play. It was playful yet touching on serious topics as well as the light fantastic.

It was a day and a trip of rediscovery, reaching back into America's past and present and yes future and it was reaching back to see who I was 40 or so years ago--influenced by my family's views internally and in a lot of my public behavior in school and after hours at a job in the hardware business, yet I was feeling my wings growing at the same time and I was protesting what was the recent past and present and striking out for human rights.

I was beginning my love with and respect for all people and I was hoping for a better and more enlightened present and future. I was somewhat grounded by my family ties that gave me security and love and nourishment, yet I was struggling to get my legs powerful enough to jump and run and lerch and move forward. I was somewhat shy while I figured things out and I was decent enough and sufficiently law-abiding and truly caring enough to be a decent person yet a person wanting to experiment and jump to the sky while I was grounded and kept a part of my feet on the pitching rubber. I did not want to balk in the winning run.

As the radio played along, it was jumpin jack flash, and I was Mich Jagger in Spain, and it was for what its worth, buffaloing springfield looking at a song for the 60s and 70s and saying hooray for our times, and the great beyond and it was even downtown by a decent but a confused sounding sinatra. It was truly life on the shuffle--free and liberating--jumping back and forth through past, present, and future, fast forwarding back and forth with a clarity and a fuzziness that enabled me to see for miles and miles and to develop a plan for the all the every days in my life and the more special and serious and to see with clarity what I can do to reorganize my life maybe, and reorganizing the office in a non- conventional and dynamic and interactive and workable way I hope.

It was the Fourth, surging forth with freedom and flying ahead with a speed of sound and beyond. It honored the past in a clear sharp manner, yet it lept forward into the future with a sweep that was beyond the horizons of times.

Teachable Moments from an Imperfect Game

2010-06-06T08:28:00.000-07:00

In reviewing the recent controversy about the almost perfect game of this past week, we should remember that individual baseball games are arbitrary to a greater degree than most sports contests, and this is part of their charm. Baseball uses the replay in very limited circumstances, and to add more replays would interfere with the timeless flow and simple basic human nature of the game. The Commissioner though cloudy in his statement got the end result right--under current rules, this is a human judgment call made in "real time."

We have humans on the field who do the best they can to make the call without much technological apparatus that would stop everything to try to make it perfect. This is another place where "perfect is the enemy of the good." We have too much technical regimen and cheap popular science introduced into baseball through the noisy electronic scoreboards that try to keep everyone entertained and controlled every minute based no doubt on surveys, focus groups, and scientific analysis of the results.

What should not be lost in all of this is the wonderful way in which the player, the umpire, the manager, and even the fans handled this. They did not need surveys, focus groups or science to reach the right way of addressing this situation. Taking responsibility for a mistake without defensiveness, forgiving the person who made the mistake, and cheering all of the participants and their reactions is a great lesson for children of all ages, politicians, oil and other corporate executives, accountants, Wall Street investment bankers, lawyers, and potential litigants among others. Whether to change the underlying call is much less important, and would almost ruin this important teaching and learning moment. We are human, there are rules, we make mistakes, and this is a moment of people rising to the occasion and displaying the best possible human nature, judgment, and emotion after a mistake.

I will now quietly get off my soapbox, and apologize if I overreacted. Thank you for your attention.

Death of An Art-ist's House Party

2010-05-29T02:59:00.000-07:00

Art Linkletter, the friendly and whimsical, everyman host of the early, ad-libbed TV interview shows of the 1950s and 1960s, “People Are Funny” and “House Party,” died a few days ago at 97. Linkletter had a modest talent of ingratiating himself with his subjects and getting them to open up, often with funny and touching results. He was the consummate businessman of the American twentieth-century, complete with modest beginnings that he worked hard at anything to overcome. He recalls an astute yet simple early non high-def time in television history, when he premiered much of what was to come in television, only Art did it in a much more humane and respectful yet entertaining way.

His long-popular CBS "House Party" had a remarkable run of 17 years, from 1952 to 1969 (with a final year on NBC), through the era of the settled-in, buttoned-down Eisenhower cold-war style of Fifties conservatism to the end of high-flying, free-flowing, psychedelically-radical JFK/LBJ Sixties. On the show, he featured a popular segment in which he put small fry at ease, by never talking down to them. He mined and questioned their young alert minds for infinitely clever answers, that provided the jewel-like material for his best-selling, Charles Schulz-illustrated book, “Kids Say the Darndest Things!” Only Cosby and Letterman could later compare with Art's ability to make comfortable his children guests.

In "People Are Funny," the philosophically-simple title of the stunt-oriented, audience-participation prime-time show he hosted on radio and then television from 1943-61, he had a small-d, democratic respect for and delight in ordinary human nature. This was in stark contract to Jay Leno's "Jaywalking" segments, which generally make their subjects look vapid and stupid.

Linkletter hosted a forerunner of the now-trite "reality television," to help prove his belief that normal, everyday people were inherently interesting and entertaining. In one segment of "People are Funny," he gave small amounts of money to people who could keep random callers on the telephone line for three minutes on any selected topic. The calls, an amateur forerunner of "Whose Line Is It Anyway," were often a remarkable display of everyday finesse, patience, friendliness, and the desire not to be rude--all admirable traits that often are missing today from our everyday discourse.

While critics and snobby intellectuals found him "bland," "trite,"and "vanilla," millions of viewers saw into his talents, and responded with loyalty to his wholesome, friendly, clever, and upbeat nature. Women with time on their hands, made up much of his audience for the daily afternoon “House Party.” They found him to be the curious, wise-cracking next door attractive neighbor that they pined for, while husbands found him to be the friendly, safe neighbor who they waved to as they went off to work, leaving their wives in his relatively non-threatening hands. Linkletter was genuinely curious to know what was going on in the hearts and minds of the people he interviewed, and in his loyal distaff audience.

Linkletter was born Gordon Arthur Kelly on July 17, 1912, in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. He was abandoned by his parents at less than month old and adopted by Fulton John and Mary Metzler Linkletter, a middle-age couple whose two children had died. In his autobiography, “Confessions of a Happy Man,” Mr. Linkletter recalled his adoptive father, a one-legged cobbler and itinerant evangelist, as “a strange, uncompromising man whose main interest in life was the Bible.” By Art's fifth birthday, the Linkletters moved to an unpaved poverty-driven, adobe section of San Diego, and Art took any job he could find--including sorting through and cleaning lemons from an abandoned packing plant, and selling them for 6 cents a dozen. The family prayed and performed on street corners, with Art obediently playing the triangle. At 12, Linkletter discovered his roots while rummaging through his father’s desk, and he was impatient to learn more about the world outside of neighborhood.

After graduating high school at 16, the independent Mr. Linkletter took off to see the world with $10 in his pocket, riding freight trains and hitchhiking, while working here and there as a meatpacker, harvester, and a busboy in a roadhouse. “Among other things, I learned to chisel rides on freight trains, outwit the road bulls, cook stew with the bindlestiffs and never to argue with a gun.” He found work in a Wall Street bank as a quick and facile typist, just in time for the stock market crash in 29. He sailed off to Hawaii and Rio de Janeiro as a merchant seaman, and returned to enter San Diego State Teachers College (now San Diego State University) hoping to be an English teacher.

He got a bachelor’s degree in 1934, but in his senior year, did wanderlust took him to spot announcing at local radio station, KGB, and this led to radio work at the California Pacific International Exposition in San Diego and at fairs in Dallas and San Francisco. With microphone in hand and hours to fill, Mr. Linkletter ad-libbed, performed stunts and went out into audience to attract attention and keep listeners entertained, ala Steve Allen and David Letterman. He was once lowered from a skyscraper in a boatswain’s chair, interviewing office workers on every floor as he descended. “It was the forced feeding of a young and growing M.C.,” who stayed on for more than 9,000 broadcasts.

Linkletter was in Hollywood but not of it. Unlike many of his neighbors, he was the exemplary family man - married 74 years - with a passel of kids of his own. One of them, Jack, who died in 2007, also became a TV host and was the original inspiration for his kid-terviews. Another, Diane, notoriously jumped to her death from a window, in 1969, at the age of 20, a suicide her father attributed to LSD. This turned Linkletter into an anti-drug crusader, which made him, for a while, a figure of counterculture ridicule.

Even after he retired from full-time broadcasting, Linkletter flitted in and out of television, as a pitchman or guest or talking head, a proponent of proactive aging, for which he was a kind of poster oldster. He briefly returned as a regular contributor to Cosby's late-'90s franchising of the old "House Party" segment, "Kids Say the Darndest Things."

One of his early TV gambits was to inventory and announce with often hilarious precision, the contents of an audience-member's purse--an exercise in exploring human commonality and variety, and a businessman's cheap dodge to get a laugh at a stranger's expense. His showman's trust in the beauty of humble detail, his interest in small things to make large points, are among his common-man, radical elements that always appealed to me. He was an early pioneer of the television culture, at a time when we would pay enough attention to be awed by unique nature of the common place.

It is a shame that TV now reflects our easily distracted, short attention-span nature, that does not pay much attention to the details of what is right around us. We would rather listen now to our i-pods and talk mindlessly on our cell phones and be cut off from the reality of what is in front of our eyes and ears. We could use a lot more of Linkletter's modest methods of entertainment that were simple yet visionary, that were common place yet exceptional, and that skimmed the surface of life but ran deeply into our hearts and minds.

Happy B-Day Mister Bobster

2010-05-24T16:42:00.000-07:00

As Bob turns a cool 69 today, he does appear to be "younger than that now." As I am traveling on a wifi bus from NY to DC on the free and open road, Bob's contributions are opening before me and they have been vast. He has added to my sense of freedom, and openness, and smoothed out a perspective so that I do not take things too seriously--"it's life and life only."

He has explored so many types of American music from folk to rock to country to gospel to swing and to all things in between. For a couple of years, he has been opening up doors to many additional known and little-known artists and types of music on his Radio Hour, which features his velvety smooth, man for all eras, DJ voice (I never thought I would be saying "velvety smooth" in the same sentence with Dylan's voice).

I have not agreed with every step he has taken, but, in retrospect, he is often bold and resourceful, and he keeps reinventing himself in a way that is incredibly fresh ("those not busy being born, are busy dying"). He never plays the same song in the same way--and in that way he explores the dynamic nature of music and life, and keeps adding to the bag of human emotions, that we pull our thoughts from. Happy birthday Mister Bobster; we wish you many more years of being born.

Classic, Must-See TV--SNL, for a change

2010-05-09T01:36:00.000-07:00

Did anyone else watch Saturday Night Live last night? It sparkled throughout the 90 minute show--which has not happened for many years. Viewers picked the host through a Facebook petition, NBC complied with the results, and veteran comic Betty White did not disappoint. Her delivery and comic timing were superb, and the writing seemed several cuts above the usual. It did not hurt to have former stellar cast members back for the show, including Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Ana Gasteyer and Molly Shannon. In one bit, comic-master White led Gasteyer and Shannon through a "Muffin" routine on a take off of an NPR high-brow, food appreciation show, "Delicious Dish," that recalled the Alec Baldwin classic "Schwetty Balls" routine. But, this was just one of many wonderful sketches.

Ms. White appeared in just about every bit throughout the show, and was her sweet, modest, charming, sassy, salty, sexy, and often outrageous self, and she always seemed to know how to get the best out of the material--she homered on whatever pitch they threw at her, often donning outrageous wigs and clothing to put across the scene.

SNL has become a show hosted by the flavor or the flame of the week--often taking a future one-hit wonder pushing a recent movie, CD, or TV hit, who has not shown much talent beyond the confines of the hit. Thus, the show often peaks during the introductory, "live from New York" bit, and maybe has one more routine that's decent, plus a few lines from "Weekend Update."

But tonight was very different, and it showed what the show once was and could be--masters of comedy at work, backed by crisp comic writing, and supported by a great musical guest who clearly respects the guest host. Betty White, the returning and current cast members, and Jay-Z put on a great show tonight, and it was extraordinary to see them at the top of their game. This is what TV can be, and what it rarely is today--a classic album of funny routines, worth watching in its entirety, rather than in bits and pieces for those with short-attention span, on the Hulu/You Tube-laden web.

A Game for Mr. Harwell

2010-05-06T01:58:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, I took the night off from the day and night job that I usually love so much to accept an offer of a ticket to a Nationals-Braves baseball game at the Nats Park. It was my first game of the young season and it was a gorgeous DC baseball night that was crystal clear and free of humidity; it seemed ordered straight out of a weather catalog.

The game featured the ageless and wily Cuban pitcher, Livan Hernandez, throwing soft pitches of constantly varying speeds at hitters half his age, and making them look silly as they swung wildly at whatever he pitched their way. The game had two artistic catches by outstretched Nats fielders who banged off the ground and the walls to catch the quick and fleeing balls, and five long arching home runs.

But the game was interrupted by the shorting and the silencing of the magic modern scoreboard of hi-def sounds and pictures and statistics and blatant promotions. The scoreboard was out of commission for much of the game, and we were led to ask the metaphysical question--if a run scores in the ballpark, and there is no scoreboard, does the run count? The runs did count and the score ended 6 to 3 in favor of our perennial hometown underdogs, the lovable and often hapless Nationals.

After I left the ballpark, I heard about the passing of Ernie Harwell, and I am convinced that the scoreboard died at Nats Stadium to honor the passing of baseball's melodious announcer and poet of another era, who died today at the age of 92. The quiet and blank scoreboard yielded its overblown sound and pictures so that the quiet and reflective game of baseball could go on as it has for the many decades of Mr. Harwell's wonderful career, without the squawking modern sounds that tell you when to clap, when to shout, when to stomp your feet, when to wave to the cameras, and when to do the wave. Ernie Harwell announced in an era of innocence when baseball was more of a love and passion than a business. Tonight, the high definition electronics went silent so that we could celebrate the poetry and reflections of a bygone time, when we knew when to clap and when to shout, and when to keep silent and watch the game.

Ought to Review the "Decade of Oughts"

2010-01-17T02:47:00.000-08:00

The decade has ended, and it has been a while since I have written, and it is time to begin to reflect back. While more thought is needed to really get it right, here are some preliminary thoughts that may or may not be helpful--it was that kind of deade.

We started with fear of the Millennium in the form of y2k. And while that was a bust and a false alarm, it may have given us a false sense of security and invincibility. Time soon seemed to stop as we tried to elect a President in an election that was too close to call and got decided on hanging chads, some Florida maneuvering, and a 5 to 4 Supreme Court decision.

With a pat on the back for a system that survived a hotly contested election, we tried to recover our bearings when on a clear morning we endured an awlful attack from the skies on 9-11 and we were or seemed oh so vulnerable. It was a watershed moment and the first time since the Kennedy shooting and the Iran hostages that we and the so-called greatest country in the world seemed so open to attack. We wondered why we did not see it coming and searched for answers.

Katrina and the slow response to it just confirmed that we did not have our act together yet. But things settled down as we responded and slowly rebuilt New Orleans, and we came together a bit, and survived better in some subsequent hurricanes. The world was hit by a tsunami that reminded us that nature could always run its unpredictable course and that we are not really in control.

But the market took off in blustering confidence as did housing new and old, and we once again felt fiscally strong and invicible, until the bubble burst and we free fell into a recession of only 1929 proportions, and there were some banker bad decisions and villains and of course there was Madoff. We slowly rebounded with the historical election of an African-American president who had to tackle so many problems, that the populace wondered if were taking on too many.

We ended as we began with a small recovery, and with "google" as our word of the decade that had no name. "Unfriending" was a key word of the last year as we turned to electronic technology for our Facebook friends, and it was a decade of failure and accomplishments, artifice and reality, and some heroes and villains. No one really owned or owned up to the decade, but President Obama did take responsibility for errors in a failed December 24 attempted plane bombing and we hoped it was a good sign. As we once again breathed a sigh of relief yet knew that we failed to detect all the clues of our vulnerability. But there was next year and the optimism that buoys us up and lets us sail on to another decade with no real name.

While our lives bobbed and weaved, some of favorite institutions for leisure time, the newspaper industry, TV, movies, and the music industry lost many of its old reliable bearings and all struggled to survive in the new decade. Jon Pareles had a good summary of the music industry in his recent Sunday article at the following web address:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/arts/music/03tech.html?adxnnl=1&hpw=&adxnnlx=1262531186-lsC6H8du8UXNqY3ItRaevg

But more to come on the music and other industries...

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-26T11:11:00.001-08:00

It is now Thanksgiving 2009 and it has awhile since I have written. Beside doing hard and long work on education reform at the office and at home after hours, and wathcing an exciting World Series between the two clearly best teams, I attended, in early November, a few great musical events within an extended week. The events were led by the great Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the Verizon Center (energetic and interactive hard driving songs working well with a lively audience) performing the Born To Run album and other bread and butter anthems of working class America; the 15 or so-members of the Arlington Symphony, performing wondrous waltzes and other danceable "pop" hits from the late 19th and early 20th Century composed by various Strausses and friends; and lastly, the topping dose of Bob Dylan performing his sly reworkings of his American songbook.

We also danced to the neotraditionalist zydeco stylings of Feufollet from Lafayette LA at Glen Echo on a beautiful November fall Sunday. Now, on to the Thanksgiving celebrations with family and friends, and a visit to family in NJ. There is plenty to be thankful for.
Happy Thankgiving 2009.

Roads Not Taken

2009-08-22T23:38:00.000-07:00

On a recent trip to California, we visited the great city life in San Fran, the winding and wonderful and sometimes foggy coastal highway, and the coastal town of Santa Monica that proclaims its non-east life style. We had the pleasure of reuniting with several people from whom we drifted apart over forty years, and made a pilgrimage to Dodgers' Stadium, the non-Brooklyn home of the ballteam of my childhood--only the announcer and part of the uniform had stayed the same.

The star of the trip was a very hospitable cousin who made the last part of the trip warm and work well. All parts of the trip were peaceful, pleasant, and enjoyable. We fit nicely into all of it and all of the past friends fit us nicely into their lives for a short time. We came back to the east richer for the times we had with the places, teams, and persons who drifted away from us--we came back with a greater appreciation of what attracts people to the West Coast.

Lessons from Last

2009-08-09T16:46:00.000-07:00

People tend to make their judgment about a topic or person and stick with it. Gladwell would call it Blink think. I think it can be right sometimes, but it can get us into trouble, when we are not open to changing our minds.

I was reminded of this when I went to see the Nats play the Diamondbacks last night at Nats Field, and allowed for change. Earlier in the season, I had silently been boycotting Nats games, because of their poor play in the basics of the game. It was the longest I had gone into the season without seeing a major league baseball game.

I liked Manny Acta, the Nats manager, for his easygoing nature. I thought he might be good for the mix of young and older players, even though I did not think he made good strategic moves in the game situations. But under Acta, the less than mediocre Nats made many silly errors, and often missed or forgot hitting the cut off man. They would get down five or more runs and just seem to give up and lose ground, rather than fight back.

I could not bring myself to attend the loud mouth spectacle that has become live MLB baseball with all of the noisy and artificial cheer leading that goes on at today's high-def stadium. That is, I would not face it live until the level of the game got up to MLB standards.

Although I did not think that Acta was the real cause of the problems and should not take the fall for the poor team play, I was not really unhappy when the managerial change was made. Acta seemed to be an unnecessary sacrifice, but maybe some good would come out of it.

After interim manager Riggleman lost his four games and won one, I decided to be open to a change in the Nats fortunes and their state of play, and go to a game. But it was just like the earlier part of season. It was the opening game of a series with the Mets. The Mets were riddled with injuries, and their lineup was a patchwork of minor leaguers and well-travelled, itinerant veterans. The quality of the game was a disaster for even a pair of Triple AAA league teams. The fact that we sprung for seats right behind the Nats dugout, just made the experience that much closer and worse. Baseball is a business I am constantly reminded, but if this were a product I would get my money back.

Two weeks passed, and the Nats had won six in a row and in a few games, had even fought back from being down five or more runs to win. Maybe they had changed and it was safe to attend a game again. They were facing Haren (with a dominant 2.40 ERA or so) with Mock (with a 6.61 ERA). Could they beat those odds?

They could and did by a convincing 5-2. They got out to a one-run lead, and then let Arizona get ahead on a Reynolds two-run homer. But this was not the Nats of just a couple of weeks ago. They came right back with 3 runs and never looked back. Their quality of play was also outstanding in the field. Zimmerman made three Web Gem-level plays, and they all executed the basics perfectly--covering the right bases, hitting the cut off men, and doing all that a team should do and more.

So, what had changed? It was almost the same lineup with a little less, losing Nick Johnson to a late-season trade. So was it the no-nonsense interim manager? And were the players, embarrassed for how they contributed to the demise of nice-guy Manny?

Whatever it was, baseball seemed to be teaching me a few lessons of life--people deserve more chances; you can motivate and teach old players old tricks; do not stick to first impressions. It may also be teaching me that Leo Durocher may have had it right--Nice guys, unless they can be tough at times, will finish last.

DC Summer Cool and Passing

2009-07-20T03:13:00.000-07:00

It is a beautiful DC summer; it is very cool, not the usual hot or muggy. It is very civilized on the one hand, but another DC institution of our less partisan politics past is closing. Trover Book Shop, a 50+ year institution on Capital Hill is nearing its end. We tune into the DC Examiner, already in progress:

David Aime, a retiree from Springfield, was doing research at the Library of Congress, when he stepped into Trover, purchased a chocolate bar and browsed the shelves. For him, the closing of the family-owned business marked "a blow to civilization."

"It just breaks my heart to see a small bookstore go down the tubes," he said.

According to Andy Shuman, [one of the owner of the family business] business at the store took a turn for the worse two years ago when a fire at a neighboring bar, the Capitol Lounge, caused a half-million dollars in damage to the Trover card shop, which was just three doors from the bookstore. The losses were so extensive they closed the card shop and combined its merchandise with the bookstore. Now, with the economy in a slump and online booksellers chipping away at the customer base, Shuman says the store's time is up.

"We don't want to see it go, but unfortunately with the way the industry's going and other stores closing, we'd rather be on our own terms than someone else's terms," he said. The brothers wanted to avoid bankruptcy and pay off their bills "so we can walk away with our heads held high instead of with our heads between our legs."

The full story is at: http://www.examiner.com/a-2113926~DC_book_lovers_mourn_loss_of_Trover_Shop_on_Hill.html

On their web site the shop still advertises, that, under one roof, they can help with the latest directory to Congress, the hot, new bookby Senator What's His Name, that sizzling article in your favorite (or not so favorite magazine,newspapers from across the country, and guides to lobbying, fundraising or the upcoming elections.

I used to go there for interesting magazines, books and out-of-town newspapers. The knowledgeable committed people at Trover seemed like another branch of government, in the shadow of the Capital, designed to ensure public knowledge and input. We lose a family business and an independent bookstore--two threatened institutions. Is DC life better off with so much easily available online? There are pluses and minuses and no one appears to be the villain. But are we losing some of our heart and soul?

In their own words, they sum it up and say goodbye:

Dear Trover Shop Friends,

It is with great sadness that we inform you of our plans to close our Capitol Hill location, but given the current economic climate and the changes in our industry we are faced with no other viable option.

We would like to thank our parents, Joe and Anne Shuman, who worked tirelessly for decades to grow this business. They not only enjoyed watching us grow within these walls, but had the great fortune to watch many of you come through these doors as children, as young adults and finally as parents.

We, ourselves, have now worked full time for a quarter of a century. In that time we have watched your families grow as our parents did, and we hope that we have served you well.

To those of you who have been with us over the years, please know that we have truly appreciated all of your support and friendship. Capitol Hill is one of the most remarkable places in the world to both live and work, and we have been fortunate to be a part of it for over 50 years. We hope that the Trover Shop has been a source of support, fun times, fond memories and a wealth of knowledge to this community and we will miss serving you. Thank you.

Fondly,

Al, Steve & Andy Shuman

Roger Wilco Over and In

2009-07-12T20:16:00.000-07:00

The night was beautiful, the lawn was filled and the air above was a crisp summer sky blue. It was a huge sold out crowd (cars spilling out the parking lot into surrounding areas) for Wilco and Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band at Wolf Trap last Wednesday. It had to be one of the best and noisiest rock shows at Wolf Trap.

Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band opened as the sunlight silently fled over the green hillside, offering up a mix of part mock serious and part light. The pleasant-enough paste of many-themed, rootsy country-rock had one notable couple blocking the view while they danced away.

Wilco took to the stage and suddenly the wooden spaces filled in with a wave of cheering humanity that rose and never sat again, as the group opened with the title track ("Wilco," the Song) from their latest studio effort, Wilco (the Album). Cheers followed with favorite "Shot in the Arm" where many sang along repeatedly with the lines "Something in my veins, bloodier than blood!"

The show become one part intimate and upbeat Jeff Tweedy, and one part skilled and showoffy riffs of string-jointed, lead guitarist Nels Cline on "At Least That's What You Said" and new album jam "Bull Black Nova," which reverberated through the surrounding woods of darkness. Favorite 'You Are My Face' followed and led easily into "I'm Trying to Break Your Heart" and "One Wing."

Tweedy then took the crowd aside and promised “the most requested song in the history of our Web site”--36 votes, and delivered a quiet "How to Fight Loneliness." This led to the melodic "Impossible Germany" that suddenly filled easily with heroic Cline riffs before the newer "Deeper Down," and fan favorites "Jesus Etc,"' "Sonny Feeling," "Handshake Drugs," "Hate it Here" and "Walken." Wilco closed out the set with "I'm the Man Who Loves You" and "Hummingbird," and left briefly to a cheering throng of several thousand happy fans.

After a very quick break, the band began to throw out as much musical bouquets as possible to the enthusiastic crowd before the curfew came. The band played the new "You Never Know" "Heavy Metal Drummer" and "Misunderstood." A strum and drum "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" followed by "I'm a Wheel" ended the night on the right note.

Tweedy proudly announced “[t]he last time we played here was nine years ago...we were opening for Natalie Merchant.” Time has flown by and Wilco has grown up into a very skilled band with many dedicated fans who enjoy the large catalogue of interesting Wilco songs. Wilco and the fans were a pleasant force on a fantastic summer night.

Dark Moon Over a Perky Storm

2009-07-03T00:12:00.000-07:00

The perky star of 50's TV, Gale Storm, died at age 87. She was one of the early stars who went from radio to movies, to radio again, to television, and ultimately to rock 'n roll.

The roles she played in TV--Margie Albright, daughter of a wealthy playboy investment banker in the television situation comedy "My Little Margie" and Susanna Pomeroy, social director of the S.S. Ocean Queen in "The Gale Storm Show: Oh! Susanna"--displayed her as a woman very much in control of the male characters in her life, and in control of her life well before women's liberation. Margie was her own person and did her own thing long before TV or society blessed this role for a woman.

In each episode, no matter what her father, Vern, (who tried to reign her in, in the same way he tried to run his business) and hapless boy friend Freddie wanted or expected her to do, Margie plotted her own course and that of her male counterparts. She had some similarities to the quirky lead characters in "I Married Joan" and "I Love Lucy," but Margie and Susanna were more in control. Her characters were fine role models for children growing up in the 50's. Ironically, "Margie" started as a summer replacement for the wildly popular "I Love Lucy," and in 1953 a poll listed Storm as television's most popular star following comedienne Lucille Ball. Margie usually had the last laugh, and we laughed with her.

Gale Storm was one of the earliest television stars to crossover to rock with her cover record of Smiley Lewis' "I Hear You Knocking," which hit No. 2 on the Billboard charts, followed in 1957 by "Dark Moon" that went to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. I have many pleasant memories of Margie and Susanna, and Gale Storm's hit records.

As the media pores over the talent and excesses of the immensely gifted Michael Jackson, another trailblazer passes on with little notice.

Dusty in the Wind

2009-06-21T01:20:00.000-07:00

Dusty Rhodes, the incorrigible, free spirit, and pinch hitter extroadinaire, and often game-winner of the 1954 New York Giants died last week of a variety of illnesses at 82.

The Alabama-born Rhodes with the great baseball-name, came to the Giants in 1952 and lived up to his reputation of being a hard-hitting, hard-drinking and defensively-challenged left fielder. Rhodes, who played in only seven seasons with the Giants, retired in 1959 with a career .253 average and 54 homers in 576 games.

But in 1954, he had a gift for the dramatic and won many a game with a timely, clutch hit, including in the '54 Series when he went 4-for-6 with two homers and seven RBI in the Giants' four-game sweep of the heavily favored, 111-win Cleveland Indians. Rhodes, had a left-handed stroke that was tailor-made for the short right field porch of 257 or feet at the old Polo Grounds. He won the first game with a pinch-hit, 10th-inning three-run homer off Bob Lemon just inside the right field foul pole, about 296 feet away, and the next day, delivered a pinch single in the fifth and a home run in the seventh against Early Wynn, as keys to a 3-1 Giants win. In Game 3, he came back to hit a two-run pinch single off the Indians' Mike Garcia to spark a 6-2 Giants win. For all three pinch-hitting opportunities in the Series, Giants manager Leo Durocher had Rhodes bat for the legendary Monte Irvin.

I saw Dusty on Tuesday, June 29, 1954, when he stroked a timely pinch hit in the 13th inning to win an incredibly exciting 4 to 3 game for the rival Giants against my favorite, the Brooklyn Dodgers at the Polo Grounds. Don Hoak had homered in the top of the 13th for Beloved Bums, and I celebrated briefly before Rhodes came through in the clutch once again. Although, I was a strong Dodger rooter, I could not help but like Rhodes who seemed to love the game and the key moments he was brought in to tempt fate.

"It's a sad day for me," Monte Irvin said recently. "Dusty and I were such good friends. Even though he was born in Alabama, he was like a brother to all the black players. Dusty was color-blind. He sure did like the good life, though, which would drive Leo crazy. I remember one time we were in Japan playing an exhibition series and Leo and I were standing in the hotel lobby late one night when Dusty came through the door. Leo said: 'Are you coming or are you going?'"

In his autobiography, "Nice Guys Finish Last," Durocher described Rhodes as "the worst fielder who ever played in a big league game who made training rules forgotten" but added: "Dusty was the kind of buffoon who kept a club confident and happy. And boy could he hit! Between him and Willie Mays, there was nothing but laughter in our clubhouse." Willie Mays recently called Rhodes "a fabulous hitter and a great friend." "He stayed at my house and I've never had a greater friend."

Music, Music, Music

2009-06-17T19:39:00.000-07:00

It was a weekend of the local Tinner Hill Blues Festival in a local park, two-incredibly talented rockers at Verizon Center, a classical music farewell party for the beloved high school orchestra leader of the last 14 years (and a 42 year inspiring career in the area), and the Ultimate Doo-Wops at Wolf Trap. For variety and quality of music, it was hard to top.

At the blues festival, over a couple of hours, I saw a group of well-heeled blues rockers--Curtis Blues, Deanna Bogart, Daryl Davis First Ladies of the Blues, Angela Hill, Stacy Brooks, Ruby Hayes, Nadine Rae and the All Stars, and Sheryl Warner and the Southside Homewreckers with Gregg Kimball, Warner Williams. A couple of hours later, at Verizon, I saw two of the best of many years, Clapton and Winwood, effortlessly weaving their magic and enjoying their catalog of wonderful music.

The next afternoon, I saw and heard a wonderfully talented assortment of students from over a great 42-year career of Ms. Gretta Sandberg, sharing their playing, conducting, and composing. It was a great living legacy for an outstanding educator, who had a great and easy (and a natural humor-laden) way of working with students.

And lastly, I saw some veterans and newer replacements from the following veteran groups: The Drifters; Jimmy Beaumont & The Skyliners; The Contours featuring Sylvester Potts; Willie Rogers & The Soul Stirrers; The Clovers featuring Harold Winley; Randy & the Rainbows featuring Randy Safuto; The Marcels; The Edsels; and The Blue Suede Orchestra. The enjoyment of the performers. and their talents on display fueled an appreciative and lively audience.

The range of music, the talents and the enthusiasm of each of the artists for the music, and how each style of music relates to modern life made it noteworthy and particularly interesting weekend.

Music Exchange

2009-05-31T06:52:00.000-07:00

The power of music was apparent at the wonderful joint concert of the McLean High School Orchestra and the Detmold, Germany, Jugendorchester (Youth Orchestra) at the Craighill S. Burks Theater in McLean High School. The concert program, presented by more than 75 musicians of the combined orchestras, featured the music of Brahms, Mendelssohn, Bizet, and Tchaikovsky, and then an encore of music from Grease, the Musical, by Jacobs and Casey. It was a magical and emotional evening bringing two cultures together again in a series in each county that goes back fifteen years. The power of the music and cooperation building pieces of friendship, harmony, and memories for life, was magical and breathtaking.

Bruuuce

2009-05-31T06:51:00.000-07:00

Bruce put on a great show at DC Verizon Center. As usual, he had an incredible dose of Energy, and he gave it and everything else for the audience. The song choice for requests was great, and his song choice were generally fine, but towards the end, in the darkness of the lyrics, his choices lost some of their energy and some of the incredible vitality of the singer and his audience that are usually unified. There is a fine and more complete review of a first-timer at http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/bruce-springsteen/

The Power of Song -- L Cohen

2009-05-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

Leonard Cohen filled the Merriweather Post Pavillion in Columbia MD, and the Washington Post provided a mainly positive review that went off on a sour note of negativity about the mix of sound and the skill of the side musicians that was unjustified. In reality, the concert was truly exceptional, with only the high ticket prices, and the rainy and cold weather detracting from a mostly magical evening.

The sound quality was as clear and crisp as a concert in a fine symphony hall; it was well beyond what I have come to expect at a rock concert. It was easy to hear Cohen's somewhat raspy voice that improved over the course of the night, and to hear the fine musicianship of the sidemen and back up vocalists and the beautiful arrangements of the songs that were close to exquisite and seemed to tightly surround the words. The sidemen added to the richness of songs and their thoughtful lyrics, and all played off the artistry of Leonard Cohen very well.

The serene yet playful 74-year-old Canadian song-poet put on a fine three-hour show (with a 30-minute recess) at the outdoor venue that was filled with intensity and easygoing grace, that complemented the meticulous musicianship. And the behatted man with the white-hair - looked alternately elderly and youthful, took turns being sad and nimble and debonair, depending on whether he's holding his fedora over his heart or wearing it on his head. He crouched through some songs as if Yogi Berra was calling a perfect game.

The crowd laughed and applauded lines like "I haven't been this happy since the end of World War II," in "Waiting for the Miracle," the elegantly stately song in which he sang, "the maestro says it's Mozart, but it sounds like bubble gum."

Cohen hasn't toured in nearly 15 years; he last hit boards when "I was 60, just a kid with a crazy dream." His stature has rightly grown as an iconic wordsmith of the first generation of rock singer-songwriters, a philosopher of love and death, sexual ecstasy, and societal doom, whose cigarette-scarred singing voice has grown more effective even as its range has become more limited.

This time around, Cohen was backed by a superb 10-piece band whose standouts included Spanish bandurria player Javier Mas, keyboardist Neil Larsen, and a chorus consisting of Cohen's cowriter Sharon Robinson and sisters Charley and Hattie Webb.

Early on in the first set, Cohen performed "Everybody Knows," his song of political and personal betrayal from his fruitful late-'80s electronic phase. And everybody seemed happy with the turn of events, especially Cohen, who skipped on and off the stage each time he came and went over the course of two sets and three encores. (He didn't display as much gymnastic prowess, however, as the Webb sisters, who executed dual handstands early on during the dystopian "The Future," signaling that the marathon show to come was going to be as playfully theatrical as it was satisfyingly serious-minded.)

"So much of the world is plunged in chaos and suffering, it's remarkable that we have the opportunity to gather in places like this," Cohen said before "Anthem." For a guy known first and foremost as a lyricist, Cohen pays acute attention to every acoustic detail. Every song got its due, and every Hammond B-3 or sax solo - from Larsen and multi-instrumentalist Dino Soldo, respectively - came through as crystal clear as the vocals.

One of Cohen's specialties has always been writing words that are about music - music as a source of spiritual sustenance without which the soul would wither and die. "But then, you don't really care for music, do you?" he sang in "Hallelujah," issuing the ultimate put-down in a blood-and-guts version that contrasted gravely with Jeff Buckley's ethereal cover.

In Cohen's apocalyptic encore of "First We Take Manhattan," he indicated his narrator's deprived state by asking: "Remember me, I used to live for music?" And in "Chelsea Hotel No. 2," he got a big laugh for rhyming "you told me again you preferred handsome men, but for me you would make an exception." But then he cut to the song's core by singing about the gift he was giving to his reverential audience at that very moment: "We are ugly," he sang, in an unpretty voice. "But we have the music."

Newspaper sectionism

2009-05-01T02:30:00.001-07:00

As newspapers shrink their staffs, all of the sections of the papers are becoming more and more interchangeable. The Washington Post recently discontinued its separate business and Sunday book review sections, and merged them into News and Outlook respectively. This is coming at a time when I often find myself reading a story and going back to first page of the section of the paper to check on what section I am reading. In USA Today terms, Life becomes Sport, or Money or News, and vice versa.

While the particular section of the paper does not really matter much, it is a commentary on today's life that items and sectors of our life are often interchangeable. Sports items are often found in the entertainment, business or news sections--sports are more and more a business or entertainment in its most commercial form. Entertainment is more and more a business if not a sport, and entertainment figures are often in the news. Recent business news often seems like the news of a sport with the chaotic rise and fall and hopefully rise again of the stock market. Life is complex but simpler in some ways.

Change you can believe in...

2009-04-04T07:21:00.000-07:00

The economic challenges we are facing are having a sad but sometimes interesting effect on our society and daily lives. While the daily newspapers we wake up to through the major label-run music industry that entertained us at night are being threatened with extinction (and some papers and labels have already passed away), many other institutions and industries that affect our daily lives are facing similar problems and restructuring (some of it overdue).

A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education analogized the problems of the newspaper industry with the issues faced by institutions of higher education (it is on the web at the following address: http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i30/30a02101.htm). The pay scale of corporate officers in every industry, the work of bankers and the financial industry, and the need for staff in every field are also being rethought and revolutionized. Perhaps most prominently, the auto industry and the views on the need to save the environment are also being rethought. The world is being reshaped at a pace that we could not have anticipated just a year or so ago.

The National Pastime--Just For the Fun Of It

2009-03-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

The World Baseball Classic is baseball at its most enjoyable if not at its best. It is baseball played by those who enjoy playing it and playing it for their country, rather than being played for the money--which is what Major League Baseball (MLB) is. The sense of fun and loyalty evident in the Classic is in stark contrast to the brand of ball that is played in the MLB, in which there is no team loyalty, the players are available for the highest bidder, and they do not seem to be having as much fun.

William Rhoden covered it well in the Times on Saturday, in discussing the team's shortage of first basemen, because of the demands of the MLB team owners. He quoted Derek Jeter, who also played in the 2006 Classic, who talked Friday about the honor of playing in the tournament. "Asked why he decided to play again — was it to avoid spring training? — Jeter mentioned national pride and honor.

'That’s the reason I’m here this time, not to get out of spring training for two or three weeks,' he said. 'It’s to come out here and represent our country and win a championship here. Guys obviously have their reasons for not being able to participate, but I think more players wanted to play than not.'

A consistent undertone of the Classic has been who chooses to play and who declines. The decisions underline the tension between a player’s love of the game and his profound understanding of who butters his bread.

None of the players who stayed away doubt that the Classic is fun; it’s just that fun gives way to self-interest — the teams’ and the players’.

The Classic pits the business of Major League Baseball against the intrinsic joy of playing baseball."

It is great when the "intrinsic joy of playing baseball" wins out. It should win out more, but it doesn't win out often in the MLB.

Passing Scene Photo Shoot

2009-02-28T05:24:00.000-08:00

The Passing Scene

2009-02-28T04:24:00.000-08:00

The world seemed to have gotten a little smaller with the demise of the Rocky Mountain News and several other news dailies, and the passing of Johnny (Red) Kerr. While not a reader of the Rocky Mountain News, the pictures and articles about the paper, made it seem like the reader of the News lost a lively part of their lives and an outlet for fine writing and exposes.

The NY Times began its article about the demise with the words "DENVER — This was a wild city once, a frontier of the Western imagination full of brawling, dueling, nakedly self-interested fortune-seekers and empire-builders — and The Rocky Mountain News carried their torch." The picture of hugging and emotion confirmed the deepness of the loss.

The editor of the surviving Denver Post, which once a fierce competitor and more recently a partner in sharing business costs with The Rocky said of its passing, "[t]he first day I wake up not reading The Rocky will be a sad day for me.” Think of waking up without our local papers, the NY Times or the Washington Post, and that would truly be a sad day.

Then there is the sadness with the passing of basketball great, Johnny Kerr, who will be remembered for the beautiful hook shot of the Nats mid-50s when an upstart team from a relatively small city in frigid upstate New York. He had beautiful form with his perfect hook shot, but he may be known for his selflessness as a great center passer, Former teammate, Chet Walker, described this "Johnny, in my opinion, was probably the greatest passing center in the history of the game. I'm serious. Johnny Kerr would throw the ball through his legs and behind his back and always find the open man."

The Nats won the NBA championship in Kerr's rookie season. It was the only title he would be around until Jordan's run began in 1991. What also began in Kerr's rookie season was his then-record consecutive-games streak, which reached 844 through Syracuse, the team's relocation to Philadelphia and a trade to the Baltimore Bullets. He then went on to coach the expansion Chicago Bulls and Phoenix Suns.

'Johnny has always been what Chicago is all about,'' said longtime NBA soulmate Jerry Sloan, who played for and coached the Bulls and now coaches the Utah Jazz. ''Tough, hard-nosed, from the streets and playgrounds. He took that first Bulls team to the playoffs, and no expansion team ever did that before or since. I hope they never forget that in Chicago.''

Always a pioneer and ready to face challenges, Kerr, was the rough and gentle de facto voice of Chicago Bulls basketball for 30 years and more, and was a steady and self-effacing voice, and now that reassuring voice is not being heard. Two voices of the rough and tumble of Chicago and Denver are no out there--the passing scene.

Rabbit Stopped Running

2009-01-28T01:34:00.000-08:00

Those simple words made me sigh as I heard the news that a long lasting friend, John Updike, had passed away. The words just took a moment--"acclaimed American author, John Updike died today at 76." But he was not a simple or momentary author; sometimes his sentences looped and swirled like the fancy Palmer Penmanship exercises we used to do in the early grades of school--but no more, replaced by the steady common font of computer life. Occasionally his sentences were duds like a bad Beach Boys song, but mostly they were beautiful evocations of life in its simplest or more complex forms—he seemed in harmony with life. Updike was proficient at the simplest or the more complex and obscure. For his elegance, it did not matter. He could be elegant with the mundane and usual as well as the grandiose and unusual.

He was an old pal; he has been with me for many years, as I read most of his yearly output. He was one that did not seem bound by time, until suddenly it had run out on him. He seemed close to me, although I only had the pleasure of seeing him read in person twice. He read beautifully each time, and the audience nervously laughed at his swirling sentences. Laughter was a funny sentiment to express at his words. It was almost a nervous but playful excretion or tic that the audience could not hold back.

To meet him afterwards was pleasurable, but you did not know what to expect. One time, he took the book I asked him to autograph, "The Music School" and excitedly told me how the publisher messed up and he proceeded to find the many typos in this edition, marking them and then signing the book. He felt like they had spoiled or soiled some of his best words. But he did not in the end seem to mind or take himself or his words too seriously.

He understood life as we may not have known it; he was its constant chronicler. His friend and student on the Lehrer NewsHour, Nicholas Delblanco, said that Updike experienced life at a faster ratio than the rest of us--his mind was mostly speeding ahead. Delblanco noted that "I always felt in John's presence that he was simply thinking faster and noticing more." His words along with a fine interview with John Updike are at the following web addresses:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/video/module.html?mod=0&pkg=27012009&seg=5
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/remember/jan-june09/updike_01-27.html

John Updike got it. He got life. He took what it offered and rode or ran with it through its many “fairs,” "villages," and "couples," and he was in on the joke, as one of my real friends of many years would say. Updike tried many things and conquered some. And he let us in on it as a constant explorer and companion of life, whether it be through longer fiction, shorter stories, poems or essays--he shared it mightily with us. When he needed to create a new writer from his own writing, he became "Bech A Book." He tried many new things and new places and new personas, and many old things and old places, like his exploration of the mind of a terrorist located in my aging, gritty home town city of Paterson.

He winked at me through his words and pages--I, his friend of the typos--as he journeyed through many generations of life in my home town in an earlier book of his, "In the Beauty of the Lillies," and journeyed with me and for me. He was an old friend of close to fifty years, since my first book with him, "Poorhouse Fair" of 1959, and he helped me see the beauty and the uncommon pleasure of the simpler and more routine things in life, wrapped in the elegance of his writing. Yes, it was a long and deep sigh when I heard the news. "Oh no," I said out loud as I could not hold back the simple statement of an inelegant emotion for a now departed friend.

2009-01-15T00:30:00.000-08:00

It's a New Year, and "what's nu" is old in "Major General" by Franz Nicolay, the keyboardist from The Hold Steady (the one who is interestingly mustachioed) and accordion/piano player for The World/Inferno Friendship Society. The tracks from the opening track, “Jeff Penalty,” to the end play on many influences from the Who's "Tommy" to "Rent" to klezmer to Billy Joel to Queen to Kurt Weill and back to the work of his own Hold Steady. It is an interesting mix. This punk-cabaret, rock-opera is diverse and eclectic (if not always electric), drifting in and out of times, scenes, and motifs. It's fun....

That Time of the Year...Again

2008-12-31T09:01:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again to look back and look ahead. While life and the economy are as volatile as a pinball machine, and we are ready to undergo some changes and start a new game, we must first look again at the year that's past.

It has been a remarkable year of disappointment and hope, but it is ending on a note of hope.... After a long and longer year of an endless political campaign that seemed destined to never end, it suddenly ended with a record-breaking election with long lines at the polls, after a seemingly endless supply of money was raised and many people became newly involved in the political process. No matter what stripe of politics you support, there was a demand for change and rethinking, and, for some, a new sense of hope for the future. It is now a future in which anyone (with certain skills and talents) can rise and become President, even while we work through a massive and complex economic crisis that finally caught up with our past economic "up ticks" (that had no end in sight).

It has been one for the books, while actual books, cds and newspapers continue to suffer, and gas prices explode--going first way up, and, then as quickly, way down within periods of a few weeks. There has also been a sense of loss of control while stock prices dip explosively lower and then a little higher. But we end with some deep disappointment at our banks, other financial institutions, our bankers and investment managers, and large corporations that were supposed to know better. So, we will all learn together, but we will save that for next year.

In the meantime, what kind of music passed our earbuds and airwaves and Internet blogs this year? Free radio and even satellite radio continued to weaken their holds on our ears, mergers and consolidations seemed part of the solution, and our musical tastes in pop also turned volatile with Britney our poster child/adult hitting both new lows, and reemerging in a Circus-like comeback with reworked pop pablum of earlier times. Even the New Kids were retreaded and popular again. It was just that kind of year.

Funk and soul showed signs of reemerging with new voices like Santogold, MGMT, TV on the Radio, and Sia, and and a new contingent of British voices, like Adele and Laurie Lewis, came shining to the front in the Lilly Allen style while Amy Winehouse (why do I want to spell her "Whinehouse") our last great vocal hope had to seek the real "rehab" and hopefully retooling. New jam bands emerged in Dr. Dog and Mountain Goat (who sometimes play with cellist Erik Friedlander), while more experimental sounds of School of Seven Bells, and modern classical artists, such as cellist Matt Haimovitz, and guitarist Benjamin Verdery, Professor of Guitar at the Yale School of Music, also did some interesting experiments, such as playing interesting versions of Jimi Hendrix songs. Vampire Weekend, and Fred showed their ska and African and Irish roots respectively. There was also the less experimental folky sounds of She and Him, the Watson Twins, Bird and the Bee, BellX1, James Yorkston, Noah and the Whale, and Earlimart (with the cleverly-titled "Hymn and Her). and the emerging Americana roots/folk, Southern (by way of Oberlin and Brooklyn) sound of singer/violinist Carrie Rodriguez with her latest CD, "She Ain't Me." A popular form of jazz vocalist/stylist reemerged (with thanks to Nora Jones) in the persons of Laura Marling, and Jane Monheit. Even new finds such as the Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, The Hold Steady, Glasvegas, Black Mountain, The Gaslight Anthem, Panic At the Disco, the Ting Tings, the Dutchess and the Duke, Shearwater and Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks tended to the safe and tested forms in this year of dealing with adversity and hope for the future, and the older Kings of Leon, and Coldplay, continued to turn out fine music but some of it sounded very familiar. Speaking of the new but familiar, Freedom Wind channels the Beach Boys, and thenewno2, the latest project of Dhani Harrison, the son of rock royalty, pleasantly updates the tried and true.

From the familiar to the even more familiar, it is doubly fitting to end this look back with two very familiar artists who came out with outstanding albums. Neil Young brushed off the intimate "Sugar Mountain," which is mostly acoustic, that comes in Neil's solo career right after the breakup of Buffalo Springfield. Bob Dylan gave us another great installment (perhaps the most ambitious one) in his "Bootleg Series," the well-titled "Tell Tale Signs," which included many fine previously unreleased recordings, live performances, and alternate takes of songs from some of his more recent albums. The songs sound fresh, alive and relevant. A Rolling Stone reviewer said that Mr. Dylan "sharpens and expands the vista of mortal and cultural disintegration that has been the chief theme of 1997's Time Out of Mind, 2001's "Love and Theft", and 2006's Modern Times - perhaps the most daring music he's ever made. Tell Tale Signs makes plain that Dylan knows the caprices of the world he lives in, now more than ever."

So it's Dylan and Young, modern troubadours, still relevant for our capricious times. Music, like many businesses and government are at the crossroads. So, here's to our lessons learned for a hopefully bright not blighted future.... The learning curve lies ahead.... More to come--some past, present and future.

The End of the Age of Innocence

2008-11-15T18:06:00.000-08:00

Three popular figures from the 1950s recently died. Each of them contributed to the loss of innocence for a child growing up in the New York City area during that time period.

Preacher Roe, one of the "Boys of Summer" on the early 1950s Brooklyn Dodgers team, Herb Score, the Indians flash of the mid-1950s, and Jody Reynolds, author and singer of "Endless Sleep," all died within a few days of each other and all contributed in some small way to hastening the growing-up process and fostering a better understanding of the real world before there were reality shows.

Preacher Roe was a fine, lanky left hander with a 127-84 record in a 12-year career with the Dodgers, Pittsburgh and St. Louis. In 1949, Roe was 15-6 with a 2.79 ERA and pitched a 1-0 shutout in Game 2 of the World Series against the Yankees; in 1951, Roe put together one of the greatest seasons ever for a pitcher when he went 22-3 with a 3.03 ERA, and was named Pitcher of the Year (pre-Cy Young award). From 1951-53, Roe was about as unbeatable a pitcher as there was in baseball, compiling a 33-8 record, as he pitched in the days of Gil Hodges, Jackie Robinson and Duke Snider. He had been a mathematics teacher from a small town in Arkansas, and later became a butcher in the suburbs of New York, and he seemed to have no pretensions. But perhaps he is best known for his assortment of pitches which he later admitted to have included a spitball (the ‘Beech-Nut slider’). He retired from the game in 1954, and revealed in Sports Illustrated on July 4, 1955 that he threw the spitter for seven years, and hoped that it would be legalized. For a child, this revelation was hard to take especially from the Preacher, a rural school teacher.

Herb Score, was the next great left-hander, who began his career in the majors in 1955, when he went 16 and 10 and struck out 245 batters, a rookie record that stood for 29 years, until Dwight Gooden broke it with the New York Mets in an era of wild swingers. Score was the first first-year pitcher to reach 200 Ks since Grover Cleveland Alexander did it 44 years earlier. Score was named the American League Rookie of the Year in 1955.

The next year he was even better, going 20-9 and leading the league in strikeouts for the second straight year. Herb Score was considered the toughest lefty faced by Ted Williams and had phenomenal potential when his career was altered after being hit in the right eye in May 1957 by a wicked line drive off the bat of Gil McDougald. McDougald, who was in tears after the game, tried to see him the next day, along with teammates Berra and Hank Bauer, but the hospital did not permit visitors.

Score returned to the mound with much fanfare in '58, but he had only a 2-2 record when he was put on the disabled list with a sore elbow on July 18. The next year, Score managed to win nine games and lose five before the All Star break, but he was not pitching with his old dominance. He did not win another game that season, finishing 9-11 as the Indians wound up second, and he was never the same. Score became a legendary Indians sportscaster until retirement in 1997. Score had a friendly, folksy way of calling a baseball game, and he did that with the enthusiasm of a man who felt blessed to be in baseball. Score refused to feel sorry for himself and disliked sympathetic articles that pictured him as a victim because of McDougald's liner. "I'm a lucky fellow," he said. "I'm glad God gave me the ability to throw a baseball well for a few years. That drive could have killed me."

For me, the line drive hit sharply by Gil McDougald that had a serious impact on the life and career of such a promising superstar as Herb Score, was one of those moments of realization that broke through the youthful innocence of the times. Even though I heard of Carl Mays' fatal pitch to Ray Chapman in August of 1920, that seemed (to a child of the late 1950's at least) like a remote historical footnote that could be put safely into baseball's more brutal and rudimentary past. But to that same child of the 50s, the McDougald inadvertent line drive back at Herb Score signaled that baseball could be a destructive, more-serious game with life-threatening events; it was no longer just the children's game played by "the boys of summer" in semi-pastoral stadiums or in the residential streets of Northern New Jersey.

The death of Jody Reynolds at 75 reminds me of another moment of deliverance from the innocence of youth in the 50s. This singer/songwriter, the one-hit Jody Reynolds, was inspired by Elvis' "Heartbreak Hotel (HH)," and wrote one of the early rock songs of teen tragedy. The Reynolds song led to Mark Dinning's "Teen Angel," Ray Peterson's "Tell Laura I Love Her," Johnny Preston's "Running Bear," the Everly Brothers' "Ebony Eyes," Dickey Lee's "Patches," the Shangri-Las' "Leader of the Pack," and ultimately "Last Kiss," a song written and recorded by Wayne Cochran (with his C.C. Riders) in 1962, and covered successfully by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers, and more recently by Pearl Jam.

Reynolds loved the desolate quality of the Elvis' HH story and the echoing vocal, and came up with a potentially darker tale, about a boy in search of his girlfriend after a fight, with even more echoey vocals.

"The night was black, rain fallin' down
Looked for my baby, she's nowhere around
Traced her footsteps down to the shore
'fraid she's gone forever more..."

The ballad begins with emotion-riden electric guitar chords and introduces Reynolds' voice double-tracked and soaked with echo, all contributing to the foreboding atmosphere. His voice was rated as somewhere "between Presley's sad-sexy drawl and Ricky Nelson's boy-next-door conversational style."

The song as originally written was rejected by several pop record labels as too depressing. Reynolds sent a demo version to Los Angeles-based Demon Records (with the pitchfork on the label), which liked it, but persuaded Reynolds to tack on a happy ending in which the guilt-ridden boy finds his girl in the waves, and lifts her in his arms and carries her back safely to shore.

The first time I heard "Endless Sleep" I was taken by it's uniquely echoing guitar and vocal sound, and the possibility that rock could move from its generally upbeat, but occasionally bluesy sounds, to a more teenage-tragic dark side. And another part of the innocence of youth was brushed aside.

Icelandic-classic/technic

2008-10-31T22:22:00.001-07:00

The sound of Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson is a mix of melodic classical and electronic textures in his latest album, Fordlandia. The end result is gentle sounds that push you slowly towards an end of silence with some piano and waftings of strings… Is this a new wave for classical music?

Ruach (Spirit ) Overflowing With A Few Disappointments On the Side

2008-10-14T00:14:00.000-07:00

It was a wedding filled with the high spirits and energy of the celebrants, the calm warmth of the rabbi, the sparks of the dancers and the band spilling over, and the joy of a couple who have a sparkle in their eyes and smiles on their faces. And I will not forget their songs and dances. They are (or seem to be) happier than the sum of their individual happinesses.

The ceremony started with a calm procession of clear sentiments and warm blessings with the seven trips around the groom, and the seven sheva Brachot, and ending with a warmly sung blessing and the breaking of the glass.

There was a joy pervading on Sunday with just a few exceptions--I am convinced that there always will be. For example, there were some great and some not so great table assignments.
But shouldn't everyone be able to shake their disappointments and pick up on the spirit and joy of the occasion and of the celebrants? Maybe or may be not. Maybe I am asking too much. Did they understand what went into this, I may ask myself. But should they? No.

There were the people who were so delighted to be there. And then there were those who did not seem to care too much or at least enough to come. There were my disappointments for the people, including some cousins who could not attend for good or non-reasons. We had 230 or so people present, so I cannot be greedy for the other 100 or so who did not come. They did not come from as far as Germany and from as close as around the corner.

But what happened to the cousins, some of whom did not even answer or answered with a silent abruptness (no reason given)?

We tried to plan an event that family and friends would like. And it did indeed turn out so well.

But who are we to judge except through some feelings of disappointment. Would they have shared in parts of the joyous time that was there for the taking--they probably would have. But they did not try or they did try, and maybe tried hard to be there. But I will never know for sure, nor should I. And so, it was not meant to be for them. I must give them the benefit of the doubt and not judge. And hope that they can some time rejoin the ongoing celebration already in progress.

Overall, from the viewpoint of the father of the bride, it was a big success--more joy and warm feelings than I could have ever expected. My mother, two sisters, and two aunts could be there and share in the joy. And for all of that and all of the other guests who could attend, I am eternally grateful.

Leading with the Past

2008-09-30T00:14:00.000-07:00

The Mets last game at Shea on Sunday could have been a real celebration of the present Mets (after Johan Santana pitched a brilliant game on Saturday with three-days rest), and the past Mets, with many Amazin's back to celebrate their time at Shea after the game. But it was not meant to be.

The present Amazin's were just not that amazing; they were a talented, but high-priced shadow of the teams that performed magic at Shea. This was the second year in a row for a sobering collapse in the last few weeks of the season. Yes, there was the failure of the bullpen and the loss of Billy Wagner, but there the frustrating at bats of David Wright, and some of the other sluggers on the last and lost Sunday.

The fans were frustrated by the end, but they stayed and were brightened by the memories of what had been the great and not-so great Mets of their 46 year history. It was time to focus on the winners of today and the playoffs to come, or so TBS thought in its coverage on Sunday. It might have been time for the cries of "wait til next year" in the new park a replica of Ebbets Field the symbol of Brooklyn teams that came so frustratingly close and won one year only to be taken away shortly thereafter. No it was not that time yet.

It was time to reflect on the greatness of the checkered past of the Amazins' and the stadium that hosted the improbable events of the short but rich heritage of the Mets. It was time to remember the grit of Lennie Dykstra, and John Franco; the great catches of Cleon Jones and Tommie Agee, and Ron Swoboda; the smooth and consistent skill of Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Keith Hernandez, and Mike Piazza; the lost promise of Dwight Gooden and Daryl Strawberry, the privilege of watching Willie Mays and Duke Snider in Mets uniforms; and it was the time to remember how the likes of Rod Kanehl, Marv Throneberry, and Ed Kranepool and countless others could play over the head, and keep the Mets in most games against their more talented opponents. It was not yet time to move on.

Manlychildishness--a guy thing

2008-09-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

Being a guy for all my life has been mostly fun, but a struggle at times. I work very hard and at work, I try to be as effective at solving problems (and helping people) as I can be. But when I am off from work, which isn't often, I want to enter more of a responsibility-free child-like state. Some men spend more time in this child-like state, and pose some difficulty for the women in their lives.

An intriguing new book examines how guyhood got that way. "Men to Boys," by Gary Cross, a "cultural historian" at Penn State, examines the gradual devolution of manhood over three generations. It goes from the lingering Victorian ideals of masculinity and self-restraint, being a gentleman and "measured deference to female culture at home" in the 1940s, 50s, and early 60s (seen currently on the TV series "Mad Men") to the comic outlandishness of radio host Howard Stern and ex-basketball player Dennis Rodman-- and then tells us what it means. The patron saint of manhood has morphed from Cary Grant (mature, decisive, and manly) to Hugh Grant (less mature, indecisive, and ambiguous), and we have left behind the Victorian patriarch without finding a good substitute.

In the Wall Street Journal's words, Mr. Cross's takes us on a "thoughtful journey through the male-strom of modern masculinity." Their review of the book is at the following web address:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122186403983658605.html

Opera On-Deck

2008-09-20T07:07:00.000-07:00

I like to break down barriers that tend to keep people in their boxes and silos, and mix them so we can learn from each other. So, it was a natural to see the simulcast of the Washington National Opera Company at DC's National Park on a clear Saturday night. There were some baseball fans who probably attend every event at the ball park, and families just out on a nice night for a free event (where kids could roam free), mixed mostly with opera buffs who probably do not set foot in a ball park often, let alone take the subway to an event. About 15,000 people came out to cheer the screened-in opera, and they mixed and mingled, and probably added some fans to both baseball and opera and everyone lived more happily ever after....

The Washington Post's take on the event is at the following Web address:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/14/AR2008091402042.html

The Ear-Budding of America--Plug-In/Tune-Out

2008-08-22T15:41:00.000-07:00

You see them everywhere. On the subway, on the bus, walking down the street, in stores, in restaurants, and at gas stations. When did it happen? When did the ear-buds start entering the ear drums of so many, shutting out the sounds of so much modern day life. Is it enough to enjoy your private playlist of your life, or is it too much isolation and shutting out of everyone else. The victims of the ear-buddotry seem so dead to the world around them. Is it life-fulfilling, or life emptying?

The ear bud became a silly part of Brian Williams' current slip down journalistic standards during the 2008 Olympics, when he asked Michael Phelps on Nightly News what he listened to on his i-pod before his last swim victory, and whether he took his ear buds out one at a time, or left one in until the last second before the start of a race. Even Phelps seemed embarassed by how far the interview had slipped into the trivial.

Ben Stein makes similar points with regard to the bondage of cellphones and the like in his column for the Sunday NY Times, "Connected, Yes, But Hermetically Sealed" at the following web address:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/business/yourmoney/24every.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=ben%20stein&st=cse&oref=slogin

B&B-Eeezy Listenable/Dancey/Jazzy/Poppy

2008-07-27T11:11:00.000-07:00

I am listening to the Bird and the Bee, an indie, dance, jazz, pop duo from the West Coast, consisting of musicians Inara George ("bird"), daughter of Lowell George of Little Feat fame, and Greg Kurstin ("bee"), a producer of Lily Allen, Flaming Lips, and the Chili Peppers. They met while the two were working on her debut album and they decided to collaborate on a jazz, electro-pop project. The result, a debut EP, Again and Again and Again and Again, a full-blown CD/LP, the Bird and the Bee, and other EPs and soon to be released second CD on the jazzy Blue Note label, produces a light, breezy, easy to listen to jazzy-dance mood.

Additionally, now there is a new album, An Invitation, by Inara George in collaboration with Van Dyke Parks. It is wistful and expansive, with the music anticipating and leading the songstress through some interesting orchestral maneuvers influenced by a varied mix of Kurt Weill, Edith Piaf, Judee Sill, Sleeping Beauty(Tchaikovsky), Randy Newman, Brian Wilson, and Regina Spektor.

E-pic Battles

2008-07-27T06:51:00.000-07:00

In an era when we are supposed to have little attention span, when mail now of the e-variety and photos now digital are instant and disposable, and we should be ready to multi-task 24/7, it was refreshing to watch the Wimbledon final and the 15 inning all-star game. Two titans of tennis, representing youth vs experience, fought for 4 hours and 48 minutes plus rain delays, often in long, breathtaking volleys that took especially incredible strength, in often wet, wild, and windy conditions. It almost did not matter who came up on top, because both contestants won in a thrilling contest.

The All-Star Game this year was led in by a Home Run Derby, a made-for-TV event, that featured the titanic, continuous long-ball blasts of Josh Hamilton, a reformed drug-addict, in the legendary Yankee Stadium. The All Star Game, itself lasted15 innings with many twists and turns from the eighth inning on that relied in the end on substitutes (all-star subs at that) performing above their level, and sometimes at positions they had never played. It went late into the night with no end in sight, but end it finally did with the same winner as always since 1996. The 15 innings tied the 1967 game for the most innings, and the 4-hour, 50-minute affair (two minutes more than Wimbledon) stands tall as the longest game in All-Star history.

All 63 available players saw action--and position players, J.D. Drew and David Wright were ready to take the mound had the game gone later. The long event brought on unexpected twists as it should.

"It seemed like the Stadium didn't want it to end," said Derek Jeter, one of three Yankees representing the AL. "That's what we were talking about. It just wanted baseball to continue. I thought it was fitting."

Two fitting, attention focusing events for an attention-deficient era.

Night At the Hotel

2008-07-12T22:00:00.000-07:00

Finally, I made it out to the wondrously-named Rock 'n Roll Hotel in DC's newly up-and-coming NE Atlas neighborhood. The hotel makes good use of the faded elegance of the funeral home that occupied the space previously. It was the site earlier in the week for the unlikely double bill of Tim Fite, a NY punk, hip-hop prankster (who obviously studied at Pee Wee Herman’s Playhouse), and the Watson Twins, a friendly Kentucky, by-way-of LA folk-country alternative duo. The Twins were kicking off a North American tour to plug their new CD, Fire Songs, and Tom Fite just seemed to be in the neighborhood. For once, the W Post’s reviewer hit the target with his review—it was dead on. The review is at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/10/AR2008071002782.html

The awkward match kept the evening interesting, but each act was not enough to make it alone.

Fite seems slightly out of touch, like a neighborhood clown in for a kids party, with his orange pants and pink suspenders, and wayward act. But he makes it work for him, as a fun-loving, ready-to-do just about anything performer. He effectively teams up with his elementary background drawings and a trio of backing Fites flashed up on a screen behind him, and an energetic DJ carnival-barker partner-in-mirth, Dr. Leisure. The energetic duo (or group of five depending on how you are counting) captured the crowd more than the headliner, the Watson Twins.

Chandra and Leigh Watson's farmland alternapop, backed by a competent rock trio, started strong, playing a few of their new songs, and a fine cover of The Cure's "Just Like Heaven." Their fine voices worked for the rock ‘n roll songs, but when they changed the mood and went slower and mellower, they lost their audience, and the crowd noise impolitely overtook their competent vocals. They never gained back the crowd, and the night ended on a downbeat.

The Watsons have the potential to harmonize their way to a large, attentive following, but on this night, they were less than a full match for the mysterious energy and humor of Tim Fite.

Journal Jottings

2008-06-21T22:11:00.000-07:00

The Wall Street Journal was starting to become more like other papers in the wake of the Murdochization of the paper, but on Saturday, it had two columns that were special.

The Peggy Noonan column on the memorials to Tim Russert, what set him apart from others, and when the memorials went over the top was very perceptive. It is at the following web address:

http://online.wsj.com/article/
SB121390975307189781.html
?mod=todays_columnists

Another perceptive column in the same day's paper was the Terry Teachout column on the Dylan radio show. It not only captured the magic in the variety of music played and the perceptive intros by Dylan, but also went on to identify one of the problems with the iPODian age we live in--

"Teenagers and college graduates are less likely to listen to radio nowadays, a decline that media consultants attribute to the rise of the iPod, which allows its owners to choose from thousands of previously downloaded songs at will instead of settling for whatever a disc jockey cares to play. The assumption is that under-40 listeners are now choosing to withdraw into gated communities of musical taste, behind whose electronic walls they listen only to what they already know they like."

The whole column is at the following web address:

http://online.wsj.com/article/
SB121399471988092751.html
?mod=2_1168_1

Half Time Clips of 2008

2008-06-16T02:23:00.000-07:00

At close to the mid-year, I am listening to Shearwater, Bullion's mix of Pet Sounds, and Vanilla Swingers' "Goodbye Lennon"-- a decent mix of sounds. I will be adding more as time goes by...

E-motions in fractions of a whole

2008-06-09T17:48:00.000-07:00

In this 500+page opus, you meet and remeet the Deans, as some Deans fall in and out of life, into comas and out with their memories intact, getting born and reborn under the Dean name or under an assumed name. The Deans take care of each other, but in odd and stubborn ways. In other words, its not your average American sit com family, but it may be a credible attempt at the great Australian, or any country novel.

The main characters are heroes and or villains, criminals and or moralists. They are weirdos and crackpots and or philosopher kings and visionaries. They are brothers, fathers, sons, lovers, haters, friends, and enemies--they are a little of all things. They are celebrities and people exploring their cosmic insignificance, they are sons becoming a part of their fathers or mothers, not always understanding that they may be part of something bigger than themselves. They may be starting with a credo and then spending the rest of their lives trying to prove it. It's not your run of the mill family story by any means...

You walk or crawl, then run with the characters through time from the New South Wales bush to bohemian Paris, from sports fields to back alleys to strip clubs, from living in a maze in Australia to living in the jungles of Thailand to living and dying in a leaky boat of immigrants in the Pacific. These are pieces of the puzzle, parts of a whole story, portions of a whole life or several lives-- they are truly "Fractions of the Whole." The Deans and associates are sickly, bloated, freewheeling, horrendous, funny and sometimes moving as they fight to leave the world, or stay, and leave a mark on the world or not. They are people taking themselves too seriously and not seriously enough. Often, this is a satirical view of individual searching, and societal reverential, hero-worship--which is after all all just a small step away from hateful, scandal-lusting.

This is a long tale of a world that often turns ugly. The book is sometimes well-written and sometimes not. It manages to stay out of the gutter of life, just barely, staying just a fraction ahead of full-blown despair. It is a compelling yet long read.

Much of this blog entry above was written from the third row of a bus from NY to DC with wi-fi. It is striking how the oddity of a rolling wi-fi on wheels is just another fraction of a whole...

It is difficult to capture the plot and subplots of this book within a book if that is what it is, but a good effort is made in the review at the following web address:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/book-reviews/a-fraction-of-the-whole/2008/03/17/1205602277893.html

A Fan's Lament

2008-06-05T20:41:00.000-07:00

I am a loyal baseball fan, but sitting under the stands at DC's National's Stadium for over two hours while it rained heavily reminded me of just how much a business baseball is.

While the infield was covered by the tarp, large puddles were forming in every other part of the ball park. Families with small children were waiting patiently--one family from as far away as Oklahoma. The field was clearly unplayable after an hour or so, but the scoreboard indicated that the Nationals were monitoring the weather and they would provide updates.

No updates and no information on the weather was provided; fans were not advised of what the chances of clearing were. Instead, there were just the constant ads on the scoreboard and the vendors selling their overpriced wares. When enough ads were shown and enough food and merchandise sold, the vendors packed up their leftovers, and the game was finally called off on account of profits--enough was made by the team, to end the torture of the fans sitting through the heavy rains patiently. And on the next day they would return to see the play again and pay again and again....

Standing at the Crossroads

2008-05-17T09:09:00.000-07:00

I am about to attend perhaps the last graduation of one of my daughters--a law school graduation. And she is about to enter a new phase of her life--a full-time worklife, and building her own family life. Looking back and forwards at the same time, there is a rich perspective ahead and behind. But there is something disconcerting about this time of finishing old paths and starting anew.

As culture and counter culture icons of my era pass into the obituary pages, I see a country somewhat divided by age in its outlook, its entertainment, and its politics (the craving for change and experience clashing at times). We value youth and apply creams (and sometimes cosmetic surgery) to keep everyone young. It works to a point, but it does not seem to unite young and old to value each other and treasure each others experiences, and outlooks. Something better--some better bridging of generations--is needed. It may be that we need to attract better leaders, and icons, but, in the end, it is something that we all need to work at. Using the internet, people can break down some of the barriers, but more can be done to bridge divides and cross aisles and reach beyond past, present, and future. It is time to do even small things to better understand and value each others views, and experiences. I welcome your ideas; to be continued...

Nu? and Old!

2008-04-26T02:22:00.000-07:00

Take a story like the story of freedom at the Passover seder--a remembrance of the story of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. Some stick with the traditional story each year, learning more about the symbols and the story each year, and it is a tradition that keeps on growing.

Or add some history from then and now, some stories, some parallels and some other symbols of life and freedom, and you have another tradition that is ever growing.

This year, just being able to find the traditional foods eaten at the sedar at stores in the area became part of the challenge of telling the story. The current economic challenges apparently had an impact on food production, and we cannot take anything for granted.

At this self-led, participatory ceremony that goes back many years, we are reminded of new and old challenges. We look ahead to next year and what will be new--nu?

Nats Safe at Home

2008-03-31T22:36:00.000-07:00

I walked to the new National's Stadium in DC from the National Mall, and it was a nice 25 minute walk to a dream site for DC. It was a perfect way to start a new season, when hope for a great season in a renovated neighborhood is at its peak. Oh yes, I miss RFK with its history and its claim to be the first home that ended DC's baseball draught. But what is passed is past.

The new stadium is a cross between the new Phillies Stadium and the recent-retro Orioles Park, with more of the Phillies modern look. Announcer Jon Miller apparently called the Nats Stadium the "La Scala of ballparks," while the Washington Post architecture critic called it a "missed opportunity" and an utilitarian means of sucking money from fan's wallets. It is somewhere in the middle of those comments.

The bright new park with the huge TV hi-def screen/scoreboard was a perfect setting for the perfect ending to a game. A passed ball allowed the Braves to tie the game in the visitors' half of the ninth, and a walk-off home run for Ryan Zimmerman with two outs in the bottom half of the ninth won the game for the Nats. It was a magical scriptwriter's ending to the beginning of what hopes to be a magical season (but I know that all seasons open with that potential for magic).

Freekonimics

2008-03-02T12:19:00.000-08:00

Last year, we discussed rock, royalties, and Radiohead's decision to give its new CD away for whatever people wanted to pay. The discussion was at the following address:

http://phivel.blogspot.com/2007/10/rockn-royalties.html

Paste Magazine also offered the pricing choice for a subscription to the magazine last year.

Now there's a thought-provoking cover article in Wired Magazine, by its editor Chris Anderson who covers the FREE Market. Anderson is also the author of The Long Tail, and will be producing a new book, FREE, next year. The article is, of course, free at the following address:

http://www.wired.com/print/techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free

The magazine can also be read for free online.

But this is not an endorsement. Although we like the idea of free- (and not fee) bies, we would never endorse either free or non-free items.

Whatdoyakno?

2008-03-01T15:21:00.000-08:00

In a newspaper article about a new book, The Age of American Unreason, by cultural critic Susan Jacoby, the author tells of a dinner conversation with a student who was about to graduate with honors from Michigan State University in 2006. After the author mentioned President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "fireside chats," the author watched as the student "looked absolutely blank" in response.

Is this par for the course?

The article goes to reach the following conclusion:

"A slew of new books, studies and films all tell a similar tale: Americans — especially young Americans — don't know much about much. Overfed on self-esteem, pop culture and digital entertainment, students are starved for genuine literary, historical, scientific and mathematical knowledge, critics say."

This complaint is nothing new. Down through the ages, adults have complained about the lack of knowledge of the youth of their times. But the charges seem more serious if not paradoxical now.

On the one hand, with the advent of the Internet, students of all ages, have every bit of knowledge known to "man/womankind" readily available, and know more. On the other hand, the bombardment of media of all types, including the Internet seems to lead to short attention spans, and less depth of knowledge. In certain respects students are given more challenging assignments, and courses are more advanced than ever before, on the other hand, many aspects of our modern life are being dumbed down. It will be interesting to see whether this knowledge gap winds up over the next few years.

Beach Music (Chesil that is)

2008-02-23T20:20:00.000-08:00

"Chesil Beach" is a short novella about time in two parallel universes--in this case the world of the male and the world of the female struggling toward maturity in 1962, just before the world opened up to the freer sixties. The words on the page faithfully record a wedding night drama in almost real time, while lurching briefly back to the beginning of the relationship and forward through fifty or so years of life in just a flash of a few pages.

Two characters are stuck in time in a seaside resort beside a small eighteen mile strip of pebbles extending into the sea. Their story is part small part large, part trite part dire, part tender and part pathetic. In the short 200 pages, the author tackles topics of universal interest -- innocence and naiveté, confidence and self-delusion, desire and repression, opportunity lost or rejected -- and creates a small but complete universe around them.

The author, Ian McEwan keeps us on the edge of sympathy for each character, but stays with the male figure--even though it is female, Florence, that creates art as a tremulous lead violinist in a string quartet, while the male, Edward, only drifts through life being a rock record shop owner. The male starts as a ardent historian interested in writing short biographies of semi-obscure figures who lived close to the center of important historical events, but his ideas freeze when he confronts the bride he considers "frigid." The virginal and inexperienced male is demanding just a few years from the sexual revolution of the later sixties. The female is also virginal and inexperienced, but is closer to being non-sexual and pleads for time to adjust to the demands of her mate. But he cannot wait, and cannot find the words to communicate, and loses the love and the ambition of his life. Words fail both of them, and that's the book side of things.

Meanwhile, in the parallel universe of the CD version of the book, the beautiful narration by the author with his smooth British accent is a perfect fit for the words of the novel which have more of a reality coming through his voice. The narrated version creates a more vivid view of the distance between two selves, two subjective views of life: two who try to be “one,” and fail miserably.

Reading the book and hearing the CD at the same time, casts a huge spotlight on a small speck of time.

De-Bugged

2008-02-21T20:17:00.000-08:00

After fighting off assorted Trojan Vundos, Downloaders, and pop-up ads, I am hoping to be back with more normal posts. It is a tough virtual world out there, but hopefully the worst is over. My XP was considered "unstable" and "open to attack," and Windows Security Pack 2 was summoned to the rescue (I hope). I am cautiously optimistic, but we will see.

Been Doing Some Hard Travelin'

2008-02-05T17:45:00.001-08:00

Since my last posting, I have been to the northwestern part of Germany, to Amsterdam, and then back to the U.S.A. for a trip to Nashville. Each trip had a music and education connection. In Germany, I chaperoned a talented high school symphony orchestra rehearsing endlessly with their German gymnasium orchestra and then playing two challenging concerts very well. The concerts included pieces by Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, a tango, and some interesting vocal pieces by Vaughn Williams.

In Nashville, I attended an education conference, and one night went to the Grand Ol Opry, and the Country Music Hall of Fame. The sense of tradition at the Opry at the Ryman Auditorium with the traditional radio show, and the old and new artists was refreshing and very comfortable.

2008 Finds

2008-01-08T20:43:00.000-08:00

Picking up from last year, a new discovery is Priscilla Ahn, with musical ties to Regina Spektor and Norah Jones (a little silkier than the smokey-voiced Norah) and a debut album on the way on Norah's label (of course), Blue Note. Her site on My Space lists a good "coolection" of influences--Ani DiFranco, Pink Floyd, Jack Kerouac, Neil Young, Syd Barrett, Jeff Buckley, the color yellow, Radiohead, Nick Drake, Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird, Ayrton Senna, Pinback, The Kinks, Sparklehorse, Juana Molina, love lost-love found. Another find is Kate Gaffney, a strong-voiced folkie from Philly. A third 'newie but a goodie' is Bodies of Waters, a rather joyous bunch from LA with influences from Polyphonic Spree to the Mamas and the Papas to Arcade Fire to Sufjan Stevens. The group lists many more as their influences, but also describe themselves as "abba meets the muppets."

2007: A Year of Disc-covery

2007-12-29T21:10:00.000-08:00

2007 was a very good year for discovering new and old music. The Internet has become a great source to learn about new or undiscovered artists or rediscover or discover for the first time known artists. For me, it has left radio and other sources of new and old music in the dust. Although DC finally has a pretty good new radio station in 94.7 the Globe, and a top notch classical station in WETA, radio is no competition for the Internet. While I still love listening to the radio on long trips and the discoveries that come with it, the Internet is an unlimited, worldwide jukebox virtually without limits. As the nation and the world in 2007 continue to get more divided and fragmented (as does some of the music), there are signs that there are more fusions and experiments across categories and nations and cultures, due in large part to the Internet and the exchange of information that has come with it.

The recording industry in 2007 did not seem to be any closer to developing a solid business model for selling and distributing music, but that is another sad story for the future. In the meantime, some of the new groups I came across and liked in 2007 included Regina Spektor, a talented pianist/singer from the Bronx by way of Russia; and her Swedish echo in Maia Hirasawa; Last Town Chorus, an off-beat cover group with a unique sound; two Israeli artists, Geve Alon, and Yau Decklebaum; Sense Field, a group that evolved from hard rock to emo to oblivion; Innocence Mission, who reemerged with a new album in 2007 that lived up to the group's name; Eleni Mandell, a talented singer/chanteuse; the Concretes, and Victoria Bergsman's new group, Taken by Trees both hold promise; Okkerfil River, an interesting sounding Austin indie group; Michael Nyman, a talented British composer of film/classical music; Jon Brion a multi-talented multi-instrumentalist, singer, American film music composer, and record producer; Scala and the Kolnasy Brothers, a young Belgium female chorus that dramatically covers modern rock hits; the Cinematic Orchestra, an inventive English flash-jazz group; Silversun Pickups, a smooth latter-day Smashing Pumpkins; the National, a group with a relaxed Leonard Cohen-like sound; Caribou, a feathery psychedelic Canadian group; Panda Bear, an experimental sound from Noah Lennix; Lamb, an inventive disco group; Sara Bareilles, a clever Internet popster; Kate Havneviks, a promising Norwegian indie rocker; Porn Sword Tobacco, an experimental group name for Henrik Jonsson from Göteborg, who assembles sounds, drifts away, picks up again, re-adjusts, levels noise, adds piano, guitar, organ, bass, and thinks of new chords; Amy Winehouse, a very talented but somewhat self-destructive force; Charlotte Hatherley , a spritely rocker; Marissa Nadler, an indie folker; Sophie Millman, a Russian/Canadian jazz singer; the Yellow Jackets, jazzers to the core; the Great Lake Swimmers, a group of fresh sounding Canadian indie folkers; Sallie Shapiro, an electro-poptress, and Emilie Autumn, a classically-trained turned goth violinist. There were also strong albums in 2007 from Radiohead, Wilco, Feist, Spoon, Josh Ritter, the Shins, and the Boss.

In live performances there were strong performances from stalwarts like Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello together, Vienna Teng, Southside Johnny, and the Boss. The year ended with a broadcast of Brian Wilson's Kennedy Center's award show--that gave him well-deserved recognition (he ironically smiled little after producing the well-regarded "Smile").

And so it was a very good year for music. And the next year looks like it could be equally good if not better. Happy New Musical Year!

It's Not Really There

2007-12-05T19:13:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the book is better than the movie. In this case, the review was better than the movie. What can I say. I liked the movie, but I loved the review in the NY Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/movies/21ther.html?_r=1&8dpc&oref=slogin

The review was well-written, well-organized, and convincing in its enthusiasm. It was (in a way) everything the movie was not.

From the review, I could picture the movie I wanted to see. Unfortunately, that was not the movie I saw. Sure, I loved the music; there was a lot of great original Dylan, and some very good covers. And the movie had its moments--the prepubescent, African-American Dylan named Marcus was pure fun and his scene with Richie Havens was infectious. The town of Riddle was fun to visit. But much of the rest of it was not as much fun--especially the Richard Gere part as Billy the Kid, and the Julianne Moore part as Alice Fabian as Joan Baez, which was beginning to approach "A Mighty Wind."

For me, "I'm Not There," was partially, but not all there. For a neighboring moviegoer, it was a form of unusual, if not cruel punishment that was not quite torture, but she did not understand why she was being held there so long.

Hy-ski Goodbye-ski

2007-11-21T23:39:00.000-08:00

A class act, Philly pioneer DJ, Hy Litt, sometimes known as "Hyski O’Rooney McVoutie O’Zoot" passed away a few days ago at the ripe young age of 73. In the early and mid-1960s, his show on WIBG, or Wibbage Radio 99, was one of the most popular show, especially on weekend nights when we played the oldies. He was part fun-loving and silly, and part very knowledgeable in his rock history. His voice was radio smooth and he seemed to really enjoy playing the music for his large audience, and we enjoyed hearing him play the music. He, like Murray the K in NYC, helped bring the Beatles to Philly. You could hear him bellowing out from many a Philly college quad window in the 60's. Even up to a few years ago, you could hear him spinning the real oldies on WOGL in the Philly area.

In the fragmented i-podded society of today (see the post below), it is difficult to imagine many college students listening to just one DJ. But he was a special treat then, and he will be missed by one of the many fans who made him a part of their daily lives.

Seg-ment-ed Soc-ie-ty

2007-11-21T23:34:00.000-08:00

David Brooks had an interesting column on the segmenting of popular/rock music in our current society a couple of days ago. The column is at the following web address:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/opinion/20brooks.html

Brooks concludes that there is increased fragmentation in the music world and in our society and there is a loss of intergenerational togetherness in music today. While I agree that there is (and has been for a while) more fragmentation in the world of music and popular culture (magazines, etc) now, it is easy to get fragmented on the issue.

Now it is so much easier for people to produce and distribute a variety of sounds and views through the Internet and other electronic means, so it is natural to have fragmentation and it is not such a "negative." Our technology has made it easier to connect with one another, while also fragmenting us at the same time. As one letter to the editor after the Brooks column mentioned "[m]odern recording technologies allow virtually anyone to record music and make it available to listeners worldwide, a privilege once enjoyed exclusively by large record companies. As a result, major record companies have increasingly less control over what gets heard, while consumers have increasingly more." Another letter hailed the current rock, stating that "[t]he current music scene is more democratic than the monolith Mr. Brooks looks back upon fondly."

But also rock has always been a amalgam in varying degrees of rhythm 'n blues, jazz, country, folk songs and Broadway, among others. Wasn't there similar fragmentation in the rock of the 50's with a lot of regional hits that just did not make it to the national scene? We just did not know it as easily at the time. In the 60's and 70's did people just want there to be a unified counterculture, or a "mainstreaming of the counterculture" when in fact it was jumble of many styles being practiced and discovered?

It is an interesting topic. Please feel free in our seg-ment-ed soc-ie-ty to "discuss amongst yourselves" or discuss with me.

Bruuuuce Almighty

2007-11-16T22:38:00.000-08:00

Jon Pareles, in his recent NY Times review of one of Bruce Springsteen's nights in New York, and J. Freedom du Lac, reporting on the first DC night in the Washington Post, had it just about right. The crowd is always in there with the singer, singing along joyfully, (not for the first time nor will "this be for the last time") while Springsteen bumps, grinds, and sings in constant motion about a world that can try to beat down the hopes and dreams of the individual man, and betray the promise of the nation, America.

And Bruce seems especially angry these days about the politics of today--introducing the title song of his new album, “Magic,” with a comment about our “Orwellian times”--“what’s true can be made to seem like a lie, and what’s lying can be made to seem true.” Yet, he also seems playful and hopeful, singing "it's all right, it's all right, it's all right, yeah" in the chorus of "Lonesome Day," as he and his longtime home team, the tight nine-piece E Street Band surges past the disillusionment, the losses, the bewilderment, and the bitterness in the verses to the greater hopes of the American dream.

It's concert time in the first of two nights in the nation's capital, DC, and Bruce seems to have a special twinkle in his eyes, and sparkle in his voice for being in DC. He's "[s]o glad to be in your wicked--I mean, your beautiful city tonight." "Hey, this is where it happens! This is the City of Magic!" While he is not shy about mentioning the successes, and especially the failures of the capital city, Bruce and his band of merry men and women are there "tonight to do something about it! We're going to sing about it. We're musicians. It's a start."

And it is a start, with the goal and guiding principle of the performance calculated high--to deliver salvation and hope through song. And for a night, it does, as Bruce forges a special bond with his audience--each audience a new group to win over.

Bruce is the embodiment of vitality at the ripe young/old age of 58, belting out a continuous two-plus-hour, 24-song set that includes some of his greatest hits ("Born to Run," "Dancing in the Dark," "Badlands") and is heavy on songs from "Magic," his new album whose central figures are filled with angst, and isolation, alienation and disillusionment. I have frequently felt that Bruce's songs often sound very similar, but on this night, he even used that to his advantage. He played similar sounding songs together, and one flowed into another seamlessly and effectively.

The music is rooted in the grounds of American folk music; the nightime doo wop sounds of the street corners of the Bronx, or the boardwalks of Asbury Park; and in the glorious pop sound of the mid-town Manhattan Brill Building and in NY/LA Phil Spector's Wallll of Sounddd. The song have echoes in the glory days of the early rock ’n’ roll of the Elvis era and the post-World War II America that was invincible--prosperous, confident and outwardly unified. They move right through the trials and tribulations of the Vietnam era, when everything was being questioned, and land in the terror-threatened days of today—when there is still that ever present hope of a optimistic nation that refuses to stay down. The music may have been shaped elsewhere, but it comes straight from the hard working heart of Mr. Springsteen.

The night is borrowed and revived from the early rock and roll tours, including Springsteen's barnstorming live shows of the early 1970s, and the music itself harbors no doubts, no second thoughts. Even a quiet and stark song from bleak, "Nebraska" days, "Reason to Believe," is revitalized into an upbeat, harmonica-huffing, John Lee Hooker-style boogie, bluesy stomp.

But no matter what the song, they are tightly drawn through the saxophone-solos of the heart and soul of the group, Clarence Clemons, the tight, straight to-the-beat drumming of Max Weinberg, the background singing of wife Patti Scialfa, the bass of Gary Tallent, the keyboard chords of Roy Bittan and Danny Federici, the fiddling of Soozie Tyrell, the triple-barreled guitar work of Nils Lofgren, Steve Van Zandt and Mr. Springsteen, and of course, the tireless vocals of the lead man, himself, Bruce. And when the band pauses, the audience sings at pretty good volume, and all burdens, all misgivings, and all loneliness are cast off once again for the hopes of tomorrow.

P.S. Some of my friends quibble that Bruce is nothing like he was in the early days when he used to do four hour shows, and move about the stage and up into the light towers, but for now, this will do just fine.

For the real reviews go to

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/arts/music/19spri.html

and

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/12/AR2007111201996.html

Trials and Tributizations

2007-11-10T07:19:00.000-08:00

There were a number of recent articles in the NY Times that reflected the odd current and future state of the music and record industry (the continued and the somewhat outdated use of "record" also reflects the odd state). There were three recent tribute concerts in NYC involving the music of Dylan, Django Reinhardt, and Fats Domino--all seemed to revolve around the reverence for the artists. The tributes all sound interesting and all were all reviewed in NY Times at the following web addresses:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/09/arts/09dylan-sub.html?ref=music

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/09/arts/music/09djan.html?ref=music

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/arts/music/10fats.html?ref=music

Also in the NY Times, was an interesting discussion about the present and future of the record industry at the following web address:

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/whats-the-future-of-the-music-industry-a-freakonomics-quorum/index.html?ref=music

Then there's a story about how Billboard changed its record charts rules to allow in an example of the record industry's attempt at a "new marketing approach," the Eagles' new album being sold exclusively at Walmart. This story is at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/business/media/08music.html?_r=1&ref=music&oref=login

The stories (for me) signified how the greater talents in music continue to be reinvented through such means as tributes and reinterpretations, while the music industry continues to fall behind the technological advances, and makes lame efforts to reinvent itself.

The Cyrkle 'Tis A Little Broken

2007-11-03T12:46:00.000-07:00

Another piece of the veneer of rock 'n roll history has chipped away with the passing of Thomas W. Dawes, a co-founder of the Cyrkle and the composer of some of advertising's best-known commercial jingles, including "Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz" for Alka-Seltzer and "7Up, the Uncola"; he died on October 13 in Manhattan.

The Cyrkle was one of the better known folk-rock groups (a collection of crew-cutted students of Lafayette College) in the mid-60s that was an amalgam of the Beatles, Byrds, Dylan, and Paul Simon. They even had actual ties to the Beatles and Paul Simon. They were discovered by Nat Weiss, a lawyer/partner of Brian Epstein, the Beatles' manager. According to Dawes, John Lennon suggested the Cyrkle's name and distinctive spelling. The Cyrkle opened for the Beatles on their final American tour. And their biggest hit the 1966 single, "Red Rubber Ball," was "penned" by Paul Simon and Bruce Woodley. In 1966, I ran into a professor at Penn who thought that "Red Rubber Ball," was the perfectly constructed song--"a work of true art," he called it. While probably not works of art, the Cyrkle songs were certainly very hummable, and are on a number of soundtracks of the lives of baby-boomers.

After Dawes left the band, he turned to writing commercial jingles in the 70s and 80s, and a number of his jingles became "immortal in pop culture"--somewhat of a non sequitur or oxymoron. In addition to writing for Alka-Seltzer and 7Up, his catchier tunes appeared in ads for L'eggs hosiery ("Our L'eggs Fit Your Legs") and American Airlines ("We're American Airlines, Doing What We Do Best"). He and his jingle-writing wife collaborated on music for "Coke Is It," the McDonald's "You, You're the One" and, for American Airlines, "Something Special in the Air."

Dawes and his wife also wrote the book, music and lyrics for "Talk of the Town," a musical about members of the Algonquin Round Table. The show, first produced in 2004, had a nearly two-year run at the Bank Street Theater in New York before it moved as a cabaret show to the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel.

With Dawes passing, it is a "Turn Down Day" and "I don't dig it." But lo the memories will make us "think its gonna be alright..the worst is over now..the morning sun is shining like red rubber ball."

His boot heels do go wanderin'

2007-10-26T17:46:00.000-07:00

Bobby let me follow you down. Now, the Bobster will be shilling for the Cadillac car. Oh mama, can this really be the end? What is he stuck inside? Could the man be that much tangled up in green? How can the formerly scruffy one, the voice of his generation, sell his soul to the Cadillac Escalade, the gas guzzling symbol of all he was protesting against?

Well, times they are a changing from a reliable source and a blog:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/22/AR2007102202539.html

and

http://goog.bloggingstocks.com/2007/10/23/end-of-the-world-bob-dylan-to-shill-for-cadillac/

Is it just a simple twist of fate?

The Dylan ad and some other promotional material plays on the XM radio web site at:

http://xmradio.com/dylan-cadillac/index.xmc

Rock'n Royalties

2007-10-13T00:27:00.000-07:00

Events off come in threes, and there are three recent post-worthy events in the world of rock.

Eric Clapton on Larry King's gabfest on Friday night was calmly revealing. Clapton on tour for his auto-bio and CD set, talked easily about his creative muses, his past addictions (including his zest for his friend's (George Harrison's) former wife Pattie B.), his perfectionism which led to him being a nasty person to work with, his tragic loss of his four year-old son, Conor, and now his mature and fun side fate, married to a much younger woman from Columbus, Ohio, where he claims to live an average-mid-America life part of the year. Clapton was refreshing.

Madonna is apparently taking another step to advance the further disintegration of the traditional recording industry (the litigious-minded RIAA and the established labels who don't have much of a clue on marketing rock in the 21st Century). Madonna is reportedly leaving her longtime record label to sign a $120m recording and touring contract with a concert promoter.

Radiohead has engineered perhaps the most promising move. Radiohead’s first major album since 2003 is available for download for whatever price you feel is appropriate. It is like visiting one of DC's art museums: you pay what you want to. If free seems appropriate, then free is it; if $8.99 seems fair, then.... The decision to bypass the big record labels and reach out directly to the public at the prices the public are willing to pay, might inspire shakeups in the music industry (apparently other groups are also considering similar approaches), and beyond. The “pay whatever" approach is refreshingly counter to the RIAA's lawsuits against grandmothers and students for downloads. A UK web site WhatPriceDidYouChoose.com. is surveying what people pay for the Radiohead album for posting on Record of the Day at the end of October. Interesting times ahead.

RFK Redux

2007-09-26T02:03:00.000-07:00

On a beautiful, sunny Sunday in September, the last major league baseball game was played at Washington's RFK Stadium (or the "concrete dump" as many news articles mislabeled it). It was a very pleasant, yet bitter-sweet experience for the more-than 40,000 fans that filled the stadium one last time to cheer on the Nats and remember their RFK predecessors, the Senators (some of whom, including the now-legendary Frank (no-not Ryan) Howard, were on-hand for the pre-game ceremonies).

Just three years ago, the stadium, reborn and refurbished, had made it possible to bring back major league baseball to DC (after thirty-plus years of absence, and lonely treks to Baltimore). Now, RFK was being honored and abandoned by MLB one more time. Fortunately and fittingly, the Nationals rose to the occasion to beat the pennant-hungry Phillies (and their ace Cole Hamels) 5 to 3. Appropriately, the win enabled the Nats to finish their three-year, RFK stint with a home record of 122 wins and 121 loses, and to leave the fans with yet one more positive memory of baseball at RFK.

But this time, unlike in 1971, the Nats are just going across town--to a new home, to start a new tradition.

Classical death/meaning less

2007-09-04T19:41:00.002-07:00

Continuing on my earlier theme of whether classical music is dying is a "flight-out," farewell article by Newsday's classical critic, Justin Davidson. While the farewell piece is a sad sign, it is extremely optimistic. Mr. Davidson muses that "[m]aybe it's that in populist America, we take pleasure in the thought that democratic culture can expunge an ancient tradition associated with the aristocratic."

But he goes on to conclude that "[c]lassical music isn't dying, but the term itself means less with every passing year - not because it represents an osteoporotic tradition, but because its ever-widening embrace includes musicians who refuse to be bound by notions of appropriateness." He cites various young hopes such as the NY group Alarm Will Sound (who I am listening to right now); they have a sprightly, modern sound. The full article is at the following web address:

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/arts/ny-ettop5350194aug30,0,2746910.story

Davidson ends the piece blaming the lazy, traditional classic-critic for the exaggerated death of classical music--"There are no accepted standards or styles, which means that the critic lives on shifting sands. How much easier and more rhetorically satisfying it is just to pronounce last rites on the whole thing than to strike out across an unstable landscape and send back a series of un-final reports." Breaking barriers in the unstable landscape is Alex Ross' (of New Yorker fame) blog "the Rest is Noise," which provided the valuable link to the Davidson's article.

Bobbing for Tributes

2007-08-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

A new DC tradition is the Strathmore Music Center's (appropriately located in the suburb of "Rockville MD") annual tribute concert. Last year at about this time, it was a tribute to the music of Neil Young, and this year (last Wednesday) it was a tribute to the music of Bob Dylan (it was a good preparation for the Dylan/Elvis (C that is) concert coming up in DC/Columbia MD at the end of September.

The tributes' line-up consisted mostly of Eastern seaboard and DC talent (some Grammy and Wammie (the DC version of Grammy) winners) includes over 47 musicians including:

Bill Kirchen (from Commander Cody and other fame), The Nighthawks with Tom Principato, Tommy Lepson & Bill Holland, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, The Grandsons, Patty Reese, Laura Burhenn, Luke Brindley, Jon Carroll, John Jennings, Mike Cotter, The Hanson Brothers, The Cravin' Dogs, Nightman, Billy Coulter, Paper Umbrella, Eric Brace, Bill Starks, Tom Miller, and even a string quartet.

Not exactly household names, but a great concert of talented musicians, putting their spin on Dylan's music for about three and a quarter fun-filled hours. The sold out crowd paid their $7 joyfully and the event was topped off by a version of Rainy Day Women #12 & 35, led by a New Orleans style jazz band marching down the aisles, and each line was such by a different musician singing lead.

My other favorites were a soft "Baby Let Me Follow Me Down," the Eric Von Schmidt tune (as "interpolated" by the Bobster); "Most of the Time"; a wild "Everything is Broken"; a wistful "Simple Twist of Fate"; a John Jennings (of Mary Chapin Carpenter fame) brooding version of "Idiot Wind"; and a Byrdesque "Mr. Tamborine Man." I've been listening recently to my dollar, discarded library purchase of a used "Oh Mercy," and that may explain in part my list.

Dylan's philosophy was summed up in a line "no one stays in one place too long...," and it fit the variety of the concert.

Mix and Match Music

2007-08-19T00:02:00.000-07:00

Although rock was always a classic mix of rhythm and blues, country, and jazz with a few other genres mixed in, the Wall Street Journal in an article yesterday notes a recent, large uptick in the mixing of musical genres, accelerated by the flat world of the Internet. The interesting article is at the following Web address:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118738765993401397.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Will it have a long-standing impact on music or will it just be a short-term blip based on the current fascination with the Internet?

Threememboring

2007-08-18T23:22:00.000-07:00

This week saw the passing of Phil Rizzuto, and Merv Griffin, and the 25 anniversary of the first CD. All three had their impact on modern culture.

Phil Rizzuto, the "Scooter," was the talented Yankee shortstop who worked hard to make the technical tools of his trade look easy--his smooth fielding, great bunting, and clutch hitting seemed effortless. He was a Yankee that even a Brooklyn Dodger fan could root for (it turned out he was from Brooklyn, and once tried out for the Dodgers). Rizzuto was a Hall of Famer, but he was passed over for the Hall of Fame 15 times by the writers and 11 times by the Veterans Committee. Finally, a persuasive speech by Ted Williams (a pretty good authority) seemed to push Rizzuto into Cooperstown in 1994. "If we'd had Rizzuto in Boston, we'd have won all those pennants instead of New York," Williams often said.

Rizzuto would do anything to win (all with a smile and grace), but he did not take himself too seriously. As a long-time Yankee announcer he was a comfort in chaos, a natural who gave classic status to "Holy Cow," and the Meatloaf song, "Love by the Dashboard Light" (which used his call of a game to achieve a strategic success). Rizzuto was a baseball gentle man who stood tall (in spite of his relatively short size) in contrast to many of our current day players, but whose tradition is being carried on nicely by the Yankee's current shortstop, Derek Jeter.

Merv Griffin is another "down-to-earth" (no pun intended) celebrity who made a recent exit. Merv was mostly remembered in the mass media as a TV impresario (credited as creator of recent era's two most popular game shows, "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy"). He was also remembered for his talk shows, in which he made easy patter a landmark that even Seinfeld's Kramer could relate to. In one memorable episode, Kramer had purchased the set of the Griffin talk show and used it as his living room; Kramer put his all of his visitors (including Jerry, Elaine, and George) into the set and started the easy, now fake-sounding, talk show patter.

I also remembered Merv's hosting of Play Your Hunch early in his career, 1958-1962, when he was a modest, unassuming, former band singer, and easy-to-take game show host of a clever game show. One day, Jack Paar accidentally emerged onto the set of Play Your Hunch during a live broadcast (Paar was superstitiously trying to avoid the elevators at Rockefeller Center), and Griffin held Paar captive for a friendly, unplanned interview. As legend has it, Paar was so impressed by Merv's effort to hold him, that he brought Merv on as a replacement host on the Paar version of the The Tonight Show, and that started Merv's more than 20-year talk show career (1965-1986). Merv made his projects seem easy and accessible, somewhat like the work of Scooter Rizzuto. Merv added much to the lure (or lore) of TV.

The CD and digital sound were first created on August 17, 1982, after the first CD first went into production at a Philips plant in Germany. For the record (pun intended), the first CD, 25 years ago was a copy of "The Visitors" by Abba, with the first batch going on sale in the retail market in November that year. It led to our supposedly better sounding, more portable world of digital music and data. Or do we continue to miss vinyl?

Bending with Beckham

2007-08-11T09:52:00.000-07:00

I was at the first MLS Beckgame in the US on Thursday night, which was also my first soccer match live, and it was "electric." DC United outplayed and outscored their LA Galaxy counterparts as they should before a capacity home crowd filled with flags and drum beating.

Beckham was a bit rusty, and apparently not at his best, but he displayed some of his ball handling (or should I say ball footling) skills in his short 21-minute stint. And, of course, every time he touched the ball, there were screams and light bulbs flashing, a la the Beatles coming to America.

Whether the Beckham's appearances will spark higher levels of interest in soccer in America for the long-term is not clear. But on a rainy Thursday night in DC, there was a high level of interest, adrenaline, and promise.

TV or Not TV--Boob Tube or You Tube

2007-08-03T17:54:00.000-07:00

The recent CNN/You Tube Democratic presidential candidates' debate was an interesting experiment, but it was not the "revolutionary event in democracy" as it was billed. It seemed like just another example of the mass media trying to attract new media/You Tube viewers, while trying to minimize the importance of the new media by keeping the You Tube videos small and in the background. TV critic Tom Shales of the mass media, Washington Post, had an insightful review on the TV missteps of the debate at the following web address:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/23/AR2007072302122.html

The new media will keep taking away viewers, readers, and listeners from TV, newspapers, movies, radio, and the recording industry until the mass media learns how to co-exist and play better with the new media.

Happy Blogosversary

2007-07-14T10:39:00.000-07:00

There is a very interesting article in today's Wall Street Journal on the supposed "tenth anniversary" of blogging. The article is available at the following web address:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118436667045766268.html?mod=home_we_banner_left

the article includes a variety of views on blogging and the so-called blogosphere.

An All-Star, All Star Game

2007-07-10T21:09:00.000-07:00

What a classic all-star game in a classic ballpark! The game was kicked off by the Say Hey Kid, the cheers for Barry Bonds, and continued with the first inside-the-park homer in All Star history, and a see-saw battle until the last pitch. Although the fielding was not the greatest, there were snatches of the art of the some of the great batters and pitchers of our time, and there was some drama to boot. It was a good night for baseball whether it counted or not.

Jumping the Niche

2007-07-01T08:06:00.000-07:00

There is an interesting article in a recent issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, "Where Have All the Rock Stars Gone," on the disappearance of a shared pop music culture, by David Shumway, a professor of English and literary and cultural studies at Carnegie Mellon University. He discusses how we are losing a common popular culture and trading it for a "niche-ified," "i-Poddian" world of fragmenation. The article is at the following web address:

http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=ryfkv3twkxqs5dx7ky4z3wkrk1327d10

The points are well-taken, but this niche effect has probably led to same positives--more types of music being heard and some broadening of our tastes across what used to be musical boundaries. It is not clear whether it really is divisive. The article mirrors some of the points in the book, The Long Tail by Chris Anderson, on businesses being able to sell to smaller, more diverse audiences.

I welcome readers' comments.

Book Reviewers Word War with LitBloggers

2007-06-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

Paralleling the cuts in classical music reviews is the reduction of book review sections in some newspapers. At the same time, the number and popularity of literature blogs are on the rise. Some warfare between bloggers and the book reviewers is the subject of an LA Times article at the following web address:

http://www.calendarlive.com/cl-ca-bloggers13may13,0,4637710.story?coll=cl-home-more-channels

Classic cuts part 2

2007-06-17T07:49:00.000-07:00

In another forum, I posted a version of my previous post, "Cutting the Classics," and received a number of responses. One response indicated that the press cuts in classical music may be warranted because "classical music culture" can be "stuffy," "snobbish," and "exclusive," and there is often a tendency for the same old classical warhorses to dominate each concert, crowding out the contemporary.

While this may be true to a degree, there are promising signs including the many wonderful young classical musicians coming up (some who appear on the NPR weekly show "From the Top"). Other positive signs include the successful makeover of DC NPR radio station, WETA-FM, which had been a news and talk station for awhile, and was reformatted back to classical. Now it plays more than just the usual classical "warhorses," and it is drawing high ratings. The symphony orchestra at one of our local high schools, the McLean High School Symphony Orchestra, (with which I have stayed associated long after my daughters left school) plays a number of modern classical pieces along with its classical standards, and at times, has even played classical versions of Metallica, Cream, Queen, and Pearl Jam songs--it all works well. There are also the classical crossover projects of McCartney, Joel, Costello, and Sting-some successful, some less so.

My view is that newspapers often seem to get it wrong when it comes to music. Most newspapers and other popular media were slow to cover rock 'n roll as a viable form of music, and now, they seem primarily to cover rock, and ready to abandon a still vibrant form of music--classical.

In Saturday's Wall Street Journal (WSJ), there is an article about the decline of classical reviewers in newspapers by one of WSJ's classical critics, Greg Sandow (who in a previous article recommended that modern classical be called "alt classical" to get contemporary attention). Yesterday, he wrote the following:

...The last thing they should do, in my view, is blame the press. "Newspapers don't care about art or culture!" people cry. But I'd turn that around and ask if people in the classical-music business really understand the current state of our world. Because here's something else I learned back in the '90s when I talked to those opera-company publicists. One thing any publicist wants is advance coverage, preview articles about whatever's being publicized. Once, the opera publicists said, they'd get these automatically. But that had stopped. "You're doing 'La Traviata'?" an editor might say. "You did it three years ago. What's the story now?"

For orchestras, this could hit even harder. "You're playing Brahms? You played Brahms last week!" Classical music can look predictable to the outside world, and (to be honest) not very interesting. Same old, same old. Great classical masterworks, played by acclaimed classical musicians.

So the classical-music world needs to look at two things: what it offers and how it talks about what it offers. Why are we playing Brahms? What does Brahms give us that Mozart, Feist, or Bruce Springsteen can't? And how, exactly, is this week's Brahms performance different from last week's?...

While Greg Sandow gives the press a too-easy "pass," he also raises some good points aimed at the "classical-music establishment." As Sonny and Cher almost said, De-bate goes on...

Cutting the Classics

2007-06-11T19:43:00.000-07:00

In a recent article, a New York Times writer reported that the jobs of classical music critics "have been eliminated, downgraded or redefined at newspapers in Atlanta, Minneapolis and elsewhere around the country and at New York magazine, where Peter G. Davis, one of the most respected voices of the craft, said he had been forced out after 26 years."

It was not so many years ago, that the major dailies did not stoop to reporting on rock and roll and pop music, and just reported on classical music with a little twist of jazz thrown in for a small measure of coolness. Now the tables have turned and it is a little sad to see the newspapers headed towards another extreme.

Is it just another example of bottom line, "what-sells" journalism, and the struggles of newspapers fighting to stay alive with younger readers? Or is there another force at work? I hope it is not the sign of dying newspapers taking classical music with it. Classical music deserves the exposure, just as rock did a few years earlier (possibly even more so). There is room for many forms of music in the news pages.

The article is at the following web address:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/09/arts/music/09crit.html?ref=arts

Introduction

2007-06-10T08:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog. I will be blogging on matters relating to education, language, music of all kinds, pop and other culture, "the news," law, consumer experiences, comedy, baseball and other sports, and other life experiences that should be shared for a good and happy society. I welcome your comments.