Final Post of 2006

So another year is coming to its end. My look back on 2006 leads me to see it as a year of transition. For me, the biggest single development was my transitioning out of the residential home supervisor position that I'd held since 1993. That happened at the end of January, so I'm feeling pretty settled into the training/teaching position that I now hold, even though I'm currently enjoying a nice long break from work (I won't be back to the office until this coming Thursday...)

I have insufficient time and little ambition to do a comprehensive recap of the year that concludes tonight. Our family New Years Eve plans are to have a quiet time at home, playing games and watching the Garrison Keillor broadcast on PBS, so I'm going to turn my attention their way as soon as this is posted. But let me share a few thoughts that come to my mind as to the significant developments and historical milestones of '06. It seems apparent that the prevailing public opinion in the USA has shifted away from supporting Bush's aggressive style of foreign policy, leading to a decrease in broad-based militarism and less effective results from politicians and others who resort to fear-mongering to galvanize their political support. I'm not really sensing a clarity of where to go from here though... our government has hitched its wagon to the military/globalist expansionism agenda for such a long time that it's hard for our citizens to really envision America conducting itself much differently. I will be very interested to see what, if anything, the Democrats do differently and are able to accomplish once they are sworn into office in the next week or two.

The Ted Haggard sex/hypocrisy scandal and the seeming decline of political clout by the "superpowers" of the Religious Right also presents some creative new possibilities for our society and culture. I'm hopeful that out of the dysfunctional wreckage that has been supported by Dobson, Falwell, Robertson et al., a significant portion of our nation's Christians will take the time to reconsider just what kind of agenda they have embraced. I don't expect the activist diehards or right-wing pundits to meekly give up their arguing or concede the points of their ideological opponents, but I can't help but think that the generally dismal state of affairs in our country, after six years of an agenda set by a joint Neocon/fundamentalist ruling coalition, would get people asking some tougher questions than they were in the years immediately following the 9/11 attacks. It's up to people (like me, and others who agree that a new course needs to be set and followed) to get involved however we can to help come up with those "better answers" than what's been put into practice since 2000. I got this "Worldchanging" book as a Christmas gift from my children, and I'm going to do some serious digging into that volume (and the website) to see just what kind of a difference I can make.

That's the thing about New Years - it's always a good occasion for re-assessment and getting new initiatives started. Even if the resolutions don't turn into consistent, everyday habits, there's still much to be gained by appraising where one is at, and returning to the challenge of living with a fresh enthusiasm and appreciation for our roles and responsibilities in this world. As we enter the final third of this decade, let's have the courage to pursue our noblest ideals, and the trust to join with others both like and unlike ourselves, to honor the reality of our lives, our relationship to God and our obligations to the humans (and other living beings) who will inherit whatever kind of a world we pass on to them.

Saddam Hussein: One More Dead Iraqi

Saddam's execution took place and for some people, those whose lives were directly effected by his brutal tyranny, I know it was an emotional, catalytic event. But in this country, it hardly feels like "justice"... I'm not detecting much sense of accomplishment or restoration from my fellow citizens or voices in the media.

As a reminder of how we got to this point, here's a little Flash-media encapsulation of Saddam's career... with a little help from his friends. I find it worth noting that a dictator like Pinochet gets to live out the rest of his natural days in relative tranquility. Did Bush even have anything to say about the Argentine's passing? I doubt it, I think he is more interested in not hurting Kissinger's feelings...

"Favorite Music of 2006" Summary

Awhile back I listed a bunch of CDs that I nominated as my candidates for best releases of the year. Then a few days after that I did a post on the category of "female vocalists," intending to do more like that for various other performers, genres, etc. But then real-life intervened, gobbling up the time I thought I'd have to do all that. Now the year is almost done so I'm just going to amplify that list, with some additional entries as well...

Best Male Vocals

I'm going to take the "Grammy" approach here and give this award to the singer with the most distinguished track record who hasn't gotten sufficient recognition for his talents (which means that Bob Dylan doesn't win this one.) Jerry Lee Lewis released an album titled "Last Man Standing" and it is really quite impressive. He's in his seventies and sounds remarkably vital, even close to prime form! Contrast this to some of the forced growling and heaving to hit the high notes that younger guys like Bob Seger and Roger Daltrey had to resort to on their albums... And the thing about Jerry Lee's record is that it is absolutely loaded with "competition." Check out this guest list: Springsteen, Jagger, Clapton, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, B.B. King, Neil Young, Ringo Starr, John Fogerty, Little Richard, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Rod Stewart and more. But the voice that rings out over and above them all, by sheer force of personality, is the Killer himself. It's a very enjoyable album, one that I would hardly have expected to make this list but there it is.

Honorable Mention: Bob Dylan "Modern Times", Beck "The Information", Eddie Vedder on "Pearl Jam", Ray Davies "Other People's Lives", Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) "Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not", Paul Simon "Surprise" (a fine album that lives up to its title.)

Best Re-working of Old Material

There was a lot to choose from along these lines, making for a hard choice. But I found the collaboration between Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs, "Under The Covers, Vol. 1" to be delightful and nearly irresistible. Hoffs sang lead in the Bangles and her renditions of some great old hits from the 60's makes the connection between classic pop-rock and what her band was doing back in their mid-80's hey-day. Matthew Sweet didn't quite reach the same commercial heights and his contributions aren't as immediately distinctive, but he clearly loves this music and handles the musical responsibilities with excellence! It helps to have grown up on this music in order to enjoy it, but it's not a prerequisite.

Honorable Mention: The Beatles "Love", Def Leppard "Yeah!" (another great tribute collection, this of early 70's glam rock that the Lep's grew up listening to), Elvis Costello "My Flame Burns Blue" (EC gives some of his old material a contemporary orchestral setting), Madonna "I'm Going To Tell You A Secret", Thievery Corporation "Versions" (cool jazzy dub remixes of various tunes), Nouvelle Vague "Bande A Parte"(bossanova cover versions of 70's-80's New Wave singles)

Best "Old" Rock

I pondered whether to go with "classic" vs. "modern" or something like that, but I'm going to do "old" vs. "new" when it comes to rock. I like the more basic method of contrasting the styles. By "old" rock I'm thinking of more traditional, less experimental or arty. I'm not thinking of more recent genres like "nu-metal." Well, I could get really lost in trying to articulate all that goes into how I made the distinction but forget it. The winner here is The Who's "Endless Wire." They beat some strong competition, but deservedly get the honors. Pete Townshend is simply the master of "the album." He knows how to pace the songs and put together a compelling package, and that's saying something in this day when CDs often just seem like "playlists." Since I've already written about the Who quite a bit, I won't comment further here except to say that this release was remarkably effective at getting me to reassess my impression of the band after so many years of regarding them as "of the past." I hope that Townshend and Daltrey get revitalized through all this and that it leads to more music from them.

Honorable Mention: Bob Seger "Face The Promise" (another long-time-in-the-making return from a beloved old rocker), David Gilmour "On An Island" (Pink Floyd guitarist's moody, reflective piece, doesn't really "rock" much though!), Cheap Trick "Rockford", Neil Young "Living With War", Red Hot Chili Peppers "Stadium Arcadium"

Best "New" Rock

Lots of different styles to choose from here... especially since "rock" covers such a broad expanse at this stage in its development. But I'm mainly thinking of bands whose basic sound dates from the 90's at the earliest. (The Chili Peppers just missed the cut...)

My winner here is Yo La Tengo's "I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass," which I wrote about when it was first released and continues to grow on me. YLT is what I'd say if you were to ask me what is my "current favorite band."

Others that I'd recommend you checking out if you want to hear some interesting new sounds in contemporary rock music: Muse "Black Holes and Revelations", Audioslave "Revelations" (hold the black holes), Thom Yorke "The Eraser", Flaming Lips "At War With The Mystics", Sonic Youth "Rather Ripped", The Mars Volta "Amputechture", Gomez "How We Operate", The Early November "The Mother, The Mechanic, And The Path" (which wins my "Most Ambitious" award - a triple CD concept album that I still haven't fully digested yet!), Head Automatica "Popaganda", Arctic Monkeys "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not", Beck "The Information", Stereolab "Fab Four Suture", Charlatans UK "Simpatico", The Strokes "First Impressions of Earth"

Best Political Statement

I have to go with Neil Young's timely and audacious "Living With War" here. He wrote, recorded and released the album within a matter of weeks in the late winter and early spring of this year, and it packs a punch. One may be put off by titles like "Let's Impeach the President," "Looking for a Leader," or "The Restless Consumer," but as I see it, Neil tells it like it is.

Honorable Mention: Pearl Jam "Pearl Jam," Elvis Costello and Allen Touissaint "The River In Reverse" (about the Hurricane Katrina aftermath), Flaming Lips "At War With The Mystics", The Roots "Game Theory"

Best Electronic/Instrumental Music

My son's turned me on to Ratatat a couple years ago, and this New York City duo has refined its sound on their second album, which they've conceitedly titled "Classics." The sounds and rhythms are so instantly catchy and timeless that you might think you've heard this music before, even though it has a distinct sound to it unlike any other band that comes to mind. (Except maybe "Another Green World"-era Brian Eno...?) These guys are tapped into something deep and resonant and Beatle-y - I'm really intrigued to see where they go next. This is one of my highest recommendations on the entire list, but sample it somewhere for free before you just go out and buy it...

Honorable Mention: Zero 7 "The Garden", William Orbit "Hello Waveforms", Sigur Ros "Saeglopur", Oakenfold "A Lively Mind", Enigma "A Posteriori". Also, the Chemical Brothers have released two more installments of their "Electronic Battle Weapon" series, numbers 8 and 9, which excites me greatly. They will have a new CD out sometime this spring or summer. You can find the EBW tracks if you snoop around on the internet... they aren't available for purchase just yet.

Funniest

Weird Al's "Straight Outta Lynwood" wins this one outright. There's no other competition worthy of stepping into the ring that I know of.

Overall Favorite Album of the Year

I'm going to go with "Pearl Jam" because it's the first album that comes to mind when I think "what did I listen to the most and what made the biggest impression on me in 2006?" It's a great, hard-rocking, emotionally invigorating and dynamic collection of songs, and the band's power was reinforced for me when I saw them perform in concert back in May. Plus I like what they stand for and how they conduct themselves as a band and as people.

So there you have my take on music in 2006. There was, no doubt, a lot of good music released this soon-to-be-past year that I still haven't caught up with (I'm currently scoping out Cat Power, the Decembrists, Neko Case and Joanna Newsom, who've crossed my radar from time to time over the past couple months, to hear what they are all about) but this captures what I've been listening to of the 2006 crop. I enjoy reading what others have come up with so let me know where to find your lists!

Five Weird Things About Me

I got tagged yesterday by Kim (Ampersand) so I'm going to play nicely and divulge a few tidbits about myself. I feel a bit conflicted doing so though, because Darrell (Grateful Bear) tagged me with the same meme a few months ago and I never got around to responding like I should have. Please don't take it as a sign of favoritism on my part, Darrell! It just slipped past me and I eventually let it drop... Sorry!

With that caveat out of the way, here are five things that I guess could be considered weird about me. It's kind of hard to come up with five though - I think of myself as pretty normal, balanced and regular, compared to how weird I could be if I was given my druthers... being a middle-class married suburbanite has domesticated me quite a bit, I must admit.

1. I bat left-handed but throw right-handed. I think this is pretty unusual. The only major league ballplayer that I've ever heard of with this peculiar combination is Rickey Henderson, who was a great athlete, to be sure. But try as I might, I've never been able to swing a bat from the left side of the plate. Not that I'm huge power hitter from the right side either...

2. A lot of people who read my blog know this about me already, but I used to play guitar in a punk rock band in the early 1980's. What makes the story more remarkable is that I was part of a pretty vibrant and fondly remembered musical scene featuring bands that went on to have lasting influence and notoriety. My band was named the Church Police and our song "The Oven Is My Friend" is available for purchase from iTunes. I won't see any royalties from your purchase though. I will send you a free copy of the song via email upon request.

3. In 1985-86, I was a "licensed minister" in the American Baptist Church while serving on a church staff in Mill Valley, California. I preached from the pulpit a few times, and even fainted once while delivering a homily that I hadn't sufficiently prepared for and was trying to "wing it." Fortunately for me, it was an evening service and the congregation was quite small that night.

4. I used to have my own public access TV program, called "The Dave Blakeslee Show," of all things. This was also back in California in the mid-80's. We made seven or eight episodes and I don't have any of the tapes, unfortunately. They were recorded in the Betamax format, in any case, so I wouldn't have any way of playing them even if I got ahold of them somehow.

5. Even though I consider myself a pop culture aficionado, I have never in my life viewed an entire episode of any of the following TV shows: Dallas, Hill Street Blues, Cheers, Everybody Loves Raymond, Law and Order, CSI, Survivor, Desperate Housewives, Lost, Dancing With The Stars, Deal or No Deal, The Simple Life, The Real World, The O.C., or most any other "episodic" TV show produced in the past 10-15 years. I simply don't watch that kind of TV. I have seen one episode of American Idol, and I saw a couple of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire programs when my brother-in-law's brother was a contestant. I probably saw a few episodes of Friends and ER when they were in that "Must See TV" Thursday night lineup along with Seinfeld. I pretty much stopped watching network TV around the time that MASH went off the air.

I don't know if any of that qualifies as "weird" or not. I don't have too many personal quirks. Well, I bite my nails. I have a strange little fleshy protuberance behind my right knee. Do people really want to know that kind of stuff? I'm really just an average guy who's worked for the same organization for almost 18 years and lived in the same house for 10 years and been married for 22! What else is there to say?

Another Angle on the Ford Legacy

Though my thoughts and reflections posted here on the life of Gerald Ford have centered on my own personal experiences and connections with the man, a few other matters warrant some consideration. Most of the media portrait of Ford that I've seen the past few days emphasizes Ford's positive personal qualities, as well as the impact that his wife Betty had for people dealing with cancer and/or addiction. Of course, Ford's role in managing the aftermath of Watergate and the Vietnam war have also been widely covered. What may not be so familiar to many of us (and wasn't to me until I followed a few links) was Ford's complicity with the Indonesian invasion of East Timor, which led to the deaths of many thousands of Timorese people in late 1975.

This link to a local website dedicated to monitoring media reporting of the news in Grand Rapids (and beyond) goes into more depth on the issue than I am able to. It may hit a bit harder than some would find proper in this time of memorial and remembrance of a former president, but I'll offer it for your perusal anyway. I also recommend connecting to an article offering more substantial background on the subject from the Democracy Now! website. (The link to this piece found in the Media Mouse article appears to be broken.) I listened to the podcast, you can also see the segment on video stream if you don't want to read the transcript. And if all this seems excessively partisan or even radical, here's a link to material from the National Security Archive at George Washington University that covers the same story.

I'll let the information speak for itself. None of this detracts from my plans to attend Ford's memorial service next week, nor do I consider him a "villain" for his part in all that's reported. It just offers a more thorough picture of the impact of Ford's presidency and in my opinion prompts us all to look more deeply at our society's leaders than the whims of conventional wisdom and the spin doctors would normally allow.

James Brown

Christmas Day and the passing of Gerald Ford kind of pre-empted my words of respect for James Brown, but I do have to acknowledge the passing of a great entertainer and inspirational figure to millions. My admiration for James Brown's music was more along the lines of the casual fan - I have most of his hits on my computer, but haven't done much in the way of digging into his larger repertoire. Still, one has to acknowledge his influence on subsequent musical trends - I love the way he introduced hard percussive funk and rhythm into the pop mainstream, and his tenacious perseverance and showmanship over the years were quite remarkable, given the degree of personal turbulence he had to work through. I expect that at some point fairly soon, with his legacy more in the forefront of my mind, I will take some time to listen more closely to his earlier music and read up on the details of his life in and out of showbiz, but for now, I will be content to extend my sympathies to his loved ones and the many fans who, like myself, resonated positively to his message ("Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud" is a world anthem, not just for African-Americans) and danced joyfully to his music.

Jerry Ford

I have a backlog of things I want to post here but that will have to wait a bit. Current events and my (relative) proximity to the focal point of the story compel me to mention that Gerald Ford, former president of the USA and congressional representative of the district I live in, has passed away at the age of 93.

Ford is the only president, alive or dead, that I've ever come into personal contact with, having shook his hand during the 1976 campaign. He had just returned via Air Force 1 to what was then known as the Kent County Airport, and now bears his name, the Gerald Ford International. I was almost 15 at the time, and there was a fair amount of excitement here in Grand Rapids, his hometown (technically, he's from East Grand Rapids, a separate municipality with its own sense of distinct identity from GR proper - basically, richer, whiter and bearing a faint scent of elitism about it.) So I still have a vivid memory of him approaching the throng that stood on the other side of a cordoned off barricade, walking up to us after the Secret Service had done its initial scan and determined that all was well, and how he tensed up his muscles and took a breath just a moment before beginning what was undoubtedly a familiar and much practiced ritual of thrusting his hands into the brambles of outreaching arms hoping to be one of the lucky ones who actually got to press presidential flesh. One of his hands and one of mine made brief, sloppy contact, but there was definitely a clasp somewhere in there. Oh such a thrill it was. The rah-rah speech he made shortly thereafter from a podium just 15 or 20 feet away from where I stood wasn't so memorable, but I really wasn't as interested in taking careful note of campaign promises for a guy I couldn't even vote for anyway.

But the personal connection to Jerry Ford doesn't end there for me. His presidential museum is just a few miles away from my house, and I may visit there again later today or tomorrow. I think that's where his body will be laid to rest, so I might even go be a gawker at a presidential memorial service whenever that takes place! I like the museum - it's of course first and foremost a tribute to his brief but historically interesting and significant administration, but also a nice little time capsule of life in the mid-70's, a golden yet turbulent era in my own life. And it serves as a good landing ground for other temporary exhibits of a historical or political nature. And it's a nice campus, located right on the banks of the Grand River, across from the high-rises of downtown Grand Rapids.

A bit more apocryphally, my now-deceased grandfather supposedly went to the same high school as Ford (Grand Rapids South, no longer in existence) and I have some recollection of stories about them playing high school football together. It's quite plausible - Ford was born about six months before Grandpa Blakeslee and my grandpa definitely had the physique and temperament to play high school football. I'm just not totally certain that it happened, whether they were on the same team, or played against each other, or if maybe Grandpa B just knew of Ford and saw him play a few times (the same way that I "know" current Michigan State basketball star Drew Neitzel, who comes from the same high school that my kids went to.) I will press my grandmother for details when I see her next...

So anyway, I wanted to pay my due respects. Given the circumstances and general strangeness of the years that he was president, it isn't surprising that many think of him as a kind of "fringe player" in the pantheon of American political heavyweights. He's not nearly as polarizing as any of the presidents on either side of the timeline from him... maybe Eisenhower was the only other ex-president of the modern era who doesn't evoke stronger partisan sentiments when his name is mentioned... but given the choices, I'd say that Grand Rapids has more reason to take unqualified pride in the achievements of our "native son" than any of the other hometowns of recent occupiers of the Oval Office. Though I also have a fondness for Jimmy Carter, Ford's successor, and look forward to maybe getting a glimpse of him if he chooses to come to Grand Rapids to pay tribute.

Last night, when I first heard the news, I picked up and began reading John Updike's "Memories of the Ford Administration." It's only marginally about the man himself, so far at least...

WhadjagitferChristmas?

Good morning, world. I took yesterday off of blogging even though I never stepped foot out of the house. We had a nice day hanging loose, playing with our new games, listening to music, watching cartoons and football, nibbling on leftover goodies (though by 7 p.m. I told Julie that she had strict instructions to do whatever it took to stop me from eating anything the rest of the night, though I never really tested her resolve after that) and finally settling into some quiet reading time as the evening drew to a close. Julie felt a lot better as the day went on, which was a relief, and now she and I are both getting ready to head off to work.

But first, a family picture and my list of the cool stuff I got (besides clothes):

My kids got me the book Worldchanging, which I am very excited to own and explore. I will have more to say about this volume as I begin to digest its contents. I especially like that my children gave it to me, that means a lot!

Julie got me (besides clothes) the new Disney "More Silly Symphonies" which is a collection of old animated shorts that, besides serving as a testing ground for innovative animation techniques (pre-"Snow White") are also marvelous odes to nature and mythology themselves. I was really delighted to watch several of the films - they are very cheer-inducing, amusing and elegant, especially considering when they were made (1929 - 1930.) I am getting a pretty nice collection of cartoon classics!

She also got me the new R.E.M. collection "I Feel Fine" featuring their best songs and rarities from the late-80's/early 90's phase of their career.

My mom got me a DVD of "The Passion of Joan of Arc" which I will describe in more detail when I get around to watching it (soon, I expect.)

I also got some gift cards and a couple of "duplicate items" that I'll have to return and exchange. People got my suggestions confused - I had a list of Criterion Collection DVDs that I wanted and also indicated which ones I already owned and they misunderstood my code. I figured a circle meant "I Want It " and an X meant "I Own It" but that wasn't so clear to my sister... :o) I will mention (in the comments section below) what I got with these exchanges and cards when I make up my mind and bring the stuff home.

I got a couple of other smaller things but these are the ones that are most worth mentioning here. 'Twas a nicely pleasant day, now I have a long day and evening of work ahead of me (which is fine), and then I'll have the rest of the week off! Hope you are enjoying this holiday time, whoever, wherever you are!

Christmas Eve Post

Though the "eve" is still a couple hours away as I type this, it's shaping up to be a kind of an odd one. Julie is sick with the flu (catching a bug that put several of her co-workers on bed rest earlier in the week) and doesn't plan to join the holiday gathering with my side of the family tonight. I feel very bad for her but she would not enjoy it in any case, and my grandmother will be there and hardly needs to risk any exposure, so I guess that's how it will have to be. I just hope she's feeling better tomorrow morning...

Also, the day has been not only unseasonably warm but also very sunny. I'm talking blue skies and shadows on the ground! For those of you who live in or at least a little closer to the Sunbelt, that's no big deal but on this side of Michigan, it's enough to get us rechecking our calendars to see what's really going on, if we're dreaming or something.

Well some things at least can be relied upon. The Lions are in the process of losing another game where they appeared to have something close to a chance of winning... but of course we know just how futile such hopes are, don't we?

Anyway, I just figured I should acknowledge the day on my blog somehow, rather than let that "female vocalists" thing serve as my holiday greeting for anyone who intentionally or unintentionally visits this site.

So Merry Christmas, world! I will resume my regular posting habits in the near future.

Favorite Music of 2006: Female Vocals

It's time for me to start declaring some winners now that I've been spending time closely listening to most of the new music that I've accumulated over the course of this year. I'm going to start with a relatively simple category, namely female vocalists. Looking over my list of nominees as well as a few others that I didn't bother to include, I see a decided bias toward male singers. I've been aware of this oversight for awhile now, and I've been working to balance out my collection by carving out more room for women vocalists. So my larger collection has grown to include what I consider a decent sampling of some of the more well-regarded performers of recent years: Aimee Mann, Jewel, Sia, Beth Orton, Sheryl Crow, Natalie Merchant, Tori Amos, Eva Cassidy and a few others like P.J. Harvey and Liz Phair. I leave Enya to my wife and daughter, though I don't mind her as background music. I also picked up a Sarah Brightman CD ("Harem") off the $1 bargain pile the other day but haven't listened to it yet. There are others that I'm aware of - Fiona Apple, Dido, Loreena McKinnit (who was referenced by Bilbo the other day), etc. Of course, pop singers like Christina Aguilera, Shakira, Beyonce and Fergie are in my collection as they climb to the upper reaches of the Billboard hit charts, but I don't listen to them "seriously." And I confess that I have nearly complete collections of CDs from both Madonna and Britney Spears, which I regard as cultural artifacts, the significance and value of which transcends the actual music contained therein. And I should also mention the harder-rocking women like Patti Smith, Shirley Manson, Alanis Morrisette, Chrissie Hynde and Debbie Harry. And also the great women whose pipes grace the soundtracks of ambient trip-hop artists like Massive Attack, Portishead, Sneaker Pimps, Tricky, etc.

So enough of that name-dropping. My concern is, what recordings by these or other artists were released in 2006? I seem to be lacking in variety here so I apologize for that, but here are my finalists:

1. Beth Orton - Comfort of Strangers: I first heard Beth's singing when she guested on a couple of early Chemical Brothers tracks ("Where Do I Begin" and "Alive Alone.") In recent years, she's moved away from the electronica crossovers and collaborations and is now pretty much a soft rocking folkie. Her voice is distinctive and to some a bit too affected, so even though I like her style, this effort is a bit too low-key to get the nod, but it merits a mention.






2. Madonna - I'm Going to Tell You a Secret: A live CD from her most recent tour that offers some interesting new takes on a few of her older hits, but one has to be a fan or at least familiar with her more recent albums in order to appreciate the music. And since a lot of people dropped off the Madonna bandwagon in the early/mid-90's, there's limited appeal for this product. So it's not my winner either.




3. Jewel - Goodbye Alice in Wonderland: I like Jewel's earnest and sometimes hokey takes on spirituality and the Bigger Meanings of Life, and her voice is so amazing and clear when she hits those long notes. I also enjoy her stage and performing persona, though I can also see how it might grate on some peoples' nerves - like my wife's. :o) There are some good cuts on this new album of hers, but I really enjoyed the more pop-oriented direction she took on her previous CD (O304) and this one feels like a retreat into safer, predictable territory. So it won't win.




4. Here's my winner: Saint Etienne - Tales from Turnpike House: Saint Etienne is an alt/indie/electronica/danceclub oriented act that's been around for quite awhile (fifteen years or so) but I just discovered them this year. This is considered to be a "mature" work for them, on the quiet, dreamy and soft side compared to what they've done in the past. I really like the mood and feel of this disc, which is apparently a concept album of sorts, stories about contemporary Londoners who live in the same building or something like that. I haven't listened closely enough to the lyrics to pick up on a story but I guess it's there to be discovered. The vocalist's name is Sarah Cracknell, fyi. I'm picking this partly because of the joy of new discovery and partly because I've already taken too long to think about this and type it all in. So look for Saint Etienne and let me know what you think. And please suggest other great female singers that I haven't mentioned here.

Tara Conner

I tried writing a post on this last night but I just couldn't bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. Probably because the story isn't worth paying that much attention to. But since I alluded to it in my previous post, let me just say here that I find it kind of fascinating and revelatory about our culture, the way this thing developed. The attractions are obvious - a beautiful young pageant winner from rural Kentucky comes to the Big Apple, does her "Girls Gone Wild" audition, temporarily forgetting her higher-than-average public profile (or feeling invincible because of it), stumbles to the point of losing it all only to be rescued by a lascivious and wealthy modern-day Prince Charming who grants her a masterfully-publicized "second chance" which she gratefully and tearfully accepts before doing her by-now-obligatory turn in rehab.

So grant that the media will pounce on this chance to blast this wherever and whenever they can for a couple of days... a great excuse for Fox News to loop a clip of a shapely blonde strutting in a bikini over and over and over again at the top and bottom of each hour... None of that is a surprise, nor is it that the Donald Trump media machine would fail to exploit this opportunity to perfection. What is most fascinating and also troubling to me is that it's still not at all clear what kind of message young women (and others) are expected to take from this whole situation. As famous as she was before all this happened, I don't think general public awareness of Tara Conner the name-brand was anywhere close to what it is now and will be in the future. Despite all the talk of maintaining high standards and the function that "Miss USA" serves as a role model of female empowerment and womanly virtue, it seems to me that this so-called scandal could be viewed as a brilliant career move, whichever way Ms. Conner winds up going. She could falter and fail in rehab, lose her crown and go the "bad girl" route, eventually posing for Playboy, making cheap knock-off comedy movies and serving as tabloid fodder for the next four or five years before eventually settling down and finding a second career once she decides to keep her clothes on in front of the cameras. Anyone remember Jenny McCarthy? Tara Reid?

Or she could really make the rehab walk stick, come back with some version of a born-again story and aim more for the profile of a Mandy Moore (who I should be clear has never gotten tainted by the kind of rumors that swirled around Tara Conner.) What helps her in this cause is that, to this point, I don't think much photographic evidence has surfaced that would make it harder for her to live down and move beyond. But my main point is that if she had not "chosen" to get raunchy (to whatever degree she actually did), she'd still be functioning smoothly in her Miss USA role, but far less likely to maintain that high visibility after her year was up than she is now positioned for.

So how big of a mistake did she really make in the long run? And why do bloggers and people feel so free to be mean toward this young woman who got emotional at a press conference? Seems like jealousy to me. And let me conclude by saying this gal really knows how to use her eyebrows to achieve the most remarkable effects.

A Virgin Birth at Christmas-time?

Not much to report from my own life today... The training went well, we had a fun afternoon in our department as all four of us were there together, sharing some laughs as we head in to the home stretch of 2006. I have a day-and-a-half of work before the break, and I did a little run out to the mall tonight... All in all, a fine but unremarkable day in the life. Anything I'd comment on as far as the news is concerned would disturb the placid mood that I'm in at the moment (though I may weigh in soon on the Tara Conner controversy...)

So in lieu of anything very personal, check out the link above (in the headline) to read a story that struck me as peculiarly amusing given the time of year we're in!

Heading toward the Finish Line

Just a minute or two for a quick entry tonight... I'm looking forward to tomorrow afternoon, because after that I won't have any trainings to lead for two full weeks and will have completed a gauntlet of year-end sessions that was much heavier than usual. I only have myself to blame for that, since I voluntarily added extra sessions to help some of our slacker staff get caught up on all their certifications before year's end - no more of that next year! I did the Mr. Nice Guy thing in 2006 and now it's time for people to remember that they are responsible grown-ups... Not to be too hard on my professional colleagues - I know they work very hard at what they do and getting hours of training according to externally mandated (and sometimes excessively nit-picky) guidelines is not always as high a priority for them as it became for me when I began overseeing all of that stuff...

But enough of that blather. I had to cut myself off before I got too deep into a description of work-related trivia that nobody asked me to provide. The main thing is that after 11:00 a.m. tomorrow, I will be able to step pretty freely into holiday chill-out mode. Most of my shopping is done and I am going to have a fair number of days off over the next couple weeks, though not a full Bilbo-esque getaway by any means! There will still be some deadlines and projects to tend to but not nearly as much public presenting as the past few weeks have required of me. I AM READY FOR THAT! :o)

My Favorite Music of 2006

We're now into the second half of December so it's serious "looking back at the year that was" time. The other day, Darrell left a comment suggesting a topic of "best CDs of 2006" as an idea for a blog post, something that I'd already been contemplating for awhile. I'm not ready to make my final selections yet... instead I'm just going to list my contenders, the albums in my iTunes library that were released this year that at least merit some consideration. I'm not sure if I'll do a Top 10 or maybe separate them into different categories... I'll come up with something, I'm sure, but this is the beginning of that process.

Before I get to that, let me lay down some thoughts I've had about pop music (a recurring theme here lately, I know, but that's what's on my mind, fwiw.) This year and next mark the anniversary of what I think are the two best years of popular music that's ever been released in the English-speaking world. I'm referring to 1966 and 1967, and especially '67. There were so many breakthrough albums that are now classics, if not downright legendary and epoch-defining, that came out in that brief stretch of time. And I subscribe to the pet theory that says the middle years of a decade are the ones that hold the most lasting significance when looking back, that go the furthest to define the era, if you will. 1966-67 were the hippie years. 1976 was the bicentennial and 1977 was the key year for both punk rock and disco. 1986 and 1987 were perhaps not so instantly evocative but they were the height of the Reagan years, when Iran-Contra hearings and the Black Friday stock market crash took. Musically it was when U2 hit full stride, Guns'n'Roses and Public Enemy debuted, and R.E.M. first entered the mainstream. '96-97, saw Clinton got reelected and the seeds of the Lewinsky/impeachment mess were sown. 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G. were shot and killed, Radiohead's "OK Computer" and Chemical Brothers "Dig Your Own Hole" were released (maybe they aren't the classics to you that they are to me!) But I will admit, the music of the more recent decades doesn't quite feel like it has the same staying power as the releases of 66 & 67 have over the past 40 years. Let me repeat that for emphasis: FORTY YEARS! I will probably list some of my favorites from that era in a future post...

But for now, here are the titles of releases that seem hefty enough to get me thinking that maybe, just maybe, they will elicit fond memories and be worth listening to years from now.

At War With The Mystics - The Flaming Lips
Black Holes and Revelations - Muse
Classics - Ratatat
Comfort of Strangers - Beth Orton
Endless Wire - The Who
Fab Four Suture - Stereolab
Face the Promise - Bob Seger
First Impressions of Earth - The Strokes
Game Theory - The Roots
Goodbye Alice in Wonderland - Jewel
How We Operate - Gomez
I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass - Yo La Tengo
Last Man Standing - Jerry Lee Lewis
Living With War - Neil Young
Love - The Beatles
Modern Times - Bob Dylan
On An Island - David Gilmour
Other People's Lives - Ray Davies
Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam
Post-War - M. Ward
Rather Ripped - Sonic Youth
Simpatico - Charlatans UK
Stadium Arcadium - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Straight Outta Lynwood - "Wierd Al" Yankovic
Surprise - Paul Simon
Tales from the Turnpike House - St. Etienne
The Eraser - Thom Yorke
The Information - Beck
The Lemonheads - The Lemonheads
The Garden - Zero 7
The River in Reverse - Elvis Costello & Allen Touissaint
Under The Covers, Vol. 1 - Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys
Yeah! - Def Leppard

So... is there a "Revolver" or "Aftermath" or "Blonde on Blonde" or "Freak Out!" or "Pet Sounds" or "A Quick One" or "Sounds of Silence" anywhere in there? Ehhh... I don't see (or hear) it! And that list is hardly exhaustive... I'd be interested in learning about any other notable releases that readers would like to suggest, while I've still got a week or two to check out some new tunes!

The Nativity Story Movie

I went to go see "The Nativity Story" today with my family. I had neither a compelling desire nor any aversion to seeing it, but Julie wanted to do it as a family Christmas-time activity so we got the six of us together (a fairly rare occurrence these days) and headed off to the noon matinee.

The film pretty much lived up to my expectations, which is to say it did a fair job at balancing some touches of supposed 1st century realism (e.g. showing how the Judean peasants lived and toiled in their "just a few notches up from the Stone Age" villages) and portraying the various elements of the familiar Christmas pageant narrative with big-budget effects and production values. Thus, there wasn't much drama, nor were there many significant surprises. It appeared to me to be a safe, calculated production that would generate solid DVD sales in America and elsewhere. One question I have that I don't expect an answer to is just how much of the story the filmmakers take to heart themselves, in other words, how sincere are they in presenting the story of Jesus' birth? What were their objectives in getting involved with this project - just a job, or something deeper and more spiritual than that?

I enjoyed watching the cast members - it's nice to see people with darker features as the main principles in this story, even if by trying to portray the events of the infancy narratives realistically, they end up reinforcing an impression of implausibility to viewers who don't already approach the material in a reverential mindset. (I often note that aspect of biblically-based movies, how hard it is to create dialogue and sequences of events that seem true-to-life rather than staged and simply too convenient to illustrate some kind of theological point or other.) Keisha Castle-Hughes has a nice photogenic face, not really sexy or anything like that (which is good for this role) but neither is she ethereal or beatific, which I guess has led some Catholics to disparage the movie because she's simply too ordinary to suit their expectations of what Mary "must" have been like. I think she did a commendable enough job in a role that has to be pretty difficult, given all the tripwires of convention, taboos and piety that surround such a pivotal theological personality. And the cast as a whole met the challenge, I thought, given that they were basically given a fairly cardboard script to work with and could not really take their characters into any kind of unexpected territory, at least in whatever footage was expected to make the final cut.

I could adopt a more critical stance and point out some of the elements that I balked at a bit. For instance, when Mary and Joseph set out from Nazareth to Bethlehem, from the looks of it, they were the first two humans to have ever made that journey, so forsaken, trackless and barren was the landscape they had to traverse. Likewise with the Wise Men, who trekked through marvelous scenery that lived up to many of our picture post-card notions of what a trip through the desert might be like. But one would think that the concept of a trade route had not been thought up yet, when in reality, I imagine that there were some pretty well-traveled routes between the various settlements back at that time. I could go on like that some more, there's no shortage of little quirks and quibbles that I could raise, but I have no strong desire to knock this film or position myself as "superior" to it.

Of course, we pretty much know how it ends, and as far as the visuals are concerned, the final nativity tableau is just as pretty and elegant as any of the numerous depictions you've ever seen, whether the objects are figurines, dioramas, paintings or other human/animal reenactments. One could make the argument (and some critics have) that the movie is basically an exercise in getting all the pieces in place for that final culminating scene, and it's hard to dispute that point. What might be missed by those who seek to dismiss the film's value or aesthetic appeal is that this "fore-ordained result" is exactly what makes the actual, traditional Nativity Story so attractive. We humans like that predictable, patterned, cyclic ebb and flow of events, and there's an enormous sense of comfort and reassurance that we get from the belief that everything that happens, happens for a reason. The Nativity Story is, in one sense, an enormous validation of our willingness to see purpose, hope and meaning in the midst of randomness, disappointment and discord. Think about the problems and predicaments that Mary, Joseph, their families and their communities had to deal with in their circumstances. Occupied by a harsh, indifferent and exploitative foreign power, consigned to eke out a living in a stony landscape, burdened by religious traditions and vague, unfulfilled expectations of some kind of redemption from God, now betrothed at a young age, regardless of how both individuals felt about it, and pregnant, homeless and harassed on top of all that. What a mess! And yet, God made something good out of that, that was recognized and shared by the scrubby outcasts of society and a few rich, idle heathen astrologers who came seemingly out of nowhere to lend a touch of regal dignity to the whole thing.

Not that the happy outcome of a baby's birth spelled an end to the troubles. But for one silent night, a short respite of peace and promise was enough to sustain faith that would be tried and tested so severely in months and years to come.

So if you haven't seen "The Nativity Story" yet, don't go expecting any new revelations... but the film might serve as a vehicle to help you recall and reflect on some old ones.

Gay and Evangelical: from today's news

Here are a couple of links that might be of interest to readers here.

This one highlights the small but apparently growing movement within the evangelical community to come to terms with Christians who are gay and believe that God made them that way.

Another article offers details of another Colorado megachurch pastor who resigned due to homosexual relationships (a la Ted Haggard.) I only have time to link them here, but am willing to discuss if they generate comments.

Dennis Kucinich for President (?)(!)

The attention has all been directed lately toward the possibility of an epic showdown between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as the 2008 presidential jostling-for-position gets underway. But last night, before I went to bed, I channel-surfed my way over to C-Span 2 and listened to Dennis Kucinich deliver his announcement for another presidential run in 2008.

In case he failed to make an impression on you in the 2004 campaign, let me mention that this is his second run at the White House. Even though he never got out of single-digit territory in the polls, he was one of the last men standing, maybe even the last, before he dropped out after John Kerry had secured the Democratic nomination. Kucinich was the most outspoken "peace" candidate, who had consistently opposed the war in Iraq, had voted against funding it and was the most willing to speak out strongly as an advocate for progressive/liberal initiatives. In our local peace activist community, Kucinich drew some significant support, but many of us (including myself) did not see him as a candidate who would be able to connect with enough of the population in those circumstances to have a credible chance to unseat George W. Bush. (A Bush vs. Kucinich race seemed like a repeat of the Nixon-McGovern scenario from 1972.) So some of us decided to support Kerry, others went third-party (Green, mostly) and the rest is history.

But times have changed, as Kucinich points out in his announcement, and his aim is to put himself forward as a leader of the "Bring the Troops Home Now" movement. One point he made repeatedly is that "there's money in the pipeline now" to pull out U.S. forces and that he sees inconsistency from those who say they oppose the war but are ready to authorize another $160 billion to fund it for fiscal 2007. He's basically issuing a challenge to his own party to get out in front of this anti-war effort and get serious about establishing a new direction and tone for US foreign and domestic policy.

I admire his willingness to speak candidly, almost uninhibitedly, about these issues. The big question, of course, is will such an approach work, or will it lead to the kinds of calamities and woes that some of our current leaders and pundits seek to warn us about? And if the populace decides that they want to give peace a chance, is Kucinich the guy who can articulate the vision and effectively lead through the kinds of resistance that such a progressive reform agenda is likely to generate from the entrenched powers?

I'm not quite ready to slap "DK in '08" bumper stickers on my car but I am willing to say that I'm going to give the Kucinich case more serious consideration this time around, simply because what I heard him say last night sounded like a positive and inspiring set of priorities that I would love to see more politicians actively embrace. I know that as a candidate, he's less than ideal. He's kind of short (his striking red-headed wife Elizabeth, born in England, kind of loomed over him at the press conference), his ears stick out, he doesn't have the best hair and his last name will present spelling challenges to many of our citizens (sad to say, but true.)

But what he says is actually kind of cool - he's willing to envision a national and international effort at finding serious alternatives to violence, promoting conflict resolution from the local to the global level. He would take a future oriented approach to protecting the environment and really challenge people to rethink so many commonly-accepted notions of how life is or has to be, if he were to even get the kind of socio-cultural platform that comes from being taken seriously as a presidential candidate. In 2004, he was pretty much brushed off by most of the media, and it could easily happen again (The New York Times just ran a brief Reuters report and didn't feature the announcement in this morning's synopsis of the news.) But I'm going to give Kucinich some thought and attention and see what he does with it. It would be great to think of the United States as a positive leading advocate for real peace and freedom for a change.

And I guess that since I'm now coming out to support a candidate, I better take a closer look at Hillary and Obama and see what they really have to say, since I haven't listened all that closely to them lately...

Cheetah-Licious!

So I was at the arena for the second night in a row, this time to work another family-entertainment event, though this one was aimed at families with young daughters. The Cheetah Girls, a prefab girl group working with the full force of the Disney media juggernaut on its behalf, brought in thousands of preteens and their moms, many of whom (both moms and daughters) were decked out in the best cheetah or leopard spotted get-ups they could drape themselves in. When the crowds were on the move through the concourse, it looked like a migrating herd at times.

I took the time to download some Cheetah Girls songs this weekend so I could get familiar with the tunes that I'd be hearing from the concession stand. I haven't availed myself of much more than that though - I know what the girls look like but don't know the story of the movie or just what it is (beyond sheer marketing muscle) that makes the CG's such a draw to so many girls. I can surmise that the package is overall very parent-friendly... the message of the songs presents a wholesome and positive spin on the whole girl-power thing - they even have a song titled "Girl Power" - without getting into anything too edgy (e.g. sexuality, militant feminism, non-conformity or excessively independent thinking.) Of course, they're not aiming for the same audience as Madonna or even Britney Spears, even though they incorporate a similar sound and dance moves (with higher necklines and more subdued hip gyrations.) Instead, they seek to connect with younger girls in their formative years whose media intake is closely scrutinized by caring, invested moms who still like to have a bit of fun themselves. The Disney Corp. is more than happy to supply this need, and thus, The Cheetah Girls™ were born, or should I say, manufactured?

Lest I come across as snide and hipper-than-thou, let me say that I have a realistic and sincere appreciation for what this project is all about, and I'm willing to overlook (to some extent) the more craven and mercenary money-making aspects of this operation. Moms and daughters need an excuse for a fun night out and since the USA is a media-saturated culture (of which I'm an enthusiastic participant) it only makes sense that entertainment that families can enjoy together generates a large and lucrative share of the market. Given the alternatives, with the raunchiness and harsh, exploitative mentality found in the entertainment that will be aimed at these same youngsters just a few years from now when they are at the age to be considered ready for "mature" alternatives, this Cheetah Girls phase presents itself as an opportunity for something of a cultural idyll, an "age of innocence" that the girls will, in sequence, quickly outgrow and regard with sheer embarrassment ("OMG, I can't believe I listened to that stuff!"), then with cynical contempt ("how gimmicky, how plastic! Disney bands are so fake!") and, later, with a nostalgic fondness ("yes, it was kind of silly and naive, but we sure had a lot of fun listening to the Cheetah Girls! Remember back when we used to buy our music on CDs?!?!") So far be it from me to deflate the enthusiasm from my jaundiced, world-weary vantage point...

As for the act itself, it was all cute and bouncy and peppy enough. The Girls (who are really young women in their early 20's) did pretty much what you would expect them to do, which was the equivalent of a thoroughly well-rehearsed cheerleading routine. Lots of synchronized dancing, gesturing to the crowd, whoop-whoop shout outs and dozens if not hundreds of utterances of the word "CHEETAH!" over the course of the one-hour-and-five-minute performance. (Don't want to overtax the attention span of the kids now!) The overall vibe of the night was fun but a bit "shopping mall-ish" as the crowd was hustled in and out so quickly (the final curtain came down at 9:05 p.m., no encore, hafta get the kids to bed on time, tomorrow is a school day...) Musically speaking, if you don't have daughters who've already brought Cheetah Girls media into your home, don't bother downloading it because I don't think it was really made to last. But that's the nature of pop, isn't it?

This is going to be the last Van Andel show I work until February (I'm signed on to work a John Mayer concert,) unless something comes up unexpectedly. So don't expect quite so many music reviews as I've put out here over the past few weeks. Which is fine, I have plenty of other stuff to vent about.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra: Hot... and Cold

I worked another Van Andel Event on Sunday night, but really don't feel moved to wax poetic like I did for the Who last week. The gig was a holiday concert by the Trans Siberian Orchestra, pretty much the same show that they performed and that I worked last year. This time I got to see a portion of the fabulous stage show, featuring lights, lasers, fireballs and voluminous billows of stage fog. And a killer sound system and all sorts of crowd pleasing maneuvers that helped to sell out two shows on the same day to a fanatical audience, many of whom saw the same group do the same thing just a year ago!

Though I could have stuck around and taken in the last portion of the spectacle, I really just wasn't into it for whatever reason. I watched their adaptation of Beethoven's Fifth, and then a "dueling keyboard" piece where two very talented musicians traded licks with each other and the crowd lustily cheered them on. I suppose that there are occasions when I could get pretty enthusiastic about the pyrotechnics and the sheer sensation of it all, but I think what failed to draw me in was that I didn't feel any kind of emotional connection with the performers, and their obvious musical and theatrical proficiency, employed to produce this synthesis of middle-brow classical music, sentimental holiday favorites and mullet-flipping arena rock histrionics in their fullest glory, kind of left me cold, to be perfectly honest. (This link will show you lighting effects from past tours) Not that I begrudge anyone the good time that I know was had by so many - this was definitely a very pumped up and enthusiastic crowd - but I guess this program plays it so safe and caters so much to the mainstream that there just wasn't enough of an edge for me to grab on to. Maybe if I had adopted a more ironic perspective on the whole thing... But in any case, I'll be at the Arena again tomorrow night, for an event I'm actually kind of intrigued about, from a sociological perspective: The Cheetah Girls!

Beta-ific Vision

I was pleased but a bit trepidatious (which isn't really a word) to upgrade this blog to the "Beta" version after finally getting my turn to do so this morning. So I've updated my music reviews and links to other blogs. Nice to see some of my long-dormant friends getting more current posts up...

Now I have to head over to Grand Rapids' infamously liberal Fountain Street Church so that I can drop off two paintings that my daughter has on display there. They are doing some kind of toy-themed exhibit, undoubtedly because of the Christmas season, and Alyssa has a couple of works that fit nicely. They are portraits of two actual toys, a small stuffed kitten and a plastic pig, each much larger than life. I'll take pictures and include them here when I get a chance to view the entire exhibit. They were up last week but then Lys had to withdraw them temporarily for her portfolio review this past Friday. Now that she's passed that milestone, the paintings need to be returned so that the general public can enjoy them again. And while I'm mentioning my daughter's art, let me say that our family is pretty excited at the news that she's already secured her first book contract! Her ambition is to be a children's book illustrator and it's so cool that she's already on her way to doing just that. She has 110 illustrations due in January (!) and she'll be getting $10 per, so not bad... She has her work cut out for her and the publishers know that she is a student with a big workload already. These are mainly just line drawings, I believe, which makes the project at least realistic, though still demanding. The books are supposed to come out at the end of February. This is a small company, but it could turn into a series, we'll see. Even more impressively, Lys will be interviewing with Zondervan Publishing in January to talk about a longer-term project that they are planning, thinking that her style would fit well with what they have in mind. It is very pleasing to see her artwork appreciated and validated by non-relatives!

This week has been pretty mundane for me, thus not much daily blogging. We set up our Christmas tree. We had dinner at a local steakhouse last night in honor of my brother-in-laws birthday. There's a buzz in our family as we help my grandmother sort through her treatment options for a suspicious mass that doctors have noted in her upper lungs. We rearranged our basement because Curt bought a new electronic drum set so my computer command station is in a different area downstairs. I've been listening to a lot of "Who" music, especially their older stuff ("The Who Sell Out" and "A Quick One.") My iPod is filled with 529 songs from the year 1967. There's Christmas shopping that's been done and still left to be done. I have a $30 gift certificate to Schuler Books that I'm agonizing over what to spend it on. I made another TV show at IGE on Thursday (on the very general topic of "Dealing With Others," which is my professional specialty, I'd say.) I've got two more Van Andel events coming up the next two nights. My fantasy football team is in the playoffs. Curt got a flat tire yesterday but had warranty coverage so that situation worked itself out pretty easily. We still don't have a Wii yet. My supervisor at work missed all of last week with a terrible viral infection that is contagious and produced uncomfortable welts all over his body - really, it sounds like a horrible condition to be in and he's not even sure if he'll make it in tomorrow. I have a lot of training stuff going on and a very full schedule with numerous tasks to accomplish over the next couple of weeks before I get a quite-welcome holiday break. My take on the Iraq Study Group is that its an obvious attempt to give Pres. Bush some cover to minimize the damage of his foolish and mismanaged war but he's too obdurate by nature to recognize and take advantage of the opportunity. The Obama vs. Hillary competition has made it on to my radar but I'm working at not paying much attention to it, figuring we have plenty enough horse-race watching to do in the months ahead anyway. And I'm just starting to take notice of Jimmy Carter's "Peace Not Apartheid" book and corresponding meme which is drawing some flak but also turning our gaze to the larger picture in the Middle East beyond how Iraq is affecting domestic US politics.

So that's where things are at with me!

The Who: An Amazing Journey

I have to say, after having been to quite a few concerts at the Arena, last night's event ranks right up there with one of the most fulfilling I've experienced. I pulled into downtown in the late afternoon, just as the sun was starting to go down, the lights were coming up and the already-chilled air took on an even harsher bite, eagerly anticipating my first opportunity to see and hear one of the most intriguing and influential bands to emerge from the 1960's. My iPod serendipitously popped in "Baba O'Reilly" (aka "Teenage Wasteland") as I stepped on to the sidewalk that led me to the Arena and it was all I could do to avoid pumping my fist in time with the music as I strode the city streets. The Who, or at least Pete & Roger and their accompanying players, were about to take the stage in Grand Rapids, MI.

The Who appeared in the same building just a few years back, in 2002. I didn't make it to that one (I hadn't yet made the connection of working at the arena and getting in for free) but my brother-in-law did. At the time, I was mildly interested but not compelled. The reputation of the Who had suffered since their heyday in the 70's and that tour seemed like little more than an opportunity to cash in, regardless of the impressive legacy of great FM radio hits that they could present over the course of a couple of hours. And that was before John Entwhistle died. The Who's bass player actually passed away quite close to the date that they were scheduled to perform in G.R. and when the band announced that they would replace their fallen comrade in order to complete their tour, it injected an odd, distasteful vibe into the event. Sure, the Who's trademark sound was all about Townshend and Daltrey, but it just felt a little cavalier to audition a new bass player and carry on with minimal interruption. Even after the band decided to replace Keith Moon back in the late 70's, there was an appropriate pause and reflection about what to do next. With Entwhistle, it just seemed too practical or something. Ed (my brother-in-law) reported afterward that the show was pretty good and all, but I didn't really feel much sense of regret over not having seen the Who after they passed through town.

This time around felt a lot different. The past couple of years have apparently provided Townshend and Daltrey a chance to reassess their music and get a fresh handle on what they and the Who are all about. This past summer, they began playing more regularly as they put the finishing touches on a new release, their first full-length album since 1982's "It's Hard" which, had it not been for "Endless Wire" would probably have gone down as one of the most mediocre "final statements" of a band with such an impressive pedigree. Now, with Endless Wire having been out for a couple months, the tunes settling into a degree of familiarity, and the band back in a solid groove of regular performances as their tour of North America winds down just before the holidays, there's a sense of vigor and vitality that hasn't been associated with the Who for probably even longer than the 24 years its been since they released so much new music. And that vitality was on ample display last night!

Of course, since I was working, I only got to see a portion of the show, but what I saw was very satisfying and memorable. And what I heard reinforced my respect and won the two men, Daltrey and Townshend, a higher level of affection than I had for them previously.

The set list seemed pretty consistent with what I've read in recent reviews. Opening with a trio of old hits to get things cooking: "I Can't Explain," "The Seeker" (a song that galvanized my attention back in the early 1980's when I first heard it and immediately related to its lyrical message) and "Anyway Anyhow Anywhere." Somewhere early in the show, they played the song "Fragments," which I quoted in yesterday's blog entry. That song prompted me to sneak a peek, where I got to see the band's impressively huge video monitor flashing images of crashing waves and falling snowflakes. The song has quickly established itself as a favorite of mine off the new album.

After that it was back to work for most of the rest of the show. I had to avoid going to the entryways since security seemed to be pretty thick and I didn't want to get our group in trouble. But I got to hang out in the corridor during "Baba O'Reilly" and "Won't Get Fooled Again," where I could watch the audience's delight through some gaps in the curtains. The band performed a muscular, solid set, though the Grand Rapids Press review alluded to some vocal difficulties on Daltrey's part due to a cold that he's been fighting. I didn't pick up any of that from where I stood, and when it came time to roar, he seemed quite up to the task as far as I could tell.

But the opportunity eventually came for me to pack up my cashiering duties for the night, just after the final majestic chords of "Won't Get Fooled" echoed through the chamber and the crowd began bellowing for an encore. Freed from my uniform, I was able to find an open seat at my preferred spot, Stage Right, and take in the phantasmagorical encore that the band prepared for our enjoyment. After a bit of guitar noodling, familiar strumming sounds swept over the crowd and Daltrey announced "Ever since I was a young boy, I've played the silver ball...!" Yes, the Pinball Wizard was once again among us!

That led to a brief recapitulation of the much longer "Tommy" rock-opera, as "Wizard" segued into "Amazing Journey/Sparks" and from there into "We're Not Gonna Take It (See Me, Feel Me)" and the glorious finale, "listening to you I get the music, gazing at you, I get the heat" etc. It was really one of the most enjoyable spectacles I've been privileged to see, just the grandeur of it all. I guess I'm just sentimental about these great old bands and the anthems they've crafted, that I've heard so many times over the course of my life. And of course, Townshend is an incendiary guitarist and what a blast to see the man doing his thing, even at age 61. He's a true master and it kind of blew my mind watching him coax the most amazing sounds from his guitar, thinking that here's the same guy who blew away the Monterrey Pop Festival and Woodstock and introduced guitar-smashing and windmill power chords and so many other innovations to the rock lexicon. So all that noise and power and raw energy spilled over us all and everyone was in awe and we would have been perfectly content for the lights to come up and say "wow what a night."

But they weren't done yet!

Pete and Roger dismissed the rest of their band (including drummer Zack Starkey, Ringo's son) and then it was just the two of them, singing the final song from Endless Wire, titled Tea & Theatre. It's a plaintive, reminiscing tune that Pete wrote and Roger interpreted and it was really quite a beautiful thing to behold. Just the two of them in their individual white spotlights, taking a step back and reflecting on all they've been through and inviting the rest of us to be a part of that story, and thanking us for what we've already added, and us thanking them back.

Here are the lyrics, which I think work well on their own but are extra-poignant in Daltrey's distinctive voice:

Will you have some tea at the theatre with me? We did it all - didn't we? Jumped every wall - instinctively Unraveled codes - ingeniously Wired all the roads - so seamlessly We made it work But one of us failed That makes it so sad A great dream derailed One of us gone One of us mad One of us, me All of us sad All of us sad - lean on my shoulder now The story is done - 's getting colder now A thousand songs - still smolder now We played them as one - we're older now All of us sad All of us free Before we walk from the stage Two of us Will you have some tea? Will you have some tea At the theatre with me?

After a couple minutes, the song concluded and they both just stepped to the microphones, said a few kind and gracious words to the crowd, then embraced each other and walked off the stage as if it were the last time they might ever perform before an audience.

I guess this is how rockers age gracefully, and in character. I'm glad that at least these two didn't die before they got old!

Snowflakes Falling

So has anyone reading this gotten into The Who lately? I have, mainly because I am going to work at their concert in Grand Rapids tonight. This particular show is one of the most anticipated events of the many that I've been a part of since I started this Van Andel Arena thing. I mean, it's The Who! They are a truly all-time great band, with origins going back to the dawning days of the music that eventually became known simply as "rock" (not "rock and roll," but just "rock.") The Who were contemporaries of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, etc. - all bands that no longer exist or are quite unlikely to come anywhere close to Grand Rapids in the foreseeable future. The Who were at the heart of so many developments that now seem foundational to what followed them. And even though the band is now represented by only half of its classic membership, the two survivors are the ones essential to the group's continuity: Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, of course. If I didn't have the opportunity to work the show for free, I'd consider paying to see them, and in some ways I regret that I can't be part of the full concert-going experience. But I'll just have to deal with that, I guess.

I respect the fact that The Who are touring not as an "oldies" act but as a band still producing relevant and vital new music. I got their "Endless Wire" album the other day and have been listening closely to it on my iPod. It's worth paying attention to, which isn't something I'd automatically say, especially since I was never much of a fan of the band's later work. Much of the appeal is based on the fact that Townshend and Daltrey are back at it again and it's intriguing to listen to what a band who staked their claim to fame by proclaiming "Hope I die before I get old" has to say, now that they are old!

Endless Wire will, I expect, occupy a significant portion of the set list, though of course we are all excited to hear "Won't Get Fooled Again," "Baba O'Reilly," "Pinball Wizard," "5:15" and any number of other all-time great tunes. Will they play "My Generation" or "Magic Bus"? "I Can See For Miles"? "Squeeze Box"? I don't really know. "Who Are You" seems pretty likely, since it was pretty much their last great anthemic hit. We'll get to that part later tonight. Endless Wire has some pretty solid material on it though, and I think I'll get familiar enough with it before the show to recognize the songs as they're performed. Townshend put together another one of his rock opera compositions which were and are kind of a blessing/curse thing re: their subsequent influence on rock was concerned - offering a broader musical and lyrical palette to work with, but also opening the door to all forms of self-indulgent wanking by an endless succession of artistes with their half-baked notions, more concerned with the packaging than the content...

The name of this post, besides concisely describing today's weather, comes from Endless Wire's opening track, "Fragments."

We are a billion fragments
Exploding outward
Like broken glass, we damage
Even in defeat
We are tiny pieces
Falling now and settling
Like snowflake crystal
Building on the city street

Snowflakes falling
Snowflakes falling
Snowflakes falling
Snowflakes falling

Are we the parts
Are we the whole
Are we the thoughts
Are we the soul
The parts of me
And this is true
The parts of me
Belong to you

And I am he as you are me as you are we and we are all together.

So yeah, it's just at that point between being thoughtfully risk-taking and ham-handedly pompous, but that's what's always been the charm of the Who, right? A bunch of ruffian punters who aspire to something grander and more timeless, but can never quite fully or permanently transcend their plebian roots. Still, one has to admire the effort, and I myself identify pretty comfortably with where they're coming from.

My objective here isn't to give a full-fledged record review but rather to put the Who up for consideration and/or discussion, prior to the concert... my comments on the show will be posted sometime tomorrow evening, I suppose.

New Christian Coalition Leader Steps Down

This almost slipped past me, but I saw in the morning paper a little blurb about the Christian Coalition of America. Apparently, they recently elected a new leader, Joel Hunter, a mega-church pastor from Florida, who was due to begin on Jan. 1. However, he expressed an interest in expanding the CCA's agenda to include global warming and poverty, rather than the focus on gay marriage and abortion that has pretty much dominated political input from "the Christian perspective" in recent years. The board was hesitant, at best, about supporting Hunter's initiatives and so he found it necessary to submit his resignation.

I don't have insider knowledge of the dispute - perhaps there's more to the falling out than meets the eye - but what a sad reflection on an organization that calls itself both "Christian" and a "Coalition." There are quite a few priorities that Christians of all sorts have, or should have, beyond gay marriage and abortion, neither of which are dealt with in the Bible except through inference and indirect implications that remain quite debatable. Admittedly, global warming and the environment are not dealt with in much depth in the Bible. But poverty certainly is!

And as for "Coalitions"... my understanding is that a coalition involves a variety of groups that have similar and compatible goals but still retain some freedom to differ and pursue objectives that may not get the full endorsement of their coalition partners. I'm affiliated with a coalition myself, the West Michigan Justice and Peace Coalition. Check out the website and you'll see many points of view and ample room for vigorous, free-wheeling debate among our member groups! So it's pathetic, in my mind, to think that a group with as much money and clout and visibility as the Christian Coalition (even if all those assets appear to be receding lately) would be led by a board that is so unwilling to step out of the box it has constructed for itself and its members over the past 20 years.

It seems more motivated by fear and political calculation than anything resembling faith.

Here is the basic news report on the story and here's an interesting (and lengthy) analysis of the growing rift between evangelicals and libertarians within the Republican Party.

Bad Idea Dept.

The United States Coast Guard has been holding hearings over the past month or two, allowing citizens to express their thoughts about the USCG plans to hold live fire target practice on the Great Lakes. The New York Times has a good article from last October that explains the situation in some detail. Here's a more current report from the Detroit Free Press. And the environmental activists have made their position clear. I'm just posting this info for people who may not be aware of what's going on. If you live in a Great Lakes state, or even if you don't but are concerned about it, I suggest you contact your congressional representatives to voice your opposition. (I assume opposition... I don't really see any reason why ordinary civilians would favor this kind of pollution and misuse of one of the world's greatest natural resources.)