Words of Wisdom

Some dinosaurs just refuse to become extinct….and that’s a good thing. Dinosaur Jr. was one of the most important bands of the grunge era in the early 90’s, but they somehow missed the boat that their peers - Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, etc. - road to success and stardom. Recently J Mascis reformed the band and their newest album, Beyond, is a great blast from the past. You may remember them for the minor hits they scored back in the day - “Start Choppin’” and “Feel the Pain” (as well as probably others that I can’t remember) - and the new recordings fall right in line with what they were doing 15 years ago. Below is a live performance of “Almost Ready” from their latest album. Check it out.

Ok, President Bush, I’m invoking Godwin’s Law on some of your latest statements….

Amid the long, ongoing battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, the oft-maligned state in which I reside made headlines yesterday. No, it wasn’t for our rampant poverty or our low public education ranking, nor was it for the predominance of race among all other issues, rather, it was an event that could change the face of our north Mississippi district.

Yesterday, Travis Childers, a Democrat, won the House seat to represent our district in a special election.

Mississippi’s 1st Congressional District covers much of the northern part of the state and includes Southaven (where we live), Columbus, Grenada, Oxford, and Tupelo.

Childers’ opponent was Greg Davis, the mayor of Southaven and a staunch Republican in a district that George Bush won with over 70% of the vote. Our city is the largest in the district and our county is one of the most populous in the state, but even that was not enough to carry Davis to victory.

There is some well-deserved backlash on DeSoto county from the others in the district. Our country borders on Memphis and, that being the case, we are merely a suburb of the “big” city and far removed from the lives of the rural Mississippians who make up the rest of the district. We could and probably should be looked upon as carpetbaggers, moving into a land where others have lived for generations and, in a sense, trying to take over.

Davis’ legacy in Southaven is one of unrestrained growth in the name of capitalism and at the expense of the environment. His campaign consisted of ads linking Childers to Barack Obama and, by extension, Jeremiah Wright. This blatant bit of race-baiting backfired on the unscrupulous Davis, though, and, despite even bringing in Dick Cheney to speak on his behalf, his campaign is over…for now. You see, this was a special election to fill the now-vacated seat that had been held for the last 14 years by Republican Roger Wicker, and the two opponents are scheduled to face off again when the seat opens in November.

It will be an interesting year to say the least…

Music is a big deal in our family, but Diana and I tend to be on different ends of the spectrum when it relates to what we enjoy listening to. To put it in perspective, when we got married ten years ago, we each contributed a few hundred CDs to our combined collection with almost no duplicates.

So, when we had children they were exposed to an incredibly wide variety of musical genres and artists, from which they have chosen certain songs that they especially enjoy. I must admit that they tend to take more pleasure in Diana’s music than mine, but there is still a good mix of both.

For today’s top ten list, I thought we could construct a mix tape for our girls consisting of some of the songs that they enjoy from each of our collections. These songs are all “adult,” meaning that I’m not including any nursery rhymes or those vocalized by singing vegetables.

10. Duran Duran – (Reach Up for the) Sunrise – This tune comes from their 2004 album, Astronaut, which Diana had around the time Rachel was born. It has a catchy chorus and even when Rachel was a baby she showed some affinity for it, raising her hands in the air when the band sang, “Reach up for the sunrise…”

9. The Avett Brothers – Die Die Die – The Avett Brothers have an interesting sound, one that I’ve heard classified as “nu-grass” due to their use of a banjo. I guess it should be a bit disturbing to me, though, to hear Bekah sing “Die, Die, Die” over and over…

8. Journey – Separate Ways – Journey is Diana’s favorite band, but she tells me the girls don’t ask for this much anymore. I know, though, that Rachel loves to sing along with the chorus of this song (though she doesn’t know the words and usually makes it up as she goes).

7. White Stripes – I’m Slowly Turning Into You – I’m not sure what exactly attracts them to this song, but Rachel really loves it and asks for it almost every time she gets in my car. It’s another whose chorus she likes to sing along to.

6. Europe – Carrie – It might make me want to throw myself off the I-40 bridge, but the girls both really enjoy Europe when they are with Diana. After seeing the album cover, Rachel used to always refer to them as the “crazy hair band.”

5. Queen – We Will Rock You – Unlike most of Diana’s music, I like Queen just fine, but if I have to hear this song more than about once every few months, it’s too much. But our girls can’t be satisfied with only one play, oh no, they want to hear it over and over and over until the only “rock” you want is one to beat yourself unconscious with.

4. Bob Marley – Three Little Birds – Rachel loved this song when she was smaller and now it has turned into one of Bekah’s favorites. I’m not sure what the allure is for her – whether it is that the song mentions “little birds” or if it’s the great chorus, “Don’t worry / about a thing / ‘Cause every little thing / is gonna be alright.”

3. Nickelback – Rock Star – While she generally tries to shield the girls from the more vulgar Nickelback songs in her collection, this one has become a favorite of their’s. Rachel walks around singing the chorus to this song (without actually knowing the lyrics) on a regular basis.

2. Bon Jovi – You Give Love a Bad Name – The girls absolutely love Diana’s Bon Jovi music, especially this song with its very singable chorus. Rachel used to sing some really funny lines to this one before she learned what the actual lyrics were.

1. Johnny Cash – Folsom Prison Blues – It seems strange that an old country song should be on this list with all of the contemporary pop and rock music, but they make me proud with their love of this one. There’s nothing quite like listening to a young girl sing about being in prison for murder…

What “adult” songs do your kids enjoy? If you don’t have children, what music would you play for them if you did?

There are few things in this world that I enjoy more than well-played live music. Over the last sixteen years or so I’ve probably seen a few hundred artists, who gave us experiences ranging from incredible to head-shakingly bad, this past Friday night my brother Jeff and I were treated to the former.

I’ve been a huge fan of singer-songwriter Josh Ritter ever since I first listened to his album, The Animal Years, through Scott’s recommendation. Following the acquisition of that modern day classic, I quickly downloaded copies of his earlier work from emusic and picked up his latest, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, soon after it was released. He is part of a rare breed in his ability to both tug at the listener’s heart and put a bounce in their step. Though still relatively young, his songwriting echoes the greats of his genre, from Dylan to Springsteen to Leonard Cohen and others.

So, we arrived at the club, located in the Rivermarket area of downtown Little Rock, just before the opening band took the stage. Upon entering the room in which we would spend the next few hours I felt both an incredible anticipation as well as a twinge of sadness - how could an artist of Ritter’s caliber, whose mastery of songcraft rivals the greats, be playing in a Little Rock club that consisted of little more than a stage, a floor and a bar?

I can’t recall the name of the opening act, but they were decent enough, employing the regular rock band pieces - guitar, bass, and drums - as well as a fiddle. They were serviceable, but unmemorable for me, though I was a bit surprised to see many of the younger fans near the stage singing along emphatically with the set closer. During one of their numbers, the door beside the stage opened and Ritter, along with his band, made a quick entry to the appreciative calls from the audience and an even quicker exit into the adjacent dressing room. After about a set lasting 45 minutes or so, the openers made their exit and the excitement began to build…

Around 10:15, the lights dimmed a bit, the door to the side again opened, and the headliners filed onto the stage. Ritter gave a quick salutation to the audience and the band kicked into a number from their latest album, “Mind’s Eye”, with it’s stacatto guitar riff and his easy, laid-back vocal stylings. Without stopping for a breath, they then moved into the opening song from the same album, “To the Dogs or Whoever,” which, with its rock stylings (as opposed to his acoustic, folkier work) was superb live. The show was replete with several offerings from “The Historical Conquests…” album - “Right Moves”, “Rumors”, “Real Long Distance”, and maybe even a few others that I’ve forgotten. Along with the newer material, he also mixed in several tunes from his past albums, including “Girl in the War,” “Wolves,” one of my favorites - “Monster Ballads,” the ode to small-town life that rings very true for those of us from that environment - “Me & Jiggs,” audience favorite “Come and Find Me,” and a killer version of “Harrisburg.” Closing out the set was the great song “Kathleen” from 2003’s Hello Starling album, during which the band reached a break and decreased the tempo as Ritter cajoled the crowd to slow dance. Soon the song reached its climax, the band took a bow and they exited the stage.

But the crowd knew that this wouldn’t be the end for Ritter and the Boys, we all continued to yell for more, coaxing them to again grace us with their presence. After a very short break, Ritter entered the stage alone to thundering applause, picked up his guitar and began that now-so-familiar (to me at least) fingerpicking rhythm to his apocalyptic love song, “The Temptation of Adam.” It is a beautiful song, perhaps even more so when actually witnessed live. As the song reached its end, “I think about that great, big button, and I’m tempted,” the band moved back onto the stage and picked up their instruments for one last number. Another familiar riff started up and they launched into their final number for the evening, a rollicking version of Lilllian, Egypt with its pounding drum beat and its great, wordless, singalong chorus, “La didi da da da da da da da” - a great ending to a great evening.

There were a few observations that I had of the performance - one good and one that was sort of frustrating. First of all, the background noise was particularly annoying. The venue was rather small and there was a bar in the back where a number of people were sitting, enjoying drinks, and conversing with the concert serving as little more than background music. While there is certainly nothing wrong with that, during Ritter’s slower, quieter numbers, the dull roar of voices in the background was bothersome. On the other hand, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone before who smiled as much as Ritter did. It seemed as if he constantly had this big, infectious grin spread across his face for the entire hour and thirty minutes that we were blessed to spend with him. In addition to that, he was constantly thanking the audience for attending that evening, showing a very genuine-seeming gratitude toward his fans.

Around midnight, Jeff and I made our way back to his car and began the drive back to Beebe. The show was great, we both had a very good time, and I think Jeff may have even been converted to Ritter’s ever-growing horde of fans.

One of the really cool things about blogging on WordPress is the ability to see the search terms that lead other people to my blog - some of them tend to be rather strange. Here are just a few of them from the last week:

How to write a thesis on a cave

Dangers of lads to leaders

Caucasian + devil

Words of wisdom by Batman

Jeff Lebowski words of wisdom

puppets and postmodernism

Tom Selleck presidential endorsement

This evening after work, our family will be making the quick trek down I-40 back to the Dream Hometown of Beebe, where we will release the girls to their grandparents. Diana and I will then turn south and make the 40 mile drive down to Little Rock, to a Rivermarket club known as Revolution, where we will be witness to a concert by possibly the best songwriter of our generation: Josh Ritter. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you have not yet listened to him, you don’t know what you are missing.

Here he is doing “Kathleen”

and “Girl in the War”

I must not be quite as subversive as I like to think I am.

The ALA has just released its list of the Ten Most Challenged Books and I have to admit that I’ve only read one of them, Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn,” which Earnest Hemingway once described as the source of “all modern American literature.” I’m sure that, despite its literary importance, the reason it was included was for its regular n-bomb droppings.

Leading the list for the second year in a row is children’s book, “And Tango Makes Three,” in which two male penguins adopt an abandoned egg as their own.

After seeing how behind I am when it comes to banned books, I may have to adjust my summer reading list…

Ten Most Challenged Books
10. “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky
9. “It’s Perfectly Normal” by Robie Harris
8. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou
7. “TTYL” by Lauren Myracle
6. “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker
5. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain
4. “The Golden Compass” by Philip Pullman
3. “Olive’s Ocean” by Kevin Henkes
2. “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier
1. “And Tango Makes Three” by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell

Have you read many of these?

Early this year we decided to take the proverbial plunge and splurge on a large family vacation for the summer. By February, we had purchased four round trip airline tickets to the place of our desire for a bargain total of under $900. Our lodging would be completely free of charge in the home of some of Diana’s family and many of our meals and activities would also most likely be taken care of.

Destination: Los Angeles, California
Time: Mid-June

But, as I seem to talk about so often nowadays, uncertainty never ceases to reign, sneaking up behind us unawares and snatching the object of our yearning. Today, we received a message that Frontier airline is leaving Memphis on June 1, but that they would be happy to refund the money for our tickets and they are sorry for “any inconvenience this may have caused.”

Inconvenience!? They just snatched the plane tickets from our very grasp, leaving us at a loss for words as to how we will ever explain this circumstance to two very excited little girls that have been literally dreaming of their upcoming visit to Disneyland, as well as the other activities we had planned.

So, how much are four plane tickets for that time frame now? Around $1,800.

Ouch. There are few things I’ve dreaded in life as much as I do having to explain this to my girls…

Should Christians pray for Jesus to return?

I can’t remember if this came up in a worship service or in Bible class, but someone recently made the statement that they always do pray for Him to come back soon and relieve us of pain and suffering and loss. Now, I’ve heard this type of thing before throughout my life and have never given it much thought, but, on that day, I started to really ponder over the ramifications of that request to God. That led to my next question:

What about everyone else?

With the exception of a few nutcases like myself, I think it is safe to say that the large majority of those involved with our chosen denomination believe firmly in an eternal hell. Though their ideas of this underworld may vary, anywhere from eternality outside of the presence of God to a Dantean plane of everlasting torture, the basic beliefs that it is real, it is eternal, and it is bad remain in place.

So, by using a bit of logic, if you pray for Jesus to come back and save you and others like you, then, by corollary, you pray for God to send the vast majority of humanity to a never-ending time of unspeakable horrors.

Does this strike anybody else as extremely self-serving? We want our mansion, robe, and crown, and we want it now, please. And give our deep regards to those untold billions of souls who either didn’t believe or had the misfortune of being born in a land where they never had the chance to.

We can then cheerily sing that horrible lyric, “Many will meet their doom,” from the hymn Jesus Is Coming Soon, without batting an eye, for our destiny of eternal comfort is guaranteed.

Does anybody else find this attitude bothersome?