music monday: Closing Time by Tom Waits

Tom Waits - Closing Time

When many people hear the name Tom Waits, they conjure images of a drunk sounding cookie monster belting avant-garde jazz sing-songwriter music. Now, this image is completely accurate; it describes most of his fantastic output. Closing Time his first album was quite different than many of his other album. First off, this is before he became too much of a cartoon character. His drunken piano man persona is definitely already present, but his voice lacks much of the gravel that became his signature. Jazz plays a heavy part in the styling of this album, but it doesn't have the extremely inaccessible artiness of his other stuff. Instead, Closing Time is a collection of beautiful piano ballads surrounded by lovely string and horn arrangements. There are some different styles present. The jazz of the title track, "Virginia Avenue", and "Grapefruit Moon" are places next to low-key country tunes like "Ol' 55" (a hit when covered by the Eagles) and "Rosie". "Martha" a nostalgic trip through memories of lost love foreshadows much of his later work and nearly makes me cry everytime I hear it. Tom Waits uses his voice to great effect at bringing out the sad emotions of these songs.

This stands as a masterpiece, which is impressive since it was his debut. Waits would make albums that rival this effort, but he has yet to top it. This is a good place to start in Tom Waits catalogue of twenty or so albums to date.

Avatar

I really had no intention of seeing the most expensive film of all time. For months, the world was saturated by the buzz, constantly in the ear, more annoying than sharing a tent with a rouge mosquito. I remembered this same kind of buzz for James Cameron's Titanic, another big-budget, special effects extravaganza that became the highest grossing film of that time. And of course, I did see Titanic at the cinema.

I had decided to boycott the quarter-million epic on mere principal sometime after I saw the trailer for the 900th time. This was especially amazing considering I don't even have television at home. Then the film came out. The reviews were as I expected, lukewarm. They hailed the effects, panned the film. I further felt justified in my boycott. Then, people started watching it. The talk, oh lord the talk. So many people were saying such great things. This further fueled my anti-Avatar fire. This was until the right person talked, my friend Brant. His tastes in film are pretty reliable. If he recommends a film, I watch it.

After he hailed it as an amazing experience, I reached the inevitable point that I had to see the film. My decision to watch the film had less to do with wanting to see it than not wanting to miss it. I mean, $250,000,000 is a lot of money; it had to go somewhere. Imagine what I'd say to my future children when they ask, "What was it like seeing Avatar when those effects were cutting edge, not just expected?" I'd hate to reply, "honestly children, I'm a crazy, pretentious asshole who overtly avoids anything that the corporate media deems worthwhile. I chose to boycott this film in an effort to advance my internal socialist struggle." Hardly a worthwhile story to tell a child.

On Sunday night, a couple of my friends, Cailin and I went to a late night showing of it at our local imax theater. It wasn't really much of an imax, just a big curved screen, but it must be cooler than a normal movie screen, since the tickets were $5 more expensive. We donned giant silly 3D glasses. The only difference from the red/blue silly 3D glasses of old, is that the colors are less extreme and they are made of plastic instead of cardboard. Hardly the "cutting-edge" I was expecting.

The film was simply put, an amazing experience. The money was well used to create a spectacle of the grandest kind. The alien planet was full of life and stunningly beautiful. The wildlife looked like real animals. The blue people, despite being a work of pure high-definition pixels were exceptionally human like and warm. Never has CGI looked better and more realistic than this. The 3D effects heightened the action of the film and added a depth that further immersed the viewer into the fictional world of the film. Sadly, this was the best aspect of the film.

The story was unoriginal; just combine together Dances with Wolves and Dune and you get Avatar. Every plot idea presented on the screen was rehashed from every other war epic ever done. The script was very non-cheesy, which was nice. The actors did a splendid job with the material that was there. The film lacked much needed depth, especially with the internal conflicts within the characters. They change without looking back, old prejudices die easily on Pandora apparently. This may not be a bad thing however. With the intense sensory overload of the film, more depth of plot may have hurt the film. Plus, when this much money is pumped into a movie, it needs to reach every possible viewer.

The most astounding aspect of the film are the overt socialist themes. The evil capitalist Americans are essentially destroying this alien planet for profit. The only people who stand in their way are the communal wildlife of the planet, who are all linked by a strange force and have literal bonds to each other. No creature is more important than any other. To see such ideas used in a film that was specifically calculated to make insane amounts of money, could potentially be hinting of some larger social movement of which may are not overtly aware.

This film won't win any non-technology related Oscars, but it will be loved by current and future generations for years. Calling it the Star Wars of our generation may not be long shot. I recommend that people get up and see the film immediately, because taken out of the context of the movie screen, it will probably just be a pretty, yet flawed film when viewed upon a television.

Music Monday: Powerslave by Iron Maiden

Powerslave by Iron Maiden

Here stands one of the magnum opus of 80's British Metal. This is an album of sheer beauty, epic wonder, and kick ass metal! For some strange reason, Iron Maiden get labeled as extreme satanic metal which is just odd. It is one of the nerdiest bands ever. I mean, who the hell writes a 14minute metal adaptation of Samuel Coleridge Taylor's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

The music, much like the cover art has an Egyptian, mid-eastern quality to it that melds well with metal. This is especially effective on the title track, which contains one of the hardest-hitting, awesome, galloping guitar riffs of the 80's. The album starts with a one-two punch of two of the most popular, anthemic tracks, "Aces High" and "Two Minutes to Midnight." The instrumental, "Losfer Words (Big 'Orra)", despite the terrible title shows off Maiden's chops like none other. Though it lack a lot of the punk influence that made their earlier albums classics of the genre. They fill this void with prog rock to great results. The epic closer, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" for better or worse, helped laid the tracks from future Prog-metal bands such as Dream Theater . An essential for any metal fan.

Music Monday: Top 10 Albums of 2000-2009

Here ya go, the final ten...I bet you are all dying of suspense.


10. Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R (2000)

Although they climbed the charts with their followup, Songs for the Deaf, it was it's predecessor that was their true achievement. Full of tight, catchy, kick ass stoner-metal, this stands as the best album of the entire genre. "Better Living Through Chemistry" could possibly be the greatest hard rock song of the decade.



9. Ataxia - Automatic Writing (2004)

This unnoticed album isn't making anyone's lists. This was one of the billion of albums the Red Hot Chili Pepper's John Fruciante made in 2004. A collaboration between him and Josh Klinghofer (his replacement in the RHCP), and Joe Lally, this is a droning album of sparse post-punk-like rock that stands as one of the most depressing albums of the decade. It features some great solos and amazing bass lines. Too bad they only came together for one session.



8. System of a Down - Toxicity (2001)

This stands as of the few Nu Metal albums that shouldn't be destroyed forever (oh yeah, that's another style of the decade I forgot to trash). Unlike their untalented peers, System of a Down managed to make complex experimental pop-metal. The songs change tempos suddenly without warning. Thrash becomes Armenian folk, then combines together. Dark and powerful, the lyrics in this album are either genius political satire or a bunch of nonsense. I can't really tell. All I know is that this album is awesome and stands the soundtrack to late teen years for many of my generation.



7. Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium (2002)

In late 2002, early 2003, everyone I know put this album into the CD player and it didn't leave until later that summer. This album was the musical equivalent to crack. Somehow, The Mars Volta combined, the prog-excess and soaring falsetto vocals of Rush, with the catchiness of Ramones style punk, the mystique of Led Zeppelin, and a little bit of Latin Jazz to make a album that is unlike no other. It featured some of the most kick-ass guitar solos of the decade, solid bass playing that proves that Flea is the great rock bassist ever, lyrics that were so pretentious, they had to be awesome. Mars Volta was shaping up to be the greatest band ever, then their prog excess imploded upon itself again and again with each successive release. All we have is this, their tightest album (running at only 60 minutes!).




6. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief (2004)

Radiohead finally returned to rock with this moody masterpiece. Still laden with the electronic textures and tear-inducing harmonies that made previous Radiohead so great. The beefed up length softened its impact a bit, but this still stands up as another incredible release from the greatest band of my lifetime.



5. The Roots - Game Theory (2006)

The Roots finally cut out the sprawling excess and experimentation for their seventh studio album. ?love's grooves have never been tighter, Black Thought's lyrics have never been sharper, the songwriting has never been catchier. This is also the darkest the group has ever been. More proof that hip/hop deserves to be taken seriously as a musical style.




4. Erykah Badu - Mama's Gun (2000)

Yeah, this album does have some filler, but for the first eight tracks, it features some of the funkiest R&B made after the genre peaked in the late-1970's. Throw in the extended suite, "Green Eyes" and the tear-inducing, "Bag Lady" with ?love on drums, not to mention Erykah Badu's divine voice and you have neo-soul's ultimate achievement.



3. Beck - Sea Change (2002)

Somehow, Beck went from a super fun, country-funk hipster to a morose, weeping folk-rocker. The ultimate breakup album, this is a man crying through music. The album is made all the more incredible by the Beatles-style melodies throughout the album. I love to put this on when I feel sad; it always does the trick.




2. Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003)

So, how do you follow up a critical and popular smash hit album like, Stankonia...break up of course. Outkast's Big Boi and Andre 3000 didn't actually breakup, but they did record two solo albums and threw them together into a single package, highlighting the individual strengths. Not to say this isn't an Outkast album. Andre was present in much of Speakerboxx, exchanging verses here and there as if they are still a group, but Speakerboxx was obviously the work of Big Boi and the Love Below was obviously the work of Dre. Speakerboxxx is pop rap at its finest, funky, fun and above all danceable. The Love Below was the greatest album Prince never made. A sprawling, insane funk album with hints of club, hip/hop, lounge jazz, psychadelic rock, among other styles. The album went number one, spawned two number one hits, "The Way You Move" and "Hey Ya". It also won the Grammy for album of the year. Not bad.



1. Radiohead - Kid A (2000)

Ok Computer is considered by many to be the greatest rock album of the 90s. It was an international smash hit that nearly unanimously praised by critics world wide. Suddenly, Radiohead went from being the band that did that one song "Creep" in the early 90's to superstars. So they did what any band would, abandoned their popular sound and release something completely different. Somehow, they got even better. Trading guitars for synthesizers and some boxes with cords, Radiohead made one of the greatest electronica albums ever and my personal favorite album of the decade. Despite the overt artiness of this album, it is still a collection of perfect pop songs, just well obscured by gorgeous sonic textures and other musically descriptive words that critics love to use. All I'll say is that it is an incredible album, a Sgt. Peppers of my generation.

Music Monday: Top 25 Albums of the Decade (25-11)

Well, to commemorate the end of this decade (I guess this depends on which school of decade counting one ascribes to. I'm a decade starts with 1 type person, since there is no year 0, so to me this is a silly list, but I'll stick with the popular trends here.) This was a special decade for me. Although I did pay attention to trends in the 90's, this decade was the first that I listened to new bands throughout the entire ten years. I often wonder how people will look back on the 2000's music wise. The 90's started with grunge and ended with the most bland, unoriginal crap-rock in music's history. This decade continued the trend, but the underground showed some promise. Electronica and hip/hop invade every aspect of popular music. Rock was officially buried as irrelevant (for the most part), leaving evolution to the hip/hop crowd. Indie rock became big, which was another word for more bland, rehashed crap that was a mostly major-label trend, despite the trendy name. Granted, this decade did have some of the greatest recordings of all time, but for the most part, this was another decade of CRAP!! Further proving my point that music has stopped evolving. We saw the return of the 80's, 60's, and 70's style wise, since nobody had any new ideas. After twenty years or so, we apparently forget what the music of that time was like. God help us when bands look back to 90's for some "new" ideas. Ok, enough bitching about how bad this decade of music was, now for some good!

Top 25 Albums of 2000-2009

25. Red Hot Chili Peppers - By the Way (2002)

By far the most relaxing album these guys have ever done. For once the Chili Peppers actually sound like 40 year olds. This is not a bad thing; they wear the hat well, dishing out some of their best songs in years, such as "Can't Stop", "Minor Thing", and "Venice Queen". Sadly, it is also twenty minutes too long and filled with boring, minor key ballads that became big hits for some stupid reason. Still one of their best efforts.

24. Radiohead - In Rainbows (2007)

Hopefully, this album will be remembered as another great album in Radiohead's outstanding catalogue and not that one album that old band gave away for free online. I paid $15 for the album and it was worth every penny. For those used to the ridiculously dense soundscapes of Radiohead's past album ,this stripped down effort may seem a letdown. After a few listens, the songwriting reveals its rewards and further shows that Radiohead is The Beatles of now.

23. Flaming Lip - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)

Let's not hate this album. Yeah, it may have been one of the big albums to usher in the whole "indie rock" phase, but this is too weird to be overtly pop. A modern psychedelic masterpiece with a keen ear for pop melodies.

22. Opeth - Blackwater Park (2001)

Opeth is extremely bad at two things, changing their sound and making bad albums. Although this sounds like a rehash of everything after My Arms, Your Hearse, they finally find the perfect mix of mellow prog rock and "kick-you-in-the-balls" death metal. Enlisting Steve Wilson of Porcupine Tree was the best decision they've made in their career; his production style suits the band perfect on this, their strongest album.

21. Porcupine Tree - In Absentia (2002)

Steve Wilson once again proves that it is possible to make relevant original prog-rock in the 2000's. As a bonus, he recorded a list of songs that could easily be radio hits as well.

20. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Lyre of Orpheus/Abbatoir Blues (2004)

Somehow, Nick Cave excels at two opposite things, hard rock and sad-bluesy ballads. He show both sides in this double album. This is my current musical addiction. Check out this crazy Aussie if you've not yet.

19. Medeski, Martin, and Wood - Uninivisible

After Combustication and the avant-garde The Dropper, MMW finally finds a way to combine electronica and the soul-jazz styles of Jimmy Smith with one of the catchiest jazz albums every made.

18. Air - Talkie Walkie (2004)

This may be a formulaic effort. This may be once again, another rehashing of their masterpiece Moon Safari, but I really don't care. This is catchy, beautiful, and relaxing. The French know how to do electronic music right.

17. Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors (2002)

The only thing nerdier and more inaccessible than Scandinavian Metal is Avant-Garde Scandinavian Metal. Oddly enough, this is their most accessible. It is also awesome.

16. Kanye West - Graduation (2007)

Finally, Kanye West releases an album that isn't bloated or filled with skits that poison the minds of impressionable inner-city youths. Instead, he made a quick effort full of perfect pop songs where he shows that he is one of hip/hops most innovative producers. If only he rapped about things that didn't make him such an asshole.

15. Common - Be (2005)

Ah, Common is such a breathe of fresh air. He is a positive, intelligent rapper, who actually delivers poetry, like the father's of the genre intended. Throw in Kanye Wests ability to make a melody stuck in your head and you get one of the best hip/hop albums of the decade.

14. Tool - Lateralus (2001)

Just like Aenema, only more self-indulgent and long. Thank goodness Aenema was so amazing. Tool strikes again.

13. The Roots - Phrenology (2002)

Ah, The Roots go experimental! For the follow-up to their commericial breakthrough, Things Fall Apart, the live hip/hop band (god, I love saying hip/hop band) decided to make ambitious, progressive hip/hop, mixing club music, jazz, hard-core punk, and old-school rock and roll creating one of the most exciting hip/hop albums of all time. Oh yeah, it is also full of some great pop hooks.

12. Q-Tip - The Rennaissance (2008)

Here's a word to those younger, phoney rappers, Q-Tip always has been, still is, and always will be catchier, more intelligent, and in all ways better than you. Just deal with it.

11. Sigur Ros - Takk (2005)

Ok, this is a controversial choice over the also incredible album (), the sixty minute, untitled masterpiece of eight untitled songs all in a made up language based upon ancient Norse and Icelandic. The problem is, () is just too hard to digest as a whole. Takk is shorter, tighter, more accessible, yet just as powerful and beautiful. It is incredible to listen to Sigur Ros, knowing that this is the sound of the typical rock lineup, keyboards, guitar, bass, and drums (with some strings and horns for extra depth). They are either a band to love or hate; they are self-indulgent, pretentious, and their music is really too complex for its own good. That said, they also have created a sound that has never been done before. I also doubt too many people will choose to play a rock guitar with a cello bow anytime in the near future.

Music Monday: The Kinks...Are the Village Green Preservation Society

The Kinks...Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968)

Whenever I listen to one of The Kinks many classic albums, I wonder why they never were as popular are such other British Invasion groups such as The Who, The Beatles, or The Rolling Stones. Ray Davies was not only a catchy song-writer, but an innovative one as well. The Kinks basically pioneered the power chord riff. Sadly, in the US, they are just known as the band that did "Lola" and "You Really Got Me".

Village Green is arguably their finest album. By this point, the hard-rocking sound of the early 60's had been ditched for a folkier, more British sound. Almost like "Waterloo Sunset" for a whole album. The chords are perky and fun. The songs are catchy and endlessly singable. I defy one to listen to "People Take Pictures of Each Other" and not clap along. Oddly enough, this album had no charting hits, thus resulting in one of their poorest selling albums of the 60's. Thankfully, this has grown on the music loving public to become their most popular album, outside of greatest hits collections (which is sad, cause The Kinks recorded only a handful of weak songs in the 60's). This is essential for anyone!

Music Monday: Three Friends by Gentle Giant

Gentle Giant - Three Friends

Prog Rock seems to be divided into two main categories, the "pop" prog of bands like Genesis, Pink Floyd, and Jethro Tull (well, if you can really call this pop) and the true prog that just made complex music, no matter what the audiences think. The most notable of these are King Crimson and Gentle Giant.

Mixing classical music and rock is one of the main hallmarks of progressive rock, but whereas bands like Yes incorporated more romantic or baroque styles into their music, Gentle Giant reached even further, throwing in touches of Medieval and Madrigal harmonies, creating a large, complex polyphonic sound that I can't help but love.

They've had a few great albums in the 70's and Three Friends, their third album, stands as one of their best. It is not quite as complex as the prior Acquiring the Taste or their next, Octopus (both are fantastic by the way), but is still more busy than most bands outputs. The playing is top notch, especially Kerry Minnear's keyboards. This album rocks hard with fantastic solos as the softer parts are beautiful. The piano chords of "School Days" are haunting beautiful and their tone was copied by Radiohead. (that's my theory anyway) If you don't like prog, you won't like this album. If you do however, this is worth owning.

Music Monday: Eldorado, a Symphony by Electric Light Orchestra

Eldorado, a Symphony by Electric Light Orchestra

Now, up until this point, I don't think I've featured any guilty pleasures (well, Omnio is pretty ridiculous). I hope that snobbier music lovers will toss away all their closed-minded stereotypes about ELO. Ignore all those big heads that quickly label them 70's pop crap. Jeff Lynne is one of rock's most dismissed songwriters of the 1970's. Now, it is hard to look past many of the unfortunate stylistic choices he made that seem so dated: excessive vocoders, dense spacey keyboards, and far too much falsetto. For every "Don't bring me down Bruce" though, there is a song like "Can't Get it out of my Head", that is just simply some of the catchiest songwriting since the Beatles.

This album suffers far less of the things that label ELO as "silly", making it a good place to start and for some a good place to stop listening to ELO. Like most classic bands, it with their fourth album that ELO finally found their stride. This was fortunately before Jeff Lynne figured out that he could sell more records if he sang like a girl. They did a flawless job of blending a rock band with an orchestra. Whereas other classics of this style such as Days of Future Passed supplemented their rock songs with short orchestral sections, Eldorado sound like one giant band that happens to have about 30 members. The skillfully dense arrangements are done so well, the more stripped-down songs (if a full rock band with a horn section can be considered stripped-down) such as "Illusions in G Major" just sound weak. That said, this album is strong from start to finish. Easily one of the best albums of the early 70's.

Music Monday: The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest

A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory

This album is proof that hip hop should be considered just as musically artistic as any other style. After their dense, sample laden first album, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, A Tribe Called Quest stripped down their sound to the bare essentials of hip hop: bass, drums, and poetry. Despite its barren, simplistic sound, it is a melodic, catchy album. Standard jazz samples are mixed with 70's funk and hard rock, all used sparingly to add slight melodic touches that give power to the few hooks of the album. From the opening upright bass line of "Excursions" through to the end, there is not a weak or boring track on the album.

Tribe's primary MC's, Q-tip and Phife dog drop some of their best and catchiest lyrics addressing such issues as date rape, the music industry, street crime, and the artifice of African American style in the early 90's. Q-tip proves that he is the master of riding the beats, choosing to use clever turns of phrase that fit with the groove of the music over speed and verbal dexterity. For those that enjoy such styles, this album also features one of the earliest appearances by a young Busta Rhymes on the hit, "Scenario".

The album seamlessly mixes hip hop and jazz, even enlisting jazz great, Ron Carter, to bass on "Verses from the Abstract". It shows that rap is not a string of profanity over dry boring beats. This is the type of album that can convert hip hop haters to lovers. This may be the greatest hip hop album ever recorded, which is quite a feat considering it is only the second best album a Tribe Called Quest made in their ten year career.

Music Monday: The B-52's

Ah, what joy this album brings. It is hard to praise the artistic merits of this because there is very little. It is an incredibly artistic album for sure. It is just too weird to be anything else. Mixing cheery 60's organ, played poorly, with surf guitar, played poorly, simple drums, with an effeminate man, nasally talking or yelling over the music and two women singing eerie spacey harmonies that just don't quite sound right is some sort of statement...or not. Whatever this is, a work of genius or just the work of a bunch of stoned artists, it is undeniably fun. How could a person not love a song like "Rock Lobster"?

The album should fall apart, but somehow it works and has stood the test of time to be hailed one of the highlights of the New Wave movement. From the avant-garde pop of the opening, "Planet Claire" straight through "Hot Lava" there is not a low point in the first have of the album. Sadly, the second side falls apart as the last few songs lack the infectious catchiness and kitchiness of the first half. A camp masterpiece and definitely worth a spot in any person's cd collection.

All Men are Mortal; Even the Invincible Grisham White

I received the call this morning that was impending for years. After listening to my father's voice mail, telling me there was bad news, I knew from the tone of his voice that somebody had passed away. I wasn't surprised when I found out it was Grandpa White

He was 98 years old, so I can't say as I was shocked by the news. Of course, I am definitely sad about all this. The hardest thing to accept is that I didn't get a chance to see him since I've been back from Australia. I had a couple of chances to make a visit work, but I was always too busy, first trying to find a job, then being stuck in my schedule, trying to make up for all the money I spent over the last year. Since I was for sure coming for Thanksgiving, I wasn't too worried, he'd held on far longer than anyone had expected, so I had no fear that he wouldn't make it another few weeks, long enough that I'd get to spend one more Thanksgiving with him. Sadly, the world does not selfishly go according to ones plans. I'll get over it though; again, I really didn't expect him to live as long as he did.

Grandpa White was the only grandpa I really ever knew. My mom's father died tragically in his forties before I was even born. Though Mamoes has been with her husband for most of my life, he was younger than my dad, so seeing Carlos as my grandpa and not a good friend was a bit difficult.

Grandpa was not really a typical grandpa. I never saw him as a young or even a middle-aged man; he was the ripe age of 72 when I was born. That said, I never saw him as an old man either for many years. Always working long hours on the farm into his late 80's, Grandpa seemed invincible; he existed as living proof that a man's age has no bearing on a person's life. He was an active, hard-working man for nearly his entire long life. I saw this first hand, waking up at 5AM with him to help feed the cattle and learn about life on a farm.

It wasn't until I was an adult that he actually started aging. These last few years have been hard, seeing him as a tiny old man with a slipping memory. Not to say he ever stopped being Grisham White. A couple years ago when he broke his hip and was to never walk again. I came to visit, expecting to see him stuck in a chair, blanket draped over his legs like FDR. Instead, he bounced out of his recliner, no wheel chair, no crutches, no walker, and gave me a big hug. He was an amazing man and to think that he was in end actually mortal is as astounding as his durability. He's been around for nearly 100 years; his stubborness mixed with modern medicine made me believe that he could live for 100 more. Alas, Grandpa was but a man.

I will greatly miss him. For years, I saw my friend's much younger grandparents pass away while Grisham still stacked 60lb haybails in the shed. Few get to know their grandparents as adults. Few get to have their grandparents live into their late 90's and not have their last memories be of them in a hospital bed connected to tubes. The last time I saw grandpa was like any other time I left Missouri, him waving goodbye from the driveway as we hit the road. And this is how he'll always be for me, that loving man who never let age change his actions. The man who sat at his big desk, doing the book every day to Paul Harvey, finishing just in time to hear "the rest of the story". The man who let me curl in his lap on Saturday nights with a big bowl of popcorn. The man who always had to be a part of the conversation, even when he couldn't even hear what was being said.

Grisham White will definately be missed by many. He has long been a pillar of his church of the community. His seat at the Macon High Football games will sit vacant, without the signature big smile and seed hat. As a White in Macon, it was impossible for me to write a check without the clerk telling me to say hi to Grisham for them. I won't be alone in mourning which is comforting in a way. His death will leave a void in world for sure: I can't be the only one who saw him as being invincible.

With love Grandpa, you'll be missed forever.

Music Monday: Here, My Dear by Marvin Gaye

Here, My Dear By Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye's 1978 masterpiece went greatly unappreciated and forgotten for nearly twenty years after its release. After debuting at a lukewarm 26 on the Top 40 Albums charts (his last two albums were #2 and #1 hits, both with top 40 singles), Motown just stopped promoting it and left it out of print until 1994. Thankfully, the world saw their error and this album has finally gotten the recognition it deserves.

It is not surprising that nobody knew what to do with such an album. To follow up two of the sexiest make-out albums of all time with a painful, reflective double album about the disintegration of a marriage was a bold move. Marvin Gaye is supposed to sing about making love, not losing love. It didn't help that his sound was generally the same, only a bit sadder. At times listening to this album, one finds themselves shaking their hips until they notice Marvin is singing lines like, "Pains of love, miles of tears enough to last me for a lifetime."

The album was born from a divorce with his wife Anna, sister of the boss, head of Motown records. As a part of the settlement, Marvin had to give pretty much all profits from his next album to his ex. Originally, he planned to hastily record a terrible album that would not sell, keeping Anna from making any money from him. After a while, the idea of making an album for Anna consumed his mind, so he ended up laying down all of their marriage problems throughout albums fifteen tracks. What resulted is arguably the greatest breakup album all time. A soul masterpiece that's as funky as it is sad. It still didn't sell well and Anna didn't make much money from it.

The primary theme tying the album together is the superb, "When Did you Stop loving me, when did I stop loving you" which is a classic of the genre. Many of the albums best tracks such as, "Here, My Dear" and "Anna's Song" are drenched in the layered harmonies of Marvin's doo-wop past when his marriage began. As the album continues and time goes on, he jumps to the present disco sounds, jumping back and forth, finally finding peace in the marriage of the past and present with the hybrid doo-wop disco of "Falling in Love Again", leaving the possibility that there could be an end to his pain for the future. He ends the album with a outro of the main theme, showing that despite the potential of the future, he will always have the pain there, creeping back to remind him of the past. Soul concept albums are hard to come by, especially ones that work as well as this. It is a difficult, dense, and painful album. It is also arguably the best work Marvin Gaye has ever done.

Music Monday: Sketches of Spain By Miles Davis

Miles Davis, one of the greatest artists of the 20th Century (if not the greatest artist of the 20th Century) was always on the cutting edge. Between 1950 and 1975, Miles Davis defined the directions of jazz and yes, even rock music. Unlike many, he didn't just bust out a great album every couple years or so, he recorded multiple masterpieces every year of his career. 1959 was one of those years. He dropped two of the greatest jazz recordings in history, Kind of Blue, the definitive jazz ensemble album and Sketches of Spain, a work that seamlessly combines classical and jazz music. Miles had been recording with collaborator, Gil Evans off and on for ten years at the time of Sketches of Spain. Every time these two geniuses unite, something magical and innovative happens. Their first work, The Birth of Cool, was simply put, the birth of cool. Sketches of Spain fuses the tight compositions of classical with the looseness of jazz in a way that had never been done before and has never been done again.

It opens with Joaquín Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio)" a soothing yet intensely gorgeous work which shows off the great power of their jazz orchestra and Gil Evan's arranging. Evans had the great challenge of getting an orchestra to play a classical piece with a jazz feel and he succeeded well. Even without Miles Davis's haunting signature tone, the arrangements alone would leave this as a great work. The true star of record is still Miles Davis. Sketches of Spain features some of the most beautiful playing of his career. From the crying lament for a lost lover on "Saeta" to the charging flamenco of "Solea" Miles shows just how diverse and versitile he can be. This is an essential album for both jazz and classical lovers. Very few artist have ever produced a piece of this quality and it is truly scary think that Sketches of Spain may be only the second best album he recorded that year.

Music Mondays: Omnio by In The Woods...

I've decided that I need assignments to keep blogging on a regular basis. So, I am introducing music mondays. I'd like to improve my journalism skills a bit, so this is an exercise in objective reviewing of music. Every Monday, I will review a CD that I particularly like as a chance to practice this type of writing and let you the readers see into my expansive musical tastes. Also, as a companion, I will be doing Film Fridays and maybe a book day as well. So, I will start with a random bit of obscurity from my collection to kick off Music Monday (yes, I know that today is in fact Tuesday...shut up.)

In the Woods... - Omnio

Omnio, the second album by Norway's enigmatic In the Woods... stands as one of the greatest metal albums of all time. Released in 1997, predating b0th Lacuna Coil and Evenescence, it was one of first albums to mix gothic metal and the lush female operatic vocals that became so popular around 2000. The album is a bit of an anomaly, In the Woods... started as a black metal band and Omnio in some ways can be considered a black metal album. No, there is no screaming or distant symphonic guitars of the genre, but it still has a black metal edge.

This also is may be one of the most pretentious albums of all time. Mixing together the beatiful, atmospheric prog rock of Pink Floyd with the crunching guitars of black metal, this is the epitome of epic. The 15 minute first track "299.796 Km/s" opens with a lovely string quartet section, eventually adding harmonizing guitars, sweet harmonizing male and female vocals. Drifting in and out of textured prog and pounding metal, it is a dizzying listen that sets the tone for this five song album. It is not for everyone; metal fans may be offput by the non-metalness of it all and prog fans may find the Black Metal edge a bit too harsh, and everyone will find it to be stupidly artsy. That said, it cannot be denied that this is a gorgeous gothic masterpiece that can be at least respected by all. A must for fans of Evenescene, Lacuna Coil, Pink Floyd, or Emperor, take the time to hunt down this hard to find gem in the metal section of your local record store.

Perfect Day

One thing that I love about perfect days is the forms such a thing can take. This varies from person to person and within each person, there are variations based on times and mood. Today, I had my personal favorite variety of a perfect day: the productive day.

I awoke at 10AM (hey, I worked until two in the morning last night!). The air of my bedroom was chilly, but not frigid. After turning off my alarm clock, I reached six inches to the left and grabbed my book. I sat in bed and read a chapter, enjoying the warmth of my three quilt cocoon. I couldn't justify sitting in bed too long, I had a list of things to do!

I followed a set of push ups with a cup of ultra strong coffee and a banana. I didn't dilly dally too long though; my laundry beckoned! Starting some washing was not my only required task for the day. There was a big bowl of chopped apples and pears, floating in a pool of lemon water, just waiting to be turned into chutney. With Dvorak's Fourth symphony, I made up a chutney recipe based on what I though chutney was supposed to taste like. Basically, I mixed my fruit with cider vinegar and brown sugar, then added not-so-random vegetables and seasonings. It smelled good at least.

With the chutney simmering, the steam did two amazing things to my house. It raised the temperature of house by twenty degrees (who says one can't live comfortably with a broken furnace) and it made the whole house smell like India...or rather Indian cooking, not fecal matter. I did a long workout then followed it with an hour of yoga and some meditation.

I then continued the meditation by cleaning the bathroom, emptying the litter box, and vacuuming the house. By this point, the random fruit and veggies had become chutney-like. I switched to Dvorak's First Symphony and start canning. This did not take long.

Now, I am sitting back, doing yet another meditative act, writing, listening to Frank Zappa with pfft of each jar sealing in the background. Life is good, especially when things get done.

At Home in the Dome

Yesterday, the Twins finished playing one of the greatest games of baseball I've ever seen, to finish an unlikely run for the playoffs again. They forced at least one more game in their lemon of a stadium, the HHH Metrodome, after already extending their by one. No matter how much we hate that place, it, much like theTtwins just refuses to die.

It is hard not to get nostalgic about the old clunker. As a child, I loved visiting the dome and its vast domeness. It may be ugly, but it is an awe inspiring place. It may cause neck cramps from turning sideways in right field, but you can't help but love it. This is a popular blog topic, looking back at fond memories, but that is really all we can do. We can't just look at the dome and say "wow, what a charming place!" like Cubs fans can about Wrigley or Red Sox fans can about Fenway. All we can do it look at the great things we've seen in the dome.

One cannot deny that some of the best baseball ever played happened in the dome. Look at all the classic Dome moments in the 1991 World Series (aka Greatest World Series Ever): seeing the short and stalky Kirby Puckett jump 15 ft in the air the steal a home run, only to step up to bat later and hit one of the greatest walk off home runs of all time. Then the next day, seeing Jack Morris do the unthinkable, pitch a ten inning complete game shut out in Game Seven, I repeat, Game Seven of the world series. I need not mention last night's game, an instant baseball classic, the type of nailbiter that only seems to happen at the dome.

It isn't just the obvious big moments. Who doesn't love it when an opponent loses a ball in the ceiling or misplays a ball as the Murphy's Law of Astroturf changes the bounce. The noise. Who doesn't love the sheer noise of the place when packed to the rafters...or er teflon during playoff games. I'll never forget Game 3 of the 2002 Divisional Series, when the the deafening roar flustered Barry Zito so much, he threw the halfway between home and first base. That only made us louder.

The last eight years have been especially fun, we've had some great teams that seem to do unlikely, amazing things every season, this one being no exception. Since moving to Minneapolis, I've never been further than a half an hour bus ride from the dome. I took well advantage of that, randomly hitting up baseball games on my way home from work or on a boring Sunday afternoon. It seems as if the dome conjures up exciting baseball, to make up for all of its many shortcomings. Such wacky baseball could only come from a wacky stadium like the dome. I'm looking forward to outdoor Twins baseball , but it is hard to separate the team from the dome. The Twins have always seemed at home there.

My First Date

On Friday, I had my first ever first date. It was a bit different than my expectations though. The woman of interest was Cailin, one of my oldest friends. A little over five years ago, we'd been on the verge of dating, one could even say we platonically dated. In the end, we chose to see other people and I began my relationship with Manda. I've been basically in relationships since, but this romantic tension never completely went away and our friendship suffered. After my return from Australia, we found ourselves both single again and our feelings for each other resurfaced. Unlike the past however, we were both older, more mature and able to talk about it in a healthy rational way. After much discussion, we decided to giving dating a shot.

It excited me to begin a dating relationship with a date, the only problem was finding a way to have a successful first date with a person I've been friends with for seven years, a person I've shared dinner with countless times. I figured I'd go all out. I made a r eservation for a trendy, four star French fusion place downtown. On the day of planning, I received an email from my friend Osmo Vanska (our "friendship" is based on my love for his conducting and interpretation of great symphonic works) offering discount tickets to see the beautiful Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto performed by the fantastic Minnesota Orchestra. My date was set!

The dinner went very well. The food was fantastic and restaurant had a great atmosphere. Due to a concert and a Twins game, finding parking was problem and road construction forced us to walk six blocks to get to the restaurant only two blocks away. At certain points in our dinner, I'd look across the table and think to myself, "dang, my date sure looks good tonight," only to realize that I was thinking this about one of my best friends.

We joined Manda and her beau Dana for the show. It was admittedly awkward to double date with an ex-girlfriend on a first date, but the music erased all this. They opened with Sigfried Idyll by Wagner, an uncharacteristic vocal-less piece that was surprisingly subdued for Wagner. It lacked much of the bombastic epicocity of his typical work, but still had the swirling, water-like quality I've always loved about Wagner. Next was the 1st Piano Concerto, which, although not the best I've heard (this honor goes to Van Cliburn's definitive 1958 recording) was still fantastic. Music director Osmo Vanska has a knack for pushing through the themes we already know and love and making us focus of the ones that often get lost in the mix. The soloist Stephen Hough was incredibly virtuosic, not missing a note of the often dizzying crescendos. He lack a certain type of feeling I crave in such an emotional piece, but he handled the work well. The performance was recorded for an upcoming complete Tchaikovsky Piano and Orchestra box set the Minnesota Orchestra plans to release sometime. For fans of Tchaikovsky, hunt this down upon release. Recently, the Minnesota Orchestra released a fantastic new recording of Beethoven's Symphony Cycle that is also worth owning. Their 9th is the best I've ever heard of such an overdone symphony. I feel so honored to have an internationally renounced music director and symphony orchestra only miles from my house. They did an encore of the second movement of Tchaikovsky's Second Piano concerto, a work I've not heard but was well played. The night ended with The Miraculous Mandarin by Bela Bartok. I'm not a huge fan of Bartok or work from this period in general. It did not completely hold my attention, but there were some sections with Stravinsky-like rhythms that I really enjoyed. Overall, the concert was fantastic.

I have to say that this was a great night overall and I was happy to share it with such great company. No, it wasn't my first date ever, but it was the first time I dated somebody that I wasn't already my girlfriend. The night did a fantastic job at setting the tone for an exciting new relationship. Yay dating.

My first foray into dating

This title may sound a bit odd considering I've been in two serious relationships that involved marriage discussions, but it is meant to be taken very literally. My first foray into "dating". Relationships these days are very different then they once were. They start off much less-organically these days (or much more-organically, depending on your interpretation of the the word organic). This will be nothing new to people of my generation, but may seem a bit wrong to those who are older. Here is the course of modern romance:

You meet a girl at a party, through a friend. or at a bar. After chatting for a bit, if there seems to be a connection or mutual attraction, you swap phone numbers with a vow to "do something sometime". In precisely three days, (anything less shows desperation, anything more shows an insincerity of the invitation), you send a text, asking them to come over to "watch a movie". This invitation has nothing to do with movies. The movie itself is irrelevant, but it needs to be something cool that you've seen already. The person comes over, a bottle of wine gets opened, and the movie is put in the player. If the moment seems right and the wine is consumed at a certain rate, kissing begins with the movie in the background. Depending on the quality of the kissing and the level of promiscuity, this make-out session leads to a relocation to a more private place. The movie will remain playing on the TV so if a roommate comes home, they know that there is some make-out action going on upstairs.

When you enter the bedroom, you've officially gone on the modern equivelent of "a first date". Many things can happen behind the closed doors; what happens is a function of the following equation S=(.5A+B)/P. S of course stands for sex. Sex can be defined in many ways. More on this later. A is the variable for attraction, which is measured on a scale of one to ten; this is actually the least important variable of this particular equation. It is easily overridden by the two other variables. It cannot however be ignored completely and a high enough A may result in sex. B is the booze factor. Count one for each drink consumed by each person. If a second bottle of wine is consumed, some sort of sexual interaction becomes highly likely. If B is ever above 20, sex will be attempted but will ultimately fail. You divide the product of these by the Prudishness variable (P). Prudishness is measured on a 0 to 10 scale as well. If the relative prudishness is 0, both partners are total sluts and the equation become undefined, meaning intercourse is guaranteed. A relative prudishness of 10 rarely happens; these people just go on dates. Now, after the math is done, here is generally the outcome.

If S is:

1-2 = Merely making out
2-5 = Making out without shirts
5-6 = Some sort of wandering hands
7-8 = Oral Sex
9 and over = Intercourse

These are of course approximate measures.

No matter what level of S, there is going to be some sort of talking afterwards. This is when one determins if there is compatibility for relationships. If things were fun, there is a near guarantee of a repeat, only the pretense of "watching a movie" is dropped. Based on the quality of the post-coital or really any sort of endorphin-infused conversation, the two people determine if they want to start going out. The endorphins lower the censorship of speech, so people are often very frank and will talk about spiritual/philosophical things. You are officially boyfriend/girlfriend after doing this about 3-5 times. Once you reach this point, the old definition of a first date happens.

I personally think this is a silly system that is the opposite of how things should be done. That said, I've never been on a first date with anybody that wasn't already my girlfriend. Now that I'm single again, I really would like to take a more old-fashioned approach to relationships.

So, I met a girl a few weeks ago. After a few marathon conversations at the bar, I decided that I would ask her out on a proper date, before there was any kind of kissing. I invited her to a dinner and a movie and she said yes. Great right?! No, come the day of the date, I got a text message saying she was too tired to want to do anything and we'd take a rain check (she's yet to contact me). I'm not stupid; this means that she is not interested in dating. Given the level of flirtation pre and post invitation, she seems to be stuck in the model of our generation. Since I asked her on a date before making-out or having sex, this is sign that I'm moving way too fast; this is a sign that I consider her to be my girlfriend already. What is wrong with our generation?

Our flirtation with the ficticious Tracy Fields

As some may already know, as of October 1st, our roommate Dawn will be moving on to other places, leaving us with a spare bedroom. Although the place is affordable with only three residents, they did it for the entire time I was in Australia, it becomes much more affordable with four. Finding a roommate in this current age is often difficult; fliers with dangling phone numbers are often untorn, people who are pleasant either live alone or are never allowed to leave by their roommates. In the modern age, one has to turn to the dark, unprotected venue for getting things from other people. In the modern age, one has to turn to the craigslist.

Oh, if only the craiglist was not a cesspool of scammers and murderers, whores and owners of worthless things with good PR. The craigslist does have wholesome, well-natured people, such as myself, but these are buried amongst all the crap, pretending to good.

Well, we luckily found such a good person: Tracy Fields. A kind-hearted altruistic soul who does humanitarian work with orphans. Tracy Fields, the young nurse who had just returned to her home in Mackay, Queensland in Australia only to find life in the real world not stimulating enough, so wanted to head the US to mix things up. Tracy Fields, the 5'7" occasional tennis player who doesn't drink or smoke, but is not bothered by those who do. She sounded like a perfect roommate. She sounded like the type of person with whom I could get along and share stories of my travels.

I found it odd that Tracy Fields's phone number had a land line prefix (03) but had 9 digits and was written in the phone number format we used in the United States. Landlines only have 8 digits such as (03) 45644394. I attempted to call and had no luck connecting. I found it odd again that she referred to the number as being a cell phone. Why did she say "cell phone" and not "mobile"? Well, I did refer to our "living room" as a "lounge" and our "downtown" as the "CBD" just to be nice and show off my knowledge of the lingo, she may have been doing the same. Why would she have a cell phone with an (03) prefix, not an (04) prefix like everyone else in the country? Finally, if she was from Queensland, shouldn't she have a (07) prefix and not a Victoria prefix. These things should have been warning signs, but they merely came off as odd.

She said she was from Mackay, a town where I have numerous friends and spent a total of three weeks. As a part of the package of photos of the house/pets/roommates, I inserted a photo of myself in Mackay, just for fun. She made no mention of the photo, did not ask to see if we knew mutual people, or make any comment at all about the fact I've spent so much time in her hometown. This was the first one that actually registered as suspicious.

The other tip off was her robotic use of the same email subject, "I am Interested!!". Yes, we know you are interested, you've made that clear in the prior two email's subjects as well as in the texts of the email. No "Re: I am Interested!!". No, "Contact Info". No, "Thanks". Just "I am Inerested!!" After pointing this out, Manda rationalized it for a second, then suggested we search for her on "the google"

Well, "the google" was not so rationalizing. "The google" said she was a craiglist scam. The website had her name as well as verbatim sentences from her emails. I politely told Tracy, that I "will be unable to live with you since you seem to be a fictitious person for the purpose of tenant fraud." I kindly thanked Tracy for wasting my time and made the offer to seek assistance from the law if further contact was made.

This was the scam: Apparently, there are very many people out there, from all over the world who are 5'7" don't drink or smoke, but are not bothered by people who do, and work with underprivileged orphan children. These mobs of people all would like to move to various cities around the United States and all have rich uncles that are more than willing to provide rent until they can break into the field of nursing. The clan of unrelated uncles all have the tendency of sending checks for more than the asked amounts. For some reason, they all have the ability to only notice the overpayment after sending the check (rich uncles are impulsive with their check writing). The niece, who we will hypothetically call Tracy Fields, asks people to send a check back for the difference. Of course, the rich uncle turns out to be not so rich and original check bounces. A clever scam, not too ambitious in its scope, but worth enough to spend the time on it.

The good news is that they only know my Name, email, phone, and address, all public info. I'll keep watch for any suspicious activity, but I think we dodged the bullet. Now, I have to reach back into the craigslist cesspool and find another potential roommate.

Salads

Two days ago, I was suddenly craving a salad, only a salad. I promptly headed to the kitchen, grabbed some spinach, chopped up some fresh pears from my tree in the back, threw in some raisins, fresh tomatoes, cashews, carrots, and homemade balsamic vinaigrette. I ate the salad merrily and it satisfied me. This was an automatic action and sat back, bellyful of plants and realized some startling things.

First, I craved a salad. It's not that I've ever disliked salads, they've just merely held role as an occasional supplement for something more meat-intensive. When living in the dorms, I used to eat two big spinach salads a day, nothing too fancy. Merely a giant glob of cottage cheese on top of the bed of leafy goodness. But to crave a salad for dinner, as the star of the show, that's a bit weird.

Next, I realized how rare it would be that I would even have all the ingredients for a bountiful salad on hand. Produce has always been one of those things I just don't buy. I'm typically home for dinner for only about three nights a week, so our produce just goes bad. Nobody in my house snacks on veggies. Lately, the produce has been getting eaten, I've merely thrown away a bunch of cilantro since I've been home.

Finally, and most amazingly, I was content with the salad. It wasn't a lead up to a piece of chicken or a sandwich. It tasted good, it filled me up and it was healthy. I pondered these ideas and wondered if this is one of the first symptoms of adulthood. Liking vegetables...how novel.