When I was 26 years old, it was the last year before I met Christie. I like to call it 2006 BC. What does this have to do with anything? Well, Christie turns 26 tomorrow, which means I am really old, & she is still very young, & beautiful & caring & sweet & many many other things. Happy Birthday, my sweet wife. I love you.
Five Favorite Songs of the Day
He's Funny That Way-Coleman Hawkins
Each Coming Night-Iron & Wine, Our Endless Numbered Days
Love & Some Verses-Our Endless Numbered Days
The Last Song I Will Write-Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit
Go ahead, if you want & go out to a bar, your favorite restaurant, to a movie, a show, a sporting event, whatever you want, but for me, I'll take a simple Saturday night with my favorite meal my favorite doggie & my favorite wife. In bed by 10:00.
Five Favorite Songs of the Day
All That Matters-Mark Knopfler, Shangri-La
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My darling girl My darling girl You're all that matters In this wicked world All that matters All that matters My darling boy My darling boy All of my sunshine And all of my joy You're all that matters All that matters
Well, I can't stop the pain When it calls I'm a man And I can't stop the rain When it falls, my darling Who can?
My darling girl My darling girl You're all that matters In this wicked world All that matters All that matters My darling friend My darling friend All we've got going Is love in the end It's all that matters All that matters
On Friday night, 800 or so of some of the strangest people you'd ever see crammed into the Calvin College Chapel. The average age looked to be about 20, young kids with '70s era suits, mustaches, skin tight pants, knit caps covering unwashed dreads, black eyeliner, not the kind of thing you see on the streets of Grand Haven & certainly not the kind of thing you would expect to see on the campus of Calvin College. They were all there to see the strangest character of them all, Joanna Newsom. They sat quietly in rapt attention to every oddly turned phrase, every manic strum of harp & every spine chilling warble that came out of her mouth. Her backing band included a mad scientist drummer in a three piece suit sans shoes & socks, a handsomely dressed trombone player with an average of about 20 seconds of playing time per song, two attractive looking violin players & a guitarists/banjo player (the brother of the mad scientist drummer) who at times played indistinguishably from the star of the show.
This is no freak show, as you might expect, the harp playing is no novelty act for wierd people who are looking for something wierd to listen to. This is a finely tuned, finely rehearsed cast of characters playing music, the likes of which you've never heard. Let me say that again, you've never heard music like this ever before, & if these people should retire & decide to become pharmaceutical sales reps, you'll probably never hear anything like this ever again. If you had to pin it down & put it in a box, it would combine both the elements of an opera & a folk song.
As talented as Newsom is as a harpist, piano player & songwriter, her greatest strength as a performer comes as a singer. Her odd voice effortlessly lilts between sharply & smoothly sung syllables. The lyrics aren't easily decipherable most of the time, but they are sung in such a way that makes you want to look them up & read them, & when you do, you aren't disappointed. Let me end by saying one more time, you've never heard anything like this before.
Five Favorite Songs of the Day
Occident-Joanna Newsom, Have One on Me
Mercy me, the night is long Take my pen to write you this song Lord, is it harder to carry on Or to know when you are done
All my life, I’ve felt as though I'm inside a beautiful memory Replaying with the sound turned down low
Long-life, show your face Slow-heart, curb your taste Smoke me out of my hiding place Long-life, state your case
What in the world are we waiting for Building glowing cities along the shore Where the wind batters in Baiting my kin like a matador
So much value, placed upon What lies just beyond our plans Waving my handkerchief Running along, till the end of the sand
Long-life, speak your name I'm so tired of the guessing game But, something is moving Just out of frame Slow-heart, brace and aim
Breaching slowly, across the sea One mast, a flash, like the stinger of a bee To take you away A swarming fleet Is gonna take you from me
The universe is getting loose Sodden spread from some leaden disuse Rushing, unhinged, toward diminishing lights Like a headless caboose
I'll wait for you alongside the ocean And make do with my no-skin But then, Long-life, will you let me in And then, Slow-heart, are you gonna know him
Long-life, speak your name I wait, while I decry the wait And when I die, may I relate Slow heart, congregate
To leave your home and your family For some distortion of property Well, darling, I can't go But you may stay Here, with me
Not Dark Yet-Bob Dylan, Osaka Japan
Baby Birch-Joanna Newsom, Have One on Me
The Book of Right On-Joanna Newsom, The Milk Eyed Mendor
Today, for your reading & viewing pleasure (& mine), two poems I love & a picture of the woman I love.
The Grower of Trees, the gardener, the man born to farming, whose hands reach into the ground and sprout to him the soil is a divine drug. He enters into death yearly, and comes back rejoicing. He has seen the light lie down in the dung heap, and rise again in the corn. His thought passes along the row ends like a mole. What miraculous seed has he swallowed That the unending sentence of his love flows out of his mouth Like a vine clinging in the sunlight, and like water Descending in the dark?
Wendell Berry - The Man Born to Farming
I have been spared another day to come into this night as though there is a mercy in things mindful of me. Love, cast all thought aside. I cast aside all thought. Our bodies enter their brief precedence, surrounded by their sleep. Through you I rise, and you through me, into the joy we make, but may not keep.
Wendell Berry - A Poem of Thanks
Five Favorite Songs of the Day
I Won't Be Found-The Tallest Man On Earth, Shallow Grave
I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground-Bascam Lamar Lunsford, Anthology of American Folk Music
You have to listen to I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground to fully understand I Won't Be Found, but not to enjoy it.
For Every Field There's a Mole-Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Lie Down in the Light
Got the Farm Land Blues-Carolina Tar Heels, Anthology of American Folk Music
Christie & I were in the cookie aisle at Meijer today, & I suggested we get some Ginger Snaps. I asked her if she liked Ginger Snaps & she said emphatically, "No!". I asked her if she's ever tried Ginger Snaps she said equally as emphatically, "No!". I said I used to love Ginger Snaps as a child & she said that she preferred Windmill Cookies, which I also enjoyed. So, eager as I was to open her taste buds up to the delicious snack euphoria that is Ginger Snaps, I opened up the bag on the way home. I gave one to her & asked her how she liked them. She replied, "meh, they're nothing to write home about". I disagreed, of course, & stated that indeed, they are something to write home about. So that's what I'm doing this evening, I'm writing to you, my dear mother, to tell you how delicious the Archway Brand Ginger Snaps are. Try a bag today.
Love your son & your not convinced daughter-in-law,
Andrew & Christie
Five Favorite Songs of the Day
I Feel a Change Coming On-Bob Dylan, Together Through Life
It's Good to Be On the Road Back Home Again-Cornershop, When I Was Born for the 7th Time
My old man really likes Bluegrass music. He tells me all about the songs they play on RFD TV. I wish I had that station so I could see what he's talking about. If I had a bluegrass band, I'd call it Uncle Harry & His RFD All Stars. Anyways, here's some of my favorites I think he'd like.
That one ain't really bluegrass, but it's great all the same.
A couple of weeks ago, I was in the car listening to Fresh Air with Terry Gross who was interviewing one of my favorite singer songwriters, Vic Chesnutt. He was talking about his latest album, his career, his atheist beliefs & lastly his battle with doctor bills since he became a paraplegic in 1983. Chesnutt, despite his following & his relatively successful recording career was in debt $50,000 to hospitals that he had no way of paying even though he had "health insurance". I knew quite a bit about Chesnutt's career, but I had no idea that he had trouble with doctor's bills. Driving in the car, I had a pretty good thought to send him an email, but as always happens, life gets in the way. Here's what it would've said:
Dear Vic,
I've been listening to your music for the last ten years, & it's meant alot to me. Thank you. I recently heard you on Fresh Air with Terry Gross & was blown away by the song Granny. I was sad to hear about your doctor bills. It's shameful that we live in a country where we can't take care of our basic needs. I know you are an atheist, but, if it means anything to you, I'm praying for you & I hope everything works out okay. Take care.
andrew
Vic Chesnutt committed suicide yesterday.
The sad irony is this sad fact from spinner.com
"Chesnutt first grabbed national attention in 1996 when his songs were covered by an impressive list of musicians -- including Madonna, R.E.M., Smashing Pumpkins and Indigo Girls -- on a compilation for Sweet Relief, an organization benefiting musicians without health insurance. Chesnutt was grateful for the exposure but told Spinner, "When I talked to Sweet Relief about my problem recently, they were just like 'Woah, that's too big of a problem for us. You're going to have to talk to somebody else about that.'""
Vic Chesnutt also performed on a benefit CD for Alejandro Escovedo, who several years ago was in a similar predicament.
Life is short, friends, lend a hand.
Five Favorite Songs of the Day
Kick My Ass-Vic Chesnutt, Drunk
Kick My Ass
I'm so sorry you had to kick my ass You said I ruined your life I didn't mean to do that I had to untangle where we was entwined I was strangling me...were you breathing so fine the jam I was in when things weren't working out led me to the brunt of your swinging bout I'm so sorry, I regret everything what can I do to take back that swing I'm so sorry a scuffle ensued but things are so much better I guess thanks to you I'm so sorry you had to pull my hair I had to take care of business there was a lot of business giving there
