What's the Matter With Me? I Ain't Got Much to Say...

Over to you, Kevin McFadden...

Tone Deficit

Can't tell your oh from your ah? Go, go or else
go ga-ga. What, were you born in a barn? Oh.
Ah. What do you say when the dentist asks?
No novacaine? Nah. The joke's on us, Jack:

we gnaw ourselves when we reallly ought to know.
Can't tell the force from the farce, nor our
cores from our cars. The horde works hard in this
new nation of shopkeeps, moles in malls, minding

our stores when we should be minding our stars.
Harmony, whoremoney--can we even tell
the showman from the shaman? Or are we
the worst kind of tourists, doing La France

in low fronts, sporting shorts at Chartres
and so alone in our elan? Nope. We're Napoleons
of nowhere, hopeless going on hapless,
unable to tell our Elbas from our elbows.

from POETRY, September 2006

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Strange Fruit-Billie Holiday

This must've flipped a bunch of wigs back in the day. It sure flipped mine. Just look at that face. Her voice, her facial features, her songs all spell out tragedy, but it's so beautiful.

Windfall-Son Volt, Trace

catching an all night station, somewhere in Louisiana, it sounds like 1963, but for now, it sounds like heaven...

So What?-Miles Davis, Kind of Blue

What I like most about Miles, is that he never needed to be the center of attention. He was never the fastest player, never going for the grandiose solo, he realized that greatness lies in the spaces between the notes. Listening to his earlier bands, you'd never really know who was the star, whether it was Gil Evans, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly or Miles himself. I'm about a third of the way towards owning the entire Miles Davis catalog. Maybe before I retire, I'll have 'em all. Bitches Brew is next, even though Melvin warned against it.

Various Stages-Great Lake Swimmers, Bodies & Minds

Spirit on the Water-Bob Dylan, Modern Times

I keep thinking about you, baby, I can't hardly sleep...

Happy Thursday, friends...

andrew

Don't Waste Your Words, They're Just Lies

I had an entire blog typed out about the president's September 11 speech, but what's the point? Everyone's got their own opinion, & no one's opinion is going to be swayed by anyone's blog. So I'll drop it.

It was a great weekend. The golf league season is over, the black magic hickory sticks came through in fine fashion, I've never drove the ball better off the tee than I did on Saturday. I ate at a fancy restaurant on Lake Michigan on Saturday evening with some of my favorite people, watched a great fall movie "State & Main", drove deep into the heart of dutch country, visited the mecca of great music in Grand Rapids & genuinely had a great time the whole weekend.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

False Media-the Roots, Game Theory

After the Parade-Dan Bern, My Country Too

Thanksgiving Day Parade-Dan Bern, New American Language

Mississippi-Bob Dylan, Love & Theft

Battle of Who Could Care Less-Ben Folds Five, Whatever & Ever Amen

Happy Tuesday, friends!

andrew

One Coat or Two?

I'm sitting here at the Schroeder bar after painting one coat on the kitchen. It's looking pretty good, & I'm half tempted to call it good. The wall where I painted two coats of the same color doesn't look much different then the walls where I only painted one coat. The kitchen has had color samples painted on it since the day I bought the place. It went from it's original gray color that the whole place was painted with to a darker gray, to green, to gold. I finally settled on khaki. It looks good, it's brightened up the place. Now there's only the stairway & the upstairs hallway to paint & I will have covered up what should officially be the worst paint job anyone's ever been paid for. Not that mine is much better, but I didn't get paid for it.

A vodka tonic & a boca burger sounds really good, but as soon as I get everything cleaned up I'm bound to find a spot or two that look a little thin. So, I'm soldiering on. I'm gonna have to find a good cd to listen to. Maybe a little more Nick Cave, he's been sounding good today.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

As I Sat Sadly By Her Side-Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, No More Shall We Part

Hallelujah!-Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, No More Shall We Part

Workingman's Blues #2-Bob Dylan, Modern Times

O Sailor-Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine

Shake Sugaree-Elizabeth Cotten

everything I got is down in pawn...

Happy Friday, friends!

andrew

Ain't Talkin' (for Joyce)

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Watch Me Fall-Uncle Tupelo, Anthology 1989-1993

Keep Me in Your Heart For a While-Warren Zevon, The Wind

Here Am I, Oh Lord, Send Me-Mississippi John Hurt

Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye-Leonard Cohen

It Takes Alot to Laugh (It Takes a Train to Cry)-Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited

Happy Thursday, friends!

andrew

(the great Clarence Ashley with Doc Watson)

Love Songs in Age

She kept her songs, they took so little space,
The covers pleased her:
One bleached from lying in a sunny place,
One marked in circles by a vase of water,
One mended, when a tidy fit had siezed her,
And coloured, by her daughter-
So they had waited, till in widowhood
She found them, looking for something else, and stood

Relearning how each frank submissive chord
Had ushered in
Word after sprawling hyphenated word,
And the unfailing sense of being young
Spread out like a spring-woken tree, wherein
That hidden freshness sung,
That certainty of time laid up in store
As when she played them first. But, even more,

The glare of that much-mentioned brilliance, love,
Broke out, to show
Its bright incipience sailing above,
Still promising to solve, and satisfy,
And set unchangeably in order. So
To pile them back, to cry,
Was hard without lamely admitting how
It had not done so then, and could not now.

Philip Larkin, the Whitsun Weddings
February 1964

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

The Coo-Coo is a Pretty Bird-Clarence Ashley, Anthology of American Folk Music

The Levee's Gonna Break-Bob Dylan, Modern Times

Critics will make obvious statements about how this song is somehow a comment on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but this has the swagger of many a great blues song.

Love Would Come-Kevin Davis & Valerie Marincic

Hold on, Hold on-Neko Case, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

Mutineer-Warren Zevon, the David Letterman Show (more about this one later)

Happy Wednesday, friends!

andrew

(one of these days I'll get me one of those digital camera things so I don't have to keep bogarting everybody else's pictures)

Today's the day I'm gonna grab my trombone & blow!

What a perfect weekend it was! Lucy Ann Woehlke was born during halftime of the Michigan vs. Vanderbilt game on Saturday. I was sitting on the 43 yard line, 2nd row! I've never had better seats to any sporting event in my life, let alone the opener of the Michigan season. This was all thanks to Christy & her brother Dan. I'll never forget that game as long as I live.

The game itself was good, Michigan's offense could've been better-too many turnovers-but the defense was solid, only giving up one touchdown on a trick play.

Enough of this nonsense about a football game, though. Our parking spot put me in prime position to walk to Uof M hospital to meet my newborn niece. I regret never having been in town when any of my other nieces or nephew have been born, so having been able to make it to the hospital to see Lucy was very special. Emily was as graceful as she's ever been after having been in labor for twelve hours, & I've never been happier to see her.

Things only got better when my old man showed up (watching him nervously holding his granddaughter for the first time is a site to behold), followed closely by Heidi & Scott with all the kids & watching Ella & Soph meeting their sister for the first time. Christy & I hitched a ride in the Schroeder's fourth Astrovan with Heidi, Scott & the kids to avoid a walk to our parking garage. Then we were back on the road back home again to go to Mike's birthday party in Grand Haven.

The bonfire was great, I got to see a bunch of people I haven't seen in a long time. What a fantastic & long day. Up at four, to bed at one thirty. Every minute was worth it.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Try to Remember (the kind of September when grass was green & grain so yellow)-the Fantasticks

I must be in some sort of wierd kind of good mood if showtunes make it on to the list.

Shelter from the Storm-Bob Dylan, Comstock Park, MI 8.12.2006

This is as good as I remember it, if not better.

Ain't Talkin'-Bob Dylan, Modern Times

This is an absolute masterpiece, his best lyrics since Blind Willie McTell from 1983, in my opinion. Unlike most of Dylan's songs of the past ten years, this song has a unique sense of purpose (which I haven't quite figured out yet), rather than being a clever collection of clever phrases.

Harsher Winters-Kevin Davis & Valerie Marincic

Another Man Done Gone-Irma Thomas

Happy Tuesday, friends!

andrew

(this is meant as a substitute for a picture of mike & me, a pretty close replica, if you ask me)










What Would Life be Without Wishful Thinking?

I was riding my bike the other day through Robinson Township, it was a beautiful day for a bike ride, I was listening to "The Animal Years" by Josh Ritter (a fantastic little album, but I'll save that for another day) & I stopped in Mike's yard to change cd's. He pulled in just as I was about to cruise back to my place to the tune of Tangled Up in Blue. I, of course, stopped to chat & drank one of his gatorades & we talked about the week's events. On my ride back I couldn't help but think that it's been 13 years since we used to ride bikes back & forth from his house to mine (about the same distance), all for the noble pursuits of playing basketball in the driveway, ping pong in the basement or the garage (depending on who's house you were at) & listen to REM, Tom Petty, Elvis Costello or Barenaked Ladies albums. Who would've thought that 13 years later we would live only a couple of miles apart, each owning our own places, hanging out on a regular basis on the other end of the state? It must've been wishful thinking come true.

Yesterday was Mike's birthday, & I can't help but be proud of my friend, what with his new job, his new girlfriend, new haircut & his overall new outlook on life. It's fun to see your friends happy.

Tomorrow's going to be a long, but fun day, starting early in the morning with a drive to Ann Arbor for the start of the U of M football season (courtesy of Christy & her brother). Maybe between now & then, my niece will be born & I'll get to meet her & see the rest of the family. Here's hoping. The day will end around a bonfire at Mike's house, in honor of his 27th birthday. I'm hoping there will be lots of Jackie Greene music coming from the stereo, & I hope I'll get to see alot of people I haven't seen in a long time.

Some other wishful thinking came true just as I sat down to write this, it can be found here. I hope most of the show sounds better than I remember it, & Shelter from the Storm sounds as good as I remember it. I'll let you know later on this weekend.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Spirit on the Water-Bob Dylan, Modern Times

This song has been in pretty heavy rotation the last few days. It gets better every time I hear it.

Jesus the Mexican Boy-Iron & Wine, the Sea & the Rythym

Wishful Thinking-Wilco, A Ghost is Born

Irene Wilde-Alejandro Escovedo, Bourbonitis Blues

We Built Another World-Wolf Parade

Happy Friday, friends, I hope your wishes all come true!

andrew