Turn & Face the Strain

Uncle Mark spoke about change in his sermon yesterday, about how even though Ecclesiastes says there is nothing new under the sun, change is always going on all around us. It was a great sermon, in fact it was one of the best I've heard in a while.

Christie mentioned something to the effect of "he read my mind" as she wonders where she's going to be working, & where's she's going to be living. I both envy her & worry for her, as sometimes I think it'd be great to start something new & unforeseen, but at the same time I'm comfortable where I'm at now & it would scare me to death to start something new.

After the service, I was trying to think of songs about change, & as usual, I can think only of mostly Bob Dylan songs. Maybe all songs are about change, from being in one place & being moved to another by any kind of internal or external force. These changes could come from a woman, a job, the prospect of more money, from greed or want or lust, the need for change could come from the devil or it could come from the Lord.

Today, a new employee started at work. Again, I'm torn between enjoying a new challenge & distraught at the possiblity of working with someone who I may or may not get along with, whose demeanor might be the opposite of mine.

Friday, I found out that Gramps doesn't have too much time left to live. Why do we choose to talk about such personal things on an internet website? Maybe it's because in the solitude of our own private little rooms of our private little homes we can express things we'd be too scared or uncomfortable to share in person. I can't help but think what an incredible gift it is for those of us who love him to have a time to say all those things we need to say to him.

Have I taken my grandfather for granted all these years? I sure hope not, I hope these next months are not simply a chance to make up lost time. I'd like to think that none of the 27 years I've known him has been lost time, even as I've lived far apart from. him, acquired tastes & interests that may be far from his own. I'd like to think that I've always taken his opinions & suggestions to heart, even though deep down I know I haven't.

My grandpa has always been the type of person to dare greatness of those close to him. I know he's done so with me, even though I'm not sure I possess it. Maybe his death will change that, or maybe his death will simply remind me of the love he showed me, how he always loved to find a lesson to teach in any activity, or of the way he now gently speaks to his great-grandchildren, or of the way he loved my mother who loved me just the same. This brings me back to the point of Uncle Mark's sermon, which is that the only thing that never changes is God's love for us, that he should send His Son to die for us to save us from our sins. I love you, gramps, stick around for a while, won't you?

Do not go gentle into that good night
by Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.



Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.



Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.



Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.



Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.



And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

From The Poems of Dylan Thomas, published by New Directions. Copyright © 1952, 1953 Dylan Thomas. Copyright © 1937, 1945, 1955, 1962, 1966, 1967 the Trustees for the Copyrights of Dylan Thomas. Copyright © 1938, 1939, 1943, 1946, 1971 New Directions Publishing Corp. Used with permission.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Every Grain of Sand-Bob Dylan, Wembley 2003

in the fury of the moment, I can see the master's hand
in every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand

Changing of the Guards-Bob Dylan, Street Legal

Since I've Been Around-the Waifs

Summersong-the Decemeberists, the Crane Wife

I'll Remember You-Bob Dylan, Detroit, 2005

Happy Monday, friends!

andrew

Music in the Cafe's at Night, Revolution in the Air

Jack Kerouac: Jazz Fan

From one of my favorite novels, On the Road:

Once there was Louis Armstrong blowing his beautiful top in the muds of New Orleans; before him the mad musicians who had paraded on official days & broke up their Sousa marches into ragtime. Then there was swing, and Roy Eldridge, vigorous and virile, blasting the horn for everything it had in waves of power & logic & subtlety--leaning to it with glittering eyes and a lovely smile & sending it out broadcast to rock the jazz world. Then had come Charlie Parker, a kid in his mother's woodshed in Kansas City, blowing his taped-up alto among the logs, practicing on rainy days, coming out to watch the old swinging Basie & Benny Moten band that had Hot Lips Page & the rest--Charlie Parker leaving home & coming to Harlem, and meeting mad Thelonious Monk & madder Gillespie--Charlie Parker in his early days when he was flipped and walked around in a circle while playing. Somewhat younger than Lester Young, also from KC, that gloomy, saintly goof in whom the history of jazz was wrapped; for when he held his horn high and horizontal from his mouth he blew the greatest; and as his hair grew longer and he got lazier and stretched-out, his horn came down halfway; till it finally fell all the way and today as he wears his thick-soled shoes so that he can't feel the sidewalks of life his horn is held weakly against his chest, and he blows cool and easy getout phrases. Here were the children of the American bop night.

It's no surprise that Kerouac was a jazz fan, his prose breaks all the rules that jazz does. It goes in all different directions without warning, sometime without any kind of real theme or melody. It takes a strange kind of character to like either one, & if you like one, there's a good chance you'll like the other.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Hey Joe-Jimi Hendrix
Voodoo Child-Jimi Hendrix
In My Solitude-Thelonious Monk
Girl in the War-Josh Ritter, the Animal Years
I've Got to Know-Son Volt (song by Woody Guthrie)

Happy Wednesday, friends...

andrew

The Ballad of the Sun & Moon

For those who don't believe in the healing powers of music, imagine driving an hour & 15 minutes to work everday for a boss who made you work 16 or so days in a row without a single day off (no Saturdays, no Sundays, nothing). It's a summer Saturday morning, & it's going to be hot. You are working in a tiny store all by yourself all day long & soon you'll have a line of three to four customers deep & your running around trying to keep all of them happy. But for now, you put the coffee on & open the back garage door, if nothing else to see the world outside, even if there's only a rundown apartment complex behind you & a bingo hall next door with a stinky grease vat. Somehow things are okay as soon as a song comes on that goes like this:

The Ballad of the Sun and Moon

Today started out like any other day
The sun rising, there was always the sun
The mountains & the echoes of the voices
Where'd they go? They fall!

Sons of the sun
That's the ballad
of the sun & moon.

Can you hear the canon & the fighting?
Can you feel the soldiers when they're marching?
They came, they took my sister away.
They came & they took her way.

Sons of the sun.
That's the ballad
of the sun & moon.

Tonight started out like any other night.
The Moon risin', there was always the moon
The mountains & the echo of the voices
where'd they go? They fall!

Sons of the sun
That's the ballad
of the sun & moon.
That's the ballad
of the sun & moon.

Alejandro Escovedo, Thirteen Years

The first concert I have planned for '07 is Alejandro Escovedo at the Ark in Ann Arbor. I can't wait.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Five Hearts Breaking-Alejandro Escovedo, October 1, 2004
Ballad of the Sun & Moon-Alejandro Escovedo, October 1, 2004
Shooting Star-Bob Dylan, Zurich, Switzerland 2003
Most Likely You'll Go Your Way (& I'll Go Mine)-Bob Dylan, Zurich 2003
Every Ghost Town Needs a Commission-Kevin Davis

Happy Tuesday, friends!

andrew

If Dogs Run Free

Once again, some birds aren't meant to be caged. Our little shot of espresso (Dan) is moving his boat up north next weekend. He got a promotion & will be the manager of the SW in Ludington. We've been waiting for this opportunity to arise for him for awhile now, & I'm happy it finally came true for him. I don't think I've ever had more fun working with anybody (wipes tears...yeah right), being the dumbass that he is.

On the other hand, my geocaching geography just got bigger. I can't wait to take the caching world by storm up in Ludington. While on the subject of caching, check out our masterwork here.

In other news, I've got my first concert of '07 scheduled. I'm going to see the brilliant Alejandro Escovedo at the Ark in Ann Arbor in early March. His show at the Wealthy Street Theatre last year was one of the best concerts I've heard.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Baby's Got New Plans-Alejandro Escovedo, Thirteen Years
Visions of Johanna-Bob Dylan, Stirling Castle, 2001
The Sea & the Rythym-Iron & Wine
I Wish I Was Your Mother-Alejandro Escovedo
One of These Days-Drive By Truckers, Pizza Deliverance

Happy Sunday evening, friends...

andrew

It's Not a House, It's a Home!

(a picture of Ryan for no apparent reason)

Ah, home sweet home! I got back from Dallas today. Apparently you can't even go to Texas to get away from the cold. Oh well. The hotel I stayed at was good, I didn't have a snoring roommate. I played eight games of euchre. There weren't as many meetings as last year. I got alot of reading done on the plane. Other than that, the trip went about as I expected. I didn't get to do any site seeing, although we did drive past the grassy knoll.

A universal truth about the human condition was once again enlightened. That is, most people would rather talk than listen. I suppose you could probably lump me in to that category, this blog is probably the best evidence of that.

I don't think I've ever been away from my humble abode for longer than I have this week (I know it was only four days) & it was great coming home. It has that smell of home.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

It's Good to Be on the Road Back Home Again-Cornershop, When I Was Born for the 7th Time

Nettie Moore-Bob Dylan, Modern Times

I'd walk through a blazing fire, baby, if I knew you was on the other side...

Sweetness Follows-REM, Automatic for the People

Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues-Zurich 2003

I'm goin' back to Grand Haven (or New York City), I do believe I've had enough!

Via Chicago-Wilco, Kicking Television

Happy Thursday, friends!

andrew

Gotta Travel On

The time of year I dread the most is fast upon me. I'm leaving for my work's National Sales Meeting in Dallas tomorrow, I'll be leaving from Gerald R. Ford International Airport around 12:45. Why do I dread this so much? Well, for starters, I really can't stand sharing a hotel room with some other dude. I don't know why this bugs me so much, maybe it's because just about everytime I've had to share a room with somebody they usually snore or pass gas. If you read brother Dan's blog about his travels in the army, you will find my complaints to be very small & petty compared to his, so I apologize. I'm not laying claim to breaking any records of abhorrent living conditions, he's got me beat on that one a million to one.

Secondly, these events always seem to me to be like frat parties, & anybody that knows anything about me knows that I'm not one to try & fit into some sort of club. High fives, sex jokes, fart jokes, hunting stories, & talk about budgets & sales increases are not my idea of a good time. That's not to say that I don't like alot of the people that go along to this thing, it's just that the setting is not very conducive (sp?) to interesting discussion between two people. There's a bit of a social hierarchy of cliques & groups that is reminiscent of high school. I'm not interested in any kind of anti-social behavior, but I'm not interested in fitting in with the crowd, either. There's always a choice to make of going to the bar 'til the wee hours of the morning, going to somebody's hotel room to play poker, or sitting in the room all by my lonesome. The latter sounds the most appealing to me, but, like I said, I'm not interested in being anti-social. I'm bringing along some books & tunes just in case.

Well, enough complaining for one day, I'll just enjoy the rest of the day, look forward to coming home on Thursday & try to enjoy the rest in between.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Death is the Easy Way-My Morning Jacket

Beneath the Balcony-Iron & Wine, the Sea & the Rythym

Supercede-Jackie Greene, American Myth

Mysifies Me-Son Volt, Trace

Fuel for Fire-M. Ward, Transistor Radio

Happy trails, friends...

andrew

It's Nighttime in the Big City

(I had to stare at that label all day, so I figured you should too, if only for a minute)

After a 12 & 1/2 hour today, it's nice to sit at home with my favorite sweatshirt & a Captain & Caffeine Free Diet Coke & listen to the latest installment of Theme Time Radio Hour with your host Bob Dylan. This week's theme is hair. So far the oddest thing he's played is "Bangs" by They Might Be Giants. The musical selections are always quite stunning, jumping from the 40's to the 00's. The stories, anectdotes, & jokes he tells in between are the best, however. I'd tell you some, but they just aren't the same reading them on the page. Bob reveals, however that although Moe was the smartest of the Three Stooges, he's a Shemp man. Absurd.

Here's a poem for my old man (he's a sheep man), if he's reading.

The Shepherd

How sweet is the Shepherd's sweet lot!
From the morn to the evening he strays;
He shall follow his sheep all the day,
And his tongue shall be filled with praise.

For he hears the lamb's innocent call,
And he hears the ewe's tender reply;
He is watchful while they are in peace,
For they know when their Shepherd is nigh.

William Blake

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

She's a Jar-Wilco, Summerteeth

Big Rock Candy Mountain-Harry McClintock

Take, Take, Take-the White Stripes, Get Behind Me Satan

Too Much Sex (Too Little Jesus)-The Drive By Truckers, Pizza Deliverence

Don't Look Back in Anger-Oasis

Happy Thursday, friends, I hope the boss let's you off early...

andrew