reverberating dream

Can't You Hear Me Knocking?

2011-08-23T22:55:00.005-04:00

It's been a bit of a day, truth be told. What started out as a usual Tuesday ended up with a bit of worry about an approaching hurricane including thoughts about renters' flood insurance and worries about exploding beer in my brew room. That and I experienced my first earthquake (which apparently was an experience shared with most of the East coast).

The earthquake, I admit, was surprising as hell, because we aren't supposed to get those kinds of phenomenon here. Earthquakes, raging wildfires, mudslides, El Nino sandstorms...those are the kinds of things we have gladly surrendered to our cousins out West. In exchange, they get that expansive Pacific Ocean to gaze at, their news programming on a delay, and some spectacular scenery along the Pacific Coast Highway. We get snow and wicked nor'easters up in the North, and mosquitoes the size of small toddlers down here in the South. Trust me, we always knew the Western cousins weren't really getting the better end of the deal.

This afternoon, though, I was at work, explaining an online computer project when what I thought was a strong breeze pulled at the edge of our roof line soffitt, or so I thought...so much so, that I actually ventured outdoors to check out the roof. Simultaneously, another co-worker three doors down from me experienced the same sensation and began to think her walls suddenly shifted inward. And yet another co-worker four doors from me thought the building had been hit by a runaway dump truck. Weird, very weird...same earthquake, but three completely different theories to its sensation. And we were all trying to find proof to support our hypotheses.

Upon reading these thoughts now, though, clearly they were all pretty damn implausible to happen in broad daylight. However, if you had told us that it was an earthquake that hit our company instead, to a person we would have laughed you out of our roof damaged, wall enclosing, dump truck damaged home away from home. Some things you can't really believe happened unless you experience it yourself; and sometimes you still don't readily believe the truth when revealed. The rest of this afternoon's conversations was spent on validating and reassuring each others' reactions...and damn it, the tremor itself only lasted 10 seconds.

That drama subsided for now, the focus for the next few days turns to the 'impending' landfall of Hurricane Irene onto the Eastern seaboard shores. It's Tuesday as I write this; landfall is expected sometime over the weekend...if it happens at all. Apparently, as every weather forecaster from here to DC and back down to Georgia reminds us, determining the actual landfall strike zone area is a far less accurate science than predicting where a spinning top will come to rest. However, some islands in NC are starting evacuation tomorrow morning...not so much because everyone is sure of Irene's path, but because it takes 2 days' time to get these folks off those islands (have to use ferries, one lane roads, etc). These remote island getaways in NC are 'remote' for a reason...and nothing about them, under the current conditions anyway, screams 'quick evacuation'.

The North Carolina Governor, Beverly Purdue, has made the traditional flip-sided appeal of both being prepared, but also not getting too worked up about this early forecast, either. And in a telling nod to our tourism economy, she used her famous 'school librarian with chocolate chip cookie'-like tones to also not discourage potential visitors to come into the state these last few days of the official summer travel season. I honestly cannot remember her ever doing so in any potential weather event in the past, but then again tourism is one of our main industries...and we need to keep everybody employed in it as long as we can. So actually we're now (1) getting prepared (and in some places, evacuating), (2) not worrying about getting prepared, but (3) still inviting folks on in to come join in the fun. Bad news is we take Southern hospitality seriously here all the time, and that tradition is always the high card, and so it effectively cancels out (2) and (3) above. After all, somebody has to worry about the barbecue, biscuits, and greens, damn it. I just hope that the Gov and all the weather geek forecaster types are correct in predicting that Irene's gonna continue to head out east, and maybe not even come ashore at all...otherwise, we may have a lot of hurricane newbies sweatin' it out. And that, except for the alcohol consumed at the hurricane parties, does not make for a good vacay.

With all respect to Gov Chocolate Chip and her advisers, though, I've decided to follow the slightly more universal emergency prep method: I'm going with the guidelines set forth by the CDC earlier this year...in case of a zombie apocalypse. (And, yes, this is from the real CDC. Humour while educating, what a freakin' concept that's so rarely deployed. Kudos to the authors for making it an internet sensation that many of us, like me, remember to reference in a time of need.) I figure if my beloved Federal government is already this forward thinking, most everything I would need to do for a simple hurricane should be covered in this cheat sheet. (Except a chainsaw, which got omitted from their list somehow...one really does need a chainsaw in both hurricane clean-up and zombie survival. And gloves, really thick and sturdy and bite-proof gloves.)

With that said, I'm off now to the Kroger/Piggly Wiggly/Food Lion/Lowes (I don't shop Harris Teeter, sorry) to stock up on recently marked up hurricane 'foodstuffs'. I'm going to fight off other tourism-defenders who are willing to take a chance their milk won't sour after we lose electricity in Irene's aftermath. Maybe I should get the gloves first??

Happy non-prepping, neighbours.

Seven O'Clock Pause

2011-08-19T23:16:00.001-04:00

Some days, I consider myself the luckiest person I know. I have a dependable job, great friends, positive things I'm working toward, and a devoted group of family (some related by blood, some otherwise, but family to me still the same). But, as we can do from time to time, I get in so much of a rush doing my daily 'to do' list that I miss the important stuff...the stuff that makes me re-think all of those 'must do priorities' lists.

This morning, a profound example: got up late after hitting the snooze button on the alarm no less than three times, hurriedly got prepped and dressed for the day ahead. Couldn't immediately find something I needed for the 'to do' list, so five minutes semi-frantically looking for a paper which ended up by my keys (put there last night, I remembered, so I wouldn't be looking for it today...oi vey). Grabbed my lunch, fixed my lipstick, flung open the door to my covered porch entrance...

and had to stop and just watch as my vegetarian neighbours, complete with their ever-growing brood of offspring, decided to come over for an impromptu brekkie. Some of the kids pranced around and played tag with one another, whereas Mum and Dad just munched selectively on some of our wild strawberries. And time just stood still, as if the only thing that mattered to each was just being around the others. A moment of Nature's Zen, and delivered at just the right time.

And honestly, not only did I completely forget for a few minutes about what all my priorities were, but I also came away wondering if I really wanted to go into work today at all. These ten minutes of peace were the absolute best moments of my day.

Two Years Gone, But I'm Coming Home

2011-08-16T06:14:00.022-04:00

For almost two years now, I have been posting on a private blog instead of this one. And while that has worked okay for me, it has essentially become an glorified diary and not a very fulfilling writing and/or blogging experience. And this unfortunate blog just languished during that time, as it was out of sight and out of mind.

After an accidental reminder this week, I came back and looked at this one again and realized that (a) it needs a lot of work, but which I'm enthused about tackling, and (b) I really missed blogging to this one. And I've decided: it's time to come back home.

So as I close the other one down, do some much-needed editing, and then move some older posts from the private blog to over here, please forgive me in the days (or more probably, weeks) to come.

A Mighty Girl's Milestone

2011-08-12T19:32:00.068-04:00

Today, fittingly enough as I turned into the drive coming home, my old girl turned 250,000 miles.

And, like anyone who has de-stressed in, cursed in, shivered in, sweated in, ate in, drank in, seat-danced and sang in their vehicle...and, on more than one occasion, prayed *over* same...I am so ever the happy owner. Even if I do take rentals now instead for my out-of-state trips (the newer cars make better gas mileage), I still would not trade my girl in for anything. Sitting by the row of mailboxes that flank our entrance, I actually turned off the engine and petted Her steering wheel with deep affection, whispering sweet words of praise into the really-needs-to-be-vacuumed upholstery. I even got out and took pictures, I was so proud (honestly, you parents of rising first graders have nothing on me).

To the unwitting passerby, I'm sure I appeared as either somebody documenting some sort of accident (at best), or (at worst) someone saying my last heartfelt goodbye to a very dusty Nissan truck. But to those of you fellow owners of older vehicles who have been everywhere in them practically (and in my case, also served as my abode for a brief period of time), you'd recognize me instantly: I no longer see any flaws, but instead the character of every hard-earned dent, scrape, and ding the way. My mighty girl is missing a chunk of Her grill, has rust advancing steadily around Her seams, and makes an abnormally loud clatter when sitting idle with the A/C in use. But to me, though...the me that has known and drove Her since mile 18...right now, she's the prettiest girl on the road.

For that distinction alone, and also in recognition of this milestone, we have a goal in the next few days: a bumper to bumper detailing, complete with wash and wax. And I will not complain once about the cost nor the time needed for service.

Reverb 10: Day 1 "One Word"

2010-12-19T18:03:00.007-05:00

There's a wonderful project that I've recently (like, this weekend recently) joined up with...something that seems like a perfect fit for me as I'm coming back into the blogging world and want to chronicle the changes I've been through recently. This campaign of self-discovery is called Reverb 10, and additional details can be found here. You can still participate, and it's free to join! (Hat tip to writer Patti Digh and her wonderful blog, 37 Days, for the suggestion.)

And despite the obvious benefits for me and my writing goals, this process also encourages me (and hopefully my wonderful readers and friends, by extension) to do some real personal cataloging and think about where I am in life now, where I've been, and where I'm hoping to be in the new year to come.

The Reverb 10 process is a series of daily prompts of questions to think and write about, a different one for each day in the month of December. And while I'm unfortunately late to the party in joining up, I plan to do all the days I've missed...two or three at a time...until I've finally caught up. I'm really looking forward to completing this, as well as reading others' contributions.

December 1 - One Word.
Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?

2010 word: Stuck. 2011 word: Decluttered.

I choose the word 'stuck' for 2010 because, frankly, that's exactly where I think I am/was most of this year (which is really rather quite humbling to admit, let alone write). I always pride myself on having new adventures and trying to advance my horizons, but the 'new' things have been very temporarily adored this year and the 'old' things just aren't getting it done any more. I'm restless, unsatisfied, and lacking focus...not anxious, not depressed, just suffering a rather long-lingering case of clinical 'whatever'.

To compound this problem a bit, I'm also having a bit of a problem letting go of the 'old', non-working things from my life. For example: I'm not happy with my book selection any more, yet I find it difficult to part with same because I really liked that book once, or I remember buying that book with a friend on a really good day...ad nauseum. The rational side to me knows this 'debate' absolutely makes no sense, but the emotional side to me (also known recently as 'the bored side') is not quite yet ready to surrender.

I could have used the word 'quicksand', I suppose, but that's far too extreme to describe most days and it's not like I feel any rapidly increasing sinking feeling. And, on the flip side, I could have taken the easy way out and just used the word 'bored', but that is far too light of what's gone on for months now. Quicksand implies an emergency state...something that requires immediate outside assistance from a heroic third party to come save my day. Boredom to me, though, is something fleeting...something I should be able to relieve with a good book or movie. 'Should be able to' being the most important words in that last sentence.

That being said, 'stuck' is the most appropriate word for my current year: I increasingly feel the weight of it all holding me in place, with far too many useless items still surrounding me.

Welcome Back, Blogger

2010-12-18T20:38:00.004-05:00

Howdy folks!! After a very, very, very long time away from writing and contributing here, I've come back to the blog.

Since I've been away, I've been writing a lot privately in journals and such offline, but am now finding myself in a more 'open' mindset so that I don't mind sharing my personal journey/daily mishaps once more in this format. As I've experienced firsthand, sometimes when one seeks clarity one has to declutter a lot of their mental 'baggage' in the process... so much baggage, in fact, that should have been dealt with ages ago. In this past year, I've shed a lot of that extra mental weight and worry through private journaling...and that has made a great, and very, positive change to my outlook and goals.

I'll be honest: I've missed the whole blogging experience, and I appreciate my friends and others who have kept in touch with me while I've stepped back. In time, I hope to bring over and include some of the journal entries I've done for the past (well, really, two) years.

Many, many thanks to my dear friends and fellow writers/bloggers who have been so supportive of me, and especially for their kind, and rather persistent, words of encouragement.

And, with that, here we go...

Glass Half-Empty/Glass Half-Full Preparedness

2010-01-14T05:59:00.005-05:00

Like so many people, I've been reading (at least as much as my stomach can take anyway as my capacity for 'bad news' is easily overwhelmed these days) about what it might take to get us out of this economic mudslide...and specifically what the 'new world' after this will look like. Luckily, I am (and hopefully will continue to be) employed; however, it's beyond stupid from a consumer view, as well as a forward-thinking employee view, to not try and prepare for the path ahead. So these are the kinds of questions I've been asking:

What industries do we know for certain are gone (or at least on life support)?

What careers and employees will still be around looking for jobs, but the jobs have been permanently downsized, sent overseas, etc?

What fields and/or jobs will be in demand once this recovery really takes hold?

What can towns and cities start doing now to attract those new careers and technologies of the future?

These are the kind of questions I've asked at some recent professional development/networking meetings as of late...and sadly, no one seems to know the answers. Not in my professional online forums, not in meeting with some local university career counselors, not even at my local Chamber of Commerce networking functions. I'm not exaggerating to say that the majority of what I've read/heard has a good deal of 'mental panic' associated with it...i.e., that no one is looking forward to what the future holds because the present situation is so damn scary. That's a perfectly legitimate response to a point...the point when one realizes that a lack of strategic planning for the future back then is a good chunk of how we got in the quagmire we are in now.

I'm still looking for some answers (and am always open to suggestions from others, so please don't hesitate to let me know yours), but I'll bring you a couple of two differing views I've found:

Tuesday's (January 12, 2010) very sobering article from the Wall Street Journal: "Even in a Recovery, Some Jobs Won't Return"
James Fallows' optimistic, but still slightly guarded piece, from the January/February 2010 issue of The Atlantic: "How America Can Rise Again"

Reality bites, even if we sugar-coat it, sell it en mass on late night television, and put it on the 30-year installment pay plan. Call me a sadist if you will, but I'd rather like to take my dose of medicine now and start the healing process so hopefully I won't have to suffer through this affliction again. The world of yesterday we knew so well has forever been changed...let us learn from those lessons as we try to navigate toward the world of tomorrow.

And let us all learn to be a bit more pro-active, and less like sheep, as we move forward, too.

Supping On the Lawn: "The Duchess"

2009-08-21T05:43:00.004-04:00

Just a quick note here, as I'm off to a long day of work and errands...

I'm going over to see "The Duchess" tonight over at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. The show starts at 8pm, and it's a very good outdoor venue (that sells decent wine, too!), so I'm hoping for no rain today or tonight. Admission is only $3.

While generally I am not known for liking 'chick-flicks', I do have a fondness for films of some historical merit...although Lord knows some take 'history' and stretch it to unrecognizable limits. "The Duchess" stars Kiera Knightley, who portrays the headstrong Georgiana Spencer Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire, in 18th century England. Headstrong may not even begin to come close to an accurate description of Georgie: The Duchess was known to be quite outspoken at a time when women (even rich, politically powerful and titled ones) were not expected/tolerated to be; known to be quite a rebel (of sorts) within English nobility for her popularity with the common people and her leading fashion sense; known to be a quite the (unsuccessful) gambler; and then there was that whole known love affair not with her husband, the stuffy and boring Duke...but instead with the future Whig Prime Minister Earl Grey (yes, the real-life man attached to the popular kind of tea). The affair with Grey eventually produced a female child, which Georgiana was forced to give up to Grey's family to raise.

If parts of the above (save the out-of-wedlock child) all sound a bit all-too-familiar with another deeply loved member of English nobility, the late Princess Diana of Wales, you're visiting the same neighbourhood: the late Princess was a direct descendant of the Duchess. Sarah Ferguson, the recent former Duchess of York and Diana's good friend for a number of years, is also a descendant of Georgiana's (by way of the illegitimate daughter she had with Grey). (Talk about history repeating itself...drama seems to be a part of the family tree.) If you're really into the history of all things Duchess Georgie, try reading this witty, well-researched, and informative blog about all the characters (and many side acquaintances) of Georgiana's world: The Duchess of Devonshire's Gossip Guide to the 18th Century.

I'm hoping that at least some of "The Duchess" stays true to the facts, as it's a fascinating tale to read about in history books, let alone see on film. (With the exception of Lizzy Bennett from Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice"...and Lizzy is a fiction...the Duchess of Devonshire represents my favourite thoroughly modern woman in a not-so-modern world of proper society.) Since this is a British production, and since the dear Brits take their film making deadly serious, I'm confident Knightley won't be slaying her rivals with a gamma ray gun or doing inhuman-like acrobatics on the backside of a horse en route to meet her lover.

I was sorry I missed this movie when it first came out last year, but am glad I'm able to see it again on a large screen...albeit a large, outdoor one. A glass of wine, a small picnic basket of goodies, on the nice lawn at the NC M of A: it seems an excellent choice to take in the public and private affairs of a star-crossed English aristocrat. Hell, I might even bring along some Earl Grey tea and biscuits and do it all proper-like.

July 4: Fireworks at Kenan Memorial

2009-08-20T21:18:00.008-04:00

This is a short post and video clip from this past Independence Day celebration, being published here for the first time. Slowly I'll bring these out, and maybe...someday...I'll get caught up.

Happy Fourth of July today, people!!

It's been a really great day and night tonight, remarkably pleasant after being so hot and humid these last few weeks. I just did some bumming around the house today (read: moving one bit of junk/mail/clothing to another), and listened to some really bad television while doing so. You know, just general indecisiveness/laziness that takes up your time, but doesn't really get anything done...which is a shame, really, as I have not one but two trips coming up (Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in western North Carolina next weekend, and then up to Chicago the week after that). Oh well, I'm not called Princess Procrastination without good reason. It will all get done, sometime.

No one except me is really around at the house this weekend, all of my neighbours having gone to the beach or out of town to be with relatives, or some combination of both. Under the assumption I had things to do (and I'd actually do them), I had declined all offers from friends to go someplace else for the day. That said, I hadn't really planned on doing much in celebration tonight, either, but at about sunset I was feeling stir-crazy enough to go venture out and see if I could catch something aflame in the night sky. I'm still a kid at heart with this day, I guess.

With a rare bit of good timing, I made it over to the UNC campus before anything really got started. In fact, apparently I was one of many, many others feeling the same way: late arrivals all to the show kept pouring through the entrances. (I think the numbers were such that the officials held back that start time, honestly.) In years past, I've went to Kenan Memorial (UNC-Chapel Hill's prized football stadium) to watch the show and not seen even half of tonight's crowd in attendance. I don't know if it's the economy or what, but a lot more people 'stayed home' it appeared. Added plus: it's free to attend (even for the parking, very rare indeed for a TarHeel-hosted event).

It was a good, almost joyous crowd, with a good warm-up band who did rather excellent renditions of most of KC & The Sunshine Band's greatest hits. Before ignition, I closed my eyes and took it all in: babies crying and wailing loudly, kids running around playing tag in the stands, Moms and Dads smelling faintly of freshly-cut lawns, fried food and maybe even the odd glass of cheap wine. And it was a mostly clear night, with just a slight southerly breeze coming in. In short, it was the perfect night in which to celebrate all the blessings we Americans all take so much for granted.

And luckily for us, the fireworks were nothing short of spectacular.

Enjoying the yearly fireworks show, 2009. Kenan Memorial Stadium, UNC at Chapel Hill campus, Chapel Hill, NC.
Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend!!

Night Out at The Colony: "Frank Zappa's 200 Motels"

2009-08-19T07:03:00.005-04:00

Taking a small break tonight from updating/blogging as I'm headed out to The Colony Theatre over in Raleigh to see Frank Zappa's 200 Motels", as part of their Cool Classics at The Colony movie series. (More information on that diverse series can be found here.)

Promotional poster for Frank Zappa's 200 Motels", 1971. Copyright acknowledgment extended to its respective owners.
I've always wanted to see "200 Motels" for a variety of reasons, ever since I first heard about while studying film in college. Supposedly featuring the story of a band on tour going from town to town (although there is a lot more to it, Zappa was known for 'layering' all of his projects with a variety of messages), the film was cheaply made in just about a week, features some guest cameos from Ringo Starr to Keith Moon to Motorhead, and then somehow thrown together after several people involved in its production hastily quit. (The ever-smooth and nostalgic "Almost Famous" it ain't, people.) Combine that with an equally-rushed soundtrack, and it's a surprise that the film ever got released...but it did, and by United Artists no less. And, from what I have been told/read before, it's also full of surprises (some of which really worked...and some of which did not). I get the impression "200 Motels" will either work in some weird sort of way or else be an epic fail for me. But honestly, those are always the best films to watch.

It should be an interesting show, and perhaps a pretty interesting crowd in attendance as well. While I'm not a fan of Zappa's music per se (sacrilege!), I do appreciate all that he was trying to do, as confusing as that sometimes came across. If you put any time into reading about Zappa, you'll discover very quickly what an unappreciated, unconventional genius he was. Like his music, I don't suspect this movie will ever be confused with being 'mainstream'...but then again, 'mainstream' has always been highly overrated.

I'm all for giving new films, or old films that featured some 'new' ideas, a look...creativity in cinema seems to be a bit of a dying art these days, so best enjoy it when you can. Tonight's showing is scheduled to start at about 8pm, although The Colony always throws in a number of era-appropriate trailers beforehand, many of which are some of the funniest (intentionally and otherwise) ever made. (Truly, they have trailers that should be in the Trailer Hall of Shame, and they are simply not to be missed.) Admission is $5 (cash only), and the fresh popcorn is really good.

UPDATE August 20..."200 Motels" review from last night: like Syd Barrett (the mentally ill frontman and founder of Pink Floyd) & Spinal Tap took a bad acid hit and then decided to make a musical, starring the The (adult) Teletubbies and Newman's (from the TV comedy "Seinfeld") hippie older brother. Pros: Keith Moon (from The Who) in drag as a nun. The "Ode to the Penis" part (actually it's called "The Penis Dimension") was pretty damn funny, too. Cons: the people up front should have shared what they had and passed it back, as it was needed by the rest of us. Even for Zappa, this was a bit much for me to completely appreciate. Recommendations: only watch if under the influence, perhaps heavily even.

Merry Christmas, Everybody

2009-08-18T06:26:00.003-04:00

This is another 'skipped' entry I'm bringing over, modified only slightly, and written on Christmas Eve last year.

A week ago, I was driving along on a lonely, dark rural road covered with fog. Wipers thrashing this way and that, I could still barely see in front of my hood...the rain showers were intermittent, but all the water and humidity surrounding me clouded my view still the same. Headed to the beach I was, hopeful that the weather would eventually clear and I'd get some much-needed relaxation and fun, if even for a day. I had made the mistake of starting this drive...a little more than four hours...right after my workday had concluded, and also during the 'drive home' rush hour (just for that extra little bit of stress). Traveling by myself, I had been lucky to that point, not too hot and not too cold, singing along with song after song until eventually one station and then another soon faded away into the ether. Eventually static took over everything that wasn't a religious sermon, talk radio, or Spanish programming and I just switched the radio off. Now, with an hour still to go before my cozy hotel room by the sand would come into view, I found myself driving over a lengthy bridge that crosses the Alligator River. With only the 'twhup, twhup, twhup' sound of rubber tires rolling over concrete engineering to keep me company.

There was not another car in sight, in either direction. And my shoulders were stiff and sore from concentrating on the road, on the rain, on the bridge with the water running alongside.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, I crossed the Alligator and found a place wide enough for me to pull over my truck. I took several deep breaths and then eventually got out, doing neck stretches and arm pulls...anything to keep me more alert and loosen my aching, tense neck and shoulder muscles. For a couple of minutes I did this, looking around for another set of lights in the distance or maybe the rogue deer, but found nothing. I climbed back in for the last bit of the trek, not exactly renewed but far from dispirited now. Several more neck rolls and arm stretches happened as I started up, pulled away, and gradually built up speed again. Channels of water ran alongside both sides of the road now, as the highway crawled further and further into the welcoming shores of the Outer Banks. The rain let up, but the fog was thickening.

I tried the radio again, and was pleasantly surprised that a reception from a Virginia station came in loud and clear. The voice, familiar in some ways but not immediately identifiable to me (and on commercial break was discovered to be none other than rock n' roll showman Alice Cooper on his syndicated show), was talking about favourite Christmas songs...songs that have been huge hits, songs that have survived all sorts of social change since their initial release, songs that always pull on the heartstrings year after year. The usuals ("White Christmas" by Bing Crosby, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" best known from Burl Ives, "Blue Christmas" from Elvis Presley, etc) of course made the cut. As one rainy mile rolled into the next, Alice got me thinking about my favourite Christmas songs...or, rather, why I don't have one especially.

Indulge me a moment while I give you my Christmas back story...

I am the only child of parents who never really had time or energy to properly celebrate the holiday. My beloved father coped with a terminal illness for most of my life and worked full-time while doing so; my overwhelmed mother took care of him and me while (eventually) working two full-time jobs herself. He first became ill when I was just six years old and he was initially given just a handful of months to live...a diagnosis that both of my parents flatly refused to accept from the onset. That illness, though, would rule our lives forevermore. For months on end, we would all pack up the old Mercury Marquis at 3 in the morning and head two hours south for his training and treatment. Mom and Dad would train in an area I was not allowed for 4-5 hours, whereas I would stay in the hospital lobby alone downstairs with my books and crayons. (As reckless as that last bit sounds now, I caution to say it was 1976 and things were much different then, and also that a security guard stopped by to check on me every half hour. I never once felt scared or had anything bad happen to me, although I did get lonely a good deal.) After treatments were completed, we'd all pack up again and head home once more: me to watch TV and call my teacher for missed lessons, Mom and Dad off to work with me tagging alongside Dad or off to a babysitter. Even after the travel subsided a bit, this schedule was our norm.

That first year of his illness and training was especially tough on us. He became very sick over Thanksgiving, with doctors concerned that he would not see Christmas at all. Things so readily alleviated now were major obstacles back then...an infection that would not lessen, the building up of toxins within his system, a fever that would come and go without warning. My father was scared but resolved, my mother was helpless but strong...and I was clueless and wanting to talk about my Christmas list. With painful clarity, I remember serenading him and my mother and the nurses with "Silent Night" on a very rare visit to see him in the his room, located almost in the ICU. Even then, I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, but I was proud of myself when I saw him and Mama tear up. For years afterward, I thought I had provided a happy moment.

During that same hospitalization, nurses and others tried to keep my spirits up while also trying to help me understand the severity of Dad's situation. But I was a Daddy's girl and I was in denial...Dad and I had made plans, you see, and nothing like a little kidney failure could stop that. He and I had a routine: country walks on Saturday, new car visits on Sunday, reading the newspaper and watching TV together the rest of the week around studies and work. He and I were inseparable, as I was the apple of his eye whereas I thought he hung the stars in heaven just for me. (Dear Mama was the long-forgotten third wheel, I hate to admit.) But someone, and I still can't really remember who as I've blocked much of it out, finally communicated how close I was to losing him. And somehow that Christmas wish list held no significance anymore, even though it had dominated our conversations for weeks.

So the next time I saw him in his room I held his hand like I always did and sat there until he woke up. When he did, he asked what changes had happened to the list...what did I want now from Santa, he asked from a tired and bloated face. For you to make it through Christmas and be with me, I answered. Fully awake now, his eyes met mine and, at that moment, he knew that I knew. And we smiled at each other, through tears.

From that day forward, we became a unified team once more...not only that day, not only that Christmas, but for twenty more Christmases to come. He never hid any future illness from me, nor did my Mama on his specific request. And I never really pursued gifts for the holiday after that, as the whole 'list' lost its appeal in light of the bigger wish for him to completely recover...a wish that would never be granted in this world. Dearest Mama, a woman who was created specifically to shop for and enjoy the Christmas holiday, would try her best to fit in all the traditional 'other family' routines: an overly-decorated tree, an Elvis Christmas album she played constantly, visits to relatives I didn't know for dinner. Dad and I, peas in a pod that we were, would tolerate it all as best we could, but never got into the spirit much. For he and I, surviving through Christmas was the goal, and once another season had passed by uneventfully, then did we feel joyous. In some respects, I see now we probably got that all wrong.

I lost my best friend ever eleven years ago, soon to be twelve, but not a day goes by that I don't think of Dad. Or about holding his hand, walking with him, talking with him, laughing with him. There are so many things I want to ask his opinion on, or ask for his advice on...and the silence of his lost voice is deafening. I have worn a ring of his every day since that horrible horrible day in March, but it's the only thing I still have of his. That ring and the memories.

Christmases, unfortunately, have carried on for me since his death just as they did when he was still here: very little fanfare with a few gifts for Mama, the occasional card mailed, the odd decoration put up. Christmas has been something to be overcome, not something to be relished. Mama still loves it as much as she ever did, but she's given up trying to convert me to her enthusiastic approach.

And I'm thinking about all of this, and like now having a bit of a cry, as I'm barreling down NC Highway 64. Wishing I had Dad with me to see the Atlantic...did he ever see an ocean, I wonder, as I don't know...but also remembering with a chuckle how much he hated the cold and rain in his later years. Wondering, as I sometimes do, if he would be happy with me now, supportive of my decisions, curious as to what he would criticize. Meanwhile, Alice has played some traditional Christmas tunes (well, rock-modified ones, anyway, this is Alice Cooper, after all) and he's now talking about how some of the best holiday songs are the least known here...and how it takes people some time to find their 'perfect' song.

"Yes, Alice," I said as I pulled into the outskirts of Manteo, wiping my eyes. "Yes, we all need a 'perfect' Christmas song." Mockingly, I said this aloud in the dark but warm cabin of the Nissan. I was thinking I needed to change the channel, and pull myself out of this momentary depression.

Then Alice played this song, something I had never heard in its entirety before, although apparently it's been like the Most Popular Christmas Song in the UK since its release back in the early 1970s. It's from Slade (yes, that Slade), and it's called "Merry Christmas, Everybody". (Video from YouTube.)

Slade performing "Merry Christmas, Everybody". Circa 1973.
And so I listened, singing off-tune as usual a bit, wiping back the occasional tear as I slowly passed garlands and wreaths displayed on car washes, churches, and the random fast food sign. The rain had subsided to a light mist now, although the fog still shadowed the lampposts and traffic lights. At the end, as I turned left going into Manns Harbour, I fully admit I was belting away at a loud volume...and I did not want the song to finish. Play it again, Alice, play it again. It's tough to cry and smile and sing all at the same time, but I swear I did all three. I have virtually nothing in common with any of the lyrics, but no matter, it was what I needed to hear right then. Is it the 'perfect' song for me, or even for the mighty Christmas season? Probably not, but perfection is only judged so in relation to the moments it appears. And for that moment at least, it was a perfect Christmas song for me, and it helped clear my emotional deck...helping me enjoy my very limited time away from work.

So, Merry Christmas, everybody, and I mean that genuinely and deeply from my heart. I may not be infused with the Christmas spirit per se, but I am wise enough to appreciate the good friends and family I am so deeply blessed to have. May tomorrow be a great and peaceful day spent with your families.

And, speaking of family...thanks, Dad.

Elvis Costello, June 14 @ Koka Booth Amphitheatre

2009-08-16T23:17:00.006-04:00

This is the first of my 'catch-up' posts...items I've written about in my journal since the spring, but am just now bringing over to the blog. Have some patience with me, folks, as I get them all moved over...

Every so often, I get to see God, live and in person. Now when some people say that, it generally entails some further explanation about a religious epiphany that has occurred to them. In my case, it's a tad bit more humble and a far bit more accessible to the modern man and gal: it just means I've seen an Elvis Costello show.

I had such a pleasure this past Sunday (June 14), out at the Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary. Ideally, Koka is not a great venue for 'big draw' concerts, but given this was God's tour with The Sugarcanes (promoting his latest album, "Secret, Profane & Sugarcane"), a smaller venue such as this worked really, really well. The material on this album, as well as some of his more recent releases, suits a 'quieter' venue much better than the mammoth Walnut Creek would in comparison, or even in comparison to the new (and dare I say it?) and sterile-feeling Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC). This album mines from a more bluegrass, traditional, Americana-like stream, but still features God's poignant and brilliant lyrics. (I occasionally read an interview with some new 'up and coming' talent who says he/she just also wants to be a great songwriter. Until someone actually says they've studied under the tutelage of God and His pen, I really can't take them too seriously. He's that damn good.) Add to this that Koka probably has the best acoustics of any largish-size venue in the area, so having a good show was almost a given before arrival.

A bit to my amazement, the show did not seem like a complete sell-out. I always buy lawn seats there, as you can bring your own chair (and, depending on the event, can often bring in your own food and drink), and there were more than a few 'empty' spots near the back. 'Tis a shame, really, for those that missed it, but was a full-fare show for those that did make it out...and many of us are/were die-hard fans. God, who over the years has been both relaxed and uptight talking in the shows of which I've been in attendance, seemed in particularly good spirits Sunday. Not such a hard place to be, really, as The Sugarcanes (featuring Jim Lauderdale) were in fine form and his audience more than receptive to any number of small errors. It was not a perfect show to be certain...but I've rarely been to a live show that was...but its few imperfections made it all the more human and great.

All told, age and newly rediscovered fatherhood has served Him, and His musical ventures, very well. Whereas other contemporaries have long since come and gone (and perhaps even tried to come back again in the form of a reunion tour or something), or perhaps have seen their lyrical impact fall on deaf years, ~~Mr Costello~~ He keeps cranking out gems here or there that still have relevance, still creating a devoted following. Considering that some of that following (myself included) have been fans for 30+ years now is quite a testament. Further, the fact that He and His audience would/could still consider themselves 'young' and 'still questioning' is quite a revelation: either as a sign of greatness still to come or as a sign of our mutual utopian hope for the world to improve itself.

Elvis Costello and The Sugarcanes do a cover of the Grateful Dead's "Friend of Mine" at Koka Booth Amphitheatre, Cary, NC, June 14, 2009.
God's voice sounded strained mid-song a bit at times...I don't know if it was a cold or allergies or age taking a toss at him...but he gave a very full, diverse set. The few 'classics' he whipped out from his many previous incarnations..."Allison", "Indoor Fireworks", and "King of America"...had been slightly modified to fit more easily within The Sugarcanes 'sound'. I've seen him on three continents so far over the years...and should I win the lottery, I will go see him on any other applicable ones...but his steadiness remains throughout. As I enthusiastically told a friend of mine tonight (a friend who plays regularly with a local bluegrass band), it wasn't so much as a band playing God's songs, backing God, as much as it was God sitting in on a really great bluegrass jam session, desperately wanting to contribute in any way he could. The success of shows such as Sunday's reaffirms that His disciples, like the leader Himself, refuse to be genre-typed or boxed in musically. And we're all damn well better off because of it.

The tour continues through the summer months, so go see them when it rolls through your neck of the woods: like fine-aged whisky, the blend of age with Elvis only tastes sweeter as it spreads out through your brain, your heart, and even your soul. Check out the tour schedule here.

It's...ALIVE!!

2009-08-15T18:28:00.005-04:00

Okay, enough of this damn slacking. It's time to get back to this blog, at long last...even if I'm the only reader. I'm much happier person when I write, and I have a right to be as happy as the next person (maybe even more so). I want to, so I shall.

And I have lots to write about...it's been a very busy summer so far.

Let's get this baby started up again and pulled back out on the road.

UNC 5K Kidney Kare Run/Walk, March 21

2009-03-23T21:17:00.000-04:00

So, maybe the treadmill at the gym is working after all...

For the third year (at least), I signed up and participated in the UNC 5K Kidney Kare Run/Walk, held this year over in Carrboro on March 21. And, no, let us not be confused: I did the walk, and not the run. (Never have quite gotten the appeal of running, really, as I've known some runners with hellishly painful joints, especially knees.)

In the past two years, I have taken two different approaches to this Walk, both with mixed results:

In the first year, I strolled and strolled, enjoying the budding trees and even rescued a fallen birds' nest from one of the residential streets the Walk route goes down. It was a bit of a 'zen' thing then, getting in touch with the world around me and also not overdoing it because I really wasn't into it for any 'exercise' potential. I finished right at the end, but I felt like I had toured Walden Pond.

Last year, at the beginning of my 'serious' attempts to lose weight (40+ pounds ago), I took to it with the enthusiasm of a new recruit off on her first march in the Army. No time for the trees, the birds, not even a thank you wave to the volunteers passing out water at the halfway point. Nope, I am serious this year became the mantra going through my head. In the end, about a mile to go from the finish line, my energy bottomed out and I dragged myself across the line (well, not literally, but to my psyche, I might as well have). On the other side waiting...a superior level colleague and a group of his friends, none of whom had even broken a sweat, kidding me about being so out of shape that had it been a kilometer longer I would have required oxygen.

I love you, too, Sir. Really, I do.

For me, this might as well have been the victory trophy for this year's race. Yes, it's a keeper for the 'motivation' files.
This year, I had done some preparation. In addition to joining the gym as a way to finally do something about my weight and overall appearance for the long haul, I had a goal in mind: a 15 minute walking mile. As I would quickly discover, that was a bit much to hope for (especially for someone who has been pretty lifelong adverse to exercise in the first place), but I was doing a 17:08 mile on the treadmill, even with mild inclines. I'm still a long work in progress, but at least I'm progressing now.

This year, I was there early. This year, I had water. This year, I had stretched and prepped and could even pass a lot of folks while making my way to...the middle of the pack. All told: 5K walk in 53:54. Horrible, I know, but it's a start and I will improve upon it. Horrible, I know, as I didn't keep the 17:08/mile pace (the race inclines were more than I had prepped for so I slowed down in those sections). Wonderful, though, because I beat same said superior level colleague (and all other members of his group) this year by a full 10:04. The look on their faces as I was waiting for them this year at the finish line was absolutely priceless.

Don't let anybody tell you anything different: Life is good.

Overseas Radio: Sending Us Life and Talent

2009-03-19T08:13:00.000-04:00

Recently, as even I have become too weary of news/talk radio and even more weary of our overdone 'buy it now' commercials (the latter an affliction I've had for a good number of years), I've been trying to find some new music. Unfortunately, my local radio market is still heavily dominated by Clear Channel's ever-repeating loops of the same crap, or syndicated shows with the same hosts playing the same crap. (Sorry, "Delilah" listeners: listening to that every night, no matter how well-intended the purpose of the show, would send me over the edge in a week.)

It's gotten so bad, that I'm actually starting to hate the bands Coldplay and Nickelback because of this endless repetition...bands I once really liked. (Note to bands/PR companies/record execs who pay the Clear Channel & Co 'piper': too much airplay can be a very bad thing over the long haul.) Contrary to the now infamous song of the 1980s, video does not kill the radio star: greed and over-exposure do.

So, once again, I've been looking to find new tunes via online outlets.

At work, listening online for me is particularly troublesome as we now have a variety of 'filters' that are designed and in place for us to not do anything that might make the daily 'to do' bit more enjoyable. I perhaps miss music the most, as I work in a windowless former closet and generally in excess of 9 hours a day, sometimes more. Music is a passion of mine, even though my direct participation is limited to non-existent these days. Distractions, even those in the background and on a low volume, remind me there is an outside world beckoning...and that gets me through even my tough days.

However, in a particular act of kindness, the powers that be relented on the 'no music' rule and eased up a bit more recently and will now let us satisfy our audio needs: for no more than 60 minutes a day, done in 15 minute blocks of our choosing. (Hey, it's a start back...I'll take it.) Some sites, though, still are blocked: Last.FM, for instance, and even Live 365 (of which I still have a station there...click here for the link). However, I can sneak in the occasional moment of Mozart through our classical radio station (WCPE, Wake Forest, NC), or drift over to any number of stations worldwide through my fave portal, Surfmusic. I'm practically happy again...and it beats the hell out of the copier hum.

From that last site, I re-found Clyde FM from Glasgow. Now I know I have a rather strong connection to my Scottish heritage, and even though I've been on a 'Rule Britannia' bit recently, I listen to Clyde a bit more than some others not only because of their general 'upbeat' approach (even when discussing their boggled traffic and dismal forecasts), but because they play some stuff I have never heard before...and, sadly, even months after, still does not get airplay here. And, generally, I tire pretty damn quick of what constitutes 'pop' music. (That's another rant for another day, believe me.) Clyde may be the 'Clear Channel' prototype for Scotland, who knows, but I'm for whoever can bring some variety and fun back to whatever passes for radio these days. And music...actual music instead of what passes for rap and/or 'instrumental' solos and/or 'sampling mixes' (and I'm using those last terms very loosely) would be good for a change. (MTV/VH1 should maybe re-consider that 'music' thing, too, but I'm not holding my breath.)

Two of the voices that have I have discovered from Clyde are now, amazingly...finally...getting some attention (albeit minor) with airplay over here. Keep in mind our announcers know next to nothing about them, if they even do acknowledge the songs, but I'm hopeful this might indicate an ever so small shift from the constant dreck on US 'pop' airwaves...somebody somewhere, is paying attention. Our luck would be that person got laid off yesterday.

The first is Duffy, who reminds me some of a long-time fave of mine, Dusty Springfield. I've always been a fan of 'throaty' singers with range, especially female ones who can go from a purr to a growl in less than a heartbeat, and Duffy gives me all indications she is up for that and more. Simplicity, even to the point of being borderline retro, is not a detriment if the singer knows how to, and does, carry the emotion over to listeners. I'm actually slightly more fond of Duffy's "Mercy" song, but could not find a video of such that I liked, so we'll go with my second-fave, the heart-broken "Warwick Avenue" instead here:

Duffy - New Music - More Music Videos

Duffy's "Warwick Avenue". Video embed from MTV's video collection...yes, believe it, from MTV. Someone remembers.
The second is a powerhouse of a singer, Jazmine Sullivan, who (in typical American mass radio practices) has been marketed to an 'urban' (read: black/African-American) audience, even though I think her appeal is far, far larger than that. (Fingers crossed somebody wises up: music has never been color-blind, its marketing should never be, either.) I'm not sure if I like Sullivan's voice or the 'sound' of her songs more...I guess I'll figure that out for certain with her next album. The first time I heard Ms Sullivan I thought she was maybe Mary J. Blige...and I love the voice and performances of Ms. Mary J. I was first hooked with Ms Sullivan's "Bust Your Windows", but it's her latest, "Lions, Tigers, and Bears", that I find absolutely memorable.

Jazmine Sullivan making it look easy: "Lions, Tigers, and Bears". Now we must keep the non-singers from attempting it at the next karaoke party...
Please, Clyde and others helping your online listeners survive these grey-filled days, bring on some more of this... and thank you.

Spring is Coming: Bring Out the Toolbelt

2009-02-12T08:24:00.001-05:00

It was an absolutely glorious weekend this past Saturday and Sunday, and groundhog or no, I'm hopeful that this warming burst somehow triggers an early return of Spring. I'm so over Winter, and its snow, cold wind, and long, grey days...and I live in the Mid-Atlantic, for Pete's sake, where really we have nothing to endure weather-wise. (People back home, especially the dear Mama, who have suffered through endless snow, ice, sleet and the ever-so-fun occasional power outage have something to really complain about.)

So, with the warm weather, I'm returning to a passion of mine: DIY. But not my DIY (as I'm now at a point with the apartment where I can only do so much more as a renter) specifically, but back to volunteering with Habitat for Humanity on a more regular basis. There is something really quite wonderful about helping someone build, and then live in, a new home: a home you helped to construct with your own hands, your own sweat, your own labour. And if you learn, or maybe re-learn, a new skill or two along the way...you're better off still. Few opportunities exist that are this immediately rewarding.

To those that want to learn, Habitat for Humanity build sites are really quite educational and wonderful. (I've always believed that if all the 'flippers' of recent years had been required to do a year volunteering with Habitat prior to getting their loans, a good number of homes nationwide would not have been as botched, or unsold. You want reality about home construction/refurbishing? Come follow and film Habitat for awhile.) Sure, some volunteers are more skilled than others (and I'm certainly on the lower end of even the less skilled, as several builders and professional tradespeople often donate their time), but the spirit of helping out others...and actually carrying that spirit through from inception to completion...is contagious. Except for lunchtime when everyone is ravenous, no one's going around checking the time as everyone is just plowing along, from one task to the next (and lunch gets donated sometimes from people saying 'thanks', too). With very few restrictions, you can learn any number of skills and help out on any number of projects. You work alongside the future homeowners (who are required to put in a substantial amount of 'sweat equity'), church groups, friends of the intended family, construction professionals, and people just like me...people who walk in off the street with a pair of work gloves and are willing to help. And the demand for affordable housing, especially in these troubled economic times, is great indeed.

So, this past Saturday, I joined up with Habitat again...this time with a very lively and productive group from Pittsboro, NC. This group presently has three homes under construction at the Pittsboro site I worked at, plus another closer to completion in nearby Siler City, NC. And while I am very rusty, I got handed a job that I actually wasn't too bad at (albeit a bit slow): exterior painting. Below is some of my painting handiwork (I think we've got about 65-70% of the house painted now), of which I'm pretty proud. Not bad for a first day back in a long time...

This is one of the three homes currently under construction in Pittsboro. This one, and the one to its right, are single story construction, while the third one across the street is a two story. First time I've been to a Habitat site with these many volunteer build homes (a cul de sac at the end of a wooded lane, if you will) being constructed simultaneously.

Perhaps not much to brag about unless you're me: did the whole side of this until the high portions above the window, as I'm bad with ladders)...the window is well above my height and I'm close to six feet tall. I was pleased actually, been ages since I worked with a roller.

...And a Pinch to Grow an Inch!!

2009-02-11T10:33:00.000-05:00

It's a damn great day to be alive. Incidentally, it's also my birthday.

It's 73 degrees outside, the sun is shining, and there's not a cloud in the sky. (Although if history says anything, there will be.) I'm off today from work, and tomorrow, and the day after. Also the weekend that follows. And, in a true testament that I'm living the good life these days, my friends have not forgotten me...sending cards, gifts, emails. From a world close and to lands afar, I've been contacted by many. I'm a lucky, lucky girl.

Let me share some of which I've received today by email (both videos from YouTube)...

From Lisa (who thankfully sent me something else as a gift, but this is pretty damn cute in its own right):

The Birthday Hamster

From J, who sent this off in a moment while getting some overpriced coffee in SoCal (and this is so wrong on so many levels, but brings back some great memories of working with her...smooches, kiddo!):

Weird Al Yankovic singing "Happy Birthday". Lyrics can be found here.
("Come on boys and girls, sing along...okay?")

These friends alone make my day even more special, even more memorable.

And I love you, one and all.

Mama Always Said to Bring a Sweater

2009-02-04T07:44:00.007-05:00

I'm horribly sorry about the lack of recent posts, as I'm been busy doing some work and offsite projects which have really been taking up my free time. In addition to starting some new things that will improve my health and stress levels (or so I think, anyway), I'm also trying to get some work-related items done pronto, too, to meet a fast-approaching deadline. Again, my apologies.

Down South, we who live here are always aware that we're all a bit schizophrenic in what we hold dear...we respect our distinctive and historical Southern culture, yet have spent billions of late to make ourselves into some of the most modern cities in America. We appreciate (and want) a slow-cooked, old-fashioned meal, but yet we also race around all day long on interstates and complain about the speed limits still being too low. Some here still speak with a pronounced slower drawl, all the while helping you solve problems with your latest tech gizmo. Confederate flag and Obama bumper stickered-cars park side by side without incident, and hell, the owners most likely are friends. There are many, many things that make us the South, and that make us a direct contradiction to those not lucky enough to live here.

Recently, even our dear Mother Nature has been playing along. To put it bluntly, 'winter' as I have known it here and elsewhere as a child, has taken a leave this season. Instead, we're getting something more akin to Forecast Roulette. And, with Mother's recent involvement, I'm actually starting to believe more in the whole global warming movement. I've been to many places throughout the world and survived more than a few weather events...but never have I consistently seen the weekly temperature swings I have this winter.

The week of the Inauguration, we had snow that Tuesday, which gradually wore away over the next two days ('wore away' being the operative words as we really do not have the hard-core snow removal equipment like many states do). By that weekend, though, we were sunny, almost early Spring-like, pushing 65. This week, some areas got snow last night...but, once again, we're predicted to be in the 70s by the weekend (see below). And, while we may not have had snow each time we've dipped down low this season, the dips and subsequent swings back upwards have been frequent.

Predicted forecast from WRAL-TV, Raleigh, North Carolina, for the rest of this week. And, yes, it's still February.
It's nothing of a small wonder how more of us are not sick from all the temperature changes up and down. Dressing in layers...something that is generally left to those who have moved here from up North or those lucky enough to live on the coast...has taken on a new art form. You leave the house in the morning dressed for one season, but come prepared to strip a layer off as you'll drive home in another. This whole flux has got more than a few...self included...wondering if this year, (not totally dissimilar to what is going on with our economy and nation), is bringing forth some new future none of us are really prepared for.

I'm thinking I'm gonna need a new cardigan.

'Twas Nice While It Lasted

2009-01-25T23:25:00.006-05:00

Last week, as the world watched as a new President be inaugurated on an historic day, I sat at home and watched the snow fall outside. We don't get a lot of snow here, so when we do, most things sort of shut down...schools are closed, roads unsalted for hours on end, mass runs on milk and bread occur at local grocery stores. Normally, I would be considered part of the 'essential personnel', but this time we took advance action on Monday night...so I got to stay home. And I enjoyed quite the glorious sight, even if it was all melted away by early Friday morning.

Pictures from my front door, home on the farm...

Today: The Work That Lies Ahead

2009-01-20T19:09:00.005-05:00

The now very iconic "Hope" poster of Barack Obama, courtesy of a contributor pool from Flickr.

Words from The Man himself, who (thankfully) became President today...

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.

~ President Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States of America, January 20, 2009

A complete copy of his Inaugural Speech can be found here.

The speech, while well-written and focused, was also not as electric as it had been hyped up to be. It was not like one given by the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., nor Abraham Lincoln, nor John F. Kennedy...all of whom Obama has been compared to, for various reasons, for many months now. Nor was today's speech too akin to the one he gave after securing the Democratic nomination. However, it was concise, direct, and full of confidence...and what a change that was to see, even from the confines from my living room. But then again, I'm not sure I want an 'electric' President in office; instead, I want one not afraid to do things and see that they are done...and does them fairly, openly, and without breaking umpteen Constitutional laws to do so. (Let's face it, that would be a nice damn change, too, from the last decade, truly, when you consider the whole Dubya administration and the last two years of the Clinton presidency...the latter which was politically immobilized after the Monica Lewinsky debacle.)

I liked what I saw and heard from our new President, although I am anxious for the details to come forth and the plans to be implemented. But one day at a time, people, one day at a time. However, for the first time in a very, very long time, I felt I could truly support my leader once again.

Funny how that whole thing with 'faith' and 'trust' works in politics, isn't it?

Additionally, I found the following links that I feel are worth a look:

Help Obama Restore America on the Internet

And my favourite comic of Bush so far (one I could not wait to see, truth be told)...although it will come and go all too fleetingly

A Declaration of the Charges

2009-01-19T23:52:00.009-05:00

As we wind down this most ugliest tenures in American history tonight, I wanted to touch upon and include just the briefest summary of some of the injustices we have endured. It is a litany of problems, large and small, for certain. But it also represents one of the greatest opportunities for us going forward: to finally start to fix all these problems, and be a respected leader on the world stage once again. God knows, it's long, long overdue.

(But, hey, don't despair: you, too, can send words of goodbye to #43.)

Dubya, I don't even know where to begin when describing your crimes and your ignorance. Luckily for us all, Keith Olbermann from MSNBC's "Countdown" does.

Keith Olbermann on CNBC's "Countdown", reporting his editorial peace of The Bush Presidency in Eight Minutes.

And what an absolutely frightening eight minutes that is, truth be told. Watch this and weep first...then watch it again and take notes of the many problems still thriving. Those notes are now our challenges as a country, and they represent what will be needed to solve those problems.

Question is: Are we really up for the task?

Happy New Year: 2009

2009-01-01T16:12:00.006-05:00

May you have one of happiness, and not of tears.
May you have one of ambition, and not of fears.
May the star you wish upon come finally within your reach,
May the lessons you learn equal those that you teach.
May the dreams that you dream be happy and true,
May the failures you suffer be minor and few.
May you always recall the taste and tenderness of your lover's mouth,
May you follow passions as they lead...east, west, north and south.
May your endurance be long, your strength at the ready,
May your confidence not fail you, may your conscience hold steady.
May you follow the winds to the sails of your heart,
And may you treasure the end of your day as much as its start.

Best of 2008...Live Music Shows, Part 1

2008-12-29T16:46:00.013-05:00

I've wanted to do this for ages, but for the past two years that inspiration would come and go by the wayside...or at least would not get 'recalled' until the proper time for such posts had long since past. This year, I'll maybe get some of this down at last. It's still unknown how many parts this will be.

Best shows from this year (in no particular order, and I've thrown in pictures where I could...and please forgive if they are repeats from the slide shows):

AC/DC at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, December 18. I've expounded on this at length to anyone within earshot, so I'll spare you non-heavy-metalheads another plug for these legends' Black Ice world tour. Still amazed they're as good as they were (esp as they've been doing this for 35+ years), and still do not regret a cent spent for my rather highly-priced (for me, $100+) ticket. Would enthusiastically still do it again, although not on the backside of a 24-hr-long beach vacation.

AC/DC performing "You Shook Me All Night Long", Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, NC, December 18, 2008.

St. Patrick's Day celebration featuring Hercules Mulligan and My Three Kilts, and a host of other acts before and after, at Tir Na Nog, Raleigh, March 15 weekend. Not only music and beer, but quite easily the most agreeably drunk lot of Irish, Irish-descendant, and Irish-wannabes I've ever encountered in this neck of the woods. I will not put up pictures of such event on here to protect the innocent, however let me just say I'm frankly not sure who was the more 'memorable': Chris King (lead singer of the Hercs), the combined talent of My Three Kilts (who had the difficult job of directly following the Hercs), or my beloved Wise Ricky, who reduced himself to banging in rhythm on the table with the silverware, scaring all of the neighbouring table guests, and then somehow remembering his Virginia upbringing by calling his Irish mother to wish her a happy holiday...all the while banging away on said wooden tables.

Great Big Sea at Fletcher Opera Theater in The Progress Energy Performing Arts Center in Raleigh, October 29. A strong runner-up to Best Show (Period) this year...Alan Doyle and Company had the audience eating out of their hands from the outset and kept it going all night long. My first Great Big Sea concert down here and I did not leave disappointed. I've seen Mr. Doyle before...but with another band and on mostly on another continent...and was more than pleasantly surprised with his easy demeanor and friendly style (the other arrangement did not let him speak much). The show wasn't so much a concert per se, but more a singalong party atmosphere among an earnestly devoted group of fans --- fans who knew every word, and to every song, for the most part. Standing room only from the first chord to the end, too (at least in my section).

And dispute the complaints of the reviewer linked here (calling it 'a ridiculous distraction'), I thought the 'fan jumping on stage to declare her love for her now husband and children' bit was more than a bit welcome, and actually very well received, by most in attendance. (C'mon, people, have a heart.) I found out post-concert that the 'she' (and her husband) in question are Friends of this Blogger (and great friends and supporters of the Hercs as well), aka Mr. and Mrs. Pat Young. Well done, everybody.

Great Big Sea performing in the Fletcher Opera Theater at The Progress Energy Performing Arts Center, Raleigh, NC, October 29, 2008.

Barleyjuice at The Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in Linville, July 12. While I've been on the fence about who the Kings of the Mountain are, so to speak, in the past, I do think that Barleyjuice slightly nudged out the Scottish lads of Albannach this go-around (at the Highland Games, anyway...it's a friendly competition). I love their energy, I love their instrumental work, I love the happy-go-lucky rumble of their characters. Given the especially difficult task of getting this year's Saturday Night Concert going (previous acts had lulled some of the audience into a bit of a nap), the Barleyjuice lads more than took on the challenge and won. Additional shows at the Williamsburg Scottish Festival later in October only cemented my appreciation of them.

Barleyjuice performing in one of the morning grove stages at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games, Linville, NC, July 12, 2008.

Reckless Kelly, Nashville Pussy and The Reverend Horton Heat at the Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh, November 6. I hate to say this, but I all but missed Reckless Kelly this show (and, yes, I know I shall burn for this, as RK is a damn fine band). I've seen RK do several other shows over the years, and I guess I saw it as a reasonable sacrifice in terms of things to come. The last time I saw the Rev at the Lincoln...last year in a memorable trifecta that had Nashville Pussy opening (something seems so wrong when typing that), Hank Williams III/Assjack in the mid-show, and the Reverend closing...I had the misfortune of (a) being a bit body slammed into the side walls (courtesy of the 'hillbilly mosh pit' that occurred during the Assjack set), and (b) losing out on getting an additional beer later on, and (c) seriously wondered if I was getting too old for this fan base.

So armed with that knowledge this year, I deliberately set out to get the beer rations in advance and also a handy ~~T-shirt~~ work shirt. Reckless Kelly almost-miss aside, the Nashville Pussy show was absolutely top-notch and the RHH (especially my favourite bassist ever, Jimbo) showed, once again, why they deserve to be headliners anywhere they go. (And while we're speaking of headliners, I fully expect Pussy to be doing just that next year...they consistently get, and keep, a show going.) And I didn't once miss the body slamming into the outside wall.

The Reverend Horton Heat at The Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh, NC, November 6, 2008. All-time crowd pleaser Jimbo is on the stand-up bass to the right.

More wonderful mentions as time allows tomorrow night...

Merry Christmas...Y'all

2008-12-25T11:50:00.005-05:00

Merry Christmas, friends and others just stopping by. I hope it's a great one for everybody, no matter where you are in life or wherever you find yourself situated.

I, myself, have already slept in some, but will partake in some homemade pizza, homemade beer, and homemade pumpkin pie later in the day with some friends. (Who says the holidays require 'traditional' food fare?) And I'll finish it with either a chaser of football on the telly or some overly-romantic British period piece...I have not decided yet. Thank heavens we're one of the (very few, it seems) places in the States not half-buried under snow or ice this year...instead, the lawn here on the farm is gleaming still from the morning dew and the warmth of a sun breaking through. It's a damn good day to be alive and I am thankful for that.

As per my usual (although I'm tardy this year, I know), I give you some of my favourite songs/videos of the holiday season. This time, it's a repeat classic which I shall never tire of: Robert Earl Keen's "Merry Christmas From the Family". While it has been covered now by any number of artists, this is the one I consider the original, and therefore, the best version. I'm never sure why it appeals to me the way it does...maybe it's because I actually knew some families like this way back in the day while still living in the Midwest??...but it's always cranked up when played on the radio.

Enjoy the Family, folks.

Robert Earl Keen singing the infamous 'Southern' theme song of Christmas: "Merry Christmas From the Family". Video clip from YouTube.

This Is How It's Done: AC/DC, Angus Young

2008-12-23T02:48:00.014-05:00

I have 'wrapper's wrist' as I have been doing too much gift-wrapping at work, (77 yesterday alone, but who's counting?), so the actual written descriptions for the last few days may not make it on here. However, there is one snippet of video from last Thursday's AC/DC concert in Charlotte that must make the cut...here and now.

Forget about separating the men from the boys, for we are about to separate the gods from the mere mortals. Gods with guitars anyway, and those are always the best kind.

The following, ladies and gentlemen, is how a guitar solo is supposed to be if it's done within a serious rock n' roll band. God bless AC/DC: still rockin' after all of these years, and they've been performing all over the world almost as long as I've been alive. Frankly, no further build-up is even necessary. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Mr. Angus Young.

Angus Young doing part of his full-length tour de force solo, at the end of the "Let There Be Rock" at the Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, NC, December 18, 2008. (The first link here will take you to a vintage 1977 video on YouTube, featuring the late, great former lead singer Bon Scott. Rest in peace, Bon, rest in peace.) And, yes, like many others taking pictures or doing short snippets such as this one, I did get permission from the security personnel before doing so. Sorry about the 'bounce' with the camera, it really could not be avoided from where I was standing. Also apologies about the short length here, too...I have a longer, better solo I tried repeatedly to upload...but Blogger has video size limits unfortunately.
I don't think I impress that easily and I've seen dozens and dozens of shows, of all rank and file and in varied location. The good ones sometimes escape your memory, but you remember the really bad ones and you 'chisel in stone' the totally fantastic ones. This AC/DC show is not only 'chisel'-worthy, but I'm honestly trying to determine if this is the all-time best show I've seen. (Its only strong competitor is Bruce Springsteen at the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill back in 1992, I think...a marathon show even by Bruce standards...that went well on into the night, and had us long-suffering-in-the-bleed-seats undergrads make it down to dance during the three or four encores.) When you consider the youngest of the lads in this band is an eternally-youthful 53 years (Angus) and the band's reputation speaks for itself, it is a bit mind-blowing that they can still take on...and still take down...all comers.

Though I grumbled when I first bought the ticket, arguably this turned out to be one of the best 'arena' shows I've been to in ages. The 'lads' (as it were, for rockers are never to get old), still have it in spades.
At the very minimum, an absolute 'must see' if you're a classic rock fan at all.

And She's Somewhere Down the Highway

2008-12-18T09:39:00.005-05:00

I will do a post of all the recent activities sometime this weekend, promise.

Just made it back from a day trip to Kill Devil Hills, NC, to the Orville and Wilbur Wright Memorial (in honour of the 105th anniversary of the First documented Flight), and also to Manteo, NC. Photos, details, and observations on that to come this weekend as well. Tons of pictures, actually...might end up as another slideshow you'll click through to see them all. Fabulous weather for all sorts of sightseeing yesterday, too.

Today, I am heading off to Charlotte to watch AC/DC's concert tonight at the Time Warner Arena there. Don't think they allow cameras for the show, but I'm sure I'll have some comments about it after I recover.

Nothing like crossing the state for events on two separate days...

Music, Beer, and Laughter: The Markings of the Weekend

2008-12-12T07:16:00.007-05:00

Yes, folks, I still am alive. And, yes, folks, I still blog here...but admittedly it's become a struggle time-wise as of late with extra struggles at work, some out-of-town social events, and a few other projects going on. I am trying, although it may look otherwise at the moment.

This weekend, in my desperate attempt to let off some steam and maybe even actually escape from work-related things seven days a week, it's a trifecta of entertainment. I need the escape, I need to spend time with good friends and share a few chuckles. And I desperately need a vacation, but the chances of that happening is very dim indeed. So, I'll take what I can get...and (to quote Meatloaf, which is a first even for me I think) 'two out of three ain't bad'.

Friday: Long-time blog favourites Hercules Mulligan will be playing at the Tir Na Nog in downtown Raleigh from 7-9 pm. The newly-improved lineup, which features long-time members Dave Cauthorn on guitar and Chris King on vocals, whistle and drum, have been recently joined by Julie Ross on fiddle and concertina and Mike Baranski on banjo. It's a slightly different sound than the 'original' group that I adored at first sight a couple of years ago now...but I like where this newer creation is now going, too. And as I have said many times to friends and complete strangers in public (and think I have here, too), Chris King is quite arguably one of the best vocalists in the area and he has an easy rapport with his audiences. It will be good to see the gang again tonight.

Saturday: This is a bad day for me, as once again, I am double-booked for two things I really love and, unless an "Star Trek"-like transporter suddenly becomes safe and available to me, I'm going to have to choose between the two. Over in Raleigh, again at the Tir Na Nog, Elroy, North Carolina's finest, My Three Kilts, takes the stage from 7-9pm. Like the Mulligans, they also do a Celtic-inspired set, but with a rowdier/rockier tone and approach (the one liners can come at you fast and furious, and their 'R' rated sets are not to be missed). The Kilts were the wonderful hosts of Oktoberfest, which a slideshow is available for viewing in a previous post.

Over in Carrboro at around the time MTK are finishing up, (you see where the transporter would be so great with this, don't you?), cult favourite and banana puddin' eatin' and chicken throwin' icons, Southern Culture on the Skids, will be taking to the stage at the Cat's Cradle. (If you are not familiar with their sound or with the heavy audience participation at their shows, check out their "TV Room" for full-song clips. That and the recipes...and the recipes are real, some are damn tasty even...are great little features from their site.) The SCOTS are always a blast no matter where they play, but especially so in and around town here as they truly are local people. (As our the great Squirrel Nut Zippers, who had a show/art exhibition at the ArtsCenter on December 3 that regrettably I was unable to make. Another (part-time) local resident, comedian Lewis Black, got my attention in Durham that night instead.)

(Inserting small plea here: I know I say this practically every time and, yes, I also acknowledge that the economy has a lot of us hurting right now (self included), but if, at all possible, please come out and support live music shows and your local musicians. Countless hours of rehearsals and travel for some of these folks make any 'pay' they do get from venues practically non-existent. Local bands play for the love of playing and the hope of connecting with an audience...and, in good times as well as bad, they need audiences to come out and support them. If they've got merchandise and you can skip a fast food meal in the week to come, make the sacrifice...those few bucks are someone's new guitar strings or gas to/from the shows. As much as you can, I urge everyone to take up the challenge and go see a live music show somewhere that's convenient.)

Sunday: the Wise Ricky and I make beer. Now that he's gotten the 'I want to make cider' stage out of his system (and apparently it needs a few tweaks), we're back to what we know how to do best: beer, glorious beer. Our best batches, still, have been the Australian-like blends, although I'm hankering to try up a replicated batch of the English-brewed Fuller's London Pride (which is, thankfully, still made the correct way and its great taste shows it). I have an English patient from work who I have to thank for this great recommendation, and now that I know I can somewhat readily get it through an importer here, I have developed a deeper (and new) appreciation for this exceedingly pleasant and mellow gem. I still prefer my Carlton Crown Lager from Oz, mind you, but hell it's been two years+ since I've been able to indulge in any of that as it's sadly not sold over here...and a girl has needs, ya know?

And finally on Sunday, we get to pop Ricky's cherry a bit movie-wise. After the next great batch of homebrew is done and happily in creation, we're whipping out the popcorn and other necessities for what I hope will become a monthly tradition: Movie Night. (Or maybe Movie Day, as Ricky needs and enjoys his sleep far more than I do.) We're starting with a couple of comedy classics that, inexplicably, Ricky has somehow avoided in his 40+ years so far in being the smartest man I've ever met: "This Is Spinal Tap", and "Best in Show" (the latter especially as Ricky's job and love for dogs is well-known). Dear Ricky is not the world's biggest movie fan by any means...and it is one of my deepest passions, so it's an area where little discussion between us takes place...but amazingly he has finally relented to this exercise. I'm just hoping he likes the "Stonehenge" and "Big Bottom" sequences from "Spinal Tap" as much as I, and many many others, always have. And the ventriloquist hunter from North Carolina, and Parker Posey really in need for some Prozac from "Best in Show"...

Smell the glove, indeed.

"Oh, The Humanity!" Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T16:34:00.007-05:00

I'm completely away from the home base this weekend, traveling up and down what seems like endless interstate miles, but actually it's just through the states of North and South Carolina, and Virginia. Some of the travels have been to catch up with friends, some of it has been to enjoy the holidays with the incredibly welcoming family members of friends. No matter the destination, though, it has not been without laughs nor in the lacking of good food: giving thanks for all that has been given me so far, and making me remember what is all too important to forget.

I leave you temporarily here with one of my favourite holiday show clips, and with one of my favourite holiday moments from my long-ago youth. Have a laugh with me...and then go get that additional 'small' slice of pumpkin pie we both know you've been craving. (Video from YouTube.)

The infamous "Turkeys Away" episode from the highly underrated and fantastic sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati". Arguably one of the best shows on-air during its heyday, and this is arguably one of the funniest episodes they ever filmed. If you get a chance to see the whole episode...or, lucky you, the series...DO NOT pass up the opportunity. An unequalled show even now, and ace reporter 'Les Nessman' (portrayed by Richard Sanders) still has not been surpassed.

And a special note of love for 'Dr. Johnny Fever' (the blond, sunglass-wearing DJ trying to handle things from the booth in the above clip), played by Mr. Howard Hesseman himself: those of us you grew up listening to Don McCord on the radio thank him...and thank him very much...for his wonderful portrayal on "WKRP". Even though he did it in a very funny way, Hesseman honoured a great man now lost. And thanks for helping Janis, too.

Oktoberfest @ The Nutless Hound Pub, Elroy

2008-11-25T21:34:00.002-05:00

NC State Fair, October 2008

2008-11-25T21:08:00.003-05:00

Be Don Draper: "Mad Men" Has Arrived

2008-10-26T11:58:00.015-04:00

Friends and family of yours truly will tell you that I am a bit of a snob when it comes to most television and movies. I am not the 'typical' American who really likes the summer blockbusters; in fact, that may be the time I'm least likely to be there. I like my story lines (no matter if small or big screen) to be complex, to have multi-dimensional characters, to blur the 'wrong' from the 'right'. Don't telegraph me the plot, but give me something instead I can wrap my head around and work out, maybe question even. Don't provide me a canned laugh track, but instead present me something witty and well-written so that I will voluntarily laugh out loud. Make me cry when I least expect it, make me smile when it's a tragedy. Don't give me what I've seen so many times before, but rather give me something totally unexpected, or something old taken completely in a new direction. All I ask (and here's the hard part) is that you please don't waste my time and money.

Sadly so much of what is on television and in the movie theatres now can't even give me half of that above list. No wonder I'm searching out more classic movies, or discovering the wonders that are the BBC®, BBC America® and Ovation® cable channels, or just simply reading more. I don't want to kill my television, nor do I want to boycott my cinema, but I would like something that challenges me once in awhile. I think it's a simple request, really.

For example, I adored "Homicide: Life on the Street" for so many of these things, but led mainly by the powerful acting dynamics between Andre Braugher and Kyle Secor. The show was not easy to digest some nights, as it was depressing, questioning, and provoking as the scripts frequently challenged viewers to examine topics as diverse as religion, justice, race, sexuality, and death. But, to those like myself who were as crazed with it, each episode left us wanting more...a tall order as cast members shuffled in and out in a semi-steady pace. Still, in my opinion, "Homicide" is one of the very best, if not the best, dramas to ever be serialized...and it still has not received the high praise it so richly deserves.

Lord knows, you learn to appreciate the gems and miss them greatly when they leave. And then you pray another such find happens across your path.

That said, my latest addiction is "Mad Men", over on AMC. Stunningly done and stylized to explore the personal and professional relationships of a group of advertising professionals in the early 1960s, this show is simply an undiscovered beauty. Complex story lines, three-dimensional characters, subjective conclusions...this is absolutely not the spoon-fed drama we Americans have become all too accustomed to seeing. Instead, this is Drama with a capital 'D'...and served with a constantly lit cigarette and half-full G&T, just for good measure. This is the show you always hoped you could find and support; this is the show you always knew could be made somehow. Thank God someone now is.

I'm far from being the only one in my praise, though. In just its second season, "Mad Men" has won 2 Golden Globe awards, and 6 Emmys (including the last one for Outstanding Drama Series, the first time such an award has been given to an American basic cable program). It's so good, in fact, that parodies and jokes about the show's coolness are popping up everywhere...I can only hope all the attention is bringing more and more viewers as a result. Even the good kids over at "Saturday Night Live" (who all of the sudden have decided to become smart again), have caught on to the rush of '60s ad cool and decided to run with it.

Ladies and gents, let me introduce you to "Mad Men"'s main character, advertising executive Don Draper (actor Jon Hamm). He's a war veteran with a past, makes the great money but has an unhappy trophy wife, two squabbling kids, and a loyal dog...yet he's a serial womanizer and deceiver, known for saying much with his eyes and far less with his words. (If "Mad Men" has perfected anything, it's the ability to have the entire cast use silence as dialogue and still make it look natural...something I thought "The Sopranos" never consistently pulled off. Enjoy the silence, indeed.)

Mr. Hamm, thankfully, can and does pull off the absurd side of his own meal ticket here, as the video clip below from "SNL" clearly demonstrates. Enjoy Don/Jon in all of his glory...

"Be Don Draper" skit from "Saturday Night Live", featuring actor Jon Hamm. Video embed from Hulu.

My Three Kilts at Tir Na Nog

2008-10-25T11:03:00.004-04:00

A quick post this morning, as I'm trying to force my lazy arse into gear and actually get something done today...

The Wise Ricky and your (semi)faithful blogger took in the My Three Kilts show last night at Tir Na Nog over in Raleigh. Last seen as the opening band for Albannach on Kilt Night there back on October 8th, MTK came into last night's performance very loose, very jovial, and as their typically enthusiastic selves. (Oh, if other bands I've seen over the years would try just as hard to take themselves less seriously...) And luckily for all...especially considering the rainy weather, the North Carolina State Fair going on, and the economic worries...the lads were met with an equally fun-loving, joy-to-be-had, 'let's have a few beers and celebrate life' audience. Hell, we even had a newlyweds in attendance last night, is that not reason enough to have faith in the positive?

I've always thought that words can never do music of any sort justice...sometimes what is unspoken is far more memorable and lasting than the notes or lyrics themselves. That applies to serious material...Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" comes immediately to mind...but it also applies to off the cuff, totally 'fun for fun's sake' performances that you'll only best experience in a public venue with live music. This certainly holds true with last night's show, as evidenced by the video clip below.

The beloved newlyweds are the couple dancing to the left; My Three Kilts...left to right, Scott, Rob, and Shane...are on the right hamming it up to U2's "With or Without You". © 2008.

Struggling for Air in a Mudbath

2008-10-20T23:59:00.007-04:00

It's fourteen days. Fourteen, ever-so-long, can't-it-end-already, God-make-it-stop, days. Hi, I'm The Marquise and I live in the political battleground state of North Carolina. And I am under siege. Please help me.

Normally we do not have such issues to contend with. While I live in a notoriously liberal part of the Old North State, it is arguably the only liberal part of the state. We are surrounded by conservatives on all sides, and generally the conservatives win, although we do sometimes sneak in an occasional Democrat in one of those outliers just to keep things interesting. But for many years, well really as long as I've been here since the college days, those of us with a liberal/Democrat/Libertarian/third party bent always knew, and somewhat accepted, we would be in the minority here.

But things have drastically changed this election. North Carolina presents a strange set of variables to both parties this year: still economically growing (if only just a bit) given this national recession, still experiencing a steady influx of new citizens from other parts of the country, still greatly utilizing (and I'm being especially kind when I use that word) illegal labor from Mexico, and still basing a large military population who are growing weary of being on their whatever number tour away from home (and in the Middle East mostly). Not to mention, a large segment of our population...the black vote...has been actively and aggressively targeted this election by both parties, but in new ways. Not only are they courted to register and actually vote, mind you, but also targeted with campaign messages that actually include them as members of the 'working professional' voter group. Considering what nonsense the late long-term Senator Jesse Helms put out (and, disturbingly, got away with), that last part of recognizing black professionals and intellectuals in this election is a huge step forward here.

The end result: a state that once was a given to be a 'red', Republican, and/or conservative in the electoral process is now fighting to keep its place there; and we citizens, who forever have been ignored and never really courted on a national stage, get our chance to finally hear and talk about the major issues of the day. It's like looking in on a fancy, lively, and stimulating dinner party for ages...and then someone comes up and gives you your own invitation.

What I don't think we were anticipating, though, was all the negative hubris that goes with being a 'battleground' state. The increasingly negative ads, from both sides, is steady now on all media outlets...and yet, we are still so new to this, you'll find us at bars, restaurants, etc., still looking at them whenever the ads show up on TV. Not so much for any new information (because they really never give us any), but rather at the total amazement of it all happening here. Suddenly we don't envy Florida, or Iowa, or Missouri anymore with this political mudbathing. Now we're so damn in the thick of it all we can't move without being reminded of it...flyers every day in the mailbox, commercials at every waking hour on any kind of outlet, constant pep rallies and speeches somewhere in state. We're beyond suffering from overkill, we're on the verge of being driven comatose.

The last 'big push' to keep each politician's name out there has been with the roadside campaign signs. Campaign signs are nothing new here (we're not that backward), but normally they are not more populous than the number of fallen leaves. Never has so many printers here been so busy, nor has so many followers been so determined in staking (and re-staking) said signs into any available piece of public property. And, as a final indication we've become overheated with this whole process, neighbour has pulled up contrarian signs of neighbour. It is not uncommon to see this kind of situation playing out on the road to my farm now:

One road, two houses, two very differing neighbours, just off a road littered...left and right, hill and valley...with one or the other candidate's supporters' signs as well. The above picture was taken on my way home from work last Tuesday. By Friday, the McCain sign had been bent in significantly more than pictured, crumpled so badly that it sagged in the center. By Saturday, the McCain sign had either been replaced with a shiny more erect one or the older one lovingly repaired...but the Obama one has gone missing entirely. As have about 10 other Obama ones along that road. I'm thrilled there is so much interest in the election this year, but I am beyond saddened some members of both sides can't accept differing points of view.

When this gets done...and I'm counting down now until the day it will be over...this will only end in heartbreak for somebody and a helluva lot of his supporters. But it's gotta end, and when it does, we need as a nation to move forward no matter the victor. This rampant polarization from both sides does the vast middle not a damn bit of good at all. I'm all for passion in politics, but sometime very soon that passion will need to be redirected to solving our many, many problems...and quickly. But, until then, it's going to get ugly in some places...and it's far from over here and in other battleground states, to be sure. I've dug in and am preparing for the worst.

This last home stretch is upon us now, and it's none too damn soon. But the day after? The day after I'll meet you on the road and we can start recycling all of these signs...no matter who wins the elections. We need to work...finally...together if we have any hopes of surviving as a nation at all.

Yesterday's Wisdom, Tomorrow's Outlook: "Everybody Knows"

2008-10-16T08:31:00.009-04:00

Sorry, folks, work has been a bit...much...lately. Three unfinished posts for here are still three unfinished posts, no matter how much I hate it. Additionally, I've also started another writing project with the end goal of maybe getting back into the writing I did in my yesteryear (which, frankly, seems like an eternity ago now). I will try and get more back with the program here these next few days, as a couple of distractions have finally left town for a few days and things settled.

Like a lot of you, I have not been feeling terribly optimistic about things, and probably less so about where they're headed in the immediate future. Dubya & Co's antics have finally put me in a depressive state about my beloved land. So, as some sort of non-alcoholic consolation quest, I went to my albums (yes, those things, some of us still have them) and looked for something that perhaps would lighten my mental load. And while I did find some charmers (especially those during the WWII era), I also found a classic that encapsulates exactly what is going on now: Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows" (click on title for lyrics).

And then I went to YouTube to find a video for this wonder and found Rufus Wainwright's swinging version. Double martini with your melancholy, anyone??

YouTube video featuring Rufus Wainwright's version of Leonard Cohen's totally fantastic "Everybody Knows". Still dead-on after all these years.
~~Enjoy~~ Survive as best you can, folks. We shall overcome, but we're facing one hell of a ride, I fear, before we actually do.

Saturday Sighs: Lowe's Motor Speedway (Not)

2008-10-11T21:46:00.008-04:00

I should be in Charlotte tonight, I really should. I'm sitting here, doing laundry and the occasional half-hearted attempt at housekeeping, wishing I was there. I am watching the race on TV, but my heart's not in it. I am sad, and sadder still because I am only here because I'm being safe, being practical, counting pennies. Feeling badly that I gave into Adulthood and its responsibilities.

I have not been to a NASCAR® race all this season and it's starting to frustrate me. It must be a sign that I'm getting older or something, because I actually (and it kills me to admit this) have weighed the pros and the cons of going versus my budget. Gasoline prices what they are, and Charlotte still having the shortages they are, I made a conscious decision to not go this weekend. Even though it would be the very last time I would see Smoke (Tony Stewart) drive in the #20 car at Charlotte. Even though it would be the last time I would see Smoke and the simply wonderful Zippy (his long-time crew chief and friend) team up together for this October classic at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Even though...well, hell, even though I've not been racing yet this season. Like I could be any more selfish.

I'm sitting, here, though, writing this and hating that I was practical. Hating that I didn't throw $200 at this weekend excursion of mine (and that's hoping I can find a decent rate per gallon somewhere) and, with it, throw caution to the wind. It is not every year, or every weekend, for that matter when the chances are this good for a lively and competitive race. And while my long-time fave Mark Martin is not competitive this year, and most likely Tony and the Home Depot team won't settle their differences in time to likely be champs this their final run, there is also the camaraderie that exists between us NASCAR® fans, too. A spirit that frankly cannot be replicated at home, watching from a television set. But that is where you'll find me tonight. Finding me hoping I'll be able to go in May next year, instead...really hoping.

So, with a hardened eye at my wallet and a wary eye of the unknown, I decided to not go. The decision, sadly, was not the hardest of ones to make from a purely economical standpoint: Lowe's, despite having plenty of seats available even as late as yesterday, still did not have a fire sale to get the stands filled and instead held their ground for the inflated ticket prices (at least in any areas where you won't risk losing your hearing). Hotel and/or motel rooms still were about as high as they usually are...translation: jacked up some because it's 'race weekend'...and let's not even talk about the gas shortages in and around western North Carolina right now that's pushing fuel prices up to about the $4/gallon range (some help is on the way, though). I know economically we're all having it rough and in most likelihood it's going to get rougher, but apply some common sense NASCAR® (and vendors): sell things for a little less profit margin and get people to come out and be thankful. Or, you can do what you did with me and some others I know and make a difficult financial decision that much easier to rationalize. You help us, we help you.

I'm going to put away my wallet and all of my crib sheets that helped influence me in this decision and try and concentrate on the race instead. Damn, I wish I could be there. Damn, I wish I could try (yet again) to see Zippy at work, getting ready and then stressing and maybe even hear him give Smoke a taste of his own medicine on the radio. Damn, I can almost smell the overpriced beer and tough-as-nails 'soft' pretzels. Earlier this week during qualifying I peeked on the television and saw (approximately) the great seat I had for both races last year. Maybe I can swing the near Martinsville race, maybe that would satisfy my cravings for overblown commercialism, extremely tight jeans (both men's and women's, with both good and bad outcomes), choruses of 'hell ya' and 'JUNIOR!', and also some weird need to see my beloved boys in orange try to take it home one more time. Lord knows it's not been an easy year for me as a fan, but it's been much harder for them (or so it seems, anyway) as a team. I hate to see it end this badly...or at least see it end this badly only through the lens and spin of television.

Honestly, as I write this, I don't know where my loyalties will be next year after the Home Depot team as I've known for so long breaks apart... either supporting Tony or supporting Zippy, as supporting both doesn't look viable at present...but I'm so on the fence it's a bit worrisome right now. In a sport where fan allegiance is everything, I wonder if it's acceptable to jump ship from a fave driver to a fave crew chief?? A wild boy racer called Tony Stewart 'brought me to' Greg (Zippy) Zipadelli oh so many races ago, but it's been Zippy's actions as a man and leader that have kept me a loyal fan when Smoke's actions were unacceptable. I admit I've watched them both with equal emotion over the years, and have been proud to call them 'my' team (although Smoke has not made that easy at times). It weighs on me that a Championship appears nearly out of reach already. I'm heartsick at the prospect of this dynamic duo going their separate ways, and it's not even next year yet.

Nor is it the end of this race, but it is the commercial break. Maybe if I find something else I can flip back and forth with on the telly, I won't be this 'racesick' as the night rolls on...

Kilt Night at Tir Na Nog: Double Header with My Three Kilts and Albannach

2008-10-08T08:05:00.008-04:00

Quick post this morning, as I'm off for a full day's activities...

A fantastic card on hand for tonight's Kilt Night at Tir Na Nog over in Raleigh. Not only is Annie et al setting up a buffet and Scotch tasting (highly advised to buy tickets and get there early), but two of our fave bands will be taking the stage.

©My Three Kilts, 2008

The first, My Three Kilts, down from the local Goldsboro, NC, way, are the fun-loving and enthusiastic chaps whom WR and I had the pleasure of spending a great time with this past July at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games. We were supposed to meet up with them again this past weekend at the Williamsburg (VA) Scottish Festival, but various schedules and commitments had us miss one another. Rob, Scott, and Shane always do a fabulous job...and provide plenty of jokes and funny banter between songs...so it will be great to see them in person playing it up again.

©Albannach, 2008

The second band, and headliner, of the night is none other than long-time fave Albannach. The Scottish dynamos are not new to Tir Na Nog...in fact, that's where WR and I first saw them and left out of there gobsmacked...nor to Raleigh, but they are best-known now for touring the many Scottish festival circuits. The cult that is the Albannach fan base has grown tremendously, and for good reason: the band has simply gotten better and better with their audience (love of Heineken beer notwithstanding). I've lost count how many times I've seen them in just the short time I've known about them...I think WR and I "guess-estimated" about 8-9...but they were simply unstoppable Saturday night at Rockahock Campgrounds (where the Williamsburg Scottish Festival was held this year, and it's fabulous venue for such an event).

Albannach from the 2008 Williamsburg (VA) Scottish Festival.
I've been blown away by Albannach in some past shows, and I've also experienced a couple where I thought all the traveling had temporarily gotten the best of them (and their legendary energy levels). With the exception of perhaps that virginal introduction to them at the Nog some ages ago now, I must say this past Saturday night's performance by them was the best I've ever witnessed. Hopes are high they'll repeat that level of performance tonight, and, if they do, we'll probably all leave there gobsmacked once again. Sometimes words can't do them justice.

My Three Kilts start about 7(ish?), with Albannach scheduled to take up the sticks at about 9pm. Come early to get good seats and get tickets! $10 per person...hopefully I'll see you there.

The Wrong Cure: Bailing Out the Panic

2008-10-03T11:41:00.009-04:00

If you're wondering what that howling noise is every time you turn on your television, radio, or read your news outlet of choice, let me break the bad news: it's now a full-on financial hurricane that few of us could ever have anticipated in scope, and even fewer of us know how to collectively 'circle the wagons' about even now. If you're wondering where your hard-earned money that you invested is, get in line and be prepared to wait a good while...you might also want to consider taking up prayer. If you're wondering if your money really buys anything, or hell if it even exists in this 'illiquid' market, welcome to the club. If you feel you've been duped by Wall Street greed and lax regulations on banks, you have been, as we all have. If you can't sleep at night because you're worried about the economy and your personal stake in it, the only thing I can offer right now is a hug, a smile, one of my home brew lagers, and a positive word of encouragement. We're in this now, folks, and we're in it all the way...best to get hunkered down.

What started as a trickle in late 2006 in the occasional financial blog about the housing markets cooling as people were overextended credit-wise has become a tsunami of constant battering from all sides: employment decreasing, investment and savings institutions evaporating almost every weekend, increasing inflation, the shortage of basic goods, on and on. Not to mention the entire mortgage mess of buying far more than what we could reasonably afford, and the entire personal savings mess of holding back next to nothing 'for a rainy day'. It's the stuff that people like Barry Ritholtz in his The Big Picture blog, J.D. Roth in his blog Get Rich Slowly, and Ron Lieber in his "Your Money" column in The New York Times have been warning us about for well, years, now. I've been reading their sage words for some time now, but kept hoping we'd somehow scrape through this mess relatively intact. But like many of you recently, I've been watching this financial meltdown...and let's call it what it is, an implosion...with an increasingly troubled eye as the chances of any escape disappear into the ether.

Personally, I am very lucky as I still rent, am still employed, and I implemented a debt-free plan some time ago that has worked amazingly well...but only after I faced some very dire circumstances. But no matter as I am involved in one of the most asinine panic runs on fuel I could have ever imagined. North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, all up and down corridors along the Southeast now have gas shortages because our refinery pipelines were shut down and/or destroyed when Hurricane Ike came ashore. For those of you who can readily find gas and pay in the mid $3/gallon range here in the States...I salute you. For those like myself who have found gas stations repeatedly without any product, prices near the $4/gallon mark, and long lines to get the maximum of 5 gallons...I truly do feel your pain. Last week, I could only find 3 stations in the entire town with any kind of gas, each with lengthy lines around the block, and all with a hefty price per gallon just to make things amusing for my wallet. In theory, this gasoline shortage is temporary...that in short order an influx of a new supply will come flooding in, the system will be forever repaired, we'll all return to our former ways of driving and spending, and this 'minor' setback will all but be forgotten. (Sound a bit familiar? Yeah, me, too.) Thirty minutes and five all-too-quickly pumped gallons later, I sadly accepted we've finally entered the Panic Era. And it's not just gas, or milk, or credit...it's everything related to what money does for us.

There is a fine line between totally going off the deep end in a financial denial versus taking a long, deep breath, reassessing a bad situation and then making a workable plan. Trust me, people, I've done both at one time or another and I am the product of families who have done both more than they should have in hind sight. Mistakes are made, checks expected that did not come, items bought that really should have been left behind...it happens and none of us, and especially all of us collectively, are immune. For better and for worse, we Americans live in one of the most materialistically driven societies ever to see the light of day: if we have it and like it, we want more; if it's new we must be the first to try it out; if we have it and others don't yet covet ours, we will do anything on Earth to make them jealous. It hasn't been about keeping up with the mythical Jones' for ages now: instead, it's about being better and having more stuff than The Jones' and rubbing it in their faces at the same time. (Watch the 1960s advertising-based drama "Mad Men" if you need further proof as to how this has been ingrained into our psyche and spending habits.) I am convinced, sadly, that those supposedly leading us into this Bailout of the Century have long since jumped...and want to take the rest of us with them.

And while we're laying out all our cards on the table, let's toss out another one from the Honest Dealer: we are a nation with an elected leadership that will not lead if it means playing well with others from the opposing party, a President and Administration that has so over-embellished 'facts' on so many other affairs that we can no longer take them seriously now, and a Presidential campaign that seemingly has went on longer than most Roman conquests. I can't speak for everyone, of course, but for the last few months I've just been praying Dubya would quietly go off into his Crawford sunset and not start another war (or really just stay the hell off the global stage for once) before he did so. Unfortunately, bad decisions and horrible decision-makers can't be outrun forever, so in these past few days I've had to endure Dubya try on numerous occasions to teach me about a global economics situation he doesn't know a damn thing about, either. Welcome to the Reckoning. Or the Rapture. (Your choice.)

In many ways, it is a battle between Wall Street and Main Street ('the haves' and 'the have nots' if you want to go all socialist on me) now, because no one else has a set (or the legal power, yet) to settle this nonsense. In short, someday we're gonna have to suck it up and take some really nasty medicine if we have any hopes of getting any better for the long run. Instead of doing that, we're heading straight into a blossoming class warfare. The Main Street kids are looking at the Wall Street kids and want to rumble over the latter's market manipulation and greed, while the Walls want to fight the Mains because most of us don't know a damn thing about building investment portfolios, if we save anything at all. Sadly, neither camp seems to know anything for certain about the future of money or the markets and it's practically the blind leading the blind right now. Forget about the banks seizing up credit because they don't trust one another's balance sheet anymore...long term, Main Streeters don't trust Wall Street nor their Government anymore, and the Mains are the much bigger gang to worry about. I didn't vote for Dubya either of the last two elections, but I respect that a great number obviously did. Problem is, I'm pretty sure none of us voted for Hank Paulson and His Great Agenda. Even the wonderful folks at Minyanville are grappling with their bearings after Hank's recent proclamations, and that site is about as close a union of the Streets as we can ever reasonably hope. Dylan Ratigan and the Gang over on my beloved "Fast Money" have been working overtime to explain this meltdown to the average viewer, night in and night out, but with only a limited success...because even the fundamentals are no longer constant.

If what we all were taught...smart and dumb, rich and poor, city and farm, male and female, black and white and everything else in between...about how money works and circulates in this economy ceases to exist, how the hell do we fix anything going forward?

Honestly, until we fall hard and 'hit bottom', I'm not sure we can. (Hitting that financial hell was the only thing that truly worked for me, truth be told. When you have to face your problems at that level, you learn from them and are far less likely to repeat them. ) Additionally, I'm not sure we should even be considering a bailout as the be-all and end-all of this crisis. Pete DeFazio and some other leaders have actually come up with an alternative plan that makes much more sense to me, or at least gets us going on a less 'slash and burn' through the Treasury path, and it could perhaps calm some of the frenzy that's pervading so much of everyday conversation. But only the Paulson suggested $700+ billion bailout will save us from all these bad debts, the mass media say. I disagree, as evidenced by what is still included in said bailout: to lure lawmakers to vote yes on the 'rescue plan', we're also giving tax breaks left and right, covering everything from wooden practice arrows for children, to Puerto Rican rum, to auto racing track facilities. (Note to NASCAR®: you've bled your fans dry enough with the ticket prices and such, take some of those profits and help racing facilities, yours and others, maintain their own damn tracks and stop seeking right-offs.) So, we're essentially bailing ourselves out by cutting our future revenues coming in and still playing political games...yep, that outta work, look at the successful track record for it so far.

Further still, I'm not sure we even deserve a bailout until we adjust our priorities. It will be painful, but it's long, long overdue. We are addicted to living beyond our means and then creating whole segments of the economy to help us get ourselves in debt for just that purpose. Our grandparents, our great-grandparents for some of you, survived the Great Depression and it forever etched memories of thriftiness and hard work within that generation...where did those ideals go, anyway?? Just as you don't give money to a drug addict knowing it's going to be spent on something that will only fuel the addiction, giving a bailout to a society that has no idea where all of its trillions are going as it is...and who amongst us knows where our tax dollars are spent? Anyone?? Anyone?? Bueller??...you only place a band-aid over a gaping gunshot wound. The bad blood will still seep out somewhere, folks, and with this Panic-driven bailout all you've done is just moved the exit site. And I already dread the size of the mess that we'll all have to clean up.

My Little Heaven: Hillsborough and Carrboro

2008-10-03T08:36:00.003-04:00

"SNL" Hits Home Run with Sarah and Hil

2008-09-14T09:14:00.005-04:00

I admit I have not watched "Saturday Night Live" consistently in years. In contrast, as a child, I would secretly hide myself away to a closet TV to watch the 'glory days' of the show...the genius that was John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, "Mr. Bill", my beloved favourite Gilda Radner, et al...but after awhile the newer incarnations just could never hold a candle to the former standard-bearers. (Clips above from the NBC Video Library site.) Somewhere in there I even drifted over to the short-lived but equally good (when the cast was relatively sober, anyway) ABC competitor, "Fridays". (I loved Melanie Chartoff). In my slightly-older years, my new comic love was the daring "In Living Color"...a show and collection of skits that I still can watch and belly laugh at as well as the classic "SNL". (Because of his "Fire Marshall Bill" character, I will always give Jim Carrey's projects a better-than-fair opportunity to be seen...sometimes I've been disappointed, sometimes I've been wowed, but the guy always gets a 'get out of acting jail for free' card I don't extend to most others. Clip links to YouTube, by the way.) Unfortunately, though, after the implosion of "ILC" back ages ago, I have had little in the way of comedy skit shows to get excited about. (And American sitcoms are absolutely dreadful...I guess there's a stupid union rule about having a laugh-track for everything that might have a glimmer of potential...so I haven't watched them really in years, either. American drama, yes; American comedy as it were, no. If I want comedy, I'll switch on BBC-America and see the original shows we're going to rip off in five years' time.) In a country full of promise to take so many jokes on ourselves, it's a resource we've only developed in very awkward, and haphazard, spurts...at least on major network television.

However, in the first time in God knows how long, I made an exception to my 'no-"SNL" rule last night, and I am thankful that I did. Amy Poehler's dead-on impersonation of Hillary Clinton has been a highlight of recent months that I've snuck views of from other blogs, YouTube, and the like. The beauty of the internet now is that you can find just those bits you want and spare yourself the agony of having to watch a potentially horrible show (anybody else who watched Eddie Murphy in his prime wish we'd had that option in the 1980s?) But last night I plopped myself down in front of the telly and eagerly awaited to be surprised...like times of old, but this time I was holding a bottle of beer instead of a class of milk. The verdict? Not too bad all told...they've definitely improved since I last attempted this...but nothing could touch the opening skit. And that opening was the best I've seen or heard about from them in years.

Last night, former regular Tina Fey came back for a cameo appearance to team with Poehler in a soon-to-be-classic: Fey as Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Poehler again as Hillary Clinton, in a speech about sexism in media coverage. This is the kind of stuff that channels the very best of Radner and Company, written and performed by true pros.

Clip embed ©NBC, 2008. Tina Fey as Governor Sarah Palin and Amy Poehler as Senator Hillary Clinton. Taken from this site of videos.

There just may be hope for televised comedy in these final Presidential election days, especially if Fey and Poehler can keep contributing. Makes one sad, though, that in some weird world that these two women...Palin and Clinton , or better yet Fey and Poehler performing as Pallin and Clinton...can't be joined at the hip for some sort of future political project (er, comedic roast). Thank of the 'cultural' memories that could so easily come from that union. Until then, I think I shall have to give "SNL" another try...and I genuinely hope it's not a short-lived run again. In a Presidential campaign that is so surreal and chock full of 'what the fuck' moments as this one is and has been so far, it truly is too bad that Senators Obama and McCain are so very, very dull in comparison.

Music and Mayhem for the Weekend

2008-09-12T07:00:00.004-04:00

A very quick post, as I'm already running late for work...

Tonight, over in downtown Raleigh at Tir Na Nog, Friends of Blog and great musicians extraordinaire Hercules Mulligan will be doing their usual lively set. Wonderful night is forecast for this evening...clouds to move out later today and sunshine in for tomorrow...so come out and join us for a late summer treat. The show starts at 7 pm.

© Carolina Rollergirls, Raleigh, NC, 2008

Tomorrow, over at the Dorton Arena at the State Fairgrounds also in Raleigh, the Carolina Rollergirls (our local womens' flat track roller derby team) takes on the Tucson Saddletramps (which sounds suspiciously like a new team to the league, but I did miss a couple of games from last year, too). A truly fun and lively night of action, as the CRG team is always competitive and draws an enthusiastic crowd. If you've not been, it's time to finally come see what you've been missing. If you've been and haven't made plans already for tomorrow, come out and cheer to the rafters again. The doors open at 5pm (plenty of free parking around the Arena, too, by the way), and the bout starts at 6pm.

Honoring the Silence

2008-09-11T02:28:00.006-04:00

Today marks seven years.

Seven long years of laughter, joy, tears, exhaustion, and pain.

Seven long years of wondering the 'what ifs' of what happened then, and sometimes forgetting the 'why nots' of today.

Seven long years of missing those we cannot physically connect with right now, all the while ignoring those we cannot mentally compromise with any more. Honestly now, what's worse?

Seven long years of looking worriedly over our shoulders and seeing our own reflection. And then be completely scared of turning around again.

And seven long years without answers, and also really without resolution.

Please join me in honouring those many men, women, and children that were lost on September 11, 2001, and in many parts and many weeks afterwards, throughout this world. It was a horrible day in history...a day that we shall never forget.

For more on my particular personal history with this day and those that were lost, I refer you to my post two years ago on this blog. Again, I also extend my prayers to the brave crew and passengers of AA Flight 11 especially. Words cannot describe the bravery and courage they displayed that day.

I also would like to sadly add that the "John" phone representative in that 2006 post...a man whom I knew and worked with, who just happened to get the call from AA 11 Flight Attendant Betty Ong on that fateful day...is now no longer with us as well. He died this past fall, forever a deeply, deeply changed man. If it's true that the real number of casualties from the September 11 attacks may never be truly known, it's also true that my former co-worker "John" became yet another victim of that hell. Maybe, at last, in death "John" can have the peace he so desperately needed ever since trying to help out Flight 11. My heart and condolences go out to all the friends and family of those who are still suffering, and I will never forget.

With deep love and with great loss...

Ready, Steady...Bang??

2008-09-09T19:48:00.006-04:00

Okay, I will admit I'm a bit slow on a lot of the more technical things in life. The finer intersection of architecture and engineering, as just one example of many. Instead of getting into the 'whys' of things, in exact detail, I have just settled into looking on at the final product in a state of amazement, awe, or complete disdain. If I do go researching, analyzing, and digging into every component that really captures my attention about a 'thing', daily annoyances and responsibilities like the job gets ignored, my treasured friends and family go unnoticed, the too-many bills go unpaid...and I frequently give up in frustration most of the time anyways. Those that have had the (dis)pleasure of traveling with me throughout the world know all too well that I can easily spend hours and hours taking photos of porticoes, domed ceilings, hand-crafted Georgian style columns, and a million other small and large building details in between. (Kathy, I again apologize for practically abandoning you in Rome, really.) And don't even get me around the actual building materials like brick, tile, wood or countless other things as I'll forever be putting one thing against the other, creating some mental version of an architectural Nirvana all my own. For better or for worse, I was quite the child honors graduate of Lincoln Logs®. And that's just for the building fetish I have...there are, unfortunately, many more I follow.

Some simple things...learned the hard way either through experience, hard knocks, or through reading countless books to properly identify things I've captured either on film or digitally...I can explain to you and perhaps at even to an exhausting length if I've really sunk my fangs in. The more technical things, especially those involving higher science or mathematics...I absolutely haven't a clue. In many ways, that 'higher technical learning' represents a door that is very tightly locked to me, and I have never even seen, let alone been able to try, its key. Instead of banging myself against said door, though, I will refer you to books or museums or specific writers for your answers (and maybe even to the Web if I'm feeling lazy). Knowledge may be power, but so with it also comes freedom. So, yes, I am a woman seeking both influence and liberty.

I don't have to know the methods of the exact construction of the Pantheon in Rome to understand its immense beauty and accomplishment. I don't have to adore the final product of Cubist paintings to stare in wonder at their compositions and colours. I don't have to be able to diagram the output of an internal combustible engine to devotedly follow and understand all the hubbub about the performance cars tested on "Top Gear" (hell, I can't even parallel park well). Some things are not mutually exclusive; instead, some things just 'are'. As they damn well should be.

I wish I knew all these finer definitions, and in fact I wish I could learn about so many more of these things that intrigue me so, but I'm slowly beginning to accept my limitations and move on despite them. The list of unknowns is long...architecture, ancient languages, pharmacology, geography, how to make a decent animated film, the appeal of Vegemite to Aussies...but I'm hopeful I may just stumble across the answers by dumb luck if I can't get them through a proper self-education. That's the reason why I adore all things Leonardo da Vinci-related, and not so much because he was a genius...arguably The Genius of All Time...but instead because he never gave up learning. Never stopped, even when the knowledge had no foreseen nor immediate applicability to him...but instead he just kept learning for his own sake. How many of us can say that nowadays? I have a hard enough time remembering to stop at the grocery, let alone learn anything new just for the hell of it all.

So, to that end and without any actual benefit to me at all other than just being a curious citizen of the world, I have been strangely and intensely intrigued with the new 'Big Bang' experiment that is scheduled to fully engage sometime tomorrow (September 10). One hundred meters under the French and Swiss Alps, in a very complex circular tube that is 17 or so miles in circumference, scientists of all stripes (but namely a lot of physicists who understand all that 'cool' science stuff from all the "Star Trek"® series) are going to try and recreate The Big Bang with the LHC (large hadron collider), which (depending on your religious views) may or may not have been when the universe as we know it now began. It's an ambitious project to put it mildly and it has cost billions of dollars and decades of time to even get the LHC this far. (You can even take a virtual tour of the Experiment from their website here.)

Now this is where research on the Internet (should I be thanking Al Gore? lol) gets extremely entertaining, albeit also a bit bewildering: from one point of view, there's a chance the scientists will find something called 'the God particle' and we'll all learn what makes up matter and anti-matter. (Questions? Follow your own research on why that's important from here, as I never did comprehend even the easiest of physics lessons.) Then another view posits there's a chance nothing of significance will come from it and it will all be a great loss of money now and for many years to come (and the French will want an additional week of vacation by the time this all concludes). Then, from the rather glass-half-empty group, there's also the chance that a black hole could open up tomorrow (yep, just like that "Star Trek"® episode, but without the pesky Borg firing torpedoes at us...maybe) and the world as we know it will come to an end.

To their credit, the good people at the BBC News have tried to explain it all for the rest of dimwits, although they don't seem to be reporting on the 'end is near' angle so much, which is probably good since, if that bleak theory holds true, that means our hours remaining are very limited indeed. Cheers!

And to think all of this time...while these calculator-proficient, higher-thinking, endearing egghead types have been deep in the heart of Europe, possibly creating both the greatest and worst moment of discovery in our world...I've been worrying about what Dubya and his legacy has done to the global landscape. Or the elections even. Or even how much the cost of food has gone up since the first of the year. Talk about missing the memo...sheesh. And is it just me, or does this LHC collider look like a cousin of 'The Machine' from the movie "Contact" with Jodie Foster??

Cuing the greatest song about time travel gone a bit problematic..."'39" by Queen. (Video...well, audio anyway...from YouTube, as always with me.)

Slight sidebar: My favourite song ever from Queen (and I'm quite the Queen fanatic), and it's a damn nice one to celebrate with and/or go out on. Lyrics to "'39" can be found here. (Bet you didn't know Queen's lead guitarist, Brian May, is now Dr. Brian May, astrophysicist, did you?? Bless the Great Bri, he actually understands all of this stuff, and he even addressed this whole LHC 'switch-on' in his "Bri's Soapbox" column today. It wasn't only Freddie who wanted to reach for the stars, folks...Brian's journey has just been a bit more of a scientifically-grounded one.)

I personally like to think positive: the world as we all know and sometimes love it will not end, a separate universe will not be created (or, if it does, I'm sure all the "Dr. Who" fans, Bless them, will gladly sign up to populate that one), I will still make it out to see the Carolina Rollergirls play their opener this weekend, and maybe I will someday take that long-dreamt after trip to Tuscany and the countryside of Italy.

But, on the off chance something does go haywire on Wednesday and we all find ourselves hopelessly adrift somewhere 'else', let me quote the wonderful Truman Burbank from the equally brilliant "The Truman Show":

"Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!"

Forgive Me If I Smile A Bit

2008-09-03T22:08:00.004-04:00

32.

Thirty-two.

Trente-deux.

Treinta y dos.

I really like that number. Love it, actually.

It's been 6 months' today since I started on the 'eating change' (read: not diet) plan, and I am happy to report I have lost 32 pounds so far. I'm normally not one given to bragging (or at least I try not to be), but I'm happy. Especially so since I haven't been starving myself or (Heaven forbid) been exercising much, either. Honestly, just a helluva lot less junk food and far less carbs. Tracking my daily consumption over at The Daily Plate has been helpful, too, and is actually less cumbersome than you'd most likely imagine.

And, (forgive me while this sounds like an awards acceptance speech) I'd like to thank all of my dear friends and family who have been supportive to me while I've been doing this. I know talking me into eating salads when I was really wanting potatoes has not been an easy job...even though I asked you to...and I know I sometimes have been very defensive about my weight. And let's not even get started about how many old clothes I now need to toss and/or donate...that's still a work in progress. But at least I have a reason to...and thanks to all around. Even the haters.

Thirty-two down, with ideally about another 20-25 to go.

It can, and will, be done.

The Siege Has Ended

2008-09-01T23:11:00.003-04:00

Two notes, one good and one bad, and then I'm off to bed...

The bad news is...that I will need to reload my posts and pictures from the nine or so entries that went 'poof' from August. Apparently what I was seeing as published here was not the same as what y'all were not seeing published there. Moral to the story: always double-check the final product. I'm still at a loss as to what happened and when, but some re-creation will be necessary. I'm waving the white flag on this one and will just have to re-post what's been lost.

The good news is...that the progressive rock festival from this weekend is finally over and we have the environs surrounding the site back to its normal tranquility. Which means I can now sleep again without headphones, or read without headphones, or prepare meals without headphones. It was bad enough that the road had its parking moments and that the trash bins are more than overflowing and scattered about. But it was that the bass sounds (which I am sure were much improved if one was close to the stage to actually hear the music) that were so reverberating at times that it echoed not only around the structures, but actually also through them, too. Moral to the story: over-amplified music festivals, open pastures, and partially subterranean structures generally do not mix. Nor does my patience for having to wait out some of the performances for my sanity.

But, for now anyway, calm has been restored to the Kingdom. And I'll restart all of this again tomorrow.

I'm On the Case...Posts are MIA

2008-08-26T21:56:00.006-04:00

I'm not sure what has happened nor when here, but the August posts have went AWOL from the blog. I've written an email to the powers that be at Blogger, but please be patient with me...hopefully I will get them all restored by tomorrow or Thursday at the latest. In the meantime, if the 'regulars' could shoot me an email (see address in the right sidebar, red background) and let me know when you last noticed the August ones here, I would be greatly appreciative. (Last post should have been this past Sunday's about the local John Edwards extramarital affair fallout.)

I did do some 'behind-the-curtain' code changes, but nothing that should have zapped any of the actual posts. In theory anyway...

Sorry for the inconvenience, people. I'll get this ship back up and pronto. (My Live365 radio station, though, has been checked and is working fine.)

And the Games Stop for No One...

2008-08-10T11:18:00.005-04:00

...apparently not even those who should have come out there wearing flour sacks instead. Even I, not being a fashion plate by any means, knew the following picture (below, the top one is from some of the Chinese performers during the opening ceremonies) from the Hungarian team was just a horrible and God-awful spectacle. Even the hats were unflattering. The ensembles just looked like a flock of birds had red-paint bombed some perfectly good ladies' suits. So bad a display it was that it clearly stopped conversation last night at Tir Na Nog, and when that happens at an Irish bar, with half-drunken people on a summery Friday night...you know it was really, really bad.

© NBC Olympics®, NBC, 2008. From the NBC Olympics website.
That said, I hope the Hungarian women win some medals and then go back and kick their uniform designer's ass into oblivion. Or roast and then eat the damn birds he/she used. And then I hope they hold a massive bonfire to burn such uniforms, all while celebrating their medal count.

Other that horrible misstep, just how damn spectacular were those Opening Ceremonies? Stunning, absolutely stunning. Glad to see all the money we Americans have been sending over there through the purchase of cheap imports at our local Wal-Mart® has really paid off. Suddenly London's work for the 2012 Games got a helluva lot harder. However, I take heart in knowing that if any group of people can pull off show and pomp and circumstance and hyperbole, it is indeed very much the Brits. They need to get to work straightaway, though.

Techno Gadget of the Month: Scribd®

2008-07-27T01:54:00.004-04:00

I've found a cool new site that I had not seen before, although (as usual) millions of others already have. It's called Scribd®, and it lets you upload all sorts of documents for public consumption. Some really good reading can be found there, but some other entries (as one might expect) are truly crap. Lots of e-books and the similar online sales propaganda. However, it's really cool to read (or download, or print) some of those old books you've been meaning to read, but always forget about when milling around at the used book store. I've also found some templates for work and/or organization that I find intriguing. Some things I question possible copyright infringement on, but I figure Scribd®'s got their own lawyers and removal system for those things. Use your discretion and common sense if you wonder about the legality of these items, as you really should with anything you encounter...not just with the internet, but with everything in life. (Daily sap comment added in for free.) Really some interesting stuff to be found there, though...sort of like a study group (complete with some really horribly written class notes) for the web.

Out and About: Foothills Brewing

2008-07-26T23:41:00.008-04:00

It's been awhile since I posted a review of some local eateries that I've recently tried out, and I realized when perusing over the blog here that one is greatly overdue. That delay has been two-fold: (1) like so many others, I've been eating in more lately to save money and to hopefully improve my weight loss goals, and (2) I've made some conscious decisions of late as to what I want to use my discretionary spending money on, which ties in to my goal of being totally debt-free quicker. I've had reasonable success with the first objective, as I'm still down about 22 pounds (but now fighting a bit of a plateau getting more off), and the second one has really seen some headway...I'm now paying off the last outstanding account and finishing up on the student loan (excluding regular expenses like rent, electric, phone, etc). While it kills me to make these changes and reduce one of my favourite activities of eating out, I've done it for the combined positive impact it would/will make. So, instead of trying out a new venue once a week or even once every other week, it's been averaging more like a new venue every month.

That said, I have made it out recently and thought I'd post the comments here...and I also have one going for Milltown in Carrboro on deck.

(In the post about the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games a few days back, I also mention the simply divine Bella's in Banner Elk, North Carolina. It features some absolutely fantastic Italian food. I won't repeat that brief review here, but if you're in the Sugar Mountain/Beech Mountain/western NC mountain area, I cannot encourage you enough to go and give them a visit. The pasta is homemade daily, the sauces well-seasoned, and the bread is great, too. Didn't sample from the wine list that night, but now wish that I had.)

Foothills Brewing, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The WR and I found this place quite by accident when coming back from the GMHG, and actually found it when looking for suitable parking for another restaurant a couple of blocks back. As Winston-Salem is a bit less than halfway back from Linville, we decided to stop over there for a bit of lunch. Unfortunately, our first look took us in only in the direction of a Burger King, Quiznos, and one of the state's largest Lowe's home improvement warehouses. Turning around, we came into the downtown area, but only found half a dozen or so Chinese places that were open on a Sunday. Not really craving Chinese, we pressed on. Still we found nothing, and were about to give up and reconsider Burger King when we spied the Camel City Cafe. It looked open...one of the very few things in downtown Winston-Salem that was that afternoon...but no immediate parking was available. We kept looking and, about a block and a half down, we saw some public parking. Unfortunately for Camel City, we also then noticed the word 'Brewing' to our left...the Foothills Brewing, to be exact...and that's all two home beer-brewers needed as incentive to go patronize the joint.

Exterior of Foothills Brewing, Winston-Salem, NC. Located at the end of a very nice block, flanked by some very beautiful architectural buildings to its immediate left...nice walking tour 'finish line' if you're downtown.
I have to say I was rather pleased by the place. When you go to most breweries and/or beer emporiums here in the States, you should get a good variety of beers, but the food frequently can be lackluster (unfortunately this is a complaint I have against The Flying Saucer in Raleigh, where it's always a 50/50 chance of my food being fully cooked and/or hot when served...even the appetizers sometimes...I've learned to just skip getting food there). I was pleasantly surprised at Foothills, however, with the bison burger and rather large salad substitution (yes, I've also severely limited my potatoes intake these days). Not to mention, more times than not, there is a rather hard sell for specific beers in breweries, especially for their seasonal stuff...not so much here, as the waitress was more than willing to set up us with a sampler of their many offerings (and even brought two others, technically not samples).

When you're an unofficial beer snob such as myself, I know that I want to try something new (why else go to a brewery?), but I also know what kind of beers I tend to like. I would be very rich indeed if I had a nickel for every time I ventured into a pub or bar or brewery and asked about the options available and only been offered the light, and/or mainstream Americanized, beers. (I'm not so sure that it has anything to do with specials per se, versus that most women aren't as picky, or as fond, of stronger beers like I am.) Much to their credit, the staff at Foothills made no such assumptions about what 'should' be offered, and instead were just very receptive to the particular likes (and dislikes) of the individuals imbibing their goods. The place was clean, too, with a nice separation of the dining area near the front and more of the 'pub' and very long bar area near the back. Airy, but not too 'stuffy' in its attempts to appear modern. Prices were certainly a good deal for what was offered, so no complaints there, either. Damn shame Winston-Salem is such a trek from here (1.5+ hours on a good day with traffic, each way), or otherwise I'd be making a more frequent visit.

Our beer sampler from Foothills Brewing, downtown Winston-Salem, NC. Some, of course, were better than others. Verdict: most very good, but I couldn't finish the (very strong stout, black one far right) and I still don't like IPAs...must be the 'grapefruit-like' aftertaste.

The one negative (and it's relatively minor): Foothills may need to rethink the choice of growlers they use for home sale (growlers are the glass jugs which patrons can buy and then take home beer straight from the brewery, reuse, and/or can also bring back in for a reduced-price refill). I'm personally an advocate for the German-style of growler (seen here), that features a nice ceramic top with a strong clamp, like a Grolsch bottle, that keeps fresh beer tasting good because it keeps air out. Instead, Foothills used something like this growler bottle. In principle, both growlers do the same thing but the second option is less complicated and (presumably) less costly to the Brewery and its customers. In practice, there is a massive difference to the life of the beer once the second is opened...growlers should be able to preserve a beer for 1-2 days minimum after first opened (the heavy ceramic-topped growler that WR and I use for our beer...purchased ages ago from Front Street Brewery in Wilmington, NC...can hold our beers' quality for a week well beyond first being opened). Unfortunately, the growler I brought back from Foothills (loaded initially with a very tasty Summer Bock) was really barely able to survive 3 hours after I opened it on the second day. Its 'drink life' didn't even come close to what the 'label' suggested it would be...and the beer chosen for it was certainly fresh when put in. Not a bad thing, I suppose, if the beer itself was cheap and you don't mind losing it...it is a bad thing, though, if a really good (and slightly expensive) beer goes bad because of it. And having your beer go bad...no matter if you're a home brewer or a commercial brewery...is just a heart-sickening experience to those of us who love the stuff. The German-style growler, though, could have saved the Summer Bock. Thinking when I go to Foothills again, I'll take the Front Street Brewery growler with me for a refill and see if I can't negotiate some sort of deal.

Four and a half stars (out of five) otherwise, with the staff getting five.

The Last Lecture: The Light Carries On

2008-07-25T23:31:00.006-04:00

It is with sad news that I report Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, has lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. That, sadly, in itself is not life-altering news for most of us...we all know someone, or been someone, who has been afflicted by this horrible disease. Some will win the war, but unfortunately so many more will be lost. Unfortunately, we have lost the Professor.

Ultimately we all pass on, but some seem to know how to enjoy it a bit more, wake up and embrace it a bit more. Each day here is a gift, but honestly how many of us truly appreciate it as such? I know I am not alone when I say I too often take it for granted, and I am ashamed to admit as such. Especially on a day such as this, when I am reminded just how great we humans can be, just how grateful we should be for just waking up and having yet another chance to improve ourselves.

Professor Pausch gave a lecture in a series called "The Last Lecture" series. The series was to encourage the professors of Carnegie Mellon to write and deliver their 'last lectures' to an audience seeking their wisdom for the 'final' time. Specifically, what would their last lecture be, and what would they want their audiences to leave with? Professor Pausch gave one that will make your heart glow and your love of life renew...it was simply called "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams". It is, arguably, the very best lecture a student...a person...a human...could ever hope to hear. (It has since been transcribed and developed into a best-selling book.) This lecture will make your spirit soar, but will also make your tears fall. It is worth every minute of viewing...do not rush it, do not watch it in parts, but do take in its feeling and its meaning because it does apply to all of us.

And it will also make you appreciate just how much a void we now all have with Professor Pausch's death. Rest in peace, Professor, and thanks for the wisdom. Your many students, thousands upon thousands you never met, thank you...and we will carry your love of life with us.

Introductions done, I give you Professor Pausch and The Last Lecture...

Professor Randy Pausch delivering "The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams", September 2007, Carnegie Mellon University. Video from YouTube.

Winners of the Games: Barleyjuice, Mother Grove, the My Three Kilts Family

2008-07-17T23:58:00.010-04:00

Okay, I've been swamped at work since my return, but now I finally have some time to catch up. At long last, I've taken some time away to do a quick review of this year's Grandfather Mountain Highland Games, completed last weekend.

First off, I have to say that the Wise Ricky and I were invited to join...and had an absolute blast...with the lads from My Three Kilts and their wives (Rachael, Heather, and Julie). Considering that they weren't all that familiar with us off-stage before the invite, it was a particularly strong leap of faith on their part, but one that made the Games a helluva lot of fun for us (and hopefully also for them). Fantastic memories were made (we shared the cabin from Sunday's post with them, too), and a lot of laughs...eight people in a hot tub built for six was no small feat, after all. Great people, great musicians, great couples one and all. And I can always thank them for helping me get the Wise (Yet Gay) Ricky into a Hooters® before he died...a memory that makes me chuckle even now when thinking about it. Honestly, as much as Ricky and I loved the Games and all the Celtic music of the event, we probably had more fun hanging out with the Kilts family. And we thank them...again...for the great times.

Speaking of the music of the Games...as usual, there was a lot. Some of it more to my tastes than others, as that always happens, but some of it really, really good. I have to be honest here: Ricky and I go to these Games to see the music, learn about our heritage (more mine than his as I'm Scottish and he's not, but to his benefit there were many an Irish-targeted item, too), and just generally soak up the atmosphere of lots of people drinking (beer, if you brought it, as the GMHG is inexplicably located in a 'dry' county) and lots of people (mostly men) wearing kilts. I would like to say we pay close attention to the sporting events and heraldry of the all-day activities, but honestly I have to admit we don't. We come for the music, I look to see if some wise vendor has my family's tartan available and never find it, and Ricky looks and finds a sporran that he really likes, but it's greatly overpriced. And then we go listen to more music, eat, drink beer, more music. (Wash, rinse, repeat.) It may be a lot of things to a lot of people, but for us, it's mostly the music.

(Fair warning, here comes the rant...)

That said, I will say this at long last and finally let it go (been simmering in my pot for two years now): I do not, for the life of me, understand the madness behind the big Saturday night concert, one of the GMHG's main attractions. Actually, I don't understand a lot about that whole concert's dynamics, including the lineup. Let me explain: I think there are three 'Groves' open throughout the day where musicians will do sets of their music (30 minutes or thereabouts), starting at about 10am and stopping at around 3:30pm or so...each band, I believe, plays two daytime sets in the same Grove with quick turnarounds. You bring your chair or blanket and misc food item and sit down among the natural beauty of Grandfather Mountain and take it all in...but you can come and go as you want, as the Games itself and Clan activities continue on unabated on the main field. The Groves are good, but are unfortunately limited to smaller-sized crowds.

Barleyjuice performing in one of the Groves, July 12, 2008. Grandfather Mountain Highland Games, Linville, North Carolina.

Saturday nights, though, there is a more formal 'concert' feel to things, after all the days' competitions are complete and the Clan tents have went silent. You'd think with as many quality bands on tap and with many, many music-lovers in attendance, this would be the absolute best time to give the musicians the best line-up and area to roam and interact with the audience. You'd think bands would be scheduled like regular gigs are, with the opening acts leading up to more established 'headliners'. You'd think that an empty mountain field would be great to really let musicians fully interact with the audience, as they would no longer be hemmed in by shorter sets and the rocky seating geography of the Groves. (Especially, as the audience was reminded often, that the bands don't get paid to perform at the Games and rely on merchandise sales to cover their expenses.) You'd think the audience would be able to spread out on more than one hill, and be able to get to the food vendors, toilets, and merchandise areas with relative ease. You'd think all of those things would be a priority for Saturday night's show, but you'd be wrong.

Technically, an entire field is available for music and seating, dancing and eating...rimmed afar only by Port-A-Johns. Why the actual show is kept to only one small portion of that field, why the attendees of the concert are practically walking on each other to just move because of the restricted (but still viewable) seating space, and why there's a further very enclosed area for dancing (with rules!) on that field, is beyond me. And, damn it, it happened again this year. There was no rhyme nor reason with band scheduling for that show: Barleyjuice was one of the first ones out, and they have a huge following and are tough to follow; a last-minute change prevented a mass exodus when somebody finally realised that Scottish drumming gods Albannach (and one of Games' main musical draws, truth be told), wasn't scheduled to finish last as the headliner. All the while, fans of any and all who wanted to dance were pinned to stage right in a little corral, like calves waiting to be branded.

It's the Highland Games, people: we like to drink, we like to eat, we like to make new friends and be old friends, we like to make and listen to our music, and we like to dance. Give us those opportunities and we'll even pay you for it. All we are saying, is give fun a chance. (Apologies to John Lennon.)

(Rant over.)

On to the highlights:

Albannach. This is almost always a given, as I've only seen one semi-off performance from them ever, and that was due to too much alcohol consumed by the band prior to the show. (They're Scottish, so I let my people have a 'bye' on that point, as long as it doesn't become a habit.) As usual, they took it up another notch this year in their Grove performances. Consistently, they do a tremendous show. And I, for one, really like learning from David Ross...glad to see they're always a 'team' package. Jamesie, the flirty one who looks like he stepped out of a scene from "Braveheart" with long hair disheveled any which way, was in rare form. I'm still amazed Kyle can keep up the pace he does, as long as he does, on the drums...my arms would have grown numb.

Mother Grove. What a difference a year makes! Those who dared to ask me last year about what bands I thought disappointed would have heard Mother Grove almost at the top of that list. This year, though, they either 'found their voice' or significantly retooled their attitude when performing...the tempo was faster, the sound tighter, the song selection better, the extended solos not so much (or at least not to the point where I wishing they would stop, last year's went on and on and on). The female fiddle player, Laura Adams, is about as top-notch as any band can hope for...and any woman who can jig and fiddle at the same time to her degree of excellence is well worth a viewing. Considering the band and equipment had some instruments stolen in May, I'm hoping the merchandise sales at the Games maybe helped replenish their funds. "Kick Me" is a great song, wish they would lead off with that.

Barleyjuice. While this may be blasphemy in some circles, here goes: the best band at the Games this year. Now before the Albannach fans come after me, let me add this: The best band at the Games this year with vocal material. The one, if only, gripe, that comes against the Albannach legion is that a great deal of their songs sound the same (which is further hampered by the fact that so many of their songs are only drums and bagpipes, and very little vocals). Albannach is tribal, is primal, is the spirit of Scotland: unrelenting, fierce, and proud. You either love them or hate them, but that largely depends on how much you love their sound (drums).

Barleyjuice, however, is from the wilds of Philadelphia, an area which is also known for being a little unrelenting and proud (and several more things) it its own distinctive way. Barleyjuice, though, focuses a lot on lyrics and their songs are quite memorable because of just that. They don't have the wild abandon of the Scots, no, but they do perform one damn lively, and audience-friendly, show. And they specialize, or so it seems, in Irish-based drinking-then-shagging songs...nothing wrong with that. (Unless you're at work and work in a medical facility; some bosses object to "I'm in Love with a Priest"...it's not what you think, folks...playing in an office.) This year Barleyjuice also showed a more, 'rock/country' side to them than I've seen. Any band that go from "Tartan is the Colour of My True Love's Hair" to The Doors' "Roadhouse Blues" to Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried" to Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues", and then back to their "Weekend Irish" song is simply damn great. They have fun on stage, and with their audience...and it shows. And, God bless the Philly boys, at least two of them are SCOTS (Southern Culture on the Skids) fans, too, all the more reason to adore these fellas. The SCOTS can toss chicken during their "Eight Piece Box"; Barleyjuice should toss waffle fries during their "Potatoes". (Doing the "Potatoes" dance with WR and Scott's wife, Julie, on Saturday night is a great memory I take away.) My only issue with Barleyjuice is that they rarely make it down this way, although they will be in Williamsburg, VA, for their Scottish Festival in early October. Fabulous band.

Barleyjuice doing "What's up Yours?". Courtesy of YouTube.

Bella's in Banner Elk, North Carolina (hidden away in a Food Lion Shopping Center complex, of all places). Except for a lovely place near the Trevi Fountain in Rome, I have never had better Italian food in my life. All in our party agreed, it was top-notch material, even by Heather, our Italian by heritage in the group. Forgive the slightly high-strung blonde hostess, though, I'm hoping she was just having a bad day and easily overwhelmed. Also kudos to the Crossnore Volunteer Fire Department and Linville Central Rescue Squad members: 2 years straight they've given dead-on recommendations for food that has been nothing short of fantastic (not to mention, they do a great job with parking and transportation to/from the Games).

Lowlights/disappointments:

See lengthy rant above.

In addition to the above rant, there might be a need to re-examination of the audience target. Some of the bands are a too rock for 'pure' Celtic material, some are too 'new age'. I have no problems with either to some degree, but some 'purists' out there aren't happy and the choice of bands in general kept creeping up in conversations, in merchandise tents, waiting for food, etc. Then again, beggars can't be choosers: if the GMHG don't pay the bands anything to perform, that does limit potential candidates. The tradeoff between these two forces will be interesting to see in years to come. Still wish they had an 'amateur' concert night for less established musicians and/or bands...my buds, My Three Kilts, would kill it.

I am trying really hard to not be too snide here, (which is my tendency as a former musician, unfortunately), but here comes a personal mantra: events such as this should not have bands doing covers of other bands'/artists' material unless those covers are done really, really well. (See Barleyjuice for advice on how to do this well.) The GMHG is the perfect place to play original material, or a lot of traditional songs that you've updated, and some covers. However, doing traditional songs or covers badly is the kiss of death, as most of the audience has a diverse, and deep, musical knowledge base.

In the interest of appearing nice, I won't name the guilty musicians directly...but those who attended, and those responsible for this muck, know who they are.

Last year, I railed against the 'Farrah Fawcett-head' lead guitarist band who proceeded to not only do a cover of an old AC/DC and Bon Scott-era song (generally always a mistake), but they did it horribly. That band somehow took "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock N Roll)"...a song that features a bagpipe solo in the original, for Pete's sake...and made it into a guitar song, complete with several missed chords, featuring (you guessed it) 'Farrah Fawcett' on lead in place of the bagpipe solo, even though 'Farrah's band had a very competent bagpiper. (Far more competent on bagpipes than 'Farrah' was on guitar, in comparison.) I'm a hard-core AC/DC fan, to boot. Bloody freaking hell. It was nothing short of stupefying.

This year, another band decided they wanted to incorporate a cover song in their set...but this time it was Led Zeppelin. "Good Times, Bad Times", to be specific. This is also generally not a good idea, as most everyone knows lyrics to most of their songs, and knows how the song is 'supposed' to sound. And let's never forget Led Zep was a phenomenal band, perhaps the best ever in rock. Everybody wants to cover them, everybody wants to be them on stage, but few (if any) ever will convincingly. (You know where I'm going on this, and it's not going to be pretty.) Let me finish with this: if you can't do a Led Zep cover song musically, don't play it in front of people until you can. Furthermore, if you don't sing the lyrics of a favourite Led Zep song that everybody in the audience knows the words to, don't perform it until you feel you can sing it on stage. What was played in the Grove...a mash of dropped riffs and an uneven beat, with audience members in the trees singing the song as no one else was...was a bit painful to witness. Please, in honor of the late John 'Bonzo' Bonham (legendary drummer for Led Zep), I beg you: work on the song a great deal more before playing it in public. Pretty please. Even with the forgiving sort that attends these Games, nobody likes Led Zep Musak. Nobody.

Glory be the Mountains

2008-07-13T10:03:00.006-04:00

So, up in the mountains of western North Carolina, I have found my Summer Nirvana. On a porch, with a light, wispy breeze. And with a rocking chair.

Life is good, really good. And, despite the norm of what we're all told these days, it is absolutely the best when it is taken slow.

Off to the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games!

2008-07-11T07:36:00.003-04:00

It's been a 65+ hour work week, all jobs thrown in...again.

It's been a little housework, a little cleaning, a little reading, a little vegging out in front of the television when not at work...again.

It's been a daily (and weekly and monthly) track of the weight loss progression...again. Good news is I've lost 22 pounds so far and still continuing to lose, albeit only 1-2 pounds a week. Bad news is I've only lost 22 pounds (since the first of March).

It's been another day of not seeing a wonderful summer sunrise nor sunset...again.

So I'm off to play and have some much-needed fun with some friends, have some good beer and good food (within reason), and enjoy some great Scottish and Celtic music. Off to the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games and a rented cabin near Blowing Rock.

Standing Up to Jesse

2008-07-09T23:42:00.006-04:00

One has to admire the long-standing effects of Jesse Helms: the man's been dead less than a week, was out of the public eye for close to six years before that, but he's still raising tempers and causing arguments.

My fine adopted state, North Carolina, lost its long-time and very controversial former Senator, Jesse Helms, on July 4th. Helms was adored by some in the state and country (even Vice President Dick Cheney paid a visit to us in Raleigh to attend the funeral services), but absolutely reviled by many others. There are clear 'divisions', if you will, between the Jesse-lovers and the Jesse-haters: conservative versus liberal, young versus old, traditional versus modern. Most notably to his supporters, the late Senator was known to be a tireless defender of his beliefs and a hard worker for his constituents. Most notably to his detractors, the late Senator was known for having hard-core traditional values, and he actively campaigned against civil rights. For better or for worse, there was no middle ground about Senator Helms: he was either a source of conservative NC political pride, or a reason that NC should be embarrassed. My neighbours and I, along with about 10 friends who came over to chat while looking at the pouring rain, had a cookout on the 4th and actually toasted Helms' memory...and then we all prayed we would never see his like again in our lifetimes.

(To see what the controversy was about...and there were many...go here and here.

This week, we have made it through the heavy news coverage about his death, as well as a complete rehash of the late Senator's many legislative accomplishments. We have made it through the 'who's who' list of important notables who attended the funeral. I'm even pretty sure that all the delayed passengers at RDU airport (because of Mr. Cheney's arrival and departure and the demands for clear air space) made it through unscathed. Angry about some things like the rest of us, perhaps, but made it through.

Then comes today's news about someone who really took issue with all this posthumous 'Jesse-love'. And a reminder just how divisive Senator Helms was to our populace. In a sign that people with ethical standards still can and do work in the public sector, a politically-minded employee chose to leave his job in protest. Bravo.

My fine adopted state, North Carolina, has essentially strong-armed one of its state employees to either honour Senator Helms for his contributions (a demand of which the employee found morally impossible) or terminate his employment with them. In what may have appeared an appropriate and maybe even innocent gesture by current NC Governor Mike Easley to have all state flags lowered to half staff in recognition of Helms, one employee, L.F. Eason III from the state Department of Agriculture, refused. He would not do so, Eason stated, because he would not honour a bigot in such a manner. The State, for their part, said the decision was not Mr. Eason's to make and that the flags actually belonged to the State. (And I see the State's point to some degree on this, but actually the flag is not just a piece of cloth: emotionally, it embodies all that we Americans hold dear and it's not a piece of property to be taken lightly, like a pencil sharpener.) To Mr. Eason and millions of other Americans, that flag means equality, regardless of age, gender, race, or sexual preference. Equality that the late Senator fought against, for Pete's sake. Once upon a time, the flag belonged to the People, and that's why so many of us were taught to respect its values anywhere we saw it, regardless of whom the owner may be.

Since the story first broke, there has been some additional 'clarification' (and perhaps a tad bit conveniently-released information as this story has started to get 'legs') from the State as to what they said/didn't say to Mr. Eason, but there seems to be a 'no go' area between the two parties, too. Eason has stood his ground, and has acknowledged on the local TV news that while he recognizes there was an order from the Governor and that he does not own the flag and flag pole in question, he felt 'responsible' for his department, and for the directives given to his employees to carry out. Eason was a manager there, after all, and had worked with the State and in the Department of Agriculture for 29 years...it's been his only job since college. His contributions to the State and to the Department are many. Support or hate, Eason has reminded us all of the glory of our right to free speech. Yes, he violated a directive from the highest executive in the state. But he also acted with his conscience, and did not want his employees to do something he himself would not be able, in good faith, to do. Even at the risk of losing his job.

I may agree with him, you may not. But that's what makes America so great, and also what makes our tolerance of those who choose to dissent so unique in the world. At least he was thinking about it instead of just blindly going along, as so many of us do these days. Whether the State gave him an ultimatum as to 'fly the flag half-staff or be fired' is now in some sort of a grey area, but no matter as that's not the issue. The issue instead is that once Mr. Eason's opinions were known by the State (through multiple emails to superiors), the State disallowed any political dissent without consequences to Mr. Eason. There were other options for the State to consider with Mr. Eason, but from what's been reported and from the emails released, it appears that the State was in no mood to look at any of them. Which makes this whole thing ironic as hell...given that the object of all of this respect, Senator Helms, was known as a voice of dissent for over 30 years.

On the positive side, though, Mr. Eason has reportedly received three new job offers. And my fine adopted state has lost a loyal employee in more ways than one.

Still Have a Pulse

2008-07-08T08:04:00.003-04:00

Yes, folks, I'm still here and I'm still alive. Problem is bosses are all taking their vacations right now, the fiscal year ended for us on 30 June, and I'm balancing my time between covering all of the above associated projects and oh, say, sleeping occasionally. And somewhere, somehow, I've still gotta prep for this weekend's Grandfather Mountain Highland Games. But at least then I can get a couple of days off.

More updates as I can squeeze in the time...

Reverberating Song Inside My Head: Gabriella Cilmi's "Sweet About Me"

2008-06-28T10:34:00.008-04:00

There's a really beautiful thing about internet radio: you hear stuff that's popular elsewhere that, for whatever reason, has not/will not invade your own local airwaves. So, unless I'm tuning in to NPR or the local talk station from Greensboro, FM 101.1, or 96 Rock (which I can't listen to at work as it can be a bit 'hard core' for a medical setting) during the work hours I find myself more and more scouring the internet radio stations. I truly have become that displeased with all other local radio market options. Thank God for Surfmusic is all I can say, otherwise my existence in a no-window, one-door, poorly-ventilated workroom would indeed make me batty.

If it's early in the day here, I can listen to the Aussie stations as they're still in a late evening/overnight mode and generally play a lot of music...but as the morning dawns there and their morning talk crews come on, I need to switch gears sometimes. (While I clearly love words, I've never been a big fan of having a lot of talk on my music stations. Talk is for talk radio, music is for music.) While looking around one day on the lunch break, I recently found a good Top 40 station over in Glasgow, Scotland, Clyde 1, 102.5 FM. I'm not sure if it's the special pleasure to hear my family's ancient (almost 'singsongy') accent or the chuckles I get about how seriously they take their weather and traffic reports, but I've taken to this station quite nicely...and I generally don't listen to Top 40 music anymore. And unlike so many American radio stations nowadays, they seem to be fairly involved in the community and in promoting a good community image to boot.

(Dear God, I do wish we had something even somewhat akin to Clyde over here...instead, we've been overrun by the Borg-like Clear Channel offspring or 'classic rock' stations that believe classic rock only compromises the same 50 songs, and all from 1968 or newer, and all of them from American or British performers. On a sad note and further reminder of how we're trying to invade their culture, Clear Channel now has 11 radio stations throughout Australia. We should have stopped them here, when we still had a chance to do so...but we didn't, and now greed and cookie-cutter radio for the masses has gone global. To see such a proudly individual country as Oz (and others, too, unfortunately) being steadily 'colonized' by the American 'me-too' media...TV, radio, movies...is a shameful sight.)

And it was on Clyde that I heard (and now cannot escape from) this wonderful little song: "Sweet About Me". The singer is this charming sweetheart named Gabriella Cilmi (NOTE: link launches music snippet, adjust your speakers), who hails from Melbourne (Australia) originally but now lives in the UK. She's far more appealing to me than Amy Winehouse is, and aside from the 'watch...the train wreck's a comin' allure, what is the appeal of Winehouse anymore, anyway?? Winehouse, sadly, is a great talent that is slipping away to drugs and countless other vices right before our eyes. But back to the positive, back to Cilmi: I love the sound, love the vibe, and love the fact that this budding talent is only 16 years old. Can't wait to see what else she can do with those honey-drenched tones.

Gabriella Cilmi in "Sweet About Me". The video's a bit iffy to this child of 1980s MTV, but the song sure stays with you. Video from YouTube, as usual.

Revisiting That Glorious Glitter Fantasy

2008-06-21T07:12:00.008-04:00

Okay, early Saturday morning post and all that...and I'm already up and being productive. However, I've been humming some songs from last night ever since I woke (and I swear maybe even in my dreams). Yes, last night I re-watched the cult film classic "Velvet Goldmine". And...damn...that movie (and its soundtrack) stays with you. If you have not seen this movie yet, and you love some excellent acting and music, this is simply a must-see.

"Velvet Goldmine" trailer, embed from YouTube.

(As a FYI, some of the following links go to sites with Flash and music, so you might need to adjust speaker levels, depending from where you're reading. Other links also go back to some YouTube videos.)

For those unfamiliar with this film, (which has become a cult classic only after a few years as it never really found its audience on its original release), it's a fictionalized story of the early 1970s glam rock scene, and features characters largely lifted from the lives David Bowie, Angie Bowie, and Iggy Pop (among many others). It's a fabulous movie, completely enveloped with some stunning performances: star-making turns from the very gifted Jonathan Rhys Meyers (lately from Showtime®'s "The Tudors") as the Bowie-esque Brian Slade; the artfully restrained Christian Bale as the teenage fan/reporter Arthur Stuart (Bale's best work so far is the highly recommended, but very violent, "American Psycho"); and Ewan McGregor as the careening, out-of-control, and troubled singer Curt Wild (as Iggy Pop). The always simply brilliant Toni Collette serves as the Angie Bowie-like American wife, proving once again she is (one of) the best actor(s) to ever come out from Australia. The dynamic, underappreciated, and scene-stealing Eddie Izzard also appears in a secondary role as Slade's calculating manager. But the music...oh, that glorious 'devil may care' music woven in these scenes...deserves lead mention, too.

Once again (and this happens every time I see this film), I cannot get "Baby's On Fire" (the song nor the scene) out of my head. Just put some laundry in the wash and was tapping out the bass rhythm on the machine as I loaded it...what a way to start the day's chores LOL.

"Velvet Goldmine" documents one of those times where the Brit and American music scenes were on different tracks...and to some degree, still continues to be somewhat today...where Brit music can and does include all the elements of theatricality, both on and offstage. The clothes, the makeup, the acceptance of bi- or homo-sexuality with its entertainers compared to those here...all indicative of a much grander plan than just being a singer or being in a band. Our cousins the Brits have always understood that an 'image' to sell was almost as important as the music itself, especially at times when it can be tough to distinguish one act from another. It wasn't just a gig or even a tour, it was a show. The primary goal is quickly distinguished between being a 'star' versus a 'musician', if you will. That's the crux between our two music worlds: while we Yanks appreciate Bowie and the whole scene that followed on his coattails, it was a scene that had to fully germinate elsewhere before coming to America. The dialogue, the 'characters', the makeup, the clothes, and especially the sexuality issues...would not have survived, let alone flourished, in our White Bread Suburban World.

Now, I will admit I missed all of that scene (being just a baby when all of this was happening), but luckily I found the music later on in junior high and high school. In my case, the guides were Brian Eno, Roxy Music, and the wonderful T. Rex...acts which I found by chance after reading some of the then-current faves of the 1980s (before I went metal, I did go through a New Romantic stage) constantly refer to these trendsetters. The David Bowie I knew of then, unfortunately, was way past his Ziggy Stardust character and had moved on to fifth (sixth?) incarnation as a performer and doing songs like "Let's Dance". And, unfortunately, I was slow to learn more about artists from this time: Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, The New York Dolls, and others (not a lot of their material existed in the very rural Midwest in the late 1980s). However, I had found some T. Rex and was already a goner for them: to this day, T-Rex's versions of "20th Century Boy", "Children of the Revolution", and "Bang A Gong (Get It On)" are all-time faves (kudos to the Power Station's cover of the latter, though). And while this may strike me down among you Bowie lovers, I'm not as fond of Bowie's music as I once was...it doesn't seem to hold up as well when you take the 'performing identity' out of the equation. For those of us who never got the chance to see the characters at their height of popularity, it's a bit like realising you've missed a really great party with only the lingering gossip to tease you. The sentimental impact of 'remember when?' is missing. "Velvet Goldmine", no matter how literal it is to Bowie et al or not, gives a wonderful glimpse of that world to those of us who never experienced all the fun.

It's the kind of movie that makes me admit being just a tad bit jealous about missing it all...the spectacle of being someone (or something) completely outlandish and unknown, the swagger of challenging norms of society and getting away with it, the unbridled abandon of just being consumed by a sound and image regardless of what others think of you (Bale's character while dancing is a perfect embodiment of this last one). It's the kind of movie that makes me have faith in imaginative film making...not everything has to be a mindless 'blockbuster'...and in thoughtful, well researched dialogue. It's a definite juggernaut for Rhys Meyers, and is arguably one of the best roles done by McGregor...there was a clear passion, up and down the line, of the cast to get the mannerisms, the egos, the insecurities, the over-indulgences, 'right' (they even did some of their own singing). And it's the kind of movie that leaves me loving the music as much as the film...with songs I cannot get out of my head and will be dancing around to for many days long after.

"Let Us All Go Get'Em"

2008-06-19T21:12:00.007-04:00

I missed the televised memorial service of Tim Russert yesterday on MSNBC®, and was so exhausted from work and painting around the house that I then missed the rebroadcast of it when it re-aired late last night. However...and thank heavens for the age we live in...video highlights of the ceremony can be found here (link goes to The Huffington Post, and you can choose which speakers you choose to watch, although all are excellent and unique in their own way).

However, Keith Olbermann (who did not give an eulogy at the Kennedy Center but who worked extensively with Russert recently during political coverage and who clearly had great respect for the 'Boy from Buffalo') also did a lovely tribute to him last night on "Countdown". Whereas Olbermann can be a blustering, sarcastic and riled-up 'junior' at times, Russert was the time-tested, all-knowing and rational 'senior' anchor...and they made a tremendous ying and yang duo of political coverage. For the last two nights at least, Olbermann has been fighting back tears when talking about the late, great Tim Russert...almost adrift at times, even. Tonight's final tribute is no exception...but the end of this tape is about as heartfelt a goodbye as it gets.

The entire NBC® news team, Olbermann included, clearly has been in a state of public shock ever since last Friday's tragic announcement. In a more genteel time, there would be allowed a respectable time for mourning...but this is the world of 24/7 news, where the ratings are king and you're only as good as your last Nielsen ratings score. No matter the opinion if whether this outpouring of grief is good/acceptable television or not, my heart aches for such a visibly pained and tortured group of professionals. In a way, they are stuck in a looping cycle of sorrow...a cycle they are desperate to leave, yet in a loop that regurgitates this agony for them until some 'bigger' story comes along. Broadcast journalism has never been for the faint of nerves, but these past few days it's also renewed itself as a field not for the faint of heart. The entire NBC® news family will regain their heading and steady the wheel soon enough, for no reason more than those who watched Russert all of these years know he would demand it no other way (and Russert was involved in many different capacities across many of the NBC® networks). But for now, please allow them enough time to let them (and us) respect the loss we all must now accept. The loss to that organization is a very large one, indeed.

Then, as Mr. Russert's wonderful (and charmingly lookalike) son, Luke, says in the taped eulogy above, "let us all go get'em." Life is short, people: live it while, and as best, you can.

A private prayer and note to Mr. Russert: Those call center reps, like myself, who got lucky enough to answer your reservation phone calls ...(my last one was in 2002, I think...I remember asking you what happened to the dry erase board from Election 2000; and you said it had been donated to one of the Smithsonians)...always thought you were a really nice, down-to-earth, and super patient, man. Still chuckle a bit about how you made the plans yourself, and not have an assistant do it instead. You were a joy to have as a customer, absolutely no attitude or outrageous demands at all. I know it meant a lot that you respected us enough to thank us by name whenever the call was concluded. Clearly what we heard on the other end of the line was the way you were all the time, and what a nice way to be, what a wonderful way to live. For all that and more, Mr. Russert, I thank you and know you're now resting in peace.

Hercules Mulligan, Tir Na Nog, tonight at 7:30pm

2008-06-13T06:38:00.003-04:00

Quick post, friends, as I'm off to work before the wildfire drift smoke invades our fine locale again...

(Yes, we are still in a dense smoke/code red air quality alert for this morning at least, a situation that really showed up in Chapel Hill late yesterday afternoon. I went out for lunch at 2:45pm and it was still a hazy Chapel Hill; I came back close to 4pm and I could have sworn I was in a burb in Los Angeles...that thick, that enveloping, that heavy in your lungs. I'm 3 hours+ away from the Pocosin Lakes Wildlife Refuge Park where this massive wildfire is actually raging, yet you'd think it was just a few miles away by the haze and smoke quality here. I can't even fathom how much worse it must be east, and especially northeast, towards the Virginia state line.)

A friendly reminder from our good friend, and Friend Of Blog (FOB), the wonderful guitarist Dave Cauthorn:

Just a reminder. HM will be @ Tir Na Nog this Friday the 13th, playing as a quartet:

* Chris King: vocal, whistle, bhodran
* Dave Cauthorn: guitar
* Lisa Wolff: fiddle
* Mike Baranski: banjo

Hercules Mulligan on MySpace

The scheduled band lineup for the Nog tonight is as follows:

* Gerry McCrudden: 6:30 - 7:30
* Hercules Mulligan: 7:30 - 9:30
* The Prodigals: 10:00 - close

Country Girls Are Doin' It For Themselves

2008-06-12T08:06:00.006-04:00

Honestly, I'm a law-abiding citizen (well, if you ignore that whole speeding thing back on the interstate as I am known to be a bit of a lead foot)...really, I am. And while I grew up 'country', I like to try and convince myself that I'm beyond that whole 'eye for a eye, tooth for a tooth', 'the man rules the house', 'the women don't speak out' mentality that sometimes permeates rural culture. That whole 'gun rack with loaded guns in the back window of someone's truck just in case one needs it' kind of thing. Sometimes, though, I will hear a song that just takes me right back to the days of my youth and that whole scene...and reminds me of people who survived (and eventually got away from) horrible conditions in the best ways they knew how, and how some unfortunately choose to stay in those horrible conditions even today.

That said, I have to admit I'm a sucker for the whole 'country girl done wrong and gonna get even' genre that seems to be so red-hot within country music right now. The songs generally are on the rockier side for me which is good, even if I didn't know people who have struggled through some of the same issues. Country has always had a large female following, but this 'not being a victim' theme has really got some legs now. (And credit for its popularity should be given to Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats", Martina McBride's "Independence Day", and even the much-ballyhooed and semi-controversial airing of the video for (at the time, anyway) "The Thunder Rolls" by Garth Brooks, among so many others.) Make no mistake: these are not the songs of 'the little women' so popular in country music in 1960s, 1970s, and even somewhat in the 1980s; instead, today's female country singers are empowered and non-repentant about any potential fallout. A sign of the bigger culture, perhaps.

This latest contribution to Country Girl Power, a little rocker from Miranda Lambert, is called "Gunpowder and Lead", and has been bouncing around in my head for a couple of weeks now. And while I never believe in settling anything with violence, I know I'm one of many, many women who have known abused women and friends who were just itching for a day of payback. This is surely the theme song for some of them.

Miranda Lambert performing "Gunpowder and Lead" on CBS' "Early Show", 2008. Sorry, folks, there's a bit of lead-in from the show until the 2:00 mark. Video from YouTube.

"My Boys" Are Back

2008-06-07T06:19:00.007-04:00

In my true sports-loving, beer-swilling, cards-playing 'tomgirl' style, I am addicted to this show over on TBS. The lead character in this series, "PJ", as portrayed by the darling Jordana Spiro, is a sportswriter living and working in beautiful Chicago. And, God help her, just like me and legendary political columnist George Will, the lead is a bit of Chicago Cubs fan!! (In about the only comparison I will ever have with Mr. Will...I, too, am just a frustrated sports writer.) Spiro is surrounded by a simply wonderful ensemble cast...comedians Jim Gaffigan and Jamie Kaler were the ones I was familiar with before this show...and all are guided by some excellent (albeit at times a bit quirky) scripts.

As we 'tomgirls' from real life can attest, most of our dearest friends are real guys...guys who don't mind we know as much (if not more) about sports as they do, guys who don't mind (perhaps even like) having us sit in with them for a game of poker, guys who are respectful that we have strong opinions and pay attention when we speak them, guys who don't mind us not always having 'perfect' makeup on while we're drinking our beer and eating our hot dogs. I've said this several ways here on the blog and countless times in real life, and although I get bashed for it occasionally, it is so true for me: it is an accepted universal 'tomgirl' code of law that men are the more dependable, more loyal, and more understandable friends to have (as compared to women). We 'tomgirls' all have about one good girlfriend who we can turn to in a pinch, but mostly we hang out with the fellas and love it. Clearly, 'tomgirls' are not the intended audience for "Cosmo" magazine (nor for the now-infamous drink of the same name, for that matter). Men aren't the enemy, men aren't prey to be hunted down, slept with, married, and mortgaged. Instead, men are our best friends.

I know I'm sentimentally drawn to the "PJ" character because her dreams run so much to my own, but I can't help recommending this show to practically everyone I meet. Lightweight and breezy, yet nothing is canned and features some universal truths/myths about the differences between women and men. This show truly is a guilty pleasure of mine...one of the few for television I still have. My only complaints: TBS needs to expand this show to an hour-long format, and give this team a longer viewing season in which to shine.

You can check out the show's website here.

There's Only One Temperature

2008-06-06T07:10:00.005-04:00

Dear Lord:

I am thankful for moving to a semi-basement apartment that is partially built into a hillside, and that move has greatly reduced my energy costs as a result.

I am thankful that a neighbour here on the farm has a pool which I can visit and enjoy for a mere $2 a day, should I feel so inclined.

I am thankful that I have budgeted my expenses as such this year so as to not need to go out for entertainment or solitude, but rather can have both from my living room.

I am thankful that, with the exception of one batch so far, my (and the Wise Ricky's) attempts at home brewing beer have been successful and I have several I can sample from, even now. And they are really good cold, even.

I am thankful that I love bubble baths and choose to do that (while reading) as a relaxation method.

And, as always, I'm thankful I woke up again this morning, am in good health and in good spirits, and you're giving me another chance to go out and try life again today.

However, on days such as today and for the immediate ones to come...

Seven-day forecast starting June 6, 2008, from the really good folks over at NBC 17 TV in Raleigh, North Carolina

...I ask you to help me keep the little truck running well enough until I can finally have someone repair its air conditioning. Or fix its right side window to roll down further, whichever comes first and costs less to repair.

In Your name I pray,

She Who Drives Without Freon

Quote of the Day Re: Scarlett O'Hillary

2008-06-04T07:38:00.005-04:00

Good morning, ladies and gents. We have both good news and bad news to report this fine morn. The good news: we finally have presumptive nominees for President from both major parties (Barack Obama for the Democrats and John McCain for the Republicans) and perhaps now we can focus on the issues of November's general election. The bad news: Hillary Clinton is in severe denial she's not one of those candidates, and seems very unwilling to give up her ego-driven dreams of yielding power at any cost.

In other words...Senator Clinton seems quite determined to stay on the campaign road and may (stress the word may) drag this electoral nonsense out even further. There was no concession speech last night from her, nor was there even an acknowledgement that Senator Obama had finally garnered enough delegates to win the nomination. Instead, what came about was a calculated piece of political machinery: she stole the attention from Obama and now has everyone wondering what exactly are her terms of surrender? Finally, I suppose, now everyone can understand why the Hillary Clinton Nutcrackers are such an apropos novelty item: it fits the candidate's strong-arm (er, leg) behaviours. LBJ would be proud.

In the South, we have a generations-old saying that goes something like this: "A lady always knows when to leave." Clearly, all of the years and miles Senator Clinton has traveled across the South, either on her own or on behalf of her husband's pursuits, have done little to pick up and apply that wise advice.

The wonderful Maureen Dowd from "The New York Times" has the best quote of the morning about Ms. Clinton's unchecked political strategies:

He thought a little thing like winning would stop her?

Oh, Bambi.

Whoever said that after denial comes acceptance hadn’t met the Clintons.

If Hillary could not have an acceptance speech, she wasn’t going to have acceptance.

“It’s never going to end,” sighed one Democrat who has been advising Hillary. “We’re just moving to a new phase.”

Somewhere, I can hear the final scene of Margaret Mitchell's great novel, "Gone With the Wind", being used as a battle-cry within the Clinton camp: "After all, tomorrow is another day!” And, unfortunately for the rest of us who would desperately like the electoral process to move forward for a change, it is.

So the war apparently rages on...

"Day of Affirmation"...Not Forgotten?

2008-06-03T22:33:00.006-04:00

On this historic night of having the first Black (or mixed race, however you want to see it, if you want to see it even) man nominated as a candidate for the President of the United States, I found myself thinking of a speech I remember seeing some time ago, a speech that has resonated with me ever since first seeing it. A speech given by an idealistic, forward-thinking, and passionate young Democratic man to an appreciative and impressed crowd. And I'm not speaking of the newly presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama.

Instead, I speak of a speech given by Robert F. Kennedy. In 1966.

(And, no, I will not resort to giving any further comment to the totally horrible, and frankly horrific, 'lapse of judgment'...at best...statements by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton about the late Senator Kennedy. The Huffington Post has an extensive commentary section about her 'WTF'-generating statement, and several of those reader comments are quite enlightening and provoking. My loss in confidence in Senator Clinton is only now overwhelmed more by my wonder of what she will not say or will not do to secure a place in Ultimate Power of this fine country. Senator Clinton's actions in the late stage of her campaign, which we can only hope she will finally stop tonight, have forever etched themselves in my memory...and not in a good way at all. And, honestly, that unbridled determination...at apparently any cost... is ethically and morally frightening. Not only did 'Hil' become her own worst enemy in her campaign...in the end, she unfortunately became the candidate we all feared she could be, too.)

On June 5, 2008, this country will mark the 40th anniversary of Senator Robert Kennedy's untimely death. However, given the events of tonight, I cannot feel sadness and dread at that remembrance...but instead some hope that the dreams, ideas, and visions the late Senator put forth so long ago may indeed be back. Perhaps the players and the words change, perhaps the maps are redrawn and shifts of power occur. Perhaps it takes the world to repeat its mistakes a few times before it finally sees the error of its ways. Perhaps forgotten visions are just that...forgotten...until someone comes forward and re-examines them and decides to bring them into the light of reality once more. Perhaps we have moved 40 years on, but maybe we have yet to move 40 years ahead. I don't know any of these for certain, of course, but I can hope. Further, I even want to hope.

So on this historic night and on the doorstep of another to come, I re-introduce you to Robert F. Kennedy's speech in South Africa, given on June 6, 1966. It is widely known as the "Day of Affirmation" speech...and perhaps it will give us pause to see that we in America, 42 years later, desperately need another such speech, such idealism, such vision for our time.

Rather amazing that no matter how many things change, how many things stay the same, eh?...

Robert F. Kennedy's "Day of Affirmation" speech.Cape Town, South Africa, June 6, 1966.

I came here because of my deep interest and affection for a land settled by the Dutch in the mid-seventeenth century, then taken over by the British, and at last independent; a land in which the native inhabitants were at first subdued, but relations with whom remain a problem to this day; a land which defined itself on a hostile frontier; a land which has tamed rich natural resources through the energetic application of modern technology; a land which once imported slaves, and now must struggle to wipe out the last traces of that former bondage. I refer, of course, to the United States of America.

But I am glad to come here to South Africa. I am already enjoying my visit. I am making an effort to meet and exchange views with people from all walks of life, and all segments of South African opinion, including those who represent the views of the government. Today I am glad to meet with the National Union of South African Students. For a decade, NUSAS has stood and worked for the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights-principles which embody the collective hopes of men of good will all around the world.

Your work, at home and in international student affairs, has brought great credit to yourselves and to your country. I know the National Student Association in the United States feels a particularly close relationship to NUSAS. And I wish to thank especially Mr. Ian Robertson, who first extended this invitation on behalf of NUSAS, for his kindness to me. It's too bad he can't be with us today.

This is a Day of Affirmation, a celebration of liberty. We stand here in the name of freedom.At the heart of that Western freedom and democracy is the belief that the individual man, the child of God, is the touchstone of value, and all society, groups, the state, exist for his benefit. Therefore the enlargement of liberty for individual human beings must be the supreme goal and the abiding practice of any Western society.

The first element of this individual liberty is the freedom of speech: the right to express and communicate ideas, to set oneself apart from the dumb beasts of field and forest; to recall governments to their duties and obligations; above all, the right to affirm one's membership and allegiance to the body politic-to society-to the men with whom we share our land, our heritage, and our children's future.

Hand in hand with freedom of speech goes the power to be heard, to share in the decisions of government which shape men's lives. Everything that makes man's life worthwhile-family, work, education, a place to rear one's children and a place to rest one's head -all this depends on decisions of government; all can be swept away by a government which does not heed the demands of its people. Therefore, the essential humanity of men can be protected and preserved only where government must answer-not just to the wealthy, not just to those of a particular religion, or a particular race, but to all its people.

And even government by the consent of the governed, as in our own Constitution, must be limited in its power to act against its people; so that there may be no interference with the right to worship, or with the security of the home; no arbitrary imposition of pains or penalties by officials high or low; no restrictions on the freedom of men to seek education or work or opportunity of any kind, so that each man may become all he is capable of becoming.

These are the sacred rights of Western society. These were the essential differences between us and Nazi Germany, as they were between Athens and Persia.

They are the essence of our differences with communism today. I am unalterably opposed to communism because it exalts the state over the individual and the family, and because of the lack of freedom of speech, of protest, of religion, and of the press, which is the characteristic of totalitarian states. The way of opposition to communism is not to imitate its dictatorship, but to enlarge individual freedom, in our own countries and all over the globe. There are those in every land who would label as Communist every threat to their privilege. But as I have seen on my travels in all sections of the world, reform is not communism. And the denial of freedom, in whatever name, only strengthens the very communism it claims to oppose.

Many nations have set forth their own definitions and declarations of these principles. And there have often been wide and tragic gaps between promise and performance, ideal and reality. Yet the great ideals have constantly recalled us to our duties. And-with painful slowness-we have extended and enlarged the meaning and the practice of freedom for all our people.

For two centuries, my own country has struggled to overcome the self-imposed handicap of prejudice and discrimination based on nationality, social class, or race-discrimination profoundly repugnant to the theory and command of our Constitution. Even as my father grew up in Boston, signs told him that No Irish Need Apply. Two generations later President Kennedy became the first Catholic to head the nation; but how many men of ability had, before 1961, been denied the opportunity to contribute to the nation's progress because they were Catholic, or of Irish extraction? How many sons of Italian or Jewish or Polish parents slumbered in slums-untaught, unlearned, their potential lost forever to the nation and human race? Even today, what price will we pay before we have assured full opportunity to millions of Negro Americans?

In the last five years we have done more to assure equality to our Negro citizens, and to help the deprived both white and black, than in the hundred years before. But much more remains to be done.

For there are millions of Negroes untrained for the simplest of jobs, and thousands every day denied their full equal rights under the law; and the violence of the disinherited, the insulted and injured, looms over the streets of Harlem and Watts and South Side Chicago.

But a Negro American trains as an astronaut, one of mankind's first explorers into outer space; another is the chief barrister of the United States government, and dozens sit on the benches of court; and another, Dr. Martin Luther King, is the second man of African descent to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent efforts for social justice between races.

We have passed laws prohibiting discrimination in education, in employment, in housing, but these laws alone cannot overcome the heritage of centuries-of broken families and stunted children, and poverty and degradation and pain.

So the road toward equality of freedom is not easy, and great cost and danger march alongside us. We are committed to peaceful and nonviolent change, and that is important for all to understand though all change is unsettling. Still, even in the turbulence of protest and struggle is greater hope for the future, as men learn to claim and achieve for themselves the rights formerly petitioned from others.

And most important of all, all the panoply of government power has been committed to the goal of equality before the law, as we are now committing ourselves to the achievement of equal opportunity in fact.

We must recognize the full human equality of all of our people before God, before the law, and in the councils of government. We must do this, not because it is economically advantageous, although it is; not because of the laws of God command it, although they do; not because people in other lands wish it so. We must do it for the single and fundamental reason that it is the right thing to do.

We recognize that there are problems and obstacles before the fulfillment of these ideals in the United States, as we recognize that other nations, in Latin America and Asia and Africa, have their own political, economic, and social problems, their unique barriers to the elimination of injustices.

In some, there is concern that change will submerge the rights of a minority, particularly where the minority is of a different race from the majority. We in the United States believe in the protection of minorities; we recognize the contributions they can make and the leadership they can provide; and we do not believe that any people -whether minority, majority, or individual human beings-are "expendable" in the cause of theory or policy. We recognize also that justice between men and nations is imperfect, and that humanity sometimes progresses slowly.

All do not develop in the same manner, or at the same pace. Nations, like men, often march to the beat of different drummers, and the precise solutions of the United States can neither be dictated nor transplanted to others. What is important is that all nations must march toward increasing freedom; toward justice for all; toward a society strong and flexible enough to meet the demands of all its own people, and a world of immense and dizzying change.

In a few hours, the plane that brought me to this country crossed over oceans and countries which have been a crucible of human history. In minutes we traced the migration of men over thousands of years; seconds, the briefest glimpse, and we passed battlefields on which millions of men once struggled and died. We could see no national boundaries, no vast gulfs or high walls dividing people from people; only nature and the works of man-homes and factories and farms-everywhere reflecting man's common effort to enrich his life. Everywhere new technology and communications bring men and nations closer together, the concerns of one inevitably becoming the concerns of all. And our new closeness is stripping away the false masks, the illusion of difference which is at the root of injustice and hate and war. Only earthbound man still clings to the dark and poisoning superstition that his world is bounded by the nearest hill, his universe ended at river shore, his common humanity enclosed in the tight circle of those who share his town and views and the color of his skin.It is your job, the task of the young people of this world, to strip the last remnants of that ancient, cruel belief from the civilization of man.

Each nation has different obstacles and different goals, shaped by the vagaries of history and of experience. Yet as I talk to young people around the world I am impressed not by the diversity but by the closeness of their goals, their desires and their concerns and their hope for the future. There is discrimination in New York, the racial inequality of apartheid in South Africa, and serfdom in the mountains of Peru. People starve in the streets of India, a former Prime Minister is summarily executed in the Congo,intellectuals go to jail in Russia, and thousands are slaughtered in Indonesia; wealth is lavished on armaments everywhere in the world. These are differing evils; but they are the common works of man. They reflect the imperfections of human justice, the inadequacy of human compassion, the defectiveness of our sensibility toward the sufferings of our fellows; they mark the limit of our ability to use knowledge for the well-being of our fellow human beings throughout the world. And therefore they call upon common qualities of conscience and indignation, a shared determination to wipe away the unnecessary sufferings of our fellow human beings at home and around the world.

It is these qualities which make of youth today the only true international community. More than this I think that we could agree on what kind of a world we would all want to build. It would be a world of independent nations, moving toward international community, each of which protected and respected the basic human freedoms. It would be a world which demanded of each government that it accept its responsibility to insure social justice. It would be a world of constantly accelerating economic progress-not material welfare as an end in itself, but as a means to liberate the capacity of every human being to pursue his talents and to pursue his hopes. It would, in short, be a world that we would be proud to have built.

Just to the north of here are lands of challenge and opportunity-rich in natural resources, land and minerals and people. Yet they are also lands confronted by the greatest odds-overwhelming ignorance, internal tensions and strife, and great obstacles of climate and geography. Many of these nations, as colonies, were oppressed and exploited. Yet they have not estranged themselves from the broad traditions of the West; they are hoping and gambling their progress and stability on the chance that we will meet our responsibilities to help them overcome their poverty.

In the world we would like to build, South Africa could play an outstanding role in that effort. This is without question a preeminent repository of the wealth and knowledge and skill of the continent. Here are the greater part of Africa's research scientists and steel production, most of its reservoirs of coal and electric power. Many South Africans have made major contributions to African technical development and world science; the names of some are known wherever men seek to eliminate the ravages of tropical diseases and pestilence. In your faculties and councils, here in this very audience, are hundreds and thousands of men who could transform the lives of millions for all time to come.

But the help and the leadership of South Africa or the United States cannot be accepted if we-within our own countries or in our relations with others-deny individual integrity, human dignity, and the common humanity of man. If we would lead outside our borders, if we would help those who need our assistance, if we would meet our responsibilities to mankind, we must first, all of us, demolish the borders which history has erected between men within our own nations-barriers of race and religion, social class and ignorance.

Our answer is the world's hope; it is to rely on youth. The cruelties and obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. It cannot be moved by those who cling to a present which is already dying, who prefer the illusion of security to the excitement and danger which comes with even the most peaceful progress.

This world demands the qualities of youth; not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. It is a revolutionary world we live in, and thus, as I have said in Latin America and Asia, in Europe and in the United States, it is young people who must take the lead. Thus you, and your young compatriots everywhere, have had thrust upon you a greater burden of responsibility than any generation that has ever lived.

"There is," said an Italian philosopher, "nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things." Yet this is the measure of the task of your generation, and the road is strewn with many dangers.

First, is the danger of futility: the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills-against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence. Yet many of the world's greatest movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant Reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and the thirty-two-year-old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal.

"Give me a place to stand," said Archimedes, "and I will move the world." These men moved the world, and so can we all. Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. Thousands of Peace Corps volunteers are making a difference in isolated villages and city slums in dozens of countries. Thousands of unknown men and women in Europe resisted the occupation of the Nazis and many died, but all added to the ultimate strength and freedom of their countries. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

"If Athens shall appear great to you," said Pericles, "consider then that her glories were purchased by valiant men, and by men who learned their duty." That is the source of all greatness in all societies, and it is the key to progress in our time.

The second danger is that of expediency; of those who say that hopes and beliefs must bend before immediate necessities. Of course, if we would act effectively we must deal with the world as it is. We must get things done. But if there was one thing President Kennedy stood for that touched the most profound feelings of young people around the world, it was the belief that idealism, high aspirations, and deep convictions are not incompatible with the most practical and efficient of programs-that there is no basic inconsistency between ideals and realistic possibilities, no separation between the deepest desires of heart and of mind and the rational application of human effort to human problems. It is not realistic or hardheaded to solve problems and take action unguided by ultimate moral aims and values, although we all know some who claim that it is so. In my judgment, it is thoughtless folly. For it ignores the realities of human faith and of passion and of belief-forces ultimately more powerful than all of the calculations of our economists or of our generals. Of course to adhere to standards, to idealism, to vision in the face of immediate dangers takes great courage and takes self-confidence. But we also know that only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly.

It is this new idealism which is also, I believe, the common heritage of a generation which has learned that while efficiency can lead to the camps at Auschwitz, or the streets of Budapest, only the ideals of humanity and love can climb the hills of the Acropolis.

A third danger is timidity. Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality of those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change. Aristotle tells us that "At the Olympic games it is not the finest and the strongest men who are crowned, but they who enter the lists...

So too in the life of the honorable and the good it is they who act rightly who win the prize. I believe that in this generation those with the courage to enter the moral conflict will find themselves with companions in every corner of the world.

For the fortunate among us, the fourth danger is comfort, the temptation to follow the easy and familiar paths of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before those who have the privilege of education. But that is not the road history has marked out for us. There is a Chinese curse which says "May he live in interesting times." Like it or not we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history. And everyone here will ultimately be judged-will ultimately judge himself-on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort.

So we part, I to my country and you to remain. We are-if a man of forty can claim that privilege-fellow members of the world's largest younger generation. Each of us have our own work to do. I know at times you must feel very alone with your problems and difficulties. But I want to say how impressed I am with what you stand for and the effort you are making; and I say this not just for myself, but for men and women everywhere. And I hope you will often take heart from the knowledge that you are joined with fellow young people in every land, they struggling with their problems and you with yours, but all joined in a common purpose; that, like the young people of my own country and of every country I have visited, you are all in many ways more closely united to the brothers of your time than to the older generations of any of these nations; and that you are determined to build a better future. President Kennedy was speaking to the young people of America, but beyond them to young people everywhere, when he said that "the energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it-and the glow from that fire can truly light the world."

And he added, "With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own."

Text as above and also audio of this speech can be found here.

'Tis Music All About the Land

2008-05-27T23:31:00.009-04:00

Sorry about the delay in posting, folks. Still recovering a bit from my ear infection, although that has been greatly decreased and just also a wee bit swamped at work, too. Work is really getting the better of me, honestly, and a vacation is going to have to come soon or I risk severe burn-out later. I've also been working on a few projects here around the house as well, prepping for summer and all...a few art projects here, a few household repair things there, the odd plant purchase or two...those kinds of mundane things I figure few want to read about.

That said, I'll make a quick post to the 'entertainment updates' of this blog:

This upcoming Friday, May 30th, it's a win-win for the locals around here looking in two different varieties of music. Choose your poison: catchy, albeit slightly offbeat and poignant piano-driven charmers or a more rock-infused Celtic band with a slightly PG-13(+) song list.

The more known act (so far), the simply wonderful Ben Folds (and former resident of the area), is breezing through for a one-night-only stand over at Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary. He got a rather nice mention in the local papers, but admittedly as a long-time fan who has not followed his personal life as much as his professional one, I found myself a bit dismayed that he's already on marriage number four and is now again residing in Nashville. I had clearly been under the impression that marriage number three, fatherhood, and a long-distance move to Adelaide (this is Australia) had done the witty pianomeister good...very good even. Sadly, very sadly even, not to be. Dear Ben's not that much older than me...and I can't help but wonder what dismissive songs about marriage, breakup, and divorce are just waiting to be penned from his creative inkwell. A biting, sarcastic, but very thoughtful inkwell. I have no doubt the constant challenges he has faced personally continues to make him the great, and at times very brutally honest, artist that he is professionally. For the uninitiated, that fact alone makes seeing Ben a 'must do' item. Seeing him in the intimate Koka Booth setting is an added plus.

If there is one thing, however, I have learned from all of my Ben following it is this: never presume to know his next move or his current sentiment, for both will surprise you. His hit list is nothing short of unconventional material...songs about going with a girlfriend to her abortion, to angry declarations of war against ex-lovers still holding his possessions, to solemn promises of eternal father loyalty to his newborn children. It's never been about the music so much...which is quite fabulously good in its own right...but more about the message that music is carrying. And Ben, God love him, lives to tinker with that message as much as he can. Two of my all-time fave songs from Ben are "Battle of Who Could Care Less", and "Jesusland" (do a search on YouTube for the videos, as embedding of such is not available for these songs; the links above go to LyricsMania for the song lyrics).

Tickets are $35 for the general seats at Koka and the show is scheduled to begin at 8pm. Considering this is Cary and the Koka Booth with its sometimes poorly organized parking detail, I'd be there by no later than 6:30pm, though.

The second option for the evening is my new good friends, My Three Kilts, down from Goldsboro way. In some sort of six degrees of local bands who play The Pogues covers, I found about these lads one night while attending a Hercules Mulligan show. My beloved Hercs, (who have reconstituted their lineup since the winter and now are composed of Chris King, Dave Cauthorn and new fiddler Lisa Wolff), were on the same schedule with them somewhere and the WR and I stayed around to give them a listen (and drink the beer), I think off Dave Cauthorn's strong recommendation. Impressed we were with that first go around, we caught them again at the recent Tir Na Nog's raucous St. Patty's Day celebrations. Since then, they've become my second favourite local Celtic-based band (sorry, guys, but I believe in the being-true-to-your-school thing and the Hercs still come first, nothing personal). I'm still searching, though, for the proper adjective description for them: they are a bit more 'plugged in' than the Hercs, and they are more rock-infused versus the strong bluegrass background of Dave with HM. And although the dear WR may disagree with me on this, I still contend that MTK bassist Scott reminds me of Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick...in a very good way.

Both HM and MTK do some of the same songs (but that's a rule de naturale with most Irish bar bands, frankly), but hearing the differences in approach can be very interesting. Just like the Hercs, MTK has an excellent rapport with the audience and their enthusiasm is contagious. Good guys, this Scott, Rob and Shane. For those who can make the trip down to the metropolis of Goldsboro (and you know you want to), they are playing at The Flying Shamrock also on Friday, but their show starts at 9pm. (For those that can't make it to Goldsboro, they play again at Tir Na Nog in Raleigh on June 27th at 7pm. Likewise, my long-beloved Hercs play again there on June 13th, also starting at 7pm.)

(Editor note, May 31: Highly recommend The Flying Shamrock in Goldsboro. Good food, excellent staff, more 'fresh-tasting' beer even, enthusiastic crowd. Well worth the trip and gas expense.)

Slowly, ever so slowly, a Raleigh-based Celtic 'scene' emerges...LOL.

And, finally, next week on June 2 and 3, for those of you who have far more money/less hangups about the ticket price than me, The Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, SC, officially opens with great anticipated fanfare. Ideally, when I first heard about it, it sounded like a helluva outing: 2 fabulous bands breaking in the joint, and then the ticket price also included theme park admission, parking, some 'opening weekend' souvenirs, that kind of thing. Considering I've not had a vacation yet this year (other than an odd single day or two) and haven't been to the beach in awhile, it sounded like a really good deal for a bit...until I saw the price tag, excluding my gas, food and hotel expense. For one ticket, friends, which you cannot break down to see just one band on one night, nor just see the bands and skip the park is...drum roll, please...$284+. Again, that's not counting travel, food, or lodging expense.

Now I do love The Eagles...a tremendously influential and wonderful band, of whom I am the owner of several of their albums. And long-time friends will admit I've been a lover of The Moody Blues since my teens...20 years after they started hitting the scene, if you're keeping score...so much to the point that one of their signature lyrics doubled as my quote in my senior yearbook. I'm really not doubting the value of the bands themselves...but, as a longtime fan of both, I also have a good 'working idea' of what each is worth in the current market. I recently shilled out $85 to go see Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band in Greensboro and that was, essentially, a general admission (bleed) seat...and unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that even the mighty Bruce & Co did not sell out the Coliseum (especially in the upper tiers). Something a little less than Bruce...The Boss is always my barometer in these things...for each of these bands would have given me pause to consider. I've seen The Moody Blues several times, albeit being one of the younger audience members generally, and have adored The Eagles for more years than I care to recall (their "Hotel California" is still the unofficial air-guitar, air-drums, and air-bass song of my former reservations employer). In short, this is not/should not be a hard sell and has a mass audience potential.

However, when you throw in the mandatory theme park cost...not so much me (being afraid of heights and all as I am, that sort of greatly reduces the truly 'fun' ones for the adults)...and then the other 'opening weekend' razzmatazz: I can take it or leave it. And frankly, 'being first' anyplace for anything really screams against my basic nature. Then when you throw in a minimum $60 for a round-trip tank of gas from here and a night's lodging in Myrtle...it freakishly soon teeters on a month's rent allotment. So 'left it' is where the idea has come and died, unfortunately. Clearly, I'm not the only one having some buyer's anxiety out there: as I write this, about only a week out from the shows, lots of tickets are still available. Word to Hard Rock Park: don't give people ticket shock before you even develop your customer base. In case you've missed it, there's a recession going on and you just might want to take that into consideration when pricing your entertainment.

A great idea for an opening, albeit very poorly executed given the current (and very anxious) economic climate I fear. If someone does go to the opening gala, I'd be interested in hearing from you about the crowd and an overall review. In the meantime, though, I'll just have to content myself with playing my air drums while I drive...listening to the "Greatest Hits" CD.

Spectra Gadget for the News Junkies

2008-05-19T00:02:00.002-04:00

Call it a residual effect of being out for work two days this last pay period with the ear infection, but I did some 'more than usual' amount of surfing out on the Web. I came across a lot of useless stuff to be certain (some of which was readable, some even enjoyable in its time-wasting way), but some of what I found was some damn cool stuff. At least to me, anyway.

So, as time allows and also as a way to keep myself more devoted to actually posting all of the little things I jot down somewhere and then forget to include here, I'll now be throwing in these 'gadget and misc item finds' from now on. I hope you enjoy and, more importantly, I hope you can use.

Our first nomination of a gadget is for my fellow news junkies, who perhaps want something more than a scroll of updated info on the bottom of your favourite news provider. This one comes from the fine folks over at MSNBC, who (like their parent company, NBC Universal/GE) have suddenly taken to providing more 'net and blog friendly' material to their viewers with a profound gusto. First, it was changing their policy to now allowing viewers and bloggers alike to imbed videos from their sites and/or programs, complete with code...something I was able to take full advantage of when posting recently with my "Saturday Night Live" and "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" video uplinks.

Now, there is Spectra: a visual newsreader (still in beta) that allows you to choose your 'channels' of interest first, and then from those channels, headlines from those channels are then presented to you (a la a colourful mobile-like circular hover) for your glance.

Spectra, ©2008, MSNBC

Should you want to just read the headline and not the story that supports it, fine...go on to the next story and your next 'headline' filters on down for viewing. Otherwise you can choose to click on the intriguing headline for a full reading there and then or save it for the News Collector. Should you choose the latter of the News Collector, you'll just get the stories you saved to investigate and read further and/or later as time allows. Business, sports, international, gossip, personal finance, health, etc...a pretty vast area of subject areas are available as channels to choose from. Sweet little gadget to me...then again I also like to visually stimulated a lot, too.

Memorial Concert for Eve Carson, May 18

2008-05-17T12:49:00.007-04:00

A memorial concert for the recently slain UNC Student Body President, Eve Carson, will be held tomorrow night over in Raleigh at a local favourite concert hall, The Lincoln Theatre. Minimum (ticket) donation is $10.

The "Hark The Sound" (name taken from UNC's oldest alma mater fight song) Concert Benefiting The Eve Carson Memorial Fund will start at 4pm on Sunday, May 18, 2008. Performers include The Jealousy Game, Aloretta, Jonas Sees in Color, Hey Euphony, Joe Grizzley, and Left on Cates. Doors open at 3:30pm, with plenty of municipal parking available across the street and also in the nearby Moore Park parking deck.

The supremely gifted and hard-working Ms. Carson would have graduated with honors last week from UNC-Chapel Hill. The investigation into her death (which is still under wraps to some degree, with even local press being denied access to see the search warrants issued by police) has been linked to the earlier murder of Duke University graduate student Abhijit Mahato. Additionally, the two men charged with her killing (one of which is a 17-year-old) were on probation and should have been in jail for violations of such at the time of her March 5 murder. Further details about the judicial breakdown can be found here...at least one suspect now states that he had not been contacted by his probation officer for more than a year, even though he was on probation for gun and break-in charges. WRAL (the local CBS affiliate in Raleigh) also has prepared a quick synopsis of the events following the tragic deaths of both students.

Ms. Carson's loss still resonates within this small, but essentially University-dominated, city. It has shaken our security, but not our resolve to see the (many) errors within the NC Justice System corrected so another set of family and friends...another community...does not have to endure this horror again. What's been revealed so far about the breakdown and handling of these suspects and their previous crimes and/or probations, though, is very very troubling. And beyond disturbing. And crying out for a desperate need for reform in our system.

Rest in peace, Eve, rest in peace. Prayers to your family and friends continue.

God Bless Our Freedom of Speech...and Especially Keith's

2008-05-15T08:43:00.003-04:00

Love him or hate him, but Keith Olbermann from MSNBC's "Countdown" last night just took President Bush to the woodshed for some of our Dear President's latest comments. And this "Special Comment" was nothing short of u-g-l-y. Can't say I've ever seen Mr. Olbermann come as close to yelling at the camera as he did last night.

Even if you think Olbermann's a bit of a left-wing nut (which I don't), even if you think he's a showboat (which he occasionally is, but that generally occurs when he's talking sports...which should be forgiven as he was a sports anchor and reporter for a few decades or so), even if you think he speaks too high-falutin' for this country (which is a crime against the populace how again?), you have to give the man his props: he's on a nationally-televised news program with millions of viewers and he's a proud American, albeit one who is angry as hell...and he's not afraid to say it or hide it anymore. And like all proud Americans (should), he understands and uses his right to free speech as often as he can.

Just when I think we're all being lulled to a slow asphyxiation of the brain and spirit, Mr. Olbermann strikes back with one of these gems...

One word, Mr. Olbermann: Bravo!

Keith Olbermann's "Special Comment" from May 14, 2008. ©MSNBC, 2008.

If you'd like to read the transcript to this "Special Comment", The Huffington Post has it here, below the video embed.

By All Means, Please, Let the Machinations Begin...

2008-05-11T20:40:00.014-04:00

As the winding, roller coaster Presidential campaign swerves headlong again this week, we are now entering a "Twilight Zone" kind of quasi-drama that even my most ardent of political science professors would have found perverse. The once-mighty Hillary Clinton camp is infected and watched like a contagion with a death wish...a wish that wants at all costs, mind you, to right a wrong done against it...and, as a result, there exists a new groundswell of those critics already finding ways to dissect the same candidate and her campaign. The Hillary politic, if you will, has not been even declared officially dead, yet the vultures not only have arrived, but are already picking away at some of the more tender parts on the failing frame. One week on, and I'm already sick of hearing and watching about it.

Politics has always been a ruthless and bloody sport, for certain. However, even though I did not vote for Senator Clinton and strongly disapprove of some of her campaign tactics, I've never been a proponent of being a 'standover man (woman)' of fresh roadkill. Perhaps I'm far too naive for this political world, or perhaps I've greatly underestimated the absolute hate some people harbour toward Senator Clinton (and her husband, too). Either way, beating someone's reputation down as some sort of sport is beyond nauseating to me. I know, I know...the old adage about words never cutting as brutally as a blade...but, really now, is drawing blood the only sign of a 'victor' these days? Perhaps I at least should learn to shield my eyes, if I cannot be shielded by someone else's sense of decency. Lost should not mean the same thing as beaten, even today.

Some writers, like the wonderful John Heilemann in "New York" magazine, do a nice work-up of the 'whys' of the Clinton campaign implosion and even offers up some answers to the numerous 'what ifs' that now dog the it's-all-over-now-Baby-Blue analysis. And...shock...he doesn't resort to an attack on either candidate in his final summation. I'm all for decency and equal treatment in this campaign, but Lord I just wish there was more of it to be found. Mr. Heilemann's article seems to be the exception, unfortunately, and not the rule. I especially have noticed this contrast in popular analysis since last week's primaries.

Clearly, it is open season now and the media smells blood. Even "Saturday Night Live", which just recently got rolled over the coals for a not-so-subtle apparent endorsement of Senator Clinton, did an about-face this weekend and turned in this stinging parody of why Hill's still in (which would have been far funnier, frankly, if so much of it were not so true). Ouch.

"Saturday Night Live" from May 10, 2008. "Message from Hillary Clinton" ®NBC Universal/GE 2008.

Friends, this is ugly stage. And unfortunately for those of us who want practically anyone other than Senator John McCain as the next leader of this land, I fear it will become uglier. After all, we've developed quite the appetite for this kind of 'succeed or you will be crushed' kind of spectacle from our politicians, from our sports heroes, from our celebrities, even from our competitors at work. Turning on Senator Clinton now...despite her numerous and high-profile flaws and successes...says so much more about us as a questionable society than any of her hateful attacks will be remembered for. (Editor's note, May 24: Well, maybe not...after these mind-boggling comments made by Senator Clinton about the late Robert F. Kennedy yesterday. Honestly, these are the type of comments that makes some of Hillary's 'non-believers' question her mental and emotional competence.)

There is an almost breathless and galloping desire, and perhaps an intentionally painful one, to take aim and (hopefully) slay all in the Clinton camp and its campaign She-Beast once and for all...or at least for this Presidential bid. Like an angry and rabid animal tainted with a poison it cannot expel, the media coverage of this candidacy's last gasps is one of sadness, awe, and prolonged anxiety. Something akin to the conjoined Siamese twins taken around tent shows at the beginning of the last century, heralded 'as being human but also not'... simultaneously. When will it end?, they ask. How will she go?, others counter. And, perhaps the question most likely to remain unspoken...how much damage has her campaign done or...(with a raised eyebrow worthy of the best second-rate off-Broadway hack)...how much does it still have left to do?? No withdrawal will be quick enough, no criticism strong enough, no departure graceful enough for our 'press'. At a moment when the media could attempt to stand above the fray and focus on the campaign and issues to come, instead they salivate at the potential threat (hope?) of a Democratic political knife attack. Again, I have no particular love for Senator Clinton, but this media mess harks back a little too close to the contests of the Roman Games for my liking. The more we make it into a cage match, the less it ends up being democracy. Or even anything close.

Media perversity aside, the pressing issue now is not if or when Senator Obama will become the Democratic nominee for President, but rather how (and how badly) the Clinton campaign goes down with the ship...and if she takes Obama and the Party down with her. If she does hang on for dear life, though, blame not Hillary for all of this drama...we Democratic voters, the primary state and national officials, the press, and those affiliated within the Party up and down the line, have created, allowed, and cheered on this all-out pandering circus. Delegate loopholes, legal challenges, racial and sexual and financial baiting, 'bitter' rurals, 'hard-working whites', ad nauseum...you name it, it will be exploited because it's the American way to challenge and bend the rules as we see fit, and especially so during an election year. 'Winner takes all' and all that bullshit. The fact that we look like materialistic, egotistical, trigger-happy, and holier-than-thou buffoons to the rest of the world be damned. This behaviour is what we will be remembered for, no matter who eventually occupies The White House.

And it is also precisely this same behaviour for which we should be, and will be, ashamed.

Approach at Your Own Risk

2008-05-11T11:55:00.005-04:00

Sorry, folks, but I feel like crap. And I have for a few days.

In typical 'me' fashion, I don't just get slightly run down, don't get just slightly under the weather. Oh, no...I go for records. Records of ear-splitting pain, mind-numbing headaches, ever-ending chills and fever. Records for being a total bitch to those who have disregarded my 'bark' and come a'callin' anyway to interrupt my solitude and attempts to recover.

I've not been able to hear out of my right ear since early Thursday morning and even though I've been on three separate drugs and ear drops since Thursday afternoon, I can't really say I've seen a great improvement so far. I hurt too much to do anything really...the ear just throbs...and I'm held up in a house that has too much to do in it: planting and weeding in the garden, re-staining the coffee table, doing some tile work on the kitchen table, painting the bathroom walls, getting caught up on some work-related reading. Hell, watching TV seems like too much work right now for the ears. If I don't get any better by tomorrow, I'm seeing someone else as a follow-up (as current doc says only other option is go to the E.R. and have the ear looked at that there, which, of course, my insurance will not cover). The bad news is I think it's trying to be 'social' and now include the left ear, too, in its party. Joy.

Unfortunately, though, I chose the absolute worst weekend to drop out, for my phone and email have been in use pretty constantly despite my pause. And, yesterday, I reached my limit and one poor soul called and got me at my worst when I barked back at them. I'm sorry, it was not deserved. I just simply do not do sick well.

Yes, I missed a Going Away Party at work for two employees...I know, and I am sorry. Yes, I sold my ticket to the Rowdy Fryends show in Greensboro for Friday night...but I'm sure the recipient had a good time. Yes, I missed yesterday's Haw River Festival down in Bynum...and I'm sorry I couldn't enjoy the wonderful weather for it, either. I'm sure I'm missing something today or tomorrow, too, but it can't be helped right now. Please forgive, good people.

Friends and loved ones: I don't miss these things because I'm tired or 'like one more than the other' necessarily (in fact, I tend to go even when I'm overtired, frankly), but instead I missed these things because my body is strongly...very strongly...advising me to take some time off and get well. I appreciate I was missed, I really do; but I also appreciate some peace and quiet when I'm trying to get well. Believe it or not, I am not trying to be a bitch here, I just need some space...and when I do, the limited social filters I do have are some of the first things that get turned off. Not intentional, just automatic.

Needless to say, I am not the Fairy Godmother of Goodness and Light now.

VOTE!!!...For the Sake of the Future Course

2008-05-06T06:47:00.006-04:00

I have updates to post later this evening, but I'm already late this morning getting away from the humble abode.

IT'S TIME TO VOTE, PEOPLE!!!
I DON'T CARE WHO YOU VOTE FOR, BUT VOTE!!!

It's that day again, people, when we elect someone else to make our future decisions. Choose soberly, choose informed, and choose wisely. But go to the polls and choose.

I spent sometime reading up on the local candidates and finally made a decision on whom I like in a couple of races. Don't know how tight the County Commissioners race here will be, but I do suspect the Democratic Primary for Governor could be close...that campaign has been testy and nasty and just damn mean as of late.

Considering where I've moved to, my actual voting opportunities are greatly reduced as we don't have a lot of positions up for grabs in this primary. However, if I still lived over in Durham that would be much different, as they finally get around to voting for a permanent replacement to fill the District Attorney seat once held by the infamous Mike Nifong. God bless Durham County...they so need to get that stage behind them somehow and start making some PR progress once more.

Even though I'm registered now as Unaffiliated/Independent (can't remember how they call it here), I am thrilled that so many people are finally taking elections and the whole voting process seriously. The numbers of new voters being registered (especially among the Democratic ranks) these days are quite inspiring. I'm sure that almost all of that comes on the heels of the Democratic Presidential campaign between Senators Obama and Clinton. I'm hopeful...as I am prone to be in times like these, especially as Senator McCain's declaration to stay in Iraq frightens the hell out of me for this country's future...that no matter who eventually gets the nomination in that race, that all of the loser's new voters do not turn away their support for the eventual chosen candidate. And certainly not from voting altogether. We'll see.

Obviously, if Senator Obama loses tonight here (as he's already in a close race in Indiana that's a virtual tie), his campaign is in trouble and his 'new ideas' momentum shifted for something far more 'old school' Clintonesque. Senator Obama's views play very well here, in a state with a lot of urban professionals that have come from other areas of the country to follow good jobs. Well-educated, articulate, and forward-thinking African-American black men are very common in the universities, industries, and suburbs here, but he also inspires and 'shows a way' to minorities still seeking the American Dream. He has three major Achilles' heels...inexperience on the world stage and in national politics, the apparent inability to get the votes of some white groups (such as Catholics and middle-aged and older women), and the fact that some in this state (and is this country) will not vote for a black man, period. But, should be win tonight, he'll draw blood from at least one of these demons. Senator Obama draws on the 'idealist vibe' that marked the civil rights movement (which had many milestones within this state) and the hopeful enthusiasm about the good of government not seen since President Kennedy in the 1960s. Untested hope versus experienced combat, if you will. Win or lose, though, Senator Obama will continue on...although the rest of the campaign will become bloody as the infamous non-counted delegate issue from Michigan and Florida will come front and center.

And if Senator Clinton loses tonight here (as she is predicted to do by about 15 points or so, per The Drudge Report this morning, but polls are infamously wrong here), her campaign is in trouble and the young voters (especially young women, whom she has not won over here), African-Americans, and educated professionals will lead the charge. We are a very divided state when it comes to Senator Clinton...and, yes, how she courted/bashed Senator Obama about 'the black vote' in her campaign will be a major issue in her loss and/or defeat tonight. Prior to this campaign, Senator Clinton could have easily counted on the black vote, and with help of her husband, could have counted on the vote from white women. At least in this part of the state, some cities are practically all liberal-leaning, too. Unfortunately, that has changed, and further disappointing to Democratic voters here is the fact that it's Hillary running and not the former President. No matter what the outcome of all this, some enterprising Bob Woodward-type will write a fascinating book about how Senator Clinton overplayed her hand...even though she held a full house. Dissecting her campaign's decisions will, in itself, become a cottage industry. Win or lose, though, Senator Clinton will continue on...although the rest of the campaign will become bloody as the infamous non-counted delegate issue from Michigan and Florida will come front and center.

If Senator Obama wins, this mess continues as Senator Clinton will keep fighting.

If Senator Clinton wins, this mess continues as Senator Obama will keep fighting.

This primary here and in Indiana settles nothing...both sides have now become so damn entrenched against the other...but how the candidates react to the voters' decisions will help forge the future path of the Democratic party, and of the country we call home itself. Especially as we see what mess the current President has left behind for us to reverse and solve.

Hope is more powerful...any day...than fighting. And I am simply done with all the fighting. These are trying times for us all, and continued and further division amongst us will get us nowhere. I know what we've done and what we are doing at present...let us try doing something new and see what happens.

Call me a romantic idealist, but I'm voting for Senator Obama.

TGIF...and how I've needed it

2008-05-02T21:02:00.005-04:00

FINALLY!

The weeks that were are finally over, and I'm home for the weekend in a desperate search of some R&R. True, I still have a PowerPoint to break out and make on Sunday for work, but at least now I can see some light at the end of the tunnel (and I can also determine it's not an oncoming train)!!

Tonight is simply about vegging out somewhere at the house being lazy, although I may also do some budget workup for this upcoming week. (I am making significant progress on paying off any remaining debts and I will only have my monthly expenses and my college loans at the end of this year. A bit behind schedule, I admit, from previous promises...this is what happens when one starts also handling some expenses from parents...but still ahead a bit of being debt-free in about three years. All the hard work and penny pinching is starting to pay off...literally.)

Hell, with any luck tonight, I may even get around to watching my beloved "Rome" episodes from Season 2. Some days, I swear, I absolutely love my Netflix subscription, especially now as gas to and from the movies...let alone the shows themselves...would be out of my budget otherwise. Movies are my solace sometimes when I just can't deal with people anymore in the day. Or deal with them any more this week, as it is with my case right now.

("Rome", by the way, is an absolute must-see for any historical movie/TV buffs out there...I only wish it had more than two seasons in its catalog. The acting, directing, cinematography, set and costume design...absolutely top-notch quality and dedication to their respective crafts. And I've become new fans of Kevin McKidd...an excellent Scottish actor who you may know from the cult classic "Trainspotting" of all films, the super talented Irish-born thespian Ray Stevenson, and the supremely gifted and beautiful Polly Walker because of this wonderful series. Thank God they're rumoured to making a movie from the show, but for us "Rome" fans, that premiere simply cannot come soon enough.)

Tomorrow...and don't laugh when you read this next part...is all about watercolour painting 'for stress reduction' in the morning and creating my new garden area in the afternoon. I'm curious to see how the watercolours will go, as that is one area of painting where I've always felt the most impatient...and also had the least success as a result. It may be stress enhancing rather than stress reducing, but I'll go in there with a positive mind still the same. By the time I get through with the garden (a new project that I'm going at with gusto now that the farm here can actually lend some space to my dreams) tomorrow night, I should practically be in a Zen-like state of inner peace and calm.

And then on Sunday, it's back to that damn PowerPoint.

But not until then. Not until then, dammit.

A day or two of peace is all I ask, folks, that's really all I wish for now.

"...It's Home From Work We Go..."

2008-04-25T07:01:00.004-04:00

...if only that were true. Sorry I've been missing in action the last week or so, 55 hours in already this week at work with no immediate end in sight. And I'm already woozy and exhausted from today's adventures, and it hasn't even started yet.

I will probably sleep most of tomorrow unless something gives today. And something tells me that ain't gonna happen.

With love to all of my fellow working stiffs out there (from YouTube, as usual)...

From Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" movie, featuring the classic song of capitalists everywhere: "Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho".

Have a great Friday, everybody. I'll check back in again this weekend sometime, after I've gotten some sleep.

Here's to the Hokies...Let Us Never Forget

2008-04-16T08:25:00.004-04:00

Today marks the one year remembrance of the tragic massacre that shocked the great Virginia Tech Hokies, the US, and the world. A year ago at this time, the massacre was just beginning...a fact that sends shivers down my spine as I look at the clock. As I watch that same time tick away, I also realize just how quickly that year has passed...and also how some things have not moved forward, either. So many great minds, so many great people, so many great souls, so many great dreams were lost that spring morn. And as horrible and as emotional as that day was to the psyche of the world in which we all still live, what actually has been done about gun purchases to those unqualified to own, safety precautions on campus, etc? A hot topic there for a bit that has went disturbingly quiet throughout this land, ever since the photos and the bios and the family stories fell off the front page. All these wonderful voices forever silenced, yet we still cannot manage a conversation in their absence...

Virginia Tech University®

Today, again...and for all days since and for all days forward...we are Virginia Tech. Let us stand alongside our friends from Blacksburg (and throughout this nation, throughout this world) once again, and let them know the lives of their loved ones were not lost in vain. And let's work together to prevent another horrible nightmare like this from ever happening again.

Many hugs and condolences to the whole Virginia Tech family...and especially to the family members and friends of those that were lost that fateful day...from me. Words cannot express the grief I still feel for what has been so horribly taken from you and from the world at large. God be with you all...always.

Special hugs go to VT alum and dearest friend, the Wise Ricky. If there is anything I can do to make the day a bit better for you, please let me know.

And, yes, while I am behind on the Jamie Bishop memorial project I want to place here in Carrboro (Herr Bishop and his widow lived, studied and worked here for a bit), it will be completed by next year's remembrance. I want to do the memorial 'right' with some locals and former co-workers who actually knew him well, but that takes some time, organization, and money, and all three requires some planning and saving. For those that are interested in learning more, please email me: themarquise@gmail.com.

The Boys Are Back: Durham Bulls® Home Season Opener

2008-04-11T07:55:00.004-04:00

Ahh, spring. The absolute best and most glorious season, in my humble opinion. Full of blooming flowers, warmer temperatures, backyard grills starting up, new mothers proudly showing off their young as they go about their day. And baseball starting up again.

Tonight is the home season opener for local (and minor league baseball) institution, The Durham Bulls®. Yes, this is the same team and city featured in the Kevin Costner/Tim Robbins/Susan Sarandon romantic dramedy "Bull Durham". And while The Bulls now play in the much-improved "DBap", "The Bap" area where several scenes of the movie was shot still exists, but is now greatly underutilized. The game tonight starts at 7:05 pm, and is against Scranton-Wilkesboro. It should be a glorious night for an opener, as today will be in the 80s here and into the 70s and 60s for the game tonight, and everything...and I do mean everything...is in bloom. The boys, and a new baseball season, are back and it's time to celebrate their arrival.

It's been of a trying week around the homestead (nothing specific, but everything in general), and I need some release. God bless the Bulls, though, as they still play the game as it was intended, without all the hubbub that now permeates Major League Baseball® (MLB): with young and flustered players not used to playing on a semi-pro team nervously taking the field, with bored hot dog vendors in the aisles, with children wailing from above you in the covered 'bleed seats', with old men and their wives talking about Florida vacations long past over your shoulder, with an announcer that is inaudible from more than 4 rows from the press box, with moms chastising brothers to share the popcorn with their sisters. All for about $8 if you sit on the lawn, about $15 if you're in the stands. It's a community, still, at a time when we don't have that so much anymore. And it's an intentionally slow game because of that...if nothing else, you focus on the fundamentals of things and take a good look around you while doing so. Tradition still lives, families still enjoy being together, time can be halted a bit...if only for a couple of hours on a springtime night. And you really enjoy being a part of it all.

And in the memory of my beloved father who played it for decades and also loved this game more than Life itself, let's play ball!

Life is Really Freakin' Good Right Now

2008-04-07T23:58:00.005-04:00

University of Kansas Jayhawks®, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

2008 MENS' DIVISION I BASKETBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

...and in a nailbiter in overtime, no less. Final score: Kansas 75 Memphis 68. Read about it here, from the KU student newspaper, "The University Daily Kansan". And it also comes on the 20th anniversary of Danny Manning and The Miracles doing the same for the Jayhawks back in 1988 (my, how time flies.) It was a helluva game, and the 'Hawks barely pulled it even at the end of regulation to even get to overtime. Memphis was very determined opponent.

Oh, to be in Lawrence and near Henry T's right about now...tomorrow should be a citywide holiday there. Hell, maybe they should even consider taking off the rest of the week.

CONGRATS, JAYHAWKS!!!

No Joy in Blue Heaven

2008-04-06T10:27:00.005-04:00

In case you don't follow the college basketball games as closely as I do, let me break the news: The University of North Carolina Tar Heels lost last night to The University of Kansas Jayhawks. And, while I would like to sugarcoat it for those that I live and work with here locally, I unfortunately cannot. It was ugly.

It wasn't so much a game as a bloodletting. The Tar Heels never played their game, and were just completely steamrolled (almost into a shock-like state) in the opening minutes...an opening attack so severe that the UNC team never really fully recovered. God help them, at one point they were trailing the Jayhawks by 28 in the first half. While the Heels did get back within 5 points at one point in the second half (largely due to Jayhawk errors more than the Tar Heels 'finding their game'), the second Kansas wave then hit the local heroes for a vicious, and final, round. The final score was 84 to 66.

I watched the game last night with some UNC fans and local neighbours, who at least understood my divided loyalties plight between the two schools, and to say they were dumbfounded might be the understatement of this new year. I was cheering for the Heels to show up, too, but it just never really happened. As God as my (and their) witness, we still don't know what team played in San Antonio last night, but it sure wasn't the same one who left earlier this week from Chapel Hill. My heart aches for the boys, it does...some of whom looked close to tears honestly in the post-game media interviews...because what they showed last night is not what or who they really are about. We desperately needed a mulligan, but none will come.

So now, tomorrow (Monday) night, is the Championship game between the Kansas Jayhawks and the Memphis Tigers. Tipoff time is scheduled for 9:21pm (EST). (And, again, kudos to CBS for broadcasting the final online as well for free tomorrow...go to that link and click on "NCAA® March Madness® on Demand".) And, although it still may not be safe to do so, I will venture out to see if I can find a Jayhawk-friendly viewpoint in which to watch the game. (I'm hoping some Tar Heel locals will show a little love and cheer on the Kansas team...a team and school whose basketball history is forever intertwined with that of North Carolina involving coaches, players, staff, etc...against the Tigers. But who knows...I may be watching at home instead again...but this time without the neighbours.) Rock chalk, Jayhawks, people...but I am deeply saddened for the Tar Heels still the same.

If there is any possible bright spot from last night's victory, maybe this has finally ended the ~~disdain~~ bitterness of some of the diehard Jayhawk faithful against Coach Roy Williams, current coach of the Tar Heels and former coach of the Jayhawks. In a love/hate feud that has been building to a crescendo since Williams left Kansas to come here (his alma mater) in a highly reviled manner, there still exists a deep resentment of many Kansas fans against him. I know many who felt that Coach Roy left KU at the height of its potential, or that perhaps his heart wasn't in it at Kansas, or that his loyalties always remained here in Chapel Hill and he was just milking KU of all the money he could until the UNC position came available. (Insert your own conspiracy theory here.) No matter what happened, though, Williams left Kansas after earlier promising to stay. The facts of the 'how' Williams' departure was done...and it was done very poorly from a fan's perspective...may still be murky, but the onslaught of hatred that Williams brings with him every time his name is mentioned to a Jayhawk fan cannot be underestimated. And it's been that way for 5 years now.

I know Kansas wanted, and certainly could, win without this added 'retribution' incentive last night. However, any wandering into a Jayhawk fan message board gives the impression that a victory over UNC was deeply personal, with far more gravitas than just a berth to a national championship game. Instead, the Jayhawks were perhaps settling a bill that has been long overdue and (in some eyes, anyway) unpaid. Like a proud lover cast aside for a newer (read: richer) bride, hell hath no fury like a woman (or basketball community) scourned. Maybe with such a decisive victory last night...maybe...the wound in Lawrence can start to finally heal. Perhaps last night's game could be a newer version of the spoils of war, extracted from a distinguished, but clearly overwhelmed, opponent. And maybe the two schools, who have created such great relationships with the one other since this sport was invented, can start a new chapter. Maybe, maybe...but probably still not anytime soon.

But we'll see what happens tomorrow.

It's Semi-Final Game Day...

2008-04-05T09:47:00.011-04:00

The Kansas Jayhawks®, University of Kansas, image from Sportslogos

versus

The UNC Tar Heels®, The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, image from Sportslogos

...and I still don't know which team I'm pulling for tonight. Tipoff's at 8:47pm (EST) (and CBS will be streaming it online again, too, click above link and then look for "NCAA® March Madness® on Demand"), and I'm completely undecided. I'll be thrilled, honestly, if either one wins and really sad, honestly, for the loser. I've been lucky enough to 'storm the town' in celebration a few times when each has won a big game (and the odd Championship), but I've also looked at the bottom of a few beers when there's been a heartbreaking loss. And, with these two, it could easily go either way.

However, in the interest of my own public safety, I will be staying in and watch the game here at the humble abode. If I knew I could restrain myself from clapping or even appearing to support Kansas in the slightest form, I would try to go out into Chapel Hill proper, the town's been waiting for this game all week...but, unfortunately, (as countless friends can attest), I don't watch and cheer like that. I'm not a shrinking violet in so many things in my life, and especially so with my sports appreciation. Be it basketball, football, racing, whatever...I'm a bit vocal for 'my' guys, 'my' team, 'my' driver. I'm that tomboy sports nut that people hear about like it's some sort of urban legend. Ain't no myth, kids. (And, yes, I once did aspire to be a sportswriter...makes sense now, doesn't it?)

It's one thing to go to Bailey's (like I did for the Orange Bowl, back in January) and cheer on the Jayhawks (against Virginia Tech), but it's quite another to go to same bar and do the same when the Tar Heels are the competition. It's sorta the equivalent of going to a duel knowing you have an angry mob to face and they've all got much, much better ways to hurt you than you do them. Like murdering one's brother or coveting the neighbour's wife, there are some things one must not do, and there is no rationale...before, during, or after...for doing so. As I found out the hard way in 1993 (as a fresh transfer to here from the land of Jayhawks and still living on campus at UNC), you do not cheer against the local heroes without taking certain precautions. Call me what you will, I just don't want to wake up to the smell of rotten eggs in my room air conditioning unit and all over my vehicle again.

And, yes, I guess this does serve as an admission that I've gotten 'soft' somehow in my old age. So be it. That doesn't erase the fact that my heart and sentiments are divided between these two great schools, these two great teams.

But may the best team win tonight...but whoever does, I think, will eventually take the Championship on Monday.