"The Discriminating Homophobe", An Original IBL Production...

(Coming soon.)

David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest" - 600 Pages...

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"I Love You Period", Dan Baird

The unabashed joy I get EVERY TIME I hear this song probably exceeds the actual quality of the song; but there's no accounting for taste and, of course, a pure emotional response.

Other thoughts -

• You know, wanted to go a bit lighter after the Randy Newman.
• From an album titled "Love Songs for the Hearing Impaired".
• He looks like he could NOT be having a better time screwing up his lip-syncing in this video. That makes me happy.
  
• His band is named Homemade Sin, which also makes me happy.
• At some point was (is?) the singer for Georgia Satellites (but likely some of you already knew that).
• All in all, a song about punctuation correction? How could I not like it? And the line "I want to hold you in parentheses" absolutely slays me. (And then the teacher's, "here's the way that it should have went"..)
  

I Love You Period...

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"Rednecks", Randy Newman

So I decided to take a double dip with Mr. Newman if only because this was likely the first song I heard on the radio where I thought to myself "but that's the N-Word; you are not even supposed to say that word LET ALONE put it in Popular Contemporary" (I would have seen it in fiction prior to that, of course; Huck Finn springs to mind).

Well, I got a hold of the lyrics and sorted out about Lester Maddox and also this "cage" in the various Northern cities, and learned something about character in song, POV, and how a songwriter could, conceivably, use "racist" language in such a way that it was attacking racism (don't recall any of that running around on the ol' Amplitude Modulation). And, of course, both the North and South take hits here (no reason to be smug, Yankee).

From his 1973 album Good Old Boys; I probably heard it for the first time right before Short People came out. (Oh, and Marie from the previous post is on that same record.)

"College men from LSU/went in dumb, come out dumb, too..."

Rednecks.

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"Marie", Randy Newman

Because he is just so fucking good. I was certainly aware of him before Short People (more on that in the next post), but it wasn't until later that I realized the impact of what he could do. If there is a song sadder than this one I'm not sure what it is. Probably another Randy Newman song...

"And I don't listen to a word you say/when you're in trouble I turn away..."

Marie.

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"Dreaming My Dreams", Waylon

Not too much needs to be said about Waylon, though it's hard to believe he's been gone nearly ten years. He is one of our absolute favorites, and I think one of the greatest voices we have. I chose the title track of his 1975 album because the arrangement is so spare and his voice really stands out.

Written by Allen Reynolds, of whom I know very little.

Dreaming My Dreams...

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Tevye We Hardly Knew Ye

When I was maybe 13 my mother took me to see Fiddler on the Roof in Los Angeles. Now, this was a big, big deal. We lived in Orange County and we NEVER went to Los Angeles; all I knew was that L.A. was "dangerous", it was unlikely I'd ever lay eyes on Dodger Stadium (certainly not for a night game!), and you had to be EXTREMELY careful and always alert if and when you got anywhere near the place (this from my father who, to be fair, lived in Los Angeles for years and years). At any rate, my mom and I got in the car late morning one Sunday, drove to Los Angeles from La Habra (about 45 minutes), had lunch someplace and then went to the theater for the matinee (and I know it wasn't the Pantages, but I'm not sure which theater it was; I just ran a cursory Google search and didn't find anything - Dave Stein? Garth?).

As it turned out, NOT ONLY was there no matinee that day (the box office was closed, no people around at all), but the marquee was ignorant of the antics of Tevye and his family - Fiddler on the Roof wasn't even PLAYING; instead, the current production was Your Arms to Short to Box With God, an all-Black musical that imdb describes as "a soaring celebration in song and dance". Which it may well be, but I never saw it.

We drove back to the safety of Orange County, my mother and I did, and if you've noticed this thing about me, that I often call ahead even if we are meeting at a bar that we ARE ABSOLUTELY DEAD CERTAIN WILL BE OPEN; or if I'm running down to get something at the pet store or whatever - well, impetus thine name is Mrs. Murray.

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Knapp's Lounge, Tacoma, Evening of October 12th (In Which I Buy a Drink for Terry)

Those of you who avidly follow this blog ( wait for it ... har) might recall that back on August 3rd or 4th I told the story of a gentleman named Terry who played me a bunch of Badfinger on the juke box at Knapp's here in Tacoma. After the first two songs he got up, said good evening, and left; then three more came on - he had played them just for me. I said to Danielle, "I'm buying that guy a drink the next time we see him in here."

Well let's close the loop on this heartwarming tale of human bonding, shall we? Diet Coke and bourbon? Robin, put that on my tab!

Cheers, Terry...

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In the 3rd Grade, I Discuss Art w/ Elizabeth Hiatt (a Movie - "Days of Wine and Roses", Starring Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick)

As I've been thinking back on all these songs from my youth, another memory sprang to mind. I was in 3rd grade at Our Lady of Guadalupe Elementary School in La Habra, California; Mrs. Borchardt was the teacher, as I recall. Now, I read a lot of books and saw a lot of movies as a kid that were not necessarily kids' fare (the novel Ice Station Zebra in 2nd grade stands out in particular). So one night I went home from school, I was either 10 or 11, I guess, and watched Days of Wine and Roses with at least my mother and possibly my father, too, though I don't recall him being in the room. I do recall being so traumatized by the film that I don't believe I've seen it since (I likely need to remedy that).

The next day at school I still couldn't get the movie off my mind, and desperately wanted to talk to somebody about it. So I went to a classmate, Elizabeth Hiatt - I don't know now why I thought she was the best bet - and asked if there was any chance she'd seen Days of Wine and Roses the night before. She had. And I remember being so RELIEVED; there was somebody who'd seen it, somebody I could talk to about it. Now, I have no idea what we said about the movie, no recollection at all, but I do know that was probably the first conversation I ever had with another person about art - to see some piece of art that effected you and find another person whom it also effected and then to talk about it.

So, Liz Hiatt, from across the years - cheers to you.

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IBL Travels to Outlaw Country (In Which I Re-Post Something From Yesterday Because I Now Realize It Should Have Its Own Personal Venue)

I felt this was important enough to have its own post, not to be buried in the Tom Russell post of yesterday. So this will be a repeat for some (as in word for word, cut and paste, etc.) -



So my evolving (har redux) musical tastes have lead me to Sirius Satellite Radio and, in particular, a station owned by Miami Steve Van Zandt called Outlaw Country. The thing about this station that makes me pretty much ecstatic every time I turn it on is that, first of all, they paint with the Outlaw Brush (IBL tm) very broadly (especially depending on the DJ), so I hear everything from Social Distortion to Lynyrd Skynyrd to polka music; Jimmie Rodgers to Loretta Lynn to the Bobby Fuller Four. Plus, of course, there's plenty of Waylon, Willie, Johnny, Merle, Kris, Shaver, Coe and all three Hanks; PLUS there's plenty of twang ta boot. And the DJs are often musicians (Steve Earle, Shooter Jennings, Elizabeth Cook) or producers (Don Was, Cowboy Jack Clement), so there is also insight as to the making of the music (both in and out of the studio), who was influencing whom, and just general Outlaw Country history.

Then, this - often I have heard country music dismissed as "hillbilly" or "hick", and likely there is a fair amount of music out there that fits this label. But very little of it is played on Outlaw Country (and, again, they are not playing strictly country music; I believe they think of it as a kind of "Americana"). But, nonetheless, there are endless intelligent, thoughtful songs by a variety of songwriters in a variety of genres, plus just some real fucking good country music, rock and roll, rock (yes, I think these are two different genres), folk, blue grass, Tejano, etc.

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"Boogie Stop Shuffle", Charles Mingus

Nothing I have to say about this; the music speaks for itself.

And, like Bobby Winant before me in these pages, I want to send a shout out to George Angel for the jazz enlightenment.

Boogie Stop Shuffle...

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"East of Woodstock, West of Viet Nam", Tom Russell

So my evolving (har redux) musical tastes have lead me to Sirius Satellite Radio and, in particular, a station owned by Miami Steve Van Zandt called Outlaw Country. The thing about this station that makes me pretty much ecstatic every time I turn it on is that, first of all, they paint with the Outlaw Brush (IBL tm) very broadly (especially depending on the DJ), so I hear everything from Social Distortion to Lynyrd Skynyrd to polka music; Jimmie Rodgers to Loretta Lynn to the Bobby Fuller Four. Plus, of course, there's plenty of Waylon, Willie, Johnny, Merle, Kris, Shaver, Coe and all three Hanks; PLUS there's plenty of twang ta boot. And the DJs are often musicians (Steve Earle, Shooter Jennings, Elizabeth Cook) or producers (Don Was, Cowboy Jack Clement), so there is also insight as to the making of the music (both in and out of the studio), who was influencing whom, and just general Outlaw Country history.

Then, this - often I have heard country music dismissed as "hillbilly" or "hick", and likely there is a fair amount of music out there that fits this label. But very little of it is played on Outlaw Country (and, again, they are not playing strictly country music; I believe they think of it as a kind of "Americana"). But, nonetheless, there are endless intelligent, thoughtful songs by a variety of songwriters in a variety of genres, plus just some real fucking good country music, rock and roll, rock (yes, I think these are two different genres), folk, blue grass, Tejano, etc.

So, though I certainly wouldn't call him country from what I've heard so far, here's something from Tom Russell, one of the many songwriters, new to me, of whom I've become fond. This song in particular caught my attention because of the literary references - two Salingers, a Hemingway, a Conrad and Graham Green (at least those are the ones I GOT). And he's not just name dropping: they actually pertain to the story.

East of Woodstock, West of Viet Nam...

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Upcoming @ IBL - More Music Discussions a la 30 in 30

So I enjoyed doing my 30 songs in 30 days, and heard from at least one person who indicated he would be pleased to see it continue in some fashion. And so it shall.

Going forward, though, I'm going to break up the music into two basic categories -

• First, as with 30 in 30, songs from my "youth" (loosely defined as 10 to 25, let's say) that had some effect on me at the time, whether or not I like them today (though for the most part along the 30 in 30 path I DID choose songs that I still like today).
• Second, songs that I have come to find in my "adult years" (har) that I think are fantastic for any number of reasons, some by well-known artists, others by artists of whom you may be unaware.

On both fronts I encourage people (as George Angel did) to share music that had or has an effect on them. I am always looking for new songs and artists to enjoy, either in or out of my wheelhouse.

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(In Which I Recommend "Stax/Volt Revue: Live in Norway 1967" (on DVD))

If I have seen a better live concert film in my life I sure don't know what it is. First of all, this Revue is in glorious black and white; second, the camera work is, in general, spectacular; third, it features some of the finest music, musicians and singers we have to offer - Booker T and the MGs, Eddie Floyd, Arthur Conley, Sam and Dave (whose "Hold On I'm Coming" is particularly brilliant), the Mar-Keys and, finally, Otis. I don't know how much footage of Otis is available, but this stuff is beyond priceless ("Satisfaction" and "Try A Little Tenderness" are just really something else) - I think he is on an extremely short list of the greatest American singers. Which undoubtedly will lead to a follow-up topic here at infection by light, and perhaps HEATED debate (or not)...

In short, I cannot recommend this highly enough; available through NetFlix.


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(In Which I Choose a Few, Select Major League Baseball Post-Season Awards as Though I Were a Voting-Eligible Sportswriter)

Yes, sports fans, my picks are in for MVP, Cy Young and Manager of the Year in both the National and American Leagues!

In the American -

• Manager: John Maddon, Tampa Bay. He loses his ace closer, his ace set-up guy and Carl Crawford's 29 homers and 100 RBI and STILL has his team back in the post-season? That's good enough for me.
• Cy Young: Justin Verlander, Detroit. Not much to add there.
• MVP: Justin Verlander, Detroit. Probably lots to add there, but I'll keep it brief. In general, my pool of MVP candidates is drawn from the teams that qualify for the post-season, or teams that were in it up to the end, even if they did not qualify. (Certainly there could be an exception to this, though I didn't find one this year.) Then I look at the candidates' numbers and imagine their teams without them. Verlander clearly had great numbers, no issue there, and without him there were no Tigers this year. That's the 1-2 punch to me. This may not be how you're supposed to do it, but that's why God created the blog, to discuss these kinds of things.
  

In the National -

• Manager: Kirk Gibson, Arizona. Worst to first in the Western Division, with a team that, at least as I was reviewing their stats yesterday, did not look like a likely post-season candidate. Honorable mention to Ron Roenicke in Milwaukee.
• Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles by a whisper over Roy Halladay and/or Cliff Lee of Philadelphia. As Robert Winant said to me, any one of these three could win and there wouldn't be much of an argument.
• MVP: Whether a real sportswriter could do it this way or not I have no idea, but I'm taking Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder of Milwaukee as co-MVPs.

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Everybody in, nobody out.

T.S. Eliot and George Jones - Together Again for the First Time

I recently learned that T.S. Eliot was given a nickname by Ezra Pound - Possum; and, country singer George Jones, who just turned 80, is also nicknamed the Possum; and, if you'd told me this morning I would be talking about T.S. Eliot and George Jones in the same breath, well, I'm just saying I might not have deeply believed in that statement of yours.