Share this:

Father’s Day with Graham was terrific. He got out of bed in the morning, and completely true-to-form, the first thing he wanted to talk to me about– out of nowhere (for everyone but him) –was the nature of Jupiter and Saturn as gas giants, and what it is about their gravitational fields that keeps them from being stars instead of planets.

Bear in mind: he’s 11 years old. That’s my boy. He probably spent the night talking to Galileo in his dreams, straightening the old guy out on a few minor points he hadn’t considered.

After church (see below for the “Father’s Day prayer” I offered on everyone’s behalf), we spent the afternoon unpacking boxes and setting up housekeeping in our new apartment on Chicago’s northwest side. Even though I moved in last Tuesday, Sunday was the first time Graham actually went into the apartment (we’re still staying by Grandma some, for childcare support and to ease the transition… since this is G’s first move of any kind in his lifetime). Met the new neighbors from the third floor of our three-flat (we’re in the “garden” apt., a euphemism if ever I heard one… but it IS a cooler temperature than upstairs). Then tried to determine if in fact the noisy fridge is dying or not. And then found a minor plumbing issue the landlord and I will have to follow up on.

Oh well. It ain’t perfect, but it’s mine!

Later Graham found our bulletin board and put pushpins on a couple of maps (one U.S., one of the world). One blue pin for each of the states/cities he has visited, a red pin for each state where he has family, and a yellow pin for each European country where he has “nationality” roots. Finally, green pins for the “countries of interest”, as in places he knows something about, or wants to visit. When I questioned him on why North Korea gets a pin, he vaguely stated that he is aware  they have been testing atomic weapons. Personally, I think he’s been recruited into the CIA or NSA, and he knows a lot more than he’s telling me.

If I get a chance, maybe I’ll snap a couple map photos and post them here. They’re very cute… and I don’t use that word much. Cute (even cute children) is overrated in my opinion… the internet equivalent of mosquitoes.

Later in the day, Mr. G and I got to talking about science, history, and World War II. Graham thought Albert Einstein had fled Germany during the war itself. But then we looked it up, and Einstein actually came to the U.S. in 1933, well before the war. He basically defected: chose not to return to Berlin from a visit here, mostly to keep Hitler from conscripting his physics genius for the Nazis’ world domination plans.

Later in life Einstein took a stand again, as he co-wrote and published the Russell-Einstein Manifesto with British philosopher Bertrand Russell and Dr. Joseph Rotblat (the only scientist to leave the Manhattan Project on moral grounds). In the document– signed just days before Einstein died in 1955, and at the height of the Cold War– these and other major intellectuals opposed further development and use of nuclear weapons.

Good for you, Albert. Graham and I honor you today not only for your scientific acumen, but also for your spirituality and social conscience. Your holistic perspective has perhaps been lost by the scientific and political barbarians with atheistic or power-hungry leanings in the postmodern era, but as far as I’m concerned, you are the father of modern conscientious and cautious scientific inquiry.

For example, I went back to his Wikipedia article today, and in the section on Cosmology, I found this:

“In 1917, Einstein applied the General theory of relativity to model the structure of the universe as a whole. He wanted the universe to be eternal and unchanging, but this type of universe is not consistent with relativity. To fix this, Einstein modified the general theory by introducing a new notion, the cosmological constant. With a positive cosmological constant, the universe could be an eternal static sphere . Einstein believed a spherical static universe is philosophically preferred… ^”

Einstein in his office at the University of Berlin.

Did you catch that? Extending a scientific theory further, and keeping an open mind, based on a pre-existing philosophical principle. That’s the kind of three-dimensional, creative, and conscientious mind and heart I am talking about.

Or, immediately below Cosmology is the Wiki section on Modern Quantum Theory, and it was there that I found this:

“Einstein was displeased with quantum theory and mechanics, despite its acceptance by other physicists, stating “God doesn’t play with dice.” As Einstein died at the age of 76 he still would not accept quantum theory.”

The man who laid the groundwork– who through God’s grace (I believe) was given a window into the nature of the universe, a window that nobody had ever previously looked through — this Einstein did not like how his scientific “children” had dirtied up the window, such that one could no longer see God in the spaces between the stars… or between the atoms.

As for other leading contemporary scientists with a conscience, or Einstein’s unique blend of open-minded humility and philosophic/scientific rigor, there are exceptions, of course. A belief in a deity — one whose love is a force as strong as any gravitational field and stronger than any multi-national corporation, university or government– can and should always be a help in coming closer to a truly unified theory of everything. But it’s not easy to hold hard science and what some call “faith” in tension with each other, and yet not drop either one– so the majority of scientists just sidestep the issue, or worse yet, take potshots at so-called “simpleminded” religionists.

But still, in theoretical and applied physics, astronomy, mathematics, medicine and biology, and even politics (science is all about business and politics now anyway, in the technologic and militaristic age), there are a few of Einstein’s descendents around. I have read about and even met some people doing important work, expanding the scope of our knowledge, but still okay with allowing some of the boundaries or rules to be determined by human dignity or spiritual standards, not just scientific, national security,  or market-driven standards.

The work goes on. Einstein’s scientific ethics and Socialist-leaning politics are still relevant, too, what with the recent rhetoric surrounding ethical dilemmas faced by democratic computer scientists working alongside the military (i.e. the Pvt. Bradley Manning/Iraq-war-video-leak court martial, recent concerns about drone usage and security policy, and especially the release of Edward Snowden’s scathing insider info about internet and cell phone privacy issues in the U.S.).

Just for the record, President Obama: You can have my phone/internet secrets if you want them, because I live right and I’ve got nothing to hide. But I do take offense at your using “security” and militaristic propaganda as your rationale for spying on your own people (though this spying has probably been going on since Einstein’s day anyway, just at a quieter pace).

Oh, also… You’re a good father, but I’m a better one. And you can’t have my son and his prodigious scientific mind for any of your dirty little wars.

Speaking of parenthood, and last but certainly not least, here as promised is the prayer for peace and forgiveness I wrote and spoke at church on Father’s Day:

*  *  *  *  *

[Please pray with me]

Heavenly Father,

We invite you to be present with us in a very real way AS a father, on this day when we bless and honor our earthly fathers, and the other men who have blessed us over the years with compassion, vision, and character. We recall the biblical Adam, the first father, who you allowed to give names to all the animals. In the same way we thank you that our own fathers have the privilege of naming us, and helping define us, by saying and doing so many things that guide us and shape our identity for the rest of our lives.

And dear Jesus, just as you prayed from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing,” we also pray today that the fathers in our midst might do better, might love more as you did by laying down your life. We ask for the mercy and courage to forgive our own fathers, whether they were absent, neglectful, or hurtful. We are all wounded members of the dysfunctional human family. And so we come to you, and bring our fathers with us, asking for healing and forgiveness. Remind us daily of your deep love for your Father God, our best attitude to copy in loving our own fathers.

And on behalf of all fathers here, I say thank you for our children, the greatest gifts you have given us. I ask you to bless, protect and instruct our children directly through your Holy Spirit –even our grown children– and help us as parents to bless, protect and instruct with our own love, which comes from You. 

Lord, bring the kingdom of God more fully to our church, our nation and our world. We lift up our leaders and ask for your grace and wisdom in the important decisions they will make this week. Bring an end to useless violence, and protect those who are in harm’s way.

We thank you for the opportunity to birth a new congregation in Chicago, and we ask for stamina, clarity, and increased love in our preparations for the grand opening next week. Where service and support are still needed from us, please bring the right people forward. Where your salvation and grace are needed for new people, or lost people, please bring them through our doors both here and in Chicago. Make us a true joy to the town of Park Ridge and the city of Chicago, by imparting Your joy, fellowship and teaching.

We lift up the sick and struggling in our midst, and in our extended families, and ask that you would heal us and provide for our needs.

We ask protection for travelers, patience and grace for families transitioning to summer schedules, and guidance for graduates in the important next stage of their lives.

And as always, we say thank you. Thank you for everything, even the challenging things that help us to grow. Increase our awareness of your grace that surrounds us. Thank you for it all, for today and for eternity.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — Amen.

* * * * *

Related articles

• The Next Einstein? –”Radical New Theory Answers Unsolved Mysteries of Physics” (dailygalaxy.com)
• What would big data think of Einstein? (zedie.wordpress.com)
• Blunders Of Genius (boingboing.net)
• Einstein As “Papa” (dish.andrewsullivan.com)

HECTOR THE COLLECTOR

Superman’s Fortress of Solitude – hint: my new place does NOT look like this. Besides, NO ONE needs a fortress… least of all Superman

I officially moved into my new one-bedroom apartment on Chicago’s Northwest side yesterday, and I’m both grateful and a little scared. It will be the first time I have lived “alone” in almost thirty years.

Here is an exterior shot of the building, in Chicago’s Norwood Park neighborhood on the northwest side, near Harlem and Devon:

The Third Little Pig built his house out of bricks… and moved into the garden/basement flat to live out his life as a confirmed bachelor.

So as you might expect, I am in a very reflective spiritual state this week, as I seek to understand an exciting new season of my life.

I need to wait to post any indoor shots, as the pre-move empty apartment shots are not very flattering, and the chaotic mess that’s in here now is even worse. More on that chaos in a minute…

I will not be completely alone here, however, as I do get to spend most weekdays in the summertime with my son Graham, who just turned eleven.

The next photo is him, listening to his new iPod, his first ever… thus officially beginning the “I will now ignore Dad” portion of his pre-teen and teen years:

Insert Tween pop song quote for caption HERE: ” _____ .” (No Bieber, please.)

I was going to post an AWESOME video of Graham dancing a Just Dance 4 Wii videogame-choreographed dance to Marina & the Diamonds’  Oh No!, one of his first crop of iPod songs. But my blog host is putting tech handcuffs on me, and I don’t have time for a workaround.

Someday Graham will be grateful to be spared the embarrassment of a posted video of him dancing. However, he’ll never know how close he came to becoming the next big internet meme. (In other words, the dance is both cute AND laughable… the perfect Tween moment, where my boy isn’t at all self-conscious about his body, talent, childlike innocence or taste in music.)

Oh, and here’s an odd, tangential item: the short (so far) playlist Graham was actually listening to at this moment in the car.

Gotta get us some good ol’ rock n’ roll in there, Graham. See me after class.

Playlist screenshot is probably only readable if you zoom in manually. But I suspect it’s a musical snapshot of many a Tween (or at least ones who spend more time with girls and women, as Graham does.) Hint, here we have:  ”Call Me, Maybe”, Katy Perry, Rhianna, Glee, etcEtcETC! Ugh! – Can I get an “Amen”, hipster parents… especially y’all MEN out there?

When can I expect to see my son come around to listening to the good old rebellious, angst-ridden, fast and heavy stuff? When I was his age, at least I had the Elton John/Tommy soundtrack version of the Who’s “Pinball Wizard“, so I could pretend to be heavy, deep and real. This boy knows astrophysics principles better than I do (I kid you not) — so where’s his uber-geek non-c0n4Mist streak when it comes to music? Where’s Rise Against? Andrew Bird? Cee Lo? Jack White? Lecrae? Eminem? (Though I’d have to explain the four-letter words…) Heck, I’d even settle for some safe, milky-white John Mayer. As my buddy Gob from Arrested Development says, “Come ON”. But I love you anyway, Graham. Just teasin’.

Oops… sorry about the musical detour. Back to the apartment:

Enough to say that moving out of Mom’s (the temporary solution after my separation and divorce about two years ago) is a real “growing up” moment for me. For Graham, too –though it’s more natural to think of lifestyle transitions being tough on kids, but less common to call these “growing pains” for grownups. But I know that’s what they are.

I look forward to the solitude, to getting away from subtly influential voices and forces (not all negative, but certainly some have been). Outside forces and people  have me chasing my tail far too often: in relationships, in defining my priorities or self-worth, in career issues, even in the push-pull of giving and receiving good things rather than just the simplicity of BEING.

Speaking of simplicity, another aspect of this move is that I am seriously re-thinking my pack-rat tendencies and my addiction to “stuff”. Not necessarily pricy stuff, or even purchasable stuff. Just inconvenient stuff I have an unhealthy or overly-sentimental attachment to.

True confession time: I am a collector. It started with collecting coins, beer cans and other cool stuff when I was a kid. But I never stopped, and now I feel like the one being collected by all the corporations and people and programs and possessions vying for my attention, looking to add me to THEIR collection.

Does anyone out there recall that old Shel Silverstein poem from Where the Sidewalk Ends:  ”Hector the Collector”?

by Shel Silverstein

Hector the Collector 
Collected bits of string, 
Collected dolls with broken heads
And rusty bells that would not ring. 
Pieces out of picture puzzles,
Bent-up nails and ice-cream sticks,
Twists of wires, worn-out tires, 
Paper bags and broken bricks.
Old chipped vases, half shoelaces,
Gatlin’ guns that wouldn’t shoot,
Leaky boats that wouldn’t float
And stopped-up horns that wouldn’t toot.
Butter knives that had no handles,
Copper keys that fit no locks,
Rings that were too small for fingers,
Dried-up leaves and patched-up socks.
Worn-out belts that had no buckles,
‘Lectric trains that had no tracks,
Airplane models, broken bottles, 
Three-legged chairs and cups with cracks.
Hector the Collector
Loved these things with all his soul‹
Loved them more than shining diamonds,
Loved them more than glistenin’ gold.
Hector called to all the people,
“Come and share my treasure trunk!”
And all the silly sightless people
Came and looked…and called it junk.

That’s me. I’m Hector.

Only now all these things I have collected are hectoring me. They’re dragging me down. They don’t fit into my midsize one-bedroom apartment. They may be useful to somebody else (“future usefulness” is another reason I keep them), but they are not IN somebody else’s cardboard box, they are in mine, and they are taking up valuable space… both physical and mental space.

Could be paper goods that bring back good memories (a flier from a group I wanted to follow up with, or a Playbill booklet from a stage show I saw). Could be a small trinket I found in an alley that sparked a poem, or an item that was given to me, and that still speaks to me. But whatever it is, it doesn’t matter: the visual and mental clutter in my life is ultimately too burdensome and distracting. By now, after so many years, I’m not GOING to follow up with x group that I kept that flier for. So why keep the flier?

Then we start moving away from a piece of paper to a book, then ten books. You see where this is going, right? After that, we start getting into furniture. Sometimes I’m tempted to think of myself as an aspiring Franciscan monk, like I can let go of all these worldly comforts and possessions at any time. But who am I KIDDING?!

Nevertheless, it is time to shed a lot of my shit. And big thanks to my sister Laura, my mother, friends Dan T., Jerry D. and new acquaintances Larry S. and his son Lamont for helping me get moved in the first place. Without you, I wouldn’t have been able to move, or even start this process of disconnecting from the un-needed and paring down to what’s essential. Thanks as well to my ex-wife Sue, who willingly stored some of this shit longer than she wanted to, and who has been on a similar journey herself perhaps, getting healthier and letting go of what’s not essential.

You friends and family who know me, please hold me to this commitment. It’s hard to break this “collector” pattern… it really is like an addiction. I hesitate to call it “hoarding”, because that cable tv show has such extreme examples, and I am not quite that way. In fact most of the things I have to get rid of are in my head, not in my apartment. But the same principle applies: too much busy-ness, attaching too much value to things that are in reality quite minor, and too much crazy-making distraction away from the essential goodness of life, … in other words, too much junk.

Sorry, Hector. You have to die. But fear not: resurrection is real.

So people, stop on by my Clubhouse of Solitude sometime if you’re in the neighborhood. You might go home with a ” ‘Lectric train that has no tracks”. On the other hand, maybe I’ll just hand you a beer, and we’ll sit around and just BE for a few minutes. Or we’ll crank the music up to 11 (you pick… my collection is prodigious), and then we’ll just rest, just BE. It gets easier, with practice. Or so they tell me.

Sound good?

Share this:

I awoke today with the opening lines to Led Zeppelin’s “Going to California” playing in my head:

“Spent the day with a woman unkind, smoked my stuff and drank all my wine.”

An hour later, to start off his radio show, WXRT’s Lin Brehmer ran a montage of Zeppelin and Bonham related audio, in honor of the late John Bonham’s birthday. The highlight, of course, was a clip from tv’s Arrested Development, in which Lindsey does not know JB’s long gone, but thinks he just died “last week” (she thinks someone else is Bonham… Duh).

Freaky deaky!

Are you trying to speak to me from the grave, John? If so, what are you saying? Stay away from selfish women? Stupid ones? Escape to California?

Henry David Thoreau once wrote that some of us are destined to move to the beat of “a different drum”. Is yours my drumbeat, John? If so, I wish it was one of those African talking drums, so I would understand better. I own a djembe now, though. So I will call you back shortly…

I am listening now, John. Bang it out in Morse code if you gotta, just don’t abandon me in my hour of need.

Share this:

As I sit down to write this, The Rolling Stones are in the middle of their first set at the United Center stadium in my hometown of Chicago. I’m not AT that show, of course, I just know it is happening right now.

(What did you think, I’m made of money? … Or a real-time blogger giving out their setlist and tweeting the special guests they bring onstage? Puh-lease. I’m not in that league at all… besides the cash, I lack the work ethic to get there, and the patience to stay there.)

Nevertheless, in honor of the Glimmer Twins paying a visit here, I offer this celebration of the greatest song ever in rock history: Satisfaction.

This claim is personal and unofficial, of course. According to an an official 2011 Rolling Stone magazine poll of music industry bigshots, Bob Dylan’s unrelated Like a Rolling Stone is the “Best” song of all time, with Satisfaction at #2 (and with John Lennon’s Imagine coming in at #3).

.

Of course, the fun and the challenge of such published polls is the debates that they give rise to, either in the mind of the reader, across the table in a bar, or in the keystrokes of netizens worldwide. But the “pros” that are polled are not of one mind with the general public, in most cases. One look at the 2500+ comments in the RS comment section of the poll will show you what I mean… with people dropping complaints about exclusions or bad rankings for the likes of Mariah Carey, or Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb. But for me, Satisfaction is a true #1, while Dylan’s song is the vote that too many people made for politically correct reasons. Besides, I’m a big Dylan fan, and that song is barely in my top five among his own work.

Satisfaction, though, is the perfect blend of hooky guitar (the definitive rock instrument), memorably biting lyrics, and an overall delivery and attitude that sell the song so well that it’s like it’s a message from God himself. Which it may have been, actually– given that Keith Richards dreamed the signature opening riff, woke up, played it into a casette player (in Chicago, in May 1965), and God is known for speaking through dreams.

Young Mick and Keith

Which leads me to the second purpose for this post: a whimsical use of the song’s lyrics as guidelines for a short devotion or program, about the nature of human culture and the hunger for spiritual satisfaction with something deeper, something or someone beyond us.

If you just want to read more just about the song itself, click thru on the link above to go to the RS poll page for more factoids. But if you crave satisfaction of something more spiritual, or just want to satisfy your curiosity, read on, and reflect on the principles below, taken as talking points from the Mick Jagger lyric .

“Satisfaction” as a spiritual discipline

“He’s tellin’ me more and more about some useless information
Supposed to fire my imagination”

1) Isn’t it almost ALL “useless information trying to fire my imagination”? So maybe keep listening, but stop overreacting… Especially to tweets. And as for your imagination: don’t fire it, give it a raise! And keep it fired up and fed by something other than that man on the radio.

“But, he can’t be a man ’cause he doesn’t smoke

The same cigarettes as me”

2) I am a man whether or not I smoke the same cigarettes as Mick or Keith, and whether or not I even smoke cigarettes at all. Only I (and God, or perhaps the holy or strong role models that I choose) should be determining the parameters for who is or is not “a man”.

“And I’m tryin’ to make some girl, who tells me
Baby, better come back maybe next week
Can’t you see I’m on a losing streak”

3) Don’t be dumb, ladies. Take a cue from this girl, who doesn’t have any interest in being Mick’s temporary source of satisfaction, his feminine “drug of choice”. She may be on a losing streak, but she’s a winner when it comes to having a functional B.S. detector regarding men.

That is it for today, fellow travelers. May you find satisfaction and inner peace.

Selah!

Mark

Share this:

.

Above: “Never Said” : Liz Phair with Paul Schaeffer’s great Late Night/Letterman band in 1994.

I was not– as public radio guru Ira Glass says in a 2008 “making of” documentary– the intended audience for Liz Phair’s audacious debut album Exile in Guyville (Matador, 1993).

But I did, like Ira and many other guys, sit up and take notice.

This album, which peaked at just #196 on the Billboard charts, was nevertheless an early, anthemic, slightly punk-influenced “screw-you” by a girl, for other girls– as if Liz (and her pack of pre-Riot Grrl friends) was mad as hell, and not going to take it anymore from the boys who mistreated them.

Cover of Exile in Guyville

I believe Guyville, for the record, primarily referred to the then up-and-coming Wicker Park neighborhood on Chicago’s northwest side. It was a working class, neighborhood guy kind of hang-out place, an alternative to pricey Lincoln Park or other “dressed up” areas. Phair’s acquaintances, the Chicago indie stalwarts Urge Overkill, had  previously used the term in one of their own songs. (Help me out, music geeks… in what UO song? I ain’t got time to look it up….)

In another sense, though, Guyville was a reference to the young males in the Chicago rock music scene, or young males in general, who had a bit of a brotherhood amongst themselves, but would not dream of turning the stereo controls or car radio dial over to their girlfriends.

I’m sure that I first heard some of the Phair tracks on WXRT, which has typically been the  main radio station to help “break” new Chicago artists since I was a teen in this town. Probably I first heard Never Said on radio. Then heard Help Me, Mary. And Stratford-on-Guy. All great songs, with Phair’s unique vocal delivery and stripped-down neo-garage aesthetic.

However, I didn’t hear the not-ready-for-radio Flower (complete with “blowjob queen” reference), because I didn’t buy the LP at the time (a double-album, very rare and even cocky for a debut album). But I did enjoy Phair’s mix of toughness and sensitivity in what I did hear. I think I made a bootleg cassette of the album later, from a public library LP or CD, well after the original release. But the buzz about her raw sexual language among the 1993 teen or young adult crowd never did quite reach me… I was either too old or too removed from the alternative rock scene when the buzz was at its height.

In the years after, some of Phair’s reputation around Chicago as self-centered, sold-out, or worse began to grow– among the musicians’ community and even somewhat within her fan base. She eventually left town, got married, had a child, divorced soon after, and signed to “big time” Capitol Records. I remember looking at the blatant “sex sells” packaging of her fourth self-titled Capitol records release in 2003, and I assumed her period of creative relevance was now officially over.

[ Note: For my next trick, I will now pad Liz's ongoing rep of  lying or "packaging" herself  --->   In the entertaining and honest "Guyville Redux" documentary that went with the 15th anniversary re-release of Guyville on Dave Matthews' ATO Records, there is a quick shot of Phair's old Illinois I.D. In that shot, her D.O.B. is listed as 4-17-63. But at Wikipedia, her D.O.B. is listed as 4-17-67! So which is it, Lizzie? Spin-control messaging to seem four years younger and hipper now? Or fake I.D. from way back when, with a false birthdate to make you seem older and get you into clubs? No great sin either way... but this is Liz: complicated, odd, bohemian, a little "broken", the kind of spoiled North Shore girl I both wanted to date and also hated when I was running around those same streets in the late Eighties and early Nineties. ]

Speaking of Chicago in the 90s: Wicker Park/Guyville was also the setting, more or less, of John Cusack’s music/relationship movie High Fidelity (2000). [One of my top ten fave flicks, btw.] Phair and Cusack have been friends since their teen years in Chicago’s northern suburbs, … so the relationship between her record and his movie, while indirect, can be clearly seen.

Plus I just discovered by watching the Redux documentary that Dance of the Seven Veils, one of the Guyville songs, is likely about Cusack, at least in part.

Here is a partial lyric:

Johnny, my love, get out of the business
It makes me want to rough you up so badly
Makes me want to roll you up in plastic
Toss you up and pump you full of lead

.

Johnny, my love, get out of the business
The odds are getting fatter by the minute
That I have got a bright and shiny platter
And I am gonna get your heavy head

.

then, later:

 

Entertainers bring May flowers.

.

 

And here’s the item I wrote up at SongMeanings.net explaining my theory and/or research:

.

• Johnny is both John the Baptist AND actor John Cusack. The actor is a friend of hers from her teen years, and Phair was/is also friends with a Cusack ex-girlfriend (4+ years) — a woman who years later is likely referring to Cusack in the documentary. She refers to a “John’s” movie career taking off, all while he was living too fast and getting eaten up by the entertainment industry. So Phair’s friend says she listened to a certain song on the album and was relieved someone else saw how “John” was a mess, or in danger, or similar. The Bible stuff is poetic license, like maybe Salome is the beautiful “Hollywood life”, seducing men only to destroy them. And maybe random drug-addled additions that are neither about Cusack or Salome, but Phair herself. She has said most of the songs on the record are not biographical, but about others she knew… so I think it’s mostly her girlfriend’s song for Cusack.

Cusack himself appears in the Redux doc, and at one point compliments Liz by saying “I can listen to you revile me all day.” So he may know that the song– or several on the album (which menions a “John” in at least three songs) — is referring to him.

Interestingly, one of the more significant interviews conducted by Phair in 2008 for Redux was with producer/musician Steve Albini, he of Nirvana and Big Black fame.

Albini has always been politically and artistically unafraid, and agressively “colorful”, to the point of being an a**hole at times — though one I respect. I was on the jazz radio staff at Northwestern University’s college radio station in the late 80s with Albini (who was on the heavier-hitting rock staff… obviously). Though I barely knew him personally, I saw and heard enough of him to get a sense of the “fire in the belly” that drives him, and that keeps him fiercely independent and sometimes caustic even to this day. In early 1994, Albini had publicly disavowed Phair as being not truly “underground”, and “more talked about than heard”, in the increasing hype of her early career. So that feud got a little ugly. But to her credit, Liz chose to go to Steve years later in 2008 to talk about her record and the Chicago scene at the time. Albini still wasn’t glowing in his praise of Phair or the record, but he did admit it was influential on several levels.

Even since 2008, Phair has gone back to “the well” yet again, by including versions of ten of her self-produced Girly Sound songs with the CD version of her self-released Funstyle (2010). Girly Sound was/is a legendary “cassette-only” collection of demos, traded copies of which generated her early public attention, and some of which led directly to Exile in Guyville songs.

Phair is still out there kicking in 2013. She’s done some television music fairly recently, plus a bit of public performance on occasion. She’s apparently unsigned to a major record label presently… but that’s nothing new in the digital age, especially for a borderline-popular artist over 40.

I suppose the above is not so much a review (why review a five-year-old re-release and DVD?), as it is a reflection. I was just listening back to the album, and it strikes up a variety of memories. It inspired me to find out more about Liz Phair. Maybe Exile in Guyville inspires you, too. Maybe you hate it, hate her, hate how she hates on a dog of a man, or on conservative middle-class conventionality.

Either way, she don’t mind. It’s just Liz being Liz again… probably still glad somebody’s talking about her.

Share this:

Christians praying in Goma, DR of Congo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

.

First I got a note yesterday from my friend Dan Q. about Beautiful Eulogy, a Christian hip hop act from Portland. I read and listened this morning, and in following it up, I’ve already spent a couple hours both listening to all the great FREE music (see below), and doing research on other similar (to my thinking) musical acts that are showing The Way, telling The Truth, and improving Life with some serious flow and creativity.

.

Let’s look at Beautiful Eulogy, since they started my current frenzy:

In the spirit of hip hop, I’ll rip off (oops, I mean “sample”) the band/record description from their Noisetrade page:

“Satellite Kite is the debut record from the Portland, OR based group Beautiful Eulogy. This album is an eclectic mixture of many musical genres delivered through the boldness and conviction of Hip-Hop. The production is unique and experimental creating a crisp and clear stage for the record’s equally progressive lyrical content. This project is soulful, compelling, and educational, while spanning a wide range of emotions and mediums of expression. There is a strong Folk influence in the feel and melodies while at the same time a raw and articulate swing to its poetry. Musically the record offers a myriad of sounds and styles but intellectually one message is proclaimed; it is the power and providence of the King of Kings and the good news of the Gospel of Christ Jesus. Listen and enjoy.”

”  For fans of… Flying Lotus, Bon Iver, Pharoahe Monch, James Blake,Outkast“

.

Below is the track at youtube that Dan Q (sounds like ‘thank you’… hee hee) first sent me notice about: Anchor, featuring Christian folk/alternative artist Josh Garrels on the lovely chorus. —->

.

To get all 13 tracks from Satellite Kite for free, set yourself up at Noisetrade and go here to get a download code.

.

Anchor collaborator Josh Garrels (another Portlander, btw, though originally from Indianapolis) is a great musician and writer as well. He also has some free (or purchase-able) stuff available at his homepage.

.

Garrels also is part of what I see as a growing movement of medium to Big Time musicians who are combining two passions at once: music and activism for social justice. Garrels gave away some of his music for a couple weeks this past spring, while simultaneously encouraging downloaders to tip him, with all tips going toward humanitarian aid to war-torn Congo. Here’s the report of what happened, from Josh’s blog:

The “Five for Congo” campaign ended on March 28th, and in 14 days we gave away 161,245 album downloads on Noisetrade! With approximately 8,000 people leaving a tip, we were able to raise $71,566! These funds will be given in full to World Relief to help with their work to bring peace and restoration to the DR Congo. The success of this campaign took us all off guard, and all I can say is that we’re amazed and thankful. What a joy! – Josh

So there’s that. I noted that Garrels played at the Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin College last year, and since then, I think he’s done Wild Goose Festival and a number of other “progressive” Christian events as well.

.

I have noted similar humanitarian artist phenomena for years, of course… from George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh, through Live Aid and Farm Aid, and on into the new millenium with artists of faith like Jars of Clay and Derek Webb supporting water-for-Africa projects, and similar efforts. I’ve even produced and/or worked backstage on a couple small benefit concerts. But the digital aspects of the current music industry, and new methods of promoting a good music act or a good cause, have made “virtual” efforts like Garrels’ Five for Congo giveaway campaign more widespread.

.

ReverbNation, in fact, has a whole “music for charity” department — launched last fall — called Music for Good. The cynic in me wonders if it’s as much a new sort of “hype-machine” as it is a method of raising funds for a good cause, but at least their heart is in the right place.

http://www.reverbnation.com/musicforgood

.

But the efforts I respect most are those people whose direct engagement with the problem shows, those who are willing to get dirt under their fingernails, or do more than just raise money, show up for a one-time event or sign their name to a statement. Wyclef Jean of the Fugees has done this some for his homeland of Haiti, but there are other musicians on much smaller stages working even harder for justice and mercy on behalf of the poor.

.

One of the more intriguing examples of this I have encountered is going on right now, from Seattle-area hip hop artist Bodi. This rapper and producer, formerly known as Alexipharmic, is on a worldwide tour this year that is not a music tour so much as it is a service tour to various Mercy Corps-sponsored orphanages and similar anti-poverty projects. He’s also making a documentary and writing a book about the experience, which he is calling The Volunteer Adventure, and he’s donating 100% of film/book profits to the orphanages he visits.

.

Alexipharmic, “American”, from American Beauty, featuring quotes from his fans, which he sought out for the record

.

According to the blog, Alex/Bodi was most recently in Vietnam. Probably he’s now elsewhere in Asia, but he’s bound for Africa eventually, where he has prior experience in Kenya, and I think also in Sudan. I first learned of Alexi/Bodi’s work because he was donating half or more of the proceeds from his online album sales to Darfur/Sudan relief efforts — and this was in probably the early 00′s, long before I saw many others jumping on the digital “profit sharing” bandwagon, or using Kickstarter to fund their projects and thus share “credit” with consumers/fans.

.

I thought a couple quotes from Alex the man would be interesting here. From the promo email for his latest (and fascinating) CD, The Fall of Atlas :

“3 years ago, I was working as a corrections officer in a max security juvenile jail. I’d work 12 hour shifts, then come home and work on the music for about 8 hours. Then repeat. Now, thanks to you, music is my full time gig. I went to Kenya for a while, and the experiences that I had with the children in the orphanages changed my life forever.”

And regarding the Ky Quang, Vietnam leg of his trip, from the Trip Journal:

“After class, we shared a delicious meal with all of the teachers and workers, and word got out that I’m a rapper by profession. I didn’t expect this news to be greeted with so much excitement! I was inundated by requests from the principal and teachers to write a hip hop song for the kids to learn and sing, and so it looks like I’ve got a little bit of homework to do over the next couple weeks. How awesome would it be to see and hear 50 kids at Gia Dinh having fun rapping and dancing to a song I’ll write in Vietnamese, using it as a tool for learning? Answer: very.”

.

All bold accents above are mine, not Bodi’s. To be clear: Bodi’s music and mindset are in a broader, sort of Buddhist vein. Nevertheless, compassion is compassion, so he has similar “conscientious” sensibilities to most of the current Christian artists I mentioned above. Plus it’s just great stuff musically, production-wise, and lyrically. —>     
http://bodi.bandcamp.com/
  . There’s a lot of genuine grief on the new record, and a boldness and inventiveness that belies his maturation as an artist to watch.

.

Finally, just because I had been wanting to for awhile now, here’s a more personal note on the subject of Christian rappers and/or “crossover” acts:

.

We sang an older Generation X minor “hit” in church a couple weeks back that got me thinking about Christian hip hop (especially white or integrated rap acts, like the aforementioned Beautiful Eulogy). That Gen X song was In the Light, popularized by Washington D.C.-based DC Talk, but originally written and recorded by one of my own favorite singers and producers, Charlie Peacock (whose recent production work on The Civil Wars’ record won them a Grammy, and whose 2012 work producing Hank Williams’ amazingly moving granddaughter Holly Williams is my current heavy-rotation favorite choice for an afternoon power-walk).

In the Light, by DC Talk, from their concert film.

.

The concert version above is not, of course, all that akin to hip-hop. Nor is the original song… this is rock, clearly.

But other DC Talk rap songs like “Luv Is a Verb” –for a certain generation of young people in the late Eighties and into the 1990s– were probably the much-needed “safe” alternative to the Beastie Boys, or Ice-T style gangsta rap. For kids who would not have even been allowed by their parents to listen to or buy the more “explicit” rap that was emerging and gaining controversial headlines, albums like DC Talk’s massive hit Jesus Freak (1995) were pretty important.

.

There were other Christian rap acts I recall from that time as well — like D.O.C. (Disciples of Christ), who I saw at a former Cornerstone Festival, and gospel/rap collaborations by people like Kirk Franklin. But for me –only a casual hip hop fan till about the turn of the 21st century– DC Talk was probably one of the points of entry. (Along with Run-DMC, Big Daddy Kane, Grandmaster Flash, Arrested Development and the 2013 Rock Hall of Fame inductees, Public Enemy.)

.

Oh let me hear you say “Hey, Ho, Hey, Ho, Hey, Ho”…

Related articles

• Josh Garrels – Truth in Music (thelevelhike.wordpress.com)

Share this:

Jason Segel – World of Color Premiere – Disney California Adventure Park (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Movie fans of a certain age or taste may appreciate 33-year old Jason Segel somewhat as an actor, but I suspect not even many of those fans know his gifts as a writer.

I just re-watched “Forgetting Sarah Marshall“, one of the less-remembered Judd Apatow-produced movies featuring some of Apatow’s preferred ensemble of actors (e.g. Segel, Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, SNL’S Bill Hader). I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it the first time around. Since then I have gotten divorced, so I liked it even more this time around, given its subject matter.  For Segal’s inventive script and his emotional honesty in playing a depressed television composer cuts a bit deeper than the surface-level emotions of most traditional rom-coms.

I also saw myself more significantly in his Peter Bretter character this time around. Aside from the obvious similarities about “forgetting” someone, or second-guessing oneself after a long-term relationship ends, or doubting one’s creative gifts, I had forgotten about his goofy secret ambition project: the Dracula Puppet Rock Opera. It provides a great finale to the film, and also encouraged my own ambitions some, since I have been at work since December 2012 on a goofy “secret” project of my own (a Christmas musical comedy for the stage –and mostly for adults– about three odd shepherds sent by a Johnny Cash-like angel off to Bethlehem, to welcome Jesus into the world… stay tuned here).

It also helps improve “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” that I have a thing for Mila Kunis, who plays Segel’s love interest in the film. She shows up in skimpy clothes on occasion as a Hawaiian-based concierge at the resort where the recently-dumped Segel is staying. But Kunis is more than just eye-candy, as we saw in– among other things– “Black Swan”. The third strength of FSM is Russell Brand, whose British rocker Aldis Snow (a highly improvised role) was a strong enough supporting character that he got his own movie a few years later, in the so-so “Get Him to the Greek” with Jonah Hill. Brand is the real deal, and in the right project or in his stand-up act, he seldom disappoints (though that short marriage to Katy Perry apparently disappointed…)

While watching FSM, I also recalled another Segel project I saw a few months back: Jay and Mark Duplass’ under-the-radar, slightly surreal dramedy Jeff Who Lives at Home (2011). He played a similar character in that film, a lost thirty-something with a good heart but without the confidence to become his best self. Like many of Apatow’s films, this one is another “coming of age” story for grownups about grownups. The Duplass Brothers’ work is intriguing, and a couple films are out on Netflix, so consider this a secondary recommendation of their work, too.

Oh, and get this! I just read a bit of Segel’s IMDB bio, and discovered a fascinating  factoid relevant in early 2013, as NBA player Jason Collins became the first active male athelete in a major sport to come out as gay. Regarding Segel’s California high school years, the bio states that “his frame helped him as an active member of the 1996 state champion boys’ basketball team. He was the team’s backup center behind Jason Collins.”

So Jason Segel seems to have been in the right place at the right time even in high school… I’d enviously hate him for this, if he weren’t so naturally lovable. I don’t even watch the uneven “How I Met Your Mother” series, but if I did, Jason would be the reason to watch… not the cartoonish Neal Patrick Harris. Jason’s like the dependable #3 hitter in a baseball lineup: he doesn’t get the publicity or salary of a big-time cleanup hitter, but he’s often the man that makes the team a winner.

As a writer, Jason Segel has some chops. Plus enough Hollywood clout to pitch an idea and then get hired to script  the most recent Muppets feature (2011), which he co-wrote with Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller. (Note: a Muppets sequel featuring Ricky Gervais is in post-production now and slated for a 2014 release…  Stoller is again involved, but not Segel.) Segel also wrote and starred in last year’s The Five Year Engagement, with Emily Blunt.

Kunis. Blunt. Rashida Jones (in I Love You, Man). This guy apparently gets to pretend falling in love with almost ALL of my favorite young actresses, speaking of luck or being in the right place. (Not Natalie Portman or Anne Hathaway yet… but one never knows.)

So now I have another new hero, apparently.

Look for Segel– along with fellow Apatow-blessed stalwarts Seth Rogen, James Franco, and many others, all playing themselves– in this June’s This Is the End. It’s a Rogen script –along with his writing partner Evan Goldberg (whose breakthrough hit Superbad! put most of these “kids” on the map) — about a party at Franco’s when the Apocalypse starts to go down.

Of your career, boys, this is certainly NOT the end. Oh, and I won’t forget you anymore, Jason. I promise.

Related articles

• Jason Segel to Publish Children’s Book Series With Random House (readersread.com)
• This is What Jason Collins and Jason Segel Looked Like As High School Teammates (extramustard.si.com)
• Manday: Jason Segel (aresplendentresurgence.com)

Share this:

Deep Purple in 2004 (and still, in 2013). From left to right: Roger Glover, Ian Paice, Ian Gillan, Don Airey and Steve Morse. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Deep Purple… bringing the heavy back with a new LP, called Now What?!

I spotted this release on Spotify last week, just got around to a quick listen today. It’s their first album of new material since 2005. I’m not going so far as to say they matter anymore, but these fellas can still play great, and write an interesting hooky melody much more easily than Black Sabbath ever did. (Sabbath also has a new record out that I also previewed at the MT blog… main reason I bring them up…)

As for Led Zeppelin, the third member of that oft-cited Big 3 of Seventies British hard rock, there’s little doubt they’re still the kings of the hill. But a Zep reunion is not likely, as Plant is asked regularly and opts out regularly. So for musical time traveling, new  Deep Purple and Sabbath will have to do. On the other hand, Led Zeppelin recently got a big Lincoln Center honor from the Prez, and they have worked with drummer Jason Bonham a bit in the past decade, for special events. So who am I to say what’s impossible, or who is passe anymore?

Back to Deep Purple, though: The only original member left is drummer Ian Paice. But many of the other current players are long-time members, and one –guitarist Steve Morse (formerly of Dixie Dregs and Kansas)– is a bona-fide cult hero as a composer/soloist among a certain sector of instrumental rock fans and guitar aficionados. The vocalist Ian Gillan is still in fine voice as well, and can howl when he needs to. I’ve been told Gillan is the band’s chief lyricist, along with Roger Glover. It’s a tight band that has been touring plenty for years now, even without any “hits”, and it shows on this record.

As for the music itself: That organ work on Hell to Pay, the 4th cut, makes me feel like no time has passed at all since this band’s heyday. Also makes me wonder if Emerson, Lake and Palmer are going to be challenging these guys to a geriatric Battle of the Bands someday. Hell to Pay’s got a big chorus, moves at a great pace. In fact, Don Airey’s electric piano and organ work throughout the album –sometimes prog rock, sometimes bluesy, often incredibly fleet-fingered– is probably its biggest asset, as it most closely ties the current music to their past style and the work of late great co-founder Jon Lord. Airey himself ties this band to Black Sabbath as well, having served in both bands.

I like the spirit and music of the song Weirdistan, but I wish they’d gotten more overtly political with the lyric instead of just vague and strange. But as Mick Jagger once sang… it’s only rock n roll. Uncommon Man is another favorite from this current set — with the line “It’s good to be king” serving as a sort of classic heavy-metal medieval or fantasy reference of the kind so common to progressive rock and hard rock of the previous generation (or more accurately, 2-3 generations ago! … from when I was about three years old, just for the record). Also, in defense of this band’s timelessness, my current pastor Matt S. is only about 27, and he’s an avowed Deep Purple fan. So some people and styles just age well, and others don’t (for instance, have you heard Rod Stewart’s work in the past decade? feh!)

I wouldn’t be surprised to hear younger bands talking about this DP record some, as the conversation between the likes of Black Keys, Jack White, and/or Foo Fighters with their musical heroes is an interesting echo chamber I have noted nowadays.

To read up on Deep Purple in all its iterations, outrageous ups and downs, line-up changes, and other bands it has spawned or influenced, Wikipedia is a fine place to start. And Spotify, if you’ve got it, is the “easy” listening option… though this record is neither easy nor hard on the ears. It’s a nice in-between throwback, at a time when old news seems to be coming ’round again.

Related articles

• Steve Morse On Deep Purple’s Rock Hall Chances: ‘They Would Like To See It Happen’ (wzlx.cbslocal.com)
• DEEP PURPLE: ‘Behind The Music Remastered’ To Premiere On VH1 CLASSIC Tonight (blabbermouth.net)

Share this:

COME AND TRY OUT YOUR NEW WORK ON US!
Sunday, May 19

Evanston Public Library
Church & Orrington Streets

1:30-4:30 — Room 108

Note: This forum is meeting the third Sunday of the month (instead of the typical fourth Sunday).
Facilitator Hannah Gamble is the author of Your Invitation to a Modest Breakfast, selected by Bernadette Mayer for the 2011 National Poetry Series and published by Fence Books. She has been a guest on podcasts such as Radio Free Albion with Chicago poet Tony Trigilio and Portland’s Late Night Library with Paul Martone. Her poems appear in recent issues of The Laurel Review, Forklift Ohio, and jubilat. You can find her blogs and online articles at the Poetry Foundation and the Poetry Society of America.
Topic: This forum will explore a writer’s creation-anxiety as the primary source of writer’s block and will examine surrealist game techniques, collaborative poetry, and imitation as reliable methods of overcoming this very common challenge to a writer’s productivity and enjoyment of the craft.
Bring 17 or more copies (2 page limit) of a poem you want critiqued.*$5 – $10 donation appreciated.
This project is partially supported by grants from: Poets & Writers, the Illinois Arts Council
and The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.

Share this:

“The devil wants you. Does he own you?”- ridiculous church sign outside Goshen, IN.

My Answer: “No, the devil just rents my basement flat. I’d kick him out, but he brings so many  cool musicians and pretty girls right to my doorstep.”

Stay Away, Devil! (aka “Ain’t the Church of MY Christ!”)

—

“When you think about the tragedy that’s happened throughout time, it just came in my head. You’d think by now that their God would have stopped people dying in the name of, so I just starting thinking that people must be thinking, ‘Where is God? God is dead’ and it just hit me.”

Ozzy also addressed the controversial song title by pointing out, “At the end of the thing, there’s still a bit of hope because there I sing that I don’t believe that God is dead. It’s just a question of when you see so many dreadful people killing each other with bombs, and blowing the tube trains up and the World Trade Center.”

–Black Sabbath article, quoting BBC interview, at Anti-Music.com .

Ozzy Osbourne (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Black Sabbath has a new single out, entitled “God Is Dead?”

Why the question mark, mates? Is The Man making you do that? To hedge bets against sales losses, protests and/or CD-destroying events (records and books used to burn so much easier, didn’t they?).

Over at Spotify, I listened to the Sabbath single, released in advance of the forthcoming “13″ album (Oooh. 13. Spooky. But is it really the 13th Sabbath album or are they bulls&*%ing us again?)

The Spotify graphics –maybe it’s the actual cover for the new album– feature a mushroom cloud, plus a goofy drawing of a 19th century man that I assume is Friederich Nietzsche (God I HATE spelling that man’s name… always forget what goes where…). Nietzsche coined the phrase “God is dead”, then later contracted venereal disease and offed himself, casting doubt on whether he had been right all along or just bitter, stubborn and possibly crazy. Hitler thanks you, Fred, for creating fertile soil for the nihilism, fascism and hatred that grew from seeds you planted.

As for the Sabbath song itself, it likely has little to do with Nietzsche, but the lyrics do feature a mild form of nihilism and/or despair. I give the song overall a B-minus rating, both musically and lyrically. Despite the addled brain that Ozzy has given himself thanks to various substances (or maybe he always was addled, I dunno), he and his band have always been good at lyrically or visually tweaking the culture. They seem to enjoy creating dialogue (or just arguments) about the role of music, the problem of evil, and/or various other fairly big questions. This single will fit into that spectrum nicely.

Musically, it’s good, but it’s no “Ironman”. Tommy Iommi is still a riffmeister extraordinaire on guitar (first album in 35 years to feature him, bassist Geezer Butler, AND Ozzy, the Unholy Trinity). Plus Ozzy’s voice has not slipped much. He’s definitely one of the top 20 rock vocalists ever… I’d put him between 10 and 15, though a 2008 Rolling Stone “experts” poll on singers left him off entirely. (To be fair, the same poll includes R&B, country, pop, etc… so only a few hard rock or metal singer/howlers made the list anyway… Plant, Axl Rose, Daltrey, maybe one other…)

On the other hand, the melody isn’t all that great. I just heard it, twice, and I can’t quite remember it, not even the chorus. Is it my aging brain, or is it these guys’ slipping talent for finding a “hook” in the metal mode? Cuz compared to Ozzy’s solo stuff from the Eighties… this single sounds like a long, brooding”deep cut” from a 1974 Sabbath album. Maybe to big Black Sabbath fans, that’s a good thing. But I have to cop to only being a casual fan at best. So don’t take my word for it… see for yourself.

On iTunes, streaming at the link below, or at a record store near you –oh, wait. I forgot. It isn’t 1974 anymore, skip the record store trip.

*  *  *

“After you die you will meet God” – Heb 9:27 – another bad billboard in Indiana, using scare tactics very similar to those that Black Sabbath has used repeatedly, in the ongoing debate about what G-D really cares about.

You will meet God, yes.

This means you too, Ozzy. And you can be sure He’s going to ask you about that question mark on the “God Is Dead?” single.

Related articles

• BLACK SABBATH – ‘God Is Dead?’ Single Streaming (bravewords.com)