No Such Thing as Coincidence

Before we go indoctrinating foreign peoples with the enlightened morality of our institutions, perhaps we should be at a point as a society where at our social norms are in accordance with our mission statement.

I am continually awed, living in a "progressive" hub no less, by how unfamiliar we are with the principles of civil rights, and the sovereignty of the individual.  Political correctness in the public arena conforms to institutions. In this broad sense, our institutions - namely our system of government and official dogma - are progressive. 

And yet, it's 2008 in Americana and I had to work on MLK Day, but will undoubtedly have Columbus Day off.  Grown men dismiss presidential candidates based on gender and/or race. Adults who fancy themselves intelligent, and fully expect to have their positions taken seriously, utter racial epithets that I, in a former life, thought reserved only for demonstrative use by teachers during history lessons.      

Thinking Allowed

*This is the sort of stuff on my mind right now largely because I amin the process of painstakingly transporting my CD collection to iTunes.  

**Random pic is a random blues band I saw at Kingston Mines in Chicago after a wedding reception.  She might not look like much...  Err... Scratch that, she might look like too much, but this chick, and her band for that matter, were amazing. When in Chicago, go to Kingston Mines. It's a sure thing.     

Faced with the potential for adding substantial quantities of music to my collection, I get a little giddy.  I'm going to see my old friends Pierre and Ted this weekend when they join me briefly in Boston before we trek up north.  There's considerable overlap between our tastes in music, if not in our collections.  These are two out of a handful of my contemporaries that I take seriously when it comes to tunes.  I think I have mentioned before that I have a tendency to be dismissive; likely coming off as an elitist more often than I'd like to admit. As Moose would put it, I'm a music snob.  

Having known Pierre and Ted since our sophomore year in college, what gets my mind spinning these days is not a sentimentality for our known shared tastes, but the potential for an introduction to some stuff that really blows me away, and the possibility that I might be able to return the favor.

It is my impression, accurate or not, that Pierre has come to inadvertently overlook older bands and musicians in favor of newer, sexier indie rock and varied other experimental types of music.  I mean not to criticize.  By comparison, I'm slow on the uptake with the newer stuff.  To use a now antiquated example, it took two solid years of browbeating for me to embrace Disco Biscuits.  This was a group browbeating effort actually, but I won't bore you with the details.  I have plenty other more pressing, more contemporary things to bore you with.

Ted's taste is a bit more like mine, though more organic.  I believe it wasn't until relatively recently that he came to fully embrace new experimental music that falls beyond the upper crust of the jam band scene, and nu jazz.  Again, this is only my impression.

Both are well-versed in the seminal experimental stuff:  Frank Zappa, Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Herbie Hancock, etc.   To a degree, I'm the same way, though I don't mean  to say I have a remotely detailed map and understanding of the vast networks of branches that stem from this sacred tree.  Be that as it may, I have a few things in mind.

Despite Pierre's past insistence that, while he respects them, King Crimson is a band that just doesn't do it for him, I remain focused.  I am determined to break the both of them much like they were part of the task force that broke the Disco Biscuits on me.  I can't rest until this is achieved.  I won't rest.   If you like a little craziness, and you like the Talking Heads - which in a manner of speaking are the same thing - there just isn't any conceivable reason someone could be incompatible with at least Absent Lovers and Discipline. And once on board, The Power to Believe, and Adrian Belew's Side 1, Side 2, and Side 3 aren't far off.   

Some other items I would like to pass along (forcibly if necessary):

John Zorn's Electric Masada, At the Mountains of Madness

Chick Corea's Hymn to the Seventh Galaxy

Greg Bendian's Myriad and The Mahavishnu Project

The Nels Cline Singers, Instrumentals

Battles' Mirrored

Amon Tobin, Supermodified

Keith Jarrett, The Koln Concert 

M83, Before the Dawn Heals Us

In return, I hope to be blessed with some unexpected gems of which I am completely unaware at the moment.  And maybe a little help rounding out my Disco Biscuits collection.  Lofty, especially considering that the sharing of music isn't exactly the centerpiece of the weekend.

  

Directive

You've got to hear this.  

Cake Anyone???

It probably looks delicious, yes?...  Well it's not.

Yesterday, for some inexplicable reason, I could not find the strength to crawl out of bed in a timely fashion.  I communicated this to Moose.  Her indulgent response provided ample justification for my impulse.  I was taking a personal day.  Armed initially only with a vague notion of what I'd spend this free day doing, I would shortly thereafter act in strict accordance with my adult programming by turning a great idea into cake made of pee pee and poo poo.   

By the time Moose said goodbye I was wide awake, mind overflowing with lame crap that I had been meaning to do for some time, but, for varied reasons, hadn't.   From amongst the list, which I actually put to paper by 8:30am:

• Move money from one bank to another to take advantage of higher interest rate 
  
• Pick up dry cleaning
  
• Surf the net for information pertaining to upcoming Costa Rica trip
  
• Make Dr.'s appointment for physical, something I haven't had in over 5 years  
  
• Make eye Dr.'s appointment to address declining vision
  
• Make dermatologist appointment to have freckles and mole's inspected by a licensed professional
  
• Shave pubes
  
• Speak to bank regarding ongoing identity theft investigation
• Pay bills
• Go for a long bike ride
• Pick up role of quarters
• Do laundry

You should be very proud, because I made it through the entire list.  Technically.  I was down to my third and final load of laundry, walking down to the basement to empty the dryer and transport my whites from the washer, when I noticed a steady stream of liquid dripping from a pipe that runs along the ceiling down on top of the washing machine.  As I got closer I noticed the liquid wasn't quite clear.  Closer still, a familiar stench infiltrated my nose.  My worst fears were confirmed:  Pubic hair, fresh pee, toilet water, and pubic-pee-poo cake - a rare amalgamation of old urine, pubes, and old doodly plip plop - separated me from my undershirts and socks.  Now, I don't have kids, but I know understand parental instinct, because one arose inside me at that moment, like a mother risking her own life to save a child from drowning....in a septic tank.  As soon as there was a break in the stream, I pulled open the washing machine, determined to save my laundry from my neighbor's excrement, no doubt poised to rain down on us both without prejudice.  But alas, a miscalculation!  As I opened the door to the washing machine, a stream of toilet water and pubic-pee-poo cake infiltrated the washing machine's main cabin, and subsequently the garments that know me best.

Though, obviously, my neighbor was not to blame, I couldn't control my rage.   Cursing her fat disgusting slob ass (I've never seen her before), I threw my soiled, through no real fault of my own, whites into the dryer, knowing full well that, at best, there was another wash and dry cycle in our shared future.   

Should have gone to work.            

Repent

It appears Notre Dame futility may be short-lived.  This is not to trivialize their substantial bowl losing streak or their longstanding absence from end of season national championship discussion.  But it seems logical that they will not have a repeat of this past season in the foreseeable future.  At least, if they do, Charlie Weis should and will bear the brunt of the fallout.  And I refer to real fallout; job security fallout, not ultimately inconsequential condemnation from an eternally polarized media.     

According to Tom Lemming, recruiting guru, the incoming class is the most impressive since 1990.  Almost 25% of the incoming freshmen are ranked inside Sports Illustrated's Top 100. That's five kids to be exact.

Amongst the class of 2013, Mike Golic Jr., a 6-5, 265 lb. offensive lineman and son of a former Notre Dame and Philadelphia Eagles player, Mike Golic Sr., whom you might also recognize from ESPN, and Nathanial Montana, 6-5, 195 lb. quarterback from California, and, oh yeah, son of Joe Montana.  In keeping with the caliber of Anthony Fasano and John Carlson, they've landed Kyle Rudolph, a 6-6, 230 lb. tight end from Ohio.  Despite conventional "wisdom", Jonas Gray, of Michigan, verbally committed to Notre Dame after having been on hand for the 38-0 shillacking at the hands of USC.  Oddly, the game day atmosphere in South Bend and the potential to make an immediate impact on the field may have actually outweighed Mark May's "insights".  Dayne Crist, a 6-foot-5, 210-pound quarterback from California, can be found atop many recruit rankings.  Crist's coming on board is a bit curious even, as he'll likely be competing for his first three years against Jimmy Claussen, one year ahead of Crist; each hailing from California, and having earned a similar multitude of accolades at the high school level.  

Mark May:  Repent now and all will be forgiven.  Jk, jk.  It's too late.