Grace Again!

November 27, 2007 | Filed Under Main, Music | 4 Comments

So with five weeks left in the New York Metropolitan area (and most of that the holidays), I have one last shot to see live music before I go. A quick run through the Village Voice showed only one possible option…

Grace Potter! She and the band are back in town on Friday, headlining their own gig.

Finally - I get to see them in their full glory.

Kuwait - Countdown

November 26, 2007 | Filed Under Main | No Comments

My visa is ready.

My flight is set.

January 4th - the adventure begins.

yikes…

Added to iPod

November 25, 2007 | Filed Under Music | No Comments

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and did not have to deal with 1) traffic jams, 2) airport delays or 3) cold turkey. (For me - two out of three ain’t bad.) I also hope no one shopped on Friday. The whole thing is a crock and for a consumer to worry about whether a retailer is making profit or not is totally bizarre (I blame the media). And the folks who work for retailers could certainly use a break from the two and a half months of Christmas. I haven’t shopped AT ALL yet. So there, Wal-Mart!

Les McCann & Eddie Harris - “Swiss Movement” Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival, 1969.
Various Artists - “Nuggets” That first volume of old 60s garage music that came out years ago. From “I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night” to “Louie Louie”.
Manu Chao - “Clandestino”
Oranj Symphonette - “The Oranj Album” Cool but up to date jazz with a handful of movie themes.
Bobby Darin - “The Bobby Darin Story” The fun part of this greatest hits collection is that Darin put it together and talks on the record - adding intros and outros to each album side. Very cool.
Dave Edmunds - “Repeat When Necessary” His best piece of work. Stellar from start to finish.
Sly and the Family Stone - “There’s A Riot Going On” And there was. I have the greatest hits, but this record is something to itself. Bad vibes, hot tunes, anger and sadness create a heady concoction. A seminal piece of work for the end of an era.
Dead Kennedys - “Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables” More political commentary a decade later. Fast and furious, Jello Biafra, East Bay Ray and the boys served up California and the rest of the country on a plate and threw it against the wall. What fun! This is the 25th anniversary edition and comes with a DVD of the band live.

Palatine

November 21, 2007 | Filed Under Music | No Comments

… it’s finally here. For years I have searched Ebay for this record collection. It is a four disk set of the best of the Factory label - in my opinion one of the classic DIY labels in rock history. From 1979 to 1990, this was the Manchester sound. Happy Mondays, Joy Division, Durutti Column and This Mortal Coil - and many others - all came out of the Factory label with each album, single, video and event numbered. One of the Factory’s main impressarios - Tony Wilson - sadly passed away this summer.

This set was put out in a VERY limited release as CDs, LPs and 45s. The vinyl showed up yesterday.

I’m so excited. I think I’ll spend Sunday watching football and burning this.

Note To The Siblings: I’ve got my Christmas CD.

Paparazzi

November 20, 2007 | Filed Under Main | No Comments

You know, I could care less about celebrities. The only reason I know anything about their lives is that even the good newspapers have articles about every D-grade celebrity that ever existed! Every time I turn on my computer, I see which crappy TV star got hitched, fired or arrested for DUI (Gary Collins? Who cares!?) Entertainment news could be controlled like an illegal substance with just two magazines and two hours of television a week and I would be very happy.

Which brings us to the point - does anyone really care if a photographer gets run over or punched out? I don’t think that should be a crime. In fact, I think celebs should get medals for taking out a member of the paparazzi. Chase me down the street? Block my car? Surround and photograph my kids? Take hidden pictures of me on vacation?? Out here in Jersey - those are grounds for an ass-whoopin’ and no cop would arrest me. In the real world - if you are within five feet of me or my children without my permission, you are harrassing me. Then - let the chips fly where they may…

Added To iPod

November 18, 2007 | Filed Under Music | No Comments

Another Sunday – another Fantasy Football fiasco. I’m surprised that there are enough uninjured players to have a game. The whole league went deep into the talent pool just to have a warm body on the field. It’s ugly. Even as I watched today (45 mins. – tops), players fell like flies. Sports medicine is booming!

Brand X – “Product”
The dB’s – “Like This” and “Sound Of Music” Off the vinyl. I’m not sure if they are on CD or not, but these are essentials records.
Mahavishnu Orchestra – “Apocalype” This is the one with Michael Tilson Thomas. I was always taking this out of the library when I was a kid. I’m not sure why.
David Gilmour – The first album. Only one I’ve liked so far…
The Rolling Stones – “Flowers” and “Exile On Main Street” I noticed that my Stones collection was somewhat lacking.

Added to iPod

November 14, 2007 | Filed Under Music | 6 Comments

All right! The (recently) annual family Christmas CD has been decided. Last year, my brothers and sister exchanged CDs of our 15 favorite songs. This year it is our favorite cover songs. Not necessarily fifteen, but a full CD worth (I would say no less than 50 minutes). I have checked with the judges and they have agreed that covers of traditional songs counts. Therefore, one could do a whole CD of… Christmas songs! Not that I would, but it is possible.

And there may be a few covers in this lot:
Dropkick Murphys - “The Gangs All Here”
Memphis Minnie - “Hoodoo Lady: 1933-1937″ The greatest hits of one of the best female blues artists ever.
Billie Holiday - “All Of Me” Another best of.
R. L. Burnside - “Come On In”
Ray Charles - “The Genius Hits The Road” From 1960.
Neneh Cherry - “Homebrew” Love her! Also check out her album “Man”.
Beats International - “Let Them Eat Bingo” Fatboy Slim right before he changed his name.

Lapsed Catholic 101

November 14, 2007 | Filed Under Main, Politics | No Comments

As a Catholic for 47 years now (I don’t practice anymore because I got pretty good at it), a few things have bothered me over the years about how the Church heirarchy has progressed… or not. Pedophilia is one. The utter lack of joy in most of their services (no matter how many times they sing “hallelujah”). This harping on death rather than living the life God gave them. Constantly dumbing down the bible readings to appeal to the lowest, common denominator. And - for a group of celebate, old white men - Church leaders seem to be unnaturally obsessed with sex and how, when and why everyone else has it.

But the newest wrinkle over the past decade has been the Church and politics. Today, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops pronounced that Catholics are not permitted to “dismiss or ignore church teachings” when it comes to voting in 2008. The key issues for a Catholic when they walk into the voting booth HAS to be abortion and same-sex marriage.

These are the two issues that a bishop’s world revolves around. Forget wars, poverty, genocide, human rights and healthcare. Sex must be stopped at all costs.

However, one of the quotes from the bishops went like this:
“The direct and intentional destruction of innocent human life is always wrong and is not just one issue among many.”

Sounds like the Iraq war to me….

Away From Her

November 12, 2007 | Filed Under Main | No Comments

Took Friday and Monday off for a long weekend of sitting on my butt and praying for my knee to miraculously heal. Because that is the extent of all the expert medical opinions I have received - mainly from the radiologist who actually looked at my MRI films. (Neither of my other doctors even bothered to take them out of the envelope. Makes you wonder why more people don’t seek out faith-healers.) Obviously the knee did not heal, but it does feel better not to walk so damn much.

However, I did have the opportunity to watch one of my dust-covered Netflix movies. Away From Her was written and directed by actress Sarah Polley. I think she is a wonderful actress and her last movie - My Life Without Me - had me in tears. But she is also an excellent director and I was in tears again - this time from a luminescent performance by the legendary Julie Christie. Christie and actor Gordon Pinsent play a couple who have been married for 44 years when she is suddenly stricken by Alzheimer’s. It is a tough movie, to be sure. There isn’t a false note or maudlin moment in the whole thing. It is well constructed - both visually and logistically - but the subject matter and the situations are painful. However, Julie Christie brings beauty, clarity, dignity and yes even sexuality to her character and it lights the whole film. She has always been a favorite of mine (McCabe & Mrs. Miller is one of my all-time favorite movies and Shampoo is right up there) and she is still as talented as ever.

I highly recommend the film (be sure you’re up for it) and say that if Ms. Christie is not nominated for an Academy Award then there is no justice in the world.

Added to iPod

November 9, 2007 | Filed Under Music | No Comments

Well, that took a while. But just because I haven’t posted doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy.

Because I have been.

Busy.

November’s Global Rhythms CD. Mainly Latin sounds - both classic and hip hop – with new Manu Chao, Mala Rodriguez and a duo from Budapest called Katan (beautiful song). But it was a brief article in the magazine that brought me to:
Rodrigo Y Gabriela – This self titled album shows some serious acoustic guitar chops. I hear they are pure high energy in concert. From Mexico City, now living in Dublin. Check them out.
Steve Earle – “The Hard Way” Early Steve Earle.
Bruce Springsteen – Because I enjoyed “Magic” so much, I decided to add my favorite hits – mostly from “Darkness”.
Cheech & Chong – “Sister Mary Elephant” anyone? “Earache My Eye”? “Black Lassie”? Classic comedy.
Bad Religion – “New Maps Of Hell” Best live band.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Fever To Tell” Thought I had this one already.
Everclear – “So Much For the Afterglow”
10CC – “Best Of” From Rubber Bullets to Good Morning Judge.
Faithless – “To All New Arrivals”
Fatboy Slim – “Palookaville” That and some of the best known singles.
Robin Trower – For some reason, these songs were in my brain. Why? Don’t know. Had to by an import CD to get these tunes. All the best tracks from “Bridge of Sighs”, “Long Misty Days” and “In City Dreams”.

Decisions

November 1, 2007 | Filed Under Main | 4 Comments

So someone - “a friend” - has commented that my going to Kuwait for this job is just running away from my problems.

This is an interesting thought… and not one unknown to me. This whole thing is a bit like running off to join the circus. But only if I had nothing going for me here, where I am. And that is not the case. Sure - I’m having writer’s block, I’m feeling a bit bottled up emotionally and I hate… no, just am fed up with my current employment. However, none of that is as bad as the fact that is still hurts to walk and no doctor has given me a remedy yet.

The reasons for going are enormous. In my business, that is where every American firm wants to be. The market these days is the whole world - and I want that on my resume. As much as I love New York - I want to be part of the World. I want the challenge of doing what I do for a 1600 person firm rather than a 170 person firm. This will be the first actual career move I have ever made. (Though I have always known when to leave a job. I can see this market a mile a way.)

But I’m not leaving my family. And they are not leaving me. If I find some new personal level and clear the chatter from my head - find some clarity - it will be while supporting my family in the best way possible. I don’t have any pain to numb (except in my knee). I just want to move forward. Life is only about moving forward. Though She has a wicked sense of humor, God wouldn’t have tossed me this opportunity if there wasn’t a purpose.

But thanks for the thought. Frankly, it is more terrifying to leave than to stay.