vol. 44

am i buggin you? don't mean to bug you...
okay edge, play the blues...
-- bono

yes, it's been quite a while -- yes, i've been lazy -- yes, i've missed this -- but i truly haven't felt as though i've had anything of value to offer...

i bought a turntable and have been scouring ebay for old albums -- got some at cd warehouse as well -- only got burned on one and that was really my fault (sting's bring on the night is a double lp and it only contained one -- but at $1.99, i don't feel compelled to go back and gripe...) as beck has said, it's a great hobby -- what i like the most about it is how it takes me back in time as i'm rifling through the old albums at the store or online...

some of the gems i have picked up:
paul simon's graceland -- this album is still incredible -- but it was earth shattering when it came out in 1986...
tool's undertow -- actually, i got this one brand new -- this is about as "heavy" as i get -- there are just times when you need it
the smiths' strangeways, here we come, the queen is dead and meat is murder -- enough said (although i find it to be interesting that kids in school are listening to the smiths again -- it all comes around full circle...)
U2's rattle and hum -- the line leading off this entry is courtesy of silver and gold on this album...
rem's murmur, document, life's rich pageant and green -- seriously, i forgot just how much i used to love rem...

and that's just a small peek into the new, ongoing collection...

good to be back...

vol. 43

i have waited with a glacier's patience...
-- neko case

there was a time in the 80s when i was really discovering music at a rapid pace -- in about a 3 year span, i really got into rem, U2, depeche mode, the smiths, the police (i started on born in the 50s, not roxanne -- i have never liked that song...) tears for fears, new order, a-ha, the mighty lemondrops, the psychedelic furs and many, many other bands that filled my walkman with incredible music -- it was during this time that many of my likes and dislikes were formed --

i can honestly say that there has been music that i've liked since then, but i don't know that there's been anything beyond a handful (jeff buckley, pearl jam) that i've truly been passionate about... until the last year or so, that is -- tony introduced me to ray lamontagne, nick to kings of leon and rolling stone to neko case --

i picked up neko case's cd (yes, a hard copy, wrapped cd -- i couldn't tell you the last time i actually bought one) i bought it partly due to the hype -- but also partly due to the fact that she's also a graphic artist and i was interested in seeing what she had worked up -- i wasn't disappointed on any front -- i can't get this tornado loves you out of my head -- the line leading this post off is from it -- there's a simple line in it (i want you) that she sings on two separate occasions and each time, her tone is just magical -- it's different for each -- her voice is very different from what we're hearing today -- it takes me back to kirsty maccoll and a little bit of alison moyet -- but not really -- i keep trying to figure out who it is that she reminds me of the most, and while i keep coming back to those two, it's not quite there -- just past my memory's reach -- her writing's eclectic but grounded -- she's not just throwing strings of words together for the sake of doing so -- her arrangements are tight...beyond this, she's a beautiful redhead with absolutely incredibly pale skin -- ummm, yeah...

so here's the studio version (it ends at about 3:10 - not sure why the clip keeps going) and here's a live version that shows she's got the pipes (although she's looking a little ragged in this one, if i must say...)

it's amazing how the little things make us tick...

vol. 42

you gave me nothing
now it's all i've got...
-- U2

• ah...to get some uninterrupted sleep... actually, i resorted to trying a sleeping pill last night, and while it took me a while to get to sleep, once i did, i can't say as i remember waking up...

• working on poetry with my english crew -- this is one of my favorite parts of the semester -- it's nice to see who the kids are who are in touch with what's going on in a different arena -- at the same time, it's pretty wild to see some kids struggle in this genre...

• i don't know what i would do with myself if my schedule wasn't jam packed -- i truly don't know what it must be like to get home at 3:15 and then just sit around -- i know that i have summers, but i tend to fill those days just as quickly -- i always have a sense of needing to get something done -- and quickly -- maybe this is why i'm having such difficulty sleeping -- sometimes there definitely aren't enough hours in the day -- and when that's complicated by a sinus infection, it's even crazier...

• rob dyrdek lives the life -- all he does is finds more stuff to get into -- if you haven't seen fantasy factory yet, you're missing a great example of a guy living high off the hog -- i'm sure that things are complicated for him, also -- but i sure wouldn't mind living that life once in a while...
  

vol. 41

god have mercy on the man
who doubts what he's sure of...
-- bruce springsteen

• my difficulties in sleeping have been well documented on here -- however, thanks to my cousin scott, i think i have the remedy for tonight -- if that doesn't work, i'm going to have to dvr something on the golf channel, because just the way they talk at a tournament tends to get me sleepy...

sorry, nothing more today -- i'm beat...

vol. 40

tell it to me slow
tell me with your eyes
if anyone should know
how to let it slide
i swear i can see you
coming up the drive
and there ain't nothing like regret
to remind you you're alive...
-- sheryl crow

• i just saw gran torino and i must say that i left a little on the disappointed side -- eastwood directed and produced it (and of course starred in it) but it was as predictable as a third grade essay...it might be possible that the only movie i've ever seen more racist than this one was american history x... at any rate, the movie did leave me thinking about regret, hence the lyrics above...

• unfortunately i missed out on a great conversation friday night, but was let in on the topic after the fact -- the idea was to choose the concerts you could travel back in time to see -- mine, in order, are:
  

1. live aid at wembley stadium -- 1985 -- the whole day would have been incredible, for sure, but i provided a link to queen's performance there in an earlier entry dealing with control and this is the scene i would have loved to have been able to take part in (this is actually a different link and contains their entire set -- again, keep in mind -- no sound check!) -- beyond that, i would have also seen elvis costello, u2, phil collins, the who, the boomtown rats (think you don't know them? think again -- as in i don't like mondays or this is the world calling which was by bob geldof, their lead singer and organizer of the whole event...), the hooters (who were on top then for a brief period of time), bb king, run dmc, sting, howard jones, paul young with alison moyet, dire straits with sting, george thorogood with bo diddley, and the list goes on... (i'm not bolding all of those acts for your sake!)
2. simon and garfunkel -- the concert in central park -- 1981 -- my dad made me watch this on hbo when it was on -- i really didn't want to at the time, but i'm really glad that he made me -- completely turned me on to these two -- this was just momentous to me and i would have loved to have been there...estimates say there were over 500,000 people there -- that had to be incredible -- my favorite songs were april come she will and late in the evening
   
3. the beatles at shea stadium -- 1965 -- i would have loved to see the earlier beatles rather than the drug ravaged beatles of their later years...
4. jerry lee lewis, elvis presley, carl perkins and johnny cash -- 1956 -- i can't say as elvis does much for me or carl perkins for that matter, but i would have loved to have seen both jerry lee lewis and johnny cash early on in their careers -- jerry lee lewis just looks like he would have put on a beast of a show to me...
5. roy orbison -- black and white night -- 1988 -- i've always loved roy orbison's voice -- his songwriting is incredible as well -- he put on a great show and a couple of his friends joined in -- as in bruce springsteen, jackson browne, kd lang (great version of crying...), bonnie raitt, and the underrated jd souther -- it was a taped show, but it still would have been great to see...
6. bruce springsteen born in the usa tour -- 1984 -- for the record, i absolutely HATE born in the usa -- even then i did - but the rest of the album was incredible -- he was genuinely on top of the world then -- i've seen him twice since, and both shows were incredible, but this one had to have been great -- i was allowed to stay overnight outside kaufman's to try to get tickets with some older friends from swg -- for those of you old enough, remember how much of a pain in the butt it used to be to get concert tickets??? at any rate, we were about 5th in line when it sold out -- yeah, that bit... deal with it, switala...
   
7. michael jackson bad tour -- 1987 or 1988 -- and i'd want to see it in japan -- those people were all kinds of freaky for mj then -- it would have been incredible, providing that i wouldn't have been trampled to death -- but i'm time traveling, so what the heck??? the music on bad was still good -- i would have gotten that and all of thriller to boot -- and don't even try to say that you didn't love michael jackson back in the day...
8. the smiths the queen is dead tour -- 1986 -- unfortunately, they never toured for strangeways, here we come and this was their last tour -- i like morrissey on his own (although i still think his best offering post-smiths is viva hate, his first offering post-smiths) but what his solo stuff has shown me is just how good johnny marr was/is...
   

i'm going to prematurely end this right there -- i guarantee i missed some great ones -- and no, i didn't forget woodstock -- i just can't say as i really have a desire to have been there...

let's hear your picks...

vol. 39

Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat...
-- Robert Frost

i had the opportunity to meet Michelle Stoner a couple months ago when Beck and Bevington started the coffeehouse at GS -- i was really impressed with her work and she reads very, very well -- she turned me on to a new endeavor in the pittsburgh area known as weave magazine -- great, grassroots type of publication -- so i get updates from the magazine sent to my email and i got one late last night (of course, i wasn't able to sleep again, so i checked out one of the poets who is in their upcoming issue) her name is karen weyant, and we went to pitt together -- haven't heard or seen her in probably 12 years -- pretty cool to see that she's doing well -- and her work, which i always thought was strong, is even better...

• you may or may not know about espn's beat the streak -- this thing has become an obsession -- don't get involved if you aren't willing to get hooked -- currently my streak is back at 0, as i won my first game last night, then lost the second when psu won at the buzzer -- this was after break my 8 game losing streak -- i'm now up to my 2nd win of the month -- you've been duly warned...

• i'm now in my 17th year of coaching track and field -- that means 17 years worth of "first weeks" of practices -- undoubtedly this is the most difficult week -- we deal with all of the kids who didn't think they needed winter track and are out of shape -- the ones who did another sport and are nowhere near in track and field shape -- and those who should be in shape and who aren't -- on top of this, the first two days of this week were absolutely brutal -- we've dealt with snow and rain plenty of times -- but nothing was ever as cold as our first two days this year -- the point i'm trying to make, though, is that this has been my best first week ever -- the kids have been great -- they've listened, taken direction and want to get better -- they haven't complained (at least to us...) and they've given us a ton of hope for a successful year...

• trust me, there aren't many things worse than when you're a coach and you dread going to practice...
  

vol. 38

i had an old roommate (andy) who used to say that something made the list -- as in the black list -- i was thinking about this on the ride in (is it fair to call a 5 minute commute a ride in?) to work this morning when i went back to back on the radio with groups that are on my list -- our lists derived from watching say anything and, in particular, a line said by lloyd dobler (john cusack) -- the line was: "I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that."

so, in no particular order, these are some things on my list (i'm not really even going to get in to foods -- that would take a ton of space...)

• anything with drew barrymore in it -- beyond e.t., i defy you to convince me that anything else she has done is good...

• anything with bette midler in it or that she sings --

• anything by smashmouth

• anything by sugar ray -- this includes anything that mark mcgrath is hosting on tv
  

• super panda -- or other chinese buffets -- really, buffets in general unless i'm there right as they open -- otherwise, why in the world would i want to eat food that's been sitting under heating lamps all day long

• anything with barbra streisand in it or that she sings -- i have to admit, i let myself down and broke this boycott when i saw meet the fockers -- while i liked the movie, i seriously cringed every time i saw her in a scene -- and the thought of her being a sex instructor -- well... that's just nasty...

• anything with stiffler's mom in it -- don't know what her name is -- sure i could find it, but i'd rather refer to her as stiffler's mom -- she's just disgusting and it freaks me out to look at her...

• anything rachael ray -- enough said...

• anything by douglas coupland -- generation x came out in like 90 0r 91 and it was supposed to define my generation -- not even close -- he got pumped up as this incredible writer, but i just don't see it...

to each his own, i guess...

vol. 37

as much as i enjoy reading/teaching novels over and over again in class, watching some of the movies is just unbelievably tough -- especially since a portrayal of 1920s americana shot in 1974 can be pretty rough... what's more ridiculous is that karen black won a golden globe for her portrayal of myrtle... sorry, i'm not linking to her -- just looking at her freaks me out -- kind of like stiffler's mom or that woman who looks like a freaking cat after having so much plastic surgery...

• www.xtranormal.com, however is a really cool site that has some great possibilities for classroom use -- we'll be trying this out and i'm excited to see what the kids come up with -- here's a starter i created in all of about 10 minutes...yes, it's pretty elementary, but pretty cool...

• sorry, i'm sick and have been up since midnight -- you're right, i'm mailing this one in...
  

vol. 36

not all wanderers are lost...

• i've really started to like peter king's columns on the nfl -- specifically his monday morning quarterback -- yes, the nfl's season is over, but he's still had some great things to say -- this week he focused on the free agent signing period -- he gets some great access to things going on behind the scenes -- here's the link to this week's column...i particularly liked the anecdotes about rex ryan going after bart scott and chris canty's experience with free agency as well...

• i have to admit that i read sports illustrated much less now that rick reilly is no longer with the magazine -- his switch to espn was crushing -- but you can't blame the guy considering the money they threw at him -- his columns on espn.com pick up where they left off from si -- and this week's is a great one on sports stars as role models -- while i tend to agree with charles barkley's stance on this (to a point), it's tough to argue with reilly's take... not that i ever disliked john elway, but his stock went way up in my book after reading that column...

that is all... carry on...

vol. 35

i'm going to find myself a girl
who can show me what laughter means
and we'll fill in the missing colors
in each other's paint-by-number dreams...
-- jackson browne

• i'm sure that i wrote about my love for lists before -- i just don't feel like going back to find out exactly where it was that i said it -- at any rate -- i think it's a great way to get to know somebody -- and it's a great way to fill an evening in a smokey establishment after a long week and an even longer friday... i was with some friends friday night and one of our lists was our favorite jackson browne song -- for the longest time in my life, this wasn't even a question for me -- the load out/stay was hands down my favorite -- then, i moved on to for a dancer -- but there's no doubt that i had jumped the gun on those calls -- without question, the pretender has to be my favorite of his -- in fact, i've listened to different versions of it all weekend... the one i've linked is probably my favorite version of it -- it's from a storytellers-type show and he gives some pretty cool insight into how it came to be...

• you have got to love the creative process -- and learning how creative people create...

• there was a time when i was growing up when i first started getting in to music -- i'm going to try to paint this picture for you, but it'll be tough -- keep in mind that i was coming back to greensburg for the summer after being in albuquerque the rest of the year -- i had two ways of listening to music back then (we're talking like '78-'80ish) -- either through my dad's record player with headphones that looked like this (and i have to admit, these look pretty snazzy compared to the ones we had, which i swore were ten times bigger than those pictured) or through my dad's jukebox -- so i basically got two types of music as well -- through the record player i was listening to supertramp and jackson browne and fleetwood mac and barry manilow and seals and crofts and leo sayer and bob seger -- through the jukebox i was hearing the beatles, and itsy-bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini, and charlie brown, and does your chewing gum lose its flavor?, and hot rod lincoln and rainbow connection... yeah, i had it good...

• one of the things i'll always remember through this period was how often the phone would ring while i was listening with those headphones and belting out a weekend in new england (ahh, the cheesiness of barry manilow...) or something else like it, only to hear my dad's voice on the other end of the phone telling me to be quiet (i'm sure those weren't the words he used then...) -- this was at like 7 am and you used to be able to dial your own number and then hang up and it would ring on another phone in the house -- i had to have annoyed the heck out of him -- i'm sure this always happened after he just got off the late shift at caterpillar also...
  

vol. 34

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up...
-- Pablo Picasso

no doubt in my mind that there's a lot of truth to that statement...

• along this line, i read a very good article on bill strickland and he had a great, great comment: "Create a sense of extraordinary excitement." It's in this month's Edutopia magazine, which is also a super, free, find... i love strickland's take on things and love what he's started on the north side -- and am disappointed that this is the first i've heard of this...

• to an extent, i think that carrie vottero has elevated our school's library to this level -- there's definitely an extraordinary excitement to that space with carrie there...

• carrie and i are looking in to starting a reading group amongst our students -- any suggestions you might have would be appreciated -- we're trying to make this a fun thing, yet at the same time i am definitely looking for some pieces with a redemptive value in my eyes -- so we have to find a happy medium between twilight and atlas shrugged...

• speaking of ayn rand... i think i would just about kill to be in a class that focused just on her works -- whether teaching it or taking part in it -- either way, that might be the ultimate for me...

• espn's beat the streak has me absolutely hooked -- my best so far is three...