#8

By Digler, 30 March 2010

In the immortal words of Lionel Richie, “I’m easy like Sunday morning”. Some might say (like my wife) that I can be difficult to buy presents for – I don’t deny that I like what I like and can be picky at times. But I am by nature happy and easy-going. I literally have a big smile and the vast majority of the time you’ll see it on my face. I’ve actually had people ask me why I seem to be happy most of the time (interestingly this has happened more frequently in Boston). I usually simply say I have a wife and girls at home who I love and who love me. That’s enough to make me happy forever.

My wife and I have had some deaths recently both in our extended family and in the family of friends. And even closer to home, there are currently some fairly serious health issues that people we care deeply about are dealing with. I’ve been spending some time trying to remember time spent with those suffering and those who have passed on. And without fail the memories that come back to me are simple moments, overwhelmingly positive and nearly all worth a laugh. And those memories make me smile. We’re also expecting another baby any day now and when I think about seeing my son for the first time, and us falling asleep (probably me first) as he’s cuddled up on my chest on the couch while I watch a game, I smile.

This entry may be a little cheesy, but with life and death playing a prominent role in my life right now, it’s what you get. So here are some things I really look fondly back on and look eagerly forward to: my girls running into my office when they wake up to give me a hug and say good morning and actually sitting still for a few minutes with sleep still in their eyes before asking to watch Curious George; my wife and I holding that new baby boy and wondering aloud what we’ve gotten ourselves into, again; a March Madness game that I know I will remember for years to come; Patriot’s Day in Boston (Boston’s Best Day); a late summer night in Idaho with a sky big and full of stars and the only sound that of a few crickets and sprinkler pipes in the distance; sharing a ridiculous story with a friend; finding a great album.

Album # 8 – Joshua Radin – We Were Here

Those are pretty simple memories but they are good enough for me. Here’s another one. A few years ago my wife and I stumbled upon an album that we really liked by Joshua Radin titled We Were Here, which is # 8 on our list. I was getting ready to finish my MBA and my wife surprised me with tickets to a concert in Connecticut where he was the opener. I had no idea where we were going or why until we pulled into a less than appealing part of Hartford at a tiny venue and saw ‘Joshua Radin’ on the billboard. The crowd was really small and not appreciative of his music but we loved it. We chatted with him for several minutes afterwards, told him we had a new baby and said he needed some baby gear to sell. He then suggested an XS t-shirt. We agreed, bought it, and had him sign it. He asked our daughter’s name and then wrote her name and signed, “Love Joshua”. Both of our girls have now worn that t-shirt as a nightgown and love it and we love that we are reminded of that concert every time they put it on. His music is like that memory and the others I’ve mentioned here. It’s simple. It’s mostly him and a guitar and sometimes a girl with an amazing voice named Priscilla Ahn helping with harmony. It’s the kind of music that makes you reflect, makes you appreciate the things you have, and makes you happy. Give it a listen. You’ll enjoy it and you’ll keep going back to it when you need a smile.

http://www.joshuaradin.com/

Listen to "Everything'll Be Alright"

Five Great Songs

Because I've been slow with updating the next entry I wanted to share Five Great Songs with you. Nothing special about why I picked these five. I just did. So, if you're at work, stick in your head phones and enjoy or just turn up the speakers and everyone within hearing distance can enjoy.

Song #1: "I Can See the Pines Are Dancing" by A.A. Bondy from the 2009 album When the Devil's Loose

Song #2: "Winter Winds" by Mumford & Sons from 2010 album, Sigh No More - And good luck finding a more enjoyable music video. I promise you this song will hook you. You will begin your instant search of Mumford and Sons after hearing this song...I just know it!

Song #3: "I Am Goodbye" by Bonnie Prince Billy from the 2009 album Beware. Love the video because I love the actor Will Oldham and his beard. Also, Will Oldham is Bonnie Prince Billy, that in itself is worth researching.

Song #4 "In Spite of Ourselves" by John Prine with Iris DeMent from the 1999 album In Spite of Ourselves. Make sure you watch this video, he tells a great story before hand and lyrically you will love this song. John Prine is one of the most respected song writers in this country and I fell in love with this song about five years ago. It makes you proud to be married and know those strange things about your spouse that only "you" know. And in some strange way this song might just be the best love song ever written.

Song #5 "Broken" by Tift Merritt from her 2008 Another Country album. Her voice is so great and the video is well shot not to mention Tift is quite nice to look at.

#9

Few things excite me these days more than a really great new album. When I was young my calendar was not set with days, months, and years but it unfolded as Christmas, Birthday, summer, family vacation, basketball season, spring break, and so forth. As I’ve gotten older that same excitement has worn down, I just had a birthday and if it wasn’t for a wonderful wife and five year old son, I may not have paid any attention to it. As adults we get busy, our calendars heavily crowded with this reminder or that bill due date, it seems as the years travel on the good stuff slowly gets squeezed out. I suppose it’s all part of the process. Though I would love to go back to the age of about eight or nine and have it be Christmas Eve. I fondly remember those moments, being so elated with the anticipation of presents that sleep wasn’t humanly possible. Sneaking up into the living room at two in the morning in order to get just one gratifying peek, waking a parent at three-thirty in hopes that maybe, just maybe we can start this Christmas day before the birds have even considering chirping. Nothing compares with those days, right?

However, one more reason I love music can be chalked up, a great new album is really exciting to me. Not Christmas Eve exciting but not bad all the same, especially for being thirty-two. It’s a bit of a method for me; a process and I will break it down for you. First, we have two types of new albums. 1. We already know the artist. This one is exciting for a couple of reasons. It’s like your favorite sports team, once the season is over, life goes on but you can’t wait for the next season to begin. So much hope and anticipation, can we win it all? How will so-and-so fit into the new lineup? A new album from Neil Young, The Counting Crows, Emmylou Harris, or John Hiatt is like that old ball club that has been with you for years. You sort of know what you’ll get - there will be some surprises, maybe some disappointments and there is that chance they will wow you beyond belief, which often happens with the greats. 2. New Artist, new album. This one exists because you’ve done some work, you’ve rolled up your sleeves and you’ve gotten dirty. Good for you. Maybe it was the radio, someone shared it with you, could have been a commercial, a movie, or perhaps you discovered this one all your own (which is the most rewarding) but however the discovery was made, it was made. The key is to listen to as much as you can before dropping the ten-fifteen bucks, thirty-second samples are no good, you need the full song and when do you buy? Few artists out there have the ability to get my money on that thirty-second sample. I need good solid evidence the album is legit; I need to feel warm and fuzzy about my purchase. Okay, there is the breakdown between the two types of albums. The next step is quite simple. I listen to the album completely, each track, every word and every second before listening to one song more than once. I believe we owe it to the artist to do this. Sure, once I’ve done that the album will have tracks in which get more plays than others but not in the beginning. I treat it like a movie or book. I wouldn’t read chapter five three times in a book before reading it all and I won’t do it with a new album.

The next album on this list was one of the most exciting I can remember in years. It caught me by surprise, I didn’t expect it to be as good as it has become.

#9 - Hayes Carll - Trouble In Mind - 2008

If you like real country music, (I've decided to no longer be worried about offending anyones taste in music) not the twaddle that somehow passes itself off as country music today, which by the way is shocking, shameful, and dishonorable. But if you love Johnny Cash, Don Williams, Townes Van Zandt, George Jones, Conway Twitty, Buck Owens, and so on, then you will LOVE Hayes Carll and Trouble In Mind. This album has some Texas outlaw feel to it but Hayes Carll does a fine job of changing directions. At times the album is just great rock-n-roll, other times the album has some country boy hick to it and then there are moments when the album is savvy and intelligent, poetic and beautiful. As is the case with track five, "Beaumont" a telling tale of lost love well told. Hayes covers a Tom Waits song, "I Don't Wanna' Grow Up" which in my opinion is one of the best covers of any songs I've ever heard. He gets a bit sacrilegious in the final track, "She Left Me For Jesus" but certainly means no harm. Trouble In Mind is a great country album, one of the very best in the last ten years.

Listen, we can't go back to being eight or nine, our calendars are grown up now but if you need a break, if you need something to excite you, something to accompany your next work commute, it really should be Trouble In Mind. Hayes Carll says it best in "Bad Liver and a Broken Heart" - "I'll get old before I'm good at this, who's the President, what year is it? Doesn't anybody care about truth anymore, maybe that's what songs are for"

Watch Hayes sing "Beaumont" live, listen to "I Don't Wanna' Grow Up" and be sure and check out his website and albums.

http://www.hayescarll.com

#10

By Digler, 2 March 2010

My grandma is well into her 90s. She’s not as sharp as she once was but she is still very perceptive; quick with a laugh and a wry comment. She still lives at home on the farm though she needs a lot of help these days. She loves to talk about the weather, sports, and politics – often in that order. She knows I’m getting a PhD and that it has something to do with business – which in her mind apparently means finance or economics because whenever I talk to her on the phone she first wants to know when I’m coming home to visit and then asks if I can hurry-up and graduate and fix Wall Street and solve all of our nation’s economic problems.

As I sit here typing this entry I am looking at a picture of her husband in my office - my grandpa, who died when I was a senior in high school. He’s on a horse, cows in the background, and he is laughing and waving, which is how I remember him. He had cursing down to an art form and he once told me it wasn’t his fault; that anyone who had to deal with farming and cows was allowed to curse. I can still vividly recall huddling with my cousin in his front yard when I was 7 or 8, repeating every curse word combination we could remember our grandpa saying. We laughed even as we felt guilty as we carried on for what felt like several minutes. I don’t think we ever did cover everything we heard him say.

I really love and respect all of my grandparents, including my wife’s. Like her grandma on her mother’s side (and her own mother) she somehow becomes more beautiful and elegant as she ages. From her dad’s mom she has an incredible capacity for hard work, for seeing the goodness in people, for empathy.

See, I’m a big fan of what is called the ‘greatest generation’. I’m so very proud of my roots and I’m so very sad that they are quickly moving on. I didn’t get to know all of my grandparents and I feel like my daughters are missing something by not getting to see their living great-grandparents more frequently. I hope we will pass on their stories and that their memories will live on.

I get the feeling people are too quick to search for the next big thing, to move from one fleeting interest to another, to constantly look to the future. There is a lot to be gained from the lessons of the past. I truly do feel like I stand on the shoulders of giants and that my parents and grandparents and beyond built a foundation for me to work with. They were no more perfect than me and I thank them for that - for learning, loving and living. Just like my grandma expects me to single-handedly change our nation’s economic outlook, they all want us to build on what they’ve done, but to be better, and to make them proud.

That’s what I like about the next album on the list – Justin Townes Earle’s Midnight at the Movies.

#10 - Justin Towne Earle - Midnight at the Movies

Most music fans will recognize the weight in his name – music royalty, really. What I love about his music is that he embraces the past while making the music his own. I listen to this album and I hear Ryan Adams and Whiskeytown in one song and Buck Owens in another. It’s like he has found the best elements of the various forms of ‘country’ music from the classics to the modern day and he’s connecting the dots – illuminating the past and pointing to a bright future – all in just about 30 minutes.

Most people will mention “Mama’s Eyes” and well they should because in that one song he directly confronts the past while seeming to be comfortable with his future. But I want to point out a couple of other songs that are nice mileposts on the journey. In “What I Mean to You” he has that playful but sorrowful feeling of a lot of classic country:

Now I don’t need no riches, diamonds or gold

No ordinary trinkets will do

And I don’t expect you to break out in song

‘Cuz I know that you can’t carry a tune

So speak low, when you speak love

If that’s what you gotta do

I need to know right now

Just what I mean to you

And the powerful imagery of love gone wrong and no one is completely innocent in ‘Someday I’ll Be Forgiven for This”:

Yeah, and if I know you
You won't have nothing to say
You'll just clear the tears from your eyes
Long enough to watch me walk away
You won't curse or scream, no nothing that obscene
You'll just tell yourself you never loved me anyway
So tonight when you leave
Put the light out on the porch
Take anything that you want to keep and leave your key in the door
And I don't want to hear you crying no tears that show regret

Cause someday you'll be forgiven for this
Oh, yeah, someday you'll be forgiven for this.

So call your grandparents, or write them a letter. Share a story about them with your siblings. And get your hands on this album.

Check out Justin on his website or watch him sing "Mama's Eyes" Live - absolutely worth checking out.

http://www.justintownesearle.com/