Back in college, there was a popular class called “Arts 15: Introduction to the popular performing arts” — otherwise known as the history of rock and roll. The professor was, shall we say, opinionated. One test question that is still stuck in my craw follows:
The greatest rock and roll band of all time was:
I was about to write a long winding post about my constant obsessing for changing things, but I don’t have that energy right now. And I doubt that you’ve got the energy to read it anyway. Instead I’m just going to say that I’m sitting in my dining room, drinking good coffee and listening to unseasonable cool rain landing on the roof of my house.
The raindrops make music as they hit the roof – some are big some are small, some are fast, others slow…it is a rolling and ever changing song of percussion for my ears this morning.
The house is quiet. No television blaring in the other room. No children screaming. Only the sound of the rain, and my keyboard clicking away as I write a few lines celebrating the day.
I need to celebrate more often. Celebrating the moments is key to living a happy life. I’m going to resolve to keep these words by my bedside and read them each morning:
Waking up this morning, I smile.
Twenty-four brand new hours are before me.
I vow to live fully in each moment
and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.
–Tich Nhat Hanh
And it’s sure been a cold, cold winter
And the wind ain’t been blowin’ from the south
It’s sure been a cold, cold winter
And the light of love is all burned out
It sure been a hard, hard winter
My feet been draggin’ ‘cross the ground
And I hope it’s gonna be a long, hot summer
And the light of love will be burnin’ bright
…
It sure been a cold, cold winter
My feet been draggin’ ‘cross the ground
And the fields has all been brown and fallow
And the springtime take a long way around
God damn, I love that song. For those that don’t recognize it, its “Winter” by the Rolling stones on the Goats Head Soup album. If you haven’t given it a listen before, well, you should, you’ll recognize a bunch of good tunes on there. And if you have, but haven’t listened to it in a while, well, give it a spin – or whatever we do with digital music these days.
Spring is here! It was 72 F here in Severna Park today! Beautiful days. I grilled. I wore short sleeves. I knocked off work a tinsy bit early.
I’ve got spinach growing in my garden – it wintered over! So did the collards and kale that I never go around to picking. Even after the ridiculous snow and cold we had! And most extraordinarily, so did my parsley. I’m excited for the spring and getting my garden going again!
Wow, life sometimes gets in the way of this here blog thing…I suppose that’s a good thing in some respects.
About a week ago, Mrs. TKD and I went to see Kenny Chesney in concert. A lot of folks have scoffed at me for going to see a country act, but to them I say, whatever. I like a lot of different kinds of music and country happens to be one of them. Currently, its what I’m listening to most frequently. This will likely change again, as my musical tastes seem to fluctuate in some sort of cyclical fashion. (A few months ago I couldn’t get enough of Van Halen 1984 for example.) But I’m digressing… this is supposed to be a story about going out with TKD.
So we bought lawn seats back in January when the tickets went on sale and it was a sold out show. Mom gratiously agreed to watch Mr. Grey for us and we headed out the door around 5:30 on Friday night. It was pure bliss to be alone in the car with my wife. We made our way to the concert and got ourselves situated on a patch of grass. I went for drinks. When I came back we ate the dinner we’d brought — Turkey and salami sandwiches with spinach. So as we’re sitting there on the lawn, this message pops up on the JumboTron – send KCUPGRADE to some number for a chance for vip tickets.
TKD told me we should do it. I was like no way, its a scam. But she persisted and shortly after I sent the text I got one back saying something to the effect of “congrats, you’ve been upgraded, go to the box office and show them this text.” I still figured it was a scam, but went to the box office. It wasn’t. We got fifth row floor seats for free. We had a great time.
Someone must have known we’d not been out on a date in 6 months.
Growing up, Dad listened to country music exclusively in the car. Frank and I spent a lot of time in the car with Dad, as he drove us to school in the morning 10 miles from where we grew up. We listened to a lot of country music. At some point, I decided country music was not cool and started listening to rock music. Perhaps this was just me rebelling — perhaps it was just striking out on my own. I don’t know for sure, but for a long time I vehemently denied liking country music.
As one might expect, I was exposed to a lot of different musical styles as I grew up and I really enjoyed a lot of alternative and punk music played on the likes of 99.1 WHFS in the 80s and later 103.1 WRNR in the 90s. I looked forward to leaving my small hick-town and going to college where I’d be able to find a cool college radio station that played all kinds of great music.
I went to Penn State. No such station existed. Radio land in State College was miserable on its best day. I was very disappointed. Nevertheless, as one does, I found a bunch of friends who were into lots of good music, and gradually my musical horizons broadened. One friend in particular (with whom I lost touch a long time ago) listened to a lot of jazz. By the time I left school, I was pretty much listening to everything except Rap, Hip-Hop, and Country. More »
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