You Can Have Your Space, Cowboy: The Biological Imperative and How Hubris Won't Save You

You can have your space, cowboy. 6 feet to be precise. Socialize outdoors and not in. Wear a mask. If you live with biological imperatives like the need for sleep, food, water, and a bathroom, you are susceptible to COVID. They're not giving out any awards for stupid at the end of this pandemic. Hubris won't save you. It might even kill you.

On a related note, how brilliant is Musgraves? What a singer, songwriter, and what a song this is.

It's a do your own mood Friday but this song ought to nudge you into a reflective mood.

The Future of Politics Might Be Culture, Not Policy

One of the things that neo-nationalism might signal is a hunger for common culture. We all listen to different music, read and watch different stories and worship at different holy sites.

We share an economy but not a culture. What is economics? A study of how we depend on strangers for our lifestyle. Some people find that unsettling. 

Peter Drucker supposedly said "Culture eats strategy for breakfast." A variant on that is "Culture eats policy for breakfast." Culture excites people and policy makes their eyes glaze over. One of the more enduring elements of culture is music.

It takes less time to listen to a song than read a book or watch a movie. This might be why 4 of the top 5 people (counted by followers) on Twitter are musicians. (Obama tops the list, followed by Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, and Taylor Swift.) Music might be the most effective cultural glue we have.

Prediction? Eventually politics will devolve into a people - bored with policy and disappointed by politicians - voting on what song will be the national anthem for the next couple of years. 

Then politics will really get ugly. 

Alexa Narvaez & Her Dad

Happy Friday - here's a great remake of Edward Sharpe's song that might even be better than the original. How could you not fall for this little one? I love how delighted she is with performing.

Fitz & the Tantrums

I can't tell you for sure which one is Fitz and which one is the Tantrum. I do know that she's beautiful and this song has a rollicking edge to it that makes you wonder whether rock and roll wasn't some dyslexic's way of saying rollicking. Enjoy!

Seasonal Music

Today I got to listen to Celtic music. It was grand. Curiously, Celtic music is - like Christmas music - a seasonal offering that's hard to find on the airwaves at any other time.

It made me wonder what it would be like to live in a world in which all music is seasonal. 

"What's that music we listen to in July, around Independence Day, with the guys who miss their mama or girlfriend and just want to drink to forget?"

"Plus they love their country. Don't forget the patriotism."

"Yeah, that."

"You are talking about country music."

"Yeah. It would be great to hear that now."

"Don't be a fool. That's still 8 months off."

Love songs, of course, would be played in the weeks' leading up to Valentine's Day. Folk music would be played around Labor Day, the music of the working man. 

Rock and roll - the music of release and anarchy - would be the music to kick off summer around Memorial Day. 

I'll leave it to the reader to decide when we should play Sinatra and the jazz singers (leading up to that most grown up of seasons, tax season?), jazz instrumentalists (November when the leaves fall like Oscar Peterson's fingers on the keyboard?), reggae (August at the peak of summer vacations?) or classical music (March, when Bach was born?)

I did say that it made me wonder. I didn't say that the idea was wonderful. 

(Intermittent) Music Friday - Jimmy Cliff Classic

Little Feat Obit

This week, Little Feat drummer Richie Hayward died. There is still, for my dime, no band that better realized the potential of a blues / rock / country / disco / jazz fusion band. "Fat Man in the Bathtub" gives you a window into how much was going on in just their rhythm section.

Well This is Just Random

I might have the start of a new rap song: Al Gore got rhythm like an algorithm. The chorus would just have to have a line like, "The man's so hot that the planet's heating up," and "Put your hands in the air / there's carbon up there!" Obviously, the robot dance will be featured prominently. If you know a good Al Gore look alike (or Al Gore) and a person with a drum machine and a person who can play bass and a person who can rap and a person who can write lyrics and music ... well, I would appreciate you pointing them in my direction.

Channel surfing here in hotel, it becomes obvious that there is, at best, only a loose correlation between the a show's ability to get your attention and then do anything with it.

Curiously, entertaining TV can be educational and vice versa. CNN show with Anderson Cooper featured a debate with some guy who was arguing that a constitutional amendment was "unconstitutional." I'm sorry but that just seems to prove the point that you can be so dumb that you you've gone full cycle and are actually brilliant.

So today the market jumps. Last week it skipped. Before that it fell. My retirement is being entrusted to an entity that seems about serious as a 1st grader on the playground. I can imagine the conversation when I'm in my 60s.
Me: Where's my retirement money?
The market, fidgeting and playing with its gum: I don't know.
Me, incredulous: You don't know?
The market, looking over its shoulder, obviously distracted: No.
Me: Weren't you supposed to be watching it?
The market, now running off to play, hollering over its shoulder: I don't know.

One Eskimo - Kandi

Been too long since I've posted a song for your enjoyment.

Love's Little Memorials

Yesterday, I was listening to live music from various friends and acquaintances, a delightful concert that featured about a dozen acts. So many of the songs were, of course, about love; love lost, love gained, love that could have been, and love that sits at the back of your throat as words you’ve never quite had the courage to utter. As the configuration of musicians and singers changed from song to to song, there were, at times, ex's collaborating. The unsung love song about relationships lost and realized in the real lives of the singers and musicians was at least as poignant as the lyrics we heard.

And as I’m watching this, two things occur to me.

One, we have war memorials to commemorate lives lost. Why not also have breakup memorials to commemorate loves lost? Why should the parks only mourn the dead? Why not the relationships lost and whole lives never lived? When someone turns away from love, something real is lost. And its worth mourning. Might it warrant a statue? Why not a park to commemorate lost loves?

And then a second thought occurs to me. We do commemorate lost love. I was sitting there listening to these love memorials. That is what so many songs are. No wonder we pay such close and frequent attention to songs. It’s not a statue, but on the other hand, nobody walks around the kitchen humming a statute.

If anyone ever asks you about the difference between a committee and a band, you tell them that committees commemorate war with statutes and bands commemorate love with songs. And nobody ever asks, Hey? What is that committee’s name?

William Shatner - Singer (sort of)

I love the album on which this song is featured. If Shatner is not some kind of performing genius, he's pulled a wonderful con. And given it's performance we're talking about, I'm not sure what the difference would be.

Here is William Shatner performing "It Hasn't Happened Yet."

He's Gone!

This is an absurd video - Hall & Oates playing pop stars with ironic detachment. And the lyrics are wrong. They are about longing for what was. And yet, I have found myself humming the chorus, substiting "he's gone!" for "she's gone!" and thinking about a certain helicopter that took off from DC yesterday.

I have to confess to a measure of disbelief that George actually left. I've been advised to move on, to let go. I'll try. Meanwhile, sing this chorus with me ...

"He's gone - oh my, and he took that devil Dick Cheney ..."

Elvis Costello Sings Alison

There is nothing wrong with a classic on Friday. Here he is - the Elvis of import. Enjoy.

It Must Be Monday Miscellany

I've never admitted this before, but I am oddly encouraged by fortune cookies. I think that news outlets should include fake news each day on the front page that leaves readers feeling similarly warm and encouraged, so we would not have to eat so much Chinese food simply to be reassured of our hidden potential.

George Bush continues to show the magic touch. He signs the bailout bill and investors promptly do just that - bailout of the market in record numbers. My projected retirement date seems to move out another 6 months every two days of late. There is, apparently, no truth to the rumor that John McCain said, "We'll leave workers in cubicles as long as we need to. I don't care if it is 100 years."

I went to high school in the 70s. You know what we called classic rock and roll music? Rock and roll.

A friend of ours recently had a baby. She said that lots of family was in the delivery room, and confessed "I was past shame." "Yes," I told her. "People are far too squeamish about such things. These are just facts of life. We actually invited family and friends in to witness the conception."

I got a booklet from my darling wife's 2nd grade class Friday - a tardy delivery of their happy birthday cards for me. My favorite snippets?

"... how odd are you?" (I'm pretty sure she was asking about my age.)
"I like your jock because at the end you said look theres a batman that was so funny."

And really, how odd is it to wear a jock in public and say, "hey, look! there's batman!" After just a couple of visits, these kids seem to have my number.

Lee Coulter - 2010's Breakout Artist

When my wife Sandi first used her iPod, she was on the treadmill, getting a running measure of her pulse. "Oh," she confessed later, "I had a weird thing happen. When Jack Johnson's song came on, my heart beat rose by 10 beats per minute." Tonight at Lestat's, we discovered a talent who, on the Jack Johnson accelerated heart beat scale, was probably a 15.

Listening to Lee Coulter, I could hear elements of some of the rhythmic play of G. Love and lyrical fluidity of Jason Mraz and, of course, the smooth feel of Jack Johnson. His lyrics are smart and actually provoke laughter and paint images. It would not surprise me at all to hear I Would Love, Jeep Song, or She Fell in Love with the Mirror being played (repeatedly) on the radio next year.

Lee is from Australia but now lives in San Diego. As we waited for the show, we heard a sound check that seemed to never end, wondering why a band would play and play just to get the mix and volume right. As it turns out, Lee and his band were playing together for the first time. To my ears, they have something that could explode.

Here is I Would Love, a video of Lee playing solo. The song was enhanced by the band, but it'll give you some idea of how lyrically smart he is. If you want to hear more, go to Lee's myspace page. There you can download the song Earthquake, with special guest Stepchylde, who was inspired in his performance with Lee and the band tonight.

When Lee breaks out in the next 18 months or so, you regular readers of R World can say that you knew about Lee way back in 2008. "Some pseudo-futurist predicted that he'd be big," you'll say. "Turns out he was right."

Enjoy.

I'm Amazed at My Morning Jacket

A couple of years ago, my darling daughter introduced me to My Morning Jacket. This (new?) song of theirs is straight up great rock n roll. Enjoy.

Bands and Bankers

I'm listening to Tom Petty's "Don't Come Around Here No More" riding home, and am suddenly struck by the most amusing (to me) idea. Imagine a world in which singer / songwriters had to present their song plan to a panel of staid bankers. Imagine Tom Petty, surly and slouching, sitting before said bankers.

Banker 1: That's it? That's the song idea?
Tom: Yeah.
Banker 2: That makes no sense! Could you explain it again?
Tom: We play some music and periodically say, "Hey!"
Banker 3: That is not a song. People like stories in their songs, like that George Strait guy sings.
Tom: Well, we don't just say, "Hey!" Sometimes we'll say, "Don't come around here no more."
Banker 1: Well that's not even grammatically correct.
Banker 2: Exactly!
Banker 1: Why can't you write lyrics more like a Robert Frost poem?
Banker 3: Or George Strait?
Tom: I just write what I write.
Banker 1: Well, I'm sorry but I just don't see how we can give you money for a song like that.
Banker 3: Why don't you come back some other time with real lyrics?
Banker 2: And a tie.

Tom walks away. Once he's gone, the bankers look at each other and grin in disbelief.
Banker 1: Haha! "Hey!" That's a song?
The bankers laugh.
Banker 3: No, no! "Sometimes we'll say 'don't come around here no more.'"
The bankers begin to laugh so hard they are crying. Gradually, they begin to compose themselves. Finally, wiping tears from their eyes,

Banker 1: Ms. McGill, could you send in our next applicant? Mr. Six-pack supper?
Ms. McGill: That's Tupac Shakur, sir, and yes I will.

Mingus Among Us (Even After His Eviction)

My cousin Scott sent me an email with these two videos juxtaposed. As he puts it, "they're a bittersweet pair."

In the first, jazz legend Charles Mingus is evicted from a property he was trying to turn into a music school for children, and then arrested. In the second, we get to see children - an awesome Japanese high school band - performing a Mingus composition. Is it justice if the person wronged isn't righted until after his death?

Los Lobos

Combine the psychedelic music and imagery of Northern California with the folk music and imagery of of Baja California and you just might get this fabulous song and video from Los Lobos, a band from here in Southern California. It's the weekend - I'll save the talk of social evolution and politics until later. Enjoy.

File Under: Transportation Solutions

Naturally 7 on a subway - now this is how you take the sting out of commuting. (My favorite is the guy who never unplugs his iPod and misses the whole thing.)