Thoughts On Christmas Music

Lately I have been listening to Christmas music while at home or on the road with my family. My wife really likes it. I don't. This is not a rant about doing things that you dont' like out of your undying love for another person....this is a rant about how much I am coming to dislike Christmas music.

This post also isn't directed toward anyone else who likes the genre, but I am no longer a fan of any kind.

I have noticed two major things about Christmas music that really get under my skin. The first one is the number of people who take the time to sing about a fictitious character named Santa Claus. A big fat guy who never existed and yet still has such a hold on this commercial holiday. I've heard all kind of people sing about him- Celine Dion [who I can't stand no matter what she sings], Neil Diamond, The Beach Boys, Alvin & The Chipmunks, Karen Carpenter...the list goes on and on.

The second thing that I've noticed is that you can't just hear a song once or twice, but in a given hour you might hear it 3 or 4 times all by different artists. It just goes to show that in order to sell Christmas albums you don't have to have any creativity. You can just do the same stuff as everyone else, but just do it with your own voice or with a saxophone or something like that. I see it like recycled rice cakes; different flavours, but ultimately there is no substance as you feel "better" about filling your tummy.

I am typically not a big fan of Christmas anyways but I'll just say that I'm glad that my car has a CD player so that I can listen to whatever is on my playlist instead.

A Friday Fenominon

MMW- Love The Lover

If I got high I would trip to this...but since I don't I still listen anyways to simulate such a thing.

The Bad Song I Never Finished

I started to write this in college. I just stumbled upon it on Monday night when looking through some boxes of my things at my mom's house. Tonight I picked up my guitar in hopes that I might somehow redeem it but I think I'll leave it alone. Actually, once I post the lyrics here I am going to throw away the envelope that I wrote it on.

Lyrics first and then the story.

Chorus:
As long as I'm being honest
It might be safe to say
The days seemed like years
While both of us were away
Every time I turned around
To see what's goin' down
It was your face I was seeing
And your voice was the sound in my head

Verse I:
It's been a long December, but I can still remember
Smoking with you while we sang Elizabeth to sleep
Those little moments still linger in my brain
While I pray you the Good Lord would keep
'Cause I know it's a long ways from Billings to Des Moines
An annoyance for which I don't much care
But there's not much I can do, even though I miss you
And I know nobody said that life is fair

Verse 2:
At times when I was walking
I was whistling a tune
At times when I was talking
I was thinking about you
Early in the morning, sometimes 2 or 3
I'd either be up, or I'd wake up
Hoping you would crash into me
Wishing I could watch you there
Through the window as I stare at you
And how you crush me
With all the little things you do

Meaning-

When I was in college I met this unlikely girl from Billings, MT who apparently thought I was pretty cool.....at least for a short stint of a couple of weeks before XMas break. I thought that she was pretty cool too.

She had what seemed like a very warm and inviting personality, cool long curly hair, was pretty and had a nice body as well. We both had aspirations of being teachers some day. We both liked rock music. We both liked to break the rules a little bit.

We probably started hanging out about the middle to end of November. When I first "met" her it was more just an acquaintance than anything. My buddy across the hall had grown up with her and I had casually said "hello" from time to time when I saw her. The first time that we really ever talked at any length about anything was when she was over visiting our dorm for "open dorm" night. That was when the guys could go check out the girl's rooms and vice-versa for a few hours one night....you know, just so we could see what each other's rooms smelled like.

So she timidly peeks into my room without really knowing me yet and comments on this lamp that I had. [you can still pretty much ask anyone who has ever seen the lamp and they will testify to its most awesome sweet-tasticness....except for my wife] So I invited her in to look at it more closely. [remember, it was an awesome lamp] When she was farther in to my room she saw my Bob Marley poster, my other pieces of collected art, my CD collection, my guitar.....all the stuff that makes a dude what he is. Well, it turned out that she like a lot of the same stuff that I did and before I knew it I was sitting on my bed playing the guitar for her. I JUST DIDN'T DO STUFF LIKE THAT!!! My guitar was sacred and there was no way that I would just bust it out and start playing for some chick, but I did it. Why? Because I was a sucker of a guy for a honey.

The rest of this story, like the relationship, is short.

Just when we were starting to dig each other it was time for XMas break. She went back to Billings and I came back to Des Moines. While I was home I started to write this song. Then after I called her on XMas Eve to wish her a merry XMas I started to wonder if I should finish it or not.

She seemed distant on the phone. She also seemed surprised that I would call. I didn't know what to say when I started to sense the tension and suspicion. I made small talk for a few minutes and then we hung up the phone.

When we got back to school, I decided not to call her right away. I decided to wait until I saw her in Chapel. When I did, I went up to her and gave her a hug and she awkwardly invited me to sit with her and her friends but something still seemed off.

Later I would come to find out that the reason we dissolved was not because she didn't like my change in hairstyle, but because she had reunited with someone from back home over the break. "God just totally did this and I wasn't expecting it." You weren't expecting it? Well neither was I.

That was the first time in my Bible College career that I verbally used the term "Fuck it."

I was hopeless and in love with the idea of being in love. It's like I wanted the relationship without really wanting to be "in" it. I was still pretty pissed that I had let my guard down like that though. That kind of vulnerability needs to be earned over time, but like the romantic jester that I was I just cut my own heart open and let it bleed all over anyone who would get close....but that was the last time.

So now, I'm left with the following-

A lesson about moving too fast in my mind
A lesson that it takes a lot of time to really be able to trust someone
A memory of being able to apologize to her for the way I handled it
A crappy unfinished song
The satisfaction being able to see myself honestly for what I was

The Grammys

I know that it has now been about a week since the airing of the Grammy Award presentations but I am not just getting around to pounding out my thoughts about this.

This year marked the 50th Anniversary of the program. 50 years is nothing to sneeze at and typically I enjoy watching the show but this year just seemed to suck. I realize that with this being the landmark anniversary that they wanted to try and cover a good share of things that have been done in the past as a form of nostalgia but this year was just a bit off the keel.

For the most part I felt that the musical representation during the show was hardly a fair representation of the market. There were 3 or 4 R &B performances, 1 Rock, 1 Country, 1 Classical Piano...and Tina Turner. Given the fact that the music industry is so much more diverse than any of us could really know, it just seemed like such a crappy fraction that they gave to us to watch.

I also understand that this show is all about marketing. I understand that a large majority of the viewing audience probably has been sucked into thinking that Beyonce, Kanye West and Alicia Keys are the only legitimate voices on the airways. COME ON THOUGH!!!!! I think that it's sad when late night talk show host seem to poke fun at the idea of someone like Herbie Hancock actually winning the Album Of The Year award. Jazz has it's place an apparently not many sheeple can recognize that.

It was also quite a phenomenon to see Tina Turner up there on stage still trying to shake her money maker. I'm sorry but I felt like I wanted some sort of a rebate or something after watching that. It is only getting increasingly irritating for music and television personalities continually trying to re-invent themselves. How can they continually ride on the heels of their previous fame?

The biggest quagmire of the evening was, of course, Amy Winehouse. She was able to work a deal to perform from London instead of having to come to the States because of her current stint in rehab. How to people like her even get into the industry to begin with? Sure, I think that some of her music is fun to listen to. It has a retro sort of sound, but from a marketing point of view how can a record company invest in such a liability as her?

And I was most amused by the fact that she was able to perform on both the level of her music and the level of looking shocked after winning her award. Is it so shocking that she would win after being in the media so much? And what also about the question that I have concerning celebrities with cooky personalities? They seem to be able to perform really well and have it all together but then whenever they have to speak to the public in any sort of way they just sound socially defunct. Amy Winehouse is the current subject at hand but others like Harrison Ford and Russell Crowe also come to mind.

Anyways, now that the 50th anniversary is over with I hope to see things get a little more back to normal next year.

Xmas Eve Cubed

For me, songwriting is something like breathing: I just do it. But that doesn't mean you're fantastic.- Adam Duritz

I think that in some regards that I used to be a songwriter. Perhaps it might be even more accurate to say that I used to write a variety of lyrics to mediocre music that I somehow sludged together.

I know that every artist is their own worst critic but the thing that I hate so much about my music is that I either like the music and hate the words or I like the words and hate the music. Or I start out trying to write something of my own and then just end up playing a medley of tunes by someone else.

Adam Duritz has been and is currently probably my favourite singer/songwriter. So many of the songs that he has written so easily make up what I feel could be the soundtrack of my life. I also really love singing along to the songs as well, but I think that maybe that is just as far as I should ever take it...and when I am alone.

I think that of all the mediums out there that just plain and simple writing fits me best. I can sit and think and let the thoughts pour from my head, down my neck and through my arms. When I am writing a story or a blog I can paint a picture or tell a story in a clear and concise way; almost like being able to let the reader experience the same things that are in my head at the time that I pounded it out. Song writing is so much different for me though. I often feel by the end of trying to write something new that I have finally lost any complete sense of what I set out to talk about.

I love to be able to collaborate with others in their music. I have fun trying to provide the complimentary parts to their already great works, but in no way do I have any supplemental value.

Although I also really like to write I just don't really have the time. I was thinking about putting together some kind of pseudo-fictional account of various things that happened to me in High School and College, and I may still get around to that someday, but then the other issue that I have [much like my audioblog] is the question of who would even care?

So, how's that for a crappy and meaningless post?

Come back later and I will have more material of a little better substance.

Music Of The Season

Since Fall is here I was thinking the other day about the music that I like most to listen to this time of year. Here is a list of CDs that I keep on hand for such occasions-

Madeski, Martin & Wood- Notes From the Underground
I bought this album in the fall one year of college but it is good year round

Pearl Jam- No Code
I bought this album the fall of my senior year of high school. There was just something beautifully eerie about the mood of the songs set to the backdrop of my misty wet and gray drives home after school.

Nickel Creek- Nickel Creek
Bluegrass is good for any occasion

Counting Crows- August And Everything After and Recovering The Satellites
August was an album that captured my imagination during my sophomore year of high school. There was a special comfort that I found in it when I didn't know how to spend the rest of my time. The same feelings come from Satellites, but I bought it with a friend in the fall of my senior year of high school. I remember initially not liking the album but slowly I grew to love it as I began to feel it being a telling of my life at the time.

Coldplay- Parachutes
If you can get past the self service of the lead singer the album is just great.

Crash Test Dummies- The Ghosts That Haunt Me
I first listened to this album in the fall of 1999. It captivated me in only a way that a singer who sounds like he has three nads can.

Edwin McCain- Honour Among Thieves
A friend of mine introduced me to this album right after it came out in the summer of 1995. My friend wasn't near to me that following fall but this album felt like it was my closest link to her.

Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds- Live at Luther College
I bought this in the spring of 1999 but it is still a great album.

Led Zeppelin- III
"Leaves are falling all around; time I was on my way...." From the song Ramble On

Crank it up and enjoy the ride.

Move 'Em Out

So today we moved my sister. We got her out of the house where she was living with her boyfriend, or whatever he was, and into another place where she and my nephew will be living with a few other girls. It is always interesting moving her because she usually isn't ready to move; she's usually still packing when we get there. Today seemed to be better.

I am glad that she is out of that situation because it didn't sound like it was working out, but I feel horrible for my nephew. The little guy just turned 4 and he's in a strange place. His mom and dad are divorced and his dad lives with a few other guys (one of which is my cousin) and his mom lives now has just moved out from living with her boyfriend to the situation just described.

Moving her required that we go from one part of town to the other. She lives in Des Moines, where I used to live, but by now she knows the city much better than I do. So I found it ironic that I needed to follow her around everywhere we drove today. The place that she was living in before was decent, but the new house is definitely much nicer.

After I got home I decided, at the prompting of my wife, to take advantage of the cooler evening temperatures to mow the lawn...but as it would happen, it seemed to get pretty dark pretty fast. I got the neighbour's place done and started in on mine when the chain came off--once again--of the rear left wheel. It was just too dark for me to try and put it back on, and on top of that I would have had to push my mower back out toward the street and then pull my car up close to it to be able to jump start it. The battery probably needs replaced. Bottom line is that my mower will just have to sit out in my yard until tomorrow morning when I can finish the job with light.

Do you every get the feeling that I blog just to blog? Perhaps I do. Perhaps this is my sorry excuse for not having a journal or diary. The fact of the matter is that I don't really have anything outstandingly amazing about the every day stuff of my life...or I can't seem to remember all of the obscure thoughts that I have during the day.

You know what I hate? I hate it when bands cover songs from other bands and they leave all of the music, words and melody the exact same.

On the other hand, right now I am watching a rerun episode of Saturday Night Live and Beck is the musical guest. He is always innovative, and if he ever covered somebody else's tunes they would probably rock.

That is all I have for tonight.

Bummed Out

I am kind of bummed out.

I don't know when it happened, but I looked over in the passenger seat of my car today to see that my book of CDs was gone. When did it happen? I am guessing that it was sometime between last Friday and last night but I hadn't gone out to my car since last Friday.

I live in a small town that has a reputation as such that I wouldn't need to keep the doors on my car locked. I did have my car parked in my driveway though so whoever took them does at least qualify for trespassing.

I am mostly bothered by this on principle. It was my stuff and I don't go around taking from others what is not mine. Is it fair? Nothing is fair; fair is such a poor word to use. I even tell my kids that it is futile to try and look at life in terms of what is fair and what isn't.

The upside to my CDs getting taken is modern technology. With the exception of a few of them, I still have them copied to my computer in my house. I can go through and make new copies of them but what a hassle. That means that I need to go back to the store and buy a new CD case and blank CDs. Then I have to spend the time in front of my computer burning them all back onto the disks.

I've had this happen before too, but it was with a lot fewer disks. This time I think that I probably lost about 30 or 40 albums.

I've been thinking about what I'd like to do to whoever took them and this is what I've come up with- I would tie them to a chair and make them listen repeatedly to the music of Fine Young Cannibals while watching reruns of The Price is Right. That ought to fix them.