Category Archives: Music Review

Commentary, Memoir, Music Review

Some Anti-Snark about Tech

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I was doing some mindless thing and so I asked Alexa to play Doo Wop. She hit me with the Shirelles. Now, that was great but I had to confront a small streak inside me that had not ever considered them “Doo Wop” and it didn’t take long to discover it was solely because of gender. (This is not a chat about feminism.) I loved every minute of a different song.

Then Alexa played The Drifters and I almost settled back into the ways of my reptile brain. Instead they threw me a huge curve ball with “When My Little Girl is Smiling” I must confess that when this song came out, I was 12 years old and it served as kind of a foundation of expectation. I took a little too long to learn it was an impossible standard when  I tried to relate to women. And yet, today, it is the best song to listen to and think about the “girl” as your three year old grand-daughter (before any of you shits get after me for that, shut up). So, I had a magic moment thinking about how much she has me wrapped around her little finger. I must confess it is true. I’ll do an awful lot to see when my little girl is smiling.

Well, this is supposed to be about technology and how easy it is for anyone, but especially people of a certain age, to whine/snark/rant about it. But really, if you are reading this you are living a life of lies. Look what has happened in my life time.

In 1962, Doo Wop was what was happening. To get a copy of the song in the link above, I would have had to get a ride to town (we lived in the country), walk to the Record Store on Main Street, hope it was in stock and fork over a dollar for the 45 rpm record. Now, that’s a 1962 dollar, an actual silver certificate. A 12 year old had to work hard to get a whole dollar. Getting it to you would have been just as hard.

But today, you pushed a couple buttons hours, or days or years after I pushed buttons to write this and instantly my thoughts of February 11, 2018 get sent to you at the speed of light and I have the visual audio portions of that nostalgia to send along to you as well.

How you gonna snark that?

And while I have been writing this, I have had youtube playing Doo Wop in the background. I’m having a tough time concentrating on the language on the screen. It seems I only have eyes for you, dear.

 

 

Music Review

What the Coasts Don’t Know

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I don’t want anyone to think I have any sympathies toward the new Administration, I don’t. But I get how they got elected. (I’m more than a little concerned that the Party of “Left” is still seeking insight.)

 

Do you want to peek inside the mind of a guy who voted for the Blowhard in Chief? No, really, do you want a peek in there or just stand here outside and project what you fear is in there? If you want in, you have to promise to remember you are a guest in there and you should act like one. I don’t want to hear any negative judgment or watch your side eye. Listen to his memories and feelings. Feel the sounds of his life and the music on the radio in the truck. Take in the smells of two-lane highways and the ways you have to take care of your kids. Shiver with the lack of cash. There’s never enough cash.

 

You folks on the coasts kinda came back pretty well from 2008. Not so much out here in the Red parts of the states. In fact, the folks that screwed us all back then ended up in great shape and we didn’t get very much. We’re kind of still trying to see the other side of that hole in the ground. I mean, the guys who did it didn’t lose their houses, or their vehicles or their self-respect. They didn’t lose anything. So, why should it surprise you when I say I want someone to shake it up. It sure as shit ain’t getting any worse for me. 

 

But do you know who gets it? No, I mean he’s been getting it for a long time: James McMurtry. The guy McMurtry writes and sings about is the guy who would vote for Joe Biden but wouldn’t cross the street to shake Chuck Schumer’s hand. A piece of me gets that too. So, here’s the deal, I want you to read this article  and to listen to McMurtry’s latest album, Complicated Game. You can stream it for free at the bottom of the page. That’s your homework. We can figure out a way to use that insight down the road. But we better get it figured out before 2018.