tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62790487766705983862024-03-05T05:40:17.917-08:00The Rational FringeChuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.comBlogger113125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-24974303640833901562019-12-15T18:25:00.001-08:002019-12-17T06:39:33.135-08:00The vinyl heart - the best albums of 2019I have some personal reservations blogging about my favorite records this year. I haven't paid much attention to popular music in 2019 and I have to admit -- now that I am in my late 60s -- the rising and falling tides of what is hip in popular music is less interesting to me now than when I was in my 20s and 30s. I still care deeply about music and in retirement I've listened to more music than ever before. My interest in discovering new artists still burns. But I have less in common with younger music hipsters and the artists they follow. Most of the bands and artists who made the end of the year lists in Paste and Rolling Stone are unknown to me and I lack the will to learn about them.<br />
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My year was spent rekindling a long lost interest in music on vinyl and diving deep into the back catalogue of blues and jazz artists who made their art many years before I knew how much their music meant to American culture. Jazz vocalists like Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington and Nina Simone were in heavy rotation on my turntable. More than half the nights of the year I drifted to sleep listening to John Coltrane, Miles Davis or Chet Baker. Drives around Philadelphia or on two long road trips to Charleston and New Orleans were accompanied on my Ipod by Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and a wide array of Atlantic or Stax/Volt soul artists like Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin and Curtis Mayfield.<br />
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I am not certain why my musical tastes have gravitated towards these classic jazz and blues artists of the '40s, '50s and '60s but I suspect the hardships of their lives and the uncertainty of growing up in Jim Crow America speak to me in ways that the modern hang-ups and complaints of Ariana Grande and Lizzo just don't. <br />
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It's probably not surprising that much of the new music I enjoyed this year was recorded by artists who were also dealing with their own issues of mortality or personal tragedy. Some were making observations about the state of political affairs in America that reflected the despair so many Americans presently feel. Equally unsurprising is that nearly half of the artists on my 2019 list are in their 50s and 60s and their concerns are mine as well. The music I felt the most was steeped in wisdom and self-reflection. Ultimately, their songs lifted my spirits and gave me hope for the future, even if the songs reflected themes of personal angst about despairing circumstances. Maybe they are the kinds of songs we gravitate to as we become older.<br />
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We are living in hard times now and they may become harder in the coming months. But these are ten great albums (and ten others nearly as great) that might help you make it through the trials that lay before us.<br />
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1. <b>"Tales of America" -- J.S. Ondara</b><br />
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I don't know why my favorite record of the year is not appearing on other ten bests lists for 2019. J.S. Ondara was born in Nairobi, Kenya and the first time I heard him, he told the audience he decided to move to Minneapolis because it was near the birthplace of Bob Dylan, whose songs influenced him as a teenager. It would be wrong to tag Ondara a "protest singer" but his observations of life in his adopted country are thought-provoking and pointed. Like Dylan, he brings a writer's eye for details to his songs. "Tales of America" was the record I heard more than any other this year and it continues to reveals its simple pleasures whenever I play it again. I saw him perform most of the songs on this incredible debut four times this year, three times performing solo and once with a two-piece rhythm section supporting him. The first time I heard him I thought I was listening to Tracy Chapman. His voice is magical, light and emotive that slips occasionally into a high falsetto that is spine tingling. Like Chapman's debut, this one feels like an instant classic. It also feels like a moment it time that reflects the era we're living in better than any record I heard this year: an immigrant's wry and knowing observations of his new chosen homeland.<br />
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<b>2. "Ghosteen" -- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds</b><br />
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Cave's 2019 album is a follow up to "The Skeleton Key," which was recorded three years ago following the tragic death of his 15-year-old son. Like that album, this one is wrought from the rough emotions of losing a child and it features the same ethereal vibe of minimalist melodies floating above Cave's spoken-word eulogies. In the title song, Cave asserts "This world is beautiful / held within its stars / I keep it in my heart / the stars are your eyes / I loved them right from the start / a world so beautiful / and I keep it in my heart." Many of the songs drop religious imagery and references that give the record the spirit of church hymns. It's a deeply spiritual journey; a series of love letters to his departed son; a moving testimony to the eternal love between a father and his child. <br />
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3. <b>"Sonocardiogram" -- Dayme Arocena</b><br />
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Think of Dayme Arocena as Cuba's answer to Aretha Franklin. Big voice, big sound, big talent...and equally deft vocal gymnastics when singing jazz, R&B or dance pop music with a distinctly Afro-Cuban beat. Her Tiny Desk video on YouTube will provide a great taste of her energetic live performances. All three of her albums are worth finding but the new one showcases an increasing desire to take chances in new genres, especially jazz. Arocena and her band wanted to capture the vibe of their live shows so they eschewed a recording studio and instead recorded the songs live in a one-room artists' studio in Havana without a producer. The immediacy of the record is apparent. A personal favorite is "Menuet Para Un Carazon", a tribute to Arocena's Cuban muse, singer Lupe Victoria Yamond, also known as "La Lupe." This was my favorite world music record of the year.<br />
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4.<b> "The Gospel According to Water," Joe Henry.</b><br />
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Henry writes in his liner notes "these songs...bloomed quickly as I wrote them, growing most decidedly out of the black earth of a recent and alarming medical diagnosis," prostate cancer. The songs are elegantly accompanied mostly by Henry's own acoustic guitar playing. A small trio, with his son, Levon, playing tenor sax, joins him on several offerings. The album could fit equally snug in several genres, including folk, jazz and Americana. Henry's sincerity feels hard-earned and his lyrical observations speak the wisdom of a life-changing moment. "In Time for Tomorrow" and "Gates of Prayer Cemetary # 2" are two standout cuts, but the entire album will grow on you over time.<br />
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<b>5. "Western Stars" - Bruce Springsteen</b><br />
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Bruce Springsteen's 2019 album, like Joe Henry's, feels more like a solo acoustic folk album than a rock and roll record. It's his best album since "The Rising." If "Nebraska" was Springsteen's nod to the stark American vision of Woody Guthrie's Dust Bowl era songs, this one feels like a nod to Dylan's "Nashville Skyline." It would not be fair to call this a country record but the song settings, the album art (a galloping pony on the front cover, the Boss in a cowboy hat leaning against a Dodge truck with California plates on the back) all suggest a cowboy aesthetic of the wide open West. Springsteen did not support "Nebraska"with a tour and it's likely the presence of orchestral strings on many of the songs on "Western Stars" suggests these songs, as they were produced on the record, will not be played on a tour either. Don't let that stop you from buying this one. It's a wonderful return to form for Springsteen.<br />
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<b>6. "Deserted" -- Mekons</b><br />
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It's hard to imagine a band that was born out of the punk movement in Leeds in the mid-70s would still be creating relevant rock music more than 40 years later. Widely regarded as one of England's most visceral and exciting live bands ever, their show at Johnny Brenda's in July (my son accompanied me) did not disappoint. Luke was one of the youngest members of the audience and many of them were old timers who knew the lyrics to the new songs as well as the old. The record starts out with a rousing punk rocker, "Lawrence of California" that would likely make a "Best of the Mekons" should they ever decide to release one. (Fans as devoted to the band as I am usually insist they have too many great songs to compress the body of their work into a single album). "How Many Stars" shows the kinder, gentler ballad side to this incendiary collective. If you don't know them, Google them. Better yet, go see them. They'll rock your socks off.<br />
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<b>7. "Showboat Honey" -- Kyle Craft</b><br />
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I purposefully placed the Craft album near the Mekons record on this list because....you know, rock n' roll is here to stay. This second album by Craft sounds a lot like his first and one friend mentioned to me that seemed like a shortcoming. But he hasn't heard Craft and his band perform live. Straight ahead rock and roll doesn't seem to play well in today's marketplace of ideas, but if you love '70s era class rock, you'll enjoy this one. When I saw him this summer at a small club in South Philly, these songs ripped and roared and were impossible not to admire. They harken back to vintage Stones songs from the "Let It Bleed" / "Exile On Main Street" era. It's a freewheeling, exhilarating ride. If I get a knee replacement any time soon, I'd actually dance again to this band.<br />
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<b>8. "Pony" -- Orville Peck.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>Which was it to be: Orville Peck's debut album, "Pony" or Sturgill Simpson's new record that might occupy the "quasi-country" niche on my end of the year list? Simpson's new one is great and making a lot of noise on the best of the year lists but I've already placed three of his records on previous lists so I am giving the nod to the newcomer. A critic on the music website Clash explained Peck's peculiar charms this way. "Country is best when the music behind the singer isn't shouty or muscular but plays a supporting role. Artists like Parton, Cash, Haggard and Nelson have made their names with voices more so than melodies, production and musicianship, ….'Pony' is framed in that mold and offers a brilliant palate cleanser to the vast majority of overblown, raucous and vapid (country) compositions." If that sounds similar to Sturgill Simpson's achievements in the country genre, that's because they are both country iconoclasts.<br />
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<b>9. "Purple Mountains" - David Berman.</b><br />
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Berman, formerly of the Silver Jews, left this one last masterpiece behind before taking his own life in August at the age of 52. Despite the inherent darkness and desperation of that decision, this album is chockful of the same kind of humorous and ironic touches that always embellished his sadsack persona as the Silver Jews frontman. I was unaware of this record until two weeks ago when Luke played it for me because he knew I was putting my 2019 list together. Good call. Knowing how it all ended for Berman doesn't diminish this last achievement in any way. Some may hear a cry of desperation in it. I hear something closer to a fond farewell to the world.<br />
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<b>10. "Titanic Rising" -- Weyes Blood</b><br />
<b><br /></b>Weyes Blood is a sly reference to Flannery O'Conner's novel, "Wise Blood", a nod to a literary master that's likely to appeal to rock critics. And sure enough, her aggregate score on Metacritic ranks number 2 on this year's list of top albums. Natalie Mering is the name of the artist and "Titanic Rising" is worthy of the acclaim. Comparisons to Judee Sill, Nina Simone and Annette Peacock feel appropriate. An artist worth watching.<br />
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Ten others worth considering. "Jaime" by Brittany Howard; "Kiwanuka" by Michael Kiwanuka; "Three Chords and the Truth," by Van Morrison; "There is No Other" by Rhiannon Giddens; "Sound and Fury" by Sturgill Simpson; "Norman F*cking Rockwell" by Lana Del Ray; "Butterfly" by Ali Awan; "Wild Card" by Miranda Lambert; "All Mirrors", by Angel Olsen; "A Distant Call," by Sheer Mag.Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-72469385727587680042018-12-18T15:40:00.003-08:002018-12-19T04:19:26.467-08:00The best pop albums of 2018: women take command!Next month the U.S. House of Representatives will seat 125 women, a new record. Not surprisingly, an overwhelming number of them are progressive Democrats. If you needed further proof that the national zeitgeist is pointing in the direction of women empowerment and elevating them to greater heights of national recognition, there are dozens of top ten lists this year to confirm it.<br />
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Cardi B., Mitski, Robyn, Lucy Dacus, Camila Cabelo, Kali Uchis, Neko Case, Brandi Carlile, and Lindsay Jordan (aka Snail Mail) all landed on multiple top twenty lists. A number of other women front bands who also received critical acclaim including Florence and the Machine<br />
and Christine and the Queens. All ruled the pop/rock download charts and became darlings of the taste makers. None of them made my own top ten, but that doesn't mean they didn't catch my ear. There was so much good music being produced by women this year that it was impossible to ignore the trend. Several of the ones who made my list have been personal favorites for many years. But any of the other names at the top of this paragraph are likely to be here in the future.<br />
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1. <b><i>Dirty Computer</i></b>. Janelle Monae (Bad Boy). Her 2018 album reminded me a lot of her first full-length album, <b><i>ArchAndroid, </i></b>which landed on my end of the year list in 2010. Like that one, this year's model is a concept album that bristles with confidence and skips a delicate dance between classic soul and politically edged hip hop. <b><i>The Electric Lady</i></b> (2013) was dance pop of the highest order. <b><i>Computer</i></b> is more thoughtfully developed, a dystopian fantasy which starts out with Monae's persona, Jane58621, having her memory "cleaned" at a facility run by a totalitarian government. Don't let this creepy premise keep you from enjoying an American singer/actress who is approaching iconic status. In the year of the woman, she's pop's high priestess.<br />
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2. <b><i>Tell Me How You Really Feel</i></b>. Courtney Barnett. (Mom and Pop). For the third time in four years, Ms. Barnett has landed in my top three. Last year, her slacker mandate, a collaboration with Philly rocker Kurt Vile (see also below) was in the three spot. In 2015, her witty classic <b><i>Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit</i></b> was my favorite record of the year. If you love rock and roll sung with passion and driven by smart, snarky observations and snarling guitar licks, it's time to give her your undivided attention. Listen with an open mind to "Need a Little Time" and see if you can keep from becoming a bigger fanboy than I am.<br />
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3. <b style="font-style: italic;">Hope Downs. </b>Rolling Blackout Coastal Fever. (Sub Pop)<b style="font-style: italic;">. </b>I guess there must be something in the drinking water of Melbourne that makes its local musicians play inspired rock n' roll. Courtney Barnett hails from Melbourne and so does this kick ass quintet, whose act I caught this summer at Johnny Brenda's. They follow the same rock template of their alt-rock Aussie ancestors, the Hoodoo Gurus: a blending of ringing guitar runs, melodies that stick in your brain and harmonies sung in that fetching Aussie accent. "Talking Straight", "Sister's Jeans" and "An Air-Conditioned Man" are the album's highlights. This album proves that indie rock is still relevant, not just in Melbourne.<br />
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4. <b><i>Golden Hour</i></b>. Kasey Musgraves (MCA). Musgraves is a veteran of the alt-country scene whose first four or five albums skewed more to country than alternative. This one adopts a wider variety of genres, including dance pop ("High Horse") and the kind of airy art house pillowy vibe that Sufjan Stevens perfected (in the title track). But at its heart it still shares the sincerity and simplicity that makes country music so easy to connect with. This one is easy to like, even if country is not your bag. Crossover done right.<br />
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5. <b><i>Whack World</i></b>. Tierra Whack. (Interscope). Philadelphia's hip hop artist to watch and the first of three local artists/bands worth checking out on this list. Whack turned her ADHD issues into a 15-minute EP masterpiece. The concept was simple:each song lasts just 60 seconds. Each is accompanied by a 60-second video. Fifteen songs in 15 minutes. I know from sharing classroom time with students in their late teens and from my own daughter's impatience with music that doesn't make a point by the chorus: this concept is a sonic solution to attention deficit issues. The surprises never end on <i style="font-weight: bold;">Whack World </i>but the biggest surprise is that the whole thing works as a great creative statement of purpose.<br />
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6. <b><i>Bottle It In. </i></b>Kurt Vile (Matador). Vile's "Loading Zones" has become one of my favorite songs of the year, a shambling head trip through the streets of South Philly, loopy and eccentric and utterly charming. Don't miss the video version. Vile's songs are keenly observed, never feel frantic, and grow more likable with each listen. "Rolling With the Flow" and "Bassackwards" are two stoner classics in league with "Zones." You need not smoke a bowl to enjoy this one, but if you do, you'll feel the loopy glory of <b><i>Bottle It In</i></b> a lot more clearly.<br />
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7. <b><i>Bark Your Head Off, Dog.</i></b> Hop Along. (Saddle Creek Records). <b><i> Bark Your Head Off</i></b> is the third album from another Philly indie rock band and easily their most accessible. Like Vile, Frances Quinlan's eye for telling detail is part of the charm of her best songs. Download "Not Abel" or "The Fox in Motion" to experience a songwriter working at the top of her game.<br />
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8. <b><i>13 Rivers</i></b>. Richard Thompson (New West Records). It's hard to imagine a guy his age (he'll turn 70 in April) can make music as visceral and exciting as this. Among his peers, only Van Morrison seems as eager to add to his recorded legacy as British guitarist Thompson. If you count yourself as a fan but haven't purchased anything in recent years, this is the one that will make you remember why he matters and why you loved him. "The Storm Won't Come" (which kicks off an album full of terrific songs) may eventually rank as one of his very best.<br />
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9. <b style="font-style: italic;">Dying Star. </b>Ruston Kelly (Rounder). <b style="font-style: italic;"> </b>My friend Pat Feeney gets a big shout out for suggesting I give this one a try. Feeney owns Main Street Music, a record store in the Manayunk section of Philly where I frequently hear new music and find vinyl gems. He claims <b><i>Dying Star </i></b>is his favorite album of the past five years. For a guy who listens to new music as much as Feeney, that's high praise. Its charms are evident on the first listen. Paste magazine compared Kelly to Ryan Adams' first band, Whiskeytown. I also hear a lot of the young Jackson Brown in his vocal presentation. "Mockingbird" and "Blackout" are standouts. Ironically, from my viewpoint, as good as it is, it's not the best new album in his own house. He's married to Kasey Musgrave, whose <b><i>Golden Hour</i></b> ranks at number 4.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji_3H6siTNocA5ki1k6WrlMxA-Q_-vSNNFakZ3qDuvJgogJEqD6U0V34isjvpYy_bkSmv5mz9C3afDHt29SbPPviWeoUl3nLlXqUpbTkZaid8GnLisx8Cv75aEtmtux5PaHKD8CGJhOg/s1600/Rosali%25CC%2581a_El+Mal+Querer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji_3H6siTNocA5ki1k6WrlMxA-Q_-vSNNFakZ3qDuvJgogJEqD6U0V34isjvpYy_bkSmv5mz9C3afDHt29SbPPviWeoUl3nLlXqUpbTkZaid8GnLisx8Cv75aEtmtux5PaHKD8CGJhOg/s1600/Rosali%25CC%2581a_El+Mal+Querer.jpg" /></a></div>
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10. <b style="font-style: italic;">El Mal Querer (Bad Love). </b>Rosalia. This 25-year old Spanish singer released my favorite world music album of the year, a stunning update to the flamenco traditions of her native country. Repetitive phrases, augmented by percussive hand claps, keyboards and acoustic guitars, make for an irresistible treat. "Di Mi Nombre" is probably the place to start, but the whole enchilada is worth tasting. Mesmerizing.<br />
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In alphabetical order, these albums flesh out my favorite 20 albums of 2018: Brandi Carlile, <b><i>By the Way, I Forgive You</i></b>; Neko Case, <b><i>Hell On</i></b>; Christine and the Queens,<i><b> Chris</b></i>; Lucy Dacus, <b><i>Historian</i></b>; Father John Misty, <i><b>God's Favorite Customer</b></i>; Ariana Grande, <i><b>Sweetener</b></i>; Kendrick Lamar, <b><i>Black Panther</i></b> (soundtrack); Mitski, <i><b>Be the Cowboy</b></i>; Robyn, <b><i>Honey</i></b>. Kamasi Washington, <b><i>Heaven and Earth. </i></b>Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-70515455751977546192018-06-25T06:42:00.000-07:002018-06-26T06:51:27.140-07:00mid-year pop music report: it's a Whacky World<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>When my son and daughter stopped by last weekend to top off Father's day with dinner at my place, Lili turned on her cell phone while we ate dessert. She and Luke soon engaged in a discussion about a local artist from North Philly they had both recently discovered named Tierra Whack, whose new "media project" had dropped two weeks earlier. I soon joined in: "What <i>is this?" </i></b><br />
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<b>When I first heard it, it sounded like a clever advertisment for a fully developed album: 15 short pieces, each one only 60 seconds. Each song was chock full of hooks and thought-provoking lyrics. In every case, the ear was begging for a taste of more candy. Was that it? The whole thing? An entire album of songs in just 15 minutes? Couldn't be: who would do such an audacious thing...play with the conventions of the timing of pop songs?</b><br />
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<b>"Alot of my friends only listen to a song for 30 or 45 seconds," Lili told us. "They listen to the opening beats and the first verse and if they like what they hear, they'll listen to the chorus. But that's about it. That's as much as they want to hear." Luke then suggested that was exactly what Whack intended to do, construct an artistic "statement" that appealed to listeners close to Lili's and Whack's own age, 22.</b><br />
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<b>It is music specifically intended to reach millennial pleasure seekers and media shifters who hopscotch from one engaging moment to the next on their electronic devices and whose attention is hard to hold for more than 30 seconds. This music is designed just for them and this moment and this album may well presage a new age of pop music for the latest generation of listeners. In interviews I have read with the artist since, Whack admits she made the record for people, like her, with attention deficit issues.</b><br />
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<b>Whack told N.Y. Times reporter Joe Coscarelli "I have so much built up inside. To be able to put what I say into real life is just an amazing thing." Her definition of Whack World? "It's down, then up, down, then up. It's scary, it feels good, it doesn't. It's crazy, it's calm. That's exactly me. Like I was just washing dishes, eating grapes, now I'm about to go to the bathroom then I'm going to wash some clothes. Yeah. It's like a roller-coaster ride. My mom says I have - what is it, ADD. Can't sit still.....</b><br />
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<b>"And my age, my generation, we get bored so easily. I know how I am - I'll listen to a new song and I only want to hear 30 seconds of it before I tell you, 'nope - trash.' I have a really short attention span, but I have so much to offer. I wanted to put all these ideas into one universe, one world. I'm giving you a trip through my mind."</b><br />
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<b>The more we listened to it (three times through the entire project in 45 minutes), the more sense it made and the more I came to admire what Whack had accomplished. The Ramones created a paradigm shift in popular music in 1976 with their first, self-titled album: 12 songs in less than 30 minutes, some as short as 93 seconds. Whack's debut cut that time in half and adds three songs.</b><br />
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<b>Once the entire project is viewed on YouTube, the genius of her plan becomes evident. As alluring as the song snippets are, the videos are also as eye-popping and engaging. Dan DeLuca's review of the album in this week's Philadelphia Inquirer put it succinctly: "Whack is getting attention not just because she's good. It's also because <i>Whack World </i>is so weirdly and wonderfully short. The entire 15-song, 15-minute album takes the all-killer, no filler concept to an extreme." <i> </i></b><br />
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<b>In the weeks since it dropped, "Whack World" has garnered high praise from a variety of newspaper critics and media bloggers, including rave reviews in the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Pitchfork. Some critics are already hailing it as the "album of the year". In the sense that it may change the way a new generation of media consumers listens to music, they may be right.</b><br />
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<b><i>Whack World </i>is, bar none, the most fascinating new development in the world of media entertainment in 2018. See it in its entirety here:</b><br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOTebhPy04g"><b>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOTebhPy04g</b></a><br />
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<b>The second best feel good music and media happening of the first half of 2018 was comedian James Cordon's drive through Liverpool with Sir Paul McCartney, doing one of his most amusing and emotionally uplifting carpool karaoke routines for the <i>Late, Late Show with James Cordon</i>. Cordon's hilarious everyman caraciture of a music fan singing along to drive-time oldies with a famous "passenger" has been a winning concept from the very beginning. Most of the videos clock in under 15 minutes and feature stars like Adele, Bruno Mars, Miley Cyrus or Stevie Wonder singing their own songs.</b><br />
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<b>The latest one with McCartney takes the concept one step further. It starts with the pair on a tour of Penny Lane in Liverpool with impromptu visits along the way to places the song made famous, such as Tony Slavin's barbershop where the Beatles got their hair trimmed. Cordon and McCartney, singing the song while traversing the neighborhood, give the video a sentimental yet life-affirming performance. Viewers then watch McCartney escort Cordon through the home he grew up in and reminisce about moments in his life that lead him to write the songs the world knows by heart. </b><br />
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<b>When McCartney and Cordon exit the house, it seems as if the entire neighborhood has gathered on the sidewalk to catch a glimpse of their most famous neighbor. McCartney's generous greetings of the folks in his hometown is hard not to admire. One of the most famous men in the world is as human and likeable as he has always been. </b><br />
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<b>The locals get "the surprise of their lives" when McCartney and his band perform an impromptu mash up of several of their songs "chosen" by patrons on the pub's jukebox.</b><br />
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<b>The <i>Late, Late Night</i> segment is 23 minutes long, but worth every second. See it here:</b><br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjvzCTqkBDQ"><b>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjvzCTqkBDQ</b></a><br />
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<b>Besides Tierra Whack's <i>Whack World, </i>these following CDs (listed alphabetically, not based on merit or a personal ranking) are worth hearing and represent a sampling of the music I've been drawn to so far this year.</b><br />
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<b><i>Tell Me How You Really Feel </i>- Courtney Barnett (Mom & Pop)</b><br />
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<b><i>Black Panter (soundtrack)</i> -- Kendrick Lamar (Top Dawg / Interscope)</b><br />
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<b><i>By the Way, I Forgive You</i> - Brandi Carlile (Elektra)</b><br />
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<b><i>Hell-O</i>n - Neko Case (Anti)</b><br />
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<b><i>God's Favorite Customer</i> - Father John Misty (Subpop)</b><br />
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<b><i>Bark Your Head Off , Dog</i>-- Hopalong (Saddle Creek)</b><br />
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<b><i>Dirty Computer </i>- Janelle Monae (Bad Boy / Atlantic)</b><br />
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<b><i>Golden Hour, </i> Kasey Musgraves. (MCA Nashville)</b><br />
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<i>Hope Downs,</i><b> Rolling Black Outs Coastal Fever -- (SubPop)</b><br />
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<b><i>Streams of Thought, Vol. 1 (EP)</i> -- Tariq Trotter, a.k.a. Black Thought of the Roots </b><br />
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<br />Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-23490666775491019312018-01-03T09:09:00.000-08:002018-01-04T05:18:53.299-08:00In defense of John Lennon's "Imagine"<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA6rpYdOvMbf0GS_LdmMrDDJhOnxOpZHO8xwhcXmtOMRT8ncL2WQcCyeOqX27jqxXWcSQDwUqJ0yxa58l47Wej7ofu3zoSp7eQBSFbUpvZtFQmMHBcex5FLWAgM5uJSqOgiFd0GdoxbA/s1600/Lennon+at+white+piano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="369" data-original-width="634" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA6rpYdOvMbf0GS_LdmMrDDJhOnxOpZHO8xwhcXmtOMRT8ncL2WQcCyeOqX27jqxXWcSQDwUqJ0yxa58l47Wej7ofu3zoSp7eQBSFbUpvZtFQmMHBcex5FLWAgM5uJSqOgiFd0GdoxbA/s320/Lennon+at+white+piano.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By Chuck Bauerlein </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
week a good friend of mine (Matt Stromberg, a pastor at St. George’s Episcopal
Church in upstate New York) started a discussion on Facebook about his dislike
of John Lennon’s “Imagine.” <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He wrote: “John Lennon's ‘Imagine’ is
an awful song. Lennon is an amazing performer, but whenever I hear anyone else
sing the song, the spell is completely broken. If I have to hear one more rich
pop-star dufus croon, ‘Imagine no possessions’ I am going to gag. When I first
heard the song as a kid it seemed dangerous and deep, but as an adult it just seems
vacuous and inane. The lyrics sound like they were written by some teenager
from the suburbs who just discovered Marx."</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I was surprised to hear this but interested
to read his post because I always admired the song and I knew Matt was a
huge Beatles’ and Lennon fan. He wrote: "I love the Beatles, love nearly everything from Lennon, but (although I love the album) I am not really crazy about the song... the vision of this song is neither romantic or passionate. It is a world without transcendent values. A life where there is nothing worth living either. He seems to mistake peace for the absence of conflict....That kind of passivity doesn't seem like Lennon's style. I much prefer the Lennon who hovers on the edge of zealotry in 'Revolution' who can't help but whisper 'in' under his breath." </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I was surprised at the number of Matt's Facebook friends who agreed with him on his thread. Among the comments were these: that after Lennon was murdered “he
found out there really was a god and a heaven that maybe he didn’t get into.” And
that "it smacks of the belief so prevalent among Boomers of 'If there were no religion, we would have so many less wars'. Which is just not true, especially not in this century. I agree, it's thinking peace is the absence of conflict." And this: “Imagine that Nietzsche
was right.” These comments seem to suggest Lennon's song as an attack on Christian faith. I don’t
see it that way. I see it as a question thrown into the cosmos, a kind of
quest to understand the divine consciousness of God more profoundly. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Surely there is obvious hypocrisy when a rock star as wealthy as John Lennon asks his listeners to imagine a world
without earthly possessions. But that is precisely what makes the suggestion so
powerful. It’s easy for a Woody Guthrie to make this kind of suggestion,
someone who struggled all his life to feed his family while channeling his
muse to change the way people think about poverty and wealth and to teach
people lessons of building community. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Lennon certainly knew this sentiment
would make him an easy target but he wrote it anyway. I humbly suggest to my
friend that this was Lennon’s way of working out his own immense (and possibly lucky
or “undeserved”) wealth and that the words of Jesus that Lennon heard at services he
attended with his Aunt Mimi at St. Peter’s Anglican Church in South Liverpool had
touched him. In “Imagine”, his lyric echoes one of the Christ’s most famous injunctions.
<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When I Googled “What does the Bible
say about earthly possessions?” I came upon this link, which shows 99 Biblical
verses (many in Jesus’s own words) on the idea of repudiating wealth: <o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.openbible.info/topics/earthly_possessions">https://www.openbible.info/topics/earthly_possessions</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To me, “Imagine” is not a song “against” religion, (although I suspect Lennon knew it might be taken that way),
it is a song against religious dogmatism. I believe he was suggesting there are
many paths to an understanding of the divine and that not every faith adopts a
belief in life hereafter. Maybe he was influenced by his wife, who grew up
practicing both Buddhism and Christianity? Or maybe he just saw the hypocrisy
evident in earnest God-fearing churchgoers who believe God “loves everyone” but
who openly suggest their rigid belief is the only path to an eternity in the
presence of the Lord. Imagining “there is no heaven” does not necessarily mean
Lennon imagines there is no God. I do not see the song (as many critics do) as
an atheist manifesto.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As a number of Matt's pro-Lennon Facebook
friends suggested in their comments, “Imagine” came out in September, 1971, as
the war in Vietnam was beginning to wind down and when more than 50,000
American lives already had been lost. It was designed to spark consideration and
discussion of the U.S. involvement in war and it asked of its listeners to
imagine an alternative to global military conflict. That’s putting a lot of burden
on one 3-minute pop song and asking an awful lot from his audience. The fact we
are having this debate on Facebook suggests “Imagine” achieved its intended
goal: it made people think. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In 2004, WXPN, the University of
Pennsylvania’s public radio station (which caters to music aficionados and
alternative music lovers) asked their listeners to submit a list of their five favorite
songs. “Imagine” came in at number 2, behind “Thunder Road”. (Philadelphia is
notoriously famous for its unbridled support of Bruce Springsteen.) Bob Dylan’s
“Like a Rolling Stone” came in third. In 2014, when XPN again asked listeners to list their favorite songs, “Thunder Road” maintained the top spot, Dylan’s song had surpassed
Lennon’s, and "Imagine" finished in third place.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This anecdotal evidence does not
prove anything about the song except it is popular among listeners of a certain
age who find the kind of choices on XPN to be of their liking. But I would
argue the song has enduring power and justifiably is revered for reasons that
go far beyond its alluring melody. I first heard “Imagine”
I was just 20 years old and struggling with the inflexible dogma of my own
Roman Catholic faith. Lennon’s invocation to “imagine there is no heaven” alarmed
me because I was raised in the firm belief that heaven is a real place and the
alternative seemed unthinkable to me. And yes, it did feel then as if Lennon was suggesting
that without heaven, could there really be a God? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I am no longer certain of that equivalency:
that because God exists, there must be a heaven too. None of us know for certain
what awaits us in death. Many of us have a faith that something great awaits
us. My own particular faith has shifted over the years away from hell as a pit
of eternal flames, into a belief that hell is the absence of divine grace and
God’s presence. I also believe, perhaps naively, that there are many different
and legitimate paths to an understanding of divine grace and that no one
religion has any “true” claim to God. I mean no offense to any reader who is
certain his or her faith will bring enlightenment or salvation. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Lennon’s song led me into a much
different search for God than my parents were on and that the Roman Catholic
Church dictated to me. I owe a lot to that song. And I do believe Lennon was
onto something: the world would be a safer, better, holier place if we listened
to our neighbors who practice faith differently than we do and if we try to see
the common bonds we share in our search for divine meaning. “Imagine” made me hunger
for that kind of world. Yes, I am willing to admit: I am a dreamer, too.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This was Matt’s response to my blog, which
I appreciate very much:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Chuck,<o:p></o:p></span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I respect your defense and
certainly don’t have a problem with you sharing it.<br />
<br />
I intentionally didn’t focus my critique on Lennon’s song as an attack on
Christianity. Some of the commentators went that way. That being said, do I
think the song is friendly or compatible with a Christian world-view? Of course
not. The song is not “spiritual” unless you mean in a humanistic or
naturalistic way. I believe the vision of this song is a world without
transcendent values. What does that mean? Lennon writes,<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Imagine there's no heaven<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">It's easy if you try<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">No hell below us<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Above us only sky<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Imagine all the people<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Living for today<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">If I had to paraphrase what
he was saying I would put it this way,<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Imagine this world, what
can be seen with eyes, is all that there is. There is no God, no invisible
guiding principle to the world, just you and me. Nothing higher. The idea
of good and evil, heaven and hell, is an illusion. Good behavior is not
rewarded in some after-life nor is bad behavior punished. All we have is the
here and now. That is a good thing because it means we are not oppressed by
controlling religious dogma and moralism. We are not placated with the hope of
heaven or terrified with the threat of hell. Instead we live for this world and
this moment. We are free to live our lives as we choose without the constraints
of the imaginary projections of “good and evil” as defined by our leaders.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Is the song moral? Not in a
traditional sense, although I don’t doubt that Lennon motivated by his own
moral sense. In this view, morality is something we choose. It doesn’t exist
above or below us. That is what I mean by transcendent values. Presumably that
is also what Dr. Witt meant when he said, “Imagine Nietzsche was right.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">It seems Lennon believes
that it is our belief that our own convictions and values exists outside of
ourselves—in other words that they are universally valid—which ultimately leads
to conflict, division, and war. But why is peace preferable to war? Isn’t
Lennon’s own longing for harmony and goodness transcendent? I believe without
transcendent values all that is left is the will to power. Neitzsche admitted
this and even celebrated it. In that world, the vulnerable are just food for
the Morlocks.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Lennon’s next stanza builds
on his belief that it is the imposition of our own values upon others in the
form of transcendent values that is ultimately the source of all violence and
conflict:<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Imagine there’s no
countries<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">It isn’t hard to do<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Nothing to kill or die for<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">And no religion, too<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Imagine all the people<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Living life in peace <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Like I said, this strikes
me as odd. Are there not things worth dying for? Granted, violence is always a
regrettable failure of humanity to realize its goodness, but in the face of
evil surely there are things worth defending. I don’t want to kill anyone, but
if it meant defending my family—my children—I would do what was
necessary. I am not much of a hawk, but I don’t see the desire to defend
the true and the good as necessarily evil. The suggestion seems to be that it
is our valuing of one thing good above another, our moral convictions, that
leads to violence. I am all for peace, but this is an extremely misguided
critique.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">No, this has little to do
with what Jesus taught. It does share a common conviction of the value of
peace, brotherhood, and love but that only proves my point! These things are
good in themselves and everybody knows them to be so. In other words, they are
transcendent values! <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Probably the verse that I
object to the least is the one about possessions. There is something to be said
about “sharing all the world.” The Apostles were said to hold all things in
common. My main objection here is that it rings somewhat hollow coming from a
guy who lived in the Dakota. He wasn’t exactly Saint Francis! Which begs the
question, is he terribly wrong? Should he have renounced his worldly goods and
lived as a wander on the earth? Is there not a moral and an immoral use of
wealth and possessions? That is a question much debated by the Church Fathers.
We don’t need to get into it here.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">In sum, my main contention
is that a world of transcendent value is preferable to a world without them! It
isn’t our belief in transcendent values that is the problem but our failure to
live according to them.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-69374721691436742062017-12-10T07:56:00.001-08:002017-12-10T11:18:36.459-08:00The best pop music of 2017: ten albums worth hearing<b>In the classroom, it's becoming increasingly difficult to command the attention of my students. Before class starts, half of them have their laptops raised. After being asked to put their electronic devices away, half of them still have their laptops up, perusing the internet. Or maybe they are snagging one last YouTube listen of a favored song before I start a discussion of libel law or the latest presidential attack on "fake news" sources. Anything to distract them from the ever-shifting reality of their lives.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>I understand.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>In a world that constantly seems to be on fire, distractions are necessary. We flit from moment to moment: checking email; re-tweeting evermore Trump terrors; constantly texting family, friends and lovers; looking over our shoulders worried about when alt-right born again Christians will hold their anti-abortion rallies on campus or when Neo-Nazis fired up by Steve Bannon's apocalyptic rants will conduct a tiki torch parade through our sleepy, suburban borough.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Who has time for hearing more than a song or just a snippet of a song any more? Who has the patience required of listening to an entire album? What's really the point? We all watch with increasing paranoia as the world twitches nervously on its axis, awaiting missiles from North Korea to fly over Hawaii and wonder with increasing disgust how Congress can pass a tax bill aimed at lining the pockets of billionaires at the expense of the middle class.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Well, it's Christmas time. And I've been doing this list for a long time. And there may still be a handful of folks reading this column who care as deeply about the role music plays in their lives as I do and who may be curious enough to seek out music that might actually charm them for 30 or 40 minutes, not just two. As Van Morrison once famously said at the end of a concert: "It's too late to stop now."</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Herewith, then, are 10 compact discs worth finding that came out this year. Some you probably have heard already. But I promise you, there are some delightful surprises here, too. Not every album on this list will immediately satisfy your soul. Some are pretty challenging, sung in languages you won't recognize. Some so quirky they'll seem more like sonic trickery than life-changing moments. For what it's worth, however, these are the ones I have enjoyed hearing the most this year.</b><br />
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<b>1. <i><span style="font-size: large;">"A Deeper Understanding"</span></i> by The War On Drugs. (Atlantic). Back when I started writing this "best of the year" column, Okkervil River released my favorite album of the year two years in a row. The War on Drugs was at the top of my list in 2014 when they released "Lost In a Dream." This year's effort (their first on Atlantic Records and clearly the vision of its leader and songwriter, Adam Granduciel) follows the "Dream" template: mesmerizing melodies awash with interlocking guitar parts, whirling Wurlitzers and analog synthesizers that induce head nodding bliss and feet-tapping rhythms. I can't think of a major album release aimed at a pop audience since "Strange Days" by the Doors that featured a song 11 minutes long ("This is the End"), as "Thinking of a Place" does on this album. As if to tell their fans a major label was not going to influence what the band wanted to do, "Thinking of a Place" was the first song released by the band on their new label. This one, like most great albums, stands up to repeated listening and will grow on you as time goes by.</b><br />
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<b>2.<span style="font-size: large;"> <i>"Elwan"</i></span> by Tinariwen. (International). Blues music from the Mali desert for adult ears. It's safe to say my affinity for the music of The War on Drugs and Tinariwen shows me hewing close to bands that rely on swirling guitars to achieve a sense of mystic serenity. If you are a fan of the former, and haven't dipped into the pleasures of this African collective, you own it to yourself to find "Elwan" or their 2014 record, "Emmaar". Most of the songs are sung in Tuareg, a Berber dialect, and their music bears a distinct resemblance to the guitar blues of their nation's foremost blues magician, Ali Farka Toure. American rockers Kurt Vile (who appeared with Tinariwen in February at Philly's Union Transfer), Mark Lanegan and Matt Sweeney appear as guests. If you allow yourself be transported into this universe of desert harmonies and the record's intricate, hypnotic drumming patterns, you may escape the fury of the president's tweets for an hour and find peace, if not a deeper understanding.</b><br />
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<b>3. <i><span style="font-size: large;">"Lotta Sea Lice" </span></i>by Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile (Rainy Day Records). While we're speaking of Kurt Vile, his quietly effective intercontinental collaboration with Aussie rocker Courtney Barnett was one of the year's most pleasant surprises. Shipping music files across oceans and face timing with one another, the Philadelphia native managed to develop a musical partnership with Barnett that has resulted in a laconic, slacker masterpiece. Let the lazy, meandering "Outta the Woodwork" creep out of your stereo speakers some Sunday morning and you'll better understand the absolute enjoyment of doing nothing more than savoring a third cup of java while waiting for the Sunday paper to arrive on your front porch. Feel the gentle sway of a sailboat while Vile and Barnett slur the song's central riff, "She's so easy" and forgot about those North Korean missiles for a blissful hour or so.</b><br />
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<b>4. <span style="font-size: large;"><i>"The Order of Time"</i> </span>by Valerie June. (Concord). Timothy Monger's review of the new Valerie June album calls her 2017 release "an ethereal dream sequence of Americana and roots music filtered through her own unique tendancines. What's refreshing about June is her gift for nuance, working unhurriedly through tones of Appalachian folk, gospel, blues and even dream pop without feeling the need to his listeners over the head with an overwrought delivery." Why try to improve on that? "Long Lonely Road" and "Got Soul" are standout cuts, but like the other three albums listed above this one, it's best listened to at your leisure, as a whole, if at all possible while languishing in a bathtub full of warm, soapy water.</b><br />
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<b>5. </b><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">"Masseduction" </span></b></i><b>by St. Vincent (Loma Vista). I can't honestly say I am a huge Annie Clark fan. But my son, Luke, and another music maven associate whose opinion I trust both insisted upon its greatness. I was underwhelmed by the manufactured, disco-era drum beats of its dance tracks on initial listen. But by the third time I heard this I had to agree. It's probably the best pure pop album of the year, an alluring mix of dance floor rave-ups and confessional songs that penetrate the cultures battle of the sexes more articulately than most artists attempt. Clark's plaintive yowl on the album's title track, ("...I can't turn off what turns me on...") sounds less like a soundbite now than it did in October when the album was released and more like a feminist manifesto when the come-uppance of Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer and other predatory males dominate the headlines. She timed this one perfectly. If you only have the patience to hear one "of the moment" album this year, this is it.</b><br />
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<b>6. <i><span style="font-size: large;">"Halo"</span></i> by Juana Molina (Crammed Discs). Juana Molina was once known in her South American homeland of Argentina more for her comic acting on a daytime telenovela than for her music. Now she's reaching a worldwide audience for her alluring mix of ambient, experimental psychedelia conveniently tabbed as "folktronica." If you don't know Spanish, you won't appreciate the lyrical content of these songs. Don't let that keep you from enjoying this, her seventh album. (All are worth finding if you enjoy this one). "Cosoco" and "Paraguaya" are two must-hear tracks that will put you in a trance. Don't sleep on "Halo" until you've given it a chance. Then, enjoy. It will cure insomnia. I mean that as a compliment.</b><br />
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<b>7. <i><span style="font-size: large;">"Black Origami"</span> </i>by Jlin (Planet Mu Records). A head's up: the pleasures of "Black Orgami" will take some time to grow. This is the most experimental (maybe mind-altering) music on my end of the year list. Jlin (pronounced "Jill-in" like "chillin' ") is an African-American woman from Gary, Indiana (Jerrilynn Patton) who seems to take her inspirational cues from the sonic repetitions of street musicians like Nigeria's Konono No. 1. This is a drummer's delight, an infatuating blend of electronic bells, whistles and loops, bassy reverb, turntable twists and turns and vocal yips and yaps without anything remotely approaching song. Not for the faint of heart, but if you like music that thinks outside the box, you need to experience Jlin.</b><br />
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<b>8.<i> <span style="font-size: large;">"Heavy Meta"</span></i> by Ron Gallo (New West). I caught Gallo's blistering "Heavy Meta" set in the basement of the Unitarian Church in Philadelphia last month and my ears still feel as if they are bleeding. (I wore ear plugs, too!). No album was as unabashedly fun to listen to or Philly's urban street life as humorously or keenly observed as this brash nod to the glory days of CBGB's New York punk scene. On the album's first cut (my favorite song of the year) "Young Lady You're Scaring Me" Gallo laments falling for a psycho chick with tongue in cheek angst: "let's get a house, you and me and me and your 12 cats. We'll put mirrors on the ceiling, we'll have a bunk bed by the bath." It only gets weirder (and more wonderful) after that.</b><br />
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<b>9. <i><span style="font-size: large;">"Uyai"</span></i> by Ibibio Sound Machine (Merge). If I owned a convertible, this great Afro-pop dance album might have sparked two dozen spontaneous street celebrations during the course of the summer of 2017. Ibibio Sound Machine's lead singer and primary songwriter, Eno Williams made the best dance trance party record of the year, an upbeat mash-up of Nigerian '70s funk and LCD Soundsystem. Backed by an 8-piece band, heavy on brass, "Uyai" is kicked off by a dancehall call to arms, "Give Me a Reason." I can think of no better reason to turn off FOX or CNN and to revel in the glory of a pop song than this.</b><br />
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<b>10. <i><span style="font-size: large;">"New Kind of Normal"</span></i> by Cayetana (Plum Records). If you can resist the post-punk feminist charms of Cayetana's "Mesa" or ""Scott, Get the Van, I'm Moving" you are a better man than I am. She wasn't on my radar in July when this nifty three-piece all-girl band from Philadelphia played XPN's World Cafe and I am kicking myself for missing all the glorious fun. They remind me a lot of Ex-Hex, a three-piece band that made my list several years ago. A brash debut. Can't wait to pull out those well-worn Ron Gallo ear plugs and find Cayetana in a local club. See you there! First round is on me!</b><br />
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<b>These are my second ten favorite albums of 2017, in alphabetical order: <i>"Cubafonia"</i> by Dayme Arocena; <i>"Bedouine"</i> by Bedouine; <i>"Americana"</i> by Ray Davies; <i>"Soul of a Woman"</i> by Sharon Jones and the Dap-kings; <i>"DAMN."</i> by Kendrick Lamar; <i>"Gargoyle"</i> by Mark Lanegan Band; "American Dream" by LCD Soundsystem; <i>"Melodrama"</i> by Lorde; <i>"Semper Femina"</i> by Laura Marling; <i>"Resistance"</i> by Songhoy Blues.</b>Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-32299391757704875242017-09-13T07:09:00.005-07:002017-09-13T07:53:55.112-07:00Last night's story slam at the Side Bar featured this great tale! Jim Breslin asked me to hhelp judge last night's story slam event at the Side Bar. This winning story by Kennan Flanigan is worth watching!<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKTlWSvHhMo">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKTlWSvHhMo</a>Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-72361245450776948002017-08-22T04:18:00.000-07:002017-08-22T04:24:13.760-07:00When Black soldiers fought back against police brutality 100 Years ago in Texas<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;"><i>Members of the 3rd Battalion, 24th infantry at Camp Logan in the summer of 1917</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;">By <em>Chuck Bauerlein<u></u><u></u></em></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;"><b><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_594602414" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Aug. 23</span></span> marks the 100<sup>th</sup> anniversary of a watershed moment in race relations in the United States. On this day in 1917, in Houston, 156 members of the all-black 3<sup>rd</sup> Battalion, 24<sup>th</sup> Infantry (famously known as the Buffalo Soldiers) went on a racially charged rampage that took the lives of four soldiers and 15 white civilians. It remains the only race riot in U.S. history in which more whites than blacks were killed.<u></u><u></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;"><b><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_594602415" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Four months later</span></span>, after the largest court martial in the nation’s history, 13 black soldiers were summarily hanged at Camp Travis, San Antonio. Observers at the court martial said -- and historians later confirmed -- there was no reliable eyewitness testimony that any of the executed men participated in the riot.<u></u><u></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;"><b>Sixty-three other members of the 24<sup>th</sup> Infantry received life sentences. In September, 1918, six more black soldiers -- who witnesses said had fired on white civilians -- were also hanged.<u></u><u></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;"><b>The arrival of black troops in Texas in 1917, the height of the Jim Crow South, was ill-advised. In preparation for World War I, the Army decided to build 32 training facilities across the country. Houston won a $2 million contract to construct one of the camps.<u></u><u></u></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;"><b>City fathers requested that no black soldiers be stationed in Houston. Many whites feared the vision of armed black soldiers would provoke among "local blacks ... a desire for better treatment,” according to an unattributed report on a Prairie View University historical link. Black soldiers believed their service should result in civility from local whites.<u></u><u></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;"><b>Although Houston officials promised there would be no racial trouble, the police department was well-known for its abuse of blacks. Within days of their arrival, black soldiers began to refuse to take seats at the back of Houston public transport trolleys. These acts soon were labeled “insolence” by white Houstonians and predictably led to harsh treatment from police.<u></u><u></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;"><b>On the night of <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_594602416" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Aug. 23</span></span>, the Chamber of Commerce had planned a “watermelon party” for the black soldiers. Instead a race riot ensued. Trouble started that morning when police officers Lee Sparks and Rufus Daniels (both known for their brutality of blacks) pursued a man accused of participating in a dice game into the home of a local black woman.<u></u><u></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;"><b>They arrested the thinly clad woman and accused her of hiding the gambler. When a black soldier asked Sparks if he could get clothes for the woman, Sparks pistol-whipped and arrested him.<u></u><u></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;"><b>Later that afternoon, Cpl. Charles Baltimore of the 24<sup>th</sup> inquired about the soldier's arrest. He too was beaten by Sparks and fled when fired upon. Baltimore was caught and taken into custody.<u></u><u></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;"><b>Rumors that an angry white mob was heading to Camp Logan soon reached the soldiers. Although ordered to stay inside their barracks, the black soldiers broke into a supply tent, took weapons, and began firing randomly into the night after someone shouted “Here they come!”<u></u><u></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;"><b>More than 100 soldiers headed for the police station to liberate their comrades. Historians believe they were led by First Sgt. Vida Henry, who initially tried to dissuade the soldiers from seeking retribution but eventually joined them. One of the first victims of the night was a white child, felled by a stray bullet.<u></u><u></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;"><b>Another casualty was Capt. J. Mattes of the 2<sup>nd</sup> Illinois field artillery. The soldiers dragged him out of a car and shot him, believing him to be a policeman. Soon after realizing their mistake, the rioters began to disperse. Henry, the ostensible leader of the mutiny, died of self-inflicted wounds.<u></u><u></u></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;"><b>The next day, 118 black soldiers were arrested, charged with murder and mutiny, and moved to a stockade to await court martial.<u></u><u></u></b></span><br />
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<b style="color: #333333; font-family: times, serif;"><i>Court martial trial of 118 black soldiers at Camp Logan, 1917. </i></b></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;"><b>It is easy to look back on events of 100 years ago and see how the racial taunts of Houston’s white residents and policemen created a climate of abuse that led to the soldiers' mutinous behavior. No one can defend what those soldiers did that tragic night. And neither can we ignore the fact that some of the initial 13 executed soldiers paid the ultimate price for crimes they may not have committed. In the Army’s rush to judgment, they were scapegoats, used to send a message to American blacks that violence would only beget more violence.<u></u><u></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;"><b>Most Americans today believe that blacks and whites can live in harmony and that all Americans, regardless of their race, religious affiliation, sexuality identity, or social class, should have the same opportunities to a life of peace and prosperity.<u></u><u></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;"><b>When President Trump recently refused to criticize hate groups for the violence in Charlottesville, he was met with public rebukes from the four leaders of our military branches. This shows a different military than the one in Houston in 1917, and how far the nation has come in the century since racial tensions in a Southern city turned tragic.<u></u><u></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;"><b>But the events in Charlottesville themselves, and the disagreements about how to deal with our still-festering problem of racial bigotry, also show how far we have to go.<u></u><u></u></b></span></div>
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<b><em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;">Chuck Bauerlein is a professor of journalism at West Chester University. <a href="mailto:cbauerlein@wcupa.edu" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">cbauerlein@wcupa.<wbr></wbr>edu</a></span></em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , serif;"><u></u><u></u></span></b></div>
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Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-17585109670677960172017-06-27T12:27:00.003-07:002017-06-27T13:46:09.555-07:00Mid-year pop music report: 10 CDs worth finding from the year so far<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Should world music artists be included on a "pop music" report? That's a question I find myself pondering lately as my interest in true Billboard-style top 40 acts wane and I find my ears drawn to different sounds, textures, beats and, yes, even languages I cannot immediately comprehend.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>I am aware that adults long have complained about the musical tastes of younger generations of listeners. This had been happening long before the age of rock 'n roll stunned my own parents. Did Bach and Beethoven advocates complain when their kids raved about Gilbert and Sullivan operas? You bet. Did Dixieland fans resent their kids bringing beebop into the home? Of course. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>When your granddad's Hank Williams, Ernest Tubbs and Bob Wills 78s were deemed passe in lieu of your dad's devotion to those lowbrow beer-swillers and pot smokers, Willie, Waylon and Merle were voices raised and fits thrown? I have no doubt.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Yet even as my appreciation for my 21 year old daughter's contemporary R&B / hip hop playlist has evolved and deepened, I still find a lot of today's auto-tuned hits hewing too closely to cookie cutter formulas and inane sentiments. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Maybe it helps I can't always know what Juana Molina is singing about in her Spanish-language songs. Maybe knowing the subject of the song would seem as trivial to me as Luis Fonsi and Justin Bieber's "Despacito", which ruled the charts for most of June and is also mostly sung in Spanish. "Despacito", catchy as hell, sold millions of digital downloads. But ultimately the song's ubiquitous popularity makes it as irredeemable as Lou Bega's chart topper "Mambo No. 5" became in 1999.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Once you dig into the hypnotic, electronic mood induced by the subtle percussive click-clicks that start the first track of Molina's new album, "Halo", you'll realize you're hearing something uniquely engaging and possibly life-changing: the way immersing yourself in a foreign culture can do. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>At any rate, below are 10 CDs I that have captivated my ears, engaged my attention for repeated listenings, and opened my mind to new possibilities of how music can make me feel. I have little doubt at least three or four of these albums will rank among my favorite CDs of the year. These are listed in alphabetical order, so you can judge for yourself. </b></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">Dayme Arocena -- <i>"Cubafonia" </i>(Brownswood Recordings"). </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">Regarded as one of Cuba's finest young singers, Arocena's second full-length album shows a highly versatile singing voice and plays to the strengths of her Cuban band. Brassy, bold, immanently danceable and, always, fun. If you love Cuban music (count me among the island's fans), this one belongs in your collection. (A big shout-out to my son, Luke, for knowing I would dig this and for giving it to me on Father's Day!)</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">Ron Gallo -- <i>"Heavy Meta" </i> (New West) </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">Philadelphia's own Ron Gallo (formerly of Toy Soldiers) has released my favorite rock n' roll record of the year and what might be my favorite song, "Young Lady, You're Scaring Me." Fuzzy guitar crunch, a kick ass support band, and a lead singer who's found his voice with material that shows a hard-earned streetwise sensibility. If its hard rock edges seems like musical nods to the Stones, the Faces and T. Rex, you won't get any complaints from me. This one continues to grow on me.</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAtDgaM1Kn-sfPmHX26KIIC9ir5ozuIb4-1l9TxKoBvhb1GJinyYIV-OrSEINDw7vNtG9LNqwQHfkZvnzSDrj-vjt38WRL-Twir-xMYwYZZ6Hqo4ktNl00KXHeqNje0DtAdtUBbpD0dw/s1600/Ibibio+Sound+CD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAtDgaM1Kn-sfPmHX26KIIC9ir5ozuIb4-1l9TxKoBvhb1GJinyYIV-OrSEINDw7vNtG9LNqwQHfkZvnzSDrj-vjt38WRL-Twir-xMYwYZZ6Hqo4ktNl00KXHeqNje0DtAdtUBbpD0dw/s320/Ibibio+Sound+CD.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">Ibibio Sound Machine. <i>"Uyai."</i> (Merge)</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">If you can imagine a band that seems to channel both Nigerian club music from the 1970's with James Murphy's LCD Sound System, fronted by a dancing dervish, you have some idea where Ibibio Sound Machine is going. Places. Dance floor places. Lots of them. Checkout the percolating rhythms of "Let's Dance" or "Give Me a Reason" and see if you can resist the many charms of Eno Williams, singing in ibibio, the native language of southeast Nigeria.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">Valerie June. <i>"The Order of Time"</i> (Concord).</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">June plows the fertile fields of Americana music more quietly than many other musicians but her voice is distinctive and seductive and I'm willing to bet her Appalachian, blues-based sound (and that amazing head of hair!) will launch her into a far longer career than many other bands who find the genre convenient as a trendy peg. Not quite alternative; not quite blues; not quite country. Just Valerie. Plenty enough.</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu4WCu7qE6dtXQrIFXBnwB6BJbB-PDYNAlXVZimOnh0BhRbEQO7ErEqHhsMK9hDR3aP9NfuqLbXU5P4i2vUY4zLI2MvxBDGoXDrIoaZv1H04S53QmfaT6v3GTgidUr-b4vSInRCXDqvg/s1600/Kendrick+Lamar+damn.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="630" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu4WCu7qE6dtXQrIFXBnwB6BJbB-PDYNAlXVZimOnh0BhRbEQO7ErEqHhsMK9hDR3aP9NfuqLbXU5P4i2vUY4zLI2MvxBDGoXDrIoaZv1H04S53QmfaT6v3GTgidUr-b4vSInRCXDqvg/s320/Kendrick+Lamar+damn.jpeg" width="320" /></a><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">Kendrick Lamar -- <i>"DAMN."</i> (Interscope)</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">Lamar's follow-up to 2015's influential hip hop masterpiece ("To Pimp a Butterfly") is grittier but just as compelling. His social commentary about growing up black in a nation that elected Donald Trump president is likely to feel as relevant in 2050 as Sly Stone and Gil Scott-Heron sound today.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">Laura Marling -- <i>"Semper Femina"</i> (More Alarming Records) </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">Marling's quest to meld her own introspective feminist sensibilities with a desire to increase awareness of global women's issues make this a political album for people who don't want their pop stars to be spokespeople. This, Marling's sixth record, compares favorably to Joni Mitchell's "Blue" and "Court and Spark." Like those classics, this one feels like it will be around a while.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6bHfHDE-gyZSRsmpiNWu0Z7KZ10qHuJy9-pNXoHcnSwkj8DoGnuVIY_vO00flnhmceivqeXIcVs-zc8-Q75qMO4C3U4o5cE4-AGfMJZco4_ZU5oxORC3ZB2QEwmjiNT9BHyA3nxMsmw/s1600/Juana+CD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="520" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6bHfHDE-gyZSRsmpiNWu0Z7KZ10qHuJy9-pNXoHcnSwkj8DoGnuVIY_vO00flnhmceivqeXIcVs-zc8-Q75qMO4C3U4o5cE4-AGfMJZco4_ZU5oxORC3ZB2QEwmjiNT9BHyA3nxMsmw/s320/Juana+CD.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">Juana Molina -- <i>"Halo"</i> (Crammed Discs). </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">The high priestess of Argentinian electronica has released another mesmerizing collection of hypnotic dance pop. As good as the records are, her rare live performances are as magical as they are memorable. This, her first release is more than four years, is worth the wait. Buy it.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">Chris Stapleton -- <i>"From a Room"</i> (Mercury). </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">Although it clocks in at only 32 minutes, these nine songs are among the best Nashville has produced this year. The album sounds sparse and introspective, compared to the 2015 CMA Album of the Year winner, "Traveller". I would suggest giving two rowdy rockers a listen ("These Stems" and "Second One to Know" before you fall for his softer side ("I Was Wrong"). His long hair and beard suggests he's mining Jamey Johnson's act, but his singing reminds me more of Ronnie Van Zant.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">Tinariwen -- <i>"Elwan"</i> (Epitath).</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">I had to teach the night they played XPN's World Cafe stage and were joined by Philly's own Kurt Vile. I'm still kicking myself for not cancelling class. It would have been the right thing to do. Tinariwen hails from the Saharan desert of northern Mali and their multi-layered guitar attack owes a lot to blues guitarist Ali Farka Toure, their countrymen. If you wish to become immersed is a new meaning of the blues, try "Elwan" for a spin. You'll thank me.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">War On Drugs -- "<i>A Deeper Understanding</i>" (Secretly Canadian). </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">It won't be released officially as an album for two more months (August 25th is the official drop date). But if the two new songs -- "Thinking of a Place" and "Holding On") -- XPN has put into its rotation are any indication, this one will be another guitar blitz masterpiece. They are playing the Dell Music Center on Thursday, Sept. 21st. Hope to see you there!</span></b>Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-10199076167672835982016-12-08T08:25:00.002-08:002016-12-10T11:28:46.623-08:00the year in Music: a dozen classics to celebrate in 2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3w_RZT3MBcpatVSWn4vBbu3ZfADjZZ3aFbCR16WC65Fpq0ZOcos_Ql6aAGLfMAD13xODMqfq8DoxJ-1-ykqYRI1kCy7AVflf_VdSmu5NPVx3_lJuFHnpeS1qetpEvtt3BaamNjIPaOw/s1600/Bowie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3w_RZT3MBcpatVSWn4vBbu3ZfADjZZ3aFbCR16WC65Fpq0ZOcos_Ql6aAGLfMAD13xODMqfq8DoxJ-1-ykqYRI1kCy7AVflf_VdSmu5NPVx3_lJuFHnpeS1qetpEvtt3BaamNjIPaOw/s320/Bowie.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Wow..... what a year. Don't let the door slam your back on the way out, 2016!!! This was not just the most contentious and vitriolic election I have ever lived through, but the first faculty strike my union has ever undergone.<br />
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On top of that, musical icons were dying left and right throughout the year. David Bowie passed away just 10 days into 2016. His final,<b><i> Blackstar</i></b>, received five Grammy nominations, including Alternative Album of the Year. Within a month, Glenn Frey (Eagles); Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane) and Maurice White (Earth, Wind and Fire) had followed Bowie into the after life.<br />
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In late March, Malik "Phife Dawg" Taylor (one of the founders of A Tribe Called Quest) died. April witnessed the death of one of country music's most beloved outlaws, Merle Haggard, on the 6th. Two weeks later, pop chameleon Prince passed on the first day of spring, April 21st.<br />
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Within ten November days after the contentious election of Donald Trump, three more music legends had also died: Leonard Cohen (Nov. 10); Leon Russell (Nov. 13) and Sharon Jones (Nov. 18). To music lovers, it felt as if heaven's concert conductor was assembling an all-star cast of angels to join the heavenly choir just in time for Gabriel to blow his trumpet for the seventh time.<br />
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Three of the musicians who died in 2016 left behind artistic achievements that rank among the best "final statements" ever recorded. They were so good they made dozens of "Best of the Year" lists, including mine. Here, in order of my own preference, are my favorite CDs of the year.<br />
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1.<b><i> Teens of Denial.</i></b> Car Seat Headrest (Matador). Car Seat Headrest sounds best when your lean your head as far back into your car seat head rest and crank up the front speakers. Out pours heart-pounding, foot stomping rock n' roll music with an attitude. <b><i>Teens of Denial </i></b>helped fill the emotional and recreational gap that came after my son's band took a break from playing small clubs in Philly. I'd been spoiled by the adrenaline rush Luke's band, the Late Greats, provided about once a month. Car Seat Headrest is fronted by Will Toledo, whose manic singing style suits the bombast of the band's music well. The first two singles -- "Vincent" and "Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales" -- got enough FM airplay to propel the band into Next Big Thing status. Both Rolling Stone and Paste placed the CD among the four best of the year. I never got tired of listening to this one.<br />
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2. <b><i>American Band</i></b>. Drive-By Truckers (ATO). Released in late September, just six weeks before the presidential election, <b style="font-style: italic;">American Band </b>felt like the most-politically astute album of the year. When I purchased tickets to see the band perform on November 9th, the evening after election day, I had anticipated a highly charged party for local liberals. As great as their show was, felt more like an elegy than a celebration. Nevertheless, the power of its songs, especially Patterson Hood's "What It Means", spoke eloquently about the nation in a way that will resonate for DBT fans for decades -- if we're all fortunate enough to get that much time. Not quite country, not quite rock,<b><i> American Band </i></b>is a testimony to the strength of American music, if not quite the testimony to America's greatness the band was aiming for. <br />
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3. <i><b>Give It Back To You</b></i>. The Record Company (Concord Records). If blues is your favorite trick bag, this is a CD you need to hear. This L.A. three-piece blues band performed in July at the WXPN festival in Camden, N.J. and overwhelmed the surprised crowd with a powerful set of fist-thumping blues rock. I had a spot at the lip of the stage and I was lucky to see them early in their career, performing for just 400 or 500 screaming newbies. These guys will be playing summer European blues festivals pretty quickly. Chris Voz, the lead singer, guitarist, pedal steel player and harmonica player for the band, explained their festival performance came about when XPN's program director, Bruce Warren, heard one song on a cassette tape ("Rita Mae Young") and immediately put it into rotation at the station. In a subsequent radio interview on XPN, Voz said the band patterned their signature sound after one iconic blues album, "Hooker and Heat" a classic blues rock album that joined John Lee Hooker with Canned Heat. When they returned to the area to play at World Cafe Live in November, their polished set had only gotten better. They are not to be missed.<br />
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4. and 5. <b style="font-style: italic;">You Want It Darker. </b>Leonard Cohen (Columbia)<b style="font-style: italic;">; </b>and<b style="font-style: italic;"> Blackstar. </b>David Bowie (ISO).<br />
Both Cohen and Bowie recognized the end of life was approaching when they produced these terrific swan song recordings. Both appropriately grapple with themes and images of morality and decay; suffering and pain; isolation and angst; God and religion; sin and retribution. Cohen's record feels like a throwback to his albums of the early '70s, sparse and stripped down to basic elements. There's nothing so uplifting as "Hallelujah" here. It has the observational ambiance of a Buddhist funeral service. On "Treaty" Cohen sings: "I heard the snake was baffled by his sin. He shed his scales to find the snake within." Bowie's "Lazarus" video was released just a few days before his death and images of the singer's face bound by a clothe that covered his eyes was almost too metaphorical for his fans to bear to watch. <b><i>Blackstar</i></b> is awash with snappy snare drum hits, jazzy sax riffs and ethereal synth sounds that create an elegy worthy of Ziggy Stardust, Bowie's greatest glam creation. Both artists left lasting legacies of recorded music. Both left last albums that rank among their best.<br />
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6. <b><i>Dolls of Highland</i></b>. Kyle Craft (Sub Pop). Imagine, if you possibly can, Freddie Mercury had been at Big Pink in Woodstock, N.Y. when Dylan and the Band were playing barrel house blues riffs and yucking it up just for fun while Garth Hudson's 8-track recorder captured all the glory for posterity. That's the unlikely vibe Kyle has Crafted with <b style="font-style: italic;">Dolls of Highland. </b>Craft's manic vocal virtuosity can sometimes render the themes of his song lyrics irrelevant. But man oh man, does his band seem to have fun behind him as he wails. "Eye of the Hurricane" is the album's first single and when it explodes out of your car speakers, you can hear Craft wearing his Freddie Mercury love on his sleeve. Like Robbie Robertson watching the Band careen out of control behind Dylan on <b><i>The Basement Tapes</i></b>, Craft seems incapable of controlling his mates. Pitchfork's reviewer put it in perspective: "Craft's out-sized personality is matched by less flashy, more fundamental skills: vivid immersive storytelling and sharply focused songs that have the lived-in feel of 40-year-old FM radio favorites."<br />
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7. and 8. <b><i>Lemonade</i></b>. Beyonce (Columbia). <b><i>A Seat at the Table.</i></b> Solange (Columbia). In 2016, the R&B charts were dominated by the Sisters Knowles. Rumors flew like phoenixes when Beyonce's <b><i>Lemonade</i></b> was released to great anticipation and media fanfare in May with an HBO exclusive video release. The album seemed to chronicle Beyonce's marital problems that first came to public light when TMZ revealed a video of little sister Solange striking and kicking at Jay-Z, Beyonce's hubby and hip-hop empresario. The CD's title is an obvious reference to the hackneyed totem, "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade." But there's little sweetness in Beyonce's performance. She serves this up as a cup of bitter vengeance. But it's hard not to feel both inspired and terrified by her bravura performance as a bat wielding car-window masher. Solange's CD felt like an affirmation of Black Power and political will during a year when African American teenagers were routinely being gunned down by white police officers. With the rise of Trump, the end of the Obama era and the imminent dismantling of the Affordable Care Act, <i><b>A Seat At the Table</b></i> sounds like a wistful reflection on what many Americans will look back on as America's heyday, its finest hour. <br />
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9. <i><b>A Sailor's Guide to Earth</b></i>. Sturgill Simpson.(Atlantic) . Two years ago my end of the year list had Simpson's sophomore effort, <b><i>Metamodern Sounds in Country Music</i></b> among my three favorite albums. This year's recording is my favorite country album of 2016. It rocks less hard than <b style="font-style: italic;">Metamodern Sounds </b>but that's no knock. This one feels more like traditional country and Simpson's remarkable baritone is reminiscent of Merle Haggard and Jamie Johnson at their peak: soulful, gritty and utterly distinctive. The album is a song cycle inspired by the loneliness he felt going on the road to promote <b><i>Metamodern Sounds</i></b> just as his wife was about to give birth to his son. "Hello my son, welcome to Earth" he sings at the outset of the album opener, directly addressing his baby boy. Other songs about family life, the blessings of marital bliss and hard-won life lessons follow. If country music floats your boat, this is one sea voyage you won't regret taking.<br />
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10. <i><b>We Got It From Here....Thank You 4 Your Service.</b></i> A Tribe Called Quest (Epic). After 18 long years, one of the most influential bands in hip-hop finally released their sixth and final album. It does nothing to diminish their legacy as one of the most forward-thinking groups in the genre. Sadly, the band lost one of its founding members, Malik "Phife Dawg" Taylor on March 22nd and by most media accounts, the rapper's illness put considerable road blocks in the way of finishing the recording. The album plows familiar Tribe territory: politically savvy lyrics mixed with jazz-influenced beats that accenuate their political darts. On "We The People", the album's opening salvo, Q-Tip throws down this caustic, Trump-trash-talking-point: "All you Black folks, you must go / All you Mexicans, you must go / All you poor folk, you must go / All you Muslims, you must go." Malik Taylor rests in a better place. The rest of us have this recorded testament to their musical brotherhood to help us make it through the next four years. It's the party soundtrack for the resistance.<br />
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11. <b><i>Magnetismo</i></b>. La Yegros (Soundway.) The lead singer and principal songwriter of this Argentinian cumbia/electronica band is Mariana Yegros. Without knowing a thing about her, I copped $15 tickets to see the band perform its 2016 album, <b><i>Magnetismo</i></b> at the Arden Music Hall near Wilmington about a month ago. The "crowd" was mostly gray-haired geezers like myself, approximately 100 of us, and they were settled back in folding chairs waiting for....what exactly? No one seemed to know. Only 90 seconds into the concert's first song, the folding chairs were kicked aside and the ambulatory audience found itself coming to the lip of the stage, clapping and hooting and raising Cain. By the third song the whole crowd was up and moving; a latin-flavored party had commenced. It helps if you know Spanish to truly appreciate this album. But even if you don't, you'll find yourself smiling as you listen to it. This was my favorite world music CD of the year.<br />
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12. <b><i>Skeleton Tree</i></b>. Nick Cave. In a year in music that was considerably darker than most -- for lots of obvious reasons -- Nick Cave's artistic vision was the bleakest of all. Cave's album is informed by the passing of his 15-year-old son, Arthur, who fell to his death in July of 2015. Unlike any of Cave's previous records, this one doesn't rely on screeching guitar riffs. Instead, Cave has created a somber mood piece using eerie synthesizer noises, drum loops and stark piano solos; music that serves the reflective, elegiac lyrics and the somber tone of the songs. Knowing the tragedy that lead Cave to make this album makes it difficult to listen to this more than once a week. But when a time of loss comes into your own life, this album may feel like a life preserver. <br />
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Eight others that almost made my list, in alphabetical order by artist name. Brandy Clark, <b style="font-style: italic;">Big Day in a Small Town; </b>Heron Oblivion,<b style="font-style: italic;"> Heron Oblivion </b>Miranda Lambert<b style="font-style: italic;">, The Weight of These Wings; </b>Frank Ocean,<b style="font-style: italic;"> Blonde; </b>Okkervil River,<b style="font-style: italic;"> </b><b><i>Away; </i></b>Angel Olson, <b><i>My Woman.</i></b> Anderson Paak, <b style="font-style: italic;">Malibu; </b>The Rolling Stones<b style="font-style: italic;">, Blue and Lonesome</b>Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-26425569492808270782016-10-22T08:46:00.001-07:002016-10-23T10:28:39.510-07:00What I learned on the APSCUF picket lines<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>The APSCUF strike against the Pennsylvania state system of
higher education ended on Friday evening after just three short days. Both
sides had compelling reasons for ending the strike as quickly as possible. Millions
of dollars were at stake to be sure, but so was the very existence of our union. No one really knew what the end result of a strike would be.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>The faculty were unemployed and without health benefits.
Every time I got into my car to run a routine errand, I was acutely aware my
overall health (not to mention my financial assets) was at risk if I got into
an accident. The state system was facing the possibility of giving back close
to $40 million in tuition to more than 110,000 students. Students would get the
money back, but the course credits they were hoping to earn and all the time they’d
spent on the first seven weeks of the semester would be irretrievably lost.
Settling the strike quickly was a winning combination for everyone.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>To the union, the collective sigh of relief was palpable. Most of us love our jobs and we worried a
prolonged strike would be both emotionally and financially difficult to
sustain. We worried, too, about our students and how they would feel about us
if the semester was cancelled. Most of us believed the strike would provide
plenty of “teaching moments” about the
power of collective bargaining and the bonding of union brotherhood. Students would
be witnessing democracy in action and a slice of PASSHE history. It was the first time the union had gone on strike and no one knew what might occur. <o:p></o:p></b><br />
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<b>I don’t think many of my faculty colleagues would have predicted
beforehand or believed afterwards just how well West Chester students embraced
the lessons of the strike and how many lessons about democracy, generosity and
brotherhood we learned from them. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>For most West Chester professors, the highlight of our three days on the
picket lines occurred in the early afternoon of Wednesday. Fifty of so of my
colleagues were walking in a tight circle around a small tree on the corner of
High Street and University Avenue, just outside what students call “the castle,”
Philips Hall, where the university administration offices are located. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>Picket lines were manned at seven or eight other places on
the outskirts of campus (we were not allowed to physically walk onto the
campus, that was considered crossing the picket line) but our central protest location
was at Philips Hall. We could vaguely
sense something happening out in the academic Quad as the students approached.
They were shouting something but we couldn’t hear it clearly.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>Quite suddenly two lines of more than 100 students stormed
through the arches of Philips shouting in unison: “Stu-dents for Fac-ul-ty!
Stu-dents for Fac-ul-ty!” over and over, striding with purpose and far more
energy than we possessed after hours of picketing. They joined our circle and
it tripled in size immediately. Chills
ran up my spine at the moment and smiles broke out on every faculty face. We
were wowed. When I mentioned to a colleague
standing near me that it “felt like Aragorn riding to the rescue at the climax
of Tolkien’s ‘The Return of the King’ ", he agreed. I heard that same analogy
three other times over the next few days.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>I caught the eyes of at least half a dozen of my own
students and shouted my thanks to them for taking up our cause. Some nodded.
Some smiled. Some ignored me. Just like they do in class. All of us felt exhilarated to be living a
moment filled with such emotion and a strong sense of justice; of making the
world right again.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>I met colleagues from the English department on the picket
line and actually had real-life, real-world conversations with them about what
they were currently reading; what their kids were doing; what kind of
research they were conducting; their perceptions of the final presidential debate. When I meet them in the hallways of Main Hall, I know them as
colleagues whose commitment to education is always evident; who take pride in
their work for the commonwealth and the university and who bring a sense of
mission to the classroom. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>We are "educating the 99 percent" is how more than one picket
line poster put it. We serve the ideals of democracy by helping to
educate lower and middle class students. We believe every person with the
ambition to go to college can be served by an education, not just the wealthy.
We see higher education not just as a path to financial security but as a means
to give students the tools to become citizens with a common purpose: the strength of the nation. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>Walking the picket line with my colleagues helped turn them
into brothers and sisters, into lifelong friends. Additionally, I hobnobbed with
many professors from other departments, some whom I had never met before and
others whose faces I recognized over many years of teaching but whom I had never
held a conversation with. It made me realize what a special community we are
and how lucky I have been to hold this job and to use my life to such high
purpose. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>On Thursday two of my children joined me briefly on the
picket line. Luke, a WCU alum and my oldest child, took time from his work day
to join me in a circle of singers to robustly sing a union song and then spent
his lunch hour walking the line with me, holding a placard. It was the first
time in my life I had ever walked a picket line and I was sharing the moment
with my son. We will both always remember and treasure that hour together.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>Fifteen minutes after he left to return to work,
my daughter Lili joined me. She’s a 20-year-old junior at West Chester and, to
be honest, she had very little real interest in spending her new found
free “strike” time hanging with faculty hippies and singing union songs. But when
she caught sight of the carnival atmosphere in front of Philips and saw how many
students were on the corner with us, she smiled at the scene and got into the
slow rhythm of our sidewalk waltz.</b></div>
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<b>I think…I hope…. she learned as much from the experience of
democracy in action as the other students who showed their support. People who heard about our strike may assume we did it to save our faculty health
benefits and to secure raises. I cannot deny those reasons were part of our
motivation. But a more important reason for our strike was to maintain the
quality of higher education within the state system. It is not lip-service to
say this: we did it for our students.<o:p></o:p></b><br />
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<b>Many of them joined us on the picket lines to thank and support us in our three day-long demonstrations. When students show that much love and appreciation, it’s
hard not to feel a sense of wonder and pride. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>All of the faculty hope they realize how much appreciation
we have for them, too. </b><o:p></o:p></div>
Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-49992270375760750642016-10-19T05:50:00.000-07:002016-10-20T04:42:59.870-07:00Today I went on strike for the first time in my life <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Within the next hour or so, I will be joining my colleagues at West Chester University on the picket lines in front of Philips Hall, the administration building at West Chester University.</b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have been a member of APSCUF (the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculty) since the fall of 1988 when I started at West Chester, one of 14 universities in the state system of higher education. Never, in my 29 years of service, have we gone out on strike. Today I am joined by more than 5,500 professors who serve in the state system of higher education. We stand in solidarity with our union. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">I beseech current students, their parents, former students and concerned citizens who care about public education to join the fight to preserve quality public education in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Please come stand in solidarity with us if you possibly can..... we are striking because we feel it is necessary to preserve the integrity and quality of public higher education in Pennsylvania. </span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is our attempt to ensure the state provides universities where lower and middle class students can earn a college education at comparatively inexpensive rates. Despite deep cuts to public education by former Gov. Tom Corbett, tuition at West Chester is still less than $10,000 a year. Based on the "Best Colleges" 2016 issue of U.S. News, West Chester's annual tuition of $9,700 is a bargain compared to other local universities. For example: at the University of Pennsylvania tuition is $43,000; at Villanova University it is $46K; at St. Joseph's University it is $43K; at Haverford College it is $51K and at Swarthmore College it is $51K. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">Public education has become a political football in the last decade. Cuts to public education are not only a way for conservative politicians to shift taxpayer money from public education into private education (charter schools and religious-based private schools) it is also a way to damage teachers' unions, which remain some of the strongest labor unions in the work force. APSCUF's strike can be seen as one battle in the continuing political war on public education. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">The union is pitted against a chancellor who has long-standing ties to the Jeb Bush administration in Florida and who's political allegiance is to conservative politicians. After serving as the chancellor of the Florida state system of higher education under Bush for four years, he was appointed by Pennsylvania</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Republican Governor Corbett three years ago to head PASSHE. Corbett became infamous for slashing the the state system's operating budget by nearly 20 percent in 2012, a total of $82.5 million. Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, tried to restore some of these deep funding cuts to higher education since his election in November, 2014.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is not a local stand-off. This is a fight for what is right for our commonwealth. Professors represented by APSCUF are taking a stand for lower and middle class students and their families. We believe in maintaining high standards of public higher education and we hope our strike sets an example for educators everywhere and for citizens in the commonwealth who believe public education is worth preserving. </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">We believe education is the best way to promote democratic values and raise the economic well-being of all Pennsylvanians, no matter what their social status is at birth. Everyone should have a chance to receive an education to achieve their life's goals. Our union members believe this is the ultimate goal of education. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">APSCUF's goal is to make the educational dreams of lower and middle class students become reality. We believe higher education should not be limited to wealthy families. The class size and course load teaching schedule we carry tends to be heavier than what professors at other area universities are required to perform. This is a sacrifice we make and we believe in because it helps make tuition at PASSHE universities more affordable than more prestigious colleges.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stand in solidarity with us. Please. </span></b>Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-35508650046318555642016-09-16T06:54:00.000-07:002016-09-16T09:00:03.399-07:00An Open Letter to Mike Pence<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><b>September 16, 2016</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><b>Dear Governor Pence:<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">You criticized Hillary
Clinton recently for her comment dismissing some Trump supporters as a “basket
of deplorables.” You said in a stump
speech at the Value Voters Summit in Washington D.C. “I
campaign all across this country for Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton’s low
opinion of the people who support this campaign should be denounced in the
strongest possible terms. The people who support Donald Trump’s campaign are
hard-working Americans....let me just say from the bottom of my
heart: Hillary, they are not a basket of anything, they are Americans and they
deserve your respect.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">On the face of it, your comment seems to make
sense. But it ignores the fact that not all Americans who support your running
mate are “hard working Americans.” Quite a few of them, in fact, are in hate groups that
actively meet, actively spread hatred against African Americans and Hispanics,
actively believe whites are a superior race and actively plot the overthrow of
the U.S. government. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Southern Poverty Law Center has identified nearly
900 of these hate groups who are active in the United States of
America. The SPLC defines hate groups as having “beliefs or practices that
attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable
characteristics.” Their activities that
include “criminal acts, marches, rallies, speeches, meetings leafleting or
publishing.” <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">They are bigots who have thrown their political
support 100 percent behind your running mate. In interviews with the press, you
and Mr. Trump have delicately avoided saying anything at all that might discourage
hate groups and the bigots who think like they do from voting for your ticket. To
ignore the obvious racism and hatred these groups spread about other “hard
working Americans” whose skin is brown or black is tantamount to endorsing
their racist behavior and their racist orthodoxy. This, frankly, is a
deplorable cop-out. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Since we live in a nation that is protected by a
Constitution and by laws that proclaim people of all creeds, nationalities,
sexual identities and colors are free to form a more perfect union and since
you have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution and the nation’s laws, it is
safe to assume you believe hate groups who wish to take these freedoms away from
others are not true Americans. Maybe you agree with me that the behavior of
such hate groups, that are actively trying to deny the civil rights of
minorities and gay Americans, can collectively be called “deplorable”.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I humbly ask you to please consider distancing
yourself from the people who support your campaign who are voices of hatred.
Whether you call them "deplorable" or not is up to you. But I hope you won’t mind if
many other Americans find Secretary Clinton’s description of these kind of
citizens to be appropriate. People who spread violence and racism are, in fact, deplorable. Democrats and Republicans should be working together
to eradicate groups that discriminate against other Americans on the basis of
their religion, their color and their sexual identity. Not to work for this
kind of tolerance strikes many of us as irresponsible, cowardly, inherently a un-American and, yes, deplorable.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Respectfully,<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Chuck Bauerlein</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Downingtown, Pa.</span></b></div>
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Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-39478155662601544492016-09-14T09:24:00.002-07:002016-09-14T09:24:53.424-07:00West Chester Story Slam: Risk (Sept. 13, 2016) I had a great time last night at the West Chester Story slam..... told an old story about sneaking into Game Six of the 1980 World Series with my brother, Paul. Unfortunately, I went WAY over the five minute time limit. The story seemed to go over well with the audience.<br />
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You can see it here on YouTube:<br />
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCLKdi5XFOIChuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-65806581769987409582016-07-07T09:12:00.001-07:002016-07-07T11:49:34.286-07:00My walking tour of Casco Viejo, Panama City<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>When I read several online travel stories comparing the old section of Panama City -- Casco Viejo -- to Havana and New Orleans, I knew my experiences there would be memorable. I spent eight of the best years of my life in New Orleans as a college student and then a reporter at the New Orleans States-Item. And Havana is my number one bucket list destination.</b><br />
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<b>Casco Viejo was even more magical than I had expected. The picture above is the balcony view from my hotel, the Magnolia Inn. Some streets in Casco are even more narrow than the streets of the French Quarter in New Orleans. But anyone who has been to that charming part of the city will instantly recognize the wrought iron balconies that are a hallmark of both places.</b><br />
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<b>I landed in Panama on the night of June 29th and my first foray into Casco was on the morning of June 30th. You could cut the humidity with a butcher's knife. Not even eight years of tropical humidity in New Orleans prepared me for Panama's damp atmosphere. Within an hour of walking around the area of the Magnolia Inn, I was drenched in sweat. But I had a new Nikon Coolpix camera with me and I was eager to discover what scenes I might see through its lens.</b><br />
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<b>Visitors to Casco Viejo immediately sense the ambiguity of both architectural optimism and pessimism in the same neighborhood. UNESCO is pouring millions of dollars into renovation projects all over Casco, but snuggled right next to renewed, refurbished buildings are others in utter disrepair. Casco Viejo is in a state of transition that will take years or even decades to complete but that offer hope and inspiration for the future.</b><br />
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<b>It's a neighborhood of vivid, intense colors. Lush green parks and public squares filled with palm trees and flowering bushes and shrubs are interspersed throughout Casco Viejo and vie for the eye's attention with homes, store fronts and public buildings painted in a spectrum of tastefully subdued colors. </b></div>
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<b>I was searching for a place to have breakfast and came upon an open air cafe with the aroma of home cooked food wafting into the street. The counter could only accommodate eight people and, as this tiny eatery was directly across the street from the local police station, all eight spots were occupied by men in blue uniforms. I figured the food was both cheap and delicious and I was right. I waited my turn and asked for a menu (in English). There was none. And I am uncertain the woman behind the counter understood what I was asking for. Instinctively, she pointed to prepared food under glass a the end of the counter. Most of the policemen were eating round, doughy things called <i>hojadres</i> that looked a little like a doughnut and a little like a pancake. A pan full of fried chicken breasts were right next to them. I ordered a chicken breast with a side of what I thought was potatoes called <i>yuca. </i>It cost me $3.50 in American dollars and it was the best (and least expensive) food I ate in six days in Panama. </b></div>
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<b>When I got back to my hotel for a much needed morning shower (the first of three I would take that day, just to stay refreshed), I asked a friendly desk clerk named Emanuele where I might find a cigar for purchase. He directed me to a local corner store, where I purchased a Cohiba Robusto for $8, a very reasonable price for a fine Cuban cigar (they generally go for between $15 and $20 each here in the U.S.) but a lot more pricey than the cigars I generally smoke. When I mentioned this to Emanuele later in the afternoon, he recommended I try to find a street vendor who was locally renowned for rolling his own cigars with Nicaraguan tobacco, which was "just as good as Cuban tobacco" according to several Panamanians who overheard our conversation in the hotel lobby. Emanuele's hand drawn directions on a map of the neighborhood were perfect, although I walked past the rustic, tiny tobacco stand twice before finding it. Because of our language limitations, the friendly fellow behind the counter had trouble figuring out what I wanted and handed me a pack of cigarettes. I said no and used my hands to show I wanted something bigger. He shot me an understanding smile and reached for a cigar box on the counter behind him. Inside were dozens of the ugliest, largest cigars I had ever seen. But they looked freshly rolled. He sold them for 55 cents each. I was suspicious a cigar so large and unsightly could possibly be very good, so I only purchased one. When I fired it up several hours later, I was surprised at the mildness of the smoke and how long the cigar lasted. It took me 90 minutes and two slowly sipped shots of rum to finish it. The next day I went back and purchased ten more, to be slowly savored at home over the course of the month. </b></div>
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<b>It was the start of a perfect adventure in Panama City. Viva Casco Viejo! Should you be fortunate enough to find yourself on a trip to Panama, don't dare miss its oldest, most delectable neighborhood. </b></div>
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Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-69188141814675486972015-12-13T10:05:00.005-08:002015-12-13T10:24:17.055-08:00My favorite recordings of 2015<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> Apologies to all of you Adele fans. I didn't include her on my end of the year list because it doesn't make a lot of sense to me to hype a CD that most of you have already heard and that will sell millions of units without any help from me. For the record, I quite like most of <i><b>"25" </b></i>and I like Adele. But I am pretty sure I will be sick of her album within a few weeks. These are my favorite recordings of the year. I honestly believe most of these are worth owning and some of them will stand the test of time. </o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -0.25in;">1.)<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Courtney Barnett. <b><i>“Sometimes
I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit.”</i></b> (Mom & Pop). Barnett’s
second studio effort is a masterpiece that feels at once both casually
tossed-off and meticulously planned. Lyrically always inventive, Barnett
delivers ear-grabbing catch phrases with the panache of an Academy Award
winning actress and a Joyce-ian eye for detail and humor . The internal rhyme of this lyric from one of the CD’s stand-out cuts, “Pedestrian at
Best” gives a sense of its irresistible word
play: “I must confess I’ve made a mess / of what should be a small success /
but I digress at least I’ve tried my very best, I guess”. And check out this observational moment from
“Elevator Operator”: “He waits for an
elevator (one to nine) / a lady walks in and waits by his side / Her heels are
high and her bag is snakeskin / hair pulled so tight you can see her skeleton /
Vickers perfume on her breath, a tortoise-shell necklace between her breasts / She looks at him up and down with her botox frown / he’s well-used to that by
now.” Meanwhile, three cracker-jack
band mates whip up a wall of noise as tightly poised as battleship cannon while
Barnett herself conjures left-handed sonic hand grenades that would make both
Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix jealous from their graves. What’s not to like? This was my favorite
record of the year.</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2.)<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Songhoy Blues. <b><i>“Music
in Exile”</i></b> (World Circuit). The
title of the album is not meant to be whimsical. It’s as much of a political
statement as anything popular culture has come up with in this year of cartoon
campaigning and the demagoguery of Donald Trump. When jihadist terrorists took
over their Mali city, Bambako, three years ago, this 4-piece collective decided
to leave the country. They’ve lived on the road ever since, bouncing from gig
to gig and one borrowed couch to another to crash on. That they managed to
produce a searing set of blistering African blues as inspirational as this is
miraculous. Combining the subtle guitar licks of their homeland’s greatest
musician, Ali Farka Toure, with the ethereal easiness of Moroccan bedouin
music, “Music In Exile” feels timeless.
“Soubour”, the opening track, is a blues classic. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3.)<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Ryley Walker<b><i>. “Primrose Green”</i></b> (Dead
Oceans Records). If the organic, natural feel of acoustic guitars floats your
boat, this is the one record you need to own from this year’s great crop of
albums. “Primrose Green” announced Ryley Walker as an artist to watch in years
to come. It’s obvious from the first note that Bert Jansch’s blue print for
Pentangle provided Walker’s artistic template. His songs showcase virtuoso performances on his instrument and
Walker’s gorgeous vocals evoke Tim Buckley and John Martyn in their prime. “The
High Road” and “On the Banks of the Old Kishwaukee” are tracks to seek out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">4.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Sufjan Stevens<b><i>.
“Carrie & Lowell.”</i></b>
(Asthmatic Kitty). Stevens has
one of the most wide-ranging curricula vitas in modern popular music. A
chameleon of the highest order, he’s dabbled in musical state histories
(Illinois and Michigan); Christmas albums; orchestral works; folk music, ballet
works and, now, a confessional tribute
to his parents and an intimate case study in bi-polar disorder. He hasn’t made an album that feels this
constrained since “Seven Swans.” He delivers these family tales in an
introspective whisper that make the heartache and tragedy feel earned, almost
sacred.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">5.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></div>
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<!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"> Kendrick Lamar. <b><i>“To
Pimp a Butterfly.”</i></b> Eight out of every
ten critics have it at the top of their best of the year lists. 11 Grammy
nominations herald its historic relevance to the times and draw comparisons to
Stevie Wonder’s heyday. In a year when Black Lives Matter protests were callously
marginalized by Bill O’Reilly as “a radical group… not all that different from
the Black Panther movement", Lamar’s angry album was as politically and culturally
relevant as Bob Dylan’s finger-pointing songs of the 1960s and <i><b>To Pimp a Butterfly</b></i> became a timely
soundtrack to the media’s sound bites of white cops shooting black
teenagers. I didn’t enjoy it as much as
some other things I listened to this year, but it’s relevance to what’s
happening in America is impossible to ignore.</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">6.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">BC Camplight <b><i>“How to Die In the North”</i></b>
(Bella Union). After two forgotten piano-based CDs that were ignored by fans
and critics alike, New Jersey native Brian Christinzio moved to Manchester in
the north of England and quietly went to work on this quirky, gorgeous record. “Bold,
campy, heartbreaking and flush with moxie, Christinzo’s third outing is a
left-field gem, an indie rock distillation of ‘60s and ‘70s chamber pop tropes
that prefers Nilsson over Newman, Todd Rundgren over Lennon and McCartney,” is
how James Monger’s review for the All-Music Guide review put it. “You Should
have Gone to School" and “Love Isn’t Anybody’s Fault” best showcase the songwriter’s
considerable humor and charms.</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">7.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">Mbongwana Star. <b><i>“From Kinshaha”</i></b> (World
Circuit) If you liked “Kongotronics” by Konono No. 1 back in 2004, you’ll
appreciate this Republic of Congo collective called Mbongwana Star. Employing
the same “thumb pianos” as Konono, and singing retro tribal chants that sound
as if they were recorded in Sam Phillips’ Sun Studios back in the 1950s, the recording
has a live quality to it that makes it bristle with visceral power. Imagine you’re
standing on a crowded street corner in Kinshasa, hearing the next big thing to
come out of Africa and you’ll have a clue. “Malukayi”, one of the strongest
cuts, features Konono. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">8.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">Father John Misty. <b><i>“I Love You, Honey Bear.”</i></b>
(Sub Pop). Josh Tillman’s second solo
effort reeks of Left Coast hipster irony and white boy L.A. cynicism. Don’t let
that scare you away. Think of Glenn Frey and Don Henley ooh-wooing their way through
a Jackson Browne cover for an early Eagles’ album and you’ll know the well-produced
studio charms of Father John’s sound. The sexually-frank bedroom details of his
personal life might provide a tad too much information for the weak of heart, but
so did the disintegration of Browne’s marriage back in the mid-1970s when <b><i>“Late
for the Sly”</i></b> and <b><i>“The Pretender”</i></b> became classics. Like
Jackson, Josh is a troubadour of the map of the heart. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">9.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">Waxahatchee<b><i>. “Ivy Tripp.”</i></b> (Merge) Sleater-Kinney got better press and their “No
Cities to Love” CD has landed on a lot of “best of the year” lists, but for my
money “Waxahatchee” was the cleaner and more listenable feminist manifesto. A
native of Alabama but a resident of Philadelphia, Katie Crutchfield put
together a collection of songs that plumbs her past and uses the raw material
of failed relationships for fodder in ways that even Carrie Brownstein would admire.
“Breathless” and “La Loose” showcase Crutchfield’s fuzzy guitar rumblings, a hallmark
of the album. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">10.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">Joanna Newsom. “Divers” (….) After keeping
fans waiting five long years for her 2015 release, Newsom finally delivered another terrific
album. Newsom’s strength is an ability to create a world that seems entirely
her own vision but that gives her fans access to a place of mysticism and renewal
as frequently as they go to church (but that probably offers them a more uplifting
experience). If Loreena McKennitt is your cup of mull, you should take a dive
into “Divers.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">1 <span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">In alphabetical order, these ten records were
in heavy rotation in my car stereo during the year and came close to making
this 2015 list of favorite recordings. Brandi Carlisle, <b><i>“The Firewatcher’s Daughter”; </i></b>The
Decemberists, <b><i>“What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World</i></b>”; Patti Griffin, <b><i>“Servant of Love”;</i></b> Ray Wylie Hubbard <b><i>“The Ruffian’s Misfortune</i></b>”;
Jason Isbell, <b><i>“Something More than Fire,”</i></b> Kacey Musgraves, <b><i>“Pageant
Material</i></b>”; James McMurtry, <b><i>“Complicated Life”; </i></b> Sleater-Kinney, <b><i>“No Cities To Love”;</i></b> Satellite
Hearts, <b><i>“Desire Forces the Flow”;</i></b>
and Tame Impala, <b><i>“Currents”. </i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-48822816388410094042015-11-27T04:32:00.003-08:002015-12-03T17:56:34.260-08:00Agnes G. Bauerlein, February 12, 1928 to November 26, 2015: an appreciation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<br />
On Oct. 2, 2010, my parents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary at a large family reunion in Lancaster county. That day, I read this testimonial to my mother. Agnes passed away peacefully in her sleep yesterday at 1:15 p.m. in her 24 hour care facility in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. My sister Heidi and my brother Mark were with her at the time. The family is holding a small (family only) ceremony for her in Wisconsin tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 28. We will hold a much larger celebration of her life in a month or so here in the Philadelphia area, once arrangement are made. Thanks to all of you who kept her in your thoughts and prayers these last few weeks as word went our that my mother was nearing the end of her life. And thank you again for reading this.<br />
<br />
"<i><b>Cheers to you, Mom!</b></i>"<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><i><b>It goes without saying that most young men love their
mothers and that their mothers become the template against which all
other women are measured. Maybe that’s why I have so much trouble
finding the right one, Mom! You were just impossible to replace! <br /><br />It
finally dawned on me – just how special you are, and how difficult it
would be to find someone like you to spend a life with – when an old
friend who’s never met you read my Mother’s Day story from the Inquirer
Magazine and said how touched he was to read that story. He told me it
must be hard to live with a mother who is a saint. He was right about
that. It was hard then and it still is hard today. It is hard because
you set the bar so high. You and Dad really demanded greatness of us.
None of us achieved that, of course. Not yet. I keep waiting for Mark to
outshine us all when his graphic novel hits the best seller’s list.
Here’s the working title: “My Abusive Childhood: Collective Memories
Growing Up Catholic at Kidzaplenty Place” <br /><br />We know how hard you
worked. Just the daily routine of taking care of such a large home and
feeding 11 children was exhausting to witness. And coming into the
second floor bathroom every morning and seeing three or four piles of
laundry that awaited you, was a constant reminder of all the work to be
done while we were off in school. That work alone, in a house as large
as ours, should be enough to get the beatification process started in
Rome. Mother Teresa started out in life as an Agnes, too. Did you know
that?<br /><br />We remember the sacrifices you made for us. We all made
them, too! We sacrificed our appetites when we were fed macaroni and
cheese once a week, or liver and onions twice a month; or broccoli
stalks and brussel sprouts and blood-red beets and other inedible
vegetables we hated but that you knew we needed. We remember how you fed
a family of 11 for years on a $60 grocery allowance. We always hoped
for spaghetti and meatballs and Italian sausages, and, despite how much
work that took, we were fed that meal more than any other because you
knew how much we all we all loved your sauce. <br /><br />We remember seeing
you stooped over the family sewing machine, sewing missing buttons on
our shirts or hemming hand-me down pants from the Hopkinson boys or
mending torn kneecaps and holey socks or making the girls dresses or
even sewing clothes for their baby dolls, doing all you could to ensure
we were not dressed like street urchins out of a Dicken’s novel. You
might think all that work was God’s penance for having such a large
family, but we tend to think you were doing God’s will. There’s grace in
performing those mundane motherly tasks that all mothers do and you
earned a ton of it, Mom. <br /><br />We remember the stories you told us
growing up in Holland. We experienced first hand a treasure trove of
those Dutch customs every Christmas. The time you spent in the kitchen
making saucijsbrooges and stollen, and separating each and every piece
of a dozen grapefruits with the curved edge of a grapefruit knife and
then sprinkling sugar on top. We remember the tales of Black Peter
putting coal in stockings and of the Dutch songs you would sing to us in
words we couldn’t understand but that delighted us anyway because they
always made you laugh when you finished them. We all remember the way
you and dad turned Christmas day into a never-ending event of good
vibrations by making us sit as a pajama collective in a wide circle and
unwrap our gifts individually, one at a time. It stretched that glorious
holiday out for hours. <br /><br />Only rarely did any of us get the
present we most wanted, but none of us has forgotten the experience of
those Christmases past or forgot how much they brought us close as a
family. We learned then to appreciate the things that really matter in
life. Some of us went to our friends’ homes on Christmas afternoon to
play with their shiny new Erector sets or slot car tracks or their
Lionel trains or to play with their soft, new Care Bears or My Little
Ponies or their shiny and leggy Barbie Dolls. We likely wished we had
those presents too. <br /><br />But I know none of us would ever trade the
lessons we learned about the real meaning of Christmas for the
neighbor’s presents. All of us wish we could bottle those Christmas
mornings and sell them to the rest of America. Not because it would have
made us fortunes, but because it would have made us all rich in love
and people everywhere would thank us for sharing those wonderful vibes
of sheer joy. You earned some heavenly points there, too, Mom. <br /><br />You
made all of the holidays special in some way. We all remember your
incredible pies at Thanksgiving we somehow forgot to save room for but
devoured anyway; the painted Easter eggs at Easter we hunted in the vast
uncut openness of the spring front lawn; the costumes you made at
Halloween. Points, points, more heavenly points. <br /><br />You were a
Queen among moms. And I suspect my friend from Loyola knew all of this
when he made his comment to me about what a saint you were. But that’s
not really what he was talking about. When he mentioned how difficult it
must be to live with a mother destined for sainthood, he was talking
about your courage, your willingness to show the world of powerful men
that mothers count too; that the opinion of mothers was what got
politicians elected and that they should be held accountable for their
decisions, especially when their governments ask America’s mothers to
send their sons and daughters off to foreign lands to protect the
nation’s economic interests. <br /><br />You wanted them to take their oaths
of office as seriously as you took your own responsibilities as a
mother. You knew that the lives of American youth was too high a price
to pay to fight unnecessary wars. You knew that the very idea of war was
something people had to start to question. You knew that “Question
Authority” was not some trite political slogan but a social
responsibility all citizens have. I never personally knew anyone who was
willing to go to jail for this just cause, Mom. Until you did. You
showed us all that one person could make a statement of goodness and
purpose with her life; that in fact, there is no higher purpose in life
than that: to try to speak the truth and to embrace life itself and all
its goodness. <br /><br />I don’t think too many of us ever really
understood or appreciated the toll those actions took on you, Mom; on
your marriage and on your relationship with your siblings. But God
knows. And he loves you very much for those sacrifices and maybe we are
all a little bit jealous of you for that. That’s probably what my friend
was thinking of when he told me how hard it must be to have a saint for
a mother. It’s hard because none of us possess the same amount of
fortitude to follow our hearts as you do. We look up to you for a wide
variety of reasons, most of all for showing us how to love our own
children, and we emulate you and honor you and we sing your praises in
birthday cards and in anniversary parties like this. But we find it
impossible to follow in your footsteps and place our personal freedom at
risk to live a life of conviction.<br /><br />All of this is just prelude
to a moment we shared together. You and I. You probably won’t remember
it, but I can’t ever forget it. It held for me the secret of who you are
and why you did what you had to do when you took on the government and
the war machine and the arms dealers. I knew in my heart I would write
about this moment some day. All of us have some very private and special
moment with you we hold sacred, Mom. This is mine. <br /><br />I had gone
with you and some of the siblings to the Schretlen family reunion in
Holland in 1988. It was July and I was leaving my job soon at the
newspaper in Virginia and I was coming home soon to start my teaching
job at West Chester. Isabel turned one during the week I was away in
Holland, so the trip cost me the experience of sharing her first
birthday. <br /><br />One day the Schretlen clan planned an afternoon trip
to your parish church. It was centuries old, made of old brown stones
from some local quarry. As we walked into the interior of the church, it
smelled musty and the sanctuary seemed smaller and darker than churches
I was used to in America. The pews were made of an old hard, dark wood
and the kneelers were worn. After 10 or so minutes, I followed you and
one of my aunts up a small path towards a grove of tall trees, mostly
pine. It looked like we were approaching a park. When we got to the
summit of the hill, I was surprised to see a series of small plots of
ground encircled by stone walls about three or four feet high.
Initially, I thought they were small gardens. They were meticulously
cared for and, because it was the middle of summer, all of them had a
variety of blooming flowers in them, a blaze of color. Primroses,
daffodils, irises, nasturtium, scarlet sage, sunflowers, violas,
catmints, polyanthas, and foxgloves. It was as if I had stepped into a
well-tended English arboretum. <br /><br />It was stunning and peaceful,
quiet except for a slight rustle of the tree branches and birdsong that
filtered gently through the pines and leaves. I thought to myself I had
found a small slice of heaven. But I couldn’t quite figure out why the
garden was separated by these small stone walls and divided into plots.
It was almost as if this sacred place were a 4-H competition…. each plot
more meticulously planned and carefully tended than the next, as if
someone were coming soon to judge them and one of them would win the
gold medal. <br /><br />Then we walked to a small plot that was less well
tended. Flowers bloomed there too, but it hadn’t been weeded in quite
some time. Soggy leaves left over from the last year’s fall were stuffed
into corners of the stone walls and the lush, emerald grass was uncut,
growing wild, several inches higher than the trimmed plots that
surrounded it. I was puzzled and couldn’t understand why this one was
different than the others. The overall effect of the place was one of
serene, lush beauty, a place as alive as any I had ever been in. Even
this untended plot had been lovingly cared for, but just not as recently
as the others. <br /><br />You and Aunt Celine stopped and looked around
the plot and you both became quiet and respectful. When you looked down
at the ground, it suddenly dawned on me that we were in a cemetery. And
then you started crying. Very softly, as if you didn’t want to worry us
or to interrupt our own thoughts. Then I finally realized where we were:
at the grave site of your sister Mary and your brother, Bluffy. The aunt
and uncle I had never met. And I knew that it had been a very long time
since you had been back to visit them. <br /><br />Maybe you were crying
because of things you remembered about them. The shade of Mary’s ash
blonde hair in her teenage youth or the way she sang to you to sleep at
night. Or maybe you were thinking of Bluffy’s small and tender hands and
they how they felt in your own fingers when you took him for a walk
over the shady streets of your neighborhood. Maybe you were remembering
back to that tragic day when the Americans were trying to drive the
Nazi’s out of Nijmegen and they were killed by American bombs in an air
raid. Maybe you were crying because there was no one from the immediate
family left to take as good a care of their final resting place as the
other cemetery plots were so lovingly cared for. Or maybe you were
crying because you were afraid you might never come back to this
serenely quite place, where your sister and brother would spend
eternity, thousands of miles away from you and your other siblings. <br /><br />I
knew then Mom, why you did what you felt you had to do when you were
breaking laws and going to jail and becoming the disgraced sister of
your siblings, the family’s embarrassment to many of us. I tried to
imagine how I would feel if I was coming to the burial plot of Lisa and
Matt and their graves were so far away that I would not be able to leave
flowers there or trim the grass and tend to their garden so others
would feel welcomed there. I tried to understand the complex emotions
you were feeling but I failed utterly to do so. I couldn’t imagine
having to endure that much pain in my life and I hoped I never would.<br /><br />The
searing memory of those five or six minutes with you at that small plot
of land surrounded by small stone walls has never left me. It made me
understand so much about your desire to try to change the world, try to
make it a better place; to do what little you could, as a single person,
a mother and a grandmother, to eliminate the violence and the horror
and the implicit, everlasting sorrow that reside in weapons of mass
destruction. I am so very proud of you for that. And I feel more than a
little shame that I have not yet been able to bear your torch and carry
on the fight you so nobly waged against what President Eisenhower once
called the “military industrial complex”. <br /><br />You have set an example for all of us with your service to peace and justice, <br />Mom.
And those minutes in the cemetery in Nijmegen at the graves of Mary and
Bluffy told me all the reasons I ever needed to know about why you had
to speak out about war. <br /><br />And dad, I know you initially were
reluctant to embrace mom’s acts of civil disobedience. It was more than
an inconvenience to you…and I know how hard it must have been to field
questions about mom’s behavior from her siblings. She didn’t ask you for
your blessing when she went and got herself arrested. But I have to
tell you, I never felt prouder to be your son when you fielded those
questions gracefully and told the relatives how much you admired her and
that she had a mind and will of her own and she was following her
conscience. </b></i></i><br />
<i><i><b><br /></b></i></i>
<br />
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<i><i><b><br /></b></i></i>
<i><i><b><br />At that point, it finally seemed to me your marriage
to Mom was one based on trust and respect. It seemed to me you had
learned the hardest lesson of marriage one has to learn: how to adapt to
your partner and support your partner when your partner’s life suddenly
takes a course you never expected and that you don’t necessarily trust
or approve of. Surely you turned to your faith in God in those moments
and surely you heard God’s answer: that Mom’s work here on Earth was
pretty darned important too and that you would have to make some
personal sacrifices to adapt to Mom’s newfound purpose.<br /><br />In those
moments, it seems to me, you and mom really forged a marriage for the
ages, one we honor here today. You have given us all more than a
lifetime of love and blessings. You have shown us the meaning of
personal sacrifice and commitment to an ideal. We are all so blessed to
have you as our parents.<br /><br />So in closing, Yes, I must agree with my
old friend. It IS hard to live with a mother who is a saint. But I
thank God mothers like you, mom, walk among us.<br /><br />You inspire us to
greatness and to accountability. That’s the best kind of work that
parents can do. You both did your jobs very well. We all love both of
you very much. </b></i></i><br />
<br />
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Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-2645762463913667572015-08-01T08:17:00.001-07:002015-08-01T10:37:57.933-07:00Once in a Blue Moon: why I'll be drinking all day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<b>"Once in a blue moon!"</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>That's what they say when one of those red-letter days happen; when the stars align and the world seems right and everything falls into place....in this case "place" was my son's baseball glove. The way this five-star championship night ended made it a night I will never forget.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>There was a lot to celebrate and there's a lot to tell, so bear with me. The recycle bin out near my garage you see in the picture above shows the brown and green glass refuse of two days of collegial imbibing and celebrations. After my union softball team, the APSCUF Rams, won game one of our best of three championship series on Monday evening, I purchased two bottles of Chairman's Select recommended champagne in anticipation of toasting to a championship on Wednesday.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>I didn't think I was jinxing the team with that presumptive purchase but I knew there was a better than even chance the liquid sweet stuff would be sitting on my shelf until New Year's eve. We were playing the best team in the league, Keystone Financial Services, and they had beaten us soundly at the end of the regular season, 18-5. They were fast, young and hungry; they hit the ball hard and they served noticed that night they were determined to win the title. They were clearly the team to beat.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Because our seeding was already fixed -- we finished in third place and they had already clinched first -- I told the team before that humbling experience to "have fun. This game means nothing, it's just a tune up." Afterwards, one of my teammates said: "It was a tune up all right. WE got tuned up!" Boy, did we. </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>But I reminded the Rams that evening after the defeat this was a serendipitious circumstance. Three summers ago, twice we were beaten soundly by the division's best team in the regular season. Each game ended early by the 10-run "Mercy Rule." But we came back to sweep them in the finals. Why couldn't this happen again, this year?</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>It was not an audacious statement, although none of my teammates greeted it with much enthusiam after that drubbing. But I believed in that baseball adage: no team is as bad as they look when they lose big or as good as they look when they win big. If we played good defense, and got some lucky breaks, we could hang with Keystone.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>We got big-time lucky breaks. We didn't just hang with them: we took them down in three games. The last one, played last night, was an epic struggle.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Keystone's best pitcher (he beat us twice in the regular season) was unable to play in the three-game championship series. Keystone was forced to try two back-ups in Monday's first championship series game. The first pitcher they used had trouble finding the strike zone. The Rams were patient and drew 12 walks that helped us in a 11-6 win. It should have been more lopsided but the team left the sacks full on three occasions...and we didn't play well in the field. We allowed Keystone to hang around in a game we should have put away early.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Nevertheless, a win is a win. We were deliriously happy afterwards. We'd finally beaten the best team in our division. It was time to buy champagne. I put it on ice and lugged my ice chest to the field with a case of beer on Wednesday evening to the field. But missing two of our best women players left us vulnerable in game two. Keystone, meanwhile, had found a pitcher who didn't get rattled and threw strikes. Aided by some loose play in the first inning of game two, they jumped out to a seven-run lead and then coasted to a 15-6 victory.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>We drank those ice-chest beers in the parking lot because it had been a 92 degree day and the humidity was still hovering near 85 percent at game time. But we sure weren't celebrating and I can't say they tasted very good.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Friday night provided heavenly weather; hot but not humid. And the game started later in the evening, so the glare of the setting sun only lasted for one or two innings, which helped our aged eyes and neutralized an advantage Keystone enjoyed in the first two games when they smashed half a dozen sky rockets at our outfielders, some of which were lost in the blazing sun. </b><br />
<b><br /></b><b>In game three, we put up two runs in the top of the first. Keystone mercifully only plated one run and left men on second and third base when my son, Luke, made his first spectactular catch of the night, snagging a sinking liner in short right field just before it fell safely for a hit. He'd scraped his leg on Wednesday making a similar catch and opened the gash again with this catch. We washed the bloody gash off, patched him up and damn if the same thing didn't happen two innings later when he snagged another line drive and helped kill another Keystone rally that put them up, 4-2.</b><br />
<b><br /></b><b>The Rams gamely fought back to tie the score in the top of the 4th. Then they went ahead in the top of the 6th, scoring three times. Keystone came right back with three runs of their own in the bottom of the 6th. They had the sacks full, too, with just one out, threatening to take a commanding lead. But Jim Morris made a game-saving catch in left field and Jamie Smith snagged a hard line drive in right field to end the threat and keep the game tied.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Both teams went into the last inning with the bottom of the line-up coming up to hit. Morris singled to start the inning but the biggest clutch plate appearance of the entire season came next from our catcher, Corrinne Murphy, our 12-hole hitter. She patiently drew a walk to kickstart the team's winning rally.</b><br />
<b><br /></b><b>Leadoff hitter Drew Crossett's dying quail to the outfield found a grassy place to land but Morris, uncertain if the ball would be caught, had to hold at second and the Keystone left fielder gunned him down at third base on a bang-bang force out play.</b><br />
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<b>Luke was next up and he bounced a ball to the right side of the infield and sprinted desperately up the first base line. The first baseman sprinted to his right and juggled the ball for a split second. Uncertain whether he could beat Luke to the bag, he decided he to toss it to his pitcher, who was gunning for the bag. Luke and the pitcher arrived at the base in synch. The ump dramatically called Luke safe. </b><br />
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<b>The Keystone bench erupted in complaints, sure he had missed the call. Luke said afterwards he thought he was out, too, but the Keystone pitcher admitted after the game that his foot had missed the bag, so the call was correct. It mattered a lot.</b><br />
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<b>Manny Otero, the Rams' best hitter, came to the plate with two outs and the sacks full, carrying the weight of the world on his broad shoulders. He'd gone 1-7 in the first two games. He was due. And man oh man oh man, did Manny deliver. At this crucial spot in the game, Keystone's pitcher turned and asked his outfielders to "move back! Don't let him hit it over your heads!" but Manny had not been pulverizing the ball as he usually does and they didn't heed their pitcher's advice. Call him a prophet. </b><br />
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<b>Otero crushed the first pitch he saw about 15 feet over the head of the left-center fielder and all three of the Rams' baserunners scored. The bleachers on our side of the field erupted in jubilation.</b><br />
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<b>Pitcher Kevin Flynn added an insurance run with a base knock that drove in Otero and then shut the bottom of Keystone's line-up down to seal the win and the league championship.</b><br />
<b><br /></b><b>Once we were safely out in the parking lot, we started in on the ice-cold beer in the ice chest. Before long, we uncorked the champagne. Then the celebration really started. We hollared and hooted and hugged one another and laughed and shouted and relived the events of the evening in high, semi-inebriated style. The alcohol had no affect whatsoever. We were high on life; high on winning a championship. But damn, did that champagne go down easy!</b><br />
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<b>Unwilling to let go of the evening's magic, most of the team went to the Square Bar to celebrate some more. <i>There</i> the alcohol finally kicked in. </b><b>I finished filling out the box score at the bar and noted with paternal pride that Luke had three hits and five outfield put-outs. Three of them were on diving, knee-scrapping catches.</b><br />
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<b>I didn't play a single pitch during the series, but I sure enjoyed myself!!! I am so proud of all of my teammates, proud to be part of this group of people who care about one another and play so unselfishly and never say die and do whatever it takes to win. Their competitive spirit makes me shake my head in wonderment. And how many guys get to experience a beer-league softball championship with their sons? Yes, indeed, life is good.</b><br />
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<b>If we had to play Keystone 10 times, I don't doubt they would probably win eight of them. They are younger than us by an average of 10 or more years. They are hungry, fast and very, very talented. But we won the two that counted the most.</b><br />
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<b>It feels good today to think about that. Nights like last night don't happen very often. Days like today don't come along very often either. I plan on finishing those left over beers in the ice chest through most of the day. I'll be smiling to myself for hours. </b><br />
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<b>I can't wait for next year to get here. And for the next blue moon to show up!</b><br />
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<b><br /></b>Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-7402950788163729852015-06-23T13:57:00.004-07:002015-07-02T05:32:32.264-07:00Mid-year pop music report<b>These are a dozen CDs I have been listening to for the first half of 2015. It's already been an amazing year for recorded music so far. It's hard to know how many of these will still be in heavy rotation in my CD player when I compile my end of the year list, but some of these are too good to ignore. I am arranging them here in a rough semblance of alphabetical order.</b><br />
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<b>Courtney Barnett.</b> <b><i>"Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit"</i>.</b> (Mom & Pop)<br />
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<b>Cortney Barnett can turn an off-handed comment into a punk rocker's manifesto. When her keenest observations are backed by power pop hooks and razor sharp guitar licks, they speak with authority. The Aussie singer-songwriter has become something of a fixture among indie rock fans and XPN listeners. What surprised me most of all, at a sold-out show I caught last week at the Union Transfer, is that fans at that show ranged from 15 to 75, and that none of them went home disappointed to have their ears so blissfully shredded. Few performers can bridge a generation gap that large. </b><br />
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<b>Fr. John Misty. <i>"I Love You, Honey Bear." </i>(Subpop) Josh Tillman, the former drummer for the Fleet Foxes, released his second solo album this spring under his stage name, Father John Misty. It reeks of a West Coast vibe generated from your above average 'shroom high (I mean that as a compliment). Think of the Eagles and those Laurel Canyon songwriters back in the mid-1970s and you'll have a good idea of the kind of feel-good sound Tillman is searching for. Jennifer Jonson, in her 405 review, put it this way: "he is more archtype than alter-ego. <i>I Love You, Honey Bear</i> is drenched in predictable debauchery and misogyny, but just when you think Tillman is method acting or keeping up appearances, he strays toward self-conscious profundity." </b><br />
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<b>Heartless Bartards. <i>"Restless Ones."</i> (Partisan) The Heartless Bastards' lead signer, Erika Wennerstrom, sounds like an edgier version of Lucinda Williams. She howls her lyrics more than she sings them but the angst she unlooses feels like a shot of 86 proof Jack Daniels. Janis would be proud of her. Her band rocks as hard and plays as tight as any in indie rock. <i>Restless Ones</i> may be their most accomplished album. "Black Cloud," "The Fool" and "Wind-up Bird" are three that will test the sound limits of your car stereo speakers because they are all crank worthy. </b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px;"><br /></span><br />
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<b>Ray Wylie Hubbard. <i>"The Ruffian's Misfortune".</i> (Bordello Records) <i>The Ruffian's Misfortune </i>is full of fine, smoky grooves with just the right amount of gravel-road growl, and the quiet songs like "Barefoot in Heaven" and "Too Young Ripe, Too Young Rotten" are played and sung with a strength that rivals rowdy hell-raisers like "Bad on Fords" and "Chick Singer Badass Rockin'," the latter a high-octane tribute to women with guitars and attitude in equal proportion. Hubbard can sound defiant, sorrowful, or compassionate with the same degree of emotional power, and whether he's bragging about bad deeds or mourning a life gone wrong, Hubbard's lyrics are intelligent and perceptive, and he draws his characters with a clarity that's artful but never pretentious. </b><br />
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<b>Kendrick Lamar. </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">"To Pimp a Butterfly". (Spacebomb) </i><b>The hip-hop CD of the year so far, bound to be near the top of the national ten best lists come December. Lamar's second full-length album is loaded with ear-pleasing loops and clever rhymes. "My Baby Don't Understand Me" could be straight out of the Marvin Gaye canon of 1973 while "Christy" suggests Lamar might have a career in music theater if the hip hop career doesn't take off. Don't take the Broadway bet. Kendrick Lamar has "superstar" written on every track. </b><br />
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<b>James McMurtrey. <i>"Complicated Game."</i> (Complicated Game) I caught an abbreviated McMurtry solo set at the XPN Non-Comm conference in May and McMurtry unveiled some of his best songs from this collection of world-weary tunes. Using a deadpan West Texas drawl and some fancy string work on his acoustic guitar, he held several hundred listeners in the palm of his hand as we collectively waited for the next ironic, hilariously ironic <i>bon mot </i>to drop out of his mouth. If you like to hear home spun narratives in your favorite songs, this is a record you will endlessly return to for its wit and wisdom. </b><br />
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<b>Mbongwana Star. "From Kinshasa". (World Circuit) If you liked "Kongotronics" by Konono No. 1 back in 2004, you'll appreciate this Republic of Congo nod to that wonderful album of Afro-pop inventiveness. Employing the same "thumb pianos" as Konono, and singing retro tribal chants that sound as if they were recorded back in the '50s in Sun Studios, the recording has a live "street performance" quality to it that makes the music feel alive, visceral and relevant. If you want to imagine what it's like to be standing on a street corner in Kinshasa, hearing the next big African thing, this is a CD to get. "Malukayi", one of the stronger cuts on the album, features Konono.</b><br />
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<b>Sufjan Stevens. <i>"Carrie & Lowell". </i>Stevens most thoughtful collection of songs yet. This one plunges headlong into an emotional exploration of the meaning of family and its emotional trappings. It's named after Steven's mother, a long-time drug addict, who frequently left Stevens to the care of his detached step-father while she spiraled into the abyss. Sung with the kind of confidence and off-the-cuff earnestness of Nick Drake, this is Stevens' most mournful collection of songs but a celebration of life's great unanswerable questions. </b><br />
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<b>Waxahatchee</b><b style="font-style: italic;">. "Ivy Tripp"</b><b> (Merge).</b><b style="font-style: italic;"> </b><b> Katie Crutchfield performs under the name Waxahatchee, a creek near her home in Alabama. This is her third album and it received a rare rave from the New Yorker back in March. She received a welcome boost from guitar virtuosos Tegan and Sara during a summer tour two years ago and her Cerulean Salt CD was hyped as one of the best albums of that year. "Ivy Tripp" may be even better. The first cut, "Breathless" is a reflective gem that might be one of my favorite songs of the year so far. She's a talent to watch, for sure. </b><br />
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<b>Ryley Walker. </b><b style="font-style: italic;">"Primrose Green" </b><b>(Dead Oceans Records) I caught Ryley Walker at the Boot and Saddle back in February, opening for a band not nearly as accomplished as he is. He bought to mind the timber and singing style of Tim Buckley but Buckley could never match the tasteful ease that Walker brings to the guitar. His finger picking style has a luminous, relaxed almost classical quality. One of his encore tunes was Van Morrison's "Fair Play" from <i>Veedon Fleece</i> and that said as much about his savvy musical choices and influences as anyof the originals he performed. He's not a rocker, but don't that stop you from indulging this great CD. </b><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b1916; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', sans-serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.6em;"> </span><br />
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<b style="font-style: italic;"><br /></b><b>Sleater-Kinney</b><b style="font-style: italic;">. "No Cities To Love." (Subpop) </b><b>It's been 10 long years since Sleater-Kinney released <i>"The Woods"</i>. There have been some notable side projects, including a Carrie Brownstein solo album and the Wild Flag debut. But you'd never know they were gone as a unit if you give "No Cities To Love"a spin. It's arguably their best record yet (and that's saying something). Loaded with bleeding finger riffs and howling guitars, this is a record the Buzzcocks, the Stones or the Who would have been proud to claim as their own. Visceral, in all the best ways possible. "Gimme Love" and "Hey Darling" are two that deserve radio play. </b><br />
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<b>Songhai Blues -- <i>Music In Exile</i> (Atlantic) Three years ago, when armed jihadist banned music in their hometown, Songhai Blues decided it was a good time to relocate from their home town to the capital of Mali, Bambako. That may explain the title of this remarkable collection of songs. Combining the blues licks of Mali's greatest musician, Ali Farka Toure, with the swirling, ethereal easiness of Morocco's desert bedouins, Tinariwen, Songhai Blues has crafted their own African masterpiece. This one is a sure bet to make my final list in January. "Soubour" is a track to find on YouTube if you're curious to hear an instant classic.<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4FqZg12g7g</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></b>Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-39132134246380531352015-05-26T09:05:00.002-07:002015-05-26T12:00:08.649-07:00My "Wedding Day" dance with Mom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>Last summer I went to Wisconsin to say goodbye to my mother. My sister Heidi had been told by Mother's doctor in the Alzheimer's facility where she lives that mom was having trouble swallowing her food. Normally this is a sign that the end of life is soon approaching. He advised us to come and say our farewells. </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Me and my East Coast siblings made arrangements to visit with her during the summer of 2014 to say our final goodbyes. Her doctor advised us </span></span></b><b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">she would likely pass before the end of the year. </span></span></b><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">But the end did not come for my mom. Against all odds, and quite contrary to what her doctor told us, Mom is still with us. She sleeps between 16 and 18 hours a day. She seems content. But she was noticeably </span></span></b><b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">smaller than when I saw her last July.</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">I would not call her survival a miracle.... but I have some ideas why she has lasted longer than her doctors originally thought she might. More so than most people who end up in Alzheimer's units, Mother is still doted on. All 11 of her children went to visit her in the past 18 months, some more than once. </span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">When we </span></span></b><b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">visit her, </span></span></b><b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">we feed her. This is a painstaking process. On each of the four days I was with my mom, </span></span></b><b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">I fed her at least one of her meals and some days two of them. These feedings took between 60 and 90 minutes and mom ate between 7 and 10 ounces </span></span></b><b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">of soft food, similar to what infants eat from a jar of Gerber's. She ate the food from a very small baby spoon and could barely open her mouth to received the nourishment. But she seemed hungry and eager to eat and sometimes she drank three or four cups of juice or water.</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">There were between 10 and 12 Alzheimer's patients in my mother's wing and the majority of them can still feed themselves. But three or four of them need help eating. The three nurses aides who work there spent as much time feeding these patients as they can, but their time is limited and their work schedules are demanding. </span></span></b><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Their patience is remarkable with these feedings and they do the best they can in the little meal time they have. They feed mom as much as possible when none of us are there to take care of her. But they have so much to do and so little time, there is little doubt my mother eats better when one of her children is feeding her because she is getting individual attention and because we take an hour or longer to feed her, not just 20 or 30 minutes. I suspect we've been keeping Mom alive longer than expected because of the individual attention we give her.</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">When the unit's doctors gave her 12 months to live in January of 2014, they were projecting a "normal" estimate of how long most Alzheimer's patients survive once swallowing becomes difficult. They did not take into consideration she might be nourished by her children more carefully than the nursing home's aides.</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">My brother Paul arrived in Wisconsin several days before Mother's day. My flight from Philly landed in the early afternoon of Mother's day. I arrived in Oshkosh just in time to feed her dinner. She didn't open her eyes when I was there that evening and I don't think she remembered who I was. I had expected this. Mom seems to remember "better" my siblings Mark and Heidi who live near her and visit her several times a week.</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">This routine happened for several more days. She never opened her eyes but she was always eager to eat and seemed to sense when meals were being prepared and presented in front of her. She seemed to smell the food more easily than see it. On many occasions, she didn't need to be prompted to open her mouth. She seemed to sense when the spoon was ready. </span></span></b><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">On Tuesday morning, P</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">aul and I arrived around 9:30 a.m. to help with my Mom's bi-weekly swim therapy. Mom was sleeping but was already dressed for her swim when we arrived at her room. The woman who usually gave my mother her therapy on Tuesday's was named Carla. She knew Mom, Heidi and Mark well but she was meeting me and Paul for the first time. </span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Carla strapped Mom into a harness that lifted her out of her padded wheelchair and lowered her carefully into the pool's warm water. Mom was awake but her eyes were still closed. Paul and I took turns moving mom around the pool, performing some exercises that Carla suggested. Paul noticed that her ankles were stiff and we gave Mom a foot rub. Her limbs were stiff, too. It was hard to get her to move her arms and legs. They were locked into the same position she maintains when she is sitting in her wheelchair. After extensive </span></b><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">cajoling and coaxing, Carla was able to get my Mom to kick her legs and move her arms around.</span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">About 30 minutes into her swim, Carla stood Mom straight </span></b><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">up and was walking around the pool, holding her at arms length, trying to make my mother "walk." Mom started to respond to this. A small smile spread over her face. Carla immediately noticed and suggested that Paul and I take turns "dancing" with mother. "She might like that," Carla told us. </span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Paul went first and Mom's slight smile grew wider. Her eyes were still closed but she was feeling her oats. We could all see she enjoyed being squired around the pool by her son. It suddenly occurred to me that Paul (because he never married) he had never danced with Mom at his wedding. And then it occurred to me that neither had I! </span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">I had been married twice, but I don't recall ever having danced with my mother at either one. This moment in a pool in Oshkosh was probably our one and only "wedding dance" with Mom! I didn't have music at the reception for my second wedding at my sister's house in 2003 and I don't think I remembered to ask mom to dance at my first wedding in 1980. I guess it probably pays to hire a master of ceremonies who knows how to keep a wedding party moving with two turntables and a microphone and who pays attention to all the wedding conventions! </span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">When it was my turn to dance with mom in the pool, I suddenly remembered Dad danced to "Those Were the Days" by Mary Hopkins with my sister Trudy at her wedding in 1978. I took Mom in my arms and I asked her if she remembered that moment. And I started to sing the song to her and I held her close in my arms, twirling her around in the pool. Paul and Carla were laughing at me but Mom's eyes suddenly opened up for the first time all week. Now the smile on her face was huge. She couldn't actually TELL me she remembered Trudy dancing to "Those Were the Days" but there was no doubt I had triggered a memory with the song I was singing.</span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">It was quite a scene, singing to my Mom and dancing around the pool with her, her eyes opened wide and a smile as wide as a river. I danced in the pool for about three or four minutes, Paul and Carla laughing at </span></b><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">us the entire time. </span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">It felt sad to me it had taken this long for me to dance my "wedding dance" with her. But, well, at least I can say I managed to squeeze it in. I know there must have been other times I danced with my mother, at family occasions and weddings. But not many over the course of our life times. </span></b><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">And none more memorable than this one.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Mom was tuckered out by all the fun. Carla lifted her out of the pool and toweled her off. By the time Paul had wheeled her back to her room she was sound asleep. </span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">My Dad must have been smiling up in heaven at</span></b><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"> our swim therapy antics. He had better start practicing his steps because Mom still has some pretty smooth dance moves and she's been practicing!!! Sooner or later, she'll be looking for a heavenly partner. </span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">I'm pretty sure I know which song she'll request. </span></b>Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-1326955560520731452014-12-22T18:53:00.002-08:002014-12-30T06:25:50.776-08:00Mother's last Christmas<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">By Chuck Bauerlein</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Back in February my mother's doctor in Wisconsin told my sister, who lives near
her, that Mother's Alzheimer's disease had progressed to a final stage. My mom
could no longer chew her food, a sign that the end of her life was approaching.</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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I went out to visit with her in July and had several memorable days with her,
but it was sadly obvious to see she was fading. She slept half the day and
wasn't eating much. It would take me 60 or 70 minutes to feed her a small
container of yogurt and some cut fruit. She would wake up and smile once in a
while and on one or two occasions, she seemed to laugh at something
I said.</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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About a month ago, my sister wrote to us that Mom was losing weight and now
sleeping about 18 hours a day. We should prepare ourselves for the news of her
passing at any time. There is little reason to doubt next Thursday will be my
mother's last Christmas.</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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It is impossible to know what this loss will feel like, especially on future
Christmas mornings. Her children will wake up on those days and realize Mom has
passed and all we have left of her are memories of the many Christmases she
made feel so special for so many years.</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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We came of age in a large three-story stone house my dad christened
"Kidzaplenty Place." Christmas day would start with the smells of a
very special breakfast wafting up to the third floor bedrooms. Coffee brewed on
the stove and the oven over-flowed with the smells of a Dutch treat my
grandmother had passed down to her daughters, <i>saucejzenbroodges.</i></span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">These were small pork
sausages wrapped in a delicate blanket of flaky baked and glazed flour crust.
The crust would melt in our mouths before we could bite the sausage. Mother
only made them on Christmas, so these treats seemed magical because they were
so rare. When we arrived downstairs, her other baked delicacy already had been
placed carefully in the center of the family dining table: a large Dutch
stollen (a foot-long Christmas cake crammed with jellied fruits and walnuts,
sprinkled with powdered sugar).</span></b></div>
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We came down to the kitchen one by one, wiping sleepy dust from our eyes and
reaching for coffee mugs. Mother sliced grapefruit using the curved blade of a
grapefruit knife, carefully carving each pod of the juicy flesh of a pink
grapefruit, flicking the seeds into the kitchen sink. So adept was she with the
blade, she could carve six or seven of them in the time it took me to carve
one.</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> She would send one of my
sisters scurrying into the dining room carrying two at a time, placing them with care on small plates at our assigned places at the table.
Breakfast was ready to go by 7:30 a.m. The grapefruit, two large plates of
scrambled eggs, coffee or hot chocolate, the sausages and the stollen. A feast
fit for royalty.</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> After the blessing my father would ask
each of the children to say something we were thankful for that year.
With 11 hungry mouths staring at this mountain of exotic food, this last chore
seemed like torture. We had no choice but to endure it. When we all complained,
my dad pointed out it had been a year since the last such feast, what was 10
more minutes?</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> We trotted out the usual tropes. Our
thanks tended to be the same year after year: we were thankful for our friends;
our pets; the new clothes we wore; the new bike or baseball glove or rag doll
we received for our last birthday. Then one of the younger children would thank
the Lord for her sister or brother. The table chatter stopped and we watched my
mother and father glance knowingly at each other. The older kids would feel
foolish (again) for taking so much for granted.</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> This was the blessing of Christmas and
our family. That moment when Dad looked at Mom and she at him, both of them
surveying the domestic tableau, taking in its sights and fragrances, the
children waiting impatiently for one minute more. That moment when love shined
in their eyes for one another and all the hard work of their marriage was
realized. Here was the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>real<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>blessing, an unspoken, magnetic
bond of enduring love and gratitude. Look at this! Look at what we made!</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> There was a lesson there for all of us,
if we could just see it. This is what family is. This is what marriage looks
like.</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> We lingered at breakfast for at least an
hour while the blinking white lights of the Christmas tree in the library and
the sweet smell of the pine needles called to us like sirens. Piles of
presents circled the foot of the tree. Opening them would wait. We all knew
breakfast was part of the special ritual, too.</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> Finally, around 9 a.m., the youngest
among us would feel the irresistible pull of the main event. We would all leave
the table full of dishes, retreat to the library and gather in a large circle
on sofas or folding chairs, the young ones sitting crossed legged nearest the
tree and retrieving presents for everyone else. </span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> A family rule was that each of us had to
buy at least one small present for every member of the family, so there were at
least 125 presents to be unwrapped. My parents insisted we open them one
at a time, and that we formally thank the person who gave it to us. This was
also part of the family tradition. It made the spirit of Christmas last for
hours.</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> When it was done, my parents let us
congregate around the tree, laughing and playing with new toys or trying on new
clothes. Then they would go do the breakfast dishes, she washing, he drying.</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> They would smile and listen to the sounds
of Christmas from all corners of the large stone home they called Kitzaplenty
Place. Squeals of happiness and laughter and of the pounding of small feet
racing up the staircases, barking dogs chasing after them.</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> After the dishes were dried and stacked
up on the kitchen counter, my dad would carry them all into the dining room and
set the table again. Mom would start the Christmas dinner.</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> Paul and I, the two oldest, would
sidle into the kitchen and find the left over <i>saucejzenbroodges.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>The flaky crust would melt in our
mouths. But the real meat of the sausage was like the day itself. Tasty,
filling. In a word: unforgettable. The very essence of Mother's Christmases.</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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#<wbr></wbr> # # #</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-28469238638685410472014-12-07T10:00:00.002-08:002014-12-07T11:34:30.499-08:00The year in pop music: a ten best list for 2014<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">These were the CDs I enjoyed listening to the most this year. These all stayed in my car CD player for long stretches of time and bore up to repeated listenings. Not everyone will enjoy each of these picks. But if you read carefully, you're likely to find something that will make you glad youpurchased it or you might find something here to stuff in your family's Christmas stockings.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Happy listening!</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">1) The War on Drugs: <i>“Lost in the Dream.”</i> <span style="color: black;">This album was released in March and has been in heavy rotation in my car ever since. It’s the band’s third and most fully realized album. Starting with the epic two-chord romp "Under the Pressure,"<span class=""> Ad</span>am Granducial and the band offer a mesmorizing collection of entirely engaging rock songs. They tend to start with predictable rock instrumentation but blossom into more interesting set pieces that feature floating ambient passages, assorted blasts of brass instruments and synthesizers. Songs like "Red Eyes" and the gorgeous "An Ocean in Between the Waves" channel the energy of Bruce Springsteen with the introspective navel-gazing of Jackson Browne’s most introspective songs. The album’s ten songs are a sprawling pastiche of deceptively simple yet utterly unforgettable reflections on modern living. "Lost in the Dream" is a meandering masterpiece of shifting moods and dreamy vibes, always anchored by Granducial’s guitar. </span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: black;">2) Ought. "<i>More Than Any Other Day"</i>. This Montreal-based post-punk band had one of the most explosive debuts of the year. My son and I caught their sparsely populated set at Johnny Brenda's for just $8 and thought we were seeing the Talking Heads, circa 1978 at CBGBs. It won't be so easy (or so cheap) to see them next time around. The energy they brought to their high-powered rock n' roll set was exhilerating to witness. The band takes a collaborative approach to their songs. They tend to start slowly and gradually build to climatic crescendoes of slashing dissonance and vocal angst. Tim Beeler's vocals (like David Byrne's) may grate on some ears, but there's never any doubt he's totally invested in the performance of the song. "More Than Any Other Day" rocks harder than any CD I heard all year. <o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">3) Sturgill Simpson, <i>Metamodern Sounds in Country Music.</i> This is the second Simpson album release this year. The album’s title clearly borrows from the landmark Ray Charles' country set. But the musical precedents he’s channeling are Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings and Jimmy Webb. The album’s first single, “Turtles All the Way” takes an unpredictable and somewhat disconcerting psychedelic approach that works surprisingly well considering the genre Simpson is working in. His rich baritone and his phrasing sound as if he’s been taking voice lessons from Jamey Johnson. If you don’t like your country music in its most distilled form, you probably won’t dig Sturgill Simpson. But if Willie, Waylon and the boys are still rattling around your memory bank, you’ll love this one.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #303030; font-size: 10pt;">4) Ex-Hex. <i>Rips.</i> </span></b><b><span style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; color: black; font-size: 10pt;">In her earlier work with Autoclave and Helium and, more recently, Wild Flag, Mary Timoney’s virtuosic guitar work always threw up in-your-face riffs that reeked of snarky confidence. If you loved her then, you’ll <i>really </i> love her new album with an old collective known as Ex-Hex, who debuted in 2005 and has been on hiatus since. A punky, feminist romp, “Rips” is an economical, throwback to classic rock albums on the 1970s. This one is similar to Elvis Costello’s first record. Every song is a gem and all 12 of them clock in under 35 minutes. Highlights include “Hot and Cold,” “You’ll Fall Apart” and “New Kid”. But trying to pick just three cuts off an album of 12 great blistering rock and roll songs is like choosing which fingers you want to slice off your hand. “Rips” rips. </span></b><span class=""><b><span style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; color: black; font-size: 10pt;">5) Beck. <i>Morning Phase</i>. It’s been six years since Beck released an album. He had some serious health issues that kept him from working or recording in the interim, but the time off seemed to add layer of reflection that’s been missing from his songwriting since “Sea Change,” his most introspective record. Like that one, “<i>Morning Phases</i>” shows a more philosophical side of Beck that makes this latest recording a distinct pleasure to hear many times. “<i>Sea Change</i>” broke from Beck’s heavy use of sampling and electronic gimmicks an acoustic presentation of the songs. So, too, does “Morning Phases.” The songs possess a warmer, gentler tone and show the subtle side of an artist who destined for the rock n’ roll hall. “Cycle,” “Morning” and “Waking Light” are songs to start the day with.</span></b><b><span style="background: rgb(241, 241, 241); color: #6d6d6d; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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<span class=""><b><span style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; color: black; font-size: 10pt;">6) Teddy Thompson. <i>Family</i>. Just last month Teddy Thompson (Richard and Linda’s son) released his latest collaborative project, called “Family.” His mother and father and his sister, Kami, all contribute songs to the record, as do Kami’s husband (James Walbourne) and their stepbrother, Jack Thompson, from Richard’s second marriage. In an interview with the New York Times, Teddy said “at first, I thought it would be fun and easy,” but he soon realized “I was definitely trying to repair some kind of damage.” Kami, in the same story, said the family reunion concept was “like a family song-writing competition – it’s a bloody nightmare. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?” If <i>“Shoot Out the Lights</i>” (a ‘70s classic five-star recording ) was the Thompson’s truth about their divorce, “<i>Family</i>” shows that they’ve weathered the emotional storm just fine. <o:p></o:p></span></b></span><br />
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<span class=""><b><span style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; color: black; font-size: 10pt;">7) Temples. <i>Sun Structures</i>. The nostalgic trip-fest of the year goes to this debut CD from Temples, a band from Kettering, England. Lead by guitarist and vocalist James Bagshaw, the Temples’ template takes 1967 psychedelic era pop and reinvents it, adding layers of sonic tricks that are pleasurable if a tad polished. Their best songs sound like T. Rex at their glittery finest but on a few others, the sheer studio sheen makes it seem as if the band is trying a little too hard to replicate a ‘60s pop confection. I caught their gig at the Union Transfer and the band pushed the songs forward with a gritty, guitar attack that suited their material better. “Shelter Song,” the title track and “Mesmerize” all sound like top of the pops chart-toppers from the late ‘60s. Temples is a band to watch.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span><br />
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<span class=""><b><span style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; color: black; font-size: 10pt;">8) Allo Darlin’ – <i>We Come From the Same Place.</i> </span></b></span><b><span style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Anglo-Australian band Allo Darlin' released their third album this year and it’s another batch of well-crafted, hook-laden songs written by Elizabeth Morris, the band’s songwriter and lead singer. She’s supported here with effortless ease by her band but it’s Morris’s show and she delivers these introspective, anecdotal stories with lines that sound like tossed-off couplets but reel you in close for a hard look at her heart. “I wanted to impress you, and I think you knew” she sings in “Kings and Queens”. There are the idiosyncratic characteristics here, especially her use of the ukulele as a center point for some songs, but the band behind her rocks hard. This is an immensely likable pop album, reminiscent of Joni Mitchell in her prime. </span></b></div>
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<span class=""><b><span style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; color: black; font-size: 10pt;">9) The Antlers. <i>Familiars. </i></span></b></span><b><span style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #1b1916; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></b><b><span style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #1b1916; font-size: 10pt;">On “<i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Familiars”, </span></i>The Antlers abandon the electronic influences that informed the Brooklyn band’s first two records, 2011’s “<i>Burst Apart</i>” and 2009 “<i>Hospice</i>”, opting for a jazzier vibe that showcases a reliance on horns. Peter Silberman’s controlled falsetto remains one The Antler’s most compelling assets. There’s not a cut on the album that one might hear on top 40 radio, and that’s meant as a compliment. Nine compelling cuts that bring you to another world and craft a soundtrack that just needs the right movie to find its audience. The Antlers seem like one of the most interesting bands making music today.<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #1b1916; font-size: 10pt;">10 Rose</span></b><b><span style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #303030; font-size: 10pt;">anne Cash, <i>The River & The Thread</i>. Cash’s string of terrific CDs released in the last seven or eight years continues on this well-crafted set that has flown under the radar since it was released in January. (I didn’t discover its many charms until about a month ago.) Much of her most recent work was imbued with a sense of memory and grief, coming on the heels of the death of her mother and her iconic father. <i>The River & the Thread</i><span class=""> </span>finds the veteran Nashville songwriter crafting songs of immense detail and emotion she delivers in her trademark plaintive voice. The uptempo rocker “Modern Blue”sounds like an outtake from her classic “King’s Record Store” but the rest of the record travels down blues and folk roads, with the able contributions from her husband, John Leventhal. "A Feather's Not a Bird" and "Etta's Tune" are highlights.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #303030; font-size: 10pt;">In alphabetical order, here are some CDs that almost made my end of the year list: Anansy Cissy, "Mali Overdrive"; Gary Clark, Jr., “Live”; Joe Henry, “Invisible Hour”; Parquet Courts, “Sun-bathing Animals”; Cookie Rabinowitz, “Four-Eyed Soul”. Spoon, "They Want My Soul", St. Vincent, "St. Vincent"; U.S. Rails, "Heartbreak Superstar"; Sharon Van Etten "Are We There"; Woods, “With Light & With Love”.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-44906982634060720292014-09-27T06:56:00.001-07:002014-09-29T06:49:38.475-07:00The right-wing uproar over President Obama's "latte salute": why I vote Democratic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>By now most of you may have heard the president "disrespected" the military and the American flag when he disembarked from the presidential helicopter earlier this week and tried to salute two Marines standing at attention at the bottom of the chopper's exit ramp with a cup of coffee in his hand.</b><br />
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<b>The rightwing propaganda machine went into overdrive outrage mode, castigating the president for this slip-up. The film clip of this incident is about 20 seconds long and nothing in American politics short of Zapruder's footage of the assassination of President Kennedy has been discussed </b><b>and dissected </b><b>as much as this innocent moment.</b><br />
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<b>I happened to be speaking about television news ethics in my "Introduction to Mass Media" class this week. Coverage of the president's "latte salute" incident served as a perfect example of all that is wrong with national TV news coverage. It ignores the most important aspects of public policy and it inflates, out of all rational proportion, the most trivial things that transpire.</b><br />
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<b>In short, this incident has been used as an attempt to serve a far right-wing agenda (Fox News) or to chase high ratings and advertizing dollars</b><b> (ABC, NBC, CBS). In either case, the national networks do not serve democracy. The root of our national conundrum is that America</b><b>'s TV media are owned by large corporations that are more interested in generating mega-profits than in </b><b>protecting the public interest.</b><br />
<b><br /></b><b>President Obama's latte salute was the subject of a blistering battle of words and ideology on the Facebook page of a former fraternity brother who lives in Louisiana. The fact that he resides in one of the reddest of red states (a state steeped in a legacy of racism) made the interchange between his Facebook friends particularly interesting and angry. One of the comments on the thread suggested Obama's salute was unpatriotic and showed disrespect of both the military and our nation's flag. </b><br />
<b><br /></b><b>After a day of bile and abuse, my fraternity brother decided his thread was "toxic" and promised to take it down. I wanted to get in one last response to his GOP friends before it was abandoned. My post was an appeal to GOP voters in Louisiana to consider voting Democratic in the November elections.</b><br />
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<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">I want to reach out to Dave's Republican friends with some food for thought from an East Coast liberal. If this makes one or two of you think about your voting choices in the upcoming election, so much the bette</span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">r. </span></span></span></strong></em><br />
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span></strong></em>
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">There are lots of things to dislike the President for. Let me name three off the top of my head. One: He didn't include a public option in his Affordable Care Act. This might have saved hundreds of millions of middle class Americans money when they have to see a doctor. Think how much you save when you mail a letter to California if you use the U.S. Postal Service instead of FedEx or UPS and you'll get the idea. </span></span></span></strong></em><br />
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span></strong></em>
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Two: Every time he orders the execution of an American with a drone, he ignores our constitutional guarantee of due process. Those Americans did not get a trial. They were judged, sentenced and executed by the president. This seems like a gross abuse of his powers. </span></span></span></strong></em><br />
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span></strong></em>
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Three: He campaigned as an opponent to the War in Iraq and on trying to dismantle and reduce American's nuclear arsenal, weapons that threaten the very existence of humankind on Earth. Yet the New York Times ran a front page story this week about Obama's decision to spend billions of tax dollars in a plan to u</span></span></span></strong></em><em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">pgrade our deteriorating nuclear defense system. </span></span></span></strong></em><br />
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span></strong></em><em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ask yourselves, my GOP compatriots: why doesn't Fox news focus on these governmental decisions/issues that Obama has made but instead focuses on the President's "latte salute"? It's a question worth asking. </span></span></span></strong></em><br />
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span></strong></em>
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Here's my answer: our left-wing, radical president took action in these decisions that supported huge corporations...exactly the kind of action Ronald Reagan would have taken. Why? For the life of me, I cannot understand why. But from my point of view, he sure ain't no liberal! He's as conservative as Reagan! </span></span></span></strong></em><br />
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span></strong></em>
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Here's your party's ONLY agenda. The GOP wants to accomplish one thing: it wants to help the super-wealthy. It is owned and operated by the super-wealthy. Every time you vote for a Republican candidate, you are voting against the middle class and your own economic interests. Every time you get another Republican elected to Congress, the one-percenters break out the single malt scotch and toast your naivete. They are laughing at you behind your backs because, yet again, you drank the GOP Cool-aid. </span></span></span></strong></em><br />
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span></strong></em>
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Here is the reality of the America we all live in, Republican and Democrat; Christian, Jew and Muslim; black, brown and white. One percent of the country's citizens own 90 percent of our collective wealth. Those same one-percenters control the flow of money; they control the banks; they control the media; they own your home if you still pay a mortgage; they own the future of your children if your kids have college loans. The ONLY agenda they have is this: they want to hang onto their wealth.The only thing they understand is money. They could care less about the good of the nation. </span></span></span></strong></em><br />
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span></strong></em>
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Any vote for a Republican is a vote for the status quo. Think what you want, that's the privilege of being an American, but please DON'T think you are creating a "better world" or a "stronger union" when you vote for a Republican. YOU may believe in family values. So do we Democrats. WE are voting for change. The change we most desire is to live in an equitable society where the distribution of wealth is not so one-sided and doesn't favor of the wealthiest people on Earth. </span></span></span></strong></em><br />
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span></strong></em>
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Please don't tell me they "earned" it with their sweat and toil, working with their hands. They earned it by convincing people like you to elect representatives who do their bidding, who create laws and open tax loopholes that allow them to horde wealth. They are lawyers, bankers, hedge fund managers and, most of all, corporate CEOs, defense contractors and war profiteers. They are not plumbers, electricians, carpenters or reporters. </span></span></span></strong></em><br />
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span></strong></em><em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Please don't require me to salute the flag of a nation whose government protects the assets of the wealthiest people on Earth. Please don't call me a "traitor" for pointing out this sad reality: the super wealthy and their elected representatives are working hard to keep the rest of us down. Do yourselves a favor. Start reading a decent newspaper and get your heads out of the Fox News propaganda machine. To all of you who read this far with an open mind, I humbly thank you. God bless the First Amendment!</span></span></span></strong></em><br />
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span></strong></em>
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal;">Let's try to see TV news for what it really is: a race for ratings, a chase for advertising dollars. Let's also stop pretending we are "informed" when we watch the news on any network broadcast. You won't find the truth on network TV. You have to search hard for the truth. Try reading the New York Times every day or watch John Stewart or Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central. Read the Nation or the Atlantic magazines. Watch PBS between 6 and 7 p.m. And demand that news bureaus start to take their special place in d</span></span></span></span></strong></em><em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal;">emocracy seriously. We need the media to hold power accountable for the wheels of democracy to spin smoothly. It's way, way past time for the media to start taking their jobs seriously. </span></span></span></span></strong></em><br />
<b><em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></em>
<em style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); border: 0px; color: #353535; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal;">See the footage here: </span></span></span></span></span></em></b><br />
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<b>http://www.wjla.com/articles/2014/09/president-obama-s-greeting-to-marines-dubbed-the-latte-salute--107459.html</b><br />
<b><br /></b>Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-5447859197892913912014-07-10T12:20:00.000-07:002014-07-10T18:18:31.749-07:00Saying goodbye<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rJ8Sshrqq5TF4f3skDCgaAqJ4_JtNKLIAsuxyZYGVkpp7hVd5hNPnN3uxoKurGGZm5zxQIBNftGZgGdWbkmP-Sx7IfhD82qv3XF1VCmNBFX9a9ybm3_RinVL2DYNt2PoUtuitsD_eg/s1600/Chuck+kiss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rJ8Sshrqq5TF4f3skDCgaAqJ4_JtNKLIAsuxyZYGVkpp7hVd5hNPnN3uxoKurGGZm5zxQIBNftGZgGdWbkmP-Sx7IfhD82qv3XF1VCmNBFX9a9ybm3_RinVL2DYNt2PoUtuitsD_eg/s1600/Chuck+kiss.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>By Chuck Bauerlein<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Last January, my sister in Wisconsin wrote to the other
siblings some news about my mother, Agnes. She is slowly dying of Alzheimer’s
disease and her decline had taken an ominous turn. Mom’s physician had told my
sister that my Mother was having trouble swallowing food. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Families who have witnessed their loved ones slowly dying
know this is one of the final stages of this pernicious disease. When a person can’t
remember to swallow his or her food, the body cannot sustain itself. Her doctor
said she would likely have between six and 12 months to live. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>I knew I might be pushing my luck if I waited to see her
until this summer, but my work schedule was full and other siblings were going
out to visit her, so I waited until this past weekend to go and say my
farewells. <o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>I arrived in Oshkosh on the evening of July 3<sup>rd</sup>,
but didn’t go visit her until the morning to the 4<sup>th</sup> of July. She
was sitting at her standard spot at a table with two other patients who could
still talk. </b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Her head was bent low and she was slowly taking food from one of
the home assistants. I took over the feeding and spent an hour slowly helping
my mom eat a small canister of peach yogurt and one scrambled egg, one small
swallow at a time. She was able to wash the soft food down pulling cranberry
juice out of a cup with a plastic straw.</b><br />
<b> <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>Mom did not know who I was; she had no recognition of me. She
ate with her eyes closed. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>I talked to her and tried to engage her, or at least get her
to open her eyes, but without any luck. I noticed several other patients in the
room were not eating either. I don’t know if they were not hungry or if they,
too, were in the late stages of Alzheimer’s and simply had forgotten how to feed
themselves. There were nine patients total and very little conversation in the
room – except for the nurse assistants encouraging them to eat. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Afterwards I took my mother in her wheelchair out to a small
garden near her room. A pleasant Wisconsin summer morning unfolded before us,
alive with birdsong and the scent of blooming flowers. Mom was oblivious. I
reached out and took her hand in mine and was surprised when I felt her aged, translucent
fingers squeezing mine. I talked to her, but her head remained permanently
fixed in a bent position. She was there, but she wasn’t in the present.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Later in the day, a driver from her care facility brought
her out to my sister’s farm in Neenah, about five or six miles away. My brother
Mark, who lives about a mile from my mom, prepared a typical July 4<sup>th</sup>
feast of grilled corn on the cob, potato
salad and hamburgers. Mark, my sister, her husband Michael and me and Mom sat
under a huge shade tree and enjoyed the meal. Heidi spoon fed my Mother soft food
that she managed to swallow. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>The chitchat seemed to get through to my mother. An occasional
smile would spread across her lips. Maybe she could recognize the voices of my
Wisconsin siblings. Maybe they were familiar enough for my mother to recognize
and remember the sound of their voices and evoke some distant memory. It was
hard to know. But it was a wonderful moment to witness. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>My sister took some pictures to commemorate my visit to
Mother and our 4<sup>th</sup> of July. I reached around her shoulders and
pulled her close and kissed her. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>On Sunday morning, my brother came with me to visit Mom. It
was after breakfast and we sat with her in the garden. His familiar voice
cheered her. We talked about the Phillies’ sorry season or something as
trivial. Her eyes opened wide for the first time in three days and she smiled.
Mark noticed and talked to her and made a comment that made her chuckle. It was
undeniable. For a minute or three, she was there with us. Alive again; fully in
the moment. She couldn’t talk, but she could communicate with her eyes and her
face was full of love and happiness. It
was a small miracle. I felt so blessed to witness it.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Later that evening, my sister Heidi came to help me serve
Mom dinner at the care facility. The morose silence of the dining room was more
than Heidi could bear and she suggested we take Mom outside to the garden.
There we slowly fed Mom her meal and engaged in a lively discussion about Heidi’s
work for a Wisconsin corporation.</b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>In the middle of our conversation my mother started to
laugh, a belly laugh from deep inside of herself. She was trying to with
all her will to articulate a thought and utter a complete sentence. She was
joining the conversation. Heidi and I looked at one another in complete astonishment.
Then we both laughed. And Mom laughed with us. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Before I left Oshkosh on Monday, I went back to feed her one
last meal. Peach yogurt and a scrambled egg again. It took 75 minutes for her
to eat a meal I could have devoured in 90 seconds. But I was conscious of every
bite; every swallow. And I reminded myself how there must have been hundreds of
hours when my mother was patiently waiting for me to swallow my jarred apricots
or baby formula when I was six or seven months old. And how many thousands of times my
mother must have performed this same chore with my siblings over the years. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>And the seconds of this feeding seemed to rush by like
summer lightning and I knew I might never be able to perform this task again.
Ever. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>I took my mother out to the garden one last time. I took her
withered, wrinkled hand in mind and I told
her I hoped I might come back to see her in November for Thanksgiving and she
should try to hang on if she could. But I also told her Dad was anxious to see
her and it was okay if she had to go.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>I told my mother she had been an incredible mother to me and
my siblings and how lucky I was to have her in my life for so long. And then I
said goodbye. Mom managed to open her eyes for me and I looked into her eyes. I
can’t know of course if what I saw was what she saw. But it felt to me as if
she seemed to sense this might be the last time we might see one another on
this Earth.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Then she squeezed my finger one last time and the light in
her eyes seemed to flicker and fade. After a few more minutes in the garden I wheeled
her back into the facility and put her in front of the community TV, where two
other patients dozed peacefully. </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>I pulled her shoulders into my chest and I told her I loved
her very much. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>I had a plane to catch. It was time to leave. </b><o:p></o:p></div>
Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-63410531604760655652014-06-25T08:55:00.001-07:002014-06-27T09:52:46.230-07:00mid-year pop music report <div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><b><span style="font-size: large;">Pop music continues to evolve and amaze. Here are some CDs I've been listening to. I have no idea how many of these will make my end of the year list, but for what it's worth, here are a dozen CDs in heavy rotation in my car CD player and at home in the disc changer. Seems a sure bet something here might catch your fancy, too! </span></b></o:p></div>
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<o:p><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b>Antlers – “Familiars”. In an
interview in Pitchfork, The Antler’s
primary songwriter Peter Silberman dropped Gaspar Noe’s “Enter the Void” film as an inspiration for the band’s 2014 effort: “There are different ways to look
at death and they don’t have to be depressing at all.” Like both “Hospice” and “Burst
Apart”, “Familiars’’ is another trippy, introspective plunge into the
netherworld of death and dying. But if you’ve heard this band before, you’ll know this also means another emotionally enthralling trip to a world of transcendence
and beauty. “Intruders” and “Surrender” are two slowly developing songs that
produce swirls of keyboard, horns and electric guitars in ways that make the Antler’s music
groundbreaking on a grand scale.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b>Arc Iris – Arc Iris. Last year, Jocia Adams, a long standing
member of the Low Anthem, Providence’s notable folk rock collective, left the
band to form her own ensemble, called Arc Iris. I caught her set at the Boot & Saddle in April and it’s easy to see why the slow shuffle Americana music
of the Low Anthem may have felt inhibiting to her. Her new collection of songs
have an aural sweep that feels mostly like majestic prog rock from the
mid-1970's. Adams sounds liberated on
this record, a fresh new voice worth finding.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b>Beck, “Morning Phase.” After a six-year hiatus from recording, Beck
came back this spring with one of his best recordings, “Morning Phase.”
After several records that wallowed in reflective self-pity, Beck’s songwriting
on this effort suggests the songwriter has finally come back around to smell the roses
and enjoy the taste of honey again. The songs are more fully developed by his band
and the music feels less stripped down that previous records. Sonicly, it’s his most
ambitious and lush recording since “Sea Change.” A triumphant return to form
for one of America’s most enigmatic recording artists. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b>Laura Cantrell, “No Way There From Here". Cantrell’s girlish country
warble is in fine fettle on this new collection
of well-crafted folk rock songs, her first release of original songs in nine years. In Pop Matters, Josh Koch notes “the recording
quality is stunning, there’s a serious
warmth to everything…. It’s an acoustic audiophile’s dream come true.” A
pleasing mélange of instruments helps to elevate Cantrell’s recordings out of
the realm of pedestrian country music into something that feels more organic
and accomplished at the same time. Pedal steel, slide guitar, mandolin, banjo,
bass and electric guitars all blend into one distinctively wonderful album. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b>Anansy Cisse – “Mali Overdrive.” Folks who know my musical tastes know already
I’ve long been enamored by Mali musicians. Ali Farka Toure , Amadou and Mariam and Rokia Traore have all
ended up on my end of the year list in the last five or six years. This year’s
list is likely to include this beautiful collection of songs from Anansy Cisse,
another great Mali artist whose legend is just beginning. The music is delicate and intricate, constructed on a foundation of traditional bass guitar and ngone and
soku, one and two stringed instruments
in the guitar family indigenous to West Africa. The calabash, an instrument fashioned out of a gourd and strung with beads, provides percussive sounds. Cisse’s bluesy guitar
and earthy, expressive vocals give this African music a distinctively American
feel. Worth finding and savoring. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<o:p><b><br /></b></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b>“Invisible Hour,” Joe Henry. Henry’s latest effort is a collection of powerful
songs that investigates the inner-workings of marriage. The songs are reflective
set pieces that delve into the subject matter with sensitivity and insight, full
of observational moments and tiny telling details that have always been the
songwriter’s forte. Without ever pointing the finger or placing blame with his
characters, Henry brings both the joys and heartaches of marriage to this cycle
of songs that make his listeners think and feel their way through the
labyrinth of love. It may be the most remarkable exploration of the sacred
institution since Dylan’s “Blood on the Tracks.” <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b>Jon Langford – “Here Be
Monsters”. The former front man for Britain’s Mekons has long brought a touch
of Billy Bragg political populism to his craft. Langford’s been living in the states long
enough to know the more things change, the more they stay the same. Thankfully,
we still have his critical eye and sense of sarcasm to carry us through the
day. “Be Here Monsters”, played with his new musical collective Orchard Skulls,
is worthy of his best, most chaotic work with the Mekons. A mature, seasoned
songwriter, working at the top of his game.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b>Ought. “More Than Any Other
Day.” This one came as a recommendation
from my 30-year old son. The kid’s got great taste! (Great singing chops,
too!) Ought is a Canadian band that got together during the student protests in
2012 when the provincial government in Quebec tried to raise tuition by 75
percent, provoking school boycotts. Although none of the eight songs on “More
Than Any Other Day” deal specifically with this political movement, they seem
to channel the anger of those supercharged “Maple Spring” days. If these guys
sound like anarchists, you know why. Played with the finger-pointing fury and fervor
of American bands like Social Distortion and Flogging Molly.<o:p></o:p></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b>Parquet Courts, “Sunbathing
Animal.” Parquet Courts manages to sound
resoundingly fresh and relevant, despite wearing their musical influences
proudly on their sleeves. “Sunbathing Animal” sounds alternately like Pavement,
the Velvet Underground, Ween, Wire and Television, sometimes all at the same
time. This post-modern mash-up of some of punk rock’s greatest bands does more than honor the genre. Like most great
bands, they seem to reinvent it and call it their own. “Black and White” has a
propulsive pace that is downright addictive. “Sunbathing Animal” takes the
perspective of a house cat trapped in an apartment. Primal punk: don’t punt! Purchase
promptly!<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b>Cookie Rabinowitz – “Four
Eyed Soul.” My local public radio station has been playing this local neo-soul
singer with the improbable name of Cookie Rabinowitz for about a month now. I
caught his show at the “Make Music Philly” festival in a public park in Roxborough on Saturday evening. It was a
dance fest of the first order. Rabinowitz sounds like he’s taken Sly Stone’s
template and run it through a meat grinder with his Kanye CDs. Lyrically
whimsical and unabashedly soulful, Cookie’s got a good thang going on with “Four
Eyed Soul.” Don’t let those sports goggles fool you, folks! This cat ain’t no
freakin’ geek. “I Want to Text You With My Mouth” and the CD's first single, "Self-Loathing". are as infectious as pop music
today gets. Cookie cooks!<o:p></o:p></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b>Temples - "Sun Structures" -- </b></span><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 115%;">Temples – “Sun Structures”. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 115%;">Noel
Gallagher proclaimed </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 115%;">Temples, the hottest
new band in Britain. But try not to hold that against them!</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 115%;">The Temples, following Tame Impala’s template,
showcase a wide variety of 60s psychedelic sounds that owe as much to California
acid-tripping bands like the Doors, the Electric Prunes and the Jefferson
Airplane as much as the pop sensibilities of England’s T-Rex and the Zombies.
Lead singer James Bagshaw carries a charming confidence through his
performances on these songs. If “Rubber Soul” or the Monkee’s foray into
psychedelic music, “Head” float your boat, you’ll probably have lots of fun
listening to this updated version of music inspired by Haight-Ashbury. </span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b>War on Drugs, “Lost In a
Dream.” You might have thought losing a
talent like Kurt Vile would leave the gas tank empty for this local band. But War
On Drugs, fronted by songwriter Adam Granduciel, seems to have lots of mileage left to go. While Vile has gone on to make his
own terrific solo records, Granduciel has made his most relevant, ear-pleasing
album to date. His trademark tasty guitar work is in evidence on the CD’s first
song, the sprawling “Under the Pressure.” The rest of the record seems locked
under the opener’s mesmerizing spell. If
you love guitar rock, you’ll love this.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6279048776670598386.post-48235950795163893952014-06-13T16:32:00.000-07:002014-06-14T10:02:14.212-07:00The best Father's Day present ever: the accomplishment of a lifetime <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Tomorrow morning, a new community English center will open in the small town of Nueva Guinea, Nicaragua.</b><br />
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<b>The moment it opens, it will be the largest foreign-language library in the entire country. It will change the culture of the entire town. It may help enable hundreds of lower and middle class Nicaraguan children and students in the region learn a new language, one that will increase their chances of rising out of the Third World and starting a better life.</b><br />
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<b>Countless of volunteers worked on the building; washing and painting walls; scrubbing and waxing floors; building desks and book cases. Nearly $7,000 in various projects was raised to get the building refurbished. Hundreds of people in the United States donated a wide range of books to this project, from children's picture books to hardback, cloth-bound literary classics.</b><br />
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<b>No one worked harder than my daughter, Isabel. It was her vision for the library that started the ball rolling. It was her personal project for the Peace Corps. It was her never-ending cajoling of needed supplies and donations that made this community center a reality. It was her baby from day one. Tomorrow morning, the baby is birthed and Nueva Guinea has a proud new library.</b><br />
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<b>That this should come on the day before Father's Day is one of the nicest things that has ever happened to me. Sheer coincidence, for sure. I don't care much.</b><br />
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<b>I am one very proud dad.</b><br />
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<b>Isabel, you are one amazing person!!</b><br />
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Chuck Bauerleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00338920290992509800noreply@blogger.com2