Reflux Throated Hurlingbirds

From Darby Conley's Get Fuzzy

Heh heh.

Tunage. Shows. Youth. Memories.

Cap'n Noise posted recently on concert attendance for a band from his past. Have not had the same reaction to seeing live music from youthful influences or enthusiasms. For me, these events incur positive nostalgia.

CarolinaMom and I saw Johnny Mathis at Chastain Amphitheater a couple o'years back here in Atlanta. Wow. That man's voice is still buttah: late in "Misty" when he sings "On my own" an octave higher than the rest of the melody gave me goose bumps. I cried a bit with "The Twelfth of Never," as it's one of my Mom's favorites. We sat next to two women my Mom's age, and the 3 of them waxed on about their teenage crushes, other popular music at the time, etc.

I've seen James Taylor many, many times. His music framed my childhood, and I shoved countless quarters into the jukebox at Anna's Pizzeria in Hampton to play "Handyman".

But these music tastes were my parents' and became mine by osmosis. The ones I sought out myself as Noise did, in 'tween and teen years, and seen recently? Many still bring it. But they weren't as frantic or punk or alternative as Noise's B52s. My sister and I saw Peter Frampton, and I heard no tales from her about feelin' old 'n'stuff, or that Frampton was any less intense as a balding older white dood. He still showed the way (just watch Almost Famous - he and Nancy Wilson wrote the original music, and the movie brings that time's feel back in spades.)

Crowded House last fall at The Tabernacle was one of my top 5 concerts, ever, and their musical chops had only improved with time. More subtlety and complexity. Neil Finn's age couldn't have shown more, what with his son opening the show and all. But it didn't have me finding Neil an old fart, nor did it make me feel similarly old-farted with being closer to Neil's age than his son's.

How much NEW live music do you witness, Cap'n? Vampire Weekend at Variety Playhouse in June drew a multi-generational audience vividly engaged to each of the 75 minutes played. Why only 75? Well, they've only the one album, dontcha know. Fans from age 10 to age 60 in the demographic spread, with density in the college-age. Plenty of boozing and dancing in the crowd. I was transported to 1983 and Coyote having me listen to the Violent Femmes.

Feist at Masquerade this Spring blew me away. No Kate or Cindy or alt punk feel, but I felt no age distance between myself and the teenage urchins I chaperoned. Neither did my concert consort, Kimplicated. The sound harkened be effortelessly back to Boone introducing me to "new" chick music during college: The Cocteau Twins, The Sundays, The Innocence Mission, Sarah McLachlan.

Sheena baptized me with The Legendary Shack Shakers in Tallahassee in 2005, and Cap'n, they done did bring zany. And let's not forget my aforementioned serendipitous newish crush.

Speaking of Kimplicated, another of my top 5 concerts is seeing 311 with her at Lakewood Amphitheater. They brung it hard, but my fondness for the event was witnessing Kimplicated's unmitigated joy and thrash dancing so hard that her specs went flying a few rows in front of us (rescued with a mad dash forward). The dancing was contagious. I bounced up and down and happily remembered the ghosts of shows past: A Flock of Seagulls, R.E.M., Oingo Boingo, The Cure, U2.

And then there's Eddie From Ohio. My passion for their music fully integrates my parent's osmossissing, my teenage discoveries, and my adult acoustic penchants. In their harmonies I'm back on a long trip in the station wagon, the 8-track player booming Peter Paul & Mary, The Kingston Trio, John Denver, and my folks and us urchins singing 5 part harmony. In their joy for entertaining I'm transported to meeting Robbie Schaefer in high school at a variety show audition, and seeing his band Knightly Jest whip teenagers into frenzied (albeit mostly sober) dancing to The Stray Cats and The Who. In their wit I'm hanging out with Robbie in college at JMU, meeting Michael Clem, and am in the thick of late night banter and Jellyfish Blues Band gigs. In their soulfulness and Julie's passionate voice, I'm back in Mr. Boren's choir at Cocoa Beach High School, singing 8 part a capella harmony with my brother and Otter and Coyote. And then I'm in The Swede's kitchen after an EFO gig at Variety Playhouse, drinking beers with the band and reading our names on the back of a high school regional chorus competition album: me, Robbie, Julie, Chad of Knightly Jest, and Robbie's peep Vern.

Mayhap it's my frequency of live music worship, but Cap'n my Cap'n, I'm not taken where you go. I lose myself in appreciation of the sound, the shared enjoyment, and a bevvie or two. The experience connects me philotically to youthful show going joy. It's a communion. It's part mind-, part heartf*ck. It's social object enthusiasm enjoyed best when shared, not solo'd, and always connects me with my peep music influencers.

Getting old does not *completely* suck, Cap'n Noise. It may *mostly* suck. But it does not *completely* suck.

Swedish English

Today's Toothpaste for Dinner can't help but shout out to the Swede as well as to my longer-term Swedish stalking target.

Universe

From Randall Munroe's xkcd.com

Earworms

Rumor has it my folks took us urchins to see John Denver at the Hampton Coliseum. His tunage was part of my childhood's soundtrack, so I don't mind these earworms.

If you don't like him, just be happy you weren't RickRolled.

From Stephan Pastis' Pearls Before Swine

How are you celebrating the day?

Happy holiday, matey!

From Stephan Pastis' Pearls Before Swine

Flip Chart Art

Many peeps have alerted me to Demitri Martin's Flip Chart Art. Two of his bits shout out to Cheek peeps:

Sheena, does your own FUH2 survey data confirm Demitri's stats?

Coyote, this just screamed your name!

Watch the whole piece here:

Who do I have to . . .

From NatalieDee.com

Seriously! Not a Burpee Ford nor a Turberville Melon to be found! R.L. would be VERY disappointed.

Give me your cheeky. Your contrary. Your catalytic.

A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill.
-Robert A. Heinlein, science-fiction author (1907-1988)

(From today's A Word a Day by Anu Garg)

Funny. Some of my best peeps are troublemakers. The good kind. You know who you are.

One More Gold for Team USA

Michael Phelps hogged the gold medal glory for media attention. Don't get me wrong. This former tyke swimmer is all pro-Phelpsian and just about peed her PANTS when Jason Lezak pulled out the stops in the last leg of the 4X100 free relay in the ultimate assist in Phelp's quest for 8 gold medals.

/rant mode ON
The effing asshats at NBC won't post the footage of the race for our viewing pleasure, and has chased down any vidsters who posted it. Argh! But I digress. As is my wont to do.
/rant mode OFF

In case you missed it, Team USA won a gold medal in basketball yesterday, coached by Mike Krzyzewski. I may be a Carolina Tarheel basketball fan, but there's no dissing Krzyzewski's coaching. He rocks.

Nike's superlative ad fetting the team to the tune of Marvin Gaye's rendering of the national anthem: fantastic, and an unsuck listen.



And now, back to regular sleep cycles.

Desperate Times, eh Cap'n Noise?

From Toothpaste For Dinner

Sheena, hope they don't come down the aisle with the tin cup on your overseas return!

Luscious Mad Men

The best show you're likely not watching: AMC's Mad Men. I only fell into watching it in the last few weeks because of its copious 16 Emmy award nominations. Provoked to know what the buzz was about, at least once, I set the DVR.

Wow. Luscious is the best word. The sets, the costumes, the images, the dialogue, the story. It defines, to me, What Is Sexy. From like, before, you know?

What I like best? Scene after scene after scene with what is NOT said. What is left to us to interpret, to noodle, to recognize and go "Yes!".

John Maeda's Laws of Simplicity, Law #10:

"Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful."

Mad Men embodies this law. Check it out.

(Ok. So I'm in lust with Jon Hamm. Sue me!)

Bacchanalia, revisited

Sheena is returning soon to the kudzu. Many Atlanta institutions are preparing to roll out the red - er, animal print carpet - in her honor. One such establishment - Bacchanalia - was the scene of Cheek's F*ck Forty milestone, celebrated with Kimplicated. Sadly, I didn't do justice back in January to describe the foodgasm that is Bacchanalia. So Sheena, here's a hint of what you're in for. I can't BELIEVE you and the Georgia Peach are going to go without me while I head to setup for the gig that night. B*tch!

I missed capturing the first course, but the amuse bouche served afterwards was a lovely celery soup:

Scallops were my main. Only the third time I've had them since the food revolution of 2006, and these were the best ever. A hint of garlic, and a yummy light cream sauce.

A light salad with yummy stinky cheese was next. Sorry Sheena - it's been too many months for me to remember which kind.

Speaking of cheese, Sheena's like to really dig the storefront of the restaurant, better known as Star Provisions. Absolutely scrumptious finds of cheese, oils, wines, and more, as well as various cooking and kitchen accoutrement.

A warm cider and small cookie served as the taste after the salad, with no hint of the decadence to come:

Dessert was a three course affair. The ladies dining next to us ordered everything on the dessert menu about the time that our mains were served, so Kimplicated and I got the tour and diner feedback as to best selections. My poison was a warm apple-y cake with caramel and ice cream, while Kimplicated's was flourless chocolate goodness.

Next came a dessert course surprise - Bacchanalia's own birthday cake. Absolutely the best I have ever had, with a perfect proportion of icing to cake. It kicked the previous desserts' asses.

But wait! There's more! The final presentation involved tasty sweet bits, all of which were taken home as stuffed silliness was upon us. Delight the next day upon opening the box for breakfast to discover extra bits added by the staff.

Driving home meant light imbibing, so we didn't opt for wine pairings with each course. Our server steered us towards ordering a glass with the main and then the cheese/salad courses, splitting between the two of us each time. We shared a moscato d'Asti with dessert.

Enjoy, Sheena. I can't wait to read your review!

Her energy policy doesn't completely suck

I wouldn't vote for Paris Hilton for president, but her energy policy does not completely suck. Definitely a Video You Should Know About (V.Y.S.K.A.). Spanks to Pid for sharing!

The XY Games

A fabulous op-ed piece appeared last week in the NY Times, entitled "The XY Games", by Jennifer Finney Boylan. The article details why the sex tests for Olympic athletes are profoundly flawed.

"The Olympic hosts seem to want to impose a binary order upon the messy continuum of gender. They are searching for concreteness and certainty in a world that contains neither.

Most efforts to rigidly quantify the sexes are bound to fail. For every supposedly unmovable gender marker, there is an exception. There are women with androgen insensitivity, who have Y chromosomes. There are women who have had hysterectomies, women who cannot become pregnant, women who hate makeup, women whose object of affection is other women.

So what makes someone female then? If it’s not chromosomes, or a uterus, or the ability to get pregnant, or femininity, or being attracted to men, then what is it, and how can you possibly test for it?

The only dependable test for gender is the truth of a person’s life, the lives we live each day. Surely the best judge of a person’s gender is not a degrading, questionable examination. The best judge of a person’s gender is what lies within her, or his, heart."

This article brought a great read to mind that I tripped across 2 years ago after listening to an NPR segment: Norah Vincent's Self Made Man.

Her writing about how men interrelate when women aren't around was enlightening and stereotype-busting. Definitely an unsuck read.

Have you been naughty or nice this summer?

He's always watching!

From Tony Carrillo's F Minus

They should make one of these

From Randall Munroe's xkcd.com

It Could Happen to You!

Don't let this happen:

"Official Energy Drink" from marriedtothesea.com

But it's ok if this happens - really!

From MoveOn.org

And since I'm on the subject of politics, check out Sean Tevis' xkcd-style campaign for a state representative spot in Kansas. Schweet!

Love Leaps

From Mark Tonra's James

Happy anniversary, CarolinaMom.

Positively Coyote

Wishing Coyote love today.