Friday, February 27, 2004

TV Party Is the end of "Friends" really that big a deal?  I don't get why people enjoy that show so much.  I mean, I've watched it a number of times.  It's OK.  It's fine.  People act like it's "Cheers", or something.  I say, Good Riddance to David Schwimmer and his whiny voice, and Good Riddance to not being able to turn on the TV and hear about "A Very Special 'Friends'".  Oh, and news flash!  I hear we've "never seen an 'ER' like this".  I hear that every week!  Just once, I'd like to see an ER where they just clock in, work their shifts, and clock out.  No helicopter crashes into the hospital.  Nobody comes in with a gun.  They do their rounds, they admit people, they scrub, they overprescribe expensive meds at the behest of the pharm companies, and then they go home. Meanwhile, on Survivor, Richard Hatch got sent home.  I was glad to not see Colby leave, but also sorry to see Richard go.  He was the Charles Barkley of Survivor, a lot of fun to watch.  It's gonna be so much fun seeing Colby give Jerri the diss yet again.  She even knows it's going to happen!  But watch out, Colby!  They fear and resent you, for good reason. 2:01:54 PM    Say what?[]

Jimi Hendrix I have always been fascinated by Jimi Hendrix.  I think his death at age 27 is one of the great losses of modern Western Culture, an influence felt far beyond just the world of music. It's hard to grasp that Hendrix died so young, because he had such a full career.  He was a badass session guitar player in his teens, found international stardom by becoming a rock guitar god who created numerous hits, had a stage presence that was out of this world, and had managed to step away from that and begin plotting a new artistic direction, all before 27.  I didn't even have a real job before I was 27.  Hendrix had invented and reinvented himself at least three times by that point. Hendrix was the inspiration for the term "heavy metal", when a critic, in trying to describe Hendrix's music, could only say that it sounded like heavy metal falling from the sky.  And a lot of it did sound that way.  To many casual music listeners, Hendrix will always be the ultimate icon of loud '60s drug-inspired freakout rock.  And to be certain, when a guy creates songs like "Purple Haze", "Are You Experienced?", "Foxy Lady", and at least a dozen other great hard rocks songs, such a title is well-deserved. But fans of Hendrix know that he was much, much more than that.  At least half of his incredible second album, "Axis: Bold As Love", is comprised of beautiful and quiet songs like "Little Wing" and "Castles Made of Sand".  Much of "Electric Ladyland" is the same way. If you've never had the chance, try to catch a recording or a video performance of Hendrix in front of an audience.  It's hard to believe anybody can be that good in person.  If nothing else, watch the Woodstock movie.  Hendrix is the finale.  If I could go back, I would sit through all the rain and mud for three days just to hear his hour long set at the end. I've always wondered what Hendrix would have sounded like as recording technology improved.  Certainly, "Electric Ladyland", despite its current greatness, would have been a very different album.  We'll never know, sadly. Right now, I'm listening to his "last" album, the 1997 release, "First Rays of the New Rising Sun".  It's one of those records that often get put together well after the fact when an artist dies.  They collect whatever he was working on, and some other stuff lying around, and they put it out as the album that was "going to be".  Some of it is probably what Hendrix envisioned, and some of it is undoubtedly not what Hendrix would have released had he lived.  Of course, it's still great.  Incomplete Hendrix is still a formidable thing. The beautiful thing about being a Hendrix fan is that there is an awful lot of his stuff around, considering how old he was when he died.  He only released three "official" albums, "Are You Experienced?", "Axis...", and "Electric Ladyland".  But among my favorites of the other stuff are: Radio One-Material recorded for the Radio One program in the UK, around the '66 and '67 timeframes.  Great stuff, including a Radio One theme he pretty much makes up, and a great version of the blues standard "Drivin' South". Band of Gypsys-New Year's Eve, 1970 concert with Buddy Miles and Billy Cox at the Fillmore East.  Hints of Hendrix's new direction musically can be heard here.  Stunning album. Lifelines Box Set, the LA Forum concert-This is the fourth disc in the Lifelines box set, from a legendary show in 1969.  It features Hendrix doing a variety of chord solos that are just jaw-dropping and unlike anything I've ever heard.  The version of Spanish Castle Magic alone is worth hearing. There's more, but you get the point.  Music in the 70's left a lot to be desired.  I have to think that things might have been a little different if Hendrix had been around. 1:25:17 PM    Say what?[]

Evildoer I know it's piling on to post something about Andrew Sullivan these days, given his sudden epiphany about how the Bush Administration seems to be intolerant of some people, now that he's in one of the demographics they are officially intolerant of. But here's what I don't get.  You read Sullivan's site, and you'll see a lot of testimony from him and from many other people who talk about the reason they have supported Bush--indeed, the reason they may even continue to support Bush, despite all the horrible things that have happened, is because of Bush's resolve in pursuing the War on Terror. Basically, the position is: "Yeah, these guys are pigs, yeah, they're ruining the economy and all the rest, but damn if they weren't able to be strong and chase down EVIL!" Which leaves me thinking that not only do these people have misplaced priorities and a total lack of empathy or historical perspective, but they are also laughably ignorant.  I mean, did these people just stop reading the news on the day we went into Afghanistan?  It seems to me that if the priority is to make our country safer, wouldn't they have to look at, you know, how we are funding first-responders, or how we are making hard and soft targets here in the U.S. safer?  (Never mind that we should conduct a thorough investigation both of our intelligence failings and what happened at 9/11.)  Wouldn't they want to think about how the War on Terror has been effective in limiting terror?  Wouldn't they want to ask why all the resources were diverted from chasing Osama into occupying Iraq? What evidence are they seeing of the results of that war that the rest of us are not?  It's sort of like being a person in the '60s who supported our move to go into Vietnam to limit the Red Spread, and then still saying it was all a really good idea 10 years later, despite the fact that there are no real results to point to.  "But they had the balls to do it in the first place!" Sullivan continues to laud Bush's ability to discern Good from Evil, and that was the choice that allowed him to act so aggressively, implying that a certain other kind of President wouldn't have been able to make that determination.  Maybe, maybe not. Doesn't Sullivan see that it is that same willingness to cast the world as Good and Evil, or at least the willingness to serve people who cast the world that way, that has led to Bush seeking to marginalize people like Andrew Sullivan by changing our Constitution?  Feels different when you're the Evildoer, I bet. 12:23:55 PM    Say what?[]

Glimpse When I pick Linus up from preschool, I sometimes like to sit quietly in the corner and just watch him.  I see how he spends his time, who he plays with, how the other kdis react to him.  Sometimes, I recognize perfectly the child I see.  He is the very same one that I spend my evenings and weekends with.  Other times, he's very different.  He may be more social than I expect, but he may also be more reserved.  He might be singing a song, something I don't see him do much.  I'm always fascinated by what he might be like when he's away from his parents.  I think there are some behaviors that kids develop that are very specific to their parents.  Linus, for example, can become quite verbally aggressive with me and Jane, especially when it relates to his independence.  If we try to help him with something, and he doesn't want help at that particular time, he'll freak out.  He is fiercely independent at times, and he is personally insulted if you offer him assistance on certain tasks.  He reacts by really lashing out at us.  For my part, I usually don't admonish him for that kind of outburst.  I just shrug and say something like, "Fine.  Sorry.  I was just trying to help."  I'd rather have him be that way than be a kid who constantly needs you to show him what to do. It's odd, the relationships young kids develop with their parents.  I was an insufferable know-it-all and was very aloof with my parents, even from a young age.  Though, I suppose that was probably just my way generally, as opposed to a facet of me that only came out with my parents. Last night, as I was watching Linus, an odd thing happened.  He was doing a puzzle by himself on the floor.  He turned and saw me, and at almost the exact same time he saw me, his best friend Sam bent down and started to help him with the puzzle.  Linus tore into Sam in a way that I recognized very well.  He screamed at Sam, "I don't NEED help!"  I had never seen Linus speak that way with Sam before, and judging from Sam's reaction, he wasn't used to it, either.  He backed away from Linus and turned to slowly walk away.  I could tell he was pretty hurt by it.  And then he just started bawling.  I mean really bawling.  He went over to one of the teachers, and I told her what had happened.  She seemed surprised, too, saying, "They love each other so much."  And they do.  They are the best of friends. Now, maybe this is the kind of thing that just happens.  I've seen Sam and Linus get into fights and make each other cry, and not five minutes later they are hugging and playing and laughing.  And that was the case on this day, too.  But a part of me couldn't get over the timing of Linus seeing me, and then snapping at Sam in the same way he would snap at us for trying to help him.  It was almost like Linus got confused, and that little independent defiant part of him that he saves for me and Jane got mixed up and came out at Sam.  Again, maybe Sam or whoever else has seen him react that way before.  Maybe Linus seeing me had nothing to do with it. But man, Sam sure reacted strongly.  He looked like Linus had cut him deeper than he ever had before.  And the teacher was surprised, too. Who knows?  The good news is, they finished the puzzle together and were laughing about it a few minutes later.  I told Linus he needed to apologize to Sam, that he needed to be nice when he told people that he didn't want their help.  I suppose we'll have to start working on that at home, too. I wonder what I'll see when I pick him up today? 11:13:23 AM    Say what?[]

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