Billy and Joanne

I think that was her name. Anyhow, attempting to post an FLV file on my blog with this new plugin:

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It's Been A Long, Long Time

My latest 8tracks mix:

The Days Of Wine And Roses...And You

Feeling wistful about the end of summer? My latest 8tracks mix:

Excerpt

I'm not alone:

"But no front-runner in a presidential field has ever, we imagine, had as weak a showing as Rick Perry. It was close to a disqualifying two hours for him. And Mitt Romney remains, when all is said and done, a technocratic management consultant whose one term as governor produced Romneycare. He could rise to the occasion as president. Or not."

- Bill Kristol, in today's Weekly Standard editorial

Mitt, not Rick

Based on his dreadful debate performances, Rick Perry seems to have given little thought to the important public policy issues of the day. When Perry first announced his candidacy for the GOP nomination I was glad to have him in the field, and even a tentative supporter. I heard he was a "real" conservative, not a "compassionate" conservative (a term and a governing philosophy I've always abhored) like Bush. He was also confident, appealling, and good-looking, i.e. a lot of the thing one needs to be elected these days. Unfortunately, a lot of what we've learned about him since, combined with his debate performances, have given me pause. Right now (it is my belief) the only way for Obama to be re-elected next year is for the Republicans to blow it, and Rick Perry could blow it. Rather than get stronger as the campaign has progressed, he has gotten weaker, and seems smaller. He is unsure of himself and unable to defend his positions when challenged, even when his positions are easily defensible. Obama was not-ready-for-prime-time when he ran four years ago but the mainstream media camouflaged that fact. They are unlikely to give Perry the same protection.  Quite the opposite - the media will pounce on his every hesitation or misstep. Furthermore, I now have doubts about his conservative bona fides. He seems much more a crony-capitalist than a free marketer.  Is crony-capitalism what we want at a time when crony-capitalism is one of the big reasons we are failing as a nation? Washington D.C. needs to be purged, and the way the federal government operates needs to be dismantled, not reinforced. I doubt Perry has the ability, let alone the desire, to do this. His inability to articulate conservative positions tell me he has spent little time thinking about these things. It seems more likely to me that Perry has done what it takes to seem conservative because that is what is needed to get elected and to succesfully govern in Texas.

So here is a sentence I thought would never cross my lips (or type in a blog post): I am pulling for Mitt Romney to win the GOP presidential nomination. Now, for a lifelong conservative like myself, one who is hoping for a revolutionary reversal back to the principles of limited government, Mitt Romney is totally inadequate. He is a wishy-washy, flip-flopping, often liberal-leaning conservative-manqué, someone whose only true conviction is that he should be president. But since the only other person currently in the field with a ghost of a chance to win is Rick Perry, I'm throwing in with Mitt. Mitt is smoothness personified, he can think on his feet, rarely makes a gaffe, and is palatable to the independents that are currently so dissatisfied with Obama, much more palatable than Perry. Now, Mitt Romney is never going to lead a revolution (though one could possibly be forced on him from below.) But that is not the primary issue at hand. The main issue at hand, in my opinion, is to defeat the incompetent putz who curretly sits in the Oval Office. In every head-to-head poll against Obama, Romney outperforms Perry. Since Mitt Romney is more likely than Perry to defeat Obama, Romney is my man, at least for the time being.

God help us all.

The Way You Look Tonight

My latest mix from 8tracks, a set of jazz piano instrumentals, using their new Wordpress shortcode plugin. Listen to it below or listen to it at the 8tracks site here.

The Way You Look Tonight from dcalobrisi on 8tracks.

Stoner

I wrote about John Williams' masterpiece Stoner just a month or so after I began this blog. I had this to say about it:

I read Stoner this summer and was immediately convinced that it’s one of the great American novels of the twentieth century. Williams’ quiet, spare prose about the life of an unremarkable man who teaches English at a university does not seem to be the stuff of great novels. I tried explaining the storyline to a friend of mine, who scoffed at my description – not for him, thanks. The problem is that a mere outline of the story is utterly insufficient as a description of the book. All I can say is, read it. The cumulative effect of Williams’ storytelling is powerfully moving and, in the end, heartbreaking. It is a tragedy but one with ameliorative effects. One gets the sense that Williams’ point is that we all live tragic lives, or at least lives that will be visited by tragedy. It’s how we handle those tragedies, how we pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off, that matters. In the end, we’ll find a way of understanding the disappointments, we’ll throw bitterness and self-pity off, and we’ll find a sense of, perhaps not peace, or even contentment, but acceptance.

In a post at Commentary Magazine literary blog today, D. G. Myers has a much longer (and better) discussion of the book. His take on it is similar to my own:

Stoner takes an outwardly nondescript life, the sort of life that many of us want to escape into fiction, and demonstrates that the real drama of human experience is in the daily refusal to escape, the uninterrupted renunciation of extreme situations, the muted decision to stay and do some good. It’s hard to make such a book sound very exciting. That Stoner is exciting — unexpectedly so, and incredibly moving — is the true measure of Williams’s achievement.

Stoner is a deeply moving book (as is Williams' follow-up to it, Augustus, which I discuss in greater detail in the post linked above) and Myers' discussion of it gets very close to the heart of why. He sums up by saying, "[Stoner] will remind you why you first started reading novels: to get inside the mystery of other people’s lives. And perhaps that is the final cause of all good fiction." Read the entire discussion, and if you like great fiction, read Stoner. It was one of the most illuminating literary experiences of my reading life.

Excerpt

"If 9/11 had really changed us, there’d be a 150-story building on the site of the World Trade Center today. It would have a classical memorial in the plaza with allegorical figures representing Sorrow and Resolve, and a fountain watched over by stern stone eagles. Instead there’s a pit, and arguments over the usual muted dolorous abstraction approved by the National Association of Grief Counselors. The Empire State Building took 18 months to build. During the Depression. We could do that again, but we don’t. And we don’t seem interested in asking why."

- James Lileks, five years ago today, at National Review Online

Ten Years and Counting

I just heard Mark Steyn, subbing for Rush, call the hole in the ground at Ground Zero in New York City a national disgrace, and he's right. I've been of that opinion for years, most recently at the barber shop two days ago. My barber had no idea that The Empire State Building was put up in eighteen months and he found the fact truly astonishing. We were once a country that, when we put our mind to it, could get things done, quickly and effectively. Ten years later at Ground Zero, nothing. This weekend we will endure a lot of weepy, whiny, PC-style memorializing (along with, I'm sure, some well-done and truly moving moments) but as long as Ground Zero remains unbuilt, I find it hard to believe that, as a nation, we truly understand the event or are serious about remembering it.

Excerpt

"What [the Westerner] defends, at bottom, is the purity of his own image - in fact his honor. That is what makes him invulnerable. When the gangster is killed, his whole life is shown to be a mistake, but the image the Westerner seeks to maintain can be presented as clearly in defeat as in victory: he fights not for advantage, and not for the right, but to state what he is, and he must live in a world which permits that statement. The Westerner is the last gentleman, and the movies which over and over again tell his story are probably the last art form in which the concept of honor retains its strength."

- Robert Warshow, from his 1954 essay, "Movie Chronicle: The Westerner"

Lonesome Dove

I scheduled this week off some time ago hoping to play golf and spend as much time outdoors as possible but the weather hasn't cooperated. It's been pouring rain all over the east coast this week and it's still raining now as I look out my window. Earlier this week I stumbled across this radio interview with Robert Duvall, whom I consider the finest actor in American films over the past fifty years (hell, he might be the finest ever) in which he mentions that his role in the 1989 mini-series Lonesome Dove was his favorite ever. I'd never seen "Lonesome Dove" so I took the opportunity this week, watching all four 90-minute long episodes over the past three days, streaming from Netflix. Perhaps it is the inevitable melancholia that builds up in one during long stretches of dreary, rainy days, but right now I think "Lonesome Dove" has had as powerful an emotional effect on me as just about any television I've ever seen. A wonderful story, and Duvall's portayal of Augustus McCrae is a triumph. The story is about two retired Texas Rangers (Duvall's McCrae and Woodrow Call, played by Tommy Lee Jones, who is also excellent) who leave their two-bit Texas town of Lonesome Dove to drive cattle up north to begin the first cattle ranch on the Montana frontier. I won't go into more plot detail but suffice to say it is vastly entertaining and visually brilliant, with breathtaking shots of the frontier - you understand the attachment those men had with the country. At bottom "Lonesome Dove" has what all the best stories of the West contain: love of the land, love of adventure, a sense of duty and honor, the choice between staying and going, between what will be lost and what can be gained, and an acceptance of the burdens that come with such a life. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Here is a little taste, but watch the entire six hours. You won't regret it:

[youtube]iwnEtskIq-c[/youtube]

 

Excerpt

"A half-century experiment in draping steam­ship anchors around the necks of the productive class and expecting them to run a four-minute mile has ended in failure. The confiscation of rights and property, the moral impoverishment of generations caused by the state’s usurpation of parental obligations, the elevation of a credentialed elite that believes academia’s fashions are a worthy substitute for knowledge of history and human nature, and above all the faith in a weightless cipher whose oratorical panache now consists of looking from one teleprompter screen to the other with the enthusiasm of a man watching someone else’s kids play tennis–it’s over, whether you believe in it or not. It cannot be sustained without reducing everyone to penurious equality, crippling the power of the United States, and subsuming the economy to a no-growth future that rations energy."

- James Lileks, from this week's print National Review (article not yet available online)

Interlude

Raining cats and dogs here in the D.C. area - and it has been for days. I've been off work and while I've kept busy I'm starting to think the time would have been better spent building an ark.Will it ever end?

Two Dylan songs appropriate for the week:

[audio:Buckets-Of-Rain.mp3]

[audio:DownInTheFlood.mp3]

GREATEST FLASH MOB EVER

Hat tip Bookworm, hat tip Powerline, this flash mod at Copenhagen Central Station of the Copenhagen Philharmonic playing Ravel's Bolero is just terrific. Watch it full screen with the sound up:

[youtube]mrEk06XXaAw[/youtube]

Oklahoma, OK!

I don't know how Arena Stage's production of Oklahoma! could be much better. It is superb. Full of life, bursting with energy and joy, it is much better than the 2002 Broadway production we saw. Imaginatively staged and perfectly paced by director Molly Smith, the singing, the acting, and the dancing are all first-rate. and the cumulative effect is exhilarating. Three of the performers are pretty near perfect: Nicholas Rodriguez as Curly, June Schreiner as Ado Annie, and Cody Williams as Will Parker. Within a few bars of "Oh, What A Beautiful Morning" Mr. Rodriguez had won me over - what a voice. He can act and dance too but his voice is his ticket to musical stardom. June Schreiner, who almost unbelievably is just starting her senior year in high school, is dazzling as Ado Annie, the girl who "cain't say no." My wife and I came home and viewed many versions of this scene on YouTube, hoping to relive a bit of what we just saw, but none of the Ado Annie performances come close to what the darling Ms. Schreiner did on stage today. As for Mr. Williams, his exuberance and innocent charm adds to a spectacular dancing ability. The "Kansas City" scene is the finest in the show, mostly due to Mr. Williams. All three of these performers have what it takes to make it big, not simply big talent but charisma to burn. You can't your eyes off them. Watching them do such grand justice to one of Broadway's great musicals, I experienced that feeling one only gets at a spectacular musical performance: giddy delight.

A taste of what we saw today:

[youtube]MZlQdN84JO0[/youtube]

 

Interlude

Artie Shaw & His Orchestra play "It Had To Be You":

[audio:ItHadToBeYou.mp3]

Excerpt

"It’s not the vulgarity or the crassness or even the grunting moronic ugliness, but something more basic: the absence of tenderness. A song such as “It Had To Be You” or “The Way You Look Tonight” pre-supposes certain courtship rituals. If a society no longer has those, it’s not surprising that it can no longer produce songs to embody them: After all, a great love ballad is, to a certain extent, aspirational; you hope to have a love worthy of such a song."

- Mark Steyn, on contemporary music, from his column this week.

Music And The Movies

I believe I mentioned Spotify a few weels ago in passing but I'm getting so much enjoyment from the site another mention is in order. Popular in Europe for some time, it recently hopped across the pond and is now available in the U.S. I have discovered and rediscovered much wonderful music via Spotify - and the basic service is free. Besides some classical, some jazz, and some rock and roll, I've also been discovering old Broadway musical cast albums (including "Oklahoma!" which we are attending tomorrow at Arena Stage), and old movie soundtracks, including those by Max Steiner and Bernard Herrmann. That's what I've been concentrating on but, whatever your musical tastes, Spotify will satisfy them. Check it out.

Bernard Herrmann was phenomenal - virtually everything he did was terrific and can stand alone easily outside the movies. He did 11 films with Hitchcock (before they had a terrible falling out) and if you listen closely to the music while watching any of those films you will understand how much the Herrmann's music contributed to the Hitchcockian atmosphere, whether it be terror, or joy, or love, or plain old silliness. The most famous example of this is "Psycho," which, the stories goes, Hitch was thinking about abandoning until he heard Herrmann's score. And the rest is history. My favorite from Herrmann, perhaps most people's, is the love theme from Vertigo ("Scene d'Amour). I tweeted earlier this week about listening to the love theme from "Vertigo" every day for a week - it's lovely music. Is it a coincidence that Hitchcock began his decline immediately after the split with Herrmann? Scene d'Amour:

[youtube]ytC5jUBpMls[/youtube]

 
My favorite movie theme? I fell in love with this music thirty years ago when I saw "Blow Out," Brian DePalma's best movie. Wonderful, and badly underrated, one of those movies I can watch over and over again - great story, great script, terrific acting, especially Travolta, and, oh, the theme. Written by the great Pino Donaggio, who worked on many of DePalma's movies, it's beautiful and tormented and romantic and despairing all at once, which it needs to be to fulfill the movie's emotional demands. The scene near the end when Jack cradles Sally's dead body in his arms while the fireworks explode above them and the music floods in around them, well, the music must be all of those things because all of those things are what Jack, and the audience, are feeling. It's a masterful moment, one of the great scenes in movie history.

Here's the music. You can find the scene on youtube but better to see the movie in its entirety - it's great from start to finish and the emotional wallop from the scene will be all the more intense.

[youtube]O6MIb5QR8R0[/youtube]

Excerpt

"Flannery O’Connor is the only great Christian writer this nation has produced.  That is an astonishing fact. Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, Emily Dickinson, Frost, Stevens: not one of them Christian, at least not orthodoxly Christian. She is a Southerner and a Catholic, she’s not at the center of American culture, and yet she is our only great Christian writer."

Professor Ralph Wood, Baylor University, Interview.

A Good Man Is Hard To Find

If you love Flannery O'Connor's short stories, as I do, you are in for a treat. Click here and then click on the hyperlink "Reading at Vanderbilt, 1959" to listen to a rare audio of Ms. O'Connor reading her most famous story, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find," at Vanderbilt University in 1959. "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" is an astonishingly story always but never more so than while hearing it read by the author herself - the humor, the absurdity, and the terror are fully apparent, and it is deeply moving. I'm not sure how long this recording has been floating around the web but no matter, it is a tremendous addition to American letters.  Hat tip to Terry Teachout, who heard about it from Maud Newton. Go listen.

Interlude - Jerry Lieber, RIP

I just found out that Jerry Lieber died earlier this week. Rock and roll would have been much different without him and his partner, Mike Stoller. They wrote so many great songs. They brought joy to millions, not least myself. You can read more about Lieber here, here, and here. Or listen below. RIP

[youtube]MbcY0qtJ1iY[/youtube]

 

Excerpt

"Of course, the key factor here is that nobody, including the Libyans, knows what’s going to happen there. There are multiple factors: regional (eastern versus western Libya); ethnic (Berbers and Arabs); ideological; factional; personal; and recent defectors from Gaddafi’s regime versus rebels. The stakes in loot and oil money are high.

There has been no change in Libya’s social make-up. The rebels have looted, burned, and killed civilians, with a special animus toward black Africans, a group identified with Gaddafi’s regime by the rebels.

Thus, the prospects for violence and internal disorder are tremendous."

Barry Rubin, from his Rubin Reports column this morning.

Interlude

If you live in the Washington D.C. area, this is your song of the day:

[audio:IFeelTheEarthMove.mp3]

No Apology Necessary

I just finished watching Bret Baier's Special Report program on Fox, which I do nightly. I watch little else on Fox but I rarely miss Special Report. I was worried when Brit Hume left as anchor a few years back, assuming the show would go downhill without him. Instead, I believe Bret Baier has made the show better. A genuinely nice guy, his calm, confident demeanor is perfect for a news anchor, and the show's supporting reporters are excellent from top to bottom. It is a terrific news program, very informative, and I particularly like to hear what the panel at the end show has to say about the day's events. I've been reading Charles Krauthammer since he first started publishing his column in the Washington Post back in the 1980's, and I believe he can now be considered, due to his presence each night on Special Report, the most influential of all the conservative columnists (a position George Will was in for years.) Steve Hayes, who I once saw while walking downtown and stopped to introduce myself, is as interesting a commentator as Krauthammer. Juan Williams sat in the panel's middle chair tonight, the liberal chair.

Tonight's panel discussion focused on the events in Libya. With Qaddafi about to fall, there is some finger-pointing going on at those of us who thought the Libyan action was a mistake. This is an attitude I just don't understand. Juan Williams observed that Michelle Bachmann has yet to apologize for her position against U.S. involvement in Libya. Ms. Bachmann's position, as I understand it, was that we should withhold action because Libya under Qaddafi posed no threat to the national security interests of the United States. Now that it appears Qaddafi is about to fall, Williams and others on the left (and some on the right) think that this somehow proves us wrong. How so? As I said, Libya under Qaddafi posed no threat. That was never the reason for the "kinetic-military action," as the administration so cynically put it. The stated reason for the war was to stop Qaddafi from killing his own people. That Qaddafi is now gone, or nearly gone, does not change the fact that he was not a threat, nor does it make our involvement in Libya more justified. Of course we could take Qaddafi out, if we really wanted to. Did anyone ever doubt it? The question is, is it now our policy to take out the leadership of every country which is brutal towards its own people? We are going to busy indeed. If anything, Libya is now more of a threat to U.S. interests than if we had left things alone, simply because we have no idea as to the nature of those who will end up in power. Being such a tribal nation, at this point we don't even know who will end up in power, or how long if ever it will take for some stability to come to the region. I fear the brutality the Libyan people are about to face will make Qaddafi's seem mild and it is very possible we could end up seeing a regime dominated by Islamists with sympathies towards Al Qaeda or Iran. Who would need to apologize then?

While Williams was pointing his finger tonight I could not help think of this quote by Edmund Burke in Reflections on the Revolution in France, one all conservatives may want to pause and reflect on:

When I see the spirit of liberty in action, I see a strong principle at work; and this, for a while, is all I can possibly know of it. The wild gas, the fixed air, is plainly broke loose: but we ought to suspend our judgment until the first effervescence is a little subsided, till the liquor is cleared, and until we see something deeper than the agitation of a troubled and frothy surface. I must be tolerably sure, before I venture publicly to congratulate men upon a blessing, that they have really received one. Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver; and adulation is not of more service to the people than to kings. I should therefore suspend my congratulations on the new liberty of France, until I was informed how it had been combined with government, with public force, with the discipline and obedience of armies, with the collection of an effective and well-distributed revenue, with morality and religion, with solidity and property, with peace and order, with civil and social manners. All these (in their way) are good things, too; and without them, liberty is not a benefit whilst it lasts, and is not likely to continue long. The effect of liberty to individuals is, that they may do what they please: we ought to see what it will please them to do, before we risk congratulations, which may be soon turned into complaints.

Eventually we will know how things turn out in Libya. But, whether good or bad, the principle that many of us stood on six months ago - that the United States military should only be used when our national security is threatened - will stand either way. Those of us who were against the Libyan adventure have nothing to apologize for.

Excerpt

"The American people are excruciatingly well educated about the relevant fact: the checks hitting their bank accounts, monthly or fortnightly. They will not be educated out of them. A generation ago, they might have been shamed out of it, but shame is now impotent. They will not willingly give up those checks, and there will always be a Barack Obama out there to profit by pretending that pillaging half of the country to bribe the other is a kind of moral crusade, rather than a lightly disguised form of armed robbery."

Kevin Williamson, from his column at National Review Online, The Burden

Good Rockin' Tonight

This mix of mine got a good reception over on 8tracks this weekend. Take a listen:

Excerpt

"But he has four children, ages 8 to 17, he will not abandon for presidential politics. When he visited a workaholic aide during her difficult labor before her daughter was born, he said, 'Put away your BlackBerry, you are in the middle of a miracle.' As subtle as a linebacker, as direct as an uppercut, Christie, explaining why he will not run, demonstrates why many wish he would. When supporters argue, 'You can’t say you’re not ready — look at Obama,' he replies: 'Yeah, look at him.'"

- George Will from his column this morning, Chris Christie, America's Ceasar

Brush Up My Shakespeare

Productive morning. I created a couple of new tumblr.com blogs though neither is quite ready for public viewing. One will be my own personal tumblr area and the other will be a self-contained blog about our trip to France in early July. It occurs to me that tumblr is a good place to chronicle a trip via a smart phone, allowing you to upload pictures and observations as you go. The France blog will use the same theme as Martin Scorsese's tumblr blog, which can be found here. As you can see you can make the blog mostly pictures with observations in between. I'll be working on this blog so we can have a permanent place to remember our visit - which was wonderful, by the way. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed myself so much. For nine days, I was walking on air.

This afternoon I'm going to read Marjorie Garber's essay on Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" in preparation for seeing the play this coming Friday night at the Shakespeare Theatre's free-for-all. Normally they do one of the comedies during the summer free-for-all but this year they decided on a history, which is fine. We saw this production a few years back when the Shakespeare Theater performed it during the season (we are season ticket holders) and both my wife and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

I always like to brush up my Shakespeare before going to see one of the plays. My two main sources are Mark Van Doren's Shakespeare and Ms. Garber's Shakespeare After All. Van Doren famously taught Shakespeare for years at Columbia and his book is taken from  the lectures he gave in class. With a deeply insightful chapter on each of the plays, it is deservedly revered as a guide to Shakespeare. As good as the book is, and it is very good, I prefer Ms. Garber's, who teaches Shakespeare at Harvard and is considered one of the most respected Shakespeare scholars in the country. Her book also contains a chapter for each of the plays - on average about 30 pages per - where she takes the reader through the origins and sources of the play, its changing meaning throughout history, its place in the culture, its famous productions and perfomances. She has an uncanny ability to get to the bottom of what makes Shakespeare work for each generation and why each remains important and interesting for audiences and readers. If you plan on seeing one of Shakespeare's play, reading Ms. Garber's essay is the perfect preparation. And this week I've discovered and added bonus: her lecture series on Shakespeare's later plays is available to view for free at Harvard's Extension School site.  "Caesar" is not among those she discusses in the series but I will keep the site bookmarked for future shows.

Almost time for lunch, the Sunday crossword, and a relaxing afternoon with a book and some music. For you own enjoyment, you can brush up your own Shakespeare by watching the video below. We saw this production of "Kiss Me Kate" twice back in 2001 and I still consider it the best Broadway show I've ever seen. Enjoy.

[youtube]aSmZfnax1yw[/youtube]

Excerpt

"Now the drummers did not rush out to grab Chaney or shoot him but instead scattered like poultry while Chaney took my father's purse from his warm body and ripped open the trouser band and took the gold pieces too. I cannot say how he knew about them. When he finished his thieving he raced to the end of the street and struck the night watchman at the stock barn a fierce blow to the mouth with his rifle stock, knocking him silly. He put a bridle on Papa's horse Judy and rode out bareback. Darkness swallowed him up. He might have taken the time to saddle the horse or hitched up three spans of mules to a Concord stagecoach and smoked a pipe as it seems no one in that city was after him. He had mistaken the drummers for men. 'The wicked flee when none pursueth.'"

Charles Portis, from True Grit

New Sidebars, and True Grit

You will also notice a few new sidebars on the right-hand panel: my Netflix DVDs at home, the next five DVDs in my queue, the next ten movies in my Netflix Instant Queue, and the last twenty songs I've listened to via last.fm. I don't know that any of this is of interest to anyone, even myself, but I added the plugins anyhow. One of these days I'll also update my 2011 books page too. For some reason I'm having trouble linking from that page to the best book I've read all year, True Grit, by Charles Portis. It is, no exaggeration, an American classic, and I recommend it to all. I've seen and enjoyed both versions of the movie but neither comes close to the book. Read the first two sentences and you are hooked. If you've seen the movie you see how the sentences set up the entire story:

People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father's blood but it did not seem so strange then, although I will say it did not happen every day. I was just fourteen years of age when a coward going by the name of Tom Chaney shot my father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robbed him of his life and his horse and $150 in cash money plus two California gold pieces that he carried in his trouser band.

That, my friends, is masterful writing. In two sentences Portis establishes character, place, time, and situation. And it keeps getting better. Every page contains laughs, deep insights and marvelous writing and storytelling. True Grit is true Americana, and it doesn't get much better. I love, love, love it.

And In The Morning...

...I'll be here.

I've been a long time gone. No sure why except to say the muse left me. Has she returned? Not sure. Sometimes you just have to start typing and see if she lands on your shoulder.

Where to start? Well, below will see a post with a music mix I made at 8tracks.com, a site I just learned about last week. Check it out as it seems like a place for great fun and some great music. You can find all my mixes here. Go listen and hit the 'like' button. You'll also notice a link back to this blog, to my twitter feed, and to my last.fm account.  I haven't tweeted much though I am on twitter every day following the conservative political commentators I enjoy the most. The last.fm account is brand new as of last night. This site keeps track of any music you listen to on your laptop (and I expect from your smart phone, though I haven't checked that out yet.) I'm not the average 8Tracks user, a 53 year old man who loves jazz, classical, the great american songbook, etc. Most of the users are kids and the music they listen to is, in my book, music for kids. That's a nicer way of saying I think most of it is unlistenable. But with many hundreds of thousands of users and mixes, I'm sure to run across some good music, hopefully some good music made recently. Someone must be making some good music these days, right?

Also, what about spotify.com?  This is a terrific site for music lovers. It's big in Europe and just had its U.S. rollout last month. It's a place where you can find, for free, virtually any music you want. I've been using spotify for about a month and have discovered and rediscovered a lot of terrific music. In fact, I just tweeted one of my play lists, called "Radio Days," of great old 1970's Top 40 hits. You need to download the Spotify player to listen.  The free version of Spotify forces you to listen to adds every 6 or 7 songs but they are short and not too much of a pain. If you pay ten bucks a month you can get the full version, which gives you the music without adds and, more importantly, the smart phone app. I haven't pulled the trigger on the full version yet but it's pretty much inevitable at this point. I've got many thousands of songs on my iPod and on the Amazon cloud (so I can listen to my own music through my phone) but often I can't find anything I really want to listen to.

I've also created an account at tumblr.com, though I haven't explored the possibilities of that site yet. It appears to be a blog where you can easily load pictures, videos, text, etc. If that is all it is than I probably won't use it much but perhaps I'll link to my own blog through it. We'll see.

At any rate, I'm all set up to continue my blog. All I need now is someone to read it. I've been gone so long I don't even get spam comments anymore.

This post's title means nothing. Just an excuse to play this terrific Tom Waits tune:

[audio:I'llBeGone.mp3]

8Tracks

Okay, I'm going to dip my toe back in the water. Have you heard of 8Tracks.com? It's a site that allows you to create and share your own music mixes. Further, it allows you to embed the mix in your blog. Here is one I put up the other day as a tribute to the great Harold Arlen. More to come....

So John Lennon...

....was a closet Republican. That's the big buzz all over the Internet today. But I told you that last December. I guess I better get back to blogging.