The Last Concert I Saw

A couple nights ago I traveled with some friends up to Bozeman to catch the Hold Steady. They first popped up on my radar when a critic I respect named their Separation Sunday as the best record of 2005; later I read an interview with frontman Craig Finn and he named the Replacements as his favorite band-- a kindred spirit! I've enjoyed each of their subsequent releases, especially Boys and Girls in America. So when one of my students mentioned they were coming to Bozeman, I decided to go, and I was not disappointed!

Finn might be the most engaging, ingratiating rock and roll singer I've ever seen, constantly playing with and exhorting the crowd to join in, and in the most unpretentious way imaginable-- you really get the sense that he's having a great time and wants to make sure that so is everyone else in the place. He kind of looks like a cross between the comedians Albert Brooks and Phil Silvers, with glasses and short curly black hair (I think the comparison with those two also fits with some of Finn's more cynical lyrics). He may be the geekiest looking rocker since Buddy Holly, and he has the song-writing chops to stand up to that comparison even when you set aside the physical resemblance. Smart, evidently heartfelt lyrics augmented by plenty of hooks and backed by some of the most compelling riffs you'll hear in modern rock. The show was really outstanding, as Finn had the crowd eating out of his hand from the opening notes, bouncing around the stage leading the handclaps and grinning like a guy who couldn't imagine being in a better place. I don't mean to give short shrift to the rest of the group, who were both tight and playful in their own right. Two Cow Garage, a punkish outfit from Ohio, opened and they were nearly as good, winning over the crowd in short order, even though they knew most were there for the headliners. I don't often make the time to catch a show like this during the school year, but I'm glad I made an exception for these guys.

Quote of the Day

Today's quote comes from the prominent writer Aldous Huxley, perhaps most famous for his futuristic novel Brave New World. This is from an essay entitled "Case of Voluntary Ignorance" (a case which which I think has sadly become something of an epidemic) from 1959:

"That men do not learn much from the
lessons of history is the most important
of all the lessons that history has to teach."

Nick Hornby Invented Punk

Nick Hornby is my favorite contemporary novelist (his newest Juliet Naked arrived in the post just yesterday; I say "post" because he's a British writer). I'm not sure what event this clip is from. It's one of a series on YouTube where Hornby reads accounts of events from his own life as a pop music fan, followed by a song from the underrated Philly band Marah. In this video, Hornby talks about seeing Led Zeppelin and the origins of punk in England circa 1975, followed by "Lost in the Supermarket" by Marah. As always, Hornby is witty and incisive, so stick with the accent and intermittently crummy sound, it'll be worth the effort:

Pinball Heaven

One of the highlights of my recent Vegas visit was a couple trips to the Pinball Hall of Fame. I'm not entirely clear on exactly how it's a Hall of Fame (as opposed to a museum, or even just a really cool arcade), but never mind. Over two hundred vintage games are available for play at the original prices, a couple as low as a nickel.

They do have a few of the more recent video-style games (like Space Invaders and Asteroids) in teh back, but the focus is mostly on metal balls, bumpers, flippers, and lots of flashing lights. I stuck mostly to the oldest machines from the fifties and sixties, because I thought they were kind of cool, though often frustratingly short in duration.

My favorites were the baseball machines, wherein a slot in the middle of the diamond spit out a ball, which I then batted (flippered) onto the field of play where it would land in a hole or through a door marked with the outcome of that at-bat (single, double, out, etc.). I felt like I mastered the one above, scoring as many as 13 runs before recording three outs (the runners ran around the bases in a diorama below the scoreboard).

There were about six generations of the baseball game, and the one above thwarted me-- only two runs before three outs, but one of those was on a home run (hitting the ball up a tiny ramp into the "upper deck") so I claim a measure of victory even here. Bill also beat me at table and air hockey, but in the former my goalie was for some reason twisted sideways, so I has at a distinct disadvantage. I guess it's safe to say this will be a regular stop on future visits to Vegas (way more entertaining than the machines in the casinos!).

Soup Diary 091021

One last post on soup I had in Vegas: fideo soup at the top-rated Mexican restaurant in the city. Much like our visit to the Indian place, I was looking forward to something else-- hoping they would have a nice black bean soup on offer, but no. The fideo soup, a vermicelli noodle deal in a clear tomato-y beef broth came as part of the lunch combo. It was okay, but nothing special, just noodles in broth, nicely seasoned, but not particularly memorable. I also had some mole pablano chicken, which is a spicy chocolately concoction, and within a bite or two made me forget I'd even had any soup (until this morning-- so this is a catch-up post). I think it's about time that I get around to making something new on my own if I really want something special. Maybe this weekend I'll do some experimenting.

Wednesday Philosophy

Denis Diderot (1713-1784) was the philosopher whose major project was to compile the Encyclopedie, collecting contributions from many of his Enlightenment contemporaries. Here's a small sample of the way he thought:

"Genius is present in every age, but the men
carrying it within them remain benumbed
unless extraordinary events occur to heat
up and melt the mass so that it flows forth."

Political Comment (by Proxy)

I didn't comment a couple weeks ago when Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. I think I can explain why with a little anecdote: that morning I was walking to school and saw my friend Tom out scraping the snow off his car. When I came up to say hello, Tom asked me if I heard the news that morning. I said no, I hadn't had the radio or TV on; so he asked me to guess who won the Nobel Peace Prize. I wracked my brain, and though Obama's name popped into my head, I immediately dismissed it. "Eve Malo," I guessed, taking Tom somewhat aback (Eve is a former faculty colleague who since retiring about ten years ago has campaigned diligently against the death penalty). "No, Obama!" Tom informed me. I kind of shrugged. I couldn't think of what he'd done to deserve it, but it was no skin off my nose (though I still thought Eve would've been a more deserving recipient). I told Tom that it'd be fun to read the right-wing blogs that day and headed off to work. Anyway, Matt Taibbi, a reporter whose work I like a lot, posted this comment on the award a couple days ago, and I think I'll just say that I whole-heartedly agree with his take on the matter.

Video of the Day

This video of Bunny Berigan's performance of "I Can't Get Started" is not terribly exciting (unless you've never seen a 78 rpm record played before), but the music is first class. One of the great songs of the big band era, this originally came out in 1937. I'm pretty sure the lyrics are by Ira Gershwin, and the song was introduced in a stage performance by, of all people, Bob Hope. But Berigan's is the most famous recording, and here it is:

Soup Diary 091020

Before leaving for Las Vegas last week, Bill checked out some "Best of Vegas" lists on line, to help guide our culinary choices. One of the places he found was the "best" Indian restaurant, way out on the southwest side of the city. We stopped there for lunch on our way back from Red Rock Canyon and had a very nice meal. The main highlight was the nan bread (rather light and flaky, augmented by a couple of dips-- one fruity and sweet, the other minty and spicy) , but the creamy tomato soup was also pretty good (once again, a soup improved by a judicious swirl of sour cream). I was hoping to have some mulagatani, but oddly, it wasn't on the menu (maybe not so odd-- no doubt there are regional variations of Indian cuisine just like there are with Chinese, Mexican, etc.). I wouldn't make the long drive out to this place again just for the soup, but it did help make the likely one-time visit a positive experience.

This Week's Top Five

Both Art and I were a little off our game on Sunday, having returned rather early that morning from our little road trip to Vegas, so this might not be quite as bright as other Top Fives. Still, you might learn something from it; that, of course, always being our highest priority:

Quote of the Day

Here are some words written by Charles Darwin (1809-1882) almost 140 years ago. For reason I find rather obscure, he remains a controversial figure even now, but I bet his critics would agree with this sentiment:

"I fully subscribe to the judgement of those writers
who maintain that of all the differences between
man and the lower animals, the moral sense of
conscience is by far the most important.... It is
the most noble of all the attributes of man."

Classic Psychedelia

The Electric Prunes have advanced to Round 2 in the Battle of Bands currently underway on my weekly radio program (see previous post). They were one of the more adventurous groups of the sixties, even at one point composing a rock and roll mass (in the tradition of Mozart and the like). Here's the song that took them past the Grateful Dead in our competition:

Battle of the Bands Update

The Electric Prunes

We had a couple of upsets this week on the Battle of the Bands unfolding on Dr. John's Record Shelf. First, in the Northwest Bracket, the no. 12 seed Electric Prunes knocked off no. 5 Grateful Dead, and in the Southwest, the Bobby Fuller Four (12) cruised past the Allman Brothers (5).

Bobby Fuller Four

"I Fought the Law" was the song that carried the Bobby Fuller Four into Round 2 on a unanimous decision by the judges (guest judge this week: Richard Dobes of Bonney Lake, WA) over "Midnight Rider" by the Allmans. "I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night" by the Prunes earned them a 2-1 split decision. Art Vandelay was swayed by the reference to his hometown of Buffalo in the Dead's Truckin', but Richard and I were won over by the psychedelic sounds of "I Had Too Much to Dream."

There are seven more weeks in Round 1 of our competition. You can see the full slate of matchups, by region, here, here, here, and here. Those groups that have already advanced to Round 2 include The Byrds, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Lovin' Spoonful, the Gants, the Cowsills, the Outsiders, Steppenwolf, Spirit, the Beach Boys, the Sir Douglas Quintet, the Kingsmen, the Standells, the Crickets, the Shadows of Knight, the Remains, and the New York Dolls. The whole competition will continue to unfold over the next few months on my radio show, which can be heard Sunday nights at 5:00 at 90.9 fm if you happen to be in SW Montana (at 90.9 fm).

The Last Movie I Saw

I have to admit that I generally find Michael Moore kind of facile and glib in the way that he presents current events. There are points in all of his films (including Capitalism: A Love Story) that make me cringe or roll my eyes at his blatant manipulations. But at the same time, and despite his often irritating mannerisms and "cinematic" tropes, I generally find him on the right side of the issues, and capable of generating immense sympathy for those victimized by the combined forces of corporate bigwigs and sell-out politicians-- and that's valuable in the current media climate. The fact that he has become such a boogy-man to the right is indicative of this effectiveness; though their labeling him a radical is pretty funny and only makes sense if one sees a center embodied by Ronald Reagan. Moore is a populist in the historical sense of the term, one who identifies with the ignored and disenfranchised working class not as the means of pushing an ideological agenda, but because he recognizes that their estrangement from the system devalues the principles that supposedly define the American character, politically, economically, and culturally. This has been consistently true from Roger and Me on. The new cast of villains in his latest film are still the selfish CEOS and pandering pols (both Republicans and Democrats) with special focus on the rapacious bankers who both precipitated and profited from the near collapse of Wall Street last year. There's irony in that point, as it suggests that Moore is in sync with the so-called Tea-Baggers, though they'd never admit an alliance of interests, having fallen prey to the demonization of Moore by the likes of Fox News and the Drudge Report as some kind of Marxist mouthpiece. I can't pretend to know all of what motivates Moore, but based on the evidence of this and his other films, it's a desire to return the working middle class to its position as the chief marker of American strength and prosperity (as was true fifty or sixty years ago), and that's certainly consistent with the rhetoric (if not always the actions) of those who criticize him the most. In other words, it seems like there ought to be plenty of opportunity to build a constructive coalition across the partisan divide to address the actual problems plaguing the country, rather than to continue just yelling at one another. As much as Moore is accused of leading such hollering, I think his broad-based call to action is legitimate, and not in the service of the kind of subversive revolution his more paranoid critics charge, but rather to reinstill the idea of "We the people" to the political process. Then again, maybe that is a radical concept.

A Thought for the Day

Substitute "health care" for "water power" in the following and you'd think these words were uttered yesterday, instead of back in 1931 by the eminent critic and social commentator Edmund Wilson (1895-1972):

"Is it not obvious that a government like our present one
is incapable of acting in good faith in even the simple
matter of preserving the water power which is
supposed to be operated for the general benefit
from being exploited by private profiteers? Our
society has finally produced in its specialized
professional politicians one of the most useless
and obnoxious groups which has perhaps ever
disgraced human history-- a group that seems unique
among governing classes in having managed to be
corrupt, uncultivated and incompetent all at once."

Beatles Classic

Back in 1967, the Beatles decided to focus exclusively on recording and gave up live performances. In order to compensate for no longer being visible to their fans, they decided to experiment with short films to accompany their singles, that would keep their faces as well as their voices in the spotlight. In other words, the Beatles can be credited with inventing the modern concept of a music video (as opposed to a straight filmed performance, which of course went way back). Here's one of the first short films they did to promote their single of "Penny Lane."

Vegas In the Wee Hours

I thought you might like to see what Las Vegas looks like at 3:00 am on a Thursday in October. That's what time it was when Bill and I rolled into town, and had to figure a way to kill some time before we could check into our hotel. For me, that meant pulling out the camera...

Our first stop was the Peppermill, one of our favorite Vegas stops. A few years ago, we watched them implode the Stardust Hotel and Casino across the street from the Peppermill's parking lot. Our plan was to hit the restaurant for a late dinner after the festivities, but they had to close the kitchen because the dust from the implosion threatened to clog their fans. Oh well. No such problems this last trip, so I enjoyed a Lorraine Omelet (with swiss cheese and bacon), which helped us kill about an hour or so.

From teh Peppermill, we drove over and parked at Bally's, then walked around that section of the strip for awhile. Even though Vegas never entirely shuts down, it was pretty quiet, as you can see by the vacant Boulevard above (looking at the Flamingo from one of the overpasses).

Even the entrance to Caesar's, usually a hotbed of activity was pretty much abandoned at that hour, with only the statues to survey the scene.

There wasn't much going on inside Caesar's Palace either, giving Bill the chance to spar a bit with the statue of Joe Louis on display there. Eventually the sun came up and we headed for the Motel 6 where we stay (cheap and convenient to the Strip). Tomorrow I'll post some more pictures of what we did after catching 40 winks.

Soup Diary 091018

What's the point of Chili Bean Soup? I mean, if you're going to make chili, why not just make chili, and not this watered down variation? Having raised the question, I have to say that the cup of chili bean soup I had at the Ellis Island Casino Restaurant in Las Vegas was awfully tasty. It came as part of what's billed as the best steak dinner deal in Vegas, and I'm not going to argue with that description. For seven bucks, I got the soup (again, very tasty, and garnished, as in the photo above, with a big dollop of sour cream, which generally improves most anything), what I'm guessing was an 8 oz strip steak cooked to order and perfectly done, mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans (with garlic, the only flaw in the entire meal), a couple of nice hot sourdough rolls (and I'm not a fan of sourdough, but these were pretty good) and a large glass of Belgian beer. It was such a good deal that I almost felt obligated to drop a couple of bucks in the casino, but managed to resist the temptation; and as a result, Ellis Island may have been the only casino I visited where I came out ahead. Even the chili bean soup was on the plus side of the ledger.

Sunday Funnies

I'm still a little tired from my recent travels, so this week I'm only posting a single strip rather than the sets I usually do. But it's a classic Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau from a few years ago, so it counts the same as several strips from more ordinary cartoonists (though I guess that doesn't really describe the stuff I try to focus on). Anyway, click on the above for a larger, more readable version-- I think you'll like it.

Sunday Morning Quotation

Somehow this opening stanza to Edna St. Vincent Millay's "A Few Figs from Thistles" seems especially pertinent following a visit to Las Vegas (having returned quite early this morning):

"My candle burns at both ends;

It will not last the night;
But, ah, my foes, and oh my friends--
It gives a lovely light!"