Maybe We’ll Be Okay

I’ve seen two things recently that 1) make me feel old, and 2) give me some measure of hope that the world is not completely going to hell in a handbasket.

The first one is this video of teenagers playing some really kick-ass bluegrass, via BoingBoing:

 

And the second one is this photo of Greek teenagers confronting riot police during the late riots in that country (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images), also via BoingBoing:

The Rampaging Sons of the Widow James

I like Tom Waits an awful lot. For my money, his very best songs are the ones that tell a dark, folk tale-style story, almost like Faulkner put to music. I’ve had this verse in my head for a couple of days now from “Get Behind the Mule” off the Mule Variations (1999) disc.

Well the rampaging sons of the Widow James
Jack the Cutter and the Pock-Marked Kid
Had to stand naked at the bottom
Of the cross
And tell the Good Lord what they did
Tell the Good Lord what they did.

What did they did? Something bad, I can tell you that.

Bill Callahan is a Genius

Callahan (a.k.a. “Smog”) is one of my new(ish) favorite artists. I just came across this video and wanted to share it. From his album “Knock Knock” (1999).

Also, check out this fan video (not mine) for “Let Me See The Colts,” one of my favorites from “A River Ain’t Too Much to Love.” Is there anything as still as sleeping horses?

Good Things: Sebadoh

I’m not sure why I stop listening to some music. I suppose a person can’t just endlessly cycle through all of their old albums (do the kids even say “album” anymore?), listening to everything in their collection all the time. So it’s nice every once in a while to rediscover and re-appreciate an album you haven’t heard for a long time. While making dinner last night I suddenly felt compelled to listen to Sebadoh’s 1999 release “The Sebadoh.” I bought it in college and loved it because it wasn’t at all like anything else I was listening to at the time, then mysteriously put it away for a few years. Now I’m finding that I’m listening to it in a completely different way than before. The album is both noisy and melodious, a combination I’m appreciating more deeply now. I’m no music cricket (Simpson’s reference, read: “critic”), so I won’t go on with hackneyed observations about what the album sounds like, or try to pigeonhole it into any particular genre. It’s good. I like it. I’m listening to it again. I’ll leave it at that.