Hidden Treasures

Once in a while, 207 is pretty darned good. Last Thursday night, WL and I were at Central Maine Archery, putting in some practice. On the tv they were showing the NBC Nightly News, and then afterward 207 came on. I knew Lissa Schneckenburger was going to be performing on that episode, and I was excited that I'd be able to see it, even though we weren't at home. Lissa is the young fiddler from Maine who Rach and I saw open for Richard Thompson back in the fall, and I was duly impressed.

Anyway, just as Lissa and her guitarist began to play, Tom, the proprietor, changed the channel! I almost freaked out, but realized I could go to the 207 site to see the performance later on. In a way, it was a blessing, because when I checked the site I realized her guitarist is a fellow camper of mine at Meadowlark Music Camp! Her name is Bethany Waickman, and she's a MUCH better player than I am. Very quiet, very nice, and very talented. She has always been an advanced player, doing DADGAD classes with Keith Murphy (who is also a member of Lissa's band at times).

Lissa plays numerous shows in Maine, so go check her out sometime. She's really enjoyable and seems to be genuinely nice and personable.

I tried to embed the video, but the link seems to be broken. Here is the link and I'll see if I can figure something out to embed it.

*Note: the link remains broken, and I can't figure out where the error is. I've tried becoming a member of the WCSH site, but that's screwy, too. I take back the nice things I said about 207. Okay, no I don't. But here's another video I grabbed from YouTube so you can have instant gratification and see whether it's worth your while to click the previous link:

I Liked These Questions!

1. Do you like blue cheese? I love it. "There's blue cheese dressing, blue cheese shrimp, fried blue cheese, baked blue cheese, spam and blue cheese...that's about all you can make out of blue cheese..." Bubba Blue
2. Have you ever smoked? For about three days in Baltimore with Mike Mozden, I was a smoker. He stopped being a vegetarian for those three days.
3. Do you own a gun? Nope. Had a .22 when I was a kid, but it burned in my parents' house fire.
4. What flavor Kool Aid is your favorite? The kind that makes me believe Rocco Baldelli, Jon Smoltz, Brad Penny, Mike Lowell, David Ortiz and J.D. Drew are going to be healthy this year.
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Not outwardly, but my BP jumps about twenty points when the nurse approaches with the cuff and stethoscope.
6. What do you think of hot dogs? I don't, I just eat them. I find it works better that way.
7. Favorite Christmas movie? Can't think of any I really love. The Grinch, maybe? (The cartoon, of course, with Boris Karloff narrating.)
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Coffee. French roast.
9. Can you do push-ups? I prefer to go bra-less.
10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? "I love my headphones/and my wedding ring"
11. Favorite hobby? Gardening and my guitar.
12. Do you have A.D.D? I'm actually...oh, look a bird! What?
13. Do you wear glasses/contacts? Nope.
14. Middle name? Hidden. No, really, it is.
15. Name thoughts at this moment? Just how I'm going to answer this question...
16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Coffee, water, ginger ale.
17. Current worry? I've found worrying to be counter-productive.
18. Current hate right now? I've found hatred to be counter-productive, too, but I really hate arctic cold fronts.
19. Favorite place to be? In my hammock, strung up between the two big maples. Can't wait to try out the new one!
20. How did you bring in the New Year? Making music with friends.
21. Where would you like to go? Not many places I wouldn't like to go, but New Zealand is my dream destination right now.
22. Name three people who will complete this? Everyone else before me, apparently.
23. Do you own slippers? Yes, fleece L.L. Bean slips with leather soles that I've owned for at least eight years.
24 What color shirt are you wearing? Gray, over my maroon Great Big Sea t-shirt.
25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Sounds slippery. Give me cotton with a high thread count.
26. Can you whistle? Yes, but not as well as I like to think.
27. Favorite Color? Dark blue is a safe bet, but I like green, purple and orange, too.
28. What songs do you sing in the shower? Sometimes I make things up, but "Ordinary Day" by Great Big Sea tends to come out pretty often.
29. Would you be a pirate? I'm really more of a Robin Hood type, or a privateer.
30. Favorite Girl's Name? Cate
31. Favorite boy's name? Ben
32. What's in your pocket right now? A valve cap (Schrader) from an inner tube.
33. Last thing that made you laugh? One of Rach's stories about her students.
34. What vehicle do you drive? 1995 Ford Ranger
35. Worst injury you've ever had? Ruptured disc, L5/S1.
36. Do you love where you live? Yes. It makes everywhere else a nice place to visit.
37. How many TVs do you have in your house? One that works.

Yes...

Up until today, the inauguration of our new President hasn't really sunk in. On that fateful November morning when we found out that Barack Obama would be the President, I found myself grateful that America had put aside petty differences such as skin color, and elected an intelligent and dynamic black man to the Presidency. I found myself grateful that the missteps and embarrassments of the past eight years would be put behind us, and be replaced by...something better, I hope. I found myself encouraged that somehow the electorate had realized the error of its ways in supporting Bush so vehemently through the early days of an ill-advised war, and had turned its back on the kind of thinking that got us there in the first place. I found myself vindicated in my liberal beliefs, that the government can be an agent for positive change if it is thoughtfully administered.

It has only been today, MLK Day 2009, that I have begun to feel the emotion of this momentous day. The interviews with John Lewis and Andrew Young, and everyday citizens of the United States who are black have allowed me to step outside my academic detachment. The joy and the pride are palpable, and as a middle class, middle aged white guy, I feel like I've been invited to the party. I obviously can't experience the same joy and ecstasy of the black American who has been told for four-hundred years that he is inferior and suddenly is empowered.

To me, the feeling is of freedom: this past election cycle completely destroyed our limiting mindset that said minorities and women were second class citizens. Of the major players this past fall, only half of the people involved were white males. And then, figure in how Obama got where he did: he defeated a powerful, respected woman who was the presumptive Democratic candidate as late as February of 2008.

The election of 2008 has opened doors. If we did the math on what percentage of Americans are white males, we'd find that 75% of Americans are white, and 49.1% are male (2000 Census figures). Quick and dirty math tells me that about 37% of Americans are white males. That means about 63% of the population had previously been left out of the Presidential discussion prior to this year. Think about how our choices and options of having great people in high positions have increased. This is exciting and liberating, and can only mean good things for our country.

And if you look at the response of people around the world to this election, you see people everywhere questioning their own governments, wondering why the same thing can't happen there. It can. As a result of what America has done this year, we can change the world.

Yes, we can.

Meditating

The Photo Friday topic was "Meditation". I wondered, "what do I have in my iPhotos that would fit the bill"? Sadly, I haven's shot anything new in a long time. I need to get back at it because I just love taking photos. More, I love having a large library I can draw from when there is a stated theme, and contemplating how my photos fit the theme. This exercise is fun because it is fairly infrequent that I actually intended said photo to fit any "theme".

Anyway, I admire those of you who are more original-photo oriented than I am. Keep up the good work, because you inspire me.

This one was taken last spring. Cheer Chick is one of the most introspective and meditative kids I've ever met when she is in the great outdoors. I love just watching her do her thing.

Embrace Your Inner Bjorn.

We rented "Mamma Mia" this past weekend, and I have to be honest: it really wasn't horrible. The reviews on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes are mixed, and for good reason. It is one of those flicks where you can see the (reasonable) arguments both for and against it.

Let's start with the plot: not exactly A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), is a twenty-something young woman, with a wedding coming up. Donna (Meryl Streep) is her mother, and the proprietor of a Greek Mediterranean money pit of a hotel. The story revolves around Sophie's father; namely, she never knew her father growing up, and Donna isn't exactly sure who the father was. By sneaking a peek at Donna's diary, Sophie has narrowed down the candidates to three, and she has tracked all three down and invited them to her wedding. It's a comedy! It's a drama! It's a love story! (The hotel is purported to be build somewhere near the mythical Aphrodite's fountain.)

In case you've been living under a rock, though, the major contrivance of this movie is that it is adapted from a Broadway musical based on the music of ABBA. And this is the font from which my original trepidation sprang (like the aforementioned Aphrodite's fountain...metaphors are so cool!): Meryl Streep crooning the songs of ABBA. How could any self-respecting man "want" to see this movie and keep his testosterone intact? The mere concept of this movie was, at its very core, emasculating, and thereby intimidating.

But I have been the main proponent of the following theory for some time, and I think it is what ultimately raises this movie to enjoyability: everyone loves ABBA. Even if you don't think you do, your love of ABBA is like some repressed memory. Some day you will be in a crowd of people, maybe waiting for your favorite band to take the stage, and the opening bars of "Does Your Mother Know" will come over the PA quite loud. The synthesizers will pulse; the cheesy guitar riff will ring, and you will find yourself with a dilemma on your hands: do you allow yourself to groove? If you are honest with yourself, you will obey your body and not your mind. You will bite your lip. Your shoulders will start to undulate. Even if you are not a dancer, you will start to re-create the moves of Tony Manero (that's John Travolta to the under 40 set) in Saturday Night Fever, but more wholesomely. And by the time you are bumping into the people next to you, dancing and jiving and singing along gleefully with the ESL-inflected refrain "Well I could dance with you honey/If you think it's funny/Does your mother know that you're out?", you will have embraced your inner Bjorn. It's okay. We all have an inner Bjorn.

Anyway, I digress. But that's all I really feel like I needed to say about "Mamma Mia". The cast is fun: Streep and Seyfried are joined by Pierce Brosnan (sings about as well as you might expect Remington Steele to sing), and Colin Firth. Christine Baranski and Julie Walters take turns stealing the show as Donna's friends Tanya and Rosie. Bottom line? The whole movie plays like the cast had a great time making it. That is worth the cheap rental in and of itself. Is it Streep's weightiest role, or her best acting job? Not by a long shot. Is it one of her more enjoyable performances? You bet.

Do I feel any less of a man for enjoying this movie? Let me answer that with another question: Do Benny and Bjorn look any less manly with their white polyester jumpsuits? On second thought, I'd prefer not to answer that.

Reserve Battery Power

I am informed that my computer is now running on reserve battery power.

That is a very fitting analogy for my whole being right now. I'd love to give more, but my batteries are low. No promises: I can't commit to giving a whole lot more.

My main hope is that this doesn't come off as whining, because it really isn't intended that way. It's really just my way of saying "sorry I haven't been more committed to the blog thing" to my loyal readers, all four of you. (You know who you are!) Anyway, it won't be long until I'm doing another class, and the posts will be even fewer and farther between, so if you're wondering where I am, I'll be somewhere away from the madding crowd, recharging.