Right, so school has started back and dammit all I have suffered a setback.
I was so proud of myself with the whole eating thing. I was really taking the time to do this right. Slowing down, chewing, enjoying, everything. Well, as I said school has started back, and as I put in my original post about eating I don't have much time to eat everyday, so...
sigh
Yes, I have started inhaling my food again. I was thinking that I had, but then talking with a friend who eats around the same time I got verification.
"Yeah! I saw it," she started, "his lunch was there and then shhhhhhhup! It was gone".
It's bad enough knowing you've had a setback, but it makes it a little more humiliating when someone can bear witness to it.
So, back to step one: Eating, Take Two.
Bear with me folks, this ain't gonna be easy.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Pacing Myself, Part Two
Eating
Okay, so this may be a little harder than I thought. Both the Challenge and writing as often as I said I would Currently no one is reading this, so I don't feel bad at all. I suppose there are some good things that come from a life of procrastination. So on to learning to pace myself while I am eating.
First off, I guess I have an extra challenge in this category specifically because of my being a teacher. Lunch for my students is 30 minutes. That is from start to finish. This does not take into account the three minutes, sometimes five that it takes to get my 20 something students from my room to the cafeteria, make sure they are settled in line, go to teacher's lounge [no longer the smoky den of scariness it was when we were kids], get my lunch, go to the bathroom, wash my hands, eat my lunch, and visit with my peers. This is assuming that no parent comes up and needs an impromptu conference or some teacher that has already had their lunch stops to talk to me about any number of important or trivial things, or I don't have copies to make for my next class. This whole process gives me approximately 21 minutes to eat. That's not exactly a great setting for learning to slow down to enjoy my meals. Because I have been doing this 5 days a week for the past 14 years I am kind of in the habit of doing it quickly.
This is not to say that I have not tried to learn to slow down a little. I actually have started slowing down a little with my eating. I would say the main reason for curbing my eating speed of course is my cookie eating habit. I used this verb earlier, but you might not have taken notice. Inhale. While that is an action associated with breathing, I believe that I can apply it to my method of eating cookies without much exaggeration.
Cookies, in my opinion, are to be devoured, and I have found over the last 30 something years that the best way to do this is to put the whole cookie in my mouth. Chomp, chomp, chew, chew swallow, on to next cookie. Unfortunately this allows me to eat many more cookies than I should because my stomach, poor thing, can't keep up with the speed of which I put things into it. It's sitting there, doing its job, digesting slowly while I continue to pile item after item into it. So by the time the stomach realizes, 'Wait a minute. This fool has just eaten 6 of those Oreos and I haven't even started digesting the first on yet.' So after the sixth one, Senor Stomach applies the brakes. I usually would be happy to keep going, but biology, in this case, wins out over desire.
"What's the problem with that," you may be asking. You also might be thinking, 'Ugh, I'm glad I don't eat with him.' These are both valid points actually. The problem is that as I have gotten older my body's ability to quickly burn off the calories of six cookies has slown down significantly. There's also the issue of the second thought just mentioned. I have been known to be a little self absorbed at times, and when I'm eating would definitely be among those times. Being a better eating partner, aesthetically at least, is taking some work on my part, but then isn't that point of this thing? Me working on things like that?
So, I continue overall trying to slow my eating down. I have made some progress recently. I have got in my head, at least partially, that eating is not a race, and besides beings able to say "I win!" at the dinner table, there is no prize for finishing a full meal in under 10 minutes. I am seeing that enjoying the tastes of food over the course of a meal is a nice thing, and while I can't see taking as long as say an hour to eat as some people I have known are able to do, I do now see that it makes for a more relaxing and enjoyable eating experience.
So I'm going to chalk "Eating" up to a positive change experienced by me. Go me! I'll have to continue to work at it, but being aware of it is a big thing.
Next up - Drinking
Okay, so this may be a little harder than I thought. Both the Challenge and writing as often as I said I would Currently no one is reading this, so I don't feel bad at all. I suppose there are some good things that come from a life of procrastination. So on to learning to pace myself while I am eating.
First off, I guess I have an extra challenge in this category specifically because of my being a teacher. Lunch for my students is 30 minutes. That is from start to finish. This does not take into account the three minutes, sometimes five that it takes to get my 20 something students from my room to the cafeteria, make sure they are settled in line, go to teacher's lounge [no longer the smoky den of scariness it was when we were kids], get my lunch, go to the bathroom, wash my hands, eat my lunch, and visit with my peers. This is assuming that no parent comes up and needs an impromptu conference or some teacher that has already had their lunch stops to talk to me about any number of important or trivial things, or I don't have copies to make for my next class. This whole process gives me approximately 21 minutes to eat. That's not exactly a great setting for learning to slow down to enjoy my meals. Because I have been doing this 5 days a week for the past 14 years I am kind of in the habit of doing it quickly.
This is not to say that I have not tried to learn to slow down a little. I actually have started slowing down a little with my eating. I would say the main reason for curbing my eating speed of course is my cookie eating habit. I used this verb earlier, but you might not have taken notice. Inhale. While that is an action associated with breathing, I believe that I can apply it to my method of eating cookies without much exaggeration.
Cookies, in my opinion, are to be devoured, and I have found over the last 30 something years that the best way to do this is to put the whole cookie in my mouth. Chomp, chomp, chew, chew swallow, on to next cookie. Unfortunately this allows me to eat many more cookies than I should because my stomach, poor thing, can't keep up with the speed of which I put things into it. It's sitting there, doing its job, digesting slowly while I continue to pile item after item into it. So by the time the stomach realizes, 'Wait a minute. This fool has just eaten 6 of those Oreos and I haven't even started digesting the first on yet.' So after the sixth one, Senor Stomach applies the brakes. I usually would be happy to keep going, but biology, in this case, wins out over desire.
"What's the problem with that," you may be asking. You also might be thinking, 'Ugh, I'm glad I don't eat with him.' These are both valid points actually. The problem is that as I have gotten older my body's ability to quickly burn off the calories of six cookies has slown down significantly. There's also the issue of the second thought just mentioned. I have been known to be a little self absorbed at times, and when I'm eating would definitely be among those times. Being a better eating partner, aesthetically at least, is taking some work on my part, but then isn't that point of this thing? Me working on things like that?
So, I continue overall trying to slow my eating down. I have made some progress recently. I have got in my head, at least partially, that eating is not a race, and besides beings able to say "I win!" at the dinner table, there is no prize for finishing a full meal in under 10 minutes. I am seeing that enjoying the tastes of food over the course of a meal is a nice thing, and while I can't see taking as long as say an hour to eat as some people I have known are able to do, I do now see that it makes for a more relaxing and enjoyable eating experience.
So I'm going to chalk "Eating" up to a positive change experienced by me. Go me! I'll have to continue to work at it, but being aware of it is a big thing.
Next up - Drinking
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Pacing Myself
I've decided to accept a challenge from my lovely, brilliant wife. She's been recommending that I blog about pacing myself. You see, I have a problem with charging blindly through things. It's not as if I am not enjoying them, I am. I really, really am. I suppose I should back up a little and give examples of what I rush through.
Eating, drinking, shopping, driving, walking, running, playing games. Well, I am hoping that you get the picture.
So, my brilliant one suggests this challenge; try to learn to pace myself and I should document it here on this blog. I don't really have anything else going on here. I've had a few good entries, but seriously, there's nothing much here to hold the attention of many people. I resisted for a long time. I'm still not even completely sure I'm on board. I move fast. I don't know why. I used to move slowly and methodic, well, let's not be silly, I have never done much methodically, but I remember my older brother and a friend of his talking about how I use to walk so slowly and coolly. I guess you could say cocky. Yes, I used to be a seriously cocky kid. I'm not sure what gave me the attitude, but I had it. I don't know when I lost that attitude either. I don't know if there was some traumatic event that I have buried deep in me psyche or it was puberty, or what, but one day I was slow moving Joe Cool and the next day I was in Full Time Fast Forward (FTFF).
As I said, I don't know what prompted this change, but it happened, and I just accepted it. Here's an example of my FTFF. Eating Oreos. I am not a pull them apart, lick the icing, eat the cookies kind of guy. I go for the whole cookie in one bite. CHOMP. Gone and gone. Good and good. Right? Right. So, why would I want to pace myself with this?
I think I got my first taste of pacing and how it could be beneficial this summer. I was "training" to run the Peachtree Road Race. Training means going out and trying to run so I wouldn't die while doing the actual event. Every time before this summer that I have tried to go running I have tried to run like I did when I was a junior in college and could go for several miles at a good pace. Needless to say I never made it far, and I always felt like my heart would bust out of my chest from beating so hard. So for some reason this summer I decide to slow down a little and just, you know, jog. Well low and behold, I was able to run for 20 straight minutes without stopping, and when I did stop I didn't feel Death was tapping me on the shoulder asking me to dance. I ran several times during that outing and when I got home I was amazed. AMAZED I tell you. So I begin to think that maybe there was something to this pacing thing afterall. I'm not sure why I doubted the idea. My life would generally be easier if I just went along with her ideas.
So, here's my plan; I'm going to try some experiments over the course of the school year on pacing, and I will post those experiments and the results here. I am going to try once a week, every other week at most. I think I can make it entertaining enough for you, but if not just think, you won't have wasted any money, just time.
First up - Eating.
Eating, drinking, shopping, driving, walking, running, playing games. Well, I am hoping that you get the picture.
So, my brilliant one suggests this challenge; try to learn to pace myself and I should document it here on this blog. I don't really have anything else going on here. I've had a few good entries, but seriously, there's nothing much here to hold the attention of many people. I resisted for a long time. I'm still not even completely sure I'm on board. I move fast. I don't know why. I used to move slowly and methodic, well, let's not be silly, I have never done much methodically, but I remember my older brother and a friend of his talking about how I use to walk so slowly and coolly. I guess you could say cocky. Yes, I used to be a seriously cocky kid. I'm not sure what gave me the attitude, but I had it. I don't know when I lost that attitude either. I don't know if there was some traumatic event that I have buried deep in me psyche or it was puberty, or what, but one day I was slow moving Joe Cool and the next day I was in Full Time Fast Forward (FTFF).
As I said, I don't know what prompted this change, but it happened, and I just accepted it. Here's an example of my FTFF. Eating Oreos. I am not a pull them apart, lick the icing, eat the cookies kind of guy. I go for the whole cookie in one bite. CHOMP. Gone and gone. Good and good. Right? Right. So, why would I want to pace myself with this?
I think I got my first taste of pacing and how it could be beneficial this summer. I was "training" to run the Peachtree Road Race. Training means going out and trying to run so I wouldn't die while doing the actual event. Every time before this summer that I have tried to go running I have tried to run like I did when I was a junior in college and could go for several miles at a good pace. Needless to say I never made it far, and I always felt like my heart would bust out of my chest from beating so hard. So for some reason this summer I decide to slow down a little and just, you know, jog. Well low and behold, I was able to run for 20 straight minutes without stopping, and when I did stop I didn't feel Death was tapping me on the shoulder asking me to dance. I ran several times during that outing and when I got home I was amazed. AMAZED I tell you. So I begin to think that maybe there was something to this pacing thing afterall. I'm not sure why I doubted the idea. My life would generally be easier if I just went along with her ideas.
So, here's my plan; I'm going to try some experiments over the course of the school year on pacing, and I will post those experiments and the results here. I am going to try once a week, every other week at most. I think I can make it entertaining enough for you, but if not just think, you won't have wasted any money, just time.
First up - Eating.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Dear Life
Dear Life,
How odd is it that I'm writing to you? Did you ever think you'd hear from me, or that I'd just lived you and not take the time to ask some things of you? Being this is the first letter to you from me I'll keep it simple this time. I'm not promising anything for future postings, understand?
There are so many things to ask, I don't necessarily know where to start...how about Life as a Parent? How great is it that I'm getting to live out this thing, Life as Parent? It's great. Not all the time, mind you. Sometimes it's a real pain in the ass, but looking at my girls and seeing my wife and I in the things they do, say, and ways they respond, it's amazing. AMAZING!
I sit here in the house and hear them playing, arguing, fighting, eating or watching Boomerang, and I feel like I'll always hear those sounds. Then I remember that my parents used to hear those same sounds from my brother and I, and I wonder if they thought the same thing? Even though there is still a lot of time left for our girls to be here and do all the things in the house that I love and loathe, grand scheme time frame it's such a short blip on the screen. My oldest was asking when she would get a car. "When you're 16" I said, not really thinking anything about it. "Coooool" she answered. Then it hit me, that's only 9 years from now. That's crazy!
I know that all parents have these thoughts, but I still wonder did our parents have them, and did their parents have the same thoughts about them when they were kids? I think it must be so, and I think that it's so funny that you, Life, go through the same thing generation after generation with only little changes.
So, Life, what I'm wondering is did you plan it this way, or are people just people and not much changes. Is there something to be learned in this repetitive cycle? I could easily focus on how 9 years could fly by in the blink of an eye, 7 years certainly has, or I can just live it, enjoying the girls and my wife and friends.
I guess that's it for now, Life. You're pretty sweet right now, and I'm very appreciative of that; although sometimes I know it doesn't seem that way. Rest assured, I do know it, and I do appreciate it.
Until next time...
Bub
How odd is it that I'm writing to you? Did you ever think you'd hear from me, or that I'd just lived you and not take the time to ask some things of you? Being this is the first letter to you from me I'll keep it simple this time. I'm not promising anything for future postings, understand?
There are so many things to ask, I don't necessarily know where to start...how about Life as a Parent? How great is it that I'm getting to live out this thing, Life as Parent? It's great. Not all the time, mind you. Sometimes it's a real pain in the ass, but looking at my girls and seeing my wife and I in the things they do, say, and ways they respond, it's amazing. AMAZING!
I sit here in the house and hear them playing, arguing, fighting, eating or watching Boomerang, and I feel like I'll always hear those sounds. Then I remember that my parents used to hear those same sounds from my brother and I, and I wonder if they thought the same thing? Even though there is still a lot of time left for our girls to be here and do all the things in the house that I love and loathe, grand scheme time frame it's such a short blip on the screen. My oldest was asking when she would get a car. "When you're 16" I said, not really thinking anything about it. "Coooool" she answered. Then it hit me, that's only 9 years from now. That's crazy!
I know that all parents have these thoughts, but I still wonder did our parents have them, and did their parents have the same thoughts about them when they were kids? I think it must be so, and I think that it's so funny that you, Life, go through the same thing generation after generation with only little changes.
So, Life, what I'm wondering is did you plan it this way, or are people just people and not much changes. Is there something to be learned in this repetitive cycle? I could easily focus on how 9 years could fly by in the blink of an eye, 7 years certainly has, or I can just live it, enjoying the girls and my wife and friends.
I guess that's it for now, Life. You're pretty sweet right now, and I'm very appreciative of that; although sometimes I know it doesn't seem that way. Rest assured, I do know it, and I do appreciate it.
Until next time...
Bub
Monday, November 3, 2008
Rockabilly, radio days, & something else that starts with /R/
Right! So I'm putting my time in on Crackbook, trying to not be boring when I notice that my bud, Tyler Nelson, is going to be playing rockabilly on WRAS tonight from 8 - 10 p.m. So, it's time to take the dog for a walk and rock out to some rockabilly.
Little did I know that Tyler would be shredding the air waves with an unbelievable mix of new, old, rare & obscure stuff. "Little Miss Prissy" from Built for Speed, which I found out that Tyler has on vinyl, like myself. Tyler being so much younger than I probably did not have the joy of buying it at Turtles Records & Tapes when he was in 7th grade, though. Jerry Lee Lewis doing "Playing in a Traveling Band". Southern Culture on the Skids doing a Spanish version of "Double Shot of My Baby's Love"! Finally, Tyler sealed the deal because someone requested Danny Gatton, and Tyler gave them a tip of the hat for that. Not a lot of people know about Danny Gatton, and if you're one of those not a lot of people you totally need to check him out. As a matter of fact, you should check it out right now - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UkU3sBP8Pg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lILSP-enbJw&feature=related
Tyler is on the air regularly on WRAS, 88.5 on the fm dial Mondays from 6 - 8 p.m. for his regular rotation show, and you should check him out. And next semester, I think he's going to be getting his own show where he can continue to entertain and enlighten the Atlanta area listeners with his Rockabilly/Psychobilly shows.
Radio Days
Back when I was at UGA I got involved with the radio station, WUOG, 90.5 fm, because I was starting at UGA as a junior, I didn't know anyone really, I wasn't living in a dorm, and I grew up loving music, and the thought of being able to play music for a large (relative term) audience was super fantastic. Plus, I wanted to be in a band, and I thought working at the radio station would be a good way to find one or make one. It wasn't. Nonetheless, I did get to play music that I loved, music I tolerated, and music that I came to despise. College radio is way more relaxed in their formatting, at least WUOG was (is?), so we had free reign to play stuff from all over the place. Now, we had artists that we were supposed to play on a regular rotation, but we had our choice of songs from those albums or cds to play. We also had local music on these cartridges, kind of like what 8 track tapes were like.
My first shift was the 6 - 9 a.m. show. WUOG didn't operate 24 hours in the early 90s, so I was the start off shift for Thursday mornings. I would set my alarm for 5:30, race down the road, stopping to get a honeybun and 2% milk for my breakfast, park illegally, and then climb the ridiculous flight of stairs to get to the top of Memorial Hall where the station was. No elevator, just lots and lots of stairs. Turn on all the equipment, give the top of the hour call name and number - some thing the FCC has radio stations do to show their legitimacy I guess, and the first song I would play would usually be Sun Ra or a live Allman Brothers song because they would inevitably be more than 11 minutes long, and that would give me enough time to pull some things from the library, find some good things from the current rotation, and inhale my honeybun and milk. Sometimes Sun Ra and his Orchestra would go on for a LONG time. I would then get a call or two saying, "Enough with this. Play some real music." I couldn't argue. I can't stand Sun Ra, it was just something that bought me some time. I love the Allman Bros, but the college music community is not as forgiving to some southern hippies as they are to an Alien playing his music.
After a quarter or two at that shift I somehow inherited Blue Laws from Manfred Jones, singer of the Woggles, on Sunday evenings from 7 - 9 p.m. Some of the music Dad played for me and my brother (my brother & I, sorry) was the blues. John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley, B.B. King, & Jimmy Reed. I was so excited to get to do this show! I was introduced to Lightnin' Hopkins, Howling Wolf, and Willie Dixon . I got to know Muddy Waters better and was amazed at how much 70s Rock acts took from him. I was able to play Stevie Ray Vaughn, some select Eric Clapton, and so many more. They were some great nights. I remember getting calls from older listeners asking for songs. This one lady Manfred said would call and ask for "Fan It" by Lightnin' Hopkins, I can't remember if that was the real name or the name she called the song, but whatever it was Manfred told me to be prepared and sure enough on my first night she did.
The last regular show I had was called Industry Standards. I shared the show with the station manager. Every other week I got to come in from 10 - midnight and play music from the late 60s to late 70s. Hot damn! I took this position to be the opportunity to make a classic rock station as it should be, not the canon of 80 songs that most classic rock stations are. My partner was more into the progressive music of that era - King Crimson and the like, but man oh man, I played some GREAT stuff that never saw the light of day on regular radio stations. Sometimes on a radio show you get into a zone and the song selection you pick is just incredible. College radio DJs probably don't get a lot of calls requesting stuff, but when we did(they do), we'd try to accommodate. This one time in particular stands out. I had a set list going and it was so good. I don't even remember who I had on it, I just remember that it was really good. This listener called and requested a band and I said such and such song. Turns out that was what he was going to request. So, we went back and forth picking out songs that I would play next, taking turns naming the band or artist and letting the other one pick the song. It sounds cheesy now, but to a 20 year old college kid it was about as cool as it could get.
One of the other great things about working at the radio station was getting into shows for free. Each show would have 3 slots for two people a slot. Usually you could get into anything because people weren't always interested, but when a really well known band would come to the 40 Watt or the GA Theater, you had to make sure that you got to the station early enough to beat out the Sports Talk chuckleheads because they would ALWAYS try to get them. It was kind of funny the animosity that occured between the DJs and the Sports Talk people. It's kind of like listening to WRFG and knowing what must go on behind the scenes when the classic country DJs are switching shifts with the reggae DJs. Opposite worlds doing similar things. I also got to interview some cool artists - Mojo Nixon, The Young Fresh Fellows are two. River Pheonix did an interview at the station because his band Aleca's Attic was playing in town. They were pretty good actually, and the band that opened up for them, I can't remember their name, but they played an AWESOME version of the Beatles' song "Flying" as well as Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music".
Wow. That was so cool. It was so much fun, and I know there were mornings when I didn't want to get up or weekends that I didn't want to leave my girlfriend in Atlanta to come back and play the blues, but I did and I would love to be able to do it again.
Another R Thing
Reading. I'm reading two things right now. One is the sequel to Peter & the Starcatchers, Peter & the Shadow Thief. The Starcatchers book is a prequel to how Peter Pan becomes Peter Pan. It's a good read and this one, Shadow Thief is proving to be just as enjoyable. They're by Dave Barry (comic writer) & Ridley Pearson. The other book I'm reading is Steve Martin's autobiography Born Standing Up. It's about his years as a stand up comedian and what shaped him into the comic that he was then, as well as the writer, actor, and man that he is today. I've loved Steve Martin since he put out "King Tut" back in the mid 70s. My dad actually bought my brother and I (happy now?) his album for Christmas one year, the one with "King Tut" on it. It was great! Mom wasn't so happy about some of the other material on it, but come on, it had "King Tut".http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP7AJiQM2RI Steve Martin had the white suit long before David Byrne did. Martin's comedy is so smart and that is what I like most about him. Now, you may argue, justifiably that The Jerk isn't the smartest comedy, but so much of his other stuff is. Plus, PLUS he wore the fake arrow through his head. The story of how he started doing that is in Born Standing Up. Okay last thing. I think all of you (all six of you) should go out and buy this book as soon as you get off the computer and get in your car - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It is, without a doubt, one of the greatest stories that I have read. I loaned it to this girl two years ago and when I see her she tells me that she has it, she just doesn't carry it around with her. Well, why not?
Okay, love to you all. Vote tomorrow and be okay with the results, whether they are the way you want or not, because in the grand scheme of things, the grand scheme of we're just passing through, these things don't matter all that much. What matters is how we treat others, and that can be consistent regardless of whether the left or the right is in power.
Little did I know that Tyler would be shredding the air waves with an unbelievable mix of new, old, rare & obscure stuff. "Little Miss Prissy" from Built for Speed, which I found out that Tyler has on vinyl, like myself. Tyler being so much younger than I probably did not have the joy of buying it at Turtles Records & Tapes when he was in 7th grade, though. Jerry Lee Lewis doing "Playing in a Traveling Band". Southern Culture on the Skids doing a Spanish version of "Double Shot of My Baby's Love"! Finally, Tyler sealed the deal because someone requested Danny Gatton, and Tyler gave them a tip of the hat for that. Not a lot of people know about Danny Gatton, and if you're one of those not a lot of people you totally need to check him out. As a matter of fact, you should check it out right now - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UkU3sBP8Pg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lILSP-enbJw&feature=related
Tyler is on the air regularly on WRAS, 88.5 on the fm dial Mondays from 6 - 8 p.m. for his regular rotation show, and you should check him out. And next semester, I think he's going to be getting his own show where he can continue to entertain and enlighten the Atlanta area listeners with his Rockabilly/Psychobilly shows.
Radio Days
Back when I was at UGA I got involved with the radio station, WUOG, 90.5 fm, because I was starting at UGA as a junior, I didn't know anyone really, I wasn't living in a dorm, and I grew up loving music, and the thought of being able to play music for a large (relative term) audience was super fantastic. Plus, I wanted to be in a band, and I thought working at the radio station would be a good way to find one or make one. It wasn't. Nonetheless, I did get to play music that I loved, music I tolerated, and music that I came to despise. College radio is way more relaxed in their formatting, at least WUOG was (is?), so we had free reign to play stuff from all over the place. Now, we had artists that we were supposed to play on a regular rotation, but we had our choice of songs from those albums or cds to play. We also had local music on these cartridges, kind of like what 8 track tapes were like.
My first shift was the 6 - 9 a.m. show. WUOG didn't operate 24 hours in the early 90s, so I was the start off shift for Thursday mornings. I would set my alarm for 5:30, race down the road, stopping to get a honeybun and 2% milk for my breakfast, park illegally, and then climb the ridiculous flight of stairs to get to the top of Memorial Hall where the station was. No elevator, just lots and lots of stairs. Turn on all the equipment, give the top of the hour call name and number - some thing the FCC has radio stations do to show their legitimacy I guess, and the first song I would play would usually be Sun Ra or a live Allman Brothers song because they would inevitably be more than 11 minutes long, and that would give me enough time to pull some things from the library, find some good things from the current rotation, and inhale my honeybun and milk. Sometimes Sun Ra and his Orchestra would go on for a LONG time. I would then get a call or two saying, "Enough with this. Play some real music." I couldn't argue. I can't stand Sun Ra, it was just something that bought me some time. I love the Allman Bros, but the college music community is not as forgiving to some southern hippies as they are to an Alien playing his music.
After a quarter or two at that shift I somehow inherited Blue Laws from Manfred Jones, singer of the Woggles, on Sunday evenings from 7 - 9 p.m. Some of the music Dad played for me and my brother (my brother & I, sorry) was the blues. John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley, B.B. King, & Jimmy Reed. I was so excited to get to do this show! I was introduced to Lightnin' Hopkins, Howling Wolf, and Willie Dixon . I got to know Muddy Waters better and was amazed at how much 70s Rock acts took from him. I was able to play Stevie Ray Vaughn, some select Eric Clapton, and so many more. They were some great nights. I remember getting calls from older listeners asking for songs. This one lady Manfred said would call and ask for "Fan It" by Lightnin' Hopkins, I can't remember if that was the real name or the name she called the song, but whatever it was Manfred told me to be prepared and sure enough on my first night she did.
The last regular show I had was called Industry Standards. I shared the show with the station manager. Every other week I got to come in from 10 - midnight and play music from the late 60s to late 70s. Hot damn! I took this position to be the opportunity to make a classic rock station as it should be, not the canon of 80 songs that most classic rock stations are. My partner was more into the progressive music of that era - King Crimson and the like, but man oh man, I played some GREAT stuff that never saw the light of day on regular radio stations. Sometimes on a radio show you get into a zone and the song selection you pick is just incredible. College radio DJs probably don't get a lot of calls requesting stuff, but when we did(they do), we'd try to accommodate. This one time in particular stands out. I had a set list going and it was so good. I don't even remember who I had on it, I just remember that it was really good. This listener called and requested a band and I said such and such song. Turns out that was what he was going to request. So, we went back and forth picking out songs that I would play next, taking turns naming the band or artist and letting the other one pick the song. It sounds cheesy now, but to a 20 year old college kid it was about as cool as it could get.
One of the other great things about working at the radio station was getting into shows for free. Each show would have 3 slots for two people a slot. Usually you could get into anything because people weren't always interested, but when a really well known band would come to the 40 Watt or the GA Theater, you had to make sure that you got to the station early enough to beat out the Sports Talk chuckleheads because they would ALWAYS try to get them. It was kind of funny the animosity that occured between the DJs and the Sports Talk people. It's kind of like listening to WRFG and knowing what must go on behind the scenes when the classic country DJs are switching shifts with the reggae DJs. Opposite worlds doing similar things. I also got to interview some cool artists - Mojo Nixon, The Young Fresh Fellows are two. River Pheonix did an interview at the station because his band Aleca's Attic was playing in town. They were pretty good actually, and the band that opened up for them, I can't remember their name, but they played an AWESOME version of the Beatles' song "Flying" as well as Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music".
Wow. That was so cool. It was so much fun, and I know there were mornings when I didn't want to get up or weekends that I didn't want to leave my girlfriend in Atlanta to come back and play the blues, but I did and I would love to be able to do it again.
Another R Thing
Reading. I'm reading two things right now. One is the sequel to Peter & the Starcatchers, Peter & the Shadow Thief. The Starcatchers book is a prequel to how Peter Pan becomes Peter Pan. It's a good read and this one, Shadow Thief is proving to be just as enjoyable. They're by Dave Barry (comic writer) & Ridley Pearson. The other book I'm reading is Steve Martin's autobiography Born Standing Up. It's about his years as a stand up comedian and what shaped him into the comic that he was then, as well as the writer, actor, and man that he is today. I've loved Steve Martin since he put out "King Tut" back in the mid 70s. My dad actually bought my brother and I (happy now?) his album for Christmas one year, the one with "King Tut" on it. It was great! Mom wasn't so happy about some of the other material on it, but come on, it had "King Tut".http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP7AJiQM2RI Steve Martin had the white suit long before David Byrne did. Martin's comedy is so smart and that is what I like most about him. Now, you may argue, justifiably that The Jerk isn't the smartest comedy, but so much of his other stuff is. Plus, PLUS he wore the fake arrow through his head. The story of how he started doing that is in Born Standing Up. Okay last thing. I think all of you (all six of you) should go out and buy this book as soon as you get off the computer and get in your car - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It is, without a doubt, one of the greatest stories that I have read. I loaned it to this girl two years ago and when I see her she tells me that she has it, she just doesn't carry it around with her. Well, why not?
Okay, love to you all. Vote tomorrow and be okay with the results, whether they are the way you want or not, because in the grand scheme of things, the grand scheme of we're just passing through, these things don't matter all that much. What matters is how we treat others, and that can be consistent regardless of whether the left or the right is in power.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Crackbook & The Decline of Western Civilization Due to Poor Customer Service
Sorry folks I've been out of it for a while, and now I'm not even sure where I am. I think this goes back to my first posting of looking over the edge. Well, I think I've moved back from the edge, but I'm still on the roof.
So, Crackbook and its inevitable let down. As addictions go Crackbook was really good at first, but as time has gone on I find myself less and less interested, and unfortunately it has to do with the dreadfully boring people that I have allowed to be my Friends. I already made one purge of boring people, and at this point it's looking like I need to go in again, pull up my list of friends and hit that little X next to their name. _________ will not know, or so says the little crackbook message. I'm not so sure about that. Do you think people start to notice when they don't see posts by certain people anymore? The only way I found out I had been de-friended was trying to send an email to someone and their name would not pop up like it does when I email friends from my list.
I suppose I should quote Harvey Danger here and say, "If you're bored then you're boring", and that might be so. Maybe I'm in a boring place right now. I think there are things to write about that don't need to be explored and things that need to be explored that I don't feel like writing about. What a quandary! Thank goodness I don't make my living this way.
Poor Customer Service
Is it just me or has the whole idea of customer service just completely gone out the window? I'm not talking about fast food restaurants or huge corporations who deal with people over the phone. Those were gone at least a decade ago. I'm talking about small, independent places that count on word of mouth to get their reputation out. Why is it all right for some of these people to go about their business not giving their customers proper respect and consideration? What on earth is going on in our society that it is okay to not treat the people paying you money for a service like they are providing you your livelihood? A little bit of consideration goes a long way. Unfortunately the cost of this is sometimes convenience, and because we don't want to be inconvenienced, or literally don't have the time to be inconvenienced we are willing to put up with less than great service. I suppose it is just one of the many downfalls of being part of "the working poor". The brochure made it seem much more elegant than what it has turned out to be. So, it's not so much the decline of Western Civilization as it is just the breaks, and well, "the breaks" kind of suck.
Hmm. Well, that's all I got. Good feelings, won't you stay with me, just a little longer?
So, Crackbook and its inevitable let down. As addictions go Crackbook was really good at first, but as time has gone on I find myself less and less interested, and unfortunately it has to do with the dreadfully boring people that I have allowed to be my Friends. I already made one purge of boring people, and at this point it's looking like I need to go in again, pull up my list of friends and hit that little X next to their name. _________ will not know, or so says the little crackbook message. I'm not so sure about that. Do you think people start to notice when they don't see posts by certain people anymore? The only way I found out I had been de-friended was trying to send an email to someone and their name would not pop up like it does when I email friends from my list.
I suppose I should quote Harvey Danger here and say, "If you're bored then you're boring", and that might be so. Maybe I'm in a boring place right now. I think there are things to write about that don't need to be explored and things that need to be explored that I don't feel like writing about. What a quandary! Thank goodness I don't make my living this way.
Poor Customer Service
Is it just me or has the whole idea of customer service just completely gone out the window? I'm not talking about fast food restaurants or huge corporations who deal with people over the phone. Those were gone at least a decade ago. I'm talking about small, independent places that count on word of mouth to get their reputation out. Why is it all right for some of these people to go about their business not giving their customers proper respect and consideration? What on earth is going on in our society that it is okay to not treat the people paying you money for a service like they are providing you your livelihood? A little bit of consideration goes a long way. Unfortunately the cost of this is sometimes convenience, and because we don't want to be inconvenienced, or literally don't have the time to be inconvenienced we are willing to put up with less than great service. I suppose it is just one of the many downfalls of being part of "the working poor". The brochure made it seem much more elegant than what it has turned out to be. So, it's not so much the decline of Western Civilization as it is just the breaks, and well, "the breaks" kind of suck.
Hmm. Well, that's all I got. Good feelings, won't you stay with me, just a little longer?
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Rush vs. The Police
Playlist for this posting
Rush
Rush
- Finding My Way
- Free Will
- Red Barchetta
- Spirit of the Radio
- Fly By Night
- YYZ
The Police
- Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
- Hold In My Life
- Walking On The Moon
- When The World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around
- No Time This Time
- The Other Way of Stopping
Right, so I've been listening to the Police a lot lately, as noted in my yardwork posting, although that didn't have the greatest effect on me. And I love the Police. I always have, probably before this next described moment, but seeing this totally drove it home for me. Watching MTV back whenever it was, 1982, 1983, somewhere along there and the video for Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic comes on. What a great video! They're dancing on the studio console, they're messing with all the knobs and buttons, Stewart's playing steel drums in the back of the big truck, Andy's doing his own thing, and he and Sting are wearing cool hats, well just see for yourself:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5W2Vr6HU7s Of course there are some tragic mistakes as well, and unfortunately they seem to be coming by way of Stewart - those damn tennis shorts and his giant aviator glasses, but those were the times and that's what they were wearing, well at least some of them. But how can you deny the greatness of that song? So, I'm digging the Police and always have, even through the crazy songs on Synchronicity, but then I remember Rush and as I'm taking Buddy for a walk the other night I listen to the sampling of Rush songs that I have.
Oh wow! I forgot how great they are too. The first real album that I bought with my own money from Turtle's Records & Tapes was Rush - Moving Pictures. I sat there and listened to it and looked at the album cover and the inner sleeve with its kind of sinister pictures on it. You may remember that Rush had a reputation of being one of those devil-worshipping bands. RUSH - Rise Under Satan's Hand. Yep, that's what they said. I couldn't really see it. There is that picture of the lady being burned at the stake, but other than that...So, Rush wasn't much of a video band. I'm sure their management made them do some b/c that's what everyone was doing, but the musicianship of those three!
So, I'm walking Buddy and it hit me. These two great bands, outrageously talented bands are both these power trios with the bassist as the lead singer of each. Wow! I thought as I tried to coax Buddy past a drain culvert (another story altogether). So I started comparing the two bands. I have two friends that I consulted for this very thought process and I'm going to give you their two cents right now. For sake of keeping friends, I'm just going to say Friend A and Friend B.
Friend A: Both have 3 members. The guys in Rush are unquestionably better technical musicians though Copeland's drumming is in a league of its own and Sting probably knows more about music theory. The Police's work has more feeling, is more fun, and generally more immediately accessible; I think Rush's work objectively shows better musicianship and is appreciated for its complexity, which tends to reveal itself as accessible over time.The main thing I can add -- which I only know from nerdily from reading Neal Peart's website one time -- is that Peart was flipping through a magazine once (relatively recently, past 5 years or so) that listed rock's WORST lyricists. Number One: Sting. Number Two: Neil Peart.
Friend B: Here are knee jerk reactions to the comparisons of Rush and the Police.....both are awesome bands that had a bazillion fans, but both bands were probably technically better than most fans could even imagine. They could have been giving masters level courses in music. Also, both bands had super great guitarists that were overshadowed by higher profile personalities in the band. In fact, I almost couldn't tell you which belonged in which band........(Alex, Andy...Andy, Alex....aley, andex....)
So, they're both right. They are such in a league of their own. The Police, while more commercially viable were so far beyond what the average person knew, in terms of their music, and even their songwriting. Very introspective, especially the middle albums, and yes even Synchronicity (obviously not my favorite, but I love Ms. Gradenko). Their music is more fun even if the words don't always match the fun. [I'm going to get rid of the proper quotation marking of song titles for my sanity] Can't Stand Losing You, The Bed's Too Big Without You, Hole in My Life, Every Breath You Take, So Lonely, I could go on and on, but there's another side. They also had great love songs. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (love from afar, perhaps, but love nonetheless), Walking On the Moon, De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da, and there may be more, but not many. They also weren't afraid of long song titles. Perhaps the longest one I know, When The World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around. Certainly they could have shortened that a little, but they didn't and that's part of what I like about them. The ego.
So, Rush. I think they are one of the great storyteller bands around. There are certain songs that make me think of mini-movies in my head, No, not like music videos, mini-movies and usually animated. Brian Wilson's SMiLE for example. When I was listening to that driving down to the beach one summer I came up with all these great little animated shorts in my head that would go perfectly with the whole album. Brian Wilson's a whole other entry, too. So, Rush has that ability, too. Lakeside Park, Red Barchetta. These are great stories. Most people may not think so, and certainly not the author of that magazine piece, but there are, as Friend B said a bazillion fans and they most definitely think so.
Musicianship. Please. I don't know if I can even write about this. Five of the six of the musicians in these bands are sick in their abilities. Some of Sting's bass playing is really cool and he definitely helped to make the sound of the band, but beside Andy's complexity and Stewart's insanity, it's just okay. Not Rush. All three of those guys are almost completely beyond the realm of imagination. The drums, the guitar, the bass. It doesn't hurt that Geddy Lee plays a Rickenbacker bass, and has a double-neck one at that. Plus he played the keyboard and bass. I've never seen them in concert, so I don't know if they pull a Doors thing with the bass box that Manzarek used, but I don't think so. Liefson's playing? He's almost too fast and too clean for himself. Ah, I can't go on with this, I don't have the chops myself to even unlock their cases.
Instrumentals. I love instrumentals. I made a mixed tape in college of all the instrumentals from my giant tape collection. It was awesome! And no one, no one wanted to hear it. What? It shows off the band without the words, and I love the words, but come on! So, I had a hard time deciding the Police's instrumental to use. I wanted to go with Behind My Camel because it's just so cool and atmospheric, but it's not a good showcase for all three, and I totally dig Masako Tango, but The Other Way of Stopping is a really good example of all three of them playing together and fitting together perfectly. Now I know that Stewart's time keeping pissed Sting off and he'd speed up his tempos too much in concert, but it gets you going, you know? Hard to keep it contained. There wasn't much a choice for me with my Rush instrumental. YYZ. I used to think of the zipper company, YKK, when I thought of this song. I think I can't adequately talk about the music of this song, but needless to say, it's also a great example of the three parts becoming one and making a complete, awesome sound.
Ugh. I'm exhausted from that. You all need to go right now and find your favorite Police or Rush song, listen to it and report back to me. All three of you. My three followers, making me feel just a little better than, well I was going to say the blogger after me when you hit "Next Blog" at the top, but he's got three followers now, too, and then you just get into these Spanish photography blogs after that guy and I don't want to spend too much time thinking about why I'm so far down the line that I'm next to the Spanish photography section. Hmm. Well, anyhoo, you've got your assignment. Love to you all.
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