2012 Reading List

In 2011 I read 19 books and the entire New Testament. I got tons of books for Christmas, and I've had books piled up in the reading list, so here is what is on the reading list as of right now in no particular order.

-The Old Testament - The Bible (This year I would like to get through the entire OT, never have before)

-The Life and Legacy of Lincoln-Grant School Covington KY 1866-1976 - Joseph M. Walton (Written by my next door neighbor, this would have been #20 for 2011, but I'm only 97 pages in)

-Jim Brown, The fierce life of an American hero - Mike Freeman (not to be confused with James Brown, Jim Brown is great, don't believe me, you tube him, I'm interested to learn about him through this book)

-No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy (I read McCarthy's Border Trilogy last year, love his writing)

-The Road - Cormac McCarthy

-Escaping the Delta - Elijah Wald (Book about blues man Robert Johnson and his 1936 recordings)

-Heaven's Wager, When Heaven Weeps, & Thunder of Heaven - Ted Dekker (also known as the Heaven Trilogy, huge Ted Dekker fan)

-The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. - Edited by Clayborne Carson (Looks pretty sweet)

-Sacred Hoops - Phil Jackson (hopefully I'll finally figure out what the triangle offense really is)

-Preachin' the Blues The Life and Times of Son House - Daniel Beaumont (Dug into Son House last year, great blues man who wanted to be a preacher)

-Face To Face Volumes 1 & 2 - Kenneth Boa (These are scripture based daily readings for morning and night)

-A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller Jr. (My Father in law says I will like this)

-Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life - Jon Lee Anderson (Recently learned a little bit about Che, now I want to know more)

-The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin America Journey - Ernesto Che Guevara (His diaries from his trip on motorcycle through South America at age 23)

-Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation - John Ehle (Read "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown last year and heard that this was another good book about the end of Native American freedom)

I figure that is a good start. I'm usually a Fiction guy, but I read a lot of Non-Fiction the second half of 2011 so I'm being over aggressive on it this year. We'll see how it goes. Let me know if you have any recommendations.


Bottom Line - Reading is fun

A Birthday story

A month ago today, I had a birthday. The day started by awaking at 5AM to load the fam into my truck to depart from Ocean Isle Beach after a week of vacation. The trip home was off to a great start. The kids were behaving, we were making good time and while crossing from North Carolina over the border into Tennessee, all of the sudden something popped in my truck and it sounded like my engine was going to explode. So I pulled over and checked it out. If you know me, then you know that I know nothing about cars at all. In fact I can barely figure out how to pop my hood. Luckily we were about a mile from a rest stop and the truck was drivable up to 40 mph.

So we pulled into the rest stop and awaited for my father in-law to return to check things out. We had called him when it happened since we were both traveling home and his car was ahead of us. He happened to find an auto store at the exit he got off of to turn around. There he procured a new spark plug and some other items after listening to the noise through a cell phone. After deciding that we were not able to fix the problems ourselves we called a tow truck. 30 seconds later the tow truck was there and I was scrambling to get the kids car seats out to get them into the other vehicle, then I hopped into the tow truck with my wife's sister's boyfriend and the tow truck driver.

On the way to the body shop we got to hear "tow" stories in a thick hardly understandable Tennessee accent about people falling asleep at the wheel and going through the divider wires, running into trees, and an elderly person who pulled over and could not figure out how to restart their BMW so they called our Tow truck driver. He got there and simply pushed the button for them to start it, then left.

So we take some Tennessee back roads and end up at a gas station/service station and the guy drops my truck off, gets his 20 dollars and pulls out. Being a Saturday, the place was packed and a sneaky looking guy with "Tommy" on his shirt told me that he would fix 'er right up while holding a rolled up wad of cash, and then walked away quickly. He didn't say how long, or how much. I kept following him around and asking him and his response was always the same, "We'll fix 'er right up".

Finally after waiting about 20 minutes this guy that could have been Carl from Slingblade's twin brother comes up to me and asks me in the same voice and mannerisms as Carl to pull my truck in the garage. Another 20 minutes later they changed the spark plug and they were done. Finally I cornered Tommy again and he whipped out his cash wad and said, "How about 40 dollars" I threw him two twenties and hit the road. I was shocked that the whole incident was that cheap of a fix.



We got back on the road and were going good until I noticed that we needed gas. The kids were asleep so I tried to stretch it out until the last possible second. So we pulled over at an exit and pulled up to the gas pump and I swiped my card and started opening my tank lid when the tenant came out and said, "We just lost electricity, the whole exit did, so you'll have to wait to get gas." Twenty minutes later Jess and I decided to risk it to drive down to the next exit to get gas. Little did we know, the next exit was 15 miles down the highway. So we turned the air conditioning off and prayed that we would make it in a drive that felt like an hour to the next exit to find the gas station.

The next gas station had electricity and we filled up and noticed an Arby's so we decided to get chocolate shakes for the last leg of our trip. We ordered the shakes in the drive thru which I ordered 3 small shakes, and I asked for one shake to be split into two cups. They said to pull forward. Once at the window the girl asked me again what I wanted. I said that I had two kids and asked if it would be possible to get a small shake in two cups so each cup would be filled halfway, I said "Is that possible" She stared at me dumbfounded and said "I.......have........no idea". After a couple of awkward seconds and consulting her manager she came back with 2 shakes in even smaller cups for the kids. Jess and I were so slaphappy at that time that we laughed about her quote for the next 2 hours.

Finally we had reached the cut in the hill from Kentucky going into Cincinnati and of course, we hit stopped and slow moving traffic, but eventually after 15.5 hours, we made it home. Krissy brought us milk and cookies and Magic Hat #9 and I ordered Pad Thai from China Wok and ended my birthday with a great meal.

Bottom Line - Birthdays are not just another day

Where's Scooter?

I could not have shared this story any better than it was already shared and written by my lovely wife, so I will ask you to read her post by clicking the link below.

http://lydianicole.blogspot.com/2011/04/wheres-scooter.html


Bottom Line - Joel is on the move

Sound Identity

Each human being has a specific set of fingerprints different from every other person on earth. Fingerprints are used to identify people. Sounds also have their own fingerprints in some ways. A bell has a unique sound. There are many types of bells with various pitches, but most people after hearing the noise a bell makes, can be pretty certain that it was a bell.

Music by form of musicians and instruments can also have identities. Mostly the identities are limited to genres and styles. For example if you hear a quickly strummed distorted guitar with a quick heavy drum beat, chances are it is rock or some category of rock music. It is very difficult as a musician to have your own sound identity that stands above all other artists and genres. Having your own sound identity means that after about 3 seconds or listening to music that you have created, you can establish who it came from. This exercise does not count for previously listened to or memorized sounds that the artist has produced in the past. This is hearing something you have never heard before in your life and connecting it to someone seconds into hearing it. That is someone with a Sound Identity.

I watched the movie "The Social Network" a couple days ago and during the first remnance of the movie music score I identified the musician responsible. I did know that Trent Reznor had won an Oscar for best original score of a movie, but I honestly did not remember which movie it was. Once I heard it, I knew immediately. He owns his own sound. No one can replicate it, and it can't be confused with anyone else. Once you hear it, you know that it is him. I have a history of listening to Nine Inch Nails so I was familiar with the sound created by Trent Reznor, but I had never heard any of the music from the movie until I watched it.



I was facinated that I could identify it as Trent Reznor almost immediately and it made me try to think of other artists who have their own musical identity. i could not think of any, but my wife came up with one that I agree on. Enya. She, like Trent, owns her musical identity. I challenge everyone to come up with others who can unmistakeably be identified upon hearing material for the first time.

Bottom Line - Originality is hard to achieve due to the massive population of creative people in this world making art and music.

Currently Listening To

The past week and a half, I have listened to all of these albums. Some new and some old favorites. In alphabetical order.

Adele - itunes Live from SoHo
Adele - 21
Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow
The Civil Wars - Live at Eddie's Attic
Entheos - Sense
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Lady GaGa - The Fame
Lady GaGa - The Fame Monster
Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
Once - Movie Soundtrack
Peter Adams - I Woke with Planets in my Face
Ray LaMontagne - Gossip in the Grain
Sam Phillips - A Boot and A Shoe
Sufjan Stevens - Come on Feel the Illinoise
Sufjan Stevens - Greetings From Michigan
Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
The Swell Season - Srict Joy
The Wood Brothers - Up Above My Head

This list does not include the Tuesday Night Jazz sessions with Lydia and Joel.

If you are interested in any of these albums, please contact me. I like exchanging. It is how I discovered most of the albums above.


Bottom Line - Music makes me Tick.

Album Review - The Swell Season - Strict Joy

Overview

Artist – The Swell Season
Album – Strict Joy
Release Date - October 27, 2009



I got a hold of this album through a Christmas White Elephant game in January this year. I was excited when I unwrapped it and surprised that I retained it without anyone swiping it until the end. I knew of the Swell Season, but never actually heard any of their material under that band name. I am a huge fan of the movie and the soundtrack “Once” which features Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova which happen to also make up the lead components of The Swell Season.

Review

On first listen of the Strict Joy disc, I have to admit that I was greatly disappointed. I was looking for and expecting the sequel album to the Once Soundtrack. It lacked the emotional screaming by Glen. It seems he took a chill pill and dialed it down to the mellow level of Marketa who counterbalanced him in Once. Her songs on Strict Joy are more fitting of the work she did on the Once Soundtrack, and she almost steals the show on this album with the few songs she leads.

I gave it another chance and every time I went from front to back of the album I liked it more and more each time. I started looking at it as a Swell Season album instead of a Once part 2 album and I quickly appreciated it more and more on each listen.

Breakdown Review of Tracks

1. Low Rising – Medium tempo blues song by Glen
2. Feeling the Pull - Up tempo acoustic Irish Jig by Glen
3. In These Arms - Slow acoustic by Glen. Mostly in his low whisper voice.
4. The Rain - Acoustic Rock by Glen similar to the Once style
5. Fantasy Man - Acoustic Ballad by Marketa. Has unique timing and lyric structure.
6. Paper Cup - Slow acoustic by Glen in low whisper voice
7. High Horses - Acoustic Rock by Glen in low whisper voice
8. The Verb - Acoustic Rock by Glen similar to Once style with elements borrowed from Sufjan
9. I Have Loved You Wrong - Slow Acoustic Piano by Marketa ending in acapella harmony bridge
10. Love That Conquers - Swingy Acoustic by Glen and Marketa in Harmony
11. Two Tongues - Slow Acoustic Rock by Glen in low whisper voice
12. Back Broke - Slow Acoustic by Glen in low whisper voice

My top 3 favorite songs on the album

1. I Have Loved You Wrong
2. The Verb
3. The Rain

Conclusion

I would recommend this album to people who have an interest in Indie music, but I would caution them against expecting the sequel to the Once Soundtrack. It will definitely be staying in my rotation for awhile.

Bottom Line – This album is Swell