Dead Blog Walking?

Is it time to kill my second blog? Maybe. Now I do facebook, and a little twitter. Tough mostly facebook. More people see my posts there than ever looked at this thingy.

But facebook has its shortcomings. The blog could fill another nitch.

If only I had anything to say.

My end of year subject will be music. Send me your best record of the year nominations. If anyone still looks at this thing.

Beat Beat Beat on the Dodgers

Boswell urges on Cubs partisans, invoking the same team of destiny that we who bleed blue have invoked many times over the past 24 hours:

In Game 3 of the 2004 ALCS, the Red Sox were battered to the ground in their own ballpark by the Yankees, 19-8, humiliated by their own ineptness and consigned to the netherworld by every fan they thought had loved them.

They were alone. They had only each other, a band of Idiots. Then they won and won -- eight victories in a row, building each day on their sense of pregnant destiny, until they had swept a superb 105-win Cardinals team in the Series as if St. Louis wasn't even allowed to present a lineup card.

That's where the Cubs are now.

Of course, Boswell points out that the Scrubs are almost surely doomed. He's no dummy. But just the same, he sees the magic that could be:

Now the Cubs need to sacrifice a goat, slap a few pundits and wake their fans, who at this moment stand at the edge of the cliff, pondering the familiar view.

If the North Siders want to win the Series this year, not just reach one for the first time since '45, then lose with dignity to the better league, they need something special. They need a magic cloak, a powerful mojo, an event of their own creation that makes them feel calm, invincible and chosen. They need to beat, beat, beat on the Dodgers.

Go, Cubs, Go

Trib columnist Rick Morrissey, looking for some doom facing the 97-win Cubs, picks on the classic Steve Goodman Cubs anthem, "Go, Cubs, Go." I hate to say it, but he's right--it is a dreadful song. Nonetheless, to kick off the playoffs, here's a 2008 slide show to Goodman's song:



But truth be told, Goodman's best Cubs song is not "Go, Cubs, Go," but "A Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request":

NJ Apple Picking

...and to Emily

[i can't view this video on the glacial internet connection I am using so if it is really bad, I apologize]

100 Years is Plenty

Nice column about the Cubs in today's Post; here's a snippet

There is nothing quite like the North Side of Chicago in a pennant race, with all those day games in the crisp autumn sunshine, the way God intended, and the stately old stadium in the middle of a stately old neighborhood, with fans filling every seat in both the stadium itself and the surrounding rooftops, and with Ron Santo up in the radio booth, living and dying on every pitch.

John McSame

John McCain is quoted in the Washington Post (from an appearance on Russert's show) on whether he differs from President Bush. This quote reminds me of the incredibly effective ad Ann Richards ran against Clayton Williams, in which she destroyed him merely by quoting his own words to the voters. John McSame in his own words (OK, from 2005, but so be it):

The fact is that I have agreed with President Bush far more than I have disagreed. And on the transcendent issues, the most important issues of our day, I've been totally in agreement and support of President Bush. . . . My support for President Bush has been active and very impassioned on issues that are important to the American people. And I'm particularly talking about the war on terror, the war in Iraq, national security, national defense, support of men and women in the military, fiscal discipline, a number of other issues. So I strongly disagree with any assertion that I've been more at odds with the president of the United States than I have been in agreement with him.

First Ride

B learned to ride a 2 wheeler today. First video, courtesy of J below.

Summer Pix 2

Dee on American Girl on Kojo

D.Miasma made the Kojo Nnamdi show today, pointing out the irony of Hillary Clinton using Tom Petty's "American Girl," in her campaign. The link to today's show is here (Dee's comments are discussed with about 25 minutes to go in the show.)

Dee's email to Kojo:

Hey Kojo,
Love the show.

On the subject of listening to the chorus but overlooking the lines, I noted that one of Hillary's rally songs was Tom Petty's "American Girl," which seems inspiring until it gets to this line: "God it's so painful when something that's so close is still so far out of reach..."

Summer Pic 1: Tired Yet?

Happy birthday Jean & Joan

Brother G sends this birthday video.

Stay Positive

After searching Craigslist to no avail (all buyers, no sellers), waiting outside with other scalpees with not so much as a nibble, and giving up and walking half way back to our rental house, I was pretty sure I was not going to see the Hold Steady in Austin last night. So when D. Miasma picked me up, and I said, "let's swing by one more time to see if the scene has changed," it was really really blind hope.

Met by blind luck. I asked two women near the line if they had tickets to sell, and one stuffed one in my hand and then rushed off. Providence, I tell you. Stay positive.

And wow. My review: I was not worthy. They blew me away. The energy is unbelievable. Frontman Craig Finn doesn't really sing, doesn't really scream, but froths up the crowd with dark or compelling or delirious stories. (NPR/WXPN called it "lyrically dense storytelling.") Problem is that if you stand up close (thanks, Dave) and you don't know the stories, you don't get all the expressiveness and frothmaking. I'm definitely going back to buy the rest of their discography to get ready for the next show.

Over the Cliff

Saw the Old 97s at the 9:30 tonight. The first part of the show was fairly uninspired. Maybe it just took awhile for the newcastle to kick in (for them or for me?). But when they hit their cover of Jon Langford's "Over the Cliff" (below) the show really took off. Highlights from there included a positively Simon-and-Garfunkel version of Murray Hammond's Valentine, and the classic closer Time Bomb. But the apogee was the close of Over the Cliff, brought to you here courtesy of You Tube:

Back Talk

[Me to B after he called me a "fool"]

Me: Hey, don't call me a fool, Punk.

B: Well, don't call me punk, Fool.

Grand Finale

As kids, we always used to ask whether it was time for the Grand Finale during the fireworks. It was a term we never used in any other context. So, here is the Grande Finale of tonight's fireworks on the national mall. If you listen closely, you just might hear B asking if this is the Grand Finale.

Did you hear, the cops finally busted Madame Marie
For tellin fortunes better than they do
For me this boardwalk life's thru, babe
You oughta quit this scene too

--Bruce Springsteen, “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy).”

R.I.P. Madame Marie.

Video of the song that made her famous here.

[Posted by D Miasma]

B is Chris Farley

[B and I watching the Euro finals this afternoon]

B: Hey, dad: you remember when Darth Vader held his hand up and used the force to choke that guy from like ten feet away?

Me: Yes?

B: That was awesome.

Ann Richards Keynote 1988

Looking for other things, I found the audio of the famous Ann Richards keynote address from 1988. It's most famous for the line "Poor George. He can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth." (Video of that line here.) But Ann was also famous for her invocation of her "nearly perfect" granddaughter, Lily as an inspirational representative of all future generations. Here's a snippet from the keynote, that could have been written for this election:

So, when it comes right down to it, this election is a contest between those who are satisfied with what they have and those who know we can do better. That’s what this election is really all about. It’s about the American dream -- those who want to keep it for the few and those who know it must be nurtured and passed along.

I’m a grandmother now. And I have one nearly perfect granddaughter named Lily. And when I hold that grandbaby, I feel the continuity of life that unites us, that binds generation to generation, that ties us with each other. And sometimes I spread that Baptist pallet out on the floor, and Lily and I roll a ball back and forth. And I think of all the families like mine, like the one in Lorena, Texas, like the ones that nurture children all across America. And as I look at Lily, I know that it is within families that we learn both the need to respect individual human dignity and to work together for our common good. Within our families, within our nation, it is the same.

Twee Primer (Last Tullycraft Post)

That last band wasn't bad, I just can only take so much twee.

--Tullycraft audience member downstairs at the Red and Black bar watching the Celtics lose game 5.

To explore Tullycraft is to run head long into the world of Twee. Although I have heard, and been tempted to use the term, I never really understood Twee. So riding in this morning, I thought I'd take the time to do some research on Twee and make a post. On Twee, I might call it.

Turns out that the Washington Post beat me to it, with a Tullycraft hook no less. So rather than make my own swing at it, here's a link to the WaPo Twee Primer.

Needless to say, my own experience with Twee starts, as Sean from Tullycraft does, with Jonathan Richman.