Some headlines are just plain scary.

From The New York Times:

Sonny Rollins Strips for Action

Tales From The Old Guy

She was telling me this:

I was at Sam's last night.
I was the only woman there.
This skanky looking guy started hitting on me
while my boyfriend was at the bar getting us another beer.

It was only after that last part that I figured out that she was talking about Sam's, the popular bar in Hillsboro Village, and not Sam's, the wholesale club.

She's in her early-20s. I'm 37 and I can't remember the last time I was at the bar, but I can easily recall the last time I shopped the aisles of Sam's, filling the cart with so many economy-sized groceries.

These kids these days are going to have to start clarifying these things before they start talking to me.

Remember Winter

Animoto: the end of slideshows.

It's quite easy and fun. Simply add the photos you like and the site does the rest, adding music and applying nice effects to your images.

The Cherubs Two

Ripped Off

Someone stole my license plate right of of my car last night or the night before. I discovered this nuisance last night as I approached my car in my workplace parking lot. It either happened while I was at work or the night before at my apartment complex. I filed the police report over the phone and the nice lady told me that she didn't think I'd have to pay for a new plate but she wasn't sure. I just purchased the new sticker this month so if I have to pay a pro-rated amount, it's unlikely that it'll be more than a few dollars.

I can't get to the renewal place until later this afternoon, but I'm already the proud owner of one of those unsightly stickers that the apartment management places on cars without proper tags. I'm both victim and offender at the same time. Ugh.

Ain't life nice? ;)

Ain't No Bro Like The Bro I Got

You know you're one of my top bros, bro, because you got my back. And I got yours. You're my bro. But you went above and beyond the other night, bromaldehyde. You really did. Saving me that seat at the Velvet Revolver show, even though all those other bros were trying to get up front, bro? So clutch.

You are truly a god among bros.

Mo' bro...

H/T Sasha Frere-Jones

"I ain't no extra, I'm a leading man."

"Going Out West," Sin City-style.

H/T Eyeball Kid

Super Dad (Sure Is Tired)

I had last Friday off from work, and on four hours of slumber, I was brave and determined to make the most of my quality time with my two youngest children. No lounging on the couch with the television doing the entertaining for me, I arose way, way too early for my body's comfort, and did my best impression of a wide awake dad. As a family, we drove my beautiful wife to her job and saw a world at a time that I like to pretend doesn't exist as I usually keep my head to the pillow.

Our first stop was Nashville's Bicentennial Mall. The kids loved it. It was 8 A.M. and already too hot for my dress-to-impress attire. I wore my nicest jeans, my favorite crisp, black long-sleeved dress shirt, and my cool Guinness flat cap upon my head. If it was late October, I would have been perfectly dressed. However, it was a warm September morning and I was sweating already. Oh well. Onward.

We enjoyed exploring the mall. We walked all over the map of our state, seeing how many steps it would take to travel from Nashville to Pawpaw's home in East Tennessee. We took the step or two to Franklin and to Thompson's Station to visit Grandma Foxy and Bubba, respectively.

Then we walked to the carillions (95 carillions for our 95 counties) at the north end of the mall, the kids marveling at the music of their chimes. I marveled at all of the joggers. If they didn't have to be at work at this hour, why weren't they at home sleeping? I try to never do anything I don't have to do before 10 A.M.

The three of us then ran up the steps to our State Capitol. I was proud of the kids for their energy and general fitness to be able to run up all of those steps without stopping to rest. Admittedly, Ari had it easier as she required me to carry her all the way. We enjoyed looking at Bicentennial Mall from high above. Joshua enjoyed the perspective of seeing where we had just been from our newfound elevation.

Now it was almost time for the library to open and we made the quick drive to it's magnificent doors. As luck would have it, we arrived just in time for storytime. My wild-in-their-own-home children were perfectly still and attentive as the librarian read wonderfully for her small audience. In a small semi-circle, there were about six children all accompanied by a parent. Of course, I noticed that I was the only male parent. Strangely, I also noticed that I was the only parent with a wedding ring. Are Fridays single parent day at the library?

Anyway, after the book was read, we moved to the nearby tables for Arts and Crafts. We each made a pinwheel fish with not much more than paper plates, bits of paper, a long straw, and paste. This was a real winner of a day for us. I was feeling like the best dad ever. The kids were behaving, learning, creating, and having fun. Later, in the children's section, while reading to Ari, another kid from the earlier storytime handed me a book to read to him.

In no time, I was the new storyteller, feeling like I was a teacher in a classroom and enjoying the attention and watchful eyes of the accompanying moms. I imagined that I was some Hugh Grant character in some wistful romantic-comedy. Alas, their watchful eyes were probably less of swooning admiration and more protective maternal instincts and mistrust of the out-of-place man, not working on a Friday morning. We'll just stick with the Hugh Grant reference for ego's sake.

Our next stop was Centennial Park. No more air-conditioned environment for me. It was now high noon and time to sweat profusely. Joshua, Ari, and I had the big time running around the Parthenon, playing at the playground, and just generally being silly.

The quote of the day was when we were walking back to the van to get a quick and easy McDonald's lunch. I was carrying Ari and told her that we would skip the fries to spend less because she had "a broke daddy." She looked at me, grinned, poked my cheek, and replied, "You're not broken and I love you."

I've got Wednesday and Thursday off this week. I don't think we can top last Friday's outing, but we sure will try.

Bobby Thompson's "Hee Haw Banjo"

Rolf at BanjoShrink.com has an interesting post about Bobby's famous "Hee Haw banjo."

And here's a clip of Bobby with Roy Clark:

Excerpt from That Sunday by Adam Gopnik

Orrin Keepnews on Bill Evans:

The trouble with Bill - and, as much as anything, that was the cause for our deciding to record him live - was always persuading Bill to play at all. He had very low self-esteem. That's what drew him to Scott. Scott was already a rumor even before he was a whisper - everyone had heard of this phenomenal bass player, and when they started working together what was clear from the first was that Bill had something very different in mind from the normal interplay of piano with bass. Most so-called trio records are just an accompanied piano player - the bass player's function is to emancipate the pianist's left hand. Bill was looking for something very different - a joined-together kind of thing.

"We chose Sunday because we knew that we had two shows, the afternoon matinee and the evening show, and we would have both. Live recording was pretty much in its infancy. Today, you'd have a van with a studio inside, but we just had portable Ampex equipment, which I think we lined up by the banquette. Bill was tough, of course. Even after we had made the first record with the trio, he didn't believe that he had enough to express. He was brutally self-critical. I used to joke about forming a Demon Band of musicians who never thought they were good enough, never thought they had got it right. The Demon Band would have included Sonny Rollins on sax, J.J. Johnson on trombone, Wes Montgomery on guitar, and Bill on piano. It seemed to have an inordinate number of my musicians. Finally, I realized that the Demon Band could never really exist, because we could never find a drummer. No drummer suffers from self-doubt."

Britney Spears And My Thoughts On Her

As a person with a blog, I suppose I am contractually obligated to share my thoughts on Britney Spears after her *yawn* "comeback performance" at the MTV VMAs. Never mind that I didn't see the performance, I have an opinion to share.

I've read criticisms here and there that she only gave a half-hearted attempt at lip-synching her 3-minute song. Well, everyone lip-synchs these days (and those days, too, for that matter), so why go to the extra bother to fake it when the world expects a fakery from the start? Just because some people won't "phone it in" doesn't mean that she shouldn't. Incidentally, I've heard it said that jazz is all about the notes you don't play. Maybe we've got Britney all wrong. While she might be yesterday's pop princess, Ms. Spears might actually be the latest phenom in the jazz world, bringing to the performance no notes whatsoever. Britney Spears is the new Miles Davis. (Don't worry. Even I hate myself for that previous sentence.)

Associated Press called her "out of shape." TMZ said that Britney aimed to bring the house down, but "she just looked like a house." Please. I've seen pictures. The girl looks pretty fine to me. Admittedly, she's not the Brit of the "Toxic" days, but she doesn't look bad at all for a mother of two...or even a mother of one...or even an average woman in her twenties.

And furthermore...

(Sorry. I interrupt this post to bring you the following announcement: I just saw the clip. I can't defend the performance any longer. She looked sleepy and bored. I think the person who was the least excited about Britney's comeback performance was Britney herself. What the heck was that? I didn't spend any money, didn't see it live, and still I feel ripped off. What did she take before she hit the stage? Cough medicine?

Brit needs to get serious about this or stay home and watch someone else perform who gives a damn. This wig-wearing, lip-synching, barely-dancing, has-been needs to watch Rocky III, get inspired by hearing "The Eye Of The Tiger," and work her ass off to win us over again. Britney, I'm the Adrian to your Rocky Balboa. I believe in you. Now stop making me look bad and work a little.)

Interference

From The New York Times:

Police and court files indicate that Mr. Craig’s case may have been handled more
harshly than some of the others. For instance, he alone among the 40 men
arrested was charged with both disorderly conduct and interference with privacy.

Interference with privacy? One can be charged with that? The people around me better shape up. Everytime I go to the bathroom, all I get is "interference with privacy." At home, as soon as I close the bathroom door, the kids come barging in asking me questions or telling on one another. At work, no sooner than I turn the latch on the stall door, than I get a call on my Nextel requesting my presence in the main lobby.

Heck, that should be the one place in life where we should be assured of a bit of quiet time. I only want five minutes of peace and a good magazine. No kids whining, no boss calling, and certainly no neighbor tapping his foot. Thank you.

They're stronger than you might think.

Separated at birth? Jim Rome and The Sopranos' Johhny Cakes

Can I Be Super Dad On Four Hours Of Sleep?

I'm off Friday. If the kids stay home with me, we save money on daycare. Thus, the kids will stay home with me.

I work nights and have habits that keep me up well into the wee hours of the A.M. (reading blogs, perusing Flickr, watching Hotel Babylon) and so I usually get up with my wife to help she and the kids get off to school and then it's back to bed for me until close to noon. It's never eight hours uninterrupted, but it's close enough for a working man with a family.

Today, I'll be up early as usual to drive Paige to school with the kids in tow. Then I'll go about the day trying to be an entertaining and fun dad while keeping my children so busy playing that they won't have time to annoy one another. If I just take the lazy way out and stay home with them, taking pseudo-naps on the couch while the Noggin channel does the entertaining on the television, I will spend most of my day breaking up small, but disruptive altercations between the two bored little siblings; I will be a lazy and an irritated dad. And there's no sense in that.

So on four hours of sleep, starting near the crack of dawn, I plan to stay busy out and about in my fair city with two kids and an empty wallet. I ask you stay-at-homers and weird work schedule moms and pops: What to do with kids on an average Friday in Nashville? We've got plenty of parks for playing, malls for walking, and...what else exactly? Let's not let the couch win. I want to be Super Dad.

At least for the day.