Black Books Outtakes

I'm posting this because it makes my wife laugh. And also to see how this video looks in Google Reader.

Baby

Tom Waits - "Time"

I can't figure out what's up with the way that whenever I embed a video into my blog, it comes up as just a bunch of code in Google Reader. I switched templates thinking that was the deal, but it wasn't. User error maybe? There aren't enough steps in the process for me to think I'm doing something wrong.

Oh well. If any of you have an idea of how I can fix this little complaint of mine, I'm all ears.

In the meantime, here's a song that's been dancing in my head all evening. If you're reading this in your Google Reader, I bet it's all code, huh?

So, MTV is putting all of its videos online?

MTVMusic.com looks promising. Over sixteen thousand videos online so far and all available for embedding. No Tom Waits yet (my first search), but the list grows every day.

Oh, the stories this beautiful piano could tell. Oh, the stories it does.

Simply and Aptly Put

There's something almost poetic in the following quote by Raheem Brock of the Colts after their 31-21 loss to our Tennessee Titans. For me, it just sums up a football team's difficult loss so very succinctly.

"We just made little mistakes that cost us," Brock said. "To see it, to see how easy it is, it's hard."

Which one's Pink?

Barbara at Layla's Classic Rock blog posted tonight about the possibility of Led Zeppelin touring without Robert Plant. His heart just isn't in playing it loud anymore, but Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones sure would like to make some noise playing the old faves and why not bill it as Led Zeppelin with or without Plant? It just doesn't seem the sacrilege to me that it might have fifteen years ago. It would have bugged the heck out of me back then, but I didn't blink an eye at those "old" bands like The Four Tops, The Temptations, or any other Motown band touring with maybe only one or two of the original members in the lineup. But then I didn't feel like I was raised on their music like I was Led Zeppelin.

Anyway, Journey doesn't need Steve Perry to fill arenas and Styx doesn't require the vocals of Dennis DeYoung to play "Babe" and "Mr. Roboto" to those of us nostalgic for those hits. Yes is touring without the aid (but with the blessing) of Jon Anderson this year. Found their guy on YouTube in a Yes tribute band much like Judas Priest did when they replaced Rob Halford for a short period. I guess if I wanted to, I could even buy the new Queen album featuring Paul Rodgers at the mic.

At least with that one, it's a bit easier to bear as its own artistic endeavor because they're not merely replacing Freddie Mercury but rather moving on and making new music together. Still, I wouldn't go to that show and feel like I really and truly saw Queen in concert.

But fun is fun and I'd see all of these bands for whom introducing their singer isn't just a formality but indeed an answer to a crowd's honest query. I think I'm pretty laid back about it all. Call the band what you're legally allowed to call the band and if you play the hits then I'm happy to just roll with it and enjoy the songs. Just don't get me started on the whole Pink Floyd-Roger Waters thing. I'm holding onto stubborn and saying that Waters was right.

Daughter and Dad, Goofing Around

Candy Break

Feel Good Friday - "In A Big Country"

I met them once. Backstage after a show at TPAC. Wild rock stars? Nope. It was someone's birthday and all I recall seeing was cake and Sprite.

A blogger friend is on the front page of the New York Times

Lori Stewart, writer of This Just In, was interviewed and photographed for the New York Times in their front page story on the cost of prescription drugs in this tough economy. Her mother suffers from Alzheimer's Disease and, as Lori states in the article, the medication is "literally one-fifth of her income."

It's an important read on a topic that affects so many hard-working families. My best to Lori and everyone else who has to make such tough choices in matters so important. Click below for the story by Stephanie Saul.

Some Cut Back on Prescription Drugs in Sour Economy 

I Close My Eyes And I Go To Amelia Island

    Photo by flickr user kate-eh 

Fernandina Beach. Amelia Island. It's where Paige and I got married. It's where the in-laws live, most of them anyway. It's where we go to visit family and it's where I always most easily clear my head and learn to relax and smile.

I remember reading about the "Beach Lady" of American Beach, such an interesting figure in African-American history, in Smithsonian magazine (June 2003) and being so moved in respect and wonder the first time I spent an afternoon exploring the area. I felt nearly reverential walking around her community that day, taking pictures of old homes and listening to the ocean's waves gently falling and respectfully sliding up to the shore. Read about the community's founder A. L. Lewis here.

Fernandina Beach is where I've gotten my favorite shots of my kids. They've never gotten too crazy about the ocean, but the beach is always good for building sandcastles and experiencing views they just don't get here in Tennessee. Ari's never too happy to get sand on her skin, but I hear princesses and divas can be like that.

If we're lucky and Paige can get a teaching job that she likes, we'll likely move down there in the next year or two. There's also a very nice Ritz-Carlton on the beach where I'd probably work if I'm still doing the hotel industry thing then. As I've written about before, I want to ultimately own a scooter and it's the perfect little beach town for such a vehicle. Heck, at two miles across at its widest point and thirteen miles long, a nice bicycle would suffice. Sure looks like easy living from here.

(I saw the photo above and loved it so much I just had to share it. What I wrote was merely an excuse to share the shot.)

Smart Daughter

All in one breath she said, "Will you buy me that Cinderella kitchen? It's kind of heavy. Are you strong enough to carry it, Dad?"

Tell me she doesn't know how to phrase things to work a conversation in her favor. Of course I'm strong enough. I can carry it. And I'll prove it by buying it for her.

Voting With A Five-Year-Old

We're driving to the library so that I can participate in early voting. He's five and has just gotten back from doing the same thing with his mom. He asks me a question from his backseat car seat.

"Daddy, who is the leader of America right this minute?"

I reply, "President Bush."

"And we're voting for one of the two other guys because he's tired of being the leader?"

"Well, actually..." And I give him my best 60-second answer about things like term limits and such. I talk about how no one can be president forever and that we take turns, kind of like how he and his sister must take turns doing things. I finish and look forward to answering any follow-up questions he might have.

"Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"If you get a dead ant and put chocolate on it, it will taste like chocolate."

And the rest of our conversation was a lot more fun.

Point Up And Shoot