Anywhere I Lay My Head

On the library's hold shelf await four CDs for me:

• The #1 Baroque album [sound recording]
• Baroque adagios [sound recording] : [over 2 1/2 hours of sublime music]
• 808's & heartbreak [sound recording] / Kanye West
• Anywhere I lay my head [sound recording] / Scarlett Johansson
  

The first two are for my son and the last two are for me. Despite so many perceived reasons not to, I keep coming back to Kanye. As for Scarlett, this record, which I prematurely dismissed on first listen, won't let me be. I realized my initial criticism was weak when I saw someone comment somewhere that the last thing we need is another Diana Krall-like treatment of Tom Waits songs. And that's no knock on Diana Krall. Her interpretation of "Temptation" is stellar and sexy as hell. But Scarlett keeps it interesting by taking familiar songs and doing something altogether different with them. For better or worse, she doesn't take the easy road.

So tomorrow is good. We're getting our carpets cleaned, I'm picking up some good discs at the library, and we'll be one day closer to that new baby's arrival. (April 14!)

On The Greenway

Before my the day's shift at the hotel, we took the opportunity to get some exercise and quality time on the Shelby Bottoms Greenway. (Google Maps user Mark B. has a nice map of it here.)

The Money is Both Fast and Mad

On June 16, 2007, I remarked on CNBC's Fast Money program noticing how it was produced just like an NFL pre-game show. All of these "experts" shooting the bull on stocks and telling us what to buy and what to sell, all the while taking good-natured shots at one another for the entertainment of their viewers. Of course it's entertainment. If it's on TV, even a show that's supposedly about advice is really about ratings, right? But folks take it seriously because it's presented as a show to be taken seriously. Same thing for Jim Cramer's Mad Money.

Anyway, Jon Stewart nailed it when in his interview with Cramer, he said, "I understand you want to make finance entertaining. But it's not a fucking game."* Good for him to say that to Cramer and, more specifically to CNBC, but also good for us to hear him say it. No financial advice on matters like these will be guaranteed, but getting it from a television show is likely not best place for it.

*Quote taken from Southern Beale's Dear American Media: Stop Hurting America

Self This, Self That

It must be great to be Tom Waits.

Serendipity

While watching Peter Himmelman's Furious World tonight, I got a new follower on Twitter. It was a girl from Arizona whose last tweet happened to be to Kevin Montgomery. Kevin was Peter's very talented opening act when I saw him in Nashville at the Ace of Clubs way back when. So now I get to catch up on Kevin Montgomery's music.

That's serendipity, right?

On Twitter:

• Kevin Montgomery
• Peter Himmelman
  

The Princess Contemplates Her Day

Waits, Jones, Weiss

An article about Tom Waits, Rickie Lee Jones and Chuck E. Weiss contains the following quote: "You can learn a lot about a woman by getting smashed with her." Okay, maybe that's simplifying the process of getting to know someone a bit, but it's still entertaining to read just about anything that Tom Waits has to say.

Anyway, the article is quite good and paints an interesting picture of the threesome as they were making their way in music, love and life in the late seventies.

Photos by the very talented Jenny Lens.

Our Cluttered Bathroom Sink Area

Amidst the standard stuff are two sets of speakers for both of our MP3 players. The groove is in the heart, ya know.

"Wish"

NIN: Wish live with The Dillinger Escape Plan - Perth, 3.02.09 [HD] from Nine Inch Nails on Vimeo.

Is that a Jedi at the door?

Sometimes I look at my Reader and do that Mark All As Read thing. I always read the posts in my "A-list" folder (you Nashville folks and other personal bloggers I like), but the other 200 or so don't always get my attention. I almost marked the rest as read again this afternoon, however, I must have felt a disturbance in the Force and decided to scroll through them anyway. Awesome!

Found by /Film, someone posted pics of their "pet," an AT-AT Walker, and its domestic adventures. Click the pic for the series.

Dora the Tween?

It's that late night time when I listen to jazz, read blogs and Bukowski, sip beers and generally feed my "edgy" side. The employee part of me gets to rest because I'm clocked out. The parent part of me gets to rest because my kids are asleep. But what news story am I drawn to at this nocturnal moment? The one that reports on the new look for the upcoming "tween" Dora. My daughter loves Dora the Explorer and so my interest was piqued. Actually, the part that caught my attention was the mention of many parents who are voicing disapproval of Dora's new look. While the detailed image hasn't yet been released, a silhouette has.

Being edgy and cool, hip and above the lameness of most (you do know I'm being facetious, right?), I clicked onto the story ready to roll my eyes at the disapproving parents. She's traded in her short bob haircut and shorts for longer hair and a skirt. So what? It'll still be a show dedicated to teaching positive learning skills and good behavior. The parents who are signing petitions need to get a life, right? And then I saw the silhouetted image. I disapproved. Not enough to complain or sign a petition, but still. The skirt seems a bit too short, the baby fat a little too gone. I don't know. Maybe I'm just thirty-nine and the father of a four-year-old daughter.

Seriously, I wish the show many more years of great success. It's one of the good ones.

Church and Jeep On Broadway

Downtown

"I know you from somewhere, don't I?"

My beautiful wife and I went to Darfons today for lunch and had the nicest time together. Of course, while I was listening to Paige talk about Jon Bon Jovi, I noticed someone at another table who looked familiar to me. My social circle isn't what it used to be so my first thought was that she had to be someone I knew from Twitter or somewhere blog related.

I looked her way a couple of times trying to figure out who she was. Once she looked back and we made eye contact. For a normal person this would have been the perfect opportunity to walk over and say something like, "I know you from somewhere, don't I?" But I'm me and I thought about the three scenarios ahead and I didn't like two of them. Good: "Why yes, silly. I'm so-and-so and I was wondering if I recognized you as well. How are you?" Bad: "Um, no. Are you hitting on me? Pig!" Or, "Yes you know me, and I'm offended that you don't remember my name. Jerk!" How's that for a peek into my brain?

Anyway, if you read my blog and thought you saw me at Darfons as well, let me know. I will likely wonder about this for days, or at least until I fall asleep tonight.