Mixing It Up

My friend Pam's birthday was recently, and as part of her gift I thought I'd create a mix cd for her. It had a bunch of different songs from different bands, some that conjure up fond memories ("Dance This Mess Around", B52's, "Dancing Barefoot", Patti Smith), some I know she just likes ("Show Me", Pretenders), and some that I thought maybe she hadn't heard but might like ("Laura", Scissor Sisters, "Shout! You're Automatic", Pleasure Club). It was great fun thumbing through my (ever-incomplete) collection, finding stuff I'd forgotten about, finding stuff that made me think "oh, yeah, that'd be perfect!", and then choosing specific tracks, because of course I just could not make up my mind.

Then for my birthday, also recently, what did my homegirl Kay give me? That's right. A mix cd.

I decided to create Pam's cd while doing one for myself, which I have unofficially titled "Decompression" - good music for a bad day. It has stuff from Coldplay, Rolling Stones, Patti Griffin, Damien Rice, many more. I have to say, it's a great cd, and I listen to it often, bad day or no. In the couple of hours it took to make these mix cd's, I came up with a list for at least 5 more, some for decompressing, some for rawkin', etc. Who knows where this may lead?

Check 'Em Out

Here's some cool websites:

Astronomy Picture of the Day - some beautiful photos, and interesting bits about them
How Stuff Works - they've got EVERYTHING on this
News of the Weird - the title says it all
History through art

And if you really have a lot of time on your hands and are into weird, silly, freaky websites, or if you just decide to find out once and for all if there really is a website for anything and everything, check out my friend John's blog.

Fatherly Advice

I've often said (1) I will never date another musician (right!), and (2) a great band could be formed of all the musicians I've dated.

The Best of Times, the Worst of Times

I like to think the best of humanity. Like how people really came together after the hurricanes, gave millions in cash and donated all kinds of goods and services, people who took evacuees in, all the many benefits from community efforts to nationally televised fundraisers. When something epic and terrible happens like hurricanes, the tsunami, 9/11, etc., it brings out the best in so many around the world and that is as it should be - that is what it means to be a Human Being.

So when I hear stories of those who do the exact opposite, who take advantage of others in their most disadvantaged, despairing and vulnerable state, it really pisses me off.

Mismanagement by beaurocratic idiots who leave those in need hanging - even still, after over a month - is one thing. But bottom-feeders trolling for victims is a whole 'nother thing. The latest story is of call center employees hired by the Red Cross who ripped off donations. Sadly, this isn't even the worst story I have heard. A co-worker's aunt was stranded on her roof, being attacked by rats, and had to remove her top to get rid of the rats. So as she's in her bra and clinging in desperation waiting for someone to rescue her, 2 men in a boat come by and offer to take her in exchange for sex. She said no. She ended up waiting, clinging, terrified, for another eight hours.

I also try to be as non-judgemental of others as possible. But I'm not Jesus. There is a special place in hell for these people, and I'd buy tickets for that show.

Check It Out

You gotta check out this great website.

Near Misses

A co-worker just gave me a copy of Robert Plant's newest CD, "Mighty Rearranger", and it's really quite good. It reminded me of an experience I had earlier this year.

In my life I have had the good fortune and great fun of encounters with celebrities, including Lyle Lovett, Paul Reiser, Goo Goo Dolls, Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Kevin Bacon & Kyra Sedgwick (recounted in a previous post), John Doe of seminal punk band X, Dick Dale, actor John Hawkes ("Deadwood"), members of Cheap Trick, Steely Dan, the late great Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Little Richard, and the saga of Oliver Stone and the movie "JFK", which is a long, fantastic story that someday I may take the time to post here.

I'm certainly not a celebrity stalker, and indeed am only interested in meeting and perhaps getting a photo w/someone if it's ok with them - I respect the fact that they are just people who may not always be in the mood for the ten thousandth person this year to come up to them and try to talk to them, etc. If that were not the case, the above list would be MUCH longer. So when I'm in the same room with someone famous, I usually just think, "Oh, that's cool that so-and-so is right here." If I get the chance to be introduced, great. If not, it was still cool.

And then there's Robert Plant.

There's fame, there's celebrity, there's superstars, and there's legends. The last category is very finite, very small. The members of U2, for example, one of my all-time favorite bands, are superstars. But I wouldn't call them legends. In my opinion, rock music legends can be counted on about 2 or 3 hands. And, as is the aforementioned Emancipator of Rock 'n' Roll, Robert Plant is most definitely a legend. So when I was in Austin for South by Southwest earlier this year, standing outside the hotel and overheard a couple of valet guys saying he was there, I had to find out exactly what the deal was. They said, "Yeah, he's right there in the bar." (He was at SXSW to be keynote speaker and play a couple of shows.) Poor guys didn't even realize exactly who they were talking about. So I rush over in a state of frenzy. Lucky for me, several co-workers were in there having a drink, so I identified the best vantage point and squeezed in with them. Robert Plant and his entourage of about ten people were directly across from us, about 10 ft. away. This is as close as I got, and that was just fine with me. I actually started to cry - I mean, here I was in the presence of greatness! Legend! Icon! One brave soul in the bar tried to approach him for an autograph, but a bodyguard shooed her away. I couldn't stay long because I had to go to work, but for about the next 2 hours my co-workers and I were in something of a trance - "I can't believe it, Robert Plant" we kept saying to ourselves and each other over and over.

He had red wine.