How This Will End

OK—If you’ve read my tech blog, you know that I regularly post the “Rock Thought of The Day” as a little add-on to my technical info. I’m adding a longer entry here (with no computer techno mumbo-jumbo) of my choices for Top Rock Albums of 2009. These are not really sorted in priority order.

Horehound: The Dead Weather

I like everything Jack White does musically. His work is mind-bending, challenging, but ultimately very listenable. He will go down as one of the greatest musical minds of the era. It is not fair to call “The Dead Weather” a side project as so many sites and reviewers do. Everything Jack does is a side project thus making everything the main project. He blasts away at boundaries and keeps us just enough off balance to adjust our view of things. I like how oblique the angles are on this record.

No Line On The Horizon: U2

My satisfaction with this record is in perpetual crescendo. The more I listen, the more I hear going on. I recently heard a famous rocker say, “What is U2 doing that is new? They’re just covering the same old ground again and again.” It’s not true if one carefully listens to this record. U2 are the best example of what it means to reinterpret oneself as a band—to digest the legacy and spit it back out as something new and interesting, to never rest on one’s laurels.

Preliminaires: Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop is not under-appreciated by those who know anything about rock and roll or music generally. In this record, he brings us down to the French Quarter with all of the power this is Iggy Pop. Graceful? Yes. But, it still has raw power. The man is full of surprises, and I’m ready for more.

Black Gives Way To Blue: Alice In Chains

Can a band that has tragically lost its lead vocalist come back with a record that doesn’t make everyone think, “Man—I appreciate what they’re trying to do, but they should’ve let the band rest in peace?” Yes! Alice In Chains prove that Layne’s influence is still present while also producing fresh and new tracks. Don’t worry—this is still very recognizably an AIC record, but it also happens to be their best record ever. Layne would be most proud.

Swoon: Silversun Pickups

I have to admit that I really didn’t respond well to this record at first. I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t immediately fall for this album like I did Pikul and Carnavas. Nonetheless, I listened a few more times and the songs really grew on me. I’m a listener who likes contrasts, and this record is filled with them—beautiful colors, shadows, and lights. Good work SSPU—you’ve got me hooked again.

The Moon and Antarctica: Modest Mouse

This record shows more clearly its genealogy to The Lonesome Crowded West (a masterpiece I could listen to in continuous loop). Every track here is an adventure, a journey into lonely but energy-filled spaces. I really like unusual sounding voices, and Isaac’s way of sounding strong, desperate, forceful, and vulnerable all at the same time is not something easily done. The landscapes and emotions this record invokes are beyond rock and roll. It’s another masterpiece.

Together Through Life: Bob Dylan

It’s great songs, great lyrics, great melodies, and Bob’s unmistakable voice. Just get this record and enjoy it.

Endgame: Megadeth

I love thrash metal, and it never goes out of style. This record is a punch in the face, an explosion of sound and fury. I am so weary of derivative and overproduced wannabe-metal, and this record is a great antidote for all of that. Push the volume to the top and let it rip.

White Lies for Dark Times: Ben Harper and the Relentless 7

Ben writes songs that always come from the heart. Here, he puts together a string of melodies that will stand the test of time. Listen to “Shimmer and Shine”, and you’ll be instantly hooked. The good news is that rest of the tracks are just as good.

Teargarden by Kaleidyscope: Smashing Pumpkins (1 of 44 songs delivered)

Everyone who reads my blog knows that Pumpkins are my favorite band of all time. Billy Corgan continues to confound the conventions by releasing a 44-song collection, the first song of which, “Song For A Son”, is available at www.smashingpumpkins.com. That the songs are free is the least important piece. The best part is that this first song is priceless—and I expect the rest of the songs will be, too. I’d love to see a collaboration with Billy Corgan and Jack White. Guys—what do you say?

Looking forward to more great stuff in 2010!

For nearly all of us, especially after 911 if not before, air travel has become loathsome in nearly every way. Now, with the newly proposed TSA measures in response to the 25 December attempt to destroy Delta Flight 253, things will take another step toward utter absurdity.

Let’s all agree—the TSA seems to have little choice. In the face of incessant attempts by evil (let’s use the proper term here), scheming, destructive, and completely crazed lunatics that are part of al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, the TSA has take increasingly bizarre measures to address safety concerns. Regular folks like you and me all find this intrusive and constraining, but there is little else to do at the moment.

The new security steps would prevent any of us from leaving our seats 1 hour prior to arrival, and we can no longer have anything on our laps or near our person during that same time. So, put down that book. Do away with your blanket (so many airplanes have overly frigid cabins). Stow your computer. Hold your pee. While flights were tedious, boring, and barely tolerable before, we’re moving to a new level of mind-bending “airborne maximum security” here.

Perhaps we should bypass all of these little gradations leading up to complete surveillance and restraint during the flights and get to the endgame—Total Sedation Airtravel (T.S.A.). The T.S.A. measures specify that each person is hooked up to an I.V. with sedatives before liftoff. All passengers will remain in a state of controlled anesthesia for the duration of the flight, and a licensed anesthesiologist can administer the proper medicine to wake everyone up just before deplaning. All passengers also receive a catheter for obvious reasons.

Here’s the upside:

1) No more annoying passengers making conversation with us even after we have given increasingly direct indications that we just want to be left alone.

2) No more being disrupted every time a person in our row has to use the restroom because he/she failed to take care of business before entering the plane while also failing to recognize that drinking three cans of ginger ale and a 20oz Dasani is going to prompt the call of nature.

3) No more truly inane chatter from the pilot to wake us up just after we have finally fallen asleep despite the terribly uncomfortable seats and altogether irritating sound of some in seat 17B who is broadcasting her hiphop music fetish to the rest of the passengers through two tiny earbuds.

4) No more hearing the sound of impatient knuckleheads unbuckling their seatbelts before being instructed to do so at the gate. I am baffled that people are so eager to unbuckle early when it gets them no closer to exiting the awful aircraft any sooner than the rest of us. These are very likely the same people, who, when driving in congested traffic, drive frantically to advance ahead of one car only to then throw on the brakes because there’s no where to go. Genius.

5) No more crappy airline “food”. All passengers are on a dextrose drip with their I.V., so no other food is needed.

6) No more being pummeled by the things careless passengers have slung over their shoulders. I was recently blasted right in the face by the shoulder bag of another passenger who was entirely absorbed in the task of finding the right seat. His bag slid down and nailed me square in the nose. He didn’t offer an apology. Sadly, I was less surprised by the omission of his regret.

7) No more inebriated passengers. It’s sadly ironic that airlines put such emphasis on passengers being alert, in control, and disciplined during the flight while at the same time offering “happy hour”. It’s about the money, and it’s stupid. With T.S.A., this problem is solved.

8) No more insulting movies about “deep vein thrombosis prevention” during long flights. I have never seen any passenger do the ridiculous in situ exercises shown in these videos.

9) No more people bringing aboard all of their luggage because they self-importantly believe that their schedule is so vital that they cannot check any bags. People: it’s “one bag and a small purse” not a roller bag, a garment bag, a computer bag, a backpack, and three plastic bags full of stuffed animals and keychains for the grandkids. Fortunately, with T.S.A., this aggravation goes away. Thank heaven’s for T.S.A.!

10) No more idiotic, murder-plotting terrorists can do anything during flights. They can dream of destruction or how proud they think God will be of their cowardice, I suppose. T.S.A. isn’t designed to address that level of control….yet.

–John R. Durant 2009

David, the historic king of Israel and composer of many psalms, was more like Bob Dylan than a politician or bureaucrat. Take for example these words from Psalms 42:7-8

Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts:

All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.

Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime,

and in the night his song shall be with me,

and my prayer unto the God of my life.

OK—remember this is a translation from the times of Shakespeare, so let’s look at a more modern translation (NIV):

Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.

By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me– a prayer to the God of my life.

He proclaims a little earlier: “When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me”

I’ve been making my way through the Psalms and looking up a lot of the Hebrew words, delving into the meanings a little more carefully. I find the words moving, poignant, and deeply profound. And, let’s not forget that these words were set to music. These were songs after all. We all find that words, combined with notes, can carry us to places we would never otherwise be able to reach. Listen to U2’s “40”, based on Psalms 40. It’s a powerful thing to be in a stadium with 60,000 other people singing that song.

Today—I extend my public thanks to King David—a flawed man with high hopes—who craved a woman and then redemption more than life itself. Perhaps the Psalms resonate with so many people because they are a mirror David left us to gaze into.

I end with these words from my fellow Minnesotan, Bob Dylan:

http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/abandoned-love

I can hear the turning of the key
I’ve been deceived by the clown inside of me.
I thought that he was righteous but he’s vain
Oh, something’s a-telling me I wear the ball and chain.

My patron saint is a-fighting with a ghost
He’s always off somewhere when I need him most.
The Spanish moon is rising on the hill
But my heart is a-tellin’ me I love ya still.

Peace,

John

My son, Steven (4), wrote down the things for which he felt grateful yesterday. Here’s what he came up with. I love the double-mention of pasta!

My family
The missionaries
Jesus
The prophet
Church building
Gymnastics preschool
Foam pit
My room
Brothers
White Sauce and noodles
Myself
My testimony and the spirit
Macaroni and Cheese
My own Scriptures

It is a beautiful thing to think more like a child.

Over the decades of my life, I have been able to see at very close range the impact of a full spectrum of choices in the lives of others and myself. Some of the choices and their consequences I have observed have been terrible. Some have been beautiful. I have heard more than one man say, "Oh—I love my kids so much" and then make choices that would bring a lifetime of heartache to his children. That’s not love. Too often in life what we claim we want and what we actually do can be at tragic odds one with another. It’s as if we set out to build a "dream house" but burn it to the ground as we go. What do we really want? How can we tell what we really want? Can we see a "dreamhouse" to completion, or is it just Fate that our dreams end up perpetually homeless?

What we really want is manifest not so much by our whims and wishes. What we truly want is evidenced by our daily, almost trivial, decisions and choices. One of the grand achievements in life is to find the points of contact between our seemingly inconsequential quotidian decisions and the big consequences of life. Let’s look at a simple example: health. I have not met a sane person in all my life who has not or would not expressed a desire to be healthy. No one, except perhaps someone with impaired faculties, would say, "Wow! I’d love to have the flu!" or, "Gee, it would be great to have clogged arteries, five heart-attacks, quadruple by-pass surgery, and a heart transplant!" It’s beyond absurd. Yet, many of us make decisions every day that compromise our health, little by little. It’s hard to believe that the extra doughnut (poor doughnuts have been unnecessarily demonized more than most foods!), the extra cake icing, or the generous dollop of cream on one’s cocoa or latté are really going to make a difference. But, they do. Day after day, almost imperceptibly, our choices show what we really want. In this case—we’d rather have the satisfaction of these foods than our long-term health.

Think of a man who claims to love his family. He works hard for them. He takes them on elaborate family trips, and the photo albums become crowded with happy faces. But, he begins to spend too much time at work. He spends too much time with a woman there. They are alone on business trips. They eat lunch and dinner together. In his mind, he loves his wife and family, and he wants to them to be happy. But, does he truly? The little decisions he makes that consistently cause him to spend more time at work and with someone else suggest otherwise. No excuse he can conjure is powerful enough to controvert the simple facts of his decisions. The more he is away, the more his children wonder if he cares. His wife begins to feel unneeded and unwanted. He begins to feel less engaged at home. The slope becomes increasingly slippery and dangerous.

Life matters. People matter. And, our daily decisions matter more than we realize. So, what do we really want? It is worth the effort to think through our daily thoughts and decisions and verify to what extent they line up with what we claim or appear to want out of life. The happiest people I know are those who achieve harmony such that their regular, day-to-day decisions lead, notwithstanding the normal setbacks, calamities and difficulties of life, to what they really wanted all along.

A great piece of news is that it is never too late for course corrections. For me, the guiding star of my life is Jesus Christ. He set the bar very, very high for us, "Be ye therefore perfect". Wow! This need not discourage us, though. What a compliment He has handed us. He is saying, "You can do it, kids. I’m setting the bar high, because I know you have the ability to get there, and I’ll help you do it." We must never give up on ourselves or God. Despair is not an option.

Start Today!

—John R. Durant

This is the kind of lonely song that comes from wearing my heart on my sleeve for one woman.

 I Am Rain That Was Meant to Pour

Only true love can truly hurt

It’s ours, but we don’t get any say

It tears us apart to remind us how close

We’ve grown day after day 

My bags are in the car

Paycheck’s telling me to go

And as I walk out the door, I know

I am rain that was meant to pour

I’ll unpack my heartache

And beat the sunset until it cries

I’ll hate myself for staring at the TV

Until my boredom finally dies

I’m giving all my secrets away

Like a busker on an empty metro quay

Now, just what was the last thing that you wore?

I am rain that was meant to pour

Memories are like a jester

That can only make people cry

This room couldn’t be more empty

And I’m bluer than the sky

We were made to hurt each other

We found all we ever wanted

But never looked for

And, I’m just rain that was meant to pour

© John R. Durant