Talking about revolutions

When he was young at the beginning to the 20th C my grandfather sang temperance songs with his family. My dad birddogged to the Red Tops at high school dances in the Mississippi Delta. But by the time I was growing up he only hummed country tunes from AM stations.

My budding music tastes were nurtured by Don McClean's "Miss American Pie," (B'rer Bob received it for Christmas) and the Stylistics' recreations of the '70's pop parade (mail order). My neighbor Charlie introduced me to "Rubber Soul" and "Mystery Tour" in 5th grade. I had my brief Kiss infatuation, via my older brother, when I was in 6th grade. Then by 7th grade it was the Blues Brother's album, Jethro Tull's live "Bursting Out," another Aerosmith's "Bootleg"- another live recording that disappointed me because it didn't have snippets of Joe Perry addressing the crowds. By 8th-9th grade it was all over. I was gaga for prog rock- Yes, Genesis, King Crimson- and Skynyrd live and Black Sab's "Paranoid" for those special Genessee Cream Ale moments.

My brother's music tastes were highly influential in those early years. It wasn't until I was 17 that I became fixated on Elvis Costello's "My Aim is True" and Adrian Belew's "Twang Bar King" that I ventured on my own. Then senior year it was all Beatles all the time with the Fra.

By the '80's and'90's I tried to label a certain recording as my favorite, or in hindsight I can identify favorites by their heavy rotation that year:

1985: many Windham Hill artists

1986: Sweet Honey in the Rock

1987: The Feelies "The Good Earth"

1988: tie- Tar Babies "No Contest" and the John Water's Hairspray soundtrack

1989: any Galaxy 500

1990: Pere Ubu "Modern Dance", "Dub Housing"

1991: Talk Talk "Laughingstock"

1992: Victoria Williams "Swing the Statue"

1993: quadruple tie: Uncle Tupelo "March 16-20, 1992", Jayhawk's "Hollywood Town Hall, Boredom's "Pop Tatari", and Bettie Serveert "Palomine"

1994: Liz Phair "Girly Sounds"

1995: K. McCarthy "Dead Dog's Eyeball"

1996: Mary Lou Lord and Palace Brother's firsts

1997: The Olivia Tremor Control "Dusk at Cubist Castle", Elliott Smith "Either/Or"

1998: Neutral Milk Hotel "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea", Tortoise "TNT"

1999: Jim White "Wrong-Eyed Jesus"

By the new millennium swung around I was in way too deep to identify anything but the main veins that I continue to mine: Elephant 6, '70's punk, 60's pysche, just about anything out of New Orleans, delta blues, field recordings, Richard Thompson, Montreal bands, krautrock, and indi pop favorites like the Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens and Yo La Tengo.

Somehow I've managed not to list James Blood Ulmer, Patti Smith, Dinah Washington and Dylan, but so it goes. At this point, my collection database lists almost 2,200 CD's (that doesn't include vinyl or mp3's).

But, I assure you: All of them are special to me.

O Superman. O Judge. O Mom and Dad.

Daughter L: You wear underwear?
Dad: Yes
Daughter L: White or Batman?

Entertain Us

K and I went to the grocery store on Sunday afternoon. After we were done shopping, and since I wanted to make it something of an outing for him, we went to the nearby record store. I thought we could find some Farmer Jason. That's Jason from Jason and the Scorchers in his new gig. With some help from the store clerk, we did find that disc. Meanwhile, Kieran piled in my hands many other discs that he wanted. Because he can only recognize a dozen or so words, he was simply going by the cover images for what he preferred. It is a study in marketing. Invariably, he chose recordings that had colored drawings on the covers, reminiscient of his beloved comic books. It's no wonder Joe Camel was so successful.

So Kieran got his reformed punk rocker kid music CD and I found one as well. When we arrived home, I showed Mrs. B our finds. "Here's one for Kieran, and this other one with a underwater baby chasing a dollar bill on the cover- I think that's some kid music too."

Mrs. B. peered at the cover. "What's that?"

I tried to hide my disbelief that she didn't recognize the iconographic image from THE album of the '90's- an album that launched a fleet of Led Zep-Black Sab soundalikes and made "alternative music" mainstream. "It's Nirvana."

"Oh, I'm into more obscure bands," she sniffed.

"But they only sold 30,000 copies of their previous album," I countered.

We had a little dustup about my failing to hide my disbelief - I imagine Harold Bloom had the same difficulty with his wife - but I had to chuckle in the end. When Nirvana broke, I wasn't into them; I was too cool. It was fun to do "Teen Spirit" karoake on Bourbon Street, but I couldn't take it seriously as music. I had seem them live the year before and it didn't appeal to me.

Later I put the CD on and it is good. It didn't get K doing his hot foot wiggle leg dance like he does for R.L. Burnside, but I enjoyed it.

Update: Today I was able to pass off Led Zep's "Mothership" collection as family music.

She's a clean machine

My most Punjabi in-laws gave their grandson the most American gift: a vintage Hot Wheels Sizzler track that had lain dormant in their garage for close to four decades. It is complete with original packaging and juicebox for refueling the cars.

The working parts don't work anymore, but K has got the niftiest track on the block. Fortunately, Mattel started manufacturing the cars again in the mid '90's so we'll have to get those Gremlins, Corvettes and other boss cars revved up for some serious laps. (K wants to do loops like it shows on the box, but I'm not optimistic that my civil engineering skills are adequate.)

Call me Mellow Yellow

I told my office manager that my goal for the year was to be able to distinguish Merle Haggard from Waylon Jennings.

Then a few days later I was awarded a 6% raise.

Think there's a connection?

Like Miles said

The audacity of it all...

That Barak Obama is one clean motherfucker. And all you motherfuckers who read Miles Davis's autobiography know what I'm talking about.