Song of the Week: "Grazing in the Grass"

The Friends of Distinction put this song out in 1969. It was originally done by the South African trumpeter Hugh Masaleka in 1968. They took the melody and wrote words to it, and released it the next year.

The song is kinda funny. But there's some cool vocal parts. Check it out:



How'd you like that dancing?

Ad-Tastic!

This is actually an add.... It looks like a video someone would make to make fun of the product. But it's actually serious.

And long.

And seriously long.

Important Song of the Week: Many Shades of Black

My friend Rachel is doing Song of the Week entries this year. I think I'll do the same. Sometimes a song comes along and you listen to it a ton in a short period, and then you move on. It may not be a lasting favorite, but it should still get some recognition for becoming a temporary part of our lives.

Well, here's my song choice for the week: Many Shades of Black by The Raconteurs.



I don't quite know the specifics in the song, but, to me, it captures that feeling of redemption that comes with realizing you're in a screwed up situation, and it's actually a GREAT thing to move along. The chorus is all up in that McCartney goodness. It feels great to sing along.

ugh

Have you noticed that there are plenty movies that mix sexuality and violence? Look at The Unborn. I don't know much about it - and I don't really want to - but it seems like one of those pretty-girl-in-underwear-gets-slaughtered movies... um? There's something really vile, wicked, degenerate when you mix sexuality and violence, but it's like there's a whole sub-genre of movies like this. What terrible things happen to our brains when we watch stuff like that? It's like those directors are breeding Jack the Rippers. And sexuality aside, gore in general has just gone too far. Look at the Saw film industry. I mean, it's gotta be worse than the Colosseum, right?

How atrocious.

At Arms, not At Ease

Frankly, I'm feeling awful right now. So I'm going to combat that with good ol' fashion optimism... and for some reason I'm doing it publicly on my blog.

Last night I watched Good Will Hunting for the first time in a few years. I happen to live in a world with highly skilled story tellers. A world filled with people who have felt joy and pain; who have profound thoughts or experiences that they share through the arts with me - even though they don't know me.

I play music with two dear friends. We can make up something new on the spot, and can play 20, even 30, minutes of continuous music that magically changes genres, dynamics, time signatures, keys without saying a word to each other. We often don't even need to look at each other. And sometimes the music becomes a paradise while we're in it.

I have good friends. I can call people at three in the morning just to talk about my problems, or chat with them forever online. I've lived with friends for nearly two years now, without paying rent. Even though my life is crazy, and I travel a lot, I have friends who are musicians who are living the same lifestyle - and we have a camaraderie that others wouldn't understand.

I can walk into a bookstore or library and have thousands of books at my fingertips. I can read something written by Julius Caesar, Herodotus, King David, even Hitler.

I could work, save money, and go to almost any country in the world and get there within a day's travel.

After millennia of mankind dreaming of flight, I get to see the clouds from above and not just below. I can even jump out of a plane and fall from heights unimaginable a mere 100 years ago.

I have a really nice electric bass, and I've learned how to pour my heart into it.

There is always an emergency room within an hour of wherever I am.

I can fill my fridge with bottles of 100% fruit juice.

I babysit two of the most precious children in the world.

My family loves me.

I have peace and comfort in a friend whom I've never held, a friend who holds me all the time; who keeps me when others have rejected me.