Beautiful (I Guess)

Erin McKeown show: I feel the curse word is needed when I say it was the BEST FUCKIN' SHOW I HAVE EVER SEEN. Hands down. No question. I've seen her live four times before and by far this show at the Grey Eagle was the one to beat. I mean, dancing in the aisles, stompin', cheerin', banter, emotion—the gamut that concerts strive for but rarely run. First off, that little woman can simply ROCK. There was one song where she was rockin' out on her hollow-bodied Gibson and while playing guitar, sat down at the grand piano and started to play both. At the same time. Switched over to piano wholly, jammed out on that, and then played both at the same time before back to the Gibson. When you can keep playing your guitar simply on hammer-ons and pull-offs, you are an amazing guitarist. And she's barely 5'1”, a petite woman days away from her 30^th birthday. Trust me when I say if she comes near your town, you would do well to see her. If she sucks, I'll pay for your ticket. You will not be disappointed. Just...wow. Takes songs so well known by her audience and makes them completely new again—different tempos, licks, whatever. I was high on life after the show. And it only cost $10!

I went to the show with Doug, a fellow Erin fan. I will say it is very, very fun to be out in public with someone so very attractive on your arm. The girls sitting behind us stared when he came and sat beside me (I got there early to get good seats and was sitting alone for a good hour before he got there. They were silently judging me. Suckas). I got to be a little smug for a bit. We did some swing dancing to “Slung-Lo” which was fun and brief, the way dancing should be in my book. After the show Doug wanted to DTR and I've sort of sworn off DTRs (or, more specifically, R's) for the rest of the year but it needed to happen so it did. Stickin' with the friendship there. It works, don't mess with it. Please God don't mess with that.

(complete sidebar to any LVHS grads out there: I talked to Erin McKeown after the show for a while and she thinks she made out with Josh Berman in college. I was immediately jealous, and laughing very hard at the very same time, I mean what girl didn't want to make out with Josh B. at that time? He was our Jordan Catalano. Hilarious.)

Another Mystery

I'm still thinking about the wonder conversation I had with Nate the other day.

My junior year of college I spent much of my spare time at a house three doors down that was home to four of my girlfriends. Holly was a duel Physics/Philosophy major who probably had a headache 90% of the time—I mean, I would if I was trying to reconcile those two. We were out on the front porch one evening and she expressed the desire to keep wonder alive in her life—that, in spite of pursuit of understanding and insight, a sense of mystery was crucial. I couldn't agree more.

I've never been accused of being intentionally ignorant and hope to keep that fact for years to come. I have a Bachelor of Science degree—technically, I am a scientist. But there are many things in life that I don't want to know the science behind and I don't think that makes me “ignorant” I think that makes me selective. Creative processes, music, emotions, faith, touch: beautiful things made more beautiful by their mystery. I don't know why one person's touch can affect me more than anyone else's, I just know it does and in that it is a gift. I don't know why heartache can be literal, I just know what how it feels. There are things made predictable and safe by science—electricity, weather, seasons, gravity, chemicals—and then there are the muddled interactions that cannot be made predictable, that science only knows in shadow and theory. Often these are what make up what I love most in life.

Don't get me wrong—I love science. If you know me at all, you know this. But science and mystery are mutually crucial. Nate told me I was just holding onto childhood; I told him he was a condescending, cynical bastard. I'm not saying we should only live by our gut (Thank you, Stephen Colbert/George W. Bush for “truthiness”) but some mix of the two. Understand the place of science and the place of mystery.

There is a part in “Good Will Hunting” where Robin Williams' character rips into Will, saying, “So if I asked you about art, you'd probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo, you know a lot about him. Life's work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientations, the whole works, right? But I'll bet you can't tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You've never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling; seen that." It's the difference right there; the science and the mystery. Places for both.

Song of the Day: “These Friends of Mine”--Rosie Thomas. I love this song more and more each day.

Also: Found someone to go see Erin McKeown's Grey Eagle show with me...guess who is also a huge Erin fan? Doug. Whoa. Here's to you, D.

Choices, choices, choices

How can I have over 3,000 songs on my iPod and be sick of most of them?

Over 3,000 songs and I scroll it thinking there is nothing to listen to.

Right now I'm on a big band/jazz kick, as well as a classic rock kick. Can't figure this one out. The big band started with Erin McKeown's new album "Sing You Sinners" (specifically the song "Paper Moon". Highly recommeded purchase) as it is mostly a covers record of old standards that is just wonderful and then moved back onto the foundational Ella, Etta, Billie and Sarah Vaughn.
And then there's the classic rock thing, what with the Pink Floyd and Tom Petty and all.

Maybe it's just even that stuff that I love is starting to sound the same, sound stale, sound like I've heard it before. I haven't had any new "wow" music lately.

Patty Griffin's new album came out today. Haven't gotten it yet but I will.

Going to see Gillian Welch and David Rawlings at the Orange Peel on Monday night. She's a great show--quiet, subdued, emotional, wonderful.