Mark Phillips

     We're living in some strange times. There's a ridiculous presidential campaign that seems like it been going on for a decade now, there's been another mass shooting not far from where someone shot a singer made famous from one of those contest shows. Prince's name is now added to a sad list of musicians who succumbed due to drug overdose. Justin Bieber still has a fan base....things are dark.

     Several things I find I'm learning, or learning again. One, my dog is smarter than I give him credit for. If you've met my dog, I give him more credit than most. After joyously destroying a baseball last week, he figured out out to open a drawer to get to the replacement baseball. Yes, open a drawer. Amazing. He also knows exactly when I become, uhh, immobile. The bathroom door closes and the tell-tale sounds of him licking something on the counter reverberate through the house, followed by angry exhortations emanating from my mouth, exhortations that he knows he can ignore because there's no way I'll get there in time to stop him. 

     Other things I'm re-learning. The cliquey attitudes that people develop in school don't go away, they fester and evolve. Well, a lot of people, that is. I don't fall into this category, or at least I don't think I do. I base decisions and opinions on fact, not on rumors and false innuendo. Many people don't. Check out this graduation speech that Jon Lovett delivered in 2013 at the Pitzer College Commencement:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/05/life-lessons-in-fighting-the-culture-of-bullshit/276030/

(if you can't link it, copy and paste it into your browser)

     That speech was three years ago and it's gotten worse. Is there a level beyond maximum bullshit? To borrow from Spaceballs, yes, we're barreling towards Ludicrous Bullshit, to be referred to now as LB. This isn't just on a national political stage, it's at all levels of government, in our media, in our interpersonal relationships, and, unfortunately, in our music. Let's look at this one by one.

Nationally, we've been suffering through a horrible presidential campaign with only one clear choice for president, and he probably won't make it past the Democratic Convention due to party machine politics. We're left with no good choice for November, with people asked to vote for the lesser of two evils. This isn't anything new, but what drives me nuts is that people are telling me I need to vote against my conscious simply to keep the really evil one out. No thank you. It's my right to vote, or not to vote, and suffer the consequences. It's called a democracy. You might be okay with bending your values and morals to keep the more evil out, but I don't think I am. And that's okay. I'm not going to judge you for your election choices. I may not agree with it, you may not agree with me and that's fine. Here's the big thing. I've made my decisions based on policy, not right-wing hate rhetoric, or right-wing media control. While I think sheep are really cool to watch and hang out with, I am not a sheep. When a candidate accepts large amounts of money from Wall Street, Monsanto, and that candidate supports fracking, I will not vote for that candidate. That's my trifecta if you will. It's simple. I do not smell and male cow manure smell in my statement. I also won't vote for someone who wants to ban people from entering our country based upon the color of their skin or the religion they choose to follow. That's simple, clear, and lacking odor. 

A recent horrible shooting has occurred again. My social media feed has some recurring themes. The majority are good, spreading messages of condolence, peace, and love, messages that embrace us all as one big community that cares. Then there's the other messages, messages that claim that guns aren't to blame for this tragedy, but godless communities with no morals are to blame. I smell something.....what could it be? Yes, BULLSHIT. My favorite verses from the bible are ones where Jesus is preaching to the masses at the firing range, showing off his new fully automatic rifle. If anyone can preach it, the son of god can...it's a god given right to have any gun you want..wait, are you saying that's not anywhere in the bible? But people all over the interwebs are saying it? It's not in there? You're damn right it's not in there. A peace loving longhair that wander around Galilee in the company of fishermen, prostitutes, and vagrants didn't have access to guns. He didn't carry a sword either, at least in the accounts I've read. He was a non-violent guy, except for that incident in the temple where he went ballistic on the money-changers. But I don't believe he physically assaulted anyone. It's not a lack of god in our communities, it's a lack or morals in our world. God has nothing to do with it. According to our constitution, no god has a place in our schools. That's not an attack on your religion, that's fact. Everyone in our country is free to worship whatever god they want, or not to worship any god. It's part of that whole freedom thing everyone likes to spout off about. We live in a society where people bow and pray to consumerism, but they don't give a rat's behind about the genuine, important things, like caring about your community. Like limiting access to dangerous, high powered firearms. 

   Wait, do you smell bullshit? Did I really just write dangerous firearms? Aren't all firearms dangerous? Well, yes, but so are all cars, so are all lawn mowers, and so are all angle grinders (my favorite tool) if used improperly. I've been a hunter for a long time. I see hunting as the only reason to own a firearm. You don't need a gun that holds more than two or three rounds to hunt. If you do, you need more practice at the target range. No one is calling for the outlawing of all firearms. No one, no reasonable person, is calling for banning hunting. We need reasonable restrictions. You need a license to drive a car. You should need a license to own a gun. It is that simple. And any of you reading this are concerned because you need your guns so you can defend yourself from the government, please, for the sake of us all, go get some counseling. If you dream of a fire fight, or live combat, go join the French Foreign Legion. I'm sure they can help you out with that. 

Locally, we have small time politicians that are pushing personal agenda with little caring for what's right, or what's in the best interest of the communities they serve. This goes on all over, I'm sure. This plays itself out in secrecy. Let me ask you a question. Is there any need for secrecy at a local town meeting? Is there any place for secrecy on a school board? No, there isn't. If you have to keep secrets and you're on one of these boards, then what you're trying to do probably isn't in the best interest of the people you serve. If it is, then put it out in the open and promote it. If you can't discuss it in public, then don't discuss it. That's how being moral and ethical play out. 

So I've ranted here about stuff that has little to do with music. It actually has a lot to do with music. Study after study shows that participation in music programs enhances brain function and learning. 

Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0JKCYZ8hng

Everything in education nowadays is supposed to be data driven. This is solid data, that music makes people's brains function better. Yet many schools make it difficult for kids to participate in music. If an administrator claims that they are there to serve the students and make them the best they can be, then puts in a schedule that makes participating in band almost impossible, that administrator is not acting in the best interest of the students they're serving. It's that simple, no BS. 

On a consumer music level, I've already mentioned the ridiculousness that is Justin Bieber or any of the myriads of other crappy musicians who are dominating the airwaves. One of my favorite all-time albums is Tom Petty's The Last DJ. Haven't heard much of it? You should. It critiques the music industry and says what needs to be said, no BS. If you don't own this album, go get it today by whatever means necessary. Except for stealing, don't steal it or commit an act of violence to get it. Let me change that statement. If you don't own The Last DJ already, go out and legally and non-violently acquire it forthwith. 

This might seem like a depressing essay about the state of what is a rather depressing time. It's not though. It's a request, a simple request. What am I requesting? I am simply asking that you call the bullshit when you see it. Don't buy into false rhetoric. Don't buy crappy music. Hold your head up high and call out that bullshit from the highest peaks. Do it with a silly accent. Come up with a catchphrase such as (said in faux British accent), "You sir (or Madame), are full of shit!", or perhaps (with a faux southern accent), "Cletus, I do declare that you're full of male cow excrement!", or perhaps (with a faux western cowboy/miner accent, the one that breaks slightly like a boy going through puberty, or even Yosemite Sam, "Well, if you ain't full of the turds of an uncastrated male cow, I'll be a monkey's uncle!" I could go on but I won't.....

How's about you add your catchphrase to the comments below, or to the comments on my fb page. No time limit. Add it when you're ready. 

     Hello all. It's been few months since I posted anything. I'm getting ready to do some gigs and it feels good, like a spring awakening if you will.

     I've had some interesting events happening to me lately and I'm ready to move on to a new stage in my life. I'm not sure what exactly it will look like, but it will be something good. I've been working on some songs that are rekindling some energy that I haven't felt in awhile, I'm gearing up to perform more, and I like the way I sound. I've found a great acoustic spot in my house and the guitar and voice just blend and resonate in the space in a way that makes it hard to put them down. 

     So for my next stage, I need some input. I've been considering doing a Patreon page. Patreon is a cool service where Patrons can subscribe to an artists YouTube or Vimeo page and pledge a certain amount of cash for each bit of content that the artist puts out there. In return, the Patron gets the content, and special gifts from the artist. I guess it's kind of like cloud funding. I find it amazing that there are enough people out there willing to support artists in such ways. Would you consider becoming a Patron? Please comment below, I'm really curious. Most of the content I watch that uses Patreon are videos about people sailing. My vision for content would not necessarily be sailing, but music content. It would be a great tool to encourage me to write more songs and, more importantly, share more songs. 

     As a final thought for this post, I feel the need to comment on our society in general. I find it amazing that people support each other, and genuinely care for each other. I find it amazing because at the same time so many other people don't. So many people are self-obsessed narcissists that they don't get to experience the joy of community, and community support. If you're reading this, do me a favor. Put down your smart-phone or tablet or whatever, and go knock on your neighbor's door. Say hello, share a beverage, or a song, or just a conversation. It's up lifting, it's authentic. Pet their dog, or their horse, or their llama if you are so lucky, and take a few minutes to connect. Tell people you care. Maybe it's what makes us human, I don't know, but I really appreciate my community, and my friends. I suspected they cared about me before, but now I know. With all of the bad going on in the world, especially things we can only hope to change, community fills in the void, shines light on the dark, breaks the mirrors of the narcissists (without the whole 7 years of back luck thing). Cheers.
 

Hello everyone. We've got a small storm moving in and I think the dropping barometer has led to me thinking some thoughts I'd like to share. I'd love for this blog to become a place where people comment and discuss things after I throw them out there. Perhaps the reason it isn't is because I'm so right about everything that I've said it all.....I don't really believe that so throw out your thoughts.

As we're approaching MLK day, I read a cousin's post about MLK's assassination. He observed in a group he was in that very few people knew the name of the assassin. He felt that was a good thing. I thought about that for a moment and realized the beauty of that statement. As people who know me are aware, I am a wealth of useless information. I love, and I think everyone should, knowing random facts and names, especially historical ones. The more obscure the better. For instance, do you know the name of Alexander the Great's horse? I do. Why? I don't know, I picked it up along the way, probably in 7th grade history with Mr. Stipa, and it stuck. Ask me sometime about getting picked up in Mr. Stipa's class sometime, it's another great story, but I digress. Perhaps it's a Voldemort situation, remembering the names of horrible people who did horrible things. Maybe it isn't, maybe it's just an excuse that people use to justify not learning history so we can repeat the same mistakes and claim that they're original. More important is the sentiment. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made a statement loud and clear, so loud and clear that we're still talking about it. The message was positive, a message that stressed coming together. A message that stressed the power of love over the power of hate. While the bullet that took his life was fueled by hate, Dr. King's message, a message fueled by love, carries on with a much louder, stronger sound than the crack of that murderer's gun. 

I really like songs of all kind, but I have a special place in my heart for songs of significance. Topical protest songs, metaphorical songs, even sarcastic songs with a message. I think that's why I like parodies so much. Parodies often poke fun and educate listeners about either the original song, or a current event. A good protest song does the same thing. So what is a song of significance? It's any song that I feel spreads a message I believe in, a song that moves me. My list isn't going to be the same as yours, and it shouldn't be.

Some songs of significance I believe in. Beethoven's Eroica Symphony (No. 3): Beethoven wrote this to honor Napoleon Bonaparte. Beethoven changed the name after Bonaparte declared himself emperor. I love that Beethoven had the wherewithal to stick to his beliefs and changed the name. The music's pretty good, too. 

Phil Ochs' All the News That's Fit to Sing. If you haven't listened to this entire album, go. Listen. Phil Ochs considered himself to be a journalist and this album is great. Ochs and Dylan were contemporaries, and friends. Many think Ochs was as good or better than Dylan for awhile. Every song on this album is a song of significance, especially I Ain't Marching Anymore. 

Bob Dylan's Blowing in the Wind. Yes, everyone's heard this a million times and many people think it was a war protest song. It wasn't, it was a civil rights song, even performed by Dylan and Joan Baez at Dr. King's 1963 March on Washington, DC. Dylan considers himself to be just a musician, not the voice of his generation as some claim. Whatever he thinks, he nailed it perfectly with this song. Dylan's friend Sam Cooke was apparently upset that a white man had written this song. I don't care who wrote it, it's great.

Pete Seeger's Bells of Rhymney. Seeger took the poem by Welsh poet Idris Davies (pronounced Davis, by the way, but don't get me started on that...) and put it to music. Not only does this song outline the greed that continues to corrupt our planet, but it mentions towns in South Wales being destroyed by the coal mining industry. I'm a descendent of Welsh coal miners and this song hit me hard when I first heard it (John Denver did a terrific cover of it, displaying not only his incredible voice but his incredible guitar chops as well). 

Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant Massacree. Every Thanksgiving, WBLM in Portland, Maine plays this song uninterrupted. They've been doing it for years and it's one of the reasons I love Maine. The song is a great protest song, even with its humor and sarcasm. The song makes you think, and I always imagine the characters in it, even after hearing it a thousand times. Blind judges, the group W bench, and VW buses all come alive. 

Tom Petty's Two Gunslingers. Great song with a great message. Tom Petty did another album called the Last DJ that you don't hear about much anymore. It's a great album, probably my favorite and if you haven't listened to it from beginning to end, you haven't listened to it. My favorite song on it is called Have Love, Will Travel. There's a great line in it: Here's to all those those bad girls, and all those boys who play that rock and roll. They love it, like you love Jesus. It does the same thing to their souls....Can't say it any better than that.

The Kingston Trio were often thought to have bastardized folk music but I still like them. Charlie and the MTA is a great song with a great message. I remember an ex-girlfriend looking at me strangely when I was excited to find that we were in the Scollay Square Station on the T in Boston. I tried to explain but she didn't get it. We didn't last long as a couple. Another Kingston Trio song that counts for me is Take Her Out of Pity. I had never thought much about the song, other than that I liked it and it was fun to play, audiences seemed to enjoy it. I was playing it one night at the Rose Garden in Eastport, Maine and there was an older middle-aged lady in the bag that was visibly distressed at my performance. She approached me later and admonished me for playing the song, claiming that it had set the women's liberation movement back 40 years. I always thought it was a song about asking the most beautiful girls out because if I didn't, who would? I still think that's what it's about and I still play it because it's a good song. That lady might be right but...

I could go on for hours about this but no one wants to read that. What songs do you think are your personal songs of significance? Leave them in the comments below. 

Stayed tuned to my YouTube channel. I'm going to start making simple videos of my interpretations of some of my songs of significance. I hope you'll dig them.

Good day everyone! People who know me know that I'm not generally a big fan of this time of year. Some have stooped so low as to call me a Grinch. That I am not. Perhaps a Costanza, but not a Grinch. 
With that subtle reference to Festivus, I now feel the need to reflect upon the parody, an oft loved, yet little respected form of music. It is folk music in the extreme, a variation of the highest order.
Weird Al Yankovic is, far and away, the person I consider to be the king of all parodies. Not only can he craft witty alternative lyrics to just about any song, making them culturally relevant, he's also a fantastic musician. His original compositions are great. He parodies song styles, parodies people, parodies holidays...yes, THE holidays..Christmas At Ground Zero is not only a great Christmas parody, it's also a pretty biting, yet humorous look at our society during the cold war. The Night Santa Went Crazy could be interpreted as a look into all of our work-life balances, and what happens when we don't take enough time for our friends and family. Also, it looks at the horrifying outcomes of what can happen when anyone has access to high powered, military grade weapons with large capacity magazines. Weird Al is just great.
But Weird Al does not have the best Christmas parody album out there, yet. That has to go to Bob Rivers. Twisted Christmas is the finest holiday parody album out there. From altering traditional carols to writing such classics as There's Something in the Chimney, every piece on that album is a classic.
My brother acquired the cassette tape of Twisted Christmas sometime around my 5th or 6th grade year, I think. As with any silly album, the two of us took to memorizing every lyric and singing it incessantly (we almost wore out his original copy of Weird Al's first album by rewinding My Bologna over and over again until we could get the belch in the exact right spot). Finally, here was a guy who recorded some Christmas carols the way we wanted to, with the kind of inappropriate lyrics we'd make up, and frequently get in trouble for. This guy was living the dream.
I have a special connection to Twisted Christmas, and not just the amount of hours I've spent listening to it. Years later, my brother and I found ourselves in Ft. Myers Beach in Florida around the holidays. It had been a long car trip. We were on the beach and it started to rain. We ducked into a coffee shop and there on the wall was a gold record, Twisted Christmas to be precise. The lady who owned the store sang on the album and it was her daughter who sang Something in the Chimney. I felt like we'd met Elvis. 
I lived in Seattle for awhile. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Bob Rivers hosted a morning radio show on KZOK. It was a pretty good show and I listened to it regularly, even becoming a regular caller who would argue, I mean, discuss the virtues of Frank Zappa. 
So grab a copy of Twisted Christmas, gather round the fire, and memorize the entire album. It will be sure to bring warmth and calmness to your crazy holiday season. You will hear parts of yourself in every song, and I hear the voice of Mrs. Roberts, my middle school chorus teacher, reminding me to stop screwing around and sing the right words.

     Hello all. I've been thinking about writing another entry for awhile and haven't gotten around to it. I didn't realize my last post was in September. A lot has happened since then, for all of us I'm sure. This blog is going to have very little consistent theme, but rather some musings I've been having lately. I hope you enjoy. If you do, let me know in the comments. If you don't, listen incessantly to my songs on Youtube (Youtube.com/markislem) and reconsider your enjoyment. 
     
Saying Sorry
There are a few current figures of speech, speaking habits, and such that really drive me nuts. So....Have you noticed how many people start thought with," So...." So what? Think before you speak and then say it. Saying,"So.....(pregnant pauses)..." and then speaking doesn't make you sound more intelligent. It just wastes time and makes you sound stupid. So...
Saying sorry also drives me nuts. I've noticed this in several incarnations. "I'm sorry but I like the color blue..." What are you sorry about? You like the color blue. You don't need to apologize for your preference for the color blue (or colour blue for my British and Canadian readers). I've also noticed a disturbing habit of people apologizing for something they really aren't apologetic about. "Betsy, please stop talking in class."
"Sorry."
[Two Minutes later] "Betsy, please stop talking in class." 
"Sorry."
"No, you're not sorry. If you were sorry, you wouldn't do it again, especially two minutes after the last reminder and apology."
Saying sorry doesn't absolve you, it doesn't guarantee forgiveness, especially if you don't change your behavior. You're not sorry, you're just rude. I, for instance, need to take my advice here because I occasionally apologize when I break wind, especially for strong, pungent air biscuits. I need to stop apologizing. I'm not sorry, in fact, I usually feel pretty good afterwards. Do I feel some empathy for the people around me? Maybe....okay, no, I don't. 
Something else that bothers me is the Valley Girlization of our current vernacular. Whether you call it upspeak or whatever, it's obnoxious. I enjoy NPR as much as the next granola, but Ira Glass and the rest of his NRP cronies who speak this way drive me nuts. You even hear interviews with "experts" talking that way. When I hear an interview and the "expert" is using upspeak, I will not consider that person an expert, unless they're talking about the mall. Are they asking a question or making a statement? I can't tell because you sound like a Valley Girl? Oh Ma God, Becky, I think that guy with the really cool sideburns just cut one....

Political Candidates and Election Cycles
Do I even need to say anything here? We need a three week or less election cycle, we all need to vote, and nobody should give any credit, time, or energy to a billionaire that can't get himself a good toupee. I'm not going to mention his name because he's a racist, sexist bastard who is out of touch with reality. Also, please don't run for the POTUS if you were born in Canada. We have this thing called the Constitution, and while not a perfect document, it is pretty clear that you need to be born in the US to be POTUS (BTW, before any of you crazy, racist rednecks say it, Hawaii is actually a state, Canada, while I love it, is not). 

The NRA
I'm a hunter. Have been for a long time. Will be for a long time. Do I support gun control? Absolutely. I got a call from the NRA a few years back (I'm not a member). They were concerned that a proposed law would ban the use of semi-automatic firearms for hunting and wanted me to support the defeat of this bill. The conversation that followed was great. The guy on the other end of the phone was disappointed when I told him that there was no reason to use a semi-automatic firearm for hunting. He asked what I used and I told him. I get two shots. If I miss, I miss. He actually asked if I was concerned about the deer charging me. I said no, not concerned. He asked why not. I informed him that I am a real man and if a buck decides to charge me, I would pull out my knife and take the buck on. He asked if I was inferring that he wasn't a real man because he hunted with a semi-automatic weapon. I said something or other about his powers of deduction being top-notch, he said a bad word and hung up. I broke wind, started to apologize to the dog, then stopped, because I wasn't sorry. 
The fact of it is, the NRA isn't protecting our hunting heritage. I don't know who the think they're protecting. You don't need anything more than a shotgun or a simple rifle for hunting. If you want to use high-powered machine guns and automatic weapons and you dream of defending your house from government bad guys, go join the military. Go join the French Foreign Legion. Become a mercenary and go somewhere else if neither of the aforementioned organizations will take you. No one's going to take your hunting weapons away. No one's going to stop people from target shooting with their .22's. It is past time for reasonable gun control laws in this country. Do we need improvement in our mental health systems as well? Yes. We need both. And to quoth the Dylan," Your old road is rapidly fading. Get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand..."

My Dog
You were outside five minutes ago, I know you don't need to pee, and no, you may not play with the skunk or porcupine who's hanging around out there. 

Modern Composers
We've lost the melody. Mood music with massive amounts of dissonance is not a composition, it's simply writing down the notes being played by a two year-old banging on the piano in the living room. 
I'm sorry, that wasn't very nice to two year olds.....

The New Star Wars Movie
I know Mark Hamill was in the movie, why wasn't he in the preview I saw? Please don't let him go to the dark side. If it isn't Luke who turns, you better do a pretty damn good job of explaining who Vader's apprentice was, because there's only supposed to be two Sith at a time and the Emperor was fried, then Vader died, and, unless I missed something, there wasn't enough time for two more Sith to pop up. And if the Smoke Monster or a mysterious hatch pops up in this movie, I'm gonna be ticked off. Although, I do like Jorge Garcia and it would be nice to see him get some more work.

The New Star Wars Movie
I can't wait, I'm so excited. A little over a week 'til the local theater gets it...

The Hunger Games
I still haven't seen the second half of the third movie. The third book was awful and the first half of the third movie was awful, but I'm still feeling obligated to see the last part, just to say I've finished it. Thoughts? I do like Jennifer Lawrence. Her performance in the Silver Linings Playbook was incredible. If someone asked me what movie star I'd like to have a beer with, my top two picks would be Jennifer Lawrence and Steve Zahn. They both seem like down-to-earth people and people I'd really like to hang out with. I hope that some movie execs pull their heads out of their rears and make another Dirk Pitt movie. Steve Zahn totally embodied Al Giordino in Sahara. If they can make an Expendables one, two, and three, then they can make another Dirk Pitt movie. 

The Weather
This weather has been beautiful. I actually went for a sail the other day. I think I saw a minke whale whilst out on the waves. I'm going to enjoy this El Nino year for all it's worth. I was about to apologize to the southwest, because El Nino years tend to bring an increase in Hantavirus cases in the southwest, but I can't be sorry for that because I had nothing to do with it and the sailing is still beautiful.

Well, I need to sign off. Thanks for reading. I feel as though I've covered some of my myriad of thought over the last couple months. I hope you're enjoying whatever holidays you're enjoying. or preparing to enjoy. I know I am, I think.....maybe, sorry, what was the question again?

Are you ready for a rant? I hope so because I feel a good one coming on....

When I was a kid, I was very active. I was a cub scout, occasionally attempted to play little league (I was hands down the worst baseball player ever), I wrestled from the time I was in 2nd grade until I was overcome with a fit of teenage angst and quit the team during my 9th grade year. I was in plays, I played the tuba in the band, I sang constantly (in the school choirs, my church choir, and whenever else I felt like it) (and yes, I know it's hard to believe that I ever went to church let alone be in the choir). As I got older, into high school anyway, I kept at it with hockey, scouts, and I got a part time job. I was pretty busy, or so I thought. Even as busy as I seemed, I still had time to walk in the woods after school, go fishing, do massive amounts of chores around the house (my mouth was responsible for most of that), learned how to drive, work on motors, and hang around with a close-knot group of neighborhood friends. Some of us got a band together and more than one person would say we were pretty decent. In short, as busy as I was, I still had time to just be. Just be fishing, just be skating on a local pond if it froze, just be pestering the local neighborhood curmudgeon by specifically going where he told us not to....I recent heard he passed away and turned out to be a huge hoarder. I can't say I'm surprised but I digress...

Do kids today have time to get in trouble? Life wasn't perfect for us growing up but it wasn't too bad. I'm not ashamed to say I was a latch-key kid. My father left the house for work before our bus arrived and we were expected to be ready to go and on that bus. And we were. When we got home from school, we were expected to do our homework (at home) and then go outside and play. We did. We never got kidnapped, we occasionally got bruised and cut, as any kid should, and we rarely did anything really bad because one of the neighbors might see us and tell my father and then I'd really be in for it. There were consequences for negative behaviors but we enjoyed a great deal of being outside, expected to be home, and expected to have our chores done. Was it always nice? No. Was it as perfect as I'm portraying it here? No, but you know what, that's life. There were a few things that could have been better but I survived pretty well. 

I run into a lot of people, kids and adults, who are over-scheduled. It's easy to do. Some people even think it's responsible parenting. I don't but that's okay. In my experience, the hardest thing about parenting is allowing your kids to fail. It's not nice, it doesn't feel good, but that failure is called learning. A lot of that learning happens in unstructured play time with peers. Kids on the playground, grown men watching football in the the living room with their buddies putting entirely too much time and effort into fantasy leagues, ladies having a ladies night out with their girlfriends, that guy Bob down the street constantly mowing his lawn....

I really started to understand music while playing in a rock band and writing songs. Our band did covers and originals and we had a good time. We even played a few gigs. If someone offered me a Delorean with a flux capacitor in it, I would hop in and go back to that small room with those guys and just play to my heart's content. I don't know how many kids today would be able to do that because they're scheduled for everything. It's sad for me to think that some kids who should be rocking out will never get to feel how good it is to crank up your tiny practice amp and play loud music with your friends. 

One of the other things that this over-scheduling is affecting is other activities. I've been trying to work this out in my head and I haven't solved it yet because this part of the rant is a Catch-22 of sorts. There are a lot of activities that overlap now. Sports overlap with scout meetings, a play rehearsal overlaps with a choir rehearsal, band practice overlaps with swim team...the list could go on and on. I happen to be connected with two very special communities, the one I live in and the one I used to live in and stay involved with on a part-time basis. From my perspective, there aren't enough kids in both communities to sustain the number of activities that are going on in those communities. The scouts suffer because little Billy wants to play soccer and is then rushed over to scouts and misses most of the programming. The program for scouts isn't as good as it could be because so few scouts are there on time, if at all. And no one talks to each other about this stuff. Everyone's got blinders on, and these kids don't know how to just go goof around in the woods after-school. How did I learn how to use a hose? I had to to clean the mud of me from goofing around in the woods after-school. Did my tuba playing suffer? No, but I'll bet a lot of my family suffered from my tuba playing. I played after dark. 

So what is the point of this rant, you ask? Perhaps you don't care what the point is....perhaps there is no point, just a moral (is there a difference?). The point is that too many people in our world go around with blinders on, oblivious to what's going on around them. Wow, how does this tie in with the above paragraphs? People are so obsessed with running their kid hear, signing them up for this, keeping themselves and their kids busy that no one takes time to smell the roses. No one stops to look at the world around them or understand the impact they have on their community. Their kids are busy and that some how makes them good parents. We wear our badges of exhaustion and business by the size of the coffee cup we drink from every morning. We train our kids to be on the hamster wheel of the rat race. We don't stop to think about what's really important. 

I'm a proud parent when I hear my son playing a tune he made up, or just figured out by playing with notes. I'm proud when he makes obscure references to pieces of useless information. I'm really proud to see the comics that he writes, developing story line and characters over long periods of time. He does that during unstructured time. I'm proud when he crashes his bike or scooter and gets back on it. I'm proud when I turn around on a hike and see him examining something on the ground. I enjoy watching him talk to the dog. On a recent expedition to an uninhabited island, he made a series of "franken-crabs" out of bits of crab left behind by seagulls. I was so proud my heart nearly beat out of my chest. 

I'm sure many of you could consider your own situation and then tear my statements to shreds. That's okay, I'm not going to be offended. I'm going to stay active in my community and try to model for my son what a balanced life should look like. I'm not always going to be successful but I'm going to leave time to jam out, to explore, to build franken-crabs. It's amazing what you can do simply messing around in boats, or anywhere for that matter. 
 

Hello everyone. Yes, it's been quite a summer. Sailing and driving and vacationing and pondering the absurdity of life. It was warm here in Maine today, and by that I mean over 80 degrees, that's fahrenheit for my Canadian readers...The hound and I went for a little row this morning, taking in the flat waters of the Maine coast, so rare. As we're getting on towards back to school time, my thoughts occasionally head in that direction, and usually to the darker sides of that direction. Do you know any teachers? Are you a teacher? Do you dream of becoming a teacher? Were any of you ancestors teachers? Is you brother's wife's third cousin's mother-in-law's college room mate a teacher? If any of this applies to you, give yourself a big hug, you deserve it for Septemberrrr, I mean August is here, the time we go back to school....and by we, I mean we, because everyone is affected by back-to-school time.

Don't believe me? You may not curse my name when you get stuck behind a school bus on your way to or from work in the next couple of weeks. 

But more importantly, to my point of this short pontification....Why are the schools of the US a dark subject to speak about? Is the students? No, the students, for the most part, are the best part of any teacher's day. Is it the teachers? Of course not. It is so rare to meet a teacher who isn't enthralled with their students or that doesn't thoroughly enjoy the relationships that they build with their students. So what is so dark about enlightening our youth, you ask?

All of the bull...stuff that teachers have to deal with that takes them away from valuable time spent with their students. Ask any teacher and they will tell you that it continues to pile on. It comes in the form of initiatives, new computer programs to track student learning, constantly creating new curriculums or learning about the new edu-speak buzz words, which are really just rehashed ideas from yesteryear given new packaging and making someone money (and that someone is not the teacher whose throat it is being forced down). The amount of cashola that local communities are spending on consultants, student data tracking programs, and cookie-cutter learning materials from a few large educational companies is ridiculous. You don't need to ask what my opinion is about whether that's money that's well spent. 

So why is all this happening? It's pretty simple in my way of thinking. Corporate lobbyists (from the large educational corporations) convince law makers on many different levels of government to enact policy tied to funding that forces local communities to send their money to the big corporations. In other words, looting the local coffers to make rich corporate types richer. The cycle get perpetuated. 

Yes, that was perhaps an oversimplified model but that's how it works. It's amazing how the same company's name is on so many of the materials that are present in a school...I'm not going to mention any names because I can't afford a lawsuit, but take a look around the next time you're in a school and you'll see what I mean.

So who can stop this cycle and get our systems back on the right tracks? I don't know for sure because as optimistic and sunny as I like to me, I'm not naive enough to think that money will ever stop talking and bull..stuff will ever stop walking. By the way, did you know that dried cow pies make an excellent fuel for a fire, as do buffalo pies, especially if you're crossing the great plains in a Conestoga wagon on your way to Oregon. Beware of Utah...but I digress....

I really believe there are people on the local level who can stop this cycle, on place at a time. Why don't they? I don't know. Certain people accumulate power, or what is thought of as power, and they get good at playing the political game, and we all know that somebody once said all politics is local (I got me some of that book learnin' from a history book). 

I guess I would like to believe that we, as a society, will get to a point where we put the kids first in education. Every teacher I know puts the kids first but they're being told to put data collection first, or a new initiative first. All of this stuff is a distraction, an impediment to what should be a teacher's, and a school's first priority- The KIDS! 

I'd like to believe that no one involved in education on a local level thinks that their actions are not in the students' best interest but I'm not completely naive either. I'm going to hold onto my belief, though, until it is proved, beyond a reasonable doubt, to be off base.

What does this matter to me as a musician? I learned my craft from a lot of places, but one of the biggest influence on me and my music were the music teachers I had along the way. They were all passionate musicians who guided my on my path, let me develop as an artist, and held me to account when I veered. I can still remember them all, all the way back to kindergarten. My other teacher were almost always there for me as well. I tend to, and always have, asked a lot of questions and it was very rare that any of them were frustrated by my incessant questioning (or if they were they hid it well). That encourages my songwriting, encourages my desire to explore and adventure, not only in music but in life as well. 

If teachers cannot be given the space to encourage those things, than students will not get those things, and a big chunk of our society will suffocate. Teachers are passionate professionals who need to be treated as such. If they are their students will do great things.
 

Hello all,

I had a beautiful day today. I sailed my little boat out to Damariscove Island, and preserve island owned by the Boothbay Region Land Trust. They're a great organization, check them out. I had intended to motor out, spend a couple of hours exploring the island, then sail in a leisurely fashion back. Well, the best laid plans, right? I got tired of listening to the motor after about 15 minutes and the wind was more plentiful than the weatherpersons had predicted, so I shut 'er off, hoisted the sails, and set a course for the island. My crew was one blonde mutt, a mix of Lab and Retriever, who generally enjoys sailing. He is of little help hoisting sails, steering the vessel, or scrubbing the decks. Among other things, I took along my bluetooth speaker and a few tunes on the phone. It was the first time I had listened to music on the boat and it was pleasant. I feel the need at this point to thank U2 for the free album that appears on your iTunes whether you want it or not. I gave it a listen and I really enjoyed it. It's the first U2 album I've owned since Rattle and Hum, even though I have seen them in concert. 

So I said it was judgement day, right? So first judgement is that I like the U2 album. I did not enjoy the mutt singing along. I enjoyed the gentle breeze that propelled my little vessel in a very easy tack right out to the harbor. I did not enjoy the mutt peeing in the cockpit (twice), dropping a deuce in cabin, or singing along with the music, the whole time, even when the music stopped. 

Upon arrival at Damariscove, I discovered a really neat small harbor where a group of rather expensive looking yachts were rafted up next to each other and the occupants were well on their way to the joyful bliss of intoxication. Their clothes broadcast country club chic, the glances cast aspersions on this rather hairy fellow and his dog in an old, small sailboat. I tied up to a wharf only to be reminded by signs that dogs were not permitted on the island due to its fragile ecosystem. Whoops, bad on my part. I did need to use the facilities, though, so I climbed the wharf and headed up the path. Before I could take care of the business at hand, I hear desperate yelling from the harbor about my dog being in the water. I ran down the path to find the mutt swimming towards me, happily, while the "rafters" were all having conniptions and freaking out in general. I got the mutt back on the boat, secured him below decks, and completed what I'd set out to do. I ate a quick snack and decided to head out of the harbor after continuing to get dirty looks down noses, and the mutt continued to sing. 

We had an uneventful sail back, if the shear beauty of sailing is to be called uneventful. The mutt took a break below decks, I took a break from the mutt in the cockpit, did some fishing, and listened to a little more music. 

So I said this was about judgement, right? I am trying not to be judgmental of the "rafters". The dog is a water dog, I think he can swim. Actually, I know he can swim. I'm trying not to judge them by the disdain they showed because, I'm assuming, my ratty shorts and old boat were not up to their standards. I'm trying not to judge them by the fact that those little ankle biting "dogs" they have are not actual dogs but fru-fru cats who do not get any respect from me. I'm trying not to judge, but I am. 

Music falls into this category, too. "Classical" music is frequently presented as this high-brow excellent music that is somehow better than rock and roll. It isn't. Rap is looked down upon as a lesser form of music because there is little melody. Music is music and we should all embrace whatever we like and respect what we don't.

Now respect comes in different forms. I will never truly respect nuevo "country" as anything but "pop with a southern accent", or to quote Tom Petty, "bad pop with a fiddle". It's crappy stuff being used simply to sell cowboy trucks and pick-up hats. I also have a hard time respecting anyone that presents "classical" music as something on a higher plane that rock and roll. Handel is repetitive, so are many rock songs. Beethoven killed himself by drinking, just like many rock stars. Musicians are musicians and music is music. 

Do I care what you listen to? I'm interested but I don't expect you to stop listening to your favorite music because I don't like it. Perhaps we can share information on the music and give it some more depth. Maybe we can just listen to it together and open our ears to something new.

So to judge or not to judge? Yes, judge. Form opinions, but be kind, be open, be embracing. If you're going to raft up, raft up with people who won't judge and be mean. I may not have the money or desire to have a boat like the rafters, and I never see myself wearing a polo shirt and khaki pants whilst relaxing on my boat, but I'll never look down my nose at anyone. At least I'll remind myself not to. I'll also remind myself to teach the dog how to use a mop.

...and that is rare for me. I've had an incredibly musical couple of weeks. Most of the experiences have been great, other aspects have been frustrating. I guess that's what we call life. The good has been out-weighing the frustrating so I figure that's a net gain. It's good to feel supported by people in your "neighborhood" and I've had a lot of that. It's refreshing.
     Speaking of neighborhoods, I really like the concept of "it takes a village to raise a child." Perhaps our society has let this go a bit but I think it is still relevant. I found out this morning that a foundation of my personal village passed on to his next adventure. When I was younger, this great uncle treated me, and my siblings like grandkids. He and my great aunt (pronounced ant in case any of you were wondering..) were the relatives that lived closest to us and we loved going over to their house. I still remember lounging on the shag carpet in their den, the color of which resembled that giant yarn-dog on Sesame Street, Barkley. Their beagle Zambo occasionally stayed with us when they went away. We loved Zambo, our father not so much, especially after Zambo left some marks on the door during a thunder storm. Those claw marks are still on the door at my father's house...When they retired, they moved out-of-state to live next door to my grandparents so we got to see them on a somewhat regular basis. 
     Our great uncle was an incredible person. He loved to joke around yet was a man of deep personal faith. He was a war hero, having been in the U.S. Navy in WWII in the Pacific. We always felt loved by him and I know I still adore him to this day, even though I hadn't seen him or talked to him in years. 
     So this blog entry/post actually has to do with music. This great uncle of whom I speak gave me a nickname that few people anymore know of. It's kind of an inside family joke. As I kid I remember wondering if he actually knew my real name. Okay, as an adult I'm still not sure. This nickname was well earned. Every time I saw Uncle Gordy, out would come the plastic yellow banjo and I'd enthrall him with renditions of Clementine, or the Garden Song (a la John Denver) or any other ditty I had in my head at the time. I seem to recall endless versions of Tomorrow from Annie as well. He'd encourage me, or egg me on, by yodeling along at the top of his lungs. 
     I don't know if I'd be a singer today if it hadn't been for several factors, and a big one was Uncle Gordy. He was a big part of the village that has made me who I am, like it or not. I tend to like it. I'm not ashamed to say that I shed a few tears this morning, and I'm also not ashamed to say that I've had Clementine running through my head all day. 

     I spend a lot of time driving. It's just the way my life is and I'm okay with it. Luckily, Maine has a great NPR affiliate and I can usually get pretty good reception in the car. Other than taking a break from the news, I frequently listen to NPR's comedy and music shows, as well as the occasional public affairs show. What, you might ask, is a folkie, rock and roll obsessed dude doing listening to "classical" music shows? 'Cause it's music, that's why. I'm feeling the need to rant so here I go. Please imagine my voice in the exasperated tones made famous by Lewis Black.

     First of all, if it isn't music composed between 1750 and 1820 or so, it isn't classical music. Dear "classical" music snots, please use the proper terminology if you're going to be so pretentious in your handling of music. I don't care if the sheeple have been misinformed for generations, you should know better. Don't you dare introduce an Aaron Copeland or Gershwin piece during your "Classical Music Mornings" program. That's as dumb as anyone taking up Dick Cheney on an invite to go hunting. 

    Second of all, musicians are musicians, whether it's Mozart or Def Leppard. That Bach guy knew how to party and we all know the legend of W.A. Mozart's party prowess. And just say Bach, you don't need to cough up a phlegm ball every time you say his name. I swear I heard a pretentious "classical" music commentator drag out the last part of Bach's name for five minutes one time. You could almost see him looking down his nose at the filthy masses, even through the radio. 

     Thirdly, what happened to melody? I tried my best last Thursday evening to listen to an NPR program where a composer had been asked to compose a piece to honor Beethoven's Ninth by the same organization that had commissioned the Ninth Symphony from Beethoven himself. The result was crap. Harsh, you might say? Harsh it right. It sounded like a group of fourth grader learning to tune their violins for the first time. 

     I'm sorry, that was mean. The fourth graders sounded much better than what was on the radio. 

    This lack of melody is a big think. We can blame it on rap and hip hop but I don't think they deserve all the credit. Some of the bass lines and stolen loops in the back round of rap pieces (yeah, not singing so it isn't a song) are pretty musical. I think a lot of this responsibility can be placed on 20th century composers who couldn't just compose good music but had to come up with gimmicks, like the 12 tone system. While it is artistically interesting, it still sounds like poop. 

     I'm sorry, that was mean. Many times, if poop is accompanied by farts, it sounds way better than 12 tone compositions. 

     So modern composers, please understand this. Just writing a bunch of random notes all over the score doesn't make it a composition. Find your melody or get off the stage. If you want to write mood music, go compose back round music for television and film (Please Note: John Williams knows melody). So many people fawn over this modern garbage and I don't understand why. Gabriel Faure didn't either. He was one of the few music journalists who didn't go nuts over Wagner's material. Faure made the trip to Germany, listened to the stuff, the wrote about how it wasn't a big deal or really any good. I like Faure. As for Wagner, he ruined opera. He and Bugs Bunny. Now everyone thinks that opera is only large, nay, obese ladies screaming their heads off whilst wearing blonde braids and horned helmets. And while the Ride of the Valkyries is one of the more memorable melodies, mostly because it has been used to emphasize comedic scenes, especially the flying Pinto full of Nazis in the Blues Brothers, most of the rest of Wagner's stuff is still crap. And too long. 

     I'm sorry, that was mean. Crap, especially long ones, are much better than Wagner.

     So why are our kids listening to pop music that has little originality, little melody, and little class? Because most of the new popular music, whether it's a top 40 or a pretentious "classical" music show, is lacking melody. Will our grandkids be able to sing? Will they be able to harmonize in consonant ways? Will they be able to feel free to express themselves playing a Pete Seeger tune, then a Chopin etude, then a piece they wrote? I hope so but the future isn't sounding so good.

     On a positive note, the melody is still out there, it hasn't been vanquished yet. Share someone you know, in the comments below, who is fighting to keep melody alive.