I May Not Always Love You

My Favortie Movies of The 2000s

2009-12-21T09:46:00.005-05:00

December 21th, 2009
Monday Evening, 11:59 PM

Today is the last day for this blog, exactly one year since the first post. It may come back, some time, some way, some form, but for now, this iteration will be put to bed with a breakdown of my favorite movies of the decade.

Last night my Brother-in-law was over for the gift exchange and we spent 30 minutes breaking down our favorite films of the past 10 year. Two things became clear, he lost 2 years of American Pop Culture influence while living in Europe and a quick review of the films showed how superior the 90s were then the 00s. Not to take away anything from this decade and some of the game changing cinema that was produced, but where is the Reservoir Dogs or Goodfellas or Saving Private Ryans of this decade. My response to that was they are all on TV. You could look at those three examples I gave and respond with The Wire, The Sopranos and Band of Brothers. From there you can tack on Mad Men, Lost, and even 30 Rock as examples of how the advantage lines between Cinema and Television have blurred. Maybe I have to do a TV Top 10 or 20 during the Holiday break.

For now here is my list of Top 40 favorites with a break down on the top 10. Unlike my Song list, this will be in classic countdown mode, starting at number 40.

40. In the Loop - 2009 - Dir. Armando Iannucci
39. Bad Santa - 2003 - Dir. Terry Zwigoff
38. Moon - 2009 - Dir. Duncan Jones
37. The Wedding Crashers - 2005 - Dir. David Dobkin
36. The Incredibles - 2004 - Dir. Brad Bird
35. Million Dollar Baby - 2004 - Dir. Clint Eastwood
34. Changing Lanes - 2002 - Dir. Roger Michell
33. About A Boy - 2002 - Dir. Chris Weitz
32. The Pianist - 2002 - Dir. Roman Polanski
31. Old School - 2003 - Dir. Todd Phillips
30. Gladiator - 2000 - Dir. Ridley Scott
29. Catch Me If You Can - 2002 - Dir. Steven Spielberg
28. 28 Days Later - 2002 - Dir. Danny Boyle
27. American Psycho - 2000 - Dir. Mary Harron
26. Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind - 2004 - Dir. Michel Gondry
25. Meet the Parents - 2000 - Dir. Jay Roach
24. The Century of the Self - 2002 - Dir. Adam Curtis
23. Finding Nemo - 2003 - Dir. Andrew Stanton
22. Borat - 2006 - Dir. Larry Charles
21. Into the Wild - 2007 - Dir. Sean Penn
20. Once - 2006 - John Carney
19. Munich - 2005 - Dir. Steven Spielberg
18. Collapse - 2009 - Dir. Chris Smith
17. 25th Hour - 2002 - Dir. Spike Lee
16. Zodiac - 2007 - Dir. David Fincher
15. Little Children - 2006 - Dir. Todd Field
14. Fog of War - 2003 - Dir. Errol Morris
13. Mystic River - 2003 - Dir. Clint Eastwood
12. Before Sunset - 2004 - Dir. Richard Linklater
11. Up in the Air - 2009 - Dir. Jason Reitman

The Top Top of the 00s

10. Avatar - 2009 - Dir. James Cameron
I just saw this movie this past weekend (during the Blizzard of 09) and it has already cracked my top 10. I will not give anything away since many out there have not had a chance to see this film yet, but please do, it is why the gods created movies and why people still go to the theater. I do need to see Avatar again to let it live with me one more time and see if it should move up even higher as the years go on. For now I am comfortable with it at Number 10 (with a bullet). Overall Avatar offers a great story that transports you to a new world, unlike anything since Dorthy sets foot on Oz. It offers the best effects to date (you feel like your eyes are playing tricks on you at times). Even with some of the classic cheesy dialog that Cameron is notorious for, the movie still works in the highest order. Avatar is Kubrick level work.

9. Elf - 2003 - Dir. Jon Favreau
Thanks to having two children this decade, I have watched a ton of kids related films. Pixar and Disney have been represented earlier on this list and I am fortunate that those wizards work at Pixar. While Disney has perfected the art of telling stories for those from 8 to 80, they were not able to make a classic throwback Christmas story like Jon Favreau and Will Ferrell did with Elf. This movie is grossly underrated, from the Rankin Bass intro to the classic coming of age/man out of his element story, to Ferrell doing his best Jimmy Stewart turn as Buddy, everything in this story works. Elf is a Capraesque treasure that keeps getting better with each Christmas viewing.

8. The Hangover - 2009 - Dir. Todd Phillips
The most I have laughed at/with a movie this decade was when I watched this in the theater. It it sophomoric? You bet. Is the film clever, the cast perfect and the script tight as a drum? Absolutely. In most comedies this decade, there is that lull, that 20 minutes where you wish things went a little different, or the story didn't drag. Not the case with The Hangover. It's two hours of Vegas, impossible twist, tigers, Tyson, Baby Carlos and in the process, it's unadulterated fun.

7. The Departed - 2006 - Dir. Martin Scorsese
The one that finally got the West Coast blue-hairs to vote for East Coast Marty. We all know that Goodfellas is better and that Taxi Driver is his best film, but The Departed is the one that delivered Marty the goods. The film is supported by an all-star cast which helps to take a good film/story and makes it a great one. Leo, Matt and Jack are at their usual best, but it is the supporting cast that made me believe in this film. Performances like Mark Wahlberg's, Alec Baldwin's and especially the scenes that Vera Farmiga dominated with Leo and Matt, were all Oscar caliber supporting roles.

6. Memento - 2000 - Dir. Christopher Nolan
Even close to 10 years after its release Christopher Nolan's mind-f*ck of a movie still resonates. The story telling, the suspense, the acting, the clues, they all come back to you in some twisted, horror story of a dream. Guy Pearce shines as the short-term memory loss everyman trying to put the pieces of his life back together. With this film, the underrated Prestige and the two Batman man films, Nolan has made himself the auteur of the decade and the one to watch for the Teens. (His 2010 summer blockbuster to-be, Inception looks Nolan awesome already.)

5. Sideways - 2004 - Dir. Alexander Payne
Man I love this film. I love the pace and the script and the wine and the buddy movie aspect and most of all the acting, especially the scenes when Paul Giamatti and Virginia Madsen are interacting. To me there was no greater romance in the 00s then the budding, awkward dance that Giamatti and Madsen do when they are sitting, getting to know each other and talking about wine (really revealing everything about themselves). In the end, we do not know what happens, the door opens and the movie fades to black. But I have a feeling what happens after that and I would love to spend time with these characters again someday.

4. Children of Men - 2006 - Dir. Alfonso Cuarón
Not since the Blade Runner has a film painted a future world as grim and bleak. In a post 9/11 world we live, dystopian tales like Children of Men have been all the rage. While many tried, none were able to paint a world as potentially realistic as this film. Children of Men is set in the UK of 2027, the film explores a joyless existence in which two decades of global human infertility have left humanity with less than a century to survive. Clive Owen is excellent as a lifeless man thrust into guarding and protecting the only pregnant woman left in the world. The cinematography and especially several single-shot action sequences makes this film a contemporary sci-fi classic.

3. Michael Clayton - 2007 - Dir. Tony Gilroy
Tony Gilroy is my favorite writer/storyteller in cinema today. From the Bourne films to Duplicity to this modern classic, no one tells or spins the espionage better then Gilroy. Michael Clayton is a throw-back to those golden age of 70s cinema movies like Three Days of the Condor and Parallax View. In Gilroy's world, the big bad rouge government playing the villains have been replaced and morphed into big bad corporate fat cats. The cast is spot-on. Oscar winner Tilda Swinton shines as the corporate shark in-over-her-head, Tom Wilkinson is perfect as the is he or isn't he crazy whistle-blower, the late-great Sydney Pollack is impeccable (in one of those roles that only he could play) as the head of the law firm protecting the corporation and George Clooney is peerless as the underachieving, down-on-his-luck "fixer" that has to clean up this mess. The tension, the clever storytelling and the pay-off at the end make this film a repeat viewing treat.

2. The Dark Knight - 2008 - Dir. Christopher Nolan
I remember the moment this film was over and the title came up, vividly. This was the first film I saw when at the end I wanted to call my Dad and speak to him or tell him that he must see it. He passed a month before this came out, but I swear he was sitting next to me the entire time enjoying it with me.

These are the type of films (much like Avatar) that you need to see in the theater, in IMAX and you need to just let them take you away. The genius about Nolan's Dark Knight is not that it was the best Super Hero/Comic Book movie of the decade, it was that it is the best heist/gangster film of the decade. Nolan has changed the game for all comic book films (for the better IMHO). One can not watch a Spiderman or a Watchmen in the same light again. They all now seem lightweight and too out-of-this-world. The cinematography in this thing is superb, the drama is high and as always in Batman movies, the cast, this time the supporting cast is Oscar winning. The late Heath Ledger is a god in this film. He embodies the best Villain the movies have witnessed since Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lamb. I also love Gary Oldman's much overlooked everyman James Gordon. To me Oldman is the perfect conduit that connects all of us non-comic book characters to the madness that is going on all around. He is the moral backbone of the story, the one caught in conflict, the little man trying to figure out the good from the bad, the right from the wrong and how a hero should one day rise again. Bravo.

1. There Will Be Blood - 2007 - Paul Thomas Anderson
There Will Be Blood offers to the cinema world its best individual performance of the decade. It offers to the cinema world the best score of the decade. It offers the best cinematography of the decade. It offers the best line of the decade - "I Drink Your Milkshake!" All the while, offering the most haunting look at the impact that worship (Capitalism or Religion, Oil vs God) has on the human condition. To me PT Anderson is a marvel. From Boggie Nights to There Will Be Blood and all in between, he creates unique worlds, characters and conflicts that are both personal and surreal. To me this film, with its Citizen Kane like structure, its ambitious camera work and Daniel Day-Lewis flawlessly showing everyone that he is the best actor working in the world today, There Will Be Blood is the one film from the 00s that students and historians will be writing and talking about for many, many years to come. This scene sums it all up - Youtube:

My Favorite 110 Songs of the 2000s - The Best of the 00's

2009-12-17T22:01:00.017-05:00

December 17th, 2009
Thursday Evening, 9:01 PM
Happy Birthday Rosie!

Part III

- Science of Silence - Richard Ashcroft - 2002 - Human Conditions
Another one of those British Imports (Verve's old lead singer) I brought back with me from some random trip to the UK. It's sappy, and mushy and all that alright, but the message is much more "Imagine" then "We Are The World." It's one of those "why are we on this rock" type of songs....well, "All You Need Is Love."

- Lake Michigan - Rogue Wave - 2007- Asleep At Heaven's Gate
This track would be in the top ten if I had one. I love all the simple & subtle changes, hand claps, lyrics and guitar motifs created. The perfect indie blog track. YouTube from Craig Ferguson:

- Poor Places - Punch Brothers - 2008 - Daytrotter Session
There is this great website called the daytrotter sessions which according to its about section convinces: "These fine people – as they’re traveling through America’s heartland – take two hours out of their travels between shows to stop in for a Daytrotter Session at The Horseshack in downtown Rock Island, Ill. The name of the city is not ironic..." Many of the indie greats have stopped by to play a five song set list, Spoon, Death Cab, Of Montreal and most recently 110 song maker, Brendan Benson, but none have "wowed" me as much as The Punch Brothers and their cover of Wilco's "Poor Places" did. By stripping the song down to its basics, taking out all of the noise and mood that Jay Bennett (RIP) and Jeff Tweedy created, The Punch Brothers made "Poor Places" their own melancholy folk song.
Here is a YouTube to prove it:

- This Could Be Good - Pugwash - 2006 - Jollity
What if XTC were actually laid back Irish guys that liked their pints more then their prose? That is what we have here with another Power Pop find from across the pond. Worth a download.

- Hurt - Johnny Cash - 2002 - American IV
Tell me the first time you heard this song or saw this video that you were not blown away by the broken down Cash (a year before he passed) and by how this song was perfect for him. Man that Rick Rubin sure knows what he is doing by building the tension at the end of the track. As Trent Reznor said when Rubin first played it for him, "Wow. [I felt like] I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine anymore…"

- Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson - 2004 - Breakaway
How many hours have we all invested? How man "Dawgs" have we digested? It had to be represented in some way, some fashion on the list. America's number one guilty pleasure of the 00s (what you don't watch - come on) has given us at least one good Pop song. And gosh darn, at least it was from "our Kelly" and not the bloody "Soul Patrol."

- All For Swinging You Around - The New Pornographers - 2003 - Electric Version
Now this is more of what I want from a female vocalist. I heart Neko Case and her merry band of North of the Boarder players, you to AC. If you have a chance this week, check out Neko on Elvis Costello's Spectacle show on Sundance. She shines and shows her soul during the show, fairly moving.

- Do You Realize? - The Flaming Lips - 2006 - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
Another in the long line of "one day you are going to die" pick-me-up tracks, from those loop-jobs from Nebraska or Oklahoma (one of these states picked this song as the new state song - no kidding) or whichever fly-over land mass they hail from. Pretty song, nice message, but I still can't get the 15 minutes of that horrible attempt of a movie "Christmas On Mars" they slaved over for 4 years, out of my mind. Bad taste, still.

- Meaningless - Jon Brion - 2001 - Meaningless
Many of you probably have never "heard" of Jon Brion, but all of you have heard his work over the course of the past decade. In movie scores (Eternal Sunshine, Punch-Drunk Love, The Step Brothers), as a Producer (Fiona Apple, Rufus Wainwright) and even as Kanye West active musical Consigulary (yes he even produced Kanye's landmark Late Registration). If Jon was a Brit, he would be Sir Jon by now. Instead, he is shacked up in LA playing every Friday night for the faithful at Largo, blowing their bloody minds. I once saw JB play Largo back early 00s when this record came out. I compared watching him live to what it must have been like watching Willie Wonka make the candy in the factory. It's just Jon and 8 instruments and he plays them all, records them and then melts them all into a single track. He is a genius, he can play anything, and if it was the 60s he would be a massive star. If you are heading to LA, go see him, and let him blow your mind.

- Song For Children - Brian Wilson - 2004 - SMiLE
I love Brian. This blog was named after one of his songs. In the late 90s I became somewhat obsessed with Mr. Wilson. I truly found Pet Sounds when the box set (remember those) and bootleg copies of the tragically unreleased SMiLE hit the scene. I would imagine you all know the story of SMiLE and how it was left in a vault for 30 plus years and how it caused Brian to literally lose his mind and stay in bed for 3 years (at least the Barenaked Ladies got a hit out of his misery). But this decade was all about that burden being lifted for one of Americas great songwriters. With the help from his amazing backing band, Brian put the pieces of the SMiLE puzzle together and in 2004 performed (which I saw at Carnegie Hall - a dream come true) and finally released his masterwork for the world to hear. The critics (Metacritic has it as the highest reviewed Album of the 00s) and the fans loved it. Brian was out of his fog, he enjoyed playing it live and he started to write new material again. Personally when I heard this fragment and how it was intended to be connected to his beautiful "Wonderful" (how did I not figure that out?), I just knew the finished SMiLE was going to be something special. And that it is.
YouTube:

- Spitting Game - Snow Patrol - 2003 - Final Straw
Thanks to my Scottish nanny at the time, and not some sappy ABC TV show, I found this album in 2003. Like Coldplay, Snow Patrol is one of my guilty UK (this time Scot) pleasures of the decade. I like the emo lead vocals, the straight forward beats and top-of-the-line production. Plus, there is a great opening line on this track - "I broke into you house last night...." You know how I feel about stalker songs.

- Chicago - Sufjan Stevens - 2005 - Come On Feel The Illinois
Fitting that Stevens comes on the shuffle right after a band that named dropped him and this track in their song "Hands Open". Bottom line, this guys is as creative as hell. His songwriting choices, the instruments he picks, the topics (he is going to make albums highlighting all 50 states - he has two done so far), the contributing artist he works with, he is an indie blog darling and an original.

- Rehab - Amy Winehouse - 2006 - Back To Black
Before the trainwreck, we had the music, the voice and most importantly, Mark Ronson's "man behind the curtain" throw-back to Motown sound production.

- Sometime Around Midnight - The Airborne Toxic Event - 2008 - The Airborne Toxic Event
Horrible band name, reeks of one-hit-wonder, but, still moving, sweeping, filled with rage & sorrow & hopelessness. It connects. It builds. And so does the rage. What is she doing? Who hasn't been this guy, in a bar, watching as she leaves with someone else? Drink up guys, it's gonna be a long night.

- Brighter Than Sunshine - Aqualung - 2005 - Strange and Beautiful
Ben Folds does the Beatles. Sometimes you listen to these songs and you wonder why did I play them so much in the past. It had to be the strings in this thing. I am a sucker for strings in songs. I blame "I Am A Walrus" and all those damn Elton John songs that Philly radio made me listen to during my formative years.

- Here It Goes Again - Ok Go - 2006 - Oh No
Nice little band here. Brown U guys that are very imaginative and creative. Made it more for the video then anything else. That and it sounds like it would be found on side two of Cheap Trick's Dream Police.
YouTube:

- Hey Ya! - Outkast - 2003 - Speakerboxx
It's here for the line "shake it like a Polaroid picture..." and because it rocks.

- White Limousine - Duncan Sheik - 2006 - White Limousine
This song reminds me of the late 90s and early 00s. "While America Slept" and Software companies were still sending us in droves out to Vegas for "kick-offs" and "trade-show", we perfected the fine art of All-American gluttony. Two wars going on and we are driving to the Palm in some white limo. Sure, this makes sense. Note - Last year was the first year my SW company, and many others, didn't send people to Vegas. Financial collapse tend to impact limo trips to Cheetah.

- Guaranteed - Eddie Vedder - 2007 - Into The Wild (Soundtrack)
While watching this impeccable movie, I heard Eddie's voice and could not believe it. The music was good, the lyrics were not as pretentious as usual and the tracks had an organic quality to them. This one, and Hard Sun, stood out to me. It forced me to give Eddie a second chance and then he and PJ released Backspacer this year. Good form Ed.

- Don't Steal Our Sun - The Thrills - 2003 - So Much For The City
Irish guys doing Brother era Beach Boys songs. This could be a match made in music heaven for me. While The Thrills have never matched the vibe of this auspicious debut, they were able to hook me for a summer with all those "ooohhhs" and "eeeewwws". Worth seeking it out.

- I Don't Know What It Is - Rufus Wainwright - 2003 - Want One
Funny, I was just reading Zach Galifianakis (you know the fat guy from The Hangover) iTunes Celebrity Playlist and he said that this song helped get him through some difficult times. I won't go that far, but I will give a genius his due. And that is the only word I think of when I think of Rufus. His music is a gift from the gods. This song reminds me of driving around Basking Ridge, right around the time my eldest daughter started to talk, and she would sing along to this song.
YouTube:

- Bartender - Dave Matthews Band - 2001 - The Lillywhite Sessions
I remember this song from the summer before 9/11. This was one of the first Internet "leak" albums. Matthews didn't like it, it was too dark (wasn't that the point Dave?), so legend has it producer Steve Lillywhite leaked it to the web to prove to the DMB that it was the best thing they ever accomplished. Advantage Lillywhite. The DMB went back into the studio (after it was so well received by critics and fans) and rerecorded the record more to their liking. Match, set Lillywhite.

- Sequestered In Memphis - The Hold Steady - 2008 - Stay Positive
If the E Street band came out in the 00s they would sound like these guys. I am always amazed at how many Bruceheads I play this for and they don't get it (that's called blind worship). Another one of those indie darlings (Brooklyn), but these guys, unlike the 1000s of others, actually can rock with the best of them. For all of you "modern rock" station managers, wake up people, this is the tightest band playing in America right now.
YouTube on Letterman:

- Kids - MGMT - 2008 - Oracular Spectacular
Talk about indie blog darlings, these guys are the Brooklyn poster children. Something funny happened on the way to Manhattan from the 2 and 3 trains; Soccer Moms started to use this as their ring tones and people played it at pool parties miles away from Park Slope. Be careful what you wish for. Backlash is on the way. For now, try not to tap your feet or sing along about "a family of trees." Massive track.

- 1901 - Phoenix - 2009 - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Holy Sophia Coppella's French husband! What a joyously exuberant taste of pop/rock. 1901 is a head-bopper with hooks at every turn and at every speed. I have a feeling this song is gonna sell a lot of crappy American cars.

- I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You - Black Kids - 2008 - Wizards of Ahhhs
CMJ favs and the best band out of Jacksonville, Florida since Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (sorry Matchbox 20/Twenty), the Black Kids are infectious.

- All These Things That I've Done - The Killers - 2004 - Hot Fuss
Brandon Flowers has been quoted saying they wanted to write their own "Where the Streets Have No Name" when they set out to write this song. I think they did that and more. Not many rock tracks better then this one in the past 15 years. Plus, "I got soul, but I'm not a soldier" is priceless.
Youtube of The Killers, Coldplay and Bono doing this song in the UK:

- Straight Lines - Silverchair - 2007 - Young Modern
These guys should be massive here in the US, but sadly the state of rock music in the USA is on proverbial life support (Nickelback was just named Rock Artist of the decade by Billboard - kill me now). Instead they have carved out a nice little corner of the world market (their home in Australia and New Zealand) and focused their talents there. Smart move boys. I love the way this track builds. Johns is a phenomenal songwriter (hello America). This song will always remind me of dancing around the living room with my youngest daughter.

- The Sweet - The Major Labels - 2008 - Aquavia
Ahhh the Major Labels. The side project of two of my favorite Power Pop hold-outs, Bleu and Mike "the Voice" Viola. They released this album as a lark on a pay-as-you-want website called Nosietrade, they recorded it at a country house in Mass, they had a blast and it comes out on the record. Aquavia was my favorite album of 2008. It has it all, hard rock, Summer of 69 references, Queen vocals, and this White Album/RAM wannabe track. Broken down into four sections, The Sweet highlights the exceptional talents of each band member, Bucky, Blue and Viola. I saw these guys do the album live somewhere south of Houston St. in NYC (The Living Room? I forget) and they didn't play the track. I asked Mike why and all he said was becasue it would have been too damn hard. Hence, no YouTube.

- Perfect Lovesong - The Divine Comedy - 2001 - Regeneration
Produced by longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, Regeneration was a departure from the chamber pop that Neil Hannon and his band became famous for. Personally, I dig it for the audacity ("this will be the perfect love song dammit!") and the Beach Boys and Beatles line at the start of the song. You need all three of those to truly make the perfect love song. If not, it's just going to sound like that David Foster crap from the 80s and 90s.

- 99 Problems - Jay-Z - 2003 - The Black Album
The best, hands down, rapper in the world today. The key to Jay is that he pulls it off by not coming across as trying too hard, it comes natural, and when the right buttons are pushed, it works. Kind of like Sinatra back in the day, Jay just has it. And like old Blue Eyes, something tells me that Jay is one of the hardest working people in music around. Backed by Rick Rubin's perfect production, Shawn Carter lays out the logic according to Jay in close to four minutes of power, fury and cross-over appeal.

- Boulevard Of Broken Dreams - Green Day - 2004 - American Idiot
This was the album when Green Day grew-up. This was the album when Green Day became more then another pop-punk wannabe outfit, passing all those Fall Out Boys and 3 Doors Down and Dashboard Whatevers. This is the album that will get Green Day into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame one day and rightfully so. By far the greatest ROCK album of the decade, American Idiot, woke the youth of America up for a brief moment out of their PS3/XBox haze. It made them take notice, think twice about their coddled existence and I bet, it had an impact on the Election of 2008. Plus, the last 40 seconds of this song could be the greatest moment of Rock rage in all of the 00s.

- American Boy - Estelle (featuring Kanye West) - 2008 - Shine
One of those, smile-on-your-face-as-soon-as-you-hear-it type of songs. Great beat, great trans-continental/Atlantic lyrics (I mean you really want to hop right on a jet when this tune is over) and it features Kanye's best guest rap to date. "What's your persona about this Americana....And I'm feeling like Mike at his Bad-est, like the Pips at their Glad-est..." Bloody hell right.

- You Know So Well - Sondre Lerche - 2002 - Faces Down
This guys was 19 when he released this song. Pretty astonishing. Sondre hails from Norway where he is considered their cross between Cole Porter and Elvis Costello. This is the first track from his debut and I still feel it is his best. Check out his duet with Regina Spektor called "Hell No", it's like a modern day "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Here is a YouTube of YKSW:

- Crazy - Gnarls Barkley - 2006 - St. Elsewhere
It does not matter what genre of music you listen to, back in 2006 everyone tried to claim Crazy as theirs. Every station up and down the dial played it. Hip-hop, rock, pop, even country (I kid). Crazy really doesn't fit into one category and that is what made this track so perfect. Backed by arguably the best base grove of the decade, Danger Mouse proves that he could just very well be, the best Producer of the decade.

- Yellow - Coldplay - 2000 - Parachutes
Who cares if Radiohead did not write Radiohead songs anymore, these guys from the UK came out of the gates writing them for us all. This song offers glimpses of what was to come throughout the decade; the stylish guitar work, Martin's high-pitched wails, the minimalist lyrics during a chorus, all there, for all of us to sing along to.

- Blueside - Rooney - 2003 - Rooney
One of those "as seen on The O.C." groups that came out early in the decade while that nonsense was still on FOX. I liked this track thanks to its subtle (yeah right) genuflection to the alter of Jellyfish and the Beach Boys. Plus, the band is named after principal Ed Rooney, from the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Good stuff.

- Daughters - John Mayer - 2003 - Heavier Things
This song is here for two reasons - one, because I had two of them (daughters that is) this decade and two, because I like the bridge. But really, it's because of number one.

- Fill My Little World - The Feeling - 2006 - Twelve Stops From Home
Another find from one of my trips across the pond. They don't make 'em in the USA like The Feeling anymore. One whiff of this song and you know right were it comes from; somewhere North of London I suppose, a place where the tap water is so sweet that it must be chocolate milk coming out of those faucets. In turn, the Brits become accustomed to digesting these sweet treats and it makes all of their little British teeth crooked. Big in the UK and a dot on the radar here in the US, The Feeling are the type of band that I seek out when I head to Europe. They are the type of band that has perfected that lost art of the clever little three minute pop songs. The ones that the rest of the cavity filled world loves.
YouTube of the Brits and their festivals - they know every word:

That's all for now, see you this weekend with some Movie list and then poof, this thing is done.

My Favortie 110 Songs of the 2000's - The Best of the 00s

2009-12-16T22:16:00.004-05:00

December 16th, 2009
Wednesday Evening, 10:16 PM

Part II

- On Your Birthday - Jim Boggia - 2008 - Misadventures in Stereo
From Jim's brilliant 2008 release, On You Birthday is a trip down memory lane for the writers, his listeners and ex-lovers. Jim handed the lyric writing over to the underrated David Poe and the two created a breezy homage to those special moments in life that mean more now then they did then. Here is Jim doing the song at Joe's Pub (really if you have a chance to see him there, do yourself a favor, and make it happen):

- Please Read The Letter - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - 2007 - Raising Sand
What a bloody brilliant pairing. T-Bone is a producing genius. He has such a magical ear for this type of stuff. The last minute of this song is the best Led Zep song since IV.

- Last Night - The Strokes - 2000 - Is This It?
In hindsight, Rock and NYC's next-great-hope didn't live up to the hype and expectations of its debut. What they did do was make the NYC music scene vibrant and in particular the Brooklyn music scene the place to be in the 2nd half of the decade. The Indie Blogs owe everything to this track.

- Middle of the Hill - Josh Pyke - 2005 - Feeding the Wolves
A friend of mine sent me the mp3 of this track one day via email saying, "you will love this song." She was spot on. Little did she know that I actually grew-up in the middle of the hill as a child. Maybe its growing older, or that I took up the acoustic guitar this decade, but the 00s have been about me gravitating more and more to small acoustic numbers like this one.

- The Pretender - Foo Fighters -2007- Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
Now for something not acoustic. One of the best concerts I went to this decade was an intimate record release party the Foo had at Irving Plaza in NYC. Nothing better then seeing a band of this power at a 500 person show. Especially for a song like The Pretender which slows it down just long enough to explode into full bloom. After a show like that, you don't want to do the 70,000 person stadium thing ever again. YouTube to prove the point: You can find me in the crowd at the end as the only guy there wearing a suit.

- My Girls - Animal Collective - 2009 - Merriweather Post Pavilion
I wrote about this track earlier in the year on the old blog and my feelings are the same. This track is an anologs wet dream. The way it builds and makes you move and the lush wall-of-sound that those keyboards create, My Girls is the highlight of one of the best albums of 2009.

- Uprising - Muse - 2009 - The Resistance
You can thank my teenage Liverpolitan nephews Dylan and John and their super-cool Mom who took them to see these guys in concert, for making me aware of the next-great British thing. Damn those Brits are really up on their music. Theatrical, forceful, driving and rebellious, Muse is a must listen for the Zeitgeist crew that tapped into the mainstream in 2009.

- Jesus, Etc. - Wilco - 2002 - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
By now the story of Wilco's YHF is something of rock music legend. Band fights record label for release, label says no. Band offeres it for free online (one of the first to do this mind you), everyone loves it (fans and critics). Label resigns band for an album it already paid for. And you wonder what lead to the music industry downfall this decade. If you have not read what happened yet (in detail), I highly recommend watching Sam Jones' Documentary "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" which highlights the madness. Regardless, YHF is the album of the decade and Jesus Etc. sits smack in the middle of tracklist as a chance to catch your breath and reflect. This could be Tweedy's finest number to date.
Youtube:

- Wilco (the song) - Wilco - 2009 - Wilco (the album)
The final Wilco song that makes my list is also the song where they announced to the world that they were going to have fun again playing music. IMHO, the first side (I have it on LP) of Wilco (the album) is there best set of music since YHF in 2002. The first time I heard this song was when they performed it live on The Colbert Report just days prior to the 2008 Presidential Election. The crowd blew up when they heard it and rightfully so, it's fun, infectious and "sonic shoulder for you to cry....Wilco will love you baby" So true Jeff.

- Everything In Its Right Place - Radiohead - 2000 - Kid A
With the first five notes from Thom Yorks' keyboard, Radiohead proclaimed that Kid A would not be your brothers The Bends or OK Computer. They proclaimed that music was going to be different in the new Millinium for the most important band in the world and for music. Nine years later, it still is and they still are.

- Crazy in Love - Beyonce (Featuring Jay-Z) - 2003 - Dangerously In Love
The best horns, the best beat, one of the best guest star raps from the new Sinatra, the voice, the moves, it all translates into one of the best party songs of the 00s.

- Ex #1 Fan - The Churchills - 2000 - You Are Here
One of those NYC band I found and followed while living up there for the past decade. Great little Power-Pop outfit that specialized in cool harmonies and crunchy guitars. Plus, stalker songs never go out of fashion.

- I Gotta Feeling - The Black Eyed Peas - 2009 - The E.N.D.
Really, this was song of this past summer. Really, everyone loved it, no matter the age or location or creed. This song will always make me think of driving in Ireland this past summer and it being on EVERY five minutes and I really didn't even care. Sorry Beyonce, but this was the best party song of the 00s.

- Mr. Brightside - The Killers - 2004 - Hot Fuss
We all thought at first that these guys were from England those many moons ago. The Brits loved them, played them, bought them, took them under their wings and let them grow. Then all of a sudden we find out they are Americans and from VEGAS and they can ROCK. The Killers are kind of like the American version of Coldplay; everyone in the indie world and MSM love to knock them for being to over-the-top, but you know what, we need bands like that. This is a great 80s throw-back track and one of the best rock songs of the 00s.

- Say It To Me Now - Glen Hansard - 2008 - Once (Soundtrack)
In the beginning of the movie Once we see Hansard playing this song, on that ratty guitar, in the dark, singing at the top of his lungs. In those first two minutes we know his character is in pain and longing for someone/anyone to hear him. Its powerful music and film making. Picture and pitch perfect.
Here is a Youtube of Glen playing it live:

- All My Friends - LCD Soundsystems - 2007 - Sound of Silver
Much like the Animal Collective, this keyboard/piano driven track, builds and builds and builds over its seven plus minutes. By the end, you are singing along, grabbing your jacket and heading out to "see all your friends tonight...."

- Folk Singer - Brendan Benson -2002 - Lapalco
After many years Benson finally found commercial success later in the decade thanks to his association with Jack White and The Raconteurs. Prior to their two releases of Jack's bluesy-bits and Brendan's Macca tendencies, Benson had a string of excellent Power Pop/under-the-radar classic records, that he wrote with ex-Jellyfisher Jason Falkner. Folk Singer shouts-out Lennon, while displaying those Macca tendencies, with a dash of Big Star charm and Brendan's wit.

- Wake Up - The Arcade Fire - 2004 - Funeral
Big, bombastic, lush, adventurists, genius. All of these descriptions could easily help define the best new band of the decade. Both of their releases have been on heavy rotation in my iPod or on the record player. I love the full sound, the song writing, and the sheer power of this band. They evoke U2's passion and David Bowie's (their number one fan) eclecticism, while all along being original and relevant.

- Toxic - Britney Spears - 2003 - In The Zone
This pick has less to do with our "original American Idol", then it does with the masterminds, Bloodshy and Avant, the gurus behind the writing and producing. They throw the kitchen sink at this thing, in the form of beats and guitars and Bollywood strings, and it works. I have heard killer hard rock covers of this tune over the last six years, a great sign that it is a killer song.

- Your Own Worst Enemy - Bruce Springsteen - 2007 - Magic
Somewhere along the way this decade Springsteen must have pulled out his old LP's of The Beach Boy's Pet Sounds and those great Phil Spector productions and said to Clarance that he was going to try to write a great wall-of-sound pop song. With the help of the E Street and Producer Brendan O'Brien, Bruce did just that. I love the piano, the harmonies, the organ, the drums and those Pet Sounds sleigh bells that play throughout the song. Way to go Bruce, Mr. Wilson should be proud.

- Clocks - Coldplay - 2002 - A Rush Of Blood To The Head
When I heard this song for the first time, with its piano riff, minimalist bass/drums and extremely basic chorus, "You are" (yep that's it), I knew that Coldplay was more then just a Radiohead rip-off. Everyone could tell. Clocks is just that good.

- Test Tube Kid - Honeydogs - 2004 - 10,000 Years
I am trying to remember how this Album found me. Did I read something about it in Rolling Stone? Was it EW? Was it Aimee Mann that recommended it in an interview? Who knows? What I do know is that 10,000 Years and I spent a lot of time together in the fall/winter of 2003/2004. It was the moment of the concept album for me - Brian Wilson's SMiLE was finally released, Green Day was eclipsing The Clash and The Who with American Idiot and The Honeydogs released this hidden gem which tells a futuristic story while examining modern society's ills. In Test Tube Kid I hear a little of Macca's "Maybe I'm Amazed" and a whole lot of Elvis Costello's wordplay.

- Intervention - The Arcade Fire - 2007 - Neon Bible
While not has critically lavished on by indie blog elites, Neon Bible packs a massive punch in the emotion department. I saw them do this live on SNL and I was blown away. The best thing out of Canada since SCTV. Here is the band in full doing it on youtube:

- Life On A Chain - Pete Yorn - 2001 - Music for the Morning After
New Jersey native, Pete Yorn, came out of the gates kicking and screaming with this four star debut. Evoking some early Springsteen (of course those comparisons due to geography), other 80s influences like the Buzzcocks and The Smiths, Yorn has built a steady stream of releases since, but nothing living up to the creativity displayed on MFTMA. I once saw him live where he played nothing but covers, and he pulled it off, each and everyone of them - from ballads like Never My Love to punk tracks like Ever Fall In Love With Someone.

- Crooked Teeth - Death Cab for Cutie - 2005 - Plans
Another indie blog darling that is much more then just the words those hipsters type. With each record they have grown and have gained more and more followers. This is another group that falls in the Elvis Costello group of lyrical wordsmithing. They paint pictures with each line, drawing you in, forcing you to wait for the next lyric, the next story to treasure.

- The Galway Girl - Steve Earle - 2000 - Transcendental Blues
They don't make them like Steve Earle anymore. He is a throwback to the likes of Johnny Cash, a rebel with a guitar, his words and a dream. The first time I heard of Earle it was on a Nightline (is that show still on?) interview where he was talking about his love for The Beatles Rubber Soul, his love of New York and his time in prison. I thought to myself, now this is a Country Star, not a Nashville product, but a true-blue outlaw. From there I fell in love with this record, with his music and his live shows. I have seen him 3 times. This song reminds me of my Dad (Earle plays with the legendary Chieftains on this song) and some young Irish ladies I met when I traveled to Ireland as a teen. Funny thing, this song was all the rage at the bars during my most recent trip back to Ireland. It took long enough!
Youtube:

- Bohemian Like You - Dandy Warhols -2000- Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia
This song always reminds me of my buddy Finn and the trip we took the summer of 2000 to UK/France/Italy. During a stop in Paris, Finn and I went out, found some music and he kept on playing this track on the jukebox. Good times. Another great, lost Stones riff in there.

- My Doorbell - The White Stripes - 2005 - Get Behind Me Satan
I could have picked at least four or five other White Stripes song for this list, but I keep coming back to this one. Jack White, Detroit native, wrote the best Motown song since, Ain't No Mountain High Enough. I would die to hear The Funk Brothers (Motowns and Barry Gordy house band) play this with Jack one day.

- Lose Yourself - Eminem - 2002 - 8 Mile (Soundtrack)
Detroit Rock City at it again, this time from the Rap perspective. Like the Stripes, I could have picked a couple of other Eminem songs for this list, but I keep coming back to this one. With its rock beat, biting lyrics, and energy, this (not Stan) is Eminem's Magnum opus.

- See The World - Gomez - 2006 - How We Operate
Simple, British, moody indie guitar rock, tap your feet, great sunset beach music, that's Gomez and this track to me. "See the World, find an old fashion girl...." Says it all.

- Jigsaw Falling Into Place - Radiohead - 2007 - In Rainbows
The most important band in the world did it again. They tipped the scales, tested the system, profited, and art toppled commerce. In Rainbows and the computer based pay-as-you-go model were the tools, but the songs on In Rainbows were the reason the tools worked. They told everyone to go to the website and pay what you want, here is our new record. The average price paid was a bit over 4 Euros, a steal for the most consistent Radiohead record of the decade.

- December 4th - Danger Mouse - 2004 - The Grey Album (The Beatles White Album meets Jay Z's Black Album)
Here is the background via Wiki: The Grey Album is a mash-up album by Danger Mouse, released in 2004. It uses an a cappella version of rapper Jay-Z's The Black Album and couples it with instrumentals created from a multitude of unauthorized samples from The Beatles' LP The Beatles (more commonly known as The White Album). Here is the truth: The Grey Album is one of my top five albums of this decade. Danger Mouse (Brian Joseph Burton from Gnarls Barkley) spent 6 months perfecting the mash-up of two of the arts greatest originals. This track says it all. It takes Jay-Z story about growing up with his mother and places over George Harrison's guitar work from Mother Natures Son. It transcends both songs, making them something new and shows us how much rap and rock are truly alike at the core. Genius. Take a listen - Youtube:

Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand - 2004 - Franz Ferdinand
I loved this song and I am not sure it and I have aged well together. Still it makes the list for its changes, beats and tone.

Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? - She & Him - 2008 - Volume One
Now I still LOVE this song. I love the little laugh She (the luminous Zooey Deschanel) gives at the five second mark, I love the playing of Him (M. Ward ) at the one minute mark, I really love the drum work at the one forty minute mark and I really, really love the Beach Boy harmonies at the two minute mark. A great pop record.

So let's leave it with that. Installment III tomorrow.

My Favorite 110 Songs of the 2000s - The Best of the 00's

2009-12-15T23:21:00.003-05:00

Part I

December 15th, 2009
Tuesday Evening, 11:31 PM

Well, it has been awhile.

I have some ideas why I stopped posting and writing this blog last spring. It served a purpose for a time being as I dealt with a number of changes in my life. It was cathartic and at the same time, as a friend pointed out, VERY narcissist. Most of this wired world of Facebook and MySpace and Blogs are just that - "hey look at me, look what I am doing, and you are not." I buy into half of that for this blog, I see it, I get it, and that was the main reason why I shut it down. It served its purpose for the winter and spring of 2009 for me. But, a journal is something that should be private. I was exposing myself, friends, family and in my minds eye, it was time for that to stop.

So here I am writing again, for the last couple of times, right around the anniversary of when this blog started. In these next few post I am going to write about Entertainment, namely music and films, two of my great loves.

As many of my handful of readers know, I hand out some "Best of What's Around" music at the end of each year. This is something I have been doing for the past 15 years. It has always received some warm receptions and feedback. Most of all, it is a way to share music with friends that I know would enjoy it. Still, it will be impossible to add all 110 songs on a memory stick or on a CD. With that stated, I promise to post any of the tracks people are interested in on YouSendIt so you can download what you might like. Just right a comment and I will send it. For now here is a run down of my favorite "must have" tracks from the past 10 years.

Note - I have decided not to run them down in a 110 to 1 Billboard countdown fashion. One, because it would be very difficult to pick favorites as all of these tracks represent a moment in time or a feeling that resonated differently to me during the course of the past ten years. Two, I needed to incorporate the iPod on this list. Unlike any other device in the 00s (even you Mr Laptop), this tool has been the one constant since I purchased it in 2002. The iPod, Napster, then iTunes and most importantly the "shuffle" tool have changed the way I listen to music. Call it "the power of the shuffle". With over 4,000 songs currently on my iPod, the shuffle is the game changer. You never know what you are going to get and that little click never gets old. So here we go, time to go into Playlist, find "The Best of What's Around for the 00s" and hit shuffle songs....

B's Top 110 of the 00s by Song, Artist, Year and Album

- Heavy Metal Drummer - Wilco - 2002 - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Fitting that a song from my favorite album of the decade starts off the list. When Jeff Tweedy sings "I miss the innocence I've know, playing Kiss covers beautiful and stoned...." it takes me back to those sunny teenage days. Tweedy is a rock god.

- Valley Winter Song - Fountains of Wayne - 2003 - Welcome Interstate Managers
It was hard to pick one track that meant the most to me from this LP. I still remember being at Maxwell's in Hoboken hearing many of these tracks for the first time (i.e. Hackensack, Mexican Wine) but it is this little haunting slice of New England winter that sticks with me the most.

- SexyBack - Justin Timberlake - 2006 - FutureSex/LoveSounds
Who would have thought at the beginning of the 00's that the curly hair kid from a boy band would be this cool. Be it this track or "Rock Your Body" or his amazing turns on SNL (thanks for "Dick in a Box"), JT proved he could do no wrong. Try being at a club and not dancing to this tune.

- Heaven - The Swimmers - 2008 - Fighting Trees
One of my favorite Philly bands from the 00s. When I saw the Swimmers live downtown this year they almost didn't play this tune because they became sick of it. Not me. To me Heaven is a perfect ELO/Jellyfish throw-back track and one that always transports me to the burbs of Philly.

- Several Thousand - Jim Boggia - 2001- Fidelity is the Enemy
And now on to my favorite Philly artist of the past decade. I first heard this track at a church basement in Westfield, NJ. Since then I have caught Jim live at least five more times, solo or with Mike Viola or with Bleu, and each time has been a treasure for me. This guy truly is an amazing artist, and he should be getting more airtime here in South Eastern PA (come on XPN). And thanks to YouTube here is the first time I heard the song:

- Beautiful Day - U2 - 2000 - All That You Can't Leave Behind
Another song I can remember hearing for the first time. I was on RT 78 W in New Jersey, passing lovely Newark heading to work and I distinctly remember saying to myself, "they are back!" It might be hard to remember but there was a time at the end of the 90s when Bono and the boys lost their way a bit. This LP and the way they performed after 9/11, changed all of that. They went back to writing some great rock songs and being the "best rock band in the world" again.

- Tulip (Your Eyes) - Ty Tabor - 2002 - Saftey
This song came to me via a music swap group I participated in during the middle of the decade. It was a group of about 12 people that had similar musical interest and taste and put tunes on a CD or website for all to find. This was one of my favs from the Swap Project. A straight forward rock track from the old lead singer of the underrated King's X.

- Something To Talk About - Badly Drawn Boy - 2002 - Something to Talk About (Soundtrack)
I will also be posting my favorite list of films from the OO's after the music list. This one might make it, not 100% sure yet. The music from the movie was a perfect fit though. I hear a bit of Harry Nilsson, a bit of Elliott Smith and some great chord progressions.

- Are You Gonna Be My Girl - JET - 2003 - Get Born
The best Stones record since Tattoo You.

- Don't Know Why - Norah Jones - 2002 - Come Away With Me
I mean who didn't like this song? Really. And to that point, who didn't buy this CD? It was everywhere the summer of 2002, in every Starbucks, at every beach party, at your Aunts house, everywhere. But you know what, Jessie Harris really wrote a wonderful tune here, hats off.

- Jesus Walks - Kanye West - 2004 - The College Dropout
So the best rap song of the past ten years was about Jesus. Love Kanye or hate him, you have to respect his ability and the power of his craft. Plus, was there a better line in Rap the past 10 years then: "the way Kathy Lee needs Regis."

- Honey Come Home - John Alagia - 2007 - The Heartbreak Kid (Soundtrack)
I love this little track. I found this nugget during the credits of a godawful Ben Stiller movie. As my father so astutely suggested the first time I played it for him: "you could put this song on the Beatles Rubber Soul." So true Pops, it's that catchy. It's a hard one to find so I thought I would post a YouTube clip of it:

- Strawberry Swing - Coldplay - 2008 - Viva La Vida
I know, everybody loves to pick on these guys. They are a poor mans Radiohead or now that they are working with Eno, they are a poor mans U2, but come on, try all you want to avoid them, they write some great hooks and layer on some amazing sounds. Viva La Vida is a GREAT record. I mean they had a song with strings that made the US Pop charts and dominated the summer of 2008. Respect needs to be given. This is the one track from Viva that I keep coming back to. It has all those hooks and sounds and layers.

- World Spins Madly On - The Weepies - 2006 - Say I Am You
For anyone who has every lost someone or whoever said one thing and did another. And for anyone that ever sits back and meditates thinking about how truly small we are on this big rock in the sky, this song is for you. It's a big and beautiful two minutes and forty five second hug of sorry.

- Happiness - Elliott Smith - 2000 - Figure 8
Thanks to the film Good Will Hunting, people found Elliott Smith. And for a bright five year span, Elliott gave back some incredible sounds to those people. In 2003 Smith either was killed or killed himself, the investigation is still ongoing. Regardless, this Jon Brion produced track from his haunting Figure 8, in the key of E, made me love his sounds even more. A very, very missed talent.

- The Way You Wear Your Head - Nada Surf - 2002 - Let Go
Any songs that shouts-out Cheap Tricks "I Want You To Want Me" has a place on my list. Nada Surf might be best known for a mid-90s grunge wannabe MTV hit, but I have found that this band keeps on evolving for the better. They are a great Power Pop band. Something I for one think we need more of in Rock now a days. Anyone like to have fun anymore?

- Put Your Records On - Corinne Bailey Rae - 2006 - Corinne Bailey Rae
A little Lauryn Hill, a little Norah and a nice big swig of Motown makes this a lazy summer day soundtrack delight.

- Something Is Not Right With Me - Cold War Kids - 2008 - Loyalty to Loyalty
One of those indie blog bands that connected with me over the second half of the decade. A South by Southwest staple that has a ton of rock bite. Raw, a little harsh and perfect rock.

- Cannonball - Damien Rice - 2003 - O
Oh those Irish singer songwriters, how you grab me and my melancholy DNA when I hear you. I first heard Damien during one of my 5 trips back home to the motherland this decade. It happens every time I go, I come back with songs and sounds and smiles that will be with me till the day I die. I hear a little of the late great Jeff Buckley in some of the echos in the background of this track.

- Falling Slowly - The Frames - 2007 - The Cost
Back to Ireland again. If someone put a gun to my head and asked me to pick a favorite track from the 00s, it would be this Oscar winner. The movie Once is one of my favorite films of the past decade. It has music and the Irish and features a romance that brews around the two. This version of Falling Slowly is the one that lead singer/songwriter Glen Hansard recorded with his band, The Frames. I like how it sweeps you in even more then the one they preformed in the movie. Gorgeous track. Here is the YouTube of the Frames version: Up Dublin!

- Make You Feel My Love - Adele - 2008 - 19
This is one of a handful of covers I have put on the list. The UK's best-new-voice took one of Bob Dylan's most covered songs and made it her own. It's so good, it almost makes you forget the Garth Brooks version, almost.

- I Don't Feel Like Dancin' - Scissor Sisters - 2006 - Ta-Dah
This Ohio based band had to go all the way to the UK to get airplay here in the States, typical. This is by far the most Disco sounding song on my chart. Insomuch it evokes some classic Bee Gees in certain sections of the song. Most importantly, it just forces you to move.

- The Fixer - Pearl Jam - 2009 - Backspacer
When Pearl Jam first hit the scene with Nirvana, I was in University. They both will forever be part of the soundtrack of that time for me. Since the early 90s though, PJ never really moved me again. Maybe it was Kurt's passing, or the fact that they were not the center of the music universe anymore, or maybe my taste changed. Either way, we didn't reconnect until this past year. Backspacer is their best album since Ten. This track, along with Speed of Sound, resorted my faith in Seattle.

- All At Sea - Jamie Cullum - 2004 - Twentysomething
I've always like the mood of this song; laid back, easy like a Sunday morning. Most of all, and the reason it is on the list, is cause no matter what I am doing, my "air drum-sticks" come out during the bridge.

- Grace Kelly - Mika - 2007 - Life in Cartoon Motion
Over the top and all falsetto, this ode to Philly's own Princess and England's own Queen was a track I brought back with me from a trip to Ireland I took with my Uncle in 2007. I still remember driving on the wrong side of the road belting this one out. Ka-ching

- I Bet You Look Good On the Dance Floor - Arctic Monkeys - 2005 - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Best "in-your-face" rock band out of Brittan since early Oasis.

- Girl In The War - Josh Ritter - 2006 - The Animal Years
A WXPN favorite, and a powerful singer/songwriter Ritter's 2006 release was his strongest to date. With America in the middle of two wars and at its most bitter, Ritter channeled his inner Robert Zimmerman to serve as a mid-decade time capsule. Here is a Youtube of the song:

- Light & Day - The Polyphonic Spree - 2002 - Beginning Stages of...
If this song does not make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, then I do not know which one will. I saw this band live at the TLA in Philly and it was, for lack of a better term, an explosion. 30 people on stage with at least 20 different instruments, all in white gowns, all smiling. You don't see that everyday.

- The Rising - Bruce Springsteen - 2002 - The Rising
Another hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck type of a song, but obviously for different reasons. If anyone was going to write about what happened to the New York area in the fall of 2001, well, it just had to be Bruce. Thank the gods he heard the call. Seeing this done live at Giants Stadium, with the NYC skyline in the background, on a warm summer night, was a reminder that music has some special powers. It was like the sky was saying we could all sing along with the Boss again, it was time.

- Use Somebody - Kings of Leon - 2008 - Only by the Night
Sure, I liked the first couple of albums. I respected the work ethic and how they kept churning them out, but it wasn't until Only by the Night that I grabbed the iPod and hit replay and then replay again. For the past two years the Kings of Leon have been the saviors of rock in the mainstream, and a band that all (from rappers to indie bloggers) still admire. They didn't sell-out, the audience came to them, count me as one of them.

- Hair of the Dog - Mike Viola - 2005 - Just Before Dark
Mike Viola is the artist that I have seen the most live on this list. Be it Joe's Pub in NYC or in Hoboken or some two-bit longe in Morristown, NJ, this is the artist I travel to see and the one that speaks to me the most. Just Before Dark was a record that Viola recorded live at the legendary Largo in LA. He wanted to make a laid back homage to Macca, and in the end, he made my perfect sunny Sunday morning with coffee record. Here is a Youtube of the track:

- Somewhere Down The Barrel - The Dissociatives - 2004 - The Dissociatives
Here is a one-off experiment band from Down Under that I found via the Swap Project. Daniel Johns (VERY underrated here in the States) from Silverchair plays the lead with an Aussie DJ Dance Producer to create something different, crunchy and catchy.

- Stars - Switchfoot - 2005 - Nothing Is Sound
Switchfoot is a "faith-based" alternative rock outfit that my ear caught thanks to their involvement with Andy Sturmer from Jellyfish (Sturmer added vocals to the track). It's a good rock track that one needs to play loud, in the car, and at night of course.

- Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own - U2 - 2004 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
I read when this album came out that Bono wrote and sang these words for his fathers funeral mass. When I wrote my Father's eulogy, I had this song playing on a constant loop in the background searching for inspiration. This song will be with me forever.

- Us - Regina Spektor - 2004 - Soviet Kitsch
Here is one of those songs that takes you back to the first time you fall in love with someone. All wide-eyed and hopeful and without a care; "They'll made a statue of us....", so brazen and naive and perfect.

- The Long Way Around - Dixie Chicks - 2006 - Taking the Long Way
The best Fleetwood Mac songs since Rumors.

- New York, New York - Ryan Adams - 2001 - Gold
Every bar that I went to in the NY Metro Area after 9/11 played this song. "I'll always love you old New York..." became something of a lullaby for the last call crowd. Here is a YouTube of Adams on Letterman:

Okay, that's it for now. Come back later for the next 35 plus tracks of The 00s. I am seeing three installments here.

My Most Anticipated Movie of the Summer - The Hangover

2009-05-07T20:39:00.009-04:00

May 7th, 2009
Thursday Night 8:40 PM

Out of all of the movie trailers I have watched or articles I have read this past spring about the 2009 summer movie season, this is the one movie I am most excited about seeing On a cinematic level, The Hangover is what some movie snobs would dismiss as juvenile, but on a comedic level, it has the potential and promised to offer pure unadulterated debauchery crossed with cringe-worthy audacity. You do not see those two in the movies everyday. The movie comes from manic mind of Todd Phillips, the man who gave us the modern day comedy classic Old School. According the the movies website the synopsis is as follows:

Two days before his wedding, Doug and three friends drive to Las Vegas for a wild and memorable stag party. In fact, when the three groomsmen wake up the next morning, they can't remember a thing; nor can they find Doug. With little time to spare , the three hazy pals try to re-trace their steps and find Doug so they can get him back to Los Angeles in time to walk down the aisle.

I know it sounds a bit much on face value, but watch the trailer and tell me it does not look awesomely bad. (And I mean that is a good way.) It stars a bunch of "who are those guys" or "oh that's the guy from that chick flick" or "The Office" or "that guy I just saw at the Comedy Store". Along with those three up-and-comers, it also features my new favorite retro 80s boxer in a mind blowing cameo. Which leads me to ask: "Why is Mike Tyson haunting my every thought (and my blog for that matter) this week?"

Below is the red band trailer. Listen to Tyson crank out the Phil Collins classic "In the Air Tonight" in the background, it makes it worth the two minutes of your life you will lose.

Learning to Live on "The Invisible Speck of Dust"

2009-05-05T09:33:00.009-04:00

May 5th, 2009
Tuesday Morning 7:40 AM

Seattle

This morning, as I fought the clock and the golfball size rain pellets that drop at the heads of the good people of Seattle, I was fortunate to make it to the airport on time. While I was standing in the security line I found myself reading news on my Blackberry, which I do excessively, like I am being trapped in some Pavlovian condition/experiment. One random article about the new Mike Tyson Documentary caught my attention and in the process floored me. It went on to provide one of those ear to ear grins that I do when I read something captivating. Along with the grin, I had one of those eureka, finally moments. One of those, "why am I reading about the new Mike Tyson documentary and whoa did he just say that?", moments. The grin was provided by Tyson director James Toback in an interview with the ailing movie critic Roger Ebert. Toback was discussing Tyson's torment and the "illusion of immortality" that the famous boxer possessed during the prime of his professional life. From there Toback took the conversation to a whole new level and one that I wish more people would discuss in their day to day lives.

Look, if you have read this blog since its inception last December, then you know that my 37th and 38th year on this planet have been mostly about me coming to terms with the inevitable cycle of life and loss. Truly, I am fine with the subject. I learned to accept this aspect of life many, many years ago. In fact, it was when I was 11 and my Grandfather passed. I prepared for my own mortality both mentally and emotionally and I am better for that way of thinking. The more difficult aspect of loss, to me, is for the people that are still walking and breathing with us that, for one reason or another, choose not to share the precious moments we have left here on this rock in the cosmos. Toback summed this up perfectly in his conversation with Ebert:

"Because we say, well, yeah, but I'm not really dying because I'm going on to the next life. I don't mean just to be cute about it, but people like that need to look at the Hubble telescope photographs and say, this is where we live.

"We are in an invisible speck of dust. 'We' meaning our whole solar system but if you wanna narrow it down further, our planet, and if you wanna narrow it down further, ourselves. We are almost invisible specks of dust in this great huge, vast, expanding cosmos. And once you actually say, that is what's real, that's where we are, then you can say, well, then what purpose is there in life?

"Well, you're here so you make the best of it; you do what you can. You enjoy what you can, you create what you can and then when it's time you don't whine and you go. [Except] we're never conditioned to think that way. It's never taught. I mean, parents don't teach it, schools don't teach it, religions don't teach it. It's a kind of warped need to mythologize death into everything but what it actually is."

Exactly.

Funny how these little, meaningful quotes find you in certain times of life. Timing truly is everything. Currently, I have been struggling with not the loss via death that I dealt with over the past year, but more about the people that come in and out of the living, breathing life. The ones we know and touch and feel, not the one that we "think" we have a 50% chance of knowing where they are now. "Who knows?", I say. How presumptions of me to pretend that I know what happens. Our (my) primitive minds surely don't. The books we read, or "books" that certain folks cherish and memorize verbatim, do not provide tangible, practical answers. We are guessing folks and Toback nails this point and boils it down to the logical.

The ironic thing is that in the past two days, I have been reading on my Kindle Dr. Bart D. Ehrman's fabulous Jesus, Interrupted and I found myself viewing the most recent, startling images from the Hubble on my laptop while waiting at the airport yesterday. These two topics have always tweaked my interest and they have always made me question, "what do we really know about the historical aspects of the Western Civilization's "Great Book" and "what do we really know about the world where we live?"

Fact - We humans have only seen about 10% of the known Universe thus far. Without the Hubble that number would be a fraction of that. Think about that for a second.

Fact - The four men that allegedly "wrote" about the life of Christ have two different accounts of his birth and four different accounts of his death. They can not even agree on the town of his birth and the exact day of his death. I would think those would be two things that a historian would want to check their facts on. They can not even agree on which Kings and Leaders were in "office" at the times of those events. And why do we entrust so much into these famous words that these infamous historians wrote as, pardon the pun, as "Bible"? We just do, because its what we have been told.

So why are people so dogmatic about beliefs, why do they think they know the answers to what lives a trillion miles away or that something will happen to us after we pass? I think the appropriate answers are that people will always think what they want to believe (what they have been taught) and that we really do not know much about the Universe or about what happened or what didn't happen 2,000 plus years ago, but that we need to offer some sort of answer to keep us going.

Our human condition is about grappling with the past and traditions and finding a place on this speck of dust that is, can become, home for us (you). If the loss of this past year taught me anything, it is that our time is so minuscule that in a blink of an eye, three years goes by, and you wake up one day lucky that you are still here. Then you say - "now what am I going to do with this time and this life?" That poignant question is more for me then my readers. I sit here on the eve of my youngest daughters birthday, some times thinking I know less about myself then I did 5 years ago. Are those my experiences catching up to me? My uncertainties? Am I removing myself from traditions with each step and breath I take or am I constantly falling back into them, accepting the life I need, not the one I crave?

Luckily, the quest for answers continues.

Here is a link to Ebert's article with Toback that I mentioned. It's a good read and will make me want to see the Tyson documentary.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090503/PEOPLE/905039997/

"We Are America, We Do Not F-ing Torture"

2009-04-25T11:52:00.005-04:00

April 25th, 2009
Saturday Morning, 11:45 AM

I know am a little late to the party on this one, but being on the road and out of your element will do that to you. Plain and simple - this clip is bloody brilliant. I am not sure where you may stand on the Torture issue, personally I am against it and how it tarnishes America's image and our standing as a nation built on laws. The beauty of this clip is not that Shepard Smith is going against the grain of his party and his channel, it is not that he curses on national cable TV (who cares), it is that he makes a simple point and stands by it. There is no room for "torture is bad, but" in this debate. You can not play both sides of the fence or request to move past this because it happened many moons ago and we have to move on.

To our President, you can not request to save it for a rainy day because we have too much on our plate now. The Justice Department won't get in your way Sir. You can champion your 100 days and beyond causes while they do their job and investigate these failures of civility and prosecute those in charge and adhere to the laws Geneva Convention. As conservative David Brooks proclaimed Thursday on Charlie Rose, "It is astonishing what they've (the White House) done" in the first 100 days. Use this Political Capitol and do something astonishing on this torture issue. The far right is so lost on this issue that they have to trot out one of the least popular VP's in American history, a man that best ideas were 15 years ago and a radio host to try and fight this issue. They are even losing the Reporters on the far right flagship station, good form Shep. Happy to see someone over there has a brain and a heart, "oops".

My Favorties of "The 00's" - Movie Edition

2009-04-24T11:11:00.011-04:00

April 24th, 2009
Friday Morning, 8:15 AM

San Francisco

I am sitting at the corner of Geary and Taylor, the 500 block, having a cup of coffee writing this blog. I love this town. I love the air, the temperature, the characters, the cultures that intertwine, the architecture, the hills and most of all the griminess of the city. San Fran reminds me of New York pre-Rudy. A little beat down in sections, and blossoming in other. More then any other America city, and this includes Rudy's hometown, San Fran reminds me of the US, Europe and Asia all rolled into one. It's a joy to visit here and take it all in. It's 8:15 in the morning and already during a brisk morning walk I heard a trumpeter in the distance and watched a busker playing Dylan's "Visions of Johanna". The city is alive and so am I.

That basker did more then entertain me briefly this morning, he gave me an idea for a blog that I wanted to share. See, it's the end of the decade (already) and it's time to reflect on the 10 years that came and went. Over the course of the next 8 months I will write about my favorite movies, music and moments of "The 00's" (what else to call it?). Hopefully some of these moments in entertainment and pop culture will be new to you and you will want seek them out.

Today I will start with a combination of both music and movies. Today I will write about the best musical I watched this decade, and believe me, I am not a fan of musicals. See, this one is a little different. In this one there are no dancing bears or songs about steamboats in the south or songs about Jets and Sharks. This one is about a basker and a pianist immigrant, the music they create and the chemistry they share and it is about those moments in time that give you clarity and most importantly give you hope and the drive to push on. I start my favorite list with the movie Once (2006).

For me Once was one of those movie experiences that simply moved me. I sat there for two hour enjoying every moment and effortless word of the film. I remember the day I watched Once fondly. I remember coming out of the theater to a beautiful May day, with the sun raging as my eyes adjusted to the contrast of dark and light, I inhaled the fresh air of the city street and smiled. I left the theater knowing that the movie and its music would be with me for the rest of my life. Once was the perfect example of those great movie experiences which force you to recall the person you saw it with, the time of year it was and why you even went to that movie in the first place.

In a nutshell, Once is a little parable of friendship and chemistry and choices and music all set in present day Dublin, Ireland. It is the story of a Dublin basker and a Czech immigrant that share a piece of time together. They share their past and inspire each other to focus on the best possible future, together or alone. The centerpiece of the movie and the "gotcha" moment that hooks into you, is an organic scene at a music store. The Girl (the movie never give the main character names adding mystery to the moments) is a classically trained pianist that comes to this shop from time to time to play and practice. The shop keep likes her playing and welcomes her back with a smile. The Guy, the basker with guitar in hand, leads her in a song he recently composed. They play it together for the first time, with himself coaching her during the song and a little something happens along the way. They feel it as much as we do and the chemistry is undeniable. The moment is pure cinematic gold. It is right up there with Fred and Ginger dancing or Elliott and ET talking or Ray Kinsella and his Dad having a catch. It is a "goosebumps" moment and one that reminds you how much fun the movies can be.

That moment at the piano won them an Oscar for the song they performed, Falling Slowly.

From there we spend a week with the two characters, watching as they become friends (and maybe even more), we hear them share stories about past loves and we listen to them make a demo tape that could change both of their lives. Guy lost his love and Girl lost her love and they find each other in the love of music. For a piece of time they share something only the two of them can. It is intense and whimsical. Will it last forever? You will have to watch to find that out. The final scene/shot is one of the simplest and most rewarding I remember from the decade.

I personally shared that movie with a friend that I do not speak with anymore. One of those friendships that serve a defining purpose in life, but end up crashing and burning due to the intensity of the chemistry and external circumstances. The relationship of Guy and Girl will always remind me of my relationship with the friend that I saw Once with. Our friendship was a vessel that took us from one part of life to another, a conduit to understanding ourselves and our future. Like Guy and Girl, there was wonderful music made (those moments at the piano), there was fear and doubt, the past which clung to us and there was an ending where one was at an airport and one was looking out the window thinking about the gift that the friends gave to each other.

For me and my list, when Guy and Girl are sitting at the piano singing about “sinking boats, home and time” it became one of the defining moments in cinema from this past decade, right up there with the first time we meet Heath Ledger's Joker and his pencil trick in The Dark Knight, or the time when it seems to take 20 Boston Police Officers to hold down Sean Penn after he finds out that his daughter was murdered in Mystic River or the time we spend with Clive Owen and Julianne Moore in the car during Children of Men, or the time we see Leo and Jack lock insane eyes with the Dropkick Murphy's playing in the background of The Departed, or the time Julie Delpy attempts to seduce Ethan Hawke in her Paris apartment 10 years after Vienna in Before Sunset or the time Daniel Plainview finds oil and pretends to find God in There Will Be Blood or that time I sat in the theater thinking that “God Only Knows” would fit perfectly at the end of Love Actually and it "actually" starts right on cue. (I know Love Actually?. My only defense is that I was in a pretty severe post first baby, post 9/11 haze of fear and hope and Christmas. Couple that with British shmaltz, my favorite song of all time, and you have a movie moment for me.) But who cares, it's the movies. They are all there waiting to take us away from it all, sharing them in the communal church of pop culture & art, and the good ones force us to feel, react and live.

What are your favorite movie moment of The 00's?

Cézanne and Beyond - A Day at the Museum

2009-03-29T17:40:00.006-04:00

March 29th, 2009
Sunday Afternoon, 5:38 PM

I am not an Art critic, far from it actually. I am a casual art fan. I have taken art study classes at school many moons ago, have traveled through Europe visiting many exhibits and I have gazed in wonderment (& disgust) by the excess of art commissioned by far too many Kings and Popes. Many times that excess created artistic gold, but I have always wondered at what cost. I have walked the halls of the Vatican, during a private tour by a Restoration Specialist, going in eyes wide open and coming out amazed at the beauty and feeling alienated by the religion that would flaunt such extravagance. Still, you have to admire the vision, creativity, and sheer brilliance of the artist and it's creations.

Since the beginning of the year, I have toured two Exhibits and have had two distinctly experiences. In early January I visited Barcelona and explored the Museum dedicated to the works and mind of Pablo Picasso. In the begging of March, I visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art for an exhibit focused on the works of Paul Cézanne. Two giants of the art world and two incredibly different experience. I am not going to write a review of why one artist is better then the other or how one inspired the other. This post will be about the experience and the time, energy and care put into the exhibits themselves. One was fantastic and one was pedestrian, both were educational, but one was transcending. One is reinventing the way people experience Art in the early 21st century. That was the experience I had in March and one that has made me appreciate Cézanne above all others in his field.

March 7th was a drab and cool late winter day. My sister asked to take my children to the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia, which we live about 45 minutes away from now baring road work being done on the decaying infrastructure of one of America's oldest cities. We packed the car with the idea that we would have a couple of hours to spare between the kids being at Please Touch and a late afternoon meal. I recently read an article on the Cézanne show in the New York Times and was intrigued by the review. Plus, it had been years since I walked the halls (not the infamous steps, too touristy) of the Philly Art Museum. My wife and I decided to kill time by going back to one of the places of our first dates and enjoy the afternoon sans the little ones. It turned out to be a wise move and an afternoon I have reflected on many times since it transpired.

The Cézanne exhibit is exceptional. The experience is a stark contrast to the Picasso show I witnessed just 2 months prior. What makes the Cézanne experience so compelling is the interactive and educational nature of the show. It does this without preaching or coming across as too avant-guarde. Your tour guide comes in the form of a headset which has the Curators of the show describing the significance of each work of art and why it is being included in the exhibit. While the Picasso show in Barcelona, and many of the other shows I have walked through, consist of room after room of the same artist, this show incorporates the works with the genius of Cézanne and the artist that were inspired by him. This tactic includes international artist such as Picasso, Braque, Léger and Matisse to Giacometti, Mondrian, Morandi, Gorky, Kelly, Johns, and Marden. The Curators Joseph Rishel and Katherine Sachs, who provide the soundtrack for the show, incorporate the present day with photographs by Jeff Wall and sculptures by Francis Alÿs.
The show starts with works from Cézanne's posthumous exhibition at the Salon d'Automne in 1907. Artist such as Braque, Matisse and Picasso were so inspired by this show that they each embarked on a new journey of exploration in expression that resulted in radical movement and creativity in the Art world. Seeing these Artist render their own interpretations of Cézanne, only helps to magnify the importants and originality of such a master. It reminded me of all of those British Invasion acts as they would try desperately to topple or even stand in the same league as The Beatles. For every Rolling Stone's song that created something new, there were 10 Dave Clark Fives. Mick Jagger always knew, there was only one John Lennon and Picasso knew there was only one Master. Later in life Picasso famously stated, "Cézanne is the father of us all." This exceptional show exhibits the works of all of his children, lovingly.

Richard Dorment of the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph sums the show up much better then I could this way, "Not many exhibitions can be said to change the way you think about art, but Cézanne and Beyond at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the US is one of them. As powerful a show as you are ever likely to see, it brings together 50 paintings, watercolours and drawings by the painter from Aix-en-Provence to hang alongside the work of 18 20th-century artists who fell under his spell." Those Brits are really up on their Art, high bloody praise indeed.

For all of my readers in the Philly area or even in New York/New Jersey, take the train or drive down to Benjamin Franklin Parkway and lose yourself for a couple of hours in the majesty of greatness. You will feel rewarded and replenished all the same. The show will be playing until May 17th of this year and due to the robustness of the collection, is unlikely to tour. Catch it while you can.

After the show, take caution as the picture states, and head down to The Water Works which is a nice little restaurant right next to Boat House Row. It is the closest bar/restaurant to the Museum and is nestled right on the waters edge. There you can unwind and let the works of Cézanne sink in as you try to figure out how a river spelled Schuylkill is actually pronounced Skukill.

A Watchdog?

2009-03-20T11:20:00.003-04:00

March 20th, 2009
Friday Morning, 11:20 AM

As a follow-up to my post last week, "Who's Watching the Watchdogs", the best piece of journalism (It's ALVIE!) that I read this week comes from Matt Taibbi over at Rolling Stone online. In an article titled, The Big Takeover, Taibbi paints a disturbing picture of what truly is going on in the halls of Washington and Wall Street "while Main Street sleeps". According to Taibbi, while the American public tries to figure out "who moved our cheese", Wall Street and Washington are creating a New World Banking and Political Order. It's Orwell meets "Woodstien" reporting, thoroughly investigated, with a bitter, real-time, inauspicious tone.

As Taibbi did time and time again during the Election, he continues here to peak behind the curtain to see who is benefiting from the economics of Politics. In this story he is focusing on one of the greatest economic blunders of all-time, crystallizing for the taxpayers the parties involved and the impact their actions will have to our way of life. All the time know that we will be on the sidelines watching and financing one of the most costly, ominous power grab in American history.

I ask again:
- Why isn't the mainstream media, The NY Times, Wash Post, Wall Street Journal, providing this type of in-depth, gripping, fact-based expose?
- Why does this type of reporting have to come from a Music Magazine?

You wonder why Tim Geithner is coming under fire from the "Populist" on the left, right and Main Street this week? Read this and weep:

The Big Takeover by Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone (click to jump to the article)
The global economic crisis isn't about money - it's about power. How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution

Who's Watching the Watchdogs

2009-03-13T12:30:00.010-04:00

March 13th, 2009
Friday Morning, 11:30 AM

My first Major choice in College was Journalism. See, I grew up in the golden age of Journalism. The profession was romanticized by embedded Journalist in World Wars, dignified by Uncle Walter every night at 6:30, and canonized by two journalist that brought down the President of the United States with a tip from a guy dubbed "Deep Throat". It also helps when Hollywood has two of the best actors of the generation play "Woodstein" in one of the most riveting movies of that decade. This golden age refined the profession and validated the power of freedom of the press in our democracy. At a young age, I was impressed by the majesty of the profession and I held these journalist as nobility. And then I went to college.

I remember being in my journalism class and having daily debates around the power of figures like Marrow and "Woodstein" and the influence that local evening news holds when they literally promote "fear and death" every single night to sell advertising space. My Professor was adamant about making sure we understood the role of Journalism in the marketplace. He made sure that we focused, in classic "Woodstein" fashion, on the power of "watchdogs" and the significance of an independent view when reporting a story. I always respected him for his idealism and always knew that he generally believed in "watchdogs". But, and there is always a but, life and people are not always as black and white as the print that those Journalist stories are published in. People are complex, life is a labyrinth, and commerce comes into play for even the most noble of watchdogs. It's easy to teach nobility in a classroom setting. It's easy to banter about the "right things to do", but what happens outside of that bubble. What happens when someone's vested interest, be it financial or ideological, comes into play? I would always focus on that latter in these discussions.

See, I learned a valuable lesson at a young age from my Father. In the summer times my family used to spend a week down at the "shore". That is strictly a Philly/Jersey term and to the rest of the outside world that would simply mean "going to the beach". During these trips of sun and fun, we would go out in the evenings to go on rides on the boardwalk. I vividly remember on the way to the rides that there would be these toys and stuffed animals hanging from the ceilings of these little shacks offering for someone to play a game to win one of these toy prizes. I would hound my Father, begging him to win a toy for me. I was relentless. In the process I most likely spoiled the night for everyone involved. Each time we walked by one of these shacks my Father would say "no thanks". Fortunately my attention span waned and I found the rides and arcades and my night would be complete.

I do remember one night I would not take no for an answer and my Father caved in. He gave money to the man and and tried to get three softballs into a wicker basket. It looked simple enough. I thought it was layup for Dad. Every night we played catch and I thought he had the greatest throwing arm in the world. The Stuffed Whatever It Was would be mine, I thought. But, the three throws came and went and Dad could not get the softballs to stay in the basket. I was crushed. How could this be? If Dad couldn't do it, then how would I get the Stuffed Whatever It Was. In classic short attention span fashion I wanted to leave then and there. Dad wanted no part of that, it was lesson time. For the next fifteen minutes (for a ten year old boy that is like 15 hours) we stood there and watched the people as they tried to do get the softballs in the basket. With each toss, failure. With each toss, regardless of age, sex, race or creed, no one was winning my Stuffed Whatever It Was either. And then there was a rash of winning. After about twenty different people tried, about three people won, in a row. "Come on Dad, you have to try again." "No thanks," he said.

On the walk to the rides my Father explained to me a number of valuable lessons that I just learned. First, not everything is what it appears to be. Second, not everything is easy. Third, when money is involved, the playing field is always different. And fourth, its probably cheaper to just go to the store and buy the Stuffed Whatever It Was then stand there and try to win an rigged game. Now there may be other lessons in this parable that I am missing but, those are the ones that still stick with me the most to this day. My Father the "Watchdog" & the ball toss "down the shore" episode, has helped me more in everyday life then any other lesson.

So what does this have to do with a Journalism class that I took 15 years ago, "watchdogs" and what is going on in my world today? Well, those lessons always taught me to be mindful and to try to look at things from all sides. It taught me to believe in t he power of doubt, just as much as the power of trust. In Journalism class you had the ones that believed in the profession as not just an institution, but as an Utopian right which was draped in the fabrics of our Constitution. You had those that saw it as a means to Commerce and as a business. You had those that believe in the power of controlling the word and influencing the word and in turn, peoples worlds. Then you had people like myself, the skeptics, picking and choosing parts of each of those. And then you had our Professor who looked at this prism from all angles, constantly asking what is the role of the watchdog is in society and what that means for all of us.

In hindsight, his was another valuable lesson I took with me to the working world. A world which turned out not in Journalism. The money was bad, really bad and I didn't have the passion needed for it. Plus, I don't think I would have been a good journalist "watchdog". I could never take the "me" out of the story or edit out my opinion. That is a special trait and skill that I truly believe there are not many out there who do this today. I went on to be a Business and Political Science Major and then went on to work in the Computer field (go figure) where I take his lessons of leadership and accountability into every meeting with a customer or every conversation with one of my colleagues. To me that is what a "watchdog" is, regardless of the business.

Doubt, trust, leadership and accountability, what do these qualities have to do with "the now"? Well, I thought about these last night while I was watching TV. At 11pm last night, I watched a multi-millionaire get fleeced by a not-as-rich-guy. In a past life one was a trained Financial Trader from Philadelphia and one was a trained Stand-Up Comedian from New Jersey. Now they are both "entertainers". One sells laughs and one sells crystal ball advice. In the grey lines of "Journalism" in the 21st century, they both have news/entertainment shows. What struck me was the guy from the fake news show, was being a "watchdog" while the Trader was being attacked for poor leadership, lack of accountability and changing the rules of the game for their own benefit, just like that Softball Toss Guy. I sat there thinking "why wasn't a trained Journalist doing this?", "when did the fake news comedy show become the thought leaders in 21st century journalism?", "thank God someone is doing this, stepping up and showing leadership.", "I wonder if my College Journalism Professor is watching this and what he thinks?"

The lines between Journalism and Entertainment are obviously blurred as we stand here in the America of March 2009. I understood this all along, but last night solidified that for me. It's important to always know which corporation or entity is behind the news you are reading, to know what their political or social interest are and who those interest benefit. As "Deep Throat" said, "follow the money." My minds eye says that this will lead people even more to the Web or Social Networking for their tools and news. This on-line revolution will continue even more with the current Financial Crisis and people will demand accountability.

The Blog world evolved dramatically during the last Presidential election. People like Nate Silver and Andrew Sullivan dominated and streamlined the election news coverage last year. Sure there were the great articles done by the Washington Post on the Vice President and an "entertaining" interview Katie Couric did with Sarah Palin, but the work of the Web Reporters overshadowed the MSM by leaps and bounds. The youth of today, the 18-34 demo, obtain much more news via the web or their laptops or their iPhones. They obtain news in real-time. This is why the newspapers are dying in print form and why they will survive in web form only within 3-5 years. The "fishwrap" buyers are dying and not being replenished by the young. Game over.

With this game changer in place, the lines of Entertainment/News will continue to be blurred. It will be harder to find the independent product, but it will be there and less filtered. I for one firmly believe we will receive a better product. You will just have to "Digg" harder for it. It won't be severed up to you by Uncle Walter on the six o'clock news. It won't be spelled out for you in some Corporate Op-Ed page. It will be posted in real-time by the frontiers of an industry, embedded to your iPhone by a friends email, and talked about on Twitter or Facebook. We, will have more control and hopefully the public can tell the difference, through the blur, between the Trader who got caught "moving your cheese" yesterday and the Comedian fighting for your rights today.

Watch for yourself and give me your thoughts. I will reach out to my Professor soon about this and hopefully get his take on the situation. What do you think? Let me know your answers to some of the other questions that came to mind when we watched The Daily Show last night. Questions like:

- Does a Comedy Show count as much as the Murrow trained nightly news talking heads?
- Have we learned our lesson in all of this Finical Meltdown mess?
- Why don't Independent Analyst have their own show on CNBC?
- Have our traditional news outlet failed, while they lose millions daily and are overwhelmingly outmaneuvered by their more nimble on-line counterparts?
- Where do you get more of your news from - NY Times or your Daily Shows?
- Who's watching the "Watchdogs"?

The Kindle 2.0

2009-03-03T16:53:00.007-05:00

March 3th, 2009
Tuesday Afternoon, 4:53 PM

Last Wednesday my Kindle 2.0 came in mail. It was a gift from the Girls for my birthday earlier in the month. Between the time of the purchase and my birthday, Amazon announced, to great fanfare, that they would be shipping the 2.0 version of the product out in March. I was delighted by this news. Being in the Software field, I know first hand the benefits of using the second version of a product. My thinking is the beta period was over and now the 2.0 version should/would be ready for prime time. Don't get me wrong, I would have been just as happy with the original Kindle; I was looking forward to the experience as much as the features. The 2.0 news was merely icing on the proverbial birthday cake.

Much to my surprise, the product arrived in the mail a good 3 weeks prior to my expected date, just in time for a handful of business trips. So far, so good Amazon.

My first impressions from opening the box were that you could tell the Amazon Engineers spent some time at the Apple gadget school of design. The product is sleek offering a slim design and lighter then one would expect. To put it into context, it is much lighter then your average hardcover book; it feels more like a larger paperback in some respects. Once I plugged the power cord into the ebook, the product was on and ready for use. In the span of my first 30 minutes with the device, I was registering my account with Amazon (10 minutes tops), was browsing through recommendation of books I would prefer based on my past Amazon purchases (another 10 minutes), buying selected titles and registering for free newspapers (another 10 minutes). So far, so good Amazon.

Much to Amazon's credit, using the product and the Amazon store is easy and intuitive. I proceeded to spend the next two hours navigating through the device and the store. The keyboard is easy to use, especially if you are a blackberry user like myself and now possess superhuman thumbs. The buttons and home features make it easy to keep track of where you have been and where you are going. The Kindle Store is merely a condensed version of the store that you use and have been using for the past decade on your computer at amazon.com. All of this is made possible by free wireless being built into the device. Good form Amazon.

By far the smartest feature the Amazon has built into the Kindle is this free wireless. Imagine if you will when you first bought your first iPod many moons ago (6 years and about 72 moons for me), you plugged the device into the wall to charge up and you still had to go through the arduous task of uploading all of your CDs and files. Now imagine if you will that first iPod and imagine if that iPod had wireless access and iTunes built into the device. I understand that the iTouch and iPhone have this wireless feature now, but just imagine that power at the inception of the tool. That is why the iPhone & the App Store are so powerful currently and Apple has close to two thirds of the Mobile App business based on a recent report. Amazon wisely noted this and realized that, in Business 101 terms, the razor blades and easy access to the razor blades are as important as the razors themselves.

The next best feature of the Kindle and the Kindle Store is the "first chapter for free" option. Not only are most of the books 50% off of the list market price via the Kindle Store, but the first chapter of each book they offer online is free. When you are building up your book collection and searching through the quarter of a million options from the Store, it is good to know that you can download in seconds, store indefinitely and read at your leisure a chapter from a book you might be interested in. Now I fully understand that I can do this at my local Barnes and Noble but, do I ever? This "try and buy" feature is more reminiscent of something from a library to me. Clever Amazon, clever.

Over the course of my first week with the Kindle I purchased four books all for less then $10 each. I think the only times that I have purchased four books at one time was either the first week of every semester in college or during Christmas. Based on my normal reading appetite, I should be content with these four books for the next month or so. But, if you factor in being able to download first chapters for free and keep them on my homepage (Brendan's Kindle), I already have three other books waiting in the wings, a 2 week trial to the NY Times and some work PDFs I emailed to myself so I can read them on the plane. This only enhances the Kindle experience, and makes we want to continue to turn it on and visit the store. This way Amazon manages the distribution and enhances the personalized experience. Checkmate Amazon.

Mind you the product is not perfect; the "experimental web" access built in reminds me of my dial-up access from 1997. Not having a backlight built in, while helps with cooling the device and battery life, does take some getting used to since I have had this feature on every other device to date. Not being able to create sub-folders on my homepage would be nice, still that is nit-picking. For every "I wish it had", there are at least two "that's sweet". Don't like the "My Clipping" feature? Well how about a built in dictionary which lets you move the cursor to the word and have a real-time definition at the bottom of the page. "Oh cool." How about four different font options so you can decrease or increase the size of the font? "Double cool." You get the point. Oh by the way, the thing can read to you if you get tired of reading that big font. Bottom line - the product is solid.

So, if you are an avid reader, a gadget lover and have $350 to spend for a razor during the Great Depression 2.0 (don't forget the expense of the razor blades) then this is the next product you should pick-up and experience. As you can see from the picture of my little digital world above (my desk), there is room for the Kindle 2.0 and it fits right into the mix.

New Music Tuesday - March 3rd, 2009

2009-03-03T13:21:00.005-05:00

March 3rd, 2009
Tuesday Afternoon, 1:21 PM

It's been a busy week so far (including this past weekend) so New Music Monday has become New Music Tuesday for the time being. What can I say, it's evolving. As I type out my most recent music post, I am listening to the latest U2 album, hoping and wishing and praying to Saint Bono that it will be a grower. Sorry Rolling Stone, the jury is still out in my book, I don't hear five stars here. I would recommend to fellow U2 fans to listen to NLOTH in the intended album song cycle format; it plays much better that way.

I have some new material that I will be sharing with you over the next couple of days (i.e. Kindle 2.0 review, A Day At the Museum, etc.) as I get some peace and quite on the airplane tomorrow, so stay tuned faithful readers.

Each week I start with the most recent song downloaded to my iPod. This week that honor goes to...(click on the highlighted track to find blogs to download the song from)

Tinted Windows - "Ki nd of a Girl" from Tinted Windows
Ah, Power-Pop, oh how my untrained ear is so instantly smitten for thee. Be it The Raspberries, Badfinger, Big Star, The Knack, The Buzzcocks, Jellyfish, The La's, Matthew Sweet, or Ok Go, your big fat hooks, harmonies and three minutes of teenage love & lust, always grab me. This time around, in the form of the Tainted Windows, we have what the indie blogger community is calling a "Power-Pop Super Group". I call it my number one musical "guilty pleasure". This latest "super-group" features the singer of Hanson (ummm), the bassist and lead songwriter from Fountains of Wayne (yeah!), the drummer from Cheap Trick (awesomeness) and the guitarist from The Smashing Pumpkins (the other guy). How's the song? Not half bad. To my minds ear, has it as basically a Fountains of Wayne song sans the witty banter and pithy story telling. Still, it's Power-Pop and it clocks in at 3:13 and its about a girl and it takes me back to 1981. Good times.

The Office - "Enter Me, Exit You" from Mecca
While we are on the topic, here is another Power-Pop group that I have grown fond of over the past couple of years, The Office. As Spin described this past year, they have mastered the fine art of "handclaps and sunny harmonies". On this highlighted track they even throw in the sleigh bells for good measure proving that they are evolving in the studio. I hear some mid-90 Manic Street Preachers "Why So Sad" in this track. The Office has caught the free download bug and are offering the tracks on Sendspace. Click on the link for a listen to this song and all 10 tracks.

A.C. Newman - "Take on Me" from Sweetheart: Our Favourite Artists Sing Their Favourite Long Songs
Many of you might know A.C. as the leader of the Canadian band The New Pornographers. Back in 2004 he started to perform solo, finding an outlet between TNP releases. Four years later he has two solo albums under his belt, including this years infectious Get Guilty. This track is a cover of a-ha's classic 80s keyboard and MTV hit which mysteriously arrived via a Saint Valentine offering from Starbucks. A.C. replaces the famous keyboard chords with an acoustic guitar and slows the track down to ballad territory. The result is as fresh and inspiring as my daily Grande Vanilla Non-Fat Latte (which is a compliment, I love me some Latte).

Animal Collect ive - "Summertime Clothes" from Merriweather Post Pavilion
The music world's Conventional Wisdom has already handed Animal Collective the album of the year. I have read reviews that calls Merriweather Post Pavilion the Pet Sounds of the 21 Century and as Uncut dubbed it "one of the landmark American albums albums of the century so far". Big praise, big praise indeed. While time will tell if these critics are inline, I will have to agree that MPP is memorable, atmospheric and inventive; in other words, an analog wet dream. MPP takes me back to the first time I listened to YAZ's "Upstairs at Eric's" and Radiohead's "OK Computer" and reminds me how quickly you can get lost in a great album. I also recommend getting lost in the single "My Girls" on the iPod.

Christopher O'Riley - "Everything In Its Right Place" from True Love Waits - Christopher O'Riley Plays Radiohead
Speaking of Radiohead and music that you can lose yourself in, I offer classical pianist Chris O'Riley as meditation and with admiration. This isn't new per se, it has not been released in the past year, it was released in 2003, but I found myself listening to it at my local vinyl record store recently and was truly mesmerized by it. Hearing Radiohead stripped down to the basics of a classical piano forces you to appreciate the music, melodies and the sheer originality of the band. O'Riley, who can be heard weekly on his NPR radio show, also has paid homage to Nick Drake and the late/great Elliott Smith most recently. Rumors persist that he has a Nirvana album in the works.

Okay have to run and get back to my day job. I am going to keep the post to 5 tracks this week and might include another one of the U2 tracks after I have had a chance to digest the new material. Enjoy and be on the look out for more activity then usual on the IMNALY blog this week.

New Music Monday - February 23, 2009

2009-02-23T19:18:00.036-05:00

February 23rd, 2009
Monday Evening, 6:34 PM

One way to work through writers block is to just push through it and force the process. Another way is to create structure and events which encourage you to write something new every week. I will be starting the latter today.

As I have written about before, one of my passions is music. All shapes and sizes of music. I keep a pretty current ear to the latest and greatest out in the market. I am not the type of music fan that can listen to the same 120 songs classic rock songs over and over again. I need diversity. I guess you can say I have been the type that is constantly looking for the next great sound, song, or band, regardless of what industry or masses dictate. If I hear something or an artist that I connect with, I generally consume everything the artist has put out to date, becoming a loyal activist and pass the sounds along to family and friends.

In that vain, I plan on offering weekly Monday post about songs or artist that I am currently listening to that you might find of interest. One of the frustrating things with the Blogger format that I currently use for posting is that they do not support MP3's to be posted by its users. My goal in the not so distant future is to move IMNALY to WordPress which allows such formatting. I am targeting a March move for this option. In the meantime, I will post six songs each week, with links (click on the song) to other blogs or sites that you can go and download for your listening pleasure. Enjoy.

Each week I will start with the most recent song I downloaded on to my iPod. This week that honor goes to...

U2 - "Breathe" from No Line On The Horizon
I have heard about 5 of the tracks off of the new U2 album which is due out on March 3rd. So far my first impressions have me a bit anxious. "Get On Your Boots" is a serviceable track, in dire need of a chorus to go along with those "Pump It Up" verses. This track "Breathe" has an Unforgettable Fire vibe working for it, but it really never goes anywhere or transcends like most of the best U2 song tend to. Seek out "Magnificent" for the sweeping Bono and Edge magic as it is the best track from NLOTH that I have heard to date. Fingers crossed and order already in for the album.

Gomez - "Airstream Driver" from A New Tide
This one is what I would label as a grower. At first listen, it did not connect with me as instantly as most of the track from their 2006 underrated gem How We Operate (check out the title track & See The World for a little catching up). Since I downloaded it I can't get the title portion of the song out of my head. "Airstream Driver" is a solid start for one of my most anticipated albums of the spring. Gomez will be staring a US leg of their tour in mid-March, with stops in Philly at the TLA on the 28th and NYC at the Bowery on the 31st. It looks like I will be catching the Philly show since the NYC show is already sold out.

The Airborne Toxic Event - "Sometime Around Midnight" from The Airborne Toxic Event
This 2008 release has been the most played song on my iPod since the New Year. In the vein of U2 and those sweeping, transcending songs that I described, I offer this superbly crafted, heart-thumping/breaker from a L.A. based band. Basically the song is a story about a guy that heads to a bar with friends, sees a woman he used to know (very well) from across the room, he gets loaded and she leaves with another man. About the time the protagonist ends that portion of the story, the song goes into the next gear and it sweeps you up as you follow him though his night of dread. "Sometime Around Midnight" is a classic post-modern break-up song.

Rufus Wainwright - "Wonderful / Song For Children" from War Child Heroes
For me this is a Orch-Pop master pairing. One of my favorite singer-songwriters from the past decade (Rufus) covering one of my all-time favorite singer-songwriter, Brian Wilson, from one of my all-time favorite albums, SMiLE. Recorded for a recently release charity album, Rufus does Mr. Wilson proud by adding his own subtle touches to Brian's pocket symphony. Rumor has it that Wilson and his collaborator Van Dyke Parks (who has also collaborated with Rufus) famously wrote "Wonderful" in a sandbox placed in his living room some 40 years ago.

Lonely, Dear - "Summers" from Dear John
Dear John is the second album from the Swedish electronic rock band Lonely, Dear. Emil Svanängen leads the band and creates these lush electronic and organic themes in each of the expressions. "Summers" is my favorite off the album thus far as it incorporates a breezy warm weather vibe over a gentle, breathy lyric. Lonely, Dear recently joined Andrew Bird on tour in the States.

Andrew Bird - "Oh No" from Nobel Beast
This is by far the catchiest whistle-as-the-hook song since Peter Bjorn & John's "Young Folks". This is also by far the catchiest song to ever include the lyrics "calcium mines buried deep in your chest". Please don't let those type of lyrics scare you off. This is a first-rate indie-rock charmer. "Oh No" is currently my most played release from 2009 (according to my iPod). You won't be able to get that whistle out of you head for days, and that's a good thing.

Hope you enjoy the current selection and I look forward to having another six-pack of tracks prepared for your listening pleasure for next week.

Dreams of My Grandfather

2009-02-22T11:34:00.013-05:00

February 22nd, 2009
Sunday Morning, 11:36 AM

"The less you have to write about, the more personal and engaging the copy tends to be." Jeffrey Wells, Feb. 19th, 2009

I read this line this past week and truly wished this was the case. I have not posted in the past couple of weeks, my biggest drought to date. I have to admit, I and IMNALY have been suffering from writers block. This has been a discouraging development considering that I felt that I was on a bit of a writers roll in December and January. This is par for the course, I keep telling myself. It has been years since I have dedicated time to writing and it was bound to happen. Mr. Block was bound to rear its ugly head at some time or another.

As I dissect this recent development, I believe there are many reasons for this block. I have been consumed with trying to end up my second full quarter with my employer, Red Hat, on a decent note. My first six months at my new job have been rewarding, but in my perfectionist minds eye, those said months could have been better. There is more opportunity on the horizon, which is encouraging, and which has me hopeful that 2009 will be a solid year. Still, I have had to prioritize and work at this point has been priority number one over writing.

I have also been consumed with the bleak news of both the American and Global economy. In hindsight, I believe this is really number one on the list (I am kidding myself thinking this is not the case). To see 700,000 people losing jobs monthly and to hear the constant chatter of Bailouts and TARP and Sub Primes, it truly makes one not want to think about it and escape somewhere. As we all know, that is next to impossible at this point. The bad news is everywhere. I am hearing daily about friends or ex-colleagues that have lost or are looking for jobs. I am watching heads of states trying something/anything (is it the right thing?) to stop the bleeding. Is this a correction or is this the end of days? Depending on how much news you intake, it seems to be both.

Other recent developments in my family have had me focusing on the economy much more then I like. My sister and I are currently Executors for my Uncle's Will & Testament. This has been an arduous task for a number of different reasons and on a number of different levels. Mostly the difficulty is all due to timing, like mostly everything in life. To see an individuals monetary value diminish so quickly, at such a rapid pace, is discouraging and disheartening. To try to juggle someone's dying wishes, in this type of global climate and catastrophe (as some have called it), is just flat out improbable. Regardless of the timing of things, we have to try; it's our last chore for a person that we love.

See, most of the capital we are watching evaporate daily is tied to a legacy. It ties back to Scotland and a wee man from Paisley, outside of Glasgow. It ties to over 30 years of service to an American Institution; to the American Dream which encouraged him travel weeks across the Atlantic, with only his aspiration to cling to and lint in his pockets. It ties to the first 11 years of my life as this wonderful man lived with my family, helping to raise me, exposing me to not a Philadelphia accent at an early age, but to a Scottish brogue, watching his actions, learning his wisdom, providing me with a fundamental principles to start life.

That is what is making this so difficult for me. This exercise is providing closure on two levels, for two different times of my life. The final wishes of my Uncle will be fulfilled by the path that his father, my Grandfather, Willie Wright created. On Friday, I sold shares that my grandfather passed down to a generation before. On Friday, a part of our family's American dream transformed from potential earnings to a loss. As an American Institution's Market Cap dipped another 5 billion, part of my hardworking Grandfather's legacy left the earth, on Friday.

I am fortunate to be in such a position. It could be a lot worse, like it seems to be for so many of my fellow Americans at this time. My wife and I have a new house, good jobs, great children and a core group of support from family & friends. Still, with all of these negative vibes floating about, there are times I feel nervous about the uncertainty of the news I read. I worry about what might happen if one of us loses our jobs or is asked by our employers to work part time. Each time I do this; I take a step back and reflect to my Grandfather.

I think about how difficult it must have been for him to leave his family and journey out into the unknown at such a young age. He came to the States right before the Great Depression. He came to the States and raised a family during the Great War. In his lifetime he saw the "other" Wright Brothers' first flight and an Armstrong landing on the moon. He saw his children live a "better" life then he had. He took up golf at 60 and enjoyed it for 20 plus years. He smoked packs a day, ate pounds of cheese and butter with each meal, and enjoyed a good drink "to calm the soul". He lived an amazing life, because he was a fighter, and because he never gave up his "old world mentality" in the New World.

I think we could all use a little of that mentality right now. We need to get a little of our fight back. Kind of like that reporter on CNBC did this past Friday talking about the latest bailout. Agree with his "Rant", his politics, or not, it was good to see his emotion; it was good to see someone a little "made as hell and not going to take it anymore..." I heard a little of my Grandfather in that rant Friday. I know he would have enjoyed it. "About bloody time," he would have said. "Give them hell Pop-Pop," I say in his name now.

Ironically my Grandfather passed away 26 years ago, last Friday.

Put Your Records On

2009-02-08T22:23:00.008-05:00

February 8th, 2009
Sunday Evening, 11:31 PM

Today is my birthday. Exactly 37 years ago, at 11:31 PM, under the light of a new full moon, I came into this world. My mother and father tried for 5 years to have a baby, and after all of that effort, they had me. Not sure who the lucky one is in that equation, maybe we all are. What I do know is that today, my birthday, will be different then all of the ones before.

Today will be the first time I will celebrate my birthday without some of my best friends around. No early morning calls wishing me the best. No "Brendan!" in that deep, fake, dramatic voice calling to wish me well. No quirky, snarky warm soul offering love & hope from miles away. Not today, and maybe never again. That's why this birthday does feel different in many ways.

Time is relative "they" say. Time is what you make of it. Do I feel 37? Who knows? What does a number feel like? I know one thing, I do not feel 13 or 20. I am older(obviously) and wiser then those incarnations of Brendan James Ferry Noone. I feel older, but not that old. I feel confident and comfortable in my own skin, if that means anything. Most of all, I feel like me. But a part of me does feel like something is missing today and I guess it always will from now on.

See, in my most recent assessment, it's half-time in my life. Hopefully this is my median age. I'll take living to 74, that sounds like a good, round number. Plus, I read this really disturbing article this weekend about Ray Kurzweil an inventor and futurist. Kurzweil believes that there will be a technology rapture by the year 2045, when he says that computers will surpass humans in intelligence. This article about knocked me out of my chair and solidified my 74 hypothesis and aspiration. Hopefully I can spend the next 37 years, before the "Singularity" as Kurzweil calls it, comfortable in my own human skin. I am ready for the challenge, just not ready for the war with the computers.

See, I would rather keep things simple. I would rather let the world spin, with flips and turns and me on board for the ride, taking in the sights and sounds and giving back. I liken this simplicity to one of the birthday gifts I received to from the girls, a record. Allow me to explain.

A little over 3 years ago, during a trip to Italy to see my in-laws, my father-in-law, this great combination of, half cosmopolitan, half old-world Italian, all knowing wisdom, offered me to take anything that I would like from his 50 year old record collection. Wow. This was like winning a shopping spree at Rough Trade Records in Notting Hill, London (my favorite record store in the world). He had everything. Jazz, R&B, Rock, Disco, you name it. His selection was in English and Italian and Portuguese, representing the many places he has lived around this great wide world. And did I say he had everything.

During that shopping spree I picked up the beginning of a great record collection and I also started a rewarding hobby. Thanks to my father-in-law, I have first editions of, The Stones "Exile On Main St.", Stevie Wonder's "Songs In The Key Of Life", Sinatra's "Come Fly With Me", Otis Redding's "Dock of the Bay", Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" and the Italian version of "Meet the Beatles" called "I Favolosi Beatles". Not a bad start to my new hobby.

Since that glorious day, I have added to my collection and have been buying a couple of LP's every other month. The surprising thing is, so has the American public. Little did I know that during my own private LP reawakening, LP sales were skyrocketing. According to SoundScan, the music-sales tracking company, sales of LP's increased by 89% in 2008 compared with the previous year. This was the only segment of the entire music industry which grew in sales last year. I guess its hard to download vinyl.

See, I love the LP experience, the artwork (I have my desert island covers hanging on the walls of my home office), the grooves, the clicks, and the overall sound that vinyl provides. The music sounds fuller and in my mind the experience is complete. With an LP you tend to let the side play out as intended. This is completely different then the current iPod experience of shuffles and skip counts and playlist. All in all, the experience is not compromised; it is generally what the artist and producer slaved over and planned out in the studio.

So what does my hobby of record collecting have to do with turning 37? Good question.

It all goes back to one of the gifts my girls gave me this morning for my birthday, The Beatles LP, "Abbey Road". Vibrant, my youngest daughter, likes the cover/artwork because it reminds her of the game we play when we cross the road in New York City (even though the Fab Four are waking across a London street on the cover) and Lovable, my oldest, likes the music on side two, especially Ringo's drums in the song "The End". I am partial to the second side of the album as well since it was really the last studio album the band worked on together. I love the song vignettes, or as uber-Beatles fans call it "the medley" that Paul and John play out during the final 16 minutes of the album. Is it the best Beatles Album? No, in my mind that goes to "Revolver" (sorry Pepper's but you are just a Paul album with John trumping you in the end with "A Day in the Life").

To me "Abbey Road" is like life. The first half has some stellar moments (i.e. Come Together, Oh! Darling), but by Beatles standards, Side One on a whole is disjointed, much like the first half of ones life. Everyone has moments in early life like George Harrison's "Something", sweeping, epic journeys of love and lust and bliss. They last for periods of time, offering growth and experience, but most of the time they come crashing down like "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" right after. Hey who said life was fair? For every gratifying "Oh! Darling", there is a tragic "Octopus's Garden" (sorry Ringo). It's all about the ebb and flow of learning how to grown in ones own skin, ones own mind. To me the first half of your life is just like the first 23 minutes of "Abbey Road"; solid, but there are bigger and better things to come....

Time to get up, and flip the record over, on to Side Two.

If Side One is the first 36 years of my life, then Side Two starts today. Hopefully this first year of the rest of my life will start as strong as Harrison's "Here Comes the Sun", with its lush harmonies and plush guitars. So far, for me, 2009 has been as strong. Work is going well, my new home & our roots are becoming more firm, I have been exercising more, even taking up Yoga to help me calm down and round out my work out routine. Hopefully, my 40s will ring in with the balance and calm of "Because". Hopefully the rest of my life will play out like "the medley", that 16 minute climax, with recurring themes, short spurts of songs, finished and unfinished, about love, money and the end, just like life. Hopefully life will have, twist,turns, grooves and endless spins just like the LP.

Hopefully, the girls will buy me "Revolver" next year and I can keep working on my collection, always striving for it to be bigger and better and more complete. Just like life and the next 37.

The Kids Are Alright

2009-02-01T11:34:00.013-05:00

February 1st, 2009
Sunday Morning, 11:34 AM

I have not written about my children on IMNALY. I have mentioned them, but I have yet to dedicate a post to them. I guess the reason is because I want to protect them. It could be my fatherly parental instincts taking over telling me to leave them out of this nebulous Internet; let them write about themselves years from now. Maybe this blog and its author have been too self-indulgent to find room for them. Maybe, but I doubt that. I think I was merely waiting for the right time. Well, this week my children made me smile. This week my children made me act like a child again for about an hour. This week, as they are every week, to paraphrase Pete Townsend, the kids were alright.

I have two lovable, vibrant, young daughters. I know what you are saying, I hate it too when writers’ gloat about their children or pets, but it is the truth. How do I know this is true? Well, that is what other people tell me. So if we take into account that 60% of people lie in everyday conversation (based on a study done by UMass) then only one of my daughters is vibrant and lovable. You will just have to take me word on the other one, she is cool too. This leads us to this week’s story...

My job requires that I travel. I find myself "on the road" about two days out of the week. Most, if not all of this travel, is done in the continental United States. I don't mind traveling at all. I welcome traveling and all of its potential experiences. I welcome the lessons that new cities or towns have to offer. As Mark Twain so eloquently put it 147 years ago, "...nothing so liberalizes a man and expands the kindly instincts that nature put in him as travel and contact with many kinds of people." I go in with that type of attitude each and every time I touch down in a new destination.

See, I have a solid routine down when I travel, which is very important for me, and I enjoy the solitude that travel provides. I enjoy spending three or fours hours up in the air with a good book, great tunes, all the while collecting my thoughts. This week, unbeknownst to me, I had less solitude then I first thought. This week, thanks to Lovable and Vibrant, I had a stowaway with me on my trip to our nation's capital.

Here in the states (shout out to my international readers) there currently is an advertisement running for a major Telecom that features a "traveling father", a stuffed animal and a vibrant, lovable daughter. The gist of the ad is the "traveling father" finds the stuffed animal in his briefcase, planted by the daughter and takes pictures on his phone with the stuffed animal all throughout his travels. It's an effective advertisement. How do I know this? I actually remember which Fortune 500 company the advertisement is for. That only happens about 15% of the time for me. I would be a Market Researchers worst nightmare. I intentionally block that type of stuff out forcing them to work harder. Make me the protagonist in your story/ad and I will remember. Case in point.

My daughters love this advertisement for some reason. Vibrant, my youngest, really loves this advertisement. How do I know this? Because she laughs at this ad from the second it starts to the last frame. See, Vibrant has this great laugh. It's one of those laughs that goes all the way down to the cockles of her heart, bounces back, and fills the room. Her laugh makes Lovable and me laugh every time. Her laugh is what some would describe as infectious.

I am not 100% certain on this, but my educated guess is that Vibrant told Lovable this was a great idea and Lovable said we have to do this to Dad. Which in turn they did this past week on my trip to Washington DC. I knew something was up by the laughter that accompanied me on my way out the door the night I left. They were just a little extra excited by my departure. "Have fun" they said giggling, as I closed the door of my car. When I sneaked a peak into my bag I saw a stuffed, sky blue Hippo hidden with my luggage. Let the games begin I thought.

The next day I had a meeting in Arlington, VA which is right across the river from Washington DC. I recruited one of my colleagues who has become my work travel buddy for the better part of the past 5 months. My colleague is this wonderful Southern Gentleman who could be the friendliest person I have ever met. At first I thought it was an act, but after spending the better parts with him all of these months I now know that is not the case. He is genuinely this pleasant. In our meetings together we balance each other out nicely. My North East sensibility tends to make me very direct, small talk has its time and place, but not when it’s getting in the way of my agenda. My colleague has taught me, especially when having meetings south of the Mason-Dixon Line, that small talk is a welcomed necessity and a valuable tool. I knew, just by my colleague’s nature, that he would be the perfect wingman for my picture project with the stuffed Hippo in DC.

After a successful meeting at a rival Telecom to the one in the Advertisement that I mentioned, my colleague and I ventured over the Potomac River and headed to the majestic monuments of our nation's capital. Washington DC is a beautiful American city. From its elegant landscape to its well designed layout to its alluring attractions, DC has much to offer. Couple those qualities with the current pomp and circumstance paid to our newly elected leader during his recent inauguration, and DC had a different aura for me that day. DC felt more alive to me then it has in years. Actually, it felt like people were working again in those Halls of Justice and Monuments of Democracy. As the sunset, my colleague and I braved the sub-freezing temperatures, armed with a camera phone, a stuffed animal and a mission to make sure Vibrant and Lovable were amused.

As you can see from the photos in this blog, Hippie, as my colleague dubbed him, had an unparalleled first time in DC. (And we had a pretty good time too.) We saw it all in perfect Technicolor lighting, the White House, the Capitol Building, The Mall, Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial, with Hippie in hand, snapping away pictures. Was it foolish? Of course it was. Was it fun? Of course it was. Was it worth it? You better believe it was.

My colleague and I wrapped up our DC tour with a stop at the Irish Times, a great little dive bar that is two blocks from the Capitol. I have spent a handful of nights at that bar when my sister went to College in DC and always enjoyed myself. On one memorable night during my sister's graduation week, my Uncle Bill and I closed the bar and did the "one more round on us" thing for all the people in the bar. Man I miss that guy. I miss creating those type of memories with him.

At the Times we emailed our first DC photos of Hippie to my girls. Was it worth it? Well, you should have heard their response when I called them to get their reaction. All it took was one sound of Vibrant's laugh and Lovable telling me that how funny it was and I knew we did them proud. That day I smiled. That day in DC I created one of those memories that I used to create with Bill. That day I smiled and created a memory and it was one of those moments that will stay in my soul for years to come.

Over a Guinness, in the Times, with my Colleague and Hippie and the memories of my past and the thoughts of my future, I realized that I had a great day and that I was lucky to have great daughters. Thanks Girls, you kids are alright. I love you.

"Strategery" is Funny

2009-01-25T18:20:00.018-05:00

January 25th, 2009
Sunday Night, 6:20 PM

Yesterday I laughed. I laughed about 100 times. I laughed those hearty laughs that last in your soul for about 3 days. See, I am not really a laugh out loud type of guy. I am more a LQTM (laughing quietly to myself) fellow. Don't get me wrong, if the mood strikes, I will be hunched down, rolling on the floor like the next guy. But, that mood does not strike me very often.

I would say that there are about 6 people & things that take me from the LQTM guy to a LMAOer (Laughing my ass off). These people & things would consist of 1) Chris Rock, who I think is a genius; Chris Rock, HBO Special, me, equals an hour and a half of non-stop laughing. 2) The late, great George Carlin, who had that cringe factor (ala Larry David), as well as he was one of the smartest comedic minds of his or any generation. 3) My cousin Martin Ferry from Ireland who with that mumbled delivery, his quick wit & the lubricant of 10 beers (for both of us), always knocks me to the floor. I have literally been under the table while listening to some of his stories, searching for air down there.

The next is not a specific person, but a comedic form/genre. 4) I love prank phone calls. While I was in College, circa early 90s, the Jerky Boys revolutionized the art form and while I had Sirius, prior to them taking the guts of the thing, pre-merger with XM, Howard Stern, and his disciples, Richard & Sal truly helped that art form to evolve to the next level. There is nothing like driving down the road in your car, being driven to tears of laughter, and seeing the person in the car next to you doing the same thing. You connect, do the head nod of acknowledgment and go back into your car bubble, laughing your ass off.

Two comedy worlds collided for me last night in New York as I watched a low-brow virtuoso 5) Will Ferrell and his one-man play You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush on Broadway. W.'s Bushisms would be the 6th and final side-splitters on my list. Don't get me wrong, there could always be more and the list could always expand. For a brief moment in time Chappelle had me in stitches. Whenever I watch Eddie Murphy's Best of SNL special I lose my lunch (okay I ran out of laughing cliches). Needless to say, this is a fairly consistent list and it always includes 6.

That is what made last night's pairing such a treat. Ever since Ferrell tried on the squint and southern draw of our 43rd President, he went from funny to being on my Mt. Rushmore of Funny mantel. His 7 year run on Saturday Night Live gave us, Cowbell, Goulet, James Lipton, "lover", Neil Diamond and my personal favorite, "Get off of the shed!". If you want to see true comedic lighting in a bottle, check out his audition tape on Ferrell's Best of SNL. The beauty of the audition is that Ferrell is tanking for the first five minutes of the performance. I mean it's the bloody Titanic on stage and he knows it. Then he pulls out this "Get off the shed!" skit, which basically has him playing a mild-mannered father at a cook-out who goes ballistic in about 20 seconds while trying to get control of his children. With that display, he saves the proverbial day. For him it was perfect timing, a grand slam and it paved the way for him to become part of the comedy lexicon. For us, we received the gift of laughter from him for over the past ten years. Check out the audition on the NBC sponsored hulu.com if you can.

From SNL Ferrell went on to create some of the decade's most memorable comedic characters on film. From "Frank the Tank" in Old School to Ron Burgundy in Anchorman to Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights to Step Brothers to his biting Chazz Reinhold in Wedding Crashers ("Ma, the meatloaf"), Ferrell has been one of the most quoted actors of his generation. His performance of Buddy in Elf has become a holiday family staple. As the gullible, lovable, man-out-of-his-element Buddy, Ferrell is underrated, he is in fine Tom Hanks-esque form and he is a joy to watch in each and every scene.

So when I read in the New York Times last November that Ferrell would be coming to Broadway for the first time in January to reprise and say goodbye to one of his favorite characters, his George W., I just knew I had to pay my respects, to two of my 6 and our 43rd.

The show last night was held at the modest Cort Theater on 48th Street. The bitter sub freezing temperatures would not keep the rowdy crowd of 1,200 people in check or at bay. 30 minutes prior to the doors opening, there was a line out the door. The crowd was upbeat, energetic and by all accounts, ready to be entertained. The energy in the waiting room was filled with nervous laughter and D level actors. I think every extra or snarky neighbor from this or that sitcom was there. I was standing in line next to like the 8th guy in the credits from the show Spin City. His name is Alexander Chaplin. I just looked it up and he really was the 8th guy in the credits, according to IMDB, good guess. (By the way I am really good at that game; the "where do I know that guy from?" game. I get that stuff in about 3.2 seconds. I think it stems from being a visual learner or something.)

As we were let into the Cort, the sound system was playing a Country Music Greatest Hits of the 70s, 80s and 90s. Glen Campbell leads to Eddie Rabbit, which leads to Charlie Daniels, which leads to someone I don't know, it must have been Alabama, when in Nashville doubt always go with Alabama. Bottom line, it was a damn good mix and now I have been humming "Rhinestone Cowboys" for the past 20 plus hours. This leads me to believe that I need to find a good Country Music Essentials mix on iTunes which I can download tonight. Couple this urge with the fact that I was blown away by Garth Brooks on the HBO Inauguration Special this past weekend and I am completely stress out that I am starting to like country music. Is nothing sacred? Can I fight the impulse and keep my musical dignity? As George W. would say, "I regress".

The mix went silent, the lights went dark and George W., I mean Ferrell, came out to a standing ovation. This guy had the room in the palm of his hand and he knew it. It was like the State of the Union address Bush gave in 2002; he could say anything he wanted and the room would be his for the taking. Axis of Evil, sure, you got it, pick anyone you want. Yellowcake, let them eat it, you know they will. "Stategery", now we are talking, now we are laughing. The crowd laughed at every line for the first ten minutes. By the time that George W. was praying to the "Swiss blond-haired, white, pale skinned Jesus" much like Ricky Bobby did in Talladega Nights, we all knew this would be something special. The crowd settled in for the next hour and a half and Ferrell was in top comedic form.

I am not going to give anything away to my loyal readers. Was the show solid? Yes it was. I would say about 70% of the material was new or semi-fresh. Sure there were some relatively used lines about "The Tiger Woods Guys" who is the new President, or about Cheney or Jeb or about how he was going to let it all out now that the 20th has come and gone, but there were also some new skits about the Bush family stuck in a mining shaft in Crawford, Texas or about an afternoon George W. spent with Bigfoot, or about how one can have a heart attack in ones butt hole that had everyone LOLing. If you are open to laughing about the past 8 years, instead of crying, either way depending on your politics, and like butt hole jokes, then this is the show for you.

You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush will be playing for the next 8 weeks at the Cort. If you miss it or live outside of the NYC area, it has just been announced that the show will play on HBO some time in March for all to see. One thing to make sure is that in the beginning of the final act, raise your hand early. Ferrell gives out nicknames as George W. does to his nearest and dearest friends (i.e. Brownie). My favorite nicknames from last nights show were "Flapjacks" & "Euthanizer". Neither of those were mine. Damn you again W. Below I have posted the shows trailer from Ferrell's influential "Funny or Die" site for all of you to get a little taste of what's in store. Enjoy.

In a strange but true New York fashion, 2008 Republican candidate Mike Huckabee walked by my wife and I outside of the Cort while we were leaving the show. Huckabee was in route to the taping of his Fox News show which in turn is right up the road. He was cordial, friendly to strangers, kissing babies, shaking hands and shaking his head as he walked by. How ironic, as we leave this faux show about a real President, one of George W.'s potential successors walked under the marque and into the night headed for the place where fair and balanced news is made into bible. Only in New York I said to myself.

A Message from George W Bush from Will Ferrell

His Words, Not Mine

2009-01-24T11:54:00.003-05:00

January 24th, 2009
Saturday Morning, 11:58 AM

For my faithful readers (all 5 of you) and for ones that are finding IMNALY for the first time, I wanted to share this beautiful short film that I just watched on vimeo. Today I will be going to NYC to laugh (more on that tomorrow), and after watching this, I think I will have to take the subway or train. Pictures are worth.....

A Thousand Words from Ted Chung on Vimeo.

Yes We Will

2009-01-20T01:00:00.007-05:00

January 20th, 2009
Tuesday Morning, 1:00 AM

I knew who I was going to cast my 2008 Presidential vote for way back in January of 2007, about two full years before this exact moment. See, I was on vacation with my Uncle, whom I have written about extensively on this blog (I wonder what Sigismund Schlomo Freud would have to say about that), visiting my family and cousins in Ireland, getting a much needed mental break. When I travel overseas, which I do about twice a year thanks to my wife's family retiring to Italy, I like to get away from the computers and TVs and I like to "shut it down". Generally I take a handful of books with me and catch up on some much needed reading. The only constant from the wired world was my iPod and my music.

During that delightful trip, which was filled with great family, friends, pints, laughs and soul searching, I read then Senator Barack Obama's second book, "The Audacity of Hope". Someone gave it to me as a Christmas gift a month before and I was looking forward to the read. I watched Obama give speeches that fall and I saw him perform his day job in the Senate on CSPAN. I was drawn to his wit, his mind and the words he chose during those discussion of ideas. Prior to the fall of 2006, I watched the Junior Senator give a motivating speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention. I was moved by his request for not a "Red or Blue" but for a United America. Good stuff I thought. Finally someone was saying this out loud.

I stood up for him a month before my trip to Ireland while I was at a Christmas party in a "swing-state". I watched in awe as people and friends questioned his religious beliefs, his family background and the color of his skin. I was shocked at what I heard that night and knew that if I was going to vote for Barack Obama, I would need to support this man, his cause and my beliefs. I would also need to study this person like I studied Jefferson and Lincoln and Nixon in my Political Science classes. I would need to debate his politics, his philosophies and truly see if they matched with my thinking. Most importantly I realized that I would need to be prepared to defend this man and his principles against worse then what some uninformed voters at a Christmas party had to throw at me.

I found his book to be an enjoyable read. I learned about his family, that he had two daughters (like myself), that he was raised by his Mother and his Grandparents (my Grandfather lived with me for the first 11 years of my life), that he was a self-made man (like myself, no nepotism to feast off of) and he had exceptional education credentials (he has me beat there). I read about how he strives to work an issue from both sides of the political perspective and how he would seek out his adversaries advice. Obama came across as young (not really he is 47), energetic, with fresh new ideas, driven and damn was he a solid writer. Don't get me wrong, "The Audacity of Hope" wasn't "Ulysses", but at least it wasn't written with the acknowledgment of a ghost writer.

What surprised me the most about Obama on that trip wasn't his book, it was the fact that my European family knew about him and they knew more about him then my "swing-state" comrades from the Christmas party. Maybe it was because while I was over there a report came out in the Irish press that Obama's family tree and its roots reached back to the great Emerald Isle. His last name wasn't Kennedy mind you, but in the papers they rewrote his last name as O'Bama. Have to love that Irish wit.

My Irish family was impressed by what they saw from him to date. They also told me on that trip that they needed America back. They needed us to restore what was once great about our land, its people, our way of life and what it stood for. They wanted to "believe" in America again. The wanted to believe in the America of Clinton (Irish blood), Reagan (Irish blood) and JFK (more Irish blood then the other two combined). Most of all they wanted the America of FDR and Teddy and Lincoln and Washington. They wanted "change", even before we as Americans came to terms with what that would mean. That book, my knowledge of the man to that point and the endorsement of my Irish family, gave me the confidence I needed to go home and get involved in what I believed in. When I got home I made my first donation to the Obama campaign and started to talk to my family and friends about what I knew about the man.

I started on my Uncle first on the trip and then worked my Sister right out of the gates when I landed. See, I grew up in a family that talked politics openly. My Father and Mother would get my Sister and I involved in the discourse and educate us on due process. I didn't realize this was out of the norm until I got into a heated discussion with a then girlfriend's father over the Iran-Contra affair. Not a good move. Don't spout off without being informed. Lesson learned, time to move on and its new girlfriend time.

I turned the corner on family and friends around the same time Obama started to turn his own corner in the campaign. It was after he won Iowa and lost New Hampshire, the "Yes We Can" speech. Even after that crushing loss we (my Sister and I) were able to persuade my Mother to get behind her children and our cause. That was a big one. I mean she was right in the wheelhouse for both Hillary and McCain as far as demographics go. But to her credit, Mom saw something in her children that she had not seen for 40 plus years. She saw a desire and commitment to a candidate like she had for JFK 48 years before. She knew that this election was not about a political brand name, she saw that this was for my children, her grandchildren, their future and the idea of America. She was my case-study of one and with that win; I had the wind at my back. At least that is what I started to "believe".

From there I started to volunteer for the campaign (which I had never done before), registering voters for that before mentioned swing-state, knocking on doors to both Dem and Repub voters making sure they were registered in New Jersey, having grown men curse at me for my choice of candidate, having a woman cry to me about how she could not pay her medical bills, going to house meetings to talk to other supports, brainstorm how to turn a traditionally red county into a blue one and to remind like minded voters to vote on November 4th. This was not like watching a football game and Monday Morning Quarterbacking after a loss. This was real life. If I wanted to complain, win or lose, I was not going to sit on the sidelines again. I became part of the process. I was involved. This time I could not complain if my team didn't win. I tried and in perfect sports cliche fashion, I left it all out on the field. Funny thing is, many, MANY, people felt the same way that I did and did something/anything about it.

The score came in, my team won, the Monday Morning QBs called it a landslide. A lot happened along the way that I didn't mention, we all watched it, we saw all the plays from "That One", to Tina Fey, to "...the fundamentals of the economy are strong", to Letterman being pissed, to Rev. Wright, to Billary to "Mission Accomplished" to Trig to "The Bailout" to canceling the campaign to boring debates to rousing speeches to gracious concessions to $150,000 shopping sprees. It was all there, we watched, read and lived it for over a year (some of us for two).

But what now?

Well, if the past 2 months has been any indication, we should be in for a different type of Administration then we have become accustomed too. For the past two months our President-Elect has been acting rather Presidential. And that is a good thing. On paper he has been putting together a solid staff, much like his predecessor had 8 years before, he has been working both side of the political spectrum, like our fortieth President, Ronald Reagan did and he has been wooing the media and International press, much like our thirty-fifth President Kennedy and his wife were known to do.

But today we need more then talk and rousing speech and photo ops. As our most recent President Bush found out first hand, it is the unexpected that challenges a people and a country. Attacks on our homeland by natural or unnatural causes challenge us to the core. Attacks on our ways and means and goods and services and banking systems can leave an impact on ones legacy and it can cripple a country's collective plans for retiring into the sunset. To each man, woman and child, we have a ton of work to do and we can only do this together, because we are all in this together. We need action by the people and leadership from both sides of the political paradigm to make this work and for us to rebound. Obama can not do this alone. If McCain won he would not be able to do this alone. Red and Blue have to become the United for this to happen.

As JFK said to students at American University the summer before he was assassinated in a speech about peace, which could be applied to the divisiveness in our own country today:

So, let us not be blind to our differences--but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.

Think about that for a second. Let it sink in. Safe for diversity (check, we know the significance of today and how our American Civil War truly ends today with the swearing in of a half white, half black man), we all cherish our children's future (check, we know that with every dollar the TARP burns down that it will be our children feeling the burden of our financial sins), we are all mortal (check, time is limited, it is short, we have to act now because no one knows what tomorrow brings).

I was reading this morning that the President-Elect has an 83% approval rating before he even steps into office. Only really one place to go from there and that is down. Ask President Bush who is walking out with a 22% approval rating or lack there of, about how hard this job is. Does he care about this country? Of course he does. But how much do we care about unity in this county? What is our approval rating as a collective people? What do we stand for when the times are difficult and our funds are lower then they have been in decades and when unemployment or most importantly unemployment and forced part-time employment is over 10% and at a 20 year high? Is it the job of one person to take care of 300 million? No. We all have personal responsibility. We all have skin in this game of life. We all have a voice.

I suspect we will hear a great deal about personal responsibility today and rightfully so. I suspect we will hear for a call in service both home and aboard and in our community and in the battlefields of the Middle-East. I suspect that about 83% of us will be swept up in the significance of and or the moment. I suspect that Wednesday will come and day 99 will begin for the President and his approval rating will go down to 81% and maybe even slip to 80% by the weekend. I also suspect and have hope that something magical will happen today. I want to feel something today and I think I will. Will you?

I keep reflecting back to the night of November 4th when I saw people dancing in the streets, in New York and LA and in Chicago and in London and Paris and Sydney and Africa and I bet in Donegal, Ireland where my family lives. Think about that, there were people dancing in the streets when a President won an election. I am still amazed by that, I never saw that before. People were dancing for their children's future, dancing to believe in America again, they were dancing for the barriers that were brought down that day, dancing for diversity, dancing for hope and dreams and all dancing on this small planet, breathing that same air. And again today the world and a country, which is pretty mortal right now, will be watching. And you know what, I can't wait for what happens next, because we will show the world, like we have in the past, that when the chips are down and when the going gets tough, America can and Yes We Will, rise again.

Stop and Read the Pamphlets

2009-01-18T11:45:00.009-05:00

January 18th, 2009
Sunday Morning, 11:15

I don't believe in "Miracles". To me the word miracle is a widely overused word in our culture today. You hear it thrown around in all walks of life and at least once a week. In sports it is used obsessively as B student sportswriters try to make an event more dramatic then it truly was. "The Miracle on Ice", "That Miracle Season", "The Miracle at the Meadowland"; these terms all try to make the game bigger then sport and the writer is trying to persuade the reader into believing that some act of divinity helped to predict the outcome. I don't prescribe to that way of thinking. Don't get me wrong, it makes for a great read and a dramatic movie, but I don't buy it. It's sports, one team has to win, one team has to lose and no matter how you play it, in "sudden death" some people win and some people lose. It's the same in life. To me a miracle"happens" when preparation, opportunity and skill meet right at a perfect time. Dramatize it all you like, but its that simple.

See, I have never watched someone walk on water (outside of the movies), I have never heard some burning bush talk (movies again) and I have never seen a human fly (movies); I believe in reality. As the Prophet John Lennon once sang: "I don't believe in magic, I don't believe in bible, I don't believe in tarot, I don't believe in mantra, I don't believe in kings, I don't believe in Elvis, I don't believe in Zimmerman, I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me, Yoko and me, And that's reality." That about sums it up for me. Black and white, cut and dry, without the Hollywood ending, I don't really believe.

But something happened this week that makes one wonder. Something happened that made me think that 2009 (like I have been writing) will be a really incredible year. Something happened that never really happened before. Something happened that made me smile. One of those big grins that stays with you over days and leaves an imprint on your soul and spirit; it becomes permanent, it makes you want to breathe, exhale and push forward. See, this past Thursday, preparation, opportunity and skill met right at the perfect time.

I was in my home office working on Thursday afternoon and a friend called to see if I had the TV on. I didn't, so instead I logged on to the Web and searched for news about a plane that landed in the frigid waters of the Hudson River between my old home of New York and Hoboken, New Jersey. A world that feels a million miles away from my new home in Bucks County, PA. A world that will always be the sparkle in my eye; my world where opportunity developed my skill and it taught me about preparation.

At first, I thought the worst, I guess I always do. It is a defense mechanism that I have created which makes me prepare for the worst first and then work in reverse so I can get to the best plausible solution. I am always wrapping these scenarios in my head, preparing for the "what ifs". At first, I thought about that day in September when time stopped, I thought about what the timing of such an event would have on our country and our President-Elect and our way of life. At first I thought, oh no, I just did that trip the day before, flying into Newark from Chicago, looking at the Manhattan Skyline in wonderment as I always do, thinking about the past generations that built such an amazing temple to the modern world. At first, I let time stop.

And then, like something out of the movies, on-line I saw people standing on the wings of an airplane on the Hudson River. Do you know how improbable that is to imagine, let alone write? Then I saw the goodness of people as ferries from Hoboken and New York came to the rescue of 155 survivors on a flight headed from New York to North Carolina. I stared at hope right there on my laptop.

At that time, I exhaled, smiled and time started to move again. Think about it, we all watched something incredibly special on that day. We saw a meeting between preparation, opportunity and skill, in real-time, this time with a happy ending (great work Capt. Sully Sullenberger). I could hear the John Williams score playing in the background of my mind as the people were carried from the wings to the boats and made it "home" safe and sound.

As I wrote in my last post, I am amazed by the power of these social networking sites like Facebook. On Thursday, that site took this survivor story to a whole another level. In Facebook, as many of you know, if someone joins your personal social network, then they become your "friend". As we all know, we have various levels of friends in our walks of life. Some are best friends, some are old friends, some are people that if you spent more time with you know you would be better friends; there are friends that live down the road, across the country or around the world. Friend is one of those words in English that has various interpretations, but at its core, it means someone that you like and respect enough to tell others that "I know this person, he/she is cool and I will vouch for them."

Well one of my Facebook friends was on US Airways Flight 1549. The flight that landed in the Hudson. The flight on which EVERYONE survived. I watched the rescue of the survivors on my laptop and now I was writing in real-time with other friends as we discussed the improbability of what transpired. (Want to put the probability into perspective? According to the guys at the the Freakonomics site: "... Peter Thompson’s research found that there had been more than 150 million commercial flights since 1970 without a single water landing." That makes the odds 150 million to 1. Incredible.) A mere 15 hours after the events of Thursday afternoon, I was "chatting" via Facebook with one of the survivors of Flight 1549 on Friday morning. Amazing.

See me and this survivor are not "great friends". We know each other from work and have mutual friends that we are both better friends with. We all know the routine. Every time we have been out together, we have laughed and I have always walked away from our time together thinking this was a "cool" guy. We have actually gotten to know about each other more via Facebook and we have had some witty retorts over the past couple of months enforcing his "cool guy" status. But when I read about what this survivor did on the plane and heard other survivors name dropping him for the good deeds he did that day, this survivor went from "cool guy" to "uber cool" guy status.

And when I read the NY Times yesterday morning and saw that the first two paragraphs dedicated to his actions on that Thursday afternoon, this survivor when from "uber cool guy" to having Dave Grohl sing in my head every time I think of him now, "...There goes my hero, Watch him as he goes, There goes my hero, He's ordinary."

The beauty of this survivors heroic action supports my "miracle" definition. See he was sitting in the exit row and he had the responsibility of taking action if something drastic should happened. Most of us have sat in this row before. Most of us have been asked the questions "if we want to assume the responsibility", and to make sure we "read the pamphlet" about what one should do in case of an emergency. Well guess what, here is the person that actually did that! As the flight was descending, he pulled out the pamphlet, read it and applied the logic behind why the damn thing was even there in the first place, supporting the those 150 million and 1 odds as well. According to eyewitness reports, the said survivor opened the exit hatch, helped woman and children off the plane and most importantly, did it calmly. Someone cue up Mr. Grohl again.

As you have read from my post in December, most of my 2008 was shrouded around death; life ending, hopelessness, the inevitable. But on January 16th, I spoke to the antithesis of hopelessness, I chatted with someone who "cheated" the darkness, I read the word of a vibrant being that you just knew was going to have a phenomenal 2009. In hindsight, I think that is what I wrote to him. "You are going to have a great 2009." That and "hug your kids and hug your wife" and to read all the positive "comments" that friends and family wrote on your Facebook page. He responded back saying that he was going to do just that and he said "thanks for adding some humor during a crazy time."

While reading those simple words, I exhaled, smiled and 2009 started to move again; from out of the darkness of the end of 2008 to the hope and the improbable dreams of "The Miracles on the Hudson" and "That Miracles Season" & potential "Miracle in Glendale" (GO EAGLES!). Who knows, maybe I am wrong and all I need to do is read the next pamphlet someone hands to me and tells me to read, maybe the signs are all around and I just have not been looking.

Thanks Josh (man on the cell phone in the picture above) for making me want to read the pamphlets again...

NY Times
After Splash, Nerves, Heroics and Comedy

By MICHAEL WILSON and RUSS BUETTNER

Published: January 16, 2009

Some passengers screamed, others tucked their heads between their knees, and several prayed over and over, “Lord, forgive me for my sins.” But a man named Josh who was sitting in the exit row did exactly what everyone is supposed to but few ever do: He pulled out the safety card and read the instructions on how to open the exit door.

US Airways Flight 1549 smacked the Hudson River the way a speedboat lands after jumping over a wake — with a thud that rattled teeth and nerves and stunned the cabin silent. It was as if everyone was waiting for someone else to shout in pain, and no one did.

Then Josh stood up. “Someone tried to pull the door in,” another passenger recalled, “and he said, ‘No, you’ve got to throw it out.’ He twisted it and threw it out.’ ”

Thus began some of the most harrowing minutes of what Gov. David A. Paterson described as the Miracle on the Hudson.

Sometime Around Midnight

2009-01-11T10:51:00.017-05:00

January 11th, 2009
Sunday Morning, 10:51

It's been over a week since my last post, sorry for that, I needed to let 2009 sink into my bones, work its way through and become reality.

I rang in New Year 09 in Barcelona, Spain, with family and new friends, at a hip little restaurant called Taxidermista (translation: The Taxidermist, I guess I needed to freeze 08, stuff it and put it on the shelf or wall). Sometime around midnight, with the bang of a gong from the restaurant owner, that arbitrary date, January 1st, washed over me and began a new chapter in my life. I subscribe to the Gregorian calendar and its random dates, (do I really have a choice?), but this time I let the lunar cycle take hold and I absorbed its significant meaning. I had a very challenging 2008. It was the type of year which makes one think about the choices they have made, their mortality and it made me think long and hard about what I want to do with the rest of my perceived time here.

This post isn't going to give any answers to that last statement, this post is simply here to get you up to speed on my current wave of thinking. I will be writing about that last paragraph through out the course of the year I suspect. Most importantly, I believe for the first time in years, I have made concrete choices, have chosen a path and I am prepared for all that follows. 2009 is about taking control, understanding there will be landmines and pratfalls, but knowing, that if I focus, I can preserver. (At least that is what I am telling myself today....)

Today, today is about the future and tools that will help me get there. I was inspired by some end of the year articles I recently read. I wanted to write about the tools on the web that I use everyday, the applications and the gadgets that help to make my life easier. I thought about this more profoundly once I landed back home from my trip to Barcelona. I didn't have my laptop with me for that trip, the hotel had a tech cafe and if I wanted to stay connected or make a post, I could. I was on a fraction of the time I normally would be, not constantly wired. What impressed me the most once I returned home, was that in about the span of 30 minutes, I was up to speed on everything I missed for five days. I mean everything; where the TARP stands, how the market is still red, what movies are worth seeing that came out while I was away, what friends did for New Years, how friends felt, what tech gadgets I didn't receive for Christmas that I should add to the list, what were the top 25 songs of the year, how my Eagles were preparing for the first round of the playoffs, what was funny and what was not and what I missed during the New Years Rocking Eve. That was a powerful revelation.

So I will share with you today the tools, sites and gadgets I use every day that keep me in the loop and prepared. The list expands almost daily. Some tools come off and some come on the list. During the time of recession and depression talk, its great to see and read about the impact the true innovators are having everyday. America is rebranding and rethinking and will be forced to get smarter, smaller, faster. The Europeans I met in Spain still want us to innovate and invigorate and they want us to share our culture (just not force it in their faces).

Hunker down for 09, save more then you spend, look for the tools that will help you become more efficient, for life, work & play.

Here are B's top gadgets/sites for 09:

Gadgets (nothing earth shattering here):

1. iPod - This has to be my favorite gadget of the decade, and outside of the automobile, the most important to me. I remember a conversation I had with my brother-in-law early in the decade when he told me how great the product was (we bounce these type of things off of each other all the time) and said I didn't like the sounds quality of Mp3s and that I would stick with CDs. This might be the most idiotic comment I have made in my entire life. This tool goes with me everywhere, mainly for music and TV shows, always on the road for travel and at the gym for work outs and in the car for blasting the soundtrack of MY life. I have about 4,000 tracks on it to date and each time I turn it on, it's a joy and a new experience. There have been business trips I have taken where I forgot the iPod back home and I can tell you that the trip was not as satisfying as one I had the week before with it. The iPod just keeps on giving and the Apple Engineers just keep on adding. The new Genius feature is a blast, factor in the Nike Sport option and the evolution continues.

2. GPS - My GPS is embedded into my car; I call her Fraulin since I have a German car. Fraulin is around the 6th most important woman in my life. If you are driving everyday without a GPS run out and get one now. I have not been lost in 5 years. Do you have any idea how efficient that is? When I am trying to get somewhere I just ask someone for the address (or look it up on the web) and Fraulin gets me there faster then anyone ever would. She gets me there via major roads and highways, she tells me how long it will take and she does it with colorful pictures. You can tell a non-GPS user in a second. It generally happens when I ask for the address and they start to give me directions or start to spout out landmarks or those damn route numbers that I never pay attention to. I cut them off politely, and tell them I just need the address. 9 times out of 10 they continue with landmarks and I say every time, "I have a GPS, those things don't matter to me anymore..." And did I say I am always on-time.

3. Laptops - I have two laptops now. A Dell Latitude D430 which weighs like 2 lbs. I call this my Microsoft computer and a Thinkpad x61 which weighs a a couple lbs. more and this is for work. Both are great to travel with and get they both get the job done. Side note: There really is no reason to have a PC anymore, unless you are doing computer graphics and work for Pixar or something. They take up too much space, they are out of date the second you buy them, and they are not portable in a portable world. Buy a pimped out laptop, a My Passport, some good speakers and enjoy the ride. The interesting thing about my new laptop from work is that since I work for an Open Source company (Red Hat), it has "freeware" or Open Source programs on it. Not one Microsoft app or paid proprietary software runs on this laptop. At first, I thought this would be an issue, since I have used Outlook and MS Office since the first days that I have used a PC, but you would be surprised how much quality "freeware" is out there and how much it has not impacted my working ability. Its made it easier. Most of you use FireFox for your browser and or ThunderBird or Gmail for mail now or use free apps on your iPhone or download free MP3s. Think about it, you have been doing it since Napster, give it a try. Gates can't be happy.

Sites: As you see on the left column of my blog, I have posted my favorite everyday reads and blogs. These are sites I check multiple times a day either from my laptop or blackberry (sorry no iPhone yet. I support my customer Verizon and will wait for the product to get on their network, they helped pay for my house, it's the least I can do) and these are sites I can not life without in no particular order....

1. hollywood-elsewhere.com - Jeffrey Wells is the writer and mastermind behind this utterly enjoyable daily read. Jeff is what one would call a Hollywood insider; he has been writing about the industry for over 30 years, he has worked for all of the major MSM pubs and he has been writing an online column for the past 10 years (that's like 70 years in tech years). Jeff brings an East Coast sensibility to the madness of Hollywood (he grew up in and around the areas of Westfield, NJ), he rants in a stream-of-consciousness manner like myself, writes about his likes, dislikes, loves, lost loves, his children, politics (really coming out of his shell this year with the election), takes some killer photos, and speaks in a man-against-the-machine voice that makes you want to root for him. When he gets behind a film (i.e. Che this year or Zodiac or Once last year) you want to join forces with him, run out, see it and tell your world of friends just how amazing the experience was. In my mind, Jeff belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of Internet Bloggers.

2. andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/ - Andrew Sullivan has one of the best political minds on the planet IMHO. He is a Brit who came to the the States via a Fellowship to Harvard. Like Wells, he has been part of the MSM for the better part of the past 25 years. He started blogging early in the game, around the year 2000. He is a Conservative who backed the Iraq war and our right to protect ourselves. He was one of the first Conservative writers to call out the Bush Administration on the torture techniques used during the war and he was one of the first Conservatives this past year to support President-elect Barack Obama (way back in the early Spring.) He updates his blog at least 20 times a day, offering a view from both sides of the discussion. For someone born outside of this country, I am amazed at how much he loves this country and how much he wants us to strive towards being the best we can be. Catch him on TV if you can (Hardball, Real-Time, CNN). I would hate to go toe to toe with him. Fierce and wise, he always wins the argument. Plus, the British accent helps....

3. facebook.com - Facebook is a drug. I can not think of an another analogy for this thing. For the past 3 months, I have been going to this site at least 30 times a day. Right next to my gmail account (thanks Google for making email easier and more flexible), Facebook is one of my first stops when I port up my laptop or log into my phone (love the Facebook app for my Blackberry). Facebook has become a verb in our culture, officially replacing Tivoed. I go there each day to see what friends are up to, to get a sense of their mood, look for something witty they might have said, get well wishes from family members, connect with a long lost friend from High School or College, express my moods or feelings for the day, share pictures in real-time, talk trash and just be. If you are not on this thing, you should consider it and make it happen. Once you get the hang of it, you will be hooked and you will thank me you did.

4. hypem.com - The Hype Machine is the present and future of the music business. As one blogger wrote this past week, it is what MSM's Rolling Stone was for the music business in the 1960s/70s. You will get no arguments here to that claim. The model is a smart and simple one (like all successful blogs). One day Hype Machine creator Anthony Volodkin wanted to create a site that would compile all of his favorite music blogs into one portal. A "one-stop shopping" of postings from thousands of MP3 blogs around the world, if you will. Since 2005, The Hype Machine has been the pulse of what's new and hot in the blogger rock/rap community. How does it work? It's easy. Didn't I just say that? Go to the main site, type in the song or artist which you would like to search for in the search blog field, and wait for Volodkin's magic to happen. Within seconds you will see search results from around the world. From there you can read the blog on which that song appears, play the song (download if you like) and find a series of songs from that respective blog and artist. This past week THM unveiled the Music Blog Zeitgeist for 2008, it's like an end of the year Billboard list for the 21st century, dynamic, not static. The top artist on the Zeitgeist list was MGMT. You don't know who MGMT is? You probably will read about them then via Billboards or Rolling Stone in 2009...

That's all I have for this Sunday Morning. I will be sharing more sites and gadgets over the year (my birthday is in February and I would love to get my hands on the Kindle, hint, hint....) with you all. Happy reading and go Eagles.

The Collaboration of Love

2008-12-31T13:25:00.004-05:00

December 31, 2008

7:30 PM - Spanish time.

Hello all from Spain. 2008 is almost through; thank the gods, as a friend of mine would say. I am writing from the SOHO Hotel in Barcelona with about 4 and a half hours left before we ring in 2009, Spanish style. It should be a great night. Before I head out and wrap up my December post for the IMNALY blog, I wanted to send out the eulogy that my sister Roseanne and I presented for my Uncle on Monday night. I was going to wait until I got back from my trip, but my gmail was flooded with request for a copy so I thought this would be the best forum in the short term.

Enjoy your New Years Eve, be safe and be well. Thanks to all for your continued support through this difficult time. Your words and warm wishes will stay with me forever.

Feliz Año Nuevo

-----------------

The Collaboration of Love

12/28/2008

By Brendan Noone & Roseanne Noone

(Brendan’s Portion)

Good evening everyone.

On behalf of my Mother Anne, my sister Roseanne, her husband Jim, my wife Alex and our daughters Emily & Julia, I thank each and every one of you for being here with us today to celebrate the life of my dear Uncle, Father William Andrew Wright.

I personally would like to take this time, on behalf of my family, to thank the good people of St. Bernadette’s parish. For the better part of the past 25 years this parish and its loving community have embraced my family as one of its own. You have never questioned us or our presence even when we received front row treatment at certain masses; you have only welcomed us and have made us a part of your flock.

I was married in this great church, as was my sister, just a little over a month ago, by the man that we celebrate here today. My Uncle always told me that I was an honorary member of his Parish and thanks to the kindness and support of the great people of Drexel Hill, I feel like one of you today. You will never know how much my Uncle (and we his family) love this community for that.

Love - A little word that means so very much.

Love – Jesus of Nazareth, Mahatma Gandhi, Rose Ferry Wright traveling across the Atlantic with 20 dollars and a dream, a 4 year olds smile on Christmas morning, the kind of love that the prophets’ Paul & John wrote of.

The kind of Love that fills up this room - with that smile, those warm eyes and a story; a hug, a blessing, a grab of an arm, a smile again and a laugh, that laugh which would fill up this church, the endless stream of sacred heart badges, the three Hail Mary’s, a tale about Ireland, or Rome or whichever traveled land reflected that specific moment; a prayer for a sick family member, a son off to college, an anniversary, a job lost, or a father passed away. A hug again, a kiss and a blessing. Then poof, he was off. On to another person, another soul needing to be saved, another friend in need of advice, another family requesting his time for a wedding or a funeral or a 50^th anniversary; always tending to his flock, to his people, to his friends, with LOVE.

See I was here for many of these conversations, waiting in the wings for my Uncle after a mass, watching as he cared for all of you. Watching as he loved all of you for 25 years of his life and how you loved right back.

We would be walking down, right here, on Wright Way, to the Rectory, and he would tell me about some outfit he dressed up in for Halloween, a bright student, a kind Parish member or how he was looking forward to our dinner tonight and I knew that I would have 5 minutes alone with him to say hi and to talk. Then, it was back to the vocation. There weren’t many places to hide. He always had to be on.

I would ask him if he would be “wearing his Superman suit tonight.” He would say no, “civies tonight”….he needed a break and wanted to relax with his family. And we would go out and have one of those infamous 6 hour meals and talk and laugh and there would be the tales of Ireland and Rome or whichever traveled land reflected that specific moment. He was always on.

See when I was little, when I was young, William Andrew Wright was an Uncle to me first and a Priest second, I always wanted him as Clark Kent, incognito, not wearing the Superman suit, “the collar” as he would sometimes call it, while we were out. That way I knew I did not have to share him with everyone else. That way he could be mine.

As I got older, those feelings never really changed. I could never get enough of my Uncle Bill and his stories and the memories that he helped to create for me.

I always respected Superman and how he would try to save humanity, but I guess I always wanted Clark Kent to talk to; to have a glass of wine with and plan the next trip with and tell him I was getting married and that I wanted his blessing and that Alex and I were having a baby and we wanted him to baptize her and that he was a “Great Uncle” and that we just wanted to spend some time with him, so we could tell him that we loved him.

As I look back at my life with Father William Wright in it, I now realize just how very lucky my sister and I truly are. He brought so many wonderful people into our lives. He exposed us to so many new places and things. I know my Mother Anne and my late Father Jim would not object to me saying this, but Rose and I really had THREE Parents: A Mom, a Dad and A Father.

But as my Uncle, Father William Wright knew all too well; you can not have every thing you want. You have to sacrifice. You have to do unto others first, before you think for yourself. Selfishness is not a word you should strive towards; sacrifice is the road less traveled, and it is the more rewarding one.

I now know he wore those civies when we went out, for me. He would spend an hour after a mass or a wedding, talking to his people, not because he was “the Pastor” or for his vanities sake, but because he knew he could touch someone’s spirit, connect with them and maybe bring them back into the flock.

He sacrificed his time and energy for us. He LOVED all of us. As the prophets Paul & John wrote, “…and in The End, the LOVE you take is equal to the LOVE you make….”

(Rosie Portion)

One particular story of sacrifice that my Uncle often spoke of, which became his life motto, and the topic of many of his sermons, is the story of the Amish farmers devotion to GOD, FAMILY, WORK, and PLAY. Chances are most all of you here today are familiar with this phrase because my uncle shared it with you. He had first heard this phrase when visiting me at Catholic University back in the 1990’s. He wrote down the words at that time, and began to reflect on its meaning. He explained to me the importance of keeping God and faith as the top priority in life, followed by family, work, and then play.

Uncle Bill, known to most as Father Wright, lived this motto wholly and completely. He always placed his belief in God, faith, and his prayer life at the center of everything. His devotion to faith began as a child, when, at 8 years old, he had the epiphany that the priesthood was calling. Not too long after that, he began to attend daily Mass at Most Blessed Sacrament Church in Southwest Philadelphia, and at 18 years old, he entered St. Charles Seminary where he spent ten years in study. He was ordained on May 22, 1965. For the last 43 ½ years, he never missed an opportunity to spread the message of God’s love through his words, deeds, and example.

Keeping with his motto, the next priority in his life was family. The beauty of my Uncle was that his kindness, his compassion, extended beyond our family to the larger community that he lived in and lead. Although we had a private view into his world, his public and personal personas were one in the same. The man, who was our Uncle, is the same man who was your pastor. He treated everyone he met like family, and indeed, St. Bernadette’s Church community was family to him as well.

Uncle Bill also was blessed by friends who were his chosen family. So many people called him friend; we wish to acknowledge a few today that we know well through him. We want to acknowledge Monsignor Richard Powers, Fr. James Donlon, and Fr. Alan Okon, who among other brother priests, have provided mentoring, friendship, and spiritual guidance. Thank you especially, to Fr. Dominic Tran, for his unwavering support to our Uncle, and to St. Bernadette’s Parish, and Deacon Frank Burke, in assisting the Church community, particularly during my uncle’s absence . We also want to remember, Helen Kraus, who was his right hand, his confidante for the last 20 years and his dear friend and sexton, Bill Casper. Finally, we want to thank Regina Rubbo, a caregiver and friend to our Uncle who especially aided him through his illness and struggle over the last 8 months.

The final two components of Uncle Bill’s motto – that of work and play, complete the fuller picture of the man he was. His work was directly in line with his faith and God, and so in many ways, the two were one. The final piece, that of play, speaks to the humorous and childlike part of our Uncle that made him so special and so unique.

Uncle Bill had many interests outside of his official priestly duties. He had a love of travel, as my brother mentioned earlier, and he had the privilege to visit many places around the globe. His love of travel took him 27 times to Ireland, numerous visits to Scotland, and California, where our relatives live, thus keeping the bonds of family alive. Evidence of this is here with us today, as eight of our family members are here from Ireland. Your presence here means so much to us.

From travel, another hobby, his love of photography, took hold. He was a gifted amateur photographer, and the walls of the rectory and the homes of his friends and family, are colored with the many photos he breathed life into.

Uncle Bill’s greatest talent, I believe, was that of humorist. He could tell a joke better than anyone, no offense Father Donlon. He looked forward to every March 17^th so that he could dress up like an Irish leprechaun, or to Halloween when he could become a clown for the day. These kinds of actions brought great joy to the children at school, to his co-workers, parishioners, and friends. Uncle Bill loved to play, he lived to play, and exuded a wonderment that allowed the rest of us to feel less stressed, more joyful, and at ease in his presence.

Many of us here today are in grief, wishing that Father Wright, Uncle Bill, could be with us again, telling us a joke, or a simple story. Let us look back on all of the cherished memories as comfort, knowing that God had a larger plan for the little boy who survived polio, and we are the beneficiaries of this plan. Thank you Father Wright, thank you Uncle Bill for the memories and for your love…we will carry them with us forever.

The Best of What's Around - 2008

2008-12-30T07:39:00.003-05:00

December 30th, 2008
Tuesday Morning - 7:30 AM

Now for something completely different....

When I started this blog I promised that I would discuss - family, the arts and anything that came to my mind on that specific day. Due to circumstances outside of my control, this blog has had a much more auspicious beginning then I would have imagined. Things happen, life comes and life goes, and some times it makes you stop, take a breath, regroup and focus. Deaths unforgiving touch can play with many a mans mind and emotions. Hence, why "I May Not Always Love You" started off on a darker path.

Well, I am here to try and change all of that. In about 11 hours I am boarding a plane in Newark heading for Barcelona, to celebrate my wife's 40th Birthday and to ring in the New Year with style. Taking the red eye, first class, with my new Bose headphones, my iPod and this new end of the year collection of my favorite songs from 2008. See, every year I put together a little year end mix for family and friends. These tracks probably aren't the best song of the past year, but for me they are the tracks that resonated the most with me. They represent a certain time, or taste, or touch, or moment that stuck with me all through out the year.

So from me to you, here is my annual "The Best of What's Around - 2008" song list for you to download and share. Happy New Years everyone, let's make it better then the last.

Tracks:
1) You Can Do Better Then Me - Death Cab For Cutie
2) Sequestered In Memphis - The Hold Steady
3) Don't Hear A Single - The Major Labels
4) The World We Live In - The Killers
5) Viva La Vida - Coldplay
6) American Boy (featuring Kanye West) - Estelle
7) I Kissed a Girl - Katy Perry
8) The Weight of Her - Butch Walker
9) Without You - The Feeling
10) White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes
11) On Your Birthday - Jim Boggia
12) Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? - She & Him
13) Great DJ - The Ting Tings
14) Beautiful Beat - Nada Surf
15) Crack the Shutters - Snow Patrol
16) Sex On Fire - Kings of Leon
17) Something Is Not Right With Me - Cold War Kids
18) Wilco The Song - Wilco
19) Heaven - The Swimmers
20) Free Coffee - Ben Folds
21) How the Day Sounds - Greg Laswell
22) Make You Feel My Love - ADELE
23) Yes We Can - will.i.am

A Song for Dad

2008-12-28T21:21:00.000-05:00

December 28th, 2008
Evening - 9:15 PM

Tuesday we bury my Uncle, William Wright. I would like to take this time to honor one of his friends that could not be with us here today, my father James Patrick Noone. On June 5th of this past year my father past the mortal coil that he inhabited for close to 67 years. On June 12th I presented this labor of love to the people that joined us in Drexel Hill, PA for the celebration of his life. I feel confident enough to say that I did him proud that day.

I will be presenting my second eulogy in 6 months for one of my greatest friends and mentors tomorrow. Thank you all for your support and well wishes for me and my family; it means a great deal. As a reflection to the year that was, and in preparation for another emotional "prayer of life", I present to you, my fathers eulogy. All I ask is for Big Jim to watch over me and provide me the strength I will need to make it through tomorrow.

The Photo: The last we have together as a family. Taken on May 31st, 2008 at the Capitol Grille in Philadelphia, PA (from left to right clockwise: James Noone, Alex Noone, Brendan Noone, Jim Muscarella, Roseanne Noone Muscarella, William Wright and Anne Noone).

-------------------

A Song for Dad 6/11/2008

by Brendan Noone

Good morning everyone. On behalf of my Mother Anne, my sister Roseanne, my wife Alex, our daughters Emily & Julia, my future brother-in-law Jim, my father’s sisters, Fran, Annette, Marge & Mary Jo and my beloved Uncle Bill, I thank each and every one of you for being here with us today to celebrate the life of my father.

James Patrick Noone was born on August 18^th, 1941, the first and only son of Irish immigrants Dominic and Mary. He was born 4 months before the “date that lived in Infamy”; he was born between the “Greatest Generation” and the “Baby Boomers”; he was a War-baby, even before there was a World War II. He was born in the middle of the last century of the millennium, the middle boy of four sisters and even the house he grew up in was located in the middle of 56^th Street in Southwest Philadelphia. He was a first generation American with one foot firmly placed in the city of our Independence and another in the home of his parents, Mayo, Ireland. He was named after his father’s brother, Jimmy.

Jim grew up in a vibrant household. By the late 1940’s 56^th Street was like Little Ireland. Teams of Irish flooded the North East of America in search of Freedom, Work, Happiness, as well as, Equality. His parents met here in America, not in Mayo. They created a little piece of Ireland in America as their foundation. My Dad’s father Dominic worked at the Oil Refinery for Atlantic for 47 years and his Mother Mary raise Jim, Fran, Annette, Marge and even his cousin Mary Jo (who Dad always called his sister). Oh yeah, there was one other person that lived in that Row-home, the first true character in my fathers life, Mary Jo’s father, my Dad’s beloved Uncle Steve.

See when you grow up in the middle of a family, of a block, of a century, you need to view things differently; you need to look at life from a certain perspective. You need to see things from all angles; you need to become a good listener; speak when spoken to and you better make sure that when you do speak, that it actually means something.

When you grow up in a house full of woman, you need perspective and most importantly you need to learn basic survival skills. You just can’t go running down the streets of Little Ireland screaming “its here, its here, its here…..” Dad wisely assessed the situation and realized that in order to survive Uncle Steve would need to become his Best Friend (which Steve Murphy was for nearly 30 years).

From what I heard, Mary ran a tight ship. The smell of food was constant in the household. Dominic and Steve worked shifts and their shifts changed from week to week, Mary had to be prepared to feed and take care of her little Army at all hours of the day. My father would fondly talk about what a warm home his parents and sisters created for him. He was always loved.He would talk to me about the sheer volume of kids there were to play with on the block, all the dinners they had at the house, all of the Irish people that would come in and out and most influential on my Dad, all of the music they would sing. According to Dad’s memories, the late 1940s and the 1950s were a great time to grow up in the middle.

47 years to the day that my father was admitted into the hospital this past week, June 3^rd 1961, Jim Noone went out on his very first date with Anne Wright of Frasier Street. They went bowling and played mini-golf. My father’s sister Fran had a hand in the pairing; always telling my Dad “you should take out that nice girl, Annie Wright.” See Fran was good friends and classmates with Annie’s older brother Billy Wright and they both thought highly of the others siblings. Why not? Jimmy thought. Plus at that time my father suffered a terrible baseball injury, running into the outfield wall and breaking his jaw. His mouth was wired shut. Annie was safe and Jimmy needed the morale booster. The first date went well. It must have, for the second date Jim took Annie to see Alfred Hitchcock’s romantic comedy, Psycho. That little devil; he must have though - “if I can’t get a hug tonight, then I never will.”

Hitchcock led to trips to the “shore” and trips to the “shore” lead to getting to know the family and being made fun of by Uncle Steve; “Queen Anne” was her nickname, but that’s OK Dad said: “That means he likes you”. 5 years later, the two wed and Jim had a new best friend for life.

During this time my father started to shuffle his feet. One foot became planted in Fox Chase (where Anne and Jim had their first apartment together) and the other in Delaware County (where his parents and most of his family moved to). Jim and Anne moved to follow Dad’s career and his interest. Dad’s intense love for history led him to look into working for the Gov

ernment and the State department.

In 1971 they moved to the North East and found a new roommate, Mom’s Father William Wright. The respect and love for family that Dominic displayed in helping Uncle Steve during a time of loss was revisited when Anne and Jim offered to have Willie Wright move in with them after Rose Ferry Wright passed away that February. A year later and after close to five years of trying to have children, Anne and Jim had another new roommate, (ME) Brendan James Ferry Noone.

I had a wonderful childhood. I remember laughing and singing and rides in that great big yellow Ford LTD visiting Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop and having a 70 something chain-smoking, golf-loving Scotsman, Pop-Pop Wright as a Nanny for the first 10 years of my life. How do you top that? Most of all I remember my Dad being there every step of the way. Playing with me all the time, telling me elaborate stories (like how his car could fly but the electrical wires above the road would never let him get a clear take off) and sharing with me his love for sports, history and music.

See I always thought my Dad would have made a wonderful history teacher; being his first student and all I should know. He truly missed his calling. In hindsight, Dad’s professional life just never found the footing that his personal life did. My father never made a six fig

ure salary, he never drove a fancy European car, and he never belonged to a Country Club. My Father found comfort in other things. I always thought he spent his time in 3 different worlds:

THE PAST: Where he would escape into the Civil War, 18^th Century Ireland or 56^th St.

THE MOMENT: Where he was focused on Annie and the kids and the day to day.

THE FUTURE: He was always reading books on Science, things like String Theory or the Big Bang. He always had that sense of wonderment.

It all goes back to that perspective he taught himself all those many moons ago; how to always look at things objectively, starting at the middle, then from all sides and then make sure that before he opened his mouth to speak about something, that he knew the fact. His books and the knowledge within them helped my Dad overcome his fears and insecurities; it gave him confidence and offered escape.

Being his first student I wanted to share with you some moments my Dad shared with me that I think about everyday and things I am thankful for:

I am thankful that Jim loved my Mother so much.

That he gave me a baby sister when I asked for one.

That he taught me how to throw a baseball and as important, how to catch one.

That he kept me out of school and took me to the Phillies World Series parade in 1980 (even though Sister Virginia gave me detention).

That he was there for me to explain how in the world Darth Vader could be Luke

Skywalkers father.

That he took me to see Citizen Kane on the Big Screen.

That he taught me the Beatles.

That he told me to read Yeats.

That he made Rose and I visit Yeats grave in Sligo even though we would rather have had a PINT of Guinness instead – “Cast a cold eye on life, on death, Horseman pass by!”

That he made sure I knew the sacrifice that Michael Collins made for his country.

That he helped me remember Spiro Agnew’s role in Nixon's administration.

That he told me that Bobby was truly the brains of the operation and that he was the best President we never had.

That he taught me who Joshua Chamberlain was and how important he was to Pickett’s Charge and our Freedom.

That he taught me it was ok to cry during the Quiet Man.

That he taught us to love Ireland and to find it on our own terms.

That I got to see him sing and dance with the Wolfe Tones in Killarny.

That he sent Rose and I to 32 years of Private Catholic Education.

That he always accepted my friends and treated them like Men and Woman, even when some of us weren’t.

That he let Rosie and I marry outside of the Irish family.

That he accepted Alex and her family from Day 1 and understood when I would take the family to Milan for holidays.

That you taught my wife how to drive.

That he called me on 9/11 to thank me for bringing Rosie home safe and that he told me that all will be ok.

That he had the chance to spend a year & a half with Rosie’s Jim. He had a chance to know him, talk to him, educate him and love him.

That he loved my little girls more then words could say.

That he always told me he loved me and that he was proud of me.

That he sang

Some of these might seem trivial, but I swear to you they mean everything to me and these little moments helped to make me and my Sister the people we are today. The Teacher helped me more then you will know….

The last day I saw my Father, a Saturday ago, we were celebrating my Uncle Bill’s 43^rd Anniversary at the Capitol Grille in Center City. As many of you know my dear friend Uncle Bill has been battling with his own illness. (I hope you feel the love today Uncle Bill and it makes you stronger.)

Over this past month and a half our immediate family has been spending every weekend together. Mom, Dad, Rosie, Jim, Alex, me and the Girls, we have been eating, drinking, laughing, telling stories and reflecting. Most of all, we have just been there for each other. All along I thought we were there for Uncle Bill, when it fact it turns out all along we were there for Dad; another Billy Wright miracle I guess.

May 2008 was a special month for our family and one I will cherish forever.

That night at the Grille, Dad was in a jovial mood, he had a lot to say and share. It was a magical night. Uncle Bill sat at one end of the long table in a private room and Dad at the other. Dad came to the dinner that night with a mission to share. He gave a gracious toast to my Uncle calling him the “brother he never had.” He gave a generous gift to Rosie and Jim to help them plan for their wedding; he complemented Mom on her great legs and gave me a Boston Globe article to read about a Mayo family that recently lost their Father.

The last moments I spent with my Dad were outside of the Capitol Grille on Broad and Chestnut. It was a clear, cool, spring night. We took a moment to stare up at Billy Pen together; admiring the restoration. I said it hasn’t looked this good since

when he took me to see the Phillies Parade in 1980.

My car pulled around and we shared a hug. He told me how proud he was of me one more time…..I collected my things, got the girls in the car and waved goodbye to Dad as he stood there with help from his cane.

One foot in Philadelphia and one in Mayo, one foot in the Greater North East and one in Delaware County, one foot in Feasterville and one in New York, & Hoboken & Washington DC & Basking Ridge….it’s been an amazing journey bud.

The journey came full circle on Thursday the 5^th at 5:10 pm. We received a call from my blood brother Martin Ferry who lives in Donegal, Ireland. He called to pay his respects and to tell Dad to hang in there and be strong. One last sign from the Ireland; one last call to say – its ok, it’s time to come home Jim….. My father died at 5:15 pm.

I truly know my Father is in a better place. As Rose said the moment that he passed, “there will be no more suffering Dad.” While I would love to have you here with us today, I don’t think I could bear to see you in more pain. Those days are over, Dad.

I do have one wish that I pray could be granted; one last dream from a Son to a Father.

Dad - I wish you could stand up next to me here today, stand up straight

like you did when I was 6 and you were 36, I wish you could take a clean healthy breath, a full breath, the kind that make one smile after you exhale. I wish you could clear those lungs and fill the room

with a Song. Sing whatever you want Dad, sing “The Homes of Donegal”, sing Fats Domino, sing “There’s a Moon out Tonight”, sing “Hey Jude”, sing Rebel Songs, sing “A Nation Once Again”, “The Boys of the Old Brigade”, sing “Lady of Knock”. Sing whatever you want Dad.

Sing for the Past – for Mary and Dominic, for Uncle Steve, for Aunt Deedee, for Willie Wright, for Rose, for Peter Ferry, for Maggie, for Marietta.

Sing for the Moment – For Annie, for Uncle Bill, for my sister Rose, for your sisters, for their husbands, for all your nieces and nephews, for all the people here today honoring you and your life.

Sing for the Future – Sing for my little girls – Emily and Julia so that your song will carry them through life with the same opportunity you provided for me. For baby Ciera, for baby Sam, for baby Marisa,

Sing for Rosie and Jim so they can hear your warm, beautiful voice guide them through November 21, 2008 and on to their future together.

Most of all Dad, sing for yourself. It is when you were truly most happy, when you were the most inspired, most confident. It brought you joy; it brought a smile to others and it made Annie proud. I swear I can hear you now….

Bye bud. I love you – Always have, and I always will.

The Road

2008-12-25T00:30:00.016-05:00

December 25, 2008
Wednesday Night/Thursday Morning - 12:43

The Photo:

Alex Noone (left), William A. Wright (center) & Brendan J. Noone (right) in Drexel Hill, PA, January 2007.

My Uncle Bill passed away tonight. Right around the time that he would have been participating in the Christmas Eve Service (8:00 PM), he gave up his fight and he began a journey down a new road; the road which none of us truly know what is on the other side. He left us in peace, with family & friends by his side.

I spent the past Sunday and Tuesday with my Uncle. The difference between the two days was extremely dramatic. On Sunday, he was vibrant, alert, witty and honest. He told me he was ready for what was next. He said he was ready for the unknown, and that he was ready to embrace it. I personally had the type of conversations I needed to have with my Uncle. I felt that I heard what I needed to, to let him go.

By the time I reached my Uncle on Tuesday, he was already unconscious and at the end. Each breath he took was deliberate. He looked like he aged 20 years between the 2 days that I saw him last. For the 6 hours I was with him, the only movement he made was for his breath. I left last night knowing that I said goodbye to my dear friend Bill; probably the toughest goodbye I have ever had to say.

On the ride home I thought of one of my favorite books that I read this past year, Cormac McCarty's "The Road". I thought of one of the last couple of paragraphs which brought me to tears on the day I finished the book. When I read this specific paragraph I immediately thought of my Uncle Bill and the end of his journey:

The woman when she saw him put her arms around him

and held him. Oh, she said, I am so glad to see you. She

would talk to him sometimes about God. He tried to talk

to God but the best thing was to talk to his father and he

did talk to him and he didnt forget. The woman said that

was all right. She said that the breath of God was his

breath yet though it pass from man to man through all

of time.

I believe that Bill is currently being helped at the end of his of his journey, just like 'The Boy' was being helped by strangers at the end of "The Road". All of the people that he touched in his life, through his vocation, are returning the kindness he displayed and they are helping him right now. We, the ones still present that he so immensely impacted, have to make sure that we pass his breath, stories and memories, from man to man, through all of time, keeping his goodness and his humanity, alive.

Goodbye my friend.

And so it begins.....

2008-12-21T10:04:00.009-05:00

December 21st, 2008
Sunday Morning - 10:06 AM

Today is the day I start to create.

Welcome to "I May Not Always Love You...."

Sunday mornings have always been my favorite part of the week. There is a clarity to Sunday mornings that I do not feel at any other time during a week. Maybe it stems from the rituals of my youth; breakfast with my family, going to church and then watching football with my father. Now, 30 years removed from those memories, Sunday Mornings seem pure and raw. It is the perfect time of the week to channel my thoughts.

I love the way the sun light hits my little world on those random Sundays, the way my mind reflects, the reward of a completed week, the promise of a new one, the New York Times, Meet the Press, coffee & a kiss from Alex, my daughters voices, football some Sundays, basketball some mornings, not much worship, and music always playing in the background. I can't think of a better way to start a day.

What a better way and day to start my blog - "I May Not Always Love You."

Why that title? Well, first it is the first line from my favorite song. A peaceful and perfect song about imperfect love. Second, it is frank and direct at its core. It evokes a history to that love, while also knowing that nothing, no matter how hard we try, last forever. Third, I always found that line as one that can catch you "off-guard". It commands attention. It can also lead to so many more question and answers; it forces dialog.

And that is what I want this blog to do and offer.

I am not sure how often I will write on the blog. I hope to start off a couple of times a week. The purpose, at this point, will be to share a little part of me, my interests and my life.

This Sunday, on the shortest day of the year, the Sunday before Christmas, I may be saying goodbye to one of my dearest and oldest friends. It will be a difficult day. I would like to find a way to say goodbye, but I doubt I will. I guess we never really want to.

My dear Uncle is at the end of a long and incredible journey. He is fighting. He is fighting it mentally and physically. He is fighting to come to terms with the why's and how's that the end of life always bring; all the unanswered questions that he will never have answered. The questions we all desire to know answers to.

Everyone in his world is fighting his end at this point, in their own unique way. But this morning I made a promise to myself. I won't be fighting it today or anymore. I will embrace this end to the best of my abilities. I will thank him for his love and wisdom. I will watch his smile. I will listen to his stories. I will spend the last remaining hours with my dear Uncle Bill and I will cherish "the moments".

My goal for this blog is to share "the moments" with you.......

God Only Knows
by: Brian Wilson/Tony Asher
I may not always love you
But long as there are stars above you
You never need to doubt it
Ill make you so sure about it

The Photo: Brendan J. Noone (left) and William A. Wright (right) sitting at Anchor Inn Pub in Falcarragh, County Donegal, Ireland, January 2007.

The Music: The Beach Boys - "God Only Knows" (see below)