If God intended for us to tie shoelaces forever, He would never have invented velcro.
Thank you "Troglopundit" and Lance Burri.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
A Piece Of Glass
A piece of glass painted on one side is called a mirror. Look into it and it will show what you are.
A piece of glass not painted on one side is called a window. Look through it and it will show who you are.
A piece of glass not painted on one side is called a window. Look through it and it will show who you are.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Flight Congestion
I flew into a big city airport the other day and the air traffic controllers put us in a holding pattern. It got so congested up there the traffic was stop-n-go.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Memories
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Estate Planning 101
Doug Sanders, professional golfer, once said that he was working as hard as he could to get his life and his cash to run out at the same time. And, that if he could just die after lunch next Tuesday, everything would be perfect. If I used the same plan, I should have died the day after Elvis.
"Used" E-Books
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Too Smart
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Old History
Kids don't like history because it's too old.
How would you like to carry one of these around in your pocket?
************
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Have At It
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
American Pie - What It Means
The Day The Music Died...What Does It All Mean.....Buddy?
by Kool Karl
One of the most enigmatic songs of all times is Don McLean’s “American Pie”. Until recently it was also the longest song available on karaoke. In most KJ libraries, including mine, it is still the longest song. Is this another long-winded desultory philippic or did Don just have a lot to say. And what’s it all mean? Well let's look at one interpretation of that song....mine.
Don dedicated the album "American Pie" to Buddy Holly. Why?....Don refuses to explain it, (speculation is good for sales). Don did license the movie “American Pie” to use his copyrighted title though it has nothing to do with his song. Don has often said "what American Pie really means is that I will never have to work again if I don't want to". The symbols used by McLean often have more than one meaning, and have had many interpretations. At this late date no interpretation is totally original, nor is this one. The comments on Rock and Roll are all mine. This may be as close as anyone’s idea of what the song means (and is not sanctioned by Don McLean). This interpretation suggests that the song is a tribute to Buddy Holly, one of the original pioneers of rock and roll, and a commentary on how rock and roll music has changed in the years since his death. It also describes Don’s personal search for truth, justice and the American way, in the music of that time.
.......... (Verse 1)
.......... A long, long time ago...
Once upon a time...kinda’ like a fairytale. Buddy Holly died in 1959. The album "American Pie" was released in 1971; the song reached number one in the U.S. in 1972. McLean has acknowledged the connection between his song and Holly, and seems quite pleased that people have recognized that, and for all the speculation and publicity it has created.
.......... I can still remember how
.......... That music used to make me smile.
50’s rock was happy upbeat (flappy) music that Don loved.
.......... And I knew if I had my chance,
.......... That I could make those people dance,
.......... And maybe they'd be happy for a while.
Early rock and roll provided dance music for various social events. It would seem that his life up to that point had been happy and simple but this is no longer the case. McLean expresses his desire to become a successful rock musician and singer, and alludes to a life-long search for happiness.
.......... But February made me shiver,
Buddy Holly died on February 3, 1959 in a plane crash in Iowa during a snowstorm.
........... With every paper I'd deliver,
Don McLean's job before becoming a full-time singer/songwriter was being a paperboy, which he was in 1959 at the age of 13.
.......... Bad news on the doorstep...
.......... I couldn't take one more step.
The news was a shock to him when he cut open a bundle of papers and saw the headline. Buddy Holly had been his idol.
.......... I can't remember if I cried
.......... When I read about his widowed bride
Holly's recent bride was pregnant at the time. Not long after this, she had a miscarriage. Holly never had any children.
.......... But something touched me deep inside,
.......... The day the music died.
The same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly also took the lives of Richie Valens ("La Bamba") and The Big Bopper ("Chantilly Lace"). Since all three were so prominent in popular music at the time, February 3, 1959, became known as "The Day The Music Died". This had a major influence on McLean’s life and this song has shaped who and where he is today professionally and financially.
.......... So...
.......... (Refrain)
.......... Bye bye Miss American Pie,
Miss American Pie is rock and roll music. But also refers to the simple innocent and uncomplicated American way of life in the 50’s before drugs, cold war, Vietnam and protests. Also Don McLean dated a Miss America candidate (unconfirmed...and I don’t know if he got any “pie”).
.......... Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
The Levee was a bar near Don McLean’s home town. This can also refer to middle America and the loss of its value system. Chevy is an all American car that rhymes with levee.
.......... Them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
What good ol’ boys drink! And rye rhymes with die.
.......... Singing "This'll be the day that I die,
.......... This'll be the day that I die."
Holly's biggest hit was "That'll be the Day"; containing the line "That'll be the day that I die". This is a main theme in Don’s song.
.......... (Verse 2)
.......... Did you write the book of love,
.......... And do you have faith in God above,
.......... If the Bible tells you so?
"The Book of Love" by the Monotones was a hit in 1958. Also the Bible is sometimes referred to as “The book of love.” In 1955, Don Cornell wrote a song entitled "The Bible Tells Me So". And There's also an old Sunday School song that goes: "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so" These lines begin the spiritual references in the song where Don is equating rock and roll to religion. Rock has become a spiritual influence on American youth. These songs also reflect the gospel music influence as one of the root music forms of rock, along with Pop, Rhythm & Blues and Country Western.
.......... Now do you believe in rock 'n roll?
.......... Can music save your mortal soul?
The Lovin' Spoonful had a hit in 1965 with John Sebastian's "Do you Believe in Magic?". The song has the lines: "Do you believe in magic" and "It's like trying to tell a stranger 'bout rock and roll." Literally do you believe in rock and roll as a new religion. Again a spiritual reference.
.......... And can you teach me how to dance real slow?
Dancing slow was an important part of early rock and roll dances but declined in importance through the 60's as the music became less danceable with the influx of folk rock, art rock, and political protest songs. These lines may describe a failed teenage love affair.
.......... Well I know you're in love with him
.......... 'Cause I saw you dancing in the gym
In the 50’s dancing was an expression of love, and much more serious than it is today. Slow dancing was a form of socially acceptable public “vertical making out”.
.......... You both kicked off your shoes
A reference to "sock hops". Leather soled street shoes damage wooden basketball floors, so dancers had to take off their shoes.
.......... Man, I dig those rhythm 'n' blues
Before the popularity of rock and roll, music, like much else in the U. S., was highly segregated. The popular music of black performers for largely black audiences was called, first, "race music," later rhythm and blues. Elvis, Little Richard and Chuck Berry all had R&B influences in their music and backgrounds. Holly, who came from a C&W background, absorbed R&B from these other rock artists. It was the music form that rock borrowed most heavily from. Blues artist Muddy Waters wrote the song “The Blues Had a Baby”. One line goes “they named the baby rock and roll”.
.......... I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck
.......... With a pink carnation and a pickup truck
.......... But I knew that I was out of luck
"A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation)", was a hit for Marty Robbins in 1957. The pickup truck is a symbol of sexual independence. But he still needs the magic of rock and roll.
.......... The day the music died
.......... I started singing...
.......... Refrain
.......... (Verse 3)
.......... Now for ten years we've been on our own
The day the music died, the crash killing rock’s top stars, was in 1959. McLean was writing this song in the late 60's. Do the math.
.......... And moss grows fat on a rolling stone
.......... But that's not how it used to be
Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" (1965) was his first big folk rock hit (many think the cord progression in this song was copied from Richie Valen’s “La Bamba”). He had been writing songs about love, family and contentment while staying at home and raking in royalties (he didn't tour again until ‘75). This was quite a change from the earlier, angrier Dylan. Bob’s justification for this was “It’s really hard to be a bitter millionaire”. This can also refer to the Rolling Stones who Don seems to think sold out and were seduced by the “dark side”. The Stones started out as Buddy Holly followers as were the Beatles, singing Holly songs. It can also refer to the general stagnation in rock in the early sixties.
.......... When the jester sang for the King and Queen
The jester is Dylan, a main influence in rock to this day. Dylan sang with Pete Seeger and Joan Baez at the Newport folk festival in ‘63 where he was hailed as the new star of folk music. Don sees Dylan leaving his (adopted) folk roots and creating the new form of folk rock as selling out also. Dylan actually started out as a rock musician and even played for a short time with a band that replaced Holly on the 58/59 Rock & Roll winter tour. Alternate ideas are that king and queen refer to the Kennedys or Elvis Presley & Little Richard.
.......... In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
In the movie "Rebel Without a Cause", James Dean has a red windbreaker that holds symbolic meaning throughout the film. On the cover of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan album, Dylan is wearing a red windbreaker, and is posed in a street scene similar to a well-known picture of James Dean. This was Dylan’s break-through album, with such well known songs as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall." He was an expert at borrowing whatever cultural persona he wanted as he continually reinvented himself throughout his career. Today he is the most imitated writer and singer in the history of rock. Dylan’s style of folk rock has resurfaced as “alternative rock” which took over mainstream music in the mid to late 90’s, as opposed to “white bubblegum rap” which appears in top 40 music today. My only question is: does this make the performers “bubblegum (w)rappers?”
.......... And a voice that came from you and me
Bob Dylan's later musical roots are in American folk music, with people like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. Dylan befriended Guthrie, visiting him in the hospital often, before Guthrie died. Folk music is by definition the music of the people, hence it "...came from you and me".
.......... Oh, and while the King was looking down
.......... The jester stole his thorny crown
A reference to Seeger and/or Elvis's decline and Dylan's ascendance. The thorny crown is a reference to the price of fame, also another religious symbol. Is Dylan the savior of rock or a sacrificial lamb to be crucified? Dylan has said that he wanted to be as famous as Elvis, one of his early idols.
.......... The courtroom was adjourned, No verdict was returned.
Of the different competing factions in rock at this time, none predominated.
.......... And while Lennon read a book on Marx,
Literally, John Lennon reading about Karl Marx; figuratively, the introduction of radical politics into the music of the Beatles. A cute Marx and Lenin wordplay. This begins the rise of the Beatles as the top rock group.
.......... The quartet practiced in the park
The Beatles at the Candlestick Park concert or Shea Stadium. They were soon to be the leading influence in rock. Also a possible reference to the Weavers. McLean had become friends with Lee Hays of the Weavers in the early 60's, and was well acquainted with Pete Seeger. Lee Hays arranged most of the songs on the American Pie album with Don.
.......... And we sang dirges in the dark
A "dirge" is a funeral or mourning song, meant literally...or is a reference to some of the new "art rock" groups which played long dirge-like pieces not suitable for dancing.
.......... The day the music died. We were singing...
.......... Refrain
.......... (Verse 4)
.......... Helter Skelter in a summer swelter
"Helter Skelter" is a Beatles song that appears on the White album. "Summer swelter" is a reference to the "Summer of Love" or to the "long hot summer" of Watts.
.......... The birds flew off with the fallout shelter
.......... Eight miles high and falling fast
The Byrd's "Eight Miles High" was on their late 1966 release "Fifth Dimension." It was one of the first records to be widely banned because of supposedly drug-oriented lyrics. Fallout shelter is slang for a drug rehab clinic. During their short career the Byrds became a major influence in folk rock.
.......... It landed foul on the grass
One of the Byrds was busted for possession of marijuana. Several other rock stars were arrested for drug use in this period as drugs become a serious problem in society and are reflected in the rock culture of the times.
.......... The players tried for a forward pass
A football metaphor about the Rolling Stones, they tried to surpass the Beatles, which really didn't happen until the Beatles broke up. Though good friends, the Beatles and Stones were rivals to be the top popular rock group of the era. McLean uses football metaphors in this section, similar to his use of religious metaphors, as he describes the competition between rock groups and the different directions they tried to lead popular music.
.......... With the jester on the sidelines in a cast
On July 29, 1966, Dylan crashed his motorcycle while riding near his home in Woodstock, New York. He spent nine months in seclusion while recuperating.
.......... Now the halftime air was sweet perfume
Drugs and marijuana are now rampant in all rock circles in the mid to late 60’s.
.......... While sergeants played a marching tune
The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album in general is "marching" music because it's not for dancing, but music with a message to which we march, literally protest and anti-establishment songs.
.......... We all got up to dance
.......... Oh, but we never got the chance
The Beatles' 1966 Candlestick Park concert only lasted 35 minutes and there wasn't any danceable music to dance to. Old time rock and roll is disappearing from the scene.
.......... 'Cause the players tried to take the field,
.......... The marching band refused to yield.
A reference to the dominance of the Beatles in rock and roll. It's a comment about how this led to more "pop art" music, leading in turn to a loss of traditional rock and roll, and shut out the Stones and other groups.
.......... Do you recall what was revealed,
.......... The day the music died?
.......... We started singing
.......... Refrain
.......... (Verse 5)
.......... And there we were all in one place
Woodstock or Altmont.
.......... generation lost in space
A reference to hippies, who were sometimes known as the "lost generation", because of their alienation from society, and presumed use and preoccupation with drugs.
.......... no time left to start again
The "lost generation" had spent too much time being stoned, and had wasted their lives. Their preference for psychedelia had pushed rock and roll so far from Holly's music that it could not be retrieved.
.......... So come on Jack be nimble Jack be quick
A reference to Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones; "Jumpin' Jack Flash" was released in May, 1968.
.......... Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
Altmont was The Stones' attempt to create their own “Candlestick Park Concert”. This line comes from the nursery rhyme that has the line "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jumped over a candlestick." Create your own image.
.......... 'Cause fire is the devil's only friend
With "Sympathy for the Devil" and other songs, The Stones were playing with fire. These lines are a reference to the rise of the Stones as the next major rock influence.
.......... And as I watched him on the stage
.......... My hands were clenched in fists of rage
.......... No angel born in hell
.......... Could break that satan's spell
After Woodstock the Stones decided to create a “Woodstock West” free concert at the Altamont Speedway in 1969. The Stones allowed members of the Hell's Angels to work security in the foolish belief that this would keep them from disrupting it. This concert was out of control from the beginning. The Angels were rioting and beating fans and singers. When the Stones arrived for their set, all hell broke loose. The Stones continued to perform, between pleas to end the violence, fearing what would happen if they stopped playing. In the darkness near the stage, an 18 yr. old black man reportedly pulled a gun and was beaten and stabbed to death by the Angels. Public outcry that the song "Sympathy for the Devil" had somehow incited the violence caused the Stones to drop the song from their show for the next six years.
.......... And as the flames climbed high into the night
.......... To light the sacrificial rite
These lines are about Altamont, and in particular Mick Jagger's performing while the violence was happening. Violence has since become a serious problem at many rock concerts to this day. The “sacrifice” is the fan being stabbed, and the bonfires around the area provide the flames. The Stones and several others scrambled to their helicopter after their music set to escape the carnage, like Satan escaping the flames of hell to safety. The helicopter rising from this scene creates an eerie contrast to the innocent Holly’s small plane taking off in a pure white snowstorm on its way to oblivion, as our fairytale began.
.......... I saw Satan laughing with delight
Satan would be Jagger. Ironically the Stones music was much more danceable than the Beatle music it replaced or the “art rock” style of McLean. Even more ironic The Stones succeeded in moving rock back to its R&B roots and heavily influenced the classic rock groups of the 70’s. The Stones are the only major group of this era that have performed continuously to the present day. Did the “bad boys of rock” trade their souls to save rock and roll and achieve immortality?
.......... The day the music died He was singing...
.......... Refrain
.......... (Verse 6)
.......... I met a girl who sang the blues
This refers to Janis Joplin, a 60’s Rock and Blues singer. Her big hits were "Piece of My Heart", "Me and Bobby McGee", “Cry Baby” and “Mercedes Benz”.
.......... And I asked her for some happy news
.......... But she just smiled and turned away
Janis died of a heroin overdose on October 4, 1970, another rock drug fatality. McLean is still trying to find happiness as in the beginning of this fairytale: “Maybe they'd be happy for a while," "That music used to make me smile." Note the tone of the song is very similar in these two verses, but this time the smile isn't for happiness but regret. The smiles he finds are but wistful memories.
.......... I went down to the sacred store
.......... Where I'd heard the music years before
The "sacred store" is the local record store. This is another spiritual reference applied to rock and roll. And it can also refer to Bill Graham's Fillmore West, one of the great rock and roll venues of all time, which closed down around 1970.
.......... But the man there said the music wouldn't play
Nobody is interested in hearing Buddy Holly's music anymore.
.......... And in the streets the children screamed
These are "Flower children" being beaten by police and National Guard troops; in particular, the People's Park riots in Berkeley in 1969 and 1970, Kent State and the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
.......... The lovers cried and the poets dreamed
Disillusioned, McLean has adopted an existential view of the world. But then lovers always cry... eventually, and poets always dream.
.......... But not a word was spoken
.......... The church bells all were broken
As in Simon and Garfunkle’s “The Sound of Silence”, no official source grieved, lamented or acknowledged the loss of the innocent music of Holly. Once again a religious metaphor.
.......... And the three men I admire most
.......... The Father Son and Holy Ghost
Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Richie Valens....and another religious allegory. The Big Bopper's real name was J.P. Richardson. He was a DJ who had one big novelty hit, the well known "Chantilly Lace". Richie Valens was Richard Valenzuela, rock and rolls first Chicano star best known for “La Bamba”.
.......... They caught the last train for the coast
They were dead and gone, "went west" is a synonym for dying, as in “bought the ranch”, a common cultural metaphor. This line also shows up in Procol Harem’s “Whiter Shade of Pale” with the same meaning. Our fairytale, the song and Don’s search for happiness, spirituality and truth in the music of his time, end on a sad and empty note.
.......... The day the music died
.......... And they were singing...
.......... Refrain (2x)
At one level American Pie is Don’s personal story of coming of age and learning about the real world, and how it changed during turbulent times, reflected in the music of that era.
The performers mentioned here, and in particular Dylan, The Beatles and The Stones have had more impact on the direction of rock and roll than any others since the days of Holly, Elvis, Little Richard and Chuck Berry. In effect American Pie chronicled the transition of rock from its childhood to its late teens and correctly picked the artists who created rock and roll as we know it today.
And you thought it was just another long dull boring song about nothing! It had to be that long to describe ten years of rock history.
by Kool Karl
Don dedicated the album "American Pie" to Buddy Holly. Why?....Don refuses to explain it, (speculation is good for sales). Don did license the movie “American Pie” to use his copyrighted title though it has nothing to do with his song. Don has often said "what American Pie really means is that I will never have to work again if I don't want to". The symbols used by McLean often have more than one meaning, and have had many interpretations. At this late date no interpretation is totally original, nor is this one. The comments on Rock and Roll are all mine. This may be as close as anyone’s idea of what the song means (and is not sanctioned by Don McLean). This interpretation suggests that the song is a tribute to Buddy Holly, one of the original pioneers of rock and roll, and a commentary on how rock and roll music has changed in the years since his death. It also describes Don’s personal search for truth, justice and the American way, in the music of that time.
.......... (Verse 1)
.......... A long, long time ago...
Once upon a time...kinda’ like a fairytale. Buddy Holly died in 1959. The album "American Pie" was released in 1971; the song reached number one in the U.S. in 1972. McLean has acknowledged the connection between his song and Holly, and seems quite pleased that people have recognized that, and for all the speculation and publicity it has created.
.......... I can still remember how
.......... That music used to make me smile.
50’s rock was happy upbeat (flappy) music that Don loved.
.......... And I knew if I had my chance,
.......... That I could make those people dance,
.......... And maybe they'd be happy for a while.
Early rock and roll provided dance music for various social events. It would seem that his life up to that point had been happy and simple but this is no longer the case. McLean expresses his desire to become a successful rock musician and singer, and alludes to a life-long search for happiness.
.......... But February made me shiver,
Buddy Holly died on February 3, 1959 in a plane crash in Iowa during a snowstorm.
........... With every paper I'd deliver,
Don McLean's job before becoming a full-time singer/songwriter was being a paperboy, which he was in 1959 at the age of 13.
.......... Bad news on the doorstep...
.......... I couldn't take one more step.
The news was a shock to him when he cut open a bundle of papers and saw the headline. Buddy Holly had been his idol.
.......... I can't remember if I cried
.......... When I read about his widowed bride
Holly's recent bride was pregnant at the time. Not long after this, she had a miscarriage. Holly never had any children.
.......... But something touched me deep inside,
.......... The day the music died.
The same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly also took the lives of Richie Valens ("La Bamba") and The Big Bopper ("Chantilly Lace"). Since all three were so prominent in popular music at the time, February 3, 1959, became known as "The Day The Music Died". This had a major influence on McLean’s life and this song has shaped who and where he is today professionally and financially.
.......... So...
.......... (Refrain)
.......... Bye bye Miss American Pie,
Miss American Pie is rock and roll music. But also refers to the simple innocent and uncomplicated American way of life in the 50’s before drugs, cold war, Vietnam and protests. Also Don McLean dated a Miss America candidate (unconfirmed...and I don’t know if he got any “pie”).
.......... Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
The Levee was a bar near Don McLean’s home town. This can also refer to middle America and the loss of its value system. Chevy is an all American car that rhymes with levee.
.......... Them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
What good ol’ boys drink! And rye rhymes with die.
.......... Singing "This'll be the day that I die,
.......... This'll be the day that I die."
Holly's biggest hit was "That'll be the Day"; containing the line "That'll be the day that I die". This is a main theme in Don’s song.
.......... (Verse 2)
.......... Did you write the book of love,
.......... And do you have faith in God above,
.......... If the Bible tells you so?
"The Book of Love" by the Monotones was a hit in 1958. Also the Bible is sometimes referred to as “The book of love.” In 1955, Don Cornell wrote a song entitled "The Bible Tells Me So". And There's also an old Sunday School song that goes: "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so" These lines begin the spiritual references in the song where Don is equating rock and roll to religion. Rock has become a spiritual influence on American youth. These songs also reflect the gospel music influence as one of the root music forms of rock, along with Pop, Rhythm & Blues and Country Western.
.......... Now do you believe in rock 'n roll?
.......... Can music save your mortal soul?
The Lovin' Spoonful had a hit in 1965 with John Sebastian's "Do you Believe in Magic?". The song has the lines: "Do you believe in magic" and "It's like trying to tell a stranger 'bout rock and roll." Literally do you believe in rock and roll as a new religion. Again a spiritual reference.
.......... And can you teach me how to dance real slow?
Dancing slow was an important part of early rock and roll dances but declined in importance through the 60's as the music became less danceable with the influx of folk rock, art rock, and political protest songs. These lines may describe a failed teenage love affair.
.......... Well I know you're in love with him
.......... 'Cause I saw you dancing in the gym
In the 50’s dancing was an expression of love, and much more serious than it is today. Slow dancing was a form of socially acceptable public “vertical making out”.
.......... You both kicked off your shoes
A reference to "sock hops". Leather soled street shoes damage wooden basketball floors, so dancers had to take off their shoes.
.......... Man, I dig those rhythm 'n' blues
Before the popularity of rock and roll, music, like much else in the U. S., was highly segregated. The popular music of black performers for largely black audiences was called, first, "race music," later rhythm and blues. Elvis, Little Richard and Chuck Berry all had R&B influences in their music and backgrounds. Holly, who came from a C&W background, absorbed R&B from these other rock artists. It was the music form that rock borrowed most heavily from. Blues artist Muddy Waters wrote the song “The Blues Had a Baby”. One line goes “they named the baby rock and roll”.
.......... I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck
.......... With a pink carnation and a pickup truck
.......... But I knew that I was out of luck
"A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation)", was a hit for Marty Robbins in 1957. The pickup truck is a symbol of sexual independence. But he still needs the magic of rock and roll.
.......... The day the music died
.......... I started singing...
.......... Refrain
.......... (Verse 3)
.......... Now for ten years we've been on our own
The day the music died, the crash killing rock’s top stars, was in 1959. McLean was writing this song in the late 60's. Do the math.
.......... And moss grows fat on a rolling stone
.......... But that's not how it used to be
Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" (1965) was his first big folk rock hit (many think the cord progression in this song was copied from Richie Valen’s “La Bamba”). He had been writing songs about love, family and contentment while staying at home and raking in royalties (he didn't tour again until ‘75). This was quite a change from the earlier, angrier Dylan. Bob’s justification for this was “It’s really hard to be a bitter millionaire”. This can also refer to the Rolling Stones who Don seems to think sold out and were seduced by the “dark side”. The Stones started out as Buddy Holly followers as were the Beatles, singing Holly songs. It can also refer to the general stagnation in rock in the early sixties.
.......... When the jester sang for the King and Queen
The jester is Dylan, a main influence in rock to this day. Dylan sang with Pete Seeger and Joan Baez at the Newport folk festival in ‘63 where he was hailed as the new star of folk music. Don sees Dylan leaving his (adopted) folk roots and creating the new form of folk rock as selling out also. Dylan actually started out as a rock musician and even played for a short time with a band that replaced Holly on the 58/59 Rock & Roll winter tour. Alternate ideas are that king and queen refer to the Kennedys or Elvis Presley & Little Richard.
.......... In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
In the movie "Rebel Without a Cause", James Dean has a red windbreaker that holds symbolic meaning throughout the film. On the cover of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan album, Dylan is wearing a red windbreaker, and is posed in a street scene similar to a well-known picture of James Dean. This was Dylan’s break-through album, with such well known songs as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall." He was an expert at borrowing whatever cultural persona he wanted as he continually reinvented himself throughout his career. Today he is the most imitated writer and singer in the history of rock. Dylan’s style of folk rock has resurfaced as “alternative rock” which took over mainstream music in the mid to late 90’s, as opposed to “white bubblegum rap” which appears in top 40 music today. My only question is: does this make the performers “bubblegum (w)rappers?”
.......... And a voice that came from you and me
Bob Dylan's later musical roots are in American folk music, with people like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. Dylan befriended Guthrie, visiting him in the hospital often, before Guthrie died. Folk music is by definition the music of the people, hence it "...came from you and me".
.......... Oh, and while the King was looking down
.......... The jester stole his thorny crown
A reference to Seeger and/or Elvis's decline and Dylan's ascendance. The thorny crown is a reference to the price of fame, also another religious symbol. Is Dylan the savior of rock or a sacrificial lamb to be crucified? Dylan has said that he wanted to be as famous as Elvis, one of his early idols.
.......... The courtroom was adjourned, No verdict was returned.
Of the different competing factions in rock at this time, none predominated.
.......... And while Lennon read a book on Marx,
Literally, John Lennon reading about Karl Marx; figuratively, the introduction of radical politics into the music of the Beatles. A cute Marx and Lenin wordplay. This begins the rise of the Beatles as the top rock group.
.......... The quartet practiced in the park
The Beatles at the Candlestick Park concert or Shea Stadium. They were soon to be the leading influence in rock. Also a possible reference to the Weavers. McLean had become friends with Lee Hays of the Weavers in the early 60's, and was well acquainted with Pete Seeger. Lee Hays arranged most of the songs on the American Pie album with Don.
.......... And we sang dirges in the dark
A "dirge" is a funeral or mourning song, meant literally...or is a reference to some of the new "art rock" groups which played long dirge-like pieces not suitable for dancing.
.......... The day the music died. We were singing...
.......... Refrain
.......... (Verse 4)
.......... Helter Skelter in a summer swelter
"Helter Skelter" is a Beatles song that appears on the White album. "Summer swelter" is a reference to the "Summer of Love" or to the "long hot summer" of Watts.
.......... The birds flew off with the fallout shelter
.......... Eight miles high and falling fast
The Byrd's "Eight Miles High" was on their late 1966 release "Fifth Dimension." It was one of the first records to be widely banned because of supposedly drug-oriented lyrics. Fallout shelter is slang for a drug rehab clinic. During their short career the Byrds became a major influence in folk rock.
.......... It landed foul on the grass
One of the Byrds was busted for possession of marijuana. Several other rock stars were arrested for drug use in this period as drugs become a serious problem in society and are reflected in the rock culture of the times.
.......... The players tried for a forward pass
A football metaphor about the Rolling Stones, they tried to surpass the Beatles, which really didn't happen until the Beatles broke up. Though good friends, the Beatles and Stones were rivals to be the top popular rock group of the era. McLean uses football metaphors in this section, similar to his use of religious metaphors, as he describes the competition between rock groups and the different directions they tried to lead popular music.
.......... With the jester on the sidelines in a cast
On July 29, 1966, Dylan crashed his motorcycle while riding near his home in Woodstock, New York. He spent nine months in seclusion while recuperating.
.......... Now the halftime air was sweet perfume
Drugs and marijuana are now rampant in all rock circles in the mid to late 60’s.
.......... While sergeants played a marching tune
The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album in general is "marching" music because it's not for dancing, but music with a message to which we march, literally protest and anti-establishment songs.
.......... We all got up to dance
.......... Oh, but we never got the chance
The Beatles' 1966 Candlestick Park concert only lasted 35 minutes and there wasn't any danceable music to dance to. Old time rock and roll is disappearing from the scene.
.......... 'Cause the players tried to take the field,
.......... The marching band refused to yield.
A reference to the dominance of the Beatles in rock and roll. It's a comment about how this led to more "pop art" music, leading in turn to a loss of traditional rock and roll, and shut out the Stones and other groups.
.......... Do you recall what was revealed,
.......... The day the music died?
.......... We started singing
.......... Refrain
.......... (Verse 5)
.......... And there we were all in one place
Woodstock or Altmont.
.......... generation lost in space
A reference to hippies, who were sometimes known as the "lost generation", because of their alienation from society, and presumed use and preoccupation with drugs.
.......... no time left to start again
The "lost generation" had spent too much time being stoned, and had wasted their lives. Their preference for psychedelia had pushed rock and roll so far from Holly's music that it could not be retrieved.
.......... So come on Jack be nimble Jack be quick
A reference to Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones; "Jumpin' Jack Flash" was released in May, 1968.
.......... Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
Altmont was The Stones' attempt to create their own “Candlestick Park Concert”. This line comes from the nursery rhyme that has the line "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jumped over a candlestick." Create your own image.
.......... 'Cause fire is the devil's only friend
With "Sympathy for the Devil" and other songs, The Stones were playing with fire. These lines are a reference to the rise of the Stones as the next major rock influence.
.......... And as I watched him on the stage
.......... My hands were clenched in fists of rage
.......... No angel born in hell
.......... Could break that satan's spell
After Woodstock the Stones decided to create a “Woodstock West” free concert at the Altamont Speedway in 1969. The Stones allowed members of the Hell's Angels to work security in the foolish belief that this would keep them from disrupting it. This concert was out of control from the beginning. The Angels were rioting and beating fans and singers. When the Stones arrived for their set, all hell broke loose. The Stones continued to perform, between pleas to end the violence, fearing what would happen if they stopped playing. In the darkness near the stage, an 18 yr. old black man reportedly pulled a gun and was beaten and stabbed to death by the Angels. Public outcry that the song "Sympathy for the Devil" had somehow incited the violence caused the Stones to drop the song from their show for the next six years.
.......... And as the flames climbed high into the night
.......... To light the sacrificial rite
These lines are about Altamont, and in particular Mick Jagger's performing while the violence was happening. Violence has since become a serious problem at many rock concerts to this day. The “sacrifice” is the fan being stabbed, and the bonfires around the area provide the flames. The Stones and several others scrambled to their helicopter after their music set to escape the carnage, like Satan escaping the flames of hell to safety. The helicopter rising from this scene creates an eerie contrast to the innocent Holly’s small plane taking off in a pure white snowstorm on its way to oblivion, as our fairytale began.
.......... I saw Satan laughing with delight
Satan would be Jagger. Ironically the Stones music was much more danceable than the Beatle music it replaced or the “art rock” style of McLean. Even more ironic The Stones succeeded in moving rock back to its R&B roots and heavily influenced the classic rock groups of the 70’s. The Stones are the only major group of this era that have performed continuously to the present day. Did the “bad boys of rock” trade their souls to save rock and roll and achieve immortality?
.......... The day the music died He was singing...
.......... Refrain
.......... (Verse 6)
.......... I met a girl who sang the blues
This refers to Janis Joplin, a 60’s Rock and Blues singer. Her big hits were "Piece of My Heart", "Me and Bobby McGee", “Cry Baby” and “Mercedes Benz”.
.......... And I asked her for some happy news
.......... But she just smiled and turned away
Janis died of a heroin overdose on October 4, 1970, another rock drug fatality. McLean is still trying to find happiness as in the beginning of this fairytale: “Maybe they'd be happy for a while," "That music used to make me smile." Note the tone of the song is very similar in these two verses, but this time the smile isn't for happiness but regret. The smiles he finds are but wistful memories.
.......... I went down to the sacred store
.......... Where I'd heard the music years before
The "sacred store" is the local record store. This is another spiritual reference applied to rock and roll. And it can also refer to Bill Graham's Fillmore West, one of the great rock and roll venues of all time, which closed down around 1970.
.......... But the man there said the music wouldn't play
Nobody is interested in hearing Buddy Holly's music anymore.
.......... And in the streets the children screamed
These are "Flower children" being beaten by police and National Guard troops; in particular, the People's Park riots in Berkeley in 1969 and 1970, Kent State and the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
.......... The lovers cried and the poets dreamed
Disillusioned, McLean has adopted an existential view of the world. But then lovers always cry... eventually, and poets always dream.
.......... But not a word was spoken
.......... The church bells all were broken
As in Simon and Garfunkle’s “The Sound of Silence”, no official source grieved, lamented or acknowledged the loss of the innocent music of Holly. Once again a religious metaphor.
.......... And the three men I admire most
.......... The Father Son and Holy Ghost
Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Richie Valens....and another religious allegory. The Big Bopper's real name was J.P. Richardson. He was a DJ who had one big novelty hit, the well known "Chantilly Lace". Richie Valens was Richard Valenzuela, rock and rolls first Chicano star best known for “La Bamba”.
.......... They caught the last train for the coast
They were dead and gone, "went west" is a synonym for dying, as in “bought the ranch”, a common cultural metaphor. This line also shows up in Procol Harem’s “Whiter Shade of Pale” with the same meaning. Our fairytale, the song and Don’s search for happiness, spirituality and truth in the music of his time, end on a sad and empty note.
.......... The day the music died
.......... And they were singing...
.......... Refrain (2x)
At one level American Pie is Don’s personal story of coming of age and learning about the real world, and how it changed during turbulent times, reflected in the music of that era.
The performers mentioned here, and in particular Dylan, The Beatles and The Stones have had more impact on the direction of rock and roll than any others since the days of Holly, Elvis, Little Richard and Chuck Berry. In effect American Pie chronicled the transition of rock from its childhood to its late teens and correctly picked the artists who created rock and roll as we know it today.
And you thought it was just another long dull boring song about nothing! It had to be that long to describe ten years of rock history.
The Day The Music Died
You had to be a teenager in the 1960's (I was) to totally appreciate this...
Thank you "Hot Air"
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Thank you "Hot Air"
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Monday, May 30, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
It's Hard To Be Humble
I do remember all those countless occassions of everyone flattering me. And you know what? They've hit the nail right on the head every single time.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
The More We Get, The Less We Got
The paradox of our time in history is that...
"We have taller buildings but shorter tempers,
Wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints.
We spend more, but have less,
We buy more, but enjoy less.
We have bigger houses and smaller families,
More conveniences, but less time.
We have more degrees but less sense,
More knowledge, but less judgment,
More experts, yet more problems,
More medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much,
Spend too recklessly, drive too fast, get too angry,
Stay up too late, get up too tired,
Read too little, and watch TV too much.
We laugh too little, and pray too seldom.
We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life.
We've added years to life not life to years.
We've been all the way to the moon and back,
But have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor.
We conquered outer space but not inner space.
We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.
We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.
We write more, but learn less.
We plan more, but accomplish less.
We've learned to rush, but not to wait.
We build more computers to hold more information,
To produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion,
Big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships.
These are the days of two incomes but more divorce,
Fancier houses, but broken homes.
These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality,
One night stands, overweight bodies,
And pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.
It is a time when there is much in the showroom window
And nothing in the stockroom.
A time when technology can bring this letter to you,
And a time when you can choose either to share this insight,
Or to just hit delete.
Remember, to spend some time with your loved ones,
Because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, to say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe,
Because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you,
Because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.
Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones,
But most of all mean it.
A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment
For someday that person might not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak!
And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind."
— Bob Moorehead
************
"We have taller buildings but shorter tempers,
Wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints.
We spend more, but have less,
We buy more, but enjoy less.
We have bigger houses and smaller families,
More conveniences, but less time.
We have more degrees but less sense,
More knowledge, but less judgment,
More experts, yet more problems,
More medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much,
Spend too recklessly, drive too fast, get too angry,
Stay up too late, get up too tired,
Read too little, and watch TV too much.
We laugh too little, and pray too seldom.
We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life.
We've added years to life not life to years.
We've been all the way to the moon and back,
But have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor.
We conquered outer space but not inner space.
We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.
We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.
We write more, but learn less.
We plan more, but accomplish less.
We've learned to rush, but not to wait.
We build more computers to hold more information,
To produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion,
Big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships.
These are the days of two incomes but more divorce,
Fancier houses, but broken homes.
These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality,
One night stands, overweight bodies,
And pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.
It is a time when there is much in the showroom window
And nothing in the stockroom.
A time when technology can bring this letter to you,
And a time when you can choose either to share this insight,
Or to just hit delete.
Remember, to spend some time with your loved ones,
Because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, to say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe,
Because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you,
Because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.
Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones,
But most of all mean it.
A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment
For someday that person might not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak!
And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind."
— Bob Moorehead
************
Monday, May 16, 2011
Loose Weight In The Shower
Have you been trying to loose weight for years and just can't seem to shed any pounds at all? The problem just might be the shampoo you're using.
When you shampoo in the shower the soap runs down all over your body when you rinse it out of your hair, right? And I'll bet it clearly states on the bottle somewhere "for extra volume and body."
Now, if you use Dawn dish soap for your dishes read what it says on that bottle. It clearly states "dissolves fat that is otherwise difficult to remove."
Bingo !!!
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Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
May You Never...
"May you never have splinters in your toilet paper".
Don't laugh. Prior to the 1940's the manufacturing of toilet paper was somewhat hit-or-miss when it came to pulverizing the wood chips used to make the paper. Thus, the occasional splinter would make it to the bottomside of the consumer.
Don't laugh. Prior to the 1940's the manufacturing of toilet paper was somewhat hit-or-miss when it came to pulverizing the wood chips used to make the paper. Thus, the occasional splinter would make it to the bottomside of the consumer.Sunday, May 8, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
A Mother's Reflection
Bubble Baths and Dandelions: A Mother’s Reflection
Thank you Linda Bevec, St. Anne Catholic Parish, Liberty Pundits, and Melissa Clouthier
By Linda Bevic
All I needed one evening was a half hour alone, thirty minutes of serenity and calm after a hectic day at home with two toddlers. A brief retreat from changing diapers, fixing meals, calming tantrums, cleaning sticky messes and mediating arguments over who hit who with what. So after dinner I hinted to my husband that I was going to slip upstairs and take a hot bath. After sinking into the steamy bubbles I was convinced that Calgon was by far the closest thing to paradise. Moments later I hear the pitter-patter of footsteps as my 3-year old son Frankie creeps into the bathroom “Mom, mom, are you in here?” I had already learned that ignoring my children does not make them go away. And before I could respond, he’s standing over the tub, “Whatcha doing Mom?” “I’m taking a bath honey…why don’t you go downstairs and play with your sister?” “Mom, mom, look at the Batman picture I drew!’
And after a quick approval of his super hero drawing I handed him a cup. “Honey, take this cup to Daddy and tell him mom needs a whole cup full of privacy, ok?” He takes the cup and proudly heads out the door on a mission. Surely my husband will get the hint and keep the kids occupied for just another 20 minutes or so. I sank back down and drifted away in the warmth and quiet. Suddenly my son enters the bathroom; empty cup in hand. “Mom, Dad said we’re all out of privacy.” My quiet time may have seemed totally hopeless, but I laughed so hard I nearly drowned. Then I spent the rest of my “alone time” listening to my three-year-old son who sat there on the bathroom floor beside the tub with his arms wrapped around his bent legs, chin resting on his knees, a crown of dark curls around his baby face, ‘Mom, mom, do you really think Batman can fly?’
In the early years of motherhood there isn’t much alone time. A mother works 24/7 as a resident physician, psychologist, theologian, educator, nurse, chef, cleaning lady, ultimate expert of imaginary fun and occasional police officer. And if she succeeds in each of these tasks, she gets to do it all over again the next day. From the moment we nervously bring our first newborn home, a mother is uniquely qualified to love and nurture unconditionally. There are no sacred vows or elaborate ceremony to mark the occasion. You walk in the door cradling a precious new life, and instantly you’re a mother, forever. There are no college courses on “Introduction to Colic” or “History and Theory of Picky Eating” and no academic advisor to guide you in selecting the perfect preschool. Motherhood is 90 percent on-the-job training and 10 percent true grit. If you’ve never been one to pray, you’ll find yourself on your knees when you’re a mom. If you’ve never reflected much on Mary, our mother of Jesus, you can relate in complete awe to the immense love, suffering and sacrifice she endured when you embrace your own son.
They say there are no atheists in foxholes. I’d also venture to say there are no atheists in the delivery room because looking into the eyes of her newborn child a mother really does feel the awesome presence of God. And I believe he’s there at that moment not only to usher in a new soul but to remind us that we’ll need Him more than ever on the journey ahead. Every mother needs strength and faith to face the day-to-day trials at home, but especially when facing the bigger challenges of raising children in an increasingly secular world that is nearly devoid of the virtues we as mothers of faith desire for our children. The Internet alone has 4.2 million sites for pornography. Children can instantly be exposed to violent images and seductive ideologies in the “safety” of home and they will forever be changed at the core. Our pop culture world emulates glamour and materialism, alcohol and drugs and feeds an insatiable appetite for instant gratification. Young celebrities receive fame for being single and pregnant. The largest and fastest growing consumer market in an already bankrupt society is children under the age of 16. And there’s a pervasive message of apathy and disrespect in more and more children’s television programming.
Do I feel discouraged as a mother? Absolutely. That’s why every Sunday I peel back the covers and wake my kids for church. I carefully screen and read movie reviews on Catholic websites. I encourage music with a message (thank you John Angotti for visiting Saint Anne!) I pray every day with my children and for my children. I limit TV and electronics and have been able, so far, to hold off giving my kids cell phones, iPods or laptops. It’s not easy. I’ve made my share of mistakes and am far from perfect. I’m not always a popular mom and they may not understand now the battle I’m fighting for them. But hopefully someday they will understand that their lives are a journey back to the God who created them and the choices they make each and every day do matter. I pray too that their lives will be a light of God’s love in this world and their actions will reflect it.
Like all moms, I’ve managed the on-the-job training by taking one day at a time. I’ve spent sleepless nights comforting a colicky baby, tried to manage a 2-year old’s tantrum in public, retrieved lost stuffed animals from peril, gave in to big brown eyes requesting a pet fish, conducted a funeral for beloved pet fish, created forts from couch cushions on rainy days, wiped teary faces, doctored high fevers, read “Goodnight Moon” hundreds of times, watched a painful amount of Barney & Friends, and for nearly three years I swear I smelled like play dough and peanut butter. This past year I cheered obnoxiously over our son’s first hockey goal, tearfully led our youngest into Kindergarten and prayed in agony through our daughter’s kidney transplant. Most mothers I know deserve a medal, a six-figure salary and a standing ovation (mine certainly did!) for the passion and commitment they have for their children and for what they endure while raising them. But most mothers I know would much rather receive a hand-picked bouquet of dandelions and a sticky kiss.
Oh, and maybe a nice hot bubble bath…alone.
Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who walk this journey with love, hope and faith! May God bless you and the little lives you lead.
“Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praises her.” Proverbs 31:28
To really appreciate Linda Bevic's "Reflection" click on the "Linda Bevic" link at the beginning of this post and learn more about her real life story.
************
Thank you Linda Bevec, St. Anne Catholic Parish, Liberty Pundits, and Melissa Clouthier
All I needed one evening was a half hour alone, thirty minutes of serenity and calm after a hectic day at home with two toddlers. A brief retreat from changing diapers, fixing meals, calming tantrums, cleaning sticky messes and mediating arguments over who hit who with what. So after dinner I hinted to my husband that I was going to slip upstairs and take a hot bath. After sinking into the steamy bubbles I was convinced that Calgon was by far the closest thing to paradise. Moments later I hear the pitter-patter of footsteps as my 3-year old son Frankie creeps into the bathroom “Mom, mom, are you in here?” I had already learned that ignoring my children does not make them go away. And before I could respond, he’s standing over the tub, “Whatcha doing Mom?” “I’m taking a bath honey…why don’t you go downstairs and play with your sister?” “Mom, mom, look at the Batman picture I drew!’
And after a quick approval of his super hero drawing I handed him a cup. “Honey, take this cup to Daddy and tell him mom needs a whole cup full of privacy, ok?” He takes the cup and proudly heads out the door on a mission. Surely my husband will get the hint and keep the kids occupied for just another 20 minutes or so. I sank back down and drifted away in the warmth and quiet. Suddenly my son enters the bathroom; empty cup in hand. “Mom, Dad said we’re all out of privacy.” My quiet time may have seemed totally hopeless, but I laughed so hard I nearly drowned. Then I spent the rest of my “alone time” listening to my three-year-old son who sat there on the bathroom floor beside the tub with his arms wrapped around his bent legs, chin resting on his knees, a crown of dark curls around his baby face, ‘Mom, mom, do you really think Batman can fly?’
In the early years of motherhood there isn’t much alone time. A mother works 24/7 as a resident physician, psychologist, theologian, educator, nurse, chef, cleaning lady, ultimate expert of imaginary fun and occasional police officer. And if she succeeds in each of these tasks, she gets to do it all over again the next day. From the moment we nervously bring our first newborn home, a mother is uniquely qualified to love and nurture unconditionally. There are no sacred vows or elaborate ceremony to mark the occasion. You walk in the door cradling a precious new life, and instantly you’re a mother, forever. There are no college courses on “Introduction to Colic” or “History and Theory of Picky Eating” and no academic advisor to guide you in selecting the perfect preschool. Motherhood is 90 percent on-the-job training and 10 percent true grit. If you’ve never been one to pray, you’ll find yourself on your knees when you’re a mom. If you’ve never reflected much on Mary, our mother of Jesus, you can relate in complete awe to the immense love, suffering and sacrifice she endured when you embrace your own son.
They say there are no atheists in foxholes. I’d also venture to say there are no atheists in the delivery room because looking into the eyes of her newborn child a mother really does feel the awesome presence of God. And I believe he’s there at that moment not only to usher in a new soul but to remind us that we’ll need Him more than ever on the journey ahead. Every mother needs strength and faith to face the day-to-day trials at home, but especially when facing the bigger challenges of raising children in an increasingly secular world that is nearly devoid of the virtues we as mothers of faith desire for our children. The Internet alone has 4.2 million sites for pornography. Children can instantly be exposed to violent images and seductive ideologies in the “safety” of home and they will forever be changed at the core. Our pop culture world emulates glamour and materialism, alcohol and drugs and feeds an insatiable appetite for instant gratification. Young celebrities receive fame for being single and pregnant. The largest and fastest growing consumer market in an already bankrupt society is children under the age of 16. And there’s a pervasive message of apathy and disrespect in more and more children’s television programming.
Do I feel discouraged as a mother? Absolutely. That’s why every Sunday I peel back the covers and wake my kids for church. I carefully screen and read movie reviews on Catholic websites. I encourage music with a message (thank you John Angotti for visiting Saint Anne!) I pray every day with my children and for my children. I limit TV and electronics and have been able, so far, to hold off giving my kids cell phones, iPods or laptops. It’s not easy. I’ve made my share of mistakes and am far from perfect. I’m not always a popular mom and they may not understand now the battle I’m fighting for them. But hopefully someday they will understand that their lives are a journey back to the God who created them and the choices they make each and every day do matter. I pray too that their lives will be a light of God’s love in this world and their actions will reflect it.
Like all moms, I’ve managed the on-the-job training by taking one day at a time. I’ve spent sleepless nights comforting a colicky baby, tried to manage a 2-year old’s tantrum in public, retrieved lost stuffed animals from peril, gave in to big brown eyes requesting a pet fish, conducted a funeral for beloved pet fish, created forts from couch cushions on rainy days, wiped teary faces, doctored high fevers, read “Goodnight Moon” hundreds of times, watched a painful amount of Barney & Friends, and for nearly three years I swear I smelled like play dough and peanut butter. This past year I cheered obnoxiously over our son’s first hockey goal, tearfully led our youngest into Kindergarten and prayed in agony through our daughter’s kidney transplant. Most mothers I know deserve a medal, a six-figure salary and a standing ovation (mine certainly did!) for the passion and commitment they have for their children and for what they endure while raising them. But most mothers I know would much rather receive a hand-picked bouquet of dandelions and a sticky kiss.
Oh, and maybe a nice hot bubble bath…alone.
Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who walk this journey with love, hope and faith! May God bless you and the little lives you lead.
“Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praises her.” Proverbs 31:28
To really appreciate Linda Bevic's "Reflection" click on the "Linda Bevic" link at the beginning of this post and learn more about her real life story.
************
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Read To Me
Read to me riddles
and read to me rhymes,
read to me stories
of magical times.
Read to me tales
about castles and kings,
read to me stories
of fabulous things.
Read to me pirates,
and read to me knights,
read to me dragons
and dragon-back flights.
Read to me spaceships
and cowboys and then
when you are finished-
please read them again!"
— Jane Yolen
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Sunday, May 1, 2011
The Green Thing
We Didn't Have It Back Then
In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day." The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. The former generation did not care enough to save our environment." He was right, that generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
Back then, they returned their milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But they didn't have the green thing back in that customer's day. In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.
But she was right. They didn't have the green thing in her day.
Back then, they washed the baby's diapers because they didn't have the throw-away kind. (patented on April 27, 1967) They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts - wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that old lady is right, they didn't have the green thing back in her day.
Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house - not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used waddedup old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she's right, they didn't have the green thing back then. They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the old razor just because the blade got dull.
But they didn't have the green thing back then. Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because they didn't have the green thing back then?
--Thanks Tom Dooley
************
Back then, they returned their milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But they didn't have the green thing back in that customer's day. In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.
But she was right. They didn't have the green thing in her day.
Back then, they washed the baby's diapers because they didn't have the throw-away kind. (patented on April 27, 1967) They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts - wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that old lady is right, they didn't have the green thing back in her day.
Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house - not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used waddedup old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she's right, they didn't have the green thing back then. They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the old razor just because the blade got dull.
But they didn't have the green thing back then. Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because they didn't have the green thing back then?
--Thanks Tom Dooley
************
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Hugs 'n Giggles 'n Kisses 'n Grins
I'd rather play at hug o' war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.
— Shel Silverstein
Loony-Goony Dance
Draw a crazy picture,
Write a nutty poem,
Sing a mumble-gumble song,
Whistle through your comb.
Do a loony-goony dance
'Cross the kitchen floor,
Put something silly in the world
That ain't been there before.
— Shel Silverstein
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Flowers
Biennials: Flowers you plant this year to grow next year. They're really pretty.
Perennials: Flowers you plant this year to grow until further notice. They're absolutely gorgeous.
Re-annuals: Flowers you plant this year to come up last year. You ought to see those suckers.
A Whole Flock
Thank You Lord
"How can anyone not believe in God?" How can anyone believe that what you are about to see is all just "random" and happened "just by chance"?
This is a time lapse video from Norwegian photographer Terje Sorgjerd taken on El Teide in the Canary Islands and captures the Milky Way galaxy overhead as sand wafts across the landscape as gold clouds.
You must watch this in "full screen" mode. Remember, FULL SCREEN MODE. It's awesome !!!
Note that the full screen toggle (which you should use!) is in between the “HD” and the word “Vimeo”:
The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.
Thank You "The Blaze"
************
This is a time lapse video from Norwegian photographer Terje Sorgjerd taken on El Teide in the Canary Islands and captures the Milky Way galaxy overhead as sand wafts across the landscape as gold clouds.
You must watch this in "full screen" mode. Remember, FULL SCREEN MODE. It's awesome !!!
Note that the full screen toggle (which you should use!) is in between the “HD” and the word “Vimeo”:
The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.
Thank You "The Blaze"
************
Friday, April 15, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Church Clothes
The church he entered was in a very upscale and exclusive part of the city. It was the largest and most beautiful church the old cowboy had ever seen. The people of the congregation were all dressed with expensive clothes and fine jewelry. As the cowboy took a seat, the others moved away from him. No one greeted, spoke to, or welcomed him. They were all appalled by his appearance and did not attempt to hide it.
As the old cowboy was leaving the church, the preacher approached him and asked the cowboy to do him a favor. "Before you come back in here again, have a talk with God and ask him what he thinks would be appropriate attire for worship in church." The old cowboy assured the preacher he would.
The next Sunday, he showed back up for the services wearing the same ragged jeans, shirt, boots, and hat. Once again he was completely shunned and ignored. The preacher approached the cowboy and said, "I thought I asked you to speak to God before you came back to our church."
"I did," replied the old cowboy.
"And what was his reply?" asked the preacher.
"Well, sir, God told me that he didn't have a clue what I should wear. He said he'd never been inside this church."
************
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Sorta Sane
People say I'm sorta sane. I guess it's 'cause I tried going insane once and it sorta worked.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Birthdays
God schedules all birthdays. He scheduled the first one and He will schedule the last one.
Simply Boring
The only way life could be simpler is if you left out the details. And that would be so boring.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Faith Is Sorta Simple
Faith is really quite simple.
You talk yourself into it,
Or someone else does.
It doesn't get complicated
Until you start wondering
If it's right or wrong.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
How Am I Going To Get To Church?
Whoa!!! It's really going to be a bummer trying to get to church on Sunday in Tarlay, Shan state, Myanmar.
A powerful earthquake stuck Thursday night in northeastern Myanmar. The quake, measured at magnitude 6.8 by the U.S. Geological Survey, was centered just north of Tachileik town in Shan State near the Thai border. It was felt hundreds of miles (kilometers) away in the Thai capital, Bangkok, and Vietnamese capital, Hanoi.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Going On Or Going Away
"A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on."
— Carl Sandburg
An abortion is the world's opinion that God should go away.
— Carl Sandburg
An abortion is the world's opinion that God should go away.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
1963 - A Lot Of Fine Days
There were a lot of fine days in 1963. The finest was when I met my wife at a street dance and I've been dating her ever since. The only day that wasn't a fine day was Friday, November 22nd.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
A Christian Wearing a Straw Hat And Suspenders
Rules Shall Never Smother The Spirit.
You Shall Obey The Rules Or You Shall Go To Hell.
You Shall Not Sing Hymns In English.
To Be Shunned Or Not To Be Shunned.
Spread The Word, Not The Rules.
Faith Dissolves Rules.
You Shall Obey The Rules Or You Shall Go To Hell.
You Shall Not Sing Hymns In English.
To Be Shunned Or Not To Be Shunned.
Spread The Word, Not The Rules.
Faith Dissolves Rules.
Do You Care What Time It Is ?
"Winding The Clock Forward In March And Back In November Is Like Biannually Changing The Measure Of An Inch."
Published: March 10, 2011 by Howard Mansfield in the New York Times
NOT long ago, clocks were thought to be dangerous. Folklore had it that two of them ticking in the same room could bring “sure death.” It’s easy to see how this belief arose. The clocks were almost certain to disagree, and in the space between two chimings of one hour, uncertainty crept in; the machines’ authority was undermined. We don’t like to be reminded that clock time is a convenient fiction.
Daylight saving time, which begins on Sunday, is unsettling in the same way. Winding the clock forward in March and back in November is like biannually changing the measure of an inch.
This tinkering with clocks is our inheritance from a people obsessed with time. Clocks spread rapidly in early America. They were expensive imports, but popular among the Puritans, who despised idleness. Massachusetts passed a law in 1663 making the wasting of time a crime: “No person, householder or other shall spend his time idly or unprofitably, under pain of such punishment as the court shall think meet to inflict.” A century later, the Boston-born Benjamin Franklin (“time is money”) proposed a version of daylight saving time as a joke to stop slothful Parisians from sleeping in. But it was an English Puritan, Ralph Thoresby, who invented an early alarm clock.
By the mid-19th century, Americans were producing their own clocks. Workshops in Connecticut produced cheap models with wooden gears. Peddlers sold them from coast to frontier. The “Yankee clock peddlers” managed to “stick up a clock in every cabin in the western country,” reported George William Featherstonhaugh, an English geographer who visited the States. “Wherever we have been, in Kentucky, in Indiana, in Illinois, in Missouri, and here in every dell of Arkansas, and in cabins where there was not a chair to sit on, there was sure to be a Connecticut clock.”
But all these clocks were like many Americans themselves: individual, conforming to their own notions. There were hundreds of local times, each city setting its city hall or courthouse clock to match its own solar noon. When it was 12 p.m. in Chicago, it was 11:50 a.m. in St. Louis and 12:18 p.m. in Detroit. But that wasn’t a problem because local time was all that mattered.
That changed when the railroads began to unify the country. The railroads ran by their own time, which vexed travelers trying to make connections. Many stations had two clocks, one for railroad time and one for local time.
To eliminate the confusion, railroads took it upon themselves in 1883 to divide the country into four time zones, with one standard time within each zone. To resist could mean economic isolation, so at noon on Nov. 18, 1883, Chicagoans had to move their clocks back 9 minutes and 32 seconds. It’s as if the railroads had commanded the sun to stand still, The Chicago Tribune wrote. Louisville was set back almost 18 minutes, and The Louisville Courier-Journal called the change a “compulsory lie.” In a letter to the editor, a reader demanded to know “if anyone has the authority and right to change the city time without the consent of the people?” In an 1884 referendum, three-quarters of voters in Bangor, Me., opposed the 25-minute change to “Philadelphia time.”
One sees the same annoyance with the “compulsory lie” of daylight saving time. When it was being debated in 1916, The Literary Digest saw it as a trick to make “people get up earlier by telling them it is later than it really is.” The Saturday Evening Post asked, in jest, “why not ‘save summer’ by having June begin at the end of February?” And an Arkansas congressman lampooned the time reformers by proposing that we change our thermometers: move the freezing point up 13 degrees and a lot of folks could be tricked into burning less fuel to heat their houses.
We adopted daylight saving time (during World War I), rejected it (after the war), adopted it again (during World War II), and then left it up to the states and localities until 1966, when Congress once more decided it was a national concern. And as much as we complain and point out that it doesn’t make anyone more productive or save any energy, it persists. Almost every state has eight months of it each year and only four months of so-called standard time. As a result, today we rose with the dawn and next week we’ll be eating breakfast in darkness.
The change is disconcerting. But more unsettling still is the mystery we’d rather not face: If clock time isn’t real, what is time, anyway? We don’t understand time, and we definitely don’t want to admit that our allotment is limited. We just want to get on with our day.
*********************
Published: March 10, 2011 by Howard Mansfield in the New York Times
NOT long ago, clocks were thought to be dangerous. Folklore had it that two of them ticking in the same room could bring “sure death.” It’s easy to see how this belief arose. The clocks were almost certain to disagree, and in the space between two chimings of one hour, uncertainty crept in; the machines’ authority was undermined. We don’t like to be reminded that clock time is a convenient fiction.
Daylight saving time, which begins on Sunday, is unsettling in the same way. Winding the clock forward in March and back in November is like biannually changing the measure of an inch.
This tinkering with clocks is our inheritance from a people obsessed with time. Clocks spread rapidly in early America. They were expensive imports, but popular among the Puritans, who despised idleness. Massachusetts passed a law in 1663 making the wasting of time a crime: “No person, householder or other shall spend his time idly or unprofitably, under pain of such punishment as the court shall think meet to inflict.” A century later, the Boston-born Benjamin Franklin (“time is money”) proposed a version of daylight saving time as a joke to stop slothful Parisians from sleeping in. But it was an English Puritan, Ralph Thoresby, who invented an early alarm clock.
By the mid-19th century, Americans were producing their own clocks. Workshops in Connecticut produced cheap models with wooden gears. Peddlers sold them from coast to frontier. The “Yankee clock peddlers” managed to “stick up a clock in every cabin in the western country,” reported George William Featherstonhaugh, an English geographer who visited the States. “Wherever we have been, in Kentucky, in Indiana, in Illinois, in Missouri, and here in every dell of Arkansas, and in cabins where there was not a chair to sit on, there was sure to be a Connecticut clock.”
But all these clocks were like many Americans themselves: individual, conforming to their own notions. There were hundreds of local times, each city setting its city hall or courthouse clock to match its own solar noon. When it was 12 p.m. in Chicago, it was 11:50 a.m. in St. Louis and 12:18 p.m. in Detroit. But that wasn’t a problem because local time was all that mattered.
That changed when the railroads began to unify the country. The railroads ran by their own time, which vexed travelers trying to make connections. Many stations had two clocks, one for railroad time and one for local time.
To eliminate the confusion, railroads took it upon themselves in 1883 to divide the country into four time zones, with one standard time within each zone. To resist could mean economic isolation, so at noon on Nov. 18, 1883, Chicagoans had to move their clocks back 9 minutes and 32 seconds. It’s as if the railroads had commanded the sun to stand still, The Chicago Tribune wrote. Louisville was set back almost 18 minutes, and The Louisville Courier-Journal called the change a “compulsory lie.” In a letter to the editor, a reader demanded to know “if anyone has the authority and right to change the city time without the consent of the people?” In an 1884 referendum, three-quarters of voters in Bangor, Me., opposed the 25-minute change to “Philadelphia time.”
One sees the same annoyance with the “compulsory lie” of daylight saving time. When it was being debated in 1916, The Literary Digest saw it as a trick to make “people get up earlier by telling them it is later than it really is.” The Saturday Evening Post asked, in jest, “why not ‘save summer’ by having June begin at the end of February?” And an Arkansas congressman lampooned the time reformers by proposing that we change our thermometers: move the freezing point up 13 degrees and a lot of folks could be tricked into burning less fuel to heat their houses.
We adopted daylight saving time (during World War I), rejected it (after the war), adopted it again (during World War II), and then left it up to the states and localities until 1966, when Congress once more decided it was a national concern. And as much as we complain and point out that it doesn’t make anyone more productive or save any energy, it persists. Almost every state has eight months of it each year and only four months of so-called standard time. As a result, today we rose with the dawn and next week we’ll be eating breakfast in darkness.
The change is disconcerting. But more unsettling still is the mystery we’d rather not face: If clock time isn’t real, what is time, anyway? We don’t understand time, and we definitely don’t want to admit that our allotment is limited. We just want to get on with our day.
*********************
Friday, March 4, 2011
What A Character
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Gimmie A Hug
I will not play at tug o' war.
I'd rather play at hug o' war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.
— Shel Silverstein
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
It's My Fault Dear
Count Your Blessings, Not Her Faults
Husbands: Be generous concerning your wife’s faults. They were probably what prevented her from getting a better husband than you.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Weird Difference
You know what's really weird? Day after day nothing seems to change. Then your cardiologist shows up, puts a stent or two in your defective heart, and everything's different.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
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