Baseball In Huntsville!

Stopped in Huntsville to see the Bradleys. We wanted to see Jed pitch,
but he's out for 2 more weeks after an apendectomy. Jed's having a
great season with a 0.5 ERA.

He was in the dugout for the Huntsville game against Grissom.
Tied up in the 6th right now, 5-5. Some great ball in Alabama high
school.

Back on the road early tommorow.

UPDATE: Huntsville won 6-5.   Second game, 13-8.

Last Night In Paradise

Blue Angels of Pensacola

Early in the morning I drove over to the Pensacola Naval Base to watch the Blue Angels practice morning maneuvers. Amazing stuff, and amazing speed. Living near a national guard base in Detroit, I’ve seen the blue angels perform before, but never this close. Pretty scary precision and the technology, albeit seasoned, can take your breath away.

After the show, we walked inside the Naval Air Museum and looked over the exhibits and displays. I’m always amazed at the turbine engines that were engineered in the 40’s and 50’s and the level of technology and engineering that the conflict of war produces.

My father served in the WWII as a master sergeant in the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska... really, off the coast of Japan... Standing in that museum, reading about the battles of that war, the conflicts that shaped and turned the tides of victory, always moves me in a sobering way. While we reel at the death toll of 4,000 soldiers and the thousands more who’ve been injured and maimed as a result of this war, I think our generation cannot fully contemplate what we sacrificed as a nation in wars gone by. 407,000 died in WWII, and while that doesn’t make the lives we’ve lost in the current conflict any less significant, it makes me realize that the potential for losses is so much greater than we can imagine, should the middle-east conflict escalate out of control.

Whatever your opinion about whether we should have gone in to Iraq, it is clear that an exit strategy, and overall strategy for the future is not a cut-and-dry affair. The problems in that region are far from resolved, and we cannot walk away and expect absolution from future involvement.

God help us.

Florida Living-Not So Bad

In Destin, Florida for a week. In a couple days, I might even feel like I’m on vacation. Just checked the temperature in Detroit, and its sitting at 31 degrees F.. Pity I can’t be there to feel it.. not.

No internet in the Condo... not a bad thing. I’ll be checking in periodically.

Whitey Johnson Gig!

Armed with a pure white Telecaster inlayed with “WHITEY” on the neck, life-time “friend” of Gary Nicholson and legendary (albeit recently discovered) Whitey Johnson performed brilliantly with his band at the Douglas Corner Cafe last Friday night.

Armed with a lifetime of songs, Whitey performed songs like, MEMPHIS WOMEN AND CHICKEN, IF YOU CAN’T LIE NO BETTER, and BLUES IN BLACK AND WHITE. Joining him onstage were Colin Linden on guitar.. man can he play, Tom Hambridge and Dave Roe. In the picture, Whitey was joined by Leroy Parnell (playing Whitey’s Snow-white Les Paul) for a cameo appearance near the end of his first set.

When you’re in Nashville you can’t beat the shows at Douglas Corner Cafe or the Bluebird Cafe. Close, intimate, tight. Always a great show.

Check him out online at www.whiteyjohnson.com or on www.myspace.com/whiteyjohnson

Extreme Home Makeover Gets Makeover

Good friends of ours are having a hard time. Our son played with their son on the high school soccer team. We’ve known their son since grade school, but became good friends with his parents when our sons began playing club soccer a few years ago.

In the middle of his college career, their older son enlisted last year, went through bootcamp and shipped off to Afghanistan. Last fall, the father was diagnosed with colon cancer and just finished his second round of Chemo. He’s been having a hard time, but the treatments were coming to an end and their son was due to come home on leave last week.

Through it all, the wife of this family remained the most giving person, cooking food for parties she couldn’t even attend due to her husband’s illness. Never one to ask for help, she works in the mortgage industry (in the Detroit market... need I say more?) and he’s been missing a lot of work, due to his treatments. Everyone’s suffering financially, these days, but they are getting hit inordinately hard.

My wife and I are part of a small group and we decided to do something nice for them. They were planning on being out of town over the Easter week, so we were planning to sneak into their house (with the help of relatives) and do some home improvement / spring clean-up while they were gone. Things were coming together quite nicely.

Two days before his leave, their son, Alex, was driving an armored vehicle outside of Bagdad (yes, I know.. IRAQ?) when he drove over (or past) and IED that exploded. The soldier next to him lost both legs. A kid in the back seat, lost a leg, couple toes, and can’t use one arm. One soldier in back walked away unscathed. Alex’s legs were badly damaged, and it became apparent if he kept them he’d be in a wheel chair for the rest of his life. Yesterday afternoon the amputated both legs beneath the knee, and because of extensive damage to the back of his thighs, (which were life-threatening enough by themselves to kill him) they may need to take more.

His parents are living outside of DC in a Marriot Courtyard, and events are unfolding as I type. Alex is in Walter Reed and will be there for quite awhile. Alex’s father is not doing well. After coming off his last Chemo treatment, he’s weak, susceptable to infection, and can’t even go in with his son, being both in danger and dangerous to his son at the same time.

Needless to say, we’re not thinking about doing home improvement any longer, although Extreme Home Makeover might be an option.. (I’ll get the video camera)

Perhaps its stories like these that are written in blood that make us stronger. Make us appreciate the blessings of life.

They make us examine and question our values, our priorites, our government. They make me look up to God and say.. “Why?!?”

But the answers can wait. Right now... we.. those who know and love Alex and his parents, or empathize with their plight, need to act.

More later...

Report From The Heartland Concert!

I'm sitting in the Heartland concert, right now! Interesting band.
I'll write later.

It's later:  Cyndi said I was irritating her by writing my blog while the concert was going on... I guess she's right.

Jason Albert is the lead singer in Heartland and he's got a great voice.   He did a cover of Conway's "Make Believe" that was pretty impressive.  He looks a lot like Larry the cable guy, however.  His bio says he plays the guitar, but he didn't get near one the whole night.  The drummer, Todd Anderson, was flashy and pretty proficient.  The bass player sang the high backup vocal.   I'd have to say the most talented member was  Charles Crawford on guitar, fiddle and vocals.  The band's set was very diverse and did quite a few cover tunes during the hour and 15 minute show, which would indicate they'd been largely a cover band over their lifetime.    It was an entertaining show, though.    I enjoyed myself.

Heartland is a tribute to long-suffering.   They're a band from Huntsville Alabama, and have been playing together for 14 years.  They were catapulted to stardom by the song "I Loved Her First", written by Walt Aldridge.     (My daughter's getting married this spring and we may dance to that tune... we'll see.)

The tour was low budget with a lower case 'b'.   Lighting was non-existant.. I felt like we were in a cheap bar.   The lead singer's mic went out mid song / concert.   They were dependant on the local theatre's spot light operators.. is there such a thing as a lo-tech crew..   point it at the guy who walked over into the dark corner.  Yet for the low budget, the tickets started at $40 for the nose bleeds..  

Unfortunately, for Heartland,  the 1200 seat auditorium was less than 1/2 full.    It would have been a much better show experience if it had been packed to the gills.   I'm sure their promoters figured they should soak the fans while the getting's good...

Too bad a number one hit isn't what it used to be.   

Blogging From My iPhone!

While I admit its a little slower typing on an iPhone keypad, it
really isn't that bad. Can't beat the convenience. 

Nancy Moran was in town this week to speak with our local writer's chapter. It was great to spend a little time with her afterwards.

Above is a pic of Nancy with Jim Allard and Shelley Asbury, two of our local NSAI coordinators. (taken with the iPhone!)

Sex, Lies, and Advertising Irony

I was driving home last night, listening to a major new network on Satellite radio.

The subject was Elliot Spitzer and his resignation as the Governor of New York for his alleged, long-term involvement with a “high-price” prostitution ring. (I was so relieved to hear he wasn’t involved with a “bargain-basement” prostitution ring.) They

 had “experts” on and former sex addicts talking about the addiction. In addition, there were commentators who were skeptical of the governors comments about seeking help for himself. Another case of going to Rehab to make everything alright?

80,000 dollars for prostitutes. Wire transfer misconduct. It was clear the stations had a hot topic for the rest of the day. Clearly we had a public official who was obsessed with Sex!

Then, it broke for commercial.

What followed was no less than 3 minutes of cheap-grade commercials featuring discreetly mailed brown-paper-wrapped catalogs of “intimate play-things” for couples and sexual play, offering “The things you want, or at least want to know about.” After that, a string of male enhancement creams, and testimonials from those who “never perform” without using it first. After that, a service that allows you to try out all of the BIG 3 E.D. medications on one website... so you can compare.. “Aren’t you curious which one works the best?”.

Now.. lets get back to the public official who’s obsessed with Sex.

What we want from iTunes

(This is a comment I made on another blog, in response to the iTune Music store’s announcement that they are now the #2 retailer of recorded music.)

Itunes is winning because it got there first with a complete solution that includes:

1. Software that works and is easy to understand.
2. Hardware (ipod) that.. ahem.. works and is easy to understand... and plays mp3’s as well as DRM tracks.
3. Content. (and the agreements necessary to do provide it.)

One thing that doesn't seem to make the transitional journey to is the complete package.. the intended project that the artist created.

This is the thing I miss the most.

The songwriter might see a song as a complete package, but I think the artist sees the whole recording project as the package. ( a chunk of their creative life / a phase they were going through ) The album art is part of this, as well.

The current digital sales model doesn't succeed in preserving this part of the artistic process, and as the resulting sales results dictate, the process is forced to change; pragmatically trying to create tracks that will sell individually.

While the single song sale is a necessary element, the calculated 'sure-thing' nature of single selection (and creation) seems to dilute the art. How do you preserve art while clinically removing risk.

I’m at a loss when it comes to ideas that would change this trend, except to say that it is naive to think that you can sell a collection of songs for close to the value of the sum of the individual tracks. The consumer is smarter than that, and has answered with his pocketbook.

Try to imagine another YELLOW BRICK ROAD, or SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE in the current digital model. Easy to imagine an artist creating it.. but marketing and selling it? How would that look in an iTunes-only world. Would LOVE LIES BLEEDING sell separately from FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND? Would the songs on those albums.. the ones that ring in our heads, but never got airplay... would they even have been heard?

iTunes will be number one in the new model, but is it because they're delivering what the consumer wants, or is it because they're the closest, so far?