Filling Your Life with New Tunes...

I get stuck in ruts. Musical ruts. I listen to same stuff over and over. It's comfortable. I know what's coming, what's next.

Sometimes this serves a purpose. For example, when I was writing my dissertation I had certain playlists on my iPod that I would use as background inspiration. My favorite was the complete Led Zeppelin collection. What better way to pump yourself up than with "Black Dog," "The Ocean," and the "D'yer Mak'er"? Around the time "Kashmir" came on (my favorite Zeppelin song ever) I knew I had been cranking for a while.

Other favorite playlists included Talking Heads, Dave Matthews Band, and U2, and of course the Beatles. Perhaps I hoped listening to all these great lyricists would rub off on me.

So, treading the trodden trails of your old favorites is wonderful and all, but sometimes you need to break out and try some new music. A couple weeks ago I attended the UU Coffeehouse concert, not out of interest in the band (which I had never heard of), but as something to do on a Saturday night with the kids. Much to our delight, Storyhill, was, well, a delight. (My kids especially loved noting that one of the singers looks just like the dad of one of their friends.)

Then on another weekend I made another wonderful new discovery thanks to the UU Coffeehouse series, this one held at the Columbia Museum of Art: Andy Friedman. He's been on a continuous loop in my car for the past week. Oops, there's that rut again, but I can't get enough of his song, "Roll On, John Herald":

Same with "Idaho" and "Going Home." And the lyrics of "Down by the Willow" are pure poetry.

Then this morning a friend posted on Facebook a song I'd never heard of by an artist I'd never heard of accompanied by another (apparently famous) artist I'd also never heard of, commenting that she could listen to the song on repeat for hours. I have to admit, I agree.

It's always good to discover new music. It's always good to get out of those ruts.

Reboot

Life needs a Control+Z option. But it doesn't exist. So I'll just apologize instead.

Sorry.

Life has been complicated lately. Very.

I can't hit Control+Z so I'll just hit reboot instead.

Onward.

Thank you!

Having a foot in cast is a real pain in the, er, foot. And when it's your right foot? You know the one you need to press on the accelerator and brake? Well, then it really stinks.

Luckily, I have me some wonderful friends who carted me around when I couldn't drive here or there. So, this is just a little THANK YOU shout-out to those who helped me out over the past six weeks. I've tried to thank each individually, but thought I'd throw out a general GRACIAS as well. Now that I am semi-free (foot is in a boot, but I can take it off to drive) I hope I can return the many favors I received.

And, as a thank-you treat, here's a little taste from one of my favorite comedians. Maybe I should have everyone over for a Bacon Festival as a thank-you. ;-)

Changing Your Mind vs. Flip-Flopping

This past Sunday morning on, er, Sunday Morning, commentator Luke Burbank defended Mitt Romney's flip-floppiness. He said that, Hey, it's cool; we all change our minds. You can see his Mitt apologetics here:

Yeah, true enough. We all change our minds about stuff. And what Luke gets absolutely right is that changing our mind is a good thing. I'm sure the first patient who got a house call from a doctor who said, "Hey, I've changed my mind about bleeding you with leeches" was pretty stoked. We can come up with a gazillion and half other such examples. Progress is about changing our minds based on the evidence.

The problem is that Mitt doesn't change his mind based on the evidence. He flip flops based on political expediency. He doesn't say, "Well, I've evaluated the evidence and I've changed my position on X because of the evidence." He looks at the political winds and sets his sail accordingly. He panders.

And he's either completely unaware that he does this or willfully ignorant of it. Did you see his interview with Faux News, the people who practically work for the GOP, where he denied over and over changing his stance on key issues? It was one of the most uncomfortable interviews I've ever seen. Let's let Jon Stewart break it down for us:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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There's a big difference between changing your mind based on evidence and pandering. That's why Mitt is a flip flopper. He wants you to stop him when you like what he's saying and will thus vote for him instead of him evaluating the evidence and arguments about a particular issue and making (and even changing) his mind on said issue.

So, Mitt, change your mind all you want. But at least own it. At least acknowledge why you're changing it.

Great Writers Write

Great writers write. Every day. And that's what I plan to do in 2012.

Write.

A lot.

Here, there, and everywhere. Here's to a productive and energetic 2012!