Show Month

Two down...at least one more to go.

Maybe you have one too--a checklist of things you want to do in life. Some of mine are trivial, others garden-variety, all ultimately personal. This week I've made a strikingly rapid assault on this checklist, having seen two bands I love, and one coming this weekend.

It began Tuesday with The Police...





Great show!! One that you just enjoy and soak in the pleasure of seeing this tumultous trio play the songs from childhood, remembering how I never thought I would have the chance because these guys have a history of not getting along and on-stage fights. They played every song I wanted to hear, except for Synchronicity II, but I'm not complaining. Andy Summers looks every bit of 65, but can still play. Made me think how fun it might be to be the old guy in a band with young, highly-talented players and eventually make it big. A guy can dream, right? A surprising thing was the average age of the crowd. Prior to the show, I speculated average age being thirty, but I would say most were 40 or older. Lots of grey hair there. All in all, great show. My first visit to the new Sprint Center here in KC, which I watched being built from the ground up from my nearby apartment.

And then Wednesday night, Wilco....




This is the second time I've seen them. This time was better than the last show. This one was an outdoor show in Lawrence, KS--a great college, somewhat bohemian, town. They played several songs from Being There--the CD that introduced me to them--which made me very happy. Last time at the Uptown, they essentially played the new songs from Sky Blue Sky and selections from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and Ghost is Born. My personal favorites were "Say You Miss Me," "Misunderstood"--which is much better and easier to appreciate live, "Handshake Drugs," and they played "California Stars" from the Mermaid Avenue album with Billy Bragg--one of the great leisure songs. And, its lyrics are written by Woody Guthrie. The whole album was an interesting project, profiled in a documentary that you should rent.

Next....Radiohead...the topper!...

Picher, A-Rod, iPhone

If you're a Yankee hater, here is more fuel for your fire. This guy can't catch a break. I don't think many other players actually like or respect this guy--maybe as a player, not a person. But he's not all bad. My guess is that he's one of those players/people who just doesn't connect well with people. Such a stud athlete, people always wanted to be his friend until he became an adult. Now the people who want to be his friend, he cannot trust--just people who want something for free. Anyway...

I should move to Israel. I'd be envied. Really, the iPhone is the coolest thing. I'm not a gadget guy. And this is such a smart machine. It's my first iPod, of which I have become one of the iPod drones in the world, arriving at work with the earbuds in place. Zoned out. I find it is a crutch for the introvert side of me that really doesn't like things like elevator small talk, forced hallway smiles, and talk about the weather. But I realize the bleakness of a world full of people lost in their iPods--I think of a New York train or Chicago street.

You may have heard of the tornados that hit northeastern Oklahoma a few days ago, killing 6 in the small town of Picher, Oklahoma. What you may not know is that this was perhaps the knockout blow to this old mining town. Because of lead mining, Picher was born. And now, because of lead mining, Picher is dying. The government, after acknowledging the environmental disaster in Tar Creek, is buying out residents homes in an effort to displace them from an unsafe living. This story has been profiled in many places. Notably, I happened to read this article days before the tornado hit. A picture or two says a thousand words. Here is a video featuring a resident of Picher and former miner. (Plus, those of you unfamiliar with the nuances of the modern day Oklahoma accent, you can hear it in the narrators' voices in those features) Another article from over a year ago. There's even a documentary about the small town. This is a sentimental story, not that I have ever been to Picher, but I have driven through so many of these small towns in Oklahoma and Texas. And to think the people were unknowingly exposed to so much lead, but yet the town was sustained by the industry and worked dutifully to support the American industrial machine. So now you can fully understand the story behind the story of the tornados this week--that they struck perhaps the final blow to Picher, OK.

May 6, 2008

...At work I see many people with chronic pain problems.  And this can be the bane of my existence at times.  There are people with actual problems who, whether they recognize it or not, become drug addicted.  Some will blame the doctors for their addiction, saying that the doctors are the ones that put them on such potent drugs with their accompanying rapid withdrawal effects.  This is an interesting article I found detailing a study of demographics of chronic pain.  Of note, I found interesting the associations with level of education and the lack of availability of certain drugs in lower socioeconomic areas.

...How about a feel-good story from right here in Kansas City? I must say, however, that the attention lavished on him from celebrities may be a bit much. But he should be applauded for his efforts. Must be interesting to open up a new world with words at age 70.

...I continue to be shocked once in a while when I meet people who seem by all appearances and behavior to be like me who snort cocaine. COCAINE!! I have come to understand an educated, rational person using weed (know plenty of those), but the cocaine users have really suprised me. Maybe I shouldn't be. Maybe I'm naive. I see lots of patients who smoke crack (some of which surprise me as well, especially their nonchalance). And I see that powder is hitting the mainstream.

...For Radiohead fans, here is a great website. And I owe thanks to the overly obsessive people out there whom I can rely upon for details I love but would never really seek out.

...Finally, congratulations to my old roommate Matt Moreland and his wife Sara on the new addition to their family. They are in China right now picking up their daughter whom they have adopted, and you can follow along.

May 2, 2008

If you have a lot of time to kill, here is a compilation of the Top 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time, as collected by nerve.com. 50 is a lot. But they really seem to have gotten the ones I like.

So...what would you do? Watch and see what he did.

The Royals are back to their losing ways again. The pitching is doing well, but you can't have an offense that gets shut down by Sidney Ponson!! They lost 2 of 3 to the Rangers--my other team--who are the one team worse than the Royals in the AL.