Top 10 Favorite Sergio Moments

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The Waiting Game

Oh, I have been here before my friends. After a record setting 17 concerts in one year in 2008 I have not seen a single show this year, and only have two concerts on the horizon. Patterson Hood in July and Elvis Perkins in September. The situation would be hopeless if I wasn’t waiting on my three favorite artists tour summer and fall tour schedules. Yes, its up to the legendary Bruce Springsteen, the incendiary Ted Leo and the Pharmacists and the most important band in my life: Pearl Jam to save this year from mediocrity - musically speaking of course. Interesting how these bands can be categorized as well, the legend, the fairly large band and the indie artist. All important components of my sonic diet.

This is nothing new to me. I’ve been eagerly anticipating shows since the whole year leading up to my first Pearl Jam show in 2002. Checking the bands websites, the fan forums, ticketmaster, pollstar and even booking companies multiple times in a day. One might think this process would get easier with age but I’ve found myself being more anxious. With a “real” job I find myself needing these shows even more. The catharsis that only live music can bring is priceless. Thats not even mentioning the issue that my work schedule may present if I don’t have enough notice, and in some cases I may get stuck working even if I do have notice. All part of the real world I suppose.

So I play the waiting game with these three questions. Will Ted Leo, currently scheduled to play 5 shows in California in 5 nights make a trip up to play Portland in mid-August? Will Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band play Portland on the 3rd leg of their 2009 tour? The stakes are especially high here because with Bruce the shows just get better the longer a tour goes on. And with such an old band thats reportedly taking a break after this tour this might be the last opportunity, at least for the Pacific Northwest. And lastly, will Pearl Jam play Seattle or Portland to celebrate the release of their new record? All of these things are rumored, all seem possible, some seem likely – but none are guaranteed. Its been awhile since I’ve been at such a crossroads as a music fan.  

2009 Halfway roundup Pt. 1: Records I've heard

2 part series here. 2009 in Music, at the halfway point. Heres a list of albums released this year that I've heard. I decided not to include U2's last "record" because they're more like Cirque du Soleil or Celtic Women at this point. Next up: The Five best Records of 2009 thus far.

Artist - Album

St. Vincent - Actor

Art Brut - Art Brut Vs. Satan

Elvis Perkins In Dearland - Elvis Perkins In Dearland

Favours For Sailors - Furious Sons

Schuyler Fisk - The Good Stuff

M. Ward - Hold Time

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

Justin Townes Earle - Midnight At The Movies

Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

Booker T. Jones - Potato Hole

Viva Voce - Rose City

Elvis Costello - Secret, Profane And Sugarcane

Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit - Seven-Mile Island

Mute Math - Spotlight EP

Ramblin Jack Elliot - A Stranger Here

Harlem Shakes - Technicolor Health

Steve Earle - Townes

Casiotone For the Painfully Alone - Vs. Children

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Bruce Springsteen - Working On A Dream

Various Artists - Dark Was The Night

Song Analysis - Down to The River

I’ve decided to use this blog to take an in depth look at some of my favorite songs. This piece will tackle Bruce Springsteen’s “The River” from the 1980 double album of the same name. Its regarded as one of his best songs by fans, critics and this blogger – I’d probably put it in my top 5 Springsteen songs in fact.

This song was, for all intents and purposes the first expression of to that point a long running interest that Bruce had in two American icons: Hank Williams and Woody Guthrie. “The River” certainly has an implicit political consciousness that reminds me of some of Guthrie’s work like “Pretty Boy Floyd”. Musically “The River” is patterned after Williams “I’m a long gone Daddy” (that title would later find its way into “Born in the USA””) and shares all the bleak and lonesome qualities of William’s best work. Clearly this was the point where Springsteen began to internalize the American folk tradition, much like Born to Run proved he had internalized American Rock and Roll.

So what about the lyrics? Lets go line-by-line.

I come from down in the valley

Already Springsteen establishes the economic conditions of the protagonist by using simple geography. Typically the poorer residents of a community live “down in the valley”. Think Everclear - “I will buy you a new house – in the west hills"

where mister when you're young
They bring you up to do like your daddy done

After an economic boom people are again finding themselves less mobile, both economically and geographically. Theres less class mobility as well. This is what happens during recessions, be they our current mess, the economic climate of the late 70’s that Bruce lived through, or the dust bowl era of woody guthrie. There is also a certain amount of destiny woven into the story here, and father issues, always father issues with Bruce.

 
Me and Mary we met in high school when she was just seventeen
We'd ride out of that valley down to where the fields were green

So its with Mary that he’s able to get out of the Valley. This is important to note.

We'd go down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
Oh down to the river we'd ride

The River is really the other main character of the song. Consider all the meaning rivers have. Think Mesopotamia. All the Biblical language surrounding rivers. Clearly The River in this song is also a symbol of life and vitality.

Then I got Mary pregnant and man that was all she wrote
And for my nineteen birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat
We went down to the courthouse and the judge put it all to rest
No wedding day smiles no walk down the aisle
No flowers no wedding dress

This is purely expository, but heartbreaking nonetheless.

 
That night we went down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
On down to the river we did ride

Despite all this, the narrator is still able to escape with Mary. Life is still full of possibilities.

I got a job working construction for the Johnstown Company
But lately there ain't been much work on account of the economy

This is where things go off the rails. Springsteen, like Steinbeck understood the spiritual dimension of work and what happened when good people found themselves in poor circumstances.

 
Now all them things that seemed so important
Well mister they vanished right into the air

Circumstances have changed. Instead of a life of possibility and opportunity its a life of obligations that can’t be fulfilled.

Now I just act like I don't remember, Mary acts like she don't care

This is where things get really tragic. How many marriages have been destroyed as a result of economic hardship. I’m no Marxist but its hard not to see the alienation that capitalism can create, even between life partners.

But I remember us riding in my brother's car

So he acts like he can’t remember. But he does.

Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir

The symbolism could not be richer here. He remembers her in a resevoir.

At night on them banks I'd lie awake
And pull her close just to feel each breath she'd take
Now those memories come back to haunt me, they haunt me like a curse

What could be worse than losing the things that mean the most? Not being able to forget them, to get any respite from your loss.

Is a dream a lie if it don't come true
Or is it something worse

This is probably the best line in the song. It reminds me of this poem:

  What happens to a dream deferred?
  Does it dry up
  like a raisin in the sun?
  Or fester like a sore
  And then run?
  Does it stink like rotten meat?
  Or crust and sugar over
  like a syrupy sweet?
  Maybe it just sags
  like a heavy load.
  Or does it explode?
       "Harlem" - Langston Hughes

When I think of this line I think about some of the failures in my life. I had many moments where I failed because I didn’t try. I could always tell myself that things could have been different had I applied myself. The moments that really hurt were the times where I tried my hardest and came up short. Did the narrator’s dreams not come true because he didn’t believe in them? Or did they simply not happen for other reasons? What are those reasons? What does that mean? This is biblical stuff.

that sends me
Down to the river

Its these kinds of questions that send him searching – for things he can’t have and moments he can’t relive.

though I know the river is dry
Down to the river, my baby and I
Oh down to the river we ride

The first performance of this song:

Getting Back Into It

Aight, I’m gonna try to make a go of this blog again. I think the epic fail that were my playoff predictions are what did me in this time. I’m not even going to comment on both sets of Conference Finals except to say that so far they’ve been pretty amazing.

So soon I’ll be back to weekly posts of things that are on my mind. Tonight: a brief reflection on the one year anniversary of a very eventful week in my life. On 5/20 nearly all of my predictions for Oregon’s May primary ended up happening and the things that happened that I didn’t predict ended up being better than I expected. A year later, nearly every candidate I wanted to win in May has either been a complete disappointment (Sam Adams, and not because of the scandal necessarily – although that story seems to get uglier and uglier each day) or has underwhelmed…..mostly because even though I knew the economy had the potential to get dicey last May I had no clue it would get to the point where local governments would have to undertake the deep cuts in basic services that look all but inevitable at this point. Its time for this state to take a good hard look at not only at its tax structure but at its basic identity.

And theres no f’ing way an Major League Soccer franchise is the answer to anything at this point.

The day after the Oregon Primary my Grandpa was taken in the hospital and the day after that he was handed a cancer diagnosis, less than five months later he was dead. This Saturday the family will be taking a trip to the cemetery to scatter some of his ashes at his grave. I haven’t been the same since all this has happened – and thats not necessarily a bad thing.

But Life remains awesome for me. I have the perfect marriage. Professionally things have never been better in terms of the money and recognition that I’m receiving – although this economic crisis may put a wrench in both of our career paths – but thats the risk you take when you choose your career based on how much you’ll be able to serve the community. If my only complaint is a lack of summer concerts on the itinerary (Patterson Hood in July will be sweet, but I need to see Bruce, Ted and my five favorite guys from Seattle before the year is over) then I’m doing pretty well.

Go Nuggets! Go Magic!

Blake

NBA Playoff Predictions (first round)

West

Jazz/Lakes

Utah was looking like a top tier team earlier this year, man did that go in the crapper. Yes, Carlos Boozer has been looking like ass. Yes, its possible that over the summer several of the teams most notable stars will be free agents and may split. Yes, the L*kers are the best team in the west, Kobe Bryant blah blah blah, Pau Gasol blah blah blah, Andrew Bynum blah blah blah. See? I could write for ESPN. Anyway, although the Jazz may be running low on team unity they do have some of the best players in the league and are led by Deron Williams who could single handedly deliver them a win at home. The free agency may also work to Utah’s advantage as it will push players to show their stuff. Still though, gotta go with the Lakes.

Lakers in 6

Lets see a few of these eh D-Will?

Hornets/Nuggs

The Billups/CP3 matchup is important, but not as important as national sports writers would lead you to believe. If I were a hornets fan I would be worried about Smith getting on a hot streak. If I were a Nuggets fan I would be worried about Tyson Chandler. The Hornets took the Spurs to seven games last year, and last years Spurs were a much better team than Denver. And CP3 is even more amazing this year.

Hornets in Seven

Mavs/Spurs

Dallas has been looking good lately, but the Spurs are the Spurs. Duncan has been looking weak lately but the playoffs will give him some rest between games. Tony Parker has proved he can carry this team across the finish line. Remember all those games where Poppy pulled the starters early? How stupid does that look in retrospect?

Spurs in 5

Rockets/Blazers

As a fan of good basketball games I was salivating at the prospect of facing the Spurs or the Hornets. Facing the Rockets is a bigger let down than Watchmen was. Good Lord is this a boring team to watch. Get ready for 5 plus games of Battier and Artest beating the crap out of Brandon Roy. The key is home court. Since the last time we played them at home our bench has made large strides, and they play best in Rip City. Yao will be tough though. And will cry like a baby, as always.

Blazers in 7 (they like to keep us in suspense)

   

Pleeeeeease let me out of the first round! Pleeeeeaaaase?

Eastern conference match ups are so boring compared to the West…… Exceeeeeept

Heat/Hawks

This is gonna be good. Wade vs Johnson. The Hawks have my favorite Eastern team to watch for some time now.

Hawks in 7

The rest of the Eastern match ups just aren’t interesting to me. We’ll see if Boston or Orlando can make thousands of Cleavelanders (Cleavelandians?) cry like little girls. Give Lebron an excuse to go to the Knicks.

Watchmen Review (no spoilers, I promise)

In a move that should surprise none of you I saw the film adaptation of Watchmen last Friday. Amber and I strolled down to the Broadway Theater, a regal outlet across the street from the Schnitz known for its independent theater Mondays, low attendance and shoe box shaped auditoriums. Its been some time since I've seen a movie on opening day so the fact that we had to wait in line gave the whole experience an exciting lift.

There were things about the movie that were really strong. Visually Snyder nailed the comic panel by panel. Jackie Earle Haley brought Rorschach to the screen more authentically than any other actor in any other comic book movie. Heath Ledger was great as the Joker, but his Joker wasn't really patterned after a specific Joker in the Batman oeuvre, the way Rorschach on screen is a lifelike representation of Rorschach on page. Billy Crudup as Dr. Manhattan was also strong, especially in his origin scene (a high point of the film).

That being said, there are many areas in which this film failed. Really bad casting hurt it quite a bit. Malin Ackerman as Laurie Jupiter = epic fail. Lifetime movie quality. She brought down nearly every scene that she was featured in. Many other actresses could have nailed Laurie and still looked the part (Jennifer Connelly in particular would have been awesome). I won't go into it in depth in order to avoid spoilers but there was another poorly made casting decision that totally telegraphed the climax of he stort. Zack Snyder shouldn't be allowed to direct another movie, period. Hes great at visuals but, lets say less than great at everything else a director needs to do to make his film successful (not to mention his complete lack of subtlety). Patrick Wilson was great in "Little Children" and "Angels in America" but was really inconsistent in this film, a sign that Snyder isn't very good at interacting with talent. I know they had a lot to fit in a relatively short amount of time but the pacing of this film was way off. Specifically the scene in Vietnam (again, no spoilers) was cut in a way that robbed it of the emotional impact it should have had. The soundtrack choices were trite and obvious, the score wasn't particularly memorable and was too prominent in the mix.

There were several things in this movie that were significantly changed from the comic. None of the changes made were improvements, especially the ending. Everything that was altered was done in a way that made things more blunt and banal which betrayed the multi-layered nature of the source material What do I know though? I guess Slumdog Millionaire proved that people are still attracted to the most pedestrian narratives and need to have their hand held through things.

Snyder's Watchmen is still faithful enough to the material to be a worthwhile experience its just that whereas the comic is a deconstruction of the superhero genre that touches on fatalism, objectivism and cold war paranoia, the film is simply a meditation on the super hero genre and a pretty entertaining comic book movie with a downer ending.

So watch the movie - but please read the comic as well.