Dropping F-Bombs With Joe Scarborough

Confession-- I was watching. I get up early. I like Joe Scarborough’s show. It’s chatty. I like Mika Brzezinski because she seems like the best sort of centrist. (And because of her famous lighting-the-story-about-Paris-Hilton-on-fire-rather-than-reading-it-as-headline-news escapade. Check it out here! Man, good for her!) I kind of like Joe Scarborough, too. Is there anyone who looks more like a politician than this guy? Don’t think so. I don’t agree with him often, but he’s sincere and consistent and not totally aggressive, and that puts him in the upper ranks of modern politicians and commentators. He also seems to genuinely like Mika, which is nice. I even like Willie Geist, because he’s essentially helpless and worthless…he’s Tucker Carlson lite, something I never would have dreamed possible.

Still, the fact that Joe dropped the F-bomb on the air kind of made my 7:00 a.m. post dog walking morning.

Styx makes a CD about a Giant Carrot.

Well, now that Barack Obama has won the Presidency, I guess we can all get back to the important stuff.

So...Styx made an album about a giant carrot!



Look, I was a teenager in the seventies. I liked Styx. In the great battle of the one word name Seventies/Early Eighties bands (Journey, Kansas, Toto, Foreigner, Boston, Loverboy), I was in the Styx corner. I was a fan. They made some good music. I actually saw the Kilroy Was Here tour. You know, the one with "Mr. Roboto." There was a 20 minute movie directed by Ridley Scott that set up the entire concept of the album/concert. (Bet Ridley leaves that one off his resume!) It was a daring concept considering the band's primary fan base was 16 year old girls who wanted to hear "Babe" over and over and guys like me who were busy getting stoned and wondering when the fuck they were gonna stop all this weak shit and play "Miss America."

Later, Dennis DeYoung worked with Liza, and Tommy Shaw did a record with Nugent and one of the guys from Night Ranger. So, yeah, there was a lot of bad to go with the good.

Which brings us to today. Leaving out the kind of charming idea that Styx was still recording new music as of 2003 (without, alas, Dennis DeYoung, proto Power Ballad Meister)...what's up with the carrot? What does it mean? What could it possibly mean? Since I probably won't see them again unless they play for free or I'm at a state fair and seriously drunk, it will remain a mystery.

Diddy as Etymologist and Acne Sufferer

Just had to expand on my friend Pearl’s blog about Diddy. For those that didn’t know or are somehow able to withstand the Allure of the Infomercial (I sure can’t), Diddy used Proactive solution for years. As he inimitably put it, he used Proactive to “moisturize my situation” and “preserve my sexy.”

What I love:

--Diddy calls his skin “a situation”
--Diddy makes the word "sexy" a noun

If he doesn’t have some sort of direct line to God, he’s definitely working with publishers of the OED. The dude is reinventing language! And talk about God-like clout…the ad is now NOWHERE TO BE FOUND! It exists only in our collective memory.

But we remember, Diddy. Oh yes, we remember.

An Annoying Autobiographical Note about Love and Music

I went to a concert last week. A rock concert. It was in a large hall that had at one time been used for basketball and other indoor sports. About half the crowd sat on the one side of bleachers that had been set up. The rest of us were on the floor, crowding toward the band like…well, like people do at concerts. It was very hot and very humid and smelled like an old gym with a hint of Unwashed Concertgoer (Eau De Arena).

The performer was Ben Folds, and he was terrific. I’ve seen him several times over the years, and it was pleasing to see that his performance skills were still top notch. And he was as goofy and charismatic as ever. Several songs involved band members and other wearing enormous yellow frown heads (think of the yellow smiley face, and turn that bad boy upside down). He still doesn’t have a guitar in his band. He still curses a lot. He dropped various items into his piano to vary the sounds that came out of it. It was a strange and wonderful experience, as his performances usually seem to be. I walked out with the same feeling I get whenever I go to a great show—“When’s the next good concert?”

I am 45 years old now. If I wasn’t the oldest person at the show, I was probably the oldest person on the floor rather than the bleachers. I actually went to the show with several of my students (they had a great time too). For years, I felt a sense of guilt and shame that I was still going to concerts like I did when I was 18 or 28. But I have come to realize what makes it special. I still get the same feeling from these shows that I did when I was young. For those of you that are my age or close to it (no raising of hands necessary; you know who you are), you know that it is no small feat to able to recapture those moments of transcendent bliss.

In class yesterday, students were asking me about the concert. And in a moment of clarity, I was able to articulate something precise and personal and wonderful to my class.

“I used to worry that I was getting too old to go to concerts,” I told them. “But then I realized that I am totally, completely, and madly in love with music. And we are never, ever going to be separated.”





p.s. Kings of Leon and The Whigs are playing at The Pageant in St. Louis on November 3. Score!

Replies From My New, Snarky Magic 8-Ball

I'm not telling you and you can't make me.

Change that shirt, and we'll talk.

You figure it out, question boy!

This fucking black water is in my ears...ask again.

It's all pops on buzzes on my end.

Oh, Jeez.

Reply Hazy. Must be the Shrooms.

Sarah Palin.

No Longer Weird

Don't take my word for it. No Longer Weird

Gotta say that #59 made me laugh out loud a little bit. I am a bad, bad person.

Competition BBQ

My city had its Roots 'N Blues 'N BBQ festival last weekend, and it was by all accounts a big success. On the music front, I saw a new guy named Gary Clark, Jr. who was tremendous. Tab Benoit was sober and excellent. Del McCoury and the Bel-Airs were dependable and enjoyable. It was sunny, the weather was perfect, and it was free. I live in a great city.

I remain dubious about the concept of Competition Barbecue, though. Don't get me wrong--I love competitive cooking; I'm still mesmerized by old Iron Chef reruns. ("Today, it's a Potato Battle!") And I like barbecue (or "BBQ" if I'm trying to be Joe Six Pack). I just don't get the hoopla about combining them. It doesn't have the fun subtitles of Iron Chef, and there's a certain joylessness to these people that spend a lot of money (tens of thousands of dollars) and time to travel to cities and...make food. I sort of asked around about this (thanks to my natural curiosity and the six or seven beers I had knocked back), and basically heard variations on a theme. We like to cook, we're good at BBQ, so this is the natural next step.

Yes, but. The crap you have to buy is extensive....thousands on a good grill/smoker, hundreds or thousands on other materials and food, and a trailer and /or hauling costs. You have to have a tidy group of people to attempt these competitions. Dozens of teams compete for what appears to be relatively small prizes (given the travel/preparation costs). And I guess you get the honor of being a great BBQ cook as judged by a bunch of people you don't know. But this is one of those things where I figure the only people I would want to impress would be my friends. And if I wanted to do it, I wouldn't have a "competition." I'd do something different. I would call it a "party."

I do want to add that the Beef Brisket sandwich and Pulled Pork Tamale I ate last weekend were terrific, though.