Morning practice. Too hurried to sit.

Trailer Trash Christmas at Lee's

Pictures are here. None in which I embarrass myself. Excessively.

Jimmy Buffet Report

People attempted to put most of their garbage in the garbage cans:

Jim and Gary kept their shirts on and refused to wear the standard coconut bra outfit that many men were sporting:

We saw a lady with a giant glass containing a large quantity of margarita mix (or something):

John got to don his shark hat:

Best of all, none of us ended up in the special Jimmy Buffet Prison:

Star Wars Theme

For the vocologists out there

Maybe if he had stayed for more than a couple of quarters at the U, he could have taken a music class that discussed how a singer should treat his/her voice. Frankly, Dylan's voice hasn't sounded this bad for so many songs in recent memory. That gravelly croak suggested too many cigarettes, too much phlegm and too little hydration.

Nellie McKay -- The Dog Song

Thank you, shyestviolet, for sharing this song!

Dog song

How many songs about dogs do you have on your iPod? Gary has more than he knew. He found this one today and recommended it to me.

Young pianist

The pipa

Shyestviolet is right, Gao Hong plays a mean pipa. She played it at our last concert. If you didn't know the pipa before, now you'll have a mental image to go with the background music you hear in your favorite Chinese restaurants.

Jackie Greene!

We are so THERE

And the convenience fee was only $45.00!

Happy Friday

Christmas program

If you have a desire to see and hear an interesting Christmas program, I bet this will be good:

All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914

Winter Wonderland

And after this I have to go search iTunes for James Taylor Christmas tunes.

The greatest musical ever

Tomorrow we are going to see my friend's kids in another fantastic musical production and best of all? This one is free! Whoo! We have seen them in several shows. Tomorrow's is a shortened version of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," which is among my top five (others being "Camelot," -- Richard Harris-style -- "Jesus Christ Superstar," -- Ted Neeley-style -- and apparently anything by Andrew Lloyd Webber [EXCEPT "Les Miserable" and "Cats]," plus "Pippin" -- Ben Vereen-style). Anyway, in preparation for the show tomorrow I snagged the Donny version of Joseph from the library and made the whole family watch it tonight. I had to tell the whole story over again how my good friend, Andrea and I treated ourselves to a trip to Chicago to see the show after we graduated from grad school. We loved it then and my family LOVED it tonight. How could anyone not? It might be the best convergence ever of perfect story + perfect composer + perfect Mormom DREAMBOAT/or dreamboat in general! Be your own judge:

Pavarotti

Nessun Dorma

And of course, It's a Man's World, with James Brown.

Bob Dylan

Never really appreciated his music much. I think his talky singing style interfered with my paying attention to the content of his music. I've been listening to lots of Gary's library tunes and Modern Times has made its way to the top of my playlist. I have come to the conclusion that Workingman's Blues #2 is the best song ever written. This video is crappy but this song isn't available on bobdylan.com, or I would link there. If you haven't heard it go listen. Get a box of tissues. Makes you think of grandpas, small towns, and so on. (Note to my bro: this might be a really good song to work into any A/V presentations you may have planned for JMW's 100th. Not sure if Bob would give the okay to have The Oak Ridge Boys cover it. That might not go over well.)

WORKINGMAN'S BLUES #2

There's an evenin' haze settlin' over town
Starlight by the edge of the creek
The buyin' power of the proletariat's gone down
Money's gettin' shallow and weak
Well, the place I love best is a sweet memory
It's a new path that we trod
They say low wages are a reality
If we want to compete abroad

My cruel weapons have been put on the shelf
Come sit down on my knee
You are dearer to me than myself
As you yourself can see
While I'm listening to the steel rails hum
Got both eyes tight shut
Just sitting here trying to keep the hunger from
Creeping it's way into my gut

[Chorus:]
Meet me at the bottom, don't lag behind
Bring me my boots and shoes
You can hang back or fight your best on the frontline
Sing a little bit of these workingman's blues

Well, I'm sailin' on back, ready for the long haul
Tossed by the winds and the seas
I'll drag 'em all down to hell and I'll stand 'em at the wall
I'll sell 'em to their enemies
I'm tryin' to feed my soul with thought
Gonna sleep off the rest of the day
Sometimes no one wants what we got
Sometimes you can't give it away

Now the place is ringed with countless foes
Some of them may be deaf and dumb
No man, no woman knows
The hour that sorrow will come
In the dark I hear the night birds call
I can feel a lover's breath
I sleep in the kitchen with my feet in the hall
Sleep is like a temporary death

[Chorus]

Well, they burned my barn, and they stole my horse
I can't save a dime
I got to be careful, I don't want to be forced
Into a life of continual crime
I can see for myself that the sun is sinking
How I wish you were here to see
Tell me now, am I wrong in thinking
That you have forgotten me?

Now they worry and they hurry and they fuss and they fret
They waste your nights and days
Them I will forget
But you I'll remember always
Old memories of you to me have clung
You've wounded me with your words
Gonna have to straighten out your tongue
It's all true, everything you've heard

[Chorus]

In you, my friend, I find no blame
Wanna look in my eyes, please do
No one can ever claim
That I took up arms against you
All across the peaceful sacred fields
They will lay you low
They'll break your horns and slash you with steel
I say it so it must be so

Now I'm down on my luck and I'm black and blue
Gonna give you another chance
I'm all alone and I'm expecting you
To lead me off in a cheerful dance
I got a brand new suit and a brand new wife
I can live on rice and beans
Some people never worked a day in their life
Don't know what work even means

[Chorus)

Now go dry your eyes.

More music from the Y

This is the latest song in Bodypump for the tricep set. The song is three minutes long when you just watch the video. It feels like 15 when they make us do the 40,000 dips at the end. It gets ouchy.

More Jackie Greene

Farewell, So Long, Goodbye

Cult of music

Now that I belong to this cult, I feel compelled to tell all of my readers out there that I HIGHLY recommend purchasing an Ipod Shuffle at your EARLIEST convenience. Next, load all of your favorite music onto it and START LISTENING. When the daughter screams because her mother won't pour Fresca in her sippy cup, turn it up! When the husband wants to talk about a rough day at work, just set the volume level low so you can have some pleasant background music to go with the griping. Activities of daily living can be improved with some excellent background music. (Currently playing: Come on Eileen, by Dexy's Midnight Runners.)