Music player back online

...albeit w/ a different look than before. Oh well.

Music player offline

Sorry. Not much new here anyhow, so...

Just cuz I know you really care

It's about that time for me to review what's in the old blog playlist these days (and don't say, "A lot," smart aleck).

• "Black Cow" -- Steely Dan, Aja (1977): Quintessential '70s jazz-rock w/ some great narrative, good solos (Victor Feldman on electric piano, Tom Scott on sax)...and it's the Dan, so it must be good, right?
• "Low Down" -- Boz Scaggs, Silk Degrees (1976): Funky piece by Boz to whom I was really introduced by a co-worker and now really can't go much longer than a day without taking a listen.
• "Fascinating Rhythm" -- Dave Grusin, The Gershwin Connection (1991): Grusin (probably known best, somewhat unfortunately, for the theme to St. Elsewhere) keys this Gershwin arrangement with one of my favorite drummers (Dave Weckl) and my favorite vibraphonist (Gary Burton).
• "Follow Me" -- Pat Metheny Group, Imaginary Day (1997): Just a chill instrumental with cool guitar effects and driving piano by Lyle Mays.
• "DJ Culture" -- Pet Shop Boys, Discography (1991): Why not?
• "Again and Again" -- The Bird and the Bee, The Bird and the Bee (2007): Catchy post-pop ditty (recently performed rather sketchily, IMHO, on The Tonight Show).
• "Keep Moving" -- Ivy, In the Clear (2005): Dark yet bouncy (a la Saint Etienne), rife with melancholic trumpet...genius.
• "Reelin' In the Years (Live)" -- Steely Dan, Alive in America (1995): Great re-imagining of the original Dan classic; features Cornelius Bumpus on sax and Georg Wadenius on guitar.
• "Undertow" -- Chroma Key, Dead Air for Radios (1999): Dream Theater member's side project; just because...
• "Come In Out of the Rain" -- Engineers, Engineers (2005): Hailed by many in the Brit press for being at the vanguard of that nation's new music movement.
• "Soul Circus" -- Victor Wooten, Soul Circus (2005): Flecktone bass deity goes to town and adds some (more) soul.
• "Check the Rhime" -- A Tribe Called Quest, The Low End Theory (1991): Killer track from seminal collective's debut album.
• "Green Earrings" -- Steely Dan, The Royal Scam (1976): For a long time, my favorite Steely track; great bass and guitar work, especially in the bridge.
• "Opening" -- Philip Glass, Glassworks (1990): Sparse piano provides insights into the minimalist mind of Glass.
• "The Night Belongs to Mona" -- Donald Fagen, Morph the Cat (2006): Post-9.11 paranoia takes hold of a formerly bubbly Manhattanite, but Fagen makes it fun (sort of).
• "The Hook" -- Stephen Malkmus, Stephen Malkmus (2001): Fun narrative piece by the former Pavement front man.
• "Political Science" -- Randy Newman, The Randy Newman Songbook, Vol. 1 (2003): Even though it was written in the '70s, this song (this version is only Newman and his piano).
• "Back In the Day" -- Christina Aguilera, Back to Basics (2006): Xtina's paean to those who came before.
• "Almost Gothic" -- Steely Dan, Two Against Nature (2000): My favorite song from Becker and Fagen's Grammy-winning comeback.
• "Nothing Personal" -- Stefon Harris & Blackout, Evolution (2004): Driving, vibraphone-driven combo jam.
• "3 Sides" -- W. Ellington Felton, Outrospective: Me Then, Me Now: DC-based conscious artist who DJs (at least, until recently he did) during Belgian Beer Happy Hour at Bohemian Caverns.
• "Pixeleen" -- Steely Dan, Everything Must Go (2003): The Dan turn gamers (or is it indie auteurs) and manipulate an impressionable and attractive youth.
• "Everywhen" -- Massive Attack, 100th Window (2003): These trip-hop pioneers go at it again in this really dark (but mesmerizing) piece.
• "The Hollow" -- A Perfect Circle, Mer de Noms (2000): I can't believe this Tool frontman "side project" album is seven years old.
• "Premonition" -- Manic (2006 [?]): Downloaded from Amie Street; a good counterpoint to "Everywhen."
• "Down In the Bottom" -- Walter Becker, 11 Tracks of Whack (1994): First track off of the long-silent other Dan-ite's debut solo album.
• "That Door" -- Grow (2006 [?]): See "Premonition"; sounds like the Max Weinberg 7 dropped a little of the swing and added some funk (and vocals).
• "Sal Mineo" -- Doxy, Doxy Demos (2006 [?]): See "That Door"; hard-driving track that I like, but I must admit that any band that uses the name of a relatively long-forgotten movie star/murder victim will win my vote any day.
• "Jet Lag" -- Joss Stone, Mind, Body & Soul (2004): Bluesy pop from the apparent reigning queen of that idiom.
• "Sleepless" -- Marconi Union, Distance (2006): Don't try any lifting and don't operate heavy machinery after listening to this coma-inducing sonicscape.
• "Coming Back to Life" -- Pink Floyd, The Division Bell (1994): All the things one likes about more recent Floyd (i.e., strong Gilmour guitar, intros that last for three minutes, no Roger Waters muckin' about).
• "Dr. Wu" -- Steely Dan, Katy Lied (1975): Phil Woods' sax solo is but one piece of this masterful musical puzzle.
• "We R in Need of a Musical Revolution" -- Esthero, Wikked Lil' Grrrls (2005): The title says it all.

If you'd like more information on any of these tracks, let me know; I just don't particularly feel like doing a bunch of links, etc., right now. Sorry.

Reading more and reading "better" books redux

Here are some letters to the editor re: the CSM piece on reading "the classics," about which I posted a couple of days back:

Modern relevance of classic literature

Janine Wood's Jan. 16 Opinion piece, "Please, I want some more Dickens," really struck a chord with me. Last fall, my husband and I attended our first open house at my daughter's high school. The English teacher reflected on the choice of novel for the semester. "We either do 'Twelve Angry Men' or 'Great Expectations,' " she said. "But we're considering dropping Dickens because he's just too hard for the students."

One mother agreed with the teacher. But I begged her to keep Dickens – and my daughter indeed read "Great Expectations." We had great discussions about this story, even though my husband and I struggled to remember the intricacies of the plot.

But I do remember the first time I read a classic, thinking that I would find it so boring. The book was "Jane Eyre," and to this day I am haunted by Jane, Mr. Rochester, and the mad woman in the attic. That novel encouraged me to read other classics and to understand the allusions that can be found throughout literature.

Hooray for Ms. Wood's suggestion that we encourage reading of the classics. I think the best way to start is in the home, so I'll be pushing one of my best-loved books ("Little Women") my daughter's way again.
Maeve Reilly
Champaign, Ill.

Regarding Janine Wood's Jan. 16 Opinion piece on reading classic literature: Works by Charles Dickens are often found in the children's section. Why? Because adults do not want to read them. Keep in mind that Dickens was a serial writer. His material was meant to be read in sections over extended periods of time. What is more, his works were not written to satisfy any great literary calling; Dickens was a hack paid by the word.

Can children, or even most teens, appreciate the political satire of Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels"? Will Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" have the same influence now as it did in its day, since slavery has long ended? How many could grasp the nautical dialect that peppers Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick"? It is time to accept the fact that so-called classics are irrelevant to most modern readers. Defenders of the classics need to accept this and discover that there are many fine modern books as well.
David Cohen
Alturas, Calif.

New music

I took a little while today and made some revisions to the playlist at right. Hope you enjoy.

Caveat lector

Blog posts may become more sporadic now that Congress is back in session, so bear with me.

And no, I didn't know how to say "let the reader beware" in Latin without using an online translator.

Not much going on...

...thus little being blogged. Film at 11.

Tara Conner, Katie Rees, et al

In the wake of the recent beauty queen scandals, Salon provides us with Miss America 1998's viewpoint, which, of course, is the last word (note sarcasm here).

Lacking in inspiration today

That's all I'll say for now. Hope to have more for you later.

Not too happy (yet)

Just found out that Steely Dan is playing a live gig in Santa Ynez, California in mid-January. I don't know if the duo is playing with their fans' minds by calling that page "Steely Dan: Live '07," thus giving, at least this fair fanatic, the idea that more shows may be forthcoming. We shall see.

RIP, Robert Altman (updated)

Film director Robert Altman has passed away at 81. My favorite Altman movies:

• Gosford Park (my favorite);
• Kansas City;
• The Player; and
• Cookie's Fortune.

I've never seen many of his most important films (e.g., M*A*S*H, Nashville, etc.), so my list is far from bearing great insight into the auteur's career.

An interesting coincidence: I got The Long Goodbye from Netflix late last week and it's still sitting on top of my DVD player, yet to be viewed.

FYI: "RIP" is often taken to stand for "rest in peace," but, in fact, it originally stood for requiescat in pace, which is Latin for - what else - "rest in peace."

**UPDATE**
I moved the slide show previously at the top of this blog to a post by itself.

**UPDATE**
Thanks to Richard Wall, via Lew Rockwell.com, for the photo above. The article to which that links is a very interesting take on Altman's films, by the way.

I'm so done w/ the system that stores my music

I'll figure something else out as it's locked me out yet again!

Music's back, but my witty repartee isn't

Got the music to work again, but I'm so tired right now that I can't even begin to consider blogging today. Hope y'all will forgive me (and yes, I said "y'all").

SEO

Yesterday (11.15.06), I was reading Caps majority owner Ted Leonsis' blog, Ted's Take, and was made aware (or, at least, more aware) of the concept of search engine optimization, or SEO. I really don't understand it at all as yet, but with a little reading, maybe I'll get it.

Anyhow, the reason I bring it up is that I've "re-branded" my blog. It's no longer "The Big W Blog," but now has a title including my name and a word a lot of folks may not know (which: (1) given the intellectual elitist that I am, is spot on; and (2) should not be confused and/or affiliated with the Jack White band of that name). It's lame, I know, but only having four hits come up on Google when one types in one's name (with the middle initial and in quotes [if I don't do that, I'm inundated with country music junk]) is pretty sorry.

An SD primer

For those of you wondering why I like them so much, a song (most of them "slow jams" or "chill-out" joints) from each Steely Dan studio album:

• "Fire In The Hole" (Can't Buy A Thrill [1972])
• "Razor Boy" (Countdown To Ecstasy [1973])
• "Pretzel Logic" (Pretzel Logic [1974])
• "Doctor Wu" (Katy Lied [1975])
• "Don't Take Me Alive" (The Royal Scam [1976])
• "Aja" (pronounced like the continent on which China sits) (Aja [1977])
• "Gaucho" (Gaucho [1980])
• "Almost Gothic" (Two Against Nature [2000])
• "Green Book" (Everything Must Go [2003])

Unfortunately, "Bethlehem Steel" had to go so that I could educate the world as to the wonders of the Dan. ;)

Please vote on your favorite song below and then click on the link back to this page.

Which of the songs in the Steely Dan playlist do you like the most?

"Fire In The Hole" "Razor Boy" "Pretzel Logic" "Doctor Wu" "Don't Take Me Alive" "Aja" "Gaucho" "Almost Gothic" "Green Book"
View Results

My slide show has moved here

United they stand, but United may soon fall

Last night, after blogging briefly re: hockey, marathoning, and NYC chefs-turned-cynical scribes, I headed to Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium to watch the hometown XI, DC United, take on Jolt Cola New Jersey, er, Red Bull New York in the second leg of the Eastern Conference semifinals; United had taken the first contest by virtue of a lone goal by (likely MLS MVP) Christian Gomez. The fans were 100% ready for a renewal of the longtime rivalry, but the local boys played - and were coached - absolutely horrendously for the first 85 minutes. If it weren't for another late Gomez strike, the two sides would likely have gone into extra time and, possibly, penalty kicks, which, in my opinion, is less than optimal for settling who advances and who doesn't, but I suppose it's better than having the two teams just keep playing until one collapses enough for the other to score a cheapie. When the goal went in, the crowd of 21,455 seemed to rise as a giant, thunderous, black monolith.

All in all, it was a good match, with DC advancing by the skin of their teeth, 2-1 on aggregate. Even if they make it past New England next Sunday and into MLS Cup 2007 (which is far from a likelihood), I think Houston (who I can't really see losing to Colorado in the Western final, but who caved in to the scourge of political correctness before their first season post-San Jose began) is the class of the league and will beat United or the Revs without much difficulty.

New to Blogger

This is my first original post on Blogger; all other posts were pasted in from my MySpace blog. We'll see how this goes for a while and then draw some sort of conclusion about, well, something.