there's no accounting for taste...

... or is there?

We men are pretty good about hiding our true feelings about women in intellectual endeavors. But when it comes to the more visceral areas (such as music) our true prejudices come bubbling forth.

recently on andy whitman's blog someone commented that he would be willing to donate his wife's music albums to a charity record sale. This man named 3 bands in particular which (by implication) he would never admit to ever having listened to.

It reminded me of a humorous article i read in the lantern many years ago written by a record store owner. He was commenting on how women (in that particular time period and that particular area) really seemed to like Dan Fogelberg despite the fact that his music really sucked. The article ended with a particularly gorgeous woman entering the store and this store owner pretending to like Dan Fogelberg in order to start a conversation with her. The joke was on him when it turned out that she was sufficiently musically sophisticated to realize that Dan Fogelberg sucked, and his dream girl walked out the door.

There's an unwritten, unspoken, rule of musical taste demonstrated in these two instances. Music which appeals mostly to women is weaker, less sophisticated. Real men wouldn't be caught dead listening to such music, let alone enjoying it.

Nor is this prejudice limited to the realm of popular music. I took a class some years ago in the history of 20th century music. The prof bravely opined that Claude Debussy was perhaps the most underrated composer in the history of music. Why? Just listen! He wrote the kind of thing that appeals mostly to women. I've never had a man request Claire de Lune. The best composers were guys like Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. You know, the three B's. B standing for "ballsy."

Now, of course we men would never admit to such misogynist thinking, but it is real nonetheless. I have to admit that a lot of this is coming out on my blog because of sour grapes. You see, I have the misfortune to write original piano music that sounds a lot like George Winston. Thus a couple of the people I have entrusted to listen to my music have said stuff like:

"please don't take this the wrong way, but you sound like George Winston."

That, of course, is the kiss of death. My music, should it actually become popular enough to be commented on by actual music critics, will receive nothing but well deserved derision.

It could be worse I suppose. I could be compared to Yanni. My wife and I attended a Yanni concert some years ago and it was a veritable sea of middle aged women. There were some husbands there who were either secure enough in their manhood to admit that the guy can actually play or too whipped to say "no." But of course there were enough men that stayed home drinking beer and listening to old Stones albums to make the dichotomy between male music and female music obvious.

But perhaps we should ask ourselves who makes the rules about which music is sophisticated and refined and which music is, well, not. Maybe the fact that most music critics are male has a lot to do with it.

Saturday nite and i aint got nobody

actually not true. i spent an enjoyable evening with most of my family. Nancy and my son jake and daughter anya went to denise's for ice cream. we have a lot to celebrate! nancy landed a job that looks like it's going to be a goodie at Putnam Insurance Agency. this agency is a small office- only 6 employees. Nancy will be working 1-5, just 4 hours a day. We'll still be able to have lunch together daily. Nancy learned her job so quickly that they cut the training period down to only 2 days- monday she starts working her regular schedule. this is good because thursday she came home with a headache from working 7 hours in front of a computer- something she is not used to yet.

jake is working with a new friend to form a new band. this friend is a tatoo artist, so jake is looking at getting some free tatoos, or at least cheap tattoos. he also showed us some pictures of his band "Vomitrocity." If you're into grindcore and heavy metal, his band will be playing at High Five on June 2- along with Macabre (I guess this is a pretty well known band in extreme music.)

below is a picture of Vomitrocity. Jake is the one with his back to the camera.

Wonder of Wonders...

...Miracle of Miracles:

When I took my break today at "Yeah Me Too," Jeff Cannell was actually... not there! I did finally meet Sam, though, as well as getting to talk to Jovan (as i usually do).

Jovan is one of those wonderfully kind people who you wonder how they will make it running a business. He hands out coffee and people ask, "Is it still only a dollar?" And, of course, if you don't have a dollar, you can pay tomorrow.

It reminds me of a story my dad told me about my paternal grandfather, Jacob Kohn. Grandpa started a drugstore and ran it during the depression. He was a kind hearted soul, and often gave people prescriptions despite their inability to pay. One time a woman came in and didn't have any money for her prescription, so grandpa took some turtle eggs instead. When he brought them home, his wife eyed them suspiciously and asked, "What are these?"

"They're turtle eggs."

"What are you supposed to do with them?"

"I suppose you cook them and eat them."

"Eat them? Are they kosher?"

You see, my father's family were orthodox Jews. After looking it up, it seems that turtle eggs being reptilian are definitely not kosher. So they ended up getting given away to someone.

Grandpa eventually lost his drugstore to someone with more business savvy who turned it into a highly successful enterprise. He did however make it through the depression without losing the family's house, although there was a period of about nine months where he had to take any odd job that he was able to find.

In other news, when I came home today my turntable had arrived courtesy of UPS. So Jeff, much as it may grieve you, you have to give me back my Kenny Loggins album now.

ok, I did it too.....

Your Political Profile

Overall: 30% Conservative, 70% Liberal

Social Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

Ethics: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Like most everyone else that took this test, I'm not so sure I agree, but here it is...I'm sure Fred will follow with his assesment too

Peace

Fred says, "is that a challenge?":

Your Political Profile

Overall: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Social Issues: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

Ethics: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

and a bonus test:

Your Deadly Sins

Envy: 40%

Pride: 40%

Greed: 20%

Lust: 20%

Sloth: 20%

Wrath: 20%

Gluttony: 0%

Chance You'll Go to Hell: 23%

You will die at the hands of a jealous lover. How ironic.

Just rambling....

OK, so today, I walked Fred to the bus stop at 6:45 AM, came home and mowed the lawn with our reel mower, then hopped on my bike and rode up to Antrim Lake via the bike path. It was a nice ride although longer than I thought it would be. Once there I noticed that my back tire was a tiny bit low and that I had lost the cap to the air tube, so I biked back towards home, via the bike path, but went on to the bike store next to Mozarts on High St. I got my tire pumped up and a new cap on the valve and headed home via Walhalla only to circle around to Clinton Heights near Indianola when the chain came off. I flipped the bike over and took about5 minutes or so to unjam the chain and get it back on the front rail. Came home and it was only 10:15!! Its been a busy day since then. I have learned a few things since going carless.....first off, its a good way to shed a few pounds! All the biking and walking are doing our waistlines, hips, and legs wonders! Good walking shoes are no longer a luxury, they are a nessecity (never did really learn how to spell that word!) Fashion has gone out the window, and functionality has taken over! A good bike is worth the investment, rain gear and a large umbrella are also essential, as well as a folding grocery cart. I still need the rain gear, but got a really good umbrella and a nice little white folding grocery cart. I'm going to buy a Burley Flatbed for my bike. You won't be able to miss me when I get it..I will be the only Clintonvillite riding the neighborhood with a couple of yorkies strapped to a cargo trailer. Should be interesting, but I am certainly loving being carless more than I thought I would. Simplifying our lives has been the best thing we have ever done for our marriage.

Was offered a job at the insurance agency, they even asked when I could start. Then they sent me home and told me they would call with an offer of hourly pay and a start date. I have not heard from them yet.....I hate waiting! :angry2: I had to take a personality test for the job, and it came back that I am a very focused person, somewhat skeptical :huh2:, a perfectionist, and shy, quiet and reserved. I would say that the accesment is fairly accurate. I hope to start Monday, but we'll see.

Fred is awsome :pianoplayer:. We had a good dinner tonight, nine bean loaf, broccoli and oven fries, and good dinner music. Then Fred took me to Mozarts for dessert and coffee.

Good day, good day :cheesy2:

Oh, one more thing...our neighbor is bailing on his 14 month lease next week...if anyone needs a nice two bedroom apartment with awsome, environmentally friendly, vegetarian, neighbors, let us know!

its late and my spelling sucks tonight...have a good sleep! Speaking of sleep, I just thought of something else...I seem to be going through another cycle of insomnia :cry2: Oh how I hate that!!

Nitey nite (hopefully ! :undecided2: )

hey Clintonville! What gives on Kenny Loggins!?

So with my vintage turntable on the way from ebay i realized that i only have one vinyl record around here and in a panic ran down to Lost Weekend to stock up. After picking out a couple records that i used to have in my former record collection, i was informed that as a promotional i was entitled to a free Kenny Loggins album.

hmmmmmmmmmmm...

So Clintonville obviously is unloading a lot more of their Kenny Loggins albums than they are buying and Lost Weekend has a surplus. Of all the artists i could have or would have imagined would get this dubious distinction, Kenny is not one of them.

Well, that's ok by me. Your loss is my gain.

In other news I went clubbin' with Scott Sloan Saturday night. Actually not really. Just went to one club: to see/hear the battle of the bands and cheer on El Remedy, Seth Jewett's band. The average quality of bands has gone up greatly since my year or two of hitting the bar band scene. We heard 3 bands and they were all pretty good. Seth's band was definitely the tightest sounding musically though.

yeah... the other thing was that i was glad i brought my musician's earplugs. I got these things a few years back when i was worried about my hearing. They are supposed to filter sound in such a way that music still sounds musical- as opposed to the generic plugs you buy at the drugstore to wear when you are mowing the lawn with a power mower. They do work- kind of. The music is still definitely on the dull side even with these snazzy expensive plugs. One thing on my "to do" list is to pick up some filters for the plugs that aren't quite so drastic. The ones I have filter out 10db, and I want to pick up 6db filters. (maybe to wear for Michael Gallaugher worship sets.)

It was fun playing music critic with Scott afterwards. I have more musical training than Scott, but less practical experience- particularly with "harder" forms of music such as what we were listening to that night. In vain Scott tried to explain the various nuances between grind core and nu-metal and other such stuff. I have to admit that when it comes to songs with people actually singing words, I prefer to hear and understand the words. So I like sparser textures- like maybe just a guy or gal and one guitar...?

Way too much (or little) to ask in the noughts, I know.

Real Men use Reel Mowers

quote from Living Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

It may be that Christians, notwithstanding corporate worship, common prayer, and all their fellowship in service, may still be left to their loneliness. The final break-through to fellowship does not occur, because, though they have fellowship with one another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. so everybody must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy.

Yesterday was my first bout with the reel mower. For those of you that don't know, a reel mower is the kind that operates only by muscle power: not gasoline, not electricity, not atomic energy or whatever. It wasn't the overwhelmingly wonderful experience i had hoped for. of course when one first goes retro, one hopes that it will just be soooooo cool! not always!

of course, a lot of it is just tweaking. when you get a turntable again, you remember how you had to maintain the needle, the records, and all that stuff. A reel mower is kinda the same way. Keep a generous supply of WD40 on hand and don't be afraid to tweak the adjustments until you've got it just right.

Another word to the weary: don't be afraid to put your gut on the thing. Foolishly I thought i would have the arm strength to muscle my way through the tall grass. Wrooooooooooooong! otoh if you want to actually build up some arm strength, a reel mower might be the way to go.

Yesterday Nancy and I went down to the cycle shop to check out some "alternate transportation." I have femoral-patella syndrome, and Nancy lost most of the cartilage in her left knee a couple years back in a knee operation. so we are seriously looking at a couple of bikes that have the pedals somewhat forward to be easier on the knees. It makes me a bit ashamed when I remember how i used to zip around on the 10 speed racing bike of my youth.

Incredible Weight Lifting

Well, Fred and I did something this week that has lifted an incredible weight off of us....we sold our car and became bonifide biking/bus riding/walking, carless Americans! Not only does this free up a significant amount of money in our monthly budget, but it just feels good to not be contributers to the consumerism of gas consumption, and air pollution. We have moved towards a life of simplicity for a few years now and this just seems to be the culmination of all we have worked for. There is a huge sense of freedom in not relying on a car. Michael Card wrote a song who's lyrics sum up the feeling I have right now....

Every heart needs to be set free
From possesions that hold it so tight
"Cause freedom's not found in the things that we own
Its the power to do what is right,
With Jesus our only possesion, Then giving becomes our delight
And we can't imagine the freedom we find From the things we leave behind

And the last verse of the song was an eye opener for me when I ponder the things that Fred and I have owned in the past and the reasons we owned them....

We show a love for the world in our lives
By worshipping goods we possess
When Jesus says, Lay all your tresures aside
And love God above all the rest
'Cause when we say no to the things of the world
we open our hearts to the love of the Lord
And its hard to imagine the freedom we find
From the things we leave behind

I cannot possibly tell you what a burden has been lifted from us by getting rid of possessions that we were enslaved to during our process of simplicity. I look forward with great expectation the things that God can do through us with this new found freedom, and the level we have been brought to by getting rid of our car, our car payment, and our insurance payment.

On other family news. Wow, God has been blessing our socks off since we got back from California. Fred's mother wanted to find creative way to share the inheritence she got from Fred's grandfather, a rather HUGE amount of money, so she has contacted each of our children, and has made arrangements to pay for each of them to go to college!!!!! Thats what I wrote, college, paid in full! :cheer: Our daughter starts at the Aveda Institute in June. Our youngest son will be starting in June also, taking Sports Medicine and Personal Training, at Columbus State and will transfer to Ohio State to further his degree to become a Physical Therapist, and our middle son will be starting in the fall at most likely at CCAD majoring in Graphic Design. All paid for by the generosity of their grandmother. God is soooo good!

Lastly, I had my second interview today with the owners of Putnam, White, Lewis, and we all agree its a good fit and are ready to proceed with hiring me. I will find out on Monday or Tuesday, the nitty gritty details of pay and start date! For those that don't know the details, its a small insurance agency right on High St (next to Beechwold Natural Foods) for general office help. Hours are 1-5 daily.

Can God get any gooder than this???

my wife

i just want to take a minute to tell everybody how amazing my wife Nancy is. she has been sick as a dog for 3 days now, yet still manages to take care of the house and prepare meals for me. two days ago she went out and got 2 great matching bicycles for us so that we can ride places together. yesterday we rode to the clintonville market together, and she bought me a beer.

need i say more?

well, ok i will!

she has applied for a job at a clintonville area insurance agency. friday she has a "meet the owners" meeting- a good sign i think that they are going to offer her the job.

please pray about that, and also that she feels better soon.