Todd Snider, Thursday Night's Hurricane, MJ and more

Todd Snider is a musician I had never heard of before Wed, June 24, when I found myself driving home in my car and listening to his interview on NPR. If you did not hear it, I strongly recommend you follow this link and listen to it: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105862831. I found him refreshingly genuine and down to earth for someone who is clearly talented artistically. He was intelligent and just sounded like an all around cool guy who's been through the ringer and still manages to keep doing what he loves. His explanation of why he wrote a song about Doc Ellis, a Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher who threw a no-hitter against the San Diego Padres while tripping on LSD in 1970 has stayed in my mind since I listened to the interview. He calls it a song for the unprepared. About it he said, "I felt connected to that, because many times I have come to work unprepared and still done OK," Snider says. "I think Doc Ellis gives unprepared people everywhere someone to look up to. He didn't do it [take LSD on the day he was supposed to pitch] on purpose — he thought he was pitching the next day." The title of the song is "America's Favorite Pastime." Todd Ellis is a cool dude. Listen to the song. You will not be disappointed.

Thursday, June 25 brought torrential rains and lightening that we rarely see in the Greater Cincinnati Area. My garden was leveled. The ground was saturated through Friday evening. The corn was on it's side. At least one row of beans looks like it's not going to make it. Tomato plants were upheaved and knocked over. Bean plants were buried in the mud. Mammoth Sunflowers were on their sides. It was an ugly sight. As of Sunday, the one row of beans still does not look good. Other rows look poor but may pull through. The tomatoes and corn look good and everything else is pretty much upright after taking the spare time I've had the last few days to tend to it. The last three years, we have not gotten near enough rain for our (my nieghbors and my) gardens to prosper. This year, we've gone without rain for more than three days, once (6 days) since mid-May when most of my plants were put in the ground. I conditioned my soil which has a lot of clay to begin with, with peat moss and sand. It does a pretty good job of retaining moisture especially now that the plants are a good size. But with the way we've been getting rain, it doesn't drain quick enough. It's almost like I've done too good of a job. Even after the 6 day "drought" the soil was still moist two inches down. Once it gets to three is when you need to water. Don't think I'm complaining. I have over 200 tomatoes growing and starting to ripen and the corn is between knee and waist high. Several of my tomato plants are six feet tall. I've had one watermelon go from the size of a pea to the size of a baseball in four days. My neighbors and I are thinking it's going to be a good year.

MJ
Dear Michael,

when I was thirteen, I thought it was cool when you did the moonwalk. It wasn't as cool after I realized that I could only do it in my socks and even then, I wasn't really doing it, but it was still pretty cool. You were one hell of an entertainer back then. You set the bar for the spoiled brats and hedons that came after you.

R.I.P. I'm pretty sure you'll never be forgotten.

Sincerely,

Eric

P.S. You were one weird dude

The Cincinnati Reds came close to getting Mark Derosa. Instead the Cleveland Indians traded him to the Cardinals. Damn those Cardinals. Damn them. Damn them. Damn them.

Kentucky Bourbon: I have been rediscovering Kentucky Bourbon. Inexpensive or high priced, it's all good, mixed with the right beverage of course. Too much of it is bad news and I'm not just referring to the next morning.

I'd admit I'm an alcoholic, but I think you're supposed to quit after admitting that and I don't want to quit.

If you know any recovering alcoholics, don't drink in front of them. Give them a hug and have a soda instead.

Cheers

Inaugural Post (Descants, Salivations, Protestations, and Proclamations?)

So what the hell am I doing with this title, "Descants, Salivations, Protestations, and Proclamations"? Delusions of grandeur I am sure. Pretty sure I am going to keep sagacity gumballs in the URL. I love the word sagacious. Sounds way worse than it really is. And I love bubble gum. The idea of chewing gum and being sagacious appeals to me. Blowing bubbles can be that moment when the epiphany hits. Actually that would be when the bubble pops--or maybe not.

Yeah, I don't think the metaphor is that important so I'm going to leave it there for you to chew on.

I figure these first few posts are going to be kind of rough.

"Descants" is a word I have an affinity for. If you haven't read Robert Coover's Pricksongs and Descants, you should; has some great satire in it. Pretty offensive too, pending on how serious you are.

For you die hard grammatist I should warn you that I use anaphora without reserve (not really). And I'm not afraid to misuse a comma (shamefully it is true, I am not afraid--it's my way of sticking it to the man). And I start sentences with conjunctions whenever the farkle I feel like it (my way of being the man). And I am going to have a post later about f bombs, so until then, I won't be dropping them (trying to stay in touch with my sensitive side, which is better than touching it).

Descants are commentaries or short vignettes on a subject. Probably wishful thinking with what a windbag I can be. "Salivations" is a way of labeling something I drool over. I am thinking food, not women, admittedly there are women that get my juices flowing, but I've learned to control my glands around them . . . sort of. Plus I think it's funny that if you take that one "i" out of salivation, you get salvation. I always figured if I were a preacher, I'd find a way to use that.

Yea, Salivations are temptations and yea temptations are naughty and you must remove yourself from them. And so what you must do is take the I out of salivating, and what will that give you? Salvating! Wait a minute, let me look at this again. Yeah, this still needs some work. Come back next Sunday and try not to sin between now and then.

I beg your pardon, where were we? Protestations.

"Protestations" are for when I am irritated with something, which is pretty often. And "Proclamations" are for when I know what is best for everyone, including those who never read this.

I do not know if I will use this for retractions or any kind of apology. It'll be interesting to see if I do. I think there will be those times when I run my mouth and regret it. Hopefully, I never get the urge to do this when I 've been hitting the sauce.

Confessions are out, too, although I wouldn't put it past me to bring up something from my childhood and exaggerate a little for the sake of entertainment and a little attention.

Maybe I should change the title to "Shut Up and Listen." Might suit me better. Or not--typically, people don't shut up and listen when I tell them . . . I mean, ask them to. Actually, I rarely insist on such things. And as a teacher, I've learned that some people may look like they're listening to me but really aren't. I figure people who don't listen to me, deserve what they got coming. And in fairness to my ears and eyes, I gain far more from listening and observing than I do from running my mouth (pretty sure I haven't always felt that way). In that respect, I guess it would be a title for the sake of irony.

So here goes my foray into this on-line journaling. It's about time really.

The more I think about it, the title I have doesn't seem so bad. Though I don't see too many of my posts being sagacious, you never know. At least the four categories give me some options.

Cheers.