Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues by Bob Dylan

I suppose I am like most fans of music. We grow familiar with certain artists and music types as we grow older and that is what we listen to the most. I think, however, that I do a better job than most in at least trying to be open to new music. Of course some of the new music I discover is very old, still it qualifies as new to me. My recent discovery of John Prine certainly falls into that area.

For me something became apparent the other day as I was listening to my always on the Satellite Radio Outlaw Country. Bob Dylan is amazing. Bob Dylan was amazing. There is no comparison to this incredibly gifted songwriter. I will admit that the voice perhaps has to be considered an acquired test. The voice however, certainly in the sixties, was not bad and there are lists of singers that were not great technical singers.

This song, it is not the best song Dylan did. What makes it so great however is that it is still great. Dylan wrote so many great songs in that era between 62 and 66 that it is hard to keep track of them all. This song from Highway 61, just one of many great songs on that album and certainly overshadowed by Highway 61 and Like a Rolling Stone is underrated. I might not have not heard it for years and yet when out of the blue I heard it in the truck I just said to myself Wow.

We cannot try so hard to embrace the new that we forget what is amazing in our roots. Bob Dylan was and is the greatest songwriter in the rock era. If you are a Dylan fan then you can come up with scores of characters in his songs that you remember. I had a friend in college who had a party where everyone was supposed to come as a Dylan character. Of course many people were lazy and came with tambourines but how many singers could you have a party and attempt that with their songs.

God is God and no one should compare a mortal with God. But perhaps someday in the future we can say of a singer that we think is amazing and say they are Dylan like. That will be the ultimate compliment.

Huck Finn by Mark Twain

This book is called The Great American Novel by many literary critics. It is a very good book. Still in reading this book, as good as it was, there is no way it can be called a great novel. Twain to me was as much as a satirist as a literary writer.

Huck Finn is often at the top of the list of books banned by libraries and schools across the country. Why? Well like Faulkner in the early twentieth century Twain in the nineteenth used some very racially colorful language. Other concerns were about references to Huck and the Slave Jim going naked on the raft.

These complaints are silly to us in the modern world. The story of Huck Finn is very strong. Still this material is dated. Dated in a way that does not mean it should be controversial but that simply the story is a bit contrived. To me, when Tom appears and he and Huck are making efforts to free Jim the repeated efforts to make the plot more complicated and dangerous do not age well. It is understood that Tom was raised on adventure stories and wants to live out his imagination but the plot and things they have Jim do seem a bit silly and unrealistic.

Of course Twain was writing about a time when Black people were kept in bondage and slavery so perhaps this was just one more layer of ridiculousness he was trying to exhibit to prove the point of how a society could claim to be all beneovelent and gracious as the Southern culture claimed and yet keep slaves. Huck struggles with this too. When he comments on how he thinks less of Tom for Tom saying he would help him free a slave and when he admits he will be going straight to Hell if helps Jim escapes he shows the conflict of the South.

This is a good book. I am glad I read it. Perhaps like much literature it is a matter of style, taste, and personal preference but to me putting Twain in the echelon of writers such as Hemingway, Faulkner and Steinbeck is something that requires a stretch of the nature of the whoppers told by Tom Sawyer.

Read it. Enjoy it. It is, however, overrated.

We Are Young by Fun

Remember when it was considered selling out to put your music in a commercial. As the bands of the sixties finally broke down in the face of the monies that were offered for commercial endorsement it has gone from being considered selling out after you have success to a method of gaining success.

We have seen several bands place their music on commercials and then go from that to mainstream success. I guess one could say that it is not much different from having your music featured in a movie or a television show and gaining popularity from that. Certainly Grey's Anatomy all by itself has made popular a whole group of bands and artists with music featured on it's episodes.

I believe that this song was featured during an add during the Super Bowl. It might have been the one where the car was parachuted to Earth.

In anycase sometime in February this song became heavily featured on what we call " The Upstairs Playlist" which are songs that my son plays and plays. We were all sixteen once. We remember when songs were the most important soundtrack to our lives.

This is a very good song. Good beat, fun to play. It is everywhere currently. I listened to the whole album and certainly some of the comparisons I have heard to Queen in the operatic and at times over the top nature of their songs are apt.

There are good songs out there. One just has to listen and look.

Someone That I Used To Know by Gotye

About six weeks ago my son insisted that I listen to a song on Spotify by a group called Fun. In doing so I noticed that the number one track on Spotify overall was this song by a band called Gotye.

I think this song wins. I do not know anything about this band, I think I may have heard Australia as a home country but I have not confirmed.

This song is haunting. The singer on the high notes has a definite Sting quality to his voice. This is never a bad thing. Music is so fragmented these days, any song that is not rap that makes it into the consciousness of teenagers is rare and must have a broad based appeal.

This song is catchy and well done. Surely one of the best new songs I have heard recently.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

As my son continues to read the horror stories in his English Monsters class he has moved on to Frankenstein. Thus so have I. Looking at the history of this book I always thought it was written at the end of the eighteen hundreds but I have found that it was written in 1818, it's second edition released in 1823.

The first thing that comes to light when reading this book is that everything we have seen and known of the Frankenstein story from modern television and movies is far from the book.

The story is told with a few different perspectives. We first meet Ship's Captain Walton, guiding a ship through the Arctic as he searches for a passage to the Pacific. Locked in by ice and facing a possible mutiny the Captain has much on his mind. Soon he has more. His sailors see a vision of a large man with a sled being pulled by dogs. He seems to be an apparition this far north and soon disappears. However soon he finds a man on an iceflow, half frozen, delirious and pulls him on board.

As the man thaws out and recovers his senses over a couple of days he begins to tell his story to the Captain. His name is Frankenstein. He tells Walton of his life story. His going to college and becoming entranced with Chemistry. Working to the point of exhaustion he discovers a method of reanimation that will allow him to bring the dead to life. Specifically he creates from parts of deceased beings a man. He makes him big and soon has created an eight foot tall man. As this being comes to life the Scientist becomes disgusted with the being, he regrets his decision. The Monster leaves the labratory, and in the part of the story one finds odd the Doctor just forgets him, glad to be rid of him.

Over time however the Doctor learns that he is not rid of the Monster. As losses begin to occur in his life starting with the loss of his youngest brother to a murder we begin to see that the Doctor will have to come to a resolution with his creation.

The Monster has learned much. Upon his revisiting with his creator he tells him of his life since leaving the laboratory. The Monster's treatment at the hand of society and his then anger with and violence toward society is laid at the feat of his creator.

The story goes on from there, we meet Frankenstein again. We see the Doctor, we see the Ship's Captain and we see the end of the story. The losses suffered by the Doctor are never made wholly right.

The story is very well told. It is like a new story as certainly the Mel Brooks Young Frankenstein version never comes to pass.

Interesting to me the story of the anger of the monster felt at his being rejected by society is telling. He loves people, he loves nature, his is a heart capable of love and filled with a desire to be part of the world. As his features and appearance bring nothing but fear and revulsion from those who meet him he is filled with sadness, followed by anger and hate. It does not take a huge stretch of the mind to compare Frankenstein's story with that of a child bullied at school who turns violent on his oppressors, or any of the thousands in jail for violent offenses who have earlier been rejected from society and struck back.


Human nature cannot be changed but certainly the realization that any harm or insult inflicted on a person can cut to the core, can affect their self worth and more. The truth is we never know what is the straw that breaks the camel's back that turns a person's future to one filled with violence. Usually it is not so easily traceable as the straight line one sees with the Monster in Shelly's book. The line however is there, it can be seen, and we should do our best in how we treat others to keep that line from ever having a point of no return.

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

I have said in this space before that I am a big fan of Shakespeare. That continues to be the case. Being that I am a huge fan of Roman history a rendition of the history of Caesar told by Shakespeare is a must read.

Shakespeare's version like so many of his other writings have phrases that have become a pert of our language such as Marc Antony's " Friends, Romans, Countrymen." The story is told with much more emphasis on Brutus and the conspirators on the famous March day than on Caesar himself.

Cassius and the other conspirators have decided as the play starts that Caesar must be stopped. It is feared that despite him refusing a crown from the multitudes that the next day, the Ides of March, he does expect to be named King. The recruit Brutus to do the deed. Brutus considers long and is not sure. He knows that no man can put himself above Rome. He fears that soon Caesar will be unstoppable and will cause an end to the Republic.

Caesar has had a soothsayer tell him to beware the Ides of March, his wife Calpurnia begs him to stay home from the Senate for her sake. He considers and almost decides to honor her request. In the end however he goes to the Senate and the rest is, literally, history.

Caesar is killed in the beginning of the end of Act III but the play goes on considerably from there. It is here that Shakespeare has the most telling comments on both the citizens and plebe's of society as well as the ruling class.

Once rid of Caesar the conspirators wonder what the reaction of Marc Antony will be. Antony a confidante of Caesar chooses his reaction carefully. Brutus explains his love of his victim but his love of Rome more forced him to do the deed.

Brutus speaks to the crowds that have gathered and gives a very persuasive speech saying much of the same. His love of Caesar but his need to end the ambition. The people are moved to agree and we see many of the citizens speaking in agreement of the need for Brutus's act. Allowed to speak Antony then speaks of his friend. In a brilliant speech Antony speaks as if in agreement with the murderers but actually in words of agreement is praising Caesar and criticizing the reasoning of the conspirators. In a telling mark against the citizens and how easily they are swayed we see the same people who earlier agreed with Brutus now agreeing with Antony and ready to riot in the streets.

As Antony spake last his side wins and the conspirators must flee. We see Antony and Octavian on the field of battle. In the end, his side defeated and his capture assured Brutus has his servant hold his sword while he runs himself through against it. Antony coming upon the fallen Brutus praises him stating " There was a Man." Antony in a period of 48 hours has seen the death of both Caesar and Brutus. He speaks well of Brutus because he believes that, he alone of the conspirators, acted with noble causes and thoughts, that is to save the Republic.

Shakespeare's language and the turn of a phrase is far and beyond his contemporaries and ours. This is a wonderful play and another example of the great gift of Shakespeare.

Charlie Wilson's War

Directed by Mike Nichols, written by Aaron Sorkin, this 2007 movie had a pedigree that made it stand out. With a cast of Tom Hanks, Phillip Seymour-Hoffman, Julia Roberts and Amy Adams the movie was not lacking for top notch acting.

As a commercial release however the movie did not do that well. Hoffman was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor but did not win.

The movie tells the story of Texas Demcocratic Congressman Charlie Wilson and his efforts to help the rebels in Afghanistan fighting the Russians who have invaded their country. Wilson portrayed accurately as a hard drinking, fun loving Texas Congressman is convinced by a wealthy Texas socialite Joanne Herring (portrayed by Roberts ) to look into doing more to help the Afghan people and in particular the refugees that are streaming into Pakistan.

Tom Hanks gives a strong performance as Wilson. Realistically does Hanks ever give a bad performance. I, myself, would like to see him play against character once, play a true bad guy but at this juncture it might not work, he is too ingrained in our minds. Wilson visits Pakistan and is moved by the refugees and their plight. He is shocked that the weapons we are supplying are as good as useless against the gunships that the Russians are using.

When he returns home he uses his position on the Armed Services Committee to raise the allotment to help the Afgan people from five to ten million dollars. When he asks for a CIA agent to brief him on the situation on the ground he is presented with Gust Avratokos, a CIA Agent of huge passion who, because he really does not have anything else to do, becomes Wilson's main accomplice.

Over the course of a couple of years Wilson keeps pushing on the committee for more money for weapons and training until we see him at an appropriation's meeting asking for the budget for the rebels to be raised to 500 million. A colleague asks him where this appropriation started and he says with a sheepish grin, five million. So Wilson gets the job done.

It is a very good story, for me the movie works on all levels. The scenes of negotiations with the Israeli's and Egyptians to gain the Russian made weapons that must be gained for the rebels are very strong and gives one a peek at what the Covert ops world might be like. Why Russian made weapons? So that there can be plausible deniabiltiy on the America's behalf.

The end is telling as well. Of course the movie being written in 2007 gave the makers a clear chance to add a prologue with the benefit of time that hints at what becomes of Afghanistan. When the Russian army leaves America celebrates, Charlie Wilson celebrates and all feel good. We see Charlie winning an award, the first civilian given an award from the Covert Services. However at the end of the movie we see Charlie fighting still for monies to help the Afghans. Schools, hospitals and other non military help. He fails and fails miserably. With the war over, the Russian army gone America's interest has gone elsewhere.

Philip Seymour- Hoffman is fantastic in his role. If it is possible for an actor that wins as many awards as he does to be underrated he is.


Wilson never one to mince words said that " we fucked up the end game" Those soldiers fighting in Afghanistan for the last ten years would be sure to agree with him.