Underwater Sunshine by The Counting Crows

I have been listening to this album for three months. The Counting Crows are one the bands that are always on my list of favorites. They actually are touring this summer, but did not come close enough for us to see them, which was a disappointment.

The Crows are not making much new music, just recently they released a Live album comprised of their classic debut album August and Everything After, and this album follows that pattern. Made up of covers of bands you have not heard of, popular songs of theirs never put on an album of original material and more the album may not be new songs but the Crows make every song they sing notably theirs.

The highlights on this album are many. The two songs that any Crows fans know but that only appeared on rare albums such as the August and Everything edition are Four White Stallions and Jumping Jesus. While both are strong Four White Stallions ranks in league with the best songs the band has ever recorded. Listen to the song a couple of times and you will never hear it without singing along.

Meet Me on the Ledge, Teenage Gravity, and You Ain't Going Nowhere are typical Crow songs. Adam Duritz vocals will always be easily identifiable from his talk sing approach to hos storytelling and some of these songs have the live feel that is missing from so much overproduced music these days.

The Crows could be one of the world's best cover bands, their version of Friend of the Devil is perhaps the best I have heard of that often covered song, and on this album their version of the Pure Prairie League seventies song Amii is, again, a song that you cannot help tapping your foot and singing along. A great version.

It seems like the legacy of Gram Parsons just gets longer and longer. Seeing Elizabeth Cook live a couple of weeks ago she did a Gram cover that was a highlight and Duritz and the Crows also do so. Not taking the easy route however the boys cover " Return of the Grievous Angel." No one betters Gram Parsons but the Crows arrangement is a little more folksy, a little less sparse, and it does well. The truth is each band should cover a Parsons song so that we can make sure new generations understand how great this singer who died way too young was.

This is a great album from a still great band.

channel ORANGE by Frank Ocean

Frank Ocean's solo debut album has been getting a great amount of buzz. Ocean has made news recently by admitting that he is gay, perhaps the biggest amount if news is how little most folks seem to care about this.

The album he has just released however is one of the strongest of the year. With a range of musical styles, rap, Prince, Sly Stone, and other early Soul musicians Ocean is playing with the big boys on this album.

The first single Thinking About You has a strong backing track and shows influences from Prince. Sierra Leone is a sing song that sounds like anything but a song from 2012. This song would easily fit on a pre Purple Rain Prince album.

Continuing on the soul train Sweet Life starts with Ocean stating " the first song wasn't the single "

The strongest song to me in the album is " Super Rich Kids" in which Ocean laments too much wine, green, white lines, maid service and not enough time with parents one can see this song having a strong meaning and yet being embraced by the the same kids and culture it criticizes. I told my oldest son about this album, I could easily see this song being played by his set.

Pyramids a nine minute melt again visits Uncle Prince is sound and scope and is followed by Lost, a ramble on getting lost in the moment of living the high life.

Forest Gump is a potential single with actual references to the movie and the character, a nice beat, and Ocean's telling us how his fingertips and lips burn from the cigarettes.

The song most talked about is Bad Religion, Ocean sang this on a performance on Jimmy Fallon. Ocean has admitted that the song was about a love he had for a man when he was in his late teens. The song however speaks to anyone who has lost a love. The intro organ sounds even sound like a modest bit of influence from Prince's Let's Go Crazy. Ocean talks about any unrequited love being a Bad Religion is it brings you to your knees. Certainly we have all been there, from my eighth grade daughter to the folks you see in the bars and meat markets every Friday night. We are all seeking someone to fill the hole in our lives and when that attraction is unrequited it is as Ocean says " a one man cult." This is a very strong song.

Clearly in this review I do not have a great deal of references and understanding of soul music but I can tell you that this is a great album. The music is much greater than the sum of its parts. I have listened to this over the last couple of weeks more than any other music. I am impressing my kids with my diversity of musical taste. This album has the language that one can find objectionable like much of the soul/rap music but this album has clear artistic intent. The cursing is not a cheap, lazy way to sell records.

Spend some time with this record, a very talented artist.

Game of Thrones Season Two

A couple of months ago when the second season of Game of Thrones was airing I wrote here that I was not pleased with the second season. As the story proceeds and many multiple story lines are moving along I found it hard to follow.

Simply put I was premature in my criticism. Over the last couple of weeks my wife and I have watched the last seven episodes of Season Two, we had them tivoed, and the show has been stunning. I have come to the resolution that this is not a show that I can watch once a week, it just has too much going on.

In the future my plan will be to watch all 12 episodes in a short period.

So much is going on it is really not possible to write about it. With seven different people vieing for the throne nothing is close to being resolved.

Some highlights and things to look forward to. The sitting King Jaffrey, product of his mother and uncle's illicit romance has turned into the character you most want to see get his comeuppance. Peter Dinklage as the King's dwarf uncle is perhaps the most complex and likable character in the show.

We have the North Guard the keepers of the wall, Stark's bastard son John Snow is part of the guard and now on a mission beyond the wall chasing wildlings.

We have the dragon lady with her three young dragons which she birthed in fire at the end of Season 1.

As the last episode of Season Two ends we finally see The White Walkers everyone talks about. They do exist and they are on the move.

Bring on Season Three. I still wish they would cut back on the sex that in most places is extremely gratuitous. However this might be the most complex, best done show on television. It is well worth watching, but it is not a show you can half watch. You have to invest to keep up.

Elizabeth Cook Live in Portland

Two weeks ago tomorrow my wife and I traveled to Portland to see Elizabeth Cook in concert. For those of you who do not know Elizabeth Cook is a country, kind of , singer. I say kind of because she is an interesting mix of what could be called traditional country, outlaw country and roots rock and roll. Cook, also hosts the very popular show called Apron Strings on the Outlaw Country channel on XM radio.

I suspect that Cook's persona is one that is either love or hate but for me at least I very much enjoy her music and her personality.

So I dragged my wife, who is always willing to do anything or see anything, to Portland to One Monument Square, a small venue off State street. When I say small, I mean small. This place was small. 200 people maybe in removable chairs. When we arrived we literally could have sat in the front row but instead decided on the third row at a good angle to the stage.

Cook's opening act was her guitar player and husband Tim Carroll. Carroll played some interesting songs and clearly has talent. He told some interesting stories and referred to his headliner/wife as the Good Witch of the South and with a wink" hoped that she was not listening just then."

The first thing noticed when Cook takes the stage is she is not nearly as tall as I thought. Wearing boots, an above the knee skirt and blonde hair she is an attractive lady but she also is forty and in her face looks like she has spent plenty of time at second rate dives on the road trying to make a career.

When she took the stage she did not look happy through the first couple of songs. My wife commented later that it was a shock to her, as her personality on her radio show is so flighty/bubbly it was a shock to see her with an almost frown stitched on her face. Soon after a couple of songs the reason became apparent, the monitor in her ear was not working and she was struggling to sing on note and pace correctly. Once this corrected she became the Elizabeth Cook we expected.

When she smiled at the end of a song and the wrinkles or perhaps better said crinkle lines appeared at her eyes she was a very attractive woman.

Beyond that though this lady can sing. She can wail as I have said in other descriptions. Quite a drawl makes her a bit hard to understand for the uninitiated but she has a solid catalog of songs that most of the faithful there well knew. We heard Heroin Addict Sister, Say yes to Booty ( A crowd favorite she describes as about drunk sex) and her most popular song El Camino. El Camino is an outlier however, not like most of her songs but her ode to a creep in an El Camino who " must have slipped quelide in my beer" is a tough song to not like.

What made the concert special however was her promotion of her new gospel rock album. Ending the show with Burn this Building Down and gracing us during the show with Gospel Plow songs like the Velvet Underground song Jesus we heard a gospel range that is perfect for Sunday morning after a tough Saturday night.

Cook has a deep appreciation for her musical heritage, a wonderful cover of Merle Haggard " I started loving you again " which her soaring vocal was wonderful for. She played a song of the recently deceased Doc Watson, and a fifties singer, I forget his name, now a car salesman in East Texas, who Cook deadpanned " was making dozens of dollars a year from her singing his song."

The stories Cook tells were personal and while rehearsed and told at all stops were still winners. Hearing about her Mom and Dad's hillbilly romance, her being the first child or their union, her ten older half brothers and sisters, her Dad's time in prison for running moonshine, and her Mother's pragmatic approach to their romance are all parts of the show. Hearing her and Tim tell us the story behind the song they call " The Roof Song" makes all understand the challenges of performers on the lower end of the pay scale.

A very good show, a great singer, a funny entertainer and a nice night. My wife who knew next to nothing going in of Elizabeth Cook said she had a great time and thought she was a very good singer.

And still hearing that twang asking if anyone out there drove any " Creepy Cars" in the intro to El Camino proved that she was the girl we loved on the radio.

If you get a chance see the girl next door Elizabeth Cook.

The Reason For God by Timothy Keller

I have read a couple of Timothy Keller's books before. They never disappoint. He is the pastor of a church in New York City so if it is one thing he understands it is having members of his congregation who are both seekers and doubters.

In this book he talks of The Reason for God. Not only the actual reason God exists but how the case for God's existence can be made.

He addresses both the Leap of Faith needed and then the Reasons for Faith that make one continue to believe in what he calls " an age of skepticism"

Mentioning Christianity's Critics by name, Harris and Dawkins for example, Keller makes a cogent appeal. Addressing many of the peripheral reasons folks turn away from religion he shows how, for example, many of those folks who proclaim thier own religosity from the rooftops and thus feel superior are missing much of the message of Jesus.

First and foremost is the fact that there is only one way to get to heaven and that is through the grace of God. Good works, being a good person, honoring the commandments these are, to Keller, outward manifestations of a desire to please God, but they in no way get you to heaven. If we were to get to heaven by our own works no one would be there. We all would fall short. Therefore God's s grace is the only way. Once one realizes this then feeling pride and better than those you feel live not as Godly as you do is silly. You all, rich and poor, those living in mansions and on the street, those who go to church and those who do not, will all only get to heaven by the goodwill and grace of God.

Talking of folks uncomfortable in church, turned off by what they perceive as hypocrites in churches Keller cautions that you will find sick people in hospitals and you will often find broken people in churches.

The book is not easy, it requires you to think about what he writes. It is broken up into sections and chapters and takes you on a good course through the book. As Keller says you do not have to wait to have no doubts to embrace God, if you do you might never do so. Let God find you.

A great religious writer Keller provides what he calls clues to God and makes a very plausible, not on just religeous means, but on secular truth and reasoning for those who want evidence that not only was Jesus real but divine. That he did die on the cross, their was an empty tomb and that he was seen after the resurrection. Depending heavily on Paul's letters which were written less than two decades after crucifixion he makes a historical case for Jesus and the resurrection.

If you are a seeker but faced with skepticism so common amongst the educated in a secular world this will not answer all your questions. It will make a case one can believe in however without feeling like they are believing in fairy tales.

Simply put the case for God and the creation, and Jesus and the resurrection is one that can be made. Alternative answers are just that , cases of their theory. For me I choose to believe in Jesus. I did before. I still do. This book however does offer some heavy arguments for apologists to believe in.

Mean Streets

This 1973 Martin Scorsese film is often referred to as a landmark film and highly influential as to how future movies of the genre were made. I was looking forward to seeing it.

In the movie Charlie played by Harvey Keitel is a young Italian trying to move up in the Mafia organization run by his Uncle. Charlie lives next to and is a good friends with Johnny Boy, played by Robert DeNiro. I think right after this part DeNiro must have got the part of young Vito in The Godfather II but I am not sure of the chronology of his parts.

The movie is lauded for it's symbolism. Charlie is a devout Catholic and the movie takes place with the neighborhood celebrating a Catholic festival, Charlie is trying to balance his duties to his belief in the church and his place in the Mob. His Uncle has paternal feelings for Charlie but cautions him against associating with Johnny who he feels is a two bit hood nor Charlie's sister Teresa who is epileptic and this to be shunned.

Little does he know that Johnny is Charlie's pal and little does he or Johnny know that he is sleeping with Teresa.

In the end Charlie tries to walk a fine line. Johnny is in trouble because, as he says, he has borrowed money from everyone in the neighborhood and paid no one back. Finally a shark is adamant about wanting his money and Charlie tries to intervene and keep Johnny from getting himself in deeper.

Charlie sets up a meeting with the shark for Johnny to show good faith. Johnny is seemingly incapable of playing it straight and insults the man to whom he owes money and pulls a gun on him. A gun he later admits was not loaded but the damage is done.

Charlie, Teresa and Johnny set off for Brooklyn so that Johnny can lay low for awhile. As they drive they are cut off by another car and shots are fired. It seems they have been followed. As he was driving Charlie was talking to God bemoaning his unsuccessful efforts to please everyone and as the movie ends and Johnny is taken away in an ambulance after being shot and Charlie has been shot in the hand the movie ends.

What does it all mean. I have no idea. I just was not that impressed with the movie. Keitel was fine and DeNiro played a punked up no brain as well as could be expected. The imagery was vague and unclear. The ending was muddy, we not only do not know what happens to the characters we do not really even know the point of the movie.

Not being sold as a day in the life the movie has no meaning.

Perhaps it is grittiness and realism it was influential for later, better movies but on it's own merit it is nothing special.

Author's Note

As most of you who are reading this may know I have a medical condition which is progressive and affects my muscles. I have been having more and more trouble typing without pain and so am in the process of attempting to dictate my blog entries to Suri on my Iphone.

It appears to be going pretty well and I try to catch mistakes but I do hope that any mistakes you do find can be treated with forbearance by you the reader as it seems to be the best and perhaps soon only way which I can continue my entries.

If by chance I make a glaring mistake that defeats the obvious intent of my entry please do not hesitate to leave a comment letting me know.

Thanks for your patience and loyal reading.