homeward bound

I have mixed feelings about Willie Nelson the accompanist the same as I do about Carlos Santana, and it is to my everlasting consternation that so many fans and fellow musicians seem to consider accompaniment these performers' area of special prowess. Sometimes, though - like when Nelson got together with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings to play Welch's "I'm Not Afraid to Die" for the movie The Journeyman, or when Santana... um... I really don't like Santana as an accompanist. Anyway, sometimes I'm surprised, and this duet with Nelson and Paul Simon surprised me.

fired up!

My wife and I just got home from an impromptu rally-parade of maybe a hundred people - strangers, friends, men, women, black and white - that followed a billowing American flag from our friend David's apartment near 28th and O streets into downtown, then onto campus, then through the student union, gathering people all the way, then - coincidentally, because they saw us passing by - converged with a group of Deltas in the Culture Center to watch President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama deliver his victory speech. (Delta Sigma Theta are a predominantly African-American sorority who were also waiting to learn the verdict on Nebraska's proposition 424, as in "fuck 424.") After that we all walked three blocks to the steps of the capitol building, where we sang "My Country 'Tis Of Thee" and "This Land Is Your Land" and "The Star-Spangled Banner." My hands are red and sore, my voice is shot. Listen: I'm not a chanter. But I chanted: O-BA-MA. YES WE CAN. U.S.A. THE PEOPLE, UNITED, WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED. I screamed, and sang, gave and received uncountable hugs and high-fives and piggyback rides. The sound of appreciative car horns and bike bells, of celebratory whoops and bellows, is still ringing in my ears. Understand, I live in Lincoln, Nebraska.

We didn't have our camera, but some of our friends did, and there were a couple of photographers from the DN and the Journal Star, so expect pictures soon.

oh boy

 

I'm posting this mainly for the benefit of my family, the only people I can think of offhand who will remember Quantum Leap.

Via The Onion: Scott Bakula Jumps Into McCain's Body Just Before Election.

Witnesses said they first detected a difference in McCain's demeanor yesterday, when he paused suddenly in the middle of a speech about Obama's tax policies, shook his head and demanded to know what year it was. Others were reportedly confused when McCain abruptly left the stage to find a mirror and softly touched his face while whispering to himself, "Oh, boy. Who am I this time?"

you=love

Courthouse Confessions is one of the most addictive blogs in my feed reader. For a writer it could actually be an invaluable tool, though I can't say I've ever tried to use it. Freelance photographer Steven Hirsch interviews real defendants as they exit 100 Centre Street, Manhattan's primary criminal courthouse, and transcribes their recorded responses (minus the question) for publication on his blog, accompanied by a stylish photo. The result is a long, hilarious, beautiful, sad photo essay, and a look into New York's underbelly.

Here's an excerpt from the most recent post:

Tricia Klinkhamer. I don't know, it's a confusing matter 'cause I got arrested like six or seven times for, basically I was running around the streets of New York writing "You=Love" on everything, and putting "You=Love" stickers everywhere, and harassing people and I was...went crazy and got caught a bunch of times and I kept having to go to court for, like, two years I went to court, like, every month, and finally it's over. Because I'm crazy! Because I have a compulsion. The compulsion is to...I like to write on things, and I like to write...I like to say...I like to remind people that they equal love. Every human equals love equally. Yeah. That's my point. Equal love, equal love. Equality. Yeah. Equal, it means that...that any...the sum total, if you add all the actions and generations of humans together, that the total equals love. I'll call you "equal love!" All humans are equal, and equal love equally. And the proof of that is in the fact that there is a growing population of humans. So, obviously, love works because that's how come there's so many of us.

NYT's write-up on the project.

ralph stanley on air for barack obama

Via Maud. To me, this is the best ad of the election season. Ralph Stanley for Barack Obama. It makes me want to applaud just hearing Stanley say "Barack." The tune in the background is "Rank Stranger."

Click To Play

letterman on mccain's heroic campaign suspension

This is why I never understood the debate about who is funnier, Leno or Letterman.

ed champion suspends blogging activity

What a hero.

Of course, if I’m feeling better tomorrow, I could very well resume this blog. Particularly if David Letterman tries to mock me or the newspapers and the blogs call my very meaningful gesture towards my country a “Hail Mary” or the act of a coward. Must I inform you of my life experience? I stood in line at the DMV for five years, people. And to anyone who might question my blogging and writing faculties, let me say it again. I stood in line at the DMV for five years. And I ran out of books and food. But I persevered. I still cannot raise my arms above my head because the cruel soldiers at the DMV kept hitting me in the shoulders. But I was a good American and, at the end of the day, I came back to my home with a driver’s license. I will refer you back to this life-changing act of courage if you question my integrity.