Are We the Same?

At Christmas, pretty much the only thing I asked for was as usual money and/or gift cards to buy more music. Amazon, iTunes, etc. Did pretty well. Actually, great. Ended up being able to purchase 18 new albums.

Now for me, this is 'kid in a candy store' time. Sadly, I never have time to listen except at the end of the day, and I usually last about 5-10 minutes before I crash. So it takes a while. But it's a wonderful feeling for me, knowing that I have SO
MUCH new music that I can't actually remember all I got.

Now, this process is often quite fascinating. Because often the new music jogs my memory of other things I haven't listened to for a while, and sends me running back to the archives to rediscover old forgotten music. And often the stuff that barely made the cut to be purchased ends up being the unexpected gem.

So, to be specific, because I know you care: Here's what I ended up getting, sorted more or less by category:

Prog Rock:

Spock's Beard - "X"
The Flower Kings - "Back in the World of Adventures"
The Flower Kings - "The Rainmaker"
The Flower Kings - "Flowerpower"

More Traditional Alternative/Rock:

Ed Kowalcyzk - "Alive"
The Tragically Hip - "We Are the Same"

Post-rock/Post-metal:

Mogwai - "Mr. Beast"
Explosions in the Sky - "How Strange, Innocence"
Sigur Ros - "Agaetis Byrjun"
Russian Circles - "Enter"
God is an Astronaut - "The End of the Beginning"
Caspian - "The Four Trees"
Jonsi - "Go"

Other:

The Album Leaf - "In a Safe Place"
Tristeza - "Dream Signals in Full Circles"
A Northern Chorus - "Bitter Hands Resign"
Esmerine - "If Only a Sweet Surrender to the Nights to Come Be True"
Ulrich Schnauss - "Goodbye"

The "Other" category blurs into the post-rock somewhat, with the exception of Ulrich Schnauss which is electronica. So. Diverse list. And I've been through a bit of it.

But the fascinating thing is that I can't seem to get myself to stop listening to the Tragically Hip album. "We Are the Same" blows me away. And The Hip have always been just barely on my radar. I have a lot of their albums because their stuff is always INTERESTING, if not always rewarding on a strictly musical level. Lyrically, Gord Downie has the same ability as Michael Stipe at his best - using words to create a affecting image that just burns itself into your brain and sticks with you. They do it in different ways...Stipe's imagery is, to me, more poetic and abstract, whereas Downie often paints a clear picture, almost a prose narration of a situation, suspended in time, and brimming with uncertain meaning. For me personally, I think 2 things kept me from really connecting with the Hip the same way I always have with R.E.M. For one thing, being such a consciously Canadian band, often the Hip's specific images and references are lost on me, and require research and digging to understand (much like with Midnight Oil's Australian imagery). But also, I just never thought the music was on the same level as the lyrics. With R.E.M. almost every song is interesting enough musically to be a good instrumental. My understanding is that's the way they write - songs are only given to Stipe once they're fleshed out and interesting enough to stand on their own in a sense. That's where, at its best, the richness of R.E.M.'s music comes from. With the Hip...I was never blown away by the compositions. Oddly enough, part of the appeal to me was the intellectual lyrics thrown into sharp relief against a somewhat pedestrian musical backdrop, like reading a philosophy textbook accompanied by classic rock instrumentals. At its best, it worked very well, but it wasn't fully satisfying.

But this album, wow. And it's not so much that the music is better or that it's brilliant now, but this is the first album of theirs where to ME everything actually seems like a unified whole - deep, rich, and complete. Everything belongs to and complements something else. It's a really satisfying listen, beginning to end.

And I read that a lot of fans hated it - too mellow, too soft...and I suppose if that's where you're coming from I can understand the hesitation. After all, when Bob Mould put out "Modulate" I had some soul-searching to do - was this techno stuff even still really the same person? What it came down to for me was asking if this was still a Bob Mould song, now that it had a backbeat instead of a wall of guitars? Did I love the songwriting or just the sound I had become accustomed to? Once I could recognize the writing beneath the sound, the choice was easy. On the other hand, I had to sadly walk away from Poi Dog Pondering after "In Seed Comes Fruit" because they had fundamentally altered and watered down their songwriting at the expense of the new sound.

But back to the Hip. "We Are the Same" does sound different, but it's clearly still the Hip. My goodness, "Frozen in My Tracks" is quintessential, and it's not what I would call gentle. What they've managed to do is finally fulfill their own sound's potential so well that they transcend it. And for me, the final effect has been that I am going back, relistening to the older songs with new ears, and they all make a lot more sense to me now. This album has managed to do something amazing - it has clarified their entire back-catalogue for me. And moved them up on my list, to where right now today, I could say they are one of my favorite artists. Top 5? Let's see how that looks:

In no particular order:

Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers
Glen Phillips
The Flower Kings
R.E.M.
The Tragically Hip?

Hmmm...

I think a lot will depend on the next album. If the next album sounds and feels more like "In Between Evolution" and "Music@Work"...then I guess I'm missing the point here and it will still be just a band I listen to on the perimeter of my musical universe.

This was an unusual post, but maybe gives people an inkling what goes on in my mind when I'm listening to stuff. Take it for what it's worth. I gotta go work.

Indefinite hiatus?

Sure seems that way. Been a busy wild month as always. We've come through the holiday season unscathed once more.

Nothing too eventful to report at this point. It was, as always, wonderfully recharging to be with the family so much, and it was, as always, incredibly challenging at times too.

The kids are growing up at their own pace and in their own way, and while there is obcviously some sadness to that, I can also feel myself wearying of the 'little kid' jobs that I have to do so often. The golden moment of Faith and Mari being able to get themselves up on Saturdays, grab some cereal and go downstairs to watch tv without our help is on the horizon. The twins are suddenly interested in the potty book again, and the thought of never having to buy another diaper again is also foremost in my mind. Things are changing in bittersweet ways. But the sweet is feeling really sweet right now.

As far as the other big changes, we're still just watching and waiting. Yes, this time next year things could be a LOT different, in terms of jobs, and much as we hate to admit it, even location. We're hoping things don't go that way, of course, but if my position is eliminated it's sure going to be hard to find another one in Ohio. But, thinking about this future that is out of my control only adversely affects the present, so I keep focused on the task at hand. I still have a job now and I do all I can to do it to the best of my ability. Hopefully I will continue to be able to do it for a long long time.

Hopefully we can keep up on the blog as things develop. A belated happy new year to all. God bless!

Matt

Ramblings

A few thoughts.

Christmas shopping is never easy.

Shopping for kids who are old enough to actually understand and have an opinion is even harder.

Shopping for boy/girl twins is also exceedingly challenging - do you get stuff for both? For one or the other? Are you being too 'traditional gender role' with the gifts?

Shopping for Hannah is the hardest of all.

And the real issue here is that it seems like 90% of what's out there is JUNK JUNK JUNK!!! God bless online customer reviews or we'd waste a lot of money. I seriously think it is every American's duty to write online reviews of every product they buy. I have been remiss in this and plan to spend a couple weeks after Christmas reviewing everything we get. But back to the point: We'll see something that looks like a great idea, a cool gift, and then innocently check those reviews and discover that it's without fail, practically broken out of the box. SO frustrating! Why can't companies make quality products? Of course, some do...and then those things are priced through the roof. And it's especially frustrating to see that megacorporations are the worst of all. I mean, in case you haven't figured it out, almost everything made by...ummm...better talk in code here..."El Raton" let's say...is a piece of total garbage. But they can do it, because they'll lure in hapless gift-givers who haven't learned yet. Makes me sick.

Anyway, back to us. My freetime is now spent completely, every day, thinking about finishing our shopping. I love the holidays, I love giving to the kids, I love the discovery...but it's a lot more work than it used to be. A little nostalgia is being felt for sure...but, I don't spend too much time pining for the old days. Time only moves one way.

In professional news, I applied and was selected to help re-write the Ohio Arts Standards. Pretty exciting...well, not really, it will probably actually be some seriously dry work. But I'm seriously glad to have the opportunity to be involved in something at this level. Hopefully I'll have something meaningful to contribute.

That's all for now. Enjoy the season everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving! School Pics

Thanksgiving is here - and for those of you who know all about Zek, you will be glad to know that we've already had to clean up some vomit today. Ahh, the holidays!

Anyway, been meaning to post the kids' school pics for a while now - absolutely amazing how well they ALL turned out. Even Hannah is smiling, though she looks trademark Hannah-weird.

Here they are:






And lastly, about the funniest thing you're likely to see today. On Tuesday, Faith had to go with Steph to get a background check for a tutoring job she's starting. Of course this meant Steph had to explain to Faith what a background check is. So, in Faith's wonderful yet odd imagination, later that night, she was pretending and offered to do a background check on Steph. Here is the result:






Happy Thanksgiving all! Enjoy the holiday!

Storm Clouds

Trouble is afoot in our world.

The Three Letters of Doom have now been officially dropped into the mix at work. RIFs are on the table.

And in this economic climate...you can bet that Music at the elementary level is not going to be considered a high priority. Just out of curiosity, I did a google search to this effect this morning and found no shortage of stories about elementary music, art, and PE programs being cut all across the country.

We'll have a chance to meet with the powers that be after Thanksgiving break. While nothing official is likely any time soon, I don't expect it to be good news.

As many of you who read this thing know, I had a fairly serious bout with depression the last time I found myself out of work.

However, I do NOT expect that to happen again. Steph and I talked about it this morning, and we agree - things have changed a LOT since then, we are both different people now - stronger, wiser, more confident and...with more serenity. I will hopefully have a chance to elaborate on that whole area in the coming days.

I will of course keep everyone informed as I know more. Thoughts and prayers always appreciated, and of course, be thankful for what you have.

Matt

More sickness

Been a long time. Sorry as usual.

We have been passing around various ear infections, stomach bugs, and strep during the last couple weeks. Luckily none of it ever reached dramatic proportions but the systematic way we have passed things from one to another and then immediately been smacked with a new virus has been rather comical of late. The medical fund which we had built up pretty well evaporated in a puff of smoke yesterday. When co-pays are $30 and 2 kids go in, and both end up needing a $20 prescription...well...do the math. Meanwhile, at our house, antibiotics have become their own food group.

And of course, blogging becomes a luxury, so that's why nothing has been posted for so long.

Halloween (the real one) was great - kids were good, had fun, and we got some great pics and video. My most recent work-related endeavors were successes as well.

We are on the long slow march to the desperately needed but always short lived Thanksgiving break. And we are frantically trying to figure out how to stretch our gift dollar this holiday season.

It deserves saying again. We are doing a phenomenal job with our current budget. We are living with pretty much ZERO discrectionary income. Every dollar has to go somewhere to keep us afloat. We are paying every day for our past financial mistakes. But I don't dwell on it. We made our mistakes, the past is the past, I'm simply proud of how well we're managing right now. But we are beyond the idea of 'no wiggle room' - we are in a form-fitting box right now.

It's tough. It's sometimes a little scary. And some people who don't know us very well might raise an eyebrow at some current choices, but I can only state with sincerity that everything we do financially now is weighed and is done for a reason. We have a very concrete set of priorities and we stick to it...it might be different from someone else's priority set, but it's true to us and we believe in it. And I do believe that we will come out of this morass somehow. And again - I am proud of the way we are doing things now. Subtract our past foolishness from our current spreadsheets and we'd be living the good life 5 times over.

Anyway, didn't expect this post to go THAT direction, but I feel better having laid that one all out there.

Peace all, enjoy everything around you!

Matt

Pre-Halloween

Spent last weekend at the Dayton Tall Timbers KOA for one of their Halloween-themed weekends. We have been doing this the last few years at the Cross Creek Camping Resort north of Columbus, but for various reasons couldn't make their weekend. We had stayed at the Dayton KOA before, so we knew it was very nice. We had a really good weekend.

The twins were really cute trick-or-treating for the first time - although Hannah had some trouble with the idea. You see, Hannah's favorite thing in the world to do right now is to take things out of one container and put them in another. She will sit and do this for an hour if we let her. So, here she is, walking around with a brightly colored pumpkin-shaped container, and she goes up to someone holding a bowl full of candy. So...of course she wants to put ALL that candy into her container. Which...looks really bad if you don't know the whole backstory. So we had to keep telling her to only take one, and man did she look offended. Never got upset, because there was always another bowl right ahead, but she definitely was confused why we were killing her fun. I mean, she would have put them all back eventually! Anyway, they both did fine, although Robby did get pretty scared by some of the more gruesomely decorated sites.

It was of course the anniversary of the last RV Halloween weekend, which ended at Columbus Children's Hospital with Robby's epic croup case. But no major illness this year. I did get laryngitis again just like last year, but this is simply an annoyance. (I still don't have my voice completely back, for the record. I can talk fine, but I still can't demonstrate singing voice for my students.)

When we got back, plop, right into the stress pan. (I know that's not a real expression but I just made it up and I like it a lot) It's been said that the human mind can only think about a certain number of things at once, without something dropping out. I can feel this when there is so much going on in my life that I get overwhelmed...and then I just take care of ONE thing, and all of a sudden everything seems clear. Well, this week I got a different end of this. I had about 7 things to think about and worry about and then I got an additional really big dose of bad news...and I discovered that I had absolutely no where else to put it. So it sat there, piled on top of my worries, but not really being dealt with.

The bad news actually went away very quickly on its own, so all is fine now...but it was an odd sensation.

The next 2-3 weeks are a grind. I'll check in when I can. Stay sane (or just sane enough)...

Matt

Wearing down

It's been a busy stretch lately. Not bad, not overly stressful, just busy. Something has to take a back seat, and the blog has suffered. The recent news:

Hard at work on a surprisingly complicated mess of a 4th grade program. Just got done assigning the parts - way too many - if kids don't show it will be a nightmare. Luckily I feel like I've managed to instill in most of my students the sense that actually showing up for something that you've worked hard at and that other people are counting on you for is a good thing.

Just got done with a Brass Fellowship peformance with the Cincinnati October Festival Choir - played, among other things, Hindemith's Apparebit Repentina Dies (think I typed that right). Truthfully, one of the most difficult things I have ever had to perform. Not necessarily the most technically challenging but the most mentally demanding from start to finish. Felt totally drained by the end of it. Very thankful to have been a part of that.

Kids are well - although Hannah this morning threw us all for a loop with an exploded diaper. Faith had an ear infection recently, which was our first trip to the doctor in months. We know more are coming, but it was nice to have such a good run of health. Mari is adjusting exceptionally well to 5-day preschool. No reports of any trouble yet. Sadly, she's back in the habit of growling at us when we correct her or ask her to do things. But, she's being a good Specter lately...keeps her problems in-house. Faith is also doing well in 1st grade - seems to be doing quite well socially, including claiming to have a boyfriend. We all got quite interested until we realized that it wasn't a big deal because the boy in question is also several other girls' boyfriend. The twins are also doing well, with the exception of when Steph has to take them in to pick up Mari on days when the twins DON'T go to preschool. At which point they proceed to throw textbook tantrums and have to be dragged kicking and screaming out the door. Nice. And, as referenced in an earlier pic, their artistic skills are bordering on special needs.

In the midst of all this I've been doing some pretty good teaching and am feeling more and more comfortable with the flow of the year. I'm trying to new things and most of it is working. The days kind of zip by most of the time.

And at home, movie work slowly progresses. Just about done with Hilton Head 2010. Look for those movies to appear on Youtube soon.

This weekend, last trailer trip of the year, to Dayton Tall Timbers KOA for a Halloween themed weekend. Should be fun. Here's hoping that things don't go like they did last year at our Halloween trailer weekend.

God bless,
Matt

My RedHawk Experience

This is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek reference to Team Towner's latest blog entry. They get to go to Nebraska games - big time college football - one of the premier experiences in the nation.

Today, dad and I took Faith and Mari up to Oxford for the big Miami-Kent State game.

Stand back.

Okay, in fairness, I used to go to Miami games a lot, back when my brother was in college there. It is, at its best, a wonderful football atmosphere, a beautiful location, just on a small scale. Which is a good thing.

But the team has struggled of late and the energy seemed a bit lacking today. Admittedly it was a typical early October day in Ohio - temp in the upper 50s, overcast, steady rain. But after just having read Gina's post, I couldn't help but compare. At any rate, it was a good day, the girls were wonderful, and we got to see cousin Kevin march - very entertaining Queen show, I must say.

Some pics - enjoy, Gina and Cliff...

Dad sprung for some sweatshirts for the girls - and it was a good thing too, they would have been absolutely drenched if he hadn't:



Big crowd for the opening kickoff:



When the rains came, it REALLY emptied out:



We had the whole place to ourselves.



Time to get out of the rain - game over. Miami won, in case you needed to know.

Okay, so I feel bad now. First time I put a pretty negative post on the blog and then it sits there for almost 2 weeks.

Things are better. I'm in a pretty 'routine' stretch right now. Our next big event to look forward to is our pre-Halloween trailer weekend trip in mid-October. That's a ways away at this point, but it's something to work towards. Steph starts her job up again full-speed very soon as well, so everyone is going to be a little busier soon.

The weather has finally broken and I think we're done with the heat. There are starting to be lows in the 40s in the forecast, which after 90+ heat as recently as last week, looks really nice. We are still looking for a decent firepit we can get on the cheap, to be able to go outside and enjoy the cool evenings, but so far no luck.

Kids are all loving school. I will probably have more to say about that coming up soon. But for now, that's all I got.

MS