Lincoln, Nebraska

For all those of you who have the same upcoming spring break that I do (or a later one), I thought I'd grant you all a suggestion of three cd's you should listen to on you're time off. Consider it a spring break gift!!!!
First off, if you're just relaxing and what some soothing, but incredible Jazz, listen to Bare Bones by Madeleine Peyroux. This CD just came out a couple weeks ago and is her first full-length album free of any covers.
Second, if you want some folk rock, check out Neko Case's newest Middle Cyclone. While you're at her website, watch the music video for Maybe Sparrow. It's beautiful.
Finally, if you want the best rock 'n' roll you have ever heard (I know it's a bold, unprovable statement, but I'll make it anyways), listen to Magic by Bruce Springsteen.

Speaking of Bruce Springsteen, thanks to his "Hangin' out on E Street" promotion, an artist will put up a video every week of him or her covering a Bruce Song and then talking about how Bruce has inspired him or her. This week, it's my boy Josh Ritter with a fabulous cover of "The River." Bruce has so many songs with overly powerful lyrics, singing about the dark parts of life, but always leaving shreds of hope. The River and Nebraska are two of the most powerful (in my opinion. But, watch the videos here and please, please, please read the lyrics to "The River" here.

Princess Leigh-Cheri & the Outlaw, Bernard Wrangler

Frustrated with itunes as I merely opened it to listen to a sermon I missed by Jeff Manion and instead have to wait for it to download endless updates, I find myself here, reflecting. Taking up a recommendation by a friend of mine to read "Still Life with the Woodpecker" by Tom Robbins, I wasn't sure what to think at first. An overly cynical, but fantastic writer Robbins took a little while to get used to. The story is most literally "a sort of love story that takes place inside a pack of Camel cigarettes." I'm not going to explain the story to you--read it if you want--but that is the best description I can give. There's a quote in the end that I particularly liked, about the two main characters (and lovers) Princess Leigh-Cheri and the outlaw, Bernard Wrangler. It reads:

"But having acquired a taste for solitude, each of them spent days separate and alone, Leigh-Cheri in the attic, Bernard in the pantry. Funny how we think of romance as always involving two, when the romance of solitude can be ever so much more delicious and intense. Alone, the world offers itself freely to us. To be unmasked, it has no choice."

It's a powerful quote, especially with the surrounding context. Just to think how busy we try to make our lives when sometimes solitude is a great way to understand the world and even more so God. On an unrelated note, the book also deals wonderfully with the idea of objects and how animate objects (people) can form such intricate relationships with them. It's quite interesting. And, the book will have you wondering, "what did ever happen to the golden ball?"

I love your long shadows and your gunpowder eyes

Since this is my first blog entry of March, I must say "Welcome, spring." After coming from the snowy Boston, Grand Rapids, normally a harbor of crappy weather, feels so splendidly nice. On a related note, I entered a Newbury Comics shop in Boston, expecting to be disappointed with the large amount of stocked comics and little amount of anything I'm actually interested in. Instead, I found a huge selection of new and used CD's and was in the shop for nearly 45 minutes.

As if an already dull story couldn't sound anymore less interesting, I left with Neko Case's new album and Blitzen Trapper's newest album in hand. Owning Fox Confessor and Blacklisted, I was never a huge fan of Neko Case. In fact, I listened to those albums a few times after I saw her in concert and then not again. However, after only a few listens, Middle Cyclone (Neko's aformentioned newest) has thoroughly enticed me. While her voice is not what draws me in, her clever melodies and fantastic lyric writing make the song incredible. The most notable songs are Prison Girls, Fever, and Middle Cyclone. The least notable song in my opinion is Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth, a cover that Neko should have turned her back on. In addition, the last track is a thirty minute sound session of the crickets around her Vermont farm. I don't know whether it was an attempt to be artsy, but it is completely uninteresting. However, there are still 13 other tracks that will thoroughly entice you.