Me, The Man in the Moon, and a Magazine Rack of Issues

Y'know, I once confessed the weight of my problems to the man in the moon.

In return, the man in the moon said not one goddamned thing.

Drop & Give Me One Hundred!

Here's the "I'm Damn Sure I Missed Some Without My Record Collection Handy" 100 LPs list. In lieu of being able to put this in any coherent order of preference, I'm listing them alphabetically. (If an artist had more than one entry, viz XTC, I'd forgotten to do a two-key sort, so they appear in the order I entered 'em into Excel.)

AC/DC - Back in Black
Alex Chilton - Like Flies on Sherbet
Bad Brains - I Against I
Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
Beatles - White Album
Beatles - Revolver
Beatles - Abbey Road
Big Star - #1 Record
Black Flag - Damaged
Bottle Rockets - 24 Hours A Day
Buddy Miller - Cruel Moon
Butthole Surfers - Rembrandt Pussyhorse
Camper Van Beethoven - II & III
Can - Tago Mago
Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
The Church - Heyday
The Clash - s/t
The Clash - London Calling
Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
Descendents - Liveage!
Dirtbombs - Ultraglide in Black
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing…
DJ Spooky vs. Matthew Shipp - Optometry
Dwight Yoakam - Hillbilly Deluxe
Dwight Yoakam - dwightyoakamacoutsic.net
Echo & the Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here
Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True
Emmylou Harris - Spyboy
Feelies - The Good Earth
Flaming Groovies - Teenage Head
Flatlanders - More a Legend than a Band
Geraldine Fibbers - Butch
Gilberto Gil - 1969
Gram Parsons - GP
Guadalcanal Diary - 2x4
Guided By Voices - Isolation Drills
Guided By Voices - Alien Lanes
Hoodoo Gurus - Mars Needs Guitars!
Hoodoo Gurus - Stoneage Romeos
Hot Club of Cowtown - Dev'lish Mary
Husker Du - New Day Rising
Iggy & the Stooges - Raw Power
The Jam - All Mod Cons
Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
John Coltrane - Giant Steps
Johnny Cash - Live At Folsom Prison
Los Lobos - Good Morning Aztlan
Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Lyle Lovett - I Love Everybody
Meat Puppets - Huevos
Meters - Look Ka Py Py
Meters - Cabbage Alley
Mike Watt - Contemplating the Engine Room
Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Minor Threat - Complete Discography
Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
Minutemen - What Makes a Man Start Fires?
Minutemen - Buzz Or Howl Under the Influence of Heat
Mission of Burma - Vs.
Nels Cline - The Inkling
Nick Lowe - Jesus of Cool
Nick Lowe - Party of One
Nirvana - Nevermind
Paul Kelly & The Messengers - Gossip
Pixies - Come On Pilgrim
Posies - Frosting on the Beater
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
REM - Murmur
REM - Chronic Town
The Replacements - Pleased To Meet Me
Robbie Fulks - Country Love Songs
Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street
Screaming Blue Messiahs - Gun Shy
Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
Son Volt - Trace
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
The Star Room Boys - Why Do Lonely Men & Women Want to Break Each Other's Hearts?
Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys - For The Last Time
Steve Earle - Guitar Town
Steve Earle - Transcendental Blues
Steve Earle - I Feel Alright
Television - Marquee Moon
U2 - The Joshua Tree
Uncle Tupelo - Still Feel Gone
Wadada Leo Smith/Henry Kaiser - Yo Miles!
The Who - Quadrophenia
The Who - Who's Next
Wilco - A Ghost is Born
Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger
World Party - Private Revolution
XTC - Wasp Star
XTC - White Music
XTC - Black Sea
XTC - English Settlement
Yo La Tengo - Fakebook

Friday Bird Blogging

A day late, but perhaps not a dollar short.

Doubtful that my absence has been much noted, but anyway. I'm around.

Here's the first post of something taken with my most spendy rig to date... a vulture at work.

Stunning Silence

Y'know, I am still at a loss for words upon seeing that the venerable South Knox Bubba has decided to hang up the keyboard.

Not so much that he gave it up, I guess. More how he hit the self-destruct button and ran.

I suppose that's one way to start off a clean break.

Maybe I'll have more to say later. Right now, I'm a bit gobsmacked.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Bluebird Monday

Feeding time for the nestlings. From my front yard last weekend.

I set myself up with a Nikon SB600 and started playing with the Creative Lighting System -- to decent effect, I think.

Friday Bird Blogging

Add another to the life bird list...

Polioptila caerulea, the blue-gray gnatcatcher.

The bird is a little bit bigger than a hummingbird -- I think this is a breeding female. Well, in fact, I'm pretty certain it is, because my wife & I stumbled upon its nest...

(Note the beak of the nestling. There were three by my count.)

Gear: Nikon D2H with 70-200VR AF-S, 1.7x teleconverter, on Sandisk digital film.

Bonus:

A downy woodpecker, cropped and coverted to B&W:

Sit Down & Stay Awhile!

I doubt that this was the sort of courtesy for which the South is so famous, but there are big doin's over at Capitol Hill today. See Sharon Cobb's running account. She's even nabbed the attention of Michael Moore, who's working on a documentary about healthcare, so I imagine Governor Bredesen is understandably worried.

Hey, speaking of which, I ran into him on Sunday at the Green Hills McDonalds, lookin' a little peaked. Ironic that his 2-cheeseburger combo was brought to him and prepared by people about to be hard hit by his proposals, but then, I suspect that he knows that his constituents don't necessarily know what their best interests are nor who best represents them. Fact o' business, I think that's how he figures to stay in office.

Anyway, I recall ol' Phil is not a Nashville native. Neither am I, but I have been learning gradually about its rich history.

He might do well to remember...



...Nashville pretty well invented the sit-in right here.

Terms of Endurance

Wow, is this ever rich:

Condi Rice, on Fox News Sunday, June 19, 2005:

"The administration, I think, has said to the American people that it is a generational commitment to Iraq.

(source)

And this little nugget:

From the ashes of abandoned Iraqi army bases, U.S. military engineers are overseeing the building of an enhanced system of American bases designed to last for years.

Last year, as troops poured over the Kuwait border to invade Iraq, the U.S. military set up at least 120 forward operating bases. Then came hundreds of expeditionary and temporary bases that were to last between six months and a year for tactical operations while providing soldiers with such comforts as e-mail and Internet access.

Now U.S. engineers are focusing on constructing 14 "enduring bases," long-term encampments for the thousands of American troops expected to serve in Iraq for at least two years. The bases also would be key outposts for Bush administration policy advisers.

(source)

Generational commitment? Enduring bases? Whuuuuuuuuuuuuuh???

What happened to...:

George W. Bush, May 1, 2003:



What happened to elections being an important precursor to the transfer of power to the Iraqi people? What happened to that civilian police force that was coming along so well?

Oh, right. They weren't being honest.

They lied us into getting involved in a war, and now they're lying to us about getting us out.

No small coincidence, I think, that they use the word "enduring" to refer to the major combat operation itself and their new plan to build 14 permanent bases on Iraqi soil.

Don't bother talking about democratization anymore. It's just bullshit. Democracy does not exist at the point of a gun.

That Which Makes Music City Worthwhile, Vol. I:

Outside the Bound'ry…

The Rose Pepper Cantina (1907 Eastland Ave., 615-227-4777).  The lynchpin in the redevelopment of commerce along the Eastland corridor, the Rose Pepper sports an ample outdoor covered deck, quirky yet authentic southwestern recipes, and a Mexican martini which is about the best this side of Austin, TX.  You get a selection of three salsas as you're seated (mild, spicy, and verde), and all of the concoctions on the menu which my wife & I have tried are excellent -- both for value and for whallop.  The décor is tasteful and modern, with understated lighting and ample seating throughout.  Live bands appear occasionally, and its state is normally best described as "packed," especially on weekends.  Long-time Nashvillagers will remember this location as Joe's Diner, but it's come a long way since (as has the neighborhood).  I believe that the restaurant is the upscaled counterpart to Inglewood dive Es Fernandos (4704 Gallatin Pk., 615-227-3060), which is always worth a stop for massive portions at minimal price. 

While you're around East Nashville, and you're in the mood for bar-hopping, check out the Family Wash (2038 Greenwood Ave., 615-226-6070) for excellent crudites and a good, unpretentious selection of beverages.  I have yet to visit the 3 Crow Bar (1024 Woodland St., 615-262-3345), as it supplanted the legendary Slow Bar, but it gets a lot of buzz.  I don't know if it's well deserved.  The buzz about Margot (1017 Woodland St., 615-227-4668), however, is richly deserved.  Intimate, upscale, and -- yes -- a bit pretentious, but nothing that they can't back with the menu.  Creative, sumptuous specials always available, but expect to spend some money.  It ain't food; it's COO-zine.  Reservations strongly recommended.

Celebrating Father's Day

From an article my dad penned the Thanksgiving after he'd been diagnosed with the cancer which would eventually take his life two years later:

Robert H. Wilson, (c) Danville Commercial-News, Nov. (?) 1988:

---------------------------

Life has never seemed sweeter.

You see, I wasn't supposed to be alive this Thanksgiving -- much less be looking forward to Thanksgivings, Christmases, birthdays and other anniversaries yet to come.

So what if I have to walk around with a tube strung through my chest and medicine trickling into me from a battery-powered pump? It beats dying.

So what if the medical bills are piling up? They'll get paid -- eventually.

"Eventually" was a word that dropped from my vocabulary for a while. It feels so good to have it back again.

Five months ago, my death sentence was delivered by the surgeon who opened up my innards to see what was going on in there.

"Your husband is full of cancer," he told my wife in the surgery waiting room. "If I were you, I'd get in the car and take a long vacation."

The exploratory surgery found a mess of small tumors all through my abdominal area and a bigger one partially blocking my colon.

How long did I have? The surgeon said anywhere from days to weeks. (To borrow an old vaudeville line, "Doctor, you've got to be kidding!")

The surgeon's prognosis scared even him -- seelng that he was about my age.

My wife and I -- to say the least -- were devastated. We had so much going for us up until then.

We were expecting our second child in about six weeks. Now the doctor couldn't guarantee I would live to see it born.

Our first child was about to turn two. I was shattered by the thought that this light of my life would grow up without her dad -- without having any memories of me except old pictures.

My first-born son was finishing his freshman year in college. My oldest daughter had just graduated from high school. Now I wasn't likely going to be around to see them finish college, start their own lives.

I had always planned on spoiling grandchildren of my own someday. Oh well, so much for that.

To top it off, my wife and I were in the process of buying a new house -- an old house, that is, that we fell in love with as soon as we saw it.

Everything had seemed so bright. Then life for me fluttered away like a house of cards in a hurricane.

Forty-one is not a ripe, old age -- especially when it's you who is 41. I cried a lot -- especially when I thought of leaving my wife and kids behind.

But then the good things started to happen. Enter my oncologist, Dr. Ken Rowland of Carle Hospital, the first person to cast a little optimism over the gloom. He told to me to ignore what the surgeon said and to keep in mind that people a lot sicker than I was have survived. He talked me into going on chemotherapy.

Enter my parents, who headed for the hospital as soon u they heard and who convinced me they were not about to outlive any of their children.

Enter my siblings, who phoned, wrote, visited from their far-flung homes and offered their moral support. One brother even sent me not one but two copies of Dr. Bernie Segal's book, "Love, Medicine and Miracles," which extols the importance of attitude in surviving so-called "terminal" illness. (I guess my brother thought if one copy would help, two would help even more.)

Enter my in-laws, uncles, aunts, other relatives, friends and colleagues -- who urged me to get well, brought over meals for us after I got out of the hospital, helped us move into that new old house.

Enter those fellow cancer patients -- some of whom have died since then -- who told me I could make it.

All these people helped me remind myself that we are all in this together -- that, indeed, no man is an island even in the depths of despair.

And, of course, enter that new daughter, Emma, who is now almost four months old. Not only did I live long enough to find out if No. 4 was a boy or girl; I was right there in the delivery room to snap her picture as she joined the human race.

I have stared down the gullet of The Beast, and I'm still here.

I'm back on my feet, back to work and back in the swing.

I have always been a big fan of wildflowers, autumn leaves and the other beauties of nature. But never have they seemed so beautiful as this year. Never have I taken them less for granted.

The sunrises and sunsets have never been more awe-inspiring. The rivers and lakes have never sparkled more brightly, piggybacking a child at bedtime has never been more comforting. Thanksgiving has never seemed so aptly named.

I can't just stop and smell the roses anymore. I revel in them.

---------------------------

One of the few articles I kept.

You know, those things never seem really important when you're aged 20 years, but knowing now what I know then, I'd sure enough have collected a lot more than I did.

That said, hope everyone had a good Father's Day. I celebrate with my memories.

SKB Placeholder

I don't know if I'm getting hits thanks to the flap about the coerced outing of South Knox Bubba, but I thought that I would leave this space as an accomodation to Brian Conley, Ellen Mallernee, Molly Kincaid, or anyone else interested in taking any personal stuff with me where it belongs: to me. I am in SKB's blogroll and I do leave my blog in my signature over there, so logically, maybe someone will saunter over here and decide to leave a comment.

I'll offer a weak apology here: I'm sorry if you were offended by my (admittedly pointed) remarks. Seems like I hit a nerve, otherwise you wouldn't worry about being called "skeeze" or "skanks" or "Buffys" or "overindulged" or whatever it was that I said. Seems hardly to matter now.

All this aside, your depth of offense gives you no right to conduct a campaign to destroy someone's career, or to shut them up, or to embarrass them -- especially since your primary beef, Brian, was with the things that I SAID which Bubba let stand. Heck, that'd be like me signing off on an expense report where I knew that my employees were on assignment and driving drunk at the time. I can only assume what your staffers' thoughts on the matter are, since you seem bound and determined to shield them from criticism. Maybe I was overly frank with my thoughts on the quality of that article, but I took some offense of my own. Apparently you're the only one in the universe that has the right to act on that, however.

If you're considering widening your campaign of personal destruction, don't bother. The details of my life are shamefully boring by Knoxville standards, as it were. I'm a photographer by hobby and a sales engineer by trade. I brew my own beer. That's about the most edgy thing I'm into these days.

Thankfully, while I'm not always proud of the things I've said, I have no regrets to follow me through this debacle. While I may have come off like a reactionary, bloviating asshole, at least I've spared myself the indignity of looking like a world-class borderline personality case.

Friday Fledgling Blogging

Very juvenile (2-day fledgling) cardinal.



My wife had noticed this bird coming of age in the nandina bushes around the house. After we had a scare with the bluebirds, we were happy to find this guy flitting around the parking lot. Not one bit afraid of us... this shot taken from about 3' with a Nikon 24-120VR.

Comparison shot for scale purposes:



That's a pickup truck tire below, just to give you some idea of how little this creature is.

One! One Public TV Network! Tw... Wait, There's Only One.

I've been following a number of developments leading up to the announcement that the Bush Administration is cutting funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting by 25% this year. For all of their vitriol aimed at the unabashed liberalism of Bill Moyers, and their frustration with the actual reporting happening on Frontline and the McNeill News Hour, I think can pinpoint the real target of the Republican campaign to cripple public television:

Sesame Street.

Now, as I think about this -- what other non-profit company has been as committed and as successful as the Children's Television Workshop in promoting child social, emotional and educational development? What other concern addresses children's motivation and interest in the arts, or pre-school literacy, and introduces concepts in math and science as well as CTW? All noble aspirations, right? So why take them on? What makes them a target?

Well, in order to send a message to "liberal" news organizations, that's why. To wreak revenge on the perceived political enemies of the state. And in order to bust a cap in Bill Moyers absent butt, they're willing to scrap the network which has brought real value and continues to demonstrate real value to our society. To our CHILDREN. These family values hypocrites seek to destroy the medium which has taught three generations of children the honest community values brought to you by Elmo, the letter Q, and the number 8.

What am I talking about?

Self-esteem. Sharing. Co-operation. Tolerance. Pluralism. Imagination. Creativity. Love. Innocence. Friendship. Communication. Multiculturalism. Integrity. Honesty. Coping with loss (remember when Mr. Hooper died and someone had to explain that to Big Bird?).

Sesame Street communicates all of these things on a daily basis to millions of children here and around the world, and all without a single mention of GOD or THE BIBLE or JESUS.

Sesame Street represents a secular culture that teaches all of the things that you're supposed to learn in Sunday School, and all without indoctrination in the Scriptures or instilling fear or shame in our children as a means to control them throughout their lives.

You know that has to scare the living crap out of the prime Republican movers in the wingnut Christian community.

Think I'm off base? Who lost their mortal cool about the purported sexual proclivity of the Teletubbies? Jerry Falwell. Who had public conniption fits about the perceived flamboyance of a cartoon sponge? James Dobson. You think for a second that they really have any love for Elmo, Grover, or Kermit? I'm sure they've also expressed grave reservations about the sinful nature of the cohabitation of Bert and Ernie.

The coordinated Republican campaign for "fairness and balance" in media is so reckless and so shameless that they're willing to kick Wishbone, Reading Rainbow, The Electric Company, ZOOM, and Clifford The Big Red Dog to the curb. But I don't believe in coincidences. If this administration is willing to lie about terrorism in order to establish control over oil, then it's not so much of a stretch to believe that they'll carp about Bill Moyers when what they really want to do is take Big Bird away from your children.

Oscar may be a Grouch, but he's a paragon of virtue compared to these power-mad, lying schmucks running our country and dominating our discourse.

This madness must stop.

Support your local public broadcasters. In Nashville, WPLN 90.3 FM/1410 AM on the radio; WNPT on UHF & cable.

Friday Flower Blogging



Found outside of a K-Mart in Hopkinsville, KY.

Friday Bird Blogging

Pileated Woodpecker, near the primitive Methodist Church in Cades Cove:



Eastern Meadowlark, in Cades Cove near Myatt Lane, sunset:



[EDIT: Whoops! Almost forgot one!]

A Canadian gosling, stretching out by the side of the road in Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

Thursday Landscapes

At Roaring Fork:



At Cades Cove, sunrise:

Not Dead

Here's a little placeholder for visitors to this site. I have not sworn off blogging, nor am I going on a deep dive from which I will never surface, to become a curiosity viewed best from the keel of a glass bottomed boat.

No, that is not my fate, nor is that the fate of One Reporter's Opinion. However, life has managed to intervene most successfully in my erstwhile Blogerian efforts.

So, that said, here's my shortest short list:

* The "nuclear compromise" is a colossal ripoff in the ascendant tradition of Democratic BOHICA.

* Digital Landscape (http://www.digitallandscape.org) is a worthwhile way to spend a few days, even if you come back with a serious grocery list for photographic goodies. Anyone wanting to know, I'm in the market for Nik software, a Wacom Intuos3 6x8 USB tablet, and an Arca B2 ballhead.

* Integrity on Survivor is about as worthwhile as bringing a bucket of saline water to camp for drinking. That was a disappointing end to what have should have been one for the books.

* New releases from John Doe, the Go-Betweens, Robbie Fulks -- all on Yep Roc Records. (And it looks like they've signed Bob Mould. Good stuff.)

* Check out the Flaming Lips Fearless Freaks DVD. More good stuff.

Look here in the next few days for some posts from DLWS. Turks & Caicos to follow in mid-June.

Peace.

A couple of days after Friday Bird Blogging



A pair of bluebirds in the front yard. We have hatchlings on the way. The first one is already out:



Bonus:

Black vulture on the wing...

Lest We Forget

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.



It is altogether appropriate that we remember and honor *all* those who died to protect our freedom.

Kent State, OH 5/4/70

Friday Bird Blogging

I don't think this can be topped, really.



(Photograph of a pair of stuffed ivory billed woodpeckers at the LSU Natural History Museum.)

Congratulations to Cornell University, The Nature Conservancy, the Fish & Wildlife Service, and the yeoman efforts of all those who made the (re-)discovery of this bird possible.

I'd say welcome back to the land of the living, but that's a totally selfish and anthropocentric point of view, innit? Fact is, they've never left the world. They simply had the sense to find somewhere on the continent that we were not. The fact that they've managed to stay in self-obscurity for so long is a testament to their adaptation to human encroachment and their innate drive to survive.

Let's not screw this up for them a second time, 'k?

If you're looking for somewhere to cast a few dollars, you could do much worse than The Nature Conservancy.