No More Mary

More then a decade ago, I went with friends to see Peter, Paul, and Mary live at the Hollywood Bowl. Not as a diehard PPM fan, more so to see a cultural icon, to see a piece of history. And, yes, to sing along with "Leavin' on a Jet Plane."

Part of the thinking behind going was the knowledge that, someday, when they were no more, I could say "I saw them once at the Hollywood Bowl."

That day has come, as Mary Travers died this morning.

I said I wasn't a diehard fan, but that's not to say I didn't enjoy their music, nor that I don't realize their impact upon popular music. At times they could be hokey, at times Mary's voice grated on my nerves, and occasionally I think I disagreed with her politics, but they certainly found a way to use music to change the social consciousness of a generation, something that is sadly lacking in so much of pop music today. And they created tight harmonies long before the invention of electronic voice harmonizers and instant tuners. It was a treat to see them that night, singing all their hits backed up by a symphonic orchestra.

So, yes, Peter, Paul, and Mary will never be again. But I saw them once, live at the Hollywood Bowl. And it was a good night.

Seriously Out of It

I was looking over the nominees for the 2009 Academy Awards.

Actor in a leading role - I haven't seen any of these movies. I don't even know who a couple of these guys are.

Actor in a supporting role - I haven't seen any of these movies. At least I know who 4/5 of these guys are.

Actress in a leading role - Finally! I've seen one of these: Rachel Getting Married. Of course, I didn't plan on seeing it; I just happened to be at the right place and time to get invited to a free showing. And I wasn't all that impressed. Hathaway's nominated for an Oscar for that performance? The pickings must be slim this year.

Actress in a supporting role - Again, haven't seen any. Don't even know who three of these women are.

Animated Feature film - now we've struck gold. I've actually seen two of the three. Wall-E would get my vote.

But then things get back to normal. Work your way down that list, and I pretty much haven't seen any of 'em.

On the other hand, thanks to netflix, we've been watching a lot of BBC television lately. . .

Friday Randomness

- Since we live on a narrow peninsula surrounded by the Puget Sound, flooding is never much of a problem for us, like it is for the folks over in Carnation and Puyallup and Centralia. Still, all the wet weather has affected us. Our church chair and his wife have been trying to get home from Canada since early this week, and are still stuck on the other side of freeways that have been closed. The roof of a gym at Vaughn Elementary School collapsed just before Christmas. And on Wednesday we had 1/2 an inch of water in our church basement, coming up through a "previously unknown fault line" in the concrete. Thankfully, we have wonderful, servant-hearted people in our church, and by last night that mess was pretty much cleaned up.

- The first job I ever had was delivering papers for the Seattle P-I. I began around junior high, and carried the job on through high school, eventually handing it off to my brother. Before that, my grandfather worked as an ad man for the P-I for 39 years. So we've always been a newspaper family, and we've always been a P-I family. Yesterday, the story broke that the P-I may be put up for sale, with the thought that nobody will purchase it, and thus, within 30 days, will close for good, leaving Seattle with The Times as its sole major newspaper (The Stranger doesn't count). I would be sad to see it go.

- A headline just appeared stating that sometime today Boeing is going to anounce a plan to lay off 4,000 people. My brother-in-law works for Boeing. This might not be good.

- That obnoxious photo box on the local paper's website leads me to believe it must be awards season again. Pictures of Paris Hilton (are people still enthralled by her?), Ann Hathaway (did I mention how much I didn't like "Rachel Getting Married"?) and the rest. A couple years ago I made a conscious effort to distance myself from celebrity culture. And I resent the way it keeps trying to push its way back into my life. But. . .if you're interested in some reviews of the movies that seem to be getting all the awards buzz, go check out the blog of Barbara Nicolosi. She doesn't shy away from having an opinion.

- What I've been listening to lately:


She may just be the successor to Alison Krauss' crown. To be so talented at 16. . .and from all reports, she's a sweet kid, too. Why is it that artists like Sierra get scant attention, while MixMaster Sledge and the Sexual Perverts get the multi-million dollar contracts and MTV airtime? Rhetorical question, there. If you want a taste, go watch this.

- Good Quote: "Indeed, having people who walk and work and live alongside us, people whom we call 'holy friends,' is indispensable to resurrecting excellence in Christian life. We all need holy friends in our own lives, and we are called to be holy friends to others. We are also called to show hospitality to strangers and to love our enemies, practices that help us discover the grace of navigating relationships in the light of God's friendship with the world, and with each of us, in Jesus Christ. In the midst of sin and brokenness, we discover through hospitality and searching love that strangers and even enemies can become holy friends." L. Gregory Jones and Kevin r. Armstrong, in Resurrecting Excellence

Sometimes, as a father, I shudder

Two articles I came across this morning that make me want to pack my bags and move to, idk, Wasilla Alaska, maybe?

First, a September article about the media's attempts to sexualize our girls, even when they are as young as four years old. I'm not sure which is more disturbing:
- the thought of little girls dressing up in vampy clothes and dancing for the delight of strangers
- the parents who actually find this sort of thing appropriate, or, even worse, "cute."
- the corporate entities who are taking our daughters' innocence all the way to the bank

Second, Andrew Jones' account of his daughter being given the HPV vaccine, in spite of the fact that he and his wife and his daughter ALL agreed it would be better if she opted out, and checked the "no" box on the consent form. Seems the dr. went ahead and did it anyway.

Again, a perfect example of "professionals" thinking they know better than you as a parent. And the unsettling suspicion that, behind it all, nefarious corporations are getting rich by turning peer pressure against those who would choose not to consume their product.

via
____

It already began with us a few weeks ago, when we first heard "but daddy, ALL the other kids bring their ipods on the school bus. I'm the ONLY kid on the bus that doesn't have one." This from our innocent third grade daughter. And I've seen enough in all my years as a youth pastor to know it doesn't ever let up.

Conversation Overheard in the Locker Room

Hey, Steve*, right?

Yeah - John, right?

Hey, yeah. How's it goin'?

&*$%$ okay. How 'bout you?

I'm doin' %#$#$ alright. What you up to?

Nothin' %#$#$ much. Just workin' out.

You like it here?

It's %#$#$ okay. Better than that other %#$#$ place.

Yeah. You still dating that one girl?

%#$#$ no. She was %#$#$ up so we broke up.

%#$#$ man, that's %#$#$ up.

Yeah, but now I'm checking out this other %#$#$ girl.

%#$#$ yeah?

%#$#$ yeah. Met her at this %#$#$ party with all these friends? So we been hangin' out.

That's %#$#$ cool.

Not %#$#$ bad. So what you doin' these days?

Nothin' %#$#$ much. Just got a %#$#$ house with my girl.

That's pretty %#$#$ awesome.

Yeah, now we can just %#$#$ hang out and do %#$#$.

Cool. We should %#$#$ hang some time.

%#$#$ yeah.

You need to get me your %#$#$ number and we can do some %#$#$ this weekend.

Sure.

You work out here a lot?

Most %#$#$ days. How long you been a member?

%#$#$, I'm not! (har har har har har).

%#$#$ yeah? You figured it out?

%#$#$ yeah. I just walk in with a %#$#$ group and they assume I'm with %#$#$ them.

Chortle chortle. %#$#$ cool.

Okay, well, we'll %#$#$ see you around.

%#$#$yeah. Maybe this weekend.

%#$#$
______
And a couple thoughts run through my head:
1) how painful must it be to have a 10 minute conversation and not really say anything at all?
2) Do people in locker rooms somehow forget that everybody else in the locker room can hear them? Or do they just not care?
3) What I've just witnessed is the human equivalent to those nature videos, in which the male bull elks attempt to prove their virility over the others through posturing and faux-feats of strength. Nothing is actually accomplished, except that these two men proved one to the other that they are real men because a)they like women and b)they can cuss a lot.
4) Which makes me wonder - am I lacking in manhood because I don't strut around and cuss a lot?
5) Is there a record for most cuss words in a 10-minute conversation? Because I think these guys broke it.

______
*names in this story have been changed in order to protect the, ahem, innocent.

When you want something cool and refreshing. . .

Do you ask for a soda? For a Coke? For a pop?

Depends on where you find yourself in this map:
If you can't read the fine print, blueish areas are "pop" areas, yellowish areas are "soda" areas, and reddish areas are "coke" areas.

Unless you're like me, who adopted "soda" while in California and just can't quite bring myself to say "pop" anymore.

Two quick highlights:
- this is not a joke, but a serious article in the journal of English Linguistics.
- according to the article, "Americans drink so much of the carbonated beverages sold under such brand names as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Sprite, Mountain Dew, and 7-Up that consumption averages 43 gallons per year for every man, woman, and child in the United States." Anybody want to hazard a guess for a cause of the rising obesity and diabetes rates?

source.

A Post on Theology and the Writer's Strike

On a message board I frequent, somebody asked about the Hollywood Writer's Strike; specifically, they asked whether or not unions "line up biblically." This was my response. What do you all think?

+++++

I find that questions like this are too broad to create much conversation on the subject. You can't find any verse or passage that speaks directly to the topic, so unless you define some issues, there's not much to discuss/debate. To that end, let me propose three smaller issues that might point us toward an answer to the bigger question.

1. Is there a justice issue involved? Is there an injustice being perpetrated that unions might be able to stand up against? In the 20s and 30s, this was the case. Sweat shops, virtual slave labor, paying a pittance for backbreaking work, fatcat corporate owners getting wealthy on the backs of the poor, uneducated, illiterate, immigrant population. Unions stood up for the rights of those who suffered greatly, and brought about great reforms for the working masses (sadly, many churches fought against the unions in the misguided belief that God had ordained capitalism, and unions seemed inherently socialist). So, are unions today seeking after justice and fair treatment? Or are they after vain power, liberal politics, or excessive monetary gain? wrt the hollywood strike, are the studios being unjust toward the writers (note: unfair and unjust are not the same thing)? Is the writer's union striving after justice for its constituents?

2. Is it even fair to talk about injustice toward writers, when so many others are truly suffering? How does the suffering of Hollywood writers compare to the suffering of the immigrant mother working as a hotel maid at the Travel-lodge? Is it right for somebody who's making a livable wage in Los Angeles to demand more, even strike for more, when a lot of people are struggling to survive on minimum wage or worse? How does God feel about writers demanding more, when the rest of the world is surviving on a couple cents per day at best? Does any American Middle-class worker have the right to complain, when all over the world people are still in slavery, in deathly conditions working in Chinese coal mines or African diamond mines, when families are selling their daughters into prostitution just so they can eat?

3. Considering the garbage that Hollywood continuously spews forth, are any of these the right questions to be asking? In other words, "do unions line up biblically" may be a non-issue, when the writers have proven that they have no intention of "doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with their God." Considering the incessant glorification of violence, the normalization of aberrant sexuality, the objectification of women, the fame and glory given to every kind of sin, the commercialization of everything decent, the unhealthy attention paid to Paris and Jessica and all the American Idols, and considering the mockery of Christianity and God's ideals (love, justice, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, etc.), is the strike really an issue? Or is the entertainment system so broken, so diabolical, so ungodly, so anti-christian, that God couldn't care less about whether or not they have a union? Perhaps his only desire is that they learn what it means to proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Quick snapshot

It was back before music came over the internet, back before CDs came in jewel cases complete with extensive liner notes. Back when you had to listen to music closely to figure out the lyrics. For that matter, it was back when song lyrics actually meant something, back when lyrics were poetry and songwriters were artists.

Back before your average lyric was "oh baby shake that baby baby oh mm oh shake dance oh. . ."

(transition)

My parents were those people who were usually the last to leave Church on a Sunday morning. They, the Danielsons, the Meyers (Hey Marcia!), the Golikes. . .they would all just sit around and, I don't know, talk or something. For what seemed like hours and hours and hours. And after a while, we kids would get tired of running all over the church while waiting. So eventually we'd go sit in the car and listen to the radio. If it was fall, then it would be the Seahawks game, but any other time meant great stereophonic popular music streaming through the factory speakers in the Catalina.

(connect the dots. . .)

Which is the first place my memory went when I head that Dan Fogelberg died over the weekend. Sitting in the front seat (the bench seat) of the Pontiac, trying in vain to figure out the line from Leader of the Band that I would later learn goes "Living out the life I've chose and grown to know so well."

Let's be honest. Dan Fogelberg is one of those guys, like John Denver, and Barry Manilow, who everybody secretly loves but is too afraid to admit it, for fear of being "uncool."

So let me state for the record - I still can't watch the Kentucky Derby without thinking of The Run for the Roses. If I'm flipping around the radio dial and here Same Old Lange Syne I have to listen to the end. Listening to Dan Fogelberg makes me happy, in a melancholy sort of way.

There, I said it, and I'm sticking to it.

Just a thought

One perfect reason to deny the possibility that the human race is evolving upward toward some New Age of Peace, Harmony, and Universal Intelligence, in which we all achieve Spiritual Consciousness and Bliss

Or,

Just one more example that the world is actually becoming dumber by the minute:

The simple fact that anybody would actually pay money to go to a Spice Girls Reunion concert.