What to Gram Parsons, Neil Young, Mark Knopfler and Conor Oberst Have in Common?

Emmylou Harris.

Is there anyone cooler than Emmylou Harris?
No.

eMusic has added Warner Bros. back catalog, so this morning I downloaded:
Emmylou Harris' Wrecking Ball (Neil Young wrote the title track)
Neil Young's Greatest Hits
Gram Parsons' Grievous Angel (Emmylou duets with Gram)

I can't wait for my commute!

Microsoft vs. Malaria Deathmatch

OK, it's not Microsoft per se, but it is the money that Bill Gates made during his career at Microsoft that is helping, under his guidance, to eradicate Malaria.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8479986.stm

I'm already in awe of the man for providing the software upon which I've based my career. Now this!

To me, this is the meaning of "American idol".

Thanks Bill.

Hibernating Hamster

As the family grave keeper, it is my duty to dispose discreetly of any pet that meets his end at our home.

Most recently it was feared that our hamster Chewy had come to the end of his days. Unusually however, I soon discovered we were mistaken.

You may ask yourself, "How can you not tell if an animal is dead?"

To which I would reply, I'm sure one could tell, but in this case it wasn't particularly obvious. He was curled up in his food bowl, which has about a one cup capacity and is roughly the dimension of a typical metal measuring cup.

When I pulled him out of his bowl he as very stiff. And he didn't wake up from the relatively rude handling.

Moments later, I had the hole dug. I even went so far as to drop him into it before I noticed him begin to faintly twitch.

Brief observation was rewarded with signs of life.

I scooped him back up and replaced him in his home where he has resumed normal activity for the past several weeks.

Tinariwen

From northern Mali, in the southern Sahara, former Tuareg rebels and nomads turned musicians.

Guitar style is similar to Amadou et Mariam.

This is track seven, my favorite from their album Aman Iman: Water is Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YhynhACbRY

Life-Flight Comes to Cedar Ridge

I watched a "life-flight" helicopter enter our neighborhood last night. After staying for less than 15 minutes it took-off and headed west at about 8:25 pm.

Our neighbor heard it was over a dispute ending in gunfire.

The same neighbor also warned us that "life-flight" was coming about 5-10 minutes before they arrived.

Birthday Pizza!

I made this Margherita pizza in a style as closely as I could to what we had in Naples, Italy.

All in attendance agreed it was terrifically tasty.

It was a good birthday, and you can here me sing with my birthday present here.

December the 25th me dears, December the 25th

I had the foresight to order "Scrooge" from Netflix in advance of Christmas this year.

I've seen probably 4 movie versions of "A Christmas Carol", (including the new animated version in 3D, with Jim Carrey) and "Scrooge" is far and away my favorite.

This is a production that taps into an astounding range of human emotion. It's lovable, sorrowful, scary and funny, all in very satisfying ways.

And this year's viewing was improved by the use of subtitles so I could understand the lyrics to the musical numbers. The sound quality and the accents can make it hard to understand the lyrics, so the subtitles fill in nicely there.

Finally, this year's viewing was followed, sporadically, throughout the day of December the 24th, by an echoing of the musical numbers by Jamey. In particular I kept hearing "December the 25th, December the 25th" musically emanating from his bedroom.

The lyrics are posted here for the reader's convenience, but for the full effect, I suggest you watch the show, on Christmas Eve with children.

DECEMBER THE 25TH

From "Scrooge"

(Leslie Bricusse)

Of all the days in all the year

that I'm familiar with

There's only one that's really fun

December the 25th

Correct!

Ask anyone called Robinson

or Brown or Jones or Smith

Their favorite day

And they will say

December the 25

Correct!

(refrain)

December the 25th, me dears

December the 25th

The dearest day in all the year

December the 25th!

Correct!

At times we're glad to see the backs

of all our kin and kith

But there's one date we celebrate

December the 25th

Correct!

At times our friends may seem

devoid of wit and pith

But all of us are humorous

December the 25th

Correct!

(refrain)

If there's a day in history

that's more than any myth

Beyond a doubt one day stands out

December the 25th

Correct!

I don't hear any arguments

So may I say forthwith

I wish that every day could be

December the 25th

(refrain)

Music Review - November

Hope Sandoval

Have you ever had a dream where you are swimming underwater and then you realize you can't get to the surface in time, so after some brief moments of panic you surrender yourself to fate and breathe-in, only to discover, in a suffusion of pleasure, that you are able to breathe water.

Hope Sandoval's voice has the same effect on me: I want to resist, but can't and soon I discover I don't need to. Don't want to. The waves are lapping, darkly above me. I'm drowning, but her merciful mermaid song soothes me. Her voice bends and sways like the murky light making it down through the waves. It is eerily beautiful, like far-off whale song.

The dream, I am happy to announce, continues with "Through the Devil Softly" the latest release by Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions.

Disclaimer: I am reviewing Hope Sandoval here, not the album, which I have yet to hear. My faith in her is so near absolute that I feel safe in recommending the album, though I have not heard it.

Interestingly, after writing my review, I went to Amazon and read some reviews of the album, only to find my words echoed:

it will just grab your soul and refuse to give it back...

So beautiful. Haunting, mysterious, heartbreaking, dreamy.

Red Cracked Bolete

Months ago, Jamey became interested in collecting wild mushrooms. This is due at least in part to his love of eating mushrooms.

As a Botany major, I took it as a point of personal pride to figure out how we could do this safely.

After some research I decided on a book. Then, when I went to Powell's to get it, I found a Powell's Staff recommendation to be even better than the one I had found online.

It's called Mushrooming Without Fear, and so far has proven effective, as we have tasted 2 mushrooms we never had tasted before, and we haven't become sick on either occasion!

We've had the book since early September, but early attempts to locate mushrooms in the wild failed.

Our first success was a week or two after our first attempt, when Arthur spotted some puffball mushrooms in the lawn at Lewisville Park. We didn't eat those, but followed the advice of the book to harvest once without eating, just to gain practice at identification.

Then a week ago we found some large puffballs in our own lawn. We sampled those after frying them in butter. It was thumbs up all the way around. (Note, we're not counting Heidi when it comes to discussions of mushroom consumption.)

One of the more sweeping restrictions advised in our guidebook is the avoidance of all mushrooms with gills. This turns out to be a majority of mushrooms.

Defying the odds, yesterday I spotted a cluster of meaty looking 'shrooms and sure enough, they had pores, not gills. Out came the book. After carefully reading the identification cues, we determined that these were Red Cracked Bolete.

Due to the very distinctive features of this mushroom: blue bruising on the bright yellow pores, red tint showing when the cap is damaged, etc..., we felt confident in moving forward with the taste-test.

Jamey gobbled the first batch, again, with vigorous approval. The next morning, Arthur tried some in his omelet and found them satisfying.

So, we have learned something new. Added to our culinary repertoire and had fun in the process.

More Homemade Loaves

I'm still infatuated with the look of these no-knead loaves.

First Heat of the Year

The temperature dropped to 67 degrees this morning, so I started a fire. Yes, we are wimps.

Garlic Planting Time

This is your friendly reminder that Garlic-planting season is upon us.

So wrap that garlic garland around your neck, and after you've staked all the vampires, plant the cloves. By July you'll be feasting on fresh homegrown hardnecks.

I say hardnecks, because after my batch this past summer I've decided that the Italian Red hardneck garlic has a far superior aroma and flavor than the soft-neck garlic I normally find at the supermarket.

Happy gardening!

Swoosh!

Summer was camped out over the land.

At night, when he was resting, Winter

crept in, furtively, retreating when his rival woke.

Finally, Summer had enough of his toes

being frostbitten in his sleep

Yesterday he stood up in a huff,

Put on his great dusty coat

and swooshed out of town.

Today the wind still swirls

while Winter, grinning, peers over the mountain.

September Music Review

Ingrid Michaelson

Forgive me if I'm behind the times on this one. Since I don't get broadcast television I didn't know until today that Ingrid Michaelson's music has been on Grey's Anatomy for two years. I also didn't know that she was a MySpace sensation that self-produced her way onto #2 on the pop charts with her debut album Boys and Girls. Nor did I realize that her new album Everybody was number one on iTunes as recently as this August. I found her because a coworker suggested Vienna Teng (also very good) and emusic suggested Michaelson as being similar to Teng.

What I have known from the moment I heard her music is that her music is extremely accessible. Just as Peter O'Toole opines about the desert in Lawrence of Arabia, I believe the beauty of Michaelson's music is that "It's clean."

She has a knack for presenting sentimental lyrics in a way that doesn't leave an overly sweet aftertaste. On the song Giving Up she doesn't reveal why she's giving up until the final line, which adds considerably to the impact of the lyrics.

She has had some widely played songs, such as The Way I Am and Be OK. The latter appeared in the recent Anna Faris movie House Bunny.

However, as is often the case, there are plenty of gems that are a little less catchy and a lot more interesting than the hits, such as Giving Up, Corner of Your Heart, Far Away, Die Alone and others.

Potential defects:

• Some of these songs might "get stuck in your head"
• Some songs my be too slow and sentimental or repetitive.
• Her staying power is still a question. I've only been listening to her for a few weeks.

Here are some video links for you to sample the music:

Die Alone

Maybe

Corner of Your Heart

Extra-special Bonus!

Some great tracks from other artists I've recently come to know and like:

Vienna Teng

Sia

Peter Bjorn & John

Etta James

Rainy Saturday

Heidi said:

"Everything I wanted to do I can't do, so now I can do stuff."

"What?"

"That makes perfect sense."