We’ve started to Wii

I hooked up the kids’ Wii today. It ended up being "self-contained and fairly explanatory"*, but as I get older, I get increasingly intimidated when faced with a thick operator’s manual. Every techno gadget has so many features these days that you deserve three college credit-hours if you can figure it all out. Anyway, they were up and singing High School Musical songs in short order. Tomorrow, we plunge into the deep with Endless Ocean.

VEEP Thoughts

What do I think of McCain’s VP pick? Well, I’ll tell you.

It was a shrewd move in that she’s untouchable. Obama’s already on thin ice with many women voters who think that he undeservingly vanquished Hillary. Any arrows slung at Ms. Palin will be interpreted as slights against women and the PUMAs will be more inclined to sit out the election, or worse, throw their weight to the right.

Of course, by picking Palin, McCain forfeits an arrow from his own quiver. He can no longer say that Obama is too young and inexperienced to inherit the throne when his own first-in-line is even younger.

I think Palin will help McCain more than Biden will help Obama, but in the end, it may not matter.

Unspeakably Sad

I don’t like to get too heavy here at BFS, but I feel compelled to tell you this. There may be no more devastating sight in all of humanity than a tiny casket. I saw one this weekend; I hope to never see one again.

I still like music

Song of the week honors go to … it’s a tie! The Weight of Lies by the Avett Brothers and Mission Control by the Whigs. I’m up for hearing something new if anyone cares to recommend their favorite new musical find.

Bocce Balls!

The Springfield Parks Foundation Bocce Ball Tournament kicks off on September 11. The $35 entry fee is a little steep, but I imagine that it is waived for standing champions. In fact, I could probably command a fairly hefty appearance fee should I decide to enter. I’m a bit of a legend in bocce circles.

*Lunch for two at the Sportsmen’s Lounge to the first person who can identify what movie this line is from.

"You can’t make everybody happy all of the time"

Without looking up, Victor broke the silence and said, "It’s true, daddy, you can’t make everybody happy."

The sentiment isn’t an original one, but it certainly qualifies as a truism. And even though the notion is tinged with cynicism, it’s a lesson that a young kid like Victor needs to know. That he picked up on it already, on his own, speaks well for his ability to deal with what life has in store for him.

The Pipes, the Pipes
Sometime around high school, I made the decision to change my name. I would no longer be Danny, the boy of Irish wonder, but Dan, the mature up-and-comer. A drummer and quiet by nature, I didn’t like being associated with the wise-cracking bassist of the Partridge Family.

My new name caught on fairly well, although family and certain friends from my St. Al’s days continued to call me Danny. It never bothered me when they did, or do.

I bring this up now because today most of the people who know me, or know of me, know me as Dan. That’s why I was quite surprised to get a Google Alert today (yes, it’s slightly egotistical to set up a Google Alert for your own name, I’m not free from vanity) for Danny Naumovich. It was a ZoomInfo page, of which I know nothing about, except that it linked to some of my blog posts and SJ-R columns, where I’m known exclusively as Dan. Not much of a mystery, as these things go, but still I wonder.

Madonna is a shrewd political observer . . . or a dumb chick from Detroit
When ignorant or manipulative folks on the right attempt to link Barack Obama to Islamic terrorism, there’s no shortage of people on the left at the ready to rightly point out the ridiculousness of the comparison. Will they also be willing to point out the ridiculousness of comparing John McCain to Adolph Hitler and Robert Mugabe, as some marginally talented and freakishly-toned pop stars have attempted to do? Or do you talk yourself into finding a hint of truth in the preposterous when it applies to someone you’re obligated-by-ideology to hate?

Where the Action Is
Although I’m officially, and genuinely, undecided, I did want to venture downtown on Saturday for the big happening. I think it’s still fairly safe to call Obama the presumptive next president, so there’s no doubt that history was being made, but I also wanted to witness the spectacle. The problem was that my wife had a catering gig and whatever I decided to do, four kids would be in tow. This presented certain logistical problems in that they couldn’t have cared less who was in town to announce what.

I had my own concerns about bringing them to such an event. What if something happened, real or perceived, that caused the Secret Service to react? And what if the throng, sensing the danger, began to panic? Could I guarantee the safety of four young charges in stampede-like conditions?

Saturday evening, I was sitting on the porch when my neighbor the cop came home. He said that organizers didn’t plan well for the heat and the multitudes and that he spent the day pulling spent people out of the masses into safety. I’m glad that we decided to go to the soon-to-be-even-better water park instead.

Baseball needs a good editor
I know it will never happen, but if they would only chop a month off both the beginning and end of the schedule, baseball just might be tolerable. As it is, it’s like watching a halfway-decent movie that drags on for over three hours. And it plays everyday from spring through fall. Thank heavens football is about to arrive.

There I was, chilling at home, sipping a Guinness, listening to the Avett Brothers on the ol’ iPod, and reading an article on the Natchez Trace in Smithsonian magazine. It was perfect, almost blissful.

Should this concern me?

That my life lacks excitement, I mean.

Modern Trick by Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles is the perfect gift for the music lover in you.

Mind you, I’m not suggesting that we file swap, as that would be illegal. Rather, I just want everyone to recommend their five favorite new songs from the past year.

Now when I say new, I don’t mean to restrict your selections to cuts that were released in 2007. What I’m looking for our songs that first garnered great status, in your estimation, within the last year. So it might be a 20-year-old song that you heard for the first time. Or maybe it’s a song that you’ve been familiar with for years, but it never really rocked you until this year.* Of course, it could be a brand spanking new song.

As always, when writing about music that the reader may not be familiar with, it’s good to offer some points of comparison with other, more well-known songs or artists. For example, you might describe a song as sounding like a freaked-out Belinda Carlisle doing an impersonation of Tom Jones at a klezmer hoedown in Compton.** If a particular song doesn’t lend itself to comparisons, then just a sentence or two of why you like it will be helpful.

It was a good year for new music for me and it was hard to narrow the list down. Nevertheless, I’ve arrived at five and here they are, in no particular order.

Young Folks – Peter, Bjorn & John feat. Victoria Bergsman  What do you get when combine a drum machine, whistling and cool Swedish accents? One of the hottest songs of 2007. Lyrically: this song wouldn’t have worked if the person who wrote it spoke English as their first language. Musically: you won’t stop whistling the hook until well into 2008.

Will You Return? – The Avett Brothers This song has a hootenanny-type feel to it. At first, it sounds like a drunk guy picked up a banjo and started banging out a tune. Then the harmonies kick in and you realize that these guys can really sing and play. This, my friends, is a fun song.

Modern Trick – Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles  Sound-wise, this song is a bit of a departure for them. It’s slightly trippy and puts me in the mind of something groovy, only there’s a pedal steel where a Moog might have been. Great song on a great album by a great band.

Use It – The New Pornographers  If you like a good piano-driven rocker, this is the song for you. It features cool lyrics like this:

the cat calls, through the night
and two chicks in the parking lot crack wise on the price of fame

Your Little Hoodrat Friend – The Hold Steady  A toe tapping tale steeped in depravity and squalor from “America’s Favorite Bar Band.” This would be a killer karaoke song, if one were inclined to engage in such public displays.

Stuff your own stocking with any of these five songs and you’re bound to have a Merry Christmas. Now stuff mine.

 
*This is not an uncommon occurrence for me. There will be a song that I’ve heard countless times and thought it okay, but nothing to iPod about. Then I’ll hear this song in a different context, say in a movie soundtrack or performed live, and POW! – it will reveal itself to be a kicker of previously unappreciated quality.

**That, by the way, is a song that I’d  pay top dollar to hear.