Beth's Music Moment: The Joy of Discovery (Blown Away)

Hey, so don't that make you feel a whole lot better?
Huh?
I say, don't that make you feel a whole lot better?
What you say?
Well, I'm just askin'

"Dance This Mess Around" by The B-52s

Cousin Shane recently posted a great article that was a guide to getting into The B-52s. While neither of us needed a guide because we've loved them since forever, it was still a really fun read. 

It took me way back to the first time Shane and I were introduced to them. They appeared on "Saturday Night Live" and we were immediately hooked! They did two songs, "Dance This Mess Around" and "Rock Lobster" (unfortunately, those videos are hard to find, so you get a later performance of the former song), and we'd never seen anything like it. It was crazy, it was fun, and it was danceable. We've seen them live several times and they are always a blast! 

It made me think about how much fun it is to discover new music. Not just something new but something that blows you away. You fall in love immediately. For many years, SNL was the vanguard in that respect. It's also where we discovered Devo. SNL isn't quite as good as they used to be in that regard, but they got back to it when they had Greta Van Fleet on a few weeks ago. I was blown away. More often than not, I get new music from sites like Noisetrade or Bandcamp. Shane and Matt and I recommend new music to each other a lot, and we go out to hear local bands as often as possible. A local place, Ignition Garage, was hosting a Nashville band a while back and Shane thought they sounded fun. We were blown away by *repeat repeat and go see them now every chance we get. 

I will never tire of that feeling of hearing something that immediately grabs you and makes you go, "Wow! I love this!" I get that feeling with books and movies and other things, too, but nothing is quite as powerful as hearing new music (or even new-to-you music) and feeling blown away. I get frustrated and even angry at people who say that "nothing out there is any good these days." Well, why don't you just shuffle off to the home, Grandpa, because some of us are still getting blown away by new music! That attitude is lazy. You aren't going to hear anything good on commercial radio, okay? Do a little work and seek out new stuff. It ain't gonna fall in your lap! 

Even at my age, I love hearing something new and exciting. Happy hunting, enjoy the journey, and as the Talosians on "Star Trek" say, "May you find your way as pleasant."

There Are Other Worlds Than These

Planet Claire has pink air

All the trees are red

No one ever dies there

No one has a head

~~ “Planet Claire” by the B-52s

Today we got a special treat, with a visit to the Notre Dame planetarium at the Jordan Hall of Science.

This was especially fun because we had NO IDEA that Notre Dame has a planetarium! They’ve had it for twelve years.

Why wasn’t I informed of this??

Anyway, Ken got the tickets through our local NPR station, WVPE. I haven’t found out yet how accessible or available it is to the general public. It looks like they also do journeys into molecules and the human body. COOL! Can I just hang out there all the time?

So here’s the deal. Notre Dame is a Catholic university. This program blended a journey through our known universe, using actual data and images from satellites and NASA, with theological readings from various scholars. It was way too churchy for me. As I told Ken later (we stopped for a beer at the Crooked Ewe and discussed amongst ourselves), I am in awe of the natural world and don’t feel any need to ascribe it to some sort of supernatural being.

Leaving the theological stuff behind, it was a truly awe-inspiring look into just how vast our universe is and how precious and fragile our pale blue dot is. The program put our place in the universe into perspective, pulling out to show our world, our solar system, our sphere of radio transmission, our galaxy, and the trillions of galaxies that lie beyond our own.

KABLOOIE. Mind blown.

The astrophysicist, Dr. Sakimoto, who runs the place took questions after the program and man, how great is it to be surrounded by fellow science geeks? Pretty damn great, for real! There were some good questions and Dr. Sakimoto had some interesting answers. One that he gave often was, “To be honest, we don’t know.” That was perfect. Science does NOT have all the answers. The reason we science is because we want to learn and figure it out!

There was some discussion of whether or not there are other civilizations and life-forms out there. Ken and I continued that discussion over beers and I wondered how we define life? Maybe there are other life-forms out there that do not jibe with our carbon-based life-forms. Exhibit A: the Horta in Star Trek, a silicon-based life-form. I know it was a TV show, but come on! It’s a valid point! Why do life-forms necessarily need water? Anaerobic bacteria don’t need oxygen. What if other life-forms evolved under different circumstances? What if anaerobic bacteria evolved into anaerobic beings??

KABLOOIE. Mind blown again.

It was a fun afternoon and it really made me ponder. It also made me realize that our little orb is very precious and that we need to protect it. Climate change denial threatens us all.

We are a long way from being able to colonize other planets. Let’s take care of the one we have, okay?

United States of America…minus one?

Before anything else, I have a Silver Squirrel to bestow! The fabulous Miss Ginger Grant was the first one to get the reference to my strange, moss-covered object that looked like a rock...but it wasn't a rock! It was indeed a ROCK LOBSTER! A classic song by the B-52s. Look out, Miss G, here comes a bikini whale! Aaaaahhhh!

Today is another beautiful day, even a little warmer than yesterday, but doggone it if I didn't catch the cold that Ken has been battling all week. I feel a little better than I did this morning, but still kind of crummy. At least I know that this is only the beginning of nice weather, so I'll have plenty of chances to enjoy the summer days to come. Instead of a T-shirt and capris like yesterday, I'm wearing a sweatshirt and flannel pants. What a drag! I'll take this unanticipated downtime and order some books. Mostly gifts, don't worry!

See the state of Texas there all by its lonesome, almost as if it were a country unto itself? Well, that's what Texas governor Rick Perry has been going around talking about the past few days. Perry refused $550 million in stimulus money that would have gone to the Texas unemployment trust fund, and has been very vocal (along with Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Gov. Kenneth the Page Bobby Jindal of Louisiana in his criticism of the federal government and President Obama's economic plan. That's their right, of course, but I wonder how the unemployed in Texas, South Carolina, and Louisiana feel about it?

Gov. Perry was very active in the tea parties in Texas yesterday...again, also his right. But things took an ugly turn when some in the crowd started shouting "Secede! Secede!" Later on, in an interview, he called his supporters "patriots," and said that there may come a point when Texans get so fed up they want to secede from the union. He continued on and said he didn't see a reason why Texas would want to do that, but "There's a lot of different scenarios. We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we're a pretty independent lot to boot."

[pause]

Is this guy a freakin' lunatic?! And what is up with these people shouting for secession? Don't they remember how that turned out the last time they tried it? (Not real well.) And "patriots?" Isn't a patriot someone who loves, supports, and defends their country above all other entities, including their own state? How are these people patriots when they are chanting mindlessly for their state to leave the union? A union that was fully forged only after much blood was spilled and thousands died. And now this governor is playing along and saying that if the government doesn't shape up (at least according to his standards), it's possible that they could secede? This is appalling and dangerous.

It's this kind of mob mentality and utter ignorance that makes me fear for our country, not the skyrocketing debt. We can work our way out of debt, but you can't fix stupid. Instead of spurring this on, the Governor should be saying, "Whoa whoa whoa! Everybody just calm the f*** down!" This is such empty rhetoric, and anyone who wants Texas to split off from the union clearly hasn't thought this thing through. Texas gets plenty of federal funds, I'm sure, for education, business development, environmental concerns, etc. And oh yeah, if anyone were to attack Texas, the full strength of our military would protect the state and its people. Do they really want their state to spend the time, effort, and money required to put together an army? Do they really want to have to get a passport to travel up to Oklahoma for the Sooners-Longhorns games? I'm guessing not.

Any take on this from my Tejas readers? Miss G? Amy? Teresa? Not sure of any others.

I love Texas, and have been there several times, to a few different cities. I've walked the River Walk in San Antonio; I learned how delicious Tecate in a salted mug is, in Wichita Falls; I've been to a Cowboys game and I saw the Cars on their Panorama tour in Dallas. But this is insanity, people, and I hope everyone can get a grip and start working together instead of pouting and threatening to take their ball and go home.

The World's Greatest Party Band

WOW!

Oh man, what a great show!

Ken took some pictures before we left, and you can see them over at his blog. Shane and I hopped into in his fancy German sports sedan, Joan Jetta, and hit the road. Despite some crazy construction (I-65 was completely closed--how do you just completely close a major highway?), we made great time, and had fun chatting along the way, getting caught up on everything. When we got to Merrillville, we stopped at Pizzeria Uno for dinner. I'd never had their pizza before--yum! Love the sauce. The fishnets got a few looks, and Shane and I cracked up!

We headed over to the venue, and were thrilled to see what a small place it was. We had some time before the show started, so I had a cool beverage. We headed in about 10 minutes before the show. We had great seats, and were right by the soundboard. Shane said, "Cool! We'll have the best sound!" I must have looked puzzled, because he said, "Yeah, really. The sound guys will adjust the sound for where they're sitting." You know, I never thought about that, but it makes complete sense!

They started right at 8, with no opening act. They opened with "Pump" off of the new CD ("Funplex"), followed by one of my favorites, "Mesopotamia." I can't remember the order of the set list, but I'll try to find it online. They also did "Hot Corner," "Ultraviolet," "Juliet of the Spirits," "Funplex," "Love in the Year 3000," and "Keep This Party Going," all from "Funplex." As for their older stuff, they did "Roam" and "Love Shack," "Party out of Bounds," "Give Me Back My Man," "Strobelight," and "Private Idaho." The encore was "Planet Claire," "Keep This Party Going," and their last song wasn't a rock, it was a "Rock Lobster!" Shane and I had fun singing along especially to lines like "I'm at the mall on a diet pill!" and "BUT SHE ISN'T!"

AGGHHH! They were so awesome. They sounded every bit as great as they always did, and they ARE the World's Greatest Party Band! Keith looked great and was really rocking out on guitar, Fred was his usual goofy self, Kate's voice is still angelic--and she looked so cool in silver lamé!--and Cindy was bopping around, doing the Pony, just singing her little heart out. Shane and I were talking on the way home, and I said that one of the coolest things is that they all seemed to really be having a great time up there. Cindy was smiling, they were all goofing around...it was just neat to see them still having so much fun after all these years! Shane agreed, and said that they were the same way when he saw them in Asheville, North Carolina last year.

The highlights for me were probably "Planet Claire" (I thought of you, Mark!), and "Rock Lobster" was just incredible. Everybody's dancin'...everybody's fruggin'...(that's from the song). But the one that really blew me away was Cindy singing "Give Me Back My Man." Her voice was soft and sultry in the right parts, but then she let it rip and just belted out the chorus. Good stuff!

Give Me Back My Man

She cuts her hair
and calls his name.
Wishin' everything could be the same,
like when she had him.

I'll give you fish,
I'll give you candy,
I'll give you everything I have in my hand.

Walking out of Korvettes,
Package in her hand.
Motions to all the seabirds,
throws divinity on the sand.

I'll give you fish,
I'll give you candy,
I'll give you everything I have in my hand.

Give me, give back my man.
Give me, give back my man.

Her head's in a whirlpool,
spinnin' round and round.
If she don't get her man back
she's gonna drown.

I'll give you fish,
I'll give you candy,
I'll give you everything I have in my hand.

Give her, give back her man,
Give her, give back her man. (repeat)