Santorum=Jackass

You know, I hesitate to post this link ("The Elephant in the Room: In Praise of Catholic Priests Who Dare to Preach and Enforce"), because it suggests that I'm insisting that people read an article written by Rick Santorum (albeit more likely one of his proxies), but fairness constrains me. Now I have not bothered to fact check the article, assuming that people usually treat any factual statement from the emphatically ex-senator from Pennsylvania as gingerly as a dog turd. But a few random observations comes to mind:

1) It takes a man of great character to question the quality of the person who so resoundingly thumped him in a recent election, knowing that lesser mortals might accuse him of sour grapes;

2) I've noted in the past that John Paul II knowingly gave the Eucharist to a pro-choice politician in Italy, so I won't go over how ridiculous this whole issue is. I will merely point out that a priest is in no position to know the heart of someone coming up to receive Communion, so really, he should just do his job and give out the sacrament. Not to mention that recent events have shown that the Church might want to review how it handles background checks;

3) Santorum brings up Justin Cardinal Rigali, at whom I am a bit miffed right now. Rigali is not as overtly confrontational as Bishop Joseph Martino, the main object of Santorum's praise. But he did allow himself to be photographed with Bush in 2004 and McCain in 2008, and yet somehow was not available for their respective opponents. After that, he had very carefully couched letters read at Mass the Sundays before the election, and then put out the FOCA post cards out the Sunday after Obama's inarguation despite the fact that the bill is not currently under consideration.

I met Cardinal Rigali last year, as part of a group introduced to him during a pilgrimage. When we learned that we would meet him I was torn as to what to do. This is hard to explain to non-Catholics, but even seeing a Cardinal, let alone meeting one, is something special, akin to seeing a rock star. But up to that point Rigali had come up short in every measure I have for high Church members. The question, then, was whether or not to make a scene. As the moment neared, however, I backed away from the idea of any confrontation, and soon I just hoped to avoid aping Mr. Bean when he met the Queen. Which I did manage, BTW, although verbally it was close.

Do I regret not speaking to power when I had the chance? Not really. It is true that some of the great saints of the Church have openly confronted high Church members whom they thought had deviated from the path. Catherine of Siena often signed letters to Cardinals "without reverence," and she's a Doctor of the Church now. Rigali should be told that he does his Archdiocese no favors by using sophists' tricks to manipulate it against politicians he does not like. But many people do tell him this, if he chooses to listen, so I am glad I showed respect to the people who allowed me to meet Rigali by not calling him to task. But if I meet him again . . .

Lenten Discipline: Post entries daily

OK, I've been lax, I know. But that is what Lent is for, to nudge us back towards what helps us. So my Lenten pledge is to make sure to post something every day. Hopefully this will work as an intellectual emetic. So we will see.

Facebook "These are a few of my favorite things" music post

As an eternally frustrated ex-college DJ, I'm always looking for opportunities to get music out there. Not a comprehensive list, although I did do 30. The order is utterly random.

1)Johnny Cash At San Quentin: An obvious choice, but a good one. Prefer this to Folsom because of "A Boy Named Sue;" a distant cousin of mine did an oral interpretation of this song at a family reunion in Ireland about ten years ago;

2)Sam Phillips Martinis and Bikinis: Anything Ms. Phillips does is worth a listen, even the Christian music she later disowned. This one's a slew of well-crafted Beatlesque pop songs dealing with how difficult straddling the line between the spiritual and temporal can be;

3)R.E.M. Life's Rich Pageant: Sentimental choice from the fall of '86. Hard to go wrong with any R.E.M. album, of course; "Accelerate" is also worth a listen, despite being the most recent one;

4)John Prine John Prine: Prine fell into the Marshall Crenshaw trap with this one by making a debut album so impossibly good that he could never top it. No one has ever drawn such richly developed characters in so few phrases;

5)The Pogues If I Should Fall From Grace With God: How do you pick one Pogues album? Simple. Pick the one featuring the duet with Kirsty MacColl, and then mourn the injustice that took her voice from the world;

6)Various Artists Troubadours of British Folk: Volume 1, Unearthing the Tradition: Speaking of Kirsty MacColl, this album features her father Ewan singing his song "Dirty Old Town." Rhino did a good job with this largely acoustic album, featuring most of the major early lights: Donegan, Carthy, Jansch, Briggs, Collins. Plus, if you ever wondered who yelled "Judas!" at Dylan during "The Royal Albert Hall Concert," there's a good chance that person listened to some of this music;

7)The Stooges Raw Power: "Menacing" is a word you don't see in too many music reviews outside of Rock. If you want to hear menace in its purest form, listen to this;

8)Martin Carthy Shearwater: A compelling album from one of the greatest British Folk artists, his return to acoustic guitar after a two album flirtation with electricity as part of Steeleye Span. Carthy believes in it and he knows how to do it.

9)The Hold Steady Boys and Girls in America: the album that restored my faith in rock;

10)The John Coltrane Quartet Africa/Brass: I'm not a jazz guy; the reason I latched onto this is because I read the Byrds were listening to it as they wrote "Eight Miles High." There's no linear link between the two that I can hear, and I never did hear the classical Indian influence on the album, but it is strangely compelling;

11)Various Artists Alan Lomax: Popular Songbook: Field recordings of many songs that would later become rock standards: "Midnight Special," Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad," "Rock Island Line," "Sloop John B." and others;

12)The Beatles Revolver: Almost certainly the best album I've ever heard;

13)Fairport Convention Liege and Lief: And if it ain't "Revolver" it is this;

14)Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Murder Ballads; Hard to top Nick Cave's voice, especially when he's intoning a certain twelve letter word;

15)U2 War; The album I memorized in high school. Growing up without consistent access to a good radio station or MTV, I would save up my money, scan album reviews in magazines and newspapers and buy anything I could find that a reviewer said came from the same influences as "War";

16)Iris DeMent Infamous Angel; She truly has her own voice, and she writes songs worthy of it;

17)The Who Live at Leeds: The most ferocious live album ever recorded, featuring some of rock's best musicians at the height of their powers;

18)Original Cast Album, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More, With Feeling: Combines two of my favorite things, show tunes and TV. Plus it gives one a good intro to Joss Whedon: the character to whom the prettiest ballad is sung has just utterly betrayed the singer;

19)The Chemical Brothers Dig Your Own Hole; Accessible, compelling electronic DJ music. Plus, any recycling of "Tomorrow Never Knows" is always valued;

20)Anne Briggs A Collection: A compilation, but hey, she only has recorded thirty-odd songs to date. I still occasionally listen to her A Capella version of "She Moves Through the Fair" on continuous repeat. It sounds like she just restarts the song, over and over again. If that's what Heaven is like and I make the list, I won't complain;

21)Drive-By Truckers The Dirty South: Again, hard to pick just one DBT album. I go with this because Jason Isbell is still in the band at this point, and he does have the best singing voice DBT ever had. Great stories, good guitar, and that sense of Southern Gothic menace that no one does better;

22)Various Artists White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s: If you get a chance, read the book to which this is a companion, Joe Boyd's memoir of his early career. I'm only aware of one person, Al Kooper, who worked with a wider variety of musicians. But the album works even without the book.

23)Lucinda Williams, Lucinda Williams: PopMatters recently cheated in a review of Williams' last album, saying it was her best album since "You know the one." Readers would either instinctively think Car Wheels on a Gravel Road or this one. I go with the latter; having ears, I like Car Wheels, but Williams indulges her "write a song where a friend of mine dies" muse a bit too much on it. Really, who has a longer life expectancy: a friend of Lucinda's or a Spinal Tap drummer?;

24)Neil Young and Crazy Horse Weld: Neil touring in support of a strong album (Ragged Glory) with opening acts strong enough to push him (Social Distortion and Sonic Youth), and in the middle of the Persian Gulf War. Not much more you could ask for. Plus this is one of the few shows I actually saw;

25)Patty Griffin 1000 Kisses; with the '00s ending, I've been trying to think of the best albums of the decade, and so far nothing beats this one. A virtuoso singer who chooses restraint over self-aggrandizing vocal acrobatics except when the song demands it. Plus, a hell of a songwriter;

26)Talking Heads Remain in Light; I don't know enough about African music to judge how original this album. All I know is that, if I need music to help me focus and move quickly, on foot or behind the wheel, I'm popping in "The Great Curve";

27)Nick Drake Pink Moon: Musical heroin for depressives;

28)The Decemberists Picaresque: Colin Meloy gets mucho props for his literary songwriting skills, which are very evident here. But he is a very evocative vocalist as well, and really, he has to be to pull off his songs. Plus, Jenny Conlee is probably the Garth Hudson of her generation;

29)Sarah McLachlan Fumbling Towards Ecstasy: It took me several years to figure out that "Possession" was essentially written from the perspective of someone who stalked McLachlan, which I think says all I need to say about the power of this album;

30)Richard and Linda Thompson I Want to See the Bright Lights: I've read that Richard Thompson denies that his songs reveal a bleak worldview, saying that he always leaves room for redemption at the end. Maybe so, and certainly "Night Comes In" is as ecstatic a song as one is likely to find. But that was after he converted to Sufism. On this album, one gets the closing tandem of "The End of the Rainbow," which makes Roger Waters' later work sound like the 1910 Fruit Gum Company, and "The Great Valerio," which stomps on the possibility of romantic love as a salve. On a lighter note, the reissue features the most blistering live version of "The Calvary Cross" available right now.

OK, that's it. As always, thanks for your attention.

Fifteen Years Too Late for the Borovnian Fair

Did you ever get something you dreamed about long after you imagined it? I mean really long, like a decade and change. Growing up in an area without an established revival film circuit, I can remember wishing that I could go back in time and see movies that TV stations, for whatever reason, did not show. That era, of course, is as dead as the antebellum South; nowadays people expect access to nearly every film still in existence with almost no delay. And in large part, they get that access. The idea of waiting, say, for a TV show to rerun an episode has become nearly as anachronistic as a hat blocker.

Bear with me through the the remainder of the segue. A few weeks back I missed an episode of The Simpsons. This was a disappointment to me, since I had been told that it took inspiration from the Chronicles of Narnia. But tonight I remembered Hulu.com, and when I pulled up the episode in question my interest increased ten fold. Here's how Hulu describes it: "Lisa meets an equally academic and creative new friend named Juliet." It took me about five seconds to realize the full implications of this statement.

At this point, I should note my mid-1990s obsession with the film Heavenly Creatures, which documents (well, sort of) a real life occasion where the meeting of two "academic and creative" girls set off a chain of events that ended in a horrific murder. You can guess the name of one of the girls involved: Juliet. Granted, this is pretty icky territory, and perhaps not something that a sitcom should ideally do. But really, The Simpsons gets a pass in my book.

Or at least it used to. Now, I don't know, especially in the wake of this episode. Heavenly Creatures came out in 1994, and despite the subsequent success of its stars, screenwriters and director, remains obscure. While movie references and parodies form a significant segment of The Simpsons' humor, fifteen years is a stretch. But what is more disturbing is that the writers pulled back from the most disturbing aspects of the case. Granted, part of this may be do to maintaining the integrity of Lisa's character; she's not one who normally strays too far away from reality. But this itself brings up a disturbing thought: why did the writers jackhammer the plot of an obscure movie onto a character who does not really fit the profile? Unfortunately, Occam's Razor suggests that The Simpsons writers room is so bankrupt of ideas that it will piece together an episode out of anything.

So I've drifted into Comic Book Guy territory. But I think that this is evidence that the party has finally come to an end in Springfield.

Mexico 0, USA 2: "America, F--K Yeah!!!!!!"

That's the most I've enjoyed a U. S. soccer game in quite a while. They actually looked like a top-flight side in Columbus tonight: one touch passes, working the trap, forcing errors and making the other side pay for its mistakes. Sure, finishing could be better (really, what else is new?), but the USMNT showed that they believe in themselves. And really, that is when historically they have produced.

Some may hesitate to look for positives in the 2006 World Cup, but at least one can be found: it lowered expectations for the USMNT. Personally, I think that 2006 could have gone worse -- remember, no one else got a point off of the eventual World Cup champion that year (not even my beloved Les Bleus), and they did draw a tough group. Still, the team played tight, clearly uncomfortable under the weight of expectations. Well, 2002 is a distant memory, and the high FIFA ranking (whether deserved or not) has fallen by the wayside. No one expects anything out of this team now. That may not explain everything about tonight's performance, but it did not hurt.

And I suppose one could argue that so many years under Bruce Arena had let the team go stale. Personally, while I was glad to see Arena go at the end, I prefer that situation to the coaching merry-go-round that Mexico endures. Maybe I've read too much Gregg Easterbrook, but at this point I have to wonder if the stability the USMNT enjoys at the head coaching position has helped them surpass Mexico in CONCACAF. Sven-Goran Eriksson's lackluster resume may not inspire too much confidence, but at least his former employers gave him a chance. Since 1991, the USMNT has had 4 coaches, while Eriksson is number 14 for Mexico, and may be out after tonight.

Why Mexico has not done better on the world soccer stage remains one of the most debatable sports questions out there, but really, there's no excuse.They've hosted two World Cups, rank 11th in world population and have no sport nearly as popular (unless I've underrated the appeal of competitive walking). Plus, Mexican players regularly play for the top teams in the world, while (aside from goalkeepers) Americans have trouble hanging onto roster spots in the top four leagues. But despite all of Mexico's advantages, they've never gotten farther than the World Cup quarterfinals. Yeah, I know its unfair to point this out, but the USMNT reached the semifinals in 1930. After tonight, it is hard to imagine Mexico matching that accomplishment in 2010.

But rather than be negative, I'll enjoy the now. Good times for the USMNT.

Use your Allusion

OK, I'm over-thinking this, which usually leads me to do absolutely nothing, so I'll take a different approach. Here's something where I do not have a fully formed thought before I compose the post. Hey, this is ultimately a writing exercise anyway, so all roads must be explored.

Anyway, I've been reading my posts and noticing how often I make allusions. There are worse literary devices, but nothing endures overuse very well, so why do I keep going back to them? If one takes a dismal view, allusions often are the hallmark of intellectual laziness. An author hijacks the emotions evoked by an event or a work of art for her own purposes. Or it could be exclusionary, something designed to cut out the squares from the audience; if you don't get the reference, you have no business being here.

But let us take the more charitable view. I throw allusions out as means to strike a commonality with readers. Even with people one knows well, communication is problematic at best; we try to organize the chaos in our minds into something that language can convey, say our peace and hope for the best. In that context, all bets are off, and anything that can simplify the process should be in bounds. Really, shared experiences make up the foundation of any relationship merely by making it easier to talk to each other. All an allusion does is make it possible for people who might not know each other well to find common ground.

Star Trek: The Next Generation ran a very good episode near the end of its run where Picard was stranded on a planet with an alien starship captain played by Paul Winfield. At first Picard found communication with Winfield impossible until realizing that Winfield's culture spoke in nothing but allusions to their culture's foundational Creation story. Now obviously, this premise does not bear close examination, unless one can imagine a nuclear physics textbook written wholly in allusions. Only actors as skilled as Patrick Stewart and Paul Winfield could pull this off. But the scene where Picard bridges the gap by telling the story of Gilgamesh shows the power of allusions to bring people together.

Rock and Roll Does Mean Well

Many things still amaze me as I drift into decrepitude, but rock music certainly ranks near the top of the list. What keeps it so fresh, long past any reasonable expiration date? Anyone who has given the matter any thought should be able to write out the rise and fall of rock in her head. If you can't, then just crack open an art history book. Someone synthesizes a few tired old means of expression to create a new form, someone else comes along and expands the new form's possibilities, the momentum dies and everyone moves onto something else.

Except that rock, which by all rights should have started to die after the Beatles broke up, still endures. Scratch that: it still prospers. What brought on this little typing exercise is a sudden realization of just how great a band the Drive-By-Truckers are. With a seemingly inexhaustible supply of songwriters. DBT have already created a body of work that stands with the best rock bands. Just imagine if Flannery O'Connor had grabbed a six string rather than a pen, and you'll get an idea of the kind of songs they produce.

But two years ago I could have written a similar piece on the Hold Steady (and might just yet). My point is this: Buddy Holly's been in the ground fifty years, and the genre still produces artists this vital. One is tempted, of course, to ask why, and I have my theories. A country as culturally diverse as America would naturally favor an art form that easily adapted to different milleaus; moreover, it would stand to reason that this form could itself be transmitted to other societies, where the process would repeat itself. Or whatever. All I know is that rock and roll still possesses the power to move me, and (I think, with some Descartian hedging) others long past the point where it should have lost steam. Hail, Hail, Rock and Roll, indeed!