Listening to

Low

10 Life Lessons from a Navy SEAL

Very condensed version of commencement speech at the Univ. of Texas by Adm. McRaven:

If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.

If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle.

If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle.

If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers.

If you want to change the world get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.

But if you want to change the world, don’t be afraid of the circuses.

If you want to change the world sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first.

So, If you want to change the world, don’t back down from the sharks.

If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moment.

So, if you want to change the world, start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud.

If you want to change the world don’t ever, ever ring the bell.

Source reference URL:

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2014/05/ten-life.html

Essay: "John Glenn's true hero"

Author unknown.

For half a century, the world has applauded John Glenn as a heart-stirring American hero. He lifted the nation's spirits when, as one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, he was blasted alone into orbit around the Earth; the enduring affection for him is so powerful that even now people find themselves misting up at the sight of his face or the sound of his voice.

But for all these years, Glenn has had a hero of his own, someone who he has seen display endless courage of a different kind:

Annie Glenn.

They have been married for 68 years.

He is 90; she turned 92 on Friday.

This weekend there has been news coverage of the 50th anniversary of Glenn's flight into orbit. We are being reminded that, half a century down the line, he remains America's unforgettable hero.

He has never really bought that.

Because the heroism he most cherishes is of a sort that is seldom cheered. It belongs to the person he has known longer than he has known anyone else in the world.

John Glenn and Annie Castor first knew each other when -- literally -- they shared a playpen.

In New Concord, Ohio, his parents and hers were friends. When the families got together, their children played.

John -- the future Marine fighter pilot, the future test-pilot ace, the future astronaut -- was pure gold from the start. He would end up having what it took to rise to the absolute pinnacle of American regard during the space race; imagine what it meant to be the young John Glenn in the small confines of New Concord.

Three-sport varsity athlete, most admired boy in town, Mr. Everything.

Annie Castor was bright, was caring, was talented, was generous of spirit. But she could talk only with the most excruciating of difficulty. It haunted her.

Her stuttering was so severe that it was categorized as an "85%" disability -- 85% of the time, she could not manage to make words come out.

When she tried to recite a poem in elementary school, she was laughed at. She was not able to speak on the telephone. She could not have a regular conversation with a friend.

And John Glenn loved her.

Even as a boy he was wise enough to understand that people who could not see past her stutter were missing out on knowing a rare and wonderful girl.

They married on April 6, 1943. As a military wife, she found that life as she and John moved around the country could be quite hurtful. She has written: "I can remember some very painful experiences -- especially the ridicule."

In department stores, she would wander unfamiliar aisles trying to find the right section, embarrassed to attempt to ask the salesclerks for help. In taxis, she would have to write requests to the driver, because she couldn't speak the destination out loud. In restaurants, she would point to the items on the menu.

A fine musician, Annie, in every community where she and John moved, would play the organ in church as a way to make new friends. She and John had two children; she has written: "Can you imagine living in the modern world and being afraid to use the telephone? 'Hello' used to be so hard for me to say. I worried that my children would be injured and need a doctor. Could I somehow find the words to get the information across on the phone?"

John, as a Marine aviator, flew 59 combat missions in World War II and 90 during the Korean War. Every time he was deployed, he and Annie said goodbye the same way. His last words to her before leaving were:

"I'm just going down to the corner store to get a pack of gum."

And, with just the two of them there, she was able to always reply:

"Don't be long."

On that February day in 1962 when the world held its breath and the Atlas rocket was about to propel him toward space, those were their words, once again. And in 1998, when, at 77, he went back to space aboard the shuttle Discovery, it was an understandably tense time for them. What if something happened to end their life together?

She knew what he would say to her before boarding the shuttle. He did -- and this time he gave her a present to hold onto:

A pack of gum.

She carried it in a pocket next to her heart until he was safely home.

Many times in her life she attempted various treatments to cure her stutter. None worked.

But in 1973, she found a doctor in Virginia who ran an intensive program she and John hoped would help her. She traveled there to enroll and to give it her best effort. The miracle she and John had always waited for at last, as miracles will do, arrived. At age 53, she was able to talk fluidly, and not in brief, anxiety-ridden, agonizing bursts.

John has said that on the first day he heard her speak to him with confidence and clarity, he dropped to his knees to offer a prayer of gratitude.

He has written: "I saw Annie's perseverance and strength through the years and it just made me admire her and love her even more." He has heard roaring ovations in countries around the globe for his own valor, but his awe is reserved for Annie, and what she accomplished: "I don't know if I would have had the courage."

Her voice is so clear and steady now that she regularly gives public talks. If you are lucky enough to know the Glenns, the sight and sound of them bantering and joking with each other and playfully finishing each others' sentences is something that warms you and makes you thankful just to be in the same room.

Monday will be the anniversary of the Mercury space shot, and once again people will remember, and will speak of the heroism of Glenn the astronaut.

But if you ever find yourself at an event where the Glenns are appearing, and you want to see someone so brimming with pride and love that you may feel your own tears start to well up, wait until the moment that Annie stands to say a few words to the audience.

And as she begins, take a look at her husband's eyes.

The Lone Marine

Terrorists your game is through...

...'cause now you got to answer to
AMERICA F YEAH!

Why bother telling you a poignant story about where I was on 9/11...  the Team America lyrics are all you or I need to know.  Ordinarily, I don't toast someone's death - ordinarily.  It's the dream that we all share, it's the hope for tomorrrrrrow!


John Cena Announces Osama Bin Laden's Death To Crowd - Watch more Sports

Rad 80s video of the month archive

The following videos are recognized by GCAS for outstanding contributions to New Wave/New Romantic music.

#1-5 (most recent) are displayed on the sidebar. #6 and older will be linked in this thread!

David Sylvian

Tainai Kaiki II

VIDEO LINK

"The Time Being"

The Church

VIDEO LINK

"Airwaves"

Thomas Dolby

VIDEO LINK

"Major Tom"

Peter Schilling

VIDEO LINK

"Gold"

Spandau Ballet

VIDEO LINK

"The Killing Moon"

Echo and the Bunnymen

VIDEO LINK

"Secret Separation"

The Fixx

VIDEO LINK

Even more TEARS FOR FEARS

...some possibly lesser known songs...

"Famous Last Words"
1989, Sowing the Seeds of Love


"Listen"
Songs from the Big Chair, 1985


"I Choose You"
1995, Raoul and The Kings of Spain



"Secrets"
Raoul and the Kings of Spain, 1995

Cagey sing-a-long

You turn me on, you lift me up And like the sweetest cup I'd share with you

You lift me up, don't you ever stop, I'm here with you

Now it's all or nothing'

Cause you say you'll follow through

You follow me, and I, I, I follow you

What you gonna do when things go wrong?

What you gonna do when it all cracks up?

What you gonna do when the Love burns down?

What you gonna do when the flames go up?

Who is gonna come and turn the tide?

What's it gonna take to make a dream survive?

Who's got the touch to calm the storm inside?

Who's gonna save you?

Alive and Kicking

Stay until your love is,

Alive and Kicking

Stay until your love is,

until your love is,

Alive

Oh you lift me up to the crucial top,

so I can see

Oh you lead me on,

till the feelings come

And the lights that shine on

But if that don't mean nothing

Like if someday it should fall through

You'll take me home where the magic's from

And I'll be with you

What you gonna do when things go wrong?

What you gonna do when it all cracks up?

What you gonna do when the Love burns down?

What you gonna do when the flames go up?

Who is gonna come and turn the tide?

What's it gonna take to make a dream survive?

Who's got the touch to calm the storm inside?

Cagey summer '10 music series repository

2011

Cy Curnin - Feb. 09


2010

Arlo Guthrie - Feb.
Suzanne Vega - Mar. 13   http://makalakapisei.blogspot.com/2010/03/quick-narrative-on-things_15.html
The Church - Apr.       http://makalakapisei.blogspot.com/2010/05/church-american-tour-2010-set-list.html
The Fixx - Jul. 31/Aug. 01
The Smithereens - Aug. 19
Tears for Fears - Sep. 04  http://makalakapisei.blogspot.com/2011/01/tears-for-fears-belt-em-out-on-east.html


2009

Depeche Mode - Jul. 06  http://makalakapisei.blogspot.com/2010/06/one-year-ago-today.html

Eat it, reds -

One year ago today...

DEPECHE MODE 2009 TOUR

   Somewhere out there, standing proudly, is the ultimate travel magazine review of one of the world's most popular destinations I've never read, pondering the city's intellectual movements and -isms, bridges and buildings, the best place to find a sandwich and coffee at 1 A.M., last call.  "That ain't me."  Only dropping in to say that one year ago today, I was in Paris at Stade de France watching the 2009 Depeche Mode tour, the best concert I've ever seen (CLICK FOR SETLIST AND VIDEO).





   How they can bring all that energy to bear for scores of concerts is beyond me.  I guess it's like an act in Vegas or Broadway, you do the same show for a few months and move on to your next project.  I do get it now, how concerts have to be cancelled on the way because someone's ruptured his larynx of they're just exhausted. 

   The whole damn place shook during "It's no Good," 15 or so rows back, house-sized speakers delivered compressions that made my insides felt like they were going to cave in, and my chest was getting pissed at me.

   I'm always, always happy when I think about that trip, that journey.  I'm very fortunate to have been able to live it.  



   CD players came around early high school, and then music seemed to be more accessible. I remember the first kid strutting in class with a portable CD player - instant cool. I remember picking up my first player a year or so later and a Nine Inch Nails CD one night after rock climbing in Grand Rapids. I didn't have many cassettes; I must've listened to a lot of radio. I listened to the hell out of that little CD player. Soon after, we'd be scouring the bins in dingy little college record shops and listening to this "techno" stuff on the lower dial, my friends were picking up Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains, I think I bought Stone Temple Pilots off a friend from soccer and asked for New Order - Republic for Christmas. My music "anthology" was more or less a blank slate; I can't even remember what I liked so much, but harmonic synth and the new romantic movement had staying power. I was standing in the shower today drawing connections on the migration from this post-punk phenomenon to these kids that favor the withdrawn thing or the black garbed thing, the vamp thing - is it a movement favoring traits that seem to appear in DM and other NRs, like yin, introspection, is that it? 

   I remember Angela, Caroline and I talking in French class about how bad we wanted to see Depeche Mode.  That was a fun class, a handful of seniors up to no good in the back of French I with all the freshmen. So definitely within my first five or so CDs I was back up at FBC picking up The Cure - Live in Paris - for the hit Lovesong, but really came to like A Letter to Elise, and Charlotte Sometimes (I've known a French Elise and search this blog for the Charlotte story), both which had strong connotations of a someday trip to France for me, travelling, putting pen to paper, expression.  Live albums took some time to grow on me, but the vibrance of the living, breathing fans pulls in the significance. Depeche Mode 101 came soon after, a two-disc album similarly dark and passionate thematically like The Cure.  From my perspective, information about your favorite bands, tours, and their cultural penetration wasn't maybe as accessible? as it is today, and I surely wasn't reading any Rolling Stone at the time.  While you're grasping for information, you cruise the shops, looking for maybe a foreign live album (probably too expensive), waiting for something new to come along.  You'd have maybe two or three albums to choose from, little did we know about others.  With DM,  I only ever saw Violator and 101, 101 was it for me for a long time.  And now, instead of hearing David Gahan yelling, "Good evening, Pasadena!!!" on 101 and imagining the full stadium, I can see this sort of thing recorded, and I was there. 


The quality of this video wasn't the greatest, but you can tell how disjointed the bass makes you feel up front, (not a complaint, just a test of endurance).

   So you might spend time reading album liners over and over, taking in the tone, reading magazines in the library.  You'd find your way into new music through borrowing your friends' stuff, genre radio shows, or often just grabbing something off the used rack and going with it.  I don't know, cultural transmission seems so different.  Knowledge is more easily obtained and often more disposable.  I have learned exponentially growing tons of shiate about 80s music since starting hanging out at my college radio station, grabbing a paycheck, and an internet connection. 



   Today, I'd like to be able to tell the gals the dream was realized to see the band with the French name, the pillars of the new romantics, in freaking Paris, in a sea of people.  Wondering if a live album will be realized from this spectacular date, like that famous album from The Cure. 

More reading on New Romanticism:

1. "The New Romantics,"  Squidoo, last accessed 27JUN10.

2. "New Romanticism," Wikipedia, last accessed 27JUN10.

The Church: American Tour 2010 set list

Linked videos:
PANGAEA
SPACE NEEDLE
REPTILE
IONIAN BLUES
UNGUARDED
APPALATIA
INVISIBLE
LOUISIANA
COME DOWN
MY LITTLE PROBLEM
MISTRESS
METROPOLIS
MILKY WAY
ALREADY YESTERDAY
10,000 MILES
FLY
ALMOST WITH YOU
TEAR IT ALL AWAY

Verdict: astounding on all fronts.  It was a retrospective from all their albums, starting with selections from most recent, going all the way back to their roots.  After pleading with no joy for "North South East West" in the encore, I didn't leave empty-handed.  I had great luck in snagging a set list from the stage, scanned in above!  All tickets came with a Deadman's Hand EP from the album "untitled #23" and elegant color programmes. 

Found this interesting bit of trivia on The Norva.  Apparently it's like The Ritz!  Who wouldn't want to play there, James Brown definitely liked the hot tub!  Someone at the show I met used to bartend there and said it was a "must-visit" for a lot of bands.  (Even though it's in ... Norfolk.)

Kind of serious toned until the intermission, but a bit of self-deprecating humor ingratiated The Church to the crowd, although most everyone knew that these legendary musicians didn't need to do so whatsoever. I lost my notes I scribbled, but Steven Kilbey asked why they weren't bigger in 1984, which prompted some innocent joshing at Corey Hart ("Sunglasses at Night"). Then they asked, "Why not '81?" and quipped about Kim Carnes.  There were some inevitable Men at Work jibes in there too. Kilbey finally asked why they didn't have better sales in '83, then Marty Wilson-Piper mocked out a Billy Squier ("Stroke Me, Stroke Me") homage - everyone loved it.  Kilbey also threw out some commentary that the '90s was a dangerous time to play, because they were caught between the new romantics movement and grunge.  He said they were some kind of hybrid or other hard to place movement -  " 'motes," a.k.a. darker than most, or something like that, and I think he also got a jibe in that all these "emo" kids nowadays are too effeminate and the 'motes would mop up the mat with them, to more cheers.  So many reasons to like them; like other pop icons from Australia, you know you're not dealing with a bunch of Nancy-boys or recycled pop-trash.  As an aside, connotations maybe only meaningful to me, I think about the austere landscapes of their homeland and The Road Warrior; they don't suffer from a lot of wuss attitudes down there.  This music is going to be real. Lots of impromptu glimpses into their personality that evening were especially memorable because that enigmatic and brilliant soul of theirs has attracted people like me for so long.

Cagey sing-along

The Church: Distant X Unseen

Sitting in the shadows and the evening oscillating

Feeling light and fading like it's never gonna change

Hoping for a moment for some gentle consolation

Waiting at the station where the trains are out of range

She's sitting in a carriage being jostled by the motion

Overhearing conversation, the grinding of the steel

Scenes fly past the curtains that the darkness paints uncertain

And memories are meaningless, her motives are concealed

Through countrysides and mountains and the village by the ocean

Where the stranger's waiting for her in the plushness of his car

Winding and rewinding, pushing all directions

Till the limit of implosions, which is never very far

All I ever wanted to see

Was just invisible to me

Out there in the distance the horizon meets resistance

The summer falls down drunken on the longest of the days

Rushing past the ruins of the churches and the Porsches

Reflected in the mirrors and the echoes and the haze

He drums impatient fingers on the chrome and on the leather

Running through the reasons in the corners of his mind

Sifting tiny diamonds on his shaky mental islands

Where he often claims asylum from the structures left behind

The wind blows through the headstones and the milestones making music

The melody reminds us the girl's still far away

Asleep in her compartment, dreaming of the darkness

As the train speeds on regardless to the approaching day

All I ever wanted to see

Was just invisible to me

Top 80s band comes to Tidewater - THE CHURCH!

Cagey's #5 favorite band.  From http://www.thechurchband.com/ (news): "After three decades together, the church return to North America for a special 30th anniversary acoustic tour throughout April and May 2010. “An Intimate Space” will include songs that span the length of the church’s epic creative trip from their debut in 1980 to their latest critically acclaimed 2009 album “Untitled # 23”."

"In a unique and unusual execution, the band will choose one song from each of their considerable album releases and perform them in reverse chronological order. This original show will have the audience gliding softly down through the years, opening with a track from “Untitled #23” before embarking on a fantastic voyage through time ultimately arriving at their first Australian album, “Of Skins And Heart” where it all began."

This engaging and rare performance is not to be missed.

FREE CD :To make these shows even more special, every ticket holder will receive a free copy of “Deadman’s Hand”, the third EP from the “Untitled #23” album. This EP will include the title track and unreleased tracks from the band’s secret vault.
APRIL
2 – San Juan Capistrano, CA – The Coach House
4 – San Diego, CA – Anthology
5 – Los Angeles, CA – The Roxy Theatre
6 – San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
8 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
9 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox
13 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line Music Cafe
14 – Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre
15 – Chicago, IL – Park West
17 – Cleveland, OH – Winchester Tavern and Music Hall
18 – Ferndale, MI – The Magic Bag
19 – Pittsburgh, PA – Club Café
21 – Somerville, MA (Boston) - Arts at the Armory
22 – NYC, NY – City Winery
23 – Bay Shore, NY (Long Island) - Boulton Centre for the Performing Arts
24 – Sellersville, PA - Sellersville Theatre 1894
25 – Falls Church, VA (DC) - State Theatre
27 – Annapolis, MD – Rams Head On Stage
28 - Norfolk, VA - The NorVa Theatre
29 - Raleigh, NC - Lincoln Theatre
30 - Charlotte, NC - McGlohon Theater

the church

An Intimate Space 30th Anniversary

Nth American Tour 2010

On their lyrics

Lyrics


Most of The Church's lyrics are written by Steve Kilbey, who was the sole songwriter on all albums up to Remote Luxury. Until then, Kilbey brought basically completed/demoed songs to the sessions while the arrangement was a group effort, mostly done by Peter Koppes. This changed since with Heyday in 1985. Now, the songs are results of expanded jam sessions. The music is first written in the studio, after which Kilbey writes the lyrics. His lyrics and poems are often described as surreal, though Kilbey flatly rejects any fixed meaning of his poetry, categorizing them as art pour l'art. Surveying his body of work, several recurring themes can be noticed: myths, legends, dreams and nightmares, visions, drug fantasies, orientalisms, biblical (not exclusively Christian) motifs. These thematic circles are linked, using numerous word plays and references. More recently, Kilbey has stated (about his latest collection, "Eden") his poetry questions "the fabric of love and fear, temptation and creation and our eternal quest for meaning." Often he tries to sketch with few strokes and hints a complete epic course, leaving the details to the listener's imagination.
The Church handle their lyrics to some extent subversively. Strikingly, since the release of 1988's Starfish they have refused to provide lyric sheets to the albums, on the idea that sung lyrics should be listened to, not read. Kilbey likes the idea of a lyric emerging in a person's head, spawning lots of new and unforeseen meanings. This intent notwithstanding, complete collections of Church lyrics can be found on the internet.
Most Church albums have at least one song in which the lyrics and vocals are written and sung by either Peter Koppes or Marty Willson-Piper.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_(band)

Cagey's listening to

Silent House
by The Fixx



...The song: http://new.music.yahoo.com/fixx/tracks/silent-house--1385098
...The lyrics: http://www.byrneweb.com/Fixx/Lyrics/silent_house.html


Image: The Fixx, Stand or Fall video, NME.com

T'Pau - Heart & Soul - Top of the Pops 1987

Anvil! The Story of Anvil trailer

Critically, Anvil! was - well received ('As' on Yahoo Movies) and took a completely unexpected direction. I picked it up thinking it was going to be a comic "rock-umentary" like This is Spinal Tap. The surprise that was ultimately so satisfying was that the story overflowed with human emotion and almost universal appeal.

"Taking the Long Way Home" by The Fixx

Played abroad many nights on my ship, after stumbling back from tucked away haunts.

http://www.sightnsound.org/sounds/Fixx/The%20Fixx%20-%20Long%20Way%20Home%20(Live).mp3

It's not where you are
It's what you think
Satellite beams
Trusting your instincts

Miles down the road
Trees grow in place
Our rooms now down know
Not face to face
Not face to face

A prison of Rhodes
They mess with your head
Enjoy your time
Look for the magic instead
The books in your life
Have now run their course
Find that the peace comes without force
Without force

I feel like taking the long way home tonight
Maybe I'll turn left - I better get right
Keeping my eyes on that distant harbor light
The seas may be wrong
But the stars shine bright

Are you dead as you live?
Please come alive
Show me the pearl buried deep inside

Step off the cart
Come for the ride
It's more fun to seek than it is to hide
...Than it is to hide

I feel like taking the long way home tonight
Maybe I'll turn left
We better get right
Keeping my eyes on that distant harbor light

Ohhhh
The seas may be wrong
But the stars shine bright

There's the warming sight of the harbor lights
Straight through the hard door wrong or right
There're be no more doubt
There'll be no more lies
Keeping my eye
On the harbor lights
Taking the long way

Home
I feel like taking
The long way home tonight

There'll be no more doubt
There'll be no more lies - tonight

Stop where you are
It's what you think
Satellite beams
Trusting your instincts
I feel like taking the long way home - tonight

Taking the long
Taking the long way home...

Transcribed by Cagey

Iconic action figure hero meets real-life fan

One can only imagine what it would be like to meet a larger-than-life hero while in a toy store!

"Sgt. Slaughter’s mustache isn’t quite as robust in real life as it looks on television, but his chin is like an anvil made of American steel and patriotism."-Crave Online http://www.craveonline.com/entertainment/humor/article/5-things-i-never-knew-about-sgt-slaughter-73815/2

Interlude

Credit: CD. Artist: New Order. Album: Republic