Sentient Life on the Third Rock

2006-01-05 Neko Case

Last night a good friend invited me to see Neko Case at the Rivoli, the local watering whole.  It was a very small venue tightly packed to see such a performer.  Neko Case is a poet by any standard and a singer-songwriter.  Her work defies easy genre classification--I think of a lot of it as highland folk/spiritual with a touch of zydeco.  The music is well composed to accentuate a voice that combines unusual levels of power with clarity.  You can hear a sample on-line --> here.

2005-01-15 There by the Grace of God

This is just too weird.  I was surfing the net today and googled my grandfather the Rev. Soloman S. Seay, Sr.  He was a forerunner of the Civil Rights Movement in the American South (1).  Among other things, he is believed to have inspired the famous "I Have a Dream" speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963.  My grandfather's autobiography, There by the Grace of God: The Memoir of an Early Civil Rights Activist, One of the Great African American Preachers was published in 1990 and will be available in paperback on Amazon in December of 2005 (2).  First Edition hardbacks are also available (3).

Well it turns out that there is an alternative band in the UK called the Manic Street Preachers who released a song (presumably based on the autobiography) called "There by the Grace of God" on their 2002 album Forever Delayed.  Click here for the Amazon music sample page.

One of their fan websites provides some background:

"There By The Grace Of God" is the title of a book published containing the memoirs of the Reverend Solomon S. Seay, an American activist during the civil rights movement in the American South (in the mid-20th century).

Seay's book is especially welcome because of his role as an older, activist minister in Montgomery, Alabama, at the time when the young Martin Luther King was beginning his career there. Seay was important to King, and also to Rosa Parks, Fred Gray, and others who are now familiar historical names. Seay himself considered his memoir the fulfillment of a life-long commitment to the destiny of his country, his community, and the oppressed. (4)

Above. Pictures of my grandfather and myself from his autobiography.

2004-11-14 Pikes Peak

Colorado High!
On my way to Dublin soon.
Will I come again?

I am in Colorado for a couple of weeks on business.  It looks like I will be able to go back to Dublin in a couple of days.  After spending most of the weekend locked in my hotel room working, I managed to get out for a little snow and sun-- driving up to Pike's Peak from Colorado Springs.  It had snowed all weekend so the highway to the summit was closed beyond 18 miles.  I waited for over an hour while the snow plows and sand trucks did their job.  Fortunately, I had a New Yorker magazine and my favorite Jason Mraz Live CD to keep me company.  The first photo is Pike's Peak from my hotel window in Colorado Springs at just over 6,000 feet.  The second snap is the Crystal Lake reservoir at around 9,000 feet.  The final shot is from Glen Cove at 11,500 feet.

Click here for the Jason Mraz web site.

2004-09-03 Dixie, Bratislava and Sightings of the Madonna

It is 6:54 PM on the last leg of what has been a truly arduous trip. I am flying Aer Lingus from Prague to Dublin after departing earlier from Bratislava, Slovakia. I have been working there all week on a project. The team is a motley mix of Slovaks, Israelis and Germans and of course that odd guy from L.A. (that’s Lower Alabama to yall who don’t already know!)

Speaking of the South, I actually ran into somesort of evangelical busker from Oregon one night when I was out for dinner with the project team. For a few bob he offered up a rendition of “Sweet Home Alabama”. Apparently, his “assistant” (in the dashiki) had to provide a little remedial help.

Evangelical Oregonian Busker in Slovakia.

I arrived in Bratislava on Monday after an overnight in Dublin on my way back from a 2 week swing through the States. I had promised Jinny that I would go see the Material Girl with him and having paid nearly US$100/person for moshe pit tickets I decided that we would definitely go after all. Some of Jinny’s classmates rented a mini-bus and we had a drunken and wild ride out from Dublin to Slane Castle the site of the show.

Jinny at Slane Castle.

The venue was absolutely spectacular—the stage set in the rolling Irish hills descending from Slane Castle. We waited several hours through several forgettable cover bands and the usual Irish rain (misty drizzle) for a sighting of the one and only Madonna. Then there she was in all her 40-something regalia, strutting her stuff through all the old standards: Vogue, Papa Don’t Preach, Express Yourself, etc., etc. The whole thing was a bit too much for me honestly, not being one much for large crowds let alone 60,000+ drunken, drug-induced Madonna fans but I will cherish the memories, especially the finale of fireworks.

Click image above to enlarge.  Click here for more photos.

I did exchange a few choice words with a t-shirt vendor who apparently thought that the Confederate Battle Flag (not to be confused with the Flag of the Confederacy: (1).) was an appropriate decoration for his wretched stall. So many ignorant people; so little time. Life is too short. Let’s think to the future—be proactive, not just reactive. We need hope and common sense, not locker room fascism and fear. War, deficits and homophobia will not save us.