what am I listening to..?
Rutgers versus Virginia Tech on the wireless... GO R-U!
about the rant earlier today. I've always tried to keep politics out of this mess, but that really got me in a twist. Maybe it's my western hemisphere upbringing... I've been taught that when someone does something nice for you, like kicking your blood-thirsty dictator out and trying to help restore basic human freedoms in your country, you usually say something like "thank you", not throw a piss fit when something happens that's not to your liking. I'd like to say that I can sympathize with their emotions, but that would not be true; I've never had to live in fear of being carted away in the middle of the night, tortured and murdered, nor have I had to suffer being persecuted for my beliefs, so I can only imagine what's going on in the minds of the Iraqi people these days, but enough is enough. They, like we, don't have many options right now - we can't and shouldn't abandon them, we're as much responsible for their future now as they are. (personal politics aside, thanks). Whether or not I agree with the situation or the rationalizations behind it, I subscribe to the old Chinese saying, "when you save a life, you are responsible for that life...". We are responsible for setting it straight. We will sometimes have to take it on the jaw, both over there and at home. (we = the free people of the world). "And", as Forrest Gump said, "that's all I have to say about that.".
Other than that, life is grand. I'm sitting in the lair, a glass of organic red wine at hand, listening to a basketball game on scratchy AM radio. There's a sort of comfort listening to AM. The signal wavers in and out, giving the broadcast a sort of phase shifter effect, like an old 60's psychrock song. There's varying degrees of static and background noise, sometimes the ghost of another station tries to haunt the broadcast. I grew up listening to AM radio. My childhood home was always filled with music, either on the wireless, or the old mono recordplayer. I have very fond memories of waking up every morning and hearing one of the local AM jazz stations on in the kitchen, sharing the air in the house with the ever present aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Any time I was in the car with my parents, the radio was on, the radio competing with the hum of the tires, pouring out more scratchy jazz or, in the summer, a ball game. My musical tastes were honed by the likes of radio shows such as "The Milkman's Matinee", which was on from four in the morning till eight, then it was the Clavin and Finch show, with more jazz and big band stuff and crazy clean fun. On Saturday, there was a real treat in the morning, a local New York dj by name of William B. Williams. That man had a wit drier than the Saraha. I can't tell you how many times my father and I laughed to tears at his comments.
The world of FM was way off... The first time I really listened to FM was when the famous WNEW 102.7 came on line in, I think, 1967. Rock and roll never sounded so good! But you know, when it comes down to it, I'd rather listen to some big bands and swing on good old AM, than the slicked down stuff of FM. Maybe it's the nostalgia factor. Maybe it's the adventure of AM radio... wondering if it will come in clearly, spinning the late night AM dial in the summer, when the clear air brings in stations from so far away. Maybe that's why I like my old dial-up modem. It's an adventure all it's own.
well, I'm going to go listen to the second half of the game. have a wonderful evening.
and, what ever or whom ever your gods are, take a minute to pray for peace. it can't hurt.
later.
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