From loneliness to deliverance?

I hate it here
When you're gone

Wilco - Hate It Here


the path to redemption...

I'm going to view the host in white
Who travel both day and night
Comin' up from every nation
On the way to the Great Carnation

Aretha Franklin - How I Got Over


Am I saying that Jesus delivered me? No, no, probably not. Not even the liberal Jesus (Howard Dean?) did that. Mostly there's reason to hope again.

My love's growing stronger

Otis Redding - I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)

Hold on, I'm comin'

Eric Clapton and BB King's brilliant cover of the Sam and Dave classic. I can't believe this song wasn't on the blog yet (for obvious reasons)!

BB King & Eric Clapton - Hold On, I'm Comin'

Baby, mellow my mind

An all-time favourite. Seriously, top... Oh I don't know, just so good. Best off-key song ever. So much realness.

Neil Young - Mellow My Mind

I always find a way to fall apart

Basia Bulat - Before I Knew (Live)

I Don't Want to Talk About it

I think this song speaks for itself and the kind of week I had.

Crazy Horse - I Don't Want To Talk About It

My first post about Hockey

Har har, I'm just talking about the band. No frozen pond talk here. Anyway, they're from Portland (the cool one). Not too far from Canada, but not far enough for the band's name to contain any irony. Okay, dumb name, fine, but how's the music? Glad you asked:

Hockey - Learn to Lose

(Just) One More (Time)

The connection between these songs is kind of neat, if a bit generalized. First, we've got the great Rev. Johnny L. Jones (a.k.a. Johnny Hurricane Jones) known for his fiery preaching and soulful singing at his Baptist church in Atlanta. The good reverend is getting on in years now, but he knows that the time is coming soon. One more time, I'm assuming, refers to Jesus's return. Right?

Rev. Johnny L. Jones - One More Time


The next song is a postmodern indie gospel tune, courtesy of Canadian hipster Jon-Rae Fletcher and his old band, The River. His father was a preacher in the rural West, and you can hear the influence. God and Jesus and his teachings have become love and sex and its lessons. It's raw, raunchy, and oozing with passion:

Jon-Rae and the River - Just One More


The parallels here are in the strong undertow: the gospel. Things you don't know empirically, things that just are because they are. They are indescribable and intangible and you feel it somewhere so deep you can't show it, you can only sing about it. The gap between the second coming and a second cumming has never been so narrow.

Sometimes, when everything else has been stripped away, there's still this feeling -- soul, you might call it -- and the gospel, a belief in what you can only take as His word.

Somebody Fix Me

Feeling a little low tonight and thought I could use a little Grace. When she says, "I have no idea how I got so mean," I know that feeling.

Grace Potter - Somebody Fix Me

Audience of One

Could any song title capture this blog more effectively?

Cold War Kids - Audience of One

Nausea, Heartburn, Indigestion, Upset Stomach, Diarrhea!

Hey Pepto Bismol!

Survived dinner with Judy? Check. Saw a relatively enjoyable movie? Check. Raptors won in exciting fashion? Yep, that too. The night was going along swimmingly until I woke up with terrible nausea at 3 am -- and proceeded to spend the next two hours shaking and sweating and trying to induce burps. This was among the worst nausea I've ever had -- and I've lived through lots of bad stuff. I'm an upset stomach kind of person. It got so bad I started to hallucinate that the toilet was a big jelly-filled rock in the Arabian desert. Ha.

The ordeal lasted two hours and it didn't kill me, but I don't feel any stronger. A wild night.

Van Morrison - Wild Night


Dave Van Ronk - Midnight Hours Blues

Saturday night special

Another special twosome! Well, it's Saturday night, and not a particularly unique one, so here goes:

Bon Jovi - Someday I'll Be Saturday Night


Somehow that Bon Jovi song hasn't aged as well as this one:

The Grateful Dead - One More Saturday Night

Don't Eat the Yellow Snow (Brand)

Another late night, doing something that isn't very hard that I should have done hours ago. It's about the Japanese milk producer, Snow Brand, and just how freakin' terrible they were in handling a food safety crisis about a decade ago. Corporate communications, or lack thereof, was among the problems. Neat case study, actually, and there's some really good stuff on the web about it.

It turns out some valves in the plant had been contaminated and that made about 13,000 people sick. Frank Zappa has some advice on the matter:
Frank Zappa - Don't Eat the Yellow Snow

Working late into the night

Sam Cooke - Wonderful World