Singing About Sailing (2007-07-14/17)

Sunday I noticed that many of my recently-purchased songs mentioned sailing. Beginning with the songs iTunes says I play most, below are my favorites:

1. Blue October, "Into the Ocean", Foiled

   Now waking to the sun I calculate what I had done
   Like jumping from the bow (yeah)
   Just to prove that I knew how (yeah)
   It’s midnight’s late reminder of
   The loss of her the one I love
   My will to quickly end it all
   Sat front row in my need to fall
   Into the ocean end it all
   Into the ocean end it all

   "Into the Ocean" is the top of my list because I like the happy tune (despite the sad lyrics) and rapid verses. It's not merely the mention of flotsam and jetsam that leads me to like it.
   

2. Crosby, Stills & Nash, "Southern Cross", Daylight Again

   When you see the Southern Cross for the first time,
   You understand now why you came this way.

   "Southern Cross" often goes through my mind while sailing, as my quote in an earlier post might suggest. Seeing the southern cross would be new and adventurous.
   

3. Fleetwood Mac, "Landslide", Fleetwood Mac

   "Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?" is the only reference to sailing, but nevertheless "Landslide" is one of my melancholy favorites. I especially like the character of Stevie Nicks' voice.
   

4. Mark Knopfler, "Sailing To Philadelphia", Sailing To Philadelphia

   Now hold your head up, Mason
   See America lies there
   The morning tide has raised
   The capes of Delaware
   Come up and feel the sun
   A new morning is begun
   Another day will make it clear
   Why your stars should guide us here

   I've mentioned my folk rock guitar interest, including Dire Straits, James Taylor, and Mark Knopfler. In addition to guitar, "Sailing To Philadelphia" includes both James Taylor and Mark Knopfler.
   

5. Christopher Cross, "Sailing", Christopher Cross

   And if the wind is right
   You can sail away
   To find serenity
   Oh the canvas can do miracles
   Just you wait and see

   The mellow music and lyrics of this song come to mind when there's little to do but enjoy the wind and water. A breeze and gentle rocking is relaxing.
   

6. Styx, "Come Sail Away", Come Sail Away - The Styx Anthology

   Come sail away, come sail away
   Come sail away with me

   Like "Southern Cross", "Landslide", "Sailing", and "Cool Change", "Come Sail Away" is a sailing song of my childhood. It rocks.
   

7. Little River Band, "Cool Change", Little River Band: Greatest Hits (Expanded Edition)

   Well I was born in the sign of water
   And it's there that I feel my best
   The albatross and the whales they are my brothers
   It's kind of a special feeling
   When you're out on the sea alone
   Staring at the full moon, like a lover

   I was actually born in a fire sign, and rarely go out to sea, or sail alone. However, I do find sailing produces a special feeling.
   

Demonstrating Sailing on Duck Dodge (2007-07-10)

Got out of town on a boat goin' to southern islands
Sailing a reach before a followin' sea
She was makin' for the trades on the outside
And the downhill run to Papeete

Off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas
We got eighty feet of waterline, nicely making way
In a noisy bar in Avalon I tried to call you
But on a midnight watch I realized why twice you ran away

--Crosby, Stills and Nash, "Southern Cross"

(Despite the lack of link, "making way" in "Southern Cross" is also a sailing term.) As my previous post on sailing may show, after the exhilaration of the wind in my hair and the bouncing bow beneath my feet, the next most enjoyable aspect of sailing may be explaining it, beginning with sailing terminology:

• starboard and port,
• fore and aft,
• bow and stern,
• beam,
• mast,
• boom,
• lines (sheets--main and jib--, halyard, shrouds, stays, downhaul, cunningham),
• parts of a sail (tack, clew, head, luff, leech, foot),
• windward and leeward,
  
• what to do when the skipper calls out "Ready about" and "Helm's a-lee", or "Ready to jibe" and "Jibe ho",
• points of sail (close hauled, reach--close, beam, and broad--, running), etc.

The July 17, 2007 Seattle Times article on Duck Dodge suggests that this aspect of sailing fascinates observers as well. Like the June 6, 2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer article, the Times also mentions the "raft up" party afterwards (like what I wrote about last week).

At last week's Duck Dodge I spent most of my time instructing, since of Allan's usual crew I was the only one present. Allan filled the boat with friends from Banya 5, except for my guest J. Behmer and his friend. (I bring a guest each Tuesday, and whenever else we sail.) In the middle of a tack I announced, "I'm not usually this directive in social situations." My friend responded, "You, get me a beer! You, get some chips! You, make smalltalk!" pointing to a different crew member for each command.

(Switching from sailing geek to technology geek, I'll credit John with a photograph taken by his Treo and located precisely on the map of Lake Union using Allan's eTrex Vista® Cx.)

[Updated 2007-07-18 to remove redundant words.]

Singing on Lake Union (2007-07-03)

"If I had $1000000, I'd buy your love."--Barenaked Ladies, "If I Had $1000000"

It was Fourth of July Eve and the evening sun of northern latitudes was fading behind Queen Anne hill as I danced under a disco ball illuminated by a flashlight lashed to the mast. Under my sandaled feet the deck of the sailboat sloped towards port, not heeling in the wind but rather tipping under the weight of skippers and crew gathered there. Like me they had clambered across the rafted sailboats--lashed together (lines around cleats) for the party after sailing--to hear Gertrude's Hearse. Surely this crew of of S/V Distance was the most original in the Duck Dodge?

"If I had a million dollars" I sang in response to the lead singer's call, then listened, as Yusuf Kilgore played an electric guitar solo from a boatswain's chair suspended between mast and forestay of S/V Distance, or Keith Stone played saxophone from the roof of M/V Steel Drum. The movement of dancing, the fresh wind that had powered the earlier race, the red vodka Jell-O shot in my stomach, the enjoyment of the music, and the energy of the crowd all warmed me.

Listening to Melissa Etheridge (1991/2007)

I don't care what they think.
I don't care what they say.
What do they know about this love, anyway?
--Melissa Etheridge, "Come to My Window"

Along with more than 50 other people at Pete's Oscar Party I heard "I Need To Wake Up" by Melissa Etheridge win at the 79th Academy® Awards. I had heard the song when I watched An Inconvenient Truth, but had forgotten. (Perhaps I had been too preoccupied with finding the footnotes to the science the film presented.)

Perhaps twice a decade I experience with someone what I describe, not as affection, not as being "in love", not as desire, not infatuation, not lust, but limerence. I experience limerence over an extended time as periods of pleasure and of pain that correspond with my internal perceptions and are inconsistent with my rational evaluation of the situation. (On one hand, for me infatuation is principally pleasurable and relatively short. On the other hand, being in love is consistent with my rational evaluation of the situation, and its pleasures and pains correspond to the events in our lives.) At its worst, I feel anxiety in the other's presence, watching them for small cues that--by giving them the benefit of the doubt--I can interpret positively. I think of the other daily, and even wake up in the early hours of the morning.

In moments like these I love to listen to Melissa Etheridge. Hearing her longing lets me relax. Why? Because her lyrics describe a life more obsessive than mine ever is, and I see myself as normal again. My favorite is her self-titled album. Songs titles like "Precious Pain," "Don't You Need," and "Watching You" convey the thrust of this album. The lyrics continue the theme:

• "Don't you need? Don't you want?/Can't you taste it when you're alone?"
• "Silence is the steel that pierces and cuts me to the bone./In dreams the hand that touches you is mine, and mine alone."
• "If I can't love you/I don't want to love you./If I can't hold you/I don't want to be thinking of you."

At the Oscars I was happy to hear the passion is still present in Melissa Etheridge's voice, nearly two decades after her debut, and more than fifteen years since another passionate Melissa introduced me to her music.

At Café on the Ave (2007-02-14)

This popular cafe on University Way NE has WiFi (the key is on the receipt), many power outlets, cute baristas, good drinks, decent meals (the price buys generous helpings rather than gourmet food) and music (Washington band Death Cab for Cutie is playing now). Due to its proximity to UW students often occupy the four-person tables near the windows, but there are outlets elsewhere.

I "Sharpen the Saw" (as Stephen R. Covey writes) physically by getting my heart rate in the target zone three times a week--in addition to trying to eat healthy food. I use UW's IMA for this. Since other goals are to simplify my life by driving less and making transit time more tolerable, it makes sense to stay in the University District before or after my workout. Café on the Ave is a good place for me to work.

Reading Garden State soundtrack (2007-01-19)

Today the Music from the Motion Picture Garden State that I ordered arrived in my PO Box. I'm disappointed to see that most of the songs have chords more complicated than the starter guitar chords I'm learning (A, D, E, F, G, Am, Dm, Em, Fm, G7, A7, D7, E7, C, and C7). This quarter I again signed up for the "Beginning Guitar For Adults" group lesson taught by Jack Dowdell from Half Note Studio at UW Experimental College. It appears I need a lot of practice if I want to play songs from Garden State.

At least now I have the correct lyrics to "Fair" by Remy Zero, even if I don't understand them. I still like the sound of the song.

Hey, are you lonely? Summer gone so slowly.
We've found the ground, and that damage is done.
It's cold as you fade into the sun.
Where'd you go? To me.

But you're alive. Well, it's only fallen frames, they told me.
You stand out so loud, and so what if it is?
It's cold as you face into the wind.
And where'd it go? Tonight the sun shall see its light.

So what if you catch me? Where would we land?
In somebody's life for taking his hands.
Sing to me hope as she's thrown on the stand.
All of our work is rated again. Where to go?

And you were somehow the rain this thing could allow.
I've tried, but it's all wrong. You're so strong,
and as life and work, the choice took far too long.
Where'd it go? Tonight the sun shall see its light.

So what if you catch me? Where would we land?
In somebody's life for taking his hands.
Sing to me hope as she's thrown on the stand.
All of our work is rated again.

And I was sure you'd follow through.
My world was turned so blue. (My world was turned so thin.)
When you'd hide, your songs would die, so I'd hide yours with mine.
All my words were bound to fail. Well, I know you won't fail.
See, I can tell.

Listening to Minor Majority (2006-10-18)

Readers of this blog may know my love of the Garden State soundtrack, especially Iron & Wine, and my desire to play folk rock guitar music like Norwegian band Kings of Convenience. Knowing this it would be no surprise that when I heard Norwegian band Minor Majority's "Wish You'd Hold That Smile" on Reasons to Hang Around I was immediately interested. I walked from the back of my morning workplace to have a conversation in rudimentary French. "Did the Internet disconnect? What do you want?" they asked me. "I want that music," I replied.

Hey, I wish you’d hold that smile
Help, if only for a while
I need to know about all the things you did and didn’t do
And just how hard you tried

Watching Vanilla Sky (2005-08-13)

We took a weekend at the Vashon Island Hostel with friends to camp, swim, walk on the beach--and watch a movie. I've never completely understood the popularity of Tom Cruise, though I find his movies entertaining. The Outsiders was a decent novel adaptation, Top Gun had action, Rain Man was award-winning, Far and Away was romantic, A Few Good Men was humorously quotable ("My client's a moron, that's not against the law."), The Firm had action, Mission: Impossible had gadgets, and Minority Report is one of a series of adaptations of Philip K. Dick short stories (of which my favorite is Blade Runner based upon Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?). Only Magnolia and Jerry Maguire stand out in my memory, though not because of Tom Cruise: Magnolia I recall because of the poignant, quirky story line and great Aimee Mann music, and Jerry Maguire I remember because afterwards my then-wife asked, "Why can't you be more like him?"

I was pleasantly surprised by the Vanilla Sky story line. Consequently I plan to accept the two recommendation I received today for the Spanish original, Abre los ojos, also starring Penélope Cruz (and her breasts). Minor spoiler: I like movies in which it is difficult to distinguish appearance and reality.

Listening to Our Endless Numbered Days (2005-06)

Mortality is on my mind. June 15 was the deadline for us to renew our corporate health insurance, and this month I'm applying to increase the disability insurance benefits I hope I'll never need.

Disability insurance reminds me of my college best friend who, as young as I am, still survived a heart attack and a second stroke last September. Painted indelibly in my memory is the beginning of his visit a month ago: I saw him drive his car past my building, so I went downstairs to help him carry his belongings up to my apartment. I found him on his back in the street, suffering from an atonic seizure. He recovered after an emergency room visit and anti-seizure medication, though to his disappointment the doctor recommended not driving his new BMW convertible back to Portland.

I first heard Iron & Wine in "Such Great Heights" on the Garden State soundtrack. I bought Our Endless Numbered Days on the second to last Tuesday in May after hearing my guitar instructor play "Each Coming Night":

Will you say when I’m gone away
"My lover came to me and we'd lay
In rooms unfamiliar but until now"

Will you say to them when I’m gone
"I loved your son for his sturdy arms
We both learned to cradle then live without"

Will you say when I’m gone away
'Your father’s body was judgement day
We both dove and rose to the riverside"

Will you say to me when I’m gone
"Your face has faded but lingers on
Because light strikes a deal with each coming night"

The words "Will you say to me when I'm gone/'Your face has faded but lingers on/Because light strikes a deal with each coming night'" seemed particularly poignant yesterday as Ryan and I drove to visit my maternal grandmother in Providence St. Peter's Hospital. She and her husband have moved from their duplex in Panorama City to the Convalescent and Rehabilitation Center. Grandpa's Alzheimer's requires more care than Grandma can provide.

"Teach us to number our days aright,/that we may gain a heart of wisdom." writes the psalmist. The wisdom Our Endless Numbered Days suggests is that "what's worth keeping" (a phrase from "Sunset Soon Forgotten") is a life of love. The opening song, "On Your Wings," says, "God, there's a hangman that wants to come around... God, give us love in the time that we have." The second song, "Naked As We Came" pictures lovers contemplating the inevitability of their parting:

she says, "wake up, it's no use pretending"
I'll keep stealing, breathing her
birds are leaving over autumn's ending
one of us will die inside these arms
eyes wide open, naked as we came
one will spread our ashes around the yard

she says, "if i leave before you, darling
don't you waste me in the ground"
I lay smiling like our sleeping children
one of us will die inside these arms
eyes wide open, naked as we came
one will spread our ashes around the yard

Love is in the majority of the songs, not only in "Each Coming Night" and "Naked As We Came" but also "Love and Some Verses," "Teeth in the Grass" ("and when we're lovers at last"), and "Fever Dream" ("Some days her shape in the doorway/will speak to me"). Love may even have been the motivation for the hanging crime in "Free Until They Cut Me Down" ("she's the one who begged me,/'take me home'").

Ryan chose calm music for the afternoon rush hour drive from Seattle to Lacey: Ceredwen O'r Mabinogi/Legends of the Celts, Kings of Convenience Riot on an Empty Street, and Iron & Wine Our Endless Numbered Days. Listening to the final song, "Passing Afternoon," ("There are things that drift away like our endless, numbered days") I meditated on death, life, love, and memory. With Grandma we reminisced, as she and Grandpa liked to do, of her dozen foreign travels with her first and second husbands. Briefly remembering 1972, in which both my mother and my maternal grandfather died, was perhaps inevitable. I returned to Seattle with the renewed determination to enjoy and remember while I can each endless-seeming moment of my numbered days of life and love.

Listening to Rock School Jam (2005-05-25)

Movie City Indie links to the New York Times article on a current boom in documentaries. Rock School is part of this boom, covering in nonfiction what Richard Linklater's The School of Rock portrayed in fiction. (Unlike nearly every other movie I mention in this blog, I haven't seen The School of Rock.)

I enjoyed the documentary quite a bit; I enjoyed Paul Green's teaching style very little. I doubt that speaking to kids on their level requires berating them. Also, I wondered about their eventual goal to be rock stars. Does anyone become a star in a cover band? Is composition ever taught? The one girl in the documentary that mentioned composing her own songs appeared to stop doing so when Paul belittled her Sheryl Crow style.

Apparently I need to go to rock night school, because I didn't recognize many of the songs in the jam at Neumos after the film. I did recognize Santana's "Black Magic Woman," Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell," Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, Heart's "Barracuda" (performed with Ann Wilson), Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder (also present), B-52's "Rock Lobster", and Eminem's "8 Mile." Eddie Vedder said that Paul Green told him which song to play, and told him he'd better play it well since the Seattle audience was his neighbors!

While C.J. Tywoniak is the guitar-playing child prodigy of the group, recent Rock School graduate Louis Graff played excellent guitar while also acting like a rock star, complete with facial expressions and jumps into the audience. After the concert I congratulated Louie (and his "adopted mother" Robin Slick). The lead singers, in contrast, were often expressionless (despite their vocal intensity) and occasionally looked a little bored. I again wondered if technical perfection is enough to become a star.

Listening to Earlimart at Crocodile Cafe (2004-10-05)

I tuned into The Beat on 94.9 KUOW Seattle's NPR News and Information Station and heard music that Elliot Smith might have made. I first noticed the music of Elliot Smith in the Good Will Hunting soundtrack, especially "Miss Misery." It wasn't Elliot Smith playing on KUOW, however.

On that edition of The Beat, the Music Review with Cheryl Waters was Treble and Tremble by Earlimart. I thought she said they were playing that night at Seattle's Tractor Tavern, but when I sent an email message to KUOW, the reply indicated the show was at the Crocodile Cafe. KUOW staff also sent this review:

Earlimart
Treble and Tremble
Palm Pictures

You almost don't have to know all the trivia surrounding Earlimart to intuit what Treble & Tremble is about. This time out, the Southern California band delivers a gorgeous love note to the late Elliott Smith. The cover art alone is an homage -- a simple sketch that suggests love, friendship, tears, holiness and a goodbye, its message underlined by Smith's representative "xo"s. And then there's album opener "Hold On Slow Down", which will be enough to bring Smith's legions of fans to tears...again. Over haunting piano chords, songwriter Aaron Espinoza speaks directly to Smith, his message a loving farewell that seems to cross the barriers of time and death. You don't have to know that Espinoza and Smith were friends. You don't even have to see the album dedication on the last page of the insert ("Treble & Tremble is dedicated to our friend Elliott Smith"); in every word and every chord, the album is for him. Still, marking Treble & Tremble as an album purely for Elliott Smith fans would be a mistake. Even without context, it's one of the best and most moving albums of the year. Bathed in warm melodies and sweet crescendos, it's the kind of record that grows on you with each spin, yielding a new favorite song with passing days. Your first favorite might be "Broke the Furniture"; its perfect slide guitar hook and Espinoza's gentle vocals make it capable of sustaining repeated listens in the double and triple digits. After you've accustomed yourself to the gentle textures of one song, though, more wonders await. In short, Treble & Tremble is anything but a hit-or-miss record. From start to finish, from sparse piano ballads to sunny California pop, Earlimart have produced an unfailingly satisfying album. Mood has much to do with Treble & Tremble's greatness. Espinoza has acknowledged that the record is fundamentally about love, and that intention comes across in eloquent soft-focus. Treble & Tremble is a must-have for anyone who shed a tear at Elliott Smith's untimely demise; it's just the kind of loving memorial his life and songs required, and Earlimart deserves thanks for that. However, to the band's credit, the album also transcends its memorial status. It might just as well have been dedicated to anyone who's loved and lost...and loved again.

The Earlimart show at the Crocodile was excellent. I'm glad I went. However, all I brought home from the show was a poster. Yesterday Ryan bought me the CD, so I'm enjoying the music again now.

Listening to Garden State soundtrack (2004-07)

Ryan and I saw the film Garden State with dear friends and liked it, but I like its soundtrack even more (a sample is available). Ryan bought the CD for me. I especially like these songs:

• Frou Frou, "Let Go"
• Cary Brothers, "Blue Eyes"
• Colin Hay "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You"
• Remy Zero, "Fair"
• Simon & Garfunkel, "The Only Living Boy in New York"

We've heard "Blue Eyes" on Seattle's 103.7 The Mountain KMTT. While I very much like "Let Go" (despite not understanding its meaning), the other songs have more guitar, earning them a place in my current favorite folk rock guitar music:

• Remy Zero, "Fair"
• Simon & Garfunkel, "The Sound of Silence"
• Indigo Girls, "Least Complicated"
• Simon & Garfunkel, "The Only Living Boy in New York"
• Cary Brothers, "Blue Eyes"
• Simon & Garfunkel, "Song for the Asking"
• Cat Stevens, "Morning Has Broken"
• Simon & Garfunkel, "For Emily, Whenever I may Find Her"
• Colin Hay, "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You"
• Simon & Garfunkel, "Kathy's Song"
• Indigo Girls, "Power of Two"
• Simon & Garfunkel, "America"
• Cat Stevens, "The Wind"
• Simon & Garfunkel, "Homeward Bound"
• James Taylor, "Fire and Rain"
• Simon & Garfunkel, "Mrs. Robinson"
• Kings of Convenience, "Homesick"
• Simon & Garfunkel, "I Am a Rock"
• Kings of Convenience, "Cayman Islands"
• Simon & Garfunkel, "The 59th Street Bridge Song"
• Kings of Convenience, "Surprise Ice"

I'd love to learn to play these--or even the first (easiest) five of these--on the guitar. Later I would like to learn Eagles "Seven Bridges Road", Dire Straits "Sultans of Swing" or "Walk of Life", or songs from Afro Celt Soundsystem, CSNY, Fleetwood Mac, Gypsy Kings, Mark Knopfler, or Paul Simon.

While writing of the Kings of Convenience, I'll note that their "I'd Rather Dance with You" video is cute. It is available in several places.