Mavis Staples

Rolling Stone Magazine 8 March 2018

Mavis Staple is a national treasure.

From the interview: "Then there's "that filthy man in the White House": "I don't see no good in him. And the children, his boys, are snakes, you can tell. It's like Satan is in the White House. The first thing you wanna do is stop immigrants from coming to the United States? He's against women. He treats ladies like nothing. He's worse than any president I've ever seen. I mean, we did John F. Kennedy's inauguration - that's how long I been here!"

I'm with you, sister.

Yacht Rock

Rolling Stone Magazine 8 March 2018

While getting my haircut last year, the stylist talked to me about Yacht rock. He was planning on going to a Yacht rock cover band on the weekend. I had never heard of the expression before, so he explained that it was the category for bands like the Doobie Brothers, Hall & Oats, Kenny Loggins, and the like. I knew who all of those were and heard them play on the radio when I was growing up, but I didn't know that they were a thing. The stylist told me to check out parody videos of the genre on YouTube ... and I did. They are pretty hysterical ... and if you were alive during the seventies and listened to any of the afore mentioned bands, you will know all of the players. I recommend watching with a group of friends and having a good time. Check out the "Yacht Rock HD" videos by Hunter Stair on Phillip Mills YouTube channel.

Here, in Rolling Stone Magazine this week, Andy Greene reviews a new book, "The Yacht Rock Book," which has just been published. He writes: "In the late 1970s, there wasn't a name for the smooth, AM-friendly music made by the likes of Hall and Oats ... But a series of viral videos retroactively dubbed it "yacht rock," as it appealed to a very white, upscale audience and an odd number of songs had nautical themes." The forward was written by Fred Armisen, of Portlandia among other things, who said, "It's amazing this style came to be ... it must take an incredible amount of restraint to play that gently."

I am sitting here sort of musing at the attention that has been paid to this ... the songs are part of the soundtrack of my youth, but I wasn't a huge fan and couldn't tell you that the audience was upscale ... I was just a kid listening to a portable radio. And the nautical theme? I guess that I am going to listen to some of those albums to test the theory out. It just cracks me up.

Robert Plant

Rolling Stone Magazine 5 October 2017

I saw Robert Plant a couple of years ago in Chicago. I have been a fan of Led Zepplin since I was 12 or 13 years old. I had older neighbor girls who I spent a summer with before I started high school. Both of their parents worked, so we spent the whole of that summer listening to albums on their excellent turntable. It was there that I was introduced to rock music: Zeppelin, the Who, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and the rest of the 70's greats. I should say that the one band that made the biggest impression on me that they introduced me to was the Beatles, but that is for another time.

One moment that always comes back to me is the one morning that I walked over in my shorts and t-shirt and Zeppelin's Immigrant Song was at high volume as I approached their screen door. Oh, the sound of it was ... haunting and seemed to come from a far away place where I needed to be. We were deep enough into the seventies that Zeppelin didn't tour very much, but the girls took me to a couple of Super Bowl of Rock events at Soldier Field where I saw Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Frampton during his Comes Alive tour, and Black Sabbath .. among others.

A few years back, I started to hang out with another set of friends who brought Zeppelin back into my orbit, and I saw the film The Song Remains the Same for the first time. Not 13 anymore, I had a new appreciation for the band, especially Robert Plant. Man oh man. Long before boy bands and accessible kind of girly singers like, oh, I don't now ... Bieber in his young years or a Harry Styles, who were/are cute, but aren't going to do anyone any harm in their masculine prowess. Ah, but Robert Plant ... he may have been wearing a girly, chiffon top in the scenes from the Madison Square Garden concert that is played during the film, but he is a hot, sexually provocative M-A-N. I didn't even see it at 13, but the age I am now .... WOWSA.

So there I am on the lakefront in Chicago to see Mr. Sex, and I was thrilled when he sang Zep. The rest of it? I could do without. He's a tease. And he barks about not going back to the band, and I say nuts to that. If we have to put up with ... oh, the hundred of other acts who should have retired long ago and save themselves the trouble of being has been'd, I think that Plant and Page could still be giving us the opportunity to transcend.

'Tis a pity he's a ... whore, is the Bowie song, but, in this case, he's the anti-whore. And I would like him a little more dirty.

Oprah and What She Knows for Sure

Oprah Magazine August 2017

Oprah was on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday night to talk about her new film A Wrinkle in Time. Naturally, Colbert was more interested in talking to her about whether she plans to run for President in 2010. She told him that she has a strong sense of herself, or something to that effect, and would know if that was something that she should do. So far, nothing. Colbert pressed and established that he heard that she was waiting for a sign from God. God, if you didn't know, lives in Colbert's studio and is a reoccurring comedy bit. Colbert made sure that God knew that Oprah was going to be on the show, and he showed up to make a plea to her to run for President.

I'm not so sure that running for President would be in Oprah's best interest, however, I don't think that it is a bad idea. Oprah has shown that she can attract a big audience, a really big audience. An audience that Trump could only dream to have. And if I'm not mistaken, hers was an audience that crossed states, color, economic, and every other level or difference that can only be represented by the U.S. I think that she could win with the power of her reach. Her brand only grows stronger ... someone at work thought that it might be a bad idea because it would expose the skeletons in her closet. I laughed out loud and said to the speaker, 'are you kidding me? She's exposed everything about herself on her show, in her appearances, in her magazine, and through Gayle.'

I was sorry that I never saw the taping of her show here in Chicago. But I continue to subscribe to her magazine. I don't love all of it, but there's enough in it each month to keep me interested. I've talked before of the no nonsense advice that Martha Beck gives readers, and I've found favorite things from Oprah's list. And sometimes, at the very end, she writes about what she knows for sure, and this one pictured gave me pause. I've carried it around for over six months. The theme: letting go. The message is not hers, it is Eckhart Toille's, but she brings it out for all of us to see. I'll transcribe the story of two Zen monks for you to consider:

"Tanzan and Ekido ... were walking along a country road that had become extremely muddy after heavy rains. Near a village, they came upon a young woman who was trying to cross the road, but the mud was so deep , it would have ruined the silk kimono she was wearing. Tanzan at once picked her up and he carried her to the other side.

The monks walked on in silence. Five hours later, as they were approaching the lodging temple, Ekido couldn't restrain himself any longer. "Why did you carry that girl across the road?" he asked. "We monks are not supposed to do things like that."

"I put the girl down hours ago," said Tanzan. "Are you still carrying her?"

At the time that I read this, I was thinking of someone else for whom this story would resonate. And now, for me, it is a good reminder as I am presently working with a difficult co-worker and that I need to just let go of the stupid stuff that she says to me. But for all of this talk of Oprah running for President, what this tells me is that we have to back off Oprah! She said no, and we need to understand that asking her over and over again isn't going to change her mind. She has said up front that 'she knows for sure.' Let her know for herself. And hopefully, she might just surprise us.

President Obama

Rolling Stone Magazine 2017

Stay at it ...

I don't stay up late to watch the Stephen Colbert Late Show because I have to wake up early for school, but I watch it Colbert's YouTube every morning, especially the monologues. I, like many others, look to him to find comfort ... soften the blow ... in these troubling, political times. I don't need to explain it beyond that I would think. Not too long ago, Colbert talked about how comedy can get us through this, hopefully, short period of time in our nation's history. He shared that it was his mother that told him that you can't cry when you laugh, and when you laugh you think ... you use your brain. I would rather laugh than cry that is for sure. And through the jokes,  I find that I am able to approach difficult realities with a clearer understanding of what is at issue.

I wonder if Obama watches the show? Or Michelle? On last night's show, one of the guests was Chelsea Clinton. How strange to have a politically poised person speak so clearly and without barb or dagger. Colbert announced her saying that she is the daughter of two people who won the popular vote. That laugh was bittersweet as was the notion that this first daughter would be more effective working in the White House now than her estranger friend, the current first daughter who doesn't command the same respect for the office as Ms. Clinton demonstrated in her eight minutes having a chat with Mr. Colbert.

Stay at it ... I'm sure trying.

La Tour Eiffel

Harper's Bazaar 2017

This photo of the Eiffel Tower is beautiful. I have never seen it enveloped in fog before. It is so seductive. I had to look up what "The Harmonist" is because I hadn't a clue. Another page showed a beam of the tower with a model in a silver satin slip dress with the caption:

METAL

OPEN YOURSELF TO ITS MELODY

WRAP UP YOUR BODY IN ITS MYSTERY

It certainly is a mystery. The wrap up could easily have been the dress as nothing else about the pages suggests perfume. Now, many months later, I look at it differently again as I saw on the news that taking photographs of the Eiffel Tower, especially at night during its light show, is illegal. I did a quick check on Google, and it appears that that taking photographs of it is against the law.  It is suggested on the few sources that I read, however, that tourists aren't likely to be arrested for taking a snap. Whew. The last time that I saw Paris, I posted several pix on Instagram- and this video. How can one resist?