Live Blogging

I'm really a pretty boring person. I don't go to political conventions or rallies, or any of the normal places to live blog. But over the years I have seen interesting trends in who trick-or-treats around the neighborhood, and as the official candy-hander-outer I have decided to live blog my encounters this evening (in a hopefully not-to-monotonous way). For some reason the "word-word-word" construction is really intriguing tonight.


6:30- I light the candle inside the pumpkin and begin practicing long tones on the flute while waiting for the first kid of the evening to arrive. I see Ethan's post at DTM about Ambrose Bierce horror stories. I don't have any of his horror stories, but I have a copy of his civil war stories, which have equally chilling realities. When my poor right pinky can't take any more flute, a nice cup of hot tea and Mr. Bierce will take up my evening.

7:00 - 15 kids have come to the door. A Jeckle & Hyde like devil/angel came, as did a very courteous princess. A foul smell is noticed outside. Unfortunately the candle is a bit too high and is burning to top of the pumpkin. Burning pumpkin is not a pleasant smell. The doorbell's pitch is a G.

7:30 - It's going slow. Only 20 kids so far. Another courteous princess comes to the door (holding hands with her younger PowerRanger brother) and while she is running to the next house says "have a good day", then, remembering it's night, stumbles to correct herself but "have a good holiday" came out. She leaves in a bit of a hurried confusion. Her dad suggests "have a good night" but it just doesn't want to out. I wonder how a child could ever be an infliction and not a gift.

8:00 - About 35 kids so far. I am becoming particularly fond of the one-piece full body suits that are popular among the PowerRangers and Spidermen. Especially the ones with built in muscles. I was beginning to brew my tea and start reading but then two teenagers came to the door. They were the first teenagers of the night. Two other young boys come up without costumes on. Remember those 4 people. I have a grand theory I'm working on.

8:30 - Things pick up. 75 kids have come so far. Another princess (must be a popular costume) asks me if I'm baking anything. I originaly thought that she preferred baked goods to the generic candy (which is understandable), but she was apparently more receptive to the smoldering pumpkin than I was. 8 teenagers and 3 parents have requested candy. 4 car loads have come. I'm enjoying my tea and "The Son of the Gods", which is beginning to inspire a post over at dooHICKEY, is just getting good: the young captain is about to die. My theory has solidified a bit more.

9:00 - A few older kids who should have something better to do come to the door, but not any sizable number; were at 80. The costumes are increasingly less interesting, though a former Petter's group employee earns a chuckle. Bierce makes me think a bit more. See, Abecedarius Rex (who started dooHICKEY) was my literature/philosophy teacher. Needless to say, it is daunting to take a book he put in your hands and talk about it, as if it is somehow equal to anything he can say on his own blog.


The light is officially turned off. Stay tuned for "The Entitlement Theory of Halloween" at this blog and "Paris Hilton and Ambrose Bierce" at dooHICKEY.

Down with genres!

Sorry for the bad YouTube video. I hate them as much as you do.

Of late I've been really into this sort of trance like chant music. Check it out here (and here). When I first sang this type of music I thought it was a lot like some of the later vamping experiments in jazz that have so much soul in them. When I brought a chart like this to a rehersal I quickly learned that my fellow jazz musicians didn't see the same similarity, but it's not the first time I've gone out on a limb.

I was listening the Shostakovitch String Quartets lately. It surprised me how applicable to jazz some of his lines were. Of course jazzers have studied Bach forever, but Shostie has got some really outside stuff going on. If you think that Bird was listening to Stravinsky just to be cultured, or know what was going on around him, or because he genuinly liked it, think again. Bird wanted to use that stuff in his own music.

Among other things I'll never forget about Eric Gravatt, I'll always remember when he told us he used to skip school to listen to Stravinsky because he heard Bird listened to him. But then his mom caught him and he couldn't play the drums for a year. Now think about that: here is a drummer, of all instrumentalists, who is so interested in playing the drums (actually, music) that he's skipping school to listen to Stravinsky. And then his punishment is getting those drums taken away. Any other kid would be grounded, but Eric wouldn't have cared. That'd just force him to be around his drums, which would be a blessing. Truly inspirational.

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And with 121 days left of school, I am overjoyed that for another 121 days I will attend a school that teaches Latin, even though I don't take the language.

Purpose of Goverment

I start with the premise that government should protect it's citizen's rights and help those who cannot help themselves. If we accept that we get:

• Furnish an army for the protection of the country
  
• Establish laws that protect it's citizens and enforce those laws
  
• By way of protecting it's citizens, allow that citizen's rights not be violated
  
• Assist the mentally retarded or ill, the severely handicapped and any other citizens who are unable to provide for themselves by working
• Provide necessary services that the private sector cannot supply. What these services are is subject to debate, but education, public transit and other infrastructure requirements would be likely candidates.
• Artificially alter the free market only when the private sector fails, and this failure precipitates the failure of the society.
  

And should not get (which are all wrong because the government exploits it's two abilities):

• Establishing laws that take away from the citizen's freedoms or that endanger the welfare of the society
  
• Elevate matters of courtesy or respect to the level of right
  
• Impose restrictions on one citizen's rights in the effort of giving a right to another citizen
  
• Assisting those that can assist themselves, such as those who make poor choices, those who are lazy, and those who are unjust.
  
• Provide services that the private sector can provide or provide services are unnecessary for the functioning of a well received society.
• Artificially alter the free market when the private sector has not failed in order to help the less fortunate, to harm the most fortunate or to in any way favor or harm a select group.
• Artificially alter the free market when the private sector has failed, but this failure does not pose the threat of failure to the society.
  

Maybe my logic is flawed, but if you accept the first premise as both true and complete, the first and second conclusion seems inevitable. I'm not sure how you would alter the premise, or more likely add to it but I would love to hear how others would, because the conclusions admittedly espouse a conservative approach to government.

On God's Existance

There are plenty of proofs for God out there. With lots of lamentably bad ones. In fact I'm going to posit, for this at least, that you can't prove that God exists. For now, no syllogisms can prove one God who created the world and cares about it's inhabitants.

Now a few things you have to just buy:

The Catholic Church (the original Christian Church, remember. It is a flawed human body, but I think any human has realized that human bodies are flawed. Who has a perfect marriage, or has no complaints about their boss or coworkers) teaches that grace is a supernatural gift of sorts that gives man help from God. For instance, I am really mad and I say "God help me not to throttle my friend" and God will give me strength (beyond my own ability, or maybe it just makes the choice easier, even though I could have done it without God's Grace) to not throttle my friend. But if I don't ask for it, God isn't going to give it to me. It's out there and plenty of ridiculous cartoon bubbles come to mind. But buy that there is this thing called Grace, that it helps man do (virtuous) things and that you have to ask to receive it.

Now it is impossible to prove that God doesn't exist. I'm not saying you can prove his does exist, because remember for this article that you cannot prove he does. But you cannot prove that he doesn't exist. So the odds that the "God Exists" camp have it right are infinitely better than the odds that the "God Doesn't Exist" camp have it right. It's dividing a 1 and 1 million chance by a 0 and 1 million chance. With the odds stacked against you and the knowledge that if you asked God for help he will help you why wouldn't you give it a whirl? The promises are pretty immense if it's true. In fact they are infinite!

And when you do give it a whirl (as I did), you would say something like "God, if you exist, help me to understand how you exist. Give me some sign of your existence" and while your at it you could even spill all and say "God, I was really a jerk to the check out lady at Cub today. Help me to be a better person" and maybe even end with the Hail Mary or the manly St. Michael The Arch Angel prayer. And I guarantee you that if it is all done with sincerity of heart God will answer your prayers.

This is a very selfish way of coming to God, because it puts your pleasure (good promises) as the prime reason for seeking God. So realize that I don't condone this type of religion as a continuing practice, because (and I'm no where close) we should love God because he's God. It's a mystery, I agree. But it's not easy to fall off your horse and see God. Figure out that God exists, and then learn about God, and pray that you might seek him unselfishly and your well on your way.

It's not convincing proof, but remember that we said no convincing proof exists on the matter. But your odds are certainly better.

Insanity

I have to admit that I first heard this song on Michael Savage's radio show. He (at least as part of his shtick) plays doo-wop music when politics start repeating themselves in a depressing loop. I have kind of fallen into the same state of late. There is something about a mundane life that gets really depressing at a point, and every year about this time I reach that point. This year doo-wop music is getting me through it. Go figure... I wish they dispensed with the disgusting tenor/bari solos though. I have 3 completely irrational ideas in life: 1) that getting a hair cut is lazy, 2) the sounds of people chewing (with mouth closed and all that etiquette stuff) is spine chillingly annoying and 3) the stereotypical bari sound (that thankfully some escape) is absolutely repulsive. Makes me feel good about my playing though.

I was recently talking about insanity with one of my teachers. My mom is studying to be a nurse, and in her mind one brain cell goes bad and your crazy, and medication can be used to treat you. I'm not too sure why I disagree with her, maybe it is because reason is a facility of the soul, not the brain. I don't think you can really treat insanity with medication, and I tend to think anybody can become insane. My teacher voiced it better than my cloudy thoughts did: he said that insanity comes from being stuck in a self-made loop that you can't escape. I'm not exactly sure how that all works yet but it seems to make sense.

Maybe I'll open my "Basic Psychology" text one of these days and figure all this out. Though I suppose it will revolve around the kind of teaching my mom has gotten.

You know your in an odd state of mind when your really interested in reading about insanity.

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I will miss attending a school where students (and teachers) takes a stand for the worst atrocity of our generation.

I've long been looking for an accurate, unbiased number of abortions that have taken place in the last 40 years, and I wouldn't completely trust this website and it's 50 million number. But I wouldn't completely ignore data that say 1/3 of babies are aborted either, even if the number is biased. I doubt the out and out lie, and you can only effect bias so much. Even if the number was 1/6 there are very serious social consequences (disregarding any moral consequences). Among other problems, think if John Coltrane or Miles Davis were aborted. Or more importantly, what if Winston Churchill was aborted, or George Washington. The number of great men that history is indebted to that aren't being born frightens me.

And I don't buy the idea that the government can do many things better than I can (I don't buy that whole "give to the poor" idea of governing, for many reasons), and I therefor don't support many of the laws that come about in this day and age that protect us from ourselves. I know many that think that abortion is horrible, that that it's not the government's place to outlaw it, but I think it's a matter of national security. I know I'm throwing out buzz words that immediately evoke opinions, but think about it: how many kids are aborted in Pakistan? How many working women aren't ready for a child yet in China? We have the best army in the world, but at a certain point if you don't have any soldiers your in trouble.

I will also miss attending a school where the math teacher makes a better band director than the band director. Actually I can think of a handful of teachers that know more about music than she does... more proof that a degree means almost nothing.

To You

I happened upon this while writing an essay about the Aeneid. I was listening to clips of all those 50's feel good groups back when harmony was still a part of popular music (though Britney's new hit, while terrificly horrible has a surprisingly atonal melody).


Thad Jone's great ballad "To You" by The Four Freshman and Manhattan Transfer.




You could be a compelling jazz musician if you only studied the Jones family. Revolutionary drummer, incredible piano player and a multi-faceted writter/leader/trumpet player.

Would the real G please stand up

It's not a tough decision...

Musician 1:




Musician 2:





I tried to display Mr. Gorlick in the best of lights. This is one of the things that really scares me about being a jazz musician. Somebody like Kenny Garret can be playing original hip stuff and doesn't make half as much money as Kenny Gorlick who plays a melody for 3/4 of a song. Keep in mind I'm only saying Garret is better than Gorlick, not that Gorlick is trash.

Maria's Music here by takes the stand that the economic bailout is socialism at it's most deceptive. Why aren't more people talking about this in the blog world? With all due respect, somebody like Andrew Durkin should be hailing this as a great success. It worries me that I have nobody to disagree with on this front.

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I'll miss attending a school where it is a real shock when the football team wins a game, much less by over 50 points.

I'll miss attending a school that gives you more homework than you can do during the week, regardless of effort. Your weekends become 4 hour days of catch up. Though I hear college is the same way...

I'll miss attending a school where the director of the upper school compliments students on their modest dance attire.