5/12/10 Wedenesday Wistfulness

Couple of thoughts pop in my head this week:

- Why does May feel like March? I'm cold.

- What the hell Oil Spill? http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/opinion/03krugman.html?th&emc=th

- Parliamentary elections are confusing.

- Judge Kagan seems like a safe bet. But is this a generation of living too cautiously to get ahead? Maybe I should stop writing a blog then. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/opinion/11brooks.html

- For some reason late 60s/ early 70s classic guitar rock is only now making its way into my life. Led Zeppelin's "Houses of the Holy," The Who's "Who's Next," Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon." Maybe its because I know what it take to make a record now, or maybe because I can call myself a guitar player for the first time, but this is genius stuff.

- TV Shows I'm currently addicted to: 30 Rock, Community (most underrated), Parks & Recreation (2nd most underrated), Modern Family, Classic Albums (VH1 Classic), American Experience (PBS), Always Sunny In Phillly repeats, Betty White SNL, the last 2 episodes of Family Guy

- Finished a bio on Duke Ellington. Interesting how you can be engrossed in reading about someone's music without really hearing any of it. Starting a Springsteen bio now, I have his whole discography.

- Music Nerds: Learning species counterpoint is hard. So are Bach's piano inventions.

- Caught excellent shows by two very good friends at The Living Room this week. Amy Regan and Debbie Miller. Also congrats Matt Robbins on an awesome concert to conclude your piano master at Manhattan School of Music.


- * Danny's Final Thought*

I finally got around to seeing the Coen Brothers movie "A Serious Man." I heard there was some controversy in the Jewish community about its depiction of Jews. There were even some arguments in my own extended family. I tended to stay away from the movie initially because they have a reputation of not being very respectful of their own Jewish upbringing - I of course don't know them personally, and I don't exactly go to synagogue as often as one should, so I found no reason to judge, and I saw it. And I thought it was great.

I felt the heart of the movie was not about Judaism at all, but rather about the lockstep precision, the rut, we can fall into as a daily routine develops. How easy it is to become soulless without even knowing it as we try to reach our daily goals, and time perpetually moves forward. This is what Dark Side of The Moon addresses directly and some of the themes of my new material. The idea of doing nothing, of staying stagnant, is the worst offense there is.

I've been finding lately that the way to stay most in the moment, to really feel things, is to get out of my own head, my predispositions and routines, and be keenly aware of my surroundings. To accept that I'm not in control, and accept the contrasts and consonances around me as beautiful, using my environment to shape me and move me forward. Of course, this is the hardest work, but the most fulfilling. This is what, in my opinion, makes a person serious.

How that relates to the Jewish people is another question entirely, and perhaps this is what the Coen brothers were trying to address (And perhaps why many Jews were up in arms) Either way, these were good questions and it's a good movie.

On that note, stay out of trouble and catch you next week - D