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Archive for October, 2008

I Don't Understand Economics

October 14th, 2008 No comments

I’ll be honest, I don’t really understand economics. I’m sure that I’m not alone in that shortcoming. I’m having an especially hard time understanding how a global economy can go into a slump. The fight for wealth would seem, intuitively, to be a zero sum game. If someone is doing poorly, doesn’t there have to be someone else living higher on the hog than they had been? This short article on Slate by Paul Krugman has done more to help my understanding of economics than much lengthier articles with much more impressive sounding subjects used as illustration. Highly recommended.


Categories: Uninformed Political Views Tags:

Knowing and Really Knowing

October 7th, 2008 No comments

 Yes, she's crazy.

I know exercise is important. I know that running helps me to feel healthier, stronger and more confident. I know all of these things. I give long soliloquies on how much of an impact exercise can have on mental well being. I know that being inactive is a trap that leads to low self-esteem and isolation.I know that physical activity relieves stress and releases aggression.

 

Sometimes though, I stop really knowing. I can still spout the platitudes, I can still hum the hymns…I just don’t really know.

I just ran for the first time in a month. The impact wasn’t small and hard to discern, not by a long shot. I feel amazing. I’m even smiling while I write this. I’ve been worrying about the economy, the fact that I’m gaining weight, the fact that I can’t find a drummer, etc. etc. Now I feel wonderful and it didn’t cost a dime. I have to keep reminding myself of this as often as I can. I have to remember the difference between knowing and really knowing.

Really knowing is doing.

p.s. Sorry I’ve been incommunicado. I’m working on it.


Categories: Personal Tags:

Pinto Beans

October 3rd, 2008 No comments

 


me-and-pinto

I’ve always loved Jamaican Music. Reggae, Rocksteady, Dub and even a little Ska and Dancehall. Some Ska. A little Dancehall.

Jamaican music has always had a unique proclivity for digesting culture and synthesizing musical and cultural mutations. It was post-modern before post-modern existed. It challenged the rigid corporate concepts of originality and copyright before the internet had inspired those in the wider world to see that the emperor had no clothes. Jamaican culture predicted the rise of our modern global “Ctrl-C Ctrl-P” culture way back in the early sixties when the Jamaican ear heard American R&B like Rosco Gordon on radio and produced a unique sound that would introduce to the world to the power of the hammered home offbeat.

Oh yeah, it’s also amazingly fun to dance to.

I’ve never really tried to make reggae, or even any real dance music. It’s harder than it would seem to produce something that grooves just so. Some people just have the right set of ears, the right knack for interpreting the science of the groove. I’m not one of those people! Luckily, I know a few and I pick their brains when I can.

Anyway, I’ve decided to make some danceable music. I’m going to start really working on my rhythm guitar skills, my understanding of different rhythmic feels and my overall (dare I say it) funkiness. Have I mentioned that I can dance? There’s no reason my hands can’t get with the strings and make something decent happen.

Anyway, with some tutoring from Pinto Beans himself, my first try at Reggae. I tried my best to copy the feel and even the bass line from an amazing reggae song from the late 60′s that a few of you may know*. It came out completely and utterly wrong…or should I say completely and utterly me?


 

Pinto Beans



[Download MP3]

 

 

*Please post a comment if you recognize the song. I’ll be duly impressed.


Categories: My Music Tags: