State of Shock

An interesting thing has happened since Michael Jackson's death last Thursday: suddenly, it's not uncool to have been a Michael Jackson fan. It's been at least 20 years since it was cool to be a Michael Jackson fan, and we all know what happened in those intervening years: he did weird, eccentric, criminal, irresponsible, unexplainable things. These are the things that toned down and eventually cooled my adolescent fandom, a thing so large and all-encompassing in its heyday that if you knew me between the ages of 8 and 15, it was assured that you knew me as a Michael Jackson fan.


So what happened? I can only speak for myself, but when I was in the throws of Michael Jackson fever, everything he did or had ever done was nothing short of spectacular. Listening to that scratchy dub of "Thriller" over and over, sequestering myself in our dark basement to watch Michael Jackson marathons on MTV, videotaping every appearance he made on television, clipping every photo of him that appeared in the newspaper (yes, even that one of him in the hyperbaric chamber), thrilling at the chance to see him on tour at the Rosemont Horizon outside of Chicago, covering every square inch of my childhood bedroom with his image, these were the traits of my adolescent idolatry.

But Michael Jackson also led me to the Jackson Five, to Diana Ross, to James Brown, and to Marvin Gaye. He led me to the history of Motown, to vinyl, to concerts, to the drums. I still can't pass up a Jackson Five song on the radio, or "Wanna Be Startin' Something" on a wedding dance floor, or a clip of "Billie Jean" on TV, and, for the life of me, I will never be able to forget the encyclopedic knowledge of this man and his music that I've come to possess.

His death came as a shock; the outpouring of condolences from friends and family reminds me of who I was to them; the media coverage I find both fascinating and repulsive. It may be overkill, but it may also be something akin to a national mourning for someone whose image, actions and voice have been stuck in the inner recesses of our minds for a long time.

Wilco (the blog post)

In my alternate reality, I've been following Wilco around on tour in Spain for the last month: high speed trains and Spanish libraries by day, tapas and Wilco by night. Málaga, Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastian... I think I'm going to plan my next research trip around Wilco's Spanish tour dates.

In the here and now, though, I just watched Ashes of American Flags, the latest DVD about Wilco, and learned that the members of the band are suffering from various repetitive stress injuries, are passionate about small theaters in dying downtowns, and oppose the Walmartization of this country. It's a beautifully-shot concert film, one that you think you're just going to listen to in the background while you fold laundry, but end up getting completely absorbed by.

So, to sum up, Wilco can do no wrong.

Except for this. If there's one blog other than my own that needs to be password-protected, it's Spencer Tweedy's.

Review: Faculty Meeting in the Red Room

It was another long night: El Presidente presided over a room full of bundled-up professors only tenuously aware of the subtleties of parliamentary procedure. Why were they bundled up? It's chilly in the Red Room.

Unlike the last time the Faculty Meeting packed this venue to capacity, when a bedraggled junior faculty member ran in after the gavel had fallen, snagged the last available comfy seat and thrilled to pie charts through a ninety minute set and 17 encores, last night the Faculty Meeting was devoid of pie charts. And pie.

What's the first to hit the chopping block after a budget crisis? The high-end snacks.

Undaunted by a singular choice of cookie, however, the Faculty kicked out the jams last night: motions were proposed, amended, and voted on. Amendments were amended. Points of information were obtained and held up to the amps for spine-numbing reverb. The question was called, twice. Someone fell asleep.

Having played this room a mere two weeks ago, mesmerizing rowdy meeting-goers with a long, improvisational jam session, the Faculty were clearly eager to shake up the set list, and the unanimous vote to establish a "Middle Eastern Certificate Program" was an absolute stunner with quick riffs and a haunting and impassioned plea. And who would have guessed that they would dig up a rarity like "Commendation of the Women's Hockey Team"? No one called for an encore. We had seen enough.

The next time the Faculty Meeting plays the Red Room -- and they will -- they'll surely bring back some old favorites -- "Pie Charts," "What's the Difference Between Writing Intensive and Writing Attentive?" and "Dogs on Campus Policy" -- but can anything top last night? Stay tuned.

Opening for the Faculty Meeting was a woman sitting to my right who ignored my feeble attempt at conversation and expected me to take off when the students were asked to leave the room.

Acategorical Top Ten List of 2008

10. Ada Zelda -- Cutest baby born to one of my friends in 2008 (Note: category unavailable in 2009 due to competition)

9. "Helvetica" -- Best documentary about a font I saw in 2008.

8. Fiddlehead ferns -- Most exciting culinary discovery of the year, this East Coast green helped me move beyond my period of mourning the 18 varieties of lemon available in California. (Pictured at left, with asparagus) Runner-up: Sugar shacks, the best place to drink shots of hot maple syrup right off the still.

7. Black, aka arroz negro -- Best paella of 2008.

6. David Byrne at the Calvin -- Here, the Rock Critic and I agree: the Talking Heads frontman's performance in Northampton, complete with agile modern dancers jumping over Byrne's head, was the best concert I saw in 2008. Runners-up include Wilco at the Shubert, The Hold Steady at Terminal 5, and New Pornographers, also at the Calvin.

5. Dreams from my Father -- Best book to read between November 4th, 2008 and January 20th, 2009.

4. My Parents Got TiVo before I Did -- Most unbelievable technological advance of the year.

3. C, eh? N, eh? D, eh? -- Funniest joke about Canada I heard this year.

2. The Ice Storm along the Mass Pike -- Most eye-popping weather phenomenon I saw in 2008. Runner-up: the 8 feet of snow that kept me trapped in my house one Friday night. OK, maybe it was a foot and 1/2.

1. SJBlog Readers -- Smartest, most loyal blog readers of 2008. And I, SJB, take top honors in the category for most pandering, patronizing blogger of 2008. Everyone wins! Happy New Year!

Surfing Radiowaves

It's always a little strange to listen to the radio over the internet. I frequently tune in to Wisconsin Public Radio because they play classical music without excessive yammering, and it reminds me of sitting in the kitchen in my parents' house. Classical music puts me into work mode, but I get ripped out of it every time I hear an ad for Big Top Chautauqua or notice Jim Packard's nasal Midwestern accent, forgetting where I am for a moment and wondering if that storm system is headed toward Kenosha or Viroqua.

I also still listen to KALX, the student radio station at UC-Berkeley, especially when I'm washing dishes or trying to wake myself up in my office. UMass has a college radio station, but it sucks most of the time, and 9 times out of 10 when I tune into the Amherst College station, all I get is static (I guess because no one can get out of bed at 10am to DJ. Just now I clicked on its webcast to see what was on and only realized I'd been listening to nothing after 19 minutes. I should probably turn that off.). So, anyway, I get my nostalgia listening to KALX, but I forget I'm listening to a station out of California until they tell me it's 9am when it's really noon, and the DJs complain about a third day of rain when we've had three months of below-freezing temperatures and 12 inches of snow, and I hear about indie movies at the San Francisco Film Festival when I haven't been to a city with a population over 30,000 in I don't know how long. Then I just get depressed.

I've even been known to listen to my local NPR station, WFCR, online at home, because if I'm in my office/guest room I can't always hear the speakers from the living room, and I like to move around and do stuff while I listen to "Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me!" But for some reason the stream of WFCR lags about 5 seconds behind the broadcast, which is really annoying, and I get pretty fed up with every program being sponsored by "local author Augusten Burroughs." If every program were sponsored by "local author Emily Dickinson," I'd be much more willing to listen.

I don't listen to WESU (Wesleyan's station) online, because I never got into the habit, I guess, but I do pick it up in the car when I'm making my way up and down the I-91 corridor. Sometimes it's ok; sometimes it's terrible, but I have a fondness for the longest running college radio station, the place where I got my start (and finish) as a DJ, and the station "all the way left on your FM dial" (only 87.9 is lefter).

Me, college radio, and NPR. If I drove a Volvo and drank lattes, I'd be smack dab in the middle of a demographic.

Rocking the I-91 Corridor

I don't write concert reviews, but I went to two great shows this weekend, and while the guy sitting to my left or right (depending on the show) was hard at work, I, too, learned a couple of things:

#1 According to Lyle Lovett, heard on Saturday night at the Calvin Theater in Northampton, the best apple pie can be found at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Mass. It's apparently second only to his cousin Wilbert's apple pie, which he admitted was difficult to get, since "you have to know him."

#2 It's not unusual for Jeff Tweedy, seen on Sunday night at the Shubert Theater in New Haven, to think that people in the front row are so excited to see Wilco that they've peed themselves.

#3 Buying a band T-shirt and putting it on immediately is kinda lame. I mean, we know you're a Wilco fan, and we all saw those T-shirts on sale downstairs, so just put it on at home, dude. The above sticker may just be the greatest band sticker ever, though.

#4 John Hiatt likes cheese. Also he wrote "Have a Little Faith in Me," not Jewel, which I did not know.

#5 Beer-swilling Wilco fans over 50 rival drunk college kids at football games in terms of sheer loud-mouthed annoyingness.

For much less randomly subjective reviews of these shows, you'd be advised to read ERD's thoughts.

I come from the land of a cappella

I fear that in my new position, I will be unable to ignore a cappella as I have been for the last seven years. See, the thing is: if you know someone in the a cappella group, it's mildly entertaining; if you and your friends form a fake a cappella group that only sings tv theme songs and ends every one of them harmonizing "word," it's hilarious; if neither of these qualifiers apply, it's mind-numbing.

Tonight, at a networking gathering for new faculty at the five colleges in the area, we were treated to the stylings of Vocal Suspects, a UMass a capella group. They started off their set with "Crazy" (originally by Gnarls Barkley, a group that, if I'm not mistaken, did not include beat-boxing in their version) -- which I found to be a somewhat curious choice for a room full of stressed-out, overworked and baffled junior faculty -- and ended it with "Send Me on My Way," which, again, left very little mystery as to what came next. The bar is closed, we've helped you as much as we can, now hustle on out of here. Word.

A list of what those CDs + $14.73* got me in trade at Amoeba

• Wilco, A ghost is born -and- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot -- Stolen in the Great Burglary of 2005 and finally replaced.
• Beck, The Information -- Purchase inspired by my nephew, 3, who likes to say "One by one I'll knock you out!" as heard on Track 3.
• Fountains of Wayne, Fountains of Wayne -- So I can listen to "Radiation Vibe."
• Wilco, Summerteeth -- Ripped it onto my iPod but couldn't resist a used copy for $5.99
• "The Graduate" -- So I can watch Dustin Hoffman drive the wrong way over the Bay Bridge over and over again. And spot Moe's on Telegraph.
• An Amoeba postcard.^**
  

^* Full disclosure: I also sold four unopened "Best of Friends" DVDs I won at my high school reunion in 2004 and a promotional copy of "Monk" episodes, for your Emmy consideration, given to me by someone who considers things for Emmys.
** These are actually free.

A list of CDs I'm getting rid of and why

• Garbage, Version 2.0 -- I have some sentimental attachment to the debut Garbage album, but not this one.
• Peter Gabriel, US -- Ehh.
• Eurythmics, Greatest Hits -- All the songs I "need" from this album I have on my iPod.
• Soundtrack to "Dazed and Confused" -- Hanging on to this CD purely because I loved the movie would be wrong. Do I even like Nazareth and Foghat? No, I do not.
• Peter Gabriel, Secret World Live -- Eh.
• The London Suede, Sci-Fi Lullabies -- I'm keeping the other Suede album I have, but my Suede phase has passed, to be honest.
• The Hives, Veni Vidi Vicious -- Everytime a Hives song comes around on my iPod, I skip it. 'Nuf said.
• Eric Clapton, Timepieces -- I can hear "Layla" on any classic rock station or in the middle of a Fountains of Wayne concert whenever I want. Which isn't all that often.
• Edda, Myths from Medieval Iceland -- You only really need to listen to this CD once. Listening to it again would not make any of it any clearer to me.
  
• Jewel, Pieces of You -- I should have ditched this CD a long time ago. I'm not a Jewel person anymore.
• Moby, 18 -- We all loved Play, but, like the Garbage CDs, one Moby CD is all I need to get by.
• Eric Clapton, Unplugged -- Overuse of windchimes.