A Musical Intervention
Dear Smoking Christian,Recently on your blog there have been comments about the problem of the YB’s music. While I find it nearly impossible to imagine that the YB is stuck in a thirty year musical rut, who am I to question what goes on in the Mooney household? Yet something must be done!
After a thirty-year lapse: What to do? He is obviously not ready for a steady diet of Hoobastank, NIN or Mudvayne. Perhaps Switchfoot? Yellowcard? No. A more gradual transition is in order. This will take time.
Here are my suggestions for you to gently bring the YB back into the contemporary music scene:
Coldplay; X&Y
Death Cab for Cutie; Plans
Zero 7; When It Falls
If he wants to know what he is getting for his hard-earned cash, tell him to imagine Enja in an elevator. With drums.
If you want to make an appeal to his religious roots get him:
Ben Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama; There Will Be Light
Tell him to imagine a black guy, no a bunch of black guys (some blind), singing Negro spirituals.
If he wants to mellow-out during his morning commute get him:
Robert Cray; Twenty
Imagine a talented black, singer/songwriter/guitarist supporting three old white guys on drums, bass and keyboards singing about unrequited love, infidelity and betrayal. There is also an anti-war bromide, but he can skip that track.
DO IT NOW! Run, don’t walk to the CD store!
You must restore the mythic status of the YB as a music avant-gardist and purveyor of the new, the unusual and the hip.
Thank you,
The (concerned) Yakimaniac
P.S. Perhaps others, the recipients of so much love and light (musically speaking) from the YB, would like to contribute their selections to enhance his road to recovery.
posted by Yakimaniac at 3:19 PM
31 Comments:
In defense of the YB, we all know how good most of his now old music is. We all respect the vast majority of it greatly.
In regards to his insistance that we must listen to his favorite CD of the day immediately, I chock this up to his youth. Mark is only 51. It wasn't until I was 51 and 1/2 that I quit bringing MY CDS to other people's homes as if they couldn't possibly have any music worth listening to.
All that being said, I think your directions for his discovery of new music is very good. I hope he reads your list, prays about it quite earnestly, and follows your advice.
PS: I've been listening to the Blind Boys since they actually were boys, I think around 7-9 years old.
They were very bad singers back then. (Or was that "The Deaf Boys of Arkansas?)
PSS: I dread the day we all get together, you, your wife, Shiloman, and Scotch/Red Wine drinker from Wheaton. The fight over the music choices could result in much bloodshed, possibly even death.
For one thing, I am the King of All Music. Anyone who dares challenge me is a fool and deserves whatever misfortune may befall them.
Did I mention that when I last saw Eric Clapton, Robert Cray played backup guitar? Phil Collins was on the drums. It was a great concert.
I only wish I hadn't consumed so many beers before the event. I heard most of the concert from the bathroom.
Let that be a lesson to you young people! Don't pee away your life like the Smoking Christian. As YB would say if he were here, 'it's a very draining experience.'
Dear Yak,
First, THANK YOU FOR WRITING SOMETHING ON A SATURDAY UNLIKE OTHERS IN BLOGWORLD! I'm dying here waiting for OG to get with it.
It is kind of you to proffer aid to the YB. He has a good heart and he means well. I suspect his headstone will have a CD player in it with his voice introducing each new album, "Hey, you guys! You have to listen to this!"
I will not be a musical problem at the Church of the SC reunion. I quit listening to music radio in 1979. Believe it or not, I may have the largest classical music library of anyone you know. It's either classical music in my study 24/7 or New Age!
Dear SC, Our Blogger's Picnic will be a pleasure for all. We will drink wine, imported pilsner, single malt scotch and eat brie just like they do in Beverly Hills. We will all whistle along with the theme song from The Andy Griffith Show. We will read and discuss Twain and Yeats and Barth, smoke cigars and watch the children play badminton and other genteel games. There will be no discouraging words.
But I am worried about Shilohman. Does he not realize that New Age music is not really music but a collection of electronic sounds repeated endlessly with slight variations? There is no human effort involved but entirely computer generated. I think there needs to be another intervention.
Oh! I must go. Mrs. Yak is calling. She seems to have lost her bra in the mountains of laundry.
Dear Mr. Yak, et al,
I cordially invite you to celebrate my one month anniversary in blogland. I was right. I never should have started this. I knew it! I knew there was nothing important to say!
Mr. Yak, in the spirit of love and acceptance, I heartily welcome your musical intervention. I must warn you, I lost most of my hearing in the '60s listening to The Lettermen, Peter, Paul & Mary, The Beachboys, and Simon and Garfuncle. Maybe that's why I thought Gino Vanelli was good when YB brought him over.
To see Eric Clapton, Robert Cray and Phil Collins on stage at the same time would be amazing! Mrs. Yak and I just rented Walk the Line last night: Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis were on tour together in those early days. Incredible!
Big name acts don't come to Yukimoo unless they're C&W appearing at the fair. We have to journey to Seattle to see anyone else or go to the Gorge Amphitheater. Ever heard of the Gorge? It's a beautiful outdoor venue like Red Rocks overlooking the Columbia River Gorge. Very dramatic sunsets with the mountains and the river as backdrop. We’ve been there a few times.
I am here to bear witness to YB's Level 42 phase which included not only every CD but also a concert video.
I am here to bear witness that bras should be washed separately with other delicates on the gentle cycle.
I am here to bear witness to the majesty of the gorge, by George.
And I invite you all to my home next Christmas for a glass of wine while we enjoy my favorite holiday album by the Blind Boys of Alabama!
Amen.
Dateline NBC has me worried.
Last night's story had us super glued to our TV set. It pertained to myspace.com with its millions upon millions of children just begging to meet up with their local perverts. These little rascals reveal details of who they are, what they're doing and where they live and play - did anyone else watch Dateline NBC last night(?) - (it is our super effective way of thumbing our nose at 60 Minutes).
So, my point is that we have to be more or less obscure when we talk about what street we live on, or otherwise we should at least add the line from that classic horror film, "have you checked the children?"!
And, Level 42 created the hit song "Something about you.." and it is one of the greatest tunes of all time.
A link to my previous comment:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/
It may be worth looking at for those of you with younger children and grandchildren.
Did Shiloman already give us the Woody Allen line: "Just because your paranoid doesn't meant that someone isn't out to get you".?
Dear YB,
You have every right to talk about the news programs you watch. Thanks for the heads up, but we all think it is time you started your own blog. When you start blogging in someone else's comment section it's a pretty sad thing!
And you really need to hear the new Celtic Women album. Can I come over?
Puleez! No more blogs! I can't keep up with the four we already have. Besides, Mr. Hip Tunz already has a blog. It's this one and I have the contract to prove it.
Mr. Yak
Dear Yaks,
Hey, sorry! I just found the expanation for the broken ribs in the comment section of a different posting. My apologies. Do you need a pastoral visit? I haven't been in Washington since, oh, 1998.
By the way, there is another option to wearing uncomfortable underwear..... I loved the '60's!
Oops, I think we just cross-commented. I just re-commented on your blog. (I'm making up new terms as I go.)
Shilohman,
Thanks for the suggestion that I relive the 60s. I'm just not sure about that at 51 years of age if ya know what I mean...
Thanks for the offer of a Pastoral visit. That would be great! Just don't bring that New Age music with you when you come. Mr. Yak banned Yanni from the premises many years ago.
Mrs. Yak
Thanks be to the Yak Man - no pedophile shall befall the OG as we have quite possibly sent such evil doer on a quest not indifferent to the Soul Force...or should I say the Sooooooouuuuuul Force, like they used to on the telly.
Mr. Yak,
Yes I did read your comment about your visit to our fair city which will remain nameless for my protection from all kinds of evildoers. I'm amazed that your sister lives so close to us. I am so looking forward to your arrival. Of course, you would know I read your comment if you would have read my re-comment about having a Church of the SC regional meeting and having OG over along with the junior bloggers from alma mater which will remain nameless to protect them from all kinds of evildoers.
I'm checking the Church of the Smoking Christian's travel budget to see if I can fly out for a pastoral visit for Mrs. Yak. I'm having trouble getting any numbers out of our CFO.
Oh, and congratulations on setting a record for the number of comments on any one posting in the history of our blogworld!
TOPICS:
Number of comments:
Yes, and we did it without cheating. I seem to remember this same phenomenon happening the last time I posted about music.
Pastoral visit:
Mrs. Yak and I are shocked that we have finally found a (Calvinist) Pastor who actually calls on the sick and the shut-ins. Very commendable! At our last church all such visitations were performed by laypersons, deacons and average parishioners with those identified “giftings.” The pastoral staff, beholden to their contractual obligations, their executive management status and their busy schedules (tee-times), was otherwise occupied. We think you are remarkable but we are quite sure your congregation can’t spare you.
One month anniversary:
Congratulations! If we all survive another week of this madness it will be another week...of madness.
The YB:
Does anyone understand what he is trying to say? I thought not. If he goes with Peter to his next psychiatric séance, they will have invented the first-of-its-kind mental health marketing campaign: “TWO FOR ONE HAPPY HOUR.”
(Whether this would apply to the number of patients or the number of diagnoses is up to the individual practitioners.)
All-time best song ever:
Don’t You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds
(Or possibly anything by The Cars.)
Level 42? Come on YB; get in the game!
Bras:
Nothing more to say about this topic on pain of (my) death.
Hi! YB is here right now. He needed a rest spot between his last business appointment and his church group at the Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton, which is about a mile from where I'm smoking.
His wife is with Shiloman's sister, his daughter is up in Canada to see if she wants to be on a mission and his son is at Wheaton College, somewhere in Middle America.
We have decided to feed him, give him a cup of coffee and then send him on his way.
I can only tell you that he feels misunderstood my all 19 of your commentaries and now has labeled you all "tormentors."
All I wanted to do was make your number of comments an even 20.
Congratulations! This is the new record! I'd like to think I had something to do with it. But, I can't think of what that would be.
Good night. And may the Good Lord bless you real good. (Dr. J. Vernon McGee)
This actually makes 23 comments but Mr. Yak deleted two earlier today to protect the innocent.
I think the YB of the SC needs to start a blog of deleted comments from Peter's Ashtray. He can call it "Peter's Ashes Flushed"
Really, it all comes back to my stated profession on my blog, "Stool Manufacturing."
These things just need to ferment a little while.
Are we still taking votes for all-time best song ever? How about Nana Mouskouri's rendition of Neil Young's "After the Gold Rush" - a classic!
No but her cover of
"I Gave My Love A Cherry" comes pretty darned close.
I'm falling in love with the newest Neil Young album. A number of us went to see him perform at the Greek Theater several years back. The Pretenders went on stage first and Chrissie Hynde fell to her knees and kissed the stage in honor of this man. OK, perhaps she was on something, we don't really know...
BTW - saginaw sister was reading this musical intervention post this morning for the first time and was very confused. She views my musical preoccupation as way up there and over qualified for the job.
Meanwhile, the ys of shilohman is getting more and more confused as to how this sport of musical chairs ever got its start.
It got started as most things do over at the SC.
(Please read:
THE SMOKING CHRISTIAN WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME A BRAND NEW SPONSOR: Friday, April 07, 2006 and its comments.)
The Saginaw Sister really must do a better job of keeping up!
Oops!
That last comment was meant for the YS of Shilohdude.
Dear YAK
Thank you for your concern that I may be falling behind.(atleast that is how I've chosen to take your comment.)I had some computer problems that kept me away for a bit, in addition I've got TIVO in my bedroom now. Dangerous! I thought my eventual intervention would be on smoking or drinking. Now I'm certain that one day when I have guests over, I'll say " Hey did you guys see 'Prison Break' this week?" I'll go to my beloved flat screen and my Direct TV will have been cut off.
Regarding our contribution to the music appreciation of the YB. My darling husband installed XM in his car and that of his son before they left in August. So no excuse for him not to expose himself. HEM... ahh I mean expand his pleasure.--- I MEAN listen to some new tunes.
SYS
The real reason for that last comment was that I wanted to be part of the record breaking blog.
SYS
I'm very jealous! Mrs. Yak had Sirius satellite radio for a 90 day trial. It was very cool. She listened to Black gospel music the whole 90 days. GLORY! ALLELUIA! THANK YOU JESUS!
Actually it was XM satellite radio. Can you tell I never let him drive my car?
Mrs. Yak
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