Album Review #4: Whiskeytown

Pneumonia, by Whiskeytown (2001)

I've never been much into mainstream country (although I do go through phases once in a while), but one genre I have really grown to enjoy over the last couple of years is what some might call alternative country, or alt-country. (Easier to type.) My first real exposure was to The Jayhawks, which numerous websites have designated that grossly overused phrase, "Best Band You've Never Heard Of."

Whiskeytown drew similar comparisons during their short and fairly volatile history. They were only really in existence for two years, and only two members were constant over even that time: Caitlin Gary and Ryan Adams (not to be confused with Bryan Adams). I'd bought a couple of Ryan Adams's solo albums (he's had a pretty successful solo career), Heartbreaker and Easy Tiger, which I thought were starkly different. Heartbreaker was half near-punk and half extremely mellow rock, but the latter was decidedly more country, complete with slide guitars, etc. Pneumonia seems to fit somewhere in the middle, which works just fine with me.

Adams's voice is surprisingly versatile. In any of his (or his affiliated band's) albums, he could remind you of anyone from Harry Nilsson to Paul Simon to Gram Parsons to (insert very twangy-voiced country singer here), and you really get a taste of this in Pneumonia.

The album raises its proverbial curtain with a charmingly wheezy harmonica intro on "The Ballad of Carol Lynn". Each of the first three songs is of a certain flavor, light-hearted and walking-paced, with country influences. Really, most of the songs are like that. When trying to describe the album, I'm reminded of a phrase borrowed from the late Mitch Hedberg: "all exciting at first, but by the end your f---ing sick of it." (Note: Mitch's use of the phrase is quite different...that would be how he describes eating pancakes.) It really is nice to listen to for a while, especially on a road trip or something, but before too long I find myself skipping tracks, just a little bit bored.

When I do skip ahead, I usually look for "Jacksonville Skyline", with its really nostalgic lyrics. Sample: "Well Jacksonville's a city with a hopeless street light / Seems like you're lucky if it ever changes from red to green / Well I was born in an abundance of inherited sadness / and fifty-cent picture frames bought at a five-and-dime." I like the care-free-ness and rhythm of "Paper Moon", which has a faintly Latin taste. "Crazy About You" and "Bar Lights" are also favorites.

More than anything, it was a good experience to see where Ryan Adams came from. It's funny; kinda like he can't decide what kind of musician he is. Mainstream rock? Punk? Does he belong in Nashville? That musical indecisiveness and unpredictability is what makes his stuff appealing. At least to me.

Grade: B

The Issues

Turn on CNN or Fox News, and all you see is people talking about the problems of the world today, usually from some political standpoint. How refreshing that a couple of guys from New Zealand can candidly talk (and sing!) about the dire problems facing the world today. Do watch:



(More Flight of the Conchords stuff.)

So Awkward!

I ran across a Facebook group called "I'm So AWKWARD!" today, which I thought was pretty funny because it had a list of "Have you ever..." questions related to the topic of awkwardness and social clumsiness. I'm no Larry David (see an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm if you don't know what I'm talking about), but I'm not immune to these unfortunate occurrences. Granted, they never result in situations as painful as the following Sonic commercial:



Anyway, here's an excerpt of that list. You know you're awkward if...

1. you have stubbed your toe twice in one day.
2. you have had a conversation that has gone like this:
You: 'Hey, how are you?'
Other person: 'Good, how are you?'
You: 'Good, how are you?'
3. you have fallen/tripped in public, simultaneously making a weird noise, and then looked around to see if anyone saw you.
4. said goodbye to your friend you were walking with and thought that you were going to part ways, but realized that you were both really headed in the same direction, so you either laughed uncomfortably and walked in silence or pretended that you actually had to go in a different direction and then took a longer route to your destination.
5. told someone you had to leave a party, but didn't for a long time, and then saw the same person looking at you some time later with a slightly bewildered gaze.

As a result of this last weekend, I have two more items to add:

1. Made a phone call, recipient answers, "Hey Josh", to which I ingeniously reply, "Hey Josh.....uh, I mean...".
2. Wanted to make a pop culture reference to, for example, a movie, and so asked "Hey, have you ever seen (insert movie here)?", only to get the response "No", followed by you replying "Oh" and a short period of silence, because the story you were about to tell would've only made any semblance of sense with a response of "Yes".

And I'm telling you, I do that #2 a lot. (Urgent clarification: That would be the item #2 in the preceding list. I swear that was by accident. Clearly, such a sophisticated blog wouldn't trifle with such low-brow humor. Looks like I have a new one to add to the list.) Sure wish life came with a rewind button sometimes. Or at least pause.

Here's to You, Jimmy V

As I drive my little Corolla to the office every morning, my radio is always turned to Mike & Mike in the Morning. Each year for I don’t know how long, they take a day in July and have a sort of “Jimmy V Day”, and auction off cool items whose proceeds go to the V Foundation. One such prize (which ended up going for some 5- or 6-figure pricetag) was for Mike & Mike to be aired from someone’s house. Pretty cool if you ask me.

And just when I thought some rich guy would be hosting Mike & Mike from the third-floor balcony of his Florida mansion, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the winner of the auction was the head of Medical City Children’s Hospital in Dallas, right across the freeway from my office. Sometime in the fall, Mike & Mike in the Morning will be hosted from the children’s cancer hospital at Medical City. Which, of course, is appropriate, as the V Foundation is used to fund cancer research.

For those who don’t know, Jim Valvano was a legendary basketball coach primarily known for his tenure at NC State during the 80’s. The Wolfpack won the title in 1983, and Jimmy V was so ecstatic after the final buzzer sounded that he ran onto the court looking for somebody to hug. There really wasn’t anything not to like about him; sort of like how it’s hard not to like Mike Krzyzewski, coach of Duke basketball.

But at age 46, in June of 1992, he was diagnosed with metastatic bone cancer. Several months later in February of ‘93, he received the Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award at the first annual ESPY awards, where he gave probably one of the most poignant speeches in American history. In addition, he announced the start of the V Foundation, which has so far raised over $70 million for cancer research in only 15 years of existence.

He died only two months later.

I try to watch his ESPY speech every once in a while. It really puts things in perspective, and frankly is life-changing advice. So I’m posting it here...



Here’s to you Jimmy V.

(Image credit: ESPN)

The Other Josh - The One Who Can Hit a Ball 500 feet

Wow. All I can say is just, wow.

As is normally the case on a Monday night, I was all set to watch an episode of Family Guy, so I could continue towards my unending quest to memorize each and every script. And lo and behold, according to my digital cable guide, it was going to be one I hadn't seen before. But I just happened to stop on ESPN, because I had read somewhere that the Home Run Derby was tonight.

I watched as Justin Morneau and Ryan Braun stroked some pretty decent totals of 7 and 8 home runs. I say decent; come on, they're hitting baseballs one and a half football fields in front of millions of viewers. And then a large man named Josh Hamilton made his way to the batters' box.

Holy crap.

Here's a retrospective (and so possibly slightly inaccurate) record of my thoughts as I watched what unfolded.

8:24pm - Hmm, Josh Hamilton. I've heard of this guy. I went to a couple of Rangers games, and in one they played Tampa. Having fallen behind 5-4, Hamilton had a chance to win the game with two on, one out in the bottom of the ninth. We Ranger faithful rose to our feet, hoping that our little team might pull off a miracle and pull that much closer to a .500 record. Fly out. Crap. Oh well, maybe this guy can show me something here at the Derby.

8:29pm - Good start, he has 6 home runs and only 4 outs. The first one went to left-center, which was crazy, because he's a leftie. Looks like he'll get the 8 he needs to get to the second round. Nice to know someone else named Josh is doing well for himself.

8:32pm - Wow, he just hit one over 500 ft. They mentioned the record was Sammy Sosa with 524. Sure seems like these are going farther.

8:35pm - Up to 10 home runs! Still only 6 outs. I bet those tattoos only work if you have actual muscles. Maybe I should exercise some restraint and hold off on that.

8:38pm - My buddy John from Longview just IMed me making sure I was watching. Luckily, I was able to honestly put on the "I love baseball" facade, because I already was watching. This is awesome, but I'm missing Family Guy, surely he'll lose some steam here.

8:42pm - John and I keep exhchanging Wows on AIM. We're up to 18, and only 8 outs! Only 6 away from Bobby Abreu's record. The guy who's pitching to him is like 71...he might need some Vitamin Water before it's all said and done. He'll have to pitch the next 2 rounds, too.

8:45pm - Jumping up and down in my room in disbelief. Calling people. Texting people. He's hit shots to the upper deck, to the back of center field, off a Mastercard sign. Holy crap. Chris Berman is running out of things to say. "Back, back, back, that ball is going all the way to...uh...um...Lake Erie!"

8:51pm - He just hit one that I could've sworn was a pop out. Yet it carried all the way out to the upper deck on right field! I'm looking forward to watching this on ESPN classic in 6 years. 22!

8:54pm - 26!!! Is this real?? He hasn't hit an out since Family Guy started at 8:30, which by the way, I'm missing for this! Oh, what I wouldn't give for a DVR. They just showed a stat on ESPN, he's hit over two miles' worth of home run goodness. Nuts.

9:01pm - Well, what a disappointment. He stopped at only 28! How dare he quit on us like that. No really, that was pretty frickin' awesome. Especially for a guy who had a drug problem like 4 years ago. It was weird, after a while, it was almost boring and exciting at the same time...he hit like 14 straight! Unreal. And it's great, because it looks like there's no asterisk with this guy like there was with Bonds.

Almost as entertaining was this commercial that kept coming on. "I'm gonna kick some dirt!"



Peace.