To Bruce or Not to Bruce?

It's official that Bruce Springsteen is coming to my hometown on August 24. Despite years of fandom, despite 1978-82 in New York state (a long but doable car-ride from New Jersey), despite seeing variants on his theme, such as Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes - I've never seen Springsteen live.

Unfortunately, I'm going to be otherwise occupied when the tickets go on sale. That means if I want to see the show looking up instead of looking down, I'm probably going to have to come up with several hundred dollars. This site has tickets I'd really like already on sale for a little under $500 each . . . Parking, dinner, a beer or two at the show - let's round it off at a grand. Or, if that offends you, and you think nosebleed seats should suffice, let's round if off to $400.

What's a person of moderate means to do?

For a fraction of the cost, I could buy an iPod and download every Springsteen song available on iTunes, and still have money available to catch dozens of up-and-coming shows at smaller venues. I could max out campaign contributions to some worthy local candidates. I could change lives with donations to some of my favorite charities. I could investigate that concept called "retirement savings" that I've heard some people mentioning.

Do you blow a grand on a single show? What if he has an off night? What if the people in front of me are tall? Can one show really be worth that kind of money? Would I walk out of the Sprint Center thinking "Great show, but . . ."?

I don't know. Maybe. Springsteen shows are legendary. Seeing a great artist live is a totally different experience than listening to the music itself. What is the proper price of a lasting memory? How much would you pay to see your "best concert ever"?

John S. Zinsser, Jr. Reaches the End of His Term of Years on Earth, and Passes Away

Verbosity prevails.

This is Handy for Me

In the past, I've gushed over the free music available from the SXSW Festival in Austin. As I age, I find it harder and harder to find music by new (to me) artists, and the prospect of hundreds of free singles to try out legally is a great opportunity.

This year, things are even better. Not only is there 48 hours worth of music to download, but we are blessed with a critic's 6 word review of each one of the 763 songs.

Here are a few samples of the reviews:

Amy Cook: You can love Neko Case too much.
Beangrowers: Girls with herpes love this song.
David Garza: His snotty girlfriend makes him anxious.
Greta Gaines: Sometimes “singer-songwriter” tells you everything.
Parts & Labor: The Island of Misfit Toys Orchestra.

Go have fun, and report back on any great music you find . . .

The Definitive Oscar Picks & Contest

Quick, before you read the following picks, go here and enter the First Annual Gone Mild Oscar Picks Contest. It costs nothing to enter, and the winner will get a 50/50 split of my profits on this website for the coming year. The entry is a simple click-box format, and you can get a copy of your picks emailed to you, so it's a pretty simple way to make and memorialize your 2008 Oscar picks. I'll keep your selections confidential, if you prefer.

Now, these are the ones that will actually win:

Best Picture: Michael Clayton
Best Director: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood
Best Actress: Ellen Page in Juno
Best Supporting Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War
Best Supporting Actress: Ruby Dee in American Gangster
Best Original Screenplay: Juno
Best Adapted Screenplay: No Country for Old Men
Cinematography: There Will Be Blood
Film Editing: There Will Be Blood
Art Direction: Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Costume Design: Across the Universe
Original Score: The Kite Runner
Original Song: "Falling Slowly" -- Once
Best Makeup: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Sound Editing: Ratatouille
Sound Mixing: No Country for Old Men
Best Visual Effects: The Golden Compass
Best Animated Feature Film: Ratatouille
Best Foreign Language Film: The Counterfeiters -- Austria
Best Documentary Feature: Sicko
Best Documentary Short: Sari's Mother
Best Live Action Short: Tanghi Argentini
Best Animated Short: Peter & the Wolf

They are also going to have a special award for "Most Hilariously Awful Stereotypical French Movie Scene and Best Reason to Hate Foreign Films", which will be given to "La Vie En Rose" for the scene in which the little girl and the prostitute lock themselves in a room and cry while they have lipstick smiles painted on their faces.

Milne's Birthday

Today is A.A. Milne's birthday (1882), the creator of Winnie the Pooh and the Hundred Acre Wood. How do you measure the influence of someone like Milne? Here are a few of my favorite quotations from him . . ,

“If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”

“You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.”

“If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together.. there is something you must always remember. you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. but the most important thing is, even if we're apart.. I'll always be with you.”

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh," he whispered.
"Yes, Piglet?"
"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw, "I just wanted to be sure of you."”

“"I don't see much sense in that," said Rabbit.
"No," said Pooh humbly, "there isn't. But there was going to be when I began it. It's just that something happened to it along the way."”

“"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best -- " and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called.”

Happy Birthday, Bill

Today is William Blake's 250th birthday. He was a strange guy, prone to visions and odd behavior, but he wrote the first poem that opened up for me the multiple layers and unknowable depth of what poetry can be. He also produced wonderful and strange engravings for much of his work.

The Sick Rose

O Rose Thou Art Sick.
The invisible worm,
That flies in the night
In the howling storm:

Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.

Is this poem about the loss of innocense? Is it about sexuality? Is it about corruption and secrecy? Is it about safety and pleasure? Is it about a rose?

I Won't Admit I'm Wrong, but "They" Might be Right

The other night, I was running between meetings, and zipped over to Oak, along the Nelson. Normally, I cruise down Rockhill, and roll my eyes at the brightly-lit Butler buildings, astounded at the gutsy sales job that convinced the Trustees of that august institution to disrupt the sight lines and stateliness of the property that history had bestowed, until they took it away from us.

But, Monday night, I swung over to Oak on my way south, and, even though I was running late for my meeting, what I saw made me stop. More than that, it made me circle the block, do a U-turn on Oak (middle-aged white men in sedans can get away with all kinds of traffic maneuvers denied to the less-privileged). I had seen the Standing Figures (Thirty), by Magdalena Abakanowicz, silhouetted against the glowing buildings, and it was breathtaking. I had also seen one of the shuttlecocks, by Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen.

Wow. Simply wow.

These are interesting, perhaps even arresting, sculptures by day. This blogger does a fine job of capturing these sculptures in their daytime lives.

Night-time redefines them entirely. The silhouette effect from Oak transforms them into something wildly different. These are terrible photos that I tried to take - but it doesn't capture the essence at all. When I got out of my car and tried to position myself between the sculptures and the Butler buildings, a security light activated and altered the effect radically - kind of turned it inside out.

I was late for my meeting, but it was worth it. I saw art I already liked, but I saw it in a literally new light.

Free Concerts

I know this is old, old news, but now that I have my tickets lined up, I'll go ahead and tell you about two free concerts at Crossroads KC - the place behind Grinders. On June 1, Bob Schneider will perform, rain or shine. Bob is as eclectic as Austin, the city he comes from. And he dated Sandra Bullock.

Even bigger, Cracker will be visiting on Friday, July 6. If you don't know Cracker, that means you're even more out of it than I am, and you need help.

Get free tickets to both shows here.

KC in the New Yorker

I love the New Yorker. Check out this article about the additions to the Nelson. And don't miss the slide show.

Kurt Vonnegut, Glorious Subversive, 1922 - 2007

"A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved."

- Cat's Cradle

More Than Tulips on Troost

Durwin Rice is one of the sparkplugs behind the renaissance of Troost Avenue. I've been told he is revamping his paper shop into more of an arts and antiques space and will be hosting a show of art by Barbara Biel. It opens with a reception this Friday, April 13, from 5 till 9, at the space at 5516 Troost.

While you're there, check out the tulips that survived the cold snap. They're survivors, about to make Troost better than it already is.

Wordsworth's Birthday

It's Poetry Month, and if you enjoy poetry, send a blank email to sub_knopfpoetry@info.randomhouse.com and sign up for a poem a day from Knopf. Good stuff.

Because it's poetry month, and Wordsworth's birthday, I'm sharing one of my favorite poems, written 201 years ago, and it still describes the world as I see it some days when I'm in my car boxed away from a beatiful morning.

"THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US; LATE AND SOON"

THE world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

Worst Movie Title Ever?

I understand the impulse toward pretension and self-importance (not that I ever suffer from either), but I got the giggles in the theater yesterday when the great-looking movie about Ireland's title came on at the end of the trailer - "The Wind that Shakes the Barley".

Perhaps the giggles were brought on by the unintended cinematic references to Christopher Guest's "A Mighty Wind" and Spinal Tap's immortal "Break Like the Wind".

Either way, it looks like a movie I'll enjoy, even if I must stifle giggles over its awful title.