Category: Sports News
Nobody -- nobody -- has coached more victories in college basketball than Tennessee Lady Vols head coach Pat Summitt. Now the Hall of Fame coach is facing her toughest opponent ever: a serious health issue. Summitt has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia.
Summitt announced today (8/23) that she received the diagnosis of early-onset dementia (Alzheimer's type) in May. Following the conclusion of the 2010-2011 season her doctor sent her to the Mayo Clinic, where she received the diagnosis.
Summitt is receiving treatment and will continue to coach. The interim Athletics Director for the University of Tennessee, Joan Cronan, affirmed that "Pat Summitt is our head coach, and she will continue to be."
Pat Summitt has 1,071 victories, more than any other coach in any division of NCAA basketball, male or female. She has won eight national titles and has spent her entire 39-year coaching career on the sidelines at Tennessee. Her program has never been under any scrutiny by the NCAA for any violations, meaning she has won all those games and titles the right way.
Considering all the foul-smelling news coming out almost daily about college sports it is more important now than ever that the college games obtain more coaches like Pat Summitt. Keep this marvelous coach and her family in your prayers as she battles this terrible diagnosis.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
The More Simplistic the Better
Category: 50 Songs to Hear
SONG: You Are the Everything
ARTIST: R.E.M.
SONGWRITERS: Michael Stipe / Peter Buck / Mike Mills / Bill Berry
ALBUM: Green
YEAR/LABEL: 1988; Warner Brothers
Yee haw! Let's go make an art record!
(Peter Buck)
Athens, Georgia is the home of the University of Georgia. Thanks to the bustling music scene that roared from the town in the late 70s and early 80s, one could make a legitimate argument that it is also the birthplace of "college rock," a genre of more adult, experimental music than the mainstream was cranking out in the disco and synthesizer era. While acts from the Athens music scene enjoyed varying degrees of success (the B-52s were quite successful, Pylon and Kilkenny Cats were not), they all paled in comparison to the Hall of Fame success enjoyed by R.E.M.
When R.E.M. debuted in the early 1980s they were a cross between Tom Petty's jangling rock sound and Bob Dylan's cryptic lyrics (and garbled vocal delivery). The albums had the added problem of no lyric sheets, meaning that it was up to the listener to decided what lead singer Michael Stipe was saying. The music was perfect for the time: "roots rock," the answer to the heavily-synthesized music that was dominating the pop charts at the time. R.E.M. quickly became critics' darlings and picked up an increasing number of fans (among them, Warren Zevon, who recorded his Sentimental Hygiene album backed by Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry). When they left the independent IRS label for giant Warner Brothers many claimed they were selling out, but in actuality their music was as fresh as the day they started. Just as they ignored the popular music of the time when they started, as they sold millions they stayed true to what they wanted to do. That meant as music got louder, with the rise in popularity of the hair bands in the mid-80s, R.E.M. decided to pull out the mandolin for a song.
That song is the highlight of their album Green, and indeed one of the highlights of their entire career: the stunningly beautiful "You Are the Everything."
Proving they could mix music styles (the album was labeled, instead of "side one" and "side two," "air side" and "metal side") R.E.M. presented a lovely ballad that was as close to a love song as they had recorded (for the record, Stipe clearly and repeatedly stated in interviews that "The One I Love" was not a love song). Buck picked up the mandolin and played a simple, beautiful melody as Stipe began, "Sometimes I feel like I can't even sing." And you have to love a song that uses the word eviscerate, not to mention the notion of a band from the South throwing in a line that says, "You're drifting off to sleep with your teeth in your mouth."
R.E.M. has continued to impress fans and re-invent themselves. Their masterpiece, however, is a haunting balled with a simplistic instrumentation that proves that a rock band doesn't have to "rock" to be memorable.
OTHER R.E.M. MUSIC TO INVESTIGATE:
The entire Murmur album -- their initial album stands as one of the best of the 1980s.
The entire Dead Letter Office album -- a collection of B-sides, some fabulous ("Ages of You," their cover of "Femme Fatale"), some so bad they're good (their drunken rendition of "King of the Road," which they state in the liner notes should have led to a lawsuit from Roger Miller) but all that needed to be removed from the "buried B-side" status. The best side of a single wasn't always the "A" or "plug" side!
"Gardening At Night" (originally on the Chronic Town EP, a different version appears on Eponymous) -- in various interviews both Michael Stipe and Mike Mills stated they have no clue what this song is about. Flash back to the early days when songs didn't really have to be more profound than a Bob Dylan album to be good. This song brings that notion forward.
PREVIOUS SONGS:
(Country)
You Haven't Heard
Winter's Come and Gone
Where Do I Go to Throw a Picture Away
When My Rowboat Comes In
When I Lift Up My Head
Rose of My Heart
Rock of Ages, Hide Thou Me
Playboy
Our Town
Old Memories Mean Nothing to Me
Not That I Care
Nobody Eats at Linebaugh's Anymore
My Book of Memories
Lost to a Stranger
A Little Bitty Heart
Life Has Its Little Ups and Downs
Life is Too Short
I Want a Home in Dixie
I Lost Today
Fingerprints
Down to the River to Pray
Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyeballs
A Death in the Family
Dark as a Dungeon
Bottomless Well
(Rock)
Wall of Death
Train Leaves Here This Morning
Swallowed By the Cracks
Stephen
Stealin' Time
Starting Tomorrow
Spellbound
Sleep's Dark and Silent Gate
She's a Runaway
Painted Bells
Out to Sea
One More Song
New Delhi Freight Train
Millworker
Long Way Home
Island
Heart of Rome
Harriet Tubman's Gonna Carry Me Home
Entella Hotel
Desperados Under the Eaves
Crossing Muddy Waters
Cliffs of Dooneen
Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)
Baby Mine
SONG: You Are the Everything
ARTIST: R.E.M.
SONGWRITERS: Michael Stipe / Peter Buck / Mike Mills / Bill Berry
ALBUM: Green
YEAR/LABEL: 1988; Warner Brothers
Yee haw! Let's go make an art record!
(Peter Buck)
Athens, Georgia is the home of the University of Georgia. Thanks to the bustling music scene that roared from the town in the late 70s and early 80s, one could make a legitimate argument that it is also the birthplace of "college rock," a genre of more adult, experimental music than the mainstream was cranking out in the disco and synthesizer era. While acts from the Athens music scene enjoyed varying degrees of success (the B-52s were quite successful, Pylon and Kilkenny Cats were not), they all paled in comparison to the Hall of Fame success enjoyed by R.E.M.
When R.E.M. debuted in the early 1980s they were a cross between Tom Petty's jangling rock sound and Bob Dylan's cryptic lyrics (and garbled vocal delivery). The albums had the added problem of no lyric sheets, meaning that it was up to the listener to decided what lead singer Michael Stipe was saying. The music was perfect for the time: "roots rock," the answer to the heavily-synthesized music that was dominating the pop charts at the time. R.E.M. quickly became critics' darlings and picked up an increasing number of fans (among them, Warren Zevon, who recorded his Sentimental Hygiene album backed by Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry). When they left the independent IRS label for giant Warner Brothers many claimed they were selling out, but in actuality their music was as fresh as the day they started. Just as they ignored the popular music of the time when they started, as they sold millions they stayed true to what they wanted to do. That meant as music got louder, with the rise in popularity of the hair bands in the mid-80s, R.E.M. decided to pull out the mandolin for a song.
That song is the highlight of their album Green, and indeed one of the highlights of their entire career: the stunningly beautiful "You Are the Everything."
Proving they could mix music styles (the album was labeled, instead of "side one" and "side two," "air side" and "metal side") R.E.M. presented a lovely ballad that was as close to a love song as they had recorded (for the record, Stipe clearly and repeatedly stated in interviews that "The One I Love" was not a love song). Buck picked up the mandolin and played a simple, beautiful melody as Stipe began, "Sometimes I feel like I can't even sing." And you have to love a song that uses the word eviscerate, not to mention the notion of a band from the South throwing in a line that says, "You're drifting off to sleep with your teeth in your mouth."
R.E.M. has continued to impress fans and re-invent themselves. Their masterpiece, however, is a haunting balled with a simplistic instrumentation that proves that a rock band doesn't have to "rock" to be memorable.
OTHER R.E.M. MUSIC TO INVESTIGATE:
The entire Murmur album -- their initial album stands as one of the best of the 1980s.
The entire Dead Letter Office album -- a collection of B-sides, some fabulous ("Ages of You," their cover of "Femme Fatale"), some so bad they're good (their drunken rendition of "King of the Road," which they state in the liner notes should have led to a lawsuit from Roger Miller) but all that needed to be removed from the "buried B-side" status. The best side of a single wasn't always the "A" or "plug" side!
"Gardening At Night" (originally on the Chronic Town EP, a different version appears on Eponymous) -- in various interviews both Michael Stipe and Mike Mills stated they have no clue what this song is about. Flash back to the early days when songs didn't really have to be more profound than a Bob Dylan album to be good. This song brings that notion forward.
PREVIOUS SONGS:
(Country)
You Haven't Heard
Winter's Come and Gone
Where Do I Go to Throw a Picture Away
When My Rowboat Comes In
When I Lift Up My Head
Rose of My Heart
Rock of Ages, Hide Thou Me
Playboy
Our Town
Old Memories Mean Nothing to Me
Not That I Care
Nobody Eats at Linebaugh's Anymore
My Book of Memories
Lost to a Stranger
A Little Bitty Heart
Life Has Its Little Ups and Downs
Life is Too Short
I Want a Home in Dixie
I Lost Today
Fingerprints
Down to the River to Pray
Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyeballs
A Death in the Family
Dark as a Dungeon
Bottomless Well
(Rock)
Wall of Death
Train Leaves Here This Morning
Swallowed By the Cracks
Stephen
Stealin' Time
Starting Tomorrow
Spellbound
Sleep's Dark and Silent Gate
She's a Runaway
Painted Bells
Out to Sea
One More Song
New Delhi Freight Train
Millworker
Long Way Home
Island
Heart of Rome
Harriet Tubman's Gonna Carry Me Home
Entella Hotel
Desperados Under the Eaves
Crossing Muddy Waters
Cliffs of Dooneen
Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)
Baby Mine
Thursday, August 4, 2011
...Even If I Don't Know Anything About Jazz
Category: Concert Review
I'll start by admitting point blank that I know nothing about jazz. I know some of the names, of course -- Charlie Parker, Louie Armstrong, Django Reinhardt, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald -- but I don't have any real knowledge of the music, its history, or anything else. Give me two notes can I can tell you if something's real country music or pop wanna-be, but jazz? I haven't even graduated kindergarten in my education. So when I spent an evening at Katerina's in Chicago watching Harmonious Wail perform over two hours of spectacular music all I could say is "wow."
Harmonious Wail is a quartet from Madison, Wisconsin fronted by the husband and wife team of Sims and Maggie Delaney-Potthoff. They bill themselves as a "gypsy swing jazz band." I do know enough to know the term "gypsy jazz" is an ode to Django, the masterful French guitarist who influenced people ranging from Les Paul to Chet Atkins. Sims fronts the band not on guitar but on mandolin, having taken lessons from the legendary Jethro Burns (who was also influenced by Reinhardt). Maggie plays various and unique percussive instruments (such as a empty box that once held boxes of Purex laundry detergent and a pair of scissors). Mark Kreitzer plays guitar brilliantly, and Jeff "Jeffro" Weiss is a young but gifted stand-up bassist.
The band, quite simply, is superb. Maggie has a voice that can melt ice cubes then turn around and re-freeze the water. "Torch?" Maybe. "Great?" Absolutely. She let loose on a combination of originals ("I Like to Feel My Bones," a song written after a car wreck, and the title song from their most recent CD "The Vegan Zombie's Lament") and covers ("My Favorite Things" and a show-stopping rendition of Steely Dan's "Home at Last"). Sims' mandolin playing showed his respect for his teacher (most notably when he let loose on "Tico Tico," borrowing heavily from the 1962 Homer & Jethro Playing It Straight arrangement) as well as the love for Django (they played "Djangology" and "Minor Swing").
My favorite quote about music comes from Sir Paul McCartney, who said in an 1974 interview, "I just like good music. And, you know, you gotta search for it." I may not know much about jazz but I do know that Harmonious Wail is a superb band with talented musicians and a gifted vocalist, and they deserve to be heard, regardless of how much you do or don't know about jazz.
Harmonious Wail's web site
I'll start by admitting point blank that I know nothing about jazz. I know some of the names, of course -- Charlie Parker, Louie Armstrong, Django Reinhardt, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald -- but I don't have any real knowledge of the music, its history, or anything else. Give me two notes can I can tell you if something's real country music or pop wanna-be, but jazz? I haven't even graduated kindergarten in my education. So when I spent an evening at Katerina's in Chicago watching Harmonious Wail perform over two hours of spectacular music all I could say is "wow."
 |
| L-R: Jeff Weiss, Sims Delaney-Potthoff, Maggie Delaney-Potthoff, Mark Kreitzer |
Harmonious Wail is a quartet from Madison, Wisconsin fronted by the husband and wife team of Sims and Maggie Delaney-Potthoff. They bill themselves as a "gypsy swing jazz band." I do know enough to know the term "gypsy jazz" is an ode to Django, the masterful French guitarist who influenced people ranging from Les Paul to Chet Atkins. Sims fronts the band not on guitar but on mandolin, having taken lessons from the legendary Jethro Burns (who was also influenced by Reinhardt). Maggie plays various and unique percussive instruments (such as a empty box that once held boxes of Purex laundry detergent and a pair of scissors). Mark Kreitzer plays guitar brilliantly, and Jeff "Jeffro" Weiss is a young but gifted stand-up bassist.
The band, quite simply, is superb. Maggie has a voice that can melt ice cubes then turn around and re-freeze the water. "Torch?" Maybe. "Great?" Absolutely. She let loose on a combination of originals ("I Like to Feel My Bones," a song written after a car wreck, and the title song from their most recent CD "The Vegan Zombie's Lament") and covers ("My Favorite Things" and a show-stopping rendition of Steely Dan's "Home at Last"). Sims' mandolin playing showed his respect for his teacher (most notably when he let loose on "Tico Tico," borrowing heavily from the 1962 Homer & Jethro Playing It Straight arrangement) as well as the love for Django (they played "Djangology" and "Minor Swing").
My favorite quote about music comes from Sir Paul McCartney, who said in an 1974 interview, "I just like good music. And, you know, you gotta search for it." I may not know much about jazz but I do know that Harmonious Wail is a superb band with talented musicians and a gifted vocalist, and they deserve to be heard, regardless of how much you do or don't know about jazz.
Harmonious Wail's web site
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