As the Streets of This City Tear Themselves Apart

As the Streets of This City Tear Themselves Apart

Every day entropy seems to greet me with a new pothole, as if to say, "don't you forget about me." 80s movies that everyone should have to see once before they die... The Breakfast Club is up on that list somewhere. You thought this post was gonna be about urban violence didn't you? Entropy is a little bit harder at work in Mississippi than in some other parts of the world. We like to call it Yazoo Clay.

XTC's Nonsuch kept me thoroughly entertained on Saturday night. Oh the boundless joys of clever and silly lyrics! Nonsuch is a satisfying blend of social satire, psychedelic flower celebration, and quirky love songs, set to Brian Wilson styled harmony and told with nursery rhyme charm. There are a few unfortunate instances of that distinctly British sexual innuendo throughout though. Nick Davis works his production genius to create a marvelous sounding album. I find a new favorite line every time I listen.

Everytime I look at my watch
I'm reminded we are poor in hours per day
Every second spent with her's a
Bulging wallet overstuffed with angels pay

This time last year I was conducting "Overhype the Super Bowl Week" on my old Xanga blog. While I once again have little to no interest in the Super Bowl, I did read this interesting article on ESPN.com about the evolution of the halftime show and the glamor surrounding the event.

Who knew that Up With People did four halftime shows in the late 70s and early 80s? Also of note, halftime performers go on for free. When you broadcast to 160 countries, I guess you have that bargaining power. There are a bunch of stories about prima donna performers who refused to be held to some contract or network policy. I expect that kind of thing from Janet Jackson, but Garth Brooks? Did you know that CBS accidentally broadcast footage of the Tienanmen Square massacre into China in 2004? This continues to hamper relations between the NFL and the Chinese government, go figure!

I'm picking it anyway. Colts 58, Bears 26. Yep, you heard it here first folks, there's gonna have to be a safety or something in there somewhere! The best Super Bowl halftime show ever is still, hands down, The Mighty Bomb Jack Show.


And the delta sun burns bright and violent

Mississippi and the cotton wool heat
Sixty-Six the highway speaks
Of deserts dry, of cool green valleys
Gold and silver veins, shining cities

In this heartland...
- U2

I've Got All This Space and Nobody to Decorate It

Notable Recently Heard Song Lyrics

Some world-views are spacious, and some are merely spaced
- Rush

I've got all this space and no money to decorate it...
...I wanna reach down and pick the crowd up
- Temple of the Dog

Fist on my plate, swallowed it down
- Pearl Jam

Press my face up to the window to see how warm it is inside
See the things that I've been missing, missing all this time
- Beck

Come my joy, come my love, come also my heart
Such a joy as none can move could probably move me
Such a love as none can part, such a heart as joys in love
I can feel it beginning to move me
Ooh, ooh, Good Lord! Ooh it's really beginning to move now
Ooh, ooh, very quickly now I'd say
In fact I think probably I'm going to have to go now...
OOH, OOH, OOOOHHH!!!
- Robert Fripp (with ridiculous Cockney accent)(MP3)


More Adventures in Mississippi

As we turned onto the gravel road it became apparent that we were getting closer. At a house in the woods, outside of Vicksburg, near a town called Bovina, we were going to participate in an authentic Mississippi hog roast! A pig on a large grill and a few scraps of goat in a smaller one for good measure were only the beginnings of the potluck feast before us. The real feast though, was not carnal in nature, but rather musical. A dozen musicians or more armed with banjos, guitars, fiddles, dulcimers, and one washboard gathered on the back deck to carry on an old Southern tradition.

This was the Mississippi Old Time Music Society, and we were their audience. We wandered the grounds with the strains of banjo floating in the air behind us. A walk around the wooded property revealed a pen of chickens, four-wheeler tracks, and a fishing pond. (We were informed that the "chickens" were actually something called a "Moa." However, it should be noted that this researcher can find no evidence of a chicken like bird called the Moa. Rather, the Moa was apparently a large flightless bird native to New Zealand which is now extinct.) Unseasonable 70 degree weather ensured our enjoyment of the afternoon.

We returned in time to partake of the country cooked feast, which we ate as we listened to the the screechings and scratchings of blue-grass and gospel. All the while we pondered the nature of life. Was man meant to live off the land with elbow room to spare, or in the close quarters of the city with the society of other humans? One thing was for sure, man was meant to partake of good food, express himself through good music, and fellowship with fine friends.

Back down the dirt road, onto the pavement, and then to the highway, we made our return to the more familiar scenery of Jackson and Belhaven. Whether your home is in the rural haunts of the countryside, the bustle of urbanity, or the quietude of suburbia, it is the opinion of this writer that one should be content to be able to enjoy the best all worlds whenever he can.


He came from an island
And then he died from the street
And he hurt so bad like a soul breaking
But he never said nothing to me
Say hello to heaven...
- Temple of the Dog