Day: May 21, 2008

Book Report

I fear somewhere in the back of my mind I may have turned reading Chuck Klosterman’s Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story into an assignment more than just acting on a recommendation. In any case, I found the book interesting and amusing but — honestly — he writes about a lot of music and a lot of bands I’ve barely just heard of — and certainly not listened to. While I try to keep up with current music, the music that absorbs my interest ended somewhere around 1965 or 66. Klosterman was born in 1972.

I found his obsessing about the women in his life (while on a cross country roadtrip) more interesting than his obsessing about the music; narcissistic, but interesting.

Klosterman does have a clever style though and at least three great lines:

“By now, the sky is as dark as Johnny Cash’s closet.”

“At this show, there aren’t many people with a job that includes air-conditioning.”

“Tina was always a case of good news/bad news (for instance, she was a part-time swimsuit model . . . but only for Target).”

What did I miss?

Obscenity

You know, you can’t say “fuck” on the radio, but here’s a real obscenity —

“The poor guy’s been suffering for years, you know? Unfairly he’s been accused of alcoholism, but we see now that it was something much more deep-seated. And so, to cut this out in some respect for Ted Kennedy, here’s a tune coming at you from the Dead Kennedys. Go ahead and play it, please.”

Nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage yesterday, the day Senator Edward Kennedy’s tumor was announced.

May 21st, not a holiday, but some time off for misbehavin’

NewMexiKen checked and I’ve never posted the birthdays for May 21st. Here’s why:

Al Franken is 57. Mr. T is 56. Judge Reinhold is 51.

TV actress Lisa Edelstein is 40. I didn’t even know what show she’s in.

However, Thomas “Fats” Waller was born on this date in 1904.

Here he is in the 1943, shortly before he died at age 39, singing his most famous composition, “Ain’t Misbehavin'”

And here’s a great version of the same tune with Django Reinhardt & Stéphane Grappelli (no video, just the music).

And the Muppets have a nice cover, too.

How about some guitar misbehavin’?

Lucky Lindy

Lindbergh landed in Paris on this date in 1927, 33½ hours after take off.

From the take-off in New York, he flew north over Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, navigating by checking maps against the landmarks he could see on the ground. He reached Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, and then flew in toward the city of St. John’s because he wanted people to know he’d gotten at least that far. People who saw his plane said they could almost read the serial number on the underside of the wing. It was the last land Lindbergh would see until he reached Ireland.

He turned east toward Europe just as night was falling. For the next 15 hours, no one would know if he was alive or dead. People across America would later say that they stayed up thinking about Lindbergh that night, praying for his safety. The humorist Will Rogers wrote in his column, “No attempt at jokes today. A … slim, tall, bashful, smiling American boy is somewhere over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, where no lone human being has ever ventured before.”

After reaching the halfway point of his journey, Lindbergh began to hallucinate, and even saw a coastline before his calculations said that he should. When he flew toward it, the coastline vanished. After more than 24 hours, Lindbergh spotted fishing boats on the water. He reached Ireland a few hours later, and turned south toward Paris.

From a longer essay at The Writer’s Almanac from American Public Media.