Friday Fives

1. What is the most fun things you have done this summer?

It has been a curiously "non-event" summer for me. It hasn't been bad, but nothing leaps out at me as Great Fun. Sigh..................

2. What are you listening to now?

I've been listening to Kasabian's self-titled release, Hold On Little Tomato by Pink Martini and quite a bit of Sibelius' violin concerto.

3. In what state do you live?

Buoyant energy coupled with a healthy dose of pragmatism.

4. Last book/s you read?

• The latest Harry Potter ( agree with Roy---plodding but the payoff was good )
• The Historian
• Currently reading The Chronicles of Narnia for the first time.
  

5.Are you ready for fall?

What a silly question. I am looking forward to the cooler weather and , more importantly, the ability to begin layering my clothes. I think autumn lends itself to fashion much more easily than the other seasons and fall colors go with my complexion :) Have I outed myself yet?

Friday Fives

1. Name one thing you've quit:

Listening to the radio; even public radio where all the fancy classical music is. The endless, repetitive loops of music played on commercial radio serve no other purpose than to transform the occasionally entertaining song into one which grates on every nerve I have, thus ensuring that I will hate it for all eternity. Public radio suffers from the seemingly relentless onslaught of begging for funds. I recall that this used to occur bi-annually but now it seems that every time I tune in the hosts are shilling for funds. I know times are tough for public radio, but I can't deal with it. Thank Christ/Allah/Buddah/FSM for the digital age where I can play what I want when I want it.

2. Name something you've won:

One time in Austin, on New Year's Eve, at a hot sweaty gay club, I was the winner of $100 at the midnight balloon drop. This of course allowed those in our party to get even MORE drunk than we already were.

3. Describe a subject in school you do poorly in:

Organic Chemistry. This subject is used as a "weeder" course in the pre-med curriculum. I struggled my ass off to learn about enantiomers, the differences between an aldehyde and a......um..... I don't know, a potato? I ended up with a C in the course, my only one in college.

4. Have you ever purposely not done your best?

No. I may do it subconsciously, but never purposefully.

5. Do you lead, follow, or get out of the way?

Depends on the situation. I do like teaching people but can't stand those who require the same thing be explained to them over and over. I will get out of the way and follow if I realize that I'm in over my head. I have no problem admitting I don't know something. How else to learn about it if you can't admit you don't know about it? DUH!

Friday Fives

1. What was the first song you remember hearing and enjoying on the radio?

This makes my head hurt. I am almost uncertain that it was something by Creedence. Maybe Green River? Then again, maybe not.

2. If you could only listen to five CDs for a year, which five would they be? (Boxed sets can count as one CD. Sigh.)

This is kind of difficult for me as my tastes in music range from gritty, goth-industrial to chruch-going Bach. My eclecticism demands a panoply of choices, but here it goes.......

• Mozart's Requiem
• Music For the Masses- Depeche Mode
• Mendelsshon's Octet in E
• When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog- Jens Lekman
• Beethoven's string quartet No. 11 in F minor, "serioso"

3. What was your favorite year, music-wise?

That would be 1988, the year I escaped to Europe and subsequently battered the door down to my dreadfully cramped closet. Until that time, my concept of "pop music" consisted of whatever drivel Casey Kasem foisted over the airwaves every Saturday. The Big Gay World exposed me to great bands like Front 242, Skinny Puppy, New Order, Depeche Mode, The Smiths, Erasure, Sisters of Mercy and all that faboo dance music that the gay boys writhe to on the meatmarket dance floors of Europe. It's not only the sheer amount of music I was exposed to that makes this year noteable but also the fact that it was so DIFFERENT ( and better I might add ) from what I had been listening to. Needless to say, it changed my listening habits for the rest of my life. As I write this I'm listening to a little ditty called Una notte a Napoli performed by a great ensemble who call themselves Pink Martini. Now where's my wine?

4. If you could witness one historical music event through all time, what would you pick, and why?

Most likely the premier of Haydn's "miracle" symphony. Why? Well, as history has it, during the performance a great chandelier came crashing down on the unsuspecting crowd. The image of all that mayhem set to classical music is just too much to resist. A small historical footnote........the symphony which we ascribe the title "miracle" is the 96th when in fact, this event occurred during the 102nd symphony. I'm not sure how the moniker got attached to the wrong symphony........maybe the 102nd symphony sucks and the story was just too good to let disappear into the ether. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've even heard the 102nd symphony............

note to self: procure recording of 102nd to see if it does indeed suck.

5. Do you have a song that never fails to cheer you up? What is it and why does it do that for you?

Not really a song but rather a piece of music. The third movement to Mendelssohn's Octet in E is pure magic. Whimsical, light and cheery, it can always pull me from the grasp of my doldrums and realign my emoto-meter. Hey, we Vulcans need all the help we can get! A very close runner-up is Dayful of Song by Gershwin. Toe-tapping, finger-snapping music that is sure to blow the blues away..........

.........but gas prices are going up!!!

Hurricane Katrina has wrecked havoc like no other, essentially inundating an entire American city and seemingly, our ability to deal with it. Nearly four days after Katrina slammed into the gulf coast, people are still awaiting rescue, awaiting food and water, awaiting evacuation. We've all seen the images and read the reports and seen the TV footage. It's deplorable and at the same time mind-boggling that this government's response has been so utterly lackluster. What exactly has the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) been doing since 9/11? Given that everyone knew that a category 5 storm was headed towards New Orleans almost a week before it actually hit, the government's response is truly appalling and reveals just how unprepared this nation is to deal with a major crisis four years after 9/11. Even more unsettling is the fact that this very same scenario could've been played out as a terrorist attack, without the convenience of weather report warnings and such. Had this been a terrorist attack, how much worse would the response have been? Given the government's recent show of ineptitude, one can only surmise that a terrorist attack would've been even more devastating........


As if all this is not enough, the suffering in New Orleans is being eclipsed by everyone's fear and apprehension about gasoline prices. I know that for those of us far-removed from the utter horror of the Superdome, this is the most tangible effect of Katrina, but the human devastation far eclipses your average American having to dig a little deeper into his pocket to fill his gas tank. I'm sick of people complaining that gas prices are soaring. I don't understand this. People are DYING from lack of food, medicine and water! People are surviving ( you cannot call it living ) in unsanitary conditions, sweltering in the heat surrounded by feces, urine and dead bodies covered in blankets. Corpses are floating in the streets. Looting is rampant. Civilization has collapsed. Who gives a damn about gas prices? They were escalating anyway and now they will be even higher. You know what I say? It's been a long time coming so get over it. This country has been spoiled by cheap gasoline prices and the resultant orgy of truly energy-inefficient vehicles for far too long and the chickens are coming home to roost. Yes, higher gas prices are going to hurt your pocketbook and strain some families but the time to air those grievances is not now. Maybe after the city of New Orleans has been drained of all floodwaters, its infrastructure re-built, its homes and property rebuilt, its businesses re-opened and its people return home..................

yeah, then we can bitch about high gas prices.

Friday Fives

1. Link to your local news source: Denver Post


2. Link to your favorite dessert: Raspberry chocolate mousse baby!!

3. Link to a band that you despise: Mariah. Even her web-site spouts innane pop drivel.

4. Link us to a good book: Guns, Germs & Steel by Jared Diamond.

5. Link to your favorite Muppet: Statler & Waldorf