MUSICAL ARTIST OF THE WEEK: brett dennen "hope for the hopeless" With great pain and frustration I share this artist with you today. A couple of years ago when I was an aspiring neophyte musician I had dreams of being a one man band and using looping station to create entire improvisational songs live and all by myself. Well when I saw Xavier Rudd and Keller Williams (not the artists of the week) for the first times I realized that someone had already filled that niche in the music world and that I would never be able to be that amazing. Then I saw Brett Dennen on Conan O'brien a couple of weeks ago. Dennen's red floppy hairdo and pale skin and bare feet immediately illicited a subtle judgment on my part. I thought he looked like a tool. Then I saw MatisYahu on stage with him, MatisYahu the Hacidic Jew Rapper, and I thought okay, he must be pretty cool. Then he started playing the sparkley "Make You Crazy" all about the injustices and atrocities going on in the world and how its enough to make you go crazy and how surprised he hadn't yet. It was a great song and performance. So I bought the album "Hope For the Hopeless." After I listened to this 2008 album I once again realized that someone out there is doing what I am hoping to do better than I'll ever do it. The heartfelt, change the world, explain the world, reflect on relationships and share the love, all from the perspective of a twenty something trying to figure it all out niche is fully and rightfully filled by Brett Dennen. He does it better, he does it shinier, he does it skillfully and it pisses me off how good he is because now I have to try something else. Anyways here are the lyrics to this amazing song.
You Know, It`s hard to be Yourself,
Free Yourself, To see Yourself,
When all around You there are Lies just to get You,
Spies just to get You, To Buy so they can get You?
There are Cameras in the sky, Lasers in our Living rooms,
There are Wolves watching wearing Sheep`s Costumes?
It`s Enough to make You go crazy (woah)
It`s Enough to make You Mad?
It`s Enough to make You go crazy (woah)
And, I`m amazed I Haven`t yet?
Isn`t It, A Shame The way We cheat Each other, Treat Each other, Beat Each other??
It`s, A Shame The way We use One other, Abuse One another?
And, Screw One another, It`s true.
They will Lock You up in Prison, But They won`t call it slavery, There are stolen Children raised and Trained in Armies?
It`s Enough to make You go crazy (woah)
It`s Enough to make You Mad?
It`s Enough to make You go crazy (woah)
And I`m amazed I haven`t yet?
Don`t hesitate to speak Your Mind? (speak Your Mind)
Never hesitate to speak Your Heart? (speak Your Heart)
They`ll call You crazy, When You speak Your Mind? (When You speak Your Mind)
So never, Never hesitate? (never hesitate)
`cause It`s Enough to make You go crazy? (woah)
It`s Enough to make You Mad?
It`s Enough to make You go crazy (woah)
And, I`m amazed I haven`t yet?
OLD PERSON PHRASE OF THE WEEK: "Chaps My Hide" or "Chaps my ass" You see when people get old their skin loses its ability to stay moist and thus their hind quarters often get chapped and apparently this is such a painfully annoying phenomenon that whenever something pisses and oldy off they often liken the experience to their very own demoisturized gluteus maximus.
WEATHER ON NUNIVAK ISLAND: After two weeks of intense wind and snow we are now a fluffy, hilly, snow drift laden town of mounds and holes and seemingly insurmountable treks. I have fallen on my ass several times on this particularly treacherous snowdrift outside my house.
PERSONAL ART UPDATE: If you've been wondering (which you probably weren't because the one thing no one ever asks me about is my music therefore leaving me to believe that it really isn't any good) I have been writing some new songs. I keep practicing every other day and I'm still moving forward with several ideas. I might have a chance to play at our school/community dance coming up in a few weeks (and I'm DJing hells yeah). But what I really need to tell you about is the knitting bug I have. I have been knitting up a storm lately. Of course I'm cheating because I have the knitting wheel but I have made three really cool hats so far. I have some pretty unique ideas for some hats. I have lots of yarn but I have been taking apart old hats that I don't like anymore and using their yarn for new hats.
BULLSHIT OF THE WEEK: I was involuntarily volunteered to play five on five basketball to help raise money for student council activities. Let me just say that I HATE BASKETBALL. It is a stupid sport. I can't stand watching it on tv. I can't stand playing it. I can't stand that its the only sport that the people on this island will ever play. Why can't we have an indoor soccer tournament? Or a Volleyball tournament? But no, basketball. So there I am, of my sacred free time (and I had to actually pay 10 dollars to play), and what happens? I get molested and assaulted up and down the court. Imagine if you can being in an entire gym full of Eskimo people, old elders, little kids, students, aunties and uncles and parents, all watching you one of the whities try to play a sport you hate playing while you get hacked by everyone and no one calls the fouls on you. I actually got really mad and even shoved someone when they came up and frontally raped me. I would be ashamed of myself except that the whole frustrating debacle was complete bullshit. I didn't even want to be there and then to get violated publicly really added insult to injury. I left right after the game and didn't go back. Thanks for nothing.
LASTLY BUT NOT LEASTLY: I'm going to enjoy this last short week of no responsibilities. We have Thurs/Friday off and an inservice on monday. I'm going to use this mini-pseudo-spring break to get a whole bunch of chores and tasks completed. Here's whats on the agenda.Taxes, bleh!
Alaska Certification Class Assignments, bleh!
Resume, cover letter, reference letters to Tacoma Public School District, bleh!
Pack up some boxes and things I don't need, bleh!
Plan my new Geology Earth Science Unit, bleh!
That should be enough, if I can break myself away from the knitting and ukulele.
IF YOU HAVEN'T YET: Read the post below, it was a particularly good one!
Have a great week.
3 comments:
I'll make you a deal. You knit me a hat and I'll bake you something. I'm not sure what yet. I want a Kale Iverson knit hat.
Me too! me too! I want one too! or a scarf...I could use a new scarf...I lost my favorite one this year and the one i have now is too long...it gets caught in the zipper of my coat or drags on the ground...
anyway...what I really wanted to ask is...have you ever watched Northern Exposure? It was a show that was popular in the 90's about a quirky little town in Alaska. More and more, one of the characters, Chris, reminds me of you! I started watching it from the first episode a couple months ago and have been getting it from Netflix.
Also...how bout them taxes? do you still want me to do them? let me know!
I know how you feel about basketball man, I tried for years to enjoy it, but in the end I think I just wasted a bunch of time. Everything in between probably made it worth it in the end, but the game itself is for the birds...(Larry Birds) HAHA!
anyway you need to make me a hat too because I recently lost my fave, a grandpa hat with "country gentleman" on the tag. Don't get down on yourself about your music bro, to waste your talent by giving up cause no one talks to you about it would be, to quote bukowski, "sadder than all the dead christmas trees in the world".
keep on keepin on,
Randall
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