This Guy Falls Down

Interesting article about "Lost" books

First we see Sawyer reading Watership Down and see a lot of theories about how this connects to the plot of Lost. Then one of my favorite books, A Wrinkle in Time, gets people thinking of space and time travel tie-ins to the show. Next week on the show, one of the characters will be seen reading The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien. In this book, the main character is dead, but you don't know they're dead until the end. Does this mean the show involves some kind of post-death experience? Maybe, maybe not, says Craig Wright, one of the shows writers. Well, that's no fun. Actually it is. All of this theorizing is half of why we love the show.

Bob Dylan on PBS

Before I post this, let me go ahead and apologize. I had fully intended this to be a "heads up" kind of post to let you know that something cool was about to happne. Instead, I guess this will turn into a "shame on you for missing it, maybe if you're lucky they'll air it again" kind of post. Oh, well. What do you do?

At any rate, PBS recently aired a documentary on Bob Dylan which was directed by Martin Scorcese, the mastermind behind The Band's excellent Last Waltz movie. While it didn't quite reach that level (it's probably not fair to compare - I don't think he was trying to), this program included something for both diehards and newcomers alike. And surprisingly, that's a good thing (usually Dylan diehards don't like hearing something they've heard before, and newcomers are faced with a learning curve, not to mention Dylan's raspy barely intelligible vocals). The documentary focused on Dylan's early career, and utilized a great mix of interviews (Joan Baez was the best) and historic footage, much of which was unseen.

If you missed it, maybe they'll air it again. I'll let you know if I hear anything about it. Oh, and there's also a record. I bought it a couple of weeks ago, and it's quite stellar. It's kind of the Bob Dylan version of the Beatles' Anthology series, although we're thankfully spared the thrown together "new" tracks (maybe that's not totally fair - I dug "Free As A Bird").

Why Wilco is the future of music

Nothing completely earthshattering here - you know I'm a big fan of the band. Besides the cool title, I dug this commentary about Wilco, written by Lawrence Lessig (the law professor behind the Creative Commons idea and who recently appeared with Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy on a forum about digital music) because of the band's "collaborative" view of their audience. Definitely worth a look even if you're not a fan...

Thanks for participating (your CD's are in the mail)

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in the challenge as part of the Blog for Relief weekend. You can see the results here. The support from the weblog community has been pretty astounding...

If you did participate via this blog, I mailed your CD's earlier this week, so they should get to you soon. BTW - those of you who said they didn't want a CD, I hope you meant it :) Because of your generosity, I was able to include more people than I had originally thought, so thanks. If a week or two goes by and you didn't get a CD and felt like you were supposed to, drop me a line and let me know. Remember, I'm a musician and am therefore organizationally challenged...

If you are still looking for a way to participate, we've still got a couple of cool things going at thirdday.com. For a limited time, if you download a FREE copy of our new single "Wherever You Are", we'll donate a dollar to World Vision. If you feel challenged to participate at a deeper level, we've got you covered, too. Check out the website for details...

"Guest" Questions for Discussion

As you are probably aware by now, the September Book Club selection was chosen by none other than Mr. Seth Reese. I thought it would be fun to give him the reigns and let him come up with this month's questions for discussion. So, without further ado, here is the first ever "guest post" to happen on this site. (Be sure to answer the questions in the comments section below after you finish The Princess Bride)

1. Did you bother yourself with the intro? How does this fit into the story as a whole?
2. How does the story change or benefit from having the Goldman text within the Morgenstern text? How do you feel about S. Morgenstern?
3. When does this story take place?
4. I've heard it said that this story is an allegory for the Vietnam War. Any thoughts?
5. Of course, this book was adapted for the film. If you saw the movie first, were there any surprises in the book?

4 8 15 16 23 42 9 21

You either

1. know what I'm talking about, and already have your Tivo set to record ABC tonight at 8 EDT,


2. or you have no idea what I'm talking about, and need to watch ABC tonight at 8 EDT to join the fun.

Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra to Reunite in Nashville

In the weeks since Hurricane Katrina hit, I have been overwhelmed as I've seen repurcussions that I hadn't even thought about before. This morning I was trying to find a link to a story about rock and blues musicians who'd relocated to Nashville after the hurricane, and I ran across this story
about the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. They will be doing their first performance since the tragedy in Nashville on October 4th as a benefit concert with the Nashville Symphony. It will feature members of both orchestras and a special guest performance by violinist Mark O'Connor.

"It will be such a gift for our orchestra to perform together again," said
[LPO conductor] Maestro Seibel. "Our musicians are spread out all over the country, and after
a tragedy such as Katrina, nothing heals the soul more than seeing our
colleagues, our friends, and playing music with them again. We are extremely
grateful to the Nashville Symphony for giving us this opportunity."

It is amazing to see the impact this storm has had, and it's equally amazing to see the response of the American people, as exemplified by the outreach of the Nashville Symphony...

"The Merc" is expanding

If you'll look to your left, you'll see that I've added two new additions to "The Merc" (what is "The Merc"? It's the online blogadelic version of my Tuesday morning mentoring group I've been a part of for the last four years...):

• icon tact is the brainchild of one Theron Hatch. He's a great bass player and all around good guy. Theron got his blog up and running over the weekend and already features some great links to Katrina photos.
• LIFE ON THE ROAD is maintained by Auny Gill, wife of illusionist Brock Gill, whom I've mentioned before. The site is aptly named because it gives you a real glimpse into the crazy lives we traveling entertainer types lead.

(So we're making some progress. Who's going to be the next to join the fold? Ryun? Ron?? John??? The suspense is killing me!)

Lite Brite

I know this post may seem a little lightweight, but with all of the tough news we've heard the last couple of weeks, maybe it's a little refreshing. If you saw my "getting to know you" list a while back, you'll know that I was a big fan of the Lite Brite when I was a kid. Dennis, a.k.a. Speakergeek, hooked me up with a link to an online version of the classic toy. This looks like a surefire way to kill a couple of hours.

The Quill Awards

Tired of awards ceremonies? Well, there's another new one for you. The Quill Awards have been touted as the "People's Choice Awards for Books". The nominees were chosen by consumers at bookstores like Barnes and Noble and Borders, and the winners will be announced in a flashy ceremony on October 11th. If nothing else, maybe it will make a few people "check out" some of the fine works which have been nominated.