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Home of Michael Perry – Author, Humorist, Singer/Songwriter, Amateur Pig Farmer

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Archive for December, 2009

Lucky Man

This post should be 10,000 words long, but there are other deadlines so I’ll just stitch up a quick list:

- A thoughtful discussion with Mennonite friends.
- The safe local arrival of an Iraqi family.
- The harmonious talents of my musician friends filling the warm car as I drove through snow and dark.
- My wife’s beautiful countenance as she caught an all-too-rare Sunday afternoon nap.
- My two-year old singing along with a song I wrote and – right at the end there – hitting the exact note.
- My nine-year old returning from a cold sledding trip with friends to happily report that, “the place on my arm where my mitten ends was so numb that I could bite it and it didn’t even hurt!”
- Not one, but three eggs in the nesting box.

All within 24 hours.  I am frequently at my most taciturn and reclusive in the company of those I love…but I am not such a full-time fool that I do not take a moment in the chicken coop to consider my blessings.

Derailed

Despite the recent trend, I’m really not going to go through my entire music collection post by post, but: “Can’t Stop A Train” by The Derailers.  Twang done smooth.  Sad done classy.  Anguish without wailing.  And let us pause a moment in memory of Uncle Buck.

P.S. and if that leaves you sleepy, git y’some Junior Brown “Freedom Machine” (Even when I take it easy, she still wants to race…).

Seriously: Junior Brown.  And he’s only playing half that thing.

Dandy Rant

Let me begin by saying I truly like this stuff.  Had a mugful after dinner the other night.  Tasted great.  Even had a nice little crema right there at first.  As a matter of fact, I order it in the large size straight from the website. So: I’m a fan, Dandy Blend.

But.

Dandy Blend website (DBW): “tastes like coffee…”

Mike: “Um. No.”

DBW: “…without the caffeine”

Mike: “…that’s OK, I get that from coffee.”

DBW: “can be used in any recipe which calls for instant coffee”

Mike: “…if you don’t mind ruining a perfectly good recipe.”

DBW (repeats): “can be used in any recipe which calls for instant coffee”

Mike (patiently): “My mom went through a stage where she replaced all chocolate chips with carob chips.  ‘They taste just like chocolate chips,’ she said.  It was the only time my mother lied to me.  Decades have passed, and still we refer to the Myth of the Carob Chip.”

DBW: “…the rich, full-bodied flavor, smoothness and texture of real coffee.”

Mike: “Off what lonesome dock have you been buying your coffee?”

DBW (repeats, insistently): “…the rich, full-bodied flavor, smoothness and texture of real coffee.”

Mike: “It’s OK to come right out and say you’ve never actually tasted real coffee.”

DBW: “Many say that because it lacks bitterness and acidity, it actually tastes better than coffee.”

Mike: “Many have been licking too many frozen doorknobs.”

DBW (repeats, verging on hysterics): “…it actually tastes better than coffee.”

Mike: “Got yourself a bad case of the curlicue light bulb syndrome there, Dandy Blend”

DBW: “It is so versatile that any type of gourmet coffee beverage made from it is virtually indistinguishable from the real thing…”

Mike: [fabulous spit-take]

DBW: “Try it, you’ll like it.”

Mike: “…whooo, where have I heard that before?”

DBW: “Dangers of Coffee & Caffeine… [entire page follows]”

Mike: “I’m sorry, did someone say something?  I was busy grinding these beans…”

And Then There’s This

Last time I came across this song I lost two hours of my life revisiting everything else Shane MacGowan had done.  You will draw your own conclusions regarding the man and his material, but from within the perpetually pickled trolley wreck emanates a consistent note of poignance…some wavering vulnerability that beats happiness all hollow.

Keening ennui notwithstanding, I have work due, so that’s enough Shane for today.

Otis Redding

Started the morning with Pink Floyd’s Meddle.  Then Marvin Gaye.  Every time I listen to Marvin Gaye I’m amazed anew at the lithe, searing, longing, angry sound of his voice.  Beautiful and dangerous.

But then I pulled out the Otis Redding.  And really, no one can touch Otis.

Sound here doesn’t come close to doing him justice (the studio version slays), but you get the idea, and the segue into the Stones is a fine thing:

Yesterday’s Radio Interview

Yesterday’s radio interview is here: available here as an MP3.

Computer needed some tuning over the weekend.  For nearly fifteen years now, my friend Krister has grown used to my panicked calls (frequently from a distant Super 8 motel).  He always has the answer.  Krister had the foresight to set me up with a website way back in the – gasp! – 1990s.  Been goin’ good ever since.  He holds the keys to my universe, and he dang well knows it.

Bucksaw Tannenbaum

My wife and I and the bundled tots waded through deep snow all the way to the back side of the pole barn and cut the Christmas tree today.  It’s not bad.  A spruce, somewhat gap-py and uneven but not a Charlie Brown, not by a long shot.  Took it because it was beginning to grow into the path we use to put equipment in the pole barn.  Spent time beside the fire decorating and stringing some popcorn (short strings!).  Now it glows.  Favorite moment: I was doing dishes while my wife was putting the toddler to bed.  I noticed the lights go out in the living room.  Looked, and there was the nine-year-old, sitting sideways in the old overstuffed chair, legs dangling, just staring at the lit tree in the dark.

And…Action!

My friend Billy and I were asked to participate in Scenic Route, a locally-shot short film by My Town Pictures.  It was a good lesson for me…pulling off a character is much tougher than just yammering on in the character of me.  Director Scott Thompson and actor Michelle Meyer were very patient.  We sure had fun, though.  You can view Part One here, and Part Two here.

If you’re near Red Wing, Minnesota, the film will be shown in the Sheldon Theatre of Performing Arts next Wednesday (it will be part of the Entr’Acte screening).

As you watch the final scene, keep in mind: That’s one of my favorite shirts.

Mike's Favorite Shirt