The Grenade, or Honey-Lemon Tea?

  

 

#36

02.05.10

Photo

Today was not a great day.  It was one of those days when you're tempted to grab the closest hand grenade and seriously consider pulling the pin.  

What... you don't keep a hand grenade within reach at all times, just for such occasions?
 

Please don't assume it was my clients or my job that had me staring at the pin of my explosive device; it was all me.  More specifically, it was my engorged turbinates and the "no vacancy" sign blinking in hot neon lights outside my nasal fossae.
 

Here is a photo illustrating the 2 options I had for the evening.  One involved a warm cup of soothing goodness; and the other involved tiny pieces of Me spackling the ceiling:

Music

I first heard Josh Ritter sing when I got a subscription to Paste Magazine around 2004.  Along with SomaFM, I'd say I learn more about new artists and music from Paste Magazine than any other source.  They used to include a CD with 20'ish tracks from different artists.  Now you get a smaller print issue with an electronic code to download the songs digitally.  I still subscribe, and find it to be much better than any other music rag I've ever subscribed to.

This song, Girl in the War, is my favorite Josh Ritter song.  It's off my favorite Josh Ritter album, the Animal Years.  Frankly, I cannot believe I haven't posted it to date on this blog; and today the song actually led the photo.  In other words, as I was driving to work I had this song in my head and knew it MUST be posted on the blog.  Once at work I dreamt up the photo subject while sitting at my desk contemplating my trusty grenade; an implement of war. 

Rather than accuse me of too weak a connection between "an implement of war" as my photo subject and the featured song Girl in the War... you should just celebrate the fact that on this day you get to listen to a choice cut of music.  That's what I'm hoping for, anyway.

Lines like this light me up, every time:

Pretend the dove from above is a dragon,

     and your feet are on fire.

...

The keys to the kingdom got locked

     inside the kingdom.

And the angels fly around in there

     but we can't see them.

...

I got a girl in the war, Paul

     here eyes are like champagne.

They sparkle bubble over

     and in the morning all you got is rain.

Wonderful!

You simply must, must, must listen to this song a good dozen times with your eyes closed and your mind relaxed.  I promise, you'll feel his sorrow, pain and fear in a visceral way.  Well, at least I know I do every time I hear it.  I had the high privilege to see him play it live in concert at the University of Alaska, Anchorage in January 2009 ; and I would pay to see him play any day in any arena, even if it were a full set of (gulp!) Huey Lewis and the News covers.

Ritter in Alaska

Josh puts the "real" in "cerebreal".  (?)  His folks are both neuroscientists at the University of Idaho in Moscow, where he is from.  He started following their footsteps in neuroscience before changing his focus to music.  He was "discovered" by Glen Hansard of the Frames, an Irish band, and his career took off from there.  Glen Hansard plays the male lead in the AMAZING movie "Once".  If you haven't seen that, you should.  And then on the way home you should pull over to the nearest Raspberry Records and buy the Animal Years.  Because between the two, that would be an epic night in your life! 

 

Parting Comments
 

This hand grenade is one of my prized possessions.  I'll discuss it more in the future, because I have decided to make it a recurring staple in my blog.  It possesses a richness of color, shape and size, as well as a heaping dose of intrigue.  And today it happens to fit my mood.  

And now it's time to focus on my honey-lemon tea, a king bed with flannel sheets / down comforter / down pillows, and 6 full bottles of NyQuil.  A caring friend came up with that therapy, and I aim to crank it through the Scientific Method this very night.

Until tomorrow... thank you for looking, listening and reading.  CCE