To the few of you who check this blog occasionally, my apologies. My wife lured me to LiveJournal several months ago, and I've finally gotten tired of posting both here and there. So I'm not going to be posting here. Probably.

I'm a twenty-something guy, one of many who was amazed by Johnny Cash's performance of the Nine Inch Nails song Hurt. His last album was the first I bought. The Man Comes Around includes a few original songs but mostly cover versions of songs like Bridge Over Troubled Water and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

I'm familiar with some of Cash's earlier songs from soundtracks and mixtapes - especially Ring of Fire and The Man in Black. And being an Elvis fan, I have a cd by the so-called Million Dollar Quartet - Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash - though I'm not sure Cash's voice even appears on the cd.

I also got another of his later releases, Unchained, which includes some strikingly poignant lyrics. In the song Spiritual, Cash begs "Jesus, I don't wanna die alone." I'm not a particularly religious person, but it's difficult to listen to Johnny Cash's vulnerable voice sing the following without feeling sadness and hope:

We saw houses falling from the sky
Where the mountains lean down to the sand
We saw blackbirds circling 'round an old castle keep
And I stood on the cliff and held your hand
We walked troubles brooding wind swept hills
And we loved and we laughed the pain away
At the end of the journey, when our last song is sung
Will you meet me in Heaven someday
(Chorus) Can't be sure of how's it's going to be
When we walk into the light across the bar
But I'll know you and you'll know me
Out there beyond the stars
We've seen the secret things revealed by God
And we heard what the angels had to say
Should you go first, or if you follow me
Will you meet me in Heaven someday
Living in a mansion on the streets of gold
At the corner of Grace and Rapture Way
In sweet ecstasy while the ages roll
Will you meet me in Heaven someday
In sweet ecstasy while the ages roll
Will you meet in Heaven someday

Lyrics by John R Cash

Your Life: The Movie by mintyduck
Who will play you:	Johnny Depp
Who will play your love interest:	Ashley Olsen
Weeks you will stay in the box office:	25
Song that will play during your love scene:	Space - Female of the Species
Song that will play during your death:	Poe - Haunted
Your name:
Created with quill18's MemeGen!

Seasoulsky's sometime six:

1. what did you like about this summer?

Music and books.

2. what didn't you like about this summer?

Movies and weather were pretty crap.

3. what songs were part of your personal summer soundtrack?

Fallen - Sarah McLachlan
Be My Husband - Lisa Hannigan
Imagination - Frank Sinatra
You and I Both Know - Jason Mraz
Crazy In Love - Beyonce
August Day Song - Bebel Gilberto
Lilac Wine - Jeff Buckley
L-O-V-E - Nat King Cole
Intuition - Jewel
In My Life - Chantal Kreviazuk
At the River - Groove Armada
Get free - The Vines
P.I.M.P. - 50 Cent w/ Snoop Dog
What a Little Moonlight Can Do - Steve Tyrell
Going Under - Evanescence
Why Don't You Do Right - Samoa Wilson
Just friends - Chet Baker
Something Cool - June Christy
That's All - Orna
Gotta Get thru This - Daniel Beddingfield

4. how do you feel about summer ending?

Disappointed.

5. what was your favourite movie/film you saw, this summer?

Pirates of the Caribbean.

6. did you have a summer kiss?

Yes.

I updated my favorites list (see sidebar) again. I hope you'll browse the links- maybe you'll discover some new favorites too.

It's been a weird week. Monday was nice of course, getting to stay home. But the week didn't seem any sorter really. I feel selfish and stupid to complain about not having enough work to do, but sitting in the same place doing practically nothing 8 hours a day is maddening. I went from taking over 200 calls a day at the beginning of the year to taking just 20 a day now. Our company announced the closing of 2 more offices this week. I am thankful for a job and hope that doesn't change, but there are some things that could be done to improve productivity and keep my from going mad - right now half the office is taking several times more calls than the other half, because they decided to separate duties last year. Just having everyone do the same work would be fairer and more productive.

The budgeting is going well. I know, it's just been a week but still. That may be one of the reasons it's seemed like a long week. Usually we make several purchases a week, but this week our debit card hasn't been used since Sunday, when we managed to stick to a list and only get what was needed. I'm hoping this frugality will eventually lead to dieting too. I'm already down to one candy bar a day.

The only new book I started this week was More Bread and I'll Appear by Emer Martin. It's a wonderfully written book and makes me want to type several paragraphs here to prove so. I may be biased, but Ireland produces the best writers, dontcha think?

My main music obsession this week is Art Blakey. He's had so many of the best jazz musicians work with him - from Monk to Miles to Marsalis - and has recorded some of the most memorable tunes - A Night in Tunisia, Moanin'. I've also been appreciating some of my favorite vocalists again. The little known Orna does an amazing vocal version of Charlie Parker's Ornithology among many great standards on her album The Very Though of You. And Karin Allison's albums are pretty damn good, especially her tribute to Coltrane - Ballads. I'm not a big fan of Mark O'Connor, but the In Full Swing cd is worth checking out. Wynton Marsalis and Jane Monheit add a touch of class - I especially love the latter's performance of Misty.

Movies... I watched a few starring Marilyn this week. My favorite was Bus Stop, a sweet story with Monroe sparkling as a simple country gal who finds love in the most unexpected form. Vic has amused me with this week imitating Marilyn's performance of 'That old Black Magic.' I also enjoyed How to Marry a Millionaire - much better than The seven Year Itch.

TV... Paradise Hotel had a damn good twist recently - all the people voted off came back to make the lives of the voters hell. I really love this show, and how telling an account of humanity it is. Kind of like Lord of the Flies for a new generation.
I'm also hooked on The OC. It took a few weeks, but it's become one of those shows I'd hate to miss. I love the set up, how there's so much room for conflict or compassion between the various characters. I also like how much time it gives to the adult characters - unusual for a show aimed at teens.

I'll try not to bore you too much, but I also want to write about how I became hooked on America's original art form - jazz. I was making a mix tape around this time last year and accidentally programmed the wrong track to record. It was On The Sunny Side Of The Street performed by Sidney Bechet (from the JFK soundtrack). I just really loved the mood that this music evoked in the midst of contemporary songs on the tape. The next step was receiving a Verve sampler among a lot of cds from ebay. Some of my favorites on that cd include Coltrane's Acknowledgement, Count Basie's Corner Pocket, Louis and Ella singing Cheek to Cheek, as well as tracks by Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and Diana Krall. Another important cd at the beginning was The Talented Mr. Ripley soundtrack. It included the first Miles Davis performance to attract my attention - his haunting take on Nature Boy - as well as versions of Moanin', You Don't Know What Love Is, and Matt Damon's erie imitation of Chet Baker on My Funny Valentine. After hearing Nature Boy, I craved more Miles Davis and that's what really started the obsession. Now I have multiple cds by Davis, Bechet, Basie, Blakey, Holiday, Armstrong, Coltrane, Baker, Monk, Brubeck, Parker, Getz, Vaughan, as well as some more modern performers - Joshua Redman, Diana Krall, Cassandra Wilson. I seem to have been sidetracked by vocalists recently but this week I've been appreciating the instrumental greats again, especially the trumpet sounds of Miles Davis, Chet Baker and Louis Armstrong.

I'm surprised how excited I am about the new Sarah McLachlan song. I recently removed her link from my favorite music list because nothing had happened in sooo long. But now this, the album in November and a tour next year. I am so fucking excited! The song - Fallen - is wonderful. Thankfully Sarah hasn't followed Jewel, Sheryl and others into Pop Tart hell. She sounds as good as ever. I don't think I've ever looked forward to an album release this much. I think Fallen is going to be my theme for this year. Last year's was the Dixie Chicks' Traveling Soldier - not so much for the lyrics as for the melody and Natalie's voice. It just seemed to be the song I heard most last year - I especially identify it with our vacation in Florida. In 2001, my theme was Jonatha Brooke's I'll Take it From Here, which I heard on my walkman in a Pittsburgh motel the night before I was accepted as a legal alien by INS. And in 2000 it was U2's Beautiful Day, first heard as the ferry approached Dublin from England the week before we returned to live in the US.

But back to Sarah McLachlan. I first read about her in the soundtracks section of an annual movie review book. Her song I Will Remember You (co-written by an Irishman - Seamus Egan) was mentioned in a recommendation of The Brothers McMullen soundtrack. I got the soundtrack and loved her voice. I think it was a couple of years later I bought the City of Angels soundtrack. A friend mentioned that her band was covering Angel for a demo, so I decided to check it out. Can anyone describe that song? It's like sinking into a warm bath. It's a sad song but somehow comforting, and that voice. Just wow. Anyway, many months passed and I was working at a radio station when I found her cd Surfacing amidst a pile of promos rejected by the station. It was one of few cds I listened to over and over - another being Sheryl Crow's self-titled cd. And Sarah's voice kept popping up in movies - Message in a Bottle, Moll Flanders. I believe I even heard her in Forces of Nature though the song didn't appear on it's soundtrack. I got my computer in early '99, soon discovered some Sarah fans on a mailing list, read rumours of a European tour for Lilith Fair. When that possibility was dismissed, I was disappointed and then decided what the hell, I'd go anyway, So my first trip abroad was to California for Lilith Fair. And that was pretty much the last we heard from Sarah McLachlan. Until now.

Anyway... besides the Sarah McLachlan thing, it's been a good weekend. The best thing is that it's not over yet! Gawd, Vic and I needed an extra day off. Today we went to Charleston for my first real fireworks experience - twenty minutes of noise and light after lots of walking and sitting. It was good being out at night with Vic. that happens so rarely. It made me look forward to October which, after over 3 years of marriage will be our first real vacation alone. We've been to Ireland - stayed with my family, and Florida - stayed with Vic's family. I can barely imagine the joy of having a room to ourselves away from work and financial crap and goddamned West Virginia. On the beach! And probably seeing some Dawson's Creek locations. Be still my heart :)

"Heaven, I'm in Heaven
And the cares that hang around me through the week
Seem to vanish like a gambler's lucky streak
When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek."