No, the title of this post isn’t some sort of weird stage direction from Will & Grace.
It’s sage advice from a deep thinker and masterful storyteller.
“shards of light and laughter and grace…” Because our crystal ball is broken. Our little window can shut without warning.
Brian Doyle was — check that, IS — an amazing writer. His book One Long River of Song is a collection of his essays. I’ve sung its praises before. In case you’re too lazy to click on the link, here’s my post from June of 2021:
Re-reading that post now, there’s some eerie symmetry going on that didn’t exist in 2021. One of my best friends is battling brain cancer. Brian’s musings have taken on a greater meaning. And his legacy has a deeper resonance.
“shards of light and laughter and grace…” In a world that seems full of nothing but darkness and tears and cruelty, those shards can be hard to spot — until your own ray of sunshine hits them, and refracts onto others.
Light. Laughter. Grace. Use your window to catch it. Use your window to share it.
Here’s a live link to Brian Doyle’s One Long River of Song. It’s gorgeous. You are too, with your light, laughter and grace.
I took on that challenge more than a decade ago. I had been blogging sporadically prior to that. I’ve been much more prolific since. So, depending on how you feel about this blog, you have Seth to thank or blame.
But for yours truly, I owe him a huge debt of gratitude, for coaxing me out of my cave, for giving me the push I needed to write more often, for helping me find more joy in writing.
When someone uses my work to teach others or to make something better, the work has achieved its purpose. If you didn’t do your work, there’d be no point to mine.
Seth Godin
Seth’s posts are typically short and sweet… and chock-full of food for thought. You can — and should — subscribe here.
If you’re keeping score at home, this is Post #1092 for me.
I may never get to 10,000. But I’m not trying to match Seth. I’m just trying to follow his lead.
KEXP is one of the coolest radio stations on the dial! (Gather ’round, kiddos, while Grampa Dubbatrubba explains what a “dial” is… and what a “radio station” is for that matter.)
From the “About” page on the KEXP website:
“Embracing curiosity and a shared love of music.” And this week is a shining example of that. It’s “6 Degrees Week” on KEXP.
The DJs (real live human beings!) have to figure out a way to connect every song on their show to the one they played before it. Meaning they have to go deep into their well of musical knowledge to find links between songs that may not be so obvious at first blush. Same songwriter or producer, shared musicians*, guest vocals, samples…
*Today I learned that Tom Scott, who was the saxophonist in the original Blues Brothers band, also played the sax solo on the Wings song “Listen to What the Man Said.”
Yesterday, I learned that Mick Ronson (guitarist for David Bowie as part of the “Spiders from Mars”) also played guitar on John Cougar Mellencamp’s “Jack & Diane.”
Ronson and Bowie also co-produced Lou Reed’s Transformer album, so the DJ could segue from “Jack & Diane” to “Vicious.”
For a music nerd like me, it’s pure heaven. For everyone who tunes in, it’s an amazing mix, and one you won’t find anywhere else. Which is the point, really. Real people playing hand-selected music for folks who love music. Give it a listen here – just click the play button and enjoy every twist and turn of the musical journey.
Long Live KEXP, and the other rare and precious stations like it!
Here’s what Wikipedia says about Aaron Lee Tasjan:
Aaron Lee Tasjan is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Tasjan is reported to have his own distinct version of “indie folk grit.”
Here’s what Aaron Lee Tasjan has to say about the state of the world today:
It’s a funny old world right now. Maybe like a lot of you, I find myself drifting from hope to despair, from finding so much joy in the little things to feeling strung out on anxiety about massive things none of us can control. It’s at times a daily rollercoaster. I am resigned to feel how I feel though. I always try to tip my brain into the waters of hope as I believe that is and always will be the correct response to the human condition.
Aaron Lee Tasjan
“Tip my brain into the waters of hope”… that’s a baptism we all need right now. Salvation from a higher power within, when the outside world is topsy-turvy.
Aaron Lee is a darn fine singer-songwriter. And he’s shown me his “indie folk grit” both times I’ve seen him in concert. The first time was back in the summer of 2021. He was supposed to play an outdoor stage, but it was raining buckets, so the show organizers scrambled to assemble a makeshift stage on a covered street next to a parking garage.
(The opener for that show was S.G. Goodman – another stellar indie singer-songwriter!)
Then this past summer, Aaron Lee headlined a summer concert series show at Fountain Square, in the heart of downtown.
A fan in the audience yelled out a request for his song “Alien Space Queen”… Aaron said he couldn’t play it because their set was abbreviated – as is often the case for corporate-sponsored gigs. But he told that person “come to the merch booth after the show and I’ll play an acoustic version for you.” True to his word, he did just that!
He’ll be back in the area this summer, playing a free festival in Springfield, Ohio on May 17. I HOPE to make that gig.
The Final Four of NCAA Division I basketball tips off this evening. The tourney’s top four seeds (Auburn, Duke, Florida and Houston) all advanced to San Antonio. They’re all from “power” conferences. Cinderella doesn’t live here anymore.
The very first game of the tournament was a “First Four” matchup between Alabama State and St. Francis University (PA). The game was at the University of Dayton’s arena, and I was there. Fun game! It came down to a last-second shot by Alabama State after a full-court pass.
That game probably marks the last time we’ll see St. Francis in “March Madness.” Because the school’s board of trustees voted to move their athletics from D-I to D-III. The university president, The Very Rev. Malachi Van Tassell, explained the logic behind that move in this Op-Ed in the Washington Post:
Father Malachi is a Franciscan priest. But prior to joining the order, he was a Certified Public Accountant (bio is here). He knows the math doesn’t work anymore for small schools, especially if they want to be known for schooling instead of for the semi-pro folks on the b-ball team.
Intercollegiate athletics is growing in complexity, based on realities such as the transfer portal, pay for play and other shifts that move sports away from a campus-based love of the game to one that resembles a business… Most Division I schools are forced to squeeze more money from student fees and fundraising to pay for their athletic programs and stay competitive, and often reallocate current and future operating dollars away from salaries and classrooms.
Players are transferring out of schools like ours to play for money and fame at schools with bigger name recognition and budgets. The fact that, for the first time, there isn’t a single program from outside the four major conferences in the tournament’s second weekend bears this out.
Father Malachi wants his student-athletes to be students first, and enjoy campus life. That’s not realistic in the power conferences. There, the “student-athletes” are mainly athletes, and grist for the money-making mill. Don’t get me wrong – I’m fine with the players cashing in. But how can they feel much attachment to a school when they’re likely to leave a year later for greener pastures?
the reality is that big-brand programs are farm teams for the National Football League and the National Basketball Association, and small universities have become farm teams for the big-brand programs.
As a proud alum of Xavier University, another small Catholic school, I really understand what the Padre is laying down. Nearly as soon as my Muskies lost in the tourney, our men’s b-ball head coach departed for the deeper pockets — for him and the players he recruits — at the University of Texas. Nearly every player on the team with eligibility left entered the transfer portal — with the best returning player joining his old coach at Texas (“Hook ’em” indeed… with dollars.) Xavier’s new coach, Richard Pitino, inherited a roster consisting of… one redshirt player. There’s no continuity for fans anymore. We’re not rooting for the student-athletes at our alma mater, we’re rooting for laundry, basically.
If you like the David vs. Goliath story, you’re out of luck. Unless changes are made to NIL and transfer rules, we’ll be watching the same big-money schools duke (ha!) it out every year, while Cinderella is forced to scour the country for new players every year.
I do think other schools should follow the lead of St. Francis, and put the emphasis back on the student experience, and invest more in the school, instead of funneling all that cash into being a feeder system for bigger schools and the pros. It just makes (dollars and) sense.
Kevin Sullivan on Life advice from a man who lived it: “A good one Damian. Bring our lens into focus after the long weekend or our long life journey.” Jul 7, 09:38
Thomas Kuhl on We’re alive, because nothing happened.: “That is why we should celebrate every day when our feet hit the floor. Another to enjoy and share with…” Jun 25, 04:33
Thomas Kuhl on We’re alive, because nothing happened.: “This simply explains why we should celebrate every day our feet hit the floor. Another day to enjoy and share…” Jun 25, 04:31
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