Thoughts of History and Personal Notes

The last two months have been much less stressful than the winter. It's been relatively cold and I've enjoyed the brisk weather. I need to be living somewhere that doesn't have so much heat. Watching my kids running around in the back yard with either little or no clothing in the sprinklers and bicycles makes me think I'm right. Of course my roots are here and yet it's tempting to look elsewhere...

On April 10, we caught the Preservation Hall Jazz Band at Antioch's El Campanil Theater for the second year in a row. This show was a sell-out and instead of snaking great cheap seats, we paid gold-circle second row seats. The band, while much more mellow than last year, didn't fail to deliver. Their new album is with bluegrass legend Del McCroury and his band but the PHJB played in the traditional lineup. The songs were great though unfamiliar but the band stuck with St. James' Infirmary like it did last year. They played a shorter set and though not a true revalation like the '10 performance, their music is a balm to the soul.

Ten days later, my friend Ana and I were at the New Parish to see Chris Robinson and his Brotherhood. With Neal Casal on guitar, Crowe Adam McDougal on keys and some guys I didn't know, the CRB on 4/20 played a show to a sold-out (250 people and that was IT - killer) Parish and this brand-new band sounded like they'd been together for a decade. Does anyone have a show on disc? This was killer rock and roll; mellow but tight, long jams without the noodling. I knew two or three songs max and yet was absolutely riveted for three hours and fifteen minutes of music. At the end of the first set, the guys unplugged and hopped off stage and walked right by me to their dressing room and I thanked them and patted them on their backs. I was exhausted for several days afterwards but it was all worth it. There'd better be an album coming...

On May 1st, President Obama appeared on live television to announce the death of terrorist Osama bin Laden. I sat in stunned silence as the President stated that Navy SEALs had invaded a compound in Pakistan day(s) before and shot the mastermind of 9/11. The next morning, I picked the newspaper from my driveway and had the front page laminated and mounted on my classroom wall. It took days for me to process my thoughts and emotions. It was a great announcement of an event that should not have brought great celebration but great resolve. What has changed, however, over the last two weeks, has been the GOP's lame-assed attacks of the President regarding military tactics, spending, the nation's image or the President's "resolve" on foreign affairs. While the '12 campaign doesn't start officially for another year, the GOP had better go back to the drawing board in order to attack a man who has been conservative on fiscal issues, successful on social issues and historic on foreign affairs. We'll see...