Archive For The “Monk’s Blog” Category
“Egg Cream” opens up Lou Reed’s 1996 album Set The Twilight Reeling and is essentially an ode to a childhood treat. That is what sets the tone for his first album in four years. Another song later on “HookyWooky” is a play on skipping school. There is a lot of that unbridled childhood emotion on…
This post started out as a comment on another’s blog post. You should check her out. Her writing is far superior to my own. Well, she is an actual writer, so there’s that. Over the last few years I have been trying to be more… something… I can’t seem to put my finger on it. Positive…
Coming on the heels of the artistic statement of New York, the follow-up collaboration with John Cale and events in his personal life, Magic And Loss captures Lou Reed at a point in his life where there are equal parts, well, magic and loss. His second marriage ended, he had explored themes surrounding the death…
You would think I had more pictures for not having done this post for three weeks. Here is Grace having climbed into the rocket ship on her own. Yes, we had a rocket in our house for about a week. There was a lot of space travel taking place for a while. Space travel can…
Monday I wake up about 5 or 10 minutes before 5a.m. Spin class starts at 5:30 – the only time I can make. I have to be home by 6:30 to get the house going. Kids need to get up for school, Laura needs to get off to work, diapers need to be changed, etc….
November’s Geek Fuel box was a good one. It started with the shirt, which is a great reference to Jurassic Park. It looks like a great travel poster. Then the Star Wars AT-ACT model kit is something that we would never buy, but is certainly welcome and should be fun to put together. The gift…
“What is something you are suited to?” “Getting out of here!” The opening number in Songs For Drella sets up the origins of Andy Warhol, the subject of the first collaboration between former Velvet Underground bandmates Lou Reed and John Cale in two decades. Encouraged and inspired by the death of Andy Warhol in 1987,…
This is probably my favorite Lou Reed album. I remember when it came out, and I was already a little familiar with his work, having a cassette of his “hits” and hearing his music on the radio – I was not really listening to commercial radio at the time. What I remember about New York’s…
Lou Reed seems a bit upset in the opening and title track for his 1986 album Mistrial. It almost seems a reaction to the mediocre reception his albums have been getting. he has his two guitars, bass and drums formula down at this point and in the opening number his anger and frustration comes through…
Did you know the annual Folklife Festival has a “cultural focus” each year? In 2014 the focus was India, 2006 Arab communities, and 2004 the Horn of Africa. Each year apparently has a different focus be it regional or cultural, and this year will be no different. Northwest Folklife, the organization behind the Northwest Folklife…