Scott Freeman

My reading slowed down drastically during the final half of my vacation but I still got a few books in. Here are my thoughts for each of those:

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides–This epic story of genetic abnormalities, regret and consequences is a staggering read. You will be swept up in a story that spans 80+ years and deals with the repercussions of actions that ripple throughout time. This book will hook you from the first sentence. Grade: A

No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy–I have never been a McCarthy fan. I tried several years ago to read All The Pretty Horses and failed to connect with it. Then I read The Road, which turned out to be one of my favorite books of 2006. This is not at that level but still a good read. It’s vintage McCarthy in that it is not dependent on a happy or fulfilling outcome. Grade: B

Everyman by Phillip Roth–I know that people loved this book but I found myself struggling to finish the audio book. Thankfully it was only four hours long. Maybe I don’t get Roth. Maybe I need to be about 30 years older to appreciate this tale of a man recounting his life via his medical procedures. At any rate, I found it to be a somber and melancholy tale that never really managed to gain traction with me. Grade: C

While I Was Gone by Sue Miller–I wanted to like this book a whole more than I did. The premise was strong but there was something about the main character that I found maddingly frustrating. It was uneven throughout with flashes of brilliant writing only to be offset by an inexplicable turn. Grade: C+

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards–I would highly recommend this book alongside Middlesex as another tremendous tale of decisions and consequences. This is one of those rare books that you will find hard to put down. The conclusion was a little unsatisfying for me but all in all it was one of my favorites of the bunch. Grade: B+

I tried to listen to The Memory of Running but grew bored with it and quit. I also attempted A Thousand Splendid Suns but found myself unable to follow the accent and the fast pace in a car with three kids. I’ll wait for the hard copy.

I haven’t seen many movies lately but one I recommend: Who Killed The Electric Car?

My June eMusic Downloads are:

The Revolution Starts…Now by Steve Earle–One of the best Alt-Country protest voices out there. I had this when I was on Rhapsody. I finally added it permanently.

A.J. Swearingen–I don’t know who this cat is, but he’s good.

In the Aeroplane, Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel–Classic album recommended to my by Jonathan.

Theology by Sinead O’Connor–I downloaded just the acoustic Dublin sessions. I plan to add the other disk next month. I’ve never been an O’Connor fan but this is a beautiful and prayerful set of songs.

Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen Winters by The Twilight Sad–Scottish rockers. Could make my year end list.

We’ll Never Turn Back by Mavis Staples–Wow! Wow and Wow! This is a stellar collection of songs from the Civil Rights era by one of soul’s enduring voices. I don’t typically like music in this genre but this will most definitely make my year end list.

Discover: Songs of Father by Various–A collection of praise songs by various Christian artists.

Hello Starling by Josh Ritter–Don’t know why I’ve never downloaded this. One of the best singer-songwriters out there today.

What are you reading and listening to?

This past weekend VHI unveiled their 40 most softsational soft-rock songs.
As usual, some of their picks were great. Styx’s “Babe” was a great choice at #2. Some, not so great. I can imagine Escape (The Pina Colada Song) being on a one-hit wonders list but not on greatest soft-rock tunes.

So, I thought I would do my list. It’s more difficult than it looks because there has to be elements of both soft and a little bit of rock. That eliminates the harder power ballads and the more standard balladry and strives to hit somewhere in the middle. All in all it’s a more subjective experience. Here ya go (YouTube links when applicable):

30. Wounded by Michael McDermott–From my favorite album of all time this is a mournful ballad inspired by Cormac Macarthey’s “All the Pretty Horses”. I include this to keep his name before you as the greatest songwriter of my generation.

29. When You Walk In The Room by Paul Carrack–One of the omnipresent voices of the 70s and 80s this comes from his lone hit solo record after being a mainstay in such groups as Squeeze and Roxy Music.

28. Danny’s Song by Loggins and Messina–That chorus, “Even though we don’t have money” is one of those indelible lines that will forever be memorable.

27. Never Surrender by Corey Hart–Did you know he was offered the role of Marty McFly? Yeah, me either. This song was part of my soundtrack the summer before my senior year of high school. Still sounds good 20+ years later.

26. Just When I Needed You Most by Randy VanWarmer–She leaves. And after watching the video it’s probably easy to see why. The choreography with the suitcases is hilarious. But this is a classic soft-rock tune.

25. Nights Are Forever by England Dan and John Ford Coley–This video makes me unbelievably happy. The sight of that 45 rotating harkens back the day of great music.

24. Love Conquers All by Seals and Crofts–They had more popular tunes. And maybe even better songs than this one. But those other tunes aren’t from the greatest basketball movie ever made. And yes the video is from the movie.

23. Everytime You Go Away by Paul Young–Not only do mullets rock. They have a sensitive side as well. He took Darryl Hall’s song and made it his own, dawg.

22. Missing You by John Waite–One of the better (and more ubiquitous) videos of the 80s. Look for the trademark sunglasses that feature in his videos. Or better yet watch this updated version with Waite and the amazing Alison Krause.

21. Please Come to Boston by Dave Loggins–Forget Kenny, this is the best song by a Loggins boy. You need to face the music, buddy. That girl ain’t leaving Rocky Top. I couldn’t find the original so you have to settle for a version by Bo Bice.

20. Everything I Own by Bread--If this song doesn’t rip your heart out when it gets to the bridge, then you are just dead inside. Dead.

19. Leader of the Band by Dan Fogelberg–If this song doesn’t rip your heart out when it gets to the final verse, then you are just dead inside. Dead.

18. Only Lonely by JD Souther–This was his only hit but he wrote a ton of classic tunes for the Eagles. This is one of the best of the bunch. I just love that falsetto.

17. Still by The Commodores–Smooth. Just smooth. That pause at the end is sublime.

16. Don’t Let It End by Styx–Sure, others would pick “Babe” or even “Lady” but for me this is the pinnacle of their soft-rock greatness. And to top it off here’s a link to the other stellar ballad from Kilroy Was Here, “Haven’t We Been Here Before.”

15. Don’t Expect Me To Be Your Friend by Lobo–Say what you want but this guy is not taking the break-up too well.

14. In Too Deep by Genesis–There are a handful of great Genesis tunes that would qualify for this list but it’s in this tune that they seem to channel all of the melancholy and longing that Collin’s voice was so suited for.

13. I Go Crazy by Paul Davis–One of the most under-appreciated songs in soft rock history. The rumors that he refused to cut his hair until she took him back were unfounded.

12. You Are The Woman by Firefall–I’ve been known to belt this chunk of croonability at the top of my lungs on occasion. Alas, I can’t find a video. We have to settle for an audio sample instead.

11. I Wanna Know What Love Is by Foreigner–One of the greatest videos ever. And they are able to pull off that anthemic cliche that rock songs so frequently use and not sound trite: the choir. For an example of how not to do the choir see Mike and the Mechanic’s The Living Years.

10. The Search Is Over by Survivor–Although this is one of my favorite bands of the 80s the video is also proof that musicians don’t need to act.

9. Keep On Loving You by REO Speedwagon–Sigh, there will never be another REO. But you can relive the glory by watching the video.

8. We Just Disagree by Dave Mason–Just a stellar lyric. Pop Gold. And to prove it the video clip is from Solid Gold.

7. Making Love Out of Nothing At All by Air Supply–Further proof that they don’t need to act. However, this song is a sonic delight written by none other than Jim Steinman. Come on, you know you love this song.

6. Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad by Meatloaf–Speaking of Steinman, here is another of his lyrics in all of its bombasity. And who better to belt it out than that former Lubbock Christian student, Meatloaf?

5. Against All Odds by Phil Collins–Again, the great Phil Collins providing one of the great love songs of our time.

4. Faithfully by Journey–They made horrible videos but they recorded timeless songs. Their best soft rock tune is by far this one.

3. Sometimes When We Touch by Dan Hill–Sure, it is a textbook case of lyrical over-reaching but what is better than a four minute justification of why he won’t say “I love you.” This guy is a master at non-answers.

2. We’ve Only Just Begun by The Carpenters–The greatness of Karen Carpenter. What more needs to be said?

1. Weekend in New England by Barry Manilow–Laugh all you want but this song is sheer greatness. It also features a classic money note. If you doubt that, watch what may be the greatest performance in American Idol’s six seasons below:

Ah, that was fun. Discuss my list with me. Which songs on my list do you love? Which ones would you add or trash?

–I finally made the switch to Google Reader. I had a hard time letting go of the “S” smart key in Bloglines that let me go to the next entry. Other than that, Google is so much more convenient allowing me to stay on my home page while reading my subscriptions.

–You can read some of my favorite posts that I find by looking at the right sidebar under “Interesting Reads.” If I come across a blog post that I find especially enlightening or just plain fun, I’ll link it there.

–Also, if you have a Google home page and want my own personal gadget “The Daily Scott” let me know. I’ll send you an invite. Now you can know even more information about me that you don’t really care to know.

–The second best album of the year has just been released. The Avett Brothers have churned out an absolutely stellar disc, Emotionalism. It’s so good that I couldn’t wait for my emusic subscription to refresh. I went out and bought it on iTunes. And scored two bonus songs in the process. This is the Beatles meet alt-country. Absolutely phenomenal. Here they are doing “Paranoia in B Flat Major” on Conan last week. I defy you not to love this:

The Avett Brothers – Paranoia in B flat Major – Conan O’Brien

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…is me smashing my computer into bits.

Seriously, if I don’t get past level 36 of this game soon, I’m going to go mad.

If anybody figures out level 36 let me know how to beat level 36.

It’s level 36 I’m stuck on.  Level 36 has me stumped.  I know level 36 must have an easy solution that I’m not seeing but I can’t figure out level 36.

Level 36…

Level 36…

Wow, look at the pretty colors

For all of my criticism of (justified) criticism of Lost I feel like I have to eat my words.

Although I still feel that season two was largely a waste and I was close to giving up on it during the fall portion that was completely underwhelming, I now have this to say:

Last night’s season finale was one of the best episodes of television I have ever seen.

Did that really happen? What’s next?

(Warning: Spoilers May Appear In the Comments)

For those of you who are interested in such things, here are the albums I chose to download this month with my Emusic package. Now I have to wait two more weeks, aargh.

Camera Obscura–Let’s Get Out of This Country
Melissa McClelland–Thumbelina’s One Night Stand (I’ve had her excellent ’04 debut for several months and finally decided to pull the trigger on her latest. I hadn’t downloaded it previously because I was unable to stream up. But it did not disappoint.)
Lloyd Cole–Anti Depressant and The Negatives–(For the Matthew Sweet fan in each of us.)
Warren Zevon–The Wind (I don’t know why I’ve never downloaded this before. It is as absolutely heartbreaking as a farewell disc is meant to be.)
Maria McKee–Late December (The former Lone Justice singer continues to churn out top-rank albums. But this is her most daring and adventurous yet. It was just released last month and deserves a close listen)
Arcade Fire–Neon Bible (I’m still not quite sure what all the fuss is, but this album is growing on me)
Of Montreal–Icons, Abstract Thee (I didn’t have enough tracks left to download their most recent full length so I thought I would give this EP a spin. Tremendous.)
Belle and Sebastian–Sing Jonathan David (3 tracks left? Nothing beats one of the B&S EP’s I don’t have yet.)

That leaves new releases by The Twilight Sad and Of Montreal at the top of my list for next month. I’m sure I will add to my Camera Obscura collection and tack on Neutral Milk Hotel as well.

I love eMusic.

I love good “answer” songs. The battles between Lennon and McCartney post-Beatles are a classic example of that as is Lynryd Skynrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” a great example of an answer to Neil Young’s “Southern Man.” (Although I hate the former song, I love most anything Neil does.)

One of my favorite eMusic downloads of the month so far is Camera Obscura. If you like the twee pop of Belle and Sebastian then this is a tremendous companion. This is pop candy in it’s sweetest most indulgent form. Pick up “Let’s Get Out of the Country” and you won’t be disappointed.

What I didn’t realize when I first began listening was that the opening track “Lloyd, I’m Ready To Be Heartbroken” is an answer song to the great 1984 Lloyd Cole and the Commotions track “Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken?”

Here is a snippet of the original Cole song:

Here is the Camera Obscura answer. And what a fun song it is (but no, Rachel Dratch is not the lead singer):

The great news is that not only is the Camera Obscura catalogue available on eMusic so is much of the later discography of Lloyd Cole.

If you are a fan of literate pop-rock then both of these artists are worth your while. Ah, because I like you here is another great cut from Belle and Sebastian:

I have 53 downloads left. Anyone have any suggestions?

And if anybody is looking for 25 free downloads on eMusic let me know.

I always look forward to upfronts week where the networks reveal there fall schedules. It’s when you find out, with certainty, if your favorite shows will survive to live another year.

It had been announced a couple of weeks ago that any hopes of Gilmore Girls coming back for an abbreviated 8th and final season were not going to come true. So, I knew that last night was not just the end of the season but the general end as well.

However, in addition to the loss of Gilmore Girls, three more of the shows that I enjoyed got the axe yesterday: What About Brian, The Class, and Jericho. On top of that there is still no Rock Star on the horizon. It seems all but dead at this point.

My thoughts on the demise of each of these shows:

Gilmore Girls: As far as series-enders go this was a fitting conclusion, ending the same way it began 7 years ago with Lorelai and Rory enjoying breakfast at Luke’s. As bummed as I am that it won’t be back I can’t imagine a better way for it to fade out. If it had came back it would have dragged out story lines that met a fitting conclusion last night.
For all of my complaining about the shape that the Palladino’s left the show in at the conclusion of last year, Dan Rosenthal did an admirable job in righting the ship and bringing the show to a rightful end. He never could get the rapid dialogue and the obscure pop culture references that are Amy Sherman-Palladino’s trademark. But who could?
From the greatness that is Richard and Emily Gilmore to the baffling pervasity of Kirk’s jobs, from Taylor’s legalistic manipulation of town codes to Paris’ manic aggressiveness Gilmore was a show that was truly one of a kind.
It was a show that I got hoping that Tracy and I could find a mutual TV interest. I wasn’t holding out high hopes that it would be of interest to me but I was quickly proven wrong. Any assumption that this was a chick show was quickly put to rest. Instead of a weepie, maudlin hour of twee programming it was, instead, almost a-emotional. The characters talked around issues by talking fast and funny. It was sharp, witty and rambunctious.
Although it was set in a world hermetically sealed from all that occurred outside of the confines of Stars Hollow it was a great case study in relationships, of mothers and daughters, and hope.
Lauren Graham is one of the best actresses on TV and has never been nominated for an Emmy. Let’s hope that she is finally recognized for giving us one of the most enduring characters in TV history.
Good night Stars Hollow, you will be missed.

What About Brian: I really can’t fault ABC for this. They did bring it back for a second season when there was no major reason to do so. It was a mid-season show that never gained an audience. But it did get a second season and I always considered it to be the best show on television that nobody was watching. Intriguing story lines and likable characters made for an entertaining hour. And it introduced me to my favorite song of 2006, Gabe Dixon’s “All Will Be Well”

The Class: This show was much hyped going into the season but never could gain any traction in the ratings. The sad part of this story is that as the season progressed they continually made tweaks and modifications that indicated this was going to become a strong show. If a little bit of patience had been exhibited it might have taken off in season 2. But we will never know.

Jericho: This is the most bothersome one for me. It’s a case study in a studio killing a show: Introduce a serialized freshman show, get people hooked into it, yank it off the air for a three month winter hiatus, then put it back on the air opposite American Idol. Brilliant. We will never know what happened between New Bern and Jericho. And that’s unfortunate.

I’ll be looking tomorrow at the new shows coming up this fall. Any thoughts on the shows hitting the road?

I just realized I hadn’t done one of these posts in a long time. So here’s a swing across popular culture.

Books

There have been several offerings I’ve really enjoyed lately. Ones I give my seal of approval to are:

“Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court” by Jan Crawford Greenburg–This is a great tale of how the current Supreme Court came into being. It’s a cursory overview. It’s not indepth by any means but it does give a walking knowledge of the current court, it’s dynamics and the implications.

“Speaking of Sin: The Lost Language of Salvation” by Barbara Brown Taylor–A tremendous book that re-examines the meanings of some of our lost language regarding sin, salvation, repentance and penance. It’s a short read but rich in its meaning and importance. I will give a more in-depth look at Christian Readers later today.

“The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America Are Winning the Culture War” by Dan Gilgoff–A fair and concise history of the religious right, this book leaves the conclusions to the reader. For a more detailed look visit here.

Television

30 Rock–The show began it’s freshman season somewhat unevenly. It also began battling Studio 60 as a show about the behind the scenes machinations of late night sketch shows. It has since found it’s feet and has become one of the two funniest shows on television. It’s a fight between this and The Office. Sadly, tonight is the season finale. Check it out. As many critics have pointed out it has the most jokes per minute of any show since Arrested Development.

Jericho–Just mindless entertainment. It’s my favorite Wednesday night show. CBS has offered up a character in Robert Hawkins to rival Jack Bauer. And with 24 being such a major disappointment this year it’s a void ripe to be filled. As Jericho and New Bern gravitate toward a major conflict the tension is being racheted up.

Music

Brandi Carlile’s The Story–This girl rocks. Just listen to that ferocious wail on “The Story” or “My Song” and you will know exactly what I’m talking about. At times tender, at times in your face. This is one of the best releases of the year so far.

The Decemberists’ The Crane Wife–I don’t understand a word of what they are talking about most of the time. As Colbert says they are “hyper-literate prog rock.” And they are a lot of fun to boot. The album title is from Japanese folk-lore. And just like their title the rest of their stuff plays off our obscure literary references. Tremendous.

Michael McDermott’s Noise From Words–Have I mentioned the best album of the year yet? Get it.

Movies

During the move our DVR got incredibly backed up so I haven’t been able to watch much in the way of film lately. Except for:

Shut Up and Sing–I loves me some Dixie Chicks. This is a great behind the scenes look over the last 4 years as they withstood the backlash from some event somewhere or something one of them said. I can’t remember what it was, though. It’s entertaining to say the least.

And to top it all off here is a video of one of the songs off of Michael’s new album. Such a tremendous tune of longing. There is one line that captures the depth of heartbreak here that I absolutely love. Can you guess which line it is?

So what recommendations do you have right now?

…by the greatest songwriter of my generation has just been released online.

No artist has had anywhere near the impact on me that Michael McDermott has had. His music sustained me in the darkest spiritual period of my life. His words resonate with me like none other and I’m lucky to call him a friend.

One of the greatest crimes of the music industry is that he is not a household name.

I am exhausted of superlatives to describe his music. Just do this:

Go to this website and listen to the three tracks from his latest album, Noise From Words, and then buy the whole thing for just 8.99.

You won’t be sorry. You will be touched by songs of longing, brokenness and redemption. And you will be amazed at the depth of his lyrics and his master musicianship.

Then spread the word about Michael.