Now Let Us Sing the Praises of Comet Boys

comet (kom'it) a heavenly body having a starlike nucleus and, usually, a long, lumnious tail: comets move in orbit around the sun.

Instead of famous men, or even just the right men, now let us sing the praises of comet boys.

A comet boy, for the unfamiliar, is a man who enters your life in a blinding, blistering flash and is on their way out nearly as fast. They burn incrediably brightly but only for a short time. Callous Carrie Bradshaw types might dismiss them as 'Mr. Right Now' but that's not what I'm speaking of at all. I coined the phrase not as a knock, just as an explainatory comparison. There are all sorts of stars in the heaven, that's key to its stunning beauty-beauty that we're only now being able to see more fully. You don't fault a comet for not having a fixed place in the sky and you don't get angry with it because you can't steer your ship by it.

(Well, you could. But that would, to steal an expression from my friend Marla, be like going to the hardware store for milk. You just gonna get disappointed.)

No, if you believe that each relationship prepares you for the next and that wide, varied experiences are paramount to a life fully lived, sometimes a comet boy is just the thing. Who doesn't welcome laughter and delight? Who doesn't enjoy a novelty and excitement that squarely hipchecks you out of your everyday rut? And who doesn't like to like to walk, even if only for a short time, looking up, with their face full of light?

Way to Go Oscar

I am dumbfounded-happy, but dumbfounded, that both Melissa Leo and Courtney Hunt were nominated for Oscar nominations their work in "Frozen River" (acting and writing respectively). Their noms get the big Hoyden thumbs up both for the underdog aspect (most casual movie fans were probably saying "Frozen what?") and the inherant 'girl power' aspect (the more women who get attention the more projects like women will get funding for).

But the real reason for rejoicing in this? For me, it's that Courtney's next project is supposed to be the "Northline" movie. And the two magic words "Oscar nominee" can work wonders...

My Heart Vouches Its Truth

"What she came to was that even if someone wasn't perfect or even especially good, you couldn't dismiss the love they felt. Love was always love; it had a rightness all its own, even if the person feeling the love was full of wrongness."


"Not to pontificate or anything, but this I know: there's a kind of holiness to love, requited or not, and those people who don't receive it with gratitude are arrogant beyond saving."

-Marisa de los Santos

Hope in an Envelope

I have loved The Oxford American for years. I've always been keenly interested in what 'The Southern Magazine of Good Writing' had to say.

For years it's been one of my absolute favorites. In flush years, I've been a subscriber. In lean ones, a newstand reader. But I never ever missed a Music Issue (can't miss a Music Issue!) and always harbored a dream to have a poem published in its pages. Finally! (How many years later?) I have one I think suitable and , more importantly, good enough. Tonight, I addressed and filled the envelope (SASE and all-so old school!). Such a small vessel to hold so much. Good thing hopes and dreams and wishes are so light or else I'd need a whole book of stamps.

Little Miss Mixed Emotions

This week on his blog my boy Ryan Adams maybe, kind of, announced that he's maybe, kind of retiring from music at the end of the current tour due to an inner ear condition/hearing loss which makes music both painful and difficult for him. Now, it's true we've heard this kind of thing from him before and he always came back but to me, this week's entry smacked of more seriousness and not just because he's sober now.

As a fan my heart clenches when I hear this-no more Ryan ever?? NO!!!!

But also as a fan, I, of course, want him to enjoy his hard earned happiness. Obviously one's health and well being must come first. But no more music? (There are books forthcoming which is cool.) Really?? Glad I have tickets to the Louisville show-it may be my last chance to see him, guess only time will tell. Whatever your final decision Ryan, all my best.

Heaven is a Better Place Today

I was saddened by yesterday's news of death of Andrew Wyeth as he was one of my favorite painters. I liked him even more after visiting the bulk of his work at the Wyeth Museum in Chadd's Ford, PA and the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, ME. Despite the harshness that often lurked in the corners of his paintings, there was a stark, weather beaten beauty to them as well which I always appreciated. He also gave one of the best compliments I have ever heard (rather surprising when you take into account his somewhat unconventional personal life) when asked about Christina Olson,the subject of his most famous painting, "Christina's World", he said of her, "she was just like blueberries to me." I think that is just so beautiful.

Best of 2008-Music

Here we go, at last copious liner notes for my annual Best of mix. As always if you aren't on the list feel free to use it as a template.





"Hey (I Love You)" Michael Franti & Spearhead




I discovered this on a Paste magazine sampler and was immediately charmed by it's infectious groove. I think it's a true measure of a song's dancibility when you have not one, but two, dances for it-one for the car and one for home. (And to the man in the blue SUV who gave me the thumbs up, thanks. So happy I could amuse you.)





"Tight Tee Shirt" Benji Hughes


From his "A Love Extreme" record. I'm not sure what John Coltrane would think of the title homage but I sure liked this one. Every song sounds different in a fun, genre blending way (witness the hard rock guitar solo of this one). It amuses me too that "TTS" would emerge as my fave since I clearly remember flipping the CD over when it was given to me and immediately seizing on that title. Guess my gut knew even before the first listen.


"Abel" The National


Technically this was a 2007 release but I didn't hear it till 2008. I have become facinated by The National, especially with their inscrutable lyrics (why, oh why is the empire fake? Won't someone please tell me?) but I picked "Abel" not for that-you can hardly make out any lyrics in this one-but for its rabbit hole nature. You plunge in and emerge rumpled but exhilerated on the other side.



"Magick" Ryan Adams and the Cardinals




My musical love affair with Ryan Adams continued in 2008 with the release of "Cardinalogy". Yes, it was basically "Easy Tiger Part II" but since I liked that one that was okay with me. Several of the songs- "Fix It", "Easy On Yourself"-can easily stand with his poignant, bittersweet best but I went with the big dumb rocker instead. "Magick" (what's with the Alistar Crowley spelling anyway?) actually sounds like a missing track from "Rock n' Roll" to me, like it could have come after "Luminol". That's my theory anyway and if I get the chance when I see him in March (for the seventh time!) I'll ask him.



"Old White Lincoln" The Gaslight Anthem




My friend Jeanne gave me this disc describing them as a band always influenced by Springsteen who finally threw up their collective hands at trying to sound different and went with it. It makes a fast, fun listen for sure though I hear as much Southside Johnny as the Boss. They've got songs about cars and girls, true, but there's also a great tribute to Miles Davis, whose praises don't normally ring out on the dark streets of Jersey.



"Bad Liver and a Broken Heart" Hayes Carll




Carll's record "Trouble in Mind" was one of the best all around releases of 2008. There's not a bad song on it, even the novelty one, "She Left Me For Jesus", has enough bite to be more than simply a one note laugh. I got to see him in December which was a pure pleasure. He's very funny and puts on a really good show. My only disappointment was the performance of this song which was stripped down into an almost unrecognizable version of itself. Yeah, hearing songs differently is one of the benefits of live music but to take away the electric guitar and drums from this one seemed almost criminal.

"Real Love" Lucinda Williams

Lucinda's "Little Honey" is a fun, raucous rawk record. Yeah, there's a few that tug at the heartstrings ("Tears of Joy") but there's also a few that seem like ghosts of songs past ("Little Rock Star" seems like "Drunken Angel 2008" to me). Most people cite "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" as her zenith but I say it was "Sweet Old World". "Little Honey" doesn't reach or aim so high but it's sweet all the same.

"Unsleeping Eye" The Band of Heathens

This band was a freebie find that I really enjoyed in 08 even though I think they should devote serious thought to dropping the "The" from their name. It sounds kinda crazy but their rollicking good time sound reminds me of a southern fried Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show (not to be confused with the later disco Dr Hook).

"If You Should Ever Fall on Hard Times" The Iguanas

The Iguana's 2008 release is, as usual, a mix of rock and Latin. Sometimes I like a rock song the best, sometimes Latin. This time it was this one. I hear they are great live and I swear that I will not miss an opportunity to see them. Several have come and gone but no more!

"Map to Where You Are" The Watson Twins

A couple of Louisville girls who came to my attention when they backed Jenny Lewis on her "Rabbit Fur Coat" record. Now on their first solo record they spread their wings. They do a killer cover of The Cure's "Just Like Heaven" but I like this one, though it's true I like any songs about maps. Put this one back to back with Sarah Harmer's "Aglow" for a unrequited, map twofer.

"Orange Blossoms" JJ Grey and Mofro

A fun, Southern rock record I got to know on my many trips back and forth from Michigan to Kentucky. They have a polished sound that's still a little rough around the edges, I like that.

"Rattlin Bones" Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson

It should be no surprise that these two harmonize so well together, they are married after all, but I find their combined voices especially pleasing. Hers is so distinctive and his is so warm, it's totally the two great tastes that taste great together thing. The whole record is a good one, a return to form for her I'd say after the disappointment that was "Carnival". (I relistened to that one and yeah, it still stinks.)

"Broken" Tift Merritt

"All Good Things" The Weepies

One of the many CDs I learned every groove on the 6 hour drive between Michigan and Kentucky. It's a tribute to how much I like this song that I picked it was when one of the other choices was one called "Antarctica" (one of my passions). I like the use of the different meanings of 'all good things' especially.

"Sentimental Heart" She & Him

Paste's record of the year for 2008 and one of my faves too. I never tire of the vocal fireworks in this one.

"Prettiest Tree on the Mountain" Ben Sollee

This Louisville boy, perhaps more well known for his work with Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn in the Sparrow Quartet, came out with his first solo record in 2008. Sollee is so earnest, nearly guileless, it seems mean to mock his sometimes doggedly simplistic lyrics (see "A Few Honest Words" or his cover of "A Change is Gonna Come") so I'll simply say I liked this one best. The line "I thought I could change the world/if I just held you high enough/Truth is, I couldn't hold you up at all" is one of the best, most honestly naked, about relationship and personal failure I've yet heard and I go "oh Ben" with my hand over my heart every time I hear it.

"Lone Pine Hill" Justin Townes Earle

When I saw him live JTE said this one is about a juvenile delinquint which I didn't get before. I like the historical aspect and I love, love, love the lines "well, I never known a man who owned another/and I ain't never owned nothing of my own/so after 4 long years/I just can't tell what the hell I'm fighting for". Though it's a historical song, its echoes of another, more recent war, I believe are intentional and give this song even more weight.

"Ruby and Carlos" James McMurtry

Here it is, my song of the year. It was tough to pick one, it was even tough to pick just one from James. Though "Just Us Kids" was not as consistant and approachable as "Childish Things" the great songs from it were just that-great. But in the end, the bittersweet story of "Ruby and Carlos" won out. I love that it was recorded when James obviously had a cold and that that was the version they used (when you produce yourself I guess you can make those kind of calls). Every clogged word and whistling breath just adds to the story for me so much so when I heard it live when James was well the difference was startling. It also has that great, if frustrating, missed connection aspect where you hope, with this listen, Carlos won't leave or at least that he'll wake up enough to answer the land line (of course Ruby would use the land line) but, sadly, it ends the same every time. I've said it before and I'll say it till the end, McMurtry gets the most ink for the topical, protest songs but it's the love songs where he really shines and hardly ever brighter than this one.

"Alicia Ross" Kathleen Edwards

I wrote about my obsession with this song earlier in the year and at the end it still gives me chills. The image of "then he laid me in his garden/for years I'd watched him tend" is so poignant and creepily tender. It's a fine tribute, the kind every victim deserves and one of Kathleen's best.

"The 5th Race" Willy Vlautin

If you're a fan of Richmond Fontaine or his novels you know Willy can capture the hardscrabble. His characters don't ever have it easy and their struggles are the stick to you kind. But if you were wondering if Willy could bring the funny, if that was in his bag of tricks, "The 5th Race" is your answer. I was driving and laughing uproariously when I first listened. I immediately decided all my friends had to hear this so we could all work 'stewardess party' into our vernacular immediately. And Willy's delivery of the word "Hawaii" is hysterical. I was so glad this CD arrived when it did as I was worried about the total downer dismount of the Best of CD but then Willy comes along to leave them laughing-who would have thought?

Hear My Sol

So I did it. I screwed my courage to the sticking point and did it. I am so not one of those 'never met a stranger types' though, as their opposite, I am attracted to them. To walk into a room full of strangers and be comfortable is not one of my gifts but when I saw through a Facebook friend's page that a local shape note music group was forming I was intruiged. I've always been fascinated by shape note signing, perhaps for the same reason I have a tattoo of a cave painting and am writing a book where one of the characters is an outsider artist-I am interested in art and the way it always comes out, even (or especially) among the so called untrained.

Now I can put a song over but I'm no great shakes as a singer but in shape note singing it doesn't matter-everyone is welcome because not only is the Sacred Harp the songbook, the Sacred Harp is you, the voice. It's hard to get more democratic and darnright welcoming than that. And though I only got the smallest taste of that at our first meeting I can already see shape note singing's transformative appeal. Imagine the most bonding crowd experience you've ever had-be it sad (like a 9/11) or joyous (I'm thinking of seeing the Tigers beat the Yankees to make the Series) and how close you felt to every member of that crowd-even though you didn't know them, the shared experience made you all one in the "we're all songs of one song" way.

So I did it. I went and met some nice people and it didn't matter I had to drive around the block three times before I had the nerve to stop. It didn't matter I was the only nonsmoker and the oldest (I think) by more than a little bit. It didn't even matter that I had broccoli stuck in my teeth the whole night (though I really wished someone would have mentioned it) buoyed by the welcome belongingness of the Sacred Harp all I could think was "hear my sol."

Best of 2008-Books

A reminder before the orchestra starts the drumrolls-these best of are based solely on what I've read/watched/listened to and may not even all be 2008 releases. Lots of bestsellers will be missing from my lists and not just because I no longer work in books.


To the list:


Which Brings Me to You-Steve Almond & Julianna Baggott


A novel written by two authors, each telling half of a romance. A couple meet at a wedding, don't have sex in the coat closet and instead decide to write letters-old school letters-laying it all on the line, explaining how they each got there. I know, I know but trust me, the writing far outweighs its cutesy gimmick premise. I checked this out from the library and now reread the opening wedding chapter every time I go back.

50 to 1-Charles Ardai

The fiftith book in the Hard Case Crime series also has a seemingly gimmicky premise that, in series editor Ardai's skilled hands, turns into a terrific read. He wrote the fiftith book with fifty chapters, each with the name of one of the books in the series in the order they were published. Talk about a tall order. But it works and is a rollickingly good ride. Reading this sent me to the library for the rest of the series-they are all worth looking up.



Wicked City-Ace Atkins


A down and dirty, way up close look at the steamy, seamy underbelly of the so called "wickedest city in America". Atkins spares nothing in this one.


Girls in Trucks-Katie Crouch


The elevator pitch for this one would be The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing with Southern belles. Each story builds on the next so beautifully the reader is left convinced that a novel in short stories is the only way to tell this story.



Mudbound-Hillary Jordan



A Southern story frequently compared to To Kill a Moockingbird but which smacks more of Faulkner to me than Lee.



Secret of Lost Things-Sheridan Hay

A story of a stranger in a strange land who ends up working in a bookstore, I read this one as I was adjusting after my move is it any wonder I loved it? Read it too, and feel less lost yourself.



The Given Day-Dennis Lahane

A big sprawling historical book that trumpets, very loudly, 'hello I'm not just a genre writer' in the best possible way. I loved the small historic details, like the Babe Ruth bits, that make you imagine Lahane jumping up from his desk and shouting "eureka!"



Hardly Knew Her-Laura Lippman

Very few authors are as equally good at short stories and novels. Oates, Vonnegut come to mind but few others. To that you can add Laura Lippman and for proof you can hold up this book. Funny, dark, darker-the stories come in all shapes and colors but all amply speak to her abilities.



Tethered-Amy MacKinnon

A great dark debut that combines medical mystery, personal demons and the funeral home business for a potent read. It also had one of my favorite covers of the year.

The Turnaround-George Pelecanos

Yeah, he's my fave (I cop to that early and often) but I was dismayed to find this missing from all the other year end 'Best of' lists and to think when the Pelecanos canon is considered that this one will likely be relegated to 'lesser' status. I think this one confident and full of heart and believe it shouldn't be discounted.



Field of Darkness-Cornelia Read

If you've ever read a Tess Monahan novel and wished the rich BFF, Whitney, had her own book then Cornelia Read is for you. Her former debutant turned amateur detective is a terrific creation, one who the reader is glad to ride along with.

Northline-Willy Vlautin

I've written about this one elsewhere and so won't repeat myself except to say that if you have not read it you should.

It's Kind of Like the Technical Awards Already Given Out At Another Ceremony

Yeah, that.

Before we get to the prodigious (and prestigious!) liner notes for my best of 08 mix CD we first must doff our hat to the Honorable Mentions. They were on the bubble, some of them until the last minute. Hats off and a job well done. (And extra special thanks to RLB, who gave me so much music in 2008 my consideration pool was overflowing.)

"Methamphetimine" Old Crow Medicine Show

Never has a cautionary tale/warning been so darn catchy. Methamphetimine is really not something that should be sung with a smile on your face but OCMS's harmonies are so sweet you really can't help it.

"Carpetbagger" Jenny Lewis/Elvis Costello

I don't think these two have voices that go together at all (Costello just gets harder and harder to harmonize with doesn't he?) but this song totally works anyway.

"Cathedrals" Joan Osbourne

A great song with a great line "and spending a lifetime/figuring out just what that is" that I couldn't get out of head. A defination of life and home that I had not considered. And believe you me I did some thinking about both subjects in 2008.

"Damage" Tim Brantley

Never heard of him before or anything but this song but was always super happy to hear it when it came on the radio this fall. There's probably a sniglet for that syndrome.


A couple of other favorite artists who had new records in 2008 that are not featured on the CD are John Hiatt (the man gave me a birthday card so it makes me feel like the worst kind of heel not to include him but I found the new one just okay) and Drive-By Truckers (same goes for their new one, I'm still missing Jason Isbell I guess).


A few other songs with local ties that I would have included if I had the power to do so were Julie Martin's "Love We Threw Away" (you can check it out on her MySpace page) which was written by and performed with my pal, T.O. It's bittersweet and beautiful, just the thing for night listening with a drink at your elbow, melancholy thoughts in your mind. I've only ever heard it on my computer but that small sound actually suits it fine. I wish Julie would come to this side of the country, I'd love to see her live.

Nathan Salsburg lives here but has a drop dead cool job working for the Alan Lomax Archive (insert pea green job envy here). After reading a profile in a local magazine I was intrigued by his own music as well (also found on MySpace) which is frequently inspired by racing and favorite racehorses. I lost one whole day this fall discovering his work (he also has a radio show {"Root Hog or Die on East Village Radio"}, blog {Root Holler and Die} and record label {Twos and Fews}) and wishing he was my friend in that 6th grade "you're so cool be my friend" way. I like all the racehorse songs but would have included "Blues for Eight Belles" which is a lovely tribute to a lovely filly.