The Toadless Boy

Early this morning at work, I was sitting with my back to the window and I heard a low rumble and then a loud “toot.” There’s a railway across Riverside Drive from the back of our building and I knew what that meant. So I jumped up from my programming and strained over the air conditioner to look out the window and watch the train roll by. I noticed all the 3 year old boys joined me at the fencerow of their playground below me.

It’s not news to write about the shootings at Virginia Tech. It’s also not very respectful to use it as a “Look at me” situation (like a “where were you when it happened? I was washing a dish” sort of way), either. I saw one headline that said one person was shot early in the morning and I read one article yesterday afternoon to learn there had been many more.

What I’m writing to say is, I’m so sick of the way the media and the public handles things. We have the most devastating shooting incident at least since the Civil War and the media is immediately quoting President Bush out of context (a man I don’t normally defend with policies I don’t defend) and quoting students who are obviously upset to get the most sensationalist article possible. 30+ people were killed unexpectedly, do we really need to make it seem like all Bush did was polish his guns?  Do we really need to hear from the students that are at every university? The ones that immediately get in an outrage about things and craft the most firebrand sentences possible because it sounds cool or it is what they heard on 24 or Hardball?

I read the article yesterday and the last article I will read about it this morning. I understand people are upset about everything but saying things like “heads are gonna roll” and “there is blood on the university’s hands” for not warning people fast enough is not going to accomplish anything. Then taking this statement and publishing it as a voice of someone of importance because they were there is completely irresponsible.

We could get in to a debate on how much fear we want to live in, but that would take attention away from the fact that 33 (last count I read) people have been taken away from their friends and family.

This is a prelude to a future post about the worst live shows I’ve ever been to.

I wouldn’t say The Hold Steady was a bad show. I caught them at last year’s Lollapalooza. At this point, I was familiar with their record Separation Sunday but hadn’t developed an opinion one way or the other. Craig Finn (the lead “singer”) tells stories over music like the music shouldn’t be there. I am interested in his stories. His stuff reads (and sounds) like something that only calls for a little upright bass in the background for rhythm. But Craig’s obviously a partier* and just a little rhythmic bass doesn’t fly when you’re looking to party.

Even after seeing their show, my mind wasn’t made up. J was with and she hated it. Like, she never stopped talking about how much she hated The Hold Steady. I don’t blame her for that. They certainly were unique and I’m sure, like the PBR and Budweiser they drink, it’s an acquired taste. My decision was to decide later and to make sure never to listen to them around J.

The potential I did see was the vocal stylings becoming very tiresome. If he was a natural storyteller, his stylings wouldn’t become old but if he was pretentious it would show through his delivery. Seeing them live, he had a tendency to do the “grab at the air with a pick** in hand.” I see a lot of musicians do this. Like they are grasping for the next word, when really they wrote the song two years ago and practiced it over and over until they knew all the words. I really hope you know what I’m talking about, if you want more clarification I would be happy to take a picture of my own interpretation.

Anyway that was a small clue to whether this band was genuine or not, then on Opening Day this year, I made my decision. I will file them away with And They Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead… A band I will most likely never seek out in anyway.

(I try to avoid being a dick about bands. I still am sometimes and totally don’t want to present that air of “How could anybody listen to these guys?”*** I am aware of people that do^. And like J’s hating The Hold Steady, I don’t fault him for liking the Hold Steady.)

* If drinking crappy beer automatically makes you a partier.
**a pick for a guitar that he rarely played full chords on
*** I did that once about Muse to a friend and I’m sorry for doing it. Muse are great.
^ Someone I am looking forward to meeting after stalking him in my Google Reader

During tonight’s NCAA championship basketball game:

• the crowd (and announcers) will discover that Joakim Noah is “the emotional leader of the team.”
• despite not having his son* in the game, cameras will find Patrick Ewing and his necklace-adorned chest in the audience several times.
• it will be revealed that, due to an injury earlier in the season, Greg Oden shot free throws left-handed. He now shoots them with his right, not his left hand. His right hand.
• Greg Oden will return the opening tipoff for a dunk from mid-court, but OSU will go on to lose 69-4.

* Did you know Patrick Ewing Jr. was Patrick Ewing’s son?