Good Fortune (Todd Snider)

I commented recently on a friend's blog, regarding Todd Snider's new CD, The Excitement Plan:

I have been cranky lately because I actually got in on the limited edition box set, which was shipped to my house (in Florida) on the CD release day - however, I am still at my mom’s and as yet unable to listen…

I may actually order the CD from amazon.com and have it sent here - I can find a good home for the duplicate when I get back home…

I personally think every single one of his albums is brilliant, and I do hope you manage to work your way through the backcatalog eventually - if you enjoy “political without being preachy”, start with East Nashville Skyline (The Ballad of the Kingsmen and Sunshine, in particular)…

So... I *did* order the CD... and it arrived yesterday - I had a chance to begin listening on my way back to mom's from Mari's this morning, and I am flippin' loving it already! I highly recommend - you can read more about it... and listen to a recent NPR interview here...

Speaking of Fortune... neighbors have been bringing food, friends have been sending flowers and cards and writing in mom's guestbook... and my husband might actually be flying up for a visit - goodness abounds!

SONG: Good Fortune by Todd Snider

BOOK: Create Your Own Luck: 8 Principles of Attracting Good Fortune in Life, Love, and Work by Azriela Jaffe

POEM: Give Us Courage by Robert Louis Stevenson

Give us courage, gaiety and the quiet mind.

Spare us to our friends, soften to us our enemies.

Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavors.

If it may not, give us the strength to encounter

that which is to come, that we be brave in peril,

constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath,

and in all changes of fortune and down to the gates

of death, loyal and loving to one another.

QUOTE: "I can't even enjoy a blade of grass unless I know there's a subway handy, or a record store or some other sign that people do not totally regret life. It's more important to confirm the least sincere. The clouds get enough attention as it is." ~ Frank O'Hara

I Ought to Know (Jack Hardy)

A review I wrote for a concert I attended last night:

Thanks so much to Brian and Ellen for hosting yet another wonderful Shack in the Back concert - what a perfect co-bill!

Rod MacDonald and Jack Hardy have known each other for decades, from the Greenwich Village Fast Folk days - Jack still lives there (hosting a songwriter's exchange every week for *30* years!)... and we are lucky to call Rod local, after his parents' health issues 13 years ago in South Florida motivated him to move here.

Both men are sincere lovers of the language, translating their passion and skill to us in each musical gem - whether the theme is political, relationships or humorous, they craft poetry from their words, inviting us, the listener, on a journey of beauty and pain and connection.

We were treated to a few new songs last evening... Rod's Soldiers and Jack's Worst President Ever (and thanks, Vic, for requesting the elevator song... :-) - we laughed, we cried, we sang... and we came away changed...

Those of us who present house and venue concerts do not take for granted the work it takes to make such an evening appear seamless - much appreciation to all (from sound to snacks to seating!).

P.S. Congratulations to Rod and Nicole on the upcoming (February 29) birth of their second daughter...

P.P.S. I've seen Jack a handful of times at various festivals, more recently at last summer's Falcon Ridge - when he played I Ought to Know (last night's encore) at the festival after-hours, I googled the lyrics when I got back to Florida and was thrilled to find a hyperlinked version... :-)

P.P.S.S. Jack last night mentioned his friend Suzanne Vega, who covered his song St. Clare - she also coordinated Vigil: N.Y. songs since 9/11, a project sparked by the death of Jack's brother Jeff in the World Trade Center attacks...

SONG: I Ought to Know by Jack Hardy

BOOK: To-Do List: From Buying Milk to Finding a Soul Mate, What Our Lists Reveal About Us by Sasha Cagen

POEM: Lines For The Fortune Cookies by Frank O'Hara

I think you're wonderful and so does everyone else.

Just as Jackie Kennedy has a baby boy, so will you--even bigger.

You will meet a tall beautiful blonde stranger, and you will not say hello.

You will take a long trip and you will be very happy, though alone.

You will marry the first person who tells you your eyes are like scrambled eggs.

In the beginning there was YOU--there will always be YOU, I guess.

You will write a great play and it will run for three performances.Please phone The Village Voice immediately: they want to interview you.

Roger L. Stevens and Kermit Bloomgarden have their eyes on you.

Relax a little; one of your most celebrated nervous tics will be your undoing.

Your first volume of poetry will be published as soon as you finish it.

You may be a hit uptown, but downtown you're legendary!

Your walk has a musical quality which will bring you fame and fortune.

You will eat cake.

Who do you think you are, anyway? Jo Van Fleet?

You think your life is like Pirandello, but it's really like O'Neill.

A few dance lessons with James Waring and who knows? Maybe something will happen.

That's not a run in your stocking, it's a hand on your leg.

I realize you've lived in France, but that doesn't mean you know EVERYTHING!

You should wear white more often--it becomes you.

The next person to speak to you will have a very intriquing proposal to make.

A lot of people in this room wish they were you.

Have you been to Mike Goldberg's show? Al Leslie's? Lee Krasner's?

At times, your disinterestedness may seem insincere, to strangers.

Now that the election's over, what are you going to do with yourself?

You are a prisoner in a croissant factory and you love it.

You eat meat. Why do you eat meat?

Beyond the horizon there is a vale of gloom.

You too could be Premier of France, if only... if only...

QUOTE: "Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." ~ Confucius