J. Swaingrass’ blog

Well, maybe I'm biased, but I really wish I had been in Houston last night.  And that's the first time I can ever remember saying that, aside from a few nights after a few too many in college. 

Last night, My Morning Jacket premiered 8 of their songs from their forthcoming album Evil Urges in Houston.  (The album drops on 6/10/08.)  The show was a warm up for their appearance at South By Southwest this week in Austin, and one of these years, I'm going to make the run down there for the full week. 

But right now, I'm savoring the first taste of the new songs, which can be found here: http://breakfastontour.com/drupal/new+my+morning+jacket

I gotta admit, after hearing the news that the new album would be more of a soulful, funky listen rather than the boys' usual mix of rock/country/psychadelia, I was a little concerned that the new stuff might be tough to pull off.  But the marker of a great band is, after all, a willingness to expand their boundaries and try a new path at the risk of falling on their face.  (I would add to that, the mark of any great artist, period, is that willingness.) 

And from what I've heard while banging away at work this morning, this new album is gonna plain melt my face as well as get me grooving to some serious funk.   My Morning Jacket has always treaded on the exciting, untilled ground of plain old rock'n'roll and soul, melding an aggressive guitar attack while singing about love, lust, and going down the road feeling good about feeling bad.  And this new stuff really, really nails that.  From the song "Evil Urges," where Jim James croons in a falsetto that the Reverend Al Green would be proud of to the plain buttery thumping of "Highly Suspicious" (Elvis, I guess you have not left the building yet) there is so much reason to be psyched for this new album that I feel like I'm going to jitter myself into pieces until June 10th.  

One might say that this is babymakin'  music and not be far off.  Or at least music to lay back and sigh to.

In any case, I am really, really excited about this album and excited about seeing the band as much as possible on tour this summer and fall.  And can I trademark the phrase "gospel crunk"? 

Gospel Crunk: n.  Music that is characterized by heavy bass, throbbing guitars, sung mostly in falsetto and drenched in glorious reverb.  Music whose lyrics are centered around themes of lust, redemption, and semi-serious homages to James, Rick.  Music that is in itself sweaty and raw, unpolished but gleaming.
Ex: My Morning Jacket's new song, "Touch Me, I Scream Part 2."

Over and out, y'all.
--MG

Well, the Times broke the John McCain story this morning, and, as usual, everyone seems to be focusing on the idea of sex and not the real issue--lobbying.  I wish The Good Doctor Thompson were still around to chew on this one for a bit.  On one side, we'll get conservatives screaming about the Times trying to smear McCain, and on the other, we'll get liberals hypocritically bringing up the potential affair business. 

Methinks the real scandal is going to get lost in all of this.  Here we have St. McCain, that oh-so-maverick politician who was placed on a pedestal by the "liberal" media, cozying up with a lobbyist for the telecom industry.  Digging deeper (and these things no doubt need big ol' shovels to get past all the dirt, and even then, you're still nowhere close to the skin of the truth) I think you'd probably find that St. McCain is really no different from every other politician in his relations to lobbyists (save for the late Paul Wellstone who truly was not one of the usual politicians) and in the end, who is really surprised by that?

No, if you're paying attention, you shouldn't be.  And despite my support of Obama, this probably really isn't that much worse than Obama's dealings with Rezko, the shady Chicago slumlord that Obama got tons of help from.  In saying that, I still feel that Barack is about the cleanest politician we have going, much more so than McCain, but still, none of 'em are that clean.  They all have layers of dirt on 'em you have to scrub past. 

But back to the matter at hand.  I think that the Times kind of diluted their own story just by bringing up the issue of the alleged carnal affairs of McCain.  They can't prove that he was getting it on with the lobbyist, and that issue distracts from the real hypocrisy of him strutting around as a maverick reformer when in truth, he ain't wearing different clothes than the rest of 'em.  John McCain already left his first wife for his current wife, so it would be no shock that he was having an affair.  I care no more about who he's sleeping with than who Clinton was sleeping with.  (Makes them both sleazeballs in my opinion, but that's a separate issue.) 

But I do care about what lobbyists they are flying around on corporate jets with.  That shit influences what votes are going to pass, and I think we can all agree that McCain as president would be more, more, more of the same.  Especially when it comes to corporate welfare and/or subsidizing the military-industrial complex that he doth love so much.

That was my best Molly Ivins summation of the sit-u-a-tion. 

Sigh.  How long, Lord?  How long?

http://mediamatters.org/items/200802200001?f=h_top

Here we go.  You would think that if Bill O. and the Republicans start this kind of crap that people will see through it and get pissed off enough to denounce it.  I would think that Obama can withstand this type of stuff, but who knows.  It's going to start, even more so when he gets the nomination.  (Which will hopefully be wrapped up by March 4th..but let's keep our fingers crossed.)

To sum up, Bill O. stated on his radio show yesterday the following regarding Michelle Obama's (gasp!) comment that she was proud of her country for the first time in her life.  God forbid that someone utter those treasonous words, especially an African-American woman.  I mean, I think Michelle Obama is being pretty generous.  It's hard for me to come up with a time when I've been truly proud of my country, besides it being screwed up enough to produce great novelists, musicians, etc who are outraged about it being screwed up.  But I digress--if I don't like it here, I should leave, right?  At least, that's what they told me in South Carolina growing up. Here are a snippet of Bill O.'s comments:

Bill O. Reilly:  (responding to a woman who was irate about Michelle Obama's comment.)

O'REILLY: "You know, I have a lot of sympathy for Michelle Obama, for Bill Clinton, for all of these people. Bill Clinton, I have sympathy for him, because they're thrown into a hopper where everybody is waiting for them to make a mistake, so that they can just go and bludgeon them. And, you know, Bill Clinton and I don't agree on a lot of things, and I think I've made that clear over the years, but he's trying to stick up for his wife, and every time the guy turns around, there's another demagogue or another ideologue in his face trying to humiliate him because they're rooting for Obama.

That's wrong. And I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that's how she really feels -- that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever -- then that's legit. We'll track it down."

Okay, so let me get this straight.  Bill O. is defending Michelle Obama (you know that's what he will say along with the usual blah blah blah about the liberal elite and politically correct nazis out to get him) by saying that there should not be a lynching party against Michelle Obama UNLESS there is evidence that she thinks America is a bad country.

Then it's okay to start a lynching party?  I usually try not to think about these idiots such as Bill O., but this really set me off.   Lord, I hope that Keith Olbermann makes Bill O. Worst Person In The World tonight.  Pretty please?

Sigh.  For anyone that thinks the Republicans will lay off Obama's race this fall, think again. 

In any case, 10 in a row still feels pretty good today. 

I swear to God, I wish I was somewhere able to watch this.  You can't make this shit up--it's so surreal and absurd.  Part of me wonders why in the hell Congress is wasting its time on this, and the other part is completely entertained at the whole ridiculousness of it.  Only in America, right?

My favorite part?  Clemens saying he "worked his butt off," unintentionally reminding us all that he had an abscess on his butt..and how Clemens' wife Debbie got HGH injections but Clemens didn't? 

Lord have mercy.

Follow everything at espn.com or cnnsi.com via their blogs. 

Off to the Rock Show tonight to see Drive-By Truckers at the Mezzanine!

If you're as big of a music freak and dork as I am, then you probably already know (and have known for a while because of scouring internet chat room boards) that the Bonnaroo Festival Lineup is out tonight at midnight.  Also at midnight, Pearl Jam is making an announcement.  It's a pretty poorly kept secret that Pearl Jam is going to be one of the three main headliners at 'Roo this year, but exciting nonetheless.  I mean, the boys (PJ) at Bonnaroo makes me want to jump out of my skin.  The opportunities to see them are few and far between, and the band has been playing at a high level the last 2 years, and they always bring the fire at big shows.  They're one of the few bands capable of pulling off a large venue/crowd show, and they're one of the only bands able to get 60,000 plus people (including the inevitable Pearl Jam haters) rocking.  Trust me, seeing people who dislike Pearl Jam grudgingly admit that their live show is actually second to none is a sight that all of us diehards really enjoy, but all right okay, enough with rambling about the band...Pearl Jam at Bonnaroo means a 3 hour set and plenty of collaborations..(Seeing Jim James of My Morning Jacket with jam Ed is a lifelong fantasy.)  Also confirmed so far are Willie Nelson, B.B. King, Ghostland Observatory, and a few others, but the excitement, as always, is guessing who's gonna be there.

As for me, I doubt that Led Zeppelin will actually be there, am 50/50 on thinking that Metallica will headline, and I'm feeling pretty positive that the Beastie Boys, My Morning Jacket (actually about 100% on that one), and M.I.A. among others will be announced.  But there's always a wildcard with this stuff (think Tool at Bonnaroo last year and Daft Punk at Lollapalooza) so we'll see.

As for me, Bonnaroo is one of the only major festivals I haven't hit, and I was going to go last year but instead chose Lollapalooza and ACL (as usual) instead due to being underwhelmed by the Roo lineup.  This year, it'll be tough for me to make Bonnaroo, but it remains really high on my list b/c a) you camp b) the music goes almost around the clock for long sets and c) you can bring your own food and booze into the campground.  And d), it's in the mountains in Tennessee, and that is a damn fine place for a festival. 

Sigh.  Back to dorking out on the lineup announcement.  I'll post the link as soon as it's up or as soon as it gets leaked, which, I'm guessing, will be by 6 this evening, since someone usually snags it early.

Oh yeah, and as for that little matter of the election.  I'm really excited.  Voted for Obama yesterday, and the excitement was palpable.  I'm a huge nerd for elections and primaries, and no matter how jaded I am, I still get jolty on the day of.  I'm thinking Obama just might win Cali tonight, which would make for a damn good day overall.  We.  Shall.  See. 

Over and out,
MG

light rail

sometimes i am certain
that i have dreamed you up, conjured your thighs and
parted lips from the steam rising beyond the shower door
similar to that of headlights emerging out of fog
and asphalt in the early morning,
the mist on your skin a reminder
of the simple pattern of raindrops
strung like pearls on a spiderweb.

i wander back to time spent, or served, on a train
slipping through countless countries in 1998 and 
my certainty, then, that conjuring was only
applicable to magicians, top hats were needed
for love to be sprung from boxes and locked hearts
and i was sure of many things, that cocksure sure of that
limitless buoyancy of youth, and i wander back then
to time spent.

i was aboard a light rail train, the snow melting between iron and
my fists clenched around my limbs of quartz and i was
breakable but believing that was the
way to my heart, but this was long ago
before i met you, back when i believed in apparitions, a time
when it felt helpless to wonder, and now my heart is no longer
an abandoned storefront with windows unable
to keep in the heat.

I've been quiet lately.  But sometimes quiet is needed. 

Life is good.  Living with my love out by the beach with our cat and new dog, listening to the waves in the morning and enjoying the rain, which is an entirely different thing by the ocean.  I'm up and down on the rain, but when you're listening to it hammer the waves instead of hammer a cold, empty street, it's impossible to not find peace in it. 

I never got around to recapping my last year (which wound up being undoubtedly the best of my life as I found the person I want to be with forever and stayed healthy for the most part) but for some reason, this year didn't need to be recapped.  It just was in the best way possible, and in looking back, I found myself more at peace with my life and who I am in terms of (for lack of a better word) growth than ever before.  Lots more to do, lots more road to go down, but the car is in gear and humming over the asphalt like never before.  Writing wise, there is particularly a lot more to do, but I'm feeling good in moving back from poetry (after a year plus long jaunt into it) and back to prose, which is my first love and joy in terms of writing and always will be.  I'm looking forward to the sweat and grind of wrangling with sentences and periods and cursing characters who won't behave the way I want them to. 

With that being said, I'm going to be posting less poetry on here and more prose.  I'm working on something that may yet wind up being a book, and I'll be posting sections up when I finish with them.  Any feedback is welcomed, but this will be more of a work in progress and thought experiment, and I'll see where it goes.  With this piece being very close to the bone and very important to me, I'll be limiting those sections I post to my neighborhood.  If it turns out to be worth a damn, I only want people I trust seeing it. 

Did I mention that I'm turning 30 on Saturday?  I promise that has nothing to do with this post.  *wink* 

In the meantime, I just bought 7 new records (my birthday present for myself--already got the best present I could ask for in a trip to Yosemite last weekend from Miss Gray).  I couldn't be happier with this batch of rock tunes:
--Drive-By Truckers newest "Brighter Than Creation's Dark."  First impression?  Much, much improved on "A Blessing and a Curse."  A little long in the tooth but I'll take more DBT than less, and there are some strong fucking tracks on this album.  They're coming to SF on 2/13/08, and I couldn't be more excited about that show.  Do yourself a favor and go see the purveyors of the Rock Show.  They rock like no one's goddamn business, but I'm enjoying this album's more introspective sounds which are really highlighted by John Neff's pedal steel and Shonna Tucker's introduction as the third singer/songwriter.  (On a side note, Shonna's ex-husband former DBT guitarist Jason Isbell is coming to Slim's on Saturday night, and I'm going to enjoy the hell out of that show.)
--Radiohead's "In Rainbows."  Finally went out to the store and bought it. 
--Cat Power's new album "Jukebox."
--The Magnetic Fields' album "Distortion."
--The Mountain Goats' album "Tallahassee." 
--The Magnolia Electric Company's two albums whose names are escaping me at the moment, but damn, I've been told I would love this band and after listening to one song, I'm fucking hooked.

It feels good to be alive. 
--MG

pause

and you have no doubt noticed
that i trained the lens of my spyglass on
your movements.  i have also
often pushed forward across fields of wheat and chaff
without waiting for their cautious threads to settle
in my wake. 

there is no question about continuation.  we
must move eventually, and our bodies will rasp
at the seams of our love.  the accumulated scrapes
will leave a rough-hewed purple stain across
our lips, a brief quenching of the thirst
that always shakes our bones.

but there is a pause, a ship that has stopped
on the edge of the horizon.  a vessel breathing
through its oaken skin, holding its whisper
inside curled foam and the lapping of familiar waves.

i am living inside its pause. 
i am staying close to the living sounds we make.

--The second of the new ones.  Every other writer in the world has written something entitled "coda," so I figured it was my turn to give it a shot and actually try to make sense of actual definition of the word.

coda

look inside the definition. 

does the main body allow us both

to take it all in

and create a sense of balance? 

let me answer that from the beginning.

let me take my time.

i have never cared for too much balance

and i have never cared for heroes.  previous to

your skin, i was a low-wattage a.m. radio station

left on a highway searching for a frequency

but always emitting a signal ready to be picked up.

after your beacon, the tempo shifted.  the narrative intensified

(pulse would not be too strong of a word)

and listeners gathered from mileposts in the distance.

they craned their ears, drumming their manacled fingers

to the electrical frame of our static.

the listeners documented the story of our love.

there was a general sense that this was a song

they had heard before but could not identify.

let me continue walking with you, then, and

leave this crowd behind.  let us conclude our story

in the language of our symmetry: bodies clutched, whispers

breathed onto skin, the chords of our eyes forever cresting.

--Note:  This was written with a nod to the song "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn and John, which my lovely partner in crime played for me when the sparks first flew.  The title pulls directly from the song, and the poem is the first in the collection of stuff I put together for her recently. 

talking only

not whistling but rather listening to the ever increasing
decibels of a song you chose to guide my fingers into
the crosshairs of.

talking only, talking only.  our spaces being filled into
the gaps of where we are following suit.

not dancing yet but rather binding our feet into
the cadence of me and you.  where was it?  where
did we start dancing?  on a floor of some ribald
classic honkytonk  or on the bed of our eyelashes.

it doesn’t matter.  anywhere with you.  i would.
talking only, talking only.  our spaces filling in
the gaps in the wishes of our sleep.

driving now, diving into the syntax of our limbs.  feeling
alright with reeling into the dictionary of our bodies.  what
was the saying again?  a car and a tank full of gas, I would.
anywhere with you, on any path.

talking only, talking only.  maps and figures meted out
in the decibels of a song you once sang to me. 

i have seen you in a body of water. 
i have known you between the closing of eyes
and the beginning of sleep.