there is healing in your hands

I'm not sure how music affects most people. I think the majority of people go through life with music as a background noise. Something they hear on the radio; maybe they have a favorite song by an artist because it reminds them of a loved one or it reminds them of a party or a summer.

Other people, myself included, have a more intrinsic need for the music. When a song comes on, it triggers sense memories: the smell of someone's hair, the first taste of wine, the feel of the sun as it dries water to salt onto your skin. A song can leave you refreshed or energized, aching with loneliness, angry.

Recently I'm finding out that the reason some music is my favorite is because it heals my soul. Leading up to a concert, I generally overdose on the artists music, filling up with it so I am primed for the show. For this last Ryan Adams concert though, I found that I was just listening to Glen Phillips. I couldn't listen to Ryan at all. Talking to a friend, I realized that it is because listening to Glen sometimes heals up the tiny little cracks in my soul, like a salve upon my loneliness.

Seeing Ryan live, I was full of the energy created onstage, and I started to binge. I put all my Ryan Adams cds in and listened to them in order. I listened to dozens of live recordings. And I've been drowning in sorrow for two days straight. Where Glen's music calmed and soothed me, Ryan's music scoured my nerve endings, leaving them raw and defenseless. I can't say that one is better than the other. We need all our emotions for balance. Maybe I just need to learn not to overdo it.

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals – HOB Chicago 1/18/07

I saw Ryan Adams and the Cardinals play at the HOB Chicago this Thursday. I had seen Ryan play in the past, and his performances were either phenomenal or left people scratching their heads wondering what the hell his problem was. Well, this show was 2 1/2 hours of non-stop (and I literally mean NON -STOP – they did not take a single break once they started playing) ass-kicking, mind-blowing, otherworldly rock and roll.

Setlist:
1. Magnolia Mountain
2. A Kiss Before I Go
3. Please Do Not Let Me Go
4. Tears of Gold
5. Peaceful Valley
6. Easy Plateau
7. New York, New York
8. Let It Ride
9. Bartering Lines
10. To Be Young
11. Cold Roses
12. Shakedown on 9th St >
13. Carribean Queen >
14. I See Monsters
15. You Don't See Me Crying (Neal Casal)
16. Dear John
17. Harder No That It's Over
18. The End
19. Two Hearts
20. Trouble On Wheels
21. September
22. Blue Hotel
23. Freeway To The Canyon (Neal Casal)
24. Arkham Asylum
25. Beautiful Sorta
26. Mockingbird Song
27. Typecast
28. What Sin Replaces Love

Ryan said almost nothing during the show. The band took the stage without a word and just ripped into the songs. There were a few exchanges between the band members themselves, but no interaction with the audience at all. It was like they were putting this show out there, and you were invited to watch, grab the energy and make with it what you will.

This would be the first time I've seen Ryan looking completely happy on stage. Even when something would mess up, he just let it go and went on with his mission. The show ended with a freakish death metal riff that seemed to last forever with all the band members shredding on their instruments while Ryan repeatedly screamed into his microphone. It sounded to me like he was yelling "rockstar" but someone else said he was yelling "what sin". The lights were swirling around and flashing and I'm certain that if I had been on drugs I may have gotten another level out of that whole moment. But I wasn't. So, after about the tenth time he yelled it, I internally hoped they would overload the circuits and the entire place would lose power. I think my ears are still ringing just a little.

My lessons are as such: When you go to a Ryan Adams concert, expect nothing more than a glimpse into the complex universe that he seems to have created around himself. Bring ear plugs if you treasure your auditory organs. Prepare to walk out feeling like someone has hit you with a car so hard that it knocks you out of your shoes. Yeah. It's that good.

Dick Prall at the Fat Bean

myspace.com/dickprall

snow, polar bears, and dylan mcdermott

We spent Christmas and New Years in Albuquerque this year. Wouldn't it figure that Albuquerque received record-breaking snowfall while we were there, and we didn't pack snow gear? Anyways, here's a photographic review of my trip.

They say the sky is bluer in Albuquerque than other places. Something to do with lack of moisture in the air and light refraction. Judge for yourself.



The morning we got in town, the clouds were just sitting on top of the mountains.


Snow + cacti = awesome.


I love the Flying Star Cafe. They had matzoh ball soup when I was sick. (Or is it matzo?)


We got 22" of snow in a 48 hour time period.


We went to the zoo to watch polar bears wrestle.


And mountain lions lick themselves.


Even the orangutans were in a festive mood.


My favorites from the aquarium:
Puffer


Jellies


And the Slippery Dick.


I found a dragon


and a dinosaur biker


This was the runway at the airport the day we left:



We left on New Years Day. Flights hadn't entered or exited the airport for days due to the snow and dense fog from the evaporating snow. Luckily, my flight was neither cancelled nor delayed. Unluckily, it meant that there were lots of people stranded in the airport, so we got stuck sitting on the floor. I'm a people watcher, and I saw a man walk by who looked just like Dylan McDermott. Since I was with two kids under the age of 8, I couldn't exactly nudge one and ask their opinion, so I checked the NM Film Office site, and guess who is filming in NM? That's right. McDermott. Sadly, no photo, as I was unprepared for a celebrity sighting at the Albuquerque Sunport. He was looking pretty raggedy though. Maybe he was amongst the stranded.