O Greg!

I reconnected with an old friend recently. He was the lead singer, songwriter, and virtuoso guitarist for the band No Flies on Nigel back in Baltimore in the early 1990's. Greg is a terrific storyteller, a quality he immediately put on display at our reunion, and something which I had forgotten about. This man can weave a tale, with the laughter and the suspense and the insanity set to "11" the whole way.

One of the first stories he told was about when he first saw One Way Dog, another Baltimore band of the time. He had recently been lamenting that No Flies didn't seem to fit in with the Baltimore music scene at the time, being dominated by a loud, heavy sound equal parts Seattle flannel, DC punk, and Hammerjacks hair. What he heard at the One Way Dog show convinced him that they were compatriots in a different, more eclectic, more melodic sound, and he set about to meet them and to form a partnership.

Just a few nights later, No Flies was playing at E. Jay Buggs when Maddog and I went in to check about getting a gig for Here Are The Facts You Requested. There were few people in the bar that night, as was typical. But the band was terrific. Like HATFYR, they didn't seem to fit in with the Baltimore music scene at the time. I knew immediately that they were compatriots, and I set about to meet them and to form a partnership.

A few weeks later, Greg took me to see One Way Dog at the American Revolution, just around the corner from my apartment. Later Greg took me to a Puddle show at Towson State. (More on Puddle later.) The eventual result was a loose confederation of bands we called Stock & Pillory. We shared resources, fans, drums, amps, gigs, beer, and band members until HATFYR left Baltimore in 1994.

Greg is a music teacher now, and he also told me a story about a student of his who he felt was ready for some lessons in improvisation. Greg taught him a simple chord pattern, and then invited the student to improvise a lead guitar part while he repeated the chords. The chord pattern was the Here Are The Facts You Requested song called O.



I was flattered that Greg chose these chords to give and example of jamming, and reminded how he loved that song in particular. I love it too. I am happy that we've shared the experience of making music together, and excited that our proximity allows us to revive our friendship.

Before we left Baltimore, Greg recorded a song for us that expressed his love in signature fashion. He played every part himself and it was damn near better than anything we had recorded ourselves. We called it O Greg!

Another Slice of the Happy Pie

Here's another song from that 2004 Here Are The Facts You Requested show at Cafe du Nord in San Francisco. Landscape. Mmmmmmmmm...sweet.



I can't believe we sounded like that. That's how we always meant to sound.

Tough Times

When times are tough, music is often a source of refreshment. What jailhouse cliche would be complete without the lonely wail of a harmonica, or the sorry blues-plucking of a guitar made from toilet paper and cigarettes? When the guys of Delta House faced expulsion, what did they do? They called Otis Day and the Knights. And who did the downtrodden residents of a gray port city turn to to lift their spirits? Why, it was those four mop-topped lads called the Beatles.

Here's one of the best of times, from the end (or nearly so) of the last (or nearly so) concert of Here Are The Facts You Requested. This is from August 8, 2004, at Cafe du Nord in San Francisco. It was the last show of a tour that took us from the Bay Area to Barcelona and beyond. And it was probably the best show we ever played. It was certainly one of the best times I've ever had.

I Have a Man Crush

So I Be Written in the Book of Love

"Do not to your neighbor what you would take ill from him." (Pittacus)

"Avoid doing what you would blame others for doing." (Thales)

"What you wish your neighbors to be to you, such be also to them." (Sextus the Pythagorean)

"Do not do to others what would anger you if done to you by others." (Isocrates)

"What thou avoidest suffering thyself seek not to impose on others." (Epictetus)

"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." (Matthew 7:12)

It's called the ethic of reciprocity. Karma.

44

Whew.

Moment of Truth

I really started getting interested in baseball while getting swept up by the Red Sox during the 2003 American League pennant race. That year's Championship Series versus the Yankees brought to life in all its dramatic intensity the very essence of the Red Sox Story, complete with tragic ending. Their World Series win the very next year was a miracle that launched a new era for Red Sox Nation, but the 2003 Championship is the vessel which contains the fabled history.

In a similar way, it was an historic drama which drew me in to politics. The drawn-out and still-disputed 2000 Presidential Election results got me listening to NPR during my daily commute. My liberal blood became galvanized during the process that produced President George W. Bush, as it became clear that more than just Al Gore's stupefying dullness was working against his election.

I don't think Americans knew exactly what they were going to get when they went for W. Those who knew voted against him, and those who voted for him were die-hard Republicans, religious fanatics, or centrist folks who were simply tired of Bill Clinton, and willing to give the other side a try. There was drama in the historic way that the election results were finalized, but after Al said that the patriotic and ethical thing was to accept it and move on, largely, America and I did. We expected a typical Republican administration.

Of course Bush's leadership and the depth of Republican governing philosophy were quickly and repeatedly tested in a series of human disasters of literally historic proportions. Over the last 8 years we have endured both the random acts of mass cruelty that nature and fanaticism tolerate, and the creation of an Orwelian America by a son of favor and his Machiavellian veep. This paired heartbreak has left a scar not just on America's soul, but on her face to the World.

Now with Election Day 2008 just hours away, I think Americans know in their guts the historic implications of their choice. This election is a vessel which contains the history of hanging chads, Osama bin Laden, Guantanamo Bay, WMD, regime change, Abu Ghraib, Katrina, Fallujah, warrantless wiretaps, $5.00 gasoline, credit default swaps, and Sarah Palin. The choice whether to link the next four years to this chain, or whether to break it, is visceral. You know in your gut which choice will truly change the character of America's future, and you know which choice locks her to the past.

This is the moment, in full knowledge of the aching drama of history, in which America reveals herself. We await the truth.