439. Instrumental Value

There are few things worth what you pay for them. Instruments are one of those things, partially for how long they will last and partially for how well they can communicate from your soul.

438. Homemade Groove

Make homemade instruments.

Blow over the top of a glass bottle. Put wax paper over a plastic hairbrush for a kazoo. Put dry beans in a plastic container for a shaker. Stretch rubber bands or string over a box as a guitar. Make a cube out of wood panels, each with a different thickness for varying tone; cut a three-inch hole in the bottom or side so the sound can escape.

Now groove.

Master that before you pay hundreds for decent instruments.

403. Suggested Music: Marc Broussard

His Carencro album, specifically the song “Home.”

Incredible groove, but not difficult technically. The smokey character to his voice and the vocal acrobatics he is capable of are impressive. One reviewer likened him to a bit of Ray Charles; I happen to agree. Broussard’s live hurricane Katrina charity album shows those qualities off a bit more than the studio stuff, but that is expected. And his live drummer matches his intensity the whole way.

Listen to the studio version of “Home” by Marc Broussard here.

400. Suggested Music: Hoi Polloi

Hoi Polloi, their Happy album. It has a picture of a doll with a burlap outfit on the cover; very post-modern.

This was an indie band from the mid-1990s — I bet not more than a few thousand of their albums sold in their touring time — but they did some great studio work. Incredible drummer, impeccable sonic palette, and arresting vocals that unfold the poetry behind the music. One of the great unknown hard rock (progressive rock) albums.

Listen to “Tiptoe” by Hoi Polloi.

Listen to “Love Has Come” by Hoi Polloi.

396. Essay: Argumentation Categories

I believe there are four main categories of argumentation, with one subcategory that is combined as needed with the primary four:

1. Religious: Either defending or vilifying the authority of spiritual works.
2. Rousing: Appeals made on emotional grounds. Generally, these are smokescreens and hold negligible weight upon scrutiny. Because each side displays equal passion and because riling emotions is not the front where progress can be made, emotional arguments should be swept away almost immediately. This includes sarcasm and verbal sparring.
3. Reasoning: Logical progressions, syllogisms, comparisons and contrasts, philosophy, and the like.
4. Research: Clinical studies and meta-analyses. These, however, do not reflect true daily situations and cannot account for every possible variable.

• Reality: The undeniability of our human experience; existentialism in its true meaning; what we go through each day. This subcategory is reflected in some of the arts — music, movies, poetry and such — and fits easily with the prior categories and can be used to support them at will.

Though, for instance, the religious may use their sacred text more and the analytical may use research more and the ignorant may use sarcasm more, all sides utilize all four categories to undergird their perspective. They are wise to do so. No single category can solve a disagreement, but cumulatively they clarify each perspective overall.

Know when and when not to use each.

395. Suggested Music: Fleming and John

Both albums, The Way We Are and Delusions of Grandeur.

Their first was Delusions, and it was rock to the core. Difficult subject matter is broached with honesty and whimsy at the same time. The musicality, however, was not second on the list. They retain tight control over every chord and transition, turning it into a musician’s playground as well as a tool from which budding musicians may learn.

They are a married couple with real skill. Fleming’s vocals are second to none. She can flow from rock to big band to operatic octave jumps without thinking twice. John Mark Painter played every instrument except drums (Fleming’s brother did that). Painter even taught himself how to play new instruments just to get the exact right sound for their second album. He was obviously not impressed with the samples he could have gotten off any decent engineering program. And thank goodness. It gave the album that extra sincerity not found in layer upon layer of samples.

Way is their foray into expressing emotions with completely different styles of music: a touch of punk, a bit of emo, rock ballads, love songs, a haunting theme, a disco romp, and a jazz epilogue. All without selling either the lyrics or the style short one bit. In musicianship, it is rare to flow seamlessly from one style to another with complete competence.

Way is dominated by themes of love, relationship, what it means to be married while your friends are still dating, and the inevitable broken heart. There is seriousness and lightheartedness at once. And who has ever compared their spouse to a La-Z-Boy recliner? Fleming and John, that’s who.

John moved on to some producing and they started a family, so their music took a back seat after the second album. They did a special song for a Christmas album, but it was only one song and it wasn’t the best. I only wish we had more material from them. If they ever do release a comeback album, it will be the first on my list of music to purchase.

Listen to “Not Afraid” by Fleming and John.

Listen to “Letters in my Head” by Fleming and John.

Listen to “I’m So Small” by Fleming and John.

Listen to “The Pearl” by Fleming and John.

392. I Love Drums

I love playing the drums. Rhythm, syncopation, tone, the sound . . . even wood grain itself. I love everything about the drums. I love it when I play and when I get to hear other good drummers play. I love a well-placed lick that makes you rewind and hear it again. I love a solid groove. In the pocket is what it’s called. I love volume and finesse, I love drum clinics and music that highlights the technical prowess and caliber of skill that another rhythmic soul possesses.

When I play, I play loud. I am not good at finesse. It is probably not my calling. When I hit a tom, it is heard; it is a good, solid, unmistakable tone. My sticks are worn around the middle because I hit my snare in the middle of the head and on the rim at the same time. That’s called a rimshot and it cuts through every other tone with a khah that can split eardrums. (Just ask my band mates.) Cardboard-sounding snares annoy me, so my snare is always tuned high. Not so high that there is no tone, but high enough to be definitive. I have a 4×14 piccolo snare that is the pride of my instruments. It is gorgeous and has always pleased my ears.

I love drums.

376. Whistlestop

Don’t whistle to the music in a public waiting room.

367. Essay: Disappearing Concepts

Legacy: Worth Less

I bought a laptop once I decided to switch from a Microsoft operating system to a Macintosh system. (Best technology decision I’ve ever made, by the way. I only regret not doing it sooner.) That was 2004; it is now 2011.

On a recent Apple store visit I was clued in to the nickname of a computer that old: legacy. That means newer than vintage but older than classic — and still worth less than both. So I started thinking about the pace of technology and what things are disappearing.

The kicker for me is not that gadgets come and go, but that concepts themselves are changing. Entire categories of technological concepts will have disappeared by the time you are fluent in the technology of your day. Because of touch- and gesture-based technology, the vestige method for selecting an item — the mouse click — is currently being replaced by the more natural finger tap. The tap is more in line with what we expect should happen, but how long will the tap be around?

Legacy Technology

Let’s take the simple act of listening to music as an example. Of course it starts with an instrument, but recording that instrument and then playing it back is another matter. There was the phonograph, then the vinyl album turntable, the eight-track tape, then the cassette tape, the compact disc, and then the world of digital audio. There are a few more subcategories to each of those, but that’s the general overview.

With the phonograph and turntable, a needle had to be guided directly into a groove on a spinning disc. We had to ensure careful placement of the needle or the resulting scratches would distort the sound. Utilizing a needle also meant that the more the album was listened to, the more degraded the sound playback quality became.

Legacy Concepts

Eight-track and cassette tapes had to be inserted into a playdeck certain way; the playback head needed cleaning; if the magnetic band got crinkled, the sound became warbled; to listen to an entire album we had to flip the cassette to the other side, or — crazy words here — fast-forward and rewind to the song of your choice. Of those two terms, because of digital audio, you may never truly understand what rewind means. Sure, you can skip to this song or that movie, but rewinding will be a non-concept to you. It was part of my world, but it won’t be part of yours.

We rewound everything. If we liked a song, we had to rewind it. If we liked one side and not the other, rewind it. If we watched a movie on a VHS tape, we had to rewind it if we ever wanted to watch it again. This was especially true when we went to a physical store to rent a VHS movie. It was the renter’s responsibility to rewind it before returning it or the store would charge extra to do it for you. So we bought dedicated machines with the sole job of rewinding video cassette tapes.

DVD discs and digital movie files changed this entirely.

I don’t lament newer, faster, and better technology, but it does feel odd that an entire concept will be foreign to you: Be kind, please rewind.

340. Essay: Jesus’ Birth, The Ultimate Minimalism

Minimal Me

The move toward minimalism that has arrested the design world over the last decade or so owes the Internet a debt of gratitude. Where else can you call out dreadful design, redesign it yourself, and publish it in a matter of moments — all with an unlimited audience? We champions of web minimalism can have an accidental air of arrogance: I’m better because I’m cultured, refined, and can easily see what should be obvious to you and your blind grandma. Some are professionals now, some have schooled themselves, and others just know exquisiteness when they see it. We are well-meaning perfectionists usually lacking in some restraint when it comes to offering our help, unsolicited. Classic Asperger’s autism, what with all that social ineptness and such. But we truly do care.

Trend-ginnings

It seems a trend began by decrying bad design: hating Myspace because it was the Vegas of online sites with too much blinking and hollering to be of any benefit to the sober; Microsoft and their lack of caring . . . about anything, like font rendering, bloatware, user experience, and quality and polish; excessive buttons or steps to complete a process; Adobe’s frustrating and unclear software installation process; poor instructions for assembling a new piece of furniture.

But shouting about what’s wrong doesn’t show others what’s right, so the second wave of minimalism was rooted in pointing toward the archetypes that were right, those who merged the necessary and the beautiful, the function with the form. Dieter Rams, Apple Inc., Swiss and Bauhaus design, Occam’s philosophical razor, writers Samuel Beckett and Ernest Hemingway, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the asian zen harmony, and glimpses in Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture.

From recognizing the masters came the ability to balance the equation: Less is not necessarily better, but there should only be what is necessary — and what is there should be exquisite.

Divine Restraint

Minimalists should, at the very least, recognize the genius within the birth of Jesus. It has all the hallmarks of a coulda-gone-over-the-edge event, but was the epitome of restraint.

The Christmas story says that a baby was born in Israel about 2000 years ago. So what. Babies are born all the time. Well, I guess baby is a bit of an understatement. It was God who was born. God. The only uncreated being created the world with His own power and then came to be sequestered within it; not only that, but sequestered within fragile flesh as well. That’s like covering a volcano with plastic wrap or trying to shroud the sun with tracing paper.

Divine Surroundings

Biblical descriptions of heaven are nothing less than stunning, the physical as well as the intangible. We now turn to the backdrop of heavenly extravagance to set the scene in great detail.

There are layers of substance and activity long before reaching God. It starts out looking like a windstorm with lightning flashes and diffused, emanating light. This fog-like cloud is the most exterior layer and its center glows like fire. In the center are strange and captivating creatures that look like charcoal after it’s been set on fire. Flame bursts shoot between the creatures as they move around on bejeweled wheels, accompanied with flashes of lightning. Over their heads is a hovering platform that sparkles like blue crystal; imagine looking up at the blazing sun from underneath crystal blue ocean waves. Over the platform is a throne, and this is where God is, surrounded by a radiance that looks like a green rainbow on a misty day. He is categorically supreme, unparalleled in essence. Were it not for Jesus Christ, God would not even be approachable.

Turning around away from the throne will fill your view with majestic hills, rushing rivers — simultaneously crisp, refreshing, and afire — that have the power to sustain and heal, cities that house the holy, and gold-encrusted streets. Like an ocean wave when it pushes the body, color itself has weight and substance to it. It communicates on another emotional level to fill in context and connotation.

Color and sound are basically the same thing, just at different points of the spectrum, so color has a sound when it strikes the listener. This means music is always heard in heaven. There are no vocal celebrities, but an ever-rising crescendo of worship given to the only being who is worthy of adoration. Harmonies dance in unison with the pulsating instrumentation and anyone can join in at any moment, but the human voice, fortified with its free will and bursting with thankfulness, is the preeminent instrument.

And this is only the beginning of the emotional aspects of this environment. God is perfect, and because His qualities emanate from within His being, His qualities are also perfect. His love, goodness, and joy have no comparison. The brute substance and amount of the qualities rushing forth from Him would make the imperfect wizened in His presence. Power, even emotional power, must be under control or it will overwhelm, domineer, and possibly destroy, which is why His mercy and self-control are so pivotal. These emotional aspects make it seem as if heaven will be level upon level of personal connections — of true family.

Earthly Restraint

Had Jesus been born into the extravagant luxury of a palace, it would have been justified. Had it been announced far and wide with fireworks and a week-long celebration, it would not have been too much. Regardless the heights, the pomp, or the superfluous expense, it would not have been enough to mark the most important birth on that day: God Himself was born.

But, no. We have none of the rightful self-promotion we would expect from someone of such status. There is no hype in Jesus’ birth.

The most we get is a group of angels who make the announcement, but even that is minimalized. Notice the angels only appeared to some unimportant shepherds; that it was done at night; that at first there was only one angel until a group of angels appears at the very end of the announcement; that the angels were preoccupied only with giving a message and nothing more; as such, the angels only appeared for a short period of time; that the angels did not even sing. The Bible says the angels praised God, saying, “Glory,” or that they shouted with a loud voice, but there’s no singing. When the shepherds arrive where Jesus was born, there is no king in sight, only exhausted parents — themselves outcasts several times over — in the most meager of settings with a newborn son.

Minimalism in any category makes room for drama. If the story began at the crescendo, the narrative would have nowhere to go. But by starting at the lowest, the story is an ever-increasing crescendo. In a palace birth, the shepherds never would have been able to intrude in celebration, but this was a child given to the world rather than only to the wealthy. God intruded upon the world, the angels intruded upon the shepherds, the shepherds intruded upon Joseph and Mary, and the Messiah intruded upon our deepest and eternal needs — all this accomplished in the most non-intrusive, minimal way possible.

Comparing what Jesus came from in heaven with how He was presented at His birth highlights the minimalist qualities of merging the necessary and the beautiful, the function and the form, and the wisdom of restraint.