Who Would Steal 30 Bag Lunches?

Or 30,000 books? The Paris Library has just discovered that about 30,000 books are missing from its collection...17,000 of which have gone missing since the last inventory - in 1947 (when I read that, I thought the last inventory was going to be a LOT more recently than that).

I'm not sure what to say about this. It is sad, certainly, but I'm not really that surprised. We're looking at a loss of about 280 books a year on average (which does seem pretty high). But, its likely that they've updated their security systems as technology has advanced, so a lot of those books were probably taken quite some time ago. Don't libraries anticipate this kind of problem?

Rob Bergstrom, Everybody!

Left Foot Braking mid-show

Severna Park is a really nice place to grow up, in part because the people who live there are not paticularly transient. When people move there, they stay. If they move, its usually down the street. As a result, I've known a lot of my high school friends since kindergarten or first grade. Its a special kind of friendship when you can talk about who wet their pants in kindergarten (Rasim, and he will remind you of it) or who threw up in Mrs. O'Hara's music class (Brett Steger, who then moved away...but I don't think because of the music class incident).

Its the kind of friendship that makes you tolerate a lot of annoying traits...and that makes it easy to stay friends, even when people move away. And its the kind of friendship that makes it easy to drive 3 1/2 hours in the summer (without air conditioning) to go to a CD release party/show on a Tuesday night.

So that's what I did last week, on June 21st, which also happened to be Rob's 30th birthday. He and the band played a show at Gravity Lounge in Charlottesville to announce the release of his new CD, Live at Victory Hall Theater.

CJ and I were both able to rearrange our work schedules to get to the show, and my sister drove over from Lexington to meet us. Gravity Lounge was a cool venue - sort of a bookstore/cafe/music house with a very laid back feel and awesome, heavy, crystal wine glasses. During the show, I took a ton of notes (as is my way) on a variety of old credit card receipts found in my purse. I'm not a very prepared journalist.

After the show, Erin went home, I stopped taking notes, and Rob, CJ and I headed to another bar to hang out with Rob's sound guy (the very talented Rich...really the sound was incredible) and manager (the entertaining storyteller John). I was up way past my bedtime for a Tuesday...but it was well worth the pain.

After my miserable drive home (again with no A/C) on Wednesday morning, I typed up my notes and realized I'd taken in a TON of information, including the entire set list. I won't go into that much detail here, but there are a few observations I'm going to make:

1. Its really interesting to know someone for so long then to hear him sing songs and tell little stories (VH1 Storytellers style) about his life and how he feels. Rob has always been a pretty open guy with his emotions (I remember being at a party at his house in high school and listening to him read from his middle school diary. It was all about skateboarding and how cool Emily Pickens was. Just like I'd imagine ALL SPMS 7th grade boys diaries were back then.) But still, it is really cool to hear him express himself through music. Makes me feel like I know him better than I know a lot of other people.

2. Its also cool to have known someone for their entire music career (and since I met Rob when I was four, I feel comfortable saying I have). He's grown a lot, even in the past few years, month by month, I think. Lyrically, his newer songs have a clarity and universality (though they're still personal) that give them an edge over his older stuff (which is not to say I don't looooove Marlboro Lights, his early pop hit-to-be). His voice has matured, too, and (probably) his stage presence. Granted, this is the first time I've seen him play in such a professional setting, but I thought he did a great job telling stories that lead into the songs. Again with the Storytellers format. He's really suited for it.

3. Along those same lines, this was the first time I'd heard him play with Left Foot Braking and I was SO impressed. He'd do a few songs on his own, then a few with the band, then on his own, then again with the band. That left the audience able to contrast is solo style with what he gets from a collaborative effort - it kept it really interesting. Plus, the band played a few songs written by other members...and I thought they were awesome, though stylistically very different from Rob's songs and from each other. I left thinking about how my parents used to talk a lot about the difference between Paul McCartney's and John Lennon's Beatles songs.

4. During the whole show, and the drive home, I couldn't help but think about how lucky I am to have such great friends. When our friend Emily, the aforementioned coolest girl in middle school (and later, too) died a few years ago, Rob wrote a song to remember her. Its a happy, positive, fantastic song and entirely appropriate for her, and it always makes me cry when I hear it (CJ and I were a bit of a mess when he played it during the show). But it also always sends the Benfield/SP kids into a fit of remembering how lucky we are to have such great, old, talented and interesting friends.

Unfortunately, usually when we're being thankful for each other, its because something bad has happened - like Emily's death (or, for example, our friend Matt being in shock trauma after a stupid motorcycle accident.) The nice thing about that night in Charlottesville was that it reminded me of all the great things about my friends - in a happy way. It was Rob's birthday, we were celebrating, and it was very easy to be happy without the twinge of sadness that usually comes with the "we have such amazing friends" talk.

I realize this post has spiralled into the worst kind of sappiness...the "I love you guuuuyyysss" kind that usually comes only when I've been drinking. I'd planned to take this post in a different direction, actually, and talk more about Rob's musical style, how he reminds me of Ryan Adams, what it must be like to be a musician in a town known for one big, super famous hometown boy, and what might be different about Rob's musical career if he lived in Baltimore. But I didn't.

Instead, you got the schmaltz. Sorry.

But I really, really do love my high school/elementary school friends. Go Benfield Bengals!!!

Redheads Unite

Post-Left Foot Braking/Rob Bergstrom show at the Gravity Lounge in Charlottesville last Tuesday (taken by my sister). Look how happy all three of us look. That's what a little Benfield Elementary reunion spirit will do.

And yes, I know its been over a week since I promised I'd post about the show. I'm starting now. More to come.

Speaking of Eminent Domain

Which, BTW, people on both sides of the fence seem to dislike (though I admit I can appreciate the realistic need for the pre-Kelo interpretation of the concept)...

Anyway, speaking of eminent domain, I'm a little bit in love with these shirts (they also come in O'Connor - and part of the proceeds go to the Institute for Justice). I first saw them on Tuesday and emailed them to a few friends...who then told me that they are not, as I thought, kind of funny and that I am an enormous dork.

To which I say: whatever.

I <3 Lists about Music

Almost as much as I love Ann Althouse, so these lists from her commenters are especially exciting for me.

I like the line about the best music being the music from your high school years. That's definitely true for me, though its not the music actually written and released during my high school years. Its the music I listened to constantly, most of which was written in the late 60s or 70s.

How I Spent My Weekend

I love the Poconos. I spent about 6 hours this weekend sitting on a porch looking out at pretty trees and a golf course and doing just about nothing else. So nice.

Not Exactly the Sentiment I'm Looking for from My Cab Driver

Seen while driving in downtown Charlottesville.

Best. Game. Ever.

Played it this weekend. Quite successfully, too.

Horoscope

Today in the WaPost, mine (Capricorn) quotes Bobby Brown (or Britney, I guess). Interessant, non?

Blogging about Blogging

Expect a biiiig post from me in the next couple of days. Almost a piece of original reporting, really. Last night I went to the fantastic Left Foot Braking/Rob Bergstrom show/CD release party at the Gravity Lounge in Charlottesville. It was Rob's 30th birthday, so CJ and I went down to visit and my sister drove over from Lexington. Lots of fun and I, naturally, took lots of notes.

Which brings me to my blogging about blogging. Granted, I have always been a note-taker, even in the days before I could publish my notes for fives of readers to see on the internet. My first trip to Europe - over 90 pages of notes. Honeymoon in Portugal - 87 pages. Last night's notes (all taken on random credit card receipts with a borrowed pen) are over 3 pages long...and the night only lasted a few hours.

So I've always been a note-taker, but last night I realized just how much the ability to blog has effected the way I experience things. Last night, I was taking chronological notes, but I also broke in a lot to make notes about specific posts. Interesting. Really only to me, but I mean, this is my blog.

So, more to follow on the great Rob Bergstrom and other assorted issues. Pictures, too. Just not tonight.

Sure to be Good

Without even seeing the book in person, I can recommend Letters from New Orleans by Rob Walker. I love his Consumed columns (when I remember to read them, I always wish I never forgot) and I can't get enough of his extremely sporadic consumer-focused emails. He's an incredibly observant and smart guy, with the kind of casual voice that makes me feel like I'm having a good conversation instead of just reading.

Embarrassing

Last night I had a dream that was a full-on horror movie with a happy ending. That, in and of itself, is not embarrassing. What is a little mortifying, though, is that the dream included a not-too-subtle thematic villian: Scientology.

I'm afraid I might need to lay off the TomKat news for a while.

Songs and Ads

Well, not everybody can be as successful with their advertising as Hewlett-Packard.

That Royal Carribbean/Iggy Pop thing really bothers me, too.

I Could've Written This

...if I was an outrageously pretentious music snob.

For the record, I still have ALL my mix tapes. Even the ones that are broken because I listened to them too much (the 1996 classic "Suzanne moves to San Francisco" comes to mind).

The Tom Part of TomKat

"He's like a ferret on speed."

So perfectly descriptive. Brilliant.

Unintentional?

If what Bono says is true (I say as I swoon...who doesn't love Bono?), and this woman didn't mean to be insensitive, her international aid organization has a lot to answer for.

One of my roommates from senior year of college went into the Peace Corps immediately after school - to Togo, to teach sex education. Granted, that's a loaded topic, but you can be sure the Peace Corps didn't let her leave the US without a very clear understanding of local culture and what not to do.

Talk about cultural imperialism.

Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech

Amazing speech. It's personal without being exclusive and offers real advice, not tired platitudes.

It made me feel good about getting fired. Actually, really good. And it slightly eased my obsession with death that began on the fourth night of my honeymoon (triggered by an old episode of Six Feet Under with Portuguese subtitles. Weird.)

I was lucky enough to have an amazing and brilliant commencement speaker, as well - Justice Scalia. I couldn't find the whole text of the speech (1996 was a long time ago, after all), but here's a quote. W&M is really good at attracting great speakers, who give great speeches (I thought John Stewart's speech at last year's graduation was pretty fantastic, too.)

Arts-Blogging

(I am healthy again, BTW. Even Cooper's feeling better today)

I'm all immersed in the arts this morning, having just learned of this web site that rounds up arts-related stories on a daily basis. A few interesting things:

-- The recovery of this Goya gives me hope that the police will find The Scream. It also makes me think of how cool it would be to be a part of the international art police. Totally a role I could see played by Catherine Zeta-Jones. Who I sort of want to be, of course.

-- I found this article about the intersection of pop culture and the traditional museum mission very interesting, especially given my obsession with pop culture. Thing is, if museums are, as the article suggests, the "custodians of cultural heritage", isn't there a place for pop culture? Shouldn't there be?

I think the answer is yes. Shakespeare, after all, as we all learned sometime around ninth grade, was entertainment for the masses, not something confined to within the palace walls. More akin to today's Lord of the Rings trilogy than to a critically acclaimed, but narrowly released play. And what, really, is the difference between a Princess Di exhibit and one focused on King Tut? Several thousand years, yes, and possibly a slightly more approachable voice, but content-wise, they're the same.

As research institutions and cultural custodians, museums should be doing everything they can to document what happens today as early as tomorrow morning. What better way is there to preserve history than to remember it as it occurs? Instead, many museum professionals turn up their noses to anything current. What a shame.

"So Money"

I live in a world of over-quoted movies, so naturally I find this hilarious. Especially the Swingers part. About 2 years ago, GQ listed 100 movies no one over 30 should quote. Swingers was #1. I told Cooper he didn't have much time left. Somehow I doubt it sunk in.

My five readers (and Cooper) will be happy to hear that in the comments of the post linked above, there's a list of movies it's OK to quote...including: Lebowski, Pulp Fiction (specifically the CW scene, I assume), Boogie Nights, Ghostbusters and, of course, Caddyshack.

Without those movies, I don't know that Cooper would talk at all.

Irritating

Is it just me, or isn't there supposed to be a distinction between "editorial" and "news" (like, the non-partisan, blandly written, fact-based articles that fall above the fold on page A1)?

We hear an awful lot about bias slipping into the "news"...but this NYT editorial suggests there's a problem on the other end of the spectrum too: those writing editorials seem to forget that they're opinion is not fact.

Sigh. This is why I read blogs.

What I'm Trying, Somewhat Unsuccessfully, to Read Right Now

The Hamilton Case by Michelle de Kretser. I actually bought this book - it's not from the library. It sounds so interesting:

A flamboyant beauty who once partied with the Prince of Wales and who now,
in her seventh decade, has "gone native" in a Ceylonese jungle. A proud
Oxford-educated lawyer who unwittingly seals his own professional fate when
he dares to solve the senseational Hamilton murder case that has rocked the
upper echelons of local society...etc.

Unfortunately, the whole book is written in an eerily familiar voice:

My parents quarreled frightfully. Or rather Pater dodged about the room, while
my mother hurled abuse and whatever she could reach at his maddening smile...She
plucked a canary from its cage and launched it on a stream of curses. It flew
into a mirror and died. Mater seized the yellow corpse and dropped it into her
teacup, then flung the lot at my father's head.

Yes, this book appears to be narrated by Dr. Evil. I can't get past it. Plus, I'm on page 21 and I've fallen asleep reading three times already.

I <3 Antibiotics

Crossing my fingers that the combination of Biaxin and medicated eyedrops will fix my health problems quickly. And regular posting will resume at that time. I promise.

The Allure of Absolutes and Escapism

I didn't sleep much during the summer of 1986. I was ten years old and had just watched Red Dawn over at my friend Katie's house. I wouldn't recommend that for anyone. I slept in the basement that summer, while my parents had an addition put on the house, and could only fall asleep on my stomach, with my legs bent up at the knee, ready to kick the sheets off in case of nuclear war (painfully illogical, I know). I was convinced, probably rightly, that my house's proximity to NSA and Washington would make it a prime target for any nuclear attack on US soil. So I didn't sleep and I remember well how nervous I was that summer.

A few years later, the fall of the Berlin Wall had a similarly strong effect on me, leading me to my college major, among other things. But it didn't make me forget how afraid I was of "the Russians" when I was ten.

But by the end of this John Updike review of Robert Littell's Legends, I found myself longing, just a little bit, for the simplicity of the Cold War conflict. The comfort that comes from understanding your enemy's motivations, from knowing that they're ideological at the core. And from believing that you can relate to your enemy on a human level.

(My seventh-grade social studies teacher, the extremely creepy and diminutive Mr. Ciurca, was a little obsessed with the USSR...and forced our class to memorize the words to Sting's Russians to help us understand the enemy or something like that. So, of course I still know all the words. Kind of a waste of memory.)

There's something very romantic about past conflict, too, especially when it's been more or less cleanly resoved. Reagan's death last year added an even softer glow to the whole deal, as his former detractors turned into fans. Layer that on top of a murky, confusing current international political situation, with an enemy that is mysterious (and not in a good, romance novel sort of way) and the Cold War should probably expect to soon enjoy the Best Year Ever in terms of mass market lit and movies.

For the most part, I wouldn't mind that. After reading Updike's review, I thought I just might read the book (maybe). And that I will almost definitely get more into the international thriller genre (already one of my favorite types of movies).

I am a little concerned, though, that by embracing the entertainment aspect of the Cold War, I'll somehow be doing a disservice to the memory of my ten-year-old self (I really can't emphasize enough how much that movie - and that summer in general - shook me up). I guess that's why people have therapists, though...

More Munch

A painting, probably from about 1898, has been found behind another painting at a German museum. Very cool.

Doesn't it seem like Munch is in the news a lot? I'm sure there's a current artist out there who's publicist would kill for the kind of MSM buzz he gets.

Botox Party Favors?

You know what I would totally watch (and I bet a lot of other people would too)? A show called something like "My Super Sweet Thirtieth". It could take the train wrecks from "My Super Sweet Sixteen" to a whole new level...because these participants would be nearly 30 and, almost definitely, crazily desperate. And that's good TV.

Wouldn't it be perfect for VH1?

Thoughts on Group Blogs

(yes, I realize this is pretty much the definition of navel gazing)

My hero, Ann Althouse, has some thoughts on the differences between group and individual blogs. I've thought about this some recently, with the supposed addition of new bloggers to my roster. She mentions the difference between writing as yourself and writing as a part of a group - whether group bloggers take more care in choosing their words, or censor themselves, because they're representing something larger than just their own opinion.

That hasn't - and wouldn't - be an issue for me here, since my name will always be the URL. I wonder, though, is that why my guest bloggers have been so quiet since, um, day one?

(I promise I'll post more next week. I've been away from my computer most of the week, painting the new house...)