Moondog

I've recently been re-discovering Moondog, one of the great American eccentrics and experimenters. This blind street musician spent most of his time in New York in the 50s and released several albums and 78s throughout the 60s and 70s. He composed many different kinds of music including: jazz, classical, folk music (especially rounds), and weird genre bending stuff where he made his own instruments much like Harry Partch.


Moondog was known for wearing a Viking helmet and carrying a spear. How could you not love the guy?

Medieval Knievel

I study medieval art. I especially love Insular art, otherwise known as art of the British isles. I look at Hiberno-Saxon Manuscripts, which means stuff that's a mix between English and Irish. Specifically I'm interested in things from Northumbria.

It's difficult enough sometimes trying to explain to the average Jane or Joe what it is exactly that Art Historians do. Most of the time people think I'm a painter, and I usually leave it at that. Most Art History people I know have this problem, and in the end it's not that big of a deal. People generally understand that I am in someway involved with some kind of academic pursuit, and that's fine. On the other hand, as a Medievalist I get asked all the time if I go to Renaissance Faires or if I am a member of SCA. Sometimes people even ask me if I dress up in tights and play with swords. The answer to these questions is always a firm no, except for the tights part, but that's a long and very private story and ultimately has nothing to do with Medievalism.

I always want to ask these people if they think that people who study art of Rome walk around in togas. Look, I know that because of things like the SCA that people assume that all Medievalists are re-creationists, but this is simply not true, although admittedly there are some. I do understand where people get the impression; just do a search for "medieval" on youtube, and you'll se what I mean. To set the record straight, however, most medievalists tend to leave the chainmail off.

The only other kind of historical scholarship I can think of right now that also has an entire culture of people who dress and act from that period on a mass scale are American War buffs. I wonder if Ken Burn's ever gets asked if he dresses like General Lee? This isn't to say that there aren't other re-creationist groups out there, it's just that the Civil War and the Middle Ages seem to be the two biggies.

I guess my point is that next time you are at a party with a Medievalist, don't assume that he or she has a sword in the trunk of their car, or that they make leather cups, or that they play D&D. While most of us are fairly geeky, we don't necessarily dress the part.

First post of the new era

I've spent most of this Summer away from Texas. I was in France from the last week in May until the first week in June. After that I was in Albuquerque, New Mexico for the month of July. It's been nice. Texas is always unreasonably hot in the Summer, so it was nice to be in two places where the weather doesn't assault you as soon as you open the door to go to work in the morning.

I'm about to start my last year at UNT and finish up my Master's in Art History. I'm really excited. I'm starting the long process of applying to various Ph.D. programs. I'm not sure where Rhonda and I are gonna be in a year, but it will be my first time to live outside of Texas. This semester I will also begin writing my Master's thesis. I'm looking at Insular (British and Irish) medieval manuscripts, specifically 7th and 8th century gospel books. I'm also ging to be teacher assisting this semester along with working at Recycled Books on the weekends. As always I will be incredibly busy. The most difficult thing is making sure that I spend enough time with Rhonda. Sometimes it's easy to get wrapped up in the grad school whirlwind that I forget to do my job as a husband.

Speaking of, Rhonda and I pulled out our respective insturments last night (guitar=me and drums=Rhonda) and played. It was a lot of fun. Maybe this could turn into something...

We shall see.

Long time....

So here's the thing...
I've decided to try and update this here blog every few days. Originally, I thought I'd only put stuff here that either really chapped my hide, or stuff I thought was really interesting. Things didn't go exactly as planned. I have found that the most important things in life are found through the daily details and the little things. When I try to separate the monumental from the quotidian, whatever I write seems forced and unnatural. So, what I'm shooting for is something a little less grand. From now on, nothing but the trivial things that make up my life.

Don't you just love the way it seems that the whole internet appears to be designed to serve one's ego?

2nd verse same as the 1st

I knew when I began this thing that I would not consistently keep it up, but I had no idea that I would take this long to post my second entry. Oh well.

Sometimes I forget how much I love music. That sounds really stupid, but it's a Goddamn revelation to me.

So I've been thinking about the whole desert island disc thing, and I've come to the conclusion that that's a completely moronic endeavor. First, it's a completely artificially constructed notion that in no way is applicable to my life. If I'm on a desert island, I want my one and only question to be, "Where's the food and water?"

The thing is, I am not a complete fool, and I do understand the intent of the question, which is, "What albums define you?" This question is a slippery slope which leads to other questions, such as: "At which point in my life." Am I required to list songs according to importance to my own person-building, or ones I really love right now, or maybe albums that I think I wouldn't get tired of, but mostly play the role of background music.

Anyway, I just made a list of even more stupid questions to answer a merely silly one. So here goes:

I'm allowing myself 11. Here's the list as of today. These maybe aren't my favorites of all time, or the most important to me or anyone else, but these are the albums that keep me from going completely insane.

Bach-Goldberg Variations-Murry Perahia
Van Morrison-Astral Weeks
Neutral Milk Hotel-In The Aeroplane Over the Sea
Kronos Quartet-Early Music
Erik Satie-Complete Piano Works-Aldo Ciccolini
Bela Bartok-Concerto for Orchestra-Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Jethro Tull-Thick as a Brick
Bob Dylan-Blood on the Tracks
Wilco-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Neil Young-Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
John Coltrane-A Love Supreme

I'm sure I left out some good ones, but I had to stop at eleven.

A political

It's not that I don't have strong opinions about the way things should be run, it's just that I've more or less given up on humanity in general. I think we are all capable of displaying 'goodness' on an individual basis, but something happens when you get more that three of us together, and it all goes to shit. I'm more curious about how we maintain the power structures we create to make ourselves feel safe. Religion, government structures, etc. are ubiquitous. The fact that they are contradictory, reactionary, and inhumane is not new information. What we believe is nowhere near as interesting as how we believe. Why are some cultures iconoclastic? How does a culture define genius (if at all)? Why do some societies hold in esteem the individual, while others embrace the group? Do mass consuming societies replace the unique object with an abundance of variety?

I often wonder if our destructive nature is not some sort of regulatory system. As our self-awareness and adaptability allows us to leap over natural safeguards that keep the population down, I wonder if this will have a positive or negative effect on our species. Are people who are born with defects such as poor eyesight (such as myself), or who acquire diseases now treatable skewing the gene pool? I don't know. Part of me wants to believe that we are all equal and necessary, that there is some kind of larger plan. The other part of me is kind of happy to see all of us getting rid of each other so quickly. We don't seem to be doing such a good job taking care of each other and the planet. We may all be better off just disappearing altogether. Other species seem to be on much better behavior than we are.

The thing is, I'm not really a negative person. I'm not nihilistic. Nihilism requires a purpose to negate. I view the world as simply ‘is.’ We create our own goals and needs to keep ourselves alive, not the other way around. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing. I have no real way to comprehend oblivion, and I don’t want to begin anytime soon. I would much rather exist. I’m not, however, denying structure. I just believe that structure is relative. Like in physics, some things behave one way in certain situations and differently in others (like how light behaves around intense gravity compared to low gravity). These rules are consistent within certain contexts but irrelevant in a different situation. The universe is way too big a place for one set of rules.