Well, here we are six days into January and I still have not recieved a copy of "A Fine Mess". I think I've been let down by the postman. I don't think my check ever made it out to Ernie and the the rest of the boys on the Palindrome Ranch. So I've sent another check and envelope. The first check I sent was never cashed which leads me to believe it was lost in the rush of Chirstmas mail. So I'm still checking in here to get your reviews and suggestions to David. If I can't hear it at this point at least I can hear about it. Anyway due to the lack of new David Baerwald material in my life I have been filling that space with the the three Baerwald CD's I have. "Bedtime Stories" seems to get mentioned a lot in what I've read here and honestly it's a record I have not listened to in quite a while (sorry David). See I love "Triage" and I think that's David's finest work. On "Triage" I thought David had really found a way to fuse together his amazing songwriting and studio alchemy. Not to mention I don't think you could find a record that came out in the 90's that spoke with more honesty and power about the times in which it was made. Well I played "Bedtime Stories" for the first time in years really just the other day. As I listened to the tracks as they ran off my stereo I was once again impressed by the sharp insightful songwriting but the song that closes the record really tore me down. Music can bring you back and make you remember things with even more clarity than the satellite beaming pictures to your TV. "Stranger" the song that closes "Bedtime Stories" sunk right down into my bones. It is a beautiful somber ballad that hangs David's powerfully subtle vocal track on his mandolin playing and an acoustic guitar. I think it may have been the reason I stopped listening to the record. See, that record and song came out during a time when I was spending a lot of time with some friends of mine that were Vietnam veterans. I am too young to have gone to Vietnam and would never pretend to understand what those men went through. I knew them because one of them was the stepfather of one of my buddies and he found out I loved blues. From that point on he started inviting me out to clubs and concerts with his pals and it was a good time for me. With those guys, even though I was a lot younger, we were all brothers. That was the way they were once you were in with them you were a "brother". People often talk about how they'd kill or die for eachother but these guys really had done that for eachother and there was a warmth and depth about the way they were together that was amazing to be around. I feel pathetic trying to describe it. Any way as you have probably surmised the song reminds me of them. By 1992 4 out 6 of them were dead. I could'nt bear the pain I saw in them and felt I should not try and be a part of their suffering so I drifted away. I don't know who or what inspired David to write that song but I think it should be our national anthem. It says more about this country and the people in it right now than some crap about "rockets red glare and bombs bursting in air".
The Postman and a Stranger
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'The only way to avoid getting crushed by absurdity, is to humbly include the absurd in our calculations.'
Well, here we are six days into January and I still have not recieved a copy of "A Fine Mess". I think I've been let down by the postman. I don't think my check ever made it out to Ernie and the the rest of the boys on the Palindrome Ranch. So I've sent another check and envelope. The first check I sent was never cashed which leads me to believe it was lost in the rush of Chirstmas mail. So I'm still checking in here to get your reviews and suggestions to David. If I can't hear it at this point at least I can hear about it. Anyway due to the lack of new David Baerwald material in my life I have been filling that space with the the three Baerwald CD's I have. "Bedtime Stories" seems to get mentioned a lot in what I've read here and honestly it's a record I have not listened to in quite a while (sorry David). See I love "Triage" and I think that's David's finest work. On "Triage" I thought David had really found a way to fuse together his amazing songwriting and studio alchemy. Not to mention I don't think you could find a record that came out in the 90's that spoke with more honesty and power about the times in which it was made. Well I played "Bedtime Stories" for the first time in years really just the other day. As I listened to the tracks as they ran off my stereo I was once again impressed by the sharp insightful songwriting but the song that closes the record really tore me down. Music can bring you back and make you remember things with even more clarity than the satellite beaming pictures to your TV. "Stranger" the song that closes "Bedtime Stories" sunk right down into my bones. It is a beautiful somber ballad that hangs David's powerfully subtle vocal track on his mandolin playing and an acoustic guitar. I think it may have been the reason I stopped listening to the record. See, that record and song came out during a time when I was spending a lot of time with some friends of mine that were Vietnam veterans. I am too young to have gone to Vietnam and would never pretend to understand what those men went through. I knew them because one of them was the stepfather of one of my buddies and he found out I loved blues. From that point on he started inviting me out to clubs and concerts with his pals and it was a good time for me. With those guys, even though I was a lot younger, we were all brothers. That was the way they were once you were in with them you were a "brother". People often talk about how they'd kill or die for eachother but these guys really had done that for eachother and there was a warmth and depth about the way they were together that was amazing to be around. I feel pathetic trying to describe it. Any way as you have probably surmised the song reminds me of them. By 1992 4 out 6 of them were dead. I could'nt bear the pain I saw in them and felt I should not try and be a part of their suffering so I drifted away. I don't know who or what inspired David to write that song but I think it should be our national anthem. It says more about this country and the people in it right now than some crap about "rockets red glare and bombs bursting in air".
'The only way to avoid getting crushed by absurdity, is to humbly include the absurd in our calculations.'
