hot out here

I won’t lie: 2008 has been the most roller-coaster year in memory.  On one hand, I graduated law school with a J.D. and passed the bar exam – two personal triumphs that I never thought I could achieve.  On the other hand, I accomplished these things at the beginning of the biggest financial crisis in decades, which means I’m struggling to find a job.  I’ve worked a series of short-term document review assignments, legal temporary jobs and volunteer assignments, but I’m impatient to land permanent employment and settle into my new career.  In the meantime, money’s tight and getting tighter around our house.  It’s a scary time.  I’m sure there are people across America who are going through the exact same thing right now.

Which is exactly why I love Thanksgiving, and why I need it this year.  I’ve stated before that it’s my favorite holiday.  Even when it’s a disaster (for instance, the year I ended up eating at Shoney’s with my dad and brother), I appreciate the spirit of peacefulness and family togetherness it brings.  More than ever, this year I need an occasion to remember how blessed I am to have the family I have – an incredible wife that makes me feel like anything’s possible, two smart and gorgeous daughters, and a small network of family members scattered between New Jersey and the West Coast.  I just wanted to pay tribute to them here, and wish us all (including you, the reader) well-deserved good fortune this holiday season and in the new year.

Further to my post a few days ago, the Music Tapes now have two St. Louis locations for their Holiday Cheer caroling tour.  One is Vintage Vinyl; the other is at the home of a local blogger (not me) whose name/address I cannot print for obvious reasons.  Best bet is to email the band at musictapescaroling@gmail.com, or just show up at Vintage tonight between 6:00 and 8:30.  Should be fun!  Thanks to those who came through.

Could any of you parents recommend good hearing protection for your kids?  Will the standard earplugs work, or is there something different I should try?  Today I took four-year-old Esther to see Steve Wynn’s in-store at Euclid, but it was so loud I felt compelled to take her out of the store after the second song.   She did not seem to be in any pain or discomfort, but I didn’t want to chance it.  Any advice for next time?  Esther loved the show for the brief time we were there, and I’d like to keep taking her to see bands (within reason, of course – we’re not exactly going to see MBV).

Two RFT pieces of note:

1) My A to Z blog post about the Music Tapes’ Holiday Cheer tour, in which I chastise STL for not being hospitable.  Hopefully this will change things.  Sorry about the unintentional Yakov Smirnoff tribute in the first paragraph.  (“In Russia, concert goes to see you!”)

A side note: The reason we have not invited Koster ourselves is because we have a four-year-old and a two-year-old.  The caroling times coincide perfectly with their crankiest time of the day (dinner/bedtime/crash from tiredness).  Maybe if there’s a Third Annual Caroling Tour, we’ll be on the schedule.

2)  A fascinating peek at a Glenn Branca rehearsal.  Branca is debuting a new symphony at the Pageant tonight.  A to Z will have a interview with the maestro himself later today. He’s always a fascinating and candid interviewee, so that should be worth reading.  (I just want to know if he still thinks the government killed D. Boon, as he once suggested in Forced Exposure.)

I had a big election post in my head, but I’m too tired to develop it.  I will share with you a lightly edited/clarified version of a comment I made to a friend’s blog, as I think it sums up my feelings well:

I did not vote for Obama.  I didn’t make a big deal out of it, mostly because I did not have the energy to constantly defend myself on the web, but my opposition was based on what I believed were sound reasons. I was mostly concerned about his lack of experience and his unrealistic foreign policy. (I don’t think assholes like Ahmadinejad can be “talked” to without preconditions, lest they feel emboldened.)  I don’t necessarily share the Republican platform’s opinions on abortion or gay marriage, but I wonder how much pull a president even has with such issues; just witness the dichotomy of an Obama victory and simultaneous Prop 8 defeat…Maybe he really will change things for the better.  But now he has to actually govern, and no one actually knows what or how he’s going to do.

I’d just add that at some point, probably not long from now, Obama will have to do something that alienates and angers his supporters and makes the world “hate” us again.  It’s the nature of the job of American president.  Enjoy the international lovefest while you can, in other words, because it cannot last.

Here in St. Louis, Proposition M – which would have implemented a sales tax increase for local public transit improvements – failed.  I voted for it, but I’m not surprised it didn’t pass.  Perhaps St. Louis Metro should consider actually enforcing Metrolink fares if it really needs to generate income.  Retrofit the stations with tollbooths, and watch the coffers soar and transit-related crime drop.

Over on Facebook, it’s been a virtual childhood reunion.  All of a sudden, people from my old high school, junior high and even day camp have been friending me.  And almost without exception, they are at different places in their lives than me.  For instance, most of my former classmates/campmates have kids who are at least 10 or 11 years old – in some cases they’ve already left the nest for college.  Some have been married for up to two decades; others have gotten divorced and are dealing with that.  Almost all of them are fairly secure in their careers.

At one point I would have looked down on them for all that.  When I was 26 years old and living in New York, the last thing I wanted in my life was a wife, kids and a house in the suburbs.  (Well, I wouldn’t have minded the wife.  Even a girlfriend would have been OK.)  But here I am at 42, having just passed the biggest test of my life and having to start from scratch yet again – hopefully for the last time ever – and I realize that my life has unfurled in these finite multiyear chunks.  The high school people don’t know what I did in college.  The NYC people don’t know what I did before publishing a fanzine.  The Seattle music people can’t imagine me hanging out with the Seattle Orthodox Jewish people, and most of the St. Louis people consider me a blank slate with some sort of zine/music past.  It would have been nice to have established a little more continuity, more of a master plan, by this point.

I know it’s a cliche, but I’m convinced having children and going to law school forced me to grow up.  Even in Seattle in my early 30s, I was married and a homeowner but still mostly concerned with the next show and the next record.  I hadn’t yet outgrown the dubious appeal of being a would-be music scenester.  Only in St. Louis have I begun to get my priorities straight and begin carving out some sort of stablity for my family and me.  It’s not easy doing this 10 or 15 years behind the curve.  Better late than never, though.

Having said all that, I do miss hanging out with music people, so it was a pleasure to spend some time with Henry Owings of Chunklet.  He came to town last week to promote The Rock Bible and spoke at Subterranean Books, a neat little bookstore in the Loop.  He passed out beer, read some outtakes from his book, and generally BS’d about zines and music.  Henry and I have been trading zines for years and sort of know each other from the greater scene at large, so it was a good opportunity to meet and chat about all sorts of zine ephemera.  (Somehow I don’t think the people gathered at Subterranean would have cared about obscure Pittsburgh, PA fanzines from the late 1980s, but I’m glad someone else does.)  Just because I’m trying to be a responsible adult doesn’t mean I want to cut ties with such people.  I just need to remember to keep it all in perspective.

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Reminder: If you don’t get out and vote this year, you’re really not grooving; it takes every one of us to keep the country moving.  I’ll try to chat a little about the election after the polls are closed.