Irony Deficient

For those of you who don't know, Paul Wellstone was senator for Minnesota for 12 years until 2002, when he died in a plane crash while campaigning for reelection, less than a week before the election. He was known to be very liberal and very outspoken, reputed among those who loved him to be a hard fighter for what was right rather than what was simply popular (yes, I am one of those people). A lot of people in Minnesota still mourn him and lament his passing and you can still see people sporting Wellstone campaign bumper stickers and other ones reading "WWWD?" (What Would Wellstone Do?).

So tonight I passed a truck with a bumper sticker reading "Wellstone's gone, get over it." While I was sitting there, silently cursing him out (he can go fuck himself, really), I noticed something else. The rest of the back of his truck was covered with Dale Earnhardt stickers. Now don't get me wrong here, I liked Dale Earnhardt too. You'd be hard pressed to find a better race car driver and he had a certain gentlmanly, yet rebellious appeal. But he's been dead for more than 5 years now, and while he is still often memorialized in NASCAR, the sport has moved on.

I told my guitar instructor about this incident, and he gave me a phrase for it: "irony deficient." Other examples of irony deficiency would be the parent in Texas who wants to ban the book Fahrenheit 451 (a book about the dangers of censorship) or people who drive very large gas-guzzling SUVs with "Support Our Troops" bumper stickers on the back (that one he actually pointed out to me, but I get it now).

He wants to coin this as a common phrase, so pass it on. And keep up the war on irony deficiency.

26

I turned 26 today. I can't really tell you how I feel about this, as I'm not really sure I feel anything. If it weren't for the lingering significance the date October 16th hold in the back of my brain, I almost would have missed it.

But I can no longer say I am 25, because I'm not. In some ways, it feels like I've crossed some sort of threshold. After all, I am now officially past the midpoint of my '20's. The trouble is, I don't think it was a threshold I was ready to cross. I'm not ready to be 26. Twenty-six is damn near adult. And I'm not.

It also comes with the realization that in only 4 years I will be 30. Now maybe that sounds silly to those of you already past that point, or those of you who have already come to terms with it. But there was probably a time when you thought the same thing. There are certain things, though mostly intangible, I feel like I need to accomplish before I'm 30. I now have less time to do that.

But more than anything, it's the fact that turning 26 yields no real benefits. It isn't the first time you get to vote, you've already had alcohol legally, you don't get any more break on your car insurance. You're just older, nothing more, nothing less.

A Good Day for Music

Today (or rather yesterday, since it is now after midnight) was a very good day for music. A bunch of new albums were released today, but of particular interest to me was the new Decemberists CD, The Crane Wife. I love this band and was very excited to hear they were coming out with another album. So I rushed right out and got it. I've already listened to it one time through, but like their other work, it definitely needs a few runs through to fully take in.

But it doesn't end there, it turns out Sean Lennon, the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, also released an album today. I had not known he was even recording again until I saw him by chance perform on David Letterman last week (I don't normally watch Letterman, but my dad and I were outside the theater last week while they were shooting something and we wanted to see what they had done). I am listening to this one right now as I write this (and it is very difficult to write and concentrate on the music at the same time). It's good stuff. You can definitely hear the influence of his dad, but the music is his own.

Lastly, I got a tip that the new Hold Steady album was very good and decided to give that a go as well. I don't know much about the band or their music, but there's only one way to fix that. I haven't gotten around to that one yet.

I've never pounced on new releases in music like that before, but there was just too much good stuff out there today. It was very exciting. Now I have some new tunes to listen to, which keep me busy for some time yet.

You Can Run, But You Won't Catch Up

I have quite a backlog of stuff I've been meaning to post about, some of which includes pictures (ooooo!). Like my recent trip to Long Island last week with my dad. And the pictures I took up in Duluth a couple weeks ago. But, alas, such things will have to wait. I have other matters I must attend to. But I'll get back to this blogging thing eventually. Just hang tight.