Revival!

It's a Blog Revival! Tell your friends! Now that I'm official and moved into NYC it's time to revamp this venture with more offbeat curiosities and musical delights. I'm sure I kept you all waiting long enough in anticipation for that elusive next update, but I had to take respite lest this blog become too chore-like. Ayo this technology stuff can sometimes make life far too complicated and I don't want to hear any bitchin about my lame excuses and anachronistic curmudgeonry. Just think of the old days when people had wait 6 months, in the snow, then travel 14 miles by mule-wagon to the post-office and maybe get the tattered remains of a letter from a loved one, delivered via pony-express, if they were lucky. My friend Dan is going with the Peace Corps to the isle of Vanuatu. Mail there can take 6 weeks to deliver. There is no internet. Think of all the time we could save from blogging, youtubing, facebooking, myspacing, iPoding etc. You might even have a few minutes to spare to talk to someone face to face! Apparently this sentiment is gaining in much needed traction:

http://nosoproject.com/

Of course I say this all with a grain of salt. I realize how hypocritical it is to voice these opinions over the internet, on a blog no less. But truthfully, I have found great value in disconnecting. Or better yet: disconnecting and then reconnecting with the outdoors. In fact, one of the things I did in my blog break was attend another scientific conference: the Ecological Society of America (ESA) annual meeting in San Jose, CA where I gave a presentation for a session on on Education and Nature. Basically, the session talked about new ways to get kids to learn/experience/enjoy science and ecology outdoors. Indeed there is a growing disconnect in America's youth with the outdoors. This has big implications not only for helping new generations of ecologists and environment appreciators, but it also plays a big role in child development. In attendance at the conference was the de facto leader of this new "No Child Left Indoors" movement, Richard Louv. For anyone interested, I recommend his book Last Child in the Woods. He covers new evidence suggesting that nature deprivation is manifesting itself in kids with problems like ADD, depression, obesity, lack of creativity and social development and other non-surprising symptoms. Outdoor experience suddenly becomes a public health issue. And it's easy to blame the parents or the kids for being lazy, but that's sort of a cop-out answer for the the larger issues at stake: Loss of natural wilderness for starters, but also unending litigious efforts seeking to "protect" our children from the dangers of the outdoors. Indeed our antiseptic society has grown an unhealthy fear of getting muddy every once and a while. Ask any adult: 9 times out of 10 they played outside as a kid. Not so anymore. Ask any adult concerned about the environment and the percentage is even higher. First hand experience gives a sense of awareness and appreciation for the natural world that is sorely lacking today.

I was lucky enough to really get outside in Vermont last weekend with Ellen. We hiked Mt. Philo just outside of Burlington. Pictures forthcoming (hopefully?). Amazingly, this mountain used to be an island in the Sea of Champlain (once upon a time it was more than just a lake!).

Ok, so to round out this rip-roarin' revival, lets cleanse our pallets some fresh musical tastes. I've devised a new way to categorize my musical discoveries: Live, New & Used. Much like their record store namesakes Live=live shows, New=recent releases, and Used=older stuff I only recently encountered.

MUSIC: Live

Dappled Cities (photo taken with my new phone!)


I saw this band live with my new friend Steve at the Mercury Lounge here in downtown Manhattan. Steve knew the band from when he used to work at Filter magazine and got us in for free on the guest list. Apparently they are from my home country, Australia where they are all the rage. I really enjoyed the show. One song in particular which they played an extended cut for was really stellar.






MUSIC: New

Spoon - GaGaGaGaGa

This is a straight-up fun, rock-steady album from a great band. The kind of album that you can really jive to any time. At a party, chillin on the porch, walkin down the street: you name it these guys will serve up the feel good vibes.

White Stripes - Icky Thump

Favorite song of the new White Stripes album is without a doubt Rag & Bone. The skits in this song are hysterical following typical Jack White mania. FYI rag & bone men are an old-time British gypsies/junk dealers who would take old unused stuff from people and then turn it into something to sell. Like old rags sewn into clothing or bones to boil and make glue. The Whites capture the essence of the lifestyle perfectly in this song.



Justice - †

Hype surrounding this release crescendoed into a CAT-5 storm in the dance music world. Two Parisian producers frequently compared to Daft Punk but with a decidedly edgier sound. The single featured below, although not my favorite on the album, has a really fun video.



M.I.A. - Kala

The globetrotting superstar is back! Ready again with world rhythms as disparate as dijeridoo and Bollywood melodies. This time, a different approach than the knock-you-out beats as the first album. Instead Kala warms up gradually after each listen. Just a quick rehash: M.I.A. is a London born artists raised in Sri Lanka whose father is part of a revolutionary group in the Tamil region of India. She passionately communicates about the true state of the world from perspectives of those in developing countries rather than the Western view of most modern media. And in a much more believable way than the just-for-show Jay-Z-style bhangra sampling craze a few years back.



There's more to talk about but not enough time! Other good releases of note:
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
The National - The Boxer
Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation




MUSIC: Used

XTC, Skylarking - One of my proudest life achievement was approaching the register at High Fidelity Records' cousin, the Princeton Record Exchange, earlier this summer with a used copy of Skylarking. I'd never heard this band before but I knew they were well regarded in the rock canon so I thought I'd give them a shot. The snarky music snob manning the machine glared down at me with his calculating eye. Then after slight hesitation his disposition gave way to a tepid smirk as he saw my purchase and muttered, "Great album," just loud enough for me to hear. Relishing this coveted compliment, I took heart that even hipsters can have compassion for the plebeians every once in a while. His words were not wasted either: this record is amazingly satisfying after many repeated listens. High production values, complex yet tuneful melodies, and sophisticated themes treated with childlike playfulness make this some of the finest British studio-pop of the late 80s.

Love - Forever Changes: Long hailed as a lost classic from the 60s summer of love. Lyrics have a weirdness factor can only stem from the time the album was conceived.

Depeche Mode - Violator: The kings of 80s synthpop (though this was released at the beginning of the 90s). This album is really cohesive and expertly arranged, with a dark and foreboding yet very sensual vibe. The lead singer, Davad Gahan is one of my new favorites.

The death of the naturalist

Before the idyllic image of our Connecticut vacation vanishes from my mind, I have a few thoughts to share on man, nature, the state of the world and other lofty subjects.

The house in Old Lyme served as the perfect site for birdwatching. The confluence of wooded areas, fields, estuaries, and the seashore provided a mixed range of habitats and wide open territory for unobscured observation. As any naturalist would know, edges of habitats like this create the perfect vantage point for viewing wildlife. And so as we lazily strolled back to the mansion from our attempt at canoeing, I pointed out some old friends to the rest of the group: red-winged blackbird, common yellowthroat, song sparrow, and goldfinch. My friend Laura turned to Jeff and said, “Eddie is an expert at identifying birds and other stuff in nature.” Flattered, I hardly consider myself an expert but I know my bird knowledge exceeds most people’s – one of the advantages of living in a nature-obsessed family though. In fact, it’s hard for me to imagine not wanting to learn a few species in order to be familiar with my surroundings. Perhaps other people wish to know these secretes too but have never been taught or don’t know how to use a field guide. Or perhaps they are simply not interested. Either way, the truth revealed to me in Laura’s comment is all too certain – becoming a naturalist is a dying art in our generation. Our parents may not have actually been able to differentiate the fall plumage of a Pine Warbler from a Magnolia Warbler (few can!), but I’d hazard a guess they were at least familiar with the ubiquitous robin and could separate an oak from a maple. Admittedly I’m cynical about this topic, but it seems that our categorical knowledge of plant and animal species is slowly being replaced by car models and TV actors.

Earlier that morning I had the privilege of adding some new friends to my life-list (definition: a lifelist is a lifetime record kept by many birders of species they have seen in the wild). Of particular note was the Piping Plover, an endangered species of sandpiper whose fragile nests built on sand-dunes are threatened by encroaching development. Along our walk we ran into two folks working for the Nature Conservancy, protecting new nests with cages to ward off predators and humans. The duo was lamenting the loss of a nest on the far shore – the plovers scared off by a rowdy group’s recent bonfire. I was glad to see these people out there working to preserve our fragmented ecosystem, but I couldn’t shake the notion that they were all too serious about their job. Rather than being excited to see some fellow naturalists or encourage our participation in the natural world, they seemed most concerned with boosting their number of hatchlings this season. I realize they had a difficult job to do and I am once again taking a pessimistic view; but nonetheless, I think a major problem with our generation’s environmentalism is the strict sense of urgency about saving the environment combined with a waning sense of enjoyment in what we have left. In my opinion, encouraging active participation and enjoyment of nature is often the most crucial step towards saving it. People simply aren’t interested in what they don’t know. But if a few more people can become acquainted with the face of the piping plover, they just might be willing to do something about its disappearance.

PS: New music of interest has been playlisted over there on the right hand side. Also adjusted the code so you can actually use the scrollbar.