Music

Does Dan DeLuca want to rumble?

DeLuca, of The Philadelphia Inquirer, says of Wilco’s “Kicking Television: Live In Chicago” …

One of these days, Jeff Tweedy will collapse under the weight of his own self-importance. But not just yet. "Kicking Television" ... will do nothing to harm Wilco's status as the most revered of independent-spirited American rock bands.
Tweedy's forays into experimental noisemaking on his band's recent efforts ... have been overpraised, as if the emotionally limited singer-songwriter was the closest thing this generation has to John Lennon or Kurt Cobain. But while "Kicking" may not be the tour de force of a soul-searching genius, it does document a top-notch band bringing studio creations impressively to life. ...

“Collapse under the weight of his own self-importance”? “Emotionally limited singer-songwriter”? Like the album or don’t like the album (and it seems that DeLuca does like it), but please be kind (or at least polite) to my Mr. Tweedy.

Reading

"Tintype on the Pond, 1925"

American Life in Poetry: Column 035
By TED KOOSER
U.S. poet laureate

Massachusetts poet J. Lorraine Brown has used an unusual image in “Tintype on the Pond, 1925.” This poem, like many others, offers us a unique experience, presented as a gift, for us to respond to as we will. We need not ferret out a hidden message. How many of us will recall this little scene the next time we see ice skates or a Sunday-dinner roast?

Tintype on the Pond, 1925
Believe it or not,
the old woman said,
and I tried to picture it:
a girl,
the polished white ribs of a roast
tied to her boots with twine,
the twine coated with candle wax
so she could glide uninterrupted
across the ice —
my mother,
skating on bones.
Reprinted from “Eclipse” by permission of the author. Poem copyright (c) 2004 by J. Lorraine Brown.

This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Uncategorized

92 days

Poppy is three months old today. Since Oct. 15, she has started rolling over and, sometimes, laughing. She’s a tough crowd, though, so we have to work pretty hard to get a laugh out of her.
She rolled over (tummy to back) for the first time on my birthday. She’s working on rolling back-to-tummy; she hasn’t quite mastered getting her arm out of the way.

Poppy continues to amaze me every day. I look at her sometimes and still can’t believe she’s here and she’s my little girl!