'Old Time Music

Date: July 28
Mileage: 2
Ride type: Beer Run
Bike: 925
Temp: 75 overcast and wannabe-stormy
July mileage: 290
Year to date: 1028

it was close to time so i had to go get beer. and L had been sitting around all day while his parents fought with his brother, Z. (another story). so L and daddy went for a bike ride, but a good bike ride up to Karem-Deebs, the local Beer Sanctuary. god what a great place. it's listed on a large billboard as "Beer Depot". it's a liquor store, beer depot, deli, and all-round shrine to that which is good. i threw on the Timbuk 2 bag and away L and i went. it's about a mile therenback. when i go to the 'Beer Depot', i buy good beer. in fact, as an older (36) beer consumer, i buy only good beer. that's to say i don't sit around my yard swilling Bud Light and Miller High Life. actually, i like to buy a little expensive beer and a 6pack of cheap ass swill- PBR, FallsCity, etc. this time, there were no 6packs of assbeer, so i ended up with a 4 of Boddingtons (my fav), a 4 of Duvel- a Belgian that unfortunately is watered down for the US crowd, and a single of Guiness. at home i dove into the Guinness and cooking some homemade fajitas with pollo, poblano and red pepper and onion. mostly every time i cook now i get to thinking about 'buying local'. i can't say i did on this trip- excluding some onion which was from the local farmer's market- but along with my semi-regular bike commuting, this is seems to be the next direction to go in. that said, i make a kickass batch of chixandpeppers washed down with some excellent brew.

it got me thinking, and listening, to some new/old tracks. i've mentioned music very little on this blog b/c it's mostly for bikes. but i LOVE, and i mean, LOVE music. in fact, the primary difficulty i have is what music to listen to at the time. last night i went to bed to a Naxos release, a compilation of 'Early Music', which means Middle Ages and early Renaissance. i LOVE this type of music. the Tallis Scholars are a kind of 'crack', never to be put down. in fact it's my fav. i can listen to Renaissance vocal music 24/7, and i mean it! tonight, though, i had the good fortune to listen to a Smithsonian Folkways release, "Mountain Music of Kentucky". i've been bashing the 'Ville lately for being a backwater hickville. no real bikeways. no vision. no forward thinking. the 'Ville has an interesting place in Kentucky, in that it's really a city-state, within the borders but not really Kentucky. 3 of my 4 grandparents, though, are not from Louisville but rather from rural counties in KY, with my Mamaw from Manchester, which is squarely in the mountains. fact is, i love mountain music. i love 'old-time' music. i love authentic music. we have CDs and Albums of 'oldtime' music as well as old, pre-50s blues. i just love it. no, i don't listen to it nonstop. i vacillate between that, opera, classical, jazz, techno. alternative, classic, metal, punk, younameit. i love music in all its forms. tonight, though, i listened to mountain music as it was in 1959 (when it was recorded) and as it had been through the ages. it's a kind of language. and i'm a language guy. yes, i teach Spanish, but really linguistics is where its at. the original sounds of the original people. great stuff. English Ballads and Scottish hymns heard 100, 200, 300 yrs later from mountain folk who never left the hills. Shit Rocks!

OK, beer had taken its toll, as is wont to happen. listen, though, to REAL music. it's what we are.

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