Palin-ese, or Rather, Unease

From today's NYTimes

On the “CBS Evening News” on Thursday, Katie Couric asked Ms. Palin what she meant when she cited Alaska’s proximity to Russia as foreign affairs experience. Ms. Palin could have anticipated the question — the topic of their interview, pegged to her visit to the United Nations was foreign affairs. Yet Ms. Palin’s answer was surprisingly wobbly: her words tumbled out fast and choppily, like an outboard motor loosened from the stern.

“That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land — boundary that we have with — Canada,” she replied. She mentioned the jokes made at her expense and seemed for a moment at a loss for the word “caricature.” “It — it’s funny that a comment like that was — kind of made to — cari — I don’t know, you know? Reporters —”

Ms. Couric stepped in. “Mocked?” Ms. Palin looked relieved and even grateful for the help. “Yeah, mocked, I guess that’s the word, yeah.”

Ms. Couric pressed her again to explain the geographic point. “Well, it certainly does,” Ms. Palin said, “because our, our next-door neighbors are foreign countries, they're in the state that I am the executive of.”

Ms. Couric asked the governor if she had ever been involved in negotiations, for example, with her Russian neighbors.

“We have trade missions back and forth,” Ms. Palin said. “We — we do — it’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America, where — where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border.”

Ms. Palin, looking at Ms. Couric intently, kept on going. “It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to — to our state.”

David Foster Wallace reading

New Bluegrass Albums

A few new bluegrass albums have made it across my desk and into the iTunes folder lately. Here are some capsule reviews. (I’ll be going on about Cherryholmes in an upcoming profile in Acoustic Guitar.)

Cherryholmes, III (five stars)
Yes!!! There is hope for contemporary bluegrass. This is like Nickel Creek with banjo--or AKUS pre-CMA awards. Cia Leigh Cherryholmes is my favorite young bluegrass-related singer, she writes edgy songs, and plays banjo like Ron Block on steroids. Skip Cherryholmes is a total rhythm guitar monster. The sort of over-the-top metal-ish chord stuff is very cool and the whole mash/thrash rhythm thing makes total sense when played with this sense of abandon and rock and roll energy. “Sumatra” is the coolest bluegrass instrumental I’ve heard in a long time.

Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper, Leavin' Town (four stars)
Totally great pre-Lonesome River Band bluegrass. If you, like me, heard a band like this at your local pizza parlor at an impressionable age, it could change your life. Go to the Bluegrass Blog and vote for 'em in every category you can.

Cadillac Sky, Gravity's Our Enemy (three stars)
These guys are all great players, but the vocals and songs are too much like those pop country bands I only hear when I accidentally turn on the CMA Awards or get to a movie at a multiplex too early. I really don’t like contemporary country music, whether it’s played by an arena rock band, a contestant on American Idol, or a quintet of young bluegrass virtuosi. But obviously millions of people love it. It’s just not my thing. Good luck to these boys, though. They should go far.

More DFW

Here's an edited transcript (minus coughing, etc.) of the Kenyon College speech.

Punch Brothers

I wrote this awhile ago, but Acoustic Guitar finally published it here. Lately, I've been getting into Chris's new CD with Edgar Meyer. When does this guy sleep?

Punch Brothers
Punch

The Punch Brothers are a new band composed of some of the hottest young musicians in bluegrass—Chris Thile (mandolin and lead vocals), Chris Eldridge (guitar), Greg Garrison (bass), Noam Pikelny (banjo), and Gabe Witcher (fiddle), but there is little here that traditional bluegrass fans will recognize. Combining early-20th-century harmonic ambiguity and dissonance, angsty alt-pop-influenced lyrics and rhythms, and pastoral minimalist counterpoint, as well as contemporary folk and bluegrass, the Punch Brothers have created a new kind of string music as revolutionary and distinct as that of Bill Monroe, David Grisman, Django Reinhardt, or Alison Krauss, but it’s hard to imagine Punch Music becoming a musical genre. This will not be easy music for musicians to imitate. Time signatures and tonal centers shift regularly, there is rarely a clear delineation between soloist and accompaniment, and written and improvised sections merge seamlessly. The core of the album is Thile’s four-movement, 42-minute suite “The Blind Leaving the Blind,”written in reaction to his recent divorce. Though each movement includes lyrics and vocal melodies (many of which are hauntingly gorgeous), Thile eschews any regular kind of song form; the vocal sections are just one part of the whole, integrated with the breathtaking instrumental work. The suite is bookended by four shorter pieces written by the band. The dissonant bluegrass of the leadoff track, “Punch Bowl,” gets you ready for the expansive central suite, while the three concluding pieces operate as both a series of epilogues and a preview of the next Punch Brothers group effort, although it may take awhile to completely recover from the auditory effect of this Punch. (Nonesuch, nonesuch.com)

David Foster Wallace 1962-2008

I was pretty devastated by the death of David Foster Wallace this week, and I've been trying to find something to say about him and his writing that would be fitting and approach the way I feel about him/it.

A.O. Scott got it right in today's NY Times:

"The Best Mind of His Generation"



For the uninitiated, check out DFW's brilliant essay, Tense Present, on English grammar and usage, originally published in Harper's, also included in Consider the Lobster.



Appreciation and mourning in Paper Cuts.


The Howling Fantods, DFW fan website.



From the commencement address DFW gave at Kenyon College in 2005:

"Worship power, you will end up feeling weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. But the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they're evil or sinful, it's that they're unconscious. They are default settings.

"They're the kind of worship you just gradually slip into, day after day, getting more and more selective about what you see and how you measure value without ever being fully aware that that's what you're doing.

"And the so-called real world will not discourage you from operating on your default settings, because the so-called real world of men and money and power hums merrily along in a pool of fear and anger and frustration and craving and worship of self. Our own present culture has harnessed these forces in ways that have yielded extraordinary wealth and comfort and personal freedom. The freedom all to be lords of our tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the center of all creation. This kind of freedom has much to recommend it. But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talk about much in the great outside world of wanting and achieving. ... The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day.

"That is real freedom. That is being educated, and understanding how to think. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default setting, the rat race, the constant gnawing sense of having had, and lost, some infinite thing."

Derwent Vale: Scott Nygaard, Brittany Haas and Tristan Clarridge

Two of my fave fiddlers in the world.

Junior Nationals

Joey had a great Nationals, but I thought I'd let him tell you about it:

Tuesday, Aug. 5
After the long drive down on Monday we spent the night at my uncle’s house in Irvine, and I had time to put together my odd aero setup so I could have it ready for test-riding the TT course. We arrived at the hotel in time to meet up with the other Swifties and get ready for the ride. The TT course started out on a mostly flat bike path for a mile. Then we got on the main road and started the three-mile climb. The climb was not steep but it was long enough to hurt and there was no shade!!!! After that it was all downhill until the turnaround. Then it was as hard as you can go the last kilometer up to the finish! After checking out the 11k course that Stanley and I would do, we rode the rest of the 18k course, did a few pyramids, and rode back. We spent the rest of the day driving to the host hotel to register, chilling, and taking naps. Before we went to bed we had a team meeting to discuss the upcoming race!

Wednesday, Aug. 6
National Championship Time Trial
Result: 20th place, 1:33 behind the winner.

On the morning of the time trial we didn’t have to get up that early. Stanley and I had very late start times so we went for a morning ride to loosen up. After that we got to hang around until almost one thirty in the afternoon, and then I rode over to the course with my Dad. The warm-up parking lot was wide open without any shade, so Stephen Gerber had run over to WalMart to buy the team a tent for warmup. After doing my pyramids I made my way down to the start and got in line behind the guy who would be starting in front of me.
On the course, I quickly got myself up to speed and tried to hold a steady fast pace. After almost a mile on the bike path my legs were feeling good and I had finally caught sight of the guy in front of me. I didn’t make up that much ground on him until I started the climb. Then he visibly slowed down and I caught him in no time. The hill was longer than I remembered and by the time I got to the top I had passed another guy, too. After that it was all downhill until the turnaround, which coincidentally was also the 1K to go mark! Upon seeing the final “K” sign I went for it as hard as I could go! After crossing the line I did roll-out and waited around for results. I thought I might have done pretty well because I passed two guys and wasn’t passed by anyone. When results finally showed up I was in 20th place, but just 1:33 behind the leader, John Funk, and five seconds in front of Marcus Smith, the guy who I had only beaten three times before (one of which was Nationals TT two years ago!). Obviously there were lots of good guys in my age group. Two years ago, John Funk won and I was 2:20 behind him, but ended up in sixth, just six seconds off the podium. Team Swift in general had a good race. Stanley got an awesome fourth, Ryan got fifth, and Ashlyn got sixth!!!

Thursday, Aug. 7
National Championship Criterium
Result: 35th place, pack finish.

The day after the TT and the day of the crit, I had to get up a little bit early to give me time to warm up and still watch a bit of racing! Stanley’s race was first, so I got to watch him for a bit before I started to warm up.
The whistle blew and we were off! As soon as we went around the first turn it was clear to me that I would be very lucky to finish the race without crashing. Most of the guys in my field would slam on the brakes when starting a corner, even when the pack slowed a bit, but I managed to stay out of trouble and hold a good enough position to not get dropped. With one lap to go I had great position up at the front but on the second-to-last turn the guy in front of me totally slammed on the brakes. Not wanting to crash on the last lap I got out of his way, which meant out of the main pack, and by the time I had gotten back up to speed I was dangling on the back. On the final stretch I managed to catch up with some other Nor-Cal guys, Tyler Hanson and Chris LaBerge, who were also on the back, and I sprinted it out with them.
Immediately after my race Ashlyn started hers. We stuck around to see Ashlyn get sixth and Ryan finish a spectacular third!!!!

Friday, Aug. 8
National Championship Road Race
Result: 15th place, pack finish.

The schedule of the road race was very similar to the previous day of racing. Stanley went off first, then me, then Ashlyn etc. But this time I didn’t get to watch Stanley’s race while I warmed up.
I would be doing three laps of an odd course. The start/finish line was on top of a small hill. The race would start by going down one side of the hill, and finish going up the other side after circling around a high school for a while!
After being delayed for a while on the start line, the group got off to a slow start down the hill. But not for long. As soon as we hit the first small incline, the attacking started. The group had not even gone half a lap but still they were totally devoted to one thing: going as fast as possible! The attacks kept on going and finally a small three-man break managed to stay away for more than a lap. On the climb up to the finish on the second lap I found an opening and flew up the side of the pack to the front.But on the final lap the pack really turned up the gas to bring the break back, and I lost my good position in the tight chicanes through the high school. On the start of the last climb we managed to catch the group!
The field was going all out now, a couple of guys got overexcited and crashed, causing a small pile up. Then another guy went down right next to me, his bike went spinning through the air, coming within a foot of hitting my head, but I was able to hold my position. Two guys crashed towards the end of the race and during the sprint, some people who had given all their effort trying to stay with the group fell behind. I ended up sprinting it out with the remainder of my group, which was only about 14. I just managed to make it past all the stragglers in the last hundred meters! I ended up in a satisfying 15th, the last one in the leading group--but at least I was in the lead group! John Funk and Alexander Freund, who had finished 1-2 in the TT, separated by just one tenth of a second, finished 10th and 12th, so 15th was very satisfying.

Like the day before, we stuck around to see the other Swifties race. Ashlyn got on the podium in fifth with an awesome race. But then came the first race tragedy--Ryan crashed and broke his collarbone and was rushed off to the hospital! It was the fourth (or fifth?) broken collarbone of the season for Team Swift but one of the worst times to crash!! We really thought that Ryan was going to win the 15-16 RR.
After taking care of Ryan’s bike, Stanley, Greg, Ashlyn, Stephen, and I decided to celebrate the end of a good year by doing some high-speed go-karting, loving the fact of seeing how fast you could go with so little effort! The parents dominated but Stanley gave them a run for their money (he’d already had some experience of how fast you could really go around those tight corners).

Saturday and Sunday
The rest of our time in LA we spent watching other racing and chilling. We stayed long enough to see Tyler’s and Lindsay’s races, and to congratulate them on their second and eleventh places. After that it was time for us to start the long ride back to Nor-Cal!!!!

GREAT RACING TEAM SWIFT!!!!

GET WELL SOON, RYAN!!!!

Joey Nygaard

Contemporary String Band Workshop

I'm going to be participating in a new workshop put on by the Centrum Foundation in Port Townsend, WA, and directed by his honor, the Right Reverend Darol Anger, otherwise known as the Legendary Fiddling Weirdo (well at least to some). Also on the lecturer's side of the podium will be Tristan Clarridge, who just won his 47th (or something, I lost count) National Fiddling Championship (at the age of 22?) and the inimitable Matt Flinner, mando king supreme. It will be in November (13-16 to be exact), not the warmest time to visit the Northwest, but a time when post-summer festival withdrawal has got most of us by the short hairs. Should be fun. Check it out!

Contemporary String Band Workshop

Cool 2008 Albums

Looking at my list of Best of 2007, I realize I haven't said much about 2008 albums, so here's a list that could make the Best of 2008:

Kate Rusby, Awkward Annie
Tim O'Brien, Chameleon
Dave Douglas, Moonshine
Eliza Carthy, Dreams of Breathing Underwater
Cassandra Wilson, Loverly
Joan as Policewoman, To Survive
Crooked Still, Still Crooked
Dan Tyminski, Wheels
Karine Polwart, This Earthly Spell
Annbjorg Lien, Waltz with Me