Music of the Day: Jonathan Butler, Celebration

Welcome readers of Average Joe! This is the first of what I hope will be a series of interviews with Better Than Average People (BTAP). As most of you know, I have been keeping this blog active for close to two years and, to date, it has been comprised primarily of my opinions on books, politics, current events, and my ramblings on items that can only be called “personal.” This new endeavor gives me the opportunity to branch out a bit and to let other folks, Better Than Average People, to express themselves here on a variety of subjects. So, let’s begin!

AJ: You are about to complete an undergraduate degree while working at least one, and sometimes two, jobs to support yourself. What do you think are the two or three most valuable lessons you’ve learned from your experience?

BTAP: One really important thing I’ve learned about myself is that I have to be doing a lot of things to maintain my sanity. I get bored very easily and having lots of different options for recreation, education (whether it be organized or self-imposed), and work keeps me from feeling like I’m wasting time. I used to think that I had to pick one thing to focus on but that approach never worked for very long. After all, variety is the spice of life.

Another thing that I’ve come to realize lately is that I am much happier if I’m working less and spending more time doing the other things I love. I enjoy both of my jobs, and I enjoy them even more because I don’t work either of them full-time, but doing crazy shit at the crag or on the mountain really makes me feel alive, and powerful, scared sometimes too.

AJ: I think I know the answer to this question, but I’m going to ask anyway: If you had to choose between going to a movie or spending the same amount of time reading, which would you do?

BTAP: Depends. Normally I hate going to movies. The whole experience insults my sensibilities. You’re usually paying for garbage, but that isn’t the worst of it. I can’t sit still. By the time the movie is halfway done I can’t think of anything but getting up out of those damned chairs. Conversely, I’m a very picky reader. I won’t just breeze through anything, I have to be involved. Also, as I said before, I get bored easily so I may really be interested in a particular book but don’t make a lot of time for reading because I’ve got so much other stuff going on. I go through phases.

AJ: People who read Average Joe’s blog are literate, intelligent, attractive people; tell these folks what you think are the four or five most important books that you’ve read and would recommend to others?

BTAP: A Game of Thrones: Martin, George R.R. [This is] wonderful adult fantasy. We are definitely not talking Harry Potter here. The scope of the storytelling is vast, the characters are palpably human, and the action is brutal and unexpected. Caution: It’s a series, four books long so far, about 1000 pages each and the time between books is an eternity, so read slowly. Warriors of God: Reston, James Jr. A brilliantly told history of Richard the Lionheart and Saladin during the third Crusade. It’s already an engrossing subject that is only compounded by Reston’s ability to not write like your average historian, but with the lives of those he writes about in mind. Food Lovers Companion: Herbst, Sharon T. Basically it’s a dictionary for anybody who cares about food. There are no recipes but it can be an invaluable tool in the kitchen. I flip through it just to learn new kinds of crazy stuff people eat. Catch 22: Heller, Joseph. You just can’t beat the humor, or the stunning tragedy in this book. I think it takes a somewhat crazy person to appreciate this book to the degree that I do. I have friends who couldn’t stand trying to read this book because of its non-sequential, overlapping progression. If you like Catch 22 then check out Slaughterhouse Five and Cat’s Cradle by [Kurt] Vonnegut.

AJ: Choose one: The Allman Brothers Band, Culture Club, Pearl Jam, the Rolling Stones, or Dave Matthews.

BTAP: That’s a tough one. Of course Pearl Jam; I have something like 25 of their CDs. The Stones were money back in the day and the Allman Bros have some great stuff too. Culture Club and D[ave]M[atthews]B[and] are way down on the list. Way down.

AJ: You have been doing a lot of fishing since your recent knee surgery; have you caught anything yet and, if not, what are you going to do differently, or does actually catching fish matter to you?

BTAP: Yeah, I’ve caught a couple of cats at the lake. I caught both of them about fifteen – twenty feet off the shore in the middle of the afternoon using anchovies with a bobber about three feet from the hook. It’s nice to catch fish, but that isn’t why I fish. Mostly it’s a way to feel like I’m doing something active without actually doing anything. Plus, you have to have those days where you don’t get squat to make catching a fish somewhat exhilarating.

AJ: You have been in the food-service industry for a very long time, considering your relative youth (28 y.o.); when did you first realize that cooking for others was one of your strongest passions?

BTAP: Simple. Good food makes me happy. I like that I can make other people feel happy when they eat my food. And I get to practice on them.

AJ: What is the best meal you have ever had?

BTAP: Canned tuna mixed with cream cheese and red onion on white bread. You’d be surprised how good that’ll taste after five days on the river.

AJ: Choose one: four wheel drive vehicle, sports car, pickup truck, motorcycle, speed boat.

BTAP: I choose my mountain bike. After twelve weeks of driving everywhere and another month of physical therapy looming before I’m able to ride again I just can’t wait to get out of the car.

AJ: What foreign country you would most like to visit, or live in, and why.

BTAP: I really want to go to Chile. No particular reason, I’m just enthralled by a country with a vast mountain range and coastline so close to each other. Plus, I love the wildness of the Patagonia region. It is a land of extremes and of extreme beauty.

AJ: You own four or five musical instruments—which is your favorite and why?

BTAP: Actually, I’m down to three now—my six-string [guitar], my twelve-string [guitar] and a violin. The six-string is my favorite by far though. I learned to play guitar with people, not through lessons. I feel this has made a huge difference in how I feel about music. There was never (or rarely) any thought of making money, it was just what we did when that particular group of friends were together. I miss that. Now I mostly play for myself. It’s therapeutic to just wail on the guitar for a while. But like everything in my life, my passion waxes and wanes at apparently random intervals.

AJ: Your sister is a couple of years older than you are; how are you two most alike and how are you most different from one another?

BTAP: We’re both alike in that we love each other very much. That wasn’t always the case, but I think that we’re very important to each other and I’m glad that we can say it to each other now. We’re also very different from each other, and not just in height. I think that I sometimes have a hard time accepting people for who they are, whereas my sister has a hard time accepting people for who they aren’t.

AJ: Bar sport you most prefer: Pool, darts, air hockey, foosball?

BTAP: For sheer drunken debauchery I’d have to go with air hockey. There’s little to no skill involved, it mostly just matters how hard you can hit the damned thing. Awesome.

AJ: If you had the opportunity to share a cab ride with a famous or important person, who would that person be?

BTAP: I’m going to pull a dead guy out of the hat and say Stevie Ray Vaughn. Damn that dude can play.

AJ: American city that you would most like to visit.

BTAP: Kodiak, Alaska. On Kodiak Island. It just screams adventure.

AJ: What are the three things in life that make you angry?

Just three? Okay, greedy people; people who feel entitled, to damn near anything; and people who don’t know how to cook a steak.

AJ: Is the glass half empty or half full?

BTAP: If it’s a pint glass then the f****r is empty. We’ll just say half there. I’m a “middle path” kind of guy, not to get too Buddhist on you. Empty and full are modifiers that detract from the true nature of what is there: half a glass of…whatever.

AJ: Your parents didn’t take you to religious services when you were growing up; do you regret that? How would you describe your spiritual outlook? If you become a father, will you take your kids to religious services?

BTAP: I appreciate religion despite the almost total lack of religious influence from my parents. I’ve been to plenty of services on my own and have found that I just don’t buy it. Some people call it agnostic, but I just think that any claim of “knowing god” or “his will” is pretty damned arrogant. I don’t believe that the universe just blinked itself into existence, but I sure as hell am not going to spend my time trying to convince anybody that god is a big bearded dude in robes and sandals watching me twenty-four hours a day. How boring can you get?

AJ: Every college student has probably had one class that really had a huge impact—is that true for you and, if so, what was it about the class or the professor that made it special?

BTAP: Not really. The Advanced Placement English class my senior year of high school was pretty important to me because it really helped me understand what a skilled wordsmith can accomplish with language. Honestly, college has been kind of a bust in that respect.

Average Joe sends huge and major thanks to the first Better Than Average Person for taking the time to answer these questions with candor. More of these interviews will follow in the months ahead.

And, as always, thanks for reading Average Joe’s blog. . . .

AJ

TO LIVE IN FREEDOM’S LIGHT IS THE RIGHT OF MANKIND.

Music of the Day: Mark Knopfler, Back to Tupelo

I see a cobalt sky with just the slightest touch of pink, the temperature is about 80 degrees, and there’s a slight breeze blowing (or is that the little electric fan we keep in the ranch house?)—a stomp-down beautiful evening. MLB is collapsed, literally, in one of the library recliners, Max the Wonder Dog is semi-comatose next to the lateral file, and I have a snoot-full of decent wine—to be more specific, it’s a Gewurztraminer, which means for those of you who have forgotten your high school German, “A snoot-full of decent wine.”

I am surrounded by beauty and erudition; on my immediate left is a copy of Bill Bryson’s wonderful book entitled A Short History of Nearly Everything (which is a must-read if you have any interest at all in anything remotely scientific); the headphones are now full of Poncho Sanchez’s tune Conmigo; the aforementioned Gewurz-its-name is rattling around in my skull, and MLB, her own beautiful self, is reading Nora Ephron. Other good books are at hand, including Dr. Richard Mitchell’s The Graves of Academe—see the link for The Underground Grammarian to find all of Dr. Mitchell’s (RIP) works, which you should download and read this weekend if you wish to think of yourself as a truly educated human being.

Surely there are weighty issues, political and otherwise, that could be, or should be, addressed here—the candidates for president, their gyrations and maneuvers; the price of oil; baseball statistics; Wimbledon results; yesterday’s place in American history (the invasion of South Korea by the North Koreans in 1950 and the thousands of Americans who gave their lives in defense of that tiny country that is still threatened by its communist neighbor to the north); and, of course, the impending actor’s strike.

But the evening is too nice, the colors are too vibrant, the air is too cool and sweet, the wine is too German (a sweet 2005 vintage), and the music is too good to ruminate and brood about all of that stuff—another day. Right now, I want to enjoy the buzz and the nearby babe (MLB!) and the books and the beast (Max!) and to hell with the rest of that other stuff.

AJ

TO LIVE IN FREEDOM’S LIGHT IS THE RIGHT OF MANKIND.

Any and all typos, grammatical errors, and the like are the fault of the Germans who produced the wine.

Music of the Day: Bill Sharpe, Hypnotique

It was down the mountain and back yesterday to retrieve My Lovely Bride (MLB) from our airport after her extended travels around many western portions of our great nation. From all reports she had a good time visiting with assorted members of her family; also on the positive side, our frequent phone calls to and from one another disclosed no coughing or hacking or respiratory difficulties on her part. Given the scope of her travel, the hours in various vehicles, and the exposure to who-knows-what sort of bizarre pathogens in the ether in airplanes, restaurants, hotels, etcetera, this is excellent news.

For me, the road trip portion was about 4.5 hours in the car, contending with big-city traffic, truly mad drivers in gigantic souped-up trucks, brain-sizzling heat, and an airport layout that was designed, I believe, by a one-eyed schizophrenic with sadistic tendencies. Getting into and out of our closest major airport requires the patience of Job, the right foot of Richard Petty, the alertness of a long-tailed cat in a roomful of rocking chairs, and a head full of Prozac or some other mood-altering substance. The signage is nearly incomprehensible, pedestrians seem to be completely oblivious to vehicular traffic, the police appear to ignore all but the bloodiest and most egregious of crimes, and the cost of parking for an hour or two requires a co-signer for a loan. On the positive side, it’s always nice to drive back up the mountain, to the cooler air, and to a place where many people drive at, or slightly below, the speed limit (although this can make one crazy if one follows eight or nine of these people around town for more than a few blocks).

On the most positive side, it is nice to have MLB back home—Max the Wonder Dog has grown tired of my constant mutterings to myself and he misses his “Mom” when she’s gone. That makes two of us. . . .

AJ

TO LIVE IN FREEDOM’S LIGHT IS THE RIGHT OF MANKIND.

Music of the Day: Special EFX, Jazz Lambada

Just when you thought things were as bad as they could get, things seem to be getting worse! And worse! And worse! How much worse will things get? Really bad! There’s going to be an actor’s strike! Actors! On strike!

Oh sure, gasoline prices are up to your eyeballs and the economy is in the toilet and it won’t be long before the Iranians have some nukes and don’t eat the tomatoes, they’re poisoned, and health care in this country sucks, and we’re losing the war on terrorism, and the war in Iraq was lost last year, and the only thing we can really hope for now is hope and change and change and hope. But even that won’t save us from the horror of an actor’s strike! It’s coming! Actors! On strike!

No new Adam Sandler movies! No new Oliver Stone movies! No new movies! What will we do? How will we get through the long, hot summer without movies to take our minds off our truly crummy lives here in the United States? Actors! On strike!

The only good news is that the writer’s strike is over—we couldn’t possibly survive a strike that included writers and actors! And, ohmygod, what would happen if the camera-people and sound people and grip-people and stunt-people and caterers and drivers and lighting-people all went on strike along with the actors?!? Why the movie business and the entertainment business and the TeeVee business would all grind to a halt and we’d have to watch re-runs and old movies from way back in 2004 and we’d run out of the good stuff in a day or two, so then what would we do? We might have to read books or engage in conversations or take part in something that wasn’t really all that entertaining! Actors! On strike!

AJ

TO LIVE IN FREEDOM’S LIGHT IS THE RIGHT OF MANKIND.

Music of the Day: Anahata, Vishnu

A couple of times in the not-too-distant past I made refererence here to a body known as the California Coastal Commission and its desire to keep the U.S. Navy from SONAR training so as not to "disorient" the sea creatures in the area. There have been a couple of court cases on the matter; here's what I learned today from the Navy News Service:

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Today, June 23, 2008, the Supreme Court accepted a request by the Navy that the Court review a series of lower court rulings that restrict the Navy's use of sonar in training exercises off the coast of Southern California.

The original injunction, handed down in August 2007 by a U.S. District Court in Los Angeles and later amended, was affirmed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in February.

In March, the Navy requested the review that the Supreme Court has now accepted.

"My primary job is to ensure that Navy ships in the Pacific are prepared to fight and win in combat," said Vice Adm. Samuel J. Locklear, Commander, U.S. Third Fleet. "These restrictions make it very difficult to conduct the kind of realistic, integrated training exercises that ensure the combat effectiveness of our force."

The court-imposed mid-frequency active (MFA) sonar training restrictions include a requirement to shut down sonar altogether when marine mammals are within 2,200 yards of any sonar source and to reduce sonar power by 75 percent when the Navy detects significant surface ducting conditions, whether or not a marine mammal is present.

The 2,200-yard shutdown zone is eleven times greater than the existing shutdown distance that the Navy developed in consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The requirement to reduce sonar power by 75 percent during significant surface ducting conditions, whether or not a marine mammal is present, will prevent Navy strike groups from conducting training to detect submarines in the same conditions in which submarines seek to hide.

The Navy is trying to strike a balance between the need for an effective combat force and protecting the environment.

"We can protect our national security while simultaneously being good stewards of the environment," said the Honorable Donald C. Winter, Secretary of the Navy. "We are already taking extensive measures to protect marine mammals and we have had positive results from those measures. We are furthermore committed to an extensive data collection effort to help inform our future efforts in this regard."

When using MFA during major exercises or within established DoD ranges or operating areas, the Navy adheres to marine mammal protective measures approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service, the federal regulator responsible for marine mammal protection, issued under a National Defense Exemption in January 2007.

The Navy is also making a significant investment in the science, spending $26 million on marine mammal research this year.

AJ

TO LIVE IN FREEDOM'S LIGHT IS THE RIGHT OF MANKIND.