All posts filed under: Random DJB Thoughts

This is where I put anything that is not easily categorized…

Iron Work for a Tennessee Farm

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My younger brother Joe recently posted photos on his blog of the iron work on a barn project he just completed in Middle Tennessee. This horse barn and the accompanying 19th century farmhouse near Pulaski were graced with Joe’s simple yet beautiful ironwork on the gates and in the tack room.  The owner and Joe agreed to an Iris theme that adds a little unexpected touch to the utility of the gates. Check out the Joe Brown, Artist Blacksmith blog to see all the pictures and some of the other projects Joe has in the works.  And for those in Middle Tennessee, note that Joe usually participates in the Art Studio Tour as well as a few major shows throughout the year. More to come… DJB

Good Friday 2010

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One of the treasures of Washington is the National Cathedral.  Earlier this evening Candice, Andrew, Claire and I gathered together in the Cathedral’s St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel for the moving and beautiful Good Friday meditation. There is no more appropriate place to spend Good Friday than the vault-like chapel deep in the heart of the Cathedral named for Joseph of Arimathea, the rich man who went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus in order to provide a proper burial in his own new tomb.  The stone and wood space is made for the chants, solo cello, and Taize music of this service.  The sounds have a special resonance that envelops the soul. Cathedral Musical Director Michael McCarthy has structured a beautifully meditative service for this evening, beginning with Gita Ladd playing the groaning Sonata for Cello solo, Op. 28 by Eugene Ysaye.   The plainsong chant of Psalm 40 by the gentlemen of the Cathedral Singers begins in the traditional fashion, yet two-thirds of the way through McCarthy underpins the plainsong with …

The Business of Happiness

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I took the occasion of an evening plane ride from Washington to Miami last month to read a new book by Washington Capitals owner and AOL co-founder Ted Leonsis called The Business of Happiness.   The fact that I was happy to be leaving the remains of Snowmaggedon in Washington for the warm climes of Miami (and spots further south) put me in the right mood. The book has two parts, the first serving as biography and stage-setting for the second half listing of the “six secrets to extraordinary success in work and life.”  (What’s a popular business book without a list of secrets to success?)  When Candice saw the book on my bedside table she remarked, “He has happy eyes.”  That’s a pretty good summation of this book.  Leonsis looks on the world as a business-tested optimist – not a bad way to approach life. His story of how he ended up at Georgetown University and then used the years in college to figure out his life’s calling is worth the price of the book …

Mr. Hatch, Old Dogs and The Beatles

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Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch is a favorite Valentine’s Day book in our family.  To quote from the dust jacket, In a little town on a wintery day, a postman delivers a mysterious package tied up with a big pink bow to a lonely man named Mr. Hatch.  “Somebody loves you” the note says. “Somebody loves me,” Mr. Hatch whispers as he dusts his living room.  “Somebody loves me,” Mr. Hatch whistles as he does errands in town.  “Who,” Mr. Hatch wonders, “could somebody be?” This is a wonderful children’s book that sees Mr. Hatch come alive after learning that someone loves  him, and then deflated when the postman returns weeks later to say he had delivered the package to the wrong address.  That’s not how the story ends, as you might expect.  The town discovers the reason Mr. Hatch has returned to his solitary ways and they let him know that plenty of people really do love Mr. Hatch.  We read the book aloud last evening during a family Valentine’s dinner and our kids …

The America Bowl: Presidents vs. the Super Bowls

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The America Bowl pulls together all of my favorite ways of wasting time. So says Don Steinberg, creator of the online America Bowl showdown between the U.S. Presidents and the Super Bowls.   I read about Steinberg’s web site in a recent issue of The New Yorker and had to check it out. This all began as Steinberg was thinking about Barack Obama, the nation’s 44th president, and he wondered about the connections with other famous 44s – like Hank Aaron who wore the number for the Atlanta Braves. Steinberg soon realized there was a football echo, too – that the 2010 Super Bowl…would be the forty-fourth, or, rather, the XLIVth.  This alignment, like the Rapture, will happen only once. So a web site – complete with logo featuring a pony-tailed George Washington going head-to-head with a football helmet – was born over Thanksgiving.  The idea is to pit each President against his corresponding Super Bowl.  Presidents are judged on their accomplishments; Super Bowls on their competitiveness. If you remember anything about the founding fathers and …

Why I Feel Lucky…With a Snowstorm on the Way

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As we await our second snowpocalypse in two months here in the Washington area, I was fortunate enough to read Dr. Tom Bibey’s Stories of the Bluegrass Music Road blog this morning.  It reminded me of how your outlook affects so much in life. My favorite story from Dr. B’s blog this morning: I began to write in 2000.  I’ve had the same game plan since 2002; write a bluegrass based book, have it out in 2010, then travel a little with my wife for a couple years before we get too old to go.  Our goal is to meet the best people, play a lot of music, learn a bunch of new songs, and sell enough books to make the trip break even.  A buddy of mine said he toured with a bluegrass band and made it to California and back.  He had a great time and met all kinda folks.  After it was over he had ten more dollars than he started with.  He is my hero. So I’m approaching the snowpocalypse with the idea that I’ll …

Patty Griffin and Downtown Presbyterian: A match made in heaven

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I’m glad I was standing in my local Barnes & Nobel a few years ago when Patty Griffin’s 1000 Kisses came on over the store’s speakers.  Mesmerized by the voice, I wandered through the music section until I had listened to a majority of the album.  Needless to say, I took it home and have been a fan ever since. Griffin has a new album out entitled Downtown Church, and it is a winner in so many ways.  Beginning with the wonderful old tune House of Gold all the way through to the beautiful hymn All Creatures of Our God and King, there isn’t a false note here.  Wade in the Water with Regina McCrary – the daughter of the founder of the Fairfield Four and “gospel royalty” to quote Griffin – really rocks.  Never Grow Old with Buddy Miller is beautiful, simple and meditative.  Griffin sang both songs and more on a terrific live stream tonight on her Facebook home page and you can catch the latter in a video below.  Every song on …

Old Time Zen

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A friend from Philadelphia recently sent the following quote to me via email: “A year or so ago on the bluegrass mailing list, one of the bluegrassers was comparing their custom of playing a tune until all the verses had been sung with the old-time custom of playing the same tune ad infinitum. He remarked that the object of old-time music was to bore people. I explained that the object of an old-time jam session is enlightenment (satori, if you will)—boredom is only a means to that end.”  Charlie Bowen This led to a search online (shouldn’t all posts about zen include some reference to a search?) and took me to the original source: an information sheet about a Hillbilly Zen workshop at the 2006 Solfest.  Other bits of wisdom from the workshop: The violin music is important because we play it. Repetition of the tune in the groove leads people to an absorption, a place of clarity which most old-time musicians like. And my favorite: Respect for tradition is a kind of filter. People …

Support Earthquake Relief in Haiti

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I had planned to write about something else tonight, but everything seemed to pale in comparison to the need to simply encourage your support for earthquake relief in Haiti. Partners in Health is the organization where I chose to send my support for relief work in Haiti.  Why?  I have seldom been as moved by a book as I was two years ago when I read Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains:  The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World. Farmer – one of the founders of Partners in Health – has dedicated his life to curing infectious diseases and to bringing modern medical care to the world’s poorest citizens.  As the book jacket notes, Tracy Kidder’s magnificent account shows how one person can make a difference in solving global health problems through a clear-eyed understanding of the interaction of politics, wealth, social systems, and disease….Farmer changes people’s minds through his dedication to the philosophy that “the only real nation is humanity.” Today, you can do something quickly to help ease …