Contemporary classical music isn't all academic

(This is a still photograph with musical accompaniment.)

I enjoy instrumental concert music. Most people, including me, refer to this sort of art music as "classical". Nothing wrong with that. Only a true snob or a perfectionist is likely to correct us for using the term.

My main issue with this type of music is similar to the one I have with classic rock: it isn't very dynamic. How many times can you listen to the same 500 works without a foreboding sense of boredom coming over you with the first few notes? (That was rhetorical, but the answer is probably measured in years.)

When it comes to the various sorts of popular music, one just needs to listen to the music of the most recent crop of artists. With classical music, this is a much more difficult endeavor for a few reasons.

1) Classical is not readily available in most radio listening areas. When classical stations can be found, whether independent, public radio, or on satellite, they tend to focus on the repertoire (that is, the "classics".)

2) There are so many composers and works and titles and instruments and vocalists and styles that it is a bit overwhelming to figure out where to start.

3) Modern and contemporary music, like other arts, has been changed dramatically by technological advances and the devastating wars of the 20th century. There is a tendency to depart from the emotionalism of music from earlier eras and to intellectualize the notes. Melody was lost for a time as serialism, dissonance, and computers infiltrated composition. Now, there are exceptions to this, but in the recent decades, I'm guessing, a novice could probably not name them.

4) This last one isn't a bad thing, it is just a sign of the times. Many fine composers do film scores. Mozart and Beethoven and the rest would undoubtedly have written them too if film were a medium in their times. But a film score needs to be whittled down to a suite, or a have a shorter work gleaned from it to make it accessible for performance. This is mainly because no one really wants to sit through the "incidental" pieces in order to get to the main themes that we all know.

I bring all this up just to say that there are many many wonderful young composers out there in the world. They are creating listenable, expressive, melodic, yet serious music. Not all of it is for all tastes, but anything that satisfies everyone is either a timeless masterpiece or fluff. There are only a few timeless masterpieces.

The photo above is Joby Talbot, an English composer who is 35 or 36 years old. He composes film scores(!), pop music(!!), and classical works. The work attached to the photo is ...similarities between diverse things..., for piano trio and vibraphone from 2002. A piano trio consists of a piano, violin, and a cello. This work was written in memory of Fred Hutchins Hodder, a gifted mathematician and violinist, who died at the age of 20 in 2001. Hodder's parents commissioned Talbot (and other composers) to create works in memory of their son.

This music is simple, yet is recognizable as a contemporary work. It is contemplative and emotional. Elements of minimalism (repeated notes) and the Baroque (think sewing machine) approach to the violin later in the piece, when it brightens considerably, add interest and intensity. By the time it quietly ends, you feel uplifted, even though you've just listened to a work intended to mourn the dead.

(The .mp3 used here came from Talbot's website a few months ago, not from a share site or from my own collection.)

The scent of chlorophyll

No, I don't use a rotary blade mower. I use a John Deere self-propelled walk behind mulching mower. The result is very nearly the same. Cut grass and that fresh scent that makes us think of summer weekend afternoons. Only the smell of barbecue could add to the experience.

I'm not a fan of mowing. No matter how you do it, whether you use a rotary, a push mower, self-propelled, or riding mower, it is work. Tedious, sweaty, dirty work. Most of us need to weed whack and edge the walks and driveway, too.

When it is all finished though, and you cool down with a lemonade, iced tea, or beer, and you look back out over the finished product, you can't help but feel good. You're glad you made the effort. The uniformity and beauty of the field of green is pleasing to the eye.

The scent, which comes from the chlorophyll, somehow emotionally transports you to feelings of liberty and openness, of pleasure and relaxation. And, it echoes the effort that you've put into creating this atmosphere. Maybe the feelings of freedom and relaxation come from knowing that it will be at least one more week before it is necessary to do it again.

If you want to keep that peaceful feeling, you better take your shoes off outside or in the mudroom. Or you could be learning the value of sweeping.

She's better than Jack Benny

My daughter, who'll turn 13 in a couple of weeks, is in her second year of playing violin. She's in the middle school orchestra and she practices diligently (when school is in session.)

One thing I love and look forward to each evening is when she goes upstairs to her room and practices. Something about the violin, perhaps its relationship to the human voice or simply its sound when played legato, I find very comforting and soothing.

We all know the cliche of the screechy out of tune playing of the rank amateur that ranks with nails on a chalkboard on the irritation scale, but my daughter, while no virtuoso by any stretch, has played melodiously from the beginning. Even the pizzicato passages are pleasant.

There is no escaping the sound when she practices unless we leave the house, but I don't mind it at all. I'm proud she is learning about music and how to bring it forth from an instrument. She'll have that forever. And we have her and her music right now. So, I am going to savor it while I can. Did I tell you she's almost 13?

Man, do I love a three-way

Every kid in Cincinnati thought they had an original line with that witticism. Ah, lost innocence.

What we have here is one of my all time favorite comfort foods: a Three Way Cincinnati style chili. Yeah, it's served over spaghetti. Yes, if you watch football and the Bengals are playing a home game, there will be a staged shot of someone constructing this dish when they are coming back in from the commercials.

It's no secret that it is delicious and incredibly popular in the greater Cincinnati area. Empress Chili started it all in downtown Cincinnati. Since then, though, there are two big dogs in the Cincy chili business: Skyline and Gold Star. And people actually fight about which is better like Coke and Pepsi. Brand loyalty is common.

Me, I love it all and appreciate the differences. Usually, when I am craving the stuff, I stop in at the nearest location of either restaurant. They're as ubiquitous as Starbucks in Seattle, or maybe more so. Cincinnati boasts nearly 200 chili parlors in the area.

You step inside, sit down at a table, booth, or counter and have hot food in front of you in mere minutes. I love the experience. If you can self-actualize while eating inexpensive fast food, then this is where I peak.

In a future post, I'll publish a recipe and breakdown the menu options at most restaurants. That way, if you decide to make it, you can serve it the way Cincinnatians like it.

One thing though, never twirl the spaghetti. One eats Cincinnati style chili by slicing the spaghetti with the edge of the fork and then scooping up noodles, chili, cheese, and, optionally, onions and black beans in a single mouthful. This is bliss.

Our first Hair Metal vid! Woo hoo!

Ah, a guilty pleasure: hair metal. Goofy songs with simple melodies over a pounding rhythm section, unless they're performing a commercially appealing ballad, were the ultimate suburban kid escape from the mid '80s and early '90s.

These songs will be making appearances here, in no particular order.

Today, I thought that a fairly obscure London band, Thunder, would kick it off. The song, Dirty Love is from the Backstreet Symphony album. (Yes, I own it.) It contains pretty simple lyrics, like we expect: "...like a cheap suit, you were all over me..." And my favorite, from the chorus: "...I don't want you touchin' me..." which is just the sort of irony, now that I'm older that makes me smile. When you're a teen or a twentysomething, at least where I grew up, there wasn't any such thing as a love too dirty.

Simple song. Always makes me sing along and maybe play a little air guitar. The video has the added bonuses of British accented video models and a complete lack of plot.

If you can't laugh and enjoy this, well, you need to keep reading the Happiness Notebook. We'll peel back those jaded layers of cynicism. Wait and see.

Irene is my mom's name

And it's also the name of the girl in this painting by Renoir. Does the girl need a few inches taken off the hair? Sure, but it's 1879, so we cut her some slack. There are a handful of Impressionist paintings that I truly love. This is one of them. The softness of the style meshes so well with the innocence of young women and girls. There will be other paintings by other artists showing up here for much the same reasons.

The red hair sets this apart for me. Physically, Irene Cahen d'Anvers is almost too petite and pale. Yet the mane like hair, pulled back and subdued by a barrette hints that she only appears quiet and timid to pose for the master painter.

Bottom line: when I see this painting, I feel calm. A breeze rustling those leaves or her hair would spoil the tranquil feelings.