billy hicks and the hot licks

I will open with Mavis Staples. We’ll Never Turn Back is an album that immediately jumps to the fore of all recordings. I’ll admit that I’m not a Staples Sisters connoisseur…but I will be shortly. Over the last five years only two other albums immediately became classics for me: Buddy Miller’s Universal United House of Prayer, and Solomon Burke’s Nashville. This outing is produced by Ry Cooder and you can hear his influence throughout; the guitars, the rhythm, the very slow and grinding pace. The track "My Own Eyes" rivals the Buddy Miller version of Dylan’s "With God on Our Side" as one of the greatest performances I’ve ever heard. This is the kind of music that moves - that makes me wonder just what it was like in America all those years back as people fought for rights that we denied them. To hear a voice like Mavis Staples’ rolling through the graphic of the American novel is something beyond awe. I can safely say that this will be the best of 2007 – amazing.

The Eleven headed to La Tasca in D.C. last night for the big environmental journal shindig. X just completed her studies for the day before we started getting ready. (Ready for me is about 20 minutes from ‘go’ to done…shower and all. The hair is more problematic these days.) We walked to the Metro and she was so relaxed, the weight lifted, mission accomplished, a lovely smile to go with her new short hair. We were at ease throughout (aside from all the Nats and Wizards fans en route to games) and the Georgetown International Environmental Law Review crowd is quite sociable. As we were slurping unlimited sangria and chit-chatting, there were two things that struck me: St. Elmo’s Fire, and just how different G’town kids are in relation to the Harvard/Yale stooges. First, St. Elmo’s Fire. It’s impossible to be in D.C. and not immediately think of the Brat Pack screaming from bar to bar, motivated by the Reagan years, wanting to change the world. The Law Center crowd is a full reflection of that spirit that I’d love to see across our country. They’re vibrant, overly intrigued by the events of the day, worried about how they’ll make a real mark on lives, and full of the vigor that I remember once having - to change the world. Not only that, these dudes sport some serious sideburns! And that little discourse leads to the next bit, the part about Harvard and Yale. I suspect, particularly when I see marriage/engagement pictures in the Times (and think of Alberto Gonzales), that the Harvard/Yale crowd are dolts. The G’town crowd is much more internationally inclined, more rebellious, and full of punks, voyeurs, and rogues. I can honestly say that if we parsed all the junk in government and law, we’d find that the Hoya crowd always stood on the up-and-up; they love what they do and they seem as if you’d come across them them half-drunk, standing on a corner in NW Washington, giving the finger the world. They are excellent.

The NYTimes announcements weren’t great this week but I did find the one bit that clarifies everything us men have suspected:

Her reservations dissipated after a few dates, she said, and they became serious after a few months. “We were together for six years,” she said, “and now he is perfect.”

Serious after six months? Perfect after six years? That's like a really bad car payment loan from Sid down at AutoRow...six years! Bang! That’s apparently how long it took her to get that poor ass to marrying standard. Is that a whip I hear cracking?

Love to all.

T.