Guitarist R.L. Burnside of Oxford, Mississippi became known to me when he became popular with musicians I enjoyed from the 1990s and beyond. Among one of my favorite albums put out during this period was Mr. Wizard, first released March 11th, 1997. The album exemplifies multiple blues forms performed by a master of the artform.
(The front of the album Mr. Wizard by R.L. Burnside, which was released originally on March 11th, 1997).
Over the Hill opens Mr. Wizard with a strong slide guitar that simply won’t quit. The song makes a strong statement for self-determination and perseverance in the face of significant obstacles laid at his feet.
Alice Mae brings an upbeat jam about protecting the love of his lady friend, Alice Mae. After lyrically declaring reasons that he loves his woman in this song, Burnside declares his readiness to kill in defense of maintaining his love. The clarity of the jam and the message are clear and strong.
Georgia Women brings a jam about lusting after women in Georgia, referencing rumors Burnside‘s heard to the distinct sweet love he’s experienced with Alice Mae. That the man is looking to experience intimacy, a subject returned to after his lady has left him in the song Highway 7 later on the album.
With Snake Drive, R.L. Burnside works the blues formula with innuendo, letting his baby ride with the journey’s destination, Snake Drive, providing the anatomical reference for how the joyride in play.
(The back of the Mr. Wizard album by R.L. Burnside, which was released originally on March 11th, 1997).
Rollin’ and Tumblin’ tells the story of cheating in love. Burnside tells us that getting caught leads to heartache and loss with the burden of responsibility to boot. While the song doesn’t address his lady’s pain, we hear the singer’s pain in this jam.
Out on the Road reflects as classic a blues construction as exists on the Mr. Wizard. The point of view for Burnside on this is distrusting the motives of his romantic love interest. Aiming to find her before she cheats, the singer suffers indignities while losing sleep overnight investigating places his woman might be.
In returning to another jam about being on the road, Highway 7 offers the tale of Burnside‘s lady having left him. He hits the road bound for Georgia with a fierce appetite for intimacy that the lyrics tell us cannot be satisfied.
Tribute to Fred is a straight-up instrumental jam in the eighth slot of nine songs on the Mr. Wizard album. Musically, this song sits quite well among the others presented on this album.
(The cover for Phil Collins‘ No Jacket Required album, first released in the United Kingdom on this date in 1985).
As quoted here with background drawn from the VH1 program VH1 Storytellers, Sussudio started as a song title that happened in a semi-structured yet unplanned way. Phil Collins said “I started to sing into the microphone, and this word came out.” As the meaningless expression didn’t give way to anything better with the lyrics that were added to a set of chords with an uplifting and dance feel, a hit was born. As mentioned on the www.songfacts.com listing for the song, Sussudiowould peak at #1 in the United States and #12 in the United Kingdom.
(Released as a single in January 1985, Sussudio is the first track on Phil Collins‘ third solo studio album, No Jacket Required).
Only You Know and I Know follows the opening album hit with a heavy drumline mixed with horns. Lyrically aiming for the give-and-take of a relationship whose bonds are being questioned, I hear the song saying that the power to restore the relationship rests in honest communication focused on precisely such an outcome.
Moving to a sharply more meditative direction, Long Long Way to Go feels hurt and afraid in both mood and hopefulness. Taking the song as a metaphor for a romance at risk, the feelings and strength Collins wants as the song’s singer asks for the pain to stop rather than continuing to try. That’s a heavy message indeed.
I Don’t Wanna Know extends a theme of a relationship in peril, though musically upbeat in mood. There’s word getting around that Phil‘s love interest has been spotted romantically in the company of another suitor, which if true is precisely what the singer doesn’t wish to know. As the song progresses lyrically, optimism persists with the hope of picking up romantically where things have been for Phil Collins and his love interest.
One More Night offers a ballad seeking relationship redemption with the attempt to rekindle what has existed between Phil Collins and his romantic love interest. Peaking at #1 in the United States and #4 in the United Kingdom, the notion of pleading “with his lover to give him just one more night to prove his devotion” clearly resonated with many then and likely still now.
(One More Night was the first United States single in and the second United Kingdom single released in support of the No Jacket Required album by Phil Collins).
Don’t Lose My Number brings enthusiasm and a vague sense of storytelling to a seeming romance, budding yet not started or otherwise, with a person named Billy. Whether the number not to be lost is a telephone number never really becomes clear, as doesn’t the relevance to this and whatever follow-up Billy being findable means to imply. As with this song, sometimes a decent hook is all a song needs to stick.
(Peaking at #4 in the United States in September 1985, Don’t Lose My Number was never released as a single in the United Kingdom).
Who Said I Would sure takes an unexpected and unsympathetic turn in the world of romance. That the lady of Phil‘s longing would so readily and clearly reject his feelings lays the groundwork for the relationship’s end like little verbally could. The jarring quality of this message stands in such opposition to the musical statement I hear through most of the song is equally jarring.
(First recorded as a studio recording for No Jacket Required, Who Said I Would was not released as a single until released as a live version Serious Hits…Live! in the United States and Japan six years later).
The heavy opening of drums to begin Doesn’t Anybody Stay Together Anymore feels deliberate and indicative of the feelings I sense Phil Collins having with his song. As indicated in the quotes here, this “song was made in response to everyone around Collins getting a divorce, including his manager, friends and though he was happily married to his second wife, Jill Tavelman [spelling corrected], himself years before.”
I sense a recognition for moving on after a broken relationship ends with the song Inside Out. The inside out references the clear sense for where the end of that love has left him, with a sense of recovery on Phil’s own recovery being the priority. To me, following his own grieving process to recovery makes a lot of sense. This strength of this song musically pleases me.
As quoted here through VH1 Storytellers, Take Me Home‘s “lyrics refer to a patient in a mental institution, and that he was inspired by the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Ken Kesey wrote that novel. The song peaked at #7 in the United States and #19 in the United Kingdom.
(Take Me Home, the tenth song from the No Jacket Required album, was released as a single in the United Kingdom in July 1985 and in the United States in March 1986).
The ballad We Said Hello Goodbye was a bonus track added to the compact disc release of the No Jacket Required album. The sentiment underpinning the song of emotionally moving on from one situation to another, growing and improving with time as the only way is an inspirational take that places this song, lyrically, among the more impressive achievements on this album.
In 2003, an ensemble cast combined for a loosely related set of love stories set against the backdrop of Christmas. Richard Curtis wrote and directed Love Actually (2003), set in London, England to the larger point that love is actually all around us.
(From left, Hugh Grant as David, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and Martine McCutcheon as Natalie in the Richard Curtis movie Love Actually).
Several intersecting love stories are shown against the backdrop of the narrated perspective that opens the movie. The arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport and the messages from victims of the September 11th, 2001 attacks show love rather than hate. The movie immediately moves into interconnected stories of love, including that of Natalie and United KingdomPrime Minister David, as portrayed by Martine McCutcheon and Hugh Grant, respectively. Natalie and David seemingly meet on the prime minister‘s first day in office.
(From left, Heike Makatsch as Mia, Alan Rickman as Harry and Emma Thompson as Karen in the Richard Curtis move Love Actually).
Karen is David’s sister, and a mother to two kids with Harry. Mia, Harry’s secretary as the managing director of a design agency, offers suggestive behavior that leads to at least emotional temptation. The story reveals itself through the movie, with the payoff on the evening before Christmas. Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman and Heike Makatsch portrayed Karen, Harry and Mia, respectively. The music of Joni Mitchell is relevant to this story.
(From left, Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Sam, Olivia Olson as Joanna, Claudia Schiffer as Carol and Liam Neeson as Daniel in the Richard Curtis movie Love Actually).
An early conversation between Daniel and close friend Karen reveals Karen expressing sympathy for the death of Daniel’s wife. In the presence of that grief, Daniel’s stepson Sam expresses his love for Sam has crowded out grief at losing his mother. Sam attends the same school as his love interest, Joanna, plus Bernie and Daisy, the children of Karen and Harry. Drum playing and travel factor into the love story that unravels for Sam and Joanna, with feelings between Carol and Daniel seemingly developing. Liam Neeson, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Olivia Olson, Claudia Schiffer, William Wadham and Lulu Popplewell portrayed Daniel, Sam, Joanna, Carol, Bernie and Daisy, respectively.
(From left, Gregor Fisher as Joe and Bill Nighy as Billy Mack in the Richard Curtis movie Love Actually).
While the story of seeking a top hit for the Christmas season navigates its way through much of the Love Actually story, the subtext of an aging rockstar competing against more youthful competition leads in many different directions. The promotional efforts for putting Billy Mack over leaves Joe metaphorically on the outside looking in. Things take unexpected turns for the pair, with the results bearing relevance for them as well as for the love story of Joanna and Sam. Bill Nighy portrayed Billy Mack as Gregor Fisher portrayed Joe.
(From left, Michael Fitzgerald as Michael, Laura Linney as Sarah and Rodrigo Santoro as Karl in the Richard Curtis movie Love Actually).
The sacrifice of familial love in the face of pursuing romantic love as Harry’s design agency brings about feelings of love. Sarah and Karl have been pining for each other for more than two years when Harry suggests to Sarah that perhaps the time has come to express her feelings to Karl. The agonizing process almost gets there in multiple ways, with the added complication of Sarah’s brother Michael struggling with mental health issues in a hospital. The question of intimacy and boundaries demonstrate interesting complexity for what love can become. Laura Linney, Rodrigo Santoro and Michael Fitzgerald portray Sarah, Karl and Michael, respectively.
(From left, Keira Knightley as Juliet, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Peter and Andrew Lincoln as Mark in the Richard Curtis movie Love Actually).
A well-contained love triangle of sorts emerges when Peter’s best man at his wedding to Juliet, Mark, films the wedding. An interesting set of surprises give life to this story, from the wedding ceremony itself to the slowly unraveling truths that reveal the truth. That a different take for who knows what when emerges to the story of Karen, Harry and Mia offers a satisfying difference when considered together. Keira Knightley, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Andrew Lincoln portrayed Juliet, Peter and Mark, respectively.
(From left, Colin Firth as Jamie and Lúcia Moniz as Aurélia in the Richard Curtis movie Love Actually).
Jamie attended Peter and Juliet’s wedding ceremony on his own since his girlfriend, as portrayed by Sienna Guillory, had been ill. Coming home to check on her between the ceremony and the reception, Jamie finds his girlfriend sharing physical intimacy with his brother, as portrayed by Dan Fredenburgh. Distraught, Jamie meets a Portuguese housekeeper named Aurélia where he was staying. That the two didn’t speak the same language didn’t stop that these two might have feelings for one another. Lúcia Moniz portrayed Aurélia. As the movie’s theme played out, the payoff for what comes next arrived on Christmas Eve.
(From left, Abdul Salis as Tony and Kris Marshall as Colin in the Richard Curtis movie Love Actually).
International travel offered success in unexpected ways for Colin and Tony, with Colin having multiple unsuccessful attempts to attract English women. Having failed to convince Mia, Juliet and Nancy, the wedding caterer at Peter and Juliet’s wedding, to date him, Colin decides that his English accent will attract women from the United States. Heading to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Colin makes his own luck with a bit of positive outcomes for himself and Tony. Abdul Salis, Kris Marshall and Julia Davis portrayed Tony, Colin and Nancy, respectively.
(From left, Joanna Page as Judy and Martin Freeman as John in the Richard Curtis movie Love Actually).
The story of John and Judy, two socially shy body doubles that as characters in Love Actually portray risqué behavior in movies, the two find themselves able to connect emotionally away from the workplace. Portrayed by Martin Freeman and Joanna Page, respectively, John and Judy attend the Christmas pageant that meant so much to Sam and Joanna, Daniel and Carol, David and Natalie, and Daisy. A happy ending for the pair matches a recurring theme for the film, which managed to invoke jewelry salesman Rufus in a pair of key movie moments. Rowan Atkinson portrayed Rufus.
(Rowan Atkinson as Rufus in the Richard Curtis movie Love Actually).
The movie Love Actually is appreciated to a large extent by Lynn of Matt Lynn Digital very much. There are multiple stories that stick with her, though the Harry, Karen and Mia storyline seems to standout more for her than the others. The romantic comedy aspect of the movie set against the season of Christmas also resonates. I personally give Love Actually as written and directed by Richard Curtis 4.0-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
The writing of David Maraniss has offered enjoyment and knowledge to me over the years; the decision to return to a biography of football coach, husband and father Vince Lombardi proved pretty easy. First published in 1999, Maraniss‘ book When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi offers a clear and informative narrative of the man, his times, what shaped his life and the life of his family.
(Vince Lombardi played football at Fordham University in the Bronx, where he was part of the so-called ‘Seven Blocks of Granite’. Lombardi later became an assistant football coach at Fordham).
Family and his Roman Catholic faith were early influences over the work ethic and philosophy that would inform the man Vince Lombardi would become. Having grown up in Brooklyn,New York City, New York, the decision to attend Fordham University in the Bronx came rather naturally as a place to keep those ties and play football. Discipline and playing through pain and hardship were highlights of many early experiences shared in the Maraniss biography, along with the mythmaking and writing styles for how reports of college football were written of at the time. That Lombardi needed to work to break the lineup, and the feeling of contributing to a goal larger than himself, were early lessons that informed the coach Lombardi would become.
(Vince Lombardi was an assistant coach at West Point from 1949-1953).
Lombardi‘s path into coaching football was not a given, having been born in 1913 and coming of age during the Great Depression. The steps Lombardi took into coaching and teaching at Roman Catholic schools, with decisions around if and when to move into the high school ranks not always being straightforward. A degree of discipline and honoring of commitments factored into when not to move on, though the influences of his playing days and the underpinnings of those early teaching experiences where Lombardi led and developed a philosophy for how to speak to his chosen audience influenced his landing work at the West Point, a military academy of the United States based in New York state.
(David Maraniss wrote When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi, which was first published in 1999).
What Lombardi knew about football landed him work at West Point. Beyond affirming a sense of the organized development and motivation of men, Lombardi‘s time there offered an insight into dedicated documentation of film to review the tendencies of each individual player on plays. Lombardi further took a sense of how to simplify game plans down to the core points of emphasis, rather than focusing his players on understanding the full scope of the playbook. The academic cheating scandal revealed in 1951, during the time Lombardi coached at West Point, would influence the erstwhile coach later in his career despite Lombardi reportedly having no knowledge of the scheme at the point it occurred.
(From left, Vince Lombardi, his daughter Susan, his wife Marie and his son Vincent. Lombardi and Marie had married in August of 1940).
There was some degree of unease for Lombardi following his time in the college ranks, with his first advance into the NFL (National Football League) being as an assistant coach for the New York Giants from 1954 to 1958. Tom Landry would be an assistant coach for the Giants beside Lombardi, with Lombardi leaving in February 1959 to become the General Manager and head coach of the Green Bay Packers in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
(From left, Green Bay Packer quarterbacks Paul Hornung and Bart Starr were significant to the success of the Packers during Vince Lombardi‘s tenure from 1959 to 1967).
Lombardi had complicated relationships with his wife and children as he began transforming the Packers into a team that won five NFL championships, including the first two Super Bowls in his final two seasons as Packers coach. Many of the principles learned earlier in his career led to the grueling approach to coaching the team, though all who could withstand that rigor reportedly responded to Lombardi with loyalty and success. A gambling scandal in part led to the transition from Paul Hornung to Bart Starr as Packers quarterback during Lombardi‘s tenure. Both players would be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Lombardi‘s career would finish with the Washington Redskins (now Washington Commanders) in Washington, DC.
The rough outlines of the life and career of Vince Lombardi are hinted at with the above details from the biography written by David Maraniss. The Maraniss thoughtfulness, thoroughness and engaging detail offer clear perspectives about the cultural place of pride for Lombardi and the football people who followed his lead. This notion applied for Lombardi and his family as well, though the relationships there were a bit more complicated, with a sense of who Vince and Marie Lombardi were to each other and their kids showing up over time, including at the time of Vince Lombardi‘s death in September 1970. I grant When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi as written by David Maraniss 4.0-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
(Rufus Jones as Theodore Roosevelt in the Malcolm VenvilledocumentaryTheodore Roosevelt).
The opening episode of the documentary, titled The Great Adventure, starts with an introduction of Roosevelt in his childhood as a sickly youngster struggling to fight his way through illness. We literally get a sense of the man taking comfort in physical activity based in affluence and an education that gave the man an appreciation the belied his station; that is, Roosevelt would take an appreciation of the disadvantaged into his sense of the world. Interestingly, the documentary shared an image of Roosevelt and his brother overlooking Abraham Lincoln‘s funeral train from Washington DC to Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, had been assassinated in 1865.
(The historical Theodore Roosevelt, as pictured here, was the subject of the Malcolm VenvilledocumentaryTheodore Roosevelt).
The episode introduced us to much heartache for Roosevelt early in his life, including the deaths of his mother and wife, only hours apart on February 14, 1884. The young state legislator of New York had been in Albany, New York when summoned to New York City with the possibility of this news. Having also been away at school when his father died, Theodore Roosevelt as a younger man at the time, the spirit of a fighter through physical activity really summoned itself in this time. The reformer spirit of Roosevelt as the legislator, later as the New York City police commissioner, and an ability to rally public support with a streak of independence against the party ideals that he ran with, the notion of being Vice President of the United States had been a way for the party to quell this spirit led to the conclusion of the Roosevelt story, as told in The Great Adventure).
(The historical William McKinley, the predecessor to Theodore Roosevelt as president of the United States, gave way to his successor after being assassinated in September 1901).
The Man in the Arena picks up from the point of William McKinley, the 25th president of the United States, having been shot to death at the 1901 World’s Fair (aka Pan-American Exposition)ofBuffalo, New York. Roosevelt would assume the presidency with a philosophy of having those in power play by the rules. The education of Roosevelt in how to conduct this business of trust busting, extending the imperial ambitions of the United States with the Panama Canal, and negotiating his own assertion of power all were points of import for the story documented. The introduction of Roosevelt’s relationship with race was discussed through both episodes of the documentary, including specific interactions with notable leader on race, Booker T. Washington.
(The historical William Howard Taft, the Roosevelt selected successor to Theodore Roosevelt became the 27th president of the United States).
Theodore Roosevelt‘s service as president of the United States ended with the man being less than 50-years old. In addition to having renamed the executive mansion of the United States to the White House, the man found himself restless after ending his presidency. When presidential successor William Howard Taft took his single term in a direction not to Roosevelt‘s liking, the former president ran under the banner of a third party of Roosevelt‘s making in 1912. Roosevelt, notably giving a speech after having been shot in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, would place ahead of Taft in that election. That election, however, would be won by 28th president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson.
(The historical Booker T. Washington).
Many significant points of history for Theodore Roosevelt, the man, were introduced within this documentary. The measure of the man himself was addressed for being something that measured the appetite for reform with perceived pragmatics in having the basis for being able to apply it. That the man wasn’t perfect, while moving the dial forward in meaningful ways, feels like the larger message of this experience. I grant Theodore Roosevelt as directed by Malcolm Venville at 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
(Matthew Desmond won the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction in 2017 for Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. Desmond is a Professor of Sociology at Princeton University).
The notion underpinning the personal stories of families aiming to keep a home over their heads, in part, was to show many what life is really like when home uncertainty, living, and the fundamentals of living may be beyond your grasp. The stories shared are filled with the emotion of survival in circumstances with many causes and what feels like insufficient solutions. In putting faces and true life stories to this subject, and doing the telling of these stories largely without suggested solutions until the epilogue where proposals were made, was truly an accomplishment of this work.
(Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City was written by Matthew Desmond).
For that accomplishment, my point is that you should read Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. The stories hit you with the powerful emotion and convincing logic of human suffering that the human toll of home uncertainty at a moment’s notice, with housing costs far in excess of 30% of income for those familiar with the budgetary considerations of even modest middle class life.
(Matthew Desmond spent more than a year in the company of eight families affected by extreme poverty in Milwaukee as research for the book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City).
When getting to the point of solutions, Desmond points to the politics of both sides of the two major schools of political thought driving discourse on this subject currently. The following are offerings taken almost exactly from the text.
Liberals point “to structural forces – historical legacies of discrimination, say, or massive transformations of the economy.”
Conservatives point “to individual deficiencies, such as cultural practices outside of wedlock or human capital shortfalls like low levels of education.”
Both seemed to miss a point that Desmond then argues, which is that these thoughts “treat the poor like they live in quarantine. Books about single mothers, gang members or the homeless treat poor people like they are out of the inequality debate.”
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City as a book documents that while looking at a logical intersection for where those without money (the evicted) and those with real estate intersect. Other than through employment or government, there doesn’t seem a more logical place that these intersect than through housing. In provoking conversation that gets housing at some level outside of the exploitation phase of demand existing beyond supply, Matthew Desmond certainly initiates a conversation that is nothing if not humane. I rate the book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City at 4.25-stars on a scale of one-to-five.
(Matthew Desmond won the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction in 2017 for Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. Desmond is a Professor of Sociology at 
(Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City was written by Matthew Desmond).
(Matthew Desmond spent more than a year in the company of eight families affected by extreme poverty in Milwaukee as research for the book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City).
Matt Lynn Digital 