hedge trimmer: the lightsaber's distant cousin...

I would like to point out that our hedge trimmer operates as I would imagine a lightsaber does, only it's not cordless. However, when yielded properly with the ample extra cord grasped in my palm, I was able to shape the hedges with surprising finesse and agility, as if I were fighting off the many forces of darkness which exist in my current life situation. Unfortunately it jammed and started making a really awful noise and I started swearing on the lawn. My jedi moment was fleeting but awe-inspiring.

The true purpose of this post though is about music and its ability to change the world. One listener or one lowly down-and-out song writer/composer at a time. When I think about some of the greatest songs ever written, the events that inspired them and the repercussions they evoked, I can say without any doubt that music can change the world. Or maybe just our perception of it. A boy loses his mother to cancer, your young son accidentally falls out a 53 story window, a family friend reaches out to his best friend's son as he can see the boy is distraught by the effects of divorce, doing one more hit of heroin before promising yourself you'll get sober, praying to a god that you never before believed in to get you out of Vietnam. Music was there through it all and we survived.

Every time you hear doo-wop or skiffle or blues, remember that people once had to hole up in basements and listen to it secretly because it was seen as being too devilish, too defiant, too dangerous to be played in public. Music brought people together in church, in jail, in captivity and continues to do so.

Don't knock your parents' or even your grandparents' music, okay? Where would we be without Chuck Barry or Muddy Waters? There would be no Elvis, no Beatles, no Clapton, no Stones, no Beyonce, there would only be silence and poor attempts at soundproofing basements. And you certainly wouldn't be rocking out at the Hifi to remixed versions of "Mr. Postman" and "You Can't Hurry Love".

And lastly, Happy Hanukkah everyone!