Dear Future,

First day of teaching today. Sobering in a number of respects. Affirming in a number of respects. Exhausting in a number of respects. The VRTTP is beginning to prove itself, in fact, VR. And I was only responsible for about 1/8th of the day. (After which I could have used an 1/8th!) (Suppressing my impulse towards this sort of joke is among the more exhausting aspects.)

When I was done in the classroom my advisor gave us letters she'd had her own students write to new teachers. Here's the one I received.

May 25, 2011

Dear Future,

Have you ever had a bad teacher? I have. I want to tell you what a good teacher does.

A good teacher lets us work with partners. They don't just tell us what to do. They show it! They play games while they teach. They play games when we do something correct. They would let us have recess. When we make mistakes you should say, try again. You should teach in a fun way. You should stay on the subject until we get it. Some good teachers reward their students when doing something perfect on the first time. Good luck!

Sincerely,
Latasha C.

Italics don't quite do justice to her deliberate script. And sure, she's totally passive-agressive, but somehow her letter didn't read that way this afternoon.

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I was really hoping to balance the sincerity of this post with a Seinfeld clip - No, I don't eat dinner. Dinner's for suckers. - but it is impossible to find more than a handful of Seinfeld videos on the Internet. Internet, this is your tragic flaw. Instead, to keep you from being crushed under the weight of both my sincerity and Craig Minowa's, here is a quick visit to the end of the sincerity spectrum on which I am most comfortable.

Hayes Carll - Hard Out Here

Oh, God, we're all out of beer!

Just Stay One Minute More

About moments that last forever.

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It must be hard to sing about moments like that. I enjoy the Simms Twins version of this song, but when it's over I confess to finding myself unsure as to where, exactly, it's at.

The Simms Twins & Sam Cooke - That's Where It's At [Chatter]

The Simms Twins - That's Where It's At

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A key ingredient for moments that last forever: feeling it. This is how the feeling began a year ago today.

DJ Crunchtime - Wedding Playlist: First Set

Sailing the Seas of the South Side

This post must begin with an overdue public thank you to Gimme Noise. Their local mixtape roundup is letting me feel like a much stronger embodiment of the Twin Cities than should be allowed for someone who has such a difficult time remembering to follow the Twins.

The Giving Tree from Greg Grease is one of the many excellent source mixtapes represented in the mixtape roundup. In addition to some laid-back beats and verses still ringing in my decidedly inexpert ears, The Giving Tree also includes tracks featuring production by a certain Noam the Drummer, formerly of Radio K's Beat Box. It's good stuff, and I was especially pleased to hear Mr. Grease digging deep on the final track. "Wizards of the Coast" seems to be a track that Tom Waits originally recorded for Rain Dogs but omitted from the official release. A shame, really.

Greg Grease feat. Vance Astrovick - Wizards of the Coast

Tom Waits - Singapore

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Mr. Waits did his own fair share of embodying the Twin Cities. I could go for a prostitute-named donut right about now.

Tom Waits - 9th & Hennepin

And, of course, I'm looking forward to Valentine's Day.

Sam Cooke Way

For the next five weeks I will be living at the Illinois Institute of Technology - Chicago, and participating in a Very Rigorous Teacher Training Program (VRTTP) with hundreds of other new teachers eager to transform student lives. Quite a lot is invested in our continued inspiration during our time here. Some will draw real energy from our organization's Vision, which is distinct from our Mission; some will be moved by our Core Values, which are distinct from our Norms. And of course nothing motivates the way Frameworks motivate.

To each his own, of course, but I intend to draw my energy one mile from campus on the newly-christened Sam Cooke Way.

Nearly 80 years after he moved to Chicago as a child, legendary soul singer Sam Cooke was honored with the renaming of a street Saturday afternoon near his boyhood home in Bronzeville....The renamed street, a stretch along 36th Street, runs near the site of the deceased musician’s family’s original home at 3527 Cottage Grove. “Sam Cooke Way” begins at Cottage Grove and runs east past another one of his boyhood homes at 724 E. 36th St.

Sam was a teacher, too. Here he is helping out The Soul Stirrers.

The Soul Stirrers - Oh Mary, Don't You Weep (Chatter)

The Soul Stirrers - Oh Mary, Don't You Weep

You may not believe this, but no time lost/the water rolled back and the children crossed.

Indeed.

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Also: Jerry Butler is the Cook County Commissioner? That's probably worth it's own post, but for now I'll just celebrate with a favorite tune from the Iceman.

Jerry Butler & Betty Everett - I Can't Stand It

Don't It Feel Good?

Loyal readers know that I recently finished my third marathon, a race that showcased my improved ability to control any walking I do over the final miles. What I still cannot control, it seems, is any kind of emotion that creeps to the fore while I am also trying to control the walking.

With that in mind, then, my apologies to the spectators with the speakers just past Mile 25. I shouldn't have cursed. But in the future it would be easier for everyone involved if you would excise "Another One Bites The Dust" from your playlist if you are planning on cheering anywhere after the fifth mile.

This, at least, was a mere time-place-and-manner speech infraction. The DJs at the Rice Park Ice Rink in St. Paul wish they had your problem. Here now is a call for members of the ice skating class that suffered through "Walking On Sunshine" last Friday night. And for your review, the elements of our primary claim:

Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

1. Defendant acted intentionally or recklessly

-Someone pressed "Play"

2. Defendant's conduct was extreme and outrageous

-Walking On Sunshine is the literal opposite of Using Razors To Slide On Ice

3. Defendant's act was the cause of distress

-see 2

4. Plaintiff suffers severe emotional distress as a result of Defendant's conduct.

-Plus, in an environment as uncontrolled as a skating rink, who knows how much additional physical damage I (we?) caused during that song?

The Philly Playlist

This isn't necessarily an exhaustive list, but these are some tracks that played a memorable role in training. Jeff Magnum's vocals are more or less what a marathon should sound like: strong, raw, restrained. A soft focus race mantra naturally acquired an extra adjective. Lil Wayne's infectious flow found its way into my head on most of my marathon simulation runs. Alela and Girlyman were excellent pre-morning workout partners; Felix and Soul Asylum helped after work. And so on. There have been others, of course. Miles Davis is doing a heckuva job as I relax on this particular evening. But adding any more would threaten to freeze my hot soft focus.

Shit, I gotta eat, yeah, even though I ate/It ain't my birthday but I got my name on the cake.

Neutral Milk Hotel - King of Carrot Flowers Part I
The Hold Steady - Hot Soft Light
Birdman & Lil Wayne - Stuntin' Like My Daddy
Alela Diane - Crying Wolf
Felix Da Housecat - Do We Move Your World?
Jamie T - Sticks 'n' Stones
Soul Asylum - Cartoon
Girlyman - St. Peter's Bones

Playlist 11/2-11/08

As before, there are no themes intended other than What I Listened To This Week...

Track 1

Ted Hawkins - Bring It Home Daddy

Last week's obsession continued this week, and this is the song that started it all. A Sam Cooke fan can't help but notice titular similarities between this song and Bring It On Home To Me, and lyrical similarities between Ted's "you're my ice cream and I'm your candy" and Sam's "your the apple of my eye, you're cherry pie/oh you're cake and ice cream" from Nothing Can Change This Love. And since Ted remarked that Sam's voice "did something to me" when he got out of prison at 19, I can't help but wonder if he's joining Solomon Burke in riffing on the line. In Can't Nobody Love You, King Solomon explains, "Sam called you cake and ice cream, he called you cherry pie/Ray Charles called you his sunshine but you're the apple of my eye."

Derivatives aside, this was the song that perked my ears and made me notice Ted Hawkins. I'm so glad.

Tracks 2-4

Booker T. - She Breaks

This week's new obsession was Booker T. Jones' 2009 release, Potato Hole. The album features Booker T, best known for Green Onions (originally a B-side!) but also the legendary "resident piano player, later organ player" at Stax Records; his backing band on the album is the Drive-By Truckers, described along with The Hold Steady as the only currently touring bands that smile when they're on stage.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but the organ soothes the Truckers' gritty three-guitar-attack and it works beautifully. I wouldn't have been as surprised if I'd known that the Truckers had collaborated back in 2007 with The Great Lady of Soul, Bettye Lavette...

Bettye Lavette - I Still Want To Be Your Baby (Take Me Like I Am)

See. If I'd heard that I wouldn't have questioned for a moment whether it was a good idea to cover Andre 3000.

Booker T. - Hey Ya!

Really, wonderful. One reviewer put it best by saying this "makes the world safe for Hey Ya! again."

Track 5

The Big Pink - Dominoes

Ubiquitous and catchy. Rigorous standards here at the weekly playlist.

Track 6

P.O.S. - Low Light Low Life

It's the flight of the salesman/Death of the bumblebee.

Dance to the rhetoric.

Track 7

Girlyman - St. Peter's Bones

Girlyman, or, If Paul Simon Joined The Indigo Girls. Thank goodness John Dickerson's blog is back. He linked to a live performance of this song, and is now 2/2 in music recommendations after introducing me to The Avett Brothers earlier this year.

Track 8

Felix Da Housecat - Do We Move Your World?

Felix Da Housecat, or...Prince? So says TNC's wife. This track was a Song of the Day from The Current. Turns out it's the perfect song for making the transition from workday zone-out to interval workout zone.

Track 9

Dirty Projectors - Stillness Is The Move

I give their new album, Bitte Orca a thumbs-up, but barely. It remains to be seen whether this repairs the damage done to my hipster cred when I walked out of that Grizzly Bear concert. Pitchfork gave this album a 9.2 and wrote,

It's breezy without a hint of slightness, tuneful but with its fair share of tumult, concise and inventive and replayable and plain old fun.

Which, probably, is more or less verbatim what pops into anyone's head when they listen.

I like between two and four songs on Bitte Orca. This is one of them. I'm not sure if it's "brainy," but it's interesting.