"Long Guitar songs"

All right, folks. The time is here to find out what you space to. I realized after putting this out the other day that there are so, so many songs in my head. With an arbitrary length of 8 minutes (which I will violate because I can ;-p ), I have narrowed the options. I will list 10 songs in no particular order and would love to hear your ideas and feedback. These are mostly studio cuts, so I have eliminated many live Dead recordings. I don't find the Grateful Dead to be particularly guitar driven anyway, although Jerry's playing on some tracks demonstrates virtuosity commensurate with some of the instrument's masters on this list. I also plead guilty to not having knowledge enough of Stevie Ray Vaughan's discography to have one of his recordings here. I know that I love to listen to him. I also tried not to have multiple selections from the same artist, so as to broaden the list. Otherwise, there could be 10 Pink Floyd songs!

*Ride Across The Water - Dire Straits (alright, so it is only 7 minutes. But I love Mark Knopfler's style)
*Onda - Los Lonely Boys (gosh, these guys can kick it!)
*Maggot Brain - Funkadelic (George Clinton) - many lost times here....
*Dog - Pink Floyd (from Animals, when they were still raw. I didn't care for The Wall)
*In Memory of Elizabeth Reed - The Allman Brothers Band. some of the most beautiful interplay between Duane Allman and Dickie Betts ever
*Like A Hurricane - Neil Young (the other side of Neil Young
*Layla - Derek & The Dominos. Hello? Eric Clapton?
*Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin. The easiest Zeppelin choice, not necessarily the best song
*Three Days - Jane's Addiction. I only heard this 2 weeks ago and realize I have wasted more than 10 years....who knew?
*One Word - Mahavishu Orchestra yeah, I know. But the list is about diversity, too.

Also, this isn't necessarily a "true" song, but jenn has a Tool mashup linked to here that is pretty cool, too.

Ok, so if you follow up and listen to all these, you will have wasted about 5 hours this weekend. Tell me thanks later, and let me know what you thought of. BTW, Bruce, now would be a good time to post this comment!. Or you guys could just follow the link to see his excellent contribution.

Life gets in the way.

Belated boasting....

Has it been nearly a month already? Wow.

This is my wife, our daughter Nicki, and me standing outside The Pit, located on the campus of the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. Nicki has just completed graduation exercises and is the proud recipient of a diploma from RL Turner High School. Her pride is eclipsed only by her mom's relief! While it wasn't really a struggle for her to get through, like her dad, Nicki has a tendency to let things slide until urgent. I refer to it as "pragmatic procrastination."

Her future wide open before her now, Nicki is looking excitedly to college and will study theater arts. What that actually means and what she will become is not clear. But I am certain of one thing. She has already become an exceptionally empathetic young woman who loves life, joy and her friends.

Stay true to yourself, Nick. We love you.

Aunt Rachel, Nicki and Aunt Hilda

Accent? What accent?

I have lived in Texas more years than I lived in Connecticut. But people here still ask me where I'm from. Yeah, right, like I have an accent......

Where you from?

That link is an online test that will compute your origins based on pronounciation and word usage. It seems our parents definitely have long lasting influences....

My results -- 34% Dixie. You are definitely a Yankee.

Congratulations, Shaq

and the rest of those connected with the Miami Heat. Shaq was able to lead his team to the NBA title last night, giving him 4 titles in his stellar career. Dwayne Wade got all the glory (deservedly so) but I have to believe that Shaq's experience and leadership in the locker room were integral to the win. Between his calm and Coach Pat Riley's strategic moves, they were able to overcome a talented but greener Dallas Mavericks.
As a Dallasite and Mavs fan, I want to say "Thanks" to the team and owner Mark Cuban for a fabulous season. I look forward to next year as well. So close.....

More World Cup insanity or......

how US corporate interests further taint our image.


I know it isn't Anhueser-Busch's fault. They played by the rules, ponied up the big money and achieved the coveted position of being the "official pour" of the World Cup. I'm sure they didn't have this in mind when they secured that title, though.

And trust me here, I have been to a World Cup game with Dutch fans. Dutch male soccer fans are, for the most part, not a pretty sight in their underwear.

Get Ready For Friday --

I know it isn't Friday yet, but I always look forward to it. Mostly because of the opportunity to learn about new artists and their music. From the start, one of the best things about the blog world for me is annamaria's Friday Random Ten, which I pirated and do here now. But this week I want to do something different.

On Friday, I am going to list my personal top 10 list of long guitar driven songs. Simple really. What are the songs that come to your mind when you think about a song that rocks your world, highlighted by spirited guitar work, perhaps some interesting interplay between band mates or transcendent mood changes within the song. I thought to make them "long" songs, at least for this first list. So, I will arbitrarily set the minimum length at 8 minutes. Obviously, this allows for live versions of some "hits" (if there are any out there), but mostly songs that have received little radio play until after their popularity was established.

Think about it for the next few days, please and come back Friday ready to rip my selections like a Jimmy Page solo and slide your favorites onto the list like a Duane Allman stroke of genius (are those hints, you think?).

World Cup Musings

“That position was not a striker over the last 40 minutes. That was another player on the field helping you get a point. It takes an experienced player to do that,” Arena said. “Brian was doing well, he hung in there and we said 'let’s stick with it and not bring in another player under difficult circumstances'.”

Bruce Arena explaining why he didn't substitute for Brian McBride late in the Italy match.

After watching DeMarcus Beasley Saturday against the Italians and then seeing this quote from Arena about McBride's performance, I think it's safe to assume that Beasley has worked himself even farther down the bench. I doubt we'll see him again this World Cup, and if Arena continues as the national team coach, we may discover he's gotten his last cap for the US.

Why such a harsh assessment? With the US playing 9 on 10 Beasley was subbed in for Convey in midfield. At this point in the match the Italian defenders were starting to show wooden legs. And with 3 players having been sent off, the pitch was wide open with lots of open space in which to run. Beasley, with his speed, was expected to open things up even more, and wear down the Italians even further. Additionally, by coming in to midfield, rather than up front for McBride, it was clear Arena expected him to handle defensive responsibilities as well.

In effect he was in to run end to end, from box to box, using his speed to press the Italians when the US was in possession and to get back and slow the attack when the US was dispossessed. He did neither. It was as if he was playing like it was the start of a match with two fully rested, complete sides testing each other. Too often when he collected the ball in midfield, rather than pressing the attack quickly, he slowed the play as if watching for the left back to come forward on the overlap. Playing for the point and not willing to risk giving the Italians any openings, Bocanegra wasn't about to get caught up on a counter attack.

Clearly Beasley didn't react to the circumstances of the match at this point. Rather than bringing veteran presence onto the field with its understanding of what is needed at any given point in the game, he played like a rookie, not recognizing the changed circumstances of the match now that it was late in the game, with an open field, and a tired opponent. He took away Eddie Johnson's chance to be a hero when Arena put Beasley in as a veteran who would understand what needed to be done to first insure the tie, and then to possibly even steal three points from a disaster of a match.

Arena is too good a coach to make that mistake again. I think the only reason he didn't sub out Beasley near the end is because he's typically too classy to publically embarass his players. Taking Beasley out then would be comparable to sending in a pinch runner in baseball for a batter who hits one deep and stands and admires it hoping it's a homer only to have the ball hit the wall and he is then forced to race to first to avoid being out on what could be an easy double if he'd run right out of the box.

Here's the question of the day: will the US go to a 3-5-2 against Ghana since both of the African's top goal scorers are out of the match and it's a must win game for the US? Or will they play the 4-5-1 they've shown so far in hopes they can sneak one in on a counter early, then pack the box for a 1-0 victory?