Years ago I started seeing Doris Kerns Goodwin on TV and whatnot. I was impressed, I thought, if my history teachers had been this cool I probably would have learned something. The Obama-mania started and she, being the author of his favorite book, was everywhere and I still liked her but figured I should check out the books to see if the hype is worth it.

It is. She is a wonderful writer. History books just aren’t this entertaining and its sad b/c there is so much to be had. Kerns had unique access to Johnson and that serves her well with fleshing out the man behind the title. She makes him seem real. She points out some very strange idiosyncricies and yet again, shows me that you’ve got to be messed up in the head to want to do this job.

Johnson intrigued me b/c I was so curious how a southern, white man could be so instrumental in getting the civil rights bill past. She answered that. She also answered how he screwed up with the Vietnam War and how that forced him out of public service.

I would recommend this to anyone interested in modern presidential history and I think you will also see that Obama is not only influenced by Team of Rivals but also Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream.

I gave up on a Christopher Moore book. :-(

It might have been timing but it was not moving me in the slightest.

Most people who know me know what a powerful influence Jimi Hendrix was in my life. He lead me down a wildly diverse but unique musical road. He also gave me some inspiration. I was a black kid who liked his music, he was a black man who played his music.

Being an adventurous and slightly obsessive guitar fan I started to listen to rock radio and when I was a kid I heard “Rambling Man”, “Southbound” and “Jessica” on the radio all the time. I loved them because they had lots of guitar. As I read more and associated things…I thought Charlie Daniels was cool. I identified – quite bizarrely – with being Southern, and I mean redneck Southern. So, the Allman Brothers couldn’t be far off my radar.

In college I was moving from a metalhead to a blues fanatic and again, the Allman Brothers were there. They were played on the same radio as Metallica and AC/DC and all the classic rock – guitar rock – I loved but they played blues songs and really long versions. I was hooked. At some point in the 80s I saw them at the Charlie Daniels Volunteer Jam, I saw Gregg Allman play at the Grand Ole Opry House, I saw Dickey Betts play at what was then called Summer Lights, a free arts fest in Nashville during the 80s. Somewhere along the lines I focused in on Duane Allman and started to find all these studio records he played guitar on, especially “Hey Jude” by Wilson Pickett and “The Weight” by Aretha Franklin. It was obvious that there was something special about Duane.

Two things happened in the late 80s that would cement this belief and my adoration of the band even more. They were arbitrary, unrelated and almost completely disconnected from the Allman Brothers. A friends band while in college…some local guys from Tullahoma adopted me into the band. I was a mediocre player and I was young but I LOVED what they did, especially their lead guitar player who’d actually seen Duane play. The second thing was while working at a record store I met the newest member of the Allman Brothers Band, the bassist who played a 12-string bass, Allen Woody. He came in with an Allman Brothers Band business card that had his name and “Bass player” on it. It was my brush with greatness.

Fast forward a few years when Allen & Warren Haynes started, along with Matt Abts, Gov’t Mule. I was living in Baton Rouge, I was dying to hear them and then I go back to Nashville where a record store friend hands me a copy of the first Gov’t Mule record and I lost my shit! The first song was a cover of one of my all-time favorite blues songs (and I was a full fledged blues fanatic at this point), “Grinnin’” by Son House. I’m not going to talk much about the Mule but sufice to say that by getting to know them and the Derek Trucks Band I got close enough to the Allmans to know real behind the scenes stuff and to meet several of the original members of the band.

Duane still remained an enigma to a degree. I knew the story, I knew the music but I didn’t know much about the motivation or causes. Reading this book I did get some of the information I was after. The book is pretty well written, lots of citations for solid sources. Its a fan’s book written by a fan so take that for what its worth. I would suggest you listen to some records and not worry about the rest.

Since I stopped going to church in the 90s I have struggled with defining my spirituality. No that’s not it. I understand and know where I stand, for the most part, spiritually but I have struggled with defining my spiritual affiliation.

I believe my main reason for not attaching myself is some weird reticence to belonging to a community of believers. I don’t know if its arrogance or selfishness but I just can’t get over this hurdle.

I picked up this book to see if I was really missing anything. Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse explores the trappings of being a follower or believer. As I read it, he says if you are caught up in what it means to be a Buddhist you are not one. Emptiness is the way; meaning you have to go beyond the I am/am not duality.

He is a contemporary person, not much older than me, so he uses examples and anecdotes that apply to today’s world without sounding like he is apart from it (I get this feeling from some of the writings of HH Dalai Lama). I like his writing and I appreciate his attempt to say get over it. Will it change my situation? I don’t know yet.

I asked a coworker for a sci-fi fantasy suggestion for my open-minded but very feminine book club and she suggest this. I’ve known about Neil Gaiman for a while but I’m not much of a sci-fi reader so I never picked up anything. I didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t sure about the story or the style and all I can say is Cool. This book rocks and Gaiman is an extremely enjoyable writer. I’m not done with it but I will be finishing this and reading more by him. It’s not very sci-fi either, it’s almost anthropological…I hear a lot of Joseph Campbell in this and I like that a lot!

Brilliant.

Back in the 90s I took some grad level classes at LSU. One of the papers I did was on the Garifuna. Before that I had heard of them, I knew they were some cultural/ethnic mixture of African and Native in Central America or the Caribbean. Even with my constant focus on music I never considered contemporary music. A few days ago I saw this disk and decided to give it a try. This is an extraordinary disk. The liners have the words but I haven’t read them b/c, like much of the best music, I don’t have to know what he’s saying to understand. Musically it reminds me of mento, that laid back acoustic reggae-ish stuff. It’s got some latin american vibes and sounds as well. The guy’s voice is lush. I recommend this highly.

I first saw Joseph Campbell on PBS replay of “The Power of Myth”. I was amazed and enthralled by what he said. I felt someone was finally explaining the way I looked at religion and spirituality.

Reading this is my first foray into his writing. It’s pretty academic and very heavily annotated, some footnotes are longer than the text on the page. He explores “the hero”; what is the process individuals go through to become a hero? He uses examples from all over the globe. All religions, all traditional societies and cultures and continents are explored to present a wonderfully comprehensive picture of the hero. Joseph Campbell shows us that we are all more alike than not, our heros share the same qualities, our religions are used to teach us and guide us to the same ends. It’s quite heartening.

All I know of fantasy is “Lord of the Rings” and, I guess, Harry Potter but I’m talking about the sword wielding, sorcery bound, warrior fantasy.

I started to read this b/c the author David Anthony Durham is black, I remember good reviews of his “Pride of Carthage” and this book, the first of a triolgy, was getting compared to Lord of the Rings. Maybe because I am a novice at fantasy or maybe because of the writing I had a little trouble getting into it. I had trouble with naming schemes and found myself getting confused about who was part of what “race”. About 150 pages into this 600 page door stop I was hooked. I found myself exciting about moving to the next chapter. Each chapter tells a different point of view and rotates through the 6 or so primary players.

It is the story of a prosperous empire brought down by a surprise assassination of the king and then the use of biological warfare to wipe everybody else out. The three of the four children, ranging from 10 to 17 or so, of the king are scattered to the winds. The rest of the story follows the children coming of age as distinctly different but equally special people. The youngest girl is the voice of a goddess who discovers she has amazing sword skills. The youngest boy is a pirate but also a young leader. The oldest boy becomes the rallying point for regaining the kingdom but changing it for the better and the oldest girl is the concubine who falls in love with the man who orchestrated the takeover of her empire but ultimately becomes a major force to be reckoned with.

A lot happens but what I liked was the ethnic landscape the author paints and his transition into the forthcoming second part. The “Known World” consists of a variety of ethnicities from the pale, Nordic-like Mein to the tropical, pacific island-like Talay. He doesn’t go into lots of details about their cultures but you can feel and see the differences. His set-up for future stories is wonderful. He starts planting seeds and signs that some things are happening that he can’t fully explain yet. You see characters do things that obviously take the story in a different direction but you don’t know their complete motivation. It’s nicely done. It looks like it will be one grand adventure, each part distinct but ultimately one big tale.

Yet another book that causes me to question what I’m doing with my life.

I’ve been searching for a long time. I more or less follow “The Way” (dharma) but reading something like this makes me think that my work to heal myself…and all the exponents of that isn’t quite enough but when I think of the work that is to be done nothing is enough.

{sigh}

I am reading the Best of Buddhist Writing 2006. Not only did Pema Chodron’s sample make a lot of sense but she also mentioned Harry potter. How can you not love a teacher who references Harry, let alone a Buddhist teacher?