Songs That Make You Cry

We all have those songs that make you lose it on a regular basis. My baker's dozen bawlers are as follows:

• Hurt - Johhny Cash Version: This version always points out to me how music transcends generations.
• Man of The Hour - Pearl Jam: Fathers are not always recognized for their greatness in their lifetime.
• Abandoned Love - Bob Dylan: Regret is the most painful weapon in the arsenal of love.
• Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley: This song works on so many levels whether as a tribute to sex or a declaration of love.
• One Step Up - Bruce Springsteen: What is it about people that makes them enjoy the collapse of someone they once loved?
• Mychal - Black 47: This song about the FDNY's chaplain who perished on 9/11 always does a number on me especially the final line "As I arise on this September Morn, the sun is beaming down, the streets are warm, God's in his heaven and all is well, I will go forth and do his will..."
• Space Oddity - David Bowie: This is one that haunts me with the thought of this Astronaut far from home and drifting further from hope. It wasn't till later that I discovered that it was the story of a junkie on a bad trip but my first interpretation is the one that I think about when I hear this song.
• Running To Stand Still - U2: This was always my favorite song on the Joshua Tree album.
• Barquito De Papel - Joan Manuel Serrat: Lost youth lament at it's finest.
• Requiem - Mozart: This was the first classical song that I heard that really opened my eyes to the genius of Mozart.
• Silver Thunderbird - Marc Cohn: "The man with the plan and the pocket comb."
• Dead Flowers - Townes Van Zant Version: Townes took this song and added a layer of hard travelling veneer that outstrips the great Rolling Stones version.
• Reason To Believe - Bruce Springsteen: My first Springsteen album was Born In The USA which I thought was amazing but it wasn't till I began exploring his catalogue that I discovered this gem which may not be as popular as other songs but it drills down to the core of the human condition in a scant 3 minutes.

If you read this post, I would like to hear your thoughts on my selections and maybe your own top bawlers.

Check My Wood!

I wanted to show some photos of the new women in my life. The first is my M-14 rifle that I bought in April and the other is my M1 Garand that I bought from the CMP this month. The M14 (first two photos) was purchased from Springfield Armory. The M1 Garand was purchased as surplus from the government. The M1 is a Harrington and Richardson Arms that was built in 1952 around the time of the Korean War. I don't know if this rifle saw any combat. I am in the process of stripping all of the cosmoline and old finish from the M1 and will refinish it. As soon as I am done, I will post it here. Let me know what you think.

How The West Was Won

There is nothing that says America like mom, apple pie, Kentucky bourbon, and guns! You gotta love a country where you can go into your local Walmart and buy a rifle, ammunition, cigarettes, and beer and then use them all before you get home! I have been a gun owner for about ten years and a concealed weapons permit holder and member of the NRA (Charlton Heston is MY President) for about seven years. I own several firearms that my wife and I shoot on a regular basis but I never really went in for rifles.

Just this past week I finally broke down and bought a Springfield Armory M1A (AKA M14) and I think I might be in love with it. I had seen the M1As in films like Born On The Fourth of July and Full Metal Jacket and thought they were very nice looking rifles but I never thought that I would actually own one but own one I do. I haven't had an opportunity to fire it yet because there is an involved procedure that needs to be done before you can even use your rifle effectively. The first thing that needs to be done is that you have to find an outdoor range that allows high powered rifle ammunition (in this case the Nato 7.62 mm round civilian name is .308). The second step is a thorough cleaning with a special kit to remove all of the extra preservatives that gets put on a rifle when it leaves the factory. The third and most difficult thing is that the aiming sights have to be "zeroed". Zeroing the sites is basically like tuning a guitar. You take the rifle out and fire five shots at a target 100 yards away then based on where the five shot group ended up, you move the front sights to move the grouping closer to the center. After you zero the sights you are supposed to be able to adjust your sights to hit at any distance upt to and including 500 yards! I doubt I will ever be good enough to hit anything at 500 yards but it will be fun trying.

By the way, the M1A or M14 should not be confused with an M1 Garand or an M1 Carbine. The M1A/M14 is a direct descendant of the M1 Garand and are superficially similar although the Garand shoots the 30.06 cartridge that is housed in an internal magazine as opposed to the M1A/M14 external magazine. If you have seen "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers" you have seen the Garand in action as it was the primary infantry weapon in World War 2.

As soon as I can, I will try to post pictures of my rifle and maybe some targets (if they are not too embarassing) so you guys can take a look.

This a job for Superman (I wish)!

This morning came word that 12 of those poor miners in West Virginia perished in the accident at the Saco mine. It is times like these that make you wish that there were superheroes in real life who could swoop in at the last minute and make everything okay again. I get this feeling every single time some great tragedy occurs somewhere in the world; Where was Aquaman when the Tsunamis hit Indonesia, where were the Avengers when the Gulf Coast was hit by hurricane Katrina, and where was the Justice League on that sunny September 11th Morning? The kid in me always wonders.

Happy Birthday Mom

I was trying to come up with something for my mom's birthday but I kept coming up empty. I decided to quote Springsteen instead. Happy Birthday Mom.

Dirty old street all slushed up in the rain and snow
Little boy and his ma shivering outside a rundown music store window
That night on top of a Christmas tree shines one beautiful star
And lying underneath a brand-new Japanese guitar
I remember in the morning, ma, hearing your alarm clock ring
I'd lie in bed and listen to you gettin' ready for work
The sound of your makeup case on the sink
And the ladies at the office, all lipstick, perfume and rustlin' skirts
And how proud and happy you always looked walking home from work
If pa's eyes were windows into a world so deadly and true
You couldn't stop me from looking but you kept me from crawlin' through
And if it's a funny old world, mama, where a little boy's wishes come true
Well I got a few in my pocket and a special one just for you
It ain't no phone call on Sunday, flowers or a mother's day card
It ain't no house on a hill with a garden and a nice little yard
I got my hot rod down on Bond Street, I'm older but you'll know me in a glance
We'll find us a little rock 'n roll bar and baby we'll go out and dance
Well it was me in my Beatle boots, you in pink curlers and matador pants
Pullin' me up on the couch to do the twist for my uncles and aunts
Well I found a girl of my own now, ma, I popped the question on your birthday
She stood waiting on the front porch while you were telling me to get out there
And say what it was that I had to say
Last night we all sat around laughing at the things that guitar brought us
And I layed awake thinking 'bout the other things it's brought us
Well tonight I'm takin's requests here in the kitchen
This one's for you, ma, let me come right out and say it
It's overdue, but baby, if you're looking for a sad song, well I ain't gonna play it

Jim Aparo and Jimmy Doohan.

I can vividly remember standing in a supermarket line in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico patiently waiting with my mother to checkout our groceries nervously thumbing through a comic. The comic was a Spanish digest size reprint of a couple of DC Comic stories featuring Batman and Aquaman. Reading those stories were a treat and the art was so cool that I would forever remember them. It wasn't until I was older and living in the states that I found out that those cool images were drawn by Jim Aparo. Jim Aparo died this week at the age of 72 and the comics world will be all the poorer for it.

Part of my daily routine when I was a wee lad was to watch Star Trek or "Viaje A Las Estrellas" as it was called in Spanish on channel 4 in Puerto Rico when it ran every day at 4 PM. It was these Spanish re-runs that started me on a dark road to geekdom that I have not been able to escape. You have not lived until you have experienced Star Trek in Spanish specifically a Spanish actor trying to speak in a Scottish accent. James Doohan was and always will be Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott of the Starship Enterprise but he did so much more during his life. He stormed the beaches of Normandy with the Canadian infantry and was also a fighter pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force and fought in the skies above England during the famous Battle of Britain. Jimmy Doohan passed away yesterday at the age of 85.

Beat up cars with guitars!

First, I must apologize for my long absence from Katar's Place. I did not mean to be gone so long but my attention was occupied by other pursuits.

My attention was occupied by my new acquisition a Fender Telecaster guitar. I used to play acoustic guitar about 15 years ago but had to give it up and eventually sold the guitar off in order to pay my rent when I moved to Florida.

Flash forward to an evening in April of this year where my wife and I were at home listening to music coming from the Ipod piped through some portable speakers. I was playing fome Black 47 tracks for my wife from their latest album and we were talking about it. My wife then asked me what would it take to get me to start singing on a regular basis. As a little aside, my wife thinks that I have a good singing voice and she always wants me to sing but I am not of the same opinion. Anyway, we talk about that for a bit and I kind of brush it aside but my gears were starting to spin.

During the next couple of days I thought about singing and maybe picking up the guitar again. The question was what guitar would inspire me and I thought about what was my dream guitar and the answer was a 1950's Fender Telecaster Esquire just like the one Bruce Springsteen plays. Of course, I was not about to go out and by a vintage 50's Telecaster that would run me five or ten thousand dollars! I still wanted a Fender Telecaster; I mean Springsteen plays one! Not to mention Bob Dylan played one during the famous Rolling Thunder Review as well as the 1966 electric tour and do I have to mention that Johhny Cash played them throughout his recording career! I looked around and found a modestly priced Telecaster online and ordered it. This Telecaster was beautiful (click HERE if you want to see it) midnight wine maple. I got it home and began to tool around with it.

I thought that guitar playing is like learning to ride a bicycle, once you learn how to do it you don't forget. That was such a wrong assumption on my part that I am shocked it ever passed through my head. I found that I did not remember any chords and that my hands were so stiff that I could barely play simple single string practices. While I was struggling with the learning, I strayed from my midnight wine beauty and found another (click HERE). I had to have this guitar no matter what. I ordered it online and received and it was even more beautiful than the photos suggested.

I am now practicing for one hour each day and attend lessons once a week to learn the guitar again. I don't know how good I'll get but I want to be good enough to play and sing for my wife like she asked me to do. As a matter of fact she has my first set list planned as we speak.