Two sweet kids

TigerAnn visited tonight.

Young Natalie at Farrell's, Sunday morning

Dissent gift idea (dear reader)

IT'S WINDY AND COLD and beautiful up in these mountains—kinda portentous, actually—and so, naturally, I have a suggestion.

Ever hear of the band Love and their 1967 album “Forever Changes” (FC)? No? Well, it’s time you caught up. Better yet, buy the dang album and give it to a friend. Then they can tell you all about it. It’s great. And unique.

For the initial FC sessions, the band, except for leader/singer Arthur Lee, were strung out on heroin, and so few members were present (Neil Young was involved at this stage). But after a few songs were recorded with all the fancy session musicians (including Carol Kaye on the bass), the band realized that, just maybe, they were missing their big chance, and so they straightened up and recorded the album, and quickly too. That’s hard to believe, listening to the album, which is wonderfully well-produced.

For what it’s worth, this psychedelic album, which sold dismally, has always had a stellar critical reputation. New Musical Express rated FC #6 on their greatest albums list. Rolling Stone named it 40th on its list of all-time greatest albums.

All the central players are dead now. Oh well. The music lives on. It sounds great in these crazy-sunny-cold mountains right now. (Uh-oh, I see clouds. They're moving too fast.)

The death part just makes the music sound better. (No Matter What You Do, My Little Red Book, Everybody’s Got To Live)

Some black guys and white guys, makin' psychedelic music together in the 60s

1967: meanwhile, in Detroit....
(Proof that assholes, too, can make great music.)

“Tired and disengaged? –Well, yeah, guess so. Whatever.”

In this morning’s Inside Higher Ed:

Do American Students Bring Down the Curve?

"My Lazy American Students," an op-ed in The Boston Globe, is attracting considerable online debate. The piece – by Kara Miller, who teaches history and rhetoric at Babson College – compares her American and foreign students. "My 'C,' 'D,' and 'F' students this semester are almost exclusively American, while my students from India, China, and Latin America have – despite language barriers – generally written solid papers, excelled on exams, and become valuable class participants," writes Miller. She compares the way her foreign students listen to everything she says, while "[t]oo many 18-year-old Americans, meanwhile, text one another under their desks (certain they are sly enough to go unnoticed), check e-mail, decline to take notes, and appear tired and disengaged." ….