As I mention from time to time, one of the great perks of working at a university is the wide array of observable people and activities around. This morning, for example, I saw underneath a bathroom stall that some guy was wearing only shorts and tighty whities, which were around his ankles and partially covering his feet, bare but for Homer Simpson flip-flops. Note that the temperatures this morning around that time were in the low 30s. People call me crazy because I walk around without a coat (or in only a light jacket) much of the time, including this morning, but I appreciate the efforts of others to make me appear a bit more sane. People do give me that look reserved for the homeless from time to time. While my looks would have been little to glance at on campuses in the late 60s and early 70s (well, and okay, many even today), the student body here in this highly Republican Great Plains city/state tends to lean toward the "conservative" side on certain things. I mean, STD rates are through the roof, half the kids show up for class in pajamas or something along those lines, and I hear a lot of sailor-talk in the hallways, but the majority of these kids insist on certain strange facets of conservatism. As a result, someone with long crazy hair, a patchy beard and thrift store clothes is a bit of an oddity. Granted, we do have a few homeless folks who wander in and out of the student center and library on a regular basis, but the one who's around the most just recently got a haircut and fits in much better than I do now.

While I'm talking loosely about work, I feel I should point out something. I make occasional references to my boss and scenes that could straight out of "The Office" or "Office Space." We have our disagreements and situations, for sure, but in general I hold absolutely no real genuine negative feelings. She's in a fairly high-pressure job with bureaucrats stacked atop her, poking her with pointy sticks, at any given time. She's expected to put in long hours at times, not to mention subject to "The Office" type circumstances even more often than I am. Much/most of what's crummy about this job has very little to do with her and is out of her control, and some of what's pretty fine about this job actually is because of certain aspects of her management style. She's actually quite gifted in particular facets of her position and I figure it's good I mention these things.

Anyway, I'm just trying to be fair. Sometimes I get huffy, often rightfully so, but I feel as if that presents only part of the story. I refuse to write a whole lot on this blog about certain people, at least on a regular basis, because it's easy to present a lopsided, horribly unfair projection of a person. There are those with whom I have disagreements, and writing about those disagreements may be done objectively on MY end, but people who know only me (and might actually like me or "get" my perspective) and either don't know the other person, or may only know certain aspects or images of them, will end up with a bias against them that I certainly wouldn't have myself or support in others. Carter, for example, is a dear friend with whom I have a multi-faceted relationship. We disagree on things, and sometimes derive incredible enjoyment from our disagreements, but writing about those things (or even alluding to which idea belonged to whom) could fairly easily present a distorted picture of what's really going on. I hope I've never fostered any kind of "Joel vs. Carter" mentality because that's certainly not something going on in my mind.

I'm trying to be careful in general, not wanting to present others as something they're not, or presenting only small pieces of other people and therefore grossly misrepresenting them. Plus, truth is, I can be difficult to work and communicate and live with on a regular basis, at least for many people. I've also learned that most people have no real concept whatsoever of what they're like to be around, and as a result their representations and perspectives on other people are skewed not only by that, but also by the inability or disinterest to even attempt to understand other perspectives. That even before other motivations and selfishness get involved. God, no wonder we fight so many wars, personal and international.

Our spring break comes this next week. It's also the first week of Lent in the Orthodox Church. Why is it much later this year for the Orthodox than for the West? http://www.smart.net/~mmontes/ortheast.html

Here's a fairly in-depth article regarding what the various weeks of the Lenten season entail:http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/a...article8126.asp

Our parish is "Western Rite," which means we do involve some Western customs and traditions into our Lenten season -- Ash Wednesday, Shrove Tuesday, to name the first couple. Music update:Today's disc of files includes the following:

Rolling Stones, "Concert for Brian Jones at Hyde Park" (1969)
This show gets back to a lot of their more blues-based tunes, my favorite sound by them. Incidentally, I just read an article in Uncut Magazine about the mysteries surrounding Jones' death.

Brother Jack McDuff, Down Home Style
Soul & early funk style noodlings. Sounds like the type of thing hip hop artists would've been sampling in the 80s and early 90s (well, and some still do).

Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers, Moanin'
Some of this sounds like a Miles Davis tribute (roughly circa Kind of Blue), to be honest. It's probably more indicative of that general era of jazz styles, though by 1969 Miles Davis and others had gotten more experimental.

Family, Family Entertainment
Allmusic describes them as "a blues-based band with art rock inclinations," fitting only somewhat into the "psychedelic" era. I guess they did all right in Europe and the UK, but were barely heard in the States, which, based on this record, is a shame.

All of the above were 1969 releases. Lately I've been just punching in certain years to see what might be available to sample and finding some pretty good listening.

Coming up this afternoon is stuff by John's Children (folkish pre-T.Rex band for Marc Bolan...some wonderful recordings!), Richard Hell & the Voidoids, a band called Litter, a psych compilation, and Wilson Pickett's Hey Jude album, recorded in 1969 and featuring Duane Allman on guitar. Apparently this is more of a rock effort for WP -- he covers a few rock numbers like the title cut and "Born to be Wild." Should be an interesting listen. My pre-listening thought is that if any soul singers could do rock, Wilson Pickett would certainly be one of the best to do so (and of course we all know Ray Charles achieved success in this vein, as well).

The weekend ahead promises to be completely loaded, so many projects going on and getting closer to deadline. I'd absolutely love to go check out the Todd Grant Project, which includes Tim Kasher of Cursive and The Good Life infamy. Todd Grant, apparently, was a major influence on some of the more well-known Omaha/SaddleCreek types back in what some refer to as "the Golden Age of Omaha Indie Rock" back in the 90s, when Kasher, Oberst, etc. were all teenagers. Anyway, I guess TG had some drug rehab to do in recent years, spent a little time in jail, etc., and is starting to get back to recording and publically performing music. The outfit will be opening for Dolorean, who I've been meaning to check out at some point, anyway. Sometimes Sunday night shows aren't the best idea, but this looks to be quite worth it. Read more about Todd Grant here: http://www.timmcmahan.com/lazyeye.htm (you'll have to look at the yellow blog section and scroll down a little bit)

In other news, my sisters-in-law are visiting in April sometime. They're both great kids and we'll have fun. Well, they and Stacey will have fun. I'll probably lock myself in the study, considering that's near semester's end. I enjoy them both quite a bit, though, so hopefully I'll get to join in the fun at least a little bit.

This turned into a long post, but be glad it isn't longer.