Savvy Women

I’d like to make a confession. I’ve been incredibly distracted recently. So many things are going on right now. I’m getting ready to go on my annual trip back to the place where I was born and grew up and where all my kinfolk live. There are other things happening in my life right now, so many that I can’t even begin to mention all of them here, so I was wondering if I’d be able to concentrate enough to do a blog this week. I had no ideas or direction, and then I was lucky enough to discover this video.

Please do yourselves a favor and watch the whole twenty-four minutes of this TED clip. What you’ll see (if you persevere) is some magical piano playing—including an improvisational piece that will floor you or lift you to the ceiling (or both)—by a young pianist named Jennifer Lin. You’ll also be treated to Lin’s thoughts on the art of composing, including her comparing writing music to drawing cartoons.

Oddly enough, the first thing that came to mind when I watched this was that time in my life, many years ago now, when I was in graduate school at Texas A & M University. There was this place on campus called the Memorial Student Center, a locale that included bookstores, eating places, quiet study spots, and a large lounge complete with its own grand piano. Anyone who wished could sit down at the instrument and play for as long as her fingers held out. Others could relax on fluffy sofas and listen.

There were many talented pianists at A & M, and I would often be treated to a free concert. I’d stretch out and become totally mesmerized by the music, often falling into a kind of trance as the performer made her way along. It was during my student days that I discovered how listening could be done with the whole body, not just the ears. If one could manage to listen this way, the sounds that one heard would take on a tactile quality and be “felt” throughout the body.

Each time I listen to Lin play, I feel “touched” by the notes of her music as surely as her fingers touch those black and white keys.

I’d been hearing about this musical group called the Drive-By Truckers (sometimes referred to as DBT) for quite some time, but I’d never taken the opportunity to check them out…until just recently.

Their newest CD (“Go-Go Boots”) was on special at Amazon.com, so I had a listen to several of the thirty-second samples they give you access to, just to get an idea of their sound. I didn’t have to hear more than three or four of the tracks before I knew that I needed to go ahead and make a purchase, so that’s exactly what I did, as fast as my mouse-clicking finger could get me there. A few minutes after the last sound file had made its way onto my hard drive, I knew I was in possession of something special.

The DBT have been described as “alternative country,” “alternative rock,” “southern rock,” and even “cowpunk.” (You always know a band’s going to be good when experts have a hard time pigeonholing it.) Patterson Hood, guitarist, lyricist, one of the group’s founding members, and all-around swell guy, has even called the DBT a “noir band.”

I’ve embedded the Truckers performing one of my “Go-Go Boots” faves, a song called “Where’s Eddie?” Have a look and listen.

Is that good or what?! My other favorites are “I Do Believe,” “Dancin’ Ricky,” “Used to Be a Cop,” “The Thanksgiving Filter,” and “Mercy Buckets.” Actually, though, there’s not a throwaway track to be found on the whole compilation!

If you’d like to hear a bit more, with the possibility in mind that you might end up taking the same route I did, go here and you’ll get your chance.

Every now and then I run across a video that is so visually stunning that I simply feel compelled to blog it. This is one of those weeks.

(If the previous entry included photos of “little gems,” this one features a big diamond of a mini-documentary.)

I was conflicted, though. I didn’t know if it would be appropriate for Savvy. What, after all, does the film have to do with women? I’ll let you be the judge of its appropriateness after checking it out.

(Perhaps this week we’ll simply have to settle for something that’s wonderfully entertaining?)

By the way, you can watch this clip at its present size, but I’d recommend that you go to its source, and once there, maximize the screen, crank up the volume, and view it as it was intended to be seen–in all its glory.

FYI: “Foli,” the word that flashes on the screen at the beginning of the video, is the one the Malinke people of West Africa use for “rhythm.” For the Malinke, rhythm is not only part of their dance and music; it informs every aspect of their lives and culture.

In a world where many people live artless and uninspired lives, it’s truly refreshing to see such a stylish and ecstatic bunch at work and play. Many of us could learn a lot from those “savages.”