Weiland Blog

When all appears bleak and there aren't any blips on the new-music radar, something unexpected invariably materializes and restores your faith in musical creativity. Recent releases by Karmakanic (Who's The Boss In The Factory) and Snow Patrol (A Hundred Million Suns) have done just that.

Hailing from Sweden, Karmakanic has put together a tremendously addicting collection of progressive rock tracks. The serious grandeur of selections like Who's The Boss In The Factory, Send A Message From The Heart and Eternally compliment the fun and sarcastic Let In Hollywood. And frankly, I have a hard time stopping in the middle of this 55-minute musical trek. If I start it, I must be finished. And based on comments from my friend, Andy, he's suffering just the same. Good music is hard to find, and even harder to pause when you've found it. If you're a fan of Spock's Beard, the Flower Kings, or Yes, you'll want to listen to this one.

Completely and stylistically different but no less impressive is A Hundred Million Suns by Snow Patrol. I was introduced to Snow Patrol a few years ago by a co-worker. Since then I've been a fan of their simmering, slow-building style of writing. Somehow, I hadn't known about the release of A Hundred Million Suns until the day before it was to be released, and I can't stop listening to it. And what's this? The last track (The Lightning Strike) is a 16-minute, 3-movement piece that is undoubtedly a nod toward orchestrated rock. Yes, bliss.

Other recent releases include the latest Pendragon and Marillion discs. Marillion's two-disc Happiness Is The Road is pretty darn good. But did it really need to be a two-disc release? I think they could have trimmed a few of the mediocre tunes and released a solid one-disc effort. But alas, they didn't. But after their last insipid album, Somewhere Else, this one should be heralded with much pomp and circumstance.

And I'm sorry. The new Pendragon -- as they say -- just ain't cuttin' it. More of the same 1990's sound from them.

Next week, Coldplay releases a new EP, Prospekt's March. While I can't stomach the band's drone-like political allegiance to liberalism, I do love their songwriting. Thank the Maker that I have some birthday cash still lying around. I'll be picking this one up at Best Buy next week. $5.99 is just too tempting to pass up.

It's another Monday, and it's already a better start than last week's. It's not every week we find the United States electing someone more liberal than Jimmy Carter to the presidency. It's not every week we find a #3 Penn State football team losing to an unranked Iowa Hawkeye team. And if that wasn't bad enough, the Steelers lost to the Colts yesterday in the waning minutes of their game thanks to Peyton Manning. Like I said, it will be a better week. Oh, did mention the Baltimore Dirty Birds won?

But like I said, it's already a better week. After last night's Steelers game, we corralled the kids in the family room, lit the first fire of the season and watched Santa Claus Is Coming To Town on DVD. Not to be outdone, I filled the tank in the Accord today, and it was a shiny-happy $1.89/gallon. (Hmm... I think I'll blame George Bush like they do when it soars to nearly $4.00/gallon.) But even without all of this good fortune, it's a better week just because we're alive, healthy, and together in the best country in the world.

We introduced the kids to The Sound of Music this weekend. Eddie was captivated by it, which was unexpected. The music really grabbed his attention, and I guess it's not too surprising since they both love musicals like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Wizard of Oz. Eddie's Star Wars vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. As expected, he knows Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, etc., but when he points out General Grievous on-screen, I took note. He's now learning as many starship and vehicle names as possible. We counting on him testing out of History of Star Wars Vehicles 101 next semester... stay tuned!

"Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer."

The writings of Thomas Paine hit home in the wake of a painfully long and historic election that we witnessed over the course of the last year. It is historic in the sense that Barack Obama is the most liberal-minded person ever to be elected President of the United States. It is historic in the sense that Barack Obama will now be able to miraculously fix our souls with a gentle flick of his hand. Historic in the sense that 52% of those who managed to vote (legally and illegally) ignored the indisputably radical, anti-American influences that coddled Barack Obama, shaping his values and mindset. Historic in the sense that the unprecedented level of  media bias successfully kept the real Barack Obama hidden from the American people. Historic in the sense that if Barack Obama was distant cousin of Pinocchio, his nose would stretch to Venezuela and back.

While we're in the spirit of celebrating historic events, let's not forget the bravery of this nation's founding fathers. Because of their desire for freedom and willingness to die for liberty we were able to witness the historic election of a bi-racial candidate to the presidency - despite the endless condemnations of "progressive" naysayers that claim our founding fathers were shrewd, racist and closed-minded and that our Constitution is outdated, ineffective and flawed.

So by all accounts, the forthcoming administration is poised to be the most liberal, over-reaching, controlling, and inexperienced administration in United States history. If you thought your liberty was a doormat Before Obama (that's B.O. for you history types...) you'll likely be crying for a return to the good old days if the Messiah truly unleashes his plans for American Socialism. Welcome to the Nanny State, my friends. Where you'll be told what car to drive, what light bulbs to use, how much electricity to consume, what hospital to use, what retirement plan to contribute to, what school to attend, how much gas to buy, how much water to use when flushing the loo...

I'm tempted cry out in frustration to God and ask for clarity.  But I might as well wait until the Anointed One assumes control and dishes out my share of government Soul-Fixin'. Maybe then I'll see the light -- that is if the rolling blackouts from a bankrupt coal industry haven't started yet...

Well, it's the Sunday before election day, and we wanted to remind our fellow parishioners that as Catholics they should support Life when casting their vote this coming Tuesday.

Armed with smiles and pro-life signs not unlike other rallies from this past year, we stood at both exits of our church parking lot hoping to persuade those Catholics who might be leaning toward the pro-choice candidate, Barack Obama, to change their minds. When it was said and done, our small group was able to canvas all of the five Sunday Masses.

But our time on the sidewalk wasn't free from profane opposition. "Vote for jobs, you @$$hole" one exceedingly intelligent, liberal driver screamed to me and my two-year-old. I couldn't figure out why our signs upset him so much. Then again, I can't understand what makes any uninformed liberal drone do what they do.

So if by chance Eddie starts dropping the word @$$hole around the house, I can once again thank a lib for injecting unwanted grief into my life.

Right about now, Obama is knee-deep in his last-ditch, pre-election effort to work the masses, not unlike a young, suave bachelor at a dance club on Ladies Night. But with this flirtatious outing comes a hefty cover charge. Nearly $4 million will have been spent to pipe Obama's fireside chat through CBS, NBC, Fox, BET, Univision, MSNBC and TV One.

Sing with me, now... I know you all remember the classic Kool & The Gang song:

Oh yes it's ladies night
And the feeling's right
Oh yes it's ladies night
Oh what a night... oh what a night..

Aw heck. But what's a few million dollars anyway? We shouldn't worry that Obama's campaign has raised more than $600 million - which is almost as much as the private funds raised by Bush and Kerry combined in the 2004 election. Despite the endless endorsements Obama has received by rogue nations, terrorists, dictators, and all-around enemies of America, we shouldn't worry that almost anyone can contribute - without preconditions, mind you - to Obama's campaign. Besides, there can't be any felonious activity going on here, right? We've been assured by the Great Barack himself that this campaign has been primarily bankrolled by millions of average citizens making millions of modest on-line donations. And nobody would ever think of channeling large sums of money to the Obama campaign in the form of modest, repeat donations, right?

In closing, I guess Obama has gotten more than just cash from his friends in Hollywood. Based on the audacity of this Obammercial, I'd say Tinseltown has been helping him script a sitcom during the few months. And that might just come in handy if the anointed one is elected as our 44th president. If so, I'll have my tomatoes in-hand.

Those that know me well, know that I am not a sitcom fan. So instead of the mindlessness of the Obammercial, we opted for a Baby Einstein DVD and Elmo's World. We figured we'd learn something from 8:00 - 8:30 PM instead of turning our brains to mush. "La-la-la-laaa, la-la-la-laaa, Elmo's World!"

[Sources: New York Times: October 19, 2008; FindLaw's Writ: October 28, 2008; ]

Last night we found that there's nothing like returning home after dark to find that your lawn has been stripped of its McCain/Palin signs. And there's nothing quite as blood-curdling as finding that in their place is an Obama/Biden yard sign. Talk about a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde act!

After some quick investigation, it appears that someone swapped our yard signs with the neighbor up the street; they received ours while we were the ungrateful recipients of their sign. Doing us and them a favor, we hastily returned their sign and reclaimed ours.

We'll never know who switched them, but I'm sure in a few days Halloween will be host to a lot of yard sign shenanigans. Whoo-wee, can't wait.... 

The only thing better than being a Penn State fan right now is being a Penn State fan that lives in Ohio and has endless Buckeye paraphernalia shoved in his face everywhere he turns. After a tight contest tonight, the Nittany Lions were victorious over the Buckeyes in Columbus, 13 - 6 moving to 9-0 on the season.

My neighbor has had his OSU flag flying in front of his house all week in preparation for this game. I bumped into him on Monday, and he didn't have much to say about the forthcoming PSU/OSU game. Knowing that I am a PSU alum, he simply said something to the effect that "it's going to be a tight one..." He didn't say anything else, so I just walked away. Little did he know that when I agreed with him, we'd be right. And little did he and other Buckeye fans expect  that JoePa and the Nittany Lions would win.

Sorry, Tressel. You're a good guy, but I hope you get used to losing to Penn State more often...

Well, as I look back on another workweek, I wonder how it went by so fast. Gary (see Gman's Blog in the Blogroll...) visited early in the week, and we attended the recent Coldplay show downtown. The tour stop was originally slated for this past July, but production delays forced the band to move the show into October. As a result, when we arrived at the arena, we were pleasantly surprised that our upper level tickets were upgraded to better seats. Although the new seats had very little legroom, the upgrade was certainly appreciated. We ended up in the front row of the second section from the floor.

Early on, we decided to skip the opening act, Duffy. Our instincts proved to be spot-on, and despite arriving casually late, we still ended up hearing the tail-end of her show. As a result, we opted to linger in the outer hall and spare our ears.

Coldplay opened with "Life In Technicolor" and before the night was over, ended up playing most of their newest studio recording, Viva la Vida. For the most part, they sounded tight and the mix sounded full. The only complaint I had was with lead singer, Chris Martin. He was a bit too liberal (imagine that!) with his vocal performance and the strumming of his acoustic guitar. At times his playing was out of synch with the rest of the band or he pulled back carelessly from the microphone, rendering portions of the songs disjointed and sloppy. Also knowing that he's an outspoken liberal, I feared that at some point he'd turn a live performance into an Obama soapbox. Luckily, I was only partially correct. He did mention the impending election 3 or 4 times, but he kept it cryptic enough as not to overly offend any conservatives like The Dixie Chicks did a few years ago. Let's just say that it was annoying, but not enough so that I had to leave the show.

The concert was over around 10:30 pm, and we stopped in at the brewpub at Great Lakes Brewing Company after Gary's Magellan took us on an alternate route through Ohio City. It would have been sacrilegious to pass by and not stop in for a beer. So we stopped. To my astonishment, they had Barrel-Aged Blackout Stout on tap. Aged for several months in bourbon-soaked barrels, this proved to be a great variation of one of my favorite Great Lakes brews. I ordered a snifter of Blackout, and Gary ordered a seasonal Nosferatu. After our beers and a handful of pretzels we called it a night and headed home.

The sad fact is that there aren't any worthwhile concerts coming my way in the foreseeable future. Gasp!

After another successful Life Chain this past Sunday, we learned that John McCain and Sarah Palin are planning a stop in our neck of the woods tomorrow. In fact, while participating in Life Chain a few days ago, we bumped into some local officials that were scoping out the town square behind us for that very reason. By the next morning, we were scrambling to get free tickets to the event and now find ourselves eager to welcome John and Sarah to northeast Ohio.

As we enter the last month of the presidential race, the mudslinging has increased dramatically. Personally, there will never be enough mud to sling at Obama. Thanks to the media and ignorant drones, none of it ever really ends up sticking to him. McCain had a great slam yesterday worth repeating:

"My opponent's touchiness every time he's questioned about his record should make us only more concerned. For a guy who's already authored two memoirs he's not exactly an open book."

Keep it up, John.

I can't think of a better way to gear up for Respect Life Sunday than to take a peek at your son while he's relaxing in the womb. A few days ago, we were fortunate to do just that -- check in on the little man and see how he's doing.

All looks good at 18 weeks and we're happy to share a great three-dimensional ultrasound photo!

As for Respect Life Sunday, we're hoping to see a sizable turnout for our local "link" in the Life Chain. Through silent demonstration and prayer we hope to bring more attention to the scourge of abortion in our community, state, nation and world. Keep us in your prayers.