The Weekly Wednesday, #1 (?)

“Creative bravery is forged at the intersection of optimism and a sense of personal agency.”

-Todd Henry, Daily Creative (Sept. 24 entry)

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here. Four months, to be [almost] exact. I am not going to belabor that point, since I have not exactly been putting myself under any pressure to post anything. I’ve been getting on with my life, just like we all do.

As someone who has been keeping a diary/journal for a huge chunk of my life, I have to admit that I enjoy the thought of diving into the notebook once a week and cobbling together something that somebody else would actually enjoy reading. After all, Thoreau did just that, and he came up with Walden. Not that anybody is clamoring to read Walden these days, but you get what I’m saying.

But, while I do love the concept of the idea of a weekly column, I am not sure the “sense of personal agency” that Todd Henry mentions above has been there for me. I sometimes doubt whether it matters much whether I put myself out into the world in this way. Especially considering that we’re all drowning in blogs, podcasts, TikToks, Pinterests, etc.

Why add to the cacophony?

Ultimately, the answer is, “Why not?” I am here, and as long as I’m here, this feels like as good place as any for me to touch base with myself and with whoever else wants to drop by.

To be clear: I am not looking to be an “influencer” or anything of the sort.

I am just here, and if you’d like to be here now and then as well, that would be fine with me. If this seems like fun, then maybe I’ll be here next Wednesday night as well. And perhaps the one after that, etc. No promises.

So now let’s talk about the Electric Light Orchestra. Or, should I say, Jeff Lynne’s ELO?

Jeff Lynne’s ELO Don’t Bring Fans Down in Philadelphia

Early last week, my wife Donna learned that she had a golden opportunity to see Southern Culture on the Skids with her friend Tina at Ardmore Music Hall last Saturday. I haven’t seen the “Camel Walk” folks myself but I was happy she had the opportunity, and figured I’d sit at home that evening and just listen to Rush albums and whatnot.

But my destiny was not to spend last Saturday night with Neil, Geddy and Alex.

As it happened, Jeff Lynn’e ELO (the current name of the band we all used to call the Electric Light Orchestra when it ruled the pop charts from 1975 to approximately 1981) was landing its spaceship at the Wells Fargo Center last Friday and Saturday night. I put it out into the universe that it would be hilarious if I was seeing Jeff Lynne’s ELO at the same time as Donna was seeing Southern Culture on the Skids.

Amazingly, the universe answered. As Donna and Tina were getting down to the real nitty gritty with Southern Culture on the Skids, I was experiencing the pop music grandeur that can only be achieved when there are not one, but two — TWO — cellists onstage, sawing away on their instruments as Jeff Lynne and his ace backing vocalists crooned to us about evil women and other livin’ things.

There were at least 47 people on stage, I swear.

OK, it was closer to 13. Maybe 14. But the sound that Jeff Lynne’s ELO made did indeed feel like an orchestra to me. If you know ELO’s classic hits — and, wow, the classic hits just kept coming last Saturday night — you know that they are among the most meticulously recorded and produced pop songs this side of mid-to-later period Beatles tunes. Amazingly, Lynne and his extraordinarily talented musicians — none of whom, it is fair to note, are alumni of the classic ELO era — reproduced every note of each of these songs in perfect detail.

This means, of course, that Jeff Lynne’s ELO did not present a wildly spontaneous show. When we saw The Rolling Stones back in June, I was impressed by how, even though Mick, Keith, Ron & company were playing a huge, highly professional show, there seemed to be a certain latitude for a degree of sloppiness, a sense that a song could go off the rails at any moment. It was glorious.

Jeff Lynne’s ELO was glorious as well, but in a completely opposite way from the Stones. And that’s totally cool. The attention to perfect recreation was clearly what the fans wanted and they ate it up. You could tell this when the crowd erupted into applause when the band did that fast vocal thing in “Turn to Stone”. And it was just blatantly obvious that everybody was going to do that “WooHoo” during “Don’t Bring Me Down” but I laughed out loud in surprise when we all did it, because it was wonderful and joyful and fun to woohoo at that point.

Also, state of the art light show, of course. With spaceships and lasers. Eye-popping.

So, yeah, Jeff Lynne’s ELO rocked, in exactly the way I expected them too.

I should note that Donna and I were texting each other, just a little bit, from our respective shows. The biggest revelation from these texts was when Donna posted that Southern Culture on the Skids had just busted out a theremin onstage.

You’d think a theremin would have been a Jeff Lynne’s ELO move, but maybe a theremin just wasn’t in the budget, at least not once they figured in the cost of all the lasers.

And get this: Donna and I arrived home from our concerts at exactly the same time. How weird is that?

Dollar Store Crayons

Finally, Donna and I have been hitting up the local Dollar Trees lately. This is mostly her side quest to talk about, if she choses. I will simply note for now, that these trips have given me an opportunity to stock up on crayons. Here’s some abstract crayon art for you.

As Jane Austen’s Mr. Bennet once noted, I’ve entertained my readers, whoever you may be, long enough. See you next Wednesday night — maybe? — and in the meantime, take Jeff Lynne’s advice and shine a little love, people.