I've got rhythm 

Greetings music lovers. Both of you. Glad to have you aboard.

I've been reading John Updike's "Gertrude and Claudius". Great read. I've always rated Hamlet, along with Romeo and Juliet , as one of my least favorite of Shakespeare's (Shaxbeer?) plays. T.S. Eliot expounds further, and brilliantly, of course on the subject of why Hamlet, the play, is a complete failure in his collection of essays, The Sacred Wood and Other Early Essays. Check it out.

But what I really love about Gertrude and Claudius is the way Updike focuses on the events transpiring before the the play begins. Methinks Updike is no fan of of Hamlet either. But he is most definitely a fan of of the supposed "peripherals". And even our dear friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern make an appearance. Highly readable and more highly recommended.

Today's tunes: I've been thinking about god and/or spirituality a bit lately. My dear friend Thurman and I have been trading im's on the subject. As a confirmed agnostic raised in an extremely evangelical situation, it would be fair to say I have a bit of a contentious relationship with all things spiritual, christian or otherwise. Won't get into too many details in this post. But I love certain types of "spiritual" music. Make no mistake, I despise this "christian contemporary music" crap. But from Mozart to Nick Cave, Gregorian chants to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and early Black gospel to Leonard Cohen, some deity or another has been responsible for giving us a helluva lot of good music. Most it of course with an element of sexuality to go with the spirituality. So....I'm not really sure what The Polyphonic Spree's deal really is...are they winking at us? Who knows. What I do know is that the music they produce is exhilarating. This music Should. Not. Work. But it does. I absolutely dare you not shake yr boots at least a little bit.

And as a bonus I've included a song by a group called The Singing Mariners. It appears to be a choral group from the '70's. Yes, it's a Neil Diamond song. And somebody from the Polyphonic Spree must have been listening, 'cuz it's an obvious precursor. Read more about it here (you'll have to scroll down the page a bit).
I really don't have much to say about the song...except it makes me very happy for reasons I'm not sure I understand. Anyway...ta.

Polyphonic Spree: Hold Me

The Singing Mariners: Holly Holy

(Click on the songs...Takes you to my Briefcase. Standard "right click, save as..." from there)