Sunday Observations - Music Edition

The theme this week is music:

- I hear this song on Wednesday as I arrived at school and I can't get it out of my mind. It's very Jack Johnsonish. Trevor Hall has a very distinguishing voice. I cannot exactly tell you what the song means. Maybe it's about finding love that lasts. Maybe it's about finding God.

And parallel to the city streets
Our broken crowns beneath our feet
But as we walk across the diamonds (diamonds)
We know that love is always shining

- I bought three albums in the last week. U2's No Line on the Horizon, Bruce Springsteen's Working on a Dream, and Silver's +/-.

U2: No Line on the Horizon - 3/5 Stars
Bloggers and internet reviewers are all over the board. Some love it, others find it ordinary. I'm not sold on it, but U2 has a tendency to grow on me. All You Can't Leave Behind slowly went from being okay to indispensable for me. Perhaps this one will do the same. Everytime I listen, I find something new that I like. "Moment of Surrender" stands out to me as a tale of realization of we are not as big as we make ourselves to be. Almost every U2 album has it's "hymn". The last two albums had "Grace" and "Yahweh". This album has "White as Snow", where we are looking for "the lamb as white as snow."

Bruce Springsteen: Working on a Dream - 4/5 Stars
I feel like Bruce always writes stuff that we can relate to. He is a storyteller and his songs are songs seem to be about people who struggle, sometimes suffer, work hard, make mistakes and yet still hope and love. Sounds like me. I really like the sound of this album. "The Wrestler" appeals to me on so many levels, "Queen of the Supermarket" makes me think of Garrett, "Outlaw Pete" is Bruce doing his storytelling and "Working on a Dream" is classic Bruce. I seem to like this album a lot more than other people and that's okay.

Silver: +/- -4/5 Stars
Silver is the band that my buddy Brent Francese drums for. They just released their new album (not real cover, did not have art... but it's close) about two weeks ago. Get it on itunes to support my friend (since he's umemployed) and because it really is good. The band seems really proud of this effort and rightfully so. It has a strong rock sound. You can hear their tracks on their myspace: http://www.myspace.com/silvermusiconline

By the way, I like that Silver has '+/-' and U2 has an '=' on their albums. Cool irony.

- I really hate what's happening in Northern Ireland. Things were relatively good. U2 wrote a song, "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" that was a reference to the killing of Irish protesters by the British military in Northern Ireland in 1972. Though the song is set to a "war march", it really is a peace anthem. Just listen to the lyrics...

How long, how long must we sing this song?

- The NCAA brackets are one gigantic cluster. Can anyone beat the Big East and their three number 1 seeds? We'll ask Pat Benetar:

Crush of the Week:
The NCAA Wrestling finals is this weekend. I am pretty excited about seeing how the best collegiate wrestlers stack up. I am actually more excited about the NCAA Wrestling than about March Madness.

On Bruce Springsteen's Working on a Dream album, there is a song about underdogs called "The Wrestler". It includes this line:

Have you ever seen a one-legged man trying to dance his way free?
If you've ever seen a one-legged man then you've seen me.

Anthony Robles, a redshirt sophomore at Arizone State University is that wrestler. Born with only one leg, Robles was almost an All-American last year and last week was the PAC-10 Champion at 125lbs. The kid is tough. And he never makes excuses. When he got to ASU, the wrestlers ran a time trial in the mile. Robles ran it in 10 minutes... ON CRUTCHES. The next time, he ran it in less than eight. Good luck to you, Robles. I have no dog in the fight, so I am pulling for Robles at 125 and Mikal McKee, an AC Reynolds graduate and Southern Conference Champion at 174 for UNCG.

Here is Springsteen's "The Wrestler":