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The Good, The Bad and the Not So Pretty (part III)

There has been something I started to notice since i+e 2015 that has had me rethinking the value of social media and music shows. As good as they are, I think they sometimes distract us from the moment. As a result, we end up missing something.

Let me start by mentioning that I like social media. Maybe not as much as some of my friends, but I do enjoy it. Hell, I’ve got a blog and I use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to help expand my reach. By the way, if you would ask most friends, I would be one of the last people they think would have blog. But I digress, without social media, I would have a much harder time getting the word out. So, it is a very useful tool.

But something happened on the road to the future. I first noticed it with my friends who embraced social media much earlier than I did. They spent a good amount of time on it and I sometimes found it impolite on occasions like dinner or at the movies. What would last for several seconds began to stretch to minutes as everyone checked their phones and cycled through their apps. Since I was one of the last ones to embrace these technologies, I was first to poo-poo them. I saw it as a waste of time. It wasn’t until years that I finally was seduced to the dark side (I’m kidding).

I’m not a Luddite. I like technology. What I didn’t think would happen was how much it would change my experiences at a U2 show and not all for the better. Sure, it is wonderful to be able to shoot, record and even share the content with others. But, when did it become more important to do that than to simply sit (or stand) back and just enjoy the show? It’s happened to my friends, too. We all do it now. I can say that I’m shooting as much as I can so I can have content for my blog—and that is true—but I’m also doing because it seems like the best way to get people to notice my site.

My buddy who is far more proficient at social media than me has thousands of Twitter, Instagram and Periscope followers. When he posts something on any of the channels, many take notice. I want that for my blog, but have yet to figure that one out.

What started out as an interest (my blog) has grown into something else. I enjoy writing about my favorite band and it’s awesome when someone responds to my work, which is why I will continue do it.

The challenge comes from finding that middle road where I am not letting it overtake my actual enjoyment of the show.

What I noticed during Joshua Tree 2017 was how many people were recording, live-streaming or Periscoping the show. It was astonishing. I learned about Periscope about a year ago and didn’t think much of it. My buddy uses it and I see the appeal. The ability to interact with so many people is kind of cool. So, ‘scoping (as I have learned) a U2 show can be cool. I say can because it lets people who were not able to go the show, still see it. It’s a good way to share your experience with fellow fans and that always feels good.

But, you can become so fixated on ‘scoping the next song or what’s going around you that you miss the whole song yourself. What was supposed to be a shared experience is reduced because you are trying get the best shot instead of simply enjoying the band with your friends.

The strangest thing about it was how it seemed to affect the band, primarily Bono. Our beloved front man has always been the best at engaging the crowd. I first noticed it during ZOO TV way back in 1992. He had such a connection to the fans because he made one. During The Elevation Tour 2001, when they were “reapplying for the job”, I felt such a bond with them. There was something very special about that tour and I was lucky enough to be in the heart. I got a high-five from Bono and that was awesome.

With each tour, I felt like they were getting better at connecting with us. A part of that is due to stage design, but most of it is because of them, particularly the B-Man.

This time around it felt like something was missing, or maybe withdrawn. That’s the best way I can describe it. It appeared that performing to a field of raised smartphones was affecting the way he was interacting with the crowd. It looked like he was competing with their devices for their attention. It was weird. He’s a pro, so he didn’t stop trying.

The show got better when the band returned to the main stage. Bono seemed more comfortable even though the smartphones were still in the air, he was farther away. I can’t be sure if that was the reason, but it’s the only one I have.

I also realize that this may be the way it will be from now on. The days of going to a show and just seeing it might be over. If I sound like and old guy lamenting about days long past, I might be. Technology is awesome and I wouldn’t want to do without it, but it also has its drawbacks.

Our boys are the best in the business and I’m sure they’ll figure this one out.  From what I’ve read since seeing the show, they are.

The Good, The Bad and The Not So Pretty (part II)

If the laws of the universe is return everything back to balance, then the magnificence of U2 show must balanced by the suckitude of Levi’s Stadium.

First, the cost for parking was $50.00. In my opinion, that’s a little steep. I knew that is wasn’t going to be cheap, but wow. I also realize that this may be the going rate for parking and I just need to be good with it.

In addition, the parking attendants and security personnel seemed quite disorganized. The traffic flowing into the lot was quite slow even though we arrived several hours before the show. After we parked, we immediately got into line, which was about 50 people. The security folks told everyone in line that they would start letting people in at 5:00 pm.  Turned out to be 5:40 pm.

I will say that the ticketless/credit card entry method is not for me.  I realized that I would not have a real ticket and this would be my first show where I did not have a cool keepsake of the show. Second, it takes several seconds to print up this little receipt that functions as your ticket. This is where the bottleneck occurred. By this time there were several hundred people behind us in our line alone. Thanks goodness we got there early, because it got exponentially worse as time wore on.

My party had club level seats—although we didn’t know it at the time—and we all stood in line for food & beer at the regular level. This is where Levi’s fails. The staff working the counters were at best, below average and at worst lame. It took about 20 minutes to get to the front of the line. The guy who to took my money for a $12.00 hot dog (yeah, that’s right) had difficulty of knowing where to put the $20 bill I handed to him. There was a sense that many of them were brand new. There was this woman supervisor who was walking behind cashiers and kept scolding everyone, but beyond that did little to help. One cashier processed a customer’s order only to learn that they were out of the item. The supervisor told the cashier, “Remember what I said about not taking the money unless you are sure you have the food,” right in front of the customer and then walked away. No apology to the customer or how they would fix the problem. Wow.

After getting our food and eating quickly, we proceeded to find our seats. It was then that we realized we were at the club level. I have never stayed at the club level and what little I know is that it is supposed to offer the guests a luxurious experience. If that is the case, then Levi’s left me a little unsatisfied. The club level did have its own entrance with staff members checking tickets to make sure all guests were approved.

But there were pros and cons. There was a bar and it only had two bartenders serving drinks. The lines were at least 25 people deep and given that the bar was quite large, there should have been a minimum of four, if not six bartenders (three for each side). It was obvious that the bartenders were new because they were using measuring cups to to mix the drinks. I assumed they were contracted by Levi’s, but holy hell, they couldn’t find people who had served drinks before? When the bartender has to measure out the alcohol for each and every drink, it takes more time. Multiply that by hundreds of thirsty but patient guests and the wait was about a half-hour. To their credit, the drinks did have the proper amount of alcohol. I’ve been to venues where the bartenders were stingy with the spirits and it was disappointing.

There were better food concessions, but again, the people preparing the food looked like they were new. At the burger concession, there was one guy working the grill and two others standing around him, but not really doing anything. There was another person working the cash register; so I still don’t know what those two people were doing. I didn’t see them serving the food. Yet as less-than-great that that was, it was far better than the concessions at the regular level, where one guest told me he waited an hour in the hot dog line.

On the pro side, the club level is the best level to enjoy a U2 show (besides the GA floor in front of the stage). It offered an elevated view but not so high that you couldn’t see the band. Inside, the were far less people and plenty of seating. One nice perk was there were several outlets so all guests to charge their phones. In this age of living life online, being able to charge your phone at the venue is a benefit.

The men’s room was far superior at the club level. Having used both, the club was less crowded, bigger and better maintained. This is a definite plus.

My opinion—as well as many other guests—is that Levi’s need to do much better.

If they want to heal itself of its black eye, it needs to hire better staff. I realize that cost is a factor that weighs heavily when making that decision and I would respond with, you get what you pay for. My guess is that it might not be enough motivation to make these important changes.

Where The Streets Have No Name, Levis Stadium (5-17-17)

Hey everyone,

Here’s our boys performing WTSHNN in front of that incredible screen.

This song never gets hold (for me) and I just wish I was closer to the stage. My little Canon G-16 did the best that it could, but it struggled a bit. Plus, it was tough staring at the little color LCD screen to keep the image properly framed.

I was also surprised at how tired my arms got trying to hold the camera steady for only one song. How do others keep it steady?

Anyway, hope you enjoy the fellas doing their thing. Drink it all in.

The Good, The Bad and The Not So Pretty (part I) [Spoilers]

Now that a month has passed, I’ve had time to reflect on the show. The thing that comes to mind first is that there are advantages and disadvantages of seeing a show early. The advantage is obvious: seeing the show early. I get to see it before all of the footage, photos, reviews (i.e. spoilers) affect my opinion. I try to keep a wall around myself, but it has gotten harder over the years simply because of the sheer volume of content that comes out after a show. So the earlier I get to go, the less the content. That’s a good advantage; but it ends there.

The disadvantage is that it takes a while for our boys to iron out the wrinkles. In some tours they do it very quickly while others took much longer. I remember seeing them at PopMart ’97 in Oakland and even though they had been touring for a couple of months, they seemed a but unsure of themselves. That’s the best that I can describe it. After Zoo TV and Zoo TV Outside Broadcast, my expectations were high. They didn’t seem to have the confidence and swagger of the last tour and it was noticeable. There were six people in my group and we were all talking about it. One of my friends said, “Something’s missing.” I agreed with her even though I still loved the show. I read an article years later that detailed how the band was behind on the release of Pop and didn’t have enough time to rehearse before the tour launched. The good news is they found their legs by the time they hit Europe and were back to full form.

With that in mind, I figure the band needs to time to find their rhythm. As well-planned as this tour is, the show at Levi’s Stadium (Santa Clara, Ca.) lacked the dynamism of i+e 2015. Some of that was marred by our experience at Levi’s (more on that later), particularly the staff.

From the moment the show kicked off during i+e, I felt that it was going to be incredible; and it was. Seeing the gigantic screen for Joshua Tree 2017, I felt the same excitement. Yet as amazing as that screen is, it functions to strengthen the performance of the band. This is where I was hoping that they would bring the thunder and lightning, as they have so many times in the past.

One of the greatest things our Dublin lads do is perform at high level when the lights are the brightest. There is a fine balance between well-scripted and extemporaneity and this is where they shine, most of the time. It does feel a bit sacrilegious to give anything other than high praise, so it feels weird. But now that I am older and have seen a decent amount of shows (28) I am trying to be more objective.

Ever since Elevation ’01, I felt that the band has been getting better and better at live performances. Going into Joshua Tree Tour 2017, I tried not to have expections while knowing that this was a celebration of their landmark album. This was the album that turned me into a fan, so to say I was really looking forward to it, would be a huge understatement. Again, I wanted to “go in fresh” so I avoided anything that even mentioned the tour online.

The Good

Cutting right to the chase, the band opened on the satellite stage and launched into Sunday Bloody Sunday. It was a great way to kick off the show. They followed with New Year’s Day, A Sort of Homecoming, Bad and Pride (In the Name of Love). What I slowly realized was that they were playing all their songs that predated TJT, which was so cool. By then, the crowd was thoroughly warmed up and the band migrated back to the main stage to play the entire album—in order—without interruption. Nice.

By now it must be safe to say that nearly all of us have seen WTSHNN performed live and while a fan-favorite, how can it be re-experienced after thirty years? It can, and happened to me during the Elevation Tour ’01. There was something about that performance—and it helped being the in the heart—that took me back 14 years to 1987. I always thought it was the way Bono sung that song that reminded me of the first time I heard it live. For all of the ostentatiousness of PopMart and Zoo TV, the restrained production of Elevation actually made that song sound better.

For me the magnificence of the song is its wide-open nature. It was meant to be performed in front of a crowd. One of the best moments of the show was the beginning of song and it reminded me of a very similar performance during the film Rattle and Hum. As many of us know, most of the film is in black & white, except for a particular section. At the moment WTSHNN opens the screen is filled with the color red from the backdrop and the band members walk onto to the stage and take their positions. I always loved that because of the dramatic way color was introduced.

I believe the band had this idea in mind when they kicked off the song. That gigantic screen turned red and it was awesome. I also knew something would be displayed during the song, but didn’t know what. From what I learned later, Anton Corbijn filmed much of the content and he was the right man for the job. The moving image of a two-lane desert highway with jagged mountains in the background and beneath a cloudy, angry sky is so strikingly beautiful, I wanted to stop recording with my Canon G-16 and just enjoy the song. But, I really wanted to capture the entire song and focused on the task at hand (I will post the recording soon). The combination of the video and the performance gave the song a new dynamic.

For me, this was the high point of the show. The band was in full stride, Bono was in his element and that immense screen was the choir. I will mention it was at this point that much of the cold dissatisfaction of being at Levi’s began to melt away as I began to remember how much I loved hearing this song live.  I actually liked this version more than the version during i+e 2015.

Well, that’s it for now.  I will post the video in my next article.

U2 invades Levi’s Stadium (SPOILERS)

Our favorite Irish quartet began their assault on the home of the San Francisco Forty-Niners last night in front of a sellout crowd of 50,000 fans.

I will give a fuller account of the show soon, but I wanted to post something while still bathed on the glow of the last night’s performance.

Sadly, my Canon G16 struggled to keep up with the boys but I managed to snap a few decent images from the hundreds I took. I realize that from where we were sitting, I really needed an SLR camera. We had club seats so there were some of the best in the house, but the field was where the action was.

The first thing you notice is the screen. It his huge and somewhat reminiscent of the screen from their show in Paris, way back in 1987 (that show is on the DVD from the 20th Anniversary boxed set). As you can see the Joshua Tree design on the screen as well and there is a matching design on the satellite stage, which is hard to see. This area was probably the second-best place to be on the field. The best was the front of the main stage. I’ll get into that in a later post.

In a twist on how they perform, the band began on the satellite stage with songs from Boy and TUF. Bono’s voice was in top form and they played a version of Bad that reminded me of the first time I heard it live nearly thirty years ago. Over the years, Bono has changed the way he sang some of the songs from older albums and it was totally awesome that Bad was performed much more closely to the original.

Bravo, Mr. B.

By the time they launched into Where The Streets Have No Name, they returned to the main stage and galaxy-sized screen I understood why they did that.

In my next post, I will talk about it, however in the meantime, here’s another shot of the band in Joshua Tree mode.

More to come…

All Because Of You

Now we have come to the reason why U2 do what they do. In nearly every interview that they have given, the answer is invariably the same to the question of how they make their music. They write and record their songs with the intent to perform them in front of an audience. For all their multiple transformations, one thing has stayed the same since their formation: they are a live act.

In the beginning, they could barely play their instruments, Bono sounded like a punk wannabe and the only gigs they got were in small venues around Dublin. But they had something.

Watching the band’s early performances, it is obvious that they were a little rough and needed a polish, but they were most certainly talented. Bono knew how to play to the audience and to the camera.

For all the work they do in the recording studio, or on a music video set or during a public relations event, the stage is where they really earn their money. Playing in front of a live audience—in full rock mode—is where they eat. The critics can say whatever they want about them, but they can’t say that band doesn’t go all in at the show. I’ve gone to shows where there were some in our group who didn’t even like the band and yet, they were blown away by what they experienced. And even though they didn’t become fans, they understood that band always put on one hell of a show.

U2 is a live band, but so what? There are hundreds if not thousands of successful bands that do what they do. What makes them so special?

First, their shows are always a spectacle. From ZOO TV to i+e, they changed the concert experience. I remember being at The Joshua Tree Tour in 1987 and having my mind blown away. But, it was only the third concert I had ever been to and the first big one. Yet as big as it was, it is considered minimalist compared to the other tours that followed. Their shows are huge.

It’s not a hill, it’s a mountain

I believe the idea of video enhancement came into fruition when Willie Williams was tapped to work on the production design. The band had used projected images on their tours before, but Williams’ vision—along with artist Catherine Owens—took the band’s shows to a new level (who could ever forget the dancing Trabants?). From that point on, they always incorporated some form of video in their performance. Does that make for a better show? I believe it does.

I remember seeing the band on stage during the original Joshua Tree Tour and thinking it was the greatest show ever. I had no idea that they would continue to set the standard for an awe-inspiring rock show for the next three decades.

By having the name Joshua Tree Tour, there is a deliberate look back to the original. It is just a celebration of the album and tour that cemented their status in the rock pantheon? Or is it also a statement of enduring relevance of a band in its fourth decade of existence? Not many bands can claim that. I’m not talking about bands still playing shows in small to medium-sized venues. I’m talking about sold-out, stadium-sized arenas around the world.

A part of me wishes it would be a little more stripped down. There was also something very special about the austere simplicity of The Elevation Tour. I like the idea of four guys on a simple stage just playing the music. Obviously, their set list will include other songs—and I’m hoping some from Songs of Experience—so I have no idea what they will be doing. I am deliberately avoiding any spoilers so that I can experience the stage and set for the first time when I walk into Levi’s Stadium.

There’s a part of me in chaos is quiet

A part of me also wishes I could recapture the same feelings I had when I saw my first TJT concert. But sadly, too much time has passed. I’m a different person than the high school kid who was prepared to beg his mother to let him go to the show. In previous posts (When I Became a Fan, parts I, II & III) I wrote about how the album and tour came at a tough time in my life and helped me get through it (along with family and friends).

Nostalgia is such a weird thing. Sometimes we go looking for the things, places, or times when our lives were hard or unhappy. It’s not to be unhappy, but to remember how we got through it. And sometimes we just want to recapture a moment when everything was perfect.

With or Without You: a troubled love song, a big hit

If there is one song that epitomizes TJT it is With or Without You. This song captures the mood and intensity of the album so eloquently. Quite simply, it is one of the most poetic songs in their entire collection. The harmony between the lyrics and melody is spectacular. It truly is a very beautiful song.

With two powerful songs released from the album: the anthemic WTSHNN and the revelatory ISHFWILF how could they possibly make lightning strike a third time? We all know that they did; but what was so special about WOWY that made it a signature piece of TJT, and of the decade?

No ordinary love song

In high school, my creative writing teacher said that ninety percent of songs are written about love. I thought it was an unbelievably high percentage, until began to look at it more closely. It turned out I couldn’t find many songs that were not about love.

Where most songs were about the joys of being in love or the heartache of a breakup, WOWY was about something else. Assuming that Bono is the person in the song, he finds himself in a place in between to different states: being with a person and away from them. There is a sense of melancholy and an ache that doesn’t subside by the end of the song. But, there is also a sense of trueheartedness to the subject, which I assume is his wife Ali, and an acceptance to the life he has chosen.

Shine Like Stars

There were hits from the eighties that were big, loud and ostentatious, and the very reason why they were hits. The eighties definitely were the decade for that. And the reason why WOWY was so successful was because it was the opposite of that. You always knew when it came on the radio when you heard Larry’s soft drumming followed by Adam’s soothing bassline. One of its best qualities is the restraint of Bono’s singing. There is a new layer—deeper and fuller—that was not present in previous albums. It’s obvious that producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno worked with him to explore other areas of his vocal range. The result was a far more dramatic performance that builds towards the crescendo.

I love the way the song just quietly slips in and builds to a climax and then slips back out. And the best part, no big guitar solo at the end. It is this structure that I’ve always found to be so brilliant. It is also no surprise that it went straight to number one here in the states.

The video

If the photographs by Anton Corbijn were an illustration of the music, then the video was the movie. The first time I saw it was very late at night, when music videos were played on television. There was a show called Friday Night Videos on NBC, but it didn’t come on until 1:00 am. I would stay up late just to record U2’s videos on my mom’s VCR. The challenge was that I did not know when the video would air. Sometimes it was the first; sometimes it was the last. So, it was an exercise in patience and stamina. There were times when I fell asleep—remote in hand—only to wake up in the middle of it. I cursed myself loudly whenever that happened.

However, I managed to record it and watched it many times. I loved the simplicity of it. It was dark and moody. The grainy images of shadows, branches and a woman wrapped in a white sheet were so evocative and a little haunting. To me, this is what the song looked like.

Many years later, when I finally got cable television—and MTV—videos from TJT weren’t aired that often. But when it did, I always watched it.

Looking back across the great expanse of three decades, I see a band that has changed so much. And yet, I am hoping that they haven’t changed at all.

Joshua Tree Tour 2017 is going to be freekin’ awesome.

Another Time, Another Place

My buddy’s daughter commented on the fact that TJT doesn’t sound like an eighties album. I found this strange because it is firmly rooted in that decade for me. I replied saying that it was because she was young (mid-twenties). But she said no, there were a lot of albums that had the eighties sound and TJT didn’t have it. Evidently that sound has been very popular with Millenials, but what do I know? I’m about as Millenial as a VCR (what?).

However, her comment did get me thinking about what the band was trying to do at the time. I’ve been rereading old Rolling Stone magazines and there is an interview with Bono where he grouses about eighties music—rock stars in particular. He saw the coolness by fellow musicians as a kind of detachment and something he and his band mates loathed. For all the criticism they received, detachment was not one of them. Their earnestness and seriousness was what drove much of their music. And it was what connected them with their fans. These guys believed in things very strongly and weren’t afraid to let the world know.

Bono also complained about the commercialism of music.  He felt that there are record companies “who treat music like a tin of beans—a product to be sold.” It could be said that this was ironic coming from the lead singer of one of the biggest bands in the world at the time. But what I think he as getting at was that U2 endeavored mightily against the notion of being mediocre, though commercially prosperous. They were not content with treading over familiar ground—even though it was lucrative and praiseworthy—simply because it successful.

In the interview, there is a sense that the band’s superstardom is not necessarily something to reject but to understand that with that position comes a responsibility to the music and the fans. And this is where I think they took the road not taken.

I can’t think of another band from that time that sang more about social and political issues than them (although I did not understand much if it). Songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday and Pride (In the Name of Love) had gravitas. The Police had gravitas, but I always felt they were more literary than political. Sting was political. But it was the subject matter of U2’s songs combined with their music that made them so different.

In the DVD Classic Albums – The Joshua Tree, Edge recalls that they felt very disconnected with what was going on in music at the time, even their music videos were “so different, like they were from some other place”. And though I relate all those songs with the eighties, it is because I listened to them so much during that time. But to someone like my buddy’s daughter, she doesn’t get that eighties-feel like she does from Def Leppard, INXS or Bon Jovi.

No blind alleys for Streets

I remember the first time I saw the Where The Streets Have No Name music video on television. The band set up on the rooftop of a liquor store in downtown Los Angeles and played to a captivated and growing crowd. The part that really struck me was there was a moment when the crowd was still respectful and stayed on the sidewalk while the police tried to keep order. And then—all of a sudden—they run into the street seemingly oblivious to the traffic. I thought how cool would it have been to be there. And in my new-to-rock naiveté, I realized this band was going to be huge. Even watching the video now, there is this sense that this very event was marking a significant change in the growth of the band. They were going to be megastars from that moment on.

After all of the hype surrounding the new album and immense anticipation, the band launched the release with the force of a supernova. Streets raced up charts all around the planet. For a moment, everyone was playing U2 on the radio. They were, as the April 27th issue of Time Magazine stated on the cover, “Rock’s Hottest Ticket”.

Into the arms of America

What nearly all of us can agree on is the sound. The moment I hear the beginning of Where The Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For and With Or Without You, I know what it is. These songs are recognizable for their towering vocals and soaring guitars. They are the gold standard for bringing-the-house-down noise that only the best bands can produce.

When I first listened to the album what knocked me off my feet was the open, ambient nature of the songs. There was something sweeping and spacious about them. I visualized the band playing atop a barren mesa beneath a domed night sky. But there was also this strangeness that was a part of every song. It was a little hard to express other than the album felt otherworldly and unlike the times.

If that is what my buddy’s daughter meant, I agree. I have so many memories from that time it is hard to separate the album from the decade. I needed to step out of my own experience to see her point.

1987 was such a momentous time for the band. The culmination of their efforts was put to test to the country that held their fascination. It was a big album by a big band on a very big stage. And we here in the United States ate it up.

It was the album of the eighties that didn’t sound like it came from there.

Let Me in the Sound

U2 recording the Where The Streets Have No Name video

On March 9, 1987, TJT was released and sold over 300,000 copies in two days in the United Kingdom. By March 21 it debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart. Less than a month later, across the pond, the album debuted at number seven on the United States’ Billboard charts. Three weeks later it rose to number one and stayed there for nine weeks in a row. The album was met with the same kind of demand around the world. This was not short-lived either, as it remained on dozens of charts for years. It was an unquestionable success.

Looking back at it now, it is no surprise. The music is extraordinary.

What I found interesting was that the band wanted to go into a new direction after the The Unforgettable Fire Tour (summer ’84 through summer ’85). It shouldn’t have come as a surprise because they have always done that. Fresh of their most successful album and tour, they felt they were now at a stage in their career to take bigger risks and explore new sounds. I’ve always admired them for doing that because it takes courage to not go with something that was tried and true.

So how different was TJT than previous albums? In one word: completely. This was the culmination of the band’s growth and it had not been so clearly—and beautifully—expressed before. Granted, it took a lot of hard work with producers Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno and Flood. Reading through some of their interviews in U2 by U2, I learned how difficult the album was to produce. There were conflicting opinions about every song. Although they had a lot of developed material, no one was happy with the current state as they continued to write and record. There was a near-loss of the only full recording of WTSHNN. And in usual fashion, they were in danger of missing the release deadline.

The key ingredient

One of the elements that the band was exploring was soundscapes. Edge explained in Classic Albums – U2 The Joshua Tree DVD, they were trying to create a sound that would place the listener. The idea was to musically recreate some of their experiences in traveling across America. This is a difficult thing to do and something my unsophisticated ears did not pick up for many years. As I began to listening different types of music I realized that there were influences of blues, country and gospel—and not just in the lyrics but the melody. These elements were blended and then illustrated from an Irish perspective, which gave these songs such a distinctive sound. The new sound reflected the band’s love affair with the U.S.

On the same DVD, Bono said that the album is not Irish in the obvious sense, but in a more mysterious sense it is very Irish. The ache and melancholy is something that they identify with very strongly. It was also something that I was in tune with at the time, although I didn’t have the words.

He also added even though the album was huge, they felt they were out of step with what was going on at the time. With much of contemporary music using synthesizers, keyboards and drum machines, they deliberately stuck with traditional instruments. But, I believe it is precisely for that reason that it was so successful. In era of synth-pop coolness, these guys weren’t cool.

Rediscovering the music

Recently, one of the speakers in my car began to distort. After trying to endure the sound for two weeks, I realized I couldn’t take it anymore. I broke down and bought a new set of speakers. The key was to be as economical as possible. I don’t listen to music the way that I used to and haven’t in a long time. So, when I bought my first new car I opted for the basic audio system. It has performed well enough over the years and I was content with it, even though I toyed with the idea of installing a premium sound system. But, I’m a guy on a budget and couldn’t justify spending all that money on something like that.

However, the hellish scratchy noise coming out of my right speaker made the decision much easier. After speaking with the sales manager at the mobile audio store near me, I went for it. He suggested a set that was within my budget.

Consequently, I have been listening to the remastered version of TJT like I used to when I was a teenager—in my car, with the volume cranked to eleven. It is music nirvana.

And the point of my little speaker story is this: it feels like I am reliving the first few times I listened to the album and not just remembering it. It had been a very long time since I really paid attention and even longer since I’ve had a decent audio system.

The best thing about the album is the big-sound, arena-rock anthems that made me wear out the tape in the cassette deck in my first car. These songs are good. I’m talking about drum your hands on the steering wheel good. I’m talking about air-guitar at the traffic light good. Driving down the highway and singing unconsciously I’m transported back to 1987. My car is a time machine and I’m hearing Where The Streets Have No Name like I used to hear it, like when it was new. The way that the beginning just builds and builds and builds, it feels like I am fully immersed in it—like I am literally inside the song. I am way too old to be rocking out so hard, but I love it.

It’s kind of amazing to think that these songs can still make me feel this way—after hearing them so many times. I guess that’s what makes them so good. But it took new speakers to really set the Wayback Machine to the eighties.

In my next post, I will do a deeper dive on the songs and talk about those awesome videos.

A really, really big album

Happy Birthday, TJT! You have brought so much happiness to us for the last three decades.

It is embarrassing with what has happened to my memory in the past thirty years. I had forgotten how big The Joshua Tree truly was. It was huge. Following The Unforgettable Fire Tour (’84 – ’85) and The Conspiracy of Hope Tour (’86) droves of fans and the media were anticipating what the band had in store for its next album.

I’ve been rereading some of my U2 books about that time and I had simply forgotten how much buzz there was about their new album. This was before social media or even the Internet. Where fans and music lovers alike got their news was from…the news. Rolling Stone magazine provided news about the band. MTV had a news segment. Radio stations would talk about where the band was in recording process.

In The Joshua Tree section of my copy of The Best of Propaganda, the band’s official magazine, they were interviewed in the weeks before the album’s release. It has been nearly fifteen years since I read the book and I forgot that the original name of the album was The Two Americas. The band had spent several months touring the United States for their last album and seen much more of the country than ever before. The title was a reflection on their experiences with the sharp differences between the rich and the poor.

While that would have been a great title for the album, there is no doubt that The Joshua Tree was and still is the better choice. What I didn’t know at the time was that their photographer Anton Corbijn had suggested that they travel to Joshua Tree National Park in southeastern California to shoot some pictures for the album cover and sleeve. Corbijn drew his inspiration from the new music. His idea was that the stark landscape of the desert matched the sound the band had been writing and recording.

A critical time

This was also the when the United States and the Soviet Union were building up their nuclear arsenals and the rest of the world watched nervous anticipation as our two countries were careening towards an all-out conflict. The tensions that were so high between our two countries have slowly subsided since the eighties, but have recently surged.

Bono was critical of the Reagan Administration and its involvement in Central America. In fact, Bullet in the Blue Sky, Mothers of the Disappeared and Exit were all commentaries about U.S. action in the region.

I was in high school and did not know it at the time. We had kids in my class who were politically inclined and knew about all of this. I was not one of them. In fact, I wasn’t really aware of anything going on in the world, either politically or socially. I have a vague memory us talking about the arms race in my U.S. History class, but as I mentioned in a previous post, I was failing early every class.

It was a time when Bono began speaking more about this during their shows. I was too naïve back to fully understand why he was doing it. It turned out that it had much to do with growing up in Dublin and watching as tensions between Northern Ireland and Britain were increasing. I realize now that when you are around the anger, hostility and outright violence in your hometown, you become more sensitive to it when you are traveling around the world.

So there were all these conflicts between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., in Latin America and the Middle East. The whole world seemed eager to fight itself. It was during these times when the album came out.

Suspense, intrigue and burning the midnight oil

The anticipation was huge and it was one of the first albums that went on sale one minute after midnight at record stores. For me that was astonishing. Did the labels and stores seriously think that they would attract anyone at that time? And would it have been better than simply opening at the normal time? This is the reason why I am not in the music business; I do not know anything.

The fact of the matter was the midnight-release of the new album was pure genius. To have the media show fans waiting in long lines to be the first the get their hands on one is a brilliant marketing move. First, it shows that there are thousands of people all around the world willing to stay up late and stand “in the queue”. This coverage did not cost the label. All they had to do was put out a press release the public. The media would cover this for free.

Second, it also planted in fans minds that, Hey the store near me might run out of records before tomorrow morning, so maybe I should get in line, too, which only made the lines longer. As I mentioned earlier, this was pure genius. Once again this was before smartphones, social media, the Internet and even personal computers (yeah, PCs were around, nothing like today). Yet still, during those primitive times, people found out. MTV, Rolling Stone Magazine, local radio stations were where we learned about the band. For those who were too young to remember or not even born, this was more than enough. It might be hard to imagine (to those younger than me) how they were able to reach so many so quickly, I would simply say what has always been said about this kind of information: good news travels fast.

In a way those days were better. There was something special about buying a record album, cassette tape or compact disc. The album was big and had large images of the band. Sliding the record out of its sleeve and seeing that black, grooved slice of vinyl was like discovering an artifact.   As great as it is to download an album onto the computer from the comfort of home, it’s just not the same thing. I love technology, but it can’t always replace the joy of certain things.

Getting back to the album, for the hardy folks who stood out in the chilly—and sometimes rainy—weather and were willing to lose sleep to be able to listen to the album, I commend you. I didn’t. As I mentioned in previous posts (When I Became a Fan) I didn’t buy it immediately. I discovered it only after it was receiving heavy airplay. And it was because if that, that I bought my first U2 album. But I did know about the big midnight release and I did sense that something was happening to the band, something big. The buzz was everywhere and it got louder with each passing week. Even with my very limited teenaged awareness, I realized that they were a band on the run.

Taking into consideration all the hype, rumors and prognostications, how could it ever live to up that kind of expectation? History tells us that it did, of course. But how did the band capture lightning in a bottle?

In my next post, I will attempt to break down the success of The Joshua Tree.

Stay tuned.


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ACMG Publications

Technical manuals are available to ACMG members and non-members. Bulk and professional discounts may be available to qualified non-member orders.

To order any ACMG publication contact, please contact via email:

Technical Handbook for Professional Mountain Guides
Alpine, Rock, and Ski Guiding Techniques

This manual encompasses the entire set of skills and techniques used by professional guides. In addition it contains extensive discussions of "soft" skills such as client care, risk management, and mountain sense-much more difficult to describe but as important as technical knowledge.

The manual is designed for use as a text for candidates enrolled in guide training and certification courses and as a reference work for active professionals. However, it is also popular in the public realm where experienced recreational climbers and skiers, amateur leaders, and educators find it useful.

This manual is not a "how to" book. It is not a set of standards or "rules." It provides guidelines that, when combined with technical training, judgment, and experience form a framework within which risk can be managed and reasonable decisions can be made. It is designed to be augmented by training and certification in guiding techniques.

  • For members - $25.00
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Hiking Guide Manual

The manual is designed for use by candidates on the professional courses and exams of the ACMG Training and Certification Programs. In conjunction with training and experience this manual provides a framework within which to solve problems encountered in guiding.

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Thank you to our partners for their excellent support and commitment to professional guiding in Canada.

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Your FREE guide to getting started!

Introduction to Music takes all the questions you might have about learning music and lays them out in an easy to follow guide.

Have you ever wondered:

  • Why you should learn music
  • What you need to know about buying an instrument
  • How to make sure you choose an awesome teacher
  • What to do next

We’ve given you access to Activate Music Academy Online, so you can try out some lessons on an instrument you’re interested in, and partnered with MusicWorks so you can get some sweet discounts on gear.

Sound good?

Introduction to Music eBook - 7.83 MB (Click to download)


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Team Building Games That Really Teach Teamwork

Not all team building games are beneficial. When you’re planning team building activities and reading about what games you can use, they might all seem good on paper but turn into a disaster when you actually try to implement them. People get bored, don’t understand the rules, or think the game is pointless.

When planning a team building session, you need to know the games will be effective and engaging. To help you get started, here are some proven hits I’ve used time and time again that both teach teamwork and help teams gell.

Your team members will remember these games for years--they’re that good!

Warm-up games

Most of the games you’ll find online are either too short or don’t really accomplish the goal of team building. Their purpose is to warm up people for the main game, get them excited, set the mood, and break the ice if people don’t know each other.

When building a team building session, you’ll use one quick warm-up game and one long main game.

Each game needs to have a facilitator that’ll explain the rules and guide the group. A warm-up game shouldn’t last longer than 10-15 minutes.

Note: you can make a session using several quick games but the session won’t be useful.

Online searches will give you give you tons of ideas for games, but most of them are either too short or don’t really accomplish the goal of team building. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still make use of them.

The most effective sessions involve a short game called a warmer that can be used to warm your team up and get them ready to engage in more constructive activities. This is where those online searches come in. Below is a list of some of the best ones out there you can use to get your team animated. These warmers shouldn’t last than 10-15 minutes, and should then be followed by the main game, which is a longer, more constructive game.

Game #1: Two Truths and a Lie

This game is a great ice-breaker for teams that might not know much about each other, but teams who have worked together for years can also have a lot of fun with it. The concept is simple: Everyone introduces themselves and then gives three statements about themselves. Two are true and one is a lie. The group then has to guess which one is a lie. You can even hold a vote. Encourage people to be creative and make the lies difficult to guess.

Game #2: Seven

In this game, have your team stand in a circle and start counting. The first person says 1, the second says 2, and so on. When you get to 7 or one of its multiples (14,21,28,35…), the person has to clap instead of saying the number. If they say the number, they’re out. To make the game more difficult, you can change the number or introduce new moves (jumping, sitting, touching their nose, etc). The winner is the last one standing.

Game #3: Action Intros

This game is great for teams that don’t know each other’s names but will be working together soon. Each person says their name but adds an adjective before it that starts with the first letter of their name. They then have to act out that adjective. For example, a person named Bill will say, “I am Bossy Bill!” and act like a boss. Encourage people to be more creative and choose less obvious answers.

Game #4: 60 Second Speeches

The goal of this game is to talk about a set topic for 60 seconds without stopping. Choose funny or ridiculous topics and let people have fun with them. The facilitator can break the ice by demonstrating first, and then quickly going around to each person without pausing.

The main team building games

These main games are the ones that will really help your team bond and build camaraderie. What all main games should have in common is a set task or goal that participants have to work together on to complete. Like the warmer, they should be entertaining and engaging, but in this case, they also have a purpose. These games typically last 30 minutes or longer, but you can always keep the clock going if you see the participants are really enjoying them.

Always follow up each game with a wrap-up session so the participants have a chance to reflect on their collaboration process, decision making, what they learned, and how would they improve the process.

Many of these games will require handouts or props that need to be prepared in advance.

Game #1: Survival games

This game focuses on the importance of teamwork in reaching a common goal. There are many possible scenarios, but all of them have the same task: keep the team alive for as long as possible. There are many versions, but the end goal is the same. Here are some examples with links to resources: Lost at Sea or Lost in the desert, or Stranded on a Moon.

In all of these scenarios, each team member is given a list of 15 items, which they have to rank according to importance. Once each team member has completed their rankings, the entire team is given a new list. They must work together to agree on the best order for the items on the list. Once they’ve made their decisions (or time runs out), the facilitator reveals the correct ranking. The team must then compare it with both their personal rankings and the group’s ranking.

Usually, the team rankings match the desired outcome more closely than individual rankings do. But sometimes an individual is more successful. In this case, the lesson learned from the game is the importance of working on making individual voices heard.

Game #2: Bank Robbery

This game focuses on the importance of sharing information and placing value on individual insights in order to solve a greater problem.

The scenario goes like this:

Someone has robbed a bank. Each person gets a few clues from the clues handout (which can be downloaded here), like “Mr. Green was the only person who had a key to the vault.”. Team members circulate and read their clues to each other out loud. The team must then discuss with each other everything they’ve learned in order to piece together what happened.

Game #3: Building games

These games encourage teams to work together to carefully juggle resource allocation, planning, and task delegation to build either a tower or a bridge. In this scenario, participants are divided into two or more teams. Each team is given resources they can use to build something.

There are two versions, one of which is more simple, while the other is more complex.

In the simpler version, teams compete to see who can build the highest tower with materials they’ve been given.

In the more complex Bridge Building Game, each team has to “buy” resources to build a bridge. Each team gets some money for buy supplies like scissors, glue, paper, etc. But there’s a catch--materials are limited. For example, if there are 4 teams, there will only be 3 pairs of scissors and 10 sheets of paper. Here is always a pressure to buy materials before the other teams do.

The winner is determined by a jury who judges the bridge based on several criteria:

  • stability (will it collapse if you put something on it),
  • looks (how attractive/creative it is),
  • and budget (how much money the team saved).

Game #4: Zoom

This game is based on the book “Zoom” by Istvan Banyai and focuses on communication and problem-solving skills. It’s Every page in the book is a zoomed-in aspect of another page. Each team member is given a copy of a laminated page. The team must communicate with each other to discover who has the missing pieces. They then have to work together to arrange the pages in the correct order.

Check out some more detailed instructions here.

Game #5: The Lifeboat Game

This game is about making difficult moral decisions as a team and reaching a consensus. The team gets a list of 14 people who are on a sinking ship in the middle of the ocean. There is only one lifeboat and it only has room for y 8 people. The team has just 15 minutes to decide together who is worth rescuing and who will be left to drown.

The people on the list are morally ambiguous and there is no right or wrong answer. For example, who is worth more? Billy, a 16-year-old who steals? Or Tom, a 41-year-old war hero who hears voices? Expect a lot of discussion on ethics and some strong opinions!

The final list doesn’t matter. The point of the game is for people to reach a consensus through negotiation within 15 minutes before everyone dies.

Download the handout for the lifeboat game.

Game #6: Faraway Kingdom

People will hate this game, which is exactly why they can learn so much from it. This game teaches the importance of communicating progress, and what happens when you don’t give feedback.

There are two teams: those who wait and those who work. While the working group solves a problem, the waiting group waits for the answer, the whole time getting more and more anxious.

The point of the game is for someone from the working group to brief the waiting group on what’s going on and realistically manage their expectations. Of course, you as a facilitator don’t tell them that. They have to figure out that part on their own.

In this game, the wrap-up discussion is the most important part because it demonstrates how important feedback is.

Read more about our experience with this team building game here.

Other team building options

Team building sessions and team building games are great solutions if your time and resources are limited. But if you really want people to bond, get them out of the office.

This doesn’t necessarily mean take them outdoors It means take them outside the usual surroundings they cohabit day in and day out. Make it an experience!

Here are three ideas for getting out of the office:

Organize an activity

This is the cheapest/easiest/most organic way to make people bond. All you have to do is find an activity, organize everyone, and let them have fun.

Choose something active that will encourage people to mingle. You can go on a hike, a conference, do a room escape, organize a scavenger hunt, visit an obstacle course, or play a team sport (bowling, shooting, basketball, rowing, paintball) or a video game (Overwatch, League of Legends).

Just make sure there are a clear start and finish, and that people have a chance to interact with one another. This means don’t go to the movies or something similar where people are passive and aren’t encouraged to interact with one another.

Hire a consultant

If you don’t have the time to create a team building session, hire an expert. Big companies typically have an HR specialist who creates and runs team-building sessions, or else they hire consultants to teach their team about leadership, teamwork, and collaboration.

These consultants typically come to your premises. But if you’d rather get out of the office, you can also organize a one day retreat. You can rent space at a hotel or another venue and leave it to the consultant to facilitate games and discussions.

There are plenty of companies who organize team building games. Eagle’s Flight and Human Synergistics are good companies to check out.

Go to a company retreat

This is an excellent option for companies that work remotely and team members only know each other through their screens. You can pick a destination, rent a large venue on Airbnb, and fly everybody in. Then you can mix team building games, fun activities, and work.

The folks at HelpScout and Buffer have lots of experience organizing events like these and have written extensively on the topic. They offer a wealth of advice and information to help you get started.


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Tags: training

Learn JavaScript with Zell

This JavaScript training course looks like it’s really well planned to take you from zero to hero—there’s a whole module on progressive enhancement.

prettydiff/wisdom: Building better developers by specifying criteria of success

I frequently see web developers struggling to become better, but without a path or any indication of clear direction. This repository is an attempt to sharing my experiences, and any contributions, that can help provide such a direction.

It’s broken down into four parts:

I don’t necessarily agree with everything here (and I really don’t like the “rockstar” labelling), but that’s okay:

Anything written here is open to debate and challenges are encouraged.

Brighton digital companies just did something brilliant… | Declan Cassidy

A write-up of the BrightSparks programme that Clearleft is taking part in.

Each company agreed to help support one local child from a low-income family, on free school meals or with a yearly household income of under £25k.

terminal & command line video training

An online training course that will banish all fear of the command line, expertly delivered by the one and only Remy Sharp.

For designers, new developers, UX, UI, product owners and anyone who’s been asked to “just open the terminal”.

Take advantage of the special launch price—there are some serious price reductions there.

The Foundation of Technical Leadership · An A List Apart Article

Story of my life:

I have to confess I had no idea what a technical leader really does. I figured it out, eventually.

Seriously, this resonates a lot with what I find myself doing at Clearleft these days.

Creative JavaScript Training on Vimeo

I’m going to be attending Seb’s CreativeJS and HTML5 course in Brighton on September 13th and 14th …and I strongly suspect that it’s going to be great.

Creative JavaScript Training

For A Beautiful Web | Creative web site design and development training and workshops

Malarkey has launched his latest project: For A Beautiful Web is a series of web design master class training workshops covering topics including visual design for the web, best-practice XHTML mark-up and CSS, Microformats and practical web accessâ€¦

CSS Training Courses with edgeofmyseat.com

Want to learn CSS kung-fu? Get thee to Maidenhead on October 29th and you can learn from the best: Rachel Andrew and Drew McLellan.

ironfeathers.ca » Home

Watch the adventures of Derek and Kathryn Featherstone in the run up to IronMan Lake Placid 2007. Check out the route maps: very slick.


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Black and White

It’s no secret that I’m partial to black and white imagery.  I don’t know why I prefer it to colour, but somehow I always seem more drawn to black and white.

That being said, I know that not everyone feels the same way so I always shoot in colour, and then create my black & whites in post-processing.  This way, the original colour image is still available for those who’d prefer it.

I wanted to share another Before and After.  This time, instead of colour, like usual, I thought I’d show the benefits of using Photoshop to create a black and white image, rather than just a basic desaturation.

I decided to use this portrait of Deklan, from his 4th birthday. It’s one of my recent favorites.  The “before” is the image with a basic desaturation, and the “after” is the same image, using my black & white photoshop recipe.

Since I’m sharing the older Duder, I should show off his little brother too… An oldie but a goodie of Easton:

And heck, why not share my very favorite image of my boys together!?

I love those last two images so much, that you might’ve noticed them now gracing my new blog header!

“Like” the page on Facebook!
Follow on Twitter!


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Resources & Opportunities

Financial Resources and Opportunities

More than 75% of LMU students receive financial aid. From scholarships and grants to loans and work-study programs, there are dozens of ways to make college more affordable. If coming to LMU is your dream, we will do our best to help you find a way to make it happen.

The first step to receiving financial aid is filling out the FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Just follow the simple, step-by-step instructions to start your FAFSA here.

Also, be sure to visit our main Financial Aid page for detailed information on applying for financial aid, scholarships, grants, loans, work-study programs, and more.

African American Scholarship Opportunities

These are just a few of the many opportunities available to you:

We also recommend:

FastWeb - Free scholarship search engine

Academic & Career Opportunities

Internships - LMU’s strong relationships with local business and community leaders let our students take advantage of hundreds of exciting internship opportunities. Once you are admitted to LMU, you can log on to Lion Jobs with your MyLMU password and search for specific internships.

Academic Community of Excellence (ACE) - ACE is a competitive program that develops sophomore scholars of color for undergraduate research and prepares them for graduate educational and professional opportunities.

The Academic Resource Center (ARC) provides free academic support for all LMU students. Certified peer tutors provide one-on-one writing support for papers in any class and lead a wide variety of writing workshops on topics including researching tools, addressing audience, written argumentation, citing sources, quoting, and paraphrasing. The ARC also offers content tutoring for gateway courses. Students who need assistance locating, understanding, and utilizing their academic planning tools may meet with an ARC University Advisor. Students looking for an academic boost may access the ARC online resource, Kickstart, where they will find tips on how to develop productive study habits, time management skills, critical reading, note-taking strategies, and much more. The ARC also supports a variety of programs, such as First To Go, which serves first-generation college students, and the LMU Common Book, which brings faculty, students, and staff together for a shared academic experience.

At LMU there is always more! We want to give you every possible resource to discover your strengths, develop your talents, and make the most of your education.

First To Go Community - Sponsored by the Academic Resource Center, The First To Go community provides a source of academic support for students who identify as “first-generation college.” The community introduces participants to a network of mentors drawn from LMU faculty, staff, and alumni who are all former first-generation college students themselves. Each student is paired with a faculty mentor who was a first-generation student.

The Learning Community (TLC) - Incoming freshmen spend an intense three weeks on campus before the beginning of the fall semester, getting a head start on university life as they stay in the residence halls, meet key faculty and staff, explore the Los Angeles area, and build invaluable personal connections.

First-Year Experience - An entire office dedicated to making your first year in college as successful and enjoyable as possible? Only at LMU! The Office of First Year Experience coordinates a variety of engaging programs that help you get to know LMU, connect with fellow students, and make a smooth transition to university life.


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Tag Archives: Shameless plug for Mindy’s Blog

The Gospel (one “L”) According to Lucy

This morning Mindy hosted an (in)RL Conference at our house for the women of Christ Fellowship.  So, after all the prep work was done and Lucy (my Jack Russell terrier) and I headed out so we weren’t in the way of … Continue reading

Posted in Random thoughts | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments


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Gradual Multisensory Wake Up Alarm Clock

The Peaceful Progression Wakeup Clock at nightThe Peaceful Progression Wakeup Clock daylight

ADDers often have problems waking up, due in large part to difficulties in turning off their racing minds before going to sleep.

Some people need the more hardcore Alarm clocks.

Others may prefer a more gradual, less violent approach. One possible clock is the Progression Wake Up Clock by Hammacher Schlemmer. via ADDitude Magazine

More gentle than the jarring noise of traditional alarms, this clock uses a gradual increase in ambient light, stimulating aromas, and peaceful sounds from nature to awaken sleepers. At 30 minutes before wake-up, the clock’s light begins to glow softly, brightening over the next half-hour.

Fifteen minutes before wake-up, the clock generates your choice of six nature sounds (including ocean surf, thunderstorm, white noise, spring rain, mountain stream, and forest stream). The cycle concludes with a chime (that gradually increases in volume) to wake the most stubborn sleepers.

Sometimes a gradual transition in waking up may lead to a happier (or at least less grumpy) mood in the morning.

Of course those of us with ADD often have a back up alarm, that we have to get out of bed to turn off, just in case.

If you’ve had trouble getting up in the morning, what alarm clock has worked well for you?

6 thoughts on “Gradual Multisensory Wake Up Alarm Clock”

  1. Andre Roodt

    I’m an Adult ADD’er, so thanks for this blog, it makes me thankfull that i’m not the only one.

    I use my mobile phone, and my wifes phone as a backup. It usually takes me about 20 minutes to wake up and get out of bed.

    I had to start using my wifes phone since it was possible for me to hit that snooze button on my phone every nine minutes for up to an hour.

  2. It’s hard for my wife and I to wake up in the dark in the winter. The progression clock was far and away the cheapest option we found. Unfortunately, there was a reason: it’s cheaply made. The light doesn’t increase smoothly, but in four discrete and jarring steps. That would be livable, but the controls make it impossible to wake to just light without the awful nature sounds (cheap sounds plus cheap speaker does not equal pleasant morning). I considered surgically removing the speaker, but my wife pointed out it would be stupid. The good news is, Hammacher Schlemmer has a great return policy.

    My advice: sleep is important, and if progressive wake up will help your sleep skip a few dinners out, buy your coffee at the gas station, and save for something nicer.

  3. While the CD Clock Radio my husband purchased does not have the light effect, it does have several features useful for the ADD adult, from which both of us benefit.

    It is Phillips AJ 3980 and can be found on numerous web sites. You can choose the CD track or radio station you wish to waken you or the alarm.

    You can also choose the level of sound you wish it to reach for your specific need. The sound begins softly and gradually incereases to the decible level you set that wil waken you.

    We both are people with ADD and between us we cover all the criteria. He is adamant about the alarm clock ahd this is the 5th or 6th one in about 18 months. We highly recommend this product he has absolutely no complaints about it.

  4. Wow! I had no idea that my difficulty in waking up in the morning had anything to do with my ADHD!!! Now I feel a bit better about my “achilles heal”!

    I stumbled upon this site while looking for a “wake-up” CD that won’t jar me awake – since that totally doesn’t work. I’m the snooze button queen! I am trying the more gradual approach, though I found that even waking up to “Here Comes the Sun” was a little much. I am experimenting with relaxing alpha-wave rainforest music followed by “Here Comes the Sun.” We’ll see how that works! Otherwise, I may give this alarm clock a try… but wouldn’t I need to make sure that the bedroom is dark in the morning to start with?

  5. I just came upon this site looking for a gradual alarm clock for my daughter who has the Hardest time getting up. Though I was diagnosed in my 20’s with ADHD, I NEVER KNEW this was part of having it. I use my phone with nature sounds & it does have a flashing light, too. (Samsung Galaxy S3 has the BEST Nature sounds & I don’t want to give it up because of it!) My daughter has some “signs” of ADD, so yhis has given me a lot to think about. Thank you. (& to those who made comments.) I am excited to look at other things on this site. 🙂

  6. You’re welcome Darcy, ADHD is 80% genetic so good idea to get her screened by someone who knows ADHD, many medical professionals do not. Ask your closest ADHD support group for some names. Good you found something that works for you.

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a letter

I’ve thought about what you said almost every day since you wrote it: “Let your love for him convict you of how much you don’t love other people.”

When I first read that, I wasn’t all that convicted. While I was DOING a lot of loving things for Wesley, I wasn’t feeling that much love for him all that often. But I’m the sort that has to earn a feeling. And these days, when I cup that little face, stroke those little cheeks, watch those little eyes look out a window, hear that little giggle, press into that warm little embrace… these days my emotions are swept up like a tiny speck of dust caught in a hurricane.

In this case, six months is a nonsense measurement. It measures something mathematical that is entirely mystical. And I’m no mystic, as you know.

One thing I love about your friendship, is that while I’m tempted to write you some simple factual updates about my circumstances and histories, I’m much more drawn to write you some simple factual updates about my soul. If only these were the kinds of annual letters sent out this time of year. I’d read those.

So now that I’ve touched on that whirlwind romance that is motherhood, I’ll share about the other piece. The ugly not loving other people thing.

I’ve been reading about how I need to be less cynical in conflict. I was considering writing “with people” after “conflict” but I’m not sure it’s necessary. So I guess I’m saying I just need to be less cynical, since every day I’m in conflict. I wish had some way to tie that thought to a pithy advent quote but it’s just a plain thought unfortunately. I’m waiting to be made less cynical. I’d like to love people better by storing up hope for them. I have more hope stored for Wesley than I could fit into all the pockets of all the coats I’ve ever seen.

(From Black Rook in Rainy Weather by Sylvia Plath)

Of whatever angel may choose to flare

Suddenly at my elbow. I only know that a rook

Ordering its black feathers can so shine

As to seize my senses, haul

My eyelids up, and grant

A brief respite from fear

Of total neutrality. With luck,

Trekking stubborn through this season

Of fatigue, I shall

Patch together a content

Of sorts. Miracles occur,

If you care to call those spasmodic

Tricks of radiance miracles.

The wait's begun again, The long wait for the angel.

For that rare, random descent.


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Wyndermere All Inclusive Outdoor Gas Firepit Club Table Set

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Bridgeton Moore presents the next generation of outdoor casual, Introducing the Wyndemere Gas All Inclusive Club Chair Table Set. The set features 4 ..Wyndemere Club Chairs , 1.The Ultimate Party Table and 1.. Bridgeton Moore All-Inclusive Accessory package. The exclusive design of the ultimate table offers the most functional outdoor table in the market available by anyone for any price. This table combines the convenience of a propane gas operated lava rock fire pit that is so popular for how easily it turns on or off with the throw of a switch that creates an intimate outdoor fire table that also can extend your outdoor season with its warming glow. With the additional functionality of the equally popular Bridgeton Moore All-Inclusive Accessory package. The patented all-inclusive Fire Pit & Accessory Package also enables the table to become a wood burning fire pit for a warming natural fire application, a barbecue grill that sets in the center of the table where everyone can share in the cooking and also an included ice bucket that fits perfectly inside when not using the fire options. The well thought through design enables owners to store these extra items away, keeping them clean and ready for use on those special times when they will enhance your use of all the outdoor entertaining options this set offers. Read below for a more detailed list of all that is included in this sets All-Inclusive Accessory Package. The sets design offers a lower profile comfortable, deeper seating and more casual backyard Chat or Club Chair set from our new Wyndemere Collection. The sets designers placed a high standard on the finishing quality of this beautiful set. The chairs and table features a rich ebony black tone with hand applied soft silvery white subtle dry brushed accents that accentuate the design elements before applying the multi-step powder coat finishing protection for longer lasting outdoor use. The chair features a contoured back, intricately woven in a unique pattern by hand in all-weather natural looking synthetic polyethylene wicker weave. The shape of the chair back is not only fashionable but enhances the comfort of the seating. The table and chairs also have unique insignia collection details, as the top has an alluring symmetrical open design and the chairs arms offer a stylish twist. The chairs and table are cast in 100% aluminum and will never rust. The chairs are fully welded prior to finishing, you will never find screws used in a Bridgeton Moore Seat and no assembly is required, the table requires light assembly. The provided accessory package includes 1) a decorative fire pit ring which fits into the center of the table 2) An Iron fire pit 3) A safety net 4) An aerator for inside the fire pit which allows for better burning 5) a grease trap which attaches under the pit to catch drippings 6) A barbecue grill grid designed to sit on top of the fire pit 7) A decorative stand to neatly store all accessories when not in use and 8) A wood and iron handled tool for removing accessories when hot. Bridgeton Moore has established high brand quality standards and offers one of the best warranties in the Industry, 3 years on all frames and finish under normal conditions, fabrics are all Sunbrella grade and come with a manufacturers supplied two years against any manufacturing defects and or fading from date of purchase. Note * All products used outdoors require reasonable care and that level of care depends on varying external conditions. Covers are recommended for year round outdoor exposure and especially for all coastal applications. Extended exposure in coastal areas can cause corrosion and while this product is used in many coastal applications, they are voided from warranty. Simple hosing down or rinsing off salt exposure if/any will protect and extend the beautiful finish. Do not allow water to sit inside your fire pit when not in use, as it is iron and will create premature and unnecessary exposure to rusting and will void any warranty. Replacement parts can be purchased.

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The new benchmark in South African cinema is ‘Happiness’

The comedy “Happiness Is A Four Letter Word” arrived amidst the celebration of a new kind of female subject in African films and television. Most of these media feature independent, glamorous, girl-power characters and borrow stylistically from “Sex in the City.” Recent examples include the Ghanaian web series “An African City,” slick Nollywood productions about “MILFS” and Akin Omotoso’s “Tell Me Sweet Something.” In the South African context, the latter perhaps serves as a trailblazer for films like “Happiness Is A Four Letter Word,” currently a box office success in the country.

“Happiness Is A Four Letter Word” revolves around three young women grappling with personal and professional lives in suburban Johannesburg.  Here’s the trailer:

Happiness Is A Four Letter Word (2016)

I saw the film with an audience of mostly young black women in a cinema at the Cavendish Mall, in Claremont, a mostly white middle class suburb of Cape Town. The screening was accompanied by murmuring, ululating, grins, grunts, giggles and exclamations from the audience. This conversation between the movie and the audience, something a lot of movies (local or Hollywood) only barely achieve, was interesting to witness. The film is an emphatic success in this regard, reflecting the audience on the screen, so much so that they can recognize the characters and their journeys.

The film has grossed more than R10 million (about US$700,000) to date, and is being hailed as turning point for South African cinema. Although the financial success is great news for the cast, crew and South African cinema in general, it could set the bar (an not a particularly high one) for South African films.

Nandi (played by Mamabatho Montsho), the main character, is trying to make partner at a law firm, taking the patriarchal structures at work head-on, while trying to organize a wedding and forget an ex-lover. Zaza (Khanyi Mbau) is a stay-at-home mom to two boys, and a wife to a husband who is neither a husband nor a father. The third character is Princess (Renate Stuurman), a young curator living a progressive lifestyle.

The three protagonists swap important scenes, turning points, points of no return and climax, with distinctly recognizable inner personal, interpersonal and extra-personal conflicts. The three women are flawless, giving solid performances, with Khanyi Mbau, previously a “celebrity” and reality television star, delivering a surprisingly good performance as the trophy wife with a strong sexual appetite. The filmmakers seem more concerned, however, with repeated camera pans of her lingerie.

Nandi navigates being a career-focused woman who is about to be married. The audience appeared to be responding to the kissing of an ex and a fight with her fiancé more than the patriarchy she is fighting at work. Her character is similar to Thelma in the 1991 classic film by Ridley Scott, Thelma and Louise. She embodies Thelma’s weakness for men, but without any of the naivety. Though she is promoted to partner in her firm through hard work, the general impression is that a woman needs to organize her life – professional and personal – around the needs of men. Nandi’s fiancé, played by Chris Attoh, is in control of his emotions whilst Nandi is falling apart, unable to control hers.

Princess’ storyline is a narrative that needs to be told more often. In the beginning, she appears sexually liberated, comfortable to have numerous casual partners rather than a long-term relationship. Then she meets Leo, played by Richard Lukunku. Princess falls pregnant and feels like she is being punished for her “promiscuity.” This is where this narrative reverts to an all too familiar pattern of thinking about women who have numerous sexual partners or liaisons – that, unlike men, they are guilty and should be “punished” accordingly – by getting pregnant or contracting HIV, for example.

The characters in “Happiness Is A Four Letter Word” are ordinary but it is in this ordinariness of the characters that the film succeeds and fails. They are not ordinary in the sense that they are plebeians, far from it. They are, in fact, the quintessence of the black upper middle class, far removed from the social realities of the black working class South African majority.  The characters make frequent visits to the spa, shop expensively, dine out and live in lavish homes. There is a sense of appearing unmindful of the realities around them.

The film is adapted from a novel of the same name by author Cynthia Jele. The relationship between films and books, a merging of two mediums is a precarious one. Each book adaptation comes with its own demons. In this movie, the adaptation to screen works because of the strength of the cast, an excellent script by Busisiwe Ntintili and equally stellar direction by Thabang Moleya and cinematography by Lance Gewer.

“Happiness Is A Four Letter Word” succeeds because it does not try to do anything unconventional, it remains simple, and delivers a stylish and convincing rom com, while grappling with topical issues of patriarchy, sexual freedom, marriage and drug abuse, among others.

Further Reading


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Is the party over?

I cannot remember a time in my adult life when a political party won as slender a majority as the Conservatives in 2015 and yet their success in the next general election, five years away, was so widely assumed.

This is obviously not simply due to internal problems within Labour. The predicted effects of constituency boundary changes and the rise of the SNP in Scotland would still pose serious challenges even if Labour were in rude health. In reality, though, there are serious difficulties within Labour which, if unaddressed, will create electoral problems for the Party far beyond 2020.

A common misconception appears to be that these problems would be largely resolved through a change of leadership. Obsessing over the leadership, however, has become a form of displacement activity that distracts from more fundamental and difficult questions. Indeed the fact that a rumoured ‘coup’ against Jeremy Corbyn this summer would involve contriving to have him excluded from the leadership ballot paper, despite his apparent popularity with the majority of Party members, merely points to the Party’s deeper troubles.

A central difficulty for Labour is that its membership appears to be becoming increasingly detached from the views of the wider electorate.

One way of making sense of how this has happened is through understanding the evolving nature of the trade union movement from which Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership election campaign received so much support.

Trade union membership has declined significantly over the past thirty five years. By the end of the 1970s, around 13 million UK workers were union members. By 2014, despite a growing population, union membership had more than halved to 6.4 million workers with nearly 20 million workers not attached to a union. Membership is now heavily skewed towards workers in the public sector (54.3% of whom are union members) compared to the private sector (in which only 14.2% of workers are part of a union).

Whilst, historically, Labour’s symbiotic relationship with the trade union movement made it possible for it to claim to be the party of British workers, this is no longer the case. The vast majority of people working in manual, semi-skilled or service industry jobs are not union members. Instead, trade union members are now disproportionately drawn from sections of the work-force that are educated to degree level, employed in a professional occupation, earning a middle-income and aged over 50. Far from connecting the Labour Party to a broad range of the British workers, the trends in trade union membership are accelerating the process by which Labour is becoming the political wing of The Guardian.

This exemplifies a wider trend described by Jon Cruddas, following his study into the causes of the 2015 general election defeat. As Cruddas puts it, ‘Labour is now overwhelmingly a party of the socially liberal and progressively minded… The party is losing connection with two thirds of the electorate who are either pragmatic in their voting habits or who are social conservatives and who value work, family and their country… Labour stands on the brink of becoming irrelevant to the majority of working people in the country.’

Two other factors threaten to exacerbate this trend. One is the perception that Labour is tainted by members who hold extremist views, including some who currently have leading roles in the party. In recent weeks, there has been a succession of stories about statements made by individual party members that are anti-semitic or sympathetic to terrorist organisations. This is likely to continue to be a problem given the emphasis, under Jeremy Corbyn, of accepting people into Labour who have previously been members of fringe political organisations. If UKIP has, to some extent, syphoned off people with more extreme views from the Conservatives, the more inclusive approach to membership of the Corbyn-led Labour Party means that no comparable buffer now exists on the Left. Having for many years derided the Tories as the toxic, nasty party, Labour may now have to face recurrent stories that call into question its own moral reputation.

Arguably, though, a more profound source of division between the Labour Party and a large section of the electorate will emerge out of the EU referendum. Although at present, the Remain campaign seems most likely to prevail, it also seems likely that the Brexit vote could reach 40% and possibly higher. In a discussion of the political landscape after the June 23rd vote, Matthew Goodwin has asked where the Brexit vote goes next. Whilst the post-referendum evolution of UKIP as a popular party of protest has yet to take shape, it seems hard to see those whose Euroscepticism has deepened through the referendum campaign quickly finding their way back to Labour. As Goodwin puts it, ‘after the referendum manual workers… are likely to feel even more disconnected from middle-class Labour politicians who will have spent the referendum campaign praising the exact things that make these struggling voters feel so under threat – European integration, a global market, free movement and rapid social change.’ The weakening ties between Labour and its traditional working-class base are therefore likely to be fractured even further.

There are, of course, ways in which these problems can be denied. People will come back to Labour when they realise that the Party is really standing up for their interests. People won’t be put off by criticisms of Labour that are just being whipped up by the Tory-sympathising press. Labour will bring a wave of voters on board who have been too disillusioned to vote in previous elections. As 2020 approaches, however, the cold realities of Labour’s lack of connection with the voters whose support they would need to form a Government are likely to become ever starker.

The party isn’t completely over just yet. There is still potential for Labour to think about how it can express values and a practical vision for society that can re-build its relationship with voters who have turned to the Conservatives or UKIP. The Party can still re-assert itself as a mainstream political force with no place for members with extremist views. If the Remain vote does prevail in the EU referendum, it can still develop a far more robust approach to campaigning for EU reform (including on the free movement of labour) with the threat of a further referendum if that reform does not take place within a set timetable. The Party can re-evaluate its relationship with the unions, recognising that whilst trade unions continue to play a vital social role, their privileged status within the Party may now be harming its ability to connect with a broader range of voters.

But here-in lies the catch. Such moves are likely to be anathema to the many members who are happy with the Party’s current direction. If, as opinion polls suggest, they make up a significant majority of the Party, it seems difficult to see how Labour really will be able to take the steps needed to regain wide support across the electorate. But if this doesn’t happen and the Party continues to turn inwards, reflecting comfort-zone of its increasingly middle-class, social progressive base, it will not win a Parliamentary majority again for the foreseeable future. The question then is whether we can wait that long.


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Canada to ban FMC’s Capture

The Canadian Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) proposes to ban FMC’s insecticide, Capture 240 EC (bifenthrin 240 g/litre).

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Science Conversation: Urban Resilience – Why Ecology Matters

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Science Conversation: Urban Resilience – Why Ecology Matters

hosted by Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

The Jerome L. Greene Performing Space
44 Charlton Street
New York, NY 10014 United States

“Heat waves, floods, and air quality alerts – cities like New York are already suffering from the impacts of climate change. What does the future hold? And how can ecology improve urban resilience and the lives of city residents?

Discover nature-based solutions in a conversation with Cary Institute’s Dr. Steward Pickett, a founder of the field of urban ecology, and Dr. Timon McPhearson, Director of the Urban Systems Lab at The New School and a Cary Research Fellow.

Cities are home to most of the world’s population. Yet they are grappling with environmental stresses that threaten health and infrastructure. Explore cities as ecosystems, learn why ecology is vital to sustainability, and discuss the latest thinking on melding biology with urban planning and design.

What will New York City look like in 2050? This depends, in large part, on how we respond to the challenges before us today. Join the conversation.”


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Oat-y Apricot Maple Cookies

The beginning of the school year, whether you are in school or not, typically signifies a rapidly waning summer and the beginning of all that we love about autumn: brightly colored, crispy leaves, slowly cooling temperatures, apple orchards abundant with produce and football Sundays.  At least that’s what Illinois had to offer every year growing up.  However, the separation of seasons here in Northern California seems to exist in name only.  Just last week we experienced record-setting temperatures in the 100s and we’re due to hit the mid-90s again by this weekend!  How is this possible?  When Starbucks is advertising their Pumpkin Spice Latte, I’m still craving my iced coffee.

So, in an effort to kick off the fall season, I’ve adapted my vegan chocolate chip cookie to reflect its flavors.  I was inspired by a recipe in my “flourless.” cookbook which called for oats, walnuts, dried apricots and ginger.  After two failed attempts making them gluten-free, this third attempt gets it right, but uses whole wheat flour.  No big deal.  I’m extremely happy with this final batch as these cookies turned out hearty yet chewy, warmed with spices and punctuated with the subtle spice of crystallized ginger.  Oat Maple Cookies

(Inspired by Vogue)

  • 2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • ¾ tsp. baking soda
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • ½ tsp ginger
  • ½ tsp cardamom
  • ½ cup rolled oats {gluten-free, if needed}
  • ½ cup dried apricots, chopped
  • ¼- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
  • ½ cup natural cane sugar
  • ½ cup (packed) muscovado sugar
  • ½ cup + 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • ¼ cup pure maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • 2-3 small pieces of crystalized ginger per cookie, for topping

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the oats, chopped apricots and walnuts to the flour mixture and toss to coat.

In a separate large bowl, whisk the sugars briskly with the canola oil, maple syrup and water until smooth and incorporated, about 2 minutes.  If there are clumps, break them up with the back of a spoon or your hand before whisking.

Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture, and then stir with a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula until just combined and no flour is visible. Do not overmix.

Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours. Do not skip this step!

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper.

Remove dough from the refrigerator and use an ice cream scoop or a spoon to portion dough into 2-inch mounds.  For perfectly round cookies, I take the extra step and roll them between my hands until they’re smooth dough balls.  I recommend freezing the balls of dough for 5 minutes before baking so the cookies will retain their shape better in the oven.

Sprinkle the balls of dough with coarse-grained sea salt (if freezing, remove balls of dough from the freezer first), and bake for 12 to 13 minutes, or until the edges are just golden. Do not overbake.

Let cool completely before serving.

**Note: If you find the dough to be a bit dry or crumbly after being refrigerated (which I did), don’t worry!  Just add a bit of water or oil, ~1 tbs at a time,  to the dough and mix with your hands until incorporated and moistened.**

Maple Oat Cookies 3

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Jewish Jewelry

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Jewish Jewelry Store : Necklaces, Pendants, Rings, Bracelets

Shop a unique store of Jewish jewelry. The newest fine Judaica jewelry worn by women and men around the world. Unique artists create a sensational array of astounding Jewish jewelry necklaces charms, pendants, rings, bracelets, watches and accessories.


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Mother’s Day – Parent’s Day – New Member Ceremony

This morning we will honor those people who gave so much to us by helping us live and grow. You are invited to bring a photo or memento of a parent or loved one who you would like to honor during this morning’s customized Joys and Sorrows ritual. In addition we will be welcoming New Members.… more


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Blood at the Root

Published in 2016, the book tells the compelling story of Forsyth County, Ga. For virtually the entire 20th century, that community brought a new and horrifying meaning to the virulent term “whites only.” Now it is spreading throughout America in the 21st century, and we must search for hope.

 … more

Lynching in the United States

Can facing the horrific national sins of lynching and violence against people of color help us move forward toward racial harmony?… more

The Poor People’s Campaign

Continuing the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Calls us to a moral revival in our nation centered economic justice.… more

Black Religious History in Aiken County

Brenda Baratto, Executive Director, Aiken County Museum and Wayne O’Bryant, Second Providence Baptist Church, North Augusta present Black Religious History in Aiken County.

 … more

UU White Supermacy Teach-in

This morning we will shift our regularly scheduled Sunday morning worship to participate, along with over 600 other congregations in a teach-in on racism and white supremacy.
This call to action and worship comes from a growing network of UUs–religious professionals and lay leaders from both within and outside congregations–led by UUs of color and white UUs working togethermore