The Great Eight?
Hello, 2008.
While on holiday, I took in some movies (Juno and The Savages are the ones worth mentioning) and went to a Stephen Malkmus + The Jicks show. Their new songs are as heavy and tortuous as locomotives. Malkmus has three fantastic musicians with him (Joanna Bolme, Mike Clark, and Janet Weiss) and their playing put a lot of bands to shame that night. When Malkmus forgets that he pioneered a 1990's version of rock insouciance, and instead attacks notes and melodies with eagerness and desperation, he is easily better than most of his contemporaries. Not only because he can wrestle with a Jazzmaster and make it look easy, but because he approaches the notes from all sides and in unpredictable ways. And right now there is a heaviness to his songs, a weight asking to be lifted, which even the finest Pavement songs never had. These latest Jicks songs are stuntmen to Pavement's acrobats. The tunes are still agile, lithe, and daring--but with a burden that grounds them. Needless to say, I am excited about the upcoming album.
2008 also brings: Albums by Black Mountain, Vampire Weekend, and Magnetic Fields. The new J.M. Coetzee book. And the 5th season of The Wire, which premiers this weekend, and should keep me sated through the writer's strike (in a way that Celebrity Apprentice never will).
With the start of the New Year is a new batch of hope. I volunteer at my local humane society and I often think of hope in terms of the animals there who are in need of adoption. In December, we had our "Home For The Holidays" campaign, which aims to find a home for every dog, cat, and small animal (rabbits, hamsters, etc.) who has been at the shelter on or before December 1st. This year, the challenge seemed particularly arduous. There was Mimi, an 11-year old brindle Shepherd mix who had a brief shot at a new life after going home with a fellow senior citizen. But Mimi, possibly taking offense to the implication that she was ready for retirement, was promptly returned to the shelter after proving she could still pull on the leash hard enough to drag a person down. And then there was Coco, a male Aussie mix scared of men in uniforms, especially if bearded. We also had four bonded pairs, meaning dogs that had lived together for so long that they couldn't possibly imagine life without the other. Two of the pairs consisted of St. Bernards. So, first we had to find someone that wanted a 100+ pound dog, and then we had to convince them to take along an appendage of sorts. It's the dog equivalent of those giant RVs that also tow a car behind them on the highway; it looks impossible, and it' certainly not for everyone. Alas, only one of the bonded pairs, Spunky and Pepper, ages 10 and 11, spent the holidays on a cozy bed in front of a warm fire. (At least that's how I like to imagine what "home for the holidays" means). In the end, though over 200 animals were adopted, the other bonded pairs, along with Mimi, Coco, and a lot of the other long-term resident dogs are still awaiting for homes.
Yet hope is continuous. It doesn't end on December 31st at midnight; it stretches on through the year, despite all the forces at work to diminish or dampen it. Like assassinations and troop surges, global warming, the passing of Mailer, Ivins and Paley, or discovering that Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant (that this was major news was more depressing than the fact that she will be a teenage mom).
There is much to look forward to in 2008, like electing a new President, for one. And also smaller, more tangible fulfillments, ones to counter act all the uncertain outcomes, some which are likely to be dispiriting. Then again, some things might turn out better than we expected.
Here's hoping......
Happy New Year.
4:04 AM ET | 01- 2-2008 | permalink
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