Date:	2008-12-06 01:05
Subject:	Ten: Rough And Smooth
Security:	Public
Mood:	relaxed
Music:	Pearl Jam - WMA

1 Evenflow
2 State of Love And Trust
3 Not For You
4 WMA [White Male American]
5 Leash
6 Animal
7 Corduroy
8 MFC [Mini fast Car]
9 Rearview Mirror
10 Alive

1 Faithfull
2 Present Tense
3 Sometimes
4 I Am Mine
5 Light Years
6 All those Yesterdays
7 Better Man
8 Other Side
9 Wish List
10 Dead Man

Date:	2008-12-06 09:38
Subject:	Only a best friend would...
Security:	Public
Mood:	nostalgic

1. So bum chum Shailesh is the captain of a cricket team of 13-14 year olds. This was the summer of 1993. We bat first and score 120 thereabouts in 20 overs. I was sent to bat in at number six or seven, and I score 10 before being comically run out. When we fielded to defend the target, Shailesh gave the leather ball to this boy  whose father would always turn up at the cricket camp (and thought himself to be a wisdom-wise brahminical-combination of Garry Sobers and Richie Benaud)... Under some invisible pressure because a Big Father was watching, Shy hands the the ball to the prodigal son who in turn gets whacked for 11 runs. I bowl the next over, and give away 9 runs (mostly extras). I get taken off the attack.

Funny part came in the middle overs. Shailesh said the fielding has to be tighter. "The first one to misfield goes off," he added. Ten minutes later, fielding at mid off, the ball went right between my feet. Everyone in the camp knew Shailesh and I were good friends. Didn't matter: he just substituted me. I began my way back to the 'pavilion', greeted by the Garry Sobers-Richie Benaud combination. [His son bowled another over despite giving away more runs that I conceded in my solitary over!!!] Anyway, we won the match. And Shailesh and I with our kit bags took the bus back home.

2. Ashwin and Shailesh studied together in Class VII. Shailesh was the class prefect, and was supposed to monitor students when the teachers were away. When the teacher was in fact away, the class breaks into a crescendo. Shailesh is at wits end. When the teacher returned, he had one or two names on that black list. Ashwin is first! :-) [Shy tells me today, "No.. no.. he used to talk a lot in class with Asha."] LOL

3. Ashwin had it coming again a year later, 1992, after his Shailesh send-off experience. I was supposed to be reading an essay on Alexander Fleming in class. As I began, a number of other guys seated behind me started passing comments on what I had written. Ashwin giggled. The teacher asked me what happened. I said, "Ashwin is not allowing me to read." So, the teacher began to ask him to leave the class. I realised I had made a mistake, by which time the class teacher (Mrs Prabhavati) also arrived.

Ashwin would not talk to me for another week after the episode :-0

Those were our worries then... :-) How the three of us stayed best friends all these years, across Mumbai, Coimbatore, and Delhi, is a constant cause of wonder! Research points to: cricket, group studies, a million cups of tea... and a 24x7 support system to counter the hazards of college romances! LOL

Date:	2008-12-06 14:32
Subject:	By George!
Security:	Public
Mood:	amused
Music:	Pearl Jam - State of Love And Trust (Live at Mansfield '98)

On June 25 this year, Pearl Jam performed in New York. The song list was as usual thoughtful (and wondrous), dabbling deep into the Ten collection. PJ opened with 'Release' and even played 'Garden' apart from the regular rockers on that maiden record.

After playing 'Garden', Eddie Vedder paid tribute to stand-up comedian George Carlin (who had died a couple of days prior to the NYC performance) in a surrogate plea to the audience to cast their electorate vote.

I transcribed his speech... because it's funny--with irony and literary devices that are a doff of hat to George Carlin. Besides, I believe the rock band (with Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen) played its small part in the change in American politics. Eddie makes no bones about which side the music band is on, without naming the political party or individual. Quite liked Eddie's timely intervention and exceedingly intelligent practice of anger in a democracy.

Here is what Vedder said:

"Thank you. I think the last line of that song ('Garden'), "I don't need you for me to live," was written about the government (in the early 1990s). But it turns out maybe we do. Well, they'll fuckin' kill us, they'll starve us, they'll take all our jobs, take our sons to other places to fight, and take our jobs to other countries if we let them.

"Before we move to our next song, George Carlin passed away a couple of days ago. The good thing is he was 70 years old, and he had a hell of a run. He was sure to give us an awful lot to think and laugh about. Another thing he gave us was the knowledge that not every person with the name of George is a complete fucking imbecile. They can be smart, intelligent too – least of all, not dastardly.

"Anyways, this is a (George Carlin) quote one which is as many that says, "I am completely in favour of the separation of Church and the State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them put together is certain death!" ...

Date:	2008-12-06 14:48
Subject:	Premium Content
Security:	Public
Mood:	calm

Here is an Eddie Vedder outburst, immortalised as the 'Quarter Rant' during a Pearl Jam performance at Mansfield, 1998, to promote 'Yield':

"Hey! Listen you asshole, one more fucker throws a fucking quarter out here again and we are out of here. I am telling you. Fucker! What the fuck you doing is you’re fucking everybody. Hit me with a fuckin’ quarter again and fuck it, I am outta here. We’re all out of here. Fuck you! If anyone sees someone throwing fucking change (and you’re) right next to him, you have my permission to beat the fucking holy shit out of him. Thank you very much. Fuckin’ idiot!

"Ah! What the fuck. (smile of relief) Thank you… 'State of Love and Trust'..."

OBSCENITY COUNT: 14 in just more than a minute! :-) But this quarter rant happened a decade ago.

It's hard to believe Vedder is the same today, considering how much he weighs his words now at concerts. In fact, the vocalist urges crowds at the end of every concert to be responsible and safe. His change perhaps started after the death of eight youngsters in a stampede at a concert in Year 2000. Vedder wrote a song called 'Love Boat Captain' for those who died and their families. He hasn't been the same since at live performances, though he does keep his beer below the microphone. What is creditable is that he has retained his sense of anger and applied it for larger causes like the one I posted in my last entry.

I am convinced that applying anger is essential! Not always. But it has a divine purpose: anger can be a fire to test the truth of a moment... even that of a universe.