RIP Larry Norman

From LarryNorman.com:

Our friend and my wonderful brother Larry passed away at 2:45 Sunday morning. Kristin and I were with him, holding his hands and sitting in bed with him when his heart finally slowed to a stop. We spent this past week laughing, singing, and praying with him, and all the while he had us taking notes on new song ideas and instructions on how to continue his ministry and art.

Some music to remember Larry by:
Sitting in My Kitchen

Why Don't You Look Into Jesus

Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music

I Wish We'd All Been Ready

Superlative Rock Music

Kim du Toit started me on an tour of YouTube rock videos with this post: Purple Patch. I spent most of the hour long wander listening and watching Kansas videosof Kansas, particularly the live ones. They were one of my favorite bands growing up because they played real music (melody, harmonies, structure, layers, point-counterpoint, progression, etc.). Here are some for other's enjoyment:

Apropos song of the day: Can I Tell You
Tour de Force: The Pinnacle
Kansas Purple Patch: Carry On Wayward Son. Reinhardt is right there, then watch him with Walsh during the bongo solo, and how often now do you see the lead sing, ply keyboards and percussion well.
And of course the original enigmatic unplugged Dust in the Wind

Yea, the production values are, well 70'ish, but the music comes through.

UPDATE: An alert reader over at Kim's place noted that for Carry On Wayward Son the video and vocals were not quite in sync with the instruments. Turns out that the vocals were recorded with the video but the music was a studio recording. I think the bongos were also recorded "live". Regardless it's still a bummer because it's not the "purple patch" or "touch the sky" moment I thought it was.

I Are One

Found via The Smallest Minority:

Home Life This Week

Not much to post today. #1 Son and I got home safely yesterday from our respective jobs through the snow storm. There were a few idiot drivers, including one who pulled out in front of me in the center of town as a local policeman sat and watched.

I have noticed that the snow plows are running in much tighter formations on the highways. Get behind a squadron and there is no way you're getting past until they decide to pull over and let you pass. This can make travel on the highways very slow; slower than it needs to be.

Wife and children are still recovering from the loss of one of our does. She had a very long hard labor. The vet came and tried to get the first kid out which was stuck with a turned head. She ended up having to do an emergency C-section to save the kids. 3 of 4 kids made it, 2 bucklings and a doeling, but the doe did not. Everyone is doing better today.

So far this kidding season we've ended up with 4 bucklings and 1 doeling. Usually we raise the bucklings for meat and they get appropriate names, but this year 3 of the 4 bucklings are already designated to be sold as pets and have regular names. I do hope the rest of the kidding season goes better than the first 2 does.

Looking forward to Spring.

p.s. The blog broke 2,500 visit yesterday. Whoopee.

Obama-rama's 2nd Amendment Dissimulation

Obama said that he does believe the second amendment "speaks to an individual's right."

As long as you are a hunter and your city allows you to subject to "common sense gun control laws" and "universal background checks" and not to include the right to carry concealed, own semi-automatic guns or so-called "assault weapons", purchase more than 1 handgun a month, or use it in self defense.

Is the Wicked Witch of the East Throwing a Tantrum?

Clinton replaces campaign manager
Rats jumping off the sinking ship:

Campaign aides said Solis Doyle made the decision to leave on her own and was not urged to do so by the former first lady or any other senior member of the team.

Or scapegoats in the making:

But it comes as Clinton struggles to catch Obama in fundraising and momentum and faces the prospect of losing every voting contest yet to come in February.

Either way there's trouble in Clinton-land. Good.

Finally. The Chairs Are Safe Again

Bob Knight resigns midseason

It's about time. Read John Feinstein's "A Season on the Brink" to understand what goes on inside a Bobby Knight basketball program. The physical and psychological abuse he heaps on his players to win at all costs will make you nauseous. Yes, his graduation rates and adherence to recruiting and eligibility rules is very noteworthy, but it does not come close to justifying his abusive ways. I hope he enjoys his retirement (and stays there), and that his son has picked up the good without the bad from his father.

What's Left (Otherwise known as slim pickings)

With RINO Rudi departed, the Huckster on the ropes, and SciFi Ron still at the back of the bus the Republican race is down to 2; Cheap Talk McCain and Big Hair Mitt. My state primary is on Tuesday and I don't like either of the front-runners: Neither one is really conservative.

John is too authoritarian and big government oriented, and too willing to compromise on judicial and other matters with his "esteemed colleagues" on the other side of the aisle. He's run to right for the campaign but in reality he's a centrist.

Mitt is an inexperienced flip-flopping, wanna-be. People tout his business and management experience but evidence of any applicability of it was totally lacking in his only single-term elected job. He got to be MA governor by being as liberal as one can be as a Mormon on social issues, and now runs right on these issue for the primary. He's flipped on so many issues, abortion, gun ownership, activist judges, government spending, health care, etc. that it is hard to know what his real position is anymore. Although he's claimed to have tried to cut taxes, his real fiscal impact was only to increase revenues through fees. Furthermore, his single major accomplishment during his tenure was socialist universal health care that eventually will bankrupt the state. Fiscally conservative he is not. It was painfully obvious from the start that the governor's job was just a stepping stone for him. He did nothing for the state and local Republican party organizations during his tenure. Under his "leadership" the Republican party in MA lost so many seats they could no longer occasionally sustain a Republican veto and his "hand-picked successor" lost the governor's race by a landslide. Republican principles or loyalties mean nothing to him: He will do and say anything to get elected. In that way I consider him to be the Republican equivalent to Hitlery. Having lived under his reign there is no way I can mark for him on Tuesday.

I don't know that either one of them has a better chance of beating the Democratic nominee and neither is more conservative than the other. In the end I think John McCain is slightly more controllable than Mitt and a bit less likely to act to the determent of the party and his successors. That's no ringing endorsement and I may write in Fred as a protest on Tuesday. If not, I suppose it will be Cheap Talk McCain.