How Steely Dan Created “Peg”

I've played music somewhat seriously all my life and I spend significant time composing in my home studio. That background helps me to deeply appreciate the genius of Steely Dan's Walter Becker & Donald Fagin. Check out this video on the making of "Peg." It didn't just happy by putting a bunch of musicians in the room. They worked the shit out of that song to hone it exactly how they wanted it. For instance, they carted in 7 or 8 guitar players until they got the guitar lead the way they wanted it. And did you know that Michael McDonald did those exquisite background vocals? McDonald discusses his work on the background vocals at min 6:30. Enjoy . . .

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Hagia Sophia to be Reconverted to Serve as a Mosque

Tomorrow we are expected to hear from Istanbul that the Hagia Sophia, which Atatürk declared to be a museum in 1935, will be converted back into a mosque. Whatever one might think of this decision, this 1,500 year old building will continue standing in all its glory. I took these photos a couple years ago. Walking through the Hagia Sophia takes one's breath away.

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Fairy Tale Week

Last week I found a big book of Grimm's Fairy Tales in my basement. Out of curiosity, I've been reading a few Grimm's Fairy tales each day for the past several days. More than a few of these stories involve people being desperately hungry or poor. On a regular basis, the wonderful ending is that the people end up with a comfortable house that includes a magic pantry that never runs out of food. These stories must have been written in desperate times. Reading them has reminded me how lucky most of us are that we are not chronically hungry and homeless.

Many of these fairy tales also seem bizarre, involving men actively coveting other mens wives, women treated like property, and families putting their kids to cruel tests. Reading these tales has reminded me that one of my daughters attended a Waldorf School in St. Louis County about 15 years ago. The teachers repeatedly told me that the ONLY thing I should ever read to my daughters, at least until 3rd grade, was Grimm's Fairy Tales. I refused to follow that advice. It strikes me as bizarre today as it did back then, and it was a factor in pulling her out of that school and enrolling her in a much better school. I suspect that they were expecting us to cherry pick for better quality fairy tales, avoiding the bizarre and pointless stories. Cherry picking is common, of course. I'm reminded of the many people who have insisted that I should read the Bible, focusing on the "good parts," not on the bizarre stories, such as the time God sent bears to kill 42 children for making fun of Elisha because he was bald. (2 Kings 2:23-25).

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Today’s Insanity, Twitter’s Response

There's so much intellectual incoherence and outright insanity out there in the world. Yes, Twitter is a double-edged sword, but I've been hanging in there these days, using Twitter to help keep my head from exploding. But I'm also having this recurring thought: "If there is a God, I'm assuming that He/She/They are about to hit the reboot button for the universe." Here's a few of today's Twitter happenings:

In reaction to the Trump unhinged and xenophobic speech in Tulsa, "The Lincoln Project" tweeted: "Donald Trump told his administration to slow down testing. Now, 122,000 Americans are dead and coronavirus is rising in dozens of states. This is his legacy."

The rapper Zuby tweeted this response after learning about the "Black Only" zone being maintained in CHAZ/CHOP, Seattle: "Because racial segregation is obviously progressive."

Because we apparently have the inalienable right to tear down public art that offends us, Shaun King (1M followers) tweets: "All murals and stained glass windows of white Jesus, and his European mother, and their white friends should also come down. They are a gross form white supremacy. Created as tools of oppression. Racist propaganda. They should all come down." That leads to this tweet by Finbad the Failer: "You want to destroy religious objects? Does this include Michaelanangelo’s Pieta and other masterpieces from the Renaissance?"

Finally, on Twitter today I learned that Author James R. Flynn was about to publish his newest book, "In Defense of Free Speech: The University as Censor," in which he "critically examines the way universities censor their teaching, how student activism tends to censor the opposing side and how academics censor themselves." Well, Flynn's book was cancelled by the publisher because, according to the publisher, the book might stir up too much trouble. Claire Lehmann (Founding Editor of Quillette) tweets: "For those unaware of who Flynn is: he is the strongest critic of what's called the "hereditarian hypothesis," and the discoverer of the Flynn effect (the observed increase of IQ scores across generations, likely due to improved nutrition & education)."

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Darrin Patrick’s Final Sermon: Life is Precious and Fleeting

A friend of mine, Darrin Patrick, was a pastor of a St. Louis Church called "The Journey." He died suddenly two days ago. The Post-Dispatch reports this: [N]o official cause of death has been released. The gunshot wound appeared to be self-inflicted; foul play is not suspected." I don't know anything further than this cryptic account.

I hadn't seen Darrin for several years, but I could have tried harder to connect with him again. That's one of the crazy things that life does, right? You don't make enough effort and then, suddenly, it's too late. This is not the first time this has happened to me. Perhaps this was Darrin's last sermon: life is truly precious and fleeting and you need to seize the day and make real efforts to maintain your connections to your people. He would likely add that it is critically important to be creative in those connections, because it was a significant part of his mission to support artists and writers.

When we last visited, Darrin spoke highly of his wife Amie and their kids, but I hadn't met them. Yesterday, Amie posted a sad sweet announcement on his FB page, and I just posted a short comment, which I will paste below. Mine was the 918th comment to her announcement. For another glimpse at what an unusual and innovative person Darrin was, check out this post at Dangerous Intersection.  In fact, I'm going to spoil it: I would bet you don't know of any other pastor who invited an atheist to discuss skepticism in front of hundreds of parishioners as part of a church service.

Amie, you and I have never met, but I am one of the many people touched by Darrin. By no means am I the sort of person that would be expected to fit into Darrin's flock, but I suspect that Darrin was surrounded by such people. He challenged me and I challenged him back and that's how he wanted it. That's because he was a real person, filled with intelligence, good-heartedness and energy but also nuance. I'm so sorry for your loss. Please know that I will miss him too. He changed me for the better and that's the bottom line.

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