Of Mud and Muck

A smattering of clockwork stars filtered through a lens of clean, desolate air and a mineral laden wind, the gears of a lonely night time sky. I am visiting my Aunt and Uncle on their acres of wild property up in Northern Maine, in a little town contiguous to Bar Harbor. They have a small, efficient house set close to jagged shoreline bordering a tidal, estuarine influx.

I throw on a pair of Blue Lugz I’ve had since college. They’re like the boot that will outlive a nuclear holocaust, they look the same as they did when I first started wearing them… And, I have not one but TWO pairs kicking around (Make a mental note, a good friend with  practical footwear in post-apocalyptic times would not be bad to have).

You can walk through the muck of the salt marshes along the shore all the way to the edge of the quiet road their property borders. We’re tottering at the edge of winter here, and at first glance the landscapes muted tones – grey, beige, tan – speak to an impression of dying.  The shore line is littered with the skeletal ghosts of downed trees.

The littering of the small, pitiful empty carapaces of crabs feel like a pirate’s warning. This is not unlike a morose marker of another sort I spotted here last summer. I saw these small snotty circles caught in the marsh grasses at irregular intervals.  It took me a few minutes to realize these were the dismal remains of moon jellies, a cosmopolitan species that experience a population burst (what marine scientists typically call a “bloom”) in the late summer months. The dried whispers of jellyfish that once were, sat withering under the sun while their clueless, unsuspecting brethren bobbed along in small tidal pools entrained nearby in the masses of mud.

Currently, the signs of life here are slight, but appear in unexpected places. I’ve had the ability watch salt marshes turn with the seasons, and the markers of change can be fascinating – the types of color that glitter through your purview, the sounds, and the glimpses of the creatures that slip through. I’ve scared foxes, deer, purple herons – you name, I’ve probably startled it. But even the annual dying of a salt marsh has a certain biological delicacy and beauty to it.

Ahk-toong Bay-Bi Covered – Q Magazine Tips Their Hat to U2 in the Most Flattering Way Possible

Cover of Achtung Baby

When I finally switched formats, from tape cassettes to compact discs (cds for the youngins), I can claim, not without a hint of musical snobbery, that U2’s Joshua Tree was my first purchase. Sure, my collection prior to this was littered with the remnants of a tween girl’s love for sugary sweet chick pop (“pop” could be too kind a label, I rocked Expose, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey…). But, the moment U2’s seminal album made it into my hot little hands, I was hooked.  I had a sony discman, and every time Joshua Tree started spinning, my mind wandered, got lost in the roads of sounds, the crunchy rhythms and clean harmonics that rang throughout, and the heady lyrics inspired by the ultimate existential and spiritual journey.

At some point thereafter, Achtung Baby made its way into my lexicon.  If Joshua Tree represents the hopeful, transcendent search for a little old-time religion, Achtung Baby is its antithesis – a sometimes dark journey into obsession, destructive relationships, and the grittier shades reality can sometimes take on, especially apparent in songs like “Acrobat” and “Love is Blindness”.  The often satirical excess was evident in their tours, which harbored ornate stage set-ups complete with walls of television screens and even a belly dancer (who notoriously caught the eye of The Edge, they’ve been together since the Zoo Tv tour). However, some joy is definitively still evident on the album, especially in songs like “Ultra Violet (Baby Light My Way)” and “Trying to Throw Your Arms Around the World”.

Q Magazine, a publication I am woefully unfamiliar with,  has released their latest issue not only featuring U2 on its cover, but also with the free offering of an included cd: “Ahk-toong Bay-Bi Covered,” in answer to the 20th year anniversary of U2’s masterwork. The album features the entire track listing of U2’s original “Achtung Baby,” but with songs helmed by formidable musicians offering up their own unique interpretations. It looks like geography informed most of the choices, as many of the performers hail from over the pond, including England, Ireland, and Scotland.  However, tracks by American performers like The Killers, Patti Smith, and NIN are at home among the finished work.

I have always been hard to please when it came to U2 covers. Given, I do a song or two of theirs at open mic myself so I embrace the hypocritical, but Bono is a bit of a hard act to follow. My rule of thumb has typically been a good cover song takes only the most basic of frameworks from the original,  and generally benefits from some creative re-working. It should be recognizable as the original song, but just barely. Q’s cover album mostly manages to succeed at this. There are a few lackluster tunes, but mostly it’s an exciting time seeing the new places these songs go.  Damien Rice gives “One” his unique treatment of sparsity, and brutal emotional honesty – you can almost hear the sighs littering his lyrical delivery. Patti Smith deconstructs “Until the End of the World” into a dirge-like piano ballad. Garbage’s version of “Who’s Gonna Ride My Wild Horses” has their signature electronic flair and maintains its original desperation as evidenced by lead singer Mason’s often breathy phrasing. In their take on “Ultraviolet (Light My Way)”,  The Killers masterfully capture the charm and bliss present when U2 first recorded track. Jack White channels Screamin’ Jay Hawkins in a delightfully raw rendition of “Love is Blindness”.  This cover album us one to miss at your own risk.

Aventuras en Español

So, my friend Lucas had to listen to me wax obnoxious about Español while we classed up Amato’s on a friday night. The Tufts volleyball team rolled in, several of the women wearing uncomfortably short shorts, giving me goosebumps just at a glance (we’re in Maine mind you, and we’re definitely in the thick of a cold snap).

I am in the midst of a personal journey to learn Spanish, something I never thought I’d bother with. I recall the agony of watching Aladdin’s awkwardly dubbed voice-over while we watched Disney movies in Spanish class during high school. I also remember when a perfectly lovely multi-cultural high school alumn came to talk to us about her daring career as a flight stewardess that called upon her ability to speak Spanish, Portuguese, and English (probably all at the same time. las salidas están aquí y aquí?). However, it  probably did not speak to our linguistic ability when the head of the Spanish department stood up and translated in response to the sea of blank stares blanketing our faces. At that point, I started to consider myself part of the language dis-advantaged: I may be good at a lot of things but language just isn’t one of my “things”. After all, the farther I get from the ennui of my teenager years,  the less elastic my brain becomes, and the less liable I am to pick up a new tongue.

However, I suppose the recent trip to Costa Rica re-kindled a desire to take second look at Spanish, as I start to think about how to travel and spend more time in South America and among the tropical paradise and rainforests.  I also realize that I take some interesting job prospects off the table by limiting the ways I can communicate (including some amazing teaching positions with Ecology Project International, leading student groups to study sea turtles in Costa Rica, or ecology in the Galapagos.)

Thus has started my journey. So far, I’ve been listening to Spanish podcasts on almost a daily basis during my 40ish minute commute to work in the morning. My favorite so far is the Discover Spanish podcast w/Johnny Spanish (y Christina!). They’re a soothing pair that make me feel secure as I repeat the Spanish phrases at their urging while bewildered motorists pass by observing me animatedly talking to myself. I’ve listen to one or two episodes of Coffee Break Spanish which seems to capture the Castillano lisp, as they focus on Spain’s version of the language, while Johnny and Christina cater to the Miami crowd. One other option is the “Survival Spanish” podcast, a more low-fi production with Spanish instructor David Spencer. The first few episodes are brisker, brusquer vehicle than what I’m used to, with a less welcoming tone, and a demand to “escucha y repeata!”, but as the series develops,so does Spencer’s delivery, with useful ways to internalize vocabulary, including spry little songs on the guitar.

I waltz into work and subject at least one of my co-workers to the new phrases I am learning that have no useful context in my current day to day. Quiero cambiar cinquenta y cinco dolares a euros, por favor (I want to change fifty five dolars into euros, please).  ¿cuánto cuesta este anillo (How much does this ring cost?). Tengo un pez de colores (I have a goldfish… This is decidedly untrue.) Tonight I spent a few minutes browsing the web on my phone searching for marine biology terms in Español as Lucas pointed out how absurd it was that I wanted to learn Spanish for marine science job prospects but didn’t know how to even say “ocean” in Spanish. (Ocean is simply “océano”, and sea is “mar.”)so, I now know a whale is a “ballena”, probably in relation to the word “baleen” and have decided that Mi Caballito de Mar (My little seahorse), is my new pet-name for those unfortunate enough to spend too much time with me while I practice my unwieldy new language skills.

So I will keep you posted in how I fare. Right now I am figuring out how to explain to my Costa Rican penpal that my kitten recently broke his leg (dont’cha worry folks, kitty is on the mend and well on his way to being his old, crazy-like-a-fox, self) and is still sporting a slightly medicinal smell. Not exactly covered in the Spanish basics…

I will keep the interested masses (by which I mean all two of you) posted as I wind my way through this new great adventure.  Hasta Pronto todos!

By the way, I will not be offended if anyone corrects any of the half-informed Spanish contained here within. (Save me from my overzealous self!)

Watch your step around the linkage:

http://www.spanishdict.com/ – a useful spanish dictionary site with good translation tools

http://discoverspanish.com/podcast.php – Here’s hoping Johnny y Christina don’t like anything like their animated counterparts

http://radiolingua.com/shows/spanish/coffee-break-spanish/ – Coffee Break Spanish. I like that the girl in the first couple episodes seems to have trouble repeating the pronunciation of words the same way twice. I can relate.

http://www.learnoutloud.com/Podcast-Directory/Languages/Spanish/Learn-Spanish–Survival-Guide-Podcast/20124  – I now know the days of the week thanks to your catchy little song. Thank you sir, or should I say “Muchos gracias, senor!”