Baby Nathan

2005 Favorites

I like to make compilation cd's each year for my friends of my favorite songs of the previous year. Unfortunately the whole burning, creating artwork, buying envelopes, mailing the mix thing slows me down and I rarely get many mailed off. Especially this year since I'm reahabbing our new house, selling our old house (we close on 2/28/06!), takingcare of a baby and moving. It just didn't seem like it was going to happen.So this year I have done something different. I've uploaded all of the songs that I would have put on a cd so that you can download them to your computers if you like.

All you have to do is go to this link:http://www.megaupload.com/?d=38LHE9XC In about 45 seconds it'll ask you where you want to download the file. You'll want to download it to wherever you keep your other MP3's (MyMusic folder perhaps?). It takes a little while to download depending on the speed of your connection. It takes far less time than going to your local music store though. I believe the file will be actively stored on that website for 30 days.

The drawback to doing it this way is that I can't control the order in which you hear the songs or give you the full experience with the liner notes and cover art so, I'm making a list of the order in which I would have burned the mix.

2005 Favorites: Year of the Baby
1. Spoon - My Mathematical Mind
2. Calexico/Iron & Wine - A History of Lovers
3. Beck - Black Tambourine
4. the White Stripes - Denial Twist
5. Tilly & the Wall - Bessa
6. the Sights - Scratch My Name in Sin
7. the Mountain Goats - Pale Green Things
8. Love as Laughter - Every Midnight Song
9. Fruit Bats - Born in the 70's
10. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl
11. Bright Eyes - Old Soul Song
12. Low - When I Go Deaf
13. Andrew Bird - Skin Is, My
14. Brendan Benson - Cold Hands (Warm Heart)
15. Weezer - Perfect Situation
16. Calexico/Iron & Wine - Red Dust
17. Spoon - I Turn My Camera On
18. Danny Barnes - Rat's Ass

As a Wannabe

I can't quite call myself a Modernist. It's just too expensive to be a full fledged Modernist today. However, I am a fan of the Modernist aesthetic and strive to achieve it in whatever I do. The reason I may seem apologetic for my leanings is because I live in a city that has not embraced the future in a long time. St. Louis has a glorious past and rests on its laurels far too often. It tries to replicate its golden age rather than update its look for today. St. Louis boomed at the turn of the 20th century. The clay deposits found in St. Louis allowed it to build itself out of brick. Given these 2 elements St. Louis is a brick city with a Victorian look.

To call yourself a Modernist in St. Louis is to move beyond this red brick past. It is a term misunderstood by most everyone in this Midwestern city. People assume that you are one of those people in favor of tearing down the Century building to put in a parking garage. That you would rip the "character" out of a historic home and replace it with suburban blandness.

On the contrary, I want to respect the past by not trying to duplicate it. I don't want to see a single brick building torn down. It's just that if there is an empty lot why should you build something that tries to replicate a days-gone-by look? Build something from this century to tell a tale to future generations of who we were and what we were capable of doing. Putting a modern home, and I don't mean post-modern nothingness of vinyl siding and fake columns, but a real modern home next to a historic home shows one how valuable the historic home is and that we should preserve it.

Vibrant cities that have either stayed current (London) or revived themselves (Toronto) know how important it is to stay contemporary. They build modern adjacent to historic and know that this is part of the urban landscape that is interesting to people.

Maybe one day I will be able to proudly call myself a Modernist in a Victorian city and not be hurled insults?

Retrogressive

I've learned a new term that describes everything that I tried to convey in my post about the new Busch Stadium and other new structures in St. Louis and around the country. The term is "retrogressive". I read it in an article in Modernism magazine about the demolition of the Morton May House in Ladue. The May house was a beautiful modern home in the International style built in 1942 and designed by architect Samuel Marx. Unfortunately consequent owners didn't maintain it properly and it was on 9 beautiful acres in the most prestigeous metro St. Louis area. Ripe for the picking by redevelopers and politicians. The May house was torn down last summer. The lots will be parcelled off and sold. Something bland will be put in it's place and the world will go on more boring than it was.
The former Morton May house at 2222 S Warson Rd.

My Top Albums of 2005

I need to say that many of my favorite cds that came out in 2005 I have yet to discover. Some of the joy in being a music fan is finding out about the things you missed and going back to pick up some back catalog. This list is simply a list of things that I did discover and liked.

The Sights - The Sights
This Detroit group has a funky rock sound driven by a Hammond organ. Not very common today. Individually I like many of the songs, but the album itself may just be too intense to enjoy as a comprehensive unit. Favorite tracks include Scratch My Name in Sin and I'm Gonna Live the Life I Sing About.

Low - The Great Destroyer
One of the most brilliant albums I've heard in a very long time. It was a huge departure for them and I hope they don't go back. In the past they've had such a muted sound that the brilliance seems to have been tuned down as well. This album includes beautiful harmonic crescendos and lyrically scary depths (the lead singer has suffered with depression his whole life). I'm curious to see what they do as a follow up. Favorite tracks include When I Go Deaf and anything on the cd really.

the White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan
While I don't think that this is the best the White Stripes have to offer I have enjoyed it quite a bit. I am honestly shocked that Jack and Meg are as widely accepted as they are. I guess that's because I love stripped down music but rarely find that others do too. I am curious to see what kind of music Jack makes 10, 20 and 30 years from now and how many marriages he has over the years. Favorite tracks include Denial Twist and Instinct Blues.

Calexico/Iron and Wine - In the Reins
Match made in heaven! Sam Beam is a lovely songwriter, but is probably the quietest "pop" musician ever. Calexico punches up his music a little and adds some interesting instrumentation. The resulting tracks are perfection. Favorite Tracks are A History of Lovers, Red Dust, oh and Sixteen, Maybe Less and...

Spoon - Gimme Fiction
Spoon has a really great sound on this recording. It's a mature indie rock sound. It appeals to me as a guy in my 30's without trying to appeal to me. Favorite tracks include My Mathematical Mind and I Turn My Camera On

Love as Laughter - Laughter's Fifth
I have to admit that I wasn't familiar with Love as Laughter before this album. I saw it on a listening post in Vintage Vinyl and was certain I would hate it based on the cover art. The first track, In Amber, reminded me of the best the Jayhawks had to offer. Favorite tracks include Every Midnight Song and Makeshift Heart.

Beck - Guero
Can this guy be a more unlikely musical genius? Seriously? He's probably making music closer to Soul than anyone else. I love the fact that it has a completely contemporary and classic sound all at once. You would be very hard pressed to find anyone who would have predicted his career in the music industry would have been this long and fruitful. Favorite tracks include Black Tambourine and Earthquake Weather

Other favorite recordings released in 2005 include:
Fruit Bats, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Tilly and the Wall (thanks Lisa), the Mountain Goats, Bright Eyes, Andrew Bird, Brendan Benson, Lucero and Weezer

In 2006 I'm looking forward to listening to Sun Kil Moon (out), Broken Social Scene (out), Athlete (out), Smoosh (recording), Brendan Benson/Jack White (yet to be released), Kings of Leon (hopefully).

The most exciting thing is that my favorite recording of 2006 may be by someone I've never heard of or something that hasn't yet been recorded. I can't wait.

3 months

Nate is 3 months old. He is now going to daycare 4 days a week. I miss him everyday and nearly cry everytime I drop him off. The good news is that he's starting to become the baby that we always hoped he would be. He's had some difficult times in his short life. He was diagnosed with acid reflux. The acid burned his esophogus and eating became a chore for him and stressful for us. He'd spit up and cry while trying to eat. It affected his ability to sleep which caused him to be overtired and crabby. He had many moments of being the cutest baby in the world, but even those few scattered moments were stressful for us as parents waiting for them to turn bad.

We've got him on some liquid medicine that took awhile to help, but seems to have done the trick. His formula intake has increased to where it should be. He hasn't spit up in weeks. He's taking long naps during the day and sleeping longer stretches at night.

Part of this turn around is due to the medication, but we've spoken to other parents who are just now telling us that the first 12 weeks are the most difficult. NOW you are telling me this??? You don't think that this would have been useful information before we decided that we were failures as parents? They say they didn't want to worry us. Knowing that this was normal would have been a big help and eliminated a lot of worry. Thanks for the heads up folks and thank you baby Nate for being the sweetest baby in the world even when you weren't.

Simplify

It's about to be 2006. I really like the idea of starting the New Year with a clean slate. I would love to pare down to the bare essentials every New Year and simplify my life. The problem is that I have many pack rat tendencies. I can't seem to part with my stuff. I have reason to believe this year may be different though. Our house has been on the market for 3 months and there is finally some real interest. If either of these interested parties works out we'll probably be moving into our new project in January or February. Moving is a great time to clean things out and start fresh. Moving at the beginning of the year may just allow me the opportunity to put my money where my mouth is. And that diet starts tomorrow too....

Gift list

Coming up with a Christmas gift list at my age is a real pain. I rarely have appropriately priced gift items that others can get for me. I don't really have hobbies. I don't golf, or collect Hummels or anything. If I go too generic (ex. sweater) I never know what I'll get. Gift cards are great but not a whole lot of fun to watch someone open. Same goes for magazine subscriptions. The things I want are either big ticket items (HDTV would look good in my living room) or so obscure that I wouldn't know how to direct a family member to it (so the last time I was in Chinatown I saw this cookie jar...) or else they are tasks that I would love to have someone else do. So I thought I'd jot down what I would want for Christmas in a perfect world. The second list wouldn't cost anyone a thing.

1.) Buy me a new kitchen from Ikea (about $3,000 in cabinets should do it)
2.) Fix my vintage motorcycle (find a repair man, transport it, pay for it, thanx)
3.) Sell/buy my house (my house has been on the market for nearly 3 months now with no offers)
4.) Pay off my credit card (I'll do it myself when my house sells, but see #3)
5.) Finish my rehab project (c'mon, you know you want to)

Or if you are short on cash...
1.) pull my weeds for the summer
2.) do my taxes
3.) teach my neighbor how to parallel park so he doesn't screw up the street for everyone everytime
4.) organize my life (just give me a system that works for me)
5.) help me move

This is not easy!

I underestimated how hard having a baby would be. I've heard a million times from parents that it's difficult, but I kind of thought they were exaggerating. In retrospect I think they were probably lowballing the amount of effort in an attempt to trick the childless into their group. Either that or they lost their minds and had forgotten how much effort it takes. I thought it was simply a matter of maintenance (feed, change, wash, repeat). You get a good schedule going and it practically takes care of itself. Effortless.

What people don't express is all the stress involved. It's not just the feeding but worrying about when they are going to eat, are they getting enough, too much, are they going to spew it out this time, etc. Changing is much easier, unless of course you start changing them before they are done. That can get messy. I think certain aspects get easier as the child grows. There is more decision making that needs to be done (Can they spend the night at a friends house that you've never met?), but at a certain point they can do a lot of things for themselves. They become less fragile.

One thing this experience has done is made me more sympathetic to single parent families. I think Jen and are doing a pretty good job of working together and sharing the load. She's up with him more often at night during the week since I have to work, but I'm up with him 3 nights a week (Wednesday, Friday and Saturday). I can't imagine how you could do it on your own. I guess that's why people bring their extended families into the mix. Share the burden or go insane seems to be the 2 choices.

We do love him. How could you not? But we are anxious for him to grow up a little. Talking and walking are going to be really fun. Or am I being overly optimistic again?

The New Old Busch Stadium

They're building a new baseball stadium for the St. Louis Cardinals. It will be ready for the 2006 season and will also be called Busch Stadium. The old Busch Stadium built in the 1960's was a modern structure inspired by the then new St. Louis Arch. The Arch is the most beautiful Modernist Monument in the world. Cutting edge in every way. I love the Arch and loved that the stadium reflected the style of the Arch. There was a cohesiveness to the two structures. It gave the city an identifiable character.

The new stadium is one of the retro style stadiums that have been built around the country over the last decade. This stadium is taking inspiration from another St. Louis landmark, Eads Bridge. This is a structure that was also cutting edge for it's day. That day, however, was the 1860's.

I'm sure the new stadium will be swell. It'll have modern amenities and feel architecturally cozy and old fashioned with it's faux brick exterior. People may say that it takes them back to when they were a kid at the old Sportsman's Park. I'm not sure this is a good thing. When do we move forward? When do we get the flying cars we were promised as kids? When do the cops get ray guns that'll stop you in your tracks rather than put 12 bullets in you?

Please don't misunderstand me. I'm a huge fan of old buildings. I don't think we should ever tear one down. They are precious reminders of a different era. An era when things were built with an attention to detail. Save the old buildings! In instances where a new building is being put on an empty lot, however, we should not try and build an old looking building. It's an insult to the designers and tradesman who made the old buildings. We should build something equally as cutting edge. We should be designing pneumatic tubes or transporters to move people around. That would be as cutting edge as elevators were in the 1890's.

People like old things. Retro is fashionable. Designers seem to be basing their designs on old fashioned items. Look at kitchen appliances now. All of the coolest contemporary ones look like they were made in the 50's. The toasters you buy now look like the one in your Grandma's kitchen when you were a kid.

The new Ford Mustang is another example. Ford created, and has been very successful in selling, a new Mustang that looks like it was built in 1969. I think it's pretty cool too. But Ford is not breaking new boundries. They did not create the Honda Insight or the Toyota Prius because they were too busy looking backwards. We need to look forward as a society. That is what Modernism is all about.

Architects, artists, designers help to shape our society. They move us forward. They show us that the past is no longer with us and that we are moving toward the future together. Or at least they are showing Asians and Europeans they are moving toward the future together. American designers are showing us that it's 1950 all over again. I hope everyone is comfortable in that.

W.W.E.S.B.? What would Eero Saarinen build?

Fashion confused

I love Fall (or Autumn if you prefer). It's a great time of year. There are overlap seasons though. There should be a name for the seasons that are between the 4 seasons. Right now it's mid November but it is 80 degrees (Indian Summer?). It's funny to go to public places and see how everyone is dressed. Some people dress for November. They picked up their new sweater and leather jacket in August and couldn't wait any longer to wear them. They're out in turtlenecks and jeans and have got to be uncomfortable. Some people dress for the temperature and are out in shorts and t-shirts. It's funny to get them in the same place. I wonder if they know how awkward they look together. If anyone snaps a good secret picture of fashion confused people please send them to me so I can post. stlstuff at sbcglobal dot net

New Life

Rehabbing: The house is coming along. I had one setback this week with my shower. I have a custom sized shower. It's 8 feet x 3 feet with a seat at either end. I need to have a custom shower floor made that slopes towards the drain. It's pretty important that water doesn't pool or leak below so I wanted to leave it to a professional. After having 4 "professionals" out to look at it and either give me a really high bid or not bother to get back to me at all I've decided to do it myself. This was the last thing I wanted to do, but I think in the end I'll be really proud to have done it myself.

I've also had a difficult time finding someone to install my kitchen/flex room floor. It's the entire back of the house and we wanted to do a sheet Congoleum in black. It would look very industrial and not have many seams which would leave fewer places for dirt to hide. After bids in the $4,000 range I called a place nearby in the city. The guy talked me out of the sheet material because it's going over a wood floor and not something more stable like concrete. He said tiles would work better because they have more flex to them. He also gave me a bid of $1,600 which made it easy for me to make the decision. So in the end we are going with an all black Congoleum tile floor.

Throughout this project I've had a mantra. It's "simplify and black". With any decision that needs to be made I think of ways to simplify the look which I believe will give me a more modern feel or I wonder if black would be appropriate. The doorknobs are all black enamel and that inspired the black thinking. Example: Picking wall colors. Black is not appropriate. So I thought of ways to simplify. In the end we are painting the trim and walls the same color (different finishes but the same color). This cuts down on the number of color decisions that need to be made (simplyfying my life) and it unifies the rooms making the space feel larger. This is pretty common in "modern" homes and I think it'll make our historic home feel more contemporary.

I also needed to make a decision about tile for the entryway. We had all of our wood floors refinished, but there was a space next to the front door that had different flooring that had been removed. I thought of my mantra and it made the decision easy. I ordered some flat black ceramic tiles with onyx colored grout. In the end it will be very elegant and tie in with the black floor in the kitchen at the back of the house. In a future project I'll probably have an alternate mantra (sunflowers and shiny? rectangles and stone?), but having a simple plan helps keep the project cohesive.

So, the shower not being done is holding up a lot of the finish plumbing and the kitchen floor not being done is holding up cabinet installation. Both of these things should be completed this week which would be a big step towards the completion of the project! Yippee.

Movies: We haven't been to the theater since having the baby, but we did rent a movie last night that was really interesting. The dvd was Millions directed by Danny Boyle of Trainspotting and 28 Days Later fame. It was unpredictable which is one of my 2 criteria* for enjoying a movie.


*My movie enjoying criteria: 1) The movie has to be unpredictable. If I know what is going to happen before it happens then the filmmakers didn't do a very good job. 2) It must show me a world into which I would not otherwise see. That world could be the world of my next door neighbor, but it would have to be an aspect of their life that I wouldn't see if it wasn't for the film. Movies can meet either or both of these criteria and I will usually enjoy some aspect of them. It would be the rare film that doesn't meet either criteria and I would still enjoy it.

Babies Rule

Nathan is awesome. I can already tell he's going to be a fun kid to have around. He doesn't do much right now except cry, sleep and chug formula, but a Father knows these things. We are already looking forward to the next step. We're ready for him to talk, walk, laugh, etc. We don't want to miss out on this precious time but there is so much to look forward to and we want to enjoy it all now.

Introducing.....Nathan

Our son has arrived. It was a tough birth. First Jen had the External Cyphilic Version which was successful in turning the baby head down, but which resulted in a little tear between the uteran wall and the placenta. Then they induced for 20 hours but were unhappy with the results. So finally in was cesearian section.

Regardless of the trip he is here and now the journey begins.

Big news. Not THE big news though.

Big, shocking news yesterday from the doctor. The baby is breach! Nobody else had detected this. Our own doctor is on maternity leave (she had a breach baby) so we've seen a different doctor nearly every time we've been in there. There are 5 doctors in the practice and we've seen all five. This was the first visit to see this new doctor. She herself is pregnant too.

Thursday, we are going into the hospital and they are going to try and turn the baby through external manipulation. If they are successful in doing that 2 things can happen. It can spur on labor or nothing. If they turn the baby they may just send us home and wait until Jen goes into labor. If they are unsuccessful in turning the baby they will do a C-section immediately. C-sections are common but it is surgery and there are risks. It wouldn't be ideal.

It is odd to have a due date (tomorrow! my birthday! and possibly my son's birthday!). We had gotten so used to the idea of Jen being a week or two late that it didn't occur to me that we could have the baby on the actual due date. A date that was named by the doctors many moons ago.

There is so much to do in one day. I've got to charge the camera, pack a bag, wrap up things with the new house, schedule subcontractors, make sure the old house is ready to show realtors and clients, and about 450 small things. Jeez Louise.

Name: It looks like we are going with Samuel. It's kind of a last minute entry. Jen abbreviates or nicknames everyone. Samuel works as Sam for a grown up and Sammy for a baby. Our other favorite name is Nathan. Nathan works as Nate but not Nathy or Natey. Always was a problem. I thought of Samuel when I was looking up the name of my favorite blues musician. He went by the name Lightnin' Hopkins and it never really occured to me that he had another name. I looked it up and found out that his name was Sam Hopkins. Also Sam Cooke is one of my favorite Soul singers (#2 after Otis Redding and Otis just wasn't going to fly). So Sam seemed like a legitimate contender. We'll see. Jen says she wants to see him first. We could come home with a Woody or Mikey Jr. or who knows what. It could all go down tomorrow by 8:30am though.

Music: Loving the new Calexico/Iron & Wine album. Also putting in some time with the Fruit Bats "Spelled in Bones".

On tonight's episode of "The Rehab Project"...

Trim going up around the windows.

Floors in the baby's room yesterday.

Floors in the baby's room today.


All new trim taking up current residence in the kitchen.

What me worry?

Rehab: I've been busy. It's to be expected. I knew months ago it was going to be like this. It is 1:20am and I just finished working for the day. It's been about a 16 hour work day.

It's all because we have our first open house on Sunday. We're selling our current home so that we can move into our soon to be completed house next door. It wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't such a procrastinator. When we moved into our house there were still many things that needed to be done. When we got married in our house (it'll be a year ago Sunday) I finished a bunch of things but not everything. Now I have to finish everything so that we can get top dollar. I've been busting my ass.

All week I've been splitting my time between working on my current home and my new home. I've learned to prioritize very well. I have not been able to see more than 2 days into the future. I do what has to be done right now and can't worry about something that has to be done tomorrow. It's been eye opening.

This week in the new house I had a new basement floor poured (busting up and hauling out the old one was a joy and a half), sanded and primed the drywall, purchased vanities for the bathrooms, tiled 1 bathroom, started tiling another, ordered a stainless steel handrail, ordered a vanity top for the master bathroom, priced all new appliances and cabinets, and did a bunch of prep and painting in my house to get it ready to go on the market.

The baby is due in less than 3 weeks so it doesn't look like the new house will be done, but it is getting there. Everyone says the baby just sleeps in a bassinet in your room for the first couple of months anyway. So he won't know that his room in his new house isn't done yet. Why stress about things 3 weeks from now when I have a million things to stress about for tomorrow?

Listening: While I'm working I've been trying to listen to music more often. I frequently listen to NPR but I have had my fill of Katrina and Iraq coverage for now. I've been listening to the Fruit Bats, Lucero, the Mountain Goats and several other new releases along with all the old favorites. Helps keep me company.

Watching: Very excited about Lost starting up again. I also enjoyed the My Name is Earl premiere paired up with The Office for a solid hour of non reality tv on NBC. This week saw Martha's Apprentice, Donald's Apprentice, Next Top Model, and many other Fall shows broadcast across my screen.

Not clueless

Baby: Last week we took a tour of the hospital where my son will be born and yesterday we took a caregiver's class. In the class we learned rudimentary elements of taking care of a child that included feeding, changing and bathing. I don't think either of us learned anything surprising, but it did help reinforce the fact that we aren't completely clueless.

Rehab: The house is coming along. The taper/mudder finished up yesterday. The flooring guys made all of their repairs and started sanding the perimeter of each room. They have another job they need to go to for a week and then they'll be back to finish up. I'm going to spend the week priming the walls of the whole house and setting the tile in all 3 bathrooms. We've picked out our cabinets and are working on the counter tops. We've decided to go with inexpensive unfinished cabinets since we plan on painting them a custom color anyway and instead spend the money we'll save on the counter tops and get something really nice. I haven't completely eliminated the idea of doing concrete counter tops, but it is a time consuming project and I don't know if I'll have the time to spare.

I just counted and I have 32 days before this baby arrives. That also means I have 32 days before our new house needs to be done and our old house needs to be on the market and preferably SOLD. It's going to be an exciting month. If you don't hear from me don't worry. I'm just working myself to death before a take an 8 week paternity leave.

Gallery Opening

This weekend was a fun one. I've been working on promoting a gallery opening for the past couple of weeks and the show was on Saturday. The show was called Paper Cuts and Track Marks and was a gig poster show inspired by my own collection. There were 11 artists involved and a couple of the artists came from out of town to be at the show. We received some good press and hung posters throughout town. There were family members of the artists, people I knew, people I didn't know, people I wanted to know and they all seemed to have a good time and get along. I hope we can do another poster show in the future and maybe even make it an ongoing show every 6 months or so. There are plenty of artists making posters on an ongoing basis making it possible to do frequent shows of new material.
Andrew Vastagh of Memphis, TN

The work of Brady Vest of Hammerpress in KC, MO

Bob Boring of Boring Inc. and Steve Walters of Screwball Press Chicago, IL

Admiring Crowd

Aaron spinning tunes

Drywall is up!

Framing complete.

Insulation installed.

Couldn't even wait for the dust to settle to take this picture! Drywall is complete. Inspection is tomorrow and then the taping and mudding begins. Our flooring guy may even get started before Labor Day if the weather stays agreeable and the mud dries quickly.