TBT^4: Happy Halloween

2 November 202331 October 2023 The Portly Politico1 Comment

Well, I’m letting the Halloween good times roll, even though we’re now two days into November. Last year, I posted “Memorable Monday: Happy Halloween“; Halloween fell on Monday, and I broke the chain of “TBT” posts. I was planning on doing the same this year and doing a rare “Retro Tuesday” post, but I took a nasty spill and missed the window. D’oh!

Well, what else can be said that hasn’t already been written? Halloween is awesome. Maybe creeping it a few days into November is a good way to combat “Christmas Creep.” Indeed, I’m playing a gig tomorrow, and will likely play some Halloween tunes.

With that, here is 28 October 2021’s “TBT^2: Happy Halloween“:

TBT^4: Monsters

26 October 202322 October 2023 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

‘Tis the season for monsters and ghoulies! Having just returned from the South Carolina Bigfoot Festival—and with the annual Spooktacular just two days away!—yours portly is in a monstrous mood. Indeed, I wrote an entire album about them, which is available on streaming platforms for you cheapskates.

What is it that makes monsters so fascinating? In old monster movies, the monster was always the last thing the audience saw, because saving the featured creature for last guaranteed you stay hooked (and because most of those old films had shoestring budgets and bad makeup/costumes/props, so they had one or two good shots with the monster before the whole contraption broke down). Even now, when movies tell us everything that happens—even if we just saw it happen—we still want to see the monster—the more the better.

All I can figure is that we want to see how wild our own imaginations can be—and how well we can scare ourselves with monsters that are both alien and familiar.

With that, here is 27 October 2022’s “TBT^2: Monsters“:

TBT^16: On Ghost Stories

19 October 202315 October 2023 The Portly Politico2 Comments

Yours portly has been in the Halloween spirit big time: scary movies, the SC Bigfoot Festival, releasing two albums of autumnal tunes (here and here). What I haven’t gotten to—yet!—are ghost stories.

I don’t have much additional ghost story commentary this year, but I will say that they tend to work better in books than in films. That’s a bold, unsubstantiated claim, but I find that reading about ghosts is a lot scarier than seeing them on celluloid. Ghosts might be—appropriately—a cold medium creature, best on the page or told about around the campfire. Other monsters are probably hot medium/media critters, best for television or the radio.

Whatever the case, here is “TBT^4: On Ghost Stories“:

TBT^4: Things That Go Bump in the Night

12 October 20239 October 2023 The Portly Politico1 Comment

Spooky Season is upon us, and everyone is getting into the festive spirit of the season. I know I sure am! I’ve already carved pumpkins and had my share of pumpkin-spiced cookies (perhaps too many!), and am heading out tomorrow to a festival dedicated to Bigfoot!

I don’t have much to add that I haven’t already commented upon in prior years, so I’m going to get on with this perennial Halloween season classic.

With that, here is 13 October2022’s “TBT^2: Things That Go Bump in the Night“:

TBT^2: Mahler’s Composing Shack

5 October 20231 October 2023 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Ah, yes—autumn. Music sounds sweeter, food tastes better, girls look prettier. What is it about the autumn that rings everything in a warm, golden glow? Is it the coming crispness in the air? The shorter days, the chilly nights? Or perhaps the leaves falling from the trees, the continuous cycle of death and renewal circling ever onwards?

Whatever it is, it’s a great time to compose and play music. As I noted last year, it’s “the time of year when my personal creativity seems to spark.” Indeed, the sequel to Spooky Season (now on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube), Spooky Season II: Rise of the Cryptids releases tomorrow, Friday, 6 October 2023 on Bandcamp.

I’ve been using a free trial of Noteflight to compose lately, and I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s very robust, although it (surprisingly) lacks some of the depth and breadth of sounds as my ancient copy of Cakewalk 3.0. Unlike Cakewalk 3.0, however, it will run on a modern operating system, so it’s good enough for me!

I don’t have a nice, tidy composing routine like Gustav Mahler or Beethoven. I kind of jot down ideas in my music journal when I have a few spare lines of staff paper, then try to expand those motifs into full pieces (or just compose twelve-second pieces—ha!). Then I slap everything into Noteflight approximately whenever I feel like it, or when I’m on a composing tear and can’t stop!

With that, here is 6 October 2022’s “TBT: Mahler’s Composing Shack“:

TBT^16: The Joy of Autumn

28 September 202316 September 2023 The Portly Politico2 Comments

This year is the first time I’ve noticed a pop cultural excitement for autumn. Sure, people love talking about “sweater weather” and Spooky Season, but this year it’s everywhere. I’ve witnessed dozen of memes all gleefully proclaiming the arrival of fall before August even had a chance to expire.

The pumpkin spiced everything trend is also back in a big way, and marketers have gone all in to cater to single women with disposable incomes. In this case, lump me in with the single women. While I haven’t bought gallons pumpkin spiced lattes (now trendily abbreviated as “PSLs”), I certainly appreciate pumpkin flavoring.

Besides, who doesn’t love the festive rotundity of pumpkins? They’re so round and jolly—the charismatic, carotene-rich cousins to the lumpy squash.

So it is that I happily greet the start of autumn, even if that does make me a girl.

With that, here is “TBT^4: The Joy of Autumn“:

TBT^2: The Frisson of the Night

21 September 202316 September 2023 The Portly Politico5 Comments

Yours portly is a morning person, but there is also something electric about the night (as for afternoons, well, why bother?—they’re hot and sleepy, and are better spent napping than working). Some of the best songs I’ve ever written were completed at 2 AM. While the approaching time change brings the night on a bit too early—who wants to leave work in total darkness at 5 PM?—it does cloak everything in a simultaneously cozy and exciting twilight.

Nighttime is certainly not without its dangers—animals and people prowling about, looking for prey; otherworldly spooks haunting decrepit graveyards; nasty, crawling things oozing about in one’s vegetable garden. But it’s that very sense of the unknown, of the potential nightmares lurking around the corner, that make the night so fascinating—and exciting!

Of course, I much prefer the safety of a well-lit night at a good coffee shop or eatery, with exquisite music and good company. Music sounds better in the autumn, but it also sounds better at night. Don’t ask me why—it’s the mysticism of the night.

With that, here is 15 September 2022’s “TBT: The Frisson of the Night“:

TBT^2: Road Trip!

7 September 20239 August 2023 The Portly Politico6 Comments

Right after the start of the new school year, I had the opportunity to hoof it down to Orlando for a day at Universal Studios with my family. After going way too many times in 2020, I haven’t been back much since, so it was good to get back into the parks, even if for only a day.

Before school resumed, I found myself driving all over South Carolina to dine with an array of beauties. That also provided ample opportunity to explore the highways and byways of my beloved State.

There is a beautiful drive through the countryside between my home of Lamar, South Carolina, and I-95, which GPS always recommends when I head to the Charleston/Mount Pleasant region of South Carolina. It winds south of town on US-401 to the unincorporated community of Elliott, South Carolina, then veers off onto SC-527 for several miles before hitting I-95 South. There’s a beautiful old church in Elliott with stained glass windows; across from it is a postage stamp-sized post office, proudly flying its American Flag on a mostly empty street corner.

Along SC-527 is an abandoned middle school, overgrown with weeds and brambles. While I’m sure there is nothing there now but raccoons and spiders, I’d like to poke around in those remains. I also wonder what it was like attending classes at this brick-and-concrete edifice in the middle of corn fields in a remote corner of the State, and what devastating depopulation had to occur for a school to find itself, empty and abandoned, so far from anything. What must it be like for a school to die? If a school dies, it means the community has already died much earlier.

I’ve come to enjoy these little trips. There’s a great deal to see, and I enjoy the quiet drives. After one (quite successful—fingers crossed!) excursion to Summerville, I found myself driving back during a massive storm. Fortunately, the driving was easy, but the lightning was terrific—blasting out in huge bursts that turned night into day. I was listening to A Flock of Seagull’s hit “I Ran,” and the lightning would sometimes hit in time with the constantly moving synthesizer part, creating a cinematic effect that could never be duplicated.

My advice to readers: hit the road!

With that, here is 1 September 2022’s “TBT: Road Trip!“:

TBT: Chapel Lesson: Listening

31 August 20235 August 2023 The Portly Politico1 Comment

School’s back, and that means Chapel on Thursdays! Today is one of the first chapels of the school year. I always enjoy hearing the short little devotionals from our chaplain, and they’re quite beneficial for those students who choose to take them to heart.

There was a small chance that I might be asked to serve as chaplain this year—quite a responsibility!—but the school obtained someone more qualified for the job (in other words, someone with an actual degree in theology and practical experience in ministry). I imagine I will still be called upon, at times, to provide a short homily or lesson when the new guy is absent.

Regardless, it seemed like an excellent time to look back at this little message I delivered to our students last year. Listening is hard, and it’s even harder when we’re constantly engulfed in noise. That makes it particularly hard to listen to God’s Still, Small Voice, much less the much louder voices of people around us.

With that, here is 30 August 2022’s “Chapel Lesson: Listening“:

TBT^2: Rebuilding Civilization: The Hunter-Gatherer

24 August 202331 July 2023 The Portly Politico4 Comments

It’s interesting to come back to the question of the value of civilization from time to time. For what it’s worth, I think civilization is definitely worth maintaining, even with the inevitable social ills that come with it. Better to live a life abundant in not just material well-being, but also with opportunities for self-improvement and finer pursuits, like literature and art, than to be scrounging around for every meal.

Of course, the few remaining peoples that live the hunter-gatherer life would disagree—if they were even capable of conceiving of a different lifestyle. As difficult as it is for us in the “civilized” world to imagine the hunter-gatherer’s life, how much more difficult must it for be for the hunter-gatherer to conceive of our life?

I doubt either one would trade places with the other, which is what makes the situation so intriguing. Both ways of life have merits and pitfalls. Beyond that, that human beings could live such vastly different lives is a testament to the incredible diversity of our own species. It’s fascinating to consider that we have, essentially, living ancestors in the world today, people who live largely as all humans did in the remotest past of our time on this planet.

All interesting, conceptual things to consider. Which life would you choose?

With that, here is 18 August 2022’s “TBT: Rebuilding Civilization: The Hunter-Gatherer“:

The Portly Politico

One Southerner's unique, erudite, conservative perspective in a hectic world

Category: TBT