The Rootless Tree

Music of the Day: Damien Rice, "Rootless Tree," 9

Overall, this album hasn't really grown on me, but maybe its because I haven't paid money for it yet. (I'm just streaming the whole thing here.) However, this song is really good. It's not good because it yells obscentities over and over... if it was then mainstream, pretend rap would be great--not a dig on rap, I love it. Just not most of the stuff you see on MTV. Anyway, this song is really good. Nice guitar picking followed by a hooky drum beat and an epiphany chorus.

I like music with strong expressions of emotion. These lyrics probably qualify:

So fuck youand all we've been through
i said leave it, it's nothing to you
and if you hate me then hate me so good
that you can let me out
let me out of this hell when you're around

This really doesn't express how I feel about anything in particular at the moment, but its something that I could imagine feeling or maybe how I have felt in the past.

Life is defined by the emotions we feel along the way. Music is a good way to recapture those emotions, those feelings, that we experience along the way. Without those feelings, life gets pretty boring. Sometimes I put myself back in places in my life that were incredibly difficult or trying or emotional just to remember how it felt. Most of the time, music puts me in those places. I can't listen to certain Jack Johnson songs without putting me right back in sophomore year of college with my then-girlfriend, now-wife. I can't listen to Coldplay's "The Scientist" without thinking about when we split up (pre-marriage). I can't listen to Travis Tritt's "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" without putting myself back on I-90 almost to Cooperstown.

I guess that's why I like Damien Rice. The first time I heard "Cannonball," I nearly cried. He's got alot of emotion. It's really all we got.

Athlete of the Day: Jeff Anttila, WR, Iowa Hawkeyes, 1989-1992

Famous coach Hayden Fry once called Anttila "the fastest white boy" he'd ever seen. He was the Wisconsin High School Player of the Year in 1988. And he probably was. He hurt his back during his sophomore year, and he was never the same player. There should be a wiki article on this guy. I think I'm going to start a stub. I have no idea what he's doing now. However, he would be proud to know that he is the Athlete of the Day on Deja Ecrit for December 14, 2006.