Roughly Enforcing Nostalgia, Front Door Doxologies the Plunderphonic Power Pop Band of Chicago

Roughly Enforcing Nostalgia Front Door Doxologies   The Front Door III: Ordinary Time
  (3:26) [1/5/99]
  For Mike Brunner.
  MP3
  Liner Notes

All praise to God from whom all blessings flow
& honor to Christ on the highest floe
Through whom confessions write with ease like so:
I'd play some songs while on vacation roads.
Their weapon of choice was the radio;
It never got shut off, just turn'd too low.
With Mom in back and Dad driving, I knew
They'd talk through back-to-back Chris Mills songs to
Argue on "Where's the flashlight?" &"Just who
Left it back at the site?" 'till silent flu
Enter'd resentful lungs as we sat there.
After awhile, music came back on-air;
By then Mills songs had floated on like hair
You shake out from floormats or barber's chairs.

Then Dad was coughing, fighting not to die
By reading ev'ry sign out loud we pass'd
So not to hear Mould's "Tonight's the Last Night,"
& face the lyric's pain. I, embarrass'd
(God help me), I help'd him: I read signs, too.
Some days it's hard to stare at what is true.
My favorite's when, Cal, near the end, you 'fess'd
You'd rather see rise up from dead TS
Than any relative or Balaam's blest
Talking ass; that's when you got the closest.
These days when green lights peer through the snow
& nativ'ty sets have Pietà glows,
I draw strength, too, from Eliot's "Magi,"
& think of stories to pass the bores by:

Three wise astrologer kings
Worshipped a star on the wing.
No aide-de-camp to this christening
As their crowns grew heavy nearing the jaw

Of a cave. They all went down one by one.
While that star shined like the sun
Over them, they each laid out their comparisons,
& what one had seen, the others couldn't have saw.

When Melchior had gone down first,
He had seen there an old woman named Caroline.
He talked of hopes for the next life,
& the kingdoms they'd both leave behind.
But when Balthazar went to climb down next,
He was greeted by a lady his age
Who called for alms given secret
For the poor & other counsel so sage.

It was then Caspar said, "See!
I met a girl young as me.
I spoke of reform; she agreed."
They all quaked & stared off tall as woods.

So all at once they rushed down,
But a baby boy's all they found,
&, in silence, they laid down their crowns
By His feet, & left as soon as they could.

More of a postscript than a third part of the trilogy, “Door III” nevertheless clocks in at about the same running time as “Door I”. "III”, though, has more to do with the downtime that comes between miraculous conversion and the beautiful reward, and how to enjoy God within the boredom of everyday life. "Ordinary Time" is originally a Roman Catholic term for the periods that fall between Christ's Baptism & Ash Wednesday, & later between Pentecost & the beginning of Advent. Together they make up the bulk of the liturgical calender, &, regardless of religious affiliations or best efforts, we all spend most of our life in ordinary time. Charles M Schulz called it "Post-Christmas Letdown", but maybe it's subtler than that: a shapeless noneventfulness in the middle of those memorable peaks & valleys on which we're either striving up or sliding down

Eric "The Dark Prince Of Rock" Butkus - Ebow Guitar

“I raise a voice for far superber themes for poets and for art,
To exalt the present and the real,
To teach the average man the glory of his daily walk and trade . . .

I say I bring thee Muse to-day and here,
All occupations, duties broad and close,
Toil, healthy toil and sweat, endless, without cessation,
The old, old practical burdens, interests, joys,
The family, parentage, childhood, husband and wife,
The house-comforts, the house itself and all its belongings,
Food and its preservation, chemistry applied to it,
Whatever forms the average, strong, complete, sweet-blooded man and woman, the perfect longeve personality,
And helps its present life to health and happiness, and shapes its soul,
For the eternal real life to come.”
- Walt Whitman, “Song of the Exposition” (1876)

"Don’t you know it’s hardest to be
Never high or low, always in between.”
- Chris Mills, “The Fresh Young Mouth” (1997)

“I wish I was a messenger and all the news was good
I wish I was the full moon shining off a Camaro’s hood
I wish I was an alien at home behind the sun
I wish I was the souvenir you kept your housekeys on
I wish I was the pedal break that you depended on
I wish I was the verb to trust and never let you down
I wish I was a radio song, the one that you turn up”
- Eddie Vedder, “Wishlist” (1998)

"That’s not the full moon, it’s the headlights of a sports utility vehicle.”
- Frankie Lee of WXRT Chicago (4:48 PM/3/5/99)