Marlon Brando

My brother Brian and I watched "The Young Lions" the other night.

1958. Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Dean Martin. World War II. Great movie.

So Brian tells my Mom that we watched it and she says something to the effect of.."Oh that movie is where I first fell in love with the name Christian"

Marlon Brando's character in the movie is Lieutenant Christian Diestl..... a Nazi officer.

Except for that minor detail, that would be a great story I could use:

Me: My mother named me Christian because she loved it in a Marlon Brando movie

Person: Oh wow thats so cool! What a great story! Which Brando movie?

Me: The Young Lions

Person: (awkward silence)...isn't he a Nazi in that movie?

Me: ummm yeah...but...he's not a really bad Nazi?

Person: Your Mom named you after a Nazi character from a movie?

Me: A Brando character....

Person: A Nazi Brando character...

Me: Well he is a Nazi, and he is a proud German, but he becomes dissatisfied with the path Hitler is taking Germany down and despises the war and what it has done to his country.

Person: Yeah...but your Mom named you after a Nazi.

Me: No, she got the name from a Marlon Brando movie..

Person: A movie in which he is a Nazi.

Me: (pauses) Did I say Brando in The Young Lions?...my mistake...I meant Mutiny on the Bounty...its a great story, my mother named me after Marlon Brando's character in Mutiny on the Bounty. Cool right?

Marlon Brando as Lieutenant Fletcher Christian

Video - Summer 2014

Music feeds the soul

My wife's passion for music is one of the greatest gifts she has given me over the years...don't get me wrong I have always loved music, but if it wasn't for her I would have missed out on some serious ass-kicking oddball shows and probably would have not popped into the little hole-in-the-wall places that her curiosity demands we explore. Where I would've walked right by a klezmer trio, Kelly is compelled to sit and listen for hours...and now I do too. When the local community radio station advertises an Irish-Ska-Punk band I don't even process the information, Kelly has already bought tickets. When I say "Hey, (insert name of big mainstream band) is playing at (insert name of large concert venue) next Friday, wanna go?"...Kelly says "We can't, we have tickets for Cliff Casino and The Purple Dragon Angel Dolls in the alley behind the Basement Annex Club at 11:30pm that night."...I used to scoff, now I say "awesome". (Don't google Cliff Casino and the Purple Dragon Angel Dolls or the Basement Annex Club...I made that up)

Recently, I went through our videos and took out the clips of music from our travels. There were TONS of them...hours worth of music. I clipped together a small sample of the wide variety of music we have had the privilege to enjoy over just the last seven years or so (the age of better video quality!)... if you have 10 minutes or so, and like music, check it out. There are clips from at least 30 different countries, and cities around the US as well. 

Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything. - Plato