Smokies in Spring: Watching the world wake up

Signs of spring have been showing themselves in a cyclical fashion here in Knoxville for the last several weeks, from the daily chance of rain to blooming Dogwoods, one can feel the shift in seasons.

This is perhaps my favorite change in seasons, finally getting reprieve from the blustering cold and watching the beauty in our area thaw out, wake up, and bloom in full glory.

Of course, in East Tennessee there is no better place to watch this phenomenon that in the Great Smoky Mountains, and over the past week I hiked the Chimney Tops and Grotto Falls to get contrasting panoramas.

The Chimney Tops is my favorite hike in the Smokies. I consider the two-mile trek uphill one of the best tests of endurance that doesn't require an overnight pack. The clouds rolled over the neighboring mountains when I reached the summit, and the skyline was polarized black and blue across the horizon. The wind was extremely strong, and I felt as if the gale would be enough to throw me off of the rocky peak as I climbed.

Luckily, I was not blown off of the mountain, and the rain held off until I was safely in the confines of my car before it fell.

Grotto Falls was more of a leisurely stroll in comparison, being a beautiful day to hike an easy 1.4 miles.

The falls were filled with families showing marvelling children the waterfall flowing gently down a staircase of ledges.

Watching the rebirth of greenery always helps put one's own life in perspective, and the coming of Spring is always synonomus with new life. I encourage any and all to spend some time in the mountains during this temperate time of the year. Perhaps watching everything blossom will entice you to do the same.

Coal in Appalachia: Blasting, Kovarik, Martoucci, Veazey

"Coal in Appalachia," the third session of the Writing Green Conference today, brought a meeting of the minds, which led to a consequential squaring off on an issue that threatens to turn the way we think of energy upside down.

Coal, our nation's primary energy producer, is slowly ceding ground in the debate about what should be powering our country.

T.J. Blasting, research scientist for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, started the forum by discussing the issue of carbon emissions in relation to coal.

Next was Dr. Bill Kovarik, professor of communications at Radford University, as well as an editor at Appalachian Voices. Dr. Kovarik discussed the issue of journalists failing to take initiative in environmental testing, researching, and analyzing their own data.

He also spoke of TVA's lack of direction and initiative in an efficient response to the coal ash spill, or lack there of, in his opinion.

TVA was represented immediately afterwards, though, and TVA public relations coordinator Barbara Martucci went into detail about TVA's recovery steps.

Finally, Liz Veazey, campus coordinator for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, wrapped up this session by discussing student involvement and awareness, social media and the "Blogosphere" effect on catastrophes.

To listen to streams of the forum, as well as discuss some of the questions and issues raised by today's conference visit the Writing Green ning.com network.

Decemberists ignite tour with "hazardously" innovative new album.

Every so often, an album will come out that creates an audible landscape: blending from song to song in such a dynamic yet flawless fashion that upon listening to it in its entirety, the listener feels as if have taken in a panoramic view of sorts.

I love listening to these albums, closing my eyes, and letting the music paint the vast visualizations in my mind.

Coincidentally, the Decemberists released their eighth studio album, "Hazards of Love" on Capitol Records two days ago. Listening to it gave me the sensation I was observing a portion of a romantic Steinbeck novel from on high: watching the ebb and flow of open countryside, love won and love lost, majestic forest, motorcars,roaring twenties regalia, and the ability to make one feel as if they have been painted on the canvas along with everything else.

The band's nostalgic appearance, musical structuring, and album concepts makes me feel as if I have picked up a Walt Whitman original or a Robert Frost manuscript when listening, thinking to myself as it blends from song to song, "They just don't make these anymore."

"Hazards" will leave you stunned wondering where such a roller coaster ride came from, be it from the gritty, twangy blues riffs such as the one in "Won't Want For Love," or the soft crinkle of lo-fi piano keys in "The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid."

The band has launched a tour to accompany the new album, and I am pleased to know that I will be seeing them at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee this June. The tour covers the U.S. from coast to coast, and wraps up in Late July.

Typically, when someone has not listened to a band before, I will not reccommend them listen to the band's latest work, but in the case of the Decemberists, I would encourage anyone to sit down with "Hazards," relax, and enjoy the picture that is being painted beautifully before you.

You can find tour dates, tracks from the new album, and plenty of other things on their website.

"The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid:"

Spring break travels: My first experience in the Ohio River Valley

Spring break came last week, and I had the customary urge to travel.

A neighbor from the Pittsburgh area, Weirton, WV, to be exact, asked me if I would like to go visit the area for a couple days and check out Pittsburgh.

So we secured a place to stay, packed a bag, and drove overnight.

A great experience indeed, and with as much beauty as there was coming out of a tunnel to see the endless bridges connecting the shining buildings of Pittsburgh, encircled by the Ohio River, to the outlying areas, one would be led to believe that such a brash name as the "Steel City" was figurative, or inappropriate altogether.


Allow me to digress.

Pittsburgh in itself is a shining metropolis that houses the reigning Super Bowl champions, distinguished universities such as the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University,Dusquesne University, and various other enterprises and communities that make it both an economic and cultural hub.

I was enthralled by the city, despite coming from a massive metropolis like Chicago, Pittsburgh had a charm that really captivated me.

In the outlying areas, though, the colossus gave way to a vast landscape of granite: quarry walls bleeding pewter into the skyline and vice versa, skeletal trees and massive steel mill buildings, windows into the industrial revolution around the river valley during America's production boom, and its subsequent threat of extinction within today's global economy.

I plan on researching the topic more, and will keep posting as I reflect and research.

Goodnight Rose: reflections on Ryan Adams' last tour

Ryan Adams, one of the most prolific songwriters of the past twenty years, recently married pop princess Mandy Moore, and in turn, has been rumored to be settling down and taking a break from music.

Ryan Adams has been one of my favorite artists since I was going into high school, and I was lucky enough to get two tickets and see him at the beautiful Fox Theater in Atlanta on March the 20th for his last show of the tour.

The eclectic crowd waiting outside looked like children about to open Christmas presents before the gates opened. The venue was breathtaking, and its pristine layout only added to the anticipation that the show that lay before everyone was about to be of historic proportions. One could literally feel the energy coming from all of these things culminating, leading to a electric atomosphere.

My expectations for this show were extremely high, and on the drive to Atlanta, I began to build up an anxiety that my hopes were in vain, that Ryan Adams was going to "go through the motions," and that I would leave the theater disappointed.

I could not have been more incorrect.

Ryan Adams is notorious for his brash, almost confrontational stage presence, yet when he spoke to the audience he seemed cheery and that helped spread a very positive vibration through the crowd.

The setlist was colossal, and spanned every era of his time spent with the band he has worked with for the past several years, The Cardinals as well as his years as a solo artist.

Here is the setlist:

Set 1:

• Magick
• Let it Ride
• Two
• Everybody Knows
• Beautiful Sorta
• Mockingbird
• Dear Chicago
• Blue Hotel
• Cold Roses
• Natural Ghost
• Easy Plateau
• Bartering Lines
• Fix It
• Magnolia Mountain
• Please, Do Not Let Me Go
• Peaceful Valley
• Freeway to the Canyon

Set 2:

• When the Stars go Blue
• Sink Ships
• Oh My Sweet Carolina
• Grand Island
• I See Monsters
• Come Pick Me Up
• Rescue Blues
• Wonderwall
• Goodnight Rose

I also thought I would add a Youtube video of one my most memorable moments during the show, "When the Stars Go Blue":

M. Ward's newest album finds substance with simplicity

Folk rock artist M. Ward has recently released his seventh full-length studio album, Hold Time, on Merge Records.

I have a predisposition to folk music , but all biases aside, this is one of the most aesthetically pleasing albums I have listened to thus far in 2009.

Ward's voice is comparable to a resonate breeze, masterfully used in harmony with his sharp, smart, lyrics to create his own warm, full sound in and of himself. Musical structure is simplistic, but throughout the album there are a variety of harmonic and melodic subtleties that are equalized lower to complement Ward's voice.

The tracks on the album are very sporadic, and Ward dances around the edges of the folk spectrum by infusing poppy chordal aspects of Rock n' Roll in the song "Never Had Nobody Like You," to the nocturnal, minor-keyed, "Outro," in which Ward does not sing.

I would recommend this album to anyone interested in finding quality contemporary folk as well as to the seasoned folk enthusiast.

Endangered species: We're finally...back to where we started?

I was reading The Guardian this evening, and found quite an enlightening article by Suzanne Goldenberg announcing that Barack Obama had changed back the Endangered Species Act to its previous form before the Bush era.

You may be like me, surprised that the Bush Administration had made any alterations to a bill protecting our country's rarest species from extinction, or perhaps you were instantly irritated by either George Bush's seeming indifference to public opinion or Barack Obama's fervor for changing things.

Reading further, I found that the Bush Administration had changed the bill so that government agencies alone had the authority to decide whether or not massive construction projects would be endangering any animal species.

Obama said that the process of preserving our nation's natural resources can be in harmony with economic development, and that the bill was "undermined" by prior administrations.

I am personally relieved that such a gross misconduct coming from an administration on the way out has been righted. In these coming days, we must not forget those intangible things within our environment that we will not be replenished of.

Here is a clip of Obama's announcement from the Washington Post: