Oh, one more thing, entirely unrelated to the other two entries I've done so far today:

I'm supposed to refrain from all dairy products for two weeks. I don't know if I know how to eat, if it doesn't involve something dairy. There's probably cheese in or on everything I eat, plus the fact that whenever I sautee stuff, I usually do so in butter, and I like milk in my coffee, on my cereal, and with my cookies.

But. I'm supposed to refrain from dairy for two weeks. Keep a food diary, too.

I went to an allergist yesterday, for the first time ever. I was told at age 20 that I had "perennial allergic rhinitis," something that had never occurred to anybody in my family - least of all, me. I never knew as a child that other people could breathe better through their noses than I could through mine. I just assumed everybody woke up with one side of their head completely congested and the other mostly restricted. Every morning.

So at 20, I saw an otolaryngologist to have my deviated septum fixed and my tonsils removed (I was a kid when it was out of vogue to remove them, which meant that at 20 I had near-constant infection and abscesses), and after the procedure was done he also saw fit to prescribe Seldane-d for my allergies (the allergies I hadn't known I had, mind you). Lo and behold, I could breathe!

That worked a couple years, until I started having trouble sleeping, so the Seldane-d became Seldane-without-the-d, and then Seldane became a Very Unpopular Drug, and the same doctor put me on Claritin. That didn't work as well as Seldane, and I'd heard many good things about Zyrtec from other singers (whenever you get singers together they talk allergy drugs) so I picked some up when I was in Canada the next time and I've used it ever since.

But I was running out, and since I've actually got insurance again I figured I'd see a doctor and see about getting some more. So he gave me a prescription, but also the paper for the food diary, the instruction to refrain from dairy products, and told me to come back in two weeks. Oh, and I can't take the Zyrtec for two days before the return visit, as they're going to do a prick test and Zyrtec would, understandably, interfere.

So in a couple weeks I get to find out what exactly I'm allergic to (I always tell people "everything" since it's easier, shorter, and close enough to the truth). This'll be weird. At least in two weeks I can have dairy again.

link (23 sep)

So does the Olympics coverage stink? I wouldn't know.

I was thinking about this the other day, and I think the last time I saw any Summer Olympics coverage was, well, actually I don't think I can even remember when the last time I saw Summer Olympics coverage was. I haven't watched a damn thing from Sydney. I didn't watch any of Atlanta. I didn't watch any of Barcelona (I was in Germany at the time, and the only teevee available to me was a sad black and white one that was about 10 years past the point it was 10 years past its useful lifespan. Tennis? You couldn't see the ball. The Germans on my floor tried to watch fencing, and I don't know how they could stand it. You couldn't see the foils at all. It was hellish). Anyway, before Barcelona, I didn't watch Seoul (was it Seoul in 88?), before that was LA, and I think I watched LA but, y'know, I don't have any Olympic Memories from LA so maybe I didn't watch that one either. And 80 was Moscow, and I didn't watch that one either because (1) I was nine and had other things to do, and (2) there were no Americans in it.

I've watched most of the Winter Olympics over the same span, because there's less to do in Winter besides watch teevee, and because the Winter sports are just so much more fascinating to somebody from the plains. (Technically, I'm from a hilly part of a plains state, so I did grow up with greenery and not wheat and dead tallgrass, but Oklahoma is a land of football). I got really turned off Olympic coverage on the teevee during one of the ABC years, when they would cut away from a live, exciting hockey game to show an "Up Close and Personal" of some ice skater, then show you taped compulsories, then come back to the hockey game where, in the meantime, three goals had been scored. And ABC didn't see anything wrong with this.

Now, since the whole damn thing is taped this year, they're apparently more concerned with getting "good ratings" than they are with showing actual sports, and they're ruining their ratings in the process. Maybe they don't know better than us after all.

Oddly, I have actually been to a gymnastics event - it was the NCAA regionals hosted at OU when I was there. Pretty interesting, actually, for a non-fan. OU's men's team, though favored, didn't win (shocker!) but ended winning the actual national tournament a week or two later so it was possible to forgive them. That was the same year that OU's baseball team pulled out a surprise victory at the College World Series. Rah rah, go team. It was also, however, the, um, third year in a row that OU lost to Texas, Nebraska, and OSU in football (IIRC) and I believe they replaced the coach after the end of that season. Because Oklahoma, despite the baseball and gymnastics successes, is still the land of football.

link (23 sep)

Hey kids, do ya like the rock and roll?

I know I do, but I have a hard time going to rock concerts because in the land of rock audiences, the Me Decade never ended.

I've been a musician in some capacity ever since my parents plunked me into piano lessons at the tender age of five. I apparently forced their hand, as well as that of the piano teacher (Miss Jackson, her house smelled of old books, old woman, and gas heat), by being more talented than the average five year old. Miss Jackson didn't take students until they could reach an octave, and I could barely reach a fifth, but I had an ear for music. My brother and sister were both in lessons, and I would sit in the living room while my brother practiced his Beethoven sonatas and Chopin etudes, and when he finished practicing he'd get up, I'd go over to the bench, and pick out what it was he'd been playing. By ear. He was 14 and playing things that apparently are a bit more involved than the average five year old should be able to pick out.

But anyway, since I've been doing this music thing for so long, I've been on stage or in the hall more than most people, and I have to say that I don't understand what it is that makes people think rock musicians aren't due the respect that other musicians get.

There is only one difference between a rock show and any other musical performance: volume. And frankly, I could do without that, if it were possible. But it isn't. Because people seem to think that it's worth the ticket price to go somewhere a musician is playing, and then yell to make themselves heard over the music. Excuse me? Can somebody please explain the logic? There are environments much more conducive to talking than a rock concert, so if you're planning on having a conversation, why not make use of one of them instead?

See, I don't get this. If I pay to hear a band, I'm paying to hear them, not you. I don't want to hear you talk, I don't want to hear you sing along, I want to hear the people on stage, whose names are on the marquee, whom I paid to hear. The volume of the music doesn't give you permission to talk. Frankly, I'd prefer that they turn down the volume at most rock concerts, as I'm not currently deaf and the only thing that's going to make me so is hearing damage caused by attendance at too many loud concerts.

You want to dance? Great. I'm all for that. Dancing is quiet and doesn't detract from others' enjoyment of the show. You want to smoke? Please heed the rules of the venue. If it's a non-smoking venue, it won't kill you not to smoke for the two hours you're inside. If it's a smoking venue, I know that going in and I can decide if it's worth dealing with for me to see that band (and I have skipped shows because I knew that the venue would be too smoky, so I hope all you smokers enjoy your (1) concerts, (2) emphysema, and (3) lung cancer).

You want to sing? Do that in the car or the shower. Start your own band. Don't sing along with the band unless they ask you to. If they ask, I'll sing along too. But it's not about you, it's about them.

You want to tape the show? Unless the band specifically approves of taping, NO, NO, NO. The price of admission is a contract, an agreement that the performer(s) will do certain things, and you will do certain things. It does not, in any way, give you ownership of what you hear that night. You do not have the right to keep a recording of the show unless the band says so. Your ticket price allows you to experience the concert, but not to tape it. It's not about you, it's about the band.

Here's why this is important: the musician's value is in his performance. You wouldn't pay thirty bucks to hear the crazy old man singers do "Old Grey Mare." You wouldn't pay to hear somebody mimic a concert that happened before (Now! Live! These random five people imitate the concert that happened last night with air guitars and humming!), with the possible exception of those "1964" people who mock up a Beatles show, but if you read this diary you probably wouldn't pay money to hear them either (and there's the argument that what they're doing constitutes theatre and not a concert besides). So the thing that makes the concert of value at all is the musician's (or musicians') performance. "Tonight, one night only, the exact set of circumstances that will combine to make tonight's show!"

If the musician doesn't want you to tape that, it's his right and you have to respect it. He (please add "or she" wherever you see fit) makes his living by providing something unique every time he appears. That's why they call it live. You wouldn't pay to see somebody push "play" on their latest CD, would you? The concert you see exists as a unique point in space and time, which is the sole thing the musician has to offer. If the performers wish for you to respect that uniqueness and refrain from recording their performance, please do so. That uniqueness is the only thing the musician has.

(Yes, I've been to two Phish shows. Yes, I know that they encourage taping. Other bands don't. The argument that some bands allow and encourage taping, so this one should too, does not apply. There is no right or wrong, there is only Zuul, please do what the band wishes and don't apply one band's rules to another just because you think they're more favorable rules).

Sure, you bought all the CDs, and you know all the words. I did too, and I do too. But if I go to an opera, I can't sing along with the tenor just because I know how and I paid for my ticket. I can't tape it because I think it's too expensive not to do so. I can't talk to the people next to me throughout the show, because that would actually be recognized as rude behavior in any venue except for a rock show. Why don't you give rock musicians the same respect?

link (23 sep)