Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

The jury literally has a bell they can ring to force Trump to show up on command. Greatest thing ever!

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

We’re not going back!

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Never forget that he train is barreling down on Trump, even as he dances on the tracks.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

This blog will pay for itself.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

The willow is too close to the house.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Tentative Good News, John Prine Edition

Tentative Good News, John Prine Edition

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John Prine is one of the true giants of American songwriting. He’s been killing it for half a century, and over and over again he’s produced songs that are the musical expression of folk’s souls. Lots of members of this blog community have favorites, essential expressions of some part of their lives, experience, the people they’ve become.

So I know I wasn’t the only one kicked in the teeth to learn yesterday that John had contracted COVID-19, and had flipped intocritical condition, on a ventilator and, as a stomach-and-lung cancer survivor, not the most robust guy to begin with.

I feared the worst over the night, but a few hours ago, his wife, Fiona Whelan Prine sent this out:

I’m hoping, and sending all the good thoughts I can. Times like these, we can’t afford to lose any of our laureates. We need them to sing us home.

With that, let’s have some Prine.

First: Joan Baez singing this get-well cover:

Now, a tiny fraction of what I’d call favorites. Truly, Prine’s been so good so long, it’s hard just to pick a couple. Fill in all the many gaps in this list in the comments.

And because we can’t live by melancholy alone, and John Prine certainly loves him some goof:

https:

Over to y’all.

ETA: just banned a commenter who insisted on driving the thread off topic with a well litigated bit of dirty tricks. I’m going to remove the comments that responded to said troll; please don’t be offended. I’m hoping that this post and comments can become a place to take some hope and pleasure in a great American artist.

Reader Interactions

186Comments

  1. 1.

    Origuy

    I used to see him in Champaign when I was in college. He would usually play with Steve Goodman, another great songwriter who died too young. I saw him once at a Lake Tahoe casino, of all places, opening for k d lang. I got a seat in the first row of tables.

  5. 5.

    CaseyL

    @oatler.: What happens when the oatmeal wins? You don’t get to eat it?

    Not familiar with Prine’s work, but I do hope he pulls through. We’re losing these giants of our youth at a fearful rate.

  7. 7.

    Scout211

    I saw that Joan Baez video clip this morning. What an amazing song. I loved that song when she released it in her album, Diamonds and Rust in 1975. And what a lovely tribute to John Prine today.

  8. 8.

    Catherine D.

    Prine/Goodman’s ultimate country song: You Never Even Called Me by My Name. Also Paradise.

  10. 10.

    Mary G

    I’m already heartsick of seeing people on Twitter announcing the deaths of loved ones, so this made me happy.

  11. 11.

    Brachiator

    I did not know his work very well, but I know that he inspired and influenced many artists whose work I treasure.

    I certainly send my best wishes to him and his family.

    And sadly, there may be more folks we admire who may be brought low by this terrible illness.

  12. 12.

    No One of Consequence

    The rendition on the album was up-tempo and a completely different feel. This one sounds like a son that recently lost a father. At least that’s what I hear. Damn near brings me to tears everytime:

    My Mexican Home

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiFwquTr8sM

    and the next is a cover, but also brings me to stillness upon hearing it:

    That’s How Every Empire Falls

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsu2oASd6x8

    Peace to all, stay safe, play nice damnit, and go wash your hands,

    Fish and a whistle for the in-crowd,

    – NOoC

  14. 14.

    Mike in NC

    I heard several John Prine songs played back-to-back on the car radio a few years ago, so I thought he might have passed away. Happily, it was just a birthday tribute.

  15. 15.

    Miss Bianca

    Oh, this is good news. I was sick with dread when I heard he had contracted COVID-19.

  16. 16.

    Miss Bianca

    @Omnes Omnibus: My ex and I used to do that one with our band The Bitter Pills back in the day. Highlight of our Christmas shows! ; )

    We also did “Angel from Montgomery” during non-holiday seasons.

  17. 17.

    MP

    @Catherine D.: And their duet of Souvenirs is a thing of beauty. It has one of my favorite verses of any song:

    “I hate graveyards and old pawn shops/For they always bring me tears/I can’t forgive the way they’ve robbed me/Of my childhood souvenirs”

  19. 19.

    Aleta

    Fiona Whelan Prine @FionaPrine
    I need to clarify what I mean by “John is stable”. That is not the same as improving. There is no cure for Covid-19. He needs our prayers and love – as do the thousands of others who are critically ill. Stay at home. Wash your hands. We love you.

  20. 20.

    oldster

    A giant. As important for the raw male confessional as Joni Mitchell was for the female confessional.

    And needless to say (maybe?) confessional is closely related to those perfect miniature vignettes that tell a story. “Me and Loretta….”

  23. 23.

    Aleta

    Linda Goes to Mars ·

    I just found out yesterday that Linda goes to Mars
    Every time I sit and look at pictures of used cars
    She’ll turn on her radio and sit down in her chair
    And look at me across the room, as if I wasn’t there

  24. 24.

    J R in WV

     

    Oh Daddy, Won’t you take me
    Back to Mulenberg County,
    Down to the Green River,
    Where Paradise lies.

    Well I’m sorry my son,
    but you’re too late in askin’
    Mr Peabody’s Coal Train
    Has carried it away.

    From memory, sure I’ve messed it up a little bit. Years ago back when Danny and I drove all over KY, IN, and Ohio collecting rocks and digging up geodes and crystals, we were driving west in far western Kentucky when I saw, beside the 4 lane, “Welcome to Mulenberg County.”

    It was Really Flat there, because of the strip mining that carried it away on Mr. Peabody’s Coal Train. Just west we found Marion Ky, where the mining was long ago for Fluro-Spar, fluorite used as flux in Steel Mill blast furnaces. I have some nice rocks from around Marion.

    Danny and I were best buddies for years of collecting rocks from Maine to Colorado and Wyoming. Danny died from a hereditary dementia called PIck’s Disease quite a while ago. He knew it was a threat, he talked about his uncles dying from it once in a while.

    I’m pretty really glad to hear John Prine might pull it out, he’s truly a great American icon. As a young man he was one of those whose songs we sang around campfires at outdoor parties. I fit into his range, somehow. I know the Trump Plague is going to take a lot of beloved American icons away from us way too early. We just have to deal with it.

    I’m old enough to have already lost beloved people to ordinary death, cancer mostly, and heart disease mixed with diabetes. It is still hard, every time.

    Every time!

     

    ETA to fix those lyrics up a little bit…

  26. 26.

    Ruckus

    I think I need someone to talk me down.

    I’m 70, I want another 25 yrs, just so mom can be proud/jealous of me outlasting her. But life can be so harsh, temporary, and unforgiving. I’ve had so much medical crap over the last few years, it’s almost like I’m seeing my youth again, but with fewer expectations and hope, along with 70 yrs of experience. I find myself alone, which has been the way most of my adult life, which is both a good and not so good thing. I find a lot disturbs me these days, people’s hatred of other humans, people’s stupidity, which of course has always been with us and always will but seems worse in it’s willfulness and in that we charge so much to learn what humanity actually knows now, that stupidity will get worse before it gets better. It isn’t that mammon is new, it’s the second oldest story in life, it’s that we know it doesn’t have to be this bad. And more than any of this it’s that it seems like the road to better is paved with bad intentions.

    The last few days of voluntary self confinement is wearing on me, even as I know and understand that it’s necessary for both my and other’s health. I imagine that others are feeling the same, or worse and hearing the news about the deaths and the fucking stupidity and selfishness of what seems like nearly half our population doesn’t help.

  27. 27.

    CarolPW

    One of his newest songs is When I get to Heaven. I enjoyed it when it came out because it sounds like he is planning to have a lot of fun, but please not yet! Not interested in hearing it now until he gets better again.

  28. 28.

    ThresherK

    @Catherine D.: You Never Even Called Me by My Name

    Add a tip of the hat to David Allan Coe, who imitates Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, and Charley Pride in the lines mentioning these three.

  29. 29.

    OldDave

    First heard John In the early 70s when Paradise, Hello in There, etc. came out. Saw him in concert opening for the Cowboy Junkies in 1993 or so, and multiple times at local venues since. I so hope he survives in good health.

  31. 31.

    Robby-D

    @Ruckus: lots of love from here in Canada. There are lots and lots of good people in the world – I wish you could see my Facebook feed. Please have hope, try not to let it get you down, and maybe make a list of all the silver linings this giant dark cloud brings.  I’ll give you a couple I’ve noticed:

    1) We’ll have better hygiene and seasonable illness will cause fewer lost work days and cost us fewer of our beloved elderly

    2) Social distancing has been in place here since before our gov’t recommended it, and people are getting better at it, being friendlier than usual.

    3) The helpers and good people are really coming out. On Facebook I have so many friends asking where they can donate masks they’ve acquired, who needs grocery pickups, etc.

    I’ve had lots of friends I haven’t talked to recently suddenly reaching out and we’re doing video calls (!)  It’s a good way to stay in touch, give it a try. Pls hang in there!

  33. 33.

    pika

    @Ruckus: I am so glad you are in the world.

    I’m an English professor who finds comfort in these words from “A Dialogue, intitled, The Kind Master and the Dutiful Servant,” a 1778 poem by Jupiter Hammon, an enslaved New Yorker.

    The “dutiful” servant in the poem proves anything but, as he gives himself the last words in the dialogue, including this banger of a stanza:

    Believe me now my Christian friends/Believe your friend call’d HAMMON;/ You cannot to your God attend,/And serve the God of Mammon.”

    I’ve used the stanza on social media sometimes in less than kindness, and meditating on it offers me both balm and an imaginary cudgel. I hope that makes you smile.

  34. 34.

    J R in WV

     

    And I got to say, I have a hard time imagining anyone trolling in a thread in honor of a great American musician and his close call with Trump’s Plague.

    How low, how small, how glad I am that Tom took care of that rat bastard long before I came along to see the thread.

    And may I be the first to say — Fuck ’em, the rat bastard!!

  36. 36.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Ruckus:

    Sending you love and affection.

    …And now I have a Joan Armatrading song playing in my head. If you’re a music lover, may a song you love be soon playing in yours.

  37. 37.

    Jay

    @Ruckus:

    watch the Ryan Renolds clip I retweeted,

    have a good cry,

    get some sleep,

    don’t touch your face,

    wash your hands,

    tomorrow is a new day,

    and your Momma didn’t raise no quitters.

    Tomorrow, figure out a way to be helpful in a time of Covid19, so that you don’t feel so isolated from the world.

    or, the day after tomorrow, or the day after that.

  38. 38.

    Tom Q

    When I was at Northwestern 50 years ago, John Prine was the guy everyone loved — a folkie’s folkie, but universal enough that Bette Midler covered his stuff.  Always especially loved Sam Stone, Donald and Lydia, Hello in There.  And Your Flag Decal…  embodied the times beautifully.

    He was always sort of a cult figure — there are people I know who’ve never heard of him.  But a real artist, and I hope he makes it through this.

  39. 39.

    Ruckus

    @tybee:

    One of the best for sure.

    His work just feels so right. Even if it’s not your style, you can appreciate what he says and how he says it.

  40. 40.

    JanieM

    @Ruckus: Hey Ruckus, you are one of the people I always look for when I check in here — you were probably the first jackal to be directly kind to me, and to connect with me as one human being to another in the midst of the whirlwind of quick comments and repartee that this place can be.

    I too am 70. And funny you should mention another 25 years — I think we’ve exchanged wry observations about our mothers in the past. Well, I’m sitting here in Maine while my 96 y.o. mother gets more and more frail and confused out in Ohio, with the health problems piling up, and treatment almost impossible now with COVID-19 in the way, and my brother no longer able to visit her nightly because of the virus. And the treatment decisions wouldn’t be easy in any case. I feel like, if it were me I would want to just go peacefully now. But maybe if I were 96 I would want another day, and one more, and one more after that.

    Anyhow — hang in there.  This sucks, and it’s going to keep sucking for a while.  I do let myself shed some tears sometimes, because why not? Then I listen to some music, try to stop obsessing about steep curves, and get back to something relatively productive.

  43. 43.

    Mary G

    @Ruckus: It is hard not to sink into a funk in this timeline and I’ve done it more than once this month that seems like it’s lasted several decades. Please know that you are precious to me and I hope you can pull up and out soon.

  45. 45.

    Josie

    @Ruckus:

    I always look for your comments and think about them for a while afterwards.  You have so much wisdom to share and are generous to a fault.  Please don’t feel alone.  You are not.  Maybe we are not there physically, but many of us depend on you and the things you explain to us.  You are special.

  47. 47.

    mrmoshpotato

    Thanks for the post – and to everyone suggesting additional songs in the comments.

  49. 49.

    The Dangerman

    Sad to say I’ve never seen John Prine. Sounds like good news tonight however.

    Have seen Joan Baez twice though; I think she gave up touring a year or 2 ago. Her shows were excellent.

    Oh and thanks for dropping the banhammer before I got here.

  50. 50.

    CarolPW

    @Ruckus: I earnestly wish you lived accross the driveway from me and we could sit on our respective patios and talk (at a slightly elevated volume) about how shit is all fucked up beyond belief. I’m 69 and have gone through lots of unusual bad medical stuff too and understand the need to isolate. You are valued by this community and I hope it gives you some solace.

  51. 51.

    Another Scott

    @Ruckus: Others have said it better, but hang in there.

    Things are moving so very fast now, but they will turn in a better direction before we know it.  We’ve got a big job ahead, but we will make things better.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  53. 53.

    Ruckus

    Thanks everyone.

    I’ll be OK, I’ve seen worse.

    I’ve been hit head on by a truck. And I wasn’t in a car. Walked away.

    I’ve lost two businesses, 1st – earthquake (that truck was 3 days later, a little shit desert) and 2nd – a fucking republican recession. (Party of economic conservation my ass) I had friends who fared worse than me in both. So maybe I am lucky.

    But this feels so far different because it’s not true any of us can see the other side here. We have to do what’s unnatural to us – and hide. It feels like the shit sundae after the shit sandwich of trump. I’ve given more to political races in the last month than I ever have before. And it feels somewhat like doubling down with 18 showing. But I see no other way.

    I needed to vent. I’m sure I’ll need to vent again, we have a long way to go. Just because the curve flattens doesn’t mean we are out of the woods, it just means that the separation is working. It’s like you’ve broken up and your ex isn’t actively looking to kill you. Might if the opportunity arises but isn’t hunting you with live ammo. That’s separation, and it’s still dangerous until your ex finds another sucker – or the actual love of their lives.

  54. 54.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Just banned a commenter who insisted on driving the thread off topic with a well litigated bit of dirty tricks. I’m going to remove the comments that responded to said troll; please don’t be offended. I’m hoping that this post and comments can become a place to take some hope and pleasure in a great American artist.

    Say what??? I didn’t even say anything! Oh, wait minute, you were talking about someone else.

  56. 56.

    Mai naem mobile

    @Ruckus: I am probably not the ideal person to talk you off the ledge because I am very anxious myself nowadays but I try and look forward and look towards July. I also think staying off the politics/COVID stuff may be good for your mental health. I’ve gone to reading escapist garbage and positive  chickensoup for the soul stuff to get my brain off this but it’s really hard. I don’t know if you can walk in your neighborhood doing the social distance stuff but I know you have to be careful because of your cancer history.

  57. 57.

    Honus

    blue umbrella rest upon my shoulder

    just give me one more season

    so I can figure out the other four

    this one is tough. I really hope he makes it.

  58. 58.

    NotMax

    @OzarkHillbilly

    It was all particularly egregious and flagrantly out of place. Thank you, Tom.

    Were I granted one wish when he/she appeared, it would have been for him/her to instantaneously develop a dozen more orifices I could tell him/her to blow it out of.

  60. 60.

    Don K

    @Miss Bianca:

    Yes! “Angel from Montgomery” is great. And Bonnie Raitt’s cover owns the song – truly heartfelt.

    Then there’s the one with the chorus that goes, “Oh you may see me tonight with an illegal smile, it don’t cost very much, but it lasts a long while…” What’s it called? “Illegal Smile”?

    I loved Prine from way back without knowing it, and aware of it since I was in grad school in Indiana in the 70s.

    Now off to listen to Bonnie sing “Angel”.

  61. 61.

    Honus

    I saw John Prine (for the third or fourth time) in 1984 in Old Cabell Hall at UVA, which is where the symphony plays and so has wonderful acoustics. It was the day after his close friend Steve Goodman died. He dedicated Paradise to Steve that night.

  62. 62.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Ruckus:

    Things sound pretty rough for you. I know I’m getting sick of being cooped up inside, a few trips outside notwithstanding. Hang in there and know you’re doing the right thing by staying home.

    Do you have anybody you can call and talk to? You already have all of us here

  63. 63.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Ruckus: {{{ }}}.  I always look forward to reading your comments and the stories you tell. This social distancing is harder than I first realized. So I can somewhat empathize with what you are going through.

  65. 65.

    Ruckus

    @NotMax:

    You old fart.

    Yeah if you’ve made it this far, the end is closer than the beginning no matter how far that last page is.

     

    Maybe we need some sort of venting post. Have no idea what that might look like, or if it would make things better. Or worse. But sayings like this one, out of literature or song might just be what we all need to at least bring a bit of laughter to this.

    Laughter is after all is the best medicine.

    On the last day of her life, my sister threw a party for mom’s birthday, which that day was, in her hospice room. After everyone else left it was the two of us, we talked for a few moments, she said she was tired, gave me a nice smile and went to sleep. She was gone  less than an hour later, with a smile. She had style and grace when she needed it. May we all be so blessed when it’s our turn. Decades from now.

  66. 66.

    Fair Economist

    @Ruckus: I may get yelled at, but now that we’ve been under stay at home almost 2 weeks, visiting other people who’ve also been home 2 weeks becomes a moderate risk activity, as long as you’re part of a small closed group (none of the visitors visit anybody outside of the group).

  67. 67.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Ruckus: I hear you. There’s a lot of ugliness out there, and at the moment, it feels like the ugly is in charge.  There’s a lot of good too though. I think it’s a moment for the serenity prayer.

    I also find myself chanting the prayer of Julian of Norwich. “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

    Julian was evidently a cockeyed optimist, but I do find the chant soothing, especially in the middle of the night.

  69. 69.

    West of the Rockies

    A bit OT, but is Covid19 the same as SARS-CoV-2?  I’m suddenly seeing that 2nd term in stories.

  73. 73.

    joel hanes

    Saw Prine live in a lounge of the student union at Grinnell College, fall 1971.   He sat on a hay bale and did pretty much the whole first album for an audience of maybe a hundred people.

    I’ve loved his stuff ever since.

  76. 76.

    NotMax

    @Ruckus

    I may not perform it as often. I may not relish it as lengthily. But I adamantly and intractably refuse to slap a cease and desist order on laughter.

  77. 77.

    CaseyL

    @Ruckus: {{Hugs}}

    Everything is fluid, and changing all the time.  There is a chance – small but real – that the sheer horribleness we’ve been enduring (and I don’t mean just the virus and lockdown) will bring out our better angels throughout the country.

    I’ve been so very down at times, too.  But then I get curious:  what comes next?  What happens now?   And curiosity keeps me going.

  78. 78.

    Hob

    @West of the Rockies: To clarify what L85NJGT said, the two are referring to 1. the disease that is going around and 2. the specific virus that causes it, respectively. COVID-19 is short for “the COronaVIrus Disease that started in 2019”. SARS-CoV-2 is “the second type of coronavirus that can cause a sudden acute respiratory syndrome”; the previous disease that was called SARS was caused by the related virus now known as SARS-CoV-1.

  79. 79.

    RedDirtGirl

    @Ruckus: I’m sorry that things look so bleak right now. Thanks for sharing that. I wish there was more to be done than kind words on a blog, but that’s all I’ve got at the moment. You are a part of this wacky community and you are precious.

  80. 80.

    joel hanes

    @Ruckus:

    I’m reading Larson’s _The_Splendid_And_The_Vile_, a recounting of Churchill’s role in WW II.   So far it’s been mostly the blitz.   The sense of impending doom, the inability to see the future, the helplessness, the absurd turns of luck that make the difference between life and death, the boredom and isolation and inconvenience ….

    by comparison, most of us don’t have it so bad.

    Also, the natural world abides.   When I get the mullygrubs, I take a walk, or sit for a while in the back yard and watch the birds.

  85. 85.

    laura

    @Ruckus: my dear unmet friend. Rest in comfort tonight wrapped in the truth that you’re well regarded by so many people who may never get to see you or hear your voice but who admire you non the less. I’m one. I think of you as one of my beloved “bad uncles” up for a good time, forged by hard times. I’d go see John Prine with you in a hot minute.

    So John Prine – first saw him in 93 when he toured with the Cowboy Junkies and they took turns opening and headlining and have seen him a bunch over the years (hardly, strictly bleegrass represent!). In Spite of Ourselves is “Our Song” and it makes spouse cry every doggone time. He can pry open a soul with the fewest of words and then abides in the heart. I wish him all the strength and healing to get over this tribulation.

  90. 90.

    Aleta

    @Ruckus:

    So few grains of happiness
    measured against all the dark
    and still the scales balance.
    The world asks of us
    only the strength we have and we give it.
    Then it asks more, and we give it.

    from The Weighing
 by Jane Hirshfield

  91. 91.

    Ruckus

    @JanieM:

    Mom made it to the day before her 95th birthday. Why I’m looking that far ahead. Up until the last couple of years she was about the same as her previous decades. Told this story once. Mom was one who got an idea in her head about you needed and the only way to not hear that was to have her figure out something else you needed.  When I was in my early 50s she decided that I needed a date with one of her friend’s daughters. Now I lived 2500 miles away but that was not a consideration, only her idea was important. So every time we talked, phone or face to face, the first thing out of her mouth was you need to date my friends daughter. In 6 months of this I never heard the woman’s name. Now mom and I got along pretty good we mostly interacted as adults so at the end of this 6 months I was visiting and walked in her house and guess what the first thing out of her mouth was, and no it wasn’t hello. So, being tired of this game and all I asked the question that most would never ask mom. “Does she fuck?” And of course mom, without looking up or pausing or gasping for breath or raising her voice, in the most normal tone, answered, “I don’t know you’ll have to ask her yourself.” That was the last word I ever heard about this woman I’ve never met.

  95. 95.

    raven

    From his latest album

     
    Lonesome Friends of Science
     

    The lonesome friends of science say
    “The world will end most any day”
    Well, if it does, then that’s okay
    ‘Cause I don’t live here anyway
    I live down deep inside my head
    Well, long ago I made my bed
    I get my mail in Tennessee
    My wife, my dog, my kids, and me

  96. 96.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    wouldn’t know where to start on a favorite John Prine song, but maybe we could use an upbeat one

    Fish and whistle, whistle and fish
    Eat everything that they put on your dish
    When we get through we’ll make a big wish
    That we never have to do this again, again? again?

  98. 98.

    joel hanes

    Noisemaker noisemaker

    You have no complaint

    You are what you are

    And you ain’t what you ain’t

    So listen up, buster, and listen up good

    Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood

    signed:  Dear Abby

  99. 99.

    burnspbesq

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    You gotta get out every day, even if it’s only for a 30-45 minute walk through the neighborhood. Exercise occupies your mind if you let it. Focus on the task. Or take headphones and dig deep into the music.

  101. 101.

    danielx

    @Ruckus:

    This.

    Seen so many idols of my youth go through the western gate in the last few years, and this will take more of them.* Along with people a lot closer than that, though I hope not. I hope John Prine recovers, to the extent that he can – Illegal Smile all by itself should make him a legend.

    *Eric Clapton turned 75 today, speaking of people I truly hope are not taken by this thing.

  102. 102.

    JanieM

    @Ruckus: Heh. I think last time this came up we had evidence that our mothers were quite similar in some meta way. The idea mine usually had in her head was that nothing — and I mean nothing — could happen without her involvement. Blowing your nose, choosing an apple from a bowl….

    During the last time visit I made out there before she was taken to the hospital and then the nursing home, I got up to go get a drink of water, and she didn’t stop giving me instructions until I got back to the living room and erupted. (Which I should have done 50 years ago, not that it would have done any good.)  “Run the water so it gets cold.” “I have cold water in the fridge.” “The glasses are in the cupboard to the left.” Etc. etc.

    ******

    Thanks for the story about your sister. It brings up a lot of thoughts, but maybe for another time.

  103. 103.

    raven

    @eemom: Everything on that album is great. This one was tough after my old man, the salt, died

     

     

    There’s a rainbow of babies
    Draped over the graveyard
    Where all the dead sailors
    Wait for their brides
    And the cold bitter snow
    Has strangled each grassblade
    Where the salt from their tears
    Washed out with the tide

  105. 105.

    Sherparick

    1. @Origuy: God save John Prine. I also remember him & Steve Goodman playing small concerts & coffeehouses in Chicago in late seventies. After 36 years I still miss Steve who died to early of leukemia. John & Fiona Prine have helped keep Steve’s memory alive.
  108. 108.

    West of the Rockies

    Ruckus, add my name to the list of peeps who look forward to the humor, wisdom, and cantankerous warmth of your comments.  If you want to phone chat a stranger, I’d be up for it.  Email a FPer to let me know if you have any interest.  If you don’t wish to, absolutely no worries. You’re a high value jackyl.

  110. 110.

    JanieM

    @Aleta: More Jane Hirshfield, this one from “Lake and Maple” :

    There is a lake,
    Lalla Ded sang, no larger
    than one seed of mustard,
    that all things return to.
    O heart, if you
    will not, cannot, give me the lake,
    then give me the song.

  111. 111.

    opiejeanne

    @Ruckus: Hi Ruckus. I am also 70, and want at least another 30 years. I want mr opiejeanne to have at least 28 more years, because he isn’t allowed to go first. Who would clean up the cat barf if he did?

  112. 112.

    Inspectrix

    I have so many memories associated with John Prine’s music.

    my husband and I went to our first concert together to see him on tour for Lost Dogs and Missed Blessings.

    ”It’s a half an inch of water and you think you’re gonna drown” misheard as “a Happenin’ chihuahua, and you think you’re gonna drown”

    my sweetie and I love to revel in the absolute train wreck of a song that is Lake Marie. We often quote it like others might quote Monty Python. Shadows!  Like some ssshhharp object!

    Your Flag decal won’t get you into heaven anymore… this biting critique of cheap patriotism never goes out of style, unfortunately.

    John, you are the most happenin’ chihuahua and I hope you pull through.

  116. 116.

    Ruckus

    @pika:

    That looks better laid out.

    Believe me now my Christian friends

    Believe your friend call’d HAMMON;

    You cannot to your God attend,

    And serve the God of Mammon.”

    @Mai naem mobile:

    I try to walk every day 2-3 miles. It helps. Everyone is real good with distance and I see people who should have started walking long ago.

    @NotMax:

    Yeah it’s sometimes pretty damn hard to find a laugh. Someone on twitter this morning had me almost fall off the couch. It helps a lot to find something to laugh about. In the navy most everyone had a short timer’s calendar. You can imagine what the picture was of and where the last day was located. At least you can if your mind is in the gutter.

    @laura:

    A bad uncle. Damn that could be good or harsh. At least I try not to be the uncle that everyone has to watch at the family gathering, to make sure that he’s not loitering around the nieces.

    @Scuffletuffle:

    That’s all it takes……

     

    Damn I don’t know how long I’ve been coming here but I’d bet it’s at least a decade, possibly more, I think 2007 or 2008. I know that it’s a lot like home for a lot of us, some have other homes, a few of us don’t really any more. I really appreciate the comments. I’m OK, I just get down every so often and this is one of those times that seems like I can see the sun up ahead but no matter how fast you walk you can never get there. Work was a place to lose myself at, this practice retirement stuff took that away. It’s just me, myself and I, Netflix, some DVDs and y’all. I like the respite threads and am glad that I missed the shithead de jour.

  119. 119.

    dnfree

    @Ruckus: My grandmother, who lived to be 98, used to say “No one wants to live to be 90 except a person who’s 89.”  Wishing you a good life as long as you’re able to enjoy it. The stupid/malicious people do seem more visible now than they did in our hopeful youth, and that’s discouraging.

  121. 121.

    J R in WV

    @raven:

    I’m partial to Sam Stone for some reason.

    Yes, that one too. Angle from Montgomery, Paradise, so many great songs. In one sense John Prine may live a very long time through his music.

    So many people who create music are also poets and philosophers who will love on through their words and melodies.

  122. 122.

    Ruckus

    @raven:

    Can not remember from who but I used to hear close the light regularly. Probably in the navy but I don’t recall. Just the words, not the who.

  124. 124.

    The Dangerman

    Anyone know why the YouTube advertisements have gone to shit lately? Tonight was the Epoch Times. Earlier, it was some pole polishing of Trump (I think I was supposed to take a poll about how great he is doing). Youtube is Google, right? So, is it just sellout for the almighty dollar and/or try to drive me to subscribing?

    I’ve got your subscribing right here, Youtube (sorry for the pointing, Mom).

  125. 125.

    Daddio7

    Never heard of him myself. Hopefully the news will play some of his stuff, who knows, I might like it.

  127. 127.

    MomSense

    @Ruckus:

    Sending a hug, Ruckus.

    ETA The Maine CDC director Says something so smart in his briefings.  He is calling on us to physically distance and encouraging us to talk to each other, be supportive for each other.

    So here we are all physically very distant, but socially together supporting each other.

  128. 128.

    Amir Khalid

    @The Dangerman:

    I use Adblock Plus. I don’t see ads at all on YouTube videos, only at the top of my home page and that is easily ignored. Except when the ad is actually part of the video, which happens more and more nowadays.

  129. 129.

    danielx

    @Ruckus:

    question – two actually:

    1) you were a sailor right? and

    2) am I correct in my assumption it’s impossible to maintain social distancing on a ship?

  130. 130.

    Elizabelle

    @Ruckus:  Hang in there, bud.  You have no idea how much you lift our spirits.  Another virtual hug on the way to you.

  132. 132.

    Elizabelle

    For us jackasses in suspense:  who was the offending troll who got banhammered (and I do love the sound of that word)?  Was it one of the usuals, or who …?

  133. 133.

    James E Powell

    Maybe it’s just the perverse light of nostalgia, but it seems like we used to draw a more entertaining class of trolls. Où sont les trolls d’antan?

  135. 135.

    JanieM

    @MomSense: I love Dr. Shah. I call him “the rock star.” Between him, the governor, and the ASL interpreter, the mid-day press briefings are a highlight of the day. Not that the news is good, but that I’m at least grateful that the people running things in this state are both competent and compassionate.

  137. 137.

    CaseyL

    There is a NY nurse on twitter who’s posting some amazing information about how COVID patients are presenting, and the symptoms as they progress. I’m not sure if anyone here would be interested, but she is Leah Horwitz. She’s talking primarily to other providers, so her tweets have a lot of medical jargon (that I had to look up).

    She has also included tips for HC providers who need to change in and out of PPE quickly and frequently.

    Fascinating reading. We owe more to our frontline medical providers than we could ever repay, in any coin. (Stuff like this makes me all the more furious about who our society decides should be earning gigabucks; it’s hardly ever the people who improve the world.)

  138. 138.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    Meanwhile, in Tuscaloosa:

    TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WIAT) — Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox implemented a 24-hour curfew that began Sunday and will last until at least April 11. The Mayor

    Maddox said he hopes the curfew would slow down the spread of COVID-19, but not everyone is on board with his plan, including councilman Kip Tyner.

    “I think what we were doing closing the bars and restaurants was good enough,” Tyner said. “I think this will ruin the economy another two weeks with people with no paychecks.”

    Maddox said the measure is the best direction to take to protect citizens.

    “I made this decision because the promise of tomorrow depends on what we do right now,” Maddox said. “To protect the health of our families and the health care system here in our community.”

  142. 142.

    burnspbesq

    @CaseyL:

    in related news, Medtronic is granting a royalty-free license to all of the design and engineering data for one of its popular ventilator models to anybody who’d like to crank up a production line. Apparently it comes out of discussions with Tesla.

  143. 143.

    Steeplejack

    Just got in from giving my friend a ride home from work at Trader Joe’s. They were let out early, 10:30 instead of 11:00. (The store closed at 7:00; they were cleaning and restocking.) The streets were almost completely deserted (Ballston and Clarendon in Arlington, VA). I passed only a handful of cars on the round trip, saw only two or three pedestrians. Very unusual for a hipster section of town with a lot of restaurants and nightspots.

    The governor issued a “stay at home” order today. That seems to have taken effect in a big way.

  144. 144.

    mvr

    I got to see John Prine with Steve Goodman together in a High School Auditorium in PDX in the 80s. Killed me to find out Steve had died a few years later many months after his death. I saw SG live on my second visit to Charlotte’s Web a bar/folk music/Jazz/Coutry/Blues club in Rockford Illinois when I was in high school and again a while later.  At the show in PDX Steve was wearing a ball cap to cover his chemo bald head. The two of them were a real pair. I was so glad I went.   Saw John many years later in Lincoln not long after 9-11.  And played his album of duets with various singers at the turn of the Century.

    Hearing of JP’s condition last night kind of broke me up.

  146. 146.

    James E Powell

    @Honus:

     I was remembering old Brick Oven Bob the other day.

    That’s one of the guys I was thinking of. He was a riot.

  151. 151.

    Amir Khalid

    @burnspbesq:

    The former of those commenters changed her nym quite often. Once, for some reason, to Hermione Granger-Weasley. I remember her for her unique life story (some of whose details seemed to strain credulity) and the special attention she always gave me.

  153. 153.

    Renie

    @Ruckus: I’m posting 3 hours after your initial post so not sure you will see this.  I’ve been a lurker with occasional comments for 10 years. Many times I skim through posts but whenever I see your name I always stop and read what you write.   Be good to yourself; you are an important person here and I for one hope to see you here for years and years.

  154. 154.

    Elizabelle

    @NotMax:  3 cheers!  I would have seen nothing but tasty pastries and appealing pets, though.  Have had that a-hole pied for weeks.

  159. 159.

    satby

    @Ruckus: hang in there friend. If you want to hear a voice as a change from words in a screen leave a message at my Etsy shop and I’ll send you my phone number. Sometimes it’s just good to talk and hear someone answer back.

    As far as John Prine, I’m hoping hard that stabilized turns into recovering. I remember seeing John, Steve Goidman, and Bonnie Kolak at Earl’s in Chicago. God, we were all so young.

  163. 163.

    James E Powell

    @burnspbesq:

    l’m not exactly nostalgic for the days of makoto and mclaren, but they did keep us on our toes.

    @West of the Rockies:

    Let’s not forget Ted and Helen, too.  Would the deBoer count as a sort of troll?

    Those were the days, I tell you. I’m sure all of them would be very happy to be remembered.

  164. 164.

    CaseyL

    @chris: Oh, jeez – bad, bad Casey!  My apologies to Dr. Horwitz!

    @burnspbesq: Good for Medtronic!

    @Amir Khalid: Do you mean Sarah Plain & Tall?  I loved her posts. I’m quite sure they were mostly inventions, but oh, were they a hoot!

  165. 165.

    OldDave

    The thing I continually find amazing that all of those heartfelt songs about old people (Hello in there), disabled vets (Sam Stone), weary middle aged housewives (Angel from Montgomery), jingoism (Flag Decal), towns lost to big business (Paradise), etc. were written by someone in their early twenties.  How someone that age would have the empathy to write Angel and Hello is something I still marvel at.

  166. 166.

    J R in WV

    OK, found a link to this really good cartoon on EmptyWheel:

    https://xkcd.com/2287/

    Pretty funny, not gallows humor, just the kind of reversal he is so good at.

    Ruckus, we have  a lot in common, in the Navy, getting old. I am married, trying to look after the wife, have friends and neighbors on both sides of the farm. Have been on the farm since 1978 so over 40 years now… neighbors on the east side helped us with moving in that hot summer so long ago.

    Keep in touch, brother, and stay safe and careful!

  168. 168.

    Ruckus

    @danielx:

    Swabby – yes.

    Social distancing was known as liberty or shore leave. You ain’t on the ship you ain’t nuts to butts. Which was a new term to I’d say 99.9% of the guys in boot camp. But that’s how you did everything that required standing in line. You got used to being near people or went ape shit rather fast. And this is true even on a carrier. There is a lot of equipment and stuff on a navy ship. Room is not one of them. Sure the hanger deck is wide open, unless the ship has planes on it. The flight deck is wide open unless flight opps is happening. Then it’s organized terror. I’ve only been in a WWII sub so what I know about subs is they make surface ships seem like the great outdoors. It’s pretty much nuts to butts every damn second on a sub.

  171. 171.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    ’m hoping that this post and comments can become a place to take some hope and pleasure in a great American artist.

    Easier to keep the respite threads clean if six or seven hours don’t pass between open/current events threads. Just sayin’

  172. 172.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @CaseyL: No, SP&T was not a troll.  The person Amir is talking about was an alleged pony club, country club bred, epee wielding little monster.  She was actually quite sad when she wasn’t a vicious little racist.  Does cudlip ring a bell?

  173. 173.

    CaseyL

    @West of the Rockies:

    Hasn’t soonergrunt been around lately? I thought I saw him in recent threads.

    @Omnes Omnibus:  I would never call SP&T a troll; I adored her.  I thought we were talking about vanished commenters in general, not trolls specifically.  And, I’m very glad to say, I have no memory of cudlip at all – she sounds like someone well worthy of forgetting.

  175. 175.

    JanieM

    @debbie: I’ve been meaning to look for her online, because my Ohio sister keeps talking about her. Sounds like she’s pretty amazing.

    My sister and I get on the phone to talk about our mom’s health situation (not good); and the COVID-19 situation (not good); and our respective public health honchos (impressive). I guess we take what we can get for hopeful/satisfying things right now.

  176. 176.

    eemom

     

    @NotMax:

    @Yutsano:

    ok y’all — so WHAT exactly did this now banned whoever SAY to prompt the mishegas??

    Some of us are too old and freaked out and depressed at this point for fucking board games.

  177. 177.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @CaseyL:  Just for the record, cudlip was not one of her names; it was her insult of choice for everyone except Amir who she effectively called the Muslim equivalent of an Uncle Tom.  She was … interesting.  Most trolls aren’t.

  179. 179.

    Yutsano

    @eemom: I have no idea. I missed the whole affair except apparently s/he was pushing arguments and Professor Levenson was having none of it.

  182. 182.

    Bobby Thomson

    Thanks for the update, Tom.  Continuing to hope for the best.

    In even brighter news, David Lat is out of the ICU.

  183. 183.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    @Yutsano: She may have; like I said, some of us have firing synapses and are acting accordingly. This includes the mayors of Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. You may be thinking of Mississippi’s governor, who instituted such a ban on municipalites within his state (which he is rightly catching flack for and which Meridian’s mayor has chosen to ignore).

  186. 186.

    way2blue

    So. Two John Prine notes: (1) After my daughter took the MCATs, we planned to go to San Francisco to see a ballet. But it was the wrong time of year… Instead we went to an outdoor venue in Los Gatos to see Merle Haggard & Kris Kristofferson. I remember sitting at the edge of the parking lot above the Santa Clara Valley, looking down at the lights & eating sandwiches as evening fell. Merle & his band, great & tight as ever. Kris a bit creaky. Then John Prine & Joan Baez joined the group. Magical night. Which included, of course, ‘Okie from Muskogee’ and ‘Hippie from Olema’. (2) My favorite radio station (www.kpig.com) has live musicians in the studio on Sunday mornings. One morning after a group finished, the DJ mentioned that John Prine had called in to say he really liked their cover of his song. Together, these notes made me wonder if he lives in the SF Bay Area now…

    Can I finish by saying that anyone looking for musical diversion while hunkered down — check out KPIG. A delightful eclectic Santa Cruz radio station with a silly, sometimes sly sense of humor. (You can stream free for a week from anywhere… )

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