An observation
I am at an airport and the internet is very slow. So far the only site that is not slow, not refusing to load, is The League. I cannot follow any of the many links to the Batman post below. I can’t even load my email. It’s as though the entire internet was frozen save for our humble little blog.
P.S. I’ve just returned from the Techonomy conference in Tucson which was, besides the three-day-long headache I’m still struggling with, an extraordinary experience. I’ll have some things to say about it in the next day or so, and of course I’ve been doing my best to write posts about my time there at Forbes. I got to meet Tyler Cowen and Lyle Lovett and lots of other very interesting people, which was very cool.
You got to meet Lyle Lovett? Oh man, I am jealous.Report
Yeah, it was pretty neat.Report
I saw Lyle at Red Rocks about 15 years ago. Awesome show. We initially had seats in row 40ish but decided to move down to the front, sitting on the ‘aisle’ right in front of the stage. A lady behind me kept gently kicking me in the back, to tell me to move closer to the stage, I guess, so I did. When the Security guys came by to rustle us out, I looked at them, then at Lyle, who nodded at me sorta smiling, and pointed at him saying “Look, Lyle said it’s OK!” The security guys moved on to confiscate beers from minors and left us there for the rest of the show.Report
Lyle is the guy my wife and I have seen the most together; I think maybe 4 or 5 times?Report
I just want to say that “Joshua Judges Ruth” is up there for the best album names ever.Report
And Up there for best album ever; was one I mentioned in Pat’s great whole albums post over at your joint.Report
Hey, she’s no lady, she’s my wife. A buddy of mine got married to that song. I’ve always appreciated the devastating humor of having the words ‘I pronounce you 99 to life’ sung during nuptials.
Have you ever seen Robert Earl Keen live? I’m proud to say I’ve seen him at some of the raunchiest honky tonks in the mountain west region. His take on the porch song is always a good time.
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I’m a little chagrined to say I have never even heard of him, but sounds like he is worth a listen?Report
Off the top of my head:
If I Had A Boat
Creeps Like Me
Skinny Legs
Step Inside This House
Start with those four and you’ll be hooked forever.Report
Ah, dangit. You meant Robert Earl Keen.
Apologies.Report
Those songs are a whole slew of goodness. And you mentioned Step Inside this House. A bunch of songs on that album were written by a guy I used to go river rafting with: Steve Fromholz. he’s an old Texas troubadour who lived in the town of Terlingua, Tx., which is where I hve my ‘second’ home.Report
Maybe that should read – second ‘home’.Report
If you see him again, let him know that he’s still dragging people to enlightenment or something like it.
That song is wonderful.Report
Damn, Sillwater, you like Robert Earl Keen and whitewater rafting? You just moved to the top of my favorite liberals list. Tell me when to come out for a visit.Report
One upon a time, I was *this close* to combining rafting and Robert Earl. I used to guide commercially at a company based in Terlingua that did 2-4 day music trips thru the big canyons on the border. We took lots of pretty-famous Texas musicians down river – Jerry Jeff Walker, Nancy Griffith, Peter Rowan, Steve Fromholz, Robert Earl. I was a late add-on to the trip, but then got bumped off after a few cancellations. Bummer.
Afterwards, the guides were saying that “The trip goes on forever and the party never starts”. I guess he fished when he was supposed to be singing and went to bed right after supper, leaving his drunk and adoring fans to sing his songs without him.Report
Robert Earl and Lyle were roommates during their time at Texas A&M, co-wrote the Porch Song, share tall tales. He’s pretty dern good in his own right.Report
I love that song, it’s one of my favorite songs ever. This verse especially:
I always loved the way that the urge to make every verse rhyme didn’t get in the way here. Especially since the rest of the song rhymes, it kind of punches the the imagery in this verse. I find it masterful.
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So, it’s sad that I’m way more jealous you met Tyler Cowen? He’s tops on my list of people I’d want to have for a dinner party.Report
Not at all. It was very cool to meet Tyler Cowen. He’s a fascinating guy. The debate between him and Erik Brynjolffson was fantastic. A real high point of the whole conference.Report
Thanks for sharing the debate.
I was surprised to hear Tyler say firing unproductive people wasn’t good for the economy, and was surprised Erik didn’t talk more about the unquantifiable nature of the increasingly virtual nature of the economy. Much of what I consume is now either free or almost free. Standard economics is laughably inadequate to measure the transition from having 50 cassette tapes to unlimited free downloads, or from Pong to Modern Warfare 2.
And the virtual transition has only just begun.Report
Re: Techonomy, wanted to post this days ago but got sidetracked.Report