tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66995770933537250642024-02-18T18:16:34.846-08:00Tad's Happy Funtimecurious controversies and profane scoffingTad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.comBlogger224125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-50246747704988324262022-06-12T10:24:00.002-07:002022-06-12T10:24:49.824-07:00Keep Running Up That Hill So it would seem that the Kids These Days have discovered Kate Bush - and I couldn't be more pleased.In contrast to the impression that some of the memes going around might give you, there were a lot of us who appreciated her in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Personally, I tended to be late to every party, and I came to this one indirectly. I first remember hearing Kate Bush's voice in a Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-39255699393477530082022-06-02T16:50:00.002-07:002022-06-28T04:23:42.253-07:00Why Abortion Isn't Murder I'm writing to you now from this liminal time in America before the release of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that will likely determine that fundamental individual human rights not enumerated in the U.S. Constitution are not protected from laws made by the States. When they release their decision, 13 U.S. States already have "trigger laws" in place to ban abortions, and another 13 are very Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-41525107788426697392021-09-10T16:47:00.005-07:002021-09-10T17:21:03.412-07:00Why, Yes, I Do Remember Twenty years ago this particular September morning, I was taking my five-year-old to school, and half-listening as the KUPD "Morning Sickness" crew laughed about an undocumented immigrant man who was working in a bottling factory and lost his "pee-pee" after getting it stuck in a bottle. News of the Weird. And then they started talking about airplanes flying into the World Trade Center in Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-83979329679804762192019-08-22T09:35:00.001-07:002019-08-22T09:35:39.228-07:00The View From Within
Over the summer, I took HIST 441 - History of German, 1871-1945, with Professor Zajicek at Towson University. Our term paper assignment was pretty broad, but I chose to focus on how the average German citizen viewed the ascendancy of the Nazi party. I included my Bibliography at the end, but the footnotes were removed when I copied this over.I have edited the text to fix some grammatical errors Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-74115069851708373592019-02-15T09:45:00.000-08:002019-02-15T09:45:02.397-08:00The Tragedy of Bill CosbyBy the time The Cosby Show premiered in 1984, I was already a huge fan of Bill Cosby from his comedy albums. I don't remember when I was introduced to those records, but I remember that I had a cassette with some of his most famous bits so I might have been ten or eleven. The timing of my fandom doesn't matter; what matters is the fact that my parents saw Cosby as being "safe" for theirTad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-53240376265176603862019-02-11T01:00:00.000-08:002019-02-11T01:00:00.798-08:00Now I Know Her NameHer name was Ruby Bridges.
I didn't know her name when I was a kid, but I can't count how many times I saw the stock footage of her walking down the steps of that New Orleans schoolhouse when I was growing up.
found on the
Forum of the American Journal of Education
Being a white kid growing up in an almost all-white school in suburban Phoenix, I had no idea how to process what I Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-49328325957458871592019-02-08T01:00:00.000-08:002019-02-08T01:00:09.473-08:00Me and Levar BurtonWhen Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered in 1987, I was a happy boy.
My first contact with Trek had come when my parents took me to see the third movie, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock. That was an odd choice for an entry point, in retrospect, but they knew I was a Star Wars fanatic, and they figured (correctly) that I might enjoy the other significant science fiction franchise while Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-81294180221363628222019-02-04T01:00:00.000-08:002019-02-04T01:00:05.740-08:00Badass AbolitionistsWhen I was a kid, I had the whole set of ValueTales books - a series that paired up historical figures with a cartoon sidekick and told their life story in a way that emphasized values, like "Determination" or "Respect."
The figure they chose to highlight the value of "Helping" was Harriet Tubman. If you don't already know her story, she was an escaped slave who became a "conductor" onTad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-29058600839678876652019-02-01T01:00:00.000-08:002019-02-01T01:00:01.914-08:00Me and Black History
In 1974, when I was barely two years old, my mother bought a record: the soundtrack to the motion picture The Sting. I grew up hearing that music, particularly the movie's theme song, The Entertainer, by Scott Joplin. I would argue that with the possible exception of B.J. Thomas's Oscar-winning recording of Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head* (from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), The Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-88501692931906595452018-07-12T08:37:00.000-07:002018-07-12T08:37:35.371-07:00On A Mission From GodThis past semester, I took History of Music in the U.S. with Dr. David Cosper at Towson University. For your enjoyment, here is my final argument essay from that course.
The setting is Maxwell Street, on the near West Side of Chicago, a street long known for its open-air markets and for being the birthplace of Chicago Blues. During the 1930s and 1940s, many black musicians arrived in Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-77022756553330397972018-06-16T06:42:00.000-07:002018-06-16T06:48:35.429-07:00Are We Thanos?Warning: spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War are suffused throughout this post.
I sat in the theater watching the superheroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe lose their fight against Thanos, and I noticed dozens of parallels to America's political struggles during the rise of Donald Trump. I watched individual characters fail to stop the story's protagonist as he bulled his way Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-91571034733903219922017-12-03T09:31:00.000-08:002017-12-03T09:32:02.625-08:00The Year Without a PresidentIn January, I wrote a post warning of the kind of monarchical tendencies Donald Trump had already displayed, and I pointed out that by his own standards Trump's presidency was illegitimate before he took office. Those were superficial comments on my part because aside from his behavior and demeanor (which already should have been enough to disqualify him from the job in the minds of voters),Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-56484885551898836192017-08-14T20:51:00.001-07:002017-08-14T20:51:21.599-07:00Love Is Not For CowardsThis is for my daughter.
My daughter is angry, scared, and disappointed. She is disappointed because in the first U.S. Presidential election she was eligible to vote in, America lost. She is angry because as a young, independent lesbian in a multiracial relationship, she watched as the man who is now the 45th President of the United States ran and won on a platform that overtly targets her, the Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-43860328990996310082017-01-29T08:03:00.000-08:002017-10-15T12:45:06.481-07:00"All Things Bright and Beautiful" to my #AtheistEarOne song from our hymnal happened to have a series of books and TV episodes associated with it. I actually never got to watch this particular TV show when I was a kid, because it was aired in a Sunday morning time slot that put it squarely in the middle of our church services.
But I read the living heck out of the books, and while this wasn't the intent of the author, the lessons I took from hisTad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-83406577946787847602017-01-22T06:26:00.000-08:002017-01-22T06:26:05.069-08:00Ben Folds Five's "Mess" to an #AtheistEar
"And I don't believe in God
So I can't be saved
All alone, as I've learned to be
In this mess I have made."
It's a little bit embarrassing to admit this, but the first time I heard these words, I had to pull my car over to the side of the road and weep.
I remember that sensation of shock. It felt like my organs turned into liquid and drained down into my legs. My arms felt weak, and once I was Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-3788167740360718452017-01-15T06:28:00.001-08:002017-08-13T06:32:52.541-07:00The Smoking Gun That Brings Down TrumpSorry about the clickbaity title, but if I've learned anything from my years spent on social media, it is that reasonable behavior is ignored in favor of the unacceptable. Human nature, I suppose.
But with the inauguration in five days, I felt compelled to address the subject of Trump's illegitimacy as a U.S. President. If you're angry with me for expressing my anger over the election of Donald Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-9157159138730373982017-01-08T04:48:00.000-08:002017-01-08T04:48:06.312-08:00Take 6's "Spread Love" to my #AtheistEarIf you aren't a vocal musician from the 1990s, you may not remember the unexpected popularity of a cappella groups from that time. After Bobby McFerrin's hit with Don't Worry Be Happy, and the success of Spike Lee's Do It Acapella documentary, we seemed to have an explosion of vocal groups take to the airwaves with varying degrees of success.
My personal favorites were a six-part Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-57025008615542281272017-01-01T09:29:00.000-08:002017-01-01T17:17:40.019-08:00Gershwin's "It Ain't Necessarily So" to an #AtheistEarSo we've put 2016 behind us, and we're looking ahead to 2017; but some of us are looking with unease and trepidation. This past year taught us that as a nation, we haven't put to rest the evils of the past. My theme song going into the year is one by George & Ira Gershwin from their opera Porgy & Bess.
Here's a performance by Cab Calloway - and it's remarkable to me that this was never Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-74951143883249763892016-12-25T10:30:00.000-08:002016-12-25T10:30:04.831-08:00Handel's Messiah to an #AtheistEarMerry Christmas!
Yeah, I know, an atheist isn't supposed to say that. (Whose rule is that, again?) But my choral group performed the chorus "For Unto Us a Child Is Born" from Handel's Messiah this year, and since my regular post this week fell on Christmas, I thought I'd talk about that piece. As an artist, there isn't a more eloquent way to express what it means to me than to play it:
Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-16468028957640774402016-12-18T08:59:00.000-08:002016-12-18T08:59:06.157-08:00Paul Simon's "Proof" to an #AtheistEarIn 1990, I was caught in the grip of Paul Simon's incredible 1986 Graceland album. I wore out more than one copy of that cassette in the tape deck of my ancient Datsun while commuting to school. Then in 1991, Simon followed that album up with another.
Rhythm of the Saints was a clear attempt to build on Graceland by bringing together an eclectic group of musicians from around the Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-6838955943409893822016-12-11T11:39:00.001-08:002016-12-11T11:39:27.478-08:00Faith of Our Fathers to an #AtheistEarHere's a little holiday gem from crooner Bing Crosby, off his hit White Christmas collection, Merry Christmas. See if you can guess what I want to say about it while you listen!
(Lyrics are available here.)
Call me old fashioned, but if a number one hit holiday album can't reference death (4 times) and imprisonment (twice), then it just doesn't feel festive.
But seriously, this was a hymn Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-48244066991927028192016-12-04T21:36:00.000-08:002016-12-04T21:36:05.770-08:00John Lennon's "Imagine" to an #AtheistEarThe Beatles were part of my parents' teen aged years, and they had an odd place in our record collection. We owned the early records - the ones that came before the "bigger than Jesus" remark. My favorite was the perplexingly psychedelic Rubber Soul, and while mom didn't mind me listening to them, if grandma heard it, we would somehow end up talking about how awful "hippies" were later that Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-54647370358445965912016-11-27T19:09:00.000-08:002016-11-27T19:09:02.199-08:00Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" to my #AtheistEar
One of the first pieces of music I remember falling in love with also happened to appear in our Baptist Hymnal. And it happens to be a very appropriate Thanksgiving holiday sort of song.
The "Ode to Joy," or the Chorale from the Fourth movement of Beethoven's 9th symphony. My mom had a record with excerpts of great classical works that featured a 4 or 5-minute selection of just the chorus Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-3262703065305743452016-11-24T09:13:00.001-08:002016-11-24T09:17:20.211-08:00I'm Not CryingA number of people in my social media feeds seem to be taking the attitude that people like me are crying over the recent election, and that we should "get over it" - they way they claim they did when Obama won. This premise is flawed on a couple of levels.
I am obviously among those people who are angry and outraged that Donald Trump is going to be President. Despite losing the popular vote, Tad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6699577093353725064.post-20956426828443337312016-11-20T19:36:00.000-08:002016-11-20T19:36:00.177-08:00Tori Amos's "God" to an #AtheistEarTori Amos made a huge impression on me with her debut album Little Earthquakes in 1992. There were a lot of challenging ideas in her songs, and she often used the ideas and imagery from her religious upbringing to address topics like rape and depression in ways that were unheard of at the time - especially from a pretty pop piano player.
In the years since, Tori has earned a reputationTad Callinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972140054283279414noreply@blogger.com0