Today marks the two year anniversary of my mother's miraculous healing after emergency surgery to remove a brain tumor. At that time, her doctors believed she would live about one year. After surgery, radiation, and clinical trials to treat her tumor (Glioblastoma Multiforme-worst tumor there is) and through Christ and the prayers of St. Nektarios and St. John of San Francisco, there are no signs of this tumor left. She still suffers greatly from the affects of her medication, and the cancer could reappear at any time...but for now we are thankful to God for what we have!

O Lord my Savior and my Master, I, Thine unprofitable servant, with fear and trembling give thanks unto Thy loving goodness for all Thy benefits which Thou hast poured so abundantly upon me, Thy servant. I fall down in adoration before Thee and offer Thee, O God, my praises. With fervor I cry to Thee: O God, deliver me henceforth from all adversities and mercifully fulfill in me such of my desires as may be expedient for me. Hear me, I entreat Thee, and have mercy, for Thou art the Hope of all the ends of the earth, and unto Thee, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, be ascribed glory, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

I've been listening to a lot of bluegrass lately. Is it due to the fact that I live alone at the base of a mountain in western mass? Could be... anyway, i think it's great. Louvin Brothers, Bill Monroe, and newer stuff like The Mammals. Also, NPR plays some great bluegrass and folk on occasion. Does that make me a hick as a friend of mine claims? Proabably.

Just read this review and tell me we're not dealing with quality stuff here!
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http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/l/louvinbrothers-satan.shtml

If gospel bluegrass can fathom its own Velvet Underground, then here they are: Ira and Charlie Louvin, a.k.a. The Louvin Brothers. Their comprehension of the tortured throes of a drunkard's Satan-infested soul are no less profound than Lou Reed's own understanding of a heroin junkie wrestling with a world devoid of meaning beyond the piercing tip of the needle. (Ironically enough, the title track to this album was featured in the soundtrack to the film Jesus' Son, the title of which was taken from a Velvet Underground song.) Yet the comparison cuts a bit deeper. It is the ability to musically express this understanding that is the sign of true artistry. The brothers Louvin and the Velvet Underground share a bare-bones approach to songwriting where relatively simple chords are combined with a brutally honest lyrical approach. It is the guitar in "Waiting For My Man" which allows the listener to share in the urgency of the junkie who knows "you always gotta wait". And so it is with the melody in the Louvin's "River of Jordan" that we feel the "cool waters that quench [our] souls".

Ira Louvin's own struggles with the bottle and fiery death in a car accident allow him the same inherent knowledge of one in league with one's own personal devil that Lou Reed surely gained in his experiences with heroin. The brothers speak with the authority and assurance of those who have felt the hand of God and are left with no real choice but to preach it to the masses. "It's sweet to know that God is real . . . but, sinner friend, Satan is real too, and hell is a real place". Harsh words, but the Louvins are the salt in the wounds of the faithless and they merely sing it the way they see it. Ultimately, the choice to stay adrift in the cold with the kneeling drunkard, or to come into the country church, where the harsh outside is reduced to a cool breeze blowing through an open window, is left to the listener.

Yet the departure from the Velvet Underground, of course, is profound as well. The existentialism of those adrift in Lou Reed's seedy societal underbelly is perhaps their only redemption. The Louvins people their music with similar troubled characters: the kneeling drunkard, the father who gambles. But for the Louvins, there are concrete solutions. The soul can be washed in Jordan's river of its sins and offered for grace from the Higher Power. The song "Higher Power" has an infectious flow to it reminiscent of an old time revival meeting. It is perhaps one of white America's finer plunges into the depths of the musical spirituality that has been rooted in the African-American church since the dawning of its history in slavery times.

The modern listener is perhaps skeptical to listen to an album so rooted in its faith. Perhaps the burning plywood cut-out of a buck-toothed devil that graces the cover is a deterrent to a mind so rooted in rational estimations of worth. But that is a symptom of the close-mindedness that is a part of our contemporary, more urban world. The depth is there in Satan is Real. This album transcends the immediate kitsch appeal of its cover. There is a reason why songs from this album have been performed by the more commonly accepted genius of artists such as Gram Parsons, Johnny Cash, and Emmylou Harris.

Lacking John Milton's human sympathy towards Satan, the Louvins trace all of the evils in the world to his door. They even enlist support in their musical ass-kicking of old Saint Nick with their cover of the Carter Family's "The Kneeling Drunkard's Plea".

The Louvins have no fear plunging into the metaphysical undercurrents that control the sensible world. "Are you afraid? Are you unsaved? Are you afraid to die?" they cry as they set out on the long road to personal salvation, unwilling to wait for skeptics. The music they have left us with, though simple in its banjo and guitar construction, is powerful enough to conjure the flaming tongues of hell that will lick those who fall by the wayside.

Ah...going back to work after a good 2 week break. The perks of working at a high school where the kiddies are given near college length vacations. As an added bonus, one of the kids a worked with (an 18 year old repeat junion) just withdrew, lightening my work load more than one can imagine. I'm sure I'll be given 2 or 3 more students to take his place. Good times.