on a Monday evening

I realize that I have not blogged much at all lately and thought that I would take the time on this quiet evening in the Bingham household to post a little something.

I have been reading Exile On Main Street: A Season In Hell With The Rolling Stones, the story behind the making of my favourite Stones album (and one of my all-time favourite rock and roll albums) and what a fascinating read it has been. I have always been intrigued by the relationship between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, the longest standing marriage in popular music that I know of. What I have always known and what this book has confirmed is that, to me, Keith is The Rolling Stones and he always will be.

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I have been thinking all day about the fact that I can be an incredibly unkind person. I am impatient, intolerant, filled with anger, and so often I lack grace in my dealings with others. Normally, this is not expressed outwardly, but I know the stuff that lurks in my heart and mind--when dealing with people who don't meet my "expectations", whatever those may be, my inward attitude can consist of criticism, derision, and ungraciousness. As someone who professes faith in Christ, my attitude is far too often not Christ-like. Grace is in short supply in this world, and I want to be a person who is showing grace rather than robbing people of grace.

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It's official: the gray hair has set in. It's actually become quite noticeable at my temples, especially on the right side. It's even more obvious when I'm wearing a ball cap, for some reason. Oh yeah, I'm also out of shape and take longer to recover after bouts of physical activity. I am not 18 anymore, that's for sure.

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Jakob Dylan's new acoustic album, Seeing Things (produced by Rick Rubin), is really beautiful and relaxing. I have heard the gripes about it, the biggest one being "he certainly isn't as great as his father." Yeah well, a lot of people can't compare to Bob Dylan's genius and his son has never once tried to. Judging Jakob on his own merits, his lyrics on this album are thought-provoking, the playing is beautifully executed, and there isn't a weak track on the disc, as far as I'm concerned. I must thank my stepfather, Alan, for turning me on to this album.

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My wife is brilliant. Her first stab at knitting a baby blanket has been more than successful and she's feverishly knitting her way to end, desperately trying to finish it before my sister Laura's baby arrives (due this Thursday!). We are very excited to be Uncle Matt and Aunt Caitlin, but I have to go away to a conference in Vancouver from August 5-7 so I am praying that she has the baby before then!

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My practicing of bottleneck guitar is paying off and I am starting to get a bit of a handle on it. I bought a few new slides and have been trying them all out. I definitely favour chrome slides over brass when playing electric, as the sound is cleaner, and prefer glass for the acoustic because it, too, is cleaner and sounds more "rustic". I plan on making this one of the real weapons in my guitar-playing arsenal because it is not used that often and it will make me a more well-rounded player.

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Caitlin and I went and did the TreeGo ropes course up island this weekend with our friend Suzanne and some others for Suzanne's birthday. Look for a post about this on the Binghams' blog when we get some pictures sent to us...


All is well with me, for the most part, and I will make sure to post when my nephew or niece is born, perhaps with some pictures. I hope you, my readers, are all well too!