you can shake it, you can break it

It's officially the end of the semester for me. Had my last class yesterday, handed in all my papers the day before that. Now it's time for job hunting--out of the frying pan and into the fire. A few months ago, I made it my goal to have interviews lined up after classes ended and I've been successful at that. I have an interview today at the Peabody Institute Library, which is the public library for the Town of Peabody. It's for a part-time Reference Librarian position, only 14 hours but a good job for someone still in grad school. Tomorrow, I have an interview at Simmons for a full-time position in cataloging and interlibrary loan. Seriously, the past week I've been more worried about these interviews than I was my semester-end projects. There just aren't that many library jobs out there and the applicant pool is pretty saturated with grad students, so there's a lot of competition for what little there is.

All this worrying and work doesn't mean that I haven't been enjoying myself, however. Since I had all my projects done by Sunday, I've picked up a few books and begun reading for enjoyment. At the moment, I'm reading Moanin' At Midnight: The Life and Times of Howlin' Wolf and Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese. I figured it was time to get back to the blues--had been a while since I had listened to the greats and the biography on Howlin' Wolf is a great way to get back to it. American Born Chinese is a graphic novel that's been out for a year and has won all sorts of awards and recognition, so I figured it was high time I read it.

Aside from some recreational reading, I've got a couple of things I'm looking forward to in the next week or two. Tonight I'll be heading into the lovely Town of Brookline (one of the wealthiest towns in the Boston area, home to John Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox) where I'll be visiting with classmates and enjoying fine Belgian Ales at the Publick House. Later next week I'll get to see my first Sox game of the season, where they take on the Detroit Tigers. I had tickets for a game in April but it was rained out and postponed until August. Anyway, the game will be shown on ESPN, so keep an eye out and you might see me, cup of Guinness raised high and in full Sox regalia.

So it's getting to the time where I should start thinking about my interview. Means it's time to get to the weekly music! Since I'm reading about the blues, I'm going to post some of 'em.

The first tune is done by Bo Carter, better known as the guitarist for the Mississippi Sheiks. Their tunes are some of my favorites, with songs like "World Gone Wrong" and "I've Got Blood In My Eyes For You" representing greats covered by all sorts of musicians. But Bo Carter was a little bawdy on some of his solo recordings, playing tunes such as "Banana In Your Fruitbasket" and "Pin In Your Cushion," which made for lighter fare than what the Sheiks recorded. The recording I've made available here is a great jumping tune where Bo admonishes a woman that if she doesn't change her ways, "the law's gonna step on your . . . yes yes yes." Seems to me that plenty of times in blues music "yes" is substituted for "ass"--just listen to how close it sounds.

The second tune is by Howlin' Wolf, whose worn his .44 so long, he's made his shoulder sore.

As an added treat, I'm posting the always-difficult to understand Charlie Patton to confound you. It's an amazing display of his guitar prowess and one of the tunes that's easier to understand. He'll be serenading you with tales of "those happy days, where I didn't know your name." Or at least that's how I hear the song--see this great article (the first line of which is "Who was Charlie Patton, and what the hell was he singing about?") on arguments surrounding interpretations of his lyrics. Good stuff. Anyway, enjoy the music, posted below:

Bo Carter "The Law Gonna Step On You"

Howlin' Wolf "Fourty-four"

Charlie Patton "Some Summer Day"