A big enough album to support a senior thesis' worth of commentary/analysis/appreciation, the latest installment of Stevens' 50 States project is worth every minute of your time.
It's a sparkling blue spring morning in Chicago. I'm riding the Brown Line of the city's famous El transit system. Well, I shouldn't say riding. We're stuck between two stops behind a malfunctioning car up ahead. It's rush hour, but Midwesterners are so stoic that even their yuppies don't audibly sigh and complain, choosing instead to share their cell phones to call in late for work before returning to their paperbacks and Game Boys. I'm people watching, listening to an advance copy of Sufjan Steven's second release in his 50 States project, Illinois. My eyes threaten to well up during two successive songs, but I restrain myself from letting loose and betraying my non-Midwestern roots.
The songs in question are opposite in scope and mood, but they can both cause a public display of emotion without warning, a testament to Stevens' growing power as a writer and performer. Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lakes State was a paean to civics and geography with exquisitely detailed character studies, epic song titles, and kitchen sink folk orchestral arrangements. Illinois follows suit and even extends its ambitions further in each of those respects. The first song that put a lump in my throat this morning was "Come on! Feel the Illinoise! -- Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition -- Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream". And that's one of the shorter titles. Such indulgences might strike some as a wee bit precious or pretentious, but I suspect Stevens is both winking good-naturedly at his audience, and trying to make his titles as ambitious as the songs they represent.
But back to the crying: "Come on!" overwhelms me with pride for all of its Chicago references, and not just because it's my surrogate home. There is a deep Walt Whitman vein in this project, an exultant cataloguing of humanity that inspires no matter where you're from. Shout-outs on "Come on!" include the Ferris wheel (which debuted at the 1893 World's Fair in the Windy City), Frank Lloyd Wright, and the poet Sandburg.
Musically, "Part I" rocks out in the tricky 5/4 time signature Stevens is so fond of, and then segues into "Part II" with a Cure reference that slips the song into 4/4. The instrumental selection is as all-encompassing as the popular nouns -- bells and whistles, a string quartet, a backing choir -- but the song requires nothing less than that grandeur. Stevens himself sings "I cried myself to sleep last night / And the ghost of Carl, he approached my window / ... I was asked to improvise / On the attitude, the regret of a thousand centuries of death". No other writer I can think of is working with this amount of simultaneous scale and vulnerability.
On the flipside of this US Mint issued 50 States coin is "John Wayne Gacy, Jr.", which focuses on one particular Illinois native, in this case the notorious serial killer. The challenge of writing and pulling off this song is monumental for wholly different reasons than the rest of Illinois. How does one create an affecting piece of art centered on a cultural figure so extreme and reviled without being obvious/trite, or (even worse) sounding sympathetic to his actions by the plain fact of writing a song about him? The answer is "John Wayne Gacy, Jr.": horrifying, tragic, and deeply sad without proselytizing. Who needs a song to tell them that murdering twenty-seven people is wrong? Instead, Stevens makes you feel it, describes the events in ways that strip away sensation and make you care, rather than numb, "Twenty-seven people, even more / They were boys / With their cars, summer jobs / Oh my God". His voice is broken up on the phrase, going up into falsetto, as the weight of the situation overcomes both singer and song. The clincher is the final verse which begins, "And in my best behavior / I am really just like him", echoing Mother Theresa when she was asked how and why she could devote her entire life's work to the poor -- because she was aware of her own potential for evil.
With the exceptions of the playfully brief interstitials that pop up here and there to reprise songs, "One last 'Whoo-hoo!' for the Pullman" for example, nearly every song holds power in its own right. The album opens with piano and flute on "Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois". Background singers Katrina Kerns and Shara Worden enter the song at just the right moments, wrapping their voices around Stevens' croon. "The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts" is strident and propulsive, with electric guitar solos and thudding drum work alternating with hushed verses. "They Are Night Zombies !! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Run For Your Lives!! Ahhhhhh!" rides a funk/disco bassline, while "Decatur" utilizes Sufjan's inventive banjo playing and reversed melody/harmony vocal lines. And then there's "Casimir Pulaski Day" which bring us back around to the subject of tears. "Goldenrod and the 4-H stone / The things I brought you / When I found out you had cancer of the bone / Your father cried on the telephone..." Stevens sings, with a melody and cadence that belie the somberness of the memory. Later, he recalls, "... the living room, when you kissed my neck / And I almost touched your blouse", and finally, "In the morning when you finally go / And the nurse runs in with her head hung low / And the cardinal hits the window".
The bittersweet twists and turns of a lifetime eloquently described in a folk-pop song -- it really doesn't get much better than this; these songs that must be heard to be believed. Rumors abound about the future of Stevens's ambitions to record an album for the remaining 48 states -- but regardless of what happens, he's just made a big leap from the already high elevation of Michigan, and I can't wait for what's next.
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According to the owner, This 1993 Rosborough RF246 Trawler comes with a Volvo Penta AQ151 I/O 150hp engine! And a Shoreland'r dual axle trailer with brakes and spare plus a breakaway hitch is included!
The original pocket trawler, it is a great cruiser that is still trailerable according to the owner!
The Rosborough trawlers are tough, practical and very economical cruisers. They are built in Nova Scotia for people that like to get out on the water without a lot of upkeep and maintenance. This boat has a good turn of speed 20 knots at WOT if desired yet it can cruise forever at 12 knots or even troll down to fishing speeds!
The owner has purchased another vessel and didn't have a need for the boat any longer. It is well equipped with plenty of navigation gear and will serve a new owner well immediately without additional gear needed!
It comes with a very nice Shorelander trailer with stainless steel discs brakes, calipers and recent tires. Trolling motor is a 2011 Yamaha 9.9 outboard. The main outdrive has recent u joints and shift cable installed and she includes many spare parts.
The interior with V-Berth Sleeps 2 and has a toilet, sink, table. The swim platform is nice for accessing the water and the fully enclosed cabin allows for an extended boating season in colder climates. She includes an 87 Gallon Fuel Tank and she is very fuel efficient with only 2 1/2 gallons per hour burn rate!
Rosborough Boats, a traditional Nova Scotia boat building company, has been producing quality vessels since 1979. Rosborough Boats are professionally constructed from all-fiberglass components to ensure the utmost in durability and low maintenance.
The designs offer great stability, seaworthiness, comfort and safety with roomy, accommodating layouts and custom configurations.
Various power options allow for individually tailored craft, providing utmost versatility for: Pleasure Cruising, Fishing, Diving, Search and Rescue, Police Patrol, and other Commercial uses. The extra steps and technology put into every unit by Rosborough Boats is an assurance of Quality." ~ Rosborough
The Rosborough RF-246 Sedan Cruiser is designed to be fully trailerable and utilize the most efficient power configurations available. Windows are tempered safety glass installed in fiberglass frames molded to suit the router cut window openings in the cabin and back bulkhead.
Trim and wire coverings are teak wood and upholstery is durable fabric. Counter, dash, and furniture is trimmed in teak wood, oiled finish. The Atlantic sea hull combines the best features of East Coast designs.
The center keel provides stability while the straight flat run aft ensures a good turn of speed economically. The full bow sections and shallow fore foot allow for both soft entry, and comfortable bearing up while heading into or running with the seas.
The main floor panels are removable for access to the total bilge area for easy maintenance to tanks, pump, blowers, cables and wiring etc. Furniture components are all molded fiberglass, off-white gelcoat finish fastened in place with high-grade stainless steel fastenings.
RF-246 is a uniquely constructed craft incorporating many lamination and assembly techniques that set it apart from other boats.
The Hull incorporates a gunwale flange around the total parameter. This inward flange is heavily laminated to provide exceptional stiffness to the hull and support for the deck and superstructure. The floor stringer framing includes the forward furniture liner, forward floor, main cabin and cockpit sole.
The under-floor cavities on both sides of the center area of the hull are totally injected with closed cell expanded flotation foam from the transom to the main dash bulkhead area.
The main gunwale deck is adhered and mechanically fastened to the gunwale flange. It includes inner coamings and non-skid surface molded in the gelcoat during lamination.
The superstructure includes wheelhouse, trunk cabin, windshield facets. It is molded to fit down into the inner coamings of the gunwale deck and is adhered in place as well as through bolted with stainless steel bolts. It is flanged inward at the top of the parameter and down the back ends for maximum strength and the attachment of the one piece roof and main back bulkhead.
The dash - companionway bulkhead is built to accept the one-piece sliding companionway door and operator console. It is a cored structure with flanges at the top and bottom and is fiberglassed and mechanically fastened in place.
The companionway door is one-piece top and door that slides in high-density polyethylene slider rails. The rear cabin bulkhead is a one-piece cored unit that is adhesed and mechanically fastened to the rear flanges of the superstructure.
The main door is a large slider that is mounted to and slides in its high-density polyethylene slider rails. The pilot door on the starboard side of the wheelhouse is one-piece cored component mounted in high-density polyethylene sliders...
Wheelhouse and main salon - cockpit floors are one-piece molded cored components that incorporate molded non-skid surface. The steering and control console is a one-piece molded unit incorporating special areas for large electrical breaker panel, steering (hydraulic or mechanical), engine instrumentation gauges, etc.
The console is easily removable as well as there being a large access panel in the main dash bulkhead to the wiring and console equipment.
The roof is molded one-piece and includes non-skid surface and adhesives to the superstructure flanges, stainless steel fastened as well. The entire superstructure is treated with fire-retardant resin coatings. The entire bilge area is treated with fire retardant water barrier resin coatings.
All adhesives are high-quality silicones and marine compounds. Gel coats are isophthalic salt-water-grade and initial skinning resins are special osmosis resistant polyester. Fire retardant resin coatings are waxed pigmented off-white color. The fire retardant resin coating in the hull and bilge areas are a moisture resistant barrier as well." ~ Rosborough
Maintenance logs to date including from original owner are available at inspection time. The boat is stored in a wooded location until he can relocate it yet it appears in good condition.