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Sting, 35 years later

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Attending high school in London in the early 80s, it was difficult not to be a fan of The Police (and hundreds of other great and influential bands), although I did not see Sting perform until 1988, when I was living in New York City after college.

So, when you are a Sting fan who has not seen him since 1991, and a colleague and friend invites you to his Miami concert, you jump for joy.

The story is that John was going with another colleague, but at the last minute, Sting had to cancel due to illness. Gentleman that he is, he rescheduled. Unfortunately, that other colleague could not make it, so I was invited instead!

The concert was at Miami’s Seminole Hard Rock Casino, which has a huge theater with crystal-clear sound.

Sting performed with his trusty sidekick, guitarist Dominic Miller, and the amazing drummer Chris Maas (who also played with Mumford & Sons)

The concert was a review of all his classic hits, with some lesser-known songs:

  1. Message in a Bottle
  2. I Wrote Your Name (Upon My Heart)
  3. If I Ever Lose My Faith in You
  4. Englishman in New York
  5. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
  6. Fields of Gold
  7. Never Coming Home
  8. Mad About You
  9. Wrapped Around Your Finger
  10. Driven to Tears
  11. When We Dance
  12. A Thousand Years
  13. Can’t Stand Losing You
  14. Shape of My Heart
  15. Walking on the Moon
  16. So Lonely
  17. Desert Rose
  18. King of Pain
  19. Every Breath You Take
  20. Roxanne
  21. Fragile

Readers of this blog know that I now listen more to classical music than to pop, with the occasional exception of Van Morrison. So when the band played “Driven to Tears” as an instrumental (which was amazing), I mistook it for “When the World is Running Down (You Make the Most of What’s Still Around).” My bad. Am I ashamed? Yes, a little, but then again, I have not listened to these songs in decades!!

So, if you get a chance to see Sting on this tour, go for it; he will not disappoint. You are welcome.

Follow up on the Humanism (and post and trans Humanism) post; Luis Correa-Diaz and Rosalía.

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One of the fun things of running an eclectic blog like this one is that you never know what the response is going to be like to each post. Surprisingly, my recent post on Humanism got a lively riposte.

One of the more remarkable reactions came from poet and friend Luis Correa-Diaz, who actually wrote a poem inspired by the blog post (attached), wow! And thanks!

At about the same time, Rosalía released her last album. What is the connection? You ask. Well, Rosalia has made it a point to explain that there is no AI in this work; it is all real instruments, which has led to the expression of Hyper Humanism. Which leads me to ask, isn’t all Humanism Hyper Humanism?

Oh and to connect all these dots Luis Correa-Diaz also wrote a poem about Rosalia’s work! (Check it out here)

Oh, my opinion? Good for Rosalía, but I think it is easy to overrate someone in the 21st Century…

The Marginalian by Maria Popova, a blog about a blog, would that be a metablog?

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As a blogger myself, I must admit that I do not subscribe to many blogs, newsletters, etc., just a handful:

Although not technically a blog, I get the Center for Action and Contemplation’s Daily Meditation, originally written by Richard Rohr, but as he is getting older, it is now written partly by him but also by the CAC team. Check it our here, and subscribe!

Every week I also get Un salto a Galicia about travel to the northwest corner of Spain, Galicia. (Click here)

But what I want to talk about today is The Marginalian by Maria Popova.

Every week Popova writes brilliantly about how an author talks about certain things. Some recent examples are:

Philosopher R.L. Nettleship on Love, Death, and the Paradox of Personality

The Poetic Physicist Alan Lightman on Music and the Universe

Iris Murdoch on Unselfing, the Symmetry Between Art and Morality, and How We Unblind Ourselves to Each Other’s Realities

Dervla Murphy’s Fierce and Poetic Account of Traversing the World on Two Wheels in the 1960s

Popova combines her own beautiful writing (yes, this hack is jealous) with quotes from the authors featured and gorgeous illustrations. It makes for an enlightening read.

Popova is so inspiring, that I have added her Wednesday email into my reflection time, my mediation, my Lectio Divina, if you will.

If you are not yet subscribed, I cannot recommend it enough. Check it out here.

You are welcome.

Happy new year 2022

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Setting out on our hike

Dear readers,

Just a quick note to thank you for your support this year and all ten years of this blog!! 2021 has been our best year as far as visitors and second best year in terms of views. Records that I hope to improve on next year!

As usual my most popular post was the one about Don Quixote and Existentialism, which you can check out here. Surprisingly and unexpectedly the second most viewed was the post on Jonathan Dickinson State Park, which you can see here.

I hope to continue bringing you interesting and solid content in 2022. Until then, thanks and Happy New Year!!

(Oh, here are a couple of the most popular photos from 2021)

I made it!!!

On the importance and beauty of blogging

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The lonely work of blogging

The lonely work of blogging

Blogging has been a fantastic tool for me, an outlet, and a hobby. What started as an academic adventure blog about riding my motorcycle (RIP) to visit universities for my PhD, morphed into a bit of everything blog: Musings on academia, random essays/articles, personal anecdotes, still the odd travel piece, my favorite things (restaurants, bars, cigars!), and personal notes. In fact, my most read items are my essay on Existentialism in Don Quixote and my dad’s obituary.

My students always appear shocked when I tell them about my blog. Which is surprising because they are super connected. In fact everybody should blog. You see, Instagram (follow me at tonxob) is only visual, Tweeter is limited, and old Facebook, well, we all know the shortcomings of FB. Blogging on the other hands requires a bit more thinking, planning, writing, it forces you to write – at least try – coherent thought and how to express it.

I recently found an old blog post from a professor at the LSE about precisely this issue. So here it is, click here to read more. Here is a bit of a tease…

A good proportion of the people I have come across may be brilliant in their field, but when it comes to using the interwebs, tend to sound like the querulous 1960s judge asking ‘What is a Beatle?’ (‘I don’t twitter’). Much of life is spent within the hallowed paywalls of academic journals (when I pointed out that no-one outside academia reads them, the baffled response seemed to be along the lines of ‘and your point is?’).

Here is the address if you prefer to cut and paste:

An antidote to futility: Why academics (and students) should take blogging / social media seriously

There are a few blog platforms to use. I have used WORDPRESS from the beginning and I love it! you can have your blog for free. Come on and join the club!