July 5, 2012 – A View From The Middle (Class)

Someone I go to church with — a lady unafraid to speak her mind, which I respect tremendously — made a remark to my daughter in the last couple of weeks that she thought I’d be quite good looking if I shaved my beard off.

I had to chuckle at that. I don’t know about being good looking, but I do know I’d look younger without a beard … much younger, and that’s a fact. More like a teenager. It’s a look I’m really not all that comfortable with at my age, so that option is pretty much off the table.

I may have to consider getting serious again about going the Grecian Formula route and taking some of the gray out of it, though, after something that was said to my lovely wife Monday night.

Amy performed again with the West Valley Symphony of Utah that night in a patriotic program at a gorgeous amphitheater, and Amy was told that she needed to bring her music stands. I dropped her off at the entrance to the amphitheater because we were running a bit late, found a place to park, grabbed the music stands and took them up to the stage to where Amy was seated in the first violin section.

After struggling to get her attention, I put the stands on the stage so Amy could see them. Amy told me later that after I did that, the woman who sits in front of her — after seeing me give Amy the stands — asked her, “Is he your father?”

The gray in my beard could lead to that kind of question, but instead of taking it as an insult I see it as a compliment to how young-looking Amy is, especially seeing as how we have a son who is almost 21 years old. Amy was nervous when it came to telling me about the woman’s question about me being Amy’s father, but my response instead has been to just laugh out loud — hard.

I usually trim my beard and mustache once a week, in the morning before heading off to church. We skipped going this last weekend, so I skipped the weekly trimming. Now, the more that I look at that beard in the mirror, I’m thinking I’m kind of liking that more rugged “mountain man” look that’s taking shape.

I’m still doing the job searching tasks — just last week I put out an online application for a computer programming job that’s a much closer fit than any web-based re-training I’ve been doing lately, plus a friend of mine from high school days pointed me to a nice-looking job as a national representative for a teachers’ union that she thought I’d be good at — but I’m not getting so much as a sniff at a job interview.

So, again, I look at the length my grayish beard is taking on and thinking, “Should I be superstitious and refuse to trim my beard and mustache until I get an interview?”

I know what my lovely wife’s response would be. It would be a swift, loud, resounding “NNNNOOOOOO!!!”

Ah, but honey, it’d be for the job search cause! Maybe it would help to speed the process along. And I could look a bit more like William Golden from The Oak Ridge Boys! Look like William Lee Golden, sing like bass vocalist Richard Sterban.

So, what d’ya think, huh? Grow it out and hopefully not end up looking too much like William Lee Golden, or trim it? The poll is now open.

It's Only Natural (Oak Ridge Boys album) — It’s Only Natural (Oak Ridge Boys album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cairo court bans bearded police (upi.com)
Do You Think Beards Are Hot? (bellasugar.com)
A Book of Beards (uncrate.com)
The Mane Subject: A Book of Beards (lightbox.time.com)

The Fourth of July may have come and gone with a bang, but my Independence Week playlist celebration continues. We’ve found music from American artists so far with roots in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, and today we’ll stay in the heartland with some classic rock from the Hoosier State of Indiana.

Big Daddy (album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

He’s been known as Johnny Cougar, he’s been known as John Cougar Mellencamp, and he’s now rightfully known just by his given name of John Mellencamp. When you’ve made your mark with the style of heartland rock the way he has, you don’t need flashy stage names any longer. You can feel free to just be your real, honest self, and Mellencamp does just that.

John Mellencamp had musical influences such as Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie — American music icons — and it shows in much of his music, seasoned with harmonica and fiddle along with the more rocking sounds of guitar and a harder beat from the drums.

The great thing about Mellencamp is that he never seems to have forgotten where he came from. He writes songs and sings to the common person, and he puts his money where his mouth is too as one of the founding members of Farm Aid, which is still going strong today.

He may not be pumping out No. 1 songs or Top 40 hits as much as he used to, but his newer music is still drawing critical acclaim. He’s still doing his small hometown of Seymour, Indiana, proud all these years later.