elizabeth cook, details, and degrumpification

When I drydocked the ol' Lincoln for repairs a few weeks ago, I scarcely missed the car but I sorely missed the stereo. That's because the radio station rotation on my morning commute just wasn't the same without at least a brief stop by Elizabeth Cook's Apron Strings on Sirius 63.

Ms. Cook is a sharp-witted observer who tends to keep on the sunny side, which makes her an excellent dj for grumpy commuters. She's also got an eye for the telling details that bring a song or story to life. I was no star in my Wizversity writing courses, but I learned that it was just as easy -- and much more evocative -- to put a character at, say, "the Crystal Corner Bar" than "the bar."

I'm always haranguing my students for more details in their writing, often in increasingly insistent margin notes on their papers. As one now-quite-successful professor reminded me last week, I once offered him comments like this, hand-drawn in a tortured scrawl:

p. 2 "This is vague."

p. 4 "How does it 'matter'?"

p. 7 "Be specific here."

p. 11 "What the h* are you talking about?"

p. 13 "is different than? Different?!" 

p. 15 "WTF?"

p. 15b "Come ON, man!"

p. 16 "This is still F*ing VAGUE!" 

But I digress. Unlike most songwriters and social scientists, Elizabeth Cook will never be void for vagueness and she finds images far more evocative than the Crystal Corner. Here's a serious one and a goofy one, with spare performances to draw out the words a little.

Heroin Addict Sister


El Camino