Rising Like the Phoenix: The Rebirth of My Website and Blog

"Found deep water...for I even learned to swim
Found deep water...for I even learned to swim
Never thought I'd see the sun again."

Like an honest fool, I first turned to technical support. I tried the message boards associated with the software because that's what the company suggested. The software is called iBlog. And while I will name it for you, for reasons that must surely be dawning on you, I will not give you a link.

After a week of complaining there --all the while having the hunch that my issue was deeper than a message board could handle-- the actual tech support people from the actual company finally called me back.

Turns out it's one guy. That's the whole tech support department. That should have also been a big honkin' "Warning Will Robinson!" moment for me.

But no, I'm a sucker and he was a nice guy. He tried everything he could. I emailed him files. He emailed them back. He rebuilt the entire database and sent it back. He spent two evenings operating my computer remotely (from India?) trying to get the software to work. (It's weird to watch someone else move your cursor...)

But nothing ever worked, no matter what he tried.

Eventually, he just quit calling me back.

So, I went from cursing him...to being impressed by him...to cursing him again.

With no good solutions, and no returned phone calls, I decided enough was enough.

"Like a Phoenix...I have risen from the flames
Like a Phoenix...I have risen from the flames
No more living...
Someone else's dreams."

In the course of trying to figure how to port my messages to some other software (found there was no easy way to do that...) I stumbled on some software called "RapidWeaver." It's an all-in-one website/blogging solution. It's Mac-based, intuitive, and has GREAT technical support. It seems to be created by some really cheery folks in England. And for the past week, I've been pelting their message boards with questions, and I have gotten a great answer every time. And quickly.

So, this past week has been "rising from the flames" week. While it's still looked like radio-silence on your end, I've been busily converting my entire website to RapidWeaver on my end.

I've had the www.ericfolkerth.com website for almost eight years now. I've had the blog for three, going on four. Converting it over is a big job. RapidWeaver makes very easy. But with that kind of history, it's still a big job.

It's not really like cleaning your closets (the first analogy I thought of...). It's really more like moving to a whole new house. It's still all your old stuff, you just have to figure out where it all goes, what you want to keep, and what you need new.

I'm mostly done now. And the result, I am happy to report, is a fully integrated website and blog, with an eye-popping new design, and cool new features my old house/site never had.

Take the picture pages, for one. They're really, really cool. Check them out. Same old pictures. But they look a lot better here.

And, the blog is fully integrated with the website. So, if you find the blog, you'll find the website, and vice versa.

The new blog address, at least the main blog page, is a much easier url too:
http://www.ericfolkerth.com/wheneftalks/blog.html

That's a permanent new address. So, save it as a "favorite" now, and subscribe to the rss feed with this link. You'll have the ability to leave comments just as before, and I think that overall you'll come to enjoy it as I have this past week.

As for what I still need to do, I am still porting over the blog entries to the new system. That way, if you want to peruse old entries, you'll be able to do so within the new system, and ingore the old blog. Don't know how long that will take. I'll let you know when it's done.

So, welcome to the rebirth of my website/blog.

If you're a regular reader, I'm really glad you managed to find me again. I didn't leave you hanging on purpose. The old site will stay out there, like some dead satellite drifting around earth. It's not going to be updated. But there are too many folks who have linked to it through the years for me to take it down either.

So, sorry for the radio silence. As Han Solo used to say, "It's not my fault!!"

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Welcome to "When EF Talks!"

Welcome to "When EF Talks!" Eric Folkerth's blog on music, spirituality, politics and life. I tend to write on all four of these things, and often the intersections between them.

If you want to know more about me, this is probably the best quick and dirty source.
 
Because the various core topics of the blog are so varied, things around here are organized into several labels(tags). This is more and more helpful all the time, as there are more than 500 total entries, that go in wildly different thought-directions.

You might enjoy just surfing the labels. Use the new "Dynamic Views" layout to go back in time...either chronologically, or sort by label. (The Flipcard layout, which you can find at the top left menu, is an especially fun way to do this...)


Here's my feeble attempt to explain things around here...

Primary Labels(Tags) on "When EF Talks"
Favorite Entries
These are entries that either meant a lot to me, or have meant a lot to other people. They start out in other categories, and I add them into this one. 

Music News
A category for general info, news, gig announcements, about me and my music. More and more, I'm posting demos of songs I've recently written. I write about upcoming shows here, decompress about past shows, talk about recording I'm doing. 

Angels and Pins
I have enough theological training to be dangerous. This is the place for me to opine about all things theological, ethical, moral, and philosophical; hopefully in words most human beings can understand (Not something all theologians do all of the time, I know....)

Once upon a time, I wrote a weekly email devotional that was read by more than 3,000 people worldwide. (I mean a long time ago. Before blogs, when folks read things like devotional emails...) I don't write it anymore.

But, now and then, you'll find something like those old devotionals in this section too. Also, if and when I create a written manuscript of my sermons (not often), they usually end up here too.

Life Happens
To me. To my family. To those around me. So....these are entries about stuff that happens that I feel the need to put into words. Or, it's stuff that doesn't seem to fit anywhere else. 

Balcony People
Joyce Landgraff invented the term over twenty years ago to describe folks in her life that were in her corner...cheerleaders, supporters, personal saints, heroes from history.

She said that anytime she spoke or performed in public, she imagined that these folks with with her, "in the balcony," watching over her. 

So, this category is to honor those who've meant something to me. Anybody who appears in this category is likely to be someone --living or dead, personal friend or hero from afar-- that has touched my life in some way. 

Thoughts from Purple Land
My wife is an elected State District Judge, here in Texas. So, more than most minister-types, I know a bit about politics. I like to talk about politics the way some people like to talk about sports. There's nothing wrong with that. All that stuff ends up here.

The titles comes from a song I wrote, just after the 2004 election, called "Purpleland." No matter which side of the political divide you come down on, it's important to remember that we DO live in a Purpleland. Every single state, every single community, is both "blue" and "red." We are never just one or the other.

I happen to trend more blueish than reddish, and the writing here will make that plain. But, in my life, I know a lot of truly fine, upstanding red folks too.

The opinions are my own, and do not represent the views of any church or other organization. (Just felt the need to say that. And I say it even more strongly here.) 

My Own Amazing Race
I've been blessed to travel a lot of really interesting places in my life. I have a lot of pictures and memories, and I'm working on some entries that will be travelogues of some of the fascinating places and people I've met over the years. Stay tuned... 

Things to Like About Texas
Lots of folks don't like our state. I get that. And I'm not at all an apologist. I can agree with a lot of the critique. But before you throw the baby out with the bath water, please read some of the things I've found to like about this state. You might be surprised. Or, even if you do still hate Texas, you might see us more as nuisance than anathema. And that'd at least be a step in the right direction.
 

HSO's from a Bitter P1
I like to talk sports too. In 2006, I found myself blogging on sports more than I ever imagined I would. This culminated during the Mavs playoff run, when my observations about Dwyane Wade earned me 25,000 hits in two days, and earned me the moniker "Bitter P1" from the "BaD Radio Show" on "The Ticket." It's a nickname I embrace with pride. 

"HSO" = "Hot Sports Opinion."
"P1" = Somebody who listens to The Ticket.

Synapse Clippings
This is a category filled with the stuff that most blogs have...quick hitting, short entries that link you to somewhere else. This is where all the quick thoughts that dash across my brain's white-matter go. Don't add to this as much as I should. I should.

Connections News
Information about the best cover band in Dallas, and an absolutely amazing part of my life, and if you live anywhere close to Dallas, you need to come hear us play.

Friends I'm Proud to Know
Just what it sounds like. Entries where I get to brag on my friends and the cool things they're doing.

"Inside Baseball" for Methodists
To say something is "Inside Baseball" is to say that it's so technical that most folks won't have an interest in it.

I love the United Methodist Church, and I have a lot of opinions about it. But the truth is that in our modern world many of things we battle about inside the church --as if they are "life and death"-- mean little to those on the outside.

So, expect me to write about matters of the UMC with a great bit of passion, but know that I am aware of how "inside baseball" it all is.

Northaven
Posts about stuff going on at our amazing church.

There are several other categories with catchy names. But I bet you can figure out what they're about. 
---------------------------------------

 Blog Roll
 
 "Close to My Heart" are sites that I either have a personal/professional connection to, or sites that someone in my immediately family has a personal/professional connection to.

Next, you'll find "Musician Friends." 
I have a lot of musician friends, and I've been blessed by them all. But these folks I've shared gigs with, written songs with, recorded with, or had some other close connection. They are all incredible talents, and if you get nothing else from my blog, getting to know them better would make the visit worth your time.   

"Writers and Other Artist Friends" is exactly like the last category, but are other kinds of art or spirituality.
"Sites that Keep Me Sane" are sites that give political analysis that doesn't seem insane to me. 
"Sites That Feed Me" are sites that speak to the human soul, and issues of spirituality. 
"Passionate Causes" are groups I have either done volunteer work with personally, or actual agencies in Dallas I have a connection with.

Leave me a comment or two. And thanks for taking the time to stop by.




Eric Folkerth 

(revised: May 2013)

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Other Blogs on the Phantom Fouls

Martini Republic
NBA reaches WWF levels of un-credibilty
June 20th, 2006
After deciding game 5 of the NBA finals with a disputed call at the end of the game, the referees decided to end any questions regarding the credibility of the NBA by calling a foul when Dwayne Wade(sic) appeared to throw an arm into Dirk Nowitski.

Of course, they called a foul on Nowitski. And the foul was called with less than a minute to play, and the Heat leading by one point.

To be honest, I didn’t watch most of the game. I stopped watching after the second phantom foul in Wade’s favor (where Marquis Daniels didn’t touch him on a shot). It was just a bit much after the first phantom foul (where Wade flopped untouched after making a jumper) and the play where Devin Harris was whistled after Wade dropped a shoulder into him on a drive. Even Hubie Brown was aghast.

NBADraft.net
D-Wade: The Transcendent Super-human
...it's almost tragic that the shoddy officiating will overshadow Wade's truly amazing Finals performance. I want to extend my deepest apologies to Mavericks fans. No fan-base deserves to go though what they did these past four games. I've been a proponent of the "refs don't beat you, quit your whining" perspective, but this was like enduring the Don Denkinger Game from the 1985 World Series, only four times in a row. Unless you're a Miami Heat fan or one of Dwyane Wade's relatives, this is a bad day to be an NBA fan.

Joey Love's Blues & Beyond
What a series.... NOT !
There's probably more footage in the series of bad calls then you could probably gather in the entire season. Come on... Wade himself gets to the line 25 times... more than the entire Mavs team and you don't think the calls were one sided ? I'm trying not to breathe as I write this because I'm afraid I might be called for a foul on Wade ! Was that really a foul when Wade split Dirk and Devin Harris near the end of Game 5, no... Harris has been splitting defenders all season long getting knocked around in the process with no calls and Wade slips through with minimal contact if any and gets a call. This is the frickin' NBA not 4th grade pee-wee basketball !!! Dirk gets pounded all the time... Stackhouse gets a bloody nose... no call, Mavs players flying to the floor... no calls ????

SportsBiz
Cuban Slapped with $250,000 for Truth Talking
The phantom time out and phantom foul on Dwayne(sic) Wade at the end of the last game should have enraged anyone who wasn't a Heat fan. The still inexplicable suspension of Jerry Stackhouse only set Cuban up for the tirade he had in Miami at the end of game 5. It should make for great theatre for the last two games, if there are two and for that i suppose we should thank Stern. Perhaps he should thank Cuban instead of fining him for having an owner who cares enough about the performance of his team to actually argue a call.

The Scores Report
Refs win first title
Miami 95, Dallas 92 (Heat win series, 4-2)
I’ve played basketball for more than 20 years, and one thing is certain: there is nothing more frustrating (from an opponent’s perspective) than a ref giving calls to a good player who repeatedly throws himself into a defensive player. It’s almost like the officials have an incomplete checklist. Was there contact? Check. Is the offensive player a superstar? Check. Let’s send him to the line! Only the refs are forgetting the most important question: does the offensive player create the contact? The officials gave Game 5 to the Heat when, at the end of the game, they rewarded Dwayne(sic) Wade with two free throws on a phantom foul call on Dirk Nowitzki. Fast forward to the end of Game 6, 0:26 to play, Miami leading 91-90, Wade drives the ball, throws his arm out into a retreating Nowitzki, and Wade gets the call. Sure, the Mavs had a chance to tie at the buzzer, but that foul call put Dallas in a bad, bad position.


Selling Waves
More Hate
On the plus side (upside, perhaps, in honor of everybody’s favorite spineless color man?), at least the NBA’s officials for Game 6 maintained consistency in calling fouls against the Mavericks for swiping at the ball in Dwyane Wade’s hands and completely missing everything, for standing there when Wade threw his body into someone and flipped the ball over his head, and for getting in the way of Wade’s forearm. On the down side…well, isn’t the downside pretty obvious? (And that doesn’t even get into the fact that both games 5 and 6 essentially ended on phantom foul calls; whatever happened to letting the players decide the game?)

Seize the Means
The Basketball Blogs: Part II
I'll never watch the NBA again.

I'm a fan of the game--basketball, hoops, the roundball as they say--though I'm not necessarily a fan of the Mavericks or Heat. In truth friends, I'm a Celtics fan--the Celtics who suck a big time mightily, who have driven to near suicidal--so I could give a rat's ass who wins this year's finals. For the love of Pete, just let the games be good. And let Shaq's free-throws resemble tires heaved from a truck.

Yet after watching the refs hand--HAND, I say--Game 5 to the Heat in OT, on a phantom foul that sent D-Wade (who is truly, spectacularly gifted and needs no help) to the line with less than 2 seconds left, where--swish, swish--he calmly stole the game, well...let's just say I'm f*$*& disgusted and driven to drink.

Tomorrow, not a single paper (except maybe the ones in Dallas) will run in its sports pages the headline: The Mavs Were Jobbed! Yet the Mavs were jobbed. Big time. Capital J to the O to the double B, ED. Cheated. Screwed over by the zebras, and on national TV nonetheless. I guess Jesus was out skateboarding.


Unique LIke Everybody
Can a guy get some decent officiating around here?
For everything I said about FIFA officiating, NBA officiating is much, much worse. It got bad enough that I didn't even watch the second half of last night's game.

That upsets me more than it probably should, but sports fans are by nature irrational. See, I loved these playoffs. They made me giddy. I stayed up to watch every Suns game, even when they didn't end until 2am. The Mavericks and Spurs were awesome. The Suns and Mavericks was a non-stop joyfest. Wade, LeBron, and Carmelo were all in the playoffs together for the first time. Elton Brand finally got to play on the big stage. It was amazing.

The NBA Finals destroyed all that.

Look, I love Dwyane Wade. He is my favorite player to enter the league since Allen Iverson. But the Mavericks were utterly and totally jobbed by officials protecting Wade in this series. It was a disgraceful performance by the referees.

In game six, Wade personally shot as many free throws as the Mavs. He set a new Finals record for free throw attempts, which would be one thing if it was just a rough game where everyone was fouling and people went to the line a lot. But in fact, only one team went to the line a lot. Anyone watching that game cannot honestly say that only one team was aggressive, only one team was going to the basket, only one team was playing defense with its feet. After a full season of "the new Mavs," not one announcer claimed they had reverted. So how to explain the disparity?

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Why I Can't Afford to Love the Rangers

I've been there beside this miserable team since the very beginning. It's not just that I've been attached to players like Pudge Rodriguez. It's that I've been attached to players like David Clyde. I've been attached to Jeff Burroughs (Had a poster of him up in my room as a kid...all the while knowing that he was nowhere near the stature of Aaron and Rose....the other guys I had posters of) I've been attached to Jim Sundberg, and Jim Fregosi. I've been attached to Toby Harrah, and Bump Wills. I was attached to Fergie Jenkins (my Mom bought me an autographed copy of his book for my birthday) and Bert Blyleven. I was attached to Buddy Bell, and Mike Hargrove.

I was attached to Nolan Ryan...

Holy cow, NOLAN RYAN was Texas Ranger!!! After all those names I just mentioned, it still seems like those were dream years. But they weren't. And soon after Nolan came a whole other group of players that I was REALLY attached to. Names of players who will one day be in the Hall of Fame:

Pudge
Raffi
Gonzo

Not only were they great players, they even had real baseball nicknames. They even went to the playoffs. Twice. Lost to the dreaded Yankees. (Yes, I went to those playoff games) And it seemed like the Rangers were finally digging themselves out of a twenty-year hole. They were finally winning. Sure, the pitching sucked. But the HITTING!!! It was amazing. We were so pleased to not be at the bottom of our division that we didn't know to complain about the pitching. It made all those years of being attached to Oddibe McDowell seem like they were somehow worth it. It was as if twenty-years of misery might finally be vanquished forever.




But something about winning a little makes you want to win even more. And so, those two trips to the playoffs simply made us all want for more. But it didn't happen. The club started to fall backward. Free agency meant that there was no way to keep the team's core together (at least, with this owner...). I kept thinking that if they'd just get a pitcher or two, it would all be better.

And every off season, I would chant what became my Ranger-mantra. It was a variant of the old Clinton campaign mantra:
It's the pitching, stupid.

It's not the hitting. It's the pitching. We've got to get us some pitching in here.

So, what do they do? With the core of the Rangers only good team falling apart, the new management signs Alex Rodriguez. I can hardly stand to say the name. I am still so mad at Hicks, still so disgusted that this selfish, conceited player was ever in a Ranger uniform. And even though he's now been gone a few years, we (or better yet, Hicks) are still, literally, paying for it.

So, the point is, sometime these last few years --between the trading/selling off of the incredible core of a good team, and the bonehead signing of A-Rod-- these owners lost me. They just lost me. They needed to take this team in a positive direction. They needed pitching, and they went for hitting. They HAD the core of a good, good team....the thirty-year support of fans like me....and they crapped it away. Just flushed it down the toilet.

So, yes, I cannot love this current team. I really cannot get into Michael Young, and it's totally not his fault. I can't afford to get too excited about Mark Texiera. I'm not even sure I spelled his name right, and I don't care enough to look it up.

The sad thing is? I vaguely realize that these guys play hard. I vaguely realize that they show up each and every game, and work their butts off. It doesn't matter. Because I don't think the owners want to win. I don't think the owners have the heart to win.

And, I've just poured my heart and soul into the Mavericks; and before them, my beloved Texas Longhorns.

Look at Cuban. I used to think the guy was an idiot. Now, I think he's a genius. Cuban knows two things:
1) He wants to win, and
2) He's nothing without the support of the fans.

Cuban may be crazy. But he admits when he's wrong. He'll be honest about when he's made a mistake. And he knows that his fans are everything...and that without them, nothing else matters.

How crazy was it for him, or for Avery Johnson, to say all year "we will not be satisfied until we're in the finals?"

THAT'S what you need from your owners/managers...you need them to believe you can overachieve (the Mavs DID this year...). You need them to help you believe. You need them to help your players believe.

Or, look at Mack Brown. Look how positive he was all season. We will not be satisfied until we are champions, he said. It's not enough to just beat OU this time.

It was GREAT to believe in those guys, wasn't it?! It was a great run with the Mavericks. And yes, they broke my heart. But they did it by breaking their backs. They worked their tails off, and I'm the happiest broken-hearted fan alive.

And now, all that dies down, and all I'm left with is what looks like the same old Texas Rangers.

And I just can't do it anymore.

You want to know how the Rangers can get me back? It's all on the management. There's nothing the players need to do. I am sure they are good players. I'm sure they work hard. But, as I said, it's not the players fault. It's the owners.

So, dear Rangers Management:
The following are my concluding thoughts on what you can do to save this franchise. And I do mean save the franchise, not just the season. I hope you realize how close you are to losing it all...not just this year...but close to losing an entire fan-base. This is the metroplex, remember. There's a lot to do around here. There are movie theaters on every corner. There's Six Flags. Heck, we fans might even go to "The Nasher." Realize, this is about keeping your franchise, not your season.

So, here are my suggestions to you:

1) Call Mark Cuban. Learn from him. He's a master. You don't have to be that over-the-top. But you need to learn how to care, or at least to look like you care. Cuban can help with this. Also, listen very closely when he tells you that the fans mean everything. They do. Think about it. And if you can't bring yourself to care, just find a way not to let us know that. We need to believe you care. We need to see it through not only what you say, but the money you put into the franchise. We need to see a couple of seasons of spectacular spending. That will probably just tick you off to hear me say that. But how you spend your money (or don't spend it) is a symbol for how much you care.

2) Admit when you've screwed up. Admit that A-Rod was a fiasco. Admit that it put this club back five-to-ten years, and that we're still recovering. Cuban would admit it. Cuban would apologize. And Cuban would take all that money that we're still paying to the Yankees each year and add it to the Rangers payroll...a luxury tax on himself to show good faith. We need to see you do something spectacular like that.

3) Pitching, pitching, pitching!!!! I don't care what you have to do. We need pitching. We need NUMBER ONE STARTERS. Two of them. (Yes, you heard me right: two) You keep getting us number two starters. We need TWO number one starters. That's what the great teams always have.

4) Finally, realize the depth of this problem. This is not about this season. This is not about the Mavs winning. (OK, that's part of it...) This like global warming. This is a decades-old problem. You need to recognize just how deep and serious this problem is.

Global warming started years and years ago. My Rangers global warming started about 1979. It was slow at first. It was still fun to love those lovable losers. The two playoff runs almost turned me around. But then, you owners screwed it up again. You traded off/gave away, the core a winning team. Now --and I think I can say this is a distinct possibility-- Pudge may win his SECOND World Championship with a team that's not the Rangers. You know how much that hurts?! That only adds insult to injury.

So, the glaciers are melting faster now. The hurricanes are of greater strength. You inherited a natural spring of goodwill that's now dry. And, like global warming, it's going to take decades to turn it around.

Admit it. Get busy fixing it.

But do it publicly and say it loudly when you do.

Because I'm not paying the close attention I used to these days, and I probably won't hear you otherwise.

I can't afford to love these Rangers anymore.
I can't afford to care.

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July Fourth Radio (I'll be on it...listen in...)

You've heard me talk here before about my friend, Charles Geilich, and his radio show, "A Lawyer and a Cop." I'm neither a lawyer or a cop, but I'll be co-hosting with Charles on Tuesday morning, July 4th....here's the scoop:

A Lawyer and a Cop
KNON Radio, 89.3 FM, Dallas
or streaming at: www.knon.org

We haven't done a lot of preplanning for this particular show, since Charles just asked me to join him late this afternoon.

But since it's the Fourth of July, I suppose that I hope we'll have some discussion of our freedoms...maybe the New York Times "leak" story, for example, and a discussion of freedom of the press. On July 4, that might be a good topic to tackle.

Listen in, find out if it does, and call in if you feel led.

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