Sunday, what are you doing here?

PARIS - Arctic ice has shrunk to the lowest level on record, new satellite images show, raising the possibility that the Northwest Passage that eluded famous explorers will become an open shipping lane. With arctic ice levels at record lows, a long-sought route between Asia and Europe may emerge.

The official slant from the Bush administration will be: White House encourages trade. Take that, free market economy. Pretty soon, a new shipping lane may open up between Baltimore and Denver. Fresh crabs in Colorado! I can't wait for that one.

Then, there was this sickening headline: Ingrid fades to depression as damage from Humberto assessed. Poor Ingrid, and what did that bastard Humberto do to hurt her so? She was such a happy girl before he came into her life. The cad never as much as thanked her for everything she did. I got really worked up until I figured out what was going on. Stinking CNN.

If you don't know who Scott Matthews is, I wouldn't be surprised. You can read about him on the link, but you'd be better off just buying his new CD, Passing Strangers.
His music draws from all sorts of influences. There's a reggae feel on some, a blues feel on others, then he drops a bomb called Elusive on us and you find yourself going back to the other songs to see if they're as deep as that one. They are. Any time you hear a lyric like I'm in debt with pain. I can't bleed no more, you can figure the stuff is pretty deep.

You'll hear traces of McCartney, Jack Johnson and Chris Cornell. They're calling him the "British Jeff Buckley", but I don't know much about Jeff Buckley other than he's American, so you'll have to value that comment yourself.

Sometimes great music should just stand on its own, without having to be compared to anyone else. If you're looking for an example, I think you could start here.