Funeral Words

New Book on the Horizon

A new book hits the shelves tomorrow which supposedly surveys current changes in American funeral traditions. The Publisher's Weekly blurb opens like this:

"This intriguing survey of America's rapidly mutating funeral customs probes the one force mightier than death: consumerism. Journalist Cullen explores the innumerable ways in which funerals are being personalized, publicized, economized, commercialized, trivialized and, perhaps, humanized."

I have one on order and will let you know what I find out!

Play this Song at my Funeral

Mortality, the idea finally creeps onto the spiritual radar screen about my age and life's perspectives change SO dramatically. Three things I have realized (finally): 1. I only have so much time in this world. 2. I need to make the ABSOLUTE best use of my heart and soul and talents while the clock still ticks. 3. HAVE FUN, do the stuff that energizes life, nothing less will make the grade.

Here's a set of lyrics which express those sentiments so well. Check them out.

Another Day
From Traveler
(Tim O'Brien and Darrell Scott, Universal Music Corp/Howdy Skies Music/Famous Music/Sheddie Songs/ASCAP)

This world is made with sweat and toil, pushing muscle and elbow oil
We can't lie too long in the shade, cause every day must be remade
Some days you fall some days you fly, but in the end we all must die
Our rotting flesh and broken bone will feed the ground that we call home

But a new sprout grows from a fallen tree, my sons will go on after me
So lift your heart and dry your eye, it's another day to live and die

I've run naked in the wild, seen the beauty of a newborn child
Like the alchemists of old, I've tried to spin my straw to gold
Most times a giver, sometimes a thief, so full of hope but prone to grief
Between freedom and despair, I know that truth is lying there
I've seen the truth, it's lying there

And a new sprout grows from a fallen tree, this world will go on after me
So lift your heart and dry your eye, it's another day to live and die

So go on now, don't you worry 'bout me, you've miles to go and a world to see
My life's been long and full and good, I've run this race the best I could
It's a short time here and long apart,
But the same song rings in both our hearts
So take my guitar when I'm gone, write your own rhymes, then pass it on
Just take your hit and then pass it on

Let a new sprout grow from a fallen tree, this song will go on after me
So lift your heart and dry your eye, it's another day to live and die
It's another day to live and die, just another day

http://www.timobrien.net/
http://www.timobrien.net/Lyrics2.cfm?ID=140

You can find a great live recording of this song here Album: Telluride Bluegrass Festivial--Thirty Years. For those that use and iPod, you can find the individual track on iTunes.

[This post dedicated to MK. May that memory, energy and life begun, spin on for generations to come.]

Batesville Spinoff

I read the latest Funeral Service Insider with interest this week, wondering what the pundits would have to say about the potential outcomes of a Batesville Casket spin-off. Most of it made reasonable sense to me but ??!!LOWER CASKET PRICES!!?? what’s up with that idea?

Let’s think about this a little bit.

1. Hillenbrand will have lots of control over how the casket company gets spun off. They have shareholders who want a STRONGER company after the transaction goes through. Often that means the smaller entity gets saddled with extra debts and other liabilities to help the bigger company clean up its balance sheet.
2. Batesville will be sitting on a bunch of manufacturing equipment in a shrinking business. It won’t be a “sexy” sell on Wall Street. This could cost Batesville through increased borrowing costs or could hinder its ability to issue additional stock later when it needs to fund the restructuring costs suggested in the Insider article.
3. The uncertainty involved with a change in Batesville ownership will cause some shifts in loyalty among the independent funeral directors. Shrinking market share (even just a little bit) will hurt Batesville’s bottom line. [Of course this could lead to higher discounts and temporarily lower prices in the short term.]
4. If Batesville ever moves to outsource their manufacturing (which would go over very poorly with this funeral director), they will REALLY lose market share. They have had enough trouble getting quality back on par with the move out of Nashua, never mind moving the work out of the country. Much like a funeral home, losing market share only lowers your profit, it does very little to lower your underlying costs.

Now Ken Camp and company know how to make smart decisions and get things done. If the business spins off, they will do a great job making it work. Just don’t expect them to stand up at the first shareholder’s meeting and announce a price cut. I expect their new shareholders will want to hear about profits on the rise just like Hillenbrand expects Batesville to perform right now.

Anyone care to comment???

Sailing Directions

I have recently moved to a new community, Fairhaven, MA, a place steeped in nautical history and it seems every other house has some sort of historical plaque or sign describing an important personage who either built the structure of lived there at some point. One of those signs, described the historical house owner as "Captain of the Flying Cloud", arguably the most famous clipper ship of her era. She sailed from New York to San Francisco in less than 90 days at a time when many sailing vessels required as much as 200 days to accomplish the same journey.

No question that Capt. Creesy had a fast ship. However, he also had a close partnership with his navigator wife (quite the progressives both of them for 1851) AND the benefit of a new text, 'Explanations and Sailing Directions to Accompany the Wind and Current Charts', published that very same year.