Thursday, May 31, 2007

Goodbye, To The Ephemeral May, Fly



Mayfly (Insect order: Ephemeroptera)
One day, in May.

•••

The fly
Of May
It lives
One day.

When that day is done
The MayFly does not complain.
It flies into the setting sun.
It goes back to the place
From which it came.

The fly
Of May.

Ask how
Ask why
One day
MayFly.
That's all
You get.
You give
No thought
To it.

Me, my life is long
With reasons few like you.
When I go and when I'm gone
I will understand these things
I never knew.

The fly
Of May.

One day one day one day one day
It's long enough
If you really think about it.

The fly
Of May
It lives
One day.

•••

MayFly
How We Quit The Forest
(Buy: Rasputina: How We Quit The Forest)

And, this, from Vodafone — where you can make yourself into a mayfly — for a day. (Sure, the mayfly as shill, but it's still cute.)



And, speaking of commercials (sans shilling), this:

Diamond Mind
(Buy: Rasputina: How We Quit The Forest)

There Is No Place Like Aum (or, Broadway)


Good Grief!

•••

The little round headed kid and his dog.
Charles M. Schulz

•••

"I'm trying to get my life together."

This was the subject heading of a blanket e-mail I received the other day, due to the fact that I signed my name to a mailing list 2 years ago. I really have to be more careful about signing up for things.

And, I hope that you can figure your life out. (Or, have a really good time trying!)

“Sometimes I lie awake at night, and ask, 'Where have I gone wrong?' Then a voice says to me, 'This is going to take more than one night.'” — Charlie Brown, "Peanuts"

"If you feel that you are not enlightened, you can always try to be."Harish Johari (Friggin' brilliant, HarJo!)

•••

Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin': Music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II (Singer: John Raitt), Oklahoma!

I Got the Sun in the Morning: Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin (Singer: Doris Day), Annie Get your Gun

Tomorrow: Music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin (Singer: Andrea McArdle), Annie

Put On a Happy Face: Music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Lee Adams (Singer: Dick VanDyke) Bye Bye Birdie
(Buy: Greatest Hits of Broadway)

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

I Promise, No More Dog Pictures For A While (Unless They're Really Cute. Which They All Are.)


He ain't nothing but a lawn dog.

Nature Boy
Yesterday
The Rock

•••

Sorry 'bout that. I just wanted to add this song to yesterday's selection.

•••

Hound Dog: Big Mama Thornton
(Buy: In Europe: Big Mama Thornton with Muddy Waters' Blues Band)

Monday, May 28, 2007

La Vita Musicale Dolce di un Cane


The Sweet Musical Life of a dog (as Erik Satie).

Marcel Duchamp
Memorial Day
The Rock

All dogs must have their day, and today, Marcel is having his.

With the excitement of being allowed to express his respect in honor (and memory) of his favorite musicians, he donned his favorite bowler and, proceeded to regale us with a few 0f his favorite musical numbers — which I will share with you — below.

Who's your best friend, man?

•••

Preludes Flasques (Pour un chien) - I Voix d'interieur
Preludes Flasques (Pour un chien) - II Chanson canine
Preludes Flasques (Pour un chien) - III Avec camaraderie
The Moog Synthesizer with The Camarata Contemporary Chamber Orchestra: The Electronic Spirit of Erik Satie
(via: WFMU Beware of the Blog)

And, here's 4 more, for a little canine coda.

Kidz Are So Small: Deerhoof
(Buy: Friend Opportunity)

Stoned To The Bone, Part 1: James Brown
(Buy: Star Time)

Spikee
Dogman Go Woof: Underworld
(via: The White Noise Revisited)

Saturday, May 26, 2007

One (Inter)Nation(al) Under The Groovy


Wabi-sabi, baby!


Okay, this post isn't much different from yesterday's but, (this time the picture is not of me, and,) it is in Japanese. Here's three, from a 1971 Japanese recording of Hair: The American Tribal Love Rock Musical.

These come by way of Jersey City, New Jersey's own WFMUBeware of the Blog — my favorite radio/on-line connection for things gathered from the nether regions of the musical world, and beyond. (Warning: Make sure you visit when you have nothing else to do, BOTB may be addictive.)

•••

I Got Life
Hair
Walking In Space

Doumo arigatou. Yoi ichinichi o!

Friday, May 25, 2007

Lest I Forget (I'd Like To Wish You A Good Weekend)



Fly that flag on the ferry, FREAK!

It's because somebody fought somebody, that I'm able to let my freak flag fly. Or, that's what somebody who fought — would tell somebody like myself — who doesn't believe in such fighting.

Have a great weekend, on whichever side of this issue you may stand. (And, 'Don't Drink and Drive!')

•••

'You know kids, I wish every mom and dad would make a speech to their teenagers and say, "Kids, be free, be whatever you are, do whatever you want to do, just so long as you don't hurt anybody. And, remember kids, I am your friend."

I would just like to say that it is my conviction
That longer hair and other flamboyant affectations
Of appearance are nothing more
Than the male's emergence from his drab camouflage
Into the gaudy plumage
Which is the birthright of his sex

There is a peculiar notion that elegant plumage
And fine feathers are not proper for the male
When actually
That is the way things are
In most species'

My Conviction, from Hair: The American Tribal Love Rock Musical Lyrics: Gerome Ragni + James Rado

•••

'Om mane padme om
On mane padme om
Folding the flag means taking care of the nation.
Folding the flag is putting it to bed for the night.
I fell through a hole in the flag
I'm falling through a hole in the flag
Help!

Don't put it down
Best one around
Crazy for the red blue and white
Crazy for the red blue and white

You look at me
What do you see
Crazy for the white red and blue
Crazy for the white red and blue

Cause I look different
You think I'm subversive
Crazy for the blue white and red
Crazy for the blue white and red

My heart beats true
For the red white and blue
Crazy for the blue white and red
Crazy for the blue white and red
And yellow fringe
Crazy for the blue white red and yellow'

Don't Put It Down, from Hair: The American Tribal Love Rock Musical Lyrics: Gerome Ragni + James Rado

•••

I Got Life
My Conviction
Walking In Space

And one for good measure, and Memorial Day (or Patriot's Day, or Patriot Day, or Veteran's Day, or Flag Day, or whatever the holiday is that you celebrate your life — which should be everyday, babies!)

Don't Put It Down

(Buy: Hair: The American Tribal Love Rock Musical – The Original Broadway Cast Recording (1968))

Saturday, May 19, 2007

The Law Is The Law. What's Your Weapon Of Choice?


"I consider the ownership of arms not only a right, but the duty of a free people to themselves and future generations." – Dan, from 'Armed America' (What maybe concerns me more, is Dan's collection of Domino's boxes in the corner of his little white, gun-laden room.)

Portrait from 'Armed America'
Photographs by Kyle Cassidy

•••

On the Friday morning ferry, I sat down in front of a man reading the a 2007 Gun Guide — a catalog of fire arms from the dainty Derringer to the (should never be used anywhere but war, and even to that note, there should be no war) AK-47. (Another side note to that: I'm sure that there were bigger guns in that guide also, but just the fact that somebody was reading this on my usually quiet and peaceful morning commute, may have distracted me from the plethora of other weapons of choice.)

Anywho ...

We were talking about guns (I was WAYYY out of my league here, but you've got to be social on the boat, you know) and where the hell one might use such devices — when he turned to a particular page showing knock-down/put-together models of some type of rifle.

"Where would one ever use something like that?" I asked, a little mockingly, because, (Sheez!) I can understand the right to hunt for deer and moose, and occasional squirrel (An island thing, which I REALLY DON'T understand), but, this was a compact, 'assemble-it-as-you-need-it' firearm. "Really!" I continued, "Really! Where in the hell could you justify needing that?"

"Pilots use them when they get shot down behind enemy lines. It's easy to build, and they get to protect themselves," he responded, without a hint of sarcasm.

"Behind enemy lines?"

"Yeah. You know, when their planes get shot down."

"What the hell have you been watching?" I asked, laughing, as I turned to pour another cap of coffee from my thermos, and to find something else to distract me from our further discussions of wartime weaponry and tactics.

"It's true," he said, leaning over my shoulder, getting in the last word.

I let him have it — plugged in my Shuffle — and wrote this down.

•••

"Fuck me, hold tight. What's that?"

"It's me belt."

"No, Tommy. There's a gun in your trousers. What's a gun doing in your trousers?"

"It's for protection."

"Protection from what? "Zee" Germans? What's to stop it blowing your bollocks off when you sit?"

– Dialogue between Turkish and Tommy, 'Snatch' (2000)

•••

"The question of gun ownership in America is a fractious one. Even the number of guns in the country is in significant debate. The National Rifle Association (NRA), the country's largest pro-gun lobbying group, quotes the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE)'s estimate that in 1999 there were about 215,000,000 guns in America and one gun in about half of the households in the country. The Brady Campaign (the nation's leading anti-gun coalition) estimates there are 192,000,000 guns in America, owned by 39% of the population.

This isn't a book about guns. It's a book about people.

Whether it's 39% or 50% of Americans, it's still an awful lot of people. I started wondering just who they were, what they looked like, and how they lived. Such was the genesis of Armed America: Portraits of American Gun Owners in Their Homes. The idea was to photograph a hundred gun owners, in their homes, and do a gallery show. I figured this would take about two years. But very soon after I started, it became evident that my ambitions were too low. My mailbox flooded with letters from people I didn't know wanting to participate – I realized that I could probably photograph a hundred people in two months, but it wasn't a number of people that was important, it was their stories – a cowboy in Texas, a survivalist in Montana, a deer hunter in Pennsylvania, a sheriff in Georgia, a soldier in Idaho.... What I really needed, I realized, was to get moving, to drive across the country and find America somewhere between here and there."
– Kyle Cassidy, Introduction from 'Armed America'

•••

Fleming: "I was born and raised 12 miles down the road from where Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were ambushed and killed – this was in 1935. As a result of that incident, Northern Louisiana gained a reputation for being a very violent part of the world. And indeed, everybody – that I knew anyway – had at least two guns; a shotgun, and a .22 rifle. But these weapons were looked upon mostly as implements for harvesting food, mutch like you do with hoes, rakes, shovels, and things like that. Because they were used to take wild game. And in a country at that time where there was no electricity, no trains to speak of, you couldn't buy anything. If you didn't grow it or kill it yourself, you didn't eat. So everybody that I new of, went out to hunt for food and shells were expensive – it was on the edge of the depression, shortly before World War II and people learned to practice gun economy, i guess you would say. People took care of guns, guns were cherished ... and you didn't mess with somebody's gun. They were used as something to acquire food. That was all they were used for. This business about people shooting each other – that has come about, I think, as a result of money being introduced into our culture. Some people didn't have any, and some people wanted some, so they went out an "liberated" it."

Jean: "I hate guns. Don't get me started."
Jean and Fleming, from 'Armed America'

•••

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee."

– Jules, quoting Ezekiel 25-17, 'Pulp Fiction', (1994)

•••

In Our Gun
(Buy: Gomez: In Our Gun)

Elephant Gun
(Buy: Beirut: Lon Gisland EP)

Weapon Of Choice
(Buy: Fatboy Slim: Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars)

Weapon Of Choice
(Buy: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Baby 81)

Packin'
(Buy: Porno for Pyros: Porno for Pyros)

Ezekiel 25:17
(Buy: Pulp Fiction: Pulp Fiction: Music From The Motion Picture)

(And, for those of you that are free of arms.)
Pea
(Buy: Red Hot Chili Peppers: One Hot Minute)

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Mother's Day — Better Belated Than Never



Did you know, that there are people out there who have never been complacent about war? Go ahead, ask your Mother.

War is Not Healthy for Children and Other Living Things
Lorraine Schneider (1925-1972)
1967


"For my Mother's Day gift this year,
I don't want candy or flowers.
I want an end to killing.

We who have given life
must be dedicated to preserving it.

Please talk peace."

Another Mother for Peace, Mother's Day card, 1967


"The most indelible, and doubtless the most positive of all protest images is Lorraine Schneider’s 1969 poster for the group Another Mother for Peace of a flower around which is scrawled the phrase “War is Not healthy for Children and Other Living Things.” The slogan, neither patriotic or unpatriotic, immediately became the mantra for the entire anti-Vietnam War movement. In fact Schneider’s poster had more widespread appeal than many of the satire and sometimes shocking graphics against war because it was void of sarcasm and irony and spoke simple truth to folly by addressing the devastating impact of all war on everyone of us, regardless of side."
(Steven Heller, via AIGA/NY)

•••

Fuck The Motherfucking President
(Buy: Witchypoo: A Slice Of Lemon)

Mother Where Is My Father?
(Buy: David Peel: Have a Marijuana)

Mother
(Buy: John Lennon: Shaved Fish)

And, a Bonus track (without a Mother reference):
The Fish Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag
(Buy: Country Joe McDonald: The Best Of Woodstock)

Saturday, May 12, 2007

I'm A Little Lost (But Not In A Bad Way)


"Here you see is the pedestal of a statue, with only half a leg and four toes remaining: there were many here once."

"Perfectibilians, deteriorationists, statu-quo-ites, phrenologists, transcendentalists, political economists, theorists in all sciences, projectors in all arts, morbid visionaries, romantic enthusiasts, lovers of music, lovers of the picturesque, and lovers of good dinners, march, and will march for ever, 'pari passu' with the march of mechanics, which some facetiously call the march of the intellect. The fastidious in old wine are a race that does not decay.

Literary violators of the confidences of private life still gain a disreputable livelihood and an unenviable notoriety. Match-makers from interest, and the disappointed in love and in friendship, are varieties of which specimens are extant. The great principle of the Right of Might is as flourishing now as in the days of Maid Marian: the array of false pretensions, moral, political, and literary, is as imposing as ever: the rulers of the world still feel things in their effects, and never foresee them in their causes: and political mountebanks continue, and will continue, to puff nostrums and practise legerdemain under the eyes of the multitude: following, like the "learned friend" of Crotchet Castle, a course as tortuous as that of a river, but in a reverse process; beginning by being dark and deep, and ending by being transparent."


Preface from 'Headlong Hall' (1815)
Written on March 4, 1837 by Thomas Love Peacock

•••

"The path of secrecy is a slippery slope. While necessity may dictate, at times, that we shade ourselves and out work from the all-too often harsh light of inquiry, habitual secret-keeping can mire even the noblest of intentions in shadow. It is this shadow I fell prey to, blinded not only to the action of colleagues like Dr. Thomas Werner Mittelwerk, but also to the works of my own hand.

I fear the lessons learned have cost many their happiness. Some few have even lost their lives. My regret for this is endless. But, I assure you now, as I did then, that the work of The Hanso Foundation has always been intended to bring rebirth to a dying land and a dying people.

Our methods must change. As of this moment, The Hanso Foundation enters a period of restructure and overhaul. Transparency and oversight will be our guiding principles, excellence in communication and response to feedback our greatest strengths. To save humanity, we need first tap into just that — our humanity.

Much time has passed — perhaps too much. Thanks to the tireless efforts of my daughter, Rachel Blake, and a worldwide movement set against the dark entity that was Thomas Mittelwerk's regime, I have been exonerated and freed of imprisonment. Thanks to the grace and foresight of the Global Welfare Consortium, we at The Hanso Foundation have been given a second chance to build a future that can support, enrich, and cradle us all in peace and joy.

It is to this I dedicate my life and my Foundation. My only hope is that you will join me."

Namaste


Statement from Alvar Hanso
The Hanso Foundation

(I personally don't care if they (the writers of 'LOST') have this thing figured out or not. In a way, the end (and, the answers) can (or, will) be hardly as entertaining as the journey along the way.)

•••

Lost Message
(Buy: Air: Pocket Symphony)

A Little Lost
(Buy: Arthur Russell: The World of Arthur Russell)

I Got Lost
(Buy: Dinosaur Jr: Beyond)

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

What A Girl Wants, (Is Only) What A Girl Gets


Look all you want — but if they don't want — you ain't gettin'!

The Girl Watcher
June 1959
Copyright 1959 by Bonanza Publishing Co., Inc.
(via Vintage Girlwatchers)


Grrrls, grrrls grrrls!

They love you. They hate you. They love you. They bait you.

Grrrrrrrrrls!

•••

The old,

Do You Want to Touch Me?
(Buy: Joan Jett and The Blackhearts: Fit To Be Tied: Greatest Hits)

the new,

Nestle in My Boobies
(Buy: The Coathangers: Ladies of Leisure)

Dirty Song
(Buy: Cars Can Be Blue: All the Stuff We Do)

and, the (un)real deal — with a side of Lemmy.

Stand By Your Man
(Buy: Wendy O. Williams: from, Wendy And Lemmy (7" single, 1982).
(Good luck finding this one.)

Sunday, May 06, 2007

The Horror. The Horror. (The Horoscopes, That Is.)


Well, it's a good thing I only have one.

Fortune cookies (above) and canned personality generalizations — that's what makes life worth living.

'There is a burning restlessness inside you that is activated because you don't feel as if you are fulfilling your life's destiny. You may have a sudden insight that you have a much greater purpose in this lifetime than what you are currently doing. Explore this idea, and see what you can do to move toward this great desire that comes from deep within. This is the perfect time to put large, long-term goals into action.'
(My horoscope for some day in April, when, really, I was really feeling this way. Oh, wait, I felt that way yesterday, also. And, a bit like that today. Oh, man, I don't see tomorrow looking much different.)

Oh, wait!

Today is the first day of the rest of you life! (Sure, I know that that's a bit cliche, but it sure beats the last fortune I received, which read, "You will get some clothes." (Jevus! What? Do they save up all the shite fortunes for the island take-out orders? Or, has the whole fortune cookie business just given up on creativity and inspiration?)

Oh, wait! I have one.

Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life!

•••

I Want Everything
(Buy: Cracker: Kerosene Hat)

Tristeza {Goodbye Sadness}
(Buy: Astrud Gilberto: Rhythm Of The Tropics Volume 2)

(Who needs cookies? At a minute-thirty, Walter Wanderley brings more joy then any cookie could deliver — just give it a listen!)

All Good? [Can 7 Supermarket Remix]
(Buy: De La Soul Featuring Chaka Khan : Stereo Sushi 2 [Disc 2])

Saturday, May 05, 2007

C'è il sole & Sabato!


Oggi a mia, dumani a tia, semu tutti 'n cumpagnia.

And I've got clothes to hang, gardens to rake, and, oh yeah, I've got to finish tiling the bathroom. (But, I can do that tonight!)

Get outside and play!

Buona Giornata!

•••

Until I'm Ready
(Buy & enjoy more: Halsey Burgund: Aesthetic Evidence)

Why Does The Sun Shine? (The Sun Is A Mass Of Incandecent Gas)
(Buy: They Might Be Giants: Why Does The Sun Shine? [EP])

Sun Is Shining
(Buy: Bob Marley & The Wailers: Kaya)

Surfin'
(Buy: Ernest Ranglin: Surfin')

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Yo, Cornelli! My Porcine Detumescence Is Digging Your Meaty Bloviations



MC Supersize and his Cowgirls.
Popaganda®: The Art and Crimes of Ron English

But, hey, did you just try to call us fat pigs? (Or, am I just one of those average Americans that don't quite get the meaning of 'dem big ole' college-priced words?)

To quote Inigo Montoya, "I do not think it means what you think it means."

•••

You're The One For Me, Fatty
(Buy: Morrissey: Your Arsenal)

The Freed Pig
(Buy: Sebadoh: Sebadoh III)

Gluttony (The Bloody Beetroots Remix)
(Buy: Hostage: Sins EP)

Common People
(Buy: William Shatner: Has Been)