Where's The Music?

Morning Gulls
Carver's Harbor, The Rock
February 2008

•••

Hey, I found it!

(Yeah, it's been a while.)

So, here it is.

TOMORROW: Where's The Sunshine?

•••

Where's The Music?
(Buy: Medeski Martin and Wood : Let's Go Everywhere)

Tonight We're Going To Party Like It's Nineteen-Mushi-Nine

Judy, Betty, (my best friend) Mike, Mushi (at head of table with that cocky,'Hey, It's My Birthday' cake-eatin' slouch), (my other best friend) Mike (Hey, all my best friends are called Mike. It just easier that way.), Carol, and Francis. (Sushi, and 6 or 8 others are at the other end of the table.)

Mushi and Sushi's Basement Birthday Party
New Jersey
1965

•••

"Youth has no age." - Pablo Picasso

And I thought I just liked Pablo because he could paint a good picture.

•••

Born To Be Wild
(Buy: Steppenwolf: Steppenwolf)

Born To Be Alive (Extended Dance Mix)
(Buy: Patrick Hernandez: Super Born to Be Alive)

Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)
(Buy: Talking Heads: Remain In Light)

Birthday
(Buy: The Sugarcubes: Life's Too Good)

No, Not Harry! That Other, Amazing Potter (You Know, Sparky's Kid!)

The Bicentennial, baby! Let your giant freak flag fly!

The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
Connecting Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn and Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island
Photograph via Forgotten NY
June 28, 1976

•••

Enough Harry Potter already!

I met Grace Potter when she was maybe 6 or 7 years old (some 16 years ago, or so), during a visit to her father, Sparky Potter's workshop (and home) nestled on a mountainside near Mad River Glen (where snowboarders, like myself, dare never tread), in a bucolic little town in Vermont.

A trip to Sparky's mountainside retreat was like taking a walk through the Shire, an experience only (much) later envisioned on the big screen in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy (I kid you not, it had that same magical feeling!). A walk amongst the buildings and out-buildings of the Potter compound afforded you glimpses of signs in various stages of completion, Sparky's wife Peggy's hand-painted wooden bowls, in a rainbow of colors and stages of finish, drying on outdoor shelves, and the sense that you were in a place of complete creativity. Sparky was, and still is, one of the finest craftsman (and signmaker) I have ever had the opportunity to work with. He is damn funny to boot (and, has a personality and openness that is immediately infectious).

I had the chance to stop by Sparky's shop again while traveling through that little town a few years ago. Having changed very little (other then now having his shop away from the house, and a little (16 years, in fact) older, as I had become) over the years. He remembered me immediately (apparently, neither of us had changed that much), and gladly took me on a tour through his new workspace, once again, filled with colorful and creative projects in various stages of completion. At the end of the tour, he excitingly handed me a CD. "This is my daughter Grace's band," he exclaimed with a proud exuberance, "Enjoy," he said.

We shook hands, and said our goodbyes. With a warm feeling in my heart, and a copy of "Original Soul" in my hands, I walked to my car, and left.

Every time I hear a Grace Potter song now, I think of Sparky, too. And smile.

•••

Well, on the day after her third release, This Is Somewhere, I took the opportunity to visit her website, where I read this explanation about the cover images of the CD, from her recollections of the photographic archives of her father.

The front and back cover images are taken from a photographic document of the mounting of the largest American flag ever made up to that time; it was hung on New York’s Verrazano Bridge to commemorate America’s Bicentennial in 1976. The photos were shot by Dream On Productions, an art collective founded by Grace’s father, Sparky Potter, and commissioned by New York advertising executive turned flag-obsessed Vermonter Len Silverfine, who came up with the idea and secured the involvement of the city and state of New York. Silverfine had the flag assembled by a sailmaking company in Marblehead, Mass., and, two days before the Bicentennial, it was unfurled from the side of the bridge in a dress rehearsal. Hanging from the arching steel structure, the huge flag looked “magnificent—a real show-stopper,” Sparky recalls. But then the wind unexpectedly picked up, causing the flag to billow dramatically. Realizing that the heavy, wind-whipped flag could very possibly tax the structure of the bridge, the engineers on hand called for it to be taken down, and Sparky was one of the five crew members who held onto a halyard in an attempt to pull back one of its corners.

“The wind was so strong that it lifted me several feet in the air,” he says. “Because of the force of it, we were dangling like little rag dolls until the wind eased up. From that point on, the flag just kept continually ripping, but it must’ve been a six-hour process before it got to a manageable point, where people could actually cut the sections and take it apart.” As the effort continued, shutters snapped, resulting in some truly memorable images. “For those of us who were on the bridge, it was the most dramatic sculpture you could imagine,” says Sparky. “From looking at the flag through my lens, it became more and more of a piece of art as it fell apart.” And now, 31 years later, those images have become a metaphor for the state of the nation as observed so insightfully by Grace in the songs of This Is Somewhere.

“It’s an amazing piece of Americana,” says Sparky, “and it probably would’ve stayed stashed away in the closet if Gracie hadn’t had a momentary flash about some slides of an American flag that she remembered from her childhood.”

Then, I came across this:

"On June 28, 1976 the largest American flag in the world was placed on the Verrazano. It lasted a few minutes before winds tore it apart. (Technology wasn't quite as advanced then). Since then a bigger flag was produced in Thailand, but we're told an even larger flag was produced in the USA. Help me out, Forgotten fans!"
From a recollection of that same event, 31 years ago, via Forgotten NY

(Ah, synchronicity! Don't you just love when those things happen.)

And now, for your enjoyment, as well as mine, some music by the amazing Grace Potter.

•••

No Good, Mean Old, Lowdown Lover Man
(Buy: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals: Original Soul)

Nothing But The Water (II)
(Buy: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals: Nothing But The Water)

Here's a live version of that same song, and, I believe, the reason for the band's popularity. (Their live performances, I meant, if you didn't know what I meant. Or, maybe it's that bitchin' Hammond. Or, Grace's voice. Or, maybe it's just because that the damn band rocks it live!)

Nothing But The Water (LIVE)
(June s, 2006 at World Cafe Live!, Philadelphia (NPR))

Here's To The Meantime
(Buy: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals: This Is Somewhere)

•••

And, here's one for those bicentennial flag "supporters" on that windy little day in June.

Don't Pull It Down
(Buy: Various Artists from Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical: Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical [Original Broadway Cast])

I Can Travel Decades In My Space-Age Esquivels!

Whatever you're servan' is good by me (as long as it's hyphenated)!

Donald's Serva-teria
Pratt, Kansas
Bringin' the Smorgasbord into the future!(?)

•••

If you don't know (Juan Garcia) Esquivel — then slip on into your time-machine, mix yourself an Appletini — and hold onto your hats, while you travel through this wild world, man!

Mini Skirt
(Buy: Esquivel: Esquivel 1968!!)

Now, Dude, where's my flying car?

•••

Cachita
Cachito
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
(Buy: Esquivel: Music from a Sparkling Planet)

Hot, Big Damn Nation!

Photograph from 'The Impossible Tasks' Portfolio
© 2007 Cig Harvey

•••

Three things (among a plethora of other things, not to be mentioned here for brevity) that I consider to kick arse.

1. The photography of Cig Harvey.

Sure, she's a friend but, her photography still kicks it!

2. The music of The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band.

To quote Mike Breen, of the Cincinnati City Beat (Am I really going to quote somebody from the big 'O-HI-O'? You betcha'!)

"Rousing, hyper, and authentic brand of blues that sounds like what might come out of that secret meth lab nestled deep in the backwaters of the Mississippi Delta."

(Go meth labs! And, the Mississippi Delta! And, to The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band's website!)

3. This beautiful damn day!

Time for more gardening! Later, gators!

•••

My Old Man Boogie
Long Gone
(Buy: The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band: Big Damn Nation)

This Memory Will Not Fade Away

Joe, Nick, Fritz, Casey, Mark, Brad, Charlie, Mushi, and Ozzie
Raceway Park, Englishtown, New Jersey
September 3, 1977
Photograph taken by Kevin at NewJerseyRock.

Well,actually, that's not true at all. This memory fades away quite often. But, when G started digging through some boxes of old pictures yesterday, this is what I remembered ... (fade out)

At Summer's End, my friends and I (and some 150,000 other stragglers) gathered in a field in New Jersey to see The New Riders of the Purple Sage, Marshall Tucker Band, and the Grateful Dead. They played the following set:

Promised Land
They Love Each Other
Me & My Uncle
Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo
Looks Like Rain
Peggy-O
New Minglewood Blues
Friend Of The Devil
The Music Never Stopped
Bertha
Good Lovin'
Loser
Estimated Prophet
Eyes Of The World
Samson And Delilah
He's Gone
Not Fade Away
Truckin'
Terrapin Station

Which I remember nothing of, except — while looking for a song to add here tonight, and listening to a number of shows from 1977 (and the original live recording of the show here) — I got goosebumps. That means, (a) that something inside of me still remembers that time, and the feeling of seeing that band live at such a rich period in their careers, or, more likely, (b) somebody just walked over my grave. (I can never get that one straight.)

•••

He's Gone
(Buy: Grateful Dead: Raceway Park, Englishtown, NJ, 9/3/77 LIVE/Original Recording Remastered)

(This song is actually from a November 5, 1977 show at Community War Memorial Auditorium in Rochester, NY, via Internet Archive. But you can buy the September 3, 1977, Raceway Park, Englishtown, NJ show here.)

Added BONUS:
Here's what my ticket looked like. (I've come across mine, once or twice, in the dozen or so moves up and down the East Coast, but I'd be hard pressed to find it. No, my friends, that's work for a peoples much more anal-retentive (and organized) then me. Like these folks! Maybe there's a ticket you've been looking for?)

(No, effin' shite! Did I actually just travel 30 years — from Daft Punk to Grateful Dead — in one day? I'm fading out ...)

Monsieur Marcel Duchamp Deutsche Hunde

Monsieur Marcel Duchamp Deutsche Hunde aka 'The Dude'
In the kitchen, at his new home on The Rock
December 8, 2006

•••

Ramones: I Don't Want to Grow Up
(Buy: Everything Ramones!)

CHOOSE LIFE

Still photograph from 'Mr. Dreamer' ©Eric Lerner

Mr. Dreamer (From The CityMen, created by Eric Lerner)
Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jeruselem
2002 - 2006

Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family.
Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars,
compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good
health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed
interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your
friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a
three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics.
Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning.
Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing
game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose
rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable
home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up
brats you spawned to replace yourself.

Choose your future.

Choose Life.

Mark Renton, 'Trainspotting'

•••

Wham!: Wake Me Up (Before You Go-Go)
(Buy: Wham!: Make It Big)

(Could this post have been more all over the place? Probably, but what do you want for nothin'? Give me some recommendations, and I'll see what I can do.)

Anybody Want A Peanut?

Elephant Tree
Rockport, Maine
January 2005

•••

Kid Koala: Skanky Panky
(Buy: Kid Koala: Some Of My Best Friends Are DJ's)

Working At Home

Rosamond Wolff Purcell, Teeth Pulled by Peter the Great. From 'Finders, Keepers: Eight Collectors', 1992.

The home dentistry of Peter the Great
Date Unknown

I'll just stick to doing some layout work on the computer today — but, hey, does that tooth feel loose?

(See more of Rosamond Purcell's work as it appears in the current issue of National Geographic illustrating Carl Zimmer's article on evolution, titled "A Fin Is A Limb Is A Wing.")

•••

Dust Brothers: Homework
Dust Brothers: Medula Oblongata
(Buy: The Dust Brothers: 'Fight Club' Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Baby, You Can Drive My Car

Tuesday Morning
The Rock
November 21, 2006

A friend lent me her mainland car (everybody's got one here, and yet another reason why you have to love this island) as I enjoyed another day in lost key ignorance. Plugged into my week of escapist 80's music, all was right with the world.

Another friend keeps telling me his Mother always said 'Look where they are, not where they aren't.' I keep telling him to shut up. When I got back to The Rock tonight, G was holding the keys in her hand.

They were where they were, not where they weren't.

Shut up.

•••

Black Box: Everybody, Everybody
(Buy: Black Box: Dreamland)

(And, oh yeah, after weeks of frustrating file posting — my EZArchive files are finally back on board! Enjoy!)

Sick and Tired

Important meeting doodle.
January 2000

I'm too sick and tired today to even find a picture. So, here's a 7 year old doodle and an even older tune. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow.

•••

Butthole Surfers: Who Was In My Room Last Night?
(Buy: Music from the Motion Picture: Love & A .45)

Know Your Rights (and Vote!)

friedman and yapalater
Ohio State University
Student Senate President and Vice-President
1971

If you do nothing else today — vote!

It'll work for you (at least that's what they tell me) today, just like it did for my cousin Jeff, 35 years ago (letting his freak flag fly, baby).

•••

Talking Heads: Don't Worry About The Government
(Buy: Talking Heads: 77)

The Clash: Know Your Rights
(Buy: The Clash: Combat Rock)

Mike Watt: Against The 70's
(Buy: Mike Watt: Ball-Hog Or Tugboat?)

Well, Blow Me Down

Windy Old Weather
The Rock
October 29, 2006

At least it's not raining (like it was last night). Windy old weather aside, today could not have been a more beautiful day. I hope tomorrow is just as sunny — the last boat to run off The Rock left at 8:45 yesterday morning — and from the looks of it, tomorrow may be a (gale) forced (wind) holiday. At least that's what the marine forecast says.

COASTAL WATERS FROM EASTPORT ME TO STONINGTON ME OUT 25 NM-
835 PM EST SUN OCT 29 2006

... GALE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON ...

OVERNIGHT... W WINDS 30 TO 35 KT WITH A FEW GUSTS TO 45 KT...DECREASING TO 25 TO 35 KT LATE. SEAS 17 TO 22 FT...SUBSIDING TO 12 TO 17 FT BY DAYBREAK. VSBY LOCALLY 1 TO 3 NM IN BLOWING SPRAY.

MON... W WINDS 25 TO 35 KT WITH A FEW GUSTS UP TO 45 KT. SEAS 10 TO 15 FT...SUBSIDING TO 7 TO 10 FT IN THE AFTERNOON.

MON NIGHT... NW WINDS 25 TO 30 KT...DECREASING TO 20 TO 25 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. SEAS 5 TO 8 FT...SUBSIDING TO 4 TO 6 FT AFTER MIDNIGHT.

(Information via MaineHarbors.com)

Oh, well, hopefully Tuesday's seas will still have a little punch to them too — because, quite honestly, it adds a little more excitement to the morning commute.

Dan Zanes: Windy Old Weather (Buy Dan Zanes: Sea Music)

Meat Is Murder

PigBoy®'s Halloween

Pay the piggy back, back
Pay the piggy back
See the piggy, do the piggy,
Pay the piggy back

The Bees: Chicken Payback (Buy It!)
The Smiths: Meat Is Murder (Buy It!)

Sailing Homeward

But first, dropping anchor (if you know what I mean) with the schooners off Swans Island.
Summer 2006

Heel y'ho boys, let her go, boys
Bring her head round now all together
Heel y'ho boys, let her go boys
Sailing homeward to Mingulay!

What care we tho' white the sea/Minch is?
What care we for wind and weather?
Let her go boys, every inch is
Wearing homeward to Mingulay!

Wives are waiting on the bank, boys,
Looking seaward from the heather.
Pull her 'round boys, and we'll anchor
'Ere the sun sets at Mingulay!

'Mingulay Boat Song', composed by Hugh Roberton (1874 - 1952) in 1938—a good 26 years after Mingulay lost its island community for good. But still, it's a beautiful island, with a beautiful song in its namesake.


Richard Thompson: Mingulay Boat Song (Buy It!)
Dan Zanes: Mingulay Boat Song (Buy It!)

Everything Is Broken

Arey's Cove, The Rock
January 2005

Broken bottles, broken plates,
Broken switches, broken gates,
Broken dishes, broken parts,
Streets are filled with broken hearts.
Broken words never meant to be spoken,
Everything is broken.

Lil Bob and the Lollipops: I Got Loaded (Buy It!)
R.L. Burnside: Everything Is Broken (Buy It!)

B.Y.O B(ooks)

West Gouldsboro, Maine
June 28, 2006

I came across this sweet, little library on the way home from a camping trip. Designed by Fred Savage (1861–1924) one of the most influential architects in the development of Mount Desert and northeastern Maine (designing over three hundred buildings).

The Books: Smells Like Content (Buy It!)
Talking Heads: The Book I Read (Buy It!)