The Tyranny of the 1% in Music Too!

The tyranny of the 1%.  Yes, it's true in the financial world. The big time hedge funders and financial wizards have some how been able to lord it over the rest of us.

It's true in the music world too. The Superstars, the 1%, suck out all the oxygen from the room.  It's unfair, unjust, it is a tyranny.  If you point it out it sounds like "sour grapes." 

Maybe it's the "herd animal" phenomenon.  We all buy the same records, download the same files, listen to the Superstars because everyone else is doing it too. It's easy, lazy, and well, maybe we are afraid of missing out. Maybe we are all just so easily manipulated by a saturation marketing campaign. Maybe we all just don't really know what's good or bad, only what's popular!

But let's not pretend that the Superstars are the best amongst us.  It is so not true!  It's a great time for music, but not if you are only listening to the big stars, the top sellers. Trust me. It's mostly dreck! Some of the worst of the worst. Check out this list of the top 40 records from 2013...

No way is One Direction, Robby Williams, Michael Buble, Katy Perry, etc. the "best" artists making music today. No way, not even close!

To Brain Or Not To Brain!

It turns out that a well-developed (relatively speaking) brain can be a major hinderance. I mean, it helps to have a brain, I mean we need it, but sometimes that big squishy thing in our craniums can get in the way. Sometimes you need to short-circuit it. I mean, sometimes this happens naturally, and sometimes you have to really work at it. Forgetting can be good. Tuning out can be essential. Working from your "heart," or your "gut" can be just the ticket.

It's a Syllable Thing!

Band names.  I should talk. 

I named our band "whitewolfsonicprincess." 

All one word. All lowercase. Some people love it. Some people hate it. Some people refuse to say it.  People ask me how I came up with the name. I'd like to be able to say it came to me in a vision, but really, I have no clue. It just popped into my head. I figured no one else in the world had put those syllables together before, so I figured it would stand out, be easy to find on-line.

I did sort of want to convey a dichotomy - the male/female thing. The animal/royalty thing. We actually came up with an image - a wolf wearing a princess hat that kind of embodied the idea.

But back to syllables. Aye there's the rub.  Do you want your band name to be "sticky?" It's good to try to go with a few syllables as possible.  If you are a solo act think one syllable: Sting, Cher, Pink.

Or famous bands, two syllables - Beatles, The Who, Pink Floyd, U2.

If you get too far out there it can be trouble, think: Red Hot Chili Peppers (6 syllables!), Toxic Airborne Event, Strawberry Alarm Clock.  And people will invariably shorten things for you... Jefferson Airplane becomes The Airplane...

People don't want to think or say too many syllables... even our band ended up talking in short-hand... think wwsp! 

Kim Morgan on "Wolfy" - "No one's gonna forget the movie..."

I have another favorite blog, it's Sunset Gun by Kim Morgan. She is my favorite writer about movies too. I hesitate to call her a "critic." I'm somewhat leery of critics.  Often critics have steered me wrong. Most of them have probably seen way too many movies or listened to too much music, and are way to jaded and cynical to be relied upon.

The best of those who write about movies (or music), are usually the ones who find those little gems that you might have missed, and must see. Or they see the movies or listen to the music that everyone else has seen and heard too, but they give you a new perspective or insight. Kim is one of the best on both counts.

I guess it also helps that her movie "taste and sensibility" seems so in-line with my own. She's smart, and she sees movie-making as an art form that can be important, inspiring, and says something about our human condition.

Her latest post on Scorcese's "Wolf of Wall Street," is pitch perfect!

"DiCaprio balances his character's evil, humor and movie star charisma with a unique sociopathic dimension. Is that possible? Yes, it is. And he makes it look all so effortless. Elizabeth Taylor once said (I believe it was Taylor) something to the effect of, screaming and hollering and playing drunk is easy, walking through a door and saying, "Hello, I'm home" is hard. In the case of DiCaprio, who dynamically drinks and drugs and yells and rages (I get excited watching him and largely because of him, I've seen the movie three times), it's also his quiet act of bitterly drinking a Near Beer that impresses. When DiCaprio answers how sobriety is faring he states it perfectly: "It fuckin' sucks... So boring. I'm gonna kill myself."  - Kim Morgan

"I'm Just an Animal Looking for a Home..." - D.B.

David Byrne - an amazing human being, with an amazing mind. Listen to the music, read his books, or check out his blog...

His latest post on Big Data and the Cyclical Universe is kind of a mind-blower.  The Matrix comes alive.  "I'm just an animal looking for a home..."

"One wonders if when the machines take over, will we truly see an end to science and the birth of a world that is—as the Hindu’s, Maya and many other have described it—an endless eternal loop of history playing itself out and then repeating over and over forever? Everything that happens simply a repetition of something that has happened before." - David Byrne

The Cherry on the Cake!

I am not a big-time worrier. I am more in the Alfred E. Neumann camp - "What, me worry?" Or in the Marty Feldman camp - "What hump?"

But I live with a major league worrier. If I ever bring something up, climate change, war in the middle east, Kim Kardashian's derriere, well, my major league worrier can out-do me, any old time.

If I think we are heading to the wall, my colleague  has us going over the cliff, down thru the valley and into the jaws of hell. It's actually pretty bracing and challenging, and tests my powers of positivity. I love her dearly.

So anyway, do I bring up this topic? A giant 30,000 year old virus revived from the frozen Siberian tundra? It's almost like a John Carpenter movie or something? And it would be just the cherry on the cake don't you think?

Our rapacious greed for every last mineral, or drop of oil, unleashes some ancient scourge… horror movie stuff, bad juju, bad karma! Oh my!

Sunday Afternoon on the Kitchen Floor

Sunday afternoon on the kitchen floor
beyond comatose, zombie-fried
a barely-kicking being

it's been a very long, cold week

listening to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
singing about Hannah Montana,
Miley Cyrus, and the Higgs-Boson
Nick is such a shameless name-dropper

the floor is colder than my body
means that I'm still alive, right?

a friend sends me a text…
"In Touch Magazine says:
Kim Kardashian butt
won't stop growing."

I think, "yes, that is a problem…"

I text back: "Yikes! Look out Kanye!
Butt-Crack!"

That ends the conversation.
The refrigerator wobbles and sort of titters,
it's always got something to say.

Time clicks along. 
Nick's voice
wraps around me
like a dark cloak.

Yes, it is Crazy!

There's always that crazy person, in the street, shouting, saying anything that comes into their head. We've all become like that crazy person. And we don't need to be in the street, no, we have smartphones, computers, we are always plugged in, with many avenues to carry our thoughts. We can always, always say what's on our minds. Lots of flotsam and jetsam. Lots of babble. Maybe sometimes it would be good to be silent. To not say what's on our minds. To keep the words, the thoughts, to ourselves. But that's not the "flavor" of our culture. No. We speak, we tweet, we rant, we let it all out. Like that crazy person. Maybe it doesn't seem so crazy if everyone is in the street shouting, trying to be heard over all the others, but it is, it's crazy.

KCRW's Apogee Sessions!

I came across KCRW's Apogee Sessions music site when I was looking for a live session with Roseanne Cash. Her latest record is really, really good. She is an excellent lyricist. No cliches. Lots of heart and intelligence. KCRW is one of the great radio stations in the States. They play cool music, always on the lookout for new, emerging and maybe sometimes over-looked artists.

There are superb sessions with other bands/artists too.  I recently watched sessions with Johnny Marr, Jim James, Teddy Thompson, Death Cab for Cutie, Gary Clark Jr. and Queens of the Stone Age. All quite good. All professionally recorded in a nice little room. A perfect introduction to new music.

Usually the band does a set, then there's an awkward interview, then another set. The interviews are pretty cool too. Kind of cringe-inducing, but revealing.  You really get a sense of who these artists are, or at least how they want to present themselves. Highly recommended!

Randomness is a Little Scary!

Yes, and what if all the splendor of the universe is a result of random chance? And what if all creation is the result of a simple algorithm? That's Darwin's Dangerous Idea as explained by Daniel Dennett.

It's a little mind-boggling, and unsettling. We instead like to invent grand narratives and Big Daddies. Randomness is a little scary.

And when you see the beauty of the world, the incredible complexity that can arise from simplicity, it does seem miraculous.  But then think about billions and billions of years. That's a lot of time for random chance to do it's work. And natural selection is sort of an invisible hand.

Darwin, most of us can only take in a little bit of Darwin at a time. But the Darwinian world-view blows all other ideas, cosmologies, etc. out of the water.

Luck Rules Our Lives

I heard this story on art and luck on NPR.  Really resonated with me. I've ruminated upon luck for a long, long time. Good luck. Bad luck. It's hard to tell how much luck rules our existence. Maybe a lot more than we'd all like to admit. There are happy and unhappy accidents of birth - what happens to that little baby born in North Korea tomorrow? And what about the one born in Beverly Hills, CA?

And if one little detail changed in their stories, one lucky or unlucky break, would everything be different? It's one of those "mind games" we can play, but you can't really figure out what is just "Luck"and what is what happens, is just what happens.

And all our successes and failures… maybe just luck? Or maybe you get a lucky break and then that little success breeds success, or failure breeds failure? As Warren Zevon once sang, "Bad luck streak in dancing school…"

Hard to know. Hard to tell. I remember reading some of those great ancient Greek plays, thinking wow, this is work that has really stood the test of time, amazing work, and then I read that the Greek plays that we revere also happen to be the ones that just survived, by luck, by chance, by circumstance. It's a story of survival more than anything.

What endures, what survives, what succeeds… luck...

The Depths of Depravity - Catholic Church!

We saw Philomena. It's a very well-made movie starring Steve Coogan and Judi Dench.  It's one of those movies worth just going to see. A simple plot-summary doesn't sound appealing, or do it justice. It's such a touching, human story. And it's based on a true story, which seems totally implausible, impossible. But that's just because "real-life" usually seems stranger than fiction. More complex and odd, and unbelievable.

And it deepens and adds to the depths of depravity that is the Catholic Church. What a terribly pernicious institution. I feel free to condemn it, since I grew up in it. Luckily I exited it relatively unscathed, just the normal dollop of guilt to deal with. Others were not so lucky, what with Priests molesting children, and the Irish branch of the Church actually selling babies to couples in the United States. And of course there were the lies and cover-ups, for years. You can't make this shit up.

Reminds me of Sinead O'Connor and her great little protest that got her banned from Saturday Night Live.  She ripped up a picture of the Pope to protest the Church's abuse of children! She was damn right. One of the great moments in TV history. Too real for much of America!

And Sinead is just one of those amazing talents. Great voice, a powerful spirit. Wears her emotions on her shoulder.  It's brought her fame and also brought lots of boos and derision over the years. I love her. This is freaking beautiful, amazing, powerful...

Every Little Snowflake Can Blow Your Mind!

They say every snowflake is unique. And what is a snowflake? Check out this extraordinary video. A microscopic, time-lapse view. Amazing. You will never think about snow the same way ever again. It does make you think that the universe and all the things in it are almost miraculous. Complex. Beautiful. Aphex Twin's music is great too...

snowtime from Иванов Вячеслав on Vimeo.

Alec Baldwin Implodes!

Alec Baldwin is on a tear.  And his life has kind of imploded. He writes about it all in this major opus of a rant. And the rant is quite good. Funny. Sad. Outrageous. Did I say funny? He names names. There's a lot of truth to it. Lots of hard earned truth. It's definitely worth a read.

I can't help but like Alec Baldwin. A very good actor. A funny, sort of twisted psyche. But he got himself in hot water with some pretty harsh comments he unleashed at some of the paparazzi who have hounded him and his family.

And some of his comments were probably rightly (or wrongly) interpreted to be "anti-gay." And well, he may have designs on a political career, and that all has kind of blown up. Up in smoke. Especially since he's sort of a liberal Democrat. He got on the wrong side of some pretty prominent gay people: Anderson Cooper, Andrew Sullivan, Rachel Maddow. Myself, I can see how some people would be offended, but at the same time, I kind of get it that he was just very, very pissed off, and used offensive language. 

Offensive language is par for the course when you are majorly pissed off. Doesn't seem that crazy to me. And doesn't mean Alec is a bigot.

This fish-bowl celebrity culture really is too much. It's a big, ugly, monster that never stops. And just because Alec Baldwin is a "public figure" doesn't mean his wife and children should be fair game to the press too. Alec now wants to "give up public life." Understandable. Funny. True. 

The Big Man Rises, The Big Man Falls

I am always stunned when I hear some amongst us root for the Strong-Man. The Big Monkey Man.  I guess it is built into some of us. Some of us love the Big Man. The Authority. The Bully. The Dictator. El Commandante. 

I do think it's an inheritance of our primate-past. Submissiveness to Dominance. Some of us want to follow. Want to be told what to do. Want to cheer on and support the Big Man. You can see this trait in it's most extreme case when the Big Man falls. Or dies. Tears for Stalin, Mao, Milosevic, The Fuhrer, etc.

I remember being a wee lad on the playground. There were the bullies, and those who cheered on the bullies. There were those who were bullied, and those who sympathized and tended to the bullied. This was the major line of demarcation between the kids. Which side were you on?

Some of us are always in opposition to the Strong One. Some of us have problem with Authority. In every case. 

So this kind of divergence in the human realm gets acted out over, and over and over again. The Big Monkey Man rises to prominence, he rules, he bullies, he skims the cream off the top. And then sometimes, he falls.

There are those who cheer the fall, and some who cry at the fall. Then the drama repeats itself all over again.

Pussy Riot vs. the Cossacks

It's easy to decide which side to be on. You have to admire the women of Pussy Riot - that "Russian, Feminist Punk Rock Protest Group." Their calculated acts of "hooliganism" are a provocation, and a joyous shout of "freedom!" They are "tickling the Dragon's Tail." They are standing up against a little Tin-pot strong-man. He seems to have a thin skin. And he's got freaking Cossacks on the payroll.  Oh how old world!

I mean a movement of the moment vs. a stereotype from the distant past.  Time-warp!

Supposedly the Cossack is a revered figure in Russia. Sort of like the Cowboy in the US. But holy shit, talk about a figure out of time. They have their silly little outfits and their horse whips. And they beat up on women! How pathetic.

The women of Pussy Riot are a brave lot. They are risking life and limb. Not sure if Johnny Rotten or Sid Vicious or even Joe Strummer were ever that committed to any cause. Sid's greatest commitment was to his own self-destructive stupidity.

Anyway, the cameras were rolling at Sochi when Pussy Riot stopped for a visit. And then the Cossacks entered! You couldn't make this shit up! Long Live Pussy Riot!

"Putin will teach you to love the Motherland."

The Climate Change Trilogy

Yes this is the 3rd post on "climate change" (see previous two posts). It's a big looming problem. And to most of us it's invisible. It's a big, long-term problem that needs collective, coordinated action. And that's just not something humans are good at.

We are much better at competition. We've even built economic systems that encourage competition, that rewards winners and punishes losers. It's kind of a ridiculous way to run a world, but hey, that's how we do it!

And our language fails us too. Global warming is kind of a misnomer, and Climate Change sounds quaint, genteel - it doesn't really sound bad. Change is good, right?

You'd like to invoke biblical, apocalyptic language: pestilence, scourge, hell-fire, rain of frogs, rain of blood to sort of convey the proposed future.

These are the things that FREAK ME OUT when I think about climate change: What happens when the oceans die? What happens when the trees die? What happens when all the pretty little creatures die? What happens when the fertile regions of the world become flooded? Or they become deserts? How do we feed ourselves? What happens when drinking water and edible food becomes scarce? How do world governments act? Will the people turn on each other? How will we keep the lights on? 

Will we all fight to get to higher ground? Will the rich crush the poor? How will we deal with epidemics and world-wide sickness? And will we all just scratch our heads and wonder if it was all inevitable, or avoidable?  

Maybe it really is inevitable. Kind of built into us. Maybe it's a Freudian thing. We love nature, and hate it too. We've tried to dominate it, tame it, harvest it, own it.  And really nature can't be tamed or owned. And we, as a species will learn that lesson, the hard way.

30 Gigatonnes of Carbon Dioxide A Year - That's A Lot!

I suppose James Lovelock (see previous post) could be wrong. No, not about climate change, I mean throw 30 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, and well, you know there will be a price to pay somewhere along the line.

So yes, a species that acts as if they own the place, that trashes it and doesn't look back, will probably end up reaping what they sowed. I guess there is some poetic justice in that.  A kind of a cosmic karma payback.

But maybe, somehow, someway, in the 11th hour the humans do something? Maybe a global change of consciousness, some kind of technological miracle, some amazing gizmo, something totally unexpected comes along and saves our bacon? A Deus Ex Machina? I mean it happened in Donnie Darko, right?!

It's a long shot. And there is a certain calm that comes with the thought that we actually can't or won't do a damn thing. Except face up to a much more hostile environment on earth. And if there is major dislocation, major flooding, major drought, epidemics, etc. will we blame god? Or our governments? Or ourselves? Will we ask, "What happened?"

It will be easy to locate the culprits. Still, like Lovelock, I am actually an optimist. I do believe in a better tomorrow. I must. You must believe. Just to get up in the morning. Life on this planet is a gift. And we just haven't treated it very well… and that's a shame. And what can we do? Live lightly on the land, with reverence and grace. Treat life on earth as a precious thing. Live that way, even if it means nothing in the grander scheme of things.

Our Goose is Cooked!

Another reason I love Radiohead. Their work is fragmentary, dissociative, dark.  And these are fragmentary, dissociative and dark times. We are hurtling along, as a species, as if all is hunky dory. We are greedy, rapacious and breeding madly like fruit flies on steroids. We do not live light lightly on the land.

And we can't really change our ways - the way we rape the land, the way we use energy, the way we feed ourselves… I don't want to pass on bad news, but James Lovelock, eminent, British scientist tells us our goose is cooked. The clever monkeys have really out-foxed themselves this time. The planet has a fever, and we are the culprits. And according to Lovelock, the game is up.

We act as if everything is fine. There are even lots of us who deny there is even a problem. And we continue to harvest the planet as if it's inexhaustible. And the fragile equilibrium that has birthed an incredible ecosystem is crumbling, fraying and dying out. We have unleashed a mass extinction on earth, and really it is the humans who have fucked it all up.

Still Lovelock is not a doom-sayer, no, he's just a doom-seer, but after lots of devastation, dislocation, and thinning of the herd, he does have hope that a small band of survivors, maybe another version of human being, will finally get the message that it's best to live with nature and not in opposition to it.

"Will they say he's a wise man? No!"

I hear Dennis Hopper's photojournalist character in "Apocalypse Now" saying, "Will they say he's a wise man…? No!"

You lug this bag of bones around on the planet for awhile. You grow older, the story gets a little bit longer. You hope you learn something. But it's not guaranteed. If I were to dispense any wisdom, it would be a few simple ideas:

1. Do the hard stuff first, you think it's a good idea to put the hard stuff off, leave it for later, but no, best to jump right in and do it. Now. No time like the present. Tomorrow might never come along.

2. Push the rock, try to find joy in pushing the rock.

3. You can't tell anybody anything. You can't really pass on "wisdom" to another person either. I'm probably just talking to myself, and even I might not really be listening. You can only lead by example. Maybe, somehow, someway that gets filtered and absorbed by someone else. But you can't take the pain away from another person, even if you'd really like to.

4. Let shit go. This one is hard. Sometimes you think holding on to shit is what makes you, you. But letting shit go is even more character defining. And the less you hold onto, the more you can be open to embrace.

5. You are time, and time passes. Lots of people and things will disappear in your life. It happens to everyone. We are more the same than different. The things we hate in other people are the things we are most afraid of in ourselves. It's a complicated human thing.

6. You can make rules, live by rules, but in the most important things - love, life and art - there are no rules. Really.

Radiohead From the Basement!

Yes, I do like lots of old music, but I like lots of new music too. I do think this is a great time for music. There are bands/artists today who are making music that can stand up to anything from any era. I think of Wilco, U2, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Dirty Three, Sigur Ros, Tom Waits, Atoms for Peace, The National, Lucinda Williams, Drive-By Truckers, Ryan Adams, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Patti Griffen, and Radiohead, just to name a few of my absolute favorites.

Radiohead might be the best band I've ever come across. At first I admired them more than loved them, but over the years, they have continued to grow on me. They are uncompromising, intriguing, baffling, groovy, confounding, moody, exhilarating. They are serious dudes. Musicians with serious chops.

For a long time I couldn't figure them out. I mean the songs. So many sounds coming from so many directions, I could never get a handle on what I was hearing. It helps to see them play. You can put the sound together with the source. And it increases the enjoyment.

I loved stumbling across this video, Radiohead From the Basement.  Here they are playing songs from their superb "In Rainbows" record. I really admire, and totally love this band…

Blew Me Wide Open!

If you've never seen Noah Baumbach's 2005 movie "The Squid and the Whale," you should, as soon as you can. I mean, no time like the present. It might change your life! We just saw it over the weekend and it's a knockout. The last scene features Lou Reed's great song, "Street Hassle." One of the great, great Lou Reed songs. Blew me wide open. Completely. Perfect…

 

The Black Keys - Lonely Boy!

I do love the Black Keys "El Camino" record. It's got soul and groove, and really it makes you wish you owned an El Camino with an 8 track and you had a 12 pack of Stroh's beer, and lots of lazy ass time on your hands. I wrote about El Camino here in a rock and roll diary post. Sometimes videos take away from a song, and sometimes they add to the enjoyment of a song. This video adds, yes, indeed!

The Least Mad of a Mad Lot

People. I know a few of them. Seems they are spinning out. Losing it. Cracking around the edges. Psyches are fraying, disintegrating. Maybe it's the times. Maybe it's age. Maybe, well,  maybe, I mean, who knows why?

And it's funny, you can see the madness, the rage, the silliness, the absurdities of others easily. It's a little harder to see these things in yourself.  And maybe it's the fear of succumbing yourself that makes the madness of others so repellant. 

It's easy to judge. But probably not worth judging too harshly.  And as they say, or did I make this up, "we don't see the world as it is, we see the world as we are…" but I get this weird feeling that I'm the least mad of a mad lot. That's funny...

Make it Rain, Obama!

Obama goes to California to fight drought! Yeah, but how about a rain dance? If only Obama could organize a ritual dance to make it rain. That's the hope and change that I bought into (twice!). We need our leaders to have powers beyond the legislative kind. Come on! Make it rain, Obama!

Fight the Impulse!

I hate nostalgia. I mean, I hate being nostalgic. I mean, I try to fight the impulse. I don't want to live in the past. I don't think the past was better than today. I mean, I was younger in the past, and I did things back then that I wouldn't do now, and some of those things were really cool and some of them were really stupid, and sometimes I'm just amazed that I've made it this far.

I do miss people from my past. And if you live long enough, you really do learn what "death" is; death is an emptiness, a hole in the fabric of existence, a lack, a void. 

I love pop culture (oh yeah, I sometimes hate it too), and I love lots of music and movies from the past. My favorite era of music ranges from about 1965 - 1975.  I just think lots of really great music was made in that period, AND, music at that time had a much bigger social/cultural significance.  At least that's how it seemed to me. Movies too. Those post Easy Rider early seventies movies were amazing.

Now, I listen to that music and watch those movies, but when I do, I don't long for a now long gone past. I listen and watch because that music and those movies still resonate with me today. At least some of them do. And the really good ones really still hold their power.

But today there is really great music, and there are still great movies too. And in some ways because of the technology, more people have the means to make really great work for a fraction of the cost. Which means many, many more bands and artists doing their thing.  It's overwhelming how much good music is being made today.

Still, sometimes I see or hear something and I do get a twinge of regret about another world, another world that no longer exists. And I do remember. A friend sent me an email this morning with this photo attached… Jimi, Mad Magazine - 1967 at the Warwick Hotel near Central Park New York… oh man! I mean...

Sochi and Pussy Riot

Sochi Winter Olympics? 

No. I don't even have to try hard to not be interested. At all. Saves lots of brain cells.

Pussy Riot? 

Yes! I mean, I was always in their corner. Love acts of provocation against the heavy hand of authority.  I loved to see them do their thing. I hated to see them be persecuted, prosecuted and imprisoned. I was delighted when they were released.  And I love that radio and television and media people of all stripes have to constantly say, "Pussy Riot!" That alone is very cool.  I mean, just say it, "Pussy Riot, Pussy Riot, Pussy Riot!"  It conjures up all kinds of images. And, at least for me, none of the images have anything to do with cats!

The Hype vs. The Snark

The Hype vs. The Snark. People can't help themselves. Pop/Celebrity culture brings it out in us. And it really is the worst. 

First, The Hype. 

Events, sometimes Faux-Events are built up and sold as the second coming of some God you didn't even know existed. Everything is blown out of proportion. There is no proportion. There is glitz and glamour and lots of huffing and puffing. Smoke and mirrors. Beautiful, rich, desirable and successful people stand up before the multitudes and demand to be honored just for being the great celebrities we've all decided they are. They demand our attention and envy. And we do pay attention, and we do envy them.

Then comes The Snark.

Every little thing is up for scrutiny. The snark is poisonous. And we love to do it. We rip people for daring to be old, or fat, or too thin, or phony, or too serious, or too ridiculous, or in it only for the money, or for being glory hogs, or for being awkward, or for having too much hair, or not enough hair, or coloring their hair, or altering their noses, jaws, etc. We tear these people down, with a million little poisonous cuts, those who dare to stand before us, we devour them, destroy them.

We love our celebrities. We love the machine that builds them up. And we hate these people too. And we love to destroy them. A little cut, a little bit of snark. One biting little cut at a time.

Transcends the Bullshit!

We watched the Beatles 50th anniversary show with a bunch of people last night. Lots of Beatle fanatics in close quarters. We heard lots of Beatle trivia. The Beatles story really is the Pop Culture Origin Story!

We all thought the show was over-blown but pretty well-done! Still, the hype machine is an amazing thing to behold. It is more than a little bit over-bearing, but must say the Beatles music somehow transcends the bullshit.

And Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are both class acts.  They did what they had to do and they did it well. You got the sense that for them it was just another show in a long, long line of shows. And you realized they had no idea how big the Ed Sullivan appearance had been to so many people in America back in 1964.

That's what's still kind of amazing. The survivors are still pretty much dedicated to the music. Even all these many years later.  Good job boys! 

Broken Bells - Astonishing!

This is brilliant, and elegantly (a simple, shimmering elegance) done… Broken Bells (which is a collaboration of Danger Mouse -reinvented from Brian Burton and James Mercer - reinvented from being the lead singer of the Shins) do one of the most beautiful songs ("And I Love Her") from the great Beatles catalog.

And they do it with a couple audio/visual loops of Ringo Starr - he really is one of the great drummers in r&r!  What a great way to bring the past to the present. And they throw in a nod to "I Am the Walrus" too.  Astonishing!

Can't Imagine the Not-Beatles!

OK. I guess I'm on the bandwagon to the countdown too.

You can't imagine a world where the Beatles didn't come to New York and blow the doors open to the British Invasion. You can't imagine a world where they didn't become the biggest band in the world.  You can't imagine a world where they didn't inspire generations of boys and girls to pick up instruments and form bands too.

Those four dudes from Liverpool made it all look fun. Joyous. They played with a smart exuberance. And then the music got better and more intricate, and really, really artful. You can't imagine any other band filling that slot. That's not how history works. They did it. Nobody else did. All other comers were just following in their path. And lots of the others wore Beatle boots and had cute haircuts too.

Wayne Coyne, Sean Lennon, Flaming Lips - BEATLES!

It's the countdown to the big 50 year anniversary of the Beatles breakout show on Ed Sullivan in 1963. "Big shoe" this coming Sunday! No one has ever adequately explained the mass hysteria that The Beatles debut unleashed in America and around the world. Young girls engaged in an incredible mass hysteria of screaming, hair-pulling and panties-wetting over those four cute Liverpullian Mop-Tops. Beatlemania! A mystery. Unexplainable. A Beatles concert was typically 20 mins. of unbelievably hysterical screaming, it was some strange ritual that had little to do with music.

The Beatles could only take it for a few years and then decamped to the recording studio, "got weird" and created some even more amazing music.  Another mystery - how did they keep it going, how did they make those creative leaps, how did the insanity and crass commercialism not totally destroy them as people and musicians? Unexplainable.

Anyway all week on Letterman different acts are doing Beatles songs. Was really looking forward to Wayne Coyne and the Flaming Lips collaborating with Sean Lennon on "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." They did not disappoint! Love these guys. I thank the "Great What's-It" that they exist!

The Bigs and the Littles

I was gonna write how "the bigs always eat the littles." Just look around in nature, in polite society. "The bigs," whether they are hungry or not will eat "the littles," just because they can.  Ethics don't enter into it, conscience doesn't enter into it, "doing the right thing," doesn't enter into it.

But then I thought about how "the littles" also eat "the bigs." That happens too. "The littles" can swarm, they can infiltrate, they can destroy a bigger foe.  I guess it really is an "all against all" kind of game.

Everything lives off of everything else.  You can think "it's ugly," or whatever, but it's just the way of the universe. To a certain extent we can build a polite society based on ethics, conscience and doing the right thing, but underlying the whole grand edifice is the war of the next meal.

And sometimes "the bigs" or "the littles" just want to flex their muscles and stir up the shit.  "That's entertainment, baby!"

People - Capable of Anything!

When people do outrageous things, things you didn't think they were capable of doing, and it happens all the time, (just scan the news), people you think you know end up doing things you didn't think they could or would do, well, I'm reminded of this scene from Roman Polanki's "Chinatown." And I remember too that Polanski fled the US to avoid his own little scandal. And well, it's easy to judge people, but all of us are just people, and well, let John Huston tell it...

John Huston's character: "See Mr. Gittes, most people never have to face the fact; the right time, and the right place, they're capable of anything."

Yes, And Sometimes No

So yes, in the world of improv, in order to keep the scene going, you are advised to answer, "Yes," or "Yes, and..." to just about any proposition. A "No!" is always a scene killer.

This works in life too. You can spend your days always saying "Yes," or "Yes, and..." but, of course, it can get you into trouble, or  lead you into unwanted adventures.

When we are children we live in the world of "I WANT!"  Some of us live in the world of "I WANT" throughout our lives.  It is a childish way to live. But it certainly helps drive our consumer culture. Some of us start living in the world of "No!" More and more, "No" becomes the answer. "No meat," "No gluten," "No vodka," "No bullshit!"

It's a delicate balance. You don't want to live in a world of renunciation. You try your best to live in the land of "Yes, and of course, sometimes No."

Death of an Actor

Philip Seymour Hoffman's sudden death at 46 is tragic and shocking. I didn't think of him as a celebrity. I thought of him as a working actor. An extraordinarily compelling working actor. One of the best. Ever. And you think that the work, being able to do the work, and at such a high level would be everything.

Of course, it isn't, there's all that other messy stuff that makes up a life. And maybe some of that messy stuff was actually beneficial to him when he worked. He had a vast well of emotion to draw upon. Made for amazing work, and maybe sometimes a difficult life.

Seems it was an overdose of heroin. Shooting heroin, one of the riskiest of high risk habits. Unfathomable. You think the work, doing the work, would have been enough. But it's more complicated than that, unfortunately, and addiction is a killer.

I will not forget his amazing, extraordinary, moving work in True West, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, The Master, Doubt, etc.

The Essence of Soul!

I caught some of the Grammy's show last week. What a big, over-blown spectacle. Lots of glitz, lots of huffing and puffing. Lots of pretending that what was on stage was significant or compelling.

Still, I did love seeing Stevie Wonder sitting in with Nile Rodgers, Pharrell Williams and two French dudes dressed as robots performing "Get Lucky." It really did seem like the song of 2013. And well, sure, it could have been a big hit in the Disco Years long ago, but it strangely seemed  "of the moment" too.

And in my book Nile Rodgers and Stevie Wonder, well they are music royalty!

When the world sometimes seems like it's falling apart, imploding from the inside out, maybe getting lucky is as good as it gets.

And then, I started looking for some early Stevie Wonder, you know when he was "Little Stevie Wonder?" And I found Fingertips. Love, love, love it. Does anybody play a chromatic harmonica any better? I think not! The essence of soul! Stevie!

 

Atoms for Peace - Skirts or Kilts?

Yes, I really like Thom Yorke's "other cool band," Atoms for Peace. (How is it possible that Thom could be the lead singer and lyricist of two incredibly awesome bands?)  Their record "Amok" has been on my hot play-list for months and months.  But even though I really enjoy the groove of the record, I don't think I really understood how great this band is until I saw it play live in concert.  Thank goodness for You Tube!

Just to see Thom Yorke and Flea jumping around like Mexican Jumping Beans in skirts (or designer kilts?) is so worth it.  I love this band. I love the joy, exuberance and pure adrenaline rush of watching these guys totally get into playing together.  Just wow! Here's their complete set in Austin. Amazing!

How You Got Here!

You generally have a "sunny" disposition, but you also often wear apocalyptic glasses. You are a positive thinker and you tend to believe in a better future, but you can also envision the grand edifice, the mad, multi-headed beast of human society that we have constructed, imploding, and crashing into a million tiny pieces.

You can enjoy the day, but you can marvel at the ignorance and blind stupidity that rules much of human activity. You see beauty and humor all around you, and at the same time, you see the deadly, crazy-making mindset that compels humans to be so blood-thirsty and selfish.

You marvel at the contradictions of existence. You wonder how you got here. You hope for the best, even as you catalog the daily, mindless acts of outrage.

Ringo Starr - R&R Diety!

Sure, it's easy being a holy person if you are born into it, or reincarnated into it. I'm thinking about you Dali Lama.  I mean, if you are born into a world of holiness, and treated like the next version of the Buddha or something, well, you probably have a leg up on being a wise person, a transcendent being. And yes, the Dali Lama fits the bill.

But what if you were born a sickly child? Big ears, big nose. Spent a lot of time in bed, trying to overcome various illnesses? And what if you spent a lot of time in bars and clubs in a working class city, a neighborhood of toughs and sailors?

And maybe you were a drummer in a really, really popular band. I mean in an insanely, irrationally, maniacally crazy kind of popular way.  And somehow, you came out of it relatively intact. You didn't become a total asshole, you didn't let your ego blow up to mega-proportions. You actually emerged as a total class-act.

You did everything with humor and grace and class. And you were funny and kind and humble, and well you preached peace and love. And you were clean and sober, and a vegetarian to boot. And you really were/are a fabulous drummer, with a track record unmatched by anyone else on the planet.

And that band you were in, well, 50 years after their wildly received debut on a big American TV show, people are still listening to your music and reveling in the joy and energy and over-powering creativity of that little 4 person outfit.

Well, if all that were true, you'd be Ringo Starr - R&R Diety! Rock on Ringo!

Hate Your Boss!

It's gratifying to hear the truth.  Some times it only comes in little dribs and drabs. Little nuggets of truth kind of poke up from this great ball of lies and confusion.

"Voters hate their bosses." When people hear "job creator" they understand, "Boss."  People hate their bosses. How true. Amen.  This is coming from a Republican. How can this hatred be corralled into a new political movement?

Hate your boss! Viva la Revolution!

Chip on Your Shoulder

"Is that a chip on your shoulder? It's a sizable chip. Must make it hard to walk. It's better to be light on your feet. You should lose the chip… No, it's not an asset... Really... OK... If it works for you, I guess, I'd say, 'different strokes for different folks.' You gonna dare someone to knock it off? That's just that old macho bullshit.  Really? Are you sure? A chip, right? On your shoulder? Hah!"

Don't Take it Personally!

It's probably best not to take the weather personally. I mean, it's kind of hard, when you are being pummeled by the wind, when the temps make your fingers and toes freeze, when snow falls down upon your head, when you have to wrap yourself up like a layered mummy just to even step outside for a minute or two.

The freezing cold, yes, the polar vortex-type weather makes it hard to breathe. Yes, the sub-zero freeze seems to sit on your head, and on your chest, and just dare you to come outside for some punishment. So yes, the weather seems like a punishment, and it seems like you are being punished. You personally.

And you ask yourself, "Why?" If there is a god, why is god punishing me? Or the universe. Why would the universe go out of it's way to make things so uncomfortable for me? It's probably best not to take the weather personally… but, it's hard. Really hard.

That's Our World

No great insight today. Maybe just stating the obvious. We are survivors. And we celebrate the survivors. Those who carry on through adversity. Those who have discipline. And prevail against the odds. And the odds are always stacked in opposition.

But you only survive until you don't. And it can all end in a blink of the eye. Any moment. That's just the way it is, and you need to get your head around that if you want to live, for real.  We are here. And everything is possible. But there's only a brief window of opportunity. And we don't know how brief. That's our world.

There Will Be A Spring!

Yes, well, the cold. The freezing. The absolutely numbing cold. It has descended here. There is a closing down, a closing in. You wrap yourself up in layers, you are like a walking zombie. One step. One step. Make sure you don't slip on the ice. Your world is closed to the smallest increments. You can't help but recoil. Makes you want to hide. To curl up next to a fire and wait for spring.  There will be a spring, right?

Bieber's Jailhouse Rock!

I must say I know very little about Justin Bieber. And I'm not gonna bother looking him up! He's a young singer right? He was just in the news for driving his Lamborgini really fast in a residential neighborhood.  Didn't pass a sobriety test.  Ended up in the dock.  But really, look at the hair! So rock and roll. A little James Dean, a little Elvis.  I don't know if this young dude has the chops as a singer, but he's got that rebel, rock and roll look. You must admire his grooming skills! Even in the county jail! Pass the mousse Dude!

The Essential 5

Lately some friends of mine have played that game of naming records that "changed their lives." It's been kicking around in my head. Yesterday, taking shelter from the bitter cold, I decided to fill the CD carousel with my choices.  This carousel only holds 5 CDs, so here are the 5.  I put them on shuffle and listened to the tracks in a randomized order.  All the songs stood toe to toe with each other.  All of these records still resonate with me very, very deeply.  They help make me who I am today. Yes, really.

1. John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band --- Lennon's first post-Beatles record. Stripped down, elemental truth. Powerful, razor sharp with great production by Phil Spector.  The wall of sound reverb meets bass, drums, guitar, piano and Lennon's amazing, heartfelt, cutting voice.  Still brings chills.

2. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 --- A blast of exuberance. Funny, over the top, genre busting. No one ever recorded songs like this before. Dylan fronting an incredible band featuring Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper. A shock. A blast. Mind-bending. Dylan never sounded more engaged, more intense, more alive and funny.

3. Neil Young - Tonight's the Night --- Shakey's "dark night of the soul." A death-haunted record. A great band pushed to the ragged edge. Raw, bleak, darkly funny. Neil opens up a vein.  Spooky and cool.  L.A. Dark shades. Bleary nights. Filled with flaws, quirks - perfect.

4. The Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed --- The Stones at their darkest. Decadent blues, desiccated country. Perfectly realized r&r.  Jagger and Richards at the peak of their collaboration.  Perfectly recorded and produced by Jimmy Miller.  The Stones made other great records, but this one is complete. Flawless. Thrilling.

5. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Everybody Knows this is Nowhere --- Neil emerges with the first and greatest Crazy Horse lineup. Danny Whitten on vocals and guitar is the secret weapon.  Long guitar jams. Overpowering sound. Funky. Cool. Sad. And when the "Horse" kicks it up, there is nothing better.

UPDATE: This was cross-posted over at whitewolfsonicprincess r&r diary!

You'd Like To Fly!

You'd like to fly. You think you know how. You have seen yourself fly in your dreams. You have experienced soaring in the air. You have experienced the feeling of spreading your arms, and taking flight.  

Sometimes you seem so heavy. So earth-bound. You know this isn't the only way. You know you can fly. You can feel it in your bones. You can see yourself up in the clouds. Light. Graceful. Free.  You can see it.

Believing Things!

You believe in evolution. You believe in re-invention. You believe in renewal. You believe in fresh starts. You believe in play. You believe in creativity. You believe in imagination. You believe in following your dreams. You believe in spirit, and heart and integrity. You believe in responsibility. You believe in a better world. You believe in conservation. You believe in science. You believe in accountability. You believe in forgiveness. You believe in action. You believe in love. You believe in courage. You believe in truth (even if you don't know what it always is).

You believe in believing the things you believe in.

I Have Met My Match!

"Yes, well, of course he's lovable. That's true and obvious. And I guess I do "love" him. But he's also "butt ugly." He drools, and pants, and snores like a freight train, and when he farts, well, you need to clear the premises pronto. He's on meds, but I don't know what the meds do, they don't seem to mellow him out or anything. He's a randy, humping force of nature. I have met my match. There's nothing to do with him. He is who he is, and that's the end of it. Being in his orbit for a few days has totally whacked me out…I just need to find a quiet corner, sit alone and try to recharge.  I've had my fill of Bruce. Too much Bruce. Overdosed on Bruce!"

The Unredeemables!

Yes, I'm in the camp of those who loved Martin Scorcese's "The Wolf of Wall Street." It's funny I've come across lots of people who did not like it. Or maybe it's more accurate to say they loathed it.

It seems in Pop Culture we can tolerate and even elevate all kinds of transgressive characters into mythological status.  I mean, we love the Hookers and the Hit Men. We love our Mobsters, our Drug Dealers. We can even imagine interesting "genius" Serial Killers.

But "Wolf" shows us that some characters are just not appealing at all... these are the lowest of the low, the totally unredeemable ones... I am talking about, of course, the Financial Services Salesmen! And yes, well, I do understand the loathing... yes, I do. 

Global Everything Present Now!

Douglas Rushkoff tells us "How Technology Killed the Future."   I totally get it. He frames it all in a political context, but I think this idea transcends politics and bleeds across our consciousness into and thru our media-saturated society, and global culture, and changes not only politics, but every aspect of our lives. How we think of ourselves, and how we live in the world. 

The ever-expanding, "Present Now," has swallowed up the past and obliterated the future.  We no longer have a need for the future. And the past is no longer past, it's always available to us through our vast and varied communication technologies. 

So yes, no "future thinking," or "future plans" just the GLOBAL EVERYTHING NOW PRESENT! It's the vast in-the-moment moment.  Our flashy gizmos, flickering screens, and constantly updating Twitter-feed existence is all-consuming.

And yes, well, if you believe the now growing frantic Climate Change Crowd (and I dare say, you should), the future for human beings is pretty dicey. And if we keep our heads only in the present… well, the present may come to a  very unpleasant halt in the not so distant future… I mean even if we don't believe in a future...

"She just didn't want to…" - N. Cave

Nick Cave… (and Grinderman), what can you say… rage, rage against the dying of the light!  

"Your limitations make you the wonderful disaster you most probably are.

Being on stage meant I got to be that person I always wanted to be. Then, you look down into the front row, and someone yawns." - N.C.

Confidence Game = Confidence!

So yes, if we take "con game" to be slang for a confidence game… can't we apply it broadly to much of our lives, and to our great American "can do" spirit? And really isn't the whole "power of positive thinking" enterprise just an elaborate con game?

And isn't Stuart Smalley's - "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and dog gone, people like me," just a great personal con?

Or that Little Engine that Could? "I think I can, I think I can…"

And if we dream and try to do anything new, create something that hasn't existed before, don't we have to con ourselves into thinking that it will work out, that we will have success despite all the odds against success? And isn't it people who successfully con themselves into taking a chance, who are the ones who do take a chance?

So yes, the con game. For ourselves and others too...

American Dream/American Con

The American Dream/The American Con…

Yes, they go together. They are inextricably linked.  The Dreamer dreams a dream and then tries to get others to dream too and maybe separates them from a little bit of cash to be applied to the dream.

The Con Man (selling confidence) sells a dream and then tries to get others to dream the dream with him, and also separates them from a little bit of cash to be applied to the dream.

The Dream is a dream. And some live the dream. And some just get to dream. And some of us con ourselves and others, and some times the con pays off, and sometimes it doesn't.

Steve Jobs and Jordan Belfort are not so different. Both are con men. Both were selling "confidence." One becomes a business world hero, the other becomes a convict.

It's a thin line separating the two Cons...

Imitation Anything!

Google the word imitation and you get… imitation crab, imitation of life, imitation of Christ…

Imitation. Imitation anything, such as imitation cheese!?  My advice? Avoid. Avoid at all costs! Just take my word for it.  Do not get or consume imitation anything. If you are gonna get, gonna consume, get the real deal. Not a copy. Not an imitation. Really. I mean it!

Maybe Not So Surprising!

Well, maybe it isn't really all that surprising. Turns out cake, whiskey, a night of Elvis songs - singing and playing through the evening = Pure Joy.  I mean, throw in some great conversation, lots of laughter, and a little bit of insight, and it all adds up to a satisfying evening. Good vibes and a great time. Our songs held their own. We did our best to command the room when it was our chance to shine. And shine we did!

Cake, Whiskey and Elvis! Mercy!

It's finally here. The Cake and Whiskey Club presents "Hunka Hunka Bourbon Love" tonight at the Homegrown Cafe. Our band whitewolfsonicprincess (acoustic duo with second guest guitar), will play a mini-set of Elvis songs. This is a cool concept created by our friend Carlo Garcia.  Every month the Cake and Whiskey club hosts an event featuring a whiskey, a cake and a musical theme.  We are honored to be part of this one.

Picking Elvis songs was a challenge. And at first, I didn't think it was gonna work for us. The trick is to find songs that you have some kind of connection to, or songs that you can sort of "make your own." It took some work, but we finally came up with a little set that sits well with us. Yesterday we had our last rehearsal and it was a deeply rewarding session.

Hope it works for the audience tonight!  Happy to say this one is sold out! Should be a good rocking time!

An Elected Oligarchy!

OK it's official… we really are "ruled" by millionaires.  And even if our representatives are elected by "the people," it just so happens that this country works much less like a democracy and much more like an oligarchy! We are ruled by the few, the elite, and we willingly go along. It's a freely elected oligarchy.  

And here's what voting really means (this is not cynical or jaded, just realistic - I vote, even if I think it's often pointless) - our choices are usually between a very rich, very conservative, right-wing ideologue backed by other rich people and big corporations VS.  a very rich, somewhat less conservative person, a supposed  "moderate," backed by other rich people and big corporations.

The right winger is rich and basically doesn't give damn for anyone but other rich folk, (they despise the poor), and the moderate sort of gives a damn, or at least pretends to, and maybe once in awhile tosses a crumb to the huddling, seething, masses.  There's your choice! That's Democracy, baby!

The rules of the game of society are made by those millionaires, and surprise, surprise those rules seem to always favor the millionaires over the vast majority of the people. We all act like it's some kind of divine right of the rich.  Maybe it's a hangover from the time of Kings? And if we are punished or ignored, well, we are just the poor schlubs… maybe those rich people will be kind to us, or maybe somehow, some way (the lottery?), we will one day join the club too?

And yes, well, we hope to be like those rich ones. And we toil away. And hope they will look kindly on our days of toil. But of course, they can't really be bothered, they are too busy being rich!

3 Chords and the Truth!

One of the surprises in my life has been that old news is often new news, and those old, worn shabby cliches (at least some of them) that you have heard a million times actually are true. Now this does not mean we should look at the world with "tired eyes," we should not stop looking at the world, we should not assume that we know everything already, we should not become blasé or jaded, we should always be on the look-out for the new, the unconventional, and we should always be open to the idea that "everything we know is wrong."

So really the surprise is that, yes, a lot of those old cliches are true AND everything you know is wrong!  Case in point… "Three Chords and the Truth!"  It's a tired old phrase, and a new album just released by an old bluegrass master named James King. This came out at the same time I've been working on some old rock and roll songs. And yes, well the three chord thing is absolutely true.  The best of blues, bluegrass, rock, rockabilly, country, punk - three chords is more than enough for sure. Anything beyond three chords is jazz or classical or some kind of avant garde thing!

And well, it's songs about "truth" that make the biggest impact. I guess I mean some kind of emotional truth. Those are the songs that really resonate. There is a universe of music and emotion in three chords and "the truth." And you learn that playing less (less chords, less notes) is more all the time.  You delve deep into the essential, and you find that the essential really is everything...

It's Not Always Pretty!

One of the knocks against Scorcese's new movie is that it "glorifies" low-lifes and scumbags. This is funny. Just by putting a camera on a character it somehow glorifies that character? I suppose you could say the same of just about any movie Scorcese has ever made.  Think Jake Lamotta, or Tony Spilotro, or Henry Hill, or Frank Rosenthal, or Travis Bickle.  A pretty motley, low-life crew.

Where does Jordan Belfort fit in this spectrum? Well, he ripped off a lot of people. But he didn't kill anyone. Oh yeah, he did more drugs, had more sex, and lived a lifestyle of bling that would put Caligua to shame, but compared to the mobsters in "Good Fellas" or in "Casino" Belfort's crimes fall short of the brutality of some of those thugs and murderers.

And if we took out novels and plays and movies about low-lifes and scumbags, we'd have to forget about some the great works from some of my favorites, including plays and novels from these guys: Shakespeare, Dostoyevski, Nelson Algren, Charles Bukowski, Jean Genet, Jack Kerouac, Hubert Selby Jr., Sam Shepard, etc. … and most of David Lynch's work and the best films of Francis Coppola too!

I think these guys and Scorcese tell very,very human stories, stories about humans… and it's not always pretty, not always uplifting, but most of the time very illuminating!

The Matter of Cinema!

As you may know, if you happened to read a previous post of  mine, I loved Martin Scorcese's new movie. It has created some controversy. Some people were turned off by the movie, turned off by the people in it, and criticized Scorcese for spending 3 hours telling Jordan Belfort's story in vivid, and exhausting detail.

I was surprised when one of my writer friends actually said she was "boycotting" the movie, sight unseen, and attacked Scorcese for making it.  To me that seems so counter to the whole creative endeavor. I mean, I can understand not going to see a film, but to criticize it without actually seeing it, seems indefensible.  I mean, hell, I don't go to see any Sandra Bullock movies, she sort of makes my skin crawl, but I don't feel like I have any right to actually speak about her movies since I haven't actually sat through any of them.

And well, I am convinced that "The Wolf of Wall Street" is a great film. But I don't really think I need to try to convince anyone one way or the other. See it, or don't see it. Do I think Belfort is admirable? No. Do I think he is an interesting, compelling character? Yes. Do I think the three hours were well spent? Absolutely.

Scorcese wrote an "open letter" to his daughter about the "future of film."  It's worth reading. Loved this…

"You have to be absolutely dedicated to the work, you have to give everything of yourself, and you have to protect the spark of connection that drove you to make the picture in the first place. You have to protect it with your life. In the past, because making movies was so expensive, we had to protect against exhaustion and compromise. In the future, you’ll have to steel yourself against something else: the temptation to go with the flow, and allow the movie to drift and float away.

This isn’t just a matter of cinema. There are no shortcuts to anything. I’m not saying that everything has to be difficult. I’m saying that the voice that sparks you is your voice – that’s the inner light, as the Quakers put it.

That’s you. That’s the truth." - Martin Scorcese

Sub-Zero Survival!

Tramping, trudging, slogging, slipping, sliding. Wrapped like a mummy in layers and layers of fabric… that's how it goes out in the sub-sub-sub-zero temps...

Beat the Deep Freeze!

If you've ever seen Game of Thrones, you have often heard the line, "Winter is coming." Yes, well, John Snow, winter is here in the Windy City.  They are saying wind-chills of -40 today.  Now, that's cold brothers and sisters.

Yesterday how did we beat the deep freeze? We didn't venture out. We had a kitchen session.  We set up our little p.a. with 3 microphones and two acoustic guitar inputs and played music. It was warm and cozy.  The radiators were playing a tune too.

Two guitars, three voices doing Elvis songs. And surprise, surprise the songs are really rounding into form.  We did a little bit of "arranging," changed some tempos, added a few little flourishes, and really made these songs "ours."

It was very encouraging. Bodes well for the show next weekend… now we need to slog thru and get there! 

Here's our little 5 song set-list: Now and Then, Suspicious Minds, Fool Fool Fool, I Forgot to Remember to Forget, That's Alright Mama...

Just Marvel and Smile

"Trying to see as God sees…" I think we do this all the time. Or try to. Even if we don't believe in the concept. And I think this "god-like" seeing does sometimes elevate us. Especially if we end up marveling and wondering at the splendor of the universe.

Although, no doubt, it also leads to hubris and arrogance, and ignorance and lots and lots of our problems. Our man vs. man problems. Playing god, thinking like god, or speaking for god, is a deadly trap.

But this little mashup of music and image… is so beautiful and amazing, and sort of takes your breath away… Think of a silent, powerless god who could see all of this, and just marvel... and smile…

The Expectations Game

I don't know if it works like this for you, as it does for me, but time and time again Low expectations = High payoff. 

I wonder if we set ourselves to "no expectations" at all, maybe everything we experienced would be experienced as it really is, and that "is" would often be amazing… Maybe.

Change

Change… is it possible? Is it inevitable? Or illusory? Does it come from intention? Or does it just happen?

You Think It Shouldn't Work!

You think this movie by Spike Jonze shouldn't work. And the description - "A man falls in love with an operating system," doesn't really capture or explain it at all. I found this movie profoundly, deeply, and totally moving. It makes you see the world and your place in it in a new way. I found it renewing, a healing, a clearing. Life-affirming and beautifully realized.

It asks all the big questions - "What is love? What is life? What is reality? How do we connect with others? How do we feel? What makes life worth living?"

And it opens you up in a totally new and subtle way. There are so many layers to this film. It's a mystery. A beauty. Genius.  Really. With a light touch, and lots of intelligence. Amazing.

 

Pork Rectums - Yum!

Happy 2014! 

I thought this story about "imitation calamari" consisting of pork rectums on "This American Life," which hasn't' aired here yet, and which I haven't heard yet, and which may be just a joke, and may not be true, but should be true, because it is so emblematic of so much of the American Way of life and of capitalism, would make a great first blog post for the new year.

I mean, we don't know what we are eating. We must trust the food industry. And time and time again the food processors have proven to be low-lifes and scoundrels, and pork butt-holes are the same shape and consistency of calamari, so you could see someone coming up with the idea of making a switcheroo.  And hell, who would know the difference?

And you have to admire the audacity of it. And also how it seems just as innovative and ethical as "credit default swaps" or "mortgage securities," or all the other imitation crap that people pass off for quality every day in the market place.

Yes. Pork assholes… perfect! Welcome to America 2014!