Unrepeatable...

Up early, my head is still fuzzy from a rollicking good time at our Lennon Bash. Our little storefront was over-stuffed with people last night, the crowd was so large folks spilled out into the street.

It all went pretty much without a hitch. The music flowed, the beer flowed, the good vibes spilled out and enveloped the space. We have definitely created a little scene.

The music was superb. All those great songs reflected through so many different performers. One of those unique events. Unrepeatable... I think John would've liked it!

Lennon Celebration

We're doing our John Lennon celebration at our little storefront space tonight. It's all spruced up and ready to go.

I changed all the lights, it's all greens and blues and reds. No white light.

Kind of a little dreamscape. And the sound system is tweaked, great acoustics. Plus a mirror ball. Lots of performers, lots of songs.

It should be pretty cool...

Dogs & Guitars

My life has been filled up with Dogs and Guitars. That's not a bad thing...

Predictions

Either things are going to get better or they are going to get worse. Or maybe they'll just basically stay the same.

And no matter what happens, we're gonna have to deal with it.

Hopefully with grace...

Lennon Bash

We've been playing Lennon songs in anticipation of our Lennon Bash on Saturday. It's been quite the challenge.

On the one hand, you can't really out-do the man. One of the great rock and roll voices of all time. And the songs are absolutely iconic. It's about what he is saying or not saying and the way he says it.

On the other hand, the songs are so good, you can't really screw them up. And putting them in a new frame actually brings some of them to life. Some of the songs are deceptively simple. And the simplicity actually makes them harder to perform.

Counterintuitive.

Anyway we will be hosting a pretty cool event where the spirit and the words of the man will be channeled through lots of different performers. It's amazing how many people of multiple generations were touched by John's music.

Bad Theater

Standing in the court room. Watching bad theater. All the roles stereotypes. There's the Judge, long-suffering, dignified, swimming in a sea of paper and broken lives.

There are the lawyers. Suited up. Used car salesman. Shuffling papers. Shills for the corporation, or stand-ins for their desperate clients.

There are the "simple people." These are the ones who stand in lines, wait for their turn to be humiliated, the people who suffer, who flee, who ask for mercy.

The words "In God We Trust" in big, blocky, fake gold letters, tacked to the wall just above the big, round-faced clock.

The clock blindly ticks away...

"You don't have to live like a Refugee..." - T. Petty

If you are a REFUGEE what do you do? You FLEE! That's what you do!

The Clock Tick Tock!

Hey, no matter what you believe, and if you believe, more power to you brothers and sisters, you are finally left with - "How do you fill the time in your life?"

Do you fill your time with positive acts or negative acts? Do lean to the light or hide in the dark? Are you a nay-sayer, or a doer? Do you ride with the changes or do you fight tooth and nail against them?

Do you love life, or hate it? Or are you ambivalent about the whole thing? Or are you all things all the time? The freaking clock just keeps ticking...

Neil Young Delivers

I dug deep into my pocket and bought a copy of Neil Young's new record, "Le Noise" on vinyl! It seems so retro, so contrary to prevailing trends to spring for vinyl. A big platter, thicker than a pancake - can only play it in one room.

It just seems so right. It's a really special record and buying the vinyl makes it singular. I have to fire up the old turntable, place the needle in the grooves, flip it over to hear the other side. Ritualistic!

Plus to my ears it sounds super good. There's something about the old technology, more air or space. And it's Neil Young at his best. Certainly a masterpiece. For an excellent review check out the Music Tablet. Yes, Neil delivers! It's a great collaboration with another impressive artist - Daniel Lanois!

Here's Lanois talking about the making of "Le Noise."

Meeting the Pastor

I was sitting in our little storefront speaking with "the Pastor." The "big man," conferring with "the big man." How many big men can fit on the head of a pin?

Now of course, "the Pastor" was a little older and seemingly wiser, closer to God, don't you know? But it was me who was holding court, telling him the way it was, the way it was going to be.

It was like a little scene in a movie. And I was in the movie, and well, shit, it wasn't really a movie at all, it was my life, it was not just entertainment, not just a scene for the audience to cluck over; no, this was my life, one moment that would never be repeated and I was making the most of it.

But even as it was happening, I was wondering why it was happening, how did I get here? Was there some larger meaning? Did all the moments of my existence, previous to this one, lead me to this moment? Was there some blueprint or grand plan that brought me to this time and place?

And then like that, it was over, and I was back on the street. Tending to a dog eat dog world.

Fallback Position!

And then sometimes you just have to ask for mercy!

I Know

I know what it's like to be a Salmon swimming upstream.

I know what it's like to be a little wriggling sperm inching towards the golden orb.

I know what it's like to be a birdie flapping my wings against the wind.

I know what it's like to wrestle with the shadow world.

What Happens?!

So what happens when you no longer believe in organized religion? What happens when you no longer believe in Heaven or Hell? Or the power of a free market? Or State, Local or Federal government? What happens when you no longer believe in "your country?"

What happens when you don't believe in a "Saviour?" What happens when you no longer believe people want to "do the right thing?"

What happens when you no longer trust your banker, or financial advisor? What happens when you no longer look up to rich people (they are just the beneficiaries of a crooked game)? What happens when you no longer envy celebrities? What happens when you no longer believe in "playing by the rules?" Or in "getting ahead?"

What happens if you don't care about "keeping up with the Joneses?"

What happens when you think you're just as smart as the smart ones, and not as dumb as the dumb ones? What happens when you no longer believe there are any smart ones?

What happens when you no longer trust in the safety of the food you eat or in the water you drink? What happens when you believe the air you breathe is poisoned? What happens when you believe that humans are basically "crazy monkeys" who have evolved a highly in-efficient brain that they use to justify the unjustifiable?

What happens?!

Better Angels - Lombardi & Lennon

Lombardi tells me: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."

And just where are we going?

Johnny tells me: "To the Toppermost of the Poppermost!"

Cognitive Slaves Unite!

Love this from Global Guerillas. All those power users of Facebook and Google are "cognitive slaves." Welcome to the New World Order. And of course our slavery came willingly!

"Let's take Facebook as an example. Currently it's valued at ~$25 billion by the market. However, it could be argued that ~100,000superusers out of 500 million part time users, are the reason that Facebook is valuable. They generate the core network that is the backbone of the tool. Their devoted use, high levels of connectivity, and loyalty forms the engine that grows Facebook, year in and year out. They are the materials, labor, and product of Facebook's assembly line. Yet they aren't paid for their effort. They aren't generating wealth for themselves or their families.

How much wealth? If we awarded 4/5 ths of the value of Facebook (and the same exercise could be done with Google at a couple of million superusers) to its superusers, leaving the tool managers $5 billion in value, each superuser would now be worth $200,000 from their contributions to this tool alone. But they aren't. They haven't earned a penny for their effort. " - John Robb

Maximum Volume...

You know how a record comes out and then there's all the hype and success and then well, hell they even turn it into a Broadway show? And then in retrospect you think "no, it's not that good."

Well "American Idiot" is not that record. I discovered it a few years after it came out (blogged about it here).

The last few days, I've been working at our storefront space sprucing it up, and I have repeatedly been blasting that Green Day opus through our little P.A. system at maximum volume.

The record didn't knock me out the first time I heard it. I actually thought it sounded a little too slick. But you know, over time it has really grown on me, just sounded better and better to my ears. Some kind of masterpiece. I think it captures our dysfunctional empire in decline.

Volume is critical. At ear-splitting volume it really comes alive. And that Billie Joe Armstong is some kind of r&r Messiah. Lennon-esque!

Foiled Again!

And then the little bastards try to throw sand in our eyes. But of course, we wear cheap sunglasses! Foiled again weasels!

Full of It!

When the arguments start to get long and convoluted, when people decide to hide behind obscurities, you know that they are full of it!

A Loser's Hand

Another American President "boxed in" by the military. You start to wonder who those four star guys really work for.

Afghanistan is now Obama's War...

"Mr. Obama’s struggle with the decision comes through in a conversation with SenatorLindsey Graham of South Carolina, who asked if his deadline to begin withdrawal in July 2011 was firm. “I have to say that,” Mr. Obama replied. “I can’t let this be a war without end, and I can’t lose the whole Democratic Party.”

And from this vantage point it's a losing proposition. It's one of those - if you win you lose, if you lose you lose. The main theme is LOSE! Or put another way, you stay you lose, you leave you lose. Might as well cut your losses and leave now. But instead there will be years of dithering in other people's misery. And lots of people who shouldn't die, will die.

Hope dies last, Hope dies hard!

Frog

I suppose Yoga wasn't invented as some kind of torture. A smiley-faced torture.

Yoga isn't just a supposedly well-meaning demonstration of your body's limits, an elaborate, seemingly benevolent show designed to enlighten you to the frailties of your body.

I mean, Yoga can't just be this esoteric practice passed down through the ages, intended to show you that your body is a frog's body. And that you are basically and definitely a frog!

I mean, no, it can't be...