The Political Junk

Yeah, I listened to the big speech on the radio.  Accidentally.  I was planning on missing it.  Trying to wean myself off the political junk.  But, I tuned in and that man's voice was radiating across the radio waves.  


So I listened.  The guy can certainly do some excellent speechifying.  Maybe one of our best speech makers ever.


And you wonder, do words have meaning and import and staying power, and can they create new realities?  I guess we will see.  But as Kevin Drum highlights in his post about the speech...

"The GOP has created a political feedback loop that is calculated to destroy President Obama’s credibility as a change agent. They’ve figured out that when government is gridlocked and sclerotic, even silly and absurd, no one in Washington comes out smelling like a rose. No one seems reasonable, because nothing gets done. The reasonable man just looks weak."


So, yeah, the guy's opponents are dead set against doing anything, especially anything the guy wants to do.  They think gridlock and a bad economy works in their favor.  The country be damned!


Those GOPers should be held to account!  Wake up America!

Those Who Should Be Shunned!

And those who cling to their beliefs the hardest, and those who talk the loudest, and those who strut around like they own the place, well, of course, those are the real certified lunatics who should be shunned, tuned out, or laughed out of the hall!

Ideologies Die Hard!

I think John Robb's latest post where the Hollow State meets the Crisis of Capitalism is some kind of definitive diagnosis of our current condition.


Or at least it's an enlightening framework in which to see our whacked out world.


And let's say the global capitalist condition is sort of terminal! And the hollow states grappling with the problem are clueless and powerless shells.


Old systems die so that new systems can emerge.


Later in the comment thread Robb says something like: "Communism = central planning, Capitalism = central banking..."


We are all locked in a fatal embrace with a system in the midst of it's death rattles.  It's unsettling.  And you realize that the people in charge trying to "fix" the system have no clue that the patient is already brain-dead.


Ideologies die hard.  Especially when they were total figments of our imagination to begin with!

Road to Nowhere - Of Course!

Last night we watched Monte Hellman's great movie, Road to Nowhere.  It's a low budget, no name actor kind of film.  Made by one of the our greatest filmmakers.  


How do you suffuse every scene of a movie with style and intelligence?  How do you make a movie that warps time?  How do you make a movie that changes your perception of the world?


How do you make a movie that keeps you guessing, and in the dark; and instead of being annoyed, you love it for it's mysteries?  And how do you do it all without digital effects?  And with out speed of light, roller coaster editing?


And again, how it is that every scene, every image is so layered and seems to throb with intelligence?


My take: it's a movie, within a movie, within a movie where telling what's movie, what's myth, what's a dream and what's reality is really hard to discern.  Sort of like our lives in these post bubble times.

Zeppelin Obsessions

In order to stay positive and up-beat, it's sometimes necessary to tune out the bad news.  A little bad news goes a long way.  So you filter out much of the world.


This is a defense mechanism, and a strategy for happiness.  Obviously, there is also a downside to filtering out the news of the world.  You miss stuff. 


Still you make choices and you end up following your own private obsessions.  And then one day you realize you have spent lots of time ruminating over Led Zeppelin and their over-powering alchemy of sound.


And how does this obsession manifest itself?  Well, for one I'm totally immersed in this great book by Erik Davis.  I've read it a couple times.  It is totally enlightening and wise and informative and it's about magic, alchemy, the power of myth and the transformative properties of music!


And also I have become obsessed with this great post-Zeppelin disc by Robert Plant & Jimmy Page: No Quarter!  Picked it up at the used cd store for $1.99.  For some reason, I was under the mistaken impression that it was a misfire and coasting on old stuff.  Not at all.  Powerful and unique - a re-imagining of some classic songs combined with new inspiration and input from a host of other great musicians!


My obsessions are not on the clock.  Fuck the clock!

Free Range Blogging!

Well, if you are a "free-range" blogger, you let your self out of the cage frequently.  And you range freely over topics.  Which means your blog is sort of unfocused and confusing.  


You come here expecting... what?!  


You ask yourself "What is this supposed to be about?"  It would be nice if there were a theme.  Or it would be cool if there was some kind of expertise on display.


But that doesn't seem to be the case at all.  And this somehow seems symptomatic of a whole range of activities that you are engaged in.


It somehow seems symptomatic of your life.  And maybe that says something!  And maybe you need to take a long, hard look at yourself in the mirror. Even if you really don't want to, and it's probably way too late in the process for rehabilitation.  

The Anti-Bubble Bubble - Think About It!

Nate Silver has a super-wonky post about the nation's confidence in America and confidence in Obama.   Not as clear-cut as you might think.  But what we think seems to have a big effect on what we think!


I'd chalk it all up to the Anti-Bubble Bubble!


First we were in the Bubble Bubble Years.  We were in a bubble where everything just inflated! Our houses inflated, our incomes inflated, our hopes and dreams inflated.  We all got big and bubbly and full of hot air.  And we assured ourselves that this was the new normal and it would never end.


And then, for various reasons the bubble popped.  It all just got too bubbly.  And then everything suddenly de-flated.  Our houses, our incomes, our hope and dreams: all suddenly flat and life-less as a pancake.  And now we think that this is the new normal and it will never end.  The Anti-Bubble Bubble!


And Obama and the Bubble or Obama and the Anti-Bubble are kind of in a fatal embrace...  

In an alternate universe he'd be in jail!

This pro-torture bureaucrat is out hawking a book.  Shouldn't he be on trial at the Hague for crimes against humanity?

Crisis of Capitalism!

Yes, it is a crisis of Capitalism itself!  That rings true!  And all the talk, and all the proposed solutions, seem so paltry, so contrary to reason, so wrong-headed.  And there is a war of rhetoric and a war of unreason.  And finally you just want to tune it all out!


But tuning it out then leaves it to the loud-mouths, the no-nothings, the do-nothings.  They thrive on the cynicism.  


Capitalism is eating itself.  It's eating the planet, eating up the resources and the people.  It has become this ravenous dysfunctional beast.


It serves itself, not us.  We are on our own!

Gloriously Sad and Mournful!

So I'm working on Neil Young songs for our special show in September. It is pure pleasure. Something about his music and sensibility just resonate with me. Some people think he's sad or mournful. For me, even the sad, mournful songs, or no, maybe especially the sad, mournful ones just always give me an adrenaline kick. Maybe something to do with my obsession with death?!

I picked a bunch of tunes to do without thinking too hard, they are just some of the favorites that immediately popped into my head. Upon reflection, I'm thinking there is a theme. Here are my picks with my capsule descriptions:

1. Needle and the Damage Done - a short acoustic ditty about heroin addiction and early death.

2. Tonight's the Night - a haunting D minor tune about heroin addiction and early death.

3. Powderfinger - a haunting, mytho-poetic novella in song-form about violent death on the river.

4. Down By the River - a lament, and an extended jam about violent death on the river.

5. Fucking Up - a raucous rocker about fucking up!

6. Cowgirl in the Sand - a glorious anthem about (I think!) a relationship gone south.

That's the mini-set. Should be a raucous night of good fun! Gloriously sad and mournful too!

This Life-Time it's Hair!

The Lovely Carla has convinced me that I have come back this life-time to work out my "hair issues." This life-time it's all about hair for me.

Maybe I was bald in another life. Or, maybe I was beheaded. Or maybe I had curly hair, but badly wanted straight hair. Maybe.

My hair has a mind of it's own. And I'm always in battle with it. It doesn't matter: long, short, or medium length. It is unmanageable! And it always sort of looks silly. Like it doesn't really belong on my head.

I guess I should just be grateful that I have hair. Although, ever since Michael Jordan it seems like a shiny bald head is pretty cool.

Still I have my hair, and I must live with it. It's my mission this time around.

A Bodhisattva is an enlightened being who comes back to this realm to help other beings find Nirvana. That seems a little ambitious, I am trying to get my hair to behave!

Grand Consciousness Changer!

Seems we are always rooting for the UNDERDOG! Must somehow be imprinted into our neural networks. Or... something ...

So we were in the kitchen on a Sunday evening talking about the state of the Universe, the state of Humanity, and the all twisted knots with which we have tied ourselves up.

There is a pervasive bleakness that sort of envelops us like a big, black, cloud during any conversation about our wacky modern (Or is it post-modern?) situation.

When all is said and done, there doesn't seem to be any elegant way out of the muck. Finally we are left to root for some kind of GRAND CONSCIOUSNESS CHANGER, some kind of new period of enlightenment, something we can't even imagine, that will descend upon humanity, and then suddenly everything will change, humanity will improbably and finally see the light!

Seems sort of unlikely, but that is where our hope hides out... we root for the unlikely, the unseen, the unknown; we root for the UNDERDOG view to over-take us and to transform humanity and it's view of the world.

We Rocked, We Soared, We Played to the Trees!

Our band, Whitewolfsonicprincess (one word!) played a unique show last night. A church picnic on the lakefront! We were accompanied by a raging Lake Michigan. The wind off the lake must of have been whipping at about 20 miles an hour or so.

So anyway, it was sort of like playing in a wind tunnel. We were in a little grove, and we played to the trees! I must say our band was superb! We have gotten tighter and tighter, which means we are looser and looser too. Strange, but true.

We sang and played with total confidence, and a little abandon too. Our little P.A. did an admirable job against the elements. We were happy all around.

I tried out these new guitar strings on my big old acoustic guitar and I am just so pleased with them. They are called Elixirs! They are coated with a thin film of Gore-Tex. Weird. They feel smooth, silky, and supposedly they last longer than normal strings.

I play so hard, when I get into it, I bring lots of passion to my playing and I hit the strings with major force and velocity, think Pete Townsend; and I do have a propensity to break strings. So far the Elixirs have been great. No problems last night! We rocked, we soared, we braved the elements. And weren't intimidated in the least by the Church People!

R&R Distortion Master!

One of my favorite things to do in the world is put on a Neil Young CD and play along in the kitchen. My neighbors probably don't love it, I like to crank my little tube amp, turn up my overdrive pedal and jam away.

And now that we are planning a Neil Young night in September, I have extra motivation to play Neil Young songs. I'm a big fan of Tonight's the Night, On the Beach, Everybody Knows this is Nowhere, Rust Never Sleeps, Ragged Glory, etc.

Last night on the radio two rock critics "dissected" Neil's great Rust Never Sleeps. Usually I don't agree with those two guys. And even when I agree with them, they just seem so damn annoying. Still, I did enjoy their discussion of Neil's great album.

Neil's music is so powerful, so emotional, so mythological. I'm so in awe of the man and his music. And I have always loved his great guitar sound. Neil is both the sensitive singer-songwriter, and the combustible rock and roll distortion master. Love that beautiful dichotomy!

Watch!

Maybe some days you just don't ask any questions.

And you don't venture any answers either!

You just hunker down and watch!

How Convenient!

We emerged out the the elements of the Universe.

We then invented God and Religion to explain things to ourselves.

We then pretended we didn't remember, or we intentionally forgot, that we invented God and Religion.

How convenient!

The Mystic Trinity

How to deal with the post-event blues? Throw yourself head-long into another event! We are working on another night of music dedicated to one of our favorite inspirers. The idea is simple. Pick a musical artist that has a great catalog of songs, and then invite a bunch of solo acts and bands to pick songs to play.

First we did a John Lennon night, then it was Bob Dylan. This time around we have settled on Neil Young. And really for me that is some kind of Mystic Trinity.

I propose it goes like this: Dylan is the Father, (he truly is an Old Testament Character) Lennon is the Son, (the Chosen One, the One who Died for Our Sins) and Neil is the Holy Ghost (he works in mysterious ways combining a shaky, haunting voice with glorious over-driven r&r.)!

The Flip-Side

It is inevitable. You have moments of transcendence, but then they dissolve. You can't hold on to them, can't prolong them. You realize you live for those moments. But they are fleeting.

That reality used to really send me into a tail-spin. Now, less so. The hollowness that follows is just part of the process. The flip-side that always comes along for the ride.

Not the Thing Itself!

One of the things I love about "theater" is that it can't be contained or "commodified!" I guess I mean, you can't reduce it to a video or a picture. Videos and pictures of a theatrical performance are notoriously flat, static and bad.

We've made some videos of our theater work, and frankly they seem dead. So in order to fully appreciate the work, you have to be there; in that room at that moment. It's a multi-dimensional phenomenon, sort of like life.

The other thing about our theatrical work in particular: we are always trying to resist explanations, labels and simple meanings. I guess this reflects our sort of grand "philosophy" or world view. The belief that life is ultimately mysterious.

So our work is sort of schizoid, abstract, puzzling, because that is how we perceive the world we live in. And the work and our perceptions of the world are also fleeting and evanescent. So you perform a piece, it is a focal point of energy for a short time, and then it dissolves, disappears. And any record of it is only partial and paltry, and "not the thing itself!"

Pure Joy!

We performed at the Abbie Fest last night. A packed house. It seemed like the audience was with us. They pretty much tracked with us, and if they didn't track with us, well, they just went along for the ride. Can't really ask for more.

It wasn't a perfect performance, we had a few glitches, but we didn't panic, kind of held it together, and carried it through. I do think you can rehearse a show to death, (which in this case we didn't, if anything we were a little under-rehearsed) and still when you get up on stage in front of a real live audience, it's a new thing. We were riding the energy of the room, which was a big rollicking beast.

I do love the Abbie Fest. It's a true celebration of theater, art, creativity. And it's overstuffed with people and talent, and energy. And it's a mad, crazy ride! Pure joy!