These Queens!

Since I was the one who came up with whitewolfsonicprincess, I am a little bit sensitive about "band names."  I get those vacant looks of incomprehension, I get those sideways smiles, I get those mumbled "Huhs?" and even those "Oh cools."

Queens of the Stone Age. Never took this band seriously. The name conjured up a loud and unmusical Hair Metal Band. Maybe a loud and unmusical Gay Hair Metal Band. Which isn't a bad thing, but not the thing I was interested in sitting down and listening to.

And then I saw Josh Homme. He's big, burly, I thought he was a screamer, or one of those guys who specialized in "rage."  Well it turns out he's much more complicated and interesting than that, he's got a great voice, can do some nice upper register singing, he's a killer guitar player and an accomplished songwriter.

A friend turned me onto this band, and their newest record "Like Clockwork" has really captivated me.  I hear a layered, very musical record, I hear a big guitar sound, I hear a very tight, focused band exploring new territory. I hear a trace of David Bowie in Josh's voice. And that's a good influence.

These Queens really bring it.  Sometimes a name, an image really doesn't tell the story, at all. This track features Elton John on piano. Yes. Sir Elton John!

I Crave the Deal. I Crave the Wheel.

I crave the deal. I crave the wheel. I used to be a "wheeler-dealer," but now that seems so far away from me; another time, another place, another me. Still, it's part of my psychic makeup, part of my genetic entity.  I come from a long line of "deal-makers," and extremely skilled talkers. I can conjure, I can envision, I can lay out the scenarios with the best of them. 

But lately I've been stymied, halted in my tracks. My words fall on deaf ears. The visions that I envision don't come to pass. I'm shut out.  It's a little maddening. I can feel the rush of the deal. I get a little glimpse of the kick from putting it together, and watching it take flight. I can see it. I can taste it. I'm sure it will all unfold.

And then silence. Nothing. The moment passes. It's a kick I can only imagine now. And I wonder why. Was it all just talk? Am I not seeing clearly? What's missing? Is it me, or the times? Is it bad luck or fate? Is it a new destiny? Or is this just part of it, the part where everything seems useless, where all my visions turn to smoke, where I hit the wall and see no alternative path. But then, the deal emerges, circumstances change, and my ship comes in.

I just don't know... but I crave...

Dark Cloud Day

I don't know, it's dark and rainy this morning. It's kind of like a black cloud has entered my head and just won't leave. Even the coffee, which is quite good, can't make the cloud go away. I read the newspaper, I tune into the radio, everything sort of washes past me. Nothing to hold on to. It's all just chatter, info, that really doesn't grab me. Or fire me up.

It's a dark cloud kind of morning. I'm not down. I'm awake. Alive. But nothing seems important. Or compelling. I don't have a lot to say. And that's just the truth of the moment. I've been trying hard to live in the truth, in the moment. And to pick up on the reality beyond the reality. There is a clarity. The clarity of a black cloud. Which seems like a contradiction. Holding on, and letting go, at the same time. 

I observe myself going through the motions of the morning. Planning a day. This will be a "floater," quiet, indistinct. Another day, a day of clouds and rain, and just getting through it.

You...

Hah... sometimes you want others to do the work, others to provide answers, others to tell you that everything is gonna work out...

But it doesn't really work like that. You are the authority. You have to do the work. You have to provide the answers, or read the signs, and if everything is gonna work out, it's because you worked it out.

The United States Torture Regime!

The United States Torture Regime. The lowest of the low. It was unleashed by Bush/Cheney/Rumsfield.  It really made you think that the U.S. had no "moral authority" left, that everything we accused the bad guys in the world of doing, we were doing too.

It was a nightmare, and a blight on our nation. And made us all secret collaborators. The "gatekeepers" of our nation were committing crimes against humanity.  The fear of terror brought out the worst in us.

And now it seems that there is a report floating around that details how the CIA tortured and lied about the torture, and pretended that the torture was a useful tool, and it really was not.  It's amazing what people will do to cover their asses, to lie, and coverup crimes, to protect themselves and the organization they work for. Human beings excelling at being inhuman...

"Noah!?" - I Might Be Wrong!

I might be wrong. And it's not very smart to judge a movie without actually sitting down and watching it. But I spend a lot of time sifting through choices, I don't want to see everything, I pride myself on being selective in how I spend my entertainment dollars.

So "Noah!" I think not. I mean, I think Darren Aronofsky is a pretty good director. I liked "The Wrestler," and "Requiem for a Dream," and "The Black Swan," was quite good. But... Noah? Really?

"Okay I need two squirrels, two caterpillars, two skunks, and anyone got a couple of mo-rats? Still have room on the boat!"

And Russell Crowe? Right? He seems like such a spoiled, babied thug... I think I will take a pass...

Is the Internet a Cancer?

Have you speculated about a possible "post-internet" world? Well, David Byrne has, and it's fascinating, provocative, mind-opening. Typical Byrne. He really is an odd bird. Brilliant mind. Always thinking out of the box. 

"Would the world really be a better place without the Internet? Is a complete reset really necessary? For some, the Internet has offered endless moneymaking opportunities, but whether many of the web’s touted benefits end up reaching the majority of people is debatable. More and more, it seems that only a minority are making a fortune off what was extolled as a universally liberating technology.

It’s hard to weigh the worth of the Internet because we can’t even imagine life without it. We’ve internalized it. It’s part of us, which explains why we are exploited so easily online. Is the Internet a cancer killing us little by little or a wonderful cybernetic extension of our brains? Let’s say we wanted to rid ourselves of the cancer. Would the cure be catastrophic or would the liberation be worth it?"

The Manifesto - Wu-Tang's One & Only!

Felix Salmon tells us why the Wu-Tang's new release is "self-defeating," and in the process he gives us a pretty good overview of the music-selling landscape. The Wu Once Upon a Time in Shaolin is being released in a beautiful box in a edition of exactly ONE!

You can check out the box here!  Quite beautiful! A double Wu-Tang album, 31 tracks, recorded over a 6 year period. Truly a work of art. And only one person will be able to purchase it.  Wow. Talk about swimming against the current of the times. 

We live in an all-music, all-the-time, environment. A great time to listen to music, and great time to get your music out in the world. A not so great time for musicians to be paid for their recorded output.

I do love the confounding audacity of this concept. Brilliant, funny, and well, if you think that music, and music-making is a "high art," you can flow with RZA's thought-stream!

"The first ever private album!  The music will only ever have one incarnation. It will not be made available digitally or in any other existing mass format..."

Ideological Wienies!

As Paul Krugman tells it, "Obamacare fails to fail!" Is it really surprising that "the people" need affordable health care and affordable health insurance? Are we really so "brain-washed" to believe that the medical system shouldn't be "socialized?"

We don't need a "free market" medical system, a system of winners and losers. Just like we don't need a "free market" education system where there are winners and losers.

Of course medicine and education should be "socialized." We all benefit from a healthy, well-educated population.  Anyone who tells you differently is just being an ideological wienie.

Like-Minded Souls!

One of the pleasures, maybe the greatest pleasure of being in a band, and playing out, is meeting other like-minded bands who are doing good work that you admire, and finding that they really appreciate your efforts too.  It's probably the greatest honor to be recognized by your "artistic peers."

Especially if you are toiling away in a local scene. Some nights everything is alive and magical, and some nights the rewards are hard and grudging. whitewolfsonicprincess was recently on a bill with Audiobon. It's a true meeting of the minds and creative spirit.  We love what they do, they love what we do, and approaches and results are very different, but somehow completely complimentary.

It's a mutual admiration that inspires and validates. Audiobon sometimes does covers, and their great front-man David Bon has an amazingly powerful voice. He can do justice to songs by Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash. I mean he's got a voice that can knock down walls. A unique, inspiring instrument.

Last Saturday our bands shared a bill and Audiobon played this great Stone Roses song, one rarely heard out in the clubs, "I don't have to sell my soul, he's already in me…" And David's vocal just made it soar… breath-taking… I think Ian Brown would have been proud!

The Giving Up!

It is amazing what you can give up, if you are made to give it up. And life, or life's circumstances, sometimes do seem to ask us to give up a lot. More than we can imagine. But then, it's turns out we can do it, we can let go, we can give up many, many things, and maybe the giving up turns out to be easier than we imagined, and the giving up can become a strength. And there are things you thought you absolutely couldn't live without, that you find that of course, you can live without. And it sort of makes you adjust your thoughts and feelings on what life is, and what life isn't. Life -  being alive is such a simple thing, a thing of breathing, a thing of having a heartbeat, having consciousness, being up and about in the world. And we can add or subtract to the list. But the list, the essential list is very small, very concentrated, simple, not cluttered.

Lost My Voice

Bad cold. Sore throat. Lost my voice. I'm a talker, so it's been a challenge to just sit and be quiet. But it's essential that I rest my vocal cords. If I speak, I sound like Tom Waits crossed with Howling Wolf, crossed with Screamin Jay Hawkins, crossed with a box of gravel.  Except, not as expressive.

Yesterday I did say a few words, "yes," "no," "maybe," and then I was able to croak out these two sentences: "I am losing my voice." and "A cappuccino for here." 

Only the bare essentials.

Kim, Caine and Temper!

I love Kim Morgan and her blog Sunset Gun.  I think she is the best writer, writing about movies, and those who make them, and appear in them, anywhere on the globe. Her latest, a tribute to Michael Caine, is really great. And Caine passes on some real wisdom on "anger" and it's display...

"James Clavell was captured in Hong Kong when he was 14 by the Japanese and spent the first part of his life in a Japanese prison camp. He said to me, ‘The way I survived was I became Japanese in mentality. So I knew where they were coming from in their treatment of us and I knew where I should be in everything.’ He said, ‘The one thing that the Japanese never do is they never lose their temper because anger is an emotion that you should never show to strangers because you expose too much of yourself.’ He said, ‘You must never expose yourself like that to strangers.’ And he gave me this long lecture on the Japanese and anger and I have never lost my temper on a set since. I go home and I scream at the kids. (Laughs) But I have never lost my temper on a set since.”

Divergence

The life you live inside your head is not always, or even usually, the life you live in the world. This can be disappointing. It also means there are surprises along the way, happy, and not so happy. You have to kind of slide with it. No sense in fighting it. It's best to find an ease in the whole divergence of realities. It is best to think of life as a gift, a gift you didn't really expect, or ask for, but a gift nonetheless. You have to adjust and endure, and do the best you can, even if you don't really know what's best or what's not best.

Wes Anderson's Delicate Masterpiece!

Wes Anderson's latest movie, is a meticulously made, delicately rendered masterpiece. It's got a "light touch," a touch of grace, a touch of genius. It's a story, within a story, within a story. Visually ravishing. Perfectly realized. Some have accused Anderson of "style over substance," but this is not correct. Yes, there is style, a grand, beautiful, amazing style that takes you to another world, another realm, another way of seeing everything. But there is substance, it's there in every frame. There is wisdom, humor, grace, bounded by death and dark doings. The movie is a delicate beast. Amazing. Love, love, loved it!

The Jury is Out!

Up super-early. Flick the radio on. I guess I just want to test myself. Can I stay optimistic in the face of the relentless onslaught of bad news: environmental disasters, oil spills, nuclear accidents, contaminated fish, cholera epidemics, early death, mass extinctions, drones, killer robots, pissed off populations, murder, insanity, stupidity? I guess the jury is out. Maybe I need another cup of coffee...

A Coldblooded Person with a Thirst for Power & Money? Perfect!

The Ukraine, it's a country, an issue, a situation, in which I am very unqualified to render an opinion. I hope the people work it out…

But I found this article on the "ex-premier" interesting.  Especially this: 

“She would never pretend she was anything but a coldblooded person with a thirst for power and money, and it’s easier to deal with such people…”

That speaks volumes, doesn't it? Everywhere on the globe...

Genetically Modified Food Really is Another Abomination!

Isn't this exactly why we are, or should be against GMOs?   Genetically modified corn, then stupidity, then "mismanagement," and well, presto, we get a "super-predator!" It's all so predictable. And we still blunder into it, and let Monsanto have their way with us. Another example where corporate greed, and the relentless drive for profits, and control, leads us a state of utter stupidity.  We think we are so smart, that we can mess with the ecosystem, but of course, the ecosystem is much smarter than us.  Silly, stupid, oh yeah, and comically tragic too. And not so funny!

Roger Waters: Boycott, Disinvestment, Sanctions!

Do we want our "rock stars" to weigh in on politics? I guess it depends. Are they a lame, numbskull like Ted Nugent? Or a smart, engaged human being like Roger Waters? They both have a right to speak out, but I'd much rather hear what's on Roger Water's mind.

Roger Waters has waded into some heavy waters.  Is there anything trickier, thornier, and more controversial than the Israeli/Palestinian conflict? If you speak up, and you are not Israeli or Palestinian, you open yourself up to "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune," incoming missiles from all sides.

Still it's hard to argue with his very eloquent statement and support for the "BDS" movement. BDS stands for boycott, disinvestment and sanctions - which aims to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. It's kind of the same strategy that worked against apartheid in South Africa. And the situation in Israel and the "occupied territories" is no longer acceptable.

Here is Waters: "Some wrongly portray the boycott movement, which is modeled on the boycotts employed against Apartheid South Africa and used in the U.S. civil rights movement, to be an attack on the Israeli people or even on the Jewish people, as a whole. Nothing could be further from the truth. The movement recognizes universal human rights under the law for all people, regardless of their ethnicity, religion or color."

And this: "I believe that the root of all injustice and oppression has always been the same – the dehumanization of the other. It is the obsession with Us and Them that can lead us, regardless of racial or religious identity, into the abyss.

Let us never forget that oppression begets more oppression, and the tree of fear and bigotry bears only bitter fruit. The end of the occupation of Palestine, should we all manage to secure it, will mean freedom for the occupied and the occupiers and freedom from the bitter taste of all those wasted years and lives. And that will be a great gift to the world."

“Ashes and diamonds

Foe and friend

We were all equal

In the end.”

A Pig of A Dream!

If you are like me, you might tune out on this post, it's about a dream I had last night, and whenever someone tells me about their dreams, I usually tune out, I think to myself, "Yeah, but it was just a dream."

So yes, this was just a dream. I was wrestling with a pig. I was in Italy. The pig was dressed like a General, and for some reason, I thought the pig was Il Duce, Mussolini himself. At least, for sure, it was a very distinguished pig. It was also a very, very large pig; round, heavy, slippery. And it was relentless. It was doing it's best to sit on me. To pin me to the ground. I was grappling around. Frantically trying to escape. The pig found this to be very funny. I was being abused and laughed at by this enormous pig.

After some sloppy wrestling around on the ground I finally escaped. I found some extra strength and just rolled this enormous pig off me, and then I ran like hell. I left that big roly-poly pig in a heap. I think I will choose to think of this as a very positive omen. Why? Why not? It was my dream!

I am Not of that Tribe!

I am so far from that tribe, that green-clad tribe of inebriates.  They use the excuse of St. Patrick's Day to wear green and consume major amounts of alcohol.  They totally impair themselves, get sloppy, fall-down drunk, end up on the linoleum retching and crying. We were in a sea of them yesterday, waves and waves or drunken revelers. It was sort of like an anthropological expedition.  "Oh look at those youngsters, are they really of drinking age? Look at how they do a shot of some horrid brew, and then check their phones, and chatter away like crazed monkeys."

I do remember long ago, I thought that seeking oblivion was somehow cool, an adventure, a required rite of passage. And maybe it was, or maybe it wasn't. Maybe it really was foolish, and a waste of time, and I was damn lucky to emerge with most of my faculties intact. Now that seems like a lifetime ago. I am not that person. Today it's all about clarity, seeing clearly. And there is a certain "high" in the cold, bright light of clarity.  

And there is something sad and disturbing seeing so many fellow humans seriously incapacitate themselves, thinking that it's required or "fun." I am not of that tribe!

A Million Ways to Skin a Cat!

One good thing about living in a city like Chicago, the brutally long cold winter makes you retreat indoors to the warmth. You have to find things to do inside. We've spent the last few months, writing, rehearsing and recording new songs with our band, whitewolfsonicprincess. Not exactly sure why, but we have been in a creative frenzy. Maybe it's because we love our band, love rehearsing with them. We haven't played out much, too cold to be loading and unloading gear in the cold icy night, but the highlight of the winter has been all the good work we've done together.

So far we've laid down 14 new tracks in the studio, and today we are going to record 7 more.  I love the process of recording. I'm fascinated with the process. I love reading books about recording. There are so many ways to do a project.  

I am addicted to the 33 1/3 series of books.  Most of these books take on a great record and get into the nitty gritty details of recording. I've read about Talking Head's "Fear of Music," Patti Smith's "Horses," The Rolling Stone's "Exile on Main Street," Bob Dylan's "Highway 61," Radiohead's "Kid A," Led Zeppelin's "IV," My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless," Neil Young's "Harvest," Velvet Underground's "banana record."

So many myths and cool stories surrounding the work. Turns out there are a million ways to "skin the cat." The process is amazing, and consuming, but ultimately, it really doesn't matter how the work is done, all that matters is the result. I mean the process matters to those doing the work, but ultimately it doesn't matter if it's lo-tech, hi-tech, layered and refined, or live and raw; one microphone in a kitchen session, or multiple mics strategically placed in a high-class studio.  We love these records because they capture a place and time that somehow transcends time and becomes a work that resonates across time.

It's an amazing thing. Art, a branch of magic.

The Unhealthy Meat Market is Killing Us!

Yes, if you eat meat, I dare you to read this column from Nicholas Kristof...  it's pretty unappetizing. No, I guess maybe disgusting would be a better description. Tyson Foods is a major killer of livestock. They slaughter 135,000 cows, 391,000 hogs, and 41 million chickens per week. The whole industrial meat business is so wrong, on so many fronts. Not good for the animals, not good for the planet, not good for the people that eat the dead meat. The animals live and die in horrifying conditions. They are shot up with antibiotics to fatten them up, they breed chickens with breasts so large, they can't even stand up. The waste is a major problem and polluter of the environment. People eat the result of this whole disgusting process. There are other ways of getting nourishment and protein. It's not hard to do. The "unhealthy meat market" really is a scourge on the land. Long live vegetables!

Your Extreme "Not Included-ness!"

"Well, yes, it's a weird phenomena, you can be "so out," so "not included," so not thought about, so ignored and marginalized, that finally there is this weird switch in polarity, and suddenly your "out-ness," your "not included-ness," your extreme marginalization, becomes the cool thing that others seek out. You are so out, you are finally "in" because you have gloried so well, you have practiced and refined your "outness," so definitively, that it is finally elevated to an art. And others are drawn to it, like moths to a flame!"

Neil Young's Quixotic Campaign!

If you've kept up with Neil Young, you know that he has been on a Quixotic campaign against Mp3s. Only in Neil's case when you say "Quixotic," he's not riding a horse, no, he's driving a vintage car that he restored himself, and instead of a lance, he's got a vintage guitar, probably Old Black, in the back seat, waiting to be plugged into an old Fender Deluxe, and instead of battling windmills he's battling crappy sound files!

He invented the Pono sound system  which is basically higher resolution sound files, that provide a "studio quality" sound and special player that can store and play the files.  When I read about Neil's effort in his book, I wondered if it was all a lost cause, but this is a good first step: "Neil Young Reaches $800,000 Pono Music Kickstarter Goal in 1 Day!"

Remarkable.  Maybe Neil is onto something! Hope so!

On Being the Picky Fly!

Yes, when it comes to pop culture, to what's popular, it's hard not to come to the conclusion that there is an inverse relationship between popularity and quality. The more popular - the less quality. You know, that "lowest common denominator" thing. There are exceptions to the rule. But they are rare.

This may sound "elitist" or something. But I think of it as being a "picky fly!"

As a wee lad, I remember seeing the image below in my crumpled copy of National Lampoon Magazine, (a Junk Food Magazine?!) I mean, I think it was this image. It's the same sentiment. And it's been embedded deep in my psyche ever since.

Pop Culture at it's worst is Fast Food Nation. Think Junk Food. Empty calories. And think about it across the consumer spectrum. Junk Food Music, Junk Food Movies, Junk Food Art, Junk Food TV,  Junk Food Food, etc. Think blockbuster! Mega-seller! The Superstar Stuff. We binge on this crap. And our herd mentality takes over. So if we think every last fly thinks it's good, it must be good, right?!

That is what marketing/advertising is all about...

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!