Songs of Innocence & Experience

Serendipity

2012-02-12T16:21:00.000-05:00

Went to Goodwill with Q and O and while Q cased the joint I took a look at some stuffs and ended up idly spinning the used CD rack. One item that caught my eye was the soundtrack for a movie called Serendipity. I'm pretty sure I'd never heard of it before. In fact, I actually thought it said Serenity at first, and since I had just watched the first two episodes of Firefly ("Serenity" Parts 1 and 2) with Sister K last night, I lingered long enough to see that it wasn't Serenity. Then we came home. I sat down with some pretzels and some Kroger Zero Calorie Vitamin Enhanced Water Beverage Peach Blackberry and flipped on the tube to see the last fifteen minutes of a program on Area 51. When it ended a show about the Freemasons came up and I'd had enough of that, so I checked channels and guess what was just beginning on WBKI? Yep. Serendipity.

2012-02-11T17:19:00.001-05:00

Most of the Time

Bob Dylan

Most of the time

I'm clear focused all around

Most of the time

I can keep both feet on the ground

I can follow the path

I can read the sign

Stay right with it when the road unwinds

I can handle whatever

I stumble upon

I don't even notice she's gone

Most of the time.

Most of the time it's well understood

Most of the time I wouldn't change it if I could

I can make it all match up

I can hold my own

I can deal with the situation right down to the bone

I can survive and I can endure

And I don't even think about her

Most of the time.

Most of the time my head is on straight

Most of the time I'm strong enough not to hate

I don't build up illusion 'til it makes me sick

I ain't afraid of confusion no matter how thick

I can smile in the face of mankind

Don't even remember what her lips felt like on mine

Most of the time.

Most of the time she ain't even in my mind

I wouldn't know her if I saw her

She's that far behind

Most of the time I can't even be sure

If she was ever with me

Or if I was ever with her

Most of the time I'm halfway content

Most of the time I know exactly where it went

I don't cheat on myself I don't run and hide

Hide from the feelings that are buried inside

I don't compromise and I don't pretend

I don't even care if I ever see her again

Most of the time.

Bonnie Raitt is a Lot Cooler Than I Thought She Was, But $54.50 is Too Much for a Ticket (Unless You Want to Give Me a Couple for Free)

2012-02-07T09:21:00.000-05:00

Standard Tickets: Prices start at $54.50, reserved seating, fees apply. Standard tickets are available online, by phone (502.584.7777, 502.562.0730 TTY), and in-person at The Kentucky Center box office.

The DRC

2012-01-28T06:11:00.002-05:00

Don't know about you, but I want a poster. I'll take one of Vanna in the bikini, too.

diX riveR banD Opens the Kentucky Fellowship of Musicians Bluegrass Kickoff in Lebanon, Kentucky

2012-01-28T05:54:00.001-05:00

Friday January 27, 2012 7:00 p.m.

A fantastic show. If you missed it, you need to catch the next one: Friday, June 22, 2012, time TBA, Renfro Valley Backwoods Festival, 62 US 25, Renfro Valley, Kentucky, 40473.

Hotline: 606-256-2664.

A splendid time is guaranteed for all. Also, rumor has it that Vanna White will make an appearance, and she will look exactly like this:

(Except in color and 3D, of course.)

You Never Know Where You're Going to Run Into Shara Worden!

2012-01-24T17:16:00.000-05:00

Sh-Sh-Sh-Shara

2012-01-22T18:34:00.000-05:00

Shara Worden signed my arm & hugged me in Indianapolis Thursday, January 19, 2012. Then I got this tattoo.

With God, All Things Are Possible

2012-01-22T13:07:00.001-05:00

"Be careful not to be torn inside.

Open your vision to the world."

"Poem for Liu Yazi"

 by Mao Zedong

Pretty Much My Favorite Song Ever

2012-01-21T07:12:00.001-05:00

Be Brave by My Brightest Diamond on Grooveshark

Be Brave

I am a bird in waterA whale on sandI am the flood, the fire, the oil spillI am feeling scared and I am overwhelmedAnd so I don my mask and finger bells

Sh-sh-sh Shara, now get to workSh-sh-sh-sh-sh Shara this is going to hurtBe brave, dear oneBe changed or be undoneBe brave, dear oneBe changed or be undoneUndone

I am a slave, I'm under house arrestI am the beater, I am beaten for lessThen being punk and feeling anger swellAnd so I don my beaded dress and finger bells

Sh-sh-sh Shara, now get to workSh-sh-sh-sh-sh Shara this is going to hurtBe brave, dear oneBe changed or be undoneBe brave, dear oneBe changed or be undone

It's so hard, it's so heavyTo be hungry, to be happyIt's so light, it's so easy just to beIt's so hard, it's so heavyTo be hungry, to be happyIt's so light, it's so easy just to be

Oh God, what would you do with me?God, what's my responsibility?God, what would you do with me?Oh God, what's my responsibility?

Sh-sh-sh Shara, now get to workSh-sh-sh-sh-sh Shara this is going to hurtBe brave, dear oneBe changed or be undoneBe brave, dear oneBe changed or be undoneNow be brave, dear oneBe changed, be undoneBe brave, dear oneBe changed, be changed, be changedChanged

Cashback Needs to Give Some Cash Back, Man

2012-01-21T05:30:00.003-05:00

"Once upon a time I wanted to know what love was.

Love is there if you want it to be. You just have to see

that it's wrapped in beauty and hidden away between

the seconds of your life. If you don't stop for a

minute, you might miss it. "

Ben Willis (played by

), but it was actually pretty good and even a bit thought-provoking. One thing I don't understand, though: the basic premise of the movie--that a guy can stop time, and that one of the things he likes to do when time is stopped is undress women and examine them) is completely ripped off from Nicholson Baker's The Fermata--which, by coincidence, I just finished reading about a week ago. Baker published his novel in 1994, so there's no doubt that he had the idea first. I see no mention of his novel in the movie credits. I think Baker should do an Ellison Terminator move on this Sean Ellis fellow. (Sorry a bout that, Sean, but . . . jeez.)

Call to Arms, Legs, & Assorted Phalanges

2012-01-18T20:23:00.001-05:00

Stop internet censorship!

CREDO is joining hundreds of organizations in a one-day strike against internet censorship. We're doing this because the Senate is poised to vote on a bill that would end the internet as we know it.

If it passes, the "Protect IP Act" (and its companion bill in the House, "SOPA") could put people in jail for uploading a video to YouTube and would severely limit our right to free speech.

This bill has been rushed through Congress because big corporate interests like Comcast, Pfizer, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have spent millions of dollars lobbying for this censoring legislation.¹

Tell your senators to protect our free and open internet and oppose the Protect IP Act.

This legislation gives corporations and the government the ability to determine what information you can consume on the internet -- a dangerous practice which, when committed by the Chinese and Iranian governments, is denounced by the American people and almost all of our elected representatives.

Internet companies including Google, Mozilla, Facebook, and Twitter, say that "the bills as drafted would expose law-abiding U.S. internet and technology companies to new uncertain liabilities, private rights of action, and technology mandates that would require monitoring of web sites."²

Tell your senators to protect our free and open internet and oppose the Protect IP Act.

Right now, only a small number of Democratic senators are standing up to corporate interests and voicing opposition to the bill. And the only way we can stop this outright attack on the free internet is to have more senators commit to vote against the legislation. No matter whether your senators are Republicans or Democrats, it is important that you urge them to take a stand for internet freedom.

We need your senators to come out in opposition to this bill and vote against internet censorship.

Tell your senators to protect our free and open internet and oppose the Protect IP Act.

1."Five things to know about SOPA," The Washington Post, 11-16-2011.

2. "Mozilla Fights for the Internet's Future," Mozilla Blog, 11-15-2011.

Sign the petition

The petition reads:

"I urge you to protect our free and open internet and oppose the Protect IP Act. This bill would allow corporations and the government to control Americans' ability to access information online and is a clear violation of individual rights."

Complete the following to sign the petition. You'll receive periodic updates on offers and activism opportunities.

Full Name

Street Address

City

State

ZIP

Additional message for

the Senate :

Sincerely,

[Your name]

Just in Case You Thought That Vanna White Wasn't an Idiot . . . .

2012-01-11T06:20:00.001-05:00

And by the way . . .

Vanna White Salary
How much does Vanna White make per year on Wheel of Fortune? $4 million

AND . . .

Vanna White does much more than turn letters on Wheel of Fortune. She has parlayed her celebrity status into a multimillion-dollar enterprise. She has an autobiography out and makes guest appearances on TV shows and movies. As of October 2010, her net worth is estimated at over $15 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.

Read more: What Is Vanna White's Salary on Wheel of Fortune? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_7365706_vanna-white_s-salary-wheel-fortune_.html#ixzz1j5imdwcF

So there.

And reference those "lingerie shots because she was hungry . . . " I totally believe her. I mean, look, she's lusting in front of an open refrigerator and EVERYthing.

Possibly the Coolest Live Video of All Time!

2012-01-07T18:13:00.002-05:00

Hey, Norway!

2012-01-06T08:35:00.002-05:00

I am really into this Per Petterson fellow, and I would like to know more about your country. If you're Norwegian and would be willing to be my "pen pal," email me at Phonynoam@hotmail.com.
(Or if you've traveled & spent some time in Norway, that would be lovely, too.)

Skol!

On the Election of Obama

2012-01-01T13:57:00.001-05:00

From In Depth: Chris Hedges, which you might be able to find here (or thereabouts). Here's one of my favorite bits quoted on this show (from Death of the Liberal Class, 2011) :

The Truth as I Know it to Be

2012-01-01T08:29:00.000-05:00

" . . . nothing is in vain no matter what we have done, if we only look , before it's too late."

Per Petterson, In the Wake (2002)

I thought that she was dying. Her breath was labored, her face contorted. I wanted her to hear my voice.

"I love you, mom. You're the best person I've ever known in my life, and you did a really good job as a mother. Whatever good there is in me is because of you . . . . "

I filled the stale air with words salted with tears, and when I ran out of words I started over again. A mantra. And then she opened her eyes and looked at me and said in a nonchalant voice, "I'm not going yet."

Once she looked at me and said, "I feel like I'm made of sand, washing away." I pictured her flesh made out of sand, recumbent on a beach, and cold waves biting each time they advanced, her form crumbling in on itself.
Once she looked at me, her body twisted with pain and deformed by arthritis, and she said, "This is what I get for not smoking, drinking, and running around." She was 83 years old. When we were young, she told us that no one in her family lived beyond the age of sixty.

It's been four years since she died, but I still get the urge to call her up and talk to her. No, it's more than that. It's the brief lightning flash of thinking that I can call her, the movement of my fingers toward the phone, abruptly arrested by the knowledge that she is no longer there. And then the emptiness rises up, and when evening comes I talk to her. It is more than a prayer. It is a longing for her company that I think could almost draw her back into this world, just for a moment. A picture of food shown to a man who has been starving for a long, long time.
When Mary and I were children she would clear the dining room table so that the faux marble design of its surface was unobstructed. Then she would give us both China markers and we would search for images in the design, outlining them in the moist black ink of the markers. When we were finished, dozens of pictures had ben revealed. And then we would wet napkins and rub the designs away. China marker sandpainting . . . long before we knew about sandpainting and mandalas.
Though later on she bought me a wire mandala, and I was fascinated and comforted by the opening and closing up of the wire structure. It could be flat, a two dimensional encyclopedia depiction of the solar system, or you could pull it open into a sphere which felt like the universe.
Once she called me to come upstairs to the bathroom, and when I got there she told me to sit down on the closed toilet seat and look at the towel hanging from the rack in front of me. I did. "Do you see the cow?" she asked. And then I did. A cow's head made up of pink roses and green stalks. Every time I sat on the toilet afterwards I examined the cow's head. Its bovine serenity. Its placid acceptance of the fact that it had been scooped out of nothingness by my mother's mind. Called into heing.

2012-01-01T07:42:00.003-05:00

" . . . I stand without a foothold in the world, listening."

Per Petterson

In the Wake (2002)

The Movie I Saw (2012 Edition)

2012-01-01T07:06:00.013-05:00

nOW wITH rATINGS!

***** = Must be seen before you die.

**** = Really good.

*** = Worth seeing, but you won't die for lack of it.

** = A waste of time, but one or two good moments.

* = You'll lose two IQ points watching this one.

18. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012) *

17. Casanova (2005) ****
16. Dolores Claiborne (1995) ****
15. DMT: The Spirit Molecule (2010) ***

14. Declining by Degrees: Higher Education at Risk (2005) *****

13. Louis C.K.: Chewed Up (2008) *****

12. True Blood: Season 2 (2009) *****
11. Louie: Season One (2010) ****
10. Louis C.K.: Hilarious (2009) ****
9. Hancock (2008) ***
8. MI-5 Volume 1 (2002) ****
7. Cashback (2006) **
6. Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon (1998) **
5. Office Space (1999) **
4. The Shock Doctrine (2009) ****
3. Rolling Stones: Stones in Exile (2010) ****
2. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) *****
1. Archangel (2005) ***

The Book I Read (2012 Edition)

2012-01-01T07:01:00.007-05:00

1234
5678

8. Bugf#ck: The Worthless Wit and Wisdom of Harlan Ellison
7. The New York Four by Bryan Wood and Ryan Kelly
6. The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker

5. The New York Four by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly
4. The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
3. Torpedo Volume 2 by Enriqur Sanchez and Jordi Bernet

2. The Mezzanine by Nicholsen Baker
1. In the Wake by Per Petterson

2011-12-31T17:10:00.002-05:00

2011

2011-12-31T09:32:00.001-05:00

The year has vanished
Like the dove in the magician's hand
Like the tornado after devouring the trailer camp
Like the horror in the face of the man tortured beyond his capacity to endure
Like the shine of love in the young woman's eye.

All that will remain on New Year's Day
Is the warm throbbing of a stitched wound
The regret for what has not been done by
The weak flesh.

And every year hereafter
Will be shorter than the last
Until time itself vanishes
Into the long regret of death.

Dirty Weather

2011-12-30T06:06:00.000-05:00

Impressive storm front, eh?

REASCENDING CHINGKANGSHAN

2011-12-28T13:26:00.000-05:00

REASCENDING CHINGKANGSHAN

I have long aspired to reach for the clouds

And I again ascend Chingkangshan.

Coming from afar to view our old haunt,

I find new scenes replacing the old.

Everywhere orioles sing, swallows dart,

Streams babble And the road mounts skyward.

Once Huangyangchieh is passed

No other perilous place calls for a glance.

Wind and thunder are stirring,

Flags and banners are flying

Wherever men live.

Thirty-eight years are fled

With a mere snap of the fingers.

We can clasp the moon in the Ninth Heaven

And seize turtles deep down in the Five Seas:

We'll return amid triumphant song and laughter.

Nothing is hard in this world

If you dare to scale the heights.

Lesson 43 of 100 Lessons

2011-12-28T13:17:00.000-05:00

" . . . and she was gone. I have never really been able to

see enormous changes coming until the last minute, never

seen how one trend conceals another, as Mao used to say,

how the one flowing right below the surface can move in a

whole different direction than the one you thought everyone

had agreed on, and if you did not pay attention when

everything was shifting, you would be left behind

alone."

Per Petterson

I Curse the River of Time (2010)

Jesus H. Christ. What is Wrong With These Fucking People??????

2011-12-28T09:40:00.000-05:00

Stop Mercer County, KY school from abusing autistic children.

Dear Brother K.,

When Sandra Baker was called to pick up her 9-year-old autistic son, Chris, from his Mercer County, Kentucky school, she was stunned by what she found: She says that Chris's teacher had stuffed him in a gym bag and left him in the hallway as punishment.

"When I walked in," Sandra told CBS News, "I went down his hallway, and I saw this big green bag laying in the floor beside the [teacher's] aide, and I saw it moving."

Then Sandra heard a voice come from inside the bag:“Momma, is that you?”

Sandra demanded her son be released immediately, but allegedly the bag was tied so tightly the teacher's aide struggled to open it. When Chris finally got out, his mom says he was sweaty and uncommunicative.

Lydia Brown, a freshman at Georgetown University, is autistic, too. When she heard about Chris's ordeal at school , she started a petition on Change.org demanding the Mercer County school district discipline the teacher who put Chris in the bag and require its teachers to complete training on interacting with autistic children. Click here to sign Lydia's petition now.

At a meeting with school officials last week, Sandra learned this wasn't the first time Chis had been stuffed in the duffel bag as punishment. The teachers allegedly referred to the duffel as a “therapy bag,” but lacking even basic training for working with autistic children, were unable to explain how confining Chris to a drawstring bag constituted “therapy” of any kind.

Here’s the worst part: after her meeting, Sandra says she rec eived no guarantee that this kind of abuse wouldn’t happen again -- either to Chris or to other students in Mercer County schools.

That’s just not acceptable to Sandra, or to the 12,000 people who’ve already signed Lydia’s petition on Change.org. Lydia is hoping to deliver the petition to the Mercer County school board at their next meeting. The school board won’t be able to ignore this issue when they see the thousands of people angry about Chris’s treatment and calling for changes.

Please sign Lydia’s petition to get Mercer County schools to fire Chris’s teacher, and to get the school district to require its staff to complete comprehensive training on i nteracting with autistic children.

Thanks for being a change-maker,

- Katie and the Change.org team

My Baby Gave Me a Lovely Book of Poems by Mark Jarman for Christmas, and Here's One of Them For My Baby

2011-12-27T10:38:00.003-05:00

Robert Burns Was a Dirty Boy

2011-12-26T06:39:00.000-05:00

'Twas reading Bone Fires by Mark Jarman--a Christmas present from T--and after perusing "My Parents Have Come Home Laughing" had to check out a reference to a Robert Burns poem which I thought surely must have been a fiction--"Nine Inch Will Please a Lady." But the miracle of Google proved that it was no fiction:

Nine Inch Will Please a Lady

(Robert Burns)

Come rede me dame, come tell me dame,

My dame come tell me truly,

What length o' graith when weel ca'd hame

Will sair a woman duly?"

The carlin clew her wanton tail,

Her wanton tail sae ready,

"l learn'd a sang in Annandale,

Nine inch will please a lady."

"But for a koontrie cunt like mine,

In sooth we're not sae gentle;

We'll tak tway thumb-bread to the nine,

And that is a sonsy pintle.

Oh, Leeze me on, my Charlie lad,

I'll ne'er forget my Charlie,

Tway roaring handfuls and a daud

He nidged it in fu' rarely."

But wear fa' the laithron doup

And may it ne'er be thriving,

It's not the length that makes me loup

But it's the double drivin.

Come nidge me Tom, come nidge me Tom

Come nidge me, o'er the nyvel

Come lowse an lug your battering ram

And thrash him at my gyvel!

graith=gear, equipment; clew=scratched, fondled;

tway thum-bread=two thumb-breadths; sonsy=healthy;

daud=a lump, a bit; laithron=lazy; doup=rump;

gyvel=gateway.

And the miracle of The You Tub proved that there were several performances of this song available:

Goodness gracious. And he looks like such a genteel fellow.

The Fart Bus

2011-12-22T07:07:00.002-05:00

Driving down the road, what do I see? I see a TARC bus and it's looking at me. Q says, "Oh!" O says, "What?" Papa K says, "Doodley doodley doodley dough dough. Doodley doodley doodley dough dough." And then it occurred to me that TARC sounded a bit like FART, and since Q & O often enjoy my scatological-ish humor, I began to make fart noises and to complain about the stench emanating from The Fart Bus (and the dangers that threatened us as we crept closer and closer to it). Q & O were seriously delirious from laughing, and O began to exclaim loudly that it was a TARC bus as we followed the behemoth down Lexington Road. Ah, such, such were the joys.

My favorite moment is near the end when O screams, "TARC buuuusssssss!" with pretty much the same inflection that Shatner used when he screamed, "Khaaaannnnnn!" in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

Hmmmm. Maybe it's just the by-product of all of the Nicholson Baker I've been reading--he is quite the dirty boy, you know--but it seems to me that Khan looks like he is in the midst of having an orgasm in this video clip. Or maybe Ricardo Montalban always looks like that.

Well. There it is.

Such a Worm as I

2011-12-21T14:08:00.003-05:00

Went to get into my car this morning and saw that the rain had brought several worms up out of the ground, across the driveway, under the garage door, and into my garage. They were moving along, chasing after God knows what, and one of the little fellers was leaving a wet trail behind him. As I looked at him I could only think, "You and me both, buddy." Struggling along from we don't know where to we don't know what, leaving our "mark" on the world--sure to evaporate a few moments later. It also re-ignited a rather regular memory of a hymn we sang on occasion at Emmanuel Christian Church back in Baltimore, Maryland, one line of which often comes to the surface of my mind: "For such a worm as I." That may have been when my rejection of the Christian church actually began, come to think of it. A little Googling brought up the whole hymn . . .

At the Cross

by Isaac Watts, 1885

Alas, and did my Savior bleed,

And did my Sov'reign die?

Would He devote that sacred head

For such a worm as I?

Thy body slain, sweet Jesus, thine,

And bathed in its own blood,

While all exposed to wrath divine

The glorious Suff'rer stood!

Was it for crimes that I had done

He groaned upon the tree?

Amazing pity! grace unknown!

And love beyond degree!

Well might the sun in darkness hide,

And shut his glories in,

When God, the mighty Maker, died

For man, the creature's sin.

Thus might I hide my blushing face

While his dear cross appears,

Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,

And melt mine eyes to tears.

But drops of grief can ne'er repay

The debt of love I owe;

Here, Lord, I give myself away,

'Tis all that I can do.

BTW, in the course of my extensive research I also happened upon this lovely video . . .

And I also happened up an entry on Wikipedia on Worm Theology, for god's sake. You probably need to check this shit out. Just click here and enjoy.

At Least We're Not Like Those Uncivilized A-rabs

2011-12-20T16:51:00.001-05:00

Dear Brother K,

Great Expressions Dental Centers must apologize for harassing and firing HIV+ employee

James White's lawyers in Michigan call his case "the worst case of HIV discrimination they've ever seen." It's hard to believe how much James had to endure:

When James disclosed his HIV status to his boss at a Great Expressions Dental Center -- where James worked as an office assistant -- James' boss told everyone in the office that James had HIV.
For months, James' coworkers followed him around with cans of Lysol. They sprayed James, refused to let him touch doorknobs, and wiped down furniture after he touched it.
James was finally admitted to the hospital to deal with the toll of months of stress from the situation at work -- he was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
On his last night in the hospital, James got a call saying that he was fired.

Jim Harris is a junior at the University of Oklahoma who has dedicated his time on campus to educating his fellow students about HIV. When Jim read about what happened to James, he was outraged -- so he started a petition on Change.org demanding that Great Expressions Dental Centers apologize for how James was treated and pay him reparations. Click here to sign Jim's petition right now.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission attempted to mediate this situation, but Great Expressions refused the proposed settlement. So the EEOC gave James a letter supporting his right to sue Great Expressions -- but a lawsuit will be costly and could take years.

James shouldn't have to wait years for an apology or compensation. Great Expressions is a large chain of dental centers, with locations in seven different states -- bringing large-scale public pressure is exactly the right way to force a quick resolution rather than letting the company wait it out and hope James runs out of money.

Please sign Jim Harris' petition demanding that Great Expressions Dental Centers apologize and pay reparations for the egregious treatment of James White.

Thanks for being a change-maker,

- Michael and the Change.org team

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like . . . .

2011-12-19T19:38:00.000-05:00

Godot Poems

2011-12-12T20:23:00.000-05:00

Eye Full Tower

The Eiffel Tower scratches at my cornea

seeking to break through that crystalline shield,

its barbwire claws twitching spasmodically,

anxious to puncture my vision

and when it does my eye

vomits a torrent of bile

vile and viscous

tarry black

flecked with bits of broken moments

and my heartaches spoil the horizon

The tower rocks back on its heels

content and fat with my pain

and I can only gaze monocularly,

stumble away through a two-dimensional world.

Perhaps I'll grow an eye patch

of callus or infected tissue.

Why is it that a one-eyed man

always looks so threatening, so fierce?

It's not his injury we see,

but the mystery of what lies behind the wound,

the armor of apathy which surrounds him.

One day soon I'll pluck that tower

from where it stands

and wield it like a sword

and the one-eyed population of the world

will grow by leaps and bounds.

Tree

growing slowly inch by bark-covered inch

moaning with the pain of stretching ligaments

tortured seconds, dying minutes, and

the last gasps of hours, days, months, years

tears

groaning from the womb to the tomb

splayed fingers scratching at the sky

digging into clouds to find the sun

hidden, buried in cloud

frost-whitened and tired as a

man who's been drowning for days

starving for weeks

rooted in the moist earth of mother's guts

gripping her spine with clenched roots

rupturing her spleen, heart, lungs

the cracked sidewalk of her face

thin branches reaching for father sun

growing in his direction but

dying from the cold

growing old

still hoping

it might be summer again

one day

or this may be all that there is

peaceful, quiet, cold death

Vegetable Holocaust

Sullen-eyed raddishes ripped from the ground

Foul-mouthed turnips trying to fly

While leafy-headed carrots grin

Superciliously, knowing they are the first choice

Knowing they will arrive at the table intact

While their former fellows are sliced and diced into tiny bits,

Unrecognizable and devoid of

Their true character.

It is a Vegetable Holocaust

And the carrot strides in the

Borrowed jack-boots of the kapo

While the raddish and turnip

Whimper and are crushed.

There is a hierarchy here,

And those at the top / near the top / who serve the top

Prosper

While those below are destroyed

In the most casual way,

And unremembered forever after.

diX riveR crossinG

2011-11-24T18:39:00.002-05:00

Went to Lexington last night and eventually found the place where Red Barn Radio lives. Here's most of what I found there.

Part I

Part II

Part III

mY brightesT diamonD

2011-11-24T10:54:00.002-05:00

My Brightest Diamond - ALL THINGS WILL UNWIND: High Low Middle from Asthmatic Kitty on Vimeo.

Pretty Pictures

2011-11-21T20:33:00.000-05:00

A Tender, Romantic Song About a One Night Stand . . . or What's Wrong Today is What's Wrong With You

2011-11-15T17:46:00.002-05:00

Still it is a pretty good song, eh? I like the mandolin.

But waitaminute. There's also this . . .

Now is it just me or is this version considerably more heartfelt and considerably less whorey? Not hatin' . . . just relatin'.

More Songs About Weird and Coincidence

2011-11-10T15:37:00.000-05:00

So at school today somebody (might have been me, actually) mentioned Twitter and several kids said they'd follow me if I Tweeted, so I said I would Tweet as soon as I got home. When I opened up my account the Tweet at the top of my list was this one:

GeorgeTakei Kim Kardashian files for divorce after 72 days. Another example of how same-sex marriage is destroying the sanctity of the very institution.

Which I thought was really weird because I don't subscribe to George Takei's stuff, and don't know why this Tweet showed up--but it is a pretty funny comment.

Anyway, O wanted a snack before we left for The Great Escape, so I hit the play button on the 3rd Rock From the Sun episode I had been watching this morning . . . and guess what? Within two minutes, there was George Takei.

Pretty fucking weird, huh?

Ask the Next Question (Courtesy of Theodore Sturgeon)

2011-11-07T15:24:00.004-05:00

Pornography Is

2011-11-02T17:45:00.001-04:00

"One of the most important lessons we can learn from pornography is about the process of commodification within capitalism. Critics have long observed that in capitalism everything is commodified, everything is turned into something that can be bought and sold. Pornography takes the most intimate, the most private spaces of our lives, our sexual experiences, our connections to other human beings at that most basic level, and sells them to it."

"I think we often make the mistake of thinking that pornography is just an image of people having sex. What pornography is is it's a world view. It is an ideology. It is a way of understanding relationships."

"Pornography meets a real need that people have to somehow break out of their sexual loneliness, their sexual isolation, their failure to connect sexually with somebody . . . . And as with every other basic human need that gets inappropriately dealt with, it becomes an opportunity for private enterprise to come in. And that's what private enterprises do. They make money off of human needs and wants and desires. And in the process, of course, they begin to shape those needs and desires."

The Price of Pleasure (2010)
Not an easy documentary to watch, but I think porn would seem a hell of a lot less attractive to people if they did check this out. Or maybe it would just be making the choir puke, I don't know. Some folks have bulletproof paradigms--especially when it comes to how they mistreat other people.

Here We Go Again

2011-11-02T16:30:00.000-04:00

This is America right? And according to my wristwatch, it's a few minutes past the 20th century. But still we have shit like this going on. Read it and give a click.

Demand DNA test for a Texas man scheduled to die next week.

Dear Thomas,

Hank Skinner is scheduled to die on November 9. But the state of Texas may execute him without even conducting DNA tests on all of the evidence from his trial, despite a decade of requests from Hank and his lawyers.

Hank has been on death row since 1995 for the murders of his girlfriend and her two adult sons, and has steadfastly professed his innocence. Since his conviction, the star witness against Hank has recanted her testimony, and others have implicated another man as the killer.

Hank has just 8 days to live. His family created an organization called "Justice 4 Hank," and they're fighting for a DNA test for Hank. They started a petition on Change.org asking the Gray County District Attorney and the courts to order full DNA tests to determine if Hank is actually guilty -- and to prevent Texas from possibly executing an innocent man. Click here to add your name to the petition.

At the time of his trial, the prosecution conducted DNA tests on the clothes Hank was wearing -- but declined to test the rest of the physical evidence, including a rape kit, the murder weapons, several hairs clutched in the victim's hand, and a bloody windbreaker that strongly resembles that of the man accused by others of being the true murderer.

Since the year 2000, Hank has been requesting that the office of the District Attorney that prosecuted him order DNA tests on the remaining evidence. But the DA's office has continuously denied those requests, saying Hank should have requested the tests before his trial.

The Gray County District Attorney's office has neglected to order these tests for more than a decade without consequences. By signing this petition, you can let members of that office know that their actions are being watched, and that it is unacceptable to send a potentially innocent man to his death without collecting all the relevant evidence.

Hank could die as soon as next week. Please sign the Change.org petition created by "Justice 4 Hank" and demand the Gray County District Attorney order a DNA test on the rest of the evidence before the execution. Click here to add your name:

http://www.change.org/petitions/in-the-interest-of-justice-grant-dna-testing-to-hank-skinner

Thanks for being a change-maker,

- Michael and the Change.org team

P.S. Big news! The New York Times is reporting that Bank of America is dropping its $5 fee after a massive Change.org petition by Molly Katchpole against the banking giant. It's an amazing moment that proves that together we're mightier than even the biggest corporations

ON BOOK TV TODAY

2011-10-30T16:22:00.000-04:00

"The reason we have a Patriot Act is because without it everything in it would be unconstitutional."

Thane Rosenbaum

Queen Q Renders Judgment

2011-10-29T08:51:00.000-04:00

"Will you stop that, Dad? I'm trying to concentrate here."

2011-10-29T06:38:00.001-04:00

if
i
live
the
life
i'm
given
i
won't
be
scared
to
die

O Says it Elegantly

2011-10-29T06:35:00.002-04:00

"He was evil laughing."

2011-10-23T11:17:00.000-04:00

"When a good person dies, there should be an impact on the world. Somebody should notice. Somebody should be upset."

Jennifer Morrison as Dr. Allison Cameron on House, M.D., Season 2, Episode 1: "Acceptance" written by Russel Friend & Garrett Lerner

Yep, it's Real.

2011-10-15T16:07:00.001-04:00

T-Shirt Sale!

2011-10-15T09:51:00.001-04:00

For a mere $25, you can order any of these incredible Limited Edition T-Shirts! (Postage & handling included.) Just click on the order button below. And don't forget to specify size--otherwise you get extra large.

Lung Cancer is Pretty!

Dix River Crossing is Pretty!

Q Says Pretty Things!

Girlsketeers Are Pretty!

Q Says Pretty Things About Sharks!

Sharks Are Pretty!

Songs of Innocence & Experience Is Pretty!

I'm Not Fat

2011-10-15T08:13:00.000-04:00

My belly is an oven

And I'm cooking cancer pie

Blackening my organs

From the in- to the outside.

The crust is rising steadily

And pressing against my abs

The pie soon will be finished

According to my labs.

My strength is ebbing daily

My vision's blurry, too,

Before too long I do believe

I shall be turning blue.

And when my lungs stop moving

And I'm resting on a slab

A knife hovering above me

As the coroner blabs

My soul it will be sailing

Way up above the clouds

And when I knock on heaven's door

I'll be knocking very loud.

When the pie is opened

And my guts begin to sing

I'll be grating on the ass

Of heaven's all gracious king.'

2011-10-12T21:59:00.004-04:00

when i get up i fall down i'm

falling down i

fall down i

broke

broke myself broke

myself my self broke

Getting Ready

2011-10-11T17:35:00.001-04:00

Things to Do:

haircut and shave
pick up suit at dry cleaner
polish shoes (no, really)
brush teeth (no need to floss!)
cats to the kennel
leave the envelope in a conspicuous place

some days the bear eats you

fuckin' bear
can't bear
it
a n y more
can, sir, is a dan, sirA SLIP OF THE LIP aka Jack B. Nimblejust like i told you before B4 B4 B4
can sir? dan, sir! rigged bingo

cancer dancer ................................................................

rigid bingo malted melt short marathon i know i told just like i told you B4....................................................................

................................................................. ....

Kiss (by O)

2011-10-11T15:10:00.000-04:00

"Bad clowns destroyed the city."

Saint Lucy (by Q)

2011-10-11T05:32:00.001-04:00

Q's new best friend is St. Lucy, the Patron Saint of Eyesight . . . which is why she is carrying a bucket of eyeballs (complete with eyelashes) in her left hand. The cactus in her right hand is just some kind of sprig-ish thing.
I am particularly impressed by the fact that St. Lucy's head floats above her body . . . and also by the fact that, as a saint, she apparently has no need of feet. As the spirit rises, the body begins to dissipate. I'm sure that this would make Plato very happy.

Oddly enough, Q's love for St. Lucy has not mitigated her hatred for former best friend Helen Keller, who is now a "mean, stupid, ugly little blind girl." Wow. Q is a straight shooter, you've got to give her that. Apparently at some point Helen K. became a hitwoman, as she seems to have gunned down a few folks . . . and I think at one point she was going for Little Bo Peep (or Peepie as I call her--when I want to get a rise out of Q). Ah, such a rich and wonderful world Atlantis is . . . way down below the ocean.

House is in the House

2011-10-10T18:30:00.001-04:00

Just remember me darling
When I'm in six feet of cold cold ground
Just remember me darling
When I'm in six feet of cold cold ground
Always think of me darling
Say yeah there's another good man gone down

Don't cry baby, baby after I'm gone
Don't cry baby, don't cry after I'm gone
I've left the good man love you
And I ain't do nothing wrong

Just lay my body, lay my body in six cold feet of ground
Just lay my body, in six cold feet of ground
While I will be the loser, when that deal gose down

Remember me baby, when I'm in six feet of cold cold ground
Remember me baby, when I'm in six feet of cold cold ground
Always think of me baby,say yeah ther's another good man gone down

Jimmy Jimmy & & Corwyn Corywn

2011-10-10T18:08:00.002-04:00

2011-10-10T11:56:00.000-04:00

thE bondagE oF thiS lifE iS slippinG
thE bondagE oF thiS lifE iS slippinG

2011-10-10T04:57:00.001-04:00

Maybe it’s too late to tell you this now—
It wouldn’t surprise me; I’ve lived a lifefull of too lates—But I was just thinking about sleeping with you
That night. I was torn and frayed and scaredAnd you let me into your bed
And though my heart trembled and coweredI felt safe for the first time in a long time.
And when our toes or arms touched
I began to think that I was still alive.
I treasure that memory.
I press it to my lips
And drink of it whenever the cold begins
To wrap itself around my bones.

And I will always love you.

Volcano Woman Blues: Cartoon Version

2011-10-10T04:22:00.002-04:00

Dix River Crossing: Gravel Switch, Kentucky, Saturday, October 8, 2011

2011-10-09T08:14:00.000-04:00

I knew I was in trouble when my Garmin-delineated path blinked out and showed I was driving through a Siberian-white landscape completely devoid of roads . . . and I simultaneously realized that my bladder had reached critical mass forty minutes ago and had been pulsing like a quasar ever since. Then . . . recalculating. Garmin's purple path invited me to turn left. Lo and behold . . . I circled round to where I had been and came upon Siberia again. This time I decided I would just continue in the last known direction, even without snowshoes . . . and drove and drove. Decided to re-think that. Thought, "If I head for Centre College I'll re-find the path." Plugged in Centre College . . . and was told it was one hour and forty minutes away. I had thirty minutes to get to Gravel Switch. Switched back to my original search. Garmin showed a purple path. I turned . . . drove down very narrow roads . . . crossed a wooden plank bridge which didn't look like it would hold . . . drove . . . and came back to my original lost spot. Stopped at a gas station/convenience store and barely made it to the restroom. If that door had been locked they'd have needed a mop. Bought some peach tea and asked the girl behind the counter if she knew where Gravel Switch was. She looked at the guy standing behind me and asked him if he knew. His eyes went glassy. "I don't want to tell you wrong . . . " he said. Then a four hundred year old black man came in. They glassy-eyed guy asked him. The four hundred year old black man's eyes went kind of glassy, too. "Well . . . you go out hair and toin right at da light . . . then you toin left at da McDonald's . . . den you toin left . . . no, right. No, left." I nodded. Thanked him. Got into my car. Just as I was about to take off I saw a big rig stop behind me and the driver got out. I called to him. "Can you tell me how to get to Gravel Switch?" I asked. He stopped and leaned into my passenger side window. "You can't get to Gravel Switch from here," he said. I laughed, pretty sure that he was joking. Well, 50/50, at least. Maybe 25/75. Not sure at all. "What the hell would anybody want to go to Gravel Switch for?" he asked, laughing and showing a couple of black teeth. I told him. I added, "I guess that's about the only reason to go to Gravel Switch?" "I can think of one or two other reasons," he added, and I was pretty sure that one or two of those reasons would be drugs. He gave me directions--which I wrote down--and I headed off. A few miles down the road Garmin came back on, confirming most of his directions. Eventually (after more hairpin turns than I would have believed possible) I pulled up to the "fair grounds" and an old feller told me it cost ten dollars to get in. It was a fund raiser for the Penn's Store which had been seriously damaged by flooding. I paid my ten, parked in a field, and halfway to the bandstand I heard the announcement that Dix River Crossing would be performing in five minutes. A close one. Thank God I didn't have to pause for mopping up procedures at the gas station.

Video quality & sound are better this time around, but my fucking hand was shaking the whole time. I tried to compensate for it by propping my elbow on my legs, but you may want to take a Dramamine before you view this. The first bits are very short as I struggled to figure out how the damned camera worked.

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

Part Four:

Part Five:

Part Six:

Lesson 43 of 100 Lessons

2011-10-03T20:49:00.001-04:00

I got this one from Jim Welp, my friend & writer extraordinaire. Do yourself a couple of favors and buy his book:

"One of the moral diseases we communicate to one another in society comes from huddling together in the pale light of an insufficient answer to a question we are afraid to ask."

Thomas Merton

Dix River Crossing: Junction City, Kentucky, September 30, 2011

2011-10-02T22:20:00.001-04:00

And the celebratory T-shirt:

Why I Love Mickey Spillane

2011-10-01T08:06:00.000-04:00

Of course I've known who Mickey Spillane was for a loooong time. I think my earliest memory of him is of seeing the cover of the book The Erection Set ( ) on a spinner rack. I'm thinking it was at the drug store we used to go to where you could sit at a table and pick songs from the mini-juke box while you had your Coke (none of that pansy-assed Pepsi back then) and burger and fries. Of course I thought it was the absolute zenith of sexiness back then--which is funny, since the gal isn't much to look at at all. But I didn't get around to reading a Mickey Spillane book until recently. Of course my source for the breaking of the Spillane hymen was Half-Price Books. Found an a copy of I, the Jury (on THEIR spinner rack) for a couple of bucks, and it had a very cool old-timey pulp cover ( ), and I wolfed it down in a couple of days. Then I went for The Body Lovers--which I had bought at Half-Price a few weeks earlier, but hadn't felt compelled to read immediately; probably because the cover was kind of hideous ( --this gal looks like a very old, tired whore to me--sorry about that, big breasted, middle-aged, exhibitionist ladies), but I tore through that book in a few days, too, and I knew I needed more. I turned to eBay . . . and a few days later I was the proud owner of 7 more Mike Hammer novels, 9 "other" Mickey Spillane novels, and a signed (!) Mike Hammer mini-poster/comic strip thingie.

So I started my third Mike Hammer novel yesterday--The Big Kill. And the first couple of pages really show Spillane in his groove. So here you go:

Yeah? That's what I'm talking about. You can buy it right now at if you want the cool, pulp cover, or if you want a newer copy witha facsimile pulp cover . . . or if you want to jump right in with five Hammer novels for a low, low price.

Do it do it do it do it do it now.

My Love Does it Good

2011-09-24T20:46:00.003-04:00

Just Say NO to Mastercard

2011-09-24T19:55:00.003-04:00

Change.org

Start an Online Petition »

Jesus, and I just got back from seeing Dolphin Tale with the kids. Shoppers, we need a depravity check in aisle 5.

Roy Harper on Jools Holland

2011-09-24T14:41:00.001-04:00

I missed it, goddamnit . . . but there's always The You Tub. God bless you, The You Tub.

And here's a wonderful little interview with lots o' performance clips:

Update on Troy Davis

2011-09-22T05:47:00.004-04:00

Got this email this morning:

The state of Georgia killed Troy Davis tonight.

Despite so much doubt about Troy Davis's guilt -- including seven witnesses who changed or recanted their testimony, and three jurors who convicted Troy who later asked that his life be spared -- Georgia's parole board decided he should die. And so tonight at 11:08 Eastern Time, he was killed by lethal injection.

His sister, Kim Davis, wanted to tell you what her brother said before he died:

"When Troy saw that more than 250,000 Change.org members signed a petition that was delivered to the board in his name, he called to tell me he was deeply moved. He told me he knew that he had supporters around the world, but he had no idea that the support was that widespread."

Kim has said that she'll keep fighting, for the next Troy Davis and the one after that. And she knows so many of us will join her in this fight.

Troy Davis was not alone when he died. Thank you for standing with him.

- Patrick and the entire Change.org team

P.S. Troy's case has brought international attention to deep, long-existing flaws in our criminal justice system. If you're interested in becoming more involved in advocacy around the death penalty, visit Amnesty International, The Innocence Project, or the NAACP. You can also start your own campaign on this issue on Change.org.

Philip K. Dick's Exegesis

2011-09-18T06:19:00.004-04:00

The October 2011 (Volume 58, Number 10) edition of Playboy included an excerpt from the soon-to-be-published (November 7, 2011) The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick. I can't remember precisely when I first read VALIS, but it was definitely in the latter half of the seventies . . . which means I've been waiting over thirty years to read this thing. I did get a taste of it when In Pursuit of VALIS: Selections from the Exegesis came out in September of 1991, but it wasn't enough. I wanted the whole thing. Preferably in Philip K. Dick's own handwriting. Well, they didn't go that far, unfortunately, but at least the work itself is almost here. Prepare for the revelation of the revelation, brothers & sisters.

Irony

2011-09-16T21:40:00.001-04:00

I decided to kill myself today.

The emptiness finally got to me.

And the cruel voices like barbed-wire stars

ripping the sky to pieces

as they slowly slide down to the horizon.

I decided to kill myself today.

The dea(r)th of faith, hope, and love,

the lies that clack their bony jaws

like piranha in the bathtub

who have scented the hot blood.

I decided to kill myself today.

And I pushed and scrabbled

like a broken-legged deer

pulling itself across night's highway

while an eighteen-wheeler panted closer.

And then the world split open

and light boiled in my eyes

and there was blood and cutting

and the slap that brought me into

this world.

Do You Give a Shit?

2011-09-16T15:59:00.002-04:00

I do. So here's another email I received from change.org . . . and a P.S. about the last petition I pimped for:

Tell Facebook to take down pages that promote violence against women.

Dear Brother K,

Facebook says that hate speech and incitements to violence are banned and will be removed from their site. So why are they maintaining a page called "Riding Your Girlfriend Softly Cause You Don't Want to Wake Her Up"? And another page about "throwing bricks at sluts" that includes a photo gallery of portraits asking "Bang or Brick"?

There has even been an organized effort to use Facebook’s own reporting system to flag these and other pages that encourage rape and violence against women so they’ll be taken down. But Facebook hasn’t done a thing.

Now, Change.org member John Raines is going straight to the top. He started a petition on Change.org telling Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to take down these pages and take a stronger stand against violence against women.

Will you sign John’s petition to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg? Sign on, and tell Facebook to remove pages promoting rape and violence against women now.

When 1 in 3 American women will be sexually abused and/or assaulted in her lifetime, pages like these -- and the reactions they elicit -- are downright scary. Tens of thousands of people have "liked" these pages. Some people even use them as platforms to share rape fantasies and receive explicit tactics for how to carry them out.

John has seen the devastating impact of sexual violence and rape firsthand, on his own family. That's why he created this petition on Change.org to get Facebook to enforce its existing policies and to make it clear that content promoting rape and violence against women violates Facebook's Terms of Service and won't be tolerated.

Please sign John's petition. Tell Facebook to stop providing a platform to promote rape and violence against women.

TO SIGN THE PETITION, CLICK HERE.

Thanks for being a change-maker,

P.S. The Troy Davis petition that we emailed you about earlier this week is being delivered to the Parole Board today with more than 230,000 signatures from Change.org members, in advance of Troy's final hearing on Monday. We'll keep you updated.

A SCREAM LOOKING FOR A MOUTH

2011-09-14T19:07:00.001-04:00

"Being an artist doesn't take much, just everything you got. Which means, of course, that as the process is giving you life, it is also bringing you closer to death. But it's no big deal. They are one in the same and cannot be avoided or denied. So when I totally embrace this process, this life/death, and abandon myself to it, I transcend all this meaningless gibberish and hang out with the gods. It seems to me that that is worth the price of admission."

Hubert Selby Jr.

No Brainer: Do It, Do It, Do It, Do It, Do It Now

2011-09-11T17:03:00.003-04:00

Stop the execution of Troy Davis, an innocent man in Georgia. Sign his sister’s petition.

Dear Brother K,

Troy Davis has 10 days to live before he is executed by the State of Georgia. But 7 witnesses say Troy is innocent, and that another man committed the crime for which he will be killed.

With just days left to save Troy’s life, his sister Kim Davis started a petition on Change.org asking the Georgia Parole Board to stop his execution. Please add your name to Kim’s petition now and save her brother’s life.

Evidence presented at Troy’s trial was considered shaky at the time. Since then, seven witnesses have recanted their testimony, many saying they were pressured by police into false testimony.

There’s no physical evidence Troy committed the crime. And, according to Amnesty International, nine people have signed affidavits implicating another man.

Georgia’s Board of Parole and Pardons has said there should be "no doubt" about a person’s guilt before he is executed. You can tell the Board there’s simply too much doubt about Troy’s guilt to kill him next week.

Please click here to add your name to Kim Davis' petition asking the Georgia Parole Board to stop her brother’s execution, then forward this email to everyone you know:

http://www.change.org/petitions/chairman-state-of-georgia-board-of-pardons-and-paroles-grant-clemency-to-my-brother-troy-davis

Thanks for being a change-maker,

- Michael and the Change.org team

P.S. Kim has a goal of reaching 20,000 signatures by Tuesday. Once you sign, will you forward this email widely to help her reach that goal?

"And I Love Her So"

2011-09-10T08:19:00.000-04:00

I can't remember when I first heard this song, but I know I had an Elvis album (Elvis Today) which included it--and

which, coincidentally, was recorded in Hollywood, California--

somewhen around 1980, because I was listening to it on my record player when I was living in me mum and da's house in Louisville way back when. I also remember being surprised to find that it was written by Don Mclean.

Back then, it reminded me of June, my first love, and the words bored into my soul and let the deep water leak out. The sense of loss that pervades the lyrics is profound.

The song continued to cross my mind over the years, though the object of lost desire changed. Funny, too, that no matter how happy I am (as now, with dear Trish), the sense of loss still lingers. Lately the song has evoked Brittany for me. I find myself thinking about her, wondering what happened, wondering what will happen, and feeling a profound sense of loss. Is this just the perversity of human nature (or, perhaps, just my melancholy nature) that refuses to let the happiness of the present moment fill up the holes of loss? I don't know. If you do, tell me. If you know Brittany, tell her.

See& listen to it here http://youtu.be/z8MOIs0Dd5g .

And I love you so.

The people ask me how,

How I've lived till now.

I tell them I don't know.

I guess they understand

How lonely life has been.

But life began again

The day you took my hand.

And, yes, I know how lonely life can be.

The shadows follow me, and the night won't set me free.

But I don't let the evening get me down

Now that you're around me.

And you love me, too.

Your thoughts are just for me;

You set my spirit free.

I'm happy that you do.

The book of life is brief

And once a page is read,

All but love is dead.

That is my belief.

And, yes, I know how lonely life can be\

The shadows follow me, and the night won't set me free.

But I don't let the evening bring me down

Now that you're around me.

And I love you so.

The people ask me how,

How I've lived till now.

I tell them, "I don't know."

Hmm. Funny how when you separate the lyrics from the vocal track & the music the song not only becomes less, but can even change its meaning. The opening six lines, the first two lines of the chorus, and the fifth, sixth and seventh lines of the second verse do indeed contain the profound sadness of love lost, but the rest of the song is obviously about the redemptive power of a new love. Which actually doesn't quite work--for a couple of reasons. Fisrt off, the vocal--which is beautiful, and one of Elvis's best, I'd say--never moves beyond that sense of loss. Second off, the sense of loss in the first six lines implies (to me, anyway) that the loss he's experienced is the love that once saved him. If he's talking about two different loves, I don't think it's very clear here. And while I'm at it, I also have to say that the first four lines of the second verse really suck--they are trite and prosaic.

But what the hell, I still love the song, and I still hear it as a paen to a love that's been lost, a song about a man who has lost his true love and continues to exist . . . and wonders why he continues to exist. Maybe I should just rewrite the lyrics and make myself happy. (I can work up a pretty good Elvis imitation.)

And I loved her so.

The people ask me how,

How I've lived till now.

I tell them I don't know.

I guess they understand

How lonely life has been.

My life began to end

The day you slipped away.

And, yes, I know how lonely life can be.

The shadows follow me, and the night won't set me free.

But I can't let the nightmare swallow me

As long as there's a chance

That you'll come back to me.

And you loved me, too.

We knew it'd never end.

True minds, no impediments,

What more could there be?

But the book of life is brief

And once a page is read,

It's turned, and love is dead.

And nothing's left but grief.

And, yes, I know how lonely life can be

The shadows follow me, and the night won't set me free.

My life began to end

The day you slipped away.

And I love you so.

The people ask me how,

How I've lived till now.

I tell them, "I don't know."

St. Lucy

2011-09-07T20:31:00.001-04:00

The Horrible Crowes

2011-09-07T20:21:00.001-04:00

Just discovered (by way of a free iTunes download) and then listened to the full album (on their website) The Horrible Crowes's Elsie . . . and boy are my arms tired. Starting with the free download, "Go Tell Everybody," they pretty much had me at the first riff, but when the line "Go tell everybody your man is dead" kicked in I was totally theirs. And then it got better, and the final build up to a shouted (and abruptly cut off, with a blast of horn for good measure) "All my sympathy is gone!"* was pretty freaking orgasmic. At the website (here) I listened to the rest of the album, and I think it is a must have item. I usually don't do such a good job on a first listen, so I expect there will be many favorite moments with The Horrible Crowes in the near future, but the last song really pulled me in on this first listen. It's called, "I Believe Jesus Brought Us Together," and many of the words made me think of my dear, dear Trish:

I met you in the upper room

Of a house where I slept with the angels

From hell and from heaven

Some for haunting, some for guarding

Each to his own purpose over my trembling skin

And I kept my secrets far from your condition

And in the explosions they both were just powders

In faded jean jackets to look just like our daddies

Did you say your lovers were liars?

All my lovers were liars too

Did you say you were afraid of dying?

I ain't lived a single day without you

Do you wanna come over?

I was just about to miss you

Did you say you were lonely?

I was just about to call you

You rang on a Wednesday night

I was buried in the churchyard

In the engines of desire in the come down daylight

I believe my trouble and your trouble shook hands

Did you say your lovers were liars?

All my lovers were liars too

Did you say you were afraid of dying?

I ain't lived a single day without you

Do you wanna come over?

I was just about to call you

Did you say you were lonely?

I was just about to miss you

Did you say your lovers were liars?

All my lovers were liars too

Did you say you were afraid of dying?

Baby, I ain't lived a single day without you

Did you wanna come over?

I was just about to miss you

Did you say you was lonely?

I was right about to call you

Do you believe there's a heaven?

Do you think we're invited?

You've done some bad things

And I was a killer

Did you wanna come over?

I was just about to miss you

Did you say you were lonely?

I was just about to call you

Is that some smokin' hot shit or what? So what are you waiting for? It's $7.99 on both iTunes and Amazon. Wish I could buy it straight from the band, but that's not an option, alas. Buy it, spin it, meet me back here and tell me if you'll pin it.

*See the "Mark Rothko Number 12" poem (by yours truly) on the September 3rd, 2011 Blog Entry.

WTF?

2011-09-06T20:37:00.001-04:00

(Thanks & a Shout Out to Christophe for This Video)

And meanwhile, back in America , , , is this the greatest commercial ever or what?

A GHOST IN THE HOUSE OF MY LIFE

2011-09-05T17:24:00.003-04:00

Turtle

2011-09-04T15:13:00.000-04:00

Timothy, of course,

And all he needed was

a little food from that round tin

and enough water to cover the bottom

of the bowl.

But I forgot about him,

too busy with my self and my world,

and when I finally remembered

he was glued to the plastic beside the palm tree

and as dead.

It was just last night,

forty-eight years later,

that I realized

that turtle was my heart.

Mark Rothko Number 12

2011-09-03T07:03:00.002-04:00

I felt my love for you
like a deer struck by a car in the South Bend night
its back legs shattered
its eyes blind with fear
dragging itself across the remaining three lanes of traffic
and as an eighteen wheeler bore down upon it
I swung a flashlight warning
and the trucker stopped, got down from his cab
and we followed the deer into the brush
where it shivered
I asked him if he had a gun
and he offered me a knife
but I couldn't do that
and so we watched it
curl into itself
twitching and freezing
and
finally
die.

Songs of Innocence & Experience

Serendipity

Bonnie Raitt is a Lot Cooler Than I Thought She Was, But $54.50 is Too Much for a Ticket (Unless You Want to Give Me a Couple for Free)

The DRC

diX riveR banD Opens the Kentucky Fellowship of Musicians Bluegrass Kickoff in Lebanon, Kentucky

You Never Know Where You're Going to Run Into Shara Worden!

Sh-Sh-Sh-Shara

With God, All Things Are Possible

Pretty Much My Favorite Song Ever

Cashback Needs to Give Some Cash Back, Man

Sean Biggerstaff) in Cashback (2006), written by Sean Ellis. This movie was quite a surprise. The "cover image" just looks stupid and tawdry

(

Call to Arms, Legs, & Assorted Phalanges

Stop internet censorship!

Sign the petition

Just in Case You Thought That Vanna White Wasn't an Idiot . . . .

Vanna White's Net Worth

Possibly the Coolest Live Video of All Time!

Hey, Norway!

On the Election of Obama

The Truth as I Know it to Be

The Movie I Saw (2012 Edition)

The Book I Read (2012 Edition)

2011

Dirty Weather

REASCENDING CHINGKANGSHAN

Lesson 43 of 100 Lessons

Jesus H. Christ. What is Wrong With These Fucking People??????

My Baby Gave Me a Lovely Book of Poems by Mark Jarman for Christmas, and Here's One of Them For My Baby

Robert Burns Was a Dirty Boy

The Fart Bus

Such a Worm as I

At Least We're Not Like Those Uncivilized A-rabs

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like . . . .

Godot Poems

diX riveR crossinG

mY brightesT diamonD

Pretty Pictures

A Tender, Romantic Song About a One Night Stand . . . or What's Wrong Today is What's Wrong With You

More Songs About Weird and Coincidence

Ask the Next Question (Courtesy of Theodore Sturgeon)

Pornography Is

Here We Go Again

ON BOOK TV TODAY

Queen Q Renders Judgment

O Says it Elegantly

Yep, it's Real.

T-Shirt Sale!

I'm Not Fat

Getting Ready

Kiss (by O)

Saint Lucy (by Q)

House is in the House

Jimmy Jimmy & & Corwyn Corywn

Volcano Woman Blues: Cartoon Version

Dix River Crossing: Gravel Switch, Kentucky, Saturday, October 8, 2011

Lesson 43 of 100 Lessons

I got this one from Jim Welp, my friend & writer extraordinaire. Do yourself a couple of favors and buy his book:

"One of the moral diseases we communicate to one another in society comes from huddling together in the pale light of an insufficient answer to a question we are afraid to ask."

Thomas Merton

Dix River Crossing: Junction City, Kentucky, September 30, 2011

Why I Love Mickey Spillane

My Love Does it Good

Just Say NO to Mastercard

Roy Harper on Jools Holland

Update on Troy Davis

Philip K. Dick's Exegesis

Irony

Do You Give a Shit?

A SCREAM LOOKING FOR A MOUTH

No Brainer: Do It, Do It, Do It, Do It, Do It Now

"And I Love Her So"

St. Lucy

The Horrible Crowes

WTF?

A GHOST IN THE HOUSE OF MY LIFE

Turtle

Mark Rothko Number 12