Sent from my iPhone
12.30.2011
12.15.2011
12.13.2011
song of the day - That's Entertainment
Today's song of the day is "That's Entertainment" by The Jam.
12.12.2011
12.09.2011
12.01.2011
song of the day - A Little Less Conversation
Today's song of the day is "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis Presley (Junkie XL Mix).
11.18.2011
11.16.2011
11.15.2011
11.11.2011
song of the day - White Blank Page
Today's song of the day is Mumford & Sons "White Blank Page". I absolutely love this song.
11.10.2011
song of the day - Love you till the end
Today's song of the day is The Pogues "Love you till the end".
11.08.2011
song of the day - You are the only one I love
Today's song of the day is Jaymay's "You are the only one I love".
11.07.2011
song of the day - Say Hello Wave Goodbye
Today's song of the day is David Gray's "Say Hello Wave Goodbye"
11.04.2011
11.03.2011
11.02.2011
10.31.2011
song of the day - Goo Goo Muck
Happy Halloween.
Today the song of the day is "Goo Goo Muck" - The Cramps.
10.26.2011
10.25.2011
10.24.2011
song of the day - Son of a Preacher Man
Today's song of the day is Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man".
10.21.2011
10.20.2011
song of the day - I hope that i don't fall in love with you.
Today's song of the day is Tom Waits "I hope that I don't fall in love with you".
Check out Neil Gaiman urging us to participate in All Hallow's Read
Spread the joy, or the terror, or All Hallow's Read. Neil Gaiman, author of Coraline, American Gods and The Graveyard Book, urges us to pick up a new holiday tradition. I think it's a great idea.
10.19.2011
song of the day "Jenny 867-5309"
Today's song of the day is Tommy Tutone's "Jenny 867-5309". I'm feeling a nostalgic all the way around.
10.18.2011
10.17.2011
10.14.2011
song of the day - Dead Man Blues
Today's song of the day is "Dead Man Blues" performed by Miss Lulu White's Creole Jazzband.
10.13.2011
song of the day - Human Fly
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FREE NUNLIKE REJECT! It's been two years. To celebrate I'm revisiting one of the most popular posts - The Cramps "Human Fly" set to a groovie movie. Here's to 5,000 more page views.
10.12.2011
10.11.2011
Fiddle-Dee-Dee, Gone with the Wind goes Reality
After reading (OK, listening to) as much of Gone with the Wind as I could stand, I have been inspired by those classically selfish and manipulative Southern sociopaths Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler to create a bunch of Reality Shows. Let’s take a look at a few of them and hope that a network development maven is reading this!
Damned Yankees
This is an obstacle-course style show featuring contestant families competing against other families in a series of obstacles with increasing difficulty as the season progresses. Watch as loose networks of masters and servants try to overcome impediments in the form of low food stocks, pillaged live stock, fire, drought, sickness, old horses with broken-down carts, taxes, laziness, disease and finally irascible Damned Yankees to reach the finish line and claim the prize, a full belly and warm bed.
Belles and Beaus
This is a reverse Bachelor or Rock of Love type of thing wherein lovely teen aged Belles attempt to gather as many Beaus as possible at a series of balls and barbecues before they reach 19 years of age and are thus declared spinsters. The Belle who is able to string along the most beaus while eating as little as possible, wearing impossibly tight undergarments and withstanding withering humidity and vicious tongues will be crowned Belle of the County! Extra points will be given for stealing beaus from family members, life-long friends and the less fortunate.
You Rascal You
This is based on Captain Rhett Butler, the impossibly handsome and roguish, man-about-town. This bit will feature a crazed all-out race for fabulous prizes and foreign bank accounts. Each Rascal will be given a boat, a ragtag crew and a map (of sorts). The goal is to run medical supplies, ammunition and luxury items through blockades and unfriendly ports. Greasing of palms and underhanded methods will be encouraged and ultimately rewarded. Just watch out for patriotic stumbling blocks, the occasional jolt of conscience and jeering yokels. Extra points will be awarded for the successful delivery of satin, lace, bonnets, candies and useless trinkets.
Down Home Cooking
This cooking show will feature teams combining amateur chefs and professional survivalists creating something edible and lovely with limited ingredients, particularly dried peas, hominy and smallish fish. Any meat used must be gathered from the wild, or a near by burnt-out plantation. The wilder and smaller the game the better. Think squirrels and chipmunks. Creating passable substitutes for coffee and digging up hidden whiskey barrels is highly encouraged. Plundering of neighbors abandoned gardens will be mandatory as well as liberating chickens, catching loose piglets and milking goats.
Tara – Nothing Else Matters, or There’s No Place Like Home
This is a home improvement/decorating-themed show in which contestants must create some semblance of order after yet more Damned Yankees and lice-infested Confederates tromp through their “plantations” and bust up the place like an old, unused chiffarobe. A feature of this production will be Revenuers and Carpetbaggers thrown in as hosts to evaluate progress, create undue anxiety and show needless replays of scenes shown before the commercial breaks. Extra points will be given for inventiveness, resourcefulness, stick-to-it-iveness as well as the reuse of drapery and rooster feathers.
Glorious Dead Hunters
This is an "investigating the paranormal" type of show featuring a regular cast of characters, their gadgets, vehicles and a few hot chicks to draw the male viewer. These Glorious Dead Hunters will visit antebellum plantations, civil war battlefields and the oldest cemeteries the South has to offer hunting for the ghosts of the glorious confederate soldiers. Occasional forays into the North may be Incorporated into the show mix as hunting sites are run through faster than you can say Goober Peas. No prizes will be given. This is science, damn it!
May the games begin!
Damned Yankees
This is an obstacle-course style show featuring contestant families competing against other families in a series of obstacles with increasing difficulty as the season progresses. Watch as loose networks of masters and servants try to overcome impediments in the form of low food stocks, pillaged live stock, fire, drought, sickness, old horses with broken-down carts, taxes, laziness, disease and finally irascible Damned Yankees to reach the finish line and claim the prize, a full belly and warm bed.
Belles and Beaus
This is a reverse Bachelor or Rock of Love type of thing wherein lovely teen aged Belles attempt to gather as many Beaus as possible at a series of balls and barbecues before they reach 19 years of age and are thus declared spinsters. The Belle who is able to string along the most beaus while eating as little as possible, wearing impossibly tight undergarments and withstanding withering humidity and vicious tongues will be crowned Belle of the County! Extra points will be given for stealing beaus from family members, life-long friends and the less fortunate.
You Rascal You
This is based on Captain Rhett Butler, the impossibly handsome and roguish, man-about-town. This bit will feature a crazed all-out race for fabulous prizes and foreign bank accounts. Each Rascal will be given a boat, a ragtag crew and a map (of sorts). The goal is to run medical supplies, ammunition and luxury items through blockades and unfriendly ports. Greasing of palms and underhanded methods will be encouraged and ultimately rewarded. Just watch out for patriotic stumbling blocks, the occasional jolt of conscience and jeering yokels. Extra points will be awarded for the successful delivery of satin, lace, bonnets, candies and useless trinkets.
Down Home Cooking
This cooking show will feature teams combining amateur chefs and professional survivalists creating something edible and lovely with limited ingredients, particularly dried peas, hominy and smallish fish. Any meat used must be gathered from the wild, or a near by burnt-out plantation. The wilder and smaller the game the better. Think squirrels and chipmunks. Creating passable substitutes for coffee and digging up hidden whiskey barrels is highly encouraged. Plundering of neighbors abandoned gardens will be mandatory as well as liberating chickens, catching loose piglets and milking goats.
Tara – Nothing Else Matters, or There’s No Place Like Home
This is a home improvement/decorating-themed show in which contestants must create some semblance of order after yet more Damned Yankees and lice-infested Confederates tromp through their “plantations” and bust up the place like an old, unused chiffarobe. A feature of this production will be Revenuers and Carpetbaggers thrown in as hosts to evaluate progress, create undue anxiety and show needless replays of scenes shown before the commercial breaks. Extra points will be given for inventiveness, resourcefulness, stick-to-it-iveness as well as the reuse of drapery and rooster feathers.
Glorious Dead Hunters
This is an "investigating the paranormal" type of show featuring a regular cast of characters, their gadgets, vehicles and a few hot chicks to draw the male viewer. These Glorious Dead Hunters will visit antebellum plantations, civil war battlefields and the oldest cemeteries the South has to offer hunting for the ghosts of the glorious confederate soldiers. Occasional forays into the North may be Incorporated into the show mix as hunting sites are run through faster than you can say Goober Peas. No prizes will be given. This is science, damn it!
May the games begin!
10.07.2011
Poem of the week - I Knew A Woman
I knew a woman, lovely in her bones,
When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them;
Ah, when she moved, she moved more ways than one:
The shapes a bright container can contain!
Of her choice virtues only gods should speak,
Or English poets who grew up on Greek
(I'd have them sing in chorus, cheek to cheek.)
How well her wishes went! She stroked my chin,
She taught me Turn, and Counter-turn, and stand;
She taught me Touch, that undulant white skin:
I nibbled meekly from her proffered hand;
She was the sickle; I, poor I, the rake,
Coming behind her for her pretty sake
(But what prodigious mowing did we make.)
Love likes a gander, and adores a goose:
Her full lips pursed, the errant note to seize;
She played it quick, she played it light and loose;
My eyes, they dazzled at her flowing knees;
Her several parts could keep a pure repose,
Or one hip quiver with a mobile nose
(She moved in circles, and those circles moved.)
Let seed be grass, and grass turn into hay:
I'm martyr to a motion not my own;
What's freedom for? To know eternity.
I swear she cast a shadow white as stone.
But who would count eternity in days?
These old bones live to learn her wanton ways:
(I measure time by how a body sways.)
Theodore Roethke
10.06.2011
10.05.2011
song of the day - A Chance Council
Today's song of the day is Richard Buckner with Doug Gillard - "A Chance Council".
10.04.2011
10.03.2011
Poem of the week - Waiting for the Barbarians
Fall is here and so Irene has shared another cool poem - "Waiting for the Barbarians" by Constantine P. Cavafy
-What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?
The barbarians are due here today.
-Why isn't anything going on in the senate?
Why are the senators sitting there without legislating?
Because the barbarians are coming today.
What's the point of senators making laws now?
Once the barbarians are here, they'll do the legislating.
-Why did our emperor get up so early,
and why is he sitting enthroned at the city's main gate,
in state, wearing the crown?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and the emperor's waiting to receive their leader.
He's even got a scroll to give him,
loaded with titles, with imposing names.
-Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today
wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas?
Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts,
rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds?
Why are they carrying elegant canes
beautifully worked in silver and gold?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and things like that dazzle the barbarians.
-Why don't our distinguished orators turn up as usual
to make their speeches, say what they have to say?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and they're bored by rhetoric and public speaking.
-Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion?
(How serious people's faces have become.)
Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,
everyone going home lost in thought?
Because night has fallen and the barbarians haven't come.
And some of our men who have just returned from the border say
there are no barbarians any longer.
Now what's going to happen to us without barbarians?
Those people were a kind of solution.
-What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?
The barbarians are due here today.
-Why isn't anything going on in the senate?
Why are the senators sitting there without legislating?
Because the barbarians are coming today.
What's the point of senators making laws now?
Once the barbarians are here, they'll do the legislating.
-Why did our emperor get up so early,
and why is he sitting enthroned at the city's main gate,
in state, wearing the crown?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and the emperor's waiting to receive their leader.
He's even got a scroll to give him,
loaded with titles, with imposing names.
-Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today
wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas?
Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts,
rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds?
Why are they carrying elegant canes
beautifully worked in silver and gold?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and things like that dazzle the barbarians.
-Why don't our distinguished orators turn up as usual
to make their speeches, say what they have to say?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and they're bored by rhetoric and public speaking.
-Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion?
(How serious people's faces have become.)
Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,
everyone going home lost in thought?
Because night has fallen and the barbarians haven't come.
And some of our men who have just returned from the border say
there are no barbarians any longer.
Now what's going to happen to us without barbarians?
Those people were a kind of solution.
song of the day - What Goes On
Today's song of the day is "What Goes On" by The Feelies. I saw them open up for Lou Reed. It was a great show. I liked The Feelies more than Reed.
9.30.2011
song of the day - Nice Boys
Today's song of the day is Rose Tattoo's "Nice Boys". I saw Angry Anderson perform this song with all of Guns 'N Roses, with the exception of Axl Rose, at the Whiskey (I think) in the early 90s. It was probably 93 or 94. Angry Anderson completely blew me away.
Song of the day - Angel Dance
Today's song of the day is "Angel Dance" by Robert Plant. A cool version of the Los Lobos tune.
9.29.2011
The Gila Monster in the Bathtub
I am trying to get inspired to write, so I'm re-posting some of my stories... Maybe it will work.
The gila monster in the bathtub was not only scary to look at, but as it turns out, was also a highly venomous endangered species. A gila monster is a big lizard. I think of it as a small monitor lizard rather than like the cute little lizards I would catch and play with outside my house in Phoenix as they innocently did their little push-ups in the sun. Monster is a good description for this particular bathtub critter and I have always thought of the monster as a “he” so I will refer to him as such.
His skin was a series of little black, brown and white bumps forming dramatic bands and splotches. He was held up by squat legs that jutted out sideways at roughly 90 degrees ending in funny little fingers. Held up is probably not the right term because the belly seemed to rest directly on the bottom of the bath tub. The gila monster moved by wriggling and twisting its middle from side to side in a slithery, snake-like way. He had a black tongue that flicked in and out of his mouth. And as I remember, this gila monster was big. He took up more than half the length of the bathtub.
How, you might ask, did the gila monster get into the tub? It wasn’t for a bath and that is for sure. As it would happen, a knucklehead put him there. One of the many knuckleheads my dad surrounded himself with during my childhood. And this was an Arizona knucklehead. This means the fella had a pickup truck and a gun. It was with this gun that the Arizona knucklehead shot something he saw moving in the desert. Shot his eye out he did. The knucklehead blinded that poor old Gila Monster.
My first contact with the bathtub Gila Monster was when he was thrashing wildly in the back of a pickup with a lowered tailgate. It was early evening and we were going to dinner at one of my parent’s friend’s homes. I remember walking up the dark driveway, the truck under the circle of amber from the street light above, and seeing quite a few people standing around the truck bed. I immediately tried to join them, but my dad, being taller, saw what was in the truck and put his hand on my shoulder to pull me back. I didn’t really get to look in the truck that night. But I did listen to a kind of thrashing. I heard my dad scoff as he pulled me away. He was probably muttering, “knucklehead”, or “idiot”, or something more choice and less suitable for my six year old ears.
The gila monster stayed in the back of the pickup until the next day when he was somehow transferred to the bathtub at my dad and grandpa’s shop. The shop was actually a house in Mesa, Arizona where my family tried to run an aluminum siding business. Western Living was the name on the building. I remember the logo was very nice and professional. My dad liked to point it out whenever we drove past. He was very proud of the logo and the sign.
Somehow the knucklehead had convinced my father to allow the gila monster to be placed in the tub. I think he may have done it without my dad’s knowledge. Because really, who would want a blind gila monster in the only bathroom in his place of business. My dad didn’t even like dogs.
The monster remained in the tub, for at least two weeks, when someone decided to make up a story and call Animal Services. This resulted in a description of the animal and the realization that this was both a dangerous, poisonous lizard, something a kin to the venom of a rattlesnake and also an endangered and protected species. What impressed both my dad and the knucklehead was the large fine levied for injuring or killing an endangered species.
The threatened fine and the knowledge that the monster in the bathtub was venomous spurred my dad and the knucklehead into action. This is what I heard happened. After two weeks of indecision, someone put the gila monster in a metal tool box with a gas-soaked rag. They killed that poor, giant, bumpy, blind gila monster.
And I wonder, all these many years later, why I still think about that gila monster in the truck, then in bathtub, then finally in the tool box. I still somehow feel bad about him trapped in that metal coffin because the knucklehead was shooting in the desert.
The gila monster in the bathtub was not only scary to look at, but as it turns out, was also a highly venomous endangered species. A gila monster is a big lizard. I think of it as a small monitor lizard rather than like the cute little lizards I would catch and play with outside my house in Phoenix as they innocently did their little push-ups in the sun. Monster is a good description for this particular bathtub critter and I have always thought of the monster as a “he” so I will refer to him as such.
His skin was a series of little black, brown and white bumps forming dramatic bands and splotches. He was held up by squat legs that jutted out sideways at roughly 90 degrees ending in funny little fingers. Held up is probably not the right term because the belly seemed to rest directly on the bottom of the bath tub. The gila monster moved by wriggling and twisting its middle from side to side in a slithery, snake-like way. He had a black tongue that flicked in and out of his mouth. And as I remember, this gila monster was big. He took up more than half the length of the bathtub.
How, you might ask, did the gila monster get into the tub? It wasn’t for a bath and that is for sure. As it would happen, a knucklehead put him there. One of the many knuckleheads my dad surrounded himself with during my childhood. And this was an Arizona knucklehead. This means the fella had a pickup truck and a gun. It was with this gun that the Arizona knucklehead shot something he saw moving in the desert. Shot his eye out he did. The knucklehead blinded that poor old Gila Monster.
My first contact with the bathtub Gila Monster was when he was thrashing wildly in the back of a pickup with a lowered tailgate. It was early evening and we were going to dinner at one of my parent’s friend’s homes. I remember walking up the dark driveway, the truck under the circle of amber from the street light above, and seeing quite a few people standing around the truck bed. I immediately tried to join them, but my dad, being taller, saw what was in the truck and put his hand on my shoulder to pull me back. I didn’t really get to look in the truck that night. But I did listen to a kind of thrashing. I heard my dad scoff as he pulled me away. He was probably muttering, “knucklehead”, or “idiot”, or something more choice and less suitable for my six year old ears.
The gila monster stayed in the back of the pickup until the next day when he was somehow transferred to the bathtub at my dad and grandpa’s shop. The shop was actually a house in Mesa, Arizona where my family tried to run an aluminum siding business. Western Living was the name on the building. I remember the logo was very nice and professional. My dad liked to point it out whenever we drove past. He was very proud of the logo and the sign.
Somehow the knucklehead had convinced my father to allow the gila monster to be placed in the tub. I think he may have done it without my dad’s knowledge. Because really, who would want a blind gila monster in the only bathroom in his place of business. My dad didn’t even like dogs.
The monster remained in the tub, for at least two weeks, when someone decided to make up a story and call Animal Services. This resulted in a description of the animal and the realization that this was both a dangerous, poisonous lizard, something a kin to the venom of a rattlesnake and also an endangered and protected species. What impressed both my dad and the knucklehead was the large fine levied for injuring or killing an endangered species.
The threatened fine and the knowledge that the monster in the bathtub was venomous spurred my dad and the knucklehead into action. This is what I heard happened. After two weeks of indecision, someone put the gila monster in a metal tool box with a gas-soaked rag. They killed that poor, giant, bumpy, blind gila monster.
And I wonder, all these many years later, why I still think about that gila monster in the truck, then in bathtub, then finally in the tool box. I still somehow feel bad about him trapped in that metal coffin because the knucklehead was shooting in the desert.
9.25.2011
9.23.2011
9.20.2011
9.12.2011
song of the day - White Freightliner Blues
Today's song of the day is Redbird's "White Freightliner Blues". It's a nice version of Townes Van Zant's song.
9.09.2011
9.08.2011
9.06.2011
song of the day - I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You
Today's song of the day is Colin Hay's "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You".
9.04.2011
9.01.2011
8.31.2011
song of the day - What Difference Does It Make
Today's song of the day is The Smiths "What Difference Does It Make?".
8.30.2011
8.29.2011
8.25.2011
song of the day - Dance Anthem of the 80's
Today's song of the day is Regina Spektor's "Dance Anthem of the 80's".
8.23.2011
song of the day - The Ballad of Sean Foley
Today's song of the day is Maria Taylor's "The Ballad of Sean Foley"
8.22.2011
song of the day - If Not For You
Today's song of the day is George Harrison performing an acoustic version of Dylan's "If Not For You".
8.18.2011
8.16.2011
8.15.2011
song of the day - Left Lane Cruiser
Today's song of the day is Amerika's "Left Lane Cruiser". It ain't pretty but its cool. It's amazing what two fellas can do in a corner. Is that a washboard he's playing with his drum sticks? Swampy comes to mind.
8.14.2011
song of the day - Simple Twist of Fate
Today's song of the day is Jeff Tweedy doing Dylan's "Simple Twist of Fate". It's a really nice version.
8.12.2011
8.11.2011
song of the day - American Music
Today's song of the day is the Violent Femme's "American Music".
Everytime I look at that ugly moon, it reminds me of you...
Everytime I look at that ugly moon, it reminds me of you...
8.10.2011
8.09.2011
song of the day - I'm on Fire
Today's song of the day is Town Mountain doing a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire". I really like this song. I think I like it more than The Boss's version.
8.04.2011
7.25.2011
7.24.2011
7.21.2011
song of the day - Never Loved a Man
Today's song of the day is Aretha Franklin's "Never Loved A Man".
7.15.2011
song of the day - A History of Lovers
Today's song of the day is Calexico and Iron & Wine performing "A History of Lovers".
7.01.2011
6.28.2011
song of the day - Will it go round in circles
Today's song of the day is Billy Preston's "Will it go round in circles". I just love everything about this clip from Burt Sugarman's Midnight Special! And dig that liberal use of satin.
6.23.2011
6.21.2011
song of the day "East of Houston"
Today's song of the day is the late, great Chris Gaffney's "East of Houston". It's also for my home town which makes it even better. Not the greatest quality but this is one of my favorite songs.
6.11.2011
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