B12 Solipsism

I may or may not answer you seriously, but I will answer your question

Colleen and Seth – Colfax 1971, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

My mother and me, circa 1971 (?), Colfax, California.
Slightly retouched in Photoshop.

maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&time=…

embiggen

This is probably my favorite photo of my mother. Something about her expression here is just perfect. She isn’t smiling, exactly, nor quizzical.

Not sure exactly the provenance of this photo: think it was taken in Colfax, California, but don’t know where exactly, nor who took it.

The 1959 VW survived several more cross-country trips past this photo, and eventually became reused as the motor for a sawmill in Frostpocket¹. Blue in this photo, later painted school bus yellow.

1. if memory serves [↩]

Come on, you can play along too! Shuffle your music library by song, then post the first ten songs on the playlist. Here’s what my list looks like today:

1. Nouvelle Vague- Too Drunk To Fuck

   
   Nouvelle Vague

2. MC5- Skunk (Sonically Speaking)

   
   The Big Bang! Best Of The MC5

3. Queen- Leaving Home Ain’t Easy

   
   Jazz

4. Davis, Miles- Mademoiselle Mabry

   
   Filles De Kilimanjaro

5. R.E.M.- Fall on me

   
   Life’s Rich Pageant

6. Clancy Eccles- Be Faithful Darling

   
   Trojan Tighten Up Box

7. Townes Van Zandt- No Lonesome Tune (with Willie Nelson)
   Texas Rain
8. Mingus, Charles- Fables Of Faubus

   
   Mingus Ah Um

9. Galaxie 500- Decomposing Trees

   
   On Fire

10. Jones, Rickie Lee- Nobody Knows My Name

    
    The Sermon On Exposition Boulevard

Again, for me, I want to post a brief discussion of each song, but entirely too busy with “paying” work to do so. Imagine my sonorous voice droning on…

Nothing great here to hear, but nothing objectionably bad either. I’m too mentally drained at the moment to bloviate about each track, so just imagine me telling you amusing anecdotes as to why these particular songs ended up in my library.

1. Luna- Fuzzy Wuzzy

   
   Pup Tent

2. Wells, Junior- So Tired

   
   Junior Wells 1957-1963: University Rock

3. Lennon, John- Born in a Prison

   
   Some Time In New York City

4. Iguanas, The- Flame On

   
   Plastic Silver 9-Volt Heart

5. Monk, Thelonious- Eronel

   
   The Complete Blue Note Recordings

6. Watson, Doc- Brown’s Ferry Blues

   
   The Vanguard Years

7. Beastie Boys- Do It

   
   Ill Communication

8. Malathini and the Mahotella Queens- Thokozile

   
   Thokozile

9. R.E.M.- I Don’t Sleep, I Dream

   
   Monster

10. Deadstring Brothers- Where Are All My Friends?

    
    For A Decade Of Sin: 11 Years Of Bloodshot Records

Haven’t gotten bored with this game yet- lower the lights, go into the sauna-pod, put on the headphones, and hit shuffle on my iPod. Here’s the latest results:

1. El Rego et ses Commandos- Vimado Wingnan

   
   Legends Of Benin

   Delightful West African release of Afro-funk etc. If The Talking Heads were not listening to artists covered on this album, I would be very surprised. Chiming arpeggio guitars, funk drums, driving bass lines, infectious poly-rhythms, great fun.

2. Young, Neil- Through My Sails

   
   Zuma

   A near-Desert Island disc. Still debating whether to splurge on the BluRay Neil Young archive Vol 1 or not. If it doesn’t include regular audio files that can be converted to MP3 and played on an iPod, will hardly ever listen to it. This lovely song is acoustic guitar, with backing vocals by what sounds like Stephen Stills and maybe even David Crosby.

3. Observer All Stars, The- Rebel Dance

   
   Trojan Dub Box Set

   instrumental reggae, not much dub weirdness, thus not a great tune. Good for meditation though.

4. Weezer- O Girlfriend

   
   Weezer (Green Album)

   gah what tiresome 1990s alternative rock crap. If I wasn’t an inveterate pack rat, I’d have deleted this annoyance long ago.

5. Ramones, The- I Don’t Wanna Be Learned / I Don’t Wanna Be Tamed (Demo)

   
   Ramones

   whew, a welcome palate cleanser after the Weezer dreck. The Ramones only play two or three chords, but more energy in their demos than Weezer’s entire recorded output combined.

6. Joe Higgs- My Baby Still Loves me

   
   Life of Contradiction

   I lean towards political reggae more than “sweet” reggae, but this is a decent enough “sweet” reggae tune. Can’t always listen to songs of institutional oppression, right? This is a good album to own if you want to branch out beyond Bob Marley, especially since Joe Higgs was extremely influential on creating the classic Wailers sound, mentoring Marley and Tosh in the early 1970s.

7. Funkadelic- Hit It And Quit It

   
   Maggot Brain

   Before George Clinton decided if Parliament-Funkadelic was a rock band or a funk band, they recorded this album. Other than a somewhat annoying organ solo, a great tune. A template for all the Red Hot Chile Peppers and like-minded bands to follow; reverbed-like-crazy rock guitar, coupled with driving New Orleans style funk drums. Still remember purchasing this album from the now defunct Sound Exchange next to Mad Dogs and Beans and Les Amis. Ahh, youth.

8. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier [Disc 1]
   Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 – Prelude #12 In F Minor, BWV 857- Leon Berben
   ahh, Bach.
9. Reign- Padre Nuestro
   Silencio= Muerte: Red Hot + Latin Redux
   am a sucker for the Red Hot + comps. This a latin dance-club tune, or what I would call so anyway. Good in small doses
10. Garcia, Jerry- Gone Home

    
    Almost Acoustic

    I don’t know this for a fact, but strongly suspect Jerry Garcia was in the depths of his heroin addiction when this dirge was recorded. Waltz-time, but slower. Though, to be fair, it is a funeral song, and has some fine mandolin bits, and bit of the High, Lonesome wild mercury sound that Bob Dylan is always muttering about. Not a shite song, just wouldn’t be good to listen while biking the lakefront, your bike might keel over.

11. Dylan, Bob- You Ain’t Going Nowhere
    Genuine Basement Tapes
    I wish these delightfully fun tracks would get a proper release. They float around on the internet, but the bit rate is often low. Bob Dylan and The Band hanging out in Woodstock, having a probably illegal amount of fun. Lots of silliness, like in this track, probably one of the ones where the lyrics were written randomly¹ by committee²; Richard Manuel backing vocals, and some classic Robbie Robertson guitar work. Wonder if Robbie Robertson’s copyright theft from the rest of The Band is part of the reason these songs have never been given a proper release?
12. The Mamas & The Papas- California Dreamin’
    All Time Greatest Hits
    I first heard this band only a couple of years ago, before the whole incestual/attention grabbing news about John Phillips and his daughter, but the song is a classic slice of Americana, evocative of the time in which it was created. Undercurrents of foreboding, minor keys, but so damn catchy.

1. just pick up that oilcloth/cram it in the corner/I don’t care if your name is Michael/you’re gonna need some boards/get your lunch/you foreign bib/you ain’t goin’ nowhere [↩]
2. this particular Basement track was polished up, all that remains on the Genuine Basement Tape version is the chorus [↩]

Immersed myself in my meditative tube, put on my headphones, and hit shuffle on the iPod. Here’s what played:

1. Alejandro Escovedo- Slow Down

   
   Real Animal

   I won’t bore you with a tale of Alejandro Escovedo, Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew album, LSD and the (now defunct) Waterloo Records Vinyl Annex, as I think I told it before. Glad Mr. Escovedo doesn’t have to clerk at Waterloo Records anymore though: he played at the Democratic National Convention in Denver if I’m not mistaken.

2. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach: Cello Suites [Disc 2]
   Bach: Cello Suite #2 In D Minor, BWV 1008 – Gigue- Jaap Ter Linden
   Cello is becoming one of my favorite instruments to listen to
3. Sir Victor Uwaifo & His Melody Maestroes- Akuyan Ekassa

   
   Nigeria 70 Vol. 1

   an awesome album, and a great funky tune; guitars, bass, drums, percussion.

4. Freakwater- Put My Little Shoes

   
   Feels Like the Third Time

   other than the nice Carter Family-esque guitar playing¹, not a favorite. They have much better songs in their oeuvre, some of which are even on this album, like My Old Drunk Friend which is a classic.

5. Swanksalot Orchestra, The- Dancing Bull
   Swanky Headroom III
   a tune composed, mostly in GarageBand, and not one of my most successful, I’m afraid. Thought it would be fun to record a bunch of guitar riffs and merge them, but it didn’t turn out that well. Oh well, still fun to hear fruit of my labor from 4 years ago. Hadn’t listened to it in a while.
6. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark- Enola Gay

   
   Left Of The Dial: Dispatches From The ’80s Underground

   little bit of nostalgia for the 80s, though this track is not a huge favorite of mine. Love this Rhino 4 disc box set however, tons of good singles on it.

7. Pearl Jam- Gone

   
   Pearl Jam

   I like the idea of Pearl Jam: earnest, Pacific-Northwesterners, with political views close to mine, but truth be told, have never really have enjoyed listening to their music. Boring to me, this song included.

8. Cale, John- Antarctica Starts Here

   
   Paris 1919

   quiet, melodic pop tune. No idea what the song is about

9. Lang, Peter- St. Charles Shuffle

   
   John Fahey, Peter Lang, Leo Kottke

   flashy acoustic guitar instrumental from an album full of them. Is it a dobro? Steel strings at least.

10. The Melodians- Sweet Sensation

    
    The Harder They Come

    classic reggae tune from The Harder They Come soundtrack, a Jamaican blaxsploitation film that is worth Netflixing if you haven’t ever seen it. The Melodians biggest hit was Rivers of Babylon, Sweet Sensation is solid, just not as good.

11. Devendra Banhart- Lover

    
    Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon

    fun, bouncy track, a homage to early 70s funky-soul, or whatever the hell it called, complete with slightly risqué lyrics.

12. ChickenFat Klezmer Orchestra- Ot Azoy
    ChickenFat Demos
    Surprisingly good stuff from a local band; need to go see them perform live one of these days. They have several MP3s available at their website, check it out.

Today’s play list had a few duds on it, guess that’s part of the randomizer fun. Better luck next time…

1. bass strings of the guitar playing a melody, in other words [↩]

Today’s edition of Songs That Played During My Meditation Time¹

1. The Besnard Lakes- Disaster

   
   The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse

   Like this pulsing bass line a lot, and actually this song is really growing on me. The band has a new album coming out early next year, I’ll probably pick up a copy.

2. Destroyer- European Oils
   2006 Pitchfork Music Festival Sampler
   I went to the Pitchfork Music fest this year², I think, but I don’t remember seeing Destroyer. Probably would have been fun, as I like the album this song is taken from.
3. Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five- You Will Always Have A Friend
   Disc E: 1949-1950
   you will always have a friend, as long as you have money to spend. True, cynical, but true. Recently picked up a 5 disc box set of Louis Jordan: a slightly forgotten, R&B jump blues jokester from the 1940s and 1950s. Highly enjoyable. This is a danceable calypso-esque song, with horns, drums, piano and percussion.
4. Beastie Boys- Get It Together

   
   Ill Communication

   With Q-Tip providing additional vocal contributions, one of the better tracks on Ill Communication, the last great album the Beastie Boys released, so far anyway. Ma Bell got the Ill Communication. Indeed.

5. Stone Roses, The- Made Of Stone

   
   The Stone Roses

   from one of the many golden eras of British pop, now reissued and remastered.

6. Marley, Bob & The Wailers- Duppy Conqueror

   
   Burnin

   speaking of ululation, this track from one of my Desert Island discs³ has some funky background vocal effects. I suspect Peter Tosh is making sounds with his mouth emulating a cat purring, but who knows. Lovely track, not my favorite on this album, but every song by the classic edition of the Wailers⁴ is excellent in my estimation.

7. O’connor, Sinead- All Apologies
   Universal Mother
   and speaking of trills and spills, love how O’Connor’s Irish brogue is noticeable on words like marriage, buried. Also imagine she sings in the son I feel as one, instead of the Kurt Cobainin the sun I feel as one, but I could be wrong.
8. Callahan, Bill- Diamond Dancer

   
   Woke On A Whaleheart

   Bill Callahan’s⁵ decent, observational song about a girl who danced by herself so hard she became a diamond, gave the world her light. His baritone is so emotionless, he probably irritates you or enthralls you, depending upon your mood.

9. We The People- You Burn Me Up And Down

   
   

   Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era, Vol. 4
   Florida based garage rockers, a favorite song from my favorite compilations of garage rock, the Nuggets series.

10. Butthole Surfers- Mexican Caravan

    
    Psychic … Powerless … Another Mans Sac

    I came of age in Austin during the Butthole’s heyday, so of course I love this song and this band. Not everyone loves psychedelic punk rock songs about scoring Mexican heroin, that is their loss.

11. The Black Keys- Stack Shot Billy

    
    Rubber Factory

    Modern garage rock, slightly derivative⁶ but still quite fun. One could compile an eclectic mix of Stagger Lee songs, ranging from the original recorded versions of bluesmen from the 1920s and 1930s, to the R&B versions in the 1950s to the 1960s British blues-rockers to The Clash to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds to The Black Keys. That Stagger Lee is a bad motherfucker.

all in all, a pretty good meditative soundtrack

1. no playlist today, just a shuffle [↩]
2. 2006 [↩]
3. an album I would theoretically take with me if I had foreknowledge I was going to be stranded on a desert island [↩]
4. before Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh left [↩]
5. aka Smog aka (Smog) for some reason [↩]
6. but then what rock music isn’t? [↩]

Another edition of Songs That Randomly¹ Played While I Was In My Meditation Pod. I’m not good with “Best Of” lists, as my taste are too mercurial to lock down, so these meditations will have to suffice…

1. Calexico- Corona

   
   Convict Pool

   One of my favorite new(ish) discoveries, and not just because Calexico were chosen to be the house band for the Bob Dylan soundtrack album, I’m Not Here. This is a cover of a great Minutemen song, from their best album,

   
   Double Nickles on the Dime

   and just not any cover, but a conjunto-esque mariachi version with fiddle, horns, etc. that swings. Highly enjoyable.

2. The Dillards- Lemon Chimes
   Where The Action Is!: Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968
   I love garage rock, love these Rhino compilations, though this song has more of a bluegrass vibe. Written by Dewey Martin, later of Buffalo Springfield. 2:37 seconds only – must have been released as a 45 single.
3. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach Edition, Vol. 4 – Cantatas, Vol. 1 [Disc 3]
   Bach: Cantata #72, BWV 72, “Alles Nur Nach Gottes Willen” – Alles Nur Nach Gottes Willen- Ruth Holton, Sytse Buwalda, Etc.; Piet Jan Leusink: Netherlands Bach Collegium, Holland Boys Choir
   I bought a lot of new-to-me classical music last year, not least of which was the set this piece came from, The Complete Bach²- 155 CDs worth. Still haven’t finished playing the entire thing, much less converting all the discs to MP3.
4. Green Day- Last Of The American Girls
   21st Century Breakdown
   Don’t understand why this band is so celebrated. Singer’s voice is irritatingly thin³, and the music seems very paint-by-numbers. Boring, in other words.
5. Nelson, Willie- Laying My Burdens Down

   
   Naked Willie

   One of my favorite purchases in 2009 is this Willie Nelson album. Naked is not quite accurate description, Willie Nelson and long-time harmonica player Mickey Raphael just removed the schmaltzy strings and slick backup vocalists, and left vocal, bass, drum, and slinky jazzy guitar, remixing from the original multitrack tapes. Awesome in fact. Get a copy if you don’t have one.

6. John Barry- Boom
   Boom! Soundtrack
   As much as I love Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, haven’t yet managed to sit through this film.
7. Jerry Jeff Walker- North Cumberland Blues
   Vanguard Visionaries – Jerry Jeff Walker
   Surprisingly good, funky blues-rock with a nicely insistent bass line. Let’s have another round…
8. Terry Hall & Mushtaq- Ten Eleven
   Music is your Radar
   part of an Uncut Magazine sampler put together by Damon Albarn celebrating Honest Jon’s Records. Terry Hall⁴ sings the chorus in English, Mushtaq⁵ sings the verse in Arabic⁶. Quite good in any case. I just ordered a copy of the album it came from, The Hour of Two Lights.
9. Johann Sebastian Bach – Toccata and Fugue in D Minor for Organ, BWV 565- Klemens Scnorr
   The 99 Most Essential Pieces of Classical Music
   thought this was the Ozzy Osbourne song, Mr. Crowley⁷at first, probably because I think it is nearly the same opening riff, plus lots of trills / triplets / whatever-they-are-called.
10. 13th Floor Elevators- The Kingdom Of Heaven (Is Within You) (stereo edition)

    
    The Psychedelic Sound of the 13th Floor Elevators

    My birthday splurge was the limited edition remastered version of all extant 13th Floor Elevators songs in a beautiful box set. Austin garage rock legends,⁸ this song has, as most do, some weird stuff going on in the background, and ends with a patented Roky Erickson scream.

11. K’naan- 15 Minutes Away

    
    Troubadour

    one of the weaker tracks on a pretty good album (blogged about here). Something about being broke, and getting money from Western Union, 15 minutes away. I prefer the more political-oriented songs, this song sounds like filler.

1. again using the iTunes smartplaylist, This Years Models; criteria – added to library this year, more than 4 plays, not played in last 19 days [↩]
2. blogged about it here [↩]
3. hey, I own every Bob Dylan album, and his voice is, shall we say, unique. So it isn’t just musicality that matters [↩]
4. of The Specials, et al [↩]
5. of Fun-Da-Mental [↩]
6. I think: album blurb says: In 2003, Hall collaborated with Mushtaq of Fun-Da-Mental on the album The Hour of Two Lights which contains contributions from a twelve-year-old Lebanese girl singer, a blind Algerian rapper, a Syrian flautist, Hebrew vocalists, a group of Polish gypsies and Damon Albarn. [↩]
7. a song about English occultist Aleister Crowley from Blizzard of Oz [↩]
8. influences include: LSD, Gurdjieff, the General Semantics of Alfred Korzybski, the psychedelic philosophy of Timothy Leary, Tantric meditation, you get the idea [↩]

Another installment of the music that plays during my evening meditation session¹

1. Felice Brothers- The Big Surprise

   
   Yonder Is The Clock

   are they really brothers? More alt-country, but this album and band has really grown on me.

2. Joni Mitchell- Coin In The Pocket Mingus
   Charles Mingus talking about always having a little coin in his pocket. Not rich, but enough.
3. Psycho Acoustic Sounds- Covered Wagon
   Godzilla vs. Ralph Records
   just like it says. Quick, full of energy, fun, but not music to play during family dinners.
4. Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major, Op. 60: II. Adagio- London Symphony Orchestra

   I don’t know all that much about classical music, still, even after listening to it for more than half my life, but love this symphony. Also, in part because of my lack of musical training, I often visualize playing electric guitar in accompaniment – mostly on the sustained notes – whatever they are, oboe? French horn?

5. Les Boukakes- Kallouha
   Marra

   
   “Marra” (Les Boukakes)

   Raï, with linky funk-esque verse, and heavy rock choruses. Not sure of the language, sounds Arabic, North African, or similar. Awesome. Get this if you can find a copy².

6. Joni Mitchell- A Chair In The Sky
   

   “Mingus” (Joni Mitchell)

   a very jazzy number, with fretless bass, slightly amorphous melody, some scat-singing by Joni Mitchell, an organ or vibes player that I could do without. All in all, an interesting song, but not a toe-tapper.

7. Cluster- Rosa

   
   Zuckerzeit

   German instrumental electronica from 1974, always want to astral-project over meadows when listening to it.

8. Andrew Jenkins- Alabama Flood
   People Take Warning (2 of 3) Man Vs. Nature
   

   “People Take Warning! Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs 1913-1938″ (Various Artists)

   tale of an Alabama flood, accompanied by guitar, fiddle and back-up vocal. How do they all fit into the can?

9. They Might Be Giants- Withered Hope
   The Else
   meh. Not TMBGs best work, imo, lyrics are not sparkling. The Dust Brothers drum loops are ok.

1. generated from a iTunes smart playlist called This Years Models. Criteria is: added to iTunes library this year, more than four plays [↩]
2. seems out of print [↩]

Non-Sequitur alert: a random playlist, as generated tonight during my meditation¹. Ignore the goofy formatting and crazy number scheme, I made a typo in the HTML, and didn’t want to go back and redo all the code.

1. Jason Isbell- Dress Blues
   Sirens of the Ditch
2. Americana, sometimes known as alternative country, a tale of being a casualty of war, sleeping in Dress Blues
3. Bob Dylan- Stonehenge
   TTRH Season 2 – 05 – Days of the Week
4. what is the deal with Stonehenge? Bob ponders rocks of all time, and notes that currently there are two Starbucks and and Applebees inside the circle
5. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach: Notenbüchlein Für Anna Magdalena Bach
   Bach: Notenbüchlein Für Anna Magdalena Bach – Menuet, BWV Anh. 114- Pieter-Jan Belder
6. Ahhh, Bach
7. The Velvet Underground- I’m Waiting For The Man
   Peel Slowly And See Disc 2
8. even after a hundred thousand listens, still love this garage rock tune, especially the occasional cha-ching double-time strum on one of the rhythm guitars
9. Barack Obama- White Folks
   Dreams from My Father

10. 
    “Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance” (Barack Obama)

    There are white folks, and then there are ignorant motherfuckers like you…

11. Micachu- Eat Your Heart
    Jewellery
12. meh, some free track from Amazon.com
14. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach Edition, Vol. 5 – Cantatas, Vol. 2 [Disc 4]
    Bach: Cantata #98, BWV 98, “Was Gott Tut, Das Ist Wohlgetan” – Was Gott Tut, Das Ist Wohlgetan- Ruth Holton, Sytse Buwalda, Etc.; Piet Jan Leusink: Netherlands Bach Collegium, Holland Boys Choir
16. Louvin Brothers, The- There’s A Higher Power
    Satan Is Real
17. Check the album cover. Nuff said. Actually a great LP.

    
    “Satan Is Real” (The Louvin Brothers)

18. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach Edition, Vol. 4 – Cantatas, Vol. 1 [Disc 3]
    Bach: Cantata #97, BWV 97, “In Allen Meinen Taten” – Ihm Hab Ich Mich Ergeben- Ruth Holton, Sytse Buwalda, Etc.; Piet Jan Leusink: Netherlands Bach Collegium, Holland Boys Choir

19. With a good sustain guitar pedal, this would sound rockin’ translated as an Indie pop song.

20. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach Edition, Vol. 12 – Keyboard Works, Vol. 2 [Disc 12]
    Bach: 3-Part Invention #13 In A Minor, BWV 799- Pieter-Jan Belder

21. Bach friendly meditation tonight. I forgot actually what I was thinking here, I drifted into galactic space

22. The Velvet Underground- It Was A Pleasure Then
    Peel Slowly And See Disc 2

23. 
    “Peel Slowly and See” (The Velvet Underground)

24. I’m lucky that I didn’t have a copy of this Nico rarity² during my drug-addled youth, such a perfect song to listen to after being up for a few days straight on whatever. Not that I’d know about being up for days on end. That must have been someone else. Sounds like Nico singing, John Cale on squeaky viola, and Lou Reed on electric guitar, as far as I can tell.
25. Iggy Pop- Repo Man
    Repo Man
26. Iggy sounds like a thug here on the title track to the Repo Man soundtrack, love it. Bought a copy of this CD, used, this year, replacing my original vinyl version. Such memories invoked, of being a angsty-teen, of wondering what life would be like as a punk-rocker, etc. etc. I’m looking for the joke with a microscope!
27. Circle Jerks- Coup D’Etat

    
    “Repo MAN – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” (REPO MAN – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Iggy Pop, Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies, The Plugz, Juicy Bananas, The Circle Jerks, Burning Sensations, Fear, harry dean stanton, emilio estevez, punk rock, art punk, 80’s) (michael nesmith)

28. I even raised and shook my fist during the chorus of this song: Coup D’Etat!

29. Stephan Smith- All Together Now
    Now’s the Time
30. No idea where this song came from, but it isn’t bad. The singer has a slight lisp, but the acoustic guitar work is nice, and the lyrics are poignant and pointed enough to notice, about world unity. I’ll have to look for more music by this guy.
31. Dubliners, The- Molly Malone
    Seven Drunken Nights
32. This even goes further back: I remember learning this song in Mrs. Sullivans’ Fifth Grade class, South River, Ontario. I recall singing enthusiastically, in our children’s tenor voices.
33. Barack Obama- Buy Your Own Damn Fries
    Dreams from My Father (Disc 2)

1. we have one of those one-person sauna devices, and I let the day’s worries leave my body while ruminating about whatever it is my mind decides to ruminate upon, while playing my iPod [↩]
2. from Chelsea Girl [↩]

Looks as if I sold another photo to the astute folks at St. Martin’s Press for use as a book jacket photo illustration¹.

I’m not positive about all the details yet, but I think this is the book: Through the Cracks, by Barbara Fister

More details as I get them²…

The photo is of a viaduct on 24th Street between Canal and Stewart, heading towards our Chinese herbalist.

1. earlier this year I sold a photo for Luck of the Draw [↩]
2. like when the publish date is, what the illustration will look like, etc [↩]

Seems like my MacBook Pro hard drive has given up the ghost. Disk errors and the like. Three years of moderate use, but death can strike at any time to anyone, or any thing. Now I have to ascertain if there is any unbacked-up data on the drive that is worth the hassle of retrieving.

I am pretty good about keeping backups current, but I was out of town, and had family camping out in my office so there is a potential gap there of a couple weeks. Maybe.

Half the battle of repairing computers is simply having the patience to be methodical and logical, and waiting for processes to finish.

I know I shouldn’t take machine failure personally, but I do. This laptop was a birthday present a few years ago, and it has travelled with me all over the place.

A Sturgeon Bay tourist that is.

Heading up to spend a couple of days in a family domicile just north of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin with my folks and an aunt and uncle, and some Blatz beer¹. Looks to be pretty damn close to Lake Michigan, but full report on that later. Hope the weather obliges me being outside with camera. If not, well, at least I’ll breathe some fresh air for a couple of days.

Thursday: A 20 percent chance of rain before 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 47. North northeast wind between 18 and 22 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph.

Thursday Night: Rain likely, mainly after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 40. East northeast wind between 17 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Friday: Rain. High near 46. East northeast wind between 18 and 23 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%.

Friday Night: Rain, mainly before 1am. Low around 39. North northeast wind between 13 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.

Saturday: A 30 percent chance of rain. Cloudy, with a high near 45.

Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 37.

Hmm, might as well pack a couple of books in case I need them.

1. theoretically – I have to see if I can carry two cases at once [↩]

Received a disturbing letter from our bank on Saturday:

Dear Customer:

The security of your information is important to us and we strive to handle it with care and discretion at all times. We are writing to let you know that we are unable to locate a computer tape at a secure offsite storage facility. The tape is used as a backup for system information. Electronic files on the tape may have included your company name, address and Tax Identification Number(s), but did not include any banking or financial information.

The vendor that operates the offsite storage facility confirmed that it received and maintained the tape, and its facility has been searched. Unfortunately, the tape could not be located. However, the information on the tape can be read only with special equipment and software and we have no evidence to indicate any of the information has been viewed or used inappropriately.

Please accept our apology for any concern this may cause. As a precaution, make sure to monitor your account statements carefully to make certain no unauthorized transactions are made. If you have any questions concern ing this matter, please call us at

Doesn’t sound good, but maybe I worry too much.

On the other hand, why is our bank sending us this form letter? We have several accounts with this bank actually, a couple of credit cards, a few checking accounts, etc., but this letter doesn’t specify which account is suspected of being lost. Is it all of our data? Or just one particular account? Does our bank’s lawyers think that by writing this letter, we won’t be able to sue the bank if something actually is amiss? Should we change our Tax ID #?

We are considering moving all of our accounts elsewhere, as a sort of preemptive move; can’t decide if this is hasty, or prudent. What do you think?

If we can get through to a person, and get some clear answers, I’ll append to this post.

“The Wonder of Whiffling: (and Other Extraordinary Words in the English Language)” (Adam Jacot de Boinod)

The author of Toujours Tingo

Toujours Tingo

Adam Jacot de Boinod, has written a new book:

“The Wonder of Whiffling” is a hugely enjoyable, surprising and rewarding tour around the language of the British Isles (with plenty of fine coinages from our English-speaking cousins across the pond, Down Under and elsewhere). Discover all sorts of words you’ve always wished existed but never knew, such as fornale, to spend one’s money before it has been earned; cagg, a solemn vow or resolution not to get drunk for a certain time; and petrichor, the pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell. Delving passionately into the English language, Adam Jacot de Boinod also discovers why it is you wouldn’t want to have dinner with a vice admiral of the narrow seas, why Jacobites toasted the little gentleman in black velvet, and why a Nottingham Goodnight is better than one from anywhere else.

Monsieur Jacot de Boinod¹ also added, in comments to this post, the following

Delving passionately into the English language, I also discover why it is you wouldn’t want to have dinner with a vice admiral of the narrow seas, why Jacobites toasted the little gentleman in black velvet, and why a Nottingham Goodnight is better than one from anywhere else. See more on http://www.thewonderofwhiffling.com

Tangentially, and surprisingly, I’m at the beginning of a cagg of my own. Vowed to forswear booze for at least a month² – my target to resume consumption is Labor Day. Why? Mostly vanity, my pants were getting a little snug, and I was polishing a couple of bottles of wine a day. Cause and effect, most likely. Anyway, possibly more on that subject

1. I assume I’m spelling that correctly, my French language skills have atrophied to point of parody [↩]
2. along with gluten – bread, pasta, etc. – and a few other items [↩]