Death Wears Jockey Shorts

Oh my goodness, it has been SUCH a long time. I have been busy with old and new business, pain (my own and that of loved ones), and lots of things like watching wrestling on television,all of which have kept me from you. Forgive me, I beg you. The Warren Zevon documentary on VH-1 was tasteful and sad, as is the album, "The Wind". If you enjoy "disturbing" websites, here's one just for you. Get the kids and pets out of the room before you listen to this stuff. And stay away from the airport!!!!

http://www.planecrashinfo.com/lastwords.htm

Heads up for the HBO movie "And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself" this weekend, media mavens!

Well,well. Took a hike in a big southern front-range park this morning in the cool late-summer air. and was again reminded how important it is to be outside with the boids and the grasses. Lovely. Saw Stephen Frear's`"Dirty Pretty Things", a clever thriller set among the denizens of London's immigrant population. See it if you can, or get in line for the DVD on Netflix. I do have plans to get this blog set up so I can have photos of say, this morning's hike, or the poster for Dirty Pretty Things. (Don't worry, I won't put on a webcam). Not because of the blog's title, but not not because of it, here's a deathy URL for your delectation:

http://www.corsinet.com/braincandy/dying.html

Hey there! If we had Living National Treasures,as they do in Japan, Randy Newman would be one. His performace, solo on the piano, was great. This was the first date of a rather long tour to support a retrospective coming out 09/30 of new performances of songs from his catalog, solo with piano. He was witty, sardonic, played beautifully, and of course, one always hears more in a song live than on record, no matter how well one knows the song. His most recent album, "Bad Love", already a few years old, is a winner. See him if you can. Pollstar.com is the best site to check out concert info by artist, city, with time parameters, etc. If you travel, pollstar allows you to check well in advance to see wassup in the cities you are planning to visit, both in the US and worldwide.

http://www.pollstar.com

VVH-1 has a documentary about the recording of the soon-to-be relased Warren Zevon CD "The Wind", this Sunday.

Missed a day, and will probably miss more, but blogs (and days) are like that. Saw my alternative therapy doctor for some myo-fascial and cranio-sacral therapies with some other "aletrnative modalities" thrown in for good measure and have a marked lessening of abdominal pain which you don't want to know more about and neither do I. Going to see Randy Newman tonight in Boulder. I saw him about 30 years ago in Denver, and am looking forward to becoming reaquianted with his live presence. As usual, we have been preparing by listening to his CDs, a practice I cannot recommend highly enough if you are about to attend a concert. Re-acquainting myself with the Elvis Costello catalog made that concert a MUCH more wonderful experience, and it would have been wonderful anyway. So if you got lost the other day on the "virtually lost" link I supplied, try this one for getting yourself found. Even if rescue is not high on your list of interests (at the moment), the depth of this survival specialty should be of interest in itself.SO, get found!...

http://www.equipped.com/signal.htm

By the way, I purchased one of the Rescue Reflectors mirrors to which there is a link on this site, and it looks effective as hell. Now...to get lost enough to see if it really works...

FINALLY, a bit of Fall in the air. It is one of the (few) positive things about getting older that one notices more and more subtle changes in the seasons. The angle of the light, the length of the days, and so many other small signs that things are changing day-to-day. It seems that when asked, an awful lot of people say that Fall is their favorite season. You'd think there would be more pleasant associations with summer, which many of us had completely free during our youths, than with the time most asociated with the dreaded back to school debacle. This is probably most prevalent among those from, or currently living in temperate climate zones. One of the neat things about La Paz, Bolivia, is, that due to its altitude and latitude, the city enjoys "football weather" year-round. Now this may be a genuine "musing", but I'm not sure.Hmmmm...
Remember hearing about some Japanese animation that caused seizures in television viewers? Well, take a look at this....

http://www.seizurerobots.com

Hint: if you don't see something that might make you have a siezure, go to the advanced tab on your internet settings on your control panel and make sure the "animation in web pages" box is checked. And as always, use a spotter...

Well, the weekend got away from me, and that is a good thang. It does seem that stories about heroic New Yorkers are dying down fast after last week's blackouts. In fact, I haven't noticed many human interest stories from anywhere. I wonder how many people they haven't found yet? Without juice, we're just hunters and gatherers like most of the world, but the problem is that those of us who are more than a generation away from the farm have NO primitive skills. Let's hope we won't ever need them, because if we should, I can't imagine that it will be very pretty. Here's a website about being lost...so get lost already!

http://www.virtuallylost.net/intro.html

Woo hoo, its Friday! A long time ago I came across a wondrous book called The Circus of Dr. Lao, which was made into a not-so good film called The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao. The book by Charles Finney is highly recommended, especially if you can find a copy illiustrated by Boris Artzybasheff. Here's a link to some of his fantastic (literally!) work. Look for others if you like what you see...

http://www.enter.net/~torve/art/artzy/hostility.html

OK, back on my feet again, temporary victory over dark forces of software. Here's a good URL which shows who owns what in the media biz. If it doesn't scare the pants off you, you aren't wearing pants, so don't go out without checking. I was particularly amused to find that Vivendi, a company I had barely heard of, is responsible for 27% of music sales in the US. Yow! I am told on very good authority that there are only 3 record companies in business at this time, but this site has all kinds of other alarming details on book publishing, internet, radio and television, and every other way you can find out anything without talking over the back fence to the neighbor, who is probably at least 23% owned by one of these companies anyway.

http://www.thenation.com/special/bigten.html

P.S.-Don't trust the neighbor....

All dressed up with no place to go. Had a wonderful evening of improv last night. Hilarious and challenging and you really should find a group and get into it. Assuming you have a good coach/teacher/director, you will be put in situations where you cannot survive without giving yourself up to the moment. And I as know all too well, some people spend YEARS in meditation trying to get to a place that any fool knows he is already in, if he cares at all. Actually it is a lot more complex than that, and it isn't easy to fall into a brilliant improv class with a world-class director like Edith Weiss, so just forget about the whole thing and stick with whatever keeps you getting out of bed to use the toilet. An unrelated quote I like comes from Philip Kapleau, American Zen pioneer and teacher, who said, "Enough seekers. Show me finders!". I must look that up and find out exactly what he said. Maybe I said that. If so, I want credit! No link for you!
If I seem cranky, its because I had a rough computer day.Poor me! Feel sorry for me!

Okay, I promised you some chuckles after yesterday's bleak blog. Here's an archive of random generators. I find the Random Bar Joke Generator hilarious, but I tried it out on Jane and she looked at me as if I were a 10-yr old laughing at nothing, which I may be. I'd say give it a try, generating at least 10 random bar jokes in a row. The extreme sports generator is also pretty funny. I guess it all depends how bad you need a laugh...

http://www.brunching.com/generator-datearchive.html

I don't want to get all heavy on you, but I just finished watching "The Pianist", Polanski's unflinching portrait of one man's experience as a Polish Jew during the holocaust. I guess what ultimately makes it disturbing, aside from the aforementioned unflinchingness as regards unspeakable organzied violence directed toward the innocent, is the seeming conclusion that heroism most often consists of saving onesself. Being half Jewish meself, and having been raised right after the war, the question was often raised as to how such a thing could be allowed to happen by the people to whom it was happening. I had a very minor epiphany about this some 20 years ago, while living in a suburban neighborhood in Denver. One evening, a couple of police cars pulled up to a house a few doors down, and within a very short time, officers were putting a handcuffed man in the back of their patrol car. He looked, needless to say, extremely distressed. Then I knew: a citizen, even of this benighted land, is in no way free to leave his home and question the police as to what is going on as regards his neighbor's arrest. Anyone doing so is told emphatically to back off and return to his home, and persistance is, in and of itself, a crime. Still, while watching "The Pianist" unfold, expecially at the beginning, I found myself thinking, "Do something! Don't just stand there!". The sad fact, I am very much afraid, is that they have us where they want us, and that our best hope must be that they mean us no harm. I guess I'm no idealist. Tomorrow's post will be a real knee-slapper, I promise...

We went for a short hike today at a state park with sandstone rock formations not unlike what one encounters at Grand Canyon, where we have spent a bit of time (approximately 7 or 8 months of nights below the rim). We haven't been "outside" in what seems like a long time so it was revelatory to be amidst the tall grasses going to seed in that silvery way (like they do..). It gets so easy to stay indoors. I keep forgetting that staying in touch with the natural world is something that I need in large doses. Must remember that one is unlikely to hear the crows' "caw" in the living room unless Heckle and jeckle are on TV. I'm going outside now, I don't care what you say. A URL folr your thoughts tomorrow. Go Home!!!

For some odd reason, the image of Alfred Jarry came to mind. He was one of the fathers of French Surrealism, and therefore, I suppose, Surrealism in general, and a truly strange individual, 5 feet tall, striding through Paris (at the turn of the 20th century) in a green cycling suit, announcing himself by shooting one of the two pistols he carried in his belt. Also, he lived in a building whose owner had doubled the rentable space in by cutting the floors horizontally in two. Sound like "Being John Malkovich"? Jarry invented a "science" called Pataphysics, which the Beatles have the quizzical Joan in "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" studying when the hammer falls. Here's one site, but Googling Alfred Jarry is a rewarding experience and I commend his books to you as well. May your days be surreal...

http://hamp.hampshire.edu/~ngzF92/jarrypub/commence.html

Really, check him out further on the internet. More French surrealists to come!

Soooo, its Friday, and hot, otra vez. In Argentina, they say "Otra vez sopa" -soup again, to mean "different day, same shit" or something like that. In Mexico, appropriately, the phrase is "otra vez frijoles". I suppose we say "same old thing" or some such colorless phrase when a more lively idiom is called for. Am I forgetting an obvious parallel? I was paraphrasing something Ramsey Clark said in an old interview the other day and it occured to me to find it and send you there. In the final paragraphs, after outlining all the ways our great nation is ruining the world, he points out how happy some of the most deprived people in the world manage to be. He says "any fool can be unhappy", and goes on to stress the import of finding joy in this "once-around" life. A cogent message from a neat interview. Enjoy it, and anything else you can find to enjoy...

http://www.thesunmagazine.org/bully.html

By the way, if you know anyone who might enjoy this blog, please send them a link. And don't forget the archives. Many of the sites I've sent you to are updated and some may merit being a favorite place to use as a tool or send on to others. Keep it moving, pilgrim!

I have read Melody Ermachild Chavis' new book, "Meena, Heroine of Afghanistan", and found it a beaut, to say the least. I have the pleasure of knowing Melody, and her first book, "Altars in the Street" was a revelation. After reading it, one feels as if she is a friend. Her intimate and straightforward style turns out to be an ideal match for the story of Meena, which will educate you about not only this modern-day Joan of Arc, but about Afghani life in the last half of the 20th century. If you're 10% as ignorant as I am, and I hope you're not, you'll learn a lot and be richer for it. Find Melody's books at all the usual stores, or through Abebooks.com, linked here previously, and still the world's best source for any used book. If its hot where you are, remember the old Zen admonition:'When hot, let the heat kill you. When cold, let the cold kill you"

You know, it really is warm here, near 100 Farenheit. Old Farenheit's story, which is more engaging than you might think, is included with a lot more fascinating stuff in Bill Bryon's latest, "A Short History of Nearly Everything" which will catch you up on science in a fun sort of way, no kidding. I'll bet that you didn't know that Mme. Curie's personal papers are so "hot" that they are stored in lead boxes and can only be read by those wearing radiation suits. Bette Midler once remarked that Little Richard's autobiography was "so hot I had to read it with gloves on", but I think she meant something different. Maybe not. We have been invited by gracious friends to attend a concert by Solas, the forward-thinking Celtic band (no fisherman's sweaters or sea shanties, thank you) this evening. The venue is outdoors so I'll be wearing a towel only. Actually, I'll be taking a towel. I don't plan to wear it unless ordered to. It is, after all, very hot. Here's a link to a "visual" search engine, which comes up with some on-Google results and is worth a try. Be cool, laddies, be cool...

http://www.kartoo.com

Had a diverting early-morning dream: Am watching television news where the following story is unfolding live: 2 corrupt police officers, knowing they are about to be exposed, are committing suicide with their families. They are in a small airplane, towing (through the air) a Volkswagen Beetle with their families in it. All are laughing and happily waving to the cameras in the television helicopters alongside. Can't tell if they are happy about their impending doom or unknowing. Then there is a fiery crash and lots of analysis, and endless replays of the crash, the families smiling and waving just before the crash, and speculation about what kind of trouble the officers were involved in. It must have been something I ate. Today's link is a cool writing tool from Michael, a Hawaiian lexicographer friend of 30+ years. Choose your words carefully...

http://www.visualthesaurus.com/online/index.html

So we watched the first part of the DVD of "The Hours" last night. We're 2 suicides into it and the acting is quite remarkable. I must say that the Philip Glass score annoys the living crap out of me, but his worrying and interminable patterns also marred Qoyanniquatsi or whatever that Hopi name for "World being destroyed by non-Hopis" is. That was one beautiful film as well, but the Glass score was REALLY obvious and tedious. And how do you feel about Philip Glass? I couldn't find a "Philip Glass Must Die" website, but I'm still looking... Anyway, "The Hours" cannot but make you think about death (if only Philip Glass's) so I now send you to get a look at your own. This site will try to sell you longevity vitamins if you venture very far, so just have a few laughs and go home. There's a venerable Buddhist death meditation where one thinks of one's own death in terms of time, place, weather, etc., getting as specific as possible. I commend it to you if you do any contemplative practice, and if you don't, well, get with the program, bunky! Time's a wastin!

http://www.deathclock.com

Its cool this morning and we saw Seabiscuit for a second time last night, then had a good, long sleep. The unpleasant aftertaste of the workweek is almost gone. I think I have forgotten to commend John Hiatt and the Goners' "Beneath This Gruff Exterior" to you. It really grows on me, and is some of his best work, which is saying something. As part of last night's movie trailer they were selling something called Lid Rock which is a promo CD which comes as part of the lid of a fountain drink. One of the pre-digested artists involved is a girl named Mandy Moore who has a new album with the (prospective) big single being Hiatt's "Have a Little Faith in Me". Good for him, sez I. Anytime a songwriter of his eloquence can bring in large amounts of cash, it warms my heart. I'd love to share music with you via the internet, but as the holder of a few copyrights myself, I can't get into the wholesale destruction of the concept of intellectual property just yet, but that's a discussion for another day. Today's link is guaranteed to makeyou laugh...

http://www.froggynight.com/jokes/monkolympics.htm

Now, you have to decide for yourself if it is a good idea to enlist dogs as snitches. I commend George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic's "Dope Dawg" to you. It laments the sad life of a sniffer dog for the DEA and I think makes a nice companion piece to this link. If you're doing ANYTHING illegal, do it while Rover is licking his balls, or otherwise occupied. Remember, he's watching.....

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/article/0,12543,463484-1,00.html

I think I'd like a defense-oriented dog myself...