If you repeat something enough times people will believe you
"Iraq had a weapons program," Bush told reporters during a meeting of his Cabinet. "Intelligence throughout the decade shows they had a weapons program. I am absolutely convinced that with time, we'll find out they did have a weapons program," Bush said.
Monday, June 09, 2003
Doing a good deed
One day I decided that it was odd that I could never find a bootleg live recording by the blues artist, Junior Kimbrough. Granted he didn't tour like your average jam band but he did play some dates opening for Iggy Pop during the 90's and I know people record Iggy's shows. Why couldn't I find any Junior Kimbrough? It was not a concern as disturbing as el presidente's diction but I was perplexed.
One day I decided to see what google could do. To see what the sumbitch really had under the hood. I searched for about two hours for a live recording of Junior Kimbrough. I trade so many variations of the key words 'junior kimbrough' and such phrases 'show list' and 'tape list' and whatever other variation of those words I could think of. People list their show collections on their personal websites and I figured someone out there must have a listing a Kimbrough show.
I found one eventually. I emailed the person who had the list published and he wrote back the following day only to tell me that his burner was on the fritz. I tried again last month and we worked out a trade.
I immediately notified a group of blues nuts on a mailing list I am on and offered to start a CD tree. I got over thirty enthusiastic (some blathering with joy) responses to my announcement and I started sending the disks out to the branches of the tree today. It really felt good to distribute this show to so many people who so obviously were dying to get their hands on something that truthfully can be called 'rare.' Or as rare as anything created in the last ten years can be. Maybe I should call it 'hard to find.' It was my good deed for the month.
One day I decided that it was odd that I could never find a bootleg live recording by the blues artist, Junior Kimbrough. Granted he didn't tour like your average jam band but he did play some dates opening for Iggy Pop during the 90's and I know people record Iggy's shows. Why couldn't I find any Junior Kimbrough? It was not a concern as disturbing as el presidente's diction but I was perplexed.
One day I decided to see what google could do. To see what the sumbitch really had under the hood. I searched for about two hours for a live recording of Junior Kimbrough. I trade so many variations of the key words 'junior kimbrough' and such phrases 'show list' and 'tape list' and whatever other variation of those words I could think of. People list their show collections on their personal websites and I figured someone out there must have a listing a Kimbrough show.
I found one eventually. I emailed the person who had the list published and he wrote back the following day only to tell me that his burner was on the fritz. I tried again last month and we worked out a trade.
I immediately notified a group of blues nuts on a mailing list I am on and offered to start a CD tree. I got over thirty enthusiastic (some blathering with joy) responses to my announcement and I started sending the disks out to the branches of the tree today. It really felt good to distribute this show to so many people who so obviously were dying to get their hands on something that truthfully can be called 'rare.' Or as rare as anything created in the last ten years can be. Maybe I should call it 'hard to find.' It was my good deed for the month.
Friday, June 06, 2003
Kickin' Butt
I had an interview today for a job in Olympia, WA. It's a job that is similar yet different to what I am doing now. That's a rather open statement. If I ride my bike in one direction today and another tomorrow am I not doing something similar yet different? You didn't know I was a philosopher, did you? On that note, we're all one and life is an illusion we are experiencing subjectively. Actually Bill Hicks said that.
Of all the interviews I have dones since I became a degreed librarian this was by far the strongest. I guess a little practice helps. I had some standard answers ready to questions you get axed in all interviews. That helped, a lot. Doing well on an interview feels a lot like passing a test in school that you were stressing on.
Today marked a first. When the interviewer signed off she told me that "this was a very good interview." Who knows, she may just be polite and say that to everybody. I felt good when she said it.
Fellow library employees take note: she told me that an application coming from a staff member of the Charlotte public library really caught her attention. She said she admires what our library has accomplished. So, don't be afraid to move on, our library system looks good on a resume. I guess that is a testament to my co-workers.
I had an interview today for a job in Olympia, WA. It's a job that is similar yet different to what I am doing now. That's a rather open statement. If I ride my bike in one direction today and another tomorrow am I not doing something similar yet different? You didn't know I was a philosopher, did you? On that note, we're all one and life is an illusion we are experiencing subjectively. Actually Bill Hicks said that.
Of all the interviews I have dones since I became a degreed librarian this was by far the strongest. I guess a little practice helps. I had some standard answers ready to questions you get axed in all interviews. That helped, a lot. Doing well on an interview feels a lot like passing a test in school that you were stressing on.
Today marked a first. When the interviewer signed off she told me that "this was a very good interview." Who knows, she may just be polite and say that to everybody. I felt good when she said it.
Fellow library employees take note: she told me that an application coming from a staff member of the Charlotte public library really caught her attention. She said she admires what our library has accomplished. So, don't be afraid to move on, our library system looks good on a resume. I guess that is a testament to my co-workers.
Thursday, June 05, 2003
First time for the lifetime
Ever come across a piece of music or spoken word comedy and know immediately it's going to be with you for your whole life? That's only happened to me a couple of times. Like when I first heard Tom Waits and the White Stripes.
Another time that happened was when a friend of mine, one of the two Kevin's from my high school days, played a tape for me by the comedy troupe calledFiresign Theatre. I call him one of the two Kevin's because there were these two guys that were a year older than me and they were each named Kevin. No, they were not related. The Kevin that turned me onto Firesign Theatre was the Kevin that drove the old Volkswagen Beetle. It was the Kevin that was on the football team with me that introduced me to Jimi Hendrix's 'Electric Ladyland.'
The two Firesign albums that Kevin played for me were 'Waiting for the Electrician or someone like him' and 'Don't crush that dwarf, hand me the pliers.' 'Electrician' came out in 1968 and 'Crush dwarf' came out in 1971.
What first struck me about the Firesign Theatre was their amazing word play. They make up and combine words in a way that initially feels random and nonsensical. After repeated listenings the apparent nonsense began to gell and develop an odd clarity and work with the convoluted and also initially nonsensical storyline. Along with intertwining storylines and Lewis Carroll-like dialogue the albums also featured dense and realistic sound effects that offered me an audio experience unlike any other. It took me years of listening and living to even begin to digest what is offered on these recordings. Even now I throw them into my CD player occasionally and they never disappoint. I bring something new away each time like I with any great music album.
I was overjoyed a couple of years ago when the guys came out with a new album for the first time in years. It was called 'Give me immortality or give me death.' It is the story of radio station broadcasting on the last day of 1999 as the world descends into fear, madness and zaniness. It's a brilliant snapshot of the mindset of a nation at a certain point and, like their older works, will be relevant and educational for a very long time.
The Firesign Theater have been often referred as a comedy troupe that encapsulated their time period. They did do that but their wordplay and the brilliant characters voiced by David Ossman, Phil Austin, Peter Bergman, and Phil Proctor deserve your careful listening. This ain't just comedy, it's art.
Ever come across a piece of music or spoken word comedy and know immediately it's going to be with you for your whole life? That's only happened to me a couple of times. Like when I first heard Tom Waits and the White Stripes.
Another time that happened was when a friend of mine, one of the two Kevin's from my high school days, played a tape for me by the comedy troupe called
The two Firesign albums that Kevin played for me were 'Waiting for the Electrician or someone like him' and 'Don't crush that dwarf, hand me the pliers.' 'Electrician' came out in 1968 and 'Crush dwarf' came out in 1971.
What first struck me about the Firesign Theatre was their amazing word play. They make up and combine words in a way that initially feels random and nonsensical. After repeated listenings the apparent nonsense began to gell and develop an odd clarity and work with the convoluted and also initially nonsensical storyline. Along with intertwining storylines and Lewis Carroll-like dialogue the albums also featured dense and realistic sound effects that offered me an audio experience unlike any other. It took me years of listening and living to even begin to digest what is offered on these recordings. Even now I throw them into my CD player occasionally and they never disappoint. I bring something new away each time like I with any great music album.
I was overjoyed a couple of years ago when the guys came out with a new album for the first time in years. It was called 'Give me immortality or give me death.' It is the story of radio station broadcasting on the last day of 1999 as the world descends into fear, madness and zaniness. It's a brilliant snapshot of the mindset of a nation at a certain point and, like their older works, will be relevant and educational for a very long time.
The Firesign Theater have been often referred as a comedy troupe that encapsulated their time period. They did do that but their wordplay and the brilliant characters voiced by David Ossman, Phil Austin, Peter Bergman, and Phil Proctor deserve your careful listening. This ain't just comedy, it's art.
All hail technology!
This is great. The Model-T Ford got 25 miles to the gallon. The Ford Explorer gets 16 miles to the gallon. Civilization, Ho!!!
This is great. The Model-T Ford got 25 miles to the gallon. The Ford Explorer gets 16 miles to the gallon. Civilization, Ho!!!
Wednesday, June 04, 2003
Interesting column
I recommend reading this thought provoking column by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times.
I recommend reading this thought provoking column by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times.
When did this start?
Have you noticed this strange trend recently of clubs and bars posting pictures of the red-faced and drunken clientele in their newspaper advertisements? That's my dream, to show up in an ad for a bar in my local newspaper.
In other news, I saw a webpage for a local uptown upscale upyuppy bar today. I found the webpage in an advert in Creative Loafing. Check it out here. Check out the pictures of the customers. If you find any of them people intriguing you may never read my blog again.
Have you noticed this strange trend recently of clubs and bars posting pictures of the red-faced and drunken clientele in their newspaper advertisements? That's my dream, to show up in an ad for a bar in my local newspaper.
In other news, I saw a webpage for a local uptown upscale upyuppy bar today. I found the webpage in an advert in Creative Loafing. Check it out here. Check out the pictures of the customers. If you find any of them people intriguing you may never read my blog again.
Monday, June 02, 2003
The song has been digitized and is awesome
Friday after work Wendell was kind enough to drive me to Manifest so I could buy the new Led Zeppelin DVD. Most of the reviews I read ranged from positive to enthusiastic so I couldn't resist, I had to buy it.
My response to my first viewing of the DVD: Holy Fucking Shit.
If you are a Zeppelin fan and you don't own this, you are a big loser. The biggest, ever. If you are a casual fan and you have a friend that owns it you should beg that friend to allow you to view because you will then, along with us big fans, finally realize that they were the best band ever.
I won't go into long boring details about a 5 1/2 hour long video but here are a few observations:
The footage from 1973 in New York at Madison Square Garden is an amazing view of a band in full 'rock god' mode. Singer, Robert Plant had a package of gym socks or a bratwurst stuck in his pants. It both disturbed and fascinated Wendell.
The concert from 1970 has a long version of Dazed and Confused and after the violin bow noise fest in the middle of the song there is a fast portion that just explodes like a top fuel dragster out of the start.
The drumming by John Bonham on the 1979 version of Achilles Last Stand. Sounds like a goddamn machine gun.
The subdued and gorgeous acoustic portion of the 1975 show.
Chris came over to watch it Friday and he wasn't prepared for how good Zeppelin was live. It knocked his socks off.
Wendell remarked, during Jimmy Page's long violin solo on Dazed and Confused, that he "got every single noise out of that configuration that he could."
Friday after work Wendell was kind enough to drive me to Manifest so I could buy the new Led Zeppelin DVD. Most of the reviews I read ranged from positive to enthusiastic so I couldn't resist, I had to buy it.
My response to my first viewing of the DVD: Holy Fucking Shit.
If you are a Zeppelin fan and you don't own this, you are a big loser. The biggest, ever. If you are a casual fan and you have a friend that owns it you should beg that friend to allow you to view because you will then, along with us big fans, finally realize that they were the best band ever.
I won't go into long boring details about a 5 1/2 hour long video but here are a few observations:
The footage from 1973 in New York at Madison Square Garden is an amazing view of a band in full 'rock god' mode. Singer, Robert Plant had a package of gym socks or a bratwurst stuck in his pants. It both disturbed and fascinated Wendell.
The concert from 1970 has a long version of Dazed and Confused and after the violin bow noise fest in the middle of the song there is a fast portion that just explodes like a top fuel dragster out of the start.
The drumming by John Bonham on the 1979 version of Achilles Last Stand. Sounds like a goddamn machine gun.
The subdued and gorgeous acoustic portion of the 1975 show.
Chris came over to watch it Friday and he wasn't prepared for how good Zeppelin was live. It knocked his socks off.
Wendell remarked, during Jimmy Page's long violin solo on Dazed and Confused, that he "got every single noise out of that configuration that he could."
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