Thursday, October 16, 2003
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
John, again
I have been using a portion of this quote about Johnny Cash by Tom Waits in my email signature recently. I saw it in a CNN.com story about Cash's death. I saw tonight that it originally came from a quote by Tom Waits in a tribute to Cash on his 70th birthday. I'd like to print the entire quote just because Tom Waits and Johnny Cash are two of my heroes. I always wished they could do a song together like David Bowie and John Lennon did: incidentally.
"When Johnny Cash comes on the radio, no one changes the station. It's a voice, a name with a soul that cuts across all boundaries and it's a voice we all believe. Yours is a voice that speaks for the saints and the sinners -- it's like branch water for the soul. Long may you sing out loud.
"I Don't Know Where I'm Bound" on Live at San Quentin will always touch me and the fact that a prisoner wrote the poem and you put it to music for him that night on stage for the first time. ... It was a real moment for him and for us.
Happy Birthday, Johnny.
Tom Waits"
I have been using a portion of this quote about Johnny Cash by Tom Waits in my email signature recently. I saw it in a CNN.com story about Cash's death. I saw tonight that it originally came from a quote by Tom Waits in a tribute to Cash on his 70th birthday. I'd like to print the entire quote just because Tom Waits and Johnny Cash are two of my heroes. I always wished they could do a song together like David Bowie and John Lennon did: incidentally.
"When Johnny Cash comes on the radio, no one changes the station. It's a voice, a name with a soul that cuts across all boundaries and it's a voice we all believe. Yours is a voice that speaks for the saints and the sinners -- it's like branch water for the soul. Long may you sing out loud.
"I Don't Know Where I'm Bound" on Live at San Quentin will always touch me and the fact that a prisoner wrote the poem and you put it to music for him that night on stage for the first time. ... It was a real moment for him and for us.
Happy Birthday, Johnny.
Tom Waits"
Monday, October 13, 2003
Bikin' to work
The Charlotte transit system has bike racks on the front of each bus. I have been meaning to utilize these racks for quite a long time. Today that day finally came.
I take the bus to my new job. The bus drops me off at the mall and I have been walking to work from there. It's a fairly short walk and is rather pleasant now that the temperature in the Carolinas has dropped in the seventies.
When I work at noon, like today, the bus that takes me home leaves the mall at 9:40. I get off work at nine. If I ride my bike from work I get home at 9:20. If I waited on the bus I'd get home around ten. A little sweat is worth the extra time. I do need to get a car before the summer. There's no way I'm riding a bike in work clothes in July. Ain't gonna happen.
The Charlotte transit system has bike racks on the front of each bus. I have been meaning to utilize these racks for quite a long time. Today that day finally came.
I take the bus to my new job. The bus drops me off at the mall and I have been walking to work from there. It's a fairly short walk and is rather pleasant now that the temperature in the Carolinas has dropped in the seventies.
When I work at noon, like today, the bus that takes me home leaves the mall at 9:40. I get off work at nine. If I ride my bike from work I get home at 9:20. If I waited on the bus I'd get home around ten. A little sweat is worth the extra time. I do need to get a car before the summer. There's no way I'm riding a bike in work clothes in July. Ain't gonna happen.
Friday, October 10, 2003
Why I'm losing interest
I admit it, I like racin.' Here's a quote by Humpy Wheeler from an article in the Charlotte Observer that 'splains pretty well why I am losing interest in Winston Cup.
"but Lowe's Motor Speedway president H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler thinks the sport's growth has changed some of the basic aspects of the culture within the drivers' fraternity.
"I had a Winston Cup driver of some prominence who told me he'd never even met some of his fellow drivers," Wheeler said. "Granted, he hasn't been around all that long, but these days the drivers' meeting and driver introductions before the race are about the only times these guys ever get together. Those are just fleeting moments.""
It also is a pretty good explanation as to why I spent so much time at the dirt track in Lancaster, SC this summer.
I admit it, I like racin.' Here's a quote by Humpy Wheeler from an article in the Charlotte Observer that 'splains pretty well why I am losing interest in Winston Cup.
"but Lowe's Motor Speedway president H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler thinks the sport's growth has changed some of the basic aspects of the culture within the drivers' fraternity.
"I had a Winston Cup driver of some prominence who told me he'd never even met some of his fellow drivers," Wheeler said. "Granted, he hasn't been around all that long, but these days the drivers' meeting and driver introductions before the race are about the only times these guys ever get together. Those are just fleeting moments.""
It also is a pretty good explanation as to why I spent so much time at the dirt track in Lancaster, SC this summer.
Thursday, October 09, 2003
To mis-speak is to lie
"Tim Russert challenged Vice President Dick Cheney to defend his claim, made on Meet the Press before the war, that Iraq possessed nuclear weapons. 'Yeah, I did misspeak,' Cheney admitted. 'We never had any evidence that [Hussein] had acquired a nuclear weapon.'"
Has there always been this much lying in politics or is it getting worse?
"Tim Russert challenged Vice President Dick Cheney to defend his claim, made on Meet the Press before the war, that Iraq possessed nuclear weapons. 'Yeah, I did misspeak,' Cheney admitted. 'We never had any evidence that [Hussein] had acquired a nuclear weapon.'"
Has there always been this much lying in politics or is it getting worse?
Whisper Alley (another Okinawa story)
A couple of blocks over from BC Street is a dark alley with one-story traditonal style structures. The walls were concrete, the doors were of cheap wood and the roofs were made of the ubiquitous red tile. The structures housed prostitutes that were either too old or not attractive enough to be displayed openly in the "hotels" in the alleys off of BC Street.
I had heard of Whisper Alley and I thought it was a legend. My friend, Mike, who was my partner in crime for about a year claimed that it was real. He said that he had even been there and he wanted me to come with him because he had his camera with him that night.
Whisper Alley is about as close as I've come to actually living inside a Tom Waits' song. There were no street lights. Either that or they were burnt out and no one bothered to fix them. There was also no vehicular traffic. Only a few small groups of GI's walking close together, their usual robust drunkenidity dampened by the blackness of alley.
As we walked down the middle of the narrow street I noticed that there was some light. The doors, sitting loose in their frames, allowed a soft pink light to escape. Upon passing each door a woman would give you a soft "psst" followed by an offer not unlike the prostitute's offer in "Full Metal Jacket." If you looked at the door you would see a vaguely feminine head sillouetted by red light in a rectangular sliding opening. If you didn't respond the opening closed quickly. Occasionally you would see a pink beacon as a door opened to a horny but judgementally challenged GI.
After a few doors had passed us Mike decided to act. He had the flash ready to go on his 35mm camera. At the next "psst" he walked up, held his camera to the opening in the door and popped off his flash. The woman at the door would hiss or yell and slam the opening shut. Mike and I would fall against each other laughing.
Since the women in the other brothels couldn't see what was happening on the street, Mike was able to do this about seven or eight times. We then considered the expedition a success and went to a bar so we could get drunker.
Mike had the film developed and the pictures came out black. He had left the lense cap on. We were crushed. We didn't go back though. It was one of the missions that you only get one shot at.
A couple of blocks over from BC Street is a dark alley with one-story traditonal style structures. The walls were concrete, the doors were of cheap wood and the roofs were made of the ubiquitous red tile. The structures housed prostitutes that were either too old or not attractive enough to be displayed openly in the "hotels" in the alleys off of BC Street.
I had heard of Whisper Alley and I thought it was a legend. My friend, Mike, who was my partner in crime for about a year claimed that it was real. He said that he had even been there and he wanted me to come with him because he had his camera with him that night.
Whisper Alley is about as close as I've come to actually living inside a Tom Waits' song. There were no street lights. Either that or they were burnt out and no one bothered to fix them. There was also no vehicular traffic. Only a few small groups of GI's walking close together, their usual robust drunkenidity dampened by the blackness of alley.
As we walked down the middle of the narrow street I noticed that there was some light. The doors, sitting loose in their frames, allowed a soft pink light to escape. Upon passing each door a woman would give you a soft "psst" followed by an offer not unlike the prostitute's offer in "Full Metal Jacket." If you looked at the door you would see a vaguely feminine head sillouetted by red light in a rectangular sliding opening. If you didn't respond the opening closed quickly. Occasionally you would see a pink beacon as a door opened to a horny but judgementally challenged GI.
After a few doors had passed us Mike decided to act. He had the flash ready to go on his 35mm camera. At the next "psst" he walked up, held his camera to the opening in the door and popped off his flash. The woman at the door would hiss or yell and slam the opening shut. Mike and I would fall against each other laughing.
Since the women in the other brothels couldn't see what was happening on the street, Mike was able to do this about seven or eight times. We then considered the expedition a success and went to a bar so we could get drunker.
Mike had the film developed and the pictures came out black. He had left the lense cap on. We were crushed. We didn't go back though. It was one of the missions that you only get one shot at.
Wednesday, October 08, 2003
Legitimate Free Music
A couple of days ago I did something that I had been meaning to do for a while.
I frequent a music news website called Pitchfork. They have a section that is titled "Free Downloads." The free downloads consist of songs in the mp3 format by bands you've never heard of. Monday night I downloaded about seventeen of the songs and burned them to a CD. I've been playing the CD exclusively on the best for the last two days. About half the songs are really good and four are standouts. All the songs are listenable.
The best song so far has been by a band called the Singles.
This has been a nice experiment and I think I'll keep doing this every few weeks or so.
A couple of days ago I did something that I had been meaning to do for a while.
I frequent a music news website called Pitchfork. They have a section that is titled "Free Downloads." The free downloads consist of songs in the mp3 format by bands you've never heard of. Monday night I downloaded about seventeen of the songs and burned them to a CD. I've been playing the CD exclusively on the best for the last two days. About half the songs are really good and four are standouts. All the songs are listenable.
The best song so far has been by a band called the Singles.
This has been a nice experiment and I think I'll keep doing this every few weeks or so.
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
He has my stapler
Today I went to the annual mind-numbingly dull county orientation on our new health insurance. County employees are very interesting. It was a room full of either outdoorsy hard-drinking maintenance guys or nerdy office workers that spend their life avoiding contact with other humans. A lot of people who reminded me of Marvin from the movie Office Space. I walked in there and felt like the coolest kid in class. That's how nerdy the room was.
Today I went to the annual mind-numbingly dull county orientation on our new health insurance. County employees are very interesting. It was a room full of either outdoorsy hard-drinking maintenance guys or nerdy office workers that spend their life avoiding contact with other humans. A lot of people who reminded me of Marvin from the movie Office Space. I walked in there and felt like the coolest kid in class. That's how nerdy the room was.
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