who doesn't love social d?? simple three chord rockabilly songs, soulful singing from mr. mike ness and those charming, film noir covers.
i realised something recently about the value of a really simple song. i was having jam time over at my sensei's house and i was just plunking down the basic chords and singing and sensei was wailing out some really hot blues solos on his strat. when you listen to the recorded version, you have to get over the very simple mike ness solos, which are essentially breakdowns of each chord (D, A and G majors, respectively, played right on the nut & easy for beginners!) give it a listen and try to imagine the potential... then grab you music gear and come over to my house because we've played it with everything from accordions to upright pianos!
another interesting thought for you to consider: how much is this a blues song and how much is this a punk song?
flamingos and tomatoes
...or...
flamatoes!
some afternoons i head out into my yard and paint what i see. unfortunately, what i see is usually a lot of tacky yard art and over grown beds that include both vegetable plants and flowers. with a little effort, it's not that hard to make tacky yard art into slightly less tacky wall art!
first i did the watercolour to the left, with the intention of giving it to my mum for her birthday (along with a genuine set of union manufacturing flamingos i scored recently). i don't usually do only watercolours, but i found it very gratifying, even though it takes a lot more patience and planning than simply slopping actylics down on boards or canvas.
because the first flamato was so much fun, the next day i did another. this time on a small, pre stretched canvas that i treated with thick, clumpy textured gesso.
in case you were wondering, there are indeed flamingos planted amongst my tomato plants. the tomato plants seem to like them, but i think the flamingos ate my dill plant!
i had one of these as a kid (i also had a very cool mothra with mylar wings) but it got lost somewhere along the way. in 1999 when i was living in new york city, i saw one at forbidden planet and was gushing about it and how much i had loved the one i used to have and how i was jealous of college friends who had managed to make their old toys survive for so long. shortly afterward, the amazing joe oknowsky used his amazing toy detecting superpowers and presented me with one that he had found, i think, in his basement.
the reason i chose this fascinating toy is two fold:
first, it was amazingly cool when it was created. the shogun toys were huge. and tremendously interactive for their time. godzilla is almost 2 feet tall and features a lever activated flaming tongue, a wagging tail, wheels on his feet for easy mobility and a SHOOTING FIST!! actually, all the shogun toys had a shooting fist or weapon- that was kind of their hallmark.
second, the shogun godzilla has had amazing longevity. i have an 8 year old stepson. his neighbourhood friends range in age from 7 to about 12. my godzilla stands guard on a subwoofer near the front door and every time kids of any age are in this house, they all pick godzilla up and say "wow, this is cool" and then they roll him around the floor, stick his tongue out and shoot his fist. i see godzilla as hope (proof?) that kids can still be entertained with basic stuff that doesn't involve memory cards, controllers, loud noises and flashing lights!
on sunday, july 27th i was driving across town at about 2:30 in the afternoon. as is my custom in the motorcar, i dialed in the local conservative talk radio station. it's a little fuzzy on the weekends, but i thought i'd give it a try.
there was a host on rambling at increasing volume about how the government is working to eliminate the middle class, to restrict the movement of average citizens in an attempt at consolidating the powerful in a slave-state regime over the powerless when suddenly...
silence.
i looked at the radio, twiddled the volume... nothing. then i thought "my god, they've shut him down." next thought: "i am in deeeeeeeep shit."
after about 10 seconds, though, a nascar announcer came on and channel am 640 came back to life. hearing radio commentary on nascar is really a drag, so i switched the channel to the local npr station. i thought even though it was later in the afternoon, i might catch a rebroadcast of wait wait don't tell me or prarie home companion.
i had stepped into the le show twilight zone, though. if you haven't heard "le show" i highly reccommend it. you can hear archived episodes for real media at harryshearer.com or you can hit the kcrw website and get a podcast for itunes.
ostensibly a "fake news" radio programme, last week's le show featured a preview of an upcoming reality television show called "pimp my stiff", where world class embalmers were faced with challeging tasks in order to prove their mettle. one task was a "400 lb man who was hit by a natural gas truck" whose funeral was in only 2 hours (gasp!). additionally, the "apologies of the week" featuring a regional swat team forced to issue an apology to the owners of a hair salon for inciting panic by failing to inform the business that they were conducting an armed practice raid on the bulding next door.
you may recognise the voice of mr. shearer- he's mister burns on the simpsons cartoon as well as several other characters. in any case, i hope you'll give le show a try, it's a delightful little bit of entertainment!
BEHOLD: THE SNICKERS AD THAT WAS PULLED
i officially declare that sensitivity has gone TOO FAR in our fair nation.
i read on IMAO (thanks for the heads up frank, as always!) that this hysterical advertisement featuring mr t screaming "get some nuts" was pulled on account that it was "deemed insensitive to homosexuals." i submit to you this question: do you know ANYONE who wouldn't laugh at this commercial? at least i know i'm not missing out on anything by not having t.v.- all the good stuff gets banned.
Global Warming Apparently Beyond Parody:
years ago, ralph nader made a joke about strapping boxes to the asses of cows to collect the methane gas they... emit.
parody became reality last month in argentina where cow farts are being collected in plastic tanks. sadly, argentine scientists aren't trying to turn the (so far) free gasses into fuel for anything useful. nope, they're just "studying" it. my question is this: what really is there to study? i mean, you feed the cow and it farts. methane and other stuff.
although this photo does suggest some interesting questions:
1: clearly that cow is not happy- could it be that mammals don't like having pipes crammed in their portals?
2: methane is lighter than air, but is it light enough to lift that cow up off the ground?
3: this cow is number 503: assuming that cows generate enough methane in their balloons, could it be that argentina is planning on invading us with an army of fart powered flying cows?
SOMETHING SWEET TO WARM YOUR HEART, FROM THE LOCAL NEWS:
all my animals have been rescue cases (even the damn fish!) so i get a special warm feeling in my heart for articles like this, from WKYC in cleveland, where a kitten who had fallen down an outdoor drain pipe in brecksville was rescued by the local roto-rooter drain cleaning team
in a daring six hour operation which involved a drain snake with a tiny camera attached to it and a staff of 6.
the
local cleveland-akron news is often so full of horrible, sensational garbage, it's truly sweet to see something like this making the front page!
apparently, one of the workers took the kitten home and is planning on calling it "roto". best of luck to roto on a long, happy life in his new home!
DANGER DANGER, TEEVEE VIEWERS!
did you know that in february 17th of 2009 all analog broadcasting in the united states will stop? i just found this out- at first it was very exciting, until i realised that "they" were not killing television all together, only replacing it with
some "better", digital form of television broadcast.
a bridgevine survey from may 2008 suggests that 36% of households are "not ready" and 6% "had no idea of the change". best buy's survey is more positive, saying that 90% of their customers are aware of the change, though strangely, only half that number has prepared for the change. according to common cause blog, "Millions of Americans, if not prepared, will lose all access to their primary source of news and information. And according to this report, many of those people are NOT prepared for it." preparation means buying a fancy new teevee or a converter box so that free broadcast television can still be understood by your "old" teevee. apparently, the change will not affect cable and digital satellite transmission- i guess those already have an option to choose analog or digital.
this kind of talk got me wondering,
at midnight on this coming february 17th, exactly how much of the nation is going to go dead and (more importantly) at what time should i open my windows so i can hear them all screaming with terror because the boobie box won't work?
bets are open.
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