no quiero otra chica ecepto a ti

The Luxurious Sly

Again, I make an effort. Again, I fail to make the connection. Again, I am left confused. This time though, I wandered semi-aimlessly around Soho and then Union Square in search of a paper. I checked windows, subway platforms, newsstands, grocers. I looked for the right person, empty boxes, stacks of paper, any clue to the whereabouts of The Universal Sigh.

It is here.

The Armpit Collection XXXVI: Heroes & Villains

Never had a single in the collection... The more I listen to this song, the more I'm fascinated by it. Musically speaking, it's quite simple and yet also contains some passages that are complex. Lyrically, I could say the same. The ideas it invokes become more and more relevant to my own perspective the more time I spend here in NYC, amongst artists, thinking about cultural politics.

The Beach Boys have already been considered a Period Piece. To many, they are seen as just such. Brian Wilson, though, pushed his music beyond simple trappings to the point of self-destruction. This song comes right out of that tumultuous period of both his life and culture at large.

The great thing about Heroes & Villains is it's ability to maintain a dichotomous aura. I found this video the other day and was just blown away by it. I submit it as evidence that the Beach Boys escaped shallow cultural perspectives and eventually sought to express ideas more intellectually than most may give them credit for.

You Walkie, Talkie in Space?

We met this guy last Friday at an Etsy Event. Apparently he's been in space, which makes me feel mighty nice about having shook his hand.

Deep Sea Divers

Collapse

I saw this documentary on Netflix (in the Roger Eibert reccomendations section) a few weeks ago around the time I saw The Sunset Limited. Micheal Rupport, who has spent a lifetime confronting political corruption and cover-ups, was asked to sit in a Los Angeles warehouse basement and talk about a covert CIA cocaine operation from the 80's. Instead he takes this opportunity to give his sort of oral manifesto on the trending state of our planet, discussing a broad range of issues from peak oil to understanding soil.

Listening to him talk, while pounding cigs, about the looming collapse of our industrial world is just as scary to watch as Horror genre films. He claims to not have conspiracy theories, which he is accused of, but conspiracy facts. Hearing and watching him talk, you understand that not only does he passionately believe in what he is saying but his knowledge and realization of our impending doom is a curse and burden on him. He revolves his life around the undesireable and complicated issues that we are aware at least in part of, but cast aside because they are difficult and depressing.

The film is enlightening and a heads-up-er as Michael Ruppert is a bright and vastly interesting guy.

New Banner

J has again provided us with a spiffy, new banner. Past banner below below.

And the Locusts Sang...

“Bob Dylan at Princeton, November 2000”

By: Paul Muldoon

We cluster at one end, one end of Dillon Gym.

“You know what, honey? We call that a homonym”

We cluster at one end, one end of Dillon Gym.

“If it’s fruit you’re after, you go out on a limb.”

The last time in Princeton, that ornery degree,

Those seventeen-year locusts hanging off the trees.

The last time in Princeton, that ornery degree,

His absolute refusal to bend the knee.

His last time in Princeton, he wouldn’t wear a hood.

Now he’s dressed up as some sort of cowboy dude.

That last time in Princeton, he wouldn’t wear a hood.

“You know what, honey? We call that disquietude.

It’s that self-same impulse that has him rearrange

both ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’’ and ‘Things Have Changed’

so that everything seems to fall within his range

as the locusts lock in on grain silo and grange.”

Here's a Check!

For discussion: What's wrong with this? It elicits an anger in me that I can't even begin to describe. Am I alone in my absolute disdain for shows like this?

Rich people descend from their mansions on the hill to slum it with poor people. To their utter astonishment, poor people are human beings with feelings, ambitions, hopes, and dreams. More importantly, the poor people are doing something crazy - they attempt to lead fulfilling lives by helping other poor people. Poor people are "real life heroes", are good people! What a surprise. And, just to show their empathy for these "poories," the rich people give them a laughable fraction of their fortune because, as we all know, you can solve the country's complex economic and social problems by giving a few poor people some money - teach a man to fish. Not only that, the better people, the "richies," can write the money off as a charitable donation on their tax return. It's a win, win! Force minorities to feel indebted and forever dependent upon the selective charity of wealthy barons as the only solution to their economic ills, and we get to see poor black people hug rich blond women on national television. Who needs white guilt when you can just write a check?

Hot off the Press!

"Imagine Johnny Cash's heavy country meshed with rock 'n' roll in the vein of the Velvet Underground (no pun intended). Now take that and add some classic old-timey flare and some femininity, and roll that sound into a score from a Quentin Tarantino film, and you have something along the lines of Lucas & The Lovelys."

That's from The Frederick News Post (The Frederick News-Post is a Frederick, MD based newspaper that has been delivering local news, sports, classifieds, food, obituaries, entertainment, and community events to Frederick, MD for more than 100 years.)

Fun times, Lucas, I'm proud of you, brother. Now when are you going to mail me a copy of the cd, or more importantly, when are you playing New York?!

ZION?

Hagerstown Happens

Happened to catch a few Facespacers passing this around... Oh Hagerstown, Sweet Hagerstown, how I miss thee not.

Deep Sea Divers

The Sunset Limited

I stumbled upon this Cormac McCarthy film adaptation of his own play while flipping through the HBO Movies On Demand feature on my home television set. What initially peaked my interest in the film was the pairing of actors Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson, who play the respective characters White and Black. These are the only two characters in the film outside of a hypothetical voyeuristic neighbor, Cecil, and some references to people involved in each man's life.

For the duration of the movie, we are confined with the two men in Black's apartment after he saves the life of the suicidal White at a subway station. This leads to a lengthy philosophical discussion between Black, a Christian ex-convict, and White, an atheistic professor. The dialogue alone tells the story, powerfully exploiting the interpretations of life and death.

Delicious Kool-Aid

article

Today's Stories

I woke particularly early this morning, and decided to read a lil NYT before moving along. Two articles struck me.

• Reagan and Reality by Bob Herbert - Gipper's got a new documentary coming out! Looks pretty interesting, I'll probably check it out at some point. I'm glad someone finally made a movie setting Gip's past record straight. It seems like when Bush's dumbass was president the Right deified Reagan for some reason. I'd see folks on Fox News talking about how he was the greatest President in history, and I'd wonder if they were saying it purely to be controversial. Maybe because he wasn't seemingly as bad as Bush was at the time? In 2011 I do often think foldly of GW's memory (my logical side thinks it's just because I was younger during his time in office). It seemed not a day could go by without him screwing something up. Iraq? Tax cuts? Oil? By the end, when you heard that the economy was spiraling into the biggest catastrophe since the Great Depression - it was like, "No duh. Look who's been running the show." But I bet "Reagan" is worth seeing. Good characters back then. Americans. I don't know, I consider myself out-outspokenly liberal, and certainly left-wing, but I have to admit the Right does have some charm... Reagan, Bush, Palin, and don't forget smokin' John Boehner! Yeah, I expect better out of them and their policies have ruined lives, but when not looking at life too seriously, hey, at least they're Americans!
  

• Wall Street's Dead End by Felix Salmon - As someone who works in the industry it does seem like this is the direction American investors and corporations are heading... "as the number of initial public offerings steadily declines, the stock market is becoming little more than a place for speculators and algorithms to compete over who can trade his way to the most money." Thanks partly to Reagan (and don't forget Bush) the rich keep getting richer, and the majority are none the wiser. That's what keeps Americans from rioting in the streets, the obliviousness to the great swindle, the loss in value.

NYT Cover

Maggie's Stage?

Question to the Queue:

1. Can you sing "Maggie's Farm" on the Grammy Awards without being completely ironic? In other words, can you say you ain't gonna work on Maggie's Farm no more while singing in Maggie's kitchen.

Pearl Jam - Austin City Limits

Pearl Jam "Got Some"

You can view the performance in its entirety here.

They're Baaaaaaaack!

The Strokes "Under the Cover of Darkness"

Tell me...

Happy Worthdays

Texans — be it casual, be it actual. Said the groundhog to us (ofA), "Fuck that."