Support Internet Radio - Relief for Small Business webcasters

There's a congressional vote tomorrow, Oct 1, to help webcasters (Internet radio broadcasters) remain in business while they are resolving their commercial disputes with record companies & the RIAA. H.R. 5469 - Six-month moratorium on royalties - Up for vote on October 1st.

If the bill is not enacted prior to October 20, webcasters will be forced to shut down - even though their case is still on appeal.

In other words, if the bill doesn't pass, the RIAA wins the war.
Read all about it here: Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP) News.

There's still time (well, one day) to shout out. The CARP News site spells out all the particulars.

Speaking of TV,
...half-baked ideas and cup sizes (as we were, on an email list I belong to),
it sometimes worries me how much I really do think like Kramer, from the Seinfeld show.

The Bro - a fantastic name for a product.
The Coffee Table Book - pure genius.
Make Your Own Pizza - i can't tell you how many restaurant/public place ideas I have toyed with.

Do you have a TV character alter-ego?

NASA TV

This coming Wednesday, Oct 2, NASA TV, will be broadcasting a live video of a shuttle launch. The camera will be mounted on the fuel tank. We'll get to vicariously experience - somewhat - what a launch is like.

Here is the FULL STORY. Should be a trip.

Friday Miscellany

Just got the great news that my niece, Jackie, has been accepted into the Who's Who Among American High School Students, 2001-2002. Way to go Jackie!

Too bad this over-qualifies her for a political career

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A picture borrowed from another blogsite, that speaks for itself

A Matter of Scale

I recently read a beautiful little piece on Biological Scaling.

Your average cat weighs about 100 times more than your average mouse. It also lives 100 to the 1/4 power, or roughly 3 times as long. Curiously, this same power ratio equation applies for most species. It's one example of biological scaling.

There is a wide variety of scaling relationships:

Metabolic rate to body mass - scales to the ¾ power
Animal size, to number of species – scales to the ¼ power.
Mass to strength - scales to the 2/3 power (which explains why an ant can carry twigs many times their body weight, yet a man can lift only a few hundred pounds).
Population density, average number of offspring, the time until reproduction – ALL scale to body mass, to the ¾ power.

Clearly, something fundamental is going on here. But what? Why do these relationships exist? Scaling relationships even show up between plants and animals.

‘It’s something to do with…. metabolism.’ For decades, that was basically as far as the biologists could take it. However not too long ago, two rather clever biologists realized ‘hey, a physicist might know more about discovering core fundamentals. We’re good at seeing and interpreting diversity, life. Lets team up and see what we can figure out together.’

Sure enough, together they came up with some answers. And yes, it did have ‘something’ to do with metabolism. But at its core, it had more to do with the nature of circulatory systems. There, the physics and mathematics of fractal networks was seen to apply.
Elegantly.

What I personally think is wonderful about this is - fractal networks have chaos as a fundamental attribute.

From chaos, order. From randomness, life. From uncertainty, elegance.
All part of theoretical physics current embracement of…paradox.

It's 10 o'clock. Do you know where your Zen master is?

Post script:

Did you know all animal species use up roughly the same number of heartbeats in a lifetime?
Regardless of average lifespan?
It’s true – about 1 billion beats.
It's tied to the above metabolic rate/body mass scaling symmetry.
Kool? no?

"Eventually, artists will be going onstage like race-car drivers covered in hundreds of logos..."


There's an interesting dialog going on, in The Nation, of all places. John Densmore, of The Doors, writes about his resistance to selling the rights to Doors music for commerical exploitation. The article is well worth a look: Riders on the Storm

Later, Tom Waits writes an open letter of support & solidarity:
Perception of Doors

A postscript: In the comments & replies section to Waits' letter, John Densmore shares a tidbit about that ubiquitous Cadillac TV commercial: "...Led Zeppelin was actually GM's second choice, after we (The Doors) turned down an amount of money that makes me weak in the knees. At the end you see their new SUV roar by, and it says, "Break Through," with the Caddie logo in between. They wanted it to say, "Break on Through"!

Leeches & Slugs

...Leeching a subject title off Wolfie...


This weekend, I heard someone on one of those sunday morning NPR programs say, if it wasn't for Bogie's freakout scene in African Queen,
leeches wouldn't have such a bad rap.


Maybe so, but you gotta love the Banana Slug.

Largest of all north american slugs, second largest slug in the world, the banana slug is always a welcome sight, on our redwood woodlands walks. One of my more funny embarrassing moments, was on a san mateo county coastal hike, from shore to ridgetop (west to east). Climbing the trail for a short while, we spied a fantastic specimum. It was a brilliant yellow and probably close to 6 inches in length. A great start to the trek. Moving onward and upward, another couple of hikers came around a bend, heading down the same trail. Of course, I exclaimed "watch for this one great banana slug, about 50 yards down from here!" They gave me this blank look. Barely even grunted. What's up with that? How could that be construed as me being a wise ass?

Well, it didn't take too long for us to figure out why the look. Another couple of yards up the trail, we entered...Banana Slug Central. Tens, hundreds, perhaps more. It was almost surreal. And funny. As David George Gordon says in his 'Field Guide to The Slug,' "To err is human; to slime, sublime."

The Banana Slug is the UC Santa Cruz mascot. It was even in the 'race' to become California's Official Mollusk, but the govenor squashed the slug plug. Maybe he was a Bogart fan....or anti-hermaphrodite?

Brought to you by the letter H: Heat, Hiking & House Concerts

HEAT

We are having perfect september weather here. Hot, clear, sunny, dry. Just in case it needs repeating: never vacation in Nor Cal in July/Aug. The best time is right now - Sept/Oct.

HIKING

Taking advantage of said beautious outdoor FX, Deb & I did a nice, brisk, 7.5mile hike in Point Reyes Sunday. The Estero Trail, to be specific. .

This trail is in the northern portion of the park, which also happens to be a Thule Elk preserve. And because we didn't bring our cameras, we came upon a small herd about 2 hours down the trail. Here's some pictures by a guy who did remember to bring a camera.

I am still a little sore today, but it's the good aching kind.



HOUSE CONCERTS

I've reconfigured, reconnected, reogranized and redecorated the living room in preparation of the relaunch of our house concerts. I've been meaning to do this forever and we're finally there. We may have Seana Carmody & band in on next Oct 1. Locals, stay tuned - as soon as I know if Seana has the date open, we'll send an announcement. You probably should email me if you're reading this and interested in being notified - seating is very limited.

It's not a big deal setup, but I think it should be fine for these little intimate shows. Mackie 24x8x2 mixing bd, DbX quad compressor, Lexicon mpx100, Yamaha rex50, Panasonic DATSV3800 Recorder & Sony DATMan, Event 20/20 monitors {the pa ;-)}, Shure mics SM58s (2), Sony stereo compressor mic. You're free to use the Roland KR575 full keyboard digital piano, spanish acoustic guitar (A. Burguett) & we can't forget the Mele concert ukulele.

The National Security Strategy of the United States - the document

Well, the White House has released the document that is supposed to clarify Bush's stance on Iraq, terror and any other perceived national threats. I've only begun to dip into it, but it's supposedly "written so the boys in Lubbock can read it". I guess that means I should be able to absorb, if not understand, it.

As one NY Times article states: "One of the most striking elements of the new strategy document is its insistence that the president has no intention of allowing any foreign power to catch up with the huge lead the United States has opened since the fall of the Soviet Union more than a decade ago.

We're not just taking about Iraq anymore (Al Qaeda? What's that? ans: ancient history). Any country. Forget North Korea and Cuba. What about somebody already with a degree of global power. Say...The People's Republic of China, for instance?

Oh well, enjoy yourself, it's later than you think. Much, much later.

You had to be there?
If you have to hang around an airport, waiting for a plane, it might as well be at Kona.

After checking the luggage, it occurred to one of my traveling companions, fellow Mensa reject "Leo", that perhaps a cool beverage in the airport lounge might be an good way to kill some time. After several, our senses developed an unique acuteness; an extra-ordinary sensory ability. We began to...notice things. Sure, this lounge had all the *normal* bar decor one comes to rely on, to get ones' bearings...in bars. An exit sign, for example. But we noticed there was something slightly different. A neon satori moment was in the offing.

"Holy boogie-boards, Leo. We're not in the Hawaiian Islands....we're in the...."
(click on thumbnail to find out where we really were) -------->

These things are important

Real SF indie kids, debating whether Interpol's bassist smoked a ciggie cooly at this weeks' Bottom of the Hill show:

Yes, he did:
"here's to lighting a cigarette mid-way through your last song, and smoking it cooly."

No, he didn't:
When the singer lit that cigarette, it had to be the phoniest, most intentional,
unnatural and pretentious gesture made in San Francisco since Badly Drawn
Boy posed during his songs (!) for photographers. He'd been practicing with
the cigarette in the mirror, I'm sure, but it wasn't working.

He did:
thats what made it so funny. its so obviously uncool its back to cool.
he was so unphased by the phoniness of it all.

He didn't:
the bass player did annoy the fuck out of me as well. it all seemed
so contrived. but i thought they sounded great.

Diplomatic:
i actually enjoyed the poseur-ness of the bass player--it was part of
the show. in fact, i *appreciate* the fact that they were damned
image conscious. but then again, it is very cool to make high fun
out of hyped bands who look nice; their music be damned.

Above it all:
What the fuck is up with this. Why are people ripping on there clothes
(gay ties?), lighting cigarettes while playing, posing for the
cameras, there stage performance being soulless? I didn't come there
to fucking rip on the guys at all, I came there to support a band
that had a great album and who would play for me for 8 bucks.

Way above it all, cause he's punk:
Lastly, the flood of posters fixating on clothes, lighting cigarettes and
generally ignoring the music cements my already known low opinion of
"indie rock." I'd much rather watch someone make noise and set their
clothes on fire than discuss what those clothes looked like before they
went up to/in smoke.

At least I'm not posting Deadhead Jokes....

...instead, a recent batch of Rock N Roll Senior Moments:

Herman's Hermits: "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Walker"
The Rolling Stones: "You Can't Always Pee When You Want"
Credence Clearwater Revival: "Bad Prune Rising"
Marvin Gaye: "I Heard It Through the Grape Nuts"
The Who: "Talkin' Bout My Medication"
The Troggs: "Bald Thing"
Carly Simon: "You're So Varicose Vein"
The Bee Gees: "How Can You Mend a Broken Hip"
Roberta Flack: "The First Time Ever I Forgot Your Face"
Johnny Nash: "I Can't See Clearly Now"
The Temptations: "Papa Got a Kidney Stone"
ABBA: "Denture Queen"
Leo Sayer: "You Make Me Feel Like Napping"
Commodores: "Once, Twice, Three Trips to the Bathroom"
Procol Harem: "A Whiter Shade of Hair"
The Beatles: "I Get By With a Little Help From Depends"

New Ron Sexsmith - "Cobblestone Runway" due out Sept 24

The following is lifted from ChartAttack (by the way, in hindsight, wasn't "Blue Boy" a major disappointment?)

Ron Sexsmith Trying To Be Like Dylan

Celebrating the release of his sixth album Cobblestone Runway on
September 24, Toronto-based singer/songwriter Ron Sexsmith is full of
anticipation. One of his most "contemporary albums" to date (this
coming from a dude championed by Elton John and covered by Rod
Stewart, both bludgeoned by the brick of Contemporary), Cobblestone
Runway finds Sexsmith even more contemplative than usual.

"I think this is a pretty mellow record," whispers the boy-faced
giant. "I was curious to see what a different producer might do with
this album and, overall, I think he was able to bring me more up to
date. I'm not a producer and I don't make retro albums, but you
think `Wow, I've made a hit record!' Then you listen to what's out
there and you're like, `Gee, I guess I didn't.'"

That "gee, I guess I didn't" has plagued Sexsmith since day one. Even
with credits such as those previously mentioned and a more rock-
influenced fifth album, Blue Boy, produced by Steve Earle, the man
has never been able to break into the commercial realm. He admits
that after almost two decades it kinda gets to ya.

"It's been bothering me that I've never been able to break radio.
Maybe this (album) won't either, but when I heard how it was turning
out, I thought it might be my best shot at having some kind of…
action. I've gone over with the maverick DJs, but never anything on
mainstream radio and that's where the general public learns about
music. They don't go looking for it. They're in their car listening
to E-Z radio and they don't really know what's out there."

Of course this isn't to say that Sexsmith doesn't enjoy his street-
level credibility. In fact, it's what keeps him going. The flood of
letters and emails help him acknowledge that his work is accepted.
But still, he admits that it would be nice to expand outside of cult
status sometime.

"There's a whole population out there that doesn't know I exist. I'm
prepared to never get past that though. I've had a pretty good
career. It's my sixth album, I tour, I play. That's great."

In keeping with his tradition of creating albums as a document,
Cobblestone Runway is a very simple affair, in that for all of his
talk about breaking through to the mainstream, Sexsmith admits that
its creation wasn't about building the Next Big Thing. Where many
artists whittle away years and thousands of dollars to create their
Piece De Resistance, Sexsmith is more grounded about the whole
affair. It's about giving the fans something to learn the words with…
nothing more.

"I can never see myself spending a year in the studio. I'm not
interested in that. An album is how you sound on that particular day.
It's not about spending time getting the definitive version. I'll
probably sing them better down the road. Some night in Pittsburgh
I'll sing the best version and no recorders will be around. You're
just trying to get this down on the tape the best way you can so
people can hear how they're supposed to go and move on. Dylan never
second-guessed himself. He made his albums and moved on. That's how
I'm trying to be."

Here we go again

This is the 3rd commenting service that has failed me. All in less than one month. Netcomments (blinked out without any notice), YACCS (didn't close, but won't take any more members, thank you) and now Haloscan (who seems to have vaporized yesterday). The last one wasn't very reliable, anyway. So now I'll take the lead from Mark&Marjorie and see if this Klink Family has any staying power.

And of course, all earlier comments are now bye-bye. I know all this is free, but it still sux...

I Like....To Hike

Silly post-hike musings are below, but they ought to be purged. Once the endorphins wore off, they didn't have much going for them.

Although I still kinda like the line "an industrial age in a skeleton..."

1.
Hiking begins like this:
In!
Out..........
In!

2.
Two-cycled combustion
an industrial age in a skeleton
steam, oily rags and no electricity.
Leashed dogs on the scent have never heaved
as furiously.

3.
An old rock, deep in eternal amusement,
decided to effectuate an ageless dream.
It is rich and well to have
the noble shining hiker
sit upon this suitably mossy site
and
seize
up.

The glory, the ease
I am
Plinth!

Jason Is Found

What a difference a day makes....
Sunday, not Saturday. D'uh.

Well, it was great to (finally) catch their show and to spend that quality barstool time with the curly and entertaining Jason NeSmith! Bryan Poole's new solo project, The Late B.P. Helium, has got more of the rock than Elf Power ever powered out. Apologies to Sofa for missing his show this eve - Jason comes through town just once in a blue moon.

Anyone from LA who is happening to read this, they say they're playing Silver Lake Lounge, Monday, sept 16.

Where's Jason?


So I went to Edinburgh Castle, here in SF, to see Jason NeSmith tonight. He called to say he'd be playing with Bryan Poole (aka Bryan Helium), bassist from Elf Power.

Well, I show up. I'm positive he said sept 14. I'm positive he said Edinburgh C. Only tonight's gig is "Pussylips." That's not exactly Jason.

It was spoken word, for a good cause. Breast cancer. Beth Lisick and a few others I didn't know. Beth, w/o her Ordeal; but she's always a pleasure, w/ or w/o the Ordeal. But I still gotta know, where's Jason??

Blocked Blogger Haiku

it can't be that hard
composing one pithy thought
one daily comment

Images....by Tyrone Green

Remember this? Now that's what I call poetry!

George Eliot (1819-1880)

George Eliot (aka Mary Ann Cross) once wrote:
"If we could hear the squirrel's heartbeat, the sound of the grass growing, we should die of that roar."

Makes me wonder what she'd think of the internet. And blogs.

A few other GE links:
Virginia Woolf on GE
George Eliot Fellowship
An Overview

Loser Of The Year: film director Rob Van Eyck

Peace

September is for Joan Osborne fans


If you agree Joan Osborne has a set of pipes that blow away most "divas," get ready for a big month.

She'll be on the Conan O'Brien Show, Wednesday 9.11; with backing from the Youthful Praise choir.
Could be just what the soul doctor prescribes, given this solemn anniversary date.

Next, her new album, "How Sweet It Is," is going to be released Sept 17. Tracks are *all* 60's/early70's classics. Check this out:
1. I'll Be Around
2. Think
3. How Sweet It Is
4. Smiling Faces Sometimes
5. Love's In Need Of Love Today
6. These Arms Of Mine
7. Only You Know And I Know
8. War
9. Why Can't We Live Together
10. Axis: Bold As Love
11. The Weight
12. Everybody Is A Star

I haven't heard any of it yet, but I have heard some of her songs from the film documentary on Motown's Funk Brothers, "Standing In The Shadows of Motown" and she is simply amazing on that.

The film is due for theatrical release Nov 15, but the soundtrack is coming out real soon: Sept 24.
Here's the track listing:
1. (Love Is Like A) Heat Wave - Joan Osborne
2. You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me - Meshell Ndegeocello
3. Do You Love Me - Bootsy Collins
4. Bernadette (instrumental) - The Funk Brothers
5. Reach Out I’ll Be There - Gerald Levert
6. Ain’t Too Proud To Beg - Ben Harper
7. Shotgun - Gerald Levert featuring Tom Scott
8. What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted - Joan Osborne
9. I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Ben Harper
10. You Keep Me Hanging On (instrumental) - The Funk Brothers
11. Cool Jerk - Bootsy Collins
12. Cloud Nine - Meshell Ndegeocello
13. What’s Going On - Chaka Kahn
14. Band Introduction / Ain’t No Mountain High Enough - Chaka Kahn & Montell Jordan
15. The Flick - Earl Van Dyke

Go Joannie!!

Seems as if they're listening in:
Mon Sep 9, 5:13 PM ET
U.S. Forces Launch Big Operation in E.Afghanistan

2nd CD-r Comp Offer


In the time honored tradition of fiddling while Rome burns, how about another compilation offer? Same as last time, if you'd like a copy, just write me with your mailing address and I'll put one in the mail to you shortly.

This one I actually made up several years ago. It's called "Be Bop & Blew." A jazz set, which plays pretty well while sitting outdoors on a sunny sunday afternoon. We still play it quite often, so we must be having some pretty excellent weather, these days.

The tracks to "Be Bop & Blew":
1. Billie Holliday - Fine & Mellow (live, from Monterey Jazz Festival)
2. Count Basie - Blues Alley (mellow swing)
3. Duke Ellington - Limbo Jazz (another live track)
4. Nancy Wilson & Cannonball Adderely - The Masquerade Is Over
5. Mabel Mercer - I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore
6. Rod McKuen - I Dig Sausalito (he too confesses to listening to Mabel Mercer records)
7. D. Gillespie, S. Rollings & S. Stitt - After Hours (3 amazing horn players, round-robin-riffing)
8. Mavis Rivers & Shorty Roger - I Feel So Smoochie (see song questionnaire, from last week)
9. Dizzy Gillespie - Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (When Cadillacs roamed the earth)
10. Ahmad Jamal - Poinciana (a sublime version of this nugget)
11. Gil Evans - Where Flamingos Fly (mood indigo extraordinaire)
12. John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman - Lush Life (my favorite version of this song)
13. Abbey Lincoln - Live For Life

Do You Remember?

The week of remembrance is here. It began for us with two back-to-back 2hr sunday evening TV programs. An extended 60 Minutes and a Frontline focusing on the military and political machinations of the war in Afghanistan, so far.

One impression reinforced by both is the chapter on Osama Yo Mama and his Alley Qaedas is far from closed. Yet we don't hear the president mentioning their names very much anymore. He now has Iraq - a more conventional target - in his sites. For the crime of trying to import exotic aluminum pipes. Somewhere in this, doesn't justice come into the mix? 3000 lives, families and a nation have already been assaulted. How about finishing that job, Mr. Bush?

His war on the environment, the absence of an economic policy and now this Iraq mess...he's more, so much more, than even I worried he'd be.

Seana Carmody's 'Struts & Shocks'
www.kimcheerecords.com


"Struts & Shocks" is a well chosen title for this collection of songs. They are whispered teases and confidences. Scolds, observations and jokes. Bits of conversation between good friends and lovers, on the whys and hows of relationship.

They are not themed around car parts, although there's at least one auto allegory in here. Nor are these histronic, angst-driven, obvious narrations, like those we hear daily, from the purveyors of the monoculture. The listener is given license for interpretation.

Seana's lyrics reside just barely subsurface, as winks, nods and ah-sos. Nestled, garden potatoes. Carefully cultivated, yet fecund, ripe and natural. Yummy. So, although printing lyrics may be pretentious, I, for one, would like to read the full menu, you know? Maybe a website can deal with that shortly.

Always known for her spare and delicate vocals, I have to say her guitar playing has also never sounded better. Adam Brilla, bassist, also adds some expressive guitar work to several tracks. Orrin Anderson's drumming is tastefully deferential to the songs, with a standout Ringo moment, or two, on "Stay Awake," the final track.



Breaking down the tracks, I don't hear a throwaway in the lot. Besides, the whole disc is a short listen. Some songs are barely 2 minutes long. That usually reeks of short blasts of retro power pop - thankfully, that's not the case here. If the lyric is over, so is the song. I like that.

The first 4 songs are an impressive sequence of bad/good/bad/good relationship tunes. "Rocket Out Of Time" uses a shimmering guitar and schoobie doobie wah wah chorus to give lift to a song that may be about clueing in a jilted, slightly tipsy, ex-lover. Like speaking to an indie stanley kowlawski, wailing 'why me?' in the snow out on your front sidewalk. Next up are "Mighty Bull" (with a great lazy guitar reprise, closing this gem) and "Tailgate" (uh-huh, car). My current favorite, "Sidewalk," follows. What a nice whoozy, summer-spacey, walking-around-in-love sorta song. How can you deny a line like: "Give me a secret, from your mouth to mine?"

"I Can Troll" (I can troll, I control) is a short tune, followed by yet another shortie - "Lazy Island." 'See the lazy island, where nobody's free.' Like reggae pop, the lyrics swim counter to the melodic current. Next up is "Tornadoes." Starting-out like some sort of soft acoustic madrigal heard in a late-night bodega, it ultimately crescendos into a gothic spire of near Procol Harum dizziness. Gaudi-esque? si! Her SyrupUSA phase is most noticable here.

"Deirdre" is a soft plea and firmly in Lee Hazzelwood territory. "Smoking In The Dark," fading in a bowl of FX, is followed by a wonderful closing track. "Stay Awake" is all too much & tomorrow never knows, confidently in the Beatle key. Whereas those guys once erected dayglo billboards for the masses, here Seana seems to be quietly speaking a similar message of optimisum, of self preservation, to just one listener. A plea not to fade away. Whether it's about a relationship, or a suggestion, an insistence, on life, this is a song you could play to your chemically impaired acquaintences. Or, maybe it's just about staying up real late.

Seana and band have clearly been working on their suspension. This ride is smooth, comfy and satisfying.
d

Comment on Commenting

Well it looks like Haloscan is sort of working again. But definitely not fully operational. I can comment on some messages, but not on others. Oh well, one thing that remains consistent - I sure know how to pick the winner dotcoms...

And Patricia, since I can't seem to use the comments to answer you, I'll do it here:
I hear you - your point is very well taken. I guess I think of myself as such a guy, if *I* like something, I assume the zeitgeist is going to classify it as boneheaded guy stuff. But I do hope everyone will appreciate my upcoming "Mullets Are In Again!" tribute page! ;-)

deano

Back from a long weekend

Got back from Hawaii last evening - great time. The Kilauea Pu'u O'o lava flow has reached the beach!

Maybe more on Hawaii later, but first I see Haloscan, the 'comments' server I'm using here, experienced a series of Denial Of Service attacks over the long weekend. Sorry about that...

deano