Bottom of The Hill fire


(pic by t-bag)

The ultimate weapon

Ol' Vern pointed me to a New York Times April 26 article, "The Monk in the Lab,"
by TENZIN GYATSO (aka the 14th dalai lama). Here's an excerpt:


Experiments have already been carried out that show some practitioners can achieve a state of inner peace, even when facing extremely disturbing circumstances. Dr. Paul Ekman of the University of California at San Francisco told me that jarring noises (one as loud as a gunshot) failed to startle the Buddhist monk he was testing. Dr. Ekman said he had never seen anyone stay so calm in the presence of such a disturbance.


Which suggests the following possible vignette, taking place down in the Situation Room:

Wolfowitz to Rumsfeld:

" Sir, if we let this - this weapon of mass mindfulness - get into the
hands of our enemies, it would render all our Shock and Awe tactics
utterly useless.

" Furthermore, if the enemy became englightened, what would stop them
from using the advanced weaponry of compassion, moderation and
humility against our troops? I've studied their manuals. They say: if
compassion, then courage. If moderation, then generosity. If humility,
then leadership.

" Don. I'm tellin' ya, they're everywhere too. Silent cells even exist
here, the the God-damn Fearing USA. They communicate in strange
elliptical logic. They use a code, something called koans. The boys
over at Foggy Bottom have been working 24x7 trying to crack them, but
they defy basic logic. Sneaky shits! They're not big meat eaters, they
don't consume all that much of anything. They don't fear police
tactics - they try to 'reach out' to them, fer chrissakes. I'm telling
you, this is a seriously dangerous group to the American way of
business, er, way of life.

" I suggest we get a call into Raytheon pronto. Get them working on an
optical munitions sensor that will home in on orange bathrobes. Sure,
we'll have a little collateral damage. But anyone who otherwise wears
orange is either an alternative society type, or nuts, anyway. Next,
we start a campaign to build popular hatred towards this Dalai Lama
guy - he's been seen many times with Richard Gere. He doesn't smoke -
the NYC folks will rally against him, just on that. No drinking, no
sex - I mean, he's probably been to Neverland! Clearly, the guy is
evil axis material."

Rummy to Wolfie:

" Shit yeah. Keep the targets coming, boyee!"

Freely Rooster wine

We were tasting some Frei Brothers 2001 reserve Chardonnay and Pinot Noir this week. They were both pretty good. Affordable too.

I wasn't familiar with the winery. A quick look at the label - established 1890; Healdsburg, CA. Hmmm... I've got to say, I know the Alexander, Russian River and Dry Creek Valley appellations pretty well. We used to buy our grapes, for the home-made hooch, from Johnson's Alexander Valley Vineyards. Strange not to have heard of such an old winery - and one that made decent wines, at reasonable prices.

The Frei Brothers website revealed all. The illustration of the vineyard looked familiar. Head up Hwy 101, past Healdsburg. On the west side of the highway, you'll soon see some seriously terra-formed, young, mega-vineyards. Everyone knows, this is Gallo's Sonoma holdings. Mystery solved: Frei is Gallo all right.

I don't know if this should bother me, or not. The marketing scheme, that is. The terra-forming does bug me...real bad. Plenty of French, Italian & Australian vintners bottle second, third, fourth, even fifth label wines. They sell the lessor stuff, under different labels, to protect the pedigree, the prestige and quality of their premium wine.

Gallo doesn't do that. They have all these 'premium' boutique wines, that almost masquerade as little independents. You won't find any mention of Gallo on the Frei Brothers label, for example.

Does it matter? It's not like they've duped me into buying a bad wine. But they did successfully trick me into buying Gallo - something I normally would not do. The terra-forming vineyards is one reason. The cheap jug wines and fortified wines they sell for nothing other than fortifying the poor lost souls around 6th and Mission, is another. It's been a while since we were boycotting grapes, but I sure do remember the Gallo Boys were fighting rooster mad about that action.

Like I said, I actually liked these wines. I also like another of their posuer labels - Rancho Zabaco (but I've had Zinnier Zins!).

But, sigh...yeah, it does matter they duped me. Once bitten twice shy.

Closing on an up note - we're tasting Stag's Leap, plus 9 more wineries, this Saturday at Wineglobe! 4pm. Stop by and say hi.

Too much chocolate

That's all I can say, in defense of the earlier 4.18.03 post.
Massively dink-chilling myself here.

Move on!

Spring weekend

There's an old pagan holiday, celebrating rebirth. And there's a christian holiday, celebrating the reglorification of a perfectly realized man. There's chocolate soon-to-be-headless bunnies and never-decaying, inedible, pink & yellow fluff-like objects that kids devour. Robin's egg blue. Where do pastels go, for the rest of the year? Birds action by cheep-cheeping in an otherwise far too cute and perky manner. Big plump grubs. And bees. Coyotes unambitiously sunning themselves.

Yes, it's time to go outside and breathe it all in. The CNN signal is not being received.

Chicken or egg?
I'm enjoying the current media dialog about democracies and oil. Cheney says it's an unfortunate but sorry coincidence oil isn't found under more democratic states. This reminds me of a creationist view of evolution.

Could it perhaps be true that having oil, inherent national wealth through natural resources, doesn't encourage democracies to flourish, Mr. VP?

All the recent Asian tiger economies, democracies, sprung out of a condition where they had no resources. They had to create vibrant economic environments to grow. Democracy seems to thrive in such environments. Whereas, you have places like Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Venezuela, etc. There, not only are the regimes essentially dictatorial, things like illiteracy are embarrassingly high. There's no need for democracy, when you've got a tap into the macro-economic equivalent of a trust fund.

I heard a lot of this from some interesting commentators. Unfortunately, I don't have a link to share. Wish I could footnote the thoughts.

Incongruous Event Planning

The wine company I'm employed by (me on the corporate, dotcom, side; the following is from the retail side. Why am I feeling compelled to distance myself?) is staging a public winetasting, a week from saturday. As part of the event, they've invited two sitar players.

Is there something odd about this, or is it just me? I've never equated sitar music with 'background' ambience. I guess you don't *have* to sit in rapt attention. It'll probably depend on the expectations and vibes given off by the players. But still, talking about the nose of a full bodied cabernet sauvignon, while a couple of guys spin a meditative aural spiral to a higher plane is going to be interesting, to say the least.

If you're around San Mateo come April 26, let me know. I'll get you on the 'preferred customer' list. Cheaper that way.

Beck Journal
Thanks to Beck's new blog, I've learned of a guitarist named Michael Angelo. Mike shreds on a 4 neck guitar. Feeling sorta weenie with just 2 turntables and a microphone, eh?

Shriekback

Now that popular 80's music is getting a semi-serious revisit (Interpol, et al), I wonder if Shriekback will also get a second look.

While XTC's Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory went down the pastoral-beatlesque path that became their signature sound, another original XTCer, Barry Andrews, hit the cups. Some say he did a Ziggy-like suck up into his mind. But without getting too analytical here, his 80's band, Shriekback, put out interesting music. Some of it I think is fairly timeless. Just get past (or revel in) the synth washes.

One of my favorite albums of theirs is "Go Bang!" Lyrically, I think of it as an indictment - and a celebration - of both societal and personal self-indulgence. He captured the seen-it-all, bored-with-life 'tude; post 60s/70s. At the same time, he seemed optimistic in showing everyone was going to keep on dancing anyway. However, since this was also pre effective AIDS-cocktails, the clouds of mortality were ever present.

Barry seemed to have that classic addictive tendency to love and hate the high. Within the experience, was awareness; but there was also hell to pay for the priviledge. You'll also see a nice wry sense of humor at play in the lyrics - which always works for me.

A 4 song sequence closes out Go Bang which nicely encapsulates what I mean about the band. Here's the lyrics to a couple of the songs. MP3s are here, so you can sing and dance along. Everybody go bang.

Go Bang

Everybody sick of ordering pizza, everybody tired of holding hands
Everybody had their share of small-talk, everybody bored with of making plans
Everybody had their feet inspected, everbody had to get a grip
everbody got their plastic bullets, everybody shooting from the hip
Everybody bites the hand that feeds them, everybody had their one-night stands
EVERYBODY HERE GO BANG. EVERYBODY HERE GO BANG.

(chorus, which is basically repeating 'everybody here go bang', so let's move onto the next verse)

Everybody here is making whoopee everybody here got purple hair
Everybody got their Black and Decker - blood and fettucine everywhere
Everybody do the Zulu wardance, doing something with a piece of wood
Everybody here can't get arrested, everybody wishing someone would
Everybody getting paranormal, everybody here in Wonderland
EVERYBODY HERE GO BANG. EVERYBODY HERE GO BANG.

Everybody want their milk and biscuits, everybody wants their bed of nails
Everybody wants to feel romantic, everybody knows what that entails
Everybody needs their feeding-frenzy, everybody needs to justify
Everyone inclines to reproduction, everybody has an alibi
Everybody wants a private income, everybody plays the Steinway grand
EVERYBODY HERE GO BANG. EVERYBODY HERE GO BANG.

The next 3 songs are Big Fun (wherein he basically tells himself he too should go bang), Get Down Tonight (the cover - and it's a pretty hot version), followed by Dust And Shadow. It's a good album closer. It's a sermon.

Dust And Shadow

Like the falling leaves and the shifting past
Sometimes the treasured things are not the things that last
And we know where we stand - between fear and desire
With one fist raised in anger, with one foot in the fire.

(chorus)
We are dust and shadow under the naked light
We are dust and shadow - wishing everything stood still tonight
We are dust and shadow - the dream of history
We are the hungry ghosts crying 'remember me, remember me.'

All the Pride and Shame. All the bones and glass
These kind of fragile things were never gonna last
Oh pretty little Boy and you my millionaire -
When the time comes you go alone
Leave the light on at the top of the stairs.

(chorus)

Where is the normal?

Watching the Astros/Giants game last night felt really good. Soothing. Normal. Only this morning did I ruin it for myself by recalling Dubya's previous executive position.

---

If you live in the Arlington VA metropolitan region, be forewarned. You will be invaded shortly, by otherwise normal looking humans - with one significant, alien, difference. They will be sporting "Wearcams," in the name of government sponsored 'art.'(?) (I too have always been fascinated by the theme of transormation. And what better way to explore all the wonderful aspects of transorminess, than by walking around, wearing a videocam on your head?) This, from Danno:

An email from the Arlington County Cultural Affairs Division:

Dear Arlington County Resident or Worker:

The Arlington County Cultural Affairs Division is bringing
award-winning filmaker Liz Canner to Arlington to create a video project on the themes of freedom, transormation and community building. It is part of the free summer Arts al Fresco performance series.

We are seeking individuals who live or work in Arlington, and who will agree to be considered as subjects for this "day in the life" documentary which is intended to showcase the diversity of lives and views in our community.

Participants will be asked to don small video cameras (wearcams) on their heads to document life from their perspective for a day. Liz Canner will edit the footage, and the resulting video will be presented as large scale video projections on public sites across Arlington County.

The videos will be projected simultaneously, so that at any given moment, diverse stories, lives and perspectives will be in view.

Attached is more information about the project by Liz Canner, and an application form if you are interested in participating. For more information, please call 703-228-1850, or email us at the above address, arts@c...

The ides of april

Why can't we just go to a fixed percentage income tax and be done with it?

Google psychiatry

Yipes. Googling "minimun effort warmonger peacenik" lands you here?

no no no, it ain't me babe, it ain't me you're lookin for babe

A Case For Song

Friend Mike has this thing where he's collecting people's impressions of important songs, in their lives. I wrote one. Since it seems I don't have many blog ideas right now, here's what I wrote. But go see Mike's A Case For Song too.

---

I've picked - and subsequently rejected - probably 10 songs to write about here.

That, in itself, is interesting to me. What is *the* song that has been the key talisman in my life?

Should I write about a song that resonated so profoundly within me that whenever I hear it, I'm transported back to the first time I heard it? What about music that is indelibly connected with vital real world experiences of significant personal portent? Or, should it be a song that came from out of the blue; turning me on to new musical experiences I'd never imagined before? Better yet, how about something that was of music, but the hearing of it meant a transcendence of the simple act of musical appreciation? A vehicle of enlightenment...with all the pomposity that entails.

I finally decided the last category is the right one. The others are as much about me as the music. After all, it's A Case For Song, not A Vat Of Dean.

So, with that finally settled, really only one song makes sense. John Coltrane's Naima.

It's not news that Coltrane's body of work can, should, be approached with reverence. So much of his work is a personal testament. The Church of John Coltrane in San Francisco is proof that his music exists quite naturally beyond existentialism (is that paradoxical?). Deeply spiritual, masculine and profoundly moving, Coltrane's music is serious. Yet I find, on balance, there are equal measures of tender and tortured. Naima personifies the tender side.

I'll admit this song may not be his highest achievement. It doesn't have the revelatory grandeur of something off of say A Love Supreme. Nor will it deliver the primal purity of Ogunde (which, over the years, I have grown to love). Live recorded performances of Naima are actually somewhat disappointing. But it's original studio recording, from Giant Steps, fills a space in my personal universe. It presents The Question...and answers it, with sublime elegance.

It is a poem, to his wife.

Look up in the sky... it's a bird, it's a drone plane, it's a supernova

On March 29, 2003, in the constellation Leo, something exploded--bright enough to see through small telescopes in brightly-lit cities.

Here's the story.

silence is golden

So I guess I've been feeling shocked and awed into silence recently. In addition to the world news, there's taxes, the home renovation (I should be up some new pics soon) and work stuff. Also, a nod to the Big Orange for winning the NCAAs (spent my freshman year at Syracuse, so I guess I can claim some connection).

All in all, I'm kind of boring right now. Hope you're not.

Poetry in Motion

I'll bet he's heard the above quip a million times.

Back in January, the UK's poet laureate, Andrew Motion, penned a little anti-war poem, Causa Belli.
He's just written another - Regime Change. Here's the story and the poem is below.
Better, you can listen to him read it here.

Baghdad By The Bay

I believe Herb Caen nicknamed San Francisco - Baghdad By The Bay. What would it feel like to be blacked out, smart bombs dropping on the Presidio, the Mint and Civic Center, an invading army marching up the peninsula, storming SFO last night?

What purpose does protest serve now?

James O. Goldsborough, San Diego Union-Tribune columnist, makes an attempt at answering that question
in yesterday's column.

It's a good try.

If you oppose this war, you might be struggling with this question. I am. How is protest meaningful now? Does non-violent marching and vigilance mean anything, given the troops are already at Baghdad's gates? How can you protest this unjust war and not be misrepresented as 'not supporting the troops?'

Goldsborough comes close to answering these questions. But I'm still looking for a stronger, clearer voice. Someone out there has to be able to find the best words. They exist; I'm sure of it.

Something I heard from a Russian programmer

The Gorbachev-era atrocity that remains unreported:

When he had the satori slap the country was on a never-ending jag, he ordered all the Moldovan vineyards cut down. All of them. And it wasn't because of a lack of sustainable ag. They just slaughtered perfectly good grapes.

Martinis before, wine with. It's ok, last time I checked.

Shakyamuni Buddha said:

Victory breeds hatred,
The defeated live in pain.
Happily the peaceful live,
Giving up both victory and defeat.
(Dhammapada, Verse 201)

Thanks to BPF.


wine life

While up in Napa yesterday, I dropped by Arger-Martucci Vineyards. We're probably not related, but hey, you never know. Anyway, they had just finished planting a new Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard and had a few cuttings left over. Being in the right place at the right time, I am now the proud caregiver for 18 cute little baby Cab vines!

Slipping Acres Vineyards...it has a nice ring to it.