Tuesday, December 30, 2003

And in the end

2003 seems to have been about nothing except war and death. global and local. 2004? Surely more of the same: it's come to that part of the cycle. All I can say is I've learned closure is self-imposed fascism. Deny it.

ie: anyway the wind blows.
cue Queen.

And so, in the waning hours of this most worthless of years, may I wish Big Love on you all. My resolution? Make love, but also mustn't forget to take some. Everyone needs nourishment. Saints not allowed.

peace, d

Wednesday, December 24, 2003

In The Season of Giving

The real message of Dicken's A Christmas Carol is not unlike the following poem, wut he also wrote.

THE HYMN OF THE WILTSHIRE LABORERS
by: Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

GOD! who by Thy prophet's hand
Didst smite the rocky brake,
Whence water came, at Thy command,
Thy people's thirst to slake;
Strike, now, upon this granite wall,
Stern, obdurate, and high;
And let some drops of pity fall
For us who starve and die!

The God who took a little child
And set him in the midst,
And promised him His mercy mild,
As, by Thy Son, Thou didst:
Look down upon our children dear,
So gaunt, so cold, so spare,
And let their images appear
Where lords and gentry are!

O God! teach them to feel how we,
When our poor infants droop,
Are weakened in our trust in Thee,
And how our spirits stoop;
For, in Thy rest, so bright and fair,
All tears and sorrows sleep:
And their young looks, so full of care,
Would make Thine angels weep!

The God who with His finger drew
The judgment coming on,
Write, for these men, what must ensue,
Ere many years be gone!
O God! whose bow is in the sky,
Let them not brave and dare,
Until they look (too late) on high,
And see an Arrow there!

O God, remind them! In the bread
They break upon the knee,
These sacred words may yet be read,
"In memory of Me!"
O God! remind them of His sweet
Compassion for the poor,
And how He gave them Bread to eat,
And went from door to door!


"The Hymn of the Wiltshire Laborers" is reprinted from The Poems and Verse of Charles Dickens. Ed. F.G. Kitton. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1903.



In The Spirits of the Season

At the end of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge says to Cratchit:

"I'll raise your salary and endeavor to assist your struggling family as we discuss your affairs this very afternoon over a Christmas bowl of Smoking Bishop."

Q: What's a Smoking Bishop?

A: Red wine, port, whole ripe bitter oranges, sugar, cloves, star anise & cinnamon. The punch is heated (mulled) in a vessel with a long funnel, which was pushed far down into the fire until it 'smoked.' The name 'Bishop' came from its purple color.

Monday, December 22, 2003

Life Imitates Art

Did George W. (GW) get a sneak preview of LOTR (we *know* he didn't read the triology)? Did he usurp Gandalf the White's (GW) strategies? The Commissar at the Politburo Diktat sheds light, in Gandalf The Unilateral.

Sunday, December 21, 2003

My Best of '03 - addendum

May I edit my best of '03 list, because it's still '03? I forgot to mention two I really like, probably because they came out so early in the year. They are:

Cat Power - You Are Free.
Calexico - Feast Of Wire.

Both are ....wonderful.



If not the erased Beatles master tape...

...then why not buy me Merle Haggards' Houseboat? Just three more shopping days...

Friday, December 19, 2003

A Magical Mystery

Did the Beatles briefly reunite in 1976?

Well here's another clue for you all. An auction is about to begin (Dec 20), for a master tape from 'the Davlen Studios session'. Minimum bid $75K. It would make a lovely gift for me... don't let me down.

(I'm so Beatley, all of a sudden...)
Dreamin' of a Green Christmas?

Some last minute tips from NRDC:

Green Gifts
Nature Lover Books
Things To Do

Thursday, December 18, 2003

Beatles & Dickens

As part of an e-mail exchange with a friend, I stumbled onto a blog subject (maybe). Our govenor just did a small end-around on the state legislative process. Our absurdly hypocritcial president, decides unilateralist action, on the part of Israel, is wrong. But you know what? I want to talk about the connection between Charles Dickens and The Beatles. What is the message of A Christmas Carol, if not the love you take, is equal the love you make?

Has someone already discussed this, while I was sleeping?

Of- course- they- have.

Further googling, reveals Dickens' arrival in the US was an early precursor of the Fab Four's British Invasion phenomena. C.D., The Proto Beatle.

To find further connections, perhaps I should stay here.

Watched Bill Maher, admitted computer luddite, on CNN's Larry King Show last night. Curious thing he said, during the interview. He said the invention of the Internet is nothing in comparison to the major 19th, early 20th, century inventions (light bulb, refrigerator, car, airplane, etc). For a man of words and ideas, isn't he being a bit myopic?

Man does not live by bread and electricity alone. I couldn't have opened my refrigerator and discovered that others also see the Dickens in the Beatles.

Food glorious food
We're anxious to try it
Three meals a day
Our favorite diet.
But you'll have to have them all pulled out
After the Savoy Truffle

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

A Victory

Here come da judge, here come da judge...on snow shoes!
Now this is great news. Smite Bush, oh yee robed warriors of the court.

As a kid, I used to dirt bike. I can appreciate the thrill of horsepower. But come on guys, everything in its place. A national park is supposed to be a refuge from mankind. There's plenty of places to ride crotch rockets; be they motorcyles, snowmobiles, or jet skis. Enjoy the beauty of the parklands, on foot. And for gosh sakes, leave the critters some.

Big props to the courts. While cowards crawl the congressional hallways, it's good to know the judicial process is doing a decent job of staying above politics and corporate influence.

Tuesday, December 16, 2003

Seasonal Mood Inducement

If you're not in that 'Tis The Season' mindset yet, here's a little recording from last Saturday's house concert to help you along. Judith Edelman and Gavin Matthews, doing a very tender version of Silent Night. The juxtaposition of the noisy kitchen crowd is not unlike the staccato counter-melody of an M-16 in the Holy Land. Our Saviour wouldn't recognize the old neighborhood. Or, would he?

Here is Judith and Gavin, doing Silent Night


Off we go, into the wild blue yonder

I gave myself an early Xmas present - I quit the paying job from hell.

It is an odd feeling though. Leaving. I learned early into this job that it was far from what I thought it would be. You sell yourself to an employer, but they also sell you. And I was sold a bag o' doo-doo, as a now ex-associate puts it.

I've reached a point in my life and finances where I want to work, but I want to work at something that is:

* meaningful
* fulfilling
* enjoyable

Although money does have its benefits, I've realized I've got an opportunity to take a tack, from here on out, where the reward is in the doing; not in the pay envelope. I won't get fooled again. That's a very lucky situation to be in, I know. And I'm grateful.

Now all I have to do is figure out what *that* is. Stay tuned.

PS: I actually had time last night to mail out the first batch of holiday CDs. Now that's productivity.

Sunday, December 14, 2003

Music in the sunroom
The first house concert, in the new sunroom, seems to have been a success. I certanily enjoyed myself. Maybe it was the second house concert - but I don't think I should count making my brother-in-law's girlfriendo sing for her Thanksgiving supper. Or should I? She was good too: Joanna Gipson.

Anyway, yesterday Judith Edelman and Gawain Mathews entertained us most well indeed. Judith flew in from Nashville Friday, just to play for us. Well, half of that last sentence is true. She's an exceptional singer/songwriter - and a sweet person too. Her latest CD, Drama Queen, has rich complexity and a genuine feel. The lyrics are serious & personal, but they also reach beyond being simply confessional. They are not blogerly words - they're far better! Her voice has a pure tone and like her it's direct, warm and engaging. Very well worth checking out. She's in the Bay Area to work on a new CD. Stay tuned.

Gawain is a friend of a friend and a Welshman, now living in the Bay Area. A mighty talented guitarist, is he. It's stunning sometimes to realize how much true talent is out there... yet millions of people would rather watch American Idol.

Thanks guys and happy holidays!

Friday, December 12, 2003

Ring(s) in the New Year

Look up in the sky at midnight, Dec 31.

Thursday, December 11, 2003

Some '03 music I liked

Nothing too out-there these days. It's been a... quiet year... for me. In alphabetical order:

Rhian Benson - Gold Coast A bit MOR for you boho-fabulous types, but if you can listen w/o prejudice, she'll satisfy.

Blur - Think Tank I like it for it's sense of... rudderlessness. Everything doesn't have to be *important* and *about * something. Remember "Ram"? I like this much more than the last Gorillaz. And so, what does that mean?

Cibelle - s/t The singer/collaborator on Suba's amazing Sao Paulo Confessions, puts out an enjoyable Brazilian fling sort of thing. Silky, smooth, with just the right dash of dj science. Six Degrees (her label) can do no wrong. Until Smokey & Miho come out with another, try Cibelle.

Peter Green Splinter Group - Reaching the Cold 100 When I need a shot of vintage true-blues rock guitar...

Isobel - Amorino Belle & Sebastian's cello player. Say no more...it lets you be as twee as you wanna be.

Rickie Lee Jones - The Evening Of My Best Day This has grown on me. I had to mess around with track sequencing, until I found the songs. Now I got it.

Kinky - Atlas Liked their debut, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this one. Confident, compelling and you can dance like crazy to it.

Massive Attack - 100th Window. Still the best, when it's chill pill time. Bonus - Sinead O'C sings.

Mescaleros - Streetcore It's not about the dead celeb - this is a fun, grand, record. Lot's of LSD references - we always had our suspicions Joe was a big ol hippie and not punk.

Jacqui Naylor - Shelter A newish jazz chanteuse. Deb and I like to sit in the sunroom to this one.

Sinead O'Connor - She Who Dwells.... Not really a new record, a collection of odd bits. Even bad Sinead is better than...

Boz Scaggs - But Beautiful I've been telling anyone who'll listen, to get this. It's real jazz balladry, baby. Chet Baker finally has serious competition.

Simply Red - Home A happy, soulful sing. Mick, um... let's call him simply, Red, in super voice.

Howard Tate - Rediscovered Speaking of great voices, one of the truly great ones is literally rediscoverd. And he sounds the same as he did 30 years ago! It's spooky, in a good way.

Tricky - Back To MineSpeaking of spooky, it's interesting to hear who Tricky listens to, when he's relaxin'.

Steve Winwood - About Time Long before the term 'jam band' existed, there was Traffic. Steve is finding his natural path again. I can't bear to listen to someone like Dave Matthews, but I can sure listen to this. Lose the genres, lose the labels, it must be something about real musicians.

86 (the band) - True Life Songs & Pictures Had to throw in one obscuro. They write amazing little 'new corn' songs. However, do try to avoid the trilogy of drinking songs they inexplicably decided to include. The rest are gems.


It Touched Me Dept:

Puffy, for 'Best Use of Hallowed Rock Imagery on CD Insert Art;' by posing Ami and Yumi in bed in the Amsterdam Hilton, a la John and Yoko. Andy Sturmer produces ALL the songs this time out. But I'm sorry to say that was not a good thing. Andy please, make nice nice with Roger Manning Jr and get interesting again.

Please Don't Touch Me Dept:

Jason Webley has perfected his I Am The Indie Tom Waits act. Words fail me.

Tuesday, December 09, 2003

It was only a pre-election promise

Arnold has decided not to proceed with the inquiry into his purported past sexual harrassment allegations. He promised to do it, but now has decided it would only provide "more fodder for his political opponents." The Fifth Ammendent, I guess.



Happy birthday Sofa.

Sunday, December 07, 2003

First Snow

Congratulations to the east coast, on your first dump of the season.

Living in San Mateo, we drive to the snow. It gets chilly enough here, to justify a winter fire. I know it's not the most environmentally conscious thing to do, but hey, fire is natural. Momma Nature has 4 elements and likes them all equally well. Only man, in our dense urban, petroleum-based existence, fret about a few home fires. If only curtailing the burning of a few logs was the solution.

Pacific Coast winter skies are often crystalline clear. Oh great benevolent Pacific, do you never get pissed off? Instead of a blanket of snow, we sometimes have dense, ground hugging, Tule fog. It's a special morning when we can go out back and see the valley below as a white, silent river. In the High Sierra, staring into deep space on a clear night is better than being an astronaut.

As winter sets in back east, I would rarely look to the skies. Normally there's very little there to see. A cellblock ceiling of gray. Yet I do miss the excitement of that first snowfall. The lunge into winter. The media tries to make it into a mini-disaster; which is ludicrous. It's a celebration. Slush sucks; but snow boots were fun. Galoushes (sp?) are wrong.

One year in high school, I broke all the tarsals in my left foot, playing soccer. I still had a walking cast on, when the first snow fell. At the same time, the first solo Lennon album came out. Or, at least, I bought it at that first snow of the season. Me and two friends hiked through the woods (and over a stream, not a river) to another friends house, to play it for the first time. It's a beautiful winter record. My cast disintegrated in the wet and my toes were nearly frostbit. I had to have the cast reset. My doctor was very annoyed with me. To this day, my foot isn't completely 'right.' I can look down at my left toes, pointing to 10 o'clock, and remember "Remember." Could that first-snow listening session have been on the 5th of November?

Thursday, December 04, 2003

Gonzalez/Newsom's Top 5 records

This week's SF Weekly asked the two SF mayoral run-off candidates to name their all-time top 5 favorite records.

Matt Gonzalez:

1. John Coltrane, "Live Trane: The European Tours"
2. Clash "London Calling"
3. Joy Division, "Les Bains Douches 18 December 1979"
4. Pavement, "Slanted and Enchanted"
5. Led Zeppelin, "Led Zeppelin"

Gavin Newsom:

1. R.E.M., "Automatic for the People"
2. Santana, "Supernatural"
3. Coldplay, "A Rush of Blood to the Head"
4. Miles Davis, "Kind of Blue"
5. any KFOG: Live From the Archives CD

The article is a fun read.

I also salute the writer for offering up this stunningly apt description of Matt: he's boho-fabulous! In fact, I'm going to start using this, instead of saying hipster. Boho-fabulous. Yeah!

Wednesday, December 03, 2003

What was once painful, is already missed?

Only 2 days ago, who was complaining about having to pick holiday songs for this year's compilation? Me, that's who. And why? I don't know. I'm done already. How hard could it have been?

In fact, once I got started, I finished it in one marathon monday night session, avec headphones. Now comes the hard part - avoiding the temptation to fiddle with it. Swapping a track with another; changing the sequence in all twenty-one factorial possible permutations.

Soon, the truly chronic symptons will manifest themselves. The self-editorializing. "Is the mood too... subdued?" No; it will be great to listen to in front of a nice fire. "Well then, maybe it's too rawkous, in spots?" Define too rawkous.

Too different. Too similar.
Too varied. Too linear.
Too, too
Toot toot ti toot.
It's done and that's all that matters. Make the damn copies and let's move onto the new year.

But, what about the Fantoma Records comp...haven't even listened to that...or the new thing with Louis Phillippe's Xmas sun....

Word to me, the self:
Do not under any circumstances, relisten to the My Morning Jacket christmas ep. Some things are better left in the attic. But I know some new MMJ fans. I could impress them. No; RESIST! If you really want to impress them, send it to them. OK, master.

Final word to self:
Stop trying to write in the split-personalitied conversational manner of Gollum.

Tuesday, December 02, 2003

They Could Have Been Bigger Than EMI

Some ex-indie label owners have far too much time on their hands. But this is still sort of interesting, in a wayback machine sort of way.

Here now is the first online data-base of small, defunct, vinyl-releasing indie labels.

For the Elvis Costello geeks out there, note that the author also has his own small indie label: Get Happy!! Records. Two exclamation points, as nature intended.

Monday, December 01, 2003

Miscible music misery means it's the holidays

The time has come (um, I'm actually behind schedule already) for me to pick this year's songs for our holiday card/cd. It's become a bonafide holiday tradition - equal measures obligation, nostalgia, fun and torture. But I've been doing it too long to stop now.

The song selection process gets painful. Why am I forcing myself to listen to a German rockabilly label holiday compilation? Hasn't the lounge repetoire already been fully mined of the best klondike gold? There's some interesting remix stuff out now, but like most electonica, how do you fit it in properly with other non-electronica tracks? Don't get me started on power pop - grow up guys!

Usually I do find one single song, each year, which makes it all worthwhile. The one which has the perfect mix of imaginative arrangement, true-meaning-of-the-season message and basic musicianship. I haven't found that song yet. Until I do, the misery remains acute.

Oh well, onto Rise Ashen's Brazilian Beach mix of Winter Wonderland.