Tonight at Kafe Kerouac it's another Writers' Block Poetry Slam.
You know what that means?
Fresh Pain!
this has some not safe for work language
Starts at eight.
Admission is five bucks.
Did I mention the pain?
And it's fresh.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Rob Gordon Laughed
There are so many rabbit holes you can fall into on the internet. Days are lost when you remove yourself from them.
It's music for me right now. Not just surfing youtube either, streaming websites, reviews, biographies, touring information.
Then there's downloading, and the ethics of it.
I'm not even going to get into the RIAA's 75 trillion dollar lawsuit against Limewire. That money is a farce, but money is being lost. Lots of it. In some ways I feel sorry for the record companies, the industry is dead.
I heard an artist on the radio recently, within five minutes I had the goods, biography, band members, tour dates. I got all this by googling the lyrics of the song I was listening to. I did not even know the artist's name.
It's crazy, if you heard a song on the radio twenty years ago you had to wait for the DJ to tell you who you were listening to. If you did not get that, you could call the station or you were out of luck.
It's so easy now. Too easy.
The hunt is no longer about going to a record store, asking the owner what was new, what was good, if they had such and such a record. There's little pleasure in clicking around the internet looking for that Warren Zevon album. Much of the fun of record collecting is not knowing was in that bin you were flipping through. Now, you have an artist, a song, a video and it's there, within seconds.
There are over 5,000 songs on my iTunes, and there's room for a lot more on this hard drive.
Lately I've been finding demos, live recordings, unreleased albums that would have completely freaked me out if I found it on record or tape thirty years ago. Some of this music was rare, really impossible to find. Until the internet I had no idea it even existed. Now, one click. Scares the shit out of me how the commercial aspect has been completely removed from the situation.
Then there's the new material that has not even been officially released, the music I'm listening to right now that has a drop date more than a month from now.
What the hell?
Still, I look around online. Looking at the usual sites I've bookmarked for something new, or unusual. Google a concert date and hope for a hit. If anyone knows where I can find a Warren Zevon concert from Columbus in February, 1990, the link would be more than welcome. I know it's not going to be found at my local record store, and certainly not at Best Buy.
It's music for me right now. Not just surfing youtube either, streaming websites, reviews, biographies, touring information.
Then there's downloading, and the ethics of it.
I'm not even going to get into the RIAA's 75 trillion dollar lawsuit against Limewire. That money is a farce, but money is being lost. Lots of it. In some ways I feel sorry for the record companies, the industry is dead.
I heard an artist on the radio recently, within five minutes I had the goods, biography, band members, tour dates. I got all this by googling the lyrics of the song I was listening to. I did not even know the artist's name.
It's crazy, if you heard a song on the radio twenty years ago you had to wait for the DJ to tell you who you were listening to. If you did not get that, you could call the station or you were out of luck.
It's so easy now. Too easy.
The hunt is no longer about going to a record store, asking the owner what was new, what was good, if they had such and such a record. There's little pleasure in clicking around the internet looking for that Warren Zevon album. Much of the fun of record collecting is not knowing was in that bin you were flipping through. Now, you have an artist, a song, a video and it's there, within seconds.
There are over 5,000 songs on my iTunes, and there's room for a lot more on this hard drive.
Lately I've been finding demos, live recordings, unreleased albums that would have completely freaked me out if I found it on record or tape thirty years ago. Some of this music was rare, really impossible to find. Until the internet I had no idea it even existed. Now, one click. Scares the shit out of me how the commercial aspect has been completely removed from the situation.
Then there's the new material that has not even been officially released, the music I'm listening to right now that has a drop date more than a month from now.
What the hell?
Still, I look around online. Looking at the usual sites I've bookmarked for something new, or unusual. Google a concert date and hope for a hit. If anyone knows where I can find a Warren Zevon concert from Columbus in February, 1990, the link would be more than welcome. I know it's not going to be found at my local record store, and certainly not at Best Buy.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Just Hold My Hand While I Come to a Decision on it
Last night a couple of friends and I ventured to Skully's to see The English Beat. In all my time here, it was my first visit to this venue. We went in, one of my friends immediately sold one of her two extra tickets then we went to the stage and a stop to the smoking area - where I took this picture of a drum box.
After they had their nicotine, we proceeded to stand in front of the stage for the next hour and waited for the place to get crowded. It did not. My friend sold her other extra ticket!
Got this picture of Dave Wakeling's guitars. Hey that one on the left is the same as in the "Save it for Later' video!
At just before eight the band took the stage and proceeded to put a great groove on for almost two hours. It was a very impressive display of chattiness by Wakeling. He took a few minor digs at Margaret Thatcher, talked about how generous the young people of London were in looting presents for the royal wedding and extolled the virtues of coconut water. He clearly enjoying being there and the rest of the band showed great enthusiasm for the material.
Directly in front of us was an eight year old girl with her parents. It was her second time seeing the band and Wakeling kept looking down at her and smiling. At one point he and the Ranking Roger substitute gave her water to keep her hydrated and at the end of the night he even bent down and handed her his guitar pick. Very sweet man.
There were no other members of the old band with Wakeling but they played well together. Not a phoned in performance among the sextet. As you see, I managed to get some crappy pictures off the iPod Touch camera. It's been awhile since I've been that close to the stage for a show. I liked the venue more than I thought and have a snippet of I Confess posted to youtube. It has an excess of bass drum. I'm not going to embed it because it's not a great quality clip, but you can see it here if you want.
There was no opening act and at just before ten the band called it a night. They did just about every English Beat song you'd want (save for Soul Salvation) and even threw in Tenderness. A fine set. He shook a few hands, signed my friend's CD cover, with my pen. There's a picture on Facebook of me handing Dave Wakeling a pen, famous!
After the show my friends needed one more smoke so we went to the backstage smoking area. Wakeling came out and talked to some fans and I got to simply shake his hand and say thank you. Again, he is quite genuine. The show exceeded all expectations.
After they had their nicotine, we proceeded to stand in front of the stage for the next hour and waited for the place to get crowded. It did not. My friend sold her other extra ticket!
Got this picture of Dave Wakeling's guitars. Hey that one on the left is the same as in the "Save it for Later' video!
At just before eight the band took the stage and proceeded to put a great groove on for almost two hours. It was a very impressive display of chattiness by Wakeling. He took a few minor digs at Margaret Thatcher, talked about how generous the young people of London were in looting presents for the royal wedding and extolled the virtues of coconut water. He clearly enjoying being there and the rest of the band showed great enthusiasm for the material.
Directly in front of us was an eight year old girl with her parents. It was her second time seeing the band and Wakeling kept looking down at her and smiling. At one point he and the Ranking Roger substitute gave her water to keep her hydrated and at the end of the night he even bent down and handed her his guitar pick. Very sweet man.
There were no other members of the old band with Wakeling but they played well together. Not a phoned in performance among the sextet. As you see, I managed to get some crappy pictures off the iPod Touch camera. It's been awhile since I've been that close to the stage for a show. I liked the venue more than I thought and have a snippet of I Confess posted to youtube. It has an excess of bass drum. I'm not going to embed it because it's not a great quality clip, but you can see it here if you want.
There was no opening act and at just before ten the band called it a night. They did just about every English Beat song you'd want (save for Soul Salvation) and even threw in Tenderness. A fine set. He shook a few hands, signed my friend's CD cover, with my pen. There's a picture on Facebook of me handing Dave Wakeling a pen, famous!
After the show my friends needed one more smoke so we went to the backstage smoking area. Wakeling came out and talked to some fans and I got to simply shake his hand and say thank you. Again, he is quite genuine. The show exceeded all expectations.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
What are you trying to tell me, I don't know
I was listening to BBC6 on the iPod this morning. Liz Kershaw was putting together some nifty sets then she put something that was new to me on. It had a fair amount of bombast along with some compelling ambiance and atmosphere. Plus, a solid vocal that reminded me of Siouxie Sioux and P.J. Harvey.
I tried googling some of the lyrics I was hearing and right by the time the song ended I made my discovery. Her name. Anna Calvi.
She's got a cool style going with the flamenco gear. There's a lot of buzz for her in the UK.
I think she justifies the hype, and she covers Piaf.
Brian Eno thinks she's, "The biggest thing since Patti Smith." High praise indeed.
I tried googling some of the lyrics I was hearing and right by the time the song ended I made my discovery. Her name. Anna Calvi.
She's got a cool style going with the flamenco gear. There's a lot of buzz for her in the UK.
I think she justifies the hype, and she covers Piaf.
Brian Eno thinks she's, "The biggest thing since Patti Smith." High praise indeed.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Hello, Glad to Have You Aboard~
Woke up with this in my head. Another proof of a happier life through television.
Oh it can core a apple!
In other news Elton John is 64.
One of the greats. First single I bought was Crocodile Rock.
Oh it can core a apple!
In other news Elton John is 64.
One of the greats. First single I bought was Crocodile Rock.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Again, Four and a Half Years Later
This morning we took my son to a local hospital's feeding clinic so he could be evaluated concerning his eating issues. We did the same thing for him back in August of 2006, and many of the same doctors and therapists examined him today. Weird, I can't seem to find one LJ entry about this.
We found out why the clinic discontinued its in-patient program, because insurance companies would not cover it.
My son or I could develop a drug addiction and be treated for rehabilitation, but if an eight year old has an eating disorder, it is considered medically unnecessary.
You need me to go on about this?
He was looked at, observed, evaluated - the therapists watched him eat. Then they tried putting some finely crushed graham crackers into his pudding, to give it a little bit of texture. He took one bite and started saying, "Gotta get away."
We have our work cut out for us.
We're going to hear back from them in a couple of weeks with their full evaluation and recommendations. There's probably going to be some occupational feeding therapy involved. If insurance covers it there may be a conflict with his vision therapy in that there's a cap on visits during a year. He's got to start eating. If this is the case the vision therapy will have to be temporarily abandoned.
Hard, crazy choices we have to make in this modern world.
We found out why the clinic discontinued its in-patient program, because insurance companies would not cover it.
My son or I could develop a drug addiction and be treated for rehabilitation, but if an eight year old has an eating disorder, it is considered medically unnecessary.
You need me to go on about this?
He was looked at, observed, evaluated - the therapists watched him eat. Then they tried putting some finely crushed graham crackers into his pudding, to give it a little bit of texture. He took one bite and started saying, "Gotta get away."
We have our work cut out for us.
We're going to hear back from them in a couple of weeks with their full evaluation and recommendations. There's probably going to be some occupational feeding therapy involved. If insurance covers it there may be a conflict with his vision therapy in that there's a cap on visits during a year. He's got to start eating. If this is the case the vision therapy will have to be temporarily abandoned.
Hard, crazy choices we have to make in this modern world.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
William Shatner is Eighty Years Old Today.
Two of my poems have been published in the online journal The Legendary. Fifth name down on the left if you do not know my name. There is also audio for one of the poems. You can do a lot with an iPod Touch.
It's exciting, something I've wanted to do but never quite had the gumption. Saw they were accepting submissions, found a couple of poems and sent them in. A couple of days later they contacted me and accepted both poems. Not the prestige of having your work put into a book, but this is a start. A small but significant goal achieved, you may say.
Here is an old poem. From late 1998, right after a divorce. I've been thinking of home poems recently as so many other poets have been writing them. I've primarily lived in three places in my life and feel a disconnect to all of them. I miss the one I lived in the shortest amount of time the most, and the one I lived in first not at all. I've more or less been in Columbus the longest, there are often times I feel like an outsider, even in my own community.
Islip Terrace in the Seventies
you could smell the salt in the air
when the wind came from the south
it was the only time you ever felt
if you were on an island
in the fall, or spring
when the night were cool and mist filled
and lots of thickening fog
late at night
i'd put on my raincoat
and walk
unaccompanied
through the suburban streets
houses all looking the same
washington, jefferson, garfield, roosevelt
who in the hell was stellenwerf?
the streets where i came from
i'd walk, and see the lights
of neighbors no one knew
going off as others prepared for
the next day
mine had just started
in the summers i'd be on ten speed
riding, riding in the darkness
through the mosquitoes, crickets, and squirrels
searching, fruitless
for one who didn't exist
those were my better times
i was fast then
i could run
rueful, brooding, wistful
i was best when alone
There's not much from the 1997-2005 period that I would consider revealing today. That was a long time ago.
Here's a Live Journal post from three years ago in which I call stardom for Florence and the Machine.
Got that one right.
It's exciting, something I've wanted to do but never quite had the gumption. Saw they were accepting submissions, found a couple of poems and sent them in. A couple of days later they contacted me and accepted both poems. Not the prestige of having your work put into a book, but this is a start. A small but significant goal achieved, you may say.
Here is an old poem. From late 1998, right after a divorce. I've been thinking of home poems recently as so many other poets have been writing them. I've primarily lived in three places in my life and feel a disconnect to all of them. I miss the one I lived in the shortest amount of time the most, and the one I lived in first not at all. I've more or less been in Columbus the longest, there are often times I feel like an outsider, even in my own community.
Islip Terrace in the Seventies
you could smell the salt in the air
when the wind came from the south
it was the only time you ever felt
if you were on an island
in the fall, or spring
when the night were cool and mist filled
and lots of thickening fog
late at night
i'd put on my raincoat
and walk
unaccompanied
through the suburban streets
houses all looking the same
washington, jefferson, garfield, roosevelt
who in the hell was stellenwerf?
the streets where i came from
i'd walk, and see the lights
of neighbors no one knew
going off as others prepared for
the next day
mine had just started
in the summers i'd be on ten speed
riding, riding in the darkness
through the mosquitoes, crickets, and squirrels
searching, fruitless
for one who didn't exist
those were my better times
i was fast then
i could run
rueful, brooding, wistful
i was best when alone
There's not much from the 1997-2005 period that I would consider revealing today. That was a long time ago.
Here's a Live Journal post from three years ago in which I call stardom for Florence and the Machine.
Got that one right.
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