Save Me From Dali!!!

Today is the day your life will surely change.

2010-04-08T20:26:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that it's 2010. I have so many computers in my house it makes me want to vomit. It's weird to look back. But here I am cooking food for superstar computer engineers and reaping some of the benefits. I still feel the art and music in my heart and soul but it's a little harder to get at even with all the great tools at my disposal. My path has to embrace discipline and focus . It's never easy to reach into the ether and pull out a relic from the muse , unless your aim is true.I just got a very nice tibetan singing bowl and it's beautiful oscillation make it all easier.

I am blessed. Now to give back a gift of thanks.

transition

2010-02-20T12:26:00.000-08:00

It's been a real weird 6 months. I almost died. I moved and my art output is in flux.

Might be a good time to start here again, though the last time I only posted twice. Facebook tends to be easier but not really getting into anything. So , let's try this again.

Back in the Saddle Again.

2008-12-15T16:37:00.000-08:00

Well here it is almost a year later. I'm posting here and announcing my return to blogland. I've been working on music the last year and it's been fun and troubling. I have to be involved in music it's in the DNA. It took me away from writing but I hope to now balance the two. I've really missed spewing out nuggets here on blogger. So look for more in 2009.

Been a longtime since.................I stole the passion

2008-01-31T00:09:00.000-08:00

It doesn't matter where you sleep
it's where the first light finds you
she asked you to remember a song
but you only sang fragments of her melodies
from this, you woke with beard long and eyes weary
she asked, how can you fondle my lovely-sweet body
when you won't let go of what you've been holding
there is so little until you find nothing
and so much when you've fallen down
it doesn't matter where you sleep
as long as it's near to your heart
and it will find you closer than any lover
she asked you to remember a song
and you painted it on the canyon walls in a low rich voice
it echoed back and you forgot your own name

Back to the Future

2007-08-18T06:05:00.000-07:00

What happens to a modern iconoclast , in the same vein as Peckinpah and Welles, when even HBO won't let you get to the artful pursuits in your head? You go back to the future I guess. "John from Cincinnati"(JFC) wipes out.

There is no doubt David Milch is the cracked genius of the modern era of television. Noone else is creating such richly dense dialogue or taking so many chances at greatness. It's probably his myopic view of his creations that lead him to make such compelling tv for some and leave the majority of the audience in the dark. Television is suppose to placate the lower IQ range that way everyboby likes it. His last two HBO creations have had some truly monumental characters staining our imaginations( Al Swearengen of Deadwood and JFC's Bill Jacks). His genius creates blips of overly ornate mouthfuls of dialogue, laced with numerous cultural references and profanities bringing a spirit and intellect rarely seen on the small screen. Milch's indulgances in fuzzy logic in plotlines, glut of character arcs and self congratulatory demeanor can leave most people clicking the remote to more easily consumable television viewing. Deadwood seemed to die from it's
inabilty to sustain it's own weight ( budget and egos). John was just a little too weird and disjointedsome said just bad tv.

I feel JFC was brilliant in it's exploration of spirituality, surfing and the ladder days of the American Empire. It may have been a little obtuse but no more than the extremely popular "lost". I feel that "lost" uses confusion and deception merely as a tool to keep the viewing audience coming back and watching the commercials. It's just a carrot, JFC is so much more. JFC was uses the confusion and non-linear jumps to creat cogintive dissidence, breaking the audience's trend of thought and opening them into another arena, perhaps spritual realm of thinking or being. This is a very common technique in spiritual orders to help clean the mind of the day to day and help create communion with the divine or other. Perhaps this is a little lofty for a television show to burden itself with. I guess that it is. John will soon be gone, I don't Butchie instead.

Beyond all this Milch is now working on a cop show for HBO( he is under contract to develop television programming through 2008). So back to the future for the man who worked on "Hill Street Blues" and created "NYPD Blue". I'm sure it will be similar vein to Deadwood and JFC and feature some of the same actors. It would be great if it had Jim Beaver as a jaded police sergeant with early on set alzheimers, Garret Dillahunt and Brian Van Holt as partners who are detectives , Ed O'Neil as a reformed alcoholic, right wing mayor, Ian McShane as a racketeer who runs all the crime in the South part of the city and Paula Malcomson as super bitchy DA trying to clean up the city. I'm sure it will be something along these lines and very interesting as usual with lots of cuss words. I guess we will see soon. I look forward to it.

Could this be Magic?

2007-08-18T06:02:00.000-07:00

2007 NFL Predictions

2007-08-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

Predictions for NFL ( at a very casual glance) let's see how I do.

NFC East
1. Dallas
2. New York
3. Philadelphia
4. Washington

NFC North
1. Chicago
2. Minnesota
3. Green Bay
4. Detroit

NFC South
1. New Orleans ( best record )
2. Carolina
3. Tampa Bay
4. Atlanta

NFC West
1. Seattle
1. San Francisco (San Fran wins tiebreaker)
3. Arizona
4. St Louis

NFC Championship

Saints vs. Seahawks-----------------> Seahawks

AFC East
1. New England (tie best record, wins tie breaker )
2. New York
3. Miami
4. Buffalo

AFC North
1. Cincinnati
2. Baltimore
3. Cleveland
4. Pittsburgh

AFC South
1. Indianapolis ( tie best record )
2. Tennessee
3. Jacksonville
4. Houston

AFC West
1. San Diego
2. Oakland
3. Kansas City
4. Denver

AFC Championship

Indy vs. Patriots ----------------> Patriots

Superbowl

Patriots vs. Seahawks ------------> Patriots

this it: that one

2007-07-31T23:11:00.000-07:00

Ice Cream for Crow !!!

2007-07-08T17:00:00.000-07:00

Gnawa

2007-06-24T12:19:00.001-07:00

M.I.A.

2007-06-12T09:48:00.000-07:00

I have been away for far too long, allergies have led to much physical discomfort. I promise to get back in the game this week.
I have some more thougts on salad dressings and some music reviews.

Salad Anybody?

2007-05-31T19:37:00.000-07:00

Everyone is always asking me about salad dressings. People seem to like the ones
that I make. I'm almost always in favor of making your own, they taste better and they are really easy to make. There are just a few concepts to keep in mind and you too can soon be a master.

First and foremost there are the vinaigrettes. You might ask, what is a vinaigrette?
Well. A vinaigrette is an emulsion, which means basically "a suspension or dispersion of one liquid into another, the two liquids being mutually insoluble." You know like oil and water. They never truly mix. A vinaigrette is vinegar suspended in oil .

A vinaigrette can be as simple as oil and vinegar. This is a great way to dress a salad. You can choose your level of acidity by the amount and choice of vinegar. I'm always a fan of using great ingredients as components in your mixture. So spend some money on a quality oil ( I like an extra virgin olive oil or flax seed oil) and a decent vinegar( I like a nice balsamic). It doesn't take a great deal of ingredient to dress a salad. So what ever you spend will continue flavor your salad for quite a while.

Let's just start by creating a simple vinaigrette. It is easy to make and it's the building block to many different and exciting flavor choices.

What you will need is:

Olive Oil ( extra virgin is preferred)
Vinegar ( your choice)
Mustard ( dijon preferred)
Salt and pepper

Place tablespoon of mustard and half cup of vinegar into a bowl.

Whisk in a 3/4 cup of oil, add salt and pepper to your taste. A pinch of each will do.

That's it.

This will create a simple vinaigrette that will be temporarily emulsified and separate shortly afterwards. You can add herbs, spices, honey, garlic onions, anchovies, lemon juice. It's good and good for you.

Next time out we'll grab the Cuisinart or blender and make a more permanent emulsion with some more ingredients.

Remember life is too short to eat bad food.

hope in a new dark age

2007-05-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

Music of the Spheres

2007-05-23T05:00:00.001-07:00

'Many say that life entered the human body by the help of music, but the truth is that life itself is music'. Hafiz

overstuffed

2007-05-21T04:06:00.000-07:00

Most men, no matter how well or badly dressed, carry overstuffed, beat up wallets that should have been replaced years ago. Why is that? Every time I see a guy take out a wallet anywhere, it looks like a piece of old melted chocolate cake-with strings.
Jonathan Carroll

Marlon Brando: It's Alive!!!

2007-05-19T16:46:00.000-07:00

Perhaps Brando is not dead.

Roger Wilco

2007-05-19T09:21:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to do this for sometime. The new Wilco record "Sky Blue Sky" is amazing. A friend lent me an advanced copy a while ago and I've listened to it about 50 times. It consumed me in a time of many great releases.

Wilco has never been a favorite of mine. There were always songs that I enjoyed but nothing to keep me that interested. I always preferred what solo folk guitar stuff Jeff Tweedy did. Last year or a little over a year ago. I watched the "Burn to Shine: Chicago" DVD that had a very sublime live Wilco performance in a house that was about to be demolished. It really impressed me. I then went on to borrow their live CD "Kicking Television" which I liked as well. I think it may have to do with the fact , the band had added one of my favorite guitar players, Nels Cline. I haved seen him in many ensembles. He simply oozes great music from his pores.

"Sky Blue Sky"is a heartfelt and deeply personal album, you can tell from Tweedy's lyrics and the music perfectly matches his mood and tone.I have no idea how they recorded this but it sounds live and organic. It has great part writing that mesh together to unvail an amazing conversation between some talented and empathetic musicians, It echo past great bands like The Band, the Grateful Dead and the Beatles on "Let it Be". The record goes beyond the hipster pop of "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot " and has better songs and more catchy pop hooks than "a ghost is born". This is a very mature and developed sounding record. I might even say classic. I guess, I just did.

I thin k this version of Wilco is the best yet. They seem happy, productive and creative. I can't wait to see them in concert. Hopefully this is just a beginning and we can look forward to plenty of great music. Buy it you will like it.

Condiments are your Friends

2007-05-18T07:40:00.001-07:00

Speaking of making the broth, I have been cooking professionally for over 25 years. I've decided that this would be a great place to pass on tips . People are continually calling or asking me about this or that and I'm always glad to share a few secrets.

Today's installment is about making condiments your friends.

I was talking to my assistant Dan yesterday about making Spanish Rice , which oddly I had never made. I was in the n middle of making it and admitted to having never made it before. He said it looked right and then began talking about how his dad made it by pouring salsa in the rice and Voila!! - Spanish Rice. He continued to tell me about other condiment and other prepared food cooking solutions his dad used in the kitchen. He sort of said it like it was a dirty secret. I looked straight at him and said, "Condiments are your friends".

A condiment is a food (normally strongly flavored) that is added in small quantities “at the table” to a major dish “to the eater’s taste”.
Most condiments are so highly flavored (e.g. salt) that they are normally not eaten by themselves but only as an addition to some other food.
Condiments do not form a natural category like herbs, but instead are part of a functional category which means that that the notion of a "condiment" depends on how it functions. For example, Sauerkraut is a food that can be served as a side-dish. However in the context of a hot-dog stand sauerkraut becomes a condiment. Sauerkraut is not inherently a condiment - it only becomes one in the context of buying a sausage in a bun with some pickled cabbage, and seemingly no where else.
There are many deviations to the above definition – a kitchen may add condiments before the food is served, or a condiment like mayonnaise with little flavor other than fat is popular with Belgians who like to add it to French fries. - Wikipedia

About week earlier, Joel one of the guys I cook for at work asked me, "What is the king of condiments?" At the time, I said ketchup. He was surprised. Mustard was his
side of choice. In context of the above wikipedia definition, I believe salt is king of condiments, closely followed by sugar and then pepper. I think most of us see condiments as mustard, ketchup, salsa, mayonnaise, etc. And Yes, I still see ketchup as being the king. It is great on fries of all types( I share the love of mayo on fries with the Belgians and also like vinegar like the Brits), works well in making Phad Thai, will fix a soup, great on a burger, I liked it on roast beef as a child, works in some salads and salad dressings, to name a few things. Ketchup is salty and sweet. Two things humans really seem to like. It also is a bit sour from the vinegar.
The very popular Heinz 57 is rumored to contain beef blood, "a natural flavoring". I guess that's what makes it so good.

I guess my main point of this little piece is to show that condiments as well as being great flavors to add at the table are great concentrated flavor solutions in the kitchen. The three big guns mayo, mustard and ketchup get a lot of use for sure. Salsa is quickly finding it's way passed those three and there are a myriad of compotes, concoctions and flavor packets I use regularly.

Condiments are not cheating . You don't have to hide them in brown paper bags. You don't have to sneak them into recipes when no one is looking. Embrace the condiment in cooking, they are extremely helpful. I'm a big fan of Worcestershire and soy sauce. They are both ways of adding salty goodness. Sweet-Garlic Chili sauce is my favorite. There are also great recipes to make most of these items for scratch if you are so inclined. The web is the home to many recipes some wonderful and others ridiculous.

Don't fear condiments and remember life is too short to cook shitty food. Take some time and make yourself something good to eat.

BTW- Bobby Flay eat my shit, I've made a nice roasted chili pepper compote to accent and compliment it's earthy flavor.

money money money

2007-05-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.

Franklin D Roosevelt

feeling empty, good empty

2007-05-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

“In the world I fill up a place, which may be better supplied when I have made it empty”

William Shakespeare

Positive Vibrations!!!!!!!

2007-05-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

I've had a little bad attitude and motivation problem for a while. I've felt a littled stalled in life and unable to make change. I was talking with Heather a lot on the phone and she suggested reading a book . The book was "The Sucess Principles" - Jack Canfield. Jack is the author of "Chicken Soup for the Soul". Just looking at the book or the mention of it made we feel queasy. I'm a jaded middle aged man with a chip on his shoulder and this was some weird posivite smile fest with lots of hugs.

I resisted the idea for about a month, I guess. Heather visited a weekend ago and suggested that I just have a peak at her copy of the book. I did and it was much like what I thought it would be. My reaction was much as I expected but then I read one inspiration story that was in the book. I don't recall the exact story now but it described me and how that person had given into Jack's system and suceeded at a high level.

It was at that moment I decided fuck it. I have nothing to lose and everything to gain by reading the book. I have certainly made a lot of great change in my life in the last couple of years. Why not focus my mind on sucess and positive attitude? I bought the book a couple days later and fought through the first couple chapters, my bullshit meter on high. It was shortly after that moment it changed or I changed, things changed. I decide to dedicate myself to reading the WHOLE book and then going back to the beginning and doing ALL the exercises.

Since that time things have gotten better or how I perceive them has gotten better. I can't say that everything has improved, in fact some stuff has gotten worse in my life. However, I do have a better attitude and a commitment to working towards contentment and happiness in myself and my life.

Thank you Heather.

Thanks Jack.

And most of all thank me.

ok computer - arrogant computer companies

2007-05-14T06:53:00.000-07:00

It occurs to me that maybe people should steal computer software. It would certainly be very Thoreau-like to give the finger to the developers from your very own virtual Walden. It can be extremely frustrating trying to getting things done when it feels like the computer companies are more concerned only with entertaining themselves and lining their pockets with your gold pieces . The industry seems a little self absorbed and down right arrogant. Where else would such poorly crafted product be allowed to ship ? Where else would the pricing structures be so arbetrary? Where else would the product support be so lacking and condscending ? Where else would there be such arrogant, self absorbed design ? Why should I pay real money for a real tool when it will be rendered obsolete with in two years? If this existed in any other industry they would be out of business.

Computers have certainly made life a lot different for all of us. Sometimes this is a good thing and at other times bad. I just wish we weren't held hostage so much by the computers companies and required to pay them to be beta testers. Obviously I could not convey this message here without the use of a computer but that doesn't mean we should have to be tortured to do so.

Wake up and start thinking about your customers. Give them not what you think they need , but what they need.

think again

2007-05-10T20:10:00.000-07:00

the road to aw

2007-05-10T18:42:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited that next week "The Fountain" comes to DVD. This movie is Darren Aronofsky's answer to the "Matrix". He felt that that movie had completely redefined the sci-fi film and this is his forray into that brave new world. I would say it's another masterpiece much like his "reqieum for a dream", a dark poetic piece about addiction(s). It is beautiful, emotionally charged, intelligent and even spiritual movie. It's much like one of the masters paintings that unfolds like a lotus flower over two delightful hours.

Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett left this production as it crumbled in Australia. They went on to join the blockbuster "Babel", a movie that is hard for me to watch. It still sits on my coffee table in it's Netflix envelope. Aronofsky on the otherhand downscaled his production, rejoined his reqieum and pi production team and picked up his wife Rachel Weisz and Hugh Jackman on the cheap(before they both blew up as movie stars) and opted for organic special effects over digtal. The combination is a winner. It's funny how adversity can lead us to were we really need to be in life. This movie is really special(I saw it twice the first weekend), it would be hard to be any different than the way it came out.

It's released on Tuesday. Watch it.You'll enjoy it.

....to victory.....

2007-05-04T07:37:00.000-07:00

You gotta have presence on the court. Presence like a cheetah rather than a chimp. Sure, they both got it, but Chimpy gotta jump his nuts around to get it. The shy cheetah moves with total nonchalance, stickin' it to them in his sexy, slow strut. Me? I play like a cheetah. - Jim Carroll

I have always been a fan of NBA Basketball though more casually, as of late. The current league seems lame, there just isn't very interesting games. The players seem to lack skills and sucessful team dynamics are usually tied to defense and not the art of ball movement, which is far more interesting to watch.

Still with all that is lacking for me in the game. I will always watch the playoffs. I remember once running out during half-time to buy a television when the tube went out on mine. It was worth it to see Alonzo Mourning, Larry Johnson Kendall Gill and Spudd Webb of the Charlotte Hornets pig pile at center court with their first playoff series victory. It's these moments where, we experience real human emotions in spite of all the corporate sponsors and hype that is what keeps our interest. Last years games had some very special moments and series. The ragtag misfits of the Miami Heat were fun to watch winning it all. Steve Nash and the Suns dramatic style was also a delight.

This year, I wasn't that excited about the playoffs but I have cable so I am able to watch casually. I knew that i would probably watch Steve Nash and the Suns because they are fun to watch. I knew much of the East would only garner Sportcenter highlight interest. The surprise was how much fun the Dallas-Golden state series would be. I had seen the Warriors during the regular season, the only game I went to in person. They looked like a bad college team. In fact the Sonics beat them. This was the Warriors pre-trade. Yet they squeaked into the playoffs with a victory over Portland. Clinching the 8th seed just barely. How good could a series between them and the Mavericks who won 67 games.? Evidently real good.

The subplot between the Warriors and Dallas is intriguing. The Mavericks were built by Don Nelson . He is currently the mad genius at the helm of the Warriors. He had retired from coaching after conflict with controversial Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. The staff( including Nelson's son Donny) and the team are all a part of the Nelson creation . Nelson left because of Cuban's hands on ownership and a dispute over financial compensation . Cuban had in fact accused Nelson lacking the desire to win at all cost because he refused to play his star player when he was injured . He feared it may cause career ending damage to the player's knee. He used money to snub and force Nelson out of the orgainzation.What could fate bring more dramatically interesting than the creator pitted against his creation and a taste for vengeance.

Well to cut to the chase the Warriors won against the Mavericks in Oakland last night. The series was emotional, exciting and well fought and yet Nelson held the magic in his hands. The Warriors succeeded against all odds; the great team, unorthodox style the pundits said could not win, injuries, lapses in concentration, etc. They were the underdog, expected by few to win and yet they were the victors. We humans love this story.

I know that I was taken by them and their fans who's shirts a sea of yellow read "WE BELIEVE". Isn't that the power of getting behind the underdog? Isn't that why we are drawn to it's energy? In our hearts, we all want to believe and have it be the outcome we desire in our lives despite of hard cold facts to the contrary. The story goes back a long ways, remember David and Goliath.

VIVA THE UNDERDOG!!!!!!!! It gives us all a little faith.

H.O.T.( House of tarab)

2007-04-29T23:42:00.000-07:00

I just spent last night recording and videotaping House of Tarab ( a Middle Eastern musical ensemble) with my colleagues Serge and Grayson. It was a fairly joyful evening. I have posted some photos at my flickr account, check it out.

on second thought

2007-04-27T00:10:00.000-07:00

Maybe I'm better with an edge, maybe a little bitchin' makes it alright.

There's certainly enough things in this world to get pissed at. The important thing is a dedication to changing those things.

Wake up and live! Here's to piss and vinegar!

Cover your Wheaties I feel a whiz coming on.

TLF (the Terrance Liberation Front)

2007-04-25T22:05:00.000-07:00

Why, when God's world is so big,
did you fall asleep in a prison
of all places?
Rumi

I've been trying to blog unsucessfully for about the last week. Each time that I attemt to post, I find my words full of negativity and I delete them before they can enter the ether. It feels like I'm jailed in my own bad attitude. I really hope if I persist with my attempts that I will escape and embrace the beauty of experience again . Life is way too short to just bitch. Let me free, let me free.

The Spiritual Dimensions of Psychology

2007-04-23T11:02:00.000-07:00

"The best thing is not to hate anyone, only to love. That is the only way out of it. As soon as you have forgiven those whom you hate, you have gotten rid of them. Then you have no reason to hate them; you just forget.

Hazrat Inayat Khan

enjoy the silence

2007-04-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.
Abraham Lincoln

sense of doubt

2007-04-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

To believe with certainty we must begin with doubting.
Stanislaw Leszczynski

morning dew

2007-04-17T09:40:00.000-07:00

“A warrior acts as if he knows what he is doing, when in effect he knows nothing.”

CARLOS CASTANEDA

Drums & Guns

2007-04-10T21:06:00.000-07:00

Let me start post by saying that I am delighted with many of the new musical releases this year. So far, it has been great and there look to be many more. I have hope again for the recording arts . Modest Mouse and !!! have put out good records and Wilco looks to be poised with one, as well. Hope is here for a jaded old fuck like myself and that is an essence rare, indeed.

The main point of this post is telling you all about the new Low record. It's called "Drums and Guns" and it delights me. I have had a very love hate relationship with this ensemble. I found last years outing terrible and have hated their live show more than once over the years, but this new CD is a pleasure. It is textural and slow moving, kind of like watching the paint dry but hypnotic. It'll suck you in and slay you. The paper packaging is very nice, a work of art in it's own right. I won't bug you with excessive verbiage, just try it. I think you might like it. I certainly did.

thaiku

2007-04-09T17:26:00.000-07:00

I am certainly a lover of the Thai dish, Phad See Iew(Pan-fried wide rice noodles with egg in soy sauce , broccoli and your choice of meat). I like it with chicken. I find it far more fulfilling than Phad Thai. The wide noodles are a flavor sponge for the sweet soy sauce.

On Sunday, I stumbled across thaiku in old Ballard. They have great decor, courteous service and really good Phad See Iew.They make a simple version with just noodles, meat, sauce, egg, wide noodles and sliced Chinese Broccoli. It is perfection amongst many mediocre Phad See Iew. You should try it.

new day rising

2007-04-09T17:14:00.000-07:00

Awhile ago, I reported that my new Leica Camera had had an unforunate accident. It made me quite sad. I'm happy to report that it is now working again. The nice people at Leica fixed it without a charge , other than shipping it to them.I can now take photographs with the little camera that I love.

Lucinda more Neil than Norah

2007-03-31T07:40:00.000-07:00

I made the journey to Nashville this weekend to see two of my special ladies. Heather, who I have written about before in this very blog and Lucinda Williams, one of my favorite singers.I'll be mostly writing about Lucinda here.

Now to start with I was a little worried about the show because her new album has really got me yet. Usually her music seeps into my consciousness and really fucks with me. She has a way with her simple songs and emotional poetry. Her Band and guitarist Doug Pettibone are the perfect scenery for her tales of human wreckage and redemption. The new album "West"
is sort of flat. I can tell there are good songs but it seems the edges have been sanded off. It seems like the album has been produced to give that sort of flat Norah
Jones or later Bonnie Raitt polished sound. It makes sense, people got mouths to feed, got to make the money but does it serve the music.

Last night, Heather and myself had great seats way down front in the already intimate Ryman Auditorium. It was such a great thrill to see Lucinda in her old hometown in the mothership of country music. The show was amazing. The crowd was a happy bunch and it made Lucinda and the band really relaxed and happy. They played plenty of old favorites and tried many of the new songs. They played for a couple hours and yet it seemed way too short. It could have gone all night as far as I'm concerned.

I guess the main point of my blog is that after the show thinking back to the new songs, I liked them all much better live because they were more real. Lucinda is real, her voice cracks, she dances awkwardly, has truckstop hair and looks like the road has been a long one. The band are real guys too. They are normal looking guys who could be playing in any bar across America. Yet they are on stage at the Ryman creating a beautiful, dirty and fragile sound that is very special. Lucinda and her band remind me so much of the special bond that Neil Young has with Crazy Horse. Seventies Rolling Stones also comes to mind. It's warts and all but it touches you real deep.

Come on Lucinda. We know you are more Neil than Norah. For your next record give us Real Live Bleeding Fingers And Broken Guitar Strings that's why we love you so.

I'll be back in Nashville Again

2007-02-19T14:29:00.000-08:00

Just a few more days and I'll be traveling to lovely Nashville to see my lady. If you would had told me that I would travel to Nashville three times in 2 months, I would have told you that you were crazy.Here I go again, I can't wait.

Things go wrong, things break

2007-02-18T19:41:00.000-08:00

The last week has been a little trying for me. I've been sick for week. Things having been breaking left and right in my life.Yesterday it came to a head. I took a fall at the park while enjoying an amazing Seattle winter day. It banged me up pretty good and I broke my new camera. It sucked. I melted down.

The thing that I have remembered todaywith a clearer perspective is that life is pretty good . Inspite of the complications and set backs, life is pretty nice. Things go wrong and things break, it's a part of things just like nice sunny days and our finer moments.

Something to make you feel better

2007-02-12T05:47:00.000-08:00

This was recently posted at brainsturbator.com. It's a very thought provoking website with lots of interesting articles and a huge reference archive.

For Now

2007-02-05T04:03:00.000-08:00

lost in this confusion
is this love or just illusion?
doesn't matter, we all find something either way
there's me and then there's you
let's just hope that it will do
because it never really worked the other way
there's silence in the one
but many voices in the myriad
of Christmas card decorations
we're all in this together
you're never alone
it just feels that way
take a chance on me
I'll take a chance on you
hope for the best
and live the rest
it'll never be puppy dogs and rainbows
but we may just get there any way
we won't have matching bathrobes
or pleasant dispositions
we'll be watching too much television
swearing like sailors
not drinking or smoking
just teas, candy and lots of sushi
living on the loving
just here and now
were we can manage
and tomorrow is a child
that will take care of itself

Fear of Music: My Top Ten of almost Rock Albums

2007-02-04T18:31:00.000-08:00

Here is my top ten albums that influence my life. I've never really been a straight rock guy. I usually like an art damaged album that rocks.

1.Fear of music - talking heads

2.Before and after science - Brian Eno

3.Starfish - The Church

4.Hail to the Thief - radiohead

5.///CODENAME:dustsucker - Bark Psychosis

6.Roseland NYC Live - Portishead

7.entertainment - Gang of 4

8. Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons - Blonde Redhead

9.Surfer Rosa - The Pixies

10.Repeater - fugazi

Back in Seattle

2007-01-31T19:03:00.000-08:00

I've been traveling alot lately. The last month is a blur. I'm hoping to get my wits about me over the next couple of weeks so I can get back out there in the mix.Until then, my own bed feels real good .

greetings from green mountains

2007-01-23T13:58:00.000-08:00

Bukowski pt. 2

2007-01-22T04:34:00.000-08:00

I went to see the documentary "Bukowski: Born into this" a couple of years ago. It is a decent movie about Bukowski. It definitely deals with the whole man. It shows the great pain and violence contain in him, the hard worker, the romantic, the poet, the writer and all the other things that make up a dynamic human being.

The disturbing part for me was the footage of him reading in the clubs and theaters. It was more performance art than poetry reading. The audience was there to see the atrocity. He was nervous, angry and scared on stage. He would drink to calm his anxiety and then the crowd would egg him on and he would drink more in a vicious cycle.It was sort of sad. These performances were a necessary cash cow, they advanced his career through exposure and the creation of the myth of the man. He is reported to have hated these gigs. Hank would have been more interested in writing or being at the race track.

When I was watching the movie there were several inebriated members of the audience, probably over half. They cheered the excesses of his alcoholism. Like at his poetry reading, they were drawn in by the spectacle and not the man.

Bukowski really curtailed his drinking after illness late in life. He dabbled in mediation,healthier living and using his beloved Apple computer. He wrote his last book "Pulp" and some of his best poetry during this period. It seems to me that he had found a little peace at the end of a turbulent life.

This taken from wikipedia:

Bukowski died of leukemia on March 9th, 1994 in San Pedro, California, at the age of 73, shortly after completing the novel "Pulp", his last. His funeral rites were conducted by Buddhist monks. His gravestone reads: "Don't Try".
According to Linda Lee Bukowski, her husband's epitaph means something along the lines of "If you spend all your time trying, then all you're doing is trying. So don't try. Just do."

TS Eliot

2007-01-16T23:32:00.000-08:00

If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?
T. S. Eliot

radiohead in my head

2007-01-16T23:24:00.000-08:00

radiohead are working on a new record. I can't wait, it will be the perfect soundtrack to how I feel right now.

Bukowski: A Wonder Filled Poet

2007-01-16T06:14:00.000-08:00

I've really come to appreciate the poetry of Charles Bukowski. There's a certain dance between truth and beauty that delights me. It would be great if he was remembered more for this than being a drunk.

liberated woman and liberated men

look here
the one you considered killing yourself
for.
you saw her the other day
getting out of the car
in the Safeway parking lot.
she was wearing a torn green
dress and old dirty
boots
her face raw and living.
she saw you
so you walked over
and spoke and then
listened.
her hair did not glisten
her eyes and her conversation were
dull.
where was she?
where had she gone?
the one you were going to kill yourself
for.

the conversation finished
she walked into the store
and you looked at her automobile
and even that
which used to drive up and park
in front of your door
with such verve and in the spirit of
adventure
now looked like a junkyard
joke.

you decide not to shop at
Safeway
you'll drive 6 blocks
east and buy what you need at
at Ralphs.

getting into your car
you are quite pleased that
you didn't
kill yourself;
everything is delightful and
the air is clear.
your hands on the wheel,
you grin as you check for traffic in
the rearview mirror.

my man, you think
you've saved yourself
for somebody else, but who?

a slim young creature walks by
in a miniskirt and sandals
showing marvelous leg.
she's going to shop at Safeway
too.

you turn off the engine an
follow her in.

workin' together

2007-01-15T20:31:00.000-08:00

You've seen her before on this very blog and she's back again. It's the Hezza from Nashville. After many hours of phone time, we have decided to use our super powers for good and do a co-authored photoblog. In each edition, we will both post a photo from our own location. It will be a visual continuation of all the long phone conversations that we have had and will have. It's called seatac to bna . Check it out.

wintery weather

2007-01-14T18:38:00.001-08:00

"Ravenna Icy"
Originally uploaded by Figgy Studio Assistant.

I got back from San Francisco on Friday night. It was fun and warm there . On return, Seattle was and is frosty and cold. The side streets around my house are iced over. I can't get my van out to the main roads, it drives terribly in the snow and ice. I'm snowbound, holed up watching television and sleeping. Feeling recharged now but I have a little cabin fever. I hope it thaws tomorrow.

Moon Over Bloomingdale's

2007-01-09T17:58:00.001-08:00

Moon Over Bloomingdale's
Originally uploaded by Figgy Studio Assistant.

Day two in San Francisco:

1. In the workshops, we finished up the FInal Cut Master Class. It was an alright class but it seemed a little short of a "master class". From my classmates questions, I wonder how some of these people get out of bed and get anything done. Steve Martin was an excellent teacher. I would love to take a small group advanced class with him. He gave us a full DVD of all the lessons . Fuckin cool.

2. Jobs gave the Keynote and answered the geeks prayers with the Iphone which is an amazing piece of technology. I however just want my phone to be a phone and do a good job at that.

3. Opening day of the Expo was a zoo. I went in early checked our booth, took a look at a few others and went to class.

4. Took an urban hike in the afternoon up to Haight-Astbury. My feet hurt but I had some really good lemonade and fried squid.

5. Tonight we are going for tapas at Cha Cha Cha on Haight.

Last night we saw "Pan's Labrinth" . I was skeptical going in but this was pretty awesome. I will dedicate a blog entry to this and "The Fountain", two excellent movies that the stupid main stream media will ignore to suck off Clooney, Pitt and all the other hacks in Hollywood.

There was a small eartquake here today, bad timing to be living in a tall building.

I'm out.

MacWorld

2007-01-08T17:52:00.000-08:00

I'm in San Francisco for the MacWorld convention. It's the place where all things Mac are celebrated. There are tons of products displayed by vendors. Steve Jobs gives the State of the Union for Apple, new products are announced and there are loads of informative workshops.

I spent the day learning cool things about Final Cut Pro, checking out our company's booth and listening to a little of our CEO's presentation at the Apple store.

The weather here in a word AWESOME. This is the best weather I have ever had in San Fran.

Stained by Pomegranate

2007-01-07T04:28:00.000-08:00

my fingers red from pomegranate seeds
your face flashing green asks the night sky
are dreams less sweet when we are screaming?
I lay back and look up the tree's dress
thinking about teachers lost in the dadada
maybe god chooses the brussel sprout over the cotton candy today
I can't hear your voice when I'm sleeping
but I can't forget your face
in waking life I hope for just a slice
my fingers are stained with pomegranate
for I will always choose red foods over orange
but it's the green ones that I dream of
is this the small part of the night or the sliver of morning ?
either way cut me off a piece
I'll need the energy fighting doubts like windmills
loosing street addresses to find my miss adventures
I could surrender now but that just puts me back at the beginning
I don't fly in my dreams but I do smoke sometimes
staring into your eyes sends me adrift
it's probably just illusion , it's probably just allure
it's probably destiny
did i mention my fingers being stained by pomegranate seeds?
oh I miss the days of Montreal!

Alejandro Jodorowsky : My Mind He is A Crazy Guy

2007-01-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

Seems that the long unavailable or limited available films of surrealist film maker Alexandro Jodorowsky will soon be available on DVD. His movies are totally unique and an amazing experience. If you have never seen one of his movies you should. I think El topo or Sante Sangre are to really good ones to start with.

Flea market FUN!!!!

2007-01-05T04:33:00.001-08:00

Flea market Fun
Originally uploaded by Figgy Studio Assistant.

I'm not so scared anymore. I just miss this woman. Her names is Heather and we live too far apart. Something has got to give.

Mati Klarwein: An Heir to Dali

2007-01-05T04:03:00.001-08:00

I'm sure that you have seen a Mati Klarwein painting. He did a lot of Album covers for bands in the sixties and early seventies. He did some magazine covers and book covers as well. I think he's quite an amazing artist, truly talented and visionary enough to be an heir to Dali.

Anne Sexton

2007-01-04T22:06:00.000-08:00

Anne Sexton was a great poet. She wrote an amazing body of work as therapy for her mental illness and as an award winning poet. I find her work extremely inspiring.

Anne Sexton married at the age of 19, worked briefly as a model and then started a family. Sexton suffered from depression and had mental breakdowns and suicidal bouts after the births of her children and the deaths of her parents. In the late 1950s she began writing poetry as therapy and was soon "discovered" by the literary world for her unapologetically autobiographical poems. The recipient of many awards and grants, she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1966 for Live or Die. In 1974 she committed suicide.

Born: 9 November 1928
Birthplace: Newton, Massachusetts
Died: 4 October 1974 (Suicide by asphyxiation)
Best Known As: Confessional American poet of the 1960s and '70s
Name at birth: Anne Gray Harvey

When Man Enters Woman

When man
enters woman,
like the surf biting the shore,
again and again,
and the woman opens her mouth in pleasure
and her teeth gleam
like the alphabet,
Logos appears milking a star,
and the man
inside of woman
ties a knot
so that they will
never again be separate
and the woman
climbs into a flower
and swallows its stem
and Logos appears
and unleashed their rivers.

This man,
this woman
with their double hunger,
have tried to reach through
the curtain of God
and briefly they have,
though God
in His perversity
unties the knot.

Moon Full of Doubt: Give Me Grapes and I'll Make You Poetry

2007-01-04T06:44:00.001-08:00

Steamboat Island
Originally uploaded by Figgy Studio Assistant.

Can't we let the dreamers sleep
can't I stay tucked beneath my covers
warm , lost in embrace
no lines tangled and fragile across the landscape
just your face pushed near mine
just your small slow breathing
as the dream birds of night
switch shifts with those of day
you lazily get up and walk across the room
and out the window you go
swimming through the air
a scarlet bird with some funny sounds to delight the skies above
I just gaze off clumsily
tasting words like berries
you laugh back at me
it sends a shock wave through our little window
it explodes in cerulean blue confetti
gliding back, you come to me
clumped together in warmth
cooing a song about past neurosis
to help prevent their return
can't we let these lovers dream
so they may find each other
beyond this moon so full of doubts
in the day to day dreams
where they can take pieces of each other's wounds
finding them as roadside treasures
and build this house again
in a place where wires and phones speak only
to the outside world
where dreamers awake
seeing double as just one vision

Is this really that boring?

2007-01-04T06:20:00.000-08:00

I spent some time last night reading blogs. I decided since I was taking the time to write one that it would hurt me to take the time with some others. So off I went into the ether looking at images and reading words. I have to say 95% of all blogs are just mind numbingly boring. Even the blogs with some sort of keen insight seem to have been borrowed from some one else in a really boring fashion. Some blogs are just accumulations of cut and paste of web intrigue. Mostly made up of things seen again and again.

I think the internet is a grand place because it empowers us all to get out there and express ourselves. The revolution will surely not be televised but it will be on Youtube. The sad part is the lack of individual expression. It seems most people are content copying each others inane drivel.

I ask is this how my blog appears to a stranger when they click on it. I certainly hope not but then I also realize it really doesn't matter. We aren't here to make careers. We aren't pros. We are just people prattling on emptying ourselves of words so we might express our experience of being human.

Painting

2007-01-03T07:27:00.001-08:00

rose
Originally uploaded by Figgy Studio Assistant.

I spent a great deal of time painting on discarded and scratched records. I figured it was a great way to recycle old vinyl and these smaller piece could be sold at a reasonable fee. It allowed me to get more art out to people who really enjoyed it that didn't have a lot of cash. This is one of my favorites.

I use to.......

2007-01-02T23:39:00.000-08:00

I use to do many things like paint but I don't anymore. What will the new me be? Caterpillar will become a butterfly.

Refugee from Myspace

2007-01-02T17:55:00.000-08:00

salt and pepper squid is exquisite

dirty eyes

need

a squeegee

stop looking at that

too late

you are now legally blind

dumbass

Video Painting and Music from 2006

2007-01-02T08:50:00.000-08:00

This is a piece I did during the rainy season last year.

missing

2007-01-02T08:24:00.000-08:00

I miss this woman even though she scares me.

Lucinda's New Record: West

2007-01-02T06:54:00.000-08:00

On February 13th Lucinda Williams will be releasing a new album "West" on Lost Highway Records. It's exciting to get some new material. I didn't care for a lot of the new stuff I heard a couple years at her show in Seattle but I'm sure that it's ripened since then.

The record has a really exciting cast of characters working on it. It was produced by Hal Wilner and Williams. Wilner was the musical director of SNL and has been the captain on several very creative/star littered tribute albums to Monk, Disney, Mingus, Edgar Allen Poe,etc. He has produced Lou Reed, Bil Frisell,Elvis Costello. Gary Louris(Jayhawks) is a featured member of the crew. I think his "Rainy Day Music" -Jayhawks is one of the best American records of the last ten years. Lucinda's longtime guitarist Doug Pettibone is on the record. The rhythm section is great as well with the legend Jim Keltner( the best in the business) on drums and Dylan's bass player Tony Garnier who played on "Essence". Looks good on paper , we'll have to wait to hear the results.

It's been almost for years since her last studio album I hope "West" is worth the wait.

Sound Zone 1: Tennessee flea market

2007-01-02T06:09:00.000-08:00

Here's a little look into the fabulous sounds of the Saturday Flea Market in Nashville.
Click on Title to listen.

Live Music that I Enjoyed

2006-12-30T17:15:00.000-08:00

I don't make it out to as much live music as I use to but i still enjoy a good show. I also try to me more selective as to not catch too many duds. Live music is always a crap shoot due to the amount of variables that can make it great or real bad. i have compiled a list of some good things that I've seen over the last year and a half.

1. The Grand Old opry at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville with Emmy Lou Harris, Gillian welch, Vince Gill, Buddy Miller. This show was great value. The venue is excellent and the show is top shelf.

2. The Who at the Key Arena - The new music was kind of lame but the hits, the band , the sound were great. Atrully excellent experience. Pete Townsend is an inspiration , he still brings it strong.

3. Carla Bouzolich/ Evangelista with Silver mount Zion at Neumo. Weird and intense i had to lay down after this show. Felt like my meds were off.

4. Blixia Bargeld solo vocal performance Triple Door Seattle. Blixia and a couple digital delays. It was amazing . Truly entertaining. Hard to describe. Just go if he comes to town.

5. Massive Attack Paramount Seattle - The sound was a little rough but it was the first show of the tour. I think their music is 100 times better live than on record and I really like their records.

6. Bauhaus Paramount Seattle - Awesome! Peter Murphy is amazing. The songs sound good and loud.

7. Depeche Mode Key Arena Seattle - Their music comes alive in the live setting. The show and lights are great. Life affirming.

There's a short list of some of my favorites.

ding dong Saddam is dead

2006-12-30T08:25:00.000-08:00

The time has finally arrived. The mass murdering manical dictator Saddam Hussein is dead. Is this the exclamation point of our army's work in the gulf? Saddam is gone but what is left in his wake? What sort of monsters fill the void where he once occupied?

Don't get me wrong he is a bad man and the world is better place without him. My fears are that without a good plan to build a better Iraq and the fact that he will be a martyr to some in the Middle East, this only means trouble. It means trouble in a very troubled land.

It seemed so far off and abstract that he would be dead some day. We saw the insanity of his trial stretch out in front of us like OJ's. It seemed like he would never be convicted( or not in or lifetime). The circuslike atomsphere would continue and Saddam would die of old age.

Saddam is dead. Ring the bells. Fire your automatic weapons in the sky. Celebrate the beast is dead. But remember there will always be more like him.

State of My Nation

2006-12-29T13:14:00.000-08:00

Maybe it's just that it's the end off the year or that I have loads of time my hand. Maybe I'm finally having a mid-life crisis. What it is I can not say. The thing that i'm sure of is that CHANGE is under way. Not change but CHANGE is under way. The place where the foundation of your house is reconstructed in a radical new way. The overwhelming feeling that I'm grasping with is a need for purpose and meaning in this life. I know that I feel very unstable and confused at this moment but if I trust change. A life with meaning and purpose awaits me.

It would be very difficult for me to complain about my life. It has had ups and downs but for the most part it has been rich. I have had a good life. It does seem however that I was lost in the motion of life. I had been caught in a whirlpool and thrashed around a bit. Lost in a walking coma, asleep if you will. Since then, The last four years I have worked long not always diligently battling demons. Some of them external: alcohol,cigarettes,addictions. Some of them my own battle of soul, mind and body. My time away working on myself has been good. I was extremely blessed to have the space to do this. Like I said, not much to complain about . Yet it is time to rejoin the world in a new dynamic way , as a new person and stop hiding from the world.

In this next year, it is my hope to trust the change before me and seek the path with heart and meaning . It's time to leave the confusion and doubt and trust the world.

Who's your daddy?

2006-12-28T10:43:00.000-08:00

Daddy Mojo Custom Cigar Guitars make really cool guitars out of old cigar boxes. They look really cool and they sound great. Each is equipped with a jack for amplification and are set up primarily for slide guitar playing. They have an amazing out resonator tone, cool acoustic and amplified. The Deluxe F-Hole model is available with a bone nut and full frets for fingerstyle.
They come in 3-5 string models but don't let their lack of strings fool you. They are little soulful tone machines.

Check them out: http://www.daddy-mojo.com/

2006-12-28T08:29:00.000-08:00

Feel I Fell

2006-12-28T08:00:00.000-08:00

gazing forward at the horizon
looking through to the other side
but I can't read the future
a knife scrapes down the length of my past
feels like I feel
feels like I fell
stuck to this in a telephone hell
I had ordered this
but what does destiny look like?
Does it wink at me?
knowing that my heart has ordered this
tired of looking through crackerjacks boxes
only to find plastic trinkets
and now this new thing
this rough new prize
like an item in a catalogue
and me awaiting it's arrival
even though I had held it in the store

growing up in public

2006-12-28T05:12:00.000-08:00

On inspection of my friend's( Rough New Prize) new blog and a discussion with her on the phone, I realized that it's time to grow up start blogging and leave all the blinking lights of myspace behind. It's time take a stab at mapping all the crazy ideas that zoom through my head with the written word. There will be a link and a photo or two but mostly words.

PEOPLE SAVE ME FROM DALI THIS IS THE WAR OF ART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!