east of the sun, west of the moon

i had to say goodbye to a good friend yesterday. i think life is hilarious and that the heart is a funny organ, and that it will break no matter what you do, so you may as well use it up. fully. its the equivalent of trying to bend over in a snow suit after a really big meal. what can you do except bend anyway and love?

youve heard them before but here again are two of my favorite quotes, the first by goethe, the second, martha graham.

"until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. all sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. a whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. boldness has genius, power and magic in it."

and,

"there is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and since there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. the world will not have it. it is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. it is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. you do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. you have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you and keep the channel open. no artist is pleased. there is no satisfaction whatever at any time. there is a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than others."

atmosphere

i find my neighborhood all over the tracks we've been editing: the ice cream truck, dogs, kids, the train, traffic, 80s pop at full tilt next door- my god, is it possible to hate 80s pop any more than i already do? gives me a stomach ache and sounds like all the stores i used to walk through listening to that stuff. man. ouch.

run dont walk! a trillion dollars, you could win now!

now the fed will own our bad debt? all the banks? wall street? i mean, out in the open, where it's law. where are the people in the streets? the pitchforks? where are the crowds? can anyone hear???? oh wait, here they are:

LA Times

youtube


and here's how to respond with art:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/07/AR2008100703150.html?hpid=artslot

something wicked this way comes

weather, maybe. rain in fact. first rain since early may. let it bleed!

so we sang 'rachel corrie' and 'you were right' from loy's collection of songs for the haam show. theyre amazing songs, you should check out his record called stories from joe's, worthwhile songwriting for sure. listen to 'why' and 'a rendition', the first about 9/11, the second about the guantanamo disasters. rachel corrie is an actual person, a peace activist, who stood in front of bulldozers down on the gaza strip when the israeli army came in to tear down the settlements; they buried her. the strength of the song is such that i didnt even know about rachel corrie or any of all that when i first heard, just that the song had moved me hugely. dont know where you can find copies of the record except go look up doppler bob on myspace, he played the lapsteel and dobro on it and he'll hook you up. but here's rachel. and also in her own words.

a particular ease

loy bones

(photos courtesy of bob schmidt)


roy michaels died a couple weeks ago and there was a memorial service for him here in town last week, celebrating his life and his music. he played with catmother and the all night newsboys band back in the sixties (you can read his full bio on his website at myspace.com/loybonestheband) and played with all kinds of folks like guitarist amos garrett, maria muldaur, stephen stills, richie furay, and great speckled bird. you can check out the catmother band publicity photo over here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nwilsonphoto/226916697/. the band shared the same manager as jimi hendrix whom they toured the u.s. and europe with. they released four lp's on polydor, jimi produced the first called 'the street giveth ... and the street taketh away'.


he played the haam benefit at heb and down on guadeloupe the last couple years with his sideman, bob schmidt, "doppler bob", on slide and dobro, who will be playing with us on tuesday at a haam benefit show down on w. slaughter and singing a couple songs of roy's, in his honor, and to thank haam for helping him in his struggle with cancer in the last year. join us for lunch down there, have a sub sandwich (have you had one? i havent, will have to finally try one next week!)