With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will be good.
Too much sanity may be madness and the maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be.
The only way to find the limits of the possible is by going past them into the impossible.
October 12, 2009 - 2:39 p.m.
Today was the first day since the WFUV pledge drive started that I got to bed at a reasonable time and stayed there as long as I wanted with no time pressure to get my day started. That's why I'm posting this late. Actually it's because I wasted two hour wrestling with my computer. I am going to try to get a new one this week.
Speaking of the drive I'm listening to the fund raising edition of John Platt's Sunday morning now. Why? Do I love hearing people begging for money? No it's because that's when I made my pledge and I didn't hear John read my "Why do you support WFUV?" Now I'll hear what he said about me behind my back.
Last night I went to seeChristine Lavin for the zillionth time. I wonder how many times I've seen her. The first time was 20 years ago, back in 1989. If I saw her just two times a year it would be 40 times. It might be closer to 100. I'd wager good money that I've sung Sensitive New Age Guys on stage with her more than anyone. I wish I could remember all the singers I've been on stage with singing it. Off the top of my head I can think of Da Vinci's Notebook and Buskin & Batteau, and Modern Man. Others I think I sang with are Vance Gilbert and Tom Paxton. I bet I'm forgetting people that totally star struck me at the time.
The show was at the Landmark on Main Street in Port Washington. That's on the North Shore of Long Island not that far from where I used to live. It took maybe 25 minutes to get there and there were no tolls; my definition of a local show. The series is done in cooperation with WFUV. John Platt is the usual host. He couldn't make it last night. He told me how much he regretted missing it.
The show started at 8:00 but Christine hosted her knitting circle at 7:00, that's when I arrived. The person at the door said, "You knit?" I just said "no" but I should have said, "No I schmooze."
I was the first one there but we were soon joined by others that also didn't bring knitting and just schmoozed. It was great. I met a woman that I've been to many shows with. She's a big fan of DVN, Paul and Storm, and Sean Altman too. That's what I love about these informal get togethers. I met a friend of Christine's that sang with Dave Von Ronk in Latin. I picked up on her when she told a story in a fake voice and I asked, "Are you doing Jack Hardy?" She was. You can't quote Jack without imitating him. It's a law.
I bought my ticket late but was lucky enough to get a single in the front row, perfect for photographing the show. The people next to me were no shows so I had a place to put my coat.
Christine did a strange mix of songs. They were all either written in the last three years or in the 80s. They were new songs or songs she was performing when I first discovered her. Some were retired by then and I only knew from her albums. She said that she never performs The Kind of Love You Never Recover From. That through me for a loop. She used to play that every show and that's how I think of it.
Chris pointed me out when she sang the Jeopardy song; I was called on stage as her assistant during the psychic song, and of course was on stage to sing Sensitive New Age Guys. I think I should be getting paid.
After the show there was a party across the street we were all invited to. Not many people went. They should have it was fun. I made another friend then. Who was it? The brother of the woman who knew Jack Hardy I befriended before the show. I guess I just like the family.
I had lots of time to hang out with Chris, that's always nice. She's finished her memoir, Cold Pizza for Breakfast and had a copy with her. She read form it on stage. 
Sarah Palin's just finished her book too. Which is more exciting? I suggested that Chris read a passage from Palin's book then a passage from her own and have the audience vote on which they like more.
I actually have something to say about Christine's songs. She has developed a unique style. She writes songs that have far more syllables in a line than is normal. Each line is chock full of information. They are barely recognizable as poetry. They are the antithesis of lyrical. I doubt many other people could sing them. The closest thing I can think of are Gilbert and Sullivan patter songs but those are far more rhythmic. Her songs read like magazine articles. Here's what I consider the prototype, Planet X.
In Arizona at the turn of this century
astromathematician Percival Lowell
was searching for what he called "Planet X"
because he knew deep in his soul
that an unseen gravitational presence
meant a new planet spinning in the air
joining the other eight already known
circling our sun up therePercival Lowell died in 1916
his theory still only a theory
'til 1930, American Clyde Tombaugh
in his scientific query
discovered Planet X, 3 point 7
billion miles from the sun
a smallish ball of frozen rock,
methane and nitrogenIt joined Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, Jupiter
Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
our solar system's newest neighbor
two-thirds the size of our moon
a tiny, barely visible speck
cold! minus 440 below
not exactly Paradise
they named the planet PlutoThat same year, 1930, Walt Disney
debuted his own Pluto as well
but a cartoon dog with the very same name
as the CEO of Hell
was not the normal Disney style
most thought he was riding the coattails
of Pluto-mania sweeping the land
(not unlike our love for whales)For the next five decades mysterious Pluto
captivated our minds
as late as 1978 its own moon Charon
was seen for the very first time
but telescopes and satellites
and computer calculations
now say Pluto may not be a planet at all
causing great consternation(Some scientists say). . .
It's a "trans-Neptunian interloper"
swept away by an unknown force
or a remnant of a wayward comet
somehow sucked off course
others say it's an asteroid
in the sun's gravitational pull
but if you ask Clyde Tombaugh
he'll tell you it's all "bull""I get hundreds of letters from kids every year,"
he says, "It's Pluto the planet they love
not Pluto the comet or Pluto the asteroid
they wonder about above"
The International Astronomical Union's Working Group
For Planetary System Nomenclature
agrees that Pluto's a planet
reinforcing Tombaugh's view of NatureNorwegian Kaare Aksnes, professor at the
Theoretical Astrophysics Institute
says Pluto is still a planet
and an important one, to boot
but at the University of Colorado
astronomer Larry Esposito
says if Pluto were discovered today
it would not be a planet. End of discussion. FinitoHe says it was not spun off from solar matter
like the other eight planets we know
by every scientific measure we have
is it a planet? No!
and now twenty astronomy textbooks
refer to Pluto as less than a planet
I guess if Pluto showed up at a planet convention
the bouncer at the door might ban itIt takes 247 earth years
for Pluto to circle the sun
it's tiny and it's cold but of all heavenly bodies
it's Clyde Tombaugh's favorite one
he's 90 now and works every day
in Las Cruces, New Mexico
determined to maintain the planetary status
of his beloved PlutoBut how are we going to deal with it
if science comes up the proof
that Pluto was never a planet
how do we handle this truth?
as the Ph.D.'s all disagree
we don't know yet who's wrong or right
but wherever you are, whatever you are
Pluto, we know you're out there tonightAnd in 2003 you're going to see
the NASA Pluto Express
fly by and take pictures of your cool surface
to send to your web page address:
h t t p colon slash slash d o s x x dot
colorado dot edu slash
plutohome dot html
your own web page?
you've made quite a splashThough now St. Christopher is looking down
says, "Pluto, I can relate
when I was demoted from sainthood
it didn't feel too great"
and Scorpios look up in dismay
Pluto the planet rules their sign
is reading their daily Horoscope
now a futile waste of time?At the turn of this century
astromathematician Percival Lowell
in his quest for "Planet X"
started this ball to roll
at the end of the 20th Century
we think he may have been way off base
now we look at the sky
and wonder what new surprises
await us in outer space
Try singing that. She's been writing more and more songs in that style. She's the only songwriter I know that writes to researchers to fact check her songs. She's written deeply personal songs but for the most part she's the anti-thesis of the sensitive singer/songwriter. She writes about the world around her whether it be politics, science, or pop culture.
I almost forgot to post my photos. The challenge when taking photos of Chris is to capture her funny faces. Let's see how I did.
I would like to go shopping today so I better get going. I don't plan on doing anything interesting the next couple of day so you'll get to hear what's going on inside my head.
Farewell FHDC - October 18, 2009
So on so on so forth - October 17, 2009
Can't Trust This Day - October 16, 2009
Discover my Superpower - October 15, 2009
Charity Can Begin at Home but it Can't End There - October 13, 2009
Email me: GordonLew at gmail
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Horvendile October 12, 2009
