I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allen Poe

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
- H. L. Mencken

Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
-Bertrand Russell

What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
-James Branch Cabell

August 09, 2009 - 1:38 a.m.

It wasn't as hot as hell in Philadelphia

After telling you that if I don't update then I'm sick, I didn't update and I wasn't sick. Of course I also don't update when I'm out of town and this summer if I'm not sick that's where I am. I could have updated yesterday morning but I spun my wheels too long so it had to wait till now.

On Thursday night I went to see the latest installment of Abbie Gardner's Upstairs Slide Sessions. Her guest was the inimitable Pat Wictor. I can't resist that duo even when they start the show at 9:30. Because some lights were out at Googie's Lounge they pretty much performed in the dark but that didn�t stop it from being a great show. I sat down front with Richard. When we got there the previous act was still on the stage. When there were done I went in. I always like to sit at the same table, it is the best for taking photos. When I got in I talked to my friend John who had a seat at the back. After giving people time to clear out I went down front and asked the people that were still at my table if they were staying for the next act. They said, "We aren't sure." I walked back to John and as soon as I got there they got up and left the table. Why couldn't they just tell me that? Do you think they were deliberately being difficult? I can't think of another reason to do that. In any event I grabbed my seat and everything was fine.

Abbie performed three new songs I haven't heard before. One was in the neglected Gangsta Folk genre, her song Seven Years is too. If it catches on there are going to be all kinds of shootings at Falcon Ridge.

One new song was a duet with Pat that would fit right in the Sinatra oevre. Abbie and Pat are versatile. It comes down to being a first rate musician.

After the show I of course talked to Abbie and Pat. I recommended the book I'm reading, Bertrand Russell's Unpopular Essays to Pat. I kept thinking about him as I was reading it so I couldn't resist.

Things are back to normal with Abbie. Two weeks is about the longest I go without seeing her. I'll probably see her again on Monday night backing up Anthony Anthony da Costa.

Yesterday I drove down to Philly to see Paul an Storm and The Arrogant Worms. It's Philly so I went with LORi. The plan was for me to drive down to her house at 6 PM. The problem is that I forgot that rush hour starts at noon on Fridays in the summer. It took me two hours to get out of the City. Then my GPS took me a cockamamie way to her house so I arrived at 7:20. The show was at 9:30 so it wasn't a big problem. We ate at a retro burger/shake place a couple of blocks away from the venue. I was doing merch for Paul and Storm so I wanted to get there early. Lori wasn't finished with dinner but she said it was OK for me to go on ahead. Just then Lena called from Israel. This was not a coincidence; we met through our being fans of Da Vinci's Notebook, Paul and Storm's old group. I talked to her as I walked and when I got in the door I handed the phone to Paul and told him it was for him. He knew who was on the other end.

Soon afterwards Paul and Julie arrived. OK this is confusing. There are two Pauls. The performer I'll call Paul, my friend the fan I'll call Misch. So Misch and Julie arrived and grabbed seats next to the ones that Lori and I had grabbed earlier; right down front of course.

When Lori arrived we got down to merch business, even though she wasn't officially doing merch. As she wasn't comped she got a hug from Paul instead. She helped me sort the shorts. They had three types of shirt each in 4 sizes. There were five sizes in all as only the men's came in 2XL and only the women's in small. We had put them in 5 large ziplock bags sorted by size. In the dark it is easy to differentiate the shirts but not the size.

I have not seen the Arrogant Worms in years. I used to see them quite often. The old songs still make me laugh and the new ones did too. They also encourage heckling and silliness in the audience. We fit right in. Paul Misch won a prize for one of his cracks. Oh that was from Paul. They encourage heckling and silliness too.

I had a ton of fun. I took pictures. You'll have to wait to see those. I have to get through all my other photos first.

After the show we went back to Lori and Steve's house. I slept in my now usual spot, the army cot in the living room. They have eight cats; good thing I'm not allergic anymore. Lori and I usually stay up half the night talking but I didn't get much sleep the night before so I went to sleep at about 2 AM. I was woke up a few times during the night. It wasn't a happy night for my tummy and ended up sleeping till 11:20 this morning.

Today Lori and I went out for breakfast then went scouting a location for our new Top Secret Project. Lori's suggestion was great. If it ever bears fruit you'll hear about it.

It was supposed to be 96 degrees today. Instead it was a dry 81, a perfect day to spend in Ridley Creek Park and by a coincidence, that's where we were scouting the location.

I was going to see Amanda Shires tonight but once I slept so late that wasn't going to happen. I'll have to catch her next time she's in town.

Some of the FRFF are ready for viewing. Here are the slide shows. Click on them to see the photos at your leisure.

Here is the photos from The Budgiedome on Thursday night.

Here are the Emerging Artist Showcase and Regional Spotlight from Friday.

One of these days I'll catch up on all my photos.

I'm going to finish watching one of my favorite episodes of the original Star Trek series, A Piece of the Action then go to bed.


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please hold me accountable.





Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018



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Horvendile August 09, 2009
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