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

2002-02-25 - 2:45 a.m.

That's All Folks

This isn't good, it's 1:30 AM and there is a lot I have to write about tonight. Let's see what I can do.

My original plan for last night was to go see Deni Bonet and the Saw Doctors with Joy. I got a call from her yesterday morning telling me she had to cancel. I was really looking forward to seeing her; it's been more than a year. She couldn't help it though, school has to come first. We are going to make an effort to get together some time this semester.

I got a Frümessage yesterday morning from Gella. She left her keys in my mother's car, which I borrowed Friday night. My mother was already visiting my father in the hospital when I found out. I had to wait till I went to visit to get them. I did and was able to contact Gella and arrange to meet her at Penn Station. This was convenient for me as my backup plan to going down to Philly was to go to the Bottom Line to see the Fast Folk Musical Magazine 20th anniversary show.

Fast Folk was an amazing project. It was founded by Jack Hardy. It started as a songwriting group that would meet once a week. They soon started a magazine to promote the musicians, the thing that made it special is that each issue would come with a record. This was back in 1982 so that was vinyl. It proved a great breeding ground for talent. I bought the anniversary CD last night and some of the artists on it are: David Massengill, Lucy Kaplansky, Dave Van Ronk, Shawn Colvin, John Gorka, Christine Lavin, Frank Christian, Suzanne Vega, Steve Forbert, Frank Tedesso, Richard Julian, and Richard Shindell. With the exception of Dave Van Ronk who was helping out the newcomers they were all unknowns at the time. They are pretty impressive alumni. They eventually opened their own venue, the Fast Folk Café, which is now out of business as is the magazine. They are back to their original format, a songwriting group.

The only rule for joining the group, which meets once a week, is that you have to have a new song with you. Jack Hardy believes that a songwriter must write a song a week to keep in shape. I had the pleasure of having Jack pitch his tent right next to mine at FRFF 1999. He is a remarkable person who has contributed so much to music by helping others. He is also a first rate singer/songwriter in his own right. If you didn't know better you'd think he was doing traditional pieces.

The show itself was great. This is a link to the Program. I had never heard of many of the performers so I discovered some new artists. Alan Orski was the emcee. He did a great job; he's a funny guy. Whoever put the show together had a thing for redheads. All the female singers but one are redheads or were redheads in the past. One of them, Betina Hershey reminded me quite a bit of Carey. You can go to Betina's homepage and see for yourself. The redhead obsession must have been noted by someone, the show ended with the ensemble singing Red Headed Girl

That resemblance was not as remarkable as the one that Jenny Hersh, the double bass player had with Leah. She didn't look like Leah, she was Leah.

It is always great seeing Christine Lavin of course. She performed two songs. What was I Thinking with a new final stanza about Kenneth Lay the erstwhile CEO of Enron, and Wind Chimes backed by the cast each carrying a wind chime. She also pointed me out to the crowd, which lead to my having to tell all my Jeopardy stories during the intermission.

I loved Orgy on the Subway by Noam Weinstein. I am going to have to try and catch his act. The rest of the performers acted out the song about an impromptu orgy on the F Train. I said before that Betina reminded me of Carey and true to form the orgy started when she kissed a stranger full on the lips.

I went to the show alone but made friends with the people at my table. I had actually met one of them at WFUV. As often happens there he remembered me but I didn't remember him. The fun we were having almost came to an end when I brought up Moxy Früvous. One guy said he hated them and others agreed. He then said he also hated Dar! Someone was so happy about this that he gave him a high five. I didn't do anything other than voice my disapproval but I told them that if my friends were around they'd kick their collective asses. Anyone want to volunteer for the vigilante committee?

After the show I talked to Christine of course then ran into Gary. Gary has been volunteering at FUV as long as I have. John Platt who hosts the Sunday Morning Breakfast Show at FUV caught us as we were leaving. He told us that Barbara, another of the long-time volunteers was in hospice care now. She's had cancer for some time and it seems like the end is near for her. She is in good spirits though. She is really good people.

After the show I hung out with Gary and his friend. We went to Cones for the best ice cream in the world. We discussed how most pop musicians peak early in their careers as opposed to classical composers whose best work is usually their last. The only exception that we totally agreed on was the Beatles.

Today I went to the Knick game and visited my father. Nothing special there and I want to use the rest of my time writing about something I found out today.

Chuck Jones died on Friday. Chuck was the greatest animation director ever. He didn't invent them but he perfected the characters of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. He was the creator of The Coyote and Roadrunner, and Pepe Lepew. He also directed the animated Grinch Who Stole Christmas He is one of my true heroes. He spent his whole life fighting the good fight, the guerilla war on reality. As a director he did what all great directors do, he got the most out of his actors. The fact that they were two-dimensional didn't hamper him at all. I had the pleasure of meeting him once at the Museum of Modern art. Read his obituary in the Times. You'll have to register to read it but it's worth it. It's free and you can read the Times online after that. There are two passages that I want to quote here.

Mr. Jones and his collaborators at Warner Brothers were so successful in making the carrot-chomping Bugs Bunny into a lifelike celebrity that a child once accused him of being nothing more than a member of the cartoon paparazzi. "A small child once said to me: `You don't draw Bugs Bunny, you draw pictures of Bugs Bunny,' " Mr. Jones said, adding, "That's a very profound observation because it means that he thinks the characters are alive, which, as far as I am concerned, is true."

In his autobiography, "Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist," (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1989) Mr. Jones wrote, "Perhaps the most accurate remark about me was uttered by Ray Bradbury at his 55th birthday party. In answer to the usual question: `What do you want to be when you grow up?' Ray replied: `I want to be 14 years old like Chuck Jones.' Perhaps this will be my most apt possible epitaph."

It's been a rough month for me, first Dave Van Ronk and now Chuck Jones. I've heard it said that people don't have heroes anymore. I do and I've lost two in as many weeks.


I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
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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