I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
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.
Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
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 ...
April 14, 2014 - 12:14 a.m.
Welcome to a rare evening update of Wise Madness. This used to be routine. For years it was the norm. I'd write things up at the end of the day when they were fresh in my head. Of course the downside is less people are around when I post so less people read it. And I'm goig to be writing about Saturday so things won't even be fresh in my head; tomorrow I'll write about today. get that? Want to explain it to me? OK. I just got real tired. I better get to work writing.
So what did I do in the far reaches on Saturday. As usual I squandered the day but I did manage to listen to Carolyn's show, Songs of the Wild on WMUA No that's not like radio mwah making a fake, kissing noise. it's a college station. Can you figure out which one? University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Carolyn is part of my Falcon Ridge family. She is part of the camp formerly known as the Steeple Tent. Joe you really need to come up with a name for it. And not an unpronounced symbol like Prince used
I'm listening to WQXR as I write this and the announcer quoted Vladimir Horowitz who said, "Never trust anyone that doesn't love Tchaikovsky. I'll accept that.
Songs of the Wild, has become part of my routine. Carolyn is a folkie but what she plays is diverse, more so than WfUV. Here's a partial list of what she played yestefday. The them was creepy crawlies. I actually suggested that to Corny ones from the WFUV Question of the day.
Black Flies by Ben Howard, Fly on a Plane by Christine Lavin, Little Yellow Spider by Devendra Banhart, All My Friends are Insects by Weezer, Honey Bee by Blake Shelton, Fireflies by Owl City, Boris the Spider by the Who, Wood Bee and Creepy Dead Bugby Trout Fishing in America, The Bug by Mary Chapin Carpenter, The Dragonfly Races by Ellis Paul, Fox and the Bee by The Duhks, Spider and Gioma by Chadwick Stokes.I got that list from Carolyn but there are a few others I remember, "High Hopes" by Frank Sinatra and "Flight of the Bumblebee" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
Weezer, Sinatra, Trout Fishing in America, The Who, and Rimsky-Korsakov all in 90 minutes. Which two songs listed did I recommend? One more that I recommended was The Bees by Rebecca Loebe.
I'm not going to show the videos I actually shot because I haven't had a chance to edit them. I'm not going to even edit the photos. But I love this song and the video is great and Becca's a lot cuter than the people I actually saw.
Is it sad that this is my favorite style of entry? I have great things of substance to write about but I love just going from riff to riff on the way there. This is me being me not me pretending to be people's conception of a writer
Last night I went to Jalopy to see Dietrich Strause, Jefferson Hamer, and Robert Sarazin Blake.
Jalopy is a pain to get to, a subway then a bus, but it's one of my favorite places to see a show. It's a nice little theater with a real stage and seats and tons of character . As Robert said, "You go to the bathroom and see the wooden sink and think, I want to have a wooden sink." The place looks like little theaters that dotted the American landscape before TV or radio or movies. Hey kids let's put on a show!
I thought the order was going to be Dietrich, Jefferson, Robert. But instead Dietrich and Jefferson played together and combined their sets. They were joined by a bass player. Sorry bass player I forgot your name. No I didn't! His name is Jake Silver! Now nobody is going to believe I wrote this. So much for being me. The real me does not remember things like the names of bass players he never met.
Dietrich was the one I was least familiar with. All I had seen him do was play trumpet backing up Kristin and Critter at Amy's house. Speaking of Amy she was there? One of the only two members of the audience I knew. The other was Stephanie Coleman who was also at the show with Kristin and Critter.
I had planned on saying how these performers are totally outside my usual circles. There are in a circle that I don't share with many friends. Kevin is the only one I'm likely to run into seeing them. But when I went to check on the URL of Dietrich's website what do I find? A link to An interview with him by none other than Kathy Sands-Boehmer who is totally in my circles. But that's the exception that proves the rule. Any other of My Gentle Readers that are Falcon Ridge regulars know him? Or Jefferson, or Robert?
I am mad that I have nothing brilliant to say about Dietrich. I'll just say that he's in the good company of Oliver Steck as he plays guitar and trumpet, not a common combination.
Jefferson is the one I know the best. I know Jefferson through Anais . I don't have to use Anais 's last name do I? I was at the first show where she saw him do his own material. She brought him to back her on guitar. I loved watching her loving Jefferson's songs. They ended up collaborating on an album of Child Ballads that made NPR's top albums of 2013 and the far more prestigious honor, my list of best albums of 2013. Jefferson is all over the place. He also is in The Murphy Beds, a duo with Eamon O'Leary that plays Irish and Appalachian music. Is that right Jefferson? I know you do those two things but do you do more? I have pretty much loved everything that Jefferson has done. He lives in New York and I'll run into him now and then. That's how I knew about this show.
The revelation of the evening was Robert Sarazin Blake. I had met him on Election Day 2008 when I was in Philly electioneering for Obama for president and Joe Sestak for congress. Thanks to me they both one. Robert is from Bellingham WA and was just visiting. I have no idea why we started talking but we did and I discovered that he's a musician and he discovered that I'm whatever it that I am in music. The people sitting next to me Saturday night thought I was a talent scout. I could totally do that.
I've seen Robert a few times and liked him quite a bit; That's how I'd put 9it. Then last night he blew me out of the water. This was the first headlining set that I've seen him do and it was special! It's was one of those shows where you go, I didn't know anyone did that! He writes this intricate songs that wander the intellectual landscape. He does these monologues as he and Jefferson played guitar. I couldn't decide if they were verse or prose. They were as entertaining as all hell. I laughed out loud. They made me think They were a stream of consciousness that sounded like they'd been refined for years but couldn't have been. All I can say is don't miss him. He's not like anything or anyone you've seen or heard.
It was a late night. The show ended around 12:30. I then had to wait for the bus. luckily my phone told me where the bus was so I waited most of the time inside. I still didn't gt home till well after 1. It might have been closer to 2:00. I think it was.
OK that's where I'll pick up tomorrow. I don't know when I'll have time process the pictures and videos I've taken the last few days.
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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Horvendile April 14, 2014
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