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

November 08, 2015 - 12:53 p.m.

There's No Palooza Like Gordonpalooza.

Normally this is where I write, "How did it get so late?" Today it's, "How can it be so early? Didn't I sleep late?" It's 10:05 and I thought it was getting close to 11. I would have figured it was after 11 except I Kathleen Biggins is still on WFUV. I was up half the night and thought I slept late then didn’t start writing for my usual hours. Maybe it's because I haven’t read the Times yet and I usually do that before I write. OK I managed to just waste 35 minutes so now things are more on schedule. How obsessive am I about being accurate? I changed half an hour to 35 minutes because that's how long it's actually been. I sometimes force myself to be more approximate for the sake of simplicity and do things like say "noon" instead of 12.03. Part of being a diarist is not just observing yourself from the outside but also observing other people closely enough to realize that you are being quirky. I think this counts.

Having a palooza is also quirky and last night was:

I sort of think I should write about that. The backstory, back when I was small child in Drusselstein my parents made me be a lawn gnome. No that's not me. My back story is that a year and a half ago Noah Rauchwerk of the The Lords of Liechtenstein made a movie about it. Since it was finished we have discussed screening it combined with a Lords concert. Last year I introduced them to Kat and they decided to include her in the show and it morphed into Gordonpalooza. I was of course simultaneously delighted and mortified. OK I was delighted but out of a desire to appear modest I have to pretend that I'm mortified. See how honest I am? I tell you my deceptions.

I of course invited everyone I know and I was of course terrified that nobody would show up. When a string of friends informed me that they couldn't make it I was more and more afraid of it. I have a lot of musician friends and of course many of them were working on Saturday night. But guess what; people showed up! I am not friendless.

The show was at Prospect Range and put on by The Brooklyn Music Shop. Did I get that name right? Don and Elisa who run Brooklyn Music Shop invited The Lords, their parents, Kat, and myself over for dinner before the show. How have I never meet Don? Well that oversite has now been corrected. The dinner was great and then Don drove me over to the Prospect Range, the others had their own cars. This actually led to a problem later in the evening. That's call foreshadowing.

Lori not LORi, Rona and Bob were the first to arrive. I think LORi and Steve were the second. No they did not annihilate like particles of matter and antimatter coming together. LORi and Steve came up all the way from Upper Darby PA. They win the prize for traveling the furthest. So who else was there? Now this is dangerous as you know I'll forgot people and they will spend the rest of their lives hating me. I was sitting up front with everyone behind me so my usual geographic method doesn't work as well as usual. OK it works for the first four people who were sitting right near me and that's it. There was Katherine, Kevin, Coco & Bruce, Erika & Arthur, Anna, Allison & Joe, Elisa & Jon, Scott, David, Carolyn & Peter & Athena, and and and the friends that I have now lost for life. Well I guess I could name Michael and Star, Dan and Noah's parents who so far I just called "The Lords's Family."

The first thing they did was show the film. Unfortunately that meant that quite a few people missed it. I will correct that soon. Then I said a few words, very few. I stole from the best, Yogi Berra on Yogi Berra night at Yankee stadium; "I'd like to thank you for making this day necessary." I know a good laugh line.

Because it was Gordonpalooza I was indulged. I finally fulfilled my lifelong dream of being Kat's band on "That String" Yes the song is less than a year old but I knew she'd write it some day and I wanted to play on it. What instrument? The balloon! I popped it! As Kat said, I've been angling to do that since the first time I saw her perform it. Usually Jo does the popping but she was not there last night. I actually rehearsed. I had to get the timing right. I can truthfully say that I'm I "pop" star. Hey it wasn't easy; Kat sings "Pop" on one, there's a half rest, then I have to come in on balloon exactly on four. I can hear some of you sniggering at the thought of me getting musical timing right. Well I did great. Of course since I have no timing there's no way for me to actually know that. I'm too incompetent to judge my competenceBut I looked good doing it. I was wearing my white suit. So I guess this is a good time to engage in more theft. First I stole Yogi's line now I'm going to post Katherine's pics that she posted on Facebook without her permission. Hey it's Gordonpalooza and Dan said people have to do anything I say even if I ask them to kill somebody.


Me talking after the film


Me and the Lords


Kat

I have written about Kat and the Lords a zillion times. They are favorites of mine. Dan and Kat said that when I introduced them they each felt they were meeting someone famous a I've talked about them so much. So what's left to say? I don’t think that I've said that everything Kat writes is a metaphor, it can always be taken literally and it make sense but it's really symbolic. Sometimes a cigar is simply a cigar but sometimes a string and balloon are more. And the Lords are just weird. They did the two songs that I always associate with each other consecutively. I have no idea what the titles are, the first is about the Mothman, a somewhat mythical figure that was reported to be seen in some town in West Virginia in the 1950s. The other is about how lonely monsters are as in movies they never get the girl. Yeah, they write songs just for me. Both Kat and the Lords eschew paint by the numbers pop sensibilities to write songs that make you think. In a world where I'm not quirky they'd be stars.

After the show I of course hung around and schmoozed. I got to talk to the people that arrived late. I was so happy to see everyone. I got offered multiple rides home. LORi and Steve drove all the way from Greater Philly so I went out with them after the show. Don told us where to go and I didn't pay attention to the directions because I know the area well enough to get there. Unfortunately in my head I was leaving from his house, that's the map I saw in my head. Yes I'm an idiot but we did find it. Unfortunately it was closed. So we went to Farrell's bar which was quiet enough that we could talk. Apparently the place is well known. We liked it because it's named after Carey. We were supposed to get a picture, we didn't. Of course we couldn't stay too late because they had to drive back to Upper Darby. I used to do the same thing when I had a car and volunteered at the Lansdowne Folk Club, stay till midnight then drive home.

So that's the tale of Gordonpalooza. So you want to watch the movie? Just say "yes" you don't really have to watch it. Remember Noah was just getting started when he made this. He's looking at it now as juvenilia. So imagine it being even better if that's possible.

OK now to eat. It's almost one. It's taken me three hours to write this. OK, it's taken me two hours and 48 minutes.


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 November 08, 2015
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