Cure-Light

I went to the dentist today, for the first time ever.
Well, for the first cavity ever.



download Songs:Ohia- Two Blue Lights

It went well and went fast, except for one bit. The compound didn't set up in part of the filling, because the light that one uses to 'cure' the compound, to get it to set, wasn't strong enough.

I thought that she had a hair-dryer in my mouth, from the way it sounded, but, turns out, it was a BLUE LIGHT LASER, which she kept calling a cure-light.




After she figured out that her cure-light was jenky, she borrowed another. This is Penn's Dental School, and so they borrow stuff all the time.

So she used Two Blue Lights.


Songs:Ohia, despite the odd spelling and the odd punctuation, are very good. You know this already, from the above YouTube video. Basically the same people as Magnolia Electric Co.
Like Neil Young, if we need a little shorthand to get you to listen to more. A little more 'sad bastard music' than Ol' Neil, but, you know, he wants you to cry sometimes too.

Pirate Radio- "Lost" and Found Sounds

I have put together two mixes based on the TV series, "Lost."
DOWNLOAD "Lost- Pirate Radio One.zip"
Now, I've never seen this show. I just want to cash in on its popularity while I still can (before everyone realizes that it just is not that good).



My favorite character (again, haven't seen it: this is all overheard hearsay) is one John Locke. Why my favorite?
He uses a machete,
He has been in a wheelchair,
He has no hair.

I would do all these things: I would roll around viciously swording all those who dared not step out of the way of my wheeled chariot (and my head is shaved already!).

He also will defend his property, which I guess means something to those of you who read philosophy.
But as (philosopher) Locke tells us, the natural right to property, in civil society, may come with contractual limits. For instance, a DVD I bought at the dollar store informed me that my right of ownership, granted to me by my purchase, in fact "excludes the use of this DVD at locations such as clubs, coaches, hospitals, hotels, oil rigs, prisons, and schools."
Okay!

On to the mix: since I never saw the show, only two things are guiding the selection:
1) that something about the title/band name/ evokes something "Lost"-y to me: islands, water, fighting, Weird Science, etc.
2) that the songs would be fun enough that, even if you didn't know them, if you heard them in the background at a party, you would like them. So they must be 'party' songs, like funtime partytime, not like dancing partytime. Some you can dance to, though; it is not contractually forbidden.

Whereby a wonderful radio-like mix is made.
(This is the actual contract that I and my computer signed. Computer being digital, it signed it electronically, with a PIN.)

!TRACK LISTING!
for "Lost- Pirate Radio One.zip"


1) Hey There, Little Insect ?? ? ?? Modern Lovers
Funky little ditty. 'Monologue on Bermuda' coming up on a near-future blog (it's by Jonathan Richman, lead guy for ModLovers).
(because islands have insects?)

2) Jailbreak ?? ? ?? Thin Lizzy
Lyrics: "sirens wail, tonight all systems fail; hey you good-lookin' female: c'mere"
(because trapped on an island is roughly jail?)

3) No Fun ?? ? ?? The Stooges
Clapping- pretty much the most fun Stooges song, oddly enough.
(because would being on an island, even if there are polar bears and limbo contests and you get a really good tan base, really be that fun, after a few weeks?)

(download mix here)

4) In The Mouth A Desert ?? ? ?? Pavement
(sand=desert; islands have sand, right?)

5) Perfidia ?? ? ?? The Ventures
Off the sensational follow-up to "Vol 1. Original Hits". Off the 'present' side of the vinyl, not the 'past' side. Apparently, the 'present' is about '62. Surf rock classic. The Ventures covered "Apache"; a later cover by The Incredible Bongo Band is one of the most sampled songs ever. RESPEK!
(because surfing is what islanders do? Also, because this song sounds like sun?)

6) Eisbär ?? ? ?? Grauzone
punk-funk, new wave, whatever you need to call it. Sorta awesome. I got this actually in Germany: how about that?
(because 'Eisbär' in German means 'polar bear', and wasn't there a polar bear one time?)

7) This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) ?? ? ?? Talking Heads
I got this song off a free promo CD that Gary gave me; ehm, it was "She's just not that into you", I'm afraid to say. But this and 5 other really good songs on it. So I took it.
(because the island must be 'the place', whether 'the place' is purgatory, the future, or whatever? Have they even told you what the island actually is yet?)

(download mix here)

8) You Can't Hide From Yourself ?? ? ?? Teddy Pendergrass
Classic Philly soul. RESPEK!
(Cos where are you gonna hide on an island, huh? Riddle me that!)

9) I Think We're Alone Now ?? ? ?? Tommy James and The Shondells
By the band that brought you the ultrafamous "Crimson and Clover" (over and over...). This song, you will remember from your misspent youth- Tiffany covered it!
(cuz, 'cept for the other people there, you are abandoned by all humanity? Except maybe DARPANET or whatever it's called?)

10) Cocoanut Water, Rum, and Gin ?? ? ?? George Symonette
Calypso, which is about the most fun music ever. This songs claims that this drink will cure diseases, make you rich and attractive, and also get you drunk. I partially believe him.

11) Tide Is High ?? ? ?? The Paragons
Another song covered when you were just knee-high, by Blondie this time. This is the old-style reggae, uprock sweetness. Just a delight, a delightful delight.

(download mix here)

12) Sailor Man ?? ? ?? Turbonegro
I gave you a little fireside chat about this song already, here.
(b/c Sailors go to, and get you to, islands? and PIRATES!)

13) Survival of the Fittest ?? ? ?? Mobb Deep
This is an absolute classic hip-hop track; quoted sampled homaged etc in many many tracks. A few classic lines:
"You scared to look, you shook, cuz ain't no such thing as halfway crooks" (EPIC)
"worse come to worse, my people come first"
and, mais oui, the chorus lines: "Survival of the Fittest - Only the Strong Survive"
(Because, there are no welfare programs in the State of Nature, and you cannot get voted immunity on the "Lost" island?

I Made it Good to Myself (but Michael Jackson did not, b/c he's dead)

Got back from Portland, where the weather was about as good as it has been lately in Philadelphia. Surprisingly, I only got two (2) (!) CDs while I was there. I meant to go by Everyday Music, still my favorite ever CD shop, but didn't really have time. (Didn't get to Prineville's Neat Repeat either).
That's okay, for two reasons- 1) saved $40-80; 2) I can go in a few weeks if I go back for the Beer Festival: odds are about even on that.

Make It Good To Yourself - James Brown

BREAKING NEWS: James Butler has reported that E! has reported that Michael Jackson is reportedly dead! Reports are reporting that it was cardiac arrest (aka a BROKEN HEART!).
(not to be selfish, but does this mean that I can finally claim the title of King of Pop?!?!? ALL HAIL the NEW King of Pop!!! Three Cheers for meMeME!!! YEA ME!!!)
Related reports report that Farrah Fawcett also finally succumbed to her long bout of cancer... ANAL cancer!
NJK! Look it up!

(related connection: a famous beer expert is also named Michael Jackson, and is also dead. It's a F A C T ! Also, James Brown is dead- sad but true!)


Got them (them: James Brown "Black Caesar" sdtk.; Jesus & Mary Chain hits/best) at some resale shop near Alberta, or near Mississippi (ask Emily which it was).

You know that James Brown is called "the Godfather of Soul", of course. What you DID NOT KNOW is that he gave himself this nickname via the score/soundtrack he did for "Black Caesar". "Whuh?", you say. Cos' "The Godfather" came out around the same time, and since both movies deal with godfathers/Caesars/gangsters, he piggybacked on the other, already successful, movie. So sayeth the liner notes. IT BE FACTUAL!

While I was there, these things happened:
I almost hit a bear with my parents' car. On a mountain, obviously: my parents don't live (quite) that far out.
Talked firearms etc. with Jeffrey et al ("reasonable people", the lot of them).
I mass-texted a rape joke. It met with laughter (text laughter) (in most cases).
I got a flat on another person's bike. (For consistency's sake, yet retaining a certain air of variety via a clever inversion, I got two flats when I returned, on my own bike while going to a house which is not my own.)
I received a subpoena* for James Brown.**


it says: 'my heart tells me that you will not listen to my words and this is the cause of my tears and my cries'. This sums up my blog.

*subpoena, like Caesar, is hard for me to spell. I'll never get to be the new King of Latinists if I can't get them right!
**this DID IN FACT HAPPEN, although when I lived in Portland before. One of the children who mugged Adriel when I was with her was, evidently, named James Brown. "Godfather of Soulful Muggings"? "Hardest Working Boy in tha Game"? Maybe even "New King of Robbery"?

Sidenote: I am listening to some of the mixes posted earlier on this blog, and man, THEY ARE GOOD! Find the list of blogs with full mixes HERE.

ARCHIVE FEVER - woodcuts

Der Bär bereicht das Mädchen.

I am learning German right now: Iche lerne die Deutsch. I have some books, and all of them are quite boring, except one: Elementary German Series by Peter Hagboldt.

I'm aware of how thrilling this sounds.
This book is only of note (to you, at least - to me, es hilft mich mit die Wörtern!) because of it's drawings. You know, children -- feeble minds -- must be kept entertained, and I am much like them in this respect.
It was illustrated by W.T. Mars and Susan Perl. Susan Perl also illustrated "The Sex Life of the American Female". What I have here is aimed down a little, as far as age goes. Roughly, this age:



Just some of the best illustrations today (I might post more later- these are not the only good bits PROMISE). All of these appear to be woodcuts, but I'm no expert (you won't hear me say that very often) Come on; I know something about everything, not everything about everything.

Speaking of, let me here justify the posts tagged "Archive Fever".
Blogs should be a particular form of narcissism. They do it well: displaying bits of whatever catches someone's attention about themselves. But if a blog is up there so you can discuss yourself, I mean your 'self', then that is generally in very poor taste. (I'll tell you why later: it's my anti-humanism at work.)
It reminds me of this song



It has choice lines like
"Hey all you Renaissance Geniuses
you know we wanna see it all
your vaginas and your penises
your feces-es
masterpieces
oh".

I am not a Renaissance Genius myself. I am a Renaissance Dilettante: hence knowing something about it all. So I am archiving my GREAT stuff, not because it is mine, but because it is GREAT. It's interesting stuff (Vinyl records, woodcuts, tins, Italian anti-drug pamphlets, skateshop vinyl figurines, etc.) It's all AWESOME first, and mine only secondarily. That they are mine just makes it easier for me to present them to you (I'm not lazy: I'm just efficient).
Plus, some of it's three-dimensional, so I am bringing analog and three dimensions to the digital and 2-D internet. EVERYTHING SOUNDS BETTER/BEST WITH ME.

'On to the pictures, please', right?








I particularly like this one. The lion has its right paw raised, giving a balance to its raised tail. Even better, the roots of the trees snake around its feet, so that you know that the lion is in the forest. If the roots didn't come into the foreground, the tree would seem to be in the background. But the story clearly says that the lion is in the forest; I know this because I read the story BECAUSE I AM SMART AND I AM LEARNING GERMAN.








And to bring it back to the text, here is one with a little Deutsch thrown in. It says that the wolf ate a little lamb, "but was still hungry: a wolf is always hungry!" So it went back, but the farmers caught it and beat it with their sticks until they had "beaten the wolf as soft as butter".

Funny people, these Germans.




(FYI I bit the title of Archive Fever from Derrida- the only thing you'll ever get of him from me.

)