04/07/2007

Guest post - Brandon



Brandon has had several digital incarnations since I first started reading him, among them being One Child Left Behind. I grow dependent on favorite writers so I was dismayed and disoriented when he suddenly pulled the plug on his blog. It's a terrible thing to do to your readers. It's like going out one starry midnight to revel in the beauty and joy of the heavens and seeing that, since the night before, one of your favorite constellations has vanished ... poof! ... It's NOT RIGHT!!! Several fine writers who make up my cosmos have done that and I HATE IT!!! You know who you are.

We who are left behind to lament the emptiness have one consolation. Blogging is addicting and happily very hard to kick so I was delighted, but not entirely surprised, to see that eventually Brandon resurfaced at The Blog Formerly Known as One Child Left Behind, from which he ventures out to do guest posts.

As the muses would have it, today Brandon is my guest here at this lonely outpost along the language barrier. I am honored. Here is the piece he wrote exclusively for this world that does not yet exist. Thanks Brandon and happy Independence Day!



oh oh oh
I like fishing next to this mountain alder, 'cause he chose a pretty view over a hale and hearty existence, disregarded the hidden costs of prime real estate, and even now the bottom leaves are yellowed in the cherry of spring, the roots bared by rising waters, doing his best salty mangrove. He's like an old refugee, managed to elbow his way to the front of the breadline, only to be knocked down by the crowd, watch the sacks of grain go by overhead, rise with fists.

This shore is littered with the trunks of trees that peeked too far over the edge, peaked too soon after a few years, piqued the interest of too many birds now nipping at the buds that sprout too far into the lake. The uppermost branches, once home to tanagers and flickers now occupy basement apartments for sand shrimp and mosquito hawks. I like this stupid old tree, the choice he made, give him a playful shove with my shoulder, like when we were kids, and we'd play along the highway and we all knew someone would push another kid out into traffic, the throughway, thoroughfare, arteries, et cetera, but no one would ever get hurt. A car might blare a horn and a boy would get a taste of the kind of mortality this alder's got no interest in. Don't push the trees, I think.

I don't begrudge this tree his real estate, nor do I fear his short time. I fret over confinement, my need to perch atop a hill and see the remnants of friends from faraway, to bear the harsh weather, to crack beneath the growing sun, to battle the erosion of the dirt between my toes, to stretch my arms throughout my space and offer my hands to the shrikes, the wee hawks confined to their sparrow bodies, that they might rend lizards upon my thorns, long after the barbed wire fences have rusted away.

When I find my spot, the seed I will plant will be a hawthorn, crooked and pale, with a vista over all the space I cannot seem to live without. I think I could stack 1,000 of those days on top of me and I wouldn't notice the added weight, how lightly I flow through the atmosphere, and oh. oh. I can remember learning to float on my back in those moments, winning the equilibrium that keeps naught but your lips above the crest of water, so close to breaking its bonds with your skin, flowing into your mouth. The sun was so hot in those days. Your toes would dip just below the thermal layer, feel the cold retained by the milfoil, force you to suck in a bit more air and rise. And rise. And rise.

You would hardly miss a thing, and have all of 700 years not to do so.

- Brandon






03/07/2007

Soft on treason


Olbermann's Worst Person in the World award



President Bush, poster boy for the Reich-wing GOP, commuted Scooter Libby's jail time. Naturally. The guy is soft on treason. It's a traitors of a feather stick together kind of thing. I am disgusted but, of course, not surprised. Bush considers himself a man deserving of all privilege and he especially loves his presidential privilege, and why not? It cost his dad a bundle and he's the only kid on his block who has it. Well, that's not quite true. There is the little matter of Dick Cheney's stick up his ass. Anyway, the gang can't have one of their own rotting in prison now can they? Makes the whole lot look bad.

I have to admit that during the real estate bubble that is currently collapsing around our ears, looks like the best deal had was the Bu$h family's purchase of the White House.





02/07/2007

July afternoon


Life in a tea kettle.

This is a busy month. My daughter's upcoming wedding holds the spotlight. It is now 20 days and counting until the grand event! It's going to be really lovely.

We're staying home over the 4th (too crowded everywhere) but before the wedding, if we can, we're going to take a short run to see how the new off road trailer that has been Lee's backyard project since last summer, shakes out.

This photo, life in a tea kettle, is from a camping trip we took a couple of years ago. Lovely trees, eh? You'd never know it but this verdant riparian hideaway is very close to Area 51, so I'm including this little video by Chinodavis as compliment. Enjoy the mystery.


As close to Area 51 as you will ever get







01/07/2007

NICO 60/40

This is clip of Nico singing somewhere in New York in the early '80's (thanks Jose) and is a painfully sad footnote to her heroin addiction.


NICO 60/40





5th Friday report


I haven't had time to do a recap of our 5th Friday performance at Comma Coffee but my long time friend MSB of from the first chakra, who surprised the hell out of me by showing up for the event from Arizona, did a very nice review on her blog. I'll post some of my photos later but at the moment I'm still running to catch up with my life, pre-5th Friday. She also posted a slide show of the event here.



Sicko


Where can I see the film?

trailer

According to CNN.com, the facts
in Michael Moore's latest film mostly check out.


"As Americans continue to spend $2 trillion a year on health care, everyone agrees on one point: Things need to change, and it will take more than a movie to figure out how to get there."

-
A. Chris Gajilan, CNN

Complete article here.






28/06/2007

5th Friday eve



Tomorrow is the rare 5th Friday of the month. There are only four this year and believe me, at this point, I'd say four is more than enough. Tomorrow night some friends and I are producing and performing in what is essentially a variety show at Comma Coffee and calling it 5th Friday, expérience des arts. None of us are hot about the tag but we got stuck with it for "advertising purposes" otherwise, as the argument went, nobody will know what the hell 5th Friday is about.

Finally the day arrives. Ooooh for the simple life. If only the truth could be told. Anyway, I mixed a sound track over which I'll do a live reading of some weird fiction I wrote a few years back. It was interesting putting the two together, so what the hell?!




27/06/2007

Cheney slide show, Washington Post

If you haven't been following the Washington Post four part investigative series into vice president Dick Cheney's astounding corruption of power, here's a quick and easy way to do a little catch up. They have provided a nice little slide show for people on the run.

26/06/2007

Cheney - DC's best kept secret



The Washington Post's four part investigative series on vice president Dirty Dick Cheney offers the best peek yet into the super secret shocking reality of the inner workings of his office and the Bush administration as a whole. Cheney really is the power and he is completely mad with it. For a quick recap, Keith Olbermann is doing a fine job of covering the story. Don't miss it. It's chilling. We are at a real crossroad. Either we wake up, suit up and stop this insanity or America slides past the point of no return into a nightmare we never imagined possible in the "land of the free".



Countdown: Dirty Dick Cheney




Article links to date:

1) A Different Understanding with the President
2) Pushing the Envelope on Presidential Power
3) A Strong Push from Backstage
4) Leaving no Tracks


Also, there is much to suggest that Dick Cheney was one of the masterminds of the 9-11 attack.




25/06/2007

Talk is Cheap


A hilarious new video by overunderwear.

Talk is Cheap





Dulary's Pond



If you've been following Dulary's adventures at her new home in the Elephant Sanctuary you may be wondering if she has discovered the lake yet. No, she hasn't yet and no, the staff is not going to take her there. Their thinking is that the elephants have been poked and prodded by humans all their lives and they not going to do it, not even for something fun like helping Dulary, who LOVES water, find the lake. She will find it eventually but it's a big place and her discovery. Anyway, it's summer and everyone wants her to have a swimming hole so ... next best thing ... build her a pond. I chipped in my ten bucks. You can do it too, for fun and for free. Go ahead. Total cost: $4000, that's minus my ten, of course. And no, I'm not a shill for the Sanctuary. I just love elephants.





24/06/2007

Dick Cheney, SECRET/SCI


Ironic that Dick Cheney sees himself as a kind of superhuman enema for what he views as the "constipation" of rule by law. The fact is he is the big impacted turd fouling things up. What will it take to blow this war profiteer out the backside and clear the pipes?

Perhaps four heart attacks spurred him on to take shortcuts to political immortality. In any case, he is a puppet master, Bush his shill and we are their peanut gallery. Cheney is also doing everything covertly possible to banish Congress, the House of Representatives and the Supreme Court to the nose bleed seats. But we, the "consumers", are the ones paying for the show. We are its all important audience. The neoCons impeached Clinton over a blow job. What's up the Dems? We elected them to clean house. Start by impeaching Cheney's craven ass and throw Howdy Doody Bush in for good measure.

Here's the math. Cheney's extraordinary secret authority is inversely proportional to the level of public scrutiny. It is a pleasure imagining how this human turd is squirming under the harsh light now being turned on him, as in this article at washingpost.com. Treat yourself to it.

Excerpt from Washington Post article "A Different Understanding with the President" by Barton Gellman and Jo Becker:"Stealth is among Cheney's most effective tools. Man-size Mosler safes, used elsewhere in government for classified secrets, store the workaday business of the office of the vice president. Even talking points for reporters are sometimes stamped "Treated As: Top Secret/SCI." Experts in and out of government said Cheney's office appears to have invented that designation, which alludes to "sensitive compartmented information," the most closely guarded category of government secrets. By adding the words "treated as," they said, Cheney seeks to protect unclassified work as though its disclosure would cause "exceptionally grave damage to national security.""


23/06/2007

Cheney, our shadow government


This is rich! Olbermann emails White House as they flip-flop about Cheney's claims that he is above the law but still the bastard continues operating as our very own Shadow Government and Secret Dictator. In fact, America is being ruled by the same hostile, foreign government (the NeoCons) that is running roughshod in Iraq and Afghanistan and itching to start a war in Iran. I wonder if this means Cheney would nuke the US if we don't bend to his will?


*PRIVATE DICK* CHENEY ABOVE THE LAW?





22/06/2007

Crazy Dick Cheney


Dick Cheney officially declared himself above the law several years ago and continues refusing to reveal what he's up to as our elected Vice-President. I have no doubt that this guy belongs behind bars, at least for crafting the outing of a CIA secret operative during a time of war and demanding the removal of Democratic Attorney Generals nation wide to protect his partisan, political, criminal agenda.

You may have already caught Keith Olberman's comments on Cheney excusing himself from the Executive branch of government in order to avoid scrutiny but here is the clip anyway for people like me who don't watch television or missed the show. Cheney is not only wrong, he is insane.


Crazy Dick






21/06/2007

Summer solstice 2007


Summer solstice once again. A blessing on all that you see.

Unlike last year, I had no ceremony with which to greet the longest day. Perhaps this afternoon I will have time to pause and take in a bit of this midsummer day. At the moment, I am mired in details.

Take time.






19/06/2007

Moving on


I'm still in Portland and on one of the NW's more perfect June days. Or at least the sky was blue this morning. I see now, out through the cafe window, that a fine haze of clouds has formed but the street is still sunny. I'll take it. It's nice to be in the city. Actually, according to Find Your Spot, Portland is one of the top 5 most compatible places for me to live and, other than the weather, I have to agree. Plus, Edison my sweetheart and favorite Golden Retriever in the world, is feeling good today in spite of his cancer, I've helped out some with my daughter's upcoming wedding and it's sunny so I call that good. Of course, I know back that back home the Bird Park has wound down by now, making for a less than perfect week for a bunch-o-birds, but I'll be back tomorrow and wind it up again.

The second day I was here, I made a new friend ...a rat ... a friend of a friend I guess you could say, as it was Someone from JudyBlueSky who liberated this rat from the rack at the coffee shop. Unthinkingly, you might take her for a puppet but I assure you that you'd be gravely mistaken. She is an actor and newest member of Invisible Theatre. I'm a bit concerned that the Shipping Squirrel, the troupe's resident Bad Ass, might not be very friendly at first, but he's just rude. Under all the huff and blow, he's a marshmallow but don't quote me on that. I'll deny it.

Anyway, back to work.



15/06/2007

Wichita Lineman


"...searchin' in the sun for another overload..."

When I was younger, living in Berkeley crash houses and more or less on the street, strung out on drugs, and in a terrible terrible hurry to be somewhere else the line, "and if it snows that stretch down south won't ever stand the strain" was always a comfort. It's still a good song.


Winner of Not the Worst Lawn in the World Contest



Congratulations Roy
!
Keep up the not-gold standard
just fine to not be the least fine looking
yard on the block.



In order to break the tedium of outpost life here in a world that does not yet exit, offically known as the language barrier, we hold contests and surprise give-aways from time to time, usually when there is something else pressing that needs doing immediately, in this case packing for my trip to Portland tomorrow

... SO...

I am proud to announce that the winner in the first ever Not the Worst Lawn in the World Contest is one of our favorite culture icons, just returned to the Blogosphere after a very sudden and extremely upsetting (to the rest of us) hiatus. Welcome back Roy!

...YOUR PRIZE...

a lovely,
one of kind,
wild rock
from the hot,
parched and mysterious
Nevada desert

(sorry it's not a big lump of placer gold but the sourdoughs grabbed all the easy stuff in the 1800's) is on its way to you via US Mail (as soon as you email your address. I lost it.)

Note: I just found this rock on a particularly grueling trek pushing my mt. bike through the sage brush after the road ran out. Lesson learned again: never trust a desert road and always bring plenty of water and a camera in case you cross paths with a cool looking lizard.





14/06/2007

9/11 Revisited



Please do yourself a favor and watch this video.
I promise it is worth the hour.

9/11 Revisited







12/06/2007

Rush hour in Katmandu

Rush hour in Katmandu


Lots rattling around in my head this morning ...

...ruminations about how much nicer things would be if believers would only agree that god is god and loves everybody indiscriminately (including animals, fish, birds, the planet etc. )—how a former Nuremberg prosecutor said yesterday that Guantanamo trials "violate the Nuremberg principles, as well as the spirit of the Geneva Conventions of 1949." (What took him so long to go public?)—the crooks in the White House (when oh WHEN will these bastards be stopped?)...
...5th Friday at Comma Coffee, my performance, putting up posters, staging etc.etc.etc.... my daughter's July wedding and my trip to Portland to help with planning... and oh... about a million other things... the book I haven't written yet... working out (I'm in my gym clothes, drinking coffee)... I need to start meditating.

My mind is like morning rush hour in Kathmandu.





10/06/2007

Bird Park spring update



The numerous quail who live in my neighbor Dwayne's sprawling Indian willow tree-o-life spend a lot of time here these days. They love nesting and bathing in the dirt. Yesterday afternoon there were about ten couples dozing under the bushes in a slow motion quail version of musical chairs. They belly out little tubs, lay in one awhile then switch places with each other, only no one gets left out during the switch. There are enough tubs for everyone. This morning, it being still cold, only one couple has made it over the fence so far. Napping is an afternoon pastime.

As far as the other birds go, the love talk, boasting and chest bumping has been replaced by an all day, every day feeding frenzy. As everyone knows, it takes a lot of calories to raise a family. The finches, red wings and sparrows drain the feeders by early afternoon but I've only seen one baby so far. It is a little early for that first trip to the Bird Park, but recently one fluffy toddler arrived in tow and, as usual, had no interest in feeding himself but instead chased the parent around with his mouth open, squawking for food.

I have always marveled at the relationships some people form with wild creatures but have never had any luck at it myself. A couple of years ago I tried engaging a particular crow in conversation but it didn't really go anywhere. I can identify a bird or two because of some unique physical characteristic, but that's it. There is Minerva with a swath of reddish feathers on the bottom of her left wing (I assign gender arbitrarily) and her companion with an odd feather jutting out from his left wing. I believe Minerva is back this year but, if it is her, she is looking a lot the worse for wear. Last year only a few wing feathers were a dull reddish color, now most of her feathers are faded and worn out looking. As for her friend, I don't know. Perhaps the wild-hair feather dropped out but I am saying the faded crow is Minerva and I put peanuts out with the two of them in mind.

Early this spring a new bird made it to the park, a very decrepit pigeon. It is amazing he even made it through the winter. This guy was really in tatters. Now when we go into the backyard, we are usually met with a full face flash point of wings which never fails to startle both us and the air. Big wings. Mostly big, squeaking pigeon wings pumping an emergency liftoff, occasionally mixed with the silent black wings of the crows. But Old Guy, as we called him, tottered away, maybe tossing a worried look over his shoulder but only, in the most desperate moments, was he willing to fly. We were his instant sympathizers and, if possible, avoided going into the backyard when he was around.

Old Guy's favorite place was what we call The Hills, a mound of dead sod Lee pulled up from the front last fall when he made a parking place for the off-road trailer. Old Guy liked The Hills, which we renamed Old Guy Hills in his honor. I'd show you a photo of him standing on them but my computer crashed yesterday, taking everything in the C Drive down with it. When will I ever learn? Lee partitions our hard drives to protect data from such things but I get lazy and don't move files to the safe D Drive so ... poof. No photo of Old Guy in the Old Guy Hills. He was sweet though. After surviving presumably his last winter, he loved standing on the topmost mound, some two or three feet above the world. I put a tasty mix of cracked corn and seed in a crevasse at his feet but he didn't always eat it. He just liked to sit in the sun on his mountain top and dream. Good last days.

For a couple of years a little sparrow I named Buddha Bird hung out around the house. I don't know if she was old but she was very different. She liked sitting on the lawn chair in the back, or lingering in the shadows of a cubby under the fence. Sometimes she perched for a long time on a warm rock or meditated for close to an hour on the limb of tree. She reminded me of certain passages from Desiderata. "Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence." She hasn't been back this year. "You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here." I miss her. "Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul."


But this spring, I have a new friend, reminding me of the old adage "be careful what you ask for."

A precocious crow has adopted me. He likes to talk and perches on the old wireless dish on the roof above the Bird Park and chatters away, three caws then silence. I caw back and so we go. It's fun. He doesn't fly off when I open the back door, walk across the yard or stand there making eye contact. He doesn't mind that I mangle his language but I can only imagine what the neighbors think. Good thing the immediate ones are nearly deaf, half blind or drunk. My friend and I have had many rousing conversations but now he has decided that 6 am is a good time to chat and has made a habit of sitting on the roof and doing his little three caw number for about fifteen minutes before starting his day. Lovely. He reminds me of a favorite childhood poem I used to make my mother repeat to me, "A birdie with a yellow bill, hopped upon my window sill, cocked his shining eyes and said, ain't you shamed, you sleepy head." I wish Buddha Bird were here to teach him, I'll call him Charlie, something about meditation.


06/06/2007

Bernie does the Comma


Bernie Beauchamp promises his marionette theatre is so edgy that it will "rip the head off of conventional puppetry" but his show at Comma Coffee had about as much edge as a balloon. Of course my own Invisible Theatre productions can hardly be called edgy themselves, including gripping episodes of three heads swinging in a swing to the music of William Shatner, but I make no claims. The low point in the Bernie's Saturday night performance was an ultra boring rendition of, not one but two, hard rock day glow guitar sync numbers but at that point the show went from middling to absurd and so became interesting as I am a fan of the meta absurd.




However on stage, and I suspect off, Bernie is a likable guy with a measure of grease paint for blood so in spite of the fact that no heads rolled, in its own sweet way, the show rocked. The tap dance number was especially nice as were a couple of the Vegas show tunes, perhaps because Vegas is itself a puppet show, just on a much grander scale. Eventually, some people in the audience started singing along, a baby laughed and danced as her mother dangled and bounced her over the floor and the marionettes charmed this particularly charming little girl in the big hat. It is fair to say that, especially for some, Bernie and his troope were a big hit. I just wanted more because his puppets are so darn beautiful, but maybe he toned it down for the Comma.




Your next chance to catch Bernie and his friends will be in Reno during the first annual extravaganza Dada Motel, June 28th - 30. They will be appearing at the Studio on 4th, the Trocadero Room in the El Cortez Hotel, and at the River Plaza.



--------------------------------------------------

Ps. I did a quick search at YouTube on the subject and found Scott Land's marionettes. I don't know if they are really "edgy" either but they have interesting head and eye movements and interact with people which adds an extra dimension. As you might have guessed by now, I like puppets.



02:10






02/06/2007

5th Friday





This is our first event as the 5th Night Company. I must say, it has been interesting so far and the performance is still 4 weeks away. We are attempting to bring together a lot of elements for a blue moon, leap year, only on a 5th Friday kind of thing. I suppose that in the unstoppable march of time, we shall see how it all plays out. I just finished the poster. It will go to the printer on Monday.





31/05/2007

Spider mine



Come into my parlor,
said the spider to the mountain biker.





(enlarge this close-up and
you will see the spider
waiting by the rock
in the upper left
corner)







30/05/2007

Weight Watchers update


John Amato at Crooks and Liars just posted doing Weight Watchers (11 lbs. so far!) and it reminded me that I haven't done an update since I started the program five months ago. I am nearing my target weight of 115. You may not be impressed by that but it impresses the hell out of me, especially as I'm not on a "diet" or randomly starving myself.

A couple of weeks ago I was at 118 and the trainer advised me to declare my target weight, the idea being if I maintain it for 6 weeks, I earn a free lifetime membership. This is the fine tuning phase. I began by adding 4 extra points to my daily intake and in one week I gained 2 lbs. That's not unusual but, as we had a substitute trainer at the next meeting, I dropped the extra points for this week. Freaked me out. Tomorrow is weigh-in. Can't wait to see what's up or (hopefully) down.