Uh oh...

It looks like this story is destined to become focused on the reporter and not the real issue. Grrrr... The other soldiers cheered dammit!

from the Seattle Times.

Me=Sick

It's official. I went to the doctor and he told me so.


Bad News - I'm sick (super cough/headache/eye thing), I spent $70 on medicine, and I can't drink this weekend

Good News - I'll be better soon, I learned a ton about the world of nasal sprays, and I've been playing crazy music. Doc probably wouldn't approve of the all the singing and shoutin, but it makes me feel good.

Been listening to a bunch of Jon Wesley Harding lately (the album, not the artist) and I decided that I really need to sing this song. I just want to hear those words coming out of my mouth.

And Bessie Smith seems to be coming up a bunch too and I must say that she really inspires me. She fucking owns her voice. And I guess you'd have to if 90% of your songs had a title that ended with "Blues." You can't mess around with a word like that.

This will end in disaster

Are you kidding me?

Just bookmark it already

I've said it before and I'll say it again - READ The Daily Howler. One of the best commentary sites I've seen on the internet.

Recently they've been talking about the Social Security crisis. Very interesting stuff, especially for all us young folk. Read on..
Yesterday
Today

See, they even trash Salon when appropriate.

I do not have a hangover

My eyes are red, but I am neither high nor hung over. I am sick. Maybe I have one of these

By the way, aint I cute?

Deep Throat...

Love 'em

Hate 'em

Always an interesting read though.

And the Deep Throat part is just a reference to the theory that he was the source of the Watergate leak.

One thing I have to say about the culture war bit - I just don't understand why Christians feel (or in the case of our "leaders", pretend) like Christianity is in endanger of becoming extinct. And the ACLU (and other orgs) get a bad rap from the Coulters, Falwells, and Robertsons of the world, when those same people know dam well that if (or maybe when) Christianity was a minority religion, they'd be protecting their rights too.

DT quotes 60's Dylan in one of those articles and I feel I must do the same. "Come mothers and Fathers throughout the land/and don't criticize what you can't understand/yours sons and your daughters are beyond your command/your old world is rapidly aging/please get out the new one if you can't lend your hand/for the times..."

GI Joe

Heard this on the news this morning - A Texas High School has stopped it's annual cross dressing day, because a few parents complained that they were advancing the homosexual agenda. So they've decided to replace is with Commando Day where student will dress up as soldiers.

Heard about this wacky site a few days ago. You know, if the holidays got you in a killing mood.

Woof

The daily howler should be read by everyone.

Besides the free states vs. slave states map, this is the most interesting thing I've seen since the disastrous election. If I ever stop cringing about it, I may just post some legitimate thoughts about it.

Bush Wins

Holy Fuck. Holy Holy Fuck.

I don't want to read the news, don't want to listen to the radio, don't want to think.

The rules of the game have changed. Smoke and Mirrors win the day. Catch phrases. Code words. Muddied waters.

My pimple is still here (see below) and I'm sure I'll have 20 more by the end of this week. My skin reacts badly to a god dam stupid public.

A Kind of Peace

I'll post again soon. Hopefully tonight. Until then I'm posting some lyrics from a new cd. Song is Ulysses by Mason Jennings.


I went in to twelve bookstores looking for ulysses
Motherwell led me to believe all my questions would be answered
Now i have it here sitting on the table
Another word for the universe
Loose green tea and a bonsai tree, underground apartment
Check my e-mail and wash my clothes while my rice is cooking
Oh jesus christ, how i hate making phonecalls
So i lead a lonely life
A waterfall from a higher place told me all about you
The funeral of the man i was told me not to doubt you
Oh what we could do with your dress up round your shoulders
We could leave all our fear behind
I went in to the liquor store looking for a bottle
Of my favorite bombay gin, the answer to my problems
But to my delight the bottles were all taken
Ah yeah, another hero's night

One month anniversary

Tomorrow I will be ‘celebrating’ my one month anniversary with this big ol’ freakin’ pimple on my nose. Crap. I first noticed it (and blogged about it) on Sept. 15th. Jeez. My prediction – if it’s still here on election day, Kerry will lose, if it’s gone, Kerry will win. Forget all that stupid Futures Trading and debate stuff; it’s all about my nose.

My pimple and I will celebrate by going to a house warming party tomorrow. An old friend of mine, Danny D., moved back to Seattle last week. Last time I saw him was last summer when he came to the Friday the 13th Bonfire Party of Danger that rose and I threw. He pulled up in a giant camper with a few friends looking an awful lot like the New Morning era Bob Dylan

Fear and Singing in Seattle (Daniel Johnston, you will be mine!)

Ohhhhh, just picked up the new Tom Waits cd (how could I not after I gushed all over that song...) and a Daniel Johnston cd called "Early Recordings Vol. 1 - Songs of Pain and More Songs of Pain." It's a double disc. This Daniel Johnston guy is super interesting and this whole cd is a super low budget-y piano boom box affair from the early 80s. I'm not ready to declare him a genius quite yet (unlike all the other hipsters), but the more music I listen to, the closer I get to making that declaration.

A tribute album came out recently, featuring bands like Beck, Bright Eyes, Teenage Fanclub, Calvin Johnson (I heart Beat Happening!), Clem Snide, Tom Waits, M Ward (who, I think, is playing with Bright Eyes this Monday...) and many others. I would have purchased the tribute album too, but stupid chain stores always have crappy selections. I was suprised to find the album that I did. Guess I'll have to make my way to a Sonic Boom. Maybe I just need to move to Capitol Hill. Or Ballard.

Initial reaction to the Waits cd will come soon. Must digest Songs of Pain though.

Uncloudy Day

Today is gorgeous! Yay sunny, yet cold days. Campus rocks on days like this.

Listening to: The Roadhouse thanks to KEXPs archived radio section. Lots of gospel action during the first 45 minutes. Me thinks it has something to do with Mavis Staple coming to town. "Thank the lord, I got a new born soul."

Everything I done is between God and Me

Just heard a new Tom Waits' song "Sins of my Father" and it is absolutely great. He is playing in Shi-a-to-rlu (as my Japanese friends call Seattle) on 10/18, the same day as Bright Eyes. My city will be sad, dark, and somewhat creepy on that fine day.

Kitty-Corner Lesbians

Went to see my folks today and when I pulled up to the house I remembered that a couple of lesbians moved in kitty corner to my parents. They got the big house, the dog, two suvs, and apparently one of them used to be a fire-person. As in someone who fights fires. Not someone who sets them. Anyway, I just think that's pretty cool - a couple of lessies in my parents little Kent neighborhood. It's too cute. And doesn't it seem like lesbians are the pioneers of gayness. Granted, this is a big generalization, but hear me out - they were the subjects of TV shows first, they have better movies about them (Chasing Amy and Bound come to mind), there seem to be more experimental straight gals to..um..play with, they can play professional sports, and they get the big house, the dog, and suvs. And some of them even get to work on their evil father's reelection campaign...

Anyway, not being envious or condescending or anything weird, I just think it's kind of cool.

On a random note, Netflix just delivered a documentary about Ramblin’ Jack Eliot. Me=giddy

Oh, and for all the pioneering done by lesbians, not one has been elected governor of NJ and outed by a scandalous love affair. Way to go gay boys, can't let those gals beat us to everything.

On itunes party shuffle:
John Lennon - Anthology, Disc 3, The Lost Weekend
Women of Sun Records (VA) - Disc 5
Bob Dylan - Freewheelin' Outtakes (bootleg)

Not much of party with that selection of music, but it did make me that much more excited for the Ramblin JE documentary.

Where you been is good and gone...

Grrr, I'm working. On a Sunday. Booo.

Shit, it's been busy 'round here. School started on the 29th so last week was the first full week of class. The weather was perfect on the first few days of school and it reminded me of my first day of school this campus. For some reason I woke up extra early (definitely not a trademark of mine...), hung out on the back deck of Hagget Hall, and watched the sun rise. I sat there with filled with anxiety and hope for the future. That was six years ago. And it's been a weird and strange and amazing six years. And maybe it's because I'm celebrating my 6th year at my school/job (same place) or my 25th year of existence or maybe it's because I've been going to a bunch of weddings or maybe it's just the color of the sun cut flat, but I've been thinking a lot about the people that made the last six years what it was. The people who have been around from what feels like the beginning (the tangos, roses, bartletts, carmens, wendys), the people who wandered in, affected my life, and departed in one way or another (the Neils, Bens, Tahns, Joshuas, Siris, Kellys, Andrews, Jesses, Caseys, Felcias) and the people who came out of nowhere and continue to impact my life (the Emmas, Espys, Taras, John Bs, Kates, Matthews, Shawns, Karens,) and everyone else who'll kick me in the stomach for forgetting about them. There is no way I could've guessed what was going to happen as I sat there watching that sun rise on a new day. I just ruminated for a while before trotting off to meet a friend for breakfast. Life rolls on, but here's to all y'all who've been a part of it.

"Where you been is good and gone all you keep is the getting there."

Music getting heavy rotation:
Magnetic Fields - Charm of the Highway Strip
Ryan Adams and Gillian Welch - Live at the Exit In Nashville (recorded in Y2K)
Every Andrew Bird cd I have
Some other things that I referenced in this post. Any trainspotters out there?

Howlin' at midnight, Winter Creepin In

Gonna get in my Mercury and drive around the world.
When I reach that mountain top I'll stand with flags unfurled.

Photos

I think the photos are messing up my blog formating so they have been removed, for now.

Sexy Cat (Neko)

This message, from Neko Case, was forwarded to a music discussion board that I'm on. Too late to help out, but worth posting due to the WA State references and the dig on Madonna. She is just too cute. In Japanese, Neko means cat. purrr.


EMERGENCY! WE ONLY HAVE UNTIL SEPT. 14TH!!!!!

HELLO EVERYBODY! IT'S NEKO, THANK YOU FOR CHECKING ME OUT ON THIS WEBSITE. I MUST CONFESS I RARELY EMAIL, LET ALONE GO ONLINE, BUT I WANTED TO ASK YOU FOLKS FOR A BIG FAVOR. IT'S A BIT OF AN EMERGENCY.

I GREW UP IN WASHINGTON STATE, WHICH I LOVE WITH ALL MY HEART. I LOVE THE WEATHER, I LOVE THE KIND PEOPLE AND MOST OF ALL I LOVE THE BIRDS AND THE DEER AND THE TREES AND THE MOUNTAINS. YOU MAY NOT KNOW THIS BUT THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS TRYING TO TAKE 30% OF OUR NATIONAL FORESTS, NOT JUST IN THE STATE OF WASHINGTON BUT EVERYWHERE. THEY ARE TO BE USED FOR LOGGING, MINING AND OIL DRILLING.

I AM NO SCIENTIST OR ECOLOGIST, BUT I DID WATCH MOST OF THE FOREST I REMEMBER FROM BEING A KID DISAPPEAR IN THE SHORT SPAN OF ABOUT 12 YEARS. IT BREAKS MY HEART. NOT JUST BECAUSE OF THE LOSS OF SUCH BEAUTY AND THE ONGOING, NEEDLESS EXTINCTION OF WILDLIFE, BUT BECAUSE WE AS A COUNTRY ARE MUCH TOO SMART TO LET THIS GO ON. WE NEED TO FIND NEW WAYS TO FUEL OUR CARS, MAKE OUR ELECTRICITY- AND STOP POISONING THINGS TO DO IT.

SCIENCE IS SO WONDERFUL! SOUND ENGINEERING SCIENTISTS HAVE EVEN MADE MADONNA SING IN KEY!!! ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE! I LOVE "RAY OF LIGHT"!
IT MAKES ME DANCE IN MY UNDERWEAR!!!! THINK OF HOW HARD YOU'D DANCE IN YOUR UNDERWEAR IF WE FOUND A WAY TO STOP RELYING ON EXPENSIVE, DESTRUCTIVE OIL!! EVERYONE COULD SLEEP A LITTLE BETTER AT NIGHT.
(AND NOT JUST IN THE UNITED STATES).

I REALLY LOVE OUR COUNTRY AND NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, I CAN'T HELP BUT HAVE FAITH THAT THINGS WILL GET BETTER AND MAYBE SOON WE CAN START USING OUR COLLECTIVE EFFORTS TOWARD GOOD, CONSTRUCTIVE PROGRESS, NOT JUST FOR OURSELVES, BUT FOR THE WORLD. EVEN IF THAT MEANS SOMETHING AS SMALL AS SENDING AN EMAIL TO TELL OUR GOVERNMENT THAT WE WANT TO KEEP OUR FORESTS JUST THE WAY THEY ARE.

HERE IS THE LINK TO THE WEBSITE THAT TALKS ABOUT THIS ISSUE - http://www.ourforests.org. I'M NOT QUALIFIED, BUT THEY CAN EXPLAIN IT BETTER AND HELP YOU OUT. PLEASE ACT SOON (WE ONLY HAVE UNTIL SEPT. 14TH!) AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS.
YOU'LL BE GLAD YOU DID, AND SO WILL SPOTTED OWLS AND TIMBERWOLVES AND BLACKBEARS. YOUR KIDS WILL BE GLAD TOO.

I HATE TO HARP, BUT DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!!! IT IS SO IMPORTANT. EVEN IF YOU ARE GOING TO VOTE FOR GEORGE BUSH, MY HAT IS OFF TO YOU WITH MY MOST SINCERE RESPECT. JUST VOTE.

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

LOVE NEKO

http://www.ourforests.org

P.S. HEY, I FORGOT TO ADD IN MY DEAL THAT I DID THE THING ON THE 'OUR FORESTS' WEBSITE AND IT WAS SUPER EASY, IT TOOK TWO MINUTES. LOVE N

Jacko

I guess everyone needs to feel like they have a purpose in life.