MSBC.com and I are feeling bullish about the start of the new congress — read all about it over on edgewise.
Blog
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The deer liked to race
The deer liked to race around this particular meadow. Maybe it was the grass. Or the smell of the grass. Or the smell of last year’s deer. Whatever the pull, the meadow was packed with deer, and they were running.
Across the lake, Spencer sat against a hard rock that didn’t quite fit against his back and shoulders. Squinting he could make out individual deer as they sparked in and out of the herd. The echoing roar of their hooves pushed out over the lake surface. He kept waiting for a warm rain to fall. The air was heavy that way. Cozy.
It all reminded him why he’d parachuted down to this lake in the first place. Better to bleed to death hundreds miles from nowhere with a sack of money at your side than to slump your way into old age, clanking trays around some prison messhall.
Of course, that would be great if he actually had a bag of money instead of stolen laundry. Or if he was bleeding instead of just a little bruised on both thighs from where he’d squeezed his way out that window. What a surprise — to find it so small. It hadn’t looked that small.
As it was, no one was hunting for him. And odds were he had several years of hard living ahead. Plenty of time to relax, sort through his bag of clothes, wait for the rain, and listen to the thunder of the deer. -
Karen Dalton and the beauty
My better half gifted me with a lovely re-release of a lost gem — In My Own Time by Karen Dalton. Billie Holiday-influenced folk blues complete with three fingers of whiskey in the vocals. All covers — just more evidence pointing toward the Grand Unified “it’s the singer, not the song” Theory of Reality.
It turns out there’s a YouTube of a Dalton track. It’s so beautiful, soooo beautiful, I had to share it. Prepare for the beauty. OK, ready? Alright then.
Here it is. -
Welcome to Your (Doom of Clowns)
Earlier in the month I promised to deliver this here clown song, based on a line gifted to me by my son. “Welcome to your doom of clowns,” he said. Really.
Until a few days ago I thought this was an acoustic number — a vaguely Robert-Frippy 2/3 (or is it 4/6?) song about clowns. That was until I got some drum software (Fruity Loops — highly recommended). And then my electric guitar came back from the shop. I hadn’t played it in ages and — well, you know how that goes.
So…the song is still about clowns. But acoustic, not so much. I’m hoping to get around to recording the acoustic version one of these days soon, but until then, please: play it loud.
time: 1:59 seconds; specs: 1.9 mb (creeping toward two full minutes I am….)
Press Play to play.
Update: The original vocal track was kinda messy and driving me nuts, so I replaced it this morn. New cleaned up version now posted, as of 10:22 am PST…. -
My One-Word Review of the Beatles New CD “Love”
Effortless.
(as in: far as I can tell, no actual effort went into the making of this thing.)
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just fyi
I am the just fy
the optional information
the only information
you do not need
to act on me.
Have no fear old friend.
No change no motion
no response
required.
Remain as you were
more or less
absorb me and
roll on. -
Things I fear my six-year-old secretly likes to do
and really might well do if I left him alone in the house for twenty minutes, a partial list:
- turn on the burner, light things on fire.
- shave off all his hair, put it in the sink to clog it up. a trick that’s not funny, never been funny, never will be funny.
- put physical pressure on the cat — just put both his hands on the side of the cat and sort of gently press in until the cat says “meew.”
And that’s why I won’t be leaving him alone in the house while I go to get coffee this morning.
Anything you fear he might do? -
Great-grandpa’s advice
Steer clear of the drunk barber. His
blade sways. He shaves shapes
in the air. -
Peter Boyle, R.I.P.
Putting on the ritz everlasting.
Broad headed. Forever young.
Frankenstein. -
A Thing I Like to Do
It’s been a little while since I’ve written a new song, but I’ve been playing a bit more of late and — hey presto — two ditties appear. Fun to get back to recording after a little break. Today’s tune is A Thing I Like to Do, the musical version of a post from a few weeks ago, now with vocals, keyboards, and a light dusting of guitar. It’s unusual among the original tunes on my virtual lp in that it’s nearly two (2!) minutes long.
Coming pretty soon: “Welcome to Your Doom of Clowns,” based on a line my 6-year-old delivered a few months back — a line I realized just this past week is one of the best song titles I’m ever gonna run into.
time: 1:53 seconds; specs: 1.7 mb
Press Play to play.