Homeless poetry

I went to a show on Thursday night - music. Thollem Mcdonas and an amazing drummer, improvising. Really incredible. See his site. Fingers flying and such a grasp of music.

Outside the venue there was a homeless woman selling Street Spirit - "Justice News and Homeless Blues in the Bay Area". So I bought one.

The whole issue is poetry, and some is pretty damn good. I'm going to periodically post some.  Here's one:

Scapegoats
by Joan Clair

"Their transgressions, even all their sins...he shall put upon the head of the goat and shall send him away into the wilderness."  -- Leviticus

I feel the weight of collective sin in the soup
kitchen, not to be escaped on the crushed
shoulders of those eating silntly there,
eathing the lie they have nothing to share,
a bread so heavy it hasn't the leaven
to lift thier souls to a new have.
I smell wafts of scapegoats in the air.
And there are those who would do more
than allow a few to feed
the bodies and souls of those in need.
To solve the plight of those they want unseen
they'd drive them entirly out of sight
from their solitary ghettos
into the wilderness
bearing all our sins.

Cat Empire

Last night seems so long ago. And thankfully my ears have stopped ringing. Went to see Cat Empire at Slim's last night. The last time I saw Cat Empire was about 6 years ago? I was amazed by the complexity of their sound and blending of so many different genres. Well, it seems they have absorbed another element - Senegalese rock. One white singer sounds very black. But it's not just that - it's the groove. This wall of complex upbeat sound - I even took out my earplugs to experience it all. For two hours! There were old favorites, and this new Senegalese-ish stuff. Solos by the brass players, the DJ working the turntable, the keyboardist... I think they have about 9 people in the band? Live is sooo much better than recorded. Again, a wall of amazing sound. What was really funny is that there were two distinct ages there - us older people (I'd say 46 and up) and teens/early 20's. One woman at our little cocktail thing was there with her teenage son. He found out about them on the internet and has been playing their music for months and saw they were coming, so his mom took him. "It's a school night, but so what. He can sleep through math class." How great is that? A link to one song. But it's recorded. I didn't search too hard for live stuff, but I'm sure you could find it. Enjoy!

Graham Parker

Went and saw Graham Parker last night. I really had never heard his stuff, but I knew M liked him a lot so when I saw the notice I told him and we went! It was an acoustic show, except for a few songs on which he played electric guitar. He's really interesting and got a British wit about him - dry - which suits me perfectly. He's a contemporary of Joe Jackson and Elvis Costello and you can hear that. I guess the world could only handle two at the time. Very small venue - we were 4 rows back. He came out afterward to sign CD's - before he came out there was a line to buy CD's and then empty table next to it. So when he walked out and didn't really know where to go, I said 'right here!' and we were first in line - a very down to earth guy. M gets so star struck it's funny. But he was very happy.

My favorite song I heard with respect to lyrics. I can't decide amongst others as to which I liked the best. Endless Night

Best Song from Yesterday

It was such a treat!

My first hour

So, I unexpectedly had my first hour of programming last night. The DJ I work with got there late, and so I pulled my own music to help her out. Woo hoo! What a great time. It's a LOT of stuff to do and I had dead air and other mistakes, but overall, I did fairly well if I do say so myself. LOTS of um, uh, but I'll get over that I'm sure. I know now why DJ's play longer songs - whew, it's tough to queue up music and transition so quickly. I'm really impressed with one WFMU DJ who once did a whole show (at least an hour) of 1 minute songs. I can't even imagine.

The last song I chose was Gillian Welch, Tennessee. I chose it because it was 6 minutes long and I needed the time! Put the CD in, look for the longest song, and GO.
I'm listening to my archives now and hear the song. It's really beautiful! And great lyrics - speaking from a bad girl perspective.

"But they threw me out of Sunday school when I was nine
And the sisters said I did just as I pleased
Even so I try to be a good girl
It's only what I want that makes me weak"

Here's the song on YouTube.

I can't find nothin' on the radio

Or, is the world collapsing?

So, I decided on a DJ name, and I'll just say it's NOT HeidiHo. The DJ and I used it for one show, and both of us kind of cracked up saying it and it never felt comfortable, so I changed it. HeidiHo is what the turd says on South Park. Plus I was going for the German reference.

The trouble with archives is that I can hear myself after the fact. ACK!

You know, I thought this would be easy, but let me tell you, it's not. The list of things you have to do during a show is amazing, and you are never / rarely ever just relaxing. And this is a station that doesn't have fancy schmancy stuff like WFMU (they post videos and photos on a comment board, and even comment too). There's the board to run, FCC logs, music cuing, reading all the requisite announcements on time, etc. And trying to speak intelligently with no ums or uhs. Whew.

But I'm itching to be able to play my own music. Soon grasshopper...

Ear Worm

I remembered the song on the radio that I referenced in my last post. I wish I hadn't remembered it because I haven't been able to get it out of my head. Actually I take that back since I was networking all morning and it was gone, and now sharing it with you it's back. Sigh. There are worse songs though.


FYI, will likely be headed back home end July to help move my mom out of her apt. She's staying in assisted living which is a good thing. She's found two friends (one is 95 and one is 100 I think) and so feels good. We just have to find a way to get her to the thrift store to volunteer.

Music sweet music

Liberace. Have any of you even heard Liberace play? Here you go.

I remember at a very young age going to one of his concerts. The trademark candelabra on his piano. His extravagant clothing and personality (similar to Elton John, and hey, surprise surprise, he was gay too). And I believe I enjoyed the music...though the memories are tenuous.

Also at a young age I went to the symphony. I remember most two things about it - sitting up towards the front and being able to watch the string instrument players closely. And wearing my long dress with the puffed sleeves (in calico, not a princess costume) with my special belt made of metal 'coins' that you linked together.

A song that stuck in my head my whole childhood (ok, from 8 or so onward) was the refrain from the following. In the years before the internet I had no easy way of figuring out what it was. Then one day, I realized the internet could help me. Thankfully, it doesn't stick in my head now like it used to.


There's a song that I have blocked out of my memory that has an event associated with it that I remember clearly. I was sitting in a car with two high school friends and a teacher and we were driving somewhere. The song came on the radio and I started singing along. "You like this song?" someone asked me. And by the tone, I knew it was not cool... So for a while (oh, just years) I was hesitant to share my feelings about a song. Eventually as you know I came to the point that I didn't give a crap what people thought...

OK, I'm done. I just heard Liberace's name and it brought me back...

Arizona, and an Amazing Song

The Glen Jones Radio Show played a 2 hour set in response to /related to the shootings in Arizona. The song below was the first song in the set. I would highly recommend going and listening to it. Did you know that Boomtown Rats' song "I don't like Mondays" is based on shootings by a 16 year old girl which killed 2 adults and injured 8 children? I didn't. That is also in the set. I haven't listened to all the other songs, but am listening to the archive again just to see.

Elton John's song is 37 years old?? Wow. Listen to the lyrics. Listen to the piano playing behind the singing. Amazing.



Elton John, Striking

shampooooo

M and I had a minor-ish altercation, and I went to take a shower. As I'm washing my hair, the lyrics "I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair" came to my head. I was just trying to get rid of the altercation in my head and I'm old enough to remember the Clairol commercial. I looked up the lyrics later, and hoo boy! They are good advice and something I should have had in my life.

Only later did I realize how the words on a shampoo bottle are appropriate in such a context: Lather, rinse, repeat.

Maybe I should play this every morning?

Not sure if I'd want to punch her out though... :-)

Funny how sometimes falling feels like flying

Even if it's just for a little while.

One of the memorable lyrics from a song played yesterday at the Bridge School benefit. I have not been to such an amazing concert in a long long time, if ever. Despite the fact that it rained 70% of the time, it was so worth it - a 7 hour show that felt like 2 - in a relatively small setting. You can see the lineup if you go to the link.

Memorable moments:
- Elton John and Leon Russel truly rocking the ampitheater. First off, just to have those two legends on one stage, and then for one song joined by Neil Young, blew my mind. And, like I said, they ROCKED. Elton and Leon have a new CD together, and we are certainly going to buy it, but it won't compare to the energy that exuded last night. Incredible.
- Pearl Jam playing one song in which Neil Young came out and jammed on guitar with the two other guitarists in the band - I'm not even sure Eddie Vedder was singing at that point - it didn't matter because the energy of those guitars amazingly played was just incredible. Eddie Vedder said after that that he should just stop right then and there because he had the shakes, and I understood.
- Pearl Jam had 4 stringed instruments - I think all violins. I think after he introduced them he picks up a guitar and said he was playing a classical piece and then played an AMAZING head banging all out screaming assaulting your senses song.
- The final song "Keep on Rockin' in the Free World" brought everyone out on stage who was left. Again, ENERGY. Eddie Vedder and Neil Young trading the main lyrics, and EVERYONE singing the chorus. One microphone had Eddie Vedder, Jeff Bridges, Kris Kristoferson, and Stephen Stills. And that was just one microphone.

OK those are the incredible memories. Everyone else was really really good, though I hate to say it but Ralph Stanley maybe should retire. He's a legend, but he should sit back a little. He's not horrible, but not great either.

Modest Mouse was a surprise to me. I would really like to see them in concert. Unfortunately as they were band #2 I still had earplugs in and it didn't sound as great as when I gave up trying to protect my ears. The last song of their set was really great - tight and interesting and powerful.

We were lucky as we were in a nice section where people didn't stand up all the time. And there were nice people around us. One had flown in from North Carolina just for the show. The others from Colorado. And it is so worth it. One guy did come late in the show and sat right in front of me in an empty seat. Which would have been fine except he was a stander and a big guy. I was having none of that. Poked him in the back and told him to sit. He mutters something to me when I told him to move over to the aisle like he's not allowed to do that, but tough crap. He did it a couple more times and kept poking him. In between sets he turns around and says he works for some magazine and taking polls on how people are enjoying the show. What a load of crap. Whatever - he finally walked away...thankfully.

All of this was to benefit a school that works with extremely disabled children, and has pioneered methods of teaching them.

mixed tapes

I had a friend/boyfriend/friend in that order who made the most incredible mixed tapes. I do miss those days, but I've kept every mixed tape that someone made me with the expectation that I'll transfer it to the most current media. The following was the opening song of a tape that was sent to me when I was in Germany. Intentions were clear and he got the girl for a long while. I sometimes regret running away from a future with him, but I guess if I didn't, I wouldn't have had the future I had. Sometimes that's a good thought, sometimes it's bad. But no point in dwelling. Unfortunately this mixed tape was lost in Germany.

Portland, OR

I'll share some music that Entertainment Weekly noted as being interesting duets. This is really nice.

New song I love, but can't find it on YouTube

I think the band is Life in Technicolor
--------------------

There’s a light inside of you,
Hope it’s nothing but the truth,
I just want to be with you.

There’s a cloud above our heads,
Predicting stormy times ahead,
I don’t want to know the truth.

Everything always feels like something special when I’m with you,
Everything always makes me lose the truth when I’m with you.

I’m falling faster than the speed of sound,
I’m falling further and further towards the ground.
I’m falling faster than the speed of light,
Nothing is wrong but nothing is right.

There’s a corner in my mind,
That keeps me consigned,
To the facts.

A drop of rain begins to fall,
And I still think I’ve got it all,
But I know he won’t call.

Everything always feels like something special when I’m with you,
Everything always makes me lose the truth when I’m with you.

I’m falling faster than the speed of sound,
I’m falling further and further towards the ground.
I’m falling faster than the speed of light,
Nothing is wrong but nothing is right.

I’m falling, we’re falling, I’m falling for you.
I’m falling, we’re falling, and I don’t want to know the truth.

There’s a light inside of you,
Hope it’s nothing but the truth,
I just want to be with you.

There’s a cloud above our heads,
Predicting stormy times ahead,
I don’t want to know the truth.

Everything always feels like something special when I’m with you,
Everything always makes me lose the truth when I’m with you.

I’m falling faster than the speed of sound,
I’m falling further and further towards the ground.
I’m falling faster than the speed of light,
Nothing is wrong but nothing is right.

Posting music that touches me

Auf Wiedersehen

First, a little about my weekend. I went Sat and Sun to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in SF. Amazing lineup of musicians - quite overwhelming actually. I must say that my favorite band was the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Interesting, great musicians, good with the crowd. It was also the first band I saw, so not sure if that swayed my opinion. Because it can get to be overwhelming to be at a big festival even half the day (at least for me). I get tired of the wrangling for position and people bumping into me.



There were so many bikes and not enough racks. Not a bad thing - yay for the environment, but bad for the poor trees that had bikes attached to them.

By the end of the second day I had certainly had enough. Part of it was that I had to go by myself. M was sick, and still is. And grumpy me got tired of the "freaks" and though I smelled a lot of pot, I didn't get a secondary high. Bummer. Of course, I did run into one of the very few people I know in the area who I didn't know before I moved - the person I had interviewed with before I came and then touched base with and now have consultant work for the company. She was all happy and serene and good looking and I was frumpy sweaty from biking and layered to the hilt because I didn't have enough clothing on Saturday and so overdid it on Sun.

It was interesting to note that the father and daughter riding in to the festival ahead of me, led me out as I left.

I will be riding into the sunset today. I'm taking a break. Of course I say that today and may get the shakes from withdrawal and write in a few days. I just have stuff that I can't talk about here and I don't feel like putting on a happy face. Of course, it might be good for me to pretend to be happy and then happiness will come. Not sure. So I might be back soon. Who knows. Maybe a haiku here and there. Not sure. All I know is how I feel right now. I don't feel like reaching out to people - not even friends. It's easier to be alone. Not jumping off a bridge. Just alone.

Of course, listening to WFMU, just heard that the Toxic Donut will be on. What a great band name.

I saw stuffed animals in a dumpster. That makes me sad. I always think of them as having a life.

Any other random thoughts before I go? Not sure.

Ah, likely I'll be back soon.

Please listen to this music while I place you on hold

A woman needs a woman

I talked with a female friend for almost 1.5 hours last night. I've been missing the connections, and need to keep them up. There's stuff you just gotta discuss with a woman, or even there's ways of talking that can only happen with a woman. All over the place, thoughts that can come out and not sink into concrete, but either be swept away by further discussion, or given some roots which will tendril themselves out if need be. I very much appreciate my female friends... seems there might be a need for one more.

A pondering for you for the weekend.

Recklessness of Water

Water flows and finds the easiest path. We might learn a thing or two from water. How can it be reckless then? Because it doesn't care what it does as it's flowing? What it tunnels through and around and weathers as it goes? So, do we really want to learn from water? Not sure.

Time marches on and today I become an official resident of California - getting my driver's license if I pass and transferring my registration. Because your car is everything in this state. It is you. Is that why they don't require inspections? Because you don't want to reflect on the state of being but you certainly do want to be sure you don't blow smelly/evil gas into the air and increase the smog. Good thing they don't have smog tests for people to become residents. I'd be in trouble.

The wind is currently blowing all my papers around - guess I should get up and fix them. I have to take a shower anyways so I can have a semi-decent picture of myself for my license. Ha. As. If. I had lots of adventures on the weekend, but will write more later. Feeling PMS-y anyway, and who wants to listen to whine when you can drink it?

An easy summer water song for you: