Saturday, December 30, 2006

rock on and rock off


quickly...name your favorite record from when you were 13...ok, fourteen or fifteen. prior to my hearing x, the clash and any sort of punk rock and/roll, the stones, deep purple, and the always present led zeppelin exisited. especially the latter, zep mattered so much. i had decent taste too for i was still listening to bowie, your krla low rider stuff and al green on eight track in my mothers car but zeppelin was mine (and a kajillion other teenagers too). led zeppelin III remains a huge record in my headspace soundtrack. i hope you like it too after you hit this here download check out song "out on the tiles" - zep perfection. how i post this love of zep while listening to joanna newsom is beyond me but there is some connection...

Thursday, December 28, 2006

like a fruit, that's ripe for the picking...



i do not care about the year end as some guide post to reflect on the past 365 days however, i am a bundle of contridictions so i thereby give you an informal list of the best things of this thing called 2006.

where to start...how's about the phenomenal tribe called quest show at bumbershoot this year? ok, it rocked the hard jams like nobodys business. i have always wanted to see tribe and they delivered big time!! i saw lots of decent shows this year but that might be the best along with coco rosie. swimming in lake washington proves to me to be one of the finest experiences about living in seattle. refreshing, exhiliarting and downright cathartic, the lake hits me the right way. when there i run into people i see once in a while and the time down there just says 'summer'. the darger show at the frye art museum...dear god, that was a jaw dropper. i went three times and probably still tripping out. eating at the el asadero taco bus on rainer, the schezuewan (sp) noodle bowl and the kebab house in greenwood were the places to dine - all offer inexpensive, delicioso food all the time yet remain slightly chaotic in their own little ways. my nephews and neice - are simply the best. i love those kids and feel the finest word spoken that hit my ears this year hands down is 'uncle'. friends friends and how they put up with me and my on-going insanity, thank you all. and speaking of, ahem, friends, seeing some go to the wayside was a gift that keeps giving...hindsight always 20/20 eh? reading about sonny liston, bee season, the new yorker and entertainment weekly (did i just admit that) were all enriching. the magnuson-kelly experience in august was lovely and just perfect. so this year has been nothing less that extraordinary and i am so grateful. the best thing about this year? sleeping!

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

move it or movie it

i see a fair share of movies yet never enough. this year i did ok, not great but ok. same goes for the quality of films this year however i found a couple that really did it right. the first three that comes to mind are pedro almodovar's "volver", the nearly flawless "iraq in fragments" and "little children".

all three demonstrate the power of cinema for me. rich characters in both the feature movies and the doc, "iraq in fragments" showed me something i must remind myself of often - just how small this world is. tired of hearing and reading about iraq? me too but damn it, this movie is a must - not only for the incredible humanity but it clearly is one of the most beautifully shot movies about something so fucked up i ever have laid my eyes on. i have already wrote about "little children" and just cannot encourage you enough to see this fantastic movie! it is still resonating after a couple weeks...clearly shining brightly. almodovar's movies are like gifts for me - always a surprise and really exposing a part of me that i kind of forget exists. "volver" has pedro almodovar giving you his love of ladies (and his lovely ladies) with such compassion and admiration, one watches with complete thrill - !! i am so glad he keeps making such great movies, his consistancy really has to be admired and i for one cannot be happier.

strange but i found these movies fascinating where i did not think i would: "united 93" & "casino royale". hmmm! other films this year i really loved: "the departed", "neil young: heart of gold", "borat", "half nelson", "OSS 117: nest of spies", "heart of the game" & "babel". best movies i have not seen yet: "letters from iwo jima", "pans labryinth", "perfume" among others. most overrated movie of the year: "little miss sunshine" - c'mon, grandfather arkin dies and that sweet child does not have any emotional reaction whatsoever? that still bugs me. omigawd, movies this year i am going to see and i must be nuts: "dreamgirls" & "rocky balboa" - wtf, rocky? well, let me explain...i know someone

Friday, December 22, 2006

me versus me


coffee smells so good but is awful when it becomes part your breath. and i love coffee but have a weird thing about my breath being bad. i want to tell people i know that they have bad breath and sometimes i do, other times i just can't bring myself to do it. do my friends tell me when i have bad breath? betty does. i have another friend who i dine with now and again and he always tells me if i have some residual mustard from a sandwich on the face or something to that order with the silent finger pointing to his own upper lip. aren't we fortunate to have people like this in our lives? i think so but i am so unyielding when it comes to receiving other advice that i wonder how one differentiates between mustard, bad breath and everything else. i hear talk and talk and elicit conversations of all sorts but now i find myself thinking, if i have bad breathe - i tend to keep my mouth shut until i can brush my teeth or i stand at an appropriate distance to best suit my conversationalist. nowadays, i want to keep my mouth shut and i am realizing this prior to my opening and saying anything - how so new of me! and my blog will be taking a turn for that as i write about my favorite movies of the year, jesse paul miller, winters arrival, ferry rides to get a snack and how i want a cat and a dog and another cat. i talk too much but before i forget to mention i

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

bunny

vashti bunyan. who? vashti bunyan that's who. i was not sure who to listen to last night while eating stir fry with orange cat's bff so i threw on vashti bunyan's second *in thirty years* cd "lookafterring" and it was a perfect for the experience. joni came to mind which seems the only direction you need to go in. ok, wait - nick drake was tossed out there too...and true that. i mention this cd because i listen to so much loud music that sometimes when i have too much on my mind and just that perfect amount in my hands, going slow is the best for me. bunyan sings sweetly and without being too wispy or syrupy - go get this or the above first album by her "another diamond day"...i bet you like.

sueno y moon


hi dean...how's things after luna? fine with me too - actually better than fine, things are great. what made me think of you and the galaxies of the past...? places, songs, and people, er, person for sure. but what exactly does it all mean when the first thing i thought of hearing you recently around turkey day that conjures up this text? sorry but the dream syndicate. at my new favorite blog detailed twang by a mr. jay hinman - he too recently wrote of your influencial quartet and their glorious "days of wine and roses" lp. i "you tubed" (love that!) and found y'all at the whisky *where i saw the dream syndicate play in the years past* doing "that's what you always say". fantastic!

and just last saturday night/sunday morning "the days of wine and roses" was a soundtrack to what turned out to be quite a sleep deprived yet delicious and luscious time. when one is listening to steve wynn sing "when you smile" and you just taste (or dream) that smile he is talking about, it heightens everything at once. at this point, nothing, nobody can save me - not you, not morrissey outside my door (who did not come in to chat - he just sang outside), and the phone did not ring. when you hear the dream syndicate dean, what do you think of? i most certainly get taken back to the the thoughts of the past when i was 20 years old when this crazy great record came out but these thoughts have seemed to be replaced by the most beautiful grey sunday december morning.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

fathers and suns


and plants and birds and rocks and things.

southern california. people refer to it with curtains of orange color, el lay or even a cultural wasteland but i big to differ. or, what it is becomes so much personalized and made onto your own. i've seen strip malls with any kind of food one can desire, brown people everywhere, distractions of all sorts, the omni present traffic and sleepy communities where everybody knows nobody. more than this, i can deal with this place like i never have before. i, tourist! and what a wonderful way to visit where one grew up. calling this home is best called "home one time", once - in a time where the same remained however the water was clean, orange groves exisited and the good old days where something parents spoke about. going down memory lane with friends and old neighbors is a bit much for this guy. looking back at the past gives one a navigation point but looking at my niece and nephew reminded me the good old days are happening now. kids don't kid. they live.
*thanks to floyd for the crazy pic of del taco*

Thursday, December 07, 2006

j o e y cunyq, cold, koolhaus







so i creep, yeah...just keep it on the down low



i am using shatner, a jew and a candian one at that, to lighten up this blog. his image says it all, "go and download some wierd soundtrack at archer-bullseye or for that matter, go to those links to the left and see what you can find. i'm amazed on what is out there...last week music from polanski's 'fearless vampire killers', popol vuh soundtrack to 'aguirre' and more morricone that one can fathom. or go for a swell fairport convention download at chocoreve...illegal? don't ask me and i am saying it is or it is not. just have fun and dear god, don't download that goonies soundtrack.

il gato nove code....! viva goblin e maestro argento!

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

411



clowtime is over. time to take cover. while others just talk and talk. somebody's watching where the others don't walk, clowntime is over.

this is the second time this week i am referencing elvis costello lyrics. i am either showing my age or my love of his prose or both. yes, both. still, i find solace in his words above since i am not sure what one, read, me, does with information that they just don't understand yet it involves them. i once asked the writer susie bright about the 'number' question after getting a new girlfriend some years back. i got the question, 'how many people have you slept with other than me'? it was not about telling her the truth i thought, but what she does with the information after i divulge. ms. bright agreed that honesty and being forthright was important but what happens after is touchy (no matter what the number). this dubious emotion came across me last night after a phone call from a friend and it caused some serious insomnia. i'd rather this blog not be some sort of therapy for me or you dear three or four readers, but tell me...if someone tells you something about yourself, how they feel about your friendship and you can't seem to make sense of it, what the hell do you do AFTER they tell you they can't carry on the way it has gone in the past. hell, i am ok with it to a certain degree but there is a nagging feeling i cannot escape. furthermore, i don't think said friend knows either - only known emotion is that it is wrong. well, shut my mouth.

this phone call was after seeing this amazing movie little children. don't read too much about it but do go see it. not often enough are viewers allowed to see characters so rich with emotion and complexity without sentimentalizing, this movie really rang my brain. sure suburbia is an easy target but this fine story exceeds the suburban city limits. kate winslet seems so daring and fearless in her role, one can't help wonder if she is acting at all - she was incredible. everybody was great in this movie! one line from the movie is all i will quote, 'beauty is overrated' yet that coming out of the mouth of a beauty no less! so when ms. winslet's character hears that, she too is not quite sure what to do with that information.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

what does that word mean?


my favorite street in seattle is yesler. i like the name, i like where it goes, i like the bus route (#27) and i like i like i like. yes to yesler! yesler houses two of my favorite places: rl's home of good bar-b-que and the samayra center . these fine yoga people are outstanding folks teaching and bringing health to many in the emerald city. hold on, back to yesler and the many changes.

continuing to like seattle can be challenging at best and with the many chnages, read, condos and what not - one must keep a stiff upper lip. this last summer i was out hitting some garage sales when i was on yesler and i saw one in the garage of a new development. two people sat inside, a man and a woman. she was wearing a kexp sweatshirt made to look like a kiss army logo (oh the irony!) and about 35ish while he was just about 40 or so...can't recall what he was wearing. still, they had a bunch of nonsensical garbage, as if they did not have the where with all to 're-gift' everything but instead decided to sell it at a garage sale. wonderful. soon i the protaganist begged some answers out of them and heard him use the "g" word - gentrification. i told him i did not know what that word meant...and kindly asked for a definition. more words like diversity, changes, black, white were spoken by them...i used words like, jewish, micronerd, japanese, foreigners (gasp) and before you know it, i have two new friends that don't like me. when people who are moving into the neighborhood they feel is being gentrified and call out about gentrification, it seems like a chicken/egg syndrome. what kind of emotion was going through the brains of my yesler neighbors during this conversation was unclear. an unspoken truce seemed to be called and i proceeded to go and swim at the lake.

above is a picture of the corner of jackson and 18th, one block south of the mighty yesler. that is the wonder bread (oh the irony pt. II) factory soon to be demolished for more condos and apartments - and a retail center. i am all about positive growth in our city but one must suspend hope to a certain degree when we can only wish for low income housing for the many who need a roof. next up, the goodwill on dearborn and rainer! change is good and good change is better. isn' t it?

Sunday, December 03, 2006

secondary modern



i really need to sleep but instead, i am thinking of the most beautiful painting. this one came to mind.

for you elGato.

goodnight.

Friday, December 01, 2006

everyday...not one day EVERYDAY



today is world AIDS day. today? every day is world aids day friends. i used to work many years ago at frederick and nelson in downtown seattle. f & n was a big old marshall fields department store and i look back at many aspects of that job fondly. the one thing i always reflect on was the best boss i ever had in my life, edward. what an exceptional person in every way. kind, gentle, caring, funny and downright good, he showed by example how to be. this was 1988 and my thoughts of edward still remain clear and vivid. i can still see him smile at everybody who he managed like he was your friend and made you feel very much like he cared. edward died of AIDS four years later which i found out by way of an ex coworker and to this day it brings me to unfathomable emotion.

today, there are about 40 million people living with HIV worldwide, and it is increasing in every region in the world. in africa, it is the leading cause of death -- 5,500 africans die each day from this insidious disease. every day is world AIDS day. we can work towards progress but we can only do it if we do it together.

thank you edward.