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September 24, 2005
Somewhere over Montana...
Posted by dana at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)
September 22, 2005
Carrot Juice and Coffee
The birds is out and the skies is blue, the wind-up world wakes up and what to do?
Uh.
Just read a fairly stellar short story by the amazing Haruki Murakami in the New Yorker. His descriptive kung fu is superior. And he has this magic, this understated way of creating a sense of longing for a life, or an environment that you never knew existed. Does that make any sense? His writing seems to be getting a little less sentimental and less pop-culture fixated. But he hasn't lost that sensitivity to weirdness and random, just-beyond-conscious-perception psychic mystery that I really loved about all his novels. Duder is on a Level.
Plus, if you go to his "official" site, there's rad Sigur Ros-style ambient music in the background (note to self: get hip Japanese author to commission new Night Night material).
Read a local review of the new Deathray, plus a mention about the podcast I've started (and neglected). Just a couple of sentences really, but one common subtext in both blurbs seemed to be that we're (both D-ray and the poopcast, etc) getting less, shall we say, accessible. O-K. Look, I'm an unapologetic weirdo. I can't fully speak to the Deathray 'criticism', as that's a collaborative effort, but I'm certain that much of what I do or say or write could be considered pretentious. At the least narcissistic. I mean, having a blog, not to mention a rock band or or lap-pop project or ANY creative effort out there is asking for (desperately begging for?) some level of scrutiny. But you know, I truly Just. Don't. Care.
(much)
I can't. It's like, you want the Noose or the Ladder while yr up there on the soapbox? I've got enough self-loathing stored up, dudes, please, thank you. I'm alright, nobody worry 'bout me.
I've never fit the mold of the artist-rebel archetype. And I've never been good at being a populist either. I guess if I had to find a compartment for my creative mind and spirit, it would be the one labeled "File under: Can't Find The Filing Cabinet". Which is all to say, I wanna calmly embrace the square pegs and the freaks. The REAL freaks, the ones who don't look the part, or who FULLY look the part, who need more than a circumspect surface scratch or a sweet pair of jeans or a rad bookshelf.
Oh, I'm totally rambling. Like I said, the Eternal Freedom Fighter Artist pants don't really fit, so this silly "I'm-a gonna do what I WANT and everyone else can just S MY D!" rant might seem a bit gauzy. I guess I'm just trying to paraphrase what our beloved President Bushy has said so succinctly: "You're either with us or you're against us."
And by 'Us', I mean 'My Nuts'.
What? Goulet. I'm sorry, what was I writing about?
Anyway, WHAT I MEAN TO SAY: This is for me. If yr IN, I'm totally happy to have you. Emergency exits are located at the top of the vehicle. Read the above disclaimer.
Maybe I'm feeling a mite defensive. And insecure. I dunno. The aforementioned Deathray album has been roundly rejected in label-land, and more significantly, the band isn't really doing anything right now: no shows or real future plans. I know that this should not matter one bit, should not factor into anything, and getting bummed about such a thing is contradictory to, well, EVERYTHING I've just written. But. It's just an odd sensation to emerge from an almost three-year period of pouring everything we had emotionally and otherwise into a bunch of songs, going through a chaotic storm of addiction, madness, fistfights, bitterness, recovery, forgiveness, rad studio joy/pain freakouts - just the whole dirty kitchen sink. All the eggs. And then - it's over and done with! Three years = a small pile of CDs in my living room and some mailing envelopes. It's just weird. No, I'm not crying over my inflated sense of entitlement - this isn't about "Oh, those poor guys, they really deserved better!". It's just strange - I never thought about what I'd do next if/when we finished this record. Is it like waiting for the applause after singing yr guts out, but the only thing you hear is the sound of footsteps on the sidewalk? Yeah, maybe a little. But again, I so need to get out of my own head about this and just keep moving. That is the hard thing. The EMO thing (as the most excellent M. Ritchey would put it).
I guess sometimes, I just want to find the filing cabinet. I want to figure out what the mystery is, what it is that I'm doing. Understand the mechanics of inspiration a little bit more. Wind the bird up and let it go, along the plumb line and up, out, away.
YOUR FRIEND,
DANA
Posted by dana at 01:33 PM | Comments (3)
September 07, 2005
Timeline
Think Progress has made a Katrina timeline - very important reference as the spin and media memes take hold in the upcoming weeks:
http://www.thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline
Why hasn't Congress called for an immediate INDEPENDENT investigation into the response failure(s)? I know that Bush has said he will supervise his own, and we all know how fair and accurate THAT will be.
Sickened to read Barbara Bush's flippant, vaguely racist comments on the influx of hurricane refugees into her home state of Texas. Gross old bat. Nice kids, lady.
Oh, Alex Chilton is apparently safe...
YOUR FRIEND,
DANA
Posted by dana at 10:57 AM | Comments (4)
September 04, 2005
What's Going Ahn
Was reading a local blog (I think Rachel Leibrock's) where some commenter quoted their co-worker, reacting to the Katrina disaster, as saying "Well, what did those people expect, living there?". Nice. Someone should point homeboy in the direction of this article in Salon.
Quote (regarding California, and the perceived disassociation from the hurricane):
"We are the state that is waiting to fall down at a moment's notice from a major earthquake. We're definitely in the same kind of boat. We've concentrated our populations in the worst possible place, when it comes to natural disasters. Who are we to talk?
Our capital city is the most flood-threatened major metropolitan area in the country. Period. Sacramento has the highest flood risk of a major metropolitan area in the United States. So, hello! We've just gotten lucky. And we will lose the battle of the inevitable."
Here comes the fear. Reading the Times-Picayune. Clenching teeth. Turn brain off. Must. See. Bill. Murray. Movie. Now.
And, oh man - Alex Chilton is still missing. Clearly the New Orleans situation is larger than the few famous residents gone missing (see: Fats Domino), but I have a genuine, deep affection for Big Star's music and was so stoked to hear that they have recently started working on a new album... So my hope is that Mr. Chilton will turn up alive and well, and soon!
Oh, I just don't know what to think, or say, or do (except give cash, and watch Bill Murray movies, apparently). Hey, if gas prices continue to rise, maybe GM could develop a combustion engine that runs on national shame.
YOUR FRIEND,
DANA
Posted by dana at 01:21 AM | Comments (2)
September 02, 2005
N.O. Jazz
Been reading neworleans.metblogs.com - trying to get some semi-rational perspective. Here's a good bit from a post by Jack Ware:
"I can’t stand to watch the news but I can’t stand to be disconnected from the situation. I don’t like reading some of the comments on this site because I am not interested in the politics and the racism and the blame. It isn’t productive and only serves to emphasize the fundamental problems New Orleans has been dealing with (or not dealing with) for years. Still, I understand that people are rationalizing, synthesizing and internalizing all the information that’s flooding in. It’s easy to see that people are in different stages of grief, whether they have a direct connection with the effected areas or just by proxy through the media. Also, there are words of encouragement and people whose comments show they are wracking their brains trying to find something helpful to say and something helpful to do."
That sums up the content, or tone of a great deal of the posts there - a sort of desperate, exhausted soft cry at the end of a long funeral. Others are a little less patient - You have to check out Ray Nagin, the NO mayor's "no more goddamn press conferences 'til we get some resources down here" blast. There's a link to the audio on the front page of CNN.com. That was awesome and refreshingly absent of any bureaucratic double-speak.
Someone on Air America last night (a musician? from the south, I think) brought up the very relevant point that New Orleans' rich and significant jazz history is all but gone, washed away with the rest of the city and the devolution into looting and chaos. I was thinking about all the incredible musicians who cut their teeth and honed their craft in NO, like Louis Armstrong, Mahilia Jackson and Jelly Roll Morton. I was thinking about my grandfather, Jack, a jazz pianist, who played trad jazz and toured through New Orleans frequently as a young man and brought a few of it's secrets and mysteries home to Chicago with him.
I'd like to see a real jazz funeral someday for everything and everyone that's been lost.
YOUR FRIEND,
DANA
Posted by dana at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)
