Chris Buckley (fiddle), Dan Lowery (flute), meself (bouzouki). This could get Dangerous.

NM: coming off Caprock into canyon & range, bright chill sun, one turkey buzzard etched sharply against blue sky.

NM: in the midst of a day of sadness, a sunset of stunning, roseate, Turner-esque beauty.

Working draft to Press's & Series's acquisitions editor. Page count: 419. Word-count: 102.627. Next stage now!

American Musicological Society Southwest Chapter Meetings: git down.

They still some student musicians in this world who mistake "attitude" for "professionalism." They gonna be sorry.

Our boys in the Battlefield Band welcome the Chilean miners home: class all the way: http://ping.fm/B9Ljr

NM: dark rain clouds rolling in from the south, with a cold wind sweeping all before them.

"Turkey in the Straw" = "Possum up a gum stump," what Hans Nathan calls "an Ohio River tune of the 1820s." See http://ping.fm/tu0HK

Numinous moment

NM: catching teeth-gritting ice-cream truck jingle on wind, & realizing that, 1000 miles west & 200 yrs later, it's "Possum up a gum stump."

Numinous moment

NM: that moment, in the session, when two players lean in close to better hear one another--one way we say "I love you, man."

Note to frat kids: saying your fashion show or dance marathon or teeter-totter game is "for charity" doesn't make it any less narcissistic.

Not unrealistic to infer that a college prof teaching 1100-1300 undergrads over a decade might have a better grasp of late-adolescent mentalities $ maturation.

Of *course* music is a sacred, holy thing. Isn't it obvious?!?

Note on the Hallowe'en season: don't bring that "glittery emo douchebag Twilight shit" anywhere near me. I've got garlic & wooden stakes.

Sometimes, as a teacher, it's the compassion you dispense, as much as the content, that matters.

Why I iz Firefox uzer: REYNARD!! http://ping.fm/ngaI0

Still wondering why the fuck outside reviews tend to exploit their anonymous status to grind irrelevant axes. Not a way I choose to be.

Numinous moment

NM: the complex chatter, argument & over-the-back-fence gossip of early morning bird-song.

Lotsa traffic on R candidate Iott, a Waffen SS re-enacter. Nobody's commented on the KILT in this photo: fuckin' Celtic-Supremacists! http://ping.fm/nOglc

The King of Rock and Soul

We lost Solomon Burke, the Wonder Boy Preacher.

JB was more desperate, the Wicked Pickett was more dangerous, Otis was more of a leader, Brother Al was more messianic, Sam & Dave more competitive.

But Brother Solomon, more than any of the rest, made us believe in the gospel of the music. When Solomon sang, we all still believed we could be saved.



"Turn on Your Love Light."

Thank you, Solomon. You surely turned it on for us.

Palpable city-wide sigh of relief as Fall Break begins and kids bug-out of town.

Useful skill: learning to provide interviews in easily-transcribed bites lessens likelihood of misquotation: http://ping.fm/CVuCP

Numinous moment

NM: pristine cloudless sky, cool temps, light breeze--cycling feels like bird's flight.

Frickin' LOVE Google Maps! http://ping.fm/RDuYt

Memo to pickup-truck frat-pigs passing my bike, blaring Wu-Tang (who'd scare 'em green on street): "yes, bitch, I AM laughing at you."

Numinous moment

NM: slivered crescent moon rises over die-straight W TX east-bound streets & lines of traffic lights--all green.

Suffering results when we forget that we are all *already* home.

Pete Seeger's wisdom: "It’s a very important thing to learn to talk to people you disagree with." http://ping.fm/5whWJ

In the face of humans' greed & brutality, the only weapon is a greater, more radical humanity.

The Tea Party movement has provided quasi-legitimacy to fear, ignorance, bigotry, and greed. These are not core American values.

New tires (Schwalbe Marathon) EXPENSIVE (80 bucks!!!) but also AWESOME.

Numinous moment

Numinous moment: pouring milk into dark coffee--it curls and rises from the depths like slow-motion wind storm.

Lemme reiterate that a narcissistic film about the foundation of a billion-dollar social network celebrating narcissism DOESN'T INTEREST ME!

A man got to have a code

My hero, David Simon, wins a MacArthur Genius Grant.

Fuckin' A!

h/t to Ghost in the Machine.

Memo to those having long/loud conversations about "God's Plan" for themselves--would you be equally tolerant of "Allah's Plan" public talk? No, I thought not.

Mark of OCD good day: arriving early enough to get preferred coffeehouse corner. 12 years ago, it was preferred IU library corner; same-same.

Inglourious Basterds: one more confirmation that Quinton Tarentino is as soulless as only a Hollywood weasel can be.

Yow! New Breughel! http://ping.fm/s5nik

Crescent City royalty

'Fess and the Mighty Meters



h/t to Richard Blaustein

Insight: Fox News audience aging out: Colbert/Stewart monopolizing young viewers Fox can't draw: http://ping.fm/KGNdS

Khyber Pass geography favors local insurgents, generals say

Retired US Army colonel says:

I have been saying for years that supply line interdiction is the greatest danger to our forces deployed in places like Iraq and Afghanistan in the midst of potentially hostile populations.

Newsflash: Darius, Alexander, Mughals, Auckland, Elphinstone, McNaghten, Chamberlain, Roberts, Kipling, Brezhnev, agree.

We never fuckin' learn, do we? Not in 2,000 years.

War mongers and dirty fucking hippies

And, at the time, they called us dirty disloyal fucking hippies for even daring to think this might be true.

Newly Declassified Documents Show Bush Administration Looked For Excuse To Start War In Iraq In Nov. 2001

via Think Progress on 9/23/10

My toasted "personal work" morning: SIX recommendation letters. Thank the Universe for online submissions!

Fox News is populated by and targeted toward frightened ignorant white people.

Jesus. There are times when I've just HAD IT

Weather prophecy:

Chance of rain <=> desire to go to pub session. Cloudier skies = more desire to play. You can take the boy out of Ireland, but you can't...

Giants on the earth

They were giants on the earth in those days. Paul Gonsalves on tenor, the mighty Sam Woodyard on drums, Harry Carney on baritone kicking the rhythm section's ass, Basie's great drummer Jo Jones standing offstage screaming encouragement, and Elaine Anderson dancing ecstatically in the aisles in a little black dress: Newport, '56, playing the blues, bringing the Ellington band all the way back from the deserts of the post-WWII depression.

Nice video tribute here:



Giants.

Line from Downey "Sherlock Holmes": we know you don't believe in magic. You're right: I believe in human effort and human capacity.

Thanks again, you Tea-Baggers

[bootlegged from a comments thread on friend's FB page--which same location I try to avoid, as threads can get hijacked]

Re/ O'Donnell's Pyrrhic victory in Delaware (yes, Tea-Baggers, I know you've never heard the word "Pyrrhic": that's why I use it):

@Alice: I agree. There's a (loud) lunatic fringe of frightened elderly middle-class or angry disenfranchised working-class folks who find people like Sharia Palin and Xtian O'Donnell "empowering," but I suspect that the Tea-Baggers spell the end of the Republican part as a viable competitor--because the corporatist Republican mainstream will NEVER be sufficiently ideologically pure--hence, they're going to continue to get dumped.

Bring it, you mothers. You sold your souls to loud lunatics, and your party is toast as a result. Have a nice day!

Yes, I am in fact one evil sumabitch

Amusing exchanges with supervisees:

One of the more enjoyable parts of my job is the level of shared respect and hard-won comity between me and my supervisees especially when they're out there in the trenches as teachers. It's a hard job, not much respected, and poorly recompensed compared to, I dunno, Halliburton monster or NCLB bureaucrat...but we have a lot of laughs and some funny exchanges:

Herewith one such:

DrConga:

BTW, I’m teaching a Friday morning class 8-11AM. Since the first class 2 out of 14 students have shown up on time. In fact, the students are so late that they show up by 8:30. I will be implementing my right to drop students for the first time ever. I don’t even know how to do it, but I’m going to do it. This is ridiculous.

DrCoyote:

Yeah. That is a bear. Suggestion? Give them 15 minutes; give the 2 who are on time extra credit, leave a note on the door saying "all those who were tardy for this class are being marked with a zero", and LEAVE. Keep doing that until they show up on time.

DrConga:

Good suggestion. Unfortunately, I have to be there for what I’m getting paid for. You seem to think I’m an actual educator. They expect me to be there for the time I’m paid. So, I’m thinking I will implement either 1. actually withdraw students from my class (a pain in the ass for me) or 2. give the “extra credit” quizzes you so mention and drop grades for absences. I’ve never had to deal with this before, it sucks that I even have to think about this. I’m currently leaning for option 1 because that means I don’t have to deal with them any more. I’m trying to decide if it’s worth the effort. At any rate, I’m not making these decisions because I feel I want to get at somebody. I’m doing this because it’s detrimental to the very few students that are doing the right thing and it keeps me from actually teaching. I can’t believe how much time has been wasted in the past few weeks because of this. It blows my mind.

Dr Coyote:

I understand. Well, you could have a graduated set of penalties:

1) next meeting, give a 1-question "pop quiz" to the ones who are there promptly. Give them extra credit. Tell the tardy ones there will be pop quizzes each class, at 8am, from now on.
2) If they continue to be tardy, mark the late ones absent.
3) If they still continue, use my original suggestion, and leave a sign on the door that says "now 8:20am. You are receiving no credit, due to your tardiness. I am available to discuss this, NOW, at [office][coffeeshop][student lounge]" etc.
4) drop 'em. I assume the college would prefer this to be last-ditch option, also.

You could also just tell the prompt ones, at 8am straight up "next class meeting is a [x alternate site]." Don't mention again. When the tardy ones complain that they "didn't know where class was meeting," tell them "the announcement was made; class met; you were marked absent."

DrConga:

You’re one evil sumabich. I like it. ;)

DrCoyote:

As I tell the young'uns in the freshman class: "Don't even think about cheating. I'm a worse criminal than you can ever imagine."

The genius that is Tim Toles

I grew up on the cold rocky coasts of the North Atlantic. I knew those guys from Southie and Dorchester who, even if they weren't very well educated, knew damned well when somebody was taking advantage of them, or talking down to them. I worked on the fishing boats alongside the descendants of those foul-mouthed fishermen and rope-wainers who boarded the Dartmouth and threw that shit overboard.

Yo, Tea-Baggers? You ain't the descendants of those guys in the feathers and paint: you're the descendants of all those timid middle-class citizens who didn't give a shit who got ripped off as long as it "wasn't your affair," and then screamed bloody murder when it was your turn. And you dickhead Republican congress-critters who are used frightened old white people and braindead rednecks to do your bidding? Your time is coming too.

I got your Tea Party right here, morons. And so does Tim Toles:

Bazaar of the Bizarre*

Crazy-busy at Study Abroad fair. This is good!

*(reference is to the great Fritz Leiber and his characters Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser--the greatest sword-and-sorcery stories ever)

Study Abroad & the Ireland Seminar

TTU Study Abroad Fair TODAY, 10a-4m, Croslin Room, Main Library, TTU. Come & find about about the Ireland seminar: http://ping.fm/cghLP?eid=107536655974818

Around Southie, we use militias as beer mats

Great line from Dennis Lehane: "Militias? Ya mean those fucknuts who wear camo, but they drive on state roads & drink city water?"

Goebbels was a college professor, too

Newt Gingrich is an embarrassment to anyone who ever earned a Ph.D.

Mighty music: Trian

My favorite US-based Irish trio: Trian (only competitor: original Chulrua); check out "The Torrid Romance" http://ping.fm/Ff6Up

Dude, you have no Koran!

23-yr-old skateboarder pwns psychotic bigot from "Repent Amarillo": http://ping.fm/gcQIk

Country club fucks like John Boehner are always cowards

John Boehner is a coward (but then we knew that): http://ping.fm/xJ7bF

"Desperate, hungry and angry people"

from Negro League great Buck O'Neill:

"They claim to kill in the name of God. That’s not Christianity. That’s not Judaism. That’s not Islam. That’s a religion of desperate, hungry and angry people. They figure they have nothing. So, they have nothing to lose."

Totally digging the "Francis O'Neill Cylinders" from the Ward archives; thanks for the loan, @Roger Landes!

NOT the real Terry Jones

Not in MY America, Jones! White House wins one: http://ping.fm/djbHQ

"And we're out"

Place is overrun with bimbos and the volume level is rising. Time to bail.

We are all sentient beings.

Numinous moment: at coffeeshop, old hippie brings out a cup of water to his elderly mongrel, who laps happily.

Pirates, Freebooters & Jolly Jack Tars

"Pirates, Freebooters & Jolly Jack Tars": TTU Celtic Ensemble on Talk Like a Pirate Day, 9.19. 7pm! http://ping.fm/VMngB?eid=123714774348085

Awareness of suffering = compassion

From the great teacher Pema Chodron: "Use your personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings."

WWGD ("What would Gary do?")

Well, he wouldn't fuckin' knuckle under, that's for sure.

"What would Gary do?"

Coping w/ funk: WWGD? "What would Gary (Snyder) do"? My hero: http://ping.fm/VUfWG

"Book"-shops in airports

Odds that an airport "book"-shop will contain actual reading matter that WON'T dissolve brain-cells? < 0

AZ

PHX: Well, it may be ground-zero for state-mandate Know-Nothing fascist intolerance...but the airport's got free wi-fi!

AMS-SW = LBK TX USA TERRA

TTU Musicology hosts AMS-SW chapter meeting Oct 23-24 2010. PLEASE PASS THE WORD! http://ping.fm/BUSbp

Got yer class war right here, you CEO bastards!

For the same reason: so that working-/middle-class money winds up in CEOs & shareholders' pockets. It IS class war: they started it!

NB: the financial elites don't want to "cut" Social Security: they want to *privatize* it--just like Iraq reconstruction, US army, etc.

Memo to the ladies who lunch...

Who wear $1000 worth of "workout" clothes and full war-paint at 8 in the morning, drive $60,000 cars, push $2000 strollers, talk louder than the entire rest of the room:

Do you do anything other than consume? If not, why not?

Healing Power

Was recently reminded of this one, which I hadn't thought of in years. Used to play this tune, transcribed from this performance by the Night Music band, Bootsy Collins, composer/pianist Carla Bley, and the great bassist Steve Swallow.



Y'all hip to Healing Power, baby?

People Get Ready

Greatest song that Curtis Mayfield ever wrote and, with Dan Penn's Dark End of the Street and Sam Cooke's A Change is Gonna Come, a song that helped end segregation in this country.

And, this is the only band situation which Rod Stewart never postured: the mighty Jeff Beck, a true survivor.

And I keeps one in the chamber in case you pondering.

Pristine cloudless sky, cool breeze, 76 degrees on the South Plains. Gassho.

"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren..."

Jesus was a radical, too:

We believe it is time to shine light on the hypocrisy of politicians and pundits who expound on the freedom of religion for their chosen sects while seeking to tell our Muslim brothers and sisters where they can and cannot worship. Using a political podium to bully a religious community threatens one of our most fundamental freedoms.

Not hatred.

Unexpected bonus: the great Betty "Bebop" Carter on the coffeeshop sound system. http://ping.fm/XG9ZO

Numinous moment

Numinous moment: hundreds of dragonflies, like mythic beasts out of fantasy, sweeping in circles over the suburban lawns.

And the little girls in the Paris Hilton-wannabee sunglasses absorbedly texting while their parents carry their stuff into the dorms.

Watching fraternity pods in the grocery-store is funny, but it's also pitifully obvious that they're incapable of feeding themselves. Mom?!?

Bach would have approved

This is very possibly the greatest bass line in the history of popular music. In my "Jif & the Choosy Mothers" (horn band) days, I transcribed an entire set's worth of Motown horn parts and bass lines. It was a stone education.

Ladies & gentlemen, I give you the great, great Wilton Felder:



Selah (and a h/t to my great teacher, Larry "Guitar" Baeder).

The 'Rents have Arrived

Summer must be over: the parents have arrived: overdressed, overcoiffed, driving oversized gas-guzzling cars with out-of-zip-code plates the wrong way on campus roads, buying cheap university-brand knockoff hoodies and ball-caps for their offspring, who are hidden behind Paris Hilton sunglasses and tremulous posturing bravado. The parents look simultaneously possessive and petulant, simultaneously irked that they're not in control of their offspring's situation anymore and scared that they've done an inadequate job of preparing those offspring to take over their own lives.

In Texas, where privilege runs high and a sense of consequences is nil, the quicker the parents leave the better: because it means we can start doing the job of maturing their children which they themselves omitted to complete. Sheesh!

Little bit of Hieland hyperbole, right here

Bill Millin, who piped them ashore at Swords Beach, has died.


He went in with the Special Service Brigade near Caen on D-Day., and in the nightmare of that horrific kill-zone, Lord Lovat, the hereditary chieftain of the Frasers asked him to play. Millin was willing, but cited War Office regulations, which forbade thus exposing pipers as targets. The Fraser replied "Ah, but that’s the English War Office. You and I are both Scottish, and that doesn’t apply.”

He played "Highland Laddie," up and down the beach that day. Later, German gunners who had him their sights said they didn't shoot “because they thought I was crazy.”

No. He wasn't crazy. That's not what they call it, back where I--and the MacGregors and Orrs, the Roundheads and Tories, before me--come from.

I often wonder if the rich men in quiet offices, the demagogues screeching over loudspeakers or Twitter accounts, hundreds or thousands of miles from the firing line, ever consider how little they deserve the courage of the men and women who go into battle.

Aw haw hey, Private. Go well.

Of the seven Silver Star recipients in Afghanistan, four are Hispanic. Hope none of them want to walk down the street in Arizona!

Wheel of karma: turning in key of first office here, after 10 years' occupancy.

Semester looms: newbies on campus driving as if whacked-out on Quaaludes.

Effort = value

From a post about exploiting social networking, the following a jackpot:

• Do good work. Create a good product, have great customer service, etc.
• Listen. What is being said about you is as important, if not more than, what you are saying about you.
• Care. In social media channels where conversations are more intimate, people can really tell if you are paying lip service or paying attention.
• Add value. What you bring to the conversations and communities better be relevant, thoughtful, and of real use to the community members (friends, fans, followers).
• Be real. Authentic, transparent, honest — you know the drill, but are you doing it?

Not a bad set of rules for any work.

Dept of "Thank you Capt. Obvious": venting may make anger worse: http://ping.fm/skWAh

Re/ right-wing "hallowed ground" argument against the Ground Zero mosque: the US Constitution is also hallowed, dammit!

Textbook prices are horribly and unfairly inflated: here's Lifehacker's guide to economy. Worth sharing! http://ping.fm/JbBoQ

Woza Mandela! Woza, Woza!

Johnny Clegg--who went to jail for making biracial music in apartheid South Africa--sings a song for Nelson Mandela:



"It is music and dancing that makes me at peace with the world." --Nelson Mandela

Nkosi sikeleli Afrika

Read, write, think, play, teach, cook, garden, listen: what privileges!

Mike Katz and Bill Whellan. Just...damn! http://ping.fm/smAK1

Dr "glass-half-empty" Coyote

Hate to do it, but when a 16-year-old writes and says "all I really want to do in my life is compose and record music--what are my career options", if you're a responsible respondent, there ain't but about one kind of answer [lightly redacted]:

Sure, I remember you.

The fact of the matter is that there are very, very few full-time jobs to be had playing and composing music for a living. This is why most people who DO make a living in music have one or more parallel streams: arranging, teaching, etc--and many others have full-time non-music jobs.

To be a full-time musician, you have to have (a) absolutely top-notch chops; (b) a good support network (to tide you over between jobs, or in the event of unforeseen problems--medical, financial, etc; (c) a relentless work ethic--12-14 hours per day; (d) a great deal of patience and fortitude, being prepared to put up with the possibility of years of poverty and/or frustration; and (e) a lot of luck. (a) through (d) are do-able--because they are (mostly) under your own control. (e) is a killer, because it is not. I've been a professor for 10 years. Before that I was in graduate school (Master's and a Doctorate) 12 years. Before that I lived on less than $20,000/year for about 6 years. All through those years I had straight jobs to help pay the rent.

I would encourage you by all means to keep writing, keep recording, keep working on your chops. But unless you are prepared to either be a music teacher, and get the necessary formal schooling that certifies you for that, or else to accept a great deal of uncertainty, unpredictability, and (probably) poverty), I would not advise that you try to make a full-time career in music.

Be advised that there are LOTS of very talented musicians who don't work full-time or exclusively in music: I know psychiatrists, doctors, lawyers, carpenters, auto mechanics, etc who are every bit as talented and make music every bit as good as that created by "full-time musicians." You can do the same.

Probably the most valuable things you can do right now are to (a) keep working on your chops; (b) diversify your skills: learn about marketing, computers, graphic design, contract law, copyright law, etc; (c) work with a lot of different collaborating musicians--expand your horizons and your network of contacts; (d) get out there and gig, in as many different types of circumstances as possible. My wife's nephew has had songs he's written pitched to Avril Lavigne--but he's not counting on that to make his fortune. He's also going to college for music education; also plays drums, guitar, and trumpet; also sight-reads like a whip and sings bass; is also an excellent beat-boxer. The competition is fierce and there are thousands upon thousands of excellent musicians out there.

Good luck.

Dr Coyote

Reading back, it's a big bummer, though not intended to be such. Just cain't lie to the young'uns about possible/impossible it might be.

Updated to add: he wrote back:

Thank you for some practical advice, instead of the "don't do it" I'm getting from everyone else. I will look into some other options, as I really don't want to be poor.

Guess it was the right medicine. One doesn't always know.

Splendid: CO gubenatorial candidate thinks bicycles are a "UN Stealth Campaign"-http://ping.fm/VHkmk

Hatred & opportunism go down to defeat at Ground Zero

Ground Zero, where the Towers fell on 9/11, is--ought to be treated as--as sacred site: a place where we are all to be reminded of the pointless loss and human suffering that hatred and political opportunism can create. It was thus particularly contemptible when Rudy Giuliani, Sarah Palin, and a raft of hateful right-wing nutjob political and media hacks, campaigned against the building of a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero: as if no Muslim suffered and died in the Towers that day! What arrogance!

So I was really, really happy to get this note from the J Street folks who are working to create more effective interfaith dialogue [redacted].

The best part?

The embrace.

Dr Coyote --

Yesterday, J Street New York City supporters and I delivered over 10,000 of your signatures in support of the Islamic Center in Lower Manhattan to a critical hearing of New York City's Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The response by our community to our call to action on this issue was overwhelming and demonstrated that J Street supporters clearly understand that tolerance and religious freedom are not only essential values, but that sacrificing them weakens us in the fight against extremism.

And I've got great news -- despite the outcry against the project, the Commission voted 9-0 to allow it to proceed.

Yesterday, after the vote, Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave a stirring defense of the project and religious freedom on Governor's Island with the Statue of Liberty in the background.

Mayor Bloomberg was joined by a group of interfaith leaders as he gave his remarks in front of the Statue of Liberty:

Every local official I spoke with at the hearing truly appreciated our support for the project.

I also had an emotional moment with the Community Center's lead developer -- Sharif El-Gamal -- who couldn't help but give me a hug, even though we'd never met before!

For those of you that stood with us, thank you so much. Our voices are so needed in the national political debate and within the American Jewish community.

If you would like to support J Street financially, allowing us to keep standing up for our values, click here to make a gift.

Until next time,

- Isaac

Isaac Luria
V.P., Communications and New Media
J Street
August 4, 2010

Give thanks and praise: Beryl Marriott

A damned shame. Beryl Marriott was one of the greatest English-style ceilidh-band pianists. She gave Dave Swarbrick his first fiddle gigs, and she ruled on his great solo discs Swarbrick and Smiddyburn.

We owe her a lot.