A wise man and a wise woman

A few days back, I got a nice little email from the Cookie Queen, hinting at another Holiday Collaboration with Neddie Jingo. She dropped a couple of tantalizing hints about the song they were pulling together...

But knowing that NJ has great appreciation for XTC, I was not at all surprised to see them pull this one out. Despite coming off a sore throat, BG truly Godzilla'd all over the vocals, and Neddie added all the reverb and bells (literally!) necessary to make it soar. Truly the best they've done (so far!)

I really don't have anything more inspirational to say than that song already does. Feel free to dl it, it's DRM free until they get that massive record deal.

Be at peace.

I Wanna Be A Boss

kaniktshaq moritlkatsio atsuniartoq.

So, I'm sitting on the couch with Orange, Leaky Ass Lucy, watching Dirty Jobs and having a fart contest.  I'm losing.  In O so many ways.   While I'm waiting for enough snow to pile up so I can grab a shovel and make another bid to be just a middle age shoveling statistic, I am amused by the above bit of faux-Eskimo; the middle portion is somehow NOT flagged by my spell-checker.

I had lunch today with a couple of friends;  O architects all.  A booth of misery, I somehow managed to be the only one still employed; but admittedly only because I am still wobbling along with my own practice, and if my boss laid me off, he would be unemployed also, that dick.

Interestingly and oddly enough, both of these fine gentlemen spent some time working in my office.  Actually, one of them spent some time working in my attic before I moved the damn operation out of my house, and famously was once called en route between a meeting and a bar, so he could feed our dog (and join us, of course).  The other was a long time friend of mine from waaaayyy before I ever had to join productive society.  In sum total, we made a pathetic crew.  Not one of us making a frickin dime, and not one of us with an idea of where to turn.  After a year or two of anemic performance, our industry is now sucking plastic balls like never before, and outlook looks to be bleak for quite some time.  Maybe I should have been a cop.

I had a dream last night, and one of my former employers featured.  He was and  is a complete asshole, a supreme bigot and at least partly a nazi, as well as an abusive motherfucker and adulterer.  Not to mention a lousy architect.  I would, seriously, kill myself before I would work for him again, and I am more than a little disturbed by his appearance in my nightly episodes; bring back Mike Rowe and Barack Obama, please!

And still, I was the only one drinking a beer.  

After catching up with horror stories and other hilarious exploits, one turned to me and said, " ... so, where do we go from here?" As if I had any answers.  Hell, if I had answers, I wouldn't be this desperate....  

But it took me aback.  Where and when did I become a leader?  Why is someone looking to me for direction, I can't even manage my own hair.  I ended up running my own firm because I was unemployable and unable to play well with others.  I didn't wanna be a boss.

Somehow I ended up being one.  Yeah, ha-ha, very funny. 

Dual Bag!

Happy Christmas

Sweet Chthulhu, has there been a better holiday song in the last twenty years?  Don't make me come out there and hurt you.

Good dog, is there a sweeter voice than Kirsty MacColl's? (I saw her singing with Midge Ure once, before her untimely demise. In the midst of life, etc. etc.)

Is there an uglier mother than Shane McGowan?


I was more than a bit down his week. I put on my christmas playlist tonight, and poured (several) glasses of wine. As you might imagine, the tunes may have been short on the standards, but plenty of good alternative stuff. The Chieftains, Bruce Cockburn, Barenaked Ladies, They Might Be Giants, Mojo Nixon.... lots of other good stuff, even more non-traditional stylee....

The Payolas, Christmas is Coming.  The Pretenders, 2000 Miles.  I listened to David Bowie and Bing Crosby singing the Little Drummer Boy while I was watching war pictures on the news.  XTC, Thanks For Christmas.  Low.  Weird Al, even (Christmas At Ground Zero.  Maybe not so funny after 2001;  maybe even better).  Trans-Siberian Orchestra, yes and I won't apologize.  The Kinks and ELP.  Cracker, Merry Christmas Emily.  Carnival Art, Bring A Torch Jeannette Isabella; Queen.  Los Lobos.  Ramones, Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight).  Cocteau Twins.  Sarah McLachlan. Timbuk 3, All I want For Christmas (is World Peace). Yes, even Geldof and Band Aid, bite me already.

O so much more, over 200 songs.  Blue Girl and Neddie Jingo.  Henry Rollins doing Night Before Christmas. A Rounder Records sampler.  Spinal Tap and MightyMighty Bosstones.  If I could work out a clean cassette-to-digital transfer, I would have a superb local band, the Mighty (Rein)Deerlick doing Bells To The Wall.

I was more than a bit down this week.  Perhaps unexpectedly, this odd assortment of noises... has made me feel better.  You know, the artists all did their songs earnestly, very little irony involved (except maybe Wall of Voodoo's Shouldn't Have Given Him A Gun For Christmas).  Even for a pathetic embittered atheist, honest expressions of love, hope and peace can be soothing.  Healing.

I was more than a bit down this week, this month, this fall, this year.  As ever it seems , I find help and solace in music.  As my son's Spamalot shirt says, I'm not dead yet.

more...

Nostalgia

This year, I am celebrating Christmas. Well, as much as a freshly minted Jewish girl can with her menorah and brisket swinging from her arms. I will be with a wonderful family in the snow capped mountains. While I have not sat before a Christmas tree since December 1996, I am finally ready to face my fears. I believe in Father Christmas this year...

And so on this night of World AIDS Day, I wish you all the brave New Year, I believe in the Israelites, they say there will be peace on earth, and most importantly I am looking to this FUCKING year going the FUCK away because next year is the year of AG!

The Parade

Unlike someone and friends who I did see briefly on Thursday morning, I did not attend the parade this year. However, apparently this is all that is being talked about:



I am just stunned! more...