Saturday night Soup for the Soul (04)

s we wind up one year, the new one is is already well under way, anywhere, and everywhere that one might choose to search. And Spring is pushing up everywhere throughout my winter garden. Snowdrops, crocus, daffodils, and hyacinth, though not yet in bloom, are making there presence known through out the yard. And I do have two of my super early Rhododendrons blooming: r. Lee’s Scarlett, and r. mucronulatum. Like the garden, my life too has raced ahead of my ability to consciously keep up with where it is. But as Martha would say, this too is a good thing. " It won't be long (oh no, it won't be long)" Where I was for Christmas eve, we spent seven hours laughing, eating “whores ovaries”, followed by a splendid multi course New York Dominican style traditional Christmas dinner: mouth watering pork shoulder, fried plantains, a Caribbean rice, crispy ham sliced wafer thin, salad, biscuits, four or five type of wine, sweet potato pie, German chocolate cake, homemade vanilla bean ice cream, and Couvoisier brandy. I believe that there were other more exotic aperitifs being served elsewhere on the premises, but I was not told about until this after the fact, by prior arrangement with the host. I cannot afford to get sidetracked by such distractions. During dinner we discussed the two months of wild weather we have endured, our kids, what we wanted for Christmas, and politics (a shining sea of liberal progressives seated at the table so thsi was a fun topic). The only tense moment came when the final topic morphed into the recent threat of a law suit by an orthodox Jewish rabbi from Mercer Island that forced the Sea Tac International airport to remove their Christmas trees (followed by such a terrible public uproar that 24 hours later the rabbi backed down claiming that he never said what he clearly said, and back up went the Christmas trees). I had thought I knew the story, but the hostess and her boss (a lawyer) set me straight on what had really happened behind the scenes. The two of them seemed ready to order an air strike on Mercer Island, and it's "stick up the ass" culture. I sat like a manikin on a chair for this discussion. I *adore* the hostess, and know her to have excellent character and judgment on all matters great and small, so I take her telling of this event as being accurate, especially since her boss concurred in even stronger terms, and he is both Jewish and a lawyer. Once we got past that un-christmassy episode, out came the brandy and desserts and on went the hot New York City style salsa and merengue for dancing, silliness, and general merriment. The kids all sussed out that I am the proverbial fun adult who still knows how to act silly, to they all latched onto me, dog piled onto me, and I obliged with my one man children’s comedy improvisation to keep then entertained. I love seeing little children having happy and fun childhoods, something that I did not always have. "When you least expect it, things are gonna start changing." One gift that I gave to the hostess was from my beloved mother who died this past spring. She had me buy it as a future Christmas gift shortly before she died for this so very kind person. I thought that I would not be able to handle being there when she opened it (I thought that I would lose it and start crying or something which is not my favorite thing to do – cry in public). However, I did actually handle it well, as it made her alive again in this world, if only symbolically so. There is one more such gift for the same person next Christmas. Generosity and kindness, delivered from the grave is a nice touch. I must remember this one for when it is my time to leave. Delivering gifts to kind hearted loved ones from the great beyond. All of this makes it's way into this week's soup. You can get your 32.4 Mb bowl of Saturday Night Soup for the Soul by clicking the jukebox. 1. GREAT DAY -- This piece is from Paul McCartney's 1997 Flaming Pie CD. A simple piece, yet nevertheless powerful in it's simplicity. =======================================================2. FLUID -- From Paul McCartney's secret late 1990's ambient work titled "Rushes" under his alter ego "The Firemen". I like this piece. Sexy, so very sexy, as it begins to dissolve the ties that bind one to the here and now so that you are free to transport to a place called "tomorrow", and do so today. QUESTION: why does McCartney choose "The Fireman" for his alter ego? ANSWER: Because "The Fireman rushes in from the pouring rain," as he said in "Penny Lane." Very strange. =======================================================3. SPANISH CASTLES IN SPACE -– The Orb. The perfect music to allow one to dissolve away that you might pass thru to the other side. Have a great journey. See you all on the other side next week.

My 2006 Predictions Scored

On my previous web site I listed the following predictions for 2006 after a friend, Hankenstein, mocked me as being of "National Inquirer" quality. Here is my accuracy score 0-10 per item. Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan will be assassinated. Zero points, did not occur. I still predict this and will roll this over to 2007. The Kurdish peoples in the north of IRAQ will announce their independence and begin moves to form a Kurdish state. Five points. Kurdistan is already a functional reality. Their flag files there, not the Iraqi one. Their forces guard it, not the Iraqi forces. The Shiites in the south will react by announcing that they are forming an independent Islamic State. Well, they do not need to do this. They have everything going their way and have turned civil government into death squads. Hospitals are killing buildings. Police are no more than Shite run extermination squads. Private armies kill 100's ever day. Three points. Civil War will break out in Iraq with heavy involvement by Iran, and lesser involvement by Turkey and Russia. Eight points. NBC announced it officially calling it a civil war last fall. The US will belatedly swing its weight back with the Sunni Iraqi Arabs setting up a strongman puppet. This brings us full circle, as the Sunni is where the former regime (Baathists) came from, having been seeded by the CIA during the cold war. Zero, but will roll this over to 2007 predictions. This is what that asshole president has up his sleeve, now that he and everything he said and id has been proven to be a crap sack of lies based on his personal messiah complex. The number of Americans killed in Iraq will exceed the number of Americans killed on 9/11 in the Twin Towers. Ten points. Iran will continue to move towards becoming a nuclear power. Bush will blow a lot of hot air out his rotten corrupt ass, but will do nothing to stop them. Ten points. An Arab govt. will be overthrown, we will be drawn into the chaos that will ignite in the Mideast, and in Indonesia. Zero, but will roll over to 2007. A member of the Rolling Stones will die. Zero, though Keith Richard fell out of a cocoanut tree. That Demi Moore and Aston Kushner marriage (where is my barf bag?) will bust up. Zero. Lindsey Lohann will go into rehab for heroin/drug/boozing addiction. Ten points. Bush will be the number one issue in congressional elections. Democrats will sweep mid terms in a major realignment capturing the house AND the senate. Ten Points. Libby will be convicted (Bush will pardon him before leaving office). Zero points. Will roll over to 2007. Rove will be indicted. Zero. Delay will be found guilty Zero, will roll over to 2007. An ‘06 tornado season to match the '05 hurricane season. Zero. A major loss of life earthquake will occur in the US. One point for the island of Hawaii quake. A recession will hit in time for the 06 elections. Zero. A national republican will come out of the closet and shock the GOP in time for the 2006 elections. Ten points for the Reverend Ted "Hi, I do meth and blow male hookers for Jesus" Haggarty and the Mark Foley congressional page buttf*ck scandals. I should be awarded 20 points for this one but Hankenstein would rule such a move to be "foul ball" so we'll stay at ten points. It will come out that over 10,000 Americans have been illegally spied on as part of a political operation. This issue will explode and cause great widespread outrage in 2006. Zero, but will roll over to 2008. 34 percent accuracy. Will post my 2007 ones soon, and anyone can add their own predictions. In 2008 we''ll see who has an eye on the future.

The Continuing Adventures of Dr. Frankenstein

Someone once wrote: "...my perfect morph would be a concoction of Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp. What would be yours?". Well, not wanting to appear too "Gods and Monsters", I offer you all one vision of my own "Frankenstein Monster". Question: What would constitute your perfect creation? 1) Take his big guns and handsome smile. Add to this the smoldering 'ready for anything' looks of his slurpy bud 2) Fold in a heeping portions of the boundless artistic and musical talent of Saint John and Sir Paul 3) Add liberal portions of the sacred truths of the ages, a cup of the Dali Lama's wise simplicity, a handful of Gandhi’s non-violent power to change men's hearts, and a generous helping of the moral strength of Martin Luther King Jr. 4) Spice it up with a pinch of Mahler, a dash of Stravinsky, and 1/2 teaspoon of Siggy 5) Drizzle with equal amounts of Genius: Albert Einstein and Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich 6) Lastly, garnish in an "À la Carl Jung" manner with dollops of the "anima" (the female aspect present in the collective unconscious of men) with the origianl Dom Dyke, the Fire and Ice Queen: Greta Garbo. If this recipe does not work out, throw a "Hail Mary" pass and order the take out dish shown below by calling 1-800-Big-Boyz

Saturday Night Soup for the Soul (07)

hen I was a child, I went through many fascinations. One of them were the DC comics super heroes: Superman, Batman Green Lantern, the Flash, and the Justice League of America. One of my favorite fantasies was pretending to be Clark Kent, the secret identity of Superman. I so wanted to be like him that I convinced my mother that I needed glasses – which was all a scam – I wanted them because Clark Kent wore glasses. So, she packed me off to an optometrist for the eye exam. Basically, they had the machine where you looked thru the lenses and read the lines of letters and numbers and said which looked clearer: 1 or 2....3 or 4. However none of the other high tech optical equipment that are today’s mainstream had yet been invented. I made up a few answers so that the doctor would say that I needed glasses. I was overjoyed when he announced that I did indeed need glasses. The first pair were those ugly black plastic nerd glasses (see above monstrosity picture from february 1964). When I got them, and returned to the classroom I remember being in a state of shock when I could see read the writing on the blackboard form the back of the room: I had never been able to do this and did not realize that one was supposed to able to do so. "You say you care for me But there's no tenderness Beneath your honesty" Over the years my vision slid down hill finally stabilizing at 20/800. So, after considering doing so for the past several years, I finally took the plunge this week: surgery, lasik eye surgery to be exact. To execute this procedure, they cut your lense flaps and fold them back. Then a laser that has been preprogrammed with the specifics of each of your eyes’ abnormalities vaporizes away bits of them to correct their shapes so that they will focus properly. Then, the flaps are folded back and aligned so that it will heal in the form of a near perfect eye. You instantly see 1000 percent better. I was 20/20 in one eye and 20/30 in the other. After the procedure, they send you home with a pile of whoopee pills (vicodin and xanax). So basically, you hang out for a couple of days stoned and in shangra la. It was just as well since we had another massive snow storm the night before the surgury and the world was transformed into this fluffy white landscape that I surveyed from the safety of my castle turrets. The only setback was today when I had foggy blurry vision in the left eye and pronounced double vision which made the early morning dark commute scary. Went to the eye doctor and the cause was not anything scary: my tear glands are not producing sufficient tears to heal. SO, he put in these tiny collagen implants into my lower eyelid (I think) that cause the tear glands to crank up. Now it is MUCH better. On the way to work I ran over a huge spike and had a bad flat tire (is there such a thing as a good flat tire?) by the time I limped into the Doctor’s parking lot. Came home after work and felt sad over family members who died in the past year, and had a good cry (the tears were good for my eyes). Like last week, I am unsure what emotionally contributes to this week's Soup. But here it is. "Too many people preaching practices, Don't let 'em tell you what you wanna be. Too many people holding back, This is crazy, and baby, it's not like me.." 1. Tenderness – This lovely song is from Paul Simon's 1973 first solo album titled "There Goes Rhyming Simon". I like the words a lot and the sentiments they reflect. Truth delivered with a bad or malevolent spirit is not a good thing. Real and sincerely expressed tenderness always makes a good companion for delivered truth that might otherwise seem overly harsh. Truth delivered with harshness and arrogance just makes the person making the delivery look like a self serving, and manipulative asshole. And it renders everything that the harsh person says and does appear highly suspect. 2. Warszawa – This soothing instrumental by David Bowie is from his landmark 1977 “Low” LP. The whole techno ambient trance musical genre comes from this early root. This piece is the opening number of a quartet that closes this LP. This brings back many memories fore me of life in Casablanca which I will blog about someday. 3. Station to Station -- I included a fragment of this David Bowie song becasue of the sound of the synthasiuzed train. It just sounds like it needs to be here as a musical bridge between the the previous and next songs. 4. Too Many People -- This obscure song off Paul McCartney's 1971 “Ram” LP, is frigging hot. I was stunned and delighted that he included this in his tour set lst last yearI. I love how it builds up to this climax at the end that is topped with an unlikely layer of accoustic guitar. All of this makes it's way into this week's soup. You can get your 22.4 Mb bowl of Saturday Night Soup for the Soul by clicking the jukebox.

Saturday Night Soup for the Soul (08)

t was an exhausting week in an exhausting winter. I am but a traveler on a very long journey who reached two significant milestones this week. The first: I survived surgery. My new eyes are still fuzzy in mornings and low light night situations. But in a mid day test, the right which was pre-surgery 20/800, tested as 20/15. The left which was 20/900 tested as 20/25. "Well I met him at the bottom of a well (of a well) Well I told him I was tryin to break a spell (break a spell) " I had wanted to do this for the past three years, but a series of heartbreaking family events intervened. Honor, and sense of duty bid me to drop all concerns for my own life to help others. In both cases, the result was the death of a loved one, and the latter one had so many tragic circumstances tied to it, that it came within an inch of taking me, too. I survived, though ravaged and shot to hell, almost down for the count myself. But here I am, writing today. The second milestone is the rebuilding of myself, from the foundation up. I begin this on November 10th, fasting for weeks on end. Now I have introduced an extended six day a week very low calorie regime. Added to this is three to four day a week cardio workout. I now have lost 31 pounds and weigh what I did before the recent trials and tribulations began. And yet this is but a single mile post, and the road lays out before me a far as the eye can see, and beyond. Moonlight on the water. Sunlight on my face. You and me together. We are in our place. The gods are in the heavens. Angels treat us well. Oracles have spoken. We cast the perfect spell. So I reach the summit of the mountain pass at last, where air is so thin you almost pass out, and the roadway is become graveled ruts and mud. And now I cross over to the downward slope of the pass leading into the slow explosive virulence of an ever bountiful spring. So this week's long and complex soup marks the end of but but one leg of a journey, as another begins with the beginning of the descent from the mountains, and into the undiscovered country. 1. Long Haired Lady (Fragment) This lovely fragment of a much larger song is from Paul McCartney's 1971 Ram. However, this roots of this go back to an unfinished lost Beatles song dating from thier 1969 project known by the duel titles of "Get Back" and "Let it Be". Someday soon, I will begin to tell you all about that project under the name "Get Back to Let It Be...Dissected". 2. Soft Parade The ending of the title song from the Doors 1969 LP . Reflections of William S. Burroughs' novel The Soft Machine (first published 1961, revised "first" edition published 1966). The poetry speaks for itself. The Soft Parade has now begun Listen to the engines hum People out to have some fun, Ccobra on my left, Leopard on my right, yeah. Deer woman in a silk dress. Girls with beads around their necks. Kiss the hunter of the green vest, Who has wrestled before With lions in the night. Out of sight! The lights are getting brighter. The radio is moaning, calling to the dogs. There are still a few animals, left out in the yard. But its getting harder, to describe sailors,to the underfed 3. Oh Woman Oh Why Also from the Ram sessions. Paul is basically stating that Linda saved him from the total nervous breakdown he suffered when he left the Beatles. 4. Art Decade Another fantastic instrumental by David Bowie from his landmark 1977 “Low” LP. 5. One Horse Town Elton John off Blue Moves. Ironic that this LP was considered a dissapointment at the time since it includes some of his most intrieging work. 6. Clean Up Time From John Lennon's Double Fantasy swan song, recorded shortly before he was killed. 7. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues From one of the greatest all time LP's: Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited. I started out on burgundy But soon hit the harder stuff Everybody said they'd stand behind me When the game got rough But the joke was on me There was nobody even there to bluff I'm going back to New York City I do believe I've had enough 8. Long Haired Lady Reprise This is how this song ends in a wonderful orchestrated chaos. Seems like a good way to both wrap up this week's Soup, and to wrap up the winter of 2006-07 for the history books. I hearby declare it to be spring! All of this makes it's way into this week's soup. You can get your 31.2 Mb bowl of Saturday Night Soup for the Soul by clicking the jukebox.

Saturday Night Soup for the Soul (09)

t t was yet another exhausting week. I crawled from my flu death bed on Tuesday, and stumbled into work hoping to ease into an easy pace. That was not to be. I was latched onto by our CFO within 20 seconds of my entry into the building, 20 minutes later, I was off at 200 miles per hour (and grinding on one sputtering cylinder) designing and building a analytical software application for crunching Special Education, ELL (English Language Learner), and Preschool student demographics (where do they live versus which school do they attend to receive their high cost special educational services). Good things to know when allocating dollars, staffing, and other resources such as transportation. "Temperatures rising Fever is high Cant see no future Cant see no sky" No wonder I came home each night dead tired, dragging my recovery from the flu out all week. I am still only at about 50 percent. I had hoped to wind down today and have a relaxing weekend (I have stacks of objects and unfinished tasks cluttering every room of my house). What a fantasy that was thinking I might relax. The CFO grabbed the 1st app for some dog and pony show he is hosting, but before leaving he promptly tossed two more onto the stack. Both are much bigger than a breadbox, and one is due Monday morning. Just for the record, I am very loyal to him and am paid well at work. Nevertheless, the necessity to ramp up way beyond natural energy levels pushed me into desperation: my addiction mode -- I began tossing sugary junk into my system to artificially ramp up and by the end of the day I was like some blurry coked out zombie on the final day of a multi day coke binge. I will be working all weekend, and back (oh god I just have to do this) on the dietary straight and narrow. The two prior weeks it was the recreational pain meds related to eye surgery... Cold turkey, has got me, on the run...oh So, two pieces of music this week. One is where I physically am (figuratovely speaking), and the other is where my spirit is off to, somewhere in Shangri-La on a sweet spring day. The first is the ultimate junkie cold turkey song, titled appropriately enough: 1. Cold Turkey. John Lennon had abused drugs and alcohol, in one form or another since his early pre-fame Liverpool days. By 1969, he and Yoko were snorting heroin which made him next to impossible to work with, as painfully captured on film and tape during the filming of the "Get Back to Let it Be" misadventure. That summer, as the Beatles fractured apart into three against one camps (Paul McCartney being the odd man out) John finally went cold turkey on drugs and came out of his decade long haze. This was the backdrop against which they recorded their swan song master piece Abbey Road. It had just been released when John wrote Cold Turkey and approached the band about recording it as the Beatles next single. They declined. Truth be told, by now Paul was in the early stages of a complete mental, emotional and artistic breakdown, and had vanished into seclusion up in the wilds of Scotland to have his breakdown in private. He was to make his decision to leave the Beatles within six months and be reborn as the artist he is today. John on the other hand was newly energized and felt more together than he had in years. He rapidly assembled a band named the Plastic Ono Band, and recorded Cold Turkey. Fellow heroin addict (and he went on to get MUCH more hopelessly addicted before he finally kicked the habit) Eric Clapton shares guitar duties, as does Klaus Voorman (an old friend from Deutschland who designed the Revolver LP cover) and drummer Alan White (later in rock group Yes). 2. Serge Prokofiev Symphony Five (op. 100 Movement Four) Oh what unbridled joy this happy energetic and highly spirited closing movement made from. After a brief introduction on woodwinds which is taken up by the lower strings, we are out of the gate and galloping across a verdant spring landscape fording hedges and streams. There is this rapid and busy (like the flight of a bee sped up 1000 times) string figure that repeatedly punctuates this theme like an electric current of pure joy. Eventually we pause to catch our breath in a short playful second theme, before the galloping commences once again. The joy fanfare repeats once again, but it is slowed and disassembled so that you can make out its parts. Shades of the introduction quickly appear and slow us back down into the second theme once again. This time, we linger longer in this second theme but unexpectedly there is some development but the joy fanfare appears and without warning we are galloping again on our fine musical stallion. But we get distracted and playful and rapidly slide back into the second theme for the last time. The finale is made up of the first theme galloping in full force and with fireworks orchestral trills done in fifths that are like kisses of pure joy. The percussion of snare and wood blocks is unbelievable, and it end with one giant orchestral ascending whoop that puts it all over the top. All of this makes it's way into this week's soup. You can get your 31.2 Mb bowl of Saturday Night Soup for the Soul by clicking the jukebox.

A Dream of Three Girls, Followed by Three E-Mails

I had the strangest dream two nights ago. I drempt that I was at my high school reunion. Three girls were there, who had been the hottest and most popular girls in high school: money, looks, cheer leading squad, so forth, and so on. They came up to me, found me irresistible, and all three started seducing me. One was kissing me (she was a good kisser), while another was unbuttoning my shirt and trying to get it off and another fiddling with my belt and taking my shoes off. It was a pleasant dream, and I was going with the flow, despite my being gay. I am usually very good at understanding the inner meaning of dreams: my own as well as those of others (Jungian psych disciple). But this one throws me. The next morning I awoke to find three pleasant e-mails waiting for me from the same person.

Saturday Night Soup for the Soul (11)

his is quite the schizoid soup that I serve tonight. The recipe is a perfect reflection of the the past week, which threw an incongruous series of things at me, including an angry female moose, a flying Monkey Man from New Mexico, endless work related pressure and overtime, a mysterious Fire Horse, Demons and Deities, 4-5 hours of sleep a night, and a ton of complicated changes to a software app that I am developing, all given to me as I was leaving work Friday night. The changes are to be fully implemented Tuesday morning (Monday is a holiday), so now I have to work this weekend. So much for my goal of escaping into the bliss zone. I'm working long hours now Six days a week Sometimes seven days a week Some of the above was pleasant, some not. Rather than attempt any literal explanation with words, I’ll stay abstract and let the music that passed thru me all week paint you all a picture. To be honest – I am not even sure of the true inner meaning of the portrait in sound that I present this week. The pieces appear to not belong together, and yet, here they are all one juxtaposed one against the other forming some sort of portrait. Everyday I want to be your friend, 'Cause you have stuck with me through thick and thin An' every day I want a smile in your lovely brown eyes(smile at your lovely brown eyes) 1. Prolog – This is the opening number that follows the Overture in West Side Story. Brainless violence and competition over nothing between two opposing gangs (the PR sharks versus the Anglo Jets). Could as easily be Bush and Cheney versus the turbaned Mullahs of Iran: Sworn enemies each who are what they accuse the other of being. They all just need to rent a cheap motel room, grease up, and get on with it and leave the rest of us to live in peace. Back to pleasant matters, Leonard Bernstein’s musical score is beyond brilliant. Some day I will get into Lenny. One of the great Americans of the 20th century. Here is a midi version of this number I found. I did up a so-so draft collage for this, but I ran out of time and will not work it beyond the draft you see above. 2. God's Lonely Man 3. All The Animals Come Out at Night These two pieces are by composer Bernard Herrmann for the iconic film Taxi Driver. 4. Love Having You Around Stevie Wonder's long Motown contract had finally expired, freeing him to explore the music that he heard in his mind, but had not yet recorded. Music of My Mind was absolutely something very new and still sounds fresh 35 years later. 5. Transspiritual Stomp comes from a CD titled Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest by The Fireman. The Fireman is the moniker given to electronic music experiments created by Paul McCartney and Youth. In 1993 they released their first album, Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest and followed that with Rushes in 1998. In 2000 Youth also took part in McCartney's similarly-styled Liverpool Sound Collage, their most recent collaboration. All of this makes it's way into this week's soup. You can get your 31.2 Mb bowl of Saturday Night Soup for the Soul by clicking the jukebox.