Fast 'N Bulbous: the CAPTAIN BEEFHEART PROJECT
I'm going crazy trying to remember who recorded, wrote etc. the psychedelic song "Time" You know, the one that slows down and speeds up, with the cow bell....I was unable to make a google search work. Alex? Bill? anyone?
Entertainment Industry Goober of the Month: John Wells
From an article in Slate about the use of letterboxing by mainstream TV shows:
ER producer John Wells, looking for ways to bring buzz back to his medical drama, [adopted a] 16:9 [screen ratio] at the start of the 2000-2001 season. As Wells explained it to the Akron Beacon Journal: "We noticed that a large number of commercials were being broadcast in letterbox form. We called the advertising department and asked why ... and they said, 'Well, because it looks classier.' Well, we've got a classy project. And I think that, increasingly, you want to be able to distinguish your show in an ever more cluttered marketplace as something that stands out."
newer goober
The
Towers of Light proposal is back. Apparently the new mayor likes it. It has some aesthetic appeal, but many
people living nearby don't want it. Neither do birders, since the skyward lighting is apt to confuse night-migrants. According to
Rebekah Creshkoff, the technology is the old ceilometer system, once used for measuring cloud ceilings around airports. There is evidence that such lights have affected flocks in the past, and placing them near a lot of tall buildings on a major flyway is a bad idea, at least during migration season, which will be underway (though not at peak) before this proposal runs its course.
Roger McGuinn's album
Treasures from the Folk Den has been growing on me. It's even more of a nostalgia trip than is usual with folk music.
McGuinn (best known as the leader of the
Byrds) cut his teeth in the folk/protest era of the late 50s and early 60s. He's been putting out new versions of the era's songs
online for some years. Now he's done a compilation album, re-recording these songs in the company of the artist associated with them back when. These include some real old-timers, like Pete Seeger and Jean Ritchie, as well as 60s staples like Judy Collins and Odetta. They no longer have the great voices of their youth, but most have gained an easy virtuosity over the years. Their art belies the simplicity of the performances, which seem more than ever modeled on the "authentic", unschooled style of rural singers, as exemplified by the Harry Smith
Anthology. Thirty years ago these folks were showy singers, trying too hard; today they've almost become the real thing.
Most of the songs are chestnuts, but they are durable, and a few may have escaped your ear. I particularly like
Dink's Song, which I've never owned a recording of. As told by Lomax, the
story of the song and its singer is sad, and the achy duet by McGuinn and Josh White Jr. does them justice (even in a bowdlerized version). I wondered whether the reference to "Norah's dove" was a corruption of
Noah's dove, but haven't found a clear statement on the point. Such "obvious" assumptions about traditional material often turn out to be wrong. Dylan sang it as "Noah's", which doesn't prove much, but
this over-worshipful account does present a funny picture of the young singer working on his own myth.
mike was asking about photographic images of the pranksters.
Gene Anthony was clicking away in sf in 67
How to Explain Enronomics to Kids
Feudalism - You have two cows. Your lord takes some of the milk.
Fascism - You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them, and sells you the milk.
Communism - You have two cows. Your neighbors help take care of them and you share the milk.
Totalitarianism - You have two cows. The government takes them both and denies they ever existed and drafts you into the army. Milk is banned.
Capitalism - You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income.
Enron - You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to
a Cayman Island company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more.
the follow book will become part of the LB (Lovevibe-Brown) Library some time next month....i have been searching for years for an old alchemy print w/o any luck, Linda bought Alex this
great book a couple weeks ago (sorry good Doctor) and I have engrossed in it, it seems to get the prints you gotta get the books....as you can imagine its rare, the 3rd book to change hands in the last 25 years....
ABRAHAM ELEAZAR. URALTES CHYMISCHES WERCK, Welches Ehedessen von dem Autore Theils in Lateinischer und Arabischer, theils auch in Chalaeischer und Syrischer Sprache Geschrieben...
Erfurt: Augustinus Crusius, 1735. 2 parts in one vol, 8vo, frontis. &
15 full-page engravings by J.E. Boeck, full-page woodcut, and woodcut diagrams throughout. [Bound with:] Zoraster. Clavis Artis des Beruehmten Juden und Rabbi Zoroasters. Jen: Joh. Gebast. Rudolph, 1738. Full vellum, lightly rubbed. A fine copy.
¶ First Edition of one of the major 18th century works on alchemy, by an author who wrote under the name of Abraham Eleaszar, the supposed author of the ancient alchemical ms found by the famous 13th century alchemist Nicolas Flamel. The engravings are said to be after illustrations in the manuscript found by Flamel. Ferguson devotes much space in trying to determine if it is authentic or note.Duveen pp.1-2: “The curious engravings are interesting examples of symbolic illustration.” Ferguson I, pp.2-3 (the Young Collection had only the second edition of 1760 but states the plates are far better int he first). Caillet pp.31-32. Ritman Library, The Silent Language, 49. Verginelli 1. Ouvaroff had only the second edition. Not in Dorbon or Jouin & Descreux; not in de Guatita or Manly Hall collections.
Just added to my
post on Dave Kehr's
New York Times article on Rintaro's
Metropolis (currently playing in area movie theatres):
"Kehr finds the attempt in Metropolis to integrate hand-drawn figures with artificial-looking, Tron-like computer graphics to be awkward--and he's right, it looks terrible--but then says more conventional anime has the same clumsy disconnect between foreground and background, which just isn't true. Hand-drawn figures and hand-painted backgrounds work well together, it's only when the animators cut into the frame to show off all the cool wireframe stuff they can do that problems crop up. Computers may be useful for generating continuity drawings in conventional-looking animation, but whenever the programming calls attention to itself, as it does in Metropolis or even a smaller-scale project like Richard Linklater's insufferable Waking Life, it's distracting."
"For
Whom the Bells Toll is a national initiative to have religious organizations throughout the country toll their bells whenever there is an execution."
hope everybody had a grand day yesterday, light on the posting and heavy on the getting outside, linda and i did
we walked all over red hook, all along the waterside and some of the side streets near the water, i fell in love, for so long i thought i wanted to live on sugar mountain but now its 173 beard st red hook brooklyn, whomever owns this home is extreemly lucky, hard to get arround yes but, thier backyard must smell of salt air all the time, on thier roof looking out at the water cant be a bummer either!!, couple other nice spots on beard and van brunt!!
Greg O'Connell from what i hear bought the whole waterfront inc lots of cival war era buildings buildings in the 70's for 500K, a friend rents a building from him and we saw some other
renovated spaces
AWESOME!!! he donated some of the space too including
this and he has plans for a trolley museum, a fishing pier, etc....
he owns a lot of red hook and cobble hill near the water, he built for the same friend a restaurant/bar that will open soon.
first floor bar, 2nd floor restaurant (one of the partners cames from march restaurant), 3rd floor is the roof with more table, all 3 floors look out at unloading container ships and lower manhattan--NICE
i love brooklyn and wish i could buy in red hook today (or ever)
i had better get to work!!!
New Line, Tuckerman said, is planning ''at some point in time to add (additional footage at the end of Rings that) will be a lot longer than a trailer, but I don't know how much longer. We're going to give (moviegoers) a preview of (the second episode of Rings). We're going to change the last reel out and do a preview of Two [Towers] at the end of the last reel. (People) are screaming for it.''
Drinking moderately (one to three drinks a day) halves your chances of getting alzheimer's. Cheers.
i guess if it were true he wouldn't have written
this