music

"There must be somewhere out of here, said the joker to the thief ..."
no - wrong song, that was the last gig.
Now it's: "Killing me softly .."one of the choices of this practice for the next performance, additionally the song "Shelter from the Storm" and two others ...

Shelter from the storm starts like this:
It was in an other lifetime, one of toil and blood
when blackness was a virtue, the road was full of mud
I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form -

"Come in she said I'll give you, shelter from the storm!"
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Anyhow, the two girls and I are practicing for the next open mike. It is fun to do, rejuvenating actually - and I also believe we sound pretty good as far as I can tell.
I keep recording our practice sessions, but I should make sure that our performance will get same coverage as well. Perhaps I can figure out to post an mp3 file after the fact.
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As for Bush's radio interview with NPR today - it made me vomit!
I decided now that this guy is insane beyond help of repair. Perhaps he is actually mentally demented, has syphilis or some other kind of grave disease that eats up his brain.
You know what, I don't give a shit anymore. May the "empire" fall and crawl on it's knees for the next decade or so.
Maybe that will make us more plural again.


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cut it short

TO PRESIDENT BUSH

This thin-lipped king with his helmeted head
Remembers the quirky fits of light
That tempt the cobra. No, the temper of the dove
Does not fit him; and nothing in the world
Can bring him to bless. He will not feed,
Nourish or help; in his rabbity hand
Lifted in the fading light of the hemlocks
Waves to them, gestures to the young to die.

Robert Bly

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The working class always has to march. It has been this way forever. And then you see the stinking 5% of the ruling class still smoke their Cuban cigars in the back-rooms, exempt from federal non-smoking regulations, while denying that Cuba actually exists.
Anyhow, street demonstrations are done and over with, clear bullshit. They don't change a thing. The only discourse right now is to act locally - and fuck globally....
I don't wish to be a total pessimist, believe me, I'm not. But politicians, even the ones with good intentions get corrupted within a short period of time. There seems to be no escape from this trend. It is a waste of energy (if you have anything of that left) to demonstrate against the Bush administration, and also a waste of time in my eyes.
Instead we should start to create cells of independence, may it be in networking local businesses (we have a local currency where I live in the US, a good start) or just put more effort into sustaining and promoting local assets we already have on our hands.
I am a strong believer that peace can not be obtained through political means anymore within this system we currently are forced to subscribe to.
And even if I don't yet have the final cure, or a quick fix, I still manage to keep an upbeat and positive attitude.
So do you I hope!

think silver not steel

Take a close look at these photos …
Is it a castle, a grand hotel? No – it’s a house!
It is owned by Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the former president of the
United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu-Dhabi and a good friend of the Bush clan.

And here we go, this really blows my mind. The Audi below is not painted silver - it was custom made IN PURE SILVER!

It is amazing what $2.66 a gallon at the pump or $50-$60 a barrel can buy!

That car will be a cute sculpture once the oil runs out -and we will run out of that oil, that is not hypothetical but factual. So it is more a timing issue now than anything else, something no one around dares to address - and the Arab world continues to dream within their framework of the fairy-tale of "1001 nights" with Mohammed's blessings, while the Westerners stupefy themselves to believe that all can continue their way forever.
They are both wrong!

This post is inspired by an email I received from Calamity

Start Wearing Purple

Gogol Bordello are a completely original New York entitity. Rubric is reissuing their debut release, Voi-La Intruder, with the track order revised and an additional 5 tracks. This is Ukranian party music. Leader Eugene Hutz is a major NYC DJ at the Bulgarian Bar on Saturday nights. The place is packed weekly with Eastern European immigrants and the hipsters who love them. The music is best described as a sort of Pogues meets traditional Ukranian folk music in a sweaty dance bar. One foot in punk rock and one foot in traditionalism, Gogol Bordello have been packing clubs in NYC and now are touring all over the place, including Russia.

no crack - but a crap challenge

All the demons from 2006 have to vanish, at least half of them. Yes, of course we can talk about leaders and politicians in our society who we would love to get rid of. But what does that do, if we don't start right here, right here on the messy desk and get rid of the substances and issues we battle with daily.
I challenge you all to take a spontaneous picture of your own mess!!!
Blessed be those who already found equilibrium ... I haven't reached that stage yet.
Listened to Beethoven's 9th Symphony last night where he takes Schiller's "Ode of Joy" and puts it to a chorus in his last movement. Man, this guy was a rebel and a punk! The composition is totally ludicrous and out of line with traditional "classic" composition methods of his time.


Joy, beautiful spark of the gods,
Daughter of Elysium,
We enter fire imbued,
Heavenly, thy sanctuary.

Thy magic reunites those
Whom stern custom has parted;
All men will become brothers
Under thy gentle wing.

May he who has had the fortune
To gain a true friend
And he who has won a noble wife
Join in our jubilation!

Yes, even if he calls but one soul
His own in all the world.
But he who has failed in this
Must steal away alone and in tears.

All the world's creatures
Draw joy from nature's breast;
Both the good and the evil
Follow her rose-strewn path.

She gave us kisses and wine
And a friend loyal unto death;
She gave lust for life to the lowliest,
And the Cherub stands before God.

life goes on

The brain discovers what the fingers explore. The density of nerve endings in our fingertips is enormous. Their discrimination is almost as good as that of our eyes. If we don't use our fingers, if in childhood and youth we become 'finger-blind', this rich network of nerves is impoverished - which represents a huge loss to the brain and thwarts the individuals' all-around development. Such damage might be linked to blindness itself. Perhaps worse, while a blind person may simply not find this or that object, the finger-blind cannot understand its inner meaning and value.
- Matti Bergstrom -

Brake

Yep, that's all what it means - I'll take a brake from "blogging".

Children

Some years ago I carved a headstone (grave-yard-stone) for a girl that died of cancer - and she was only nine years old.
Today I am thinking of all the children who died or got maimed by other causes around the globe. Mostly due to violence of adults, fighting wars that seem to be a priority in their minds.
It still is incomprehensible to me that violence is the major religion on this globe and that people don't seek betterment. Is greed and dominance that important? I start to believe that the humans are the stupidest animals around, going down the road of self-extinction by their lack of cognitive cooperation. It is pretty sad actually.
Instead of diligent research into causes of cancer, they ban cigarette smoking and keep the dirty coal-plants burning.
Instead of eliminating causes of terrorism, they fight wars that create more anger and terror.
Instead of converting to alternative energies, they keep producing gas guzzling cars.
Instead of using intelligence, they provide gut feeling homophobia.

It seems that the human animal only learns being faced with death and catastrophes, and even then it is a questionable success. Politics, religion and cooperate greed of the capitalist system are the main culprits of our demise.
The children of the future, our future, depend on us.
Let us make an effort and give them and us a chance!

young hands

Back to clay. Did you know that substantial research has been done that links brain development and its success to the sensible use of the human hands during the years of bodily growth?
Anyhow, this batch of students are 10th graders, using their hands to shape a human head.
They are doing it in local clay from Massachusetts, a very fine product which comes without traces of metals (iron) or silica in it.
With all their testosterone and other evaporations which often end up in silly comments during class, I still love that bunch of young adults. Stretches of long periods of silent and concentrated work were actually also achievable.
Anyhow, I feel I do something real right now, something for the future.
If all goes like planed, I will vanish from the neck of my neighborhood and re-submerge on an island in Maine and work there for a few months; a therapeutic move. I will still stay in touch, just like Gary and a woman, who's name escaped my mind for now.

US and them

Beg you pardon? No, not my model, not my setup, not my sculptures. Nevertheless, I like the whiff of the breeze, the colors an her oily skin.
So Bush will send more troops to Iraq starting tomorrow. What a fool. Ah, shit, shit shit ... politics again. OK I will bite my tongue, but we should expedite and put a counter up that down-counts the days of Bush in office, the grand maestro bastard of all times, at least in my times... Does anyone have such a counter? I am too lazy to create my own.
But what a fool am I to keep following these discourses! It will not change a bit just that I am aware of things and try to participate in a processes of reconciliation...
No folks, I have neither anything to say about the fabulous lady posing here, nor the sculptures surrounding her. I feel mute, and I should stick to that cognition... But you know me, I always seem to resurrect, despite all odds.
US and them? No - it should be called: us or them! No, are you with us, or are you with them?

The UN, other culprits - and capital punishement

I liked the old guy, the new one sucks so far. Kofi at least knew the UN charter by heart, his replacement, Ban Ki-moon from South Korea, struggles to comprehend such issues.
He said capital punishment "was for each and every member state to decide" - words that are at odds with the UN's policy of opposing the death penalty.The next two ones you will see executed by a rope, are Saddam's chief judge and the head of the intelligence service.
Whatever, Maliki (the present puppet president in Iraq) said the the hangings are a "domestic affair" for the benefit of Iraq's unity, and adding that the former president Saddam had received a fair trial.

You know what, I don't buy this bullshit anymore - and that concept of a United Nations. It is idle with this new "director" from South Korea who initially embraces the death penalty. S-Korea is not even a fucking country, it's a colony of the United States! Go figure ...
Not much song, "art" and whatnot in this post. But it had to be said. Next post will be sexy, I promise :)

What's up

Here is a sketch from the student I coach and this is which she intends to carve. She is going to carve this into marble. The inspirational gesture of a cupid, Rodin style...
Her present project is also coming along well, you saw the images earlier on. I will post the progress as it unfoldes.

Besides of her endeavors, what's up? We all have seen the videos of Saddam, we all continue to wonder what is going on. What is it that actually is going on?
I procrastinated on a job today, and instead of taking a nap, switched on the tube in the house I'm renovating. Haven't done that for a while, I don't watch TV at all usually. So there was this endless report about G. Ford's coffin being removed in slow motion, what a tedious thing. It put me to sleep while I was trying to switch channels between NBC, CNN and C-Span. Gerald Ford, who made the fucker be pardoned in order to stay in line with the nation, a peace of sorts. (don't hurry them, don't worry them). I don't have much good to say about him, unless you pick out positive attributes of his physical appearance, his stern forehead maybe...
Rumsfeld gave a nice speech, so did Carter. Actually Carter's speech was quite well done - amazing, since I still think of him as that peanut farmer. Probably 50% of Americans are now allergic to peanuts, what the heck ....

Anyway, what's up?!
Like to hear how your new year has started.
Mine is going full blast for now, 2007 will be great!

the bash of New Years

Hope you all had a splendid new years eve. I spend my time fiddling and improvising on an electric violin in a pub of a red-neck town near by. Drinking a few pints of Newcastle, playing music, having fun. It was OK.
What's going to be for the New Year I ask myself today at the first of January?
I think it is going to be better than 2006, that's all I can say.
As for my New Years resolutions - I'm not gonna tell ya :)