I feel your looks and hear your
whispered words. Don't think I'm
unaware of the consending way
you stare. You think you know me.
You think you see me. You don't
have a clue. But that petty little thrill
you get, thinking I'm below you, never
ceases to amaze me, at all the damage
you will do. God must have a purpose,
He must have a plan. There's a lesson here
worth learning, but I'm not sure I care. I'm
not untouchable, like I believed myself to be.
I can hurt too, can't you see. You bleed just like
me. What crazy thing have I done that makes
this so deserving? I can't think of a reason, I
can't think of a cause. I don't have the
strength to fight, my knuckles are too
bruised. Maybe I'll survive this, and you'll
be the one to fall.
The Steely Dan concert was tonight, not last night. We just got back a little while ago.
It was an amazing show. Donald Fagan looks more and more like what would happen if Lurch and Richard Belzer made a baby together. Becker was his usual laid back, sardonic self. Nothing about their music sounds dated or MOR--the arrangements were really fresh and current. The band was unbelievably tight. They played for 90 minutes straight with no intermission. And the weather tonight was perfect, not too hot, not chilly, with what Becker at one point called a "Moroccan moon" hanging in the sky. Fantastic.Mr BA got some great pics; I'll try to post them tomorrow.
On the downside: the dude standing next to me who smelled like pee. Also, the people in our vicinity who were smoking really shitty pot. I mean, dried catnip and oregano would have smelled less harsh than that shit. The high-as-a-kite skanky chick who kept screaming at Mr BA to take her picture. And worst of all, all the lame-asses who drag their stupid lawn chairs to all these outdoor music festivals, plonk them down to "save" the best spots all day, then complain if you are standing in front of them to dance. I'm sorry, if you want to watch Steely Dan sitting down in a comfy chair, just stay in your living room and watch their DVD. Ottawa is notorious for the ongoing feud between the "sitters" and the "standers." I've been to concerts where the artists are literally yelling at the audience to get their asses out of their lawn chairs and dance. Pathetic.
There Bush and those Republicans go again. Go after seniors on fixed incomes. Smart move guys. Say goodbye soon.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat, accused Republicans of putting seniors and military families at risk by siding with President Bush against a measure to prevent Medicare cuts.
Durbin, D-Ill., used a Saturday national radio address to call on Republicans to back the bill to stave off a 10.6 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors.
It passed the House overwhelmingly last week in defiance of Bush's threat to veto it, but it fell just one vote short of the 60 it needed to advance in the Senate, with most Republicans voting "no."
"It's time for the Republican senators who are filibustering this measure to put our seniors and our military families ahead of private insurance companies and let the Senate pass this bill as soon as possible," Durbin said.
Bush and Senate Republicans don't like the bill because it includes offsetting cuts to insurance companies that use Medicare money to offer private health care coverage to about 20 percent of seniors. [AP]
Folks,
I'm sure that we're all living through the nightmare of higher costs of living these days. It doesn't matter where you happen to be on the income scale - everyone's hurting somewhere.
I saw how business people and ordinary folks in Thailand and Malaysia were being pushed to extreme actions to get their governments to do someting, anything, to address their concerns.
Most surprising was some direct feedback from a Malaysian chap who told me that Australians won't really hurt because our salaries were higher, hence we'd absorb the higher costs easily. Pig's arse! I set him straight right there and then. I think the notion of stagflation hasn't quite reached the man on our streets yet.
That's just my point; it doesn't matter if you're in the First or Third World... we're all suffering.
And this debate we're having in Australia about a carbon trading scheme - literally a sin tax which we all have to pay for just the mere act of consuming - is probably one of the hardest things to sell to an already-jaded/cynical/taxed out population.
I've got no answers, but heck, I'd like a crystal ball to see what people will do if we're going to cop petrol prices that are possibly going to be $3-4/litre.
Ninja
For I am taken and please leave both of us alone in peace. Wonder no more, question no more. Private message and e-mail regarding to this post addressed to both of us are not welcomed. ➨ [underlined, bold, italic]
Thanks.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/06/2295634.htm
Folks,
I'm 100% behind the PM on this. It's one thing to protest about freedom of expression. It's quite another issue to use the image of a naked child to make a point. Why is there such a huge rush to display naked kids as "art"?
Are we seeing the beginnings of a push by certain groups to prmote an agenda out there?
Leave the children alone, ya slimeballs!
Ninja
Today I shot a model... he's bad ass.. the dude works as a body guard to important peeps and celebs , he had a glock gun at our shoot at shoot .. I held it .. damn!!!! going to be doing more shoots with him, heck the dude may even be protecting peeps at the olympics... ahh cool ass job everything you see in movies they do in real life
/
Seriously, is everyone in New York City in a band? The sheer number of musical acts to come that one city is staggering. However, given the filthy, overcrowded, damnear horrific condition of the Rotten Apple, it only makes sense that so many would turn to music to liberate them from the putrid reality of their surroundings.
The Forms' music is a perfect example of that escape-from-reality sound. The Brooklyn-based quartet of Alex Tween, Matt Walsh, and Brendan and Jackson Kenny have garnered a great deal of positive press for their debut album Icarus and self-titled follow-up--both produced by the legendary Steve Albini himself. For a band that's been together since 2000, their output has been scarce, but always high-quality. In many ways, The Forms sound rather like a cross between Coldplay and prog-rock, producing melodic indie rock in all manner of odd, nonstandard time signatures--which may be somewhat offputting to some listeners, but stick with them: the sound will grow on you. Even if the time-signatures are rather alien to pop music, the melodies are strong and easy to follow.
Unlike many The Forms focus first and foremost on songwriting, not on musical virtuosity, and this is apparent througout their self-tilted second album. "Knowledge in Hand" opens the album with a defining statement of the band's somewhat psychedelic, largely distortion-free sound, with a groovy layering of piano and guitars to back up a powerful lead vocal. "Bones" and "Blue Whale" are both stirling examples of shimmery pop-rock that recalls the glory days of 4AD while featuring a distinctly modern sound (mainly created by Albini's clean and no-nonsense production, which hasn't changed much since the 1980s, though it now clearly partakes of modern studio technology). At 3:50 long, "Blue Whale" is the longest song on the record, with most of the other tracks measuring only three minutes in length. This musical economy actually serves the band's melody-driven quality well, as there is no sonic "filler"--like extended guitar solos or bridges--in any of their songs.
However, this brevity also works against the music, in some cases. Many songs do not end, but simply fade out after the three-minute-mark as if the band just doesn't know how to bring them to a conclusion, so they just keep playing while Albini pulls the master mix fader down to zero. I wonder just how well this stuff translates live: if you can't figure out how to end a song, what do you do after the final verse is sung--just quit playing? And though none of the developed tracks themselves have any musical filler, there are two tracks, "Borges" and "Blue Whale (outro)" that, at less than a minute long each (the latter is only seventeen seconds long), seem to serve no purpose whatsoever on the record. They're not even sketches of songs. Quite frankly, I think they're simply studio outtakes the band decided to throw on the album just for the hell of it.
Nonetheless, The Forms is a very good listening experience whose etherial chords and atmospheric vocals will certainly open up a gateway in your mind to a prettier place. If your reality is bleak and crummy as any Brooklyn street, The Forms will gladly take you along to a much better realm.
Sadly, they have no live dates listed.
Links:
theforms.org
myspace.com/forms
To everyone who has wondered where I have been and to all those who have sent me msgs and I haven't got back to you I am very sorry.
Initially I was trying to catch up on some essential paperwork - not even remotely finished yet, but that had to be put on hold and it is still waiting for me.
Then it really all started - there has been family crisis after family crisis.
Just when I thought I would be back here to say hello, Hubby had other plans. He had a heart attack on Tuesday and had to be flown to Melbourne. I followed down by car with our eldest son and we returned on Friday to do things which couldn't be put off. Hubby came back home last night with our 2nd eldest son.
Luckily when the heart attack occurred, we did every thing right and got an ambulance immediately and he was given treatment straight away at our local hospital which dissolved the clot very quickly. So it looks as if damage to the heart is minimal.
His specialist (he has never had a specialist before) said even if Hubby had lived on lettuce for all of his life he still would have had a heart attack, as it appears there is a strong genetic link. Now his brothers and sister need to have stress tests, as does his cousins on his mother's side. Eventually as the children get to around the age of 40, they too will need to be monitored.
We now have to have a his and hers section to our medicine cabinet, as we are now on about an even par with the number of medications we take.
We have been very lucky our family has been there every step of the way and are still helping out at this very moment.
I hope everyone else is doing well.
