Friday, June 17, 2005

Click opera - June 17th, 2005 - Momus makes with the smart!

Click opera - June 17th, 2005:
"The introduction of student loan schemes into public policy (effectively a replacement of an equality of opportunity policy with one which admits to actual differences in lived experience), the abandonment of old Marxist models like the one that says that (cultural) superstructure is determined by (economic) base, and even the appearance of a rash of books and art shows about mix tapes... what do these things have in common? I think they might be signs that Bourdieu was right, or rather, that his way of thinking is winning. As advanced societies get more consumer-oriented and more culture-oriented, and as we focus more on quality of life rather than mere affluence, we'll inevitably find ourselves looking at use value rather than exchange value. But we'll also see use value as something which can be translated back into money, which can be exchanged. "

These kinds of discussions are why I miss college.
I'd could bullshit about this kind of stuff over red bull and vodka till sun up.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

The Music Post

This is not a compliment.

there's a link - or you can scroll down.

You'll quickly see why all my posts are short, although i could've sworn I'd written more.

Because it was saved as a draft, blogger put it down there...
didn't want it to get overlooked, even as half-assed as it is...

Daily Kos :: Poo pizza: Red State High School Hijinks - File Under: Texas is the reason

Daily Kos :: Poo pizza: Red State High School Hijinks:
"Cheerleaders disciplined for putting feces on pizza
KELLER - Four Keller High School cheerleaders were sent home early from camp after allegedly putting human feces on a pizza and trying to frame rival cheerleaders for the deed."

Democracy on the move in the middle east!

Heard a report on the BBC this morning about an election coming up in the middle east...
In Iran.
They are electing a new president, and everybody is trying to run on a liberalization and reform platform. 70% of the population of Iran is under 30.
They were saying even the conservatives are having to chase the votes of those who are tired of "too many restrictions".

These are the people we'll be bombing soon if Bush and PNAC get their way.

It's maddening.

MotherJones.com | Arts

Have I mentioned that work sucks? and if there is an afterlife and I get to meet Henry Ford I hope I'm in shape enough to kick his sorry ass?

MotherJones.com | Arts:

"MJ: You've written that the concept of boredom didn’t really exist until 1760.

TH: That's the date most of us put on the Industrial Revolution, i.e. the age of the Big Machine. The idea of the machine was that we wouldn’t have to do that kind of work anymore ourselves. But you still need lots of men to work the machines, and these men become robotic because there’s no real skill involved. It’s like in Fast Food Nation where Eric Schlosser says the ultimate successful business could be operated by monkeys. They make it easier and easier to work the machines and keep the wages as low as possible. In the past we had a more varied existence, where you might do a bit of weaving, you’d be tending the garden, you were involved in a whole range of activities. You still see it now, if you go to, say, rural Mexico. Work was mixed in with leisure, and the day was more varied, so it wasn’t boring.
If you look at the literature of the 19th century, you get things like Kafka and Dostoevsky, who basically write about feeling bored and alienated. That’s because we lost contact with the important things in life like work that you enjoy, or the garden, nature, your family and friends. "

Gambit Weekly : Name That Tune : June 14, 2005

A really nice article on "St. James Infirmary" via Bookslut...

Gambit Weekly : Name That Tune : June 14, 2005:
"So I'd heard the lyrics before, but now I was thinking about them. Sad song about a man going to see the corpse of his lover ... . And will she go to heaven or will she go to hell ... . And whatever the answer, she 'ain't never gonna find another man like me.' Wow. That's something. That's beautiful and wrong at the same time. "

I have well over an hour of "St. James Infirmary" on my machine at home, and it's always fun to play...
and now I know more about it...
if you read this, you will to.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

am I the only one?

am I the only one who thinks maybe the Senate should, instead of just apologizing for not passing an anti-lynching law, apologize AND go ahead and PASS an anti-lynching law? Oh, sorry, we didn't make that illegal did we? sorry bout that, not that we'll make it illegal now...
the theatre of politics is amazing.

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

black flag!

Happy Flag Day!

I got a little murkan flag lapel pin made in China from some anonymous boss type...
I'm not sure which is more weird, him handing them out to everyone on the floor...
or that they're made by commies.

anyway, I only fly the black flag!

DesMoinesRegister.com

VIRAL HUMANIST ADVERTS! (via Bookslut)

DesMoinesRegister.com: "Christian pamphlets with titles such as 'Jesus Christ is God' were placed in about 50 library books about Judaism and Buddhism. The pamphlets were printed by the Voice of God Recordings, which is headquartered in Jeffersonville, Ind.
Other books in the library's religion section showed a small plastic card with the wording, 'You do not need a god to live a good life.' That card noted the Web site for the Iowa Secularist organization based in Iowa City."

Guardian Unlimited | Arts features | 'I hate nothing more than art and culture'

Theatre talk from an important old guy!
Guardian Unlimited | Arts features | 'I hate nothing more than art and culture'

little to no

blogging today...
big boss is here...
sitting right behind me...
I'm hanging on by a thread here as it is...

Monday, June 13, 2005

Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | Audiofile - File Under: HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!

Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | Audiofile

jesus h. christ on a discount pogo stick!

Salon is giving away mp3's from the ESP catalog...
and they are starting with AYLER!
AYLER!
AYLER!

go grab ghosts (version 1)...
yes, sit through the ad, or go buy a salon subscription and then you can start exposing yourself to some of the most important recordings of the 20th century...
really...

of course, the sad thing, the people who would be excited about this already have every ESP reissue they could get their hands on, bootleg or not...
and they rest of you, well, if you haven't encountered the little lable inspired by esperanto, it's probably not gonna be your bag...
but I'm pretentious enough to say it should be...

seriously people - this is your chance to expose yourself to some really amazing stuff, fer nothing! whattaya got to lose?

an exceptional weekend...

Friday - Ghost towns with Lisa D. and the IBP posse. Sunburned.
Romance novels free on the porch. DAIRY QUEEN! I didn't get chiggers.

then

Purple Reign at Diverseworks...
amazing...
all of it...

then - The Beer Cellar - too much whiskey and karaoke.
many of my favorite people were there...
why weren't you?
drank like it was the weekend,
which it was,
but then,
9:13 am Saturday -
the phone -
"Mike, you we're supposed to be on shift at nine o'clock."
shit.
ended up working the 11:30-7:30 shift and getting off late -
missed the big range show - Aileen's new piece, and one from Toni with Music by Misha -
got to go home for a few minutes...
then Jeff's surprise party at the axiom.
Wasn't drinking at all,
then had one,
then two,
then I was drunk...
two must've had more whiskey than I thought.
The Misfires rocked.
We showed BLP's latest - "Actorman! a day in the life of Jeff Miller"
and then the Dreambreakers played...
good night...
left around 1 and spent more time running over my monologues before I went to bed...
Sunday got up and worked the monologues till time for co-ops...
co-ops.
what a rush!
crazy crazy crazy...
get home and do nothing (I'm broke)
take a nap,
wait for TDU practice -
get a call - no bill today,
no ryan either,
jim and joe and charlie show up and we decide to blow it off,
so I head to barnevelder - see the show - whoohoo! Aileen is so freakin' talented!
good stuff...enjoyed the whole show! Toni's piece was great too, and Misha's music had some VERY cool stuff in it...I'll see if I still have a program when I get home, if so I'll post more about the pieces. Then to Atomic Cafe for Wayne's 40th birthday - arrive in time to hear the closing lines of the new BLP sketch "Walt goes to Modeling School" - damn! had some bar-b-q and visited with some folks for a while...ran into some peeps who had been in the audience at co-ops - word is I did good - I was told the second one (the pushkin) was not anything like what people expected or had seen me do before...whoohoo!
anyway, then I went home and to bed...
despite having to work hungover all day saturday it was still over all a pretty exceptional weekend...
hope your's was too..

(I'm still working on the Houston Music post...I'll talk more about Purple Reign in it...)

Sunday, June 12, 2005

co-ops

Well, I just got back from co-ops...
I didn't get time called on me,
and I didn't make any obvious mistakes...
I did however in the middle of the second monologue
discover that I was more nervous than I'd ever been
performing ANYTHING.
By the time I walked out of Stages I was shaking
and my arms were NUMB. NUMB!
It was all very strange.
Over all it was definitely a good experience
and there were a few friendly faces in the auditing chairs,
so that helped...
Vocally I was pretty on,
but the space did throw off some of the physicality
of the pieces... It was such different circumstances,
that I forgot things like where I'd been looking, etc...
Maybe that just made it more "fresh" and "in the moment"?
who knows?
So, just so I didn't completely waste my time,
I'll do either of my monologues for anybody,
anytime, for a dollar...
how's that for a deal?