Something Perfect: "Get Down Tonight" by KC and the Sunshine Band. What's that? No...don't you even go there...

Happy T-Day!

cd

Here's a picture that was sent to me by my old bandmate, Tod Nelson. This is Big Feeling circa 1993. From the left: Barb Jeske (bass), Curt Sterzelbach (drums), Christine Traxler (fiddle) , Jim Finley (vocals, acoustic guitar), Tod Nelson (guitar).

This was sent along with a link to a myspace Big Feeling page that, I believe, Tod set-up. A couple of our demos are featured on the page along with a brief note about the band's history. Find the link to it on my "You Should Know About" list.

Feelin' mighty big,
CD

Something Perfect: William Blake's "The Chimney Sweeper" from Songs of Innocence:

When my mother died I was very young,

And my father sold me while yet my tongue

Could scarcely cry 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!

So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.

There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head,

That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved: so I said,

"Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare,

You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair."

And so he was quiet; and that very night,

As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight,

That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack,

Were all of them locked up in coffins of black.

And by came an angel who had a bright key,

And he opened the coffins and set them all free;

Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they run,

And wash in a river, and shine in the sun.

Then naked and white, all their bags left behind,

They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind;

And the angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,

He'd have God for his father, and never want joy.

And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark,

And got with our bags and our brushes to work.

Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm;

So if all do their duty they need not fear harm.

~

Devastating...

CD

Last month at the Archer Gallery on the campus of Clark College (my employer, for now...) there was a show featuring the work of Ruth Patterson Hart, an Oregon painter/sculptor of yesteryear (1910-2001). Most of her work was created in the first half of the century and she gave up painting as a career (such as it was) shortly after WWII. Anyway, I was enthralled by her work and enjoyed repeated visits to the gallery. Here's a great website put together by her family who organized the exhibition. Read their amazing story: http://www.ruthpattersonhart.org/.

Here are some of her works. I hope nobody minds.

Adios,

CD

Words are failing me...

CD

Who says there ain't no rhyme for oranges?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GqUJURGPhM

This has stuck in my mind for almost 40 years, taking up valuable space where I could have parked, oh I don't know, a Shakespeare sonnet, the first 10 amendments to the constitution, or the presidents' names in chronological order.

CD

Here are some Ian pics for you all. Enjoy.
CD

Here's the "more" from yesterday: Kitlers are adorable, of course, because cats are cute whether they look Hitlerian or not. But I must admit there's something perverse about celebrating the fact that a little kitty bears a resemblance to, perhaps, the greatest human monster ever known. I suppose therein lies the strange attraction of the thing. Nuff said.

As for the Kinkade article. The 16 point memo featured in the article says more about this narcissistic, charlatan "artist of light" than anything else. Words cannot express how revolting I find his works--especially since they are coupled in my mind with his despicable personality and his putrid philosophy. Ugh. And how on earth did they get O'Toole to sign on for that film? He of Lawrence of Arabia, The Ruling Class, Becket, The Lion in Winter, The Stuntman, and so many more. I hope he ain't that hurtin' for dough. But he hasn't always made the best choices, has he? It'd be fun to see Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage in a double feature with Robert Guccione's Caligula. Plenty O'Toole indeed.

Here a fun one on a Miltonathon. Enjoy: http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i13/13a00104.htm

Ciao,

CD

Here's an article that needs readin':

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/culture/2008/11/14/thomas-kincades-16-guidelines-for-making-stuff-suck.html

...and here's a website that needs viewin':http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/cgi-bin/seigmiaow.pl

More later. Or not.

C.D.

Jonny Quest

As a child I was an enormous fan of the television cartoon Jonny Quest. I wanted nothing so much as to join Jonny, Hadji, Dr. Quest, Race Bannon, and of course, the dog Bandit, on one of their fabulous adventures. Their weekly encounters with hostile tribes, mad scientists, monsters, and nefarious villains--always in some exoctic locale and always while testing out some new technology or investigating some scientific discovery--fired my youthful imagination. I even owned an LP featuring a Jonny Quest adventure: Jonny Quest in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Apparently, the 1965 album was intended for live broadcast only and not for retail sale. Nonetheless, I somehow owned it and listened to it endlessly. The plot concerns an attack on Dr. Quest's diving bell by a giant squid. It's a tense, suspenseful tale very much in the tradition of the TV show that spawned it. Recently, I found a site devoted to the record. The site contains all the details of the recording as well as audio clips. If you're a Jonny Quest fan, pay particular attention to the theme music by Hoyt Curtin. It's a jazzier take on the JQ theme, influenced, in my opinion, by James Bond motifs and the (then) new psychedelic sounds emerging in pop music.

Enjoy it all here: http://www.classicjq.com/artifacts/recordings/20000Leagues.shtml

Ciao,

JBF