why a blog?
well, all the kids are doing it...semi-seriously. I have been out of the business of long set pieces for quite a while, but so many people have asked me to write more, and this seems like a fun and informal way to give you a snapshot take of what I am playing, hearing and experiencing out here on the left coast. I like this format in that it is very akin to a jazz solo. You don't massage and edit it, which is something I do very much in my other published writing, so what you get is the very first draft, unexpurgated, unedited (aside from spellcheck), unchanged - so who knows where that will lead.
Two somewhat (well completely) unrelated takes start this one off.
Dick Cheney - man with a gun...too good, too delicious and if I'm the sneermeister's buds, I am running straight for the witness protection program. More ink has been spilled on the psyche of those who kill for sport and pleasure, so I won't add to the mix other than to throw out that, as has been observed, we are warring with ourselves as both chimp and bonobo (also known as the pygmy chimp). Are you hip to our two closest relatives in the primate world? Chimp: warlike, meat-eating, aggressive, monogamous, patriarchal...bonobo, vegetarian, nurturing, matriarchal and polygamous - women love every part of this theory except for the polygamy, which perhaps not so coincidentally is the big selling point for a lot of dudes (by the way, a word that has infected my vocab as I have become Calicentric.) Anyway, what can you say about Cheney that hasn't already been said other than that the motherfucker will probably be forced to walk the plank as a last ditch attempt to cover W's ass. You know, I am one of those who doesn't buy at all that W is some brainless puppet of Cheney and the rest of the PNC. I think he is doing the same shtick his old man did - playing the bumbling inarticulate fool, but I don't think a damn thing happens that he doesn’t want to have happen. Meanwhile, since Libby has said he was told to leak classified docs by his superiors, if you do the math, that would be Darth Cheney and er...W - so yeah, they'll have Cheney take a bullet (maybe get "peppered' in a hunting accident. Not sure what need here is since it is highly dubious they'll be on the up and up in vote-counting this time around. Oh, and in case you are wondering, some of my best friends are Republicans and no, I am not a Democrat. My father used to observe that it isn't true that the only alternative to 5 punches in the gut is 12, but then again, Clinton sure looks a helluva lot better now - or as the billboard says "can someone give that man a blow job so we can impeach him?"
As for topic two, Rachel Z is a good friend for 25 years now, since we were both undergrads at New England Conservatory. She played in my band in NYC with Genus and Tommy Igoe (sometimes Rodney Holmes) in the late 80s, early 90s and is on 2 of my CDs. she was out with her trio to play pearl's in SF and we had a blast playing together when I sat in on their second set. She has a very cool mix of standards and originals, mixing pop/rock reimaginings and originals and mixes a deep harmonic thing with a wonderful and open sensibility -and she sings! I dig it...her husband Bobby Ray is her drummer and is a very kind and soulful cat who also plays great. here's hoping we do some more...today they came over to my neck of the woods (East Bay) we hung, sat at an outdoor cafe, I showed them around and we took a nice walk by Albany Beach. They were blown away at the beauty, the chilled vibe and the stunning weather - I understand. My wife Carla and I came out to SF in january 1991 for a visit, at a time when NYC was gripped and groped in 10 degree freezes. It was 65, sunny and gentle here, and I think that was the clincher for us as far as deciding we would some day come to this area...I am truly grateful that Rachel and I have remained friends for a 1/4 century, and it is always a pleasure to reconnect. They may come to LA at some point this summer so maybe we'll hook up then again. Peace, do what you love to do and do it well - MZ
I leave you with this quote from Walter Moseley...
"America has carried the notion of property and power to such
an intensely negative degree that we have very little room
left for humanity and art in our hearts. We work long hours,
eat bad food, close our eyes to the atrocities committed in
our name and spend almost everything we make on the drugs
that keep us from succumbing to the emptiness of our
spiritual lives. We gobble down antidepressants, sleeping
pills, martinis, sitcoms and pornography in a desperate
attempt to keep balance in this soulless limbo.
In a world where poetry is a contest at best and a
competition at worst, where the importance of a painting is
gauged by the price it can be sold for--we are to be counted
among the lost."
present company excepted - MZ
Two somewhat (well completely) unrelated takes start this one off.
Dick Cheney - man with a gun...too good, too delicious and if I'm the sneermeister's buds, I am running straight for the witness protection program. More ink has been spilled on the psyche of those who kill for sport and pleasure, so I won't add to the mix other than to throw out that, as has been observed, we are warring with ourselves as both chimp and bonobo (also known as the pygmy chimp). Are you hip to our two closest relatives in the primate world? Chimp: warlike, meat-eating, aggressive, monogamous, patriarchal...bonobo, vegetarian, nurturing, matriarchal and polygamous - women love every part of this theory except for the polygamy, which perhaps not so coincidentally is the big selling point for a lot of dudes (by the way, a word that has infected my vocab as I have become Calicentric.) Anyway, what can you say about Cheney that hasn't already been said other than that the motherfucker will probably be forced to walk the plank as a last ditch attempt to cover W's ass. You know, I am one of those who doesn't buy at all that W is some brainless puppet of Cheney and the rest of the PNC. I think he is doing the same shtick his old man did - playing the bumbling inarticulate fool, but I don't think a damn thing happens that he doesn’t want to have happen. Meanwhile, since Libby has said he was told to leak classified docs by his superiors, if you do the math, that would be Darth Cheney and er...W - so yeah, they'll have Cheney take a bullet (maybe get "peppered' in a hunting accident. Not sure what need here is since it is highly dubious they'll be on the up and up in vote-counting this time around. Oh, and in case you are wondering, some of my best friends are Republicans and no, I am not a Democrat. My father used to observe that it isn't true that the only alternative to 5 punches in the gut is 12, but then again, Clinton sure looks a helluva lot better now - or as the billboard says "can someone give that man a blow job so we can impeach him?"
As for topic two, Rachel Z is a good friend for 25 years now, since we were both undergrads at New England Conservatory. She played in my band in NYC with Genus and Tommy Igoe (sometimes Rodney Holmes) in the late 80s, early 90s and is on 2 of my CDs. she was out with her trio to play pearl's in SF and we had a blast playing together when I sat in on their second set. She has a very cool mix of standards and originals, mixing pop/rock reimaginings and originals and mixes a deep harmonic thing with a wonderful and open sensibility -and she sings! I dig it...her husband Bobby Ray is her drummer and is a very kind and soulful cat who also plays great. here's hoping we do some more...today they came over to my neck of the woods (East Bay) we hung, sat at an outdoor cafe, I showed them around and we took a nice walk by Albany Beach. They were blown away at the beauty, the chilled vibe and the stunning weather - I understand. My wife Carla and I came out to SF in january 1991 for a visit, at a time when NYC was gripped and groped in 10 degree freezes. It was 65, sunny and gentle here, and I think that was the clincher for us as far as deciding we would some day come to this area...I am truly grateful that Rachel and I have remained friends for a 1/4 century, and it is always a pleasure to reconnect. They may come to LA at some point this summer so maybe we'll hook up then again. Peace, do what you love to do and do it well - MZ
I leave you with this quote from Walter Moseley...
"America has carried the notion of property and power to such
an intensely negative degree that we have very little room
left for humanity and art in our hearts. We work long hours,
eat bad food, close our eyes to the atrocities committed in
our name and spend almost everything we make on the drugs
that keep us from succumbing to the emptiness of our
spiritual lives. We gobble down antidepressants, sleeping
pills, martinis, sitcoms and pornography in a desperate
attempt to keep balance in this soulless limbo.
In a world where poetry is a contest at best and a
competition at worst, where the importance of a painting is
gauged by the price it can be sold for--we are to be counted
among the lost."
present company excepted - MZ
posted by Michael Zilber at 10:42 PM
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