Woofy Words

The art show theme

2011-12-14T18:31:00.000-05:00

The art show theme

2011-12-05T20:01:00.001-05:00

THE YOUNG WIDOWER

The young widower arises

From the nearly flat

Oceanic expanse of blue and white sheets

And wishes for roiling, as they had been before.

The young widower arises

Cold feet to cold kitchen

And takes down a cup, one of many

Matched by color, in one of two names.

The young widower arises

To claim the daily paper

Marking another passage of the moon through night

And the haughty arrival of another day.

The young widower peruses

The deaths and the courts

And also births and weddings, faint smile

At the easy procession of unquestioned routine.

The young widower reflects

On their meeting in college

In knowledge that, had they known the brevity,

They still would have artfully managed to live.

The young widower recalls

The seeking of blessing

From God and humanity, constructed in stone,

A simple marker in a weeded field.

The young widower sighs

At the mad whirl of faces,

Dancing in a space paid for dearly

And held dearly in memory ‘gainst the cold grip of earth.

The young widower glances

At the gleaming container

Hard fought for the right to have, burn and cherish

So many broken bones now brought to ash.

The young widower turns

To go forth in the world

that anonymously killed one thought anonymously loved…

But he proclaims their names in love.

December 5, 2011

new poem

2011-09-12T21:57:00.000-04:00

IN A BETTER WORLD

Kurt Cobain married Calvin Johnson

And raised baby kittens on a cartoon spaceship,

While Courtney Love stayed with Falling James…

And if they ever fought, it was over him stretching her dresses.

And Amy Winehouse lived to a saucy old age,

Singing ‘Cupid’ down at her local pub

And the worse thing she ever put in her veins

Was the slimy grease from pork ‘n’ beans. Oy vey!

And Dusty Springfield looked in the mirror

That hung inside her walk-in-closet door

And saw Mary O’Brien as she truly was…

The beautiful girl who could be Dusty as well, and lived.

If Jeff Buckley ever swam, he disrobed, lovely boy.

He could wait to meet the father that he never knew…

And while he never made another ‘Grace’,

His muse took him elsewhere, lovers met but no journey’s end.

Scott Wannberg became the cranky old man

That Kerouac did not, and Burroughs should not have

And hung with Henry, Exene…and Viggo. Why not?

And spun surreal poems on looms of paper and pen.

Sylvia Plath used her oven to cook

As an independent woman with seventeen cats,

For she told her fascist Daddy that they were through

And he became an Iron Giant, a male artist all on his own.

Akhmatova saved her son from Stalin

And became the poet of slumber and summer.

Some would argue they were lesser verse,

But they can have winter and open red eyes and mass graves.

Virginia Woolf put practice to theory

And left Leonard for Vita in 1928

And summered in Paris with Gertrude and Alice

And if she ever swam, had no rocks clutched close to her heart.

Matthew Shepard left Wyoming in haste,

Or perhaps he stayed and married a Phelps.

Life is crammed and packed with twists,

And if God has the answer, the vector brings more than one.

Tipton and Teena share a trailer together,

Grandparent and grandchild in a quiet life.

I have seen their ID, and whatever it says,

Your ID is yours, to share or to clutch to bound chest.

Carlos may have regretted her candour,

Thinking curious playboys wanted to know…

But what they wanted was to feel

They could check off a box – and check one out as well.

I am not a puzzle for you to solve.

I am no riddle to parse in the dark.

I am no joke for you to wheeze, laughing.

I’m a story in progress, and the ending is mine, so just wait.

September 7, 2011

Don (l) and Chris (r) at Wolfe Island Grill

2011-07-24T08:41:00.003-04:00

Don (l) and Chris (r) at Wolfe Island Grill, a photo by The Enchanter Tim on Flickr.

Dog of pure evil cuddliness

2011-07-24T08:41:00.001-04:00

Dog of pure evil cuddliness, a photo by The Enchanter Tim on Flickr.

BEAR LIKE ME by Jonathan Cohen (in review)

2011-06-20T21:26:00.000-04:00

BEAR LIKE ME, by Jonathan Cohen (Bear Bones Books/Lethe Press, 2011)

I confess to having read this book back in 2003 when it was published by a now sadly defunct company. I think I prefer this cover a bit to the original, though I'd rather see the model recoiling in horror from the razor. ;)

In that now-distant era, I was fairly new at Bear identity. However, I've never held identity as this precious thing beyond humour or critique, especially since my general experience with the queer community has required that I both be able to laugh to keep from crying or retching and to realize that some people think that their product resulting from what bears do in the woods does not stink. Therefore, I loved this book then, if only because it is true that you are a bear if you say you are...until ten other bears rip you to shreds.

This fun romp through the main character's adventures when he sets out to go undercover as a Bear in order to write a piece about that subculture, with the resulting changes in his life, is romantic, hilarious, sardonic and shockingly true-to-life. Though I must confess that early on I thought perhaps things like beauty contests and A-lists would be something foreign to a community made up primarily of exiles, I should have realized that, no matter what some Bears actually say, we ARE gay men, and there does seem to be some cultural tendency towards bitchiness (or butchiness, if you will). And the passage of eight years has allowed me to stop cringing at the notion of a Bear named Ben, fortunately. :).

Like the best books that would seem to have an audience in mind, this book could appeal to a wider range of people interested in humorous but pointed satire, which I tested by leaving the book out in a pile of leaves in the middle of the woods. Soon, several women and straight men ventured along, flipped through it, and guffawed, so I know it could have a broader appeal (no girth humour intended).

NOISE QUEEN, 1997 piece

2011-05-22T11:03:00.000-04:00

Hanson Vs Velvet Underground - MMMbop/Sister Ray Medley to the Death

By Tim Murphy

There are eerie parallels between these two groups that cannot be discounted easily, much as you might desperately try to. In the name of revealing truth, and as proof that my job is both boring and brain-damaging, I present you with the inevitable skewed comparisons I thought of while there...

(1) Each has been captured on film by a gay director.

(2) They are on PolyGram Records, as are the Velvets.

(3) Hanson has a blonde, long-haired singer with an odd voice, much like Nico of the Velvets.

(4) Hanson are a bunch of kids singing simple, catchy harmonies; Lou Reed started in a doo-wop group as a teenager.

(5) Hanson has immeasurable talent, as do the Velvets (there may be sarcasm in effect on one side of this equation).

(6) Both have had string arrangements on their songs.

(7) Each has a long, depressing song about isolation with deathly overtones on its debut album.

(8) Each mentions a deity in its lyrics.

(9) Aspersions have been cast on the instrumental skills of both bands.

(10) Hanson are cute, as was Lou Reed in his heyday (subjective, I know).

(11) Image and voice wise, members of both bands have been gender-misidentified.

Record Store Day Haul

2011-05-02T13:14:00.001-04:00

Record Store Day Haul, a photo by The Enchanter Tim on Flickr.

Top Row, Left to Right; Fucked Up, DAVID'S TOWN, lp; Green Day/Husker Du, DON'T WANT TO KNOW IF YOU ARE LONELY 7"; Velvet Underground, FOGGY NOTION/I CAN'T STAND IT 7"; Roxy Music, VIRGINIA PLAIN/PYJAMARAMA 7" (top)

Bottom Row, Left to Right; Mighty Clouds, S/T lp; City and Colour, SOMETIMES 2xlp

Another Rant From Ponyboys

2011-02-01T17:30:00.001-05:00

AM I EVER GONNA HEAR THOSE WEDDING KNELLS? or MR. MURPHY, YOUR MARRIAGE HEARSE IS HERE...

I've ranted on this subject at tedious length in the past. However, I was foaming at the mouth from theory then. Now that it would appear it might become a reality, the concept has to be addressed in all its white-gowned and black-tuxed terror, head-on. :-)

I will begin with a shocking confession. I DID write to my bachelored member of Parliament (let's call him Peter Milliken) asking him to support the gay marriage bill. I had been entreated to at every turn, and I gave it a good deal of mulling. After all, my old political tendency (International Socialists) was arguing for a principled position in favour of legal recognition despite the cases made by both Alexandra Kollontai and Emma Goldman about the problematic nature of matrimony under capitalism, and I would not want to disappoint my erstwhile comrades (well, not some of them, anyway :) ).

In any case, I had to look at who I was aligning myself with by silence as the discourse and legislation increased in volume and fervour. Having witnessed the unfortunate results of conservative feminists and sex-phobic preachers supporting the Butler decision on porn, I realized that, once things had reached the stage of proposed sweeping changes, I could no longer say 'not my kind of thing or issue', because it was likely to harm people I cared about if this legislation was not brought to consideration.

However, this is not to say I have no reservations, and I still think there are unfortunate qualifiers that will undercut it (I will try to stick to legal/cultural factors as they currently exist, at least for a while, as opposed to my usual free-wheeling anti-social stance...).

Let us start with road blocks that would affect me if I managed to get my Arne (or, Marx forbid, some other quiet eccentric I might want to make an honest fella out of) into a tux (or a large, long white dress) and down the aisle. Let us suppose we swore out the license, perhaps because we did the bear test and the ursine died, inclining us to marry to give the future Antichrist a stable home environment, and went through with it.

Texas, where Arne lives (and where I would likely relocate), does not recognize same-sex marriages (I wonder about the legality of that, as it recognizes hetero marriages that are carried out elsewhere, but it has met with the approval of the Supreme Jackass Court...apropos of nothing, it was under the Clinton administration that the Defence of Marriage Act was passed to permit states to make this determination...so don't start with the Bush bashing (it's strange to hear me say that - but let us be fair...)). Those of you who follow the news (I know, that requires both tacitly supporting corporate agendas, either in print or broadcast, and having nerves of steel and a brain of razor sharpness to withstand and filter...) may remember a couple being told it could not file a joint customs form after being married in Canada and trying to enter the States, as the US did not acknowledge same sex matrimony (just once, I wish an official could say 'THE GOVERNMENT or A MONEYED, RIGHT-WING VOCAL MINORITY does not recognize...' instead of saying 'The USA', as there is evidence that average citizens don't have that problem, at least not the majority...but the illusion of participatory democracy requires that sophistry (I refrain in the name of brevity from discussing rigged elections in the recent past) ).

I sometimes think every male-female couple should have to prove its marriage by document and deed, as I believe that, if would-be immigrants who marry and are viewed as doing so to get into the country are obliged to leap through hoops and answer invasive questions, then no less paperwork and demonstrated bond should be required of man and wife. Now, imagine the trafficking in plastic wedding rings, MSATs (Marital Sex Aptitude Tests) and forged matrimonial records THAT might produce.

If you had forgotten to bring your marriage certificate (because, under mauve alert, you would have to PROVE you are contributing to the stability of Western culture by engaging in holy matrimony), would sexual acts, passive aggressive carping or the trotting out of ways you have changed your spouse since your union prove you are not brother and sister? Oh, but surely even miserable sinners could fake THAT!

However, though the notion of making heteros uncomfortable and oppressed appeals to the twisted faggot in me, I realize it's neither likely nor desirable. We need to make the law, um, serve justice and equality (yes, I know, idealist to the queercore...).

And now to savage marriage beyond recognition... After all, as a sodomite, I should be committing indignities to SOMETHING - it's only foul, er, fair.

Now, forgive me (as if the sort of person likely to be offended by this WOULD), but, if marriage is so 'natural', why does it need defense? If marriage is so desirable, why do fully half of all marriages conclude with both parties screaming to GET OUT OF IT!? I've yet to get a satisying answer to THAT one. If we inverts, constituting somewhere between 0.1% and 10% of the population, have the power to topple the tree of Holy Union, there must be a lot of swishy termites, I feel obliged to speculate - and a lot of homemade axes wielded by renegade hetero land developers who aren't willing to wait for permits. ;o)

Opponents of same sex marriage often cite that both the Church and human society have always condoned only opposite sex marriage. First of all, marriage as we know it is a fairly recent phenomenon in the human condition - it is hardly a given, either in terms of the official combination itself or in the attitudes currently attributed to its construction.

For those who pimp love and devotion, but then marry carefully for maximum tax benefit, it is important to point out that marriage emerged as a means of making sure that your property and money carried on down the line. Chivalric tradition contended that, though Love might exist, it was never within a marriage. The lack of desire to strangle your spouse was probably strove for, but sentiment and lust were likely not weighted greatly.

Once such concepts as mercantilism and 'the family name' evolved, there was a clear advantage to tying the producer of heirs to you, in order to carry on the grand traditions.

There is some evidence marriage was not common among peasants and serfs, though there are not many primary documents surviving from the era, and virtually NONE from below the ruling or clergy class. What property did they own - so what purpose in establishing a patrilineal descent? (Consider THIS in light of the fact that most homosexual unions will not be producing children, and file it away for reference on adoption...).

And now to get back to same sex marriage never happening historically. The late John Boswell, in such books as Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality discovered evidence that the early Christian Church may have performed such unions. There are documents surviving of actual liturgy that reveal a union ceremony existing, in which both parties were men, from the 10th and 11th centuries. In fact, in remote regions of the Ukraine, there is documentation suggesting it survivied until the early 19th century, at least once with two women. Now, what is MORE contentious is whether these were marriages or blessing/recognition of a partnership that could not be ignored, but the fact remains SOMETHING happened in churches along these lines (and the proof is in the Vatican!). In light of the fact that the early Church used to have pagan temples in the back to lure people in, this is hardly surprising - the Church Eternal and Unchanging indeed!

Now, one couple on a local e-mail forum to which I subscribe has gone on about how it is going to adopt children now as part of its marriage.

There is one problem with that, though I confess I do not know whether the legislation to be introduced in Canada will incorporate this (nor, I think, does anyone yet). Those European jurisdictions which have legalized same-sex marriage and unions have, to the best of my knowledge, specifically forbade couple adoption of children as part of this process - I certainly know Denmark has, based on information from my permanent fiance. :)

Of course, one could adopt children as a single person today, and there ARE incidents of couples being permitted to adopt, though often as a sort of 'last possible option, and only if all the child molesters and serial killers are busy' case - BUT there is no legal protection, which puts one on shaky grounds. Of course, given the conveniently forgotten nature of law at key moments (no matter how much reformists will tell me that I am being paranoid, there are such things as nothwithstanding clauses, emergency powers and so on WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK, and there are numerous historical examples of the State ignoring the rule of law with impunity - for one, look into whether Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney recalled Parliament to have it vote on declaration of war during the Gulf Oil Grab in 1991...to make it brief, no, he did not, and it is REQUIRED under the law...believe me, I checked - even under the War Measures Act, which was not invoked, there has to be a token appearance, in which it really could not say 'no'...), such protection would not necessarily be worth the paper on which it would be written in metaphorical pencil, but it is simply not there. One would be better off, from a legal point of view, with one partner adopting and the other being 'uncle' or 'aunt' in the law's eyes...though some idiot will then talk about an immoral environment of loose living and a lack of permanent bond, classic Catch-22 logic at its 'best' (you see, this is where I'd almost argue for marriage out of sheer perversity - 'YOU WANT US TO BE JUST LIKE YOU? WELL, LOOK INTO THE MIRROR, BABY!! UGLY, AIN'T IT? OH, NOW YOU WANT US TO LIVE IN SIN AGAIN!? TOO LATE!').

At this point, I'd like to take off my powdered wig and black robes, and slip into something cuter and more comfortable (perhaps a leather tuxedo or a nice rubber wedding gown), as the little outburst above may be a hint to you I'm about to get personal, subjective and critical.

Let us be honest here. Like everyone else (to the best of my knowledge), I grew up on Earth. In my particular case, I am in North America, surrounded by the marital industry and the messages its official spokespersons (churches, schools, stores, etc.) send out insidiously through every channel available. Therefore, I certainly heard the same propaganda you did.

However, I also had the (dis)advantage of somehow developing a critical mind (this is not to suggest everyone else does not - but mine does not appear to have an off switch).

Therefore, in light of MY experience of marriage, it seemed to be a thing which actually cheapened the value of relationships, as the connection seemed to break down in most instances where I saw the ceremony happen, and with depressing speed (of course I know exceptions, including, to date, the only gay marriage I know of among my peers, which took place on August 18, 1990 - sometimes I wonder if the LACK of legal recognition has lead to that ironic longevity, but it is hardly a question one can ask or expect an answer for from within the framework of the partnership...). Furthermore, based on those of my peers who had parents who stayed together 'for the children', a rapid divorce might have been easier on their psyches. And do not even get me started on my childhood friend whose father managed to get the Pope to annul marriage after marriage after marriage - why does that tiresome old walking corpse feel so opposed to ONE queer union when he seems to hand out forgiveness for haste or attempts to give lust the patina of respectability like so much toilet paper used in rectory bathroom tricking and child molestation?

On the other hand, I had peers whose parents were not married at the time of their conception and/or birth, or who never got married and lived together, and they seemed much happier. I do not suppose it is a scientific survey, either in terms of objectivity or numbers, but it was simply an observation. The family is not necessarily the best environment to grow up in, as it is designed to reproduce social values which may not actually be worth saving, especially for those of us whose choices and/or natures mean we are devalued artificially the moment we are 'kidnapped and sold into slavery' (to use Andy Warhol's depressing yet insightful metaphor for birth and youth).

The irony (or shall we call it dialectic) of education in North America is that it is full of rhetoric about individuality and being your own person. Of course, you are supposed to find your own way to be like everyone else, or, to use a metaphor from Madeleine L'Engle's A WRINKLE IN TIME, you are given a sonnet and then told you can write whatever you wish as long as you hold to its structure. Of course, the flaw in that conceit is that sonnets are supposed to be on certain subjects, just like haikus. What if they do not inspire you?

Of course, some supporters of gay marriage say that they are not going to have a 'traditional marriage'. On a literal level, that would be true, since most straight unions do not consist of two men or two women. However, despite the glitz and spectacle of most heterosexual wedding ceremonies (I do not have enough information on queer counterparts, having attended exactly one celebration, which was held at a pleasant, but hardly gaudy and cathedral-like, reception hall...), there IS more than the surface to be contended with. First of all, let us begin with the usual motivations people state for the desire to have a same-sex marriage.

(1) They want public acknowledgement of their relationship. Fair enough. The closet can kill - though some open lifestyles seem deadly to me as well, especially those involving matching outfits, poodles and being joined at the hip until death do you part (oxygen, PLEASE!). However, would marriage be required for this? I mean, I had a friend some years ago who wondered if his mother knew about him and his boyfriend being a couple, rather than just buddies - without a hint of irony, he mused about what it meant that said parent pushed the two single beds in his room together when the fellow came to visit. I think people would know. As someone in that classic film Boys In The Band said: 'If two men over the age of 35 live together, they are not roommates.'

(2) They want the taxation benefits. Okay, now we're getting closer to the heart of our lovely consumerist culture. I confess I do not know the advantages accrued by official couple status (as I have no intention of ever being 'legal', and could not BE so under the laws of the jurisdiction in which I am seemingly destined to reside one day...). I also know that the law as it is currently written does not allow for a same sex common law couple to file joint tax returns as a couple ( though I suspect that will be changed in light of court rulings), so perhaps my proposal that people just live in sin is impractical in this case. However, I can think of a significant drawback to couple status, and it was the one which caused me to sever my tenuous ties with organizations such as CLGRO (Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Ontario), due to its support for the scenario I will set out (I believe the group said it was 'only fair'...oh, my, a phrase I did not buy as an excuse when I was a CHILD! The moment anyone says something is 'only fair', ask 'FOR WHOM!?').

Let us suppose that you have a couple in which one party is HIV positive and on disability, and the other party is working. Under current law, the first party could remain on disability and use that to, for example, purchase necessary medications (some drugs used to combat AIDS are not covered by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP)), while the second party could use income to survive and cover expenses. If official status were granted to the relationship, that would cease, as, should the second party make enough for both to cling to life under current government compassion, this would result in the disability or welfare payments being stopped, as the second party would make more than that pittance and could support both of them, in the evil eyes of the State.

Thus, the marriage hearse of which William Blake spoke would be parked outside the church on that lovely day...

(3) It's what people do who are in love. Well, not necessarily. Even once we discount the historical roots of marriage, acknowledging that it could be done without an interest in property or power (directly - indirectly, it's very MUCH about these things...), there are a lot of other reasons. Sometimes people marry because one party is pregnant. That is not going to be a factor in same sex marriage. It could happen because of morality issues. Far be it from me to dis others' choices, but merely conforming to a set of societal standards does not seem to be a very good motivation. When people say things like 'society and/or 'they' expect(s) you to do it', several questions come to my mind. Are we not part of society? Do we not get a say in how it is shaped? Who is this insidious 'they'? Is it the same 'they' that wants homeless people to be arrested and wants them to stay out of businesses' restrooms while making public urination illegal in several jurisdictions and attempts to make giving alms against the law as well, while cutting any support the state offers to a trickle (and, in some American states, putting a lifetime limit on all forms of assistance, including permanent disability)? Is this a 'they' one WANTS to heed intently?

I have peers who say they want to reshape marriage and counter its more sexist/classist elements. It is not as though NO progress has been made in this regard - there was a recent time in which a wife could not have a credit card without her husband's permission.

However, my mother STILL writes cards to 'Mr. and Mrs. John Smith' - I've seen one or two letters addressed to Mrs. John Smith, which, given that the person in question is not trans-identified, freaks me out. I believe women became human beings in 1919, and a name of one's own would be nice.

In light of this, how much of an independent identity CAN be forged within marriage, given its societal context (though I confess it would be amusing to see how my mother would contend with either Mr. and Mr. Tim Murphy or Mr. and Mr. Arne Ledet :) )?

There have been examples of marriage between queer individuals (Vita Sackville-West and her husband, and possibly Mr. and Mrs. Virginia Woolf), in a straight context, and there is evidence that such things survived, but at what cost (in the case of Virginia, the tally can be rung up, judging from the movie/book The Hours and biography)? Would a queer marriage be immune from societal expectation, given the conflation between gender and sexual orientation which tiresomely drags on? Would attempting to adapt it result in adoption instead of a demon-childish institution that might not be to one's advantage?

Would Vita and Virginia have had any better luck at it? Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas seemed to do well, but, by most accounts, they were very strong-willed individuals. It is also important to note that they did NOT get married. My stance against matrimony might be confirmed by the survival of such a relationship. Once the State gives its blessing, it is also free to give its curse, and to impose other strictures upon one. Is it not oppressive ENOUGH!?

Now, in light of my usual tiresome 'What are you rebelling against? WHAT YOU GOT?' rant, I suppose the logical question would be: 'Why did you ask your local Member of Parliament to support gay marriage, then?'

Well, much as Virginia Woolf in her brilliant polemic Three Guineas ultimately opted to send money to a gentleman trying to organize resistance against war, despite her reservations about trying to do so within the existing social structure and systems, I suppose I try and err on the side of optimism. It would be very nice to think that legalizing same-sex marriage might have a lightning bolt effect on the rotted tree of culture. I hardly aspire to creating wild social anarchy in which all would be destroyed, but some fairly radical arboreal surgery is desperately needed. It is also a comforting, if historically unlikely, notion that such a move might result in more freedom and 'rights' for gay folk (it might ease the lives of many a middle-class interior decorator and car mechanic, but I am not certain how much it would benefit the teenaged boy constantly beaten up in class while his teachers tell him that, if he didn't act that way, he wouldn't get treated so badly...or the young girl who is shown the myriad benefits of heterosexual discourse by rape...).

And, as a vestige of my days as a rabid Marxist (I have had the shots, though, fortunately, there have been some lingering side-effects), I should bring up the concept of 'critical but unconditional support'. In other words, I lend my efforts and voice to causes that I think might have a transformative or reformative effect on capitalist society, even if I question some of the ideologies and motivations of those movements, and also think it might be too little, if not too late. Oppressed nations should have the right to self-determination, even if there are some serious issues with the determinations made, which one would vigorously debate the substance of; however, the basic concept strikes one as a good idea that engenders solidarity and mass movements, ideally. Similarly, it is clearly an issue of some resonance with a goodly number of queer folk, and it has resulted in a mass movement of sorts, if only one based on seeking recognition from a leery State. Incidents such as the border crossing debacle only demonstrate the desperation and, frankly, childishness of a government structure that is out of touch with public opinion (not that 'public opinion' should be the only parameter - life really should not be a popularity contest, and the notion that 'majority rules' was made abundantly hollow by the 2000 election and far more examples than I have time to go into here (can anyone say 'Goods and Services Tax' or 'Poll Tax'?)). As battle lines form around this issue, it is possible that the clash between the marriage lobby and the 'get to the back of the bus, cocksucker' front may result in a more radical alternative between the two.

And, on a less didactic note, it should be added that I am, and always have been, a romantic. It actually breaks my heart to see friends split up or (and I know this seems to fly in the face of my earlier rhetoric) marriages fail (I mean, if you are GOING to do such a thing, and it is supposed to have a lasting effect, it IS sad when it falls apart - there are people involved, not just an institution that gives me pause - and I generally like people...).

As I have said in the past in relation to the obvious inquiries that are bound to come up when you've been linked to the same person for nigh on six years, I would be quite happy to live with my boy for the rest of my life. I would not even be opposed to certain life-easing legislation (readers, please! I am likely to live in Texas, for Marx's sake!!). However, I just do not have a good feeling about marriage - I did not as a child, long before I had any notion that the whole heterosexual package was not for my consumption (now THAT just sounds wrong...and I might add that, when I was about six, I remember looking at a family picture and suddenly having the revelation there wasn't going to be one like that for me in the future...it was a suprisingly cool, rational moment, that still startles me to recall it even now...). Maybe it has to do with seeing a few marriages end in great rancour (though, oddly, there have only been TWO divorces in my immediate family...despite the endless ranting about how children of the 70s grew up with divorce, homosexuality and disco all around them, I pretty much saw relationships stumbling along together, oppressive breederfests and Johnny Cash/Olivia Newton John/Anne Murray...) - or perhaps it is because I am not certain I want the respect of a culture that used to make endless fun of me for reading, crying and asking questions of its inviolable tenets (yes, it's personal, baby, and, yes, I carry grudges until their handles break or they start to cut into my fingers - and sometimes I don't let go even then...).

I am not, in the final analysis, totally certain of why marriage bothers me, but I do know that sitting side by side with my sweetheart in the evening, or snuggled in his arms, or walking down the street thinking 'This is my boy, and you can't have him, and he loves ME - yes, ME!' makes me feel very happy indeed (I believe we were discussing childishness).

However, I do know that some people do want that sense of societal approval, and who am I to say they cannot have it? By remaining silently non-committal (in a legislature-related sense - anyone who has spoken to me on this subject knows I am, and possibly should BE, committed...) as long as I have, I was certainly putting a tacit identity to myself, and it bore an uncanny resemblance to the likes of Pat Robertson and George W. Bush. Therefore, I am putting in my three guineas 'for' marriage, and I hope to see a return on my investment, if not necessarily a direct payment out from the State when that input 'matures'.

However, I leave you with these words of wisdom to contemplate:

"Consummation makes a grumble, and the sound that I have found - BAN MARRIAGE!" HIDDEN CAMERAS, 2003 (by Joel Gibb, from the LP/CD 'Smell of My Own', on Evil Evil/Rough Trade Records)

A little rant from PONYBOYS, my zine of days gone by :)

2011-02-01T17:07:00.000-05:00

PLEASE GET HELP

It grieves our hearts to have to say this, but we feel we no longer have a choice. We have tried to be kind. We hoped you would learn the error of your ways, particularly as they have been pointed out to you from all camps for quite some time now. To some extent, we tried to ignore you, and, fortunately, the development of modern technology has allowed us that option to an increasing extent. However, a problem does not go away by itself, and you have been resorting to your bad habits again, and thinking you can hide or deny it by doing it to a different set of victims (Bleeding Rose Bookstore in Victoria, British Columbia instead of Little Sisters in Vancouver or Glad Day Bookstore in Toronto; to Charlotte Cooper, a relative unknown, instead of Dennis Cooper or Pat Califia). Clearly, your illness and pathology have metastasized and deepened respectively, and an intervention is the only path left to us.

You seem to have a difficult time distinguishing between what’s MINE and what’s YOURS, which, frankly, most people decipher by about kindergarten.

Here is some elementary capitalism, which even someone like me, who would dance in cha-cha heels on Conrad Black’s grave (preferably while he’s buried alive so he can enjoy it), can grasp. If I order something from someone, and I send them money, and you steal it, YOU HAVE TO PAY ME BACK – at the very least, you should let me know you’re the schoolyard bully who’s taking my lunch, and give me a chance to fight you to reclaim it! And, furthermore, if you say you didn’t steal it but are, instead, ‘protecting’ me from my own choices, I should point out, as Virginia Woolf did more or less in her classic work Three Guineas, that you are extending a patronizing and oppressive system of censorship and state control to me and calling it love, when, really, it’s more the kind of ‘love’ that little boys who don’t know about the boundaries of people’s bodies and dignity claim they are administering in back alleys, cars and bars with Rohypnol rickeys.

Though this is exactly the sort of image you would seize if it appeared in a magazine, no doubt, do NOT piss on my back and tell me it’s rain…

And this is the point where your sickness will truly manifest itself, and you will attempt to justify your actions by bringing up someone like Robin Sharpe, whose work I’m to find repugnant due to its sadistic and pedophilic tendencies (as it happens, I DO find him somewhat disturbing) – this is the sort of thing you’re protecting me from. Well, thank you, and what a representative example! Anyway, the courts have ruled that the mere writing of or drawing of such things is not criminal, no matter how tasteless it may seem – and, if you disagree with the courts (and god knows you do, because you have DISOBEYED their rulings so many times – are you not a government agency? Do you NOT have to follow the rules set out by those who oversee you? Of course, they often do not either, but that is beside the point…), militate for appeals and clarification, if you must (god knows you NEED clarity – gentlemen, you once banned lesbian erotica with no dildos, tongues or fingers in use upon the relevant region, on the grounds of ‘anal penetration’. Perhaps some elementary anatomy lessons should be administered?).

Besides, boyfriends (and you ARE boys, dears, because isn’t it funny how a fair amount of degrading imagery about women, or even, oh, women being fucked up the ass isn’t, as it were, diddled with by you AT ALL, but let one male asshole be violated, and civilization’s collapse is imminent…), you are NOT protecting anyone by keeping a picture out. Pictures represent the culture or, more accurately, its hypocrisies and secret desires, and, for better or worse, there are going to be JonBenet Ramsays whether you remove every bit of pornography in the world or not.

Until you are willing to admit that you are scared little boys who cannot deal with your own repressed homoerotic desires, or, in a best-case scenario, your conflicts with depictions of sexual realities that are clearly shared by a fair number of people who wish to consume those images (you aren’t trying to stand in the way of the Free Market, are you? I rebuke you in the name of Adam Smith…), we must insist you refrain from looking at any art coming into the country – if someone objects to something, and must have legal recourse, let that person bring charges. You are clearly so deeply embedded in your psychoses and delusions that you cannot be relied upon to make rational decisions about what people WHO PAY YOUR SALARIES and (some of) whom HAVE BRAINS UNCLOUDED BY UGLY ANTI-SEX ATTITUDES OR DENIAL LOOPS should be allowed to see (hint: I can’t remember ever consulting my PARENTS over what I ‘should’ read, so why would I turn that task over to a bunch of faceless bureaucrats?), so we beg of you…

PLEASE GET HELP!

From Noise Queen, Winter 1997 :)

2010-12-23T18:53:00.002-05:00

Christmas: Consumer Orgy or Commie Love-In?

By Tim Murphy

Ah, Christmas - that most quintessentially Christian of holidays - what with the tree idea (stolen from Norse myth) - the fallen divine figure concept (ditto, at the very least); the mistletoe (the substance that killed Baldur in Norse myth, so what's up with THAT!?); and, of course, St. Nicholas (very possibly based on a man in Turkey who would creep down rich people's chimneys to steal for the poor).

As a Commie, I do believe in the concept of 'from each according to his ability to each according to his need' (though, my fellow members of the working class, I assure you that my need for white socks has been met for the conceivable future...).

However, I must confess it used to bug me when my parents would complain that Christmas left them in deep debt - both because, by implication, my sister and I were responsible and because they either chose to do it or were well-conditioned by consumerism.

However, Christmas can be subjected to a Marxist analysis (aren't you glad?). In addition to the 'ability-need' model, consider the following factors:

(a) One of the many St. Nicholases robbed from the rich and gave to the poor - thus modeling Robin Hood AND an ideal working class uprising.

(b) While Santa is said to preside over the ultimate family holiday, it is significant to note that Santas is the ultimate bear (fat, bearded and benign) and his assistants quintessential cubs. Mrs. Claus is a fairly recent addition to the myth, obviously inspired by heterosexist panic at the notion of NOT having the old guy safely married - I suspect she's either a beard (no pun intended) or a trannie. Thus, there is a queer overlay to the whole story that challenges the capitalist model of reproduction for future generations of workers...

(c) Santa wears RED and is said to give presents to all girls and boys (it's true that upper-class kids tend to get more, but that is due to attempts by the ruling class to undermine Santa's collectivist leanings - socialism cannot survive in one Pole).

Anyway - on the title question - oh, who knows? Just hope the season is tolerable to you.

Hugs and smooches of an indefinably but undeniably queer nature,

Santa Tim

Polar Cub/Bear Extraordinaire

Listen, The Leaves Are Falling Everywhere...

2010-10-26T14:55:00.000-04:00

Listen, the leaves are falling over town

Listen, the leaves are falling everywhere

Between Princess Towers Building

and Between The Springer Square

Listen, the leaves are falling over town

Listen, the leaves are falling everywhere

Between your bed and mine

Between your head and my mind

Listen, the leaves are falling everywhere

Between Yarker and Belleville

Between Picton and Brockville

Between your God and mine

Listen, the leaves are falling everywhere

Leaves dream

Leavesfall

Leaves, fly

Listen

(with profuse apologies to the Queen of Noise, Madam Yoko Ono)

Chuck E Cheese

2010-07-08T10:00:00.001-04:00

Chuck E Cheese
Originally uploaded by The Enchanter Tim

Just because I'm feeling random today. :)

an apple a day - rewrite/expansion

2010-06-29T15:10:00.000-04:00

AN APPLE, A DAY

“This is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends…”

It is peculiar, the bits of doggerel and songs that drift through your mind before you wake up in the morning or, for that matter, AFTER you wake up. It is also not particularly reassuring or even appropriate, given that the sun is trickling in through the tiny gap in your billed-as-blackout curtains and, when you open them, pouring in like a flood, revealing a glorious day.

What is also peculiar is the presence of an apple sitting on your bedside table, as you did not leave one there last night, and you live alone. Then again, you are getting older, and that certainty may not be etched in the proverbial stone.

The apple is a symbol of so many wonderful things. Good health, as it keeps the doctor away, though it might be argued that that state’s continuation may be contingent on having a doctor SOMEWHERE nearby. Adoration, as in ‘the apple of your eye’ (an expression which is odd to you, given that it suggests there is a green, yellow or red covering over that organ, a somewhat squishy interior (which is accurate, granted) and some unpleasant seeds within).

It also has more unsavoury associations. There is the Garden of Eden story (and while we may be getting ahead of ourselves here, levels of reality in which apples do not exist (or indeed, ANY kind of fruit) do not feature an endless rent-free stay in Paradise – God is far too inventive a sadistic father for THAT…). William Tell springs to mind also, which in turn inspires the concept of that murderous game the OTHER William played with Joan Vollmer, though that featured a water tumbler (water also is a mixed symbol, but there is not going to be enough time to address that or any other heavy-handed allusions) and also dragged in the poppy (see previous parenthesized remark). And, of course, Snow White, which is a sufficiently disturbing story to contemplate WITHOUT bringing in the poisonous fruit, given her co-habitation with a flock of diminutive bachelors. On which point, that sheen on the modern agricultural-industry-promoted apple betrays chemicals that could accumulate in your body and kill you.

But, as you reassure yourself while going through your morning ablutions, this is far too nice a day to dwell on such morbid and troubling contemplations, even if it does feature roughly eight hours of soul-destroying data entry ahead of you.

While you debate between five identical shirts, twelve black pants and six pairs of wingtips (black), the mysterious observer of your banal rituals has time to look away and consider a few things.

As was observed by HG Wells, man is not alone in the universe. However, that only goes so far – in fact, the UNIVERSE is not alone in the universe. There are, in fact, multiplicities of universes, some of which feature realities that even the most inventive or substance-abusing writer could not envision.

For example, peel away just a few layers of the cosmic onion and a world is discovered in which you did not wake up this morning. No, not in that sense, though there are more than a few billion of THOSE as well. Reassure yourself that it simply means the local equivalent of an alarm clock did not go off, and you continued on dreaming your empty life away. In many ways, that is more fortunate, though not for that version of you’s employment. As to those other billions, we will leave it to you to decide, in the time that remains, whether THAT would have been preferable.

And, yes, as has been noted earlier, there are planes of existence on which apples do not exist. This did not always prevent the subsequent events, as the mysterious force (call it God, fate or historical determinism – under the circumstances, it hardly matters) had at least 109 alternate plans for each level, with some being entirely unique to a given alternative, such as the one involving…but there are no terms for it on the world you occupy, so never mind.

But now you are ready to leave, or at least you have arbitrarily determined there is nothing else to keep you here, since you had no opportunity to get food last night before you had to hurry home to watch television, so you will have to grab something on your way to work. At least you have an apple, regarding which you bury your vague presentiments of worry and snatch up to take with you.

In case you are curious, this is, in fact, plan #109, as you have proven remarkably resistant and/or oblivious to earlier attempts involving automotive system failures, chemical spills at work, fires that incorporated plastics and other toxic-fume-producing substances and even minor incidents of psychotic breaks from reality. There is something to be said for single-minded determination to get to work and to continue the routines of your life, though we who are recording these events in the aftermath are not certain what it is.

In any case, your car started without incident, as even the vaguely gremlin-like being who is the chief executive officer of your reality does not care to repeat his methods of mischief, particularly given the previous failures and the remarkable resilience you have demonstrated by joining car pools, using public transit, hauling out a dusty bicycle (whose chain perversely refused to break, fall off or jam, despite the best efforts of junior and senior programmers alike in, shall we say, God’s employ) or, on another glorious though less ominous day, walking the roughly thirty-seven minutes to your dark satanic mill.

Fortunately, the fact that your coffee cup holder was occupied by an enormous carafe of foul stimulant, left over from the previous day, and your coin receptacle was, unimaginatively, filled with money, toll chits and even video game tokens, a testimony to a somewhat cheerful if vaguely immature clinging to the vestiges of your youth, meant that you had no choice but to put the apple on the narrow dashboard, as a particularly junior agent in God’s employ had projected that you would, ensuring himself a five-minute break from playing harp and praising the Eternal, a few centuries down the line.

As you turned onto Wormwood Drive (yes, heavy-handed, we realize, but we are merely recorders here, not editors or cynical critics), the apple rolled off the dashboard and fell neatly under the braking device on your car. You failed to notice this, distracted as you were by the handsome bearded gentleman occupying the car next to you (we do not judge here, preferring to leave this to the cruel and unforgiving gremlin aforementioned).

At this same moment, a few blocks away, an employee of the local military base, who has been charged with the awesome, if of late dull, responsibility of possessing the codes to launch or abort the nuclear missiles that form the main part of your MAD détente (we believe this stood for ‘mutually assured destruction’, and is a sign of either obliviousness or exceedingly black humour as acronyms go), is struggling with getting the lid off his own container of foul stimulant, though his is in flimsy cardboard rather than the thin metal comprising yours. Though he routinely fails to slow at the yellow light or even stop for the red at the intersection you are both approaching, this has typically resulted only in honking horns and digital demonstrations in the past. It should be added that that will NOT be the case today, and that, in any case, discussions of the past, present or future are about to be moot.

Approximately coinciding with this, two other improbable events have occurred. The OTHER person who has the codes has just discovered that her husband, in addition to leaving her, has taken the atypical-for-his-gender step of shredding all of the clothes in her bedroom closet (and, as it happens, also taking her cell phone, which will have a fairly obvious consequence in a short time), leaving her with literally nothing to wear to work, thus compelling her to call in and inform her employer that she will be late. She then starts to call up her few friends who will admit to having the same dress size as her, in hopes of borrowing something not too tasteless or vulgar at least long enough to get to the store and replace some crucial garments, and finally succeeds at this, leaving the house in her full-length mink and winter boots…but this is outside the narrative of the story, which is about to end anyway.

Meanwhile, a mouse that has quietly, if with some potential for peril, lived inside the launching apparatus at the base has chosen THIS day to nibble at a few critical wires. This ends its life, which would have been ended shortly anyway, but it also has the consequence that even the oh-my-god-we-can’t-find-the-codes-we-must-shut-this-thing-down-COLD backup system will be inaccessible. Its dying convulsions also succeed in starting the launch sequence. As we have said before, God has his sadistic and heavy-handed moments.

You succeed in spotting the car going through the intersection, as you are a cautious driver, but your attempt at braking is thwarted by the fruit wedged under the pedal. In an understandable moment of panic, assisted by tweaks from Beyond, you inadvertently push down both the gas pedal and the accelerator, resulting in a horrific crash, an explosion and the end of both your existence and that of the code-holder. These, of course, are not the only deaths that day.

Since God (for lack of a better term) is able to think AND act globally, similar events of equally improbable coincidence occur in the part of the world with which you are currently at eternal war, which would be known as the Middle East in your particular subset of the universe. Incredible as it may seem, on another layer of the cosmic onion, your nation state is engaged in a ceaseless ideological conflict with the region corresponding to your Liechtenstein, which managed to acquire a nuclear bomb due to its failing to give women the vote and thus having no voice of reason or intelligence to stop the madness (we are editorializing, we know, but it hardly matters now that all ideologies are about to be proven either false or true). The leaders of the United Arab Emirates deeply, if briefly, rue their decision to switch their communications links with missile control to a new satellite in the same week as massive sun spot activity is reported. In that other reality, otherwise so similar to yours, women have the ultimate ‘I told you so’ and ‘If we ruled the world, we’d make a much better job of it’ lecturing opportunity, though they of course have to speak quickly, which is not a problem to the half of the human species that some anthropologists believe invented language.

In case you feel you really must know, some people ARE, in fact, ‘called up’ before the end of life on Earths. They are not the people you might expect, though, and the roster is not dependent upon donations to badly toupeed religionists or positions of worldly Godliness. And, as you will discover soon enough, while there IS bodily resurrection in the next world, it is run through a randomizer. This has some very distasteful consequences, but it was felt it was both the fairest and certainly the most fun way to handle it.

You will have eternity to mull over why God ended all existence throughout the Multiplicities. There were any number of valid reasons and a corresponding number of invalid ones. Some of them conflict with one another, but this is only to be expected in a being who is three-in-one, or possibly even four.

The Gnostics may well have been right. Again, you will find out.

As you settle into a new and not necessarily any more meaningful state of what you will stubbornly insist on calling ‘life’, we will fade on a bit of doggerel, with a twist, which is now red-shifting its way across the final dying embers of the universes to you.

Yes, the Multiplicities do have a physical end point, where you are right now. You are not entirely surprised to discover that everyone perceives it differently. Some see Mecca; some Shangri-La; some Valhalla; an unfortunate few see their mother-in-law’s house at Thanksgiving; or Toronto during an unpleasant world summit and/or garbage strike, these last two having as a common thread the accumulation of trash and an unpleasant odour for all concerned.

As to what you see, we shall give you the illusion of privacy and draw a discreet veil – but it is certainly more pleasant, at least superficially, than the place you spent most of your life.

“Not with a whimper, but with a bang.”

Another cassette upload from 20 years ago - Reptile, Fame and Fossils

2010-05-15T17:54:00.005-04:00

An Icelandic band, that vaguely seems like an anarchic big band (think Cypher in the Snow, for you queers like me who cling to records no-one heard of then, let alone now...except Icelandic and (I think) straight.). Though she left the band before this came out, The Sugarcubes' keyboardist (second record and on) was in this group too. It had two lead singers, one sort of pretty and conventional in tone and the other a little more Nico-y and belty.

Reptile, Fame and Fossils (1990), BAD TASTE RECORDS

My Fellow Deviants (2009)

2010-05-07T21:34:00.004-04:00

My most recent completed project, 7 songs, 31 minutes.

A few revisits, and some actual new songs, some inspired by the young gent to my right on the CD cover. :) (My fuzzycheeks, Mr. Michael :) )

Coming up sometime later this year, SUPER PSYCHOTIC DANCE PARTY VS. THE GINGER RAYS OF DEATH, which may be largely instrumental, with some covers thrown in (but this is still far off in planning).

My Fellow Deviants

Poofs Rock (2008)

2010-05-07T20:34:00.004-04:00

Kind of my odds 'n' sods (you should pardon the expression) collection. Covers, remixes, overdubs, a couple of newbies.

Poofs Rock

Armed With Five Pounds of Hamster Food (2007) cd

2010-05-07T20:21:00.000-04:00

My first self-produced and self-performed CD, from 2007.

the title was inspired by a local musician remarking on how he was, well, see the title (in re food for his hamsters). The next time I saw him, I mentioned how he had inspired me, only to learn the hamsters had all died. Awkward... :(

Armed With Five Pounds of Hamster Food (DABWITW Wecords, 2007)

Supertim CD/cassette (2002)

2010-05-07T20:12:00.002-04:00

My first 'real' album from 2002. I had a song on BITCH NATION TOP SECRET CASSETTE SWAPPING CLUB the year before, and had made some recordings back in the early 90s, but this was my first serious effort at compilation.

Friends of the Friendless, Inviolable Cool and Valentine were percussed and produced by the lovely and talented GB Jones in 2001-2002.

Supertim (Big Ethel Records and Tapes, 2002/DABWITW Wecords, later in 2002 (cd version, transferred by my brother-in-law Guy)

new take on Fuzzy Cheek Blues

2010-05-06T18:41:00.001-04:00

an instrumental long in progress. Will probably be adding lead guitar, piano, maybe some percussion (and may, in fact, phase out the drums altogether).

Fuzzy Cheek Blues

all sounds by me (well, the drums are at least selected from options by me, anyway :) ).

A Plethora of Indian Summer covers

2010-05-03T21:38:00.003-04:00

My cover of Indian Summer by Beat Happening. Your choice of guitar/vocal, guitar/vocal/percussion, guitar/vocal/percussion/keyboard bass (in that order).

Beat Happening, naked

Beat Happening, with strategically placed maracca

Beat Happening, with maracca and big organ

Fifth Column, Urban Scorch Tracks (1982)

2010-04-06T17:57:00.007-04:00

Hit The Dirt

Lapsed State

Dry Goods

Pick-Ups

Trojans

Boy-Girl

The picture, by the way, is a pretty rare snapshot of the early lineup, ca. 1981/2 (l. to r. Caroline and GB (the constants), and I believe Janet and Kathleen, but I'm not sure which is which - one of these women vanished almost right away, and the other was around for a short time...)

itty bitty bear

2010-03-06T10:14:00.001-05:00

itty bitty bear
Originally uploaded by The Enchanter Tim

Just some random cuteness.

Flare Acoustic Arts League, CUT (review)

2009-12-13T19:44:00.002-05:00

FLARE ACOUSTIC ARTS LEAGUE, CUT cd (Affairs of the Heart (Germany), 2009)

Mr. LD Beghtol has a long and illustrious career of writing catchy pop tunes about death, revenge and brooding romance, and, for that matter, singing similarly tinted songs from the pen of Mr. Stephin Merritt, and this record is, in some ways, a continuation of that theme, not to mention an extension of a tendency to name releases with such titles as Hung and Bottom.

This cd is most reminiscent of Hung, which was out on Darla some years back, not to mention his 7” Back When You Wanted Me, in being full of orchestrated pop just a touch akin to the works of the evil Mr Spector or The Zombies.

It opens with the lovely swirling chamber pop of “Reminiscences of a Minnesota State Training School Alumnus, Class of 1905” (did I fail to mention a slight tendency towards lengthy names for his compositions?), which is inspired by the life of one Carl Panzram, a serial killer who made even the usual lovely personalities grouped under that category seem like good-will ambassadors. You will find yourself singing along as the self-loathing for your susceptibility to cheery melody/dark lyric paradoxes sets in, and the lines ‘even I can see that you’re an awful lot like me’ may just slip past you, to your detriment.

“Precis” and “Pull My Daisy Chain” both betray the author’s fondness for literary references and wordplay, which, of course, endear them both to me.

Identity politics behooves me to dwell on “Ballad of Little Brown Bear” for a moment (and to point out that, though our friendly artist is a big bearded gent, he does not identify with that gay subculture of stocky, furry men who think themselves more masculine than the average queen (‘masculine’ is a camp pose in many ways too, but don’t get me started)), not to mention that I used to play ‘Little Brown Jug’ in high school band (no, I was not a flautist), so the melody lingers in the recesses of my brain and was brought vengefully forward once more. A guest vocalist, Mr Geoff Otis, takes the lead on this in order to maintain the necessary ironic distance in this tale of alcoholic Bear love (unless he does identify with that cult, in which case, WOOF!).

“Luminary” features guest guitar from Alan Sparhawk from Low, which gives me some hope that he is NOT one of those evil Mormons who were such nasty meddlers on the Proposition 8 matter in California, but, even if I’m wrong, he still lends a minimal glow to the track.

“Love Finds Andy Warhol” has a whole host of cameo vocalists tossing in lines about who love finds (including the vaguely cringeworthy ‘Love finds Arthur Lee’ (ha ha)), and it is as close to a hopeful song about love as you are going to find here, despite lines about love not being a pretty picture and how it blinds them all.

If I were to try and find a target audience for this record (heaven forfend), I would think fans of The Tindersticks and Morrissey (up until about 1999 in the case of the latter) would enjoy this, as it is an elegantly arranged, layered, tuneful and ironically morbid masterpiece.

Fortunately, it is also available on iTunes, as it may prove rather difficult to find in North America (I had a friend in Britain send one over, before Mr Beghtol sent me a review copy – so I paid for this, as should you) and the label’s webpage is STILL coming soon after goodness knows how long.

2009-12-09T21:46:00.003-05:00

ABSTRACT SKULLS, Spungiforms cd (originally released on cassette, ca. 1985; re-released 2009 by EEEE EEEE Records)

Band members: George Hinchliffe, Davy Walklett, Ian "Wig" Wood"; guests Sue Swift, Diz Willis

You know that, in your darkest heart of hearts, you have often wondered: 'What would the Residents sound like if you took away their keyboards and gave them only some uncertain brass instrument, the occasional bass and guitar, but mostly what sounds like pots, pans, plates and cymbals, as well as equally ambiguous stringed instruments, possibly including violin, ukulele and banjo?' Ok, so the percussion would give you 'Land of A Thousand Dances' from THIRD REICH AND ROLL, but the rest would not be as easily squeezed into the conceit.

You might get something like this 10-song cassette, 9 of whose selections are quite challenging. Even free jazz/improv might be misleading, because, well, much of Ornette Coleman's work has passages of beauty and melody. There's not a lot of either here.

"Skarp Hedin's Axe" has some vaguely jazzy chords and figures on guitar and bass, and bears a vague resemblance to "Peter Gunn" as played by The Shaggs, but the clanging percussion and the sheer repetitiveness of the selection might tax some people's endurance. "42 West German Splints" is a little like Ornette Coleman, but in his trumpet playing (I think it's a trumpet) rather than saxophone, and the plinky string accompaniment on what is either a banjo or a ukulele is not exactly there to provide harmony under the vague swipes at melody the horn attempts. "Danse De Maquette" has a certain technique, as what is either a ukulele or a banjo is treated to both pizzicato plucking and the piece ends with a brief snatch of what sounds like tape-molested voice. "ESP" sounds like a slightly tamer cousin of "42" above. "Cavillato" actually is a LITTLE catchy, as it has both sawed and pizzicato violin, but it meanders quite a bit. "Volgaboatpersons" is the most Residential here, as it takes the familiar tune (you would recognize it) and does unspeakable lurching things to it, and "Sprats" does much the same to a violin and thumping composition. "Dextra et Lamina" has squeaky noises that sound like doors or drawers, some more violin violence and another, longer, droning vocal tape insertion.

And then, suddenly...A TUNE!! "Hebden Bridge Suite" is recognizably these people, as the percussion is the same thump and splash, but the trumpet is playing a melody of sorts, the strumming ukulele or banjo is often providing a harmonic base and even the peculiar little guitar noises are not forbidding this time. It goes on for 17 minutes, though, which is where I suppose its "difficult listening" credentials are earned.

And back to the difficult listening. The similarly lengthy "Invisible Member (Ocean)" has more trumpet torture and a somewhat sophisticated but ear-testing base of unclear stringy noises.

An intriguing little collection. I do think you'd have to be in a very special mood to love it, but it is certainly a sign of creative minds, and you just know they're doing it on purpose, because there are signs of chops (much like a violin player on the streets of my town who has skills and fingering technique, but evidently either never learned to tune or is doing the Jandek thing of tuning to how he feels - in which case, get help... ;) ).

2009-06-21T18:17:00.002-04:00

FACE IN THE CROWD, Sax and Drums and Rock and Roll (EEEEEEEE Records), orig. release 1985

Factory Food
Total Eclipse
Dr Fizz......... Clown
Face In The Crowd
Face To The Name
All Little Anarchists
A Strong Voice
How Much Do You Know ... Statement ... Justice

R. Loydell and Russell Kirk, plus “whoever else”

Take a little Fall, stir in some Glaxo Babies (according to the stalwart label head – I’ve heard of the band, but don’t really know them well…) or some Jazz Butcher (my reference point for anarchic music with saxophone), and you get this band.

“Factory Food” has a vaguely ska feel, but with louder guitars and less catchy vocals. Nevertheless, the song has a certain ramshackle charm in its rant about factory food (years ahead of the whole Frankenfood concern).

“Total Eclipse” continues the clipped guitars, earnest vocals and skronking saxophone of its predecessor, tossing in a power chord or two for maximum effect.

“Dr. Fizz” has a repeated vaguely spacey/metallic guitar riff, with a spoken word narrative a la the Velvet Underground’s “Lady Godiva’s Operation”. I am hard-pressed to make out most of the words, but the zany ping-ponging guitar and saxophone chaos are beautifully warped.

The track bearing their name (why do some bands insist on doing that?) has a catchy slide guitar loop to it, as well as some chugging rhythm guitar and, again, wacky sax.

“Face To The Name” also has an echoing metallic/spacey guitar thing going on, but the vocals are still sadly squished beneath the noise.

“All Little Anarchists” has the most punk-rocking structure, complete with 1-2-3-4’s and a vocal that is more forward, but still hard to make out. It is so brief that one feels it must be a bit of a piss-take, somehow…

“A Strong Voice”? Not really. I hear lots of guitar noise and drums, but the words might as well not be there.

“How Much Do You Know” – this time the bass, assuming it was present before, is more audible. Oddly, this sounds like “Forming” by The Germs, but without Darby’s undeniable vocal presence. It goes on at great length, into space-rock territory, in a way, and mercifully jettisons the vocals as a lost cause for most of that time.

In short, I like the music on this record, but the vocals really needed some sort of help or further amplification (it mostly sounds live-to-tape, other than possibly “Dr. Fizz”).

2009-06-21T16:51:00.005-04:00

Exploding Head Trick, s/t cd (EEEEEEEE Records), orig. release 1989

Jane Anfinson - violin
Harry LeBlanc - keyboards
Saroshi Shinozaki - guitar
W Harper - bass
Joe Miller – drums

So far, these would be the pop stars on the EEEEEEEE roster. “Why So Much Hell” has lively complicated drumming, a super-catchy chorused and arpeggiated guitar and a pretty vocal a la Joni Mitchell (swooping and rangey) – could have stood to be mixed a bit higher to make the lyrics more comprehensible, though the wordless components of the vocal are keening and cut through. “Capsize Corsage” follows and makes us forget that, to some extent – the guitar squeals and feeds back and occasionally makes little squonky noises, and some guy is singing, a tad like a robotic Adrian Belew or maybe even those tracks by Martha and the Muffins that Mark sang on (hey, I’m Canadian!). “The Angel” continues the same pattern, complete with whammy bar attacks. “Lucky 7” returns to the land of tunefulness, complete with a somewhat eerie violin, jazzy guitar and burbling bass – it’s an instrumental – yes, it gets a bit busy, but it’s a GOOD busy. “Through No Power” returns to the female singer, who REALLY sounds like Joni here, and the melody is 80s Joni, complete with rhythmic twists and turns, clanging guitar and the nice winding violin again. “PKU” has ska hints winding through it, as well as the violin, so Camper Van Beethoven comes to mind, but devoid of country and most smart-ass tendencies – once again, no words. “The Solution” starts with gentle cymbal taps, tentative guitar, bass, keyboard and possibly violin sounds, then the female singer, and eventually a virtuoso violin attack – if you don’t like the beat on this one, be patient, because it will change. “Now I’m Grownup” combines a slightly detuned piano and organ sound with hyperactive drum rolls and a lyric about childhood/adulthood differences, and again has an off-beat/skanking component to its rhythm – it sounds like nothing so much as a highly caffeinated circus soundtrack. “Trial by Fire” brings on the sawing violin and a patient, broad piano sound, as well as the polyrhythmic drum attack (where is this drummer today?). “Take Me Home” is not the John Denver song, though it definitely has a fiddle on it and a passionate vocal. “Sneeze” finally brings on the full prog, complete with synthesizer solo, violin madness, instruments pushing in several directions at once, the assertive drums, the constantly shifting structure and, yes, some of the pomposity (just a little, though).

The notes on the website indicate this band was around from 1986 to 1993. It is just WRONG that this seems to be their only document…WRONG, I tell you…

2009-06-21T10:09:00.006-04:00

HARRY ZANTEY, Sleep (EEEEEEEE Records)

Harry Zantey – EMS synth
(one take, live, no overdubs), orig. release 1981

Mr. Zantey was in the Australian band Crime and the City Solution, which, as the label owner notes, IS surprisingly under-represented on the ‘Net. I remember seeing their albums around – they had four – they were on MUTE, for goodness sakes! Why is there so little data?

The EMS synth, by the way, has an interesting history. It is a fairly rare instrument, and its most loveable trait is that it seems to have a disturbed mind of its own. Hence its favoured status by Pere Ubu, I’m sure…

Sleep Part One (Some Snoring)

It opens with a looping drone akin to, oh, Kluster, Suicide or Silver Apples and gradually gets very loud and obnoxious. With the squeals of feedback and white noise, it is not entirely unlike certain PiL tracks. All I can say is, if this is the sound of snoring, I am NOT sleeping next to this person…

Sleep Part Two (Sleep)

Evidently a restless slumber. This time, the synth is a lot more lively, producing squealing waterfalls and scratched balloons of sound. There’s a beat, or certainly a pulse, which sounds not entirely unlike someone trying to start a wet engine. Towards the end, the synth starts to sputter, so I guess it’s getting sleepy…

2009-06-21T09:43:00.003-04:00

SONS OF BITCHES, Death to Music (EEEEEEEE Records)

Oblivion David Stomach - Vocals, guitar, etc
Elvis Khomeini - keyboards, backing vocals, bass
Brain Capacity, Ltd - percussion

In terms of future fame, it might be a bad idea to use pseudonyms on your cassette (1986). Of course, if you’re from Providence, Rhode Island, it might be your idea of fun. Based on what friends have told me about this town, it might be the ONLY way to keep on living…but they could be wrong…I mean, I meet people who HATE the town in which I live, and I can’t picture living much of anywhere else…

Lyndon LaRouche Vs The Abominable Snowman (You Can't Put The Lunatic Back Into The Asylum)

Cheesy coffee-drip beeping and blipping keyboards – growls – some right-wing radio guy rambling on, presumably Mr. LaRouche – then a roar and a rush, and it’s over (I guess Abominable won).

Escape From You

This track opens with a super wah-wah’ed sound of either a keyboard or a guitar (in either case, it sounds right out of the Residents catalogue), which is joined by a growling spoken word vocal which sounds ripped from the throat of the snarly Mr. Skull of that eyeball crew. It’s sort of a romantic song, in which the narrator longs for a place where there’s ‘no syphilis to remind me of you’. Sweet, really…

Coprophagy

A fuzzy sequenced keyboard pulse kicks things off here, right out of Suicide. Eventually, an equally distorted cheesy organ-type sound layers over that repeated throb. There seem to be some deeply buried vocals/vocal samples, but I can’t make them out very well.

Slavelaborer

Ooooh, synth pizzicato strings. The narration is a bizarre shaggy dog story about jock itch, Communism and slave labour in Siberia. There are odd twangy guitar sounds too, but nothing close to a hook. Towards the end, the guitar starts to sound more like a tennis racket being tortured, and still more odd radio/TV samples from the news. It is true, though – the sight of 15 to 20 men scratching their balls in Red Square WOULD be disconcerting…

Michael Jackson

I’m not sure why this track is so named. More odd keyboard sounds and a severely distorted guitar (but not in a garage rock kind of way) and a peculiarly accented voice rambling on incoherently. Would not be out of place on THIRD REICH ‘N’ ROLL – interestingly, the final words of the song are also more or less found in a Girls On Fire track…

Gamelan Of Angry Housewives

Another track in which terrible, unnatural things are done to keyboards, ranging from an electro-beat to chiming sounds to more wah-wah’ing. Pretty much a one-note piece, figuratively speaking, in terms of arrangement.

My Head Is My Only Home

Much as with the previous track, it doesn’t go much of anywhere. If it is true that the head of one of these individuals (assuming there really is more than one person behind this music) is his/her only home, then it must be a rather frightening abode…

Sick 'Em, Reverend

Ah, mid-to-late-80s keyboard sounds. A repetitive clang that would not be out of place on a Deborah Harry record like ‘Feel The Spin’. However, the growling and threatening ‘Reverend’ would probably not be hanging around the sort of clubs where this demented disco genre played – but perhaps he might…

Rhyme/Elements

This track sounds as though it were one of the most laboured over on this cassette. A dense web of sound samples and vocal snippets over a keyboard bed. It is almost tuneful – but not quite.

2009-06-20T19:11:00.011-04:00

SOME GIRLS ON FIRE WANDER, NOT BY MISTAKE

Girls On Fire, Girls Who Grew Up To Be Arts Administrators 5xcdr (EEEEEEEE Records)

(Brief background: Leslie Singer began her music career in Washington, DC, as part of an industrial band,Psychodrama, then fled to NYC (where she might have picked up a bit of the skronkiness in her sound) and from there to San Francisco (where, other than possibly a case of weirdness that rivaled The Residents, though sounding nothing like them, the town seemed to have little effect). She moved on from these ’83-’85 cassettes to film, though she is evidently thinking of returning to music).

I THINK ABOUT JACKSON POLLOCK

This cassette (and now CD) contains seven lengthy pieces of guitar noise, distorted vocals and venomous poetry to rival Lydia Lunch, Patti Smith and Kim Gordon at their most nasty. Every song title begins with an ‘I’, but they do not appear to be direct personal confessionals, at least in terms of anything profoundly autobiographical (I would like to think so, anyway). Some of the vocals almost sound as though they were recorded at night under the covers on a portable cassette player, being very close-miked and sometimes unintelligible. The guitars – well, they’re loud, tormented, seemingly attacked with various scratchy substances and, other than perhaps ‘I Ride The Bus Everyday’, which has, if not a hook, then at least a repeated bass-heavy guitar racket, they are not there to amuse you (well, perhaps they might, but you have one sick sense of humour if they do). ‘I Saw A Car Crash’ sounds like what Taffy Davenport might have made if she had been an art-punk rather than a destined-to-die-young Hare Krishna in Female Trouble. Not fun, but certainly unique and very forceful.

IN MY BLOOD

This time, the pieces are a bit shorter (16 instead of 7). “Grace Kelly Never Used The Word ‘Fuck’”, in addition to being a wonderful title, begins to show the academic background of our heroine, as she chides the use of the phrase ‘crazy and/or stupid’ many times (and manages to hold the naughty word for an alarmingly long time) – this time, there seems to be an electronic pulse of some sort, as well as bursts of static and what may or may not be ‘real’ percussion, so there is something approximating rhythm, though this is not a disco cassette. The repeated proclamation of the title line in ‘Here Comes Picasso’s Ghost’ almost qualifies as a hook, since she vocalizes it in a rather Ethel Mermanesque brassy style (far from tuneful, but certainly cutting through). “Underwear with No Holes” has an almost catchy beat, and is close to pop-tune length (not in sound). “Cat Vomit Punk House” revisits themes from earlier pieces over a sort of troubled guitar hook (think Sonic Youth rather than The Beatles). “The Almighty Beat” sees our chanteuse experimenting with harmonies (the operative term being ‘experiment’) for about two minutes – this time, I’m almost CERTAIN she’s doing multi-tracking like I did – from one cheap tape player to another, which she carries on into the “let’s hit many objects for a rhythm track” brief selection “The Sky Up In The Sky”. I’m pretty sure “Sick of Donuts” is a metaphor for the stultifying nature of labour under capitalism – because surely you could find SOMETHING to eat other than donuts – this is spoken word with some noises that may just be tape artifacts from the transfer to CD. “Skyscrapers Are Maternal” is actually funny, I think (if something falls from the universe, it will hit the tall building before us, so they protect us like our mothers – of course, at this stage in history, things hitting tall buildings have unpleasant associations…). “Ron Gilmore” has an almost locomotive beat to it, a la “Mind Train” by Yoko (though much less funky) – again, you won’t be able to dance to it… “Helen Schwab” is almost approaching pop music (in a Bizarro world, though), as it has a repeated tuned percussion figure and a, well, steady (if not accomplished) drum pattern – but her philosophy on life is, well, forbidding of air play. “Rotten Bananas” actually sounds like Jandek. Remember, I would consider this a good thing…you might not…

CONFESSIONS OF A SHIT ADDICT

Alarmed by her own commercialism on the previous release, Leslie begins by tormenting us (and a live audience) with the screaming and static of “Dead Poets Don’t Shave Their Heads” (it’s true, though) and “Camus’ Car Crash”. “My Calvins” is slightly less noisy, but the final sentiment is pretty ugly (I won’t spoil the surprise), and the sound doesn’t get any nicer with “Fassbinder Had A Good Set Designer”. Perhaps slightly contrite, she then does #1-#4 on slightly more obvious and more ‘straight’ guitar (perhaps courtesy of the guest guitarist, Clara Lusardi), revealing there is actually something approximating tune and structure to her art attack. Not to worry, though – “Mary Davis Kills” will make you forget that…

DIARY OF A SHITEATER

Don’t be fooled by the similar title. This sounds nothing like the previous release. It sounds noisier. Her roots in industrial music are clearly in evidence. Lots of screaming, distorted and disembodied/echoed vocals; guitars being subjected to unnatural acts; use of what sounds like tapes, but might be a real person. The cassette listed no titles, and neither does the CD. It’s, well, like early Half Japanese (hint: this is not necessarily a compliment or an insult – more of a caution…).

LIFE IS TOO FUNNY, I THINK I’LL SHOOT MYSELF

And so we reach the end of our little story. This one is definitely live, and the ode to “Jessica Savitch” almost has a catchy guitar hook, though the vocals are sadly buried. Remember, I think Half Japanese have hummable tunes, though… “My Groovy Apartment” is very Jandek, too, with big strummed dissonances and a sort of bluesy-from-Mars vocal approach. The untitled fourth track has a catchy syncopated rhythm, though the guitar tune is not ‘catchy’ to the presumed ‘you’ who is reading this, unless ‘you’ are, like me, Jandek’s #1 fan. “South of Market” is midnight humour about how to avoid getting raped in San Francisco. “Life Is Too Funny” calls to mind the ‘pop’ songs Sonic Youth did at the time – which is to say, there is an actual chord structure and some rough song arrangement, but it is far from, oh, Flock of Seagulls. It all concludes with the familiar shriek and guitar-murder of “Camus Crashing”. And so we have come full circle…and the Girls are still on Fire…

2009-05-24T10:32:00.004-04:00

DEFLOWERED: MY LIFE IN PANSY DIVISION by Jon Ginoli (Cleis Press, 2009 www.cleispress.com, www.pansydivision.com)

I'm sure that Amaz*n has removed the sales rating from this one...I mean, a band that sings regularly about sucking cock, getting fucked and being sluts -how could they not? (I suppose I should be putting some asterisks on obscenities - oh, wait, I already DID!)

Hmmm, they actually haven't, and it's not selling too badly (connection?). However, I would also like to point out that it's an interesting and thoughtfully written memoir.

As someone only 7.5 years younger than Jon, I could relate to a lot of his talk about isolation and feeling like one was the only rock and roll faggot on the planet sometimes.

And anyone who thinks the exploding drummers of Spinal Tap were difficult to keep should read of the challenges the group had retaining percussionists(and, in some cases, the problems that RESULTED from holding onto said timekeepers). Each time I saw them they had a different drummer - but that would be three times. I had no idea there were THIRTEEN of them!!

And, yes, bitches, there's dirt in it - shame on you for flipping in search of an index. Just keep reading - you'll find it. :)

Personal note - nice to see GB Jones name-checked. She doesn't get nearly enough mad props. :)

Trying to be Nice...and failing, as usual...

2009-02-05T23:36:00.004-05:00

I suppose I'm endangering myself here, but...

I also suppose I must add that I am not a fan of child porn, and that, if a four-year-old and a twelve-year-old were actually rescued from some terrible situation, good on them. I suppose I might even muster begrudging gratitude to that creep Fantino.

I feel like Virginia Woolf from A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN, searching for the feet of the British prosecutor behind curtains before revealing that Chloe might like Olivia.

In light of Julian Fantino's recent child porn busts, I cannot help but wonder about a few things.

You know how Presidents tend to start wars when their popularity slips? Isn't it funny how this big bust occurs just as Julian is under ethical clouds?

Also, why does neither the mainstream media nor even Wiki (oh, Wiki, why hast thou forsaken us?) point out that Julian has had this little problem with credibility around child porn charges being laid in the past, in London, Ontario (something which even his autobiography only briefly touches on - ugly witch hunt, fake evidence, intimidating witnesses)? In fact, even searching the web about Project Guardian, which was only 14 years ago - the coverage has all but vanished. That is in less than a generation - disgusting short term memory, and doubtless assisted by those who WANT memory to be brief and atomized.

In the words of Pere Ubu: 'I want the evidence'. I do NOT give that man the unquestioned belief he wants (a man who seems to think protestors should ask police permission to gather - well, no, in public places, it doesn't work like that, Julian - if you're going to claim to defend the law, you might want to read it sometime...if, of course, that is a skill you possess...).

There, now wasn't that nice? :)

The Sun Virgin falls silent :(

2008-11-15T00:06:00.001-05:00

Goodbye, Inca Princess

A song for someone :)

2008-11-09T18:28:00.004-05:00

Specifically, to Michael.

Tim - vocals, guitars, drum machine

recorded November, 2008, in the Bearcave

produced, engineered, mixed and arranged by Timmybear

AND THEN HE KISSED ME by the Crystals (Spector-Barry-Greenwich)

Some More Tuneage From the Eighties (Part Four)

2008-10-04T16:14:00.004-04:00

This time, Side 2 of IN EXCELSIOR DAYGLO by Christmas (1986).

Peewee

Everything You Know Is Wrong

Pumpkinhead

A Pig Amongst Men

The Hottest Sun

Fish Eye Sandwich

Junk

There - now I can take a little nap, burning-wise, for a little bit, anyway. :) (of course, when I laid my first 'zine to rest after 5 years, I said it might be a while, and I was back with a new one in two months, so don't trust me ;) )

Still More Tuneage From The 80s (Part Three)

2008-10-03T22:59:00.002-04:00

This time, Side One of IN EXCELSIOR DAYGLO by Christmas (1986).

Big Plans

Loved Ones

Boys' Town Work Song

True Soldier of Love

Tommy The Truck

Girl Police

Dig We Must

Goodbye, Daddy :( ...Mr. "Larry Townsend", 1930-2008

2008-07-30T22:11:00.004-04:00

Sad news about Larry Townsend.

Given the pseudonymous nature of his name, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that my google search has produced NO OTHER acknowledgement of his passing. Still...

Jesse Helms

2008-07-04T18:31:00.003-04:00

dead, on July 4. I'd say 'how ironic', but I suppose that irony depends on a number of factors (whether social conservatism is part of the American culture, etc. - as it has been argued part of the reason the Pilgrims came to North America was that the authorities in England essentially forbade them carrying on a mini-Inquisition, perhaps so...).

As it happens, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson each died on the same July 4, with rumour holding that one (I can never remember which) asked if the other had died yet, and, upon being told he had, died (though I wonder about this - I'm not sure if they were in the same city - I'm not sure news travelled that quickly in, what, 1826 or so...).

How tragic that, oh, the Revenant Fred Phelps and Jesse weren't in a battle-to-the-death.

Goodbye, you loveable curmudgeon anarchist Daddy Bear :(

2008-06-11T07:22:00.004-04:00

Songwriter/activist Utah Phillips dead at 73.

Not surprisingly, this got no mainstream press coverage in any paper I peruse, nor any mention in local or national news.

And always remember...

A Wobblie may weeble, but he doesn't fall down (at least not in our memories).

Yes, and I act like one too...

2008-06-06T06:53:00.001-04:00

Thoughts on YOUNG AT HEART

2008-05-24T22:07:00.003-04:00

(1) Brilliant songs and music, and stunning performances in some cases

(2) A reminder of mortality at work - two performers died during the making of the documentary, and one about 9 months later

(3) A sobering thought - my parents are not that much younger than the youngest members of the choir

(4) It is refreshing in this day and age to see a director of a documentary NOT appear in the film anywhere (this may explain the occasionally shaky camerawork - in fact, even in a scene in a car where the director is PRESENT, he is magically not seen, though, at least then, one presumes he was NOT holding the camera)

(5) If I reach that age, I hope to be able to sing such songs (of course, I would know that, by the time of SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?, the Clash were pretty much a pop band, and that, though they are about the right age for its heyday, I'm not sure Sonic Youth would EVER have described themselves as 'punk' either...)

Sorry, Lou Dobbs...

2008-05-01T20:09:00.005-04:00

Was watching CNN today, and Lou Dobbs was kvetching about the amnesty demonstrations in the US occurring on Law Day, and on the 50th Anniversary of it and all.

Well, this happens to be International Workers Day, which was inspired by the Haymarket Riots in Chicago in 1891 - i.e. inspired by an AMERICAN event - and was first declared in 1889 - i.e. it trumps Law Day in terms of tradition.

And, anyway, some of us are internationalists who don't think the solution to internal strife is isolation. Colour us red, okay?

Year One In Our History - Year One In Society - We're All Waiting For The Sun - Or Any Kind of Sun At All

Happy May Day

2008-04-30T21:43:00.001-04:00

"Whoever's in charge up there had better come down and put more than change in our cup, or else we...are...coming...UP." Ani Difranco

Since I'm Not a U of T Student, Alumnus, Staff Member or even a Toronto resident, I'm not scared of the school's goons...

2008-04-29T22:55:00.002-04:00

>Subject: FW: CALL TO ACTION: UofT PRESSES CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST 14 FOR> MOBILIZING AGAINST FEE HIKES>>>>

**URGENT CALL FOR SUPPORT – PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY**>>>UofT PRESSES CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST 14 >STUDENTS AND ORGANIZERS MOBILIZING TO FIGHT FEE >HIKES>>

University's level of hostility and repression >against students unprecedented in the last decade>>>

Community Release: Toronto; April 25 2008>>>WHAT: Allies for Just Education - Community Support Meeting>>WHEN: Monday April 28, 6pm>>WHERE: Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil St >(http://tinyurl.com/4sn49c)>>>

Dear Allies,>>>

Over the past several weeks, a wide coalition of >students, alumni and workers at University of >Toronto have come together to protest and >organize against proposed fee hikes and to >demand accessible education. This coalition has >organized public meetings, a sit-in and >demonstrations which have received wide >community support (see www.fightfees.ca > >).

>>>Due to a peaceful sit-in, organized to protest >against tuition fees on March 20, students are >being subjected to an intense campaign of >intimidation by the UofT administration and >Toronto Police. Students have been followed by >campus police, both on and off campus, as well >as being monitored and photographed during >meetings. UofT has pressed charges against 14 >students and organizers, who have now had to >turn themselves over to Toronto Police. They >have been released on strict bail conditions, >which ban them from associating with one another >outside of courts and classes, as well as being >barred from protesting anywhere on UofT >property. In addition, several UofT students, >staff and alumni have been completely banned >from UofT property. One student organizer, Oriel >Varga, is currently being held in custody >overnight. Additionally, UofT is investigating >12 students under the Code of Student Conduct. >This campaign of intimidation comes at a time >when the administration is publicly lobbying for >the deregulation of fees, and is thus undertaken >to prevent students from continuing to organize >around university fees.>>>

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO SHOW SUPPORT:>>>We are calling on all community allies and >support groups to show their solidarity with the >14 accused in any way they can. Community >members are expressing their outrage at the >growing cost of education, and at the use of >intimidation and force against students who >organize for accessible education at the >University of Toronto.>>>It is critical for the university community and >supporters across the country to publicly >condemn and reverse attacks on students' right >to organize. We are calling on all community >members, community groups, unions, and student >organizations to:>>>

a) Send a message of support to the Committee >for Just Education at fightfees@gmail.com>>>

b) Send letters of condemnation to the President >of the University of Toronto, David Naylor, at >david.naylor@utoronto.ca (please CC all emails >to fightfees@gmail.com) or phone David Naylor at >416-978-2121 with an emphasis the following:>>>

(i) Drop all charges against UofT students, staff and alumni.>>

(ii) Remove all bail restrictions and conditions for all 14 accused>>

(iii) End the policing of dissent and protest on >campus.

In the wake of the March 20 sit-in, 12 >students are also being investigated under the >Code of Student Conduct and student organizers >have faced intimidation and surveillance from >the campus police. More recently, the University >has pressed charges against 14 students and >organizers. >>>**For more information and to get involved with >the Allies for Just Education, visit >www.fightfees.ca < http://www.fightfees.ca/ > >or email us at: fightfees@gmail.com**

I find myself in the odd position of defending Fox Television...

2008-04-07T10:09:00.002-04:00

An FCC ruling.

Somehow, I'm reminded of the words put in the mouth of the Marilyn character in Joyce Carol Oates' book BLONDE, to the effect that obscenity is more exemplified in things like bombs, bodies in concentration camps, and so on.

Or, as Jello Biafra put it, the idea is to get people more upset at the sight of Janet Jackson's titty than at murder and terrorism being committed on the evening news.

Once Upon A Time...

2008-03-23T19:33:00.003-04:00

There was a bear who had been enchanted into a man - a sad man. He lived in one room and within a smaller room inside that room, as his head was the only space both small enough and large enough for him - and his heart was in the corridor outside the room, occasionally looking in.

At the same time, in another land, there was an ogre who probably lived in similar circumstances, though little is known of his dwelling places there.

Then one rainy night, when the ogre was in the bear's land, the two met. Like most monsters, they were lonely for the company of and afraid of other creatures, at the same time, but the ogre eventually spoke to the bear and there was happiness.

For a while.

'This is a place I visited, and now it fades away.' DANSEPARC, Martha and the Muffins

Oh, hear my voice - the table is rumbling...

2008-03-11T22:19:00.004-04:00

Performed tonight at the Queen's Pride Week coffeehouse/launch of the Outwrite publication (in which I had a poem). Did the poem, and then two songs (medley of my original THE ABSOLUTELY BANAL SONG and I'M STICKING WITH YOU, which, yes, I played up the audience by pointing out its JUNO connection (the movie, not the goddess, Throwing Muses song or Canadian award...)). Some kid told me I was good, though, sadly, it wasn't the cubby with the ukulele who kept grabbing my mic as it was sagging and erecting it again (well, doesn't that just sound wrong in all the right ways? ;) ). I thought I was okay, though my eye kept watering and I can never hear myself properly on stage, which, tonight, was important, as it's been YEARS since I've performed live (2004, I think, was the last time).

Happy birthday tomorrow, Arne...

2008-02-29T17:55:00.003-05:00

"I don't trust the sky but I would bet on your star." American Music Club

Happy birthday tomorrow, Arne.

Jeg elsker dig, min kaereste...

RIP Jim Jones of Pere Ubu fame (1950 to 2008)

2008-02-21T09:43:00.002-05:00

Sad news.

I once ordered MONSTER (the David Thomas box) from the Ubutique, and, having read that service would be SLOOOOOOOOOOOOW, I was not at all anxious when about six weeks had passed.

The box arrived, along with a handwritten note from Mr. Jones AND a t-shirt, apologizing for the delay. That was so sweet - I wrote back thanking him, but didn't get a reply. Not all that surprising, I suppose. It was very nice of him to do that, and, from most accounts I've read, he was a very gentle and unassuming man.

Happy (effectively) Singles Day

2008-02-14T07:18:00.001-05:00

Well, unless a certain Dane mysteriously appears on my doorstep from Texas, or Nick Frost, Seth Rogen and Kevin Smith decide (simultaneously) to explore their bisexual potential, it looks like I'll effectively be celebrating Singles Awareness Day.

I think I'll arrange a date with myself and not show up. :)

Yes, thank you, I AM four years old... :)

2008-01-31T23:52:00.001-05:00

And I'm immature enough to want to be David Bowie if Mick Ronson were THIS man...

That being AC Newman from New Pornographers - great songwriter and a red-haired sweetie-beard I feel weak enough in the knees at the sight of to almost drop to them... ;)

(though, when you think about it, in light of the extended metaphor, you might electrify yourself and/or chip your teeth in the execution of Fender fellatio...)

Follow My Voice

2008-01-27T18:25:00.000-05:00

Saw this movie this afternoon as part of the Reelout Festival. It was sparsely attended, which is odd given that it was a Sunday afternoon - what else do people have to do in this town, particularly, given their kvetching, since there's nothing to do in this town in the evening? ;)

It was very heartening to hear people in the 'crowd' applaud and cheer after the footage of Yoko voice-improvising out, given the usual immature way people react to her very presence.

To briefly describe the movie, it's a documentary about the Hettrick-Martin Institute, which houses the Harvey Milk School in New York City, a haven/school for queer youth, with the framing device being the music from HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH. It's a very touching movie, and I'll really have to haul the attending charity CD out again, since tracks that were really moving in the movie, from my memory, didn't impress me on the CD (Frank Black rocking out SUGAR DADDY; Cyndi diva-ing MIDNIGHT RADIO) and some I hated at the time were really wonderful (Rufus Wainwright).

Anyway - on the way home, there was a new bus driver - a cute wittle cubbie. :)

(Yes, I know, but even a committed bear like me occasionally lusts for a different stick of licorice)

Just a random snarl...

2008-01-23T22:26:00.000-05:00

In light of the slow living suicide of both Miss Winehouse (a very unfortunate name, at that) and Miss Spears (really not much better) and the effective suicide of Mr Ledger (whether it was an accidental overdose or suicide, it was still a death caused by his own actions), a quote from Suicide (sorry) comes to mind (and, yes, I'm aware only one of these people is/was American):

'America, America is killing its youth.'

Discuss among yourselves your potential complicity in both creating their stardom and breeding an environment of pressure and voyeurism that doesn't exactly contribute to a healthy lifestyle or sense of perspective.

Sad...

2008-01-22T18:29:00.000-05:00

Goodbye, Mr. Ledger. Even if your enunciation was terrible in Brokeback Mountain (and there wasn't even any (on-screen) depiction of reasons why your enunciation might be terrible ;) ), you were both sexy and touching in that role.

I don't suppose there were any pre-written obituaries for you, as there evidently are for Miss Spears and were (surprise) for Anna Nicole.

Yes, I know, a personal post - how unlike me of late...

2008-01-08T17:56:00.000-05:00

Goodbye, Miss Ruby, ca. 1987-2008 (my sister's beloved cat) - now she joins her 'brother' Bear (yes, my sister's cat was named Bear - and it fit...) in catnip Elysian Fields.

And, yes, I'm aware of the irony of using television in order to decry it, so don't bother pointing it out

2008-01-04T21:55:00.001-05:00

I realize that this may seem to defeat itself, since, by posting about it, I am demonstrating that I am not immune to this tendency to deny people the space to have private lives, but...

in the slow sad car crash that has become Britney Spear's life, it has not seemed to occur to any journalists that, when they say they're waiting to hear what the psychological and toxicological reports about Miss Spears contain, that perhaps it's not their business, and that their concern about the children (I'm not sure that perhaps growing up on the streets, raised by wolverines, might not be a better option than either parent, frankly) would be a bit more sincere if not tainted by voyeurism and vampirism.

Just a few angry thoughts...and, of course, given that Owen Wilson didn't have THAT high of a profile, of COURSE they gave him relative space.

Obeying the orders of a hunky singer-songwriter, Jay Spears

2008-01-04T15:28:00.000-05:00

Smak Them Christians Down!

I Am The Sun, I Am The New Year...

2007-12-31T18:19:00.001-05:00

Hopefully, this will be a happier year for many people.

Low Points:

Death of Benazir Bhutto, Lady P-Orridge (Genesis P-Orridge's partner)
The continuing disintegration of Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton et. al. (I suppose I'm expected to somehow revel in this, but I just can't)

High Points:

(selfish) finishing an album
The impending incarceration of Conrad Black and (let us hope) Phil Spector and OJ 'If I Did It, Which I Did, Here's How I Would and Did' Simpson

Hugs all around to those that deserve them (which I like to think most people, with the exception of Conrad, Phil and OJ, and doubtless a handful of others, do...)

Followup on Bhutto

2007-12-29T17:36:00.000-05:00

So, evidently, it was not the shrapnel or bullets that killed Benazir - it was a skull fracture resulting from hitting the sunroof while trying to duck AWAY from the shrapnel and bullets.

This is what is known in the law as a difference without distinction. Or, to put it another way, using an easy target, shrapnel and bullets don't kill people - Henry Kissinger kills people.

And, whether Musharraf proves to have been involved or not, the failure of the state forces to provide adequate security falls in his hands - and let us not kid ourselves into thinking he didn't do a little happy dance at her death anyway...

Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007)

2007-12-27T22:57:00.000-05:00

So now Benazir Bhutto is gone, a mere 12 days before elections.

You know I'm beginning to doubt Musharaff's dedication to democracy just a little.

Of course, I'm also doubting the dedication of people who've poured $10 billion into supporting his regime.

Gee, who could that be?

Idea stolen from a woofy fellow musician

2007-12-23T16:27:00.000-05:00

SOME OF MY FAVE RECORDS THAT CAN DO NO WRONG

1. Kirsty MacColl, KITE (1989)

Though, given Miss MacColl's tragic death around this time of year, it's not something I listen to in December much, it is, nevertheless, one of the most perfect, bitchy, catchy records of jangly pop ever made.

2. Velvet Underground, THIRD (1969)

Unlike, oh, Big Star's THIRD, I find this soothing and meditative music, though Miss Lou's CLOSET MIX unfortunately pushes his vocals up too far (have to get around to getting a vinyl copy again with the original mix - and you'd think Reed would know better, given his revisionist history, than to call it a closet mix...).

3. Ramones, FIRST (1976)

Snotty, catchy, shows you where Green Day and Shonen Knife and, well, let's list the whole pop-punk canon learned - and also shows the problem with the 'Telephone Game' - things get lost as they move down the line.

4. Low, TRUST (2004, I think)

In which Mimi finds her drumsticks and Alan learns that the guitar goes up past 4. But exactly what is it that you can't get in Canada - and what are two nice Mormons looking for that's illegal in Canada, anyway? ;)

5. Modern Lovers, SELF-TITLED (1976, recorded 1971-1973)

The Velvets' catchiest disciples, I think, and it's a damn shame that Warners couldn't see it in their heart to release this in 1973. Roadrunner, Dignified and Old (someday I will play that song in tribute to a friend who should have damn well HEARD it), Girlfriend (beautiful guitar/piano shared solo), She Cracked (one chord for the verse, three for the chorus), etc.

Going Back To China

2007-12-09T18:42:00.000-05:00

Someone actually tried to post the comment 'go back to China' in re my last post.

Um, I've not been to China - I try to avoid state capitalist places as much as I try to avoid allegedly free market capitalist places.

If I WERE to go 'back' to China (I'm assuming this person said this because 'go back to Russia' seemed out of date to him - I'd love to go back to Russia from about 1918-1923, before world interference lead to the rise of Stalin...), though, given that this immature snipe was probably in relation to my daring to suggest that maybe that country has a right not to allow US Navy ships to dock there (um, it's their country), I'd say the same thing there.

America Is Not The World (thank you, Morrissey)

2007-11-29T22:07:00.001-05:00

A few thoughts about some things I've heard on the news today or lately

(1) Someone on the news said today that China's refusal to allow the US Navy to use its ports showed that China was not supporting 'our troops'. Um...(a) they're not 'our' troops from China's point of view and (b) China is a sovereign nation. Surely it's allowed to decide who can use its territorial waters?

(2) On a related point, the White House saying that refusals to extend funding means that those congress people aren't supporting 'our troops' either. Oy, the jingoism - how about, oh, supporting the troops by not making them cannon fodder? I can vaguely remember the tail end of Vietnam - I don't particularly enjoy being a fully grown adult watching its repetition from the beginning - another ugly spectacle of imperialism and interference...not that I think some kind of intervention and assistance mightn't be necessary or advisable or admirable, but still...

(3) In light of the fact that Canada has decided it will no longer fight extradition or call for clemency on death penalty cases in the US (though the US Supreme Court is currently judging again on whether the death penalty is cruel and unusual (to me, duh - to the court, I can just guess...)), and given that murder is a willful taking of someone's life - if, posthumously, it is determined that a person put to death was innocent, I'm presuming the executioner will be, in turn, executed, and, given the unequivocal proof of his/her guilt (witnesses, live murder), immediately killed by kangaroo court justice? Just wondering...(and, of course, Stephen Harper as an accessory to murder - an even more cheery thought...it would be so much more exciting if Julian Fantino, Ontario Commissioner of Police, were somehow tied up in it as well - I just might need a towel...)

(4) In which point - OJ Simpson going to jail for life, potentially? What a shame he's already 60...

A few rants and rambles

2007-11-28T22:37:00.000-05:00

(1) So the Catholic Church is concerned about THE GOLDEN COMPASS, citing its usual fears of anti-Christianity (wait until they reach book 3 - drop dead, little Pope!), sexual implications(um, the Vatican barn doors have already swung SHUT on your historical role in protecting the sexual innocence of youth) and a host of other little concerns (the witches thing, too, I'm sure).

Now, I can't help but wonder if, despite the Marianism of some branches of the church, they're just a little irked at the saviour of the worlds being...a girl!?

(2) I was talking to some young fellow sexual deviants tonight, and they were actually surprised that Canada Customs used to seize material coming into Canada. What ARE they teaching the youth in school? Where is the vital role of educators in corrupting future generations and ensuring they're nice radical queers? I'm so disappointed...(having said this, I also wonder if I look old enough to have been in school in 1973, since, after sharing a story about how I had to get a parental leave slip signed at the age of nearly 19 in order to interview someone at the local queer organization for a paper, I was told that, after all, it was still a mental illness then by classification. Now, I don't have a Canadian stat at hand, but the APA delisted homosexuality in 1973...I can't imagine Canada was LATER...not that legalization is a key, since Quebec made homosexuality no longer illegal a good five years before the rest of Canada did, and there are countries where homosexuality is not strictly illegal, but, sadly, neither is electro convulsive therapy...).

Rather frightening in its accuracy

2007-10-21T00:22:00.000-04:00

Tim took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test!

"Has an imperative need for some bond or fusion wit..."

Click here to read the rest of the results.

The Next Great American Band

2007-10-20T23:17:00.001-04:00

You know you're old and into obscure music when...

(a) You see Zolar X come up and you know who they are (and are disappointed they get eliminated in the audition round) (and, yes, when it comes to AMERICA'S GOT TALENT, I know who Thoth was too.)

(b) You see Rocket come up, have heard them before, didn't think it was that great a choice to do BLITZKRIEG BOP, but are still happy they made it to the next round.

Hmmmm...

2007-10-04T11:26:00.000-04:00

http://lifestyle.sympatico.msn.ca/7+Early+Signs+He+Is+Not+The+One/Home/ContentPosting_TheSoko.aspx?isfa=1&newsitemid=thesoko-1015&feedname=THESOKO_V2&show=False&number=0&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc

After reading this, I guess I must be strange. I, personally, consider someone being a weirdo and not dressing to impress as KEEPER traits. :)

'Cause I'm A Bad Girl...

2007-10-03T22:22:00.001-04:00

I think I'm crushing on someone.

It's been a while, and it never ceases to be embarrassing.

Just when you think you're not 14 anymore...

(cues up 'Crush' by John Ashfield)

Days and days and days...DAYS AND DAYS!

2007-09-28T18:23:00.000-04:00

You Are Sunset

Even though you still may be young, you already feel like you've accomplished a lot in life.And you feel free to pave your own path now, and you're not even sure where it will take you.Maybe you'll pursue higher education in a subject you enjoy - or travel the world for a few years.Either way, you approach life with a relaxed, open attitude. And that will take you far!

Mr. Spector, and other murderers

2007-09-28T18:07:00.000-04:00

So, the trial of Mr. Spector ended in a mistrial, with 10 thinking he was guilty, 2 thinking he was innocent.

Early 2008 until another trial, potentially.

Gee, and then only one more year after that before someone who murdered a lot of women could face the court, if perhaps only of public opinion. One can always hope for a class action suit, since, unlike Mr. Rumsfeld, he can't really pass the Bush, er, buck.

Uh...HUH...

2007-09-28T08:45:00.000-04:00

>General Pace: Homosexual Activity Is Immoral And Counter To God's Law

> Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, caused a stir at a Senate hearing Wednesday when he said he believes homosexual activity is immoral and should not be condoned by the military. Pace, who retires next week, said he was seeking to clarify similar remarks he made in spring, which he said were misreported.

O...kay. Interesting how Eisenhower, in an infamous case some years ago, realized that, by having a lesbian witch hunt in the army, he'd be eliminating most of his best female officers, seemed to have no problem. OK for Eisenhower, but not for Mr. Pace?

And a person who has, by virtue of being in command, been involved in torture, killing innocent civilians and, well, war in general (no pun intended) has a lot of nerve complaining about immorality and being contrary to the law of the God of the New Testament (the Old Testament, maybe not so much, but, then, some religious tendencies regard the God of the Old Testament as being closer to Satan anyway...). Perhaps your resignation should be stepped up, Peter (and what's with that name, anyway? Sounds like some kind of sexualized stomping fetish...).

Cultural Relativism

2007-09-25T15:23:00.001-04:00

As a good little Marxist, I understand that social identity is constructed by the dominant ideology (hegemony, y'all), and that cultural relativism is required (the notion of 'gay' in a Western sense has not always been the sense in other countries - in fact, well within recorded history is when a shift can be perceived...and, for that matter, the notion of 'gay' as a separate identity is also pretty new over here...the notion of a private life dates from around the Industrial Revolution - the first time you could probably live on your own separate from the family collective...)

Still, when the President of Iran says that there are no gays in Iran, would this be before or after the executions of persons associated with said acts?

And, as to who we heard this ridiculous notion of there being gays in Iran from...um, people who escaped? Amnesty International? Reports from Westerners within Iran? So many sources - so very FEW of them official state organs. What CAN that be saying about the state of affairs in Iran?

(having said this, the witch trial of Larry Craig indicates it ain't all that much better in the US - yes, I know he's repugnant - however, what he did was NOT illegal in Minnesota, and I would just LOVE to see the State's charges stick...especially given that catty investigator's official report (which, to me, casts the cop in a much bitchier and gayer role than Mr. Craig...)).

'Thoughts'

2007-09-20T00:26:00.000-04:00

If, as Miss Schwarzenegger says, she is going to veto the gay marriage bill, one can't help but wonder...given that she has said she thinks same sex marriage should only happen between a man and a woman, might she be persuaded/deluded into outlawing heterosexual marriages too? The mind twinkles with mischief... :)

Imagine that...I could almost have guessed...

2007-09-15T15:23:00.000-04:00

So I heard that four countries did not accept the declaration on native rights made in the UN last week.

Needless to say, I knew one of them was Canada (I don't watch the news much, but even I couldn't miss that one...).

And I imagined another would be Australia.

Surprise surprise that the US was another one.

I didn't know much about New Zealand, but I suppose I shouldn't have been shocked...

Both sad and predictable (the worst kind of sorrow).

Anyone planning to develop in Caledonia, Ontario had best cool his jets for a while...preferably switch them off or crash them into the ground (but not near Caledonia), really....

Surprised, but not...

2007-09-14T13:29:00.000-04:00

After watching a bit of the Bush pep rally last night on Fox (and is it only ME who thinks Petraeus sounds like either one of the monkeys on PLANET OF THE APES or a failed Greek general from ancient times?), I was surprised that the Fox commentator tried, at the end, to imagine what the Democratic response would be.

I was NOT surprised that, unlike the other networks, Fox then did not actually GO to any Democrat for a response, but returned to original programming probably at least five minutes before the other channels did...

Stardust query

2007-08-10T16:20:00.000-04:00

One wonders whether Robert DeNiro has ever played 'pink' before? He's alarmingly comfortable in this characterization (yes, it's a cliche, but I PREFER bad examples of gays to the nice sweet ones in so many boring movies...).

In light of the $54 million pants judge getting his comeuppance...

2007-07-01T18:39:00.001-04:00

A few other judges that might want to be scrutinized a little closer (though I suspect both are long off the bench, because these rulings do go back a bit...)

(1) The one who said it was not sex discrimination to fire a woman because women didn't get pregnant - people got pregnant

(2) The judge who ruled that it was not discrimination to forbid two men from getting married because both men were perfectly legally allowed to marry women if they wanted to

(3) The judge who, upon realizing in a case where two men had had the banns of marriage read in their church without objection that the laws did not specify that marriage was between two people of the opposite sex, turned to a dictionary definition of marriage to make his ruling (yeah, there's a document of live language and societal use...)

A few little thoughts upon watching a bit of the Republican candidate debate

2007-06-05T20:00:00.000-04:00

Of course, as a Canadian, I suppose I shouldn't discuss these things; however, to paraphrase Virginia Woolf, as a queer, I have no country - my country is the whole world...

Hearing Republican after Republican say that changing 'don't ask, don't tell' would be 'disruptive' and that there's no point in changing something that 'works well'...

Does it 'work well' for all the people who are discharged? Is it not 'disruptive' to not have translators in place to try and ease the largely untenable situation in Iraq?

Hmmm...inqueering minds want to know...

2007-06-02T17:57:00.000-04:00

Went to see KNOCKED UP. Fun, if not quite as fun as THE FORTY YEAR OLD VIRGIN. Nice to see Seth Rogen both butt naked and with generous, long shots of the furry chest. :)

One is somehow tempted to reply to the movie poster's line about 'What if this guy got you pregnant?' with (a) it would be a medical miracle (b) I would be the happiest second daddy in the world and (c) late in the pregnancy, I would probably switch to blow jobs to keep Seth happy, even if pediatricians said it was safe to have 'normal' intercourse (oh, heck, I'd be administering them earlier too :) ).

and now a few ideas for direct-to-video sequels:

(1) The Boy Looked At Johnny - in which Whoopi Goldberg, having deciphered 'Jumping Jack Flash', now must figure out what Patti Smith is mumbling during 'Land' to solve another mystery

(2) The Seventh Sense - in which Haley Joel Osment discovers he can see dead careers.

(3) Shrek 4 - Shrek discovers he has become Prime Minister of Canada, which is odd, given that Pinocchio would be a much better choice (or, for that matter, the (necessarily reincarnated) King from the first movie)

(4) Brokerback Mountain - it was all a dream, a horrible, horrible dream...Jack and Ennis get together and move to Canada and get married. Within about a week, they realize that they had never actually been to Montana at all, and that Alberta is looking very, very familiar.

(5) Ooh, a Music Scuffle - Low, Sufjan Stevens and Prince shock us with their non drinking, vegetarian, Christian antics.

(6) Monsters Ltd - in which little Boo opens her closet and discovers that a former governor of New Jersey, a henchman to Joseph McCarthy and the son of Phyllis Schlafly have taken up residence there...aaaaagh!

(7) Fly II - in which an insect crawls all over the naked body of George W Bush. This is a horror film for all parties involved.

(8) The Omen 478 - in which we learn that the Antichrist cannot be killed until we...just...stop...WATCHING.

(9) The Brunch of the Living Dead - come on, even zombies deserve to sleep in ONE day of the week

(10)Austin Powers: Deadhorsey - well, the title speaks for itself...

Blueboy, a band whose records I always tried to find and never could...

2007-05-26T22:19:00.000-04:00

I have this depressing idea that now they may reappear somehow, under such sad circumstances.

The lead singer was, at least according to an interview in the biography section here, not gay...though I do find the obituary notices a bit vague in this regard (does one normally say partner for a straight person? I rarely see that...and one usually at least gets some hint of gender involved...as problematic as that binary model may be...)

Text of notice follows...

Dear Friends,

It is with immense sadness that I have to inform you that my dearest friend Keith Girdler died on May 15th 2007. Keith passed away peacefully after a recent deterioration in his condition - he was diagnosed with cancer in July 2004.

Keith was a truly special person and I know that many people will hold very fond memories of their time spent in his company. Keith is survived by his partner, his siblings and their families. We are all devastated at the tragic loss of Keith and we will miss him enormously.

Keith was known to many as the singer in Blueboy - a brilliant band who are still seen as influential many years since they last released a record. He was a gifted songwriter and he had a beautiful voice.

I considered Keith to be not only my best friend but an amazingly talented person. It was a huge privilege to know him.

Despite continuing to release records with his other groups Arabesque, Beaumont, Lovejoy and The Snowdrops, Keith's focus shifted away from music in recent years.

He enjoyed a successful career, first by training as a qualified social worker and then developing a skilled role as Volunteer Services Manager for Age Concern Eastbourne. He was passionate about his work and the need to stand up for some of the most vulnerable elderly people in our society. Keith was extremely brave and he continued in his work for as long as possible during his illness. I know that Keith was very highly regarded by his colleagues and the people for whom he provided care and support in his work. He was a selfless and gentle person who genuinely affected everyone he knew with his warmth, kindness, humility and humour.Keith wanted to be remembered, to use his own words, with 'happiness and smiles' - which for those of us fortunate enough to have known him, will come all too easily despite our grief.

Words cannot really come close to describing the feelings we have about Keith. However, I know that many people will want to express their sorrow at this news and their sympathy to his family and friends.

If you would like to send a message of condolence, or share your memories of Keith, please send an email to snowboundipc@yahoo.co.uk.

Messages and tributes to Keith will be published online in the near future, when a suitable web location has been established.

Richard Preece May 22 2007

RIP, Mr. Girdler (now I'll have to listen to that single I have with a Snowdrops song on it, another of his bands...)

Spring Cleaning

2007-05-25T12:25:00.000-04:00

It's surprising what I had tucked away in various cupboards.

such as...

(1) A large number of queer 'zines I should probably think of donating to the Lesbian and Gay Archives

(2) FINALLY re-locating my master CD of my recordings

and, sadly,

(3) lots of old postcards from a certain someone back when he remembered to send valentines and say he loved me. :(

Today's Random Woof

2007-05-24T09:34:00.000-04:00

In addition to being a political activist and evidently an even more committed atheist (something to the effect that humanity would not be free 'til the last brick of the last church fell on the head of the last priest), Emile Zola (1840-1902) was quite the looker (by my standards, anyway). Furthermore, in light of the upcoming movie Ratatouille, set in Paris, it is only appropriate that I have discovered he wrote a book called Le Ventre Du Paris (The Stomach of Paris) in 1873.

The Number One Band In Heaven (as it were)

2007-05-20T18:13:00.001-04:00

1. Guitar - Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Cordell Jackson

2. Bass - Kristen Pfaff

3. Drums - Big Mama Thornton

4. Piano - Lucia Pamela

5. Tambourine - John Bonham (I mean, boys should only sing or perhaps do a little dancing in a rock band - but I guess a tambourine is okay...but he'd have to wear bicycle shorts and have no shirt in order to please the crowd, because men really have no place in the world of music other than as ornamentation (yes, this is sarcasm to make a point))

2007-05-20T18:03:00.000-04:00

A few of my favourite songs about death, inspired by it being a bright sunny warm day

1. When People Are Dead by the Go-Betweens

2. People Who Died by Jim Carroll

3. Dead by the Pixies

4. Outta Here by Phranc

5. Asleep by the Smiths

6. Terry by Twinkle

7. Country Death Song by Violent Femmes

8. Did She Jump or Was She Pushed? by Richard and Linda Thompson

9. Comrade in Arms by Sandie Shaw

10. You're Gonna Kill That Girl by the Ramones (I'm sorry, but it just is)

And so the kitschiness continues...

2007-05-19T22:22:00.001-04:00

Yes, I finally succumbed to kitsch and purchased a Sully doll for .10 at a garage sale (I also got a cutesy little box (don't bother) just about the right size to put my guitar picks in - with little bears all over it).

I confess I am powerless in the face of the Kitsch.

I also finally finished re-shelving the LPs and 45s, and discovered today that someone is searching for a copy of the 45 put out by my high school's band in the late 1980s - and, yes, I have it...all I have to do is learn how to do vinyl to CD conversion...

A few random thoughts, in relation to latest weather

2007-05-16T17:51:00.000-04:00

(1) I can't stand the rain, against my window, bringing back sweet memories

(2) Who'll stop the rain?

(3) Have you ever seen the rain?

(4) When the rain comes, they run and hide their heads

(5) If there's any truth to the saying, lord, let it be a summer rain

and now some personal content...

I actually kind of grin when it rains, because, well, the first time me and my sweetheart ended up in an indoor intimate snuggle was when it was about to rain and we had to run back to his place. For a while after that, we used to say: 'Looks like rain' when we were out somewhere and wanted to go be IN somewhere. One day, at a local grocery store, an old lady overheard us and looked outside quizically, because it was one of those August days without a cloud to be seen.

Pray for us in this, the hour of our re-alphabetizing LPs

2007-05-14T21:54:00.000-04:00

Oy, the incipient hernias...

But, once I'm done, next time someone asks if I have a given LP, I can go there and say: "Ye - oh, wait, it must be on the heap of de-filed LPs over there!' (which we all know will start to accumulate within seconds of completing this daunting task)

Too Much Music

2007-05-13T11:22:00.000-04:00

I just got finished re-alphabetizing my 7"s.

You know you have too many 7"s when you discover you have duplicates, because presumably you forgot you had purchased something. (in one case I can think of, I DID buy duplicates deliberately of something very limited, in order to give one as a present - that doesn't count...).

I really have GOT to have my music/book garage sale SOON.

Bless Me, Father, For I Have Gayed...

2007-05-12T16:48:00.000-04:00

Went garage sale-ing today, and got JUDY GARLAND LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL and ABBA GREATEST HITS VOLUMES 1 and 2 on vinyl (as well as WE ARE THE WORLD album and a modern queer CD by Gentleman Reg, DARBY AND JOAN). This, along with three books (an autobio by Arthur Miller, a Mark Helprin novel and a Lillian Jackson Braun mystery novel), came to a grand total of $3.

Also couldn't help but notice what looked very much like a Daddy-Son couple browsing at ONE garage sale. Both very cute in a butch sort of way...

Saw FRACTURE today. As the old Far Side Cartoon put it: 'Big book of story problems!'
Anthony Hopkins proved to have some nice chest fur action going on, though...

On which point, at a local mall, they were having a cancer fundraiser (I would have thought cancer didn't need money, but that, rather, those FIGHTING it did - but perhaps I'm wrong...), and one of the events seemed to be removing chest hair with wax, for a donation. So terribly, terribly EVIL - and the one fellow I was drawn to watch in a car-crash-viewing way didn't even have a lot of hair to drool over while simultaneously mourning its loss....

Just A Few Innocent Questions

2007-05-11T22:11:00.000-04:00

1. If abortion is murder, then would miscarriage be manslaughter? Would adoption be conversion of property? Would child molestation or abuse then be simple property crimes? Just wondering...

2. If, as the Bible seems to imply, Jesus looked like everyone else in the region where he lived, why do some people persist in envisioning this Pat Boonesque figure? Now THAT would stand out...

3. Going back to #1 - evidently one senator proposed that the pro-life/anti-choice movement re-name itself pro-birthday (presumably to allow for the position of also being pro-death penalty). Now...(a) I envision people having to take out legal injunctions to prevent clowns, birthday cakes, balloons, etc. being visited upon them and (b) Now, doesn't being pro-death penalty deprive someone of a birthday, possibly (unless we are to execute everyone on his/her birthday, I suppose...what a happy occasion THAT would be...).

Greetings from a furry place

2007-05-11T17:09:00.000-04:00

Hi - I'm sure I'll have something more profound or less threatening to say in the future.

For the moment, this is simply an introduction to someone you wouldn't probably want to meet, but are now obliged to smile politely at and pretend to listen.

Stay tuned for hopefully more enthralling developments...