MORRISSEY: LIVE IN SEATTLE

I am the son And the heir Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar I am the son and heir Of nothing in particular You shut your mouth How can you say I go about things the wrong way? I am human and I need to be loved Just like everybody else does The Smiths -- "How Soon Is Now?" I have a very particular memory about this song. In the mid/late 80s, I was living in Chicago and frequented a very cool and laid-back neighborhood bar called Club 950....

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HOW TO NOT STUFF

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." -- William Morris (British designer and writer, 1834 - 1896)I came across this quote around the same time I became a fan of the furniture and architecture from late 19th - early 20th Century Arts & Crafts movement. I loved the clean and simple lines, the warm woods, and the earthy tones associated with this style. I was tired of the starkness of '80s modern...

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5:40AM

Imagine it is inky pre-dawn. Imagine you went to bed past 1AM. Imagine you are as dead to the world as a 500-lb. stone at the bottom of the ocean.Now imagine a sound, the smallest little squeak. It could be the sound of the lightest breeze barely moving a door, causing a minuscule creak. It could be the sound of the tiniest toddler foot resting on a slightly-warped floorboard. It could be the sound of my own nose as I exhale. It is feathery and thin and floats along with the regular nighttime noises of the house and the birds and early cars outside.I...

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MARIANNE 2

From googleism.com, which promises "Googlism.com will find out what Google.com thinks of you, your friends or anything! Search for your name here..." These were my results, and I see this as an epic poem of of things that may be true. You never know.marianne, googledmarianne is looking for a poemmarianne is so coldmarianne is de bestemarianne is planning on organizing traveling exhibits and a permanent collection/exhibitmarianne is a very quiet bookmarianne...

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BLOTTER 5

It's been a busy fall in Small Town, USA! Time for another police blotter review!THINKING IS GOODThreat: Police arrested a 75-year-old Islander for harassing and threatening to kill a tow truck driver during an argument over the price that he was getting charged for towing his car to his house around 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 19 in the 5100 block of 90th Avenue S.E.Disorderly conduct: 1:09 a.m., 15 Lake Street. A 27-year-old Tacoma man, who was highly intoxicated,...

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NATIONAL EATING DAY

I think we have it all wrong. If you wanted to have a day to think about being thankful for the things in your life, shouldn't you fast instead of gorge yourself? I mean, harvest schmarvest, no one is a farmer anymore and stuffing yourself until you are a bloated mess doesn't make you examine your blessings, it just sends you to the couch in a stupor or to the bathroom in regret. But no one is going to buy my idea. Hallmark is not going to get behind...

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GOODNIGHT KEITH MOON

A wonderfully grim rock n' roll take on a children's classic.Goodnight Keith M...

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ADAM LAMBERT IS A BIG FAT LIAR

I can't stand it. Does this kid actually think most entertainment consumers just got off the Victrola and we haven't seen his crap before??? He comes from a long line of mediocre talents who need to shore up their lack with the shiny sleazy gleam of shock value and media manipulation. He has a new album out, wants to drive sales as quickly as he can before people drop him and move onto another disposable pop half-talent, so controversy is the SURE WAY to do it. His gall is just stunningly large, similar to his sock-stuffed sparkly pants crotch....

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HA 20

(Driving home tonight with the kids, I am singing along to Muth Math's "Typical" on the car radio)MissSeven: Oh, I've heard you sing that song before. I'm having a dayvah jew.Mr11: You mean deja vu.MissSeven: Oh...right, right. Dayvah jew is a holiday, right, Mom?Me: HAHAHAHAHA...

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ROCKTION

People Like Stuff. They like to have stuff and collect stuff and brag about their stuff. Stuff makes people feel more important. Sometimes people like to have stuff that used to be a celebrity's stuff. This makes them feel really extra good, like they can go into their dens and pretend they were once pals of the celebrity. When you are pals with a celebrity, you are clearly more important just by proximity. Some of their Celebrity Magic Dust rubs...

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PILL/GRIM

Once again the holiday season is here, and once again it puts me in a seriously crabby mood. I guess I did not make a successful transition from the childhood giddy thrill of consuming massive amounts of food and gifts to the adult leaden weight of thankless cooking tasks and paying for and wrapping endless plastic lead-infused toys from China. I could easily skip Thanksgiving and Christmas and miss it not one bit. The only thing I would really miss...

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OH, SURE

Adam Lambert claims his man-on-man kiss on last night's American Music Awards happened "in the moment."That was about as unplanned, spontaneous, and entertaining as that Buddhist monk who set himself on fi...

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COLLEGE 2

The University of California Board of Regents have voted to implement a 32% increase in students fees and tuition in a two-stage process beginning in January 2010 and blooming to full financial fruition in the fall. This is making the students very unhappy, as you would imagine, and some of them went on an old-style protest, locking themselves in campus buildings and blocking traffics and such. More than a hundred people have been arrested, and the...

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NO HO HO

This morning I went out to breakfast to Ruby’s Corporate Fake Diner, somewhat enjoying their mushy corned beef hash and intestine-destroying coffee. The rest of the patrons similarly seemed to quietly be enjoying their own mediocre food, including a middle-aged, poodle-permed, heavyset woman and her slumping gray-haired spouse sitting directly across from my table.Suddenly, Old Fat Poodle Woman SCREAMED this at the top of her lungs:“SANTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”WTF! went everyone in the restaurant. Apparently the mall...

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HEY HO, TURN LEFT!

While driving this afternoon I was very happy to note that my directionals were perfectly timed to click along to the Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bo...

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I'M NOT LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE

I am still always so amazed how songwriters can compact such power into such a simple format. “I’m Not Like Everybody Else,” a song released by the Kinks in 1966, is certainly one of those. Ray Davies creates here in three minutes or so perhaps the definitive early pop postmodern/punk statement, snarling at a world of expectations he wants nothing to do with. I won’t take all that they hand me down,And make out a smile, though I wear a frown,And I won’t take it all lying down,‘cause once I get started I go to town.‘cause I’m not like everybody...

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YOU BELONG TO ME

New song and video time! This time I did I cover of my favorite Elvis Costello song, "You Belong To Me," from my favorite Elvis Costello and The Attractions album, This Year's Model. I love the nasty grungy weird mess of it; the sound of a filthy merry-go-round at a suspect carnival is my best verbal approximation.Every good mess of a song deserves a good mess of a video, too!Please to enjoy an analysis from The Disgraced Ghost Of Bruno Bettelheim...

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