waifstream run dry

Why "On the Way to the Peak of Normal" isn't streaming online anymore... finally an explanation. Find out why the water has run dry in the waifstream. It is a shame that the station I am part of can't seem to make it into the 21st century in any significant way. We used to have online archives of past shows, a good stream, and more. It is one of my goals this year to bring the show to you in a podcast format. I have a really full plate so I don't know when that will be, but I'll keep you posted.

Sight of the Day

A post it note saying: M. Mitch, Found False Teeth, followed by a phone number...

Books I've Read

Clockwork by Philip Pullman... He should be listed in the steampunk cannon, if he hasn't been already. I've thoroughly enjoyed all 8 or so books I've read by him. A highly recommended writer to read.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling... a nice diversion with good insights into the world of the wizards. I want more though... further immersion into that world.

From Shit to Biofuel

Alchemy at its finest: turning the dross of shit into the gold of biofuel. I hope American cities can learn something from the rest of the world and follow suit.

Sight of the Day

A Crow sitting on my neighbors tree branch, a piece of meat clipped in its beak.

Sight of the Day

Icicles trickling down off the trees like cones of light frozen in time.
So begins a week of visual exploration.

Smell of the Day

Green tea that smells like a popcorn kernel. Thanks for the Tea, Elliot.
That's the last smell... tomorrow we move into another sensory world.

smell of the day

Smell of the day: Money, green, dirty, and freshly laundered, as cotton always should be.
I saw the G-Man sniffing a wad of cash in the breakroom today, and it inspired the smell.

Two New Reviews Up On Brainwashed

Two new reviews of mine are now up on Brainwashed. They are "Strings of Consciousness & Angel" and "Anahita".

Smell of the Day

I know... yet another smell of the day. This is the 5th one, so only three more to go after this. Anyway, when I woke up today I had a nasty black and red booger I had to hack out of my nose. It was actually more like a scab in case you wanted to know. Since then I haven't really been able to smell anything. Except the yummy cookies I didn't eat at Sitwell's this morning.

Smell of the Day

Smell of the day:
Coffee roasting over an open fire... Busch beer percolating in garbage cans.

Smell of the Day

The cold antiseptic of the doctors office, clean and sterilized

Exhaust Fumes

Smell of the day: Exhaust fumes, from the fucking car that hit me on my way to work today, crossing Hamilton at the Chase intersection. I feel okay. No pain. Just in shock. That doesn't mean your prayers aren't needed or appreciated.

Smell of the Day

A new feature I hope to implement for the next five weeks... A description of something perceived with one of the five senses each day, each week being dedicated to a different sense... then in the sixth week, moving into the sixth sense.

Todays smell: "Like old moth balls and diet soda."

The Prisoner is now Free

R.I.P. Patrick McGoohan

March 19, 1928 - 13 January 2009

If you haven't ever watched The Prisoner do yourself a favor and take a viddy. It portrays a very orwellian big brother town in which everyone is under constant surveillance, has no names, only numbers, and is unfortunately too close to home. The creator and actor in this show, Patrick McGoohan recently passed away. May he rest in peace, in the Light of God.

"I am not a number, I'm a free man!"

Back to Pure Musick

Set List for On the Way to the Peak of Normal, Jan 15th broadcast:

1. I Hear A New World - Joe Meek
2. System - Calder
3. Velvet Shoon - Anahita
4. Cover Me (slowly) - Deerhunter
5. You Are My Home - Rivulets
6. Born Into You - Pantaleimon
7. Larsen w/ David Tibet - ABECEDA pt. 3
8. O Felix - Azim Ali (St. Hildegard Von Bingen)
9. The Cusp of Magic - Terry Riley / Kronos Quartet with Wu-Man
10. #2 (from & Angel) - Strings of Consciousness
11. Far Away from the City - Cranes
12. I Wear Your Ring - Cocteau Twins
13. I Go With Him - Nina Nastasia
14. Brompton Oratory - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
15. Komm mit - Faust
16. Guess the Politician - the Legendary Pink Dots
17. Mother - A Bad Diana (Diana Rogerson)
18. The Lonely People (are getting lonelier) - Stars of the Lid

background music - Black Hole Sun ala Moog Cookbook

The Cusp of Magic

Terry Riley / Kronos Quartet and Wu Man, “The Cusp of Magic”

Ever since 1970 when composer Terry Riley first became a disciple of legendary Indian vocalist and yogi Pandit Pran Nath, Eastern inflections have pervaded his music. It comes as no surprise to find him dipping into those waters once again on this release where the virtuosic pipa player Wu Man joins Kronos Quartet for a sacred journey reminiscent of initiation into adulthood, of innocence transformed into experience.

Nonesuch Records

The title of this six song cycle, “The Cusp of Magic”, refers to the summer solstice –the longest day of the year- and the transition from the sign of Gemini to Cancer. During the night it is a time of revelry and ritual. The composers own birthday is on June 24th and this work was commissioned in honor of him turning seventy. The album begins with the slow and steady pulse of a shamanic drum accompanied by a lush synth chord. The beat keeps my attention focused and centered, grounded to the earth. A peyote rattle soon joins in and it shakes from my head all the useless debris accumulated over the course of a day, the necessary cleansing that must occur when approaching the sacred. Then strings come in, lifting me up, holding me in their rich harmonic interplay, bouncing off each other, causing a rushing spurt of kundalini to run up my spine. Among the strings is a Chinese instrument known as the pipa, often compared to a lute. The flavor of it colors the whole album with its playful joviality, as it moves effortlessly across the oceans, melting the boundaries between East and West.
On “Buddha’s Bedroom” Wu Man also adds her soft voice, singing a lullaby as the cello is bowed and sticks hit together in the background. In English the words are “Mama’s back home/my sweet baby/please go to sleep.” I don’t know if the quartet will let the baby sleep; I wouldn’t be able to. The softness is replaced by a somber mood as the strings carve out a space where I toss and turn during a restless night, as racing thoughts flit around my head.
Toys abound in “the Nursery” joining detuned bells and an electronic murmur that buzzes like cicadas outside the window. Riley’s distinctive voice, trained for raga, drifts from below the subliminal surface of the mix with his own lullaby, “rest your head/and don’t you fret/the best times for you are coming yet” and then a jack-in-the-box pops out laughing.
“Royal Wedding” is just that: the sound of celebration as two people join together at a soul level, marrying not only themselves but also their families, having kids, and their kids having the grandchildren whom I visit on the next track. “Emily and Alice” is a song that continues to haunt me. The voice of Elisabeth Commandy sings the voice of the Russian Cheburashka doll and cartoon character in a way both innocent and possessive of an anxious awareness. A snippet from the nutcracker as played on a music box pops in for a moment, but afterwards the child like voice is even more distant; warped as if processed through a looking glass, bending and distorting it.
All is not lost. Souls can be recalled to their home and “Prayer Circle” does the trick. It stirs the fire inside the shamanic lodge, recalling to me a sense of purpose I had somehow lost along the way. Like anyone else I have been scarred on the road to adulthood, but these marks carved out in the lineaments of my spirit are part and parcel for the journey. The shaman breathes life back into the body. The sun comes up over the hills, and like a red tailed hawk perching on an obelisk, when the music is over, the soul resumes its flight; all making for another solid collaboration between Terry Riley and Kronos Quartet.

Aetherial Sonography

I upcycled a new song today from three old tape tracks I recorded circa 'o2- '04. Instruments used:
Juno-6 Polyphonic Synthesizer, Acoustic Cat Chicken Guitar, Rainy Days on Fenton, an Old Sequencer, Undisclosed Samples, Effects, Eurorack Mixer, etc. It is called Aetherial Tones.
You can listen to my other songs on soundclick as well from the links above or the flotsam, jetsam, and recalcitrant debris on the sidebar.

I made this image using a cool program called Apophysis. It's free.

Add Zest With Adderall

My blog seems to be taking on a pharmaceutical quality. Did I mention what fuels my writing sessions?It was a bus stop, complete with a graffitied up bench, all fogged out because of it’s close situation next to the mill creek. Nobody ever liked to hang out by the mill creek, except for the haggard and despondent ones. The oracle had been calling to him, and now in his hand was a battered up box made out of cardboard. It had stickers on it and tape, with a few precious secrets also kept inside. He didn’t have to go far. He had found what the oracle wanted exactly, in his own city. But it had taken him a very long time to find his peculiar present, and purple grooves reminiscent of flowers were worn underneath his insomniac eyelids.

Return of the Tribe

Here is an interesting article on families, tribes, the extended family, what happened to them, and what is being done to restore them.
Chuck Byrd and Betsy Young of Aurore Press are doing a lot to build up the writing and political dissenters community here in Northside and Cincinnati at large. I will be reading at their "Farewell to Bush" event they are hosting at Cluxton Alley Coffee, on Hamilton Ave., just down from Hoffner Park, at 7 PM on Saturday January 24th.
Other readers include: Nathan Singer, Robert "Jughead" Sturdevant (the Godfather of Cincy Punk), Chuck himself and more to be announced.

2008 Readers Poll Awards at Brainwashed

The Brainwashed readers poll awards for 2008 are up... and ephedrine is back. (Photo by my beloved Audrey).

The Last Lecture

This is the most recent book I finished. I liked it quite well. An inspiring read, the focus being on achieving your childhood dreams.