“A harmless enigma…made terrible…”

Umberto Eco:  I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.

 

And on that cheery note, we’ll resume our musings, mutterings and random thoughts…Where’d All the Time Go?

Starting the new year willing my mind to cease it’s tornadic cycling. Shut out the asinine Republican spin. Reject the rejection of our hard work to keep Auburn Wal-Mart-free (more, lots more on this later…). But then there’s storms, water under the house, a busted heater, birthdays, hospital stays and gunshots in Tuscon. No time to Stop and Think It Over.

It’s almost impossible to mindlessly surf  TV or the web anymore. The media, all of it, left/right/fringe (there is no more center, at least no voice for it that can be heard in the din), has tasted blood and cannot slake its thirst. Insistence becomes shrill, becomes a shriek, joins the other howls to be heard, revels in the noise until the pack is driven to near-madness by the sacred harpies. Lies, obfuscation and propaganda are everywhere, even if I Don’t Want To Know.

And the insidious song starts to repeat in my mind when I’m driving, gigging, whatever, raising my ire and my blood pressure, forcing me unbidden to react. Now I Gotta Know.

But if I can make it past my human need to join, to be part of the howling, when I really listen and consider…I realize They Don’t Know a goddamn thing.

So it’s time to make my own noise, forge a new track, I’ve heard what they have to say and shout back, ‘I don’t believe you!’ I can do my own research, find the way that works for me and try to use it to ensure everyone gets a voice or, at least, a listen. So you arrogant, entitled, holier-than-shit, teabagging developers and paid-for politicians and brown-nosing appointees: Bring It On!

 

Crab dip:

4oz each:

artichoke hearts, crab meat, raw spinach, shallots; all chopped fine

4oz cream cheese

1 tomato, chopped

heavy cream, garlic and garlic powder, white pepper, chives, olive oil, red pepper flakes

carmelize shallots in 2 tbs olive oil, add a clove minced garlic

add artichoke and crab; saute a few minutes

add spinach and cream; saute

add borsion cheese ( cream cheese, garlic powder, white pepper, chives mixed)

stir in pinch red pepper and mix until smooth

serve hot

Add/subtract whatever you care to, all measurements are guesses anyway!

 

-Liz

All deep things are song.  It seems somehow the very central essence of us, song; as if all the rest were but wrappages and hulls! ~Thomas Carlyle

Links generally last 90 days. I use Box.net for the songs: 5MB free storage, stream or download files. And don’t forget, if you like what you hear,  BUY music from these artists!

Write me to reup anything you’ve missed.

 

This time:

Where’d All The Time Go? – Dr. Dog keeps one foot in the past and the other moving forward. Yeah, sometimes it’s a stretch, but these anthem-spewing younguns are appealing to me right now.

Stop and Think It Over – the Compulsive Gamblers – Greg Cartwright’s original version, done live, of the great song Mary Weiss covered on the comeback cd he produced for her. Talk about your cycles and spirals!

I Don’t Want to Know – Bobby Charles. Lost to us this year, along with SO many others ( see next post).

I Gotta Know – Wanda Jackson – Wait’ll you hear her new one, produced by Jack White…

They Don’t Know (About Us) – Tracy Ullman’s remake of Kisty MacColl’s pop confection. Remember Macca in the video?

Bring It On – the Gaslight Anthem – I think I have to see these guys live…

 

No Depression in Heaven

At the end of time, all that will remain is Keith Richards, a Fender Telecaster, a bunch of cockroaches, and roots rock music. – Brian Henneman, the Bottle Rockets

Thanks, Brian, I needed that to help dispel the gray funk that has surrounded me since No Depression ceased publication ( and substituted the washed-out rag that remains of Paste magazine ) and the Earth slowed its revolution. Fear had overtaken me. Where will I find intelligent analysis, provocative argument and obscure artists reviewed? Well, mostly online at a plethora of sites run by scaredy cats like me, but especially at nodepression.com. It is just getting started, just finding ways to connect and create community, still testing how far it can push categories and credulity (and they are only at the letter ‘C’!). Soon No Depression will be the only site I need to begin my weekly swim in musical oceans, just as the print version was my only subscription, the shoreline cove where I put in my musically inquisitive kayak.

And the music itself seems to carry on blithely. Everywhere there are small groups of kids who don’t get what they need from radio stations calling themselves ‘Power’ or ‘The Beat’ or even ‘Kickin’ Country.’ They explore attics and basements – out of boredom? – and discover grandpa’s Victrola/Close-n-Play and the stained cardboard box of dusty vinyl. As Brian put it:

Re: No Depression To Cease Publication
No, it’s good. This means the last “roots rock scare” is finally over. It’s underground again, just like it’s been time and time again. It’ll start up again, when a new generation of writers discovers it, and we’ll get to be excited all over again for awhile. They ALWAYS “discover” it, ’cause this kinda music never goes away, it only goes away in the eye of the general public.

Pour me a Jameson’s… No Depression is in Heaven and all is right with the world.

My wonderful daughter is engaged!

-Liz
All deep things are song.  It seems somehow the very central essence of us, song; as if all the rest were but wrappages and hulls! ~Thomas Carlyle
Song links generally last 60 days. Write me to reup anything you’ve missed.

 

“Art urges voyages – and it is easier to stay at home.”

—Gwendolyn Brooks

Almost one year has rocketed past here in the Sierra Foothills. It’s unbelievable. The to-do list is still at several pages, the ‘accomplished’ file has no checkmarks, the sofa has two ass-shaped dents. Daylght is becoming weaker as temperatures drop.

“Why does the sky’s blue darken as autumn comes? Is it just the gradual subtraction of cousinly green from the foreground palette, the addition of oranges and browns? That little maple, hastening to turn before her sisters did for some reason, lifting and shaking her burning hands. The hurt and the old turned soonest: the high outermost limb of that dying ancient; that riven but still living one.”
— John Crowley, Daemonomania

So as the economy falls off a cliff and winter clasps its hands around Auburn, I find some renewed energy and even hope for the coming months. There is music, eventually and finally, and my faith in that power – listening, performing, participating and creating – will insure my success or my doom.  Of course, I’m older now, more cautious, I’ll bundle up before heading out of the house, but head out I shall to make a little music and a little(r) cash, then return to this new home  I continue to enjoy and explore the riches still offered by the Gold Country, the rivers, the fairs, the people and their history. All for a song.

“If you can get them once, man, get them standing up when they should be sitting down, sweaty when they should be decorous, smile when they should be applauding politely…and I think you sort of switch on their brain, man, so that makes them say: ‘Wait a minute, maybe I can do anything.’ Whoooooo! It’s life. That’s what rock and roll is for, turn that switch on, and man, it can all be.”  – Janis Joplin

-Liz
All deep things are song.  It seems somehow the very central essence of us, song; as if all the rest were but wrappages and hulls! ~Thomas Carlyle
Song links generally last 60 days. Write me to reup anything you’ve missed.