Mix Tape was lost! Vol. 11

I WENT TO LAS VEGAS

Jenny's Choice

Subject: Your Stuff
Date: Monday, March 30, 2009 1:00 PM
From:"Big Mama" Raleigh _______@yahoo.com
To:"Jenny Ruth"_______@yahoo.com

Message contains attachments

Hey Jen-
Here's a photo of your stuffed animals. Please let me know which numbers you want me to keep and I'll get rid of the rest. I'm all into spring cleaning.....
Love, me

I WENT TO LAS VEGAS

Three short tracks for KALX tonight

I made these three five-minute-ish medley tracks for my friend Tamara to play during her dj slot at KALX 90.7 tonight, the Berkeley radio station, from 9pm-12am West Coast time. Hopefully she'll slip them in somewhere. There's several ways to get KALX online - in iTunes, under radio, it's listed under "college." Or download one of the mp3 feeds on the KALX website - http://kalx.berkeley.edu/. And here are the three tracks, intended to be programmed at different times thru the hour, hence the recurring themes.

One

Two

Three

Webb Block Tarot Deck: Third Five

More from our homemade tarot deck! Eventually, a whole deck will be available, to print out your damn selves. I've linked to the meanings at aeclectic.net below each card.

The Ace of Pentacles

The Nine of Pentacles

The King of Pentacles

The Hermit

The World

Louis Untermeyer's Song Tournament: New Style

And of course, as Mrs Kinsey points out, not all poetry in the 20th Century was free-form rhymeless depressing drivel. In our ongoing series on neglected poets who wrote with wit & timing, & lots of FEMININE RHYMES (the best kind), here is Louis Untermeyer's "Song Tournament: New Style".

Rain, said the first, as it falls in Venice
Is like the dropping of golden pennies
Into a sea as smooth and bright
As a bowl of curdled malachite.

Storm, sang the next, in the streets of Peking
Is like the ghost of a yellow sea-king,
Scooping the dust to find if he may
Discover what earth has hidden away.

The mist, sighed the third, that lies on London
Is the wraith of Beauty, betrayed and undone
By a world of dark machines that plan
To splinter the shaken soul of man.

The rush of Spring, smiled the fourth, in Florence
Is wave upon wave of laughing torrents,
A flood of birds, a water-voiced calling,
A green rain rising instead of falling.

The wind, cried the fifth, in the Bay of Naples
Is a quarrel of leaves among the maples,
A war of sunbeams idly fanned,
A whisper softer than sand on sand.

Then spoke the last: God's endless tears,
Too great for Heaven, anoint the spheres,
While every drop becomes a well
In the fathomless, thirsting heart of Hell.

And thus six bards, who could boast of travel
Fifty miles from their native gravel,
Rose in the sunlight and offered their stanzas
At the shrine of the Poetry Contest in Kansas.

(Thank you, Chris More, grandson of Untermeyer, for posting it on your University of Santa Fe homepage. When was this poem written?)

TRAUMMUSIK Episode XIII: "Long Song of the Shaman"

Gold Diamonds has been mixilating like a neurologically-damaged opossum. If the blog's followers enjoy galactica & histrionica, I've just dug up old recordings of my hit 2001-02 WSLC radio show "Traummusik", which I hosted at Sarah Lawrence College my sophomore year. (It was the sequel to my less-successful freshman-year show "James's Endless Oasis of Classical Music that NPR will not program.") So, if there's nothing good on the robot-programmed stations, I suggest taking an hour to revisit radio history. I first present Truammusik Episode XIII: "Long Song of the Shaman", which harmlessly juxtaposes free jazz with tuvan throat singing, originally broadcast to limited area of Yonkers, New York, I'm guessing February 2002. I hope to post a couple other of my favorite episodes when it seems appropriate. Listen to it complete below, or download the mp3s of this episode here, put them in your iPods, & listen to it on your epic all-American roadtrip to Shambhala.

Mix Tape was lost! Vol. 10: The Beatles

Mix Tape was lost! Vol. 9

Britney. Sports.

Who knew Mikhail Bakhtin and Julia Kristeva influenced Britney Spears? Her new stuff is highly intertextual.

Oh, and, sports sports sports, sporty sport.

Spinal Tap Unwigged

I was angry & confused when I heard Spinal Tap would be going on tour UNWIGGED - if The Rolling Stones & so many other aging bands still haven't learned that dressing up like that at age 60 is ridiculous, then why should their wisest emanations?
But I just saw this video of Harry Shearer (as in Principal Skinner / Mr Burns / Mr Smithers), Christopher Guest (the director & the six-fingered man) & Michael McKean on their tour, & I forgive them for what they're doing.



How come there's no one in the audience? The three also incarnated as The Folksmen in Guest's movie A Mighty Wind. The Folksmen have also existed for several decades, opening for Spinal Tap, &c. Here's their cover of the Stones' Start Me Up:

	A Mighty Wind - Start Me Up
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Coney Island, March 2009

From the Archives: $1000 - THE GREATEST APARTMENT IN THE HISTORY OF NEW YORK

There was some talk of amazing craigslist posts, which led me to dig out a copy of our 2004 publication, The Limimnibus Papers: What Is It From The Sky? (Volume II of our Sarah Lawrence College literary journal) & read this post we found back in the early days of craiglist.com. There was some discussion about its authenticity, but I maintain that it would be too good of a hoax, there's too many neurotic details to have been published as a joke:

$1000 - THE GREATEST APARTMENT IN THE HISTORY OF NEW YORK

---

Reply to: anon-25367645@craigslist.org
Date: 2004-02-28, 9:58PM EST

There comes a time in one's life when they are able to experience something TRULIEE GREAT:

Spacious, beautiful, elegant, primmed with creative sophistication and modern style Studio Apartment. BREATHTAKING views of the city and a general feeling of comfort and well being. Short commute (45-60 min) to Manhattan. THIS APARTMENT IS TRULLY SPECIAL, and you will share with devouted, delightful, and really awsome roommate! I am a practicing muslim (with strong beliefs in Christianity), vegan, and aspiring musician/composer/teacher. You must be a self-made individual, preferably over 30, MATURE, CONSIDERATE, NEAT, open to other cultures and experiences, and must have an annual income no less then 50,000 dollars and impeccable credit and references (I will ask for 3 separate references, including past employment and your tennet history). No actors, writers, waiters, school teachers, and Corporate folk who work at the follwing companies: Sachi and Sachi, Morgan Stanely, or Starbucks.
You are more then welcome to use all furniture in the studio, but I must ask that you bring your own plates and cooking utensiles (please no meat). I will also ask that you do not use the kitchen area on Mondays, Thurdays, and weekends, and that while I am away (which is not too often because I give accordian lessons to students in the apartment), that you are able to take care my three cats.
Available ASAP for 6 months, with an opportunity to extend the lease for 2 years (with a 10% rent discount!!!) I believe in selflessness and purity, and my actions speak for themselves.

$1000/week OR 4000$/Month (I would prefer 6 Months payed up front, Cash) + small brokers free (20% negotiable) + Deposit + Utilities (we will split my magazine subscriptions)
(If you wish to negotiate the rent, I will be willing to offer you free acordian lessons and a 13 dollar metrocard)

This is an ABSOLUTE STEAL AND WILL NOT LAST LONG! DO NOT WAIT! It is more then just a fabulous apartment share, It's a SHARRING OF MINDS, OF SPIRITS, AND OF THE ETERNAL ENERGY, ALL IN THE GREATEST CITY IN ALL THE WORLD: NEW YORK CITY. DO NOT BE AFRAID OR QUESTION YOURSELF TOO MUCH: LET GO OF THE PAST AND BE PRESENT, FOR A BIG PRESENT IS WAITING FOR YOU, A REALLY COOL ROOMMATE IN THE GREATEST APARTMENT IN NEW YORK! THE GREATEST APARTMENT IN NEW YORK!!!!!

DELAYS PLAGUE POLICE DISCIPLINE PROGRESS

Yesterday, we were having a late brunch at Sam's Log Cabin in Albany (which I'm impressed has received a Congressional Recognition from Barbara Lee - excellent taste, Barbara Lee eats for me!) & discussing the many differences between English newspapers & American newspapers. We were complaining about the smarmy style in many San Francisco Chronicle articles, coupled with such a dry taste in headlines - there's never any wit or levity, nothing grabbing you to the article, it's usually just an awkwardly worded statement of fact. I opened to a random page, & stumbled over the following headline:

DELAYS PLAGUE POLICE DISCIPLINE PROGRESS

I tried reading it three different ways & still couldn't make sense of it. The problem is, every single word can be either a noun or a verb! That's five for five, surely a record (at least for headlines). And a few words can be adjectives too. We tried punctuating it a variety of ways to conjure other implications:

DELAYS, PLAGUE POLICE: DISCIPLINE PROGRESS

DELAYS PLAGUE, POLICE DISCIPLINE: PROGRESS

&c. Any of those articles are sure to be more interesting than the original. Mr Gaskin tells us about the quest to make a sentence entirely from the word buffalo, which can be an adjective (buffalo gals), noun (tantanka), verb (outwit or to pistol-whip?) & a few other things. Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo!

um...political analysis?

SAVE THE DATE - Invitation to "A Celebration of Fake Love"

From the facebook invite:

How does a Fake Wedding?
-Guests are assigned rolls. Rather than making it completely random, people can request who they want to be (i.e., Mother of the Bride, Wedding Planner, Drunk Uncle). Someone has to be the Bride & Groom. Anyone have a white dress?
-Ceremony in the early afternoon, backdropped by a view of the San Francisco Bay. (There's a ten minute hike up to the spot, so wear your second-best tux, or jeans under your bridesmaid's dress.)
-Followed by a semi-Potluck/semi-catered Reception at my apartment, with excellent speeches & dancing

"All the best parts of a wedding without eternally fettering two sorry souls!"

In case you were not able to appreciate the collage due to its small size

12 Bits of News from Hindoostaan

1. A buffalo has been cloned. Yes, read the story here, folks.

Apparently, "India...has the largest population of the best buffaloes in the world. However, the percentage of elite animals is very low and there is a need to enhance the population of these buffaloes. The cloning technique is expected to address this gap."

Yes, so it shall.

In other news, the buffalo has died of pneumonia.

2. मैं हिन्दी में यह कंप्यूटर पर लिखना सकती हूँ

3. "Pak" did it.

4. Hot water heaters are called "geezers"

5. The concepts of yesterday and tomorrow are expressed by the same word (कल)



6. I have been watching these giant Indian fruit bat flying fox creatures from the roof. They are, like, huge.







7. I do not yet have the ability to move images captured on my camera obscura to any sort of electronic numerical integrator type device; hence the pirated images you see above. I will also treat to you to a handsome collage of Gayatri Devi, Maharani of Jaipur:


8. My 26th Birthday was celebrated with a cake, upon which was written "Happy Birthday Allen!"

9. Word is going round my Indian family that "my father is a rich and famous dentist."

10. Went to buy bedsheets for Ravi Shankar with my pal Krishnaji, student of Raviji. Attended dinner hosted by Raviji in Delhi, delivered bedsheets. What was I doing at a dinner with Ravi Shankar?? Good g-d.

11. The plumeria and jasmine are in full bloom.

12. Phone booths are called STDs.

The Artist Charles Gilchrist asks "Who is this guy Metatron? Who is this being known as Metatron? Where'd he come from?"

In my last post, I illustrated my discussion of Enoch / Metatron with an artist's mandala of Metatron's Cube, which is a Flower of Life ("a geometrical figure composed of multiple evenly-spaced, overlapping circles, that are arranged so that they form a flower-like pattern with a sixfold symmetry like a hexagon." -Wikipedia)

I was just glancing thru Artist-Philosopher-Writer-Teacher Charles Gilchrist's Sacred Geometry: The Architecture of the Universe & found that he has a YouTube video all about Metatron & Metatron's Cube, dosed heavily in theosophy & symbology:

Enoch & the Metatron

It's superficial to suppose that our interest in the Metatron is merely because his name sounds like a "superhero baddie". It's also further research into a once-&-future hip-hop project about large-breasted angels. Philip Pullman made the archangel into the Blakean usurping Prime Minister to the decrepit God at the end of His Dark Materials trilogy. (Are they going to make the second two into movies? I just looked at the imdb for The Subtle Knife, & it sort of eternally says "Pre-Production") Anyway, when Mr Mary told me he met a man named Enoch, I twoted him the passage from the "Generations of Adam" (Genesis Book 5), where, in contradistinction from Adam, Seth, Mahalaleel, Jared, Methuseleh, & the rest, about all of whom it makes a point of writing "and he died." Here is the equivalent passage for Enoch:

And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:
And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. [Gen. 5:24-25]

Very mysterious. And so there are traditions in Jewish mysticism where Enoch becomes the highest angel Metatron, & there's some Apocrypha about him. I'm impressed that the website Scribd.com lets you embed all sorts of gnostic gospels & pseudopigrapha into your blog, so here's the Third Book of Enoch for you to read all about the Metatron yourself:
Hebrew book of 3 Enoch

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Religion & Spiritual bible apocalypse

Qwill twotted back:
Qwill
@SSandrigon Crazy. Just a few weeks ago I had an argument with a Catholic about whether Enoch ever died.
about 11 hours ago from TwitterGadget in reply to SSandrigon

If we've learned anything from this, it's: when you're writing the history of your family, make sure to state "& he died" somewhere in every obituary, or for thousands of years people might be wondering what happened to Uncle Jeff.

RICHARDSON - Shaped-Note Score & Demo Solo-Quartet mp3 Recording

RICHARDSON is a four-parted shaped-noted arrangement of Richard Fariña's song "Children of Darkness" (1966). Since it is an arrangement of a copyrighted song, I tentatively add it to the "additional songs" addendum to the Western Harmony. As for the demo recording, I remind you that I'm making these just to demonstrate the harmonies, & for the joy of it, I warn you they are sloppy, this one has its own unique intonational moments, & in general not for the auricularly sensitive. Download this demo mp3 here. And this version of the lyrics is alterned only minutely to fit the stricter rhythms - (like in the great Joan Baez / Peter Schickele version, I drop the lame fourth verse.)

Oh, now is the time for your loving, dear,
And time for your company.
Now, the light of reason fails
And fires burn on the sea.
Now in this age of confusion
I have need for your company.

For I am a wild & a lonely child,
And son of an angry man.
Now the high wars raging,
I will offer you my hand.
We are the children of darkness
And the prey of a proud, proud land.

It's once I was free to go roaming in
The wind of a springtime mind.
Once the clouds I sail'd upon
Were sweet as lilac wine.
Why are the breezes of summer, dear,
Enlaced with a grim design?

Mix Tape was lost! Vol. 8

GERMANS!
SATURN!
GHOSTS!
BURMESE!
TRUCKERS!
HINDUSTANIS!
TEET HEALTH!

Many R. Kellys Trapped Manyly.

I can't believe I've never heard of this yet, Michael Bell-Smith's "Chapters 1-12 of R. Kelly's Trapped In The Closet Synced and Played Simultaneously" (2006)

12:16 PM Olaf: amazing that this was put togetherit is confusing
me: I can't believe it never occurred to us
Olaf: maybe this is how god showersyahme too12:17 PM it seems so obvious
me: Yes, I love that he did the video too
Olaf: exactlywe should have a showing, projecting that shitit is almost like an eskimo songlike some ancient ritual snggroup sing12:18 PM for harnessing the earth's power
me: That is trueTruer words never before twotted.twitteth
12:19 PM Olaf: the end is amazingwowi feel reborn

Music Review: Versions of Paranoid Android

Of course, there are many ways to listen to Radiohead's music without having to hear them perform it. (I'm referring to the British band, not to be confused with the late-John-Lennon-song cover band we had in college.) I woke up this morning to discover someone had put this entire song into a program called Mario Paint Composer. I'm not sure which came first, if the version off the album OK Computer is a painstaking re-creation of this one or visa versa:


There are several solo piano arrangements, from different universes. The NPR host Christopher O'Riley has arranged dozens of Radiohead songs for classical piano. My friend Mr Holt tells me that whole project is a bit sloppy, & also that O'Riley's performances of these arrangements are unsatisfying.

Now, Brad Mehldau's jazz versions are a whole different kicking squeeling gucci little piggy. Here's the version from the album Largo. I'll never get tired of hearing the prepared piano in the beginning:

	Brad Mehldau - Paranoid Android
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

And if you're into nerdily comparing dozens of different live jazz solos, Mehldau has no shortage to dig thru. There's a couple other covers of just this song released, & there's a few more on bootlegs, like this one in Perugia 1999, only about fifteen wanky minutes total:



The reggae band Easy Star All-Stars has covered the entire OK Cupid album, a bit of a hit-or-miss project. My favorite part about it is the newfound ability to understand the lyrics. About two minutes into Paranoid Android, the brass part is great. If there's anything Radiohead can learn from the Easy Star All-Star covers & Mehlau's Largo version, is that they should have much more trombones in their productions.

	Easy Star All-Stars - Paranoid Android
	Found at bee mp3 search engine