First Vision of St. Olaf - The Manna Sustains song no. IV

First Vision of St. Olaf, Song no. IV of The Manna Tease's Epic Murder Ballad Song Cycle, The Manna Sustains!

...wherein our hero Special Agent Francis, having hitchhiked to Saskatchewan, meets a trucker whore named Elle Mary at a highway diner. They smoke a hookah, and Francis has a vision in which St Olaf advises him to seek the fugitive Young Manasseh in Mexico. Also in the same diner, a senior citizen named Lenore mysteriously dies after complaining about the restaurant's atmosphere.


Please "like" / follow our band The Manna Tease on facebooks:.

More from The Manna Sustains.

Lyrics:

First Vision of St Olaf

At a table by the door,
In a truck stop diner ‘bout a mile outside of Moose Jaw.
Sat an elderly lady named Lenore,
Moaning to her husband that her steak was somewhat raw.
Is it cold in here? I think I feel a draught....

At the next table over,
Was Special Agent Francis drinking Oolong tea.
For two thousand kilometers,
He’d been squished between to two chimpanzees
In a truck transporting monkeys.
Every time he had to pee, the chimps only laughed.

White hair down to the floor,
He thought he saw a goddess, or the oracle at Delphi,
When he saw the trucker whore.
She bid him follow her, & her name was Elle Mary.
She led him to a back room thru a small secret door.

She asked, would you like to smoke?
She lit up a hookah filled with donut-flavored shisha.
His internal senses awoke,
And in the rings of smoke saw a vision of St Olaf.
St Olaf spoke & the galaxies evoked,
Olaf danced & laughed, & the smoke became a storm,
If you want to find Manasseh, go where the winds are warm.

You must go to Mexico.
Go where dahlias grow,
Go where there’s no snow.
Go to Mexico,
Go where the warm winds blow,
Go where Charro’s apropos.
Fly South with the Geese,
Feel the breeze from off the seas,
Neath Paradise trees.
Siesta dogs with fiesta fleas,
Catch the dysentery disease,
Do whatever you damn well please,
Ay yi yi yi!

Francis emerged on the highway.
Exhaled from his mouth & stuck out his thumb due South.
Meanwhile, by the diner’s buffet,
Lenore fell over dead, her head in the basket of bread,
Lenore! her husband said, have you croaked or have you choked?
We need to call the law, oh, she said the steak seemed raw.
(But you & I both know, that the steak was perfectly well cooked.)

©2011 The Manna Tease

The Manna Sustains
An Epic Murder-Ballad Song-Cycle
by the Manna Tease

And the Lord said, I brought you into this world, and I can take you out. -Exodus 16.37

Prelude. The Wind & the Rain
Song no. I. Young Manasseh's Stains
Song no. II. On the Trail of Young Manasseh
Song no. III. What Mary Noticed
Song no. IV. First Vision of St Olaf
First Interlude. The Wind & Snow
Song no. V. Wha' Happened in Oaxaca
Song no. VIa. Who are you, Elle Mary?
Song no. VIb. Second Vision of St Olaf
Song no. VII. Pink Mary's Stains
Song no. VIIIa. Banks of Pontchartrain
Song no. VIIIb. Young Manasseh Complains
Second Interlude. The Wind & Mud
Song no. IXa. Arkansas City
Song no. IXb. On the Trail of Pink Mary
Song no. X. Pink Mary's Marriage
Song no. XIa. Chase Scene / The Spatula / Pink Mary's Death
Song no. XIb. The Manna Sustains
Song no. XIc. Pink Mary's Resurrection / Wha' Happened in Oklahoma / Who Are You, Elle Mary? (Reprise)
Song no. XII. Young Manasseh Remains
Hymn. Sacred Throne
Palinode. And I Will No Longer Smoke My Hubbly-Bubbly Solitarily

Department of Rats: Blake le Rat's first Facebook cause page

I couldn't figure out how to make a "pet page" on facebooks for our pet rats, Blake le Rat & Doggy Rat. (I've heard of many people creating facebook pages for their dogs, &c., but there's no easy way to do it. Even Mark Zuckerberg's dog, Beast, has his own page, but he's listed as a "public figure." Why don't they just make "dog" or "pet" or "animal" or "rat" as options?)
Anyway, so instead, I created a "cause" page for Blake le Rat's issue of her lifetime: getting on floor. If you support this cause, I encourage you to "like" her page. The argument of this movement is summed up in the opening lines of the song The Manna Tease wrote for her, "It's a Snoopy Snoopy Poop Doggy Ratty Rat World":

She wants to get on floor, but she's not allowed on floor.
She wants to go explore, but floor could lead to door.
Blake le Rat, you're curious as a dolphin.
You're just a rat, but the world is in your tiny hand.

Pure poetry, and now she has a cause: FLOOR.

I destroyed the New York Times computer at Rock Paper Scissors

Look, I pulverized the New York Times Roshambo-playing computer. (It was their "novice" computer, that learns as it goes, but still. They also have an advanced one.) I challenge anyone to beat my score in 50 games.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/science/rock-paper-scissors.html#

Firewhiskey Recipe 2011 - How to make Firewhiskey

Because the top search term leading people to this site the past month was "firewhiskey recipe," I will gladly reprint an update in a simpler, less wordy fashion, than the recipe from my essay about alcohol in the Harry Potter books:

-Slowly warm up half bottle of scotch on low heat, DO NOT BOIL!
-In a separate small pot, add various spices to about a cup of water (which can be heated to a near boil.) I recommend ample amounts of various hot chili sauces, cayenne pepper, chipotle, turmeric, nutmeg, and anything else in your spice cabinet that may have a kick.
-Mix the pots and poor into shot glasses. (Make sure it's not so hot to burn your mouth when you take the shots!)
-Chase with butterbeer.

In my original version, I used Dave's Insanity Sauce, which is a hot sauce so hot that it needs to be diluted. Since you may not be using this, there might not be any reason to dilute the spices in the cup of water, and if you wish, just add them directly to the whiskey. I'd appreciate feedback in comments!

Note on the spelling: In my original post on firewhiskey & butterbeer recipes, I spelled it "firewhisky." However, most everywhere else on the internet spells it firewhiskey, so I assume they're correct. (Generally, "whisky" is the Irish spelling, and "whiskey" everywhere else.) I don't have the books in front of me to look up how Rowling spells it, but I just noticed, in the Harry Potter Wiki, both spellings are used there for different brands: "Popular brands include Ogden's Old Firewhiskey and Blishen's Firewhisky."
_________________________________________________________________

Please "like" our band The Manna Tease on facebooks:

¡Art! ¡Cuidado! Liam Golden & Grace Marlier Art Pages

Ennui, ecstasy, immortality, & antipathy... that's right, gentlemen, art is on display on the internet.

First, Liam Golden Does Things, the blog on his website liamgolden.com, has been rapidly putting up art in the last twenty-four hours. These are websites you should occasionally peruse. Here's one of the posts, called "Bird! Stone! Water!"

Working on an illustration

for an article on Rock! Paper! Scissors!

or as I know it from childhood, Ro! Sham! Bo!

(or Rochambeau, not to be confused with the French vicomte and soldier who shares my two christian names (Joseph, Mary)).

Also known as Bird! Stone! Water! and Wrap! Cut! Crush!

Interesting that Olaf Mary shares my newfound love for Comic Sans, great minds thinking alikely.

Next I invite you to "like" Grainne Proinseas' new facebook artist page, Grace Marlier. It has FASHION! SKETCHES! DRAWINGS! PAINTINGS! ART!

That one, from the album G.F. Marlier; some fashion illustrations, is captioned "want to make this for [Minnie Molly Mary]," of The Manna Tease. Exciting. And, finally here's a sketch of Mr Quill & me in Bulgaria, from the album Beautiful To Forget, More Beautiful Still To Be Forgotten, a collection of drawings from our Eastern European vacation:

What Mary Noticed - The Manna Sustains song no. III

Our Epic Murder Ballad Song Cycle, The Manna Sustains, continues with song no. III, "What Mary Noticed." Here's us singing it on youtube:


What Mary Noticed, Song no. III of The Manna Tease's Epic Murder Ballad Song Cycle, The Manna Sustains!

...wherein Pink Mary, a 12-year-old girl who lives in the sewers, observes secretly the goings on in Arkansas City, including the machinations of Miss Masha, the mayor's mistress. Mary sees her purchasing Rohypnol from a contrabassoon-playing dwarf and surreptitiousness poisoning Young Manasseh & the Deputy Sheriff, Maple Seraph, who are having a lusty romance. That same chilly evening, the mayor mysteriously kicks the bucket, & Miss Masha succeeds him.

Please "like" / follow our band The Manna Tease on facebooks!

The first two songs, Young Manasseh's Stains & On the trail of Young Manasseh, were posted on this blog here. More of The Manna Sustains on itwaslost.

Lyrics:

What Mary Noticed


As black as a galactic eclipse,
And as reactionary as a reactionist,
Is Pink Mary’s filthy face.
She thinks that it’s pretty neat
To live beneath the city street.
And she sees things from her secret space.


She noticed the Mayor of Arkansas City
Leave the City Hall at about 11:30,
With a woman who was not his wife.
The girl tripped over a napping vagrant,
Who was wafting nasty odors flatulently fragrant,
And out of her satchel fell a small switchblade knife.


The police would love to see what
Mary sees, but unfortunately,
She lives beneath their toes.
She wears a fleece to shield her
From the breeze, she fears that she will freeze.
As the sewer urchins know:
She’s already lost her nose.


The next afternoon outside an underground saloon,
Mary noticed a dwarf with a contrabassoon
Selling flunitrazepam to the Mayor’s mistress.
Then she saw the vagrant & a female officer,
Stumbling arm-in-arm down a dark corridor,
As he fumbled with the straps on her dress.


Mary saw the Mayor’s mistress see the strange pair,
And she watched them in the alley strip into their underwear.
And she slyly slipped on a skier’s mask.
The mistress crept up to the fornicating couple,
As invisible as a heaping rubble of trouble.
And she slipped the rufies into the vagrant’s flask.


The police would love to see what, &c...


That night it was pretty windy,
There was a cold draught slamming shutters all over the city,
And Pink Mary bundled up in her fleece.
In the morning, outside the Mayor’s mansion,
Cops & ambulances clustered neath the Kansas sun.
The Mayor was stone dead… with no sign of disease.


The dwarf took out his contrabassoon,
And played a sorrowful tune to the midwinter moon,
And Mary wept.
She noticed the vagrant & his lover flee town,
And the mistress put on her head the Mayor’s crown,
And Mary snatched the switchblade… from off of the City Hall steps.


The contra-bassoon played: baaah bah bah bah, &c...


©2011 The Manna Tease
"What Mary Noticed" incorporates the traditional folk tune "Sacred Throne," by Hugh Wilson (1800), (public domain.)

UPDATE: How about an illustrated songbook version of this song?

What Mary Mary Noticed, from The Manna Sustains - Illuminated Sheet Music

The Manna Sustains
An Epic Murder-Ballad Song-Cycle
by the Manna Tease


And the Lord said, I brought you into this world, and I can take you out. -Exodus 16.37


Prelude. The Wind & the Rain
Song no. I. Young Manasseh's Stains
Song no. II. On the Trail of Young Manasseh
Song no. III. What Mary Noticed
Song no. IV. First Vision of St Olaf
First Interlude. The Wind & Snow
Song no. V. Wha' Happened in Oaxaca
Song no. VIa. Who are you, Elle Mary?
Song no. VIb. Second Vision of St Olaf
Song no. VII. Pink Mary's Stains
Song no. VIIIa. Banks of Pontchartrain
Song no. VIIIb. Young Manasseh Complains
Second Interlude. The Wind & Mud
Song no. IXa. Arkansas City
Song no. IXb. On the Trail of Pink Mary
Song no. X. Pink Mary's Marriage
Song no. XIa. Chase Scene / The Spatula / Pink Mary's Death
Song no. XIb. The Manna Sustains
Song no. XIc. Pink Mary's Resurrection / Wha' Happened in Oklahoma / Who Are You, Elle Mary? (Reprise)
Song no. XII. Young Manasseh Remains
Hymn. Sacred Throne
Palinode. And I Will No Longer Smoke My Hubbly-Bubbly Solitarily

Butterbeer Recipe 2011

Two years ago I published a short essay on the alcoholic magical beverages in the Harry Potter books, with my versions on how to make them, called "Firewhisky Recipe! Butterbeer Recipe!" It's since been one of the most viewed posts on this blog, and for good reason. They are delicious.

In anticipation of the final movie coming out this week, one of the top articles on The Huffington Post was "Butterbeer: How the Harry Potter Beverage Was Made Real." According to Jim Hill: "Based on surveys that UOR employees have done, the greatest Guest Satisfier in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter [the theme park in Florida], that piece-of-the-magic that people most wish that they could take home and share with friends and family... is a beverage. Butterbeer, to be precise."

He also said the Wizarding World folks "labored for nearly three years to come up with a workable real-world recipe for this magical, mythical brew." Three years, really? Our recipe came to my friend Jenny Ruth in a dream. The sugary, highly-processed creation they serve at the theme park, of course, has a top-secret recipe. So you have to apparate to Florida to drink butterbeer? Do you know what else has a secret recipe? Coca-cola. And Ira Glass, like Hermione would have done, figured that one out with a little research.

"So -- that said -- what is actually known about this amber ale?," you query. Well, there are two distinct phases to the preparation / pouring of a glass of Butterbeer. First the bottom layer -- a slightly thickened mixture which tastes like a combination of butterscotch, cream soda and shortbread cookies -- is poured into the bottom of the glass. Then the Butterbeer's head -- which is this lighter, fluffier, less sweet version of marshmallow fluff -- is carefully placed on top of the brown brew that has previously been poured into this glass.

I fully sympathize with a Harry Potter-themed resort wanting to sell a version of the magical drinks, one that can be legally sold to kids and help them have an inspiring experience. (The "magic" in that secret recipe sounds like it's sugar and artificial flavoring, which would have the magical effects of a sugar-high and weight gain.) A close reading of Rowling's books will reveal that Butterbeer is not only magical but alcoholic. It's clearly the latter, because it has certain mild but well-known effects on the student characters after they consume it, such as the lowering of inhibitions. As I wrote in my essay two years ago:

In Harry Potter, after Harry has been attacked by a dementor, Professor Lupin gives him chocolate to restore him, not exactly advanced magic. All thru-out the books, Rowling understands that there are simpler magics & emotional forces more powerful than some of her sillier spells. What exactly is a potion but a brewed beverage with transformative properties? Alternately, when Ron is recovering from a strong potion, Professor Slughorn gives him a shot of mead which turns out to be laced with a powerful poison - not exactly the positive metaphor for drinking that parents fear. And there's of course two much more potent beverages in the Half-Blood Prince book - love potion & felix felicis (liquid luck). None of this fictional magic is far-fetched from what any teenager or adult has experienced from well-timed libations.

At the time, I was righteously outraged by online recipes I found, not because they were non-alcoholic but because they were disgusting, using melted butter & butterscotch syrup. I'll reprint now the simple alcoholic itwaslost version, which I recommend smuggling into the cinema this weekend:

-a dark ale or black ale (I recommend New Belgium's 1554 black ale.)

-a dash of butterscotch schnapps on top.

It's easy & inexpensive to make, available outside of Florida, it's sweet & butterscotchy but not sugary, and it might loosen you up and give you the courage to ask the witch you like to the ball. Cheers!

The Manna Tease Live at Adobe Books, 8 July 2011

Good morning. The Manna Tease played a small gig at a book store in San Francisco on Friday, and there are a few good videos of some of our new songs. What the HECK, I'm going to put them all up here, if you want to see the show.

We opened with the premiere of "Come to the Berkeley Bunghole," which is about our dream of opening a workingman's wine bar.



Lyrics & chords:

Come to the Berkeley Bunghole

emin

G bmin7 emin
It’s five o’clock in England.
C G G/B Cmaj7 amin9
Jupiter’s closed, but the Bunghole is wide open.
G bmin7 emin D Cmaj7 amin9 emin
There’s a place where the Reagan Administration never happened,
G bmin7 emin D Cmaj7 amin9
And Mama Bethany is always glad to see you again.

emin C G D

Come to the Berkeley Bunghole!

emin C G D

The workingman’s wine bar, the pauper’s pub,

emin C G G/F# emin

Your wallet’s empty, but your glass is full,

Cmaj7 amin9 bmin7 emin

Let’s tap this barrel! Let’s boogie in the club!

The graveyard shift is ended.
It’s Sunday Morning & BART hasn’t started,
There’s a place where the sadness of the street has been suspended,
And Mama Bethany is big bosom’d & big hearted.

Morning breaks in Tilden Park:
The idle rich are hiking with their labradoodles.
But in this place, the music’s loud and neon lights burn dark.
And Mama Bethany makes a mean cup of Ramen noodles.

Allons-y a la Bonde Berkeley!

Le café ouvriere, le pub indigents.
L'escarcelle est vide, mais la coupe est pleine.
On tape ce baril! nous boogie dans le club!

©The Manna Tease 2011

We did two songs from our Epic Murder Ballad Song Cycle, The Manna Sustains: Young Manasseh's Stains & Pink Mary's Stains.





This performance of "It's a Snoopy Snoopy Poop Doggy Ratty Rat World" turned out pretty good:



I did my song "Isa Bowman," the video's here if you care to see it, although the performance was a bit flawed. And finally, here's our much-awaited premiere of tomorrow's chart-topping single "Whoops! my bosoms come flying out!"



Lyrics & chords:

whoops! my bosoms come flying out!

dmin

emin C bmin A dmin
Wonderful suburbs, the roads to the safeway of this world.
emin C bmin A dmin
Stuffed in my tube top, my goldilocks shampooed, long and curled.
A G (emin)
As I fill my cart with seasonal fruits,
A emin G A
My top explodes all over the cantaloops, and

dmin C F A

Whoops! my bosoms come flying out!

dmin

Whoops! my bosoms! Whoops! my bosoms!

dmin C F A

Whoops! my bosoms come flying out!

Powerful pantsuit, the honorable senator from Nebrasker,
Storming the forum, never lack-lustre if her luck’ll last her.
I will muster all my brimstone & bluster,
Ask her how to bust this blasted filibuster, and

Whoops! my bosoms come flying out! &c...

Blast off & cast off into our culture’s future frontier,
Across the universe, headfirst in a shuttle shooting somewhere.
I am absolutely safe in my spacesuits,
But a blackhole ripple ripens my sexy spacefruits, and

Whoops! my bosoms come flying out! &c...

G A G A

Bosoms all over the place! - - - Bosoms all over deep space! ©The Manna Tease 2011

Thanks to The Matinees for arranging that "variety show" + poetry reading. Please "like" The Manna Tease on Facebook.

Annals of Failed Cocktailology: The Chilled Chocolate Mimosa

I had pretty vivid dreams last night, and I remember clearly inventing a cocktail called the chilled chocolate mimosa. It was a catering dream, where I was proudly showing my boss a drink I had created by adding chocolate syrup to champagne, & he was planning on adding it to an event's menu. We experimented by using high-quality chocolate and cream, & it was delicious. This morning, M.M.M. made homemade eggs benedict & Hollandaise sauce, and I set out to recreate the mixology of my dreams.

It was a colossal failure, & I do not recommend attempting it. The chocolate syrup would not dissolve in the champagne, & it tasted weird. When we dissolved good quality cocoa in cream and then added it to champagne, the milk curdled. It looked and tasted horrible. We have switched back to limeade mimosas for the day. If anyone has any solutions, let us know.

W.O.S. - "What's Op, Sammy?" - Sam Amidon's Tumblr

If you're not following Sam Amidon's new tumblr blog, I recommend it. It's good to see him bloggifying again. Mr Amidon is a folksinger, movie star, and mid-level Virgin Airlines executive. (He & I were in the legendary Liberal Arts college band Radiohead a decade ago - not to be confused with the British band - so if you ever see posters around Westchester County maintaining "RADIOHEAD WILL REUNITE!" that's the reason.)

This was a good series from W.O.S. (which I believe stands for "What's Op, Sammy?") He responded to several e-mails he received intended for other S. Amidons: