pineapple and lamb
May. 16th, 2002 03:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gurdonarkOur friends Donna and scottm took us to Mongolian barbecue in honor of my wife's upcoming birthday. I love to use pineapple and lamb as the key ingredients of my self-cooked masterpieces. I avoided gluttony by confining myself to a mere 2 helpings. Great restaurant,though in Texas they tend to serve flour tortillas instead of the proper sesame seed fried rolls. Donna had made incredible pies for dessert, while scottm played a hilarious rendition of "Happy Birthday to You" on the nose flute. I had given Scott a nose flute after I had picked up a couple from that kazoo company in North Carolina.
When I play the nose flute, it's a few train whistle like notes of ambient noise. Whenscottm plays it, it has octaves and everything. I'm tempted to find some metaphor in there, but I think I'm all too willing to look for symbolism instead of just practicing something. Perhaps I should just get busy teaching myself "Born Free". I was so impressed with myself when I could pretty much spontaneously play "Born Free" on my 8 tone diatonic glockenspiel. I have a dynamite career ahead of me playing a giant stuffed animal in children's television--and after all, Allen, Texas is the home of Barney the Dinosaur.
I want to get a copy of Charles Eliot's speech on the Future of Religion, from 1909. I've been reading in Karen Armstrong's the Battle for God how the roots of the organized xtian fundamentalist movement were in its early days a fairly direct reaction to this talk, which promoted the radical idea that the all the law and all of the prophets pretty much came down to love God and love one's neighbor as oneself. Google.com let me down, though. I don't see a copy on line.
I wrote an e mail to semi-famous indie recording DIY artist R. Stevie Moore, as I'd read that he'd covered the old Sparks song "Fletcher Honorama" (a wonderful pre-teenypop Sparks piece with a great brooding sound), and I wanted to get a copy. He promptly wrote me back with the URL to the CD. I also asked him how does one record a cassette cheaply, and he gamely said he'd sell me a book on it, for $ 199 (grin). Finally, his website encouraged requests, so when I suggested a couple of my favorite Be Bop Deluxe songs off of Axe Victim,
he made the point that he was an .exe victim.
To me, a quirky sort of celebrity/non-celebrity would be the "right kind of celebrity", and my hat's off to R. Stevie Moore.
I like the idea that every minor celebrity is now more or less reachable by e mail through the miracle of the google.com search engine, which
beats Diogenes for finding out truth. I was thinking about the rock critic Parke Puterbaugh the other day, and how much I had enjoyed his work 15-20 years ago. Then I realized that I could probably find his e mail on the 'net, and drop him a polite note of appreciation.
I did, and got a prompt and pleasant
reply. The internet's connectivity has some really good points.
On the other hand, I've been lapsed in my Internet Chess Club membership for over three months, and withdrawal has not set in yet.
My theory was that I should play in two real live tournaments a year offline, rather than playing the 5,000 or so blitz chess games I've played in the last two years. I once was a reasonably good player, an "A" rating, but now my rating is in the B classes and my true strength is probably lower. Part of this is age--it really does make a difference. The main part, though, is my dislike for putting in hard work at hobbies. I get Chess Life and Review in the mail, and when I review the games, I follow the opening just far enough to see basically what happened,but I'm far too lazy to either try to "play the whole thing out" in my head (which would be a good "blindfold" exercise) or to just set up a set and play the game through properly.
Ah, well, there's still cheap kites for a hobby.
A little breeze, a one dollar kite, and a world to win....
Lisa Loeb, our local pop folkie who doesn't live here anymore, and Dweezil Zappa were on public radio together, as they are in town for some shows. Interesting sounding folks. If I weren't working so hard on our office move this weekend, I might try to take in a show. I like that
initial hit of Ms. Loeb, in part because
I can relate to the lyric "You say...I only hear what I want to".
A busy, busy day ahead.
scottm took us to Mongolian barbecue in honor of my wife's upcoming birthday. I love to use pineapple and lamb as the key ingredients of my self-cooked masterpieces. I avoided gluttony by confining myself to a mere 2 helpings. Great restaurant,though in Texas they tend to serve flour tortillas instead of the proper sesame seed fried rolls. Donna had made incredible pies for dessert, while scottm played a hilarious rendition of "Happy Birthday to You" on the nose flute. I had given Scott a nose flute after I had picked up a couple from that kazoo company in North Carolina. When I play the nose flute, it's a few train whistle like notes of ambient noise. When
scottm plays it, it has octaves and everything. I'm tempted to find some metaphor in there, but I think I'm all too willing to look for symbolism instead of just practicing something. Perhaps I should just get busy teaching myself "Born Free". I was so impressed with myself when I could pretty much spontaneously play "Born Free" on my 8 tone diatonic glockenspiel. I have a dynamite career ahead of me playing a giant stuffed animal in children's television--and after all, Allen, Texas is the home of Barney the Dinosaur.I want to get a copy of Charles Eliot's speech on the Future of Religion, from 1909. I've been reading in Karen Armstrong's the Battle for God how the roots of the organized xtian fundamentalist movement were in its early days a fairly direct reaction to this talk, which promoted the radical idea that the all the law and all of the prophets pretty much came down to love God and love one's neighbor as oneself. Google.com let me down, though. I don't see a copy on line.
I wrote an e mail to semi-famous indie recording DIY artist R. Stevie Moore, as I'd read that he'd covered the old Sparks song "Fletcher Honorama" (a wonderful pre-teenypop Sparks piece with a great brooding sound), and I wanted to get a copy. He promptly wrote me back with the URL to the CD. I also asked him how does one record a cassette cheaply, and he gamely said he'd sell me a book on it, for $ 199 (grin). Finally, his website encouraged requests, so when I suggested a couple of my favorite Be Bop Deluxe songs off of Axe Victim,
he made the point that he was an .exe victim.
To me, a quirky sort of celebrity/non-celebrity would be the "right kind of celebrity", and my hat's off to R. Stevie Moore.
I like the idea that every minor celebrity is now more or less reachable by e mail through the miracle of the google.com search engine, which
beats Diogenes for finding out truth. I was thinking about the rock critic Parke Puterbaugh the other day, and how much I had enjoyed his work 15-20 years ago. Then I realized that I could probably find his e mail on the 'net, and drop him a polite note of appreciation.
I did, and got a prompt and pleasant
reply. The internet's connectivity has some really good points.
On the other hand, I've been lapsed in my Internet Chess Club membership for over three months, and withdrawal has not set in yet.
My theory was that I should play in two real live tournaments a year offline, rather than playing the 5,000 or so blitz chess games I've played in the last two years. I once was a reasonably good player, an "A" rating, but now my rating is in the B classes and my true strength is probably lower. Part of this is age--it really does make a difference. The main part, though, is my dislike for putting in hard work at hobbies. I get Chess Life and Review in the mail, and when I review the games, I follow the opening just far enough to see basically what happened,but I'm far too lazy to either try to "play the whole thing out" in my head (which would be a good "blindfold" exercise) or to just set up a set and play the game through properly.
Ah, well, there's still cheap kites for a hobby.
A little breeze, a one dollar kite, and a world to win....
Lisa Loeb, our local pop folkie who doesn't live here anymore, and Dweezil Zappa were on public radio together, as they are in town for some shows. Interesting sounding folks. If I weren't working so hard on our office move this weekend, I might try to take in a show. I like that
initial hit of Ms. Loeb, in part because
I can relate to the lyric "You say...I only hear what I want to".
A busy, busy day ahead.
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Hmm...
Date: 2002-05-16 05:44 am (UTC)Confound you! I keep having to go get the dictionary after reading your stuff. My sister has persued me to increase my vocabulary for years and now you're doing it without effort; she'd thank you if she only knew.
And now, a bit of ignorance; what's a nose flute? I'm getting a visual and thinking that it's pretty accurate. If they have them at Dollar General, it may be worth the investment to create an entire nose flute orchestra for our driving vacation across the U.S. this summer
Re: Hmm...
Date: 2002-05-16 12:07 pm (UTC)You make the notes with your mouth. It's cheaper than a kazoo, but is not a mirlitron (hummazoo), it actually "plays" like a woodwind.
no subject
Date: 2002-05-16 12:32 pm (UTC)with y'all.
Here's a technical point about nose flute embouchure that helped
my playing immensely once I discovered it-- the mouth piece doesn't
actually go into your mouth; you press it to your mouth. The nose
blows through a whistle to excite a vibration that resonates in your
open mouth and out of the little sound hole.
I really need to lend you the Rahsaan Roland Kirk CD Bright Moments,
which has a couple of nose flute workouts.
And your comments about emailing Parke Puterbaugh remind me of my
having found Jimmy Guterman's message board recently. Guterman and
his friend Owen O'Donnell wrote "The 100 Worst Rock and Roll Records
of All Time" and "The 100 Best Rock and Roll Records of All Time", two
books that I've gotten much enjoyment and good advice from through
the years. I post infrequently to his board now, and I'm somewhat
flattered that he bought a CD based on my posted review (He's never
said what he thinks of it himself)
no subject
Date: 2002-05-16 07:43 pm (UTC)a sort of bluesy, minor thing going...I shoulda pointed out its essential ellaness...
And another thing ...
Date: 2002-05-16 12:48 pm (UTC)in my nose flute Happy Birthday. Or maybe those are
the "octaves" you were talking about. Yeah, that it--
those notes weren't flubbed-- those were "improvised
impressionistic extensions of the melodic theme"
no subject
Date: 2002-05-16 08:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-05-16 08:50 pm (UTC)I don't own any L. Loeb CDs, but I may have to get some. I just googled up the lyrics of "Stay" and I still think it's a great song.
I like it for the same reasons I like Duncan Sheik's 'Barely Breathing'. I love that line in the Sheik song where he says:
"I could stay a lifetime/fool for another day/but I don't believe it's worth the price, it's worth the price/the price that I would pay...." and then, the line that grabs me, and takes me back to age 22:
"...but I'm thinking it over, anyway....I'm thinking it over anyway....".
I just love that line....just like that
"cause I miss you" in "Stay" or, better yet,
"I thought I was simple"....
maybe I'll have to see if Lisa Loeb is playing someplace I can get to this weekend.
She had a backlash of sorts because her first single was a very overnight sensation.
Strangely, the fact that she was not poor growing up (she went to our local old exclusive school, the Hockaday School) gets cited against her as proof she lacks some "cred". Even Liz Phair, a rather different artist, sometimes gets sneered at for having upper middle class parents....
of all places, rock and pop music is still very class conscious, I suppose....
but I'm just like those teenagers rating records on that old show American Bandstand...."it has a good beat, and you can dance to it".