This is entry #100! What have I been babbling about all this time?
So, Big Bad Billy explained to me about a few loose threads and rattling nuts in my last scribble. And his pop was a pilot for USAir for eons. It still doesn't sit right with me at all. But then, not many things do.
New installment over at The Practice room:
http://thepracticeroom.typepad.com/the_practice_room
I'll be sittiing in on bass this Saturday at 12 Galaxies on Mission with Jay Trainer, featuring the mighty Clementine from Zepparella/House Of More on drums.
"Naturally, the common people don't want war ... but after all it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country."
-Hermann Goering
Again, I hate writing about things not musical here. And I'm not going to enjoy writing this. But speaking of 757s...
Every catastrophic event leads to hordes of frothing conspiracy theorists coming out of the woodwork to spew nonsensical rants about why, say, Daffy Duck actually was the second gunman on the grassy knoll. Somewhere there is "evidence" that Rumsfeld himself went up in a plane last year and seeded the very clouds that eventually formed Hurricane Katrina to wipe out poor black people in NO. Easily laughed at, and just as easily dismissed as ill-informed psychopathic drooling concocted by those with too much idle time on their hands.
Then I stumbled across this:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6302880871177953720
Watch for yourself with an open mind. It's almost 90 minutes long, but a veritable orgiastic smorgasbord if you seek food for thought.
This, among other things, has been troubling me deeply since 9/12/01. As I just wrote to a good friend, I am very familiar with the size and shape of a Boeing 757. In fact, just as an observer, it's my favorite plane. They're so damn cute, possessed of a certain canine aesthetic which almost says "throw me the damn ball already."
There is no way in hell a 757 hit the Pentagon or went down in Shanksville. Hole in building/crater in ground way too small, no debris, no tail section, no wings, no engines. And no bodies.
I think I've mentioned her before around here. Though she graduated fourteen years after I did, Deora Bodley, a passenger on United 93 on 9/11, went to my high school. I did not know her, but being that it's a very small school her death shook the extended alumni community hard.
She got on that 757 in Newark bound for SF, but the thing that crashed in Shanksville was not that plane.
Where is Deora?
Time to question absolutely everything. On the plus side, that's easier than ever. We're surrounded on all sides by the worst liars in the world, after all. Interesting times indeed.
Upon smoking more crack...I mean listening in to the SFO tower some more, seems the poor bastard tagged with the task of cleaning up the mess on runway 1 right determined it wasn't a rabbit after all but one of the thousands of feral cats that inhabit the waterfront along the Bay Trail by the airport. Poor dumb kitty, getting ground up by the main gear of the red-eye to Chicago. I wonder how often that happens? And why am I telling you this?
As is my dorky geeky habit, I'm sitting here semi-listening to the SFO control tower on the interweb (porn/crack for airplane nuts) and just now heard this:
Tower: "United 271, San Francisco tower, runway 1 right, position and hold, traffic landing west."
Pilot: "Position and hold, 1 right, United 271."
pause...
Tower: "United 271, runway 1 right, clear for takeoff."
Pilot: "Clear for takeoff, 1 right, United 271."
pause...
Tower: "United 271, contact Norcal departure. Good day."
Pilot: "Switching over to departure, United 271. Heads up, we just hit a rabbit on takeoff, right around the intersection at runway 28 left, about a third of the way down..."
Poor critter. But honestly, Bugs; didn't you hear/see the damn big bright noisy roaring thing coming straight at you?
You think being a passenger these days is a bitch? You should hear the airborne soap opera that goes on between tower and pilot that the travelling public rarely hears. It's absolutely hair-raising. Actually, United Airlines lets you listen in to pilot/controller communications sometimes as you sit in your seat. Hope that didn't ruin anyone's red-eye to Chicago.
Looks like I've been tapped to write a column on songwriting, which is pretty exciting I must confess. You can read my scribblings at workshoplive.com, in the Practice Room section.
The new CD is on the way. You can check out a little bit of it and even pre-order one of your very own at poisontreerecords.com.
2006; best year for music to date. Seems like all my friends are busy and playing and hitting the road and recording like mad.
RIP Bruno Kirby.
"When you've loved and lost like Frank has..."
Haven't written in a while... duh. Sorry.
New CD on the way very soon, and it sounds just great. Mike Wells did a masterful job of...er...mastering it. Do check out www.poisontreerecords.com and say hi. Meanwhile, come join us at The Red Devil for the International Pop Overthrow Festival on Aug. 21. We're on at 8pm.
I don't know what it is about 2006, but it's rapidly shaping up to be The Year Of Randomly Hanging Out With/Meeting Porn Stars. Like, really major ones. I think it's funny that I'm getting used to it. I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Dana Vespoli this evening, big star of the adult screen and a truly stunning woman. She was gracious and friendly and signed an autograph and shook my hand. So, just to update the tally, the porn stars I've met and/or hung with this year: Mary Carey, Dana Vespoli, Hannah Harper, Gina Austin. And counting, hopefully. They're always fascinating.
I think it's all Shane's g'damn fault. Since I met the boy I've been having some truly soul-enriching adventures, with more on the horizon. Yesterday Highway Robbers had an epic adventure in Santa Cruz. Always a little funky going back there. Every square inch another memory. We did a live morning show on KUSP (the local NPR station), another KZSC show, and an absolutley smoking show at The Attic. While we were loading in there, a local bus driver came up to me; "I just heard you guys on the radio! GRRRREEEAAT stuff!! Do you have an extra flyer I can put up in my bus?" That's damn cool, I reckon. We played with a band on tour from Austin called The Lonesome Heroes. Fine, fine folks. Happy trails, kids. And thanks to Greg and Wendy for the tremendous hospitality up in Felton.
Listening to The Hoodoo Gurus just now. Good for the soul.