words to (in)action

Just writing. No thoughts as I type. We’ll see where ADHD takes us.

Basketball season started tonight. I detest basketball. It isn’t the game, per se, it’s the players. Just a bunch of highly focused egomaniacs. Too much money and too little brains. I remember a comic 20 or 30 years ago that did a bit about alternative careers if sports or acting was not available (read, "income greatly disproportional to effort). He was an impersonator-type guy – did Kirk Douglas saying, “You want fries with that?”

So LA is probably going to get Joe Torre. That’s a good thing. They’ll get Don Mattingly in the deal. One manager for 4 years or so, then another for 10 of more. You’re welcome. It’d be nice if Marino Rivera went, too. Stocking the left coast with some good Yankee talent. Somebody somewhere is turning in their grave as the Bronx Bombers start to shift talent to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Somebody somewhere is also paying off an old debt. Muscle memory kicks in a bit because I lived by SF for so long. We used to sit in the stands at Candlestick and taunt Tommy Lasorda. We hated LA. But SF sucks. And I warmed up to LA when they warmed up to Pat O’Reilly. NY and LA seem to have this symbiosis that I can accept.

Enough sports.

I was drifting around the net and found something called The Ultimate Final. A lot of the other stuff on the page was hit or miss, but this bit was humorous …

Instructions

Read each question carefully. Answer all questions. Time limit: 4 hours. Begin immediately.

History. Describe the history of the papacy from its origins to the present day, concentrating especially but not exclusively, on it social, political, economic, religious, and philosophical impact on Europe, Asia, America and Africa. Be brief, concise, and specific.

Medicine. You have been provided with a razor blade, a piece of gauze, and a bottle of Scotch. Remove your appendix. Do not suture until your work has been inspected. You have fifteen minutes.

Public Speaking. 2500 riot-crazed aborigines are storming the classroom. Calm them. You may use any ancient language except Latin or Greek.

Biology. Create life. Estimate the differences in subsequent human culture if the form of life had developed 50 million years earlier, with special attention to its probable effect on the English parliamentary system. Prove your thesis.

Music. Write a piano concerto. Orchestrate and perform it with flute and drum. You will find a piano under your seat.

Psychology. Based on your knowledge of their works evaluate the emotional stability, degree of adjustment and repressed frustrations of each of the following: Alexander of Aphrodites, Ramses II, Gregory of Nicea, Hammurabi. Support your evaluation with quotations from each man's work, making appropriate references. It is not necessary to translate.

Sociology. Estimate the sociological problems which might accompany the end of the world. Construct an experiment to test your theory.

Engineering. The disassembled parts of a high-powered rifle have been placed on your desk. You will also find an instruction manual, printed in Swahili. In ten minutes a hungry Bengal tiger will be admitted to the room. Take whatever action you feel appropriate. Be prepared to justify your decision.

Economics. Develop a realistic plan for refinancing the national debt. Trace the possible effects of your plan in the following areas. Cubism, the Donatist controversy, the wave theory of light. Outline a method for preventing these effects. Criticize this method from all possible points of view. Point out the deficiencies in your point of view, as demonstrated in your answer to the last question.

Political Science. There is a red telephone on the desk beside you. Start World War III. Report at length on it socio-political effects, if any.

Epistemology. Take a position for or against truth. Prove the validity of your position.

Physics. Explain the nature of matter. Include in your answer an evaluation of the impact of the development of mathematics on science.

Astronomy. Define the universe. Give three examples.

General Knowledge. Describe in detail. Be objective and specific

There’s another line on the site that I am going to use sometimes: The more you run over a dead cat, the flatter it gets. Words to live by. It’s followed (in the Corporate America section) with, There is always one more imbecile than you counted on. Man, ain’t that a statement we’ve all proven out countless times.

One final bit from the Laws of Combat, but could just as well be in the Corporate America section: If the enemy is in range, so are you.

So I’ve been trying in some ways, marginally so, without much diligence, perspective, or commitment, to put things into perspective in my life. It’s tiring, even debilitating, to go from one fire to the next. There must be some respite out there. Planning, anticipating, avoiding the easy problems would change so much. Ah, fuck it. It’s tough being us, eh?

I need to stop writing now because I feel a bad flip coming. Look out, fire in the hole!!!

Kim Rolla; T-Rex, Marc Bolan, Electric Warrior, Get It On

I was 14, it was 1973, and I got news of first impression for me: a friend had died. Her name was Kim Rolla. We knew each other from kindergarten. She lived in my neighborhood. We played together as kids. She was beautiful – blonde hair, straight. Smart and energetic. All of our friends were one big group. My birthday is February 26th. Kim’s is the 28th or 24th, something like that. We had lots of late February birthdays in that group.

We stayed in the same neighborhood grammar school, Longfellow, PS#28, Scranton, PA, through 6th grade. The junior high was North Scranton. In 7th and 8th, I would see Kim and sometimes (I think) we would spend time together. I used to go to her house during the early years, I just don’t when that stopped. I moved north about 23 miles - an eternity for a kid - during the summer following 8th grade.

The last time I saw her was on the corner of Green Ridge St. and Sanderson Ave. If was before school some warm day. We said hello, chatted for a moment, and off we went in different directions. I was walking, she was waiting for a ride.

My friend Artie called me and told me about the accident. Some girl that I knew as a wild seed with little common sense was racing down a dirt road after a car full of boys. Kim was in the passenger front sitting on the door and banging on the hood. The car flipped, and Kim was crushed underneath.

She had this upturn to her nose before the accident. The reconstruction they did for the funeral presentation didn’t bring back that feature. She was buried in a wedding dress.

I remember, and can still picture, that Sunday’s newspaper. I turned the pages until I found her obit. I stared at the words as I lay on the floor facing the mountains. My brother was on my left in a chair.

I wrote to her mom a few months later and said how sorry I was. She wrote back telling me how Kim had a crush on me when we were younger. I smiled; funny, the crush was unspoken but mutual.

I don’t go to Scranton anymore, but when I did, I always drove past her house on Sanderson Ave., close to where Marion St. comes in.

It was a few years later, 1976 maybe, that I went to her grave for the first time. It was winter. I touched her stone, stayed for a while, talked to her. I have never gone back, but it is funny how I think about her regularly.

Somehow or another, T.Rex’s Get It On because associated with her. Had to be because of when I was emotionally open at the news of her death. Every time I hear the song, Kim’s face comes to me.

The song was released as a single on July 24, 1971; released on the Electric Warrior album on September 17, 1971. In England the song was entitled "Get It On." In America, to avoid confusion with a song with the same name by another artist (Bill Chase, an American trumpet player and leader of a jazz-rock fusion band, Chase) it was re-titled "Bang a Gong, (Get it On)." Not credited on the liner notes is Rick Wakeman of "YES," who played piano on the song.

I found an extensive writing on the studio sessions and reproduce it (in part) below. Following that writing is four versions of the song (videos) and the lyrics. I introduce briefly each version.

[BEGINNING OF EXCERPTED SESSION NOTES]
In early '68 the duo [Marc Bolan and percussionist Steve Peregrine, performing as Tyrannosaurus Rex] was discovered by Tony Visconti, a young arranger/ musician/ engineer from Brooklyn who'd moved to England during 1967 and hooked up doing work with producer Denny Cordell. Visconti helped the group land a deal with EMI's Regal Zonophone label and then took them into the studio to produce the first Tyrannosaurus Rex LP-the fancifully titled My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair, But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows. This was the beginning of an association that would eventually produce ten studio albums.

According to Visconti, after the band cut "Hot Love" in January, they traveled to America for a short tour, and "I followed them there with the excuse to visit my parents in New York. When we met up in New York, Marc suggested we start recording the next album; this was late April. We booked Media Sound Studios on 57th Street and recorded 'Jeepster' and possibly 'The Motivator' for the Electric Warrior album. Bob Margouleff was the engineer.

"Then the group flew to Los Angeles for a gig at the Whisky-a-Go-Go," Visconti continues. "We hooked up with Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, and I remember us having a lovely jam up at Howard's house in Laurel Canyon. We made plans to book Wally Heider's studio to cut a few tracks, including 'Get It On.' … Marc was a prolific songwriter. He had a lined schoolbook chock-full of lyrics and chord symbols. He would open the book at the beginning of an album, and then when we had enough tracks recorded-say, about 17-he'd close the book. 'Get It On' was just one of about 50 or 60 he had in the book at the time. When I first heard it, only the day before we recorded it, it sounded like a hit to me. At Howard's house, we were singing it for hours and banging things for percussion. We were totally vibed to record it the next day. I can still remember driving in a van with the band to Wally Heider's through freeways and unbearable sunshine-we all had the complexions of maggots, coming directly from gray London.

"The session was like any other T. Rex session. We had an engineer called Rick [Pekkonen] who was a very nice guy. Flo & Eddie recommended him and the studio. The drums were quickly set up, and we got sounds immediately. I was impressed with the speed of American engineers at that time; it was a much slower process in England. The recording started sometime in the middle of the afternoon. We cut 'Get It On' and two other tracks in a few hours. The group already knew the songs, and we had rehearsed backing vocals with Mark and Howard the previous day at Howard's. By 10 p.m., we were cutting the backing vocals. Flo & Eddie were self-starters-they could harmonize the phone book! My job with them was mainly to have enough tracks for them and to make sure we covered all the harmonic possibilities before they left. But everything was always done fairly quickly on T. Rex albums, because Marc wanted to keep costs down, an old habit from the days when we hardly had a decent budget to record.

At the time, Heider's was equipped with a custom console, a 16-track recorder, and "they had all my favorite mics," Visconti recalls, "dynamics for the drums, but U87s for the toms; I used to insist on that. We recorded the drums over three tracks. In those days, it was such a dilemma-do we record the kick on a separate track and the rest of the kit in stereo? Or should we record the snare on a separate track and record the kick in with the stereo kit? Should we record the kick and snare on separate tracks? I tried everything for Electric Warrior. Since we needed tracks for backing vocals, strings, horns and percussion, the drum configuration was a very important decision. In the end, we went with keeping the kick separate with the snare and the rest of the kit in stereo on 'Get It On.'

"From memory I can say that the bass guitar was probably coming off just the amp stack to one track," Visconti continues. "Marc's live guitar was recorded to one track from a mic in front of his Marshall. This track was used and not replaced, so the live groove was preserved. He overdubbed a second guitar playing groove parts and the short solos. Mickey Finn's two conga mics were mixed to one track. There was an open vocal mic in the room during tracking. Marc sang on some takes but didn't on the master take. We used this vocal mic for the final mix as an ambience mic. We used about four or five tracks for Flo & Eddie, with Marc joining them. I always used a U87 on vocals and backing vocals."

After the Heider's sessions, the group returned to England, and work on the song (and album) continued at Trident Studios, with Roy Thomas Baker engineering. Blue Weaver played grand piano on the track, and King Crimson's Ian McDonald is responsible for the honking sax line. "He played all the saxes, one baritone and two altos," Visconti says. "I kept the baritone separate but bounced the altos to one track. I bounced the backup vocals to two tracks, making an interesting stereo image."

Though Visconti usually plotted out his always-creative string arrangements well in advance of orchestral sessions, the simple-but-effective string part for "Bang A Gong" was an afterthought: "We didn't intend to put strings on 'Get It On,' but when I was writing arrangements for 'Cosmic Dancer' and the other titles with strings, I felt maybe I should have something ready for 'Get It On,' just in case. At the session, I reminded Marc that our first two hits had strings on them and maybe we should continue the trend. Superstitiously, he agreed. All I had written out were the notes G-A-E, as whole notes over the chords of the chorus. We did those first and realized it was icing on the cake! There was no need to write any more for an already dense track. It took about ten minutes."

As for outboard effects on the record, Visconti notes that "Trident had the usual effects available in those days-basically a bank of compressors and two EMT plates. We did our tight slapbacks and phasing with three tape recorders at the mixing stage, with someone in the band or the tape assistant slowly sweeping the VCO. There will never be a digital box that phases and flanges as well as the original method, because that method would technically process before and after the signal, crossing the 'node,' whereas a modern phase program only processes after the signal. There are many instruments treated this way on Electric Warrior. Ambience was our only other 'effect.' I'd often record guitars and hand claps from a microphone about 10 feet from the source, aimed at the studio window, in cardioid mode. I was never a fan of hitting analog tape very hard-to me it always sounded better live; the playback was always a disappointment."
[END OF EXCERPTED SESSION NOTES]

This first video has a really bad mix, and seems to be an early version of the song.



This is the released version of the song, with really bad lip syncing in the video. Remember, MTV was not even a concept. To make music videos was rare.



I love this live version from 1973. Check out the black girls – they own those mics. Screaming! One girl has hair bigger than a medicine ball. Marc goes wild with early ‘70s stage presence. It’s funny that the performance is for a studio audience – Marc clearly seems to be playing to a stadium.



This video is from 1972. This performance is to a larger crowd. The video itself comes from the 2007 Rexmania festival. Video bad, audio good.



Well you're dirty and sweet
Clad in black, don't look back, and I love you
You're dirty and sweet oh yeah

Well you're slim and you're weak
You got the teeth of the hydra upon you
You're dirty sweet and you're my girl

Get it on, bang a gong, get it on
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on

Well you're built like a car
You got a hubcap diamond star halo
You're built like a car oh yeah

Well you're an untamed youth
That's the truth
With your cloak full of eagles
You're dirty sweet and you're my girl

Get it on, bang a gong, get it on
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on

Well you're windy and wild
You got the blues
In your shoes and your stockings
You're windy and wild oh yeah

You're built like a car
You got a hubcap diamond star halo
You're dirty sweet and you're my girl

Get it on, bang a gong, get it on
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on

Well you're dirty and sweet
Clad in black, don't look back, and I love you
You're dirty and sweet oh yeah

Well you dance when you walk
So let's dance, take a chance, understand me
You're dirty sweet and you're my girl

Get it on, bang a gong, get it on
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on

Get it on, bang a gong, get it on
Get it on

Get it on, bang a gong, get it on
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on

Get it on, bang a gong, get it on
Get it on, bang a gong, right on

Take me

Meanwhile I'm still thinkin'

mixed mood

Not sure how to proceed through the day, if at all. So let's spend time in the extremes ...

Here are the first three verses of Genesis:

1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Pick any word in the first verse, count its letters, and move ahead by the corresponding number of words. For example, if you start at beginning, you'd count 9 letters and move ahead 9 words, landing on the in the second verse. Count that word's letters and continue in this manner until you've entered the third verse.

You'll always arrive at God.

Qyotes from Friedrich Nietzsche :

One should die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly.

If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.

A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.

Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.

Perhaps I know best why it is man alone who laughs; he alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter.

To predict the behavior of ordinary people in advance, you only have to assume that they will always try to escape a disagreeable situation with the smallest possible expenditure of intelligence.

haiku you

I go to Darwin Awards every once in a while. The premise is to give awards and honorable mentions to people that die in such a way as to provide creedence for Darwin's "survival of the fittest" concept - that is, truly people stupid always find a way to kill themselves.

I submitted a story one time. Some local was riding in an innertube behind a snow mobile and ate a tree. I thought it was rather unique. Turned out to be common. Oh well.

I was surprised to find on the site this time a forum on haiku. It set the following parameters;

The Easy Type: A total of 17 syllables makes a Haiku.

5 syllables for the line
7 syllables for the line
5 syllables for the line

Harder:

3 syllables
5 syllables
3 syllables.

I pulled these from the forum. I made a few changes because this is my blog and I can do whatever I want to.

My genitals hold
My body high above ground
Now without body

Suspend yourself from
Wire around your genitals.
Ut oh: piñata.

I think for myself
Warning signs do not apply
To an immortal.

Homemade parachute
Not latest technology
Opens on impact

Death happens to all
Some happily wait to go
Some knock on Death's door

Death happens to all
To many, a quite tall wall
To some, not so tall

It looks like a bomb
Naturally I wonder:
What could be inside?

After fools rush in
Where angels do fear to tread
The fools become dead

True wisdom: knowing
That you should insert nothing
Into your rectum

Being inspired by such gifted writing, I took a few shots at it.

5-7-5
Waiting for the knife
To cut deeply once again
My blood lets for her

She runs swift as wind
Chased, hounded every night
By a changeling

There is never time
To love openly, truly
When self is utmost

3-5-3

My best friend
Died a thousand deaths
Then gave up

clinically speaking ...

I’ve met some rather cold people in my time. In fact, if the temperature of their soul could be measured, they would be labeled clinically dead.

To go through life well means to avoid placing your needs over the needs of others, even to your detriment. I don’t use “detriment” lightly. I am thinking of the interplay of needs and desires. If you want to live as you should, you place both your needs and your desires below those of others.

Here’s a chart to help you understand:



Notice the duality of your needs and desires being below those of the other person. Not even what you perceive to be your need rises above what you perceive to be in conflict with the other’s “mere desire.”

This applies likewise in the negative. I should do another chart to be clear, but I am hoping that the reader can get by with one visual. By the negative, I mean that your perceived or actual need cannot run afoul of the other person’s desire not to be subjected to your perceived or actual need.

There is actually a very real consequence to ignoring these very basic rules. In human interaction, it is alienation, loss of love (if it existed), and resentment. The damage to the aggrieved is even worse: feelings of powerlessness, helplessness, and trauma.

I have watched people rationalize their actions of placing their needs or desires over those of others. I have heard the argument, “it is a matter of right. I can do this because I am allowed to.” “Allowed to?” Ignoring the impact on others? “Allowed to?” Watching another suffer because you have the “right”?

I have the right to many things in this world. I have the right to practice law, but I chose not to because I find that it makes me feel dirty. Doesn’t matter how much joy I would get out of the income or the thrill of talking to a jury or wiping up the floor with some punk-ass opposing expert. It makes me feel dirty. The gratification I get is hollow. I chose to honor the profession by training others in how to do it well, but I stay out of it. I don’t like feeling dirty. I don’t making others feel dirty.

I don’t do things against another’s will, be that grounded in their needs or desires. It makes me feel dirty.

But I have watched many people live contrary to this basic precept. I have heard those same people say later in the game, with the greatest look of astonishment, “I didn’t know.” To which the rejoinder comes, “You didn’t want to.”

I often think of animals when I look at the actions of humans. Why would someone act so deliberately contrary to human norms in the name of “right” or “I didn’t know”? We are a higher-life form, after all.

Consider personalities.

Markings on animals do not alter over time. Personalities embodied therein do not morph into something inapposite of where they began. Changes that do occur are gradual, can be traced to their previous state, and rarely wander far from their origins.

If an animal is mean-spirited or passive, self-serving or supportive, takes flight at danger or stands ground, either because it always was or because of some formative event early its life, it will remain that way its entire existence. The only change is not a change at all, but an evolution: the animal will experience decreasing energy as life extracts its pennyweight or there will be an increase in guile. Both lead to the same place: the animal will choose its timing with more circumspection.

Any material change will be only by the greatest force of will, and will dissipate rapidly over time. It matters not how important or deeply held the impetus. Change is foreign and uncomfortable. Animals always return to their origins. Always.

Consider an animal that stalks to achieve comfort, compelling others to do its will only after it has cornered them. If the stalked revolt, the stalker will change tactics. But therein lies the first lesson: the tactic changed, not the strategy or the goal. The goal remains the same, which is achieving comfort. The goal never altered to be the one giving comfort. That is foreign. That is not within the stalker’s ability.

If the stalker does change to giving comfort, it will soon grow weary without its own needs being tended. It will wonder why it is not at least treated equally, that is, why its needs aren’t being tended. Therein lies the second lesson: see how quickly the changed role becomes uncomfortable, how quickly change again is sought?

Animals do not change. They are cast in a mold. They exhibit changes only as a shift in tactics. They will always seek that which they have always sought.

Humans, in these ways, are no different than animals.

I suggest that to be a human is of a higher order than being an animal, yet most of us blow past the distinction when it comes to satisfying our needs or desires. We follow our own personality, room temperature or lower.

The difference between humans and animals is supposed to be our capacity to reflect. Reflection requires understanding someone else’s needs and desires, and changing our behavior based upon those things.

Oh well.