It's that time again...

For fhb's bi-annual psychic recharge. New postings at the beginning of May!

Dwarf Kiss Bands at War

Photo courtesy of Iggy. Copy courtesy of The Independent

The face-glitter and mini-fists are flying between two musicians vying for ownership of a concept most of us would never have imagined to be viable in the first place, let alone something you would pay money to enjoy - the dwarf Kiss tribute band. In one corner stands Joey Fatale, the 4ft 4in founder of and front man of MiniKiss. His is an all-dwarf group that has found a niche in America's entertainment scene for covering the songs of Kiss, the glam-rock band famous as much for its outrageous face-paints and costumes as for its high-decibel anthems.

His foe is a former member of MiniKiss, the even-more diminutive Tim Loomis. Mr Loomis, who is a mere 4ft tall, recently walked out on MiniKiss. But then he committed the sin of forming a rival Kiss tribute band. He did at least tweak the formula a tad. Called Tiny Kiss, his group features three dwarfs plus one very large woman. (She weighs 350 pounds.)

America, it soon became clear, is big enough for only one dwarf Kiss tribute band.

Bewitched 1st "Non-traditional couple"?

via pinknews.co.uk

"Local gay activist Robert Murch, who has helped lead the battle for marriage equality in the Bay State, has launched a website, gaysalem.com, as an innovative way for gays and lesbians living in Salem to be recognised as a contributing factor to the culture of the city.

As a wink and a nod to Salem's kitschy witch identity, the site is inspired by the television show Bewitched, a series that filmed in Salem in the late 1960's that depicted its own non-traditional couple in the form of a Witch married to a mortal man.

Salem's association with the show was recently commemorated with a bronze statue of Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens. Bewitched was a favourite among gays and featured a number of gay actors and suggestively gay characters."

Not quite sure I agree with that last line, as the only "suggestively gay character," that comes to mind is Paul Lynde's over-the-top depiction of Uncle Arthur, of course, although who knows? Maybe Mrs. Kravitz was getting something of the love that cannot be named on the side after being ignored by Abner all those years.

American Life in Poetry: Column 056

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE

When I complained about some of the tedious jobs I had as a boy, my mother would tell me, Ted, all work is honorable. In this poem, Don Welch gives us a man who's been fixing barbed wire fences all his life.


At the Edge of Town

Hard to know which is more gnarled,
the posts he hammers staples into
or the blue hummocks which run
across his hands like molehills.

Work has reduced his wrists
to bones, cut out of him
the easy flesh and brought him
down to this, the crowbar's teeth

caught just behind a barb.
Again this morning
the crowbar's neck will make
its blue slip into wood,

there will be that moment
when too much strength
will cause the wire to break.
But even at 70, he says,

he has to have it right,
and more than right.
This morning, in the pewter light,
he has the scars to prove it.


From "Gutter Flowers," Logan House, 2005. Copyright (c) 2005 by Don Welch and reprinted by permission of Logan House and the author. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.

You are good at blowing jobs, yes?

WARNING: Very unworksafe, but hilarious...

Bob is not a "CEO" kind of guy

ah, yes, that would be a given. A pretty bizarro blog diary here by Lee Abrams of XM, detailing his odyssey of getting Mr. D to radio and which, if nothing else, demonstrates that anyone can be reduced to fanboy burbling when it comes to Dylan. Highlights culled from the to-date three-part series...

Getting through was not easy. The label was pretty useless. Of course the label usually owns the plastic...the managers own the artist...in Bob's case it was appearing that Bob owns Bob...Most major artists have a back door. Bob was pretty isolated, but that is why he's Bob Dylan...

Then I heard that Bob owned something like 12 XM Radios and he loved it.

... XM's pal Willie Nelson was touring with Bob last year. Hmmmm...Willie is coming in to do an ARTIST CONFIDENTIAL, maybe he can bring Bob too. Willie alone is magic---with Bob, it could be well...historic. When I asked Willie he said "I've been on the road with Bob for a month...haven't seen him yet....have you?"...

He [Jeff Rosen, Dylan's business manager] met Hugh Panero our CEO and Jeff said "You know Bob is not a "CEO" kind of guy"---

Jeff had verified that Bob loves XM and listens to our Hanks Place and Bluesville channels religiously.

Every Monday at Noon we have a meeting/conference call with Bob’s team. Bob’s not in on the call…I don’t think Bob does Conference calls.

Dylan's XM Satellite Radio Show to Debut May 3

Bob Dylan's much anticipated XM Satellite Radio music show, "Theme Time Radio Hour with Your Host Bob Dylan" will make its world premiere on May 3, it was announced today. Each weekly show will feature an eclectic mix of music based around a theme, and host Bob Dylan will offer stories about the music and topics of interest. Dylan also will read and answer select emails sent in by fans. In addition, "Theme Time Radio Hour" will feature contributions from special guests, including Elvis Costello, Charlie Sheen, Penn Jillette, Sarah Silverman and Jimmy Kimmel.

The first episode of "Theme Time Radio Hour with Your Host Bob Dylan" will be devoted to the theme of "weather," with a song list that spans "A Place in the Sun" sung in Italian by Stevie Wonder, "The Wind Cries Mary" by Jimi Hendrix and "Keep on the Sunny Side" by The Carter Family, among many others. Song lists for future episodes will be built around themes such as "cars," "dance," "police," and "whiskey." Complete track lists from each "Theme Time Radio Hour" show will be posted on a dedicated Bob Dylan page on XM Satellite Radio's website (http://www.xmradio.com/bobdylan) that will also include a link for users to purchase select songs heard on Bob Dylan's show through Napster, XM's digital music partner, as well as photos and information on encore broadcasts. Fans also can e-mail their questions and music requests directly to Bob Dylan at bobdy...@xmradio.com.

"With 'Theme Time Radio Hour' Bob redefines 'cool radio' by combining a sense of intellect with edginess in a way that hasn't been on radio before," said Lee Abrams, chief creative programming officer, XM Satellite Radio. "Bob has put a lot of work into his XM show and it's clear that he's having a good time behind the mic."

"Theme Time Radio Hour with Your Host Bob Dylan" will debut Wednesday, May 3 on XM's deep album rock channel, Deep Tracks (XM channel 40), at its regular weekly timeslot, 10 a.m. ET. Encore broadcasts of "Theme Time Radio Hour" will air throughout the week on Deep Tracks and XM's folk music channel, The Village (XM channel 15). Complete scheduling information is available online at http://www.xmradio.com/bobdylan.

SOURCE XM Satellite Radio
Web Site: http://www.xmradio.com/

And Day Brought Back My Night

It was so simple: you came back to me
And I was happy. Nothing seemed to matter
But that. That you had gone away from me
And lived for days with him — it didn't matter.
That I had been left to care for our old dog
And house alone — couldn't have mattered less!
On all this, you and I and our happy dog
Agreed. We slept. The world was worriless.

I woke in the morning, brimming with old joys
Till the fact-checker showed up, late, for work
And started in: Item: It's years, not days.
Item: you had no dog. Item: she isn't back,
In fact, she just remarried. And oh yes, item: you
Left her, remember? I did? I did. (I do.)

by Geoffrey Brock from Weighing Light

Okie Wins @ Pokie*

*in Star Trek Actor's Tournament

My friend of many names, but best known as Maudie at the gaming tables, took it all in last night's Wil Wheaton Weekly tournament, picking up a nice chunk of change for her stake, to boot.

But of course, none of us play for money.

ricoM finished in what's becoming his usual spot - somewhere in the top third of the field but far out of the money - 31st out of 98 last night. I did fairly well at what was dubbed the TV table, as Wil was there, during the beginning of the tournament. My most notable hand being pocket Aces while on the button and having the table's short stack - jmikec - going all in with some style and verve with the blogger's hand: 7 2 off-suit. If the Poker Gods had been smiling jmikec would have won with a set or full house or some other improbable combo, but happily for me sanity reigned and I took the pot.

I ran out of steam after Hour 1, watching my chips steadily dissipate and at some point losing the mantra that I apparently need tattooed on my forehead that, "you don't win tournaments without gambling at times." But, like a turtle I gradually pulled myself deeper and deeper into an illusory protective shell, fold after fold, blind after blind nipping away at the stack until - with only $640 left - I raised $400 with an off-suit A 5 and was called (naturally) by a big stack in the big blind, maigrey. Another 5 hit the flop, pairing me up, but maigrey shoved off my all in, which cost her all of $215 more and showed an off-suit 7 3, which may be some sort of pseudo hammer. It played out like a Hammer. With three spades on the board, maigrey needed only one more to make a flush, which came on the river, an Ace of spades, which incidentally gave me two pair just to rub the insult in.

But my luck, I already knew she had fled to Oklahoma to settle on someone else's shoulder who was willing to gamble her chips. So, I stayed at the table until the Hour 2 break to cheer Maudie on, admire her play and a couple of heart-stopping all-ins, and gave her my blessing and the designation of Honorary New Hamsterite before going to bed.

I want the full play-by-play of the final table, Maudie! Congrats again!

"A Barred Owl"

by Richard Wilbur

The warping night-air having brought the boom
Of an owl's voice into her darkened room,
We tell the wakened child that all she heard
Was an odd question from a forest bird,
Asking of us, if rightly listened to,
"Who cooks for you?" and then "Who cooks for you?"

Words, which can make our terrors bravely clear,
Can also thus domesticate a fear,
And send a small child back to sleep at night
Not listening for the sound of stealthy flight
Or dreaming of some small thing in a claw
Borne up to some dark branch and eaten raw.

From Mayflies: New Poems and Translations. (c) 2000 by Richard Wilbur. Reprinted by permission of Harcourt, Inc.

***

Poet and translator Richard Wilbur has won the 2006 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Established in 1986, the prize is one of the most prestigious given to American poets, and at $100,000 it is one of the nation's largest literary honors. Christian Wiman, editor of Poetry magazine and chair of the selection committee, made the announcement today. The prize will be presented at an evening ceremony at the Arts Club in Chicago on May 25th.

In announcing the award, Wiman said: "If you had to put all your money on one living poet whose work will be read in a hundred years, Richard Wilbur would be a good bet. He has written some of the most memorable poems of our time, and his achievement rivals that of great American poets like Robert Frost and Elizabeth Bishop."

Richard Wilbur has published over two-dozen poems in Poetry since his first appearance in the magazine in February 1948. Wilbur has served as Poet Laureate of the United States and his many other honors include two Pulitzer Prizes, the National Book Award, and the Bollingen Translation Prize. He lives with his wife, Charlotte, in Cummington, Massachusetts.

Born in New York City on March 1, 1921, Wilbur grew up on a New Jersey farm, was educated at Amherst and Harvard, and served with the 36th Infantry Division. He was a member of the prestigious Harvard Fellows and taught there until 1954, when he moved to Wellesley and then to Wesleyan University. From Wesleyan he went to Smith as writer-in-residence. In 1987 he was named the second Poet Laureate of the U.S., following Robert Penn Warren.

Talk to me

A somewhat Bizarro gizmo - found through my friend Kym - that allows you to chat with the one or two other people who visit fhb while you're on fhb is now on stage to your right.

Use it while you can, the Ice Worms may come back at any time

From Chronicles 1 - Music that Dylan Loves

Albeit a way of selling more stuff, Amazon.com's music editors have gone through Chronicles to pull out a fascinating list of Dylan's references to songs, albums, and musicians. It'll be interesting to see if these end up being played on his radio show.

• Chapter 1: Billie Holiday, Karen Dalton, Pete Seeger, and more
• Chapter 2, Part A: Judy Garland, Mike Seeger, Harry Belafonte, and more
• Chapter 2, Part B: Hank Williams, Tony Bennett, Billy Bragg & Wilco, and more
• Chapter 3: The Byrds, Al Kooper, Duane Eddy, and more
• Chapter 4: The Beatles, Charlie Daniels, Johnny Cash, and more
• Chapter 5: Neil Sedaka, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Joan Baez, and more

Apple calls meeting after making little girl cry

Apple Computer recently held a meeting to discuss changes to its corporate policy after the company sent an upsetting legalese reply to a third-grade girl who had hand-written a letter to chief executive Steve Jobs with her thoughts on improving the iPod. Link

Neil Young - New Album (Living With?) (Life In?) War

According to Harp Magazine:

[Jonathon] Demme, who filmed the award-winning documentary Neil Young: Heart of Gold, writes in an e-mail, “Neil just finished writing and recording – with no warning – a new album called Living With War.* It all happened in three days.” How rock ‘n ‘roll is that?

Demme continues, “It is a brilliant electric assault, accompanied by a 100-voice choir, on Bush and the war in Iraq…Truly mind blowing. Will be in stores soon.”

Details are pretty scarce, but the featured track, titled “Impeach the President,” features a rap with Bush’s voice set to the choir chanting “flip/flop” and the like.

And a bit more about the recording session, from someone who was there.


* Other sources here and here give the title as Life in War

Do You Know What It Means To Miss Disne-?

Even though a mayoral candidate, the real New Orleans might be a little too funky for Kimberly Williamson Butler. The Flash banner graphic for her web site (the superimposed clip in the lower right), which may well be gone by the time you read this, looks ah, surprisingly New Orleans Square-like, as in Disneyland, as can be seen in the larger photo.

A clearer version of the comparison between the two photos is here. via This Justin and The Wonkette.

UPDATE: Ms. Butler is apparently not unknown to controversy, according to this article in Nola.com.

In comments leading up to the surprise announcement, Butler said she had "grown" over her past week in seclusion, and that her mercurial political career makes her uniquely qualified to relate to common folk, including those who have been fired and accused of breaking the law.

"When I got kicked out of City Hall, when I got fired, people told me, you know Ms. Butler, I can relate to that," said the former top official in Mayor Ray Nagin's administration. "Now, all of a sudden, I've had to stand in court, and I can identify with people that had to stand in court. All of a sudden, I can identify with people who have been falsely accused. I can identify with people who have made mistakes and had to stand before judges."

via The Disney Blog

UPDATE 2: It just keeps on getting better.

UPDATE 3: And better.

American Life in Poetry: Column 055

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE

A circus is an assemblage of illusions, and here Jo McDougall, a Kansas poet, shows us a couple of performers, drab and weary in their ordinary lives, away from the lights at the center of the ring.

What We Need

It is just as well we do not see,
in the shadows behind the hasty tent
of the Allen Brothers Greatest Show,
Lola the Lion Tamer and the Great Valdini
in Nikes and jeans
sharing a tired cigarette
before she girds her wrists with glistening amulets
and snaps the tigers into rage,
before he adjusts the glimmering cummerbund
and makes from air
the white and trembling doves, the pair.

From "Dirt," Autumn House Press, Pittsburgh, 2001. Copyright (c) 2001 by Jo McDougall, whose most recent book is "Satisfied With Havoc," Autumn House Press, 2004. Reprinted by permission of the author and Autumn House Press. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.

Der Fuehrer's Face

Apropos of nothing, except that I use to sing it with great glee as a child, even though WWII was seven years past before I was even born. I've had the Spike Jones's song - which uses more scatalogical sound effects than the above Disney cartoon - running through my head since posting the Yankee Doodler clip below, so I finally went to YouTube to find it. Pity I couldn't find the band doing it, and the image quality is so poor, but that may be what's keeping the Mouse from sending a takedown order. On the other hand, if it's gone, I guess the lawyers woke up. For a giggle, look to the right, and various misspellings of "Fuehrer."

Disney, as you probably know, did a number of propaganda shorts during WWII, collected in the Treasure Set, "On the Front Lines." which includes, "Der Fuehrer's Face." And, again, apropos of nothing, "Yankee Doodler" reminds me of a Kay Kyser number. Kyser too was, yes, way before my time, but his entire movie oeuvre had apparently been bought by Station WSCH in Portland, Maine, and were viewed religiously on Sunday afternoons by the Young Fred. I was probably one of the few 10-year-olds in the 1960s that knew what the Kollege of Musical Knowledge was.

I think I'm obsessing a bit about Yankee Doodler because of the framing shots of a GI before and after Frawley bursts into song. On the one hand, the piece looks a typical propaganda short to sell bonds probably running with a cartoon and a news reel before the feature. On the other hand, those framing pieces keep me wondering if it's a clip from a movie. A quick search in the IMDB indicates that a morale film specifically for Texas Aggies fighting overseas, with the porny-sounding title, "We've Never Been Licked" may be where "The Yankee Doodler" originated.

Who cares about Poetry?

Chicago -- In a newly released report, Poetry in America, the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago presents tthe research that finds 90 percent of American readers highly value poetry and believe it enriches the lives of those who read it.

"This study contradicts the assumption that poetry must be a marginalized art form; on the contrary, readers believe that poetry adds pleasure, depth, and understanding to the lives of those who read it," says John Barr, president of the Poetry Foundation.

Researchers gathered data on who reads poetry, why they turn to it, where they encounter it, and what types of poetry they hear and read. The report is available free of charge at www.PoetryFoundation.org, and can be downloaded (PDF) from this link.

In the Weekly Wheaties Tournament...

... I placed 16th, out of a smallish field of 65, when my pocket 9s were cracked by 23skidoo's Big Slick after he paired Kings at the flop. Not that it mattered, except to add insult to my injury, but he also paired his Ace at the river. 23skidoo (nice moniker, that), would eventually go on to win the tournament, and has a pretty comprehensive recounting of his hand history at the link above.

Many of the usual suspects were at the tables, including ricoM's archenemy dsheep (who went out quickly in 65th place, obviously fearing another encounter with me); his bro denials (who was live blogging the tournament, and has a more lively report than 23's at the preceding link); the alliterative WWonka from Worcester; my fellow New Hamsterite xkm1245, who bubbled out of the money at 10th; and the two lovers, Boobie (who finished, as usual, in the money) and Sox. Our Host looked for quite awhile as if he was going to make a run for the final table, but eventually went out in 22nd place.

I was pretty happy with my play overall - with the exception of an early hand where I failed to connect to the fact that pocket Queens in my hand plus a pair of 4s at the flop, plus another Queen at the river added up to the nutz full house for Little Rico.

Sitting there, convinced that my sole opponent SWhoBA had a flush, which indeed she did, I checked at the river, since I was also convinced I only had a set of Queens. I could have extracted more - possibly all her - money from SWhoBA. It's lapses in concentration like that that lose tournaments... not just hands. But, I shook it off, and, if nothing else, it woke me up and forced me to focus on my game.

A good home game, as always, and fun to see regulars at the table.

The Yankee Doodler

Kind of makes you long for those days when black was black, white was white, and you knew who you were fighting, doesn't it? And yes, that's William Frawley, better known as Fred Mertz and/or "Bub."

Dylan News - Album and XM Radio

via the LA Daily News:

In February, Dylan and his band spent four days at the Bardavon Opera House in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., rehearsing new songs for what would be Dylan's first album since 2001's "Love and Theft." Dylan then booked a Manhattan studio to record the material. No release date has been set, though one international Sony Music Web site had a Bob Dylan project listed for August.

The recording sessions pushed back the debut of Dylan's XM Satellite Radio show to May, though, again, as is the case with all things Dylan, there's a large degree of mystery surrounding the project. XM spokeswoman Anne Taylor-Griffith said Dylan has taped several episodes for the still-untitled program and that more details about the content and start date will be coming soon. Or not.

Earworthy Podcasts

As anyone who has had their ear bent by me knows, I'm a major proponent of podcasting, even while the debate does rage on about whether its just the latest technorati fad or has the legs to become something more.

I'm on the "something more" side of the fence, and listening to my podcast subscriptions has become as much an item on my weekly schedule as the exercise bike; cat walkies; or my online "home" poker game. If you're looking for a few good poker podcasts, I think you can't go wrong with the following...

Poker

As you could expect, I listen to poker podcasts. I think I have about five on my subscription list so far. Two of those would make my "desert island" podcast list, PokerDiagram and Card Club on Lord Admiral Radio.

The description of PokerDiagram, two guys playing on-line poker and talking about it as they play, sounds as deadly as watching paint dry, but it's strangely addictive... at least if you're into poker. It helps that the two podcasters, "Zog" and Henry, are both British, and their accents always give me the mind's image of two Victorian fops sipping their dry sack at the club while discussing that day's luck at the gaming tables. If you like poker and haven't heard PokerDiagram, try it.

CCoLAR is a more traditional podcast, two guys broadcasting out of their Dad's base-... no, no, just kidding Sean and Stacks, I couldn't resist. Actually, they broadcast out of Sean's basement, and discuss happenings in the poker world and in the poker blogosphere; strategies, poker books, anything poker-related that may have caught their eyes that week. With no disrespect to either of the two, the highlight of the show for me is Columbo's One Minute Mystery. "Columbo," who has his own blog, contributes a segment per show, detailing hands he's been involved with, giving listeners a chance to think about how they might have played the hands out, and then relating how he played them.

I'm not much of a fan of analyzing hands, which makes me unusual in the blogger circles I travel in. In most cases, there's either an obvious answer, or there are a multiplicity of answers, any of which could prove to be the right one, dependent on odds and chances in that particular round. As Peggy would tell you, I'm more of a black-and-white kinda guy. I'm much happier with one obvious answer, than, "well, this hand should win 64 percent of the time." But Columbo makes that sort analysis palatable, and even stubborn know-nothings like me end up learning a bit.

The Well-known "Other" Category

Even ricoM doesn't live by poker alone, and my "must listen" podcast list includes This Week in Technology, Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me (thank you NPR!) and the Poetry Foundation's series of poetry podcasts.

Currently, #1 on my hit parade is Coverville, the well-deserved winner of the 2005 People's Choice Award for "Best Music Podcast." As the name implies, the Coverville podcast focus on covers of usually well-known - sometimes obscure - previously recorded songs. The production values are great, the music is wonderful, and the information enlightening. If you haven't heard Coverville, virtually run, don't walk, through the aether to the site rat now, as my friend Jill would say.

American Life in Poetry: Column 054

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE

Poet Ruth L. Schwartz writes of the glimpse of possibility, of something sweeter than we already have that comes to us, grows in us. The unrealizable part of it causes bitterness; the other opens outward, the cycle complete. This is both a poem about a tangerine and about more than that.

Tangerine

It was a flower once, it was one of a billion flowers
whose perfume broke through closed car windows,
forced a blessing on their drivers.
Then what stayed behind grew swollen, as we do;
grew juice instead of tears, and small hard sour seeds,
each one bitter, as we are, and filled with possibility.
Now a hole opens up in its skin, where it was torn from the
branch; ripeness can't stop itself, breathes out;
we can't stop it either. We breathe in.


From "Dear Good Naked Morning," (c) 2005 by Ruth L. Schwartz. Reprinted by permission of the author and Autumn House Press. First printed in "Crab Orchard Review," Vol. 8, No. 2. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.

The Gospel of Judas

via The New York Times:

An early Christian manuscript, including the only known text of what is known as the Gospel of Judas, has surfaced after 1,700 years. The text gives new insights into the relationship of Jesus and the disciple who betrayed him, scholars reported today. In this version, Jesus asked Judas, as a close friend, to sell him out to the authorities, telling Judas he will "exceed" the other disciples by doing so.

Gentle prod to fellow bloggers - USE TITLES!

This seems to be happening a lot lately at the sites I read, so fwiw. I subscribe to the RSS feeds of almost all the sites I follow regularly through my Google personalized page, and you know what?

If you don't use a title, your post doesn't show up in the feed. So, I don't come to visit your blog, which makes you sad, and you post less because you think no one is reading your blog, and because you post less, even fewer people come to visit your blog... and so on.

I think this is called the law of diminishing posts, or something. In any case, POST A TITLE, even if it's, "Here's a title so Fred's stupid feedreader knows I posted something."

Playing Piano With His Balls

Work-safe friendly, the title notwithstanding. Via Wednesday Timewasters at Google Blogoscoped

Since it seems to be the up-and-coming meme

I am Poker Camp, I mean Poker Champ... and I even have a MySpace page to prove it.

About me:
About me.... Well Im an alcoholic...I drink a lot, and I go to AA meetings... Hi My name is Lindsey... you know the rest... OK OK im not really a drinker, kinda makes me sick ever since the last time i got a hangover. Since i avoid drinking, I fill my time with lots of shopping, gambling, and other healthy habits. I love traveling, fashion, hanging with friends, driving, listening to music, writing, writing music, reading, watching movies, and visiting Portland. :)

So there to all you pretenders!

Sunday, Dec. 5, 1965 - "The Last Gathering of the Beats."

Lost for nearly 40 years, photos of Bob Dylan meeting some of the S.F. Beat poets in the side street (now named "Jack Kerouac Alley") next to City Lights.

Pictured from left: Michael McClure, Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Julius Orlovsky and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

"The whole picture idea must have been Ginsberg's," [Ferlinghetti] said. "I didn't hire those photographers or do anything to arrange it. But it's ludicrous to call it the 'Last Gathering.' For one, some notables were absent, like Gary Snyder. For two, we were all young and lively. There were lots of other gatherings afterward."

Full story and more photos here.

Today is April 5, 2006

The Miserable Artiste's "How To" Guide

via Keri Smith's Wish Jar Journal:

01:02:03 04/05/06

I don't expect to be awake for this, but if you're a night owl, you have the opportunity to look at a time stamp that won't occur again until 01:02:03 April 5, 2106. (the email making its way around the Net has it wrong as "won't ever happen again").

The Stones Flog Rice Krispies

And I thought C********** Blues was an obscure Stones' song.

UPDATE: In a weird coincidence, Mark Evanier posted a YouTube link of the same commercial early this morning (I found my iFilm link through Expecting Rain). As the one Mark posted is of much higher quality, I've switched to the YouTube clip, plus included a link to the NY Times (subscription probably required. Who knows?) short blurb on the ad.