Rockin' around the Christmas tree

Neil Young & Crazy Horse (playing as The Echos) - 11/13/90, The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, California (aud)
Country Home
Surfer Joe and Moe The Sleaze
Love to Burn
Days That Used to Be
Bite the Bullet
Cinnamon Girl
Farmer John
Cowgirl in the Sand
Over and Over
Dangerbird
Don't Cry No Tears
Sedan Delivery
Roll Another Number
Fuckin' Up
T-Bone
Homegrown
Mansion on the Hill
Like a Hurricane
Love and Only Love
Cortez The Killer

Felice Navidad

I'd try to be smooth and claim that these shows are a continuation of Neil Young month, but the versions of "Powderfinger" and "Helpless" you'll find below aren't the reasons you'll want these shows.

I've written about the Felice Brothers here before, and I'm sure I will again. The Duke and the King is singer/drummer/guitarist/songwriter Simone Felice's new band. He parted ways (amicably, it seems) with his brothers early this year to pursue his own muse and stay home a bit more. You can hear the difference here. The Felice Brothers show here features far fewer ballads than the days of yore, while the Duke and the King pull out a couple of the best FB slow songs (is there a prettier piece of music than "Mercy"?) and play them perfectly alongside a bunch of great stuff from their own debut album. Both shows are excellent.

A.A. Bondy is another local boy, having moved to the Felice's hometown of Palenville a few years back. He sounds a lot like them and often opens their shows. Such is the case here. Lucky us. If you don't have his two solo albums, American Hearts and When the Devil's Loose, you're missing out. If you get a chance to see him live, with or without his friends the Felices, do not pass up the chance.

Collect all three...

The Duke And The King - 8/13/09, Locals Only, Indianapolis, IN (aud mtx - great sound)
If You Ever Get Famous
Don't Wake the Scarecrow
The Morning That I Get to Hell
Your Belly in My Arms
Union Street
The Devil Is Real
Suzanne
Water Spider
Mercy
I've Been Bad
Radio Song
Helpless
One More American Song

A.A. Bondy - 10/14/09, Kulturkirche, Cologne, GER (sbd)
Mightiest Of Guns
A Slow Parade
To the Morning
I Can See the Pines Are Dancing
Black Rain Black Rain
When the Devil's Loose

The Felice Brothers - 10/14/09, Kulturkirche, Cologne, GER (sbd)
Marlboro Man
Murder by Mistletoe
Greatest Show nn Earth
Katie Dear
Chicken Wire
Love Me Tenderly
Cooperstown
Step Dad
River Jordan
Frankie's Gun
God Damn You, Jim
Take This Bread
Wonderful Life
Roll on Arte

Visit them and buy their music:
Felice Brothers
The Duke and the King
A.A. Bondy

The White Porch
by Cathy Song

I wrap the blue towel
after washing,
around the damp
weight of hair, bulky
as a sleeping cat,
and sit out on the porch.
Still dripping water,
it’ll be dry by supper,
by the time the dust
settles off your shoes,
though it’s only five
past noon. Think
of the luxury: how to use
the afternoon like the stretch
of lawn spread before me.
There’s the laundry,
sun-warm clothes at twilight,
and the mountain of beans
in my lap. Each one,
I’ll break and snap
thoughtfully in half.

But there is this slow arousal.
The small buttons
of my cotton blouse
are pulling away from my body.
I feel the strain of threads,
the swollen magnolias
heavy as a flock of birds
in the tree. Already,
the orange sponge cake
is rising in the oven.
I know you’ll say it makes
your mouth dry
and I’ll watch you
drench your slice of it
in canned peaches
and lick the plate clean.

So much hair, my mother
used to say, grabbing
the thick braided rope
in her hands while we washed
the breakfast dishes, discussing
dresses and pastries.
My mind often elsewhere
as we did the morning chores together.
Sometimes, a few strands
would catch in her gold ring.
I worked hard then,
anticipating the hour
when I would let the rope down
at night, strips of sheets,
knotted and tied,
while she slept in tight blankets.
My hair, freshly washed
like a measure of wealth,
like a bridal veil.
Crouching in the grass,
you would wait for the signal,
for the movement of curtains
before releasing yourself
from the shadow of moths.
Cloth, hair and hands,
smuggling you in.

Against Winter
-Charles Simic

The truth is dark under your eyelids.
What are you going to do about it?
The birds are silent; there's no one to ask.
All day long you'll squint at the gray sky.
When the wind blows you'll shiver like straw.

A meek little lamb you grew your wool
Till they came after you with huge shears.
Flies hovered over open mouth,
Then they, too, flew off like the leaves,
The bare branches reached after them in vain.

Winter coming. Like the last heroic soldier
Of a defeated army, you'll stay at your post,
Head bared to the first snow flake.
Till a neighbor comes to yell at you,
You're crazier than the weather, Charlie.

December is Neil Young Month...

If you don't have this one (and many of you do, I'm sure), then you need to download it immediately. It's essential.

I remember sitting alone in my old bedroom in my mother's house taping this show off the radio. That old cassette died years ago, but the magic of disc trading landed me another copy a while back. God bless the U.S. mail.

Neil Young And Crazy Horse - 11/21/86, Cow Palace, San Francisco, CA (fm?)
Mr. Soul
Cinnamon Girl
When You Dance I Can Really Love
Down By The River
Too Lonely
Heart Of Gold
After The Goldrush
Inca Queen
Drive Back
Opera Star
Cortez The Killer
Sample And Hold
Computer Age
Violent Side
Mideast Vacation
Long Walk Home
The Needle And The Damage Done
When Your Lonely Heart Breaks
Around The World
Powderfinger
Like A Hurricane
Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)
Prisoners Of Rock 'N' Roll

Happy 50th birthday to the late, great Bob Stinson

I was a little late to the Replacements party. My first of their albums was Let It Be, which I finally bought in the summer of 1985, when I was 19 years old. Man, what an introduction. I remember jumping up and down, I was so excited. I had always hoped that music could be like that. Damn, it never felt so good to be right. I mean, I already had Catholic Boy and London Calling and Zen Arcade and My War and that first Violent Femmes album and half a dozen others, so I was ready. Except, how could anyone be ready for this?

When I finally got to college at age 20, I started to meet lots of other folks who were 'Mats fans. Some of them took pride in having gotten there first, but none of that shit really mattered. It was like a secret society. If you got it, you were cool. If you didn't get it, that was ok, too, but you weren't quite to be trusted when it came to music. We took turns sharing all those other great groups; you play the Alarm for me and I'll turn you on to Elvis Costello (and, really, how could you not already know about Elvis Costello?!?) and so on down the line, but in the end the Replacements stood head and shoulders above the rest. With all due respect to the Clash (and who doesn't love the Clash?), they were, are, and may always be the only band that matters.

Time moves on, of course. All those old friends have scattered. Westerberg got serious, for a while. Tommy got a job with the only boss he could find who was more perverse than Paul. Chris makes art. Bob died, and we all died with him.

I got old(er), fat, beardy, over-educated. I'm happily married, and I've got great kids, and I got a big, fat raise at work the other day. And I'm honestly as happy as I've ever been in my life. Things are good. Hell, I even (kinda, mostly) like the president for the first time in 30 years.

But look me in the eyes and tell me that I'm satisfied. Are you satisfied?

Fair warning, the sound on these is far less than perfect... like you care.

The Replacements - 1/30/81, 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis, MN (FM)
Careless
Takin' a Ride
Trouble Boys
Hanging Downtown
Like You
Hands Up
Get Lost
Excuse Me, Use Me
I Wanna Be Loved
I Made A Mistake
This is Your Town
Shiftless When Idle
Oh Baby!
I'm in Trouble
Johnny's Gonna Die
More Cigarettes
Otto
Don't Ask Why
Slow Down
Something To Du
Love You Til Friday
Raised in the City
Rattlesnake
All Day and All Of the Nite
I Hate Music
Shut Up

The Replacements - 7/1/85, 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis, MN (FM)
Hear You Been to College
Bastards of Young
Gary's Got a Boner
Color Me Impressed
I'll Buy
Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out
Unsatisfied
Punk Poop
Jean Genie
Can't Hardly Wait
Dose of Thunder
The Man who Invented Himself
I Wanna Destroy You
I Will Dare
Little Mascara
Left of the Dial
Take Me Down to the Hospital
Takin' a Ride
I'm in Trouble
Rattlesnake
Hitchin' a Ride
Customer
Kids Don't Follow

Dutch Mistress
-Joseph Brodsky

A hotel in whose ledgers departures are more prominent than arrivals.
With wet Koh-i-noors the October rain
strokes what's left of the naked brain.
In this country laid flat for the sake of rivers,
beer smells of Germany
and the seaguls are
in the air like a page's soiled corners.
Morning enters the premises with a coroner's
punctuality, puts its ear
to the ribs of a cold radiator, detects sub-zero:
the afterlife has to start somewhere.
Correspondingly, the angelic curls
grow more blond, the skin gains its distant, lordly
white, while the bedding already coils
desperately in the basement laundry.

December is Neil Young Month...

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - 7/2/03, Tweeter Center, Camden, NJ (Mtx)
Falling From Above
Double E
Devil's Sidewalk
Leave The Driving
Carmichael
Bandit
Grandpa's Interview
Bringin' Down Dinner
Sun Green
Be The Rain
Hey Hey, My My
Sedan Delivery
Prisoners Of Rock 'n' Roll
Powderfinger
Cinnamon Girl
Fuckin' Up

-Pablo Picasso

Gnomic Verses
by Robert Creeley

loop

Down the road Up the hill Into the house
Over the wall Under the bed After the fact
By the way Out of the woods Behind the times
In front of the door Between the lines Along the path


echo

In the way it was in the street

it was in the back it was
in the house it was in the room
it was in the dark it was


fat fate

Be at That this
Come as If when
Stay or Soon then
Ever happen It will


look

Particular pleasures weather measures or
Dimestore delights faced with such sights.


here

Outstretched innocence
Implacable distance
Lend me a hand
See if it reaches


time

Of right Of wrong Of up Of down
Of who Of how Of when Of one
Of then Of if Of in Of out
Of feel Of friend Of it Of now


moral

Now the inevitable
As in tales of woe
The inexorable toll
It takes, it takes.


eat

Head on backwards
Face front neck’s
Pivot bunched flesh
Drops jowled brunch.


toffee

Little bit patted pulled
Stretched set let cool.


case

Whenas To for
If where From in
Past place Stated want
Gain granted Planned or


have a heart

Have heart Find head
Feel pattern Be wed
Smell water See sand
Oh boy Ain’t life grand


oh oh

Now and then
Here and there
Everywhere
On and on


winter

Season’s upon us
Weather alarms us
Snow riot peace
Leaves struck fist.


duty

Let little Linda allow litigation
Foster faith’s fantasy famously
And answer all apt allegations
Handmake Harold’s homework handsomely


gotcha

Passion’s particulars
Steamy hands
Unwashed warmth
One night stands


west acton summer

Cat’s rats, Mother’s brother
Vacation’s patience, loud clouds
Fields far, seize trees
School’s rules, friends tend
Lawn’s form, barn’s beams
Hay’s daze, swallows follow
Sun’s sunk, moon mends
Echo’s ending, begin again


far

“Far be it from Harry to alter the sense of drama inherent in the almighty tuxedo ...”

“Far be it from Harry”
Sit next to Mary,
See how the Other
Follows your Mother


pat’s

Pat’s place
Pattern’s face
Aberrant fact
Changes that


four’s

Four’s forms
Back and forth
Feel way Hindside
Paper route Final chute


sentences

Indefatigably alert when hit still hurt.
Whenever he significantly alters he falters.
Wondrous weather murmured mother.
Unforgettable twist in all such synthesis.
Impeccably particular you always were.
Laboriously enfeebled he still loved people.


words

Driving to the expected
Place in mind in
Place of mind in
Driving to the expected


here

You have to reach
Out more it’s
Farther away from
You it’s here


data

Exoneration’s face
Echoed distaste
Privileged repetition
Makeshift’s decision—

�

Now and then
Behind time’s
Emptied scene and
Memory’s mistakes—

�

You are here
And there too
Being but one
Of you—


scatter

All that’s left of coherence.


echo again

Statement keep talking
Train round bend over river into distance


door

Everything’s before you
were here.


summer ’38

Nubble’s Light a sort
of bump I thought—
a round insistent
small place

not like this—
it was a bluff,
tip on the edge
of the sea.


air

Lift up so you’re
Floating out
Of your skin at
The edge but
Mostly up seeming
Free of the ground.


echoes

Think of the
Dance you could do
One legged man
Two legged woman.


there

Hard to be unaddressed—
Empty to reflection—
Take the road east—
Be where it is.


echoes

Sunrise always first—
That light—is it
Round the earth—what
Simple mindedness.


star

Where
It is
There
You are

�

Out there
In here
Now it is
Was also

�

Up where
It will be
And down
Again

�

No one
Point
To it
Ever

December is Neil Young Month...

Neil Young - 9/15/04, Community Theater, Berkeley, CA
Pocahontas
Harvest Moon
On The Way Home
Journey Through The Past
Cowgirl In The Sand
Don't Let It Bring You Down
Birds
Human Highway
Goin' Back
Old King
Four Strong Winds
Field Of Opportunity
Comes A Time
Heart Of Gold

-Jacques-Louis David

Supple Cord
by Naomi Shihab Nye

My brother, in his small white bed,
held one end.
I tugged the other
to signal I was still awake.
We could have spoken,
could have sung
to one another,
we were in the same room
for five years,
but the soft cord
with its little frayed ends
connected us
in the dark,
gave comfort
even if we had been bickering
all day.
When he fell asleep first
and his end of the cord
dropped to the floor,
I missed him terribly,
though I could hear his even breath
and we had such long and separate lives
ahead.

December is Neil Young Month...

Neil Young - 6/14/89, Jones Beach Music Theater, Wantagh, New York (sbd)
My My, Hey Hey
Rockin' In The Free World
Comes A Time
Sugar Mountain
Pocahontas
Helpless
Crime In The City
For The Turnstiles
This Old House
Roll Another Number
Too Far Gone
This Note's For You
The Needle And The Damage Done
No More
After The Goldrush
Heart Of Gold
Ohio
Rockin' In The Free World
Powderfinger
Down By The River (w/Bruce Springsteen)

My Archives

As we continue Neil Young month here at Infinite Foolishness, I thought I'd make it easy for my newer infinite friends to find some my earlier Neil young posts. I think this is everything thus far. Enjoy.

Solo - 2/1/71, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
w/The Stray Gators - 1/10/73, Arie Crown Theater, Chicago, IL
w/The Stray Gators - 1/15/73, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, ONT
w/The Stray Gators - 1/29/73, Scope Arena, Norfolk, VA
w/the Santa Monica Flyers - 11/5/73, Rainbow Theatre, London, UK
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - 9/8/74, Roosevelt Raceway, Westbury, NY
w/Crazy Horse - 3/ 23/76, Pavillon de Paris, Paris, France
w/Crazy Horse - 11/15/76, Chicago Auditorium, Chicago, IL, Late Show
w/The Bluenotes - 8/16/88, Poplar Music Theater, Hoffman Estates, IL
w/The Bluenotes - 8/27/88, Jones Beach Music Center, Wantaugh, NY
Solo - 6/29/92, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY
Solo - 3/20/99, Paramount Theatre, Oakland, CA
Solo - 4/15/99, Grand Ole Opry House, Nashville, TN

Look for another great show in the morning.

Between Walls
by William Carlos Williams

the back wings
of the

hospital where
nothing

will grow lie
cinders

in which shine
the broken

pieces of a green
bottle

In honor of his upcoming release, Dreamin' Man, it's Neil Young month here at Infinite Foolishess, so let's get started...

Young didn't play many shows in 1994, but he did do a handful of benefits - Farm-Aid and The Bridge School Benefit, of course - and then this one for "Verde Valley". Verde Valley is a place, so I'm not sure who, exactly, the benefit was for. A quick web search turns up both a school and a medical center with that name - either is a possible candidate. If anyone has any more info, I'd be glad to hear from you.

Lots of tunes from that year's criminally overlooked Sleeps with Angels album here. And a very intense performance all the way around. This is one you want.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - 10/22/94, Hamilton Warren Amphitheater, Sedona, AZ (aud)
Arc
My Heart
Prime Of Life
Drive By
Sleeps With Angels
Hey Hey, My My
Cortez The Killer
Train Of Love
Change Your Mind
Piece Of Crap
Helpless

Update: Peter gives us these details on the event - "I read: The 13th annual Verde Valley School Music Festival to benefit the Native American Scholarship Project at the Hamilton Warren Amphitheatre in Sedona, Arizona, check thishttp://www.turtletrack.org/Issues02/Co03232002/CO_03232002_Sedona_Students.htm"

Thanks, Peter.

December at Yase
-Gary Snyder

You said, that October,
In the tall dry grass by the orchard
When you chose to be free,
"Again someday, maybe ten years."

After college I saw you
One time. You were strange,
And I was obsessed with a plan.

Now ten years and more have
Gone by: I've always known
where you were—
I might have gone to you
Hoping to win your love back.
You still are single.

I didn't.
I thought I must make it alone. I
Have done that.

Only in dream, like this dawn,
Does the grave, awed intensity
Of our young love
Return to my mind, to my flesh.

We had what the others
All crave and seek for;
We left it behind at nineteen.

I feel ancient, as though I had
Lived many lives.

And may never now know
If I am a fool
Or have done what my
karma demands.

Here's the most recent, and one of the best sounding, Spirit show I have. It's also a pretty damn good performance. This has what may be my all time favorite version of "Nature's Way" amongst other solid performances. Sometimes these live in the radio studio things can be a bit underwhelming. Not this time. California, Cassidy and the gang don't hold back even a little here & we're all better off for it.

Spirit - 4/2/93, KPFK FM Studios, Los Angeles,CA (FM)
Sadana
Nature's Way
Night So Young
1984
Illusions
Red House
Love From Here
Fresh Garbage
Kokomo
12,000 Miles
Mr. Skin
Going Back To Jones
Elijah
I Got A Line On You

As far as I can tell there are a number of live Spirit albums available, should you choose to use your cash to support what's left of the band (singer/guitarist/guiding light Randy california died in 1997); I only have Made in Germany, but I can happily report that it's mighty fine. I'd be glad to hear from anyone who can tell us about any of the others.

There's no official Spirit home page, but I recommend Tent of Miracles to those who want to find out more bout this band's 30 years history. It's one of those fan-built labors of love and is well worth your attention.

-J.M.W. Turner

If You Forget Me
by Pablo Neruda

I want you to know
one thing.

You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners
that passes through my life,
and you decide
to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land.

But
if each day,
each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine

Happy Thanksgiving

The Felice Brothers - 5/23/09, The National, Richmond, VA (mtx)
Cyprus Grove
Helen Fry (She's a Master of Disguise)
Marie
Greatest Show on Earth
Run Chicken Run
Hey Hey Revolver
Love Me Tenderly
Marlboro Man
Saint Stephen's End
Chicken Wire
Goddamn You, Jim
Ahab
White Limousine
Whiskey In My Whiskey
Slow Down Little John
Frankie's Gun
Farley (Lay You Down)
Her Eyes Dart Round
Let Me Come Home
Boy From Lawrence County
Memphis Flu
Penn Station

Check here for more on this great band.

I blew my top at a student the other day. I suppose I ought to feel bad, but I don't.

We were doing a basic grammar review when she asked, "When am I gonna use commas in the real world?" I responded that the question she ought to be asking was whether the "real world" was ever going to have a use for her. I thought it was a legitimate question, but apparently she was offended. Her mother (remember, this is a 21 year old college student in her fourth year at community college) called my boss & I got called into her office where I was gently reminded not to be mean to the students.

Then I went home and listened to Cannonball Adderley because he always makes me feel better. Feeling better comes pretty hard these days.

Cannonball Adderley -3/15/69, Stephaniensaal, Graz, Austria (FM)
Big P
Sweet Emma
74 Miles Away
Walk Tall
Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
Experience In E
Bittersweet>
Yours Is My Heart Alone
Bohemia After Dark
Early Chanson
Oh Babe
The Scene
Work Song

Ginza Samba
-Robert Pinsky

A monosyllabic European called Sax
Invents a horn, walla whirledy wah, a kind of twisted
Brazen clarinet, but with its column of vibrating
Air shaped not in a cylinder but in a cone
Widening ever outward and bawaah spouting
Infinitely upward through an upturned
Swollen golden bell rimmed
Like a gloxinia flowering
In Sax's Belgian imagination

And in the unfathomable matrix
Of mothers and fathers as a genius graven
Humming into the cells of the body
Or cupped in the resonating grail
Of memory changed and exchanged
As in the trading of brasses,
Pearls and ivory, calicos and slaves,
Laborers and girls, two

Cousins in a royal family
Of Niger known as the Birds or Hawks.
In Christendom one cousin's child
Becomes a "favorite negro" ennobled
By decree of the Czar and founds
A great family, a line of generals,
Dandies and courtiers including the poet
Pushkin, killed in a duel concerning
His wife's honor, while the other cousin sails

In the belly of a slaveship to the port
Of Baltimore where she is raped
And dies in childbirth, but the infant
Will marry a Seminole and in the next
Chorus of time their child fathers
A great Hawk or Bird, with many followers
Among them this great-grandchild of the Jewish
Manager of a Pushkin estate, blowing

His American breath out into the wiggly
Tune uncurling its triplets and sixteenths--the Ginza
Samba of breath and brass, the reed
Vibrating as a valve, the aether, the unimaginable
Wires and circuits of an ingenious box
Here in my room in this house built
A hundred years ago while I was elsewhere:

It is like falling in love, the atavistic
Imperative of some one
Voice or face--the skill, the copper filament,
The golden bellful of notes twirling through
Their invisible element from
Rio to Tokyo and back again gathering
Speed in the variations as they tunnel
The twin haunted labyrinths of stirrup
And anvil echoing here in the hearkening
Instrument of my skull.

-Colin Slater

Here's another Spirit show for you. This one is far rougher and rowdier than the last couple. No slow-cooking hippy jams here; these guys sound like they want to beat somebody up. Definitely more speed than weed on this particular night. This is the one to crank up when you want to piss the neighbors off. Highly recommended.

Spirit - 9/26/76, Gussman Cultural Center, Miami, Florida (FM)
Nature's Way
Same Old Naturally (Radio Man)
Chairman Mao (China Doll)
Victim Of Society
Miami Blues
Reeling In The Night
Like A Rolling Stone
Animal Zoo
1984
Jam
Prelude/ Nothing To Hide
Midnight Train
It's All The Same
I Got A Line On You
Miss This Train
All Along The Watchtower
Nature's Way
Make It Up To You (Hollywood Dream)
Hey Joe

As far as I can tell there are a number of live Spirit albums available, should you choose to use your cash to support what's left of the band (singer/guitarist/guiding light Randy california died in 1997); I only have Made in Germany, but I can happily report that it's mighty fine. I'd be glad to hear from anyone who can tell us about any of the others.

There's no official Spirit home page, but I recommend Tent of Miracles to those who want to find out more bout this band's 30 years history. It's one of those fan-built labors of love and is well worth your attention.

To His Mistris Going to Bed
-John Donne

Come, Madame, come, all rest my powers defie,
Until I labour, I in labour lye.
The foe oft-times having the foe in sight,
Is tir'd with standing though he never fight.
Off with that girdle, like heaven's zone glistering
But a farre fairer world encompassing.
Unpin that spangled brest-plate which you weare
That th'eyes of busy fooles may be stopt there:
Unlace your selfe, for that harmonious chime
Tells me from you that now 'tis your bed time.
Off with that happy buske, whom I envye
That still can be, and still can stand so nigh.
Your gownes going off, such beautious state reveales
As when from flow'ry meades th'hills shadow steales.
Off with that wyrie coronet and showe
The hairy dyadem which on you doth growe.
Off with those shoes: and then softly tread
In this loves hallow'd temple, this soft bed.
In such white robes, heavens Angels us'd to bee
Receiv'd by men; Thou Angel bring'st with thee
A heaven like Mahomet's Paradise; and though
Ill spirits walk in white, we eas'ly know
By this these Angels from an evill sprite:
They set our haires, but these the flesh upright.

Licence my roving hands, and let them goe
Behind, before, above, between, below.
O my America, my new found lande,
My kingdome, safeliest when with one man man'd,
My myne of precious stones, my Empiree,
How blest am I in this discovering thee.
To enter in these bonds is to be free,
Then where my hand is set my seal shall be.

Full nakedness, all joyes are due to thee.
As soules unbodied, bodies uncloth'd must bee,
To taste whole joyes. Gems which you women use
Are like Atlanta's balls, cast in mens viewes,
That when a fooles eye lighteth on a gem
His earthly soule may covet theirs not them.
Like pictures, or like bookes gay coverings made
For laymen, are all women thus arraid;
Themselves are mystique bookes, which only wee
Whom their imputed grace will dignify
Must see reveal'd. Then since that I may knowe,
As liberally as to a midwife showe
Thy selfe; cast all, yea this white linnen hence.
Here is no pennance, much less innocence.

To teach thee, I am naked first: Why than,
What need'st thou have more covering than a man.

A couple of weeks ago my Scottish friend asked me what I'd been listening to recently. Maybe it was the terrible news I'd just received, or the fact that I was cooking supper, or the kids who were shouting in my ears (one each), or whatever else, but I drew a blank. Here, then, by way of a partial answer is a short mix of some of the stuff that's passed through my ears over the last few months. I left out the more obvious stuff (Neil Young, Dead and family, Miles, Cash, The Beach Boys after Pet Sounds, etc.) because he already knows that. This is really for him, but you're welcome to check it out, too. Because... well... why not?

I've never posted a mix (although, at this length I guess it's more a playlist than a mix) here before, but I'm not entirely adverse to the idea. Let me know if you're into it. If not, I'll (probably (mostly)) leave it alone.

Anything, Anything (I'll Give You) - Dramarama
Bad - U2
The Ballad Of El Goodo - Big Star
Bassoon Blues - Illinois Jacquet
Bat Macumba - Os Mutantes
Big Legged Woman - Freddie King
Blackheart Man - Bunny Wailer
Blue Flowers - Dr. Octagon
Blue Rondo a la Turk - The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Broken Hearted Savior - Big Head Todd And The Monsters
Brown Rice - Don Cherry
A Bureaucratic Desire forRevenge, Part 1 - Earth
Catch Me Now I'm Falling - The Kinks
Catching Loners With Blank Arms - Vibracathedral Orchestra
Cave In On You - Jandek
Complication - The Monks
Crazy Eyes - Poco
Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta - Geto Boys
Don't Run Our Hearts Around - Black Mountain
Down In The Hole - The Rolling Stones
Drug - The Czars
Ed Is a Portal - Akron/Family
Epistrophy - Thelonious Monk
Ezekiel 7 And The Permanent Efficacy Of Grace - The Mountain Goats
Famous Blue Raincoat - Leonard Cohen
Feel So Good - Jefferson Airplane
Frankie's Gun! - The Felice Brothers
A French Galleasse - Rachel's
The Girl From Ipanema - Stan Getz and João Gilberto
Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) - George Harrison
Give Me the Time - Alecstar
Hassan I Sahba - Hawkwind
Havuportti - Circle
Honey, Watch Your Ass - Jason Molina
How About You? - Oscar Peterson
How To Live Alone - Pernice Brothers
I Am the Cosmos - Chris Bell
I Can Be A Frog - The Flaming Lips
I Thank You - ZZ Top
I'm On Fire - Dwight Twilley Band
I'm Sticking With You - Velvet Underground
(I'm) Stranded - The Saints
If You Ever Get Famous - The Duke & The King
In My Life - The Beatles
Intidgagen - Terakaft
Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad - The Clash
Killed Myself When I Was Young - A.A. Bondy
Let The Day Begin - Call
Like A Rolling Stone - Spirit
Looking For Lewis And Clark - Long Ryders
Lose My Self - The Duke & The King
Love Removal Machine - The Cult
Lucy Rider - Alberta Cross
Lullaby (Mountain) - The Acorn
Luna Sea - Vetiver
March of the Crabs - Anvil
Mercenaries (Ready For War) - John Cale
Moanin' - Charles Mingus
Mona - Quicksilver Messenger Service
Mother - Danzig
My Shit's Fucked Up - Warren Zevon
My Sister - Juliana Hatfield
Nothing Is True - Jim Carroll Band
One - Warren Haynes
Peace On You - Charlie Rich
Rebel Music (3 O'Clock Roadblock) - Bob Marley & The Wailers
Red Shoes - The Raincoats
Ride The Tiger - Jefferson Starship
Rockefeller Druglaw Blues - The Felice Brothers
Rollerskate Skinny - Old 97's
Romeo - Wipers
Search And Destroy - Iggy And The Stooges
Senses On Fire - Mercury Rev
September Song - Chet Baker
Sex Bomb - Flipper
Shaker Loops: Shaking and Trembling - John Adams
Shimmy She Wobble - Otha Turner
Sketches Of China - Paul Kantner, Grace Slick and David Freiberg
Slapped Actress - The Hold Steady
Soixante Trois - Tinariwen
The Song is Over - The Who
Spaceman - Journey
Stepping Razor - Peter Tosh
Strawberry Letter 23 - Shuggie Otis
Such Pretty Eyes For A Snake - Magnolia Electric Co
Sweet Leaf - Black Sabbath
Take # 52 - John Doe
Ten Million Slaves - Otis Taylor
That’s How I Got to Memphis - Joe Pernice
This Time The Dream's On Me - Paul Bley
VISION 1 "The fire of creation": Et ego homo - Anonymous 4
We Gathered in Spring - Midlake
Whatcha Gonna Do - New Riders of the Purple Sage
(Who Discovered) America? - Ozomatli
Who Does She Hope To Be? - Sonny Sharrock
Windfall - Son Volt
Windowpane - Opeth
Ya Habibi Ta'ala (My Love, Come Quickly) - Kronos Quartet
You Better Run - Junior Kimbrough
You Shouldn't Call the Doctor (If You Can't Afford the Bills) - Dr. Feelgood

Download here: the first 50, the second 50

It's been a while since I posted any Freddie King, so here's a good one from Oklahoma back in 1975. Ever start to think that maybe most contemporary guitarists aren't quite so lame after all? Just listen to this and it will put your doubts to rest - you can keep all your emo whiz kids and Berklee school shredders, just gimme Mr. King and I'm satisfied.

As my old friend Firefly said, "When the aliens came, all they wanted were my Freddie King records. Fuckin' weird, man." He was an odd man, Firefly, but he had a great record collection.

Some weird cuts and edits in this one, but I doubt you'll mind.

Freddie King - 4/15/75, Tulsa, Oklahoma (sbd)
Big Legged Woman
Hey Baby (Part 1) > TV Mama
Look On Yonder Wall
Woman Across The River
San-Ho-Zay
Have You Ever Loved A Woman>
Rock Me Baby>Have You Ever Loved A Woman
Goin' Down
Sweet Home Chicago>Hey Baby (Part 2)>Palace of The King
Please Accept My Love
Shake Your Booty
Hideaway>Mojo Boogie

Even though he died young, Freddie King left a 20 year discography to dig through. You'll definitely want Texas Cannonball, Burglar and Getting Ready. To learn more look at this site for a whole lot more information than you knew existed.

-Francis Bacon

Epitaph
by Katherine Philips

On her Son H.P. at St. Syth’s Church where her body also lies interred

What on Earth deserves our trust?
Youth and Beauty both are dust.
Long we gathering are with pain,
What one moment calls again.
Seven years childless marriage past,
A Son, a son is born at last:
So exactly lim’d and fair,
Full of good Spirits, Meen, and Air,
As a long life promised,
Yet, in less than six weeks dead.
Too promising, too great a mind
In so small room to be confined:
Therefore, as fit in Heaven to dwell,
He quickly broke the Prison shell.
So the subtle Alchemist,
Can’t with Hermes Seal resist
The powerful spirit’s subtler flight,
But t’will bid him long good night.
And so the Sun if it arise
Half so glorious as his Eyes,
Like this Infant, takes a shrowd,
Buried in a morning Cloud