Daylight

(song from 2007)

Can you feel it creep--
The star-studded beast
that's covered half the West in chains
and now it turns to the East?

Can you hear its call--
fire spikes, brass horns, and all?
It bids you drop down to the ground-
you're going down, down, down...

(chorus)
Some still see the star of Bethlehem shining.
Sometimes it's overhead, and sometimes so far away.
And all of those who think they know will be writing
the daylight keeps breaking down.

They're turning up the heat.
They're targeting the teens.
You gotta have the right look, right phone,
you gotta own the right pair of jeans.

The writing's on the wall.
The signs are in the sky.
And signs are all we see these days,
they say "Buy!" and "Buy!" and "Buy!".

(chorus)
But some still see the star of Bethlehem shining.
Sometimes it's overhead, and sometimes so far away.
And all of those who think they know will be writing
the daylight keeps breaking down.

(bridge)
What are you waiting for, gun-shy baby?
You're never far away from what you can truly love.
They'll kill the fatted calf
and pour the best carafe
the day that you decide to come home,
to come home,
to come home.

Can you feel it creep?
Can you feel it creep?
Can you feel it creep?

Ten Years

How difficult it is to believe that ten years have passed since Mila and I were married. We count ourselves as being so, so very fortunate in our lives and in our marriage, though there is no doubt that a happy marriage (and indeed a happy life) is more than luck. I credit much of what we have to Mila's even-temper and non-judgmental nature, and I like to think that I add to the equation, too.

I first saw Mila at Congress Junior High School in Denton back in the very early 80s. She was in 7th grade and I was in 9th. It wasn't until we started dating and were looking at each other's yearbooks (among other things) and I saw her 7th grade picture that the memory of her then hit me. She is a lovely woman now, who takes after her mother's German side quite a bit. The addition of her father's Czech heritage makes for a striking combination indeed-- and one that is quite memorable. Even as a 7th grader she had a certain look.

Later, we were in highschool band together and I remember enjoying watching her dance to "Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats" out on the football field. She was a flag and I was a tuba-- and the band just stood there in formation playing the song while the flags did their routine. Lucky for me her dance area was right in front of me (thank you, God!). I thought she was sexy and liked watching her dance like a cat.

After I graduated I saw her every now and then-- maybe 2 or 3 times per year-- after football games or at bandling parties, such as they were. We had mutual friends, and her bigtime highschool beau was a good friend of some of my good friends.

When she graduated and moved to UT, we saw each other even more, though I would not remember many of these occasions that well if not for my journal. We were, after all, just friends at this point. A few occasions I do remember were these-- Oct. 4, 1986 at a party at my apartment on Enfield. Also in attendance, as fate would have it, were all four future-members of the Dentones. I remember going to a restaurant called Beans (?) with Mila and another friend. Another night included drunken cigarette-smoking and bowling on the UT campus. And finally, and this one is really whacky, in late winter 1987 Mila came over to hang out for the evening. We shared a bottle of white wine and sat on my sofa and talked and talked. I still vaguely remember looking at the bottle's tan label when it was empty or almost empty. The phone rang. It was my new love-interest Alison. She was also, as happenstance would have it, the girlfriend of a rather slacker-like fellow from Colorado named Brian. And she also lived with Brian. But, for some reason, I thought all of this was just bad luck and it didn't reflect on her at all (or me, for that matter) and that we were meant to be together... and all that.

For the record, I am not sure this was the first time Alison's boyfriends overlapped. But I am quite sure it was not the last.

So, back to that night with the white wine and Mila. Alison had FINALLY broken up with her boyfriend and had taken her things to stay at a girl friend's house (that lasted all of 1 hour) and was full of tears and remorse and the need to be comforted. Mila split, and Alison came over and stayed in my life for years. And years.

I slept on the floor that night. Hmmm...right now I cannot think of a way to comment about that particular move.

So, back to the one that matters. Mila and I continued to see each other every few months-- just as friends-- throughout the early 90s. When she bought a new red Tercel in about 1992 she came over to my place to show me.

I always thought she was kind of on the wild side (that's really not true, by the way, either that or she calmed down a lot!) and it made me feel a bit daring-do to hang out with her. There was one particular trip to Wurstfest that really ended up being a bit daring-do! Woo-hoo!

In May of 1996 I was over at Big A's, sitting at his vintage 50s kitchen table, and I asked him if he had talked to Mila lately. He hadn't. I gave her a call a few days later, and we talked for a long time. Not sure how many telephone conversations we had. Maybe just one. Probably more. But we did talk about getting together to do something. She was soon to leave the country, though, to bury her grandfather's ashes back in Bohemia, and just before she was due back in the States I would fly out to NC for a weeks-long visit with my family there.

-=-=-=-=-=-==

Taking a bit of a breath here. Lots of writing, and not quite in the direction I had originally intended. Deleting it would be a shame, and my Newkie-B tells me not to try editing it at the moment. So I'll just let it stand. The four people who actually read this blog are not likely to chase me down and chastise me for the efforts you see here.

Gute Nacht!

Visit of the Parental Units

The apple falls not far from the tree.

But entertainment is cheap in our family.

And no one can ever say that this crew doesn't know how to have a good time.

Insidious

I live in a bubble, quite sheltered from most popular entertainment and "info-tainment". I jokingly tell my movie-buff buddies that the answer to any question that begins with "Have you seen..." is probably 'no'.

My knowledge of the goings on of the larger world trickles in to me during about 10 minutes of paging through the Austin-American Statesman while I wait for my morning jo to kick in, and then, as I drive to work, about 20 minutes of NPR.

Recently, however, I broke pattern and turned on the TV, which, by the way, poet Carl Sandburg very aptly called "the great thief of time"-- 40 years and 69 channels ago! I happened to turn to FOX news.

I don't know why. Just landed there, I guess, and was so appalled that I just stayed. Kinda like rubber-necking as you crawl past a car wreck on I-35.

Now, sheltered though I am, I knew enough to scoff at FOX's claim to be "fair and unbiased" and knew it to be less of a source of news than a mouthpiece for the Republican Party. I knew that it was bad journalism. I knew that it was bad karma. I knew that it was bad politics. What I didn't know it that it's not merely bad. It is insidious.

Case in point:

1) Hours and hours (it was on in the background while I was surfing the web) of the most offensive clips of Reb. Wright's near minstrel-show antics while in the lower right-hand corner an image of Barack Obama's face slowly faded into and out of view. Thinly-veiled semi-subliminal association. Enough to make me want to puke.

2) A half-hour long "Crossfire" style discussion between two political pundits. Topic: Obama's candidacy in light of the Wright clips. One pundit was against Obama, and the other one was REALLLLLY against Obama. That is the fair and unbiased way to present an issue. Right?

3) Four days after my initial lengthy peek into the very nasty world of Fox News, I have it on again (right now) and see, once again, an endless loop of Rev. Wright's unfortunate ravings.

4) Now what's on Fox News? An author talking about his book "The Liberal Mind". The segment was introduced just before a break with the line "Is liberalism a mental disease?" What a farce! This is no book review or chat with the author! It is propaganda. To paraphrase:

Author: There are two kinds of liberals. Some are harmless, but others are radical and cause a lot of damage. They are really dangerous.

Host: I know some liberals really mean well. They want to see a world that is more fair and where everybody gets a fair share, but they expect a sort of Big Brother government to take care of everybody regardless of how hard they work.

Author: That's right.

Host: What percentage of liberals are the first kind, the good-hearted but misguided kind, and what percentage are the other kind?

Author: I don't know the percentages, but the radical liberals do by far the most damage. They are the ones who are most dangerous.

End of interview.

The one brief shining moment out of hours of dreadfulness and dreck-- an interview with Princeton professor Dr. Eddie Glaude. After the host surprised the hell out of me by saying that he was a Christian and then asked why can't Rev. Wright just forgive and forget, Dr. Glaude, who is an African American and also a Christian, attempted to explain that there is a multiplicity of Christian viewpoints and that Rev. Wright and many African-American churches embrace a prophetic view of Christianity. And, as Dr. Glaude was beginning to explain just what that prophetic view is (and by the way it has to do with social justice and not fortune-telling), the host cut him off, saying that time was short. But time was not short. The host talked and talked. During the course of the interview he talked more than the guest.

+++++
When does the Revolution begin? Let me know.
In the mean time, vote for Obama and let's all do our best to turn this mess around.

Summer 1984-- When Clowns Go Bad

I didn't remember this at all until I found it in my journal, but soon after Big A joined the band we started calling ourselves "The Hotel Puppets". What the?!? This unfortunate moniker appears in the May 30th entry. Fourteen days later we had our first gig, under the name "When Clowns Go Bad" (taken from the caption of a Gary Larson cartoon). This circus-theme-as-band-name thing would stick around for another eight years.

Summer '84 songlist:

"We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together" Velvet Underground
"Sixteen Tons" traditional
"Sweet Jane" Velvet Underground
"Do You Love Me" Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers
"Submission" Sex Pistols
"Substitute" The Who, via the Pistols
"Wipe Out" Ventures?
"You Broke My Heart in Little Tiny Pieces" ?
"Chinese Rocks" Heartbreakers
"I Wanna Be Your Dog" The Stooges
"I'll Be Your Mirror" Velvets
"London's Burning" The Clash
"1969" The Stooges
"My Face is on Your Lunchbox" The Vomit Pigs
"Louie Louie/Wild Thing" Kingsmen/Animals
"Captain Soul" a 60s instrumental by the Byrds
"No Fun" The Stooges
"Purple Haze" Hendrix