mearse

2009-02-15T11:02:00.001-05:00

Can't wait for this record!

My photo in Time Magazine

2009-01-06T17:54:00.002-05:00

I was pretty excited to get this news and saw it on the magazine racks yesterday for the first time.

Here is link to some pictures from the magazine:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mearse/sets/72157611395631159/

Tony Horwitz

2008-10-24T10:37:00.000-04:00

Don't farb out, read his books.

a place a-z: my i-tunes library (written for a class)

2007-04-07T15:53:00.000-04:00

This Place - A-Z

For this exercise I had a hard time coming up with something that I could index alphabetically and avoid the pitfalls of doing so…the errant “zebra” or “xylophone” that creeps into such lists. While deciding what to listen to while drafting the list, I realized I should do my iTunes library. Music travels with me every place I go, many times helping or completely defining the space I am in. Therefore, by artist, song, album, or lyric here is my musical place A-Z:

A – While studying in Cuba during the winter of 1999, I needed to find some music. I went from record shop to record shop gathering some names of people that I should hear. I did not have much money, so list had to be short. Nearly every shop recommended a disc called “Aquellas Lindas Melodias” by Guillermo Portables. The disc is as haunting as it is beautiful. Everything about the music represents the experiences I had interacting with the Cuban people; it is confident, powerful, and honest delivered in a matter-of-fact, understated way.

B – “The Black Keys” is a Branford Marsalis disc that turned me onto a world of jazz far removed from the Big Band and traditional groups my step-father played in, photographed, and played on the stereo on a daily basis. In this music there was anger, and echoes of the wordless political statements I would later discover in Coltrane. At the time I started listening to Branford, I was the only person I knew that did. He played with the Dead in the 90’s (and Sting) but his trio’s music was something completely different. I truly saw new possibilities of what music even was from this disc.

C – Canadee-I-O I have long been enamored with the whole genre of songs that are stories of young girls dressing in sailor’s clothes in order to gain passage to America - or in this case Canada. This love started with this song when I was about 15. Similar to the Branford situation, I was the only person I knew at that time that was like me. I knew Dylan’s music through the covers and radio songs that most people are familiar with. Being broke, I spend a lot of time browsing the town library’s collection. The town library was a special place as it was more my mother’s, grandmother’s, step-father’s town library than it was mine – having moved to Cliffside Park right before my sophomore year of high school. The shelves and rack I browsed were paid for by my grandmother’s tax money.

Regardless it was there that I first encountered a Dylan disc. He was ugly, wearing a black vest with no shirt, rubbery striped pants and fingerless gloves and I was intrigued. That discs freakin’ rocked. The songs are all traditional, which is funny because that is the disc, after releasing forty records of songs that I now recognize and consider as most important American musical and cultural artifacts of the last century, that got me “into Dylan”.

D – So my name is Jim Morrison and that is not usually discussed by me. It is worth mentioning that from the beginning of my life there have been polar opposite forces working on my psyche. My father, person routed in the place of Hudson County, New Jersey, tough times living in the 1950’s, independence, respect for authority, 25 year service as a police officer combined with my mother, who was assigned the nursing career by her mother at the age of 16 as an option other than convent where she could develop her nun-liness.

The point here is that I was brought to parties in the early 1980’s by teenagers as the party mascot. A blond kid named Jim Morrison; I remember my jacket in kindergarten had Doors pins on it. That is a recipe of a life of trouble!

Interlude – A trip to the bar….

E – Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere – Down by the River. Guitar.

F – There are some bands that are so good they weave in and out of your life, taking on varied forms of significance depending on the company you keep and the mood you are in. Fugazi has been that band. For me, it started as it did for many “grunge” teens. Pearl Jam covered part of “Suggestion” – which is a captivating song about the subjugation of women, in both cases presented/performed by a super-testosterone laden band.

So many different types of people find joy in Fugazi. They bring together radical punk movements, experimental and improvisational elements. At a show in New York once I hung out with Mike D from the Beastie Boys who was there just as a fan. The previous show to that was a nightmare, hole in the wall in Trenton. I think the opening band was called the Flaming Pussies or something. It was terrifying.

G – “Ghosts of the Great Highway” is an album by Sun Kil Moon. The lead singer Mark Kozelek sued to be in the San Francisco-based band Red House Painters. This album is completely beautiful and can be listened to a daily basis without chance of boredom or lack of transcendence. Great albums create place. The imagery, mood and patience captured on this disc make Kozelek’s experiences universal - his dad becomes everyone’s dad, his first lover becomes everyone’s first lover, once renowned now obscure boxers become heroes and pillars of achievement.

H – A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall

Oh, what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what'll you do now, my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin',
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner's face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin',
But I'll know my song well before I start singin',
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Copyright © 1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music

I – There is a song by Bonnie Prince Billy, Will Oldham, called “I See a Darkness”. Johnny Cash recorded the song on one of his American albums. The song profiles this seemingly tortured but for-the-most-part normally operating person:

Well I hope that

Someday soon
We'll find peace in our lives
Together or apart
Alone or with our wives
And we can stop our whoring
And draw the smiles inside
And light it up forever
And never go to sleep
My best unbeaten brother
That isn't all I see

J – Because sailor songs were covered by Canadee-I-O, I will not choose Jack-A-Roe, one of the better sailor girl/boy tragedy tunes. So, the choice is Jack Straw for multiple reasons.

Before traveling west, the song provided for an imaginary west to compliment the traditional ideas of western life – namely, sagebrush, cowboys and Indians. The song is steeped in that imaginary place.

"Leaving Texas
Fourth day of July
Sun so hot, clouds so low
The eagles filled the sky"

I chose the tune because the lyrics are representative of the imagined west. They are full of imagery tied to travel, escape, chase, train rides. The theme of the song though is that despite our best efforts to escape the mistakes we have made:

Ain't no place a man can hide, Shannon
Keep him from the sun
Ain't no bed will give us rest, man,
You keep us on the run

In addition to the songs direct mention and themes of place, there is the fact that I have listened to this song in probably 20 states, and an infinite amount of settings.

Specific train lines and towns:
Detroit Lightning
Sante Fe
Great Northern
Cheyenne
Wichita
Tucson

K - King of Carrots Flowers - Part I

Neutral Milk Hotel's record "In an Aeroplane Over the Sea" is probably one of the best records ever made, easily in the 20 years. The beauty of the record is that Jeff Mangum's lyrics are haunting, full of pain, connected to history and dreamscapes. He basically was haunted by dreams of Anne Frank after reading her diary in his early twenties. Her imagined family began living in his subconscious and the results of this are documented on the record. Therefore, in addition to being one of the albums that enjoyed daily listening in the past, causing it to tied to a huge amount of memories and experiences - I fell in love with my wife during the height of my obsession with the album, it is a transcendent experience nearly every time you listen. It's imagery forces you to be uncomfortable:

When you were young you were the king of carrot flowers
And how you built a tower tumbling through the trees
In holy rattlesnakes that fell all around your feet

And your mom would stick a fork right into daddy's shoulder
And your dad would throw the garbage all across the floor
As we would lay and learn what each other's bodies were for

And this is the room one afternoon I knew I could love you
And from above you how I sank into your soul
Into that secret place where no one dares to go

And your mom would sink until she was no longer speaking
And dad would dream of all the different ways to die
Each one a little more than he could dare to try

L - Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts

I once read that this songs is best unwritten screenplay out there. The bar that song takes play in is a fascinating study of place. Issues of wealth, entertainment, privilege, love, vanity, power, murder, theft and deception (and tons more) run through the song's narrative. Who we are and who we pretend to be as well as our motivations are all included in the song, the place itself serves as respite from life for some but the summation of it for others. People's past collide with their present continuously.

The acoustic demo of the song does the best job of stripping the song down to it elemental level of storytelling

It also speaks to the power of the individual in transforming space... in this case the Jack of Hearts, who comes into town and disrupts everyone's life in a profound way ranging from heartbreak to hanging.

M - My Brother Esau - When I was really drunk last night I thought this would be my "M". It is a song that Bob Weir said he stopped playing because he did not understand what it was saying. A look at it ties together biblical stories of the hunter Esau, tied to the idea that loss in Vietnam was a killing of self, perhaps national unity. There are also references to the stabbing death at Altamont at the end of the sixties. I don't really know.

N - Not on Top - This is a song by Herman Dune. I think it captures the sentiments of the nearly every person my age that I know and love/tolerate/like/relate with. It is amazing what we become, where we come from, what we imagined and continue to imagine for ourselves and the people we know.

Here are the lyrics:

I feel a little strange
Feels like I'll never get my shit together
27 and I'm fucked
Well, it's 10 years from teenage
and that's a freaking lot
I think I'm getting old
and I thought I'd never say
that I bought Nevermind
and it changed my life
some fifteen years ago (background: Nevermind was thirteen years ago)
I thought my little sister
would never ever make it out of high school
and go looking for jobs (yeah right)

Not on top
Baby, I'm not on top

and your love is like a diamond
with a sadistic sick crowd of bastards
peeping in the bleachers
and there's two men and no team
one is pitching cannonballs
the other is hitting wind
and I've done a lot of training
to try to stick to my positions
locked up in the attic
now I'm falling in love with her
and there's 67 better ways
to make some sense (yeah whatever)

Not on top
Baby, I'm not on top

O - On the Bus Mall is a very depressing song by the Decemberists. What makes their songs beautiful (perhaps tolerable) is that they are often set in a distant imaginary era of chimney sweeps, pirates, and village whores. This song is the exception its characters are very real and multifaceted. They are the street kids of Portland, who are either forced or driven to a life a selling themselves on the street, taking aloof comfort in each other and the drugs they consume. It a wrenching tune that manages to be simultaneously beautiful which is what makes it significant (the imagery is worthy of great novels).

lyrics:
In matching blue raincoats,
our shoes were our show boats
we kicked around.
From stairway to station
we made a sensation
with the get-about crowd.
And oh, what a bargain,
we’re two easy targets
for the old men at the off-tracks,
who’ve paid in palaver
and crumpled old dollars,
which we squirreled away
in our rat trap hotel by the freeway.
And we slept in Sundays.

Your parents were anxious;
your cool was contagious
at the old school.
You left without leaving
a note for your grieving
sweet mother, while
your brother was so cruel.
And here in the alleys
your spirits were rallied
as you learned quick to make a fast buck.
In bathrooms and barrooms,
on dumpsters and heirlooms,
we bit our tongues.
Sucked our lips into our lungs
'til we were falling.
Such was our calling.

And here in our hovel we fuse like a family,
but I will not mourn for you.
So take off your makeup
and pocket your pills away.
We’re kings among runaways
on the bus mall.
We’re down
on the bus mall.

Among all the urchins and old Chinese merchants
stood the old town,
we reigned at the pool hall
with one iron cue ball
and we never let the bastards get us down.
And we laughed off the quick tricks--
the old men with limp dicks--
on the colonnades of the waterfront park.
As 4 in the morning came on, cold and boring,
we huddled close
in the bus stop enclosure enfolding.
Our hands tightly holding.

But here in our hovel we fuse like a family,
but I will not mourn for you.
So take off your makeup
and pocket your pills away.
We’re kings among runaways
on the bus mall.
We’re down
on the bus mall.

P - Peacocks (the obligatory Mountain Goats tune for which, like Dylan, there could have been an entry for every letter...I should have and might actually do that!)

I think this song speaks to the surreal moments of life when you ask, like David Byrne did, how did I get here? Who are these people all around me? In this case, "How come there's peacocks in the front yard?"

He also alludes to the paranoia that can creep into relationships when they become obsessive, about how we often trash about looking for satisfaction, comfort and contact and will settle for wherever we can find it.

Q - Quetzalcoatl Eats Plums

as evidence of how easy it would be to do this all with the Mountain Goats I offer this immediate example:

i meant to leave the house this morning
and begin making my way toward where you are
i meant to leave the house this morning
i made it halfway across the front yard

but the plum tree hung heavy in my head
and the plum tree hung heavy in my heart
and the plum tree hung heavy over me

so i tore off to the phone
to call you and tell you something, but i couldn't remember what
because through the clean, clean windows
saw the plum tree's leaves, as red as fresh blood

and the plum tree hung heavy in my head
and the plum tree hung heavy in my heart
and the plum tree hung heavy over me

we can be completely distracted and knocked off of our plans by place. Plans fall away in the face of something new or newly noticed.

here is anther Quetzalcoatl tune:

Quetzalcoatl in Born

it's a cold night in sonora
and the stars are out in full force
it's a moment the world has been waiting for
when you set the world back on course
into the fire you go (2x)

it's a strange gathering around you
and the lord of the snails is born
five minutes before you take on divinity
you hear the crackling, well you hear the snapping corn
into the fire you go (4x)

R - Red House Painters

I always omitted Los Angeles from my list of places that mattered. I had visited it when I was young and nothing other than the sunshine stuck with me. Notions of celebrity, violence, poverty, and a racist police force all converged on my dismissal of the city as place I wanted to return to, vacate, or perhaps live. Then I heard this song by the Red House Painters that describes taking off from Las Angeles, looking out the window and seeing it sparkle in the night. The image, combined with other images of lost or fleeting beauty throughout the song made me want to go back and experience the city again.
I have and I love it but fear that I would become a celebrity stalker or something. I found Jeff Bridges' house and took a picture of it. Recognizing he is not in fact "the Dude" or "the Duder", he is still pretty cool. See http://www.jeffbridges.com/

S - Sufjan Stevens is an artist that at one point had plans to release an album for all fifty states. He studies old newspapers and histories to create a musical representation of states that range from songs about laid-off auto-workers to John Wayne Gacy. On his last tour for the album called, "Come On and Feel the Illinois" he toured with a few scary cheerleaders that did interpretive dances based on his Illinois-themed songs.

T - This Land is Your Land

I use Dylan's sad low key version of this song to transition from early folk music to Dylan's original work in my Dylan class. Everyone knows something about this song. I have been used by people of all political persuasions to rally their cause - patriotism, skepticism, anger, pride.

In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me

One of the talking points that is central to most of my lessons at school is how a people, place, document can be everthing and nothing simultaneously - How vast and wonderful is our country! What might keep you from ever seeing it?

U - Up to My Neck in You

Another thing that Mark Kozelek is known for is reworking cover songs into something completely new. The best known example of this are his stripped down acoustic covers of AC/DC songs released on an album titled “What’s Next to the Moon?”. While I am not nor ever was huge AC/DC, I have read that the experience for fans listening to this album is wild because the imagery - long bound to heavy, perhaps, angry emotions - is emoted peacefully.

V – Visions of Johanna

Arguably one of the better songs ever written, this is one song that get mentioned again and again as people’s favorite Dylan songs. Like “Lily”, the songs captures moments and then examines every person present and indexes their reality/experiences off of everyone else in the scene. For example:

In the empty lot where the ladies play blindman's bluff with the key chain
And the all-night girls they whisper of escapades out on the "D" train
We can hear the night watchman click his flashlight
Ask himself if it's him or them that's really insane

Having listened to this countless times, it never fails to get my attention and forced me to confront, at least once during the song, the lives, meaning and experiences of the people mentioned. Really it is a homage to that which is indescribable and unforgettable in life – whatever those things may be.

W – “We Become Silhouettes” is a tune by the Postal Service. I taught history of rock at Hunt and I wanted to spend time talking about modern rock music and some trends in music. The Postal Service is interesting because most of the writing and recording for their album was done (or at least could have been done) in different locations. The music is nearly entirely composed on a laptop using sampling software. Those tracks were sent to the vocalist, Ben Gibbard to record over.

There are probably, right now, some collaborations happening between people

that have and will never meet.

X – X-mas in February is on Lou Reed’s classic album “New York”. It tells the story of veteran that returns to a life that will never be the same as before he enlisted. It’s action takes place during then before and then after the war. While the place changes the person remains constant in theory, yet he is transformed – quite literally – through the narrative.

Y – “You Were Always on my Mind”

Willie Nelson is as engrained in my psyche as Abe Lincoln or something. He was playing daily in my house growing up despite being the drug abusing, tax evading, communist my father always warned me about never becoming. I love Willie Nelson though this particular song is mediocre. I still know all the words without even trying to recall them – they are just there. People follow you every where you go – a common theme in Willie tunes.

Z – Zakir Hussein is a table player that I first found through listening to Indian Classical music. He is an incredible player that I have seen play in a variety of settings. The first time I saw him was in 1997, some friends and I borrowed some kid’s red, classic Firebird roadster and went down to Boston to see Shakti with Zakir and John McGlaughlin. That was incredible. The next time I saw him was at a church in Portland with what must have been an eighty year old sitar player that was basically immobile with the exception of his lightning fast hands. The last show I saw him play, also in Portland, was one of the worst shows I ever saw. The culprit - an unnecessary collision of place. This terrible shiny suited guy with a mullet on terrible cheese-jazz saxophone using Zakir’s name to sell tickets to his uninspired, talent-less exposition of composition.

Mike Doughty's Band

2006-11-01T23:03:00.001-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLSqdkcEAk0

four months ago...

2006-10-29T18:51:00.000-05:00

....was my last post.

mearse.

Norfolk and Western

2006-06-27T09:30:00.000-04:00

Northfolk and Western 1
Originally uploaded by mearse.

fantastic show at higher ground last night. both bands, northfolk and western and devotchka played great sets.

norfolk and western were much more electric and loud than other times i have seen them - great blend of songwriting, sonic dissonence and instrumentation... i was glad there was no melodica or hand-clapping. (the last four or five bands i have seen had both)
they also covered neil young (heart of gold) about three minutes after i mentioned that adam was playing like him, which rocked.

basically i left the show wanting to be in portland even more than i do on any given day.

there are some more photos on the flickr site... and more to come at some point.

Burlington Grid Project?

2006-06-09T23:36:00.000-04:00

I found this link:

http://www.portlandgridproject.com/

The city was divided up into grids and then distributed to tons of photographers to capture.

Here are some examples. I think I want to get this started in Burlington. It would be a great community creation.

got to get away from the g-rind

2006-05-29T19:30:00.000-04:00

some more pictures up on the flickr site. we got a new tv today and some stylish speaker stands too.

some more pictures on the flickr site...

2006-05-09T21:19:00.000-04:00

Originally uploaded by mearse.

the more i take the more i want to take.

oh, and i voted for taylor on idol tonight. i need to now counteract my lameness with some cool injections.

The Maple Dog

2006-04-30T19:56:00.000-04:00

we invented a new food at the 40th annual maple festival in st. albans this afternoon. that is. after we ate all the other pre-exisiting types of food.

here is the pictorial, followed by some other culinary highlights:

this:

plus this:

equals this:

The Maple Dog - Tell Your Friends, It's Fantastic!

these are pickles, they belong there, because as the maple enthusiast on-line next to me remarked, "the sour cuts the sweet and the result is just... perfect!" actually it was not that fantastic.

Neil Young

2006-04-28T16:19:00.000-04:00

Click me to listen to the new Neil Young record

Trip to Montreal

2006-04-23T18:04:00.000-04:00

Originally uploaded by mearse.

bunch of new photos up at my flickr page after a day of taking pictures and seeing john "ian mckay" vanderslice in montreal.

it was an awesome show, you should see him if he comes close to you... and he probably is judging by his tour schedule.

i am starting to learn about longer exposure times and how to use my camera on the manual setting. fun stuff.

video

2006-04-17T22:59:00.000-04:00

Poems about fish....

2006-04-17T19:57:00.000-04:00

i am practicing what i "teach"... tonight my students need to write five poems. i told them i would write some too, perhaps about my new fishtank.

here they are:

the lanturne:

watch!
constant
spectacle
calming motion
search

the essence:

platies dive, endlessly
they do thrive, thankfullly

the tanka:

clear waters of april
constantly being filtered
rising and falling
searching for food, interested
in every square inch of rock

the plaeides:

Fishtank

Frantically peaceful fish
falling towards the rocks
fake plastic trees conceal
forlorn golden tetra's
frantic search for food
frenzy at feeding time
fellow neons eat not

and finally the etheree:

there
are two
neons that
remind me of
my childhood when i
would sit and stare for hours
at nothing but the constant
motion of the fake trees swaying
to the pull of the silent filter
now, i sit and watch the same fake plastic trees

New Pets

2006-04-15T17:34:00.000-04:00

we got a fish tank and are spending a lot of our time and money on making it make us and the fish happy.

so far it is working. i feel like i am 7 years old.

the platies are the most fun to watch because they are peaceful and go up and down.

the gold tetra is a named vlade because he is not tall, large, serbian and bearded like his namesake. he survived being bullied, like many of our nations youths, and is now a leader in the aquatice community. we deported the bullies, rumsfeld and and cheney.

there are also two neons that roll together.

american sore throat

2006-03-21T20:29:00.000-05:00

i watch president idol american bush tonight in order to put my mind where my throat is.

jet blue lost my wife's luggage.

now i will have my dinner burger complete with avacado, feta, cheddar, and spices.

to vote for my sore throat just text the word mearse to idol (4365)

A Great Weekend calls for Mountain Goats downloads!

2006-03-12T14:52:00.000-05:00



International Small Arms Traffic Blues

My love is like a powder keg
My love is like a powder keg in the corner of an empty warehouse
Somewhere just outside of town
About to burn down

My love is like a Cuban plane
My love is like a Cuban plane flying from Havana
Up the Florida coast to the 'Glades
Soviet made

Our love is like the border between Greece and Albania
Our love is like the border between Greece and Albania
Trucks loaded down with weapons
Crossing over every night
Moon yellow and bright
There is a shortage in the blood supply
But there is no shortage of blood
The way I feel about you baby can't explain it
You got the best of my love

alpha incipiens

the morning comes to a stuttering halt
the cool breeze that blows is somebody's fault
the summer heat tries to burn through
and i look over to warn you
but something's happening

the morning glories climb the wall
and you speak in a slow drawl
i'm trying to piece together what you're saying
but the birds are screeching, the hounds are baying
i don't remember there being any hounds around here

we lean back and we clink our glasses
raise the drinks to our thirsty mouths,
and thick as molasses
ice cold vodka eases in
as the low pressure system brings the breezes in
and they sashay and pirouette above you
the only thing i know is that i love you
and i'm holding on, yeah


-The Mountain Goats
a.k.a. everyone's favorite band


'Right click  - save as' these hot doggets!

back from california

2006-03-08T20:35:00.000-05:00

Originally uploaded by mearse.

this is from the lobby that goes up to the observation tower at the de young museum. we did not have time to go through the entire museum.

luckily, we were able to knock out the guards, steal their uniforms, and make it through several rooms before the swat came in and brought us down.

click and follow for more pictures from the trip.

mearse?

i have not really listened to music in weeks..

2006-03-02T10:54:00.000-05:00

because i have been living my auditory life in Alagaesia.

Alagaesia:

i think i can recommend listening to over 36 hours of narration about elves, dwarves, humans, urgels, riders, dragons and the rahzak. i am just not sure you will have any friends or loving partners when you try to talk about it.

also - because i am traveling today - i am reminded of my new passport photo. in it i look like i just escaped from either prison, the drunk tank, or a colony of lunatics thus ensuring ten more years of being hassled at international borders.

to my dog on wheels i am indebted to you.....

2006-02-27T08:08:00.000-05:00

i went to see the new pornographers and belle and sebastian last night in montreal at the metropolis. here are some pictures. i wish i had a real camera because it was a very photogenic show.

down in cheynee county

2006-02-20T19:50:00.000-05:00

dylan tied to cheney shooting

Hello!

2006-02-15T17:23:00.000-05:00

gumby!
Originally uploaded by Rhino and Bird.

nearly a two week drought - i need some inspiration.

i need to never go quail hunting.

i need to get to that stack of grading.

i need to use the restroom.

Lobby of the Jin Mao

2006-02-03T20:52:00.000-05:00

Lobby of the Jin Mao
Originally uploaded by Global Voyager.

looking up

2006-02-03T20:49:00.000-05:00

looking up
Originally uploaded by jmw334.

disturbing - like a shoe in the road...

i am abnormally tired...

2006-02-01T21:47:00.000-05:00

i think that my immune system is working overtime.

this is what is going on...

the books i am reading:

Buddha Boy
2005 Non-Required Reading
the Latest New Yorker

the things i have been listening to:

Centro-Matic
Great Lake Swimmers
explosions in the sky - how strange, innocence
the extra glenns - ep
dntel -life is full of possibilities

what i am not going to do but want to do:

March 31st - the best $8 you can possibly spend

i want it to be spring - if it is not going to be winter (for real) then i want to get on my bike, listen to music, and drink water.

"i'm not a playa i just crush a lot.."

2006-01-26T19:21:00.000-05:00

posted by ankies at 7:22

200 hundred years of minimal improvements

2006-01-21T17:11:00.000-05:00

this wall is pretty old. (well relatively old anyway) when you look at, you can see that it underwent at least four major renovations. layers of modernization.

i accidently erased the picture three times in the last five minutes. along those lines - i also failed to post three entries this week.

they dealt with:

my own... omarion
my aspirations to be a realtor
my recent conquest in freeing the wookies of kashyyyk from a lifetime of enslavement
and something about john vanderslice

The Tollund Man

2006-01-14T11:06:00.000-05:00

I was sitting at the edge of the marsh
when the council came to bring me the news.
they handed me a bowl of cooked wild grasses and they
gave me the ceremonial shoes.

goodbye young danish women.
goodbye danish sky.
goodbye cold air I am going away.
goodbye goodbye goodbye.

    - the Mountain Goats

if i don't blog

2006-01-12T18:57:00.000-05:00

i will be inactive... i am inactive technologically but not in reality.

i am actually watching the news on nbc - the one before jeopardy.

i guess there is snow in new dehli like they imagined in 'the day after tomorrow' - it is 60 degrees colder there than normal.

here it is about 60 degrees warmer than normal for this frigid time of year. hilarious is that i picked up my nearly $1000 boots made for the arctic circle today - the day of record warmth.

go to mike's flickr page and check out his other photos (the one above is his)

pompano to boca and back down...

2005-12-23T09:27:00.000-05:00

that's how soflo lays its smack down.

sitting overlooking the ocean, hotels and condos of deerfield beach. we just watched about 45 minutes of cnn's morning show with soledad embargo.

that is not her real name, it is a pun actually because that is what she represents - an embargo on news and actual reporting.

nearly accurate quotes:

so there are no problems right now at the station but what could you anticipate might go wrong later?

so looking at the images from the airport it seems calm but are there understones of frustration and misery?

ugh. where are the advocates for normality? reason? truth? exposure? trials? accountability?

merry christmas. happy new year.

read this
part two

live bloggingnst snl

2005-12-17T23:46:00.000-05:00

jack black and neil young on the first episode i have watched in years.
flap jacks and real fun on the shirts evokes my sastachi ears

the world's coolest dj

2005-12-13T18:04:00.000-05:00

you have got to be kidding me!

one hour of dylan a week buries five hours a day of howard.
now what do i do?

why are so many people infinitely cooler than me? is it someone's job to run the board while dylan talks? does that person have to wear diapers?

ugh. i don't want to go to work tomorrow.

you may find god in the church of your choice

2005-12-12T19:16:00.000-05:00

The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers - Psalterie

download this today - it is free and from what i have heard, fantastic.

while we are all spiritual and aware.... why not read this today:

Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie
by Bob Dylan
When yer head gets twisted and yer mind grows numb
When you think you're too old, too young, too smart or too dumb
When yer laggin' behind an' losin' yer pace
In a slow-motion crawl of life's busy race
No matter what yer doing if you start givin' up
If the wine don't come to the top of yer cup
If the wind's got you sideways with with one hand holdin' on
And the other starts slipping and the feeling is gone
And yer train engine fire needs a new spark to catch it
And the wood's easy findin' but yer lazy to fetch it
And yer sidewalk starts curlin' and the street gets too long
And you start walkin' backwards though you know its wrong
And lonesome comes up as down goes the day
And tomorrow's mornin' seems so far away
And you feel the reins from yer pony are slippin'
And yer rope is a-slidin' 'cause yer hands are a-drippin'
And yer sun-decked desert and evergreen valleys
Turn to broken down slums and trash-can alleys
And yer sky cries water and yer drain pipe's a-pourin'
And the lightnin's a-flashing and the thunder's a-crashin'
And the windows are rattlin' and breakin' and the roof tops a-shakin'
And yer whole world's a-slammin' and bangin'
And yer minutes of sun turn to hours of storm
And to yourself you sometimes say
"I never knew it was gonna be this way
Why didn't they tell me the day I was born"

And you start gettin' chills and yer jumping from sweat
And you're lookin' for somethin' you ain't quite found yet
And yer knee-deep in the dark water with yer hands in the air
And the whole world's a-watchin' with a window peek stare
And yer good gal leaves and she's long gone a-flying
And yer heart feels sick like fish when they're fryin'
And yer jackhammer falls from yer hand to yer feet
And you need it badly but it lays on the street
And yer bell's bangin' loudly but you can't hear its beat
And you think yer ears might a been hurt
Or yer eyes've turned filthy from the sight-blindin' dirt
And you figured you failed in yesterdays rush
When you were faked out an' fooled white facing a four flush
And all the time you were holdin' three queens
And it's makin you mad, it's makin' you mean
Like in the middle of Life magazine
Bouncin' around a pinball machine
And there's something on yer mind you wanna be saying
That somebody someplace oughta be hearin'
But it's trapped on yer tongue and sealed in yer head
And it bothers you badly when your layin' in bed
And no matter how you try you just can't say it
And yer scared to yer soul you just might forget it
And yer eyes get swimmy from the tears in yer head
And yer pillows of feathers turn to blankets of lead
And the lion's mouth opens and yer staring at his teeth
And his jaws start closin with you underneath
And yer flat on your belly with yer hands tied behind
And you wish you'd never taken that last detour sign
And you say to yourself just what am I doin'
On this road I'm walkin', on this trail I'm turnin'
On this curve I'm hanging
On this pathway I'm strolling, in the space I'm taking
In this air I'm inhaling
Am I mixed up too much, am I mixed up too hard
Why am I walking, where am I running
What am I saying, what am I knowing
On this guitar I'm playing, on this banjo I'm frailin'
On this mandolin I'm strummin', in the song I'm singin'
In the tune I'm hummin', in the words I'm writin'
In the words that I'm thinkin'
In this ocean of hours I'm all the time drinkin'
Who am I helping, what am I breaking
What am I giving, what am I taking
But you try with your whole soul best
Never to think these thoughts and never to let
Them kind of thoughts gain ground
Or make yer heart pound
But then again you know why they're around
Just waiting for a chance to slip and drop down
"Cause sometimes you hear'em when the night times comes creeping
And you fear that they might catch you a-sleeping
And you jump from yer bed, from yer last chapter of dreamin'
And you can't remember for the best of yer thinking
If that was you in the dream that was screaming
And you know that it's something special you're needin'
And you know that there's no drug that'll do for the healin'
And no liquor in the land to stop yer brain from bleeding
And you need something special
Yeah, you need something special all right
You need a fast flyin' train on a tornado track
To shoot you someplace and shoot you back
You need a cyclone wind on a stream engine howler
That's been banging and booming and blowing forever
That knows yer troubles a hundred times over
You need a Greyhound bus that don't bar no race
That won't laugh at yer looks
Your voice or your face
And by any number of bets in the book
Will be rollin' long after the bubblegum craze
You need something to open up a new door
To show you something you seen before
But overlooked a hundred times or more
You need something to open your eyes
You need something to make it known
That it's you and no one else that owns
That spot that yer standing, that space that you're sitting
That the world ain't got you beat
That it ain't got you licked
It can't get you crazy no matter how many
Times you might get kicked
You need something special all right
You need something special to give you hope
But hope's just a word
That maybe you said or maybe you heard
On some windy corner 'round a wide-angled curve

But that's what you need man, and you need it bad
And yer trouble is you know it too good
"Cause you look an' you start getting the chills

"Cause you can't find it on a dollar bill
And it ain't on Macy's window sill
And it ain't on no rich kid's road map
And it ain't in no fat kid's fraternity house
And it ain't made in no Hollywood wheat germ
And it ain't on that dimlit stage
With that half-wit comedian on it
Ranting and raving and taking yer money
And you thinks it's funny
No you can't find it in no night club or no yacht club
And it ain't in the seats of a supper club
And sure as hell you're bound to tell
That no matter how hard you rub
You just ain't a-gonna find it on yer ticket stub
No, and it ain't in the rumors people're tellin' you
And it ain't in the pimple-lotion people are sellin' you
And it ain't in no cardboard-box house
Or down any movie star's blouse
And you can't find it on the golf course
And Uncle Remus can't tell you and neither can Santa Claus
And it ain't in the cream puff hair-do or cotton candy clothes
And it ain't in the dime store dummies or bubblegum goons
And it ain't in the marshmallow noises of the chocolate cake voices
That come knockin' and tappin' in Christmas wrappin'
Sayin' ain't I pretty and ain't I cute and look at my skin
Look at my skin shine, look at my skin glow
Look at my skin laugh, look at my skin cry
When you can't even sense if they got any insides
These people so pretty in their ribbons and bows
No you'll not now or no other day
Find it on the doorsteps made out-a paper mache�
And inside it the people made of molasses
That every other day buy a new pair of sunglasses
And it ain't in the fifty-star generals and flipped-out phonies
Who'd turn yuh in for a tenth of a penny
Who breathe and burp and bend and crack
And before you can count from one to ten
Do it all over again but this time behind yer back
My friend
The ones that wheel and deal and whirl and twirl
And play games with each other in their sand-box world
And you can't find it either in the no-talent fools
That run around gallant
And make all rules for the ones that got talent
And it ain't in the ones that ain't got any talent but think they do
And think they're foolin' you
The ones who jump on the wagon
Just for a while 'cause they know it's in style
To get their kicks, get out of it quick
And make all kinds of money and chicks
And you yell to yourself and you throw down yer hat
Sayin', "Christ do I gotta be like that
Ain't there no one here that knows where I'm at
Ain't there no one here that knows how I feel
Good God Almighty
THAT STUFF AIN'T REAL"

No but that ain't yer game, it ain't even yer race
You can't hear yer name, you can't see yer face
You gotta look some other place
And where do you look for this hope that yer seekin'
Where do you look for this lamp that's a-burnin'
Where do you look for this oil well gushin'
Where do you look for this candle that's glowin'
Where do you look for this hope that you know is there
And out there somewhere
And your feet can only walk down two kinds of roads
Your eyes can only look through two kinds of windows
Your nose can only smell two kinds of hallways
You can touch and twist
And turn two kinds of doorknobs
You can either go to the church of your choice
Or you can go to Brooklyn State Hospital
You'll find God in the church of your choice
You'll find Woody Guthrie in Brooklyn State Hospital

And though it's only my opinion
I may be right or wrong
You'll find them both
In the Grand Canyon
At sundown

word power: two stories

2005-12-07T17:29:00.001-05:00

the first is one of the most outrageous and horrifying i have heard in a long time. to be honest, while listening to it, i wanted this man dead and everyone like him to be exterminated along with him.

i try hard to not be ethnocentric about the whole thing but i think i find it impossible. the mother f-ers are backwards unevolved animals. just saying. now.

STORY #1 (click)

speaking of animals, there is always this story to make you feel better and realize the amazing potential of seemingly ordinary things.

STORY #2 (click)

have a good day. some people call wednesday "hump day", nobody i know but... you know.

word power: two stories

2005-12-07T17:29:00.000-05:00

Rollin' Out All the Doggy HIts

2005-12-04T12:08:00.000-05:00

"Moonyi, behave!"
That's what we say when he's a-lickin'
"And watch how he plays!"
We don't understand
And so he's running just as fast as he can
Chewin' on the froggy's hand
Tryin' to get away with the squirrel
And then he puts the squirrel down and then he goes upside down

And then we say, "I think Moon's alone now
There doesn't seem to be anyone around
We think Moon's alone now
The licking of the moose is the only sound."

* * * *

for more great tunes check out my new last fm page (which i don't really understand at all yet!) go here

what the f

2005-12-02T16:30:00.000-05:00

what

the

f

"f" being a wonderful christmas song by the dirty three

cleaning my ears....

2005-11-30T18:10:00.000-05:00

i finally decided on an ear cleaning product. i decided i am too much of a wuss to use those ear candles. i went with the drops and squeegee thing. it all went great until i forgot to test the temperature of the water i squirted in my ear.

that is when they brought the pain. it was incredible.

may you never experience comparable pain.

there should be state-sponsored bat mitzvahs...

2005-11-29T17:17:00.000-05:00

for all educators with personal debt. check out this story.

for the most part this girl and her dad have horrible taste. they probably could have got the mountain goats for a bargain.

$ $ $ $ $

speaking of "arrow-smith", as my aunt would say, they suck. feel free to leave comments about what else sucks.

I will start the list (again):

- children who don't claim responsibility for their actions because of their inept, worthless parents

- anything that has been in the freezer too long

boring boring

2005-11-27T19:36:00.000-05:00

check out the Huffington Post.

i need to go somewhere in february for a week but i need to find something cheap and worthwhile.
i also need to get some photos enlarged, bills payed, papers graded, and pages read.

electronics make me want endless amounts of cash - that new lg phone is crazy.

my muttology

2005-11-25T14:14:00.000-05:00

Maternal
nellie mccormick - tipparary, ireland
joseph roeder - german
stephan mach - austria, hungary
vincentia "winnie" moravec (1893) - bratislava, slovakia

Paternal
david morrison - irish or scottish
anna ryan - irish
frank massar - slovakia
anna nei - slovokia

painting by Anne Neely

Happy Thanksgiving

2005-11-24T15:00:00.000-05:00

from your local wax turkey, pilgrim and indian association.

from your local candelilla crafted poultry, early anglo-settler, native american association.

random coincidence? check it out

Habitat 67

2005-11-19T23:30:00.000-05:00

my path to discovery:

i love those buildings across the river from old montreal
i wonder what they are

i google earth old montreal
find the street and then straight-up google
the street and "building"

there it is... habitat 67 - built for the expo, ran out of money, internal cables, patios and architectural magazines.

flearse?

2005-11-19T17:18:00.000-05:00

I had a day full of sub-dued wonder. Go check out my new account at flickr

mugs - for the love of spanish nectarines.

2005-11-18T17:41:00.000-05:00

records
books
cds
cups
mugs
placemats
coasters
clothes
coats
scott lafaro playing endlessly in any room. always.

scarfs
hats
caps
and bags

blankets
shoes
toys
and
indigestion

tight necks
loose keys

sportscoats
and
sweaters
and
dvds

pillows
plants
and many wires

money
drinks
and old candles

paintings
photos
magazines

dust
and
light

onwardly focused capacties
unopened bottles of decent white wine
cascading stairways and vines
remote controls

new growth
and
dead leaves

electronic beats
and
droaning strings
with patient melodies

Friday.

2005-11-17T22:34:00.000-05:00

what a week
left me weak
and meak

ragtime pianos
quittin' time
constant waves

the highlight of my day...

2005-11-16T18:00:00.000-05:00

.....is always a new mountain goats show up at archive. is there anything better?

today was the honor roll assembly. I am pumped because a half hour before the festivities about ten of the kids were listening to masters of war and hattie carrol in my class. most of them have never heard someone sing truths before. you can tell because they sit glued to their lyrics - they stop talking and look shocked. i lifted my eyes from the paper after the last verse of masters of war and there were ten hands up.

we talked about power, bush, our grandparents, policy makers, soldiers, the unborn... i am glad that some of them get to hear dylan sing about things i know they have been thinking - questioning - feeling. that is a comforting thing at certain ages.

for me, later on , it became depressing because no matter how many people i met that had similar ideals and beliefs... they were never - screamed out, force-fed and commercialized.

that is changing though.

this has been as exercise in vague meaningless generalities. thanks for your time enjoy this recent version of international small arms traffic blues

song courtesy of www.archive.org

glengarry glen loss

2005-11-14T21:13:00.000-05:00

so. the music in the production of glengarry glen ross at the waterfront theater is borderline despicable. (the play itself was incredible)

seriously, the amount of effort the cast puts into the dialogue and majesty of this play is nearly sqaundered by the bad-porn style music in between scenes - the finale of which, was that horrid song "money money money eeeeeeehh money" - (i think they use it on the apprentice). horrible! outrageous!

a random sampling of the music on my ipod produced three superior tracks in less than ten attempts (on random). they were:

dc 3000 - by the thievery corporation (by no means a good song)
gloria's step - bill evans trio (with scott lafaro).....enjoy the song
iron man - four tet

these were random plays and they all fit well. this made me think that perhaps i have a hidden talent. i quickly dismissed that, realizing my talents have nothing to with theater or the thievery corporation.

the plant pictured above is some kind of herb - like mexican parsley? not that that even exists. it thrives in out house though and the little piece i cut off is strong and beautiful.

have a fantastic day - if a plant that does not exist can - you can too!

my cousin just sent me this:

from here:

http://www.toothpastefordinner.com

oh, nikita you'll never know...

2005-11-13T11:36:00.000-05:00

the show last night (see previous post) was fantastic. about halfway through the couple sitting next me, about five glasses of white wine later, asked me what brought me to the show. i said i had heard about the bands and did not want to regret not going later on.

their response made them the coolest parents on earth. apparently, their son left an arcade fire cd in their car and they both fell in love with it. the dad was a huge bowie and cure fan so... i guess it makes sense.

this event highlights the fact that my parents (as cool as my mom has become and despite my fathers love of willie nelson) completely sheltered me from the american reality. no beatles, no dylan, no led zepplin definitely no stones, bowie or good elton john.... plently of nikita to go around though.

anyway. the show was beautiful and their drummer, stef, is really fun to watch. he is an excellent drummer. they were a really happy band considering their songs are so complex emotionally.

the other news of the evening is that i met a guy that work for st. mike's radio station. while not the largest or hippest station around, he did offer me to cover his jazz slots on wednesday from time to time. i would love that opportunity.

another way to put that would be - i will rock that mo'fo' out pretty hard.

turn the music in the headphones...

great things have for $16

2005-11-12T17:32:00.000-05:00

there are some fantastic things happening in the next few days...

glengarry glen ross is playing at the new waterfront theater in burlington for the next two weeks. i just got tickets to the matinee tomorrow. can't wait - i wanted to go down to see it new york a few months ago but did not get the chance. perfect first trip to the new theater.

also tonight the bell orchestre and clogs are playing at the flynn. i have elected to not listen to what they sound like and just go for it. they are playing maxwell's in hoboken so the flynn should make them happy.

remember everyday to acknowledge the importance fruit preserves.
they're delicious!

'Sup Breau?

2005-11-10T18:03:00.000-05:00

click on this picture because
"whoa" rhymes with "breau"

i picked up the lenny breau cd i ordered from pure pop - a.k.a. the bunch of lamos i am stuck buying cd's from for the next four years.

something is missing from that store - of course they have the usual indienst obnoxious attitude but it's something else.... it just sucks. maybe it is that they have never heard of the cds and magazines i request until i find them in their racks six months later. bitches.

anyway lenny breau. get a lenny breau cd. get this one. levon helm plays drums and rick danko plays the bass - it was recorded in 1961 before the band, dylan or anything else.

he died a few years later which is horrible like scott lafaro (absolutely inaccurate). imagine scott lafaro and lenny breau recording together? god.

(apparently i am a moron. he was killed in 1984 - like strangled! the bastards!)

anyway, the record is beautiful.

listen to/download this track as proof of your new found need: mearse

the nine minute snooze...

2005-11-09T18:21:00.000-05:00

i just realized how rediculous it is. was it the outcome of a meeting or the continuation of an industry standard?

not an actual transcript from said meeting:

Harvey: So the snooze, how long should it last?

Don: Well, the GE models all go with seven minutes...

Roger: Why not ten?

Sue: Our surveys and polling - well, the research - shows people like less than ten more than five.

Harvey: There you have GE's seven.

Don: Let's go with nine minutes... three squared is nine... and three is the magic number.

anyway... you snooze you lose.

finckle and einhorn...einhorn and finckle

2005-11-08T17:28:00.000-05:00

brownback
dubious
cramhammer

faltering
sanctity
and
moderation

what inhabits my core?

prayers and tears (part two)

2005-11-07T18:35:00.000-05:00

beauty

i just got the prayers and tears of arthur digby sellers record in the mail. the woman at their label wrote me an email last week to tell me she found a copy floating around in her office. what does that even mean?

anywho. the record is fantastic. i can't wait to listen to a few times. the lyrics, song structures and recording are very pleasing to my senses.

the dylan class went well today. we watched some interviews and then listened to "hard rain". the students favorite lines were:

Heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin',
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin'
one of them told me they thought the class would be boring but she thought he was fascinating. he is. she's right. she's 12. thank god.

beauty

pay for soup - build a fort - set that on fire
-jmb

Wait, There's More...

2005-11-06T13:21:00.000-05:00

Plants in non-aerated pots rot! When will I learn?

Paul Weller can't afford to come to America.
Smooth Jazz musicians want to prove themselves to skeptics.
Movie Soundtracks don't have any of the score in the movie on them.
Simply Red doesn't like that people call his soul "Blue Eyed Soul".

All this and more on last week's edition of NPR Music. Subsribe here.

Errand Boy (a.k.a. "Bob Boyland is my hero")

2005-11-05T20:02:00.000-05:00

the errand boy bought two dvds, two eggs with rye toast, a frame, photo enlargements, two cheeseburgers, fries, a medium coke, and a car wash today.

the all songs considered podcast is so great! imagine having this guy's job? it makes my head spin.

i wonder how much he gets paid... not that it matters - his music collection is free for the most part.

you should go get it here

"gleefully phonetic"

Bob Dylan 101... for middle schoolers

2005-11-03T19:29:00.000-05:00

i start teaching my bob dylan class on monday. i am pretty excited because i have not really listened to him in about a year and half... not really anyway.

so far i have selected about 45 songs and this weekend i am going to look for pictures, video, magazine covers, and newspaper articles from the months and weeks the songs were recorded. i am going to try to place them in historical setting.

all this despite that fact that most students will not get it or end-up dreading walking through the doors. that's alright, it's life and life only.

the picture is from here

The Licker

2005-11-02T19:13:00.000-05:00

moonyi is a licker. he licks everything.

mostly he licks his left paw. he also licks dead things, turd, and then, of course, us.

however, as is evident, he is the cutest thing on the planet... as least as far as not-so-miniature miniature schnauzers go.

Did you ever notice....

2005-11-01T18:23:00.000-05:00

...how you can't have more than a few good days in row?

...how other people make your problems seem miniscule?

...how bureaucracy clogs the halls of reason and common sense?

...how bitter the reality of having a scratchy throat and runny nose are on an exceptionally beautiful day?

...how much of a commitment to winter daylight savings time really is?

...how many ingredients actually are in lasagna?

well....

I figure you probably have.

Prayers and Tears....

2005-10-31T19:57:00.000-05:00

i saw "the prayers and tears of arthur digby sellers" open for the mountain goats on friday night.

they were one of the best opening bands i have ever seen. the last time i remember being blown away by an opener was the shins opening for red house painters like a decade ago (or what seems to be a decade)

a funny story from that show is:

mark kozelek complaining about being on the road, how tough it is..yadda yadda. this guy in the back of the crowd yells out, "give us a fucking break you are playing seven shows this tour!" mark didn't say anything else after that.

anyway. the prayers and tears of arthur digby sellers.

they are amazing check them out: here
the picture was borrowed from peter hughes' site: here

Happy Halloween......................................er

2005-10-31T18:55:00.000-05:00

hello and happy halloween.

the bottom of our pumpkin was rotten in three places. i decided the only thing to do was eat the rotton pumpkin meat. actually i just carved out some holes and called it a jack-o-latern.

because we have utilized our homeowners insurence once this year, flooding our kitchen and hallway, i decided to light the perennial carved squash with a flash light in a shaw's brand zip-lock bag.

Start at the beginning...

2005-10-30T23:45:00.000-05:00

If this is as easy as it seems to be maybe I will have some fun.

I have about 15 more book reports to grade..actually I only have the "flat ones" with me at home. the more dramatic - diaramas, posters, and lifesize models are in my classroom - yet to be graded.

I teach middle school and love it.

I just watched six episodes of desparate housives back to back after dismissing it for a year because oprah liked it. nothing against oprah. or opera for the matter.

i have something to show you:

i guess this is biggest fig tree - or maybe the biggest one in california - or maybe it is not a fig tree at all but it is in santa barbara and it is quite impressive.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

should i feel bad about myself because i did not get outside much today? how many people see beautiful days as opportunities? how did those aardvarks find their way into my sock drawer? what is the deal with allen alda?

mearse?