Saturday, December 31, 2011

TO ANOTHER ~






John Coltrane



Lonnie's Lament by John Coltrane on Grooveshark





photo : francis wolff



CITY ~





Al Brown



Ain t no love in the heart of the city by Al Brown on Grooveshark









OVER ~




Elvis Presley meets Clara Ward in the New Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, 1964.




How I Got Over by Clara Ward & The Ward Singers on Grooveshark






sadly, both were hampered by ill health midway through life and passed away in their 40s.





EARTH ~





Barred Owl



Barred Owl by Donald Kroodsma on Grooveshark






seancrane.com

birdsong by the season
donald kroodsma
(houghton mifflin)






SUMMING UP ~





( Bantam 2005 )




HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT AMERICA?


America is a nation of 270 million people: 100 million of them are gangsters, another 100 million are hustlers, 50 million are complete lunatics, and every single one of us is secretly in show business. Isn't that fabulous? I mean, how could you fail to have a good time in a country like that? I could live literally anywhere in the world and do what I do, so, obviously, I live in America by choice - not for any patriotic or financial reasons necessarily, but because it's so interesting there. American may be the least boring country on earth, and this despite the fact that the dullards on the religious right and the dullards on the academic left (the two faces of yankee puritanism) seemed to be in competition to see who can do the most to promote compulsory homogenization and institutionalized mediocrity. It won't work. In America, the chronically wild, persistently haywire, strongly individualistic, surprisingly good-humored, flamboyant con-man hoopla is simply bigger than all of them. (1997)


NOTE: The preceding was written several years before the military-industrial complex first seized and then cemented total control of the US government, coup d'etat that would have failed without the active assistance of a rapidly growing population of fearful, non-thinking dupes: "true believers" dumbed down and almost comically manipulated by their media, their church, and their state. So be it. Freedom has long proven too heady an elixir for America's masses, weakened and confused as they are by conflicting commitments to puritanical morality and salacious greed. In the wake of the recent takeover, our prevailing national madness has been ratcheting steadily skyward: the pious semi-literates in the conservative camp tremble and crow, the educated martyrs in the progressive sector writhe and fume. It's a grand show, from a cosmic perspective, though enjoyment of the spectacle is blunted by the havoc being wreaked on nature and by the developmental abuse inflicted on children. We must bear in mind, however, that the central dynamic of our race has never been a conflict between good and evil but rather between enlightenment and ignorance. Ignorance makes the headlines, wins the medals, doles out the punishment, jingles the coin, yet in its clandestine cubbyholes (and occasionally on the public stage) enlightenment continues to quietly sparkle, its radiance outshining the entire disco ball of history. Its day may or may not come, but no matter. The world as it is! Life as it is! Enlightenment as its own reward.


~ TOM ROBBINS

first published in Anthem, Avon Books, 1997




watch yr step
you've lost a step




MISTER TIM ~




Tiny Tim


Stairway to Heaven by Tiny Tim on Grooveshark







the piper's calling. . .




HURT ~





Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, Rick Rubin (1996)



Hurt by Johnny Cash on Grooveshark






vanityfair.com



VEIN ~






Veins Of Coal by The Horse Flies on Grooveshark






the flow



TIME ~





Irma Thomas



Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand) by Irma Thomas on Grooveshark






Kent Records


SHU~BOP ~









Shu Bop (The Lost Track) by Dion on Grooveshark





Right Stuff, 2000



ONCE, TWICE ~





Nancy Sinatra with her father Frank



You Only Live Twice by Nancy Sinatra on Grooveshark






nelsonriddle.org



EARTH ~





Fela Kuti



Water No Get Enemy by Fela Anikulapo Kuti on Grooveshark






1975
"nothing without water"




KISSES ~





Nina Simone



This Year's Kisses by Nina Simone on Grooveshark






last year's love



LONG DISTANCE ~





Muddy Waters




Long Distance Call by Muddy Waters on Grooveshark






another mule. . .



SINGIN'~




Gene Kelly, Singin' in the Rain



Singin' In The Rain by Gene Kelly on Grooveshark






try it

SUNSHINE ~








Ain t no sunshine by Ken Boothe on Grooveshark






the great bill withers song


THE PAST YEAR ~





Ani DiFranco



Sick Of Me by Ani DiFranco on Grooveshark







"Freakshow" by Ani DiFranco – from To The Teeth (Righteous Babe, 1999)




EARTH ~








(Italy) Unidentified - Conch Shell Horn On New Year's Eve (1954) by Alan Lomax on Grooveshark







out in the field with microphone



AWOKE ~







I awoke into a music which no one about me heard.
Whom shall I thank for it?

HENRY DAVID THOREAU





written June 22, 1851, HDT Journal, vol. 3, p. 275

walden pond, early day, looking across the water straight
to thoreau's hut site.


photo © susan arnold



EARTH ~




Patti Smith


Changing of the Guards by Patti Smith on Grooveshark






a bob dylan tune
photo: last.fm



WOODY'S NEW YEAR ~






Woody Guthrie




Los Angeles New Year's Flood by Woody Guthrie on Grooveshark






storyteller




WAR IS OVER ~






Yoko Ono & John Lennon



Happy Xmas (War Is Over) by John & Yoko on Grooveshark





war is over! (believe)



WARNING! ~







New Year's Music Fest Approaching ~

It Will Go Some Days

It Has A Mind Of Its Own

Old Mind Rumi Understands (see quote below)

If You Live Like We Do (in the boonies)

It Will Take Some Doing To Have All Links Open

They Don't Here

We Learned From Our Friend Edie

To "Unwrap" Each Song From Its Link Bed:

So Touch Onto Each Artist Name In The Link And

Each (Pray) Will Open And Play Fine

We Even Tried To Link From Civilization (Town) And

Not All The Music Links From Our

Christmas Music Offering

Opened So

Be Patient

It's Good For You

It's A New Year

Music Flow




YOUR TRUE GUIDE DRINKS FROM AN UNDAMMED STREAM

( RUMI )




photo "up late" © bob arnold




CHEERS ~





Season's Cheers from LONGHOUSE




photo © bob arnold








Friday, December 30, 2011

EARTH ~







Peter LaFarge has been gone a long long time. The other night it was time to bring him back a little closer by pulling out the LPs and let the rodeo rider and storyteller take over for a few hours. Here is one now spinning on the Birdhouse. LaFarge was born in Colorado and raised in the great family of southwest thinkers and writers, Oliver (Laughing Boy) was his dad. Peter LaFarge moved around, was well known in the New York City folk circuit when Ramblin'Jack Elliott, Dave Von Ronk and LaFarge's neighbor Liam Clancy owned the town. He passed away (1965) far too young (34), and it's still a toss up how. Let the songs take us to him.








film © bob arnold