Gardening

As I've mentioned in a previous post, I've been spending a lot of time recently in my garden. I started this project a few months ago, planting incredibly small seeds in "peat pots" (small biodegradable pots filled with peat moss). Once the seeds had become seedlings, I eventually moved them into the carefully-planned garden plot and hoped that no late-season frosts would kill them.

In the last few weeks, my plants have taken off at an amazing rate. These pictures below were only taken three or four days ago, and yet I barely recognize this land as my own. The tomato plants are now nearly twice the size that they were in this photo, and my squash and zucchini plants have grown at a similarly exponential rate.

Thus far, I have planted:

Tomatoes
Zucchini
Squash
Mustard Greens
Sage
Rosemary
Cilantro
Lavender
Cucumber (will probably die)
Watermelon
Pole Beans
Japanese Eggplant
Beets
Radishes
Blackberries
Cantaloupe (will probably die as well)
Chili Peppers
Dill
Swiss Chard

Below you can see a few pictures -- I'll be updating this soon with new photos. Unfortunately, much of my garden will truly flourish (I hope) during the time that I am away. I'll still enjoy most of it when I return home, of course, and I'm already enjoying certain parts of it (In particular the mustard and chard, which are producing delicious greens already).

PHONES

I just read this amazing article in the NY Times about free cell phone services -- Check it out!

Here

Also, pictures of the garden and my recent trip coming soon!

Weinstein in the Woods

My good friends Mr. and Mrs. Weinstein came down for a visit this weekend. We had a lovely time -- BBQ-ing, hiking, campfire-ing, and living large at some local dining establishments. All in all, 'twas a great visit, and it was a sad thing watch my friends depart. My inkwell continues to run rather dry, but I'm once again attaching some photographs to give you some idea of what's going on.

Enjoy!

Recent Life

Things have been busy around here, and with the onset of the spring weather, I haven't really felt the need or desire to publish anything in this forum.

One thing is that I've been spending a lot of my time in the garden that I've set up outside my house. I hope to have some pictures soon to show you all the progress that I'm making. I've unfortunately not been keeping up thus far with photos of the plot -- 'tis a shame, for I would have liked to share some sort of day-by-day slide show of growth.

That said, I'm sorry nonetheless for the lack of posts lately -- I'll keep trying to improve, though I make no promises. Here, however, are some pictures of some bits of recent life. More to come soon.

Enjoy.

Max Patch (Western North Carolina)

Front Lawn Acrobatics (1 of 3)

Front Lawn Acrobatics (2 of 3)

Front Lawn Acrobatics (3 of 3)

Middle Eastern Dinner Party (1 of 3)

Middle Eastern Dinner Party (2 of 3)

Middle Eastern Dinner Party (3 of 3)

Post-Dinner Party Dancing

How the 7th Graders that I've been substitute-teaching for see me.

Our Great President

For the first time today George W. Bush made me smile.

Scratch that -- For the first time today, George W. Bush made me smile for any reason other than involuntarily flexing my mouth muscles whilst laughing at one of his famous gaffs.

I opened up my bank account and found money in it! I received my much awaited economic stimulus rebate. Now granted, this money that I now have will probably do a great part in ensuring that we experience another Great Depression, and I will probably end up hating baked beans as much as my maternal grandmother does. But I've got money!

To make myself very clear: I find this economic stimulus package idea to be as dumb an idea as the gasoline tax "vacation" now being considered, but like a starving Roman receiving bread and a chance to see a Christian get gored by a lion, I'm all smiles today.

In other news:

I drove to Winston-Salem yesterday (about two and a half hours) to meet with bosses and colleagues about my summer job. This year, rather than going to Southern Spain, I will be traveling as the Director on the Abbey Road Western Civilization Tour. We will trace the path of the civilized White Man through the ages, following his accomplishments from Athens to Rome to Florence to Paris.

Sirius.B has another show this Saturday, at BoBo, a local art gallery / bar / music venue where we have played many times. I consider this show to be a 2nd Record Release, coming as it does just on the coattails of our true record release last week at the Rocket Club. -- And speaking of the Rocket Club, the show was a great success--the audience numbered somewhere in the ballpark of 250 people, all dancing, carousing, and singing along. The bar was so unprepared for this turnout that they ran out of clean glasses and at one point were turning away thirsty revelers.

You can still buy the CD online at www.siriusbmusic.com

More soon.

CD

Okay, okay already! I'm back.

The "fans" (read: my Dad and one friend) have been knocking down my door, demanding that I post, complaining that their days feel empty without a little bit of Pancho to fill 'em up. So here I am.

As I've mentioned in all of my explanatory / excuse me posts, I've been quite busy here in Asheville, North Carolina. I continue to stroll through the world of the gainfully unemployed, working a variety of jobs, changing hats and trousers in both a metaphorical and very real sense.

Yesterday, for instance, I spent the better part of the day digging holes, planting shrubbery, cutting trees (with a chainsaw! a lifelong aspiration...) and hanging out with my mountainy counterparts on the jobsite. Immediately after finishing work, I drove home like a maniac, showered my beaten, tired, scratched body, changed my clothes, and left the house to teach a Spanish class for adults. And then this morning I woke early to tutor high school students and substitute teach at a middle school.

So I've been busy.

And tomorrow is the record release show for Sirius.B, my band here in NC. We'll be releasing our debut album, Dazzling Urbanites, and celebrating the event with a huge show at the Rocket Club, a new music venue here in town. As an opening act, we've secured the services of Bootstraps Burlesque, the newest burlesque act in Asheville. (You can read about them and the show here.)

If you're interested in buying a CD or coming to the show (if you're local), just vist www.siriusbmusic.com. It is all available there.

I hope not to disappoint anymore. Consider this my triumphant return to the wonderful world of blogging.

A-Ville in the News

Check out this great cartoon strip in the NY Times about Asheville. Gordon Smith is a friend and neighbor, and the Tastee Diner is a place just down the street from me.

NY Times Article

Absence

The readers have spoken and asked, nay, demanded that I stop being lame.

Which I will do. Tomorrow. Scout's honor.

I've been quite busy here in A-ville, setting up for our May 3rd Record Release show (CDs available for pre-order at www.siriusbmusic.com) and a whole bunch of other stuff.

But tomorrow I'll return.

Absenteeism

My absence continues, though I promise that it won't be forever. I've been quite busy with a bunch of new work -- tutoring (which I've been doing for some time now) and working for a local handy-man as an assistant of sorts.

I'm sore as hell (did you know that your hand muscles can get sore? I didn't until I dug holes for two days straight.) and sunburnt (I've got a red pate) and scratched and cut. Still, 'tis a good feeling to go home dog tired, hungry, and satisfied with a good days work.

Hiding Out

Hey Y'all -

I've been hiding out lately, but I wanted to share this article about CRACK.

Jersey Food

Here's a great article about food in my native New Jersey

Tetris

A wee video for the day for all those Tetris lovers out there.

This gets a bit old after a minute or two, but it's quite impressive. Enjoy.

Pierre Repondit?

I've been gone for quite some time, but I'm working my way back to the blog. I'll start with this mini-mystery. I've just read an article in the New York Times (read it here) about a French inventor named Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. Apparently Edouard, not Edison, is now being credited with making the first recording of sound.

Never mind the fact that his "phonoautograph" was never meant to record sound, but rather a visual representation of sound--researchers were able to apply new technology and aurally read the squiggly lines that this little-known Frenchman left behind. The result? A ten-second recording of "Au clair de la lune," a French folk tune.

Here is my question to you, dear readers. According to the NY Times, the singer (presumably female, though "she" sounds like a little boy to me, but anyway) sings the following words, "A clair de la lune, Pierre repondit." I, however, with my admittedly limited (though quite useful) conversational French, can only hear "A clair de la lune, la lune, la lune."

What do you hear?

(Unfortunately, I can't attach the sound byte here, as I am unable to download it from the NY Times site. You can listen, however, on the page given in the link above).

More on the Tube

More YouTube Craziness....This is perhaps old news to many, but I only discovered it today. Very amusing.

You can check out more of her videos, cameos and press at www.obamagirl.com. I enjoyed Super ObamaGirl.

More Cheetos

(This post relates to the previous post. You may want to start there)

Wow.

YouTube is a strange place. Whilst searching for more Cheetos-related videos, I came across this very strange video. Watch it at your own risk, though I warn you that the image of a masked man in a speedo simulating intercourse with a phallic pillar of compressed Cheetos may be tough to erase from your mind.

I also warn you that I have only watched approximately two minutes of a what seems to be a video of more than eight minutes. As such, I claim absolutely no knowledge of what happens after two minutes.

"Enjoy"

Cheetos

I just read this article in slate about the new Cheetos commercials that are apparently gracing the television waves these days. I have no television, so I have never seen the ads, but I went to YouTube to check them out. The are, simply put, very amusing and quite creepy.

These are almost as good (though not quite) as the Skittles commercials that I put up on this blog last year. You can watch them here. (Scroll to the bottom of the page).







And this is even weirder...

Backpacking

I'm headed off into the woods for the weekend, so there will be no posts for a few days.

Pictures to come soon.

Health in the US

Regarding health care (from the NY Times):

"Are we getting our money’s worth? Not according to the usual measures of public health. The United States ranks 45th in life expectancy, behind Bosnia and Jordan; near last, compared with other developed countries, in infant mortality; and in last place, according to the Commonwealth Fund, a health-care research group, among major industrialized countries in health-care quality, access and efficiency."

Nonsense

What a bunch of nonsense. I've just read an opinion piece in the New York Times that purports that Hillary Clinton's "Experience Advertisement" (that silly, fear mongering commercial with the sleeping children and the red phone in the night) is a racist ad.

I'm amazed at this man's super power, which seems to be the ability to look at something and see in it whatever he likes. I truly am reminded of a paper that I once wrote for an English class in which I claimed that Cambell's soup advertisements used communist imagery to sell their steamy soup.

Read it here

Oh, and so as not to be misunderstood -- I think the commercial is ridiculous and lame -- but most certainly not racist.

More on Liars

Elliiot Spitzer, the current (perhaps not for long) governor of New York, has been caught up in a scandal involving a high-class prostitution ring. Apparently (according to some of the ladies of the night), he was a difficult client. The New York Times reports that,

In a wiretapped conversation after the encounter, the prostitute, Kristen, called her booker to inform her that the session had gone well, and that she did not find the client “difficult,” as other prostitutes apparently had, according to the affidavit.

The booker responds that he, in an apparent reference to Client 9, sometimes asks the women “to do things that, like, you might not think were safe.”

Though I personally do not wish to avail myself of the services of a hooker (high class or otherwise), I don't consider myself sufficiently free of "sin" to begin casting stones at Mr. Spitzer for his nighttime behavior. As far as I am concerned, his sex life has nothing to do with me or the political goings-on in New York. What more concerns me is the vast gulf that Mr. Spitzer's apparent hippocracy represents between his own life and that of his political discourse. As the New York Times writes,

Though his signature issue was pursuing Wall Street misdeeds, as attorney general Mr. Spitzer also had prosecuted at least two prostitution rings as head of the state’s organized crime task force.

In one such case in 2004, Mr. Spitzer spoke with revulsion and anger after announcing the arrest of 16 people for operating a high-end prostitution ring out of Staten Island.

“This was a sophisticated and lucrative operation with a multitiered management structure,” Mr. Spitzer said at the time. “It was, however, nothing more than a prostitution ring.”

I don't really know what one does in a case like this. I understand that politics requires that Mr. Spitzer speak with conviction and revulsion when discussing the breakup of a prostitution organization. It must be a hard place to be for him, enjoying the company of prostitutes and working at a job that requires that he prosecute them. I can empathize or sympathize or something like that. Still, I'm so utterly sick and tired of the tremendous disconnect between the word and actions of so many politicians. It's like we're living in a country full of sex addicts who are too scared and repressed to even talk about sex.

Well, it will be interesting to see what happens in the coming days. Surely Mr. Spitzer will resign, though he has not yet done so. And hopefully, we'll have a tell-all book to look forward to, giving us the chance to read an autobiographical account of the governor's sex addiction, his fall from grace, and his ultimate redemption.

Earth Day Asheville

Dear All,

I write this post to ask a favor of all my readers, intentional and accidental. Sirius.B, my band, has entered an Earth Day Music Contest, and we need your help to win it. See below for details. Please Vote!

Dear Friends of Sirius.B,

We have entered the Earth Day Asheville Band Competition and we need YOUR VOTE! If we win they’ll give us $1000 and we’ll play a show at the Orange Peel, an important local venue.

It only takes a moment. We’re in the Rock/Funk/Dance category in the link below:

http://www.earthdayasheville.org/musicians.htm

Voting ends March 31 - THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!

================

Also, we’ve updated the website. Among other things, you can now purchase CD’s and TShirts from our “Merch” page. --> Go to the website now if you like.

Margaret Jones

Check out this video from Slate. I've got a post in the works that tells all about my experience last night at the PBR (Professional Bull Riding) event in Greenville, SC.

Liars

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

When James Frey's "memoir" a Million LIttle Pieces was exposed as a fake a few years ago, I shook my head ruefully. I, though I hate to admit it, had been tricked by Mr. Frey and his tall tales. I had read the book, and though somewhat incredulous as to some of the more incredible details of his tale, had believed his story.

I am, perhaps, naive when it comes to the written word. I am enthralled and pulled in by tales of personal redemption and the conquest of emotional demons, and I tend to believe that lies are hard to keep and that the truth will generally rise to the top, much as cream used to do before homogenization became an industry standard of dairy production.

My ignorance, it must be said, is somewhat willed. I grew up reading romantasized biographies of famous Americans, reveling in the tales of Davy Crockett, Ben Franklin, and others. At some point, I realized that these stories were not mere retellings of a life, but rather somehow tied to nation-building, to an attempt to instill patriotic feelings in young people.

And still, I am amazed by these liars--amazed by their gall, their balls, and their disrespect for truth. I no longer buy into the Postmodern view of things (though I did at one time, while studying at Cambridge) and reject the idea that truth is an impossible thing to pin down. Truth, or at least "truthiness" (as Steven Colbert says) exists, at least in some approximate form.

I am therefore, dismayed to read the New York Times article about Margaret Seltzer, whose memoir of gang life in Los Angeles was pure, unadulterated bullshit.

I first heard of Margaret Seltzer (though I then knew her as Margaret B. Jones) in the New York Times last week. I read an article about her recent memoir, and of her philanthropic efforts to help gang members. She, the article informed me, was half-Native American, and had been raised in a foster home in Los Angeles. She had joined the Bloods and run drugs for them. Her brothers had been killed young, shot by other gang members. Somehow, she had escaped to Oregon, where she spent her time writing and cooking up delicious food with "Big Mama's" recipes.

All of this is a lie. Margaret Seltzer is a privileged white girl whose sister exposed her lie (shame on her too for betraying her relative!) after seeing her picture in the New York Times article.

And so, not only do I feel betrayed, but I also wonder at the magnitude of her denial. How could she not know that she would be exposed? I try to think of myself, of trying to publish a book that tells all about my life as a drug-addicted, alcoholic circus performer. Would not someone, at some point, that I have met over the years, see a picture of me and say, "Wait a minute! He most certainly is not what he says he is! I went to high school with that punk ass!"

How can these people really believe that they'll get away with this?

Even worse, perhaps, is the recent exposure of fake Holocaust tales, such as the case of "Misha", in which a woman talks of fleeing the Holocaust, walking across Europe, and even consorting with wolves in the forest. It took eleven years, but she has been exposed as well.

I guess this all has something to do with the scale of the lie. If you scream something loudly enough, write it down, and let the whole world see it, people tend to believe. Most people, like me, can't imagine that someone could be so dumb as to believe that they'll actually get away with something like this. And so, paradoxically, they do. For a time.

Read below some articles associated with these stories.

Margaret Lies

So Does James Frey

Margaret Inspires!

Girl Not Raised By Wolves!

More Octopuses

My apologies to those that aren't fans of amazing things, but here's yet another octopus video for y'all to enjoy. This one focuses on the Indonesian Mimic Octopus.

David Horvitz

This guy is pretty damn cool and most certainly worth checking out.

David Horvitz

Craig's List

Here are some more goodies from Craig's List (I have quoted from this site in the past).

I occasionally check out the "Missed Connections" section of Craig's List, an area where people write anonymously to people with whom they have felt a "missed connection". For example, if John makes meaningful eye contact with Jane in the grocery store but does not try and speak with her (and later regrets it), he may place on ad on "Missed Connections". It might read something like, "I saw you in the grocery store. I was wearing a wig and you were wearing a blue shirt with red pants. We looked at each other near the mustard. I'd love to see you again."

Or something like that.

Anyway, there is some character that seems to often post on this section of the site, writing amusing and amazing posts chock full of surreal images and interesting people. Below I have included the text from two such posts:

Subject: OMG the accident, I forgot about the accident

i swear, i don't know how, but i forgot all about the accident. of course the latvian/macedonian bint from ohio isn't carrying your love child. she wishes! don't we all, don't we all.

i told sigrid her jackal pants were confiscated at the border by irritable monkeys along with the tire rims and peanut butter cups. i think she'd rather believe they're being worn by some canadian sex-toy factory worker than torn and greasy and marked with the evidence of your alteration. (when do you get the stitches out, by the way?)

i hope you don't worry about your recent loss. you still radiate your special aura of sweet pickle relish and frothy lattes, and we all still want your crystal blessings, even benny, even after you unintentionally led him on with your talk of sensory deprivation tanks and organic radishes. how was he to know? thats what multi-level marketing does to a feller.

uncle jimmie said to tell you that wasn't him wearing the gladiator shoes at the klan meeting, he had lent them to his neighbor george, the one with the four daughters and the goat farm.

namaste

Subject: did you get the KFC and the craft foam I sent you?

u know how fond i am of dandelions so it only makes me wonder why you stayed on the ferris wheel so long. you missed the pony rides and drinking cherry hi-c behind the garage. lulu asked where you were and someone told her you'd joined the foreign legion because you like their hats, so she told the audience about when she used to be a mermaid. they all believed her because of how she smells. uncle jimmie said to tell you he's been getting treatment for his bunions and that you can borrow his humidifier any time as long as you promise to marry that latvian girl you knocked up. he doesn't know anything about the gold medal you won at the tractor pull that you took to the pawn shop to trade for that electric guitar and you can trust i won't mention it! drop me a line sometime and let me know if chartreuse really is your favorite color.

Jail

Reported in the NY Times today:

1 in 100 American adults is behind bars.

Perhaps we're doing something wrong?

Art

Update: Sorry the pictures below are so annoying "landscape" (in some cases). Hopefully I'll be able to fix this problem soon. In the meantime, turn your head to the side.

Xavi and Laura have been out of town in Peru recently, and I've been holding down the fort. I've spent my time taking care of the dogs, trying to keep the place clean, and creating strange and random works of art.

Some of my recent projects have included (pictures below):

1. A strange giraffe type animal. Unfortunately, the head was too heavy for it to work as planned (on a body), so it became a strange head atop a dowel.

2. An entire family (or army) of small black bottles with funny eyes. I plan to continue this piece, and eventually hope to make two entire armies of different colors.

3. A cast of my face. Note the blood--I had two short lengths of drinking straw in my nostrils to aid in respiration. I accidentally knocked them with my hand (my face was completely covered in plaster of paris). Once shoved back into my nasal cavity, they caused a great deal of bloodshed. I'll be back soon with pictures of the actual wound. In the meantime, enjoy the now brown blood on the mask itself.

4. A commissioned piece for a local bookstore/cafe. My friend David Earl built the sign in his metal shop and asked me to take care of the creation of the stencil and the painting of the whole sign.

More to come soon, as long as the manic energy and creativity hold strong.

Musician-Nerds

When I went to college, I didn't have a cellphone. I had a slow computer and had never really used the internet before. Email seemed mind-blowing. People still looked a porn magazines and sometimes even sent letters. Ten years later, you have these guys below, jamming on three tiny super-computers.

Cuttlefish

I just read this article in the New York Times about the camouflage protective measures of the cuttlefish. Below, you can watch the video of an octopus (both animals are cephalopods) using a similar survival technique.

Castro

Fidel Castro, the socialist dictator of Cuba since 1959, has resigned from power in Cuba. After nearly fifty years of American anger and belligerence, silly Euro-lefty deification, state-sponsored torture and censorship, the bearded one has finally relinquished his hold on Cuba's collective short and curlies.



George Bush, in a statement apparently without irony, commented that “The United States will help the people of Cuba realize the blessings of liberty." Perhaps now the important work being done at Guantanamo Bay can spread to the rest of the island, just as democracy and peace have spread throughout the Middle East.

Unfortunately, it is Raul Castro to whom power falls, at least temporarily. Raul, the much less cool-looking brother of Fidel, was personally responsible for the summary executions of over 500 people in the days following the success of the Cuban Revolution.

What will happen now remains to be seen.

Punctuation

I just read this article on the NY Times website and thought that I would share it with all who visit this site. Enjoy.

Read it here

Romney

Okay, so I know that Mitt Romney is old news, yesterday's leftovers and whatnot. Perhaps the video that I share below is old news as well to many of my readers. It is new to me, however, and just too good to keep all to myself, other readers of Frank Rich's column in the New York Times, and dedicated YouTube watchers.

Watch below as Mr. Romney, whitest of the white men, attempts to connect with young blacks through his arrhythmic and sad quoting of a once-popular rap song. I wonder, only half in jest, if he sings Sinatra tunes when hanging out with Italians, or "Feliz Navidad" when consorting with Latinos. My guess is that he doesn't.

While I do understand that candidates are so incredibly scrutinized that they must, without fail, stick their proverbial foot in their mouth on occasion, I'm still amazed by the ways in which they do so.

Enjoy.

Travel Map

Beeline

Unfortunately, not every visitor to this blog comes looking for what they find. In light of this realization, I thought it would be fun to take a brief look at the ways in which some people do end up here. See below a short list of some of the more interesting google searches that have brought people to my site. Enjoy.

Is camel meat any good
pancho villa born female
girls tea party panchos
staten sucks
asheville massage parlors
peanut butter bumpers
paper mache sperm cell
tattoos of turkeys
poncho via cut white peoples eyes out

In the Light

From a NY Times piece on the upcoming military tribunals at Guantanamo:

“I wish they had as coherent a strategy for fighting the war on terror as they do for politicizing the war on terror,” Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said on Monday.

AND

"Just last week, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, became the first government official to acknowledge publicly that those interrogations, in three cases, included the technique known as waterboarding, which simulates drowning and is regarded by many as torture."

If you know nothing or little about waterboarding, check out this Wikipedia article on the topic.

How long would it take you to confess to 9/11?

A lovely day

Tis a lovely day here in Asheville. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, the mercury is standing tall and proud, and people are smiling with good will and cheer.

Somehow though, I can't seem to enjoy sunny days like I used to. Moments of joy and ecstasy are inevitably interrupted by thoughts of global catastrophe, rising sea levels, massive drought, terrible storms, and drowning polar bears.

If you have not yet seen "An Inconvenient Truth", please go out and rent it today. It is well worth watching. While you're at it, go read "The Omnivore's Dilemma", a book by Michael Pollan that I have previously mentioned in this forum.

Finally (and I don't mean to sound high and mighty here, as I too am an environmental sinner in many ways), might I suggest taking a few steps toward lessening the impact of your carbon footprint? I'll merely mention a few things that I (and my roommates) have been attempting to change about our daily lives.

1. Don't get shopping bags at the grocery store. They are completely unnecessary, non-biodegradable, silly, annoying, and flat-out ugly. Buy a reusable bag (many grocery stores now sell them). Paper and plastic are both terrible, and are filling up our landfills and streets at an alarming rate.

2. Throw away your light bulbs and buy the new energy saving fluorescents. The light is not nearly as ugly as the old-school ones and they use something like a quarter of the energy.

3. Unplug your laptop chargers and cell phone chargers when you aren't using them. They continue to suck power even when not being utilized.

And that's that for today. Enjoy the sunshine (but ponder its provenance).

The Daily Show

Lily posted a comment on my last post and directed me to this video. Apparently I'm not the only one to have read Mitt Romney's speech and declared, "Ay Caramba! This man is a lunatic!"

Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney announced his decision to depart from the presidential race yesterday. In a move that was as arrogant and bellicose as the rest of his campaign, he announced that he was leaving because, "Frankly, in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding the surrender to terror."

Simply incredible.

Chaos in India

Earworm

Go check out the latest post on www.njhipster.blogspot.com. My brother Brian has been reviewed.

See his MySpace Page here.

In other music news, my brother PJ is now playing guitar with the band Charlotte Sometimes.

In wholly other news, I'm currently enjoying a delicious Lox Bagel for $4.50 at the Clingman Avenue Cafe in Asheville. Quite an improvement from the $11 Lox Platter at Livingston Bagel, my hometown bagel shop. Speaking of which....

When Brian (of mention above) and I visited Livingston Bagel over the Christmas holiday, we asked about the price of the mentioned Lox Platter. When we were informed of the extravagant amount of money being asked, Brian responded eloquently, asking, "Are you f#$*ing kidding me? That's f$%&ing ridiculous!"

Quite nice. Well said.

Geography

According to a Gallup poll:

-1 in 7 American adults cannot locate the United States on a world map

-25% of a sample of Dallas high school students did not know that Mexico was the country bordering the US to the south.

'Tis a frightening thing to consider ignorance.

Southern Gentility

A woman walks into the coffee shop and effusively greets a friend. Her friend, a man, is sitting at a table with another guy. The woman hugs her friend, the other man stands up, introduces himself, shakes hands with the woman.

She continues to speak with guy #1. Guy #2 remains standing beside her.

She looks to him, touches his arm, tells him, "You can sit down."

He sits down.

Remember, Always stand when a lady enters the room.

Obama Victory in SC

Obama has won in South Carolina. Below is his victory speech. Enjoy.

Meat

It might be time to go vegetarian again. Or at least start eating meat that has been raised in an ecological, intelligent, and less cruel fashion. Since reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan, I haven't been able to get this idea out of my head. Consider the following passage from an article by Mr. Bittman (of the column "The Minimalist") in the NY Times:

Growing meat (it’s hard to use the word “raising” when applied to animals in factory farms) uses so many resources that it’s a challenge to enumerate them all. But consider: an estimated 30 percent of the earth’s ice-free land is directly or indirectly involved in livestock production, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, which also estimates that livestock production generates nearly a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gases — more than transportation.

The Moment of Truth

I have been quite absent lately, busy trying to find work and with many other matters.

For now, watch this extremely scary video -- this is where we now are culturally.

Fire Sale

Maureen Dowd has got an interesting column in the New York Times today about our weak dollar and foreign investment -- Check it out below:

Here

Only in Asheville

There are perhaps few places in this country, save Alaska, where the following words might be spoken on an otherwise normal night:

"Are you hungry? I've got some whale soup cooking on the stove."

They were spoken tonight, directed to me. I responded in the affirmative.

Absenteeism

Things have been a tad crazy around here, and so I therefore excuse my recent lack of posts. There will be more coming soon.

In the meantime, check this out, from an article in today's NY Times

"Fish is now the most traded animal commodity on the planet, with about 100 million tons of wild and farmed fish sold each year. Europe has suddenly become the world’s largest market for fish, worth more than 14 billion euros, or about $22 billion a year. Europe’s appetite has grown as its native fish stocks have shrunk so that Europe now needs to import 60 percent of fish sold in the region, according to the European Union.

"In Europe, the imbalance between supply and demand has led to a thriving illegal trade. Some 50 percent of the fish sold in the European Union originates in developing nations, and much of it is laundered like contraband, caught and shipped illegally beyond the limits of government quotas or treaties. The smuggling operation is well financed and sophisticated, carried out by large-scale mechanized fishing fleets able to sweep up more fish than ever, chasing threatened stocks from ocean to ocean."

Red

How curious to see the ways in which dictionaries attempt to define the word red. Here are just a few.

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary -
Main Entry: 2red
Function: noun
1 : a color whose hue resembles that of blood or of the ruby or is that of the long-wave extreme of the visible spectrum
2 : a pigment or dye that colors red —see CONGO RED, NEUTRAL RED, VITAL RED

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary (Beta Version) -
red1 [red] noun, adjective
(of) the colour of blood
Example: a red car/dress / cheeks; Her eyes were red with crying.

And check out green:

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) -
green [green] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation adjective, -er, -est, noun, verb
–adjective
1. of the color of growing foliage, between yellow and blue in the spectrum: green leaves.
2. covered with herbage or foliage; verdant: green fields.
3. characterized by the presence of verdure.
4. made of green vegetables, as lettuce, spinach, endive, or chicory: a green salad.
5. not fully developed or perfected in growth or condition; unripe; not properly aged: This peach is still green.
6. unseasoned; not dried or cured: green lumber.
7. immature in age or judgment; untrained; inexperienced: a green worker.
8. simple; unsophisticated; gullible; easily fooled.
9. fresh, recent, or new: an insult still green in his mind.
10. having a sickly appearance; pale; wan: green with fear; green with envy.
11. full of life and vigor; young: a man ripe in years but green in heart.
12. environmentally sound or beneficial: green computers.
13. (of wine) having a flavor that is raw, harsh, and acid, due esp. to a lack of maturity.
14. freshly slaughtered or still raw: green meat.
15. not fired, as bricks or pottery.
16. (of cement or mortar) freshly set and not completely hardened.
17. Foundry.
a. (of sand) sufficiently moist to form a compact lining for a mold without further treatment.
b. (of a casting) as it comes from the mold.
c. (of a powder, in powder metallurgy) unsintered.
–noun
18. a color intermediate in the spectrum between yellow and blue, an effect of light with a wavelength between 500 and 570 nm; found in nature as the color of most grasses and leaves while growing, of some fruits while ripening, and of the sea.
19. Art. a secondary color that has been formed by the mixture of blue and yellow pigments.
20. green coloring matter, as paint or dye.
21. green material or clothing: to be dressed in green.
22. greens,
a. fresh leaves or branches of trees, shrubs, etc., used for decoration; wreaths.
b. the leaves and stems of plants, as spinach, lettuce, or cabbage, used for food.
c. a blue-green uniform of the U.S. Army.
23. grassy land; a plot of grassy ground.
24. a piece of grassy ground constituting a town or village common.
25. Also called putting green. Golf. the area of closely cropped grass surrounding each hole.
26. bowling green.
27. a shooting range for archery.
28. Informal. green light (def. 1).
29. Slang. money; greenbacks (usually prec. by the): I'd like to buy a new car but I don't have the green.
30. (initial capital letter) a member of the Green party (in Germany).
–verb (used without object), verb (used with object)
31. to become or make green.
32. Informal. to restore the vitality of: Younger executives are greening corporate managements.
—Idiom
33. read the green, to inspect a golf green, analyzing its slope and surface, so as to determine the difficulties to be encountered when putting.
[Origin: bef. 900; ME, OE gréne; c. G grün; akin to grow]

Commentary and Confusion

This post is in response to Mark's (a reader) comments and involves the last two posts on this blog. You can read Mark's full comment below.

Mark --

1. Is this the Mark of salmon dinners, Kinkos and Columbia? Or is this some other Mark I don't know?

2. Your recent reply was quite interesting, much more enlightening, and in many points elicited my approval. I'd still be scared for my country and scared of my fellow countrymen if they elected this character, but hey . . .

3. I don't expect a President to be a genius. I am, however, a bit sick of this American anti-intellectual attitude that so pervades our nation's politics. We should not be voting for someone that we'd "like to have a beer with" but rather for someone with an impressive and nuanced knowledge of politics, both interior and exterior.

4. In his own words -- Huckabee in 1992: "I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk."

5. "He also publicly supported creationism, a philosophy advocated by fervent Christians, arguing that students should be exposed to the study of the doctrine as well as evolution." (Washington Post, January 29, 2007)

6. "In August of 1998, Huckabee was one of 131 signatories to a full page USA Today Ad which declared: "I affirm the statement on the family issued by the 1998 Southern Baptist Convention." What was in the family statement from the SBC? "A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ." (www.dailykos.com)

7. And here we can see what a strong grasp on foreign relations he's got -- Hope this one's more of an "idler" than the one we've got now.

8. Finally, regarding the part of your comment that reads "Also, is Jesus in the new testament scary, love-mercy-forgivness-healing? If someone were to follow(really follow:i.e. "Jesus words abiding in the follower, and the follower abiding in Jesus) him, would that person be scary?"

My answer is a resolute "NO" -- I have yet, however, to find very many people in this country (or in this world for that matter) that I could truly cite as followers of the New Testament Jesus. At least not in the public eye.

Wasn't Jesus the guy that hung out with lepers? Do you think that Huckabee was being very "Jesus-y" when he advocated putting HIV infected people into isolation in 1992?

If this is the salmon-dinner Mark from Columbia, don't take this badly. If it isn't that Mark, I don't really care how you take it, but you shouldn't take it badly either.

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

May I(indeed my name is Mark) comment on my comment, to clarify. What will follow will be a quote by quote analysis of my reading and response, perhaps I was reading too much into such a brief post, as i also replied briefly. Hope that you are doing well. Blessings, Mark.

PRB:"I am so scared."
Mark:analysis:hyperbole, certainly.
The DPRK is a little more frightening if you want to be scared.
: comment:none

PRB:"This man might be funny,"
Mark:analysis:I agree he is.It is nice to have someone in authority/leadership with a sense of humor.
:comment:none

PRB:"and he might play the geetar real nice, "
Mark:analysis:I have never heerd him play geetar but he probably plays better than me.
:comment:none

PRB:" but he's still a bit of a an idiot"
Mark:analysis: merely a loose slur, for surely, even though he cannot absorb, at such a staggeringly fast rate, multiple non-native spoken languages like Mr. Bond, surely he is not an idiot. He must have some capacity for intelligently dealing with people and their complex messes. Although, he does lack the breadth, depth, and precision of knowledge of international affairs of all the nations in the moment, their histories and possible futures, not excluding his own country. So let's make a standardized test for politicians that will measure their domestic and international aptitude.This way we can refer to them by impersonal numbers, make ourselves feels smarter, and avoid slurs.
:comment:none

PRB:" and a religious zealot."
Mark:analysis:none
:comment:"you sound a bit zealous yourself."
:post-analyis: zealous in convicting someone of not being acceptable by PRB's undefined approval system, which is probably too complex and intuitive to layout on the blog. By zealot do you mean active,living according to the "grace" and "mercy" and transformative power of his Jesus.

Remember that Huckabee's Jesus was a zealot as well, and was crucified, and he called for repentance and obedience to himself. Sound like a lunatic, on top of zealot, a chocolate iced Kripy Kreme donut with sprinkles on top.

Does Huckabee play with snakes like the pentacostals, molest children like r.catholic priets, bomb abortion clinics?

Perhaps our culture lacks men who can assert themselves and tolerate assertion, thus "men" run around screaming "zealot" and "idiot."

PRB: "Please tell me that we've learned something over the last seven years."

Mark:analysis:yes we have. bush, lied, lies, and will lie. presidents are initiators or idlers. sometimes they make bad decisions, and get faulted from all sides.
:comment:"with great skepticism i ask, would he be as/so menacing if here were to be zealous like his Jesus."
:explanation: skepticism that any politician would ever tell the truth, so how long until we see the dark side of Huckabee. Or, will we be faced with one of the minority that his Jesus spoke of when He said "wide it the path that leads to destruction and narrow that leads to life, few who find it"

Also, is Jesus in the new testament scary, love-mercy-forgivness-healing? If someone were to follow(really follow:i.e. "Jesus words abiding in the follower, and the follower abiding in Jesus) him, would that person be scary?

Perhaps fear of Huckabee is misdirected, perhaps he should be evaluated against the Jesus he proclaims. This works with Bush. He is a war monger hungry for oil.

Comment Confusion

I received this comment from "Mark" on my last post. I'm not sure that I get it. Any ideas?

"you sound a bit zealous yourself.
with great skepticism i ask, would he be as/so menacing if here were to be zealous like his Jesus."

Huckabee

I am so scared. This man might be funny, and he might play the geetar real nice, but he's still a bit of a an idiot and a religious zealot.

Please tell me that we've learned something over the last seven years.

(Note: if you haven't been following the news, the results of the Iowa primary are in -- Huckabee and Obama have won in that state)

Holidays

Hello to All! I hope that your holidays are going well and that you're happily fattened and content. Christmas was a blast -- I'll have pictures soon from both Jersey and New Hampshire.

I'm now back in Asheville, NC, where I'll ring in the New Year tonight at Bobo Gallery. We (Sirius.B) will be playing the show, along with The Plowshares.

More soon, with pictures. The New Year approaches, and I've got plenty of plans and loads of ideas for the upcoming months. Be safe tonight.

Super Mario Bros.

Check out more of this cat at www.zackkim.com

Shopdropping

Happy Holidays -- Enjoy this New York Times Article

Radio Show Wednesday

Tomorrow I'm heading out to Knoxville, Tennessee.

That, my friends, is something I never in my wildest dreams expected to say before moving down South. (Yankees are like that -- We can't even imagine visiting Tennessee).

Sirius.B will be playing a show at the Preservation Pub in downtown Knoxville. We'll also be giving an afternoon performance at one of the larger Tennessee radio stations, WDVX. It should be a great show, as it is a live show (with a live audience) and is simultaneously broadcast over the airwaves and the Internet.

We'll be playing during the 12 - 1 hour (the Blue Plate Special) -- Some guy named Sam Lewis will be opening for us, and we'll be playing the second half hour (perhaps a tad more). If you wish to tune in, I'd suggest doing so around 12:00 and catching the whole show.

Anyone interested can listen here:

http://www.wdvx.com/main.html

OR HERE:

http://www.penguinradio.com/stations/3950

More soon -- I've got some pictures from a recent hike at Bent Creek (a local forested area) to share -- but not now.

Sony Bravia

This is an advertisement for the Sony Bravia, which is (I believe), a high-definition television. The paint is real (and environmentally friendly). Thanks to Eirene for showing it to me indirectly.

Oh--by the way--I present this ad not because I'm interested in the product, but because it is really quite an amazing visual performance. Apparently they used something like 70,000 liters of paint to make the commercial.

Sunday Evening

Visions of America




Decorations in Baking and Adventures in Dying

Knoxville News

We've (Sirius.B) made the Knoxville News!

Asheville band not afraid of mixing it up

By Wayne Bledsoe
Friday, December 14, 2007

If there’s a bit of built-in incongruity about being voted “Best Unknown Band” in your hometown, that seems to fit Asheville, N.C.-based Sirius.B just fine.

After all, this is a band that bills itself as “the finest absurdist gypsy metal folk funk punk the world has to offer,” and then says, “Well, not quite.”

“It’s all those things and more,” says Xavier Ferdon, lead guitarist/vocalist with Sirius.B. “Or maybe it’s just absurdist. You know, we have two violins, a marching-band drum and a cymbal played with a coat hanger … .”

“We definitely don’t want to be a fusion band,” adds Pancho Romero, lead vocalist and guitarist with the group, “but there’s always new things to throw into the mix.”

The genesis of Sirius.B can be traced to the University of South Carolina, where Romero was teaching Spanish and Ferdon was studying guitar. One night Romero sat in and played some of his songs with Ferdon’s cover band.

“His songs were better than our covers,” says Ferdon.

The would-be group never quite happened because Romero moved to Brooklyn to take a job at New York University. Ferdon eventually relocated to Asheville.

After two years, Romero found himself “at the end of my New York rope” and decided to visit Ferdon in Asheville.

“I got a girlfriend, and within three weeks of being there, it seemed like I had a whole life set up,” says Romero.

It wasn’t until early 2007, though, that an actual group began to fall into place.

Hannah Furgiuele (violin and viola), Imhotep (percussion), Jamie Davis (bass) and Laura Baskervill (violin and duende) joined the band.

“For all of us, the whole thing just magically fell into place,” says Romero.

But what the group is, is still up in the air.

Some people would like to call the group a “dance band,” and Romero understands that reaction:

“We have a couple, no, four or five songs, that if you’re not up dancing, then you’ve got a problem. (The songs) beg for a crowd to be up dancing. Maybe those are the songs that people remember, but we have slower songs, too.”

The group’s songs used to be Romero’s with just additions by the rest of the band.

“Lyrically, we’re very different,” says Romero. “I have a love song about an oyster.”

However, more recent compositions by the band have begun in a more democratic fashion, which Romero says is “very exciting.”

While the group is just spreading its wings outside of Asheville, Romero says the band is no longer unknown:

“No, now people know us around here.”


© 2007 Knoxville News Sentinel

Zeitgeist

I have just seen a movie that has me chilled to the core, angry as hell, confused as could be, and ready to scream. The movie is called Zeitgeist (the term means "spirit of the age").

it is directed by a man named Peter Joseph, and is a film divided into three parts:

Part I: "The Greatest Story Ever Told"
Part II: "All The World's A Stage"
Part III: "Don't Mind The Men Behind The Curtain".

The film approaches much of the same material as many films, websites, etc. that have been produced since 9/11 (Loose Change, etc), regarding the ideas of a grand conspiracy (within the US Government). The film goes much further than a mere discussion of 9/11, however, in that it connects those events to the "myth" of Christianity, the Federal Reserve Bank, and the quest for world domination led by world bankers.

It sounds ridiculous perhaps. Or maybe not so much. Regardless of the far-reaching claims, which are often backed up by unmentioned sources, ghostly voice-overs (with no name) and pictures of mystery pages from unsourced books, the film makes many strong and valid points. What more, the movie comes up with some reasonable and frightening answers for the "why?" questions that many other 9/11 conspiracy explanations often leave unanswered.

I don't buy it all, but if even half of it is true, I'm ready to join the revolution.

Check out the movie, free, at www.zeitgeistmovie.com.

Concord, NC

I took a trip to Concord, NC this weekend, to visit with some of my girlfriend's family. The town is a rather typical place in many ways--it appears to be a poor Southern town filled with churches--with a very typical Pennsylvania-type story (from what I heard, a mill of some sort closed five or ten years ago, resulting in much unemployment).

Still, the town is home to the Lowe's Speedway (I stayed on Earnheardt Rd.) and seems to benefit quite a bit from NASCAR (economically benefit, that is). And, according to Wikipedia, (good news!) only 8.2% of the population is living below the poverty line, compared to our stunningly impressive 12.5% nationally.

The downtown area, while filled with bail bonds places, DUI Assessment Centers, and abandoned shops, is actually quite pleasing to the eye, and was surely at one point (though not, I'd imagine in 2004, when the town won an All-America City Award) a very pleasant place.

A few pictures below for you.

Monkey Business

Read about how monkeys are smarter than humans

Jesus

Continuing coverage of the vote for our national minister --

From The New York Times, December 7, 2007 (Editorial)

CNN, shockingly, required the candidates at the recent Republican debate to answer a videotaped question from a voter holding a Christian edition of the Bible, who said: “How you answer this question will tell us everything we need to know about you. Do you believe every word of this book? Specifically, this book that I am holding in my hand, do you believe this book?”

Elf

Check this…

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1230494443

The White House Words

From the New York Times, in regards to the recent discovery that the CIA destroyed tapes of interrogations:

President Bush “has no recollection of being made aware of the tapes or their destruction before yesterday,” the chief White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said today.

Amazing wordsmithery.

Balsawood Players

The Balsawood Players was a musical group that I started with Jason Weinstein in 2003. We played original and quirky songs, merging our lack of musical talent (I had barely begun to play guitar and sing, Jason had not sung since high school chorus) with my brother Brian's recording genius. The three of us, with the help of some other friends, recorded an album over the first few months of 2003, finally finishing "The Stench Filter" in April or so. Somehow, the mix worked, and the album was a huge success.


We played one official show, Balsapalooza, which I hosted in my parents' backyard. There was a lot of beer, a bbq, and many good friends. Later, we traveled to South America together and occasionally treated some locals to our tunes. This we considered to be our South American tour.

Some of our songs can still be heard today, and soon you'll be able to hear all of them. If you're a MySpacer, go check us out at www.myspace.com/balsawoodplayaz and become our friend. If you're not a MySpace-head, check us out anyway, and spread the word. The music has been called "viral" by a very learned man named Jeremy, and I'd like for him to be right. Let's spread the virus.


I'll let you all know when the rest of the album (another eight songs or so) is up online.

Goodbye to the Normals

www.goodbyetothenormals.com

Friedman

Friedman (of the NY Times) occasionally gets it right. Lately he has been really on point, as is the case in his column today. Read the article here.

Sorry (again) for the barrage of rather political posts of late, but these things that I read I can't help but want to share. These are frightening times . . .

Wait--I take it back. I'm not sorry at all.

Knoxville News Sentinel

Yesterday, in preparation for my band's (Sirius.B) upcoming trip to Knoxville, TN, Xavi (the lead guitarist, my roommate) and I were interviewed by Wayne Bledsoe of the Knoxville New Sentinel.. The interview consisted of a pleasant phone conversation of about 30 minutes. The whole thing was painless, enjoyable even.

Still, I couldn't quite shake from my head the realization of what power these newspaper types have. Even staying within the confines of our quotes, Mr. Bledsoe has the power to shape his article and our words in pretty much any way that he desires. He can make us out to be total geniuses or complete dolts. He's like the editor of "The Real World" or something -- he decides how the world will see us.

It's amazing, really. And so, Mr. Bledsoe--If you're reading this, be kind please. We appreciate it.

Me x 3

Here's an interesting photo of me from this summer. Note that I am the attacker, the victim, and the innocent (and obviously scared and confused) observer.

(photo by Eirene O'Connor, 2007)

Don't Mess With Texas

Christine Castillo Comer, the former director of science for the Texas Education Agency, was recently forced to resign, after committing the obvious and terrible blunder of forwarding an email announcing a talk on evolution.


Read yet another sad story about this incredibly curious country of mine

La Vaca Loca

Here's an interesting Wikipedia Article about Creekstone Farms, an Angus beef producer out of Kentucky. Apparently, they wanted to test all of their cattle for Mad Cow Disease (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy), but the USDA wouldn't let them

The USDA controls the sale of all testing kits of Mad Cow, so Creekstone had to take the USDA to court. Amazing, isn't it, that a government agency charged with protecting American citizens and their food would actually STOP a company from testing all its animals for BSE?

Conspiracies Abound!

Seriously.

Read it Here

And, while you're reading about one "prion disease", you might as well read about another.

Warning, the following article made me gasp out loud in horror.

Scary Wikipedia Article

The Trumpet Lady

Since I started playing with a band, I've been working on my kazoo skills, trying to turn what is generally considered a clownish instrument into something that truly adds to the music. The kazoo that I've been using recently is a great one from kazoos.com that's got a trumpet-like bell on the end. It's plastic, but it has a nice, even, very loud sound.

I've been searching, however, for an even better kazoo, and I'm amazed by the different kind of mirlitons (the name of the kazoo's musical family) that one can find out there. Some of these variations on the kazoo theme can cost $50 or more--quite a surprise when compared with the cheapest of kazoos, which cost literally pennies.

Even more amazing though, is what an internet search for kazoos and a "trumpet-like sound" can turn up. Like this lady for instance, in the video below. On YouTube, everyone seems to call her the "Trumpet Lady" -- Her real name is Denise Reis, she's Brazilian, and the sounds that emanate from her mouth are ridiculous. Check it out below.

Chavez Not Victorious

Venezuelan Opposition Defeats Chavez Proposal

Photos from Hannah Flanagan's

Julie, our lovely booking agent and photographer, has posted some photos of us over at her blog.
Check them out at www.jbirdphoto.blogspot.com

Pick a President

An interesting website here:

Pick a President

Answer 11 questions about political issues. The amazing computer machine will tell you how much you agree with the stances of the different candidates.

Huckabee

In this week's New Yorker, in the Talk of the Town section, Hendrik Hertzberg writes about one of Mike Huckabee's campaign advertisements. Curious, I went and checked out what Hertzberg described as an "unusually entertaining spot".

And, as I live and breathe, let me tell you--It is truly unusual and truly entertaining. I'd never vote for the guy, but I certainly give him some points for creativity and good humor.

Big Surprise

What a surprise! The World Bank has been giving Malawi bad advice all this time? The American free-market strategy wasn't working as it was meant to?
I'm shocked!

Read this article about fertilizer in Africa

Nutjobs

Just another news snippet for all y'all. If you have not yet read about this woman (Lori Drew, crazy woman), you're in for a real shock.

Read it Here