My friend and Blogtalkradio co-host has put together a roundup of misery. He also posted this on huffington but it first ran on his blog.
November 17, 2008
Economic Meltdown 101: How We Got Here and How We Might Dig Ourselves Out
Here are some basic primers on the economic crisis:
This is the simplest presentation, with captioned pictures, one after the other:
here.
A clear explanation of how Fannie Mae wasn't the primary cause of the subprime crisis, but unregulated private sector loans subsequently packaged by Wall Street, has been done by McClatchy:
here.
If you hear this presentation from This American Life, or skim the transcript, it can bring home the issues home pretty clearly and in a personal way:
here.
Then here's a well-written lively overview in layman's terms:
here.
A video presentation of subprime mortgages, by PBS:, with props and an effort to make it clear:
here.
Paul Solman also uses simple cartoon images and other props to explain the screwy world of "credit default swaps" -- insurance policies on risky securities composed of risky subprime loans. Much of the world's leading economic institutions invested in assorted financial instruments that were built on the sandy of risk loans -- and no one factored in falling house prices as even a possibility.
Newsweek explains how credit default swaps became "The Monster That Ate Wall Street"
A mix of captioned pargraphs, with charts underneath, explaining how we got in this mess:
here.
Here's a detailed look in The New York Times how each deregulating or short-sighted institution and key player failed the public and the economy. Everybody with real power got it wrong, or did the wrong thing; others who tried to do the right thing were ignored or marginalized as greed and ideology triumphed:
here.
A more crisply written, anecdotal three-part series on the collapse of the subprime mortgage market and how it brought down Lehman brothers, etc was in The Washington Post in the "Bubble" series:
here.
You can keep up on economic news from a progressive perspective with Brad DeLong, among others, here:
here. And you can hear his explanation of our current crisis , the underlying shakiness of the economy, and why major domestic spending initiatives shouldn't be put off , heard in the second half hour of the "D'Antoni and Levine" radio show here, starting at 44 minutes, from mid-October:
here.
And NPR's Planet Money (useful if "objective") is also informative:, plus a daily podcast posted online:
here./
Finally, this month:
Michael Lewis takes us inside the world of those few analysts who realized what a flimsy house of mortgage-related cards the greedheads in the financial institutions had built their wealth on, how it was going to come crashing down, and few people in power bothered to listen. It's so long it's worth buying the magazine for it, but it's only for those who want a long narrative.
That's how we got here, and let's hope our leadership can dig us out.
How to get out of this mess? Read Paul Krugman , Brad DeLong, and the Center for American Progress for some sound ideas.
-- Art Levine
Monday, November 17, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
This Week's Music Blog
I'm still unsure if this is going to go up on LivePDX.com, so in case it doesn't:
While waiting to hear what's up with this site and my blog…..
Just got in from the Stephanie Schneiderman CD release at Doug Fir. She had Keith Schreiner with her, of course. James Beaton joined on keys. She said her dress made her look like a slutty cupcake. Like there's something wrong with that?
They did pretty much all of the tunes on Dangerous Fruit and added a Pete Krebs tune and another with Keith on didgeridoo. Aside from the usual rude Portland audience, everything was lovely.
Ran into Mercy Corps' Laura Guimond at the show. She is a music maven. I remember when she used to help Pepe (and the Bottle Blondes) Raphael by working the merchandise table at the Crystal. She was a full-time fan at the Fir.
I had Stephanie on my KMHD show last Saturday night. She told me Keith has a new solo Auditory Sculpture album pretty much ready to go. And just when were you going to tell me, Mr. Sculpture?
Plans are shaping up for Mayor Sam's inauguration celebrations. I'm sworn to secrecy at the moment, but it sounds like (a) great party(ies).
There's a thing called Pecha Kucha. They tell me it's "Japanese for ‘the sound of conversation and has spread to over 100 cities world-wide, including Portland. It is intended to gather creative individuals, designers, architects and artists to meet, network, and to share and discuss their work in an informal, public environment."
There is one of these things on Tuesday, November 18 at The Plant, 939 SE Alder. The deal? "Presenters are allowed 20 images, shown for 20 seconds each - giving 6 minutes & 40 seconds per presentation. This allows the audience to experience a diversee group of speakers in a relatively short space of time. After the presentations, the evening continues with drinks and music."
I've been told to write blogs through the end of the month. After that, I have not been notified. I'm very sorry to see Liz Hummer, LivePDX's editor, get laid off. She's a fine editor and I've enjoyed working with her here and at PDX Magazine. I hope to get to work with her again sometime.
These are not good times for creative folks…musicians, writers….pretty much all across arts and entertainment….editors, too.
Singer Barry Hampton is at it again. He writes:
I don't usually run stuff like that verbatim, but I just did anyway.
I was talking with my friend and Blogtalkradio co-host
Art Levine the other night. He was on his way to a post-election party in D.C. He had investigative reporter Murray Waas in the car with him. Waas has broken many earthshaking stories, mostly about the Bush administration's criminal activities. Anyway, I had never talked to him before. He wanted to talk about music. Turns out he claims that his dad wrote the Mister Softee tune that has been annoying the hell out of me and a major portion of the universe for decades. He said his dad had sold the rights for $400 way back.
So now do you have that song in your head?
I have achieved my goal.
While waiting to hear what's up with this site and my blog…..
Just got in from the Stephanie Schneiderman CD release at Doug Fir. She had Keith Schreiner with her, of course. James Beaton joined on keys. She said her dress made her look like a slutty cupcake. Like there's something wrong with that?
They did pretty much all of the tunes on Dangerous Fruit and added a Pete Krebs tune and another with Keith on didgeridoo. Aside from the usual rude Portland audience, everything was lovely.
Ran into Mercy Corps' Laura Guimond at the show. She is a music maven. I remember when she used to help Pepe (and the Bottle Blondes) Raphael by working the merchandise table at the Crystal. She was a full-time fan at the Fir.
I had Stephanie on my KMHD show last Saturday night. She told me Keith has a new solo Auditory Sculpture album pretty much ready to go. And just when were you going to tell me, Mr. Sculpture?
Plans are shaping up for Mayor Sam's inauguration celebrations. I'm sworn to secrecy at the moment, but it sounds like (a) great party(ies).
There's a thing called Pecha Kucha. They tell me it's "Japanese for ‘the sound of conversation and has spread to over 100 cities world-wide, including Portland. It is intended to gather creative individuals, designers, architects and artists to meet, network, and to share and discuss their work in an informal, public environment."
There is one of these things on Tuesday, November 18 at The Plant, 939 SE Alder. The deal? "Presenters are allowed 20 images, shown for 20 seconds each - giving 6 minutes & 40 seconds per presentation. This allows the audience to experience a diversee group of speakers in a relatively short space of time. After the presentations, the evening continues with drinks and music."
I've been told to write blogs through the end of the month. After that, I have not been notified. I'm very sorry to see Liz Hummer, LivePDX's editor, get laid off. She's a fine editor and I've enjoyed working with her here and at PDX Magazine. I hope to get to work with her again sometime.
These are not good times for creative folks…musicians, writers….pretty much all across arts and entertainment….editors, too.
Singer Barry Hampton is at it again. He writes:
Come join us for a special evening of sounds featuring Nefasha Ayer, Gabriel Teodros, and of course, The Triple Grip.
Nefasha Ayer, loosely translated from Amharic as "the wind that travels", explores a sublime mixture of influences: Ethiopian, South Indian, and American jazz to create a colorful imagery that makes one remember the simple power of music.
Featuring Vocalist Meklit Hadero, Guitarist & Composer Todd Brown, South Indian Saxist Prasant Radhakrishnan, Drummer Sameer Gupta, and Bassist/Flutist Eliyahu Sills.
Gabriel Teodros will explain in quite simple terms his love of verse with a transcendent set of his honest and truly haunting style of Hip Hop. He is also a featured artist on the Nefasha set.
Barry Hampton and the Triple Grip offer the original soul style that rings true, yet truly different, as they sound off with harmonies and a groove for the mind, body and soul.
Monday, November 17th @ the Someday Lounge. 125 NW 5th. $6 9pm
I don't usually run stuff like that verbatim, but I just did anyway.
I was talking with my friend and Blogtalkradio co-host
Art Levine the other night. He was on his way to a post-election party in D.C. He had investigative reporter Murray Waas in the car with him. Waas has broken many earthshaking stories, mostly about the Bush administration's criminal activities. Anyway, I had never talked to him before. He wanted to talk about music. Turns out he claims that his dad wrote the Mister Softee tune that has been annoying the hell out of me and a major portion of the universe for decades. He said his dad had sold the rights for $400 way back.
So now do you have that song in your head?
I have achieved my goal.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Sarah, How Can We Miss You If You Won't Go Away?
They're missing the story again.
Remember when Hillary was a lock to win the Democratic nomination? And so was Romney? And watch out for Fred Thompson?
Obama winning? Not a chance.
Conventional media wisdom has been wrong much much more than it has been right.
So when 14 million people are out of work, the American auto makers are about to close up shop and Secty. Paulson appears to have lost his mind… When President Barak Obama is putting together his administration at a time of great emergency…why is it all I see is Sarah Palin?
I mean, I like watching Republicans make fools of themselves as much as the next guy, something they have, thankfully, not ceased for a moment.
I suppose she thinks she's saying things that people like her want to hear, but she looks like a polar bear on an ice floe, floating out to sea, bellowing on her way out.
Note to TV and radio news directors and producers:
We nevah liked her. When Peggy Noonan says, "It's over," upon setting her eyes on Palin... When Palin's negatives went so far South, you'd think they were in Brazil looking for Summer… Maybe you should consider covering something else. A demolition derby. A lost dog….
Or an Obama administration that is about to sweep away as much of the Bush administration as it can, as fast as it can.
Remember when Hillary was a lock to win the Democratic nomination? And so was Romney? And watch out for Fred Thompson?
Obama winning? Not a chance.
Conventional media wisdom has been wrong much much more than it has been right.
So when 14 million people are out of work, the American auto makers are about to close up shop and Secty. Paulson appears to have lost his mind… When President Barak Obama is putting together his administration at a time of great emergency…why is it all I see is Sarah Palin?
I mean, I like watching Republicans make fools of themselves as much as the next guy, something they have, thankfully, not ceased for a moment.
I suppose she thinks she's saying things that people like her want to hear, but she looks like a polar bear on an ice floe, floating out to sea, bellowing on her way out.
Note to TV and radio news directors and producers:
We nevah liked her. When Peggy Noonan says, "It's over," upon setting her eyes on Palin... When Palin's negatives went so far South, you'd think they were in Brazil looking for Summer… Maybe you should consider covering something else. A demolition derby. A lost dog….
Or an Obama administration that is about to sweep away as much of the Bush administration as it can, as fast as it can.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Grousing about Emanuel being "Too Tough?" Shut up and let the President work!
Why anybody would second-guess President-Elect Barack Obama (It's still thrilling to type that) is beyond me.
Has he not done everything right? Who knows better than him and his people about what to do next? When people were screaming for him to attack, attack attack, he played rope-a-dope, stayed on message and WON THE PRESIDENCY.
So when I read criticism that Rahm Emanuel is "too tough" for Chief of Staff, as Josh Marshall noted, calling it a Emerging DC Meme, all I can say is, shut up and let Obama do the work.
I remember the words of Gen. Tony McPeak (USF Ret.) who flew 269 combat missions in Vietnam and became a four-star general, serving four years on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. McPeak spent time with Obama on the campaign trail and was one of the generals lined up on the stadium stage before the acceptance speech.
He understands how tough Obama really is, and everyone who doubts it, from Republicans to pundits to heads of state of other countries better understand it too.
In describing Obama's toughness, McPeak was quoted as saying:
People better understand the difference between anger and toughness. Bush=anger. Obama=toughness. You don’t have to scream and act like a cowboy to be tough.
No, Emanuel is a good fit. I'm not surprised at all.
Has he not done everything right? Who knows better than him and his people about what to do next? When people were screaming for him to attack, attack attack, he played rope-a-dope, stayed on message and WON THE PRESIDENCY.
So when I read criticism that Rahm Emanuel is "too tough" for Chief of Staff, as Josh Marshall noted, calling it a Emerging DC Meme, all I can say is, shut up and let Obama do the work.
I remember the words of Gen. Tony McPeak (USF Ret.) who flew 269 combat missions in Vietnam and became a four-star general, serving four years on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. McPeak spent time with Obama on the campaign trail and was one of the generals lined up on the stadium stage before the acceptance speech.
He understands how tough Obama really is, and everyone who doubts it, from Republicans to pundits to heads of state of other countries better understand it too.
In describing Obama's toughness, McPeak was quoted as saying:
"He has gut-fighting sidewalk smarts that have allowed him to prevail when people said he couldn't. And he did it in a way that they didn't even know their throats were cut until they tried to smile."
People better understand the difference between anger and toughness. Bush=anger. Obama=toughness. You don’t have to scream and act like a cowboy to be tough.
No, Emanuel is a good fit. I'm not surprised at all.
Stephanie Schneiderman Charts New Course, Finds New World
By Tom D'Antoni
Stephanie Schneiderman and Keith Schreiner (aka Auditory Sculpture) may have re-invented the entire concept of singer-songwriters. Dangerous Fruit her new album, obliterates what had been fast becoming a stale genre. You may never think of singer-songwriters the same way again.
She is known for her Lilith Fair period, later a jazzier edge, and then several years with Dirty Martini.
He is known for being the electronics part of Dahlia, for the memorable Storm and the Balls remix Vastectomy, the hip-hop project Suckapunch, for Jazztronica and his own solo albums, all under the name Auditory Sculpture.
[Full disclosure: Keith wrote music for a documentary Greg Bond and I made. Rather than prejudicing this piece, it gives me insight.]
The result is a perfect marriage of her songs, his electronic soundscapes and his ability to bring out the best in female singers. He did it with Jen Folker, Storm Large and now…well, if you think you've heard Stephanie Schneiderman before, you haven't.
It all has to do with something he heard in his head.
"I sought her out," he told me. "I had approached her seven or eight years ago, when Dahlia was first popping and I was sniffing around for another project to work on." It wasn't until last January, when Dahlia played for Schneiderman's Voices for Silent Disaster concert series. (KPTV was a media sponsor.) He had an idea of doing some remixes of material she had previously recorded, and then possibly working up to an album of new songs.
"Her old style of music isn't something that interests me that much but a good song is a good song," he said. "I went over her house.. Instead of saying I want to do a remix I said, 'Screw it, I want to do an album. I have this radical idea of changing everything that you do, like your sound and I really want to get in there and rip your songs apart and put them back together,' and she was like, 'Yeah! OK!'"
"It was perfect timing," Schneiderman said over tea on Alberta St. "I wanted to do something different and I didn't know what it was. I just knew. I had this batch of songs. I had changed as a songwriter. I knew I wanted to push the edge, whatever the edge was for myself.
"I don’t' know if he knows this, but I was so inspired before our meeting,, I was gathering my songs together, finishing some things."
Things clicked for them on the first day in the studio. "It was pretty apparent from the second we started," said Schreiner, "that this style I had in my head, "and that she signed on to, and that we both worked together towards…was totally going to work."
Schneiderman adds, "We were both really blown away. He said, 'What I want do to is find the song in each of your songs.' That means to strip away the things that you don't realize you're doing…that emptiness is so nice. He wanted to keep things raw and open and let the vocals breathe in a different way and not fill every spot in."
The soundscapes he created for her, some close, intimate microphone work, plus not having to sing over a band allow for a quiet explosion of meaning in this collection of thoughtful, perceptive, sometimes seductive, sometimes loving, sometimes bitter songs "Twenty Slivers, changed from a sad, moody song…it worked to be more angry when I sang it," she said. "Maybe that song was really angry and I just didn't get there until he helped me get there.
"I felt like the other songs became more evocative because of the production. The words worked better."
Perhaps the most evocative song on the album is, When You Touch Me. Schreiner says, "It's the most honest marriage between my sound and her sound."She explains the line I've got this fire frozen in my heart, in the absolutely unforgettable chorus this way, "It's the idea of wanting something that you see and that you know is there but it's just a little bit out of reach."
I guarantee that you'll have that chorus in your head for weeks.
For all around musicianship, imagination, songwriting and pure inspiration, this gets my vote for best album of the year on any chart, in any genre.
CD Release:
Thursday, November 13, Doug Fir Lounge, with Kaitlin ni Donovan and DJ Dave Allen, 8pm door, $12
Stephanie Schneiderman and Keith Schreiner (aka Auditory Sculpture) may have re-invented the entire concept of singer-songwriters. Dangerous Fruit her new album, obliterates what had been fast becoming a stale genre. You may never think of singer-songwriters the same way again.
She is known for her Lilith Fair period, later a jazzier edge, and then several years with Dirty Martini.
He is known for being the electronics part of Dahlia, for the memorable Storm and the Balls remix Vastectomy, the hip-hop project Suckapunch, for Jazztronica and his own solo albums, all under the name Auditory Sculpture.
[Full disclosure: Keith wrote music for a documentary Greg Bond and I made. Rather than prejudicing this piece, it gives me insight.]
The result is a perfect marriage of her songs, his electronic soundscapes and his ability to bring out the best in female singers. He did it with Jen Folker, Storm Large and now…well, if you think you've heard Stephanie Schneiderman before, you haven't.
It all has to do with something he heard in his head.
"I sought her out," he told me. "I had approached her seven or eight years ago, when Dahlia was first popping and I was sniffing around for another project to work on." It wasn't until last January, when Dahlia played for Schneiderman's Voices for Silent Disaster concert series. (KPTV was a media sponsor.) He had an idea of doing some remixes of material she had previously recorded, and then possibly working up to an album of new songs.
"Her old style of music isn't something that interests me that much but a good song is a good song," he said. "I went over her house.. Instead of saying I want to do a remix I said, 'Screw it, I want to do an album. I have this radical idea of changing everything that you do, like your sound and I really want to get in there and rip your songs apart and put them back together,' and she was like, 'Yeah! OK!'"
"It was perfect timing," Schneiderman said over tea on Alberta St. "I wanted to do something different and I didn't know what it was. I just knew. I had this batch of songs. I had changed as a songwriter. I knew I wanted to push the edge, whatever the edge was for myself.
"I don’t' know if he knows this, but I was so inspired before our meeting,, I was gathering my songs together, finishing some things."
Things clicked for them on the first day in the studio. "It was pretty apparent from the second we started," said Schreiner, "that this style I had in my head, "and that she signed on to, and that we both worked together towards…was totally going to work."
Schneiderman adds, "We were both really blown away. He said, 'What I want do to is find the song in each of your songs.' That means to strip away the things that you don't realize you're doing…that emptiness is so nice. He wanted to keep things raw and open and let the vocals breathe in a different way and not fill every spot in."
The soundscapes he created for her, some close, intimate microphone work, plus not having to sing over a band allow for a quiet explosion of meaning in this collection of thoughtful, perceptive, sometimes seductive, sometimes loving, sometimes bitter songs "Twenty Slivers, changed from a sad, moody song…it worked to be more angry when I sang it," she said. "Maybe that song was really angry and I just didn't get there until he helped me get there.
"I felt like the other songs became more evocative because of the production. The words worked better."
Perhaps the most evocative song on the album is, When You Touch Me. Schreiner says, "It's the most honest marriage between my sound and her sound."She explains the line I've got this fire frozen in my heart, in the absolutely unforgettable chorus this way, "It's the idea of wanting something that you see and that you know is there but it's just a little bit out of reach."
I guarantee that you'll have that chorus in your head for weeks.
For all around musicianship, imagination, songwriting and pure inspiration, this gets my vote for best album of the year on any chart, in any genre.
CD Release:
Thursday, November 13, Doug Fir Lounge, with Kaitlin ni Donovan and DJ Dave Allen, 8pm door, $12
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
A Moment Which Will Last a Lifetime
How many I'll-never-forget-where-I-was-when's are happy memories? Think about it. From 9-11 on back to Pearl Harbor, since we've had instant mass communication, none of those moments are happy.
Last night was happy, and we'll never forget it.
We had some friends and family over last night. From 11 p.m., when I heard Olbermann announce that Obama had won, until the middle of the afternoon today, I have been speechless. Me! I get paid for words.
Obama had it exactly right. The night belonged to us. People of good will never gave up trying to make a better world and, in the words of Allen Toussaint's Yes We Can!:
I'm white. I know what this election means to me, but I was listening to national African-American talk radio this morning and one-after-another, callers were agreeing to a remarkable concept...maybe white folks weren't so bad after all.
Funny concept to some. Serious as death to others. Serious as lynching.
We're all looking at each other, and I mean everybody, in a new way today. Here in the People's Republic of Portland Oregon, there's a quiet sense of relief, although last night, on my block there were a lot fireworks exploded and much banging on pots. I know that these feelings are shared by people of good will all over the world.
How long will that last? Stay tuned.
But it's still fresh. And if feels good. And I'm beginning to be able to talk.
I can say this........WE WON!
Last night was happy, and we'll never forget it.
We had some friends and family over last night. From 11 p.m., when I heard Olbermann announce that Obama had won, until the middle of the afternoon today, I have been speechless. Me! I get paid for words.
Obama had it exactly right. The night belonged to us. People of good will never gave up trying to make a better world and, in the words of Allen Toussaint's Yes We Can!:
Make this land a better land
Than the world in which we live
And help each man be a better man
With the kindness that you give.
I'm white. I know what this election means to me, but I was listening to national African-American talk radio this morning and one-after-another, callers were agreeing to a remarkable concept...maybe white folks weren't so bad after all.
Funny concept to some. Serious as death to others. Serious as lynching.
We're all looking at each other, and I mean everybody, in a new way today. Here in the People's Republic of Portland Oregon, there's a quiet sense of relief, although last night, on my block there were a lot fireworks exploded and much banging on pots. I know that these feelings are shared by people of good will all over the world.
How long will that last? Stay tuned.
But it's still fresh. And if feels good. And I'm beginning to be able to talk.
I can say this........WE WON!
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Last Week's Music Blog
My editor at LivePDX.com has been laid off. I am not sure what the future of the site will be. They did not run my blog from last week, so I'm putting it up here.
We'll see what the future holds.
While discovering I don't need meditation to empty my mind of thought, It is a natural occurrence. So how come I feel stupid instead of enlightened?
So like, I know I had some news, but I just can't think of what it was. Or where I've been. I just deleted a sentence. It embarrassed me.
From the I've-never-heard-of-them-but-a-friend-says-they're-good department:
The
I never heard of them either, but as Bill Royston told me at the news conference when he announced that the Jazz Festival would return…well I don't remember his exact words, but he said that most of the really forward-looking music is coming out of Europe. That's something to think about, especially since we don't get to hear too much of it, hardly any.
Berghe is a pianist, in case you were wondering. I'm wondering.
Worth going to see.
As I wrote during the past summer in the O, "The microphone isn’t all that gets passed at the every-second-Tuesday “PasstheMic!” shows at Mississippi Pizza. Knowledge of what it takes to have a career in music is transmitted from pros to those just breaking in. That there’s a night of good music to hear is sometimes beside the point."
Not very often you get to steal from yourself. I used to be able to write before I emptied my mind of thoughts. Maybe I better go look in the recycling and see if my wife threw them out.
I would never use the phrase, "back in the day." And I might slap the next person who says to me, but back in the good old days, i.e. Before Bush, when Pepe Rafael was bursting on the scene with
Therefore, the 8th Annual
PP and the BB will play of course, also
I miss running into Pepe. Maybe I don't get out as much. Last Saturday, at 3 a.m., I was in an all night bingo parlor in Beaverton. Just to watch, mind you. No sign of Pepe.
One of my favorite images is of shooting Pepe in 2000 before that year's ball. He was frantically searching his wardrobe for just the right gown. He found it, of course.
Looking for a parade? How about an altar building? How about both? Someday Lounge's Second Annual Day of the Dead Procession & Altar Building Party will be held on Saturday, Nov 1 from 3-6 p.m. Mixing myth, superstition and art:
Sounds like fun unless somebody wants me to pray to a skull made out of sugar, although consumable gods sound kindof attractive. Beats having to do all that kneeling.
Tis is Ursula from
<3 Leg Torso,>
Crap, my mind's all cluttered again. Hope it doesn't last.
We'll see what the future holds.
While discovering I don't need meditation to empty my mind of thought, It is a natural occurrence. So how come I feel stupid instead of enlightened?
So like, I know I had some news, but I just can't think of what it was. Or where I've been. I just deleted a sentence. It embarrassed me.
From the I've-never-heard-of-them-but-a-friend-says-they're-good department:
The
I never heard of them either, but as Bill Royston told me at the news conference when he announced that the Jazz Festival would return…well I don't remember his exact words, but he said that most of the really forward-looking music is coming out of Europe. That's something to think about, especially since we don't get to hear too much of it, hardly any.
Berghe is a pianist, in case you were wondering. I'm wondering.
Worth going to see.
As I wrote during the past summer in the O, "The microphone isn’t all that gets passed at the every-second-Tuesday “PasstheMic!” shows at Mississippi Pizza. Knowledge of what it takes to have a career in music is transmitted from pros to those just breaking in. That there’s a night of good music to hear is sometimes beside the point."
Not very often you get to steal from yourself. I used to be able to write before I emptied my mind of thoughts. Maybe I better go look in the recycling and see if my wife threw them out.
I would never use the phrase, "back in the day." And I might slap the next person who says to me, but back in the good old days, i.e. Before Bush, when Pepe Rafael was bursting on the scene with
Therefore, the 8th Annual
PP and the BB will play of course, also
I miss running into Pepe. Maybe I don't get out as much. Last Saturday, at 3 a.m., I was in an all night bingo parlor in Beaverton. Just to watch, mind you. No sign of Pepe.
One of my favorite images is of shooting Pepe in 2000 before that year's ball. He was frantically searching his wardrobe for just the right gown. He found it, of course.
Looking for a parade? How about an altar building? How about both? Someday Lounge's Second Annual Day of the Dead Procession & Altar Building Party will be held on Saturday, Nov 1 from 3-6 p.m. Mixing myth, superstition and art:
We'll start with a 3pm sugar skull decorating session. We'll provide home- made sugar skulls and frosting to decorate. Participants are encouraged to bring additional decorating material.
We'll use these sugar skulls, and any other mementos brought by participants, to create community altars in the space. A true community art installation rooted in ancient cultural traditions.
As we create our altars, participants are encouraged to wear festive attire, and solicit the services of our house face painter. At 4:30, we'll meet in the North Park blocks to commence our procession through the Pearl and Oldtown. Banners waving, our party will be led by a marching band fit to rouse the dead. Then back to Someday Lounge for hot chocolate and movies.
Sounds like fun unless somebody wants me to pray to a skull made out of sugar, although consumable gods sound kindof attractive. Beats having to do all that kneeling.
Tis is Ursula from
<3 Leg Torso,>
Crap, my mind's all cluttered again. Hope it doesn't last.
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