The past and song

[DHodges]

Same with Hendrix. I don't give a crap about whatever happened to him or how he became an extraordinary guitarist. But, damn, dude could play.

Hell yeah. I was watching a video of him playing, this last weekend. I felt like, I knew him from the inside out, everything about him, from his music. It seemed like he played with a direct honesty that takes a very special kind of... I don't know... courage to reveal yourself that way.

Definitely a big influence on my playing style - something to aspire to, at least.

Speaking of which, if I can throw a commercial in here, for anyone in Eastern PA, my current shitty group will be playing at John and Peter's in New Hope, PA, on July 15, 3-6 pm. Feel free to drop by and tell me that I suck, and you can't believe that I've even ever heard Hendrix. (And yes, we are looking for a new vocalist!) Mention Genius Forum for free drinks.

But this was below blue grass. No kin to country music in the least. Beyond outlaw -- defined by Waylon Jennings as double parking. Beyond outlaw, it was mutant. American aboriginal.

That sounds pretty interesting. I don't know anyone who does that for real. I knew some poseurs in Texas who were into 'roots' music and were very snobbish about it, which seemed kind of bizarre to me.

[DHodges]

My mum and stepfather gathered my 2 step-sisters, my older brother and myself once on a saturday night to tell us we were now in charge of our own decision to attend church the following day and thereafter.

Wish I got that choice. My parents were the ministers. I kept my thoughts to myself... having been an atheist from about the age of eight.

[MKFaizi]

Pye wrote:

We won't get fooled again . . . whoa no-no!

I enjoyed reading that story.

Your parents probably also enjoyed the freedom from dragging resentful kids to church. They were smart to emancipate both themselves and the kids.

My favorite Who song is "Teenage Wasteland" because I have lived in Teenage Wasteland for five official years now -- really started about eight years ago. Teenage Wasteland does not take me back. It's right here right now. Kind of goes along with the Iraqi war, too.

I will be living there for a few more years yet.

I did tell my son today that, if there is ever a draft, he and his sister are going to jail. Serve the time for draft evasion and get it over with. NOT going to Iraq. There is such a thing as freedom of choice. Choice has consequences. I would prefer to see my kids serve a year or so in jail than go to Iraq. Well, I might let them go if we can go as a family unit. I would furnish our weapons and gear -- two Faizi Family M1 grenade launchers, one M60 machine gun; a year's worth of grenades; my personal M16 -- kids could choose their weapon -- Uzi, the Swedish made thing or the German thing or the Russian thing. Our own hummer.

I don't trust the army -- sorry. I know better. You expect my kids to go to Iraq, we are going private. I would elicit businesses and churches for fund raisers.

Might be interesting to collect some terminally ill volunteers to go with us, to serve as suicide bombers. Sorry if that is in poor taste but I reckon some people with terminal illnesses might welcome the opportunity. It'd really surprise the fuck out of the Jihadists to start seeing Americans blow themselves up.

Of course, to do that would require good intelligence. That's where Roxanna aka Rukhsana would come in -- as a beautiful but deaf/mute Iraqi girl gone bad. We'd flush the fuckers out and send in a cancer patient with a bomb strapped to his waist -- and there you go. BIG BOOM!! The rest is on CNN: AMERICAN INSURGENT SUICIDE BOMBERS TAKE DOWN AL QAEDA IN IRAQ!!

I mean, if you want to win the war, you got to get down and dirty. You can't fight like Americans in the middle east. You got to fight like an Arab.

Well, I am inspired. Think I will write to Rumsfeld. Dude could use some help -- here's what you do -- you get some beautiful Arab looking babes -- Mexicans will do -- put 'em in veils and burkas and send 'em out looking for insurgents -- don't let 'em fool you -- Muslims have dicks. Let the girls flush 'em out in the open. Then, send in some poor cancer ridden fuck who is sick and tired of chemo and feels this patriotic duty. He walks into the safe house and you got it -- insurgent sausage.

Work it out Laden style -- simultaneous attacks on multiple designated safe houses. Synchronized suicide bombers. Hell, with enough cancer patients, you could send in twenty or forty bombers at a time. Shock and Awe would look like pussy juice beside it. No Bush in a fly boy suit. Hardcore shock and awe.

The current shameful spectacle of some American soldiers murdering Iraqi civilians could be avoided. With enough of these special girl and tumor forces, the boys on the line would get a break. It'd be like the Fourth of July with a weeny roast.

Nemo, I think you should talk to your brother. He's almost a general. He could pull this off. I don't even care if he takes the credit. Get him to pull some strings down on the Mexican border -- promise the babes anything -- full US citizenship in exchange for prick teasing for freedom. Call up the American Cancer Society and get the ball rolling.

Who says this war can't be won?

Operation Dick Tumor in the Sand. You can't fight this war in the usual way. We tried that in Vietnam. Fuck the hearts and minds. It's the prick, stupid.

Somebody tell Rummy.

Damn.

Faizi

[MKFaizi]

Dave Hodges wrote:

That sounds pretty interesting. I don't know anyone who does that for real. I knew some poseurs in Texas who were into 'roots' music and were very snobbish about it, which seemed kind of bizarre to me

Well, I looked high and low for the program this evening. Did not find it. I was listening to the local NPR station. I don't pay a lot of attention to it. It was too late for CAR TALK or too early -- can't remember.

But they were playing these dudes from Norton. Plain weird. I could not understand a word of the songs. It was English of sorts. Deep southwestern Virginia English -- same as east Tennessee and eastern Kentucky English and southwestern West Virginia language. Just caught my attention at the last minute -- too late to hear the artists' names.

I looked on the local NPR station as well as the West Virginia station. Could not find it.

All I can say is that there is a lot of crap out there that calls itself bluegrass but that sucks. Then, there are some things that are truly musical. I listened to some things tonight that were very intricate and modern using guitar, banjo and mandolin. No vocals but very complex music.

Just to let you know -- I don't know about them Texans but a lot of hillbillies are snobs. This has a lot to do with family pride. Tribalism, really. Ain't no family tree. Just a straight up family trunk. You don't smell like family, you stink. You ain't cousin then you Yankee. It's a ghetto thing. Kind of like being a white boy in west Baltimore. You just can't get there from here.

But the stigma can be overcome. You just say your grandma was a Newcomb who killed every husband she had and got away with it -- just crossing out the surnames on the mailbox. Johns -- Austin -- Spangler -- Hancock -- Alphin -- Sprinkle -- Simmons. If that ain't country, you know the rest.

Seriously, there is some interesting music from Appalachia. Not like you are going to hear it on CW stations. Strictly commercial. This is music you have to ssek out. Well, I don't seek it. I stumble on it.

I do wish I could find the name of that Norton hillbilly band. It was English and I could understand a word or two of it -- hung, for instance.

Here is a small example of Norton English and culture. My sister works for a bank. For years, she had to travel to Norton. The landscape there is bleak -- coalfields. A woman told her that next time she came, she would take Karen to a great restaurant.

"Really nice place. They have Vinies."

"What are vinies?"

"You know -- Vinies Sausages."

Obviously, it is not just the language thing. I can't imagine thinking of Vienna sausages as great food.

Deep southwestern Virginia is the capital of Blue Grass and country. The roots. Carter family. June and Johnny. Ralph Stanley. But that is the commercial side.

Faizi

[DHodges]

I don't trust the army -- sorry. I know better. You expect my kids to go to Iraq, we are going private. I would elicit businesses and churches for fund raisers.

Fuck the government, talk to a network. Make it into a reality show. They would love it. What could be better television than cock-teasing and killing foreigners?

The network could deal with the legal issues. Hell, it'd just be the next logical step after Jackass and Wildboyz.

[DHodges]

Just to let you know -- I don't know about them Texans but a lot of hillbillies are snobs.

The particular people I was thinking of had moved to Texas from Los Angeles. They seemed to consider themselves some kind of connoisseurs; hipsters caught up in a particular "scene".

But it's also true that Texans are very proud of being Texans. They identify with their state much more than, say, people from New Jersey or Massachusetts, who would be more likely to think of themselves as Americans.

[MKFaizi]

You are right, Dave. Texans are even worse -- maybe -- than Canadians. Part of the problem for Texans may be that the state is mostly butt ugly. Big sky, my ass.

Only reason for the big sky is that the landscape sucks. Bastards get excited about the goddamn hill country. Like they never saw a tree or something or a hill.

I lived in Texas for two months. Having grown up in the mountains, I did find the flat land somewhat interesting. Nothing there.

Kind of like the Texan mind. George Bush, for instance. Just this vast emptiness with a lot of hot air. They are so ass proud of him.

Fuck that. Virginia has had more presidents than any other state, I think. Washington, Madison, Jefferson -- founding father dudes.

I reckon Virginia could have one more -- Mark Warner. A lot more substance to the vote than Hillary.

Faizi

[MKFaizi]

Dave Hodges:

The particular people I was thinking of had moved to Texas from Los Angeles. They seemed to consider themselves some kind of connoisseurs; hipsters caught up in a particular"scene".

The "Gone Country" crowd.

Faizi

[MKFaizi]

Dave Hodges:

The network could deal with the legal issues. Hell, it'd just be the next logical step after Jackass and Wildboyz.

Reality Show. That could work.

You are a white man. Selling is in your blood. Sell the idea while it is hot -- won't last long.

Take the credit and reap the profits. I don't care. I would enjoy seeing it enacted. If you make several million dollars out of it, no problem. Slip me five hundred thousand and I could deal with it.

I asked Rock about it today. She said, "Skip the cancer patients. Just give the prick teasers the Uzis and let them mow the fuckers down."

I thought the idea of terminal cancer patients blowing themselves up was quaint and novel. Just picturing bony, cancer ridden Americans sacrificing themselves for our way of life seemed appapro. "THE DEAD PROTECTING THE OBESE."

I have long been in favor of employment for the dead. Plenty of work for corpses in this country -- cheaper than Mexicans. In the current economic reality, the dead are worthless and can be paid accordingly. You don't pay them. Just make sure they are embalmed and prop 'em up. Given the advances in robotics, you could probably use the dead as suicide bombers in Iraq. No need for the terminally ill -- although from the aspect of Reality Shows --the grieving families struggling with he decision of an American insurgent to blow himself up for Iraqi Freedom might be good TV.

Far better than Jackass.

You sell it, I create it.

Faizi

[MKFaizi]

I watched some Hendrix videos this evening. I was eighteen when he died in 1970. I liked his music then but I had no appreciation of the musical genius. On the day that he died, I called one of my friends on the old fashioned telephone that we had back then and her brother told me that she could not come to the phone because she was mourning Hendrix.

She was an asshole.

By the same token, looking back on his musical genius -- that sort of ability only comes around every now and then -- every two hundred years or so -- it can only be appreciated in hindsight. The videos I watched are nearly forty years old. No match for it in 2006.

I can appreciate a lot of rap and hip hop. But it does not measure up to a virtuoso on guitar or any other instrument. Led Zep does not compare to Hendrix. You could say that playing guitar with his teeth was a gimmick. That would be true except he plays it with his teeth just as well as he plays it with his hands.

I am not a guitarist but I put Hendrix above Vaughn and Vai. Hendrix mowed down the path. Everyone else followed.

Watching the videos, I do not feel that I ever could know the man. But, damn, dude could play guitar. He did not play guitar. He was guitar.

Sixties music was a renaissance. I did not know that at the time. Boomers were spoiled. I figured the best was yet to come.

Nearly forty years and no sign of renaissance.

Faizi

[suergaz]

90's. Jungle. UK. Underground.

[MKFaizi]

Suergaz wrote:

90's. Jungle. UK. Underground

Do you mind spelling this out for me?

What '90's?

Welcome to the jungle?

United Kingdom?

Velvet Underground?

You are not making yourself clear.

Faizi

[MKFaizi]

Suergaz wrote:

90's. Jungle. UK. Underground

Do you mind spelling this out for me?

What '90's?

Welcome to the jungle?

United Kingdom?

Velvet Underground?

You are not making yourself clear.

Faizi

[suergaz]

:D

1990's

Jungle, a species of dance music. Also known as drum'n'bass, but is not what that genre is today. Took place largley in the UK. It was underground, recorded to vinyl for mixing, often stayed as dubplates, limited commercial release, hard to track down.

A gift for you, an example (despite your not appreciating Jimi when you had young ears)---

Hidden Agenda- "Dispatches" Metalheadz no. 25, don't try for it on cd. you get the b-side of the same name which is beyond a joke.

[MKFaizi]

Real secretive stuff. Best kind of rock -- so underground that the underground never heard of it.

I recall the British stuff from the late seventies/early eighties. I liked it but there was no guitarist of the same caliber as Hendrix. More social than musical.

Hendrix was born at the exact right time, I reckon. His psychedelic garb made him acceptable. He was seen as a groove LSDer. Counter culture dude. Hippie.

His music is timeless.

No one knew that forty years ago. Not even those who thought he was great.

Faizi

[suergaz]

His music is timeless.

I agree.

No one knew that forty years ago.
Not even those who thought he was great.

I disagree.

[Sapius]

Dan wrote,

Music is by and large the worst kind of nostalgia. It excites the emotions, not reason. Who ever recalled a song that inspired them to think?

If so, what song.

I too have been meaning to say something about it. I enjoy all kinds of music and songs in many languages as long as it moves my soul with its melody or rhythmic beat, but mostly the songs that I understand meaningfully.

Poetry is a personal artistic expression of a philosophy already realized. Hence it surely can inspire worthwhile thoughts in them who do relate to its philosophy even in the least bit, rather than the superficial meaning of the words one reads, or hears.

I have expressed and explained this in some thread, and I have always maintained that words in them selves are masculine, but their meanings are feminine, thought is masculine, but realization is feminine, without either one of them, nothing exists.

Basically you operate the same way too, but the poetry you relate to is of a different kind, for example – Ignorance is bliss – if not a poetical expression with a huge hidden philosophy behind it, then what worth would it be if taken literally? I can give many such examples, but the fact is, they don't come up unless needed.

I heard this the other day. A discothèque beat that you might not enjoy, by I think Paul van dike if I’m not mistaken. I could catch on to just one small section. I’m not quite sure of the exact words, but I think it is quite close.

Life isn’t made so everything’s right
Liife isn’t made so everything’s bright
Life isn’t made so is always alive
But that is alright, alright, alright.

This is a result of someone’s philosophy that others can relate to since they too look at it from that philosophical point of view, not just form rhythmic beat point of view. To me that points to Reality. One has to have an eye to see it. However, I do not include those that simply bounce around to its tune, but those that cannot help swaying for it is actually their soul on the move.

You and me are not the only ones philosophizing, others do too, of course, according ones our own logical values, which in a way proves that irrelevant of the “emptiness” underlying beneath any thing, or in and of the thing itself, each and every thing is a thing worthy of being a thing in itself.

At least I do not underestimate. I earnestly know nothing.

[Nick]

Music is by and large the worst kind of nostalgia. It excites the emotions, not reason. Who ever recalled a song that inspired them to think?

If so, what song.


Dan Rowden

The worst thing about music is how people use it as an outlet or release from stress, anxiety, or sub-conscious/conscious loathing of life in general. It is a dangerously effective distraction from Truth. Rather than find a cure for their despair, people settle for the temporary relief music provides.

[Angel Ramirez]

Rather than find a cure for their despair, people settle for the temporary relief music provides.

That's why it goes so well with alcohol!