|
Archives Page This week, I built a 7' x 9' frame for ad agency Gauger & Associates. They supplied me with a conceptual drawing, which called for an unsupported rectangle of square profile tubes mounted on a base. The original concept was to be 9' high and 11' wide! This frame was to be strung with 27 vertical strings (fishline or piano wire), on which would be strung, like beads, 763 ice-cream pint boxes. These would form a mosaic of the client company's logo, which resembles an asterisk. So basically, they were asking me to build a harp: an open frame with strings under tension. Oh yeah: it alll had to be able to be disassembled, with no piece longer than 4 feet! As any musician knows, the strings on a harp (or for that matter, a guitar) generate several hundred pounds of pull and torque on their framework. That's why, in a piano, the framework on which the piano wire is strung is made of cast steel! A frame such as the conceptual design called for would need to be constructed of steel, a medium I don't work in. Wood would also have worked, but I would have needed to invent some method of joining shorter pieces together into longer lengths that would still retain a longer piece's rigidity. I compromised by using 1 1/2" black ABS plumbing pipe, which would have the advantages of being elegantly black, relatively cheap, and light. I still faced the problem of the string tension warping and deforming the rectangular shape. My friend Brad suggested doubling the rectangle for strength, which turned out to be a Great Idea. Then I added a shallow triangular easel shape in the rear to maintain an upright posture. T-junctions provided a great deal of structural strength. I connected these with short pieces of pipe as couplers, and glued as many joints as possible while still allowing the whole structure to be disassembled. For temporary joints, I used nails as removable pins. All in all, it was well-received by the client, LaLoo's Goat's Milk Ice Cream. If you'd like to see the display, simply attend the Natural Products Expo West, Thu Mar 5 – Sun Mar 8 at the Anaheim Convention Center. If that's too far to go, you can go to LaLoo's site at http://www.goatmilkicecream.com/ to find out where you can try their ice cream. So far, I've tried the Black Mission Fig and Strawberry Darling varieties, both of which I really liked but Deirdre did not...goat's milk is not for everyone, shall we say.
October 10th, 2008 Back in the Before-Time – October 20th, 1986, to be exact – the Celtic-o-delic rock band Tempest first took the stage at the Starry Plough. Seated behind the drums then was a handsome, amiable fellow named Adolfo Lazo. Almost 25 years later, Adolfo is still behind Tempest’s drum kit. But recently I was surprised to learn that Adolfo has his own budding career as a singer and frontman. His new album is called On Tape, and features a group of all new original songs that remind me of David Byrne and Joe Jackson yet are unique in their own special way. Adolfo has a way with simple yet witty lyrics and melodies – I burst out laughing the first time I spun the album, at lines like: “Did your head come with your body? It doesn’t look like it did” (from “Morgan”).
The Adolfo Lazo Band will kick off a series of gigs promoting On Tape with a “Triple-A Night of Entertainment”, October 24, 2008, at McGrath’s in Alameda. Also in the lineup are Axis of Blues and Avalon Rising. By sheer coincidence, I happen to play with all three of the bands – wow, what are the odds?! (I better bring a stool). In the opening slot, the Adolfo Lazo band features Adolfo on vocals and guitar, Dave Halverson on lead guitar, Neal Roston on keyboards, Tempest’s fabulous bassist Damien Gonzalez on drums, and me, Mark Ungar on bass.
Axis of Blues is my own new project, featuring the amazing Robert Hill on vocals, guitar, bass and sometimes fiddle and mandolin, as well as Kristoph Klover on vocals, guitar and bass, Scott Irwin on drums and vocals, and – surprise! – me, Mark Ungar on vocals, guitar and bass. We play blues, folk, psychedelic rock, and whatever else we feel like, with a deep-roots feel.
Avalon Rising is the Bay Area’s premier Celtic and Medieval prog-rock band, currently celebrating our 15th year! We’re pleased to be headlining this cool show in a nice neighborhood bar we’ve been meaning to get to for a long time.
WHEN, WHERE and HOW MUCH:
Check out the Adolfo Lazo band online at http://cdbaby.com/cd/adolfolazo2 Check out Axis of Blues online at http://www.axisofblues.com Check out Avalon Rising online at http://www.avalonrising.com
July 7th, 2008 August 1st, 2nd, 8th, and 9th: Kelly McCubbin’s Golden Hour of Radio - 8pm at The Exit Theater, San Francisco That’s right – I’m starring (ok, matter of opinion) in a brilliant new play called Kelly McCubbin’s Golden Hour of Radio! (or: the Ukeapocalypse Radio Hour). I’ll be playing “beleaguered announcer” Murray, as well as Risk Management Specialist Endrin Smyzel. The cast is a tremendously talented group, some of whom you know already, the rest of which you should. This original play, penned by local writers including Rey Zegri and Chad McComber (of Single Entendre fame), features the hilarious misadventures of a dysfunctional contemporary radio theater company. The second half features an “On Air” performance of an original sci-fi radio script! You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll kiss 15 bucks goodbye! Save the Dates Now! There will be 4 performances only! August 1st, 2nd, 8th, and 9th! (For you laymen, that’s the first couple of Friday and Saturday nights in August.) Where? The Exit Theater For tickets and more information, go to: I hope to see all of you there! In other News… Avalon Rising Celt-ebrates 15 Years on the Boards! Hey! Happy 15th Anniversary to us! Join us at THE BISTRO SATURDAY, JULY 19TH 1001 B Street, Hayward (510) 886-8525 9:00 * Free There might be cake! OK, there will be cake. We're bringing it. Back in the Stone Age -- 15 years ago -- just after the monkeys stopped throwing things at obelisks, there arose out of the ground a great Celtic rock band, and barely to be heard over the chanting of the Druids, was the band name, "Avalon Rising." (As good a creation myth as any.) At one point, there were other people in the band. Now there are these people in the band. Go figure. Step with us --- into the future! Will there be flying cars? No, only us, just like we are today, only it'll be the 19th. Amazing! Astounding! Good thing there's going to be cake. Come on down and join us in a toast to 15 years of Celtic rock! *** Avalon Rising (510) 569-0437 * * * * * * * * Saturday, August 23rd: The Petaluma Fall BBQ and Benefit Concert, featuring Axis of Blues! The BBQ and Concert presentation is an outreach program by the Petaluma Salvation Army to let the people of Petaluma know what resources they have in their hometown. Participating organizations will be made up of a collection of Petaluma grass roots social service groups. Highlights include:
…all topped off of course with great music! Money raised will go to building a Salvation Army Disaster Relief Center on the site. The event will run from 12:00 to 4:00 at the Petaluma Salvation Army campus on McDowell Blvd., on Saturday, August 23rd, 12:00 to 4:00. It’s a day for the whole family! Axis of Blues, featuring Scott Irwin on drums, Robert Hill on guitar, and Mark Ungar on bass will play from 2 – 2:45pm.March
10th, 2008 - 12:08 pm I've got some new performances coming up, starting tonight: Monday,
March 10th: Friday,
March 14th, 7 - 9 pm: Axis of Blues acoustic duo @ Eclectix. February
22nd, 2008 - 11:40am Thursday,
March 6th: Axis of Blues @ Central Perk - 7:30 or so10086
San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito, CA 94530 (corner of Central &
San Pablo) (631) 553-3841 http://www.centralperkcoffee.net/. The
Origins of Axis of Blues Flash forward 40 years. In the dead of night (3:30, maybe 4 am), each of our lads, now grown up, simultaneously wake from a dream in which Smelly Jim’s words are suddenly intelligible. Jim had said: “Ya gots to just keep on doin’ it. After a while it starts to sink in, ya know what I mean?” And they realized that they did know what he had meant long ago, because they had just kept at it, and by god, it had started to sink in! Reaching for their instruments, they raised them aloft and vowed to just keep on playing! You can catch Axis of Blues, just keepin’ on doin’ it at Central Perk, Thursday, March 6th. Monday,
March 10th: Silo @ Central Perk - 7:30-ish Silo was born in the summer of 2007 when grizzled veteran of the local Celtic scene Mark Ungar (acoustic and 12-string guitars, mandocello, vocal and upright bass) teamed up with Nebraskan Dane Miller, a young fiddle virtuoso with a extensive knowledge of Old-Time, Appalachian and Bluegrass source material. Together, they’ve begun to explore a compelling repertoire that ranges from irresistible foot-tappers to haunting ballads. Recently, they’ve added Marin native Brian Lamoreaux (banjo, guitar, and vocals), from the locally notorious duo Wagon. They hope to glean further personnel from other bands named after one-word, farm-related items. Calling all members of Plow…? You can catch Silo on Monday, March 10th, at Central Perk. Saturday,
March 15th, 9:30pm: Avalon Rising @ Schelly's Bar Monday,
March 17th - 5:30 – 7:30 pm: Saturday,
March 22nd, 2 pm or so: Thursday, March 27th, half-past-7-ish: Axis of Blues @ Central Perk 10086 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito, CA 94530 (corner of Central & San Pablo) (631) 553-3841 http://www.centralperkcoffee.net/.
To read more ramblings and rants, visit the Archives Page.
December 20th,
2007 - 10:24am
So, heads up Kevin - here's the progress report on your dinner! Stay by my side as we wend our way through the intricacies of creating this traditional American feast.
I have to run off now and pick up my green coffee beans from Sweet Maria's, in case the apocalypse hits over the weekend. And not to forget those yams!
December 12th,
2007 - 10:14am The
Great Dickens Christmas Fair This year's Fair has been quite enjoyable for me. This is our 8th year in the present venue, and gradually our crew has become better and better until we are now a smooth-running, well-oiled machine. (Especially the well-oiled part, anyway). Pirates of Penzance is back at the V&A Theatre after a two-year hiatus, and is better than ever - last Sunday's performance was absolutely stellar. New pianist Barry has whipped the cast into shape - I'd pit them two falls out of three against any other local cast! Naughty French Postcards returns for its third triumphant year, with a new script and some new talent, including the beautiful Deborah Doyle as Leticia. In a new and unexpected development, I find myself playing electric sitar for 3 of the Indian-themed tableaux! I've also been bending those same strings for J. Paul Moore's exotic magic show, seen twice daily at the Victoria & Albert Theatre and Bijou Music Hall (as are the other productions mentioned above). I also appear daily playing with Siamsa, the Irish & Scottish dance group (appearing at Fezziwig's at 11:40 and 3:40), as well as with the Pipe & Bowl Morris Men (appearing at Mad Sal's at 12:30 and 3:30). How do I appear in two places at once? Come find out!
December 7th, 2007 Silo @ Central
Perk, Thu, Dec 13 -acoustic fiddle & guitar Silo @ Central
Perk – Thursday, December 13th, 7:30pm to ?
October 24th,
2007
The
Starlight Circle Players Present: The Starlight
Circle Players 2nd Annual Samhain Fundraiser will be held on November
3 at The Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists on the corner
of Cedar & Bonita in Berkeley (directions are at www.bfuu.org). Tickets on
Sale October 1 at Ancient
Ways Bookstore By mail: "Tickets" TSCP c/o 2998 Shasta Rd. Berkeley Ca 94708 Volunteers are
still needed in all areas, and there is still time to enter your
art in the gallery show or to donate a raffle item. Please contact
Lezlie at doclezlie@gmail.com. August 10th,
2007 ...Just thought you'd like to know. August 9th,
2007 July 18th,
2007 Anyway, I hate to admit it, but it's a riveting, fascinating movie. The story begins in the little jungle village where Jaguar Paw lives an innocent, idyllic life with his father, pregnant wife, and little son. We spend enough time with them to see that they're people just like us (except not as fat, and wearing fewer clothes) who enjoy the universality of humor based on bodily functions and sexual practical jokes. Suddenly their peaceful world is shattered when a press gang from the Big City invades, killing Jaguar Paw's father and capturing the rest of the adults to be used as blood sacrifice to the gods. Their heads are bound to long logs, their version of a chain-gang, and they're driven on a forced march to a date with destiny atop the stepped pyramids of the ceremonial center. It's on this journey that we get to know and hate Middle Eye, played by Gerardo Taracena, the sadist, brutal lieutenant of the raiding party; since this is a Mel Gibson movie, we can smell his impending violent comeuppance a mile away. The captives are painted blue in preparation for their big moment at the high altar, where a loathsome high priest runs a veritable disassembly line in service of the insatiable blood-thirst of the king and their god, first cutting out each victim's still-beating heart, then decapitating them and finally kicking their head and body down the steps. Fortunately for Jaguar Paw, just when it’s his turn there is a sign from heaven indicating that the god's thirst for blood has been slaked, and he's let go. Of course in the process of his departure he manages to piss off the leader of the raiding party by killing his son, which results in a whole lot of running through the jungle as Jaguar Paw tries to get home to save his wife and son, whom he’s left stashed in a deep cave for their safety. In typical Gibson style, along the way the hunted becomes the hunter, and all of the attackers receive their just desserts. This portion of the film reminded me of The Naked Prey, starring Cornell Wilde, a movie which also involved a whole lot of running (half-naked, the title notwithstanding), except in Africa, not Meso-America. The casting, acting, make-up, costume and production design of Apocalypto are jaw-droppingly good. It’s as if a film crew were magically transported back in time to the twilight of the Mayan empire and just filmed what they saw. Even the simplistic storyline works well enough in context. In terms of creating a totally believable illusion, Apocalypto was an unqualified success. But this is an incredibly violent, brutal movie. And it occurs to me that it’s very similar to other Mel Gibson vehicles, including all three Mad Maxes and Lethal Weapons, in that Mel seems to be pleading with us to believe in his basic philosophy of life: that extreme violence is justified, as long as it’s in retaliation against extreme violence. It’s interesting to note that, as a young man, Gibson was severely beaten by a gang, resulting in major damage to his face. He became a recluse, until an anonymous benefactor arranged for him to have plastic surgery, after which he became Mad Max and the Mel Gibson we know today. It’s probable that this experience of helplessness in the face of overwhelming brutality helped shape his core being, and still profoundly affects him today. Saturday,
May 26th, 1:15 - 2:15: Carnaval
SF Festival 2007 Carnaval San Francisco Festival Festival Location: 16th St and Harrison St down to 23rd Street and Harrison Street. The Festival draws hundreds of thousands of people (and that's just the musicians!) for two days of dancing Salsa, Samba, Reggae, Tango, Hip- Hop, Merengue, Calypso, Cha Cha Cha, Cumbia, and Mambo into the evening. Food vendors offer traditional delicacies, while others sell crafts native to the Carnaval countries of their heritage. Giant stages sparkle with continuous entertainment. The 2007 Festival will take place on Saturday, May 26th, and Sunday, May 27th.
Fri
May 11, 2007
BUT: (as Peewee Herman said, everybody’s got a big but…) We have switched venues to The Club in Pacifica, 955 Yosemite @7pm. (Click "Events" link) As of this moment, we are waiting to hear from Yesterday's News to see if they will do the show with us. This is totally last minute crazy, but it's important to us because we are introducing a new band member at the show!!!
Wednesday,
March 28th, 2007 Fund For
John Havard A fund to help defray John's medical and living expenses has been set up: The bank is: Mechanics Bank You may also
send checks to: There will be a benefit concert to benefit John on Saturday, April 21st, 5 - 9pm, at The Harbor House in Half Moon Bay, 346 Princeton Ave. A $25 donation is requested.
Age-Old Plumbing
Mystery Solved Mysteries of the bathroom I very much doubt I am the only one who's observed this phenomenon. I was wondering whether you could shed any light on it: When you live in a cold place like Tasmania, the hot water takes a while to get to the tap when you turn it on. Have you noticed how, when you first turn on the tap, while the water is still cold, the water comes out quite fast. However, when the water coming out of the tap starts to warm up, the rate of flow slows down. Sometimes this is so drastic that one has to pause the hand-washing process to turn the tap on more (which can be very annoying if you have soapy hands at the time). Why does this happen? What is the scientific reason? Answer: The valve gap is small enough that if the valve washer expands significantly, it shuts off the water flow. Plain rubber washers do exactly that. They "take a set" when the tap's turned off, then expand over time when you've turned the tap on and they're not being pressed against the valve seat any more. Both hot and cold tap valves do this, but it's much more noticeable with hot, because the hot water softens the rubber and causes it to expand more quickly (it's not thermal expansion, just softer rubber). The harder you turn the tap off, the more compressed the washer will be and the more dramatically it'll spring back. If you use tap washers that're less compressible - fibre washers, or any of the various synthetic washers out there that're each claimed to be more miraculous than the last - the problem won't happen. I now know to buy something other than rubber washers when I next replace the ones in my shower.
Monday, March 26th, 2007 Yes, I admit it: it's been a very long time since I updated the site. So much has happened since September. But the main thing that's happened is that Deirdre and I bought a house! It's a wonderful little 1944 bungalow, in Richmond Annex (El Cerrito by another name would smell as sweet). We really lucked out - our house was 99% ready to move in, with no real outstanding physical problems. We found it just as the market began to stabilize after a long period of inflation, and were able to bid the asking price and have our offer accepted. Escrow closed September 6th, and then came an exhausting 2 full months of packing and moving. D and I are both in a situation where we recently inherited all of our ancestors belongings; for each of us, one parent has died and the other moved into a retirement home within the last few years. As a consequence, we've been weeding through mounds of "heirlooms" and not-so-heirloomy things. All of our previous diligence seemed to have made no difference when we moved from a 1400 square foot flat to our 1000 sq. ft. house! Up until the week of our housewarming party in late February, we still had a refugee pile of excess belongings in the back yard. This winter's heavy rains helped to ruin a large portion of it, making parting with it an easier decision. At present, both D and I have wrestled our offices into a fairly neat semblance of functionality, and the pile of homeless objects in the center of the garage is down to about 64 cubic feet. MUSIC NEWS
¶ My 1952 Kay upright bass, which luthier Stewart Port and I started rebuilding last February, was finally finished in June. It turned out much better sounding and easy to play than I could have possibly imagined. I've been having a great time learning to play it, and now possess the stamina to at least stumble from one end of a song to the other. It's an amazing experience playing an instrument that is taller than I am, that can rattle the windows without even being plugged in! ¶ Avalon Rising's guitarist/producer Kristoph Klover has been laboring mightily in his Flowinglass Studio, forging our new album, tentative entitled Elbows & Antlers. No word yet on a release date, but we're hoping to squeeze it out sometime mid-Summer. ¶ I've recently acquired a new computer and a cool device called a StealthPlug - a USB to 1/4" cable for guitar, bass, etc. It came bundled with a nifty multitrack recording program called Tracktion. I've begun tracking some ideas, and will be doing more in the next few months, gearing up towards a new creative period of writing and recording. ¶ Speaking of which, I've begun a new project with guitarist/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Robert Hill, familiar to friends of The Bruno at the Renaissance and Dickens fairs. No name yet (how about Funky See, Funky Do?). Robert's been coming over to the new studio and jamming - it's been a pleasure playing along with his rich, buttery voice and fine Corinthian guitar stylings. We hope to play some gigs in Alameda before too long, so stay tuned. We're not quite sure what we're going to play, but whatsomEVER we play, it GOT to be funky! ¶ Coming up on July 1st is something very exciting: The Midsummer Celtic Festival for Peace In Our Streets, featuring Avalon Rising, Druid Sisters Tea Party, Evelie Delfino Sayles Posch, Fontain's M.U.S.E., with magician Majinga and more! It's to be held at La Pena Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705 - 510-849-2568. This event is not yet confirmed, so check back here for the latest news.
5-20-2006 We played in a large public park in Jinan, the capitol city of Shandong province. The residents of Jinan evidently have seen very few westerners, but were very friendly when we said "hello" in their native tongue.
Celtic Power
Hour on hiatus.. 4-11-2006
Entertainers performing at the Festival will be seen by thousands of Chinese attending the event. They will receive extensive exposure in the local newspapers, on television, and on the radio. Previous festivals attracted over 120,000 guests." Jinan is a modern, bustling city and is known as the birthplace of many celebrities in Chinese history, such as Bian Que, the founder of traditional Chinese medicine, and Master Zou Yan, the founder of the yin and yang five-element school used in traditional Chinese medicine. As
Jinan boasts a number of natural springs amid picturesque scenery,
it is known as the "City of Spring". The city tree of
Jinan is the willow, and the city flower is the lotus. To the south
of Jinan stands the "Holy Land of Buddhism" a- the Thousand
Buddha Mountain.
4-22-2006 Bass News
3-06-2006
Ever notice that, no matter how much you upgrade your computer and/or electronic gear, it's never enough? Such is the case here. Despite a generous donation of a Windows 2000-equipped eMachine from our songwriting partner Margarita to serve music-only needs, apparently asking it to run SAM2, our streaming radio/DJ software is too much...it'll stream MP3 files OK, but asking it to also deal with voice-overs is just too much; the poor CPU gets overloaded, resulting in latency/buffering problems and my rich, buttery announcer's voice gets all garbled and skippy. So we're stuck with pre-recording shows, or at least announcement breaks. The problem with that is that online listeners cannot read the title and artist name of the song that is currently playing. Anyone out there have a computer they'd like to donate, something with a minimum speed of 1 Ghz? Check out
the Serenity-IRC LandzEdge chatroom Listening
Online - what you need Alternately, you can copy the link above, go to File>Open URL. and paste it in. 3-04-2006
Celtic Power
Hour 2-02-2006
1-22-2006 1-20-2006
1-18-2006
IndepenDisc
Hosts New Online Radio Show 10-13-2005
The short list
of stolen equipment includes:
I want to express my deep appreciation for all the nice thoughts everyone has been sending my way by email the last few days. The stuff...well, it's only stuff, but they are the tools of my trade, and it's a wrench to have them taken. I do have insurance, but there is a deductible and it remains to be seen how much of the replacement costs will actually be covered. I will be very grateful for any donations to help weather this. Kristoph has organized our upcoming Saturday night show at the Bistro in Hayward as a benefit, as well as a special birthday celebration for him, so come on out and see us if you can. There will be cake, doorprizes, and general merrymaking - I hope to see you there! Meanwhile, if anyone wants to check the pawnshops around town for the stolen gear, that would sure help...I've also heard that a lot of it turns up at the Oakland Coliseum flea market. Thanks again, everyone. 9-27-2005 From Dateline: Hollywood - Pat Robertson on Sunday said that Hurricane Katrina was God’s way of expressing its anger at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for its selection of Ellen Degeneres to host this year’s Emmy Awards. “By choosing an avowed lesbian for this national event, these Hollywood elites have clearly invited God’s wrath,” Robertson said on “The 700 Club” on Sunday. “Is it any surprise that the Almighty chose to strike at Miss Degeneres’ hometown?” As a former cult member, I can unfortunately attest to the fact that Robertson probably actually believes what he's saying. If I learned anything from my experience, it's that human minds are incredibly malleable and no matter what a evil, low-grade moron one is it's still relatively easy to believe unquestioningly in one's own goodness. And, contrary as it seems to natural law, holding wildly contradictory beliefs does not make one's head explode. As the Queen of Hearts once said, "Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." And that, my friends, is how Pat Robertson, the Anti-Christ, can believe that he is a Christian. And the fact that he's actually saying these things out loud in public further demonstrates that he really doesn't understand that there's anything wrong with his position! At the least an evil slime-devil like Rumsfeld has enough decency to be embarrassed by Pat's call for the assassination of Ugo Chavez..."Pat, you idiot - we DO these things, sure, but we don't TALK ABOUT THEM!!!" 8-9-2005
8-9-2005 If you're a San Anselmo resident, or just like to protect free speech, why not attend the San Anselmo Town Council meeting tonight at 8, where they will be attempting to crucify my friend Ford Greene...that is, they want to pass a special zoning amendment to keep him from continuing to use the side of his building at 711 Sir Francis Drake to express his political views. To get the whole story, go to http://fordgreene.com/. 6-23-2005 6-12-2005 Playing with this production has been a tremendous amount of fun, and a nice challenge. It's an actual show - not just another night in a bar - so the finitude of chances to play things effectively is very apparent. Translation: the show's only an hour and 20 minutes long. Each musical moment in it never comes around again, so if I lose my concentration and forget where I am, that's one less chance to enjoy doing that section correctly. And also, with limited opportunities to play lead fills, it's been fun to find out what note range yields the most expressiveness for each particular place in each song. The Exit Theater has an alfresco backstage area that is incredibly pleasant. It's between the back of the building, a red brick job that is mostly residence hotel, and a concrete block parking structure with huge mult-paned window. Here's what it looks like, sitting out back taking a break.
Here's picture of the whole Thanatics gang after opening night's show.
Avalon Rocks
Faerie Fest
A view of the stage, with drummer Scott
6-7-2005 Second night became a bit of a demolition derby, but never went completely out of control. Then came the going home and sleeping.... Surprisingly, I was surprised that the audience laughed. I haven't actually seen the show yet, being in it. I imagine it's similar to being in a movie, where you play all the scenes out of context and the story never actually takes shape until post-production. So apparently it's funny. 3 more weekends
left... 6-3-2005
Tonight what heights we'll hit -- On with the show this is it! -- courtesy Bugs Bunny
5-22-2005 Tickets are now available online! Go to www.kshaddock.com/thanatics/index.html and click on the date you plan to attend. Tickets are $15. For reservations or questions, send email to: thanaticstix@yahoo.com. Thanatics is playing EVERY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT IN JUNE, starting June 3rd. SHOWTIME: 7:30 THANATICS
- A ROCK OPERA San Francisco,
June 3rd, 2035 Because San
Francisco is hosting this year's conference, Dr Smitty As part of his
presentation, he's hired an old fashioned 'rock & roll' band Join Dr. Smitty
at the Exit Theatre every Friday and Saturday of this The Exit Theatre
is located at 156 Eddy Street (between Mason & Taylor Streets)
in beautiful cosmopolitan San Francisco. 5-16-2005 Ann also gave me a gorgeous 1965 bowl-back mandolin, made by the prestigious Framus company of Bavaria. Before they went out of business in the late '60s, Framus supplied many of the classic rock 'n' roll instruments people like the Beatles played. 5-11-2005 5-4-2005 I hate watching video of myself. From 1980 to 1990, it was generally believed by those in the know that a band couldn't be successful without "a video", and by that I mean the kind they used to show on MTV (which I believe is now a dedicated channel for kindergarteners). Then Journey, that quintessential monolithic dinosaurian mega-band, boldly made history by refusing to do any more videos...the fact that two of their members had quit and they lost their major label contract had nothing to do with their decision, I'm sure. The camera adds ten pounds, they say. I figured out why, once: it's because people are 3 dimensional (some of them, anyway), and the process of videography renders their image down to 2 dimensions. That means that the dimension of depth, or thickness, that we see with our eyes and we know with our brain is the side of a body, is brought forward in the flattening process and added to the width dimension, making a body look wider and fatter. Make sense? Anyway...I was pleasantly surprised by the SF Sound episode. We were paired with two other excellent acts, a solo singer-guitarist Jethro Jeremiah (is it just me, or does his name make you want to go on a scenic tour of the Ozarks?) and a Grateful Deadish quintet called Seconds on End, with Avalon Rising in the coveted "headliner" spot at the end. People have intimated, well, told me outright, that I'm a smartass. After seeing the interview footage of me (shot while we were setting up), I guess I have to admit, it's true. Could be worse, eh? At least I'm really, really a smartass. As a band, we acquitted ourselves Not Too Badly...video shoots I've experienced in the past were steaming, odiferous piles of doo-doo compared to this one. You know, you never notice how much hair there is on your arms until you see it in video....We'll have a link up soon so you can see the show even if you don't live in San Francisco. This week also saw the release of video footage from our show last month at the Sacramento Theatre Co's Monday Night Cabaret series. You can see the video footage here. Also in the Not Too Bad category...funny how when you watch it later, the little details come back to you, like exactly how hot it was onstage. Hot or not, the folks there were wonderful, and we hope we can go back and play again soon. The Duck 4-28-2005 4-27-2005
4-18-2005
4-3-2005 3-29-2005 Thanatics Are Coming!!! Mark your
calendars for June... Rehearsals are going great - Crooked Family is a kick-ass band, rocking in the shadow of such greats as Ziggy Stardust and Lou Reed. Thanatics, named for the Freudian term thanatos, meaning the urge toward death, is the darkly humorous story of a group of terminally hip artists who inadvertently start a pop suicide craze, with hilarious results! This show is sure to sell out, so make reservations now - call 510-523-1891 for more information. 3-22-2005 On Terri
Shiavo 3-4-2005 1-10-2005 12-01-2004 Bush did
not win! Contact your elected officials - protest voting fraud "I urge you in the strongest possible terms to investigate the rampant voting fraud that took place in Ohio and other states during the November election. This fraud took
two forms: 2) Deliberate bullying tactics and the placing of logistical obstacles in the path of legitimate voters, especially African-Americans, caused many people to give up on voting that day. Examples of this range from shunting registered voters from one polling place to another, to inadequate numbers of voting machines supplied to polling places, resulting in hours-long delays and lines. Working people cannot spare hours to wait in line to vote. These harassment tactics were condoned and initiated by voting officials in Ohio and other places, and are shameful and illegal. Those responsible should be punished. This is the most important issue before us now as Americans, and should be especially important to you as a Democrat. The Bush administration has already stolen TWO ELECTIONS, and what have you, as our elected Democratic representatives done about it? Nothing! "Business as usual" is not good enough. Earn your pay - and the trust we, our constituents place in you - and rigorously investigate this rampant voting fraud. Until you do, I do not consider Bush the president, nor does he have a mandate. We have been and continue to be the victims of a right-wing coup. Yours truly, Mark Ungar" 10-20--2004 We already know, as Bev Harris ascertained in researching her book Black Box Voting, that Diebold electronic voting systems can be tampered with, easily and without a trace. Why is it that, when the president of Diebold promised, as he did last year, to "deliver Ohio" to Bush, we didn't throw him in jail, and take away his company? Why have we not learned that today's Republican party stands for cheating and utter disregard for the law and democratic process? Why are we pretending that they'd never do such a thing as STEAL THE ELECTION...AGAIN?? If we start looking, we'll find the evidence - totals were changed in Ohio. Votes were stolen. Dirty tricks were played. I guarantee it. As a kind of consolation prize, the bright side of W's re-stealing the election is that now he'll have to stick around and face the music. Let's begin impeachment NOW, early, so that we can really have time to savor it. And totally ruin W's second term. And, oh yeah - that's a star-studded, double impeachment review, featuring Cheney too.
10-20--2004
Historically,
Democrats have harmed Iran more than Republicans, said Hasan Rowhani,
head of the Supreme National Security Council, Iran's top security
decision-making body. Mofidi added that "Democrats usually
insist on human rights and they will have more excuses to pressure
Iran." Read
the full story here. 9-27-2004 I'm too old to have watched the Brady Bunch while growing up. So anytime I see an episode now, there's a good chance it'll be the first time for me. I recently caught the end of an episode that featured the Bradys being adopted into the tribe of an American Indian played by the great Jay Silverheels, better known as Tonto from the Lone Ranger series. As Jay and the Bunch gathered 'round the campfire, I braced myself for a high cheese-content, polyester hippie Hollywood version of a Native American "pagan" ceremony. To my utter surprise, the ceremony was a wonderfully sincere (though brief) invocation of actual Native American/pagan/mystical values. Beginning with greeting all his relations (the animals, plants and ancestors), Silverheels saluted the 4 directions, going on to give each Brady a new Indian name and adopting their tribe into his own, pledging love, hospitality and support. An actual Indian dance in real costumes followed. I was floored - or would have been, had I not already been lying on the bed. In the midst of the plastic, in the artificial Great Outdoors of a soundstage, a flower blooms. Echoes of the Universal reverberate from my TV. As the San Francisco race for the Board of Supervisors heats up, smear tactics are being employed. Expensively printed flyers and brochures from both SFSOS and the Golden Gate Restaurant Association have landed on my porch in the last few days, clearly targetting incumbent Jake McGoldrick and presenting the other five candidates for his District 1 seat in an "anyone is better than Jake" fashion. One huge, gorgeously designed 7-page brochure came from SFSOS.org, which describes itself as a "formal, non-partisan coalition...comprised of individuals, not companies or associations." They were sponsoring a candidates debate, which I decided to go to to learn more about who was running. McGoldrick is endorsed by both the Green Party and the Sierra Club, both of which I belong to, but I wanted to meet him, size him up, and find out why he had gotten the endorsements. The other 4 candidates I knew nothing about. When I got to the meeting room at nearby Lone Mountain College, Jake was out in front, boycotting the event, claiming it was illegal. I stopped and met him and let him give me his spiel. He claimed that SFSOS was a 527 organization, which is an IRS classification that allows and disallows certain uses of funds. By law, a 527 organization cannot act as a political action committee and expressly endorse a particular political candidate. He went on to say they had traced the major funding of SFSOS to 22 wealthy Republicans, making it a Republican PAC in essence if not name. I thanked him for the information and went into the forum. The four candidates (Leanna Dawydiak, David Heller, Lillian Sing, and Matt Tuchow - a 6th, Rose Tsai, was not present) made opening statements, then took prepared questions from the moderator, finally tackling written questions from the audience. Each candidate made nearly identical sound-byte length statements, focusing on hot-button issues like neighborhood schooling, sufferage for non-citizens in school board elections, and parking and traffic. The audience reflexively responded with brief flurries of applause for each mention of these carefully-chosen, impossible-to-disagree-with topics. After about an hour I grew frustrated with the apparent impossibility of any real discourse or conversation occuring with these candidates - I would obviously have to have a face-to-face meeting with each of them if I wished to really find out anything substantial about them. Things like: aside from sharing typical knee-jerk neighborhood concerns, what would you actually DO about these problems? What kind of power would you actually have as a supervisor? Do you know how to work with the political structure of the city, and do you have any past experience or connections? Are you a closet racist or fascist? Do you know how to listen, and can you actually speak in a communicative way? And should I pay any attention to the little man behind the curtain, or not? Suddenly remembering that Jake McGoldrick's headquarters were a couple of blocks away on Clement St, I went down there to see if I could catch him and begin the process. He was in, and remembered talking to me outside of the meeting. He asked for my impressions of the event, and we sat down for about 1/2 an hour and shot the breeze. I asked him a few questions, told him about my political views, and he told me something about himself. I was cautiously impressed. Personally, I liked him. He's quite a character, and I'm inclined to be positively disposed to someone who met his wife of 31 years while homeless in Paris - that kind of adventurousness and sense of romance says something. He's an English professor, and a good writer. It was fun spending time with him. More recently, I received a superbly printed 11 X 17 flyer from the Golden Gate Restaurant Association PAC (total cost of mailing: $13,040.12). It accuses McGoldrick of missing 880 votes during Board of Supervisors sessions, and goes on to state: "Here are five other choices for Supervisor in our district". Not a word more about the missing votes; no substantiation, no elaboration, no back-story, no context. Ok, I says, let me find out more about this. I was unable to find any web presence for the GGRAPAC, so I was unable to query them directly about their claims. A quick search on the words "Jake McGoldrick missed 880 votes" on Google quickly brought up an article from the SF Independent, that free paper that nobody reads that gets left on everyone's doorstep. Reporter Adriel Hampton writes: "In November 2002, voters gave the Board of Supervisors job full-time status, and with that came a pay hike. But a full-time salary doesn't mean supes don't miss votes by ducking out of meetings for breaks or leaving early. Supervisors, who currently earn $90,000 a year, have missed an average of 400 votes each over the last two years, an analysis of voting records shows. The absences had little effect on the outcomes of significant measures... McGoldrick's rate of absenteeism is by no means the worst. A recent Examiner analysis showed he led the board in meeting attendance over the past two years, and new data show he falls close to the middle of the pack in terms of missed votes." Gosh, wonder why they would spend $13,040.12 to mislead people? Could it be, oh I don't know, disinformation? 9/22/2004 :...And, for a brief, shining moment, I had thought the cute little Hummer H2 had this particular point of macho absurdity nailed -- defined it, owned it, sneered at it and ran over it 200 times with its big crushing 22-inch monster rims and said ha ha ha, I am the one, beeyatch, no vehicle is sillier and no vehicle is more moronic and no vehicle is more perfectly representative of the aggro-macho-gluttonous attitude of America and no vehicle better symbolizes our childish and cartoonish and ultimately sad stance toward how we treat the planet and how we view ourselves and our role in the world." Read the rest of Mark Morford's column from today's San Francisco Chronicle. 24-08-2004
- George Harrison 8-13-2004
So, equipped with this rigorous mental checklist, I set forth into consumerland. Over the course of the last few days, I visited Ross, Payless Shoes, Shoe Pavilion, Marshall's, Shoe Depot, Skechers Factory Outlet and Nordstrom Rack. I know; almost all of these stores are close-out liquidators, so they only sell the remains of last year's models and shoes so fantastically ugly that even RV salesmen and prostitutes won't wear them. But I wanted to try and find something for under 3 figures before resorting to an actual shoe store. Suddenly and without warning, I now number among the Hard-To-Fit: size 11 1/2 simply does not exist anymore. And although your mother was right that each manufacturer's shoe sizes are different, miraculously, all 11s are too small for me and all 12s are too big - in every brand. All shoes are now made in China. Apparently they use baguettes of different sizes as molds for the footbeds. You can get them in any width, as long as it's medium. And I hate to think of how many children, women and men went blind or died of overwork and inhumane conditions as they made these incredibly complex assemblages of plastic, vinyl and occasionally leather for their paycheck of a few cents a day. I eventually found an actual pair of 11 1/2's at Nordstrom Rack. A consumer victory, at only $43! Yup, made in China - I told you, ALL shoes are made there now. The Decay
of Ordinary Things My mother had saved literally cubic yards of plastic bags, styrofoam trays, jars and lids and scrap paper. Not only were her formative years spent during the Depression, she was from Missouri, a state which sat on the design committee for that great Midwestern attribute, frugality. Besides the disposable detritus (which included a 5-gallon bucket of nice rocks), there were the household items, the ordinary, unglamorous everyday objects. Things like...a butter dish. A dust pan. The ancient Tupperware container, used to hold the family brown sugar supply since before I was born. A fever thermometer. I ended up keeping many of these ordinary household objects. In a way, they almost mean more to me than more valuable heirlooms like Mom's paintings and sculptures and the good furniture. I remember the mixing bowls in use when I was a wee one, my mom and her mother baking with them. The plastic coffee scoop my parents used for years and years and years, now residing in my own coffee crock...using it gives me a sense of continuity and connection. Inevitably, these objects break and must be thrown out, and new ones found to take their place. And, just like shoes, I'm finding that these humble household tools, things whose eternal availability I've always taken for granted, are no longer available. They're all made in China. They're poorly designed, and made with no love or pride. The tragedy of it is that the people who designed and manufactured the old ones are either dead and gone or have been driven out of business by our globalized, outsourced, overseas economy. Places like Target and Wal-Mart, whose inventories come entirely from China, should throw big worker-appreciation parties - invite all those Chinese sweatshop workers over for some hot-dogs and a day in the park. But that's not the point - it shouldn't matter where things are made. The point is: I'm becoming a geezer, and I'm sentimental over old plastic butter dishes. No, that's not the point either. I think it's this: that when you come right down to it, all we have, every day, IS the everyday, the ordinary, the little dishes, tools and objects and the ordinary things we do with them. It's ALL just ordinary - ordinary little interactions, tasks, relationships. Do we outsource them, leave it to someone else to put the soul into them? Or do it ourselves? 8-10-2004 "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we...They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." -- George W. Bush Ain't it the truth. 8-3-2004 Recommended
Movies I happen to be somewhat of a fan of camels - I met one a couple of years ago at a gig; her owners were in the business of supplying exotic, well-behaved animals for parties, and she was their demonstration model for this industry show. She was a young female dromedary, who stood about 9 feet tall. She chewed on my beard and immediately won me over to the cult of cameldom. The fact that this story takes place in the Gobi desert means that these camels are bactrian - the two humped kind. Affection for either kind notwithstanding, these are some of the most ridiculous looking creatures you'd ever want to see. They've been described as an animal created by a committee, and indeed, even the grampa in the movie begins to tell a story about how, in the beginning, the camel asked God to make it one of the animals in the zodiac, but God says unfortunately he can't, so he gives the camel parts of the other animals - the eyes of the ox, the beard of the lion, etc. to make up for it. The little colt is so incredibly unattractive that it goes right through ugly and comes out the other side as cute. It's white - a Camelomino? - and, like newborn horses and deer, is all way-too-long legs bent in strange directions. As hours pass, it's fur fluffs out and it starts to look more like a four-legged ostrich with a lopsided pucker and crossed eyes, wearing leg warmers up around his shoulders. He needs his Mommy, and starts crying for her with a thin, wavery wail that sounds like someone learning to play the saw. It's so pathetic it makes you want to cry, but it's also somehow hilarious as well. Of course everything turns out right in the end, and you've just seen a couple of days in the life of these simple people who live in yurts in the sand, where TV is only just starting to make its insidious, hypnotic presence known. But what a wonderful story...go see it, you won't be sorry. The Stepford
Wives I, Robot 8-2-2004
- Good news! Whoopee! Guitar Player Magazine Reviews Avalon Rising
8-2-2004 Nancy
Reagan to Bush: 'We Don't Support Your Re-Election' The widow of
former President, and Republican icon, Ronald Reagan has Nancy Reagan
turned down numerous invitations to appear at the “Mrs. Reagan
does not support President Bush’s re-election and neither Reagan’s
son, Ron, spoke at the just-concluded Democratic National Ron Reagan is
joined by his sister Patty in opposing Bush’s re-election Unlike the other
Reagan children, Michael is not Reagan’s biological “He is
her favorite,” Michael Reagan told Fox News. “Ron can
do no Ron, however,
claims George W. Bush has destroyed the Republican Party “My father,
acting roles excepted, never pretended to be anyone but The Reagans’
split with Bush and the party centers around stem cell There’s
more to the feud than that, however. Nancy Reagan has told During the week
of Reagan’s funeral, the former First Lady “went Republican strategists
admit the ads were produced but never ran. They “Mrs. Reagan
doesn’t care why the ads were pulled. She just wanted to © Copyright
2004 Capitol Hill Blue 7-12-2004 Alert: Bush
administration has plans in the works to steal the November election As it turns out, at this very moment, legislation is being drafted which would potentially give the administration the power to postpone or even cancel the election in the event of a "terror attack". Please read this, from the website From the Wilderness: "What had been merely a rumor has now become fact. The Bush administration has asked for legislation enabling it to postpone the November election as a result of a terror attack. While worded very carefully to suggest that an attack must take place for such a move; I do not see either of the below stories unequivocally state that, if granted, these powers might not also permit elections to be “postponed” on merely a well-publicized threat. Don’t believe the press stories. Read the legislation when it is introduced to see what it says there. If that discretion is included then we are at the edge of an abyss more dangerous than anything we have ever faced. These powers, if enacted, will go to the Department of Homeland Security. DHS would also be the entity to decide when, or if, postponed elections would be held. Allowing suspension of the elections on just the threat of a terror attack would create a hole in the legislation big enough to drive an oil tanker, or an open dictatorship, through. Since the legislation has not been seen yet we do not know what it will say. Once introduced, the bill would then go into Senate and House Committees (Republican controlled) where the language could easily be modified to give discretionary power to the Administration. At that moment the Constitution would overtly cease to have any operational meaning at all. The separation of powers would vanish. Judging from the news stories tonight we will probably see the legislation introduced fairly quickly. From the instant it appears, this legislation must be tracked daily, even hourly, at http://thomas.loc.gov. Does any one of us doubt that if threatened or desperate, the administration would use those powers without hesitation?" To read the rest of this article, click here. On Michael
Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 "Surfing through the dial I landed on the Fox broadcasting network which was airing the NASCAR race live last Sunday to an audience of millions of Americans -- and suddenly the announcers were talking about how NASCAR champ Dale Earnhardt, Jr. took his crew to see "Fahrenheit 9/11" the night before. FOX sportscaster Chris Myers delivered Earnhardt's review straight out of his mouth and into the heartland of America: "He said hey, it'll be a good bonding experience no matter what your political belief. It's a good thing as an American to go see." Whoa! NASCAR fans - you can't go deeper into George Bush territory than that! White House moving vans - START YOUR ENGINES!" I saw the movie, and had one complaint: it wasn't long enough. Two hours is barely enough time to begin to scratch the surface of the amoral, unethical EVIL this administration evidently lives by. There are those who claim that Moore is manipulative and biased. It's true - he is. I have no problem with that. We live in a time when, thanks to the appalling 40-year degradation of our educational system, coupled with the advanced brainwashing techniques our television networks continue to perfect, most Americans cannot read at better than a 3rd grade level. We've been conditioned to believe that, if it's not on the (media conglomerate-owned) TV news or in the (media conglomerate-owned) newspaper, it's not important. In the face of this situation, I have no problem with a little biased manipulation of images and words on the side of good. Bush's popularity in the heartland is based on the people's ignorance of his true face. Once they realize that true patriotism demands giving him his walking papers, his defeat will be assured. This 'n' That
Come on, people -- just because you CAN do it doesn't mean it's a good idea!
6-28-2004
Check out this new review of Avalon Rising's Storming Heaven from Duncan Glenday of Progressive Ears: "A refreshing new-age approach to an old-world style" "In order to quickly and accurately describe the music of a band not yet on the Clearchannel playlists, reviewers use two tools: Genre, and comparisons with other bands. But Avalon Rising’s music doesn’t lend itself well to either of those tools. In theory Storming Heaven is Celtic rock. In fact it is very Celtic, rather medieval, and a bit rock. And although it’s Celtic rock, do not think of Mostly Autumn or even Karnataka. Those bands are more progressive and far closer to the ‘rock’ end of their genre. Iona may be a stretch too, and many would compare Avalon Rising to Shine Dion, Loreena McKennitt or Candice Night – but those are also uncomfortable references. Perhaps Clannad would be closer. Since neither comparison nor genre will work very well, hopefully a more creative description of the music will help: Remember Glass Hammer’s Middle Earth Album? All those hobbits with their barroom sing-along songs? Now imagine that the Prancing Pony’s management hired the best musicians of the time and allowed them to use a very limited amount of electric and bass guitar. The band had a male and a female vocalist and used an imaginative array of instruments – violin, flute, harp, recorder, mandolin, oboe , trap drums, celtic harp, recorder, bodhran (a percussion instrument), doumbek (also percussion), and mandocello (tuned about half an octave below a mandolin). Make no mistake, despite that interesting mix of instruments it is Kristoph Klover’s guitars that define this music, although they’re held tastefully back in the mix and often contribute to the traditional atmosphere. Imagine a distorted guitar picking a riff along the bass strings as an accompaniment to a fiddle and recorder playing frantically-paced, complex melodies. And over the 5 minutes the all instrumental piece introduces percussion and bass, and the guitar’s riff is developed into an interesting melody that complements the violin. You'll be left breathless and fascinated. And the rest of the tunes are … altogether different! Avalon Rising is a project of husband and wife team Margaret Davis and Kristoph Klover. Davis is a classically trained soprano, and although her voice is one of the sounds that will stay with you long after the CD player has been turned off, the vocals are not the strongest component of this music. That honor belongs to the guitars and to Cat Taylor’s violins – one of which is a sometimes-strident but masterfully played 5-string electric. The band resides in the San Francisco area and has gathered a dedicated following through two albums and ten years of local appearances. And Like Glass Hammer, they were selected as the band for an official Lord of the Rings Oscar party in Hollywood. The basis of this sound is in traditional English, Scottish and (mostly) Irish folk music, and there are continental renaissance-era influences. A few of the 15 short tracks are original compositions while the rest are adaptations of traditional pieces. And all 73 minutes are filled with those uplifting, bouncy compositions that will have you tapping your feet the first time you play it, and whistling along with the melodies every subsequent time. Remember Mike Oldfield’s stylized Irish ditties? Well this isn’t stylized – it is as close to the real thing as you’ll get in the 21st century. To appreciate this one your tastes will have to extend beyond just prog and rock. This music applies a progressive spin to retrogressive music and will be appreciated by hobbits and open minded music fans everywhere." 6-10-2004 PARIS (Reuters) - Bulky four-by-fours could be banned from clogging up the chic streets of Paris after a top official in the capital's left-wing government described them as a polluting "caricature of a car" unsuited to city life. An anti-sports utility vehicle (SUV) resolution passed by the city council could lead to a ban on the popular vehicles in about 18 months if it is included in an overall project to improve traffic flow in the city, Deputy Mayor Denis Baupin said Wednesday. "You have to wonder why people want to drive around in SUVs," Baupin, a Greens party member, said on Europe 1 radio. "We have no interest in having SUVs in the city. They're dangerous to others and take up too much space." 6-9-2004 America Mourns
Reagan "Another
name on Ronald Reagan's roll call is that of Osama bin Laden. The
Reagan administration believed it a bully idea to organize an army
of Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet Union.
Bin Laden became the spiritual leader of this action. Throughout
the entirety of Reagan's term, bin Laden and his people were armed,
funded and trained by the United States. Reagan helped teach Osama
bin Laden the lesson he lives by today, that it is possible to bring
a superpower to its knees. Bin Laden believes this because he has
done it once before, thanks to the dedicated help of Ronald Reagan."
Also, this
view of the Reagan legacy, in a story from Associated Press,
published
on Earthlink: It took the president five more years to publicly mention the crisis. By then, almost 21,000 Americans had died and thousands more had been diagnosed. Conant, who lost scores of friends and patients to the disease, is still deeply angry - one of many Americans who view Reagan's legacy in a harsh light. "Ronald Reagan and his administration could have made a substantial difference, but for ideological reasons, political reasons, moral reasons, they didn't do it," said the San Francisco dermatologist, who now deals with a new generation of AIDS patients. "President Reagan and his administration committed a crime, not just a sin." Despite the accolades lavished upon Reagan since his death Saturday - for ending the Cold War, for restoring the nation's optimism - his many detractors remember him as a right-wing ideologue beholden to monied interests and insensitive to the needs of the most vulnerable Americans. Bruce Cain, a political analyst at the University of California, Berkeley, said Reagan singularly brought conservatism into the mainstream during his presidency, an orthodoxy that has made Democrats and liberals an enduring minority in Washington. "What made things worse for them is that he was an extremely influential figure, and his ideas had lasting impact," Cain said. Elected on a promise to slash taxes and crack down on freeloading "welfare queens," Reagan depicted government as wasteful and minimized its capacity to help people, ideas that survive today. Reagan also dealt a blow to organized labor by firing the striking air traffic controllers, and appointed Antonin Scalia, still the Supreme Court's most conservative jurist. Reagan's weakening of the social safety net by dismantling longtime Democratic "Great Society" programs arguably vexes his critics the most. By persuading Congress to approve sweeping tax cuts for the wealthy while slashing welfare benefits and other social services like the federal housing assistance program, Reagan was blamed for a huge surge in the nation's poor and homeless population. Many won't forget his administration's proposal to classify ketchup as a vegetable as a way of further reducing spending on federally subsidized school lunches. "Ronald Reagan really was a modern day Robin Hood in reverse - he stole from the poor and gave to the rich," said Michael Stoops, a longtime advocate for the homeless in Washington. Critics give Reagan grudging credit for his ability to connect with working-class voters, who would come to be known as Reagan Democrats. He also galvanized conservative Christians to participate in the political process - even while putting some of their more prized goals on the back burner, like restricting abortion rights or restoring prayer in public school.
5-18-2004 Free Beer
For Eyepatches Of course, tonight is also a CD release party, celebrating Avalon Rising's new album Storming Heaven, a "Celtic rock tour-de-force", according to Gene Shallot of the T'day Show (he knows which side of his beer - uh, bread - is buttered). Clocking in at 74 minutes and costing a paltry $15, it's a Costco-style bargain, working out to a penny-pinching 20.27 cents per minute of music - an 80% savings over i-Tunes! 5-10-2004
5-4-2004 The Bulletin Board page has been removed, as it was hijacked by spammers. Avalon Rising gets a gig in San Francisco! Read the press release here. 4-15-2004 April 15, 2004
09:24 AM EDT - [with apologies to Associated Press.] The White House moved quickly Wednesday to correct the record, with press secretary Scott McClellan seeking out reporters to point out the mistake. The president should have said in his Tuesday night address and press conference that 23.6 tons of mustard gas were found in Libya, instead of 50 tons, McClellan said. He should also have said that 22.4 tons of cranberry sauce, 33 tons of deadly gravy, 15,000 loaves of white bread and 24,000 cases of irradiated salt and pepper were found. McClellan went on to add, "to be strictly accurate, Mr. Bush should have specified that it was plain, golden mustard, the kind that is popular on pretzels and hot dogs, not that Grey Poupon stuff. It's bad enough that the brand name (French's) is the same as that effete country that wouldn't support our decision to invade Iraq based on trumped-up, made-up evidence of connections to Al-Queda - we don't need to get into mentioning products that actually have names that are, well, in that language we don't want to mention. Let's just say that, had he [the president] had some of this mustard back a couple of years ago when he had that pretzel choking incident, it might not have been as severe. And the world would have been made safer." Bush used the 50-ton figure twice, but did not mention any stuffing, celery, or other potentially lethal substances. The first time, he was making the case that his decision to go to war in Iraq has produced foreign policy successes elsewhere, "if you count turning every nation in the world against us as a success". The president argued that Libya's agreement last December to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction programs was the result of the U.S.-led war to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "Colonel Gadhafi made the decision, and rightly so, to disclose and disarm for the good of the world," Bush said, referring to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. "By the way, they found, I think, 50 tons of mustard gas, I believe it was, in a turkey farm, only because he was willing to disclose where the mustard gas was. But that made the world safer." Bush went on to add, "People say turkeys are stupid. But I had one peck a hole in my sock once, back home in Crawford, and dang, that was painful! And the combination of turkey and mustard can produce some powerful heartburn, which is no laughing matter, especially when you've just had a good snootful of coke." The second time, Bush was using the example of the Libyan mustard gas disclosure to suggest that weapons of mass destruction could still turn up in Iraq. Though Bush's prewar allegations of Saddam's alleged weapons were his main rationale for going to war, none has yet been found. "They could still be there," Bush said Tuesday of the Iraq weapons. "They could be hidden, like the 50 tons of mustard gas in a turkey farm. It's way safer just to destroy the entire country and kill ALL the Iraqis, just to be sure. At least I wouldn't have to admit that I lied! That's worth the death of a few of America's finest young men and women, don't you think?" The White House's fast acknowledgement of this error was sharply different from its handling of Bush's now-discredited claim in his January 2003 State of the Union address that Iraq had sought uranium from Africa for weapons. It wasn't until
July 2003 that the White House said the statement, largely based
on evidence of Iraqi activities in Niger that turned out to be forged
and that had been doubted beforehand by some in the intelligence
community, should not have been included in the speech. "Frankly,
we lied about that," said Bush. "As I told my therapist,
I actually have a problem with the truth, but only when it doesn't
agree with the way I want things to be. It'd be so much easier if
everyone just believed everything I said, and did everything I told
them to do. I mean, what good is it being President otherwise?" 3-18-2004 Great review of Storming Heaven in Here and There Ezine!
And, from our friend didjiman:
3-10-2004 East Bay Express Proclaims: "...meet your new arbiters of cool: Avalon Rising, the Bay Area's finest Celtic-prog band. " Last week the East Bay Express' Music Editor Rob Harvilla interviewed members of Avalon Rising. Here's what he wrote about us: (or click here to read the article online at the E Bay Express)
3-5-2004 On The Road
To Hollywood with Avalon Rising Accustomed to getting up early, the drummer and I went out searching for breakfast on Sunday morning and drove for miles and miles in Pasadena, curiously never finding anywhere to eat except Denny's and CoCo's - we must have been too stupid from the drive. Pasadena is very, very clean, and consists of the usual Southland mixture of new, soulless blocky buildings and wonderful Victorian and Art Deco structures. I was amazed at the sheer numbers of businesses - it seemed like Colorado St. alone had more than the entire city of San Francisco. For some reason I was also surprised at the number of down 'n' out folks roaming the streets - you didn't have to look far to see someone pushing a shopping cart piled high with recycling or worldly goods or using the sidewalk as their living room couch. By the time everyone in the band had woken up and we had made our way to Hollywood, the town was a beehive, a frenzy of Oscar anticipation. Sunset Blvd. was lined with cops, with several of the side streets blocked off to keep unauthorized vehicles from getting near the festivities at the big theater. We finally found the Hollywood Athletic Club, our party venue of the evening, at about 2pm and started loading in. Security was in evidence - geeks in black t-shirts manned the main entrance, and assisted us with carrying our equipment up to the second floor. We got set up in a large room under a projection TV screen, just finishing as the first guests wandered in to watch the pre-awards show at 4:00. Although party guests had the run of the luxurious 2nd floor, during the awards show most of them congregated in the concert room to witness their moment of glory. Each and every time anyone connected to the Great Movie was shown on screen - especially Elijah Wood, with his supernatural, Frodo-enhanced cuteness - all the ladies in the house and a number of the men would scream at the top of their lungs. It was like seeing the Beatles...that is, if you were blind, everyone was much older, and the Beatles weren't there -- otherwise, exactly the same. It was the third-loudest sound I've ever heard. Our hosts had given us all nice little swag-bags full of tchachkes, including a leather-bound notebook designed to amuse oneself by keeping score of the Oscar wins, which I did. Amazingly, Lord of the Rings won every single one of the eleven categories for which it was nominated. That includes the Best Song award for the lugubrious Into the West, sung and co-written by ex-Eurythmic Annie-Lennox, who if nothing else is the prettiest girl on the Planet of the Antelope People. The competition in this category was not fierce, anyway - Sting's contributions from the movie Cold Mountain were nothing to write home about. As a bemused and detached observer - after all, I've been a Tolkien fan since 1965, and don't really care how many people join the club - I was nonetheless impressed with the realization that it was very unlikely that this wonderful trilogy would ever again be the subject of this much celebration, popularity and publicity on a worldwide scale. The Academy Awards show's opening film sequence starring host Billy Crystal was absolutely hilarious - worth the price of admission, so to speak. Billy was looking alarmingly aged, with a fluffy perm that would have done justice to any of his aunts, I suspect. The awards show ended at 9:10, and shortly thereafter guitarist/songwriter Kevin Henry - who had traveled all the way from Michigan - took the stage with his wife and young daughters to perform his gentle song cycle Bilbo's Great Adventure. Following on his heels were the Texas duo the Brobdingnagian Bards, a pair of kilted geeks who strummed autoharp and played recorder, specializing in humorous renditions of Scottish and original pieces. Frankly, they weren't as big as I was led to believe. Avalon Rising took the stage at 11:00 and sprinted through a 2-hour set of our normal Celtic rock stuff interspersed with selections from Margaret and Kristoph's Tolkien album - the sweet In Western Lands, the rollicking Merry Old Inn, the brooding and dark Durin's Day, and the Elvish song, the Lay of Nimrodel - the last of which required special audio effects, namely the Delay of Nimrodel, Ok, I made that last bit up, but everyone loved the joke...well, I thought it was quite amusing anyway. Though initially the crowd was reserved, we soon won them over to our side and had them cheering enthusiastically at the end of songs and occasionally even dancing...at least I think that's what you call it when you go out on the dance floor and jerk around. As we loaded out, Scott witnessed a portable spotlight trailer break loose from the pickup towing it and careen down Sunset Blvd. at 30 mph, digging a groove in the pavement and throwing up sparks, eventually plowing into the nose of a taxi stopped at the light. Unfortunately, I was in the elevator at the time - that would've made my night! After we had our gear safely stowed in the bus, Scott and I accepted the invitation of some of the party organizers to join them at the IHOP down the street. When we walked in, someone said: "Look, it's the band!!" and the whole place applauded us...and there you have it: instant stardom in Hollywood. The next day, following another short 8 1/2 hour drive, I came home to a message from Rob Harvilla, editor of the East Bay Express (which I used to deliver, actually!) who had received my press release about the event and wanted to know how it went. Rob interviewed us yesterday, wanting to know if we felt "vindicated" as geeks now that the LOTR was at the zenith of its glory. I'm looking forward to finding out what we said in next week's Express. Meanwhile, yesterday's Chronicle saw this mention in Leah Garchik's column:
3-2-2004 We're back from Hollywood and the Lord of the Rings Fan Club Oscar Night Party. More on that soon, but first: our newest page: Spam-Based Band Names. These names were actually received as the sender or subject line of spam. Check it out. 2-27-2004 In celebration of our 5th new reader, we've added a new bulletin board here on the site, so if you want to try and post something, check it out! 2-21-2004 We had a great time playing at Smiley's Schooner Saloon in Bolinas last night. Special thanks to Don Dean and the bar staff for treating us like family; also to Sara Bir of the North Bay Bohemian for this nice Critic's Pick writeup in the current issue:
2-20-2004 You know
it's a good day when you can say...
Smiley's
happens to be one of my personal favorite places to play. Located
in the mythical town of Bolinas, it's easy to get to...by
comparison to Shangri-la. Just take Highway One north from Stinson
Beach and take a left after the lagoon where there's no sign. Bear
left for 1/2 a mile, then at the T-intersection, take a left and
keep going straight into downtown. Smiley's is the white building
on your left. And check out this great write up in the
North Bay Bohemian! (Scroll down to "Avalon Rising"). To purchase the new album, go to http://www.avalonrising.com/disc.html. In other
news... Health Alert:
Bush Administration Not Atkins-Approved Bush alleged
linked to Janet Jackson Superbowl breast exposure 1-27-2004 - 4:15pm San Francisco, California We're going Hollywood - this press release proves it Pete's 881
show goes down a bomb They're here!
1/19/2004 This year has been something of a watershed in the annals of geekdom, with the release of the final chapter of Peter Jackson's epic Lord of the Rings trilogy giving vast numbers of people access to the tools and passions of geekhood as never before. It reminds me of Tower of Power's eloquent answer to the question "What Is Hip?": "Hipness is what it is....and sometimes hipness is what it ain't!" For those engaged in jumping on the bandwagon, it's nice to know that there's an actual BAND already there! Yes, now it can be revealed: the members of Avalon Rising are geeks - and have been for years!
Oscar Night
Geekfest
"As someone who has actually set foot on the threshold of space and experienced firsthand its majesty and the incredible potential it holds for the human race, I am thrilled by this new collection of original songs celebrating the beginnings of our great endeavor to reach for the stars." Here's a great review of the album from Clark Lindsey, editor of HobbySpace, as posted on Amazon. By the way, MP3 downloads of 5 full songs are also available from Prometheus Music. Folsom Street
Fair Photos, Finally
"They
Wanted It To Happen" 1-8-2004 Comparing
Bush to Hitler: I don't see a problem For a long time, I've been saying that this is the kind of comparison that needs to be done. Certainly George W. has displayed the same kind of honesty, integrity, and respect for human and civil rights that Der Fuhrer was known for. What I find difficult to understand is the reaction of various Jewish leaders, who jumped on the Republican bandwagon to denounce these ads. As a person with Jewish blood myself, I agree with the oft-expressed sentiment "Never forget". We should never be tempted to forget what Hitler did, and we should be doubly vigilant against anything similar happening again. That is why we should have already been speaking out in outrage against the evil done by George W. Bush and his administration. From the theft of the highest office in the land, through his collusion if not outright cooperation with the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks, to the waging of two illegal, immoral wars, G.W. has been accumulating blood on his hands and evil in his soul. Bravo to those with the courage to tell the truth. Boycott
American Idol - don't encourage cruelty as entertainment
1-1-2004 Happy New Year! Merry turning-of-the-seasons! We've got a batch of new gigs coming up, so be sure to check over in the right-hand column to see where we're playing. Avalon Rising's new album is in the final mastering stages, and just possibly may be available at our show on January 16th at the Starry Plough in Berkeley. That's going to be a great show with our friends Tempest - don't miss this chance to hear the Bay Area's two preeminent Celtic Rock bands together. It all benefits the Pagan Pride Parade. Also of note are several shows I'm doing with the Claddagh Band, starting this Friday night at Cafe Amsterdam in Fairfax. Playing with Claddagh gives me a chance to really stretch out on electric guitar, and I've also been bringing my electric sitar. 12-09-03 Anyone want to hire a used US "president"? Click here to view George W. Bush's resume. 12-5-03 Well, it's been quite awhile since I took keyboard in hand and updated the site. I've been busy being a working stiff, first with a three-week stint of data-entry at the palatial offices of As You Like It Productions, creators and producers of the Renaissance Faire and the Charles Dickens Christmas Fair (now in full swing weekends at the Cow Palace in San Francisco). Though I've held office jobs in the past, they've not been my metier, and every time I return to such work it's interesting to view the life of a commuter/wage-slave from a fresh perspective. Driving north each morning from San Francisco, across the Golden Gate bridge towards Novato, I would tune my radio to the excellent KPOO, a community radio station at 89.5 FM that offers a wonderful selection of blues, gospel, and classic deep-roots soul music, depending on what day of the week it is. After going through the Waldo Tunnel just north of the bridge, I would start to get interference from CSN, the Calvary Satellite Network, a fundamentalist, conservative, right-wing Christian station whose broadcast signal overlaps that of KPOO. I would continue to listen as the two stations drifted in and out, partially because it reminded me of the days before digitally-tuned radios, when you could still find really obscure low-wattage stations by using a "knob" to make micro-adjustments. But what really struck me, especially on the days when Emmit Powell's excellent Gospel Caravan was on, was the hilarious juxtaposition of these two pathways of approach to Christ. On the one hand was this gorgeous, beautiful, soul-stirring music, that made my head move like a duck, my feet tap, and my hair (what's left of it) stand on end; on the other, a 300-station satellite network promoting self-righteousness, exclusionary elitism and right-wing, conservative fundamentalism. A major part of the CSN's morning drive-time was devoted to the rantings of Jay Sekulow, chief justice of the deceptively-named ACLJ, the American Center for Law and Justice, based in Washington D.C. and doing its darndest to fight abortion and a percieved anti-religious bias in our government and promoting prayer in schools, the Patriot act, and unquestioning obedience to Bush and his gang of thugs. So that was a fun way to start the day. After my stint with data-entry ended, I took 3 weeks off to be sick with a violent cough and sore throat. Once again, I learned the miraculous sleep-inducing powers of a cat in bed and a good dose of Nyquil, and got caught up on a number of movies. Major sickness is the ideal enhancement to TV-watching; the resultant 30-point drop in IQ makes it much more enjoyable, as one's expectations in the realm of plot-development and dialog are lowered to a commensurate degree. Highlight: The Hot Rock, starring Robert Redford, based on a story by Donald E. Westlake, filmed in the '70s. It had that whole anti-hero thing going on; Westlake seems to be one of the few writers who tell a story from the criminal's point of view, making it seem like a life of crime is just another perfectly reasonable career choice. Recommended book: Help, I Am Being Held Prisoner. The last three weeks I've been working as a part of the electrical crew, doing the setup for the Charles Dickens Christmas Fair. Our task, along with the carpenters, vendors and decoration crew, was to turn four of the huge livestock sheds at the Cow Palace into a loose recreation of the London of the mid-1800s. The floors are of rock-hard asphalt; in the past, just walking on them during weekends while the Fair was operating was a hardship. Try walking on them about 10 miles a day, along with going up into the rafters on the scissor-lifts and breathing the inches-thick layer of dust up there - dust composed basically of dried livestock hair and excrement! Now by comparison the weekends are a walk in the park. During the run of the Fair I am also the Tech Manager, which means that I coordinated the installation of a new, excellent sound system designed by Tom Craft in both the Victoria and Albert Theater and Mad Sal's Dockside Alehouse. During the day I run the lighting board for the acts at the V&A, which include Stark Ravens' Christmas Pantomime; a one-hour version of Treasure Island, replete with a real cockatiel, black powder guns and ship's rigging; the Falcon's Court Birds of Prey show, wherein a Harris hawk is flown right over the upturned noses of the audience; and my favorite show, Annie Lore's Bijou Music Hall, which is as chock-full of loonies as an orange is of juice. I hope to see
you all at some of these upcoming gigs. Saturday, December
20th, 2:30 to 5:30pm: Claddagh at the San Gregorio Store.
Founder Kevin Brennan is back from Ireland, so the band will be
bassist Scott Beynon, percussionist/singer Uncle Bob, and myself
on guitar and vocals. That's at the San Gregorio General Store,
corner of Hwy 84 and Stage Road. It's about 11 miles south of Half
Moon Bay, 1.5 miles from the beach. Call (650) 726-0565 for more
info.
9/28/03 Margaret (our vocalist/harpist/flautist/recorder player) was in New York and could not play this gig with us, so we were in hard-rockin' stripped-down 4-piece mode - no pretty, moody, atmospheric stuff for us today. It's always fun to play on a large stage and today was no exception. Our ever-so-helpful roadies Rick Brown and Laura Brueckner got some (hopefully) great shots of us in full gyrational rock star mode, which we'll post here as soon as they're developed. Fortunately
the sound system stayed running through our whole set; Space
Vacuum From Outer Space (who followed our friend Pixie
in her band Cuir Bleu)
was not so lucky. We loved their song Space Monkeys, and
joined in on the eminently chant-able chorus: * * * * * More Airplay
for Sophia Speaks DJ Jeff Robinson, at WMBR 88.1 in Cambridge, Massachusetts is debuting his new radio show "Poetry Jam" (formerly entitled "Behind the Beat") this Wednesday from 8-10pm EST. Jeff is the Spoken Word representative on the station. He's set up a Yahoo Group for this show, and writes our poet, Margarita: "The group will announce radio guest and other activity for the show. I also want to use the group to network and find potential phone interview talent for the show. If you want to join the group click here. 9/22/03 We're very pleased to announce that Avalon Rising will be bringing its distinctive brand of progressive Celtic and Medieval rock to the venerable Folsom Street Fair, currently celebrating its 20th year as "the biggest leather event ever". It all takes place on Sunday, September 28th, on the 7th Street Stage (Folsom & 7th Streets, in San Francisco, of course). We will be performing from the crack of noon to 12:30. Check the Folsom Street Fair's website for further details. The Folsom Street
Fair is a fundraising event for various non-profit agencies. This
year's beneficiaries include: Avalonians
Rock Bistro As Cat and I loaded in, we were treated to a customer playing Elton John's Funeral For a Friend on the house piano; when he failed to go into Love Lies Bleeding, we demanded that he go back and finish the job, and sang along. The ever-helpful Graham welcomed us enthusiastically, putting on a Favorite Irish Drinking Songs cd to help us get in the mood. How familiar - here were all the songs I heard all day every day during this past August's Novato Renaissance Faire from the Seadogs and Stark Ravens: All For Me Beer and Tobacco; How Will It Be If I Die An Old Maid In The Garret, plus Paddy Works On the Railway and Waxie's Dargle, which I know from The Pogues. I think the cd was by Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers. Meanwhile, the Hayward Gay Pride Fair was going on across the intersection, with an unvarying disco beat that would not let up for another 4 hours. I broke an A string on the 2nd tune, then Cat broke one on the next. Later, her newly-replaced A broke again, at the beginning of a regularly scheduled jam in the midst of the reel The Morning Dew. Cat, who was wearing sunglasses a)because she's cool, and a movie-star type anyway, and b)because she had puffy eyes due to a medical procedure, couldn't see into her string bag well enough to find the right string. She left the stage, retiring to the bathroom for a better light source, while we simply jammed on for the next 10 or 15 minutes until she managed to get the new string on and returned. Paul, recently of the Grateful Dead cover band the Ded Guise, danced with his lovely wife, along with a couple of other couples, making for a fine shindig overall. 9/13/03 Airplay News: 9/13/03
9/12/03 September 11, 2003 [Washington]
The surprise resignation of the forty-third President of The text of
the former President's September 11 address to the nation
9/8/03
9/7/03 We've had 1 1/2 practices together, more or less. Our little trio is proving to be an excellent vehicle for some of my more eclectic repertoire, so as a warm-up as guests were arriving we launched into a set that included Godzilla, Messin' With the Kid, Certain Girl, Hound Dog, Maybelline, Old Chisholm Trail, and Wang Dang Doodle. This trio seems to excel at the blues; though small, the rhythm section is steady, and the sound transparent enough for my to take off on flights of improvisation on my acoustic guitar and still be heard clearly. It seemed to me like the kind of a blues band you might get for a quarter from one of the vending machines in the front of a supermarket, the kind that sell those trinkets in the big plastic capsules. The Gumball Blues Band? Hmm... Pagans are always late (it's a fact, you could look it up), so the ceremony slated for 5:30-ish eventually took place at about 8. It was cosmic, earthy, windy, watery and fiery, and very nice altogether. We recamped to the patio and cranked out a quick before-dinner set, where the happy couple finally had a chance to dance. Freelance
Proofreader - Giving Advice Where None Is Wanted Since 1954 The Flying J Travel Plaza in Ripon has a big electric sign that proudly proclaims the availability of "Kripy Kreme" donuts. Kripes! 9/4/03 Space...The
Final Fromage We recorded a majority of the tracks at Kristoph Klover's Flowinglass Studio, where I served as Hot Guitarist, playing electric guitar, guitar synthesizer, and electric sitar on several tracks, as well as contributing to arrangement ideas. I'm particularly pleased with the transformation we wrought on filk-mistress Leslie Fish's Dance On The Ceiling, taking it from a simple folk tune to a can't-sit-down ska rave-up. And it was great to play again with Uber-bassist John Land, a fellow alumnus of the legendary Phoenyx, now an up-and-coming solo singer/songwriter. New-folk fave Christine Lavin makes a guest appearance with her song If We Had No Moon, inspired by the documentary film of the same name by Martin Ives. The fabulous Gunnar Madsen, of The Bobs a capella fame, also turns in a "stellar" (eww) performance. Budding Movie
Reviewer 8/27/03
Graphic artist Deirdre McCarthy shot some fetching photos of the band Sunday in the yard of her former elementary school, St. Monica's in San Francisco. The view at the right (under Performance Schedules) digitally places us on the Glastonbury Tor, heart of the mythical Avalon, in Somerset, England. Be sure to come hear us perform at the friendly, funky Bistro, 1001 B. Street in beautiful downtown Hayward, California, on September 13th.
Definition of Terrorism Have you ever wondered why, in the conflict between Israel and Palestine, it's only the Palestinians who are described as terrorists? I urge you to read this article from Media Monitors Network by retired Brigadier General James J. David. "The Bush administration is stepping up its demand that Palestinian leaders dismantle West Bank and Gaza terror structures. This demand comes in the wake of a devastating bomb attack in Jerusalem last week that killed 20 Israelis, including 5 children. According to a senior U.S. official, fresh emphasis will be put on calls to uproot the terror infrastructure." "Prior to this latest suicide attack in Jerusalem the western media had reported a "relative calm" period since the roadmap was accepted by both sides nearly 2 months ago. What the media failed to report were the 22 Palestinians killed and the dozens of homes demolished by the Israelis. And where were the words of condemnation from President Bush or from National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice? When Palestinians are killed, the situation is considered "relative calm" even when the deaths are Palestinian children, but when Israelis are killed, it's called terrorism and the headline news never stops. Is it any wonder that Israel's most crucial allies include America's mass media and Washington's top politicians?" "When an Israeli soldier fires a tank-mounted machine gun at a car stopped at a West Bank roadblock three weeks ago, killing a 5-year-old Palestinian boy and injuring his two sisters why didn't we hear of any demands from the Bush administration then?" Read more... 8/18/03 Avalon Rising to play Folsom Street Fair We're very pleased to announce that Avalon Rising will be bringing its distinctive brand of progressive Celtic and Medieval rock to the venerable Folsom Street Fair, currently celebrating its 20th year as "the biggest leather event ever". It all takes place on Sunday, September 28th., on Folsom Street in San Francisco, of course. We will be performing sometime around midday on either the 7th St. or 12th St. stage; stay tuned here or check the FSF's website for further details as they become available. The Folsom Street Fair is a fundraising event for various non-profits. This year's beneficiaries include: PAWS, Episcopal Community Services of SF, Positive Resource Center, Visual Aid, Project Open Hand, Dolores Street Community Services, Black Coalition On AIDS, Golden Gate Performing Arts, Lyon Martin Women's Health Services, Bay Area Young Positives, Destination Foundation and Stop AIDS Project. 8/8/03 Obscure Eclecticism
Rules By the way, I think I've figured out what Alternative Rock is after listening to the 77 tracks on the Oasis compilation. Ok, follow me here: There are no "Rock" stations anymore. You've got your Classic Rock, which plays what I was listening to in high school and college. You can't get airplay on those stations unless you happen to be Aerosmith or The Scorpions or some other band that is now considered Classic Rock. That leaves the Alternative Rock stations, which apparently play everything else. Is it rock? Who knows. But the tracks on the Alternative CD range from folk rock to modern rock to progressive to metal. More Shameless
Plugging
Ok, no
more politics on the front page -- it's bad for business! (Just
kidding!) Just a brief reminder: stand up for truth, justice and
the American way of life, and watch out for Kryptonite. Seriously
though, it's time to say NO to the lies, deceit, and shameful behavior
coming from the White House -- impeach Bush and Cheney now! Meanwhile,
check out these intriguing informational links: 7/11/03 Today I received
a request to sign the following petition from presidential candidate
and governor of Vermont, Howard Dean. IT'S TIME FOR THE TRUTH. I demand truth from my government in Washington. It is now clear that some officials in this Administration misled the nation and misled the world. These people must be held accountable for their failure to give us the truth before we went to war. But we should not have to wait for investigations to rid our government of those who misled the American people. They know who they are, and they can resign on their own today. I demand the resignation of those who engaged in this deception. I added this comment: Frankly, this politely-worded statement from Howard Dean barely expresses my outrage at the trail of lies and deception that has characterized the reign of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, Tom Ridge, John Ashcroft and Colin Powell. Although it is good that this particular issue, the attempted deception of the American people in order to justify a pre-emptive, illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq, is receiving publicity, it is only the latest travesty in a long series. To begin with, George W. Bush stole the 2000 presidential election with the help of judge Scalia's illegal ruling and his brother and other cronies in Florida. The 9/11 attacks, it now appears, occurred with the full foreknowledge of George W. Bush. We will, hopefully, be seeing the emergence of more information corroborating this. There has never been a thorough investigation of 9/11, almost certainly because Bush and his henchmen will be found to be complicit in the attacks. Although we now know that the 9/11 conspirators were almost all Saudis, we still pre-emptively, illegally and immorally bombed and invaded Afghanistan in retaliation, an action which had more to do with allowing major oil companies access to the country to install pipelines. (Incidentally, the American people overwhelmingly desired NOT vengeance for 9/11, but accountability of those responsible, a sentiment George W. Bush handily ignored in favor of patriotic bombast). Then there was the Patriot Act, an unconstitutional, open-ended violation of Americans' civil liberties, which should be repealed immediately. The so-called "war on terror" is a vague, hazily-defined license for unlimited power to wage war without accountability or the need for justification. Bush refuses to work with the rest of the world in setting standards to combat environmental pollution and global warming, and seeks to weasel out of previously-existing anti-nuclear treaties. There are plans on the table to hamstring and privatize the National Park Service, Head Start, Social Security, and other government agencies and programs that have been fought for long and hard by the American people. George W. Bush is clearly a lying, deceptive, evil man, whose priorities lie with lining his own pockets and benefitting his corporate associates. He and his cabinet have no business running my government, and indeed have achieved their current positions of power by stealth and deceit. To think at this stage of the game that he will voluntarily resign is, frankly, naive. Let's admit that he stands on a par with some of the world's greatest dictators and begin impeachment proceedings NOW.
7/10/03 Before we get to the 2004 presidential election, shouldn't we be taking a look at fixing the problems we experienced in the actual voting process in 2000, leading to thousands (at least) of votes going uncounted, or credited to the wrong candidate? I heard two radio interviews yesterday with Bev Harris, author of Black Box Voting: Ballot-Tampering in the 21st Century (http://www.blackboxvoting.com/). In her investigation of voting machines, vote-counting software and procedures, disturbing facts have come to light. You'll want to read the full text of her synopsis article here, but here's the gist of the problem. "GEMS [the voting software program] receives the incoming votes and stores them in a vote ledger. But then, we found, it makes another set of books with a copy of what is in vote ledger 1. And at the same time, it makes yet a third vote ledger with another copy", says Harris. "The Elections Supervisor never sees these three sets of books. All she sees is the reports she can run: Election summary (totals, county wide) or a detail report (totals for each precinct). She has no way of knowing that her GEMS program is using multiple sets of books, because the GEMS interface draws its data from an [MS]Access database, which is hidden. And here is what is quite odd: On the programs we tested, the Election summary (totals, county wide) come from the vote ledger 2 instead of vote ledger 1. Now, think of it like this: You want the report to add up ONLY the ACTUAL votes. But, unbeknownst to the election supervisor, votes can be added and subtracted from vote ledger 2, so that it may or may not match vote ledger 1. Her official report comes from vote ledger 2, which has been disengaged from vote ledger 1. If she asks for a detailed report for some precincts, though, her report comes from vote ledger 1. Therefore, if you keep the correct votes in vote ledger 1, a spot check of detailed precincts (even if you compare voter-verified paper ballots) will always be correct." Harris went
on to investigate 3 things: She found that it was relatively easy to do all three things; that anyone with a copy of the software, or a moderately talented hacker, could easily bypass the password, make changes to "ledger 2" - such as subtracting votes from one candidate and adding an identical number to another - and cover their tracks. This is an extremely important issue, one that we should address BEFORE the next presidential election...otherwise, we might get somebody in power like, oh I don't know...George W? Please write or call your Congresspeople. Even if you don't know who they are, it's simple - just go to http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/ and plug in your zip code. You'll get the names and contact information of your two Senators and one Representative. Tell them in no uncertain terms that you want this democracy-threatening situation remedied!
7/04/03 Happy Independence Day, Americans! Amidst the grilling of the meats, the drinking and the good times with friends and family, let's take a moment to reflect on what it means to be an American. Can we do better as a nation than we've been doing recently? I think so. Impeachment proceedings would be a good start in showing the rest of the world (remember them? the inhabitants of the rest of the planet?) we're very sorry we let a psychopath take control of our government.. 6/30/03 Thanks to all those who showed up at the Shanachie Pub in Willits, CA this past Saturday night for an inspired show by Celtic rockers Avalon Rising (whom I just happen to play bass with). Former AR percussionist/vocalist Deirdre McCarthy sat in with the band on drum kit, and did an excellent job, allowing at least guitarist Kristoph and me to get "in the zone". The major stadium audience inside my head were holding their lighters aloft and praising me as the best thing since John Entwistle. Thanks to bartenders Chris and Da Grand Pooba, who treated us like family. When I asked Pooba for some water, he put some in his hand and flicked it at me...at last, someone who's more of a smart-ass than I - kind of takes the pressure off. And special thanks again to Jim Hayes, who once again bought us breakfast. After eating the aforementioned, D & I went off down the North road, and stopped in at a fabulous thrift store in a big blue building on the outskirts of town. I picked up a few albums for dirt cheap, including A Meeting by the River, by Ry Cooder and Indian slide guitarist V.M. Bhatt, which I've read a lot about but hadn't heard yet. This is a great store for inveterate (maybe even invertebrate) thrifters. Another album find for the day was from the Goodwill store in Ukiah: Danny Kaye reading 8 Grimm's fairy tales. Avalon Rising is looking forward to old friend and drummer Scott Irwin (alumnus of Random Men, Wise Guys, and The Veil) sitting in for (at least) the next couple of shows. 6/26/03 Here's a letter I wrote this morning to presidential candidate Howard Dean. Dear Gov. Dean:
However, I am
very concerned that certain issues not be forgotten. Here are some
of them: - Related to this, the Electoral College should be abolished. It was created at a time when our modes of transportation and communication were nowhere near as sophisticated or effective as what we have now. One citizen, one vote -- that's the way it should be. The 2000 "election" was a travesty. - Have you looked at the timeline of the morning of 9/11, and what the "president" was doing? His behavior was suspicious, to say the least. Or was it merely idiotic and incomprehensible? He continued reading to a 1st Grade classroom AFTER he had been told what had happened! This needs to be looked into. Although I hate to be a conspiracy theorist, Bush's behavior seems to make more plausible the theory that he knew in advance of the attacks. There are other aspects to the attacks that need to be investigated. The event was such a windfall for Bush and his cronies that it begins to seem possible that they were planned with their knowledge, or actually initiated by them. This is a terrible thought, but the Bush administration has shown itself to be capable of terrible things. - The illegal, immoral pre-emptive invasion of Iraq is foremost in everyone's minds now. But what about the illegal, immoral pre-emptive attack on Afghanistan? Has this been forgotten? We bombed the hell out of a country which had not attacked us. We promised to rebuild it. What is happening there now? - By the way, has it ever been proven that Osama Bin Laden was responsible for the 9/11 attacks? - What about the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and the illegal incarceration of thousands of people of Middle Eastern descent - including American citizens! - held without charges indefinitely in our prisons, in the wake of 9/11? When will these people be released, or at least given a fair trial? I don't want
to rant on forever, or bore you. My point is that Bush and his administration
have a track record of lies and illegal, immoral actions. They are
not advocates of democracy, nor American citizens in the true sense
of the word. Part of our problem is that they seem to be capable
of so much evil that what they've done earlier is forgotten as each
new atrocity unfolds. Well, I'm not forgetting, and I hope you won't
either. Bush and his people must be brought to task and punished
for what they've done. Remember how the entire term of the Clinton
admninstration was wasted dealing with the Monica Lewinsky business?
We have far more important issues at hand here, surely we can show
that kind of dogged determination to pursue them to their just conclusion.
Let's not shirk our duty to justice. 6/23/03 We're back from The Village at Squaw Valley, where we played Saturday June 21st for the Celtic Solstice Celebration. Avalon Rising played, as well as Celtic pianist Pamela Swan, cute-as-a-button teenage Classical/Celtic trio Emerald Mist, the notorious Bruno band and Pipe & Bowl Morris dancers, and harpist Chris Caswell. Special thanks to our departing drummer Kevin Fanning and The Village's Mark Appel for organizing the event. Weather was great, and a moderate but enthusiastic crowd mostly stayed til the end. 6/17/03 What's New Deirdre, Cat Taylor and I have also been recording music for an upcoming LucasArts computer game release called Sons of Einstein. The game will have a Celtic theme. 6/9/03 Special thanks to the wonderful, helpful staff of the Hyatt Regency Resort at Incline Village, Lake Tahoe. Everyone at Cutthroat's Saloon was friendly and accomodating during our Friday and Saturday night shows. Thanks also to local resident and musician Jeff Jones who was the agent for the gig. 6/4/03
6/01/03
5/13/03 Well, these are exciting times in the music world. Joel Selvin recently wrote an article claiming that: "After more than a quarter-century of being one of the centers of the pop music world, the famous San Francisco scene has crumbled." You can read it at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/05/05/DD258809.DTL . This premise raised the hackles of a lot of us participants in said scene, including local composer/producer/engineer Kent Sparling, who set out to compile a list of local musicians who are still very much alive and making the scene. You can visit Kent's site at http://www.jicamasalad.net/pages/community.html. Kent says: "Dear Bay Area Musician Friends: I must take exception to [Joel Selvin's] premise. Yes times are hard: Big name local
bands have moved away, turning their backs on the scene But my ire is
raised at the suggestion that there is no longer a sense So my thought
is that we circulate this email amongst our very real Here's what I wrote to Kent: "Kent, I couldn't agree with you more. I've been a professional musician in the Bay Area since about 1984; I also grew up here, and was attracted to being a musician by attending shows by Elvin Bishop, Boz Skaggs, the Sons of Champlin, the Grateful Dead, Commander Cody, Lamb, etc. at Winterland and the Carousel Ballroom. While it's true that the BA music scene is changing, I think that's a normal, healthy thing, given changes in the economy, the radio scene, the recording industry, and the technology of recording. There's a common misperception that Selvin buys into: that lack of visibility on major media outlets (KFOG, Alice, etc.) and lack of corporate-sponsored "Top Ten" placement equals lack of creative, original artists. I've never had a "record label deal", and never expect to have one, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been busy gigging my ass off playing, recording and writing music. It really kind of raises my hackles to hear this kind of whining over and over again, especially since I've never seen Joel Selvin at ANY of my shows, ever. And how can Gary Tighe complain that there are not enough bands to headline at the Catalyst, when I've left literally dozens of phone messages for him, none of which he has had the courtesy to answer? I'm baffled as well as frustrated by such statements. I also feel that attitudes such as Selvin's and Tighe's do "unknown" working musicians such as me and my friends a disservice, by negating the success we do have by somehow saying it's not legitimate because they've never heard of us. Get your head out of office once in a while, ferchris'sake! I for one am happy about the ProTools revolution; I have recently recorded two albums in two different studios owned by extremely capable engineers who use ProTools or MOTU Digital Performer. One recorded on Studer 2" and dumped down to ProTools for mixing; the other recorded directly onto DP; both were consummate professionals who made recording a pleasure and delivered a high quality finished product. My point is that both of these studios had affordable rates that were probably at least partially made possible by the digital recording revolution. How is it not healthy to the BA music scene for an artist to now be able to make an album for $10,000 instead of $50,000? Am I really sad that a studio I would probably never be able to afford to record in has gone under? I think we've all been conditioned by the experience of the 60s and bands like The Beatles and the San Francisco psychedelic rockers to equate success with radio airplay and commercial visibility. Artists who truly buy into this vision are the ones who move to LA, where one can trade quality of life and cultural richness for commercial success with the big companies. There's nothing wrong with this, but I for one will not be moving to LA in this lifetime. I love living in the Bay Area, and I love the community of musicians I play and associate with here. In my own mind I'm successful, and my landlord thinks so too. And I have an aura of fame that sometimes extends up to 30 feet around me! I'll respect Mr. Selvin's opinion more the next time I see his face at The Starry Plough, or The Bistro in Hayward, or Ireland's 32."
4/26/03
4/20/03 Yesterday was, as usual, a stunningly lovely day down at The San Gregorio General Store, owner George Cattermole's bastion of great music, tasty Bloody Marys, and compassionate liberal politics. The Rusticators finished their early set of original folky country songs and cleared the stage for The Claddagh Band. Drummer par excellence Jerry Harrington sat in and brought the proceedings to the next level. During breaks, out back at the Love Shack, your guitarist played with black dogs Nico and Chip. Then it was on to Hayward for a half-evening at The Bistro with Avalon Rising. Thanks to all our fans who responded to the earlier scheduling of our set. The band raced through an energetic set, then cleared the way for The Light Brigade, featuring a guitarist well-steeped in Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and Hendrix. Special thanks to bartender Graham, who heroically dealt with two bands instead of one, and graciously fulfilled our every need in the drink department. Sorry about taking off with the key to the side door, Graham! 4/16/03 TWO FOR ONE
AT BISTRO, THIS SAT. APR. 19. The Bistro is a friendly, funky establishment where the elite meet to enjoy great music, microbrews and good wine, and espresso specialties. There is no cover.
4/14/03 Thanks to everyone who came out to hear Avalon Rising at The Dog's Bollix Sunday afternoon. I haven't been in the place since it was the Ha-Ha a Go-Go many years ago. Special thanks to owners Pete and Jackie for their wonderful hospitality. 4/10/03 Special thanks to Constable Jack's in Newcastle, California for a great time last night! It was great to play on a large professional stage, and the bayou backdrop, complete with shack with lit-up windows, was wonderful. As were the assorted faux vines and creepers hanging from the ceiling, as well as various bodies... The alligator was tasty, too! Avalon Rising is looking forward to returning on a Thursday night in a couple of months. Thanks as well to all 27 people who came to the show and were very supportive and attentive. Many thanks as well to Jenny Michael of KVMR - FM in Nevada City, who graciously interviewed us and had us play live on her show, the afternoon drive-time Music Magazine. She took it right in stride when Cat, Kevin and I breezed in the door precisely at air-time, due to a major accident earlier on Hwy. 80 west of Sacramento.
4/8/03 We've got a
full week of interviews and performances coming up; check it all
out on the sidebar to the right. 4/01/03 Do you believe the polls? I've never ever been polled on my rating of the president's performance. No one I know has. Statistics, of course, can be used to support any point of view -- it all depends on what questions you ask. For a great example of biased polling, visit http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_email.asp?/news/893087.asp After taking that poll, I decided to make up one of my own. Here are some sample questions:
3/31/03 Avalon Rising's
1st Tour Date A Smash Success Apparently either the invasion or the economy is keeping the Fort Bragg residents at home at night, because they stayed away in droves. Many thanks to those who did show up, including J.P., Mickey and Beth, Ron, and approximately 5 others. And thanks to the regular who tossed 5 joints on the CD table! Tatiana, Chuck's (oops, I mean Charles') daughter, ran sound for the first time -- she did a great job mixing her first band, and with 22 instruments onstage and a total of 108 strings, we're not easy! Aside from a few technical difficulties in the guitar camp, we played well and rocked the house. All in all it was a good opening night for our Spring Tour 2003, celebrating the release of Storming Heaven, our new album, which is almost done. After the show, the 2 ladies went to bed in the motel, while the 3 guys gathered 'round the campfire for post-mortem male bonding and gas-release. Eventually morning came, and with it a magnificent organic breakfast at Cafe One, 753 N. Main, one of the few exceptions to the rule that you can't get good pancakes and good coffee at the same place. Then north a couple of miles to MacKerricher State Park, where we waded in the intensely blue ocean and watched a seal. We're hoping to see more people at our show next Saturday night at the Shanachie Pub, 50B South Main St., in Willits. The place is a little hard to spot; it's mostly located back from the street; the front door is between the Stamp Shoppe and the Purple Thistle. There's a beautiful sign, which is neatly covered by a tree. If you get lost, call them at 707-459-9194. 3/27/03 OK, here's the
deal in a nutshell: So be it, then! Let's make meaning. Let's start by treating others the way we ourselves enjoy being treated. Where there is nothing but Nature, "red in tooth and claw", let us create Civilization, using the made-up, fictitious tools of compassion, nobility and kindness. There is no natural law requiring humans to make a beautiful, pleasant life for ourselves. Let's do it anyway. It's a choice. It doesn't take a genius to realize: life is better that way. It grieves and angers me to see Bush Jr. & Co. acting like poster children for cruelty, greed and arrogance. Under the cynical euphemism of "liberating" the Iraqi people - a service that was never requested - they have launched a hostile invasion in the name of millions of Americans who do not support it. As I listened to the meeting of the U.N. Security Council this morning, I was reassured to hear that most of the representatives seem to agree with me. Bottom line: Bush is out of control. If he's not actually insane, he is at the very least very, very stupid, greedy, and arrogant. He does not represent the people of this country. He is waging an illegal, undeclared war of aggression. Let's begin impeachment proceedings now. 3-25-03 This article by British journalist John Pilger expresses much more eloquently than I can that Bush, Blair and their collaborators have the blood of children on their hands... 3-24-03 "President" Bush: If you want to go to war, be my guest: go to war yourself. Or send your daughters. But don't do it in my name. Bravo to Oscar-winner Michael Moore (Best Documentary, Bowling For Columbine), whose final comments regarding Bush from the mic were: "When you've got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, you're going to lose!" 3-20-03 "Please accept my fervent apologies on behalf of my idiot friend. He's probably so dumb he doesn't even realize that what he has just said or done is extremely rude and offensive. I sincerely hope that you won't form an opinion of all Americans based on his behavior. It was a mistake for me to associate with him, and I'm going to kill him when we get home. Please send a bill for the damages." I wish today that I could give such a card to the people of Iraq and the rest of the world. I am horrified by America's unprovoked invasion of Iraq. I am beyond ashamed that I and my fellow citizens have somehow allowed George W. Bush to become "President", and that he is apparently beyond control. This invasion must STOP. No one I know is in favor of it. By instigating this unprovoked attack on the people of Iraq, Bush has lowered himself to the level of the 9/11 conspirators. There is no connection between the 9/11 attacks and Saddam Hussein; there is every connection between this attack and the Bush tribe's desire to control the flow of oil to rest of the world and to garner huge contracts for their corporate friends. I did not vote for Bush, nor was he ever legally elected. He did not assume office with a mandate from the people of America, nor does he represent them now, especially not in these actions. This morning's bombings began in hopes of hitting a "target of opportunity" - namely Hussein and his top-level staffers - in a "decapitation strike". In all fairness to the innocents that are dying even now - isn't there some way we could have one of those here? Bush has arguably become the most dangerous man in America's history; he has, through this one act of evil, placed incalculable numbers of lives at risk, both at home and abroad. He and his Gang of Evil - Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, etc. - do not represent America's interests or America's people, and are presently engaged in alienating our former supporters in the world community and antagonizing the Muslim and Iraqi world. THIS UNPROVOKED WAR MUST STOP. BUSH AND HIS CABINET MUST BE REMOVED FROM POWER. Let's begin impeachment proceedings NOW.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
When
we moved in, we spent three days and completely stripped down and
cleaned and fixed it up, so it's in wonderful shape. During the
making of this dinner, we'll be using almost all of its features,
including 
Yes,
Uncle Bobb presents our new frontman, Siri (that’s him in front
of my neck)
| Performance Schedule | Seen About Town |
Admission is Free with Convention Membership. The Doubletree Inn has no rooms available.
Another original musical by the author/star of Thanatics, K.S.Haddock. I'll be in the onstage band for this show. It's based on Sartre's "No Exit".
|
|
Friday, June 25th, 
|Music
Services|Avalon
Rising||Discography|Web
Services|Archives|Gig Archives|Contact|
Contact More Moose at 510-526-MOOS (510-526-6667), or send email to:
mark@moremoose.com