The Gooroo's On Holiday!

26 Tea - 39 p.r.S.P.

That's right, I've got a week off work (well, I'm in the midst of it now). What have I been doing, you ask...not much of anything, really. I've been creating CDs mainly--from the 30 or 40 or so albums I've acquired from Soulseek. I was hoping to take a big chunk out of the files I have saved--to make room on the hard drive--but it's a bit slow going. I have done about 8 so far..not too shabby, I suppose.

I was interrupted in my diligent musical mission yesterday by a scheduled visit to the dentist for a root canal. Yee-Haw! I was quite prepared for a bad experience, but it wasn't that unpleasant..other than the bit when the dentist seemed to be scraping my tooth with some sort of file. That was a weird sensation, even with half of my face novacain'ed up. It didn't even hurt that much when the novacaine wore off a couple of hours later. I think the low amount of pain may have had something to do with the nerves in the tooth having already "died" some time ago, due to the filling in the tooth coming loose a few years ago and me not having it replaced. Whatever, it was nearly a painless operation and I'm quite glad of that. I'm not clear yet, though, as I've got to go back in a few weeks for another filling...great.

What else is going on? Oh yeah--in case you hadn't already heard, Kurt Vonnegut died on April 12th. Another one to add to the role call of cool people who've passed on to the Great Beyond in the last couple of years. It seems as if most of the exemplary critters are jetting off to places unknown and most of the gits are living on--just gotta keep on keepin' on, I suppose.

Enough of that downer talk, it's Pixie's and mine 3rd Wedding Anniversary this week!! Tomorrow, to be exact--April 26th (Gregorian). What are we up to now? Coal? Quartz? Something like that...anyway, still the best times I've had, despite the occasional downs. It's also been my longest-lasting relationship. Hats off to my Dearest Pixie--you're the best, baby!

We're off to Lacock Abbey tomorrow, near Chippenham in Wiltshire. Apparently, some of the Harry Potter scenes were filmed there. There's a film crew in the nearby village while we will be there--I'm not sure what is being filmed, but we'll probably just check out the abbey anyway. If there's time, we'll stop by Avebury, to see the stone circle there--like the wacky pagans we are ;-) Should be a nice day out--seeing the sights, having a picnic lunch, breathing in some fresh air.

May 1st is coming up shortly--May Day and that. It's also my older sister's birthday, so a big B-Day shout-out to her. I hope she's well, I haven't been in touch with her or her family for quite some time.

That's all I've got for now, so I'll leave you with a joke:
At the end of the tax year, the Tax Office sent an inspector to audit the books of a synagogue. While he was checking the books he turned to the Rabbi and said: "I notice you buy a lot of candles. What do you do with the candle drippings?"
"Good question," noted the Rabbi. "We save them up and send them back to the candle makers, and every now and then they send us a free box of candles." "Oh," replied the auditor, somewhat disappointed that his unusual question had a practical answer. But on he went, in his obnoxious way: "What about all these biscuit purchases? What do you do with the crumbs?" "Ah, yes," replied the Rabbi, realizing that the inspector was trying to trap him with an unanswerable question. "We collect them and send them back to the manufacturers, and every now and then they send a free box of holy biscuits." "I see," replied the auditor, thinking hard about how he could fluster the know-it-all Rabbi.
"Well, Rabbi," he went on, "what do you do with all the leftover foreskins from the circumcisions you perform?" "Here, too, we do not waste," answered the Rabbi. "What we do is save up all the foreskins and send them to the Tax Office, and about once a year they send us a complete dick ".

Tomorrow Is A Long Time: On How It Goes and Missing Bob Dylan In Full-Flight

I've had another break from posting recently, mainly due to ill-health and attendant lethargy. This post is a kind of 'state of the union' address on how things are in Bear Land for the benefit of myself and any other interested parties.

Spring is well on its way but weirdly late in coming to the environs of Bear Valley. It's odd because, apart from one major cold-snap, we've hardly had a winter. So what we have here is plenty of greeness but late-budding trees and slow-to-come bluebells. Not being a true son-of -the-soil I can't account for it. Still, the apple tree in the garden is now in bud and I look forward to some blossom soon enough.

I haven't been in work now for a couple of months due to stomach pain and sickness and tomorrow I go for yet another test. This time it's a barium meal. The doc thinks I may have further problems inside that need a proper diagnosis. Needless to say, this is getting me down. I could go on about the terrible state of the NHS that has allowed me to continue without any real treatment since the middle of last year but what's the use? The Health Service is just another mess that our all too disappointing Government has failed to put right inspite of all the promises that Bliar (sic) made us all those years ago. On top of this we have the continuing evil of war in Iraq, rising violent crime and Lord knows what else to deal with. Roll on Brown... but you'll make no difference either. You've let the Tories back in. Thanks.

Where was I? Yes, I've been stuck at home for weeks, twiddling my thumbs and thinking too much. I have been trying to spend some of the time doing some reading and am currently in the middle of a biography of Robert Lowell. Why do I read such heavy stuff when I am in need of pleasant distraction? I don't know but I've always done it. I'm sure John Bunyan is just around the corner. I did read an excellent novel recently called The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson. It's the story of a vicar who doesn't really believe in God but who has an encounter with someone who seems to be The Devil. It's very poignant but rather uplifting as well. I recommend it. What else have I been up to? Naturally, I've been listening to loads of music. Here's a list of the most popular hits on the old hi-fi of late:

Fairport Convention (their 1968 debut with Judy Dyble on vocals)
(For God's Sake) Give More Power To The People :The Chi-Lites (brilliant psych-soul)
Marcus Garvey/Garvey's Ghost : Burning Spear (classic roots reggae with dub sides)
Open Road : Donovan (possibly my favourite Don album, with the lost classic 'Roots of Oak' on there)
Y : The Pop Group (awesome punk-funk from the original Bristol Beatniks)
The Projected Passion Revue : Dexys Midnight Runners (if only the best incarnation of this band had made a proper album)
The Doors, Morrison Hotel, LA Woman : All by The Doors (recent reissues and very nice too...first time I've listened to them for years and I now remember why I liked them!)

These are some of the goodies I've got stuck into of late. I've also had a big blues and soul kick as well, rediscovering the delights of Muddy Waters, Freddie King, Al Green, Candi Staton and loads more. This is very good for music for the heart. There's never enough time for great music.

I had the annual MOT disaster with the car, which ended up costing me £350. I could have been a lot worse but this bloody car has cost be thousands in the last couple of years and I'd not get £500 for it if I tried to sell it. If I could live without a car I really would. but how can you these days.?My job is nearly 20 miles away and the buses don't run back up the valley after 9pm. Not much use on a late shift! On top of this, you have to drive to the supermarket to do the weekly shopping now all our community shops have been destroyed by the likes of Tesco and Asda.

We're not sure if we will be able to go on holiday yet. We booked one of those cheapo holidays in The Sun : five days in Paignton (same as last year) but it's doubtful if I will be able to go. This means Mrs. Bear and the cubs may have to miss out because of me. I feel very, very bad about this but I might be able to get enough energy for the drive. The other problem is, I have an appointment with the consultant right in the middle of the week away. This means I'll have to drive back to Wales on the Wednesday and back down again on the Thursday to bring us all home again on the Friday! I just don't know.

Bob Dylan is back in town! I had a front-row, centre ticket for the Birmingham gig (last night). I couldn't go because I'm unwell so I gave my ticket to my eldest cub. She tells me it was FANTASTIC and all the reports I'm reading suggest he was on fire. Some are saying it was the BEST GIG IN YEARS. I missed it but at least my dear eldest had an incredibly Dylan-live induction. Count your blessings!

That's all for now. I'll be back when there's more to report.

Record Fayre Round-Up #84

19 Farvardin - Year 1386

Pixie and I had to head into town yesterday to pick up a few bits and get something for her mum's B-Day, which is rapidly approaching. Yesterday being the first Saturday of the month, the record fair was on at the town hall. We finished shopping for my mother-in-law and then I had exactly an hour to scout out the fair and procure whatever goodies I could in the process.

I paid the entrance fee, collected my little green ticket and headed in. The first table I stopped at was run by a German guy who appears every so often. He has a lot of good stuff...but it seems to be very over-priced to me. He carries a lot of Japanese imports and bootlegs. The coolest things I noted were the Japanese mini-LP CD editions for Popol Vuh, The Enid, E.L.O. and Man. I used to collect quite a few mini-LPs, but money and storage became a factor, so I stopped. I may be tempted to get a few of these new editions, as I also found out, via a website, that there are Incredible String Band mini-LP editions now, too. I looked over some of the bootlegs and there were a few nice ones--but again, over-priced (between £15-20 apiece), so I moved on to see what else was about--as I only had an hour.

There was a table tucked into the corner with used CDs crammed into ratty cardboard boxes, so I checked out one of the boxes and found the Essential/Castle Records re-issue of Hawkwind's 1992 album, Electric Tepee..for £3.99! Score. I also found Pulp's 1986 album, Freaks (the 1993 Fire Records re-issue) on disc for the same price. I promised Pixie I would pick up something for her while there, so I took 'em both. The seller had another box which had a Cosmic Jokers disc, Gilles Zeitschiff, and another item I was interested in, but can't recall it now. I figured they would be £3.99 as well--but I asked the seller and he said the ones in that box were between £10 and £12, so I passed. I'm sorta glad now, as reading some of the reviews for "Gilles..", it doesn't sound like an essential album to have. I had another quick look around his table and then moved on.



There were a couple of tables of vinyl, which seemed to contain a lot of cool psychedelic and prog treasures, but again--a lot of them just seemed far too expensive and I couldn't justify spending £15 on a single LP, especially if it was just to have in the collection. I did find Pekka Pohjola's The Mathematician's Air Display on LP for £7--so I took it. Pekka was the bass player in Finland's most well-known prog-rock band, Wigwam, but he went solo in the mid-70s. "The Mathematician's.." is his second solo record and as Virgin were handling production and distribution duties, they decided to hook Pekka up with Mike Oldfield to perhaps get a few UK and American punters to pay attention. Sally Oldfield also turns up on vocal duties. At another table, I found Tangerine Dream's Phaedra on LP for £10 - I hesitated - but then it is in really good condition and I've wanted to own this LP for quite some time, so I went for it. At the table next to the guy I bought the T.D. record from, there were hundreds of psych and prog discs. I started flipping through them and found many, many gems. I was starting to run low on kish-kash at this point. My time also ran out when Pixie showed up--so I had to make a choice. I chose Brainticket's Celestial Ocean, their 1973 record and one of the last ones I need to complete the catalogue and (found in the 'American Beat/Psychedelic' section), Tripsichord's one and only album, released in 1970. It's a bit country-psych, kinda Quicksliver Messenger Service mixed with the Jefferson Airplane's more country moments. I was expecting something really trippy, going by the cover art--maybe Aoxomoxoa meets After Bathing At Baxter's while in the same room as Forever Changes. Still, it's a cool addition to the collection and nice to hear one of the many over-looked 60s/early 70s San Francisco bands. Apparently, the lead singer and guitarist had a connection with the Mormon Church (!)--as some of the lyrics do seem to have a 'death and resurrection' theme going on.

At this point, Pixie was ready to go and I was almost out of money and getting hungry for some lunch. I had £15 left that I could spend--so I went back to the German geezer's table and grabbed the Man mini-LP for their 1970 self-titled album, which is my favourite. I've been looking to try and replace my Point Records copy with something that has a better re-master, particularly volume level. The Point version, at least the copy I own, seems very quiet and only really gets going during The Alchemist, the final track. The price for the mini-LP was listed at 25--but that price was in Euro, so it was actually £20. I tried to haggle him down to £15, but no go...he wouldn't budge. I'll have to wait a little while and try and score it off eBay or Amazon--same with the I.S.B. ones and maybe the Popol Vuh. Not a bad haul, though and this fair was better than the last few I've been to. I've got some listening to do now...

Springtime Is Here Again!

13 Ben - 16 Kankin (12.19.15.17.13 Mayan Long Count)

The equinox came and went, so it's officially springtime for this hemisphere of the world, though one wouldn't really know it by the crazy weather we're having. I like to describe it as a "hangover from winter".

As you probably already know, in most cultures, spring is the time of rebirth and regeneration after the long deathly period of winter. I always love seeing buds and leaves on trees, flowers rising up from the soil and birds and insects flying and floating around.

Pixie will work her magick in the back garden and transform it from a run-down bit of grass and dead plants to a colourful mini-Eden of blooming things and bright green carpeting on the ground.

Since the equinox has passed - that means a new edition of the Maybe Quarterly is available for the peeping. It's a 'special issue', dedicated to the one and only, Pope Robert Anton Wilson. It's put together by the folks at the M.L.A. and this one's a treat. I helped out a tiny bit with Fuzzbuddy's presentation - just cleaning and boosting a bit of audio from the March 18th R.A.W. wake in London. Coldcut and Alan Moore were there to commemorate Bob's passing with music and readings from a few of the good Doctor's books. He's still preparing the final results - so I'll add a link to it here when it's finished.

I've also been invited to become part of the Only Maybe blog team, which seems cool to me. I'll try and come up with an interesting topic to post there quick-smart.

It's my friend Cathy's birthday tomorrow - another Earth year added to her travels in time. I hope she's well and I will say that her gift is on the way. Just finishing up a few bits.

A shout-out to Singing Bear, who's still convalescing at the moment. Don't worry though, the Bear will be back from his hibernation soon enough.

Hippy St. Pardy's Dae

5 days pre Alban Eiler - c.e. 2007

The spring equinox is only a few days away now, which of course means that the feast of St. Patrick - the symbol of the rise of the X-tian faith in Ireland - is upon us again. In Americay, it means there will be parades in a lot of major cities, where everyone wears green and some even have kitschy badges that say "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" - followed by scrambling to the bars and drinking of various alcoholic concoctions. It does amuse me that the celebration of a very staid X-tian saint leads to a nearly automatic bacchanalian gathering--right on cue, every year. I like to think it's the spirit of the Druids getting a bit of theirs back on 'the church'. In Ireland itself and in the UK, it's a much more sober affair - I mean, sure, people go out and there are parties - but it's not the gigantic soiree that it seems to be in the States.

Paddy's story has been told over and over, if you need a refresher - it's here. The main gist of his legend is that he drove all the "things" (I can't say the actual word - for Pixie's benefit - you know, the crawling reptiles that flick their tongues out a lot) out of Ireland. This, to the devout followers of the faith, is because the "things" were in league with the 'Devil' (if you recall the Adam & Eve story)--so of course, they had to go. It's also been said he carried out his act because the "things" were considered important to the Celts. I found this "Celtic Symbols" page, which explains what the things meant to the Celtic tribes before the mass conversion to X-tianity. Yep - they seemed pretty danged important to the Celts - and that wasn't kosher for the church.

There seems to have been a renaissance of the auld pagan Celtic ways in the past few decades--with the Wiccan religion being the most overt of these, even though Patrick and the church still hold sway over most of Ireland.

Ah well, I'm not here to completely bash the guy - as his feast seems a lot more lively than most of the other, dour X-tian saints.

Have yourselves a merry St. Paddy's Day - I'm chugging down some Guinness and listening to some Horslips,
Rory Gallagher and The Chieftains. Too-ra-loor-a-lay and that.

In Like A Lion...

10 Esfand - Year 1385

Sheebus...is it March already? Apparently, it's been the second warmest winter in Britain for a long while--at least in the past hundred years. Global warming?? Nah - we don' need no stinking global warming.

A big shout-out to the Pisces and Aries peeps I know whom have birthdays this month, including my friend Jackie, my friend Cathy and wa-hey--Aloicious P. McGinnis, on lucky March 13! I think he's 33 this year, but I'll refrain from any Jeebus Crisco metaphors. Happy Birthday to all those fish and rams!

I've been spending some time at the Maybe Logic Academy message board--hanging out, talking with the other R.A.W. freeks I've met there. The Academy used to be subscription-only. You had to sign up for a course and then you had access to the message board and other features. I had intended to sign up from it's inception, but the courses get a bit pricey (between $70 and $140) and I was always spending my dosh on other stuff (i.e. CDs). There was a decision to make the newest M.L.A. incarnation a public forum, with an option to take a course if you wish. The course on at the moment is a discussion of Timothy Leary, counter-culture icon and "High Priest Of LSD", led by former Mondo 2000 editor and neo-counter-culture kingpin, R.U. Sirius. Leary seemed to be about far more than just acid and "The 60s", but unfortunately, that's the mainstream assessment--mostly due to his own doing--but Sirius' course hopes to redress Leary's contributions to cyber-culture and forward-thinking. It started this past Monday - but again, I didn't have the bread...D'Oh! There is a course in May by Antero Alli called Angel Tech, that seems pretty interesting. As I'm reading "Angel Tech" at the moment--it seems to be a good way to explore what the books theories are and you have to do exercises to test them out. There's also a Visionary Arts course being proff'd by Erik Davis that looks really interesting, too. Food for the mind, no doubts.

This March 1st actually seems to fit that "in like a lion.." phrase--very gusty and cooooold. Pixie and I have both been weighed-down with flu bugs the past couple of weeks. Hers has recurred and she's now on the sofa with some whiskey, a book and a tissue at the ready. Ah well, the spring equinox will be a-blazin' soon--time for working in the garden and (hopefully) setting up a table at a boot sale to sell off some of the CDs I meant to sell off last year. I'm going to have my LPs and sitar and guitars shipped over from Conn. as well, so I need to clear some space for that stuff. All in good time...

..'till then, here's to staying out of the wind and rain and staying healthy, too.

Robert Anton Wilson Cosmic Meme-orial - Oxford Discordian Cabal Version

Prickle-Prickle, Chaos 49, Year of Our Lady of Discord 3173

Today was the day - chosen by R.A.W.'s immediate friends and family - as the day of the "Cosmic Meme-orial and Lasagne Levitation" in honour of Pope Bob's passing this past January. There are sorta simultaneous (or maybe that's 'non-simultaneous') meme-orials going on in London and Stourbridge in the UK, possibly one in Canada and a couple more in the States (there's one planned in Philadelphia for the 23rd of Feb.). The "big one", of course, is being held in Santa Cruz, CA., the good doctor's home since the early 90s and from whence he journeyed out into The Great Unknown. I had toyed with the idea of going to the London ones: meeting up with some folks from the Maybe Logic Academy and other Wilson-heads, then starting with a walking tour of Wilsonian sites (with a generous stopping at pubs in between)--then to a multi-media celebration of R.A.W. (music, the Maybe Logic DVD played on a big screen, poetry readings, etc.). It sounds like it's a hoot.

It turned out that I just wouldn't have enough money for the travel costs and booze costs and possibly book costs (one of the stops on the walking tour was the Atlantis Bookshop, Aleister Crowley's old haunt, so I'm sure there's interesting stuff in there...), so I had to forego the trip. I decided I couldn't make Stourbridge for the same reason--and Santa Cruz was completely out of the question. I held my own (small) meme-orial at mine and my wife's humble abode. First, I gathered up the ingredients: My copy of "Maybe Logic"--the 2-disc version with the bonus features, a bottle of Guinness, my Celtic tarot deck, Finnegans Wake, the Schrodinger's Cat trilogy and a pipe full of "the sacrament". I also had my dream diary, to record a dream from early this morning in which R.A.W. made an appearance.

I fired up the DVD at 1:23 p.m., the time that the walking tour of London was due to begin, had a toke and a swig of Guinness and sat back to be mesmerised by Wilson "in action", discussing his life and the concepts that brought him such admiration from the critters who "tuned in" to his words. I do admit to getting a bit misty-eyed during the part where R.A.W. is at the medical marijuana protest-sseing him get fired up over the T.S.O.G.'s brainless policies--hearing him talk about "the rest of my life" and knowing that at that point--he'd only be on the planet for another 5 years. I watched all of the first disc (the documentary) and most of the second disc--including the "Prisoner Rap Sessions", a cable-access show in the late 70s featuring D. Scott Apel and another guy (can't recall his name at the moment) discussing the late 60s "Prisoner" TV show. R.A.W. sits in as a guest on a couple of the shows and injects some of the themes in his books (the shows took place in 1978 - so really, it's just "Cosmic Trigger" and "Illuminatus!" and "Ishtar Rising" at that point) into the discussions. It's pretty fascinating stuff and I'm glad the footage was kept for so long.

When the DVDs finished - I got out the Celtic tarot deck for an experiment. I shuffled the deck, then held it for a moment and then asked Bob for "a sign". I cut the deck and the card I had was "The Hermit". I looked up the description of the card in the accompanying book and this is the first couple of sentences: "Walking barefoot, the Fool re-enters the scene having completed part of his journey. The Hermit's figure of an old man, wearing a red robe, is symbolic of having completed a cycle of spiritual evolution in the esoteric sense." Hmm..interesting. I decided to try it again with my Arthurian deck--this time I got "The Cauldron" (equivalent to "Temperance" in other decks). Again, consulting the book, I found the 'archetypal meaning' of the card: "The Cauldron represents the regeneration of all orders of creation in the land of Logres. There is no loss, only changing and transmutation in this life beyond life. It is the source of spiritual empowerment to the initiate who goes beyond the gates of death in the search for the Grail." A bit spooky..but I thought I would try a third time with my Rider-Waite deck. This time I got the Nine Of Cups and the description: "The goodly personage is feasting to his hearts content and abundant refreshement of wine is on the arched counter behind him." And the Divinatory Meanings: "Concord, contentment, physical bien-etre, victory, success, advantage.." Does it all mean anything? I don't know--but it seemed a fun experiment anyway.

After that, it was time for a reading from "The Good Book", as R.A.W. refers to it in "Maybe Logic"--yep, "Finnegans Wake". I randomly chose the chapter starting on page 169 and worked my way into it - trying to decipher as many of the Joycean puns and riddles as I could. The Guinness and THC had made my brain a bit weary over the course of the afternoon and I would drift off into short sleeps every so often--only to wake up abruptly and attempt to delve into the chapter with more vigour. I finally had to stop when Pixie announced she wanted me to help put the cleaned bedclothes back on the bed. I didn't end up reading any of "Schrodinger's Cat", but I will re-read it soon, when I've got through a couple of the books I'm reading through at the moment.

All in all, an enjoyable day spent sending off Robert Anton Wilson in style--I wish I could be in Santa Cruz to see his ashes being scattered into the Pacific Ocean, but I would like to think that he enjoyed my little tribute to him and his ideas. Hail Eris! Hail Bob!

Image created by Bobby Campbell - Madison Underground Comics

Snow Hits Bear Valley!

Joy abounds as some wonderful snow came to Bear Valley today. Sledging, snowball fights with local yobs and frozen extremeties enjoyed by all.

Here are some pics:







Groovy!

NWOBHM Band Fail To Set New Air Guitar Record

Veteran heavy metal monsters Saxon have failed miserably in their attempt to set a new air guitar world record. Your 'Blog Is Not A Four Letter Word' correspondent has just heard that the Yorkshire band, who inspired much of the hi-jinx in seminal 'rockumentary' Spinal Tap (especially Derek Small's moustache and probably the exploding drummer for all I know), were hoping to go down in history recently when they made an attempt on the precious head-banging prize. They chose the Sheffield Wesnesday V Sunderland football match at Hillsborough as the venue for the wank-rock challenge. At half time (when Wednesday were already 2-0 down) they came on to the pitch to urge the near 30,000 crowd to pick up their 'guitars' and shake their stuff. Sadly for Saxon, as the band mimed to one their crimes against music, most of the crowd, of obviously highly respected music critics, utterly refused to join in. In fact, Saxon were roundly booed. Boo-hoo.

Saxon are currently filming a documentary that will fill us in on their rise and fall and 'rise again'. Should be even funnier than Tap!

(Here's a tip for those hairy heavy rock heroes: when you are infamously connected to Barnsley it's probably not a good idea to make world record attempts in Sheffield. D'oh!)

New Link & Sad Deletion

First the bad news: The '8 Days In April' Blog is no more. The source of so many great MP3s, it will be sadly missed.

Good news: I've added 'The Culture Club', which is a bad name for an interesting site that has plenty of Dylan related posts amongst other arts related stuff.

Off To Swanage

1 Gueules 134 de l'Ere Pataphysique

Pixie and I are off to the lovely south coast of England for a couple of days, to rest and take in some sea-air. We'll be back on Sunday - so see you then!

Oh yeah, in more R.A.W. news - his "Cosmic Meme-orial" has been set for February 18th in Santa Cruz, CA. The details are all posted at his blog - if'n you need them. I won't be able to make it, due to financial reasons. It would be nice to have a Euro/UK mem-orial for those of us who can't make it to Santa Cruz. We'll see...

Anyway, enjoy the weekend , kids

Farewell, Mr. Wilson

Robert Anton Wilson (1932-2007>Infinitee)

I checked over at the blog this morning, as I've habitually been doing for the past month--only to be shocked/unshocked (as someone posted in the comments I found there) that one of my few remaining heroes on the planet, Robert Anton Wilson, had departed this life yesterday, January 11th (Gregorian). Synchronicitous as he was, he departed on the same day that Dr. Albert Hoffman, discoverer and synthesizer of LSD, turned 101. Wilson had been in hospice care since last summer, due to the worsening of his post-polio condition that had afflicted him for a large part of his life. I, like a lot of other Wilson-heads who visited his blog, suspected that the end may be near--but we willed the good Dr. Wilson to stay just a little while longer so he could post more of his thoughts. He did do just a couple for us and then left gracefully.

Almost all of my teachers, gurus and heroes are now gone: Leary, Hicks, Lennon, Harrison, Barrett, McKenna and to a lesser extent, Hunter S. Thompson and Ken Kesey. All gone. Sure, Dr. Christopher S. Hyatt is still on the planet..and George Carlin and Brian Eno and Robert Fripp as well--and I still respect and like those guys. Wilson was, to me anyway, a cut above a lot of 'em. His cutting humour was always used in a gentle way--rather than just as a tool to belittle--even when used against C.S.I.C.O.P. (his "nemesis") and fundie religious types. He also made such topics as quantum mechanics and other mathematics-based theories readable, at least to someone like myself who never really "got" maths. In fact, he made them seem downright interesting and made me want to read more about them. Still haven't got round to that yet, but I intend to. He introduced me to Zen parables, Aleister Crowley (my brother got into Crowley before I was into Wilson, but I wasn't intersted then) and other magick, the Sirius mystery, the Illuminati and other conspiracy theories, futurism and immortality strategies, "maybe logic", E-prime and many many more things that would take a whole post to list. Suffice to say, the man blew my mind wide open.

My association with the good Dr. Wilson started in summer 1994 (I can't remember if it was the 'dog days'*). I was friends with a girl who worked in a used book shop in Manchester, Conn. I would go and visit her and hang out at the shop for a few hours, on my days off from the dreaded retail gig I had back then. The guy who owned the shop seemed mellow enough and he was generally out doing whatever he did while out, but she did caution me that while he was in the shop, it wouldn't be cool if I hung around chatting, even if the place was nearly empty. One day while I was there, he walked in--so I quickly made a bee-line to the sci-fi/fantasy section and began to scan the spines to pass the time until he left again. After checking out a few titles, I found a book whose front cover looked like this:

As a self-styled psychedelic maven, I was immediately intrigued by the artwork. I noticed the book was "Part 2" and wondered how many installments the series had. I searched the shelves near where I had found that one and came up with Parts 1 & 3, both with the same trippy graphics, though with different pictures. I thought about only buying the first installment and then, if I liked it enough, going back for the others. They weren't expensive, though, and I figured I could sell them as a set if I didn't like them. I'm really really glad I took the lot--of course, it took me some time to get into it. If you've never read the Illuminatus! trilogy, it's a bit of a whirlwind of plot strands and a large cast of characters. Oh yeah, the 'omniscient narrator' changes..a lot...sometimes almost in mid-sentence or paragraph. Wilson and Robert Shea, Wilson's creative collaborator at the time and friend since their late 60s days as editors of the Playboy Forum, wanted to take the post-modern novel into the quantum age (though perhaps James Joyce got there first with Finnegans Wake). The shifts in narration represent the viewpoints of the different characters in their scenes..it takes a bit of adjustment--but once you're there--you definitely enjoy the ride. Their other objective was to blur fantasy and 'reality' so much that after a while, the two 'halves' become meaningless. They parodied all of the common conspiracy theories of both right and left wing thinking..and oh yeah, there's plenty of sex, drugs and rock and roll, too.

I had to read it at least two times to even grasp a part of what was going on, never mind all of the clues and jokes and mystic secrets being shared by these two psychedelic jesters. I've since read it another couple of times..and even after reading most of R.A.W.'s other work, I've yet to get down to the real depths of the trilogy. It blew open my head even more than my few acid trips had. A mind-bender of a book..or books, that is..or seems to be.. I was never the same, and thank Eris for that!!

I started trying to find more Wilson tomes, and found Cosmic Trigger - Volume I and one volume of the Historical Illuminauts Chronicles--called The Widow's Son (sadly, I found out that the other two were out-of-print at the time). Another search came up with the Schrodinger's Cat trilogy and Masks Of The Illuminati. I devoured them all--except for "The Widow's Son", which I held off on, hoping for reprints of the other two. On a trip to Madison, Wisconsin in June 1997, I found The New Inquisition**, Historical Illuminatus Chronicles--Vol. 1: The Earth Will Shake and Cosmic Trigger - Vol.2. I found 'em at Avol's, a hip local used bookshop and I was elated to add them to my collection. Prometheus Rising and Right Where You Are Sitting Now were procured a little while later, as they were reprinted by New Falcon Publications by then. In 1998, Everything Is Under Control was published and I immediately bought it. At the time, I also found a couple of books by a Bob Frissell, called Something In This Book Is True and Nothing In This Book Is True, But That's Exactly How Things Are. I thought by the titles that there would be some Wilsonian mind-boggles contained in them--but while some of the material was interesting, they didn't have the same insightful, funny tone to them as ol' Uncle Bob's stuff does. It shows you how tough it seems to be to get that balance correct and R.A.W. nailed it every time.

It took some time for R.A.W.'s concepts to penetrate my dogmas and learned behaviours..and they're still filtering in. He helped me wake up from my 'Roman Catholic coma', as I like to call my religious training. I had questioned my family's Republican, conservative slant before I read R.A.W.'s stuff, but his writing gave me courage to really strike out on my own and not be cowed by peer pressure to conform. I probably won't ever grasp all of his ideas--even after finishing all of the exercises in Prometheus Rising and Quantum Psychology. I've started the ones in "Prometheus..", but I'm only up to Chapter 3--you do have to work at these things to find out what is going on. One thing the good Doctor insisted on with his brain-change regimen is you have to actually do the work to get the results. Reading about it just isn't good enough.

Time passed...I changed apartments, jobs & work-mates, even sets of friends...and finally nations. In 2001 (Gregorian), I entered my own version of 'Chapel Perilous' for a short time. Ironically I had started reading 'Finnegans Wake' at that moment. I came out on the other side, with the help of R.A.W. and Terence McKenna's words--and I came out of it more agnostic than ever. It's happened two other times since and once again--I've come out of it agnostic as I possibly could be. As I've said, he didn't just turn me on to the "Wake"--he got me interested in classical music more than anyone. I started listening to Beethoven, Bach and Mozart with a much more open mind than I had previously. I really enjoy Beethoven's 9th Symphony now--just through the power of Wilson's words--and of course, Ludwig van's even more powerful music.

In 2002, the Holy Grail of Wilson material arrived in the form of the Maybe Logic: The Lives And Ideas Of Robert Anton Wilson DVD. It contains 30 years of interviews (short segments, of course--otherwise it would have been a 10-disc set), footage from his stand-up comedy shows/lectures and 'talking head' segments with Douglas Rushkoff, Tom Robbins and Paul Krassner, among others. The version I have contains a bonus disc which has R.A.W. explaining Leary's 8-circuit model corresponding to days of the week and a 1978 cable-access program in which he discusses symbiology in episodes of The Prisoner. There's lots of other stuff, too--but I'll let you check it out, if you decide to get it. The 'icing on the cake', as it were, is a "TSAR" card, included in the DVD case, instructing the bearer to "like what you like, enjoy what you enjoy and don't take crap from anyone". Words to live by, kids. T.S.O.G. - The Thing That Ate The Constitution, railing against George W. Idiot's takeover of the government, overbearing political correctness, X-tian fundies and his worsening illness, was released shortly after.

In the meantime, R.A.W.'s post-polio condition was getting worse with every year. I was hoping he had at least another ten years to live. The "Historical Illuminatus Chronicles" were finally re-published in 2003, so I was able to score the final 'chapter', Nature's God. He had an official website set up, with random thoughts, jokes and poetry--which I visited often. There was a teaser chapter at the end of "T.S.O.G.", about his upcoming project, Tale Of The Tribe, which was expected to be published in 2005. I was pscyhed for it--but the release deadline came and went and the book never appeared. I figured he was editing and revamping it, but instead a book called E-Mail To The Universe was published. It was a collection of essays spanning Wilson's entire career--it was also R.A.W.'s final book. Perhaps "Tale Of The Tribe" will see a posthumous release...I certainly hope so. I think it will be a fitting close to his legacy. In 2006, a DVD of his surreal play, Wilhiem Reich In Hell, came out via Deepleaf Productions (they were responsible for the "Maybe Logic" DVD)--based on R.A.W.'s book of the same name, which was first published in 1986. I still don't own it, but I intend to buy it soon. An audiobook of "The Earth Will Shake" was also out toward the end of the year. His blog appeared in December 2006 and I was glad to see him in the blogosphere.

The year wasn't all kind to Wilson, though, as he had a couple of bad falls over the summer and ended up in hospital for a long time. He was released into hospice care in the autumn, but didn't have enough money to cover the medical costs. An internet appeal went out and he was able to make the bills for a little while and it turned out that's all he needed. I should mention the internet death hoax in 1994, when it went around chat rooms that he had passed away. The man himself joked about it in Cosmic Trigger - Vol. 3: My Life After Death (see, it's even in the title). This time, I'm afraid, it doesn't seem to be a hoax. I've seriously learned more from this man than any male member of my family, any member of my family. You can call me a fanboy dork, but I feel like I sorta knew him from his writing and interviews. His writings have affected me more than any other author's and I am sad to see him go. I only hope he is resting in peace and I hope that if there "is" such a thing as an "afterlife"--I get to sit with him amd Leary and McKenna and thank each for all they taught me, but especially Robert Anton Wilson. 23 Skidoo! Fnord! All Hail Eris! All Hail Discordia!

*In-joke for the Wilson-heads. You have to read "Cosmic Trigger" to 'get' it.

**it's a copy signed by Wilson. It says "To Jeff, Live long and prosper. Robert Anton Wilson". I often thought of playing a Discordian joke by showing someone I didn't know the book and saying that I was 'Jeff' and saying that my actual name is a nickname. Never did it, tho.

Happy Gregorian New Year

It's now 2007--what a crazy year '06 was, huh? We do seem to be cursed with living in interesting times. Here's to hoping '07 will be a bit more peaceful, a bit less stupid--and that we won't lose too many more music legends. Sheesh, I mean in 2006 we lost Syd Barrett, Arthur Lee and James Brown--big tragedies all. My cat Sorcha left the planet as well...R.I.P. to them. Oh yeah, Saddam Hussein has been executed, in what seems to be part calculated P.R. move and part old-stylee justice. I don't know if it was the 'right thing' and I don't think his death will slow down the insurgency in Iraq at all, at all--but it's done now. Ol' Goddamn Insane has been buried in the village where he grew up.

Pixie and I spent New Year's Eve watching the Mighty Boosh Live DVD that she received for X-Mas (from myself and Santee Claws). I drank some Bailey's (in honour of Old Greg) and a bit of Ardbeg Scottish whisky after--a nice combination, actually. We watched the countdown on the Jools Holland show and then fell asleep a little while later. The usual, in other words.

On a positive note, Robert Anton Wilson is still around and blogging and I'm happy and healthy--as are most of my family and friends (though here's to wishing that Singing Bear will recover from his recent illness soon). Back to nursing my (slight) hangover. See you soon.

R.I.P. Sorcha The Pretty Kitty

4 Home - 39 p.r.S.P.

Aloicious has informed us via e-mail that my cat Sorcha had to be put down a couple of days ago. She apparently was in such a state that both the animal control "expert" and the veterinarian, whom he had gone to for advice, both agreed that it seemed to be the best course of action. This seems very very sad to me and I will miss her lots.

Sorcha was adopted by myself, my room-mate Clyde* and my two sisters when we shared an apartment in Manchester, Conn in 1998/'99. One of my sisters' pet budgie had passed away during one of the severe winter cold snaps. She was distraught and wanted a new pet right away. My other sister enthusiastically signed on to the plan, but I was a bit hesitant--knowing that both had active social lives and probably wouldn't be around much past the initial adoption to feed and clean up after the animals.

Well, one day, they rushed off to the animal shelter--and suddenly we were the owners of not one, but two little kittens. One we called Astral and the other one, who promptly hid underneath the refridgerator--so much so that we had to tilt the 'fridge back to set her loose--I called "Sorcha" (which is Irish Gaelic for 'Sarah', I think). No particular reason, I just thought it was a cool name. She had a really beautiful coat, tortoise-shell black on her back, all-white underneath and raccoon-like black stripes all the way down her tail. She also had these piercing green eyes which shone out, especially in the dark. The two got on well, and even curled up next to each other to sleep.

We started to notice that while Sorcha began to grow, Astral wasn't. She also began to eat less and less. My sister and Clyde brought Astral to the vet and they were told that she had a genetic liver disease and wouldn't live too much longer, even with acostly operation designed to fight the disease. With heavy hearts, we decided to have her put down. One of my sisters interpreted it as a sign of some sort--but I just thought that Astral seemed to be unlucky, poor thing. Sorcha ended up becoming "my" cat on default, when, as I had suspected--nobody else seemed to have the time to care for her. I think she also bonded to me, because I was the one who had fed her and cleaned her litterbox from the beginning.

Eventually, both sisters elected to leave the apartment, for different reasons--and it was far too expensive for Clyde and I to stay there. We tried to rope in some possible room-mates, as the pad was really nice and we didn't want to leave. In the end we moved out into a smaller place just down the road--and Sorcha moved with us. She never the most sociable cat and when we would have visitors or parties, she would dart into my bedroom to hide until the commotion had settled. She did actually let my friend Cathy pet her one night while Cathy was visiting--a rare occurance indeed. I tired of living with Clyde over the course of the year-lease--he had been my room-mate for four years at that point and while I tried to be patient with him, he just seemed to me to be irresponsible with money and just a mess most of the time. Once again, the race for another room-mate was on--and again, it didn't pan out, so regrettably, I moved back into my folks' house in East Hartford. On the day we were leaving the apartment, we had almost finished packing everything into the moving van--when I noticed Sorcha was missing. Thinking that she had run out while we had the front door propped open, we searched out in the snow (it was January) and ice for over an hour. I really thought she had gone and became very upset--only to find that she had been hiding underneath my folded-up comforter. It was such a relief to find her, as I knew she wouldn't survive outside--being an indoor cat her whole life.

That year (2001 Gregorian), I moved three different times. I stayed at my folks' place for a few months, then moved into the attic space of a house in Hartford for the summer. That proved to be not to my liking and I moved out in a hurry in September, following some drastic events (September 11th being just one of them--it's a whole other story). I stayed at my sister and her boyfirends' apartment for a couple of weeks, then stayed with a co-worker, who's fiancee was generous enough to invite me to stay at their house for a bit. They lived in Ellington, about 20 minutes away from East Hartford, and it was nice to stay there and get my head together for a while--until his relatives needed a place to stay for Thanksgiving. It was back to the folks' for me, for the next three years, in fact.

Sorcha was a trooper though all of the moving--and adjusted to each new place quite quickly. In the house in Hartford, she was often my only companion. The parking there was almost non-existant, which left a lot of visitors hesitant to stop by. I spent the summer in the stifling heat, reading Terence McKenna books, watching taped episodes of Six Feet Under and listening to Cocteau Twins albums--waiting for it to get cool enough at night to fall asleep and watching Sorcha "chase" birds while she was looking out of the window. At my work-mate's house--she mainly had to stay in the guest room, where I was staying, because of their Great Dane, Ava. The same situation confronted her at the folks'--with their pit bull and Alsatian/Labrador cross both trying to play with her/chase her around the house. I remember a funny moment when Xena (the pit) got a bit too close and received a well-timed clip on the nose from Sorcha. It was great, too, because my father kept insisting on "his dogs" superiority to her.

Pixie and I "got together" officially in 2003 and I was considering moving over to the UK to be with her. My biggest move yet and naturally, I wanted to bring Sorcha along yet again. The main stumbling block to taking her over was Herbie, Pixie's black Labrador. We knew that Herbie and Sorcha wouldn't mix--so the solution seemed to be to either find someone in England who could take Sorcha in while Herb was still around (he's 11 now)--or see if someone in Conn. could take her in. We couldn't find anyone here and our options in Conn. dried up fairly quickly. Aloicious agreed to take Sorcha in for a while, because he thought that he would only have her for a year, tops. Well, a year turned into two...and almost three. Apparently, her behaviour deteriorated over time and she seemed to become a nuisance, urinating on his clothes and futon. He sent me several e-mails stating that we either take her away from him or he would take her to a shelter. Eventually I had to agree to have her brought to a shelter--but Aloicious was even having trouble booking her into one. That was the last I heard before this latest message.

I suppose I feel like I let her down in a way--that I should have tried harder to get her a temporary home here--but there was also the cost of the flight and for the quarantine. There are also the stringent Defra pet importing rules that would need to be followed and she still had nowhere to stay here, even after the six-month quarantine. I also knew that she only would have a limited amount of time to stay with my brother. It was agonising not being able to do anything but sit and wait. I suppose it was probably for the best in the end, especially if her mental state had deteriorated to the point where the only option was to put her down. I'll miss you, Sorcha and I hope you're free and happy now.

*name changed for the sheer hell of it

Cross-posted at Demon Squad Local #77

Log Cabin Home In The Shire

21 Demeter - 85 p.s.U.

It's an official six months since we began this here blog. It's the Winter Solstice for this Gregorian year. There wasn't much sunlight to be seen anyway, as most of England has been gripped in a chilly fog for the past couple of days--making the shortest day of the year seem even shorter.

Pixie and I have been getting ready for the annual Yuletide celebrations--going through the usual rigamarole, shopping for gifts (made slightly easier by IntraWeb purchasing), writing out cards and sending them...and drinking mead (for me) and mulled wine (for her).

Mighty cheers out to Singing Bear for the small pack of groovy CDs he sent--especially the Load Of Old Bollocks mix disc--a compendium of guilty pleasures ranging from Chicory Tip (dig that synth line!) to Barry White and even Golden Earring's Radar Love (with that ultra-catchy bass riff)..rock on, brother!

Another round of "Thank You"s go out to all of our friends and family who sent cards and gifts. It's nice to know that you're being thought of, even when you're downloading Samla Mammas Manna and Wigwam albums and can't be arsed to even shoot off a quick e-mail to say "Hello". It means a lot to us.

I discovered a very cool thing last week. It looks like Robert Anton Wilson has started up a blog. He's still recovering from his illness and has some time to post. You can check it out here--I've been frequenting there quite a bit lately, just to check to see when Bob drops a new post. Some members of the Maybe Logic Academy (founded mostly by R.A.W.himself) have started up a blog as well (ed. note - It actually started last year - I've just been slow to catch on--as usual). You kinda have to have some knowledge of Wilson's books and interests to "get" the posts--but it's a hoot nonetheless. The M.L.A. blog, called Only Maybe, can be found here.

...and finally--it's a Yuletide message from ol' Aloicious P. McGinnis himself--to all of you:

"I wish you all very Merry (Happy) Christmas, and a Happy New Year. FelizNavidad, Buono Natale, Joyeux Noel, frohe Weihnachten ! I hope that in the New Year that you achieve the goals you have set for yourself, and that you get to spend as much time as you want with your families and friends. Enjoy the Holidays, and the New Year brings new challenges and new goals for you all !!! Cheers"

Amen. Happy Solstice Everyone!

Vashti Bunyan/Goldrush - The Zodiac, Oxford - December 9, 2006 (Greg.)

19 Azar - Year 1385

Our first gig at the Zodiac since it was sold to the Carling (tm) chain last month, featured a couple of hometown heroes.

Vashti Bunyan, the underground psych-folkie who was briefly part of the Incredible String Band's late-60s commune, is originally from Oxford. She released one largely-ignored (at the time) record, Just Another Diamond Day, in 1970--and then disappeared for twenty-odd years. The album was 're-discovered' by nu-folk vanguards Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom and The Coco Rosie--who started name-dropping Bunyan and even got her to perform a few 'comeback' shows. This led to her long-belated follow-up to "Diamond Day", Lookaftering (featuring Banhart and Newsom)--which was released last year. This would be her first Oxford gig since the mid-60s. Goldrush have been Oxford scenesters for awhile now and have had some UK-wide attention. They are also founders of local label, Truck Records, which puts on a nice festival every summertime--sorta the indie-kids' version of Cropredy. They've always been O-town runners-up to Supergrass and Radiohead--and it seems they should be more well-known than they are. They seem a bit of a mix between The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev and Neil Young--with lead singer/rhythm guitarist Robin Bennett's vocals sounding more than a little like the Lips' Wayne Coyne, which ain't a bad thing, to me anyway. Apparently, a while back, his vocals owed a debt to Super Furry Animals mainman Gruff Rhys.

The first sign of "meet the new boss" came when Pixie's handbag was searched as we were entering the venue. She said that only happened once before--and I've never seen it happen since I've been attending gigs with her there. A real W.T.F.???!! moment happened as we entered the upper hall. There were four or five tables set up, with flowers and candles--as if we were in a bleedin' restaurant!! Some punters were already sitting at the tables--and people in front of the tables were sitting on the grubby floor so as not to block the view. I hope this development was only for this gig, in anticipation of an older crowd--otherwise it will seem a shame and may cause a 'haves and have-nots' feeling amongst the crowds. Oh yeah--hope you didn't enjoy Boddington's ale that much--'cos it's gone and been replaced with Carling brand.

KTB, a Truck-sponsored act were up first--and I wasn't too impressed. It was that same-ol'-same-ol' folkie singer-songwriter stuff you've heard so many times before, only it's done much better by people like Eliza Carthy, Kate Rusby and a million others you can think of. The lead singer even finished the set with a song with "willow tree" in the title--seriously, that should be banned from use as it seems to be a painful English folk cliche to me. The back-up vocals were handled by a couple of her mates--who were reading the lyrics from a notebook--and this is meant to be KTB's 'new single'..right. The Epstein were up next and their set was more enjoyable--though it seems Carling hasn't invested in a new sound system--'cos the mix still sounds shit for a louder band. The Epstein play a country/indie-rock synthesis similar to Goldrush's and it easy to see why they made the bill. They even have a guy playing electric banjo--I was hoping he was going to bust into some sort of Hendrix-inspired feedbacked banjo solo...but no. Still, we were treated to a quick set and apparently, it was the drummer's final gig with the group and I suspect he's of Russian descent because they finished with him vocalizing a Russian waltz--one of the guitarists oom-pah-ing away on a melodica.

Vashti took the stage after a 20-minute intermission, to the raucous applause of the crowd. She was joined by her 4-piece backing band, including a cello player and violin player. She can still hit all the notes perfectly--and she exuded a shy stage presence with her hippie-dippy charm intact. The "hits" were out of the way early in the set--with Just Another Diamond Day and her psych-folk gem Winter Is Blue following each other as the second and third tunes she played. A couple of newer ones were next, from "Lookaftering"--then another from "Diamond Day"--and that was all. She scurried offstage, smiling and looking like she enjoyed herself, basking in the applause.

Goldrush appeared after a few minutes and fired off a short preview set of all-new material from their forthcoming new one, The Heart Is The Place (due out in February, according to Robin). Going by what I heard, the Rev and Lips influence seems quite strong--though on one of the tunes, they managed to rock out a Neil Young-esque jam for the coda. Robin announced the song I'm Not A Machine as his "Woody Guthrie tune" and 24 definitely had a Mercury Rev-like sombre feel to it. There was also an unintentionally funny moment as John Bennett's keyboard stand collapsed and he finished the tune kneeling on the stage, sheepishly looking over at the rest of the group. Robin said "How come that didn't happen during Vashti Bunyan?" Karma, dude....just joking....maybe. They finished with just John and Robin, playing a semi-acoustic tune.

It was then announced that Vashti would be back on stage with her two friends, Jenny Lewis and Angela Strange. They performed in the early-to-mid 60s as The Three Of Us. The three duly filed out, took their seats and performed a close-harmony folk set that included Bunyan's early songwriting efforts and a cover of the Everly Brothers' Dream. This time Goldrush were their backing band and they did a nice job--playing with subtlety and grace--it was perfect for the trio's material. If only the crowd were quieter--especially during "Dream"--I almost thought I was at Brookes Uni., with the loud, annoying student crowds.

A good gig, and despite the (relatively small) annoyances--one worthy of attendance, especially for the chance to see another 60s survivor like Bunyan. The fact that she was so reclusive for so long makes it even more poignant. Hopefully she'll want to play some more shows, based on the positive response she received from the crows.

We may have to go back to see Goldrush, if they play an album launch show in February. Let's hope they've got a better keyboard stand next time.

RIP Alan 'Fluff' Freeman

I've just heard the news that the venerable DJ, Alan 'Fluff' Freeman has passed away. One of the original BBC Radio One DJs, Fluff was best known for being the voice of the Top 30 or 40 (depending which year it was) 'countdown' where he was prone to using his well known catchphrases 'pop pickers' and 'not 'alf!'. Fluff's Sunday evening chart show was a must for all pop fans back in the 70's when the charts really meant something and a single had to sell around a million to reach number one.

If he is most famous for all things 'top 30' there was another, groovier side to Fluff. In the 70's, someone decided that it would be cool to give him his own 'rock' show on Saturday afternoons, where Fluff could play the stuff he really loved. So it would be that I would find myself glued to the radio on most Saturdays, come rain or shine, listening to the likes of ELP (his faves), Yes, Deep Purple, VdGG, Genesis and all sorts of other wonders for a whole three hours! A true education for a great-coated teenager back then. This was pretty revolutionary programming. The funny thing was, Freeman still did stints on the weekday 'housewives' afternoon slots where he would sneak in some real rockers. On a number of occasions I recall hearing the likes of Purple rocking the old dears to pieces. Well done, Fluff!

Fluff was also the true inspiration behind Harry Enfield's Dave Nice (I believe that's the Enfield one). Don't let anyone ever tell you it has anything to do with that prize creep, Simon Bates. RIP Fluff. Let's rock! Not 'alf!!

Down In The Digital Flood

25 As - Year 169 Pataphysical

I haven't been posting much here either lately--mostly due to being busy doing other things and also a bit of "lack of inspiration". The busy part comes down to our long-awaited upgrade to broadband (Yee-Haw!)--we finally bit the bullet and signed up about six weeks ago. Since then, I have been a virtual kid-in-a-candy-store, downloading rare and out-of-print prog stuff from MP3 Sale and fromSoulseek. I did attempt to go "legit" with Napster, but the sign-up process failed, and I ended up being charged for the fee without being able to log in--I had my money refunded, but I decided not to try again. I've also d/l'ed Azureus, the bit-torrent client, for use at The Trader's Den, but I haven't figured out how to increase the upload speed--so until I do, I can't use it much--lest I be labelled a "leech" and get booted from the site. I did manage to grab Yes' show from Colston Hall in Bristol from May 1975 and I will be passing a copy to Singing Bear--as that lucky bastard was actually there. I've also d/l'ed records from Klaus Schulze, some Tangerine Dream boots--mainly from '74 to '77, Dzyan, Finch, Heldon and the Voice Of Eye/Life Garden collaboration, The Hungry Void - Volumes One and Two--and there'll be lots more (fingers crossed that the RIAA won't be able to shut MP3 Sale down for a while yet).

I talked with Aloicious P. McGinnis last night and everything seems O.K. with the fam. He says that he's been running around like the proverbial "chicken missing it's head" and has has zero time to post. Hopefully he'll have more time in a little while.

Robert Altman, one of the last real cool film directors, has left the planet. His finest achievement will probably always be M*A*S*H, the anti-war film set in the Korean conflict, but released at the height of the debacle in Vietnam--that in itself took balls of stainless steel. It also launched the careers of Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould, who played the proto-hippie, anti-establishment surgeons, 'Hawkeye' Pierce and 'Trapper John' McIntyre. Also featured, in a strong performance, was Robert Duvall, as self-righteous X-tian patriot, Frank Burns...and of course, Sally Kellerman as "Hot Lips" Houlihan, who shared Burns' respect for 'the rules' and God-fearing patriotism. The film was made into a TV show (ironically, Altman started out as a television director) and it's biting anti-war/anti-establishment humour was dumbed-down and Burns' character was transformed into a simpering wimp, played by Larry Linville. Alan Alda is now more-remembered for the Hawkeye role than Sutherland. Such seems to be the way. Altman continued on, releasing 'tiny epic', large-cast films throughout the 70s. I did see most of Nashville, but to be honest--I started watching it somewhere past the beginning and so I couldn't grasp what was going on. He flopped with Popeye in 1980 (though I thought it was genius casting Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl)--but bounced back with the acclaimed Tanner '88 series on HBO (way before Tim Robbins' Bob Roberts film), which chronicled the U.S. presidential election goings-on, much like an American version of Yes, Prime Minister. His Hollywood satire The Player also brought him back to the forefront, as did Short Cuts, which I didn't like as much as I thought I would--still, a unique film for '93..before all the Tarantino clones would sweep cinemas. He endured a few more flops, such as Dr. T. And The Women--which I did see and didn't really like at all--too much preening Richard Gere--but came back again with Gosford Park, an excellent English murder mystery, featuring Stephen Fry as the bumbling inspector investigating the case--and the great performances from Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith and Emily Watson. Altman was also a long-time pot-smoker--and didn't hide that fact. His maverick style will be missed. R.I.P. Robert.

There was the whole ex-Russian spy poison plot, too. I guess in the age of "The War On Terrah", some folks got nostalgic for some good ol' Cold War cloak-n-dagger stuff. Just in time for the new James Bond flick, too. Hmmmmm.....

Last--but certainly not least--I received an e-mail from Antares at Magick River. Here's the bulk of it:

Aloha all, I just received the following message to the world UFO community from A.J. Guevard who is the editor of Brazil's UFO Magazine. In it he announces the prediction of a Brazilian spiritual teacher and contactee, Jan Val Eliam, that extraterrestrial contact will occur some time between November 16, 2006 and April 30, 2007. What got my attention was the manner in which he described extraterrestrials showing up and ending the Cosmic Watergate:

"It will involve many huge spacecrafts that will be seen by everybody all over the world. The sighting will last only a couple of hours and the ETs will not perform any direct contact with the governments, but only with selected people here and there". Freitas also claims that the UFOs will be seen and largely registered by media, in such a way that the sighting will be undeniable by any means. "They will go away after a few hours but will be back after some months, and repeat it over and over, until we are prepared for their landing".

The above contact scenario matches in my opinion the optimal way for extraterrestrials to end the prolonged UFO/ET coverup by minimizing societal disruption and potential governmental opposition. Guevard maintains a neutral position on Eliam's prediction and describes the great controversy it has generated in Brazil. Guevard is one of Brazil's most competent UFO researchers so his neutrality suggests that one should not simply dismiss Eliam's prediction. While there have been many predictions of extraterrestrials showing up in mass landings, we should pay special attention to the method described by Eliam's prediction which is pretty close to how it will eventually occur. This prediction is something to definitely keep in mind over the months ahead.

Aloha,
Michael Salla, PhD

I suppose most will either dismiss that as rubbish, or completely believe every word. Either way, I suppose it depends on Game Rules. That is, if you play by the believer/non-believer UFO game--the rules seem to be: 1) All "UFO"s 'are' alien spacecraft and 2) the 'Space Brothers' really do/do not exist. I'm staying agnostic, as much as I try to do these days. Maybe it'll happen--maybe it won't. If it does, then it'll seem that all of the UFO/contactees will be vindicated...if it doesn't, then Guevard will just seem like the kook that all the non-believers think he is anwyay. As for the believers, they'll just think he got his timing wrong--and keep waiting for the Space Brothers to appear.

Neil Young : Living With War

Apologies to my colleagues here at Blog Is Not......I haven't posted in an age and what I have posted has been pretty ephemeral. Apologies too, of course, to our legions of readers out there in Blogland. Anyway, I'm not really going to make it up to you right now because I only have time for a rapid-fire, guerilla style post but I just want to say how much I love Neil Young's most recent album. I know this one came out some months ago and it has taken me a long time to get to it but I'm glad I have. Neil makes a lot of albums and in recent years some have been a little hit and miss but Living With War really does hit the spot. For this album Young is back in 'Godfather of Grunge' (yuck!) mode, really cranking up the amps and hitting some very dirty chords. The reason for his burning passion? Seems he's wound up a little about the 'Iraq Debacle' and twisted minds in the White House. Lets be generous to Neil and forget that he once, around the time of 'back to the land' album, Old Ways, came out as a born-again Reaganite. We've all made mistakes, Neil, and you've certainly made up for it now! Every track reminds one of his glory days with Crazy Horse, from opener 'After The Garden', through the storming rage of 'Shock and Awe', the anger of 'Let's Impeach The President' to the penultimate 'Roger and Out'. The album closes, much like The Deer Hunter, with a wonderfully ironic 'America The Beautiful, except of course, he does think that America is beautiful but it's been hi-jacked by the Neo-Cons who have dragged it into the depths of the cess-pit.

Some might say that Young makes it seem all too simple and that global politics is far too complicated to be analysed on rock and roll album but really it IS that simple. Killing people is terrible; sending people to fight in an unjust and illegal war is terrible; politicians lying to the electorate is terrible; the establishment using the 'War On Terror' as an excuse to spy on the public and lock people up for years on end without charge is terrible; fraudulent elections are terrible...I don't need to go on. Neil Young has taken the temperature of the Western world and found that it is gravely sick. Best protest album in a very long time.

The TSOG's House Of Cards Crumbles??

12 Tula - 1927 Saka era

The mid-term elections in the States happened last week--essentially a battle for the Congress (I can't remember if local state elections are involved also).

It seems that the TSOG (the Tsarist Occupation Government) took a bit of a beating at the polls--and George W. Moron crouched down with his tail lodged between his fore legs, hind legs and ears. He tried to joke about the situation, but, as usual, fluffed his lines.

Another consequence of the backlash is that Donald Rumsfeld, "architect" (if that's how you can describe the action) of the Iraq invasion and seemingly every inch a cartoon villain, was forced to step down from his post. Was it a "brave soldier taking his punishment" or "the rats deserting the sinking ship"...or maybe both?

So the Democrats have control of the Congress for the first time in 12 years--hoop-dee-doo. I don't think it's gonna be all "sunshine, lollipops and cotton candy" now. The Democrats have proved themselves to be the other side of the same coin time and again, full of the same professional politician class that makes up the Republicans. Still, it was nice to see any sort of humbling of the TSOG--especially over it's botched invasion and woeful domestic policies.

Meanwhile, back at the Baghdad ranch--Rummy's ol' buddy, Saddam Hussein, looks set to wear a rope necktie. There was a lot of talk about capital punishment and sovereign nations' right to choose their own methods of law. I still think that if the git was assassinated 3 years ago--it woulda saved a whole lot of aggrevation and bloodshed--but that's only my humble opinion. I don't agree with the death penalty--but then, a lot of Goddamn Insane's victims prolly didn't either--it's a tough call to make.

So The Smirking Chimp officially becomes a lame duck--it'll be interesting to see what happens in two years. In another, sorta related but maybe not way--I agree with Elton John in his view of organised religion. I don't like much of his music (well, anything after 1976 seems to be pretty much AOR twaddle to me)--but I think he's right on when it comes to this topic.