FUNKY!

Brick House -- The Commodores

[Chorus:]
She's a brick... house
She's Mighty might just lettin' it all hang out
She's a brick... house
The lady's stacked and that's a fact,
ain't holding nothing back.

She's a brick... house
She's the one, the only one,
who's built like a amazon
We're together everybody knows,
and here's how the story goes.
She knows she got everything a woman needs to get a man, yeah.
How can she lose with what she use
36-24-36, what a winning hand!

[Chorus]

The clothes she wears, the sexy ways,
make an old man wish for younger days
She knows she's built and knows how to please
Sure enough to knock a man to his knees

[Chorus]

Shake it down, shake it down now (repeat)

Ah.... Glorious.

Festival for the Eno!

I finally got out the Eno River Festival, and it was fantastic!  I haven't gone since about '99 or '00, and I can't believe I've stayed away for so long!  The first time I went was with my Uncle who is a hard-core environmentalist.  He had an impressive garden filled with all-native species, and he had a section of the Eno that he routinely maintained.  He'd go out there and fight kudzu and other invasive plants.  It was a magical experience wandering from booth to booth making things out of clay, observing amphibians, and watching the river.  

Although going back this year I was interested in different things, it had that same magical feel. It's a huge festival with a lot going on, but most can be classed in two broad categories: Environmental & Political and, Arts & Music.   There were several stages with a mixture of folk, rock, blues, bluegrass, and gospel music playing, and around these were little clumps of vendors with their wares: pottery, paintings, and knit/crochet/cloth goods.  So much pretty!!!  There were some gorgeous bags... **drool**  I started to feel like a bit of hippie when I started noticing the preponderance of tie dye and hacky-sacks.  Although there was a big emphasis on green technologies (composting, solar energy, rain barrels) the event was pretty politically broad-- the Democrats, Republicans, and Libertarians were all well represented at their booths.  I stopped by the Libertarians to say hi.  They were very nice, and gave me a copy of 'Discover Liberty'.  They tried to convince me to register to vote as a libertarian...  

They were not the only ones who got my age wrong.  One fellow that I was talking to about solar heating asked what I do for a living now that I'm out of school.  At another booth I was a given a survey for people 18+.  Ah well.  I'm nearly there!  Only about 4 months left!  

Back to the music:  The rock was mediocre at best, but the bluegrass, gospel etc were fantastic!  There was a group of cloggers (above) who danced while a small country trio played fiddle  for them, and I LOVED THEM!  

On top of the myoozak and all the cool art in the individual booths, there were some incredible large sculptures floating around:

There were three guys hard at work on this sand sculpture.

This llama is made of recycled plastic bags!

Even more striking than the sculptures all over the place, in my opinion, were the trash facilities.  Yes.  You heard me: the trash.  Instead of just having trash bins, they had paper recycling, glass recycling, plastic recycling, and compost bins!  It was incredible!  They made sure that all the food vendors used packaging and utensils that were biodegradable-- no guilt!!

It's amazing how much technology for sustainable living is already available; maybe the world won't come crashing to end!

ROBOTIC BEINGS RULE THE WORLD!

I love robots.  I can't help it.  But really, who doesn't?  They permeate our culture-- we read books about robots, write songs about robots, draw robots, make movies about robots, and build real robots.  We're fascinated by these creations that are so like us, but so unlike us.  Although they tend to fall into a farcical troupe of pirates, ninja, samurai etc, I would contend that there's something more serious at work here.  Robots are an avenue for us to discuss what humanity means.  Stay with me-- all the drama that we write regarding robots centers on the distillation of what we think makes us different from other animals and from our beloved computers.  We exist at a strange intersection between the primal and the logical, and we seek out a third source that pulls it all together.  We're looking for the 'soul'-- that strange and ethereal concept that theologians and laymen alike are so fond of bringing up.  It is a magical essence that has no physical indication of presence, and we are adamant that it must exist, or else... how are we special?  We MUST be special! 

 

H'anyway...  although I'm certainly willing to believe that there's more to the universe than modern science can detect or quantify, I'm NOT willing to buy into this tripe about spirits and souls.  In other words: Awa' an' bile yer heid religion!

O.K.  I'll admit: that's really not where I thought this was going.  

Robots.  

I've made a video about the day when robots take the earth back from us.  I was looking at my robot playlist (yes.  I have a robot playlist), when I thought, "Y'know what would be fantastic?  Yes, self, I do know.  How about a robot video?!"  It's to the tune of Yoshimi Battles the PInk Robots (part 1).  I'll post it soon!

Robot Playlist:

• Fight Test -- The Flaming Lips
• One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21 -- The Flaming Lips
• Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (part 1) -- The Flaming Lips
• Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (part 2) -- The Flaming Lips
• Robots -- Flight of the Conchords
• The Robots -- Kraftwerk
• Mr. Roboto -- Styx

Man.... Man Man is awesome, Man...

Have you ever loved something so much that you thought it could not possibly be better (best of all possible worlds, yeah?) and then you realize that it's more brilliant than you had initially been capable of imagining? I finally saw the lyrics to the first two Man Man albums, and it would not be an overstatement to say that I've fallen head over heels heals in love again. The world is a shinier, happier place now that I know all the words to Van Helsing Boom Box:

only time will tell if I'll allow the scenery around to eat me alive i wanna sleep for weeks like a dog at her feet even though i know it won't work out in the long run so i burn down the walls breathe like a shadow those arms i once knew hold me like ghosts i learn how to speak forgotten language i fall in the sea but forget how to swim and when anything that's anything becomes nothing that's everything and nothing is the only thing you ever seem to have when anything that's anything becomes nothing that's everything and nothing is the only thing you ever seem to have and only time will tell if I'll allow the scenery around to eat me alive i wanna sleep for weeks like a dog at her feet even though i know it won't work out in the long run so i burn down Nepal breathe like a shadow those arms i once knew hold me like ghosts i learn how to speak defeated language fall in the street as i howl at the moon and when anything that's anything becomes nothing that's everything and nothing is the only thing you ever seem to have when anything that's anything becomes nothing that's everything and nothing is the only thing you ever seem to have when anything that's anything becomes nothing that's everything and nothing is the only thing you ever seem to have when anything that's anything becomes nothing that's everything and nothing is the only thing you ever seem to have

Man Man songs are simultaneously cheerful, cheeky, tragic, frighteningly true, experimental, wacky, and even more strangely: normal. At the risk of sounding highly pretentious, listening to one of their albums feels like listening to a life or at least a week in somebody's very complex life. They span the range of human emotion and from seemingly nonsense lyrics, they tell stories that, whether we've experienced them or not, we all know.

BLACK MISSION GOGGLES
the sky is falling like a sock of cocaine in the ministry of information subway train's derailing heads decapitating i catch her reflection and it seems to sing to me la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la she's a warm bodega high on Noriega strung out in Brooklyn like it's 1983 she wears her legs around her neck like a piece of ice her smile's a neon marque hipsters eat for free la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la i am falling like a sock of cocaine in the ministry of information I'm a warm bodega high on Noriega strung out in Brooklyn cause i fell in love with her moon cut moon cuts tiny like eyelash lonely cat nap whisper lonely cat nap whisper moon cut moon cuts tiny like eyelash lonely cat nap whisper lonely cat nap whisper and i walk around i whisper in her scalp i whisper on the wind i whisper once again

Man Man combines brilliant lyrics with experimental yet powerful melodies, rhythms, harmonies and an insane energy that is hard to comprehend.



So Good.