From my childhood

First, the greatest hit of my toddler existence:


Second, Billy D. Williams selling Colt 45:

In praise of hard liquor

As you may know, I don't drink much beer. I mainly drink hard liquor. Liquor has no sugar and no carbohydrates. There are 64 calories in an ounce of whiskey, and 1.5 ounces in a shot. Therefore a shot's worth of whiskey has 96 calories. A bottle of Blue Moon beer has 171 calories and 13 grams of carbohydrates. They have about the same amount of alcohol (1.5 ounces of whiskey times 40% equals .6 ounces of alcohol, and 12 ounces of beer times 5% is also .6 ounces). Therefore drinking whiskey with no mixer, or a sugar free zero calorie mixer, is less likely to make you fat than a six pack of beer. Fewer calories are fewer calories. Liquor can also be far, far cheaper than beer. How much cheaper? Well, I have come up with a resource to help you down the liquor road. Behold: the Liquor Exchange!

Right now, as the microbrew movement reaches maturity we are in the beginning of a liquor renaissance. Led by premium vodkas (which are not worth the price), gin and Irish whiskey have come back in a big way. Hopefully brandy is hot on their heels. Come join the revolution.

good times

Once I journeyed to Nashville. I saw Johnny Cash's grave. It was a good experience. It followed a night of drinking too much and a freakout. And we did listen to Cash that night. And the next day too.



I've seen the New South



A good place to be buried



This place really changed the tone of the trip. Nashville is ok - I had a better time in Atlanta - but it was a good trip.

I bring this up because I wonder; will the younger generation even care about Johnny Cash? It seems so many of the legends of my time are dead. I don't have to believe that they are really gone, but what about today's vocoder generation? Is there any room for authenticity with them?

Sometimes at night. When I hear the wind. I wish I was crazy again. - Johnny Cash

A slight correction and a question

First, I'd like to say that the Canadian whisky works much better with a splash of water and a few ice cubes. Really opens up well. Maybe it isn't the lemon I thought it was.

Second, where is the Booze Army? No one is heading into Canada to buy Indian whisky? Booo!

Stirrings in the Subcontinent

Many years ago I became fascinated with the work of Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly. They were folklorists who transcribed music in order to preserve it. They even made a few wax recordings when the technology became available. Also, they arranged the folk tunes for a "classical" medium. My favorite example is the Romanian folk dances Bartok arranged for piano (and has been arranged for many other settings).

Well, since then I've been searching for someone to take that approach to other regions of the world besides Eastern Europe. It turns out it has been done in India. Behold; India's Bartok:



Or maybe it is the Indian Kodaly?

Soundtrack to the apocalypse

I have most of the Star Wars soundtracks. I don't *own* Revenge of the Sith, but I have it on mp3. I don't have Return of the Jedi. But I should. The other 4, I own.

I need another birthday, because these days with unemployment, fitting this into the budget will be dicey. But I need it. You see, it will be the soundtrack of my personal springtime apocalypse. I'm thinking that the Nikon 35mm f2 pre-AI will be the official lens of my springtime apocalypse. Maybe not. But yeah, this is the soundtrack. I'll explain more later.

So what is the springtime apocalypse? Well, part of it is the trancelike state I will inhabit whilst I transcend this plane and the next. It will involve sleep and lack of sleep. It will involve le ensemble organum. It will involve Return of the Jedi. It will be a state of supreme focus, and expanded consciousness. God bless America. God bless Michigan.

The sanity project

I watched Donnie Darko last night. I haven't watched it in a long time. It reminded me of a period of time when sleep had quite a hold on me. I read the H.P. Lovecraft classic Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath years ago, and was determined to sleep and enter the dreamland. Many years prior to that I tried to enter the dreamland. I could never transfer my waking consciousness into the dreamland. When I tried to hold on too hard I couldn't get past the wall of sleep. I'd wake up, or find myself not fully immersed into the dream. After reading Lovecraft, I made another go at it. No dice.

Today I almost fell asleep at 4 pm. Caffiene didn't help me stay alert. So maybe instead of being alert, I should go into a trance?



It is starting to warm up. Mobile tripod time. But I haven't figured out a way to make a strap and lock it on.