Parade of Sloth

It was easy to have fun this weekend. Usually my enjoyment of [everything] is tempered by nagging thoughts like : " I have to be at work in seventeen hours" or "there are two hundred loose folders of unsorted data on my desk"...I hadn't realized how much energy these thoughts were draining from me until they were removed.

It feels as if my shoulders are floating.

Without those thoughts and their toxic distractions I was able to relax and enjoy my weekend activities- things are good in real life.


Saturday I engineered an in-house performance by my old friend Maia Banks , whom I had not seen for nearly two years. She played four songs and talked about some studio work she's done recently (check link for tunes).
It was good to see her again, even if she and her boyfriend had once thrown me out of their band- tossing me, my guitar and my amplifier out of the window of the tour bus while we were crossing the Golden Gate bridge- *SPLASH!*...well, actually we just jammed a few times and it didn't work out, I made the rest up. It was a long time ago, anyway. No harm done.

We had a great time during the show and I liked the bare-bones sketches of her new material- I was going to ask her if she felt like playing together again, but she asked me first. I'm looking forward to it- I'd like to take some raw song ingredients and turn them into ear food and I miss the buzz I get from working creatively with other real-live people. It feels fresh and I'm optimistic. I hope it (or something like it ) works out- I'd like to find one or more people to play music with again. Where there is music, there is life, ya know? Of course you do.

Speaking of music, I had a special extended Sunday morning show this week , since *ahem* somebody overslept again...dude! Tsk, tsk... anyway, here's the playlist:

XTC- Supertuff
Hell, yeah. Don't forget that.

Little Feat - Time Loves a Hero
"If he's real, he's a legend from Heaven..."

The Stranglers- No More Heroes
Q:"Whatever happened to Leon Trotsky?"
A: "He got an icepick."
The Stranglers inspired me to play music and to study political history.
They mellowed as they aged, but even their angry songs were clever and thoughtful (Bring on the Nubiles being a possible exception).

Damien Dempsey- Celtic Tiger
Dedicated to the Goddess Greed...

Fairport Convention- Sloth
This week's theme song.

Quicksilver Messenger Service- Pride of Man
Pride is useless in a nuclear exchange.

Tom Waits- Barn
Goddamn it. The label says track 5 is "Sin". Sin fits my theme...oh well, at least it's still TW.

Clarence Fountain and the Blind Boys- Lift Me Up (Like a Dove)
OK. I'm redeemed enough for now...can I get back to sinning now?


Marianne Faithfull- Guilt
I haven't done anything wrong for a long time. I don't feel any guilt, but I do feel a wave of exhilaration as I crank the studio monitors up really loud and groove on the envelope-filtered guitar solo...

Tangerine Dream- Towards the Evening Star
This song is the sound of progress.

Atomic Rooster- People You Can't Trust
Time for some cheap shots at my old job. This album is really good...it features Vincent Crane (from the Crazy World of Arthur Brown) and blues singer Chris Marlowe...yeah, I know. Who?

The Kinks- Rats
Those rats, breeding angriness and spite/ haven't ever done anything right...take that!
Goddamn, but Ray Davies wrote some good songs.

Gary Numan- Critics
Critics are people who wish that they could rock but can't. Gary Numan could rock. Critics suck.
Pretty Things- Bitter End
Another shot at work.

P.J. Harvey- Rid of Me
A two-fer. The title is a jab at work and the song itself fits into my vague theme of sins. This one is lust. Raw and untamed.

Lou Reed- Vicious
You aren't the kind of person who's very much fun to be around ...I don't feel that way anymore. I feel fun!

King Crimson- 21st Century Schizoid Man
I'm still crazy. I like avant- garde psychedelic proto-metal early in the morning. The louder the better.

Alan Parsons Project- (The System of) Doctor Tarr & Prof. Fether
Alan Parsons did an entire album based on the works of my namesake, Edgar Allan Poe. Like Poe, I have spent considerable time in the gutters of both Richmond and Baltimore. My romantic history is (slightly) better than EAP's but so far he has more statues dedicated to him than I do.

Jefferson Starship- Devil's Den
Hah! It's Monday and I don't give a shit about the office! Papa John Creach does a fiddle sizzle on this one...

Captain Beefheart- Lazy Music
More sloth!

Emmylou Harris- Here I Am
Come and get it. You'll be glad you did.

Savoy Brown- Money Can't Save Your Soul
Salvation can be found via proper guitar tone. An expensive amp helps, but it's no guarantee...you gotta have soul first.

Gong- You Can't Kill Me
N'yahhh! N'yahhh!

Blonde Redhead- Hated Because of Great Qualities (Italian Version)
This is the perfect song for receiving an unexpected first kiss. Hated? Didn't feel that way...great qualities?
Oh yes. Drifting away on a new memory...

The Soft Boys- Insanely Jealous
If I were someone else I'd envy me.

BeBop Deluxe- Panic in the World
Screw panic. I feel like dancing.

Funkadelic- Good to Your Earhole
The space that separates one's ears is sometimes known as the 'mind'. It can be a beautiful place if you treat it properly.

Jade Warrior- Water Curtain Cave
Let's just listen to the flute and the cymbals and worry about the rest later. Relax...