time flies...

it seems as if i've let some time pass since my last blog entry.

it's not that i've lost interest or become apathetic to the appalling crap that keeps going on around me. for the sake of keeping myself updated and informed on subjects so diverse as the ongoing public bailout/bankrolling of failed businesses/corporations/banks etc to other pressing issues such as speculating on the erotic stimulation one derives from stringing themselves up in a hotel closet in bangkok to experience the superior woody. these are questions that must be answered by my reading the many accounts by reporters and bloggers much more articulate than i.

so bear with me please!

controlling the urge...

"pawnbroker, give me that '38. i used to take a '44 but i've lost a bit of hate" (bullfrog blues-public domain/david bromberg)


lately i've had the steadily building inclination of taking a baseball bat to the groin of the next person who mentions the word 'socialism' to me.

i've never been an outwardly aggressive individual so this is a bit of a concern to me. the aural antidote for today has been a mix of oscar peterson, grant green, dave alvin and some live james mcmurtry.

locomotive breath...

employment in many industries and corporations has obviously slowed down considerably due to the much weakened economy. the international company that i 'pull' for recently instituted a four day week schedule for their warehouse/truck driver employees. even with the four day work calendar there is not enough freight to be moved to keep everyone occupied so lately even three day work weeks are becoming common. the lumberyards and home centers that this company supplys are relatively empty also. the reduced staff at these places are now all shaking their heads in bewilderment over "how things have gotten so bad/i've never seen it this slow in 30 years", etc.
these daily conversations have largely replaced the former lumberyard banter such as which football/basketball/baseball team is a cast iron lock for the championship and otherlike diversions. for the first time i can recall since september of '01 that these folks are staring at something which might actually make an iota of difference in their personal lives.

for the past eight plus years i've been in a relative state of utter disbelief coupled with this stomache churning frustration and revulsion i'd expect to feel at the sight of a trainwreck.

i can trace this unnerving downward spiral to a particular evening in october 1999 as i eagerly sat down to watch the first of the 'debates' between al gore and george bush. the progressive conventional wisdom at that point in time was that this 'event' was going to be as my lumberyard contemporaries would put it "a fucking smackdown"! along with gore's articulate manner and executive experience he also had a legacy of debating prowess in college.
versus psuedo-businessman turned texas governor george bush i figured that smackdown might have been understating it.
twenty minutes into that debate i had broken out in a surprisingly cold sweat and everything began to slowly change.

hot-plate heaven at the green hotel...

i used to have a job and i was doin' fairly well
depression came along and everybody starts to yell
where's those golden good ol' days and all that crap we used to sell
now i'm in hot-plate heaven in the green hotel

republicans is fine if you're a multi-millionaire
democrats is fair if all you own is what you wear
neither of them's really right 'cause neither of them cares
about that hot-plate heaven 'cause they ain't been there...

frank zappa
'hot-plate heaven...' vancouver 12/18/84
fz nailed it that night

laugh to keep from cryin'

a little background might be in order. like a whole lotta folks i grew up in the 50's/60's and theoretically reached official adulthood circa late '72. as i left high school and began college i had the obviously overly optimistic outlook that the more progressive advances arrived at during the preceeding 20 years would most likely continue.
that was my first mistake!
the old adage goes that one should never assume. i've always liked old adages. it has something to do with being a luddite but i don't want to get into that right now. i'm still grousing after close to 40 years that something went terribly wrong with this country that i've been living in and the great divide between the classes becomes more startling as the economy dries up. two ill-conceieved wars are being fought and the two political parties aided by a compliant lapdog media do no more than lend lip service to the true concept of a democratic nation.

to keep my head from exploding due to this lifelong frustration i learned early in my years to anesthetize myself with music.
along with the occasional mint julep.

first grumblings from a crumudgeon...

okay, so i'm rolling here. i've been threatening to do this for way too long and i'm finally buzzed enough to follow through maybe.