A Leak In The Safe

Solov’ev on Art

Posted on June 11, 2008 by ubu507

For art has a triple task, Solov’ev asserts: the direct objectification of the internal qualities of the living idea, the spiritualization of natural beauty, and the immortalization of nature’s individual phenomena.

– Steven Cassedy

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L.A.M.F.: Resurrected and Ready to Kick Ass

Posted on June 10, 2008 by ubu507

I remember that when L.A.M.F. by the Heartbreakers came out I was very hot to get it – earlier that summer in my overeagerness I’d even picked up the first Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album by accident. Being a big New York Dolls and Johnny Thunders fan, it was with great anticipation that I slit the shrinkwrap, slid out the platter and laid it on my crummy turntable

But, boy, was I disappointed – you could sort of hear that there were some good songs and killer riffs (Chinese Rocks and Pirate Love are two that come to mind) that punched through the obscuring mix, muddled by too many hands and too many drugs, but basically it just sounded like crap. The Live at Max’s Kansas City LP came out soon after and made the case for the Heartbreakers’ genius much more forcefully, mostly because you could actually hear the songs clearly. I dug that all the time, which in turn led me back to L.A.M.F. Now that I knew what the music was supposed to sound like I started appreciating it more, to extract the subtleties and raw power of the song writing and playing from the muck.

Not that many people made the effort though, and with so much interesting new music coming out, even the quickly dismissive afficionados were disinclined to give it a second chance, and the bad mix managed to blow the Heartbreakers’ chance for success in the emerging New Wave scene.

I know there are plenty of vinyl purists out there, but there are also a lot of reasons to appreciate CD’s, one of which is that the format gives record companies the excuse to resurrect and enhance lost gems of the past. I could point to the amazing King Oliver: Off the Record collection, or, more to the point L.A.M.F.: The Lost ‘77 Mixes. In a labor of love Johnny Thunders fanatics painstakingly went over the original tapes, found the best performances, and re-mastered and re-mixed them, revealing the record as the work of genius it really is. Now you can hear Johnny’s yelp’s, Walter’s voice, and the incredible guitar interplay between them and Jerry’s absolutely brilliant drumming and Billy’s bitchin’ bass. The material is fascinating too, the product of the uniquely potent musical scene that was exploding, with the influences of The New York Dolls, Richard Hell, The Ramones and all the fertile craziness of Punk-era New York and London.

I guess the version I got, the ENHANCED/EXTRA TRACKS/IMPORT/LIMITED EDITION from Jungle records came out on CD about five years ago. I missed it, and I’m guessing it didn’t get much attention in the contemporary American Idol "music" scene, but I’m so grateful it finally came into my hands. I got it new from Amazon just a couple of days ago, but maybe I got the last one, because as far as I can tell it’s only available used now. But if you want to discover another great coulda been on Johnny Thunders’s star crossed resume or just a kick ass rock record, I suggest you find a copy.

Posted in Music | 1 Comment

Cambridge Poppies

Posted on June 7, 2008 by ubu507

Cambridge Poppies

The woman in

The bottom of

The canoe shakes

The wet branches

And for a moment

All beauty seems to

Die in her awakening

And yet she still wants

To see this instant

The lovely mixed up sight

Brick streets and bald professors

All pouring down into Green pond

Posted in art, Poetry, Poetry and Art | Leave a comment

Crime Beat: They Found Jesus (In a bush between two trees)

Posted on June 6, 2008 by ubu507

ACROSS THE REGION

_____

Stolen Jesus statue found in alley

Someone tried to sell it back to church

_______________________________

DETROIT

________________________________

By Naomi R. Patton

Free Press Staff Writer

__________

They will now have to answer to Jesus.

An 8-foot statue of Jesus that was stolen from the cross at the Church of the Messiah on Detroit’s east side was found in a alley near the church.

The Rev. Barry Randolph and Patricia Bower, a woman who lives in the neighborhood, decided to take a shortcut home and found Jesus "in a bush, between two trees" Wednesday night.

Randolph and a church member went to pick up Jesus and found the green-hewed [sic], weather-beaten statue with only a hand missing.

"We are truly grateful," Randolph said Thursday.

But in a twist, someone advertised the statue for sale on the classified ad Web site Craigslist on Wednesday. Then, presumably the same person called the church to try to sell it back to the congregation for $1,000. Randolph said he declined. The statue had been found by then.

The statue is made of a strong plaster, but a thief or thieves may have mistaken it for copper. A parishioner called church staff Tuesday morning and told them the statue was missing from the 107-year-old Episcopal church at 231 E. Grand Blvd. The cross on the side of the building was badly damaged.

"We got calls from all over the world," Randolph said of how fast the news spread.

The church will have the statue and cross repaired and will host a "resurrection celebration" when it is put in place. Randolph said the church will post a sign next to it: "Jesus is not copper. Do not take him off the cross."

Somebody give that statue a hand!

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Peace, Bro, Later, Dude

Posted on June 4, 2008 by ubu507

Man, I just found out that one of the guys that runs the barber shop down the street got killed in a motorcycle accident. His brother did the honors last week, but he’s cut my hair as well as my son’s many times and was an extremely righteous dude…here’s to your memory, a great barber and a great person, Steve Bigelow. Peace, bro.

I guess a 27 year old guy getting cut down like that will bring perspective to the week’s other shocking news, which was the long awaited wave of firings at the Titanic of the book world, Borders Inc. They showed good judgement in sparing my remaining friends, but Joe Gable the legendary manager of the State Street store was finally shown the door. True, his attitude has sucked for decades, but he was there from the very beginning, and is as responsible for the store’s success (remember that?) as anybody. There was a rumor that the Borders brothers made his continued employment a condition of sale, but the once proud company has been sullied by several hands since then. Joe always reminded me of the titular Joseph Conrad character Nostromo (and not just because they are both Italian), who did all the work but was denied the riches. The now ubiquitous set up for the super-book store was really Joe’s idea, and he made it work. Like Nostromo Joe’s ego ultimately messed him up, and, unlike Nostromo, he never had the guts to float away with the silver barge, but it’s a historic day one way or the other when he leaves the building. Later, dude.

Posted in Cosmic Verities | Leave a comment

Quote Bag: Picking Flowers

Posted on June 3, 2008 by ubu507

Do not all the achievements of a poet’s predecessors and contemporaries rightfully belong to him? Why should he shrink from picking flowers where he finds them? Only by making the riches of others our own do we bring anything great into being.

– Goethe

Give us the teachings of his majesty, we don’t want no devil philosophy.

– Bob Marley

A revelation, faster than thought and too fast for him to grasp it properly, flashed through his mind, leaving in its wake a dull sense, rapidly fading, that ‘time’ is nothing more than a fiendish comedy, which an all powerful, invisible enemy conjures up in the human brain.

– Gustav Meyrink

America’s enormous technology is marvelously adept at making the tool, and is incompetent at providing the purpose.

– Loren Baritz

All state education is a sort of dynamo machine for polarizing the popular mind, for turning and holding its lines of force in the direction supposed to be most effective for state purposes.

– Henry Adams

When they were no longer able to make poetry, they devised rules for it.

– Heinrich von Kleist

It is dangerous to desire to be virtuous in a corrupt century.

– De Sade

The falsification of everything has been shown to be one of the characteristic features of our period.

– Rene Guenon

If someone calls you an artist that’s a compliment. If you call yourself an artist you’re in trouble.

– Waylon Jennings

Faith is to the thoughtless, doubt to the thinker.

– Melville

Although I have never understood it, her decision was understandable.

– Suzanne Berne

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The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale

Posted on May 31, 2008 by ubu507

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective, Kate Summerscale, Walker, $24.95.

From the very beginning real and fictive crime have had an inseparable relationship. Novels have influenced the way people think about crime almost as much as actual crimes have influenced novels. Obviously detective fiction couldn’t have started before there were detectives, but once it did, the public perception of what detectives are and what they do was very much determined by mystery books.

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is a fascinating work, not only for its vivid portrayal of an intriguing true crime in 1860’s England, but also for its deft examination of the parallels between the emerging real life detectives of the time and their literary doppelgangers. When three year old Saville Kent, the son of a prominent local functionary, is taken from his nursery and later found brutally murdered, it seems like the perfect set up for a classic English country house mystery.

Though there are several inconclusive clues, the local police are baffled and, just like in the books, are forced to appeal to a famous detective from Scotland Yard. Soon Detective-Inspector Jonathan Whicher, a well respected sleuth with powers of detection and observation bordering on the miraculous, arrives, and, after a meticulous examination of the scene of the crime and the various suspects, renders his unshakable opinion as to the identity of the guilty party.

But here’s where reality and fiction part ways – although the Victorians glorified the concept of the brilliant detective, in practice their rigid social codes and maniacal demand for the appearance of propriety wouldn’t allow them to accept the sordid facts revealed when the streetwise Whicher peeled back the facade of the Kent household. The press and public simply couldn’t handle the truth, especially when, given the primitive state of forensic science and the fact that the suspect was spared rigorous interrogation, there was no conclusive proof.

But just when the reader becomes apprehensive that Summerscale’s narrative will limp to a rather deflating conclusion, further twists and turns emerge, including a denouement that any fiction writer would envy. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is an absorbing, expertly written and constructed book, one which provides not only an exciting real life murder mystery, but also a heady immersion into the Victorian milieu and a unique portrayal of the emergence of the modern detective in both fact and fiction.

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Crime Beat: Naked and Wet

Posted on May 30, 2008 by ubu507

POLICE BEAT

_________________________________

Naked man accused of towers break-in

A naked Ann Arbor man is accused of breaking into a 10^th floor downtown apartment from the high rise balcony this morning – but police don’t know how or why he got up there.

A resident of Huron Towers Apartments called police at 1:30 a.m. to report a man breaking through their sliding glass balcony door, said Detective Sgt. Richard Kinsey.

The intruder was naked and wet. He ran out of the apartment through the front door and did not confront the residents.

Officers arrested the 42-year-old man in the parking lot and referred him to the University of Michigan Medical Center’s psychiatric ward for evaluation.

Kinsey said investigators learned the man previously lived in the building, but could not explain why he was there and how he managed to reach the 10^th floor from the outside.

"We can’t figure out how he got there or what the intent was," Kinsey said.

And here’s the event of the week for all you little dolls…

Clinton

Dolls can catch the 10:30 train

The Ann Arbor Doll Collectors will hold a presentation about dolls and their history on Saturday, June 7, at the Southern Michigan Railroad Society Railway History Museum in Clinton.

Residents can bring a special doll to "Take Your Dolly for a Train Ride" on the 10:30 a.m. train from Clinton. The train will pick up Tecumseh passengers at noon, so all riders can view the dolls on display between 12:50 to 1:50 p.m. at the Clinton museum. The train departs at 2 p.m.

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Another Itasca

Posted on May 29, 2008 by ubu507

Another Itasca

It’s here of course in

The blondes all the blondes

In sunglasses and jean jackets

That barefoot girl running to

Some assignation carrying

Her sandals the braid flapping

Down the middle of her back

Or the other the brunette

Standing with sad stoic patience

Now one legged like a stork

Waiting for what she’s not

Really sure

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Quote Bag: Shake

Posted on May 27, 2008 by ubu507

Let’s shake some heavy stuff out of the Quote Bag, shall we?

IN THAT YE ARE CANNIBALS, what meat should I offer?

– Austin Osman Spare

Feeble puffing is not my forte. It will do these fellows good to hear the truth, and stimulate them to worthier efforts.

– E. A. Poe

Cerebral play is only a mask. Underway beneath this mask is the invasion of the brain by forces unknown to us.

– Andrey Biely

Full speed through the darkness, no helmet, with a deep conviction that life could only get more and more fantastic.

– Johan Theorin

The animals, plants or inanimate objects, are no sooner confident of success and security than they are utterly destroyed by some superior and usually unconscious agency.

– Sir Kenneth Clark

I said to myself: you’re all excited, aren’t you? You kid yourself that she’s merely literature to you – yet that wizened soul of yours put out fresh shoots the moment she’s friendly to you and starts looking at you with those eyes of hers.

– Knut Hamsun

Tess Durbeyfield did not divine, as she innocently looked down at the roses in her bosom, that there behind the blue narcotic haze was potentially the ‘tragic mischief’ of her drama – one who stood fair to be the blood-red ray in the spectrum of her young life.

– Thomas Hardy

Once her perfect beauty had blinded others. Now they were blinded by her disarray.

– Thomas H. Cook

Sexual preoccupation is an imperious thing, and when it’s in full color, it makes all other preoccupations look slightly beside the point.

– Suzanne Berne

There was no face in the world so utterly satisfying – no, not one, among the lovely clever good ugly silly wicked faces of this world, all anxious, all selfish, all mean, all unsatisfied and unsatisfying.

– Baron Corvo

She was as lovely as only an Irish woman can be, having that in her bearing that betokened quiet pride, having that in her eyes that betokened great longing, having that in her body that betokened happy promise.

– Radclyffe Hall

What I woulda done to her shall not be allowed in this Bible. Yet it woulda been spelled LOVE.

– Jack Kerouac