v a l l e j o n o c t u r n o

Peter Markus

boy

We knew this other boy in town who was brother to nobody-an only child with only a mother and a father and no brother to call his own. So we took him in as brother. We did not call him brother though. We called him Boy. Boy was littler than us brothers. Boy was born years-no, centuries-after we were born. We were down by the river with our fishing man father the day that this other brother was born into this world. This boy, this brother, we were told, was born with teeth and a full head of hair. What he was not born with, we discovered, was a tongue. This boy's mouth was a hole in his face he fed food into. Once in a while we might hear some mouthy sounds grunting out. For the most part, though, Boy was silent. Some of the time we did not even know he was near, standing close by, his feet-flopping inside his father's boots-sunk into the river, ankles deep in the river's mud. At times, Boy was more dog than he was a boy. Boy was a dog who always came whenever we called, to do whatever was told. Us brothers taught Boy more than a few tricks. We taught Boy how to walk on water. It is true that Boy drowned the first time he walked out. Boy floated face down down the river. But then he walked upriver back. Back to us brothers. Good dog, we told Boy. We scratched Boy's back. We pulled a bone out from Boy's hand and tossed it to the river. Boy, we told him. Go fish. Boy took to the water like he was part dog, part fish. Then Boy swam back to the river's muddied bank and flopped down on the shore. Like a fish. This boy here is a keeper, Brother said. If you say so, I said to Brother. And then we chopped off this boy's head.

Pentagon profligacy

From In These Times, David Sirrota writes:

—The 2010 Pentagon budget means “every man, woman and child in the United States will spend more than $2,700 on (defense) programs and agencies next year,” reports the Cato Institute. “By way of comparison, the average Japanese spends less than $330; the average German about $520; China’s per capita spending is less than $100.”

—”(The Pentagon budget) dwarfs the combined defense budgets of U.S. allies and potential U.S. enemies alike,” reports Hearst Newspapers.

—”President (Obama) is on track to spend more on defense, in real dollars, than any other president has in one term of office since World War II,” reports National Journal’s Government Executive magazine.

—In 2000, the Pentagon admitted it has lost—yes, lost—$2.3 trillion. In 2003, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that a subsequent Department of Defense study said it was only $1 trillion. To put such numbers in perspective, contemplate what those sums could finance. $1 trillion, for instance, could pay the total cost of universal healthcare for the long haul. $2.3 trillion would cover universal healthcare plus the bank bailout plus the stimulus package.

Best Music of 2009- Califone

Some groups are dependable. Califone is. Solid music. Solid sound. Solid rhythm. Outside of what we regularly hear-yet familiar.

From LAS magazine:

When I first heard that the new Califone album--which I was foaming at the mouth to hear--was tied to a film of the same name, I couldn't help but groan a little. Having witnessed the members of Red Red Meat preview its title track (in a more upbeat, jangly version) at one of their reunion shows, this new bit of information certainly dampened my salivation and, as bad as it sounds, hampered the first couple listens as I tried to pick out what connection, if any, this record has with its sister film.

Thankfully, if you never see All my friends are funeral singers the film, you'd never even know it was related. At its Chicago premiere, which featured the band playing a live score, the majority of the songs were absent from the film, relying instead on their trademark Captain Beefheart-esque clanging and moody orchestrations to carry much of the performance. Several songs did make an appearance: "Funeral Singers" (duh), the bron-y-aur stomp "Ape-like," and to close the film with some poignancy, the slow-burning "Evidence."

And while the film was far more interesting and entertaining than any novice's usually has a right to be, the fact that the album is not a soundtrack gave both projects the breadth to be considered individually, which comes as a welcome relief to those of us dying to hear the encore to 2006's marvelous Roots and Crowns, and not an item of merchandising designed to cross-pollinate listeners into seeing the accompanying film.

The album opens with the typically clunky, electronic Beefheart of "Giving away the bride." Why Califone insists on opening almost every album with the toughest song for a new recruit to get into is beyond me (not saying that say, "Pink and Sour" is bad, but why not let the newbies ease into your sound?), but if you stick with it, it gives way to a relatively calm piano based piece. From there we get "Polish Girls," which is the exact opposite of "Giving away the bride," a quick-strummed piece that expands into one of the most rewarding and inviting songs in the band's catalog.

MySpace

cokemachineglow review

Dusted review

Best Music of 2009-Animal Collective

At the beginning of 2009 a collection of songs was said (by the media) to be a step ahead of everything else that was being produced (in the alternative, rock space), so far ahead that it would displace the music coming afterwards. This was Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavillion, a song collection different enough to make an impact in a year of change. Rapid change. The best ever in 2009 could only last 2-3 months but still be so good when we all thought things could really change. Thinking about my little girls this set of songs speaks volumes to anticipated transformations and "differance" that may still be in the horizon.

From Pitchfork's review earlier this year: Although it will be tagged as Animal Collective's "pop" album, Merriweather Post Pavilion remains drenched in their idiosyncratic sound, a record that no one else could have made. The album is named for a Maryland venue that last year played host to Santana, Sheryl Crow, and John Mayer, but its songs won't be heard on the radio, and besides, Animal Collective's M.O. requires them to exist outside of rigid formats. Nonetheless, they've found a natural way to integrate the sing-along melodies, sticky hooks, and driving percussion that have long been hallmarks of celebratory popular music. Animal Collective's two vocalists, Dave Portner (aka Avey Tare) and Noah Lennox (aka Panda Bear), have never sounded better together, and the way their styles complement each other is the story of the album. On the one hand you have Panda's straightforward melodies, his fuzzy, head-in-the-clouds dreaminess, and his instinctual trawl through pop music history. The tracks that favor his songwriting typically have an underlying sense of drone, with everything moving forward along a line in relation to some subliminal center: They begin, then build, expand, and contract. Tare, meanwhile, tends to work within a more classic pop structure, with clear bridges and snappy choruses, greater harmonic development, and a sharper lyrical focus. Here, he reins in the blurting vocalizations that he's so often used as punctuation (the hardcore faithful might miss this unhinged emoting just a little). Both songwriters are on exactly the same page and, working with sonic spelunker Brian "Geologist" Weitz and producer Ben Allen (no Josh "Deakin" Dibb this time), they've found a sumptuous musical background for their most accomplished songs.

Paste  Review of Merriweather album

Uncut Review

Adequacy.net Review

MySpace

Best Music of 2009-Gui Borrato

Electronic music isn't suppose to have soul. Boratto's does. It squigles and moves around when punctured or cut. More imporatant-however, it rides with you through thick and thin. Like a good friend. This set of music has a human sense. Lively, unpredictable, and sane. . .

“The music I make, you can see the structure, even if it’s an instrumental,” Boratto says. “ You can see a verse and a pre-chorus and a chorus. The structure is kind of commercial. It’s not a typical techno track where nothing happens, nine minutes of boom-chick, boom-chick. In this way, it can be easier to accept for people who are not into the techno thing.”

Gui's Website
MySpace

Mike Daisey's Secrets of the MacDowell Colony

Da Scandal

from TPM

Balkin's I-Ching

From Balkin's blog:

My interest in Chinese philosophy began about twenty years ago, and eventually led me back to the study of the Book of Changes. After reading most of the commentaries in English it occurred to me that there was no really thorough discussion of the I Ching's ethical teachings in English. Although there were important exceptions (for example, the great Wilhelm/Baynes translation of 1924 and 1950) most popular versions of the I Ching were more mystical than informative. So I set out to write an accessible, easy to understand set of commentaries that focused on the book's ethical teachings, and I also produced a basic translation of the core text to go along with it.

This version of the I Ching treats it as a secular book of wisdom rather than as a mystical object. It is designed for study, reflection and self-cultivation rather than for fortune telling. One would think it obvious-- although many people still seem to believe otherwise-- that you cannot predict the future by flipping coins or counting yarrow stalks. On the other hand, by asking questions of the book and coming to understand its philosophy over many years, you can get to know yourself better and gain some wisdom in the process. The book began as a Bronze Age diviner's manual, but generations of commentary eventually turned it into what it is today, a book of wisdom.

The Missing from Now

From The Chronicle of Higher Education:

Philip Agre was an associate professor of information sciences at the University of California at Los Angeles, and for years he ran a popular technology e-mail list with thousands of subscribers. But one day the 49-year-old scholar just stopped showing up on the campus, and now colleagues have deployed Twitter, Facebook, and the Web to try to find him.

Last month the university police department put out a missing-person alert for Mr. Agre, whose absence was reported to authorities by his sister. The alert says he abandoned his apartment and his job "sometime between December 2008 and May 2009." It also notes that he suffers from "manic depression."

The scholar apparently had many professional contacts but few close friends. An expert on privacy, he was always guarded about his own, say those who know him.

"In his personal life, he never wanted to discuss social things," said Charlotte Lee, an assistant professor of human-centered design and engineering at the University of Washington who worked under Mr. Agre when she was a doctoral student. "When his behavior got more erratic, nobody felt close enough to him to help, and we thought we'd help by protecting his zone of privacy," she said. "Respecting that zone of privacy is what allowed him to slip away."

Ms. Lee helped set up a Web site last month asking the scholar to get in touch with his friends. The goal is to make sure he knows he is missed, she said. "Phil, if you are reading this, please let us know your whereabouts, how you are doing, or if there is anything you need," reads a note on the site. "We care."

Several scholars who have worked with Mr. Agre over the years have posted notes to the site wishing him well, with a tone that is a mix of extending a hand and offering tribute.

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The Deal

Vallejo Nocturno 2009 - from an earlier photo in the past