Of course, Michael Jackson's death this week got me thinking about the death of other major celebrities and how they have affected me.  I'm 45, so i remember vividly the day Elvis died, as well as the day John Lennon was murdered.  The endless media fixation, the images of dedicated shrines and weeping masses almost seems like a replay of past events.  I wasn't really a big fan of Michael Jackson, or Elvis Presley, but i was a Beatle fanatic and John Lennon was my hero from the age of 7 till...well....Anyway, my point is that i remember the day Lennon was shot, and i was a bit disapponted in my own reaction, or it wasn't what i expected it to be. Let me explain....I went to a college in upstate New York with some very close friends and relatives and we had a band, and were all Beatle freaks.  As do most fans, we didn't refer to our idols with their full names, but felt we were on a first name basis with them...John was John, George was only George...etc...We used to take acid and stare at their faces on posters, listening to their music, and hallucinating we were communicating with them (!?)  I can't speak for my cohorts, but i do believe i was using them as a replacement for the parental figures that i felt i always missed--my own parents being typically obsessed with work/responsiblities/fears, etc....

Hey Friends,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRppwUsLUS4&feature=channel_page

we did this over vacation...me and my 11 year old daughter Greta...if you like it, please leave a comment on youtube...she lives for that stuff...

matt

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-duane-jarvis2-2009apr02,0,7135509.story

I'm heartbroken to say that the wonderful Duane Jarvis passed away yesterday. It was an honor and a privilege to be able to get to know and work with him these last few years. His softspoken manner and beautiful guitar playing were a joy to be around, during the recording of my most recent album, QUIXOTIC, which features his playing throughout as well as a song i cowrote with Duane called, "Only Let You Down". I've put up this song on my myspace site as a free download. RIP my friend...you are sorely missed...love, matt

"By spending its resources on rocket launchers instead of roads and schools, Hamas has demonstrated that it has no intention of serving the Palestinian people." - George W. Bush

sound familiar?

"It was an assault, that's what it was"...oh my...that shoe could have hurt him...almost as much as the thousands of innocent Iraqi children killed during this war...shock and awe...now THAT'S an assault...only 20 more days!!!!!


From CNN Political Producer Kristi Keck

Laura Bush spoke out about the shoe incident in an interview with 'Fox News Sunday.'

(CNN) — First Lady Laura Bush said that although she "wasn't amused" when an Iraqi journalist threw shoes at her husband, she sees the incident as a sign that "Iraqis feel a lot freer to express themselves."

Earlier this month, an Iraqi journalist threw shoes at President Bush during a news conference in Baghdad. Bush ducked, and the shoes, flung one at a time, sailed past his head.

"It was an assault. And that's what it is," the first lady said in an interview that aired Sunday on "Fox News."

"And the president laughed it off. He wasn't hurt. He's very quick. As you know, he's a natural athlete. And that's it. But on the other hand, it is an assault, and I think it should be treated that way," she said.

During the incident, the shoe-thrower — identified as Muntadhar al-Zaidi – could be heard yelling in Arabic: "This is a farewell … you dog!" Al-Zaidi is an Iraqi journalist with Egypt-based al-Baghdadia television network.

Hurling shoes at someone, or sitting so that the bottom of a shoe faces another person, is considered an insult among Muslims.

Asked if she thinks someone who attacks another person should be released, Bush said, "that's going to be up to the Iraqis."

"And they'll do whatever. But I know that if Saddam Hussein had been there, the man wouldn't have been released. And he probably wouldn't — you know, would have been executed.

"So it is — as bad as the incident is, in my view, it is a sign that Iraqis feel a lot freer to express themselves," she said.

Muntadhar al-Zaidi goes on trial Wednesday (Dec. 31) on charges of assaulting a foreign leader. Conviction could mean a prison sentence of up to two years.

Filed under: George Bush • Laura Bush

One man, one family driven from the land; this rusty car creaking along the highway to the west. I lost my land, a single tractor took my land. I am alone and I am bewildered. And in the night one family camps in a ditch and another family pull in and the tents come out. The two men squat on their hams and the women and children listen. Here is the node, you who hate change and fear revolution. Keep these two squatting men apart; make them hate, fear, suspect each other. Here is the anlage of the thing you fear. This is the zygote. Fore here "I lost my land" is changed; a cell is split and from its splitting grows the thing you hate -- " We lost our land." The danger is here, for two men are not as lonely and perplexed as one. And from this first " we" there grows a still more dangerous thing: " I have a little food " plus " I have none." If from this problem the sum is "We have a little food," the thing is on its way, the movement has direction. Only a little multiplication now, and this land, this tractor are ours. The two men squatting in a ditch, the little fire, the side-meat stewing in a single pot, the silent, stone-eyed women; behind the children listening with their souls to words they do not understand. The night draws down. The baby has a cold. Here, take this blanket. It's wool. It was my mother's blanket-take it for the baby. This is the thing to bomb. This is the beginning-from "I" to "we."

If you who own the things people must have could understand this, you might preserve yourself. If you could separate causes from results, if you could know that Paine, Marx, Jefferson, Lenin, were results, not causes, you might survive. But that you cannot know. For the quality of owning freezes you forever into "I," and cuts you off forever from the "we." -- John Steinbeck from "The Grapes of Wrath"

and i thought this city hated me for cancelling our September show because of a Hurricane!! thanks Charleston!!

http://music.ccpblogs.com/2008/12/23/city-papers-top-albums-of-2008/

i'm starting to not be able to catch up with all this end of year blogs....just when you think they all forgot about ya...thanks Lucid!


http://lucidculture.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/cd-review-matt-keating-quixotic/

http://www.medleyville.us/2008/12/george_henns_top_albums_of_200.htmlmore