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Women who like men who sweat are a rare find…but worth the search.
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MY VISIT TO OUTER SPACE
David Vest packed them in at Duff's last Friday for what turned out to be more blues and boogie-woogie than Sun Ra, but there was just enough to keep the patrons wanting more. I was sitting at the bar, awaiting my turn to read some of Ra's poetry with the
band when a lovely, long-haired woman told me how much she loved the Ra David played at the Paul deLay Scholarship Benefit and that she couldn't wait to hear more.
I didn't ask her if she liked sweat.
David gave them just enough to keep them wanting more. He had given me three to read but when it came time, he told me to read only parts. You don't argue with the band leader. You just do it. I ended up doing more than I thought I would as David directed me to keep reading. I took lines out of order and mixed them all up while David played his "space keys." On This World Is Not My Home the band repeated each line after I read it.
There's supposed to be a recording of it someplace. If you see it below, I got it. If you don't I'll get it. Meanwhile, here is the full text of the Ra poems, including the parts I did not read.
"This World Is Not My Home"
by Sun Ra
Is this a planet of life?
Then why do people die?
This is not life, this is death.
Can't you understand?
You're only dreaming.
You're not real here.
You're only dreaming
you did all the things
you did before you died
You're asleep.
Wake up before it's too late
and you die in a dream.
This world is not the real world.
It's all illusion. It's not real.
Can't you feel that this world is not real?
Someone cast a magic spell
on the people of planet Earth.
If you do right they put you in jail.
If you do wrong they put you in jail.
You can't win.
You got to do something else.
You got to get away from here.
You make death your master.
You're not free.
If you're free, why do you bow to death?
Is that what you mean by liberty?
Stop bowing down to your master called death.
If you're free, prove it.
Here's what it sounded like:
Cosmic Equation
Then another tomorrow
They never told me of
Came with the abruptness of a fiery dawn
And spoke of Cosmic Equations:
The equations of sight-similarity
The equations of sound-similarity
Subtle Living Equations
Clear only to those
Who wish to be attuned
To the vibrations of the Outer Cosmic Worlds.
Subtle living equations
of the outer-realms
Dear only to those
Who fervently wish the greater life
If I Told You
If I told you , “I am from outer space”,
You wouldn’t believe a word I said,
Would you? . . . Why should you?
You have lost your way . . . . . .
You should have nothing to say!
In some far off place
Many light years in space
I'll wait for you
Where human feet have never trod
Where human eyes have never seen
I'll build a world of abstract dreams
And wait for you
And yes, I introduced him as the Original Boogie-Woogie Starchild. Now what I want to seem is a full Ra set in somplace like Jimmy Mak's or the Goodfoot.
btw...He had me read this to the audience:
There will be things played on this piano tonight that no human being can play
You will hear sounds that could only have come from a different order of being
Some of you may actually experience being carried bodily into another dimension through the miracle of trans-molecurization
Some of it will seem strange, some of it may seem familiar -- and there is nothing stranger than the familiar.
You should be very cautious about looking directly into his eyes.
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BYE BYE SPOTTED CAT
It was a club up on Frenchman in New Orleans. I heard Washboard Chaz there for the first time. It closed not long ago and got a New Orleans funeral as a tribute.
Watch the Treme Brass Band:
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DAVID FRIESEN'S NEW DOUBLE CD OUT THIS WEEK
The great bass player's new album is called Five and Three...a quintet and a tro. He'll be at Jimmy Mak's with the quintet and Woodstock Wine and Deli this Friday and Saturday nights.
I'll have the radio interview I did with him on next week's blog.
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WE'RE ALL HANGING ON BY OUR FINGERNAILS, AND I BITE MINE
This just in from Artichoke Music. I'll let them tell the tale:
Yesterday we received a surprise in the mail from Judith Cook the founder of Artichoke Music. The package contained a large framed picture of the original Artichoke Logo and this photo of Judith in front of the original Artichoke Music store circa 1971.
This gift couldn't have come at a better time. It serves as a reminder of how far we've come and how incredibly important this place really is.
From the beginning of our time here we have felt a huge sense of responsiblity to be good stewards of this place we call Artichoke Music. In recent months we have had serious doubts if we were going to be able to keep the doors open. The combination of record breaking snows at Christmas and the economic downturn nearly brought us to our knees.
We are not out of the woods yet but are feeling a bit more optimistic. We have taken steps to help insure the survival of Artichoke. Last month we moved all of the operations of the school and the concert space back into the store. The non profit, Artichoke Community Music, is now a foundation. You won't experience anything different as a result of these changes but we believe this will help the store survive and will give us an even better way to expand on the non-profit mission of "preserving and promoting the folk music tradition".
Speaking of the Artichoke family, Kate Power and Steve Einhorn are doing Tuesdays at Airplay Café...a Happy Hour and Singalong. They warm up the audience with a happy hour set 6:30 and then the Singalong starts at 7:30. The house band is provided by Kate & Steve and friends…harmonica to strings, Players are welcome to play along from their seats.
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I DON'T WANT TO BORE YOU WITH IT BUT I'M HACKING AND HACKING AND HA-A-AKING
Yeah, the bug is still with me so here's something I played to make myself feel better.
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IF I SEEM DISTRACTED, I AM
I'm working on something big and I can't say what it is. Meanwhile, the rate of O assignments has gone up. Wish I could spend more time on this but………
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SO IN THE MEANTIME
While you're waiting for the Rose Festival to end and Spring to begin,listen to Joni sing Mingus:
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LOOKING FOR A WEEKLY SHOT OF MICKENS, CREATURE & COMPANY?
They've found a weekly home at Dante's and they're calling it Sideshow Speakeasy and subtitling it Bizarre Cabaret Revue. They say they are presenting Vaudevillian Freaks from Beyond the Barricades of Normalcy.
To wit, this week (and in their own words):
This week's guest stars…..recently seen as Tweedledum and Tweedledee in The Wonderland Circus
Russell Bruner and Scott Maxwell
THE MIGHTY MIGHTY ACROBATS!
and, representing The Portland Freak Underground:
ballroom burlesquers
SWINGTEASE
http://www.facebook.com/l/;http://www.myspace.com/swingtease
prima contortionista
JACQUELINE C
http://www.facebook.com/l/;http://www.myspace.com/huckleberryj
and
DINGO DIZMAL
clownhouse of ill repute
http://www.facebook.com/l/;http://www.shmanarchy.blogspot.com
hosted by
WILLIAM BATTY and MR. CREATURE
http://www.facebook.com/l/;http://www.myspace.com/noahmickens
http://www.facebook.com/l/;http://www.myspace.com/nickthecreature
with our loyal house band
THE JUAN PROPHET ORGANIZATION
http://www.facebook.com/l/;http://www.juanprophetorganization.com
Come Early For our
AMATEUR HOUR TALENT CONTEST
8pm - 9pm
Show us your stuff - it's an audition, an open mic, and a free gig
rolled into one!
All Performers Are Encouraged To Apply!
and Stay Late for a Freakshow Dance Party
spun by
DJ JIMME JAMMA
(Sick, Sissyboy, Delicious)
http://www.facebook.com/l/;http://www.myspace.com/jimme_pdx
And that's just this Wednesday.
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Pass this blog on!
…and leave a comment!!!
Listen to my KMHD show on Saturday nights 10pm-2am. Jazz till 12 and then The Bar opens at Midnight! Studio line 503-661-8900…call me sometime, it gets lonely out there!
Email me at tvdpdx@gmail.com
Five Sun Ra compositions were played at Duff's, adding up to 32 minutes of space music. The five lines of poetry from "If I told you" contain 32 words.
ReplyDeleteNone of this was random. The lines of poetry you read were mathematically selected. It's all about the equations.
As Ra says, "Wake up before it's too late
and you die in a dream." By the way, it was the omission of those twelve words that forced me to substitute "Fools Like Me" for "Monklite in Vermouth," which the band had spent hours rehearsing.
All in all, I thought you did a great job reading from the Book of Ra. I would say of you what Henry James said of a French novelist: "Whenever hallucination settled upon him, he was prepared to believe whatever was necessary under the circumstances."