What’s so Funny about Peace, Love & Undertanding?
Elvis Costello hosts David Letterman & sings a Nick Lowe tune with the Imposters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XYFJUP84lE
As i walk through
This wicked world
Searchin’ for light in the darkness of insanity.
I ask myself
Is all hope lost?
Is there only pain and hatred, and misery?
And each time i feel like this inside,
There’s one thing i wanna know:
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding? ohhhh
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding?
And as i walked on
Through troubled times
My spirit gets so downhearted sometimes
So where are the strong
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony.
’cause each time i feel it slippin’ away, just makes me wanna cry.
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding? ohhhh
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding?
So where are the strong?
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony.
’cause each time i feel it slippin’ away, just makes me wanna cry.
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding? ohhhh
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding? ohhhh
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding?
The Battle of Evermore w/Fairport Convention & Robert Plant
This is the only song Zeppelin ever recorded with a guest vocalist. Robert Plant felt he needed another voice to tell the story that plays out in the song, so Sandy Denny from Fairport Convention was brought in. Her vocals represent the people as the town crier, while Plant’s voice is the narrator. Fairport Convention was a British folk group Zeppelin shared a bill with in 1970. This one collaboration with Sandy Denny marked the first time Robert Plant did a duet with a woman. To thank her for her involvement, Denny was given the symbol on the album sleeve of three pyramids (the four members of Led Zeppelin each chose their own symbols for the album).
In later years, he had tremendous success singing with Alison Krauss; their 2007 album Raising Sand won a Grammy award for Album of the Year.
Sandra Denny died in 1978. This video is from 2008.
Robert Plant:
The Queen of Light took her bow
And then she turned to go
The Prince of Peace embraced the gloom
And walked the night alone
Sandy Denny:
Oh, dance in the dark of night
Sing to the morning light
Robert Plant:
The dark Lord rides in force tonight
And time will tell us all
Sandy Denny:
Oh, throw down your plow and hoe
Rest not to lock your homes
Robert Plant:
Side by side we wait the might
Of the darkest of them all
I hear the horses’ thunder
Down in the valley below
I’m waiting for the angels of Avalon
Waiting for the eastern glow
The apples of the valley hold
The seeds of happiness
The ground is rich from tender care
Repay, do not forget, no, no
Sandy Denny:
Dance in the dark of night
Sing to the morning light
Robert Plant:
The apples turn to brown and black
The tyrant’s face is red
Sandy Denny:
Oh, war is the common cry
Pick up you swords and fly
Robert Plant:
The sky is filled with good and bad
That mortals never know
Oh, well, the night is long
The beads of time pass slow
Tired eyes on the sunrise
Waiting for the eastern glow
The pain of war cannot exceed
The woe of aftermath
The drums will shake the castle wall
The ring wraiths ride in black
Ride on
Sandy Denny:
Sing as you raise your bow
Shoot straighter than before
Robert Plant:
No comfort has the fire at night
That lights the face so cold
Sandy Denny:
Oh dance in the dark of night
Sing to the morning light
Robert Plant:
The magic runes are writ in gold
To bring the balance back
Bring it back
At last the sun is shining
The clouds of blue roll by
With flames from the dragon of darkness
The sunlight blinds his eyes
Bring it back (repeat to fade)
Snakefinger
I was at this performance, which was Snakefingers last American performance.
Lithman was born in Tooting, South London, and came from the British Blues scene. He moved to San Francisco in 1971 and became associated with the avant-garde group The Residents. It is said he was given the name ‘Snakefinger’ by The Residents themselves based on a photograph of Lithman performing, in which his finger looks like a snake about to attack his violin.
In 1972 Lithman returned to England and formed the pub rock band Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers with Martin Stone, ex-member of Mighty Baby and a fellow ex-member of Junior’s Blues Band. As a duo, they released the album Kings of Robot Rhythm. In 1974, as a full band and popular live act in Britain, they released Bongos Over Balham.
Chilli Willi lasted until 1975, their last record not selling well, and by 1976 Lithman was back in the United States, this time in Los Angeles, California, seeking a recording contract, shopping his rock-style demos.
After a few years, Lithman moved back to San Francisco, reconnected with The Residents, and performed and recorded with them. Lithman’s solo records, recorded under the name Snakefinger, were released by their record label Ralph Records.
His first album on Ralph was Chewing Hides the Sound in 1979, featuring original material co-written with The Residents as well as esoteric covers like Kraftwerk’s “The Model”. The songs showcased Lithman’s distinctive slide guitar playing and often surreal imagery. This album was followed by Greener Postures in 1980, which included his first solo compositions as Snakefinger.
While on tour in Australia in 1980, Lithman had a heart attack that left him hospitalized for six months.
In 1982 Lithman formed his backing band The Vestal Virgins with former Captain Beefheart sideman Eric Drew Feldman. Snakefinger and The Vestal Virgins released Manual of Errors on Ralph in 1982. This was followed by the blues cover album Snakefinger’s History of the Blues: Live in Europe in 1984 and a new collection of largely original material in 1986 called Night of Desirable Objects.
Lithman performed with The Residents on their 13th Anniversary Tour in 1986. On 1 July 1987, Snakefinger and his band, The Vestal Virgins, arrived in Linz, Austria, on the European Night tour. On the next morning – before his scheduled performance in the Posthof Club, he was found dead in a guestroom of the Posthof: Lithman had suffered a fatal heart attack. On the day of his death, 1 July 1987, his single, “There’s No Justice in Life“, was released.
Right-Wing Terrorism isn’t really Terrorism
My first blog post in a long while, from Media Vulture
Al Qaeda is always to blame, even when it isn’t, even when it’s allegedly the work of a Nordic, Muslim-hating, right-wing European nationalist… we’ve seen repeatedly: that Terrorism has no objective meaning and, at least in American political discourse, has come functionally to mean: violence committed by Muslims whom the West dislikes, no matter the cause or the target. Indeed, in many (though not all) media circles, discussion of the Oslo attack quickly morphed from this is Terrorism (when it was believed Muslims did it) to no, this isn’t Terrorism, just extremism (once it became likely that Muslims didn’t).
Ibrahim Hewitt writes an editoral at Al-Jazeera, where he observes that once media outlets noted that the suspect was not Muslim, they disassociated connections between the suspect’s beliefs and his alleged violent actions.
…the perpetrator was a “blond, blue-eyed Norwegian” with “political traits towards the right, and anti-Muslim views.” Not surprisingly, the man’s intentions were neither linked to these “traits,” nor to his postings on “websites with Christian fundamentalist tendencies.” Any influence “remains to be seen”; echoes of Oklahoma 1995.
Edge Science & Demarcation
Apple Blossom Parade
Spent 4 1/2 hours round-trip to photograph the Sebastopol Apple Blossom Parade & Festival. The parade & crowd was lackadaisical and they were charging 10 dollars admission for the “festival”.
I declined, and returned to Petaluma, to find that I should have stayed for the day. The crowd here was MUCH more enthusiastic, even 2 to 3 hour AFTER the parade…
Taking photos & beginning a journalism piece (with photos) of “Swamp Systems of Northern California”
New computer & camera to replace the ones that were stolen. Taking a lot of pictures, and beginning a journalism piece (with photos) of “Swamp Systems of Northern California”, beginning with Laguna de Santa Rosa, then moving on to the Chico valley (or whatever it’s called), then the HUGE swamp system covering much of the northern Sacramento Valley, and which alone supplies a large percentage of the world’s rice.
More Swamp Thangs
This is the “path” where I took my walk yesterday:
The Laguna de Santa Rosa
This is what California swampland looks like:
Laguna de Santa Rosa, is a swamp that runs 2/3rds the length of the county, and is part of an enormous swamp system that just about covers the entire Santa Rosa Plain. Such swamp systems are actually quite common in inland valleys of Northern California, especially, the northern Sacramento Valley.
