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Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Mon, 28 May 2001 12:19:46 GMT
[lunch-time update after the poem]

My Sweet, Crushed Angel

You have not danced so badly, my dear,
Trying to hold hands with the Beautiful One.

You have waltzed with great style,
My sweet, crushed angel,
To have ever neared God's Heart at all.

Our Partner is notoriously difficult to follow,
And even His best musicians are not always easy
To hear.

So what if the music has stopped for a while.

So what
If the price of admission to the Divine
Is out of reach tonight.

So what, my dear,
If you do not have the ante to gamble for Real Love.

The mind and body are famous
For holding the heart ransom,
But Hafiz knows the Beloved's eternal habits.

Have patience,

For He will not be able to resist your longing
For long.

You have not danced so badly, my dear,
Trying to kiss the Beautiful One.

You have actually waltzed with tremendous style,
O my sweet,
Oh my sweet, crushed angel.

I Heard God Laughing - Renderings of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky

This morning as I was driving to the health club before work, I saw a black cadillac sporting the following plate (image compliments of Acme License Maker):

ny007: New York 007 license plate

On NPR this morning I heard that one Massachusetts official was happy to hear about the Microsoft anti-trust decision; Massachusetts had sued Microsoft. The manager of the state employees pension fund wasn't so happy, however. When Microsoft's stock plummetted, the fund lost $150 million. Justice, eh?

The other day, I saw the following bumper sticker:

No Gun Pulls
Its Own Trigger

Vote Nobody for president. A campaign to put "None of the Above" on the ballot. Light, entertaining, necessary. Bravo! [onedan]

Pat Metheny, quoted on p. 25 of the August, 2000 issue of Harper's Magazine - "Oh My God, He Killed Kenny G!" Mr. Metheny disparages Kenny G's technical prowess as a musician, then responds in horror to Kenny G's overdubbing of Louis Armstrong playing "What a Wonderful World". I like both Pat Metheny's and Kenny G's music, not for their technical merits, but because they make me feel good. Mr. Metheny may be correct about Mr. G's chops, but I still like to listen to him play; there's a whole lot of love in his music. Harper's said they got this from Mr. Metheny's web site, www.patmethenygroup.com. I found some comments on it there, but this excerpt itself wasn't found by their search engine.

When Kenny G decided that it was appropriate for him to defile the music of a man who is probably the greatest jazz musician that has ever lived by spewing his lame-ass, jive, pseudo-bluesy, out-of-tune, noodling, wimped-out, f____d-up playing all over one of the great Louis's tracks (even one of his lesser ones), he did something that I would not have imagined to be possible. He, in one move, through his unbelievably pretentious and calloused decision to embark on this most cynical of musical paths, shit all over the graves of all the musicians past and present who have risked their lives by going out there on the road for years and years developing their own music and inspired by the standards of grace that Louis Armstrong brought to every single note he played over an amazing lifetime as a musician. By disrepecting Louis, his legacy, and, by default, everyone who has ever tried to do something positive with improvised music and what it can be, Kenny G reached a new low point in modern culture. We let this slide at our own peril.

Harry Browne's Campaign Journal - Part 21: A couple of tasty nuggets:

Next it's another radio interview in the convention hall -- this one with Ken and Rick Minyard, a father and son team in Modesto, California. Rick is an LP member, while his father is a Republican. We talk about the possibility of being in the presidential debates. Ken wonders what I would ask George Bush or Al Gore if I got the chance. I say, "Would you be a better person today if you had spent ten years in prison for your youthful indiscretions -- like the sentences you favor for young marijuana smokers?"

...

When asked about gun rights, I say that I would disarm all federal employees, outside of the military, including those guarding Congress at the Capitol -- and they will remain disarmed until Congress restores the full and unconditional right of every American to defend himself. Most likely, it would take about five minutes for Congress to come to its senses.

Kevin Anderson at BBC News - Apple unveils the 'Cube': A report on the opening of MacWorld in New York City. The new entry-level iMac will sell for $799 starting in September. A new, optical, mouse. The G4 has a new 8-inch cube enclosure. Pictures. [latte]

John C. Ensslin at the Rocky Mountain News - Taste of reality dooms 11-year-old's soda kiosk: she got shut down for not having a health department license. It would have cost her $355 to comply. State-mandated licensing must end, completely. [unknown]

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