Long gone

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Today my son
is the Black Fox
in a one-kid revival
of the ’50s classic, The Court Jester
as he stands around the kitchen shouting:
“Hawkins, get out of my clothes.”
“Hawkins, get out of my clothes!”
He wants to play with Danny Kaye
but Danny Kaye is long gone.

The Gravity’s Rainbow Deathmarch

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So I was talking to one of my brothers last night, and we agreed that this Pynchon book has bedeviled us long enough. Me, I’ve started Gravity’s Rainbow at least 3 times. And let’s just say I’m very familiar with the first 30 pages. OK, sentences. OK, consonants. Hell, I’ve never even finished The Crying of Lot 49 and that’s a damn pamphlet.
So we made a pact. We made a death pact. You know, minus the death. 50 pages a week, starting the first week in January. No stopping till we reach the other side. Then we thought: hey! There must be other folks out there who’ve been similarly confounded. Let’s see if we can gather together a tribe of like-minded long-suffers and tackle this beast en masse. Thus was born The Gravity’s Rainbow Deathmarch.
We’d like to use this site as a forum, post an open thread once a week for shared thoughts, comfort. Mebbe I’ll even spring for some exciting incredibly cheap end-of-journey prizes for them what make it all the way through, and manage to check in each week, all depending on how many people are interested.
So that’s the shpiel. All are welcome — friends, foes, strangers, passersby. If you’re reading this, and if you’re interested in joining, drop a comment here, or send me an email. We’ll work out the details in the next couple of weeks.
I hear the clamor of boots, the clatter of coffee cups, the straightening of glasses. Today we order paperbacks and shuffle through dusty shelves for old unread college copies. For tomorrow we ride!
-Cecil
update: if you’re buying a copy, I’m told one handsome option is this swank Penguin edition. That’s the one I’ll be picking up, fwiw.

For Every Man There’s a Woman

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Good golly do I love the standards. A while back, you may recall, I posted covers first of “Bye Bye, Blackbird,” and then (with a lotta help from eb and Eileen Dahl) “Second Hand Rose.” Great tunes, both.
Here’s the third in this ongoing series of let’s-just-say-non-traditional piano/vocal/guitar takes on jazz standards — “For Every Man There’s a Woman,” written in 1948, with ok-they’re-sorta-dated lyrics by Leo Robins and absolutely timeless music by Harold Arlen. Wotta tune. Seriously: Big ups for Harold “Harold Arlen” Arlen, author of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “That Old Black Magic,” “I’ve Got the World on a String” and a gazillion other bits of genius.
Let me just put it this way: If Harold Arlen was alive today and had a web site, I’d give him a free link. That’s how much I like Harold Arlen.
Press Play to play.
playtime:1:34
file specs: nought but 1.4 MB mp3
Enjoy! And thanks for dropping by…

She’s Quite Old

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That Victorian isn’t old. That car
isn’t old. My Sinatra records aren’t
old. Not that old. Not really.
Even that old tree isn’t old.
That old woman
who just walked past
like she just stepped out
of Deuteronomy
with a flock of goats trailing behind
and a thin little stick
and a plan
to get them all
to water by nightfall.
That old woman is old.

All-American Me

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I’m wearing big pants today
big comfy pants
size none of your damn business pants
so big, so comfy
makes me want to have a piece of cake
a piece of chocolate cheese cake
stretch these big pants out.

Summer

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Checking in to find them
lying side by side
in the dark
like sisters
comparing notes
on what had been
the best part of the day.

Everybody’s playing Yu-Gi-Oh!

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It was a more innocent time, way back in October of 2004 when I first wrote about Yu-Gi-Oh! and Zach Braff, and my secret rage. We’re all a lot older now, hey? And perhaps a bit wiser too.
“What is Yu-Gi-Oh!?” Well, it’s a card game. And a movie. It’s a franchise. It’s a way of life. It’s like Pokemon, see? Only much more…Yu-Gi-Oh!
One thing’s for sure: YGO! and all the YGO! cards referenced in this tune, including but not limited to “The Mad Dog of Darkness,” “The Nobleman Eater Bug,” and “The Axe of Despair” are all copyright (c) Kazuki Takahashi. I mean, if nothing else, we can all agree on that, right? Alright then. Enough already! On with the rock n roll!
Here’s a little ditty I wrote for my son. It features Eileen Dahl on back-up vocals. Enjoy…
Press Play to play.
time: 42 seconds flat
file size: nary 670K

x-post: and the monkey and the murder and the minute mystery of it all

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More Monday, more Monkey Vortex Radio Theater. This week: Tony Jonick busts it 1930s-style with what some say may well be the greatest piece of recorded entertainment since Edison invented tiny, pocket-sized people who remember what you say and then repeat it back to you whenever you press on their head!
It’s a little number we like to call Caught in the Trap. Featuring the considerable voice talents (and auspicious MVRT debuts) of Robin Brady and Jerry Williams!