Sunday, April 30, 2006

FreakyTrigger...and MORE! (but not MUCH more)

FreakyTrigger - Wasting Time Since 1999
'Nuff said.

I'm so depressed...one of my favorite blogs, The Taco Jockey, is no more.
What happened, Taco Jockey?
I know you quit working at Taco Bell and found a job at another fast food joint...but I have no idea where or even IF you're blogging about it.
:(

Graveyard shift has me worn out most of the time. This explains my scant blogging of late.
Sleep deprivation hallucinations have me in their sway.

Movie Review: Stay

Click HERE for an excellent review of one of the best films I've seen in a long time, Marc Forster's Stay.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Hallucination

A tiny pin point of light
Caught in the vacuum of darkness
Behind closed eyes
Projected on the veil of separation
Followed, impregnated by imagination
Morphs into a slide-show
Of unknown faces
Human, alien, and demon
Smiling, scowling, silent, howling
I stand fascinated, no longer afraid
I can make myself believe
They are ghosts, spirits, essence manifested in
Bright white light, a photographic negative
Revealing themselves for some reason
They refuse to share

I've embraced this slow death...

I've embraced this slow death
Picked up the heavy beam
It's more weight than I thought I could bear
But the spirit of Atlas must dwell within me
I am determined
To submit my hands to nails and mallet
My feet to the spike
To give this sagging husk
My own sacrifice, willingly offered

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Curtis Haynes, Rest In Peace, my Brother


Curtis Haynes 1957-2006

I first met Curtis Haynes back in 1981 when I was attending Seminole Junior College. If memory serves, he was working at the local Pizza Hut. Somehow I struck up a conversation with him and was delighted to learn that he was a huge fan of what we used to refer to as "underground music" (punk, late 70's new wave, early 80's alternative). He had a passion for this music that I could really relate to and our conversations were always centered around this common interest.
Curtis was a Christian. We shared this in common as well, and he was one of a very few acquaintances of mine who was just as enthusiastic about the latest Resurrection Band album as he was for a fresh release by Husker Du.
I visited Curtis in his home several times and considered him a friend. We drifted apart but it seemed like every few years we'd run into each other. Curtis had a contagious smile and his eyes would light up when the conversation would return to music. I can still hear his laugh.
Just such a great guy.
I was shocked and stunned to see his name in the obituaries of my hometown newspaper. At first I thought it couldn't be THE Curtis Haynes that I remembered. I read the obit, looking for touchstones, and my heart sank when I recognized the names of his wife and brother listed as "survivors". Even then I couldn't fathom that it could be my old friend, after all, he was only 48 (and to be honest, I'd always thought he was even younger than that...he certainly had a youthful exuberrance about him).
My fears were confirmed, however, when I visited the funeral home website and saw his picture there, the Joey Ramone t-shirt being all it took to drive it home that yes, this was THE Curtis Haynes.
I wish we had been closer, but I feel very blessed to have known this brother in Christ. And I am saddened that our serendipitous meetings sprinkled across the years have come to an end in this life.
And finally, I look forward to our next "serendipitous meeting"...
Goodbye, old friend.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Overdose

Mirko Aretini has produced a rather unique conceptual video, "Overdose", utilyzing the music of Sigur Ros ("Sven-G-Englar").

Genesis - Midnight Special 1973



Oh, yeah!
The internet as Time Machine!
For whatever reason I have had no luck with YouTube, a website that offers videos uploaded from it's users...don't know what's been wrong, probably on my end, but lo and behold today it seems to be all cleared up and I have just revisited my ancient past viewing Genesis' Midnight Special performance of 1973!!!
How it takes me back!
Just a wee lad of eleven years, I was, and why I was allowed to stay up until after midnight on Fridays is something you'd have to take up with my parents. But I remember it like it was only yesterday, sitting in my father's recliner with all the lights out, transfixed and hypnotized by the spooky visage on the screen...
That would be Peter Gabriel, in full face make-up and bat-wing costume intoning the lyrics to "Watcher of the Skies" after Tony Banks eerie Hammond B-3 organ introduction. I sat in silent wonder, in awe of this new combination of rock music and theatrics. I became a Genesis fan there and then, and to this day I remain one.
The video on YouTube is the entire performance they did on that night in September of 1973 and also features a rousing (if slightly truncated) rendition of what may well be my all-time favorite Genesis number, "The Musical Box".
But don't take my word for it...check it out for yourself:

I Draw You

I have received lots of encouragement for my other blogs from a guy named Brock, who somehow stumbled upon one of them and left nice compliments. I was very flattered because when I checked out his work it proved to be exceptionally good.
Brock is currently working on a project called I Draw You, and the concept is that the reader sends a link to a photo of himself/herself and then Brock will convert it into a drawing in his own unique style. The results thus far have been nothing short of amazing.
The waiting list is a bit long, but I went ahead and sent a photo anyway...
We'll see what comes of it, but I have no doubt it will be interesting and impressive.

Poetry Jukebox

Thought I was gone forever, didn't ya?
So did I.
But I'm back long enough to throw out this link to the Poetry Jukebox, a clever little site, I must say.
A few new poems on my own Bipolar Confessional, as well, but things don't look good for Nausea & Bliss...sorry, Charles, but the time has come for me to hit the ole Delete button on that one...and I will...
...soon.

Pages

Empty pages of a book
That you gave me
I have yet to write one line
Stored in corners of
Dark and dusty rooms
In libraries of my mind
Thinkin' someday
I'll get my pen and sit down
Write something
On the back burner, it seems
Like all those other unrealized dreams
Empty pages
So blank
So white
Dark as night
They could not represent a life
No good or bad
No happy or sad
Nothing at all
Would be better than that life
Oh, a million things
Pass through my mind each moment
I can't let them all out
So tired of second guessing
Everything that I doubt

But it's alright, mom
I'm only crying
It's alright
Turn away, don't look at me
It's alright
It's alright
It didn't bother you yesterday

I had convinced myself
That nothing I had ever done
Was worth the time
Time wasted, I considered it all
And who knows,
I may have been right
I may have been right, but don't you know
It was my time
I may have been right all along
But don't you know it was
My time
I may have been wasting precious time
Time I could never get back
But don't you know?
It was my time.
My time.
Don't you know?
This is my life...

Yesterday Didn't Happen

If I could drift away
If I could yesterday
Never happened
If I could slip away
Into when
Into where
I need
To be
If my heart weren't so hard
If my hard heart were softened
If my pride
Would die
If my pride would die
I'd be alright
If my soul
Could rise up
Above
The clouds of my life
If my soul hadn't dried up
Long ago
Would I still sing these songs for you?
If my soul hadn't dried up
So long ago
If I could kill my ego
Then I would
Yes, I would
Yes, I would
If I could get off of this roller coaster
You know I would
You know I would
You know I would
So Jesus, stop me
Jesus, stop me
Jesus, stop me
Oh, won't you stop me?

Acknowledgement

Someday I will
Raise my hands, grab enlightenment
Someday I will
Wash up on the shore of this illusion
Lift up my hands, pull down inspiration
Wash these sins away, erase this illusion
I will find you
In these lonely places
I will call you
Fill these empty spaces
Someday I will,
Blessed with patience,
Find my way to you

Thank you for the gift that I've stolen
Thank you for this gift I've called my own
I am giving it back to you
Why do you keep giving it back to me?
I told you I stole it
Why do you keep giving it back to me
Till I think that it was always mine
When I think that it was always mine
That's when you take it away

If I could just get myself together
If I could just throw my self away
And let you sing your song through me...