If you want to know more about it, check out THIS site.
Just a bunch of crazy people? A few people don't think so and even though their case was thrown out, it still makes you wonder. (Government Seeks Dismissal of End-of-World Suit Against Collider)
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Thursday I left work early and headed over to Birmingham to see Tom Waits at the Alabama Theatre.
When I'm asked to share the best concert I've ever seen, two artists come to mind. First is Peter Rowan, who is an excellent songwriter and the most captivating performer I've seen in my life, as well as the most amazing storyteller in the world. He can be almost hypnotic. The second is James Brown. More stage presence than I've ever seen in my life, insane energy, and an ensemble to be reckoned with.
However, though I cannot in any way, shape, form or fashion deduct any merit from either of those two artists, I feel secure in saying that Tom Waits has hit the top of that list. I'm finding it difficult to describe how utterly blown away I was.
So, until I figure out how to describe this most insanely wonderful spectacle, here's the setlist.
1. Lucinda/Ain't Goin' Down to the Well (Orphans) 2. Way Down in the Hole (Frank's Wild Years) 3. Falling Down (Big Time) 4. Hold On (Mule Variations) 5. Chocolate Jesus (Mule Variations) 6. Cemetary Polka (Rain Dogs) 7. Poor Edward (Alice) 8. Lie to Me (Orphans) 9. Hang Down Your Head (Rain Dogs) 10. All the World is Green (Blood Money) 11. Black Market Baby (Mule Variations) 12. Frank's Wild Years (Swordfishtrombones) 13. Misery is the River of the World (Blood Money) 14. Tango Till They're Sore (Rain Dogs) 15. On the Nickel (Heartattack and Vine)--Tom on piano 16. Diamond In Your Mind--Tom on piano 17. Innocent When You Dream (Frank's Wild Years)--Tom on piano 18. Jockey Full of Bourbon (Rain Dogs) 19. Make It Rain (Real Gone) 20. Jesus Gonna Here (Bone Machine) 21. Cold Cold Ground (Frank's Wild Years) 22. November (The Black Rider) 23. Hoist That Rag (Real Gone) w/ Sullivan Waits on congas Encore: 1. Singapore (Rain Dogs) 2. Dirt in the Ground (Bone Machine) 3. Come on Up to the House (Mule Variations) The setting was incredible--and couldn't have been more perfect. The stage setup was of course, busy...Tom's raised platform for shuffling/dancing/stomping purposes (complete with ready access to a really big drum and a gong), and each ensemble member's primary instrument and lots of various whatnot strategically placed about. I honestly can't describe the extent of noise-making objects that were on stage...in part because many of them seemed unique and in part because I was in the balcony, at the point where if you stand on a step and look down to the orchestra pit you find yourself getting dizzy. As for the performance, all I can think to say is it was out of this world. The setlist perfectly followed Rob Gordon's philosophy for mixtape-making.* The show progressed like a slow escalation into the upper levels of the atmosphere which culminated in a sensation of near weightlessness. Some of the high points for me were Chocolate Jesus and Cemetary Polka because I love them both...then Tom caught a gear and hit his stride with Lie to Me. I was thrilled to hear Black Market Baby and Frank's Wild Years (one of Tom's spoken-word recordings) was really great to see. A few songs later was Tango Till They're Sore...which I love. Then, the band walked off stage and Tom Went over and sat down behind his piano. The bass player also stayed on stage. Those three songs, as noted above, were beyond words. It was wonderful to see him at the piano and hearing him at his most basic level--the way he started out with Closing Time. Songwriter and piano. Oh, and bass...which added quite a lot to the piano. I would've loved to have heard Ol' 55, but I forgot that song even existed when he started into Innocent When You Dream. And believe me, that's saying something. I will admit, however, that the one song I absolutely HAD to hear was Jockey Full of Bourbon. As soon as the band returned to the stage and I heard the first two notes, I screamed like a teenage girl. What made it even more awesome was the fact that I was just in New Orleans, and the opening of Jim Jarmusch's film Down By Law is a sequence of moving shots in black and while "driving" down the streets of New Orleans to that song. I was in the Alabama Theatre watching Tom Waits perform Jockey Full of Bourbon with images of New Orleans vividly running through my mind. Every song after Jockey Full of Bourbon was a high point. During Make It Rain, Tom held out his hands and glitter fell from above the stage and rained down on him, which was insanely cool. Cold Cold Ground and November provided a brief break in the energy, but no break whatsoever in intensity. And then zang...Hoist That Rag, with Tom's son on congas. Mindblowing. The encore was perfect...I have to say that Dirt In The Ground made me feel my insides...Tom's delivery was so real that everyone in the auditorium should have felt it. Ending with Come On Up To The House gave me all kinds of goosebumps. This world is not my home, I'm just a-passing through. You've gotta come on up to the house. That one did move me to tears. And throughout the show he stomped on his powdered platform, bringing up puffs of fog around his feet and later disturbing the glitter, danced and strolled and slid, and made various adjustments to his hat. The stage presence and performance that he demonstrated boggles the mind. This man was born to do exactly what he does. I left at midnight, all aflutter with wonderment. Then, around five the next morning, I heard the gravel driveway under my tires. The three-ish hour roadtrip was great both ways...though the drive back was longer as it was necessary to drive at more reasonable speeds and stop for coffee. But there were tunes, and singing, and...well, more tunes and singing. It's good to have a room of one's own*** every now and again...even if that room is the interior of a Honda CRV. *From High Fidelity: The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules. **Thanks to The Eyeball Kid...whose site I stumbled onto when researching titles I wasn't certain of...for having that most helpful site as well providing help with the title of this blog. ***Virginia Woolf
Police march to the monument honouring constables Brock Myrol, Peter Schiemann, Leo Johnston and Anthony Gordon prior to the unveiling of the Fallen Four Memorial Park, in Mayerthorpe, Alberta on Friday July 4, 2008. The officers were ambushed on March 3, 2005 by James Roszko on a farm near Mayerthorpe, Alberta, Canada.
MAYERTHORPE, Alberta, Canada - Family and friends of four murdered Mounties wept and watched silently in awe as the people of a small rural Alberta farm town unveiled life-sized bronze statues of their loved ones Friday.
Gleaming under a bright prairie sun, the statues stand in a circle back to back, each constable in full dress uniform, facing out proudly toward those who have mourned their loss every single day since March 3, 2005. In the centre is a bronze-capped obelisk surrounded by doves.
Const. Peter Schiemann is snapping a salute. Const. Anthony Gordon stands proudly at ease. Const. Leo Johnston is at attention. Const. Brock Myrol is standing easy.
Brock's parents, Colleen and Keith Myrol, peered at the likeness of their son in wonder.
"I cried because I thought he is still standing on guard for Canada," Colleen Myrol said.
"It is very good positive energy from the town of Mayerthorpe. Today we will celebrate what good Canadians have done. We have seen the best of the best here today."
Don Schiemann, Peter's father, was speechless as his son's statue was unveiled. Surrounded by a crowd of relatives who were in Alberta for a family wedding, the Schiemanns just stared up at the 400-kilogram statue as a crowd of more than 1,000 townspeople, police and dignitaries applauded.
"I hadn't seen the statue before so I didn't know what to expect. The way that they have him saluting - it was perfect," Schiemann said later.
"Some people might look at it as if it is a memorial to death. I hope it is a memorial to service and to sacrifice."
The young officers were ambushed by James Roszko on his property during an investigation into a stolen parts and marijuana grow operation. Roszko later shot himself.
Juergen Preugschas, the leader of a community group that worked for three years on the $1.8-million memorial park, said the violent crime put Mayerthorpe on the world map for all the wrong reasons.
But he said people in the small town northwest of Edmonton refused to be defined by such a tragedy and quickly got to work.
Once word of the plan to honour the officers became public, donations began coming in from across Canada. There was money from governments and school children, private businesses and 4-H clubs, police officers and concerned citizens.
The statues have helped people channel their grief and transformed something ugly into something beautiful.
"This national memorial, created out of love and respect, does not stand in a national centre, but in the tiny but proud and determined rural little town of Mayerthorpe, Alta.," Preugschas said.
"This park belongs to every person who has a beloved peace officer lay down their life for the citizens of this country. It belongs to every grieving individual who needs to know that the rest of the country does care."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the murder of the four Mounties a "monstrous insult to all that is good and decent."
Harper said such violence is especially out of place in a peaceful, close-knit rural community that exemplifies Canadian values the way Mayerthorpe does.
The prime minister praised the spirit of the community.
"Other people in other places might have exploded in rage, or sunk into despair. But not Mayerthorpe," Harper said.
"Everyone associated with this terrible event has conducted themselves with grace, dignity and purpose. Your courage and resiliency have been an inspiration to all Canadians."
Margaret Thibault, one of the driving forces behind the Mayerthorpe Fallen Four Memorial Society, choked up with emotion when she named each of the four dead officers as the statues were unveiled.
A resident of the town for 31 years, Thibault, who once worked at the town RCMP detachment, knew some of the fallen Mounties personally.
The dedication of the memorial park should help people move on from their grief, she said.
"It is not enough just to survive. Today we show it is possible to prevail," she said.
"It is possible to feel that pain, but then build something that helps celebrate the good memories of Peter, Leo, Anthony, Brock and their brothers and sisters that stand shoulder to shoulder with them."
In turning tragedy into 'goodness,' the tiny community of Mayerthorpe, Alta., unveiled four life-sized bronze statues in a new memorial park dedicated to the Mounties gunned down in 2005.
Creating the statues has been a labour of love for sculptors Don and Shirley Begg and their staff at Studio West in Cochrane, Alta. They toiled under tight security to ensure the public didn't see their work until the unveiling.
The Beggs consulted closely with each Mountie's family to ensure his statue is as lifelike and accurate as possible, right down to the inscriptions on the uniform buttons.
Working from photographs, the sculptors slowly built frames for each statue, then fleshed them out in clay, nimbly using their fingers to capture the likeness and character of each man. The mothers were consulted to ensure they got it right before the final moulds were made and the bronze poured.
Kelly Johnston, Leo's widow, trembled with emotion as she spoke of her loss after his statue was unveiled.
Johnston has been locked in a bitter legal battle with her in-laws over her husband's remains - she wants them moved to RCMP headquarters in Regina, but they say moving the remains from his grave in their home community of Lac La Biche would go against his wishes and beliefs as a Metis.
The parents, Grace and Ron Johnston, were at the ceremony, but declined to speak to reporters.
Kelly Johnston said words such as disaster, tragedy, horrific and horrendous cannot even begin to describe the pain she has felt since her soulmate died on that cold March day.
"My world went black. Colour is slowly, slowly, slowly filtering in. Something like this is a nice start. It is a beginning," she said.
"The community came together and supported all of us that day. And it's nice to see the community coming together again today and saying 'Look, we are starting again anew, and this is what we are doing for you."'
Scott Peterson
Scott Peterson was photographed by the California Department of Corrections in June 2007. Housed on death row at San Quentin State Prison, Peterson was found guilty in 2005 of killing his wife, Laci and their unborn son, Conner. Notice "CONDEMNED" on his placard.
How long do you take in the shower?
Submitted by Strive2Be.
Gosh, I'm rather embarrassed now. I'm the person who posted this question, and I did so because my friend was SHOCKED at how long I took. Lol. He wanted to know *exactly* what I could possibly be doing in the shower....take him step by step. I thought he was being silly, but after reading the answers to this question.....wow, I must transform into a turtle or some such slow critter when the water hits me. I spend about an hour....yes, you heard me world....one whole hour....sixty minutes.....in the rectangle of spraying water. That includes wash/rinse hair, wash/rinse body (lol), and shaving BOTH my legs (don't forget that there are TWO of them), plus maybe a touch-up shave between................shhhhhhhhhh. AND....this doesn't even include getting into the song, "Good, good, good...good vibrations!" Lol. You really don't want to know how long I'm in the shower if I get that song into my head!! So......I'm a turtle......or a slug......or some primordial sludge. And then don't even get me into what I do AFTER the shower...lotion on the legs and (shhhhhhh area) so the skin doesn't dry out, clip the nails (and remember, we have finger AND toe nails! Lol), dry myself, pat my hair dry and then let it dry on its own after I've combed it, and get dressed. I also, at some point during all this time, am cleaning out the shower and drying it. And guess what, guess what?? I'm one of those people who doesn't use all those creams and lotions and make-up and gobbly gook. Can you imagine how long I'd be in the bathroom???? Just bodywash, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, and lotion for the shaved areas. How come I feel like I'm on the witness stand, defending myself desperately so as not to received the death penalty?? *smile* I'll have to go into hyperactive speed next time and let you know the results. Probably shampoo in the eye, legs with hair still visible in areas, a nick in a sensitive spot, and a major slip getting out of the shower as my feet are still slimy with bodywash. Well...at least I can yell to the world...I'M UNIQUE!!!!! WooHoo!!!! Not so sure if I like this uniqueness, though. It's more like "Super freak, she's a super freak!" Lol.
Yesterday was one of the final steps to having a life of normalcy. Jason and I have wanted to be together for so long and now it is, as they say, "official". He is my boyfriend. He is the love of my life and today our life can begin together. All of the things that were standing in our way, are gone. We no longer have to keep our feelings for each other a secret. In some ways we moved slow and did things "right" and in other ways we moved backwards to get to where we are now.... at wonderful beginning to a wondrous life together. The weights of our lives and circumstances have lifted. We are perfect for each other. We are soul mates. He is my best friend. Nothing in my life has ever been so perfect. He makes me laugh, he makes me smile, he gives me joy in my heart like I have never felt before. He makes me happy; genuinely happy. I love his daughter and he loves my son, and someday soon our kids will start to hang out together. Knowing our kids I know that they will grow to love each other too. We have a great life and it just keeps getting better and better.
It feels like almost everything in my life is complete...............
Harvey was a Phooka -
According to legend, the phooka is an adroit shape changer, capable of assuming a variety of terrifying forms. It may appear as a horse, rabbit, goat, goblin, or dog. No matter what form the phooka takes, its fur is almost always dark. (its name is a cognate of the early Irish 'poc', 'a male goat', and it may lend its name to Puck, the goat-footed satyr made famous in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream), but it most commonly takes the form of a sleek black horse with a flowing mane and glowing yellow eyes.
If a human is enticed onto a phooka's back it has been known to give them a wild ride. But unlike a kelpie, which will take its rider and dive into the nearest river or lake to drown and devour him, the phooka will do the unfortunate rider no real harm. The Púca has the power of human speech, and has been known to give advice and lead people away from danger. Though the phooka enjoys confusing and often terrifying humans, it is considered to be benevolent. (from Wikipedia)
In this case, he was just entertaining and kept Jimmy Stewart out the nut house.
There was even a surprise visit by Bernie Kopell who played Conrad Siegfried, Vice President of KAOS, in the original series.
One very interesting character was Dalip Singh who played the henchman for Siegfried. Dalip Singh is a 387 pound power lifter from India who has an extensive background in New Japan Pro Wrestling, Japanese grappling, martial arts, Greco Roman wrestling, western wrestling and the Indian martial art of kalari. He played in the Longest Yard too.
He reminded me of Richard Kiel.
While we were in Tampa last month, we had a bad experience at PF Changs. It seemed they had reduced portion size while keeping prices the same. Like I've said before, I'm fine with paying more at this point. I expect it. However I'm not happy when I order what I think is enough food to feed my family, only to come up short. So Steve e-mailed them, pretty much saying the same thing in a nice manner. Today, a gift card for $40 came in the mail from PF Changs. Woohoo!
In other news, after last week's horrendous accidental chicken jerky, I've decided to make my version of Alice Springs Chicken for "TV Thursday" dinner. I've yet to mess this one up. I'm also making olive oil, parmesan and roasted garlic potatoes and some mukimame. I can't wait.
I've started to read Wicked. It wasn't exactly what I expected. Definetely not for the kiddies, but good. I also picked up the new David Sedaris book. I'm reading a bit here and there when I need a good laugh, savoring it like a fine wine. Oh, and I bought Wuthering Heights out of curiousity thanks to Twilight. I finished The Host. Very, very good. I highly recommend it. Meanwhile, War and Peace is peacefully sitting on my bookshelf gathering dust. The "peace" parts were good, but I was having a hard time getting into the "war".
Last night, Steve and I went into Georgetown. I ended up with new shoes and got to eat at La Madeleine. We've also had Thai food and cheesesteaks this week. And I wonder why I've gained 3 pounds since coming back from Tampa.
I am bummed however that Children of Men came in the mail from Netflix instead of Redneck Zombies. Seriously. I was really looking forward to watching it this weekend. It was filmed in Delmar, MD on a video camera. All the reviews said it was wonderfully bad. Oh well.
Better hop off here. I've got about 2 hours before Rob, Kirsten (formerly known at "the new girl"), and Gary arrive.
Underground Railroad 1840-1860
A one-minute video recreation of a time in Canada's past, followed by a short synopsis.
Synopsis
Between 1840 and 1860, more than 30,000 American slaves came secretly to Canada and freedom
"When my feet first touched the Canadian shore, I threw myself on the ground, rolled in the sand, seized handfuls of it and kissed them." These were the words of Josiah Henson recalling his first moments as a free man. Henson had escaped to Canada along the "underground railroad," a network of secret paths, hiding places and safe houses that stretched from southern states to the borders of Canada. Like countless other immigrants, Henson came to Canada as a refugee escaping brutality and oppression.
The slaves fled the inhuman treatment they suffered in the southern United States, where they were - by law - the property of their owners. Beaten and whipped and forced to obey, many worked up to eighteen hours a day in the fields, returning at night to squalid shacks for meagre rations of corn meal and bacon scraps.
Among the many tragic stories of slavery were tales of husbands taken from wives and of children torn from their mothers to be sold like animals. Captured runaway slaves were often tortured. Professional slave catchers, notorious for their cruelty, tracked runaway slaves all the way from the deep South to the Canadian border. It took enormous courage to escape.
But thanks to the "agents" on the underground railroad [men and women, white and black, Canadian and American], many slaves found freedom in Canada. Some of these agents have become legends. The great Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave herself, returned south again and again to lead others north. A Canadian, Alexander Ross, travelled to southern plantations in the guise of a gentleman bird fancier. His real mission, however, was to direct slaves to the escape routes.
Harriet Tubman was a worker on the Underground Railroad. She made 19 trips from Canada back to the South, and helped free approximately 300 people.
Dr. Martin Luther King said that in the history of black America, "Canada was the north star." The old spiritual, "Follow the Drinking Gourd," gave slaves the hidden advice to keep their eyes on the Gourd [the Big Dipper], which pointed the way north to "heaven," in this case Canada.