It was 95 years ago today that Titanic sank—"Woman and children first!"

95 years ago today, the RMS Titanic sank on its maiden voyage. You know the grim story (if you don't, go here). . .it was a tragedy of errors.




The Titanic's rudder and propellors



The "unsinkable" RMS Titanic would have escaped the tragedy if the crew had seen the iceberg ten seconds earlier, or ten seconds later. It was a night when everything went wrong. Of a total of 2,223 people, only 706 survived. Most of the lifeboats left the Titanic half-full. No one really believed there was an emergency until the ship began listing, an hour and a quarter after initially striking the 'berg. From there is went down fast. The ship broke in two and each half sank.





The fatal iceberg


60% of the first class passengers were saved.
44% of the second passengers were saved.
25% of the third class passengers were saved.
24% of the crew were saved.
80% of the people who died were men.
50% of the children died



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The LBJ Museum and Library in Austin

I took my second trip to the LBJ Library on the University of Texas campus yesterday. There were a lot of great exhibits as usual, and especially the one on the Electrification of Rural Texas. If you get a chance to go to Austin, don't miss this place. Hero or monster, or both, LBJ was a key president, and probably did more for African-Americans than any President since Lincoln.

The library is not afraid of showing all the contradictions in this often tortured, frequently cranky, and always ambitious man. LBJ often frequented the library in the last years of his life...

On campus, you can also see the Tower. The tower is where the first mass shooting of innocents occurred in America—a harbinger of what was to come, really. It is where the first American parallel killer went bananas. Charles Whitman went up in the tower in 1966, and killed fourteen people and injured dozens more in a little over ninety minutes. They closed the tower for over 20 years, but it reopened a few years ago. To get up there you have to pass through metal detectors, and there are armed guards on the observation deck.






Other recent postings on LBJ:

LBJ responds to White House correspondent Dan Rather (and links to other LBJ photos) (has links to dozens of great photos).
Three more photographs of LBJ
Jerry Seinfeld Called Them The Close Talkers, Or, The Study Of Proxemics
LBJ responds to White House correspondent Dan Rather (and links to other LBJ photos)
LBJ meets FDR
Photograph: LBJ howls like a dog
Another good LBJ photograph - circa 1960
Photograph: LBJ in Vietnam
Photograph: LBJ agonizing over the Vietnam War
Photograph: LBJ and MLK meet up
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The Old 97's show at Stubb's BBQ was a rainout . . .but the Small Stars were great!

click to enlarge The Small Stars

I went to Stubb's BBQ in Austin for the Old 97's/Small Stars show. Maybe twenty minutes after the last Small Stars tune, the skies opened with some fantastic Texas thunder & lightning and win and rain. The ticket-taker earlier told me no, it won't start raining until midnight. Now, I have some Seattle rain cred. and am, in fact, a rain fan. There was water in the air. It was about 80, with humidity in the high-90s. . .in other words a couple percentage points from being an actual mist. I was not shocked to see the rain.

I did not get to see the Old 97s, but I did get to see the Small Stars as the opening act. And they were great!

Small Stars are a quirky melange of influences. In a good way! Miles Zuniga, is in another band, Fastball. Small Stars have a great buzz in Austin. Read more about them and hear a song here. My favorite song title of the show: "That's What God Made Whiskey For." The Small Stars play funny, seriously rocking songs, with great chops and a lot of theater and vamping. With these guys, it's a nice schtick. . .a nice balance between hard rock and alt+country with maybe a whiff of Zappa and The Kinks and Big Star and The Beatles and even maybe a touch of Bongwater, the Dukes of Stratosphere, Wheezer, and finally a good-blast of Tex-Mex and the Austin sound. I liked them a lot. And they came across as really nice, guys. . .weird as they were. Christopher Gray wrote in the Austin Chronicle: "A rare example of a half-baked concept fermenting into a full-fledged band, Austin’s Small Stars smooth-talked noted L.A. engineer Bob Clearmountain (AC/DC, INXS) into brightening the edges of their self-released sophomore effort, Tijuana Dreams, out of pocket no less. Which would be all for pristine-sounding naught if their lounge-lizard tales of showbiz delusions and debauchery didn’t cut frighteningly close to home." Buy their record!
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The Old 97s in Austin

I am going to see the Old 97s tonight at Stubbs' in Austin. It should be a great show in the dirt courtyard there.

These guys are an alt-country band (think Whiskeytown, etc). But better: great guitars, harmony, fantastic lyrics, melody, and a power pop sheen. I am including a video below from You Tube.


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Hello Austin! Goodbye Fear of Flying!

I have been flying around the country (and out of country) since last summer for work. I go to a lot of great places: Eugene, OR; Vancouver, British Columbia; Newport Beach, California; Berkeley California, and best of all, Austin, Texas.



If you know me, or read this blog, you probably know I am a touch trepidatious about flying. Here are some links to pieces I've written about air travel:

A confession: How I slipped through the NSA metal detectors. . .with some heavy metal!
Fear Of Flying, Fear of Dying
Poem: Falling
Poem: Notes On Flying
One More Reason Why I Am Scared Sh**less To Fly: Video Of Fixing A Jet's Wing With Duct Tape
Airline passenger restrictions, hip replacements, and why the Executive Branch goes unmolested, while I am scanned, probed, poked and patted down

I haven't written about my gradual improvement. Until very recently, I needed to be half-baked (and before that, fully baked) to even look at a plane. Lately, I've been eschewing Xanax, red wine, Vallium, etc. I can even get to sleep the night before I fly. Eventually. I no longer get off the plane completely devastated (and toasted). I am still no fan, but somehow the serenity in other parts of my life is oozing into my airborne life. That is goodness.





In a few hours, I fly to one of my favorite cities in the world: Austin, Texas. I am looking forward to all of it, and will grab the chance to go out for music and barbecue, as well as sneak in another trip to the LBJ Library. I will also get a chance to swim outdoors at my hotel, since the temperature this week is in the 80s.

Forgive me. I don't usually treat this as my diary, or neuroses forum, but writing about helps me realize that perhaps I am making headway with the demons of flight. More tomorrow! Selah. ---o0o---

चंगेस - थे वान्देरेर

1
थे मौन्तैं स्तान्ड्स स्टील
अबोवे इत फायर रिसेस उप —

स्त्रंगे लंड्स एंड सेपरेशन
अरे थे वान्देरेर'एस लोट

व्हें होम इस थे रोड़
कुशन एंड रिज़र्व प्रोतेच्त यू फ्रॉम एविल —

2
थे फायर ओं थे मौन्तैं
रसस ओं तो न्यू फुएल

लिके थे वान्देरेर
व्हो कोमेस तो अन इन्

थे इन् बर्न्स डाउन
एंड थे स्त्रन्गेर इन अ स्त्रंगे लैंड

हस नो वनडे लेफ्ट — कोड रेड —
सिर्चुम्स्तान्सस काउसे उस तो सीक

ओर प्लेस इन फॉरेन पार्ट्स
लिके व्हें अ बर्ड'एस नेस्ट बर्न्स उप —

एंड फ़ॉर थे रेस्ट
औफ़ हेर दय्स

शे सेक्स अ होम
शे नेवर फिन्ड्स.
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Jackson Browne Video & Lyrics: Running On Empty

This is one of those anthems for which I am a sucker. I was never a big fan of JB, but I've always loved this tune.





Running On Empty

by Jackson Browne

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields
In sixty-five I was seventeen and running up one-o-one
I don't know where I'm running now, I'm just running on

Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But I'm running behind

Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive
Trying not to confuse it with what you do to survive
In sixty-nine I was twenty-one and I called the road my own
I don't know when that road turned onto the road I'm on

Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But I'm running behind

Everyone I know, everywhere I go
People need some reason to believe
I don't know about anyone but me
If it takes all night, that'll be all right
If I can get you to smile before I leave

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
I don't know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels
I look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through
Looking into their eyes I see them running too

Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But I'm running behind

Honey you really tempt me
You know the way you look so kind
I'd love to stick around but I'm running behind
You know I don't even know what I'm hoping to find
Running into the sun but I'm running behind
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Poem: Changes 56/The Wanderer

1
The mountain stands still
Above it fire rises up—

Strange lands and separation
Are the wanderer's lot

When home is the road
Caution and reserve protect you from evil—

2
The fire on the mountain
Races on to new fuel

Like the wanderer
Who comes to an inn

The inn burns down
And the stranger in a strange land

Has no one left —CODE RED—
Circumstances cause us to seek

Our place in foreign parts
Like when a bird's nest burns up—

And for the rest
Of her days

She seeks a home
She never finds.
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Painting: Self Portrait No. 33

click painting to enlarge

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A Textbook Video On How NOT To Rob A Liquor Store

You gotta love security cams. I will admit this robber is an iron man. He had to hurt just a little bit the next day. . .



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Video and Lyrics: The Outsiders' Time Won't Let me

This is one of my favorite nuggets/moldy oldies, and a well-known pop masterpiece. I don't know any of the Outsider's other music, but they got it right at least this once. . .

Time Won't Let Me

By Tom King - Chet Kelley

I can't wait forever
Even though you want me to
I can't wait forever
To know if you'll be true

[Chorus:]
Time won't let me (oh, no)
Time won't let me (oh, no)
Time won't let me...ee...ee...ee

Can't you see I've waited too long
To love you, to hold you in my arms

Ahhh...ahhh...ahhh...ah!

I can't wait forever
Even though you want me to
I can't wait forever
To know if you'll be true

[Chorus]

Hear me baby waitin' that long
Take me back, I'm comin' back right now
Hear me baby sayin' I'm comin' home
I'm comin' home, oh hear me talkin', pretty baby
Don't you know I'm comin' back to you, oh!
Oh pretty baby, take me back, I'm comin' back
Open up your arms and take me back, a-here I come
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Hillary Clinton As Barack Obama's Vice-President?/Trying Out For Quarterback

David Letterman asked some intriguing questions of Senator Obama on last night's CBS Late Show. It's probably a little early to speculate on just who will get skunked in the primary races. . .but you can't blame Letterman for trying, even though it's a fool's mission to press a candidate (and especially before the first primary) into saying, "sure I'd love to be Vice-President."

Letterman: People will say, they say, ‘Oh well, this is Barack Obama’s – he’s only been a senator for two years, so maybe we’re looking at some sort of a compromise on the ticket. Maybe he’ll be the Presidential candidate, Hillary might be the vice president, maybe the reverse of that. Any of that occur at this point or not?”

Obama: “No, you don’t run for second. I don’t believe in that, yeah.”

Letterman: “But that would be a powerful ticket. Undeniably that would be a powerful ticket.”

Obama: “Which order are we talking about?” [audience laughs, Sen. Obama and Letterman laugh; the audience applauds]

Letterman: “Let’s say you’re the presidential candidate and Hillary is the vice presidential candidate. Now, if she were sitting here, it would be different than that, but – “ [audience laughs; Sen. Obama laughs]

Obama: “I have terrific respect for Hillary. She’s a terrific senator. She does a great job for New York. “

Letterman: “Right, but that’s what I’m saying. Is there any thought to that in – I mean, is it unspoken? Is it discussed at all or is it only the kind of thing people like to write about and talk about on TV?”

Obama: “You know, I think all the candidates are in to win and one of the things about the process is by the end of it, after having gone through all the debates and all the campaigning out in various states, people get a pretty good sense of who various candidates are and, but I think we’re all on the same team. We’re all Democrats. I think most of us want to see a healthcare system that provides coverage to everybody. Most of want to see an education system that gives opportunity to every kid. All of us think that we’ve got to start getting our troops out of Iraq, and so really what we’re doing is we’re trying out for quarterback…”
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