Poem: Imaginary Friends

I wonder which is worse—
Having imaginary friends
Or imaginary enemies?

I don't know anyone
With an imaginary friend,
But I know plenty of folk—

From The President on down—
With imaginary enemies,
From ghostly dopplegangers

To the guy in the next cubicle,
That control every thought
And every move they make.
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President says Hillary will win the nomination/White House calls Obama "lazy"

On Drudge, more quotes from Bill Sammon in the bombshell book, EVANGELICAL PRESIDENT

President Bush has declared that Senator Clinton will win the presidential nomination. In other news, the White House called Barack Obama "lazy."

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Video (and lyrics) Not Alone Anymore...by Roy Orbison & The Traveling Wilburys

This song, from late in Roy Orbison's short life, was one of the finest The Wilburys recorded. And Roy is absolutely at the top of his game. It's one of my favorite Orbison tunes ever. It's a sweet, poppy, rock and C/W tinged gem. Thank you Roy!

Not Alone Any More

You always said that I’d be back again, that I’d come running to you in the end.
I thought that you were on your own, (sha la la la, sha la la la)
and now I find you're not alone. (sha la la la)
(Not alone) I’ll see you through the rain, (not alone) through the heartache and pain,
(not alone) it hurts like never before, you're not alone anymore.

You always said that I would know some day just how it feels when your love's gone away.
I let you down, I let you go, (sha la la la, sha la la la) I lost you, how was I to know? (sha la la la)
(Not alone) I see you through the rain, (not alone) through the heartache and pain,
(not alone) it hurts like never before, you're not alone anymore.

I never knew I could feel this way, I never could see past yesterday.
You feel that everything is gone, (sha la la la, sha la la la)
I feel it too, you're not alone. (sha la la la)
(Not alone) I’ll see you through the rain, (not alone) through the heartache and pain,
(not alone) it hurts like never before, you're not alone, you're not alone,
you're not alone anymore, any more, any more.

Painting: Dean Ericksen - portrait of a madman

Painting: self-portrait 24

click to enlarge
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"Sure we'd invite Hitler to speak", says Columbia dean

The Dean of Columbia, John Coatsworth, said in an intervew that, yes, they would invite Hitler to speak if he were around today.

Well, sure. He was a rousing orator. And he was a vegetarian and loved children and dogs.

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The Do It Now Foundation survives

click images to enlarge

Way back in the day (meaning, here, 1971-73), I worked two years full-time (for a subsistence stipend of $150 a month) at a Crisis & Drop-in Center, in Kent, Washington. We used a lot of educational materials from the Do It Now Foundation, which wasn't always popular with the authorities and funding agencies. Why? They focused on the immediately dangerous drugs like speed, heroin, PCP, and barbiturates, and didn't sweat the more organic drugs.

Do It Now's spokespeople were not popular with the establishment either. . .folks like Grace Slick, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, John Sebastian, and others. bNot to mention the garish graphics and typography, and illustrations by people like Robert Crumb, and the cartoons of the Furry Freak Brothers. But it worked. By not peddling a lot of false information, they established credibility.


click to enlarge - this book was great, and we bought them by the case


Do It Now's attitude was basically, if it grows in the ground (e.g., marijuana, peyote, mushrooms), it's not so bad. Although their educational materials were great, this pragmatic approach was not popular, as I mentioned, with the authorities, and even with many of our supporters and even workers.

I found Do It Now on-line the other day, still doing their good work, although they've definitely moderated their stance, as well as branched out into educating people about safe sex, crystal meth, and alcohol.



Click here to hear Frank Zappa's hilarious anti-speed Public Service Announcement.
Click here to read their newsletter from 1971--it is a fascinating time-capsule.

You can visit their web site here.
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Some masks from my collection

These are a couple of my favorites. I believe they are American,

and were part of a hear no evil,see no evil set. I never did locate

the speak no evil mask.

An Indonesian bird of prey mask. The beaks sticks out about

one foot from the mask. It is ornately carved and painted.

These masks are not necessarily my favorites, but my favorites of those where I have photos. My favorite is a beautiful African mask purchased for me by Kevin Curran and Kris Kruse, followed by the three piece mask from Ceylon, and the large tin mask (both of which are pictured here).


I don't know where these three masks came from; I bought them as one lot on e-bay.
They seem likely to be American.


"Stink-eye" by the American outsider artist Audrey Leanza.
I also own a couple of her paintings. I bought this from her directly.

A leather mask. Probably American.

A Mexican mask of Fido.

I own 96 masks, of all sizes and shapes. Most of them are wooden, but about ten are steel or tin, two are ceramic, a Japanese one is made from some sort of paper mache, and one is made from leather.

This thin sheet metal mask has a great rust patina. It is two feet tall.

Maybe my second favorite mask, from Ceylon.

This is a very 3D mask, with removable ears.

The collection includes two vintage catcher's masks, one of which is 100 years old. The masks originate in Mexico, Thailand, Bali, Ceylon, Hawaii, Alaska, Japan, Indonesia, Ghana, Guatemala, Zimabwe, Chad, Senegal, and a few even come from the USA.

A japanese mask made from iron and painted green. This Buddha

weights about ten pounds.

The first mask I bought was at Pike Place Market-- a subtle, very geometric African mask from Ghana. I later started buying masks on our trips to Mexico, and also on eBay (which in the early days had many great masks at reasonable prices).

A horsehead, probably from Mexico. It has a mane

of horse-hair and a rope bridle.

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The Brady Bunch does porn

Take nine Bradys from the blended family, toss in Alice the housekeeper, put them in every permutation and combination nine can provide, and you have Not The Bradys XXX, a new porn film. They even have their own myspace page.

Defamer said "The number of taboo combinations suggested by the iconic 3x3 grid is seemingly infinite, from Bobby and Cindy's mutual sexual awakening, to frustrated middle-child Jan hate-f***ing her more popular sister Marcia, to the everyone-on-Alice, "pork chopsh n' apple shaush" scenario we've so often returned to in our deepest, most forbidden Brady fantasies."



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The O.J. Press conference interloper

Whoever this guy is, he's fantastic! What a great act.


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Painting: The Six

click to enlarge

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Indecision 2008's profile of Rudy

I like Comedy Central's Indecision 2008 web site. Here is their profile of Rudy Giuliani--a subtle, but nice jab,

Full Name: Rudolph William Louis Giuliani
Party: Democrat Independent Republican
Date of Birth: May 28, 1944
Official Website: http://www.joinrudy2008.com/
Number of Wives: 1 2 3
Favorite Two Numbers: 9, 11
Famous Quote: "Freedom is about authority."

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