My Crib: an aerial view of Jack's place

click to enlarge

This is an aerial view of my house in Seattle. To the left, is Puget Sound, an arm of the Pacific Ocean, connecting to the Pacific about 75 miles north, and also connecting with the Strait of Georgia, leading up to Canada, and even further on the inland waterway to Alaska. Puget Sound is technically a fjord system of flooded glacial valleys, linked to the ocean by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, a narrow channel whose name is often joked about. My house is a short walk down the hill to the sound, and Golden Gardens, a Seattle park directly left (west) of our house. You can see hundreds of boat slips along the coast at the marina there. The body of water to the east (right) is Green Lake. At the far right side, you can see the ribbon of Interstate 5. To the bottom (south) of the photo, you see what looks like a river. This is the Ballard Locks that connects with the Montlake cut/Ship Canal and connects Puget Sound to Lake Union, Salmon Bay, Portage Bay, and Lake Washington.

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The Home Stretch: The Last Year of The Bush Fiasco Begins Today

The inaugural parade/motorcade passes by the Presidential
reviewing stand


One year from today, at high noon, President Bush and Sub-President Cheney's terms in office will expire as Chief Justice Roberts swears in the new President.

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

This oath must not count for a lot; I can think of numerous specific violations of the oath by President Bush. But all that aside, it really is a time to celebrate the last year of Good King George's Reign of (T)Error. The glass is rising! Selah.



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Painting: The Voters

...click the voters to enlarge...

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An index of rock shows discussed on All This Is That

Favorite Rock And Jazz Shows (1966-Last Weekend) (Part I, discusses, along with Part 2, every rock show I remember seeing)

More Shows I've Seen Over The Years (Part II)

Skanking with The English Beat at Antone's in Austin, Texas

Zappa Plays Zappa at Paramount Northwest

Bumbershoot 2007, a late write-up

The Save Town Lake benefit: Elana James, Bob Schneider, Dale Watson, Stephen Bruton, Jimmy LaFave, and Kinky Friedman

The Willie Nelson Picnic; July 4, 2007 (with the Old 97's, Willie Nelson, Drive By Truckers, and Son Volt)

The Elvis Costello Benefit—Seattle Does Elvis For David Egger's 826 Seattle

Paul Revere And The Raiders - northwest rock pioneers (with video goodness)

Up With. . .Down With People

Music in Austin, Texas this week

Crosby Stills Nash & Young at the White River Amphitheatre July 27th

Rock show of the year (so far):::::::Elvis Costello & The Impostors with Allen Toussaint

The Posies Rock Bumbershoot

The Surprise At The Divorce Crocodile CD Release Party

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She Loves You video by the Beatles in Manchester, England, 1963

From a performance in Manchester in 1963 comes this video clip of The Beatles performing "She Loves You" in 1963. This was one of the early songs that sucked me into the vortex. I got to see them live finally, in 1966 at the ripe old age of 13 (tickets: $4). The first couple of times they came, we couldn't afford a ticket. When I did get to see them, it was their next to last show, ever. Go here to read about that...



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Of course he does! Dr. Samuel Wood, the first person to clone himself, has a porn mustache

Dr. Samuel Wood


The Daily Mail is reporting on an ethical firestorm over cloning that broke out after a Dr. Samuel Wood revealed he had cloned himself by combining his skin cells with five eggs taken from a woman. These embryos are the first to be made from cells taken from adult humans.

Although the clones survived only five days, some believe they demonstrate the viability of human cloning. "Critics fear the technology could be exploited by mavericks to clone babies and accused the scientists of reducing the miracle of human life to a factory of spare parts."

Several years ago, the stem cell research company Stemagen used the same technique used to create Dolly the sheep...the first cloned mammal.


Dolly had no mustache
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Painting: The First Grey Landing Craft

click to enlarge

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Del Brummet's latest songs: Planet of Ice and Golden Nights

del brummet four years ago

Del Brummet under his nom de plume Isla Nubars, has posted his latest songs, The Planet of Ice and Golden Nights. Click here to here to listen. Planet of Ice is my favorite Brummet song since Evolution (which you can find in the same place). Del took music lessons from Milo Petersen for a long time but never made much progress. Milo--a longtime Seattle jazz stalwart, and my friend since I was two years old--was an amazingly inspirational and patient teacher. But it just never clicked. . .until a couple years later. All of a sudden it all clicked and Del began seriously woodshedding. He taught himself chords, and song structure, and started writing songs. It is always stunning what youth can do and learn with music and languages. Do I sound like a proud poppa? Well, I am.

I feel a little guilty for having been an influence in Del's upbringing. . .and the fact a few of his songs focus on aliens, religion, and other twisted obsessions of mine. But he has clearly taken what he needed from the father, and left the rest (callback from The Band: "you take what you need and leave the rest").

Guitars, percussion, vocals, and vocal overdubs by Delaney Curran Brummet.

Lyrics (and chords) to Planet of Ice:

C-Em-F-G

D
A 0 2 3
E 3
Crash-landed on a planet of ice.
We made a mistake, so we’ll pay the price.
Odds are that we are here to stay.
So we might as well make the best of each day.
[Chorus]
Am-G-E-D (AM)
WE ARE STRANDED AND WE KNOW IT!
BUT WE WILL NEVER SHOW IT!
THOUGH OUR TEMPERATURES ARE LOW, OUR MORALE IS HIGH!
WHY NOT BE REALLY HAPPY AS WE DIE?
Today we discovered a cave nearby.
We danced around and then stepped inside.
A monster lived there, his fur so long.
That he let us curl up with him while he sang a song.
[Song]
Am-G-E-D
LA LA LA LA LA LA L LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA
With our homes far away and our space ship dead.
We sang and lived on this planet instead.
The monster taught us how to sing his song.
We taught the monster how to belong.
[Chorus]

[Here lead guitar comes in]
[Repeat chords for verse]
[song]

Lyrics to Golden Nights:

THE ISLA NUBLARS
ABDUCTED!
GOLDEN NIGHTS
Capo down 6
AM-C-(G-D-C-G)2
IiIIiIIIiIii Want to sail away in the sky, want to live in golden nights.

[Awesome]
Bb C D
Nooo frights no wooories
Bb C D
Noo plights no hurries
F Em
On a planet where light
Em A
is always shining

G-D-C-G)2
[Pre-Chorus] I want to sail away in to the sky, [Chorus] I want to live in golden nights.

Hills of old filled with memories untold, would green upon my coming there.
Apple trees would daily provide, all the while it warm out side. BECAUSE [Chorus]

AM-C-(G-D-C-G)
And iiii Would live a lie, if the price was forever golden skies. Id blast away to a place that never dies.
[Awesome] [Chorus]

I could live without the religions of the world; they shouldn't be the reason for your good
And to all the people who live life through their windshield, drop your keys, and pick up a guitar. BECAUSE I WANT TO LIVE WITH ALL OF YOU IN THE STARS!

[Awesome] [Chorus]
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Back in Austin, Texas

It is crisp and rainy in Austin tonight. I've probably been here ten times and this is the first time it hasn't been balmy. The tapwater is actually cooler than lukewarm. And the town is quiet. Usually, all the outdoor bars are filled and at The Austin Motel, I can hear music booming from The Continental Club, and Guero's.

We went to Ruby's BBQ for dinner and then walked a few blocks to the Hole In The Wall (another favorite...one of the oldest bars in Austin, who have had many legendary performances on their modest stage. It is a hole, and it is great! Clyde & Clem's Whiskey Business a sort of alt-country jugband affair played.

Now, at 12:30 AM, I am watching a replay of the Democratic debate. It's kind of nice to see the three real contenders go head to head... Tomorrow it is a day of business, then fly back to Seattle where I will arrive before midnight.
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Alien Lore No. 122 - Dozens of people (even some sane ones) report seeing UFOs over Texas

The Associateed Press reported on Monday that dozens of people in Stephenville, Texas reported seeing UFOs. In fact, dozens of people in Texas over the last few weeks have reported seeing UFOs over their towns. If I am lucky, maybe they'll do a fly-by while I am down here in Austin...

Several dozen people — including a pilot, county constable and business owners — insist they have seen a large silent object with bright lights flying low and fast. Some reported seeing fighter jets chasing it.

Federal officials, as usual, have said there is a logical explanation (don't they always: whether it weather balloons, experimental aircraft, swamp gas, etc.), but the locals say it was no airplane. locals swear that it was larger, quieter, faster and lower to the ground than an airplane.
"Machinist Ricky Sorrells said friends made fun of him when he told them he saw a flat, metallic object hovering about 300 feet over a pasture behind his Dublin home. But he decided to come forward after reading similar accounts in the Stephenville Empire-Tribune. "

"You hear about big bass or big buck in the area, but this is a different deal," Sorrells said. "It feels good to hear that other people saw something, because that means I'm not crazy."

Sorrells saw te UFO more than once. He also said it was very large and without seams, nuts or bolts.

The Naval Air Station in Fort Worth said none of their planes were in the area on January 8th--the night the majority of sightings occurred, A spokesman said said the UFO "may have been an illusion caused by two commercial airplanes." He went on, saying "With the sun's angle, it can play tricks on you."

About 200 UFO sightings are reported each month, according to the Mutual UFO Network in Seattle.
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Michigan, Nevada, and South Carolina: The Candidates scramble

click to enlarge the presidents


I am happy to see the race become a race again. Most of us wrote off McCain last summer and he's back! Romney came on strong for a while. Then Huck emerged from the shadows (was he, with his sidekick Chuck Norris, and his sometimes amazing performances on The Colbert Report just a flash...a mime, a momentary blip. Soon enough, Senators Biden and Dodd dropped out. And then, Obama gave Senator Clinton a serious ass-whuppin in Iowa, McCain surged in New Hampshire, and Clinton came back and bloodied Obama's nose. Edwards just can't seem to make any headway, but if you're a solid third, you get to live another day. The one-time front-runner Giuliani seriously needs a win (and things have to be grim around the home office with senior staff was placed on payroll hiatus). I always expected Giuliani would do something a little crazy, but instead he has just faded away. There is only so long you can milk being the Mayor of 9/11. Fred Thompson, on the surface is just the kind of folksy guy (remember, I said surface) that could mount a surge from the base, from Larry Lunchbucket, and even, I once thought, from Independents and disaffected Democrats. He jumped into the race, mystifyingly late, with a skeletal organization, and ended up an also-ran. [ed. note: that also means no more Jeri Kehn roundups on All This Is That, 'though we're overdue for one].

It feels like the race has narrowed to Huckabee, McCain, and Romney on the G.O.P. side, and Obama , Clinton, and Edwards for the Dems.

We have one race tomorrow, and two others very soon (Nevada comes down on Saturday). The Republican candidates hope to milk the frustration in the struggling and dejected blue-collar state of Michigan. The Dems (the front runners anyhow) have decided to quit playing the race card, since it appears to be losing votes for both Barack and Hillary.


click to enlarge

New national polls show Senator John McCain leading the Republicans after his startling comeback in last week's New Hampshire primary. And let's face it: Mitt Romney is fighting to save his campaign in Michigan, where he was born, and where his father was governor. Losing Michigan will be about six more nails in the coffin.

Senator Clinton seems to still be on top of the Dems nationally, leading Senator Obama 42 to 27 percent, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll (which seems so wrong!). However, another survey by ABC News and The Washington Post shows a far tighter margin...42 to 37 percent, just barely outside the range of the statistical margin of error.

A national poll shows McCain with a national lead of 33 percent to 18 percent over Ex-Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucus contest. Michigan is a close race between the Huck, McCain, and Romney, with Romney having a slight edge right now.
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The best live rock albums (with a few jazz titles thrown in)

The Concert for Bangladesh - George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Bob Dylan, et al.
The Woodstock Soundtrack - Various Artists
Live: From Here to Eternity - The Clash
Everybody's In Show Biz - The Kinks
Live At Leeds - The Who
Europe '72 - The Grateful Dead
MTV Unplugged in New York - Nirvana
Four Way Street - Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
Miles of Aisles - Joni Mitchell
Time Fades Away - Neil Young
Weld - Neil Young and Crazy Horse
Royal Albert Hall - London May 2-3-5-6 2005 - Cream
The Allman Brothers at Fillmore East - The Allman Brothers
Band of Gypsies - Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Miles
Live at the BBC - The Beatles
Alison Krauss & Union Station - Live - Alison Krauss & Union Station
Roxy and Elsewhere - Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
Made In Japan - Deep Purple
Unplugged In New York - Nirvana
The Royal Albert Hall Concert - Bob Dylan
At Folsom Prison - Johnny Cash
Live Dead - Grateful Dead
The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life - Frank Zappa
Rockin' The Fillmore - Humble Pie
Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads
Rock of Ages - The Band
The Last Waltz - The Band (and a lot of friends)

Some of my favorite live jazz albums:

Sunday at the Village Vanguard - Bill Evans
The Koln Concert - Keith Jarrett
Mingus at Antibes - Charles Mingus
Live at Carnegie Hall - John Coltrane & Thelonius Monk
Live-Evil - Miles Davis
Live in Seattle - John Coltrane
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