Ghost Dance

Only when the
last tree is cut,
only when the
last river is polluted,
only when the
last fish is caught,
will they realise that
you can't eat money.
--Cree proverb


Robbie Robertson
and the Red Road Ensemble
from their recording
Music for the
Native Americans

Ali Farka Touré: "Goye Kur"

Ali Farka Touré
(1939--2006)

Thanksgiving Prayer

Thanks for the wild turkey and the passenger pigeons
destined to be shat out through wholesome American guts.
Thanks for a continent to despoil and poison.
Thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger.
Thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin leaving the carcasses to rot.
Thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes.
Thanks for the American dream, to vulgarize and to falsify until the bare lies shine through.
Thanks for the KKK.
For nigger-killin' lawmen, feelin' their notches.
For decent church-goin' women, with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces.
Thanks for "Kill a Queer for Christ" stickers.
Thanks for laboratory AIDS.
Thanks for Prohibition and the war against drugs.
Thanks for a country where nobody's allowed to mind their own business.
Thanks for a nation of finks.
Yes, thanks for all the memories---all right let's see your arms!
You always were a headache and you always were a bore.
Thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest of human dreams.
--William S. Burroughs

Leonard Cohen: "I'm Your Man"

the moon's too bright
the chain's too tight
the beast won't go to sleep
i've been running through
these promises to you
that i made and i could not keep
but a man never
got a woman back
not by begging on his knees
or i'd crawl to you baby
and i'd fall at your feet
and i'd howl at your beauty
like a dog in heat
and i'd claw at your heart
and i'd tear at your sheet
i'd say please
i'm your man

Country Joe McDonald: "Flying High"

Woodstock 1969

i'm stuck on the L.A. freeway
got rain water in my boots
my thumbs done froze
can't feel my toes
i feel a little destitute
wheels throwing water all over my axe
and Mr. Jones won't lend me a hand
up come two cats in a Cadillac
and they say, "won't you hop in, man?"
i went flying high all the way

Days Between

Grateful Dead


8/27/93


-------------------
there were days
and there were days
and there were days between
summer flies and August dies
the world grows dark and mean
comes the shimmer of the moon
on black infested trees
the singing man is at his song
the holy on their knees
the reckless are out wrecking
the timid plead their pleas
no one knows much more of this
than anyone can see

there were days
and there were days
and there were days besides
when phantom ships with phantom sails
set to sea on phantom tides
comes the lightning of the sun
on bright unfocused eyes
the blue of yet another day
a springtime wet with sighs
a hopeful candle lingers
in the land of lullabies
where headless horsemen vanish
with wild and lonely cries

there were days
and there were days
and there were days i know
when all we ever wanted
was to learn and love and grow
once we grew into our shoes
we told them where to go
walked halfway around the world
on promise of the glow
stood upon a mountain top
walked barefoot in the snow
gave the best we had to give
how much we'll never know

there were days
and there were days
and there were days between
polished like a golden bowl
the finest ever seen
hearts of summer held in trust
still tender, young and green
left on shelves collecting dust
not knowing what they mean
valentines of flesh and blood
as soft as velveteen
hoping love would not forsake
the days that lie between

--robert hunter/jerry garcia

What Th...?

Scan Processor Studies (excerpts pt.1) from Brian O'Reilly on Vimeo.

Scan Processor Studies
Marcel Duchamp: "Anemic Cinema" (1926)
György Ligeti: "Poème Symphonique For 100 Metronomes"

Gillian Welch/David Rawlings: "Look At Miss Ohio"

she's running around with the rag-top down

Wilco: "Jolly Banker"

My name is Tom Cranker and I'm a jolly banker,
I'm a jolly banker, jolly banker am I.
I safeguard the farmers and widows and orphans,
Singin' I'm a jolly banker, jolly banker am I.

When dust storms are sailing, and crops they are failing,
I'm a jolly banker, jolly banker am I.
I check up your shortage and bring down your mortgage,
Singin' I'm a jolly banker, jolly banker am I.

When money you're needing, and mouths you are feeding,
I'm a jolly banker, jolly banker am I.
I'll plaster your home with a furniture loan,
Singin' I'm a jolly banker, jolly banker am I.

If you show me you need it, I'll let you have credit,
I'm a jolly banker, jolly banker am I.
Just bring me back two for the one I lend you,
Singin' I'm a jolly banker, jolly banker am I.

When your car you're losin', and sadly your cruisin',
I'm a jolly banker, jolly banker am I.
I'll come and forclose, get your car and your clothes,
Singin' I'm a jolly banker, jolly banker am I.

When the bugs get your cotton, the times they are rotten,
I'm a jolly banker, jolly banker am I.
I'll come down and help you, I'll rape you and scalp you,
Singin' I'm a jolly banker, jolly banker am I.

When the landlords abuse you, or sadly misuse you,
I'm a jolly banker, jolly banker am I.
I'll send down the police chief to keep you from mischief,
Singin' I'm a jolly banker, jolly banker am I.
--Woody Guthrie

Here In California

Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women
Houston, Tx.
9/19/09

well i may learn to love you
but i can't say when
this morning we were strangers
tonight we're only friends
but i'll take the time to know you
i'll take the time to see
there's nothing that i won't show you
if you take your time with me
here in California
fruit hangs heavy on the vines
there's no gold
i thought i'd warn you
but the hills turn brown in the summertime
--kate wolf

Kate Wolf: "You"

with Don Coffin
and Lionel Kilberg
June 1973

--------------------

Mad River
(top)

Unbelievable Lake
(below)

--------------------
gray wolf
hermit warbler

Emmylou Harris: "The Pearl"

with Pam Rose and Maryann Kennedy
Loveless Barn, Nashville, Tenn.
10/14/2009

we are aging soldiers in an ancient war
seeking out some half remembered shore
we drink our fill and still we thirst for more
asking if there's no heaven what is this hunger for?
our path is worn our feet are poorly shod
we lift up our prayer against the odds
and fear the silence is the voice of God
and we cry Allelujah Allelujah
we cry Allelujah

John Fogerty: "Deja Vu (All Over Again)"

day by day i hear
the voices rising
started with a whisper
like it did before
day by day we count
the dead and dying
ship the bodies home
while the networks
all keep score
did you hear them
talking about it
on the radio
could your eyes believe the writing
on the wall
did that voice
inside you say
i've heard it all before
it's like deja vu all over again
-----------------------------------------
Wiltern Theatre,
Los Angeles, Ca.
9/15/2005

R.E.M.: "Wendell Gee"

1984

he had a dream one night
that the tree had lost its middle
so he built a trunk of chicken wire
to try to hold it up
but the wire turned to lizard skin
and when he climbed inside
there wasn't even time to say
goodbye to Wendell Gee
so whistle as the wind blows
whistle as the wind blows the leaves

Bruce Springsteen: "The River"

now those memories come back to haunt me
they haunt me like a curse
is a dream a lie if it don't come true
or is it something worse
that sends me down to the river
though i know the river is dry
that sends me down to the river tonight

Bob Dylan: "Visions Of Johanna"

harmonicas play
the skeleton keys
and the rain
but these visions of Johanna
are now all that remain

Paul Sonnenberg: "How Insensitive"

how insensitive
i must have seemed
when she told me that she loved me
how unmoved and cold
i must have seemed
when she told me so sincerely

why she must have asked
did i just turn and stare in icy silence
what was i to say
what can you say
when a love affair is over

now she's gone away
and i'm alone
with a memory of her last look
vague and drawn and sad
i see it still
all her heartbreak in that last look
how she must have asked
could i just turn and stare in icy silence
what was i to do
what can you do
when a love affair is over

--antonio carlos jobim

Hombre Secreto

Tito & Tarantula


Budapest, Hungary

5/29/08

Out Of Jail By Now

Waylon Jennings

men commit murder and all kinds of mayhem
in a few years they're back on the streets
highway robbery and white collar crime
and they laugh at the system they beat
sometimes i'm tempted sometimes i'm ashamed
of the things that the law will allow
i could have killed her when i first met her
and i'd have been out of jail by now

Neil Young: "Powderfinger"

look out, mama
there's a white boat
coming up the river
with a big red beacon
and a flag
and a man on the rail
i think you'd better call John
beause it don't
look like they're here
to deliver the mail
and it's less than a mile away
i hope they didn't come to stay
it's got numbers on the side
and a gun
and it's making big waves

I Feel So Bad

The Men Who Stare at Votes

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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i feel so bad
just like a ballgame
on a rainy day

Theme From "Harry's Game"

Clannad at the 2007 Meteor Awards
-----------------------------------------------------------
imtheochaidh soir is siar
a dtáinig ariamh an ghealach is an ghrian*

*i will go east and go west
from whence came the moon and the sun

Kate Wolf: "Looking Back At You"

from 1980 with Nina Gerber and Rick Byars

Let No Man Steal Your Thyme

Pentangle from 1968

They Call Me The Breeze

J.J. Cale with Eric Clapton

well they call me the breeze
i keep rolling down the road

Melissa Errico: "Since You Asked"

what i'll give you since you asked
is all my time together
take the rugged sunny days
the warm and rocky weather
take the roads that i have walked along
looking for tomorrow’s time
peace of mind
--judy collins

East of Woodstock, West of Vietnam

Tom Russell on Letterman
!0/2/09

Wine Me Up

Faron Young from 1969

Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection. It offers a greater range for enjoyment and appreciation than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing.
--Ernest Hemingway (from "Death in the Afternoon")

Joan Baez: "Strange Rivers"

there are voices
in the mirror
faces at the door
that open
on the rivers
we've never
seen before
are there choices
for the sparrow
or does he only fly
high above the rivers
that are pulling
you and i
there are
strange rivers
rivers that
we cannot see
there are
strange rivers
that know
our destiny
there are
strange rivers
that brought
your love to me

Nashville, Tennessee
1990

Don Edwards: "Coyotes"

well he cursed all the roads and the oil men
and he cursed the automobile
said this is no place for an hombre like i am
in this new world of asphalt and steel
then he'd look off some place in the distance
at something only he could see
he'd say all that's left now of the old days
are those damned old coyotes and me
-----------------------------------------------------

coyote
gray wolf
raven

Cecilia Siqueira/Fernando Lima

four hands and one guitar