David Crosby/Graham Nash Don't Dig Here
Grass Valley, CA.
9/10/11
i hope you're coming in peace with good intentions
i've got something to say that might save your soul
this sign is a warning so pay attention
open up the earth you could lose control
this place is full of shit that kills
maybe us and maybe you, it's true
you can dig for diamonds in the dust
and you can dig forever if you must
but if you dig this mountain high and clear
there's much to fear
just don't dig here
we considered ourselves a powerful culture
the bully pulpit waved the flag on high
we feasted on the carrion like vultures
across the land the bones were piling high
against the sky
then we filled the mountain to the brim
sealed it in, just don't pull the pin
you can dig for diamonds in the dust
and you can dig forever if you must
but if you dig this mountain high and clear
there's much to fear
just don't dig here
you can dig for diamonds in the dust
and you can dig forever if you must
but if you dig this mountain high and clear
in the atmosphere
just don't dig here
We are like tenant farmers chopping down the fence around our house for fuel when we should be using Nature’s inexhaustible sources of energy--sun, wind and tide. I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.
--Thomas A. Edison
David Hidalgo/Marc Ribot La Pistola y El Corazón
Denver, CO.
1/10/13
no sé como decirte
no sé como explicarte
que aquí no hay remedio
de lo que siento yo
de lo que siento yo
la luna me dice una cosa
las estrellas me dicen otra
y la luz del día me canta
esta triste canción
esta triste canción
los besos que me diste mi amor
son los que me están matando
y las lágrimas me están secando
con mi pistola y mi corazón
y aquí siempre paso la vida
con la pistola y el corazón
no sé como amarte
no sé como abrazarte
porque no se me deja
el dolor que tengo yo
el dolor que tengo yo
esta noche tan oscura
con sus sombras tan tranquilas
y el viento me sigue cantando
esta humilde canción
esta humilde canción
los besos que me diste mi amor
son los que me están matando
y las lágrimas me están secando
con mi pistola y mi corazón
y aquí siempre paso la vida
con la pistola y el corazón
--david hidalgo/louie pérez
i don’t know how to tell you
don’t know how to explain
that there is no remedy
for what i feel inside
for what i feel inside
the moon tells me one thing
the stars tell me another
and the light of day sings me
this sad sad song
this sad sad song
the kisses you gave me, my love
are the ones that will kill me
and the tears i’ve cried are drying
with my pistol and my heart
and my life here goes by
with the pistol and the heart
i don’t know how to love you
don’t know how to embrace you
because this pain i feel
this pain i feel
won’t leave me alone
the night is so dark
with its quiet shadows
and the wind keeps singing
this humble song
this humble song
the kisses you gave me, my love
are the ones that will kill me
and the tears i’ve cried are drying
with my pistol and my heart
and my life here goes by
with the pistol and the heart
Sharon Robinson Alexandra Leaving
Olympic Stadium
Amsterdam, Holland
8/21/12
suddenly the night has grown colder
the god of love preparing to depart
Alexandra hoisted on his shoulder
they slip between the sentries of the heart
upheld by the simplicitys of pleasure
they gain the light, they formlessly entwine
and radiant beyond your widest measure
they fall among the voices and the wine
it's not a trick, your senses all deceiving
a fitful dream, the morning will exhaust
say goodbye to Alexandra leaving
then say goodbye to Alexandra lost
even though she sleeps upon your satin
even though she wakes you with a kiss
do not say the moment was imagined
do not stoop to strategies like this
as someone long prepared for this to happen
go firmly to the window, drink it in
exquisite music Alexandra laughing
your firm commitments tangible again
and you who had the honor of her evening
and by the honor had your own restored
say goodbye to Alexandra leaving
Alexandra leaving with her lord
even though she sleeps upon your satin
even though she wakes you with a kiss
do not say the moment was imagined
do not stoop to strategies like this
as someone long prepared for the occasion
in full command of every plan you wrecked
do not choose a coward's explanation
that hides behind the cause and the effect
and you who were bewildered by a meaning
whose code was broken, crucifix uncrossed
say goodbye to Alexandra leaving
then say goodbye to Alexandra lost
say goodbye to Alexandra leaving
then say goodbye to Alexandra lost
--Leonard Cohen/Sharon Robinson
Sharon Robinson Alexandra Leaving
Olympia Hall
Paris, France
9/29/12
when suddenly, at midnight, you hear
an invisible procession going by
with exquisite music, voices,
don’t mourn your luck that’s failing now,
work gone wrong, your plans
all proving deceptive--don’t mourn them uselessly.
as one long prepared, and graced with courage,
say goodbye to her, the Alexandria that is leaving.
above all, don’t fool yourself, don’t say
it was a dream, your ears deceived you:
don’t degrade yourself with empty hopes like these.
as one long prepared, and graced with courage,
as is right for you who were given this kind of city,
go firmly to the window
and listen with deep emotion, but not
with the whining, the pleas of a coward;
listen--your final delectation--to the voices,
to the exquisite music of that strange procession,
and say goodbye to her, to the Alexandria you are losing.
And all the host
laughed and wept,
and in the midst of
their merriment and tears
the clear voice
of the minstrel
rose like silver and gold,
and all men were hushed.
And (s)he sang to them,
now in the Elven-tongue,
now in the speech of the West,
until their hearts,
wounded with sweet words,
overflowed, and their joy
was like swords,
and they passed in thought
out to regions
where pain and delight
flow together
and tears are
the very wine of blessedness.
--J.R.R. Tolkien
FIRESIGN THEATER: I THINK WE'RE ALL BOZOS ON THIS BUS
The piece opens as a bus appears on a typical suburban road identified as Dutch Elm Street in Fifth Area. When it stops, vegetable-shaped holograms pop out of thin air and sing a song inviting people to board the bus and visit The Future Fair ("A fair for all and no fare to anybody!"). The main character, a young man named Clem boards and takes a seat next to his soon-to-be companion, Barney, who is one of many circus clowns (called bozos) already on the bus. They are taken to the Future Fair, where they hear an announcement that they are "about to experience a period of simulated exhilaration" presented using a technique called "technical stimulation", and encounter several virtual-reality-like, quasi-educational rides and exhibits similar to those at Disneyland and the 1964 World's Fair.
They exit the bus and Clem enters "The Wall of Science", a science-themed exhibit featuring recreations of historical events. The presentation includes two men, "The Honorable Chester Cadaver" and "Senator Clive Brown", demonstrating a "model government" (which runs on electricity). When one of them asks Clem his name, he hesitantly responds "Uh... Clem" and the central computer stores his name as "Ahclem", addressing him as such. Later in the recording, the computer addresses Barney, who honks his nose horn when stating his name, as "Barney (honk sound)". This is the first in a series of attempts by the computer to interact with the pair as another human would, but failing because inaccurate pattern recognition is a poor substitute for genuine understanding.
Clem and Barney join other tourists in various exhibits and rides, and eventually encounter a simulation of then-President Richard Nixon similar to the "audioanimatronic" President Lincoln at Disneyland. But instead of merely making a speech, it answers visitors' questions with vague, positive-sounding replies only remotely related to the questions and completely unrelated to the citizens' concerns. When Clem reaches the front of the line, he puts the President simulator into maintenance mode by saying, "This is worker speaking. Hello." The computer responds with "Systat: uptime" and the length of time the it has been running. Clem then attempts to crash the system by confusing it with it questions it can't understand, or sometimes, even parse. For example, "Why does the Porridge Bird lay its egg in the air?" is interpreted in several ways, such as "Why does the poor rich Barney (honk) delay laser's edge in the fair?", but the computer's speech-recognition software rejects them all as probably erroneous. This finally causes the "President" to put itself out of service and shut down, but the attack fails to bring down the Fair's entire network.
As Clem meets up with Barney on the Funway (a collection of carnival style attractions and games of skill), he discovers that the Fair's security is looking for him. The loudspeakers repeatedly page for a "Mr. Ahclem" and the hologram of "Artie Choke" informs him that "Deputy Dan" will come for him. Clem then uses the hologram of Artie Choke to create a holographic image of himself and sends it into the system a-la Tron, to confront the central computer, "Dr. Memory". His confusing questions cause this computer to crash too, bringing the fair to a halt.
The entire experience is then revealed to be a vision of the future as seen in the crystal ball of a Gypsy telling the fortune of someone with the same voice and name of Barney.
If we apply our minds directly and competently to the needs of the earth, then we will have begun to make fundamental and necessary changes in our minds. We will begin to understand and to mistrust and to change our wasteful economy, which markets not just the produce of the earth, but also the earth's ability to produce. We will see that beauty and utility are alike dependent upon the health of the world. But we will also see through the fads and the fashions of protest. We will see that war and oppression and pollution are not separate issues, but are aspects of the same issue. Amid the outcries for the liberation of this group or that, we will know that no person is free except in the freedom of other persons, and that man's only real freedom is to know and faithfully occupy his place - a much humbler place than we have been taught to think - in the order of creation.
--Wendell Berry The Art of the Commonplace
I really and truly believe that the people of earth are rising up and
the politicians will have to stand aside and give us what we want.
We want the earth to continue and we want to live; and have children
and life to go on for evermore.
--Helen Caldicott
