Archive for February, 2007

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Blue Gene Tyranny is Back!

Thursday, February 8th, 2007

Last week I got an email more or less “out of the blue” (pun intended). The sender had seen an old playlist of mine for WUML and had noticed that I’d played a cut from Blue Gene Tyranny’s “Out of the Blue”, an LP that I’ve been nursing along for years now. He told me that it has just been re-released as a CD on the Unseen Worlds label, with a full set of the words and reminiscences of the musicians who made the album in the early 1970s. I just got a copy of the album, and I recomend it highly to anyone who didn’t hear it in the 1970′s (and of course anyone who did.) It’s indescribable: electronic and inspirational with elements of rock and jazz and lyrics that reach straight to the heart. It speaks of freedom and destiny and joy all at the same time. If I get any air time this Spring, you can bet I’ll be featuring it! If nobody claims the 12-2 slot on Wednesday, that’s the most likely time.

The Unseen Worlds website is utterly unpopulated so far; this is their first release, but they promise more in the near future. I hope they’re all as deligthful as this one! The album shown below is not one that I’ve had a chance to listen to, but it’s by Blue Gene Tyranny, so you can bet I’ll be looking it up. Actually I’m listening to “Out Of the Blue” now.

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Addendum:
A couple of years ago I did a google search and found nothing about Blue Gene Tyranny except that his real name was Robert Scheff. Now he’s got a website and a bio/discography as long as your arm at bluegenetyranny.com
I’m so embarrassed: It’s not so much that “Blue Gene is back” but that I’m back… Something amazing is happening to the planet just now. Culturally and politically we’re finally coming back to life. Dinosaurs of inspiration, long thought extinct,  are rising out of the ground I only hope it’s not too late!

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A Brief Walk with Dennis and Elizabeth Kucinich

Sunday, February 4th, 2007

After the Peterborough peace vigil I drove to Keene, where Dennis Kucinich was spending the day. I hoped to get a brief interview or some sound bites for the radio show. I got there too late for a presentation to the Cheshire County Democrats, so I just hung out a while with Dennis, Elizabeth, their handlers and the reporters that were covering the visit. A Keene Sentinel Reporter let me sit in on an interview with Dennis, and I have the recording, which may contain some useful sound bites, but has a lot of crowd noise. I should have arranged ahead of time for an interview if I had had the proper self-dicipline…
   (side bar: self-discipline, like self-employment, is an oxymoron…Can I really be my own torturer or boss?)

I didn’t get any decent recording of Elizabeth, but she’s the one I’d like to talk with extensively: she kept insisting gently and articulately on the collective need to envision a future we would be glad to live in rather than returning endlessly to the fears and misgivings we have about the past. Her blog is well worth reading.

Both of them talk (Dennis sometimes in Biblical terms: “Without a vision the people perish”) about the need for the US (and the Democratic Party) to have a real vision of what it stands for and where it’s going. After a while we took a stroll up main street where the ice sculptures of the ice-and-snow festival were on display. I got the impression that Dennis has captured the heart of this small city. 

   Dennis and Elizabeth are vegans, and there was some negotiation about lunch. It was finally decided that someone would get take-out food from a local Thai restaurant anb bring it to the home of the Democratic Party leader who was hosting a closed meeting at 3:30. I think Dennis would rather have just gone to a local restaurant and had a more open discussion, but the handlers had other plans. I pointed out that Keene has a vegan restaurant, but that it is unfortunately closed on Saturday.

   These two people are so genuine and warm, and at the same time so politically aware and determined that it astounds me. It’s no problem for Dennis to stay “on message” because his real views and understandings align strongly with the official messages of his campaign. The campaign seems to be driven by Dennis and Elizabeth’s collective vision, rather than the usual group-think of political insiders. I look forward to having a President I can agree with on so many things. I only hope that the money pressures of running a campaign don’t kill or cripple this effort. (Under my present financial circumstances, I certainly can’t help out on the money end.)

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Chimney Fire!

Sunday, February 4th, 2007

After the afternoon in Keene, I got home and tried half-heartedly to think of something we could do to celebrate our 20th anniversary… a concert, even a movie. We had just concluded that there was nothing we were strongly attracted to along these lines and that we’d rather have a quiet supper at home and listen to Prairie Home Companion. I started to stoke the wood stove and noticed that smoke was coming out from the “thimble” where the stovepipe met the chimney. Realizing that this meant the chimney was blocked, I ran outside and looked up at the top of our 45-foot chimney. There were flames visible. I went into panic mode and so did my wife and cat. After trying and failing to climb the treacherous snowy roof., we telephoned the emergency number for the local volunteer fire department. The fire brigade came with more equipment than they really needed and spent a couple of hours putting out the fire and checking for any potential damage. This was the second time the firefighters had come to our house for a chimney fire; the first time (four years ago on Christmas eve) they came directly to our house from fighting a house fire in a neighboring town in which an elderly man died. I am continually amazed that there are people in every town who are willing to risk their live on a daily basis doing this kind of public service. I feel guilty for asking so much of our neighbors, and I doubt that I will ever be able to perform a comparable service for them, but I am honored to be able to experience the fruits of cooperation in such a dramatic first-hand way.

   I had cleaned the chimney in early December, but the creosote had built up unusually fast. We may need to give up wood heating altogether… but maybe there’s some tinkering we can do to keep it working. There are just so many wierd non-standard things about our house that fixing anything calls for more creativity than most builders have. Does this fire have something to do with the freakish weather we’ve had this year?

After the firefighters left, my wife and I were both overwhelmed with the stress and ended up arguing fruitlessly about big questions, fianally falling exhausted into bed. Our cat took it hardest of all. He had hidden in the attic, and when I finally found him, he was slinking around as if he expected heavy boots and loud noises to reappear at any moment. He has been eating only furtively since then, and mainly hiding in inaccessible corners of the rafters where he feels safe.

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