Somewhere between October of 2008 and about five minutes ago I realized my obsession with Jack Kerouac.  I spent $47 the other day on a first edition of a The Town and The City and have been consumed by his tolerance for life and all intriguing concepts that he acquired from those he surrounded himself with.  It was a no brainer to get caught up in being interested in the recent soundtrack that Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar did for the upcoming film based on the concept of Jacks’ book  Big Sur.

If you do not know…

That is the film and the music, well it came out at the end of October, but figured I could help spread the word.  Whether or not you are a fan of Ben Gibbard (you know, the singer from Death Cab and Postal Service) and Jay Farrar (singer for Son Volt), they have successfully created a masterpiece of creativity.  Merging the words of Jack with the sounds of themselves through instrumentation and vocals, with an end result that will keep you listening.  Sure it can be mellow at times, but that is a  good thing.

How many artists can pull off taking a great book and turning it into a listenable album?

I think Jay-Z could.

Right, but that doesn’t matter.

It isworth the time and worth the money, plus you get a sweet combo deal that will outfit you with the vinyl and book and a Diet Coke.

I suppose I should mention something about Kerouac? So here in true fashion from the leader of the Beat Generation, in his words, on what the Pacific Ocean said to him…I should mention it is long, this I know and I found it online, I did not retype the whole thing. Although I thought about it. Still am…but anyway…

"SEA'

     Sounds of the Pacific Ocean at Big Sur

     'Sea'
     Cherson! Cherson!
     You aint just whistlin Dixie, Sea
     Cherson! Cherson! We calcimine fathers
     here below! Kitchen lights on...
     Sea Engines from Russia seabirding here below...
     When rocks outsea froth I'll know Hawaii
     cracked up & scramble up my doublelegged cliff
     to the silt of a million years...

     Shoo -- Shaw -- Shirsh...
     Go on die salt light You billion yeared
     rock knocker Gavroom
     Seabird Gabroobird
     Sad as wife & hill Loved as mother & fog
     Oh! Oh! Oh! Sea! Osh!
     Where's yr little Neppytune tonight?

     These gentle tree pulp pages
     which've nothing to do with yr crash roar,
     liar sea, ah, were made for rock
     tumble seabird digdown footstep hollow weed
     move bedarvaling crash? Ah again?
     Wine is salt here? Tidal wave kitchen?
     Engines of Russia in yr soft talk...

     Les poissons de la mer
     parle Breton... Mon nom es Lebris
     de Keroack...
     Parle, Poissons, Loti,
     parle... Parlning Ocean sanding
     crash the billion rocks...

     Ker plotsch... Shore... shoe...
     god brash...

     The headland looks like a longnosed Collie sleeping
     with his light on his nose, as the ocean,
     obeying its accommodations of mind, crashes in
     rhythm which could & will intrude, in thy
     rhythm of sand thought...
     ... Big frigging shoulders on that sonofabitch
     Parle, O, parle, mer, parle. Sea speak to me, speak
     to me, your silver you light Where hole opened up in Alaska
     Gray -- shh -- wind in The canyon wind in the rain
     Wind in the rolling rash Moving and t wedel
     Sea Sea
     Diving sea O bird -- la vengeance
     De la roche Cossez
     Ah

     Rare, he rammed the gate rare over by Cherson, Cherson,
     we calcify fathers here below
     ... a watery cross, with weeds
     entwined -- This grins restoredly, low sleep -- Wave -- Oh, no,
     shush -- Shirk -- Boom plop Neptune now his arms extends
     while one millions of souls sit lit in caves of darkness
     ... What old bark? The dog mountain? Down by the Sea

     Engines? God rush -- Shore...
     Shaw -- Shoo -- Oh soft sigh we wait hair twined like
     arks -- Pissit -- Rest not
     ... Plottit, bisp tesh, cashes,
     re tav, plo, aravow, shirsh, -- Who's whispering over
     there -- the silly earthen creek! The fog thunders -- We put
     silver light on face -- We took the heroes in -- A billion
     years aint nothing...

     O the cities here below! The men with a thousand
     arms! the stanchions of their upward gaze! the
     coral of their poetry! the sea dragons tenderized, meat
     for fleshy fish... Navark, navark, the fishes
     of the Sea speak Breton... wash as soft as people's
     dreams -- We got peoples in & out the shore, they call
     it shore, sea call it pish rip plosh -- The
     5 billion years since earth we saw substantial
     chan -- Chinese are the waves -- the woods
     are dreaming

     No human words bespeak the token sorrow older
     than old this wave becrashing smarts the
     sand with plosh of twirled sandy
     thought -- Ah change the world? Ah set
     the fee? Are rope the angels in all the sea?
     Ah ropey otter barnacle'd be...
     Ah cave, Ah crosh! A feathery sea

     Too much short -- Where
     Miss Nop tonight? Wroten Kerarc'h
     in the labidalian aristotelian park
     with slime a middle
     ... And Ranti forner
     who pulled pearls by rope to throne
     the King by the roll in the
     forest of everseas? Not everseas, be seas
     ... Creep Crash

     The woman with her body
     in the sea -- The frog who never moves & thunders, sharsh
     ... The snake with his body under the sand -- The dog
     with the light on his nose, supine, with shoulders so
     enormous they reach back to rain crack -- The leaves hasten
     to the sea -- We let them hasten to be wetted & give
     em that old salt change, a nuder think will make you see
     they originate from the We Sea anyway... No dooming booms
     on Sunday afternoons -- We run thru the core of cliffs,
     blam up caves, disengage no jelly or jellied pendant
     thinkers...

     Our armies of anchored seaweed in the
     coves gives of the smell of jellied salt...
     Reach, reach, some leaves havent hastened near
     enuf -- Roll, roll, purl the sand shark floor
     a greeny pali andarva
     ... Ah back -- Ah forth...
     Ah shish -- Boom, away, doom, a day -- Vein we
     firm... The sea is We... Parle, parle, boom the
     earth -- Aree -- Shaw, Sho, Shoosh, flut,
     ravad, tapavada pow, coof, loof, roof,...
     No, no, no, no, no, no...

     Oh ya, ya, ya, yo, yair... Shhh...

     Which one? the one? Which
     one? The one ploshed... The ploshed one? the same,
     ah boom -- Who's that ant that giant golden saltchange
     ant magnifying my mountain of feet? "Tis Finder, finding
     the change in thought to join the boomer hangers in the
     cave a light -- And built a house above it? Never fear,
     naver foir, les bretons qui parlent la langue de la Mar
     sont espanol comme le cul du Kurd qui dit le maha
     prajna paramita du Sud? Ah oui! Ke Vlum!
     Glum sea, silent me...

     They aint about to try it them ants who wear
     out tunnels in a week the tunnel a million years
     won -- no -- Down around the headland slobs for weed,
     the chicken of the sea go yak! they sleep...
     Aroar, aroar, arah, aroo... Otter me otter me daughter me sea
     ... me last blue lagoon inside of me, the sea -- Divine is the
     substance all over the Sea... Of space we speak &
     hasten -- Let no mouth swallow the sea -- Gavril...
     Gavro... the Cherson Chinese & Old Fingernail sea -- Is
     ringin yr ear? Dier, dee? Is Virgin you trying to
     fathom me

     Tiresome old sea, aint you sick & tired of all of this merde?
     this incessant boom boom & sand walk -- you people
     hoary rockies here to Fuegie & never get sad? Or despair
     like a German phoney? Just gloom booboom & green
     on foggy nights... the fog is part of us...
     I know, but tired as I can be listening to all
     this silly majesty... Basho
     Lao! Pop!
     Who is this fish sitting unsunk? Run up
     a Hawaii typhoon smash him against his rock... We'll jelly you,
     jellied man, show you essential jello of the sea... King
     of the Sea.

     No Monarc'h ever Irish be?
     Ju see the Irish sea? Green winds on tamarack vines
     Joyce -- James -- Shhish... Sea -- Sssssss -- see
     ... Varash
     ... mnavash la vache
     ecriture -- the sea dont say muc'h actually...

     Gosh, she,
     huzzy, tow, led men on, Ulysses and all them
     fair headed moin... Terplash, & what difference
     make! One little white spark of light!
     Hair woven hands Penelope seaboat
     smeller -- Courtiers in Telemachus "sguise
     dropedary dropedary creep -- Or...
     Franc gold rippled that undersea creek
     where fish fish for fisher men -- Salteen
     breen the wet Souwesters of old Portugee Prayers
     Tsall tangled, changed, salt & drop the sand
     & weed & water brains entangled -- Rats
     of old Venetian yellers Ariel Calibanned
     to Roma Port... Pow -- spell...
     Speak you parler, in this my mother's
     parlor, wash your undershoes when you
     come in, say thanks to foggy moon

     Go brash, Topahta
     offat, -- we'll gray ye rose -- Morning
     primord creeper sees the bird of paravision
     dying tweet the yellow mouthroof! How sweet
     the earth, yells sand! Xcept when tumble
     boom! O we wait too
     for Heaven -- all in One...
     All is there in fair & sight

     I'm going to wash now
     old Pavia down, & pack my salt
     to Either Town... Cliffs of Antique
     aint got no rose, the morning's seen
     the ledder pose... Boom de boom dey

     the sea is me...
     We are the sea... It ain't all snow
     We wash Fujiyama down soon, & sand
     crookbird back... We hie bash
     rock -- ak... Long short...
     Low and easy... Wind & many freezing
     bottoms and luckrock... Rappaport...
     Endymion thou tangled dreamer love my thigh
     ... Rose, Of Shelley, Rose, O Urns!
     Ogled urns in fish eye

     Cinco sea the Chico sea the Magellan headland sea
     ... What hype sidereal did he put down bending beatnik sea goatee
     over old goat manuscripts to find the other side of Flat?
     See round, see the end of me? Rounden huge bedoom?
     Awp hole cave & shwrul... sand & salt & hair eyes
     ... Strong enuf to make coffee grow in your hair...
     Whose plantation Neptune got? That of Atlas still down there,
     Hesperid's his feet, Sur his sleet, Irish Sea fingertip
     & Cornwall aye his soul bedoom

     Shurning -- Shurning -- plop
     be dosh -- This sigh old learning's high beside me -- Rough
     old hands have played out pedigree, we've sunk more boats
     than dreamer'll ever ever see
     ... Burning -- Burning -- The world
     is burning & needs waaater
     ... I'll have a daughter,
     oughter, wait & see... Churning, Churning, Me...
     Panties -- Panties... these ancient fancies are
     so girling... You've not seen mermaids in my actual sea
     ... You've not seen sexless babies with breasts of Majesty...
     My wife -- My wife... Her name is Oh so really
     high life

     The low life Kingdom where we part out tea, is sea
     side Me... Josh -- coof... patra...
     Aye ee mo powsh... Ssst -- Cum here read me...
     Dirty postcard... Urchin sea... Karash your name...?
     Wanta swim, sink or swim? Ears ringing again?
     Sea vibrate rhythm crash sets off cave
     hanger blowers whistling dog ear back -- to sea
     Arree... Gerudge Napoleon nada
     Nada

     Pluto eats the sea... Room...
     Hands folded by the sea... 'On est tous caches, mange
     le silence, " disent les poissons de la mer -- Ah Mar -- Gott
     Thalatta -- Merde -- Marde de mer -- Mu mer -- Mak a vash...
     The ocean is the mother... Je ne suis pas mauvaise quand j'suis
     tranquille -- dans les tempetes j'cries! Comme une folle!
     j'mange, j'arrache toutes! Clock -- Clack Milk...
     Mai! mai! mai! ma! says the wind blowing sand...
     Pluto eats the sea... Ami go -- da -- che pop
     Go -- Come Cark... Care -- Kee ter da vo
     Kataketa pow! kek kek kek! Kwakiutl! Kik!
     Some of theserather taratasters trapped hyra tecere thaped
     the anadondak ram ma lat round by Krul to Pat the lat
     rat the anaakakalked romon tottek

     Kara VOOOM
     frup... Feet cold? wade... Mind sore?
     sim -- sin -- Horny? -- lay the sea! Corny? try me...
     Ussens here hang no more here we go, ka va ra ta
     plowsh, shhh, and more, again, ke vlook
     ke bloom & here comes big Mister Trosh
     ... more waves coming, every syllable windy

     Back wash palaver
     paralarle -- paralleling parle pe Saviour
     A troublesome spirit hanging here cant make it
     in the void... The sea'll only drown me -- These words
     are affectations of sick mortality...
     We try to make our way in self reliance, aid
     not ever comes too quick from wherever & whatever
     heaven dear may have suggested to promise us...

     But these waves scare me...
     I am going to die in full despair...
     Wake up where? On second breath in life
     the atmosphere is dearer maybe closer to Heaven
     ... O Paradise... Is the sea really so bad?
     Have you sent men here for this cold clown
     & monstrous eater at the world? whose sound
     I mock?

     God I've got to believe in you or live in death!
     Will you save us -- all? Soon or now?
     Send illumination to our drowning brains
     ... We're pitiful, Lord, we need yr help!
     Save us, Dear... (Save yourself, God man,
     ha ha! ) If you were God man
     you'd command these waves to very well Tennyson stop
     & even Tennyson is dear
     now dead Leave it to the light
     Concern yourself with supper, & an eye

     somebody's eye -- a wife,
     a girl, a friend, an animal
     ... a blood let drop...
     he for his sea, he for his fire,
     thee for thy desire

     "The sea drove me away & yelled "Go to your desire! "
     ... As I hurried up the valley It added one last yell: --
     "And laugh! "'

     Even the sea cant stop me from writing something to read in my old age
     ... This is  the chart of brief forms,  this sea the briefest --  Shish
yourself...
     After scaring me like that, Mar, I'll excoriate yr slum -- yr
     iodine weeds & slime hoops, even yr dried hollow seaweed
     stinks -- you stink all over... Boom -- Try that, creep...
     The little Monterey fishingboat glides downward home 15 miles to go,
     be home  to  fried  fish &  beer b'five... It guides the  sea  its bird
routes...
     ... Silver loss forever outward
     ... From blue sky of human bridges
     to the massive mawkcloud sea center heap -- to the gray...
     Some boys call it gunboat blue, or gray, but I call it
     the Civil War of Rocks
     ... Rocks "come air, rocks "come water,
     & rock rocks... Kara tavira, mnash grand bash
     ... poosh 1'abas -- croosh L'a haut -- Plash au pied...
     Peeeee -- Rolle test boulles... Manche d'la rache...
     The handsome King prevails over boom sing bird head...
     "Crache tes idees, " spit yr ideas, says the sea, to me, quite
     appro priate ly... Pss! pss! pss!
     Ps! girl inside! Red shoes scum, eyes of old
     sorcerers, toenails hanging down in the barrel of old firkin cheese
     the Dutchman forgot t'eat that tempest
     nineteen O sixteen
     When torpedoed by gunboat Pedro in the Valley
     of a Million Fees?

     When Magellan crosseyed ate the Amazonian feet...
     And, Ah, when Colombo cross't! When Drake sir francised the waves
     with feeding of the blue jay dark -- pounded his aleward
     tank before the boom, housed up all thoughts of Erik
     the Red the Greenland caperer & builder of rockdungs in New
     Port -- New -- yet... Oldport Indian Fishhead...
     Oldport Tattoo Kwakiutl Headpost taboo potash Coyotl potlatch?
     Old Primitive Columbia....

     Named for Colom bus? Name for Aruggio Vesmarica...
     Ar! -- Or! -- Da! What about Verrazano?
     he sailed!... He Verrazano zailed & we
     statened his Island in on deep

     in on dashun Rotted the Wallower?
     Sinners liars goodmen all sink waterswim drink Neptune's
     nectar the zal sotat... Zal sotate name for crota?
     Crota ta crotte, you aint 'bout to find (Jesus Christian! )
     any dry turds here below... Why fo no?
     Go crash yonder rock of bleak with yr filet mignon teeth
     & see -- For you, the hearth, the heart, the lock of hair...
     For me, for us, the Sea, the murdering of time by eating
     lusty cracks of lip feed wave at aeons of sandy artistry
     till nothing's left but old age newmorning primordial pain
     of sitters by the unborn
     bird of roses yet undone...

     With weeds your roses,
     sand crabs your hummers? With buzzers in the sea!
     With runners in the deep! This Sceptred Osh, this wide leg
     spanning rock U. S. to rock Ja Pan, this onstable
     roller roaming all, this ploosher at yr gory
     dry dung door, this mouth of silverwhite arring to hold thee,
     this purger of conscience arra for thee...
     No mouse in here but's got a little glee -- and
     aft, or oft, the osprey in his glee's agley...
     Oh purty purty ocean me...
     Sop! bring the Scepter down! Again you've accepted me!

     Breathe our iodine, filthy yr drink,
     faint at feet wet, drop yr profile move it in the sea,
     float weeded watery Adonais longs for thee -- & Shelley three,
     that's three -- burn in salt with slow most change...
     We've had no crack at eternity in a billion years of trying...
     one grain of sand possesses 3 thousand worlds of glee...
     not to mention me... Ah sea
     Ah si -- Ah so... shoot -- shiver -- mix...
     ha roll -- tara -- ta ta... curlurck -- Kayash -- Kee...
     Pearls pearls in the yellow West
     ... Yellow sky to China...
     Pacific we named here water as always meeting
     water -- Pacific Pacific Pacific tapfic -- geroom...
     gedowsh... gaka... gaya... Tatha -- gata -- mana...
     What sails used old bhikkus? Dhikkus? Dhikkus!
     What raft mailed Mose to the hoven dovepost?
     What saved Blackswirl from the Kidd plank?
     What Go-Bug here? Seet! Seeeeeeeeeee
     eeeeeee -- kara... Pounders out yar...

     Big Sur they call this sand
     these rocks this creek? Raton Canyon by name pours
     Coyote leaves & old Pomo bones & old dust of Tomahawks
     into your angler'd maw... My salt maw shall salvage
     Taylors -- sewing in the room below...
     Sewing weed shrat for hikers in the milky silt...
     Sewing crosswards for certainty... Sartan
     are we of Price Victory in this salt War with thee
     & thine thee jellied yink! Look O the sea here called
     Pacific Sea! Taki!

     My golden empty soul'll
     outlast yr salty sill
     ... the Windows of my jelly eye
     & fish head muck look out on thee, slit, with cigar-a-mouth,
     some contempt... Yet I hie me to see you
     ... you hie thee to eat me -- Fair in sight
     and worn, aright... Arra! Aroo!
     Ger der va... Silly silent cities in the sea
     have children playing cardboard mush with eignyard old Englander
     beeplates slickered oer with scum of histories below...

     No tempest as still & awful
     as the tempest within... Sorcerer hip! Buddhalands
     & Buddhaseas! What sails Maudgalyayana used
     he only knows to tell but got kilt by yellers
     screaming down the cliff 'Let's go home!
     Now! "
     ... leave marge smashed djamas
     Maudgalyayana was murdered by the seaBut the sea dont tell...
     The sea dont murder... The seadrang scholars
     oughter know that or
     go back to School Hear over there the ocean motor?
     Feel the splawrsh of it? Six silly centepedes here, Machree...
     Ah Ratatatatatat... the machinegun sea, rhythmie
     balls of you pouring in with smooth eglantinee
     jn yr pedigreed milkpup tenor...
     Tinder marsh aright arrooo... arrac'h -- arrache...
     Kamac'h -- monarc'h... Kerarc'h Jevac'h...
     Tamana -- gavow... Va -- Voovla -- Via...
     Mia -- mine sea
     poo

     Farewell, Sur...

     Didja ever tell him about water meeting water...?
     O go back to otter... Term -- Term -- Klerm
     Kerm -- Kurn -- Cow... Kow... Cash -- Cac'h -- Cluck...
     Clock -- Gomeat sea need de deep I see you
     Enoc'h soon anarf
     in Old Brittany

     21 August 1960 Pacific Ocean at Big Sur
     California

     The complete poems  written by the sea are to  be found  at the end  of
this book, in the appendix entitled "SEA'. Sounds  of  the Pacific Ocean  at
Big Sur. JK.

I did and I got a letter back.  Sure it is a generic response, but at least I know they saw my name

 

November 6, 2009

 

Dear Mr. Graham:

 

Thank you for contacting me regarding the state of civil liberties and constitutional principles in the United States. I appreciate hearing from you on this critically important issue.

 

I firmly believe that we must make every effort to protect our country from potential threats to our national security. However, we risk losing our moral compass as a nation if we deviate from the rule of law and our democratic ideals when confronting our enemies. I was therefore dismayed by the Bush Administration’s repeated attempts during its tenure in office to undermine the rule of law in this country. In my view, it is essential that we attempt to repair the harm done by many of these failed policies.

 

To that end, I was proud to support a number of legislative initiatives during the 110th Congress to stem the erosion of civil liberties and the rule of law in this country. On February 17, 2007, I introduced S. 576, the Restoring the Constitution Act. This legislation would have restored habeas corpus rights for all individuals detained by the United States, limited the President’s authority to interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions, and prohibited the use of evidence gained through torture. In addition, I supported legislation that would have closed the Department of Defense detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and ended the practice of extraordinary rendition to countries that engage in torture. I also strongly opposed attempts to grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies who cooperated with the Bush Administration’s warrantless surveillance program as part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act of 2008.

 

As you may know, on January 22, 2009, President Obama signed several Executive Orders that reversed some of the Bush Administration’s most damaging and controversial policies in this area. Specifically, President Obama ordered the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility within a year, ordered the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to close secret detention facilities, and mandated that all interrogations of terror suspects follow the rules laid out in the Army Field Manual. With these policy changes, I believe the United States has taken an important first step toward restoring our moral authority and reasserting our nation’s commitment and adherence to the rule of law. Please be assured that I will continue to support efforts to restore the constitutional principles that form the foundation of American democracy.

 

 

Thank you again for contacting me. If you would like to stay in touch with me on this and other issues of importance, please visit my website at http://dodd.senate.gov and subscribe to receive my regular e-mail issue alerts. Please do not hesitate to contact me again if I may be of assistance to you in any way.

 

Hi everyone – I will be volunteering today for the Fall Fund Drive at WDVX, community radio in Knoxville, Tennessee.  It is a listener supported station and they do some great things down here for the area and if you can make a small donation it would be greatly appreciated.  If not, that of course is okay, you can just stream the music online.

Have a great afternoon!

Rainbows. Trampolines. Water spots. The leaves are changing over now. This photo was taken a few weeks ago here in Knoxville.  Like the view?  Me too.

(click the images to make larger)

It’s that time of year again!

If you are planning on being a cop, a child molester, or Burt Reynolds for Halloween this year than you are in luck.

Do not shave the stach after Halloween and segway right into MOVEMBER

I spent the summer in Grand Rapids Michigan, but that is not what this is about.  Well, kind of, but not entirely.  Before I moved there, everyone would ask, “Why on earth would you move there?”, or “Michigan sucks”, or “You know it’s one of the most overweight states with the highest unemployment rate”.

Why must people say these things?

Maybe they should just go to Michigan and see for themselves how much it has to offer. Maybe I am glad they do not, otherwise everywhere in Michigan would end up looking like the troll side of the Mackinaw Bridge.

You do not even know what that means do you? The mitten baby. Wear it.

There is a lot to love, but I am going to share just a small piece of a place that nearly a year ago to the day I did not know even existed. Ten hours northwest of Grand Rapids, MI is the town of Houghton.  In Houghton there is a boat that they call THE RANGER III.  If you get on The Ranger III it takes approximately six hours to get to a place called Isle Royale National Park (pronounced like the Kansas City baseball team, not like the sandwich from Pulp Fiction).

If you are looking at a map, look in the northwest corner of Lake Superior.  It’s closer to Canada than it is to Michigan, but somehow Michigan got it.  Actually, that somehow involves a series of treaty’s that I will not to get into, but if you are interested. Boom, get roasted.

DSC_0565

Capacity of the Ranger III  is 128 and it is rarely filled because Isle Royale is the least visited National Park in the United States.  That is just one of many facts about this remote island, the only island that is a National Park at that.  That is another fact for you.

Here are some others;

- Michigan contains 14 wilderness areas. Isle Royale is the largest.

- Isle Royale has the longest running large mammal predator prey study (46 years). You ask, “What does that mean?”.  You would.  In 1940 a lonely female wolf arrived to the island.  The wolves of Isle Royale  are found to be inbred, which means they all came from that one lonely wolf who somehow got knocked up.  This has led to a 50% loss of wolf population due to inbreeding.   This information is a result of that long study that I mentioned just a few sentences ago.

- It is the only known place where wolves and moose coexist without the presence of bears.

I went with two of my roommates (Jeff & Simon) and myself decided to make the trip at the end of July, into August.  The decision-making process was easy and it came about like so:

DSC_0014

SIMON (above)

Me: “We really should plan a camping trip to Isle Royale”

Simon: ‘Oh man, I would so be in, let’s do it. We gotta do that”

Me: “Jeff, want to go to Isle Royale with Simon and I?”

Jeff: “Oh, yeah son, I want to go, I love Isle Royale.”

Me: “Have you ever even been?”

Jeff: “No”

Simon emailed me a week later with the dates that worked for him (July 28-Aug. 5th) and I booked our boat tickets.  Of course we had to leave a day early because of the amount of time it would take for us to get there. Simon made the epic drive and we stopped for pasties (not pronounced like the things strippers wear).

Do you know what a pasty is? You really need to get to Michigan…

pastyfestparade1-lg

We spent ten days  and hiked 65.4 miles, on what I would consider one of the greatest places in the Untied States.  Here are some pics (click to make larger):

Here are some stories:

On the ride up we saw a double rainbow.

The next day, our first day on the island, we saw another rainbow.

We thought at that point we were going to see rainbows every single day and decided that we could tell people, when asked ‘How was Isle Royale?”

Our reply would solely be “We saw a rainbow every day”.

It doesn’t get much better than that.

Actually, I think it does and it did.  Although we did not see a rainbow again after those first two days, we did see and experience a lot of what being in nature is all about.

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We heard wolves, but saw a moose and her baby

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Jeff does not like posing for pictures, so he does not pose for them by posing. Here we are towards the end of the trip. Take note of the book Simon was reading, Angela’s Ashes.  He would laugh out loud when reading it and then share parts of it with us.  For the most part we all wore the same clothes for the full ten days

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Today is National Day On Writing )

However, today is not the sweetest day ever.  No, no…The Sweetest Day ever is on October 17th.  I know this may be confusing, but people lets get with it.

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In Ohio, since October of 1921 (first year the world series was broadcast) this holiday has been observed, even though many feel it was concocted to help sell twenty thousand pounds of uneaten Halloween candy from the year before. Okay, that is not entirely  true, but  New York tried to get on board and they of course had to out do everyone else.  They attempted to create sweetest week. A week of sweetness, then couples were to just spend the rest of the year fighting about buying the wrong toothpaste and chopping vegetables wrong.   Things like that.

Eventually everyone lost focus and this holiday is really just a Great Lakes celebrated holiday, although Wikipedia says in Texas they make loved ones breakfast. Texas Toast anyone?

Here are some facts I couldn’t even make up:

the first Sweetest Day was planned by a committee of 12 confectioners chaired by candymaker C. C. Hartzell. The Sweetest Day in the Year Committee distributed over 20,000 boxes of candy to “newsboys, orphans, old folks, and the poor” in Cleveland, Ohio[3]. The Sweetest Day in the Year Committee was assisted in the distribution of candy by some of the biggest movie stars of the day including Theda Bara and Ann Pennington.

As for myself, I will now celebrate Sweetest Day every year and mainly just because I think Valentines day is overrated and unnecessary, but not Sweetest Day.  They celebrate it in Michigan and I love Michigan and that is where I celebrated my first Sweetest Day (this past weekend).

For those of you wondering (I’m guessing no one). American Greetings marketed 178 greeting card designs,  Hallmark marketed 151.  You win American Greetings, you always do.

This is my date and I on Sweetest Day…

life-sweetest-day

Here is a link to my favorite website for more info

chuck

Chuck Klosterman has a new book out today, “Eating The Dinosaur”

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Try and find it used, or support your local bookstore.

If you do not like to read books, maybe you like to read newspapers? Is it still reading the newspaper if you read it online?

When I used to live in New York we had a sweet rooftop deck (I have since heard it is locked because someone threw a midget off of it, or a couch, I forget exactly).  Regardless, the deck had a great view of the Empire State Building, most of the time guests would ask real good questions, like “Is that the Empire State Building?”, or “Why is it lit up with those colors?”.  We would often make things up on the fly, mainly trying to make clever jokes (none of which were good enough to remember now) but sometimes there was true meaning behind it all.

I was sent this article this afternoon and figured I would share it.  I am not a huge dead fan, and by not a huge fan, I mean not a fan at all, but I can appreciate popular music.


Empire State Building to Get Tie-Dye Lighting in Honor of Grateful Dead

GRATEFUL DEAD TO BE HONORED OCTOBER 19
IN NEW YORK CITY WITH SPECIAL LIGHTING OF
EMPIRE STATE BUILDING IN TIE-DYE COLORS

BOB WEIR AND PHIL LESH IN MANHATTAN FOR
NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY FUNDRAISER OCTOBER 21

The Grateful Dead will be honored in New York City this Monday, October 19 when the Empire State Building is lit up with special tie-dye colors celebrating the group’s appearance in the city later that week. The color scheme will represent the group’s iconic imagery and psychedelic influences.

On Wednesday, October 21, Bob and Phil will attend a fundraiser at the New York Historical Society as part of an exhibit celebrating the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band. The Grateful Dead: Now Playing at the New York Historical Society traces the career and achievements of a band that became one of the significant cultural forces in 20th century America. Through a wealth of original artwork and documents including concert and recording posters, album art, large-scale marionettes and other stage props, banners and decorated fan mail, the exhibition will explore the musical creativity and influence of the Grateful Dead from 1965 to 1995, the sociological phenomenon of the Dead Heads and the enduring impact of the Dead’s pioneering approach to the music business. Materials in the exhibition will be drawn almost exclusively from the extraordinary holdings of the Grateful Dead Archive at the University of California Santa Cruz, established in 2008.

“Have you ever been to Knoxville?”

That is kind of how I ended up here, so ask yourself the same question.  I moved into an apartment and found a great roommate, utilizing Craigslist, I hope the same happens with finding a bike, but I have been looking for weeks now and cannot seem to find something that is large enough for my lanky self.

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But yeah, Knoxville.  I live there now.  Some days are sunny, but every morning I wake up wondering if at some point it poured rain because everything is so wet.   I usually tell people I wear cowboy boots and drink whisky, but really I still wear my Nike’s and drink cheap beer, but Barley’s has a $2 Monday Pint night with a top shelf of beers. Reminds me of Michigan sometimes.  I will get to why I left there in due time.

Not all the time though.  And I am not here to drink beer, I am here to be involved in the city to the best of my capabilities, find a great community of people and continue my passion for being involved in a local industry, specifically music, behind the scenes, where I like it.

I still travel, but in a different way.  Not at the capacity I was last year at this time.  That journey has ended, now I apply what I learned from all that I met to this life and continue see where that takes me.

Since I have last posted I have attended five very different weddings, six, if you count the Office Finale (and if you count just watching) worked for a not for profit in ClearWater Beach, Florida, taken a photo of the white house from outside the gate and eaten half a birthday cake in one sitting.  I’ve done other things, met a wealth of people and continue to try and share my love for composting and recycling.  Yeah, yeah, I could type forever, but I will not.

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Was I talking about Knoxville?

One of my favorite things about Knoxville is the music scene that has emerged from here.  Most people associate Tennessee music  with Nashville, or even Memphis, but I have yet to head west to Nashville (two hour drive), but why head there when you can get the same thing across the bridge to downtown Knox.  Or KnoxVegas, as some of the local call it. I do not know why, really.

The Tennessee Theater – I have yet to go, but understand I cannot do everything in a week.  The historic qualities and great shows that happen here are legend status.

WDVX Community Radio – The Blue Plate special is something to talk about, but even better to listen to – stream it live. If you cannot check it out firsthand.

Bijou Theater – Just saw Andrew Bird play last night and this Theater brings back some heritage.  It is housed in the third oldest building in Knoxville and despite it being all seating it is enjoyable for a favorite artist performance.

Barley’s Taproom & Pizzeria – I mentioned this.  Did I mention I love Monday’s and Live music, yeah they got that too (on many of nights).  I have yet to try their food, but I am a bit of pizza snob.  We’ll see.  Saw a 18 year old white rapper named Total Savage either embarrass his parents, or make them proud.  Have not figured that one out yet.

Some artists that I suggest you check out:

The Carolina Chocolate Drops

Lord T & Eloise

Go Vols

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