Culture

I started running today after a five month hiatus. I suppose that's what happens when you're feeling low. You eat shit, drink shit, make bad decisions and work for public broadcasting. Not to say that last thing is bad. I was trying to make a joke.

I finished reading a novel called Galápagos by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. It's about the de-evolution of mankind after a cruise ship of seven living people, one dead person, one ghost and one dead dog shipwrecks on the Galápagos Islands one million years ago in 1985. That combined with the Zen I seek in running made me think a lot of about the power of the human spirit which all seems irrelevant at the end of the novel. Vonnegut has a way of doing that.

Repopulating seemed kinda sexy in a way. Where sex goes beyond desire into necessity. Humans love to pat themselves on the back for being important. They also love to pat themselves on the back for getting laid. Talk about the best of both worlds. Especially when you're the first generation after a war that destroys all your ancestors. I'm a sucker for shit like that. Importance. Passion. Comfort.

I cried the day Vonnegut died. I cried an awful lot in front of an awful lot of people. I was wicked embarrassed. People treated me like a problem case, much like nowadays. At least everyone forgot about it the day after. I sure as hell didn't. However, one kid, a jock, came up to me and said "You must really care about about him." I said I do. When Salinger died all I thought was "So it goes." How ironical.

Now I'm reading The Catcher in the Rye for the fourth time whilst listening to Bob Dylan's criminally underrated Street Legal. I find a lot of comfort in art. These two things are art. There's also white wine and whoopie pies to be had. These two things are _____.

Monday Night Special

found this bit in my notebook from my "Brownsville Girl" phase where everything I wrote could have been a new verse for that song. soooo here's a new verse:

I once made a movie where none of the footage survived
I was dressed up like a cowboy
And gave my deputy badge to the beautiful girl
Riding shotgun.
She would aimlessly look out the window
As I looked at the side of her face.
We came to a field near the bay and her face lit up.
The image was too blue,
The wind was too fast.
I couldn't even light my cigarette.
I embarrassed myself on the floor of her room
and we never talked about it again.
It's too bad that I think about it every day.

***

I wish it was later. Not later but deeper. Dead muse. Sing no more.

Dylan Heals All

My Last.fm top 20 most played Dylan songs is a pretty fair assessment of my favorite Dylan songs. Since I most likely won't sleep tonight, lemme post them and a favorite line or two to defend my cases for these tunes because maybe five of them are on popular compilations. The rest are in a no-man's land of his catalog.

1. "Tight Connection to My Heart" from Empire Burlesque

I never could learn to drink that blood and to call it wine. I never could learn to hold you, love, and call you mine.

2. "Girl from the North Country Side" from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

I'm wonderin' if she remembers me at all

3. "Lay Lady Lay" from Nashville Skyline

Why wait any longer for the one you love when he's standing in front of you?

4. "Sweetheart Like You" from Infidels

They say in your father's house, there's many mansions. Each one has a fireproof floor

5. "Jokerman" from Infidels

You're going to Sodom and Gomorrah, but what do you care? Ain't nobody there would want to marry your sister. Friend to the martyr. Friend to the woman of shame. You look into the fiery furnace, see the rich man without any name

6. "Went to See The Gypsy" from New Morning

His room was dark and crowded. The lights were low and dim. "How are you?" he said to me. I said it back to him

7. "Po' Boy" from Love and Theft (Dylan's whole career lead up to this and "Mississippi")

My mother was the daughter of a wealthy farmer. My father was a traveling salesman. I never met him. When my mother died, my uncle took me in. He ran a funeral parlor. He did a lot of nice things for me and I won't forget him.

8. "Mississippi" from Love and Theft

I've been in trouble ever since I set my suitcase down.

9. "Subterrainian Homesick Blues" from Bringing It All Back Home

Twenty years of schoolin' and they put you on the day shift

10. "Changing of the Guards" from Street Legal

The captain is down but still believing that his love will be repaid

11. "Blood in my Eyes" from World Gone Wrong (Traditional)

Woke up this morning, feeling blue. Seen a good lookin' girl, can I make love with you?

12. "We Better Talk This Over" from Street Legal

Number 12 is really "Wigwam" but that's an instrumental. I include this song because it has one of my favorite Dylan lines ever- "I think we better talk this over. Maybe when we both get sober."

13. "Watered-Down Love" from Shot of Love

You don't want a love that's pure. You wanna drown love. You want a watered-down love.

14. "Not Dark Yet" from Time Out of Mind

I can't even remember what it was I came here to get away from.

15. "Don't Fall Apart On Me Tonight" from Infidels

It's like I'm stuck inside a painting that's hanging in the Louvre...No more affection that's misplaced, girl.

16. "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

You just kinda wasted my precious time, but don't think twice, it's all right.

17. "All The Tired Horses" from Self Portrait

All the tired horses in the sun. How'm I suppose to get any ridin' done? Hmm.

18. "Pretty Peggy-o" from Bob Dylan

Come a-runnin' down the stairs pretty Peggy-o. Combing back your yellow hair. You're the prettiest darn girl I've ever seen-io.

19. "Brownsville Girl" from Knocked Out Loaded (co-written by Sam Shepard)

There was a movie I seen one time, I think I sat through it twice, I don’t remember who I was or where I was bound. All I remember about it was it starred Gregory Peck, he wore a gun and he was shot in the back. Seems like a long time ago, long before the stars were torn down.

20. "Life is Hard" from Together Through Life

My dreams are locked and barred, admitting life is hard without you near me


Oh if there's an original idea out there, I could use it right about now.

012911 and Elsewhere

The only reason why men write poetry is to see the Look on a girl's face.

I'm sitting in a Dunkin' Donuts in Hookset, NH. The girl at the counter was a sweet girl who's name tag read "Brit." It was such a riot and the two men from Maine laughed. They wanted cookies, all I wanted was another cup of cold coffee.

I wanna write a movie where a man knows exactly when he will die. The day will come and pass without even a scratch on his head.

Last night was a riot. Kevin and I sitting in my room listening to Sinatra and Indian music. We talked about. We talked about helping others. If we are the future teachers of America, well I feel pretty all right. I realized that night that if I belong to any chruch, it's the church of America. I believe in it the way others believe in Jesus. Jesus turned water into wine but America gave us rock 'n' roll.

* * *

I've been in a weird mood lately and I have been all last week, all things considered. It's gonna be another long week, I just know it. This Dylan song is the only way I can explain how I feel. He's good at doing that. Please be patient for the length, it's worth it.

In the Summer of '52

I don't think much of Shutter Island but me watching Shutter Island feels like a Bob Dylan song.

Last night I watched film
And in it was Leo DeCaprio
I don't remember what it was about
But he was a US Marshal down on his luck
I didn't know him then but I knew two others
One was a man who wrote for the papers
The other a runaway boy
An SS officer and a prison guard
asked me what I thought
I said "It was a good film but not a great film,
I walked out on it even in my living room."
The prison guard smiled
As the SS man twiddled his thumbs
I blew my nose and finished my beer
And thanked them for the meal
As I walk home I think about Leo DiCaprio and his kids
I knew they wern't his real kids
But they'd be lucky if they were