A Sunday Song to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Moves of the Dance

Happy 90th birthday, Yoko Ono! Continue reading A Sunday Song to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Moves of the Dance

All 165 of Pink Floyd’s Songs Ranked?!

Impossible to do. Not because I think all of them are great, which they very well may be. But because I basically only know songs from The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon. But Bill Wyman writing for Vulture thinks it’s possible. Anyway, whether you’re into Floyd or not, or into rankings or not, for now this version of “Mother” is my current Floyd favorite… A Sunday Song to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Moves of the Dance #wedontneednoeducationbecauseweareallbloodygeniusestobeginwith Continue reading All 165 of Pink Floyd’s Songs Ranked?!

A Sunday Song to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Moves of the Dance

Time to forget for a moment the madness and mayhem and the apocalyptic fever dreams and just close your eyes and imagine you’re out on the dance floor with the most delectable babe* of your dreams groovin’ it to this new release written and performed by my youngest son and produced by my eldest son… #rockon #likeyourlifedependedonit *non-gender specific Continue reading A Sunday Song to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Moves of the Dance

Regarding That Which Despicable Beings Create

Always a conundrum — what to do with something good created by someone bad.

I mean, take HP Lovecraft for instance. Are horrors authors and readers still praising him so for his early contributions to the genre? Fortunately for me, having read his work long before learning he was such a virulent racist, I find his writing flat and uninteresting and way, way overrated so shunning him to the dustbin of the disgraced is no problemo.

But there are a lot of other types of situations and scenarios out there that can put one in such an unpleasant conundrum…

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We Should Be Dancing… Not Dying

With all the constant blood and violence in this constantly bloody and violent nation of mine, a la yesterday’s insane mass killing after a gun-toting asshole goes off his nutty handle during a routine traffic stop, I hardly feel like getting my groove on.

But get my groove on I must or else I will become completely consumed by the constant blood and violence and do nothing more than wallow in a constant state of misery and fear…

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A Poem Illicit by Cindy Knoke

The popular photographer and poet Cindy Knoke wrote us a poem in response to our ongoing flash fiction contest (which ends at midnight tonight so go vote for your favorite story!). Unfortunately, per the fine print of the contest rules, only flash fiction responses meeting the stated criteria will be accepted. All other responses are to be deleted. Yeah, I get down like that. However, reading Cindy’s poem felt to me like listening to a Tom Waits song and if anyone knows me they know I have a huge man crush on Tom. No way I could abandon her poem to a trash can death. So instead I share it here with you where it can shimmy and shake for all eternity as a special supplement to our weekly Sunday Song to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Moves of the Dance…

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Sunday Songs to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Moves of the Dance

So for the past two months I’ve been stuck within the tedious and grinding and painful first phase of the developmental process for my next book (while I can’t say the first phase is my favorite phase of the entire book development process — to me the entire process of developing a book is tedious and grinding and painful — I can at least say it is the least tedious and grinding and painful of them all) when it recently suddenly dawned upon me that I am not yet ready to let go of the last book I that tediously and grindingly and painfully developed…

Which of course is The Good Kill, thank you very much.

At first I tried to fight through the desire to not let it go but it wasn’t working…

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Sunday Songs to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Moves of the Dance

Notice that the artist’s last name is the same as yours truly. Yes, Willis is my eldest son so I expect and demand that you dance to his music and spread the regenerating and healing vibes forward and forever onward by share, share, sharing his melodious and infective love.

Willis has other such delectable jams at his Soundcloud channel so please go there and repeat as above.

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The Draught of Naught Troubling

More good stuff from my sons Willis’ and Bobi’s band Aelios* in the form of a music video of their latest release. You should be able to tell who my sons are because you should be able to tell who the blood brothers are in the video. The third member, Colin Bates, while not a blood brother, he’s a brother nonetheless. Incidentally, Colin, an all around artistic talent and graduate of Juilliard, collaborated with me on my movie Leave. You can learn more about him and other cast and crew members here. Incidentally again, my son Bobi’s other band Saving … Continue reading The Draught of Naught Troubling

United States of Me

The egalitarianism typical of human hunter-gatherers is interesting when viewed in an evolutionary context. One of humanity’s two closest primate relatives, the chimpanzee, is anything but egalitarian, forming hierarchies that are dominated by alpha males. So great is the contrast with human hunter-gatherers that it is widely argued by palaeoanthropologists that resistance to being dominated was a key factor driving the development of human consciousness, language, kinship, and social organization. . . [WIKIPEDIA]

While I’m loathe to give credit to the hardcore Silicon tech bros due to so many of them having a bent toward misogyny and authoritarian ideals, which also made Trump so appealing to so many of these tech nerd dictator-wanna-bes, a la Peter Thiel, however, one of their ideals that somewhat sort of does appeal to me is a their striving toward a kind of hyper-freedom/ individualism, a striving so much so that some, again a la Peter Theil, are working to create these technology island havens of sort where each island would be governed autonomously as its own country and where, it seems to me, the island owners could proclaim themselves king or queen.

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#RIPKurtCobain

Depressing Pasty White Boys Playlist for Melancholic Moods and Writing Inspiration

So, the past couple weeks I’ve been in a last-minute frenzy (the best way I find to write) to finish the screenplay for a feature film version of Leave.

Yeah, we’re now – no jokin’ – just days away of getting Leave, the short film version*, in the can and we will soon be submitting the production (and let me tell ya, it’s been one hell of a production (to say the least)) to all the various and sundry film festivals throughout the lands near and far.

And, as we’re all hoping (I know, I know all you hardcore military grunts – HOPE IS NOT A COURSE OF ACTION!), and some of us are even borderline expecting, that there will be some interest after seeing the short film from the moneyed movie moguls who will be out there cruising all the various and sundry festivals looking for their next feature film project…

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Why does it seem stars from my generation* have such a hard time staying alive?

What gives, yo?

I mean, life’s a bitch and all but come on Gen Xers, don’t let all that depressing music from the Nineties go to your head…

Or your heart.

Man**…

I tell ya, last year we lost such notable Gen Xers as Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell*** and, before them, Scott Weiland a couple years ago, not to mention all those Gen Xer stars we lost early in their prime: Kurt Cobain, Tupac, Biggie, Layne Staley, Shannon Hoon, Bradley Nowell, and god knows how many others I’ve failed to mention.

And now this year we continue the tragic Gen X endings with the tragic death of Dolores O’Riordan.

By the time my generation gets in its natural zone of death, it seems all the stars from it will be long gone with no big names left for me to pay tribute.

But, as is evident by Delores’ recent passing, it’s painfully obvious the premature dying off of famous Gen Xers will continue unabated and I sincerely would like to pay a heartfelt tribute to the life of Dolores, for hers was a unique and beautiful voice that defined my generation*.

Sadly, like the death of Scott Weiland, I kind of saw it coming
Continue reading “Why does it seem stars from my generation* have such a hard time staying alive?”

Pakistani Music Maestro Teams Up With Grammy-Winning Producer

Found this truly amazing video, posted originally by Sonya Rehman, fortuitously while cruising through WP’s “music” tag and I am sharing it here by using the “WP Press This” share button for the first time because there was no “Reblog” button, which I don’t understand why because if you allow a Press This button and not… Ah, heck. Why don’t I just shut up about the inanities of such inane issues as the pros and cons of share buttons so you can enjoy this truly amazing video…   Source: Pakistani Music Maestro Teams Up With Grammy-Winning Producer   Continue reading Pakistani Music Maestro Teams Up With Grammy-Winning Producer

Drugs, Death, and Rock & Roll

Wayne Static in 2005 [WIKIPEDIA]

 

Did not know Wayne Static had died in 2014.

What a frikkin’ bummer.

I’m a fan of Industrial Music — Rock, Metal, Electronic — with Nine Inch Nails being my typical band of choice whenever I’m jonesing for a deep, dark, dystopic fix.

But whenever I was in need for an adrenaline fix, Wayne Static — his stage name obviously — with his band Static-X would always get me to where I was fixin’ to go.

It’s been a while since I needed a high-tempo rush like that so I hadn’t heard nor thought of Static-X in many o’ moons; however, now that I’m to the point where I’m working out regularly, a Static-X classic popped up on my Apple Music Industrial Rock Workout Playlist that Apple nerds had kindly and conveniently curated for me.

Warning: If you’re not familiar with this genre of music, you may want to check, first, with your doctor to ensure your heart can handle it, and then, second, with your Priest/Spiritual Advisor to ensure your spirit can handle it, as well…
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