Time Capsule 1970
Can * nois * seur ( kan' us sur' ) n. one competent to render critical judgement on the qualities and merits of cannabis
"The most amazing property of cannabis is its ability to fog the minds of those who do not use it."
Heads Up: Heavy props to Re-Leaf at 1284 Mission @ 9th St., San Francisco, for dispensing a wide variety of high quality, fair trade herb. While small, they are a major market factor, keeping prices low as other dispensaries raise their rates. They've even been known to throw the occasional barbecue for the neighborhood. Stop by for a taste.
The Big Broadcast
(the continuing day-by-day log of a 1970 freighter voyage to Tangier)
As usual Scorpio went to work after dinner and closed shop just in time to see the bar close. However Pack had taken to buying it by the bottle due to the bar's skimpy hours (4 to 5:30 and 7 to 10), so they settled down to talk it over. They looked for Garfunkel who was across the lounge, playing Scrabble with his collegiate table mates.
A small tribe, consisting of two very long haired cats, two madonna ladies in Rennaisance garb and two dogs, floated by. Scorpio was cornered by an elderly cat from D.C. who was a dedicated fucking racist. After hearing his opening rant earlier, Scorpio had avoided him as best he could--but there he was. Fred Hart was concerned about militant revolution and seemed to think that Scorpio had the answer. Scorpio, taken aback, knew what he could not say.
Pack was huddling with Garfunkel now. As he'd been closely involved with the music business, it gave them more than a few references in common. Again, the room thinned out about midnight, leaving ten or twelve troupers drinking, smoking and listening to Joe Cocker getting by.
Scorpio began talking to a couple of faces, namely Whiting and Mort. Whiting was nineteen and Canadian.He had a passive, shy hip--nice and easy... Scorpio liked his vibration right off. Mort was a little older and harder around the edges, the diamond glint in his eye reminding Scorpio of those types who always seemed to be the proprietors of head shops, or concert halls. He was a former student looking for export/import opportunites.
Both were agog at the adventure they had found On The Boat, reporting outlines of various scenes: the cat who was dealing lids, Whiting's photo of the tribal dogs copulating, the fact that everyone was on an indefinite trip, the fact that everyone was looking for some elusive further truth...Pack came over to Scorpio and asked if he'd like to hang inside. Scorpio excused himself and followed him back to the cabin. Garfunkle was there sipping a scotch. Some smoke magically appeared and Scorpio went next door for some cassettes.
While Monkey Man crashed along in true Stones fashion, Scorpio nursed his drink and sipped his tea. Then, as the first sweet choruses of You Can't Always Get What You Want began, he turned up the volume full blast. A bit of overkill that floored Garfunkel. When he came to he demanded to hear the rest of the Let It Bleed album immediately. As he listened he commented that he'd like to get that sound on some of his sides. He pulled some cassettes from his own stash. The first was Songs I Learned At My Father's Knee, by the Everley Brothers. Garfunkel reminisced that he'd been hung on the Everly Brothers all through high school, waiting impatiently for their new singles and buying them as soon as they were released. After the Everlies, Garfunkel laid a tape on the room that consisted of various things he liked: a couple of Larry Coryell cuts, the Stones' Sympathy For the Devil, his very favorite McCartney/Lennon song, Here There and Everywhere, and something intricate and majestic by a Hungarian Chorus.
Garfunkle and Scorpio went off to Abbey Road, wondering why such a fine piece of work was ripped and dismissed by the critics. They both agreed it was mostly side two, but the sheer flipped out, unprecedented brilliance of that side should have earned the Beatles more than an oh yeah.
Scorpio believed the critics were constantly shifting loyalties, as well as their integrity, to survive. First the artist is fawned upon, then yawned upon. More scotch was passed and Pack went into some old memories of Lenny Bruce in LA. Scorpio leaped to offer the Lenny tape he was holding. His sentimental favorite, the Frank Dell at the Palladium routine.
Pack wasn't familiar with the bit, but Garfunkel was very involved. Garfunkle told them that he and Paul blew riffs from that same Lenny solo between themselves, especially when they were on the road playing strange towns and strange rooms. In fact, he was carrying that very
Lenny Bruce album. Meanwhile the tape ran past Lenny into the Groupie album Scorpio had recorded as an off-the-wall slice of Americana. The album had been distributed mainly through mail order ads in papers like the Voice and the East Village Other, and was rumoured to have been produced by Frank Zappa. The record is a discussion/confession of the rock courtesan life style, by some the ladies who travel that road themselves, notably Cynthia Plaster Caster who takes plaster casts of rock cocks. A reality Scorpio saw as an extension of Lenny's absurd eye.. "the only people laughing were the two usherettes who balled everybody who played the theater,"
Lenny Bruce
from the Palladium routine
Garunkel was first taken by the rippling voice effect that started the round robin. And when the birds began to sing he was amazed. He wanted to know where he could grab this lurid prize. It was decided to transfer it to a blank tape. Scorpio did pause to reflect what type of groupies Paul and Garfunkle encountered. A poet and a one man band.
Next: The Big Broadcast Gets Bigger
Highly Recommended: Http://www.flickr.com/photos/gilmfilm/show
Author's Note: Are we there yet? Halfway across the Atlantic. Please let me know if you want to keep sailing or cut to the chase. Thanks.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Garfunkel's Secret Wish
Time Capsule 1970
Can * nois * seur ( kan' us sur' ) one competent to render critical judgement on the qualities and merits of cannabis
"The most amazing property of cannabis is its ability to fog the minds of those who do not use it."
News Of The Day: Of late, network TV journalism has degenerated to the point of simpering irrelevancy. Who wins American Idol or Dance With An Action Figure, is today considered real news. Almost any night in the Bay Area the lead story at 11 P.M.will be the rain, or snow in Tahoe. Next on the top ten is usually a lost cat or dog story. You won't hear anything about the outside world until well past the automobile ads.
However an even more alarming trend has reared its ugly head. Blatent commercials disguised as legitimate news stories. Example: On June 6 2012, local Channel 2, a Fox affiliate, aired a feature on new devolopments in hardening of the arteries and cholesterol. The first picture was of someone squeezing a human belly that had the consistency of white Jello. Fine. Then the medical story. Fine...Until they mmediately follow with an airy story that Alli weight loss pills won't be available for a few weeks due to a shortage of their active ingredient. Really? The newscaster noted that Alli is the only weight loss pill approved by the FDA. Oh, Really? Are you serious?
Channel 2 Fox News has sunk to a level of corruption that dishonors the profession of Journalism, and mocks the civic trust that allows them to exploit what are our public airways.
i highly recommend BBC.
On a brighter note, Washington D.C. has approved medical cannabis dispensaries. Six companies were selected to supply the clinics (hello corporate weed). One of the companies is partially owned by TV personality and cannabis advocate Montel Williams.
The Long Rap: Garfunkel's's Secret Wish
(the continuing day-to-day log of a 1970 freighter voyage to Tangier)
As we smoked and talked, Garfunkel expanded on his feelings for the Beatles. As far as he was concerned they had done it neatly and completely. He considered Sgt. Pepper the turning point in Rock. As a producer as well as performer he had a profound admiration for the level of their artistry and the quality of their execution. He was most interested in Paul McCartney, believing that at this time it was Paul who was
keeping the band together. He confided that he would love to hang out with the Beatles for a couple of weeks--just to see where they were at.
Dig it.
Here was Garfunkel, a very heavy face on that very scene, having the same love affair with the Fantastic Four as any $4.99 customer. Garfunkle as the Fat Lady.
Pack, Garfunkel and Scorpio were leaning close, head to head, Pack rambling through street scenes, jail legends, movie gossip, rock gossip ( the fact that Bobby Darin had laid a song on Tim Hardin in return for swinging with Tim's If I Was a Carpenter), the prospects for Phil Spector and the Beatles, and the prospects of getting higher.
Now Pack wore a special ring, given to him by a Hopi, which is the symbol of The Keeper of The Flame. This was the man chosen to protect the tribal peyote mystics from being devoured by wild animals during their pilgrimage. As they voyage he keeps the camp fire burning strong enough to ward off the beast. And it was fitting that Pack wore the ring. He kept it light, bright, and always going up.
Garfunkel went into a deep riff concerning his love for J.S.Bach.
Get Bach? Incorrigible.
Suddenly Pack and Scorpio jerked their heads up, fixed eyes, then peered around the darkened lounge. The Boat had settled into a pleasant rhythm. Scattered through the room, forming a loose circle around them, a cluster of young faces were sitting in the gloom, listening intently.
Gerfunkel was talking about his relationship with Mike Nichols. He had spent the better part of a year working with the director on Catch 22. After finishing that Nichols offered him the costarring role in a two man movie. The other lead to be Jack Nicholson. A script by Jules Fieffer titled Carnal Knowledge.
Enormous.
It was decided to catch the sunrise and the three of them sniffed for that second wind and settled down to talking out the hour that remained. Scorpio fetched his Sony and a few cassettes. He played Magical Mystery Tour, both he and Garfunkel agreeing it was a much underplayed album. Scorpio admitted he mostly preferred it to Sgt. Pepper. Pack demanded The Band and got it. Old Jawbone himself.
Morning was coming on now and most of the young faces had drifted off. Only Rand was still hanging in. Rand of the extended bummer who now seemed peacefully relaxed. Garfunkel ventured that he sometimes thought of his career as a stroke of luck. He and Paul had been in Florida, scuffling for gigs, until they heard themselves on the radio and realized that something was happening.
Luck--or the Joker Man?
They all went out on the observation deck just off the lounge. It was raining softly. Light hovered over the horizon but it wasn't going to be a sunrise. As they stood at the rail Pack and Garfunkel goofed on the curvature of the Earth that you dig at sea.
"...Because the world is round
it turns me on...'
--The Beatles
Garfunkel was into mathematics and astronomy and played Moebius Strips with Scorpio while Pack went topside for a moment. He came rushing back. Seems that he found Blaine on the upper deck, huddled miserably in his sleeping bag. He had woken him and advised him to get in out of the rain. "Must be in training for his bike run to India," Pack commented.
Next: The Big Broadcast
Can * nois * seur ( kan' us sur' ) one competent to render critical judgement on the qualities and merits of cannabis
"The most amazing property of cannabis is its ability to fog the minds of those who do not use it."
News Of The Day: Of late, network TV journalism has degenerated to the point of simpering irrelevancy. Who wins American Idol or Dance With An Action Figure, is today considered real news. Almost any night in the Bay Area the lead story at 11 P.M.will be the rain, or snow in Tahoe. Next on the top ten is usually a lost cat or dog story. You won't hear anything about the outside world until well past the automobile ads.
However an even more alarming trend has reared its ugly head. Blatent commercials disguised as legitimate news stories. Example: On June 6 2012, local Channel 2, a Fox affiliate, aired a feature on new devolopments in hardening of the arteries and cholesterol. The first picture was of someone squeezing a human belly that had the consistency of white Jello. Fine. Then the medical story. Fine...Until they mmediately follow with an airy story that Alli weight loss pills won't be available for a few weeks due to a shortage of their active ingredient. Really? The newscaster noted that Alli is the only weight loss pill approved by the FDA. Oh, Really? Are you serious?
Channel 2 Fox News has sunk to a level of corruption that dishonors the profession of Journalism, and mocks the civic trust that allows them to exploit what are our public airways.
i highly recommend BBC.
On a brighter note, Washington D.C. has approved medical cannabis dispensaries. Six companies were selected to supply the clinics (hello corporate weed). One of the companies is partially owned by TV personality and cannabis advocate Montel Williams.
The Long Rap: Garfunkel's's Secret Wish
(the continuing day-to-day log of a 1970 freighter voyage to Tangier)
As we smoked and talked, Garfunkel expanded on his feelings for the Beatles. As far as he was concerned they had done it neatly and completely. He considered Sgt. Pepper the turning point in Rock. As a producer as well as performer he had a profound admiration for the level of their artistry and the quality of their execution. He was most interested in Paul McCartney, believing that at this time it was Paul who was
keeping the band together. He confided that he would love to hang out with the Beatles for a couple of weeks--just to see where they were at.
Dig it.
Here was Garfunkel, a very heavy face on that very scene, having the same love affair with the Fantastic Four as any $4.99 customer. Garfunkle as the Fat Lady.
Pack, Garfunkel and Scorpio were leaning close, head to head, Pack rambling through street scenes, jail legends, movie gossip, rock gossip ( the fact that Bobby Darin had laid a song on Tim Hardin in return for swinging with Tim's If I Was a Carpenter), the prospects for Phil Spector and the Beatles, and the prospects of getting higher.
Now Pack wore a special ring, given to him by a Hopi, which is the symbol of The Keeper of The Flame. This was the man chosen to protect the tribal peyote mystics from being devoured by wild animals during their pilgrimage. As they voyage he keeps the camp fire burning strong enough to ward off the beast. And it was fitting that Pack wore the ring. He kept it light, bright, and always going up.
Garfunkel went into a deep riff concerning his love for J.S.Bach.
Get Bach? Incorrigible.
Suddenly Pack and Scorpio jerked their heads up, fixed eyes, then peered around the darkened lounge. The Boat had settled into a pleasant rhythm. Scattered through the room, forming a loose circle around them, a cluster of young faces were sitting in the gloom, listening intently.
Gerfunkel was talking about his relationship with Mike Nichols. He had spent the better part of a year working with the director on Catch 22. After finishing that Nichols offered him the costarring role in a two man movie. The other lead to be Jack Nicholson. A script by Jules Fieffer titled Carnal Knowledge.
Enormous.
It was decided to catch the sunrise and the three of them sniffed for that second wind and settled down to talking out the hour that remained. Scorpio fetched his Sony and a few cassettes. He played Magical Mystery Tour, both he and Garfunkel agreeing it was a much underplayed album. Scorpio admitted he mostly preferred it to Sgt. Pepper. Pack demanded The Band and got it. Old Jawbone himself.
Morning was coming on now and most of the young faces had drifted off. Only Rand was still hanging in. Rand of the extended bummer who now seemed peacefully relaxed. Garfunkel ventured that he sometimes thought of his career as a stroke of luck. He and Paul had been in Florida, scuffling for gigs, until they heard themselves on the radio and realized that something was happening.
Luck--or the Joker Man?
They all went out on the observation deck just off the lounge. It was raining softly. Light hovered over the horizon but it wasn't going to be a sunrise. As they stood at the rail Pack and Garfunkel goofed on the curvature of the Earth that you dig at sea.
"...Because the world is round
it turns me on...'
--The Beatles
Garfunkel was into mathematics and astronomy and played Moebius Strips with Scorpio while Pack went topside for a moment. He came rushing back. Seems that he found Blaine on the upper deck, huddled miserably in his sleeping bag. He had woken him and advised him to get in out of the rain. "Must be in training for his bike run to India," Pack commented.
Next: The Big Broadcast
Monday, June 4, 2012
Garfunkel Speaks Out
Time Capsule 1970
Can * nois * seur ( kan' us sur' ) n. one competent to render cridical judgement on the qualities and merits of cannabis
"The most amazing property of cannabis is its ability to fog the minds of those who don't use it."
A Radical Solution: Speaking of NYC's Mayor Bloomberg (see last post)... Not content with his edicts supressing personal freedom, the emperor has decreed that from henceforth to the end of earthly time, Supersized Soft Drinks will be banned in the Apple. Now i don't smoke tobacco, rarely drink sodas, and am no fan of obesity but i am a dedicated fan of personal freedom. Right up there with Francois Voltaire. And think about it, is this all the billionaire--albiet short--Mayor of the most powerful city in the world, has on his mind?
Perhaps thats why Wall Street resembles old Rome when the lions were in town.
And without a doubt that's why our planet is reeling right now. Our leaders are greedy, incompetent clowns with no vision beyond their own selfish interests. At least half of American politicians deride education as being somehow elitist, anti-Christian, and the gateway to gay marriage. Real men, like Governor Perry of Texas, are bone ignorant. Can you say...Dark Ages?
Do i have a solution? Maybe. It is a tad rad but it makes logical sense.
Pass a law requiring All Elected Officials To Undergo Mandatory Drug Tests.
After all, these are the people who can do society the most harm. Not our athletes who are basically entertainers. Most civilian employees today have to show proof of their sobriety--why not our congressmen, senators, and mayors? Then we'll know which decisions are based on which drug, be it alcohol ( a heavy favorite with the Boehner crowd), Valium, (most anybody on the Hill), the infamous Oxy (see Rush Limbaugh), Meth (Sara Palin resides in a the Meth capitol of Alaska), and on...As Rosanne once said: "The drug war is about people on prescription drugs chasing people on street drugs."
( our upcoming show in San Francisco)
poster by Jerry Boxley
The Long Rap: Garfunkel Speaks Out
( the continuing day-by-day log of a 1970 freighter voyage to Tangier)
A theme kept repeating throughout the conversation; Pack, Garfunkel and Scorpio were waiting for new developments and looking at the current crop of recruits with curiosity. The young faces were earnest. Yes. Sincere. Yes. Smarter, better informed, more receptive than any previous generation. Absolutely. But it would take time to see what kind of wit they would devise. For real style implies skill used with honor.
All through a rap that covered everything from Garfunkel's new movie projects, to the new consciousness, and bases between, Scorpio's respect for the performer's head mounted. Garfunkel listened carefully, and responded from a chord level more reminiscent of a philosopher than singer.Anyway, Scorpio had always considered Simon and Garfunkle consummate poets. The art of the word in it's ultimate form--music.
Garfunkel had come across The Boat through some nameless hip secretary at Columbia Records. No doubt one of those New York superbirds who zing choice cuts of priviliged information across the city, creating the current for the dynamo, Scorpio flashed, studying the dark water.
Garfunkel had never traveled by sea, had some time between commitments, and just decided to go the frieghter route. Of course Scorpio had to lay it down. The Legend of The Yugoslavian Line. Garfunkel was most interested in this which emboldened Scorpio to press his obsession with the mind evolution routine. How at one point in time, thousands of heads began to create a new theatre of consciousness. Those years from '60 to '68. It was his further fantasy that certain minds were in advanced stages of devolopment. Where man became the director--controlling evolution rather than reflecting its process.
Garfunkel admitted that he had felt a great energy surge in San Francisco, '63 to '68, which had carried him up then receded. This was one of the reasons for his voyage.
"I wanted to take my time and get back to basic things," he explained.
"Get back,' said Scorpio.
Garfunkle dug and smiled.
Far Out. Garfunkel had also felt a diminishing of energy.
Scorpio than began a spiel on the Knight Errants of consciousness. The high people who seem to specialize in igniting minds. He went back to scenes in 1961 East Village, and then remembered someone.
"Ever met Shawn Phillips?" Scorpio asked.
"Shawn Phillips?" Garfunkel came back, "He took me on my first acid trip."
Synch. Scorpio's premise was suddenly clear to Garfunkel.
Next: Garfunkel's Secret Wish.
Can * nois * seur ( kan' us sur' ) n. one competent to render cridical judgement on the qualities and merits of cannabis
"The most amazing property of cannabis is its ability to fog the minds of those who don't use it."
A Radical Solution: Speaking of NYC's Mayor Bloomberg (see last post)... Not content with his edicts supressing personal freedom, the emperor has decreed that from henceforth to the end of earthly time, Supersized Soft Drinks will be banned in the Apple. Now i don't smoke tobacco, rarely drink sodas, and am no fan of obesity but i am a dedicated fan of personal freedom. Right up there with Francois Voltaire. And think about it, is this all the billionaire--albiet short--Mayor of the most powerful city in the world, has on his mind?
Perhaps thats why Wall Street resembles old Rome when the lions were in town.
And without a doubt that's why our planet is reeling right now. Our leaders are greedy, incompetent clowns with no vision beyond their own selfish interests. At least half of American politicians deride education as being somehow elitist, anti-Christian, and the gateway to gay marriage. Real men, like Governor Perry of Texas, are bone ignorant. Can you say...Dark Ages?
Do i have a solution? Maybe. It is a tad rad but it makes logical sense.
Pass a law requiring All Elected Officials To Undergo Mandatory Drug Tests.
After all, these are the people who can do society the most harm. Not our athletes who are basically entertainers. Most civilian employees today have to show proof of their sobriety--why not our congressmen, senators, and mayors? Then we'll know which decisions are based on which drug, be it alcohol ( a heavy favorite with the Boehner crowd), Valium, (most anybody on the Hill), the infamous Oxy (see Rush Limbaugh), Meth (Sara Palin resides in a the Meth capitol of Alaska), and on...As Rosanne once said: "The drug war is about people on prescription drugs chasing people on street drugs."
poster by Jerry Boxley
The Long Rap: Garfunkel Speaks Out
( the continuing day-by-day log of a 1970 freighter voyage to Tangier)
A theme kept repeating throughout the conversation; Pack, Garfunkel and Scorpio were waiting for new developments and looking at the current crop of recruits with curiosity. The young faces were earnest. Yes. Sincere. Yes. Smarter, better informed, more receptive than any previous generation. Absolutely. But it would take time to see what kind of wit they would devise. For real style implies skill used with honor.
All through a rap that covered everything from Garfunkel's new movie projects, to the new consciousness, and bases between, Scorpio's respect for the performer's head mounted. Garfunkel listened carefully, and responded from a chord level more reminiscent of a philosopher than singer.Anyway, Scorpio had always considered Simon and Garfunkle consummate poets. The art of the word in it's ultimate form--music.
Garfunkel had come across The Boat through some nameless hip secretary at Columbia Records. No doubt one of those New York superbirds who zing choice cuts of priviliged information across the city, creating the current for the dynamo, Scorpio flashed, studying the dark water.
Garfunkel had never traveled by sea, had some time between commitments, and just decided to go the frieghter route. Of course Scorpio had to lay it down. The Legend of The Yugoslavian Line. Garfunkel was most interested in this which emboldened Scorpio to press his obsession with the mind evolution routine. How at one point in time, thousands of heads began to create a new theatre of consciousness. Those years from '60 to '68. It was his further fantasy that certain minds were in advanced stages of devolopment. Where man became the director--controlling evolution rather than reflecting its process.
Garfunkel admitted that he had felt a great energy surge in San Francisco, '63 to '68, which had carried him up then receded. This was one of the reasons for his voyage.
"I wanted to take my time and get back to basic things," he explained.
"Get back,' said Scorpio.
Garfunkle dug and smiled.
Far Out. Garfunkel had also felt a diminishing of energy.
Scorpio than began a spiel on the Knight Errants of consciousness. The high people who seem to specialize in igniting minds. He went back to scenes in 1961 East Village, and then remembered someone.
"Ever met Shawn Phillips?" Scorpio asked.
"Shawn Phillips?" Garfunkel came back, "He took me on my first acid trip."
Synch. Scorpio's premise was suddenly clear to Garfunkel.
Next: Garfunkel's Secret Wish.
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