4. Walk with the devil

Old Delta blues players referred to guitar amplifiers as the “devil box.” And they were right. You have to be an equal opportunity employer in terms of who you’re bringing over from the other side. Electricity attracts devils and demons. Other instruments attract other spirits. An acoustic guitar attracts Casper. A mandolin attracts Wendy. But an electric guitar attracts Beelzebub.

(From WFMU’s Beware of the Blog. Via Brian Beatty.)

In context: Starlingo ii.

Damar torn from the flock.

What is Damar? Who is Damar? What is Damar?

“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” (Hunter S. Thompson)

This year’s Calamari “ePress” financial report features rants on eBooks, Facebook, distribution & other things useful or not to others crazy enough to have a small independent press.

I don’t know what to say about this.

So Renner and I were emailing just now, and it’s not so weird what happened, as we were talking about Robert Wyatt, together with other stuff . . . . Still. There is this passage at the end of Wyatt’s “Little Red Robin Hood Hit the Road.” The second half, actually. It begins more or less at the three-minute mark. It is sung by Ivor Cutler, and some people think Cutler wrote it, but no, the words are Wyatt’s. The voice is Cutler’s.

“I fight with the handle of my little brown broom,” it begins. And at almost the same instant of our email correspondence, Renner and I quoted that very line to one another by way of reference to our own travails.

That’s what friends are for.

Joshua Tree Under the Milky Way from Henry Jun Wah Lee on Vimeo.

The wilds of Arkansas weren’t quite this starry, but it was a near thing.

What did I miss?

I don’t believe that it is “these sorts of posts” that work people up and sometimes ignite sparks under the hood. I sure hope not, for I’d hate to see ‘flockers seize up for fear of posting something incendiary.

As often as not, it seems to me there’s a secondary drama unfolding in tandem with certain series of heated comments. Whatsis knows, I’ve been party to such dramas over my four-plus years of participation in this grand experiment.

Does this thought strike a chord with anyone? I ask in part from laziness, as it’s still early on in my day and I need more stimulants. But I’d also really like to hear from a few others before offering my own muddled interpretation of what might be happening when a post appears to trigger frustrated and possibly hurt feelings among ‘flockers themselves.

I’ll be in Chicago to see Van Dyke Parks and Clare and the Reasons at Schuba’s. Anybody wanna get together? Wanna go to the show with me?