Record of the Day 5-5-2020

There were many Elephant 6 records that were popular in the late 90’s and there were a bunch I listened to on heavy rotation. Apples in Stereo, Beulah, Elf Power, Of Montreal, Olivia Tremor Control all made great pop rock records. There is only one that is as perfect and odd as any ever made that is Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. The lyrics of the record have been interpreted by obsessed fans for years so I will not bother. I know after a while Jeff Mangum got sick of talking about the record and what the meaning was behind it so I will honor him by saying I am not interested. I just went to genius.com and there are 7 people mulling over the lyrics right now. Good luck tireless annotators! The lyrics are beautiful no matter what they mean. I have no idea what the song Two Headed Boy is actually about, but damn does it pack a wallop. Jeff Mangum sing marvelously. Scott Spillane’s horns are perfect. Julian Koster makes random sounds with various instruments which seem completely necessary. Like many Elephant 6 records it is under 40 minutes and they didn’t need a minute more to make a classic record.

In_the_aeroplane_over_the_sea_album_cover_copy

This is Not a Blog Post

There was a book a number of years ago written by David Markson titled This Is Not A Novel. I loved it. There was no plot or characters or conflicts or resolutions, but it was extremely compelling. It was more about the strands of thought of the mind and the corridors it goes down and how what we read and see and hear reflect back on us as version of a story itself. Random facts, last words, lists of ingredients, baseball box scores. It might remind you of the much more famous Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan, but with much shorter one or two line segments. This is Not a Novel was all ligaments and no muscles. Trout Fishing in America still had some muscles.

I’d like to reproduce some version of that idea on Facebook Live on this page and at beardedriffraff.blog. It kind of goes like this-

1. I logon and peruse things like Wikipedia or YouTube and Spotify as I often do to go down rabbit holes of things that interest me and share it on Facebook Live. This is something I do anyway on a rainy night.

2.If you feel so inclined you can watch and comment and participate send me down other rabbit holes of things I don’t know about. Maybe I am checking out Robin Hood Prince of Thieves and you are the foremost expert on Bryan Adams and you can direct me to some fascinating Bryan Adams info or article. Maybe you want to point me in the direction of how good Morgan Freeman was in the movie Street Smart. Who knows? You can watch for 3 minutes and make a suggestion or an hour, doesn’t really matter. If no else joins the corridors of the rabbit hole will be dug by me alone I suppose. I’d rather people join though.

3.Whatever direction the rabbit holes goes in I post at BearedRiffRaff.blog via a a sequential series of interesting things reviewed from Wikipedia, YouTube videos, bandcamp songs, book excerpts, or whatever as ‘This is Not a Blog’ post for the day.

4.If it goes well I’d like to have people join and and be in charge of starting and picking the direction of the rabbit hole. A diversity of results for each ‘Not a Blog’ post would be nice.

This is an experiment as much as anything. Kind of a crowd sourced digital found objects pastiche or collage. It might end up mundane or maybe marvelous, who knows. If nothing else comes of it I will skill up my digital production ability.

 

If anyone who likes this page is interested please check out-

http://www.facebook.com/beardedriffraff

March 2020

In the distance I see

Monuments (built by unknown hands)

To wealth (accumulated via unknown plans)

I’d tell you what their plaques said

If the world would just stop spinning

I’d tell you what the score was

If I knew what constituted winning

Sometimes the smells of being alive are

Dust (as it covers all)

Rotting cabbage (you bought but didn’t use)

Spring flowers (they will not be denied)

Excess time (somehow it wafts in the air)

Uncertainty (you can smell it in your pores)

Will the world ever be the same again?

(The answer has changed since you asked the question)

Does all of this make me feel better?

(Parts I disdain and wish to fade away)

Or am I terrified?

(That which I love, and fear will not stay)

Breathe

(No longer taken as a given)

Grieve

(For all that has been riven)

Repent

(There is no sin to be forgiven)

Grow

(Opportunity has arisen)

Choose

(Actions of your own volition)

Wait

(The future remains well hidden)

Gene G. McLaughlin 2020

Kobe

Bet on work and failure

As a path to growth

Bet it’s a bet

That won’t appeal to most

Own your sins

Grow from them

Acknowledge your failings

As much as wins

Become a better man

In the public eye

Be known as one

The day you die.

Gene G. McLaughlin 2020

Flicker and Shine

The spark
A Dose
Of Art
As love
Tears you
Apart

Gene G. McLaughlin 2020

Beware They That

Beware they that ask

For your love and rage at the same time

Love is one part of your story

Rage is one part of your story

They are roads to different destinations

That you will take at different times

They that ask you to combine them

Do so for their own means

They wish to become the story you tell

To simplify you

They that ask this do not mean you well

They have no wishes for you at all

They dream a dream for them

Cherish your love

Safeguard your rage

They are yours and yours alone

Gene G. McLaughlin 2020

Black Friday 2019

The world is on sale

and also on fire

30 percent off all you desire

gifts under the tree

are the world’s pyre

-Gene G. McLaughlin 2019

Ghosts of the Spine

There are ghosts in your spine
Created from that which came before
Thoughts I once called mine
I take full ownership of no more
We are agreements between elements
Negotiations between factions
Maybe influenced by environments
Leading to actions and reactions
Embrace the us in all of us
Make plural the royal we
Are my envy, hate, or lust
Just a war of ghosts within me?
An engine of looping thoughts
A walking talking analogy
Ghosts maneuvering for position
Wishing it to be their eyes that perceive and see
Gene G. McLaughlin 2019

Stay a Little Longer

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

1-800-273-8255

Stay all night, stay a little longer
Dance all night, dance a little longer
Pull off your coat throw it in the corner
Don’t see why you don’t stay a little longer

Even the mountain is not free

Battered and bruised by both water and winds

You have not seen all there is to see

Despite your mind claiming it knows how the story ends

Stay all night, stay a little longer
Dance all night, dance a little longer
Pull off your coat throw it in the corner
Don’t see why you don’t stay a little longer

This is a world of change, nothing else is true

Within it lies suffering and wonder with no measure

Both dispensed and visited upon you

Containing love, loss, pain, and yes even pleasure

Stay all night, stay a little longer
Dance all night, dance a little longer
Pull off your coat throw it in the corner
Don’t see why you don’t stay a little longer

I would request you stay a little while longer

I’ll ask you this each and every day

Each time you feel the black dog’s hunger

We will sip coffee or tea till it fades away

Stay all night, stay a little longer
Dance all night, dance a little longer
Pull off your coat throw it in the corner
Don’t see why you don’t stay a little longer

Maybe we will talk of nothing

For the topic matters little to me

Because a world without your heart beating

Is a far poorer one which you fail to see

Stay all night, stay a little longer
Dance all night, dance a little longer
Pull off your coat throw it in the corner
Don’t see why you don’t stay a little longer

Gene G. McLaughlin

Refrain – Bob Wills/Tommy Duncan from Stay a Little Longer

To the Angry Young Men (Which Once Included Me)

Rage encounters empathy
If you live long enough
Acknowledgment of the other
That’s where it gets rough
Your friends and enemies
Each know the same pains
When harm’s inflicted
Both souls are stained
To be a mammal is to anger
Putting your needs above
But to be a mammal also
Is to love
You did what you did
Then and before
But you can choose to do it
No more
Maybe rage is part
Of a divine plan
But maybe love can grow
In the heart of a man
Live long enough
Perhaps to learn
Fire can warm
Not only burn
Gene G. McLaughlin 2019