Friend Richard sent along a link to an article by Rick Moody published July 11, 2012 in NewMusicBox on Pere Ubu's New Picnic Time which Moody calls, his italics, the scariest album ever made. My first response is, any excuse for a Pere Ubu cascade is a good excuse.
Have I ever mentioned that I love Pere Ubu/David Thomas projects here? Love them so much I've given them permanent status as one of three permanent members of My Sillyass Desert Island Five Game, then badgered you repeatedly with song cascades? Eight-plus years? Cause even if I responded point by point to essays - and fuck that - I'm far too immersed in my mwah to respond to this one. By and large it's fair both to the music and to Pere Ubu's history. I've never suggested that David Thomas isn't weird, difficult, Ahab, driven by demons, that he doesn't speak in tongues, a flame above his head.
- Hey, send me links too.
- Red mist of partisanship.
- Unrestrained savagery.
- OK, one more on Chik-fil-A.
- Sign language.
- Is the Media liberal? Well, to tell from Fox's 24-7 hysterical coverage of white cracker terrorism (and CNN's and MSNBC's), no. It's a silly exercise, but imagine a brown male with a funny name in a turbin walked into a christer warehouse and emptied an assault rifle.
- Imagine the violations of American citizens' civil liberties and rights by the Federal Government happening this second against militant crackers and christers.
- But not as much as you: Analysts for the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security routinely monitor violent extremist Web sites of all kinds, including those attracting white supremacists, according to former officials of both agencies. But the department’s work on the topic has been criticized. In 2009, conservatives in Congress strongly objected to a department report titled “Rightwing Extremism,” which speculated that the recession and the election of a black president could increase the threat from white supremacists. Janet Napolitano, the homeland security secretary, withdrew the report and apologized for what she called its flaws. Daryl Johnson, the homeland security analyst who was the primary author of the report, said last year that after the flap, the number of analysts assigned to track non-Islamic militancy had been reduced sharply. Homeland Security Department officials denied his assertion and said the department monitored violent extremism of every kind, without regard to its religious or political bent.
- But yes, motherfucking crackers.
- Contrast and compare.
- Revolutionary conditions.
- Historical capitalism.
- Capitalists criticize Obama for capitalism.
- One ambitious dude. POTUS 16, O'Malley v McDonnell?
- Couple of new sites in Becauses Left and Right.
- Gaithersburg versus Rockville!
- My (and Fish's) future hell before minor salvation.
- I call bullshit.
- Bethesda is America's 17th coolest city?
- Silliman's always generous lit-links.
- Scarlet Begonias cover.
- Here's a link to complete New Picnic Time.
RULES FOR CAPTAIN AHAB'S PROVINCETOWN POETRY WORKSHOP
Martin Espada
- Ye shall be free to write a poem on any subject, as long as it’s the White Whale.
- A gold doubloon shall be granted to the first among ye who in a poem sights the White Whale.
- The Call Me Ishmael Award shall be given to the best poem about the White Whale, with publication in The White Whale Review.
- The Herman Melville Memorial Picnic and Softball Game shall be open to whosoever of ye writes a poem about following thy Captain into the maw of hell to kill the White Whale.
- There shall be a free floating coffin for any workshop participant who falls overboard whilst writing a poem about the White Whale.
- There shall be a free leg, carved from the jawbone of a whale, for any workshop participant who is dismasted whilst writing a poem about the White Whale.
- There shall be a free funeral at sea, complete with a chorus of stout hearties singing sea chanteys about the White Whale, for any workshop participant who is decapitated whilst writing a poem about the White Whale.
- Ye who seek not the White Whale in thy poems shall be harpooned.
