Why, Melky, Why

From the ashes of sadness rises this pop ditty about San Francisco's fallen hero:

"subtle, detailed, and rapturously entertaining mayhem"

A summary of two terrible ideas for saving the music industry (as proposed by virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier, in his often-interesting book You Are Not A Gadget).

I have to admit that my love for the music of The Bad Plus is difficult to separate from my love for pianist Ethan Iverson's blog Do The Math, by my estimate one of the very best things online. It doesn't help matters that he reads the same crime novelists I do. When he loses me with musical erudition, I have our shared enthusiasm (mania) for Thomas Perry to fall back on.

Another reason why purchasing those Oyster Cards was a good idea: the cool secret game we didn't realize we were playing.

***

Until Now, My Time Online Has Been A Waste

"Back of My Hand," The Jags (1979)

Stoner leaves his virtual heart in Tokyo

Stoner has left Tokyo. I promised him the full "Lost in Translation" experience, and I feel I delivered -- from ignoring him as he lounged around our shared apartment in his underwear to a karaoke version of "More than This."

The news is probably his to share, but I felt I should report back to the group on a troubling obsession that flared up with the amorphous performing collective AKB 48. Link follows.

The first step is admitting you have a problem. With underage cyborgs. We are here for you, man.

Well, maybe not me, but the others probably.

http://gizmodo.com/5814813/can-you-fall-in-love-with-this-beautiful-girl

Bill Hicks vs. David Letterman, a Definitive Overview

Plus, a bonus comment from YouTube uploader saprissa30:

1 9 9 4
♣♣WORST YEAR EVER♣♣
You don`t belive me
Charles Bukoski die
Kurt Cobain die
Bill Hicks Die
Justin Bieber born

Sax-a-gram

This is relentless.

.

Quote of the Week

"Be polite, be professional -- but have a plan to kill everyone you meet."

---new Head of Central Command General James Mattis, addressing the troops


.....

The Glory of God

From towleroad.com:
A ten-foot tall crucifix is causing controversy at a Catholic Church in Oklahoma.

"The controversial crucifix has caused a deep divide among members of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, where it hangs above the main altar. 'There are a couple people who have left the parish,' said the Rev. Philip Seeton, the church’s pastor. 'There are people in the parish who don’t like it and have stayed.' Critics of the crucifix take issue with what appears to be a large penis covering Jesus’ abdominal area. Seeton said the portion of the crucifix in question is meant to be Jesus’ abdomen 'showing distension' — not a penis. Seeton said, 'I’ve had people who have vocally said that that’s what they see there. I’ve had people who have been just as vocal who said that’s not what they’re seeing there.' Janet Jaime, a local iconography artist who designed the crucifix, had no comment."

The crucifix is based on the San Damiano Crucifix. As you can see, it has distended abs too.

R.I.P. Deep Blues Festival, 2007-10

http://realdeepblues.blogspot.com/2010/01/rip-deep-blues-festival.html

http://www.myspace.com/deepbluesfestival

Metal Box and Aura

The Onion AV Club introduces Metal Box:

Each month, The A.V. Club takes a break from its usual routine of reviewing records by sensitive guys with scruffy beards and glasses singing about how sad they are, and instead asks you to pay attention to loud, horrible screaming by alcoholic misfits.

Also: Stoner’s great Argentinean love.

Three Unadorned Links

Copy-and-paste, sorry:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/business/22flint.html?em

http://www.pinktentacle.com/2009/04/photos-world-sand-sculpture-festival-2009/

http://markeitzel.blogspot.com/2009/04/mostly-finished-song-147-am.html

The Crime of Kings

Monroe robber at large; inner tube escape unlikely
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Last updated 10:07 a.m. PT

By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

When police in Monroe responded to the robbery of an armored car guard, they discovered a lot of people wearing shirts similar to the suspect.

On Tuesday, a man shot pepper spray into the face of the guard outside the Bank of America branch on U.S. Route 2, then ran away and forded a stream. He was wearing a long-sleeve blue shirt, camouflage shorts and a blue hat. His nose and mouth were covered with a cloth surgical mask.

He wasn't the only one who preferred blue.

As the robbery unfolded, several men were nearby who had been lured to the scene by a bogus Craigslist ad offering landscaping/cleanup jobs. Many were also wearing long-sleeve blue shirts, but none had masks as the ad specified.

Monroe police have asked FBI experts to determine the author of the Craigslist ad.

Two men who saw the robbery chased the robber, but he "outpaced them," Monroe Police Operations Commander Gary Clopp said. A short time later, another witness saw a man fitting the description of the robber enter Woods Creek just upstream from the Skykomish River.

Despite media reports that the robber made his escape floating down the creek in an inner tube, Clopp said he does not believe that to be the case.

"There was a tube found by the river," Clopp said. "We don't know if it was involved in the crime. Based on where it was sitting, I would venture to guess that there is no way he would have used it."

Clopp said that some parts of Woods Creek could be crossed on foot while other parts are deep enough to require a swim.

Asked if the robber had been watching the bank to determine when an armored car came for a pickup, Clopp said: "It is obvious that some pre-planning took place. There was no question that he had an idea on the timing."

Gregory McDonald RIP

Irwin Maurice Fletcher was young, cocky and smart but no white knight. A Southern California newspaperman turned beach bum, he flouted authority wherever he found it. He was a slob (at least early on), whose sartorial taste ran to T-shirts and jeans. He was a cad, a deadbeat (unpaid alimony), an opportunist and a sometime accumulator of vast ill-gotten wealth. He was, in short, the perfect hero for the countercultural ’70s, and the public ate him up.

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