This is my little snowdog, Toto

Are you getting there Rabbit?

Took the day off for a little slacking and slept until noon. V came over and fun was had, including a walk with the dogs at Rock Bridge State Park, mostly bushwacking. Lots of downed and rotting logs. Light snow about midway through. Lovely sounds, birds a singin and creeks a burbling.

Latest banjo tablature, Are You Getting there Rabbit? - from Brad Leftwich's CD, Say Old Man. Tuning is interesting, FDGCD. In other words, G modal with the drone string tuned to F instead of the usual G. Brad plays it very fast on his CD. How fast, I don't know exactly. But it's hard for me to keep up. Plus he sings.

I first learned this tune from my old banjo teacher, Leela Grace, a wonderful clawhammer banjo player from HoHumbia, Mo., and recently went back to the tape to refresh my memory.

Road Trip

Took the Meatball on her first road trip. J and I headed up to Hannibal, Mo. and hooked up with V, and her family, and friends. Great drive up there. About 100 miles or so, 63 to 24 to 36. After we got off 63 at Moberly, mostly two-lane lightly-trafficked country roads. Sky gray, white, and the fields brown with a dusting of snow. We slid a Disney tape into the cassette drive and had a great time belting out Hakuna Metata and other favs. Pulled into Paris, Mo. for some culture, which consisted of a stop at a convenience store, and J drove for a bit before I took the wheel again. An evening at the Comfort Inn, dinner at Fiddlesticks (not recommended). Hannibal's downtown is worthwhile. Some beautiful, massive old stone structures, including churches and courthouse. We walked around downtown a bit this morning, and yesterday soaked away a chilly winter afternoon in the motel pool and hot tub, then later on hung out in the room, and channel surfed. Found the movie The Bird Cage. Fantastic. J drove most of the way back. Did great!! Monroe City to good old HoHumbia.

Exporting "democracy"

All civilian traffic has been banned on "election day" in Iraq. People have to walk to the polls? That should do wonders for turnout. Candidates can't be identified. Candidates can't be identified! Candidates can't be identified, in an "election." Polling stations and party offices are being attacked. People understandably fear that voting could cost them their lives. Juan Cole sums it up:

"how does the situation in Iraq compare to the Philippines, or India, or Turkey. Answer: It sucks. There is little security, people are killed daily, there is a massive crime wave, and elections are being held in which most of the candidates cannot be identified for fear of their lives. So the conclusion is that the Bush administration has done a worse job in Iraq than the Congress Party does in India, or the AK Party does in Turkey. That's the standard of comparison once Saddam was gone. And, by the way, veteran NYT journalist John Burns, who is nobody's fool, told Tina Brown last Friday that he was taken aback when an Iraqi told him recently that he wished Saddam were back. This was an Iraqi who really had been delighted at the American invasion. So Bush should drop the cute sound bite about being better than Saddam."

From Bagdhad, Riverbend, with sporadic water and electric service, reports:

"Baghdad has been unstable these last few days. We had several explosions this last week and although the number of explosions wasn't surprising, the force of a couple of them had us wincing. There's a real fear of the coming elections and what they might bring. I don't like the idea that they've selected schools as election sites. School is out right now, but the security threat is obvious- elections sites are most likely going to be bombed. Schools are having a difficult time as it is getting things fixed and replaced, they don't need the added trauma of an explosion. It's just a bad idea. "

John Burns in the NYT quotes an Iraqi dentist:

Dr. Naqib, the dentist, fearful as he is of insurgent attacks, said he feared the Americans more. "The Americans, they are part of the terrorism," he said. "They're so frightened, anything that happens to them, they start shooting right away."

Sunday afternoon jam

Drove the Meatball up to Heuer's Store, a cafe about 15 miles or so north of Columbia on Rte. 63 to pick tunes with whoever showed up. This evening it was the great Jordan Wax, leader of People's Republic of Klezmerica, a beloved Klezmer band in Columbia, Mo., and the great John White, a tremendous old time fiddler and mandolin picker. They set us up in a far corner, next to a cooler containing mayonnaise and stuff like that. Pretty good eating crowd, 15 people or so. Jordan and John played tunes like Black eyed Susie, and Devil Ate the Groundhog, and Old Man and Old Woman. John told stories about his fiddle, other fiddles, growing up in Ethel, Mo., where the mailman delivered on his tractor, etc. He played fiddle and mandolin, and Jordan started on the accordion and switched over to his fiddle. Wonderful, high energy music.

The preemption doctrine's great success

In Iraq the doctrine of preemption worked! Before the invasion Iraq's national theater planned to adapt one of Saddam's novels as a musical. The glorious carnage the United States inflicted on Iraq, however, put the kibosh on those plans. Saddam's people were spared exposure to his musical. No wonder they greeted U.S. troops with flower petals and chocolate chip cookies.

A splash of cold water on the inaugural celebrations

The folks at the King's Coronation must be really bummed out now :) - a bunch of us met at Lowry Mall over lunch for a half-an-hour of silence to protest the beginning of Dubya's next four years crashing around the china shop. Abe Haim, somehow true to form, showed up with a huge papier mache face meant to look like a cross between Hitler and Bush. It actually looked a bit like his father, Mark. They made the moustache and eyebrows from dog hair. Mayhap the hair was affixed with cheap adhesive. Almost immediately after we took it out of the van parts of the moustache began blowing away in a light wind. While everyone was in a circle singing, after the silence ended, Abe, who was perched on a cement fence nearby got into a shouting match with a passerby. I think they called each other "motherfuckers" and Abe said something like, "I won't be silent anymore, motherfucker."

Mealy mouthed on Social Security

Bushies want to have it both ways. They want to be able to mislead but leave themselves an escape hatch in case someone calls them on their fraud. Here's Bush's press sec., Scott McClellan, on Social Security:

"Younger workers today -- my generation and younger generations expect that they won't have any savings, when they retire, in their Social Security accounts. That's why the President wants to act to strengthen it."

Is the problem the expectations of younger workers? Is the problem the system? If the problem is misinformed expectation, wouldn't a public education campaign do the trick? Alas, conservative propaganda may be the source of the widespread and mistaken belief that the system is in crisis.

Maiden Voyage

J left the safety of the basketball arena parking lot, where she's been practicing her driving, and piloted the Swedish Meatball out onto city streets. We went through part of campus and then turned onto Stewart Road, and she drove us home. An impatient SUV driver gave us a bit of a scare on Providence Road. I cursed the bastard. (Setting a good example for the J, of course). Then a smooth ride back to the abode. For s and g's she drove us to her high school, and then took me to the library for a cup of joe and then said she'd had enough. Did great! The meatball impressed her. It does have a silky ride. But no bumper stickers can be affixed to the vehicle without her permission. I sort of like Lemmings for Bush.

Wading in Deep Waters

Another attempt at a Wade Ward tune that's in the County Sales Clawhammer Banjo collection, Vol. 1, tune 2, John Lover's Gone, also done with Guitar Pro in gp4 format. On the recording Wade is in G# tuning (open G capoed up one will work if you want to play along with him). He plays it fast and begins with a thumb lead on drone string, a difficult manuever for the spastic of thumb like me. (It's a tune more suited to someone like Sissy Hankshaw). On the second go round from what I can hear WW does a strum slide variation on the thumb lead. Here it is in ASCII format as well, John Lover's Gone

Slacking off with Lakoff

While browsing in Ninth St. Bookstore spilled coffee on George Lakoff's little book Don't Think of an Elephant!, and so bought the discolored volume and have been reading it. It's a series of essays, somewhat disjointed, mayhaps tossed together in a mighty haste to generate some bucks while it was potentially relevant and of interest: during the 2004 pres. election season. Boiled down to single sentence, it 1)discusses framing (interesting) and 2) attempts to explain U.S. politics in terms of voters' identifying with one of two family models - strict father or nurturant parent.
(interesting but not convincing)

What do family models have to do with national politics? Lakoff connects 'em by arguing that metaphorically, at least, the nation is viewed by most people as a family (good thing we've got hired help to deal with the budget). I don't know what evidence he bases that on... wait, here it is page 5: it was a paper written by one of his students that "showed we all have a metaphor for the nation as a family." So if you think his argument is good, you've gotta buy that bit of it as well, even if it's not so strong.

WMD hunters hang up their spikes

The Iraq survey group is calling it quits. They found no WMD stockpiles. Now they're being repurposed to gather intelligence in the war to make Iraq the 51st U.S. state. Will they gather intelligence for U.S. backed death squads?

Social Security - the Rabbit Hole

Interesting. The U.S. may have to borrow $1 to $2 billion to cover the cost of transition to Bush's proposed Social Security plan. His spokesman characterizes these costs as savings.

1) Costs are savings.

Bush spokesman Scott McClellan says the system is going to be $10 trillion short. When?
Will it be $10 trillion short tomorrow, 10 years from now, 50 years from now?

2) Make up a scary number representing debt calculated to infinity.

The SUV Presidency?

It would be interesting to correlate SUV ownership with presidential voting tallies, precinct by precinct.

Now that's a spicy meatball

Fred got his hands on the Swedish Meatball this morning, and he says it looks pretty good. Transmission fluid is blacker than "hen crap," so they're gonna do a transmission flush. (Go, get thee to a nunnery thou vile auto sludge.) Rear brake light and front high beam need replacement, and bolt on right windshield wiper to get a tightening. That's about it, unless in the second go round a hidden bug crawls from his hole. Chris mentioned that the sun roof is caulked shut - so much for that romance slit. But at least no leaks.

Ohhmage Dude

Chanting last nite at Alley Cat Yoga, downtown. Much snow beforehand, and five people there by the end. The chant leader played a harmonium (small wood keyboard with bellows) and did some beautiful chants in Sanskrit. Interesting stories chatting beforehand, and Ken told us some about Swami Kripalu, the Indian guy in the orange robe whose picture sits on their altar.

June Apple in January

Recently as part of its three CD Clawhammer Banjo series County Sales reissued Wade Ward's recording of June Apple - song 1 on Vol. 1, I think. It's just Wade and his banjo, and after his first time playing through the tune he circles back and repeats several times. Here's fruits of listening and trying to learn it from the recording - tab for clawhammer banjo in Guitar Pro 4 format: June Apple. Tuning: Wade seems to be in G# so if you wants to do it like him tune to open G and capo at first fret. Link to tab for Dwight Diller's version of the tune.

Du Gamla, Du Fria

This morning I spoke with Major Vie at the Salvation Army in re the Swedish Meatball I am purchasing from them. I'm talking to her and wondering: what's up with the military titles attached to Salvation Army personnel? They all seem so peaceful when they're sorting the donated sweaters and working the cash register. What unspeakable martial impulse lies beneath the placid exterior? None, I guess. It turns out that the Salvation Army is a fighting force, but they're in a spiritual struggle -"constantly at war with evil," as their web site puts it.

What's all this about? Why am I suddenly rubbing elbows with all these battle-hardened spiritual warriors? Yesterday, gasp, I plucked the glorious flower of Swedish manufacturing, metaphorically speaking, from the Salvation Army parking lot. Praise Jesus. Yeah, it's old. Sure, the once-smooth Corinthinian leather has more wrinkles than an AARP convention. Shoo, she's still a bitchin' set of wheels. Just needs a little TLC, plus a new battery, a fix on the right windshield wiper, and possibly a whole lot more. Fred, oh superlative mechanic at Accurate Automotive, tell me I did not fuck up and buy two tons of Swedish manure!

Fluffy and Ed tear it up at Grindstone

Rex McGee rocks

For a good auditory time, check this out.

http://www.efolkmusic.org/ArtMusic/ViewArtist.asp?AID=285

I hadn't heard of this extraordinary musician until reading about him at Ryan Cavanaugh's web site.

When he's got a long rawhide roll sticking out of the corner of his mouth, the dog Fluffy (above left) resembles an aging Cuban revolutionary, minus the beret. Donations happily accepted. My friends Chris and Catherine gave the dogs one roll each for New Year. Ed doesn't care about them. Fluffy, on the other hand, likes to grab his and sit on the couch, the roll hanging from his lip like a gigantic Bob Marley spleef.