Author: Jeff

An excuse to go to New Orleans

How can you go wrong with a name like A Gallery for Fine Photography? While I wish they had a snazzier web site, at least they have a fine line-up of photographers.

Between classes

I turned on the TV. The Waltons were on. I remember really hating that show growing up, though my mom loved it. I found out later that my Dad hates Ralph Waite. Maybe I got the “I hate the Waltons” gene. It only took about thirty seconds to hear: “Girls who say gosh, golly, and darn will wind up sleeping alone in a barn.” While I may admit the truth of this statement, I really prefer girls who say “Holy Shit!” and “Damn” myself.

Speaking of “Holy Shit!,” there’s been a big discussion on the Nassr-L list about the nature of the “Pleasure Dome” in Coleridge’s Kubla Khan, regarding whether it is a dome floating in mid-air, unsupported, or if it is meant to be a bedouin tent. One of the scholars on the list pointed to new archeological findings in the summer issue of National Geographic. They’ve found some glass, thought to be part of that dome. Cool stuff, I wish there was more information online somewhere. Personally, I think the tent hypothesis is pretty lame.

Concerning the damned, Ron Asheton of the Stooges has a great interview at Perfect Sound Forever. Also, according to Rolling Stone several important Sonic Youth records are going to be remastered and rereleased. Damn, now I’ll have to buy them again.

Also recently unearthed, is a rave review of my favorite album of 2001, Steve Wynn’s Here Come the Miracles. I wish Steve Wynn wasn’t such a secret to most people. He builds some mighty fine pleasure domes himself.

Morning class went pretty well, but though I prepared what I thought was enough material for a class and a half, I got through it all pretty thoroughly with five minutes to spare. I’ve got to work on this. I don’t want them to get into the habit of leaving early. This time though, I gave them the Mary MacLane excerpt and an article from the New York Times. I bet the dictionaries will have to come out for the Times article. And this is a good thing. I thought since Mary MacLane makes the outrageous claim of being a genius, it might be fun to figure out what people think genius really is.

Attitude.

I hadn’t thought about the word that much lately, until I read an essay, and a blog entry today.

In a Dark Time wrote in “The Last Reincarnation” that the shift in “attitude” from his students was one of the reasons why he gave up on teaching. He felt he could no longer deal with it. Coming on the heels of discovering Joseph Epstein’s article You Got Attitude?, it was one of those weird web synchronicities.

I like attitude. That’s the reason why I chose to assign Mary MacLane in my classes. She has attitude, an attitude I like. Badger was writing about music as a lifestyle choice, and of his preference for passion in music writing. I agree wholeheartedly. Anyone who thinks that they can write dispassionately about something that is created, by design, to move the emotions is practicing the worst form of self deception. The no-attitude attitude? There’s no such thing. Growing up in the desolate aftermath of the 60s, I thought as a teenager that there were hundreds of lifestyle choices to be made. Looking back, I think it’s less a matter of lifestyle, than attitude.

When I was a salesman, one of those hokey motivational signs that hung in the break room queried:

Attitudes are infectious. Is yours worth catching?

I think this is something worth thinking about. Maybe we should all smile more. Maybe we should recognize the fact that we all have attitudes, attitudes that have been selected largely through emulation. We look to others to gain perspective, and we wear the attitude that we think will serve us best in a given situation. Sometimes, shifting our attitudes can make life a lot easier to take. I don’t believe that we are ever too old to do this, though the patience that it takes is often hard to find. That’s why I don’t want to teach below college level. I don’t think I have the patience to deal with the WWF attitude, or the rap attitude. Everyone in college tends to have a “I want to make my life better” attitude. And this is a good thing.

*A late night addendum: In Rhetorical Theory tonight, I stepped up to “play” one of my favorite rhetoricians, Protagoras. This means I get to present his point of view, as if I were him. We joked a bit about wearing togas to get the right “attitude.” As a side benefit, I also get to play his primary opposition, Plato. This will be fun. I’ve been reading Plato with Blake’s “infernal method” for a long time. I’m not sure why, but I also volunteered to be Jurgen Habermas. I’m not quite sure how I’ll play that one…

Just a short wrap up.

The day went great, and ended on a fine note with Shauna’s literary observations. I really must agree. Obviously, somebody’s not doing something right.

There isn’t time to write out the course of the day, but it sailed along smoothly. I think I’m really going to have fun teaching, though I must admit it’s hard to find well written articles about dentistry. It’s hard for me to not want to assign some literature stuff, and I want to get as many people as I can turned on to blogging. So, I’m going to give people some excerpts from The Story of Mary MacLane and see what sort of reactions I get. I think I’ll leave out the parts about her being a radical bisexual bad girl, and let them figure that out for themselves. It’s hard to find male diarists to quote that aren’t so far out that they won’t identify, but surely everyone is interested in the diary of a young girl?

I’ll find out. If you haven’t checked her out, you might be surprised. There’s no Anne Frank style stuff here, this woman had a firm grip on life. I want to provide balanced readings from both male and female authors, but, the more I review stuff I come to feel that guys are just boring. Maybe it’s because I’m a guy. And I have been accused of being boring.

I like girls. Sorry, I can’t help it.

First day

This is going to be fun. I showed up for class fifteen minutes early to find that there were already 18 students in the room. Eager people, I like that. By the time 8 am rolled around, there were 22 out of the 25 registered people there. Both of my classes are full. Way cool.

So now I’ve got fifty people to get to know. I think I’m going to like this. The only thing odd is the high density of dentistry majors. Now there’s a subject I know very little about! Should be fun. The preliminary writing I had them do shows that they are concerned about making A’s too. That’s a good sign. I hope I can oblige.

Damn, this is going to be a long day. I have to go back shortly for my second class teaching, then there is a seminar tonight until 9pm. Now that’s a day: 7:45 am to 9 pm. But I may duck in here from time to time. There’s no telling.

Electric Medicine

I was thrilled to find that not only do the Wipers have an Official site, but they also have MP3s available at MP3.com.

There is a nice flash promo for The History of Portland Punk and also for a new album, Electric Medicine, due in March. I’m really excited now.

For those who don’t recognize it, the Wipers logo is actually a play on Ohm’s law. It’s more than fitting for perhaps the most electric of sounds I’ve ever heard. I’m so glad I got the chance to see him. He doesn’t play out much, and there’s almost a sort of religious quality to it. But it’s certainly an electric church. Many of his songs just cut me to the bone, like “Window Shop for Love.”

There is also an unofficial site with some interesting interview snippets. I particularly liked this bit:

Standing on the small stage, playing to fewer people that his accomplishments deserve, Greg Sage turns up his guitar and his swooping, soaring songs. It’s a beautiful noise of a power that seems larger than life, with an interior cry, like the eye of a hurricane. As Sage says, it’s a “falling effect, but also like catching yourself in a fall.”

That about says it. Other than Neil Young and Crazy Horse, I’ve never heard a more powerful noise. But no one falls like Greg Sage. I like that. I like that a lot.

Bargain of the century

I thought it had to be a joke. CDNow listed a Wipers Box Set for $7.49!

I ordered it, of course, and am just blown away. It’s not one of those lame “greatest hits” things at all. It’s their first three albums, complete and in order, plus bonus tracks.

The Wipers have long been one of the best kept secrets around, known only to musicians mostly. They were the vangard of what later was called “grunge.”

It’s not quite punk. It’s not quite rock. But it is perhaps the best definition of what I call intense.

Three CDs of suicidal angst, what more could a person want?

The original albums were all short, around 30 minutes, so the addition of the bonus tracks makes it three CDs of pure genius that clock out at close to an hour each. $7.49? Sold!

I remember a visit to a record store in Mesa, Arizona, where a guy was just amazed that I asked about Greg Sage. “He lives a few blocks away. I call him the ‘mad scientist’ cause he always comes in in a white lab coat. He’s got a studio in his house, and he seldom leaves.” I drove past the house a few times, and thought about the strange experiments that must go on inside.

I met him a few months later, when he opened for Nirvana. He wasn’t playing live much then. He cut a hypnotic circle on the left side of the stage, drilling the most amazing chords into the floor. That’s where my jaw probably still is. One of these days I’ll have to go back to get it.

Old newspapers

The C-18L list has provided another fun diversion. While most literature people will be familiar with the phrase “Grub Street Hacks,” it takes on new meaning when you actually read some of their work. Rictor Norton has compiled some excerpts from early 18th century newspapers guaranteed to amuse. I was particularly taken by the description of some visiting Cherokee in 1730:

Friday night about 11, the Indian Prince walking in Covent Garden, was pick’d up by the infamous Jenny Tite, who took 2 rings off his fingers, and made off with them. — I think this Lady for the future deserves the title of the famous Jenny Tite, on account of this amour with his R. Highness, who not knowing the use of money on these occasions, might present her with these 2 rings.

There’s always a Jenny Tite somewhere about, now isn’t there?

There’s just too much great stuff here to mention, Sodomites, for example. A letter to the editor suggests that they be punished in a rather severe way, “that a skilful surgeon be provided immediately to take out his testicles, and that then the Hangman sear up his scrotum with an hot iron.” But there are also some touching love stories too:

William Gardham and Mary Langhorne, that were taken [in bed together] at an inn in this city, and after examination were committed to Newgate, the former on suspicion of poisoning his wife, and the latter of poisoning her husband, were try’d at York the last Assizes, and both acquitted; thereupon they were immediately married.

Sounds like true love to me.