Hiawatha's Departure

from "The Song of Hiawatha"

By the shore of Gitchie Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
At the doorway of his wigwam,
In the pleasant Summer morning,
Hiawatha stood and waited.
All the air was full of freshness,
All the earth was bright and joyous,
And before him through the sunshine,
Westward toward the neighboring forest
Passed in golden swarms the Ahmo,
Passed the bees, the honey-makers,
Burning, singing in the sunshine.
Bright above him shown the heavens,
Level spread the lake before him;
From its bosom leaped the sturgeon,
Aparkling, flashing in the sunshine;
On its margin the great forest
Stood reflected in the water,
Every tree-top had its shadow,
Motionless beneath the water.
From the brow of Hiawatha
Gone was every trace of sorrow,
As the fog from off the water,
And the mist from off the meadow.
With a smile of joy and triumph,
With a look of exultation,
As of one who in a vision
Sees what is to be, but is not,
Stood and waited Hiawatha.

--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

*****

My 7th & 8th Grade English teacher, Mrs. Julia Bradford Roach Roach (married a guy with the same last name as her), made us memorize however many lines of this, telling us one of her teachers made her memorize the whole thing when she was in school.

Why so long, fellow?

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women are merely Slayer.

True.

From an interview with Britt Daniel:

It seems like you’re a big movie fan. What are a few of your favorite movies?
[Pause] Oh, gee whiz ... Dr. Strangelove ... or Big Lebowski ... or ummm ... Boogie Nights would be up there. Rushmore.

*****

First of all -- awesome.

Secondly, I really don't like how this person broke up every single contraction in the writing of this article -- you know Britt didn't say "it is" and "I am" all over the place.

(And don't write a cutesy personal introduction that goes on way too long and sucks. Just set it up and deliver.)

voxtrot.

voxtrot

voxtrot

voxtrot

"You ever...

driving down the highway and see a guy throw a whole bag of garbage out the window? I'm too lazy to throw mine out and he's taking his for a ride. What's happening in his car? 'Hey, bag of garbage, how you doing? Oh, yeah? Well, you're getting out here! You're not talking, you're walking!

... [high pitched voice]That joke didn't even make any sense[/hpv]."

-Jim Gaffigan (paraphrased) on Late Night.

Songs dealing with Death and Modes of Transportation.

"Tonight Is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel," Barenaked Ladies (car)
"There Is a Light that Never Goes Out," The Smiths (car/bus)
"Transcontinental," Pedro the Lion (train)
"I Don't Wanna Die," The Unicorns (plane, car)
"Shit Luck," Modest Mouse (plane, boat, with implied, metaphorical death)
"Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)," Cobra Starship

Goodwill Find of the Month.

Denison Marrs: Holding Hands (@ 35,000 ft)

mint condition, for $1.99.

Since when is there a dog barking from 2:25 to 2:50 in the background of "Somebody Got Murdered"?

College education isn't what it used to be.

An average Wednesday morning. I enter my Latin classroom to see the dozen or so people that normally come to class. Five minutes before class starts and a graduate student (the class is about half undergrad. / half grad.) breaks the silence with:

"I don't think Nirvana gets the respect they deserve."

Utter silence follows.

I assume he's talking to someone nearer to him, but it is a very small class and everyone is clearly able to hear any one person talking. I don't bite. He continues:

"I mean, they're probably the best band ever."

After the first comment, I sort of zoned out and stopped paying attention to anything this guy said. About 15 seconds after this last comment (which was also followed with deafening silence), the words are recalled in my short-term memory. I look over and lift my hand a little.

"Wait, did you just say Nirvana was the best band ever?"

"Yeah."

I slowly turn my gaze away and sit in silent contemplation. About an entire minute passes in silence before he says:

"Why? Who do you think is the best band?"

Simultaneously said:

He: "Something from the '60s or '70s probably?"

I: "Well Led Zeppelin or The Beatles to start."

Me: "Okay, the '80s... I'd say The Smiths."

"Smiths suck."

"... or the Clash"

"The Clash are lame. Combat Rock is awful."

"Have you heard London Calling?"

"That's decent."

The teacher walks in to stop me from mentioning The Pixies, Wilco, and Spoon, and also to stop me from pummelling this kid.

I really can't believe that some people still consider Nirvana to be the best band ever created. I really do not understand.

Most influential of the '90s? Okay.
Most important of the '90s? In the Top 5.
Best of the '90s? Uhh... Top 10, maybe.
Best of our generation? Nope.
Best of all time ever? Not even close to the Top 50.

On an interesting note, Rolling Stone's original review of Nevermind was 3/5 stars, despite its placement in the RS 500 Best Albums of All Time.

B-rat.

High five!

The Original.

THE




ORIGINAL



GUITAR HERO



(The two pedals on the left are about as old as I am... and born in America, too!)

**********

So, to go off on a nerd tangent, I just realized the pedal tuner I have has TWO outputs (one a bypass), meaning if I put it further down in the chain, I can hook the output to the smaller amp so I can hit the tuner and silence it whenever I want, but still have all the effects go into it. Alternatively, I could just feed the line out of the second input on my rad chorus pedal to the smaller amp, which would still mean both amps get all effects. Thirdly, I could just hook the smaller amp up to the additional speaker out I have on the bigger amp... but I'm afraid of that, because the bigger amp is much more powerful than the smaller, and things could get busted up real nice.

Anyway, I think I'll do it the first way... that way I can keep the second amp silent for most of the performance... then just UNLEASH and scare the crap out of everyone.

I sit around and think about my rig a lot.

Health care...

should be called "Suck care."