(a clip show)
First Some Big News:
Big big music news - it's HUGE!
I am very excited and here's why:
I've played box office concerts at the Inwood Theater as Hunkasaurus and His Pet Dog guitar, for about 10 years now (world's first and only as far as I know) And I, and the guitar, a '64 Silvertone, decided it was time to record our 120 song repertoire. (The guitar prefers instrumentals!)
SO... This summer I recorded, as long as my money, and voice, and finger cal louses, and studio and engineer availability, held out; I recorded 30 songs in my VOICE AND GUITAR style (I do everything a band does but simpler, less congested, more intense, and more fun). I think it's pretty good - so good that I'll give you a 'forever' guarantee - anytime you want to return the CD, and it's still in working order, you'll get a full refund. To buy the 30 Song CD for $10 plus postage - see www.Hunkasaurus.com or contact me.
#227: One for Our Side.
Today, 2/23/04 I got a check for $13.88 from CD MAP Antitrust Litigation, sent to me from Greg Abbot, Attorney General of Texas. This was the class action suit against the major record companies and many record outlets for price fixing. The companies paid off. And for signing up for the money, I got the check. Here's what the letter says:
Dear Texas Music Purchaser:
As Attorney General for the State of Texas, I am pleased to enclose payment for your claim in the settlement of the Compact disc Minimum Advertised Price Antitrust Litigation. This lawsuit was brought by the Attorneys General of 43 states and 3 territories and by counsel for Private Class Plaintiffs on behalf of purchasers of music CD's. In accordance with the terms of the court approved settlement, payment is being made to music purchasers who filed a valid and timely claim...
It is a pleasure to bring this matter to a satisfactory conclusion and to return value to consumers who purchased CDs while the challenged pricing policies were in effect.
That's one for our side!
Extra: Remembering Jenny
Zinester Jenny Makovsky died in a car accident. She and her sister Serena, did the zine Have You Seen The Dog Lately, a fun zine and a member of the Zine Hall of Fame. Here is part of a Musea post about remembering Jenny:
...But above being a fun zine, I was always touched by Jenny's letters with the zine. Usually she was the one who added a note with the latest issue. It was these letters and her essays that showed her poetic-ness and depth of feeling. I always thought Jenny was a gifted writer well on her way to major status. I figured she was young, and a collection of her work someday would be one of the lights of a very prolific and gifted group of writers - zinesters.
Someday, when zines are seen as the golden age of literature that they are, someone will published her collected writings and the whole world will see what us HYSTDL readers saw. I'm a zine packrat and luckily I've saved every letter and zine from the Makovskys. Now I'll treasure them all the more. I didn't know her and I'll miss her. I can only imagine the grief of those who knew her well. And I send my condolences to Serena and her family. "This leaf falls, and joins the others."
#233 In Sonnet Form:
For those, like my friend Alden Scott Crow, who like poetry with form - here's a sonnet.
IN SONNET FORM
I will write in sonnet form
and though it seems a little strained
I, its rhyming scheme will feign
to reach the heights it's made to soar,
to reach that bright iambic shore
pentameter lovers like to claim
for their rows of B's and A's,
for their lines of 3's and 4's;
but doggerel in truth to me
seems a tastier lay of land,
seems a less-bitter cup of tea,
seems a likelier slight of hand,
to reach the depths of the poetic sea,
the heights that come from a great poem
(Petrarchan sonnet form, though not in
iambic pentameter)
#240 Smithsonian on the Road
In a recent Musea Art Contest, I asked a question about the Smithsonian, the largest museum complex in the world - started by a legacy from a wealthy English scientist, James Smithson in 1846. This from "A Picture Tour of the Smithsonian" "Inventory records (of 1983) showed a total of more than 100 million specimens and artifacts including postage stamps, moths, spacecraft, elephant skulls, African Masks, airplanes, fossil fish, 19th century American Indian pots, and on and on." And almost all of this is tucked away somewhere. Only a miniscule amount is featured in the many museums that the Smithsonian runs. I suggest that that be changed. I suggest that every summer the Smithsonian use some of its budget to send vans out across America with parts of its collection (that part that can travel without danger). Van #1 gets to the City A on the tour, sets up an exhibit, runs for a week, then goes to the next city on the loop. While it sets up in City B, Van #2 rolls into City A with a 2nd exhibit. It runs a week and so on.
Pretty soon most major towns in the US have part of a vast traveling exhibit of relics and specimens from the Smithsonian to see in their own neighbor hood. Can you imagine how schools could use this to help educate kids. That alone would be worth it. I say, Smithsonian, don't hide your collection under a musty basket. Put it on wheels and send it across America.
#239 Four Variations of a Poem:
I start with a haiku by the Japanese master Shiki (Peter Pauper Press trans.)
1.
Here is the dark tree
denuded now
of leafage ....
but a million stars.
Then I do my version and post it on a poetry newsgroup:
2.
Winter in the forest
takes away
a thousand leaves
but don't dismay
a million stars
shine in their place
Then another poster (unknown) writes his version: 
3.
Winter comes to the forest
and withers ten million leaves
but in their deathfall
one hundred billion stars revealed
And finally another poet (or the same one?) named Art writes:
4.
"Winter Does"
The Lion eats the forest
leaves with his cold breath.
A million leaves dive, flutter
withered to their death.
But wait.
A star and then another blossom's --
and soon the tree is filled with stars
a sparkle in the nightfall,
-- dew!
Many versions, same poem, fun stuff.
#242 Public Domain
The following was sent to me by Paul Adair on the issue of public
domain art:
Over the years, congress has extended and extended copyright terms. Used to be 28 years, renewable for an additional 28. 56 years total. Then extended to 75 years with the end-of-the 28th renewal still in place. Then the renewal provision was dropped. 75 straight years. Then came the Sonny Bono Act. Tag on 20 more years. 95 years. You can guess how long film, tape and paper can endure that long of storage. Nitrate film simply won't last. Old paper books are crumbling as we share this. Nitrate films are decomposing. 85% of our silent movie heritage is lost forever. YOU could find a favorite old pre-1923 book and be in the classic book re-publishing business. I've already found hundreds of features, cartoons, serials, etc. not renewed at the 28-year break. Then, there's music. Yeah, Hunkasaurus. Virtually all 1923 music is in the public domain! Over There, Give My Regards to Broadway --even complete musical stage shows. You could revive Victor Herbert, George M. Cohan, etc. musical shows. Make a movie of Naughty 
Marietta or The Red Mill and many more --royalty-free. Just check for pre- 1923 copyright dates and work m ORIGINAL material.... Movies? Well, that's my playground, but how about Marihuana, Reefer Madness, Assassin of Youth, 47 Betty Boop cartoons?, A Star is Born (1937), Made For Each Other (1936), A Farewell to Arms (1932).
Many foreign works were in the U.S. public domain. Then, our elected officials got us into the U.R.A.A. and G.A.T.T. treaties and POOF, no more public domain status. The Inwood could have run The Rules of the Game and hundreds of others FREE ---including The Third Man, The Smallest Show on Earth ---well, you just think of all the famous British, French, Italian, Japanese films. Even when I was telling everyone about these films, before the treaties, nobody would listen. Now they get to pay big $$$ for them... Do Hollywood and big music/publishing want public domain competition eliminated? Can the voice of the public get those art-destroying extensions and treaties over- turned? So far, there are 19,900+ signatures on that petition, aimed at giving back to the public what once was theirs, and should have been all along. The public must not just sit there, complacent and ignorant as cattle. http://www.petitiononline.com/eldred/petition.html -Paul Adair.
#244 Library Planet (Musea Novel)
This month (July "04) there is no Musea - instead I published 50 copies of a new short novel of mine called LIBRARY PLANET (see website). It's my 3rd published novel (Portraits - a novel about an artist co-op/ Cendrillon the true story of Cinderella) and its entirely different from the other two: As it says on the cover blurb:
""Within these pages you'll find a sci-fi adventure, a gothic tale of suspense, a mystery, a quest, a romance, and a 1,000 libraries to house them in. A story so vast it requires a LIBRARY PLANET."" The set up is easy enough. A rich industrialist (200 in an age that lives to 5-600 years old) has bought the library of a planet federation. the federation has divided into two camps and neither side wants the old libraries on the former capital planet.
Our industrialist, 'Street And Smith', is a great lover of books. He gladly buys the entire planet and all the libraries on it, that, over the years, had grown to cover the entire planet! He lives there alone and wallows in books all the time. Yet an incident happens, a 'nok' noise that leads to.....
#246 Acting Tips
"I am not an actor but I play one on TV!"
That goofy line is just to introduce this week's topic - acting. Here's some tips from the book Acting is Believing A Basic Method, by McGaw and Clark. The book opened up the technical side of acting that I was not aware of. I recommend it for new actors. Also keep these tips in mind while you're watching your favorite actor, film, or play.
1. "The question never is, "How would I feel if I were this character in these circumstances?' The question always is, "What would I do?" Feelings don't communicate - actions do.
2. Play off other actors. Note that great actors will vary the same performance in the same play, because they are reacting to different actors playing the same role opposite them in different productions.
3. Direct your attention, or the audience will loose theirs.
4. Develop an imaging technique. That's the ability to imagine a past or future event, and to translate that vision to the audience.
5. "To think is not enough: the actor must truly want." Show intensity of purpose.
6. Don't whitewash bad characters.
7. Inhale before partner ends his lines so you are ready to give your lines.
Now go break a leg (in the theatrical sense of the word)
#247 Newsgroup Nazi.
Newsgroup Nazi, maybe you know one. 'Another newsgroup nazi with no social skills or manners "No post for you!" he orders and tries to bully us all! If you have posted in any newsgroup that is not moderated (and even some that are) you've met, what I call the Newsgroup Nazi. There seems to be at least one in each newsgroup. Look for these signs: Acts like a 12 year old, bereft of all social skills and manners, likes to argue over definitions of words and grammar usage ad nauseum, hides behind a fake name, attacks new posters like a child molester, tries to bully others with incessant counter posts, baits nice people because they will respond in a civil manner (at least at first), is against most everything, cusses excessively with language that would get him beat up in most social situations, shifts conversation away from the issue when loosing ground, uses sweeping condemnations based on nothing, thinks of himself as god's bigger brother, takes everything to extremes, acts petulant, is mean spirited, defends bizarre beliefs as if they were normal, and in the end is most likely transferring repressed rage at his parents on to strangers he's never met. If many of the above apply - then you too are a newsgroup Nazi!
#250 Guy News?
Gender in the news? Maybe. First of all I want to mention some new ideas in psychology. They involve how men and women react to stress differently. Men react with 'fight and flight', a term that was used to describe both sexes responses. But recent studies show that women react with "tend and befriend", a term which many of you may not be aware of. They tend those they love and befriend others that may help them in getting rid of their stress.
With this in mind - look at most newscasts. Do you see mostly conflict news , war news, news about different sides fighting etc? Well I do too. Matter of fact that is what most news is. I contend that we are just getting guy news and because it centers so much on conflict (fight or flight) it covers only half the news, the guy news side.
A good newscast would also give equal time to the other side, the news of people getting along in noteworthy ways, of people coming together to resolve problems. Conflict news, if it bleeds it leads, is not very good journalism. We all know that. But now I contend that it's sexist journalism too.
#253 Marquetta's Music Site.
Marquetta , from Paperbacks Plus , the bookstore that houses my Musea Reading Fund, and a very cool selection of books and magazines, I might add, e-mailed me to say that she had posted some info about me on her Texas music news page at http://www.lonestarwebstation.com/mtmkfront.html. In checking out my article,. I noted all the other news there. It's a very fine site for connecting with a lot of Texas music news. There are notices on Michelle Shocked, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Nora Jones, the new Poor David's Pub and more. The site is colorful, lively, and gives you a good selection of what is going on around here. Check it out.
#254 Picasso's Painting
The September issue of Musea is all about turning points in the history of painting and so is this e- mail. In 1907 Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d'Avignon a ground breaking painting that you can see at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. Take a minute to look at a reproduction of it. First of all I agree with Braques opinion, (Picasso's co-founder of cubism), when he saw it. He thought it was hideous! And it is. There is a disquieting feel about it as being half here and half there, some nice and some disturbing. But we also know that it was a major force in shifting art from realism to cubism and ultimately to total abstraction. Look at the painting again. This time divide it into 3 vertical parts. In my interpretation I see a painting showing this art transition moment in history, though obviously Picasso did not intend this idea. Cover all of the painting except the left third, you see a loosely sketched woman in profile opening the curtain. But on what. I suggest she is opening the curtain on the dividing line between old style realistic painting and new style cubism. Now cover all but the middle third. You see two women and a still life of fruit at their feet. This represents painting from the past with its recognizable quality and it's some what attractive look. Now cover all but the right third. You see two nudes with monster heads! Hideous and misformed - something from H.G. Wells Island of Dr. Moreau! To me this represents the new painting - cubism, African masks, and ultimately abstraction, and all the other isms of modern art. From that point of view, our unsettling masterpiece, becomes a story painting! A painting telling the story of modern art!
#256 Low Morality.
I heard a public figure excusing his behavior on the grounds that the other side was morally worse. I've heard this argument from everyday people to mass murderers. I think its time to end its legitimacy as a reasonable argument.
Let's say Mr. X says his immorality is excused because of Mr. Z's worse immoral acts. I ask Mr. X this. Then you are basing your moral code on what is worse - and your only criteria is that you are not quite as bad, though you too may be morally bankrupt? Is that in any way defensible when judged against normal moral behavior of the rest of the world - let alone high moral behavior among the most morally strict of the world? Doesn't it suggest that in a moral ranking you are near the bottom? Yet because you are not the worst (out of billions) you suggest you have a reasonable moral behavior? Shouldn't you base your moral behavior on a non-shifting set of ethics and value - one that is set on stable principles of behavior, and that in no way, is built on the bad behavior of others? And shouldn't that moral behavior be at least near the top of generally accepted behavior, to be defensible? Your argument of being less immoral than the other guy, doesn't in any way suggest that what you do is moral at all. Nor does it in any way imply that your moral code is ethical. In the end you should set your moral behavior on your own terms - not as that dictated by your less ethical enemies. Excusing bad behavior on your part - as being sanctioned, because of bad behavior on the parts of others - won't work anymore.
#257 Scotty Moore Auditions Elvis
My last contest concerned the Blue Moon Boys, the group in the 50's of Elvis, Scotty Moore his guitarist, and Bill Black on bass. The legend has it that the 3 came together in a Memphis studio, lucked on to That's Alright Mama, that Sam Phillips liked, and the rest is R&R history. Not so fast. The Moore bio, That's Alright Elvis has an important addition - an earlier audition: It went like this:
July 3 '54. Scotty and Sun Studio owner Sam Phillips have time off, go next door to Taylor's Cafe where Scotty pesters Sam about this singer Sam and Marion his secretary keep talking about, "You called that boy yet?"
Sam gives in and tells Marion to give Scotty all the info about the kid (Elvis). "What kind of name is
that?" asks Scotty.
That evening, Scotty calls Elvis, talks to mama Gladys about setting up an audition for Elvis at Scotty's home a suburban house with Bill Black living down the street. Elvis calls back, and Scotty says he was working for Sam Phillips, and asks if Elvis could come over to the house and audition on Sun. July 4th. Elvis agrees.
July 4th after lunch - 100 degrees outside, Elvis arrives in a white lacy shirt, pink pants with a black stripe down the legs, white buck shoes, a pimply face and his hair in a ducktail - carrying his guitar. They play some. Scotty asks wife Bobbie to call over Bill Black. He arrives and listens to them. They do a lot of ballads. After Elvis leaves Scotty asks Bill his reaction. "Well he didn't impress me too damned much. How about you?"
Scotty, "I thought he had good timing, A Good voice. Nothing different jumped out from the material we were doing." Though he was surprised that Elvis knew so many rhythm and blues songs. Bill left, and Scotty gave Sam his report. Sam asked if Scotty thought it would be worthwhile to audition Elvis in the studio. Scotty replied, "Sure."
Sam, on Scotty's recommendation, called Elvis and set up an appointment for Monday July 5 , 7PM. That second audition led to That's Alright Mama etc. Moore says that one key to the innovation that Elvis and the band brought together was this: On their first single - one side had "That's Alright Mama" a rhythm and blues song that Elvis sang Country, and on the other side "Blue Moon of Kentucky" a country song that Elvis sang rhythm and blues. The new hybrid of music would change the world. ("That's Alright Elvis", Scotty Moore as told to James Dickerson. Shirmer Press.)
#258 Dance Quote
This installment is a quote from "Dance, Rituals of Experience" by J. Highwater. It tells better than I could about how the art of dance is received in the US.
"Before the end of the 19th century, to most whites, dancing was a form of mindless amusement. It was not until the turn of the century that dance was evolved into a real art form by people like Isadora Duncan and Loie Fuller. Until then, body movement possessed a humble and static existence in Western civilization. It was so detested by both the church and the synagogue that it was officially prohibited after a brief but important expressive use in early religious ceremonies. It is difficult, after centuries of belief in the mortification of the flesh and the celebration of the disembodied soul), for most white people to grasp the possibility of a 'spiritual body' in which spirit and flesh are united, in which feeling and thought are unified.
The American Indian concept of harmony among all things is so alien to the West that whites cannot conceive of a spiritual conviction that can be communicated through dance - a unique expressive act in which, more than any other, there is immediacy and a perfect mergence of idea and feeling."
#260 Best Recent Movies
Surveying the field of recent movies, I see a lot of fine documentaries, a few French favs. and a Danish delight. Musea recommends: these 4 documentaries: The Corporation conglomerates gone amok, Supersize Me dying for fast food, The Control Room Al Jazeera, an Arab media caught between a rock and a hard place, and Fog Of War instant classic of Robert McNamarra's thoughts on war and politics. These two French Films: Bon Voyage France flees Paris and the Nazis, Triplets of Belville colossal cartoon of recovery of kidnapped kid! And for the romantic in all of us, Reconstruction - surreal love story with twists. Join. Be a member of the free weekly Musea e-mail club - contact me for info.
Stay revolutionary! - Art S Revolutionary.
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