(though you couldn't necessarily tell . . . )

No more rotten dessert, Virgo. No more silky danger or juicy poison. No more worthless treasures or empty successes or idiotic brilliance. Soon all those crazy-making experiences will be gone, blasted, dead. By this time next week, the bad influences that were trying to pass themselves off as good influences will have fallen away in response to your courageous drive for authenticity. You will be primed to restore your innocence and play in places where purity is the rule, not the exception. Already, the wisdom of your wild heart is regenerating, giving you the strength to overthrow the sour, life-hating influences that were threatening to smother your spirit.

[welp, if you can't join em beat em]

Eilen Jewell: Walkin’ Down the Line

All men want, not something to do with, but something to do, or rather something to be. Perhaps we should never procure a new suit, however ragged or dirty the old, until we have so conducted, so enterprised or sailed in some way, that we feel like new men in the old, and that to retain it would be like keeping new wine in old bottles. Our moulting season, like that of the fowls, must be a crisis in our lives. The loon retires to solitary ponds to spend it. Thus also the snake casts its slough, and the caterpillar its wormy coat, by an internal industry and expansion.

Thoreau some more and more - why did I not love this guy the first 10 times? Because I had not been alone, the bastard of myself, for 1001 nights yet.
Ben Sollee: A Change is Gonna Come (orig. Sam Cooke)

The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?

Thoreau (I'm rereading Walden, loving the Snot)

listening to: Sonny Stitt, alto sax; Oscar Peterson, piano; Ray Brown, bass; Ed Thigpen, drums, "The Gypsy" man, this kicks my cushion
Wayfaring Strangers: Motherless Child (fiddles)

Phosphorescent - Too Sick To Pray

listening to: damien rice woman like a man

We know the truth when we see it, from opinion, as we know when we are awake that we are awake.

By the same fire--vital, consecrating, celestial, which burns until it shall dissolve all things into the waves and surges of an ocean of light--we see each other and know each other, and what spirit each is of.

We are all discerners of spirits.

Deal so plainly with man and woman as to constrain the utmost sincerity and destroy all hope of trifling with you. It is the highest compliment you can pay.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Over-Soul”

the thunderstorms that roll in here off lake ontario are fucking wicked - all my roofs are raining, naked in the face of it all, and the booms are quaking the ground and me

It's all about greenroofing w me at the moment - check it out: http://www.buffalonews.com/185/story/756825.html Mine is the one they call the "church in Lewiston", which I find totally amusing - I mean, what did Bale say that translated to that, I wonder? Something like "gonna do yoga up there something sacred batshit space whatever" probably (lol). The pics of mine, befores and midsteps and afters, will be forthcoming soon. Meanwhile, I'm off today to pick up a Buddha that a friend has donated for it while I recommend you treat yourself to that video in the article cz the roof itself is nifty, but also the extent to which he clearly feels like a tool bc he's gotta hold that microphone is pretty hilarious.

Me’shell Ndegéocello - Better By The Pound
Claudia Russell: I Second That Emotion (The Miracles)
"Love Me (Elvis cover)," Department of Eagles
Hannah Read: A Taste of Honey (The Temptations)
Michael Jackson - The Way You Make Me Feel

I took my mother to see this. My mother. All I knew of the guy was his role as King Julien, my fave kid movie character ever.



(So I didn't anticipate at all the milli vanilli rimjob mime thing, for instance, needless to say.)

Chris Cornell: Thank You (Led Zeppelin)

peter mulvey - the fly (u2)
"He Got Game," Public Enemy ftg Stephen Stills
Clay Ross: John the Revelator

bela karoli - summertime this sounds like cellos soulfucking

I moved 3 yards of mulch today. That’s a lot. It took most of the day, until the dust of it had caked onto my sun screen and I looked like a white kid painted up for jungle warfare – ever notice how that brings out the little girl in their faux tough faces? I thought about losses, life losses and what you get out of them, and I listened to the scrape of my shovel on the asphalt repeating. I thought about how odd it is that all these sensations have cues already, like the sound of burying something (‘scrapeplopscrapeplop’). I told myself a joke or two and caught myself like Ears catches me sometimes, mumbling into thin air. I reflected on the soulmate concept, the “it” factor, which is in conversations around me a lot lately. I laughed to think that my soulmate is in Lewiston Maine right now, with a vague sensation that something’s a little off but he’d rather not think about it and he’s good at that; he’s busy curing maple syrup with solar panels made of old hub caps, he might not be between marriages right now actually, and he’ll be so late for my show that it won’t be until a future lifetime that he shows up and then we’ll meet as bullfrogs in a post-apocalypse bayou: “By. Gones. [?] Oy. Vei. O. kay. Bud. Weis. Er. [Eye. Roll.] Ha. Ha. Ha.”

"There'll Be Some Changes Made," Billie Holiday

for virgo: O ye of little faith: Do ye not understand that the events of mid-July through mid-August of 2009 are but the fruition of seeds ye planted in September, October, and November of last year? Do not thank or blame the gods, but only thyself, for the destiny that is upon ye. Now please prepare to assume thy new goodies and perks, O favored one, as well as thy new temptations and headaches, with full knowledge that ye are receiving the exact rewards and responsibilities ye earned many months ago.

bonus track: "The Corner," Allie Moss

"Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)," Elton John

(emptycity garden)

Redbird: Running to Stand Still (U2)

eye contact - prove me wrong

you can fool with your brother but

for virgo: Your concentration for dicey assignments, like conquering fear and adversity, is sharp. And I bet you'll summon a lot of stamina and resourcefulness if you're pressed to solve a crucial riddle during a turning point in your own personal hero's journey. On the other hand, humdrum details have the potential to flummox you, especially if they involve tasks you're not even that interested in or committed to. The moral of the story: Banish absent-mindedness by keeping yourself focused on only the most riveting challenges.

artists in resonance - missionary man (eurythmics) - this is one in a million, a capella with nothing left wanting from the whole of what voices alone together can do, highest rec

there is another lunar eclipse tonight, in capricorn and affecting the earth signs (capricorn and me and taurus) favorably and emphatically and viscerally and in our emotional lives most of all

mood about it: meditative

so I went to the full-moon meditation and took the boys - first time I've gone to one, and didn't know what to expect, and didn't warn the boys. I just sat them down in the midst of it, the only kids, and when the yard full of adults set into chanting the name of God for 31 minutes with their palms joined, the boys locked their palms with the group and took their turns chanting (call and return, like prayer and amen). ears particularly gave himself over to it, projected the name of God better than many adults present, full little gut. Tj, though skeptical, followed our lead and did the same. we did it in the name of peace on earth, we did it the service of anyone we love, we did it to heal ourselves. fiercely proud

Tim O’Brien & Rob Ickes: Can’t Find My Way Home (Blind Faith)

for virgo: According to my projections, you will not, in the coming weeks, meet a dark, secretive stranger who'll play you like a violin. [thank goodness] Nor will you be lured to the warehouse district after midnight to pick up the "missing stuff." [lol, I've never heard dick called 'missing stuff' before, have you?] And I highly doubt that you will be invited to join a cult that's conspiring to seize political power following the events of December 21, 2012. [got it, no seizers = no seizures] No, Virgo. Your fate is far more mundane than that. [a shocker that is, eh?] In fact, it's more likely that you will soon meet a bright, forthright stranger who will play you like an accordion. [still = stranger danger] You will be drawn to a convenient location at midday to pick up the "missing stuff." [I'd be just as good with a nap midday, frankly] And you will be invited to become part of a group that has the potential to play a significant role in your quest for meaning in the coming years. [that would be okay]

this voice is an old-school mood: the wrestler, great song at the end of the very good film which I finally got around to watching while I was nursing the pup. we've had a little break-through, the pup and I - our relationship reached a new level of intimacy all of a sudden, guess you could say

terrible nightmare

the puppy has been shitting or barfing every few minutes for the last 24 hours - no vet open on the holiday, so not much to do but shove water down his throat with a syringe and clean up the endless putrid mess - I have to keep him locked in the bathroom where there is tile that can be cleaned up and he barks his brains loose over that without ceasing - I bought ear buds, and a bottle of wine. meanwhile, it's the 4th of July so I left the pup in the bathroom for a while to go see fort niagara and fireworks, which was a bit less adventurous than spending the holiday with BaleD's clan as planned but I walked the fort w NuNu and there were 2500 people there pretending to be revolutionaries, all dressed up with some of them painted and in loin clothes (asses painted red-black) to be the native allies and it was oddly very much like the dyke roller derby only not that different. meanwhile, a huge bald guy on skates was apparently hitting on me during the fireworks and I didn't even notice - it's not at all remarkable that I wouldn't notice except for the 'mr clean on skates' factor

Denison Witmer: Champagne Supernova (Oasis)

another mother's breaking heart is taking over

Jay Brannan: Zombie (The Cranberries) - the boys love this one, want to hear it again and again. What's it about?, Ears asks, after listening to it a buttgillion times. Having too many bad memories will make you a zombie, I think. (pause) I don't have any bad memories yet - I can't remember even one!, he says. (pause) You're doing a good job with our childhood so far, he adds.