birthday bean

I haven’t really heard much about it or even seen the poster, but this Saturday is the 6th birthday celebration at Radio Bean- you know the deal- 40+ acts between 8am Saturday morning and 2am Sunday morning. Last year Nest Material had a great 20 minute jam featuring at least 12 people including Gahlord Dewald, Greg Davis, and Johnny Sparkle. This years festivities kick off with “Party Star” at 8am- I’m gonna try to make it for this, go home get some sleep, go back and forth all afternoon for music and FREE coffee- and then finally make it to the Shredding & Wind Up Bird show at the Greendoor Studio at 8pm. Whew!

t^l^d

give peace a chance?

An interesting article dealing with two letters Gandhi wrote to Adolph Hitler in 1939 and 1940.

Gandhi: "It is quite clear that you are today the one person in the world who can prevent a war which may reduce humanity to the savage state. Must you pay that price for an object however worthy it may appear to you to be? Will you listen to the appeal of one who has deliberately shunned the method of war not without considerable success?"

His critics: "In other words, Gandhi was a naïve fool who tried in vain to sell his non-violence as a panacea to the Führer."

the le duo rubbing shoulders with politicians.

This is a photo of my family with Senator Patrick Leahy, taken circa 1988 after my Dad won this big award after inventing a little gadget that saved the Federal government millions of dollars. Sweet mullets and matching sweaters!

Faust!

Come see Mephisto get his tonight & tomorrow 8pm 294 N. Winooski Ave Burlington.

what I want for my Birthday

Native American drone flute.

"we were a very unique band"

I just read this excellent in-depth interview with Babatunde Olatunji, the Nigerian drummer who was almost single handedly responsible for introducing African music and dance to the United States in the late 1950's. He has a lot of interesting things to say about music and dance and the healing power of song and race relations etc. A little weekend reading for ya...

tld

we's smart

For the second year in a row, Vermont was declared the Nations smartest State by Morgan Quitno Press, an independent private research and publishing company located in Lawrence, Kansas. Read the press release here. My favorite quote:

“Any encyclopedia will tell you that Vermont produces more maple syrup, marble and monument granite than any other state,” said Scott Morgan, President of Morgan Quitno Press. “But the state also produces stellar students, thanks to its commitment to high quality elementary and secondary education.”

New England kicked ass, with Massachusetts and Connecticut also in the top 5. Arizona was ranked last. Thanks to all my friends who are teachers and educators and parents and loving supporters of children everywhere!

t)l)d

cbgb

Its only recently that I’ve really been digging on Punk music- it reminds me a lot of Free Jazz, which I’ve really been into since Tanner got me a cassette of Coltranes ‘Ascension’ a couple of years ago for xmas- they both have the same kinda raw expressions of emotion and angst, pain, alienation- they both have a sense of ‘this is our music, like it or don’t, we don’t give a fuck so fuck you anyway’ I used to totally disregard punk and other forms of music that didn’t have high the levels of musicianship I was into. But now I see that the messages sometimes make up for the lack of chops. Bands I’ve been listening to a lot include the Velvet Underground, Patti Smith Group, the Ramones, Television, the Clash, and the Minutemen.

So it seems kind of sad that CBGB’s closed down- I’d always wanted to go there and see some music- although I’m sure I would have been let down- all those famed music clubs are so past there prime- like Birdland or Mintons Playhouse – but it still would have been cool.

Oh well…

today/tomorrow/saturday

Tonight: Ryan Power and the Cripples at ½ Lounge. Aaron tells me this may be Ryans last local show for a long while, so everyone should go! It’s a little late in the pm for my liking- so I may go to Radio Bean and see the Calder String Quartet- read more here.

Tomorrow: Greg Davis is throwing another show at the Green Door studio at 8pm- read more here. At 10pm, “Party Star” and the Cripples are playing at the Monkey Bar in the Onion City.

Saturday: After almost 5 ½ years of marriage, my good friends Luke & Regina LeClair are finally having a wedding. I’m taking the lovely Marnie Long from Nest Material as my date. Should be a great time!

JB

lindsay & outward bound

I got a surprise call from my old friend Lindsay Saturday night- a rarity-lets just say shes not the best at keeping in touch- although she says she reads the le duo & highgate but I need proof-post a freakin comment! Anyway, she lives in Asheville, NC, and studies at Warren Wilson College. Lindsay sounded happier and more content then I've heard her sound in years and at first, because it was 1 in the morning, I thought maybe she was drunk- but then I realized its true- she's really happy- finishing school, new love, and new career-working for Outward Bound.

Outward Bound was first conceived in 1941 in Great Britain and has since become the premier adventure-based education program in the world. During World War II, renowned educator Kurt Hahn developed programs to instill greater self-reliance and spiritual tenacity in young British seamen being torpedoed by German U-boats. The Outward Bound philosophy is based around six core values:

Adventure and Challenge
Challenge is an action that requires special effort. Adventure is an exciting and remarkable experience that involves uncertain outcomes and acceptable risks.

Inclusion and Diversity
Welcoming and respecting differences strengthens the richness of ideas and perspectives brought to bear on challenge and learning. The transformational experience of Outward Bound is more powerful when it takes place in the company of others as diverse as the society in which we live.

Social and Environmental Responsibility
Social and environmental responsibility instills in students a sense of integrity, which results in choices and actions that have a positive effect on society and the environment.

Learning Through Experience
Learning through experience is a lifelong process based on action and reflection. Experiences are intentionally designed, presented and reflected upon to instill values and promote skill mastery for people at all stages in their life-span.

Character Development
Character development means developing capacities of mind, body, and spirit to better understand one's responsibilities to self, others, and the community.

Compassion and Service
Compassion is a heartfelt, caring connection to each other and the world around us. Service is an active expression of valuing our common humanity and the natural world.

Lindsay, I am so proud & happy that you found something you love and can truly believe in. That's what we're all searching for I think.

t/l/d

vacation

hey!- my long awaited, long overdue vacation starts in 45 minutes! So, for the next 11 days if anyone wants to entertain me or have me entertain them or hang out sit peacefully drink coffee/tea read play music work on kibosh records drink bloody marys hike pick apples cook dinner take a drive watch a movie watch seinfeld re-runs hang out at the op catch up on six feet under laugh cry scream hide blog or anything else, just drop me a line!

yeah man

t~l~d

devils!

This years winter reading project, The Possessed by Fyodor Dostoevsky- a whopping 701 pages!

I tried to read some F. Dos before- The Idiot- I really enjoyed it at first but it got so long winded towards the last third of the novel I put it down for awhile and, regrettably, never finished it. Not this time! I'm gonna make The Possessed my bitch!

t/l/d

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EBONI!

Spaceballs the animated series?

Merchandising, merchandising, where the real money from the movie is made. Spaceballs-the T-shirt, Spaceballs-the Coloring Book, Spaceballs-the Lunch box, Spaceballs-the Breakfast Cereal, Spaceballs-the Flame Thrower

robert johnson

The most widely known legend surrounding Robert Johnson says that he sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads of U.S. Highway 61 and U.S. Highway 49 in Clarksdale, Mississippi in exchange for prowess in playing the guitar. Actually, the location Johnson made reference to is a short distance away from that intersection. The legend was told mainly by Son House, but finds no corroboration in any of Johnson's work, despite titles like "Me and the Devil Blues" and "Hellhound on My Trail". With this said, the song "Cross Road Blues" is both widely and loosely interpreted by many as a descriptive encounter of Johnson selling his soul. The older Tommy Johnson (no relation, although it is speculated that they were cousins) also claimed to have sold his soul to the Devil. The story goes that if one would go to the crossroads a little before midnight and begin to play the guitar, a large black man would come up to the aspiring guitarist, retune his guitar and then hand it back. At this point (so the legend goes) the guitarist had sold his soul to become a virtuoso (A similar legend even surrounded virtuoso violinist Niccolo Paganini a century before.)

wikipedia man

Snake near a Coke machine?

I was walking back from my early morning pee when I saw a garter snake like this one just chillin out on the floor near the vending machines. I thought it was pretty funny so I rather dramatically started yelling 'help help snake!' Man, people started freaking out! I grabbed a box and trapped it, and just when I was about to just scoop him up and bring him outside the maintenance man came over and said 'I'll take care of it.' What did the redneck asshole do? He just lifted up the box and stomped him! Oh well, I figure any snake that slithers into the DHS CIS building where I work (Department of Homeland Security, Citizenship and Immigration Services) is probably suicidal anyway.

art hop pictures care of angela and ben

Hip Crowd

the le duo & Johnny Sparkle

Mike Y.

Aaron H.

Hammer & Saw

Ryan Power

Greg Davis

(blurry) Oak

Home Items (pre Rock stardom)

thanks a lot

Well, the Art Hop went off without a hitch- we were never more than 18 minutes off schedule, no one got fined for noise or alcohol, and except for a couple of stolen bikes (sorry The Cush!) I didn’t hear of anything bad happening.

Much Thanks & Love to all the bands and everyone who helped set up/poster/blog- and everyone who just came to enjoy the music:

Ben, Todd, Mike, Tanner, Brian, Marnie, Gahlord
Drew, Phil, Tom, Clark, Andrea, Athena, and everyone else at the Green Door
Greg Davis
Hammer & Saw (Marina, Michelle, Emily)
Ryan Power
Home Items (Aziza, Mandy, Michelle, Emily, Meghan, Stacey, Angela)
Oak (Tobi, Sara-Paule, Tyler, Chris)
Magic Sparkle (Johnny & Jess)
“Party Star” (Kyle, Dan, Matt, Will)
The Smittens (Dana, Colin, Holly, David)
The Cripples (Aaron, Jeb, Ryan [Andy])
The Cush (Burette, Gaby, Steve, Chris)


I hope everyone had as good of a time as I did- the Art Hop is always one of my favorite times of the year. Next year expect bigger and better…

JB

Ps. Everyone who missed the Home Items set missed the show of the year.

a(r)t the hop

(This Friday September 8th at the Green Door Studio, G1, corner of Pine and Howard Streets 4.30-11.00pm)

Casey wrote a little something about the Art Hop musical goings-on in this weeks SevenDays.


I hope everyone can come & check this out- it should be lots of fun. I got a little over zealous and booked 11 acts, so thanks in advance to people who are going to save my ass by helping out alot (Todd, Gahlord, Mike, Ben, Brian, everyone at the Green Door Studio etc...) Also, thanks a ton to all the amazing, eclectic bands who agreed to play. I'm so psyched- I get to see all of my favorite VT bands and play in the same evening!

So here we go.....

t.l.d

-------

great weekend!

started off thursday with me buying new shoes- only three months after I truly needed them- hate spending money on necessities-

friday night the "party star" and Cripples show was awesome- the place was pretty packed and, while it sucked waiting half an hour for a drink, it was great seeing so many people I hadn't seen in awhile- then off to breakfast's apt. for a little after show party, complete with a drag queen and a little too much jim beam choice (gross cheap jim beam) followed by a drunken regrettable trip to denny's.

saturday spent hanging out with jenny and eboni- up for the weekend from nyc- lovely girls

sunday night tanner and I hosted a little dinner party (jenny cooked delicious salmon tuna mushroom sauce delights) slash lets watch the deadbeat club and show off our new clean apt party. followed by half dozen episodes of 'peep show' maybe the funniest thing ever-

monday I tried to recover from the weekend, said goodbye to jenny and eb- napped- then great nest material practice- not only do I feel that we're ready to play friday night, I also feel better about the way I played- It'll be great- and Mike will be there!

keep your eye out for art hop posters and also Casey's write-up in tomorrows sevendays

t/l/d