Where things go downhill fast.

They're Baaack...

2005-11-23T09:39:00.000-08:00

Uuuh, huh huh, like ..

Sorry, I get caught up in the whole thing. Spike TV has been running episodes of Beavis and Butthead lately and it's been paradise. I forgot how fucking funny the show is. It's the only show I've actually scheduled time for in my life. I found myself choking I laughed so hard.

When the kids leave school for a field trip and the boys have to read the chalkboard, Butthead says reverently, "I think it's trying to tell us something," I was on the floor.

The scene in their movie where they're crossing the dessert and frying to death and Butthead says "Uuuuh, the sun sucks!" is too much. And when they've collapsed and the vultures come, Beavis asks "Hey Butthead, are we gonna' die?" Butthead replies, "Uuuuuuuh, huh huh, prob'ly." But my all time favorite comes when they're watching a video and Beavis says "I think I'll get a bag of Enninems and spank my monkey."

Oh the joy and irony of it all. I hate television but love the stupidest show it's ever produced. That's why I rule so hard it hurts.

And by the way, I do kick-ass Beavis and Butthead voices. My ex-wife would'nt hear my real voice for weeks at a time. Sometimes at, you know, certain moments I'd start doing the laugh or say things like "WHOA! I'm looking right at your thingies! This Rules!" Might have something to dy with why she's my ex, huh? See? The show does have a higher purpose.

sgr
/-)

Mad Monk

2005-11-23T06:10:00.000-08:00

If you're a lover of music, and you've never listened to Thelonious Monk, do it now. It's magic. The man was a visionary genius, as well as a riveting character.

The first time I listened to "Riffin'", a compilation CD with a pretty stupid title, I was mostly bored, yet appreciative of his skills at the piano. I tucked it away for months. One day I decided to bring it in to work on a whim. My co-worker told me to turn off the Mister Rogers bullshit. But I was beginning to hear more.

I decided to give it a shot in the CD player on the way home. I was floored.

Monk played jazz piano the way HE wanted to. He riffed, he bopped and he left tons of open space. Most players of the time were busy whipping off fast scales and riffs with the right hand, whizzing away. Not monk. He definitely COULD, because he did here and there, but mostly he did his own thing. He grooved so hard it was scary. I can't get enough Monk.

A good measure of someone's artistic merit is often seen in that during their lifetime they were unappreciated. Monk certainly was. People thought he was a bad player because he didn't riff really fast or keep up with the trend. Being insane didn't help. After his death, experts inferred that he was probably schizophrenic. Mental illness was poorly understood and addressed in his lifetime.

But it made for a helluva musician. In concert, Monk would often just stand up and dance for minutes at a time. You'll understand when you hear his playing. His attitude was great. My favorite quote from him is something like: "Don't play what the public want, play what you want and let them catch up, even if it take fifteen or twenty years."

The last six years of his life, Thelonious rose from bed in the morning, dressed in a fine suit and laid back in bed. He spoke to no one. From the standpoint of a lover of pure expression, Monk's playing said it all for him.

And now, twenty-plus years after his death, I'm hoping a few of you will catch up with him.

sgr

Looks like modblog died, here we are now.

2005-11-23T04:57:00.000-08:00

Looks like modblog died, here we are now.