ambiguous fish because i don't want to give away my master plan

it has never been so clear...

i can actually see the beginning of the tunnel, the light must be at the end...

i've got a lot of hard work ahead of me...

i know it will be worth it...

"the outlaw who almost became sheriff" - from the chaos journals

you can blame chemical billy for getting me on a hunter s. thompson kick - so if you are offended bitch to her - personally, i find it fascinating, if slightly bizarre, to take your handle from the name of a can of mace dangerously perched in the hands of the likes of hunter s. thompson - i like it.

i can remember the first time i ever heard of this rampaging mad-journalist of such renown that i couldn't even get near his funeral - even if i tried. the great gonzo-fist carrying his ashes has come crashing down on my head and left me dizzy. but that's a different story.

it was the mid-nineties and i had just stepped onto the hallowed grounds of boulder high school where i was to have many adventures, some not proper for prime-time television. these were formative years in my developing mistrust of humans and their natures and i was wont to seek out freaks and grommets among the crowds of clones that the mostly white, mostly middle class school offered me as classmates.

we routinely staged fake fights and scream tests in the lunch room. i let friends push me down stairs in the science wing because it was a family tradition and one day smirf and I followed someone around for an entire day declaring loudly that he was the messiah. we got really mad when we realized he was just leading us astray.

so when told to write a history paper on the recorded actions of a prominent group in history, the young fresh-faced youth that i was, i chose the hell's angels. suddenly everywhere i turned was hunter s. thompson. sure there was one, maybe two books not written by our hero, but does it matter? into my little brain came the voice of history, of vice and virtue, of innocence and corruption and of course, the melodrama you read here is all his fault.

many years later i would watch Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas while sitting on top of the tv painting the ceiling flesh colored, don't ask, and the man whom johnny depp mimicked so well, came home to me. there he was, bastion of vice and the american dream, pursuing the enlightenment of freedom to lift her skirt and let him ravish her. and this had already happened. this was all true. it gave me hope that the wild freedom could be reclaimed. that we had not lost all the marrow of democracy.

so now more than ten years after my first encounter with the strange and drug-enhanced non-fiction, i pick up the last book hunter wrote, The Kingdom of Fear, and read about his life in my country. it may be that he is the original inspiration for the chaos journals, because i can think of none earlier.

see, it is the nature of the chaos journals that as i read more insightful writing, there is less work for me to do. this blogging phenomena has opened up dialogues between insightful people all across the world and now that we have lost the outlaw who nearly became a sheriff, i think there is more work in america for the chaos journals than ever before.

america is still trying to figure out a way to censor websites from other countries, to lay our laws on their heads, as if america had the right to rule the world. america is no longer the golden land of dreams. america no longer is the place where, in a very zen way, an individual could listen to the voices within and be whomever came out as long as it didn't interfere with others.

we've over-defined 'interfere' in this country. somehow, if i do something you disagree with, my life may interfere with yours even if i live three states and 2500 miles away. the people have lost the ear of the leaders and the leaders have lost the common touch. no election has been democratic since we became locked into a two-party system, both of which are rich, white and old. old - this country is full of young people who want to taste the sweet freedom of democracy and feel the pain of their mistakes but are tied into watching out for everyone else's children.

hunter s. thompson brings up a very good point about protests, they're always about hope and faith that those we protest against are listening, even if they give no indication. that they are open to hearing our opinions. but Bush ignored the anti-war protests as the entirely inconsequential mutterings of cowardly pro-terrorists pagans who are no doubt, unpatriotic. i may be a pagan, but i am certainly not pro-terrorist and i'd like to think of myself as not being cowardly. i am however a nationalist and think that a protest is the ultimate show of patriotism.

but i have swerved somewhat from my point and really don't have the time to tackle what may have to be the next chapter: the "what do we do?" question.

one dead fish - a eulogy

today, i have finally decided to abandon my side project which none of you (save carl v.) even knew existed - even though i brought it up many times and directed people to it, pleaded with people to notice, no one cared. eventually i stopped caring too. it had a good run for a while - it was a good idea gone awry and, as many writers know, it is important to identify good ideas that go bad or just go nowhere and bury them deep underground where they can hurt no one - it didn't work the way i wanted it to, so i killed it. tis a sad day and no one but me will notice.

on a lighter note, watch this video (it sparked a diplomatic incident and is very funny)

one short fish: a dedicated fish for fun-fish

carl v, i dedicate this post to you, our loyal fish-follower, as you have indirectly asked me for the story of this piano and whether i was going to do the 100-word story. so here you go - remember a picture is worth 10x that much.... For those of you not in the know, Lisa Snellings-Clark and Bob Podrasky have issued the challange. The stories must be stories exactly 100 words in length and no word can be repeated.

NEW BRUNSWICK MUSIC

"the piano has been drinking, not me" Tom Waits' gravel voice expands, overpowering comedy club exaltations issued from throaty drunken college kids out for an evening of fun. Thursday Night - official party time - half-priced drinks.

"Beer will stumble you right enough but whiskey brings down stars" to make his point, he swings long arms in slow circles ending clumsily upon fake ivory, releasing discordant notes, like fleeing felons, into freedom. I reel, face flushed with childish joy as fingers find keys; feet feel dance steps.

We left melody by roadsides, careened through tuneless stop signs. And never made it home.

quick fish

mysfit's quote of the day:

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
-Herm Albright

Angel of Propaganda

this poem appeared first in the "Poets Against The War" in 2003 and was republished by Happy Anarchy Books in "bookshape - from the Chaos Journals" ©2003 by mysfit--(as always, the spacing is a bit sparse as bloggy hates spacing)


Angel of Propaganda

Opening her eyes to the star-shaped Sky
she adjusts her wings of Justice,
puts on her crown of Righteousness,
grasps her staff of Freedom,
and POOF!
God Bless America, Dear

she was dreaming western dreams
of manifest destiny
and behind the guise of Indignation
she responds by carving flags
before prophets, pleading:
“The End is near!
Don’t be the End!” they proclaim
but overhead, the world holds its breath

and i don’t know if i should
duck—-hide my face from
4th of July shoot-outs and
Did you know she was
sleeping in the gutter—-Magnificence

i wish i had enough money to decide the fate of millions
i’d tell them to eat
cheerios for breakfast
and democracy for lunch,
breathe dictators to sand
and take up verbal arms against...
Hypocrisy of course
watching like sacred whitewash
through sheltered Homeland pews

and they worship strange gods
you say
and they fight religious battles
behind our backs
like eyes-closed Relations of
this-wouldn’t-happen
if you’d only Listened

i wish i had the money to decide Fate
during Riots fought for Movements
she waves her hand to
other countries, well-wished
she flaps her Wings to
create enough wind to
wash the grime off city streets,
making the buildings
Gleam Holy
but through the destruction
i want to see hope

not this

"How to Succeed in the Spy Business Without Really Trying" or "Rub-a-Dub-Dub...Three Spies in a Sub" or "Where-What-How-Who Am I?"

This is mysfit reporting for the fish.

In light of recent developments regarding the Bush White House and the investigation surrounding the War in Iraq, I present the following picture:

-from InternetWeekly.org

Don't let this man fool you, I never believed he was as dumb as he looked, nor as he seemed. It's easy to dismiss someone's actions and overlook what's going on if you frame them as a laughable (possibly even lovable**) idiot. For an example: Maxwell Smart of Get Smart.

An excellent if mostly inept spy, if I may say so, and a wonderful show, but Max Smart saved the day often because he was so lucky that the badguys (not the sharpest tools in the shed either) dismissed him as an outright idiot - (which he often was, but that's besides the point, he was dumbly clever, or cleverly dumb - whichever you like).

It seems that Bush's luck maybe running short. With troops still dying trying to police Iraq and Bush criticizing the Iranian elections, saying: "Today, Iran is ruled by men who suppress liberty at home and spread terror across the world," Bush said in a statement distributed by the White House. (Sound familiar?) - Bush's popularity even among those who originally supported him and the war is waning.

People say "we won the war too quickly" and that's why there was no exit plan. But isn't winning the war quickly a good thing? Why would you start a war without a plan of winning? Especially since it seems that Bush was planning this war since before he was elected: "We will build our defenses beyond challenge, lest weakness invite challenge. We will confront weapons of mass destruction, so that a new century is spared new horrors." (From his inaugural speech, January 2001).

So now there is a secret memo of the minutes of a secret meeting between the British Prime Minister and the US President from about a year before we went to war, which has sparked an investigation into the events leading up to the war. I wonder if they used a Cone-of-Silence at the meeting:

All joking aside, this is an investigation that probably should have happened a few years ago and we'll just have to see if this results in "impeachment". The term has been thrown back and forth for most of the years that Bush has been in office, but this could be serious if this investigation proves that the president, vice-president, etc, mislead Congress or "that the intelligence and the facts were indeed fixed around the policy, and we sent our troops to war under dubious pretenses," (from an article at CNN.com). Either offense is not only abhorrent but "would violate federal criminal law, including the Federal Anti-Conspiracy Statute which makes it a felony, (quote), "to commit any offense against the United States or to defraud the United States or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose", and the False Statements Accountability Act of 1996, which makes it a felony to issue knowingly and willfully false statements to the United States Congress." (John Bonifaz, attorney and co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org in an interview on DemocracyNow!).

There seems to be enough evidence to put President Bush and Vice-President on trial, and even if it is not true, they should have to stand and defend themselves, under oath, against formal accusations - just like the rest of us would have to do in such circumstances.

It's definitely nice to see that our corporate media is actually picking up this story - though coverage is not as thorough as a story of this magnitude seems to merit. Isn't the even the possibility of the President having mislead the Congress (and the nation) with "fixed" intelligence information more important and interesting to the American people than Michael Jackson's trial?

This is mysfit signing off, with hope, disgust and, of course, apathy.

a brimful of fishies

highlark demands that you listen up.


happy anarchy
fri 6/17 10pm
abilene
429 south street
phila pa

download the show flyer, print out many copies, and distribute them amongst your friends and colleagues. abilene is one jumpin joint in one jumpin town, let me tell you. even if you're a hundred miles away you should still come to this show. i have to remember to call tara about this one. tommy bendel should come, too.
pics from the dc trip and the past couple of new york shows are up. i'd like to call your attention to our website, happyanarchy.com, as well as jenn see's tourist of everything. just scroll down.
we'll be returning to galapagos next wed, 6/22 in williamsburg. we like the int'l cork crew and these shows always kick. the club is really chill, too, one of my favorites places to play. last time we were there a transvestite rabbit showed up. really far out.

don't forget to follow your fish and please remember that everyody needs a bosom for a pillow.

see us: www.happyanarchy.com
write us: happyanarchy@happyanarchy.com


-t-

my fish is having fun at work and getting paid for it

(don't let the title fool you, i'm not actually having fun doing work - in fact even my manager said that it seems like some of the people we have been "helping" with computer problems are drinking - sometimes distractions are a form of survival)

did i mention that i hate mornings? so to distract myself from the fact that it is, in fact, only 9:30a.m., i am generating some interesting things i'd like to share with all you little fishies - maybe these'll help you get through the day some morning.

first and foremost, (one of my favorite beginnings, i might say), maybe you are an enterprising entrepreneur, a lazy CEO, or simply bored with the desire to find a direction in life/business/company/blog... perhaps you can benefit from Catbert Random Mission Statement Generator. Here's a few that changed my life - well, at least my view of the day:

"Our mission is to continue to authoritatively engineer enterprise-wide opportunities while continuing to conveniently promote cost effective information while promoting personal employee growth"

"We envision to interactively simplify value-added intellectual capital to set us apart from the competition "

"We exist to efficiently simplify prospective content while maintaining the highest standards"

welcome to the future my friends. look at your hands - you know that beneath that peach, brown, tan, (or whatever color the spongy material designed to imitate skin) exterior lies a matrix of metal and wires designed to act like muscles and bone and somewhere in your chest a little gerbil is getting tired. give it a rest - find out what you were originally programmed to do. this amazing Cyborg Name generator will give you direction in your life, (even if Catbert failed you), by informing you of the acronym your name actually stands for:

(i am actually tempted to get a t-shirt with this on it).

So there are a number of generators all over the net - random number generator, papal name generator, Corporate Gibberish Generator (We here at the fish have proven we know that it is better to maximize intuitively than to generate strategically. We apply the proverb "He who hesitates is lost" not only to our nano-vertical re-sizing but our aptitude to syndicate.), etc. - but i found a place right here in the blogosphere where you can find them all - or at least most of them.

for hours of unproductive fun, follow your fish to THE GENERATOR BLOG

In closing and probably very personal notes - oldben this one's for you: The Rock Star Name Generator, (mine is Cybil Ivory, if you can believe that) and if someone could pass this on to the tall, skinny evil genius we all know and love, i'd be much obliged: EvilPlan Generator

Fractured faery tales of south street

every fish must bow to a personal request - so here you go luv - the first time i ever walked down South Street in Philly, Pennsylvania, USA; i knew i was going to live there some day - and i still know that...

FRACTURED Faery Tales OF SOUTH STREET
(February 27, 1999)

I
There was madness in the air
Late that afternoon
And the sun set
In neon drops of rain,
The Autocade passed beneath
The barricades blazing blue
“You’ve got to be kidding me . . .”
“The president of what?”
The idea of a shot rang out
In the silence of the night
But we watched him pull away
Trailing his crown of brass.

II
In this kingdom of smoke-filled avenues
And graveyards of dying art,
A garden graced with broken pottery
And games played out in glass,
I wished to find my solitude
Hiding in vintage shops
Or set on dusty book-shelves
Stocked with Byron and Dr. Martins,
There, sitting next to sleeping cats
With vampyres round each corner,
“Do you believe in coincidences?”

III
South Street heard me coming
And put on its prettiest facade:
A conundrum of passing faces;
Bobby Burns lost himself to diner coffee
And left his book in the piercing shop.
I see poems of red spikes on blonde boys
And ladies dressed in velvet with evening cigars,
Eyes, there and black leather pants
Following our gazes across the street.

IV
As we passed ages
Folded into smoky crystals
And tunnels of the ocean to infinity,
It struck me,
Here they were dressed for dancing
There, framed in red and black lace,
I’d lost my mind to the mountains’ gold
And my heart to the nighttime silver,
I fell in love
To the tune of candle shops, scented oils
And planted fluorescent lights,
That grow like weeds
Between headstones of buried creativity
And sugar sweet memories.

V
You dream of dying white picket fences
And smiles in carefully crafted waterfalls
While giants roam the land dressed in steel.
I take my late night coffee white
But my late night sky is purple.
“Do you smoke?
Would you like to?”
I ask the ghosts of Philly
As the hunters become the hunted
And signs tell of other things:
Of army green laughing eyes
And bizarre embracing lovers
Sold on our polluted shores.
I tell you this my friend,
The faeries dance across the waves
And your illusions play their lonely games
In painted shells on painted sands
While you smoke in the shadows of old.

VI
My perfect images of perfect eyes,
One of shadow, one of sound,
And one of Dali painting souls,
Dance with Atlantic City lights
While the Stonecutter gets drunk
With the punks of street corners
And poets exist in all dreams.
We tried to drown our sorrows
In bottomless cups of diner coffee
But some filtered in with the cream and sugar
So we waited for the sun to rise
Before driving over the bridge toward home,
The shadows chased us through Cure lyrics
And we lost our way on the other side,
But that, my dear,
Is an entirely different story.

a fish responds...

guardian

with verdant potential
you welcomed me
and I, humbled and
deferential
donned vest’ments of ivy
the trappings of office
worn In your service

i’ve loved you since…
i’ve chased you since…
and with no small amount
of hesitance
i have sought
your perfect pastures
bloated and ripe

cash this check
for a quarter million
largest I’ve ever written
and await the advent
of your own doom’s day
by your beloved
your faithless masses

in droves I came
to bury my heart
in your wounded earth
and now
despite and because of
you bleed thru my adding machines
and my printing machines

i stood dressed like you
i stood motionless like you
and now I’ve devoured you
i stand alone hunched
poised
over these
my unintentional killing fields


inspired by this photo...

happy birthday to the fishiest architect

Architecture is the triumph of Human Imagination over materials, methods, and men, to put man into possession of his own Earth. It is at least the geometric pattern of things, of life, of the human and social world. It is at best that magic framework of reality that we sometimes touch upon when we use the word 'order.' - Frank Lloyd Wright, 1930, 1937

Frank Lloyd Wright was born in Richland Center, Wisconsin on June 8, 1867. He remains one of the most imaginative and influential architects of the 20th Century. I can only imagine what he would have done with the technology we have today. As it is, he did amazing things, fusing nature and art. His inspiration was always the natural world, though his works are a triumph of artificial geometric forms.

Walking through the Guggenheim Museum in New York City is an experience I highly recommend - although when I was there in 2000, they were showing designs for a new Guggenheim - I'm not sure what they're going to do with the old building:

"Entering into the spirit of this interior, you will discover the best possible atmosphere in which to show fine paintings or listen to music. It is this atmosphere that seems to me most lacking in our art galleries, museums, music halls and theaters."
-- Frank Lloyd Wright. "Frank Lloyd Wright", The Architectural Forum, January, 1948, Vol 88 Number 1. p89.

What's really neat about the inside is that when walking through most museums - even modern art museums - you are lead from room to room and often have to retrace your steps. In this building, you are taken to the top of the inverted ziggurat (a stepped or winding pyramidal temple of Babylonian origin) by elevator. From there you can leisurely stroll down the continuous winding ramp which leads you from gallery to gallery. The center of the spiraling conch shell is totally open. The whole experience sort of washes over my memory, like waves, leaving me with a soothing feeling. This museum has seen some very interesting exhibits over the years - from Andy Warhol to the Aztec Empire. When I went there the main event, as it were, the exhibition which was most prominently displayed upon the easily spiraling ramp, was Giorgio Armani:

The strange mix of art and culture portrayed by the museum's history of exhibitions keeps consistent with Frank Lloyd Wright's vision of art and architecture, natural and artificial. I was lucky enough to go to this amazing building with my mom who is an architect as well as a painter.

Frank Lloyd Wright designed 1141 homes and buildings, of those 532 were completed by his death on April 9, 1959. Among his other works are private homes, churches and synagogues as well as the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California. I've never seen a photo that does this building justice, but you get the idea:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FRANK!

my fish is thoroughly amused

jenn see has amazing eye powers - let's hope she never gets mad at you

Today my fish likes colors and i am happy to say that there are enough reluctant feathers in the universe and we don't need any more unhappy little fish.

That said, I will now share with you the places my fish took me and the wondrously strange things I found hiding there, just around the corner, in a back alley of the Universe:

Elvis Trooper Loves the Ladies

For more grand adventures of this mysterious hero, follow your fish to the Home of the Elvis Trooper.

Elvis and Darth - Best Buds Forever

I guess my fish was on a sci-fi kick because next it took me through the worm-hole (like down the rabbit-hole) to explore the wonders of those of us who miss our camaraderie. It's good to see that though the show does not continue, the obsession does:

I think John would look lovely in a little blue dress and pig-tails.

My fish also showed me that wonderful things can happen when different pop-icons are mixed into one. These are some Cool Creations. (You absolutely must follow your fish to these images as there are many, some animated and the site asks me not to disrespect his fish, not in so many words.)

Ok, my little fishies, that's it for now from the mysfit channel of the fish, stay tuned for other fish and remember not to piss off the wild life.

just a fish in a sea of links

hooo boy.  it took me an extra day to recover from the memorial day weekend festivities which included but were not limited to parkway traffic, drinking, and star wars.  hope yours was just as enjoyable.  when i got home i took a look at our events page and thought i was looking at another band.  i've never been able to tell you about this many shows at once, but here comes june....


happy anarchy
sat 6/4 @ 8:30pm
grog and tankard
2408 wisconsin ave nw
washington, dc

sun 6/5 @ 10pm
the barbary
951 frankford ave
phila, pa

mon 6/6 @ 10pm
munchaba lounge
58 gardiners ave
levittown, ny

wed 6/8     - continental - ny, ny
mon 6/13  - pussycat lounge - ny, ny (please don't open this link at work or around children)
fri 6/17       - abilene - phila, pa
wed 6/22   - galapagos - bklyn, ny
fri 6/24       - martini red - si, ny

this month marks our first foray into the district.  people have been asking us to for years and now we are finally doing it and we're excited about it.  we're gonna rock lincoln out of his chair and he's gonna come to the grog and drink all their beer because he's tens of feet tall and has been sitting for a long time.  now that's something you don't want to miss.
seriously tho, i heard tom delay was coming and putting the cab fare on his "tab."
but oh the busyness.  i love it.  i haven't felt this charged in years.  time to get on the bus.  there are plans to release an ep in early september, all new stuff.  can't say what, tho.  it will also be our first release with the highlark label.  check them out.  the website is ill.
keeping with the subject of the web, there are several sights i would like for you to see.  i will list them....noncategorically, of course.

www.purevolume.com/happyanarchy
www.myspace.com/happyanarchy
www.battleofthebands.com/happyanarchy
www.followingmyfish.blogspot.com/
touristofeverything.blogspot.com/
and this variety act

play songs, leave comments, and be our friend where applicable.  

and now all of my nilla wafers are gone...

see us: www.happyanarchy.com
write us: happyanarchy@happyanarchy.com


-t-