tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post8293290193538542576..comments2023-09-08T12:08:39.523-04:00Comments on WBAI: Thought I heard Buddy Bolden say...Chris Albertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056345320709233401noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-19302011425766544522013-09-21T18:55:28.450-04:002013-09-21T18:55:28.450-04:00That's no problem, TPM, deviate to your heart&...That's no problem, TPM, deviate to your heart's desire. It is refreshing to read intelligent exchanges, even if they are only tangentially related to the station we all used to love.Chris Albertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12056345320709233401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-25802494686113137922013-09-21T18:52:15.771-04:002013-09-21T18:52:15.771-04:00Does that sergeant now design programming at WBAI?...Does that sergeant now design programming at WBAI? God the programs are awful Friday and Saturday nights. Music for inner city gangsters.<br /><br />Justine. I also taught Stevens' poems to third graders. We read "Valley Candle", discussed it, and the kids did drawings to illustrate it.<br /><br />My candle burned alone in an immense valley.<br />Beams of the huge night converged upon it.<br />Until the wind blew.<br />Then beams of the huge night<br />Converged upon its image,<br />Until the wind blew.<br /><br />Where did you teach good sister?<br /><br />Chris, pardon all of us for deviating so far beyond the topic of WBAI. <br /><br />TPM Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-35404372299657216522013-09-21T17:27:07.072-04:002013-09-21T17:27:07.072-04:00Is there a "latelife" supplement for 68 ...Is there a "latelife" supplement for 68 year olds?<br />I can do 40 miles, but I'm so slow!<br /><br /><br />TPM Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-87563926013254988762013-09-21T03:11:37.890-04:002013-09-21T03:11:37.890-04:00As for cycling: You might want to check out my bl...As for cycling: You might want to check out my blog: www.midlifecycling.blogspot.comJustine Valinottihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10852069587181432102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-23372117001063177612013-09-21T03:02:04.812-04:002013-09-21T03:02:04.812-04:00A white corpuscle once made me do push-ups while h...A white corpuscle once made me do push-ups while he stood on my back. He was angry and frustrated over having been passed over for a promotion that a black sergeant received. He was absolutely convinced that it had something to do with the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."<br /><br />As for Rilke: I, too, claim no expertise in his work. However, having read a fair amount of it, and that of other poets--and having written some poetry myself--I know not to read poems--or anything else, for that matter--literally. Anyone over the age of twenty who tries to live by a literal reading of anything is, quite frankly, a fool.<br /><br />That said, I think Rilke's figurative use of angels is lovely, if not crystal-clear. Wallace Stevens--whom I love--definitely is a walk in the park compared to Rilke. When I conducted workshops for kids with the Teachers and Writers program, I never used a Rilke poem. On the other hand, I often used "Thriteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird," which third-graders loved. <br /><br />Gotta go. My white corpuscle is calling.Justine Valinottihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10852069587181432102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-39726860621489252892013-09-21T02:40:35.455-04:002013-09-21T02:40:35.455-04:00Suggested reading - "Materialism and Emprio-c...Suggested reading - "Materialism and Emprio-criticisim"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-52545847080689783172013-09-20T18:10:27.168-04:002013-09-20T18:10:27.168-04:00[In some haste]
Have you seen Joseph Gordon Levit...[In some haste]<br /><br />Have you seen Joseph Gordon Levitt in 'Premium Rush'? If not, you might want to give it a glance – nothing profound, simple popcorn chase flick, but lots of fun bike stuff.<br /><br />Rode home from the Church through Central Park during the night of the 1977 blackout – surreal darkness and silence, the park loop empty as the city seemed to hold its breath – one of life's more interesting and better experiences.<br /><br />Used to commute through traffic to the Flatiron (top floor, world's slowest elevators) – but it's been a while.<br /><br />I'll have to seriously consider it.<br /><br />~ Indigo PirateAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-74864917196658073622013-09-20T07:22:41.938-04:002013-09-20T07:22:41.938-04:00“Simply to compare: I read that passage somewhat d...“Simply to compare: I read that passage somewhat differently, I think, with the angelic emblematic and derivative of the observation that ‘beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror’.”<br /><br />Rilke is difficult and different readings are a logical consequence of his complexity and obscurity.<br /><br />“To my mind religions are simply one of many reflections of human needs, fears, desires, and obsessions – fears of the night, wonder at the mystery of it all, the arrogant and insecure desire to claim knowledge where there is only ignorance and uncertainty, the desire to have power over other ‘lesser’ folks – and I see few if any critical or fundamental distinctions between religions and secular belief systems such as Marxism or Extreme Reactionary Conservatism.”<br /><br />Interesting. Marxism, when used correctly, is a tool of analysis, not an ideology. But how many tools are used correctly? As Nietzsche observed,<br /><br />“...the cause of the origin of a thing and its eventual utility, its actual employment and place in a system of purposes, lie worlds apart; ...whatever exists, having somehow come into being, is again and again reinterpreted to new ends, taken over, transformed, and redirected by some power superior to it; all events in the organic world are a subduing, a becoming master, and all subduing and becoming master involves a fresh interpretation, and adaptation through which any previous “meaning” and “purpose” are necessarily obscured or even obliterated.” <br />(On The Genealogy of Morals)<br /> <br />“I share your enthusiasm for Stevens, having once presented a paper on Ovid titled ‘Thirteen Ways of Looking at an Ovid’, the paper itself being in verse corresponding to Stevens’.”<br /><br />Impressive. Would love to read it. Maybe in that café sometime with the ghosts of Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, and the others.<br />Doug Henwood is a big fan of Wallace Stevens. I believe he wrote his thesis on him<br /><br />“No idea on the album, please enlighten?”<br /><br />Jarrett did an album called “Flying” inspired perhaps by the Rilke poem<br /><br />“The Cannondale sounds wonderful. Haven’t ridden in years, ought to consider it again, perhaps a Brompton, no Cannondale I know, but handy for subways and the like.”<br /><br />I had to give up running because of my knees and feet. Riding now provides the cardiovascular exercise and the endorphins.<br />Do more than consider it. If you are in your sixties, it will keep you in shape mentally as well as physically. Biking in traffic requires complete immersion in the present. You're on the veritable edge of existence. One lapse and that pothole will get you or the idiot getting out of the car on the driver's side without looking.<br /><br />TPM <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-88701473652893956342013-09-19T23:56:04.020-04:002013-09-19T23:56:04.020-04:00Esteemed Maven ~
You are too kind, sir.
I shall ...Esteemed Maven ~<br /><br />You are too kind, sir.<br /><br />I shall now withdraw to the nearest cave to contemplate as best I may the deeper meanings of the double integral and the foredoomed fall of crystal palaces amidst the ash and ruin of what we so arrogantly yet blithely term ‘civilization’, having put Bleeding Edge on my To Read list.<br /><br />One moment, now, a little trouble about those white corpuscles…<br /><br />~ Indigo PirateAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-51219228170634689712013-09-19T19:12:45.751-04:002013-09-19T19:12:45.751-04:00Esteemed Maven ~
Simply to compare: I read that p...Esteemed Maven ~<br /><br />Simply to compare: I read that passage somewhat differently, I think, with the angelic emblematic and derivative of the observation that ‘beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror’.<br /><br />I, too, claim no expertise.<br /><br />To my mind religions are simply one of many reflections of human needs, fears, desires, and obsessions – fears of the night, wonder at the mystery of it all, the arrogant and insecure desire to claim knowledge where there is only ignorance and uncertainty, the desire to have power over other ‘lesser’ folks – and I see few if any critical or fundamental distinctions between religions and secular belief systems such as Marxism or Extreme Reactionary Conservatism.<br /><br />All tend to be in my judgement essentially matters of ‘faith’, however much ‘objective’ argument is advanced for and against them.<br /><br />I share your enthusiasm for Stevens, having once presented a paper on Ovid titled ‘Thirteen Ways of Looking at an Ovid’, the paper itself being in verse corresponding to Stevens’.<br /><br />No idea on the album, please enlighten?<br /><br />The Cannondale sounds wonderful. Haven’t ridden in years, ought to consider it again, perhaps a Brompton, no Cannondale I know, but handy for subways and the like.<br /><br />~ Indigo PirateAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-90244436841769948092013-09-19T19:06:34.073-04:002013-09-19T19:06:34.073-04:00Esteemed Pirate,
Thank you. I think I understand...Esteemed Pirate,<br /><br />Thank you. I think I understand now. <br />Your sharp edged insouciance is matched only by Thomas Pynchon, whose new novel--BLEEDING EDGE, is wonderful. Not many people can do insouciance without being glib, smug, and off-putting.<br /><br />TPM Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-27355965219296264122013-09-19T18:12:42.096-04:002013-09-19T18:12:42.096-04:00“Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the ange...“Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angels'hierarchies and even if one of them pressed me suddenly against his heart:<br />I would be consumed in that overwhelming existence.<br />For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, which we are still just able to endure, and we are so awed because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.<br />Every angel is terrifying.<br />And so I hold myself back and swallow the call-note of my dark sobbing.<br />Ah, whom can we ever turn to in our need?”<br /><br />Esteemed Pirate,<br />I don’t believe Mr. Rilke is writing about messengers here, whatever the etymology of the word.<br />Then again, I’m no expert on Rilke. I've read lots of his stuff, not The Duino Elegies, and although there are many short works I like, most of the time I’m lost. He makes my beloved Wallace Stevens seem like light reading. <br /><br />On my cosmic balance sheet, religions have done exponentially more harm than good. And why believe in anything that’s not true?<br /><br />And on other cosmic issues, we are talking about a Cannondale R300, made before Cannondale moved operations to China, by women welders in Bedford PA. I’m not patriotic, but value the USA metallic tag on the frame: it is a demonstration that the machine was made by justly compensated union workers. It’s blue, weighs less than 20 pounds, and when its aging owner gets a little help from the wind, will do 35 mph.<br /><br />Getting back to the very difficult and elusive Mr. Rilke, these are 2 poems I do like. Do you know which appeared on the back of a Keith Jarrett album?<br /><br /><br />Flying<br /><br />If I don't manage to fly, someone else will<br />The spirit wants only that there be flying.<br />As for who happens to do it,<br />In that he has only a passing interest.<br /><br /><br />Printemps<br /><br />In winter the murderer<br />death enters the house;<br />it looks for a sister, a father,<br />and fiddles for them.<br /><br />But when the earth is moving<br />under the spade in spring,<br />death runs in the streets<br />and waves at passers-by. <br /><br /><br />TPM<br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-50314891207234524712013-09-19T17:41:40.366-04:002013-09-19T17:41:40.366-04:00Yes.
Has been for many years.
As I was once told...Yes.<br /><br />Has been for many years.<br /><br />As I was once told authoritatively by a station manager, it's literally impossible for a person of color to be biased or prejudiced, and it's literally impossible for a white person not to be biased or prejudiced.<br /><br />So it's quite simple, really ;)<br /><br />Any question as to this simple truth marks one in classic Orwellian terms as guilty as charged.<br /><br />Politics being, of course, the death of thought by other means – in most if not all matters, not merely those relating to questions of race.<br /><br />~ Indigo von PirateAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-5258479409588587782013-09-19T17:36:14.217-04:002013-09-19T17:36:14.217-04:00Now, now, I recognize that you’re jesting just the...Now, now, I recognize that you’re jesting just the least wee tiny tiniest bit, so to compare a few thoughts in a similar spirit:<br /><br />‘Angel’ is, as we both well know, derived from our good friends the Greeks and the word ‘angelos’, which simply means ‘messenger.’ So... one may reasonably well interpret Rilke as, after all, speaking poetically after literally ten years or so in a paralyzing depression and physical ill health, which raises the whole semantic/philosophic snarl as to literal v metaphoric ‘truth’ (for which we may in turn merrily invoke ‘Quid est veritas’ a killer line in its context (in every sense) if ever there were one.<br /><br />The notion that truth/beauty manifest is lethal is, to my mind, worthy of consideration.<br /><br />As to mountebanks… some, in all cultures have been, of course, but I’m of that school of thought that feels (heaven help us) that most have probably been sincere. Not all, not all by any means, but the most dangerous, the most problematic, I suspect, largely sincere.<br /><br />Sanity (whatever that might mean) being, of course, another question altogether.<br /><br />Personally, I don’t worship in anyone’s church either figuratively or literally, but a think a mythos in which a god is willing to in some sense sacrifice himself for humans ain’t half bad. Not to mention the comic relief bit with mom and son at the Wedding at Canaan – good sitcom stuff, also not half bad. Or the ‘Lord, he stinketh’ bit with the Lazarus deal. Pretty good stuff.<br /><br />Not anime level good stuff, perhaps, not FLCL-profound, but not bad.<br /><br />The Truly Deep and Important Question though is: What kind of bike we talking here?<br /><br />~ Indigo PirateAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-52808720734729974182013-09-19T16:12:23.220-04:002013-09-19T16:12:23.220-04:00Good Brother:
Angels don't exist. Rilke. the...Good Brother:<br /><br />Angels don't exist. Rilke. therefore, is wrong: No angel is terrifying. <br /><br />What is terrifying is that some people still believe in angels in the twenty-first century. as well as pregnant virgins, burning bushes, and schizophrenic messiahs who walk on water. <br /><br />The Old Testament Hebrews were polytheistic Canaanites; Christians, fools who take seriously the second rate fairy tale of a hack whose nom de plume was Mark; Muslims, lame brained bumpkins who were grifted by a cunning goat keeper with a mean streak.<br /><br />Kaffy is Alaskan incarnation of the archetypical mountebank--like the authors of the bible,the Coran, the Book of Mormon, and Scientology.<br /><br />Ahh, nothing like a thirty-five mile bike ride and a diatribe to make one feel better.<br /><br /><br />TPM Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-55983117829520280132013-09-19T08:03:54.071-04:002013-09-19T08:03:54.071-04:00Is is anathema to wonder aloud if someone who is n...Is is anathema to wonder aloud if someone who is neither black nor a woman will ever be considered to host a prime time show on WBAI? Are any while male producer/hosts eliminated from consideration a priori or ex ante?<br /><br />TPMAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-90889522402068061272013-09-18T11:43:12.419-04:002013-09-18T11:43:12.419-04:00Perhaps, then, with apologies to that thar Rilke f...Perhaps, then, with apologies to that thar Rilke fella, not 'every angel is terrifying.'<br /><br />~ Indigo PirateAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-91746833533305980062013-09-18T08:31:21.636-04:002013-09-18T08:31:21.636-04:00The angels are, I believe, homeless and incurably ...The angels are, I believe, homeless and incurably inebriated, having been force-fed paid-for-but-unshipped Double Helix water. Besides, there may be a conflict of interest issue—I am told Kathy Davis engaged some of them as expert witnesses in her upcoming case against WBAI.Chris Albertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12056345320709233401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-28817024997800784742013-09-18T00:53:35.002-04:002013-09-18T00:53:35.002-04:00I’m inclined to agree.
I frankly don’t see any po...I’m inclined to agree.<br /><br />I frankly don’t see any possibility of any meaningful salvation or resurrection from this situation barring the appearance of one or more magical angels.<br /><br />This rarely happens.<br /><br />~ Indigo PirateAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-44399271203958361852013-09-17T19:18:40.185-04:002013-09-17T19:18:40.185-04:00I think that has been obvious to some of us, but h...I think that has been obvious to some of us, but hearing it from someone so close to Pacifica is discomfiting confirmation. The mere fact that Berthold Reimers has managed to keep his job through three years of gross mismanagement and neglect points to a serious problem on the Foundation level.Chris Albertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12056345320709233401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-65386775347439272462013-09-17T17:11:19.359-04:002013-09-17T17:11:19.359-04:00As of the 12 September Staff Meeting minutes recen...As of the 12 September Staff Meeting minutes recently posted there's reference on Phillips' part to the fact that in a crisis situation the Pacifica National Board appeared to him to be 'asleep.'<br /><br />Not a good sign.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-89707527751408532362013-09-17T16:48:17.363-04:002013-09-17T16:48:17.363-04:00I think you are absolutely correct, this lady has ...I think you are absolutely correct, this lady has too much going for her to get involved in WBAI as it stands today (albeit barely). It looks as if the union rule will make the decision, but why did this even get to this point? With Reimers in charge, even nominally, Phillips' efforts are made even more difficult—if not impossible. Every week brings to light at least one more reason to wonder why Pacifica keeps this man on payroll.Chris Albertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12056345320709233401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486287910626602438.post-76840563141143379922013-09-17T15:06:25.280-04:002013-09-17T15:06:25.280-04:00Kathy Davis suing BAI for hiring non-union labor t...Kathy Davis suing BAI for hiring non-union labor to replace fired union labor.<br /><br />With stuff like this, who needs drugs or alcohol?<br /><br />Seriously, though, I agree that Ms. Hunter probably wouldn't take up any offer BAI or Pacifica made her, and not only becuase she's doing so many other things. Why would she want to board a sinking ship (the glimmers of hope provided by Andrew Phillips notwithstanding).<br /><br />Also, what would Reimers and his friends do with a black woman who (probably) wouldn't allow them to dumb her down?Justine Valinottihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10852069587181432102noreply@blogger.com