the frig blig

The muffler in my auto blew on the way down to Oregon. The Corvallis repair shop I had it replaced in had these muffler sculpture dudes out front.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

This link was posted on Josh’s blog and it’s just so sweet I had to post it here on the Blig.

Two images from an alley, yesterday in Pioneer Square:

Crow wants to know: What makes my country think it’s better than all the other countries?
Crow wants to know: Why does my country invade other countries on a regular basis?

Frog rolled his big yellow eyes, finally letting them focus on a point an inch in front of Crow’s beak. And he said:

“It’s like this, Crow. Cuz we live inside of these borders we’re all right. Cuz them other folk live inside of those other borders they’re evil.

Everybody knows it is most honorable to destroy evil.”

Frog started hopping back and forth on his legs as he warmed up.

“If you get hurt while destroying evil we will give you a precious purple medal you can wear with pride, and everyone will know you’re a hero. And if we kill more of them than they kill of us, we get more points…and we win! The more we win, the better we look, the better we feel and the better we ARE. Stronger, bigger and sweeter than we are now!”

Crow cocked his head and watched Frog jumping up and down croaking “Brighter brights! Whiter whites!” and spat out Caw! Caw! Caw!* and with a flutter of black wings he was gone.

* Translation: ‘What — it’s not about the oil?’

One of my favorite comedians George Carlin died last night. I used to watch him on Rowan & Martin when I was a kid and he always cracked me up.

He gained notoriety in the early 1970s for his ‘Seven Words You Can’t Say on TV’ routine. George was not afraid of controversy, of having unpopular opinions or of speaking them. He enlarged his audience with those tactics and made them think.

Lots of people are bold; few were as funny and observant and had as much fun playing with words as Carlin. He got cranky and mean in his later years, but was still an interesting character.

Dang, what’s that up there on the roof, looks kinda like a frisbee?

Is here. Read it and leap.

Does anyone else find it ironic that the art chosen by the U.S. Postal Service to adorn their ‘Forever stamp’ (“The Forever stamp will always be valid as First–Class postage on standard envelopes weighing one ounce or less, regardless of any subsequent increases in the First–Class rate”) portrays the Liberty Bell — with a large crack prominently visible. The bell was used for approximately 100 years before the crack rendered it unusable in 1846.

100 years == forever…eh, close enough for the U.S.P.S.

Q: How is playing guitar like shooting pool?
A: They’re both all about leave.

Viz. when playing guitar, in order to sound like less of a klutz and move smoothly to the next note or chord, the player needs to be thinking ahead about which fingers will be used in that next note or chord…and that means making sure those fingers are available by using other fingers now.

And when shooting pool, in order to sink more than a single ball, the player needs to be thinking ahead about positioning the cue ball to leave makeable shots.

Q: how is playing tennis like playing go?
A: they both can be approached using a certain style of play; i.e. keep making good returns or moves and wait for your opponent to make a mistake — then capitalize on it. With each mistake your opponent makes, he or she is more likely to try to overcompensate…to your advantage.

Bo Diddley died last week but his beat will be with us for quite some time to come.

I was learned about Bo during my stint with The Shakes in Tallahassee in the early 1980’s. I’d heard his name before but wasn’t aware of his seminal influence — viz. the Bo beat. It was used in so many great rock and roll songs it just seemed timeless, and in fact maybe Bo just channeled it first. But you know it. The songs I was familiar with at the time were ‘Who Do You Love’ (Quicksilver Messenger Service) and ‘Hand Jive’. There are countless others.

I was fortunate enough to see Bo perform live around that time, in an outdoor concert on a beautiful spring day on Florida State University’s infamous Union Green. He had his trademark box guitar, and his daughter played the crap out of the drums.

Hey, Bo Diddley! Thanks for everything. Be jammin wherever you be.

A month ago I decided to learn the song Misterioso on guitar, which seemed excruciatingly difficult but I figured if I could learn that one I could learn almost anything (and I’ve always loved those notes). I dutifully practiced it almost daily, and after 3 weeks it started sounding like the actual tune, and I started playing with alternate rhythms and figured out my own riff at the end and which blues chords sounded natural to transition into.

For my upcoming birthday, the fish paid for a couple of lessons from a real guitar teacher. My first lesson was a week ago yesterday, during which time I discovered when playing with my teacher that my guitar was at least a half-step out of tune. Upon returning home I tuned it to my trusty old pitch-pipe. An in-tune guitar is good, and I felt satisfied.

Since that first lesson I have been learning the notes — not that they’re called A, B, C etc., but which strings produce which pitches when plucked, etc.

Today the horrible realization struck me that the notes I’d learned to play Misterioso with are actually a half-step off! I quickly confirmed this by listening to the first few notes of Monk’s recording. Apparently I taught myself to play this piece in the key of f#. Which is very cool until you want someone to accompany you.

Of course this has occurred on the most fiendishly difficult fingering I’ve learned, and moving it down a half-step on the fretboard totally changes the fingerings. Should I relearn the piece in it’s true key, or stick with the key of f-sharp?