Kansas Day

Happy Kansas Day! Technically, it is Kansas Night, and there's only a few minutes of it left, so I better post these postcards in a hurry. They will give you an idea of how awesome day-to-day life here really is. Happy Kansas Day, from the bottom of my blogging heart.


From Big Baby T, the adventures of Spaghetti & Lemonade


Story of my life


From the Wetlands adventures, fall 2006


Kansas at its most monumental


Schaake's: a truly sincere pumpkin patch


This child was abandoned by his human parents and raised by Jayhawks

You can wash all of these stunning images of Kansas with this traditional tune performed by The Two-Dollar Shoe Revival Story in August 2003 at the Paradise Cafe. This particular bootleg recording of Two Dollar Shoe features Charlie Rose (banjo, vocals), Matt Gertkikn (guitar), Cody Walters (bass) and Josh Adams (drums).

Thursday Tracks: Songs About Rainbows

Now that I am actually posting songs instead of just listing what I'm listening to, I thought a thematic audio post was in order. This week's theme is rainbows.

Kermit once famously asked why there were so many songs about them. I would ask the follow-up question of "Why are there so many psych songs about rainbows?" but the truth is, I already know. Psychedelic songs about rainbows transport you to a magical state of mind, and after listening to this awesome trio of tunes, I've felt at times as if I've been riding rainbows, traveling underneath them, or just plain old kicking back on my rainbow rocking chair.

The illustration is something my friend Till did in 2002. We had just seen 3 rainbows over the Rhine, one for each of us present that day, but for some reason Till only drew two of them. Probably my notebook wasn't big enough to capture the whole glorious scene. Also, I read that if you have two rainbows in the same place, one of them will have inverted colors (VIBGYOR vs ROYGBIV). Not sure if this rule of refraction applies to dream oil-pastel landscapes, however.

Finally, I was going to make this post even awesomer by including a poem my sister wrote about Rainbows that was published in a high school lit mag this year, but we decided to hold off on that one so as not to interfere with print sales. Suffice it to say it was a great poem, full of images of light and beauty. Go rainbows!

The tunes:

Ride a Rainbow by Victoria, 1971.

Under the Rainbow by The End, 1968

Rainbow Rocking Chair by Majority One, 1970

Thanks to aciddazed.blogspot.com for two of these tracks. A late but great site.

Biggest Sale Ever

At the Berbiglia booze shop on 43rd street. 10 percent off everything, all month. You guys, this is huge. (photo by Jennifer).

When I have Fears that I may cease to be Cool

Elizabethan sonnet by Lucas Wetzel, age 25
"The Kiss" (woodblock print) by Peter Behrens, (1869-1940)

When I have fears that I’ll stop being cool
before my band has played its farewell tour
before I best death in a guitar duel,
and the carefree life loses all allure;
When I take a look at all the cities
and the venues that we’ve left to play,
I fear my stage-presence will desert me
and my star-power will soon fade away;
And when I feel, fair indie-rock mistress!
that I’ll never make out with you again
never brush the cloth of your vintage dress,
or write songs to capture your attention
I think, though my coolness may not last long,
the best love rarely outlives a pop song.

Author's note: In case your memories of English 12 are a bit fuzzy and you're wondering what this poem is referencing, check out the source material from John Keats.

Good Times

What better song to kick off the year and shake off the 2006 sleepy-sleepies than "Good Times" by Eric Burdon and the Animals? This one is posted here courtesy of BBT.

Happy New Year.