Music for March, part 1

After finally getting used to (i.e. learning how to tune out) the sounds of soft classical music and the occasional triumphant blast of Vivaldi in my office building, someone decided to switch the muzak to a blend of smooth jazz, lounge and lite-salsa. Though I only have to listen to it while strolling through the lobby or into the parking garage, it's amazing how sarcastic a mood it puts me in. I just want to shout at everybody, "Come on! You can't possibly be serious!"

Rather than make a spectacle, however, I decided to make a mix tape instead. Each song (well, most songs) have something to do with a particular day in March thus far. Though I'm getting ahead of myself a bit, I went ahead and posted the first half of the month for your enjoyment. You can stream the songs by clicking on them individually, or download the whole mix as a zipped file by following the link at the bottom of the post.

Hope you like it.

Saturday, March 1 -- And I Love You by Darling Dears

I didn't see any cherry blossoms in bloom, but the day's warm temperatures matched the pleasant tone of this tune.

Sunday, March 2 -- Sunday Coming by Anton Ellis

Anton sounds less like himself and more like mister Marley on this album, but it maps out the week nicely.

Monday, March 3 -- Monday's Rain by The Clientele

It rained on Monday, at least in the very early morning hours

Tuesday, March 4 -- Politics is Showbusiness by Peter Sarstedt

A fitting tune for the day's primaries, by the guy who sings the recurring song from "The Darjeeling Limited."

Wednesday, March 5 -- Birthday by Blur

"What a strange day/I think of you day."

Thursday, March 6 -- The Birthday by The Idle Race

"She had a birthday yesterday, she cried/Took off her glasses let her hair down, cried"

Friday, March 7 -- Cold Rain And Snow by The Grateful Dead

1966 at the Avalon Ballroom

Saturday, March 8 -- Casio Bossa nova by Holy F**k

Saw them play at the Record Bar on this night. Lived up to its name.

Sunday, March 9 -- Sunday by Sonic Youth

Live version

Monday, March 10 -- Dies Bildnis Ist Bezaubernd Schön from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, aria by Modest Menzinsky

My first trip to the Opera in several years. Still a few showings at the Lyric this week -- an excellent performance if you're willing to shell out. www.kcopera.org

Tuesday, March 11 -- I Wanna Be Your Dog by Uncle Tupelo

Young Tweedy's take on the Stooges' classic

Wednesday, March 12 -- Untitled improvisation by Paul Metzger

This guy is playing a free in-store at Kief's Downtown Music in Lawrence on 3/12 at 5 p.m. He plays a custom-made 22-string banjo.

Thursday, March 13 -- This Time Tomorrow by Sisters Love

Friday, March 14 -- Friday's Child by Lee Hazlewood

Saturday, March 15 -- Problems by Mahjongg

Saturday night at the Jackpot. Don't miss Mahjongg, from Columbia by way of Chicago.

Download complete mix.

Afterthought: After seeing Bergman's "Cries and Whispers" on Tuesday I should have included Chopin's Mazurka in A Minor Op. 17 No. 4, which sifted aurally through the bookends of the film. I challenge you to find a more bittersweet, lovely and haunting mazurka as the old A Minor Op. 17 No. 4. I simply do not believe it can be done.

Today in History: March 6

From the March 6, 2003 edition of the University Daily Kansan


This is the kind of thing I used to write for the University Daily Kansan. Complete text is in the comments section, in case the scanned-in article is too hard to read (you can also click the images to enlarge). Bonus points if you can tell me the name of the poet Ryan Clinger quotes at the tail end of the story.

"Stroll On"

Recently a friend known as The Muffin Girl tipped me off to an unlikely sight -- a guitar and some drums strung up at the tippy-top of the street pole at 42nd and Oak. I thought at first she must be joking or at best speaking poetically, but as you can see, they're really there. This explains the faint but unmistakable sounds of rock and roll I hear on windy nights.

Speaking of rock and roll, Ghosty has a new Web site up with lots of great pictures, songs, press clippings and a special short video on the media page that captures Mike Nolte at his most captivating. Here's a snapshot from a short-lived lineup of Ghosty that featured Ed Epps and a 4-year-old girl.



Finally, those of you looking for a hint for the question of "Where did Wetzel find the picture for his new blog banner" might check out the following clip.



Until next time.

Tuesdays at the Tivoli

The Janus Film Series for Spring 2008 has been announced and starts tomorrow. Each movie is only $3, free for UMKC students.

Happy Leap Day

von der Berliner Abendblatt -- Friedrichshain

EXTRATAG FUER LITERATUR

Friedrichshain. Im Ambulatorium des RAW-Tempel an der Revaler Strasse 99 steigt am Freitag, 29. Februar, eine Launch-Party. An diesem Extratag erscheint erstmals das neue englischsprachige Literaturmagazin "the extra room". Herausgeber und Redakteure sind die Amerikaner Adam Collingsworth und Mara Goldwyn. Neben jeder Menge Lesestoff gibt's Live-Musik mit dbZwoVier, Lee Viajero und anderen. Los geht's um 20 Uhr. Der Eintritt frei - Spenden sind erwuenscht.

www.theextraroom.com

Buddy

I heard on the radio last night that drummer Buddy Miles died earlier this week.

I went home and put on the Ramsey Lewis version of Buddy's song "Them Changes," which he performed with Hendrix in "Band of Gypsys." I also found a nice tribute to Buddy Miles on the Funky16Corners site. They'd already posted a couple of tunes, with a nice vinyl crackle still intact.

Have a nice weekend/long live Buddy.

Eurofuchs (fuchseuro)

The Euro climbed to over 1.50 against the dollar this week, making Europe just that much farther away than it was before. However, it does look like there will be a Wetzel brother living in Berlin this year. Though it's someone else this time.

Speaking of Bundeshauptstaedte, can anyone tell me what the photo I used to make the new blog banner is from? The first person to do so wins a 2 euro and 10 cent Koelsch.

More from me once we get Internet installed, which will hopefully be this week. The girl whose connection we were piggybacking on has left the building for good, so after 2 plus years of free 'net at the Aftons, it's time to pony-up.

See you later.

Flatfile

For those of you who may have found the original art in my last post to be distasteful or simply uninspiring, do not despair. There is plenty of fantastic art on display at the Art Space building, located at the Northwest corner of 43rd and Walnut Streets just east of Main. This free show is called the Kansas City Flatfile and features the work of 171 area artists, ranging from students and beginners to professors and professionals. Most of the work is contained in portfolios in file drawers (hence the name flatfile), but there are also wall displays curated by the gallery's directors. The event is also unique in that all proceeds from the sales go directly to the artists.

The photo above was taken a year or two back of the Artspace's project wall by Jenn, who also has some stuff on display at the exhibit.

Another artist whose daily drawings I've been enjoying is T-Bit, who is completing/displaying a drawing for every day of 2008.

Back to the drawing board...

Gnome alone

I walked outside this afternoon to see my mini garden gnome had taken a face plant into the leaf debris that feeds my artificial flowers. Draped by last years St. Patrick's Day beads; yellow plastic arms still carrying a traveler's suitcase. A sunny Sunday and I can't help but wonder how long he's been like this. I guess the important thing is someone finally found him, and perhaps after his rest he'll be ready to stand up and face the inevitable springtime.

Seoul brothers come home (and other musical happenings)

If you've ever been abroad for a long spell, you know that once you return home, the most familiar things can take on a surreal character. Good pal Andrew Morgan described this splendidly in a recent blog post, which I'd like to quote from:

There are blue jays, cardinals, doves, and woodpeckers gathered around the patio birdfeeders, and the grass is half-covered with snow & dead leaves. I keep poking my head out the door to breathe in the crisp, clean air and get a look at the ever-changing sky. It's been eerie & incandescent at night, and a fast-moving assortment of transient metallic colors during the day. All of this seems a miracle to me after having been away.

Andrew's back in Kansas after quite a few months in Korea. He's got some new songs up on his MySpace page from his album, Three Months in Cook County, which will be out sometime this year. This is a picture of Andrew taken in Seoul by his Seoul-mate Kyle Hopkins.


Speaking of Kyle, he'll be coming back this week as well. If you haven't had a chance to read any of his posts about life in Korea, he's got a nice blog as well. A few of my favorite posts of his include this recollection of moments from the big city, a list of the seven words you can't say in Korea and other stories of cultural misunderstandings at their most amusing.

Here's a picture of Kyle with his students last Christmas. I can't tell you which one he is, though.


If you're in the Kansas City area this weekend, you should definitely stop by and check out Snuff Jazz at Jardine's around 11:00 or 11:30. Jardine's is a little jazz bar near 45th and Main. It's probably the exact opposite of the kind of jazz clubs that existed back when this town was rollicking its way through prohibition. It's not particularly smoky, the crowd is almost entirely white, the jazz is that of the dinner variety and if you get up and dance with anything less than the utmost restraint you'll be told it's a fire hazard (because of the candles) and asked to sit back down. So I'm excited to see what happens when Snuff comes to town.



If you're in the mood to hear some great local music but don't want to leave the comfort of your computer, then watch the most recent episode of the Turnpike, which features Suzannah Johannes. In this broadcast, the trio of Suzie, Josh and Dave perform at a retirement home (of all places), except for the last clip, which shows Suzie performing in front of a campfire with some kind of skeleton totem thing in the background. It's sweetly chilling. Or perhaps chillingly sweet.

And, as always, there's lots of great stuff for consumption at www.rangeliferecords.com. Though my favorite is probably still the video for the "Say My Name" remix of White Flight's "The Condition." In addition to being a great song, I have a soft spot for the video because I spent much of last summer in the same room where the guy locates the Space Kitty. I can only hope I absorbed some of that stardust.

Love,

LDHW

Südgelände flashbacks

November 2006

I might try and scan some of Till's black and white shots from that day later tonight. In the meantime, here's some history of the Südgelände Naturpark and how it relates to the "Fourth Nature" concept of Berlin ecologist Ingo Kowarik, who edited the book, "Wild Urban Woodlands."

our national pasttime

"As far as I'm concerned, you could cross-breed Marion Jones with a wolf and that thing should still be allowed to play baseball."

-- Stevie D., making a case for allowing performance-enhancing technology in professional sports

"There may be wars, but Dallas will always be cute."

stories

Here's three quick slices of life from the past week. If you read through to the end, you'll find a nice little Valentines photo/postcard waiting for you.

Ursinister Sights at Brainblow Blvd.

A surreal last night while driving home: the gas station at 43rd and Brainblow Blvd, which shut down 3 years ago and has been boarded up since, reopened last week as a gift store selling nothing but stuffed white teddy-bears of all sizes and carnations by the dozen. It's creepy to sit there at the stoplight with all 2,000 of those bears staring at you, and I could tell that the motorist behind me was a bit weirded out as well. In a couple of days, these bears will probably be shipped back to an amusement park warehouse where they will hibernate for another year. I can't say I'll miss them.

"At Least He Wasn't Wearing Blackface"

I sang karaoke over the weekend for the first time in years. I couldn't find a suitable tune among the pop hits and ballads of the last century, so I opted instead for the old classic, "I've Been Workin' On The Railroad." My friends later told me that it went over fine and that everyone had clapped along, but from my vantage point the general reaction was very WTF? ("wasn't that fantastic?", in case you were wondering) To keep the tune interesting, karaokemeister Brodie manipulated the sound, looping the vocal into a whooshing soundswirl that gave the "Fee Fi Fiddley Eye Oh" breakdown a very trippy quality. So I didn't get booed off the stage or anything, but it might be a while before I show my face at McCoys again. Unless I go hear Paul deejay tomorrow night.

side notee: The whole thing was eerily similar to Monday's "Questionable Content." Yet another case of life imitating Web comics.

Cries In The Night

The other night at about 12:30 I stepped onto the back fire escape for a refreshing blast of cold air. I lit a cigarette and stared out into the fog, where the red lights of KU Med Center flickered like two dozen blinking beacons on a helicopter lighthouse. Everything was quiet. At least at first.

After a few moments I began to hear a faint shrieking sound. I dismissed it initially, not wishing to acknowledge a domestic spat unless it grew impossible to ignore. Pretty soon, though, the screaming got louder, originating from somewhere in the apartments a few buildings away. Just when I had resigned myself to dialing the authorities, someone turned the volume way up and I could hear not only the screams but the blast of an A chord on an electric guitar -- a jangly, cheap stratocaster by the sound of it. The screaming quickly distinguished itself as just another garage rocker caterwauling his way through the night, and before long a harmonica joined in the prerecorded fracas. I laughed and turned to head back inside, relieved to discover that what I was hearing was not a beat-down after all -- just an unexpected and much-needed blast of rock and roll on a cold February night.

Happy Valentines Day, from me and Clinton Lake.

your pal,

lkswtzl

fogspot

A few Sundays ago Jenn and I took a walk in the fog, and after a few blocks we discovered that we'd wandered into a Caspar David Friedrich painting. The experience didn't last long -- maybe an hour or maybe five minutes, it's hard to say -- but we emerged with at least this one photograph.

More from me tomorrow. In the meantime, here's another recent photo of Jenn's and a painting by Friedrich to put you in the Valentines spirit.

Black History Moth + music

In case you didn't know, February is Black History Month here in the United States of America. I'd like to celebrate this by reproducing this gem of a short story from the vaults here at Lucubrations.

This piece, called "Black History Moth," was written last year by the multi-talented Dave Coates. Wistful, evocative and educational, you won't want to miss it.

Alternatively, if you'd rather celebrate the occasion by listening to music and jumping around and dancing, check out some of the newer offerings available on thelukebox, which you can stream or add to your iTunes if you drag the RSS logo into the podcasts tab of your iTunes library.

As a starter, allow me to suggest Vibrations Part 1 and Part 2 by Joe Brown and the Soul Eldorados.

Fat Tuesday with Wee Snuff

I actually got to see one of the shows last year where these guys played out jazz on tiny instruments. This clip features:

Mark Southerland - Stritch
Josh Adams - jr drums
Johnny Hammil - 1/8 bass
Ashley Miller - piicolophone/mic

Brambuya speaks

In a surprise turn of events, someone actually formulated a response to my question about how much e-mail woodchucks could check if they were able to check e-mail.

Mysterious Internet celebrity and blogging newcomer Brambuya's take on the issue can be read here.

Brambles -- a saxophonist/library scientist who also answers to aliases such as Rinky-Dink, BeepBeepMan and Moon-kick -- claims to be from Tinseltown, but I'm pretty sure he lives in Massachusetts.

I'd encourage you to check out his instructive essay, "Nice lick: jazz music for the uninitiated" and leave a comment or two. Brambuya is a hot new talent in the blogging world, and I want to do my best to encourage him.

pictures of horses

Just because.

Groundhog Day

Punxatawney Phil saw his shadow today, so it looks like 2008 will continue being cold for a while. Fortunately I've stored away a few blog-bits that will keep this humble site operational until spring sets in with all of its distractions.

For now, just this picture from the great Groundhog Day party of 2002, held in Godesberg and photographed by A.B. Collingsworth.

And finally, a bonus question to ponder (or draw a cartoon of, a la Diesel Sweeties) during those six more weeks of winter:

How much e-mail could a woodchuck check if a woodchuck could check e-mail?

see you later.

redesign

I changed the colors around. I'm open to suggestions, so if anyone finds it hard to read -- or knows of a really cool way to incorporate the color pink -- let me know.

Bilder

This is the star that hangs above my crumbling balcony. I'm not sure where we found it. Maybe it fell from the sky.


I think that this "see no evil/hear no evil/speak no evil" monkey totem pole, currently the pedestal for my burrito tail cactus (an ideal plant because it requires next to no water), should be expanded or renamed to include a "blog no evil" category. Though that would disrupt the magic number, you could also just rename the other two to something like "fwd no evil" or "comment no evil." Part of my decision to greatly reduce online activity in 2008 stems from a disgust with the user comments I see when I read the newspaper -- or other blogs -- online. Whether it's racist blame-games, vitriol over local sports teams or embarrassingly poor spelling and grammar, comments on the local Internets do not generally engender goodwill among neighbors.


This was the slab of ice we used to escape a frozen Flush Creek near the Troost Bridge. Not big enough to support our weight, it nonetheless kept our boots from complete submersion in the stream.


What's up with this picture? I honestly don't know. It's part of Jenn's recent photo sets on jennybros.com and flickr, along with the rest of these shots shown here today. If you're willing to write a few sentences or more about what you think the story is with this picture, I'd be happy to post it here. I know there's some creative types out there reading this, and I want to give them a chance to shine.

If you came here looking for something intelligent to read, than I'm afraid I'll have to direct you elsewhere, like this story from the NY Times for example.

In the meantime, stay tuned for Giant Squid sightings and some more music-related stuff soon. A big hello to friends overseas, especially those in Swaziland.

cheers,

LW

Pocket Sized Moon

Did anyone see the moon last night? It was nice. It looked a little bit like this.

This picture is one of Liz's 365 PSPs currently on display at the Love Garden for one more week. I'm actually cutting something out of the frame here, but to find out what it is, you'll have to click on the picture itself.

For those of you who can't make it out to the display, we've set up a little flickr site where you can view each one of the works of art along with the poem that goes with them (there are poems for about 1/3 of the pieces -- any more than that would have been a bit much).

The best way to view them is probably to click on the set for each month. A few dates are still missing, but that will be remedied soon.

You can see those at www.flickr.com/photos/popplepower.

Take care.

LDHW

The End is the Beginning

I don't think I'll be posting much over the next few weeks. The internet around these parts is frozen, and it's too cold to do much except make a small fire in the living room and read library books.

Speaking of library books, I came across one of the finest rap songs ever written about the importance of reading, incidentally one of the first rap songs I ever heard. This is Run DMC in their 1986 Reading Rainbow appearance, which also featured Pete Seeger's performance of "Abiyoyo." (who could forget Abiyoyo?)

Anyway, it's probably about time I hopped off the blogcycle for a bit and got some exercise elsewhere.

I've got a little snail-mail campaign underway, and perhaps a few new projects to dive into soon. What exactly, I can't say, but I do know I plan to eat more soup.

I'll keep adding tracks to the online jukebox and I'll post something here before too long. As always, If anyone's got any ideas, feel free to throw one my way.

your friend,

Lucas Wetzel


Top photo taken by Peter at the rugby training fields in Stellenbosch, where several members of South Africa's world champion rugby team practiced. Above photo taken at Liz's Love Garden opening last week by Jenn, whose site has been redesigned. Also, happy birthday to Kyle the Seoulman and Big Baby T

There Are A Lot of Blackbirds Around These Parts Lately

They make a lot of noise.

A night at the Love Garden

If you're anywhere near Lawrence, Kansas tonight, you should stop by and check out Liz Gardner's "Pocket-Sized Pieces" art opening at the Love Garden. Art, wine and whores davores (that's a funetic spelling, I don't speak French) starting at 7 p.m. Ghosty plays at 8.

I contributed to the art pieces by writing short poems for about one third of the pieces, and they will be on display as well. Though my involvement is a small one, it's been lots of fun to assist Liz with this project, and just being able to say that my haiku line the walls of the Love Garden is kind of fun in itself. Maybe more so if you didn't know that the Love Garden is a record store at 936 1/2 Mass.

If you can't come to the opening, swing by the store anytime in the next month. They'll still be up.

Also, for you music fans, Ghosty will also be playing (as a 7-piece!) Saturday night at the Record Bar with opening bands Fourth of July and hometown hip-hop hero Miles Bonny.

To read the Lawrence.com article about Liz's art show, click here. For some recent local press about Ghosty, check out this from The Pitch and this from Lawrence.com.

Hope to see you out this weekend.

Pots and pans

There was a giant pot bust in the West Bottoms last night. Lots and lots of marijuana has been "recovered." I'm not going to make any comment about this except to say that Ray's revelations won't come as easily now.

Ice fountains and the closing of Corinthian Hall

This weekend was like a bit of spring in the middle of winter. Although it was Saturday, we came across this icy wonder in a Kansas City park. If Shiva has deserted his traditional ice-phallus dwelling in the caves of Kashmir, then perhaps he's found a new home in KC's historic northeast.

We were in the neighborhood to visit the Kansas City Museum before it closed for renovations until 2010. And I'm very glad we did. I got to meditate in Indian huts, hunt a stuffed buffalo and watch a 40-year-old filmstrip about the wagon trains of the pioneers. In the 1910 soda fountain downstairs I drank two big chocolate phosphates.

I was also pleased to find that the museum was much less boring to me now than it was as a grade-schooler. Back then I was sick of hearing about covered wagons and Lewis and Clark and the hardships of the plains. I just wanted to play Oregon Trail, and I don't think I was the only student who felt that way.

I enjoyed getting a glimpse of Kansas City in the olden days, and I was glad to see that this town really hasn't changed all that much.

It's a shame this museum will be closing down for so long, but I think the exhibits were more than ready for some spiffing up. I just hope the Fairy Princess (a female alternative to Santa Claus who enthralls children at the museum every winter) finds a suitable local alternative to reside in the interim. She's more than welcome to crash at my place, but I'm afraid my digs might be a shade humble for royalty, at least that of the fairy variety.

Meanwhile, more info about the KC Museum here, and a few more shots of the weekend are up on Jenn's flickr site.


Parting shot: I'd already mentally written the first line of this post when I found an inscription on a bench near Brush Creek that sums it up even nicer: "In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer" -- Albert Camus.

Have a nice week and go easy on the hell-broth.

LW

update: there's a nice lil' video on the Star site today of some kids enjoying the museum yesterday. The aforementioned Indian hut and buffalo can be seen in the background. Which reminds me: there was a kid on Saturday who marched into the gift shop behind us shouting "Me like Buffaloes and Cows!" repeatedly. Rather than correct his grammar, the mom actually repeated the kid's words back to him, as if to encourage it. Oh well. It's her kid, I guess.

Snowtime

Red is right. This has been one of the best winters on record. I've been out doing my best to give myself a cold, scouting out the pristine, Narnian grounds of the Nelson in the middle of a fresh snowfall, drinking wine in styrofoam cups, taking advantage of the holiday schedule to stay up as late as possible.

I tried writing a few blog posts in the snow, but it just kept getting covered up, and the only person there to appreciate it was the security guard, who kindly but firmly suggested I go home.

I've seen some funny things happen in the ice and snow, even a few events that border on the tragic. At the end of the semester, some art kids were wheeling home the makings of a giant sculpture from the studio. When they got to 43rd street they slipped on the ice and lost control of the wheelbarrow, which tumbled over and spilled the sculptural anatomy out into the intersection. One of the kids directed traffic around the wreckage while the others scrambled to toss the broken torso into the lawns on either side of the street. It's still sitting there right now.


There's also a giant head in the back parking lot, perched on a chair and partially frozen over. After the ice melted, I think it chipped away at the mouth a bit so that his expression is much sadder than it was just a week ago. I'm not sure if this is related to the shattered colossus of Warwickshire, but it, too, doesn't look like it's going anywhere soon. It reminds me of another bizarre Kansas City sculpture, seen here (below) on a warmer day.

In other news, I sold the minivan and don't have a car anymore, but I plan to be back on the streets as early as tomorrow morning.

2008 already and I'm not sure what the future holds for this here blog. I had plans to put it to sleep but might give it a reprieve until Groundhog Day, at which point we'll reassess the situation. For now I think I'll keep posting some pictures, words and songs a couple of times a week, though I think I'll lay off the lengthy essays and travelogues in favor of a few quick observations that won't drain my energy and eat up too much of your time.

I'm gearing up for Liz's art opening on Friday, so check the Lawrence Journal-World next week for some more information on that. All 356 of Liz's pocket-sized pieces will be on display with some of my accompanying poems.

Also, my sister Laura is playing a concert at the church on Sunday just after noon. If you'd like information, let me know.

If you'd like to hear some other great music, then head over to the lukebox, where I just posted about twenty new/old songs that you can stream or download to itunes.

winter photos, as usual, by Jenn