I saw Ani DiFranco two nights ago at the Fillmore in San Francisco…great show, some songs I’d never heard performed before like “School Night” or “Overlap,” and she was in fine form, striking the guitar so hard during “Napoleon” or “Shameless,” you’d think it might break, and performing new songs that thanks to Youtube, I knew by name already, “Careless Words,” “Genie,” and more…and none … Continue reading Reflecting on a show: Ani Difranco…
The 4th of July… Tis’ a holiday of conflict. Maybe it’s twenty plus years of social work that has done this to me. Or perhaps it’s simply a matter of giving a damn about people I’ve never met in towns I’ve never been to, concerns about whether they have enough to eat, a place to live, a sense of safety and hoping these random strangers … Continue reading Independence Day…
Once upon a time, there was a tween named Billy in New Orleans, not yet a teenager, but no longer a small boy. He’d been having a difficult life, but his mother taught him the best she could. Billy loved his mother and Billy loved his house. Billy loved his friends and Billy loved his faithful dog, Rex, more than anything. One day, after school, … Continue reading An OPP Bedtime Story…
Best of luck to everyone in New Orleans over the next couple of days…in my thoughts. More to come… PJ Harvey -The Words that Maketh Murder And she ain’t talking about Steve Newhouse killing the Times-Picayune. Have a nice day. Continue reading Across the bow…
Despite the continued insistence of public relations hacks employed by the oil company hell known as British Petroleum that all in the Gulf is either well, or quickly on the mend, troubles persist: “Researchers are trying to determine whether more than 100 dolphins stranded on the Texas coast, most of them in Galveston, died because of the BP oil spill, a deadly algal bloom or … Continue reading What’s ten billion dollars between friends?
Most who have followed the story of the BP Catastraphuk are familiar with the company’s enlisting of scientists and university research departments to silence them with non-disclosure requirements explore what has happened to the Gulf environment, to do the research so all the Gulf States can be made whole, well, complete, fixed like a motherfucker while Dudley sails off to the shareholders meeting, to Texas, into … Continue reading In no way an attack on science…
By the time any of you read this, I will have left my comfy confines in the Midwest for a far more uncertain future on the West Coast…San Francisco to be exact. Got some money saved, a lot of social work experience, several contacts and possibilities and a 2nd job interview already scheduled for three days after my arrival… Oh, and did I mention the … Continue reading Today would be that day…westward.
So, I was reading an article/book review in Time magazine about the Deepwater Horizon where the writer, a Mr. Bryan Walsh separates people into two camps…people who can’t forget about the oil spill and say the region still hasn’t recovered (Dead coral, dolphins, depleted shrimp catches, health problems, tar balls still and oil entering the food chain…etc…) and the people who just want to forget … Continue reading A couple of quick questions about oil induced political ignorance…
In the Gulf of Mexico, the government serves two fundamental roles: 1. They are the protective savior, providing certain corporations and clean-up contractors legal cover for any consequences that might arise from the manufacture and use of poisonous products. or… 2. They are an overprotective savior, goose-stepping boogeymen who don’t know shit about marine life, and waste everyone’s time getting in the way of big … Continue reading Lawyers, guns and money…now featuring the Feds!
It isn’t getting better… Well, okay yes, some things are improving, sure…I mean, it is more difficult to actually see the remaining oil from BP’s catastraphuk, not too much is washing ashore these days which means the tourist industry is thriving again and that’s great, if you happen to be an owner or employee of such service oriented industries…but if you’re making you’re living or … Continue reading Another day, another dose of bad news – dolphins, coral and crab…
Drake Toulouse: Photography and Words 