On A Winter Morning...

As it snows outside I think now is a great time to reflect upon the new thing in my life that I hold very dear: my mustache. The best way to hear mustache jokes is to start growing one. Add a soul-patch and you're certifiably a 70's and 90's porn star in one! I started growing it in celebration of my upcoming road trip. Photos will ensue.

What I Did With My Tuesday...

Hunter S. Thompson

From making the stencil for the picture and letters to the final spray-paint took about 5 hours. There's two. One resides in my room while the other resides in Mr. Matthew Winske's lovely new trailer.

What I've Been Watching..

Legend
Directed by Ridley Scott
Starring Tom Cruise





Straw Dogs
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
Starring Dustin "The Real Hoff" Hoffman





Artist: The Replacements
Song: "Bastards of Young"

So There I Was...

After the World
by M.R. Brown

Think fast. React with grace.

Pushing tricycles in the sand under a red moon. And I'm stalled, oddly.

Bricks are piled on pavement.
Bricks are laden with cracks.
Bricks will build a shelter.

Starshine.

The 20th century. In manuscript form.

Farther past this stream is the ice of lore.
Where glass no longer shatters/
And pages no longer spell out words.

All the world is a muck-colored green.

Anger Is An Energy...

Sometimes I'll make decisions without knowing why. Sometimes I'll charge blindly into things and come out only to have my head looking back. I question the reasons, I question the motives. I question the truth. And I'm happy, inexplicably happy but I know its destined to fail. That is the worst feeling, to know something is only going to fail. How do you face something like that?


This is not a love song
Happy to have, not to have not

In The Grey Scales...

(photo by A. Caras)

These Things Breed Perpetual Losses...

A Stream of Thought on a Wednesday Morning in Bed
by M. R. Brown

I need out out of
my head.
Paper has lost its
color
and the sunlight is more
an imagination
than a ruse.
Pass from me this
endless dawn
and
break apart these bonds.
The cuffs that lock
my wrists
are
tighter with every
second.
The day passes as
though looking
through
shrouded tree
tops
to find
the falling light.
Alone I sit in the
last train.

The Final Countdown...

TOP TEN COVER SONGS BETTER THAN THEIR ORIGINAL
by M. R. Brown

• Jimmy Hendrix – All Along the Watchtower
(Bob Dylan)
- Very few will argue that this is hands down the best cover of all time. Jimmy Hendrix flat-out beat Bob Dylan. Few have done it, and none of done it more convincingly. Even Dylan now plays the song live in the fashion of Hendrix’s version.

• Johnny Cash – Hurt
(Nine Inch Nails)
- Among the final recordings of Johnny Cash, the Nine Inch Nails cover is infused with a voice searching for redemption and couldn’t be closer to Cash’s life. It takes decades to being in music to even come close to pulling off a cover like this.

• Joe Strummer – Redemption Song
(Bob Marley)
- There is a pain and longing in Joe Strummer’s voice that made The Clash important and forever relevant. It doesn’t stop here.

• Bruce Springsteen – Jersey Girl
(Tom Waits)
- To hear The Boss cover a song about his hometown, and to have that song be written by Tom Waits, is so damn touching. Beautiful song, beautiful man.

• The Gaylettes – Son Of A Preacher Man
(Dusty Springfield)
- Turning “Son Of A Preacher Man” into a ska-fueled reggae tune transforms the song and captures it in an even more poignant light than Dusty Springfield could. The Gaylettes version would also grace my Songs In My Heaven playlist.

• Run DMC – Walk This Way
(Aerosmith)
- Let’s face it, Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” was, other than horrible, clearly lacking something, listen-ability. Praise Run DMC for taking this song to a progressive level of interest.

• The Killers – Shadowplay
(Joy Division)
- The sons of the bright lights of Vegas are the only band around that can pull off a Joy Division cover, and it was a smart choice to play Shadowplay rather than Love Will Tear Us Apart. A heads-up move.

• Tom Waits – The Return of Jackie and Judy
(The Ramones)
- Always the innovator, Tom Waits capitalizes on what makes a cover song special, re-imagining a song rather than re-iterating a song. He takes the spirit of The Ramones and re-imagines “Judy Is A Punk.”

• The White Stripes – Jolene
(Dolly Parton)
- Jack White gets a chance to bask in his country and blues musical inspirations. And thank god someone can make Dolly Parton worth a listen.

• Cock Sparrer – White Riot
(The Clash)
- Fellow Brits Cock Sparrer managed to capture the angst and aggression that The Clash couldn’t even capture, seemingly. For that, they make my list.

Honorable Mention: Jeff Buckley – Halleluiah
(Leonard Cohen)
- Jeff Buckley’s version is great, it’s sharp and it’s relative, but Leonard Cohen’s original is just a wee bit better. For that, Buckley is left with the Honorable shaft.