The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword, art by Stephen Hansen, courtesy of ZenethGallery.com
Here we are. Again. Mired in the muck of the worst kind of political warfare the swine and insects can muster. I, of course, can stomach it because I'm demented and have a penchant for intellectual bloodshed. Indeed. I know it has been a sweet minute since I scribed anything of value on the election and the repulsive circus it has conjured, so allow me to make it up to you, as only I can. Please note that virgin eyes unaccustomed to my venomous diatribes should divert now and go about their business. This is grown folks territory. Wild, uncut. Indeed.
To the meat.
I would just like to begin by stating, unequivocally and without remorse, and after much deliberation and scrutiny:
"F--k You, John McCain - you are an intellectually dishonest, spiritually defecating, embarrassment to American politics. You are a liar, a hypocrite, and the worst kind of swine opportunist." Read more...
"Life sucks & then you die." - Anonymous.
Banks are collapsing, our economy is tumbling, we have salmonella & e. coli outbreaks, unemployment is rising, our military is waging two wars in two countries, wages are stifled, Mother Nature has tuberculosis and skin cancer, working class folks are losing their homes, and the government apes still jump to bail out Wall Street before they offer any relief to those of us on main street.
It's enough to make even the most daring of hero want to crawl into the bottom of a cheap bottle of something (anything) alcoholic and drown our sorrows and woes until our minds perceive nothing but the warm comfort of absolute blackness. Read more...
"I think it's the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately." — George Carlin
It is with heavy heart and boundless respect that I dedicate this week's entry to the late, great, comedian-philosopher George Carlin. He was one of the few that could shock, entertain, and educate all in the same sentence. He was a master of "analytical thinking" and his words offered a fresh, sometimes startling, view on everything from sex and psychology to all things taboo including politics and religion. He, along with Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor, was of the last pure social provocateurs.
Carlin made us think about our culture, our flaws, our hypocrisies, and excesses. He fought for freedom of expression and individuality. I may not have always agreed with him or his positions, but he always made me think. Read more...
This week I've decided to open the blogwaves to you, dear readers, and answer some of your questions and inquiries. I received so many great questions that I will have to do this in two parts. Thank you for participating, and now, TO THE MEAT!
Is it difficult being in the music industry, and identifying as a lesbian? I'm so curious, and I respect you so much because of that. It's good to know, that one of the best female vocalists is open about her sexuality. -- Holly
Hi Holly. It hasn't been that difficult for me personally, but I do live in Los Angeles where the weird and wild seem to flourish. However, it's hard for me to think of living any other way. On the road, most of our fans don't seem to have a problem with who I am or who I pick to be my lovers. I am very grateful to have found so many free-thinking folks who also love our music.
========= Read more...
“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.” — Hunter S. Thompson
Nary a day, nor an hour goes by that I do not receive an email, a MySpace message, or some other form of communicado asking (sometimes pleading) what (if any) suggestions or advice I might have for a band, artist or poet just starting out and hoping for some perceptive form of success.
I’m not sure I’m the right person to ask, but, I am honored some of you feel strongly enough to place your trust in my aggressively eccentric mind and I will answer to the best of my abilities. Read more...
“The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” – Francis Bacon
Friends. Foes. Everyone in between. Welcome and salutations to another entry into the sick & twisted chronicles, celebrations, salacious travels, and secret adventures of a free-thinking, bohemian scoundrel (marooned in plastic-land) on the verge of a radical and stunning breakthrough. Indeed, to the meat.
Today, I scribe this from the dazzling white beaches of Aruba. The sun is high in the deep blue sky and a soft warm, southern breeze whispers softly through the vegetation. And next to me rests a sleeping vision of beauty. I met her last night in the hotel bar after we discovered each other admiring the same Basquiat painting. Her name is Ocean and she’s a design student from San Francisco. We had a few drinks, a few laughs, discussed politics, reality television, alternative music, the war, the U.S. economy, and then staggered to her room where a variety of sins were explored, examined, and exposed. If the Holy Roman Church were hip to our intimacies, I’m sure they would be aware of a few more we invented. But I digress. Read more...
photo by Otep Shamaya
"... that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate would be oppression.” -- Thomas Jefferson
In order to scribe this weeks entry, I have had to remove myself from any source of news or interference. I believe it’s important to have the right kind of atmosphere when writing something this important that will undoubtedly evoke the biased and hateful to turn on me. So, here I sit, on a traditional bridal bed made of dark mahogany, draped in red curtains from India, fortified behind walls of giant harem pillows. In the deep darkness of 3 a.m., candles singe the exhausted air and lighten the ethers with their soft fragrances. Twisting and rooting all around me are the limbs of three sleeping furies, lost in the universal mind, their enervated bodies radiate a rainbow of halos that pinch and pull dark visions of sweet temptation. Yes, the mood seems right. My fingers are ready to focus on stroking the keys of this powerbook (and perhaps a leg or rib or nape of the neck or two). Okay, enough. To the meat. Read more...
"A disguise of self-deception hides my secrets perfectly..." -- "Perfectly Flawed"
"Perfectly Flawed. Perfectly Incomplete."
Ye gods, I love this song so much.
I know many of you (fans, friends, foes, managers, mudslingers, peers, puds, laymen, label execs, et al) were afraid and apprehensive when you first heard of this mysterious, diabolical apostasy. "Oh dear God!" they exclaimed. "She's singing a beautiful song with an incredibly wonderful message about self-love and self-acceptance. Well," they deduced, "she's obviously gone mad. Mad I tell you! Completely, utterly, and absolutely bat-s--t crazy! People will never go for it!" they proclaimed! "Otep can't sing about loving one's self! What is she? Some kind of troublemaker? She can't sing about individuality when it's society and the mainstream that dictate our every thought and whim. They tell us who to be, who to love, what we all must look like, who we should admire, what god to worship, they pick our friends, they scale our value! Free-thinking? Self-love? Dear God! It would be pandemonium. What she's singing about is nothing short of cultural blasphemy!" Read more...
"Do more than expected, expect less than deserved" -- Emma Elb (The Conqueror's Creed)
Before the philosopher sage Emma Elb launched herself into self-imposed abstractionist dementia, she was valued as the foremost authority on how to tame, cultivate, and forge the fires in the creative spirit. Indeed, her writings were considered sacred to her many dedicated and (some say) cult-like fans, supporters, and crusaders. Sadly, most of her work perished when her publishing house burned to the ground one winter night (on the same historical day as the great fire in ancient Egypt that destroyed the libraries of Alexendria).
The circumstances surrounding the fire are still unexplained and no one was ever captured or blamed. But the volumes she authored on the ethos of being a successful, (somewhat) satisfied, and powerfully productive "arteest" gave rise to an eruption of new and dangerous thinkers, speakers, artists and provocateurs. Only a few copies of her work remain and only a few lucky souls have had their eyes and minds feed on her syllables. I am one such lucky soul. Read more...
"Art is the proper task of life." -- Friedrich Nietzsche
Yes, friends, it is indeed that time again, when my mind is curved and coiled in a strange labyrinth of questions, queries, investigations, examinations, contemplations, meditations, ruminations, over-biased opinions, diatribes, rants, raves, and all varieties of gentle euphemism, analogs, correlations, and brutal verbal equivalents. Indeed. To the meat!
EMPOWER YOURSELF
Anyone who reads this blawg with any regularity might remember the last time I constructed a quick feast (for those of us who suffer from any sort of attention deficit disorder) where I scribed a bunch of quick paragraphs and centered one on the idea of RESPECT. Well, recent activities have jolted my consciousness to a state of urgent lucidity. Allow me to clarify a thing or three. Now, I still believe any decent living soul should offer respect to all those who have EARNED it, but if I may elaborate on that to state that this gift should be rescinded if the other entity is not reciprocal and their behavior violates your liberty. Read more...
