D Bowie plays him in "The Prestige," too

Tesla, Psychotic Supper

If you have not come across the story of Nikola Tesla, stop whatever you are doing, google it, & read it.

Fascinating.

Many years ago when I 1st heard of these guys I had to do "research" to figure out what was up w/ the name.

I actually spent a few minutes debating the relative merits of several of their CDs:

Five-Man Acoustical Jam started that whole rock-bands-w/-acoustic-guitars craze before you were born.

The Great Radio Controversy has "Love Song," 1 of the 1st songs I learned all the way through--solo & all, as I had been primarily a rhythm player--back in that proverbial day.

Mechanical Resonance, the debut album that has the absolutely rockin' "Modern Day Cowboy" & the semi-hit "Little Suzi."

& I chose Psychotic Supper because it's a great title, it may make you look up some Tesla (the man) details--also, listen to "Edison's Medicine" for a brief summation--& it has "What You Give," the best of their power ballads.

Wow . . ."power ballads" . . . will do a few posts on them later.

Props to Ashlyn for the band idea: she saw them live the other night & has photos & a guitar pick to prove it.

Juniors:
Peace.

Self-surrender.

Restraint.

Durn fine poem.

Durn fine.

Details about the "culmination" of The Waste Land--your choice of essay, poem, or soundtrack--to come.

More, 'easier" poems to come, also.

Then, in about 3 weeks . . . Macbeth.

Sophomores:
We finished the 1st reading of Antigone.

(Wait . . ."1st" . . huh??)

You will submit the quotations that we have been going over in class since we began the play NEXT MONDAY 1 NOVEMBER.

You wrote down the directions, & we showed you the Prologue in terms of quotes & also the response.

We also finished the "Drama Notes,: & you will take the quiz on those next TUESDAY 2 NOVEMBER.

Oh, & the last bonus-point opportunity passed w/ no answers, so here's another: 5 points to the 1st to identify the "guy" up top of the page--the one w/ the purple shirt & green tie, flies buzzing around his head.

ID the name of the character & his source material in the comments below.

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Romeo Blue

Lenny Kravitz, Mama Said

I 1st heard of him when he married Lisa Bonet.

His mother played the neighbor on The Jeffersons.

He was a hipster before hipsters were hip, & this is his best album.

Standout track: "Always on the Run," featuring Slash.

Juniors:
You finished up the group work.

We talked about "honesty" in poetry, inspired by Cleanth Brooks's take on The Waste Land.

You got the list of recurring words, & you will have 1/2 hour (30 minutes) to work on that tomorrow.

Sophomores:
We went over the open-book quizzes based on the material we had read aloud in class the previous day.

You submitted unit 4 synonyms.

We read scene 4.

We may just finish this thing tomorrow.

In coming days, you will have the chance to improve your grade w/ 2 big assignments:

(1) the quiz on those "Drama Notes" we have been covering daily &
(2) the "Antigone Quotations" pages: you copied down all the instructions & were given quotations from the Prologue & scene 1, as well as the explanations for each scene.

I am off to watch The Girl Who Played With Fire (part 2 of The Millennium Trilogy, aka "the series that started w/ The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo")

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that voice . . . just, wow

Corinne Bailey Rae, Corinne Bailey Rae

Yes! Another positive response to the music.

Many of you know "Put Your Records On," & I also dig "Like a Star," "Call Me When You Get This," & the album-closing "Seasons Change."

As you can tell by the post title, I absolutely love her voice, which fits the jazz-soul vibe of the music perfectly.

Juniors:
The Waste Land.

Finishing up group work.

Images of water & fire.

Remember: if it's in water, there's probably some kind of baptism or rebirth, a change, at least.

& if it's one fire, that's probably not a good thing.

& if there's water but no rock, could that be a metaphor for a spirit & no body?

hmm . . . .


Sophomores:
Antigone, scene 4.

She talks to the chorus here, & she asks for pity.

Cracks in the proverbial armor?

Antigone talks a little less "game" here, noting the injustice she sees in the punishment for the crime she willfully committed, knowing full well said punishment was to come.

Only a few scenes left, & I am getting excited about the thrilling conclusion.

Unit 4 synonyms due tomorrow!!!

oh, & R.I.P the Dallas Cowboys 2010 season

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a small green area in a desert or wasteland

Yep, very positive response for this one.

Oasis, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?

My favorite Oasis story is the one in which singer Liam is a no-show (sore throat, he says) for the band's performance on MTV's Unplugged, leaving big bro Noel to sing the songs.

Noel does a pretty good job, but  shortly into the performance the band is heckled by an obnoxious gent in the balcony.

That gent?

Yeah, Liam.

The brothers Gallagher had some great times.

My favorite bandmate brothers:

1. Vinnie & Darrell from Pantera
2. Eddie & Alex from Van Halen
3. Chris & Rich from The Black Crowes.
4. Liam & Noel from Oasis
5. like the whole band Kings of Leon, except the cousin
HONORABLE MENTION: Hanson . . . I especially like the one who looked like a girl back in the "Mmm-Bop" days & now sings for Tinted Windows

(NO MENTION of the Jonas Brothers, though I hear one of them actually has talent. Nick, maybe?)

Juniors:
The Waste Land, we explore.

Looking at recurring images, Mary Karr's "Central poetic experience," & other such things.

Greta, great poem

A heap of broken images.


Sophomores:
FORWARD!!!

We did some Mark Twain reading--the story of the watch was pretty durn funny, to be quite honest.

Literary response & analysis for the proverbial win.

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I hope I didn't just give away the ending

New Radicals, Maybe you've been brainwashed too.

Yep, that's how the dude capitalized & punctuated.

Also, after his one hit Gregg Alexander decided to quit the business so he would not be a one-hit wonder.

(!?!?!?!).
This dance-funk-groove record sold a few back in '98-'99, thanks to that one hit, "You get what you give." (Again, album-cover capitals.)

I will warn you here, too: the dude wrote some pretty good lyrics.

& the album features a back-up singer named Danielle Brisebois, who had been a child "star" as Edith's niece Stephanie.

How about that for some trivia?

You 're welcome.

(oh, & the post title is another song title.)

NON-POLITICALLY-CHARGED REFERENCE TO A (SADLY) POLITICALLY-CHARGED TOPIC ALERT:

I just today finished reading Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman.

Wow.
The book was written by Jon Krakauer, whose Into the Wild you were supposed to read last year

I had a grandfather, an uncle, several neighbors, & various other folks in my life fight in wars, & I have never done enough to thank them.

At the base level I probably think of Veterans Day & Memorial Day as barbeque days.

Let's all be honest: how often to we stop for a moment to think of those who, as we say, "gave all"?

Here's a guy who gave up millions to do the right thing, to stand up for what he felt was right, to defend the freedoms we like to discuss. Anyway it can be parsed, that comes out as "hero."

There's a book about him because of his fame as well as the horrific lies that were told in a cover-up of the facts of his death.

There are thousands of others who get no books, just mourning relatives & friends.

LIFE-LESSON TO BE LEARNED FROM ALL THIS ALERT

I honestly do not care what one thinks of the wars--& sadly, I think too many of us do not think of them at all--but I do care that all of us realize the sacrifice that goes on daily by those who wear the uniform.

This is in no way a "left" or "right," "liberal" or "conservative" issue.

It's a human issue.


Juniors:
As we read The Waste Land, let us ponder,as Eliot did, the horrors of war.

Great things can come from war, but no sane person can say that war is great.

Great things arose in class today, as I asked you for a key line you had noted or a line you happened upon when opening the book this morning.

Some examples:

Memory and desire

Winter kept us warm

A heap of broken images

Your shadow at morning striding behind you

Fear death by water

Are you alive or not? Is there nothing in your head?

Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you

Here there is no water but only rock

Shantih shantih shantih

Sophomores:
You took an open-book quiz on the material we read aloud in class yesterday.

Many of you did very well, mixing the CDs & the CMs.

You analyzed the chorus's response to Antingone & Creon.

You discussed Haimon & Creon, how the son is just like the daddy in many ways, especially rhetorically.

We have finished a big chunk of the play, & we will do more Monday.

Also, next week TUESDAY will be unit 4 synonyms, THURSDAY will be unit 4 completing sentences.

Soon, you will be submitting those quotations you were assigned, 4 from each scene, including the ones we did in class, from the Prologue as well as Scene 1.

Until then we march FORWARD!!!

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he was what he is

Frank Zappa, Joe's Garage

I could write about this one for hours.

Days, maybe.

But I won't.

It's brilliant in its insanity, insane in its brilliance.

My wife & I saw it performed on stage at The Open Fist Theatre (now, seriously, is that not a great name?!) 2 years ago, & it absolutely rocked.

The Zappa Family Trust gave the OK, it was performed straight through as a musical w/ a live band . . . & the lights went down for the album's version of "Watermelon in Easter Hay."

It was amazing.

That was the song that had sold her on Zappa, & that was the moment we just sat there in the dark ruminating on life & taking it all in.

"Beautiful" is the word here, I believe.

As for the play as a whole, I wrote up a review if you would for some strange reason be interested.

As for the song--which FZ stated he originally titled "Playing a Guitar Solo With This Band Is Like Trying to Grow a Watermelon in Easter Hay," it is 1 of my 5 favorite guitar instrumentals (that makes 2 I have mentioned thus far--anyone paying attention? 5 bonus points to the 1st to identify the other in the comments below).

PMRC WARNING ALERT:
Dude was an absolute musical genius, but had a bizarre, some would say "obscene" sense of humor, & it manifested in his lyrics. So, listener beware.

Also, come & see me for advice if you are interested, because FZ has something for (almost) everyone.

Juniors:
I played Zappa today because he, like T. S. Eliot, is a difficult artist, one who demands from his audience more than many want to offer up.

I love these guys, many cannot stand them, & I can pretty much understand why.

I believe art should challenge our beliefs, make us examine all that we hold dear, help us to re-establish ourselves or re-imagine ourselves.

Zappa & Eliot do just that.

They will take you places you may not want to go, definitely out of your comfort zone. They will make that journey worth every gut-wrenching or side-splitting moment.

They will frustrate & amaze w/in about, oh, 3-5 seconds.

Man, I LOVE this stuff.

We went over the concepts of poetry & art, using Marianne Moore's "Poetry," the 1st line of which I do not believe. As usual, many of you had great ideas, today about the "meaning" of poetry & communication in general.

Sophomores:
You were asked to re-think the characters of Ismene & Antigone.

1 has changed, the other not so much.

We read scene 3 of Antigone.

Haimon learned from his daddy, I tell you: same rhetoric, same process of argumentation.

Oh, & Creon went from "kill her" to "kill her no, in front of him" to "take her somewhere where she'll die."

Sets up the coming scenes.

I LOVE this stuff, too.

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yours, mine, truth

Extreme, III Sides to Every Story

The "subtitle" to this one is "Yours, Mine, & the Truth."

I love that.

I love this album.

Also, the idea is fitting, given the conversation we have had about Houyhnhnms & the DFW piece & the idea of "truth" in general.

I may prefer Pornograffiti on certain days, but this one hits me in the head as well as the heart.

[SIDENOTE: any Guitar Hero players still around? The band's "Play With Me" was 1 of those "hardest-songs-ever," up there w/ Buckethead's  "Jordan"  & Dragonforce's "Through the Fire & Flames."]

"Yours" is the rockin' side, w/ "Politicalamity" continuing the band's creation-of-words motif; "Peacemaker Die" includes an excerpt of King's "I Have a Dream" speech, & "Cupid's Dead" just flat-out rocks.

"Mine," the mellower, ballad-y side, has 1 of the the funniest love songs ever written, "Tragic Comic."

& "The Truth" is a progressive tour-de-force, a 3-part, 20+ minute epic. It's called "Everything Under the Sun," & the parts are "Rise n Shine," " Am I Ever Gonna Change"  & "Who Cares?"

A fantastic, highly underrated near-masterpiece by a great band that never got a real foothold because of

(a) the length of their hair,
(b) the advent of "grunge," &
(c) their one big, huge monster hit, "More Than Words," which made people think they were Simon & Garfunkel & not a funky metal band.

Also, Nuno Bettencourt is a genius.

Yeah, I said it.

Later you'll hear more of his stuff, but if you're interested now, check out Mourning Widows (my favorite of his bands), Dramagods (bog melodic rock), Satellite Party (w/ Perry Farrell), & Population 1.

& how may I  connect this w/ you young'uns?

How about this: he toured as Rihanna's guitarist this year.

A lot of metalheads were quite angry.

I thought it was way, way cool.

Juniors:
You struggled to listen as my speakers struggled to give the amazingly quiet rendition of Eliot reading his own work.

I got a few words for you:

"O O O O that Shakespeherian Rag"

(& yes, that's how he spells it.)

If you didn't know it, you heard stuff from Hamlet, Greek mythology, the Upanishads, the Fisher King, selected plays, poems, stories, & myths.

It's all a heap of broken images.

& that's why it rules.

Sophomores:
An in-class open-book quiz on the stuff we had previously read aloud in class.

Many of you did quite well . . . & a few of you continue not to try.

We then looked at scene 2, in which things get downright conflict-heavy.

Creon's gonna kill Antigone.

Now Ismene wants to die fro the crime she did not commit.

(Wait--what!?!?!)

Antigone says, bring it on, big boy.

Will he kill his son's fiancee?

Will Antigone find a loophole in the law?

Will the sentry return?

Tune in tomorrow, same Greek time, same Greek channel.

(Also, bring your unit 4 definitions.)

&

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