More Than True

David Raffin

Do not tell ’em Show ’em. Or t’other way ’round. Whatever.

July 7, 2015 Writing

Due to the heat I have written you a poem:
All the fishes in the sea have sent a letter addressed to me. Mostly they were just interested in saying “hi” but also expressing a wish that we eat more pie. For the best pies are made from the fruit of the trees and do not contain anything which swims in the seas. I wrote them back to ask “Why me?” And they said, “We got your name from a bumblebee.”
“Ah,” said I, “I know it* well.”
“Yes,” said the fishes, “It said you were really swell.”

The cock crows at the sun, via Momentcam

The cock crows at the sun

Cherry is my favorite of all pies. Do not tell the other pies.

Magic fishes grant wishes. They grant only one due to austerity. So whatever you wish for say it with clarity.

—

(* Bumblebee neither a he nor a she but a drone. And we all drone on. Like the sea, and the stars, and the sun.)

There is nothing civil about this war

June 29, 2015 Info Links Writing

Since Bree Newsome took down the Confederate battle flag isn’t she a war hero? A living civil war veteran?

Only non-racists get to eat ice cream.

Only non-racists get to eat ice cream.

She, with the help of Jimmy Tyson scaled the flagpole at the capitol of South Carolina and removed the Confederate battle flag placed there because the state of South Carolina is unhappy that they are forced to live in a multicultural society. A group of supporters observed from the ground. But the state of South Carolina put the flag back up less than an hour later. In time for an important rally for white supremacy. They actually had a rally for white supremacy scheduled that morning. It was on the schedule. Someone called and said, “We’re coming for a rally for white power on the capitol grounds. Is the Confederate battle flag still waving proudly?” And the clerk in the South Carolina office of white supremacist coordination and battle flag raising said, “The Confederate battle flag is waving proudly every day here. This is South Carolina.” Then he (or she, they’ve come a long way in South Carolina) said “White Power!” And the rally organizer answered “White Power!” And they each hung up.

Taking down the confederate battle flag, on the other hand, was an unscheduled act. So the state of South Carolina have arrested Bree Newsome and Jimmy Tyson and charged them with “defacing monuments on state capitol grounds” regardless of the fact that someone already defaced the state capitol by flying the battle flag of the Confederacy, the historic enemy of the USA, like the Third Reich or ISIS. And until Bree Newsome and Jimmy Tyson came along, no one had the civic pride to do something about it.

Would it have made any difference if they called ahead and scheduled the clean up? I’m just confused about what it is that is really bothering South Carolina. I don’t think most states would mind if I went to their capitols and helped dispose of some trash, on my own time. Depending on the state I might even be awarded some sort of civic pride badge.

So, South Carolina is holding Bree Newsome and Jimmy Tyson, US civil war POWs, and threatening them with up to 3 years in prison as political prisoners and up to a $5,000 fine for non-littering.

But isn’t South Carolina insisting on flying the Confederate battle flag treason?

But the important thing is that the white supremacists had a nice rally at the capitol. The confederate battle flag was waving. There was some potato salad and other white foods, like white bread and mayonnaise. And everyone had a nice time and nobody got killed.

Supporters of the Confederate battle flag, claiming they are being misrepresented would now like to have a national discussion about that flag and what it really means. What it means is, if that is your flag, you are a loser.
The US already fought the civil war. If some southern states insist on fighting it again they will go down in history as two time losers.

This will not end well. Except for Bree Newsome and Jimmy Tyson. They are going to get veteran benefits dating back to May 09, 1865.

http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/DropTheFlagDropTheCharges/

* The comparison of some southern states to Germany is a flawed analogy, I admit. Germany is ashamed of its disreputable past.

 

Xirt yo’self 

June 29, 2015 Personal Writing

I have a rabbit on each shoulder. I know what you’re thinking: “One is good one is evil.” But you’re wrong. They’re both evil.

rabbits

They are both white rabbits and they get a lot of mileage out of this. There is a certain trust engendered in the white rabbit by society, as people are trained from an early age to follow them wherever they may lead without asking any questions, even if we all end up in a bunker far underground.

It makes me hopping mad!

But I always feel I am running late and that time is running out and I need to hop to it.

And it does nothing for my nerves, these rabbits, hopping up and down on my shoulders, as if every day and night were a rabbit holiday.

Do not even get me started about the bird on my head.

The ghosts of vinyl past and digital presents

June 23, 2015 Info Music Writing

In the old days I would frequent record shops and select albums by their covers. This worked out more often then you would think. I judged them by the cover, front and back.

Things I miss about albums are their smell and their design elements. The smell of new records as well as, and more importantly, the smell of old. Just like books, records have an attractive smell, and the old ones smell the best. Like books you are smelling the slow decomposition of the paper and cardboard, which I am assured has a chemical relationship to vanilla. And, in the case of records, petroleum, I am sure.

Do you know why they call them albums? Because in even earlier days records were thick slabs which played at 78 RPM. The records were nearly as large as later LPs (standing for “long playing” compared to 78s) but each side played only about 3 minutes. These records were often sold in an “album” collection of records, like a photo album; a book of records, a book of sounds. I have seen these things in an antique store with my own eyes.

With later LPs came not just longer plays but better packaging. Inserts, liner notes, creative packaging. The Canadian band The Guess Who released an album in 1973, their tenth, Artificial Paradise. The packaging resembled a sweepstakes mailer, with inserts. The San Francisco punk band Flipper released an album in 1984 (Gone Fishin’) which could be cut apart to make a tour van, and a double live album in 1986 (Public Flipper Limited) which spread out to make a board game.

[amazon asin=B0014GDD08&template=iframe image][amazon asin=B001OXEPR6&template=iframe image][amazon asin=B0040OU4PI&template=iframe image]

But the sad truth is I hate flipping over records. And I like the superior search ability and space saving of digital books and records.

So, here are my suggestions from bandcamp, the digital equivalent of ordering records and demos by mail-order from the pages of MaximumRock’n’Roll. Except you can listen to them before sending money.  Continue reading…

Motives and motifs

June 18, 2015 Books My books Writing

At the Existential Sandwich Shop by David Raffin In my upcoming release “At the Existential Sandwich Shop,” like the previous “Perils of Free Thought,” I talk intermittently of bears and robots.
That is because I am a robot bear.
Thank you in advance for your understanding.

There is also a reoccurring motif of baloons.