David Raffin
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The good news is that I have neither the rocking’ pneumonia or the boogie woogie blues. The bad news, as explained by my doctor, is that I am in love with a ghost. “We refer to that as ghostly melancholia,” he said. “Always unrequited,” he added, “as ghosts are insubstantial.”
“What is the prognosis?” I asked.
“We usually treat this with ice cream and the collected sad songs of Johnny Cash. However, I must advise you that this almost always causes the condition to spiral into melancholia caused by eating too much ice cream and listening to too many sad songs, making one forget, but not entirely, the original malady.”
“You know,” I said, “I came in here to see about my hip impingement.”
“Who’s the doctor here?” he said, handing me a quart of vegan ice cream and a Johnny Cash box set.
– http://davidraffin.com
Philosophize This! by Stephen West
Lately I have been listening to Philosophize This! by Stephen West as he discusses pre-Socratic and Socratic philosophers. And it’s really very good. It’s even better if you imagine that the narrator is a talking owl. Adds a certain sense of veracity to the proceedings.
I mean, we’ve all heard you can’t cross the same river twice. But imagine an owl relaying this pre-Socratic wisdom to you. See?
Lunar living
The first three moon bases broken down: Luna A: old and staid; Luna B: the one to see, but I wouldn’t want to live there; Luna C: The place to be.
One eye open
“David Raffin is a witty writer and crafty performer. He also sleeps standing up, like a camel, which can be disconcerting, at first.”
– Richard Lindsay, artist and KBOO radio personality.
Perils of Free Thought
Perils of Free Thought (a book of no small danger) by David Raffin.
A book of jokes, anti-jokes, philosophy, and bears.
ebook: [amazon asin=B0080AGLNC&template=iframe image] print: [amazon asin=1490919112&template=iframe image]
Minty Rosa, Pretty Please
Once it starts it never stops. The album is driving. No dead spots. There are very few perfect albums – albums like the first Ramones record, NoMeansNo’s Wrong, Rikk Agnew’s All by Myself – albums that inspire a desire to listen over and over again. Pretty Please by Minty Rosa is such an album. The voice is melodic and strong, punctuated with feeling. The music is punchy and heavy. An irresistible mixture of driving hard rhythm and melody, and at times slow and bluesy, the album manages to sound simultaneously vintage and modern. This is the second release from the band and the first full album. The production value is very high, the sound clear and powerful. The members of Minty Rosa have been playing for years in various bands in the northwest music scene and the experience shows clearly on this release.