Heartattack and Vine (1980) – Tom Waits

Posted on June 16, 2022 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

Heartattack and Vine is the title track from Tom Wait’s 1980 album. What really struck me about the live performance below are the fabulous instrumentals of gutbucket blues with rock edges. Tom’s a great lyricist, storyteller and performer, but the atmosphere exuded by his band is fundamental in the appreciation of his music. Before hearing a song from the minstrel performer you always know you’re going to be challenged as a listener and Heartattack and Vine is such an immersive experience. Tom’s unconventional gnarley style of phrasing complements the messing with off-kilter rhythms of blues and jazz songs.

Boney’s high on china white, Shorty found a punk
Don’t you know there ain’t no devil? There’s just God when he’s drunk
Well this stuff’ll probably kill you, let’s do another line
What you say you meet me down on Heartattack and Vine?

See that little Jersey girl in the see-through top
With the pedal pushers, sucking on a soda pop
Well I bet she’s still a virgin, but it’s only twenty-five till nine
You can see a million of ’em on Heartattack and Vine

The song Heartattack and Vine takes its name from Hollywood and Vine in Hollywood referring to locations and details of Los Angeles (for example, Cahuenga is a street, and the local bus system was formerly known as the RTD).
Ben Winch at AllMusic wrote:
Heartattack and Vine, an apparently lesser-known transitional album from 1980, is far and away my favourite Tom Waits record, and the one I turn to when times are hard. In 1980, so the official history goes, Waits was on the verge of a breakthrough: living in New York City for the first time in his career, having just scored the Coppola film One from the Heart (“Broken Bicycles” is a high point), and alone as he ever had been or would be, he was only months from meeting future wife and collaborator Kathleen Brennan, who turned him onto Beefheart, scorned his sentimental balladeer former persona, and kickstarted the creative explosion of Swordfishtrombones, Raindogs, Frank’s Wild Years and everything since. 

Reference:
1. Heartattack and Vine – wikipedia

Tagged with: ,
Posted in Music

The AnkiDroid Collection (Part 19) – Vicarious, Paralogy & F.A.C.T

Posted on June 15, 2022 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

Ankidroid additions related to Science, History and Philosophy. More information about Anki can be found in this article.

Vicarious (adj.)

I heard this word mentioned often in the recent conversation between former deputy Prime Minister of Australia John Anderson and Lord Jonathan Sumption (pictured above) – Law in a Time of Crises.

Sumption’s glittering legal mind provides for insightful and challenging perspectives on various topics including lockdown, climate change, Brexit, and so-called ‘hate speech’. He is a a celebrated historian, barrister, and emeritus judge of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

Vicarious:
* Experience or realised through imaginative or sympathetic participation in the experience of another.
* Or performed or suffered in substitute for another.

Paralogy (noun)

A false meaning. A method of reasoning which contradicts logical rules.

F.A.C.T (Acronym for Learning Effectively)

I don’t know where I heard this, but I won’t forget it -FACT!:

F – Forget – Start with a beginner’s mind and that your learning is limitless

A – Active – Learn through creation, take notes and ask questions.

C – Curiosity – Get into the state of curiosity, excitement and wonder because information combined with emotion becomes a long-term memory.

T – Teach – When you teach something, you get to learn it twice.

Tagged with: , ,
Posted in Reading, Reflections

Heard it in a Love Song (1977) – Marshall Tucker Band

Posted on June 14, 2022 by observationblogger — 10 Comments

I first heard this song from one of my esteemed blogger enthusiasts; so thank you whoever that was. Heard it in a Love Song is the second track off the Marshall Tucker Band’s record Carolina Dreams. I really admire the gritty vocals and excellent work on the flute and guitars. The song is about a man who can’t and won’t settle down with a woman; so he’s packing up for other pastures because he has been somewhat of a vagabond and rambling man all along. There is a Mexican genre of music which is called ‘Musica de Despecho‘ which can be translated as Music done out of ‘spite’ – Spiteful. I think Heard it in a Love Song is the equivalent of such a sub-genre within southern country music.

I’m gonna be leavin’ at the break of dawn
Wish you could come but I don’t need no woman taggin’ along
Goin’ sneak out that door, couldn’t stand to see you cry
I’d stay another year if I saw a teardrop in your eye

The song launches with a joyous parading flute number like that of a songbird. It gives the listener the impression that the number will be a joyous, gleeful track and it is to some extent as the singer follows his aspirations of packing up and leaving town. But the song takes a different direction as the singer alludes to some hostility and regret about the cold-hearted woman he intends on leaving behind.

Heard it in a Love Song was the highest-charting single by The Marshall Tucker Band, reaching number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on June 11, 1977.  It also reached number 51 on the Country chart and number 25 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Heard It in a Love Song was a bigger hit in Canada, where it reached number 5 on the Pop chart.
The Marshall Tucker Band helped establish the Southern rock genre in the early 1970s. While the band had reached the height of its commercial success by the end of the decade, it has recorded and performed continuously under various line-ups for 50 years.

Reference:
1. Heard it in a Love Song – wikipedia

Tagged with: , ,
Posted in Music

6/05 – 12/06/22 Dopamine, an actual Top Gun & the Power of Observing

Posted on June 13, 2022 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

news on the march

Welcome to Monday’s News on the March – The week that was in my digital world.

Return to a Baseline of Dopamine – Jocko Willink & Andrew Huberman
Podcast at Jocko Podcast

This week’s News on the March features two fascinating video excerpts from Jocko Willink’s podcast. Jocko is a retired United States Navy officer who served in the Navy SEALs and is a former member of SEAL Team 3. His guest Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist and tenured Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. (Watch video excerpt here)

Actual TOP GUN, Dave Berke, reacts to TOP GUN Maverick with Jocko Willink
Podcast at Jocko Podcast

Someone commented in You tube about this short interview:
I was an AD (aircraft mechanic) for 8 years, including some time on a carrier flight deck. They put a lot of time into the details. They’re showing the hazards of the fight deck, how the nose gear attached to the cat, the violence of a trap and arrest, even when Mav was explaining how to run ground air to start the F14. For me, that blew me away. Things like that were put in there for guys like me. Even showing the E2 Hawkeye (my birds) and how it relays information. They NEVER show how that works. This movie was awesome! – nickfrito (View video excerpt here)

The Power of Observing, Alan Watts 4 hour Lecture
Lecture at Insight Fields

In the last couple of days I have been listening to Alan Watts lectures. He was an English writer, speaker and self-styled “philosophical entertainer”, known for interpreting and popularising Japanese, Chinese and Indian traditions of Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu philosophy for a Western audience.

He discusses in this lecture the importance of watching your thoughts; be a witness to them impartially and not being the subject of them.
‘Don’t be carried away by your own stream of consciousness..Be objective…Who is this Self, behind oneself? How to get grace by your power and how to get out of your own way.‘ (Watch lecture here)

news on the march the end

Tagged with: , ,
Posted in Health, Movies and TV, Reflections

Some Observations about Space – Time

Posted on June 12, 2022 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

This short piece presents some esoteric thoughts I observed from readings on Space – Time. I expect these ramblings will be refined with further reading, but this is so far what I could glean. There are two videos below which I have referred to in previous articles that are my precursors for delving into this:
1. The Secrets of Quantum Physics – BBC Four
2. The Physics and Philosophy of Time – Carlo Rovelli

Personally, it took me some time to digest these points; but they struck me when I thought I understood them. So here goes:

Space – Time is 4 dimensional. Space is 3 dimensional – length, breadth and height. Time is the 4th dimension. There is no gravitational force in Space – Time. Gravitational field is actual Space – Time (curved) and the electromagnetic field is located within it.

‘Time is nature’s way of ensuring that not everything happens at once‘. Our current reality is here; in a cross-section of time from a 5th dimensional vantage point. Could God (or The Logos according to Greek Philosophy) be that which created time – life?

Without mass travelling through Space then there would be no time to observe. Mass that is not moving is not creating time. So if everything stood still and the Earth stopped rotating at midnight then there would be no time.

Mass needs Space to travel in, so that we can measure and label it. If not, everything would exist in the eternal – here and now.

Tagged with: , ,
Posted in Reflections, Science

Heading for the Light (1988) – Traveling Wilburys

Posted on June 11, 2022 by observationblogger — 4 Comments
The age of the Travelling Wilburys in 1988

Stand up comedian Neal Brennan made the following observation about the Travelling Wilburys here:

“Was talking with friend about how impossibly old the Traveling Wilburys seemed when they released their music in 1988.

“I’ve listed their ages at the time. For some perspective, three of them are no longer alive.“

Someone responded with a GIF of Spinal Tap at the grave of Elvis Presley:

‘Too much. There’s too much fucking perspective now.’

Today’s aptly titled song Heading for the Light is a song by the British–American supergroup the Traveling Wilburys from their 1988 album Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1. It was written primarily by George Harrison but credited to all five members of the band. Harrison sings the song with Jeff Lynne, who also co-produced the track and, with Harrison, formulated the idea for starting the Wilburys.

In the interpretation of some Harrison biographers, Heading for the Light reflects his rediscovery of his spiritual purpose and reconnection with his deity. An upbeat rock track, the recording features excellent saxophone solos played by Jim Horn and recalls the sound of Harrison’s 1987 album Cloud Nine.

A lot more information about the Wilburys can be found in the other 4 articles I have written about their songs, but I was interested to read that George Harrison and Jeff Lynne first discussed the idea for the Traveling Wilburys in early 1987 when they were recording Cloud Nine, Harrison’s first album in five years. When Harrison suggested they should form their “dream” band, Lynne chose Roy Orbison as a potential bandmate, while Harrison’s first choice was Bob Dylan.

The Traveling Wilburys recorded the basic track for Heading for the Light between 7 and 16 May 1988 at a makeshift studio in David A. Stewart’s house in Los Angeles. Taped in the kitchen, the basic tracks for all the songs on the album typically featured the five band members on acoustic rhythm guitars accompanied by an Oberheim DMX drum machine.

Reference:
1. Heading for the Light – wikipedia

Tagged with: , ,
Posted in Music

Half Nelson (2006) – Ryan Fleck (Friday’s Finest)

Posted on June 10, 2022 by observationblogger — 8 Comments

One description of the movie Half Nelson I related to was ‘unsentimental’. This movie does not offer answers instead it reflects what the actor Gosling does in his role as a middle-school history teacher (as seen in the video below) which is ‘dialectics’ in concept and dialogical in implementation. 26 year-old Gosling was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance here.

IMDB Storyline:

Despite his dedication to the junior-high students who fill his classroom, idealistic teacher Dan Dunne leads a secret life of addiction that the majority of his students will never know. But things change when a troubled student Drey makes a startling discovery of his secret life, causing a tenuous bond between the two that could either end disastrously or provide a catalyst of hope.

The film grossed $2,697,938 in North America and $1,962,543 internationally for a worldwide gross of $4,660,481. The film’s budget was $700,000. The film has overwhelmingly positive critical reviews with an approval rating of 90%. I saw this just after it came out at the cinema and I was so impressed by its authenticity because it avoids the inspirational cliches. The film shows with astonishing clarity, the complexity of a talented man dragged down by a legacy of good intentions and addiction.

There is another fine movie about someone tormented by crack-cocaine which I revisited again recently called The Fighter by David Russell although that is not as nuanced and realistic as Half Nelson it satisfied a larger commercial base. Half Nelson is one of those few movies which lingered in my psyche well after seeing it although I second-guess’d if I enjoyed the movie. I related to it from personal experience.

Dan played by Gosling is filled with the kind of optimism that many of us had coming right out of college, when we cared passionately about our beliefs and believed we could make others care as much about them. However, Dan’s promise as a teacher is severely limited by his addiction to crack, which consumes his personal life.

Interesting Trivia:
The film was shot in 23 days and finished one day ahead of schedule…..Gosling moved to New York for one month before shooting began, immersing himself in the life of his character. He lived in a small apartment in Brooklyn and spent time shadowing 8th grade teacher David Easton.

Reference:
1. Half Nelson: Wikipedia

Tagged with: , ,
Posted in Movies and TV

Hay Poder – Generacion 12

Posted on June 9, 2022 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

This song ‘Hay Poder’ (There is Power) was written by Generation 12 from the International Charismatic Mission Church in Bogota. Even after reading their web site, I was unable to ascertain what the ‘MCI’ logo meant. Thank God for wikipedia which can enlighten us ol’ fogies what MCI stands for and relieve one from paranoid thinking about Intelligence agencies and such.

Charismatic churches aren’t my cup of tea in the religious fellowship sense, especially these days or even in the days I was part of one; but they can produce good music, which I believe they have done here.

Soy redimido, y mis pecados tu llevaste (I am redeemed, and my sins you bore)
En esa cruz (on that cross)
Hoy nos postramos, ante el cordero (Today we prostrate, before the lamb)
Que nos salvó, nos santificó (That we were saved and sanctified us)

In 2016, the attendance at MCI was estimated in 25,000 people and it’s considered a Christian cult (according to wikipedia). Should I be relaying this song? It seems a bit like pyramid-selling and who would have thought that coming from here, Colombia?
It’s written, ‘Every member is encouraged to become a cell group leader and have 12 disciples just as Jesus did‘.

A true story… when I was first appointed in my profession years ago I was enticed by a senior person who happened to be an ‘Amway‘ member to join the Amway pyramid scheme. I even went to central Melbourne for dinner and got given the Amway product-market speech from someone up-higher on the chain than him. I think I still had to pay for my dinner.

I hope that doesn’t all detract from enjoying today’s featured track. It’s a pretty good song! y’all! Don’t throw out the baby with the Amway magazines, just yet.

Tagged with: , ,
Posted in Music

Nirvana – Tom Waits reads Charles Bukowski

Posted on June 8, 2022 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

Today’s Wednesday literature post features a reading by Tom Waits of Charles Bukowski’s poem Nirvana. Jordan Peterson uses it in his presentation below to great effect. If you want to just listen to Tom’s narration you can watch it from 4:15 in the video or read it in its entirety below. I have read a lot of books by Bukowski and some of his poetry and I’m always impressed by his innate talent as a writer. Bukowski had a way with these small scenes, a way of estranging the ordinary.

Tom Waits’ reading of Nirvana comes closest, perhaps, to the world-weary Bukowski’s voice, and the images and music that accompany Waits’ grizzled sigh convey the dreary grit of the real world of bus travel, not as it looks in the movies, but as it looks from the road: the bleak sameness of highways and the way the snow is oily.

Nirvana – Charles Bukowski

Not much chance
Completely cut loose from purpose
He was a young man riding a bus through North Carolina
On the way to somewhere and it began to snow
And the bus stopped at a little cafe in the hills
And the passengers entered
And he sat at the counter with the others and he ordered
The food arrived
And the meal was particularly good, and the coffee
The waitress was unlike the women he’d known
She was unaffected, and there was a natural humor which came from her
And the fry cook said crazy things and the dishwasher in back laughed a good, clean, pleasant laugh
And the young man watched the snow through the window
And he wanted to stay in that cafe forever
The curious feeling swam through him
That everything was beautiful there
And it would always stay beautiful there
And then the bus driver told the passengers that it was time to board
And the young man thought, I’ll just stay here, I’ll just stay here
But then he rose and he followed the others into the bus
He found his seat and he looked at the cafe through window
Then the bus moved off, down a curve
Downward, out of the hills
The young man looked straight forward
And he heard the other passengers speaking of other things
Or they were reading or trying to sleep
And they hadn’t noticed the magic
And the young man put his head to one side, closed his eyes, and pretended to sleep
There was nothing else to do-
Just to listen to the sound of the engine
And the sound of the tires in the snow

Tagged with: , , ,
Posted in Reading

Hard to Say I’m Sorry (1982) – Chicago

Posted on June 7, 2022 by observationblogger — 4 Comments

Along with ‘If You Leave Me Now‘ and ‘You’re the Inspiration‘, ‘Hard to Say I’m Sorry‘ is in my trilogy of favourite power ballads by the American rock band Chicago. I remember their music being played a lot at family parties in my youth. I still like to hear them on the odd occasion. It was the group’s second No. 1 single and spent twelve weeks in the top 5 of the Billboard. The single was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance and certified Gold by the Recording Industry.
Like most other ballads, I prefer listening to the verses of the song for the crescendo of emotions they invoke and this song’s verses always hit the spot. Interestingly their verses are interrupted by a mini-bridge – ‘Hold me now‘.., which links the verse to the chorus and is something unique and powerful.
But I remain disappointed how Hard to Say I’m Sorry is concluded with that big band cheap 80’s sound detracting all the instinctive romantic intensity proceeding it.

“Everybody needs a little time away”
I heard her say, from each other
Even lovers need a holiday
Far away, from each other

Hold me now
It’s hard for me to say I’m sorry
I just want you to stay

Hard to Say I’m Sorry was written by bassist Peter Cetera, who also sang lead on the track. He has a fantastic voice for such ballads and obviously took the world by storm for the don he was given / mastered. The song, as well as the album on which it is featured (Chicago 16), was a marked departure from Chicago’s traditional soft rock, horn-driven sound, taking on a polished and modern feel. Chicago made a music video for the song (see below) and according to Cetera, the videos for “Hard to Say I’m Sorry” and “Love Me Tomorrow” were shot on the same day.

The group which originated from Chicago was initially called the Chicago Transit Authority in 1968, and then soon after shorterned the name. In September 2008, Billboard ranked Chicago at number thirteen in a list of the top 100 artists of all time for Hot 100 singles chart success. They are one of the world’s best-selling groups of all time, having sold more than 100 million records. In 1971, Chicago was the first rock act to sell out Carnegie Hall for a week.

References:
1. Hard to Say I’m Sorry – wikipedia
2. Chicago (band) – wikipedia

Tagged with: , ,
Posted in Music

Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 753 other subscribers

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨