The (New & Improved) HYENA KITCHEN

Change. Everything changes Philosophers to songwriters. . . even the mirror, all note it. Constant. Overwhelming at times from those things gone, to those things new that no sense; at times, enough to bring you to your knees regardless just one day don’t be such a motherfucker, huh?  

      O kay Apple Scruffs, here we are on the anniversary of The Beatles ’ impromptu final concert on the rooftop at 3 Saville Row - and now thanks to Pete Jackson and Disney - it is the hype that keeps on hyping. A live performance of five songs (multiple takes), just under 40 minutes in the brutal cold of a London January, that they thought would be a nice ending for the Get Back film project.   Pulled off on a whim, until the police “bumbled in” and shut things down.   Unquestionably a moment of rock history, but now the Complete Rooftop Concert is available as a digital download - thanks, we all have the bootleg and starting today you can see the concert on IMAX screens worldwide.   More hype, more money, more, more, more. Didn’t you guys see this already in Part Three???   A restored Let It Be in IMAX theaters? Now that I’d be all over.        Like it or not, we’ve already been subjected to the long and winding hype that ...

                Hey everybody and welcome to The Graffiti Edition of New Music Friday - Good Graffiti should always carry a positive message - as with the above words scrolled somewhere on walls of Joe Rogaine’s office. Speaking of the senseless controversy stirred up publicists last week, does anyone get the idea that Neil Young has a new album out??? Best publicity is controversy, and NO ONE knows that better than Mr. Young - well, maybe S***ify and Shecky Rogaine do now, but I’ll bet it’s a lesson lost. Neil Young -with his band, Crazy Horse released the album/CD/cassette - Barn [Reprise] as mentioned last week, right here.  It’s the same old angry Neil (now 75) and Crazy Horse has never sounded better - running the range from rage - “Change Ain’t Never Gonna’ - to soft with - “Welcome Back “.  Available everywhere (except S***ify) even Sirius/XM has re-launched their Neil Young Channel.   There...

            S hortly after the 1910 wedding of Montague & Frida, the floodgates of Human Stupidity opened wide, turning a number of smaller villages into Resort Lakes - a phenomena termed Havasu - based on the Latin word meaning dessert beachfront RV park. The word would not come into common use until the late 1950’s.   It was on the shores of Lake Garda Margarette Leshay, a small Hungarian terrier with ties to the Russian Circus, begged for the hand of Marionette impresario Gustav Pulaski. Sadly, nuptials never came to be when Pulaski was killed in the bombing of the Ferrovia Train Depot during the final days of World War I. Margarette lived out her final days in the Paris dancehalls of the 1920s. Yet Human Stupidity survived both war and rejection.

 As hard as I tried to focus today, none of the words I typed showed up on the screen. Tried hitting PRINT and simply recycled paper.  Took the day as a REST day until I came across a Post from ten years ago on this date regarding the same thing. Now, it's possible this happens all the time and I don't make note of it, but I think until therapy reveals the issue I have with January 25th - I'll just blame the 25th. Baja Christmas??? Nah, just a day. . . so, when blocks appear, you lean on those who inspire you Sam Sheppard, Hank Bukowski, Guy, Townes or Blaze - but since I'm not in the mood to get drunk, I think I'll turn to the late great Joan Didion - See you tomorrow,

  “I was sitting in the Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel.                                  I was staring in my empty coffee cup. . .”* Here’s a vintage postcard from the Hawaiian Hotel (now the Princess Grace Apartments). Always reminds me of my friend Warren Zevon - gone now almost 19 years. The postcard is a dead ringer for my first Los Angeles apartment and my Carmelita lifestyle - mariachi static, living on Pioneer Chicken and the glow from the tubes of my radio - where I woke one morning to 6’ waves rocking the pool, courtesy of the 1987 earthquake. It was my desperado time and I’m lucky (grateful) to have survived long enough to escape Hollywood. though I'm still staring in empty coffee cup. . . [The Hawaiian Hotel, is also where Ray Davies wrote the Kink’s “Celluloid Heroes.” And where  Fleetwood Mac guitarist Jeremy Spencer shared a room with Mick Fleetwood.   He left to visit a bo...

       T oday as the Doomsday Clock is moved closer to Midnight, historians have pinpointed the origin of Societal Stupidity, the moment "personal opinion" shifted, allowing the broad range of human idiocy we now experience on a daily basis. When in January of 1910, amateur Phd. and poultry philanthropist Dr. Montague Camden legally wed his long-time companion and research assistant, his dachshund Frida. The couple remained married for (dog) 70 years, while Camden continued his work with free range chickens.  Camden and his “wife’s” remains were interred at the Stockholm Institute of the Absurd, upon Camden’s death. Human behavior has been in question since.

                  Hey there Cats and Kittens, welcome back to (the long overdue) New Music Friday - or, as I’m calling it this week, Sad Music Friday.   Today’s word is longevity, can you say that? In searching through the dozen new releases of auto-tune/emo (C)rap and for some reason, bluegrass (???), that I’ve never heard of, I have to wonder which of these will be deleted/replaced with next week’s Spotify song of the day.   I know I’m showing my age when I say this all sounds the same AND as always, I don’t buy that any of this is what the NPR hosts are really listening to, nor are the people buying iann dior listening to NPR.   Do we really need to analyze “how effortlessly he shifts between genres” when next week’s flavor will autotune another playlist?   Only two names standout on every new music list this week - Aoife O’Donovan and Janis Ian .   O’Donovan’s third solo releas...

  DAY 5   Sittin’ in stillness Watching the squall When will the wind Gather us all? In a pile down the street Pushed to the curb Where were we clog over the drain And flood the streets When the wind turns to rain -- pouring over the eves, And clings to the stillness like yesterday’s leaves.  © 2022. JPL. All Rights Reserved.

 

Good Day! Good Day! Not often these days that we can say that twice.  But today is one of those days when spirit, mind, and body are all in harmony.  Magic music is in the air (ears) courtesy of the late great Dr. John and a little pre-Buck/Nicks Fleetwood Mac (Penguin) - Go forth into the world on guilded splinters and revelate, spread a little gris gris on your front steps and embrace the damn day. Good Day!

      

                      Nor is it a Disco. The Mudd Club. Or C.B.G.B.s                    He obviously, does not have time for that . . .

  IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE NORTH POLE: Please DO NOT bag your tree for recycling this year for the next 48 hours. Gently place it on its side near, in close proximity to you trash cans. In the early hours of Dec 25 th , Vixen lost her cell phone somewhere on the North America run and is despondent - seems the phone contains years of Reindeer game photos and one embarrassing jpeg of Santa.   Teams are being dispatched to retrieve the phone this weekend. Thank you for your cooperation.   And PLEASE, as always, Reindeer Season is NOT open, sports enthusiasts are urged to use good judgement. Remember, the big guy sees you when your shooting. THANK YOU.

    I ’ve not posted anything beyond my heart break, regarding the passing of Bob Saget.   Nor do I think I will here, I have no words.   He was one of the first headline comics to befriend me, the quickest and funniest and to echo everyone else - the nicest guy you’d ever want to meet. I have a hard time making sense of a world were my three kindest supports of my vain attempts at stand-up - Richard Jeni, Robin Williams, and now Bob - are all gone.   I’ve got a $1.25, gonna buy some fishsticks, RIP!!!

             We’re always a little suspect of our own talent.   You can try hard, write your ass off but you still fear that people are gonna catch you at - figure out that you’re tap dancing as hard as you can, just to get by.   Most of us want to offer the world something. There are countless writing prompts, classes, scams - all designed to take your money (& dreams) and waste your efforts. Just write!   There are dozens of the same for musicians. Just write and play. There’s even one I see all the time, to perfect your doddles - and lead you into the lucrative world of Internet Doodling - then, apparently you can get rich offering your own course. Not to mention the availability of endless crafts from knitting and needlepoint to adult coloring books and stamping - all from the safety of your living room couch. Just Create!             But most of us - myself included - so I...

            There was a time that I saw everything released.   Some weeks I would go see a movie every night.   Art House things at 11:45 pm - on a work night yet. Retro Houses on Saturday or (and) Sunday afternoons - Harryhausen, Marx Brothers, Flynn, Bogie. Then -- after the kids came along -- it was a little multi-plex, second run, dollar house.   I checked once, in 1988 I saw EVERYTHING that was released.   I bought copies of everything that I really liked - and found I never watched them. . .             Then along came something called Netflix. I could make a list and they would send the movie to me. Small films that I no longer had to seek out - could watch in the comfort of my living room - at 11:45 pm, on a work night.   Then Netflix decided I should have their entire collection at my fingertips, hmmmm.   Netflix begat Crave. . .and Pri...

I am truly embarrassed. At moment of social media frustration, I remember that I have my own Blog. Why am I posting rants in other venues? So I open MY page, only to discover I've not posted since July of last year. Really? What have I been doing other than drinking coffee?  Surely, in the year known only as 2021 could not have escaped me without comment, maybe I was giving into all it offer (and took).  But No More. 2022 is here with all new posts - and all the old acerbic vehemence you've come to expect from me - well, at least that's my intent.