I've spent the last 20 years cajoling, promising, telling myself that I would get back into recording my songs and music, and I haven't done jack. Well, not exactly nothing– there have been some recordings… pretty halfhearted. Anyway, point is, I think I finally understand that I need to take some baby steps, so I've decided to just start laying the fuckers down: fragments, shards, snippets, whatever. And I'm gonna call them Very Small Songs.
First up: Whale Train
The best spam email I’ve received in a long time, courtesy of one Eulah Pillsbury:
Hello gorgeous! (:
I really wanna know you!
My name is Eulah.
I expect to read something interesting ))
This makes me smile every time I read it.
There’s enough to go around for everybody– anybody tells you different, call the undertaker, they’re dead inside.
Earlier this year, I visited my sister-in-law and her family in Cambridge on my way home from Cork, Ireland, and she sent Alain de Botton’s Religion for Atheists along to my wife. After about 10-15 years of on and off again engagement with several religious traditions (Quakerism and Zen Buddhism primarily), I think I’ve finally come to grips with the fact that I don’t have faith in any kind of external force or intelligence beyond what one might call natural laws; in essence, I’ve decided I’m just not gonna fight it any longer.
I think that what has attracted me to religious programs has been some of the community aspects that de Botton describes (oh, and of course, the promise of some existence beyond our brief corporeal lives). But my involvement has always felt forced and illegitimate, and I’m no longer willing to entertain the contradictions that permeate organized religion. I think I’m done.
Posted in Aeterne
The Cat and the Canary (1927)
Relatives of an eccentric millionaire gather in his spooky mansion on the 20th anniversary of his death for the reading of his will.
Posted in Uncategorized
In all candor, I sneered as I added The Commune to my Netflix queue, and expected to sneer as I watched. And indeed, I did sneer a bit at the beginning, but as I heard the stories and pondered the implications of Black Bear Ranch, my respect for these courageous souls grew. Here is life in all its chaos and splendor, but here, too, is an attempt to live as freeborn people in a way that honors personal intent as well as collective responsibility.
Posted in Uncategorized
In all candor, I sneered as I added The Commune to my Netflix queue, and expected to sneer as I watched. And indeed, I did sneer a bit at the beginning, but as I heard the stories and pondered the implications of Black Bear Ranch, my respect for these courageous souls grew. Here is life in all its chaos and splendor, but here, too, is an attempt to live as freeborn people in a way that honors personal intent as well as collective responsibility.
Stefan
Sent from my iPadPosted in Uncategorized
Posted in Uncategorized
About a month ago, I placed an order for some records through a British merchant, Greedbag, that maintains storefronts for artists– in this case, two of the five original Throbbing Gristle albums that had been remastered and reissued on vinyl. Directly after placing the order, I noticed on TG’s website that there was an American distributor, Forced Exposure. I realized immediately that the shipping costs would be dramatically lower, so I sent an email to Greedbag requesting to cancel the order. They replied the next morning saying that the order had not gone through, and that I would not be charged. At that point, I placed the order through Forced Exposure.
Several weeks later, on the morning that we left for California for Thanksgiving, I received an email from Greedbag indicating that my order had shipped! I immediately emailed them back to remind them that the order had been cancelled, and forwarded the earlier email thread to them. They emailed me back saying ‘not to worry’– the email had been a mistake, and nothing had been shipped. Great.
Upon arriving back in Austin, I was surprised to discover that I had a package from Greedbag with the record order I thought had been cancelled. I checked online to see if I had been charged for the order, and I discovered that I had been charged AND refunded, so I was faced with a dilemma (and not the one you’re thinking of…): there was no question that I was going to let Greedbag know about the error, and my first thought was that I would contact them and request a shipping label to send it back.
However, in the meantime, I had learned that a local record store, End of An Ear, was also carrying the reissues, and so I thought that, provided End of An Ear were willing, I would save Greedbag the shipping costs by exchanging the duplicates for two of the other reissues. They were, and I did. I then set out to contact Greedbag with this information, and here is the conversation that ensued:
—————————-
From: Stefan Keydel <keydel@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Your Throbbing Gristle Store order (ref #4897250170147)
Date: December 3, 2011 2:40:18 PM CST
To: Throbbing Gristle Store <tg@greedbag.com>
Hello,
I appreciate that you refunded my money; however, you DID send the merchandise 🙂
I was able to exchange the two records at a local record store (End of An Ear) for the other two Gristle LPs, so if you would like to charge me for them (perhaps less postage), that would be fine.
Please let me know how you’d like to proceed.
Thanks,
Stefan
—————————————-
From: Throbbing Gristle Store <tg@greedbag.com>
Subject: Your Throbbing Gristle Store order (ref #4897250170147)
Date: December 4, 2011 1:26:15 PM CST
To: Stefan Keydel <keydel@gmail.com>
Hi Stefan
Why did you not contact us prior to exchanging them with an unknown record store? As we had refunded you these records they technically remained our property
We would therefore be very grateful if you could place an order for the 2 vinyl you received immediately.
Please send us an email when you have placed the order.
Thanks! Greedbag on behalf of the:
Throbbing Gristle Store
—————————————-
Okay… So, I volunteer that I’ve received merchandise in error at no charge, and then I get scolded for having tried to do the right thing? Indeed, my intent in exchanging the records was to save Greedbag the cost of shipping them back to the UK.
And I replied as such:
———————————-
From: Stefan Keydel <keydel@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Your Throbbing Gristle Store order (ref #4897250170147)
Date: December 5, 2011 8:01:29 AM CST
To: Throbbing Gristle Store <tg@greedbag.com>
Wow! I confess that, when I imagined your response upon learning that the records had been sent to me in error, it never occurred to me that I would be scolded for having done the honorable thing in letting you know. Indeed, I thought that, by exchanging them with a local record store and having you charge me for them, I was doing you a favor by saving you the expense of paying for the postage to return them to you.
Well, as Oscar Wilde put it, ‘no good deed goes unpunished.’
Be that as it may, I’m happy to place the order; however, I would prefer not to be charged for postage, as it was in order to save those costs that I cancelled the order in the first place. Just let me know how I can do this, and I will place the order.
Thank you,
Stefan
———————————-
And the reply?
———————————–
From: Throbbing Gristle Store <tg@greedbag.com>
Subject: Your Throbbing Gristle Store order (ref #4897250170147)
Date: December 5, 2011 10:03:37 AM CST
To: Stefan Keydel <keydel@gmail.com>
Hi Stefan
Please re-order the 2 records on the store again.
We will then process your payment.
Throbbing Gristle Store
————————————–
Are they total dicks? Or am I being too sensitive? What would you do in my position?
Posted in Imponderabilia, The Unexpected
Posted with Blogsy
Read It Or Not 