JOE DOLCE NEWSLETTER
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Friday August 28th, 2009
Whatsa Matta You?
" Ask an impertinent question,
and you are on the way to a pertinent answer."
Jacob Bronowski
Hi folks,
‘Whatsa matta you?’ Eh? Now there’s question for a lawn mower if I’ve ever heard one. It came disguised as a pop song, too. So what’s the pertinent answer? Ah, shaddap you face, of course. (Actually, more of an impertinent reply - remember it was the 80s.) Today the answer might be: ‘Ask-a Dr Phil.’
I’ll be appearing on Leo Dale’s www.digitalpill.tv show doing a songwriting workshop on ‘The Difference Between Poetry and Lyrics.’ I’ll let you know when that goes online and I will also include a written workshop on the same theme in the newsletter that comes out in that week.
‘Marching With Martin Luther King Jr’ has been included in the fantastic Dr. King tribute website in the States. I encourage everyone to look and listen to some of the fine songs by many different artists from around the world. Here is an introduction to my song by the founder of the site Maya Indigo Armstrong:
http://www.thedreamcontinued.org/documents/mayaspage.php?entry_id=1251092547
The song and clip:
http://www.thedreamcontinued.org//documents/newlist.php?entry_id=1251090676
By the way, speaking of Dr. Phil, I referred to him in a song I wrote recently. As a kind of light and nostalgic relief from writing poetry and serious art songs, in my spare time, I am writing some late sixties-style pop songs tentatively titled ‘Tales from Painesville.’ I have always loved the style of songwriting from that period, Lennon-McCartney, Ray Davies, even Gerry and the Pacemakers, (good name for a bunch of old rockers, eh?) which later evolved into the folk-rock pop of The Byrds and The Band - the raw but pristine arrangements and interwoven melodic and lyrical themes.
The Kid is Out of Control
You tried the pills
and the Doctor Phils,
you watch Jerry Springer Show,
your nerves are nearly shot,
The Kid is Out of Control
In every fight,
you've got to be right,
your stubborn streak has taken its toll.
You taught them oh so well,
The Kid is Out of Control
You wonder what the hell you're gonna do
when they're swearing and they're slamming doors.
You're askin' why they don't respect their elders
when you never respected yours.
You loved The Who,
That rebel point of view -
hoped you 'die before you ever grow old'.
Well, you're the old fool now,
The Kid is Out of Control
In every fight,
you've got to be right,
your stubborn streak has taken its toll.
You taught them oh so well,
The Kid is Out of Control
~ Joe Dolce ~
FAVOURITE LETTERS OF THE WEEK
Dear Joe,
Re: The War Mouse
Hey thanks Joe, I will show [my daughter] Tabitha, she will be thrilled !
I loved the way she would just put something in that made sense to her!
You may like this one too:
" I am a lion some sucker scrawled
I am a lion on a city wall ................ " ( almost Clapton)
I was always meaning to write them down, but most times I couldn't stop laughing.
Cheers, Stephen Dunlevey
Hi Joe
Sixes and Circles at the Same Time
– nope, it’s not a gendered thing – I can’t do it either, although I have trained myself to pat my head and rub my tummy at the same time! And I have a friend whose daughter used to talk about sailing from Hobart to Melbourne on the Evil Tasman.
Your weekly newsletter keeps me sane my friend – please don’t stop. And my condolences too on your Dad’s passing – never easy whatever your age.
Cheers, Judy Small
(Note: The Evil Tasman – isn’t that the one where they put a coin in your mouth to pay the boatman?)
Joe,
Sixes and Circles at the Same Time
This is spooky! I met Glenys [Anderson] some time back and found we had an extraordinary number of things in common (as indeed did my wife when we caught up with Glenys on our overland trip to Qld a few weeks back). It seems to extend to the [sixes and circles thing] - I too do it with ease. Collyn Rivers (non-macho male)
Joe,
Sixes and Circles at the Same Time
Sent this to an Australian friend, and after a small delay he reported back that if you draw the figure 6 clockwise, the rotation described as not possible can be done with ease. I tried it, and he was correct. I then found that once one has done this it doesn't matter which direction one draws the six and one can rotate the foot either direction. Don't know how long the effect lasts. Is it related to handedness (right- or left-), or goofyfootedness? A PET study of all this would be very interesting. As you know, California is currently going around in circles anyway, so it might be difficult to establish a proper control. --Dick, CA
Dear Joe,
More 6's and circles (this is a long one, but someone asked, and i have more questions too...)
that kind of co-ordination stuff is so weird. there must be some reason why we are mostly wired in certain patterned ways, and why it can be so difficult to try to break those natural patterns.
. . . i started to play piano when i was a very little kid--about 4. i listened to my nan do it at her house, and i was immediately able to imitate her--playing different things with each hand. but a bit later, when i was teaching myself boogie woogie piano, it was suddenly a bit tricky to learn to co-ordinate the various repeated left hand patterns with the proper syncopation of the right hand, even though i could already do that in other styles. with certain patterns it was easier than with others, and it did not seem to have to do with the complexity of the left-hand pattern. the more complicated new-orleans style rhumba pattern was easier for me to play on top of than the classic pete johnson/albert ammons/meade lux -type left hand pattern was. that style took hours of work for my right hand to become free on top of. but all of those patterns were, oddly, more difficult to learn than bach fugues, which have not only each hand, but sometimes several individual fingers within the hand playing separate melodies.
and yet, there is a sameness in the feeling when it finally locks in. and once it locks in, it's there permanently (i guess, barring some kind of brain injury).
from occasionally teaching people boogie-woogie basics, i've noticed that every person has different left hand patterns which are more natural to them. you can't, as a teacher, pick a "basic, easy one" and teach from there. you have to try out a bunch of them with every individual to locate the most natural one to start with.
and again, back when i was an already-piano-playing kid, i remember another kid challenged me to try something. you know when you point your hands or fingers towards each other and then spin them around, making circles either forward or backward.....the challenge was to try to spin one hand forward and the other backward. much like the 6/circle thing, my body didn't want to do that naturally. but by using the same type of concentration, sort of "looking for the feeling" that i'd been using to learn hand independence on piano, i was able to lock into the co-ordination. and then it was there permanently. almost as if the body ultimately learns to do something quite independently from the mind. the same thing happened with the 6/circle. after a brief struggle, the key was located, and then i could it.
every musician seems different, though. you would think a drummer would make very easy work of the 6/circle thing, since drumming requires individual limbs and parts of limbs to do such different things. i know with drums (since i'm not a drummer), i am fine until i try to add the high-hat in, and then i fall apart, and have to spend hours trying to find the "co-ordination key".
and yet, the drummer in my band, who is a very fine and high-level drummer who can play very complex jazz and latin patterns, decided to take up guitar just last year. and even now, he still has trouble trying to get his two hands to do two different things. for him, even trying to play and change the basic first position chords and strum is difficult, and if he tries to sing whilst doing that, it gets even worse. i know for me, i was able to play and change chords and strum and sing the very first time i ever picked up a guitar at about age 11. and a lot of other people i know were like that. basic guitar co-ordination seems to be quite natural for a lot of people. but finger-picking is the 6/circle activity on guitar which often confounds people.
there is a guitar player i've known for a long time who has now become quite popular as a sideman for his unique and distinctive style. i don't want to say his name without his permission. he does not seem to approach the instrument the same way as anyone else does.
i remember saying that to him quite early on after first meeting him. what he told me is that he has an unusual condition which seems to be genetic in which, in his natural state, he has no hand independence at all. one hand will only do exactly what the other hand is doing. for him, learning to play guitar was a far greater challenge than it is for most people. he's like "circle/6 plus". it's the last thing one would ever imagine when listening to him. he says that the challenge of overcoming this anomaly is at the core of his completely unique style.
in my mind, i imagine it is easier to picture and to study these types of brain functions by looking at what is anomalous, rather than by what is considered "normal"--as is the basis of the work of the wonderful doctor oliver sacks.
to me, my friend's condition feels as if it might have something in common with the same kind of situation which causes dyslexia and other learning disabilities. he's just found a way to turn a liability into an asset.
it seems too, that activities such as sports and dance are all about this same type of learning process, and also that there are people who show far greater than typical abilities in co-ordination, body-part independence and mind/body independence right from the time they are little.
in oliver sacks' books one meets people who would not only have a bit of trouble with the 6/circle thing, but who have no mental concept at all of one side of their own bodies. half their body is simply not there for them. i imagine they key to questions like 6/circle lie in these kinds of studies.
and oliver sacks' latest area of study happens to be about the human brain and music!
i would be most interested to hear about other musicians' experiences with these kinds of things... Cheers, Joan Besen
http://www.myspace.com/prairieoysterband
Joe,
I know it's only rock and roll but I like it. Fantastic to see the cast of my new fav British sitcom “ASHES TO ASHES” all singing ‘Shut Uppa Your Face’ in recent episode
Cheers, Paulie Stewart
paulieboys@mac.com
(Note: Here’s a recent article about my old mate, Paul, and what he’s up to these days. If you approve, you might write him and tell him so:
Pub Rock Rebel Finds Cause to Help East Timor
http://www.theage.com.au/national/pub-rock-rebel-finds-cause-to-help-east-timor-20090807-ecy7.html
Hi Joe,
My name is Paul Fogarty. I'm a singer songwriter from Australia, now living in Germany. I've been receiving and enjoying your newsletters for a while now and I saw your name pop up and sort of glow in my contacts list - Yahoo was telling me you were online. That was enough to prompt me to write you this short note. . .
Cheers, Paul
http://www.myspace.com/paulfogartysongs
Dear Joe,
I always enjoy your newsletter, and kudos to you for breaking the taboo "JUST DON'T MENTION THE WAR!" Most people and media ignore the really drastic, to distract us with the plastic. You wrote about some of the horrendous abuses in World War 2, that were not known by the world at the time. Right now, my Sri Lankan friends are sick with worry about the enormous camps into which their relatives have just been forced. With international military and financial assistance, the Sri Lankan government has defeated the LTTE (Tamil Tigers), but now several hundred thousand Tamil civilians are interned away from home and work, and are receiving one meal a day. There are regular disappearances. Since the war is over, why is the government there making 500,000 or so Tamils into Internally Displaced People and refugees - perhaps to seize their land? The website "warwithoutwitnesses" describes how the perpetrators are organising diplomatic immunity for themselves (in USA and Australia!) for the day when this evil catches up with them. The mega-camps in Nth Sri Lanka may be inescapable, but nobody should be surprised if a lot of Tamil refugees leave Sri Lanka via Colombo. Having a captured refugee population is probably another way the Sri Lankan Government can get foreign aid dollars. The Red Cross and UNHCR are not able to get in and report on this.
Here in lovely Thornbury, life is great. Our teenagers have gone electric guitar (after years of violin), and musician parents are playing a fund raiser for their school . . . hoping to hear some Neil Young amid all this original Melbourne music. All the best, Marion Cincotta
WHITE PEOPLE CAN’T DANCE
By Dave Chapelle & John Mayer
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1512680/white_people_cant_dance_by_dave_chapelle/
(thanks to Stefan Abeysekera)
BUT WHITE PEOPLE CAN JUMP ROPE -
KINGS FIRECRACKERS - Pure Joy
Awesome Jump Rope Routines
http://soonereyo.blip.tv/
Stick with the long shot - about half way through, it goes to on the floor angles of the same routines.
(thanks to Mareid Sullivan)
More:
Jump Rope Champions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeekJ_KK5ig&feature=related
The Heartbeats of Ohio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOjOGWnUOew&feature=related
Single Rope
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWAWJDGpu24&feature=related
Jump Rope Craziness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJcDBjN7qBk&feature=related
The Ghastly Experiment of R von Frankenstein
This is a fund- and hair-raising evening for The Arvon Foundation in the UK. Sounds like strange fun – read on.
Simon Brett has written a new play especially for the Arvon Foundation. Be part of the action in an event which starts with drinks in the Hunterian Museum of Body Parts. Then, during dinner in the Edward Lumley Hall, help select the Body Parts that Baron von Frankenstein uses in his Ghastly Experiment to create a new Life Form. Join with Celebrities to participate in an evening designed to provide Fun and Funds in equal measure. Come on, it won't cost you an Arm and a Leg. At our sumptuous dinners in the past, we have been delighted to present such stars as Juliet Stevenson, Jerry Hall, Art Malik, Simon Callow, Alan Rickman, Jeremy Paxman and Adrian Lester.
Monday November 16th 2009
The Hunterian Museum
The Royal College of Surgeons of England
35-43 Lincoln's Inn Fields
London WC2A 3PE
Reception: 6.45pm
Dinner: 7.30pm
Carriages: 11.30pm
Dress: Black Tie (optional Literary Gothic theme)
Tickets are £150 each. Tables of 12 are available at £1800. To book please ring 020 7324 2554
http://www.arvonfoundation.org/p75s344.html
What I’m Reading This Week
After the Merrymaking, poetry by Roger McGough.
What I’m Watching This Week
Pan’s Labyrinth – written and directed by Mexican film-maker Guillermo del Toro. I’m having a little magic surrealist festival this week with a few del Toro films. This brilliant masterpiece unfortunately has an incorrectly translated title. The original Spanish title: El Laberinto del Fauno, literally The Faun's Labyrinth, is more accurate as the faun of the story, refers to the mythological fauns of Roman mythology and has nothing absolutely to do with Pan, as del Toro himself has stated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan's_Labyrinth
Also, according to del Toro, El Laberinto del Fauno, is the spiritual sequel to the following film:
The Devil’s Backbone – co-written and also directed by Guillermo del Toro. Both a ghost story and a political allegory, set in 1939, when the Spanish Civil War is coming to its end. Del Toro considers this film as his most personal project.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil's_Backbone
El Orfanato (The Orphanage)– directed by Juan Antonio Bayona. Produced and presented by Guillermo del Toro. This is another tremendous film, (everything ‘The Others’ could have been if not for the shallow acting of Nicole Kidman.) Watch the original Spanish version with english subtitles. Del Toro is now remaking the film for American audiences. Wendigo director Larry Fessenden will direct and del Toro will co-adapt Sergio G. Sanchez’s original script for the US market. I’m not holding my breath for it but I do trust del Toro’s artistic judgment and sometimes they do get these cross-cultural adaptations right, as in the case of The Ring – US version, with Naomi Watts, and The Vanishing, with Kiefer Sutherland.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464141/news#ni0931097
What I’m Listening to This Week
‘Fired Up’ – by Robert Duncan. This was the theme music for the first and second season of the US series, The Unit, adapted by Duncan from the United States Marine Corps running cadence song "Fired Up...Feels Good." Here’s a little about the history of cadence songs in the military, which, to my ear, resemble slave chain gang call-and-answer back work songs and rowing songs:
“ The word "cadence" was applied to these chants because of an earlier meaning, in which it meant the number of steps a marcher or runner took per minute. The cadence was set by a drummer or sergeant, and discipline was extremely important as keeping the cadence directly affected the travel speed of infantry. There were other purposes: the close-order drill was a particular cadence count for the complex sequence of loading and firing a musket. In the Revolutionary War, Baron von Steuben notably imported European battlefield techniques which persist, greatly modified, to this day. Cadences also instill teamwork and camaraderie. Oral tradition credits the origin of the modern cadence tradition within the United States Army to Private Willie Duckworth; according to this story, in May of 1944, while returning to base with his exhausted unit, he began singing or chanting the first cadence, "Sound-off; 1 - 2; Sound-off; 3 - 4; Count cadence; 1 - 2 - 3 - 4; 1 - 2 — 3 - 4.” This cadence, known as the "Duckworth Chant," exists with some variations in many different branches of the U.S. military. Duckworth's simple chant soon was elaborated by folk tradition among drill sergeants and the soldiers under their command, and the tradition of creating elaborate marching chants or songs spread to other branches of the military.”
http://www.experiencefestival.com/military_cadence
Fired up, Fired up.
Fired up, Fired up.
47, 47.
Fired up, Fired up.
Here we go, Here we go.
On the Road, On the Road.
47, 47.
Fired up, Fired up.
Have a listen to the extended version of ‘Fired Up’ here:
http://www.imeem.com/xancti/music/KKK1PRdB/robert-duncan-19-fired-up-the-unit-theme-song-extendedm/
Speaking of the military, here’s an interesting variation on a theme. At first, I thought it was in reply to last week’s news letter, ‘The War Mouse’:
Good day,
How are you doing my friend, great I guess… Now I know this mail will
definitely come to you as a huge surprise, but please kindly take your
time to go through it carefully as the decision you make will probably
go a long way to determine my future and continued existence. First, let
me introduce myself. I am Capt. Michael Scholl, assigned to 2nd
Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, 3rd Marine Expeditionary
Force, western Anbar Province in Iraq. I am desperately in need of
assistance and I have summoned up courage to contact you. I am presently in
Iraq and I found your contact particulars in an address journal. I am
seeking your assistance to evacuate the sum of $10,570,000 (Ten million
Five Hundred and Seventy Thousand USD) to the States or any safe
country, as far as I can be assured that it will be safe in your care until I
complete my service here. This is no stolen money and there are no
dangers involved.
SOURCE OF MONEY: Some money in various currencies was discovered and
concealed in barrels with piles of weapons and ammunition at a location
near one of Saddam Hussein's old Presidential Palaces during a rescue
operation and it was agreed by all parties present that the money be shared
amongst us. This might appear as an illegal thing to do but I tell you
what? No compensation can make up for the risks we have taken with our
lives in this hellhole. The above figure was given to me as my share
and to conceal this kind of money became a problem for me, so with the
help of a British contact working with the UN here (his office enjoys
some immunity) I was able to get the package out to a safe location
entirely out of trouble spot. He does not know the real contents of the
package as he believes that it belongs to an American who died in an air
raid, before trusting me to hand over the package to his close
relative. I have now found a secured way of getting the package out!
Respectfully,
Capt. Michael Scholl
captmichaelscholl987@9.cn
United States Marine Corps. IRAQ.
(Note: I guess this is the email equivalent of smuggling drugs from Vietnam in soldier’s coffins. I like the red flags to the character of the person behind this scam. ‘I have summoned up courage to contact you...’ and ‘There are no dangers involved . .’ - but later ‘ this might appear as an illegal thing to do...’ and ‘ in this hellhole’ - which is terminology straight out of poorly dubbed WWII action films. And then the kicker – the gullible British UN worker who believes he is helping an American who died in an air raid . . . . Capt. Scholl sounds like just the kind of guy you would trust in a firefight. Not. Fired up, fired up.)
~ FAMOUS DOLCES OF THE WORLD ~
Sergeant Jill Dolce
California Highway Patrol
Sergeant Jill Dolce. Officer Dolce. (pronounced dol-chay. Yay! Finally, someone else who pronounces it correctly.)
had never considered a career in law enforcement - she was too busy playing collegiate softball.
Master's Degree, American Literature, Long Beach State University, 1999
Culver City High School, 1983
Political views Democrat
Hobbies: Triathalon training.
http://www.plaxo.com/directory/profile/201865134265/ddbfc938/Jill/Dolce
RECIPE
OSSO BUCO MILANESE-STYLE
I made this last week, easy to do, (it came out perfect first time) and doesn’t use tomatoes for a slight change. Instead of beef shanks, use veal shanks and add a gremolata at the end for extra flavour. You’ll love it!
Ingredients:
12 pieces veal shank, about 4 cm thick
Plain flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
60 ml olive oil (don’t skimp!)
60 g butter (don’t skimp!)
1 garlic clove
250 ml dry white wine
1 bay leaf
Pinch of allspice
Pinch of ground cinnamon
Gremolata:
2 teas grated lemon rind
6 tbles finely chopped parsley
1 garlic glove, finely chopped
Lemon wedges to serve.
Method:
Tie each piece of veal shank around the middle with string.
Dust with seasoned flour.
Heat oil, butter and garlic in a large saucepan (with a lid) big enough to hold the shanks in one layer.
Brown the shanks for about 10-15 minutes.
Arrange shanks standing up in the pan in a single layer,
Pour in the wine, add the bay leaf, allspice and cinnamon.
Cover the pan.
Cook at a low simmer for 15 minutes.
Add 125 ml warm water.
Continue cooking, covered, for 45 minutes to one hour, until the meat is fork-tender. You may want to continue to cook this for an additional hour or so if you really like your meat fork-tender. In that case, every 20 minutes, check level of water and add more if needed.
Transfer veal to plate and keep warm.
Discard garlic clove and bay leaf.
To make the gremolata, mix together the lemon rind, parsley and garlic.
Increase heat under saucepan and stir for a couple of minutes until the sauce is thick,
Scraping up any bits on the bottom of the pan.
Stir in the gremolata.
Check seasoning, adding salt and pepper taste, and return veal to the pan.
Heat through and serve with lemon wedges.
Serves 4.
The Moment
The moment when, after many years
of hard work and a long voyage
you stand in the centre of your room,
house, half-acre, square mile, island, country,
knowing at last how you got there,
and say, I own this,
is the same moment when the trees unloose
their soft arms from around you,
the birds take back their language,
the cliffs fissure and collapse,
the air moves back from you like a wave
and you can't breathe.
No, they whisper. You own nothing.
You were a visitor, time after time
climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming.
We never belonged to you.
You never found us.
It was always the other way round.
~ Margaret Atwood ~
(morning in the burned house)
THE FINAL HURRAH
Sunday Morning Sex
Upon hearing that her elderly grandfather had just passed away, Katie went
straight to her grandparent' s house to visit her 95- year-old grandmother
and comfort her.
When she asked how her grandfather had died, her grandmother replied, 'He
had a heart attack while we were making love on Sunday morning.'
Horrified, Katie told her grandmother that 2 people nearly 100 years old
having sex would surely be asking for trouble.
'Oh no, my dear,' replied granny. 'Many years ago, realizing our advanced
age, we figured the best time to do it was when the church bells would start
to ring. It was just the right rhythm.
'Nice and slow and even.
'Nothing too strenuous, simply in on the Ding and out on the Dong.'
She paused to wipe away a tear, and continued, 'He'd still be alive if the
ice cream truck hadn't come along.
(thanks to Ramon Sender)