JOE DOLCE NEWSLETTER
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Friday September 25th, 2009
Jab
“Progress was all right once, but it went on too long.”
Mark Twain
Hi folks,
I’ve been trying to locate Becca Kellaway's Ode to a Wombat. If anyone knows this poem and has the complete version, please send it to me. Here’s the fragment that won me over:
"O! for a cool slab of VB, that hath soaketh
in an esky, chilled by its icy embrace
tasting of angels' piss; but it so inebriateth
mine mind, that I no longer see her face.
Instead tis thee, Wombat...."
LAY SANTA LAY
Bob Dylan is releasing a Christmas Album. Now I don’t feel so bad about recording mine in the 80s. Here’s a few previews:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gundu1yLjWY&feature=player_embedded#t=161%0D
(thanks to Frank Dolce)
YOUTUBE STEAK
Every now and then, after the paint’s well and truly dried, I go trawling youTube to read comments on the various videoclips I have up there. Kind of like checking lobster traps. I am always amazed by the exponential increase of not only hits but also new videos posted by youTubians especially around Shaddap You Face. Sometimes I think that song resembles a Level 4 virus. Probably make a good horror flick, The Night of the Living Whats Matta You, or The Beast that Ate My Face . . . Hey! The original 45 rpm single is selling at the moment for between $US75 - $US115 on Amazon.
Here are some of the latest. I do not recommend watching them all. (I have Sicilian Armed Forced Special Seal training which allows me to withstand abnormal levels of this kind of pain, that’s why I can do it.) But watch a few. I particular like the women singers who have taken it on, especially Helena:
Helena Vondrackova
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPhLv1k6sGQ
Sheila
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tapmygEnaY
The Shaddap Redemption
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krBRH-kVsoA&NR=1
HB does opera!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfGKhzYhqeE&feature=related
Super Mario Brothers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YheQMeGJeOo&feature=related
Slipknot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcJUhTMqga0&feature=related
Ukulele Henry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcKMSj6k3KY&feature=related
Some of the rest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeR4i2pB9Cw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f_H2VyogpY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58xIzV0W4xM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzoKacA1G-o&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGnBOAaA85U&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZoxib2GSkg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpJdm6dStIw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGlERgFbp1Q&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz3lvZv_CGc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPqIZwvfLao&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5c8b_087PU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgAxFlogCic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAefR3sLznc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-FTgnoOTYE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0tMac_ubog&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxcvNou4Q0I&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVBGlRcNW9k&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHVF4IMfXlA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlWCFkwspgI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rzR8gztsu8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neU979dfLnA&feature=related
Finally, although not strictly my song, still a fitting comment on the insanity of all of the above by Philip Seymour Hoffman:
Shut Up!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9J33gxEQkA
FAVOURITE LETTERS OF THE WEEK
Hiya there Joe,
RE: WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
I love it it - really breaks up the week. Thanks for pumping it out for all this time.
Cheers, Jim Testa
Joe,
Re: Recipes
what do you have that's really traditional German fare? Barbara Ann Kovacs Carter
(Note: Well, Barb, not being traditionally anything, I can only give you my take on these things. I'm sure you could find a mess of traditional German grandma recipes on the internet. But these are close. My partner Lin has German-Jewish relatives and she had the real thing in her girlhood. She approves.
1. Basic Schnitzels (In Italian Cooking: Chicken Milanese) - use veal or beef, if you prefer:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~dwomen/files/nlSept2107.html#anchor189423
2. Potato Salad
http://members.iinet.net.au/~dwomen/files/nlJuly1303.html#anchor1261451
3. Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage
http://members.iinet.net.au/~dwomen/files/nlApr1808.html#anchor2893125
4. Grandpa Joe's Pickled Sour Cabbage Rolls
http://members.iinet.net.au/~dwomen/files/nlJuly105.html#anchor1491227
And, while not really German, here's a rare find from the Seinfeld show:
5. The Soup Nazi’s Sweeet Potato Soup
http://members.iinet.net.au/~dwo
Splendid Joe,
Another timely piece on history and truth with nary a reference to Foucault! Timely especially in the week that John Roskam of the Intitute of Public Affairs (in the ABC TV program, Q & A) talked over a young man who challenged him about the Power-Knowledge nexus and Roskam's Gradgrindian view that history and knowledge are simply about facts. I note in passing that Roskam hails from a stable from which you, like me, obviously also emerged sometime ago. He went to Xavier - a Jesuit habitat - like so many of his supporters on the newish Right and came out of it without any feel for a faith that does justice (Jesuit readers of Joe's newsletter take sobering note!) Saddening too that Tom Keneally, who has a similar pedigree, did not do much to redress the imbalance.
Stay well and fighting, Josephus! Ciao bene, Michael Furtado
Joe,
Re: A Boy's Confession
A friend of mine is suing the Church. He was the only altar boy the priest didn't hit on. Says it has warped him for life! Bill Lempke
Joe,
RE: ‘Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it.’
FANTASTIC! beth h
hi joe
re: poems and lyrics
for me, the most wonderful example in the english language of something which is both a poem and lyrics is the hymn "jerusalem". it was poetry first, and stands as such. even without the melody, the lyrical rhythm which Blake put in it can be deeply felt. the imagery is startling and timeless. it is a mixture of spirituality and social commentary which rings as true today as it did when it was written 200 years ago. it is most certainly not light verse!! Then, Parry's astounding melody transforms it into a song which could sound no other way. it is seamless and perfect, and it feels almost impossible to imagine that the music was written 100 years after the words. every note of it elevates every word of it. not every song lyric needs to be a poem, and not every poem needs to be a song. but it is fortunate to have an example of something which can be both things at such a high level, and to experience its force to move people... cheers, Joan Besen
(Note: Joan, excellent example. A true translation from one art form (poetry) into another (song).
‘The [William Blake] poem, which was little known during the century which followed its writing, was included in a patriotic anthology of verse published in 1916, a time when morale had begun to decline due to the high number of casualties in the First World War and the perception that there was no end in sight. Under these circumstances, it seemed to many to define what England was fighting for. Therefore, Robert Bridges, the Poet Laureate, asked Sir Hubert Parry to put it to music at a Fight for Right campaign meeting in London's Queen's Hall. The aims of this organisation were "to brace the spirit of the nation that the people of Great Britain, knowing that they are fighting for the best interests of humanity, may refuse any temptation, however insidious, to conclude a premature peace, and may accept with cheerfulness all the sacrifices necessary to bring the war to a satisfactory conclusion". Bridges asked Parry to supply the verse with "suitable, simple music that an audience could take up and join in". Originally Parry intended the first verse to be sung by a solo female voice, but this is rare nowadays. The most famous version was orchestrated by Sir Edward Elgar in 1922 for a large orchestra at the Leeds Festival. Upon hearing the orchestral version for the first time, King George V said that he preferred "Jerusalem" over "God Save the King", the National Anthem. The song was also used by the National Union of Suffrage Societies. During the 1920s, many Women's Institutes started closing meetings by singing it, and this caught on nationally. Although it has never actually been adopted as the WI's official anthem, in practice it holds that position and is an enduring element of the public image of the WI.’ Wikipedia.
I love that line: "suitable, simple music that an audience could take up and join in." How . . . Bach. Imagine telling that to Arnold Schoenberg.
"And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green
And was the holy lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen
And did the countenance divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among those dark Satanic mills
Bring me my bow of burning gold
Bring me my arrows of desire
Bring me my spears o'clouds unfold
Bring me my chariot of fire
I will not cease from mental fight
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
'Til we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land. "
Here’s a nice version by the Surrey Choir
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfqRh0D72f8
THE LAUGHING BRIDE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clw7SAJs_6w
(thanks to: Dai Woosnam, Grimsby, UK, daigress@hotmail.com)
Misogynist Haiku
One day, long, long ago,
there lived a woman
who did not whine, nag or bitch.
But that was a long time ago
and it was just that one day.
The end.
(thanks to Ian Thompson)
FOR AUSSIES
A teacher asked her 6th grade class how many of them were Rudd fans.
Not really knowing what a Rudd fan is, but wanting to be liked by the teacher, all the kids raised their hands except for the infamous, Little Billy, in the front row.
The teacher asked Little Billy why he has decided to be different.
'Because I'm not a Rudd fan.'
The teacher asked, 'Why aren't you a Rudd fan?'
'Because I'm a Liberal.'
The teacher asked him why he's a Liberal.
Billy proudly answered, 'Well, my Mom's a Liberal and my Dad's a Liberal, so I'm a Liberal.'
Annoyed by this answer, the teacher asked, 'If your mom was a moron and your dad was an idiot, what would that make you?'
With a big smile, Billy replied, 'That would make me an Rudd fan.'
What I’m Reading This Week
The Best Australian Poems of 2007, edited by Peter Rose.
What I’m Watching This Week
Flashpoint – a Canadian police drama television series that debuted on CTV in Canada and CBS in the United States. The show was created by Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern and stars Enrico Colantoni, Amy Jo Johnson and Hugh Dillon. Flashpoint is about an elite tactical unit, called the Strategic Response Unit (SRU), within a Canadian metropolitan police force (styled on the Toronto Police Emergency Task Force. The SRU are tasked to resolve extreme situations that regular officers are not trained to handle including hostage-taking, bomb threats and heavily armed criminals. Equipped with high-tech tools and a cache of weapons and explosives, members use negotiation tactics and intuition to try to avoid the use of force. The last sentence is what makes this different from all other SWAT style films. Negotiation not violence is the default setting of this group. Great stories. Just about everyone is an emotional rollercoaster – the first four episodes had me in tears and plenty of action too. (Film buffs: the lead, Enrico Colantoni, also played "Mathesar," the leader of the "Thermians," in that brilliant sci-fi comic tribute to Star Trek, Galaxy Quest. Anyone else fall in love with the Thermian octopoid, Laliari, ie. Missi Pyle? If so, Missi is also a good ol’ gal kinda country singer with a duet called Smith and Pyle - http://smithandpyle.com/)
Underbelly – A Tale of Two Cities – second series based on the books by The Age journalists John Silvester and Andrew Rule. The first series is still banned in Victoria. The second series is loosely based on real events that stemmed from the marijuana trade centred around the New South Wales town of Griffith. The timeline of the series is the years between 1976 and 1987 and primarily depicts the Mr. Asia drug syndicate and its influence on crime in Australia. Among the characters presented are real-life criminals Robert Trimbole, Terry Clark, George Freeman, Christopher Dale Flannery and the Kane Brothers. The mini-series is a prequel to the 2008 production Underbelly, which was about the Melbourne gangland killings. A third series is in the works. Compelling viewing about the towns we live in. Note: a mate of mine who knew Terry Clark personally said he was a much harder character in real life than the softie characterization Matthew Newton brings to the screen.
The Last Samurai – with Tom Cruise. Directed by Edward Zwick. In the 1870s, Captain Nathan Algren, a cynical veteran of the American Civil war who will work for anyone, is hired by the Emperor of Japan to train the peasant conscripts for the first standing imperial army in modern warfare using firearms. The imperial Omura cabinet's first priority is to repress a rebellion of traditionalist Samurai -hereditary warriors- who remain devoted to the sacred dynasty but reject the Westernizing policy and even refuse firearms. Yet when his ill-prepared superior force sets out too soon, their panic allows the sword-wielding samurai to crush them. Badly wounded Algren's courageous stand makes the samurai leader Katsumoto spare his life; once nursed to health he learns to know and respect the old Japanese way. Cruise, as usual, is hard going to watch over any extended time, but the Japanese actors, like in the classic Seven Samurai, make it worth it. There are many similarities in structure with the following film which came first and that I am certain influenced it.
The Last of the Dogmen – with Tom Berenger and Barbara Hershey. Berenger plays a distraught but skillful bounty hunter Lewis Gates, who pursues three armed escaped convicts into Montana's Oxbow Quadrangle, followed by his faithful companion called Zip, an Australian cattle dog. All Gates finds is a few scraps of cloth, some blood, and an old-fashioned Indian arrow. He takes the arrow to anthropologist Lillian Sloane (Hershey) who identifies it as a replica of the arrows used by Cheyenne Dog Soldiers. Gates doesn't think it's a replica and, after some library research, develops a long list of people who have disappeared into the Oxbow and a story of a "wild child" captured in the woods in the early 20th century. Now he's convinced that the fugitives were killed by a tribe of Dog Soldiers, a ‘special ops’ band of native Americans who had somehow escaped the 1864 Sand Creek massacre and survived for more than a hundred years secluded in the Montana Wilderness. Very moving film. The appearance of the ninja-like dogmen out of the mist and the long trek through the mountains to their remote village is identical to ‘The Last Samurai.’
What I’m Listening to This Week
‘Beyond Living’ – Alicia Bay Laurel. This is the most recent release of my friend, Alicia Bay Laurel, who Lin Van Hek and I will be performing with in Okinawa and Tokyo next month. Alicia is one of the few real visionary freaked-out flower children from the 70s who has grown even further into the great dream of the Beloved Community that we all shared back then. She also had a Number One hit, so to speak, in her 20s, with a New York Times best-selling book, Living on the Earth, which changed her life, and it is an inspiration to know someone who continues to reinvent herself - without disowning her past.
Alicia and I were also both close to, and sang with, the girl who introduced me to California hippy communes back in the 70s, Janet ‘Sunny’ Supplee, and the spirit of Sunny hovers throughout this recording. Sometimes, listening to Alicia sing, I swear Sunny is in the building. Sunny and I sang together for a couple of years and she certainly influenced me in an unforgettable way. She was killed in a car crash in Maui and I still miss her.
Beyond Living collects a master’s bouquet of beautiful songs about Death that do not drag death down into the valley of shadow and fear where old time religion would like to keep it penned up, but releases it out into the empowering light and flight of warm meadows and possibilities.
Alicia has included the song I wrote and sang at my own father’s funeral, Hill of Death, with lyrics by Australian femi-pioneer, Louisa Lawson, drunken Henry’s mum. While in LA, I was lucky enough to be able to sing and play with her on this recording. I was surprised at first when the tasty, awesome, I-am-the-Fingers-of-God mandolin part I had recorded was nowhere to be found in the final mix, but after a couple of listens, I understood why it went to the cutting room floor (along with Satan, Everlasting Hell and the Edsel.) It’s not necessary. Alicia’s last album, What Living’s All About, was an eclectic brew of styles, electric guitar solos, even rap - but this one, a unique fusion of Hawaiian and Japanese sensibility, is smoothly unified by the continuity of Alicia’s lullaby-like singing and precision finger-picking guitar, the latter most notably in the fifteen minute closing instrumental, Ruminations, which is a collage of no less than fifteen tunes: Amazing Grace, The Garden, Is This Not the Land of Beulah, Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Oh Come Angel Band, Gathering Flowers for the Master’s Bouquet, Angels Are Watching Over Me, This Little Light of Mine, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Bosan Gokko, Hill of Death, Long Black Veil, Good Night Irene, We Shall All Be Reunited, and Kumbaya – and leading to the final Hawaiian, Aloha Oe’. I wouldn’t mind at all having these fifteen minutes playing in my final hour.
There are also three tracks written by Takashi Donto Kudomi, a legendary Japanese new wave rock star turned spiritual singer/songwriter, who died mysteriously on January 23, 2001. He, his wife and their two young sons were watching a hula performance dedicated to Pele, the volcano goddess, at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. At the end of the final chant, Donto fell to the ground unconscious, and was rushed to the hospital. The next day he was pronounced dead at age 37 from a brain aneurism. He had been in perfect health until that day. We will be staying and singing with Donto’s widow, Sachiho, in Okinawa, at Donto-in, the temple Sachiho built in his honor.
One of my favourite tracks is the quirky Altid Frejdig Naar du Gaar (Courage Always When You Walk) with melody by C.E.F. Weyse, 1838, lyrics: Christina Richardt, 1867, set into verse by Alicia. It is often sung at funerals in Denmark and is faithfully sung here in Danish. Just voice and stand-up bass, played masterfully by Chris Conner and reminiscent of her great version of Nature Boy, on What Living's All About, the vocal seems to float in and out of ordinary tonality like a ghostly dandelion puff. One day, I do hope Alicia gets a chance to put out an album of just vocal and stand-up bass recordings as they are always a pleasure, and a challenge, to listen to. http://www.aliciabaylaurel.com/beyondliving
~ FAMOUS DOLCES OF THE WORLD ~
Captain Dolce
Female leader of the Terrible Trio Goldfish Poop Gang
Eternal Sonata
Eternal Sonata is an original role-playing video game centered on the Polish romantic pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin, who died of tuberculosis at the age of 39. The story envisions a fictional world dreamed by Chopin during his last hours that is influenced by Chopin's life and music, and in which he himself is a playable character, among others. The game features a selection of Chopin's compositions played by pianist Stanislav Bunin. The game's battle system centers on musical elements and character-unique special attacks. Light and darkness plays a part in the appearance and abilities of enemies on the battlefield, as well as the types of magic that can be cast.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_Sonata
Ingredients:
1 small onion
75 g butter
2 garlic cloves crushed
1 kg potatoes, thinly sliced
100 g mozzarella, grated
50 g Parmesan, grated
Method:
Place the onion in a bowl, cover with cold water, and leave for one hour.
Drain well. Preheat oven to 210 C. Line a 20 cm springform pan with foil. Grease the foil.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan, add the garlic and set aside.
Place a layer of potato over the base of tin, followed by a layer of onion, butter, mozzarella and Parmesan. Season the layers as you go. Repeat the layers until you have used up all the ingredients, finishing with the potato and keeping a bit of butter to drizzle on at the end. Spoon the milk over the top.
Bake for 1 hour or until top is golden brown and the potatoes are tender. If the top is overbrownng, cover with foil. Cool for ten minutes before serving. Unclip base of pan, peel off the foil and transfer to a warm plate for serving.
(Note: Here’s an interesting recipe site. It has a calculator built into it where you can vary the number of servings and the entire recipe re-calculates. Pretty handy:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Vals-Hungarian-Jewish-Chopped-Liver/Detail.aspx)
Partner Poem
I was Daddy’s girl.
Lots of times we’d work together on chores.
Back in those days he worked for the Town
of Hartland. He stood in the pit and filled
the gravel truck with a shovel.
There was one day the gravel pit caved in,
caught him, threw him against the corner
of the truck. Knocked his heart
right under his arm.
I came home from school and saw his
black lunch pail sitting on a tree stump.
I went running up to the house
to find out what the matter was.
The doctors got his heart back so it was
in the right place before he passed on.
I was almost sixteen.
I remember I was going to quit school
right after the accident.
I wanted to be home, but my father said,
“No, you finish, Lillian.
You ain’t got much more to go.”
~ Lillian La Rose ~
Lillian La Rose is a dialysis patient at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Centre.
Lillian told of her childhood, Verandah Porche listened and recorded.
http://verandahporche.com/
(thanks to Alicia Bay Laurel)
THE FINAL HURRAH
Italian Grandfather
An old Sicilian Mafia Don is dying. He calls his grandson to his bedside.
"Elio, I wanna you lissina me.
I wanna you to take a my chrome plated .38 revolver so you will always remember me."
"But grandpa, I really don't like guns.
How about you leave me your Rolex watch instead?"
"You lissina me, boy.
Somma day you gonna be runna DA business,
you gonna have a beautiful wife, lotsa money,
a big-a home and maybe a couple of bambinos.
Somma day you gonna come-a home
and maybe finda you wife inna bed with another man.
Whatta you gonna do then?
Pointa to your watch and say, 'Time's Up'?"
(thanks to Jim Testa)
Ok Ok – one more time for mama.
'ste nonne
An Italian grandmother is giving directions to her grown grandson who is coming to visit with his wife.
"You comma to de fronta door of the apartmenta. I am inna apartmenta 301 .
There issa bigga panel at the fronta door. With you elbow, you pusha button 301.
I will buzza you in. Comma inside, the elevator is on the right. Get in, and with you elbow, pusha 3.
When you get out, I'mma on the left.
With you elbow, hit my doorbell."
"Grandma, that sounds easy, but, why am I hitting all these buttons with my elbow?
"What . . . .. .. You comma empty handed?"
(thanks to cinzia ambrosio)