JUST PLAIN WEIRD

I hadn’t heard of the Toynbee tiles until the excellent Wendy alerted me to this odd phenomenon. (And the guy who won an award at Sundance for a documentary about them.) Wikipedia tells us…

“The Toynbee tiles (also called Toynbee plaques) are messages of mysterious origin found embedded in asphalt in about two dozen major cities in the United States and four South American capitals. Since the 1980s, several hundred tiles have been discovered. They are generally about the size of an American license plate, but sometimes considerably larger. They contain some variation on the following inscription…
TOYNBEE IDEA
IN Kubrick's 2001
RESURRECT DEAD
ON PLANET JUPITER
Some of the more elaborate tiles also feature cryptic political statements or exhort readers to create and install similar tiles of their own. The material used for making the tiles was long a mystery, but evidence has emerged that they may be primarily made of layers of linoleum and asphalt crack-filling compound.Articles about the tiles began appearing in the mid-1990s, though references may have started to appear in the mid-1980s.” (Click here for more)

Click here for more about the documentary.

The secret word is Inexplicable

YOUNG MAN WITH A BULLHORN

Yeah, yeah, it’s maybe the ego in overdrive. But I hadn’t seen this particular photo before and it does have a certain retro-drama. It shows me rousing the rabble at a rally to spring the three editors of Oz -- Felix Dennis, Jim Anderson, and Richard Neville -- from jail while they appealed their conviction. The image surfaced when our pals at Dangerous Minds posted my 1967 video interview with John Peel that went up on Doc40 a couple of weeks ago. I guess I was in full revolutionary delinquent mode, and what follows is an example of the writing style that was a part of it and showed up on Rock's Back Pages this week. Maybe I shouldn’t have been quite so hard on Germaine, but, at the time, she had royally and recently slagged me off in Oz and payback is always a temptation.

“THE ISLE of Wight Festival, to me, seemed a practical demonstration of the way the wealth of the underground is at present distributed: a V.I.P. enclosure surrounded by fences & protected by guards; kids walking into the medical tent in a state of collapse because they hadn't eaten for 2 days; illustrations of a culture which, although paying sanctimonious lip service to the concepts of love & equality, manifests an inequality of rank & money as brutal as that of Czarist Russia. It is a society where a man can be paid £500 a minute for playing a guitar, yet protests that people need to be fed are shouted down: "You're spoiling a groovy scene: shut your mouth"! The kids who, in desperation, lead others in an attempt to pressure the 'haves' into giving something to the 'have-nots', are insulted & ridiculed from the stage, and condemned in print. Human ethics are used like a substitute for cash in the bank, while love is peddled as a commodity more blatantly by Rikki Farr than by any whore in history. Woman's Liberationist Germaine Greer stays in the backstage enclosure & trades small-talk with rock business flunkies, and wonders why the kids don't liberate themselves. Meanwhile, the kids who do are being slugged with iron bars by those same guards who protect her privileged enclosure.”

MARILYN SEZ...

“Why do you conservatives always fuck things up?”

THE PENGUIN SEZ…

“Why do you humans always fuck things up?”

DON'T YOU MISS THE 20TH CENTURY?

Click here for a very edible Little Richard

THE US GOVERNMENT NEGLECTED TO TELL US THEY OWN THE INTERNET

No, they haven’t shut down Doc40. I guess we’re not that much of a menace. They have, however – as our pal Bernard informs us – shut down a site in Spain. It would seem to indicate that, if our corporate overlords feel sufficiently threatened, they can leave us blind, deaf, and cut off.

"US authorities have seized the domain of the hugely popular sports streaming and P2P download site Rojadirecta. The site, which is one of the most visited sites on the Internet, lost its .org domain which now redirects to a notice from DOJ/ICE. Rojadirecta is an unusual target because two courts in Spain have ruled that the site operates legally, and other than the .org domain the site has no links to the US. Rojadirecta is known as one of the world’s major Internet sports broadcast indexes. The site links to broadcasts of many popular soccer matches plus other sporting events including NBA, MLB, NFL, NPB, IPL. The site has well over a million visitors a day, and is listed among the 100 most popular sites in Spain in terms of traffic. This morning, however, visitors were surprised by a warning from US authorities. Continuing the previous “Operation in Our Sites” actions, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had seized Rojadirecta’s .org domain. Rojadirecta is an unusual target for several reasons, not least because the site has been declared legal twice by Spanish courts. The site’s owners have previously fought a three year legal battle in Spain, which they won, but a single seizure warrant from US authorities has made this victory pointless.” (Click here for more)

The secret word is Isolated

BUT DON’T FORGET THE BIZARRO CODE

WHAT A DRAG IT IS GETTING OLD

When our good buddy UK Steve sent me this story from The Irish Times, I could only respond that it “would seem to confirm what The Rolling Stones told us all those years ago. ‘What a drag it is getting old.’ (And maybe a salutary warning about taking your benefits and trying to make bit extra on the side as a rock star.)”

“American-born Proby (72) enjoyed British success in the 1960s with a string of hits including Somewhere and Maria from West Side Story and enhanced his fame by being banned from the BBC after splitting his skin-tight trousers during a notorious concert in Luton. Magistrates in Worcester ruled that Proby, who denies the charges, should be committed to stand trial at the city's crown court, the Press Association reported. Proby spoke only to confirm his address, date of birth and his real name -- James Marcus Smith -- during a five-minute appearance before two magistrates. Proby, who lives in Twyford, near Evesham, in Worcestershire, faces a total of nine charges over claims for pension credit, housing benefit and council tax benefit. Among the charges are two counts of failing to declare savings and investments, and four of failing to inform the authorities of a change in circumstances. He was granted unconditional bail to reappear at Worcester Magistrates' Court for a formal committal hearing on March 30th."

Click here for Proby

DOC'S PAPERBACK CLASSIC'S # 87

THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD IS WATCHING

While the future of Egypt hangs in the balance, I hardly know enough about what's happening on the ground to comment, but I am impressed by the numbers of young women in the heart of the protests and passionately hope that they are not crushed by an  Islamic fundamentalist takeover.

Click here for Bob

The secret word is Change

OUR WHACKY UNCLE BILL (Part 1)

This note was written by William Burroughs to Brion Gysin in 1977 when Uncle Bill was venerable but impoverished icon. Later efficient management and a functioning business plan would turn WSB into a venerable and prosperous brand. From where I’m sitting, it seems like a really good idea.

OUR WHACKY UNCLE BILL (Part 2)

Of course, being a brand isn’t all peaches and credit. I was at Uncle Bill’s 70th birthday party in February 1984 at the New York Limelight nightclub where he was photographed with the “up and coming” young Madonna. The reality of the situation was that Burroughs was positioned by his minders at a table and a line formed of people who wanted to have their picture taken with him. The movement was brisk and Bill looked tired, kind of shell-shocked, and glad of the joint. I was even pressured by some friends to take part in the process myself. I found it all profoundly embarrassing and never did know what happened to the picture.

Click here for Burroughs on Ginsberg

PEDAL TO THE METAL, COMRADES

THE SPITFIRES OF TRANSITION

Within hours of coming home to Great Britain, I encountered a Spitfire. Admittedly it was on TV rather than airborne reality, but World War II aircraft are not too common a sight on US TV unless you’re a total devotee of the History Channel and even there, over the last few years, the focus has largely moved from it’s famous obsession with Adolf Hitler to more modern marvels like logging, ice trucking, and the UFOs of Area 51.
I must make it clear that I have absolutely nothing against the Spitfire. The grand creation of R. J. Mitchell is an all time gorgeous piece of machinery, and may also have saved my generation from a life of goose-stepping fascism. What has taken a certain degree of cultural adaptation is that Brit media appears constantly to be celebrating the finest hours of the nation’s history of which the Spitfire and the Battle of Britain are splendidly visual examples. And this Anglo media love affair with the past is by no means limited to World War II or the 20th century. It seems to encompass everything from the Napoleonic Wars to the Norman Conquest, and frequently stars Sean Bean. Tonight, in the wee hours, I’ll be watching an episode of dramatic bio-series of Oswald Mosley. It’s all jolly good fun, an maybe even faux-educational, but I am left with the distinct feeling that Britain is now a culture that believes it has completed its date with destiny, and retired to a bed of its once-epic former laurels.
Again, I feel a disclaimer coming on. I also have nothing against destiny, history, laurels, or even – under certain circumstances – retirement. I have even taken part in a few forty-years-ago-today BBC shows about the counter culture which I guess are a part of exactly what I’m talking about. My problem is re-acclimating to an environment where history runs long and deep, after dwelling for so long in Southern California where all but a very eccentric few are wholly unbothered and unaware by and of anything that happened prior to a week ago last Tuesday. (Once met a Hollywood movie studio executive who lacked a basic grasp of the films of Clint Eastwood.) I have a feeling I will return to this theme more than once.

John Barry – RIP

Click here for Bond theme

The secret word is Memory

DADAISM IN ACTION

THE FROZDICK FAMILY

Ulrika Frozdick had a flag but no soul.

SPACE OPERA

SUNDAY BREAKFAST

Yes, neighbours. I’m solidly with Homer Simpson. Mmmmmm, donuts. Fuel of the wastrel. The donut breakfast made me what I am today, and don’t even talk about what it did for the Police Department. Also a well favored hangover cure. But it hardly needs any art-cute ceramic receptacle. (I’m also not too keen on rainbow sprinkles.) I don’t know who thought this was smart, but, as far as I’m concerned, donuts are eaten from the bag, and coffee comes in a paper Dixie cup (preferably with a blue on white Greek motif if you’re in New York City.) All else is superfluous.

Click here for White Stripes

Click here for Inkspots

The secret word is Joe

MARILYN SEZ...

“That coffee mug is the most superfluous thing I’ve seen all week.”

A ZEN METAPHOR

“So far so good.”

GRATUITOUS BETTY WHITE

Click here for verification

THE GREAT VULNERABILITY

Postures of revolution and insurrection on the internet are all very brave and laudable, but, as events in Egypt make all to clear, all of this continues only at the pleasure of our electronic overlords who can shut us down at a whim or if they deem the situation demands. Maybe we should be studying older, low-tech means of communications. I mean, do we even remember each other’s phone numbers?

"No one is completely certain what happened to the Egyptian internet, but it appears that the shutdown started off early in the week with the country blocking Twitter and Facebook access for those within its borders. Then, shortly after Thursday midnight local time, the country simply disappeared from the internet. With a few exceptions like the stock exchange, Egyptian websites and services were unreachable; the network traffic over Egyptian borders dropped by an astonishing 90 percent. Cell phone networks were also down. Today Vodafone confirmed that all mobile providers been "obliged" by the Egyptian government to shut off service to customers in that country. How did it happen? Most likely, according to experts, the Egyptian authorities made a few phone calls to the country's handful of large internet service providers. Their request would have been simple: Make it impossible for Egyptians to communicate with other countries and each other using the internet. But carrying out this order isn't like hitting an off switch. To erase Egypt, those providers would have to corrupt routers, nodes in the internet which direct data traffic. Each router helps traffic along by advertising the many IP addresses it knows using a system called border gateway protocol (BGP). When you visit a website in Egypt, your internet provider uses BGP to ask an Egyptian router, "Hey, how do I get to this Egyptian blog?" The router responds by using BGP to send you on your merry way to the right address. BGP is basically the border language that helps different parts of the internet speak to each other. But early Friday morning, thousands of routers in Egypt had their minds wiped. Suddenly they had no idea where anything was on the Egyptian internet. When your internet provider looked for web addresses inside Egypt, it found nothing. Egyptian routers no longer gave meaningful answers to BGP requests for border crossings.” Click here for more

Charlie Louvin – RIP

The secret word is Endgame

A DALEK OF YOUR OWN?

Modern kids have it all going for them. When Hipspinster and others alerted me to this I was frankly jealous.

Click here for the video

THE FROZDICK FAMILY

Dora Frozdick could sleep anywhere.

GRATUITOUS BARDOT

I THINK I NEED TO TAKE THE NIGHT OFF

Baby, it’s cold outside. I’m tired. I’m behind with my correspondence. The Virgin Atlantic TV commercial is in heavy rotation and making me nuts. I can’t contemplate world conquest or even a unique live performance concept. Finn the cat is asleep, and refuses to discuss the dire circumstances overtaking North Africa. Hank Williams is going round and round in my head. All the signs seem to indicate that I should take the rest of the night off. And Russell just called me and advised me to follow the signs. So I guess I’ll see you all tomorrow.

Click here for Hank

Click here for insidious Virgin

The secret word is Isolation

BECAUSE SOME NIGHTS I JUST WISH I WAS JERRY LEE

“KILL ‘EM ALL! IT’S GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT!”

It was Joseph Stalin who offered the cynicism that “one death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic.” What he didn’t add was that 40 million deaths could be an ecological bonanza. Our pal Wendy sent us this story but with the caveat that it comes from the UK Daily Mail.

“Genghis Khan has been branded the greenest invader in history - after his murderous conquests killed so many people that huge swathes of cultivated land returned to forest. The Mongol leader, who established a vast empire between the 13th and 14th centuries, helped remove nearly 700million tons of carbon from the atmosphere, claims a new study. The deaths of 40million people meant that large areas of cultivated land grew thick once again with trees, which absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. And, although his methods may be difficult for environmentalists to accept, ecologists believe it may be the first ever case of successful manmade global cooling. ‘It's a common misconception that the human impact on climate began with the large-scale burning of coal and oil in the industrial era,’ said Julia Pongratz, who headed the research by the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology. ‘Actually, humans started to influence the environment thousands of years ago by changing the vegetation cover of the Earth's landscapes when we cleared forests for agriculture,’ she told Mongabay.com. The 700million tons of carbon absorbed as a result of the Mongol empire is about the same produced in a year from the global use of petrol.” (Click here for more.)

The secret word is Warts

VOCATIONAL AID?

Click here for Love

DOC'S PAPERBACK CLASSIC'S # 86

HUNGRY BEAR SWIMS 400 MILES

I know the bear would probably consider me a potential snack, but reports like this just depress the hell out of me.

“A polar bear swam continuously for over nine days, covering 687km (426 miles), a new study has revealed. Scientists studying bears around the Beaufort sea, north of Alaska, claim this endurance feat could be a result of climate change. Polar bears are known to swim between land and sea ice floes to hunt seals. But the researchers say that increased sea ice melts push polar bears to swim greater distances, risking their own health and future generations. In their findings, published in Polar Biology, researchers from the US Geological Survey reveal the first evidence of long distance swimming by polar bears (Ursus maritimus). "This bear swam continuously for 232 hours and 687 km and through waters that were 2-6 degrees C," says research zoologist George M. Durner. "We are in awe that an animal that spends most of its time on the surface of sea ice could swim constantly for so long in water so cold. It is truly an amazing feat." (Click here for more)

The secret word is Endurance

UTAH HAS A STATE FIREARM

I’ve always been a fan of the 1911. It was, of course, a favored weapon of Mike Hammer, The Phantom, and the Wild Bunch. But isn’t this both tasteless and a little absurd?

“The House Political Subdivisions Committee passed out favorably a bill to make the Browning M1911 semi-automatic pistol as Utah's official firearm. The bill sponsored by Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, was brought before the committee on the day designated by Gov. Gary Herbert as John M. Browning Day. Browning was a Utah native in the late 1800s who started the Browning Gun company and is seen to many in the Legislature as one of the great Utahns in history. "John M. Browning has single-handedly saved more lives on the battlefield than any other person," said Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem. Even though the bill passed with a 9-2 favorable vote, there were still some in the audience who felt that adopting a semi-automatic gun as a state symbol wasn't the right thing to do at this time.”

Click here for MC5

THE TIMES THEY ARE A’ CHANGING

THIS IS SHAPING UP TO BE A GOOD DAY FOR REALLY BAD IDEAS

Umm…okay…the synopsis reads…

“Energy catastrophe has struck worldwide! Massive oil spills, nuclear meltdowns and more leave us desperate for viable energy sources to rebuild global society and technology. Inspired by a little tea party, Sarah Palin hits upon the answer: steam power! She begins the “Steam Initiative”, touting geothermal energy as the cure for what ails ya. The heads of Big Oil and Nuclear Power are less than happy with this trend, and they send their agents to do in the Rogue Republican. Luckily, she comes prepared with a set of steam-powered armor! (Standard equipment, don’cha know.)”

I suppose this book is perversely collectable but I really can’t imagine anyone seriously reading the damn thing. It could, however, maybe mark the last gasp near-demise of steampunk as a worked out genre.

CHRIS HEDGES STICKS IT TO THE LIBERALS

Our pal Chris Hedges at Truthdig can always be counted on to take the hard road and the uncompromising approach.

“Barack Obama is another stock character in the cyclical political theater embraced by the liberal class. Act I is the burst of enthusiasm for a Democratic candidate who, through clever branding and public relations, appears finally to stand up for the interests of citizens rather than corporations. Act II is the flurry of euphoria and excitement. Act III begins with befuddled confusion and gnawing disappointment, humiliating appeals to the elected official to correct "mistakes," and pleading with the officeholder to return to his or her true self. Act IV is the thunder and lightning scene. Liberals strut across the stage in faux moral outrage, delivering empty threats of vengeance. And then there is Act V. This act is the most pathetic. It is as much farce as tragedy. Liberals-frightened back into submission by the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party or the call to be practical-begin the drama all over again. We are now in Act IV, the one where the liberal class postures like the cowardly policemen in "The Pirates of Penzance." Liberals promise battle. They talk of glory and honor. They vow not to abandon their core liberal values. They rouse themselves, like the terrified policemen who have no intention of fighting the pirates, with the bugle call of "Tarantara!" This scene is the most painful to watch. It is a window into how hollow, vacuous and powerless liberals and liberal institutions including labor, the liberal church, the press, the arts, universities and the Democratic Party have become. They fight for nothing. They stand for nothing. And at a moment when we desperately need citizens and institutions willing to stand up against corporate forces for the core liberal values, values that make a democracy possible, we get the ridiculous chatter and noise of the liberal class.” (Click here for more)

Click here for Third World War

The secret word is Revolting

MSNBC STICKS IT TO THE LIBERALS

As it starts to emerge that outspoken liberal MSNBC news anchor Keith Olbermann was, in fact, a victim of the Comcast/NBC merger, I start to feel more and more comfortable that I’m away from the 24 hour cable news cycle. Back when I lived in LA, I’d take an afternoon break at around 5.00 to watch Olbermann and then Rachel Maddow. With Olbermann gone, I can only guess how long the openly gay Maddow will last under the new corporate masters. As Marketwatch tells it the field may be being cleared for all Fox all the time…

“Comcast is likely using Olbermann, who turns 52 a day before the Comcast takeover of MSNBC is completed later this week, as an example that it won’t tolerate an employee who shows up the owner. Cable news today is a Wild West where opinion and political bias shift from channel to channel. Viewers can get any point of view they seek from one network or another. Though Comcast is likely to pay his successor significantly less than the millions a major television personality such as Olbermann commands and though it’s not known for throwing around big bucks unnecessarily, the ouster of the onetime ESPN anchor is no slam-dunk victory for the cable giant. The new owner is likely to attract its fair share of negative publicity. Olbermann’s supporters — and there are plenty of them — will insist that Comcast sacked him because it had no stomach for his finger-in-the-eye brand of journalism.”

Click here for Nazi TV

HILLBILLY HEAVEN

All that a slack-jawed yokel needs is a banjo, some crystal meth, a few oxycontin, and maybe a couple of tourists out of whom he can scare the living shit. (But when did you last hear a hillbilly say “whom”?) If should also be more than enough for a... 

BAD NIGHT IN BEDROCK

Lifted from Adam Gorightly

THE GODZILLA SCHEMATIC 1

Which I guess will serve as both an excellent piece of cultural trivia and an adequate Monday morning metaphor for a slow grey day when my brain – and therefore my imagination – refuses to be kick-started into routine hyperactivity, and a sense of isolation grips me that is only heightened by conversations with a recalcitrant feline who is determinedly shredding old magazines destined for recycling, but will later claim that he’s both hungry and late for a nap. I guess all this is an excuse for why today may be singularly lacking in the profound and the fury. (Although “The Godzilla Schematic” is a great title for something.)

Click here for Godzilla 2012

The secret phrase is You Fucked With The Wrong Lizard

THE GODZILLA SCHEMATIC 2

Of course, if you really want to know what powers the King of the Monsters, the truth so prosaic – an creatively athletic geezer in a rubber suit – we may have to seek refuge in the retro erotic.

GRATUITOUS JULIE NEWMAR

THE FROZDICK FAMILY

Fyodor Frozdick liked to measure Elvis.

AND FINALLY AN ALTERNATIVE REASON WHY THE DAY MIGHT BE PROVING SO APATHETIC

SUNDAY BREAKFAST

While waiting to find what the fuck really went down with Keith Olbermann, I may have invented a cocktail. It’s something I played around with many years ago and only recently returned to when I started to worry that, partially due to my illogical fondness for Coca Cola, I was getting far too much sugar in my diet. The recipe is fairly simple. You take a tall highball glass and add…

One part Campari
One part Vodka
Dash of pure lemon juice
A great deal of ice
And fill the glass with soda water and garnish with a slice of orange.

I’ve heard that’s there’s something somewhat similar that’s called a Red Russian, but the too painfully obvious name for my version could only be one thing. That’s right folks, it’s a…Pink Fairy.

The secret word is Groan

THE NAME HAS A CERTAIN LOGIC

Click here

MARILYN SEZ...

“Is the pig on the wing or the wing on the pig?”

GENTRIFICATION IN ACTION (Before…

St. Marks and Ave A, hard by Tompkins Square Park. This was where I hung out when I lived in Manhattan.

…and after)

But the prospect of this drove me to California. This comes from a website called Vanishing New York.

DON'T YOU MISS THE 20TH CENTURY?

Click here for Madonna