song of the open road

TO The States, or any one of them, or any city of The States, Resist much, obey little;
Once unquestioning obedience, once fully enslaved;
Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city, of this earth, ever afterward resumes its liberty.

Walt Whitman (31 may 1819-1892) poet, essayist, and humanist
"Caution" in Leaves of Grass

Thus in silence in dreams’ projections,
Returning, resuming, I thread my way through the hospitals,
The hurt and wounded I pacify with soothing hand,
I sit by the restless all the dark night, some are so young,
Some suffer so much, I recall the experience sweet and sad,
(Many a soldier’s loving arms about this neck have cross’d and rested,
Many a soldier’s kiss dwells on these bearded lips). excerpted from "The Wound Dresser"  in the Leaves of Grass

to celebrate walt whitman's birthday i turned to my cache of photos and post two photos of walt's words that i've encountered on my wanders.

the first photo is of the sign that stands proudly in front  visible voice books - one of the few remaining independent bookstores remaining in town -- as walt whitman is a national treasure; visible voice books is a cleveland treasure.  

the second photo is of the entrance to the dupont circle metro station in washington dc - pretty far out to read walt's words emblazoned as one descends or ascends from the depths of the earth.



instead of a song, today i offer a reading of one of my favorite whitman poems,  song of the open road - (to hear the second half of this epic poem go here)





 in response to  steve's comment and question, i offer this addendum:

walt whitman lived in dc for 10 years (1863-1873) during that time he nursed wounded soldiers - whitman was a great opponent of slavery when he was living in new york he was most affected by the reports and photographs of injury and death to the union soldiers. he was also most worried about his brother george; george was serving as a union soldier. walt was so moved and worried, he decided to walk to washington from ny - he found his brother (who it turns out at the time he got there was okay) but whitman stayed on and cared for the wounded. i'm sure this is the backstory as to why this verse was chosen. a few years ago there was a wonderful exhibit at one of the smithsonian museums i attended on whitman's experiences and life in washington. if i find a link to this exhibit i will add an addendum to the addendum!

addendum to the addendum:

ah, the wonders of google.... the exhibit i remembered was at the smithsonian's portrait gallery july 2006-march 2007, to get started an on-line version of the exhibit, one life: walt whitman, a kosmos  click here

puff the magic dragon

The symbolism of the Goddess is not a parallel structure to the symbolism of God the Father. The Goddess does not rule the world. She is the world. Manifest in each of us, She can be known internally by every individual, in all her magnificent diversity.  

 Starhawk (b. 1951) writer, activist, ecofeminist

an image of an ancient goddess and a dragon adorn the body of kathy, the local wisewoman who owns goddess blessed, a most magical of shops in my hood.

kathy may have a dragon tattoo,  however, the other day i encountered a dragon with a girl tattoo. 

 
the dragon with the girl tattoo, created by local artist rob masek is in front of the tower press building

currently there are 25 dragons roaming the streets of cleveland; well, okay they aren't really roaming the streets.  the dragons are on display around town as part of the st. clair superior development association's annual public art project celebrating the animals of the chinese zodiac 

as soon as the dragons were installed i went off on a dragon hunt with a friend - below is a photo of the dragon-hunting party in reflection with the imperial king of all dragons, created by mitzi lai - this is the fourth animal mitzi has had in the annual zodiac project- they are all wonderfully fantastical and all  festooned by mitz's signature bling!!

We are our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves. 

Tom Robbins (b.1936) writer

 

to see a slide show of all the dragons which grace cleveland  click here - the slide show contains information as to the name of the dragon and the local artist.


  

peter, paul and mary singing their mega hit  puff the magic dragon in 1966,   the song was written by lenn lipton and peter yarrow in 1963.  the concert footage is part of the bbc series tonight in person. 

 

blue haze

If you understood everything I said, you’d be me. 

Miles Davis (26 may 1926 - 1991) jazz musician, bandleader, composer

it may still be may, but with the outside thermometer hitting 90 yesterday and more of the same for the next few days it certainly feels like the hazy days of summer are here!

nothing like listening to some cool jazz to help one chill out!  last night we did that very thing  - we caught the jazz combo cuda at the barking spider .  without a doubt,  the spider is one of the best places to chill in cleveland and catch live music seven days a week!

have a sweet memorial day weekend! 

blue haze from miles album of the same name, the song was recorded on march 15, 1954.

the album was released in 1956. joining miles on this song is horace silver (piano), percy heath (bass), and art blakey (drums) - several other musicians (including charles mingus) join miles on other tracks of the album blue haze.

 


 photo: self-portrait, woodlawn cememtery, the bronx, june 2010.

forever young

Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. 

 Ralph Waldo Emerson (25 may 1803 - 1882) philosopher, poet, essayist

emerson's sage advice will keep one forever young!

speaking of forever young and some more wise words, here's dylan singing his 1974 song forever young.   by the way, in case you missed it yesterday was dylan's birthday! happy belated birthday zimbo (apparently according to imdb, zimbo was dylan's childhood nickname!  funny, given that kimbo was one of my childhood nicknames! and there are still a few souls that call me that!)



photo:  vermilion, ohio 19 may 2012

scarborough fair

How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth? 

Arthur Conan Doyle (22 may 1859 - 1930) novelist, poet, physician 

this weekend was the hessler street fair - the fair has been a staple of the cleveland community for over forty years and for me an absolute must. it is by far the most colorful of our fair city's many festivals.  in addition to great music, wonderful arts and crafts,  a place to meet lots of old and new friends, the fair is a wonderful venue to see some really fine ink.

today we shine our spotlight on the body art of ray raymond a particularly gifted and delightfully entertaining slight of hand artist who was busking at the fair. 

ray's ink is an eclectic array - and range from a visual ode to a favorite musical group (six feet deep and their song angry son) on one arm to an ethereal angel and dove on the other.  

There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact. (acd)

as in past years, the mouse offers a  slide show of some of my photos from the 43rd annual hessler street fair - to view it click here. 

to celebrate fair season and the unofficial start of summer on the north coast, today's song is one of my all time favorites scarborough fair.

this version is done by the incomparably talented eclectic group the imagined village. however, before the song gets really underway is four minutes of wonderfully entertaining prattle by billy bragg. i love billy and as far as i'm concerned he can prattle on forever. in this vid billy discusses his identification with marmite, his quest to define what is is to be english, along with all sorts of other interesting bits (including quoting one of billy and my heroes - woody guthrie).

for what it's worth

It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly.

 Bertrand Russell (18 may 1872 - 1970) philosopher &  polymath

today i offer a favorite song in honor of a favorite thinker.

buffalo springfield's for what it's worth -written stephen stills, was released as a single in 1967 and was included on buffalo springfield's debut album, supposedly  the original title comes from a comment that stills made to a record producer  "I have this song here, for what it's worth, if you want it."   sometimes the song is also referred to as stop, hey what's that sound.

buffalo springfield was only together for two years (1966-1968).   however, the group served as a launching pad for the skyrocketing careers of neil young,  stephen stills,  jim messina, and richie furay.  young and stills went on to perhaps even greater fame in crosby, stills, nash and young; and,  messina and furay went on to create poco.

today all four are still active making music as soloists and with various groups.  the original group also included two other musicians, who also continued to make music, - bruce  palmer (d. 2004) and dewey martin (d. 2009).  young, stills, messina and furay did reunite in 2011 for a six concert reunion tour.  wow, that would have been a real flash to the past.

photo: long island sound,  madison connecticut.  may 2012

favorite color

My heart is moved by all I cannot save:
so much has been destroyed
I have to cast my lot with those
who age after age, perversely,
with no extraordinary power,
reconstitute the world.

Adrienne Rich (16 may 1929 - 27 march 2012) poet & essayist

today's vibrant wall was done by kazilla (aka cassie williams) - originally from santa fe kazilla now lives and works in miami.  kazilla's women centric work  straddles  the worlds of street art and fine art and is distinctive with her use of bold colors and lines and frequent incorporation of animals. 

in late march the brilliant poet and feminist essayist adrienne rich died - my haphazard blogging failed to recognize this loss to our world  - today i belatedly pay respects and give thanks to ms rich.  

favorite color a very early joni mitchell song - in fact the song doesn't seem to appear on any recordings and this video was recorded before joni was joni!  her she is introduced on the canadian television program, let's sing out in 1965 by her given name joan anderson!  

oscar brandt's introduction is priceless as is joni's performance. 

 photo: 532 nw 29th street miami (wynwood district), 29 april 2012