The Fable of the Mermaid and the Drunks

All these fellows were there inside
when she entered, utterly naked.
They had been drinking, and began to spit at her.
Recently come from the river, she understood nothing.
She was a mermaid who had lost her way.
The taunts flowed over her glistening flesh.
Obscenities drenched her golden breasts.
A stranger to tears, she did not weep.
A stranger to clothes, she did not dress.
They pocked her with cigarette ends and with burnt corks,
and rolled on the tavern floor in raucous laughter.
She did not speak, since speech was unknown to her.
Her eyes were the color of faraway love,
her arms were matching topazes.
Her lips moved soundlessly in coral light,
and ultimately, she left by that door.
Hardly had she entered the river than she was cleansed,
gleaming once more like a white stone in the rain;
and without a backward look, she swam once more,
swam toward nothingness, swam to her dying.

Pablo Neruda

Seattle

We miss you Seattle. I was just thinking about how nice it was to play at the Triple Door and have all our radio supporters in the audience and all those sparkley stars in the stage curtain behind us. That was really special.

Bohemian Revolution

There really has to be a bohemian revolution. Perhaps a third major political party composed primarily of young people from the creative class or anyone capable of dissent--those concerned for the future of our country who are unafraid of a fight. We'd start by talking about it at the coffee shop and the social club and we'd talk about the impending doom of social security and the apocolypse that will ensue with the upcoming mass exodus of baby boomers from the jobs they've been holding, causing young able-bodied, able-minded job seekers to find themselves floundering, which causes those older job holders to look upon us with a sense of entitlement and say that we're slackers or whatever it is they say.
This political party should be called something resembling what it is: the party of the people is my vote. My friend Luke said, "Don't you think that sounds communist?" Hum. Maybe? No, it's not a "communist" organization but it should have social justice issues at it's core. It's not even radical in my opinion. Most things we want are already in place to some degree. For example, we (in the party) could all agree on universal health care being necessary and then reveal the present system for what it is: a failing model of universal health care. I mean, for the uninsured, what do they do? If they are poor enough (and if they are sick enough, they will soon be poor enough) they may qualify for medicaid. Lots of musicians I know qualify and have some coverage through medicaid. This is a social service. I presume the doctor and hospital bills that go unpaid are absorbed, causing hikes in costs for the contributing members of today's system, which in turn causes insurance and self-paid trips to the doctor too expensive. This a simplified version, mainly for the purposes of the conversation, but also, how difficult does it have to be? It seems so common sense and elementary to me. So the health care system we have now, I'm saying, is already forced to account for the poor no matter what. Eventually everybody needs some health care no matter who they are or what their financial situation is. So why not treat our basic needs? That's the job of everyone--to create a country wherein we take care of our basic needs. This is in our best intrest as a country, even for economic reasons. Take care of everyone and it makes us more economically competitive. If you compare our country to a restaurant, it wouldn't take long to see that an efficient country would take care of it's own, no matter how poor, just like an efficient restaurant would take care of it's, I don't know, dishwashing staff. Without the dishwasher, the restaurant would fall apart. Those of us who have spent a lot of time working in a restaurant know the heirarchy is dishwasher, cooks, kitchen manager for the kitchen and then host, waiter, floor manager in the front of the house. Without the dishwasher, everything, all the way up and in both the kitchen and the front of the house, would fall apart.
Okay, this is the first example of an issue the party could take up as part of the platform we'd run on. And we'd aim to put together enough of a membership to actually run for office. Our human and common sense issues would connect to lots of people and we wouldn't have to affiliate ourselves with a side or religion or corporation because it's a new invention. In a debate, some crabby old man would call us a liberal or maybe even communist organization, but we won't accept any shit talking because WE label ourselves, WE define our movement, and WE choose our pursuits. We'll point this out. It'll be pitiful to see an old man who is losing his grip on power attempt to defend his platform by insulting the other. It's not reasonable but it'll be his desperation compelling him to do it.
I'm going to keep thinking and talking about this.