Woody Guthrie still inspires, 100 years on from his birth | Music | The Observer

Woody Guthrie still inspires, 100 years on from his birth | Music | The Observer:

Charles Deemer and Jim Wylie perform Guthrie, the 1990s resurrection of my touring show from a decade earlier. This is a good show, if I say so myself. Audiences from Seattle to LA sure loved it in the 1980s.

Gabriel García Márquez's writing career ended by dementia | Books | The Observer

Gabriel García Márquez's writing career ended by dementia | Books | The Observer:

"Brother of Nobel prize-winning Colombian writer says side-effects of cancer treatment have accelerated his decline"

When the cure is worse than the disease. Why we need a self-deliverance pill!

If you're old, better be a celeb | Carole Cadwalladr | | The Observer

If you're old, better be a celeb | Carole Cadwalladr | Comment is free | The Observer:

No lie.

O what a beautiful morning

On deck with Kindle ... LA Times and Guardian ... morning watering done .... whole family home ... mellow hot day ahead ... a gibbous moon over the trees nearing third quarter .... camping at home ... vacation at home ... good feelings.

DNS Changer Check-Up - Clean

DNS Changer Check-Up - Clean:

Check your computer.

Why Are American Kids So Spoiled? : The New Yorker

Why Are American Kids So Spoiled? : The New Yorker:

"contemporary American kids may represent the most indulged young people in the history of the world. It’s not just that they’ve been given unprecedented amounts of stuff—clothes, toys, cameras, skis, computers, televisions, cell phones, PlayStations, iPods. (The market for Burberry Baby and other forms of kiddie “couture” has reportedly been growing by ten per cent a year.) They’ve also been granted unprecedented authority. "

I’m asked if I think the universities stifle writers

I’m asked if I think the universities stifle writers

Moving slowly

H home late tonight, so I'll spend the day puttering with home chores. I'm moving slowly today anyway.

Heard from actor, halfway through novel, liking it and very much identifying with CJ, so possibilities remain. Still some major narrative issues to work out, given our very limited technical resources. Hoping I find imaginative solutions, of course. We'll see.

Wish I could get my energy back.

The slug is dying

This is the first day since turning in my grades three weeks ago, after which I immediately got sick, that I haven't felt like a slug. I got something done today! Not much but a decent start on my office, which was the front burner project three weeks ago and only now has a genuine start. Well, that's fine, as long as no relapse is ahead. There's lots of summer left. And H returns tomorrow so things can return to normal until her next trip, all too soon but at least the rest are shorter, I think. And the forecast is a week of sunny 80s. It's about time.

If it's a go with the film, I may do a kickstarter deal to try and get a budget to pay the actors. They deserve it.

Album

Actually made a bit of progress cleaning my office -- and found some old photos. Putting them here as a safer deposit than the chaos of my office.

Baby me

Grade school

High school

W/ ma

Pa

Grandpa

Toby and brother Bill

The Higgs boson discovery is another giant leap for humankind | Themis Bowcock | | guardian.co.uk

The Higgs boson discovery is another giant leap for humankind | Themis Bowcock | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk:

The LA Times this morning has the best story on this discovery because it focuses on the human element, the extraordinary sense of international community in the sciences. Higgs himself was in tears because he never thought he'd live long enough to see his prediction come true. Here, in science, unlike in religion or politics, we have a community with a common understanding of evidence and truth -- so even now, they are not 100% sure, just over 99% sure. They applaud one another's discoveries and findings -- and duplicate them, or refine them, or even disprove them. There are accepted rules and principles at work here. How refreshing to see an international community expressing excitement and happiness! Would that this got duplicated in other human spheres of activity. Religion and politics are pathetic in comparison.

Sketch sleeps in

Sketch slept in past six. Highly unusual. Rough night.
*
Brooding about film of Sodom on limited resources. Style the key. I would welcome the challenge.
*
Hope to manage a few chores around here today.

William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury to be published in coloured ink | Books | guardian.co.uk

William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury to be published in coloured ink | Books | guardian.co.uk:

"To mark the 50th anniversary of his death, the Folio Society is printing Faulkner's 1929 novel the way he intended, with different colours marking chronological shifts in the story"

Didn't know this.

Portland in party mode

Portland's Waterfront Blues Festival

Before Sketch spends the might under the bed hiding from fireworks, decided to get out of the house, both of us stir crazy, so we drove downtown and checked out the scene. Blues Festival going strong, of course, a zoo, and I'm glad I wasn't there. But the rest of the city was bouncing, too, especially the sidewalk cafes, more than ever, and yeah I could see a nice evening at a sidewalk cafe, even if I'm just people watching.

Met the late Ger Moran, who became my best friend in Portland, at a sidewalk cafe in NW in the 80s, before the scene got gentrified, a summer afternoon, jazz on a patio, gin and tonic ... and this dude walks up to my solo table and asks if I'm Charles Deemer. Yep. His girlfriend wanted my autograph! I shit you not. She was a big fan of my plays. He was a banker in Seattle, soon to move to Portland, be a banker in Portland, then unemployed, then a series of shit jobs and finally retired and the poet he truly was -- but quickly dead, no justice at all.

Well, the fireworks are beginning early. Hey, Sketch ... it's okay, buddy ...

Round Bend Press: Huxley and the Gang

Round Bend Press: Huxley and the Gang:

"I had a nice visit last night with two Round Bend contributors who hadn't seen each other in, they guessed, nearly twenty years."

Yeah, thanks for inviting me, guys. Jeez.

Caveman

I can't recall the last time I had a steak, either in a restaurant or at home. My Jully 4th lunch was a NY steak barbecued and, man, it may be the best steak I ever tasted. Or maybe it's just been a long time. Sketch, of course, got some nibbles and he loved it, too.

And that seems to be my 4th. Otherwise, a little listening to jazz, a little reading. I'm ready for H to return! Friday. Not long. Alas, she's off somewhere else soon, I think. More than the usual travel this summer.

I tried to mow some lawn earlier but no luck, exercise still makes me light-headed.

Filling the mind

Have a story that's been bugging me, I think I'll have no choice but to deal with it, another road story of two old farts, in this case going to Tijuana to buy veterinary Nembutol, the "peaceful pill" gold standard for those seeking self-deliverance, this in 2006 at the beginning of the Mexican drug cartel wars, and the height of Nembutol popularity and availability. You can see the ironic weaving of "death" themes here. A dark comedy, as usual. I thought I was "retired" from this sort of thing but apparently not. Working title, The Peaceful Pill Wars.

---

The Fourth. Nothing happening until later when the noise starts and Sketch freaks out. I may barbecue a steak -- at least I bought one for same. Mellow today, though, mostly into reading and brooding about the new idea and also about the possibility of adapting the last novel to film. Have some interesting ideas emerging on the latter. First, see if the story generates any enthusiasm from actors. Without it, no point in doing it.

Slug city

Still no energy. Made a doc appt. Something may not be right.

The 4th. I hate it. I spend my time comforting Sketch and trying not to remind myself that in VA hospitals everywhere dudes are hitting the floor screaming "Incoming!" Great legacy.

Heinrich Kley

The older I get, the more I appreciate the grotesque brilliant drawings of Heinrich Kley, whose work I first encountered in te 1960s. Looks like the common state of human affairs to me.

Daily Kos: American Indians organize largest Get Out the Vote campaign in history. You can help make it happen

Daily Kos: American Indians organize largest Get Out the Vote campaign in history. You can help make it happen:

"A million American Indians aren't registered to vote. A million!"