Haiku 3 of 50

Push the thoughts away
it's not easy to grow peace.
I try on the street.

Haiku 2 of 50

You think it's cold out
there? You can't fathom the blue
chill of your own heart.

Haiku 1 of 50

If you could see all
the past footprints in concrete
you'd still be pathless.

Super 8 Star Trek fan video made by kids in the 1970's

I heard you weren't happy T.T.

with the things that I said.
It's ok to dislike the narrator.
I'm just looking to extinguish
that red coal.
I hope one day you'll take care
of our sunny terrarium
in a blue glass bottle,
but that you'll pour out the end,
the dregs, the lees, the grounds,
the remains,
into the garden.

The Fuller Building

The ancient and looming edifice

under which I stand holds the distinction 

of being one the tallest buildings in the world 

for about thirty seconds 

before another and another 

sprouted up around it like itinerant dandelions. 

Her prow pointed north she has always attempted 

to plow to the very top of the island 

and if I'm not incorrect

she's made a few inches of progress over the years. 

Generally regarded as a menace to design and decency 

my beloved flatiron is a phenomenon of engineering 

and was known for creating a breeze that could 

blow up the hoop skits of ladies at the very end of their walk.

I feel a sort of congress with it's incongruity 

and tendency to be cheeky and overdressed. 

It's big in back and cruel and beautiful as first light. 

I like that. I get it. You're sexy. You know it,

and you'd destroy me for saying so.

She's a little vain it's true with her limestone flounces

the shutters around her clicking all day.

Oh my darling you've developed an ego
and a mean streak a block long.

I imagine if someone were to speak ill of you

in your shadow you would peek the other way

and drop a rosette from your 8th story 

crushing that person to a pulp

and say "Sayonarra" under your breath

while you filed your steel frame into a wicked point.

I think you're the kind that people think needs love

but when confronted with us

you just want our dirty greasy fingers

off of your damn limestone.

You will stand tall and gorgeous and cold

until I too am dead

I love you, I love you, and I'll lay my hard work

at your feet. I will give my sacrifice to gods

of the city, and they will never know my game.

But I know yours. 

I know yours.

One-1-ii

things are changing ---------------------------->

The Rock & Roll Cookbook: Ram by Sir Paul

The Last Rock & Roll Cookbook on the LexWine Blog

The editor for this blog has resigned, and the owners have put the site on hiatus. Though this was written months ago, the final installment of the Rock & Roll Cookbook as a column on the LexWine Blog has just gone up.

I began this project specifically for the LexWine Blog, and I'm not sure how to proceed with it. I think the best step for now is to put it on hiatus until I find a new home for it. I considered putting it here, but I don't think it fits thematically with the rest of this site...



UPDATE 7/10/12
The Lex Wine blog is totally down :(
So I've reposted these articles here.
Thankfully I retained the rights to this project
_______

Hello Lex Wine Lovers and Rock & Rollers,

I hope you had a happy and healthy holiday and New Year. I want to start 2012 out with a feel-good, positive album and where else would I turn but to the “cute Beatle” Sir Paul McCartney and his 1971 release of Ram.

After McCartney’s self-titled first post-Beatles release, which went double platinum but did not have a hit single, he and his wife Linda decided to spend an extended holiday at their farm at Mull of Kintyre in Scotland. It was in this pastoral setting that the two began collaborating on songwriting, with Linda providing concepts and backing vocals. A photographer, Linda was the first female photographer to have her work featured on the cover of Rolling Stone. However during her time with McCartney she learned to play the piano. Though critics claimed that her singing was flat, something she herself agreed with, she went on to become a member of Wings and to prove herself a capable musician.
Though the album was written in Scotland it was eventually recorded in New York City. The session musicians were auditioned under the guise of recording a commercial jingle. The record was pressed in stereo, and mono copies were made for radio stations. Those mono copies remain the most expensive and rare.
Ram contained Sir Paul’s first #1 hit after the break-up of the Beatles with the tune Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey, titled after Paul’s uncle and an American war hero. Many were relieved to see that Paul could still write hits without his famous songwriting partner. John Lennon was more than a little suspicious of the project, and not without reason. Lennon felt that there were many thinly veiled insults directed at him and Yoko Ono throughout the album, a fact that Paul himself later confirmed. “[John] had been doing alot of preaching and it got up my nose a bit.” This frustration with Lennon’s public statements led to the writing of the opening track Too Many People which contained lines like “Too many people preaching practices.” and “You took your lucky break and broke it in two.” Lennon fired back with his song How Do You Sleep? on his record Imagine. More on that in the next installment though.
One of the legacies left behind by Linda McCartney is that of adamant vegetarianism and a passion for animal rights, one that her widower carries on to this day. Linda was often quoted as saying “If slaughterhouses had glass walls than the whole world would be vegetarian.” It is with this in mind that I present No Ram Shepherd’s Pie a vegan version of a classic English favorite.

No Ram Shepherd’s Pie

You’ll Need:
1 Large Onion
1 cup sliced Crimini Mushrooms
2 minced Garlic Cloves
4 large Russet Potatoes
½ cup sliced Carrots
½ cup Corn
½ cup Peas
½ cup cooked Spinach
3 tsp Flour
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Soy Creamer
Margarine
Salt
Pepper
Whole Bay Leaves
Chopped Parsley

Optional:
Any other vegetables you like. Really, the more the merrier.
Gimme Lean Soy Based Ground Beef

How to do it:
Peel potatoes and boil water.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
In a large sauce pan put 2 tbs of Olive Oil, saute’ the onions
As the onions have begun to caramelize add in the mushrooms, giving them a little room to brown.
When the mushrooms are browned turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly.
Add in ¼ of a cup of the soy creamer and the bay leaves, and put on a very low flame.
While stirring add in the flour to thicken. This creamy mushroom sauce serves as a base for our Shepherd’s pie.
Take your peeled potatoes and cut them into manageable pieces.
Drop potatoes in the now boiling water.
As the potatoes boil saute the remaining vegetables and garlic in olive oil, salt & pepper. If you’ve decided to add the soy saute’ that in with the vegetables. When the vegetables are ¾ of the way cooked remove them from heat.
By now your potatoes should be done boiling. Strain and transfer to a large mixing bowl.
Add in ¾ a cup of the Soy Creamer, 3 tablespoons of Margarine or similar vegan butter.
Add 1 tsp salt and 1 tbs extra virgin olive oil to the mashed potatoes
Mash using a manual masher, tabletop mixer, or hand mixer.
If you prefer creamier mashed potatoes then add more soy creamer.
In a deep baking dish (I use a 10 inch diameter circular ceramic one) layer the sauteed vegetables, then pour on the mushroom sauce.
Finally cover the top of the mixture with the mashed potatoes and smooth flat with a spatula.
Brush the top of the pie with olive oil.
I like to put a little shake up nutritional yeast on top of the mashed potatoes before I put the whole thing in the oven to bake.
Bake for 15 minutes or until the potatoes take on a light gold color.

Wine
In keeping with the theme of animal friendly options and environmental stewardship we suggest a hearty red of the organic variety.

Gentleman Corpse...Gentlecorpse?

The Plague Doctor

Image of a plague doctor by Gerhart Altzenbach 1700's

Historical Information

As may be seen on picture here,

In Rome the doctors do appear,

When to their patients they are called,

In places by the plague appalled,

Their hats and cloaks, of fashion new,

Are made of oilcloth, dark of hue,

Their caps with glasses are designed,

Their bills with antidotes all lined,

That foulsome air may do no harm,

Nor cause the doctor man alarm,

The staff in hand must serve to show

Their noble trade where'er they go.

-Anonymous 17th Century Poem

It's hard to imagine that there was a time where intimidation was considered part of proper bed side manner for a doctor, yet the image of the plague doctor  speaks to this quite clearly. Though the details of the plague doctor's costume were created with the protection of the doctor in mind, they had a second intention, one of the instillation of fear. If you saw this giant raven-like figure entering your neighbors home, you knew no good could follow. The engraving above speaks to this effect as the left side's background shows children fleeing from the plague doctor.

The costume of the plague doctor was not totally based on the instillation of terror however, and each part of the total costume served a purpose, even if the reasoning behind it's use has now been debunked by modern science.

The wide brimmed hat was worn as it was the traditional mark of the doctor. It would have identified a member of the medical profession much like a police hat would in the present. The most striking feature is, of course, the bird-beaked mask. The reasoning behind the aviary visage was two fold. One was that the plague was spread by birds and that by wearing the mask of a bird the doctor could draw the disease from the patient to the garment in an act of sympathetic magic. Additionally the beak was filled with strongly aromatic herbs and spices. This was to overpower the "bad air" which was another suspected cause of the spread of the Black Death. One can also imagine that the gangrene of the many plague patients did not give off a pleasant smell, perhaps this mask diminished those scents. The overcoat of the doctor was waxed or coated by suet and left no skin exposed to the terrible disease. It was also thought that the lipid coating on the overcoat could diminish the chances of the disease getting through the cloth to the doctor. At the very least it reduced the likelihood of bodily fluids clinging to it. Under the oilskin overcoat leather pants that bear a remarkable similarity to fisherman's waders were worn. This was intended to be an additional source of defense against the plague. Oftentimes the first place that the plague would manifest symptoms was in the lymph nodes, located in the armpits, neck, and groin. Therefore special care was taken to doubly protect those areas.

Though in the end the real culprit was fleas, this terrifying costume may offered some modicum of protection to the doctors. However it also may have helped to carry fleas from one place to the next in it's heavy folds. Either way, it's something that I have always found frightening & fascinating.






(SOURCE: Oxford Journals>Humanities & Medicine

• Jnl of the History of Med. and Allied Sci
• Volume XX, Issue 3
• Pp. 276)

One Word / One Minute: Below

The groaning floorboards sweated in the oppressive heat. Marie stood, her gun shouldered and pointed at the floor. All around her the jungle produced so many chirps and squawks that the noise rolled in something like a heavy fog. The tiger snorted below the floor of the hut. She clicked back the action on the rifle, and exhaled.

____________________________________

oneword.com

One Word/One Minute : Dozen

She put the dozen muffins into the oven and shut the heavy metal door. Steam fogged the bakery windows, and the outside sky had turned the purple shade that foretold dawn in an hour or so. A few drunken stragglers from a wild Friday passed the plate glass, some looking hungrily inside. They didn't see her.

_________


OneWord.com