More to come soon…

It is undeniable that Ryan Adams has talent, but he has always annoyingly been an artist with a tendency to squander it in all the wrong places. If I had 1% of Adams’s talent, or connections, the things I wouldn’t do… Recently however, I discovered Adams’s Cardinal Radio and I have to say, I’m quite impressed. Many years ago, deep into Chook, Grue and I often talked about creating a radio channel for the Chook Industries company. Chewkies was a vague stab at this on our part. And the radio concept would frequently surface in our other recordings, like Tiger Beat Radio. I’ve not listened to the actual lyrical content of Adams’s late night speedball foolerly, but sonically at least, Cardinal Radio is a pretty accurate estimation of what I hoped Chook’s own radio station could be. In the end, I seriously doubt that Adams has decided to go all Ween on everyone’s ass, but if he does decide to suddenly have a Scott Walker reinvention/ evaluation of his career and release this stuff to the masses, I’d certainly cheer him on in his endeavors.

Click here to listen to Cardinal Radio.

I came across the following in The Environmental Handbook: Prepared for the First National Environmental Teach-In, edited by Garrett De Bell. I also found it on the web, with the note at the bottom “(may be reproduced free forever)”. Mr. Snyder, I hope it isn’t a problem that I’m reproducing it.

Once in the Jurassic, about 150 million years ago, the Great Sun Buddha in this corner of the Infinite Void gave a great Discourse to all the assembled elements and energies: to the standing beings, the walking beings, the flying beings, and the sitting beings – even grasses, to the number of thirteen billion, each one born from a seed, were assembled there: a Discourse concerning Enlightenment on the planet Earth.

Continue reading Smokey the Bear Sutra by Gary Snyder →

The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispaahan by James Morier was weeded from the library today. Flipping through it, I was really taken with the absolutely stunning artwork by Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge (1889-1975). But what really caught my eye was the rather awkward inscription accompanying the artwork. The only thing I can think is that it must have been a literal translation.

Click the picture for a bigger version.