Sure Nuff 'N Yes I Do

It's never a bad moment to post a Beefheart video.



Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, Cannes Beach, January 27th 1968.

This is not an end-of-year post.

Things here at WGD Central have been rather hectic lately so as you may see not much of the ol'blogging has been done due to an extended case of the dreadful lots-of-interesting-stuff-to-be-done-away-from-the-internet disease. Usually what you would see here is a year-ending post of reflections, links and whatnot interspersed with my monotonous repetition of how little these festivities matter to me in the first place. It'll probably come, but not yet. Sometime in january. Or february would be cool too.
Thing is, i have loads of stuff to update about (i can't believe i haven't mentioned certain activities of mine here yet), two or three long unfinished posts, neat pictures to share and other online incarnations to make public but i just don't have the time right now. In the meantime i suppose you can make do with the links on the sidebar and the constantly growing del.icio.us sitefeed. And read some webcomics, webcomics will love you back. I'll be back after the break.
What you have just read is a reassuring "don't worry, the blog is not dead nor as a matter of fact am i" post. Happy new whatever you want it to be.

(A Parte: Oh dear, december 2006 seems to have become International Dead Dictators Month. Which brings back to mind tv images of Ceausescu's execution back on christmas day, 1987. I might be getting the year wrong but i'm quite sure about the day. Last time i spent christmas in Glasgow, i think. Anyway, i just wanted to say that the rejoicing done previously for Chile and Turkmenstan's gladly departed former rulers was not extended to Iraq's, at least in this old-fashioned anarchoid* household. As a matter of fact, we're all rather pissed off about what happened. There, i said it.)

*Temporary and debatable definition of the anarchoid household my upbringing stems from: Pre-spanish civil war, Post-Jacovitti.

It's a gas.

Oh look, there goes another one.

Pinochet Update

He's still dead.

After the dentist

Me: I finally feel like i can smile again.
Her: You're relieved?
Me: No, the anaesthesia is wearing off.

Live post-mortem coverage

"If there is a hell, we have reason to believe that he is burning there as we speak"
-Geoffrey Robertson, Human Rights Watch, interviewed live by the BBC twenty minutes ago.

Webmaster's first reaction: "i won't believe it until i see the body"
Webmaster's second reaction: "Just another of his ploys to avoid the courtroom. Wonder what he'll think of next."

My Father's first reaction (on the phone): "Obviously a birthday present for Lucia Pinochet."
(It is also A. s birthday today, happy birthday again even if i already told you that earlier today. Thank you for this day.)

Gato's first reaction: "Purrrr."

Situation at the evaristo family habitat:
The phone rings.
My Father: "is it for you?"
Me: "You'd better take it, i'm afraid it might be the TV."

Babsi's first reaction: This link

And now this post is interrupted because my family and i are going out to the chinese restaurant, with a large weight off our heads. Thank you.

Seven Degrees

Excerpt from an online conversation between the webmaster and Pelodia, 20-21 August 2006. (translated, expanded and hyperlinked)

[01.23.21] evaristo: seven degrees of separation.
[01.23.28] evaristo: Goscinny, creator of Asterix
[01.23.49] evaristo: was in New York after the war and worked with Harvey Kurtzman, creator of Mad Magazine.
[01.24.28] evaristo: At about the same time he met Morris, with whom he started to write Lucky Luke.
[01.24.54] evaristo: Some twenty years later, it was Kurtzman who brought together the first cooperation between Terry Gilliam and John Cleese, on a magazine called Help!
[01.25.10] evaristo: Gilliam was friends with Zappa at the time - it was the Garrick Theatre days i suppose.
[01.25.26] evaristo: In fact, Gilliam can be heard as one of the background voices in America Drinks And goes Home, on the Absolutely Free album.
[01.25.54] evaristo: Then Gilliam moves to the uk, and gets back in contact with Cleese for finding some project to do together...
[01.26.12] evaristo: ...some ten years later they're looking for funding for the first Monty Python feature film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. (Edit: got this one wrong: it was Life Of Brian, but i couldn't be bothered to change the image)
[01.26.24] evaristo: and they end up getting funded almost entirely by George Harrison
[01.26.39] evaristo: who remained very good friends with Gilliam to the extent that he could be seen playing guitar at his birthday parties.
[01.26.46] evaristo: There, that's seven.
[01.26.49] evaristo: If i didn't count them wrong.

[01.26.56] Pelodia: That's very good. Now you just have to find the connection between Kevin Bacon and Osama Bin Laden.



The webmaster (with accomplice) will be meeting Terry Gilliam in Trieste tomorrow, and is very excited.


Epilogue. It has been said many times that there was, and is, a certain unexplainable something that flows in british popular culture bringing sudden bouts of inspiration and creativity and changing determinate things about our everyday life in general, that comes and goes but reappears each time in a completely different medium. This special something is the imaginary line that connects the Goon Show to The Beatles to Monty Python to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (and which i personally trace back to Segar's Thimble Theatre, very indirect inspiration for Milligan to name the Goon Show as such, but that's a theory for another day). This has often been said directly in connection with Douglas Adams, if not mentioned by the author himself. Pity i can't find the exact quote, even after a half-hour of thumbing through my paperback copy of The Salmon Of Doubt. I still felt like mentioning Douglas though, because i still miss him a lot.

Just making sure.

Me: So, how's your grandma?
Her: Fine! She's gonna bury us all!
Me: In the metaphorical sense or in the Frank Capra Arsenic and Old Lace sense?
Her: Metaphorical.
Me: Oh, ok.

Globalization

With apologies to A.*

Her: So, how was it?
Me: Fun, i guess. It ended up being something of a guys' night.
Her: Oh, cool!
Me: The reason it ended up being something of a guys' night is that we accidentally forgot the girl at the bar.

*Who doesn't read this anyway, but it had to be told.

Unorthodox flight configurations

Birds, as filmed by the webmaster earlier today.

1 - 23sec


2 - 9sec

These probably qualify as hallucinations.

Breaking News - Terry Gilliam visits Trieste, Webmaster goes bonkers.

This just in: Director, animator and comic artist Terry Gilliam will be visiting Trieste sometime between the 21st and the 26th of November 2006 as special guest of this year's Scienceplusfiction festival. Gilliam, who has worked with the likes of Harvey Kurtzman and Frank Zappa, and who rose to fame as a member of Monty Python, also happens to be the webmaster's favourite living director.

Gilliam links Here.
No news whatsoever Here (as of writing).

Upon receiving this information, the webmaster (who has already spoken to Gilliam on one documented occasion, but that's a story for another day) proceeded to start jumping around the house and hallucinating from excitement.

Videos of said hallucinations shall be published asap.

My own little private balkans

Me: Did you make this?
Him: Yes, it's a traditional serbian recipe.
Me: It's delicious, what's it called?
Him: We call it "Meat And Potatoes".

Eyes.

Fictional Friends

"And that’s because of people arguing over things that many people regard as imaginary. Chiefly, gods, religions, and national boundaries, which are absolutely imaginary. They’re completely notional. They don’t tend to exist. As soon as you pull back half a mile and look down at the Earth there are no national boundaries. There aren’t even any national boundaries when you get down and walk around. They’re just imaginary lines we draw on maps."

-Neil Gaiman, interviewed at Bookslut.
(An interview where he actually just talks about stuff completely unrelated to the above, but i loved that quote anyway and wanted to put it here)

Pun Headlines

Steve Winwood run over by truck
He was playing in Traffic.

Unfair

My dad was teasing me at lunch today because he has a copy of Eric Hobsbawm's Autobiography and i don't.

Oh, and i also still do the occasional freelance office work

ML: Marco, turn that pc on for Robin.
MP: That one? It's already on.
ML: Yeah? When did you turn it on?
MP: Some three weeks ago.

As you may have noticed, i've been rather busy lately.

l-r: The Webmaster, The Mystery Accomplice, The Chuk from the Trabant.

Completely random update post

As you may have noticed, i've been rather busy lately. Which accounts for the lack of updates around here.

The type content on this website has been rather erratic over the past years. It started out as a sort of diary-like thing as i suppose most blogs begin. Then when i realized that reading about other people's lives on the internet is about as boring as an unsuccessful comparison, the blog started to center more on stuff that i found interesting, links and the like. I don't link much to interesting articles, websites, etc. anymore mainly because i've started to use de.licio.us quite conspiciously over the last few months. Here's a link to my account. I'll eventually add it to the sidebar. I wish i could have direct links to de.licio.us pages on the sidebar like pino, for one, has. But i assume that's not really possible on a lowly blogspot template.

Just to contradict what i just wrote, here are two links i found interesting today:

• John French aka Drumbo officially declares the natural ending of the Magic Band's reunion. Lovely recap of three years of reconstituted greatness.

• Momus reviews Cornelius' new single. I didn't think i'd ever say this nor probably will i ever again, but in this specific case i could not possibly agree more with Momus' opinion. (Although i obviously appreciated the Point album much more than he did)

(There's also another reason i'm not posting many links to cool stuff anymore - said reason will be revealed in a month or two, but i can assure you it's something cool)

While we're here, sorry about all the conversation snippets i've been posting lately. I realize they may be found uninteresting or incomprehensible, but that's just the way things go. There's no telling how things will evolve here but usually it's just stuff happening randomly and ending up on the internet. Although i do admit i may have been toying with the idea of giving a completely different twist to this blog, but as i said, there's no telling.

(If you've read until here, please notice that this has been a really long post centering basically on "sorry for not posting")

Also, i've had a cold lately. Was brought a lemsip few minutes ago. Plus a glass of lemonade "while the lemsip cools down". As i gulped on the lemonade, the cat on my lap watched me with compassion, still puzzling over why us humans insist on wasting time by eating with utensils and opposable thumbs instead of just using the mouth like he does, which is so much more practical. Can't blame him. Of course, this is the same feline quadruped who leaves in a huff if fed from anything other than his own personal bowl. So it's all relative.

Weekdown Endload: Start Wearing Purple

Location: ShagooFest, last week.
Her: Did you see that guy's T-shirt? "Start wearing purple". It's true, more people should wear purple.
Me: Hey, i wear purple all the time!
Her: Yeah, but you're Robin. You don't count.



Gogol Bordello - Start Wearing Purple (128kps 5Mb Mp3)

The Webmaster once almost saw Gogol Bordello live but since the drummer had broken his arm he went to a party instead. And what a party that was.

YouTube Goodness - The Beatles

I knew it was on YouTube somewhere. And of course i found multiple copies. The following is, hands-down, my favourite Beatles live performance. (Second favourite is Paperback Writer live at the Budokan, which is sadly absent online. Pure energy in that one.) Paul screaming, George messing up the backing vocals and laughing, John playing keyboards with his elbow. Ringo...well, just being Ringo which is what we all love him for. This one is dedicated to all those who think pre-Revolver Beatles aren't worthy of their time. Think again.

So without further ado:
The Beatles - I'm Down - Live at Shea Stadium, 15.8.65

The alternative was handing it to the lost and found.

J: What happened?
C: Robin found a beer.
J: You found a beer?
R: Yeah, i found a beer.
A: (arrives) What's up?
R: I found a beer.
A: You found what?
R: A beer.
C: He found a beer.
J: So what?
R: So i drank it.

I also tasted my first ever tofu yesterday, thanks to these guys.
It wasn't bad, but i expected it to come as a little cube and dance around like in all those anime.

Update: bands i saw at the festival that are worth checking out, quite surprisingly because i don't usually listen to this kind of stuff:
Exit Failure,
Inner Glory,
Ornaments. <--particularly good

In Memory of C's defunct cellphone

C: My cellphone broke down this morning, i had to buy another one.
R: How did it happen?
C: I walked into a shop and bought it.
R: No, i mean the old one breaking part.
C: A bottle of conditioner i was carrying in my bag broke open and swallowed it.
R: I understand. I lost a relative that way once.
C: What?

(Disclaimer: perhaps a small portion of this conversation may have been made up)


This image has no relation whatsoever with the above conversation. It's only here because it made me laugh. Please ignore it. (Tnx to Kombatt)

Two in one. Last night's dream and: Later, in the library.

Last Night's Dream:
I dreamt that one of The Residents had died, and when they took his mask off it turned out he was Wolfgang Flür.

Later, In The Library:
Him: "What about her? Do you like her?"
Me: "Are you crazy? She's thirty! That's only one digit away from forty!"

Could be worse.

Trieste, 30.8.06

(No, not really.)

Sgonico, 1.9.06

(Perhaps)

Another weekend, another download.

So i had this wierd dream. Some friends and i had been asked to list two or three songs that should be used to remember us when we're dead. The only one i remember choosing was this one, definitely an odd choice:
Pizzicato Five - Collision and Improvisation (Dizzy Fugu Mix) (Remixed by Maxwell Implosion) (128kps Mp3, 5.57Mb)
Actually, the stevereichesque opening marimba loop added to a Piero Umiliani sample makes the tune quite appropriate for such a destination. I like it. I'll go with it.

(No, Stevereichesque is not a word. I just made it up. Please avoid using it in future, i promise i will too.)

Popular Wisdom (Excuse our french)

Overheard at the Osmizza of Ceroglie, 26.08.06:

Se te son cussì bon a far conti, fa conto che te son un mona.

(sorry folks, absolutely untranslatable. But i couldn't help sharing it here anyway.)

The Webmaster Loves his Mom

Her: Hungry?
Me: Actually, yes!
Her: I was talking to the cat.
Me: Oh. Sorry.

The Continuing Adventures Of My Ringtone

This just in from The Idiot:

The Tehran Symphony Orchestra played Frank [Zappa]'s Dog Breath Variations at the start of a weeklong visit to Germany, seen as an exercise in cultural diplomacy. The 80-member ensemble, which included more than a dozen women playing in headscarves, got a standing ovation as they opened the Orient Festival on Sunday 20 August in Osnabruck.

Which is probably the most beautiful piece of middle-east related news i've heard in the past year or five.

The webmaster fondly remembers smuggling a taped copy of Sheik Yerbouti through persian borders back in 1997, cunningly camouflaged as "Bunny and the Dandelions".

On the other hand, this picture just made my brain implode. Thank you, the internet.(via)
For future reference: please include this topic among those never, ever to be mentioned in my presence so as to avoid headaches, stomach pains, frothing to the mouth and cold-blooded homicide.

So anyway, speaking of borders, you may have noticed i'm back in italy since the 15th as promised. The previous six or so posts were flashbacks from my short-but-all-too-sweet holiday from the rest of the world. Almost a week without the internet - such a luxury. Highly recommended.
I would also like to mention that i miss that serendipitous little what-in-the-world-am-i-doing-here-and-where-is-this-anyway place terribly, and would like to thank all involved even if they don't really read this because, like, they're busy and clever.

We now return to our regularly scheduled program.


One week ago this moment i was on a ferry somewhere in international waters and i miss that, too.

Acercamientos Linguísticos

Her: Sorry, we weren't talking in english, you couldn't understand a thing.
Me: It's fine, as long as you don't say 'robin' or 'malakas' i know you're not talking about me.

From N.'s Window - 2

From N.'s Window - 1

An excerpt.

(...) She said she was going to the toilet and then to get another drink, and proceeded to get up and walk away in the opposite direction.

disappointments

Her: Come meet our friend at the other table! He has a boat!
Me: He has a goat?!?
Her: No, Robin. A Boat.
Me: Oh. Pity.

In a watered-down bar, under the sea.

Me: Yeah, i'd like a gin and tonic that tastes like rain water and bad alcohol.
Waitress: I don't think we make that kind of drink!
Me: You did yesterday.*
Mystery Accomplice: How do you like the music?
Me: I've heard better ringtones. Are we going someplace else after this?
Mystery Accomplice: You don't like this bar?
Me: I'll put it this way: if i'd wanted to see so many drunk english i would have gone to drunk england.

*very old joke

Things that cheer robin up.

The webmaster will be away until 15/08 in an undisclosed location somewhere within the european union.


Meanwhile, why not go read some Captain Beefheart Interviews?

A Compliment?

Her: Did you draw this?
Me: Um, yeah.
Her: Oh, i thought it was by one of your nieces.

Quick reviews

Clerks 2
Is arguably better than the first if only because Kevin Smith actually learnt to direct in the meantime.

Klezmatics live in Monfalcone, August 2 2006
If you really want to write songs about Hanukkah, try at least to include lyrics that aren't just a repetition of the word "Hanukkah".

Nonsurvival Lessons

Me: So, the day after a hangover, your priority should be to have a drink. If you don't have a drink, your body won't get used to it again and you might end up not wanting to drink for weeks, even months.
Him: Ok, so now explain why this would be a bad thing.

(Sans Titre)

Her: How...how did it happen?
Me: Well, i was in Lasko and...
Her: Ok, understood.

To the ten thousandth visitor who came by last night

Reading the punctuation in my old posts is like dying a small death.
And i don't mean that in the good way.

There is no solution because there is no problem

"The content or importance of a painting cannot be evaluated with words. No language can be found to speak about painting. Painting is a language in itself. One form of expression cannot be translated by another form of expression. To say the least the original message will be completely distorted, no matter what one wants to say about it."

-M. Duchamp, in A. Schwarz, 1969

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture"

-F. Zappa, attrib.

(this last quote may also have been said by anyone ranging between Clara Schumann and Steve Martin, but in this context it is nice to believe it was Zappa)

Lasko-bound

In less than an hour, i will be leaving for the Lasko Festival. For those not in the know, this is something like that pamplona bulls thing but with beer instead of the bulls.
I don't really have a very clear idea about where (or even if) i'll be waking up in the next couple of days, but that doesn't really matter. As always, my last will and testament is in a .txt file on my desktop should the need arise.
Updates are, however, to be expected.

Undescribable.

We interrupt the awkward silence to post three pictures of an object my mother found at the top of a donated book bin, and deemed too good for charity thus bringing it home for all to appreciate.



This pocket-sized booklet, filled to the brim of useful tips for a saintly lifestyle, was printed in Boston(USA) in 1909. The first edition, however, dates back to 1887. This is the fourth reprint.

Here's a closeup of the central symbol. I sure hope the text within delivers all it's promising.



Much as it's fun to mock this thing, i can't help noticing how beautiful the cover layout is. And the exterior's texture has a certain endearing quality to it.

And finally, i decided to accompany all this beauty with yet another fallen myth. This fake red army insignia pin was given to me by someone who actually believed it to be genuine. It's visibly in good company now.

Yes, the french aren't our only problem

At the supermarket counter, yesterday afternoon. The players: Myself, confused blonde girl in front of me.

Me: Scusi, Lei è in fila?
Her: ... (blank stare)
Me: Are you in this queue?
Her: I...I don't know...
Me: Are you from the United States?
Her: Yes.
Me: Oh, i'm so, so sorry.

So i passed her by and went on to pay.

The Weekend Something-Or-Other

i finally set up a little page to keep available downloads tidy: here it is. I'll be leaning stuff there temporarily, usually for a week or so etc. Things here will continue regularly with mp3s being offered any time i have an excuse to, but they'll be mirrored there for clarity.

Also, i'd recently been thinking of switching from Haloscan's comment system to Blogger's built-in one, because Haloscan only held messages for six months. But now they've decided to make them permanent and all old comments are back, so Halocan stays. Which is good, because blogspot's comments get tons of spam and would have needed moderation, something i'm too lazy to cope with.

And finally, check out these beautiful pictures of Gato from Babsi's Travelogue.

Goodbye Rose

We'll miss you.

Who says the best punchlines are taken?

Her: Are you single?
Him: No.
Her: Where's your girlfriend right now?
Him: I can't disclose this information.
Her: Robin, are you single?
Me: Yes.
Her: Why?
Me: Fuck you.

There's always a first time.

Home, evening. Personnages: Mother, myself.

me: I'm taking the car.
her: Sure, where are you going?
me: Just to a birthday in monfalcone, maybe somewhere alse afterwards if things get boring.
(long pause)
Good lord, i actually just told the truth.

Doubts extrapolated from a notebook

They say [Matta interviewed by Cecilia Sredni de Birbragher, Revista Nexus, Bogotà Jan/Mar 1998] that if you take a chicken and draw a line on the ground in front of it with a piece of chalk, it'll stay there and won't move until something else happens.
So, i wonder, what would happen if you did the same thing with a human, say, with an old lady? If while she's walking in the street you just run over and mark a line on the ground in front of her? Will she also stand there until something else happens, not knowing what to do? Or would she carefully try to walk around the line?
In a perfect world i'd stand next to her, pull a gun out and shoot in the air.
And watch her sprint.

Hand

Detail of spontaneous collective ouvre (now destroyed).
Former mental institute of San Giovanni(TS), 21.06.06

The new trend in Duino this summer

Is walking around town carrying a bucket and two bottles full of water with you. Yes, i said Water.

Good news, friends!

Futurama returns!

Coded Message

RLF1stPS21.9 (So Be It.)

It's Official!

My neighbour has ducks!

Hey, kids! It's the Weekend Download!

We love Kahimi Karie here at WGD Central. And after listening to this, so will you.


(KK, White Sands, New Mexico.)

Kahimi Karie - Blue Orb (183kps vbr 5.00Min Mp3, 7Mb approx.)
From the Minna Daisuki Katamari Damacy Soundtrack, 2005. A tribute album for a videogame, why don't they do these things here in the west too?
This track has been stuck in my (borrowed cheap second-hand 128Mb) Mp3player for two weeks already, and it won't surprise me if it stays there for most of the summer.

Argh.

Famous astrophysicist Stephen Hawking said Thursday that the late Pope John Paul II once told scientists they should not study the beginning of the universe because it was the work of God.

(Via PvP)
(No, really)

Mark my words. If i ever get my own tv program or get to read the news on tv, i *swear* i'll introduce the big guy in the funny hat as "Reknowned integralist catholic leader Joseph Ratzinger*, also known by his followers as 'The Pope'".
Oooh, i can't wait. And of course i'd be underlining quotation marks with my fingers.

(*or whoever's up for the job by then)

See me, hear me

The albums i've most listened to on my pc according to Last.fm

(Picture above modified to comply a little bit more with my personal tastes)

Oh, and there's something i keep forgetting to tell: You too can listen to "my radio" for free until the end of this month! Just because they had messed some things i didn't even notice up and decided to give me a subscriber account to compensate. all you have to do is go to the site, install the (safe, unobtrusive and extremely small) miniplayer and then click Here. Or on the appropriate link at my user page. Some kind of account creation may also be necessary, but that's not really a problem.
I wouldn't usually be plugging a site this much, but i've been using it constantly for the past few days and really getting a blast out of it. Just wanted to share the fun.

Edit: First one to correctly identify all albums pictured above will be mocked thoroughly but will also probably win something stupid if i feel like it.

(P.S.: The webmaster is currently way, way behind schedule with certain projects. Waaay behind. Which means that posting on this blog...will be just as erratic as always, but slightly more irresponsible since i've theorically got better things to do.)

Trenitalia Flashbacks

Train to Rome, a couple weeks ago. Two pretty girls get on the train at Padova station, come next to where i'm sitting, look at the seat reservations on their tickets, look at me, and one of them speaks for both:
Her: I think we should be sitting there
Me: (looks at them, smiles) Yes, i think so too.

However.
They sit, they extract reading material. A tabloid-gossip mag, and a crossword booklet. The one solving crosswords made a slightly better impression, at least some brainwork was involved.

However.
16 Horizontal. Three letter word. Starts with "C".
Her: "Definition: US Secret Service. Hmmm..."

She then fills the gaps with the letters CSI.
And that was when i decided i was better off when i was sitting on my own.

That world cup thing

Living room, obligatory viewing of World Cup game (in this case, Brazil-Croatia).
My Father: Ronaldo's fat.
Me: He's bald, too.

(Croatia deserved to win, anyway)
Oh, and just in case - remember when last time around, everybody was discussing and trying to explain when exactly the ball goes offside? Well, what follows is the only real system to find out:

Robin's Only Real System For Detecting Offside (Patent Pending)
So it's like this: you put an egg in a bucket of water.
If it floats, the ball was offside.
If it sinks, it wasn't.

Where The Wild Things Are.

This casual disposition of orange felines and classic literature could not go undocumented.

Children these days.

The players: My oldest neice(approx. 5 years old), a plush squirrel, myself.

Me: Whose squirrel is this?
Her: Mine!!!
Me: And what's his name?
Her: Oh, it's just a squirrel.

Forces Of Nature

The players: Myself, Gnapppo.
The location: Awestruck in front of my computer screen, watching an excerpt from the Roxy DVD.

Him: ...
Me: ...
Him: ...
Me: ...
Him: ...
Me: Do you realize that if we were to put this on YouTube the ZFT's lawyers would be knocking at that door within minutes?

(Sorry for the large amount of zappa-related posts lately, i just need to get a couple more out of my system and then we'll be back to, um, normal?)

Outfeedbacked

Location: Trabant gig, NoFun club, Udine.

Me(Screaming over the music): Damn! I was standing next to the speaker and now my right ear is whistling!
Him(Screaming over the music): That's nothing! Once I was next to the speaker at a Thurston Moore solo gig, and my ears were whistling for days!
Me: (backs away slowly.)

Is there a name for this phobia?

I wish i wasn't so terribly afraid of going to an ATM machine and checking how much money i actually have left.

Series III: Pictures of people taking pictures of people.

Rome, Via dei Fori Imperiali, 28 May 2006, 12AM approx.















Later that night:

(Rome, Centrale Del Tennis, 12PM Approx.)

A small eternity with Joe Travers.

We had a chance to meet Mr. Joe Travers, vaultmeister and drummer extraordinaire - also known as The Man With The Coolest Job In The World - outside Rome's Centrale Del Tennis, after another successful Zappa Plays Zappa gig, and ask him a quick question.

Me: Hi Joe, loved the concert! Just a quick question: So, what's next in the Saga?
Him: Ah, nothing at the moment, but when i go back from tour i've got about three different working ideas right now on some certain things so, well, we'll see what happens. Probably a concert release and then we're getting ready for two things. We're working on two CDs and then we're also working on the fortieth anniversary release boxset for...(looks me in the eye) something i can't tell you about!
Me: I can just do the math, c'mon. Forty years...
Him: Exactly.
Me: ...OH!
Him: Well there you are! So, gotta go.
Me: Thanks for the talk!
Him: Seeya!


Courtesy of evaristo, boy reporter.

Napo meets Gnàpo

The new Marx Brothers: Evaristo, Napoleone Murpo Brocco, Gnapppo.

Welcome back to me.

Ok, this blog will soon see new content. Some of it even today. We've got an interview or two, reviews, news, and maybe even a couple of photoseries if i feel like posting them.
But first, i shower. Cheers.

MUSIC IS THE BEST

The webmaster is leaving for Rome in a few hours.
What follows is a bunch of stuff culled from a day's frantic preparation.

Wierd Al Yankovic - Genius In France

"While I've never been a big fan of long solos, I've always admired Frank Zappa's compositional acumen, which I studied religiously while writing my Zappa homage, 'Genius In France.' To create my 'style parodues', I dissect my favourite artists' work and try to step into their shoes and, i hope, create a composition not unlike something they might have done themselves. I felt extra pressure doing that with Zappa; he's one of my all-time heroes and, frankly, I didn't want to screw it up. One reason 'Genius' is nine minutes long is that Frank's style consists of so many components, I felt it would do him a disservice to try to emulate it in three or four minutes. And he'll always have a wam place in my heart for categorically proving to the unwashed masses once and for all that humor really does belong in music." -Wierd Al Yankovic, Relix Magazine, April/May '06

The Webmaster, Saturday 20th May. With mystery accomplice.


Comin'up:
Friday, 26 May dinner with Faveromane. 1st Fr/Gluteo summit.
Saturday, 27 May Vega/Chuk cumulative B-Day celebration. Why in Rome? Why not? Mind your own business.
Sunday, 28 May Zappa Plays Zappa at teatro tenda striscle and/or centrale del tennis.
Monday, 29 May aperitaviti. Strong chances of Nacci.
Tuesday, 30 May Roma-Udine-Duino-And Maybe Medeazza.

This weekend will also see the conclusion of an 18-month project still currently under wraps. Codename TAME. This was a secret message, ingest after reading.


The party that wasn't there. 19.05.06

(The mp3 linked to above doesn't really work. The webmaster doesn't really care. Find it on P2P.)

Me: Why do you always doubt my words?
Her: I've only known you for three hours!

Zappa.com Tourlog
Dweezil inca roads solo 49mb quicktime video (this one works)

I hope to catch at least one of these exhibitions (gnapppo preparati)

(it's creative freedom, but it feels good after all)

Sometimes knowing you have four hours of sleep ahead feels like such a luxury.
(just got back from giving a present to a tree. But i didn't have the time to return certain library books)

Her: The cat's still here? I'll put it out.
Me: But he's my alarm clock!

I'm starting to suspect that my map of rome may have been in london for the past year and a half. (Which must be why i can't find it)

Love is not music.

Me: Why are you laughing?
Her: Because i thought you were crying.

Beauty is not love.

Last night, outside the bar:
Her: So, robin, what are your plans for the summer?
Me: Ah, the same as every summer. To meet a beautiful girl, to desperately fall in love with her, to break my heart when she ultimately rejects me. Same as every summer.
(Actually, this is truer than you think)

P.S. it's towel day!
P.P.S. it's international konishi day! Banji kaichou desu! Don't ask me what that means, i still have to understand why i know.

Truth is not beauty.

So, i was busy dressing my mother up as a hippy,
Wait, i'll say that again.
So, i was busy dressing my mother up as a hippy,
when the following exchange occurred:

me: You know, this would be faster if you just let me lend you my usual clothes.
her: Nah, i'd prefer to look good.
me: ...(thought goes through the mind: "what the hell did that mean?)

(A sequel to Wisdom Is Not Truth: last night i got the best job offer ever. "Hi, i have a job for you but i can't tell you what it is yet". I proceeded to go around duino pretending to be a secret agent. Oops, i said the D word. Oops, i don't care anymore.)

Wisdom is not truth.

At the Library, almost 10AM:

Her: Robin! Run! There's an article on Duchamp in today's paper!
(Yes, this really has gone too far)

Later, at home:

Our hero awakes. He realizes having slept most of the afternoon. He curses. Loudly. He vows to get some work done in what little's left of the day.
He then walks down to the bar.

Even later, at the bar:

Him: Who are they pretending to be now? With the ties?
Her: i think it's the foo fighters
Me: i thought it was ac/dc. Good video though.
Her: The video's better than the song.
Me: Yeah, somebody should tell the Red Hot Chili Peppers that there are another fortynine american states to sing about.

(for reference)

Knowledge is not wisdom.

The location: My Father's home office, 9:30 AM

Me: Dad, you know yesterday when you fixed my door? I just realized you forgot the cutter on my pillow...
Him: Yeah?
Me: I slept all night with an open cutter next to my head!
Him: Well, did it help?

Information is not knowledge.

Her: "Oh, i made some chicken soup, do you want some?"
Me: "Depends. What's inside?"
Her: "Chicken."
Me: "Cool! Okay."

Weekend Download - Special Edition

Once again, it's a weekend in which we here at WGD Central want you, the reader, to partake of our listening pleasures. Despite the weekend itself to only be about an hour away from ending. Anyway.
The tune we'll be sharing this time around is, quite surprisingly and for the second time in two weeks, a previously unreleased work by a contemporary composer. Case in point: it's by Fred.

derf - blue contrasts for piano solo mp3 - 128 kps 5Mb mp3.
This composition, best listened to at high volume and with lights out and eyes closed, is conceived as a unique performance, and was written last thursday.


El Artista en su derfo

Nobody else is doing it so i guess i might as well should.

Three upcoming events i may or may not attend, but which have not yet recieved enough online attention (as if this blog was of any help):

UdineJazz - June 15 to July 20
(i'll try not to miss bob fripp and his crew. Uri Caine also looks good. I'll go for James Brown if it's not to expensive because, c'mon, he's James friggin' Brown for christ's sake.)

Vocalia Brasil - Maniago(PN) 10 to 20 May
(Rosa Passos coming so close to home is quite a surprise. Don't want to miss that. And Rosalia De Souza maybe, if nothing else emerges on that particular night)

ICE-Z 2 - Rome, 9-10 June
(Most probably won't make it since i'll already have been in rome for ZpZ two weekends earlier. Pity, the conferences look mighty swell. And Zappa-themed parties are something i've always wished for. To think i could have been a speaker at this, if i'd wanted to.)

Plus one i most absolutely won't be attending:
Keith Jarrett Live - Teatro La Fenice, Venezia - 19 July
Check out those prices!
Main seats, 120-190 euros
Low visibility 60 euros
No visibility/listeners only: 40 euros.When news of this came out, all sorts of hilarity ensued. Actually, it was just a matter of time.
Come to think of it, i should show up just to make fun of the audience.

I should make a post about the weekend. Here's that post.

Jon Jacobs' street, seen from left.


Jon Jacobs' street, seen from center.


Jon Jacobs' street, seen from right.


Jon Jacobs, seen from very close.

info: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Interview (by Cicalona & myself) tba.