Month: April 2015

Last of the Buffalo

~ Cave_Guy ~ 11 Comments

buffalo-header

The last great buffalo herd was shot in 1898 yesterday.

I saw it on the news before I went to work – 15 bison running next to the highway in frantic formation.

A taste of what we lost.

I know this is a just a small glimmer of what these beasts once meant.

In a former time they were free to roam and they were legion.

And now we got a few “escaped convicts” from a local meat farm answering their instincts and on the run.

They swam across the Hudson River. They ran across interstate highways.

They moved as one – the adults and the young – these tremendous artifacts of a bygone era.

I have to admit when I saw them running – it made me feel good.

This is what they are supposed to do – run from place to place – in a big country that lets you go forever – they are made for this – battering-ram-monsters of freedom.

“Give me a home where the buffalo roam”

This is friggin’ awesome!

But the wheel has turned

Their time is done.

The farm they escaped from employed a few hunters to gun them down (as was their right, according to officials on the scene) – The State police called it “an ugly affair”  – with one hunter possibly facing criminal charges for refusing to “finish off” a wounded animal. In all, 22 animals were slaughtered if you include a few shot earlier. All agree– there was no other choice – these animals are too big to contain and too dangerous to let run free.

The meat could not be cared for and got to the buffalo butcher for three months, (not many buffalo meat cutters around, I guess) – so it was deemed no good for human consumption.

This is shades of Buffalo Bill and the other wranglers that forced the land to submission by killing and leaving the skinned carcasses to rot where they were dropped.

No food and clothing – no life for the native people that depended on this animal for countless generations.

Build the railroads and build the new America.

The wheels are turning – progress – industrial might and other stuff all coming to a suburb near you.

But first the buffalo had to go.

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/15-buffalo-killed-in-albany/

The Weight of Love – The Black Keys

~ Cave_Guy ~ 20 Comments

Weight of Love

The Black Keys are a great rock bank.

They don’t fight the time they live in – they embrace it.

This song screams old Pink Floyd with nodes of David Gilmour jam over a quiet background of disillusioned isolation. BUT – Don’t sue them please!

This is artistic influence people.

This is taking the clay of what was before and shaping it for enjoyment right now.

This song has weight – it has mass with a gravitational pull that draws you in – you orbit in free fall while your brain gets a gentle waterfall of clarity – you know —- that is what great music is supposed to do —-if it does not do that – it is not great music.

These guys are the Rolling Stones and U2 of today.

Yes – damn it – I said it —- don’t waste your time paying $478 from a ticket broker to see if Keith Richards can still stand up for a two hour show.

Go see The Black Keys

Go see a band that is playing music they just wrote – go support wild “fresh caught” music.

Cooked right in front of you.

I went to the band website and there is a button you click to play this song (along with others)– not 12 seconds of the song – but this entire song. That is embracing the time we live in.

Simple and great.

http://www.theblackkeys.com/

The last remaining landline will be at my fixed location

~ Cave_Guy ~ 43 Comments

“I am not going quietly into this mobile era of constant and instant availability.”

I am not cool with it.

Everyone I know except me has ditched their landline. I am the last of the Mohicanslandlinians.

When you reach someone on a home phone in a fixed location – they just might have time to connect and have a discussion in a very human and important way – at least they could have – in a bygone era.

That is gone.

“OK Cave guy, you sound like a Neanderthal now – progress is progress – either get on the bus or get run over.”

Here is what we got with the smart mobile era:

First – what is a “good” number for you? They change so often, it is impossible to keep current unless you are in the “circle” who gets the “new number update” – which I didn’t get because I am still on three numbers ago — My bad.

Second – are you a talker or a text-er?… “Oh, I don’t talk anymore or answer voice mails –  Pls txt me btch.”

Third- if I make it through those first two hoops and don’t get a response … now I am being ignored … which means insulted.

And I still haven’t talked to you.

Yeah – this new system is so much better.

And I just want to talk – you know because we are family or friends and that is how we stay that way.

I JUST WANT TO TALK

(sorry, I’m yelling now)

And here is what happens when you do finally get to the mighty castle of “Connection”.

“Oh Hi Wayne, what’s up – I’m just sitting on the toilet at a thruway rest stop, but I saw it was you so I picked up – no problem, just a little stomach bug – go ahead –  what you calling about?”

“Dude- I was just checking in, nothing important”

“Oh-then you should just text me”

“Thanks-I’ll remember that for the next time (which will be never) – sorry to catch you indisposed”

That is how it goes for me so I have basically given up talking to my friends.

Talking on the phone is a lost art.

Gone.

It is replaced by this endless barrage of texting.

And by texting – I think I mean gossiping with words.

We get inane texts to interrupt our work and become inefficient – then while we are enjoying free time – we get inane texts from work to interrupt that. We are always working and always texting. There is no separation of church and state in our lives.

And it is driving us all mad.

This is so much better – “here let me show you another cat video and I just got this app that makes my face look like a squashed pumpkin- this phone is so cool – my whole life is on it.”

I love this phone

I hate this phone

I just wanted to talk– you know about how things are going for you and how things are going for me, and then maybe we feel more connected – and maybe we can help each other if help is needed. You know life – and how to get through it and stuff – but only when you have a few moments.

And that can’t happen anymore – soooo

That is why I blog…It is as close as I can get.

Here is a 5-pack of my favorite Telephone songs.

 Glen Campbell – Wichita Lineman

Jim Croce – Operator

E. L. O. – Telephone Line

Rikki Don’t Lose That Number – Steely Dan

Lady Gaga – Telephone

Am I insane on this? And did I miss a great telephone song for my 5-pack? Would love to hear what you guys think.

5 play – for an Irish Spring on a Good Friday

~ Cave_Guy ~ 14 Comments

When you marry into an Irish family – they take you whole heartily without asking for references or identification.

I am forever grateful for that.

So by way of my wonderful wife – we have some music on the cave

Can I still do a nice music blog?   We shall find out together.  

Fisherman’s Blues – The Waterboys

Inspired partly by Geoff and his excellent site @ https://1001albumsin10years.wordpress.com/2015/03/30/my-top-5-tapes-from-88/ who mentioned this album in cassette form (which is how, I too, met the Waterboys … and played them over and over in my beat-up chevette).  I loved that car and I love that tape!

Fisherman’s Blues is like a hot cup of tea on a rainy day-and I don’t mean no frou-frou fancy-ass hipster organic fair trade flavored tea —-I mean TEA—-Boiling water from the kettle poured in a pot (you don’t have to pre-warm it) —- enough to share with family or friends so we all feel better—- a good cup of tea! It does wonders.

I’m Shipping Up To Boston – Dropkick Murphys

ARRR Me Maties!- Hooligans and scoundrels need love too!– this is a beautiful gail force wind of skullduggery  to blow through ye sails while ye wee vessel gets tossed about on angry seas.

The City of Chicago – Christy Moore

This song packs a ton of punch  –  repression and survival – you can’t remove political strife and contempt for the crown from this art form – immigration is too often seen as people coming here to take a slice of our pie – when, as in this tune – there was little choice.

Much respect for Christy Moore.

The Gloaming – Samhradh Samhradh (Live in Cork)

The arrival of summer – A happy light ditty? Put some shorts on and go to the beach? – Noooo! — watch a flower grow and have a good cry.

Great song – Great band – Great record

Carrickfergus– Jim McCann

This is always a fav at the local Irish pub – the bands will do this one late in the show—-when everyone is good and drunk. I am not saying it sounds better when you are inebriated because that would be irresponsible to all you kids out there

But – a song about the perils of alcoholism that you can drink to – only the Irish can do that!

And also rip your heart out like a Mayan sacrifice (sorry, see my Mexican posts for reference).

Beautiful tune.

This music is meant to be enjoyed live.

So go out and support your local Irish pub.

And if you don’t have one- consider opening one yourself-We can never have enough.

Cheers, beers and tears from the cave!