Inspiration: Theodore Roethke

I studied Roethke while working on my (economically worthless) English degree at the University of Toledo. The son of German immigrants, he grew up in Saginaw, MI and graduated from the University of Michigan then moved on to Harvard. His childhood home in Saginaw, Mi is now a museum where special events and poetry readings are held. While teaching at Michigan State in Lansing they figured out he was bipolar, which probably explains why he didn't stay teaching at one college for very long. He died of a heart attack in a friends swimming pool in 1963--the pool was filled in and made into a Zen rock garden.

As a teacher, Roethke insisted that his students memorize poetry so they would have something to hold on to during tough times. One poem that I have memorized, and yes, it comes to mind during tough times, is "In a Dark Time":

In a dark time, the eye begins to see,
I meet my shadow in the deepening shade;
I hear my echo in the echoing wood—
A lord of nature weeping to a tree.
I live between the heron and the wren,
Beasts of the hill and serpents of the den.

What’s madness but nobility of soul
At odds with circumstance? The day’s on fire!
I know the purity of pure despair,
My shadow pinned against a sweating wall.
That place among the rocks—is it a cave,
Or winding path? The edge is what I have.

A steady storm of correspondences!
A night flowing with birds, a ragged moon,
And in broad day the midnight come again!
A man goes far to find out what he is—
Death of the self in a long, tearless night,
All natural shapes blazing unnatural light.

Dark, dark my light, and darker my desire.
My soul, like some heat-maddened summer fly,
Keeps buzzing at the sill. Which I is I?
A fallen man, I climb out of my fear.
The mind enters itself, and God the mind,
And one is One, free in the tearing wind.

Here's a short film featuring Theodore Roethke, also titled "In a Dark Time".



  

Favorite Rolling Stones Covers

Back in 1988 I painted houses for a notorious Ypsilanti "property owner" who rented to students. One time I was painting an apartment where someone was living and they let me use their boombox while I worked. Their musical taste did not gel with mine, but I saw a Rolling Stones CD and figured I'd give it a spin. After all, "Satisfaction" was a cool song. After a few hours of listening to the CD over and over I came to appreciate the Stones.

What I really dig are weird covers of songs by the Rolling Stones. Here are a few of my favorites:

I don't remember where I heard Polyphonic Size performing "Mother's Little Helper", but somehow I ended up with the 12" from a used record store. I love the stripped down techno music and French accent.

Another favorite cover is a live recording of Tuxedomoon doing "19th Nervous Breakdown" in German.

And finally, there's the French version of "Paint it Black" by Marie Laforet. You may have heard it in the movie "Talladega Nights".

  

"Ya Habibi, Ya Ghaybine" by 3 Mustaphas 3

Started in 1982 at the Crazy Loquat Club in a Balkan town called Szegerely, the 3 Mustaphas 3 went "Forward in all directions" after being transported to Britain in refrigerators. My favorite albums were "Bam! Mustaphas Play Stereo" (1985) and "Shopping" (1987).

The Mustaphas brought a rock & roll attitude to world music before the explosion of the genre. There weren't many artists doing anything like this back in the late eighties.

The title is Arabic for "My Darling, My Sweetheart".



"Can we take it to the fridge? Let me take it to the fridge!"

Songs I Wish I Wrote: "Poor Jenny" by the Everly Brothers

On the first day of school, or a new job, my Dad would always say "First impressions are lasting impressions." I guess that goes for first dates too. This brilliant song is about a first date gone wrong. The original version has the fight breaking out at 1am, but was changed to 10 pm, I guess because one might ask what a "good girl" was doing out that late. My dad gave me his original 45 when I was a kid, and it made an impression.

The single was the B-Side of "Take a Message to Mary" and made it to #22 on the American charts. It was written by prolific husband and wife duo Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, who brought us other Everly hits like "Bye Bye Love" and "All I Have to Do is Dream" as well as "Raining in My Heart" (Buddy Holly) and 3000 other songs. Boudleaux passed away in 1987 and Felice passed away in 2003 in Gatlinburg, TN, where she and her husband owned and operated the Rocky Top Village Inn. 

I took my little Jenny to a party last night

At ten o`clock (one o'clock) it ended in a heckuva fight

When someone hit my Jenny she went out like a light

Poor Jenny

And then some joker went and called the cops on the phone

So everybody scattered out for places unknown

I couldn`t carry Jenny so I left her alone

Poor Jenny

Well Jenny had her picture in the paper this mornin`

She made it with a bang

Accordin` to the story in the paper this mornin`

Jenny is the leader of a teenage gang

Jenny has a brother and he`s hot on my trail

Her daddy wants to ride me out of town on a rail

I hope I`ll be around when Jenny gets out of jail

Poor Jenny

I went downtown to see her, she was locked in a cell

She wasn`t very glad to see me, that I could tell

In fact, to tell the truth, she wasn`t lookin` too well

Poor Jenny

Her eye was black, her face was red, her hair was a fright

She looked as though she`d been a`cryin` half of the night

I told her I was sorry, she said `Get out of sight`

Poor Jenny

It seems a shame that Jenny had to go get apprehended, a heckuva fate

This party was the first one she ever had attended

It had to happen on our very first date

Jenny has a brother and he`s hot on my trail

Her daddy wants to ride me out of town on a rail

I hope I`ll be around when Jenny gets out of jail

Poor Jenny

Here's an early unreleased version:

 

Influences: The Residents

Most fans of Vladimir's Universe know only the guitar & drums incarnation from the Cross Street Station, or perhaps the short-lived four piece band. One earlier version featured me singing along to 3 channel 8-bit electronic compositions using my Commodore 64. The earliest version of "Purity of Essence" was recorded this way. The biggest influence on my approach to music at that phase would be the Residents.

They were known for their iconic eyeball heads and carefully guarded anonymity. The earliest Residents recordings grew out of N. Senada's "Theory of Obscurity" which believes that an artist can only produce pure art when the expectations and influences of the outside world are not taken into consideration. As for the lyrics, they used N. Senada's "Theory of Phonetic Organization" in which the musician puts the sounds first, building the music up from them rather than developing the music, then working down to the sounds that make it up.

The first song I can remember hearing by the Residents was "Constantinople" from the 1978 album "Duck Stab".  I was probably around 10 at the time and it left a major impression. I would hear more tunes by them over the years, usually on the CBC's Brave New Waves radio programme.

My favorite album would have to be the "Commercial Album", which featured 40 one minute songs. Guest artists included Chris Cutler, Fred Frith, Snakefinger, Lene Lovich, and even Andy Partridge of XTC.



I'm sure I sent a demo or two to Ralph Records, the label they started. Some of my other favorite artists associated with Ralph include the Art Bears, Snakefinger, Eugene Chadbourne, and Fred Frith. When I moved to San Francisco in 1991 one of the first places I went to was their building at 18 Sycamore St. in the Mission District but was disappointed to find it locked with no one home.

   

"Yawlidi" by Souad Massi

If Chrissy Hynde was born in Algeria, I'm sure this is what the Pretenders would sound like. Souad plays acoustic guitar and often sings country music in Arabic. This is a good driving song

"Yawlidi" means "My Boy" and the song is from a mother singing to her son.



You must get up early, my boy
And go run off to school, my boy
To become learned and educated, my boy
And be better than all the other kids, my boy
And as you get older, my boy
May your mind remain strong, my boy
And may you understand the world, my boy
Until you have a strong personality, my boy
You must get up, get up, early my boy

May you be proud, my boy
And choose whom you talk to and who you don't, my boy
And anyone that upsets you, stay away from him, my boy
And anyone that upsets you, stay away from him, my boy
May you be able to wreak havoc, my boy
And when things get serious, battle
You must get up, get up, early my boy

 

Songs I wish I wrote: "River on Fire" by Adam Again

Anyone who knows their Vlad-tunes (TM) will be familiar with the Ohio Trilogy: "Red Toledo", "Kill Me in Cleveland" and "I Don't Know which way it is to Youngstown" (bonus points to anyone who can name other Ohio references, and maybe even a "part 4" of the trilogy).

The Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught fire in June of 1969, just four months before I was born. They used to say that the river oozed rather than flowed. The event raised awareness of environmental issues and helped get the Clean Water Act passed. I did do a song about pollution called "Fishy Fishy" featuring my brother Art who was around 4 at the time.

Randy Newman "Burn On" was about the incident, but my favorite on the topic is a 1992 song by Adam Again called "River On Fire". It uses the event as a metaphor for a relationship. I love how the haunting cello adds to the melancholy of the song.



What would you say if you knew what I was thinking?
Maybe you do, but you know not to dig too deep
What if I knew what you needed for sure?
I've seen in your eyes you need more, much more

And I could be happy, and you could be miserable
I'll grab a metaphor out of the air
The Cuyahoga River on fire

What can you say? The impossible happens
What can you settle for?
What can you live without?
I remember the night I first darkened your door
And I swore that I loved you
My heart was pure

You could be happy, and I could be miserable

My open window, a dream in the dark
My fingers, your face
A spark, a trace

I know a lot about the history of Cleveland, Ohio
Disasters that have happened there
Like the Cuyahoga River on fire