A waterfall from the top of a volcano, don´t mind if I do

Ive been on Isle de Ometepe for 3 nights now and holy shit. This is paradise on Earth. I wish I had some more time to tell you about it, and I will soon, but it´s misting now so I got a chance to skip away from the kayaking to monkey island, doing backflips off the pier, drinking beer and eating incredible vegan and vegetarain buffets and talking with amazing folks to write about the best experience so far.
Yesterday was the first day in a while I was feeling better so, when offered to climb a volcano with 2 other american dudes lke me, I said hell yes(si!) Lindsay stayed behind and read, and I set out for a day adventure.
This may have een the physically hardest thing I have done in months. Sweating my clothes off to 90 degree heat in the boilng sun while climbing in less then 100 percent physical condition. I hiked over 20k, and 1k straight up. The destination was a waterfall at the top of volcan Maderes, and though i took some pictures, I won´t have a chance to upload them. It looks like this:
http://www.7is7.com/otto/travel/photos/20030630/ometepewaterfall.html
The waterfall is a towering 100- 130 feet high and is pourin with the most crystal clear cold spring water. It is the most delicious water I have ever tasted. That may have been the most refreshing thing I have ever done. Climbing, sweating, legs shaking and muscles burning, lungs gasping and heart pounding, you look back and you can see the whole world, you look up and a sign says 2 more kilometers, the monkeys and birds chirp you on, then you reach it. The penacle of beauty, the top of the world, the end, and the most beautiful gift for any effort you have ever received...the best dip in the best water ever, the greenest walls, the clouds forming only a few feet above your head rolling down the mountain side and man oh man, it is absolutely amazing.

A review of the Moyogalpa Emergency room

They were sweeping the leaves off the floor in the waiting room so it´s pretty clean. A staff seems friendly and a group will help you check in and laugh at you when you step on the scale. The chickens in the parking lot seem well fed. Overall it´s pretty good.
There are a few complaints:
They don´t speak English.
I don´t speak spanish.
and the prescription they wrote me was for a medicine that I had to spend several hours on the internet trying to figure out.
Finally when I did, I have to mix liquid vile of anesthetic with a powdered vial of antibiotics, then put them in a syringe, then inject them into my own butt, 2 times a day for 5 days. Fiding these on a small island was a miracle. I still don´t know how to open the glass vile of anesthetic, but 2 rocks usually does the trick.
I believe this visit was free, but I may have accidentally walked out with out paying. I wasn´t sure what was going on or what anyone said, but when I said ¨adios¨ they said it back.
overall I rate it:
Terrifying and a testimony of the human will to survive with a cleanly swept floor.

The Soundtrack Game Vol 1 y Teimpos del Azules

Neither Lindsay nor I brought an Ipod or anything like that on our trip, so I invented a game that I thought would be fun* to pass some 8 hours on the bus ride from San Jose to Grenada a few days ago. I would list a series of questions and we were to figure out the song that best fit the answer. That´s the only rule. It could be abstract or decribe it well, open to interpretation. I thought when I got back I could make a mix cd or something.
Here are Lindsay´s answers:

Air Mexicana: ¨Leaving on an Airplane¨
The Airport:¨Do you know the way to San Jose¨
First Impression of San Jose: ¨It´s Getting Hot in Here¨
Drink of Choice: (diet coke) ¨Sugar Sugar¨¨
Taxi Rides: ¨Crashing CArs¨by period 3
Food: ÿummy yummy yummy¨ohio express
Bus to Nica: ¨long and winding road¨

Kyle´s Answers:
Air Mexicana: ¨spanish Flea¨herb alpert tjb
The Airport: ¨Kill the Porr¨Dead Kenedys
First Impression of San Jose: ¨Village Green¨Kinks
Drink of Choice: (coffee) ¨Damn Boo (i thought I knew you but I didn´t) ¨Matt Joyce
Taxi Rides: ¨Rockaway Beach¨Ramones
Food: ¨Beans for Breakfast¨ CAsh
Bus to Nica: ¨Mobile¨ The who

______________________________________


Last night a group of American Girls and I gathered around our hostel pool and sang and wrote songs. I was blown away by the voices of two of these girls, it was amazing. One had a uke, I had a shitty shitty shitty guitar that I just bought and we played our originals and made up freestyle blues songs about bats in our rooms or geckos on our pillow or the sometimes uncomfortable experience of pooping in the countryside. It was awesome. Total freestyle jam that went around the room, each person taking a verse or building off the last.

I bought this guitar, the worst in the world after I played one of the best in the world. I went to a luthier in Masaya to purchase one, a handmade classsical guitar. He let me walk around his shop and was quite friendly. I found the one I wanted, the best guitar in the world for 100 bucks, and said I´ll be back with money. In the mneantime, I was convinced that bringing it along would be a bad idea because it would be wrecked so I decided not to. When I got back to Granada, all I wanted to do was play so I went to the streets and bought a shitty toy version of the same guitar. The worst guitar in the world. So that´s what I´ll be bringing along. Maybe I´ll go back and get that one later.

Today, I might convince my stubborn self to find treatment in a foriegn hospital. There is something terribly wrong with me, and otherwise I would have gone 2 days ago, but I´m kinda scared about 1) going to a foriegn hospital and 2) trying to comunicate with a doctor and 3) having surgery which I´m almost certain I´ll need. I ´have been in a great deal of pain for 4 days and things are getting worse at a rapid rate. So I hope that goes well. My spirits are still good, but I am scared as hell.

Otherwise, I´ll try to diagnose myself and find a holistic cure and ride the ferry to Ilse de Ometepe and try for a round two of the soundtrack game, this time Lindsay picking the questions.
* I thought this game would be fun but Lindsay hates it. HATES IT. So we´ll see if it goes on...

LOST in Translation, "Tube On" edition

"No ahhhblah espanyol."

It seem the only people who speak English in this country are people visiting from England. It would be very helpful to know Spanish, but it hasn´t been a problem yet. It´s part of the adventure trying to figure out what bus goes where or how much something cost or ordering a meal and not knowing what you are getting. 2 nights ago I stopped at a place where they were frying up pupusas outside and decide to get one there
"Dos Jammo y Ceso, pupus...pupus (point to the menu to the word and the waiter helps me finish it) pupusawah."
Instead of the tradional Equador treat I got a ham and cheese sandwhich on white bread that was put in the microwwave for 30 seconds. Last night I went back and tried again, setling the resentment between my curious stomach and my gringo tongue.


Typical:
me: "Hola, ummmmm dawn-duh, excuse, dohne - day essta ummmmm farmacia, ummmm sol-ay ummmm (cherade: makes a moition that I have something in my hand and tip it over and sqeeze it into my other hand, make a farting noise, rub hands together, then rub hands on my shoulders, point to the sky) Sole. (point back to shoulder, put finger in mouth, put it on shoulder) tsssssssssssssss. Sole. ummmmm ¿lotion?"

her: "si, si, sunblock."

me "si si, sun, block."

Now I am in Granada Nica, have been for 2 nights. It´s a good home base for the stuff I want to see in the area. This city is absolutly gorgeous. Every building is a brightly painted colonial style building. The cathedral in the center of town is a magnificant orange yellow, it reminds me of my favorite color of crayon as a kid. Every cup of coffee since I landed has been incredible. "negro, bien." Today I am going to the market in Masaya and shopping, later going to find baseball.
Yesterday I spent the whole day at Laguna de Apollo. Google it and read some awesome stuff. It is a volcano crater that filled in with this amazing blue rainwater. It is 600 feet deep and only like a mile or so across so it makes it one of the deepest lakes in the world. (lake superior, the deepest fresh water lake is about 660 ft deep) the edge of the volcano surrounds the whole area and it is so picturesque and beautiful. There are a crazy assortment of minerals in the water and it gives it a brackish taste and makes you slightly more boyant. I found when swimming in this water that I could travel at an extremly fast pace. It was like riding a bike downhill with the wind at your back, and quite an exhilirating experience. I took a kayak around the lake. I also layed around in a tube while drinking a Toña all day and talked baseball (the best I could) with the locals. All you have to say is "beis" or "Dennis Martinez" and eyes light up.
When asked to see my tattoo on the back of my leg with a frog in an inner tube I reply "Vaya Tuberia." My statement is confirmed "vaya tuberia!" and we laugh as we share a mutual understanding. Tube on.
"Tube on" is a pretty good philosophy at this point. I am just afloat in this strange place, ´the current of the culture is sweeping me at it´s bidding. I go with the flow. Try to fight it and you stay put in a stagnant place.
I´ve made some good friends that I hope I see again. Some Aussies on there way to Ometepe.
As for me, my next adventure awaits on the public bus as I´ll try not to get too lost on my way to Masaya. Tube On to Masaya.

Horchata on a Plane - a review of Air Mexicana en espanol

¡Muy Bien! (very good)
¡Dos Meals! (2 meals)
¡Free Cervesa! (beer)


look what I can do on my keyboard....¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇ

Pangea Hostel
San Jose, Costa Rica
Tomorrow heading for the border and spend some time in Grenada, Nicaragua
Tonight, talking baseball and drinking Imperial.
¿You know what I learned about the Grenada baseball team?
They used to use goats to cut the outfield grass and then they ousted the mayor of the city, not for his civil corruption, but for his baseball corruption. He sold under the table the stadium´s lights to rival team Leon. An abominal sin against baseball and the city. ¡Way to go voters!
I guess games get pretty wild there so I´m looking forward to paying the extra 48 cents to sit near the feild.
AdiosªªªªªªªªªªªªÇÇÇÇ¿¿¿¿

Plans for Central America

I am leaving shortly to travel and explore central America, more Pacificly, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Though I have a few destinations in mind, I like to keep my itinerary open so if opportunities come up, I can take them on a whim. When traveling, I think it's good to be prepared, but also a good idea to just open up to the adventure ahead and not worry too much about time lines and where to go and when to leave. That said, here are some of my plans:

First order of business, shave beard and leave mustache.

Go to the market and buy something I have never seen, then eat it.

Find open mic night or join a band

Jump off a waterfall

Play baseball. (I am bringing a few extra gloves and a ball to donate to some lucky kids)

Ride a horse

Visit a luthier and buy a handmade guitar for 100 dollars

Drink moonshine

Swim with sharks

Climb a volcano

Write lyrics on the beach

Buy weird fabrics and/or a beach towel

Learn how to speak Spanish

Find book of Spanish poetry

Run down volcano

Sleep in

Observe dental clinics for future employment consideration

Purchase knick knacks for future gifts

Mail post cards (what's your address?)

Secret Identity

Here is a photo of me watching my client the Rocktopus and his band the Scallywags play in Madison. You can see my hand holding a beer in the lower left corner.

There is a beautiful and quite large fresh water fish tank at my work. I feed the fish and watch them play often. There are about a dozen, and they get along great.
Today I came in and they were all dead. Somehow the thermostat temperature was increased and they all boiled to death. This was tragic of course to me, and as I expressed my grief to my co-workers they remained unaffected. One said, "you must really have a lot of compassion for fish." To which I sunk my chin to my chest and mumbled "I do."
I wanted to explain why, besides the obvious compassion for life thing I live by. I wanted to explain that I feel for fish because I am the "Manager of Land Affairs for The Rocktopus." But that always raises more questions than it answers. In the past when I have said that, people say "What's a Rocktopus?" Or if someone who is familiar with the Rocktopus asks me about him and I explain my title, they want to know what a "manager of land affairs" does, but then they never seem satisfied with my answer.
That is why I try to keep my identity a secret. Kyle, regular guy, works on teeth, plays in bands. (and secretly a manger of land affairs for The Rocktopus)

Peep One Erotic Energy Drink Radio Commercial by Donovan, Charles Manson, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen

I don't know if I have ever been as refreshed as the days when I could go to the store, grab me a Peep One Erotic Energy Drink, and ummm. drink it. Don't believe me? This stuff is real, and it's real good.
I love love love this stuff, but you can't find it anymore. I know this because I bought the last 50 cans a year ago. This store on first street ordered them for me, Martha's Vineyard. Now they are no longer carried, but I would still endorse this product. I would love to come up with a song for a Peep One Radio spot, but I looked it up and it appears that a few folks already beat me to it.
Back in the 70's or something, when Peep One Erotic Energy drink was really taking off, they put out a casting call for a radio song. The cast called for a folk style singer. So naturally Donovan, Charles Manson, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen all tried out for the rights to own and endorse thee Peep One song.
None of them actually made it, but I found this old record tape of outtakes and converted it to mp3 exclusively for this blog.

Here it is: The outtakes of the PEEP ONE Erotic Energy Drink radio commercial by Donovan, Charles Mason, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, aka The BOSS!

I really wish I could have been the one to write a peep one song, but I was a few decades too late.

"NOW THAT'S INVIGORATING!"- Kyle Denton


Bob Dylan working on Peep One theme song, failing.

First advert jingle "Milwaukee County Transit Authority"

I wrote my first of several jingles in oh...1 minute. I'm going to start writing more jingles as a lucrative career, more on that later. But for now I got to do some pro-bono work so I can make a name for myself. Here is my first one that I'm giving to the bus of Milwaukee county, MCTA, FOR FREE! I might take royalties someday, we'll see how it does on TV.
Download to listen, sorry.

Mundane

I drilled on my own teeth today. I held up a hand mirror and fixed a couple little chips on my maxillary centrals, 8 and 9 odontoplasty. I have just a couple thoughts on that experience, I won't dwell.

1) It is not the first or second or even third time I've drilled my own teeth.
2) I'm really fucking gentle.
3) I got firm and steady hand after an evening of spirits.
4) This was a typical day in my life hence the title of the blog.

Smile!

Kyle's Guitar Review - Cole's Fender Mustang

Cole's Fender Mustang

photo by Karen
"Hey dude, my guitar is fucked up. I don't know what's going on? Can I use yours?"


Here we see two people playing the Fender Mustang side by side plugged into vintage Fender guitar amplifiers. Sounds good right? It should sound good right?


Right?


Right?


Answer: Sounds Fucking GREAT!


Cole's Mustang is an awesome guitar. I think it's a Japanese Fender from the early 1990's. Maybe Korean. It plays great, it sounds great but my favorite thing about the Mustang is the way that it sits on your body. It's a crazy equation, Lou figured it out, but it's the shape of the body plus the weight and multiply that by the position of the strap holders. Whatever the answer is, it makes this a guitar that is really comfortable to play at a low position on your body. J-man's is on his belt, mine slightly above but well below where I normally play my guitar. This makes it easy to really look cool while you are rocking out. You can move the guitar all around, it looks cool being played low, makes your arms look longer and seem cooler. You just look cool with this guitar on.
One thing I don't like about this guitar is the position of the channel switches right above the top string on the pick guard. If you play hard or hold the guitar at a low angle (cool angle like I mentioned above) the guitar will constantly switch channels. This can be easily avoided by taping down your channel switch, but then you got a piece of tape on your guitar and you can no longer freely switch the channels. Look closely on Matt's Mustang on the right, you can see the black tape at the top of the pick guard just beneath his left wrist spanning 3 or so inches. Unsightly, but practical compared to the trouble of switching your channel during a song.
This particular guitar I have re-strung for Cole and like all Fenders, it is a pain in the ass and pointless to continue playing should you break a string in the middle of a set. It takes about 5 minutes per string. Once the strings are in and tight and in tune, it will play well all night long.
The pick ups offer great single coil sustain and a real nice tone that makes it a good fit for Cole's style and any one else who just wants to shred.
Overall I give this guitar a rating of: "Awesome dude, thanks. Cool guitar."

Kyle's Guitar Review - Chopper's White Harmony

Chopper's White Harmony

Chopper brings this guitar to a video shoot and tells me that "this (white Harmony) guitar is the first guitar I ever owned." I'm guessing it cost him around a hundred bucks, but there is no price for something this sentimental so he adds "so be careful." It has all 6 strings on it, though they were significantly out of tune. A half hour attempt to try and tune it was interrupted when I stepped in a hornets nest, and I wonder it it will ever be tuned again. If so, this Harmony might have decent play. The action is pretty high and it is painful to try and make a chord, but I have a feeling it sounds really nice. I think about Eric Lagrange's little Teisco Tulip guitar and how crappy of a guitar it should be and how awesome it sounds. I say that because these were manufactured a dime a dozen. BUT they were manufactured a dime a dozen when manufacturing a guitar was a better quality than we see in modern plants. More hands on work, when Japanese and Americans competed for industry.
This is the lightest guitar I have ever the pleasure of holding, or perhaps it was surprisingly heavy, I can't remember. Either way, the weight makes it an easy guitar for a plant vine to snag it out of my hands before the forest devours me. Overall I give it a rating of: "Pretty Sweet"

Un Burro Cantando - Lesson 3 "Los Colores"

I got ahead of myself. I need to learn the colors and other simple phrases. Also, I got so caught up in learning Spanish all day and last night that I forgot to watch LOST.

Here is a song that will help me remember them. It's called the colors of you or "Los colores de usted."

Here are the words:

Buenos días señorita
Me encanta esa cosa verde en la cabeza

Buenas tardes, señorita

Me encanta tu ojo azul, azul

Me gusta la comida rojo

Me gusta el pelo blanco

es muy hermoso

eres muy hermosa

Buenos días, señorita

Me encanta esa flor amarilla

Buenas tardes, señorita

Me encanta tu botas marrones

Me gusta tu gato negro

Me gusta todo de ti

Me gusta su presencia

Buenas noches señorita

sueño de rojo y verde y azul y blanco y los colores de la noche-

y los colores de usted"

Un Burro Cantando - Lesson 2 las reacciones intestinales

This medley is a terrible cover of the Gut Reactions. I successfully destroy a language and two songs in under dos minutes, but I'm learning.

Un Burro Cantando - Lesson 1

"Hey, a singing jack ass asked me if this bus was going to Lyberia."

As per my dream described in my previous blog, I am learning Spanish with the help of song. I can't believe this method, it is incredibly helpful. I write a few phrases and sing them to help me remember them. This is a great way for my mind to pick it up, with song and verse. Thanks subconscious for helping me figure out a way to learn Spanish. What a revelation!

The only problem I see with this is: as I try to remember the phrase, it first comes to my head in a song verse. I am sure that I will be singing this song to try and communicate and look like a jackass, but I got to learn.

Here is my first song.

"Hola, mi nombre es Kyle
Puede usted me entiende?
por favor, asiente con la cabeza
porque no puedo entender lo que dices


Tengo una pregunta para usted
Por favor, perdona mi acento
sabes es este autobús que va a Lyberia?
puede que me responda muy lentamente

Hola, cómo estás esta noche?
Sabe usted, un lugar para que pueda dormir?
Tiene una habitación que es barato?
Sabes dónde puedo encontrar la cerveza?

Soy del gran estado de Wisconsin
Yo soy de una pueblo de Milwaukee
en mi pueblo, es muy frío
Sabes usted, en nombre del caballo?"


I just realized that this is "Grandma got run over by a reindeer." Whatever.

29 and living (Vee-in-ten-new-wavy toe-div-via VEE-vo)

Last night I had a dream in Spanish, which seems strange now because I don't know how to speak Spanish. I tumbled over this morning as Lindsay was waking up and I snapped out of it and said "What's the Spanish word for 'share?' Is it di vi de?"
"What are you talking about?" She said to me instantly as I tumbled back over mumbling "I just need to know." and fell back asleep.
Last night was also my 29th birthday proper according to the Gregorian Calendar (in which I put little mental stock in aside from writing the date when I write my progress notes at work.) But I've been around the sun 29 times, and to celebrate, I came home from work and started learning how to speak Spanish while smoking weed like the old man I am. Some books, some weed, flipping blues records, and a beard holding a big smile like an old man on his birthday. I had a crazy weekend anyway. But I realized that I need to learn Spanish asap for my upcoming adventure in Costa Rica / Nicaragua. I don't know much, maybe what I learned last night and counting to 10, the day Saturday "abrir la boca! Abrir la boca, mis dedos ouch!!!!" and the major food words. I have a good feeling about this trip though. Sometimes it seems if you don't worry about making too many plans, things just have a way of working out. Adventures unfold because you don't have an itinerary. When opportunities come up, you can take them. I'll judge the paths ahead by the feelings I get instead of anything else.
I just have to learn a little Spanish so I can open these doors a bit.
In my dream last night, I played a song for a group of kids. I often write songs in my dreams, though I can't remember them usually, they set the table for a future work- I'll remember a chord pattern, a lyric phrase, a person I was singing to impress yadda yadda. This song...It was a counting song employing the use of numbers in Spanish in a silly way. Like a Sesame Street song, but more like Jonathan Richman sings "Got 2 Again" by Roger Miller. I was trying to freestyle this song, but it was moving along clumsily because I was having a hard time thinking of rhymes. I take it as a sign to be prepared. Be prepared with my Spanish, be prepared to relax and horseback ride up a volcano, be prepared to keep my eyes and heart open for adventures and opportunities, and be prepared to play that song in my dream to people. Not just in Central America, but anywhere.
I'm going to go write that song now....
something like this...

"veintinueve,
llevar cinco,
tienes veinticuatro,
y usted todavía está vivo,
añadir otros seis y tienes treinta,
treinta hormigas con seis patas en un tronco de un árbol lalalala"

Poker Night Blues "Lay it Down on Me"

Wednesday nights are poker nights in the Ben Den. 5-10 dudes/gals playing hold em' with a 10 dollar buy in, listening to records, and our guilty pleasure poker station on Pandora, "Jelly Roll Morton." These evenings are strange and mundane. We sit around a round table adorned with a knick knack looking glass blown dragon passed around while we breath and blow fire and life. Our Minds teetering and dancing in the astro-planes, swooping away from incredibly fucked up down to the deepest concentration and back up again like a playful kite. Our hearts like drums beating through our ears, head veins and beating out the sweat beads on our nose, faces red from the noise. They vibrate my whole body. Our eyes wonder and wander, like ancient mathematician wizards, counting, counting, looking for patterns, reading each other's minds, then counting again. Just like the posters with dogs playing poker, we are animals. Hunting each other, ready to pounce on the slightest weakness, and kill. Yet, like them we are civilized enough to wear hats and clothes and drink good beer and tuck away our fangs when we talk about a "funny thing happened to me today," and "are you going to the show this weekend" because we are friends after all. It's just a game, and it's not. It's fun and it's serious. It's a fine quality of Zen.
Before my game last night I got into a big big big huge fight with my girlfriend about something really stupid. So dumb in fact, that I got most upset that it had escalated to that point. After I got off the phone in my car parked outside the Ben Den, I SCREAMED to myself, and went inside. This affected my game incredibly. I couldn't focus, I couldn't let it go all the way and eventually lost. It may have been so noticeable in fact, that at one point when I was not playing a hand, I slouched back in my chair and sighed "Dammit!" to myself out loud - forgetting where I was. Somebody said, "What?" and I replied "Nothing..."
Poker is a very introspective game. You really learn how to look inside yourself in a competitive way. You have to control your heart (beat and feeling), you have to know when when to make a stand, when to let go and when to give in. Even if you know you are right, even if you know you have the best hand, even if you got 2 aces in your hand and everyone in the world knows that you should win, but you still don't. You let the hand play out when it shouldn't and you loose. Should've gave in, should've folded the best hand, and stayed in the game. But I give it all to the Queen, or should I say, the pocket queens with a queen on the flop. The metaphor stuck with me. Get yelled at - lose my money there is nothing left for me to do but write this blues song called "Lay it Down on Me."
Here Listen, download, or whatever

I spent a great deal of this weekend playing with different slide guitar tuning methods, and teaching myself how to play slide guitar. This is the first song I wrote in a slide open tuning, wrote it in 10 minutes 10 minutes ago. Though it's only 1 verse and chorus, I'll give it some more thought tonight when I get those dog (playing poker)-gone blues again.


"you may be wrong
bout what you say
but darlin i let you lay it down on me anyway
what do i know?
what could i say?
i just give you my hand, humbly your man, and let you lay, let you lay, let you lay it down on me
lay it down on me
can't you see
I'll always submit my heart and plea
that you lay it down on me"

Promo Code "Down low-d"

So it's my birthday weekend this week and I'm having a big party and all my friends are coming and you should come too.
I have a gift for you in fact.
Well, we are selling this cassette tape with 2 previously unreleased songs by Eric and the Happy Thoughts and The Midwest Beat. "Sweet Dirty Love" and "Sister Mary Katherine" respectively. There is even a good possibility that you can find it on record soon too. But that ain't my gift.
If you mention the promo code "down low-d" then I'll send you a digital copy for your ipod or whatever new fangled machine you kids play things on. But you have to say it like that, "down low-ed" so you know that you gotta keep it on the down low and also so I know what you are talking about.
Also, buy the tape dudes. It's really really great! There are only 100 and there have been several orders places all over the world so they are going fast baby. Then if you go to Switzerland or Germany or UK or Norway or wherever else we mailed them, you can chat about your favorite lo-fi pet sounds-esque recording and smash hit "Sister Mary Katerine." A real thrifty find if you ask me.
Stop by tomorrow, I'll have a nice song for you to download then.

Tecumseh, Tenskwatawa and the "Panther in the Sky" (revised)

It only took me a few minutes to write this song, but I got so caught up in researching it that I felt like the process of writing the lyrics was the break from the greater project of learning and stuff otherwise incomplete

I wrote it yesterday afternoon so the vocals are still unsteady. I tried a few different rhythms, but I think the clumsy driving down-strokes is where the song wants to go, so that's why this might be a good Elephant Walk song.

This song means alot to me. I hope that after you listen to it you stick around and let me tell you all about it.

Here is the song called "Panther in the Sky."

Below the words is the story of Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa aka the Prophet and how they helped me write this here song:

"I've seen shapes in the sun

the vultures circle one by one

through the panther in the sky

no one taught me how or why

but

I know signs when I see em

I know signs, i believe em

i know signs

paint her toe, her foot white

I can walk with her tonight

as the earth trembles beneath

the soft steps of her feet

catch a dream, catch a spell

of the times that i could tell

it will warn us far and wide

with a panther in the sky

I know love when I see it

I know love, i believe it

i know love

Take a stick stack, put 'em in your pack

give the good ones to your chief

throw the red ones away, on the 30th day

it's gonna shake all disbelief. Believe me

I've seen ponds, i've seen tides

where the moon beam abides

and the panther in the sky

keeps a warning watchful eye

bother makes a loud noise

he can't help to hear his voice

and all the work that we have done

melts like snow before the sun

I know signs when I see em

I know signs, i believe em

i know signs

i knows love"

I'm 1/16 native American and I recently took a great interest in my heritage. This song was inspired by the story of Tecumseh, the fearless Shawnee native chief.* I will refrain from entertaining any conspiracy that I may imagine concerning the lack of information of Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa (ten-squat-away) especially considering their prophesies and how they may have been some of the most profound revelations ever in the Western Hemisphere. But needless to say, I find it very interesting that this stuff is not taught in school. That said...

When Tecumseh was born in modern day Ohio, it is said that the night sky lit up so he was given the name that means "Panther in the Sky", or as us white people might say, "shooting star." He was one of the greatest warriors and hunters of his time and became chief of his tribe in his early 20's. Tecumseh realized his potential as a prophet and seer at a young age as well. His life's work was to unite rival tribes of Indians together to resist a purge led by future president, Gov/Gen William Henry Harrison. He was very close to this achievement which would have changed the face of America as we know it, but ultimately failed due to poor timing. He left his brother Tenskwatawa, aka The Prophet to lead his tribe located at Prophetstown Indiana while he went to the tribal council of chief to propose his treaty. Knowing that a conflict with the whites would jeopardize the treaty, he left instructions to Prophet to avoid all conflict. As he was away, the Prophet led his tribe in a battle against Harrison's forces at Prophetstown now modern day Battle Ground, IN. Ultimately, almost the entire tribe was annihilated at the hands of Harrison's troops resulting in the failure of the treaty. Prophet, or Tenskwatawa whose name means "To Make A Loud Noise" claimed he had a vision that he should lead the tribe to attack the whites. He had his visions on Prophet's rock, a powerful and unusual geographic place. On the stone memorial beneath Prophet's rock it says that it "was here that the Prophet sang songs to his warriors to lead them to battle and ultimately their death."

Tecumseh's legacy of prophesy seems much more intriguing. Have you ever heard of the New Madrid earthquake of 1811? It was the strongest earthquake to ever hit North America, ever, ever. Centered in New Madrid, Ill/MO it knocked down chimneys in far away Maine. There are several interesting things about the New Madrid Earthquake, besides it's sheer destructive power, New Madrid is devoid of seismic activity. Though Tecumseh predicted this massive quake and little information is available about his predictions or the quake itself. Tecumseh didn't merely predict this massive quake, he prophesied it many months in advance down to the very day it occurred. Some find it odd that the truth hidden from American history the quake was the signal Tecumseh gave to the Indians in advance to unite and drive the land stealing whites off the continent. The Great Spirit of land was not pleased with the whites and would give a signal to Tecumseh to unify the tribes. Tecumseh went around the country and visited several tribes and gave the chiefs 30 red sticks. 29 to be discarded at certain intervals. When the 30th one was reached, you could look to the night sky and see the sign of Tecumseh, the Panther in the Sky. This was later confirmed to be the great comet of 1811, the brightest comet that the Earth had seen at the time. (I would like to comment that the Comet with it's tail reminds me of a panther's claw ripping open the sky from another dimension.)

So if your a chief, you got these 30 red sticks right and instructions to follow these signals, you already threw out 29 of them and now your at the 30th one and you look up, see the sign of Tecumseh, say "Holy Shit he was right," then you take the 30th stick and break it into 30 more pieces and burn one piece a night until they are gone. On the 30th day, the New Madrid Earthquake happened. Crazy huh? It is speculated that the comet caused the earthquake with it's proximity and gravitational pull considering the lack of a fault line around New Madrid.

So I took those two stories and that's how I got my lyrics, but not entirely, there's more.

Prophet's Rock

This place was the sole inspiration of this song. I go there almost every time I visit my folks in Indiana, it's right off the freeway on I-65, about 11 miles North of highway 26 in Lafayette. Stop there next time. It's funny to me that it seems that nobody in the area knows where it is, but the place seems to draw me in. This rock reminds me of the rock in the movie the Lion King where the monkey holds the baby lion guy up. It jets out from the Earth in an odd way, there is a cave under the plateau and climbing to the top incredibly difficult. But once you are on top, it is really magical. You can sense an energy, you can feel it in the trees, you can tell this is where Prophet received revelations and "sang songs to lead his warriors into battle and ultimately their death." When I'm there, I can't stop thinking about that. Music, songs, singing songs on top of this rock to lead people into battle that they know they are greatly outnumbered, they know they are going to die, but it is here where he sang them SONGS that convinced them nonetheless. I always wondered what the song sounded like. I always take a leave from the 100+ year old tress and use them as bookmarks or put them under my pillow, maybe they might remember how it goes if they heard it and would sing it to me in a dream. When I'm there, I like to stay for awhile and meditate on that. Once I took Adam K there when we were in town. I brought my guitar, we brought a bottle of red Lambrusco and a joint and had Elephant Walk practice up there, singing songs to no one but the old trees. We split a great deal of wine for the warriors by spilling it around the ground, and it was one of the best band experiences I've ever had. I've always wanted to write a song about it, and though this song is not about it particularly, it reminds me of my mission. I really love that place, I could always sense something about it ever since I was a young guy.

*If you are Chris Capelle or share his infamous dislike for Indian songs, this song is not really about Indians. Please disregard everything you just read. I intentionally left it vague and open for your own interpretation... make it about dress socks or cats or Europeans and enjoy.

read also info on Tecumseh's Curse, a cursed placed on Harrison after he took office of the President for his drive to purge the Indians from North America. His curse said that presidents elected in a year that ends in 0 would die in office. Harrison died just a month after taking office from pneumonia. Every president elected in a year that ended in 0 has been killed or died in office until 170 years later when Reagan survived an assassination attempt.

Scuttle-Away

I've been doing lot's of research for a song I'm writing about Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa. This involves learning the language of the Shawnee.

The word for turtle is pronounced "scuttle-away." Isn't that the cutest fucking thing ever?

New song up soon...

Birthday wish list:

"Panther in the Sky" by James Alexander Thom new or used

A National Geographic, any

A new phone

a harmonica in the key of F

a nice or funny voicemail

a book about the Catalpa whaler escape

any gesture that could be received positively by a stranger