I'll say it again. Read Walden. Read Thoreau. You'll see what I'm talking about.Maybe he speaks to me particularly because of my bent toward simplicity and a no-BS approach to reality. But my very interest in simplicity in the first place, and much of my personal philosophy of life, is in fact directly due to his influence on the culture and counter-culture of America. I 've been a Thoreauvian all these years and scarcely knew it. He was SO precient. Throw away your shelves of yuppie-hippie lifestyle magazines and new-age self-help books. He said it all and better 155 years ago.
I'm reading Walden for the first time since my freshman year in college, which was... 20 years ago. And this is what I have to say so far: it is brilliant. Thoreau was a genius. I don't have time right now but i'm going to come back here with a selection of quotes from it. Here's one that, like much of it, is just funny:
"We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas;But Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate."
Or the simple "But Lo! Men have become the tools of their tools."
Anyway, a true prophet of the age we live in, read Walden to see what i mean.
I'm not doing much with the blog lately. I just don't have ready enough computer access at the moment. This will change in the not too distant future, and the site will be back to its more active old self.
There was another Portland Independent Puppet Night last night. All I did this time was sing the intro song, but the acts as usual were good. Penny Walter, Cloud Monster, Becca, Wowee Zowee, Mudeye. Bruce accidentally broke Tripper's lamp and had to use candles for his shadow-puppets, and limbs fell off the skeletons, but all in all it was a good time. Next time I plan to have a full blown act.
Well, it was a weekend. The main thing to reflect back on was the Halloween party. It was the best ever. The theme was "The Love Boat", which i was a bit skeptical about when Debbie D. first came up with it. Granted, I did watch the show religiously back in junior-high days. But some things are best left in the vaults of dim memory. Like everything produced for TV from about 1975 to 1990. Nevertheless, we made it into something spectacular. I had the hilarious priveledge of being Captain Merrel Steubing. The whole rest of the crew was there too (Julie the cruise director, Gopher, Dr. Bricker, Isaac Washington, Vicki the Capt's daughter,) and a whole roster of celebrity guests: Loni Anderson, Ricardo Montalban, Charo, Liza Minelli (who both sang spectularly,) Gilligan, Phyllis Diller, Tina Turner, Billy Idol, Captain Volcano, oh the list goes on and on. All perfectly in character. And that old-couple. Amazing! And brilliant live music sets between the 70's dance-mix. The whole house "decked" out as the Love Boat's various decks and lounges.
Anyway, it was great. The weekend was also punctuated by a visit from my good friend from the Appalachian Trail, Brandon Bragg the Beer Poet, who just completed the Pacific Crest Trail. He is a genius of words and life, a silver-tongued devil-angel of the best sort. Hopefully before too long he will complete his novel and you can all sample his talent.