Phish - 11/25/09 - Philadelphia

Really great time last night and the band seemed to play well. It was unbelievably loud! Overall, the show lacked a bit of flow because of an uninspired and unorthodox setlist, but the high points were stratospheric. Divided Sky was so good, I nearly wept. Highlight of the night, in my opinion. Trey was playing out of his mind, he was extremely aggressive and intense during this one. I loved it, was going crazy. My first Train Song, Kill Devil Falls, Halley’s Comet and a wild Antelope were also highlights. Second set had a great start with Birds of a Feather, Farmhouse, Mike dropping a ton of bombs in Tweezer(second set highlight) and a well-played and spooky YEM. The energy fell apart with the Esther/Time Turns Elastic combo and didn’t recover, which was a shame. Time Turns Elastic is a good new song, but it should be played as a set opener or in the middle of the set. Certain songs are meant for certain places in a show. I actually thought the band might not come out for an encore(a lovely Oh! Sweet Nuthin’) because the crowd was so quiet. The band blew their load the night before, so it wasn’t surprising to see them play a bit more laid back at times. Looking forward to Albany on Friday, which I suspect will be a barnburner.

My seats were directly stage right four rows back, and my eyes could see all four band members without deviating. Wachovia Center was a good place to see a show at.

This Divided Sky is going to be in my dreams for years, and on my iPod forever.

11/25/09 Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, PA
Set I: Kill Devil Falls, 46 Days, Sugar Shack, Halley’s Comet, The Divided Sky, Sleep Again, Ocelot, Train Song, Wilson, Run Like An Antelope
Set II: Birds of a Feather, Farmhouse, Tweezer, You Enjoy Myself, Esther, Time Turns Elastic, Tweezer Reprise
Encore: Oh! Sweet Nuthin’

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Carrie Fisher on Letterman

Is this a train wreck? Brilliant? Or both? I love the stories about her and old acting greats….

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Progress at Ground Zero

I now have an office that overlooks the construction of the ‘Freedom Tower’. The skeleton is reaching up to my floor(15), so it’ll begin to be visible for the whole world to see(if it isn’t already). This will be nice for the people of New York to witness. The big news tomorrow is that the Cortland St. subway stop reopens for the first time since 9/11. Things are slowly returning to normal down there. It’s an utterly pointless subway stop, considering there are two others on the same line within 1/8 of a mile, but the fact that it’s going to be opening up again is great news. Return to normalcy. Looks nice too, I pass by it nearly everyday on the ‘R’ line.

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Obama declines to sign treaty banning landmines

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/11/obama_administration_will_not_sign_land_mine_ban.php?ref=fpa

This is pretty reprehensible. I hope that the military declines to use landmines, even if this treaty isn’t signed. Don’t we hate IED’s? So why do we decline to sign a treaty banning something similar? There can be other methods of leaving traces of your power behind. We use drones enough now, right?

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The Merry Gentleman

One of the better movies I’ve seen lately. Just came out on DVD last week. Michael Keaton directed and stars in it, but the main character is played by Kelly McDonald, a girl caught up in an abusive relationship who tries to get away from everybody, but someone can’t. She is a partial witness to a murder, and spends the movie caught between the killer and the investigating officer, both well-meaning and sympathetic characters. She’s great, so is the movie.

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Nov 21, 2009 Montevideo, Uruguay - Day 2 (Nov 13) Well, last day in South America. Had a pretty relaxing day, hitting up a pretty cool museum(Gurvich Museum), doing some shopping, and chillin’ on the beach. It was hot this day, about 80. I got another steak lunch(this time, mixed in with bread and cheddar cheese, yummy) while watching a movie being shot. The scene was of a delivery guy dancing to Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This”. Pretty funny. In the afternoon I lied down in the grass in Plaza Independencia, looking up at the palm trees. Left for the airport around 4:30, and that was that. Flight home, from Montevideo to Buenos Aires to JFK was rough, turbulence the whole time and we flew through a damn lightning storm. I admit I was a bit scared. Landing in New York the next morning was not fun. Rainy, crappy, ugly. The pilot says sarcastically to us as we walk out “Welcome to Paradise”. I made a face and he laughed.

Nov 21, 2009

Montevideo, Uruguay - Day 2 (Nov 13)

Well, last day in South America. Had a pretty relaxing day, hitting up a pretty cool museum(Gurvich Museum), doing some shopping, and chillin’ on the beach. It was hot this day, about 80. I got another steak lunch(this time, mixed in with bread and cheddar cheese, yummy) while watching a movie being shot. The scene was of a delivery guy dancing to Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This”. Pretty funny. In the afternoon I lied down in the grass in Plaza Independencia, looking up at the palm trees. Left for the airport around 4:30, and that was that. Flight home, from Montevideo to Buenos Aires to JFK was rough, turbulence the whole time and we flew through a damn lightning storm. I admit I was a bit scared. Landing in New York the next morning was not fun. Rainy, crappy, ugly. The pilot says sarcastically to us as we walk out “Welcome to Paradise”. I made a face and he laughed.

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Frenzy

Alfred Hitchcock’s second to last movie. It’s pretty funny, and very creepy. Worth checking out. “Maybe you wanted to get rid of her?” “But I HAD gotten rid of her!”

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November 20, 2009 Montevideo, Uruguay-Day 1 (Thursday, Nov 12) Woke up at 5:45AM to catch a cab to the ferry to take me from Buenos Aires to Montevideo. Cab driver took the detour rout. I knew exactly how to get there, but he decided to get a few more pesos because he thought I was an idiot. Nice detour to the airport and the warehouse section before hitting Buquebus. It’s fine, I didn’t say anything, I take pride in knowing I’m getting screwed, yet taking it. Ferry ride was certainly interesting. Customs was ok, they questioned me on my jar of peanuts, of all things, but no biggie. Grabbed a cappuccino, my last in Buenos Aires, at the terminal. It was grand. I miss that culture. There was a group of 60 Uruguayan rugby youths on my ferry, and naturally they sat all around me for the trip. It was a nightmare. These guys didn’t stop climbing all over each other, the seats, etc. When we got close to Montevideo, I moved up front to check out the view, and saw a most amazing thing. The outflow of the Rio Plate, which is brown, meeting the bay, which is blue. There was a foam divider, and we sailed directly into it. Very interesting. Once I got into port, I had the easiest customs exit ever. The security guy saw me filling out my form, and made a sound like “nah man, just come on through”. I made a face “really”? He motioned “yeah, man, cool”. Basically, I could’ve snuck four grenade launchers into Uruguay. Walked to the Holiday Inn, only 1/4 of a mile, staying in downtown Montevideo. I couldn’t check in yet(what else is new?), so dropped off my bag and went to lunch at a cafe in Plaza Independencia. Had one of Uruguay’s famous steak sandwiches. Let me tell you, it is gigantic: steak, peppers, ham, lettuce, cheese, a friggin’ egg, everything. So good. Had the national 32 ounce beer and sat around for an hour before heading back to the hotel. Once I checked in, came back out and checked out the general area. Great buildings and street shopping around. Was neat. Old Town Montevideo is pretty much surrounded by water on 3 sides, so everywhere you walk you can see the water, it’s pretty cool. Got a couple beers in Old Town and hung out, but got chased out by the waitress, because apparently Old Town gets a bit shady at night. Around 7 I went back to the hotel and took a nap for an hour before grabbing a cab to the east side of town for dinner. I went to a pizza place on 21 de Septiembre I saw in the New York Times, as they had a 36 Hours in Montevideo two weeks before I left, which came in real handy. Pizza place was relaxing, cool crowd. I ate way too much. Afterwards, walked down to La Rambla and walked up the beachline for 30 minutes. Beautiful. At 11 at night, there were joggers, bikers, couples making out, friends chillin’…..great atmosphere. Honestly my favorite part of Montevideo. Once I got to where the highrises/hotels were, I stopped and got another couple of beers at an outdoor cafe. Nothing special, just relaxing. Grabbed a cab back to the hotel at 1 or so. Man, Old Town at night was like fucking City of God. A 12 year old with a 40 in his hand asked me for a cigarette, his 8 year old friends running about. There were skanky prostitutes roaming about, drug addicts…..shade factor: high. I gave the 12 year old a cigarette(these kids are damn insistent) and went inside to my hotel, where I watched Audrey Hepburn’s “Sabrina” until I passed out. Love her. Love that movie.

November 20, 2009

Montevideo, Uruguay-Day 1 (Thursday, Nov 12)

Woke up at 5:45AM to catch a cab to the ferry to take me from Buenos Aires to Montevideo. Cab driver took the detour rout. I knew exactly how to get there, but he decided to get a few more pesos because he thought I was an idiot. Nice detour to the airport and the warehouse section before hitting Buquebus. It’s fine, I didn’t say anything, I take pride in knowing I’m getting screwed, yet taking it. Ferry ride was certainly interesting. Customs was ok, they questioned me on my jar of peanuts, of all things, but no biggie. Grabbed a cappuccino, my last in Buenos Aires, at the terminal. It was grand. I miss that culture. There was a group of 60 Uruguayan rugby youths on my ferry, and naturally they sat all around me for the trip. It was a nightmare. These guys didn’t stop climbing all over each other, the seats, etc. When we got close to Montevideo, I moved up front to check out the view, and saw a most amazing thing. The outflow of the Rio Plate, which is brown, meeting the bay, which is blue. There was a foam divider, and we sailed directly into it. Very interesting. Once I got into port, I had the easiest customs exit ever. The security guy saw me filling out my form, and made a sound like “nah man, just come on through”. I made a face “really”? He motioned “yeah, man, cool”. Basically, I could’ve snuck four grenade launchers into Uruguay. Walked to the Holiday Inn, only 1/4 of a mile, staying in downtown Montevideo. I couldn’t check in yet(what else is new?), so dropped off my bag and went to lunch at a cafe in Plaza Independencia. Had one of Uruguay’s famous steak sandwiches. Let me tell you, it is gigantic: steak, peppers, ham, lettuce, cheese, a friggin’ egg, everything. So good. Had the national 32 ounce beer and sat around for an hour before heading back to the hotel. Once I checked in, came back out and checked out the general area. Great buildings and street shopping around. Was neat. Old Town Montevideo is pretty much surrounded by water on 3 sides, so everywhere you walk you can see the water, it’s pretty cool. Got a couple beers in Old Town and hung out, but got chased out by the waitress, because apparently Old Town gets a bit shady at night. Around 7 I went back to the hotel and took a nap for an hour before grabbing a cab to the east side of town for dinner. I went to a pizza place on 21 de Septiembre I saw in the New York Times, as they had a 36 Hours in Montevideo two weeks before I left, which came in real handy. Pizza place was relaxing, cool crowd. I ate way too much. Afterwards, walked down to La Rambla and walked up the beachline for 30 minutes. Beautiful. At 11 at night, there were joggers, bikers, couples making out, friends chillin’…..great atmosphere. Honestly my favorite part of Montevideo. Once I got to where the highrises/hotels were, I stopped and got another couple of beers at an outdoor cafe. Nothing special, just relaxing. Grabbed a cab back to the hotel at 1 or so. Man, Old Town at night was like fucking City of God. A 12 year old with a 40 in his hand asked me for a cigarette, his 8 year old friends running about. There were skanky prostitutes roaming about, drug addicts…..shade factor: high. I gave the 12 year old a cigarette(these kids are damn insistent) and went inside to my hotel, where I watched Audrey Hepburn’s “Sabrina” until I passed out. Love her. Love that movie.

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Sen. Levin favors tax increase on wealthy to pay for Afghanistan

http://senatus.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/levin-favors-high-income-tax-increase-to-pay-for-additional-afghanistan-troops/

This is exactly what needs to be out there in the public in order to avoid having to increase troops into a quagmire. Right now, Americans are worried about their pocketbook. Linking the two will help President Obama. Having this story out there is the biggest news I saw all day.

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The Wrong Side of History

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/opinion/19kristof.html?_r=2

This is a wonderful editorial by Kristof on health care. Please read.

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November 19, 2009

Buenos Aires-Day 6 (Wed, November 10)

This day was a drag. After walking 15 miles the previous day then staying up until 3AM to go drinking, I was tired as hell. And I woke up earlier than any other day I was in the country. I walked uptown to another old cemetery, this one alot bigger than the previous one. It had some of the same characteristics, alot of vaults and such. It was ok. Afterwards, I walked back to my neighborhood and did some window shopping. Palermo is a beautiful neighborhood to walk around in, especially on a Wednesday. I grabbed lunch at Bar 6, a most fashionable establishment. When the beautiful waitress served me my piping hot vegetable lasagna(awesome), she goes “Es muy caliente.” I almost said “Y tu tambien”, but held my tongue. I can’t imagine ever saying something like that in English, just because I would say it in Spanish doesn’t make it sexy. She probably would’ve frowned. After lunch, I went to a really cool museum dedicated to the works of Xul Solar, a total freak. Great art, I recommend checking it out. I should’ve gone to a park to hang out and relax for a couple of hours, but decided to do some more shopping. I went to a pretty interesting mall(photo above). But malls suck. It’s all clothes. I went into the bookstore, where I found an interesting book on San Martin, an Argentine Revolutionary. It’s by John Lynch, an author whose book on Simon Bolivar I liked alot. Alas, it was in Spanish, but I’m going to pick it up in English this week. Glad I found out about it. After the mall, I visited another church(above), before hitting up a bar for a few beers. You know what I hate? It’s when you break change and the waiter doesn’t break it enough, so you either have to give him a bigger than normal tip or ask for more change. I chose the former, but it pissed me off. I’m not going to frequent that establishment anymore. I went home and packed, as I had an 8AM ferry the next morning, then went to dinner at another steak place. The restaurant itself was in Palermo Hollywood, so I was expecting a bit more than a family restaurant. Not my type of atmosphere, but the food was great. I had the mustard sirloin. It came in a pot of mustard sauce, which was poured over the beef onto my plate. My, oh my, it was stupendous. My last meal in Buenos Aires. Smoked a victory cigarette on the way back to the hostel, and was in bed by 12 for a 6AM alarm.

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Tom Waits Interview.

melanyouth:

zucherman:

christopher-kuehl:

aar0n:

This is a great interview. Here are a few of my favourite bits :

Q: What’s heaven for you?

A: Me and my wife on Rte. 66 with a pot of coffee, a cheap guitar, pawnshop tape recorder in a Motel 6, and a car that runs good parked right by the door.

Q: What’s wrong with the world?

A: We are buried beneath the weight of information, which is being confused with knowledge; quantity is being confused with abundance and wealth with happiness. Leona Helmsley’s dog made 12 million last year… and Dean McLaine, a farmer in Ohio made $30,000. It’s just a gigantic version of the madness that grows in every one of our brains. We are monkeys with money and guns.

Q: Can you tell me an odd thing that happened in an odd place? Any thoughts?

A: A Japanese freighter had been torpedoed during WWII and it’s at the bottom of Tokyo Harbor with a large hole in her hull. A team of engineers was called together to solve the problem of raising the wounded vessel to the surface. One of the engineers tackling this puzzle said he remembered seeing a Donald Duck cartoon when he was a boy where there was a boat at the bottom of the ocean with a hole in its hull, and they injected it with ping-pong balls and it floated up. The skeptical group laughed but one of the experts was willing to give it a try. Of course, where in the world would you find twenty million ping-pong balls but in Tokyo? It turned out to be the perfect solution. The balls were injected into the hull and it floated to the surface, the engineer was elated. Moral solutions to problems are always found at an entirely different level; also, believe in yourself in the face of impossible odds.

Q: Do you have words to live by?

A: Jim Jarmusch once told me “Fast, Cheap, and Good… pick two. If it’s fast and cheap it wont be good. If it’s cheap and good it won’t be fast. If it’s fast and good it wont be cheap.” Fast, cheap and good… pick (2) words to live by.

Q: Tom, you love words and their origins. For $2,000…what is the origin of the word bedlam?

A: It’s a contraction of the word Bethlehem. It comes from the hospital of Saint Mary of Bethlehem outside London. The hospital began admitting mental patients in the late fourteenth century. In the sixteenth century it became a lunatic asylum. The word bedlam came to be used for any madhouse- and by extension, for any scene of noisy confusion.

Q: What is a gentleman?

A:  A man who can play the accordion, but doesn’t.

I love that last line, though I personally would love to find a man who can and will play the accordion for me. 

304 notes

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Hi, I'm Se...na....tor Jo....seph.....Lie....ber......man

Please go away, dude. You’re a loser, a liar, and a bum.

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November 18, 2009 Buenos Aires-Day 5(Tuesday, Nov 10) Day 5 is turned into a hike. Transit strike this day in Buenos Aires. After not being able to catch a cab for 10 minutes, I decided to walk the 3 miles down Av. Santa Fe to Plaza San Martin, where I began my day. Santa Fe is nothing but shops, shops, shops, and Burger Kings, Burger Kings, Burger Kings. Those guys love the Whopper down there! Plaza San Martin is very nice. I sat down for half and hour and wrote a couple of postcards and did some people watching. There are a number of nice buildings around there, which I enjoyed looking at. From there, I made my way to the Times Square of Buenos Aires, Ave. Florida. Florida is a tourist trap paradise. Actually, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected. There were some people trying to hawk goods, but not nearly as aggressive as in Shanghai(which I visited last year). I bought a few things and spent an hour walking slowly down the street. On the way, I stopped by the Galleria there, which was classy and nice. The ceiling is made up of large paintings of Michaelangelo. I made my way down to the basement for a quick lunch of Burger King. I found it difficult to grab quick lunches in Buenos Aires. Most places, including pizza places, seem to want you to sit and stay. Waiter service. So today I swallowed my pride and went to BK. Same exact food as the BK here. After lunch, I made my way to Plaza Mayor and visited a number of beautiful churches. I tried to go to the post-office, but it was under construction and the lady at the desk told me to leave. I think. I felt like Billy Madison. ‘Slow down’. I speak a bit of Spanish, but halting phrases and words. I went to get my ferry ticket for a couple days later to Montevideo, then made my way to the port, which was extremely pleasant. Beautiful crowd there, quiet. I crossed the moat thingy there and made my way to an island just east of the city, where I visited an ecological preserve. The picture above was taken in a park there. It was extremely tranquil, this area. A large number of high-class office and residential buildings are flying up there. Going to be the rich area of town. After the preserve, I got a few beers sitting by the port. Wrote down a ‘personal mission statement’ for my future. I knew getting back to my hostel was going to be a bitch. Man, took me 1 hour 45 minutes to walk, mostly uphill. It was rough, I was dead tired when I got back. After getting a beer, I almost passed out with it in my hand, so I went upstairs to take an hour nap. After showering, I decided to go to an Italian place to dinner. Guido’s. It was fantastic. Had some type of ravioli and a lovely caprese salad. The owner came over and said hello, so I felt like home. The funniest thing I saw my entire trip was a picture on the menu. It was Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe and Lauren Bacall. Bogart is looking down at Monroe’s tits(while Monroe is laughing uproariously at something), while Bacall is making pretend she’s laughing, but in reality, you could see her thinking “who does this bitch think she is?”. Bogart’s look is priceless. After dinner, it was back to the hostel for 3 hours of drinking games with a bunch of guys there(couple of Americans, a French guy and 3 Danes). It was a good time! Sadly, I don’t know as many cities/towns in France as I thought. I vow to study and know every major town in France.

November 18, 2009

Buenos Aires-Day 5(Tuesday, Nov 10)

Day 5 is turned into a hike. Transit strike this day in Buenos Aires. After not being able to catch a cab for 10 minutes, I decided to walk the 3 miles down Av. Santa Fe to Plaza San Martin, where I began my day. Santa Fe is nothing but shops, shops, shops, and Burger Kings, Burger Kings, Burger Kings. Those guys love the Whopper down there! Plaza San Martin is very nice. I sat down for half and hour and wrote a couple of postcards and did some people watching. There are a number of nice buildings around there, which I enjoyed looking at. From there, I made my way to the Times Square of Buenos Aires, Ave. Florida. Florida is a tourist trap paradise. Actually, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected. There were some people trying to hawk goods, but not nearly as aggressive as in Shanghai(which I visited last year). I bought a few things and spent an hour walking slowly down the street. On the way, I stopped by the Galleria there, which was classy and nice. The ceiling is made up of large paintings of Michaelangelo. I made my way down to the basement for a quick lunch of Burger King. I found it difficult to grab quick lunches in Buenos Aires. Most places, including pizza places, seem to want you to sit and stay. Waiter service. So today I swallowed my pride and went to BK. Same exact food as the BK here. After lunch, I made my way to Plaza Mayor and visited a number of beautiful churches. I tried to go to the post-office, but it was under construction and the lady at the desk told me to leave. I think. I felt like Billy Madison. ‘Slow down’. I speak a bit of Spanish, but halting phrases and words. I went to get my ferry ticket for a couple days later to Montevideo, then made my way to the port, which was extremely pleasant. Beautiful crowd there, quiet. I crossed the moat thingy there and made my way to an island just east of the city, where I visited an ecological preserve. The picture above was taken in a park there. It was extremely tranquil, this area. A large number of high-class office and residential buildings are flying up there. Going to be the rich area of town. After the preserve, I got a few beers sitting by the port. Wrote down a ‘personal mission statement’ for my future. I knew getting back to my hostel was going to be a bitch. Man, took me 1 hour 45 minutes to walk, mostly uphill. It was rough, I was dead tired when I got back. After getting a beer, I almost passed out with it in my hand, so I went upstairs to take an hour nap. After showering, I decided to go to an Italian place to dinner. Guido’s. It was fantastic. Had some type of ravioli and a lovely caprese salad. The owner came over and said hello, so I felt like home. The funniest thing I saw my entire trip was a picture on the menu. It was Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe and Lauren Bacall. Bogart is looking down at Monroe’s tits(while Monroe is laughing uproariously at something), while Bacall is making pretend she’s laughing, but in reality, you could see her thinking “who does this bitch think she is?”. Bogart’s look is priceless. After dinner, it was back to the hostel for 3 hours of drinking games with a bunch of guys there(couple of Americans, a French guy and 3 Danes). It was a good time! Sadly, I don’t know as many cities/towns in France as I thought. I vow to study and know every major town in France.

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November 17, 2009

Buenos Aires - Day 4 (Monday, November 9)

The first photo is a long-view of the Obelisk, in the middle the city. Second is of Congress. I woke up early Monday and took a quick subway ride down to where the Teatro Colon is. Subway in Buenos Aires works ok and is nice. They just don’t tell you where you are, you kind of have to guess which stop you’re at. The area around Teatro had a nice park area and a number of great buildings, where I sat down for a few minutes and jammed to my iPod. I then walked down to where the Obelisk is, which is on 9 de Julio, a, literally, 24 lane road. It’s gigantic. If you run, you can cross it in 2 stop lights. Run. If you walk, it takes you 4 full lights. I then walked up to Congress, which has another nice park, and a number of fantastic buildings to look at on the way(and there). Buenos Aires has a ton of statues and other public art, along with a myriad of interesting looking buildings. I usually spent most of my day looking around at buildings. I walked over to where MALBA(an art museum) is, grabbing a quick lunch on the way. There was an Andy Warhol exhibit at MALBA, and it was the best collection of Warhol I’ve ever seen. I had never seen his ‘Lenin’ in person, and was amazed. Also, a group of newspaper clippings and photos of the JFK assassination really hit me hard. Dramatic. I’ve neglected to mention that the sun has been out the entire trip. Well, when I walked out of MALBA, it began to rain for the first time. I did manage to visit a Japanese Garden there(nice, a little small) before it started to downpour. I sat down and got a cappuccino, read for a bit during this. I’m reading a book on Alexander the Great at the moment. After this, I retreated back to the hostel for a 32 of Quilmes(the Argentine national beer). Good stuff. Took an hour nap. Dinner tonight was at a really high-end place, BoBo. When I walked in, the guy brought me some champagne cocktail. It was yummy. Then I ordered a glass of wine. After this, he brought me all kinds of exotic shots and drinks. The weirdest was a beetjuice with mozzarella and vodka shot. I was bombed before my salad arrived. The prime rib was out of this world. Since I was already a bit shitty, I retreated back to the hostel for a couple midnight beers. A few of us were sitting around watching the news. Apparently there were riots in Plaza de Mayor that day! Very exciting. I wish I was there.

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