Saturday, June 30, 2007

Saturday, June 23, 2007

"The Secret" takes it on the chin...again.
Critics of 'The Secret' bemoan claims (via Yahoo News)

"While "The Secret" has become a pop culture phenomenon, it also has drawn critics who are not quiet about labeling the movement a fad, embarrassingly materialistic or the latest example of an American propensity of wanting something for nothing.

Some medical professionals suggest it could even lead to a blame-the-victim mentality and actually be dangerous to those suffering from serious illness or mental disorders. "

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070623/ap_en_ot/books_the_secret
An encounter with the Tucson's "Godfather of Cow Punk"...Al Perry.






Yesterday Tucson treasure and Club Congress fixture Al Perry appeared on Access Tucson's The Bunny Show, hosted by our friend Bunny Uriarte, and played his witty and sardonically self-deprecatingly little ditty "Loserville":

This is the house
That all my troubles built
I live at the end of Blue Street
In a town called Loserville.
When your true love's gone
And you're down to your last cent
In this neighborhood
There's always a place to rent.

Afterwards at the customary free dinner provided by Bunny and her mom and director Martha McGrath, we had a chance to chat with this local legend whose dedication to quality roots music stands in stark contrast to a pop culture where "merchants of swill" seem to garner most of the laurels and airplay. Al and "T.S. Minton Blogs Guy" Steve Minton discussed a variety of musical trends and notions:

- How Tucson has produced acts of such indubitable musical integrity as Stefan George; Luca; Giant Sand; in my estimation himself; and yet few have burst into the national consciousness (Linda Ronstadt of course is a delightful exception). We both enthused about Stefan George: an awesomely adept guitar virtuoso whether it's country, folk, or blues that comes to hand; a grizzly-voiced singer with rich conviction, soul, and lovely harmonies with his partner Lavinia White; a writer of lyrics with profound meaning and depth...all in all, a great total package who deserves more recognition. (George was also a resident with yours truly at the Cascabel Clayworks hippie commune in the mid-70s, see below.)

- His influences: Buck Owens, Johnny Cash, Porter Wagoner, among others; these acts account for the "cow" part of Perry's label as "the godfather of cowpunk." But what about the "punk" part of that moniker? Al mentioned the fact that rock music had reached such a nadir in the late 70s, dominated by performers I have elsewhere dubbed "bland corporate shit-rock", i.e. Styx, Toto, Foreigner, et al. that the only music at the time to burst on the scene with any quality and vitality was punk. He was impressed by the high-energy country rock acts that emerged in the 80s who fused punk intensity with country stylings, such as the Blasters and Jason and the Scorchers. Thus we arrive at "cow punk"...and our ears are enriched by it.

- How would a beginning Bob Dylan or Janis Joplin fare on American Idol? Not to well, we concluded: they lacked the requisite plastic Hollywood appearance; they had creaky and unusual (although incredibly emotive) voices; they were too blazingly original for a culture that enshrines corporate product over distinctive genius. Either of them though had more talent in their pinkie than anyone who's ever appeared on that Idol show. And even with a current musical scene where there's plenty of excellence (I think of most of the stuff on Tucson's 92.9 The Mountain, i.e. Norah Jones, The Killers, Augustana, and on 92.1 KXCI Community Radio, i.e. The White Stripes, The Shins, and other pleasing oddities they play from avant-garde to Americana) we both were stumped to name an artist of recent note who qualifies as epically great, i.e. an artist whose scope and depth could shake the foundations of our culture (as Bob Dylan and The Beatles did in the 60s). Sure Prince was an example of that level of protean musical skill, at least in his output a decade and two ago; even he though couldn't cut to the marrow of our culture as the aforementioned did.

Here's an excerpt from his site http://www.alperry.net/:

Perry is known throughout the world for his genuine love of almost all forms of music, although he has a particular affinity for Link Wray, Buck Owens, and Brian Wilson. His prodigiously eclectic tastes are reflected in the bands and musicians with whom he has played throughout his career: blues with the Subterranean Blues Band, rockabilly with the Psyclones and Hecklers, cowpunk with The Cattle, heavy metal country with Gila Bend, 60s garage with The Marshmallow Overcoat. The list of genres and musicians is virtually endless. In live performances, Perry moves seamlessly from original songs to surf instrumentals to covers of Merle Haggard, Porter Wagoner, Cream, or obscure groups that have long since vanished from the cultural radar.

Al Perry has always been an alchemist of sorts, transforming his ongoing musical education into songs that have delighted and amazed his fans and fellow musicians for years. "Always a Pleasure" continues that proud tradition. The music on this CD is stripped down and muscular, devoid of ostentation, brutally honest and elegant at the same time. The singing is also a revelation; soft and seductive, with almost no barrier between Perry and the listener. "Always a Pleasure" is, indeed --as one critic called it--an "instant classic."



The album can be ordered from Al Perry at the address below for $12 ppd. in the US, $14 ppd for the rest of the world. CD-Rs and singles can also be obtained, just ask.

Al Perry
PO Box 40421
Tucson, AZ 85717 USA

www.alperry.net/
www.myspace.com/alperry
www.myspace.com/alperryfanclub


Al Perry's Clambake

KXCI Community Radio 91.3, Mondays at 10pm
Click here for live streaming.




Comments from the Peanut Gallery
(Letters to the editor)

"I think your poem ["Cascabel Meditation: Sunrise"] qualifies as a saga - Wow! Terrific writing."
Mary Alice Bennett
Artist and writer
www.mjastudio.com
www.myspace.com/mjastudio
A little online exchange about the Tooth Fairy and Ted Loman's untouched stash of UFOAZ and Off the Record VCR tapes, 1991 to 2002.

http://ufoazandofftherecord.blogspot.com

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Future blogger T.S. Minton, circa 1974...

At Cascabel Clayworks hippie commune, Cascabel, Arizona...
For more info see :
"One of the most remarkable bodies of work I have ever encountered."
- Prof. Barbara Jackson, Harvard University
"Cascabel Critiques" including comments by Christopher Ricks.
"Oh life of sin, spun away from the light of life
Bright from what was once
One fine flash that everything else
Gladly, gushingly reverberates from
Rush of spring, and I was the one who felt
The tinge of nectar!
The suspicion that the sunflower
Grows by God's grace."
Coming soon: "Cascabel Meditation: Illustrated"

Monday, June 18, 2007


Comments from the Peanut Gallery
(Letters to the editor)

"Just wanted to thank you for turning me on to Patti Griffin. Used to get her confused with Patti Austin or Nanci Griffith but no more. Children Running Through is a wonder, and I just got 1000 Kisses, too. More power to ya, music blogger."

Mark Zepezauer
Cartoonist, publisher of the former Tucson Comic News (1993 - 2000), and author of (among others)...

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Doling out more from Mary...




"Egyptian Boat"

(C) Mary Alice Bennett

Artwork of the week
(or month...or whenever...) by T.S. Minton


"Lime Leopard in Repose", circa 2000



"The silent world of nature", 2000




"The dance of Kali", circa 1994 (altered with photoshop, 2007)

"Oogly Monster", circa 1994


(C) T.S. Minton

This posting is dedicated to Tony Palladini, a long-time friend and supporter of Interfusion Publishing, for reminding me to put the "T.S. Minton" back into T.S. Minton Blogs.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

"Time travel in a box":
an interesting artifact from the mid70s discovered by T.S. Minton...concerning a more freewheeling time, at a more freewheeling school.

See our new sub-blog:

milesexploratorylearningcenter1970s.blogspot.com/




Teacher Jack with students at Miles Exploratory Learning Center, Tucson Arizona, circa spring 1976.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Another meeting of the minds: The Soothsayer and the Blog Publisher...





Internationally renowned French psychic and soothsayer Dr. Luis Turi and "The T.S. Minton Blogs Guy" Steve Minton, Access Tucson Studios, 06/02/07.

Comments from the Peanut Gallery
(Letters to the editor)

"Have been enjoying your weblogs very much."

Kyle Dayton
co-host The Cutting Edge cable TV program

Sunday, June 10, 2007

From the desk of: Mary Alice Bennett...


"Swami's Panacea"


"Honduran Mayan"



"Coptic Mer-Lion"


"From Chiapas Also"





"Izapa Parrot Gator Tree"
(C) Mary Alice Bennett
mjastudio77@hotmail.com
www.myspace.com/mjastudio


Saturday, June 09, 2007

More peanut butter...meeting chocolate:

Bob Dylan with Johnny Cash - Girl From The North Country (Live)



From "The Johnny Cash Show" 05/01/1969
Dennis the Red: The polymath man of many masks...

An old chum of ours here at Interfusion Publishing is Dennis the Red...a most interesting character. To wit:

* Sculptor...







* Musician...


Slipping into "unique" states of consciousness...




* Puppet master...




mail@dennisthered.com

Dennis the Red
P.O. Box 1443
Tucson AZ 85702

Naga Babas (winner of the October 2005 Short Film Contest at Tucson's Loft Theatre)


Puppet Cledd sings about India's Naga Babas

Thursday, June 07, 2007

"The mysteries of the missing sphinx and antediluvian monuments and pyramids...solved? or deepened?"

See the new videos of classic UFOAZ programs posted at our new sub-blog...

ufoazandofftherecord.blogspot.com
"Let me get this straight..."
A new feature on T.S. Minton Blogs: equal opportunity political debunking...

"The smart stuff is being drowned out by a fierce, bullying, often witless tone of intolerance that has overtaken the left-wing sector of the blogosphere. Anyone who doesn't move in lockstep with the most extreme voices is savaged and ridiculed—especially people like me who often agree with the liberal position but sometimes disagree and are therefore considered traitorously unreliable. Some of this is understandable: the left-liberals in the blogosphere are merely aping the odious, disdainful—and politically successful—tone that right-wing radio talk-show hosts like Rush Limbaugh pioneered. They are also justifiably furious at a Bush White House that has specialized in big lies and smear tactics.
And that is precisely the danger here. Fury begets fury. Poison from the right-wing talk shows seeped into the Republican Party's bloodstream and sent that party off the deep end. Limbaugh's show—where Dick Cheney frequently expatiates—has become the voice of the Republican establishment. The same could happen to the Democrats."

Beware the Bloggers' Bile by Joe Klein
Time magazine, 06/06/07


Monday, June 04, 2007

Sneak peak at "The Fall Portfolio"...


(C) John I. Henry


"Lovers"

(C) Beverly T. Ennis.

Saturday, June 02, 2007

What will we serve up next??