Mickey Z

Cool Observer

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Rudy Guiliani, Guns n' Roses, Rocky Balboa (and our caption winner)

Posted by Mickey Z on 04/10 at 04:14 AM

you write one thing on your blog everyday and i have never respnded to it…

i DO like what i find on this site but i am in no position to offer financial support!

sorry mickey

Posted by michael on from scotland 04/10 at 08:09 AM

Hello Expendables...from a sunny but chilly Astoria.

Michael: I post that $$$ link because so few folks seem to notice the Amazon link in the right hand column and yeah, I could use a few extra bucks. BUT that should never equate to pressure or guilt on anyone...especially the regulars here. It’s just me taking a shot.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 04/10 at 08:12 AM

Congrats, JOS! Good stuff.

I was introduced to a few Delerium tunes a while back and have been enjoying those. At this very moment, “Billy Breathes” by Phish is coming out my speakers. As a guitar player, Trey’s been a big influence. Although, I haven’t played electric since I came to Taiwan in 2001. Fortunately, I’ve got an acoustic that has kept me from getting completely out of practice. Been playing a lot more recently, trying to get back into it.

Posted by Jeremy R. Hammond on from Taipei, Taiwan 04/10 at 08:30 AM

I didn’t know you played guitar, Jeremy. I’m wondering how many other Expendables play an instrument (I know Keir and Owen do). I used to sing in a rock band and man, I should’ve followed that path. Big mistake.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 04/10 at 08:35 AM

i used to DJ funk and soul and i can play the guitar to a bit too

Posted by michael on from scotland 04/10 at 09:12 AM

what am i listening to?

[always Karl Haas-- pick a time convenient for you: http://tinyurl.com/2bt3cn]

...and this favorite angry music, Y en a marre: “We’ve had it!” http://tinyurl.com/2kbasd
lyrics at http://tinyurl.com/2k5saj

And Travelling Wilburys (Handle with Care):
http://tinyurl.com/2ll62w

Only love here… no money.

Peace to all.

Posted by Robert B. Livingston on from San Francisco, California 04/10 at 09:22 AM

Oh man, I barely even know how to turn on the radio these days, let alone play an instrument. And if I listen to G n’R, I’ll get kinda down about how they fell apart in ‘91 or whenever so far behind their time.

Anyway, who says the NYTimes isn’t good for anything, when we have stuff like Safire on Existentialism:

http://tinyurl.com/ywgwle

Posted by James on from work 04/10 at 09:36 AM

I “play” a little guitar.

My first win ever...I love it, but I didn’t notice many other entries.

I’ll take Murdering Of My Years, Mick:

James O’Shea
811 Clinton Ave
Oak Park, IL
60304

Yes, I don’t mind posting my address here...now you all know where to find me, at least for a little while.

Posted by JOS on from Chicago 04/10 at 09:54 AM

By the way, I think Murdering is the only one of your books I don’t already have, but it is the one I’ve most excited to read...this is great!

Posted by JOS on from Chicago 04/10 at 09:56 AM

hey!

I was promised a copy of murdering for giveing 50 revolutions to cindy sheehan!

Posted by michael on from scotland 04/10 at 09:57 AM

Congrats to all getting published, working hard, winning contests and playing music. Today I’m listening to the Matmos CD “The Civil War”. Pretty cool stuff. I saw them live in September. Amazing show.

I have to say: I don’t find anything redeeming in Guns n Roses. But my girlfriend loves ‘em. For angry music I’m partial to Rage Against the Machine, Boogie Down Productions, and Public Enemy.

I’m reading Endgame now. I found a cheap copy of volume 1 in London a few weeks ago. Talk about me being angry. Utterly heartbreaking. Jensen would certainly take issue with Rocky’s statement. It’s not the world that shits on us. It’s our culture. The world, by contrast, would love us if we’d love it back.

Posted by Keir on from the hague 04/10 at 10:18 AM

hello again keir, i was wondering where you were.

did yo ulike the new site i emailed you about. the old one is still active too.

as for what you just said, what about these three from vonnegut…

“Human beings will be happier - not when they cure cancer or get to Mars or eliminate racial prejudice or flush Lake Erie but when they find ways to inhabit primitive communities again. That’s my utopia.”

“I really wonder what gives us the right to wreck this poor planet of ours.”

“I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don’t let anybody tell you different.”

Posted by michael on from scotland 04/10 at 10:21 AM

laughing out loud....thats me all over
just farting around!
Oh man, not much into music these days what ever matches my mood seems to do the trick. My tastes are fairly eclectic.
I like 10,000 maniacs, tom petty, stevie ray vaughan that sort of thing.

Posted by frances on from bc 04/10 at 10:41 AM

Hello, Expendables. It’s another grey and chilly day in MA.

I still haven’t seen “Rocky Balboa” but here’s to corporations and the wealthy taking some hits. For starters. “Cut ‘em, Mick.”

Thanks for the Wilburys link, Robert. That’s a CD worth the rigged price. I’ve been listening to my “Get Up Go” CD, a high-tempo, thrashy and loud collection. It gets you up in the morning: White Zombie’s “Dragula”, Everclear’s “Heroin Girl”, Soundgarden’s “Superunknown” among them.

JOS, MOMY is a fine book, a different take on Terkel-esque interviewing. Apparently Giuliani has a new batch of self-inflicted political wounds. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, except maybe Mitt Romney. Or HRC.

Posted by Zen Prole on from Urth 04/10 at 10:48 AM

Hello again, everyone.

JOS: Yeah, the entries weren’t as numerous as usual but they continue to come in. Yours truly made me laugh. I’ll mail the book this week.

Michael: I don’t recall our Murdering deal but I’m happy to comply. However, it will take me a bit longer to ship anything overseas.

Keir: I agree, re: Rocky. Unless, of course, we read his use of “world” as the culture and/or society we’ve all contributed to. As for angry music, I also like Rage and PE. It’s interesting that both of those bands along with G-n-R “hit it” at roughly the same time (1988-1992 or so?). Toss in Nirvana and you have music’s last great explosion, as it were.

Hello James and Frances and anyone else I’ve missed.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 04/10 at 10:51 AM

Frances, I’ve been meaning to ask you about the Olympic preparations going on in Vancouver. I’ve visited twice, and hosting the ‘Lympics shattered my impressions of the city: how could they be so dumb? Post here, or try me at zenprole@yahoo

Thank Ya.

Posted by Zen Prole on from Urth 04/10 at 10:52 AM

The Doors can be pretty angry...Johnny Cash is inspiring and has a deep sadness at the same time...GnR kicks ass in my book...Rage, definitely...just watched O Brother Where Art Thou again and the music is incredible, “Man of Constant Sorrow.”

Posted by JOS on from Chicago 04/10 at 10:52 AM

Hey Zen.

Btw, JOS, do you want the book signed?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 04/10 at 11:43 AM

Check it out, can anyone believe this was really Lou Reed-- what a skinny young man!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc26EFI1_nw

Posted by James on from work 04/10 at 12:28 PM

That would be great, Mick...definitely signed.

Posted by JOS on from Chicago 04/10 at 12:38 PM

yeah James...and blonde too.

Posted by JOS on from Chicago 04/10 at 12:41 PM

Heh, I was gonna correct you on the female spelling of blonde, but in his case in the early 70s, maybe let the ambiguity stay…

Posted by James on from work 04/10 at 12:46 PM

I think Lou was try-sexual (no I didn’t misspell tri as try).

Posted by JOS on from Chicago 04/10 at 12:56 PM

Hi Zen, Vancouver huh? I lived there for 2 years, a beautiful place but hellish also. Maybe I just needed more moola to enjoy the full benefits, I dont know. It always felt like ‘the end of the line’ literally the end of the railway line, and figuratively where people just sort of piled up cause there was no further place to go. I took the ferry to the gulf islands in ‘89 and never looked back. I have since passed through a few times on the way to the bc interior but less so these past few years because its very expensive to travel on the ferries.

I havent been following the olympics news too much but here is what I know. Over the years i have had been steadily pushed northward, to more affordable islands because I was unable to keep up with excellerated pace of developement. Saltspring isle became a ‘bedroom’ community of Victoria. Hornby isle has become a summer holiday resort. Both islands now have more trouble with drugs, alcohol abuse, b&e’s, water shortages, fragile eco-systems are being encroached upon, sky high rents and lack of year round full time employment. Many renters have difficulty finding year round accomodation because home owners rent out to tourists in the summer. Alot of people camp out for the summer year after year. I now live in Campbell River in what used to be the ‘salmon capital of the world’, but I think the fish farms are dessimating the wild stocks. The rain forest is all but gone. And all the time I have been in BC I have been very conscious that it will never be my home, its all stolen land Zen.

I am getting a headache thinking about it all. Its a beautiful place and I am very thankful to be here, but when I think of what it used to be and how the land has just been sucked dry I get angry. The olympics will probably suck it drier. Yes it is dumb.

http://tinyurl.com/33ujvu
ok, I feel better now, thanks Buffy.

Posted by frances on from bc 04/10 at 05:59 PM

You are so right, Mickey, when it comes to being screwed by Giuliani! Here’s how he screwed an Australian charity according to Melbourne’s ‘The Age’: apparently, his agent asked for and got a fee of $200,000.00 for one of Rudy’s appearances at a charity event for some Australian hospital, which left a grand total of $15,000.00 for the charity in question.

Hi, Michael, Jeremy R. Hammond, Robert B. Livingston, James, JOS, Keir, frances and Zen Prole. Thanks for giving your fellow expendables your address, JOS - I have wanted to visit Chicago for the longest time but doubt whether I’ll ever make it. The ‘windy city’ ..

And thanks for all those links - so many interesting links and so little time.

Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 04/10 at 08:45 PM

I was promised a copy of murdering for giveing 50 revolutions to cindy sheehan!

Thanks for making me laugh, Michael!

‘The Murdering of My Years’ comes highly recommended - by this expendable, as do all of Mickey’s books. The ‘Cool Observer’ is also a very ‘Cool Writer’, even if expendable Helga says so herself.

Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 04/10 at 08:52 PM