Somnambulists Alarm

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

A Different Kind of Miles

Someone posted in Ferrari Chat that Miles Davis had fallen asleep at the wheel and stuffed his Lambo. I was there and responded.
There was a bit more to it than that. He didn't fall asleep at the wheel. He tried to make a right angle turn at 60 mph from the left lane of the West side Highway to the 125 ST exit across three lanes of traffic. He didn't make it. He hit the WPA Stone exit ramp and the Lime Green Miura came apart like Brazilian plywood in the rain. I pulled over and ran back to his car. He was wearing leather pants and the bones of both of his legs were sticking through the pants. He was bleeding badly.
He looked at me and said: " Is my car ****ed up?" I told him the car was gone. He said: " I got to take a look." I told him both legs were broken and he wasn't going anywhere. I ripped up a shirt I found on the floor and told him to hold the cloth over the bleeding with pressure as it was getting bad but not arterial. There were two large plastic bags filled with white powder on the floor and one had broken open. The interior was dusted. I grabbed the bags and ran to the sewer and chucked them. He screamed: "What the **** you doing????" I used rain water to wipe down the car as best as I could.
The cops arrived. One of them asked me who I was. I told them just one of the guys he cut off. He looked at Miles and at me and told me to split.
Years later I was directing "Shakedown" with Peter Weller. Weller liked Miles's music and I told him that story. One night he went to hear Miles. He went back stage where Miles recognized him. "Hey Robo" Peter told him the story and asked if it was true.
Miles got real quiet and said: " I always wondered who that White Mother ****er was. You thank him for me and tell him to come by anytime."
Miles was in the hospital for a long time and didn't play for almost a year. He did make hours of basement tapes which he gave to Sal. One day maybe we'll release them but they're pretty raw...

This story originally appeared on the P4/5 Competizione Facebook page on June 20th, 2012 and was republished with permission.

(via Jalopnik.com)

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

A Different Kind of Blue- Miles Davis

A different kind of blue

Miles Davis

Found this sweet telegram floating about the internet...

“Miles just called and said that he wants this album to be titled:
“Bitches Brew”
Please advise.”

Close up of image: http://i.imgur.com/4DzOf.jpg

(via www.dangerousminds.net)

...So, I figured I would do a whole post-like thing around it.

“In honor of the 40th anniversary of the original release of Bitches Brew, Miles Davis' 1970 paradigm-shifting landmark fusion breakthrough, we've created our own Bitches Brew -- a bold, dark beer that's a fusion of three threads of imperial stout and one thread of honey beer with gesho root. It's a gustatory analog to Miles' masterpiece.”
http://www.dogfish.com/brews-spirits/the-brews/occassional-rarities/bitches-brew.htm

Part 1 of 3

Part 2 of 3

Part 3 of 3

Not sure who this is or who sculpted it, but I dig it.

Smack my priest up.

Unexpected ring tone from a Greek Orthodox Priest.
(via www.dangerousminds.net)

Monday, November 5, 2012

Don't you remember? - and more variations on a theme

'Pope Burning' aka 'Bonfire Day' on the Fifth of November:.

John Lennon references the Fifth of November at the end of his song 'Remember', and then ends the song with an explosion::

Don't you remember? - More variations on the theme

Anonymous marks the fifth of November with protests and cyber attacks...

(From RT.com)

http://rt.com/news/anonymous-day-protest-fawkes-010/

"A worldwide day of protests and cyber attacks against governments, banks and security firms has been launched by Hacker collective Anonymous to mark Guy Fawkes Day. Hundreds of people marched in London, while another rally hit Washington, DC."

Don't you remember? - Variations on a theme

A little bit of the History behind the British celebrations of the Fifth of November.

The more recent pop culture references (from the Time Warner movie, V for Vendetta):

Which has lead to the mask being the symbol of the hacker group Anonymous (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_%28group%29) and also with the occupy wall street protests (http://occupywallst.org/).

http://www.thestreetartblog.net/2011/11/shepard-fairey-supports-occupy-wall.html

And I will finish this very long post with a link to a brief article concerning the art side of the mask...

http://www.creepmachine.com/artist-news/art-and-the-occupy-movement.html

Don't You Remember?

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I know of no reason

Why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent

To blow up the King and Parli'ment.

Three-score barrels of powder below

To prove old England's overthrow;

By God's providence he was catch'd

With a dark lantern and burning match.

Holla boys, Holla boys, let the bells ring.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

And what should we do with him? Burn him!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Mathilda, I Cried And Cried For You

Cookie and the Cupcakes may just be the greatest name for a band ever. This song pretty much slays it too. Only hit #47 on the Billboard charts in 1959 though.

Died On This Date

Buddy Bolden -

was an African-American cornetist and is regarded by contemporaries as a key figure in the development of a style of ragtime music, which later came to be known as jazz.
He was known as King Bolden, and his band was a top draw in New Orleans from about 1900 until 1907, when he was incapacitated by schizophrenia. He left no known surviving recordings, but he was known for his very loud sound and constant improvisation. (wikipedia)

The great Jelly Roll Morton playing "Buddy Bolden's Blues" aka "Funky Butt"

Denton True "Cy" Young -

On September 23, 1993, a statue dedicated to him was unveiled by Northeastern University on the site of the Red Sox's original stadium, the Huntington Avenue Grounds. It was there that Young had pitched the first game of the 1903 World Series, as well as the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball. A home plate-shaped plaque next to the statue reads:

"On October 1, 1903 the first modern World Series between the American League champion Boston Pilgrims (later known as the Red Sox) and the National League champion Pittsburgh Pirates was played on this site. General admission tickets were fifty cents. The Pilgrims, led by twenty-eight game winner Cy Young, trailed the series three games to one but then swept four consecutive victories to win the championship five games to three."