Tom Waits - Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis

Now a real Christmas Song... It's got the Silent Night intro and you just can't go wrong with that one.

hey Charley I'm pregnant
and living on 9th street
right above a dirty bookstore
off euclid avenue
and I stopped taking dope
and I quit drinking whiskey
and my old man plays the trombone
and works out at the track.

and he says that he loves me
even though its not his baby
and he says that he'll raise him up
like he would his own son
and he gave me a ring
that was worn by his mother
and he takes me out dancin
every saturday night.

and hey Charley I think about you
everytime I pass a fillin' station
on account of all the grease
you used to wear in your hair
and I still have that record
of little anthony & the imperials
but someone stole my record player
how do you like that?

hey Charley I almost went crazy
after mario got busted
so I went back to omaha to
live with my folks
but everyone I used to know
was either dead or in prison
so I came back in minneapolis
this time I think I'm gonna stay.

hey Charley I think I'm happy
for the first time since my accident
and I wish I had all the money
that we used to spend on dope
I'd buy me a used car lot
and I wouldn't sell any of em
I'd just drive a different car
every day dependin on how
I feel.

hey Charley
for chrissakes
do you want to know
the truth of it?
I don't have a husband
he don't play the trombone
and I need to borrow money
to pay this lawyer
and Charley, hey
I'll be eligible for parole
come valentines day.

It's Christmas and...

Christmas sucks.

Here we go again, another holiday season, where for some reason all the lit up trees make people smile for some strange reason. People find it strange I don't enjoy Christmas very much. Forgive me for not enjoying a time of the year where apparently what we celebrate is hypocrisy and hollowness. A christmas tree turned on and suddenly we remember to invite family over or they decide it's a good time to drop by. How I imagine people's faces when they realize can't afford to buy what they "have" to bring.
What I can't imagine are the parents faces when they realize there's no way they can afford none the "amazing" toys their kids get brainwashed daily with on television.
Can't also imagine the kids disappointment when they do open the presents their parent can afford. I love television more everyday. This time of the year they are in the "breaking hearts" business.
Everyone expects too much when they should expect nothing at all. Instead of programming the kids to "get" this should be the time for them to give... but no... if Christmas was a time where you could only give something to someone that couldn't give anything back... well then everyone would just fucking hate Christmas wouldn't they?
Hey I had my share of Christmases I enjoyed, but now I'm "all" grown up. I keep in touch all year long with the family that cares and I sure as hell don't pretend to get along with the ones that don't give a shit.
It's not like we live 3000km away from each other. (It's more like 50 one side to the other) So what's the excuse? I'm quite lucky in this department although I'm bitching about it... it's just cause I know things and people.

I read somewhere something like this: "He who does not have Christmas in his spirit will not find it under a tree".

So think about Christmas when you see someone at the shopping centre's entrance asking for your help for something, cause wether it's dogs, cats, cancer, aids, info-exclusion, poverty it's not your money they are asking for it is your help. Make your Christmas spirit kick-in then.
When you buy a burger and ask for some bullshit sauce that costs 0.20cents, read the sign that says if you give 0.20cents to help the entity will give another 0.20... fuck go crazy give them 0.40cents! Oh you will see that the satisfaction you get upon purchasing something you don't fucking need but still buy will come. If it doesn't well the 0.40cents weren't meant to help YOU now were they?
Go the the closest bricolage shop and walk the isles looking for more shit you couldn't think of to have but will reflexively grab if someone tells you its fucking cheap or fucking useful or that it look would amazing with the curtains you're already carrying under your fucking arm.

Errr i got kinda lost (and pissed) along the way didn't I? Well I probably missed some points I would like to focus on but it doesn't matter the ones I did focus on you are completely unaware to and you are completely unrelated to them.

Have a wonderful Christmas, spend a lot of money you don't have, buy more shit you don't need, replace your lack of affection towards someone else by buying them some shit they probably don't need either and pretend that you don't use Christmas to try and make up for being an ass the other 364 days of the year.

Oh! Have a Happy New Year! Then do everything the again same way.

This song I share might sound like Peter Murphy and Tom Waits but it's not. Definitely worth listening to.

Oh, give me a noose I can hang from the tree
I need no excuse to end my misery
This holiday season is all the more reason to die

Oh, pull up a stool and an ear to a fool
Once found some solace in the season of yule
This holiday season is all the more reason to cry

I put on my mittens, one green and one red
And I walk alone where they bury the dead
The snow falls as I breathe
It's a Gothic, death-rock Christmas eve

The bottle is empty
The sleigh has a flat
The stripper in my bed is ugly and fat
Her tassels are tangled and what's worse
My jingle won't jangle

This time of the year makes me sick to my guts
All this good cheer is a pain in the nuts
When it's your career to be down in the dumps
Tidings of comfort and joy really suck

I feel like St. Nicholas is pulling my leg
This thing we call "Christmas" is a sorry black plague
This holiday season is
All the more reason to die

José Afonso

Coincidências da vida é isto:

Acabar de imprimir um trabalho sobre um poema à nossa escolha, ir para o elevador à pressa para entrega-lo, e ao chegar ao elevador ter uns olhos a me seguirem. Os mesmos olhos que tinha acabado de imprimir para o trabalho, a mesma foto que tinha imprimido para o trabalho.
O livro era este, o preço era outro...
Tinha que dar tempo. Atrasado também já estava.
Saquei duas de 10 veio para traz uma de 5...
Já li um pouco mas a Presidência Sueca não me dá tempo para muito mais.

Gostava de poder por aqui um video de "Os Bravos" ou das "Trovas Antigas"... mas é complicado.



Esta também é eterna, ainda mais vivendo onde vivo. Por vezes a ler o diário dou por mim a trautear um "Eles comem tudo(...)" ou um "E não se esgota o sangue da manada"...

No céu cinzento sob o astro mudo
Batendo as asas Pela noite calada
Vêm em bandos Com pés veludo
Chupar o sangue Fresco da manada

Se alguém se engana com seu ar sisudo
E lhes franqueia As portas à chegada
Eles comem tudo Eles comem tudo
Eles comem tudo E não deixam nada

A toda a parte Chegam os vampiros
Poisam nos prédios Poisam nas calçadas
Trazem no ventre Despojos antigos
Mas nada os prende Às vidas acabadas

São os mordomos Do universo todo
Senhores à força Mandadores sem lei
Enchem as tulhas Bebem vinho novo
Dançam a ronda No pinhal do rei

Eles comem tudo Eles comem tudo
Eles comem tudo E não deixam nada

No chão do medo Tombam os vencidos
Ouvem-se os gritos Na noite abafada
Jazem nos fossos Vítimas dum credo
E não se esgota O sangue da manada

Se alguém se engana Com seu ar sisudo
E lhe franqueia As portas à chegada
Eles comem tudo Eles comem tudo
Eles comem tudo E não deixam nada

(Aparentemente sem relação nenhuma a este post)

(Aparentemente...)

Sooner or later...

You can run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Sooner or later God'll cut you down
Sooner or later God'll cut you down

Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down

(Johnny Cash version)

Good timing

The Glitter & Doom Tour made it just in time for my birthday... What a GIFT!

Speaking of gifts... check this one out:

Yup... birthday's are nice...

One song for free

David Fonseca had release Morning Tide (I just can't remember) on Myspace and it has a something on it I can't put my finger on it... That magic that makes you go around all day with something on your mind... something you know if you had would make your day fell better and would ease off the stress... I figured it out went on myspace... I didn't have to log in... but that button is right there so why not...

Then it happened...

On the status an image of a man one hand on his head other arm stretched wide and just bellow:

"Pre-order 'Glitter and Doom Live'"

The same tour I was convinced I would see a concert of in Prague but when I paid attention to the date I saw I was one year too late...

Product Name: Tom Waits (Glitter & Doom Live) 2xLP, Shirt & Tour Book Bundle
Qty: 1
Unit Price: £32.99
> Size : 2xLP
> Size : Tour Book
> Size : Medium (38-40")
--------------------------
Order Total : £32.99
Shipping : £5.00
Grand Total : £37.99

First of all I don't have this money what I have is a(n) (amazing) girlfriend that knows exactly what to give me for my birthday. I owe you girl... "BIGTIME" (get it?)!


To think this shit started with one free song...

David Fonseca - A Cry 4 Love

Já esteve mais longe e já é possível ouvir através do Amazing Cats Club as 4 versões da "A Cry 4 Love" disponíveis em Vinil já em pré-venda na Fnac no HUGE FAN PACK.



Como nem todas as noticias são boas noticias é com muita pena (e alegria à mistura) que informo que Rita Redshoes partiu para outros voos. Só temos a agradecer por 6 anos fantásticos. Voa alto Rita, que as tuas asas todos sabemos que não são de cera.

The XX

Here they are, the twenty year olds who have the talent to leave a mark on music as we now it. Hitting at #6 on the NME's "The Future 50 - The Innovators Pushing Music Forward" list, while they say there sound like nothing ever heard before, I say they sound (in a subconscious way) like Joy Division, Massive Attack, The Cure, Dave Matthews, Chris Isaak, Enya!? and a couple of other things my brain keeps pushing up. Another amazing album on my "to buy list".

Jamie Smith - Baria Qureshi - Romy Madley Croft - Oliver Sim

Good luck guys! Hope you never let anyone tell you what to do, what to wear, what to play, what to sing about... I wish you guys "Infinity"... and "don't give it up" :)

Myspace
The Young Turks

Entrevista: Legendary Tiger Man e Rita Redshoes

Entrevista: Mónica Fernandes | Imagem e Edição: Paulo Sampaio

Well I'll be damned...

"People who can fix anything with string are disappearing. I think most things can be fixed with string, but we need to be reminded of that. Except if you pour a fresca into your computer, I don’t think that will work. Or if you pour a coke in the back of your television the string won’t work. It’ll turn into a coffee table immediately." Tom Waits, interview with Beck --> HERE!

See you soon, Mr. Waits :)

Brooke Waggoner interview

Brooke Waggoner, the girl from Nashville Tennessee, that started playing piano at the age of four and fighting for a desired role in music, found herself releasing her first album Heal For The Honey in 2008, and we are but few days away from the release of her second album Go Easy Little Doves, scheduled for October 6, 2009. With a bit of seriousness and humour this interview tries to know a little more about this humble musician, writer and composer.

"My current situation is a combination of what I always reached for and more than I ever hoped for."

Given your experience, do you think that the life of a struggling artist is harder than you might have thought?
Honestly, no. It's exciting and manages to always stay afloat.

In your path to where you are now music-wise, did you ever feel lost or discouraged?
I went through bouts of feeling a little overwhelmed. I still feel that way sometimes but am learning how to fuel that into other things.

How did you overcome it?
There's a peace and quiet confidence in doing your own thing. I had to learn not to look at others or else insecurity and inferiority sets in and completely tampers with what you want to accomplish. There's a difference in appreciating other's work and seeing if you measure up to other's work. As long as I maintain integrity with what I write, I can look back at each day with a sense of peace. There's gotta be peace behind it or else it will never work.

Illegal music downloads: obstacle or powerful tool?
There's really no point in answering this question. People will do what they do regardless of my view on this.

In your songs you are able to create a 'small magical world' around you. Is that 'magical world' some place you would like to live in or is it a part of you that you want to let out?
It's very much apart of me. I don't feel that I'm creating a world, but just letting others into the world that already exists for me.

Besides the 'cocoa', what other apparently simple things do you miss back home?
Ha, well I figured out I can go to any Kroger and get my cocoa fix no matter where I am. so, that being said, my home is where I am now and I love it.

You started playing piano very young, do you think you had this life planned for a long time?
I always knew I would do music: whether that meant being a piano teacher or a kid's choir director, or professor, or professional "jingle writer" or whatever... my current situation is a combination of what I always reached for and more than I ever hoped for.

Do you have any other interests that if it weren't for your music career you might have followed?
Hmmm, well I wanted to be a contortionist when I was a kid. It seemed glamorous and crazy and fascinating. Nothing like wearing skin-tight sparkly leotards and moving my body in bizarre shapes for paying spectators. But I'm the farthest thing from flexible. So that dream quickly disintegrated!

Is there any writer you feel has made an impact on your life?
Larry McMurtry. And Blossom Dearie's voice has gotten me through alot!

A country you would like to visit?
Fiji. It's in the middle of nowhere!

Choose a colour.
Turquoise. For life!

A country you would like to live in.
South America minus the hurricanes and drug lords

Pets?
No. I have enough responsibility as it is...

Do you believe in magic?
Of course!

Where was the last place you found it?
At a Superbowl party one year ago.

Where would like to see yourself in five years?
Absolutely swamped in fascinating projects with a masters/ph.d in mathematics

Ask yourself a question.
What is my first name?
You got me there.

Ask me a question.
What did you wanna be as a grown-up when you were a kid? Did you get what you wanted?
I wanted to be an astronaut. Music makes me go places, fly away and see things from a higher perspective. So yes you can say I got it.

(February 9th, 2009)

Visit Brooke Waggoner's webpage: http://www.brookewaggonermusic.com/

I've had this interview for quite some time but could only find the time to post it now. I apologise for that and at the same time thank Brooke Waggoner for her availability and kindness all the way.

Talent that does not let you down

More is sure to come.

David Fonseca - A Cry 4 Love

A good way to come back to this blog.


A wonderful single and to know that an Atari will be made part of the album as an instrument...

Let's stay tuned! :D

Short Break

There will be a short break in this blogs posts.

Why?

I'm pretty sure you can find that out right HERE!

Leonard Cohen - Dance Me To The End Of Love - 1984

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic til Im gathered safely in
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Oh let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone
Let me feel you moving like they do in babylon
Show me slowly what I only know the limits of
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Me to the wedding now, dance me on and on
Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long
Were both of us beneath our love, were both of us above
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the children who are asking to be born
Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn
Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic till Im gathered safely in
Touch me with your naked hand or touch me with your glove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Boring Dream

Primus - Coattails Of A Dead Man

He wasn't looking for fanfare or fame
But it all cam around just the same
He then met a girl with desire in her eye
He gave her love, she took his name

The times they were good, the times they were bad
Most times it was just in between
The hard pill he swallowed was the times that they had
She put on display for all to be seen

Some find their solace in work or the lord
She was quite content in her dream
When his eyes they burned from the bright lime light
He found comfort in the bottle of Ol'Jimmy Beam

One day from the depths of his deep darkened hole
He reached out for something' to feel
She offered back bothin' but lack of respect
So he let himself out with two barrels of steel

She cried in the day she cried in the night
She cried loudest when someone was near
Weather crying for him or she cried for himself
The bigger the camera the bigger the tear

Most folks agree she was living a hell
and publicly she showed her pain
And never once she was there a thought for herself
And the ever growing slices of fortune and fame

Now on the coattails of a dead man she'll ride
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride she'll ride
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride she'll ride high
(repeated all over)

Jack Kerouac

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!” - Jack Kerouac

Tom Waits - Downtown Train (1985)

Outside another yellow moon
punched a hole in the nighttime, yes
I climb through the window and down the street
shining like a new dime
the downtown trains are full with all those Brooklyn girls
they try so hard to break out of their little worlds

You wave your hand and they scatter like crows
they have nothing that will ever capture your heart
theyr'e just thorns without the rose
be careful of them in the dark
oh if I was the one
you chose to be your only one
oh baby can't you hear me now

Chorus

Will I see you tonight
on a downtown train
every night is just the same
you leave me lonely now

I know your window and I know it's late
I know your stairs and your doorway
I walk down your street and past your gate
I stand by the light at the four way
you watch them as they fall
they all have heart attacks
they stay at the carnival
but they'll never win you back

Chorus

Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
where every night is just the same you leave me lonely
will I see you tonight on a downtown train
all of my dreams just fall like rain
all upon a downtown train

Glasses for Everyone

"Proof that individuals can still do some serious good in this world. After years of trying, Josh Silver, a professor of physics at Oxford University, has come up with a way to give sight to the world’s poorest residents. To do this, Silver has created a pair of self adjusting glasses which can correct vision without an optometrist. Inside the plastic lenses are two clear circular sacs filled with fluid.The wearer adjusts a dial to add or reduce the amount of fluid and change the thickness of the lens allowing people to adjust the glasses to their own prescription.

Silver intends to distribute these groundbreaking and affordable glasses to a billion of the world’s poorest people by the year 2020. So far he has distributed 30,000 pairs in 15 countries."

Full story in The Guardian here.