overdue with this one thnx for the messages… so first i have a new hero in one Nick Tosches, writer and philosopher etc. by chance i picked up one of his new books: “In The Hand Of Dante” and was immediately converted, not ‘an easy read’ but just amazing as nick does his own version of the “divine comedy” in three levels of prose style… his tirades about the publishing world are universal, could apply to any of the arts in america, just great stuff all around… we went to poland and did a big tv gig, i think it was the last episode of polish idol… theres something of it at http://www.itvp.pl/sopot/ there might even be the show itself, i checked it out but got bored waiting for it to load the clip… then yesterday we played in washington square park for the big CBGB rally… it was quite fun, the last time i played a guitar in the park there was 1965 so very amusing, lots of the old crowd of maniacs etc, many like myself wielding offspring; Akira wearing her little CB’s shirt saying “ceegeebeegee” when she saw the logo all around… so fallout from the event should materialise here and there… not much else i’ll write again soon… still struggling continued from yesterday… at the CB’s thing i thought DH was very astute; when asked about the whole thing she said that it was more a matter of money than anything else “what do all those empty lots around the club tell you?” she queried, meaning that the whole deal about the homeless shelter is a crock and that the entire section of the block will likely be converted into expensive hi-rise apartments within a short time… but the new orleans situation is a fine example of american madness… what if there had been a weeks notice before 9-11? would the powers that be just left everyone there waiting for the event? maybe if they all were poor and mostly black… at least the NY Times addressed the cultural bias involved today on the front page… i have for years been saying that a recession would be good for the arts, maybe we’re about to find out if i’m as big an idiot as some might think… will the gas prices drop back or being the good capitalist greedy system it is just stay the same as if it always had cost fifty bucks to fill up your car… those posed pictures of bush staring out of the plane window are intense, is he just thinking that this is the apocalypse and fuck it nothing matters anyway… on a newscast the first day the gas prices started going up i saw just an ordinary guy say “only an american can screw another american this good” have gone on to Nick Tosches “King Of The Jews” which compares Arnold Rothstein and Jesus… nicks jabs at organized religion and monotheism are so eloquent! bravo NICK! later, after watching more reports about the situation in Louisiana i’m even more amazed at what this implies… for ex how the fuck do we intend to make the whole of Iraq into a peaceful democracy when we cant get a crummy water supply to one part of our own country in less than 4-5 days… also i am continually astonished at well meaning individuals who express their shock and dismay at rioting and looting; Tiger Woods saying he “doesnt understand the concept…” and why “they are not all pulling together…” was one of several i just saw… we have people in the supposed richest most powerful nation in the world who are living in the shittiest of meager conditions, maybe not full on third world poverty level but close, daily they are bombarded by images of what they are missing: the full-on greed media spectacle, and then when what little they have is pulled out from under them and they explode in frustration people act surpised, yes its a big fucking mystery at least we are seeing a lot of rage and frustration directed at the establishment about what’s going on… i’m sure many of you are having the same thoughts and observations