Open Thread - Friday, September 19, 2018 - Funk Meta
Weekends don’t count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless.
~ Bill Watterson
As the funkin' squatter of the Friday Open Thread, I feel a certain responsibility to encourage getting your funk on! Back in the days of employment serfdom, I lived for the weekend. It was communal time. Socializing with family and friends, free of the work place tyranny. Part of my responsibility as a voluntary workforce abstainer, is to remind people how funkin' much work sucks, and that it is time to do your thing.
This weekend, there is a funk party going on!
A few of my friends have a dad band. It is a collection of some day job adults, plus some of their talented mostly grown children sitting in. One of the guys went through the permitting process to close the street in front of his house and acquired the noise permit for the band to play a yard party!
The band covers a bunch of funky stuff. It's a dad band, after all. Boogie all day!
There will be a gaggle of horn players, including a couple of the "children".
I expect a good vibe. People are preparing food and the Kolsch is on order. Serious booty shaking shall ensue.
On to the funkin' weekend!
I probably will not be around much today. I volunteered to help erect the stage, which undoubtedly will turn into a funky good time.
Have a great funkin' weekend!
The thread is OPEN.
Comments
Good morning, Tim ~~~
Sounds like a hearty party is on the way. Take care with the stage building - not too much partying during the task (we know how you boys like to get down!) - we wouldn't want you missing out on any of the fun!
Since I'm still part of the poor working souls, I look forward to the weekend and just chillin' out! Then again, there's still baseball to watch.
Have a beautiful day and weekend, folks!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Balancing Act
As an advocate for work abstinence, it can sometimes be hard to express the sentiment, to the gainfully employed, without it sounding like gloating. my real point is the work masters are mostly funkin' assholes that have drunk the kool aide.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Ah, drinking the kool-aid....
all the upity-ups here on campus love that kool-aid and gulp it down the minute they get that coveted promotion to the big house. They can have it.
Life is too short to put up with a bunch of shit from folks. The higher up that administrative ladder you go, the more dishonest you seem to be - that's been my experience with folks.
Enjoy the party!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Wishing everyone a great "funkin" weekend
Happy Birthday to my old boss, friend and mentor Peter Tosh who was murdered on 9/11/87. Being retired myself and having worked about 1/2 of my adult life in the field of entertainment weekends don't mean that much to me. Weekends are definitely work days for people in the field of live entertainment. I did work in a regular job enough to know that weekends are important to many of us. When the Bush Doctor was taken out it messed with my life and livelihood big time. I recovered with a little help from my friends.
So keep on keepin on and remember erecting a stage is a lot of work.
Here is a video for your enjoyment. I was working as the production manager on this tour. I was suffering from an abscessed wisdom tooth that day. It was surgically removed the following day. The extra work of getting it all together for the Record Plant West recording truck and the 8 camera film crew (yes it was recorded on 16mm film cameras) was a bitch. Thanks to some Peruvian "magic marching powder" and the will to make it happen I made it through that very long day. Dennis Thompson our sound guy racked up over $3K in noise limit violations at the Greek Theater in LA during that show. Just another "problem" for me in my work day.
Several Threads
I only sort of worked a weekday schedule. Most years, I was away from home over 50% of the time. I might as well have been on tour. Twenty-seven years with the same corporate entity, my spouse gets sick and they cut me loose. I never looked back, and let them know point blank that I was not available for consultation.
I share music with the party host. Sue and I used to run into he and his wife when we went out for music. Just after Sue passed, they moved into town, from out in the countryside, and started popping up at the pub. So we are "townies". Last round of sharing, I turned him on to Peter Tosh, Barber Mack, Monty Alexander and Earnest Ranglin. Stealth plot to get them on the party playlist.
Losing Peter was a three strike stress event. Death of someone close, loss of job and change of living arrangement (home displacement). Sue's death rocked me pretty hard. I am only now thinking about moving out of the family home, and still have a couple years of getting ready to move.
At this point, work seems pointless. I have a bad attitude, depending on who you ask. I was talking to one of the beer maids, and she asked me if I knew a particular guy. She went on to tell me that, the guy is an asshole and she and the other female beer schleppers had agreed to point the guy in my direction, because I would listen quietly, then say something wise ass that eviscerates the guy. The money quote was, "You don't put up with shit".
Tomorrow's party would have been on a 60 dB limit without a special permit. Much quieter than my Ducati. As is, we have a 9 PM cutoff. It should not be a problem since it will be a bunch of old DFHs.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Happy party and weekend
The weekends used to be gig time, but having retired from the band they are just another couple of days. We have a regular Friday night session out in the woods...all acoustic...no power there...just for fun. Used to use kerosene lamps, but now we have Luci-lights https://mpowerd.com/ which I highly recommend. This time of year they build a fire outside and one in the wood stove. I've been attending for over 30 years and the sessions have been going at least a decade beyond that. I'm the odd one out in that I didn't go to elementary and high school with the crowd. A small town long-lived band (many of whom have passed on...in fact more gone than still gathering and playing. So it is in the way of things. Our time will come.
In the meantime have a great time and party hearty for us all. Loved the Calvin and Hobbs gif Here's a Halloween version...
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
What's for dinner?
"Shrunken heads and gasoline." My kids got the Calvin's dad response throughout their childhood.
RIP Hubert Sumlin and SRV.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Just got back from playing a tech co. party in DC.
Great time at the show itself, crowd and staff were really accommodating and fun - and the wall inside was amazingly painted with the lyrics to one of my favorite Zeppelin songs.
But yesterday on the return trip it was one fiasco after another. First, on the way to Dulles (isn't it downright insane that we name public utilities and other structures after proven fascists, in this case one who used the CIA as a thug force to ensure wealthy American business interests and collaborated with Nazis?) the cab ride cost ONE HUNDRED and FOURTEEN DOLLARS (tip included). Thankfully for us it was paid for by the booking company. But that was literally highway robbery. If I had to pay out of my own pocket I would have bee livid and out up a stink. What a fucking racket. Ok it's about 25 miles or so away. But it's maybe a little less to JFK from Manhattan, and it's about half that or less. On top of this I lost my good pair of prescription glasses in the back of the car.
On to the next corporate scam.
At the check-in we find out that our bass player is not being permitted on the flight. He's usually very together but for some reason, being in a part of Brooklyn where it's more difficult to get cabs he wound up having to take a bus down (which incidentally was about 7x cheaper and not much longer in travel time when it was all said and done). So according to their sinister corporate logic hidden inside the capitalist's favorite trick of Fine Print Malarkey Which Also Entitles Them To Copious Personal Info To Be Sold To A 3rd Party Marketer, because he didn't take the flight down his "contract" was voided and he'd have to pay 3x what the ticket cost to get home. He adamantly refused and went back the same way he came. I felt terrible for him. It's certain too, that on this flight in which no bags were allowed to be carried on (save for the kind of backup I had on) he would have been charged extra for his guitar case.
Adding insult to injury we stayed on the ground for about an hour and a half. Then we observed as were coming off the plane about half of the passengers still waiting for the checked belongings for which they had paid extra.
Thinking about the whole thing again starts up the headache I've had for the past two days.
Hope you're well, Tim. Neighborhood block parties can be neat. Just wish they also laid some groundwork for revolution too. If only people spoke honestly from the heart, and not with Corn-Pone Opinions. Have fun, man!
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
Great fun...
Hope it is a huge success and the weather is perfect....
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Having an outdoor party
is a great idea! It is a great way for the neighbors to really get together. Nowadays, many people have no idea who their neighbors are. I hope you have good weather.
Speaking of weather, it was 41 degrees this morning in Brevard when we walked. It appears fall has finally arrived! The leaf peepers are here but no real color yet here in the lower elevations. Looking up at the nearby mountains, I am not seeing much color either. Usually the third week of October is prime leaf peeping season, but it appears it is going to be late this year.
Have a great time tonight, Tim!
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
And BTW,
Just becauses this stuff continues to piss me off. I can hardly wait for our Congress to tell us that they are cutting more spending on we the people because we cannot afford healthcare, Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, education, etc, etc, etc, And Liz, you suck just like the rest of the corporate whores in Congress.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Heh, good funkin' mawnin', Tim. Last night's repair to my
headphones will be fully cured at 10am, so, if they are good, I can listen then, or else I'll just load this column onto my phone and use my corded Bose noise cancelling units. They're too wonderful for words, but the cord gets to be a PITA working around the house, shop and yard. Otherwise, I can run out and see if Target's house brand over-the-ear blue tooth units (Heyday brand) are really worth 60 bux. They can't be really too much worse than the Altecs that I'm fixing.
Thanks for the OT. Have a great day and a great party.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --