What became of the likely lad

Most of you know I'm quick with a light. Not just with lighting cigarettes, but sparklers, fountains, snakes, bottle rockets, etc. In fact I have the blisters to prove it.

I'm going to be taking this all a step further starting tomorrow when I'll be selling fireworks for two weeks out of a tent in the deep south. After that, the Big Easy.

When I return I'll be all kinds of busy posting stuff here and/or a new personal site, wrapping up a few projects, starting a couple of smaller ones. As for KCFreePress.com, I ended my tenure there this month along with the other founding editors. The publisher plans to continue in some form but Jay and I are no longer involved, and Jenn and Emily are finishing up this month. I'll be happy to answer any questions about this. Just stop by my fireworks tent in Waynesboro, MS (I think) anytime up until July 5 and I'll tell you whatever you want to know.

In the meantime, here's a few highlights from the site of my own (below). There are lots of other good stories by other folks, too, but I only had time for a short list here. Wish me luck in the south and I will see you all later.

KCFP highlight reel:

Pistol Social Club closes

Top concerts of 2009

Luke Rocha's study in crime

Matt McGee's Paddles of Fury (ping pong fight club)

Valentunes

An interview with the 'Rockmocker'

Missile strike destroys KC bridge

Guinness brewmaster tells you how to pour the perfect pint

The making of Rob Bingaman's Nevada

An interview with Jerry West of 'Have Guns, Will Rent' costume shop

A conversation I had the other day, in 1963

(sorry, it isn't translated...)

unfortunate cookie

Last Friday afternoon it was sunny and as I walked by the patio at Bo Lings I could hear a table of ladies reading their fortune cookie fortunes. One of them said, "mine was empty," and though her friends giggled, she looked puzzled and even kind of concerned.

I wonder what's going to happen to her.

Springtime for Ghostopolis

My pals and fambly in Ghosty just put out a swell 5-song EP this week on home-grown More Famouser records. Features Suzie on "Quell The Hunger" and Konnor from the ACBs on "Team Up Again." My personal favorite is "Setting Fires," which reminds me of a big fire on the beach. The ever-mountain coastal/Ghost-al flame, if you will. And even if you won't, you might like this video from Vamos. I did a lil' interview with Pat for kcfp last month, too. His most recent collab with Ghosty is embedded below. Preview and purchase the Ghosty EP here.

TEAM UP AGAIN-GHOSTY from PAT VAMOS on Vimeo.

Out into the worldness we did roam...

Wanted to send this out to Bridget, whose birthday was today. She was the first person who ever made me a tape with Daniel Johnston's music on it. I didn't know he was this wild-eyed at the time, and I've only grown to like it more even if I'm still not ready to pony up for one of his art pieces. What I like about this clip (besides the rhythmic build which reminds me of "Speeding Motorcycle") is the way he's got them spellbound with poetry as much as song. Speaking of poems, Bridget's, "The Wild Boy of Aveyron Stands Up During a Dinner Arranged by the Doctor" is a recent favorite of mine and I'm sure she's been working on a lot more since that was published.

More lit kicks, hellos to friends, songs, comics and such to come soon, but before that, expect some field recordings of bullfrog mating call crossfire recorded at a nearby pond (which, if you think about it, is probably the ultimate inter-species shout-out to friends).

This Better Not Be Your Life

Ever wonder if anybody cares? From time to time, I think we all do. But don't worry. Somebody does care.

Specifically, "Operation Somebody Cares" cares.

I know, because when I was riding the bus the other day I found one of those little religious booklets on the floor. You know the kind — cheap, poorly illustrated, and designed to let you know how deathly important it is that you renounce your sinful ways and start praying to Jesus/Joseph Smith/Xenu, etc.

The booklet, entitled "What Is Your Life Story," was a part-Revelations, part-"Christmas Carol" tour through the life of a lustful, materialistic gentleman who is lead by an angel through the follies of the various stages of his life. There's some pretty heavy shit here, from fiery angels to grim reapers. A more accurate title might even be "Operation Somebody Scares."

I looked through the book and read various passages out loud to Jenn and my fellow bus riders, most of whom were either asleep, not innarested or just feigning sleep/disinterest because they were so scared. I have since discovered that you can read the whole thing here, but while I was still on the bus I did a bit of editing to condense the booklet down to its essence. I hope you get something out of it, because it sure as shit spoke to me.


(click to enlarge)

KCFreePress.com turns 4 months old!

This week was a big week for birthdays in the KC Media circuit. Ink turned 2, which they announced with a cover story featuring a photo of a young lady eating a lollipop and a list of activities readers should engage in to indulge their inner child. Among them: "Go to a petting zoo," "color outside the lines," and "have a tea party."

Though I wasn't super inspired, I know from experience how hard it can be to come up with hard-hitting content. Still, "go to a petting zoo?" Just sounds a bit, I don't know...escapist. Nonetheless, I was inspired enough by Ink's cover story to compile my own birthday pat-on-the-back for our own widdle web site. With apologies to Ms. Watrous and company, here goes:

KCFreePress.com just turned 4 (months old), and we’re partying appropriately.

Which means doing all the stuff we loved to do as babies.

To celebrate this milestone in our infancy, we've come up with 4 ways to transport yourself back to early, early childhood.

1. Cry - Because it feels good to let it all out

2. Poop in your pants - Very messy, but at this stage, still socially acceptable

3. Get burped - Because you're not old enough to do it yourself yet, silly!

4. Tune out all real-world problems, news, or social issues - Not to worry, babe. Your parents will take care of you!

Student River

The other day while driving with Jay back from the taco place we drove past a semi trailer driven by a student driver but on the lettering the D had fallen off so it just said

STUDENT
RIVER

Doesn't really make sense, but I found it sort of profound, or at least, poetic.

Ice-skating into the Marchland

As the full moon passes into a new month I'm just resting up from a a cathartic Elton John sing-a-long on Adams street and quietly slugging my way through several epic works of lit and film that I was warned not to mess with in winter.

That, and I've been working on the still-in-its-infancy but nonetheless quite substantive Web site, kcfreepress.com. It's very much a work in progress, as I imagine all Web ventures and publications are to a large extent, but it's been fun and educational thanks to the fine crew of people I've been able to meet and work with so far. Lots of great writing and photography and I'm looking forward to being able to help present even more of it in the upcoming months.

Many of you have taken part in some fashion, and some of you are just waiting on me to get isht together so your contributions can be presented in a way we can be proud of. Thanks for your patience with me and get in touch if you have any ideas, recommendations or reminders.

Also please excuse the lack of fresh links, videos, songs and ruminations on this here blog site. It's not going away, but the especially harsh winter led to an extended hibernation.

I'll be posting some more stuff + music here soon and in the meantime you can see some of my recent stories here. I recommend at least reading the one about ping pong or listening to the one about love songs. In other publishing notes, I think some of my haiku are going to be printed soon in a journal in Croatia, which is great for Dalmations but only reminds me I need to look further into what literary events are going on in this area.

Most importantly I want to send greetings and congratulations to friends here and overseas. Friends becoming parents and godparents, moving to Spain, starting new work and projects here in KC, quitting jobs and moving on, recording music, starring in high school productions of "Footloose," going out on first dates, celebrating anniversaries, establishing beachheads in Panama, slinging holiday chocolates, getting published, selling tea at the mall, opening hookah bars, playing and recording music, finishing thesis statements, living life.

Also, congrats to Canada and Chris, I take back all the shit-talking from a few days ago. I knew it would catch up to me in the end. It always does.

Looking forward to seeing what the year of the tiger (and the conclusion of "Lost") has in store for us all. Keep me posted, and to paraphrase Mr. Nolte: "Una mas cheerzies"

LDHW

Christmas lights

The lights have been mostly off around this blog site lately, but I can assure you it's for good reason.

For the last several months I've been working with a few dozen editors, writers and photographers to help create a new online news and entertainment site for Kansas City called KCFreePress.com, which John at Bottomline Communications was kind enough to do a write-up for earlier this evening.

The site won't go live until a week from today, and even then we'll have plenty of design tweaking to do. Building a Web site isn't easy, I've learned, but I'm confident that the strength and uniqueness of our content and presentation will carry us through the rest of 2009 into a lasting spot on the local Internets.

Although it probably seems like we're coming out of nowhere, that's not exactly the case. The contributors to KCFreePress.com are made up of some of the area's most interested and talented bloggers and photographers -- people who have worked at professional media outlets or are already writing at a professional level. I won't drop any names here, but suffice it to say that several of the contributors will be familiar names to readers of local media, and those that aren't will (we hope) become familiar voices before too long.

I've got plenty more to say about the site -- who we are, what you'll find there and why we felt like Kansas City was in need of a new media outlet -- but I'll save that for my intro column. In the meantime, you can go to kcfreepress.com to get your name added to the info list, find us on facebook, or just check back on the site next week.

Thanks for your interest and support, and see you soon.

Lucas

Autumn Caught Em

'Tis now the time of year in which I post pictures of me high up in some tree or perched out on the Pinnacles. Usually I would accompany such a photo with a bit of translated or untranslated poetry, but this time I'll just suggest Trakl and leave it at that.

Posted some seasonal tunes up on thelukebox for all of you at home and on the road. Also let me remind you to check out Ghosty's A Mystic's Robe EP.

When I'm not out climbing I'm busy working and writing, looking forward to working with and seeing many of you over the Pumpkin holidays. I've been taking videos here and there but will probably postpone posting any more shorts until I've brushed up a bit on my skills. In the meantime my alt-persona duke will be holding it down with scotch tape and twitter-text. Don't take this as flight from the blogosphere (I never completely check out of here) just a chance to chase colorful nonsensical twine from branch to branch before all the leaves fall completely.

And anyone looking for a Hugh Cameron birthday tribute can check the archives or wait until the celebration of the centennial of his death this December. More from lucubrations sometime soon. In the meantime, here's a bonus pic of the Big Tree.



And just for fun, another shot from Natalya Bond taken last week at the doorway of the Devil's Icebox.


I like it because of the lighting, and also because it almost looks like Jonna and Deebs are looking up in anticipation of an avalanche of leaves. More pictures from that set here.

James Wetzel is...

What it feels like to get hit by a dodgeball

Some of you may have noticed that I've been walking funny lately. It's not just that I'm trying out new gaits (or strides, saunters, swaggers). It's just that I've just been drilled by dodgeballs too many times at close range and it's starting to effect both my posture and my brain cells. I can barely count to 14 without getting confused and the other day when someone was talking about helping a photo client with thumbnails I thought she was talking about the nails on her actual thumbs. No complaints, though. I feel more alive than I have in weeks, and if I have to pay for it with my health, than so be it. Speaking of health-impairments, anyone who wants to risk damaging their hearing in the most delightful way possible should come down to the West Bottoms art fair thing at 6 to hear Ree-Yees and friends. Here's a flier with details that you might even be able to read.

Thursday Tracks: "Kelly Ann" Remix

Nice write-up and update about Suzannah Johannes from Jason Harper today on the Pitch blog. Also features a lovely, ethereal remix brother Deez did of one of my first favorite tracks of hers (and lyricist Hans Bronze). The EP is still for sale at Love Garden and a steal for only 5 bucks and there are some great tracks on Daytrotter as well. I also recommend the Turnpike episode about her for a good intro to Suzie's music, complete with nursing home performance and fireside singing.

(and yes, I know it's not technically Thursday anymore, but no one told me Short Cuts was actually over 3 hours)

Big Giant & Little Giantess

The complete photo set is here, and a video (in German) here.

Did any of you go to this? What was it like?

Ferris Wheel

Ferris Wheel from Lucas Wetzel on Vimeo.

I got a flip cam the other day and have been putting it to use as much as possible. I'll post a selection of short clips soon, but for now here's my most ambitious project to date: a five minute, four-second montage of rides and crowd scenes at the Lee's Summit Oktoberfest. The song is something I heard in a Munich kellarbar of all places. It's by a Texas musician named Paul James.

Ewa Demarczyk

Been buying some foreign dollar records at the Super Flea. Here's the video of a recent find, from Polish singer Ewa Demarczyk.

For a slightly more uptempo performance by the so-called "Black Angel of Polish Song," here's a great performance of Karuzela Z Madonnami from 1966.

Under the radar and dreaming

Shaggy Quatro will be performing a solo set on the earlier side of things. Will still probably be more noise than a group of 10 people. A bunch of little-known local artists will be performing at both venues. Should be fun.

We're coming full circle...

Ain't Forgot Nothin

Heard somebody blog today that people have forgotten about 9/11. Not so, as you'll see from this 9/11 post from a few years back.

To commemorate I am supposed to go for some BBQ pork chops at Kyle's but I got waylaid listening to tunes such as this live take of the opening track from Sonic Youth's "New York City Ghosts & Flowers."

If the full-blown patriot musical act is more your speed, however, don't forget to bump this 9/11 classic from Darryl Worley. Regardless of whatever's up with those "Fat Cats in Washington," KC never forgets.

Some music to drown out these crickets

Juan & Junior. English version here.


I like seeing groovy videos of groovy songs from the era before people knew out to groove out in a socially acceptable manner


bébé éléphant

Hwy 24 revisited

Last night around midnight Jennifer and I treated ourselves to a bite of year-old wedding cake. I hadn't heard of this tradition until my mother procured the frosted artifact last week from the family freezer. It was surprisingly palatable after we let it thaw for a few hours. I'd even go so far as to call it tasty.

We spent our anniversary the way I imagine many couples do -- strolling around for hours at the Kansas City Zoo. Later that day when I fell asleep for a nap I thought about the comforting presence of all the animals and how extraordinarily human some of the primates (especially the Blue Monkey and the ancient Orangutan couple) appear when they look you in the eye.

As some of you might have noticed I have not been blogging very frequently, though not for lack of excitement on the home front. After Mexico I decided to try and extend my streak of eating nothing but Mexican food with the occasional slice of pizza. I finally gave in on August the 14th when I ate a schwarma at the Habashi House. Yesterday I got a Pignose amplifier that sounds every bit as pugnacious as I could have hoped. A bunch of storms happened and I drove out to the middle of Kansas to watch the Perseids without any light pollution. Also I am working rather diligently on a few new projects that will be unveiled before too long.

In the meantime I am still posting songs on the lukebox, which Robert of Sonic Spectrum recently called his new favorite podcast, throwing a wee bit of traffic its way after 3 years of near-obscurity. I'm trying to link back to labels and such now but it's still a mostly no-frills place to stream all the songs you might not have heard. Many of these I heard through my friends (the implied "you" in the 4-year run-on sentence that is lucubrations) and some are even by them. A lot of these tunes were played at the wedding party last summer, so if anyone wants to sing along, feel free.

Speaking of streams, Blue says she's holding on to the stalactite of summer as tightly as she can, but is rapidly slipping. I don't have the heart to tell her she's fighting a losing battle. Who knows, though -- maybe we're in for an Indian summer.


Later, lemurs.