Thursday, January 24, 2013

He Let Go Of His Ego...

...and Id emerged:


I know so many people who think they can do it alone
They isolate their heads and stay in their safety zone 
What can you tell them?
What can you say that won't make them defensive? 
Hang on to your ego!
Hang on to your ego!
Hang on to your ego! 
Hang on, but I know that you're gonna lose the fight 
They come on like they're peaceful
But inside they're so uptight
They trip through the day
And waste all their thoughts at night
Now how can I say it?
And how can I come on
When I know I'm guilty? 
Yeah, hang on to your ego!
Hang on to your ego!
Hang on to your ego! 
Hang on, but I know that you're gonna lose the fight 
a doobie doobay-doo
[cool banjo interlude]
Now how can I say it?
And how can I come on
When I know I'm guilty? 
So, hang on to your ego!
Hang on to your ego!
Hang on to your ego! 
Hang on, but I know that you're gonna lose the fight
a doobie doobay...do

[Marylin Wilson to BW's dog]: Banana!

[Brian Wilson]: Hey Chuck is it possible we could bring a horse in here without...if we don't screw anything up?

[Chuck Britz]: I beg your pardon?

[Brian Wilson]: Honest to God, now, the horse is tamed and everything.

27 comments:

  1. There's no such thing as a house-trained horse...

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  2. My daughter would like to test that hypothesis. But if accidents do happen, it least it's vegan.

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  3. You know for sure I am holdin' on to my ego, baby! Oh yeah!

    I was unfamiliar with that song until about 20 years ago when I bought a BB boxed set. Not a bad tune, but it's a bit cloying in its '60s SoCal hipster perspective. Dated, I guess I would say.

    But back to my ego - I don't know whether or not Blake reads this site, but the other evening I started to watch "How to Steal a Million", but could not get past the fake "Cellini" sculpture. Whoever sculpted that prop had no idea what he was doing - the "Cellini" turned out looking more like a Medardo Rosso post-impreesionist work - very sad.

    I have yet to determine whether incorrect trees or poorly faked sculptures put me off a movie faster - in any case I stopped watching as soon as the sculpture showed up.

    Being colorblind I have no opinion about the fake paintings - maybe there was a running gag about the forger being so bad that anyone who bought his work thinking it was original had it coming.

    In any case, a real Cellini is a thing to behold - I highly recommend that one take the opportunity to check out his work when possible. That is all...

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  4. Sixty: I was struck by how prescient it was regarding Brian Wilson's subsequent breakdown and all. You know, I make this stuff de novo even though others may have talked about it 40 years ago already. I don't read any music or musician stuff.

    Also, I think the pop culture confuses Id and Ego. Ego is what mediates Id and the world at large. Egotistical has come to mean narcissist but really I think people point at an egotistical person and mean that they are childish. Does it matter, at this point?

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  5. Yeah, Brian has had a very difficult life - abused, hugely talented, eventually he and his band are considered the American Beatles, he gets involved with drugs, who knows, is he self-medicating? Anyway, it goes on - drugs, shady sidekicks, users and abusers, his ability to make music is diminished, and now, nearly 50 years later, he is the only one of his brothers still alive. Quite a journey, and as someone who appreciates good music, that boy made more than his share of great music. What a gifted individual.

    But what I was looking for was a term like "arborealist" in relation to my insistence that sculpture look like what the script claims it is. Photorealism might work for painting, but then again, it already means something else. Never mind...

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  6. Okay, I hit the play button and what do you know - that song is brilliant! Seriously - what a great chord progression.

    The banjo in the break is strummed by Glen Campbell, but the lead melody is played on a bass harmonica by Tommy Morgan.

    What we are hearing in that recording is the Wrecking Crew at its finest - what a great group of musicians - they are truly remarkable. Talented and versatile, they rocked and provided my life with an indelible soundtrack. Thanks guys and girls - you put your gifts to work in a very positive way.

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  7. Thanks for mentioning the Wrecking Crew, Sixty. I was going to mention the great Carol Kaye, but according to Wiki she didn't play bass on that one like she did on so many other great Beach Boys songs. I don't know the back story as to why--maybe she was AWOL, like Charlie Watts was for It's Only Rock And Roll.

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  8. As for the lyrics, I see it as a conversation Brian Wilson had with himself and let out of the bag before descending into...whatever he descended into. I wonder if his 1996 autobiography is any good. Seems to me the story isn't over yet.

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  9. As many gigs as she and Hal Blaine had it's possible she was working elsewhere that day. I really can't speak highly enough of their talent and dedication to making good records - as a wannabe musician I can only stand in awe of what they accomplished, with grace and apparent ease. They made the difficult look simple.

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  10. But what I was looking for was a term like "arborealist" in relation to my insistence that sculpture look like what the script claims it is.

    Mould sensitive

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  11. I looked up Cellini and recalled seeing some of his work in Florence. Are the ones outdoors in Piazza della Signore the real deal? Perseus is my favorite. My mother read Greek to Mythology to me as a small kid and Medusa scared the crap out of me.

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  12. Welcome back, MamaM!

    My fifth visitor this month!

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  13. And the month isn't even over! YAY!

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  14. chickelit...What does that number represent? I stop by to read every 3-4 days, or so it seems to me, but don't often comment. Was I the fifth visitor to enter the door in January? Or are there 4 who visit more frequently?

    As for the Sculptor's Angst:

    He could be Cast-Conscious when it comes to movies, or merely a discerning Shape-Sifter.



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  15. I meant fifth to leave a comment, MamaM, not any sort of ranking.

    I don't know much about who visits. My Google statistics say my biggest readers are called zombiestats.com and vampirestats.com. I assume that's nobody for real.

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  16. Hmmm. Humans showing up amid the zombies and vampires, is what I look for and like. The Spring Haiku you posted at Althouse today was one of those good surprises. I liked it so much I googled it to see if it had first been composed by someone other than you! (How's that for faith in your creative genius?!) But it looks as if it was solely your "invention".

    Also, TY posting on the subject of Suspension of Disbelief reminded me of this thread and the sculptural and structural limitations affecting such suspension for Sixty G. Somewhere in the pile is a joke about mobile (a kinetic suspended form)but I can't find it tonight.

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  17. Stuck inside a Mobile, with the Memphis Group again.

    That's all I've got right this minute.

    I am a huge fan of Calder by the way, his work was awesome. Over the course of 50 years he created something like 25,000 objects, which, last I heard, were being enumerated by his grand-nephew - kind of a catalogue raisonné in the sun, as it were.

    I liked the work of the Memphis Group, too, but it seems dated now, curiously, for something only 30 years old. Oh well, I guess that's what you get when you have "a shotgun wedding between Bauhaus and Fisher-Price".

    From Bauhaus to Our House, baby!

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  18. Going Mobile

    It's hard to explain it, but part of the unique sound of that drum track was Keith Moon's absolute mastery of double bass drum triplets. He was unique in that way for his time and place, I think.

    And Who knew that Moon "dressed right"?

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  19. When I'm drivin' free, the world's my
    home


    Along with:
    And here I sit so patiently
    Waiting to find out what price
    You have to pay to get out of
    Going through all these things twice
    Oh, Mama, is this really the end
    To be stuck inside of Mobile
    With the Memphis blues again.


    Which makes for a collection of loose ends coming together and spinning free!

    I wasn't familiar with the Memphis Group, but their work reminds me of a blue enamel teakettle with an orange spinner I once had that I liked a lot. (Michael Graves-late 80's?) It eventually rusted through a few years ago and I was sad to let it go. Finding a picture online was a surprise, because it also appears somewhat dated.

    Our city is host to a Calder, La Grand Vitesse a bright flowing blossom of Calder Red, with the strict verticals and horizonals of the buildings surrounding it providing backdrop. It fits the city.

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  20. I once walked 10 miles along the Champs-Elysées to see this Calder, The Red Spider.

    Yeah, that was a hike. Good news is there was also a car museum there which I enjoyed, and I got to see a lot of Paris. Paris is nice.

    I also drove to DC once to see a Calder retrospective - huge collection of his work - what a productive human being he was. It's good to have role models. Now back to work for me.

    But I must admit that since selling my house I have lost focus - I am having a tough time shifting gears from having to be over at the other place doing things that had to be done to being self directed and able to work on whatever I can dream up. I better get a grip.

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  21. Philistine that I am, I was mostly unaware of this artist Calder of whom you both speak so fondly. But I am reminded of two things: the kinetic sculpture exhibit along San Diego's Embarcadero and the Crookes radiometer. I used to have one of those. They are usually stark black and silver, but I wonder if one painted in Calder's colors would work? Probably not, because that would belie one of its secrets.

    Crookes of course was the man who invented the Crookes tube which seeded the invention of vacuum tubes, tube electronics, TVs, etc., not to mention Roentgen's discovery of X-Rays.

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  22. The awkwardness of those "trees" shows how difficult it is to make large outdoor sculptures that are not ugly. Calder didn't always succeed, but he was a third generation sculptor and had been trained how to see and how to create shapes.

    As for Crookes, I wonder if Nixon had one of those on his desk...

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  23. Well, in one sense, Nixon was kinetic and could fly: Dicky Bird

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  24. I asked the question, now I can answer it - what is the sculptural equivalent of arborealism? It is, of course, the Statue of Limitations.

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  25. Yes on Statue of Limitations! Given enough time to form into shape, the answer arrives!

    As for Crookes and Dickie Birds: You may find this hard to believe, chickelit, but I have one of those radiometers on a bookshelf! I didn't know the name however. It was a gift from my mom to my eldest who was interested in electricity and lights from early on. He's now a licensed electrician, currently out in CA installing Profibus. Since most of the places he's worked so far have been in the East and South, he'd not seen CA type mountains before and was amazed at how "they come right out of the ground--flat land in one direction, turn around and there's a mountain!". No rolling foothills like the Appalachians.

    The dickie bird thingy still makes me laugh, even when I know what's coming. I think it's the sound of the question.

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