solar forest

forest

bulk section at the cherry sprout!

fast binders

fast friends make friends fast

don't eat: them: fast: friends: relish them,

your dog may be hot

but the bun is bland and blown with sand and grit

of which we eschew

in pickled sweetness brine

chewsy until the molars drop

not from the gums

but to the floor.

full of gold no doubt, scooped up by friends, no doubt

redeemed in lieu of having to sue.

howjadoo? howjadoo?

"and you shake their little hands/

howjadoo"

it is known as an advance

ain't no friend of mine

is a refrain i disdain like dylan on pain who caint unsplain the scrit of brain

(google calls THIS spam

their sausage servers smell it and says it's too spicy)

"i'm wild about their loving/

i like to have my fun"

how you forge friends

you put it out there

d-day style

and ask 'em to take your check

for their questionable goods:

wanna peek under the hoods

coulds shoulds and drill for oil the peckerwoods

oil that must be refined

must be bottled and divined, as to purity

for intricate cogs require lugubrious

attention: howjadoo?

you shake their little plans up and down,

how do you do?

water time

water in the basement

where it should not be

water in the knee

watered down screed

water for the unthirsty

water on the summer orchard

there is one time and place for hydration:

nature's time.

our time is a wet towel

and 6 sets of nostrils, 4 nostrils dry

it's a board decision

chess, candyland, parchesi

parched easy.

oh, swell.

toward the 4th quarter locker room sermon

either play ball or keep yer cajones

in a safety sack on the shelf

either way, it's take your tour of the sausage mill

because things fall off that shelf all the time

bumped off

knocked off

whacked off

offed on and off, switcherooed

it's more of how you work the ball

than play it, cuz it won't take quarters

and all work is free

while play costs arms and legs

what we do and don't

measure our can't eye levers

tipping balance toward stability.

period, the size of a ball.

range

own a home

buy a lie

bed a dream

sleep a life

bleed a day

feed a home

rotten wood

indians gone

* * *

now, they're timber barons

begging toothpicks

for casino martinis,

slumdog zillionheirs.

*** *** ***

poor form

forms poor

farms, grown

of groans.

never needed a farm

needed range.

will show

accumulating a loyal following

is the job for flea collars

ringing miami.

a disloyal following may by definition, lead.

to shed attachments

was buddha's occupation.

to add superfluous foot kissers is to have slippery paws.

to slup is divine.

when buddha's cuisinart

lost a blade you bet he went online for a replacement.

put it on credit.

will show, honey wine.

flea collar for an equator in love

baby bird can half fly

baby duck can swim twice pecking fast

slow food moves profit lines

here, it doesn't wanna hear, it. shrillings are worth

big know. eaten, the bug

flies thrice, masted. masticated and eschewed,

with can't eye levers

sheer primordial autopilot.

if you want,

you find. water under the webfeet,

claws drawn up into torsoes not quite flying but almost not crashing

i'm in love

with agony.

what else will leave me alone?

Revising the Revisionists with my Vision

"Jackstraw was born when rhythm guitarist Darrin Craig and lead player Jon Neufeld met mandolin picker David Pugh and bassist Jesse Withers in 1997 at Artichoke Music, a Portland guitar store and acoustic music institution. Not long after their formation, Jackstraw recorded their first album and hit the road"

(cut and pasted from the Jackstraw Myspace page)

___________

Actually, Jackstraw was "born" when Forest Bloodgood met Darrin and Jon playing open mic at the Laurelthirst in 1997. At the time, they performed as Good Earth. Soon thereafter, David Pugh, Vaughn Wilson, and Kevin Kerberg were performing at various pubs and venues, Portland's Saturday Market, and parties as Jackstraw. Kevin "bingo" Richey played the banjo when Vaughn was unavailable, and all these people recorded at Sound Impressions studio resulting in the album, Home Far Away.

Soon after the release of the CD, Forest and Bingo were booted from the band; Kevin Kerberg returned to college in Kansas; and Vaughn stuck with the band, until relocating in Colorado. Another Jesse played bass with Jackstraw as well.

As awkward as it may be to point this out, I speak the truth, and whoever wrote their Myspace blurb probably took mythology into their hands for the sake of "simplicity."

*** **** ****

Likewise, the Freak Mountain Rambler's have a much more complex and peopled "birth" than their Myspace page reports. Jimmy Boyer, David Reisch, and Kevin Richey were playing Sunday happy hours there in Feb. 1995 when I had my schoolbus-home parked at a house on Glisan where Jimmy and lots of other cats lived. Jimmy brought me in by invitation, and I became a regular player, showing up after the Portland Sat. Market, often with my daughter Surreal being attended to by Dale and Shirley or other kind regulars.

Many many players cycled thru; numerous drummers(Dead Moon's, also the tweaker who took cellphone calls while playing!), VIP guests sat in. Before Billy Kennedy offered up the name Freak Mountain Ramblers, many regulars just called it "church." When Roger North began playing drums for the Freaks, the band developed quickly from a one-show-a-week deal to a unit ready to gig anywhere and anytime. The self titled first album, Freak Mountain Ramblers, came out in 1999. I quit the band effectively in July 2000, as I had a new baby daughter, Isis. Turtle joined in when Kevin moved to California, and Paul Bisset, the wonderful washboard player of many years also quit playing Sundays.

This all goes to state: the band has deep roots, from the late 60s certainly, but also from 1995-2000, when the Sundays were an inclusive hootenanny, and anything could and did happen. Here's to music, memories, and added perspectives to history. And thanks to Jimmy, Dave, and Roger, for showing me the ropes.

*** *** ***

obviously, it isn't so much when a band is "born," but when it is rebranded, by its adoptive parents.

wah wah wah!

can't take off the tattoo, now.

r

The Freak Mountain Ramblers present a unique blend of Rock 'n Roll, Bluegrass, Alternative Country, and Country Blues. With a lineup including 3 members of the inimitable and notorious Holy Modal Rounders The Freak Mountain Ramblers present a unique blend of Rock 'n Roll, Bluegrass, Alternative Country, and Country Blues. With a lineup including 3 members of the inimitable and notorious Holy Modal Rounders/ Clamtones amalgamation of the '70s and '80s, FMR has its roots in the underbelly of the alternative music scene that existed at that time both in Portland and across the country. During the past 7 years the Freaks have accumulated a loyal following in the Portland area by dependably creating beauty and bedlam at their live shows / Clamtones amalgamation of the '70s and '80s, FMR has its roots in the underbelly of the alternative music scene that existed at that time both in Portland and across the country. During the past 7 years the Freaks have accumulated a loyal following in the Portland area by dependably creating beauty and

ing thring the past 7 years the Freaks have accumulated a loyal following in the Portland area by dependably creating beauty and bedlam at their live showe past 7 years the Freaks have accumulated a loyal following in the Portland area by dependably creating beauty and bedlam at their live sho

mum's the sword

i'm on strike with strikes.

just like you. lie.

you lie.

you strike, liar.

i'm struck, lain.

by lies.

take a stand, meet the lie.

laid, or not, by strikes

we're struck.

mum's not the word.

'tis the sword.

spoon fed robots

if it looks like censorship,
stinks like censorship,

it is sensor shit.
they say "our robots

think(haha
that YOU are a robot

my pot thinks your kettle is black,
too.

alice and wonderland nonsense=spam
james joyce=spam

modern poetry=a refuge
from the robots

yes, i don't spoon feed you.
you must lift the food

to your own
open mouths.