8-word poem

What is
The sound
Of a heart
Breaking?

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Keep bumping
In the heart
Of this
Here.

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Pretzel rods
Remind me
Of my
Shitty childhood.

What would life be like if it never changed? Installment 1

Back at the end of August, Eek! began a thread inquiring about the life-changing possibilities of music, specifically calling for readers to post their Top Ten Life-Changing Albums.

Here is where the various lists were posted, including the one I contributed.

Endlessly fascinated by such things, I have decided to reproduce my list on this blog, in installments, expanding on the reasons for picking the albums that I did. They are listed in no particular order.

(Note: Italics indicate my initial response to Eek's challenge; the rest constitutes my further thoughts on the subject).

1. Rock n Roll Animal, Lou Reed. What I still wouldn’t give to be able to play the first guitar solo (not the Intro; the solo between the first and second verses) in “Sweet Jane” note for note. This album proved Lou Reed could appeal to the masses if he felt like staying out of his own way.

A good friend once pointed out this fascinating concept: It is impossible to be a fan of Lou Reed without hating Lou Reed to the exact same degree one loves Lou Reed. In fact, this album is the perfect capsule summation of Lou Reed's career, which has been solidly built on the bedrock of contradiction, misinterpretation and obfuscation.

Rock n Roll Animal is the embodiment of what went wrong. An amazing document of a legendary concert at The Academy of Music (later known as The Palladium; now an NYU dormitory), the album rocks from start to finish. The band, which later went on to back up Alice Cooper, is tight and thundering throughout, lending an arena rock sheen to the proceedings.

The only problem is that these are Lou Reed and Velvet Underground songs, the antithesis of everything arena rock stood for. So, while the versions of "Sweet Jane," "Heroin," and "Rock'n'Roll" presented here are some of the finest ever recorded, they are pretty much the anti-definitive versions. Only the author of Metal Machine Music could render such impeccable irony!

Rock n Roll Animal (yes, the album title dispenses with those pesky apostrophes) was the first Lou Reed album I ever heard, and though I was a huge fan for many years (note my son's name), nothing else in the man's catalog ever matched the excitement it inspired. This is the album that made me want to learn how to play the guitar, and made me aware that there was something significant to be mined in the dark side of human experience.

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I wrote
It;
Must I
Also explain
It?

8-word poem

for Steakbellie

There's no place
Like home;
There's no
Place.

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I didn't think
About
Tom or Katie
Yesterday!

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If at first
You don't
Succeed,
So what?

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I would
Always prefer
To be
With you.

iTuneage - recent baker's dozen

1. "Wild is the Wind" - David Bowie
2. "It Has Not Taken Long" - Nico
3. "Sally Simpson" - The Who with Eric Clapton (Tommy motion picture soundtrack)
4. "New York Girls" - Finbar Furey
5. "Dammit Janet" - The Rocky Horror Picture Show motion picture soundtrack
6. "Kiss, Kiss, Kiss" - John Lennon & Yoko Ono
7. "Bring It (Snakes on a Plane)" - Snakes on a Plane: The Album
8. "Hanging On" - Radio Birdman
9. "Leaving On a Jet Plane" - Peter, Paul & Mary
10. "Another Girl, Another Planet" - The Only Ones
11. "We Love You" - The Psychedelic Furs
12. "Run With the Pack" - Bad Company
13. "Dirge" - Death in Vegas

8-word poem

Patience:
It is always
Learned
The hard way.

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Nothing new to report,
Except:
There's nothing new.

All in the Family

A chip off the old block! Duck Duck Blog takes on the 8-word poem!

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Three days away—
My blog!
I've missed you!

8-word poem

My life:
I'm still
Getting used
To it.

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Dunno what
It was
before;
It wasn't
This.

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Spilled drink
Near my cube:
Is this
Harassment?

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How often
Do they mow
The Grassy Knoll?

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I have
Squandered
So much
In one
Lifetime.

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Uh oh!
Here comes that
Raped-in-prison feeling
Again.

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Films about Jesus
Are really
Films about Judas.

THE BLACK SKIPPER

I dreamed I saw the Skipper,
Black.
Still bumbling &
Losing his shit with Gilligan.

But black:
Forearms and cheeks
Shiny with sweat,
Wincing like Muddy Waters.

Same Skipper, only black,
On a TV high atop an
Unfinished chest of drawers
Back on 2nd Street, pre-divorce.

Any time I mention
The Black Skipper
I get: “Were you high?”
(Possible, probable, not definite.)

Either that or:
“Oh, you’re thinking of the time
The Harlem Globetrotters
Got marooned on the island.”

No, I’m not, and I wasn’t asleep.
It was the Skipper,
He was just black,
Same character, but black.

You never saw him?

* * *

This is a true story. For reasons I can neither explain nor fathom, I seem to recollect seeing a Black Skipper on "Gilligan's Island." In my memory he was portrayed by someone reminiscent of Demond Wilson (Lamont from "Sanford and Son").

Over the past couple of years, many people have tried to help me solve the riddle of The Black Skipper. Most have come to know about my conundrum via the above poem, which I wrote back in 2003, and is included in The Incredulity Tour (2005).

There was the Harlem Globetrotter connection and subsequent explanation. Or the wife of a friend's faint memory of the time something blew up in the Skipper's face, causing a vintage Al Jolsen-esque situation to result. However, no definitive corroboration of a Black Skipper ever occurred.

Recently, though, a stunning new development unfolded, which seems to have finally put this matter to rest. MsAPhillips, God bless her, was somehow able to get a message to the President of the "Gilligan's Island" Fan Club, one Willy at Gilligansisle.com.

See their exchange below for what appears to be the definitive and final word on the matter:

A friend of mine says he has a very clear memory of an episode of Gilligan's Island in which the Skipper was black. No one remembers this, so we think it's unlikely to be a real episode. But we figured you'd know better -- help?

MsAPhillips

-----------------

The Skipper was NEVER black. Your friend is incorrect.

Willy

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Thought I knew.
Now I know:
I thought.

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I think
That's enough
Damage
For one day.

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Knocking
On doors
In the here
And now.

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Dream:
I've got it
So together
It's scary.

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A combination
Of things
Has corrupted
My soul.

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It's only poetry:
Thank God
For small favors.