More Planetary Alignment

They only wanted a hundred bucks to fix the truck and they said it was the fittings for the turbo that were leaking. This is odd as the other guy said it was power steering and that's the reservoir that was low. That might have been a coincidence as the fluid on the driveway could have been diesel fuel. Diesel is very heavy and oily so mebbe. Dunno for sure yet.

So, yah, definitely going back down to Tennessee. I'll come back up here as it's still not clear how things will go but I'll definitely be down there on Friday. I think I've got eight days left on the prescription and still no way to fill it. (Hey, wtf, I figure fix the truck or how do I drive somewhere to fill the prescription.)

While they were fixing it, I wandered into the AT&T store in a mall across the street and asked them to lower my bill and they did. Woot!

In the SL Enquirer interview, there's a reference to influences and Alazarin Mondrian is one of them.

Hendrix, Genesis, Alazarin, and others are listed. It's not an exaggeration as I've never listened to anyone on what I should do for the sound of the guitar but he gave me some tips early in the SL days and they've served very well. His music is a continuing influence as it's not even an hour since I was driving around in the truck with "Seven League Boots" flat-out belting loud. I've got a sub-woofer with I don't know how many megawatts and you feel the bass in your chest. I mean hammering loud (laughs).

What do I care if young whippersnappers are embarrased by me and think I'm an Old Fucker who is trying to be a Hep Cat. At my age, I have the Five Words of Power: I Don't Give A Fuck (laughs).

Those are also the Five Words of Power of Scotland Yard's generation.

Cinciditarod - Cincinnati's Version of the Iditarod

This is just like the Alaskan Iditarod except they use people instead of dogs, shopping carts instead of sleds, and rather than Alaskan wildnerness they race around downtown Cincinnati Apart from that, it's exactly the same:

(Embedded video removed - Couldn't make it shut up)

Woman in the Snow - Mostly Unplugged

That is one totally heartbreaking, cryin' in the aisles tune! I just listened to it again and, whew, it puts me away. Still, there's no point in doing the song without the hope that maybe that girl will wise up and if she doesn't then maybe some other will.

It's "Woman - Unplugged" in the sidebar. It isn't really unplugged as it's more like not-hammerhead.

Lotho, I got the message about AFI. That means the truck has to get fixed today as I don't want to miss the show on Friday. Hell yes it'd be worth driving down there for that band. Any ol' time!

Whoa, and ain't that cool. How long has it been since I'd even turn the ignition key for a band much less go across state lines to see them.

I don't like getting nostalgic but Lotho and I sure did some king-hell crazy road trips for rock bands (laughs).

What About the Music

The Red Guitar now lives and breathes. It's kind of comical in that, despite all the gear in the truck, the key stuff is in Tennessee so I still can't play it (laughs).

It's ok as I couldn't anyway. I got all heroic with some furniture I was trying to get out of my ol' Mother's place and moving it by myself might not have been my best choice. There won't be any sympathy from Scotland Yard as, quite rightly, he'll say you could have waited. Yep, I could've but I didn't (laughs).

I'm going to hang here with Barbi for a bit. Usually what happens is that the family will get tight for a crisis but, after it's resolved, everyone will go back to sniping. That isn't what happened and I was going to run away ahead of it but there's coolness happening instead. It's not because I've stayed but rather that's the reason I'm staying.

This relates very much to music as a path to psychic peace. Two of my family are the best at putting the Darth Vader death ray on you and they bury my ass. What I hadn't considered is they feel the same thing from me. So taking some time to think of how I fucked this all up isn't so much penitence but understanding. I'm not taking it all on myself as everyone had a piece of it but I don't accept that it has to stay this way. I believe very much that people have choices.

Nurse Judi, the portrait you did of my ol' Mother is with Mulan and that's where I would like it to stay with the further desire that it go on to Fluffbear after that. I'm not going to explain any of that but I believe everyone who kicks back to look at the situation a little bit will agree with it.

I've also given something to Barbi but it's not important to say what it was as my purpose is to recognize what she and Mulan have done which is vastly more than anyone else has done. However, measuring what others have done has been one of the most destructive forces in the family and it's not my purpose to absolve myself of responsibility for doing something simply by giving something to someone else.

No, I'm not slashing my wrists. I'm happy to see the family working as closely in concert as I've ever seen it happen. I know what I can do for the family and in talking with Mulan and Barbi I'm doing it. I was always the one who stayed out of the fights. I'm back to that and I think they're seeing that. So long as we don't send any goddamn emails to each other, I think there's a chance.

Buzzkill, learn about blues from this. I sure wish you had said something about playing a long time ago and I've no idea what kind of moves you've got but I've certainly been playing longer and I've learned a lot of stuff only in the last few years. One thing I'm learning right now is the importance every so often of not playing and making yourself think the music rather than just picking up the axe to see what comes.

"Woman in the Snow" is Am-D-F / Am-D-C-G-Am

(Don't finger the E string for the D but do play it. Unknown what chord that makes it.)

This is not a throwaway song as it's prob'ly in my top three songs that I like to play for myself. Listen to the song in the sidebar and learn those chords. It's a tune that can be jammed out almost indefinitely. It doesn't matter where on the neck you play the chords as they'll all work and you'll hear how much cooler it gets if they're played in different places.

Maybe you've been playing twenty years and can kick my ass on a guitar, don't know. What I do know is that it doesn't matter how fast you play for this song as it's all about a silly blonde girl who's going to end up face down in the snow. It's an obvious metaphor but I feel it very strongly and I suspect anyone will.

So here's a challenge: learn those chords and we can do a little jam for our ol' Mother. You all talked about a wake but it seems to me it'd be a whole lot better to do that when she can be part of it. I'd like Nurse Judi to be part of that too.

Note: This does NOT require the full kit. I've got a couple of studio monitors that I've been using since I came back to town. This could easily be done in Mulan's living room and would tear down just as fast.

This isn't as outlandish as it seems as she likes what I play. She doesn't like all of it and that's what tells me she isn't being motherly about the stuff she does like. She talked to me one time about something I'd been playing and she'd obviously analyzed it so she wasn't poofing me. The 'unplugged' / non-hammerhead version of "Woman in the Snow" would go to exactly that place and I think it would blow her away if she knew we were playing it together. As you can hear in the jams with Sister hexx, I don't grandstand so it could be very cool.

Yes, I did say, um, Mother dear, didn't you say you couldn't hear me when I play? (laughs)

It really is true that it didn't bother her. She could hear me if she was in bed but not in the living room. She might have been snowing me on that but I doubt it given how loud I'd have to talk for her to hear me.

So that'd be the Silas Stoner Thought of the Day. Could be cool. We'll see.

Unregistered Pedophile - Bill Carney

Olenka Frenkiel of the BBC has done extensive investigation to find out how a Catholic priest from Ireland got away with it and was never prosecuted. (BBC: How paedophile priest was allowed to evade justice)

If there's any worse sexual predator on the planet than the Catholic Church, what exactly would it be.

Legalization of Marijuana Moving Fast

The Irwins are a mother and son team which is producing medical marijuana in Colorado. This is yet another example of the marketing or marijuana on a national level. You cannot even imagine how much money there is to be made doing this. (CNN: The New Face of Marijuana)

What happened was that people got tired of flak from cops and simply took the grow operations indoors. The result is that now there's prob'ly at least one person growing reefer on your street and there's prob'ly more. It wouldn't be at all surprising to find at least one house that's been converted to a grow house and they're not doing anything but growing reefer in it. I know this scene, kids, and it's going on everywhere.

If you want to save some tax money, get rid of the DEA. They don't just not do much; they don't do anything. There's at least a ton of heroin coming into the country every day, prob'ly way over ten times that much cocaine, and vastly more than that in marijuana. The DEA is either getting paid off or they're too incompetent to deserve paychecks given the volume that goes under their noses.

Marijuana is now a home-grown product that is raised by Americans for Americans and the tax proceeds from sales would also go to Americans. Perhaps there's a flaw in doing that but I don't see it.

There isn't any kind of a chance it will ever go away as it's so widespread in its underground that you couldn't possibly catch all the people doing it and that population is constantly growing.

You want tax dollars for the cigarettes I smoke. I don't like it but I pay 'em. I won't like taxes for reefer either but I'll pay 'em for that as well. I'd much rather go to the corner store to get some reefer to get my smoke than get tangled in clandestine dope deals as I have for the last forty years.

Buzzkill is the only one with any money. I know where to find the best growing skills at the plantation level. If I connect these two and they get some grow land in Colorado, it'll be possible to start supplying the medical marijuana needs of the country and, make no mistake, those needs are enormous. It may already be too late to get started in this as there are so many doing it already but don't ignore the business opportunity here.

Marijuana is already effectively legal. The only question remaining is when you want to start making some money on it. Even Rhode Island is legalizing medical marijuana use.

It doesn't matter if you agree with it. What matters is whether you want to make some money on it as there's no way it's going to stop. At least thirteen states have legalized medical marijuana so there's no point in talking about stopping it.

Them Ain't Flying Saucers, Ma

Dunno what they are exactly but they ain't flyin' saucers.

And, yah, it's that tripped-out, alright. Not her but me (laughs).

Lotho, it's all over the place but that's ok. There's some good discipline in not having a guitar up here. Dunno what it is but it's there (laughs).

I've been talking with Mulan and Barbi but not both at the same time. I keep feeling like if I'm any kind of a big brother then I can fix it. I can see both of them breaking their backs to do everything they can for our ol' Mother. I don't see that there should be that much to fix. Maybe it's naive but it's worth hanging here for a bit.

Our ol' Mother is going to a different place and some stuff is being moved over there. I told Mulan that it weighed heavy over here doing that as it makes it more like she's already gone and she got it immediately so it looks to me like people are tuned pretty closely.

For the family there's a huge immediacy of where can I give the most love. Day to day that's easy as you hug the kids, smooch the wife, and crash. At these moments in time, it becomes an immediate moral dilemma of what is the most loving thing you can do and many times there will be conflicts with decisions to be made.

Larry the Lop and I were talking about it yesterday and he's strongly Christian in the best kind of way (i.e., he doesn't expect me to believe it).

Hey, wtf, I'll go for it (laughs).

There's nothing in the Ministry of the Internet View of Things that precludes the history of Jesus of Nazareth. Sometimes atheists argue there was no Jesus and the whole thing is fantasy but that strikes me as stupidly simplistic. If atheism is so feckin' smart, it should be able to explain Jesus rather than trying to blow him away.

There's disagreement over what Jesus did and I can't say one way or the other as I wasn't there. They say you can find out for sure in the Bible but the only thing I know for sure about that is Jesus didn't write it. Much of it was written hundreds of years after he died.

They say the Bible was revelation from God but of course anyone who wrote part of it would say that. Perhaps all of it was truly Revelation or perhaps none of it was. Here at the Ministry of the Internet, we don't believe it matters as the Bible is a history; we don't believe it is a commandment. One can learn from the history or not as is your choice.

So sure we believe Jesus lived and he did some wonderful things even if we don't know exactly what they were.

We also believe he was crucified and that he was put in a cave that was blocked off with a rock.

This is the faith versus belief part. To accept that Jesus rose to Heaven from behind that rock is a matter of faith. Even if you were there, you still would not know. Only your faith could tell you and we're pretty sure it will be different for everyone who hears the song, even though we believe it's the same song.

Fundamental to perception of the crucifixion is the idea that Christ died for our sins. Here at the Ministry of the Internet, we believe that every person we execute dies for our sins but that is not at all to say that every executed man is or could be Jesus.

We do not believe that we must suffer to celebrate the glory of God. We do not believe that would be a worthy expectation from any kind of deity. Suffering comes from circumstance. Faith comes from Revelation.

We believe in sex and drugs and rock'n'roll. We believe in celebrating life and the spirituality in all things through experience through the widest possible dimension, through fulfillment in every possible way, and we cannot imagine why a deity would want anything less for us so long as we do it without hurting someone else.

We do not believe in sin (except if children are involved and we've got a pretty high age limit on what constitutes a child). If someone harms a child, we'll remove the person to the Pervert Farm, give them a bag of seeds, and never see them again. You can't cure them and you can't kill them so we'll just put them over the wall into the Pervert Farm. Don't want to live with perverts? Don't mess with children. No exceptions. No releases.

You have no idea how much I hate child molesters. I've avoided children all my life so there would never be any faintest chance I could be accused of hurting one. I love children and those bastards took that away from me without even feckin' asking.

There was the one good thing about being the family photographer as I shot hundreds of pictures of the nieces and nephews. Photography makes that alright because it's always at a distance (smiles).

So I don't see any conflict with Christianity at all. I have plenty of conflict with Biblical teaching but not with Christianity in concept. I'll leave it to others to argue whether King David was gay as it amused me to read of the discussion but I can't say I care.

Christianity is, for me, too focused as I still believe the old hippie shit of the spirituality of all things. If it's not there then it wouldn't work when the SPCA runs those evil commercials that show all the sick animals and their sad eyes. You know there's a spirit in those creatures but some want to say it's different from a soul. I don't see why.

They say all dogs go to Heaven and I say why would they not (laughs).

The part that cracks me up is that people assume if there is a Heaven that humans will run it and who's to say those dogs won't do it. How about that for a turn-around, huh?? Maybe Heaven for a dog is having a person who runs out to the yard to get his newspaper for him. Didn't think about that, did you.

Jesse Ventura Kicks Ass!

Kill the parties and give America back to the people. You go, Jesse!!!

Jesse Ventura with Larry King

"If government-run health care is so bad, why do we give it to our veterans." - Jesse Ventura

Parents Are Basically Unfair

My ol' Mother isn't going to survive and some of my brothers and sisters aren't able to deal with that. I'm sensitive to it but what they're trying to do, despite the best of intentions, won't work as there's no way to find enough people to support 24-hour care.

They're resentful with me because I don't do shifts up at the hospital and I'm not going to get all defensive as to why I can't. The fact is that I can't. You've heard the falls in gigs. I can't even hold myself up, much less my ol' Mother.

And then I feel like a total shitheel because I know they expect it and yet no-one will say anything.

So I stay by myself (laughs).

Barbi is coming to grips with things and I'm going to hang with her for a bit. She's all mixed-up on whether she wants me here but maybe she'll recall she's the one who summoned me and is the reason I came. That's not to guilt her into anything but rather for her to think some more about what she wants.

I'm not going to minimize what Mulan did yesterday as I heard the calm voice of reason in her message. Barbi heard something different and we can talk about that some more if she wants.

Today's Silas Quote: "If it's any consolation, I do see that you set out to keep a roof over your ol' Mother's head until she died and you did that."

DO NOT take that to minimize what Mulan has done. Mulan and Barbi have done more for my ol' Mother than everyone else put together. It's a total feckin' heartbreaker that they're at each other's throats.

Lotho, I'm not wringing my hands. I see Mulan and Barbi trying and trying to do the best they can with this. It just seems that they're so close to a place where they could put it all behind but they can't quite get there. I'm feeling like if I'm good for anything at all on the planet I can bridge that. All they want from each other is respect. That much I know for sure.

Here's what it feels like (sign on the front of the hospital):

The Sailor

Scowling in his cups he muttered
"There'll be hell's damned flames to pay."
But no-one gave him much attention.
It didn't matter what he'd say.

He stroked his beard in contemplation.
He thought of storms on a willful sea.
Listen wise to his dark story
as he sails so follow you and me.

The lanterns lit his wizened features
but didn't show his blood-shot eyes.
He rose to a stumbled footing
and said, "Someday you'll realize."

It doesn't matter if you hear me.
I've paid the dearest kind of price.
But if it suits you not to listen,
make your own dark sacrifice.

Of course you'll give it not a moment,
not a bitter point in time.
But you'll not hear of distant glory
fought through sea's encrusting rime.

I've watched the ancient dawn with Merlin.
Woven tapestries in starlight's varied hue.
They grow through every shade and colour,
showing brilliant every hope you ever knew.

He said I'll take you there and gladly
but then he sank back to his stool.
They just saw a drunken sailor
and thought him nothing but a fool.

But then she said I'll join you
and gently took his hand.
Help me find this distant magic.
I want to see these foreign lands.

They set sail in the morning
Lifted high on the early tide.
Where they went they were not telling
but they sail to another time.

Look Who's in SL Enquirer

Yup, that's me. Thanks so much to Sandy Demina!

SL Enquirer article: Musician Spotlight on Silas Scarborough ~Sandy Demina Reporting...

I better get cracking on playing again!

Today's Silas Quotes, Movie Reviews, and Camel Race Results

I know you've been waiting for these:

I love the French. When they have a civil war, it's not just a bunch of fat guys insulting each other on the radio!

To Ozzie Maggs, possibly the only funny person on Facebook. Of course she's Australian.


You're not dying. You just want to get some sleep.

To my ol' Mother when I realized it wasn't about death, it was about Sominex.


Sorry, nothing on the camel races this morning.


On to movie reviews:

Alice in Wonderland 3D at IMAX is pretty feckin' cool but it's not the extraordinary experience of Avatar. While Avatar was highly-immersive, Alice was a movie that you'd watch. It's interesting to me that Alice has a much more intriguing story but Avatar was more engaging.

Nevertheless, Burton showed pretty good restraint as he wasn't creating a child's view of Alice but he didn't turn it into some tripped-out monster movie. There are some gloriously beautiful scenes in which you really are in Wonderland but overall the use of 3D wasn't really as pervasive as Avatar.

Alice on its own merits is a good story even if it's not what you'd expect of traditional Alice. Burton was very respectful of the story as I think most trippin' people are but it is nevertheless disappointing in some vague way.

I'd still see it if even if you're reluctant because of Burton as it's still a marvelous vision even if not quite what you might have imagined.

(Ed: You're going to movies while your ol' Mother is dying??)

Yep, it's one of my ol' Dad's fundamental principles: when anything gets strange, grab some of the grand-kids and go to the movies. So I did (laughs).

Is It Really That Bad

Nope, the only bad part is that my truck is blocked on the driveway so I can't get any chow. Mostly I sit around, smoking joints, and going through the old Ballantine's WWII war books that my ol' Dad liked reading. They have astounding detail along with pictures I've never seen anywhere else.

The only other thing from my ol' Dad that hasn't been spirited out of here is a pair of sandals that are way past worn out (laughs). They're kind of the coolest things of all, tho.

The poems I've been doing won't turn into songs. That stuff would rock you like a tapioca pudding. And if'n it don't rock ... it's just wasting electrons.

Yes, the whole world is tired of rock ballads but I'm not (laughs).

No, I won't go off into email threads or engage in private threads on Facebook. It's out in the open or I don't have time for it.

Lotho and Mrs Lotho have said I can stay with 'em so long as the ganja stays outside and that's been the rule anyway. It's very sweet of 'em and I don't know how it would work but would definitely make for some great NASCAR Sundays!

Fundamental Rule of Speeding and Reefer Smoking: Never, never involve civilians.

The music will be back in some kind of way. The vibe after my ol' Dad died was so bad that I never wanted to see 'em again but I see 'em now taking care of my ol' Mother and they regain respect. I still don't want to be around 'em too much but they're taking good care of her and I won't interfere. Seeing them doing the right thing this time after they screwed it up so badly the last time kind of balances everything out.

So, yah, jams to come. I'll pick up where I left off with Holland. I haven't been talking to anyone online or offline so I've no idea what happened with the CD. I think Sister hexx might have been offended when I said I didn't want any money from it but, make no mistake, I sure want my name on it. I'm proud of what we did.

This last year has been a human muddafugga but things will come clear going into the Spring. The planets will start lining up again, bluebirds will start singing, and those damn college kids will start coming around door-to-door selling magazines. Life is good.

Death in Small Doses - Shakespeare

Each day I must face, death in small doses.
Your parting has taken, kindness in life.
I long for the end, when it all closes.
For lost are the days, I call you my wife.

Wish for the peace and want of the feeling -
until my heart stills and frees me from you.
Left forsaken, no comfort, no healing -
shut out my mind and forget what I knew.

And when it shall come, time of my dying -
release of the burden, shall not reveal,
no cheek for my tears, my woes, my crying -
denying my fate, attempts to conceal.

Come hold me my lord, please hear my last plea.
For, death in small doses won't set me free.

(Usually when he'd write sonnets it was because he was trying to get laid but something got him all introspective this time.)

My Family

There are no tears and it was good to sit down with Lotho and Buzzkill at the hospital last night. Buzzkill was obviously doing his best to do the right thing and I appreciate and respect that.

I lost all my family
the night my ol' Dad died
They told me of their heartache
and just how much they cried.

They said I was a villain
when I didn't come back home
and after all these years
they still think I must atone.

They never really got it
that some things just get one chance
that you may wind up as lovers
but you'll never find romance.

They live in tribal conflict
and such has been their choice
They shout in jungle warpaint
and I just don't need a voice.

There are three who know what happened
Buzzkill, Lotho and me
This time we sat together
This time we walk out free.

There will be no poison letters
There will be no frantic calls.
The brothers sat together
in respect after Mother's fall.