••••••••••••••••••••••• DAMN! These Guys Tear Me Some New Earholes!
Where the hell was I hiding when these guys were touring!? Probably going to see shows by the Grifters, GbV, Sonic Youth and Pavement. Damn shame, because the word is these guys played some amazing shows. Click the animated image above to go to their home on the Southern Records website. Also, Sweep the Leg Johnny @ Wikipedia
In the meantime, you might want to have a listen to a few of their songs on this page built by another fan.
Blimploads of air, sculpted by the following musicians have infiltrated my soul, and bits of every one of them come slithering and squeaking and squalling back out of me--combined, synthesized and transmogrified--when I create my own music:
Zappa • Guided by Voices + Robert Pollard • Rundgren • John Coltrane • Beatles • Beefheart • Grifters • Television • Sonic Youth • Yo La Tengo • Velvet Underground • Bowie • Wilco • Bob Wills • Soul Coughing • Webb Wilder • Dave Brubeck • Miles Davis • Carlos Santana • Bob Mould • S.R.V. • Chet Baker • Bobby Z. • Eels • Kinks • Warren Zevon • The Police • Grateful Dead • Stravinsky • Bettie Serveert • Pavement • Bill Evans • Howlin' Wolf • Muddy Waters • XTC • The Mermen • Rory Gallagher • The Pixies • Metallica • Beer For Dolphins • Jerry Goldsmith • Alex Chilton • Cactus • Sunny Day Real Estate + Jeremy Enigk • Dixie Dregs + Steve Morse • Incubus • Vassar Clements • Nirvana • Jeff Beck • Joe Beck • Beck • Weezer • Django Reinhardt • Stephane Grappelli • Clash • Apples in Stereo • John Hiatt • The Who • Squeeze • Jimi • Steely Dan • Joe Jackson • Elvis Costello • Junior Brown • Asleep at the Wheel • Neil Young • Johnny Cash • Medeski, Martin and Wood • Andreas Vollenweider • Marvin Gaye • Al Green • Joni Mitchell • Joscho Stephan • Jane's Addiction • and the list goes on forever...
••••••••••••••••••••••• I'm stunned! The Grifters have a MySpace page!? Grifters Videos on YouTube! ••••••••••••••••••••••• YAY!!! YouTube has ZAPPA! videos. Music, interviews, and more.
••••••••••••••••••••••• More on the way!
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...But as often as I listen, I also relish the times when my environment is dead quiet, save for the birds and the wind.
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Television
I listen to TV over my shoulder while I'm working more than I actually watch it...Mythbusters • Engineering Marvels • Modern Marvels • Nova • Scientific American Frontiers • Frontline • Austin City Limits • Soundstage • NYPD Blue • Simpsons • Law and Order • Seinfeld • This Old House • New Yankee Workshop • some cooking shows • Live from Studio C (Comcast network) • Bonanza • Gunsmoke • Leave it to Beaver • Green Acres • Daily Show • Jeopardy • plus other random crap when I'm bored or can't fall asleep
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Books
Ach, my book backlog has been so neglected that I'll never catch up. I sheepishly admit that I do a lot more of my reading and research about all kinds of topics online these days.
But I will mention that I've really enjoyed everything I've read by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Mark Twain, Carl Sagan, Charles Bukowski, Tom Robbins, Ken Kesey, Tom Wolfe, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Michael Crichton, Carlos Castañeda, Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Anton Wilson. Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance absolutely floored me. It's an extraordinary book and I'm way past due for reading it again. Thomas Harris kept me entertained long before Silence of the Lambs was more strongly associated with Sir Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster. The same holds true for almost every book I've read which was later movie-ized. With very few exceptions, I practically always enjoy the book more. I liked Steven King while I was poring through his roster back in the 80's and 90's, but quite frankly I've grown a little tired of his plodding style.
Recently I tried to get through Dan Brown's Angels and Demons and The DaVinci Code, but the science-guy part of me found his factual expositions a wee bit condescending. Honestly, I don't mind it so much if I have to drop in a bookmark and do a little extroliteral research (I like to invent words, too, when I can't think of a good one to fit) in order to better understand an esoteric or arcane plot device. Such is the fate of writers who are looking to appeal to a mass market, I suppose. The premises for the two books are quite compelling, but I can't help but think that Crichton (as well as I know and like his writing) would have done a much better job telling the tales.
I'm a sucker for biographies, too. Even if I'm not generally into a particular pursuit--say sports, for example--I still really enjoyed the books I've read about the lives of people like Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb, as well as those about political, military and business tycoons. To me, they're kind of like long-form People magazines for the intelligensia.
Oh, there are many more, to be sure. I also have a strong geek-love for math and science experiments, puzzles and brain teasers, plus heavy-duty books and journals on astronomy, quantum and theoretical physics, botany, zoology, most any of the sciences, really. I'm still--after years of fits and starts--slowly working my way through my 1930 edition of P. D. Ouspensky's Tertium Organum (full text online), and I'd like to lay in a collection of the rest of his books for days when the electricity runs dry. Those are the high-density left brain weights that help balance out my right-brain creative activities.
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Phosphor's Details
Status:
Single
Here for:
Networking, Friends
Orientation:
Straight
Hometown:
Mechanicsburg PA
Body type:
5' 11" / Average
Ethnicity:
White / Caucasian
Religion:
Atheist
Zodiac Sign:
Cancer
Smoke / Drink:
Yes / Yes
Education:
Some college
Occupation:
Graphic Designer
Phosphor's Schools
Cumberland Valley Hs
Mechanicsburg, PA
Graduated: 1977
Student status: Alumni
Degree: High School Diploma
Always looking to discover adventurous musicians with whom I can establish that elusive, yet powerful musical ESP. Oh, and I can design CD packages as well!
Phosphor HammerSnow. Love it! Posted at 5:20 PM Dec 19 view more
About me:
Pixel basher, vector twister, word wrangler, guitar bender, bass hacker, drum flailer, world-class shim and shave craftsman. If I can't do what I want on a Macintosh, then it just doesn't need to be done!
➙ Intakes & Outros ➙
⌘ Addendum-19 February 2008: Yup, still poking my head in here regularly. First of all, I apologize to the out-of-network visitors whom I've directed to this page. I said you could look at my photo albums, but I only recently discovered that I couldn't make them open to the public. Ya gotta sign up with MySpace to view them. Just remember: That DOESN'T mean you have to build a MySpace page. If you're concerned about your privacy, just use a throw-away web-mail based address to initiate an account. Second, as for my rusting, dusty Blogger page (linked just below)...Comcast threw a spanner in the works, and we had to completely wipe the account I was using to store all my customized code and images, and create one with a different username. I still have all the files backed-up, I just haven't moved them. I like Google's tools for their Blogspot pages, and I want to update the layout there, I just haven't found a pre-made template that I like, and I've been lazy about building one myself. Yaawwwn...I'll get around to it one of these days.
⌘ Addendum-25 February 2007: While MySpace has been a guilty bit of fun, and editing the CSS and HTML here has taught me more than I knew before, my extreme displeasure with MySpace's regularly-scheduled down time and its odious track record for hewing anywhere close to a W3C standards-compliant framework has compelled me to jump start my site on the now-Google-owned Blogger.com.
Now that they've taken over, Google has provided a MUCH, MUCH better set of tools to work with than are available here—fairly understandable, even for site-building novices like me, and I expect that the outages there will be much less frequent. The Google Groups forums are populated with responsive and knowledgeable experts to help answer any questions about customizing your Blogger pages.
While I may not be able to implement a two-way "Friends" system like MySpace has, there's so much good, free code available online that I'll be able to include interesting features. I will be updating my content more often, along with offering photos; Photoshop and Illustrator work and tips; music; and observations, rants and reviews on all sorts of stuff. I'll still be visiting and updating this page, but it won't be my first priority.
All this means is that there will be yet another obscure and anonymous Blog among the estimated 42.3 quadrillion already online...but, hey, it'll be all mine.
Come have a poke around SparkBox. Leave a comment, bite my head off, tell what you'd like to see.
Cheers! Phos.... (Rhymes with OZ!)
Yep, I have some other stupid junk on the web: A lopsided man runs best along the little side-hills of success. --Frank Moore Colby
To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate made me an authority myself.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. --Albert EinsteinThe reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. All progress, therefore, depends upon the unreasonable man. --George Bernard ShawWe don't see things as they are, we see them as we are. --Anais Nin
Who I'd like to meet: ("View Image" to see full size detail)
Sooo, What's on your mind? •••[[[ Glittery junk, cutesy crap, crazy wide images and bad coding will be shot down in flames, and I'll sic Richard Simmons on your ass! If you're going to leave an image, make it count!!! ]]]•••
Since not all originals are in my possession, I'm at the mercy of how I can get them & in what formats & condition. If anything better becomes available, they will be posted. Page visits are always appreciated.
Hi there, Phos! Hope all is well and this Monday is treatin ya squarely! Im here on this fine California mornin wishin I was on Vacation tracking down some Panda friends to have a great time!
Thanks for the good wishes. I'm committed to finding some kind of employment within the next two weeks. I suppose I'll have to take the tax hit and have my 401k balance paid out to me. It isn't much, but it will pay some bills. Currently having my last beer for a while.
Phos.... (Rhymes with OZ!)
Online Now!
