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May 25, 2005
Week 11: [Obvious Reference Here]
Thx Joel for the picture; Debbie and David for the PA; and Kim ++, The Materials (pictured) and Sylvan Screen for the choons
I have to make this quick because my computer is sputtering. Well actually, it was smoking a few weeks back. Then the fan got really loud. And tonight it just shut itself off and refused to be stirred for quite a while.
Things have been better.
For instance, Kevin Thurston read over here in Baltimore last weekend. We meant to video it for this here rag, but we spaced on charging the camera. Instead we bring you the "score" for his performance.
And just for him, we'll also include a recipe. Though a drink recipe this time. The perfect drink to match with the previously mentioned Taco Salad. A tequila pleasure called La Paloma.
We owe you: 911 Diaries and This Month In Search, but we gotta get going before this beeyatch blows. We're good for it.
Week 11 Contents
current(ly) a performance score from Kevin Thurston
La Paloma a delicious tequila refresher
Remember to check out more killer shit from Weeks 1 - 10, yuh hear
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:30 AM
current(ly)
Score to a performance by Kevin Thurston
Live, I'd like to say Kevin's work plays with boundaries, but that's much too nice a term. And there is a whole universe of more colorful terms you just haven't heard much since 10th grade... skull-fucks boundaries?
Kevin stirs up a whole mix of presentations, performances and genres to then stir up a whole mix of responses in his viewers -- from engagement, to distnancing, to a general "what the fuck" that takes you a good place.
You may not realize it on first experience, but the kid is rockin' it. Or to keep with the 10th grade terminology, his stuff is tits [on glass].
(Click to enlarge/enjoy)
-thumb.jpg)
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:20 AM
Tequila on my Mind: La Paloma
Intended for mature audiences. Please drink responsibly.
Do you think of Tequila as liquid rage(r)? The inspiration of too many a drunken injury? The prelude to some unearthly illness?
It need not be.
Tequila is made from the blue agave, for chrissakes. Take a look. Not your average distilled bread. This is the liquor most perfectly paired to the Summer -- as scotch is to Winter.
Five or ten years after you latest tequila sickness, you’ll be ready to really taste it. (Until then your body will likely reject the flavor as poison -- it’s some kind of biological reflex. No, really.)
In its refined and aged form, Tequila carries a complex flavor to sip over ice, maybe with a light squeeze of lime. In a less refined form, it makes for a perfect mixer. We all know the margarita, or at least its demon kool-aid cousin you can get at Mexican food restaurant chains. Among my many snobberies is the real margarita v. the kind you get outta a blender.
But today isn’t about margaritas, it is about a carbonated refreshment, with the emphasis on refreshing, that is stirred not shaken. La Paloma. I drink maybe two or three dozen carbonated drinks a year, and this Tequila Soda is all but 4 of them. I think I read about it in the New York Times one day (a vastly under-rated source of drink inspiration).
La Paloma
1. Grab a highball glass.
2. Drop in a health amount of ice.
3. Add about 2 ounces of gold tequila -- about two shots. (Please note Cuervo Gold gets its gold color from food coloring, I hear. I always recommend Sauza Hornitas as a mixing tequila.)
4. Squeeze in the juice from half a lime.
5. Fill with grapefruit soda (like Fresca). OR if you find yourself near a more chi-chi food store, snag a mexican lemon soda -- I think that is where this drink started, below the border.
6. Stir and enjoy, beeetches!
One alternate to try on this one is ye ole salted rim. I go with Kosher Salt. You should have it around for a lot of cooking anyway, and those little “Margarita Salt” things are lame. You can’t go wrong with a salt rim on a tequila and citrus concoction. Or really any citrus-based mix drink -- salty dog, anyone?
Next up in recipes, I’m going to keep with the summer + cali-mexicana theme and talk about my favorite variety of fish taco (don’t knock ‘em till you’ve tried ‘em).
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:10 AM
May 18, 2005
Week 10 Is This Many
Tracey Gaughran-Perez is blowing up. We bring you a couple of her fine fine poems and she's in the Baltimore City Paper this week -- a picture and everything. Add to all that the kick off of Rock n Romp Baltimore this weekend and her ongoing blog barrage -- girl is insane! (Full disclosure: another Gaughran-Perez is not-so-behind the scenes here.)
Also this week: we're sharing one of the best things on the web, and have a little Baltimore reading announcement. Yeah, that other Gaughran-Perez is part of the reading. This is a bit of a Team GP edition.
Up next week: a new installment of 911 Diaries. And hoping to drop our first video joints shortly.
What was were we thinking when we decided this bitch should be weekly? We gotz to get us some more help.
Week 10 Contents
Two Poems from Tracey Gaughran-Perez
Best of the Web: It's a Wookie, Wookie World; and
Upcoming Reading in Baltimore this week, May 20th
Previously on Rock Heals
I Saw Week 9 In Steel with letters to Norm at the Dept. of Homeland Security
Week 8 Stops Making Excuses for Beta with all kinds of poetry from Lauren Bender
And on the 7th Week more Unabomber Haiku and the first edition of This Month in Search
Week 6 Is Habit Forming with another installment of 911 Diaries, a photo from Raji, and a review of Katamari Damacy!
Week 5: Yankees In Last! (But so are the Sox) with a short play from Brian Calandra and a recipe
Week 4: Perdue, the Pope and Bellows. Oh my! with 911 Diaries, Mike Grau, and music from M_GP
Week 3 Waits Patiently for Spring Weather with a comic from John Shanchuk
Week 2 In the Time or Rock Heals with poetry from Justin Sirois; and
Week 1 Where it All Began with poetry from Mark Wallace
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:09 AM
Two Poems
Tracey Gaughran-Perez
By Numbers
Broadly then there are these, networks. Thought is actual, executed by several different parts while remaining actually indivisible. When he’s finally finished the last word on the matter what marks the memory is beyond dispute. What is authorized. Cause in effect we become ourselves later and later what held us commanded more or less than ourselves, always absorbing relevant sociopolitical and private marginalia. A sort of settlement built around the idea and its architecture, a cool, dry place. Comfortable means to end for each and everything allotted, with security and freedom in foresight. But even in precision and ease he cannot hear himself above the floor, ceiling and walls constantly referencing the spacious inclusiveness of design. When two hands meet halfway these bodies, in that gesture, rouse as if from sleep. One following another vertical and horizontal lines stretch out arms into the bright air and want for nothing.
How to Steal or Reinvent
She looks terrified barely visible under water; another flips her fingers in smoke and is kept light. Who wants her and why she is not noticed, these essential things that seem clumsy or awkward will be the better for it or we want to believe so. In momentary lapses her face was pretty if only, mirrors rearranged the unspoken. No, but I meant that in a good way. We eat rice and fish seriously, assume our positions change or are possible. What satisfaction for those chosen at the last, cowboy hats back in a slight twist at the knee, a wash of overwrought color. At this point she’d had just about enough and was looking for new forms, something stationary to pin hope on, but that was years ago. Those were wasted on someone else’s hypotheses and trust before in after; the haloed curtains now drawn against, a shadow folded neatly on carpet.
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:06 AM
Best of the Web: It's a Wookie, Wookie World
Jamie Gaughran-Perez
Every once in a while you come across a something on the webnet that brings all that is good in the world together in one bite-sized serving. Consume, pass along, return to the dreary. Devil Doll and Radiskull. Candystand. Peanut Butter Jelly Time. The Star Wars Kid.
But every once in a while something transcends the ephemera of this fleeting 72 dpi world. Something special that you hold close, even hoard. As I write, I fear the word will get out, bandwidth will be overdrawn, and it will disappear forever. I take this risk for you.
As you prepare to put a little Sith in your step, take the time to stop by the Planet of Wookies I carry in my heart. It starts subtle, but gets better and even better with age. (Without speakers, you are nothing.)
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:04 AM
Reading @ Current (Baltimore), May 20
Friday, May 20th, 8:30 pm
Current Art Space
30 South Calvert, Baltimore
(410) 244-7003
Poetry and other work from:
Kevin Thurston
Jamie Gaughran-Perez
Lauren BenderJustin Sirois
All these people have been involved in these spaces in some form, show the love.
We will.
We will.
Rock you.
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:01 AM
May 11, 2005
I Saw Week 9 In Steel
This week brings letters from concerned citizens to Norm, the man behind the Homeland Security tips line. The same tips line you see referenced on highway signs cruising up and down your interstate of choice. Is Norm a real guy? Rock Heals isn't cleared for that kind of information.
Our first thought is for your safety.
Week 9 Contents
Letters to Norm brought to you by the People's Peaceable Assembly Line
Activity Report VII: You Should Know a Nut
Activity Report X: too quiet, you know; and
Activity Report No. XIV: legostomperfallguy.com
Previously on Rock Heals
Week 8 Stops Making Excuses for Beta with all kinds of poetry from Lauren Bender
And on the 7th Week more Unabomber Haiku and the first edition of This Month in Search
Week 6 Is Habit Forming with another installment of 911 Diaries, a photo from Raji, and a review of Katamari Damacy!
Week 5: Yankees In Last! (But so are the Sox) with a short play from Brian Calandra and a recipe
Week 4: Perdue, the Pope and Bellows. Oh my! with 911 Diaries, Mike Grau, and music from M_GP
Week 3 Waits Patiently for Spring Weather with a comic from John Shanchuk
Week 2 In the Time or Rock Heals with poetry from Justin Sirois; and
Week 1 Where it All Began with poetry from Mark Wallace
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:07 AM
Activity Report No. VII: You Should Know a Nut
Brought to you by The People's Peaceable Assembly Line
Ed. note: What follows are from a series of letters that have been written to Norm, the man behind the Department of Homeland Security's tip line. You are sure to see more of these in the future.
Dear Norm,
I thought you should know, not
that there's anything inherently suspicious, per se,
in such conduct, that there is a round-headed
man with wispy hair standing out there
between the mailbox and the road, with
a wistful, dreamy gleam in his eye,
almost, arguably, the shine of religious fervor,
as though he'd just whetted his evangelical
blade on fresh scripture, consecrating it to blood,
or was a prospective pipe bomber casing the place,
or lying in wait, a disgruntled postal
customer, for the carrier to arrive.
If you should ask him, he will just say
here I am, waiting for a letter from
that cute red-headed girl, but I
have not asked him. I see that he is surely
a nut, intent on orchestrating a great grief.
Please act before it is too late!
Yours, in liberty,
Terrified in America.
++++
< Previously from The People’s Peaceable Assembly Line Next >
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:06 AM
Activity Report No. X: too quiet, you know
Brought to you by The People's Peaceable Assembly Line
Norm, it’s quiet. Too, quiet, you know? The newspapers
are a blanket of snow, silent under the layer of lies,
compressed on the surface by the chill. Too quiet, in
the street, the subways, the lines. I thought hate was loud,
but it makes no more noise than an almond joy, eaten
on the way into the subway. Sometimes you feel
like a nut; sometimes you’re an enemy of the state
getting taken down over nougat and a layer of caramel,
while the citizens who are doing nothing wrong
stride by with their holsters slung low, and tied
above the knee against the quick draw that might be
called for between double mocha amaretto half-caf
and lowfat hazelnut soy chai if somebody (you
know the type) should step out of line at starbucks.
They are doing nothing wrong; they have no fear. . .
but Norm, nobody’s talking, there is only the cash
register and the sound of the frothing wand, now,
each patron eyeing the other’s scalding beverage and
trigger hand, wondering who’s faster, who’s the greater
threat. That woman with the almond joy, that eco-
terrorist breast feeding her mewling brat on the bus,
that blind and diabetic man with the gumdrops; Norm,
we didn’t want them in our militia anyway, take them away.
++++
< Previously from The People’s Peaceable Assembly Line Next >
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:04 AM
Activity Report No. XIV: legostomperfallguy.com
Brought to you by The People's Peaceable Assembly Line
dear norm:
right about the time I thought of
"fall guy" episode reenactments
with legos and stompers,
i've pretty much felt suspicious
of myself norm.
heather locklear norm. lee majors, norm.
solving crimes, loving ladies, and
doing stunts.
together
in a hot tub norm.
and they could be on the internet
as finest of digital conversion technologies
free me to store and edit video and to post it
and the finest in talking giraffe technology
can sell me the legos
surely their are internet toads
who traffic in stompers (no pun intended, norm).
i'd film them in stop-motion, norm
exhausting scene by scene reconstructions
i would attain the scripts norm.
then all the world could live, or relive, it
believe, norm.
bored people in offices would swoon
and send links to all their bored friends in other offices
and soon there would be www.legostomper.com, norm
and knockoff websites like www.legostompers.com
and i'll sell the movie rights
and i'll be rich! i'll be rich!
stompers will rise again, norm.
please dispatch thought control blimp expeditiously.
ASP
++++
Next from The People’s Peaceable Assembly Line >
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:01 AM
May 04, 2005
Week 8 Stops Making Excuses for Beta
One may feel a certain bias to Baltimore poets running through this here periodical. But we assure you, that is not the case!
Event still Week 8 is all Lauren Bender, all poetry and all wonderful. She's great on the page and great in person. Go Lauren, go. Make Charm City Proud.
(Thanks to Amsterdam, John, Justin, Mike, Ravi, Pengo and Tres for there contributions to our cover)
Week 8 Contents
all Poetry From Lauren Bender
New Car Jacking Scheme
This Ain't No Damn Bingo! Shoot.
Water Weight; and
a certain trauma encoded in a time of year
Previously on Rock Heals
And on the 7th Week more Unabomber Haiku and the first edition of This Month in Search
Week 6 Is Habit Forming with another installment of 911 Diaries, a photo from Raji, and a review of Katamari Damacy!
Week 5: Yankees In Last! (But so are the Sox) with a short play from Brian Calandra and a recipe
Week 4: Perdue, the Pope and Bellows. Oh my! with 911 Diaries, Mike Grau, and music from M_GP
Week 3 Waits Patiently for Spring Weather with a comic from John Shanchuk
Week 2 In the Time or Rock Heals with poetry from Justin Sirois; and
Week 1 Where it All Began with poetry from Mark Wallace
Posted by Rock Heals at 01:00 AM
New Car Jacking Scheme
Lauren Bender
Imagine:
You walk across the parking lot, unlock Your
car and get inside. Then You lock all your doors,
start the engine and shift into REVERSE.
Habit!
You look into the rear-view window to back out of Your parking space and You notice a piece of paper, some sort of advertisement stuck to Your rear window. So, You shift into PARK, unlock Your doors and jump out of Your vehicle to remove that paper (or whatever it is) that is obstructing Your view…when You reach the back of your car, that is when The Car-Jackers jump out of nowhere…jump into Your car and take off—Your engine was running, Your purse is in the car, and They practically mow You down as they speed off in Your car.
BE AWARE OF THIS NEW SCHEME
Just drive away and remove the paper that is stuck to Your window later...and be thankful that You read this and that You forwarded it to Your Friends.
More in Week 8
all poetry from Lauren Bender
This Ain't No Damn Bingo! Shoot.
Water Weight; and
a certain trauma encoded in a time of year
Previously on Rock Heals
And on the 7th Week more Unabomber Haiku and the first edition of This Month in Search
Week 6 Is Habit Forming with another installment of 911 Diaries, a photo from Raji, and a review of Katamari Damacy!
Week 5: Yankees In Last! (But so are the Sox) with a short play from Brian Calandra and a recipe
Week 4: Perdue, the Pope and Bellows. Oh my! with 911 Diaries, Mike Grau, and music from M_GP
Week 3 Waits Patiently for Spring Weather with a comic from John Shanchuk
Week 2 In the Time or Rock Heals with poetry from Justin Sirois; and
Week 1 Where it All Began with poetry from Mark Wallace
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:50 AM
This Ain’t No Damn Bingo! Shoot.
Lauren Bender
You stay here and I’ll go think about guns
Or duotone, or vegan mullets
Bring aspartame back for the children
Dump pillowcase booty onto living room floor and inspect for myth.
Couldn’t see my French Canadian for the fiberoptic trees
“he grabbed my hand, and 20 minutes later…”
Tea over a spit, the eucalyptic accompaniment
Open your eyes
I’m dreaming maps and spent drawings
Open your eyes
Meet up in the barrio
Open your eyes
Wake up in the ruins outside Mexico City
How did your boots get so dusty
How much does an I-Book cost
How does everything man owns fit into a 6x4 storage unit
Jack, your wife’s organ is missing
Jack, this poem is channeling nothing but a hangnail in my drunken country
10 signs you’re naively apathetic:
Jack, you’re as swayed as his new field jacket and just as inauthentic
Swigged yourself to death one starry evening
Shot as much as a carpenter can afford
Quoted yourself right down the information superhighway
Sidewalk chalk for her intellectual graffiti
I’m so excited and I just can’t hide it
Friends + 2,
Harborside view,
How did your boots get so dusty
More in Week 8
all poetry from Lauren Bender
New Car Jacking Scheme
Water Weight; and
a certain trauma encoded in a time of year
Previously on Rock Heals
And on the 7th Week more Unabomber Haiku and the first edition of This Month in Search
Week 6 Is Habit Forming with another installment of 911 Diaries, a photo from Raji, and a review of Katamari Damacy!
Week 5: Yankees In Last! (But so are the Sox) with a short play from Brian Calandra and a recipe
Week 4: Perdue, the Pope and Bellows. Oh my! with 911 Diaries, Mike Grau, and music from M_GP
Week 3 Waits Patiently for Spring Weather with a comic from John Shanchuk
Week 2 In the Time or Rock Heals with poetry from Justin Sirois; and
Week 1 Where it All Began with poetry from Mark Wallace
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:40 AM
Water Weight
Lauren Bender
i before e except
your middle names are obligation enough
to get the hell out of dodge
to get the hell off of the PA line
box full of wishes
box full of ashes
song on the radio
sung in the cemetery
if could do it all again
would do it just the same
the soggy cereal serial, “surreal?”
late for every funeral in the pouring rain
brown jacket
brown tie
brown sweater
brown tites
fish tank
travel magazines
1. the taj mahal is symmetric and best viewed in early morning
2. “take care now,” said the gravedigger
More in Week 8
all poetry from Lauren Bender
New Car Jacking Scheme
This Ain't No Damn Bingo! Shoot.; and
a certain trauma encoded in a time of year
Previously on Rock Heals
And on the 7th Week more Unabomber Haiku and the first edition of This Month in Search
Week 6 Is Habit Forming with another installment of 911 Diaries, a photo from Raji, and a review of Katamari Damacy!
Week 5: Yankees In Last! (But so are the Sox) with a short play from Brian Calandra and a recipe
Week 4: Perdue, the Pope and Bellows. Oh my! with 911 Diaries, Mike Grau, and music from M_GP
Week 3 Waits Patiently for Spring Weather with a comic from John Shanchuk
Week 2 In the Time or Rock Heals with poetry from Justin Sirois; and
Week 1 Where it All Began with poetry from Mark Wallace
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:20 AM
a certain trauma encoded in a time of year
Lauren Bender
a certain trauma encoded in a time of year
to perceive it
collect longitudinal data in sensitive faces over time
chart the overanalytic empathy
while looking for
a country code
an anonymous yearbook
a moving image inverted by its pinhole painter
vs.
some measure of anniversary in the round
vs.
57 or 65 hours without sleep
More in Week 8
all poetry from Lauren Bender
New Car Jacking Scheme
This Ain't No Damn Bingo! Shoot.; and
Water Weight
Previously on Rock Heals
And on the 7th Week more Unabomber Haiku and the first edition of This Month in Search
Week 6 Is Habit Forming with another installment of 911 Diaries, a photo from Raji, and a review of Katamari Damacy!
Week 5: Yankees In Last! (But so are the Sox) with a short play from Brian Calandra and a recipe
Week 4: Perdue, the Pope and Bellows. Oh my! with 911 Diaries, Mike Grau, and music from M_GP
Week 3 Waits Patiently for Spring Weather with a comic from John Shanchuk
Week 2 In the Time or Rock Heals with poetry from Justin Sirois; and
Week 1 Where it All Began with poetry from Mark Wallace
Posted by Rock Heals at 12:10 AM
