We went to see the Firesign Theatre near San Jose last night — if you're wishing you could have seen them too, you're in luck, they're putting on a free webcast of their show tonight! You'll find the link on their home page.
I used to worship their records in the 60s and early 70s, listening to them on stereo earphones over and over. Many of their pieces, notably We're All Bozos On This Bus, are great science-fiction, and indeed the boys exerted quite a strong influence on my style, extending even to this day. I share their interest in being funny and serious at the same time. Satire.
Seeing them at this late date is a bit melancholy — the nostalgia thing — but they were in good voice, and seemed as cantankerously lively as ever. One funny bit, Phil Austin pretends to be a minister reading a passage out of the bible, gibberish about moss and “their hearts were not gay,” and he says, “What does this mean? [pause] Nothing.”
I noticed that they've toned down their political incorrectness a bit. They did go after the Chimp — yet somehow it seems harder to laugh about Iraq than it was to laugh about Nam. Well, I'm old now, and not draftable, and don't have that same giddy gallows humor.
Re. the audience, I've never seen so many former hippies in one place. All the same people that I used to see, like, at the Fillmore East thirty-five years ago. Dear friends.
To an external observor, it might look as if I'm rather idle. Just blogging, walking in the hills and hanging out in coffee shops. Wouldn't my energies be better spent in remodeling my house?
Naw, this is a high-volume content-production facility here! Check out the sample cover (may still be revised) for The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul.
February 4th, 2005 at 9:42 am
i really like the cover! i just got Infinity and the Mind for my birthday and am really looking forward to reading it, too.
February 4th, 2005 at 10:20 am
Glad you liked the show, Rudy! Are you coming on chat tonight during the San Rafael show? Last night’s chat was a lot of fun…
February 5th, 2005 at 6:43 am
Its hard to imagine that someone that hangs out in, and even write book that take place in, Santa Cruz could go somewhere were he was surprised by the number of hippies he encounters. That’s a lot of hippies.
February 5th, 2005 at 3:20 pm
Geek,
Its cool that you have your PC desktop laid out in a completely non-standard way. Actually, I’m surprised you don’t have an Apple. I sat at the same table in front of that same window today with four geek friends. One that works at Apple, and is a jazz guitarist, and another that works at Microsoft and is a serious photographer, visiting from Seattle — he says he is going to get a Mac; one that is semi-retired, a neighbor of yours I suspect, who is pursuing his art through developing interactive DVDs; the last has left the software field for professional photography. All the good software engineers are artists at heart.
Strangely, your blog was the last thing I read on my computer this morning and when I came back home, I realized I had just come from where the picture on my computer is showing. So suddenly, I feel like you were at the table also and I thought you would like to know what we talked about.
r.s.
November 16th, 2006 at 6:33 pm
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