Bigger Bullshit?: Band Breakups or Celeb Marriages

there are at least two deadly  or "til death" rites that groups put themselves though which aren't necessary and probably won't last: marriages, especially celebrity marriages, and famous band breakups. why the hell  are these two events such major  news? how often do celebs marry then divorce in  an average of what, 2 years tops? how many times do bands "break up" only to reunite for that "one last tour"? 


of course it's a lot of  economics. power celebs get together to make power couples to increase their income, gain more notoriety, enhance their careers etc. eventually  they realize how ridiculous marriage is for them: their schedules, traveling, possibilities with infidelities etc, they move one.


 bands break up to again increase their notoriety, increase their sales.   they  reunite several times to give that tour and increase the price that concert goers somehow want to pay, long after the band has reached their peak live. they stay apart until it's lucrative enough to re form. would you be surprised if the whole deal is planned? 


 what the state should do is legalize betting on every detail of  these breaks   like Vegas does for the Super Bowl. you can bet about anything relating to the break ups and band reunites.


 from when,  where the next tour will open,  will they make a lame inconsequential album, how long will they stay together before the "next break up". 


for celebs: will they  "marry" again (usually to other people). did the couple cheat on each other (Hopefully with other celebs), ,who will be their next hook ups, (again hopefully other celebs).


now if we're talking fictional bullshit, again related to death: there's the death of a comic book character. see how long that one lasts (Superman, Captain America, Electra, Green Arrow etc.) again again notoriety, sales, and you know they're not really going to kill off a character that sells. 

Empty Sky: World Trade Center tribute

for better or worse, I didn't personally know anyone who died in the World Trade Center towers. I was living in NYC at the time of the collapse and a lot of us had "friends of friends" that did unfortunately perish. But again personally I didn't know anyone who died there. I did however mourn their loss a good deal, especially around the time of the tragedy: the 6 month anniversary, 1 year later  etc. 


However I did personally know and love the Trade Center itself. SInce I was young it was a center of interest for a kid like me. it was the location of the  ultimate scene of a King Kong flick back then. also it was a theatre for the famous "HUman Fly": George Willig, who scaled the side of a tower and was fined $1.10, a penny for every floor.


 Whenever my family made a trip near NYC, I loved to see the skyline from wherever you could see it, no matter the distance. I  loved to visit the towers, see the views, learn about them. 


Years later I was to become an actual  tour guide in NYC, where I  passed by and noted the towers regularly to everyone I could. Over the years and mainly because of the job, I learned more about them, and the great achievements that they went through:  human achievement, technological, architectural etc:

• the Center was a city within itself, where up to around 50,000 people would be employed on weekdays. . How many cities around the world don't have nearly that many people living within them? And the greatest fear that I and many had on the infamous Sept 11 was that so many more would be dead since the Center could hold so many. Not to belittle those that were killed, but it seems like a great miracle to me that the toll was relatively low. 
• an incredible 200,000 visitors per day on average. 
• It was literally on top of the one of the greatest financial centers in the world. A soaring symbol of capitalism, architecture, achievement and more. 
• It was possibly  the location of the  site of  furthest viewing in the world: on a very clear day, one could see around 55 miles away. Possibly 2 states away to Penn. An incredible view: I don't think even mountains like Everest boast that far a look. 
• the most stories of any building for decades: 110
• tallest building in the world when it was first built: over 1300 feet tall. 
• from what I read, highest inhabitable floors of any building for decades, higher than Sears
• one of the most beautiful restaurants in a city with some of the most beautiful restaurants on Earth: Windows on hte World. highest grossing restaurant in U.S. 
• one of, if not the largest office complex on Earth
• quarter mile height, 1 acre of space per floor, in the 70s.  had it' own zip code. 
• huge amount of construction, excavation, material which was used to actually build a whole new neighborhood: Battery Park City
• housing some of the great architectural influence of Le Courbusier and Yamasaki. 

When someone or something passes from me that was close to me, I like to note a lot of the positive  aspects that it had when alive. To me, the Center was very much alive from when I was a child up through its death, and that's why I have written about it. Please do not assume that because I am writing about steel and frame, that I elevate it above the souls of those that died then. If I had a choice, I would have the lives of all of those who perished saved, with  the towers falling down. But I think that we could mourn the loss of both. 

Souls, Ancestors, the Season etc

world's best mausoleum

this time of year  obviously there's more darkness. we're past Equinox where the Equator  lines up with the Sun, and the Southern hemisphere is getting more Sun, us less. so this brings on Halloween. it roughly  marks the half way point between Equinox and Solstice, sort of the begin. of the darkest days of year, hence belief in the supernatural, the "other world" active and  coming to Earth, but also spirituall belief in contact respect, thanks etc for ancestral spirits. this continues on to the Solstice (Xmas etc). 


as usual with original Pagan holidays, the Christians "adopted' the holiday, probably couldn't and can't stamp it out, and turned it into their "all saints, souls" or whatever. thankfully it's survived as Halloween but of course much of the commercial  superficial aspects survive, less the spiritual with US (this is one case where our "invading' friends from down south, Mexicans, can help us maybe in learning to pay more respect to passed loved ones etc.)


as many of you know, i think there should be times to celebrate, remember, give thanks etc to our passed loved ones, and this is a major time for such practice, with the dark days, spend. time  indoors, spending the holidays  unfortunately without them.  i think it  should be a time to remember them, welcome them back to our souls (or minds at least). small sacrifice, small energies, large thanks, large respect. 

Black Fruits

sounds like a special in a Chelsea buck house haha


today was in a NYC public sitting area, at Worldwide plaza. top 20 tallest in NY, duly noted. this one building actually has TWO Starbucks open  for the public, on street sides. used to have this cheapo cinema there for 3 bucks in the early 2000s, flicks and crowds of such trash   that even a poverty- stricken fuck  like me didn't go after a while.


 so was saying good bye to the blue sky. sunny Autumnal  day like Sept 11.  looking at the trees for nice  sturdy  branches and all. 


last night i finished that flick the “Good’" Girl.   don’t know why  "Good'  wasn’t in quotes, since i think it was supposed to be  ironic. this bitch tried to kill her lover, ratted him out where he later killed himself,  had his kid and had it raised by her husband amongst other sins. Of course it was played by Jennifer Anison, “American's sweethaeart’ (again note the quotes),   and she was a cute young  white woman, so i guess she was good ultimately, right?  

Anyway she  tried to kill her "love” (quotes again) with these supposedly rancid black berries. of course later in the decade (film was from 2002),   blackberry abuse was when you used your ostentatious phone too fucking much. but in the flick, literal death by blackberry.  i also thought  of MASH (the flick) when Painless wanted to kill himself for, of all things 70s, believing himself to be gay,  and the good doctors ceremoniously endow upon  him a placebo “black capsule’ (song, suicide  is painless) at his Last Supper.


  not  painless today, and after the trees, looked down,  and  at my sinister foot was a big black berry. looked up in the sheltering tree above me and there were no more. a tree of knowledge?  had to look at it,   give it some thought. had to. But was off after a while, and actually, really,   accidentally stepped on the it while i was turning to leave. 

Funeral Industrial Complex

how much? 

Now a lot of you know about my rants against the way- out -of -proportion costs of weddings. And many of you know that me and my family actually admit that funerals are often enjoyable (mini reunions, good thoughts of the deceased, get to dress up and socialize, catered meal etc). However, again, seemingly ridiculous  ritualistic costs: 

• the frigging casket: how much do these goddamn loads cost? A box of wood that you see for how long? (even shorter if you have an American flag draped, and if there's a cremation). Beautiful objects but worth that money? Not unless you're Tutankhamen maybe and the world sees it for thousands of years. 
• graveyards: like golf courses: seem like huge wastes of money for a middle/upper class taking up  lovely natural  areas. But you have to realize, not to be disrespectful,   it's really a field   of rotting corpses. And summing up ones life on  a yard by yard slab of rock? Insulting almost. 
• flowers: isn't it bad enough that  a loved one is dead, that we need  to then cut down beautiful living breathing helpful plants in the prime of their lives? 
• cremations, hearses, catered meals, funeral homes, houses of worship, ministers/priests etc, flights, yikes! 

Yes i know we want to deck the halls for our loved ones, but they're not even alert enough to enjoy it all! 

Remembering the Passing of a Former Friend

who died on this day, not long before I left L.A.. she lived next to me  for a couple of years. nice, smart, good sense of humor, not very old. but unfortunately unhealthy, overweight, seemingly isolated. didn't get exercise, drove everywhere, may have smoked, didn't clean much.

in truth i really didn't know much about her. i thought i overheard her once, talking to some one on the phone, saying that she wasn't happy, didn't know what to do. of course hotlines (if that's what it was) are often a desperate resort. this is one of those times you look back: you wish you could have done more.

and that includes her end: she fell sick, was even more immobile. i think a friend was coming over to help. i remember one time though that she didn't seem to have water on a very hot summer L.A. day so i got her some. then  i went to the desert, to my job, soon after. i came back and she was deceased. i wondered what happened, if she gave up, didn't take care etc.

as usual i try to learn from passings of others. and wish there was more, to do, for her etc. hope for better in future.

Irish Parents Beyond Good and Evil?

as I've said, my family seems to have maybe an Irish way about them where some of the worst tragedies for most folks in life are enjoyed, and often the enjoyments that most folks have in life are analyzed, critically. and my parents wonder why I'M a critic often.

so as for the good times: wakes: we seem like the only people to admit to enjoying them. and not just stereotypical Irish ones with drinking, singing, dancing. but almost all wakes, because let's face it, as we age it's the most likely place to have a face to face reunion. our family would come back from one and say in truth "we had a good time". of course it's all appropriate: my namesake itself is most famous in Joyce's Finnegans Wake, a name taken from a comic Irish song about having a good crack (Irish lingo: good time) at Finnegan's wake. by the way my friends used to think i was inappropriate at wakes but then they would have a blast. and of course never give me credit for being right.

my mother goes further: in getting the NY Times, the first section she would always go to: obituaries. and she wasn't looking for rent controlled apartments in Manhattan. she was actually ahead of the trend: she was enjoying the concise biography before the late 90s when they were so in vogue: Behind the Music, A and E Biography, E true Hollywood story. she also loved a good cemetery like at Sleepy hollow.

so the good stuff: wakes, obituaries, cemeteries. next, the bad stuff: girlfriends, comedy, personal enjoyment

the Mother of Blogs: Explanation

my mother has been quite sick for some years and it's hard to tell how much longer she has left with us, which is why i may be writing quite a lot about her now and for the near future.

partially i want to give tribute to her while she's still here: think of how many people, even the most famous and accomplished, are feted after they're gone, almost seems disrespectful in itself like you ignored them while they lived and now are talking behind their backs (or above their graves) when they're gone.

i especially want to do this because she had a stroke and memory for her is difficult. also i really do want to prepare for that fateful day when she does have to pass as we all do. i want to make sure that the best of her is memorialized and expressed at that time especially.

In Memory of...

don't mean to sound obsessive about good old/bad old death, although it kind of runs in my family (my mother loves obituaries, graveyards--i agree with that one. though we always gave it all a bit of levity too--where they're from, Scranton penn, the funeral home was the "corpse house', and you admitted to having a "good time" at a wake, seeing old friends etc. yes you can throw in some Irish jokes here if u want.

anyway we all know that i do a lot of blah blah writing and all, so i hope i put it to good use when a loved one dies, i do like to write a eulogy. remembering good times we had, good parts to that person, achievements, etc. think it's fitting to really remember them, the good, get it written and give it to those closer to the person as a good remembrance. a token of appreciation of the person.

it also serves the future. as i've mentioned im loyal to loved ones' birthdays, and also death days, the day that one passed on. on that day or near it, i think it again fitting to remember them as mentioned above, and the eulogy is a good program to go by. a good memory, a good time to give reverence, respect etc. i don't think that going to a graveyard is important (except for fun haha), i think more that the time, efforts, memories, thoughtfulness to the person is the real importance.

Dead March

pretty soon after i reached adulthood (I sound like a tad pole) i noticed that a lot of my loved ones that passed did so in March (yes i pay attention to death days, like i pay attention to birthdays). all men i think except a female cat. around that time i read in the NY Times Science that i think psychologists had done a study where they saw that a lot of folks died in Spring, as the deceased saw a new natural year coming up and were able to endure. understandable of course for the sick, old etc.

seems to happen at end/beginning of other eras: remember last year, 2009, how many celebrities died, the year right before a new decade began?

then it seems that there are others that hang on just long enough and pass. . when certain people who should have died well before they did like Bob Hope and Sinatra, but they hung on til 100 and 80.

im the type who's usually the last at the party since my obsessive compulsiveness makes me hang around "just in case something happens." which seems like why i'll live til at least 2012 haha.

The Importance of Birthdays

a place a great deal of importance on them, both mine and my loved ones'. some think an inappropriate amount. i tend to disagree: i pretty much place myself at the person's calling, go wherever they want to go, do what they want etc. it's their one day of the year to get what they want, so i go the extra effort. then i set myself up for failure: i expect the same in return, pretty much never get it. have to remember that more when their days come around.

lately i've seen even more the important time that birthdays are. a friend of mine passed recently, pretty young, very unexpected. so a bunch of my old friends gathered for the service. now last and this year, a bunch of the same people had big birthdays, you know, numbers with zero at the end (won't be more specific). and a few of these guys didn't really have anything in celebration etc. (for the record, i contacted them all and again placed myself at their command).

so we didn't see each other for a big milestone of an age, an achievement, but where did we see each other? at a funeral service. and i guess that's the way it'll be from now forward. not seeing each other for life, but at times of death when there's at least one less of us. guess it tells you, the death of past friendships and the way it was. maybe this is just passing experience, but i doubt it unfortunately.

Life, After Death?

seems like most religions and peoples believe in the afterlife, life after death etc, yet the people attempting to go there quicker, by their own ambitions, in other words suicides, are often maligned. their loved ones very often deny it and find every reason other than suicide are often seen as idiots, insane, cowards, lost, etc.

the truth is, what happens after death is unknown, and since humans tend to fear the unknown more than anything else, it is probably the greatest mystery. the truth is that in the hearts of our minds, , as far as anyone really knows, we have one life to live (a soap opera with a philosophical name, who'd have thought it).

and we of course have a primal, instinctual, reflexive, automatic action to preserve our own life, if we ever can't breathe, if someone or something is greatly threatening it, etc.

and as bad as it could be, thru hard times, awful environment, situations, etc, this is the one chance we may we have to have the greatest gift we're given. for without life, we can't have children, achieve, love etc. nothing is possible without life .