ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Sep 11, 2011, 5:30 am
On the subject of 9/11, I have little to say, save that I notice an elderly man across the street has planted American flags in his window. One large flag taped to the centre pane, two smaller ones either side. The wound is too raw, even ten years on, the ceiling torn away so toweringly iconic, that...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Sep 10, 2011, 6:17 am
I could not listen for the scraping retort.The Cackling; Hooting; the explosive Guffaw, Ears burning, pricked by stitching, Even the word 'Nipple' Arousing raw heights of inanity, Spittled lips puckered Wetly in rows, front and back, The spotlight trained on tired, spotted flesh, Sticking at the ...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Sep 6, 2011, 1:25 pm
Oscar Wilde • Brendan Behan • Sean O'Casey • George Bernard Shaw • Samuel Beckett • Eugene O'Neill • Edna O'Brien • Lawrence Stern • Sean Kavanaugh • Sean McCann • Benedict Keilly • Jimmy Hiney • Frank O'Connor • Catherine Rhine • Russell Hoban • Charles Bukowski • W...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Sep 4, 2011, 11:06 am
photograph by robert altman. "It was cheap; cheap; cheap-uh," squealed Jonathan Richman at the age of 41, moved by the vaguely unclean spirit of Bubba-Ho-Tep. Mo Diddley. Blue Mask era Lewis Reed as dessicated hip priest. "Nowadays I hear the rents are steep." I fell back on the futon, feigning a h...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Aug 31, 2011, 1:56 pm
The rain threatened, a sickly purple glowering, and I was listening again to some Charles - Bukowski not Ray - while my wife dressed the baby between coffees. '90 Minutes in Hell', via Nothin' in Sacramento. Three short damaged pieces. I did not get so far as 'May Make Paris Yet'. The readings a...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Aug 28, 2011, 11:07 am
The last I looked, Manhattan was Joe Bataaning down the hatches in preparation for the worst. All along the financial district, while the last revelers refused to vacate Times Square even as the tourists were being flushed north. Within an inch of Harlem. Irene, Irene. Turbule...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Aug 24, 2011, 4:44 am
Incoming. It had all the ingredients of some kind of coup d'état. What began with an 8:30 AM jaunt to the labour exchange - "wash n' go", the knives safely locked away for sharpening - saw me madly waving in the coordinates for an air strike less than one hour later.
...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Aug 21, 2011, 10:53 am
photograph by james joern. It was vaguely my intention, late into last week, to bring Alice Coltrane onto the bleachers. To dispel all notion of Yoko to her John. I don't know. Dizzy psychotropic laments. Meandering astral flights in the footsteps of pharaohs, priests. Instead, ...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Aug 18, 2011, 2:58 pm
leonaert bramer, circa 1630. Good things, it is said, come to those who wait. In my experience, it is more often a case of the postman's second knock. A bum rap. Seldom - if at all - a welcome intrusion. Chinaski in tissue overshoes. And puddles on the stairs. ...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Aug 13, 2011, 3:59 pm
tottenham high road. after Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes. ▼ WIRE: REUTERS from "Pink Flag" LP (Harvest EMI) 1977 (UK)
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Aug 12, 2011, 4:05 pm
montage by ib. While the bleachers blistered through July into the beginning of August, it was never going to get hot enough to legitimately demand intensive care. The contrast of just a few degrees makes all the difference. I largely avoided commentary on the London riots beca...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Aug 11, 2011, 5:35 am
photograph: the old kichen window, and others, by rosa b. Me and the grape appear to have come to a parting of the ways. Whether we are finished, or whether he is merely on holiday, is cause for some debate. A sobering thought. Either way, our rules of engagement - ...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Aug 8, 2011, 9:50 am
milo, by rosa b.
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Aug 6, 2011, 6:07 am
the gorbals, 2008. photographs by rosa b. Of course, this is not the first that I have pried up the corners of anonymity. Cautiously. An ill advised act of self sabotage, I am inclined to believe. The faint waft of marzipan. Imagined sulfur. The forensic evidence - provided by my now wife - is of...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jul 14, 2011, 8:54 am
The legacy of the British Broadcasting Corporation as laudable custodian of culture is something of a poisoned chalice. Ever financially accountable to its board of governors, and - by extension of its reliance on a mandatory license fee - the public purse, its historic policy of erasing tapes of si...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jul 12, 2011, 5:03 pm
I once owned a denim waistcoat. Indigo Blue, running thru Petrol, a real cheap shit affair. My balls had not dropped, which was probably just as swell, The pockets were fake as silicon valley runarounds, rebounds, No place to put 'em in a pinch Or file them away like insurance Returns. I mention...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jun 30, 2011, 10:32 am
Well, you know, contrary to certain misinformed rumblings - if there ever were any - I have yet to be abducted by malign forces; farces; filtered sprites. Lurking in the dim end of the spectrum. Nor am I susceptible to summary, spontaneous levitations. I mention this in passing, merely. Not that I...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jun 28, 2011, 11:27 am
Farther calibrating The Fall's stammering decline into the jaws of August. The last gasp of summer, before it has properly commenced. Paper Cut by Hans Christian Andersen. Uncovered here. ▼ THE FALL: WEATHER REPORT 2 from "Your Future Our Clutter" CD + LP (Domino Records) 2010 (UK)
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jun 24, 2011, 6:25 am
Three Corners #1: Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Tony Rice Authentic Deep Pan #2:Miles Davis ▼ JERRY GARCIA, DAVID GRISMAN, TONY RICE: SHADY JAM from "The Pizza Tapes" CD (Acoustic Disc) 2000 (US)▼ JERRY GARCIA, DAVID GRISMAN, TONY RICE: SO WHAT from "The Pizza Tapes" CD (Acoustic Disc) 2000 (US)
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jun 9, 2011, 12:11 pm
I picked up two books from the 2nd hand store. Kinky Friedman; Early Dashiell Hammett. A zippered jacket for Milo with embroidered dogs. It is much too big for him, Still. Of the two exercises in Running to Seed, I prefer the Hammett. Hard Spined. Hard Boiled. Not quited there yet, Flawed, bett...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jun 8, 2011, 12:20 pm
bagpipe |ˌbagpʌip | noun (usu. bagpipes) The bagpipe is a wind instrument used among the ancient Greeks but is known as a Scottish and Irish instrument. Source: Foster, Ellsworth D. The American Educator (Chicago: Ralph Durham Company, 1921) Had viral collagists, God Speed You! Black Emperor occup...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jun 6, 2011, 4:12 pm
A couple of days ago, I was deliberating on the apparent demise of certain voices. Some articulate pockets of resistance. Querulous individuality. "The curious vilage of Blog houses a fragile temple. Twatter made a dent on it. Bookface corroded its foundation," I wrote. Of course, that is only part...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jun 6, 2011, 10:24 am
As I mentioned by way of aside, our recently expanded family of six chanced upon some volunteers and practitioners of Falun Gong in the park. Actually, there were seven of us. Less than magnificent. Enticed there by the spectacle of carnival atmosphere, our minor logistical nightmare was all but dev...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jun 4, 2011, 7:21 am
  Now. It is my assumption that the following 2'57" is not some veiled reference to NASA fueled excesses over the plains of New Mexico. Or covert cold war dramas outrunning missiles over Soviet air space. Tearing the back seat out of the sound barrier. This, despite dandified drummer Steve Tindal...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jun 1, 2011, 7:18 pm
Albrecht Dürer ices Huffs of breath. Bandanas shiver, Pimple at 2:00 AM. Between the kitchen and this porch, Refrigerator motors idle.ib 'The Knight, The Devil and Death'Written and produced byCraig Leon; Mark E. Smith; Simon Rogers. Note: the version subsequently compiled on 'Sinister Waltz' ...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - May 30, 2011, 1:29 pm
Nothing solid is made out of wood any more, The heart of it is sandwiched pulp, Shavings, glue, Pressed cardboard, The planed edges Curling like veneers over long teeth, horns... Peeling. Yellow. Clipped. For all that, it seemed quite flawless, Hunkered down, On all Fours in the 2nd hand shop. A goo...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Apr 3, 2011, 5:57 pm
The revolution is not so much on pause, as riven by incertitude. The click track - you may have observed - has fallen foul of synchronization: Stalling; Steiner, and Bradley. As unreliable as Ukrainian trains. Between Kiev and October. Burrowing under creaking autonomous sod. Moles. Metro gnomes....
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Feb 17, 2011, 1:36 pm
My wife seized the wheel of the skillet, I took the stool and nursed a glass of wine. " You like risotto ?" she asked. "I don't mind paella," I said. "It's the same thing, without the seafood," she went on. I took a sip. "Well. I don't care for anything with peas throught it." "That's right," ...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Feb 15, 2011, 10:29 am
>  who are the brain police ? "When I was a little kid, and I was going to East High in Cleveland - my dad had died in '49, and my mom and I were living there - I cut school one morning and I went to, I think it was Halle Brothers, down in the public terminal, the Cleveland Terminal Tower. And Joh...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Feb 11, 2011, 7:34 am
Or. Tracking the ongoing ballad of a part time rating agency assistant. "Köpek ürür, kervan yürür." In Turkish. "ha kla-vim novchim, v'ha-shayarah o-veret." In Hebrew. "Wot ? Wot ? Wot ?" Nathan NØ. Have mouse, will travel. "But what has been entrusted to one's care one does not laugh at; ...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jan 22, 2011, 11:03 am
tom of finland, 1978 / collage, 2011. Or, "the safe surfing tool for every member of your family". The web of trust is rusty; the moral majority has sprung a leak. A few years ago, I was tinkering with Mozilla - Firefox, to be exact - when I fell to perusing their list of recommended addons. Now, ...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jan 20, 2011, 4:12 pm
"Bounce and Rhyme," the handbill reads, "FREE for Babies under Three!" So we bring ours. We arrive at the library ten minutes late, The Reading Room filled with noise, Cleared of books, Smoke, An ocean of mothers cross legged on turquoise carpet, Gurgling parcels Dangled in velour lap. Thank go...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jan 16, 2011, 4:03 pm
The piano may not have been drinking, but I have; to a civilized degree. Purloined from the original German, here; the root and trace of it seeded from a sugarmegs microdot of a torrent sown, originally, in 2006. With supporting observations from John French. A roll of the dime. As invited within t...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jan 15, 2011, 2:37 pm
Gustave Doré, 1886.  In a good mood, then, I leave my wife dawdling over the pram in the more sanitary side of town and duck into the supermarket. Our sage bag of tricks has piled on one and a half lbs in the course of one spare week. Something less by metric alchemy. I do not find what I am look...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jan 12, 2011, 12:58 pm
Christmas Trees have taken over our Pavements, Creeping out under cover of Darkness, Flood Warnings, Dragged out out of  bed to sober  Up, unwanted guests. By morning they have Succumbed to frostbite. Shedding needles like so many Fingers. Toes. Walking back from the brink of Shrivelling, we ste...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jan 10, 2011, 8:01 am
There was a time when all was word, from font of crackling spindle Searing Moses ear, to Albert James Freed on the AM dial. Before that too, the coiled copper wire of the fallen, whispering for Adam. Serpents. Rose seeds. Unplumbed wormholes in the garden. The nature of the word is virus. Binary. Hy...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jan 8, 2011, 5:03 pm
..."La Fleur De Barbe" is not among those eight recordings of Dubuffet's reissued by İlhan Mimaroğlu on "Musical Experiences" (Finnadar SR 9002). Certainly, it hails from those original pieces recorded by Dubuffet - in collaboration with Danish painter and ally, Asger Jorn - between Dece...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jan 8, 2011, 9:14 am
"Bowery Bum (May 1964) is the piece that occasioned my association with Dubuffet and opened the way to my discovery of his own extraordinary music (of which I eventually made a first commercial edition on Finnadar SR 9002). The visual impetus of the Dubuffet drawing, one of his Bowery Bums, sug...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jan 5, 2011, 6:21 pm
This post has been amended, pending investigation into possible po-facedness. Sleep. No, not the recumbent John Giorno from Warhol's 321 minute anti-film - premiering to nine people in total in a Manhattan loft on January 17th, 1964, two of whom fled within its first hour - but the absence of it. Th...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jan 4, 2011, 9:43 am
Antonio Prohías, 1961. "A Ha to Doctor Johnson Said Scipio Africanus Lift up my Roman Petticoat and kiss my *@!$! Anus" - William Blake, Complete. The following (quoted) piece first appeared the day preceding Hogmanay; under a different badge. I promptly reset it to draft, given my alarmism seeme...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Jan 3, 2011, 9:29 am
Of all those odd jumbles of vowels my son brings with him to the world - the gurgles; yelps; indian war whoops - broken consonants, riddles, squawks, the strangest by far is that piercing screech; a squeal of brakes on a dodge scraping the corner, hubcap flapping, all this accompanied by tiny fists ...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Dec 29, 2010, 2:29 pm
To those of you who looked no farther than the sacrificial goat, you left the feast empty bellied; to those of you who asked no more from pablo's danseurs than a festive showing, you missed a merry treat. Squatters on the Bleachers - and there are a few - will be aware by now of my fixation on the ...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Dec 26, 2010, 3:52 pm
Recorded in Escape Studios, Kent, 1977; produced by Speedy "Thunderclap" Keen(e). Written by Ian Kilminster. ▼ MOTÖRHEAD: MOTÖRHEAD from "Motörhead" LP (Chiswick) 1977 (UK)
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Dec 21, 2010, 7:04 pm
A knife. A fork. And the forceps not so small, nothing remotely tidy, or encircling in pentameter. Two feet and a long syllable; drawn out, redly yawning. The cerci of an earwig. This is not what immediately occurred to me, or even after the fact. The blood still drying on my hams. The wailing. ...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Dec 7, 2010, 8:37 am
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The encroaching murmur of sleigh bells. The due date came and went as the ice fastened and snow drifted. On our trip to the bus stop for what was officially our last antenatal appointment, all that was missing was the donkey. Magi. Three wise men overtaking us by taxi. The...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Nov 17, 2010, 7:57 am
"I'm a Buddhist. In case of an emergency call a Lama.” - Col. Vincent Kane The fly had been following the end of my brush for close to two days, flitting from room to room like a ball of lint on rotor blades. I do not care for flies. Houseflies; blowflies; bluebottles. Calliphoridae. Like somethi...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Nov 2, 2010, 1:36 pm
Why. Those unholy Oreaganomics get better and unrulier by the minute. Straight from the lips of lapsed ordainment: "We had to mortgage our soul to Satan to get it done & I know you'll like it   (That's a promise right from the "source")." What's not to like ?  Late last week with the rain coming d...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Oct 31, 2010, 1:23 pm
So. Here we are, then. Surrounded by a jumble of unopened boxes still, the lingering itch from a hastily amputated limb. We packed the parachute before we leapt and slammed into the ground running. The pregnant one rode out ahead of the marital bed, while I scuttled back and forth between floors an...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Sep 22, 2010, 5:20 pm
Fiends; roamings; scribblings. Let me begin, before apologising for my protracted absence, by stalling just long enough to ease a splinter from my eye. Gingerly now. A sliver of pine; an inch of sixty year old plaster. There has been no motorcycle accident. I am not in traction. Nor have I succumbed...
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ib posted an article on Siblingshot on The Bleachers - Aug 26, 2010, 4:46 pm
kingston, 1976, photographer unknown. Overtaken by a weakness to bludgeon the house senseless with a royal flush of dubs, the bleachers echo with the whisper of melodica. From 10PM to 5AM, its disinfected concrete steps slump tiredly. A stomach emptied. Hosed down with cobalt blue.  Tubular rails f...
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