Bankrolling Billy's new house

The owner of a much more modest house in the Chicago burbs.

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
What modern day Chicago poet wrote this rune?


arrive slow keep driving
turn off your lights even
if it's well before sundown
keep the windows up locked
look at the outlines of wise men
two dimensional and flat
see the shepherds and of course
Jesus would be beautiful
this is the way of light
and we are here mid-day
we see the wires and plastic bulbs
the guts of light
and where the light would be shining
if it could be shining
if there was darkness
instead we idle almost
towards thousands of candles
a shrine unlit no flames
and a grotto of poured painted cement
where I assume people pray
so we can speed away then

Originally posted by pollard:
tweedy?

ding Ding DING!!!

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
The owner of a much more modest house in the Chicago burbs.

the smaller the house, the better the song.

Sometimes the jokes write themselves.

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
I have a habit of uttering stupid phrases over and over.

Ricky Rudd

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
Sometimes the jokes write themselves.

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
I have a habit of uttering stupid phrases over and over.

i liked sp, but zwan was crap.
i have no interest in giving any money to anything he'll be doing on the future. i'm amazed he's significant enough still to make money off these poetry readings. i guess there are fans that are obsessed enough to go.

Originally posted by distance:
i liked sp, but zwan was crap.
i have no interest in giving any money to anything he'll be doing on the future. i'm amazed he's significant enough still to make money off these poetry readings. i guess there are fans that are obsessed enough to go.

The early Zwan stuff (2001) was good, imo. He said somewhere on his blog that he found "Mary/Jesus/whatever" in 2002 and if you'll notice, his stuff really went downhill from there. Not that I'm anti-religion, I go to church every Sunday, I just think the goofy optimism he brought away from that directly affected the lyrical nature of his work.

this is to shut some of you "no popular music is good" idiots up.

Porcelina of the Vast Oceans

as far as you take me, that's where i believe
the realm of soft delusions, floating on the leaves
on a distant shoreline, she waves her arms to me
as all the thought police, are closing in for sleep
the dilly dally, of my bright lit stay
the steam of my misfortunes
has given me the power to be afraid
and in my mind i'm everyone
and in my mind
without a care in this whole world
without a care in this life
it's what you take that makes it right
porcelina of the oceans blue
in the slipstream, of thoughtless thoughts
the light of all that's good, the light of all that's true
to the fringes gladly, i walk unadorned
with gods and their creations
with filth and disease
porcelina, she waits for me there
with seashell hissing lullabyes
and whispers fathomed deep inside my own
hidden thoughts and alibis
my secret thoughts come alive
without a care in this whole world
without a care in this life
it's what you take that makes it right
and in my mind i'm everyone
in my mind i'm everyone of you
you make it right
it's all allright
you make it right
porcelina of the oceans blue

Originally posted by elj:
The early Zwan stuff (2001) was good, imo. He said somewhere on his blog that he found "Mary/Jesus/whatever" in 2002 and if you'll notice, his stuff really went downhill from there. Not that I'm anti-religion, I go to church every Sunday, I just think the goofy optimism he brought away from that directly affected the lyrical nature of his work.

i'll agree that the earlier stuff was better, yes, but what was chosen to be released was crap. and what was actually good was only a small fraction of the material that zwan did.
i was actually considering going out to california for the first 4 zwan shows. i'm really glad i didn't. a friend of mine was out there at the time and i mentioned the show to him and he went out of his way to stay an extra two days in town to go to the first one and thought it was a total waste of time as well.
i'm glad to see that band is dead… just wake me up when there's an SP reunion tour.
it's bound to happen at some point..

So I'm kind of curious…did anyone go to this??

apparently not… i wish i had, but i was at work. :( if I had gone, I would let you know what it was. i'm still clueless… no one even mentioned it on netphoria. my friend got me a book signed though for b&m atleast. i'm not really impressed with the book, but its cool to have.

I went. My little sister really wanted to go, and as a huge pumpkins fan myself I was curious to see how Billy did trying his hand at poetry. He and Yungchen Llahmo (tibetan singing) came out at the same time, and performed together. Sometimes it was Yungchen solo, sometimes billy played acoustic guitar backup for her. Billy would read poems as they are, or sometimes with guitar and Yungchen singing. Made for a more interesting experience than just him reading out of his book. In addition, three audience members were allowed to come on stage and read some of his poetry. Also, a girl from the audience went onstage and played a song of her own, quite randomly…simply because she asked billy if she could, and he said sure. Nothing played or mentioned about either Zwan or Pumpkins, and I think it was all the better for that. Made for an enjoyable early evening all in all.

So did Billy perform any songs at all?

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
Isn't there something un-rock and roll about a rock singer buying a 7 million dollar house?

Actually, that's very rock and roll. Presley, the Beatles, the Stones, Zeppelin to name just a few.

You seem to have a thing for Billy C. Like his shiny bald head, do you?

Yes, Billy performed about 4 or 5 songs just by himself while playing acoustic guitar. Didn't recognize any of them. They might be from his upcoming solo album.

Originally posted by Sailor Ripley:

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
Isn't there something un-rock and roll about a rock singer buying a 7 million dollar house?

Actually, that's very rock and roll. Presley, the Beatles, the Stones, Zeppelin to name just a few.

Yeah, dear Rhett seems a little confused since about what's par for the course for "rock" acts and what's par for the course for "alt country" acts. Oh well.

Oh, and the songs he played were from an upcoming "Chicago acoustic" DVD. I don't think any of those that he played are from his "rock" album.

7 million dollar houses are par for the course for a very, very small percentage of musicians of any genre.

Originally posted by elj:

Originally posted by Sailor Ripley:

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
Isn't there something un-rock and roll about a rock singer buying a 7 million dollar house?

Actually, that's very rock and roll. Presley, the Beatles, the Stones, Zeppelin to name just a few.

Yeah, dear Rhett seems a little confused since about what's par for the course for "rock" acts and what's par for the course for "alt country" acts. Oh well.

Oh, and the songs he played were from an upcoming "Chicago acoustic" DVD. I don't think any of those that he played are from his "rock" album.