moon traveller herald

i. Putzd about with books this year. A bio of Joe McCarthy. A thing about the Gospels by Gary Willis. John Wooden book on how to be a good basketball player. Mailer’s Fire on the Moon in honor of the Lunar Commemoration. One thing I actually finished was Team of Rivals. This Lincoln book didn’t quite hit the mark compared to some of my other history ‘books of the year’ - on Eisenhower , on McArthur , of Grant (is there an apparent thread here?) – but here goes on a book report.. Before Abraham Lincoln was an improbable president, he was an improbable presidential candidate. A bitterly poor youth – he worked every kind of job (land tiller, mule skinner, boat guy, and so on) as he sought to rise from the impoverished mire – was dramatically capped with two years in the 1840s as a Congressman where he unpopularly challenged the Mexican War. But then, quickly, it was back to Illinois for a very long stint as a circuit court rider lawyer. He benefited fortuitously from the locale of the 1...

Let's start the cavalcade of year in review...remember this piece about cityCityCITY? ...Last year saw release of the beat manuscript legend known as “And the Hippos Were Boiled in their Tanks,” a book about Lucien Carr’s killing of David Kammerer composed by Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs in their early writing days [circa 1945]. But that is not what I came here to talk about - Boston sports writer George Kimball does a real good job on the 'hippo' book in the Nov 8 [2008] issue of the Boston Phoenix in a piece entitled Back Beat ; I will take another tact. I am here to write about a short story by Kerouac called “cityCityCITY” . This is a Kerouac story stylistically unlike any of his others. In a beat buff blindfold test, I’d bet most people would guess that William Burroughs wrote it. Yes, stylistically it is closely related to the Missourian’s work... Read the rest of the story...

Falling leaves upon mottled yellowed green red reflection sailing leaves on river meander glassine down stream to the bridge pontoons I am holding on letting go I'm telling you? I am telling everyone! -Jack Vaughan, 2009

i. Preparing the brown bags At the Manawaw Cashway Smiling Irish to The old Wisconsin ladies Joe McCarthy in 1929 Put on his charm and fanfaronade To wangle out of here To college to get away Forget that he had to do High school at night – well he was a dairy farmboy pullin the tits – milkin’ This is after the hens 2000 of them On the McCarthy farm The hens that made him A big egg man Almost The hens that would die When he came down sick ad the boys that he had hired were Appleton slow to grok the details Sure and the ckens croaked And that wasn’t the way out Did he think once Lord what’s the use But Joe kept on not beat yet At the night school high school parsing At the day job Cashway bagging The scratch to get To go to Marquette... By Jack Vaughan, Oct 2009 ====== A fuller look at Joe would include: Circuit Judge Joe in between sessions playing cards at the Racine elks club – Drunk on the road with the list of communists – The jig is up: taken down by Boston lawyer Welch – last days...

Experiment in Abstraction 1 I think America has the greatest music because it is such a hodge podge. So much in music is about dialectic, whether it is erudite Chopin encountering folk tunes, or Fats Waller goofing on a Bing Crosby tune ["the jingle bells done got him!]. So I look at a country tune from a few angles in this podcast including a riff on Sun record- era cowboy hipsters I met once in Eureka. This is in three parts, a nod to the restrictions on 'size of free post'. Experiment in Abstraction 2 Experiment in Abstraction 3 I thought it would be great to be an Internet DJ. And to play music for my old friends like in the old days..except over the ether...well it is work. And I have a job. So I have been remiss on this. Technical hurdles amass in the Vaughan household and I get bogged down. So, this was originally done on Memorial Day..but it is posting on Labor Day. [I did get some sun this summer. :) ]Cecelia says I have a future with my voice, and I cant ever rem...