for a marvelous victory

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

What I always liked about Howard Zinn was I never really thought of him as an Anarchist, but he simply was one. He rarely needed to use the word, instead he framed thoughts in an anarchistic manner, with particular attention to our comprehension and understanding of history via power structures – not your typical anarchist dogma-fare either.

read an interview here where Zinn uses the a-word probably more than all his other texts combined

Jazz Funeral, Wendy Byrne, the Second Line

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

Earlier this week I attended a funeral procession for Wendy Byrne, a longtime New Orleans resident and French Quarter bartender (I believe she lived in the Quarter also) who was tragically shot on 17 January by three teenage thugs (who have since been turned in by their mothers and turned over to criminal court to be tried as adults).

I didn’t know nor never met Wendy, but the day before her funeral procession I was drinking with mates at the Rawhide and judging by the passion of the bartender she clearly had an important and outstanding presence in the community. Tragic, but an opportunity to experience a second line which is really integral to the cultural foundation that makes up New Orleans life (and by extension, death).

(Read some official news about Wendy Byrne here and here)

Gathering outside of a pub on North Rampart on the boundary of the French Quarter, people spilling into the streets with drinks in hand to assist with the mourning. Eventually the carriage did a loop, proceeded down North Rampart before turning into the Quarter proper, stopping traffic for blocks on end.

As the carriage proceeds, those immediately behind the carriage are known as the first line, and include family and friends, those closest to the deceased. The jazz band follows behind them and marches while playing, the band typically consisting of various drums, tambourines, trombones, tuba, saxophones, etc.

The second line consist of those that follow behind the band which include those showing solidarity and quite often those who join in attracted to the music like a moth to a flame. Actually, people came up to me after the march had stopped and the band played its last number and asked me what was the purpose of the parade that they just participated in, proving the effect of music on the spirit so typical to New Orleans. It’s pretty powerful stuff.

And incredible to consider a city where a homicide could pull this many people together, many of them strangers to each other, and stop traffic for blocks and blocks on end, effectively shutting down an area of the city, yes to mourn but also to celebrate the passing of one of its residents. Death is inevitable, and while the situation is very tragic and sad, it’s also beautiful that Wendy’s spirit was able to organize this activity and fill the air with such joy.

The spot where Wendy lost her life. Cheers to Wendy!

goodbye Amelia

Sunday, July 13th, 2008

Amelia Geocos was a part-time resident of Flux Factory, housemate, friend, and awesome spirit. Sadly she was struck by a vehicle this past week while bicycling, and passed away.

(from Amelia’s facebook)

Amelia was a terribly smart individual, who on a personal level always managed to poke fun at me in a way few others could or would even dare! hah! Her intellect however was usurped by her inclination and ability to enjoy life and have fun, and she loved to have fun! It’s hard to find an image of Amelia on her own, as she was always giving – even in the photographic sense – to those around her. Unfortunately I don’t think I have any photos of Amelia myself. She always managed to elude me.

What’s worse is I had an offer to party with Amelia this past Wednesday evening, and passed because I had awoke at 5:30am that morning and traveled back to NYC from the Catskill Mountains, and was exhausted. Before then it was over a month since I’d seen her.

I intend to ghost bike her accident site.

Updates:

Amelia at 1:22am during the Everything Must Go closing party. Is there a photo of this girl not having fun? I very much doubt it.

AMELIA’S WAKE will take place at

Grammercy Park Memorial Chapel
353 2nd Ave
Btwn 21st and 22nd

google map link

Wed July 16th and Thurs July 17th
Showing times: 2pm-5pm and 7pm-9pm

note: this is going to be a traditional wake, there will be other opportunities to bring Amelia Memorabilia.

UPDATES:

Her family requests that everyone come THURS at 7pm. (There will be speaking and remembering of her life)

If you can’t make it Thursday come either day at anytime.

The family is planning Amelia’s Ghost Bike. I will post more details of that as they emerge, and do what I can to inform people of how to contribute.

Update:

Amelia’s ghostbike has been installed at 49th Street and 1st Avenue in Manhattan. The bike has the baby seat Amelia used to ride on as a child. Feel free to stop by the site and leave a little something for Amelia.

via ghostbikes.org

Matthew Barney and me (and death masks)

Saturday, March 1st, 2008

it’s true. Facebook said so.

speaking of faces, books, and lists of names, check out the Virtual Museum of Deathmasks, featuring a collection of mostly Russian and Ukranian historical figures as sculpted by Sergey Merkurov. 59 of his masks are on display in the real-world museum, including the only original Lenin death mask, but you can see all of the masks in the virtual museum. Looking at photographs of historical figures is one thing, and while these are merely 2D representations of 3D objects, getting to see these masks is revealing: Alexander Blok’s features are slender yet stoic, and one can almost sense his suspected death from starvation; or the collection of wrinkles that developed on the face of Boris Pasternak:

a sad day

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

WE <3 U GIBSON!

mobile death

Thursday, September 13th, 2007

took a bicycle ride today, for the first time in a long time since being hit by a car while biking over three years ago (although I did ride a bike one day during the 2005 MTA transit strike – but had to quickly abandon due to pain felt from said accident). it seems me and bicycles have an unfortunate relationship, as something always seems to go wrong. today, the ride was great. sun was sunny. strong breeze. cars gave plenty of room. i took my time, just moseyed along. no pain.

alas, my mobile phone made an escape. somewhere along the ride it popped out of my pocket (my SHIRT pocket no less!), and i didn’t hear of it. gone.

that’s twice in two years I’ve lost my phone, which is incredible for someone who hasn’t lost so much as a paperclip ever before.

well, this time I already had my lesson learned. I’ve routinely backed up my contacts and messages with Bitpim, so at least not all is lost. and ironic too, that just this morning I was talking with me mum, and I told her as soon as my contract is up I’ll be switching providers (we both have Verizon for ‘in’ minutes, but I’m sick of paying premiums for packages like that – time to switch to a phone that can VoIP).

oh LG VX7000, can you hear me? *sniffle* goodbye