http://thephilter.com A crack in the sky & a hand reaching down for me Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:19:35 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I saw this in a parking garage in Walnut Creek this morning. Look at that precision, that perfection of form. Lovely, but what does it mean? Is it a message from some ancient civilization? Did aliens put it there? So many questions, so few answers. http://thephilter.com/i-hate-what-now/ After observing the federally mandated waiting period, I am finally ready to name my album of the year for 2009. There's not a lot if suspense here, at least in my mind. All along I thought the Decemberists' The Hazards of Love would be pretty hard to top, but I had ... http://thephilter.com/a-million-stones-a-million-bones/ [caption id="attachment_1169" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="David and Marc, older, richer, and more coked-up"][/caption] This month's book club selection is Bowie: A Biography by Marc Spitz. (Is he any relation to Bob Spitz, author of the gigantic Beatles book it took me the better part of a year to get through? I am ... http://thephilter.com/bowie-and-bolan-whitewash-an-office/ In front of a restaurant on College Ave., an employee is erasing the Valentine's Day messages from the windows. "Be Mine" becomes "Be Min," "Be Mi," and, with a flourish, just "Be." And then nothing at all. http://thephilter.com/seen-on-college-ave-today/ [caption id="attachment_1066" align="alignnone" width="222" caption="The Metal Machine Music 8-track, which Lester Bangs used to play in his car."][/caption] I've been rereading Lester Bangs' classic Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung, and as a result thinking a lot about Lou Reed, Lester's idol and nemesis. Odd that all these years later Lester's long ... http://thephilter.com/seven-thousand-different-melodies/ About a week ago, I set out to create one last installment of this series that would make use of all the stuff I couldn't fit in anywhere else. What I ended up with was an uncontrollable shaggy dog of a thing that goes on roughly forever. You may, nevertheless, ... http://thephilter.com/1969-part-5/ It's a pretty lovely day here in the City of the Proud, despite the foul prognostications of that obnoxious rodent in Pennsylvania. I've said this all before, but I'm not such a fan of the groundhog. Every damn year it supposedly sees its shadow and we are told that no, ... http://thephilter.com/groundhog-day-again-again-again/ Rock is basically an adolescent music, reflecting the rhythms, concerns and aspirations of a very specialized age group. It can't grow up — when it does, it turns into something else which may be just as valid but is still very different from the original. Personally I believe that real ... http://thephilter.com/lester-bangs-foretells-the-future/ Someone left the hope out in the rain: http://thephilter.com/oh-the-symbolism/ Barack Obama has been president for a year as of today, and everybody wants to know, aren't you disappointed? Well, no, because I did not expect him to wave his magic fingers and instantly solve all of our problems. He has consistently succeeded at the one thing I most wanted ... http://thephilter.com/happy-anniversary-mr-president/