2006 – Page 15 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

Dooley vocabulary update

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Just recently we heard a strange noise being made by Dooley.
It took us awhile to figure it out, but then it was obvious.
It’s the sounds of dominos on the dining room table being shuffled by swirling them around. Very intricate clicking and grinding sound. It’s amazing.

In this video Cynthia says “What do you say?” and he says “I love you Cynthia.”

For sure he knows she is Cynthia. And he knows that saying that gets him a pistachio.
He perks up as soon as the jar is opened.

He does other amazing things. If I pick up my keys from the counter he knows how many seconds (on average) it takes me to arm the house alarm and makes the EXACT sound at almost the exact time I arm it.

He also knows that in the evening when the lights go out that it is evening. He says “Good night”…and in the morning he says “Good morning”…

He replicates the sound of my pager to get me to come visit him.
He replicates the sound of the phone ringing, both cell and cordless.
He makes the sound of the microwave when he wants popcorn or we are heating anything up. He chastizes the other bird when he gets too loud.

His ability to associate one event with another is uncanny.
I can start a phrase he knows and he finishes it. He doesn’t have to start at the beginning.

His phrases include:

Yarr! me name be Dooley
Yo Ho Ho and may variant with extra ho ho ho’s
I’ll get you my pretty (followed by an evil laugh)
I love you (for me)
Pretty pretty Cynthia
Cookie
Cookie, cookie, cookie, cookie, cookie (and on and on when he get’s excited)
It’s Zippers! (the other bird)
It’s Zippoo (a name he made up for Zippers)
It’s Zipper-zu (the name I made up for Zippers)
Hey Zippy! (enthusiastic like Cynthia says when she comes in the room).
Hi Dooley (very deadpan the way Cynthia says it after she greets Zippers)
Zippers and Cynthia (two names he put together for when he see Cythia and Zipper together)
What’s all the hubub (2 second pause) Buuuuub!
Whistles the theme from the Simpsons
Laughs at the jokes in the Simpsons even though there is no laugh track. Like he knows comedic timing.
Want a scritchim
Want a tickle
tickle tickle tickle
I’m a bad bad birdy. Sometimes adding extra bads for emphasis
Honey! (like when I call out to Cynthia)
Makes a kissing sound (no lips)
Makes the sound of a dripping faucet
Makes the sound of the garbage truck backing up
Makes the sound of the sprinkler hitting the window
Makes the sound of a hammer pounding a nail
Meows like a cat
Wolf whistles
Quacking like a duck
A perfect replication of my belch (unfortunate)
A perfect replication of my sneeze (not so bad) always in pairs, just like me.
Makes up his own songs using variations of do doot doodle dooty and often appends zippers, zippoo, cynthia or cynthiaaaaaaaa at the end.
Makes up his own humming songs.
Makes up his own whistling songs.
He’s working on some several more things but they are not discernable yet. Although one of them sounds suspiciously close to the choral “ahhhh” beginning of the Simpson’s theme song and another sounds like it’s going to be “Honey, I’m going to the store. Can I get you anything?”

His favorite foods include ritz crackers, pizza, pasta of any kind, Mcdonalds french fries, scrambled eggs, chicken, apples, grapes, dried peppers, cheetos, biscuits, apple pie, waffles, pancakes and donuts. Most all of which he holds in one claw while balanced on the other.

When eating a pistachio he pops half the shell and uses the other half like a bowl to keep crumbs from falling away. Then he dunks the other half and uses it like a cup to drink the remaining salt.

He’s only about 8 years old now and will live to be 60-70. So who knows what he’ll learn in the coming years.

2006 Houston Press Music Awards

My band, The Flying Fish Sailors, has been nominated in the World Music Category of the 2006 Houston Press Music Awards.

You can cast your vote by clicking here

If you have a few minutes please take some time and cast your vote. You are not required to select a band in every category, just fill it out as much as you like.

Pass the information along to anyone you think may be interested, please!

Thanks!

Why don’t you go where fashion sits

Dooley trying hard to look like Gary Cooper

The beat goes on

Well, what do you know?
Keith “Syd” Barrett has died at the age of 60.

I was stunned to hear the news.
I mean, how can this be? Are you saying he wasn’t dead already?!?

The guy has been a recluse for the last 30 years.
Not a peep out of him. Not a word to his fans. Nothing.

Ok, give him a break. He had psychological problems.
Albeit self inflicted as a result of LSD induced mental breakdown, but still…

Yes he helped create one of the most influential bands of all times.
Yes he shaped the landscape of art rock as we know it.
Yes he was a musical genius.

But everything he has done is there on the record. It’s readily available to anyone seeking it. It’s not like we are being denied some potential reunion tour or anything. Obviously he was done with us a long time ago.

I, for one, do not grieve his passing.

If anything I suppose it is deaths like these that serve as a type of mortality milestone. Something to cause us to pause and reflect on our own time-lines.

Maybe therein lies the true catharsis.

Ah Pink Floyd, how I remember thee.

It was a combination of Pink Floyd, Genesis and Yes that saved me from a life of meaningless heavy metal and pop-rock in the mid 70’s. Although I must confess I did see Mahogany Rush aong with Angel, Humble Pie, & Mothers Finest at The Sam Houston Coliseum in 1980.

My second live rock concert ever was in 1977. It was Pink Floyd’s “Animals” tour at Jeppesen Stadium, now Robertson Stadium, home of the Houston Dynamo soccer team.

It was an awesome show, even if it was pouring down rain the whole time.
It was actually broadcast in quadraphonic sound.

I stayed loyal to Pink Floyd for a long time.

In 1984 I ventured out to see the David Gilmore’s “About Face” tour at The Houston Summit. Very nice.

I even went to see the Roger Waters tour in 1985. This was not the “Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking” tour from the year before featuring Eric Clapton on guitar. Sadly that never did make it to Houston. This was, and I kid you not, the “Pros and Cons Plus Some Old Pink Floyd Stuff-a multimedia extravaganza with quadraphonic sound” tour.

And it was just that. The first half of the show was the Pros and Cons album front to back. Then a short intermission and back for some classic Floyd from the early works all the way up to and including The Wall.

I was even giggling like a school girl a few years back as Cynthia and I were riding the train to London and I spotted and photographed Battersea Power Station.

These days I don’t listen to much Floyd. I tried to sit through a concert by Us and Them, Houston’s only Pink Floyd tribute band.

It was unbearable. I mean the band was technically pretty good and the performance was not, in and of itself, unpleasant. It was just whole atmosphere.

Imagine a cheezy Astroworld style Pink Floyd themed amusement park complete with bleary eyed stoners holding up lit cigarette lighters or pumping their fists while grimacing to the oppressive downbeat of a earnest effort at reproducing one of Pink Floyd’s rich art rock and roll musical tapestries.

It was all too much to bear so I got the hell out of dodge.

Of course those of you who know me might say “Hey, hypocrite! Didn’t I see you at a Light Rock Express show recently? Haven’t you been known to show up at an Allen Oldies Band concert on more than one occasion? Aren’t you like a big fan of Molly and the Ringwalds? Aren’t THEY just cheezy cover bands as well?”

To which I would reply “Yes, but they KNOW they’re cheezy.”

“Jay, why are you harshing my buzz, dude. I love Pink Floyd!”

I guess it’s a perceived difference in the presentation. The cover/tribute bands I enjoy don’t try to reproduce the exact experience from the original bands or the time period. It’s playful and, in some ways mocking or irreverent which I appreciate.

I will always treasure my memories and my own personal Pink Floyd experiences but I won’t try to recapture them or relive them. I will just remember them fondly. And I won’t pretend to be deeply affected by the passing of someone I barely might have known was even still alive in the first place.

I guess what I am saying is that Syd Barrett was missed long before he died.

This Lord’s for you

Local story snagged from ABC13.com

Someone covered up a billboard on La Branch at Winbern with a poster featuring a picture of Jesus Christ holding a Budweiser can. The company that leases the billboard believes vandals made the poster at home and then pasted it on top of the ad that’s supposed to be there.

It shows Jesus holding a Budweiser in between the phrases “Jesus, King of Jews” and “Jesus, King of Beers.”

“I thought that was just crazy,” said commuter Jose Cazares. “It looks professional too.”

Neighbors say the billboard has been up there for a week or more.

San Francisco – Saturday

Saturday I made my way in to San Francisco.
The plan was to meet my friend Kevin who had recently taken a job with McAfee and moved to the Bay Area.

Kevin guided me in via cell phone with some help from his heterosexual life partner, Glen.

We set off in search of food and I got a quick tour of the city.

Got brakes?

Let’s build a city on the side of a mountain in an earthquake prone region!

This has drawbacks I will discuss in a bit.

We ended up down at Fisherman’s Wharf where we ate seafood at a place called Tanatino’s which had a nice scenic view of the marina.

From there we trucked around and saw a few things and then headed over to Ghiradelli’s for ice cream.

Yum!

It was time to get Kevin and Glen home so we headed back toward the apartment.
Kevin mentioned that we should go to the top of this scenic overlook so I could get some pictures.

I was thinking “Sure, let’s drive up there.”

It turns out you can only drive so far. Then you climb.

Glen said he had to get on back and he would drop us off. Kevin said it was only a few blocks away from the apartment so I sucked it up and went for it.

Turns out the view WAS worth the sound of my own heart beat pounding in my ear.

Click these to REALLY see the magnificence

You could see from downtown on to the ocean. It was breath taking.

It turns out that Kevin’s idea of a “few blocks” was, in reality, about 12 downhill blocks and 3 really steep uphill blocks. I was pretty beat when it was all said and done.

I did take time to cross The Golden Gate Bridge before heading back to my hotel in San Jose to crash.

Truly this was a day in which I benefited greatly from knowing the way to and from San Jose.

Long live the new flesh

Seeing as how it’s anniversary time and all you’ll excuse me for waxing nostalgic.

After a caller to the radio show made a comment about my previous radio program from years and years ago I got to thinking that it has been WAY too long since I have seen David Cronenberg’s film Videodrome.
I wonder if it still holds up.
I should look for it at BB or Netflix.

The current radio show I do now evolved from my late night talk show I called Radiodrome which was a play on this movie title. It was an overnight (pre Art Bell) talk show with music that addressed some very bizarre topics.

The suffix “drome” in Latin means racecourse or field and is derived from Greek dromos which means racecourse.

It is used in words to describe a facility or a all encompassing space where something takes place.

Like a velodrome is a structure for cycling events or an aerodrome is defined area intended to be used either wholly or in part for the arrival, departure, and movement of aircraft or hippodrome which is place set apart for equestrian and chariot races.

I envisioned this show as an all encompassing place for a radio experience to be had. It was a lot of fun.
The shirt I had made for it was designed by my good friend James Keene.

Note the dial on the radio is tuned to 90.1 which is the channel the show was on. The slogan was “Old Fashioned Radio With A Beat”…

Sometimes I really do miss doing the ultra-creative and weird radio.
But the only place for it is overnight and I just don’t have the stamina for it anymore.

Maybe I will find a way to get back to it someday.

How did a lion get riches? … It was the olden days

Before the Internet and the infernal Intraweb there were BBS’s.
Electronic bulletin boards that were hubs of free speech and pirated software and some very cool turn based “door” games like Trade Wars 2002.

This is what we computer nerds used to interface with our brethren all across the globe.

In my time I have known quite a few of the Houston based underground including Chris Goggans aka Erik Bloodaxe of Legion Of Doom fame. I read Phrack and cDc religiously.

In 1991 I was approached by a group of people to participate in an online “zine” called The Worldview (Der Weltanschauung). It was an eclectic group of folks and we had some very good times.

My “Nom De Plume” was The Reverend Scott Free.
We believed we were going to change the world.
Perhaps we did. It’s hard to say. Those were heady times. Reagan had been the prez for 8 years and we were under the stewardship of Bush Sr. and the first Gulf War.

These “zines” were distributed all over the world using very basic modem technology. One BBS would call another and download the issue and then pass it on.

I was pleased to discover that our little enterprise has been archived at a number of web sites like the one linked here: The Worldview (Der Weltanschauung)

It’s really odd to go back and read some my old political rants.

My paranoia and hyperbole are very apparent in my first rant in issue number 2 which came out on May 4 1991. You can read it here:

http://www.textfiles.com/magazines/WORLDVIEW/wview1.2

Yowza!