Wenn immer sie mich fragen,
Ob ich ein Freund sei der Natur,
Was soll ich ihnen nur
Dann sagen?

Ich kann eine Bohrmaschine,
Einen Hosenträger oder ein Kind
So lieben wie eine Biene
Oder wie Blumen oder Wind.

Ein Sofa ist entstanden,
So wie ein Flußbett entstand.
Wo immer Schiffe landen,
Finden sie immer nur Land.

Es mag ein holder Schauer
Nach einem Erlebnis in mir sein.
Ich streichle eine Mauer
Des Postamts. Glatte Mauer aus Stein.

Und keiner von den Steinen
Nickt mir zurück.

Und manche Leute weinen
Vor Glück.

(Joachim Ringelnatz)

Du bist mein Fels, ob die Brandung groß oder klein.
Dein goldenes Funkeln, lässt sie mich vergessen,
die Brandung,
will nur bei dir sein.

Wo: Rheinland-Pfalz, Deutschland
Wann: Oktiber 2009
Kamera: Apple iPhone 3GS

The Blackberry addict & former Palin aide John Bitney, host Shannyn Moore, the town crank Anne Kilkenny, and the effete young chap Andrew Halcro. Courtesy of Moore Up North

It has already been established and is well documented that former Alaska Governor and losing VP Candidate Sarah Palin has a very hard time telling the truth in her book Going Rogue.

While she’s running around the country lapping up the adoration of the teabagger crowd, many in Alaska are crawling out from under the bus, while many are still under the wheels.

Voices from the Flats – Palin Critic’s Attorney on Being “Named” in Going Rogue:

Sarah trashes Nick Carney (the Wasilla city councilman who recruited Sarah into politics), John Stein (Sarah’s predecessor as mayor of Wasilla), Anne Kilkenny (a Wasilla resident whose viral email educated the nation to Sarah’s lackluster record as mayor), an unnamed City of Wasilla librarian, Frank Murkowski (Sarah’s predecessor as Governor of Alaska), Gregg Renkes (Frank’s Attorney General), Lyda Green (the former President of the Alaska Senate), Hollis French (the chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the Alaska Senate), Steve Schmidt (John McCain’s campaign manager), an unnamed KTUU television cameraman, Walt Monegan (Sarah’s Commissioner of Public Safety), Randy Ruedrich (the chairman of the Alaska Republican Party with whom Sarah worked at the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission), Bill Allen (the corpulent head of the oil field services company VECO, a odious scum bag whose reputation as the bag man for Big Oil in the state capitol had been a matter of common knowledge in Alaska for a generation when Sarah went with her hand out to Bill for the campaign contributions she used to launch her statewide political career), Mike Wooten (Sarah’s ex-brother-in-law), unnamed executives of the Exxon-Mobil, British Petroleum, and Conoco-Phillips oil companies, Pete Rouse (a former Alaskan who was Senator Barack Obama’s chief of staff), Rahm Emanuel (President Barack Obama’s chief of staff), Kim Elton (a former member of the Alaska Senate who is Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar’s Special Assistant for Alaska), unnamed members of the McCain campaign staff who prepped Sarah for her television debate with Joe Biden, John Bitney (Governor Palin’s liaison to the Alaska Legislature), Levi Johnston (the hockey-playing, Playgirl modeling impregnator of Bristol Palin).

That’s not the complete list. There’s no index and I’m tired of typing.

Of all the individuals on the Going Rogue enemies list, the two firsts among equals are Andrew Halcro and Andree McLeod.

Halcro is a former Republican member of the Alaska House of Representatives who ran as an independent candidate against Sarah Palin in the 2006 Alaska gubernatorial election. After the election he started a website that he used to become one of Governor Palin’s most articulate and factually well-informed critics.

It was Andrew Halcro who broke the story that Governor Palin had fired Walt Monegan, her Commissioner of Public Safety, because Walt had refused to fire Mike Wooten, Sarah’s ex-brother-in-law, from his union job as an Alaska State Trooper. That news led to the Troopergate investigation of Sarah (and Todd) Palin’s misuse of the Office of the Governor. In the Troopergate report that Sarah touts as clearing her of wrong-doing, the investigator, a former prosecutor with whom (unlike the Legislature’s investigator) Sarah cooperated, implies that during his investigation either Walt Monegan committed criminal perjury or Sarah Palin committed criminal perjury. But the Legislature had no stomach during the remainder of Sarah’s tenure as Governor to determine whether she was the felon.

In Going Rogue Sarah describes Andrew Halcro as “a wealthy, effete young chap who had taken over his father’s local Avis Rent A Car, and he starred in his own car commercial. He would go on to host a short-lived local radio show while blogging throughout the day, all of which were major steps up from a previous job as our limo driver at Todd’s cousin’s wedding.”

Andree McLeod is where I come in.

Short, smart, politically committed, and tenaciously energetic, Andree McLeod is a Republican political activist of Armenian heritage who had once been a personal friend of Sarah Palin’s, who Sarah had endorsed when Andree ran in the Republican primary for a seat in the Alaska House of Representatives.

When I went to her home in east Anchorage to have my cup of coffee I found Andree sitting at her dining room table surrounded by two-foot-high stacks of paper print-outs of several thousand emails that the Office of the Governor had given to her in July in response to a request she had filed in June pursuant to the Alaska Public Records Act. The request had asked for emails that had been sent to or received by employees of the Office of the Governor who Andree suspected had been engaging in partisan – i.e., Alaska Republican Party – political activities during their public employee workdays. Andree submitted her public records request three months before anyone other than those of us in Alaska had ever heard of Sarah Palin.

The reason I had been invited to meet with Andree was that one of the things she had discovered by reading the emails was that when Governor Palin assumed office she had set up a private back-channel email system so that she and her senior staff could communicate with each other about state business without the content of their communications being “captured” by State of Alaska computer servers, and hence being available for public inspection pursuant to the Alaska Public Records Act. The Washington Post, The New York Times, and other national media would later report that story. To read more visit Alaskan site The Mudflats.

The month after the McCain-Palin ticket lost the presidential election, again representing Andree McLeod, on December 8, 2008 I filed a second lawsuit against Governor Palin when a further review of the emails that Andree had been given revealed that the Office of the Governor had given to Todd Palin, a private citizen who was an employee of British Petroleum, copies of emails that it was withholding from public inspection on the ground of deliberative process privilege.

That litigation is ongoing. The legal questions of first impression that they present for decision are important enough that my expectation is that both lawsuits will end up in the Alaska Supreme Court.

What does any of that have to do with me and Going Rogue?

Prior to me agreeing to represent her in the two lawsuits above-described, Andree McLeod had begun filing what became a series of complaints against Sarah Palin with the State Personnel Board that alleged ethical transgressions unrelated to the lawsuits. Other Alaskans did the same thing. According to Going Rogue, those ethics complaints have driven Sarah Palin flat-out full-crank nuts.

After trashing Andree McLeod at page 354 of Going Rogue Lynn Vincent aka Sarah Palin moves on to me. Here’s what Lynn and Sarah say:
We always suspected that someone was funding and directing Andree’s efforts. During the spring of 2009, she was actually still begging my administration for a job and led others to believe she hadn’t worked for a couple of years. Yet somehow she had enough time or money to turn harassment of the governor’s office into a full-time vocation. Over time, the wording of her ethics complaints became more and more sophisticated, and we later found out why: prominent liberal attorney Don Mitchell was advising her. As early as September 2008, weeks before the presidential election, Mitchell had already detailed the ethics attack strategy in an article in the Huffington Post. Later he sat with Andree as her counsel at one of her hearings.

I wish my late mother was still alive. Because I know how proud she would be that I made the Going Rogue enemies list and have been mentioned by name in a book whose first printing is 1.5 million copies. (Because he is not named, the mother of the KTUU cameraman who posed Sarah in front of the turkeys can take no such pride.)

But my number is listed in the Anchorage telephone book. If that failed, Lynn and Sarah could have googled “Donald Craig Mitchell.” And if that had failed, since Meg Stapleton, the increasingly strange combination of Sancho Panza and Odd Job who works for Sarah, and I have mutual friends, Meg could have found me quite easily.

Had Lynn Vincent, Sarah, or Meg called me before Lynn had finished writing Going Rogue, I would have told her that in a single paragraph Lynn/Sarah got almost every one of their facts about me, other than that I am an attorney, wrong.

While I probably once was, I haven’t been a “prominent” attorney in Alaska in years. While I am a registered Democrat, my personal politics are hardly “liberal.” To the extent anyone cares, I am a social libertarian who is an Eisenhower era deficit hawk who agrees with Teddy and Frank Roosevelt that the principal responsibility of government is to save capitalism from itself. And while during the presidential campaign several of my ‘Governor Girl Reports’ were posted by individuals other than me on the Huffington Post and Atlantic Monthly web sites, none of those musings “detailed an ethics attack strategy.”

But most importantly, not only have I never advised Andree regarding her ethics complaints, to the best of my recollection I have never read an Andree McLeod ethics complaint. Had Lynn, Sarah, or Meg called me, I also would have told them that neither Andree McLeod nor I have been paid a nickel by anyone for anything (although if I win either of my lawsuits I intend to send the Office of the Governor a bill for my attorneys fee, which under Alaska law I am permitted to do).

It is true, however, that, as Going Rogue reports, because she asked me to, I did accompany Andree to her interview with Tim Petumenos, the former prosecutor the State Personnel Board hired to investigate both the complaint Sarah filed against herself regarding the Troopergate affair and a complaint Andree filed against Sarah and Frank Bailey, Sarah’s Director of Boards and Commissions, for violating state civil service rules in order to give one of Sarah’s campaign supporters a job for which he was not qualified. Again to the best of my recollection, I have never read either complaint. And if he is asked, I think Tim will say that during his interview with Andree I pretty much just sat there.

It also is worth mentioning that the State Personnel Board found the ethics complaint that Andree McLeod filed against Frank Bailey meritorious.

Why should anyone care about any of that? The reason they should care is that if Lynn Vincent aka Sarah Palin got as many of the facts, asserted and implied, about me in Going Rogue as wrong as she did, what does that say about the validity of the many other, much more important, “facts” in Sarah’s book?

It’s fully fine by me that billions of federal tax dollars are being spent annually to invent an AIDS vaccine. But it is just as important to someday invent a Pinocchio serum.

If the world had one, before a faux celebrity like Sarah Palin writes a book, doctors from the CDC could roll up the celebrity’s sleeve and inject him or her with a jolt of the serum. And a serum also would have other important uses.

For example, on page 214 of Going Rogue Lynn Vincent reports that when the McCain campaign vetted Sarah, she confessed to Steve Schmidt, the manager of the campaign, that “the one skeleton I’d kept hidden in my closet” (my emphasis) was that she had gotten a D in a college course.

Had Sarah been shot up with Pinocchio serum prior to the vetting, the immediate growth of the length of her nose would have tipped off Schmidt that the more truthful answer to the one skeleton in the closet question would have been, as The National Enquirer subsequently reported with no push back from Team Sarah, “cuckolding Todd when he was working on the North Slope by hooking up with Brad Hanson, Todd’s business partner in the Polaris snow machine sales business Brad and Todd owned in Wasilla.”

The Anchorage Daily News Reports today that one former Palin aide isn’t too happy about being referred to as a Blackberry Video Game Junkie who can’t seem to keep food off of his tie.

Portrayal in Palin book irritates former aide:

Former Gov. Sarah Palin’s book, “Going Rogue,” blames her first legislative director for moves early in her term that helped poison her relationship with state lawmakers. But the ex-aide, John Bitney, calls Palin’s account a fabrication and said he wishes his former boss would leave him alone.

“I’m just pilloried right and left and turned into the big bad wolf here for stuff I didn’t do,” said Bitney, who is now an aide to Valdez Republican Rep. John Harris. “It’s like I’m this fictional character that she’s decided to make me out to be this sort of incompetent slob.”

Palin’s lawyer, Tom Van Flein, responded in an e-mail that Bitney and others have been talking about “their perceptions of, and distortions about” Palin for more than a year, since after she was chosen as Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential running mate.

” ‘Going Rogue’ is Sarah Palin’s book to set the record straight. It is her right to speak about the events that occurred in her administration and neither Mr. Bitney nor anyone else has the right to stifle that speech,” Van Flein said. “The statements in ‘Going Rogue’ speak for themselves, and it is Sarah Palin’s turn to get the truth out there after a year of misrepresentations, half-truths and dissembling by her critics.”

Palin’s writing about Bitney is her most detailed description yet of incidents that helped shape her relationship with legislators. Her bad blood with top legislators of both parties began not long after she took office. By last spring, relationships with many lawmakers from both parties had soured to the point that feuds with the governor overshadowed much of the other legislative business.

Bitney joins a list of people slammed in the book who are calling it fiction, including McCain’s former campaign manager, Steve Schmidt. Bitney, though, has a far deeper relationship with Palin than the others. He was a high school classmate of Palin’s from Wasilla who played a key role as an adviser in her successful 2006 campaign for governor.

Palin’s dealings with Bitney are described on several pages of her memoir, although he is never named and there are no details of his work on her 2006 campaign. Palin refers to him as “my first legislative director” and he comes in for some of the harshest criticism of anyone in the book. That includes observations on his personal grooming, such as, “He turned out to be a BlackBerry games addict who couldn’t seem to keep his lunch off his tie.” Later, in describing one encounter to discuss the budget, Palin writes, “The fact that his shirt was buttoned one button off and his shirt tail was poking through his open fly didn’t exactly inspire confidence.” But Palin’s larger point is that Bitney bungled her relationship with legislators.

Bitney is now swinging back hard at Palin, agreeing to appear over the weekend on a television show hosted by one of the former governor’s most vocal critics in Alaska, blogger Shannyn Moore. Bitney was on a panel of others slammed in “Going Rogue” that included Palin nemesis Andrew Halcro and Anne Kilkenney, who wrote a long e-mail critical of Palin’s leadership in Wasilla that was forwarded around the country during the presidential campaign last year.

Moore asked Bitney if Palin is sane. Bitney’s response: “Is a sociopath sane?”

‘ADULT IN THE HOUSE’
One turning point between Palin and Alaska lawmakers came in 2007 after her first legislative session. Legislators complained that Palin blindsided them with the scope of her budget vetoes and she rubbed it in by saying there had to be an “adult in the house.” Legislators saw it as a slap in the face and the remark was not forgotten.

Palin writes that it was Bitney who advised her to tell lawmakers that they were in need of adult supervision. In fact, she writes, he told her, “Trust me, I know this stuff, they want to hear it.”

Palin writes that she followed his advice and had a “come-to-Jesus meeting” with legislators. But, as it turned out, that’s not what they wanted to hear. She writes that “when the fallout began after that meeting, I looked at the legislative director. He looked at the ground and shrugged as if to say ‘Wasn’t me.’ “

Bitney said in an interview that he joked with Palin in her office about how there needs to be an adult in the room when it comes to the state budget, but he said he never advised the then-governor to say it to anyone. He said Palin then made the comment in an interview with the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner editorial board — not in a “come-to-Jesus” meeting with legislators as she recounts in her book.

Bitney left the governor’s office in July 2007 in what Palin’s spokeswoman initially said was an “amicable” termination in which it was mutually agreed that he would leave his post for personal reasons. When reporters raised questions about it during the presidential campaign, the reason given by Palin’s office was “poor job performance.”

Bitney has told reporters he was fired after Palin was informed he was having an affair with the wife of a friend of Palin and her husband, Todd. Bitney, who has since married the woman, has said he was not forthcoming with Palin about it and understands why he had to go.

Palin’s only reference to that in her book is that “later we learned the legislative director had been too busy with his personal affairs to attend to much state business.”

‘LEAVE ME ALONE’
Bitney has influential defenders in the Legislature, including Sitka Republican Sen. Bert Stedman, who has been critical of Palin and said he won’t read her book because she is “entertainment and not news.” Stedman said Bitney is qualified and that he did a good job dealing with the Legislature for Palin. He said he told Bitney at one point to let him know if he was ever looking for a job.

Palin writes that she told Bitney to send a letter to legislators about what sort of spending she would approve but that he didn’t do it. She said he indicated lawmakers were fine with budget vetoes that were coming but it became clear otherwise when they howled about being blindsided. “It soon became obvious just how little the legislative director had done to inform the legislature this was coming,” she writes.

Bitney said it was another staffer in the governor’s office, not him, who was requested to send the letter. The letter asked legislators for suggestions on which of their projects to cut, Bitney said, and not surprisingly they did not rush to answer Palin.

Bitney said he did meet with the four co-chairs of the state House and Senate finance committees to tell them about the coming vetoes, and reported back to Palin that three of them felt that was her prerogative and only one became angry.

But Palin staffers had only identified about $100 million worth of cuts by that point, about half of the final total. Bitney said the following day was when his “troubles” with Palin began. He said he was pulled from the governor’s budget work, and fired soon after. In the meantime, he said, Palin staffers kept cutting beyond what he had told legislators but he didn’t have authority to talk to them about it.

Palin uses Bitney in the book to illustrate a point about government. Bitney had years of experience as a legislative staffer and lobbyist before joining her team. “So much for my idea that I needed to hire an ‘insider.’ Lesson learned,” she writes.

Bitney said he tried to be fair to Palin when national media kept “crawling up my backside” over the past year to interview him about her. But the book is too much, he said.

“I’ve had it. Enough. Just enough; leave me alone,” he said.

The Wealth Effet Young Chap Andrew Halcro’s take on his mention in Going Rogue.
Monday Comment: Digging Two Graves November 16, 2009:

On Friday after they received an advance copy of Sarah Palin’s new book, the Associated Press called me to get a response from the two hundred plus words that Alaska’s former 1/2 term governor dedicated to me.

My favorite passage as read to me by Rachel D’Oro at the AP was when Palin referred to me as an “effete chap.”

An effete chap? Who am I, Nick Carraway in the Great Gatsby?

And by the way, when did Palin start using 17th century Latin in her dialogue?

According to the brief excerpts I’ve heard, the book seems like it’s less about her and more about blaming everybody around her for all of her short comings. From her lack of intelligence to the word getting out about her pregnant daughter, no matter what the problem or criticism, it’s always somebody elses fault and never hers.

This in and of itself is rich in irony.

After all, how many real rogues complain about being hemmed in by the actions of others?

Isn’t that the antithesis of a rogue?

However, once the book is on the street beginning Tuesday, those throughout Palin’s 413 page pity party that suffer the wild blows of her imagination will come forward with guns blazing to refute the revisionist history Palin has penned.

From the brief passages that Palin has written about me in her book, the terms unmitigated lies, narcissistic delusions and libel came to mind first.

Obviously she never learned the timely Confucius warning:

“Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.”

Beginning Tuesday…the people whom Palin has attacked in her book will start reaching for their own shovels.

After perusing the articles on Andrew’s site I would feel confident in my assessment of what really bugs Sarah about Andrew…………….he’s smart, does his homework, works hard and cares about Alaska.

Alaskan Radio Host Shannyn Moore recently begin filming her new show Moore Up Northabout political and state issues. Moore Up North was taped before a live audience at Bernie’s Bungalow Lounge in Anchorage. Last weeks guests included: Rick Steiner, Anne Kilkenny, Andrew Halcro and John Bitney. As expected they discussed the Sarah Palin they know.

View the rest of the segments Moore Up North here.

Hello again!  Brauhaus Schmitz opened earlier this year and it certainly was a welcome restaurant, given that the semi-ok, but well-tapped, German restaurant, Ludwig’s, had closed.  I believe it was there I discovered Paulaner Hefeweizen.  The reputation / hopes for Brauhaus had spread all the way to Baltimore.  I didn’t give it much thought because, cynic that I am, I sincerely doubted that any American restaurant could have actual liter steins.

But, oh, they do.

As my cousin and I sat at the bar, waiting for a table, I began with a Warsteiner Pils (ABV 4.8), remembering some German hospitality on my flight to Belgium last year and wanting to start with a lighter beer.

It was easy to drink, which generally goes without saying given German purity laws.  Golden in color, but pale and not the full body that I really wanted.  I wish they had had more Paulaner on tap, but I’m sure I’ll be returning.

I wanted to drink out of a stein like my one from the real Oktoberfest:

but, I ordered Warsteiner, so it was served in a smoother, shorter stein:

I had a liter of Warsteiner Oktoberfest (ABV 5.0) for/with dinner.  It was a soft brown, rich caramel color.  It definitely had a sweetness.  Though it was certainly tasty and smooth, I wouldn’t order a whole liter of it again.  By the time I got to the bottom, the beer was room temperature and tasted like medicine.  So, I either need to learn to drink faster or order a beer that is milder and, therefore, easier to drink.  What I really wanted was what I had at Oktoberfest – Lowenbrau.

My cousin and I were seated on the second level, which has a low ceiling, but good view of the two bar TVs.  I had ordered pork with a beer sauce (Schweinsbraten mit DunkelbiersoBe); my cousin had ordered beef rump (Sauerbraten)  in a rich red sauce, which reminded me of cranberries due to the tang.  The meat was definitely tender, but some of it was dry, as if the meat hadn’t been cooked with the sauce, but rather just topped with it.  Same for my cousin, who cleaned his plate and continued to rave about the potato pancakes and apple sauce for the duration of his visit.

As for the venue, I think they need a darker colored bar.  The Ikea-like veneer is just a little too bright. Love the tap selection, loved the potato pancakes (served with a dollop of sour cream) and apple sauce (lots of cloves).  The atmosphere was nice – the openness creates the sense of a beer hall, added to by authentically-dressed waitstaff.

I likely won’t order dinner there (more because of $$ than taste), but I would have some snacks.  The liter steins are just too fun to resist!  Though, they are risky in that you could get stuck with a liter of beer you don’t like.  Luckily, the bar staff is happily willing to provide tastes first.

Menschen haben eines gemein, Sie erkennen überall und in allem ein Gesicht, wenn es nur gaaanz grob die Proportionen eines Gesichts hat. Einerseits ist das ein evolutionäres Wunder, das wir scheinbar aus dem Nichts heraus die Fähigkeit besitzen zu wissen was bzw. wo das Gesicht ist und was wir aus diesem erhalten können. Andererseits ist es erstaunlich wo wir überall ein Gesicht erkennen obwohl es eigentlich nur ein paar Konturen, Punkte oder sonst etwas ist. Wenn man einmal versucht das Bild als solches zu bewundern merkt man schnell wie “Gesichtsvernarrt” wir sind, es fällt unglaublich schwer in den Bildern kein Gesicht mehr zu erblicken.

Hier der Blog, der diese Gesichts-/Kopfkonturen sammelt.

FacesinPlaces.blogspot.com

I just now added this antique carved wood piece to my Ebay auction list – see Ebay link at right for more pics and details…  Check it out before it’s gone…!

A HUGE carved solid wood antique piece for display on the wall featuring an old early European PUB scene.  Massive in size and made from very thick, richly grained, richly colored wood. 

The scene depicts a pub patron who appears to have had one too many steins of ale…  Incredibly detailed – check out the additional pics at the sweetcottagecharm Ebay link.  A spectacular old carved wood piece that will offer an excellent display and focal point for a den, a bar or wherever its displayed.

Um die Großstadt sinkt die Welt in Schlaf.
Felder gilben, Wälder ächzen überall.
Wie Blätter fallen draußen alle Tage,
Vom Zeitwind weggeweht.

Ob Ebene und Wald in welkes Sterben fallen,
Ob draußen tost Vergänglichkeit,
Im Stadtberg brüllen Straßen, Hämmer hallen:
Die Stadt dampft heiß in Unrast ohne Zeit.

(Gerrit Engelke)

Vor dem Zoo hier um die Ecke. :wichtig: (Manchmal hört man bei uns im Garten die Affen.)

Beim Aufstieg auf die Kuppelplattform des Florenzer Doms kann man unter anderem diese Aussicht erhaschen.

Wo: Florenz, Italien
Wann: Oktober 2009
Kamera: Fuji FinePix S2000HD

Blondie was the most commercially successful band to emerge from the much vaunted punk/new wave movement of the late ’70s. The group was formed in New York City in August 1974 by singer Deborah Harry (b. July 1, 1945, Miami), formerly of Wind in the Willows, and guitarist Chris Stein (b. Jan. 5, 1950, Brooklyn) out of the remnants of Harry’s previous group, the Stilettos. The lineup fluctuated over the next year. Drummer Clement Burke (b. Nov. 24, 1955, New York) joined in May 1975. Bassist Gary Valentine joined in August. In October, keyboard player James Destri (b. Apr. 13, 1954) joined, to complete the initial permanent lineup. They released their first album, Blondie, on Private Stock Records in December 1976. In July 1977, Valentine was replaced by Frank Infante.

In August, Chrysalis Records bought their contract from Private Stock and in October reissued Blondie and released the second album, Plastic Letters. Blondie expanded to a sextet in November with the addition of bassist Nigel Harrison (born Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, England), as Infante switched to guitar. Blondie broke commercially in the U.K. in March 1978, when their cover of Randy and the Rainbows’ 1963 hit “Denise,” renamed “Denis,” became a Top Ten hit, as did Plastic Letters, followed by a second U.K. Top Ten, “(I’m Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear.” Blondie turned to U.K. producer/songwriter Mike Chapman for their third album, Parallel Lines, which was released in September 1978 and eventually broke them worldwide. “Picture This” became a U.K. Top 40 hit, and “Hanging on the Telephone” made the U.K. Top Ten, but it was the album’s third single, the disco-influenced “Heart of Glass,” that took Blondie to #1 in both the U.K. and the U.S. “Sunday Girl” hit #1 in the U.K. in May, and “One Way or Another” hit the U.S. Top 40 in August. Blondie followed with their fourth album, Eat to the Beat, in October. Its first single, “Dreaming,” went Top Ten in the U.K., Top 40 in the U.S. The second U.K. single, “Union City Blue,” went Top 40. In March 1980, the third U.K. single from Eat to the Beat, “Atomic,” became the group’s third British #1. (It later made the U.S. Top 40.)

Meanwhile, Harry was collaborating with German disco producer Giorgio Moroder on “Call Me,” the theme from the movie American Gigolo. It became Blondie’s second transatlantic chart topper. Blondie’s fifth album, Autoamerican, was released in November 1980, and its first single was the reggaeish tune “The Tide Is High,” which went to #1 in the U.S. and U.K. The second single was the rap-oriented “Rapture,” which topped the U.S. pop charts and went Top Ten in the U.K. But the band’s eclectic style reflected a diminished participation by its members – Infante sued, charging that he wasn’t being used on the records, though he settled and stayed in the lineup. But in 1981, the members of Blondie worked on individual projects, notably Harry’s gold-selling solo album, KooKoo. The Best of Blondie was released in the fall of the year. The Hunter, Blondie’s sixth and last new album, was released in July 1982, preceded by the single “Island of Lost Souls,” a Top 40 hit in the U.S. and U.K. “War Child” also became a Top 40 hit in the U.K., but The Hunter was a commercial disappointment. At the same time, Stein became seriously ill with the genetic disease pemphigus. As a result, Blondie broke up in October 1982, with Deborah Harry launching a part-time solo career while caring for Stein, who eventually recovered. In 1998, the original line-up of Harry, Stein, Destri and Burke reunited to tour Europe, their first series of dates in 16 years; a new LP, No Exit, followed early the next year.

Blondie All Music Guide Biography

Blondie was the most commercially successful band to emerge from the much-vaunted punk/new wave movement of the late ’70s. The group was formed in New York City in August 1974 by singer Deborah Harry (b. July 1, 1945, Miami), formerly of Wind in the Willows, and guitarist Chris Stein (b. January 5, 1950, Brooklyn) out of the remnants of Harry’s previous group, the Stilettos. The lineup fluctuated over the next year. Drummer Clement Burke (b. November 24, 1955, New York) joined in May 1975. Bassist Gary Valentine joined in August. In October, keyboard player James Destri (b. April 13, 1954) joined, to complete the initial permanent lineup. They released their first album, Blondie, on Private Stock Records in December 1976. In July 1977, Valentine was replaced by Frank Infante.

In August, Chrysalis Records bought their contract from Private Stock and in October reissued Blondie and released the second album, Plastic Letters. Blondie expanded to a sextet in November with the addition of bassist Nigel Harrison (born in Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, England), as Infante switched to guitar. Blondie broke commercially in the U.K. in March 1978, when their cover of Randy and the Rainbows’ 1963 hit “Denise,” renamed “Denis,” became a Top Ten hit, as did Plastic Letters, followed by a second U.K. Top Ten, “(I’m Always Touched By Your) Presence, Dear.” Blondie turned to U.K. producer/songwriter Mike Chapman for their third album, Parallel Lines, which was released in September 1978 and eventually broke them worldwide. “Picture This” became a U.K. Top 40 hit, and “Hanging on the Telephone” made the U.K. Top Ten, but it was the album’s third single, the disco-influenced “Heart of Glass,” that took Blondie to number one in both the U.K. and the U.S. “Sunday Girl” hit number one in the U.K. in May, and “One Way or Another” hit the U.S. Top 40 in August. Blondie followed with their fourth album, Eat to the Beat, in October. Its first single, “Dreaming,” went Top Ten in the U.K., Top 40 in the U.S. The second U.K. single, “Union City Blue,” went Top 40. In March 1980, the third U.K. single from Eat to the Beat, “Atomic,” became the group’s third British number one. (It later made the U.S. Top 40.)

Meanwhile, Harry was collaborating with German disco producer Giorgio Moroder on “Call Me,” the theme from the movie American Gigolo. It became Blondie’s second transatlantic chart-topper. Blondie’s fifth album, Autoamerican, was released in November 1980, and its first single was the reggae-ish tune “The Tide Is High,” which went to number one in the U.S. and U.K. The second single was the rap-oriented “Rapture,” which topped the U.S. pop charts and went Top Ten in the U.K. But the band’s eclectic style reflected a diminished participation by its members — Infante sued, charging that he wasn’t being used on the records, though he settled and stayed in the lineup. But in 1981, the members of Blondie worked on individual projects, notably Harry’s gold-selling solo album, KooKoo. The Best of Blondie was released in the fall of the year. The Hunter, Blondie’s sixth album, was released in May 1982, preceded by the single “Island of Lost Souls,” a Top 40 hit in the U.S. and U.K. “War Child” also became a Top 40 hit in the U.K., but The Hunter was a commercial disappointment.

At the same time, Stein became seriously ill with the genetic disease pemphigus. As a result, Blondie broke up in October 1982, with Deborah Harry launching a part-time solo career while caring for Stein, who eventually recovered. In 1998, the original lineup of Harry, Stein, Destri, and Burke reunited to tour Europe, their first series of dates in 16 years; a new LP, No Exit, followed early the next year. After more touring, this was followed by another studio set, The Curse of Blondie, in 2003, and a DVD of the Live by Request program from A&E was released in 2004. In 2006, Blondie celebrated their 30th anniversary with induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the release of Greatest Hits: Sound & Vision, a best-of collection that contained all their classic videos as well.

du spielst plötzlich
eine ganz andere rolle in meinem leben
ich hatte schon immer gewusst
es war wichtig
dich kennenzulernen
doch ich dachte immer
es ginge um etwas ganz anderes

heute habe ich erst
erkannt
welchen stein du bereits
vor vielen monaten
ins rollen gebracht hast
es fehlte
ein kleines puzzleteil
um das ganze zu sehen

danke
selbst für den schmerz
denn gerade dieser
hat den stein angestoßen

A plaque is unveiled at the Cardiff City Stadium in honour of ex-Scotland manager Jock Stein, who died nearby in 1985…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: fun city. The blog is also related to: cities in the united states.

A plaque is unveiled at the Cardiff City Stadium in honour of ex-Scotland manager Jock Stein, who died nearby in 1985…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: talk city. The blog is also related to: capital city.

Stones 4 Love

Für mein Gefühl ist man noch immer in der Nähe seiner Lieben,

solange die Ströme von uns zu ihnen laufen.

J.W.v.Goethe

*

Okay, c’est assez rapide, mais j’avais la patate et en plus, il est
un peu timide. 

Bah oui des photos de moi!!! Y a que moi ici… OUHOUHOU les gens???

Bon je suis un peu grincheuse sur celle là.

Là, je suis devant la Terre

5 septembre 2008
Là, j’ai retrouvé mon pote Šteins. Mine de rien, j’étais à 800 km, le , avec une vitesse relative de 8,6 km/s.
Autant vous dire que usain bolt, je le dépose…

It all started with me meeting Stein this summer. He was going to study in London (or more correctly Hatfield) in the autumn, and I was jealous. I wanted also to go living abroad! So he is my inspiration for starting this whole project, and also some of the reasons for me choosing London. He has become a dear friend of me, a friend hopefully for life!

So I applied for the University in Oslo’s to exchange deals with the University of London, Goldsmiths and SOAS. I decided to apply in end of August, the deadline was 15th of September. Not a lot of time to get hold of all the necessary papers, but I managed. In the middle of this I took a little trip to Beijing to see my CCC (Crazy, Cool Cousin) Nathan. I love the way I “plan” things. The trip crashed nearly with the deadline of the application and some assignments, but what is life without any excitements and stress?

So one lovely day in end of September I got the reply by email. Sitting on the university’s computers at my faculty I had some real problems managing to get out of the quite zone before my happy outburst came. Such a rush! Some might think it is a bit wired that I got so excited. The thing is this is just the confirmation I needed to know that I can do what ever I want, as long as I just go in for it. And let’s say, I have put my whole heart into this!

Then the next step was to apply to SOAS, because I just had been excepted my the university as a candidate they could support. And this Wednesday I got the reply. It was late in the evening, in my room. I think my neighbors got a shock, because the scream was a bit high picthy… and the jumps afterwards a bit disturbing, but what the heck! I’m living my life! So the next step is to apply to the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund, answering the offer and applying for a visa. Oh Yeah! I’m going to London in 2 months!

In letzter Zeit nimmt mein Leben so einen rasanten Wandel, ich kann mich nur noch wundern!
Nach über 20 Jahren hatte ich schwere Schlafstörungen, zwei bis drei Stunden Schlaf waren die Regel. Dann hatte ich wieder mal bei der Verteilung von Krankheiten vorlaut “Hier” geschrien, mußte zusätzlich ein Medikament mehr nehmen und siehe da, ich schlafe fast jede Nacht. Nun frage ich mich: Liegt es wirklich an dem Medikament, an H.’s “magischen” Stein oder hat T. vielleicht doch bei seinem Chef ein gutes Wort eingelegt. Ich weiß es nicht, es kann mir auch egal sein, hauptsache ich kann schlafen.
Wie das Leben so spielt,es hat sich so vieles plötzlich geändert, ich habe nicht mehr nur Zeit.
Ehemalige Klasenkameradinnen meldeten sich überraschend, es wird gemailt und telefoniert wie verrückt. wir müßen andauernd ins Krankenhaus meine Mutter besuchen, mein Hobby nimmt mich immer mehr in Anspruch. Ich sehe nicht nur Ärzte, Krankenhäuser und die Chaosbude, plötzlich nehme ich, wenn auch nur eingeschränkt, wieder am echten Leben teil.
Ich bin begeistert, so kann es weiter gehen und noch besser werden!!!
Gestern mittag kam mit “schwerem Gepäck” Muckelchen(unsere Enkelin), um bis heute mittag bei uns “Urlaub” zu machen.
Sogar Reiseproviant hatte sie dabei, der Weg von einer Etage in die andere, ist natürlich in der Chaosbude sehr weit. Muckelchen könnte unterwegs verhungern. Wir hatten mit unserer Enkelin viel Spaß, aber es war auch sehr anstrengend.Aus Versehen hat sie mir,  beim rumalbern, einen schon wackelnden Zahn mit einer ungewollten Kopfnuss entfernt, mir mit der Faust auf’s Auge gehauen, um mich dann liebevoll zu trösten. Opossum war an allen Ecken und Enden gefordert, Oppa mußte dieses und jenes machen, denn Omma kann nicht mehr auf dem Fußboden sitzend Eisenbahn aufbauen, Essen machen,……
Opossum mußte heute eine Ruhephase einlegen, mir knacken die morschen Knochen, jeder Zentimeter meines Körpers schreit vor Schmerzen. Ich wundere mich immer wieder auf’s neue, was einem alles so weh tun kann.
Fazit, wir freuen uns auf den nächsten Übernachtungsbesuch mit Muckelchen.

                                                                          ”Ich liebe euch doch alle”.

Sieh den Engel

Stark genug der Engel des Herrn,
auch dir den Stein hinwegzuwälzen
vom Ort, da er begraben ist
unter den Scherben deiner Hoffnungen.
Stark genug,
der Engel des Herrn,
den Todesschatten von deinem Antlitz
zu nehmen,
zu lösen die Fessel untröstbarer Trauer.
Nur einen Atemzug weit weg das Grab.
Nur einen Atemzug weit weg
der Engel des Herrn.

Sabine Naegeli

FLÜGELSTEIN / Barbara / 7.11.2009

Herbstlich sonnige Tage

Herbstlich sonnige Tage,
mir beschieden zur Lust,
euch mit leiserem Schlage
grüßt die atmende Brust.

O wie waltet die Stunde
nun in seliger Ruh’!
Jede schmerzende Wunde
schließet leise sich zu.

Nur zu rasten, zu lieben,
still an sich selber zu baun,
fühlt sich die Seele getrieben
und mit Liebe zu schaun.

Jedem leisen Verfärben
lausch ich mit stillem Bemühn,
jedem Wachsen und Sterben,
jedem Welken und Blühn.

Was da webet im Ringe,
was da blüht auf der Flur,
Sinnbild ewiger Dinge
ist’s dem Schauenden nur.

Jede sprossende Pflanze,
die mit Düften sich füllt,
trägt im Kelche das ganze
Weltgeheimnis verhüllt.

(Emanuel Geibel)

“Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart:

“I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important? I don’t know who Lindsay Lohan is, either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise’s wife.

“Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. Is this what it means to be no longer young. It’s not so bad.

“Next confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was  Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, “Merry Christmas” to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

“I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.

“Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren’t allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

“I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.”

Ben Stein

http://urbanlegends.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.benstein.com/121805xmas.html

I just really like that, so I put it up there.  Me and Ben go way back…haha.  Okay, so we don’t.  That was a lie.  You could call it a joke, but it’s actually a lie with laughter.  Funny how the truth can be funny, too, huh? 

Here’s a brilliant idea my friend inadvertedly shared with me…converting a paper grocery bag into a mailing package for large or bulky items.  Here’re pics of the outside and inside:

It’s like it was made for it.  Why didn’t I think of that?

To my Tweeples:

Update on the Week of Tweets.

The fashion front. Hmmm, well as I look around at the people who are looking at their screens or their papers or the floor or table in front of them, this is what I’m thinking: “Uhhh…”  It’s sad.  Complete blog-freeze going on here and I didn’t even have any icecream today, what’s that about?  Back to fashion: I’m making product, but  the sewing machine doesn’t like me sometimes. And, unfortunately, Tiny Tim’s favorite phrase doesn’t seem to work for me in that particular situation.  (See my Twitter Tweets if you got lost at my ”Christmas Carol” reference).

The seemingly bad news for my fashion front: there seems to be a dry spell when it comes to vendor opportunities…AND the Art Flea is closing up shop after Dec. 19th, and probably won’t open until May 2010.  All this means is that God has a better idea in mind…I just have to be willing to let whatever it is come to mind…and do it.  There’s the rub, ey?

As for the skits, Jamie and I want to make sure we both have time to focus on our individual passions.  However we both recognize how powerful our Bible Studies have been…precisely because we’ll have to also create and act out a performance from them.  So, we’re discussing how to continue that part and what venues will take the place of our beloved Art Flea.

Man, how boring was this post?  Actually I still like it.  Maybe because I’m just still jazzed about that coupon one of my friends sent us redeemable for a whole meal at Boston Market for just $1.00!  My mom and I enjoyed grilled chicken, a side and cornbread (okay, I ate her cornbread, too…I love bread)…AND the meals cost less than the drinks we purchased to go with them ! 

Good stuff.

Hey, you know, one thing I’ve learned is how to appreciate the small things.  I mean, there’s never gonna be enough of anything if you’re always wishing for what you don’t have.  I’m not saying it’s alright to settle for scraps.  I am saying that you can still make the best of your current situation while you work towards the better situation that is right for you.  And, when you get more, hey, it’s cake and icing.  Yum. 

Oh man.  I don’t know where you’re at right now.  I’m not always able to see the stars for the clouds…or the even the moon!  But, I think am more often than not…and moreso as time goes on.  That’s something I never want to lose…ever! That’s worth the world.

If you’re finding yourself not finding joy in even the big things, maybe you need to find what the true and consistent source of joy is: a personal relationship with the God that made you and the Son that just rejoices over you.  I’m talking about Jesus Christ, here.  Just recently I heard someone speak about how Jesus’ heart is just ravished by even our desire to know him and love him.  And, you know, I’ve been crazy-for-Christ since early 2005.  But, for some reason thought I’ve heard it before, I never quite got that picture of my God being so rapturously and passionately and emotionally in love with me.  Truth be told, it makes me tear up just repeating the thought.  Some images just really spear you in the heart and that is definitely one for me.  You can check out the full Mp3 here, if you’d like: http://media.ihop.org.s3.amazonaws.com/db79fa83-637f-4d12-8f55-a16c37083534.mp3.”

Sometimes concepts take a few minutes…or years to really understand.  But, when you get it…it prompts you to either change or rebel.  If you’re starting to get what it means to be loved for who you are, and loved too much to let you stay that way….and you’re ready to allow yourself to change.  The first step is the hardest, and yet it’s soooo easy…open your mouth, say that you believe Jesus Christ is Lord and that you, yourself, are not. And then, believe that God not only has the power to raise him from the dead, but that he did raise Jesus from the dead because of the Lord’s love for us. You find this verse in the Bible in the book of Romans, chapter 10, verse 9 (aka. Romans 10:9). Next, find yourself a good church community and Bible Study to learn in. Don’t be afraid of questions. Don’t think you have to be perfect. Don’t think that any Christian you ever encounter will be perfect. We’re all trying, but instead of trying it on our own, those that truly love Christ are regularly made aware that we have to rely on God’s help to be better than what we are.

Til next post and next Thursday’s detailed (and possibly a little less silly) update,

Q.