WHEN FACT IS FICTION AND TV REALITY

Saul Williams “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” (NYC)

I cant believe the news today
Oh, I cant close my eyes and make it go away
How long…
How long must we sing this song?
How long? how long…

cause tonight…we can be as one
Tonight…

Broken bottles under childrens feet
Bodies strewn across the dead end street
But I wont heed the battle call
It puts my back up
Puts my back up against the wall

Sunday, bloody sunday
Sunday, bloody sunday
Sunday, bloody sunday (sunday bloody sunday…)
(allright lets go!)

And the battles just begun
Theres many lost, but tell me who has won
The trench is dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart

Sunday, bloody sunday
Sunday, bloody sunday

How long…
How long must we sing this song?
How long? how long…

cause tonight…we can be as one
Tonight…
Tonight…

Sunday, bloody sunday (tonight)
Tonight
Sunday, bloody sunday (tonight)
(come get some!)

Wipe the tears from your eyes
Wipe your tears away
Wipe your tears away
I wipe your tears away
(sunday, bloody sunday)
I wipe your blood shot eyes
(sunday, bloody sunday)

Sunday, bloody sunday (sunday, bloody sunday)
Sunday, bloody sunday (sunday, bloody sunday)
(here I come!)

And its true we are immune
When fact is fiction and tv reality
And today the millions cry
We eat and drink while tomorrow they die

The real battle yet begun (sunday, bloody sunday)
To claim the victory jesus won (sunday, bloody sunday)
On…

Sunday bloody sunday
Sunday bloody sunday…

Saul Stacey Williams (born February 29, 1972) is an American writer, actor and musician known for his blend of poetry and hip-hop and for his leading role in the independent film Slam. He has had a significant place in the movement of DRM-free music and one of the first non-mainstream artists to offer their album free on the internet, bypassing the role of a record label.

Williams was born in Newburgh, New York. Williams is the youngest of 3 children; his two older siblings are sisters. After graduating from Morehouse College with a B.A. in philosophy, Williams moved to New York City to earn a Master’s Degree at New York University in acting. Here he found himself at the center of the New York cafe poetry scene. (wiki)

American poet and songwriter, Saul Williams, best known for his leading role in the film SLAM, releases his new album “The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, produced by Trent Reznor and mixed by Alan Moulder. His current tour schedule can be found here.

***

on my way to work every morning, i walk pass a corner with a dirty beige sleeping bag sprawled out neatly in the crevice of two brick buildings. it’s stuffed with soft material to make it appear as if someone is inside. there’s even a pair of shoes next to it, neatly placed, to make it appear even more convincing.

i know when he’s not there because it’s too obvious. but, yesterday morning, he (i guess) slept in. he was joined by a companion whose feet stick out of the bottom. they were female feet, i could tell. their belongings are neatly stacked behind them: gatorade, clothes, reading material, and items covered with plastic. valuables, perhaps?

i think about him every time i walk in to work. we get free oranges, apples, bananas, and coffee every morning and i’ve been so tempted to run out there and leave them some but, for some reason, i keep remembering how i get so offended when people did things like that when i was on the street. i was rather offended by their pity since i never ‘begged’ for it. i was poor but never needy. so i haven’t left them any food. but, everyday, i see the sleeping bag and think about it.

***

today, before leaving work, i had a good conversation with my new work mate. he recognized my obscure voivod shirt and called it out. turns out he worked on the ‘astronomy domine’ (pink floyd cover) music video voivod did back in the late 80’s! i was so impressed. he said that was back when he was still crew! haha! he went on to work on hundreds of music videos after that.

he pointed out to me that the spinning camera trick they did for voivod, U2 had stolen for one of their music videos from their album The Zoo. i remembered how my sister took me to see them in ‘91. she was so into them…and depeche mode. my sister is so cute.

my workmate was congratulating me for a job well done. i presented my first pitch today to the president of marketing. there was a long pause after the pres watched my highly explosive commercial for our most intense news program, VANGUARD. the promo was laden with violence, guns, skinheads, explosions, prisoners…very sensationalistic! his words? “i like it.”

supposedly, that was the best compliment anyone ever had…especially for a first pitch! the other coworkers told me that, most of the time, the pres would just shoot ideas down and send people home crying. with mine, he put his hand on his chin and paused…an indication of positive assessment, according to my new boss. he was happy. he called my work, “a milestone.”

i was happy.

WHAT SEEMED ALL UNKNOWING

The Last Shadow Puppets “The Age of The Understatement” (UK)

Excited
To sneak up away from your stomach
Now try your pulse
And captured
What seemed all unknowing
And candid
But they suspected a false

Shes playful
The boring would Warn you be careful
Of her brigade
In order to tame this relentless morauder
Move away from the parade

She was Walking on the tables in the glass house
Endearingly bedraggled in the wind
Subtle in an effort of seduction
The sweaty little tradgedies begin

And she would throw a feather bowa in the road
She thought that it would set the scene
Officialy the dint in your companians (?)
Enlightened them to make you see
And there’s affection to rent the age of the understatemnet
Before the attraction formends
Kiss me properly and pull me apart
Affection to rent the age of the understatemnet
Before this attraction formends
Kiss me properly and pull me apart

And my fingers scratch at my hair
Before my mind can get to reckless
The idea of seeing you here
Is enough to make the sweat grow cold
(PLEASE NOTE, NOT 100% CORRECT)
Lyric written down by:
Amy

***

i’m so over it.

***

ku’s been asking a lot of questions lately. questions about the war in the middle east. questions about the presidential elections. he seems to be talking a lot about it amongst his 2nd grade classmates and since their parents support obama, he wants me to vote for him too. he has no other reason than he ‘feels’ like obama is a nicer guy than the mean looking lady.

he knows i support the libertarian doctor but he tells me to vote for obama in case it’s between him and the mean white haired old man. then he started talking about africa and how he watched a documentary on sudan (pbs) and he’s been learning about kenya and some other places whose names he forgot. he said this morning that we shouldn’t just let people become hungry and die. i was really really impressed he said that.

i’m proud to be this guy’s dad. his sensitive nature is growing to make him more of a thoughtful person. that reassures me.

***

early sunday morning, ______ was complaining about the flies in the backyard again. our upstairs neighbor was during the laundry downstairs and gardening so she was just chatting it up with her about it. all of a sudden, she jumped in the kitchen all shocked that i never told her about the ‘dead animal’ they found last summer and that it could be our missing cat, MOM MEOW. she started crying and begged me to dig it up under all the junk.

our neighbor said, ‘to find a dead cat is good luck. it’s like resolution to something unknown.’

i didn’t want to tell her because i was in denial. we were separated at the time and they were living in tokyo while i was here by myself. our house cat disappeared two months before they left. when my neighbors told me they found something in the basement that could be a cat, i ignored it thinking it was an opossum. i’ve seen one walking around and they smell like rotting flesh sometimes as a defense. i also would become real depressed if i found out it was my beloved MOM MEOW dead.

today, we all huddled downstairs and ku came out all shocked saying ‘what?! what?! mommy nyaa?!’ i explained to him that we don’t know yet and i’ll check to make sure. ‘it could be cat…or a possum. if it is a cat…it could be a different cat.’ he ran into house and out again clutching his ‘encyclopedia of the cat.’

i went in and found the decayed cadaver. it was hard to tell if it had fur or what since the skin was mainly destroyed by the maggots (hence the flies!) but the paw was sticking out and it didn’t look like a cat’s paw. i found the tail and it was real long like a rat! i checked the skull and the snout was long with rat like teeth! so i determined it as an opossum! or a giant rat!!!

this time, it was luckier for us to not find a dead cat. it gives me hope that MOM MEOW is alive somewhere else. ku was relieved too and found out more about what a possum is. we left a bit later and headed to ashby flea market where he got a bow and arrow toy for $3 and i got a polaroid camera for $5 and socks for $4. it was a lucky day.