Five Minutes Away From Anywhere

Recording

2008-08-27T09:16:00.005-04:00

The Story Of Stuff

2008-08-20T08:51:00.005-04:00

http://storyofstuff.com

It's a short film that explains the "materials economy", that is, the economy that all of us live in each and every day. It's a very cool and informative film.

I'd like to sit here and spout off my opinion on this, but she does it much better. Watch this 20 minute film.

Raining All Over This Town (poem and/or a song)

2008-08-18T12:09:00.005-04:00

I hear billions of people who don't know how to speak
And there's one thing that I know: one of them is me
There's a fear in my heart and I hope it's for nothing
But it keeps me awake at night and tells me just one thing
:Everything's turned upside down
It's raining all over this town:

I see a mouth in the ocean that’s drinking only poison
I see rivers out of motion and the bays that are frozen
All because of the things that we’ve done and the paths that we’ve chosen
It’s the thin layer in the sky that the Earth is enclosed in
:Everything’s turned upside down
And it’s raining all over this town:

I hear a girl outside my window, she laughs but inside she’s crying
I see cameras that are spying and politicians that are lying
I hear an ocean wave crashing and a dead clown laughing
I see guns on the street, and a million flags half-staffing
:Everything’s turned upside down
And it’s raining all over this town:

A Not-So-Glorious 4th

2008-07-18T19:11:00.004-04:00

A little late I know but I was blown away by this column in Philly Inquirer.

A Not-so-glorious Fourth

Yoko Ono's 100 Acorns

2008-07-18T10:18:00.008-04:00

This is an amazing website.
100 Acorns

Al Gore

2008-07-18T09:48:00.009-04:00

I personally wish he was the one running for president, though I do like Obama as well.
Anyway, something he said yesterday. Sounds pretty good to me.

Gore: Make all US elecricity from renewable sources within 10 years

All the naysayers who talk about global warming having a serious impact in 50 years are completely out of touch with what's going on. 10 years is a more accurate figure. And one could argue it's happening now, vis all the strong hurricanes, warmer temps and the like. And even if it was 50 or 100 years, don't we care about our children and grandchildren?

I live in Philadelphia and use PECO Wind. If you use PECO in PA, your electricity can be wind-powered. But if you don't do anything, it won't be. You have to sign up. A few dollars more a month, I think it's worth it if you can afford it.

PECO WIND

Imagine...

2007-12-09T14:53:00.000-05:00

http://www.imaginepeace.com/

Growth is Madness

2007-11-05T08:32:00.002-05:00

GROWTH IS MADNESS: Six steps to "getting" the global ecological crisis

Final wake-up call

2007-10-28T18:32:00.000-04:00

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/25/europe/environ.php

Static

2007-10-26T12:34:00.000-04:00

Moving ahead
And backwards
The sun is behind your head

Looking ahead
You move faster
But you can’t catch your regret

Face to Face (with Moon phases)

2007-10-26T11:21:00.000-04:00

Back to the Rockies

2007-10-24T14:28:00.003-04:00

Rockies Chairman and CEO Charlie Monfort (USA Today from last year)

"We had to go to hell and back to know where the Holy Grail is. We went through a tough time and took a lot of arrows," says Rockies chairman and CEO Charlie Monfort, one of the original owners.
Monfort did, too. He says that after years of partying, including 18 months' probation for driving while impaired, he became a Christian three years ago. It influenced how he wanted to run the club, he says.
"We started to go after character six or seven years ago, but we didn't follow that like we should have," he says. "I don't want to offend anyone, but I think character-wise we're stronger than anyone in baseball. Christians, and what they've endured, are some of the strongest people in baseball. I believe God sends signs, and we're seeing those."

so, christian = character? Have I got that right?
Yeah, I guess they really did go through hell. Let's go inform these people:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/world/iraq/bal-te.iraq24oct24,0,1928266.story

Or these people:
American Soldiers’ Second Battle: How Many Returning Troops Have Mental Health Issues?

Or these:
War in Darfur

Sorry, I'm just feeling I'm in the wrong country lately.

Brian

Five Minutes Away From Anywhere

2007-10-24T14:15:00.001-04:00

The title of my blog is in fact a title of one of my songs. So I thought it might be nice to include the lyrics here. The song will be heard soon:

Five Minutes Away From Anywhere

Locking up the door
Five minutes away from anywhere
Listening through the crack in the floor
Five minutes away from anywhere
Five minutes away from anywhere
Rich and poor
Less and more
Five minutes away from anywhere
SUV
With too many mouths to feed
Five minutes away from anywhere
Five minutes away from anywhere

I can see you
But I can’t make out the words
I know that it hurts to let go
You’ve been to
A thousand different places
Its time to make yourself a better home

Sidewalk stains
Something I can’t explain
Five minutes away from anywhere

Crowded streets
Too many mouths to feed
Five minutes away from anywhere

I can see you…
But I can’t make out the words
I know that it hurts to let go (something I can’t explain)
You’ve been to
A thousand different places
It’s time to make yourself a better home

Children ask
About the past
Five minutes away from anywhere

We can see
Love grows under a canopy
Five minutes away from anywhere (plant the seeds)
Five minutes away from anywhere (plant the seeds)

Are you kidding me?

2007-10-24T08:49:00.001-04:00

I found this in The Nation. Maybe I just missed this story somewhere along the line... I guess if the Rockies win the World Series, we know who's responsible.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071105/zirin

some words

2007-10-18T18:47:00.000-04:00

A flatback shadow
canteen desert eyes
drill into the earth
a window in the sky...

The phantom birds they fly
Flutter backwards above the ground
Until they all fade into one
A white rainbow with no sound

It is the 21st century...

2007-10-18T18:39:00.000-04:00

...officially.

I have been into music podcasts lately and came across this one, maybe you already have.

http://podingtonbear.com/

He writes and records three songs a week and puts them into a weekly podcast. How cool?

Brian

First in a while

2007-10-15T20:57:00.001-04:00

Well, it's the first entry I've done in a while. I've been busy getting back to work, that is, my teaching and accompanying position at Drexel University.

Working on a bunch of new songs, in preparation for perhaps another album. I want to improve on the first one, and so I know I'll be taking more time on this one than the last. On my first album, I played and sang everything. That was a great experience. For this next one I will need to wear more preverbial hats. I want this album to have more than the modest exposure Outside Looking In has gotten. So after I've emerged from my preproduction and begin recording in earnest, I will probably utilize other musicians than myself. Any string players, guitarists, and drummers please take note...

Meanwhile I have a show coming up on Nov. 15. See my website for details.

Finally, I'm offering my first album as a free download for a while. I don't know how long, but I want as many people to hear this album as possible. So go to my website:
http://briandilts.com/. Click on "music" for the free downloads, and "performances" for my latest performance schedule.

Most of my blogs from here on out will be not plugs for my music, but rather the kind of things I intend for this blog: music, lyrics, thoughts, articles, pictures. Comments encouraged!

That's all for now.
Peace,
Brian

Einstein

2007-09-05T11:08:00.000-04:00

Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.

Welcome To The Occupation

2007-08-03T08:59:00.000-04:00

Hang your collar up inside
Hang your dollar on me
Listen to the water still
Listen to the cause where you are
Fed and educated, primitive and wild
Welcome to the occupation

Here we stand and here we fight
All your fallen heroes
Held and dyed and skinned alive
Listen to the Congress fire
Offering the educated
Primitive and loyal
Welcome to the occupation

Hang your collar up inside
Hang your freedom higher
Listen to the buyer still
Listen to the Congress
Where we propagate confusion
Primitive and wild
Fire on the hemisphere below

Sugar cane and coffee cup
Copper, steel and cattle
An annotated history
A forest for the fire
Where we open up the floodgates
Freedom reigns supreme,
Fire on the hemisphere below
Listen to me
Listen to me
Listen to me
Listen to me

Seems like a good cause

2007-07-27T07:32:00.000-04:00

I read Time, but this kind of stuff really burns me up and makes me not want to read Time anymore. But I also read the Nation - they're independent, and really good. Help magazines like this out. Level playing field.

The "other" war

2007-06-28T10:05:00.000-04:00

Just saw an interesting article in the Guardian:
How to lose in Afghanistan

And there are many more articles like this. You just have to look outside of United States mainstream press to find them.

Crosseyed and Painless

2007-06-26T09:25:00.000-04:00

I'm ready to leave
I push the facts in front of me
facts lost
facts are never what they seem to be
nothing there!
no information left of any kind
lifting my head
looking for the danger signs

There was a line
there was a formula
Sharp as a knife
facts cut a hole through us

The feeling returns
whenever we close our eyes
Lifting my head
looking around inside

Facts are simple and facts are straightFacts are lazy and facts are lateFacts all come with points of viewFacts don't do what I want them toFacts just twist the truth aroundFacts are living turned inside outFacts are getting the best of themFacts are nothing on the face of thingsFacts don't stain the furnitureFacts go out and slam the doorFacts are written all over your faceFacts continue to change their shape
I'm still waiting...

Orwell (quoted by Gore)

2007-06-25T17:55:00.000-04:00

Reading Al Gore's book Assault on Reason. So far, I haven't read a better take on what is happening to our country than this. I just came across a section in the book where he chose a quote from an essay by British writer George Orwell to highlight a point on the war, and they way it was sold to us. This has been done before, maybe because so much of what Orwell predicted would happen has, and his ideas about propaganda were so dynamic that they still seem to hold true today. But here is another brilliant Orwell quote:

"Did [Bush] believe what he was telling the country? It is hard to know. In the words of...George Orwell: 'We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield.' "

Welcome to my blog!

2007-06-25T17:01:00.000-04:00

I am a singer/songwriter, pianist, and composer based in Philadelphia. This blog is an extension of my website, http://briandilts.com. But on that site I focus on my music. This blog will be EVERYTHING ELSE I have a desire to write about, which is to say a lot of things. Current events, music I enjoy, as well as some poetry. So if you've happened upon this blog, please save it as a favorite and check back!
Thanks!
Brian