Lee Ranaldo >> You are in my headlight, in my present tense

Lee Ranaldo - "Deva, Spain (Fragments)"

(Stomach Ache Records, ca. 1988; later released by Musical Tragedies, 1992, & Atavistic Records, 1995)

In honor of Lee's birthday, here's a short piece that I've put on many a mix CD over the years.  Apparently a lot of record label owners have liked it too, because it originally came out on a Mexican compilation 7" in 1988 (Bullets Wrapped In Sugar), on a U.S. compilation cassette in the early '90s(?) (Spill Your Guts, Friend), on a German split CD EP with a band called Something To Burn in 1992, and on Lee's career retrospective CD East Jesus in 1995.  It was more recently used by Lee himself as a component of his self-remix album Outside My Window The City Is Never Silent: A Bestiary in 2002.

The fact that Stomach Ache Records was based on Mexico says something about how far Sonic Youth's notoriety had spread by the late '80s.  I don't know if he also made a longer version, but hopefully one will see the light of day.  I like the line "You are in my headlight," which seems to specify the headlight of a motorcycle or train, rather than the headlightS of a car.  But it can also mean the light or energy inside one's head / mind.  Deep.  I mentioned three months ago that I had just gotten an LP pressing of Lee's baffling debut album From → Here Infinity, but I have to report that I still haven't played it.  I guess I'm afraid that the brief (a few seconds long) lock grooves on it won't live up to the enhanced / extended loops on the CD and cassette issues, both of which I've owned for about 10 & 15 years, respectively.

Note: This song has been variously titled "Deva, Spain Fragments," "Deva, Spain (Fragments)" and "Deva, Spain: Fragments," depending on the release it's on, but I have to assume they are all the same song.

I have a few more pics and videos from Prospect.2 to unload, so bear with me.  A painting (er, actually, it's credited as "insect screening") by Kathleen Loe, on an upstairs wall of a new facility called the New Orleans Healing Center on St. Claude Avenue:

Peter Pan's Shadow (84 x 132"; $3200)

She had lots of other helicopter-themed works on display, a few of which you can see here.  There's also a little grocery store co-op, gym, herb store, book store, and other cool stuff in this nondescript building.  For those not from New Orleans, Rampart Street is the north border of the French Quarter; it extends to the east through the Ninth Ward / Faubourg Marigny neighborhood under the name St. Claude Avenue, with lots of upstart DIY art galleries, bike shops, vegan cafés, and the like.  Not all of the residents of this gentrifying neighborhood are happy about these developments, as you can tell by this flyer I saw on an abandoned building a block away on the same day:

To the right of it was a poster paying tribute to the two African-American victims of the notorious Danziger Bridge shootings.

In honor of Spain, here are some Ricky Rubio highlights, since Pau Gasol is having an off year.  This was his first-ever NBA start, just a few weeks ago.  He effortlessly picked apart my Hornets as I tried to explain to my dad why Rubio is such a big deal:

I saw Gasol a year ago this week from front-row seats at a Hornets-Lakers game.  Our chairs were literally on the court.  Gasol humiliated us for something like 30 points in the first half alone.  At one point I wondered loudly "Why isn't Chris Paul in?," after which coach Monty Williams looked to his right at me from about 10 feet away, then hollered at CP3 to get in the game.  The Lakers won by only a few points, despite outshooting us 24 to 4 in free throw attempts, if I remember correctly.  And people wonder why the same teams get back to the playoffs every year... Gotta love that referee bias towards big-market teams.  I've read entire long, footnoted articles about how NBA refs have more control over the outcome of games than do the refs of any other major sport, and this game was a crystal-clear example of it for me.

Yellow Magic Orchestra - "Tighten Up" + awkward interview on Soul Train, 1980

4 ways to enjoy nature according to insane old magazines
Sample cover:

Planets with similar climates: Sonic Youth - "Satan Is Boring" (1984), Poem Rocket - "Saint Sebastian's Halo" (1995), Windy & Carl - "Kate" (1997).