WEEKLY SOUTHERN ARTS
"Sometime the boogaloo 
  • Home
  • From The Publishers
  • Summer 1970 - Fishing with Alligators
  • The Fire-Starters
  • Jimi Hendrix Was The Roy Buchanan of Rock & Roll & Other Rural American Stories
  • Real Genius
  • Guns, Faith and Murder
  • A Blue World
  • Nova Explains
  • Satan's Jr. High
  • The Million Dollar Store
  • The People Who care
  • Jesus and The Red Words
  • Sniffing Out White Supremacy
  • Artistic Con-cepts
  • “The Word From The Streets”
  • A Voice from the Crowd
  • How a White-man Became a Black-man In Order To Find His Whiteness—His Alright-ness.
  • Camille Bertault: 2 Views of a Secret
  • Judy Garland - "Soul Singer"
  • Robert & Jimi and the Twenty Seven Blues
  • The Last Vestiges of Mueller’s Collusion Case Just Died...and Nobody Noticed
  • The Great Pretenders
  • Imagine
  • Me and Junior Parker
  • The Republican
  • "Kill The Pigs!!!"
  • "Another of Trump's Henchmen Falls!!!"
  • Saving ISIS, Killing America
  • Cyrus The Great Strikes Again
  • The Big Lie - "Fear Russia Love China"
  • “The Russians are Coming!” (again)
  • "Impeach This!"
  • “Trump Backs Turkey Down”
  • Congressman Elijah Cummings Died last night at the age of 68.
  • Sweet Home Chicago (The Obama Shakedown)
  • Blind as a Bat
  • "I cannot Tell a Lie"
  • If Only Obama Was Still President, Syria Would Be Swell
  • Impeachment Fever
  • The Ballad of Hunter & Joe
  • "God Will Do It!"
  • Jeffrey Epstein & The Mysterious Case of The Infinite Pedophile Monkeys
  • The World is Insane: pt 4095 - “What is Less Than Zero?”
  • The Magic Bullet and The Lonely Death of Jeffrey Epstein
  • The Facts about Illegal Immigration
  • Chicago
  • Liz Warren Hits The Road
  • Traitors & Lies
  • “If The World Was Fair”
  • "The Few, The proud, The Insane: The Democrats"
  • "GOD & UNCLE SAM"
  • A Minor Complaint
  • Murder in The Meantime
  • The 22-yr-old Bottle Blonde
  • “Jerry “The Toad” & other Sesame Street Lessons”
  • "Riffing in Tongues"
  • The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence Revisited
  • The Few The Brave The FBI
  • Jesus and Liz Warren Want to Forgive You
  • The Witch Hunt Ends? Not Even Close.
  • Divine Guidance
  • The Crocodile & The Politician
  • Uncle Joe Apologizes
  • Why I Hate, Hate Crimes
  • It's Only a Matter of Time
  • Let It Rain
  • Dumb & Dumber
  • ....of Poets & Scientists
  • Goodbye Pork-Fried Rat
  • Hearing Duane Eddy
  • Is It Alright...To Be White?
  • "Hell is Real!!!"
  • Mauled by Reality
  • The Cult of The Secret Unknowing Marxist
  • Resist the Devil and He Will Flea
  • The Unwitting Socialist
  • Personal Stories
  • The Magula Report 2019
  • "The New Blood & The New Deal"
  • “The Wall"....and other, mostly silly conversations.
  • The War for the Soul of Mankind: “Stan Getz vs Eric Dolphy”
  • The "Others"
  • White Cracker-Ass Niggas
  • New York Gives The Thumbs Up To Mass Genocide
  • Rudy & Nat
  • A Close Shave With The Well-Intended Bigot
  • This is What Happens When My Favorite Band “The Mellow Herb” Comes To Town
  • The Hemispherical Brain Activity of a Wayward Somnambulist
  • Gun "Race With The Devil"
  • “Half Of All Millennials Think Barack Obama is More Important Than George Washington!!??”
  • "The Dow Posts The Biggest One Day Gain In History."
  • Good Morning Comrades
  • Sharks, Zombies & God
  • A Road Home
  • You're Getting Sleepy....Very Sleepy
  • Stupid People
  • Jezebel and Ahab Make a Comeback
  • Stevie Ray Vaughn: Derivitive Hack or Genius
  • Music & Reminiscence
  • “The Giant Facebook Id-Monster Attacks”
  • “Bullshit...it’s a Damned Invasion!”
  • Bobby-Jack
  • Lowell George searching for authenticity
  • For The Love of Krazy Kat
  • How I Came To Understand That Fighting The Power Was Useless. Unless...You Fight The Power By Giving Power to The Power To Fight The Power
  • Within the Lifetime Of The Average American...The U.S. Population Could Realistically Exceed That of China & India
  • The Problem of Blasphemy In a Secular Society
  • The Waitress and The Power
  • A Message From The Democrats After The 2018 Midterms
  • On This Day Before Election Day, These 5 Things Should Be Remembered As You Vote
  • A Lie Is As Good As The Truth....as long as it's a good lie
  • "Evil Republicans Suppress The Minority Vote"
  • The Enemy of Mankind
  • The Mob
  • Why Chinese Tariffs?
  • A Caravan To Nowhere
  • Ant Farm
  • “They’re Coming For Your Social Security!”
  • The Witchfinder Speaketh
  • Eating Sawdust & Voting Democrat
  • Muslims Kill Washington Post Journalist”...and other stories best left untold
  • Orwell's Nightmare
  • The Sobbing Walrus
  • A Telling Lie
  • Tribal Marxism
  • A Pimp and His Stable of Political Whores
  • "Evidence?.... I Don't Need No Damned Evidence!"
  • A Post Modern Lynching
  • Talkin’ Blues: A White Social Justice Warrior Meets a Bluesman
  • Pocahontas Wants To Impeach President Trump
  • A Belated Tip of The Hat To John McCain's Funeral
  • "Colin Kaepernick Fights The Power. My Brothers!"
  • Jack Ryan: Promoting Jihad & The Brotherhood of Man
  • Rediscovering Willie "The Fruitbat" Johnson
  • The Allegation
  • Message in a Bottle
  • A Coven of Witches
  • The Communist & The Exalted Cyclops
  • America vs Satanic Goat Worshipers
  • Forcing Transgender Penis Cakes on America
  • The Iidots Lament
  • Irritating Post: no. 529
  • Irritating Post: no. 642
  • My Brain is a Liar
  • My New Rap "Alligators"
  • Helpful Hints in Logic
  • The Unredacted News
  • A Loss of Composure
  • The Myth of Objective Fact Checkers
  • Surviving Politics
  • The Pit or The Pendulum
  • Do Not Forsake Me. Not For a Dollar. Not For a Dime.
  • Repeller of The Amorites
  • Sometimes I feel Like a Motherless Child...but only sometimes
  • Welcome To The Freakshow
  • Part One: The Monster Is Summoned
  • A Sideways Glance at Reality....
  • The Ballad of Trey Gowdy
  • Lies, Spies, and Thighs at The FBI
  • The Ballad of Charlie Crockett
  • Children in Cages
  • A Poem For Clifford Odets
  • Anthony Bourdain
  • Like Billy Eckstein Singing to an Empty Club at 1:00 AM on a Saturday Night in 1975.
  • A Letter From The Democratic National Committee
  • Bent
  • "There Were No Spies in The FBI and Other Fictional Tales"
  • The New Rules For Radicals
  • Blood In The Water
  • "3000 American Businesses Colluded with Russia For Profit"
  • I Spy (For The FBI)
  • Free Shit—and Bears
  • Cute Dog Videos
  • How The Press Aided and Abetted Terrorists
  • The Iran Deal Myth
  • The Scouts
  • Pinko Muthafuckas
  • Kelly Joe Phelps
  • Johnny Winter and, 1970
  • Happy Days Are Here Again
  • RAGe Against The Machine
  • Carlos and Buddy
    • How The Bird & Darwin Took Flight With a A7#9 Chord
  • Just a Few Glaring Examples Of Media Scummery
  • They Call it Stormy Monday
  • "I Gotta Take A Wiz" or, "How Starbucks Destroyed the World"
  • Who Needs War?
  • Why The Devil Don't Come Around No More
  • 2+2 Really Does = 4
  • The Tangled Web
  • Shadow Banning
  • What Changed?
  • Oblivious But Concerned
  • "Give Up!"
  • Jesus: The Spirit of Man and God That Illuminates The Darkness
  • Mickey Baker: Goin' To Kansas City
  • "Washington Saves America from Pot-smoking Mass Murderers"
  • Nontraditional Thoughts
  • Attack of The Trillion Dollar Omnibus Bill
  • Hearing Junior Wells “On Tap'' one more Time
  • Just Words
  • Muddy and Me
  • Racist Debtaes About Terrorsim
  • Fidel's Utopia
  • Unwitting Hypocrisy is The Best Kind of Hypocrisy
  • Excess Baggage
  • Excess Baggage pt. 2
  • Fake News Is The New Real News
  • The Death of Billy Graham and Manufacturing Consent
  • American Youth: The Rise of The New Media
  • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Talk About Slavery and Shit
  • Just Smoke
  • Monkey in a Box
  • How The Children of Sal and Dean Destroyed The World
  • On This Cold Winter's Morn
  • The Crime of the Century
  • Evidence: What The Hell Is It?
  • They Were Pissed: America, Jack Kerouac, and the Beats
  • Negotiating The Maze Of Life and a Blues Shuffle.
  • Everyone Is Hitler (In their own Way)
  • The Mystery of The Giant Balloon Shark
  • Subterfuge and Its Discontents
  • God Debunks Global Warming
  • Day Two: God Continues To Debunk Global Warming
  • Strzoking Russia
  • The Al Franken Effect. Or, How to Destroy America and Lose Elections
  • The Big Maybe
  • The News Apocalypse
  • The Guitarticle (Guitar article)
  • The Nation of Lucifer
  • Slurring Pocahontas
  • Why Everything Good Said About Net Neutrality is a Lie
  • .....and behold, The Cause of Your Demise Is Upon You
  • The Trans-boy That Cried Wolf
  • Believe Nothing
  • Donald Trump Blasts The Heads Off Of Tiny Woodland Creatures
  • The Problem of Hypocrites
  • Roy Moore: Serial Pervert
  • I'm So Frustrated
  • The Devil's Whisper
  • Science Can't Dance
  • You're Gonna Have To Serve Somebody
  • Louie C. K.
  • Common Sense
  • Hunting For Witches
  • Living in The Age of "tRump"
  • The Devil is a Hustler
  • The Skinny
  • Eric Dolphy
  • ISIS Rode in On a Donkey
  • "The Manafort Indictment"
  • The Truth About the Middle East
  • Dennis Budimer's "Alone Together" Revisited
  • The Halloween Edition
  • The 20th Century Was Groovy
  • The Salesman
  • The Dossier
  • Elmore James
  • Isle of The Poor
  • The Patriarchy is Alive and Well
  • Moving Napoleon
  • Guns and Guerrillas
  • Playing Four
  • Hollywood and Scumbags
  • Why Everything You Think, Is Wrong
  • Killing Yourself With Terrorism
  • Being Liberal
  • Laced With Hate
  • A Message From Occupy Democrats
  • A Taxing Dilemma
  • What Really Happened with Aid in Puerto Rico
  • Colin Kaepernick and Beyoncé are geniuses. Part 1
  • When the Levee Breaks
  • The Second Coming of Anthony Weiner
  • How to Never Lose a Fight
  • Creating Chaos out of Meaning
  • Crime and Punishment
  • The Man in the Mirror
  • Guitar Gods of the Sixties
  • Entopy: A Play in One Act
  • The Ragged Tale of a Poverty Stricken Economic Genius
  • The Dreamers
  • Hey There Georgy Girl
  • This Is Not a Defense of Joel Osteen. Or is it?
  • The Ballad of Poindexter Glockenspiel
  • The Big Dummy
  • More Florida in Pictures and Text
  • How Do I Hate Thee
  • Florida in Images and More Images
  • "How To Solve The Healthcare Crisis and Why It's So Damned Hard To Fix"
  • The Big Lie
  • The Demise of the West
  • “Good Times! Good Times! You know, we talkin’ bout Good Times!”
  • "Justice My Ass!"
  • Wolves in Sheep's Clothing
  • The Coming Apocalypse and How to Avoid it: a Historical/Biblical Perspective.
  • "Muthafuckin' Chains!"
  • Lies Our Father's Told Us
  • Poetry and Politics - a few mixed verses
  • The Inner Man
  • The Vampire and The Carpet Salesman
  • Comey Speaks!
  • A Word From Nostradamus about the Comey Hearings
  • The Towering Babble
  • Chain of Fools
  • I Got Ramblin' on My Mind
  • Telling Ourselves Stories
  • Shit! Make Me Wanna Holler!
  • Even More Reasons Why The Paris Accords are Total Horseshit.
  • When Life Imitates Satire
  • Jethro and Becky Sue Come To America
  • Random Apocrypha
  • Why The Paris Climate Accords Are Total Horseshit
  • Urban Stories
  • The Kingdom of God: a personal rant
  • Urban Week @ South Beach
  • Serpico Revisited
  • The Road To Surf-dumb. Or, is it The Road To Serfdom?
  • This is Not a Political Article
  • My Hometown
  • What Does This Mean?
  • We're All Fools Sometime
  • One Pill Makes You Larger
  • "What a Maroon!"
  • Secrets and Lies
  • A Tale of Wine and Murder
  • "White House Under Siege!"
  • The Amateur Narcissist
  • Like a Rock
  • The Greatest of Ally of a True Idiot is.....
  • How To Prove someone's a Witch
  • Jesus Was a Sly Dog
  • An Open Letter From The Democratic National Committee
  • The Power of Language
  • The Existential Croûton
  • Random Facebook Thoughts
  • A Play "The Poverty Racket"
  • The Demise of the 4th Estate
  • Love To Hate My Enemies
  • Feelings, Oh, Oh, Oh, Feelings
  • Art or Reality
  • The Prison Yard Blues
  • Who is Richard Spencer and Why Does He Matter?
  • __an excerpt from "The Power of Voltron "
  • A Plea From a Progressive
  • ANTIFA - The Anti Fascists, Fascists
  • Conspiracy Theory
  • 4 More Poems, 4 More Pictures
  • "Are You Freaking People Insane?"
  • 4 Pictures 4 Poems
  • The Ballad of Carlos Slim
  • Pretending What's in Your Head is True
  • The Cognitive Dissonance of a Faithful Democrat
  • The Human Snakepit
  • George Freeman - Unsung Master of the Jazz Guitar
  • The Price of Milk
  • Suspicious Minds
  • Bill O'Reilly Sexual Predator?
  • The New Soldier
  • Orwell Revisited
  • Larry Coryell - The Godfather is Dead
  • A Tiger Beat
  • South Florida - HOT & COOL
  • Jean Paul Sartre & the Existentialist Mojo
  • Culture Matters, Immigration Matters, Sharks Matter
  • Thomas Sowell
  • A Tree Falls In Central Park on a Gay Banker
  • Black Codes From The Underground
  • Does an Idiot know they're an Idiot?
  • A Poem for Pooh
  • It's All or Nothing Baby!
  • Racism is Alive and Well
  • "Shut the Hell Up!"
  • Jerry Seinfeld - Social Pariah
  • A Man Must Nurture His Pet Peeves
  • Not the Usual Immigration Article
  • Man Talk, with Donald Trump pt. 1
  • Man Talk, with Donald Trump pt. 2
  • The Bad Seed
  • Dogma Never Sleeps
  • Trump and Clinton Debate
  • Was Jesus a True Pacifist?
  • Brexit Was the Shot Heard Around the World
  • Obama, How Great Thou Art
  • War is Good
  • The Willful Ignorance of Intellectual Children
  • What about All Those Peacful Muslims?
  • Terror! What Terror?
  • Biff and Shorty Play The Blues
  • Forty Miles of Bad Road
  • How Obamacare Became the law of the land: And Other Fairytales for Adults
  • Genteel Republicans vs The Alt-Right
  • Should Drugs be Legal?
  • The Prophet Speaks
  • The Dream Sequence
  • Voting 3rd Party and the Moral Low-Ground
  • Sayonara America
  • What does Never Trump Mean?
  • Barack Obama is the Most Brilliant Man Ever to be President?
  • If God Created War, Does That Mean That War is Good?
  • Never Let Your Enemies Define You
  • Facebook, Science & Religion
  • Bullshit by the Numbers
  • Bullshit by the Numbers - part II
  • The Heated Quest for the "No Information Voter"
  • I Love The Dead
  • Those Who Lurk
  • Battered, Bruised and Beaten
  • Trump and Hitler
  • America in Black and White
  • Trans-Athletics
  • Playing a Rigged Game
  • Who was that Mass Murderer?
  • The Kidnappers
  • The Game
  • Terror in Nice: A Variation on a Theme
  • The Idiots Guide on How to Destory the World
  • Terror in France
  • A Fictional Conversation Between a Pastor and a Historian About the Bible
  • The Immoral Necessity for Scapegoats
  • Who Really Shot Those Eleven Cops? Was It Donald Trump?
  • Killer Cops and Cop Killers
  • Happy 4th of July
  • How Do You Cast Your Vote When You've Only Got a Few Bullets Left?
  • "Yes, She's a Lying Sack of Shit....but She's our Lying Sack of Shit."
  • All Apologies
  • Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up
  • Goodbye Scotty Moore
  • If a Bluebird Plays the Blues Why Can't it Play Free Jazz
  • Terror in Turkey
  • When David Slew Goliath
  • The Life & Death of a Global Fat Cat
  • Intentionally Censoring the News
  • The Brits Leave the EU
  • Chick, Christian, Roy & Kenny G
  • Who Really Committed Mass Murder in Orlando
  • The Tale of the Prince and the Shrew
  • A Dying Father's Last Father's Day
  • Mass Murdering, Terrorist's Father is Obama and Hillary's Best Friend
  • Why Cream still Matters 50 Years Later
  • Misguided Anger and Partisan Politics
  • The Deep Guilt of the Religious Left
  • Radical Islam! What Radical Islam?
  • Denial is a River in Egypt
  • A Response to all the Haters
  • Why Muhammad Ali was my Hero (in spite of being a Racist)
  • Why Trump Matters
  • The New Progressive Racism
  • A Tragedy in Cincinnati
  • The Evil that Men do (Women too.)
  • Differences? What Differences?
  • Racism Revisited
  • Battling Immigration Straw Men
  • Blood Quantum
  • Fighting Transgender Straw Men
  • Logical Fallacies about God and Money
  • Progressive Straw Men
  • Everybody is Robbing You Blind
  • On The Road To El Donaldo
  • Dear Mark: About Donald Trump
  • Identifying the Enemy
  • Why I Will Vote For Trump
  • I Totally Agree With Myself
  • Teaching Americans Where to Pee
  • Goodbye Lonnie Mack
  • Bernie Wants You To Pay His Fair Share
  • Bruce Springsteen vs. North Carolina
  • Mr. Smiley Is an Idiot
  • Why Does College Cost So Much?
  • Black Power and Bad Vibes At Whiteness History Month
  • How Facebook Showed Me That We're Doomed
  • Muslims kill Muslims by means of White People
  • The Slap
  • America Wants a 3rd Party Candidate
  • Jesus Loved Everybody
  • Call it what it is.
  • Belgium vs. Turkey. Which One is Worse?
  • Barack, Fidel and Che
  • How He Gonna Get His Money pt. 2
  • How He Gonna Get His Money
  • The Turn of The Screw
  • Dear America: Now, about Trump....
  • The Attack of the Anti Trumpers
  • Did You Know that America is Socialism....and boy, ain't it Swell
  • Trump - Prophet or Blowhard?
  • Black Lies Matter, All Lies Matter
  • The Donald and the Debate
  • Leonardo and The Bear
  • The Thunder Rolled and the "Trump" Blows em all to Hell
  • Fragmented Fairytails
  • Cars That Never Were but Should've Been, Part 6
  • Building The Perfect Beast
  • America: A Tale of Two Cities, Part 1
  • Uncle Bernie in New Hampshire
  • The Big L
  • The Diary of a Former Leftist
  • Free Speech not Hate Speech?
  • State of the Union
  • Losing My Religion
  • Don't Take Our Guns Away Until We Kill Those Honky Bastards
  • Bye Bye Europe
  • "Trump is a Racist!"
  • "Hell Yeah! I've Got Obama Care!
  • Trumponomics
  • Woman of the Year
  • Malicious Intent and the Art of the Microaggression
  • Muslim No-Go Zones - Myth or Reality?
  • Donald J. Trump and the Muslim Migration to America
  • There Is No God But Allah?
  • Roadhouse - The Reboot
  • Sometimes You Just Can't Win
  • A Few Thoughts Regarding Trump
  • Cars That Never Were But Should've Been, Part 5
  • You Can Have My Steering Wheel When You Pry It From Cold, Daed Hands
  • The Great Debate
  • Al, Thomas and Paul - Malthusians Then and Now
  • A Prophet Debates Global Warming and other retated Dogma
  • Memes, Scapegoats, Propaganda
  • Little Hillary and Her Monsters
  • A Prophecy for America
  • The Basketball Metaphor
  • Vladimir Putin: An American Hero
  • Little Things
  • The Democrats Debate
  • It's All Ablout da Benjamins
  • Remember When?
  • Mass Shooter
  • Cars That Never Were But Should've Been: Part 4
  • Should A Muslim Be President in America?
  • The Strange Case of Ahmed Mohamed
  • Debt and Other Devious Angels
  • Bernie Sanders is Caesar not Jesus
  • An inconvenient Truth
  • Who's really a Native American?
  • The Rebirth of the Silent Majority
  • Money That's What I Want!
  • The Syrian Crisis and the Memeing of America
  • Why Societies Have Generally Valued Men More than Women
  • The Problem of Evil
  • A few Thoughts on a Few Things
  • The Authentic pose of a Black White Man
  • Sweden: Socialist Utopia or Progressive Madhouse?
  • Why Dogs Matter
  • Guilty Until Proven Innocent
  • Was Jesus a Socialist?
  • "The Donald" A Man for the Ages
  • Harvesting the Wheat - or - Karma's a Real Bitch
  • Cecil The Lion
  • Cars That Never Were but Should’ve Been, Part 3
  • Secrets and Lies
  • Can Minorities Be Racist?
  • I Was Just Thinking....Hmm?
  • Iran Deal - Good or Bad?
  • Jihad or Not Jihad? That is the Question.
  • "Let's Do Lunch" with Planned Parenthood
  • America The Contemptible
  • Marriage, Bigotry and Cooties
  • The Things We Care About
  • The Simplicity of it All
  • A Dissenting Opinion
  • Cars That Should've Been, But Never Were: part II
  • Live Now, Pay Later
  • I Am, Whatever I Say I Am!
  • Bernie Sanders is the Dumbest Bastard on Earth
  • Cars That Never Were But Should've Been
  • Bruce Jenner
  • The Good Society
  • A Personal Jesus For My Own
  • Take a Ride on a Hell Bound Train
  • Requiem For a Car Show
  • Obama Channels Neville Chamberlain in Dealing with Iran
  • The Short Life of a Political Lemming
  • The Strongman
  • The Broken Window
  • The Selective Outrage of The Anti Israel Left
  • When the Blind Lead the Blind
  • Top Brass With Class
  • Living In A world On Fire
  • Lying Liars and the Lies They Tell
  • What The Hell Is Esotericism?
  • Unicorns, Free Healthcare and other Mythological Creatures
  • Heroes and Dunces
  • A Few Thoughts On a Few Things
  • The Return Of Super Fly
  • Should You Ever Bet On A dead Horse?
  • Money For Nothing
  • Across The Great Divide
  • Tom, Jerry, Eddie & Sydney
  • The Folly of Foibles
  • Who really killed Eric Garner?
  • The Art of The Sale
  • Political Bullshit and All That Jazz
  • Oh, The Horror of It All
  • To Torture or Not To Torture, That is The Question
  • Selective Justice
  • Executive Action
  • Give Us Your Tired, Poor and Ambitious
  • Johnny Winter, Ahhh-Yeahh!
  • Homeless and Transgender "Let My People Pee!"
  • Are We Insane? You Betcha!
  • Ebola and Racism
  • You're a Racist, Just Admit It!
  • To Discriminate or Not to Discriminate, That is the Question
  • The Life of an Imaginary Historian
  • Why Most Debates About The Minimum Wage are Bullshit
  • The Return of the Infinite Monkeys
  • Politically Correct Genocide
  • Language and the illusion of Meaning
  • Obama vs. Reagan
  • Is Barack Obama our Most Successful President Ever?
  • White Racism Black Racism
  • The Race
  • Should People Be Free to Discriminate?
  • Science, Religion and Brother Neil
  • Welcome To America
  • The Reincarnation of Jimmy Carter and the Return of Scarface
  • SCOTUS, Condoms and Collateral Damage
  • The American Dream
  • Attack of the Bloated Leeches or "Why Does the Economy Suck pt. II"
  • Why Does the Economy Suck?
  • Jaco Pastorius - A Passage in Time
  • How can we save the world, from people who want to save the world?
  • A Short Political rant: pt I
  • Jerry Reed, Tom Jones and the Original Guitar Heroes
  • Part Two: The Politics of the Eloi and the Morlock
  • Angel: part 7
  • Wayne Cochran "Going Back to Miami"
  • Blessed Assurances and other Iron Clad Guarantees
  • James Brown & the Art of the Indefinite Rhythm
  • If the Bible Say's it, I believe It!
  • Go For a Jog, Go to Jail
  • Life as Theatre and The Well-Intended Sociopath
  • Rory Gallagher & Taste
  • Utopia and the Militant Socialist
  • Matt Damon & the Teachers Union vs. the Capitalist Pigs
  • The Fight of the Century
  • The Last Damned Healthcare Article You'll Ever Need
  • The Gospel According to Mark
  • You Might Be an Idiot if.....
  • How To Interpret Political Speech and other Forms of Gibberish
  • Polygamy and the Search For Morality
  • The "Big" Gulp
  • When a Lie is the Truth and the Truth is a Lie
  • Jim Hall - The Subtle Radical
  • Making Deals With the Devil in Iran
  • Dennis and Mary
  • Thank You Lord For the Good Things You have Done
  • Excersise In Futility
  • Is Obama The Antichrist?
  • The Case for Limited Government (and that includes a limited military)
  • The Weekly Southern Blog
  • Angel: part VI
  • The Esoteric Agenda
  • Ted Bundy & The Hunt For The Devil
  • Things I wish the President Knew Pt. 3
  • Really Now, I'm Syria
  • What Will You Do?
  • Charlie & Clint: Dead & Deader
  • God Loves Me and Has a Plan For My Life...Right?
  • Trayvon & George : An American Hate Story
  • Is God's Grace Ecclesiastical White-out?
  • Jury Duty
  • The Left's Contradictory Love Affair With Gays & Muslims
  • Hee Haw and Grandma and Grandpa
  • Little Tommy & The Blues Kings
  • Gay Marriage: Part II
  • Kayaking "The Big Cypress" with Crocodlies
  • The Birth of The Jazz Guitarist
  • Running With The Bullshit In Pamplona
  • Divided By Abortion
  • Gay Marriage
  • Life on the Fault-line
  • Out of the Wild
  • A Generation Out Of Touch
  • Morning Faith with a Cup of Joe
  • For The Children
  • Made up Facts & True Beliefs
  • The Unforgettable - Nat 'King' Cole
  • Slavery Was Big Business....and It Still Is!
  • Garage Band - The 1960's
  • A Man's Best Friend is his Dogma
  • Voting With Our Private Parts
  • Investors of the World, Unite
  • Good Intentions...bad results
  • The Plural of "You"
  • How to Get God to Give You What You Want: Redux
  • We Have Not Yet Begun To Fight
  • Polls–Divination or Manipulation?
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Jaco Pastorius A Passage in Time

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A Passage In “Time”

It was a gorgeous sun shiny day with very low humidity, something we hardly ever see in South Florida. This should have told me that the Good Lord was setting me up for the beginnings of a day that would turn from merely special, to life changing.

In the summer of 1975, I and a great friend of mine, and musical colleague, Mark M., decided to partner together and form a killer eight-piece super funk-style band with top-notch seasoned players. Among the lineup of these top players was trumpeter and flautist, John D.

John was respected in the South Florida community, not only for his virtuosic playing abilities, but also for his writing and teaching, too. Along the way in his musical life, John had met another fine musician that he would be introducing me to on this day, as he had asked for me to accompany him to drop off some musical charts he had just updated for this musician we were to visit in Oakland Park, a small suburb of Fort Lauderdale.

In the next few minutes I was to meet someone who would help me change my outlook of time. Yes, time!

Now time, to some, could be either very important or not so, but, with me being a drummer, well, you can imagine time and/or timing was very important. But, this was not that sort of time that I’m talking about. This was actual time, such a moment past or present; a measure of duration. And, as the young, 19-year-old musician that I was then, I really couldn’t comprehend nor appreciate the meaning in the same way that you do when you get much older. As the saying goes; time is but a blinking of an eye, a moment in life that whizzes by you before you know it.

Oh, how true that is. Time will gobble you up quicker than a huge tidal wave moving through a small village. But, at that young age I simply wasn’t thinking of anything such as that. I was a vibrant young man raging with excitement over things to come; things that I felt would last almost forever. Heck, if you’re thinking the age of 40 or 50 is old and far away as I did then, it’s a sure thing that 80 must be eternity from then, and since I planned to live at least that long, I surely was not thinking of hurrying up with my need for accomplishments.

So, on this particular day, I was about to learn a major lesson when meeting this person I was accompanying John to see.

I don’t generally go on errands and what have you just to accompany someone else, as I can usually find something more interesting to do with my time, but John asked me and he was a good friend. So, I would have said yes anyway, but, in his asking, he mentioned that this person he had to go see was probably the best bass player he had ever heard or seen. Well, when I heard that, I was in! Anytime someone gives me the opportunity to go see, or better yet, meet a fine musician of high caliber—and, coming from a respected musician such as John, I was sure it was true—I want to go, There were no second thoughts on my quick answer of “Yes! Sure, let’s go”!

Unbeknownst to me at the time, this first meeting would also set the playing field for the beginning of a long, yet somewhat eclectic, musical friendship. That friendship would last until the final and tragic night 13 years later; September 11th 1987.

In my first meeting, he was on the cusp of becoming known as “The Best Electric Bass Player in the World” and so, if you haven’t guessed his name yet, you must be living on another planet, for when it comes to musical geniuses such as Coltrane, Mingus, Parker, or Hendrix, his name, too, is mentioned among those great masters.

So, who was he? None other than Jaco Pastorius, more commonly known just as “Jaco.”

Yes, I was about to meet Jaco Pastorius, but then the title of “The Best Bass Player In The World,” which he coined himself, and which was later justified by his peers, was only known in a very small circle, one of which I was not entitled to be a part–yet!

When we first walked into his house, he was sitting on the edge of his bed playing a beat up upright bass, also known as a “Double Bass.” He was slumped all over it like an octopus submerging his prey. He was in his own zone, attempting to master this instrument as if he had but a moment left in life.

He really was an astonishing musician as I came to know him better in later years, but, on this first day, I recognized right away that this was a special musician. I was even more astounded when John later told me that Jaco had only been playing bass for a very, very short time. Yet, he had accomplished these incredible plateaus. Most of the other 99.9% never reach what he attained in their entire lifetime, let alone in only a few short years.

He once told me, a couple of years later, that, before injuring his wrist playing sports, he had first been a drummer, as his father was. However, because of the major surgery on that wrist, he had no choice but to change instruments. He told me that he loved music so much because it was his real world, a world where he felt safe and knew how to get around and hoped everyone else could keep up.

So, now, here he was, letting go of his first instrument, the drums, and picking up a cheap and beat up electric bass he purchased at a local pawn shop. He got good very quickly and progressed to a much better bass, the Fender Jazz bass, and it was on this instrument that he, in a few short years, mastered the bass.

Remembering this brings me to wonder, “What would he have accomplished on drums if he was not forced to change?” After all, drums were his first calling. I also wonder, “What would I have been chasing in my world as a drummer, if this monster was let loose in it?” Surely, I cannot play bass!

Now, In the middle of my first visit with Jaco, John was trying to talk to him about whatever was in those charts he had brought over to him. Meanwhile, I just stood speechless and amazed at the sounds coming out of the instrument he was attacking with vengeance and beauty all at the same time. He then switched to the electric bass, and there he definitely floored me! I mean, I had never heard anyone playing harmonics on electric bass before, at least to this degree; it was incredible to say the least. As I watched and listened to him playing, I was praying John would just stop trying to get his attention, so he could continue to floor me.

Up until then, the most phenomenal things I had heard were coming from the new-era bass player, Stanley Clark, but this, this was different, and to see it up close and personal, I was forever changed in, as I mentioned, my thinking about time!

You see, this guy, in a few short years, had not let time pass by and do only the nominally best he could and eventually get there, No! He put everything—I mean everything—aside to conquer with no holds barred. It’s as if he was clairvoyant; he knew he would only be here on earth for a very short time and needed to make his mark on the world as never done before, and, as we know, he was tragically taken a few short years thereafter.

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We eventually finished our meeting and as we were getting ready to say our goodbyes, I asked Jaco: “So, what do you think about Stanley Clark?” He looked at me as if I had just killed his first born, and, for a second, I thought that maybe I should take a step backwards. I considered backing away because I had also seen in him someone who was somewhat uneven keeled, if you get my drift. So, I did not know what he would actually do! But, to my surprise, expecting the worst, he just put his head back down and continued playing.

We then said our goodbye’s and started out the front door of the house when, all of a sudden, I heard him shout from the top of his lungs; “Stanley Clark ain’t S@#T compare to me, I am the greatest Bass player in the world and he knows it!!! Wham! There you go, he said it; "I am the greatest Bass player in the world!"  

Funny thing, years later, when this motto became associated with his name, I would laugh when others would mention that saying about him. I would tell everyone who brought this up in conversation, “Heck, he told me that a few years ago before he was even known to those like you and all the others. Ha-ha!”

In all seriousness, after what I had experienced even on that first day, I could not deny him that title. To add, I’m sure not much later if Stanley (Clark) would have denied it himself, but, knowing musician’s egos, he probably would never admit to it.

Remember my babbling on about “Time” and the great lesson I learned in meeting this wonder of the music world? Well, time was short—especially when you are trying to accomplish greatness, especially in the music world.

So, in the months that followed, I engulfed myself in such, to hurry my own course upwards and towards greatness.

I first enrolled in college; Miami Dade University. There I studied under a great master of percussion, Frank Garisto. I then followed through on my studies, by practicing, “wood shedding” as they call it in the music world. I cracked down hard on my chart reading speed, my writing skills, etc., etc. Six-to-eight hours per day, seven days a week, with no holidays, no nothing. Then, I applied them to places of meaning.

My musical world opened up to many avenues, such as, studio musician, on call for gigs (a hired gun) with different acts, or teaching, whatever the demand, I was ready to take it on.

This hard-core dedication and then some, whenever possible, would not limit me, as I was now equipped to meet any and all challenges on types and/or styles of music; Jazz, Blues, Rock etc. My unlimited potential was opened up much faster than had I not understood; time is as a blink of an eye, and if you don’t buckle down, it will pass you by very quickly.

This, in seeing how Jaco had dedicated himself to become so great, was an inspiring lesson for me in trying to even come close. Although not everyone is born with such a special talent as Jaco attained, and I never accomplished this sort of genius like quality of musicianship, I did, however, feel that I achieved a higher plateau than that which I probably would have achieved without first having met Jaco. Again, it changed my whole outlook on Time!

As years passed, lo and behold, Jaco and I crossed each other’s paths again. But, this time he was on my playing field; my stage. He asked to be invited up to jam with me, which I relished in having a go with an all-out, funky, jazz-rock (Fusion) jam.

It was a great time, and for the first time, regardless of all the other good musicians and sessions I had done up until then, I felt I belonged in this world he traveled, and knew right then and there that, I too, compared well to the drummers he played with; Lenny White, Peter Erskine, or whomever. I knew it had paid off, not letting time pass me by. Now, I’m getting the nod from a great monster that’s played with the best. It was magic, how we were feeding off each other that night, we were going out there, letting loose and grooving our asses off.

Musician knows times like these are but few in a lifetime. Times like these can only be compared to a great night of sex and, well, I will leave that to your imagination to interpret yourselves. This night was also the night I finally, really understood this man they sometimes called a “Genius”! He blew me away with things I never knew existed in bass playing, and I have played with some pretty awesome players in my life, both then and since. No one has ever taken me to that place. Jaco might actually have been a true “Genius” on bass.

After we finished playing that night, we sat around and had a couple of drinks and chit-chatted about music, of course, and how when you really understand, you, your instrument and the surroundings become one with your soul. It truly becomes “one” and no other marriage can compare to it, nor can anyone understand unless they are there. I say this while also believing I have had a blessed marriage for almost 35 years with an awesome woman. We had a connection that night, and a couple of other times in the following years, and it was very cool.


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In those first couple of meetings I would remind him of our first meeting at his house near Fort Lauderdale a few years prior, when John and I came over, and how I had asked what he thought about Stanley Clark. And you know, although he was being kind about it, in saying he remembered that day, I knew different, but that was okay.

People have said many negative things about Jaco, and though I only saw him once in the whole time I knew him being those things people said about him, all the other times, I only saw the good-hearted person, and a hell of a monster player. Maybe it was lucky timing in my crisscrossing of paths with him throughout the time we knew each other, but that’s the way he always was with me.

I understood the difficult Jaco, I mean his mind was filled with one thing at most times and one thing alone, Music! He was focused on how to make it the best anyone can bring, whatever and whenever possible. That’s how his mind carried on throughout, he was going for the best and nothing short of it.

In as far as his dealings with me, he seemed to show a side of humility, with a sort of excitement altogether when he came on stage and joined me. I felt that he genuinely liked me and what I brought to the stage; pureness, with no fear, no boundaries, reach for it all and enjoy the ride. Listen, if you have what it takes, then bring it, don’t pull back, we can make a great soup together, musically speaking. Just make sure you have some chops or you will get swallowed up and left behind. In other words, know your craft, and go for broke, but only when it’s time to do so, and that we did!

In the field of music, if you are above and beyond most people with such creativity as Jaco had, people think you’re out of your mind, you are out there somewhere, and you have no clue. But the truth is, most times, it’s the other way around. Jaco was in a world beyond most others’ comprehension and, unfortunately, he would be hurt by this.

When trying to deal with most people in the music world that could only see what was in front of them, they had no clue, so they could not absorb nor comprehend how his mind was seeing and hearing. I believe this was one of those pitfalls that would follow him throughout his life and make it hard for him to deal with unless he was, in some form, intoxicated.

Towards the end of his life, most did not want him, he had become manic depressive, and needed medication to keep him leveled, but I feel as though he didn’t like that feeling very much, because that curbed his genius and imagination all at once. It was as if he was in a coma, and could hear everyone around him, yet no one could hear him screaming inside, wanting to acknowledge them, and saying I can hear you, but you can’t hear me!

I always felt that I was one of the lucky ones that only had one (and I mean only one) bad night with him, and I will get to that in a minute. Before that, though, he once told me that he liked my style; hard, funky and with good chops; “You are one of the most solid players I have ever played with, with a great understanding of funk.” Hey, regardless of what other drummers might have wanted to hear him say, like “You are a fantastic technical groove monster, or phenomenal technical drummer, etc.,” I have always prided myself with the understanding that a drummer must always remember his place in the pit; he is Time Keeper, solid as a metronome that brings it with feeling and adds only when it needs to be at the proper time. So, to me, this was a great compliment, especially coming from the groove monster that he was!

Now I mentioned that I only once had a bad time with him on stage, although I have mixed feelings about my last encounter with Jaco, which some would say was selfish on his part. You see, he was pretty trashed (drunk, etc.) the last night we played together and made somewhat of a big commotion on stage in front of a huge crowed, enough to where, eventually, the bouncers had to escort him off the stage and out of the premises—this really broke my heart. You see, they didn’t know what was going on with him, but I did, I knew he was not himself, as I had known who and how he was many times before. The other thing is that I never got a chance to say goodbye to him, so when I read what happened to him the night he was killed, it really upset me.

The way it went down that final night we played together; after strapping on the bass he had taken off my bass player, he also managed to get all of my other band members off the stage too, so that it would only be just the two of us, which I understood, because, as I mentioned before, he really enjoyed how we communicated together on a playing level. I don’t know, maybe he felt the others were not in the same league.

I felt he was aiming for no interruption of outside boundaries (instruments/musicians) that could interfere with the simplicity of two playing at some form of orchestral dimensions; he was always so magical in this. I noticed that night he seemed alone, lost, and eventually got chaotic and out of hand, as if he got lost in transition. No matter what I threw at him, he seemed to not even acknowledge it, and it was then that I knew he was gone, somewhere lost in his own mind and I could not retrieve him.

It was sad, and I felt really bad for him, especially when they hauled him away and out the door. All this, and not knowing that this would be our final, and what could have been our final, magical musical moment together.

September 11th, 1987 would be his final curtain as he was tragically beaten to death by a bouncer at a neighborhood nightclub close to where he had once lived in Oakland Park.

On a final note: He is one of only seven bass players in history to have been inducted into the Downbeat Hall of Fame. That, alone, is as much of a tribute and recognition as a musician would ever want to reach in their field.

He was the “Greatest Electric Bass Player in the World” and these were not just his words, but the words of those that knew and played with him. Those that were lucky enough to have that magic he attained trickle down on them.

I feel privileged to have played with, and known, Jaco throughout those years. It was but a blink of an eye!


Sergio D.


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