I am at Coupa writing my ballot statement and not watching the Giants or reading about Unlocking The Truth

(I am ensconced at Coupa this a.m. writing my ballot statement so did not will not and cannot read The Times; I could not resist, since someone had left a hard copy, noting the existence of three article I might or you might read, later; I also taping the Giants-Mets, and their odd 9 a.m. start

(Something about the really young rock band, signed to a major label, on C-1 — and not to be confused with the really young rock band I have seen three times, and written about, at Lytton Plaza.

(B-1 has a big photo — which caught my eye, the building — and article about “A News Giant Going It alone“, about Chicago Tribune, who owned the Palo Alto Times, when I worked there, in 1984.

There’s also a A-1 front page story about the middle class being priced out of the coasts and moving to Oklahoma City or El Paso.

Black and white nerds unite.)

I watched this 33 minute film, on mute or near it, while eating my eggs; the film belongs in the Smithsonian. I grabbed these three captchas, of the guitarist; at 20:05, first. At 22:20 there is his version of Hendrix at Monterey “Star-Spangled Banner”. The cameraman — a father of one of the young men — says that two of the boys are cousins. The last song at 27:45 they announce as a cover of Chelsea Green (?) “Red Green”.

I was drifting into some thoughts about a ballot statement that is based on “Rock and Roll Part 2”:

Been a long time since I rock and roll/

Been a long time since I did the stroll/

Carry me back, carry me back/

From where I came from/

(something about) moon light

Lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time.

(that would be a 35 word platform, compared to my 70 platform in 2012 — a fifty percent reduction – -fiddy percent as they say in NYC, the 212. I would  add about 10 notes, so it would be 35 word platform with 10 notes. I would be leveraging my long-time standing in the community, as a Gunn grad, PTT trainee, et cetera, plus being the catalyst to the New Residentialist movement. Might be too hip for the room).

So I am drifting pretty far from a rational defense of obstructionism as it pertains locally and currently to “dense packing / upzoning” versus “greenbelt alliance”, but the Led Zep slash Robert Plant ditty about “moonlight” — that I cannot even quote properly – -reminded me of something gleaned — by osmosis, maybe it was my roommate G_ who gleaned it, then shared his insight or enthusiasm for me, he the philosophy major to my English major merely reading Schopenhauer — 30 years ago, in undergrad survey courses, lower level, about values and aesthetics and humility. And I am grateful that in rebuttal to the trolls who attack me on the Weekly message board prima facie for not being more conventional that two or three replied in kind that I was thoughtful. I said at PATC that I prefer thoughtfulness to expediency in the public sector. It’s hard to say anything of substance in a 200 word passage

Schopenhauer’s moon was “an object of contemplation, never of the will. Further, it is sublime; that is, it inclines us to sublimity, because it goes along without any regard to us, forever alien to earthly activities, and sees all, but takes part in none.”

And not that I want to be compared to Plant, no way. My claim is that I managed Eugene S. Robinson, and his band, and that he can do a passable version of Plant, even at age 51 or what not. And people who heckle him are likely to be mule-kicked in the chin, and like it. I’d like to earn his vote. Only that maybe part of our problem is how stiff members of leadership our, certainly council, their minds clearly but also their bodies, their lower chakras.  I noted a historic rockin’ moment when then-Mayor Yiaway Yeh danced or sang back-up for a teen rock group doing a dated and over-done cover in front of City Hall. That’s as close as we get to the public sector here noting a fairly significant social movement; that’s why I was psyched that mid-level civil servant Josh Wallace said he liked Spoon. And I contend, but it won’t make it into my 200 word statement, unless I do go-fully monty for Robert Plant, that we would benefit from an art-informed tip elf policy.

Screen grab of Malcolm Brickhouse, guitar, in 2013 busking at Times Square

And oddly as I finish this off I am pinged by a note saying SXSW Austin 2015 is open for registration; truth be told I have not been to Austin or SXSW since 2009 for various reasons, including the fact that 100 to 200 hours in public hearings and meetings displaces time spent on the day job. Meanwhile the Giants-Mets I am not watching but taping is deadlocked 2-2 in the fourth with Hudson still on the hill, throwing the pill. Unlocking The Truth is, btw

• Malcolm Brickhouse – Guitar and vocals
• Jarad Dawkins – Drums and vocals
• Alec Atkins – Bass Guitar and vocals