Author Archives: markweiss86

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About markweiss86

Mark Weiss, founder of Plastic Alto blog, is a concert promoter and artist manager in Palo Alto, as Earthwise Productions, with background as journalist, advertising copywriter, book store returns desk, college radio producer, city council and commissions candidate, high school basketball player, and blogger; he also sang in local choir, fronts an Allen Ginsberg tribute Beat Hotel Rm 32 Reads 'Howl' and owns a couple musical instruments he cannot play

Floating the Palo Alto libraries

here i am laptop in hand turn my face to the tube; hey, you’ve got to if you are a jew hide yourself on Christmas eve away, especially if the mall makes you small, in the cold water not steve martin way Continue reading →

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Earthwise presents in San Francisco a tribute to Alden Van Buskirk (1938-1961), Tuesday, December 20, 2011

in another mental universe that spirals to infinite we gather to talk about van buskirk, in san francisco, for the fiftieth anniversary of the writing of “Lami” Continue reading →

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Mr. Gore and Me

there’s a little bit of maria in every post i do Continue reading →

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Christgau on “Passing Strange”; or pasting strange

as the only person on the planet who saw the negro problem on haight street and 17 years later saw jc brooks at bottom of the hill — the way my pops may be the only guy who heard gabby … Continue reading →

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Nahuatl songs, pictures and translations

My new friend the poet and scholar John Paige of Oakland gifted me a copy of his book of translations from Nahuatl to English, what most people think of as Aztec. I met John because of my efforts to promote … Continue reading →

Posted in music, this blue marble, words | Tagged | 2 Comments

Cantor candids

It is probably not advisable to try to make a regular practice of slyly shooting other people’s kids in museums and public places, but I could not resist catching these two twin girls in front of the Diebenkorn. Here I … Continue reading →

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Miles Davis in plastic salad heaven huis clos

miles davis perhaps as deep background for bill murray in lost in translation trades a ink drawing for a plate of plastic salad, and never addresses directly or by second person his japanese host, on tv in 1985, but i think they are in heaven perhaps, or another world Continue reading →

Posted in jazz, media, this blue marble | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Postcard from Santa Fe

I spoke to Mateo Romero, mostly about the recent Native-themed show in Hanover, New Hampshire at Dartmouth’s Hood Museum, which featured the unveiling of a series of paintings he did of Dartmouth Pow-Wow. Had the pleasure of mentioning to him … Continue reading →

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My weekend with Nina Simone; by Lisa Fay Beatty, as told to Paul Motian, Mia Zapata and Charging Elk (in heaven)

out of the tree of life I think i picked strange fruit. passing strange fruit. passing strange angels. thank you kim chun of the chronicle for mentioning my passing in 72 Hours, on Thursday, December 8, 2011. I was born in 1964 and died in a motorcycle accident in San Bernadino County on November 25, 2011. I was 47 – Lisa Fay Beatty Continue reading →

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Stone Fox 3.0

In a pleasing departure from eavesdropping on would-be and wanna-be billionaires regaling each other about their latest rounds of venture funding, angel pitches and other circle-jerking, I watched a recent UC Santa Cruz honors grad named Chelsea Bell show her bikini samples to … Continue reading →

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