a Marah video - formula, cola, dollar draft

there was a time when I didn't talk
i'd look away, or i'd shrug it off
turn it out or turn it off
or say something short and soft
out of school i took a J-O-B
makin' buttons in a factory
thinking what does life got in for me?
and i didn't wanna know
in a city full of double deals
my boss would yawn and roll back on his heels
like anyone could cop a feel of lady luck
i was made with my brother Bill
drinking Muskie Moons on top of Laurel Hill
it's funny now i'd cheek a poison pill to sober up
and no two-bit claim of I'm all right
is gonna turn around and make it right
so i'm fishing in my pocket for a light
and i'm standin' on the corner on a Saturday night
i seen pigeons flap their filthy wings
to a freezing sunset in the west
rain shit down from their haunted perch
in the bells above St. someone's church
the Sexton drinks and dreams in bed
one eye in a line of light
startled by a ghost he screams
his dead wife's name into the night
which echoes down a cobbled hall
bounces off a gray stone floor
fired down a line of stairs
where it's silenced by a door
beyond which i am leaning, leaning
watching cars and dreaming
as steam rose 'round my body
like my soul up to the stars
i guess the devil's had his way with town
now what Willie is in the ground
and i guess the devil made me this
when he gave me no one i can't resist
i got the bill today
wrote back i moved away
they called me up to say
i'm still here
so on the 5th day of the 5th month
at 5 o'clock in the dawn
i rolled myself in a T-O-P
and jumped out on highway one
with a 400 engine hot as a cremation coffin
and a tailgate bangin' like an airplane wing
i was rollin' on the highway doing it my way
whistling "Someday" and singing this song

i'm thinking tonight of my blue eyes
concerning the great speckled bird
i didn't know God made honky-tonk angels
and went back to the wild side of life

trying to walk like nothing's happening

“come on.”

“where are you going?”

“you don’t want to go in there.”

“will i get in trouble if i ask why and you tell me?”

“yes.”

“ok.”

“i started a fire in the bathroom. it won’t be long before the alarm and the sprinklers go off.”

“i didn’t want to know.”

“deep down, you did.”

“well…i’m going in anyway. i know who all’s up on the top floor.”

“who?”

“you know.”

“i wouldn’t even bother.”

“that’s because you have no taste.”

“no, no. i mean, you’re right. those bitches is nasty. but, like i said, the alarms…”

“what did you do that for anyway?”

“what do you mean? you love fire.”

“yeah, man. i love fire, you know. i mean, i love it. if someone else starts a fire, it’s kinda like…”

“like what?”

“like fire is cheating on me.”

“like fire is cheating on you. really.”

“it’s weird, i know.”

“like what? you stick your dick in fire? spoon it? what?”

“only when i’m lonely. besides…don’t talk about her like that.”

“her?”

“you coming up or what? what are they doing up there?”

“watching a movie.”

“which one?”

“fuck if i know.”

“i’m playing it totally smooth-like when i go in, too. watch.”

“watch what?”

“i’m gonna sit on the steps in the aisle, right by her seat, and i’ll be all, ‘hey…how’s it going?’”

“yeah, that’ll work.”

“and if she don’t wanna talk, then i’ll just fuck her friends.”

“you really wanna walk all the way up there? i thought the fire alarms would be going off by now.”

“where did you start it?”

“in the bathroom.”

“good job. garbage can?”

“naw…the toilet.”

“a stall?”

“no. the toilet. i lit a huge roll of toilet paper…”

“awesome.”

“…and i dropped it in the bowl.”

“…”

“what? what? don’t fuckin’…don’t fuckin’ look at me like that. it creeps me out.”

“fire and water go together like nuts and gum.”

“what?”

“they don’t mix, you asshole. what are you on?”

“i thought it would make a lot of smoke.”

“you sure they are up there?”

“pretty sure.”

“maybe i should go look for my ride. i can’t find it.”

“where did you park it?”

“a couple of streets back. but i was looking for it before and i couldn’t find it.”

“it’s stolen.”

“naw…you think?”

“i don’t think, man. i know. i just know.”

a Lucero video

Jenny lights her cigarette...

blue eyes that blind like the sun

i might not be the one

but that's alright

i think i know what it all means now

i knew there would be more than the few who sat languid
entangled on love seats
slouched forward slack jawed
shoulder to shoulder and leg in leg
offering a look up their skirts
blood dripping from the corners of their open mouths

the golden-gray light through the windows was fading
more like a fallen morning than an evening soon wasted
gathered round in this hollow room
these high ceilings
yellow wood
fake rubber plants
on the steps
my elbows leaden on my knees

a newer one came in through the front door
stark in the spilling glow
with a bag slung over his shoulder
shaking
honest
and got a gun up in his face before he was let inside

i remember thinking we are not quite safe here

ashamed
offended
i rush outside where the air’s so much sweeter
linger here awhile
killing time
walk to the corner store and be back on the way home
before the sun’s setting

over my shoulder the clouds boil blue and black
baring their teeth
and the night is falling faster than my footsteps

they are sprawling before me
like blood drops down arteries and avenues
the street bends and they are crawling
their callow way towards the door

Steelers' Harrison Does Ravens Old Country Way

tell your mom you heard it here first

a State Radio video