THIS JUST IN : ted quinn/nomadhouse cover of hamilton camp's classic PRIDE OF MAN:
cut and paste the following address: http://artist.amazon.com/tedquinnnomadhouse
hamilton camp's classic anti-war opus which uses the metaphor of ancient babylon for modern empirical powers,
made famous by  quicksilver messenger service during the vietnam war.

pride of man  (c hamilton camp 1964)
turn around/go back down/back the way you came/can't you see that flash of fire/ten times brighter than the day/and behold that mighty city/broken in the dust again/oh god/pride of man/broken in the dust again/turn around/go back down/back the way you came/babylon is laid to waste/egypt's buried in her shame/the mighty men are all beaten down
the kings have fallen in their ways/oh god/pride of man/broken in the dust again/turn around/go back down/back the way you came/terror is on every side/lo, our leaders are dismayed/for those who put their faith in fire/their faith in fire shall be repaid/oh god/pride of man/broken in the dust again/turn around/go back down/back the way you came
shout a warning out to the nation/that the sword of god is raised/babylon that mighty city/rich in treasure/wide in fame
oh god/pride of man/broken in the dust again/the meek shall cause the towers to fall/make a new pyre of fame/oh you who dwell on many waters/rich in treasures/wide in fame/you bow unto your god of gold/your pride of might shall be your shame/only love can bring the people /back into the earth again/oh god pride of man/broken in the dust again/oh holy mountain be restored/have mercy on the people, lord/turn around/turn around/oh lord/turn around...

as the u.s. prepared to launch a unilateral attack on iraq, this song, written by the great hamilton camp
nearly forty years ago, has never seemed more relevant. tony, kevin and ted did the basics (bass, drums, guitar) in one take, with joe adding lead guitar, ted doing vocals and mix 3/09/03 at rancho de la luna in joshua tree.
in memory of rashada camp, hamilton's wife and camptown's mother...>

FIRST DAY OF SPRING billions & billions, etc.
visited with ruben macblue (www.rockcitynews.com) just hours before the war declaration (3/17) as it turns out... was playing 'billions & billions' for ruben when artist/activist/scene diva tequila mockingbird arrived.
i wrote it on july 3, 2001 after being asked to play something 'spiritually uplifting' at a 4th of july concert in joshua tree. of course, being told to play something spiritually uplifting sort of pissed me off. the country had just been overthrown by a supreme court sanctioned coup. nonetheless, some native american friends were on their way to sundance ceremonies (not the film festival, but the practice which was outlawed by our government until jimmy carter...)
after september 11, a lot of people thought it was a 9/11 song, but it wasn't. bob forrest sang this song for me on my birthday last november and i played it at the 'lysistrata project' at the wilshire-ebell last month for an audience of far more people than i'd ever performed in front of before. joining me that night was billy stobo (ex- golden buddha, a band named by tequila) on his drum.

billions and billions(t.quinn 2001)
oh say can you see/my eyes/if you can/i'm only one man/in a million man march/with a million moms/on the white house lawn/where the white man inside/without a thought of his own/with a million arms/billions & billions served/
i'm at your service/although the uniforms/do make me nervous/i swear to tell the truth/the whole and the unholy truth/
dr. ruth/i saw her on oprah/with deepak chopra/saying 'judge not lest ye be judge judy in disguise'/sweet judy blue eyes/i love lucy in the sky/billions & billions of stars/what was here before i was/what will be here when i 'm gone/
they used to say 'love it or leave it'/'change it or lose it'/'fix it or fuck it'/i say we choose it/american history x/don't tell me i'm next/i want to sing this song for the sundancers/i want to sing this song for the rebels/i want to sing this song for the seekers/your prayers will be answered/in the order in which they are received/just don't be deceived/if it seems too good to be believed/remember before we seek enlightenment/we've got to face our darkness/america my thoughts and prayers are with you/just don't tell me what to think/don't tell me how to pray/don't tell me what i can or cannot say
or what songs i can play/on independence day/so i go outside to feel the rain/and i close my eyes so i can see the rain
yes i go outside to feel the rain/and i close my eyes so i can see the rain/billions & billions/billions & billions.
- july 3, 2001

caterpillar(t.quinn 2003)
the caterpillar/crushed the butterfly/today
rachel corrie/gave her life/to say
the moment of truth has arrived/
the moment of truth is a lie/
the caterpillar/crushed the butterfly/today
-march 16,2003

chance
i'm clearing my head of cnn and taking a break from recording/mixing, listening to ravi shankar's 'chants of india' which george harison produced in '96. it's perfect right now.
elia and i really enjoyed wednesday night at the beatnik, where we went for some community when the reality tv war was commenced. steve lester's hosting was heartfelt on a  night of heartbreak for so many.  we were in early shock and awe. did i really think that being passionately  involved in the largest effort in history to prevent a war from starting   meant that the people with the might would listen? it's ok. the longing for peace and justice will inspire more people than ever. eventually, love conquers all, right?
elia and i  both appreciated being able to go in and get on relatively (especially to my nights!) quickly to express ourselves safely. elia read a letter from paulo coelho (http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-2-88-1033.jsp),
author of 'the alchemist,' which thanks george bush for uniting so much of the world, even if it is against him and his war. art kunkin read the letter from michael moore, ('dear governor bush...')until his computer crashed. i did a pair of songs, 'here comes the idiot son,'

here comes the idiot son (t.quinn 2002)
illegitimate/he's an idiot/illegitimate/he's an idiot/like an actor playing moses/playing president/idiot son/idiot son
here comes the idiot son/he's a momma's boy/his father's son/his brother's toy/with his father's gun/unelected by the people/acting like he won/idiot son/idiot son/here comes the idiot son
does he call the shots/well, probably not/isn't told a lot/so it's not his fault/just a lot of bad advice/taken with a grain of salt/idiot son/idiot son/here comes the idiot son>
and
'pride of man.'

i held up my fingers in a peace sign saying, "i've been doing this a lot lately." then i turned my hand around and made a "W" with three fingers. "then i saw him on television..." and i closed all but my middle finger..."and now all i want to do is this." okay, it was immature but i'd had a glass of wine and my eyes were glazed over from the mind-numbing realization that the bombing was underway in iraq. america had turned a new corner, that is, made a first strike against an enemy who was not poised to attack us, thereby making it something other than a pre-emptive strike.

not hosting open mic was so relaxing, though! i admit, steve made it run smoothly by limiting people to two songs, which i never did and he always wished i would.

i've been hunkering down in the bunker here at the rancho de la luna (www.ranchodelaluna.com), recording with tony, we finished mixing 'death of cool,' '29 palms' and 'to smokey for fred may 1993.' this past week i've been flying solo, for my first time. i did a wacky eccentric loud and rocking mix of 'love on' late last night, after doing my '29 palms' vocals and acoustic overdub. there are a lot of sounds and styles running through my experiences of the past couple of years, as a 21st century human living here in the desert, isolated  from and connected to the rest of the world. attracted and repelled, seduced and disgusted, heartbroken and filled with faith and desire. it's getting on tape, whatever the record turns out to be.. i don't know how many of the songs i can fit on the album. some of them are on the long side, which is the way i like 'em sometimes. fred drake plays drums on  several of the songs, as does ray woods and kevin from the millionheirs. i do know i plan to call it 'help wanted.' i'm setting a deadline for myself to have all the recording and mixing done by the time elia and i leave for berkeley next week. i also think i may have it reproduced and shrunk-wrapped by the time of the rancho aniversary on memorial day weekend. we'll shoot for it and see what happens.

i only know of one thing that i can do to try to contribute to peace. that is to focus on work  and completion of  my projects so that i can strengthen the peace within. i feel crazy if i'm not working these days, and i don't feel like sleeping much. besides,

"when there's blue meanies surrounding the theatre, there's only way to go out: that's SINGING!"
beatle john, in 'yellow submarine'

i sent out 'pride of man' as an mp3 in an email to a few friends this morning. also, it's on amazon for free:


Happy Spring
3/21/2003 9:45:22 AM Eastern Standard Time
as painful as it all is, your song lights up my life! loving you forever.....lorini

ted, great track
3/21/2003 4:42:42 PM Eastern Standard Time
Hey, Love that Pride of Man track. Just what I need on a day of heavy bombardment. Thanks for the vibe.
Yours, Arnold Barkus

Re: pride of man
3/21/2003 5:16:32 PM Eastern Standard Time
Bless you. That is beautiful stuff. I am downloading the music now, will
check it on the monitors here during a break...I am workin on corporate
sports instrumentals at the Leopard Room in Dallas, but soon will be in SF working on real music.
I have never been to rancho de la luna, but from what Amacker tells me, it is magical.
Let it bleed.
Peace all up in there,
gibbon

Neil Young at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Awards 03/10/03:
"We're having a good time tonight but we're going to kill a lot of people next week. So let's not forget about that. I don't want to ruin this but it's too real not to mention it. And music used to be about this. And it still is about this, it's a human thing. And these are human beings over there and we're making a big mistake. I feel like I'm riding in a giant gas guzzling SUV and the driver's drunk as a fucking skunk. He's drunk on power."

God(dess) Bless the troops, the people of Iraq, the Dixie Chicks and Neil Young. (salAUM/shalOm.)

 
saturday the 15th: rain of love. l.a. was soaked by an all-day rain on the day of what may be the final worldwide peace march (pre-war). i called 'not in our name' this morning. are we still on? 'as if the world depends on it,' was the answer. ouch! 'i'll be there.' i met my friend cathy cooper at sunset/vermont metro station. we took the train to pershing square, cut thru the central market..down broadway to the well-attended (for a rainy day in l.a.) march. of course, any other, less-jaded, less-spoiled big city may have had a much bigger turn-out, but i can't dismiss those who did make it. it was pouring rain on the reveling marchers. it was a glorious, healing, beautiful rain. it felt good getting soaked in the streets of downtown l.a. in a massive crowd of loving human beings. at the rally, passionate, articulate alfre woodard, arianna huffington and tom hayden spoke. i bumped into friends ruben macblue, doug and meredith, jay levin, richmond arquette, chris elaine/alien, before leaving in the torrential downpour. i don't know if we're stopping this war before it starts, but clearly, the universe is listening, even if the idiot son of a bitch wanna be dictator george warlord bush isn't. thursday the 13th: i just got home from seeing country joe mcdonald perform at pappy & harriet's in pioneertown (near joshua tree). he was absolutely brilliant! psychedelic (w/o any fish on hand!) flanged guitar, great storytelling, heartwrenching poems, many written by nurses from the battlefields of vietnam, ( i picked up a book of poems for my friend nurse linda hoffman and she gave me a country joe peace tote bag), 'sweet loraine' and of course, the mighty 'fish cheer' and 'fixin to die rag!' he said no-one from the anti-war movement has contacted him about doing anything. he's very active in veterans rights, etc. on the committee for the vietnam wall, etc. i spoke with him after the show. told him about a conversation at the l.a. downtown march with my friend ruben macblue, editor/publisher of rock city news and 'not in our name' anti-war activist. i said we need him, not another boring jackson browne or worse, some studio musician crap...he said he's march-ophobic but i kept nagging. he gave me his email. we should try to get him in for the next one. he's performing at mccabes on saturday the 15th. lives in berkeley.
it was fun as hell (and empowering and powerful) to sing 'one two three what are we fighting for?" with him and a few hundred people. add 100, 000 to that and we could stop this fucking war! anyway, i thought you'd like to know. he's alive and well and fucking righteous as hell! the day before i wrote this to elia in costa rica:
this is a day of wanting to throw up. i found a present patrona left for me. i found it with my nose first. it was once a field mouse. now it ws an over-ripe piece of decaying flesh.
today i'm singing in a benefit for the family of this little 5 year old girl who was killed by a friend of her family's dogs. it's just heartbreaking. the father was doing some work on his friends house and babysitting at the same time. the dogs were behind a gate which the little girl somehow opened and went thru. her name was nicky davis. i'm going to sing some enfants terribles songs (by me and cathie, when autumn was five or so) karaoke style, to try to keep it light. the town is bummed. dogs are on the shit list. the man and his friend are both devastated. i need to get a leash for my city walks with negra. (the benefit turned out great: the new owners of the beatnik raised $4000 for the family of the little girl, nicky davis)...
later i'm going to see the great woodstock legend country joe mcdonald at pappy's - as nurse linda hoffman's guest. watch out! he sang the song ''and it's one two three, what are we fightin' for? don't ask me i don't give a damn, next stop is vietnam... " and the famous cheer "give me an ' '; ' f '...etc. what's that spell?")
i'm going in to give blood tomorrrow (friday the 14th, after which i had dinner with lovely parents jim and phyllis) for my mom's knee replacement surgery of the 27th...then march on saturday. i'll try to call before i go or when i arrive to wish victoria (elia arce's sister) a merry wedding day. tony and i mixed 'la porte' last night. i did 'billions & billions' and 'if that's what you wanted' the day before. i'm a mixing fool. My album; 'HELP WANTED' is almost completed. if i really check it out, there's probably too much material recorded to fit on one cd. i think i'll just pick all my favorite finished stuff for this one, then with fred b's assisatnce, get it pressed up, hopefully in time for the rancho anniversary, hit the road with it, come back later and finish another one. it feels sort of self-centered and strange to be thinking of anything other than the imperialist nation we live in which is about to force a war upon the world...but then, a thought just occurred to me...in the past week, while those of us paying attention have been getting very anxious about the war the following news items have come and gone with very little discussion: partial birth abortion has been banned, paving the way for removing a woman's choice entirely, the senate has ok'd drilling for oil in the alaskan wilderness, haliburton (dick cheney's old company) is one of five corporations bidding for the $900 million + job of 'renovating' iraq after we've finished the job of destroying it, the u.s. is opposing the war crime tribunals at the hague, in other words, the imperialist agenda is proceeding full-steam ahead as the media spends its time distracting people with the (interesting but minor, no pun intended) human interest story of the girl who was kidnapped and brainwashed by a religious cult (what's her name, elizabeth smart?) and titillating the public with questions of whether or not she was molested...it's all too much. but i take heart in knowing that the corporate-controlled neo-fascism is on its way out, eventually, andf it will fall of its own weight and die out. then we can begin to build the post-capitalist world...of justice, equality, respect for the environment...eventually, the warlords will crumble (as all empires of the past have done...) tomorrow, we'll light the candles, all around the world, as per desmond tutu's request. 'let there be light...' anyway, what can i do expect for show up at the marches and do my music? i think that's what i'm supposed to be doing. I AM TED QUINN, REPORTING.

 
today and tonight i recorded and mixed my first ever song (flying solo) after billy instructed me in getting started. yesterday, he and i finished the recording of 'orange sunshine' which i had written for fred, literally, i think, as in, in his place, on his birthday. tony had recorded me doing basic tracks with kevin millionheir on drums, tony on bass and me on acoustic. so yesterday , billy recorded me re-doing my acoustic and doing my vocal. then, he and i did backing vocals (the ravishing wheelbarrows) and he stayed up til midnight mixing. it turned out the way i dreamed it, first heard it in my head several weeks ago, that early morning. today, joe and joanna were here, billy was leaving. so he showed me all i needed to know about putting a track of joe's guitar and a vocal track on my cover of my old friend hamilton camp's forty year old classic 'pride of man' (once covered by quicksilver messenger service in 1968) - again, tony had recorded me on guitar (electric) , himself on bass and kevin on drums. i did a vocal, put joe's electric guitar on and then did a second vocal. then i mixed it down to dat. it was an unprecedented thrill to listen back to something i had recorded at the rancho for the first time. unbelievable. i think i'll be finishing my record sooner than i had imagined before. yay!!! ,congratulations to joanna for selling a whole bunch of her paintings in the past month!

 
lo n beheld-

last wednesday we had the ultimate grrove out open mic. i saved my new song for the end game jam out (Em/E7/E-Z!) . it's called 'the never ending tour' and it's about all "those who gave their lives to bring a song in to my town" (hank, patsy, stevie ray, bill g, ricky, buddy, richie, aliyah, glenn miller, etc.) and the fans who gave their all as well, cincinatti, chicago, 'the great white way..' ( the final chorus: 'on the never ending tour, it's not the end of the world, on the other world tour it's not the end of the world..." then repeating like a mantra: "it's not the end of the world! it's not the end of the world!") needless to say, i'm sort of proud of the song..anyway, the night was great. art read a new poem by ferlinghetti. elia performed. a couple from the meditation class was there for the big finale. apparently they were so enthralled by the community and the scene, they went in the next day to make katrina an offer. i believe it's going through, although i left town on friday.
lysistrata was unbelievably great. elia and i each did a piece as part of 'foreplay' (pre-play poets, singers, speakers - including jane alexander - and performers.) i did a medley of '29 palms' with 'billions & billions' with my friend billy stobo playing one of those wooden boxes with all the drum sounds ( iforget what they're called.) i got a great reception, i have to tell you. what a rush! there was a full house (beautiful 1920's theatre) of about 1400 like-minded peace people. elia did a great poem with the repeating line: ' let it (be) rain' with petra haden on violin and a rain stick player (a drummer named john lacques.) then, the actual production of 'lysistrata'was incredible. twenty theatre companies in a relay ...all unique styles, casts and direction...melding seamlessly...gorgeous. sisters of perpetual indulgence, crip-chicks ( a company of 'differently abled' performers), the fabulous monsters with their very sexy belly dancer goddess and the grand orgy at the climax! wow. we were jumping to our feet and cheering (and wanting to join the fun on stage!) it was wonderful to be a part of the worldwide event (over 1000 productions from argentina to iraq, china to russia, i heard there were 65 legit pructions in nyc alone!!). did you catch any of them?
whew, heady weekend. that's not even mentioning the memorial for lovely hazel...or taking elia to the airport to costa rica for her sisters wedding!!! interesting times to be alive. regarding the beatnik cafe: it sounds like the sale went thru, judging by something art said on the phone last night. i think the cafe lives on, again. the new owners, if it is all true, are a cool couple who were not put off by my slams of john ashcroft ("sheriff john ashcroft/was singin' his ass off"), punk poets, hopi prophets, art kunkin reading ferlighetti, elia doing paul robeson (as a rehearsal for hazel's memorial "sometimes i feel like a motherless child...") or linda sibio reading a crazy piece of cracked eggery!!! it's looking good for the future of counter culture in joshua tree. i just got stuck in traffic at fairfax and olympic by a bunch of teenagers who had walked out as part of a nationwide moratorium against the war. (i was coming home from my first ash wednesday smudging in a good thirty years, at the catholic church of my childhood, saint victor's in west holywood, full of memories, most not too bad at all...) it was the most gorgeous traffic jam! this is a reply to (and letter from) a woman i met at the wilshire-ebell:
dear jo-not so many people were as kind as you were to say something to me that i would have forgotten so soon.(you were near the door to the theatre after the endof the play, right? - no pun intended,playwright...)it was a new experience for me to singin front of such a large crowd. i was pretty blownaway by the experience - and then, of course, by theplay itself. i'm amazed to hear about the notes on your door andthe students who would write them. seems strange forberkely and pretty shortsighted... although i suppose that in the event of a draft these students havelittle to worry about. or perhaps it's a case ofwanting to identify with the oppressors so that itsomehow feels safer. (native americans called them'hang around the fort indians' and harry belafonte had a choice expression for self-hating indiviuals such ascolin powell and condoleeza rice.)i'm very sorry that your brother was lost to an insanewar. maybe that loss is not in vain if it gives youthe strength and courage to live peacefully and try tomake a positive difference in the world.i do intend to play up there sometime soon. mypartner, elia (she did the poem about the rain with the violinist and the rain stick) is teaching some young poets about performance at la pena in oaklandone weekend a month. i plan to go up there with her atthe end of march. i plan to try to set up some gigsfor myself, as well. i'm working on finishing myrecord also. i'm thinking of calling it 'help wanted.'thank you again. it's hard for me to take in so muchkindness but i want you to know that it really helpsme want to keep going. much peace to you,ted p.s. as videographer co-ordinator, did you get a copyof any of the performances? there was a woman whose name slips my mind who elia and i gave permission to shoot us. also, our friend danielle brazelle from highways shot the evening. maybe a copy of my song would be useful as a tool for getting a show in sf/berkeley/oakland area... thanks for volunteeringyour services, as well. wasn't it a wonderful event to be a part of? historic!!!www.nomadhouse.com--- Jo Folino wrote:> Ted,> Thank you so very much for your beautiful and moving performance at The Lysistrata Project. I was volunteering as House Manager and Videographer Coordinator for the night, having come down from Berkeley. My brother was lost in Vietnam in 1971 and at the time I was pretty young so protesting the war was not an option for me. I always felt badly that I was too young and too much in pain to have stopped that war sooner. Cousins and friends also were lost forever. Your song allowed me to grieve. You know I was sitting in the front row and being that close your profoundly amazing energy filled my soul with light. It was the first time I found peace in months. Having been involved with the Protest in San Francisco and trying to get people at my college where I work in theatre to even talk openly about this has made me a bit of a target for hate and anger (commie! liberal pussy! tacked to my office door) This is hard for me. I can't pretend it doesn't hurt when I think that these are some of my students rabid to "defend the President" as they say. But last night I was able to open myself up to the possibility that all is not in vain when I see people like you who are so fully alive and open and willing to take risks with your voice, your gifts.. It inspires me. I wish I could listen to you again but I don't think you ever perform anywhere near me. Can I obtain your tapes or CD's? I would so appreciate a way to listen and be healed again. I was the woman who came up to you and awkwardly tried to express these feelings but there were probably many who did. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Peace to you and yours, Josephine Perry-Folino (Jo) WHEW!!! (p.s. apologies to the pope. i had the dates wrong. i was thinking that ash wednesday was the one before easter, etc. now i know it's the first day of lent, day after mardi gras, etc...well, i got smudged and i'm fasting..i hope i can drive to claremont, read a poem, sing a song or two, then drive home to joshua tree, on an empty stomach...oh well, not too much to do to be in solidarity for peace!!!)