Ann Sterzinger Interview

 

Pat King posted the interview I did with Ann Sterzinger for his Underground Literary Alliance history series.  This one was a lot of fun, especially for the visuals of Ann walking through the streets of Paris, France.  Pat and I have one more video where we interview each other, and then the project is wrapped up.  He's thinking of doing maybe an oral history of the ULA instead of a documentary, but whatever the result, it should be fun!  Pat also recently posted a video with Joe Smith:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU-PLRYzt5w.

If you want to read some literature by The Underground Literary Alliance, then please check out The Slush Pile Strikes Back!

Poem: They Don't Even Have To Pay You To Be A Henchman

You want me to go to war, but you won't go yourself.
If you want to fight, pack a bag and book a flight.
You want me to take drugs just because you do.
Take them yourself if you want but leave me alone.
The rich must laugh behind your back
Because you work for them for free.
Big Pharma's killing you, but you'll fight for
Highly-paid executives to make more money and
For patients to die because the cheap remedies
Get blocked so the expensive remedies can be sold
The warmongering profiteers rape the taxpayer
And you hold the taxpayer down by repeating
Their lies and telling anyone who dissents
That they are a conspiracy theorist and mentally ill
Fuck facts if you don't like them.
You work for free, but you sure don't work for freedom
Happy the slave who doesn't know he's a slave.
Hang a flag up of a country that's not your own
Never been there or read a book about it even,
But the corporate news and government propaganda
Told you what to think, so you don't have to think yourself
Get your country deeper in debt and make the world worse
Dump some toxins on your lawn and snitch on
Your neighbor's dandelions.  You must police
The community until they come for you.
When they do make sure you tell them
What a good boy you were.

I meant to run this poem a while back, but it's just as fitting now.  It's depressing that so many otherwise good human beings work to make the world worse by not thinking for themselves and by not remembering that peace is better than war, freedom is better than coercion, and dandelions are better than poison.  For a happier read, try Fast Guy Slows Down!

New Single!: Black Walnut Season

wredfright · Black Walnut Season

The last part of the garden to come in around here is the black walnut.  Basically, citrus-smelling tennis balls start dropping from the tree much to the delight of the local squirrels and myself.  The song uses the conceit of the arrival of black walnut season to portray a summer romance that has run its course, though the lovers have tried to push the love into the autumn.  Musically, it's the usual voice, guitar, keyboard as bass, and drums.  The weirdest aspect is using black walnuts themselves as a bit of percussion (the shells are very hard).  If Mudhoney liked to garden, they might sound like this maybe.  Lyrics are below:

When the insects stop singing at night we know the summer is truly gone.
The black walnuts start falling from the sky.
The end of the harvest means our time has passed.

It's too late.
It's too late for us,

Winter's coming.

This isn't a love affair that can survive the cold.
Though the sun still shines in the winter, we're too far away to feel the warmth.
I can feel a chill from you already.

Black walnut.
Black walnut season.
Grab your nuts and run.

Your head is as hard as the shell.
You just won't listen to reason.
We took a summer romance into the fall, but now it's black walnut season.

Winter's come.

For more Wred Fright music, listen to the Yeast? 7" or give his latest album a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Spotify or Bandcamp!