"Dispatches from the Woodshed: song a day for a year.": 2012-12-09

“I don’t believe in the zodiac. Whenever anybody asks me what my sign is,

I always say “Yield.”
― Jarod Kintz

Week 7

More chicanery.

#42: "Don't Matter" by Akon.

(live acoustic cover by Ian Ste Croix)

Aries - The Ram

March 21 - April 19

They are loyal to the end and will fight for their causes.

"'Cause I got you babe

'Cause we gonna fight

Oh yes we gonna fight

Believe we gonna fight

We gonna fight

Fight for our right to love yeah"

(Akon is an Aries).

Bleating of the Lambs:

"Love doesn't make the world go round, Love is what makes the ride worthwhile."

Elizabeth Browning

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."
Maya Angelou

"My passions were all gathered together like fingers that made a fist. Drive is considered aggression today; I knew it then as purpose."
Bette Davis

"You can't just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream. You've got to get out there and make it happen for yourself."
Diana Ross

"I don't judge others. I say if you feel good with what you're doing, let your freak flag fly. "
Sarah Jessica Parker

"I am just too much."
Joan Crawford

"I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion."
Alexander the Great

"It is always better to have no ideas than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong"

Thomas Jefferson

"White people scare the crap out of me."
Michael Moore (Taurus)

“A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules.”

Anthony Trollope

(another Taurus)

Day #43: "One Headlight"by The Wallflowers.
(live cover by Ian Ste Croix and R.V. Drudger. It is a first take which we land surprisingly well.)

Stubborn by nature, the Taurus will stand his/her ground to the bitter end (sometimes even irrationally so). But that's okay because the Taurus is also a loving, sympathetic and appreciative sign.

Taurus Fun Fact #1: Taurus is an Earth sign.

Fun Fact #2: The opposite of Taurus is Scorpio.

"Floatin' like a butterfly, stingin' like a bee."

"Come on, hit me. Harder. Harder. " - Jack LaMotta Raging Bull

Fun Fact #3: The ruling planet for Taurus is Venus.

Running of the Bulls:

"You cannot run faster than a bullet."

Idi Amin

"A man is a god in ruins."

Duke Ellington

"I never listen to the radio unless I rent a car."

David Byrne

"You simply have to put one foot in front of the other and keep going. Put blinders on and plow right ahead. "

George Lucas

"Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom. "

Soren Kierkegaard

"Theories are always very thin and insubstantial, experience only is tangible."
Hosea Ballou

"Fancy that, I'm a virgo."
Roger Moore

(Roger Moore, star of Octopussy and Moonraker, is actually said to be a Gemini. I, however, know he's a Taurus).

"I have always hated that damn James Bond. I'd like to kill him. "

- Sean Connery ( 100% virgo)

More Bulls on Parade:

"My feelings are those of a schoolboy getting in sight of the holidays. Or more seriously, my feelings are perhaps those of a matador who has decided not to enter the bull ring."
Geoffrey Fisher

"I'm a fighter. I'm a lover."
David Boreanaz

"People who speak in metaphors should shampoo my crotch."

Jack Nicholson

'A company is only as good as the people it keeps.'

Mary Kay Ash

"When this kiss is over it will start again

It will not be any different, it will be exactly the same
It's hard to imagine that nothing at all could be so exciting, could be this much fun
Heaven, heaven is a place, a place where nothing, nothing ever happens"

(David Byrne.)

Day #44: "The Blowers Daughter" by Damien Rice.
(live cover by Sainte Croix)

Gemini - The Twins
May 21 - June 20

They can turn from hot to cold and may be prone to noticeable mood swings. However, they are generous signs with tendencies of being affectionate, and imaginative.

Though being a lot like each other when it comes to nature, Gemini and Sagittarius also have a lot of differences. A Sagittarius always remains involved in some cause or the other while a Gemini is less enthusiastic about them. However, Gemini are interested in the wild dreams of the Sagittarius.

Pins from the Twins:

"If everything isn't black and white, I say, 'Why the hell not?"
John Wayne

"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked."

Allen Ginsberg

"Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real."

Tupac Shakur

"Chaos is a friend of mine."

Bob Dylan

"Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes."

Walt Whitman

"I have too many fantasies to be a housewife. I guess I am a fantasy."

Marilyn Monroe

"Love has reasons which reason cannot understand."

Blaise Pascal

"I know that the twelve notes in each octave and the variety of rhythm offer me opportunities that all of human genius will never exhaust. "

Igor Stravinsky

"Be honest, brutally honest. That is what's going to maintain relationships."

Lauryn Hill

"The thing to judge in any jazz artist is, does the man project and does he have ideas."
Miles Davis

(Errol Flynn is also a Gemini.)

"Buildings, too, are children of Earth and Sun."
Frank Lloyd Wright

"Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth, we are happy when we are growing."

William Butler Yeats

"Men are what their mothers made them."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I have frequently gained my first real insight into the character of parents by studying their children."
Arthur Conan Doyle

"It is more profitable for your congressman to support the tobacco industry than your life."
Jackie Mason

"I love music. It's freedom, a way to deal with pent-up frustration."
Ice Cube

Day #45: "Honesty" by Billie Joel

(live acoustic cover by Ian Ste Croix, harder than it appears.)

Cancer - The Crab

June 21 - July 22

Cancerians love home-life, family and domestic settings. They are traditionalists, and enjoy operating on a fundamental level. They love history, and are fascinated with the beginnings of things (heraldry, ancestry, etc.)

"When I'm deep inside of me

don't be too concerned.
I won't as for nothin' while I'm gone.
But when I want sincerity
tell me where else can I turn. Because you're the one I depend upon. "

(Billy Joel is a Taurus.)

"I do like the ocean wave, actually. I'm born under the sign of Cancer-the sign of the crab-so I like coastal areas and sunny beaches and such-although not the wide-open and deep seas."

Angelica Houston

"Bullfighting is the only art in which the artist is in danger of death and in which the degree of brilliance in the performance is left to the fighter's honor."

Ernest Hemingway

"Communal well-being is central to human life. "
Cat Stevens

Some more crabs coming out of their shells:

"I do know the effect that music still has on me - I'm completely vulnerable to it. I'm seduced by it."
Blondie

"Writing is good, thinking is better. Cleverness is good, patience is better."
Herman Hesse

"You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it."
Bill Cosby

"Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye."

Hellen Keller

"No matter what your heartache may be, laughing helps you forget it for a few seconds."

Red Skelton

"Humour is a great vehicle for getting a message across. If you get too serious, you could die of starch."

Cindy Lauper

"I knew there was an old axe down cellar; that is all I knew."

Lizzie Andrew Borden

"Health is not a condition of matter, but of Mind."
Mary Baker Eddy

"Everything is worth precisely as much as a belch, the difference being that a belch is more satisfying."
Ingmar Bergman

"You can get anything you want

at Alice's restaurant."

(Arlo Guthrie is a Cancer.)

"The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made."

Groucho Marx

(A Virgo who smoked cigars.)

Day #46: "Heaven" by The Talking Heads

(live acoustic cover by Ian Ste Croix, not fully realized.)

Leo - The Lion
July 23 - August 22

They are brave, intuitive, and also head-strong and willful. Beneath their dynamic persona lies a generous, loving, sensitive nature that they do not easily share with others. They might be a bit bossy, but those who know them understand this comes from a source need to do good, not (usually) from an inflated ego.

Hear them Roar:

"Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves."
Dorothy Parker

"Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold."

Zelda Fitzgerald

“You only live twice:
Once when you're born
And once when you look death in the face.”
Ian Fleming

"I am a deeply superficial person."Andy Warhol

"It's all right letting yourself go, as long as you can get yourself back. "

Mick Jagger

"Any sex outside of the marriage bond between a man and a woman is violating God's law."

Jerry Falwell

"I did not have sexual relations with that girl."

Bill Clinton

"It is all right for the lion and the lamb to lie down together if they are both asleep, but if one of them begins to get active, it is dangerous."

Crystal Eastman

"I fear no man, no beast or evil, brother."
Hulk Hogan

"There are two kinds of women, those who want power in the world and those who want power in bed."
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

"Oh, weep for Mr. and Mrs. Bryan!

He was eaten by a lion;

Following which, the lion's lioness

Up and swallowed Bryan's Bryaness."

Ogden Nash

"In feature films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director."

Alfred Hitchcock

Day #47: "Intro to "The Circle of Life"

composed by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice.
(sung by Jacob Ste Croix, produced by Nicole Ste Croix, accompanied by Aurora Ste Croix, and put in a jar by Ian Ste Croix.)

Virgo - The Virgin

August 23 - September 22

Virgo's have keen minds, and are delightful to talk with.

The setting of the scales:

"You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say."

F. Scott Fitzgerald

"You are the music while the music lasts."

T. S. Eliot

"Life is a lot like jazz... it's best when you improvise."

George Gershwin

"Kisses are a better fate than wisdom."

e. e. cummings

“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture - it's really a stupid thing to want to do.”

Elvis Costello

(Clearly not a natural virgo.)

"Death is very often referred to as a good career move. "

Buddy Holly

"It'll be a great place if they ever finish it."

O. Henry

"I knew when I grew up, I always wanted to be a liar, and if you're in television, you're lying because you're just pretending to be yourself much like I'm doing now."

John Ritter

"People say I'm difficult and sometimes that's a badge of honour."

Bill Murray

"I know you are but what am I? "

Pee Wee Herman

"I'm never pleased with anything, I'm a perfectionist, it's part of who I am. "
Michael Jackson

"Only enemies speak the truth; friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty."

Stephen King

"I want to live my life so that my nights are not full of regrets."
David Herbert Lawrence

“People are unrealistic, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway.”

― Mother Teresa (also a virgo, obviously ;)

"I’ve got to change my ways

Dress for business every day

A sharp suit and a kipper tie

A big arrow pointing to my fly."

Stuart Murdoch is a Virgo.

Day #48: "Step Into My Office Baby" by Belle and Sebastian

(live from the shower, Ian Ste Croix.)

Libra - The Scales

September 23 - October 22

With Venus as their ruling planet, Libra's are very understanding, caring, and often the champion of underdogs. They have keen intuitions, but often don't give themselves enough credit for their perceptions.

"A pair of powerful spectacles has sometimes sufficed to cure a person in love."

Friedrich Nietzsche

"It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious."

Oscar Wilde

"Sorrowful and great is the artist's destiny."

Franz Liszt

Day #49: "Angeles" by Elliot Smith

(live acoustic cover by Not Quite Dire Straits)

Scorpio - The Scorpion

October 23 - November 21

The Scorpio is often misunderstood.

"I could make you satisfied in everything you do
All your 'secret wishes' could right now be coming true

And be forever with my poison arms around you

No one's gonna fool around with us

So glad to meet you

Angeles"

(Elliot Smith was a Leo.)

"Good artists copy, great artists steal."
Pablo Picasso

The scorpions sting:

"He who seeks rest finds boredom. He who seeks work finds rest."

Dylan Thomas

"Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana."

Bill Gates

"There is nothing new except what has been forgotten."

Marie Antoinette

"Records became much cruder in the last 20 years. Let's put it that way."

Art Garfunkel

"Music is forever; music should grow and mature with you, following you right on up until you die."
Paul Simon

"You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist."

Indira Gandhi

"Man only likes to count his troubles, but he does not count his joys."

Fyodor Dostoevsky

"Clever tyrants are never punished."

Voltaire

Day #50: "(All I've Got's) For You" by Mikey D Morrison.

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Sagittarius - The Centaur

November 22 â€“ December 21

They often make extreme comeback's against incredible odds. They make loyal friends and lovers, but they do not handle commitment well as they refuse to be tied down while chasing philosophical pursuits.

"If I was tailor I'd mend all of of your clothes

and put patches on the tears on your your.

If I was a barber I'd cut off your hair

and make sure to hide away your cares.

but I ain't, I'm a singing man

with a songbook and guitar in hand

and I know I dont have much to give,

but all Ive's got's for you."

(Mikey D. Morrison is a Taurus.)

"And so it is

The colder water

The blower's daughter

The pupil in denial"

(Damien Rice is a Sagittarius)

The galloping thoughts of the centaurs:

“I didn't know what made people want to be friends. I didn't know what made people attractive to one another. I didn't know what underlay social interactions."

Ted Bundy

"There's no such thing as good money or bad money. There's just money."

Charlie Lucky Luciano

"I've found that music allows years to fold like an accordion over each other, so I guess you don't feel the passage of time as much."

Amy Grant

"I have a new philosophy. I'm only going to dread one day at a time."

Charles M. Schulz

"Imagination is the key to my lyrics. The rest is painted with a little science fiction."

Jimi Hendrix

"Obey the principles without being bound by them."

Bruce Lee

"Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither."

C. S. Lewis

"Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand."

Mark Twain

"It is better to be the hammer than the anvil."

Emily Dickinson

"Most people wouldn't know music if it came up and bit them on the ass."

Frank Zappa

Day #51: "Alice's Restaurant" by Arlo Guthrie
(restfully croaked by Wilfed Mann.)

Capricorn - The Goat

December 22 - January 19

Capricorn's have broad shoulders, and typically take on other's problems with aplomb. They rarely share their own problems and tend to go through bouts of inner gloom after a spell of dwelling on these problems.

("KID, HAVE YOU REHABILITATED YOURSELF?)"

The kids take a stand:

"There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition."
Rod Serling

"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him."

J. R. R. Tolkien

"The clash of ideas is the sound of freedom."

Lady Bird Johnson

"Play off everyone against each other so that you have more avenues of action open to you."

Howard Hughes

"What opera isn't violent? Two things happen, violence and love. And other than that, name something else. You can't."

Cab Calloway

"Artists are traditionally resistant to labels."

Patti Smith

"An artist's only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone else's."

J. D. Salinger

"I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to. "

Elvis Presley

"I'm an instant star. Just add water and stir. "

David Bowie

Day #52: "Lost in the Supermarket" by The Clash

(lost in the kitchen by Ian Ste Croix)

Aquarius - The Water Bearer

January 20 - February 18

Often simple and unassuming, the Aquarian goes about accomplishing goals in a quiet, often unorthodox ways. Although their methods may be unorthodox, the results for achievement are surprisingly effective.

"I'm all tuned in, I see all the programs

I save coupons from packets of tea

I've got my giant hit discotheque album
I empty a bottle and I feel a bit free
The kids in the halls and the pipes in the walls
Make me noises for company
Long distance callers make long distance calls
And the silence makes me lonely"

(Joe Strummer was a Leo.)

Aquarians spout off:

"To chase the glowing hours with flying feet."

Lord Byron

"Samson went back to bed

Not much hair left on his head

He ate a slice of wonder bread and went right back to bed

And history books forgot about us and the bible didn't mention us

And the bible didn't mention us, not even once

You are my sweetest downfall

I loved you first, I loved you first

Beneath the stars came fallin' on our heads

But they're just old light, they're just old light

Your hair was long when we first met"

Regina Spektor

"But I don't want to go among mad people,' said Alice. 'Oh, you can't help that,' said the cat. 'We're all mad here.'"

Lewis Carroll

"I cannot write in verse, for I am no poet. I cannot arrange the parts of speech with such art as to produce effects of light and shade, for I am no painter. Even by signs and gestures I cannot express my thoughts and feelings, for I am no dancer. But I can do so by means of sounds, for I am a musician."

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

"If you wish to avoid seeing a fool you must first break your looking glass."

Francois Rabelais

Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something."

Thomas Alva Edison

"Better pass boldly into that other world,

in the full glory of some passion,

than fade and wither dismally with age."

James Joyce

True originality consists not in a new manner but in a new vision."

Edith Wharton

"This whole world is wild at heart and weird on top."

David Lynch

Day #53: "No Particular Place to Go" by Chuck Berry

(live tomfoolery, Ian Ste Croix and R.V.Drudger)

"Ridin' along in my automobile

I was anxious to tell her the way I feel,

So I told her softly and sincere,

And she leaned and whispered in my ear

Cuddlin' more and drivin' slow,

With no particular place to go."

(Chuck Berry is a Libra.)

Pisces - The Fish

February 19 â€“ March 20

Can be taken advantage of, which is unfortunate as this sign is beautifully gentle, and generous. In the end, however, the Pisces is often the victor of ill circumstance because of his/her intense determination.

Swimming with the fishes:

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to talk, mad to live, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles explode."

Jack Kerouac

"Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything."

Wyatt Earp

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."

Albert Einstein

"You've got to know your limitations. I don't know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren't too many limitations, if I did it my way."

Johnny Cash