The Purple Pinup Guru Platform

When purple things are pulsating on your mind, I'm the one whose clock you want to clean. Aiding is Sparky, the Astral Plane Zen Pup Dog from his mountain stronghold on the Northernmost Island of the Happy Ninja Island chain, this blog will also act as a journal to my wacky antics at an entertainment company and the progress of my self published comic book, The Deposit Man which only appears when I damn well feel like it. Real Soon Now.

Friday, September 09, 2005

GURU: EXPERIENCE EVERYTHING PP GURU, BUT DON'T LET THE LANDSLIDE , or better yet: IS THIS THE WAY TO KEEP THE PP GURU BONFIRES BURNING?

Another transitional period was coming up for the PP Guru. Stagnation was creeping upon the PP Guru's moon touched shoulder when he woke up one morning and suddenly realized that he had stuck himself into a rut. Four years of working days in a health food packaging factory/warehouse yielded nothing but alfalfa powder up his nose and some very nasty looking boogers to go with it. Four years of spending nights getting soused in Irish pubs on Newcastle Ale and then going home drunk to read Alan Moore Swamp Thing comic books...out loud, much to the chagrin of his roommates and neighbors was making the PP Guru a very marked man - just like someone who should be taken out with dire expediency, such as this Diet Coke Dubya joker that weaseled his way into the Oval office. The PP Guru needed a change of venue and he needed it pronto. The PP Guru's always inebriated roommate, Jene Ellis had told him that he would have to leave the apartment we were renting because he found out that he was schlepping his sister, Jennifer. John Gorman left for greener pastures down south to Claremont, Caifornia because he was sick and tired of waking up in the morning and finding Jene sacked out on a recliner with a gallon of melted ice cream resting on his stomach and a bottle of JD by his side- and it was ice cream that John bought.

The PP Guru has a psychotic episode of his own when Jene and John both brought home some hashish Blueberry muffins from a New Year's Party that the PP Guru was left out of. The PP Guru ate them- without reading the nutritional labels. All he remembers is that he believed that they were at the time to be normal everyday blueberry muffins that you ate for breakfast. They tasted like they needed some butter, that's all. They had a very peppery taste.

Not realizing that he was given his puritanical systems a massive overload in peyote payback, the PP Guru got in his PP Gurumobile and nearly wrapped his honda civic around a telephone poll and had to be hauled off to the hospital where he suffered hallucinations of the Joker coming to get him for three or four days. Then Gorman packed up and left after that episode that left the PP Guru parched for sanity and was replaced by one of Jene's friends who worked in a resturant with him, whose name escapes him at the moment. He slept on the living room couch and it wasn't too long until the civility between him and the PP Guru was shattered by the new guy being caught schlepping the PP Guru's Jennifer on that couch. This led to a fistfight between the PP Guru and his new naked roommate which resulted in no resolution other than breaking a few knobs on PP Guru's new Roland JX-3P synthesizer.

That was the final straw- the PP Guru just had to snap out of it.

Luckily a new Yes album,... well sort of, was on the way to get the PP Guru out of his doldrums.


Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe - the band, not a law firm, as many would mistakenly refer to was known as the Alternative Yes. It was born from the ashes of Anderson's discourse over the direction that Rabin was taking Yes into constant AOR territory. Anderson didn't want Yes to cement their reputation as a singles band no longer with AM radio playing constant looping rotations of the two singles from the 90125 and Big Generator albums, Owner of a Lonely Heart and Love Will Find a Way. So it was Jon's first wife at the time who suggested to him that he should form a different band with the people that he liked to play with when concerned over Jon being down and out over the direction and the lagtime between releasing albums. So Jon got the idea of reuniting with his old band mates. Steve Howe was finished with both GTR and Asia (and Asia was finished as well, ...for the moment) Rick Wakeman was through with being a wino who had at one time resorted to been found sleeping on park benches in Santa Moncia, and with Robert Fripp putting King Crimson on hiatus once again found Bill Bruford with little much to do but front a jazz rock band called Earthworks - but who the fuck buys jazz these days? So as to avoid any scrutiny from the law firms representing Squire and Rabin's version- they settled on using their last names as the band's name (although No was kicked around a bit). But someone on this side of the camp realized that it was not going to be a easy sell when the album would be released through Arista records on August 23, 1989 (however the PP Guru remembers he had a promo copy of the album two months before that, because he listened to it on the way up to a Sugarcubes concert in June that was to be Jennifer and the PP Guru's last date together in Irvine...with three or four of her friends that he got conned into buying tickets for), Anderson had to make the record buying public knew who they were somehow... so as to sell tickets, they toured under the sub heading - a evening of Yes Music Plus, i.e; old standards such as Close to the Edge, Starship Troopers, and Roundabout were to be blended in with new songs such as Order of the Universe, Brother of Mine, and the Australian Aborganine plight inspired Birthright. Both legal firms on both sides battled each other over the use of the Yes Music plus phrase which will find resolve itself to a amicable agreement as we'll discuss in another few paragraphs.


Regardless of what many loyal pundits may say, the PP Guru considers this to be an Yes album to a nth degree, no matter what lengths they would go to correct him. The PP Guru can almost forgive the misnomer of what's listed on Sparky's chronological timeline that he provides to end off every entry with- and the proof is on none other than on the new DVD, Songs From Tsongas, which was released a few weeks ago on Image Entertainment, when Rick Wakeman and Jon Anderson perform a lovely tender version of the Meeting, which was the opening track of side two of the ABW& H album. Plus it has the PP Guru's favorite all time Roger Dean album cover with the eagles and vultures perched against a futuristic city backdrop. The PP Guru also has the rare-to-find cassette copy of the Brother of Mine single with a unreleased B-side Vultures (in the City) in his collection.

Ironically, the PP Guru wound up seeing the show on this tour at San Diego State University with the sister of the roommate who was caught ploughing his Jennifer- but she was sporting one hell of mean looking mustache (as all Italian women usually do); however the PP Guru doesn't fault her for having a great set of looking gams, but she was possibly under the age of eighteen and the PP Guru doesn't fall for that jail baited trim trap.

Within the next two years, the PP Guru moved on to better opportunites. He quit the vitamin warehouse (Bernard Jensen Products - Jensen was actually a eye doctor who went blind- quirky twist of fate, perhaps?) shortly after the PP Guru's rich grandfather who created Bosco chocolate syrup on the east coast had passed away from complications due to AIDS? ...well that's what one of his aunts told him - but he heard it was actually colon cancer. Shit's debatable. The PP Guru became a night manger for a Circle K in Encinitas, and he got a job working as a assistant engineer at a recording studio located on a community college campus on the weekends. Since the PP Guru didn't have to work until graveyard shift, he would also find himself doing early evening gigs at a Irish pub with some guys who called themselves the Tom Toms. The PP Guru got to use other people's keyboards and P A equipment, to create a few atmospheric and ambient numbers to be included on student CD and video projects. The PP Guru also found himself enrolled at some journalism and creative writing courses at the college on Saturday mornings. 1989-1991 was certainly a re-invention of the PP Guru's spontaneous spasticated mindfucks that he hopefully still exhibits to his very day - as he began to teach himself how to write and experiment within the parameters of comic book scripts.

It was also the period of the PP Guru's all time favorite super hero adaption to television, The Flash. The PP Guru still has all his episodes on VHS- although Warner Home Video recently announced that they will be a DVD set sprinting soon into our future. Then we can all have Flash marathons running on our High Defintion sets.


The PP Guru was introduced to one of his favorite all-time comic book industry colleagues, Heidi "Ace" MacDonald thorough a mishap with Howard Chaykin. He still keeps in contact with the old girl and she has certainly flourished more in this line of business than the PP Guru ever did. Here she is in a picture with another great editor, Anina Bennet who used to edit comic book adaptions of Harlan Ellison stories in his Dream Corridor series for Dark Horse Comics.


And with the legal improprieties, settled behind them, Yes became whole once again...and bigger because both sides of the camp wanted to keep on making music their way, so the only solution was to merge both the ABW& H and the Rabin/Squire/White/Kaye side into one huge fucking band. That's right, the roster of the band went from the five mandatory membership to an overload of eight overnight in what the fans called a sham-merger !! So what the first Yes album of the ninties released on April 30th of 1991 does is try to form a perfect Union - but instead, it winds up making you cry like an Onion, as according to Rick Wakeman. Citing some tampering with his laid down keyboard parts by the producers, (and they were many- perhaps too many) Jonathan Elias in particular, who was also a sucessful session musician in his own right after the initial sessions for the album had been long done- Rick Wakeman was heard on a radio talk show actually threatening physical violence towards him after hearing the final product which prompted him to walk out on the group once again for the unteempth time. Elias' unwelcome contributions to the new album stemmed from a two song team up of Anderson and him on a anthology album named Requiems for Americas - that Elais produced that detailed the emancipation of the American Indian had other guest star performers such as John Waite, Susanna Hoffs, and Simon LeBon helping out. The album also sported some unreleashed Jim Morrison poetry tracks and ghostdancing wisdom espoused by Martin and Charlie Sheen.

The Union album itself was supposed to be amalgamation of the two existing groups. The Rabin AOR side contributed four tracks to the album with Anderson singing lead on three, the radio single, Lift Me Up, Miracle of Life, and Saving My Heart - while the remaining songs were supposed to be the tracks to go on the followup to ABW&H (although the PP Guru would debate that,because he has a whole slew of bootlegged demos of songs that were never used including one called 'Buildings' -) and as far as the PP Guru they were the more interesting ones like Shock to the System and I Would've Waited Forever (an unlisted expanded edition is included on the box set, Yes - In a Word, 1969 - ) . The PP Guru saw this tour twice, one show at the San Diego Sports Arena with people he worked with in the studio and the LA Forum to see them with friends he went to high school with in New Jersey. The show was done in the round again - looking mighty cramped to fit all eight members on a revolving stage. Ego temper tandrums would flare up between Steve Howe and Trevor Rabin. Wakeman would steal Kaye's thunder, making him look very inadequate as a player. Bruford and White seemed to get along well with White being the organic side pounding on the skins while Bruford demonstrated of how good he was on the electronic percussion kit. Anderson was just drifting away into heavy bouts of Indian lore and dogma, no doubt inspired for his love of everything Carlos Castanada, that he would constantly touch a dreamcatcher he had centered on his podium for good luck.
Despite malicious tongue lashings from most of the press and certain die-hards concerning the success or failure of this project, the album did get nominated for a Grammy for best instrumental track for Steve Howe's instrumental contribution titled Masquerade.

Although the PP Guru thought he was ebbing away at a all time creative peak, things were not going well on the homefront, as the PP Guru made a fateful decision to pack up and move out to LA with his some of ex-Parsippany brethren. He was getting too beat up living up above a Cleaners and a Italian sandwich shop along the Pacific Coast Highway with a middle-aged lady and her two sons that were constantly tweaking out on Meth and smoking too much of their socks and the PP Guru got so fed up with their constant noise and abuse that he put his fist through a wall and his hand went right through a mirror, but miraclously he didn't get one scratch or an artery severed.


Bye bye home to PP Guru for six years

Go figure, the PP Guru leads a charmed life. But it was bound to get worse before it got better.

Anderson Bruford Wakeman & Howe album credits: Milton McDonald Guitar (Rhythm) Tessa Niles Vocals (Background) Steve Orchard Assistant Engineer Chris Potter
Engineer Steve Thompson Mixing Michael Putland Photography Roy Lott A&R Oliver Bloch-Laine Liner Notes Giles Sampic Engineer, Pre-Production Engineer Martyn Dean Design Consultant, Stage Design Christopher Marc Potter Engineer Emerald Community Singers
Vocals (Background)
In Seine Singers Vocals J.M.C. Singers Vocals (Background) Laine Les Chanteuses Oxford Circus Singers Vocals (Background) Giles Sample Engineer Roger Dean
Artwork, Design, Paintings
Chanteuses Singer Deborah Anderson Vocals (Background)
Michael Barbiero Mixing Matt Clifford Keyboards, Vocals, Programming, Orchestration
Rupert Coulson Assistant Engineer George Cowan Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
Francis Dunnery Vocals (Background) Joe Hammer Percussion Programming Carol Kenyon
Vocals (Background)
Chris Kimsey Producer, Engineer Tony Levin Bass, ?, Vocals, Stick Bass
Bob Ludwig Mastering Rick Wakeman Keyboards Jon Anderson Vocals, Producer Anderson-Bruford-Wakeman-Howe Main Performer Bill Bruford Drums, Drums (Electric), Electronic Drums Steve Howe Guitar

Favorite lyric - Be gone you ever piercingPower Play machine - Themes - ii Second Attention (Anderson /Bruford /Wakeman /Howe)

Union album credits: Mark Mancina Programming, Producer Eddie Offord Producer, Mixing, Engineer Allan Schwartzberg Percussion Billy Sherwood Producer, Engineer Mike Shipley Mixing Michael Sweet Assistant Engineer Ed Thacker Mixing Jimmy Haun Guitar Stan Katayama Producer Alex Lasarenko Synthesizer, Keyboards Michael Sherwood Vocals
Steve Harrison Assistant Engineer Danny Vaughn Vocals Matt Gruber Assistant Engineer
Carolyn Quan Art Direction Jerry Bennett Synthesizer, Percussion Buzz Burrowes Engineer, Assistant Engineer Sherman Foote Synthesizer Chris Fosdick Synthesizer, Engineer Roy Lott
A&R
Kai Krause Computer Graphics Sophie Masson Assistant Engineer Steve Wellner Assistant Engineer Kuni Takeuchi Liner Notes Roger Dean Design, Computer Graphics, Paintings Ian Lloyd Vocals Alan White Vocals, Instrumentation Deborah Anderson Vocals Richard Baker
Synthesizer
Gary Barlough Synthesizer Paul Berry Assistant Engineer Greg Calbi Mastering
Jim Crichton Synthesizer, Keyboards Richard Edwards Assistant Engineer Jonathan Elias
Synthesizer, Producer, Keyboards, Vocals
Gary Falcone Vocals Brian Foraker Synthesizer, Mixing, Engineer Paul Fox Mixing Tommy Funderburk Vocals Lolly Grodner Assistant Engineer
Renny Hill Assistant Engineer Greg Jackman Post Production Rory Kaplan Synthesizer Tony Kaye Vocals, Instrumentation Rick Wakeman Vacuum Cleaner Jon Anderson Vocals, Instrumentation, Associate Producer Bill Bruford Vocals, Instrumentation Steve Howe
Vocals, Instrumentation, Producer, Engineer
Trevor Rabin Vocals, Engineer, Instrumentation, Producer Chris Squire Vocals, Instrumentation

Favorite lyric: Shock to the politicians/You know they just got burned by the fire/Shock to the freedom whispers/They're only coming after /they be dreaming all the time - Shock to the System (Anderson/Howe/Elias)

Be Dangerous for what you're looking for when trying to convey this to:

~

Coat

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The PP Guru's new hometown!

——————————————————

Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe


"Blue Desert" by Roger Dean.


Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (1989) is the self-titled album by four alumni of the progressive rock group Yes.

The project began in 1988 when Yes was in its 1980s line-up featuring Trevor Rabin. At that time vocalist Jon Anderson began to feel artistically limited in the band's current format. He then left to regroup with Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman and Bill Bruford of Yes’ “classic” line-up. Bruford, who had been a member of King Crimson since 1973, recruited band-mate Tony Levin as the group’s bassist. ABWH originally intended to use the name Yes but after a brief legal dispute, it was decided that Chris Squire, as the only permanent member of the band, held exclusive rights to its name.

The group rehearsed and composed their material in Paris and then flew directly to the island of Montserrat to record. Many of the tracks on the album (specifically “Teakbois”) carry Latin and Caribbean influences. “Let's Pretend” was co-composed by Vangelis in 1986, and was a previously unreleased piece by the group Jon & Vangelis.

The artwork for the album was created by artist Roger Dean, best known for designing album covers for Yes in the 1970s. It features two paintings, the front titled “Blue Desert” and the back titled “Red Desert”. These are the two largest paintings ever painted by Roger Dean, both measuring 9’ x 6’. Most releases of this album represent only a truncated version of “Blue Desert”. There was, however, a special release with a gatefold cover, though “Blue Desert” was horizontally inverted in that version.

Track listing

  1. ”Themes” - 5:58
    1. ”Sound”
    2. ”Second Attention”
    3. ”Soul Warrior”
  2. ”Fist of Fire” - 3:27
  3. ”Brother of Mine” - 10:18
    1. ”The Big Dream”
    2. ”Nothing can Come Between Us”
    3. ”Long Lost Brother of Mine”
  4. ”Birthright” - 6:02
  5. ”The Meeting” - 4:21
  6. ”Quartet” - 9:22
    1. ”I Wanna Learn”
    2. ”She Gives Me Love”
    3. ”Who Was the First”
    4. ”I’M Alive”
  7. ”Teakbois” - 7:39
  8. ”Order of the Universe” - 9:02
    1. ”Order Theme”
    2. ”Rock Gives Courage”
    3. ”It’s So Hard to Grow”
    4. ”The Universe”
  9. ”Let’s Pretend” - 2:56

Personnel

  • Jon Anderson - lead vocals, backing vocals,
  • Bill Bruford - drums
  • Rick Wakeman - keyboards
  • Steve Howe - guitar
  • Tony Levin - bass, Chapman stick, vocals
  • Matt Clifford - keyboards, programming, orchestration, vocals
  • Milton McDonald - rhythm guitar
  • Deborah Anderson - backing vocals
  • Tessa Niles - backing vocals
  • Carol Kenyon - backing vocals
  • Frank Dunnery - backing vocals
  • Chris Kimsey - backing vocals
  • Emerald Community Singers, Montserrat - backing vocals
  • Produced by Jon Anderson and Chris Kimsey

Discography

———————————


Nothing more to add - Sparky
GURU: STRANGE SISTA' STIRRINGS BELOW THE PP GURU's BELT

Why hasn't the PP Guru been sharing his fantasies of sistas lately? There haven't many spotlighted in the media all summer, that's for sure. Sure, the PP Guru could peruse or flip through the resources of Jet or Ebony, or better yet, King's magazine -

but most of those big booties you see on there usually intimidates the PP Guru. Don't get the PP Guru wrong, he doesn't have a unkind word up to say to the sisters. He loves them simply because they know how to satisfy the white guy. He personally thinks they are the best race of superhuman to go on all doggy fours with and none are immune from the irresistible charms of the PP Guru tongue piercing battering ram when they spread wide their pork chops for them - and the PP Guru happily obliges only because he feels their pain and sympathizes their sad stories of how their out brutha's don't like to please in that area of the woods.

So even though the PP Guru has a guilt streak running through him- he wants to make it up this week by focusing his every seven day libidinal rationale for once to the African American female form and who better to start with than: Tyra Banks?

The PP Guru would love to shake the hand of the marketing genius who came up with the idea of giving a Victoria Secret model her own talk show. Believe the PP Guru when he says this will be a runaway hit ratings sensation. Can you imagine topping off your show with a models running up and down a gangplank with nothing but their lacy frillies? If the PP Guru only had Tivo, he wouldn't be calling some Hamburger Helper welfare recipent skank ho to flush out his toxic seeds every so often. He'd be in front of his tiny twelve inch with the jurgens at the armchair rest. Be it so often, you unemployed and low income hurricane refugees will have your work cut out for you when the Tyra Banks Show premieres this September 12th through your local WB network affiliate. So check your local listings. You lucky devils, the PP Guru wishes he could take in a bottle of Thunderbird wrapped up in a paper bag and partake a few hour long sessions on his mystery stained loveseat.

It was what he was trained to do when America's Top Model was on.

Choking the chicken aboard the soul train for:

~

Coat



Thursday, September 08, 2005

GURU: HAS THE PP GURU REALLY LOST HIS ... MARBLES?
Taking a brief pulse in his critically acclaimed Yes Studio Album Release Date Memoirs, the PP Guru is on a two day Marillion excursion as three of the band members, Steve Hogarth - piano and vocals, Peter Trewavas, bass, and Steven Rothery, guitars are doing some acoustic shows in the West Hollywood area (touring under the sublime title of Los Trios Marillos). The PP Guru saw them play last night at the Keyclub and they were just fucking magnificent as always, giving us die hard fans a two and a half set of nothing but stripped down piano/guitar selections from their latest Marbles albums and many songs that the PP Guru has never heard them perform live before off of several independently released albums that they never toured behind (due to a long even year absence of not raising enough cash to tour the USA due to being bounced from their major label, EMI - so the US fans themselves had to splurge for the last 1997 Strange Engine tour- PP Guru included) including; Radiation, marillion.com and Anaraknophobia.

So the PP Guru is going to see a little short encore performance being held free tonight at the Tower Records off on Sunset Blvd and maybe get autographs and pictures. Who knows when this very underappreciated band will be back in the states again, but if they keep scoring more resurgent UK top ten singles such as "You're Gone " and "Don't Hurt Yourself", then anything's possible.

Tomorrow, the PP Guru will resume his month long series with the schizophrenic side of Yes - Two Face Yes, for a more apt description. How can two separate bands fighting for the rights to the same name co-exist in peace and harmony? All shall soon be revealed, my precious sagettes.

And also who will be stirring below the PP Guru's belt, the PP Guru wonders?

The one who let the genie out of the box was none other than: ~ Coat

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

JACARANDA, HELP THE PP GURU OUT TOMORROW


Big Generator released September 17, 1987 reunited the same line up from the previous incarnation that brought us 90125, albeit a much better effort in the PP Guru's all encompassing opinion. Three years in the making (not by choice, the PP Guru assures you - lots of technical glitches in the recording process and studio scheduling snafus were to blame), the songwriting evokes some gospel influence and Beach Boys doo wop singing as evident on the opening track, Rhythm of Love and Almost Like Love. On the epic scale, Trevor Rabin's technical prowess really shines on I'm Running and Shoot High, Aim Low. More peyote plundering and religious leanings makes a return in possibly one of Jon Anderson's best penned songs of the eighties on Holy Lamb (Song For Harmonic Converge) which closes the album beautifully. Love Will Find a Way was a song that Rabin had originally wrote for Stevie Nicks. Her procrastination in getting around to record it led Rabin to pull it and give it to the band to work on.

The album cover continues the computer generated trend from the last album. Roger Dean would not return to the Yes canon for another two years. Well, sort of as we'll find out in tomorrow's episode.

Del Mar, Ca Adjacent to Cardiff to the Sea whereas the PP Guru
drifted off to limbo for a period of 4 years.


Between the release of this album and the last - The PP Guru made the trek across America to settle in Cardiff-By-The-Sea, Ca in 1985 after stops in Virginia (to clear up matters on his failed engagement to Tamar Proper), Kansas City, Lincoln Neb, and Aztec, NM to visit members of family on both sides of the PP Guru family. He rented a room in a house with two other abusive drunks who had a very cute daughter, Jennifer Ellis that the PP Guru ended up dating for a while. He got a job working on packing vitamins and health food products in a warehouse where he stayed for four and a half years. Boughts shitloads of comic books and cassettes and basically become nothing but a beach bum recluse trapped in paradise limbo. He began to study the cheeky bikini bottom female anatomy at various strip clubs mostly occupied by Camp Pendleton jarheads and tried to keep up in Coors lights consumption with Jennifer Ellis' brother, Jene who was his roommate in a condo surrounded by a lagoon that teemed with wildlife such as water moccasins and roaming coyotes. Another roommate, John Gorman got along with the PP Guru and played one of the best delightful pranks that the PP Guru will remember to this very day: We both got so blitzed one night that we pulled up to a Carl's Jr drive through service and billigerently ordered a couple of slices of cheese for only 30 cents apiece. John Gorman of Gluster and the PP Guru both attended Yes' Big Generator tour at the San Diego Sports Arena and admittingly doesn't a have cognizant memory of the event. Although memories of Roger Water's solo tour at the same venue are more easily accessible. Other than that, there's nothing much to see here.

Now selling - single slices of cheese for 30 cents at the drive thru window.

Personal: the same as the last album now dubbed by Yes net freaks as YES WEST. Guests: Soul List (James Zavala, Lee R. Thornberg, Nick Lane, Greg Smith) -- horns Almost Like Love. James Zavala -- harmonica Love Will Find A Way.

Favorite lyric line: Exchanges in the currency of humans bought and sold/ and the leaders seem to lose control
- Shoot High, Aim Low (White/Kaye/Rabin/Anderson/Squire)

Produced by Yes, Trevor Rabin, Paul De Villiers, Trevor Horn. Recorded in Italy, SARM and Air Studios in London and various studios in Los Angeles.

All in a sharp step straight up the ass to:

~

Coat
—————————
Big Generator

Big Generator
Album cover
Album by Yes
ReleaseSeptember 17, 1987
Recorded???
GenreProgressive rock
Length43 min 14 s
LabelAtco
ProducerYes
Trevor Horn
Trevor Rabin
Paul DeVilliers
Professional reviews
Yes chronology
9012Live: The Solos
(1985)
Big Generator
(1987)
Union
(1991)

Big Generator is an album by progressive rock band Yes. It was released in 1987 (see 1987 in music) under the label Atco.

Track listing

  1. "Rhythm of Love" (Anderson, Kaye, Rabin, Squire) - 4:48
  2. "Big Generator" (Anderson, Kaye, Rabin, Squire, White) - 4:33
  3. "Shoot High Aim Low" (Anderson, Kaye, Rabin, Squire, White) - 7:02
  4. "Almost Like Love" (Anderson, Kaye, Rabin, Squire) - 4:58
  5. "Love Will Find a Way" (Rabin) - 4:50
  6. "Final Eyes" (Anderson, Kaye, Rabin, Squire) - 6:25
  7. "I'm Running" (Anderson, Kaye, Rabin, Squire) - 7:37
  8. "Holy Lamb (Song for Harmonic Convergence)" (Anderson) - 3:20

Personnel

  • Jon Anderson - Vocals
  • Trevor Rabin - Producer, Guitar, Vocals (Background), Mixing, Keyboards, Engineer, String Arrangements
  • Chris Squire - Guitar (Bass), Vocals (Background)
  • Tony Kaye - Keyboards
  • Jimmy "Z" Zavala - Harmonica, Horn
  • Trevor Horn - Horn, Producer
  • Greg Smith - Horn
  • Nick Lane - Horn
  • Lee Thornburg - Horn
  • Greg "Frosty" Smith - Horn
  • Alan White - Drums, Percussion

Additional personnel

  • Paul DeVilliers - Engineer, Producer
  • Allan Goldberg - Engineer
  • Dave Glover - Engineer
  • Jon Jacobs - Engineer
  • Paul Massey - Engineer
  • Dave Meegan - Engineer
  • Alan Goldberg - Engineer
  • Julie Last - Assistant Engineer
  • Stuart Breed - Assistant Engineer
  • Mike Drake - Assistant Engineer
  • Lois Oki - Assistant Engineer
  • Mike Kloster - Assistant Engineer
  • Jim Preziosi - Assistant Engineer
  • Brian Soucy - Assistant Engineer
  • Spike Drake - Assistant Engineer
  • Stephen Marcussen - Mastering
  • Kim Bullard - Keyboard Programming

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

YearChartPosition
1987The Billboard 20015

Singles - Billboard (North America)

YearSingleChartPosition
1987"Love Will Find a Way"Mainstream Rock Tracks1
1987"Love Will Find a Way"The Billboard Hot 10030
1987"Rhythm of Love"Mainstream Rock Tracks2
1987"Rhythm of Love"The Billboard Hot 10040
1987"Shoot High Aim Low"Mainstream Rock Tracks11
1988"Final Eyes"Mainstream Rock Tracks20


Nothing else I can think of adding, Sparks

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

SPARKY: THE GOOD NANCY REMINDS US ALL —
AND MORE NEWS ...


Dear Sparky,

I am calling for the firing of FEMA Director Michael Brown. If you have been following the news closely, you may already know why, and you can stand with me in demanding that President Bush give the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast a better chance by signing this petition now:

Tell the President: We Need New Leadership at FEMA.

Like me, you may have spent your Labor Day weekend watching with terror and grief the suffering of so many thousands of our fellow Americans in Louisiana. On NBC's Meet the Press I saw Aaron Broussard, the president of Jefferson Parish in New Orleans, weeping as he told of the horrors he had seen as a result of Hurricane Katrina. But he also told of a second disaster -- the response of our federal government.

He told a story of how FEMA, an Executive branch agency, turned away three truckloads of water, saying they weren't needed. He told a story of how the Coast Guard arrived with 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel -- desperately needed -- only for FEMA to tell them not to give the fuel to Broussard. President Bush must give FEMA qualified, competent leadership now.

Tell the President: We Need New Leadership at FEMA.

Michael Chertoff, President Bush's director of Homeland Security, had just given host Tim Russert his explanation of why there should be no accountability for the White House. Mr. Broussard responded that determining who was responsible was absolutely necessary:

"And believe me, they need to be fired right away, because we still have weeks to go in this tragedy. We have months to go. We have years to go. And whoever is at the top of this totem pole, that totem pole needs to be chain-sawed off and we've got to start with some new leadership."
The White House has insisted over and over again that accountability is simply a matter of political gamesmanship. This could not be further from the truth.

Accountability ensures that our government can function as the American people deserve -- and for the past week and a half, it clearly has not.

Tell the President: We Need New Leadership at FEMA.

  • The President now says he is going to head the investigation into what went wrong. President Bush need only to look in the mirror and ask himself why he appointed someone unqualified to lead the agency responsible for protecting Americans against disasters like this.

  • Michael Brown was given the job of FEMA Director, with virtually no prior experience, apparently because he was the college roommate of one of President Bush's chief 2000 campaign strategists, who became his first FEMA Director. Brown was previously a legal counsel for the International Arabian Horse Association, where he was reportedly fired for incompetence.

  • Brown joined Chertoff in claiming that nobody could have expected the damage, though we now know that both of them were briefed as much as 32 hours before the hurricane hit that the levees were likely to be breached.

  • With thousands having spent days in the Convention Center in New Orleans with no food, water, or transportation available, Brown admitted to not even knowing about the people there until late in the week.

  • And finally, to top it all off, he blamed the victims for not leaving -- even after it was revealed that many of them were simply too poor to find a means to evacuate.

When I called for Secretary Rumsfeld's resignation over Abu Ghraib and post-war planning, it was not partisan sniping -- it was because I knew we needed a better Secretary of Defense for the sake of the mission. A year later, White House investigations have "cleared" Secretary Rumsfeld, and yet Iraq has fallen into even greater danger. President Bush's previous investigations have failed to provide any accountability or solve the problems that provoked them -- we cannot afford this again.

Time is of the essence, lives are on the line.

It does not matter whether Mr. Brown's replacement is a Democrat, Republican, or Independent -- this is a matter of competence at a time when it is most needed, not partisanship. We need qualified leadership.

Tell the President: We Need New Leadership at FEMA.

A sincere thank you, and I promise that we are working as hard as we possibly can to help those in need. You will hear much more from us on how we can help them in Congress soon.


Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic Leader

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Note: Guess who is enriched by this no-compete bid?

Forbes:"Halliburton Subsidiary Gets Katrina Deal"
September 04, 2005
A Halliburton Co. subsidiary that has come under fire for its reconstruction work in Iraq has begun tapping a $500 million Navy contract to do emergency repairs at Gulf Coast naval and Marine facilities that were battered by Hurricane Katrina.

The subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown & Root Services Inc. of Arlington, Va., was awarded the competitive bid contract last July to provide debris removal and other emergency work associated with natural disasters.

Jan Davis, a spokeswoman for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, said Sunday that KBR will receive $12 million for work at Naval Air Station Pascagoula, Naval Station Gulfport and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. It will receive $4.6 million for work at two smaller Navy facilities in New Orleans and others in the South.

The company has provided similar work after major disasters in the United States and abroad for more than 15 years, including in Florida after Hurricane Andrew.

But KBR has been at the center of scrutiny for receiving a five-year, no-bid contract to restore Iraqi oil fields shortly before the war began in 2003.

Halliburton has reported being paid $10.7 billion for Iraq-related government work during 2003 and 2004. The company reported its pretax profits from that work as $163 million. Pentagon auditors have questioned tens of millions of dollars of Halliburton charges for its operations there.

Late last month three congressional Democrats asked Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to investigate the demotion of a senior civilian Army official who publicly criticized the awarding of that contract.

Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, who had been the Army Corps of Engineers' top procurement official since 1997, was removed from her position last month for what the Corps called a poor job performance. The lawmakers said the demotion "appears to be retaliation" for her June 27 testimony before Congress in which she detailed her objections to the award of contracts for Iraq projects.

Vice President Dick Cheney headed Halliburton from 1995 to 2000, and Democrats have questioned whether the company has gotten favorable treatment because of his connection.

Sources

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Colleges offering admission to displaced New Orleans students

September 6, 2005

Due to the damage by Hurricane Katrina and subsequent flooding, a number of colleges and universities in the New Orleans metropolitan area will not be able to hold classes for the fall 2005 semester. It is estimated that 75,000 to 100,000 students have been displaced. [1]. In response, institutions across the United States and Canada are offering late registration for displaced students so that their academic progress is not unduly delayed. Some are offering free or reduced admission to displaced students. At some universities, especially state universities, this offer is limited to residents of the area.

Overview

ATTENTION: For those seeking information about admissions for children into Elementary, Junior High and High Schools in California, please refer to the link listed to the right. [2]

The list has been split into five separate articles: three for U.S. States, a fourth for international, a fifth for schools in all locations offering space for faculty, graduate and professional students.

Also, each state is linked below:

Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware | District of Columbia | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas | Kentucky | Louisiana | Maine | Maryland | Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota | Mississippi | Missouri | Montana | Nebraska | Nevada | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | North Carolina | North Dakota | Ohio | Oklahoma | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | South Carolina | South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas | Utah | Vermont | Virginia | Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin | Wyoming | Canada | Other International

Contributing
To those college officials posting special offers for displaced college student, please consider multiple posting on the following e-lists as there is not yet one master or all inclusive site. Faculty, Graduate, and Professional Students

The list of schools offering accomodation to faculty, graduate, and professional students has moved. It is now Colleges offering admission to displaced New Orleans graduate students.

External links
Please help collect the information from the below linked lists to this article if you can. See the discussion page for instructions.
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Celebrities contribute to Katrina relief

After Hurricane Katrina passed across the United States, various artists and media stars have leapt at a call to action.

Sean Penn actually went to Louisiana. After loading down a small boat with his entourage, it was discovered one of them had neglected to seal a hole in the bottom. Penn was wearing a white vest rather than a life vest while bailing. After the motor wouldn't start, the crew paddled down a flooded New Orleans street. Bystanders jeered at whether any victims could fit aboard the crowded craft. No report on rescue stunts. Local authorities had previously been criticized for not allowing volunteer boaters in to help.

Morgan Freeman, whose home fared well, is organizing an online auction of celebrity items at charityfolks.com, to benefit the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

Curt Schilling opened his home to a family of nine driven out of their New Orleans home. The Schilling family will provide housing for the Fields for a year while their home in New Orleans is rebuilt and repaired.

Some celebrities "graced" disaster zones with their presence in the days following Katrina.

Singer Macy Gray and television personality Phil McGraw visited Houston's Astrodome.

Celebrities visiting New Orleans include singer Harry Connick, Jr., CNN's Anderson Cooper, actor Jamie Foxx, singer Faith Hill, actor Matthew McConaughey, singer Lisa Marie Presley, comedian Chris Rock, actor John Travolta, and The Oprah Winfrey Show contributor Lisa Ling and interior decorator Nate Berkus.

Oprah Winfrey visited New Orleans, Houston, and Mississippi.

Donations with press releases

Personality Contributions Beneficiary
Jerry Lewis Half of Monday telethon Salvation Army
Shelter From the Storm (US TV networks) Friday telethon
BET Relief Telethon Friday BET telethon National Urban League and the American Red Cross
MTV ReAct Now Saturday MTV telethon several
Dave Matthews Band Sept 12 concert
Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Grand Ole Opry Country Reaches Out Sept 27 telethon
Serena Williams $100 for every ace she hits on the tennis court
Jay Leno celebrity motorcycle auction
Barry Manilow matching contributions
manilowfund.com
Red Cross
David Banner Sept. 17 benefit concert in Atlanta
Nicolas Cage $1 million Red Cross
George Clooney $1 million United Way
Ellen DeGeneres $500,000 + donations
Celine Dion $1 million Red Cross
Hilary Duff $250,000 Red Cross & USA Harvest
Michael Jackson charity single
Jay-Z and Diddy $1 million Red Cross
Steven Spielberg $1.5 million American Red Cross and Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund
Lance Armstrong Foundation $500,000 To assist cancer survivors, including those in active treatment, who have been affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Celebrities in the storm

Singer Fats Domino was missing during the New Orleans flood but has since reached safety.

New Orleans who were out of town during the Hurricane included rapper Juvenile, who left New Orleans before the storm, Dave Pirner, who was visiting his Minneapolis hometown, and Master P, whose family members are missing.

Family of Neville Brothers have relocated to Round Rock, Texas, a small city adjacent to Austin. Threadgill's World Headquarters is the new home for Cyril Neville and family, with the band playing there September 9th. Family members cooking up Louisiana specials in the kitchen as well.

Sources

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New Orleans DirectNIC Offices, 'Outpost Crystal' visited by 82nd Airborne
September 7, 2005

A United State military truck rolls through the streets of New
Orleans beneath the offices of DirectNIC -- home of "Outpost
Crystal". Donny says Fair Use

The offices of DirectNIC, a New Orleans based webhost and services provider, were visited by armed members of the 82nd Airborne Division during an interview with Wikinews reporters Tuesday evening. DirectNIC has been the home of "Outpost Crystal" -- an information dissemination effort involving hundreds of volunteers throughout the world -- since Hurricane Katrine wracked the United States Gulf Coast last Monday.

Armed police and military are currently patrolling the devasted city to protect residents and property. While New Orleans Mayor, C. Ray Nagin, has ordered a "forced" evacuation of the city, it is not apparent yet whether these orders are being executed by law enforcement agencies. DirectNIC personnel indicate that they will be allowed to stay as they constitute part of the recovery effort of the city.

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Angry yet?