I'm a M - A- N

As the driver of a rather sweet, roomy, confident pick-up truck, I am often asked to help friends move: A bless-ed curse.



After having Thanksgiving dinner at no less than three friend's houses yesterday, I woke up this morn and did what any honest man would do. I drove straight to Waffle House on my way to a friend's where I was going to help her finish with the last of her moving to her great new place near a lake.

I was the guy in the Waffle House this morning, sitting at the counter, eating an egg/sausage/cheese sandwich on wheat, hash browns (scattered and chunked), a mug of hot, black coffee and some water with lemon. I was wearing what one of my three-year-old friend has described as a "fireman's jacket", and reading a book entitled Bohemian Paris.

(....right now I am taking a quick break to make some espresso...at 9pm...)

Wow! this is some damn good coffee!



I don't remember my waitress' name, but I was reminded of one of the things this Michigan boy loves best about Tennessee. By the time I left, she must have called me a dozen various combinations of "honey", "sugar" and "sweetheart".

She was so sweet I could've eaten a stack of pancakes without the syrup.

It was only when I paid my tab and walked out the door that I realized I forgot to get my grits!

Grits!



Anyway, on the way out to Hermitage - home of a boy named Phoenix and a President known as Old Hickory - I heard a bunch of radio interviews, reviews and profile pieces on the great Muddy Waters.



NPR interviewed this cat named Bob Edwards about his Water's bio Can't Be Satisfied. Seems Muddy is currently attracting do to the release of the new film Cadillac Records, which tells the story of the legendary, Chicago Blues/Soul label, Chess Records.

Mr. Edwards seems pretty informed and his book may be worth a read. Check out an excerpt here. I enjoyed the interview to a point. I know people who LOVE this show, but I can never get through an interview without at least one or two questions really derailing the proceedings - IMHO. For me, this interview gets silly when she asks Edwards if finding out more information about Water's philandering made him think badly of the music legend. What? Seriously? Mr. Edward's answers gamely, and seems non-plussed by the inquiry, but to me it was like saying "Did you like Keith Richards less when you realized just how many chemicals he had ingested?"

No. No I didn't. I still loved him with all my heart.



Anyway, check out the extended interview here.

But first, listen to this classic recording of one of the most important blues songs of all time: "Mannish Boy", by Muddy Waters.



Some people got something, they both know it, but they don't talk to much about it. It ain't no real big secret, but all the same, somehow they get around it. They hide behind an eminence front: a put on. But sometimes you can't remember when the sadness began, because it was too close to escape from by the time that you ran.

That is when the blues turn black.




Use this slick jewel box to listen to - and purchase - my new CD at your favorite online outlet. Also click the VIDEO button to watch the short film REvolution featuring yours truly on the soundtrack.

Enjoy!

Be gentle in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love,
Joe Nolan

Check out my profile at Reverb Nation to see my updated press and bio.

Listen to my earlier releases, and enjoy free downloads here!

Support this site! Buy Joe's Music! ...

उन चिएन मेतालिकुए

Ok,

so,

in my sidebar, in addition to a number of other vague confessions and revelations, I mention that my Chinese astrological sign is "Metal Dog". In the name of full disclosure, I must confess that this is only partly true. In fact, I am a Metal Dog, but one with special influences, resulting in a potentially disastrous - if sexy - combination.

Here is a great explanation I found online:



METAL DOG

This type of Dog can be unwavering in his convictions and highly critical of every infraction of the law according to his own interpretation. However, his principles are of highest kind and fundamentally he is noble and charitable. He will give himself to a lifetime of selfless dedication if he finds an object or cause worthy of his devotion. Yet he can be ruthless when aroused and will pursue his enemies until they are annihilated.

The Metal element combined with his lunar sign, which is also governed by Metal, produces a double Metal sign, which is extremely formidable. Orientals call this combination the "Iron Dog" and look upon its year with much apprehension as it could be either very good or very bad, depending on whether it takes on a negative or positive course.

Likewise, the stern and principled Metal Dog will exhibit the same traits and will exercise strong mental discipline over himself and take things very seriously.
His loyalty is unquestionable and he has strong political views. Never indecisive, he will pick a side and never desert his affiliations. Consequently, even though he hates injustice and foul play, this type of Dog can resort to extreme measures when he insists that others subscribe to his views.

While we are on the subject of all things Chinese, if you like movies that are mostly just actors acting - who doesn't! - check out this great, little known flick, Chinese Coffee. This one stars a new actor on the scene you may have heard of. His name is Al Pacino.





Although it looks like their MySpace page has cut back since the CD's release, you can still listen to about 6 full songs from the new Guns N Roses project Chinese Democracy on their social networking site. I have listened to this CD several times and I REALLY like it. Thanks Axl!



2009 will be the Chinese Year of the Ox. Looks like it could be long and hard, but also prosperous for the prudent:

We will feel the yoke of responsibility coming down on us this year. No success can be achieved without conscientious efforts. The trials and btribulations the Ox year brings will be mainly on the homefront. It is a good time to settle domestic affairs and put your house in order.

Way-out fashions, abstract art forms and newfangled notions will be given an impressive stare by the phlegmatic Ox, while politics and diplomacy will simply be treated with indifference. Better stick to routine and uspport conservative policies. Frivolities are out!



This year will no doubt bear fruit, but the motto is: "No work, no pay!" Time waits for no man; if we are too lazy to sow then we can blame no one if we have nothing to reap. We will find a great many things requiring our attention, and the list of what needs to be done will seem endless. The Spartan influence of the Ox will be a constantly cracking whip over our heads. Better to apply oneself diligently than waste time arguing with the authorities. They will prevail, as the year of the Ox favors discipline.

Most conflicts this year will arise more from a lack of communication and refusal to give in on small technicalities than anything else. But hang on and be patient. Everything will be sorted out and we will be rewarded for our efforts--so long as we remember to do things the conventional way. This is no time for tricky shortcuts.

For the rebels, it may be worthwhile to point out that although the stoical Ox is soft-spoken, he carries a big stick, and this is his year.

Source: The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes by Theodora Lau Published by arrow Books Limited



In related news, this new CD wasn't exactly made in China but many of the songs were conceived inside of steaming dumplings, bobbing in big bowls of briney broth, carried by small-handed women through the crowded maze of an opium den, lifted to my mouth on silver spoons smelling of sex and ginger, feeding my dreams until the work was finished.




Use this slick jewel box to listen to - and purchase - my new CD at your favorite online outlet. Also click the VIDEO button to watch the short film REvolution featuring yours truly on the soundtrack.

Enjoy!

Be gentle in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love,
Joe Nolan

Check out my profile at Reverb Nation to see my updated press and bio.

Listen to my earlier releases, and enjoy free downloads here!

Support this site! Buy Joe's Music! ...

<

Wake Up and Dream

Just finished watching a movie tonight called Flicker. The film is both a biography of
fellow polymath Brion Gysin, and a history of his stroboscopic flicker device, The Dreamachine.



According to our good friends at Wikipedia:

The dreamachine (or dream machine) is a stroboscopic flicker device that produces visual stimuli. Artist Brion Gysin and scientist Ian Sommerville created the dreamachine after reading William Grey Walter's book, The Living Brain.[1][2]

In its original form, a dreamachine is made from a cylinder with slits cut in the sides. The cylinder is placed on a record turntable and rotated at 78 or 45 revolutions per minute. A light bulb is suspended in the center of the cylinder and the rotation speed allows the light to come out from the holes at a constant frequency, situated between 8 and 13 pulses per second. This frequency range corresponds to alpha waves, electrical oscillations normally present in the human brain while relaxing.[2]



A dreamachine is "viewed" with the eyes closed: the pulsating light stimulates the optical nerve and alters the brain's electrical oscillations. The "viewer" experiences increasingly bright, complex patterns of color behind their closed eyelids. The patterns become shapes and symbols, swirling around, until the "viewer" feels surrounded by colors. It is claimed that viewing a dreamachine allows one to enter a hypnagogic state.[3] This experience may sometimes be quite intense, but to escape from it, one needs only to open one's eyes.[1]

A dreamachine may be dangerous for people with photosensitive epilepsy or other nervous disorders. It is thought that one out of 10,000 adults will experience a seizure while viewing the device; about twice as many children will have a similar ill effect.[4]

The Dreamachine is the subject of the award winning 2008 feature documentary film FLicKeR by Nik Sheehan.

Brion Gysin was originally inspired to investigate flicker effects after being exposed to light streaming through the trees as he attempted to doze on a bus one afternoon. Many now believe that the ecstatic experiences that could occur via the same phenomenon during a simple walk in the woods have lead to such arborial-mystical associations as "The Tree of Life", or even the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil".

Here is Gysin's account of his experience:

"Had a transcendental storm of colour visions today in the bus going to
Marseilles. We ran through a long avenue of trees and I closed my eyes against
the setting sun. An overwhelming flood of intensely bright colors exploded
behind my eyelids: a multidimensional kaleidoscope whirling out through space.
I was swept out of time. I was out in a world of infinite number. The vision
stopped abruptly as we left the trees. Was that a vision? What happened to me?"

Extract from the diary of
Brion Gysin
December 21, 1958

Build your own Dreamachine on this site. You'll find instructions and even printable .pdf blueprints.

Still a skeptic? Experiment with flicker phenomenon using this online Dreamachine.

If you are at all prone to seizures or fainting, please DO NOT experiment with these devices. You have the privelege of dreaming the old fashioned way, and your reveries come ready-made in a warm bowl of milk.



My new CD was also born out of a warm bowl of milk, carried by a buxom nurse, into a dark bunker, beneath a bombed out church, amidst the choking fires of the Last Secret War.




Use this slick toolbox to listen to - and purchase - my new CD at your favorite online outlet. Also click the VIDEO button to watch the short film REvolution featuring yours truly on the soundtrack.

Enjoy!

Be gentle in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love,
Joe Nolan

Check out my profile at Reverb Nation to see my updated press and bio.

Listen to my earlier releases, and enjoy free downloads here!

Support this site! Buy Joe's Music! ...

<

Serpents in the Garden

At the end of the day, the world gets weirder by the hour, and everything that crackles across the shortwaves tonight, in insomniac blinkings and the desperate fits of paranoiacs and bad-dreamers, will be splashed across the headlines within weeks, true facts woven from half-truth speculations, blooms barely given time to flower.



In these times the madman and the seer are as indistinguishable as the lemming leap and the vertigo: we see the line, and yet we are compelled to cross it. Why? Because we are now beyond ourselves, and we seek a new understanding the way our ancestors did when they left the trees for the grasslands, the grasslands for the fields, the fields for the cities, and the cities for the stars.



Having reached the stars we now discover the universe within. Here - at the end - we are about to swallow our own tail. Is it any wonder that we should discover that the Snake still slides through th Garden?



This story first appeared in The New York Times.


Soldier With a Long History of Delusion Is Suspected in 3 Attacks

DAN FROSCH and LIZETTE ALVAREZ

Published: Friday, November 21, 2008 at 5:20 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, November 21, 2008 at 5:20 a.m.

COLORADO SPRINGS — A Fort Carson soldier and war veteran charged in the murder and sexual assault of a woman in Colorado last month faces accusations that he also raped a 14-year-old girl and sexually assaulted a third woman, an internal Army document states.

The document, the Commander’s Report on the suspect, Specialist Robert H. Marko, also raises serious questions about his mental state during his time at Fort Carson beginning in late 2006 and whether he should have deployed to Iraq in 2007.

It was common knowledge among his commanding officers and fellow soldiers, the document states, that Specialist Marko, who is being held without bond, believed he was an “alien dinosaur-like creature, and that he would transform from his human form into his Black Raptor form on his 21st birthday — 13 Oct 08.”

Specialist Marko, 21, is one of six soldiers from the Fourth Brigade Combat Team based in Fort Carson, Colo., who have been charged or convicted of murder in the past two years.

He is charged with raping and murdering Judilianna Lawrence, 19, a developmentally disabled woman he had met online. Specialist Marko admitted to the police that on Oct. 10, he took Ms. Lawrence to the mountains overlooking Colorado Springs, blindfolded and raped her, then slit her throat, according to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office arrest affidavit. The affidavit also said that three days later — the day he believed he would transform into Black Raptor — Specialist Marko took the police to where he had left her body.

The slaying of Ms. Lawrence, a gentle woman who was sheltered by her family because of her severe attention-deficit disorder, led Senator Ken Salazar, Democrat of Colorado, to request an Army investigation into the Fort Carson soldiers who have been charged with murder.

Since Ms. Lawrence’s murder, two people have come forward to the authorities and accused Specialist Marko of rape or sexual assault, according to the Army document obtained by The New York Times. Both incidents prompted law enforcement investigations. The Army document is a synopsis of interviews with military personnel who knew Specialist Marko, family members and a psychiatrist, among others.

Five days before the death of Ms. Lawrence, Specialist Marko is said to have picked up a 14-year-old girl on the road who had fled a psychiatric hospital. The girl claims that a man matching the specialist’s description drove her to the mountains and raped her. Her description of the location “matches” the area where Ms. Lawrence was killed.

Another woman stated that in May, Specialist Marko “aggressively” tried to have sex with her in his barracks room. After a soldier knocked on the door, he stopped the assault, she said.

Specialist Marko, a mortarman, had a “history of behavioral health issues that predated his enlistment” in 2006, including alcohol abuse, according to the Army document. He also had Tourette’s syndrome, a neurological disorder, and speech and learning disabilities. He displayed an “extremely active imagination,” the document said.

He had no record of violence or bad conduct in the Army.

After joining the Army, his “unusual beliefs” in his Black Raptor alter-ego resulted in his being referred for psychiatric evaluations three times. Ultimately, the beliefs came to be viewed by his mental health evaluators as a religion, of sorts, like Wicca.

The first evaluation took place during basic training. The second was at Fort Carson in November 2006, before Specialist Marko was deployed to Iraq in February 2007, when he was flagged for “symptoms of mental illness.” A psychiatrist diagnosed a “schizotypal personality disorder,” which “may or may not result in some ultimate functional incapacity in the military.”

Nevertheless, the psychiatrist cleared Specialist Marko for duty “without limitations, scheduled no follow-ups” and declared him “deployable.”

His superiors in Iraq were unaware of the details of his evaluation and knew only that he had been cleared for duty.

Specialist Marko was assigned to the cavalry, served as a gunner in Baghdad and was viewed as a good soldier. He was generally reluctant to fire his weapon, had limited contact with the enemy and no “proclivity to violence,” the document said.

Upon his return home in December 2007, Specialist Marko was again flagged for a psychiatric evaluation, but he reported no mental problems and “was released without limitations.”

During his two years in the Army, Specialist Marko’s Black Raptor alter-ego was considered more a “source of humor than fear or concern” among his fellow soldiers, the document said.

It said that his alter-ego was an “amalgam” derived from books, movies and “computer-Internet-based role-playing video games,” which he began to develop as a child. Both parents were aware of his “delusions.”

His father told his commander that his son’s fascination with dinosaurs intensified at age 12 after he read the book, “Raptor Red,” written by a paleontologist. The book prompted ongoing nightmares, Specialist Marko told an Army health-care provider after his return from Iraq. Despite the alter-ego, his father told his commander that Specialist Marko could distinguish right from wrong, fantasy from reality.

He told his superiors that he had joined the Army to “get combat experience — something that he viewed as important to his Black Raptor identity.”

“His chain of command all shared concern over his mental state,” the document said. Their understanding from his evaluations, though, was that “Marko’s delusions represented an alternative belief structure — the equivalent of Wicca or some other alternative religion.”

Specialist Marko’s mental state did not interfere with his performance, nor is there evidence that his time in Iraq “contributed” to his condition, the report said. The Army document went on to say that “lacking a history of indiscipline or violent behavior, Spc. Marko was not considered a threat to himself or others until he was held under suspicion of murder on 11 Oct. 08.”

Specialist Marko’s MySpace page was replete with his dark impulses. “I’m becoming a true Black Raptor already,”’ he wrote in his profile. “I’m becoming a cold-hearted killer and can kill without mercy or reason.”

A few comments:

The Black War Raptor is a battle mount in the MMORPG, World of Warcraft.

The book, Raptor Red is currently available on Amazon. The site features the following description:

From Publishers Weekly
Narrated from the point of view of a dinosaur, paleontologist Bakker's novel is filled with facts and informed speculations regarding dinosaur life.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The dinosaur known as "raptor" first became well known through Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park (Knopf, 1990). Revolutionary paleontologist Bakker (The Dinosaur Heresies, LJ 11/1/86), who consulted on the special effects for the film adaptation, has written a novel that might be subtitled "A Year in the Life of a Dinosaur," as he tells the story of Raptor Red, a giant carnivore of the Early Cretaceous period. Having lost her mate in a botched hunting attack, Red (so-named because of the red stripe on her snout distinguishing her from other raptor species) joins forces with her sister and her sister's three chicks to survive in a world of hostile natural forces. Bakker manages to mix scientific theories?some of which are definitely on the cutting edge?with a rip-roaring narrative. Perhaps even more miraculously, he has created a sympathetic nonhuman heroine without anthropomorphizing her into a Disney character. This astonishing and successful novel will appeal to a wide audience and belongs in all fiction collections.
-?Eric W. Johnson, Teikyo Post Univ. Lib., Waterbury, Conn.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Conspiracy maven David Icke has long advocated that many of the world's most powerful bloodlines are actually made up of human/reptile hybrids.

Is the coming of human/reptile hybrids predicted in The Book of Revelation?

When the "Star Angel" opened the "Bottomless Pit," smoke, like the smoke of a great furnace, issued forth and darkened the sun, and there came out of the smoke LOCUSTS upon the earth. These were not ordinary locusts. Neither were the locusts of the "Eighth Egyptian Plague." Ex. 10:3-20. For we read of them that "there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such," that is, just like them. Nevertheless they were locusts, not some "composite creature" such as John saw, for they acted like locusts and ate up every green thing. The difference must have been in their size and voraciousness.



The LOCUSTS that John saw come out of the "Bottomless Pit" were a kind of "INFERNAL CHERUBIM." That is, they were a combination of the HORSE, the MAN, the WOMAN, the LION, and the SCORPION, and the sound of their wings in flying was as the "sound of chariots of many horses running to battle." Their size is not given, but they were doubtless much larger than ordinary locusts, but they were not like them, for ordinary locusts feed on vegetation, but these locusts were forbidden to hurt the grass, or the trees, or any green thing, but were to afflict ONLY MEN, and they had human intelligence, for they afflicted only those men who had not the "SEAL OF GOD" in their foreheads. These men they were not permitted to kill, but only torment, and that for only a limited period--FIVE MONTHS, the time limit of ordinary locusts, which is from May to September. The length of time is mentioned twice, and the character of the torment was like that which follows the STING OF A SCORPION, which causes excruciating pain that often causes the afflicted person to desire to die. So fearfully excruciating will be the anguish of those who shall be tormented by these "SCORPION LOCUSTS" that they will "seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, but death shall flee from them," the inference being that the LOCUST or DEMON controlling them shall have power to prevent their death.





Use this slick toolbox to listen to - and purchase - my new CD at your favorite online outlet. Also click the VIDEO button to watch the short film REvolution featuring yours truly on the soundtrack.

Enjoy!

Be gentle in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love,
Joe Nolan

Check out my profile at Reverb Nation to see my updated press and bio.

Listen to my earlier releases, and enjoy free downloads here!

Support this site! Buy Joe's Music! ...

<

Eat This

What up?



Hope you have all been enjoying these latest posts. I've been having a ball being in
touch more. Thanks as well to all of you who have been listening to and downloading my new CD. Your support makes more music, more blogs and more years in my life possible.

Thank you!

If you are into good songs, check out my friend Danny's site. He just got signed to Red House records, which is a great fit for him. Congrats Danny!

If you live in Nashville, come to The Family Wash next Tuesday night. I'll be playing at Cole Slivka's short sets. I'll be doing about 5 or 6 songs between 9 and 10.

Don't miss it!

Also, I was invited to write a piece for Local Table magazine this month. I did a piece on artisan bakers and candy makers in Nashville. An abridged version appeared in the mag, but here is the whole shebang:




"Philosophy bakes no bread."

Danish Proverb

If the old saying is true, it seems clear that the higher musings of the human mind – no matter how startling or sublime – are simply the wrong ingredients for that crusty feast that is the perfect baguette, or the savory/sweet satisfaction of a fresh-baked muffin. Toffee, tarts, bear claws, and baguettes are the kind of foods that can inspire an “amen” moment as they take to our tongues, and it is right to associate them more with prayer than with Platonic dialog.

Many a mundane muncher has been born again, bearing witness to the miracle that is a slice of fresh zucchini bread or the revelation of a perfect chunk of fudge. In Nashville, a number of artisan bakers are spreading the gospel, and preaching a faith based on handcrafted quality, and local ingredients.

Provence and Charpier's Bakery

You can't talk about artisinal bread in Nashville without talking about Provence. In fact, you can scarcely enter a grocery, cafe or restaurant in town where the bakery's delicious, handcrafted loaves and desserts aren't featured - and quickly sold out.

Opened by artisan bread baker Terry Carr-Hall in 1996, Provence isn't just a bakery. With five retail locations, a brisk catering schedule and a Willy-Wonka's-factory-like-kitchen – seemingly populated by magical beings who come and go at strange hours of the night – Provence is a local legend of sorts. Their desserts are some of the best available in town, and their sandwiches, pastas and salads match fresh ingredients, in unique combinations of hearty goodness. If such praise seems overstated, you've obviously never torn into a fresh loaf of the Tuscan bread. However, when it comes to artisan baking, Provence isn't the only game in town.

Charpier's bakery is easy to miss. Located on a dead-end street near White Bridge road, the unassuming building has no sign or any other indication that it is anything but a small office, or maybe even a residence. In fact, when you walk through the front door, you find yourself standing in a small office like any other: two desks, piles of folders, files and papers, the white, haunted eyes of a taxidermied walleye pike following you to your chair. There is absolutely nothing to signal to you that you are in a bakery – and then you smell the bread...

If you've stayed at a hotel, gone to a school, or eaten at a restaurant in Nashville, you're probably familiar with Charpier's. David Mosow established the bakery in 1986, but by the time he introduced his specialty breads, rolls, cakes and pastries to Music City, Mosow had already traveled a long, winding path in pursuit of the perfect loaf. His journey began in Greenville, Mississippi.

Mosow discovered a Greenville bakery that had closed, and inquired into buying it. The plan was to gut the place and sell off all the equipment. After getting in touch with the original owner, the plan changed. Mosow was convinced to re-open the shop under the baker's tutelage.

“He was a really unique person,” Mosow remembers. “He taught me everything about baking and the business. He always spelled flour, f-l-o-w-e-r.” David took quickly to baking and eventually worked in kitchens and hotels in New Orleans and Denver, before establishing Charpier's.

“We used to be out on highway 100,” he explains. “ When I first came to Nashville it was known as a testing ground for restaurant chains. In the last few years a lot of that has changed and you see more and more local food, with local ingredients.” Mosow regularly employs local and regional fruit, honey and pecans in the tasty treats being created in his busy kitchen, where there is always an emphasis on small batches of handcrafted goodness.

“To me, artisan means something made the old-fashioned way,” David explains. “I've been in bakeries where they speed up the process so much, it's not even bread anymore. Most of our stuff is cut and rolled by hand, especially the items that go into the hearth oven. That's what makes us different.”


Nashville Toffee Company

“To me, the phrase 'artisan foods' means a focus on quality of ingredients and technique,” explains the Nashville Toffee Company's Christina Cohn. “It means that the people making the food take a certain pride in their work. It is an 'art' to them.”

The inspiration behind Christina's art, stretches back to a childhood spent in kitchens with her grandmother and great-grandmother. On countless afternoons, these wise women initiated Cohn into that sugar-coated sisterhood that guards the secrets to making delicious candies, cakes and cookies. The recipes they shared became a bond for the three, one that – lucky for us - Christina decided to share with the her hometown when she opened the Company with her husband George in 2003.

Although the shop is known for its signature Almond Toffee, the Company offers delicious “Barks” as well, and everything is handmade, according to the recipes Christina learned as a child.

“Barks are slabs of shiny rich chocolate with the finest, fanciest grade almonds, peanuts or cashews mixed in,” explains Christina, emphasizing the Company's insistence on the best available ingredients for their candy. “It's delicious because we are absolutely dedicated to using only the finest ingredients. The nuts we use are custom-roasted for us, the chocolate we use is made by Guittard, even the salt we use in our toffee is a beautiful sea salt mined from an ancient sea bed without being processed!”

In a short time, Nashville Toffee Company has become a hit with local sweet-seekers and has recently moved to a much bigger facility.

“It's really great,” explains George. “We've done really well and we've grown.” With their ongoing success, it's clear that the Cohn's leaving their mark on the Nashville food culture for some time to come.

“Nashville's artisan food scene is well-established and growing,” enthuses Christina. “I am excited to be a part of it!”



The Wild Muffin

“Small batch baking, done by someone who really cares about ingredients, preferably made locally.” That's Julie Simpson's definition of artisan food. It's no surprise that her description sounds a lot like The Wild Muffin.

A dedicated baker since the age of seven, Simpson was munching a mediocre muffin in a local coffee shop four years ago when her bakery was born. The offending treat possessed an inspirational blandness that sent Simpson immediately home to her kitchen to build a better muffin. The next morning she took her new creation in to the owner of the previously mentioned joe joint, only to find herself shaking hands with her first customer. After they finished their muffin.

Simpson lays out her business philosophy like a two-lane street, one that supplies customers with healthy, wholesome, delicious foodstuffs, while – at the same time – supporting local, organic growers, and small family farms. Wild' makes use of Nashville produce whenever possible. “You know you are getting quality, fresh baked food and that you're supporting our local community,” she explains.

In addition to their name sake muffins, Wild' also creates a range of other munchables including: brownies, banana bread, biscotti, cookies and quiche. As with their muffins, all of these treats include organic ingredients. The quiches are made with whole wheat crust and turkey sausage.

Although Simpson dreams of opening her own retail space, her ever-growing list of contacts keeps her so busy she currently has little time to do more than manage the demands of her constantly expanding client list, and the constantly expanding appetites of their customers. “The business took off right away. We don't even look for more opportunities anymore, our clients just find us!”


Now that you've worked up an appetite, why not wash it all down with a cool glassful of rock 'n soul...




Use this slick toolbox to listen to - and purchase - my new CD at your favorite online outlet. Also click the VIDEO button to watch the short film REvolution featuring yours truly on the soundtrack.

Enjoy!

Be gentle in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love,
Joe Nolan

Check out my profile at Reverb Nation to see my updated press and bio.

Listen to my earlier releases, and enjoy free downloads here!

Support this site! Buy Joe's Music! ...

<

Beatles By Numbers

There are many mysteries surrounding The Beatles. Were they actually working for Military Intelligence/Satanists, assisting in the breakdown of traditional societal mores by providing the soundtrack for a youth culture awash in sex drugs and rock n' roll? Is Paul really dead?



And more importantly for our immediate purposes, what the hell is that chord they play at the beginning of "Hard Day's Night"?

Bring on the mathematicians!

For nearly 40 years the exact composition of the chord has been unknown. Is the chord actually a secret cipher designed to announce the coming of the Anti-Christ? Is the chord actually a message to their Super-Spy comrades announcing "Mission Accomplished?"



I'm not sure, but it does sound pretty!

Check out this piece about the Beatles, the secret chord, the music of math and the math of music.

There are also some pretty sweet chords on my new CD...




Use this slick toolbox to listen to - and purchase - my new CD at your favorite online outlet. Also click the VIDEO button to watch the short film REvolution featuring yours truly on the soundtrack.

Enjoy!

Be gentle in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love,
Joe Nolan

Check out my profile at Reverb Nation to see my updated press and bio.

Listen to my earlier releases, and enjoy free downloads here!

Support this site! Buy Joe's Music! ...

<

Barack Rocks New Media To Win Presidency

You may remember an awkward moment in John McCain's campaign. In fact, you may remember more than one...



I'm talking about the time that he mentioned how he was learning about email, revealing to the whole country that - while he proved to be a tenacious, smart, eloquent candidate - he was woefully out of touch with America since the Internet.

On the other hand, Barack Obama made every effort to spread his message of Hope and Change from cell phone to cell phone, email to email, social network to social network, utilizing every digital 0 and 1 he could get his hands on. The result? A massive outpouring of passionate young voters, and a country that turned Blue for a Black man.

In other words, "Twitter this, Palin!"



Two years ago, Podcasting News predicted the next President would be a podcaster, correctly spotting a trend that saw more and more citizens connecting, and collecting news, insights and updates from non-traditional sources.

In the case of Obama's campaign, it is particularly interesting to see how well he did gathering an audience on YouTube.

Read the whole article here.

Then check out the tunes on my new CD, Blue Turns Black. The collection is gathering its fair share of attention and is currently available at every major digital download site.




Use this slick toolbox to listen to - and purchase - my new CD at your favorite online outlet. Also click the VIDEO button to watch the short film REvolution featuring yours truly on the soundtrack.

Enjoy!

Be gentle in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love,
Joe Nolan

Check out my profile at Reverb Nation to see my updated press and bio.

Listen to my earlier releases, and enjoy free downloads here!

Support this site! Buy Joe's Music! ...

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Michigan Manages to Make Marijuana Medicine

God bless the State of Michigan.



Not only is it the only state with two peninsulas, it is also the home of the Great Lakes, the largest body of fresh water anywhere on this watery planet.

It is a state full of moving natural beauty where one Ernest Hemingway set many of his best - and best loved - short stories.


Ernest Hemingway trout fishing at Horton Bay, Michigan, 1919: Photo courtesy of Donald Harrison (CC)

Yesterday, Michigan did two great things: The state went blue for President-elect Obama, and it passed a referendum allowing for medical marijuana in Michigan.

Jah, bless us...



Find out more about this mandate for compassionate care in the Great Lakes State!

Voters approve medical marijuana
by Jeff Karoub | Associated Press
Wednesday November 05, 2008, 11:25 AM

DETROIT -- Voters in Michigan overwhelmingly approved a medical marijuana ballot measure -- making it one of a quarter of states to allow severely ill patients to use the illegal drug.

The measure passed in every county. With 96 percent of the precincts reporting, 63 percent, or 2,983,388 people, voted "yes" on Proposal 1, which removes state penalties for registered patients to buy, grow and use small amounts of marijuana. Thirty-seven percent, or 1,778,939 voters, were opposed.

As long as we are on the subject of feeling better, there was this one time when I had the flu. I was living with my engineer/co-producer Jerry Hager at the time. Laying in bed, feeling like I had been beaten with a bat, the only things I could do well were sleep, read and listen to music.

I liked Van Morrison, but I had only really heard the hits...



I proceeded to listen to nearly every CD the man had created - Period of Transition was particularly surprising/great - and a funny thing happened: Van cured me.

Sometimes music can do that.

If you are in the need of some soul soothing, or heart healing, perhaps the tunes on my new project can provide some compassionate care of their own...




Use this slick toolbox to listen to - and purchase - my new CD at your favorite online outlet. Also click the VIDEO button to watch the short film REvolution featuring yours truly on the soundtrack.

Enjoy!

Be gentle in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love,
Joe Nolan

Check out my profile at Reverb Nation to see my updated press and bio.

Listen to my earlier releases, and enjoy free downloads here!

Support this site! Buy Joe's Music! ...

<

Dion...And On...

What up?

If you love rock 'n roll, chances are you love Dion!



Even if you are not a fan of the show or the host, Dion gave a great interview and played some live music on Fresh Air today.

If you still need some more, check this out...




Use this slick toolbox to listen to - and purchase - my new CD at your favorite online outlet. Also click the VIDEO button to watch the short film REvolution featuring yours truly on the soundtrack.

Enjoy!

Be gentle in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love,
Joe Nolan

Check out my profile at Reverb Nation to see my updated press and bio.

Listen to my earlier releases, and enjoy free downloads here!

Support this site! Buy Joe's Music! ...

<

Seein' Stars. Shootin' Threes.

Hey everybody,



Well today is the big day. Like many Americans, I am feeling a bit of ambivalence as the hour draws near.

On one hand. I am looking forward to an exciting evening of election results. On the other hand I am sort of just glad that this longer-than-ever race is finally about to end.

I actually voted several weeks ago, so my perspective today is somewhat removed and cool. Mostly I've been tuning in to Comedy Central on and off to watch repeats of The Daily Show and the Colbert Report, leading up to their election special tonight.

I am contemplating taking some time out to go see Sukiyaki Western Django at The Belcourt Theatre.



I don't have a whole lot to say about the election itself, as to do so would serve only to add to the din. Instead, lets look to the stars and take an interstellar peek at Barack Obama.



Read a full analysis of the chart here.

I hope you all have a happy, hopeful election night.

If you get bored waiting for the results, why not jam some tunes, and watch some videos...




Use this slick toolbox to listen to - and purchase - my new CD at your favorite online outlet. Also click the VIDEO button to watch the short film REvolution featuring yours truly on the soundtrack.

Enjoy!

Be gentle in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love,
Joe Nolan

Check out my profile at Reverb Nation to see my updated press and bio.

Listen to my earlier releases, and enjoy free downloads here!

Support this site! Buy Joe's Music! ...

<

Black and Blue for You

Hey everybody,




Use this slick toolbox to listen to - and purchase - my new CD at your favorite online outlet.



Thanks!

Be gentle in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love,
Joe Nolan

Check out my profile at Reverb Nation to see my updated press and bio.

Listen to my earlier releases, and enjoy free downloads here!

Support this site! Buy Joe's Music! ...

<

All Work And No Play Makes Jack A Dull Boy

Hey all,



Had a delightful if rather uneventful Halloween night. Stayed in chillin' 'til about 8:30 before running up to The Belcourt Theatre to see a film that was both a great pick for the spookfest holiday, as well as the first in a new series at the Theatre that will include every film ever made by Stanley Kubrick: The Shining.



This flick just happens to be my favorite of the director's oeuvre and it was wonderful to see it in a Theatre full of folks on such a holiday.



Here is an alternative trailer for the film that just happens to include one of my favorite scenes from any movie ever...





Check out this documentary about the making of The Shining











And now for something completely different...

If you love finding new music, please check out my new CD using the player on the right. If you'd like to purchase my new CD, please pick it up at your favorite online outlet:


Amazon
eMusic
Rhapsody
Napster

Thanks!

Be gentle in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love,
Joe Nolan

Check out my profile at Reverb Nation to see my updated press and bio.

Listen to Joe's earlier releases, and enjoy free downloads here!

Support this site! Buy Joe's Music! ...

<