Wednesday, July 30, 2014

I Must Also Quote This Man

____________________________________________________________________________________

The devil will sell you aluminum siding
when all you really wanted was a cup of coffee

Paul Oliverio



©
____________________________________________________________________________________


I Must Quote This Man

____________________________________________________________________________________

 A good novel tells us 
the truth about its hero.

But a bad novel tells us 
the truth about its author.

G. K. Chesterton

G. K. Chesterton

 ____________________________________________________________________________________


Jesus & Elvis & Mr. Brown

____________________________________________________________________________________

Jesus had some water, said "Wine'd be better yet".
Elvis picked up a guitar and made all women wet.

Elvis he died young - Jesus he died younger.
Elvis died of too much - Jesus died of hunger.

Jesus sang down through the ages:
"Do like you'd have'em do you."
Elvis rocked the universe
with be-bop-a-lu-la

Greg Brown
Jesus & Elvis

____________________________________________________________________________________


Loose Lips Do More Than Sink Ships

______________________________________________________________________________________

If I should live to be 182
I know that  I will never
get enough of you

Because I love the way
you love me when you're
making love to me

Loose Lips

Because when your lips
are busy I'm as happy
as a man could be 

Percy Mayfield




His most famous composition
is associated with a guy
named Ray.The title:
Hit The Road, Jack

Percy Mayfield's most famous
composition  associated
with him as the singer:
Please Send Me Someone To Love


But would somebody please send intelligence
to planet earth by having Percy Mayfield
inducted into  the Rock&Roll Hall of Fame. 
______________________________________________________________________________________


705 Plastic Lids

____________________________________________________________________________________

you helped me ignore
a floor

that would have
2 b cleaned

plus a formica counter
w/705 plastic lids

staring me in the face
every morning
last spring

but on 21
come september
daddy will be home

we do not want him
mumbling into his eye glass

goodbye 705 plastic lids

at the recycling center
you will have plenty of friends
____________________________________________________________________________________


Elea & Grace: Eternal Gardens Gossip

______________________________________________________________________________________

Father Oliverio: The Good Shepherd
"He flirted with me and I was married to his brother."

"He flirted with every woman in the parish."

"But then I realized, it wasn't flirting."

"Wasn't flirting?"

"He told me he had his boss–GOD–on speed dial."

"So?"

"He said that his flirting was just sharing the good word."

"Ha!"

"Ha ha!"

"Men–what a concept"



                                                                                                                                                                          
She married the brother
______________________________________________________________________________________


Soldiers Of Our Word

______________________________________________________________________________________


Thank You
Nowhere would communication get
without the Soldiers of our Alphabet

Consonants surrrounding vowels
as sky surrounds birds
without these soldiers
we can't make words 

Subject, verb, object–
they know their position–
adorned with adjective
glued with preposition

Grouped, huddled,
bunched, muddled

Consonants surrrounding vowels
pregnant pauses from the brain
from the bowels

Honor & love  our alphabet
It is all we got
It is all we get


Valiant ingredients of the alphabet
mix them dry mix them wet

Our Twenty-six letters
have no betters

Bullets for the guns in the war against silence
communication is beautiful violence

Humans breathe
we need air but don't forget
words breathe
through the alphabet

We say them
we see them
let the participle hang

We say 'em
we see 'em
let the slang bang


______________________________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
SOLDIERS OF OUR WORD is the copyrighted property of LCSol.

Please direct any inquiries about usage to this website.
______________________________________________________________________________________


Tuesday, July 29, 2014

She Said No...

______________________________________________________________________________________


The selling point of this 1996 book...

   Was the publisher
   not the royal subject matter:
  (YES: Elvis is the King)


   If she had been a designer
   for Abraham & Strauss–
   instead of Abrams Books–
   she wouldn't have become
   my fiance.

  (She prefers her name be withheld
    at this time.)

    ELVIS
    THE ULTIMATE
    ALBUM COVER BOOK 
    looks wonderful
    on any hip coffee table.

    But before I reached for my credit card
    I reached for my phone.




"My boss wanted me to design it.
 She was none too pleased when I said no."

  Let X = the boss  


 Let Y = the designer responsible for an Abrams bestseller:


The Complete Book of Dallas

 


 If Z = the number of hours the designer
 worked on the Dallas book
 Then Z = 250


 Let E = that precise moment when
 the Elvis Album Cover book
 needed a designer...when Y
 was available for a project

 Then F = Lack of Pleasure on her boss' behalf
 when designer Y said

 NO



 
Anyway, that is how my fiance explained it over the phone while I was in Fingerprints 
music/book store.  But I translated what she said to algebraic notation.
Lewis Carroll would have been proud of me. 


Then G = Exuberant Pleasure I got
for learning when my fiance used
that notorious two-letter word



I

bought

the book

but did
not pay

coffee-table-
book dollars





Below is a 1996
book review:


The shelves of Elvisiana receive another notable addition in Elvis: The Ulitmate Album Cover Book, by Paul Dowling, who owns the world's largest Elvis record collection. In full color, the book repr- produces 226 album covers from nearly 40 different countries, including not only the expected ones (American versions of the movie soundtrack platters, for instance) but also...
 




Coincidentally,
1996 was the year–
I said "NO" to
Tom Brokaw
regarding
this news
article.


So be it. 





And then along came 2012...

Fools fall in love
in a hurry
Fools give their hearts
much too soon

Just put in two bars
of stardust
Just hang out
one silly moon

But more than 2 years later,
Mr. & Mrs. CarPeo
could not be
more in love.

And will be even more so
Come September... 


Anyone reading this page has earned an invitation to a wedding
whose date is yet to be determined. 

Orthophonic?

Is it Music
to be worn
like a shoe?















Let W = the Abrams designer
by default.

W did an excellent job and
W  inspired another page.





  
 _____________________________________________________________________________________
Footnote
Bonus soundtrack: an existential Elvis singing Chuck Willis' I Feel So Bad.
_____________________________________________________________________________________ 


Not Just Another New Yorker Cartoon

______________________________________________________________________________________

Makes you kind of proud to be an American, doesn't it?
 
Peter Arno (1960)
























Especially when you consider that three of the first six contestants
in this 1960 New Yorker centerfold cartoon are "women of color."

In 1960, Vanessa Williams–the first African-American Miss America–
was minus three years old. (Vanessa was born in 1963.)


Peter Arno's  cartoons  first appeared in the New Yorker the same year
the magazine was first published (1925.)

Peter Arno  Bad Drivers (1925)
 


 No Gatsbys
 were injured
 in this accident
(see hyperlink).







Peter Arno (1904-1968)
In addition to 99 New Yorker  covers,
Peter Arno drew cartoons for the magazine
until the year of his death.






Mr. Arno was one of the five
uber-Godfathers of New Yorker
cartoonery.


The next New Yorker page is here.

______________________________________________________________________________________


GoodFather Page #700

____________________________________________________________________________________

For Mother CARpeo

© CarPeo Inc.




____________________________________________________________________________________


Please Do Not Steal This Line

____________________________________________________________________________________

I dreamt I discovered gravity last night
While listening to a Chuck Berry record

© Jack McCarthy

© Paul Oliverio  TAMI Time   (2012)


















____________________________________________________________________________________
Footnote
The soundtrack for this page is another Jack McCarthy song
from Peter Galasso's website, Little Man.
____________________________________________________________________________________


Authorized Personnel Only ©

____________________________________________________________________________________

 Elea

 Yesterday,
 the  feast featured
 Minnie's handmade lasagna with
 Nuna's singular  sausage
 
 Vivian's salad served by Detty
 chock full of Buddie's fortune cookies
(D calls him Rotunda)

 The muses were much amused
 while the band played  on
 conducted by Gus
(who half-made
  all of us)

  Grace the Ace danced
  with Stan the Man
 
  Sam had his eye on you
 (me too)

  From way down here  
  where I could hear Detty
  whisper My Three Sons

  But your offspring (my everything)
  knows only the one Detty calls Centerpiece

  But your offspring (my everything)
  worships only D's husband

  Gus named the feast  FORTNIGHT OF ELEA 
    
  If only your singular jewel could see 'ya
  If only she could read her
  four fortune cookies:
   
  Yang every other yin // Ignore every other sin // Action is truth
       
  Go west at 70 // Stop at the fountain of youth
       
  Close cover before striking
       
  Read 'em, 
  Don't eat'em 

 

 Today, Elea

 "Please be there to cheer"
   i exhort
 "Please be there with Eva
   on the r'court"
 ____________________________________________________________________________________


Monday, July 28, 2014

This Is Not Thrift Store Merchandise

____________________________________________________________________________________








For factual
intervention,
click on the
photo credit.



© AFP Photo
Carl Court









© artdaily.org







___________________________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
A hint as to the origin of the garments can be found in the soundtrack for this page.

It is kind of a drag when your clothing says goodbye.
___________________________________________________________________________________


I Do So Declare...

____________________________________________________________________________________
                                                                      

© CarPeo Inc.








That every GoodFather page
launched into cyberspace
this week is dedicated to
Mother CARpeo.





___________________________________________________________________________________


Stereo Receiver Menage a Trois

____________________________________________________________________________________

Also Known As The Scotch-Taped Trio w/ 3 Hyperlinks

© Paul Oliverio (2014)

Gloria
Swanson


+


John "Sonny Boy"
Williamson


+


Bertrand
Russell



___________________________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
The soundtrack, though named for the largest of the trio, was inspired
by one of Mr. Williamson's British Godchildren.

Bert's Blues was composed and performed by Donovan Leitch.  


The Gloria Swanson hyperlink is from a 1965 sitcom, in which
she looks younger than she did in 1950's Sunset Boulevard.

I do not drop names, I smash them against the wall
and watch the shards sparkle.

That quote is the copyrighted property of LCSoL.
___________________________________________________________________________________


Bless My Boticelli: Snapshots of Venus Beach

______________________________________________________________________________________

“For me, seeing the ocean is just very primal,”














   Roz Chast  says about her
 “Venus on the Beach”
   New Yorker cover.









  We reached Chast in Narragansett,
  where she’s vacationing with her family.

“We’ve been coming up here for about twenty-five years,” she continues.
“I feel like I have to go back every summer. I don’t know. I need to see the ocean again—
  to make sure it’s still there, I guess. And I go in eventually, no matter what the weather.

“Maybe this has something to do with growing up in Brooklyn and always going to the beach
 when I  was a kid. First to Brighton, and then to Manhattan Beach.
 Now going to the beach is a very important part of my life,
 and of our kids’ lives—at least in the summer.”

But what did Boticelli say in 1485?
Sandro Boticelli  The Birth of Venus





The next New Yorker
page is  here.



______________________________________________________________________________________


Sunday, July 27, 2014

Fortune Then...Fortune Now...

_______________________________________________________________________________________

The first-ever Fortune 500 was published in 1955. 

60 years later we look back at where the companies 
from the head of the class—Fortune 500 companies 1-10, 
with revenues ranging from $1.7-$9.8 billion—are now. 

Some no longer exist, some exist by another name 
and/or as shadows of their former corporate selves, 
and some still stand today as the biggest names 
in corporate America.

******************* 

 

1. General Motors

After declaring bankruptcy 
and getting bailed out 
by Uncle Sam in 2009,
it’s still riding high at #5. 

GM has owned 
and parted with...Saab, 
Hummer, and EDS
(Electronic Data Systems)

Lowest rank ever: #15
*******************



 2. Exxon Mobil

The oil giant debuted 
on the first-ever 
F-500 at #2. 

1972: Esso became Exxon.

1999 begat Exxon Mobil 

Lowest rank ever: #4

Ugliest moment: 
Exxon Valdez oil spill 
******************


3. US Steel

American steel industry 
isn’t what it used to be
and neither is US Steel. 

When the company  booked 
$3.25 billion, it was  #3. 

When the company  booked 
$17.4 billion, it was #166.

1955 is not 2014.
Time changes things.
*******************


4. General Electric 

With electric toasters
& nuclear power, 
GE has been a mainstay 
in American industry 
and on the F-500. 

The industrial juggernaut 
dropped to # 9 this year. 
Lowest rank ever: #11

Stupidest Moment: Letting
Letterman switch to CBS.
*******************


 5. Esmark

This conglomerate owned 
Max Factor, Avis, Tropicana,
Attitude, Ignorance, Trust,
and  Swift meatpacking.
 
1984: Esmark  acquired 
by Beatrice Foods.

1990: Beatrice was 
bought out by ConAgra. 

1285: Dante loved Beatrice. 
*******************


 6. Chrysler

One of America’s “BIG 3” 
Chrysler was sold to Fiat:
 
...As if the Pacific Ocean 
was sold to Lake Michigan.

Chrysler bought American Motor Co. (1985) and was bought 
by  Daimler-Benz (2007).

Cars is cars.
*******************



7. Armour

Armour’s business  peaked 
before it debuted at #7 
on the F-500 
in 1955. 

Armour found success with 
Dial, a soap made from 
a byproduct  of the meat-
packing process. 

If perfume can be peachy,
soap can be meaty.
*******************



8. Gulf Oil 

Responsible for the first-ever drive-in gas station (1913), 
Gulf pioneered the concept 
of free restrooms.

Gulf merged with Chevron 
in 1984, the largest merger 
in history at the time:

A merger asmeaningful
as Elizabeth Taylor's
first marriage.
******************* 

 9. Mobil

Once known as Socony 
(Standard Oil Co. of NY), 
the company changed 
its name to Mobil 
in 1966. 

It merged with Exxon
in 1999 and ranks # 2 
on the 2014 F-500.

Satan fears only
one name: ExxonMobil.
*******************


10. Dupont

Though the 212-year old 
chemical company has 
broadened its scope 
since 1955, it lands at 
# 86 on this year’s list. 

Since early days of  F-500, 
Dupont has developed 
Lycra and Kevlar.

Lycra & Kevlar 
is a good name 
for a reality TV show. 
_______________________________________________________________________________________


Saturday, July 26, 2014

Fill In The Rest...Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

____________________________________________________________________________________

The Beatles' Alphabet

Their Record Label...Their Late Great Manager

The Liverpool Club They Made Famous...A Song Title

Where They First Performed Live on American TV...Their Nickname


































...You can fill all but the last two letters


Self-Explanatory



The next

Beatles' page

is here.
____________________________________________________________________________________


Another Pic For My Chick

____________________________________________________________________________________

For Mrs. CarPeo (See You in September)

© Paul Oliverio (2014)


































____________________________________________________________________________________

This & That

____________________________________________________________________________________


© Paul Oliverio (2014)




THIS
is a picture
of a pre-historic
cigaret advertisement


THAT
is my staircase.

____________________________________________________________________________________


Shorty Altuve

____________________________________________________________________________________

Highest Batting Average in American League

At 5' 5,"
Jose Altuve
is the shortest man
in Major League Baseball.

Today, no one
in the American League
has a higher batting average.

How is this possible?
The explanation is real simple...
Look at his driver's license:

He was born on May 6,1990.



He has the same birthday as WILLIE MAYS!


What better karma can a baseball player be born with?

September 29, 1954







Growing up in New York,
I was a good Catholic boy
who believed in God

And I was convinced 
that God sat at
Willie Mays'
right hand


  
____________________________________________________________________________________


At The Big BUCK

____________________________________________________________________________________


A New Exhibition At Buckingham Palace
Brings Together Nine Generations
Of Royal Children



















AFP Photos/ Carl Court







© artdaily.org




_______________________________________________________________________________