Problem With War: Interviewing Secretary McDonough

Some of the best music I've ever heard came form the street performers in SF-Two in particular stand out: One guy on Haight St. played acoustic guitar and all of his arrangements he had learned by ear by spinning 78rpm rarities in his personal collection. His technique was reminiscent of each of the artists (all from the 20s-30s) he appreciated. Carl Kress, Dick McDonough, and Django Reinhardt . Guy was genius.

Another lady in her late 50s would camp out in front of the Castro theater and play musical saws. She was a hit with the gay boys and gals in the Castro, always had a fat saw-case fulla semolians.

One cat, in a wheelchair, played this modified electric slide guitar he had made himself, with the amp and battery supply all included in his wheelchair. His groove sounded like an amalgam of many great rock guitarists from the 60s, Hendrix, Beck, Page....that guys groove was SICK! Always tossed him those dillies on his watch.

Your video, TED Talk: William McDonough: Designing Cradle to Cradle, has made it into your personal Highest Rated Videos listing. Congratulations on a job well done. For you contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

really fantastic stuff. very reminiscent of janine benyus' work on biomimicry (the farm as prairie concept) and, by extension, rachel carson's work in raising awareness that we cannot farm by just covering our soil with chemicals forever.

anyone interested in this should also look up william mcdonough's 'cradle to cradle' work in architecture and design

In the words of Michael Mcdonough, if your design can't guarantee the 100% safety and preservation of life for all eternity, then your design has the kind of cavalier disregard for both the planet and its life-forms that we can do without. This charge is in no way limited to nuclear energy, but since that's what we're talking about here, it applies 100%. http://www.videosift.com/video/New-Revolutionaries-of-Design

Just a great song.


From Wiki:

Cortez the Killer is a song by Neil Young from his 1975 album, Zuma. It was recorded with Young's band Crazy Horse and ranked #321 on Rolling Stone 's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The song is about Hernán Cortés, a conquistador who conquered Mexico for Spain in the 1500s. The song also makes reference to the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II and other events that occurred in the Spanish conquest of the New World.

The music is typical of the Zuma album — simple, big chords and not much extra. The song repeats the chords Em7, D and Am7 while Young adds his signature solo riffs throughout. It is played in Young's favoured "double dropped D", or "D modal" tuning (DADGBD) — standard guitar tuning with top and bottom strings tuned down a whole tone.

Only after several minutes of this does the lyric start. First it pictures Cortés and his galleons about to arrive, then jumps to the Aztecs, depicting their civilization in somewhat idealized fashion even though explicitly acknowledging, before and after some guitar work, both human sacrifice and the immense human toll of building their pyramids. Instead of describing what happened when Cortez appeared, the lyric in the last verse suddenly jumps centuries forward to the present day, with elliptical references to a romantic relationship gone bad. Finally after another spell of guitar, Young simply mutters, "Cortez ... what a killer."

Young has stated in concert that he wrote the song while studying history in high school. In Jimmy McDonough's biography of Young, entitled Shakey, the author asked Neil if his songs were autobiographical. Young replied, "...What the fuck am I doing writing about Aztecs in 'Cortez the Killer' like I was there, wandering around? 'Cause I only read about it in a few books. A lotta shit I just made up because it came to me." Nevertheless, the song was banned in Spain, according to Young's notes for the album Decade.

The simple chord structure lends itself to long jams, and has been covered as such a jam song by many artists. The song has been covered live by the Dave Matthews Band, most notably a performance with Warren Haynes at their concert in Central Park in 2003. The song was also covered by Built to Spill on their 2000 album Live, by The Church on A Box of Birds (1999), and by The Drones. Gov't Mule covered the song on their 1998 album Live ... With A Little Help From Our Friends.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortez_the_Killer