All The Diamonds In This World....

"We are stardust" sang Joni Mitchell in "Woodstock," and that was a pretty cool Aquarian image, with grains of truth--as well as the stardust--in it.  But it turns out that we are something even cooler, if only, when we are conscious, latently, nascently, incipiently.  We are diamonds.

This morning I was in the incredibly luxurious (relatively speaking) cab of my tractor (it's heated, has both a radio and a CD player--hey, my driveway's almost half a mile long; I'm not gonna shovel, and I think engine noise is bad for your hearing)--listening to Weekend Edition on NPR, and I heard the most marvelous and interesting thing I've heard in ages.  There's a company in Switzerland (and, it turns out, at least one in the US, too)  which takes human ashes and turns them into diamonds.  Who could ever have imagined that, or thought to do such a thing, or that that would be possible?

I find that nearly magical to consider: we can have jewelry--a necklace, earrings, anklets, rings, nose rings, who knows--made from a loved one.  Or even a hated one, if you wish. There have been as many as nine diamonds made from one person's ashes (Chances are that person didn't eat enough carats....).   And they're almost all blue, which I love, having spent much of my life in that condition, if not hue.  The blue in the diamonds may come, they (there "they" are, again) think,  from trace amounts of boron in the human body.  Really? "Trace amounts" are enough to color the whole thing?  That may explain why a few diamonds come out black: "trace amounts" of evil, perhaps?  But you'd think there'd be more of those, then.  And boron?  It's a rare element, caused by "cosmic ray spallation."  And we're right back to the stardust again.

The major drawback to the ashdiamond process is that, in the humanash factories, diamonds are created just the same way as they are in the wild: through the application of enormous amounts of pressure.  What--there's not enough pressure on us before the ovens?  First life, then a blast furnace, then subjected to intense pressure?  I think I'll settle for being a lump of coal. 

The songs, then:

All The Diamonds In The World                                            Bruce Cockburn
Big Blue Diamonds                                                                Van Morrison
Black Diamond Bay                                                                Dylan
Black Diamond                                                                       The Replacements
Blue Diamonds                                                                       Rusted Root
Diamond                                                                                 Ernest Ranglin
Diamond                                                                                 The Guggenheim Grotto
Diamond                                                                                 Joan Armatrading
Diamond Dust                                                                         Jeff  Beck
Diamond In The Rough                                                          Shawn Colvin
Diamond Joe                                                                           Dylan
Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend                                        T-Bone Burnett
Diamonds At Your Feet                                                          Muddy Waters
Diamonds In The Rough                                                         John Prine
Diamonds On My Windshield                                                Tom Waits
Diamonds In The Coal                                                            John Stewart
Diamonds Made From Rain                                                    Clapton
Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes                                   Paul Simon
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds                                            Fabs
Rubies And Diamonds                                                             Carla Olson & Mick Taylor
Shine On You Crazy Diamond                                                Pink Floyd
I Dug Up A Diamond                                                              Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris
Heavy Pressure                                                                        Tanita Tikaram
Under Pressure                                                                         David Bowie
Pressure                                                                                    Neil Young

Tuesday, noon till twoish on www.wool.fm.  See ya then.  In the meantime, shine on brightly.

They Daid, But We Can Still Hear 'Em

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it's time for another installment of "Dead Musicians On Parade."  I think I did this once before, at least, and I think it oughta be an annual thing, as long as I'm still lookin' down at the blades of grass, not up at the roots:  this week I'm'a celebrate those musicians--of varying stripes and caliber, but people who've affected my musical life--who went on to the Final Take in 2013.

We're all goin' there, and likely we're all gonna leave something behind here, some evidence that we once existed, but these folks have left artifacts burned right into wax' or onto tape, or dancing in The Cloud, or whatever it is they do these days.  Some are way better known (Richie Havens, J.J. Cale, Ray Manzarek, Lou Reed)  than others (Reg Presley of The Troggs, Jackie Lomax, Clarence Burke of The Five Stairsteps), but they all had careers of some duration and achieved some degree of fame--even enough to be sold on iTunes, which likely won't be true for most of us.  So, nothing profound even attempted this week, just "thanks" and "glad you were here awhile" to some who are no longer.  Such as:

The Birds And The Bees                                        Jewel Akens(I loved that song when I was 11)
I Touch Myself                                                       Divinyls (Chrissie Amphlett, lead singer)
Blues In The Night                                                  Bobby "Blue" Bland
Fire                                                                          Ohio Players (Sugarfoot Bonner, lead singer)
Ooh Child                                                               The Five Stairsteps (Clarence Burke, lead)
That's All There Is To Love                                    Donald Byrd
After Midnight                                                        J.J. Cale
Cajun Moon                                                            J.J. Cale
Call Me The Breeze                                                J.J. Cale
Crazy Mama                                                            J.J. Cale
Magnolia                                                                 J.J. Cale
Love You Till The End                                           Pogues (Phil Chevron, guitar)
Pretty As You Feel                                                  Jefferson Airplane (Joey Covington, drums)
Have You Seen The Saucers                                   Jefferson Airplane
Blame It On The Bossa Nova                                 Eydie Gorme (yeah, that's right)
Papa Was A Rollin' Stone                                       Temptations (Otis Harris, vocals)
Volunteers                                                                Jefferson Airplane
Do You Love Me                                                     Dave Clark Five (Rick Huxley, bass)
Funny How Time Slips Away                                  Ray Price
Glad All Over                                                          Dave Clark Five
I'm Going Home                                                      Ten Years After (Alvin Lee)
It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got...)                Marian McPartland
Just Like A Woman                                                  Richie Havens
Night Life                                                                 Ray Price
Riders On The Storm                                                Doors (Ray Manzarek, keyboards)
Rock And Roll Heart                                                Lou Reed
San Francisco Bay Blues                                          Richie Havens
Sour Milk Sea                                                           Jackie Lomax
The Spy                                                                     Doors
Wild Thing                                                                The Troggs (Reg Presley, writer/lead vocal)
You're Still On My Mind                                          George Jones
Freedom                                                                    Richie Havens

Obviously, some of these folks were more important to me than others: five J.J. Cale and only one Lou Reed (in fairness, I did acknowledge Lou's death in an earlier show)?  Three Richie Havens?  Again, it's my freakin' show, innit?  Besides, how can you go wrong with The Ohio Players, The Pogues, George Jones and Eydie Gorme all on the same playlist?  That's what makes WOOL great!  See you Tuesday from noon till two-ish.