Stu Jenks' Fezziwig Press

M31

Satellite: Herschel and XMM-Newton
Depicts: M31 - Andromeda Galaxy
Copyright: ESA/Herschel/PACS/SPIRE/J.Fritz, U.Gent/XMM-Newton/EPIC/W. Pietsch, MPE/R. Gendler

 

Above our heads, day or night, shine hundreds of billions of spirals. Many galaxies are not spirals, but ellipticals or irregulars, but many if not most are spirals. Our own galaxy, The Milky Way, is a spiral galaxy, similiar to M31.

Like Robert Bly repeating a line of his poetry, I'll say it again:

Above our heads are HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF SPIRALS.

And our feet stand in the spiral of our own Milky Way.

Just a little insight on why I draw spirals in the sand by day or light-paint them in the air at night.

Cherokee Girl by Charles de Lint: The Music Video

 

[First things first: click on the little square-four-arrow-cluster at the lower right hand corner of the video to make it full screen]

Cherokee Girl by Charles de Lint
Produced & directed by Brock Zeman

Original song by author Charles de Lint about the mix of cultures, myth and how all of us are connected to each other and this world in which we find ourselves. Features a brief cameo by Terri Windling, the Cherokee Girl for whom the song was written. Scenes from Tucson filmed by de Lint and his wife, MaryAnn Harris. Horseshoe Canyon footage by Stu Jenks. For more info: www.charlesdelint.com

[From Stu: I have great friends. Glad the video I shot at Horseshoe Canyon came to such good use. Wonderful place, Horseshoe Canyon; wonderful people, Charles, Terri and MaryAnn; wonderful song, Cherokee Girl.]

Mormon Tea: A Novel

"Mormon Tea, Utah" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks

[Teaser: Morman Tea plays a role in the novel I'm writing. Under advice of other authors who are really go at this, I best say little else about the book, besides I'm enjoying the heck out of writing fiction. Hope to have the novel done by the end of the year, and in ebook and book book form soon after.]

VCU to The Final Four

Photo Credit: MARK GORMUS/TIMES-DISPATCH

VCU Final Four bound after upsetting Kansas
Paul Woody of the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Mar 27, 2011

The VCU Rams pulled off one of the biggest upsets in NCAA tournament history, beating Kansas 71-61 in the championship game of the Southwest Region. The victory puts VCU in the Final Four. The Rams, considered a mid-major team from the Colonial Athletic Association, play Butler, another mid-major team, Saturday in Houston.
VCU is an 11th seed in the tournament. Kansas was a No. 1 seed.
The Rams jumped out to a 14-point halftime lead, withstood a Kansas comeback that cut the lead to two, then rebuilt the advantage to a safe margin. VCU’s elimination of Kansas means no No. 1 seeds will play in the Final Four.

VCU wins Southwest Region, heads to Houston for Final Four

(Posted on the Times-Dispatch website, minutes after Virginia Commonwealth University's win.)

From Stu:

This is why I love the tourney so much. But on a personal note, as I posted earlier on Facebook, I was born in VCU's hospital. My father, my grandfather, my grandmother, and my sister were all born in Richmond. VCU has one of the best Art Schools on the East Coast. Some of the sweetest people I know are from Richmond and from Virginia. Victoria, Brad, Glenn, Jamie, the list is just too long. My father is buried in Virginia. My mother will buried there. I will be buried there too, in Lively, Virginia, if I can have someone take half of my ashes there. I'm an Arizonan for sure. I love my state of Arizona, but I have Virginia DNA. Virginia DNA. And this win makes me cry tears of joys. I guess I needed a good cry. And Richmond hasn't had an easy time of it lately. But tonight, I raise a strong cup of coffee to my fellow Virginians.

Save your Confederate money, boys. The South shall rise again! (In a good way.) Go Rams! Go VCU!

"First Light Over Calf Creek"

"First Light Over Calf Creek, Utah" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks

"Shepherds in Henrieville, Utah"

"Shepherds in Henrieville, Utah" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks

(Click on the image so you can see the sheep. And that's Bryce in the background.)

 

"The Devil's Backbone"

"The Devil's Backbone, Utah" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks

Thank you, Arizona-zona

(Sing it if you know it.):

"I'm a Tarheel born and a Tarheel bred, and when I die, I'm a Tarheel dead. So thank you, Arizona-zona, thank you Arizona-zona, Thank you, Arizona. GO TO HELL, DUKE."

[For those of you overseas, The University of Arizona's basketball team just bet Duke Univerisity's squad, 93-77, in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament. How did they do it? Outrebounded them, got ahead with great play by Mo Mo and D Will, and then messed with Duke's head. It was a beautiful thing to watch.]

Photo by Beth Harris of AP

"Room 231, Best Western, Capitol Reef"

"Room 231, Best Western, Capitol Reef, Utah" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks

The Nine Questions by Stu Jenks

Photo by Samantha Sais from this week's cover of Tucson Weekly

I'm not ungrateful an editor from the Tucson Weekly asked me to do this week's Nine Questions. Just the opposite actually. I just wish she hadn't edited my answers, so it now sounds like I don't love Jimi Hendrix. I love Jimi. And she took out my hearing Peter Gabriel, last year, at The Hollywood Bowl. Concert changed my life. But no matter. The beauty of the internet is I get to post, on The Fezziwig News, the unedited version of The Nine Questions. Ain't ones and zeros grand? Enjoy, y'all, and again thanks, TW, for asking me to do this. It was a lot of fun.

Nine Questions for the Tucson Weekly: March 24th, 2011
By Stu Jenks

What was the first concert you ever saw?
    Acoustic: The Royal Scots Guards Pipe and Drum Band, 1972, Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North Carolina. (with my mother Mary)
    Electric: Traffic’s Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys tour, same year, Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, North Carolina. (without Mary)

What are you listening to these days?
    Bruce Cockburn’s Small Source Of Comfort, Scala & Kolacny Brothers’ Circle, Neil Young’s La Noise, Elvis Costello’s Secret, Profane and Sugarcane, and Krishna Das’ Heart As Wide As The World.

What was the first album you owned?
    Single: The Battle of New Orleans, Johnny Horton.
    Album: Whipped Cream and Other Delights, Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass

What artist, genre, or musical trend does everyone seem to love, but you just don’t get?
    Opera. I’ve tried.

What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?
    The Monkees headlined a show at Dorton Arena in Raleigh when I was a kid, and Jimi Hendrix opened for them. Hear Jimi got booed off the stage by the white Southern teenyboppers. Would have loved to have been a fly on that wall.

Musically speaking, what is your favorite guilty pleasure?
    Depeche Mode. Reach out and touch faith. And Ho! Ho! Hoey! at Christmastime.

What songs would you like to have played at your funeral?
     I have a whole set planned for my funeral at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal: Ben Folds’ Magic performed by The University of Chicago’s Voices In Your Head, Muse’s Blackout, and Krishna Das’ By Your Grace/Jai Gurudev. Magic will also be played at my mother’s funeral.

What band or artist changed your life, and how?
    Neil Young’s On The Beach in Bo’s dorm room at Carolina, with a head full of Columbian. And hearing Peter Gabriel play Signal To Noise, last year at The Hollywood Bowl, with a full orchestra. Can’t tell you how hard I cried that night.

Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?
    Easy. Secret World Live by Peter Gabriel.

Stu Jenks (www.stujenks.com) is a nocturnal photographer, daytime writer and midnight harmonium player. His third book, Dementia Blues, a photo-memoir of his dying mother, was released earlier this month.