Happy (Belated) Birthday!
Happy birthday—a day late—to K. Steeze, fearless leader of Blue Tree Whacking! Steeze is bar none the most relentless & creative person it is my privilege to know. His drive is infectious, his leadership inspirational. From the Smith and Winkler films to the Real Can of Yams albums to Projects TROIKA & PALINDROME, the only creative works I've been a part of that have gotten past the planning stage have owed their realization of K. Steeze. Were he just a collaborator, he'd by one of the most important people in my life; that he is also my dear friend is a joy that knows no bounds. And one of these years I might even remember his birthday on his birthday. Happy birthday, Kevin!

Operation AXIOM
One hundred fifty years ago to the day, 12 April 1861, the traitors & slavers of the self-proclaimed "Confederate States of America" fired the opening shots in the Civil War, the bloodiest conflict in American history. Nothing less than the fate of representative democracy hinged on the fulcrum of that war that pitted brother against brother. The bombardment of Fort Sumter no more caused the Civil War than the assassination of Franz Ferdinand caused the Great War, but every war begins somewhere, sometime, & the War of the Rebellion began in the bay of Charleston, South Carolina on this day in the Year of Our Lord 1861.

Fifty years ago to the day, 12 April 1961, Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968) became the first human being to sunder the veil of the heavens & enter the airless realm of outer space aboard the spacecraft Lastochka. Thus began the era of manned spaceflight. That Gagarin was a propaganda tool of the blood-soaked abomination that was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in no way diminishes his achievement; Gagarin served Godless Soviet Communism, but his feats were a service to all Mankind.

Thirty years ago to the day, 12 April 1981, John Young—ninth man to walk on the Moon, during Apollo 16—& Robert Crippen sundered the veil of the heavens & rocketed into the airless realm of outer space in the Space Shuttle Columbia (not to be confused with the Columbia, the Apollo 11 Command Module). Young & Crippen's mission, STS-1, was the first spaceflight of America's iconic new spacecraft. STS-1 marked a new era for American manned spaceflight after a decade of post-Apollo malaise.

The Stars My Destination
Quite appropriately, N.A.S.A. chose this date to announce the disposition of the four extant Space Shuttles—the Discovery, the Atlantis, the Endeavour, & the purely atmospheric Enterprise—after the imminent retirement of the Orbiter fleet. Pasturelink. Let us hope & pray that the last Space Shuttle flight does not mark the end of American manned spaceflight.

Operation ÖSTERREICH
I'm not as impenetrable an enigma as I like to pretend: if I haven't groused about Operation ÖSTERREICH for a spell the odds are that my lazy bum hasn't been dragged to the gym in far too long. As usual, I'm having a miserable Lent; by this I do not mean that my Lenten sacrifices are leaving my life a misery, but that I've done & am doing a miserable job of keeping those sacrifices. I aimed this year to give up sloth & gluttony. Gluttony has not been as successfully resisted as I'd have liked, but I have reined in my caloric intake quite a bit. Up until today, though, sloth's dominion had been limitless. At the Rec. Center I saw both Too Sly, my debate partner, & Professor D., one of the two Econ. Club faculty advisers, & thrice my professor. Perhaps I can convince myself that they'll think less of me if they don't frequently see me at the gym. At this point, I'll try anything in order to establish & then adhere to an exercise regimen. Nth time's the charm?

Fielding Yost's ghost, I'm going to be sore in the morning.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day: SKApril
Mustard Plug, "Thigh High Nylons" from Skapocalypse Now! (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: There are more ska bands in my music library than there are days in April; so, no band will have more than one song selected as a R.B.D.S.O.T.D. during the celebration that is SKApril. Choosing a band's one & only song can be difficult. Do I choose something that is in some way representative of their body of work? Or pick a song that has some idiosyncratic appeal to mine ears? Most certainly the latter in the case of Michigan's own Mustard Plug. More representative choices, right off the top of my head, would have been "Miss Michigan" or "Throw a Bomb," & both are great songs, but the R.D.B.S.O.T.D. is the song of the day, & today there simply was no other choice but "Thigh High Nylons."

The Loose Ties, possibly in their earlier iteration, Another Misprint, once played a show with Mustard Plug; some bad blood still exists, thought I've not gotten the whole story out of any of them. Intrigue!