ALL I CAN SAY

2012-01-24T10:10:00.000-08:00

these pictures are from the early to mid 1980s. i am playing the harpsichord here.
http://www.dragcity.com/artists/ed-askew

2012-01-23T11:55:00.001-08:00

Piano Study 2. by Ed Askew

2012-01-22T21:13:00.000-08:00

Piano Study 1. by Ed Askew

2012-01-14T12:02:00.000-08:00

Cold Mountain is a house
Without beams or walls.
The six doors left and right are open
The hall is blue sky.
The rooms are vacant and vague
The east wall beats on the west wall
At the center is nothing.

Han-Shin

2012-01-11T14:12:00.001-08:00

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://edaskew.bandcamp.com/album/waiting-on-tables"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;WAITING ON TABLES by ED ASKEW&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gnew songs 2011

2012-01-04T19:38:00.000-08:00

http://edaskew.tumblr.com/

2011-12-17T10:56:00.000-08:00

me

taken with my new digi camera.

2011-12-11T21:35:00.000-08:00

a piece for toy piano, synth, and recorded sound. never released before.

2011-12-09T15:14:00.000-08:00

it would seem that
there's nothing to write about
sitting at my desk at
one in the morning
not a sound

there is hot tea on my right
and a box of tissues
on my left
pictures of Tony on the wall
paintings and
the ED ASKEW at he DARKROOM poster
from Chicago

a drunken guy in the audience
got kind a carried away
with enthusiasm
cheering me on
in the wrong places

i met him the next day
sober and reserved but
friendly

i didn't say a thing

2011-12-06T13:26:00.000-08:00

WILL is from my album PEPERMINT & ROSE, found at:
http://edaskew.bandcamp.com/album/peppermint-rose

some of the best pictures of this sort can be found at FRONT FREE ENDPAPER.
http://callumjames.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html
and on various sites at FLICKER.

2011-11-19T20:44:00.000-08:00

now on bandcamp

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://edaskew.bandcamp.com/album/rainy-day-song"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;RAINY DAY SONG by ED ASKEW&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

2011-11-18T21:49:00.000-08:00

photos: David B Smith, Jay Pluck, Nicole Will
i wrote my M M song on the train, playing the uke. Jay and i were on tour with Bill Callahan but traveling on our own. i remember, while we waited on the platform, singing the melody into Jays phone so i wouldn't forget it.
when i got home i made this recording.

2011-11-18T14:45:00.000-08:00

Charles Guislain

some pictures of a young fashionista
http://charlesguislain.tumblr.com/

2011-11-12T11:13:00.001-08:00

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://edaskew.bandcamp.com/track/for-thomas"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;for Thomas by Ed Askew&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

he'd sent me this picture when he turned 16, and got that bike he had wanted. a few months later, when i was in San Francisco, i came home to find a note on my door. Tom was in town.
he came by and spent the night.
not long after i had a visit from Star who handed me i note that i could barely read.
what's this?
Tom was in the hospital in Portland. he had (he later told me) tried to pass a car, or truck?, on a hill, on a curving road, in the rain, and drove head on into an oncoming car.
i took time off from my job, and hitchhiked to Portland.

the boy was in a full body cast. i stayed a week. he would survive that time.
later i saw him in New Haven. now that i have some records out i wish i could send them to him. but Tom is a memory now.

2011-11-03T20:53:00.000-07:00

DARK HORSE

this is from a demo of unreleased 70s-80s recordings. rather rough sound. this song was recorded in 1984 in New Haven.
i am playing my Martin Tiple.
pix of kid Ed.

2011-11-02T15:12:00.000-07:00

ARCADIAN BROAD

http://www.youtube.com/user/arcadian5broad#p/u/27/1z154OrGezo

2011-10-19T18:38:00.000-07:00

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://edaskew.bandcamp.com/track/fancy-that"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Fancy That by Ed Askew&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
free download live performance

2011-10-11T16:10:00.000-07:00

this was from a tour i did with Jerry DeCicca and Tyler Evans of the Black swans.
Tyler is currently playing in the Ed Askew Band and and
Jerry is producing a new Ed Askew album.

THIS IS MY WHOLE SET, Jay Pluck on the keys.

2011-10-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://edaskew.bandcamp.com/album/all-i-can-say"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;ALL I CAN SAY by Ed Askew&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

you can get an ep CD with some of these songs at: http://halfyogurt.blogspot.com/
(all the information is in Japanese)

2011-09-26T12:10:00.000-07:00

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://edaskew.bandcamp.com/track/missing-you"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;missing you by ED ASKEW&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; this is a song from my FREE experimental album, L E X.

.I HAVE 13 FOLLOWERS BTW. the list has vanished from this page. don't know why/how.
enjoy. Ed

also from L E X

2011-09-10T07:29:00.001-07:00

2011-09-02T22:20:00.000-07:00

LATE CUP OF TEA
ON MY DESK
THE USUAL WEEKEND MIDNIGHT TRAFFIC
DRIFTS UP FROM BROADWAY

CAGE SAID THE SOUNDS OF TRAFFIC
CONSTANT AND ALWAYS CHANGING
WELL
HE PREFERRED IT TO MUSIC
(SOMETHING LIKE THAT)

SOMETHING ABOUT
NOT TRYING TO ALWAYS GET ATTENTION
ART ALWAYS TELLING YOU SOMETHING
EVEN ABSTRACT ART

BUT EVEN CAGE LOVED TELLING STORIES
MAKING THIS POINT AND THAT POINT
MAYBE

I MEAN THERE WAS SO MUCH MUSIC
IN ERIK SATIE'S HOUSE
THAT THEY HAD TROUBLE FINDING THE PIANO
AFTER HE DIED.

2011-09-02T00:27:00.000-07:00

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://edaskew.bandcamp.com/track/queen-3"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Queen by ED ASKEW&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;am

MARCO BASELGIA found at FASHON CASANOVA
http://fashioncasanova.tumblr.com/

2011-08-08T12:09:00.000-07:00

The Night Train

1.
some hoop-de-do crowd at the back of the car
celebrating what?
the hiss and hum of the train
bumping along
dark
rain
windows
tiny distant lights

me
riding backwards
watching the unhappy world
slip away

2.
he (remembering)
"whatever happened to so and so?
or that other guy
-you remember"
said:
time goes by so fast

i, impatient, said:
not if you don't think
about
the past

3.
WESTPORT
i used to think of him
every time the train stopped there

funny
traveling the night train
i just remembered that
when we stopped in Westport

funny
i'd almost forgotten that!

4.

i must have taken this train a thousand times

NY to NH
NH to NY
NY to NH
NH to NY
NY to NH
NH to NY
NY to NH
NH to NY
NY to NH
NH to NY
NY to NH
NH to NY
NY to NH
NH to NY

shit
i need to find another destination!

2011-08-03T23:40:00.000-07:00

watching a KILLS video
i am thinking
this isn't what i want to do
what i want to do is write something
(check them out later,
definitely)

2:27 am

cooling off finally

the occasional car on broadway
wooosh

rattling air conditioner
not here

open window breeze
wooosh

photo at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/genxtraordinary/

2011-06-28T00:04:00.000-07:00

funny
i can smell the salt from the sea
maybe it's coming up the river

i used to write poems for you
send them to you
like an over night letter
but who can i write poems for now
that won't think i want something ?

and maybe i do
its only complicated if you think about it
of course

i mean
when you write something
you don't desire what you write
after all

2011-06-21T22:44:00.000-07:00

looking at pictures of
long legged boys
in short shorts
the last men standing
protecting the Fatherland

the only boy who lived to tell the tale
grow up to
experienced the joys of sex
because he was not stupid and loyal
felt guilty for the rest of his life
for not dying
at ten.

2011-06-20T17:02:00.000-07:00

we just did a tour of about 9 days. i did 7 of the shows, with Jay, my pianist and friend, Tyler and Jerry (the Black Swans). the last night was wonderful at a bar in Brooklyn. everyone was there. i had just sang for 300 people in a huge church. the next night i made this song and used Jays snaps to make this video.

2011-06-06T13:38:00.000-07:00

Blue Words is a spoken word piece from GOING ON FROM HERE. the album is on bandcamp.
http://edaskew.bandcamp.com/album/going-on-from-here

all the pictures are vaguely related in color and theme, and were found on the web.

2011-05-29T23:10:00.001-07:00

The Doctor by Ed Askew

2011-05-24T23:54:00.001-07:00

2011-05-24T13:25:00.000-07:00

excerpt: NOTES ON PAINTING VII 1990 (?)

1. I had said that if you pick up a brush full of red paint and walk across the room to the canvas, witch is on the wall, that by the time you have put the brush with the red paint against the canvas you have probably had 5 or 6 ideas about what to do when you move your brush across the surface of the canvas.

2. The mind is very fast. You forget your thoughts before you are barley through thinking them, yet they direct your behavior even before you know you have responded to them.

3. I had thought that instead of thinking I would write everything down. Of corse I could not possibly write that fast. But if I did this I would not have any time to do anything else. I would write on paper and when I ran out of paper I would write on the walls, and when I filled up the walls I would continue writing on my shirt & jacket & pants, and when I had no more clothes to write on I would write on my skin.

4. In some ways, making painting is like thinking.

5. Making painting stops & starts however. One knows one is painting. One knows where the end of the brush is. And ones activity is somewhat single-minded. The mind, on the other hand, drifts all over the place.

6. When you are painting there is you and your colors and whatever you are mixing your colors on, and that is (A). And than there is (B) witch is the canvas on the wall. You walk from (A) to (B) and back to (A) again. You carry the red brush with you!

2011-05-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

great photo of Jonah by Tony Gallucci
http://www.tonygallucci.com/

click video for full size.

Jonah Smith
Hey man i was picking up the new Foo Fighters record couple weeks ago at the local record shop, and your album was displayed right up front. Im like "Hey,I know Ed Askew!". supercool man

April 27 at 6:38pm from facebook

2011-05-06T22:56:00.000-07:00

OUR FRIEND TOM in 1981 w/ my pix.
came from the west to visit in New Haven.
i had painted him with blue eyes. when i saw him again
i realized my mistake and got up on a ladder
and changed his eyes to brown before he saw the painting. haha
i mean, how could i forget.

2011-05-06T22:18:00.000-07:00

As Adam early in the morning, Walking forth from the bower refresh'd with sleep, Behold me where I pass, hear my voice, approach, Touch me, touch the palm of your hand to my body as I pass, Be not afraid of my body.
Walt Whitman

2011-05-05T22:41:00.000-07:00

a song from my new collection

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://edaskew.bandcamp.com/track/tranquility"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Tranquility by ED ASKEW&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

2011-05-02T17:07:00.000-07:00

T H E B O D Y I S T H E C O U N T R Y O F L O V E

2011-05-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

LITTLE HOUSES was made in 1997 with a 4 track tape recorder, a Sony electronic piano ( drum machine included), and some pre recorded sounds.
i was on the 9th floor of a friends apartment, and had an unobstructed view of the NYC skyline (double window) the night when i made Empire City.
you can hear the entire album on bandcamp at:
http://edaskew.bandcamp.com/album/little-houses

2011-04-02T23:41:00.000-07:00

rumination after hearing a talk
on the two truths.
confused me completely!

well
i pick up a rock
it is heavy
it is cold
the rock has a rough, coarse texture
but
where is the rock?
can the rock be found?
the weight that i feel in my hand and arm
is that the rock?
the cold feeling that i feel in my hand
is that the rock?
the rough, coarse texture against my skin
is that the rock?
where is the rock?
you say
all these qualities
are the rock.
i mean
a rose by any other name..
but
are these experiences of my senses
that i call "rock"
the actual rock.
can the rock be found?
can the rock
that i am actually holding in my hand
(no doubt about that!)
be found?

2011-03-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

this is the whole show / free download
or just listen.

2011-03-25T21:47:00.000-07:00

i made this recording to go with these pictures, witch are extraordinary examples of Chinese painting, i am improvising on the harmonica (in more or less one go) against a simple organ progression. the music is called One Corner Paintings.. as are these paintings.. of vast and almost silent space.

Ma Yüan (c. 1160--65 -- 1225) was a Chinese painter of the Song Dynasty. His work, together with that of Xia Gui, formed the basis of the so-called Ma-Xia school of painting, and is considered among the finest from the period. Like most Song academy painters, Ma Yuan was almost forgotten during later periods, but his work nevertheless inspired both Chinese artists of the Zhe School, as well as the great early Japanese painters—Shūbun and Sesshū.
(you may want to click the expand video in the lower right corner, in this case)

2011-03-23T22:42:00.000-07:00

he, or she, who links fear
and the beautiful body
sees only porn
where none exists
and
you can not love part of the body
and hate another part
that would be mutilation

photo found at
DANGEROUSBODYCRASH
http://dangerousbodycrash.tumblr.com/

2011-03-14T23:44:00.000-07:00

Ducks in a Row, or What Does the Dog Mean?

i picked up the phone
and wrote down the message on a slip of paper.
it took some effort to focus on this
cause i was tripping,
and all i could manage was to put the paper in a draw.
in the morning i would find out what time my plane left.

it was 1970 something
and i had been invited to take part in a panel discussion
at the Fountain Valley School,
a prep school in Colorado.
a friends brother, who taught there had asked me to do it.

the event was, maybe, five professorial adults,
and yours truly (my hippy self)
having a discussion on "art and technology"
in front of a room full of boys
in jackets and ties.
i read a poem i had made about it.
free verse.. sort of.
the kids thought i was doing speed
cause i was pacing my words by taping on the table.
(i wasn't)

i had a few days before my flight home
so i hung out with the kids and played my tiple for them.
we sat in a circle under a tree...lovely.

one boy who decided to befriend me said,
"let me show you something".
we walked out to a kind of pasture
where eight or nine cows were grazing.
"sit down and be quiet" he said.
within maybe eight minutes the cows began to turn
in our direction...
till we were facing a row of absolutely still cows
looking at us.
(ducks in a row)

later i found a piano and wrote "What Does the Dog Mean?"
..and played it for this boy.
i left the next day.

2011-03-12T15:44:00.000-08:00

THE GOOD SHEPHERD VIDEO
this is my 2008 CD release. made in 07.
you can get mp3s at Amazon or iTunes.
CDs ..you have to hunt for them.

excerpt from Dusted review...

What is slightly frustrating then, and this has nothing to do with the quality of the album, is that Askew seems set up to once again be marginalized, sadly at the time when he’s making the best music of his public career. There are, of course, a large number of factors that determine these kinds of things, and I hope I’m wrong and that this is merely idle speculation based on incomplete information, but the irony is that the very aesthetic strategy he practiced in 1969 that relegated him to musical obscurity, and therefore transformed him into a “hip” artist, could once again keep him on the outside. Whatever the transformations were that took him from Little Eyes to his latest can only be glimpsed in bits and pieces through some songs posted on his website, but needless to say, through those changes, Askew shifted right out of his former niche, just as a certain segment of the music-making and buying public started to rediscover it. This isn’t, of course, dire. He didn’t shift so far over as to render his music completely unpalatable to large swaths of music consumers, but Rainy Day Song is definitely a product of late-style – more surety, more clarity, lacking the fickleness of youth – thus the contradiction will have to play out – hopefully in Askew’s favor.

By Andrew Beckerman

2011-03-09T12:56:00.000-08:00

I WAS WONDERING WHAT A FASHON SHOW
WOULD LOOK LIKE IF THE MODELS
WERE ALOWED TO
PICK OUT THE CLOTHES.

that would be LOOK BOOK
http://lookbook.nu/look/1642350-redhead-am-ok

2011-03-04T15:43:00.000-08:00

some alternative radio performances from the early 1970s

2011-03-03T23:18:00.000-08:00

i visited the fish today
in the Chinese Garden Court
at the Metropolitan Museum
"do not put coins in the pond"

little falling water
fat orange and white fish
(beautiful)
suspended in clear rippling water

fancy Chinese rocks

2011-02-28T14:07:00.000-08:00

kid ed

2011-02-27T17:24:00.000-08:00

Winter Play / Ed Askew from ED ASKEW on Vimeo.

kids playing in the snow and a new piano song, "Drifting".

clips from the INTERNET ARCHIVE.

2011-02-21T21:57:00.000-08:00

2 GUITAR VARIATION (72"x90")

acrylic on canvas 1981. homage to Picasso sort of.

i had a small studio in New Haven, thanks to Gary,
at that time.
they almost completely filled the wall.
almost no one has ever seen these.

(click to see them large)

2011-02-20T22:51:00.000-08:00

what was it i was trying to say
the other day?

looking out on the world
(everything going by so fast)

and now i remember

something i should have said
before you left..

that i love you?
no.. i said that

2011-02-20T22:20:00.000-08:00

flower boy poem

i gave some boy a flower to give to you
when he saw you at school
in the library
or if he ran into you on your way home

you could put it in your hair
behind your ear or
if your on your way to church
you could place the flower on your suit
somehow
like they used to do in old movies

and don't forget to give my boy a kiss
to give me..

2011-02-16T23:18:00.000-08:00

broadway boogie woogie by Piet Mondrian

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F9iQgtK9kM

2011-02-05T22:51:00.000-08:00

Bread & Roses was one of the best things to ever happen to me.  Bread & Roses was a cafe on State Street in New Haven, just a walk across town from where i lived. It was a store front space with a large american flag painted on the window. the one with a coiled, ready to strike, snake  and the words "DON'T TREAD ON ME". the cafe was run by two young political activists, but operated day to day by local high school students and all there friends. i practically lived there. and this was one of the places i did occasional shows. but mostly it was a social center for political people, some gay people, musicians, and an bright kids.  the photos here were from a show i did there, taken by Larry, one of the many young people i knew at that time.

 the song is from my 2nd release, LITTLE EYES, on De Stijl Recs.
http://www.destijlrecs.com/askew.html

2011-01-15T19:21:00.000-08:00

1.
how often do the words come?

you can sit for hours...
listening

2.
what is it
that the words tell?

not even a complete sentence
knows these things

3.
words in my head
words in the world

who can tell?

4.
a painting is full of ideas-

but not one word!

(drawing by Ed)

2010-12-10T22:30:00.000-08:00

The KINGS of THIS WORLD / Ed Askew from ED ASKEW on Vimeo

2010-11-26T09:51:00.000-08:00

i tried to turn it into a poem
but no luck
anyway, what struck me about the event
was that
when three teen boys went missing for 50 days
and were found
there was dancing in the streets
and singing
and people in that little town were
hugging each other
and thanking God, most likely

they left in a little boat
and somehow
lost control
and the wind and waves took them to some
god forsaken neighborhood of the sea
where no one ever goes
and it just so happened that some fishermen
were in a hurry to get home
and took a shortcut
through no mans land
and they saw a little boat
and three waving boys
waving for there lives
in that boat

and isn't life precious
i mean
that the whole town would turn out
and sing
and cry
for such a thing

2010-11-26T08:41:00.000-08:00

2010-11-20T10:42:00.000-08:00

this is one of my first attempts to make a multi-track recording. the songs were recorded and mixed on cassette tape, Winter-Spring 1997. LITTLE HOUSES may be released as a CD by Spinning Gold Records sometime in the next few years. the first song takes a while to start btw.

2010-10-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

"Billy Lucas, 15, Hangs Himself After Classmates Called Him a 'Fag' One Too Many Times
Billy Lucas, a 15-year-old freshman at Greensburg High School in Indiana, hung himself on Thursday after enduring bullying torment from his peers — just a few weeks into the school year. His mother found her son, hanging, in their barn. On Billy's Facebook web memorial, he's remembered with comments like, "Everyone made fun of him." At least one former student says he made administrators aware of his own LGBT bullying, and they did nothing."

i have used the words of one of his friends as they appeared in the news.

2010-08-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

2010-08-17T10:34:00.000-07:00

i arrived home
after the evening design course that i taught
in Bridgeport
and found him sleeping on my bed

i had given him the keys
because
he would find himself locked out of his families' apartment
if he got in after midnight
witch was almost always
and i didn't think it a good idea for a 13 year old
to be wondering around the city all night
and
i liked his company

later
when i asked his mom
to ask the state school
that he was staying at
if i could write to him
i told her that i was gay

she said she would ask
and seemed pleased that i had

i got a letter every week for a year
and wrote back
always

painting of M by Ed

2010-08-06T20:55:00.000-07:00

this is a new collection (the first) of mostly "instrumental" music, made by recording improvised synth segments on my proTools sequencer, cutting and pasting, and adding some rhythm tracks to create the finished piece. this is a new experiment in music for me. i hope you like my effort. i have used some harmonica also, and harmonium on the song Lex. free download all tracks.

Ed

&amp;amp;lt;a href="http://edaskew.bandcamp.com/album/lex"&amp;amp;gt;Xavier by ED ASKEW&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;

2010-08-01T14:18:00.000-07:00

FANCY THAT!

2010-06-11T22:05:00.000-07:00

all these events
that fill out lives-
death and birth
love and disappointment-
pain and pleasure
desire and satisfaction-
we rise up
to see the great world
spinning in vast space-
the sun rise
the sun set
vast blue sky-
mountains
stars
little kid dancing-

2010-06-06T10:22:00.000-07:00

i just finished this collection of songs. enjoy.
Ed

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://edaskew.bandcamp.com/album/the-kids-of-wisconsin"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;The KIDS of WISCONSIN by ED ASKEW&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

2010-06-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

noise abatement

Fairfax Police Blotter, May, 2010. Hills above town: Peace officers responded to neighbor complaints about squalling guitar solos coming from the woods, or from the earth itself, upsetting babies and pets, and inciting local coyotes to gather and howl. Also, there were complaints about the singing. Officers discovered what appeared to be a hobo camp carved into an nearly inaccessible hillside. Signs of animal–human partying were evident. The lone person present remained hidden inside a crude shelter made of sticks and old rhythm-&-blues posters. He refused to come out, but apologized for the noise, explaining that he was recording an album. Officers gave advice.

from friend Tim

2010-05-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://edaskew.bandcamp.com/album/peppermint-rose"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Peppermint &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; Rose by ED ASKEW&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Ed at bandcamp.com (my store). listen to full tracks for free.
you can also buy something.

2010-05-13T12:56:00.000-07:00

this is a short video for a piece from LOOKING FOR LOVE, a privet recording, made about 10 years ago. the voice is me, wondering around Mystic CT at night, talking into a little casette recorder in the 1970's.

2010-03-24T20:29:00.000-07:00

a useful quote and a handshake

well, here is some kind of poem 4U
made from nothing
my empty head, you know
the space between the words
the pause in my mind before the next thought

i hold out my hand
you hold out yours
..empty

"in the expert's mind are few possibilities,
in the beginners..many"

2010-02-04T08:34:00.000-08:00

2010-01-22T16:33:00.000-08:00

some words

1. i wanted to leave you some words but have not even one
listen to the traffic on the road
how can one say what one is hearing

2. even one word
how can i say it?
traffic on the road
listen

3. walking down the road
not even a thousand words can describe it
walking down the road the world goes by

4. its gets harder and harder to say what i mean
i mean, sometimes i just want to leave without a word

5. i want to leave you some words
but when i imagine your laughter
even the sound of traffic has a deeper meaning than anything i could say

6. what is this silence i am hearing?
the play of words across the screen
the turning of a page
cars on the highway

7. at days end
what can i possibly say?
the fan fills the room with cool air
my mind waits in silence for the next word

for Tony

2010-01-06T21:25:00.000-08:00

the tiny kids make there voices echo
in the great space
of the American wing court-
running in small steps
across the vast marble floor

i am having coffee and a sticky bun
here
in the adjacent cafe
watching the adults and children
who come to look-
but not touch

2009-12-12T22:51:00.000-08:00

well, i got on the train after the concert
and was heading home when this guy got on the train.
and he gave me this look.
i mean you know..
that shy smile reluctant eyes look.
and just for a miniute i thought (hoped)
he was a fan who recognized me
but was too shy to say anything. but,
alas,
it was only a guy who thought i was cute. : )

2009-12-01T14:24:00.000-08:00

after Flowers of the Seasons
by HAUN SHEN

what is made
may not be seen

these simple colors
and gestures

are not all they seem

if this makes no sense
ask me!

2009-08-24T18:30:00.000-07:00

i made this video by scanning a small painting
as i worked on it. the music is a piano improv.

2009-08-18T22:40:00.000-07:00

for WaK

thunder tonight

i'll never hear thunder without
thinking of him

that night

i was listening to his show
(we were in the chat room)
when WaK left the room and
a few seconds later
everything went silent

i didn't hear for a week
(not the first time)

sitting there playing music
it was not the thunder
that burned your computer
but lightning

thunder now
outside
and a flash of light

but you came back
you always came back
and i am hoping
this time...

well, anyway
i'm signing off
till the thunder stops

2009-08-03T07:07:00.000-07:00

THIS OLD CITY was recorded on 4 track cassette recorder in 1997 for LITTLE HOUSES, a privet recording that Spinning Gold Records has an option on. the paintings that appear here were made in the 80s and 90s. they are part of the Night City series that i was involved with at that time.

Watch THIS OLD CITY / ED ASKEW in Music | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

2009-07-29T08:01:00.000-07:00

that boy

black and white
old photograph on my desk
red and black
Russian abstract painting
yellow
certainly NOT the sun
(yellow from a tube?)
green and gold
something i've forgotten
(something about the spring
and that boy who used to like me)
we hitched to mystic when he was 12
and snuck into the sea port like two spies
checking out the old boats
walking around with whisky in a honey bare
me pretending to be his father
i'll never forget it

2009-07-22T22:43:00.000-07:00

"your the only one who lets me do this",
he said, as he lifted up my shirt and rubbed my once flat belly.
the beautiful presence of this boy, now gone.
the casual conversation.
sitting on my bed,
we had nothing better to do that sunny afternoon.

2009-07-10T23:23:00.000-07:00

THIS BOY

i remember...

when this boy sits in your lap
and says mmmmmmmmmm..
in your ear
with that charming but sarcastic smile

he is soooo cleaver
this boy

i mean
what does he want now
a long distance call
to a girl
a loan .. just a little loan
the last of that pot you've been saving for a special occasion?

you've had this experience before maybe
and "i can't give you anything but love, baby"
won't do

2009-07-09T19:09:00.000-07:00

the sound of
water rushing over rocks

better to remain silent
than
fill the page with words

2009-07-01T23:32:00.001-07:00

I saw him only twice since he died.
Once, it was two years ago,
at the end of a dream..
I was talking to some friends
on the street, and he was suddenly right there,
behind me.
I stood up and turned to speak with him..
like he’d dropped in to say hello.
And I saw him this morning
at the end of another dream, already fading
When
there he was.. his 17 year old self of years before,
beautifully dressed,
across the street , in the beautiful light of that dream..
like some cool and calm summer morning.
And he came to me with that smile of irony and affection, and embraced me with a vast and happy embrace..
And I thought as I opened my eyes,
“Now I can die”.

ED 6/15/o4

2009-06-28T18:38:00.000-07:00

i remember my father bringing home
the first
(or maybe the second)
TV on our block
it was a large wooden box
(mahogany i think)
with this tiny screen
and the biggest magnifying glass
i had ever seen
attached to the front

it was not long after
(a few years?)
me and my friends
heard about something called
Rock n' Roll

we knew it was good
because
some people were trying to
make it against the law

2009-06-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

XAVIER

well
he is like some bright thing
with all his angels
and boy choirs
and beautiful beings
floating in this world that he imagines
witch is our world
but we just don't see it
maybe
we are too busy
thinking about our problems
but this boy
who i am so fond of
never complains really
he is too busy
the wonders all around him

2009-06-23T22:41:00.000-07:00

an old Persian poem
tells about a Sufi who fell in love
with the boy who sold wine

the man was constantly drunk

every day he would come by
to bye wine from his beloved

what luck !

2009-06-19T09:11:00.001-07:00

yahoo news said
Jon Bon Jovi said
writing classic songs
is a way
of being remembered
throughout time.

i mean he said
"It's the closest thing to immortality
as we're ever gonna see here"

i mean
thats a quote

2009-06-17T23:41:00.000-07:00

2009-06-10T22:24:00.000-07:00

HE THINKS
HE WILL
FACE THE PAINTING
TO THE WALL
FOR A WHILE
TO GIVE HIMSELF
TIME
TO FORGET IT
SO
IN A WEEK
OR A MONTH
WHEN HE LOOKS AT IT AGAIN
HE WILL SEE IT

2009-06-05T22:38:00.000-07:00

i once typed an entire
book of poetry *
for him
sending him one poem
at a time
in the dead of night
so he would have
something beautiful
and interesting
to read in the morning
because i love him
because he took me in
(so to speak)
with no hesitation
only knowing that i know
someone he loves
and that we love the same
music

*Cold Mountain Poems
Han-Shan

2009-05-25T23:21:00.000-07:00

i remember
with pleasure
the children
gathered on a corner
under the lamp

the surounding darkness
the circle of light
the careless conversation

we sat across the street
a stones through from home
a thousand miles away

painting: Lavinder Nights 1990

2009-05-24T23:41:00.000-07:00

somebody said
everyone has there sad story
that they like to tell
and think about
but it only makes them sad

it's true

none the less
terrible things have happened
to people i know

i made a song for Eoin
about child abuse
because of the terrible story
he had to tell

"o love,
he waits behind the door.
he hears his father come
to push him down the stairs..."

2009-05-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

me with
a painting
i am
working on

May 21, 09

2009-05-17T20:58:00.000-07:00

the little face was pressed
against the window
come in Michael
the 5 year old child
had been waiting for me
to show up
he wanted to help me
you know
set up for art class

i found something for
him to do
and
before the other kids arrived
we had a moment to chat

"draw a heart, Mr ED"
so i took a scrap of paper
picked up a pencil
and made a heart
for Michael

he took my pencil
and drew something
and handed this to me

that was about 10 years ago

i wonder where that family is now

2009-05-13T19:52:00.000-07:00

momentery lapse

he put down the tiple
annoyed at the weight
of the new wooden case
he had been carrying around
and sat on a bench
while waiting for the train
to New York
and i think
that it is true
that we are sometimes
punished for our
idiotic thoughts or moods
for when the train arrived
he just
stood up
and entered
the train
leaving the tiple behind
and now some 22 years later
he has apparently been forgiven
for this momentary lapse
by someone
who never knew he was ever annoyed
by the weight of the tiple
and case
because that lovely man
who was the one
who found the lost tiple
has tracked him down
and returned it

2009-05-11T22:58:00.000-07:00

i have always liked
this picture
ever since
i first saw it
at the Yale art gallery
in 1963
it's a Picasso
if you don't know
i studied painting
across the street
witch means
i painted
made new friends
and i avoided the adults
as much as possible

2009-05-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

out

they took a short cut
down to the sea
the hedge on either side
of the path
was tall and green

and as they came out of the
shrubbery and reeds
such a glad sight
and sound

print: Hiroshige

2009-05-08T09:06:00.000-07:00

it's hard to write
about some things

and yet
i can still see
that face
that smile
those eyes
sometimes

that beautiful boy
walking down
the driveway

the air of confidence
and uncertainty

my painting of Tom at 16

2009-05-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

are those lilacs?
seen
through my not too clean
rainy
window

scrubby shrubbery
behind buildings

cars and horns

2009-05-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

Phillip
the trojan horse
he left
in the hearts of those
who thought they were being
entertained
like a thought
you only just realized
but
infact
never had

ALL I CAN SAY

Jonah Smith Hey man i was picking up the new Foo Fighters record couple weeks ago at the local record shop, and your album was displayed right up front. Im like "Hey,I know Ed Askew!". supercool man

Jonah Smith
Hey man i was picking up the new Foo Fighters record couple weeks ago at the local record shop, and your album was displayed right up front. Im like "Hey,I know Ed Askew!". supercool man