Glassiette arrives!

("Crumpets", a Glassiette by Alexandra Yanofsky)

I'm really proud of my sweet wife, Alexandra. She has just launched a wonderful new endeavor called Glassiette.

Alex sources lovely vintage dishware and artfully glues matching plates and glasses together with non-toxic, food-safe super-glue to create one-of-a-kind multi-level tray assemblies.

The name Glassiette is a little combo I came up with melding the word glass and assiette (French for plate). She loved the name and it stuck like non-toxic, food-safe super-glue.

These unique trays can be used to serve hors d'oeuvres, desserts, cupcakes or even to store your make up or small tchatchkes.

Read more about the Glassiette experience and where you can buy them for yourself or as gifts, at the Glassiette Blog.

Got glass yet?

Sure do!

Ez

Yummy air and sunlight diet...

I've been following this fellow's story for a few years now. Prahlad Jani, 82, claims to have subsisted on a diet of air for the past 74 years. He lives in a cave and has some type of hole in the roof of his mouth that gathers moisture from the air and gives him enough energy to live. He says a goddess pours an 'elixir' through the hole in his palate. He also claims he derives energy from sunlight. It's bit meshuggah but somehow I believe it...

A wing of the Indian Government's defense department is studying him under lockdown for 15 days with a team of 34 doctors to see if he's for real. They want to know if he could teach them how to help soldiers survive for long stretches of time without food, or disaster victims to remain alive without sustenance until emergency workers arrive.

To read more about Prahlad Jani, click HERE.

I'll keep you posted when I hear any updates.

Ez


UPDATES:

-The 15 day study has concluded and Prahlad Jani baffled the doctors by not eating or drinking for the entire period. Here's an article about the preliminary results.
-A Harvard doctor exclaims "Impossible"; a blog commentor named "eric" types: "India is full of phony magicians. What I want to know is this: What is his relationship to the "researchers" and why are they knowingly publicizing a fraud?"; and a self-help guru chimes in, "It may truly be an example of mind over matter. These are things that enligtened being have been doing since the beginning of time... Jesus stated, "You will do things even greater than I. Study quantum physics..." More.

Hempy trails, Jack...

(Jack Herer, 1939-2010; photographer unknown)

Many of you probably know I love hemp. The plant that can be used for food, fibre, fuel, paper, plastic, soap and rope (even dope if you count hemp's sister plant marijuana) is not just incredibly versatile but also environmental, historical, industrial, medicinal, renewable and frankly, logical:

The way I see it, hemp just makes sense and more and more people like you are click by click and wow by wow discovering this... and making good things happen with it.

The world has lost perhaps the most important hemp advocate. On April 15th, Jack Herer passed away at the age of 70.

In 2004, the L.A. Times wrote: "Herer is widely credited with launching the modern hemp movement, a persistent campaign by an eclectic coalition of environmentalists, legislators, rights activists, farmers, scientists, entrepreneurs and others to end the maligned plant's banishment and tap its potential as a natural resource..."

Jack, the author of the landmark book "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" (read it online here) is the person who took the age-old hemp plant and its myriad uses out of obscurity in the late 1980s.


Having been all but banned, banished and shunned since the late 1930s, hemp was essentially rediscovered and fully exposed for modern readers by Jack's book. In researching the book, he uncovered lost documents about Henry Ford's virtually indestructible hemp car; about "Hemp For Victory" a pro-hemp film made by the U.S. government during WWII and subsequently hidden; and among other things, the truth about how nutritious hemp seeds are and how high they are in protein, amino acids and omega fatty acids.

I never had the opportunity to meet Jack but had we met I would have thanked him for turning me and so many others on to this plant and its immeasurable potential.

I've now spent 5 years wearing, eating, researching, and sharing hemp and products derived from hemp. Jack inspired me to do my homework on this plant and after all this time I can't find a good reason for our society not to use this plant more. In a time of eco crisis, here is a plant that's easy to grow, requires no pesticides and little water, and actually heals the soil as it grows. Add to that all that can be done with it once harvested.

Thanks, Jack, for all you did. We will carry your work forward each day. We'll miss you next month as we celebrate the first annual Hemp History Week.

You can read Jack Herer's obituary here. And here is a very nice article about Jack's funeral.

Curious about hemp? Want free Dr. Bronner's hemp soap samples or Manitoba Harvest hemp seed samples? Come by Montreal's CinemaSpace at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts the world's first hemp-seat movie theatre I run and we'll happily give you some.

Best to all from Montreal,

Ez

Bob Dylan upon a wall

"Subterranean Homesick Greens" (4/14/10, MTL, Mural by Henry Buszard, photo by Ezra S.)

"He's a huge Bob Dylan fan!," said a worker at a veterinarian's office in NDG about her boss who commissioned this fine mural of Bob Dylan on the vet's building.

To see Mr. Dylan in the original 1965 video upon which this mural is based, click here. Good for a pick-me-up anytime. Look for Allen Ginsberg looking highly rabbinic in the background.

Oh, and to see the Weird Al Yankovic cover of this song, click here!

Ez

Lulu times are here...

Dear Ez Sez Readers,

I have not been able to post as often as I'd like due to busyness all around.

What's keeping me most busy is the amazing daughter that Alexandra and I had almost 6 months ago.... Lulu!

Here's a pic of me and Lulu above. You can see many more pix below too.

I'll be back with more Ez Sez blogging in the not too distant future. If you sign up for Email Alerts towards the top left, you'll be in the loop when the pix, poems, film news and general fun start churning out again.

Until then, friend!

Ez

Happy 2010

(Click pic quick for juicy view)

("Country View", 1/10, Laurentian Mountains)

Happy 2010 to all. More fun coming to EzSez.com this year. Drop on by when the spirit moves you.

All the best,

Ez

Goodbye, Vic

("Oh, death..." Feb. 2006, Bowery Ballroom, NYC, pic by Ezra S.)

...and when the crisis passes
when the coast is clear
I'll be buffed down to a liquid
and the world, world, world it is a sponge

Throughout this entire ugly outing
I've been mumbling the convex of what I should be shouting
but I'll soon be silent you'll soon hear nothing
'cause the world, world it is a sponge...
(From "Sponge" by Vic Chesnutt, 1992)

He sang from his wheelchair like a steam-powered locomotive boiling to leave the station at noon sharp. This train has just now left the station. A few minutes early too.

I had the pleasure of meeting Vic Chesnutt on a several occasions before or after some of his concerts in New York and Montreal. We also bumped into each other and chatted coming out of a Bob Dylan show at Madison Square Garden one night.

I always thought he was a vastly talented performer and poet and knew that someday others would catch up with his shockingly honest music and and savour its jagged and dark, yet upliftingly twangy angles like I had these past fifteen years or so.

Maybe now that he is gone more people will.

One can start with my two favourite albums Little and Is The Actor Happy for an easy-wrenching way in. I started with Little. I vividly remember buying it at the now gone Tower Records on Broadway in The Village and not even being able to make it all the way home with it I was so excited to have the CD a friend had sampled for me the day before. I was hooked from the first second.

After leaving Tower with the CD, I was compelled to duck into a schlocky discount electronics store not a dozen doors up Broadway to ask if I could have a listen to some speakers in their demo room. I politely asked the salesman if I could put on my gleaming copy of Little into the CD player.

The salesman put it in, had a listen to Vic singing "I dreamed I was a-dancin' with Isadora Duncan" and swiftly drifted out of the room rolling his eyes. I listened undisturbed in that soundproof room for nearly the entire album. I may have even tried to get Vic's key-twisting voice to come out of all the stack of speakers in the room at once. The salesman never returned. I ended up buying every one of Vic's 15 or so CDs from that point on.

Vic died at the age 45 on Christmas day. People are saying it was suicide related to depression and being hooked on painkillers after years of post-car crash pain and disabilities. They're saying he was also in debt from medical bills. (Read NY Times article)

Whatever they say, I'll say this... here was a totally one of a kind artist who will live on through his prolific piles of albums. Nobody sounded like Vic and nobody, really nobody, wrote like the guy. Not even Dylan. I humbly and proudly say it.

Dylan wrote like Dylan, Vic wrote like Vic.

His songs will always tickle my mind and punch at my heart.

Vic, I'll miss you.

Ez

P.S. Right after writing this, I opened up iTunes and in 2 seconds flat called up the 122 Vic songs in there and hit Shuffle...

the song that came on...

"I'm Through":

"I'm through living my life for you/
yes, I hope for both our sakes, I'm through, through, through."

("Because I'm Through" Feb. 2006, Bowery Ballroom, NYC, pic by Ezra S.)


"Flirted With You All My Life"
(from Vic's 2009 CD At The Cut)
listen to free full song here

I am a man
I am self aware
And everywhere I go
You're always right there with me

I flirted with you all my life
And even kissed you once or twice
And to this day I swear it was nice
But clearly I was not ready

When you touched a friend of mine
I thought I would lose my mind
But I found out with time
That really I was not ready

Oh, death
Oh, death
Oh, death
Really, I'm not ready

Oh death, you hector me
The death some make, those dear to me
Tease me with your sweet relief
You are cruel and you are constant

When my mom was cancer sick
She fought so hard but then succumbed to it
But you made her beg for it
Lord, Jesus, please I'm ready

Oh, death
Oh, death
Oh, death
Really, I'm not ready

Oh, death
Oh, death
Oh, death
Clearly, I'm not ready
No, no...

***

(Filmed live by hmc1410 on Nov 4th, 2009 at Lincoln Hall in Chicago)

In an interview in the online magazine Aquarium Drunkard, Vic had this to say about about "Flirted With You All My Life":

"Well, this song just kind of happened. It is very personal. During run-through, when I was showing it to everyone, in the first couple of takes, I had tears in my eyes. It was very emotional to me. I’d never sung this song out – it was only on paper. But when I sing it out loud, it was very emotional for me and very personal. I wanted to write a song about a suicidal person. It’s about me – I have suicidal tendencies. So it’s about a suicide who wanted to live...The song is about realizing that I don’t want to die. I want to live."

In an interview with NPR's Terri Gross on Fresh Air: "This is a joyous song. It's a heavy song, but it's a joyous song. It's a breakup song with death."

***

Vic,

You told me your late grandpa once said, "Woody Guthrie music's good but you can't dance to it."

Please tell Woody we're now dancing to it down here. Tell your grandpa we're now dancing to your music too.

I think they'll both be proud of the true gems you created.

Thank you for making me cry and laugh and always think, Vic.

Ez

Hemp Motorcycle Jacket...

What a great idea... hemp motorcycle jackets!

Kudos to Joe Rocket for not using leather for this jacket and instead going with a greener material.

More about the jacket HERE.

Ride on, Ez Sez Readers!

Ez

Doomsday

What a song by Elvis Perkins in Dearland! It's called "Doomsday" and you can watch it in full doom n' boom glory HERE.

Ez

Gazette article on the MFG today...

(Click article for big text version)

Here's a nice article on the Montreal Film Group and CinemaSpace that came out today in the Montreal Gazette. Thought I'd share it with you...

Ez

Bouquets of trees...

(Click pic quick for juicy view)

I took this photo and somehow knew

Something told me you'd see it too

Thanks for dropping by

From the ground up to the sky

Bouquets of trees they never die

Ez Sez to you...

Thanks for dropping by

Ez

Whatever you may say today...

Openization...

Seven senses...

Most of all...

Simple solutions...

9 weird-looking animals...

(The baby-faced Mexican 'Axelotl'; [photo source unknown])

This is my type of thing... a photo series I just spotted of the "9 Weirdest-Looking Animals You Didn't Know Existed".

Check it out HERE.

Stay weird.

Ez

Hemp Planting on the DEA lawn...

(Photo by VoteHemp.com)

Two farmers, two activists, a clothing designer, and a soapmaker.

Kudos to these six brave leaders of the hemp industry in the United States for driving up to the lawn of the DEA (U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency) in Virginia and planting hemp seeds.

They did this to make a statement about the fact that the USA is still the only industrialized nation to prohibit the growing of industrial hemp.

The six men were swiftly arrested by police, but not before snapping some excellent pix and shooting a short video commemorating the historic event. See them HERE.

The Washington Post did a great job capturing the event in a big article that came out today. You can read it HERE.

Super stuff.

Ez

Soon come winter...

(Click pic quick for juicy view)

("NYC Winter", 3/09, NYC, by Ezra S.)

Soon come winter
In like splinter
Out like lamb

Ez

Shoes/wires/clouds/wire

(Click pic quick for juicy view)

("Shoes/wires/clouds/wire", 8/09, MTL, by Ezra S.)

Pomme d'arse

(Click pic quick for juicy view)("Pomme d'arse", 9/09, MTL, by Ezra S.)

Pomme d'amour

(Click pic quick for juicy view)

("Pomme d'amour", 9/09, MTL, by Ezra S.")

Welcome Lulu! (plus 1st year pix)

(Click pix quick for juicy view)

Good News, Friends...

On Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 2:52pm, my sweet wife Alexandra gave birth to our sweet daughter Talula Anne Feigeh Rivke Lulav Soiferman (we call her "Lulu" for short).

Lulu was 7lbs and a few ounces at birth.

Mom n' baby gal are doing wonderfully.

Send telepathic diaper changes anytime!

Love to all from Montreal,

Ez

P.S. Here, from the future, is Lulu's first year in pictures...

La famille

(1 hour old)

(13 days fresh)

(4 weeks bouncy)

(5 weeks fuzzy)

(6 weeks sleepy)

(7 weeks cute)

(8 weeks warm)

(9 weeks giggly)

(10 weeks portraity)

(11 weeks bobbly)

(12.5 weeks Muppety)

(16 weeks Curious)

(17 weeks serious)

(19 weeks squeakety clean)

(21 weeks wide-eyed and sun-lit)

(6.5 months King Tut and Queen Tush)

(7.7 months "aaaaaaaaaaaaah!")

(8 months silly daddy)

(9 months pointy)

(10 months fresh-faced)

(11 months strawberried)

(12 months wavilicious)

This Luluness can go on forever but you've got other blog postings to get too!

Thanks for dropping by,

Lulu's dad (Ez)

eGuiders featured on Blip.tv

Here's my old NYU buddy Marc Ostrick featured in a big new video interview on Blip.tv. The interview has Marc talking about his new project eGuiders.com, a site that brings the finest web videos, handpicked by media mavens, right to your digital doorstep.


I'm one of the core eGuiders on the site so you can be sure I dig what's going on over there. I think you might too. Have a peek.

Enjoy the video!

Ez