Preparing for Ecuador - Why Ecuador?

Or, more to the point, how Ecuador?  The why of Ecuador is pretty straightforward -- mountains, jungles, colonial cities, beaches the Galapagos.  When people ask me why I am planning to move to Ecuador,

From the Inside Out - An Autobiography

This is going to be a strange sort of autobiography.  I am beginning at this moment ("at the moment I am writing a blog") and then describing my life in outward extending circles.  As it is happening, and as it just happened.  The end of the book will be my birth and my death.

At this moment, I am recovering from a difficult experience working in the Alabama women's prison in Tutwiler for six weeks.  At the same time, I am planning for a three month trip to Ecuador.  My mind is full in both directions.  So i thought I would use this blog - and it's odd format - as a way to get thought on paper.  I have a lot of remembrances from the prison that I don't want to forget.  Also, using this format to do internet research for the Ecuador trip should help organize that information.

Most of the research for the Ecuador trip will be based on ex-pat blogs and the best introduction to those blogs that I have found is South of Zero.  


General Information

 Today in Ecuador

 Bob 'n' Rox in Ecuador 
I'm doing a survey of Ecuador blogs in preparation for a three month trip this winter. Bob 'n' Rox have lived in Ecuador for 5 years, and provided a detailed blog of their move.
Arrived in Quito October 2007
To Manta
Bring sheets to Ecuador
 Before I forget...I have to say that no one prepared me for the wonderful aroma of the rain forest...it should be bottled!!!  ´Here´s how I would describe it...imagine how a compost pile of pure leaves smells, or a lawn or farmer´s field that has been freshly cut, add in the aroma of your mom´s freshly baked bread, and then add in a touch of cinnamon...that is how I can best describe how the jungle smells...it has no equal!!!

Bought house in Montanita
Kempery Tours - Jungle Discovery Flotel

Quito
Quito Furnished Apartments 



Cuenca


Roches in Ecuador

Thoughts on Kerouac

  As a very young man, I read On the Road as a testament of rebellion.  It captured my teenage angst and provided an identity separate from the Eisenhower America of the 1950's.  

Prison Reform

Most people know very little about prisons in America. However, most people also have vivid images and impressions derived primarily from the popular media. Movies have presented Cagney and Bogart participating in riots and trying to break out of 'stir'. More recently, The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption have presented more nuanced depictions.
In political debate, discussion about prison is cast as liberal versus conservative -- coddling versus harsh and swift judgment. The predominant voice in discussion of prisons calls for longer sentences, restriction of privileges, and elimination of parole and clemency. The call for an alternative approach has little political clout and is represented best by the ACLU and Amnesty International. Political office seekers (if they address the issue at all) call for austerity budgets and a 'tough on crime' approach.
Thus, prison reform is generally a back-burner political issue, apart from appeals to public fears and misinformation about crime and violence.

Tangled and Twisted - "Blood On the Tracks" Performed Live

TANGLED & TWISTED (the BLOOD BALLADS): The Blood On The Tracks Compilation

Blood on the Tracks may be the the best introduction to Dylan.Most people say that it is his masterpiece -- although Bob Dylan, Freewheelin', Blonde on Blonde, Time out of Mind, and about a dozen other albums may be considered his best.

This compilation is a collection of the best live versions of the Blood on the Tracks songs.  They take those  beautiful songs to another creative level -- jazzy and soulful, with raw emotionality.  Alternate moods and even story lines are tried out.  Each live performance is another new and great Bob Dylan song.

"Simple Twist of Fate"

Bob Dylan
Tangled & Twisted: The Blood Ballads
Dylantree compilation

Disc 1:
1. Tangled Up In Blue (solo acoustic) (Bob on harp)
2. Simple Twist Of Fate (Bob on harp)
3. You're A Big Girl Now (Bob on harp)
4. Idiot Wind
5. You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
6. Meet Me In The Morning
7. Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts (acoustic) (Bob on harp)
8. If You See Her, Say Hello (Bob on harp)
9. Shelter From The Storm (Bob on harp)
10. Buckets Of Rain (Bob on harp) (live debut of this song from Blood On The Tracks)
11. Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic) (Bob on harp)

- Track 1 is from 11/21/75 (evening) Boston, Massachusetts
- Track 2 is from 11/12/81 Houston, Texas
- Track 3 is from 07/19/94 Warsaw, Poland
- Track 4 is from 05/03/76 New Orleans, Louisiana
- Track 5 is from 05/16/76 Fort Worth, Texas
- Track 6 is from The New York BOTT sessions, alternate mix
- Track 7 is from The New York BOTT sessions
- Track 8 is from 10/19/94 New York City, New York
- Track 9 is from 06/29/93 Marseilles, France
- Track 10 is from 11/18/90 Detroit, Michigan
- Track 11 is from 02/01/02 Sunrise, Florida

Disc 2:
1. You're A Big Girl Now
2. Simple Twist Of Fate (acoustic) (Bob on harp)
3. Shelter From The Storm
4. Tangled Up In Blue (Bob on harp)
5. Idiot Wind (Bob on harp)
6. If You See Her, Say Hello (Larry on fiddle)
7. You're A Big Girl Now
8. Simple Twist Of Fate
9. Shelter From The Storm (Larry on pedal steel) (Bob on harp)
10. Tangled Up In Blue (solo acoustic) (Bob on harp)
11. You're A Big Girl Now (Larry on steel guitar)
12. You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go

- Tracks 1,12 are from Rundown Rehearsals '78
- Track 2 is from 09/10/75 The World Of John Hammond, Chicago, Illinois
- Track 3 is from 05/03/76 New Orleans, Louisiana
- Track 4 is from 06/29/93 Marseilles, France
- Track 5 is from 08/30/92 Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Track 6 is from 03/02/01 Yokohama, Japan
- Track 7 is from 06/30/88 Jones Beach, New York
- Track 8 is from 09/04/88 Bristol, Connecticut
- Track 9 is from 04/15/02 Frankfurt, Germany
- Track 10 is from 07/01/84 Paris, France
- Track 11 is from 03/10/01 Hiroshima, Japan

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Liner Notes

 Occasionally, an artist produces a work of such magnitude and depth that it redefines not only his own work, but the canvas on which all artists who follow will create.

  Bob Dylan has been lucky enough to have more than a few such artistic epiphanies in his extensive and well-documented career.  This compilation focuses on one of these epiphanies.

  Arlo Guthrie once noted that songwriting is somewhat like fishing.  Occasionally, you catch some big ones.  Sometimes, you get the small ones that you throw back. Occasionally, you come up empty.  But, whatever your luck, no one wants to be downstream of Bob Dylan.

  Bob is respected by millions of fans the world over, for his ability to turn a phrase, turn a head, and turn back the hands of time, all at once.  There is no better evidence of this but the music contained in what is arguably Bob's greatest masterpiece of the 1970s, Blood on the Tracks.

  Out of our reverence for Blood on the Tracks, the artist who created it, and the fertile legacy Bob's work leaves us, we have lovingly assembled a number of live performances of songs that originally appeared on Blood on the Tracks.  These tracks, like any overview of Bob's work, show an ever-evolving and revolving man.  They show the effects of time on both his spirit and art.  They chronicle the rise and fall of many relationships, both Bob's, and those of his listeners.  Everyone has been where Bob takes us, but only Bob gives us such dramatic, heart-piercing commentary on the state of love, and life.  In his recent "Waitin' For You," Bob tells us that:

     "The night has a thousand hearts and eyes / Hope may vanish but it never dies..."

  Blood on the Tracks is a story about how it feels when hope vanishes, and the well-spring of emotions that arise when it feels like hope HAS died.  It also shows us that there is hope, no matter how badly you may hurt.  As with so much of Bob's work, in ways both obvious and hidden, God and optimism are the lighthouses.  -- EMMETT TILL

It is with that in mind that we present you with TANGLED & TWISTED (the BLOOD BALLADS), the Dylan Pool Blood On The Tracks Compilation

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Tracks donated by: Degrosmartian, Dnoishere, Bobzilla, Arlo

Compiler: dnioishere

Liner notes: Emmett Till

Thanks to: Sweetheart Like You

Supreme help from & extra thanks to: Bobzilla

Cover art: front -- BOBZILLA
               insides / middle -- DNOISHERE

A Visual Sound Production - ABDDPP