Vitalogy.....The marrying kind....

So today I thought

I would have some fun with Vitalogy...

this picture plate especially makes me laugh...

 A bit fuzzy - but it reads

"The woman who marries a man with physiognomy similar

to the above, the weak points in whose character are further described 

on page 184, is likely to have a life full of trouble and to rest in a 

premature grave.

Mothers caution your daughters."

What does Physiognomy mean?

Physiognomy (from the Gk. physis meaning "nature" and gnomon meaning "judge" or "interpreter") is the assessment of a person's character or personality from his outer appearance, especially the face. The term physiognomy can also refer to the general appearance of a person, object or terrain, without reference to its implied characteristics, as in the physiognomy of a plant community.

 (Wikipedia)

SO-

If you are dating, meet, or are married to 

someone who has

facial characteristics like the man above-

RUN LIKE HELL!

and

if you are a guy

who looks like that one...

you better go see a psychiatrist , 

get a nose job, 

or a serious makeover...

but according to the good doctor

you were just born a jerk!

 

Ha! This book continues to surprise me 

every time I turn a page! 

To go along with our theme today

here is Pearl Jam performing

an acoustic arrangement of 

"Betterman"

at the Bridge School benefit 2010.

Take a listen....

it is a totally different arrangement of the song 

and I think you will be pleasantly surprised if you

have not heard this version.

Until next Saturday Vitalogy fans...

Have a Rockin' Day!

Vitalogy and some Corduroy.....

Thanks for coming back

to delve into

Vitalogy again this week....

Just wanted you to see the massive size of this book

compared to the Pearl Jam booklet...

Today I'm going to keep it simple 

but maybe not sweet...

Did you ever notice page 17

in the PJ book?

A set of dental x-rays...

definitely fitting for the medical contexts

of the book right?

Did you look close enough to see that the x-rays

are labeled as belonging to Eddie Vedder?

With a date of 12/9/92?

Of course I have to wonder if that was the date

the films were taken

or is that some significant date Ed marked on there

himself?

More investigating to come.

When you look closely at the the bottom

box on the x-ray where the 

examiner should fill in their name

(usually the doctor is signed here in case of identifying needs)

there has been a label placed in to the box

with the word

Corduroy

Pearl Jam fans usually know all about the

premise of the song Corduroy...

Referring to a jacket that Ed used to wear.

When the whole "grunge" thing  exploded

and became exploited...

Ed felt that way about himself too...
exploited and not in control..

Seeing ads in fashion magazines

for "grunge" style clothing...

now going for hundreds of dollars

it was really quite ridiculous. 

"I don't want to hear from those who know-

they can buy but can't put on my clothes" 

exemplifies his feelings towards the frenzy...
"those who know" - I'm thinking the people who create the hype-
who "know" what's cool..where everything is happening...
what the latest and greatest is....
"they can buy" - self explanatory
"but can't put on my clothes"
 a person can't gain an identity
or acquire an attitude 
or walk in someone else's shoes -simply from a purchase..?
You can't be ME...

I know he thought is was pure stupidity and greed.

I'm going to examine Corduroy a little further in the future...

today was just the beginning...

This is when Corduroy was a "New song"
something they had just written-
not available in stores..

quoting Ed here...

take a listen...

Have a Rockin' Day guys! 

Vitalogy ,Lightning , and a game of 7 degrees?

Sometimes life gets in the way...

So today is Viatlogy Monday....

While reading early on I caught this

little fun passage about what to do

if struck by lightning....

 

 (excuse my photography)

Throw water on the person...use artificial respiration because

people who have been declared dead have recoverd

up to an hour afterwards?

Yeah - don't think any of those are going to work.

The best part is the last -

If you can find a battery pass an electric current 

up and down the spine and extremities for 2 minutes...

God only knows what an 1880's battery was like?

I'm hoping this was in the vein of forethought for

what we now use 

known as an AED or

 an  automated external defibrillator.

and here are some illustrations

of what "CPR" was like in this era...

  to help inhale...

 to help exhale....

I'm guessing most patients did not recover !

Yikes....

How am I relating this to PJ music today?

Well the whole lightning blot thing struck me as funny

because of the new album...

"Lightning Bolt"

and then this happened at Wrigley Field

the night they debuted the new track

titled aptly

"Lightning Bolt" as well...

 Pretty crazy huh?

So now we have started a 7 degrees of Vitalogy thing right?

Here is the track played at Wrigley Field...

and by they way...

lets make another connection -

1st the book-

2nd the title of the new album-

3rd - the lightning strike

4th - the song "Nothingman" on Vitalogy

the lines

"caught a bolt of lightning - cursed the day he let it go"

So we have made a connection from 1880 all the way around to 2013.

Hmmm....

things happen for a reason right?

Have a Rockin' Day guys!

Vitalogy...Hysterics...and F-Me in the Brain

Today we're going to look

at a  fun passage in

Vitalogy...

This one I just love because it attempts to

explain what

Hysteria is and who normally suffers from it...

 

 Here is where I know the smart - alec men in the audience

are going to say "Oh - yeah" 

stuff they blame on P.M.S. etc...

I think the point at which the passage reads

"crowding of the intellect  to the neglect of the body;

solitary vice and novel reading are among the many causes of this disease;

also disappointments in love"

and I'll stop there.

For real Mr. 1800's doctor?!!

Reading a book or trying to learn is going to make a woman

hysterical?

Or we shall be driven mad by our disappointing love life?!

If this isn't a load of wad I don't know what else is?!

Remember the other day how I was commenting about

how people were twisting facts to control and influence people.

I take that back for this specific passage...

whomever wrote this one

obviously had no good relationships with any female

or at least he cared not to find anything out about the real

person or persons he was living with.

What a schmutz!

I don't think there is any Pearl Jam song other than

"F me in the Brain" that could

go along with this passage.

I often wondered why F me In the brain was only played

twice by the band...

maybe someone was just a little hysterical himself

and having "woman" problems?

The song was played on 

Nov. 5th 1993 in Indio, California

and on 

Friday Nov. 26th 1993 in Boulder, Colorado

Today let's hear the hysterical Eddie Vedder

sing

F**ck  Me In The Brain

at Indio

and to make it even more fun

it involves the

infamous

"Shoe the Shoe-less rant"

 If you've never seen this you are in for a ride!
and in case you can't guess
there is adult language used here...

Who's hysterical now?
Thanks to TwoFeet Thick for the great upload...

Have a rockin' weekend guys!

Vitalogy....Whipping....

I'm sure many a fan

has opened the "Vitalogy" booklet

that came with their album

and flipped through it to ponder all the artwork.

Many probably flipped through-

thought it was cool-

and put it down and went on to the music.

Some just didn't get it at all and moved on...

Others scoured it and tried to dissect it....

That's a bit of what I'm going to do here every Saturday.

Dissect the actual Vitalogy book...

the music....

and the booklet that Jeff and Ed created .
Every week will offer something different
not just musical ties 
but some fun  with some of the wacky content 
this book contains. 

Why you ask?

Why not?

We want to know why people do the things they do?

As an artist - what inspires them to make their work?

Some may say - it's only Pearl Jam...

It is indeed....

and I think you won't find

as thoughtful or cryptic or poetically

expression filled lyrics from just any band
who has been around as long.

When we can relate to something we feel like it is our own...

"Welcome to the Jungle"

in it's own time a great song...

could I relate - NO...

"Black" from Ten

YES

You get my point ?

The word Vitalogy actually means

"the study of life"

That's what a lot of Pearl Jam's lyrics

are to us...

Stories- musical remembrances and hopes for life

as told by the band.

So what are we going to dissect today?

O.K. class today let's turn to page 9 in Vitalogy

Read along

"Health and Happiness"

"It has been fully tested and proven that children may be born

talented or imbecile, with cheerful disposition or gloomy ones,

with kindly natures or harsh and sour ones, according to the will

and wisdom of their parents.
Every one raising a family should read and carefully

study the article on page 19"

O.K. lets stop and see an actual bit of creativity at work...

This was an excerpt from the actual antique

Vitalogy book by E. Ruddock

 

The excerpt from the actual book says turn to page 19.

Take out your Pearl Jam booklet...

A photograph of a small girl sitting on a clowns lap
 and the above excerpt
were placed in the album booklet by Jeff...

Did anyone ever think to turn to page 19 in the booklet?

Did you just glance over it and not pay it a second look?

Well do it now...

Page 19 in the Pearl Jam booklet

top left begins

"No other one thing tends so strongly to bind and hold

the early affection of a married couple as the bringing

into the world of beautiful, healthy, intelligent, welcome children.

To bring into the world unwelcome children is one of the most

awful crimes of which the parents can be guilty. 

It brings a curse to the child, to the parents and to the world."

at the bottom of said page is a little

story of an unfortunate girl who had given birth

in a bathroom stall and thrown the baby in the trash.

Ed laments for the soul of the child and what

would drive a young woman to these measures

in such a horrible condition.

Now turn to page 14 and the lyrics for the song

"Whipping"

 Written on a copy of a petition

written on a copy of a petition to then president

Bill Clinton

asking for intervention

in the escalating violent tactics of Pro-Life activists.

Free speech I believe in but these activists are

obstructing freedoms of patients and doctors which are also

protected by law.

Coincidence? I think not.

Ed has been very vocal about his beliefs in

women's reproductive rights from the beginning.

Many a time did we see PRO-CHOICE

scrawled across his arm in black Sharpie

whenever he had the opportunity to be in the

media's eyes.

I also want to look at this sentence

a little closer

"It brings a curse to the child, to the parents and to the world"

The die-hard Pearl Jam fans

know that Ed has referred to the song

"Alive"

from Ten

as a story about

"The Curse"

I'd like to think he's re-enforcing the fact

that his parentage issues 

did indeed feel like a curse to him by including this passage?

It didn't just affect the person who carried the secret

but it drastically affected the child and the whole

world they all lived in.

This one simple thing.

????

These of course are my own thoughts.

Could all this be purely coincidental ?
Maybe -
but I like to think that Ed and Jeff are pretty meticulous
and a lot of thought is put into the artwork
for the albums.

What do you think?

 .

If you have any counter points or other thoughts

feel free to comment.

Please let's remember to keep it debate and be nice.

One always learns from looking at a subject from many points of view.

I hope this was an interesting look

into just a snippet of Vitalogy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Rock on...

George P.Wood and E.Ruddock-Vitalogy, Chicago , MA Donohue and Company 1904

Vitalogy and Self Pollution......

We hinted at

where the whole

"Self Pollution" thing came from

earlier in the week...

Jan. 8,1995 - "Self Pollution Radio" was broadcast

by Eddie Vedder and various friends

over the airwaves of participating  stations 

from a small home in Seattle...

(Mad Season,Soundgarden,Mudhoney - Christ Novoselic, a tape submitted by

Dave Grohl of his new project  the Foo Fighters , Mike Watt, members of The Gits and more)

We will go deeper into the broadcast at a later date.

Where did the term come from?

A little big book that made it's way into the hands of

Eddie Vedder called

Vitalogy

Any good self respecting Pearl Jam

fan knows about Vitalogy.

If you don't and you're new to Pearl Jam...

Here's a little insight...

Pearl Jam's 3rd album was made to look like

a copy of this book , contained reproduced inserts, and was basically

an inspiration for the album.

 

The book was published in 1889

in Chicago, Illinois.

Pertinent? Maybe - Ed grew up in a town near Chicago

called Evanston...

How he got his copy I have no idea.

It is an interesting read - that- I will admit.

Something that caught my eye on this page

may be part of what caught Ed's too...

 I see several lines that pertain to songs on the album....

But the last line - 

if I was Ed - 

that would have been my "sign"...

Words of Pearl...

 How cool is that?!

Vitalogy

is a basically an 1800's manuscript for

Home, Health, and Happiness.

Filled with medical diagrams and imagery...

Opinions on how to be a better man, wife, girl and boy.

These were touted as fact.

Considering where we are now in 2013

 - very interesting to see...

how speculation and opinion can be fed to people

as serious facts they should abide by in life .

The contributors were doctors

 and people given to authoritative positions.

Probably one of the reasons Ed was hoping

 people would  look close enough at it  

and realize...

"Hey - this kind of ludicrous stuff still goes on today"

The media - our leaders - give us "facts"...

only to find out later it was simply opinion, 

an attempt to make money, 

a way to control people 

and keep us from forming our own opinions,etc. 

One or more of all the previous.

I'm going to explore the whole book with you every Saturday 

and we'll enjoy music..

O.K. enough right?!

WTF is Self Pollution? 

Well if you haven't figured it out yet...just sit and think about it.

I know Ed was probably trying to point out a double meaning

beyond the obvious.

Here are two great images from the book as to what

"Self Pollution" does to you in a short time...

 (notice this is an 1880's photograph)

(3 years later!)

Poor Mr. Burton - on his way to

an asylum for have indulged one too many times...

(notice that obvious hand done re-touching)

Another example of readers

 - the general public- 

being manipulated by the media.

They've been doing it to everyone for hundreds of years

and it still goes on today.

This book is a great historical document that proves it.

I know that knowledge always changes

 -  but come on - 

these guys purposefully

re-touched these photos to push THEIR point.

No way can we say -

"well they just thought they knew what was right for the time."

That photo has blatant painting over it - something

the average American would not have known at that time.

We'll look at this craziness every week...

I have to close with some more radio!

This is the nice mash up they made for PJ20

of original practice and live footage along with the air date audio...

 Rock on....