Live Up

Margaret Explosion Abilene 11.25.09 CD release Party for "Live Dive"
Margaret Explosion Abilene 11.25.09 CD release Party for “Live Dive”

It was a trip to come home to this photo from Kathy Palokoff’s iPhone and this email from Frank Paolo.

“So there I was all day telling myself positive sentences about seeing your launch tonight.  I actually got it together, showered/shaved, found some ‘not too dirty clothes’ (they passed the sniff test), and got on the bus at 6:15.  I confidently (pretending) walked down the street where Daisy Dukes is and NO ABELIENE – no one ever heard of it. Not in Moes, the Little – nobody in the whole East End. I slouched and stumbled back to my digs disappointed I couldn’t be there and give you a cheer.  BUT I tried – I REALLY tried.  One of these days I will again try to get good at life.
paolo.”

Funny that Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad (about three names too many) had a cd release party tonight for “Live Up” while we had ours for “Live Dive”. Maybe we can trade cds. I like that band. Thanks to all you that climbed the stairs at Abilene tonight. Thanks to the honorary Margo members, Jack Schaeffer and Phil Marshall for sitting in. Thanks to Bob Martin for the movies.

In the chill out room, after the show, the iTunes shuffle dj stacked Television (with Richard Hell still in the band), MX-80’s “Follow That Car”, Nod’s “I Get Around” and Wire’s “I Am The Fly”. Wow.

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Sparky’s Shed

Sparky’s Shed

We were one thousand five hundred miles late for our oil change at Jerome’s but Ted didn’t seem to mind. Our Honda has been pretty damn reliable. Ted was always delivering bad news when he serviced our American cars. I should say that the window sticker said our Honda was made in Ohio so maybe it is an American car after all.

After Jerome’s I stopped by to visit our former neighbor, Sparky. He showed me pictures of his car that was recently totaled while he was sitting in it, parked in front of a friend’s house. The driver of the other car was black as is often the case with antagonists in Sparky stories. I had keys to his garage and shed when we lived next door and I still had them on my key ring so we went out back to see if they worked. They did and I surrendered them. I miss that shed and took a photo of it on the way out. Invisible Idiot named a song after it so it lives on.

I organized a setlist to shuffle on our iPod at tomorrow night’s Margaret Explosion Abilene gig. I threw some Edith Piaf, Last Poets, Duke Ellington, George Jones and cumbia in there. In the old days, in other bands, we would have had a setlist for the band performance but Margaret Explosion doesn’t work that way. I stopped by Nino’s Pizzeria and prepared them for a big order. And we confirmed that Glen, the tech savy bartender at Abilene, has the right cord to go from our laptop to the VGA in on Abilene’s projector. Bob Martin rounded up some June Taylor like visuals and we plan to go into full screen mode with the Quicktime files. I’d be happy with iTunes “Visualizer” but I can do that at home.

When Duane was up here last he told us that humus made with bean other than chick peas was all the rage in NYC. So I tried black bean humus a few weeks ago and it came out more Mexican than Greek. Last night I made a batch and mistakenly opened a can of kidney beans along with a can of Garbonzos so I went with it. I put some roasted peppers in there too and a jalapeno and some Spanish paprika so it is very red. It is sensational. I plan to serve that at out T-day bash.

Tonight is the last painting class. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will be a lifelong student and plan to return in the new year.

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Matisse Leaves

Matisse leaves from our yard
Matisse leaves from our yard

How many leaves do you have to see before you realize how much beauty is packed into each one, in color and form, change, movement and purpose? And how about just the slap-it-on-the-scanner two dimensional shape! I remember pressing leaves between sheets of wax paper when I was a kid. I wonder what happened to those old files. Can’t help but think of Matisse every time I see these white oak leaves.

We stopped out at the Mercer Gallery at MCC to see Jim Mott’s show. His tiny paintings, most smaller than ten inches at their longest, are beautiful in person but especially so when they aren’t behind glass. They look really good online too and you can order prints for Christmas gifts.

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Live Dive

Margaret Explosion CD "Live Dive" (EAR 14) on Earring Records, released 2009
Margaret Explosion CD “Live Dive” (EAR 14) on Earring Records, released 2009

I think we might have missed the deadline to get any press for our cd release party this Wednesday night, the night before T-Day. We plan to order some pizza from Nino’s, give away some cds and show movies behind the band on the big projector in the VIP lounge, upstairs at Abilene. It’s a Happy Hour affair so it starts early at 5pm and only goes til 7:30 and it’s free. Jack Schaeffer is going to join us on guitar and bass clarinet.

The cd features all new material and was recorded over a four year period at various Rochester venues (Little Theater Cafe, Bug Jar, RIT, Flat Iron Cafe and Bop Shop). Guest artists include Pete LaBonne, Jack Schaefer, Phil Marshall and Charles Jaffe. We are really excited about this one because you can hear the expresso machine and the small crowd chatting while we play. At least that’s my favorite part.

We have been fine tuning this act of creating songs on the spot and after ten years we can pull this off for most of the night as long as we don’t try too hard. It requires some long pauses between songs so we can clear the air. We edited those out.

“Live Dive” is all new material recorded over a four year period at various Rochester venues including Little Theater Cafe, Bug Jar, RIT, Flat Iron Cafe and Bop Shop. Guest artists include Pete LaBonne, Jack Schaefer, Phil Marshall and Charles Jaffe. And I can hear Maureen talking to Bill and Geri on a few tunes.

Listen to title song from new Margaret Explosion cd “Live Dive”

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Olive Oyl

Olive oil on shelves at Rubino's on East Ridge Road
Olive oil on shelves at Rubino’s on East Ridge Road

We were out at Peggi’s mom’s place for dinner and wanted to make some brownies for her but she didn’t have any oil. We asked our server at the Bistro for a small amount and he gave us some in a cup. It smelled delicious and it was too good to put in a package of brownie mix but we did so. We brought the leftover home and savored it.

I loved Olive Oyl from the old Popeye show before I knew what olive oil was. I rode my bike up to Rubino’s this morning to replenish our supply. The can we just finished was from Olindo’s and the price was right but it was nothing special. No reflection on Olindo’s, they have so many choices I usually reach for something with an exotic package and sometimes it doesn’t work out. I wish you could taste or at least smell the oil before you commit to such a big supply.

“El Toro” from Spain is shown in the upper right hand corner of the blow up of the shot above. I bought that once because I am partial to Spain. But then I read olives are often grown in Greece, Italy or Spain and then packaged as a product from one of those countries so the label doesn’t really mean much. “El Toro” is not “Extra Virgin” or “First Cold Pressed” and we look for that because Peggi is managing her cholesterol with diet. You need a calculator to compare prices because the cans are three, four or five liters and sometimes noted in gallons, quarts and ounces. I chose the Casale oil shown at the bottom. It was $21.99 for  three liters. I asked the cashier if she knew how this oil is and she said, “It’s beautiful.” I drizzled some on toast when I got home and it is.

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Playing By The Rules

I admit I waste a lot of time. Last night in painting class I just couldn’t seem to get going. I toyed with walking over to Starry Nites for a cup of coffee but never did. I had this small painting in front of me that I just kept picking at and I knew I wasn’t following Fred Lipp’s rules for procedure. “You always address the worst first.” I know this and here I was over developing one section without bringing another even onto the playing field. Fred checked up on me a number of times and finally couldn’t help himself. He said, “I keep waiting for you to get the the rest of the painting and I don’t see anything happening. You’re wasting your time.” I think I knew that. I was in a funk.

I had a short stack of paintings that did I had worked on at home and I showed them to Fred. I had addressed problems on them that he had called my attention to the week before. And sure enough, Fred now moved past those areas and found more more small problems. And so it goes. If I proceed by the rules things do get better. But it takes an effort.

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Walk On The Wild Side

Pink T-Bird
Pink T-Bird

Cars will never gain look as good as used to. It’s impossible. Forget about it. The weather has been so nice around here that many of the vintage cars and motorcycles are still on the road.

Peggi and I were still in our pjs, reading the morning paper, when we spotted a doe prancing across our front lawn. A big buck was right behind her. We counted eight points. He was drooling and and fixated on the doe he was pursuing. The doe looked about a year old like maybe one of this year’s crop and she was staying ahead of the buck but not exactly sprinting to get away. I grabbed my camera and we went outside in our slippers to watch. The doe went around our neighbor’s garden and was just standing there when the buck decided to leap the five foot fence and dart across the garden. We lost track of them both and can only imagine what happened.

I stopped in Staples to pick up some toner for our Canon S9000. It takes the BCI series and you need six cartridges. The six pack was $90 and individual cartridges were $15.99. Like George Eastman, they give the machine away and make their money on the peripherals. The store was eerily quiet and it crossed my mind that they might be going the way of Blockbuster as people take their business online. We had a $25 Staples coupon on the kitchen counter and I checked it before I left but it had expired on October 31st. It was only good online anyway. Stables even competes with themselves. While I was waiting to pay for $147 worth of toner the guy behind me said, “You have the same printer that I do. I love that printer. I buy the ink online though. You’ll save a bundle.”

Kevin Patrick posted a mono version of Lou Reed’s, “Walk On The Wild Side” this morning. You might want to give that a spin.

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It Hurts Me Too

Buffalo Bills jacket in the neighborhood
Buffalo Bills jacket in the neighborhood

I have Bob Dylan’s “Self Portrait ” on my iPod and I’m really diggin’ it. His voice sounds great and there are some beautiful songs. I like the cover painting a lot too. There’s a song on there called, “It Hurts Me Too” with the lyric.
“When things go wrong, so wrong with you
It hurts me too.”

I thought of it today when I was behind this guy. I’m not a football fan but I would like to see the the Bills win for a change.

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Crash Boom Bang

Mysore Woodlands Indian restaurant in Rochester, NY
Mysore Woodlands Indian restaurant in Rochester, NY

Arpad and Danita’s son turned six on Saturday and about twenty kids met at the martial arts studio on Clinton for a party. They were all out on the mat doing double kicks when we showed up. We had a slice of pizza and some walnut cake that Arpad’s mother made but we were still hungry when we left so we followed our noses next door to Mysore Woodlands. It’s kind of a strange name for a restaurant. “Mysore” is nasty and “Woodlands” sounds like a park. Boasting that they specialize in both northern and southern Indian food is plain goofy. We ordered dosas from the southern side. It is amazing how potatoes, beans, pancakes and crepes can be supercharged with spices. We loved it.

Monica was away for the weekend so we invited Rick over to watch a movie. He brought the movie too. It was a James Bond thing called “Quantum of Solace”. Jack White and Alicia Keys sang the theme song and then the chase scenes started. I couldn’t tell who was chasing who. Most of the movie was chase scenes and fights. The cutting was so fast and furious that I could,’t tell which guy was James Bond. I gave up on the movie and started ripping some cds. The movie was loud as hell, all screaming and crunching and crashing.

I was in the dark over by the stereo and I tripped on the audio cord yanking the old laptop off the shelf and then the external drive which was connected to it with a short Firewire cable. The cd that I was ripping bounced out of the laptop when it hit the floor. Peggi stopped the movie while I assessed the damage. The cable was shot, the cd drive won’t read a cd anymore but the laptop and hard drive survived.

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I Like Light Leaks

Andrew Meyer photo used on the cover of Margaret Explosion's "Live Dive" cdLiveDivePhoto
Andrew Meyer photo used on the cover of Margaret Explosion’s “Live Dive” cdLiveDivePhoto

Following in the footsteps of Robert Frank, our nephew, Andrew, has been slowly driving across the US in his Toyota pickup, stopping wherever he likes to take photos. Favorite state so far – Nevada. It seems to have been a perfect match for his acute, observant sensibilities and that state’s raw material. He started in the bay area and is now in Rochester with a box of slides. He’s old school and is currently using a Canon 35mm with a manual light meter that overexposed his full western sunshine photos. They appear to have been taken on another planet, making them all the more startling. When we were setting up the Kodak projector I spotted a carousal of slides labeled “Porches” that I took back when I was about his age. Photos I took as I wandered around nearby downtown neighborhoods on my lunch looking at people’s porches. I threw them on only to confirm how good he is.

We saw some photos of prints of his on display in a gallery in Oakland and we chose two of them for the newest Margaret Explosion cd. The one above, the San Francisco Bay, was taken with a medium format Holga.

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Artist Statement

We sent our next Margaret Explosion cd off for duplication and I submitted the new tunes to CDDB through iTunes. I had to pick a category for the type of music it is before it would allow me to submit so I chose “Jazz” from the short list. In the iTunes application however you have a much longer list and you can even make up your own categories. I don’t usually think about describing our music until I’m in situations like this. I found a category in there called “Psychedelic Jazz” and pretty much works. I didn’t know there was such a thing.

There is a student show up over at the Creative Workshop and the director asked us to write a short blurb about what it is that inspired us to paint whatever it is we painted. Most art types balk at describing their work because the work is supposed to do the talking. Some people, though, love “Artist’s Statements” and long descriptions or histories of the artists. At many shows these days the placards next to the painting severely detract from the work.

That being said, I did spend some time thinking about why I paint what I do. And I came up with a succinct, two word statement of my inspiration. “Human Nature”. I am interested in exploring why I am drawn to the subject matter of my choice. I am interested in creating a dialog about this subject through the work and then I’m interested in how people around me react to what I put down.

They didn’t use my artist statement and that’s fine.

Here’s Pete LaBonne’s track “Artist Statement” from his Earring Records cd entitled “Glob”.

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OK, It’s Our Fault

Alligator Tree
Alligator Tree

We take our favorite walking path a lot less often since Bulldozer Man drove through the park with his workers and heavy equipment. That path is now a road so we’ve been heading out in new directions and running into some interesting animals. We came across this alligator log this morning.

And a few weeks back we came head to head with a dog on a path in Durand. The dog wasn’t backing down and Peggi was about to turn around and go back. It kept coming toward us, growling and barking. I figured an owner was probably nearby so I yelled out, “Call your dog”. Nobody did but the dog turned and left us alone. A little further down the path we ran into the owner with the dog now on a leash. The owner said, “Don’t worry. This dog won’t bite you”. And then he let the dog come toward us while still on the leash and he told us to look into the dogs eyes. He said, “You can tell if a dog is going to hurt you by looking into their eyes.” Please.

Today we had confrontation with Jagger who lives near the park. He and his owners were outside and just like before the dog came running toward us. The owners call, “Jagger, Jagger” but Jagger keeps coming toward us. We hold our hands in the air because we have seen what dogs’ teeth can do to your hands and we wait for the owner to grab ahold of the dog. Then they say, “Don’t worry. He won’t hurt you”. But today they upped the ante and said, “he doesn’t do this to everybody”. He’s really very friendly. I said “OK. It’s our fault.”

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Existential Circles

Paul laying on the stage at MUCCC
Paul laying on the stage at MUCCC

I wiki’d “existentialism” because I was quite sure I was having an existential crisis. Kierkegaard maintained that the individual solely has the responsibilities of giving one’s own life meaning and living that life passionately and sincerely, in spite of many existential obstacles and distractions including despair, angst, absurdity, alienation, and boredom.

I painted all day yesterday and went around in circles. The world does not need another painting, I don’t need another painting but I want to do a painting that works. I would get a kick out of that.

Today, we stopped in at Deb Jones’ 40th Birthday Mexican Brunch and talked to Steve Grills about a funky little place out on 441 called Cary Lake. 1940’s style, combination party house and bar, f-u-N-k-y. He payed there with his band and loved it. Iggy Pop’s new album was on. It didn’t sound so adventurous. Iggy can do what ever he wants. I thought it was going to be wilder.

Then headed over get to MuCCC to play a set at a memorial event for Steve Letkauskas, a friend of Bob’s. Steve’s brother, Tom, said, “Time showed kindness and grace when it ushered Steve into the the warm embrace of eternity.”I bought my djembe and played that and we did some pretty cool dirges. Peggi took this photo after the event.

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Terrorism Or Tragic Shooting

Dead deer in the woods
Dead deer in the woods

I borrowed that headline from a news item on our Google homepage. It came from the “Fair and Balanced” folks and they followed it up with, “Analysts Divided on Ft. Hood Shooting.” Fox would love to stoke that fire.

We did wonder what it was that took this big buck down. It was right in the middle of our path on the other side of the creek so there was no avoiding it. I don’t make the rules out there and sometimes it’s grizzly. We have heard coyotes at night and we saw one a while back so suspect them. Then again maybe it was a hunter. The town hires bowmen to thin the herds. Nature sure is efficient in cleaning up the carcass. I doubt if it was terrorism but it was definitely tragic.

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Black Magic

Teeth Xray
Teeth Xray

I usually say “no said “ok” today went for the surround X-ray today because the equipment was brand new and the hygienist told me it was about as much radiation as I would get outdoors if it was sunny. In fact the whole office is brand new. My dentist had to move because a company bought the building he was in so they could put up a Walgreens. The town voted down the Walgreens but my dentist had already moved. His new place has TVs everywhere and a coffee machine that makes one cup at at time of the brew of your choice. I chose “Black Magic”. It was so good I had another one on the way out. Did I tell you my dentist’s name is Rocco and his son named his Italian restaurant after him? We ate there and I had Chicken Cacciatore as good as Charlie Coco’s mother used to make.

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Face2Face Blogging

Peggi in hammock out back western New York
Peggi in hammock out back western New York

Spevak columns, written on assignment for the D&C, work well on a few levels. Slyly reported with descriptive delight, they often do the job without touching the subject and they always carry weight between the lines. So what does an untethered, bedroom slippered Jeff read like? JeffSpevak.com was launched yesterday in old school fashion, upstairs at Abilene. The 4D designed site was projected on the big screen and food was laid out at three stations. Manchego cheese, candy corn, chocolate covered expresso beans and out-of-this-world, smoked salmon prepared by the blogger-in-chief.

I talked baseball with Scott Regan, MySQL with Stan the Man, juggling with Don Christiano’s son, and lucrative Montauk and the Hamptons gigs with Brian Williams. Dale Evans discussed her exercise routine and Peter and Nancy told us why they’re moving to Portland. There’s more going on there. I can’t handle any more.

In his “Opening Day” post Jeff writes, “Thank You for joining me on the Internet. I’d rather we could do this face-to-face, sitting in a bar. Nonetheless, I shall have a dirty martini, thank you. And The Essential George Jones.” That, in a nut shell, is his site map. I’ve added Jeff’s site to my daily reads and I’m looking forward to joining him at the bar over “A Cup Of Loneliness“.

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Dia De Los Muertos

Concrete forms in Irondequoit cemetery
Concrete forms in Irondequoit cemetery

Peggi went a Halloween party last night and we were some of the only people there without a costume. We tried to find the two frog masks that we wore to a party a long time ago but couldn’t find them. I remember that get up sort of pissed people off back then because we didn’t know most of the people and they couldn’t see our faces.

Scott Regan was a dead on Bela Lugosi and Sue dressed like Scott. Soupy Sales was there and the hostess, Claire, was a pretty good Amy Winehouse. Jeff and Mary Kaye had the best looking costumes on as far as I was concerned. I wouldn’t have recognized them if they didn’t speak. They wore hand painted, white cloth skeleton faces and black formal wear, classic Day of the Dead figures. The party had a theme, “Night of the Living Pies”, so Peggi made a cherry pie with a face on it. There was an obscene amount of pie on the counter when we left.

Kevin Patrick did a Zombies entry on the Day of the Dead and mentioned that he wanted to get a Zombies post on his blog before he croaked. When David Greenberger was here he told us he had been thinking about his own mortality lately. Not surprising in his line of work. I spotted some guys working on what looked like a giant casket in Irondequoit Cemetery as I rode my bike by so I pulled in to take a closer look. It turned out to be a form for a concrete structure that will hold urns. They are just about out of space over there so the only way to go is up. It got me thinking about where I would want my ashes scattered. I don’t want to put anyone out. I’ll have to think about this for a while.

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Arthur Shawcross Country

View of Genesee River from trail on Saimt Paul side of the river.

Our neighbor was was asking us if we had ever taken the trail that runs along the river on the Saint Paul Boulevard side. We said we had taken the trail on the other side but we didn’t know there was one on the east side. We parked at the north end of the zoo and headed through the woods down to the river. This is near where serial killer, Arthur Shawcross did his thing and the trail is a little forlorn but it is beautiful. We didn’t make it down to the lake but we had some stunning views of the river valley. It still looks pretty much the way it must have to the native Americans.

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Ready To Pop

Horse chestnut ready to pop

I think this is a horse Chestnut. I found it in the woods a few days ago and photographed it before putting it on put it on our window sill. Why do artists even bother to compete with nature? This morning while I was making coffee the chestnut rolled out of its shell, off the sill, on to the floor and down the basement steps. Our cat ran after it.

Speaking of explosions, Margaret Explosion plays our last October gig tonight. I’m hoping to be home in time to see the Yankees beat the Phillies.

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Nobody Gonna Take No Picnic Table

Pond at Durand Eastman Park
Pond at Durand Eastman Park

I have a hard time being on time and I accept the fact that it is a selfish trait. But I do appreciate it when others are late for something that I schedule. This morning I was late for jury duty. I had a good excuse but those are easy. Peggi was driving me because she needed the car. The new traffic circle at Seneca Road and 590 was closed, no detour signs or warning until we got up to the “Road Closed” sign. We tried getting on at Titus but it was backed up for half a mile so we gave up and drove down Culver. When we got to Court Street, it was closed so they could unload the World Wrestling tractor trailers for tonight’s performance at the Blue Cross Arena. I removed my belt, emptied my pockets and took off my sweater but still set off the alarm at the Hall of Justice. I gave up my watch and then my wallet and I still beeped. They brought over the the guards with the hand held wands and they determined it was the snap on my Levis. I sat down in the court room and asked the woman next to me if they had called anyone’s name who wasn’t there and she asked, “Are you Paul Dodd?”

I watched as they found their last jury member and I was excused for another eight years. I was wrong when I said these lawyers were looking for blank slates. After two days I have no idea what they were looking for. It did seem obvious that the defense was determined to find one person who could doubt eye witness testimony and the cops statements and then stick to their guns even though the rest of the jury felt differently.

I hopped on my bike as another guy on a bike said, “Hey Bro. Where’d you lock your bike up at?” I said, “I locked to that picnic table over there.” He smiled and said, “I don’t think nobody gonna take no picnic table.”

I rode down Monroe Avenue past KrudCo and the Bug Jar to Lumierre Photo where Bill Jones is printing a post card for us. I stopped by Parkleigh to visit my sister but she hadn’t showed up for work yet. I cruised through the Public Market and bought some new red potatoes. And then I rode down Clifford to Savoia Bakery and bought some almond cookies for Peggi. I recognized the woman behind the counter and asked her if she used to work at Calabresse’s Bakery on Culver. She said, “Wow! I guess I don’t look all that different.” I was too embarrassed to tell her she was featured in a song we wrote for the Planetarium Gig in 1987. She was the girl in the bakery with silver fingernails!

Personal Effects “Silver Finger Nails” from “90 Day In The Planetarium” 1987

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