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Bushwick Book Club presents UNFAMILIAR FISHES by Sarah Vowell

by The Bushwick Book Club

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There once was a lush garden On the other side of the world The people there were happy Loved and took care of the earth Worshipped many gods Everything was in balance Some white uptight people arrived And were received without malice When the big wave comes in Strange and unfamiliar fishes Will ride in on the dark ocean And they will devour us The missionaries came To pray them all to death Rip apart the ecosystems Stop siblings from having sex They squashed and squandered Everything that was unique and true Til Hawaii was just like New England All Red White and Blue When the big wave comes in Strange and unfamiliar fishes Will ride in on the dark ocean And they will devour us When the big wave comes in Strange and unfamiliar fishes Will ride in on the dark ocean And they will devour us When the big wave comes in When the big wave comes in When the big wave comes in
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The mixed plate lunch is quintessentially Hawaiian It’s the result of people being curious and trying their neighbors’ native delicacies around the 1880’s when work on plantations brought folks from all nations to sweat and toil a bunch and now we have the mixed plate lunch! Two scoops of rice a scoop of macaroni a place for appetites, not just yours only. Hungry for power, control, position not to mention loco moco or teriyaki chicken. Hungry for variety, at least 2 kinds of piety. And the one that starts all the fights -- the appetite to be right. How does anyone ever agree at all like is it decent to praise the royal genitals should history be told with your hips should women eat fruit that are phallic Should sailors be denied their intercourse Should America take over other nations by force Should non-white males get the vote Is American self government a joke Hawaii didn’t mean to be a mixed plate but the unfamiliar fishes had appetites to satiate Everyone was so hungry, we all get so hungry And what is more human than needing to eat? Wanting a taste of that other guy’s unknown treat. Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese and Korean Add Filipinos and soon you’ll be seeing’ rice and macaroni on the same plate hamburger with egg what do you know it tastes great I guess no one needs roughage Just more portuguese sausage Everyday doesn’t have to be the same Today chow fun, tomorrow chowmein Kalua pig and lau lau to satiate you right now now beef teri chicken katsu for you know you gots to follow your hunger, your appetite, On this plate there is no fight Just have what you want and pile it on high the plate is mixed for you to try And it's safe on the plate. nothing dire.. like the Hawiian population decreasing to 1/6 of what it was in 1778 because of respiratorry illness, measles and VD.
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In the kids performing hula down the hill from Malo’s grave, in the arms of men rowing canoe below Queen Kaahumanu’s cave, in an old man pointing to ancestors’ names with his fingertip, in every hello, touching the nose, breathing each other in. Here we find Hawaii. Still we find Hawaii.
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You Look Unfamiliar To Me You Look Unfamiliar To Me You Look Unfamiliar To Me Counting headstones in the sand Where the Taro marks the last stand You seem to know how things should be You must be a missionary With a red book in your hand And your flagpole on sacred land White teeth in white heads Eating my Sandwich Without my permission What are you doing here? (Who do you think that you are?) What are you doing here? (Who do you think that you are?) If I'm missing the boat excuse me But You Look Unfamiliar To Me I see you've made yourself at home Where the mongoose and the pig roam Doing the 2 step And The Watusi All to a waltz beat What are you doing here? (Who do you think that you are?) What are you doing here? (Who do you think that you are?) Oooooooh Oooooooh Oooooooh
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Oahu In the dreamy little swindle where the strangler fig holds sway They have made the queen a prisoner and they took her crown away Oh oh oh oh ah Oahu She's locked inside her palace where she sits and sews all day In a skirt of downy feathers and a yellow colored lei Now she plies her needle to embroider every bird On a quilt of silk and satin that will cover up the world You can gather up the idols you can put em in a fire You can burn em into cinders but the ancient gods don't die There will come a moment when a wave will wash away All the saints and all the strangers it might even be today When we meet we'll touch our noses and we'll breath each other in With the breezes full of flowers and the sunshine on our skin (for Queen Liliuokalani)
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about

Photos by @lippemfg
Thank you, Ani, for doing sound that night.
Thank you, Julie Lamendola for the flyer.
Thank you Frying Pan for hosting us.
Fryingpannyc.com
Thank you, Riverhead Books for donating the amazing Sarah Vowell gift tote for our raffle!

credits

released August 18, 2015

All songs recorded live at The Frying Pan in NYC, August 7, 2015.
This was the second show of our Bushwick Book Club AQUATIC SUMMER. All shows floating all summer.
Visual art of Hawaiian royalty and Sarah Vowell by Tommy Cheng: www.facebook.com/TommyChengArt?fref=ts

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The Bushwick Book Club Brooklyn, New York

We started in January 2009 playing songs written in response to Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions. We haven't stopped since. We've written & performed songs inspired by everything from "On The Origin of Species" to Dr. Seuss to Raymond Carver. There are BBCs popping up nationwide now. Bushwick Book Club Seattle started in 2010 & is run by Geoff Larson. Our nerdy dare-devilry knows no bounds. ... more

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