Monkey Prose is Mentioned in Wired Magazine

The November 2007 issue of Wired Magazine (page 30) features an excerpt from a Monkey Prose article - Toxic Cloud May Have a Silver Lining. This was a commentary on Creatures From the Black Lagoon by Guy Gugliotta, which appeared in the September 2007 issue of Wired.

The story was about researchers Don and Andrea Stierle, who discovered cancer killing microbes at a toxic waste site in Montana.

This is my first article to be published in print, and it is very exciting! I would like to thank my parents for pushing me to take those "Write for the Internet" classes back in the 1960's. At the time, I didn't see the point, since the World Wide Web wouldn't be invented for another 30 years. But Mom and Pop were visionaries, and they turned out to be right. Go figure!

Now, if I can only get my daughter Britton to invest in those Moon Real Estate Futures, then the family legacy of clairvoyant counseling will have been passed on.

Thank you Wired Magazine for publishing an excerpt from my blog, and for teaching me how to spell "excerpt"!

What Chinese Astrologers Say About Monkeys

China is a 4,000 year old civilization, so they must have accumulated a wealth of wisdom in that time period. Here is what Chinese astrologiers have to say about monkeys.

If you click on the picture, you will see a larger version, which will make it easier to read the text. However, when you are done, you must hit the Left Arrow button on the top left of your screen to be taken back to the Monkey Prose site. Otherwise, if you hit the red (Close) X button on the top right of your screen, then you will lose your connection to Monkey Prose.

I don't know how to fix this. Any suggestions?

"Space Monkey" by John Prine

John Prine has been one of my favorite songwriters since the 60's. His gritty voice and the raw honesty of his lyrics have profoundly affected many listeners, including myself.

I recently ran across the lyrics of a song that he wrote called "Space Monkey". The lyrics are listed below. You can find this song on John's "Live On Tour" album - Release Date: 04/08/1997, Label: OH BOY, Catalog No.: 120015.

You can hear a sample of this song on the Barnes & Noble website at Space Monkey.

You can access the John Prine website at John Prine Website.

"Space Monkey" by John Prine

Space Monkey, Space Monkey
What you doing out there?
Why it's dark as a dungeon
Way up in the air.

Come gather round me
You little monkeys
And a story I'll tell
About a brave young primate
Outer space knew him well.

He was born at the top
Of a big old tree
Way back in 1953.

He could swing through the jungle and hang by his toes
Till they took him to Russia cause they could I suppose.
They dressed him up in a spacesuit and it started to snow.
Shot him off in a rocket where no man would go.

Space Monkey Space Monkey
What you doing out there?
Why it's dark as a dungeon
Way up in the air.

There'll be no one to greet you
When you get back home.
No hammer or sickle
You'll be on your own.

He had plenty of Cuban bananas
And loads of Spam
But he found great difficulty trying
To open the can.

One day he slipped on a banana peel
And the ship lost control.
It spun out of orbit
And shot out the black hole.

It's been four decades now,
That's nine monkey years.
That's a long time for a Space Monkey
To confront all his fears.

Space Monkey Space Monkey
What you doing out there?
Why it's dark as a dungeon
Way up in the air.

There'll be no one to greet you
When you get back home.
No hammer or sickle,
You'll be all on your own.

Space Monkey, Space Monkey
It's time to get real.
The space race is over,
How does it feel?

Cold War's had a heatwave,
Iron Curtain's torn down.
They've rolled up the carpet
In Space Monkey town.

Now Leningrad is Petersburg
And Petersburg's hell.
For a card-carrying monkey
With a story to tell.

The Space Monkey was reportedly last sighted
About a half a block off of Red Square
In a karaoke bar
Having a few drinks with some of his friends.

There was the dog that flew Sputnik
And a blind red-headed, one legged parrot
Who had done some minor research
For Dow Chemical.

They were drinking American Vodka
Imported all the way from Paducah, Kentucky
And reportedly had their arms around each other's shoulders
Singing."Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end".

Space Monkey, Space Monkey
There's nothing to do,
But it's better than living
In a Communist zoo.

There'll be no one to greet you
When you get back home.
No hammer or sickle
You'll be all on you own .