Posted elsewhere, but worth mentioning here at the end of the year.

The best new grooves of 2004, from my list of purchases. And here, in no particular order:

Banyan, Live At Perkins Place. Mike Watt (Minutemen) and Nels Cline (Wilco) team up with Steven Perkins (Jane's Addiction) and kick out a set of furious fusion. Funky, jazzy, driving, fun. Easily Watt's best release of the year, aside from the DVD of him playing bass for the Stooges (and if you missed that, check it out -- the outtakes of Scott Asheton banging out Raw Power songs on a paint bucket and a box at an in-store is worth the price of admission.

Guided by Voices, Half Smiles of the Decomposed. If it must be their last album, then let it be. But, wow. This is how one goes out on top.

Elvis Costello, The Delivery Man. Thank dog the man had the sense to release this following that dismal release North. Love ya, Declan, but man alive, you should stay away from the torchy-feely-croony stuff.

Steve Earle, The Revolution Starts Now. This is the album that Jerusalem could have been. This is more what I expect from Earle, which is steps up from the previous -- and in this case, I measure him against the genius of Transcendental Blues. Oh, and if you're a fan like I am, you must check out the New West DVD of his performance from Austin City Limits in 1986ish. Whoa. Especially note his behavior coming out for the first encore. When he doesn't have a guitar in his hand, it's pretty damn obvious that he was in the throes of a blow habit.

Kings of Leon, Aha Shake Heartbreak. Based on a recommendation from Earle's XM radio show -- and is it ever good. Available now as an import. I believe this ground is already trod, so the less said the better.

A.C. Newman, The Slow Wonder. The New Pornographers tunesmith cuts a solo release, and crafts a wondrous work of power pop. (Honorable mentions here -- Neko Case's The Tigers Have Spoken, featuring The Sadies, and The Sadies Favourite Colours album. If you dig the Flying Burrito Brothers, check 'em out.)

Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Who is This America? Props to Doyle Davis for leading me to this American ensemble kicking it Fela style -- I expect a lot more from this band during the next four years of a Bush administration. "Indictment" has to be one of the angriest ... well, indictments handed out against the war criminals in DC. Supposedly they were so damned militant at their show here at the Mercy Lounge that they were driving patrons away. Those who stayed saw a burning rendition of Afrobeat not soon forgotten.

Hoodoo Gurus, Mach Schau!. Taken from a bit of Beatles trivia, the Gurus reform to "make a show" of their rock prowess. Following hard upon the dazzling outing by Faulkner and Shepherd as The Persian Rugs, this Australian import is a must-have for Hoodoo Gurus fans, and could easily be well-loved by fans of Aussie rock. "Keep Your Powder Dry" was one of the most earwormy songs of this year for me.

Mission of Burma, ONoffON. Picking up where they left off, and not losing many steps.

Wilco, A Ghost is Born. Although it would have been great to have had Nels Cline do the studio work with the gang, this CD has gotten spun so many times around my house and my car that I'm under edict not to play it again where my wife can hear it for at least six months. Now that's monomania for you!

Just wanted to acknowledge my recent addtion to the Rocky Top Brigade blogroll. Thanks, Bubba!

And, here's a picture of a titmouse buffed up against the recent ice storm which hit Nashville overnight.



Sorry for slow-rolling the updates to the blog lately, folks. I'm in full-tilt stressed-out mode lately, what with the holidays and having a number of workmen involved in a major renovation of the kitchen. The work is beautiful, but there's sundry issues involved, not the least of which right now is that the kitchen sink won't friggin' drain.

In other news, I'm going to be pulling my endorsement of PeoplesForum.com from the blogroll. Recent developments have me uncertain about that forum's future. (But if you must wander over there, check out the chatter in I Spit On Your Groove.)

I know this is probably going to booger up the appearance of the webpage, but I just have to post this in a wide format...



Approx. 100 migrant white pelicans seen at Hopson Bay, Lake Barkley, 12/5/2004

New Acquisition Thursday:

Disc 1 - NoMeansNo, People's Choice

Disc 2 - Chris Stamey w/ Yo La Tengo, V.O.T.E.

Disc 3 - British Sea Power, The Decline of British Sea Power

Disc 4 - Banyan, Live At Perkins' Place

Disc 5 - World Party, Dumbing Up

Disc 6 - Public Enemy, Yo! Bum Rush the Show!

Heaviest rotation, Banyan. Public Enemy close behind. NoMeansNo is the most rawkus by far, although the British Sea Power is full o' buzz and fury. So what can I say about World Party? Karl Wallinger is a one-trick pony, but he's damned good at it.

OK, so my post-election bounce isn't quite happening yet. I'm not feeling it much anyway. Burn-out is more like it. There's only so much outrage one can take before the bile and bitterness and "can-you-believe-that's" become so entrenched as to be a real turn off, both to self and to others.

So here I'm going to do my best to outline my take on the blue vs. red without losing my cool.

Short story: It's crap.

THE END.

OK, not really.

I've had more than one person refer me to Fuck The South, telling me what a larf that it is. While trying to be as PC as I can be, I'll allow that catharsis has its place. As vented spleen, that piece works OK, I guess. If whomever wrote it feels better, great; besides that, a few people got a good chuckle out of it. That's all good.

However...

(portions of this letter excerpted from an email I sent earlier today)

The problem I have is that the people guiding the strategy of the Democratic Party -- the Ickes'es, the McAuliffes, the Froms, the Shrums, the Braziles -- have been pushing this idea that you can't win by displaying a backbone. It's this desire to capture the mushy middle that's exacerbating the problem. What's worse, they're trying to "Clintonize" the election, conveniently forgetting one crucial component: Bill Clinton's not running. (Al From was no more a kingmaker than my cat; he happened to be in the right place at the right time.) While they might have had other parts of the formula roughly correct, I contend that you can't separate Clinton's campaign strategy from Clinton the persona.

So let me come around to the "fuck the south" meme.

As a more deeply interested observer in Southern politics this time around, I gotta call some shit into question here which might be lost on our northern counterpart. We have a popular Democratic governor (60%+ approval rating) -- Phil Bredesen -- who basically sat out the whole election. If that wasn't bad enough, here's another kick in the teeth: the state party is a captive interest of the governor's office. After Bredesen's *successful* election in 2002, he liquidated the state party office and had it peopled with his folks. One might ask why that matters. I wondered that myself, even if unconsciously so. I did think it weird that a politician would refuse to dance with those what brung him, but as victor, the spoils, yadda yadda.

The state party did absolutely zero to promote Kerry statewide. It was so bad... SO BAD... that they wouldn't even put up Kerry/Edwards signs in the windows of their office. No shit. This is the state party, y'all. That seems a trifle, but I'm just getting started. What's worse, they took pains to go on the record as saying that Tennessee, the state that had elected Al Gore to the senate twice and put the Democrat Phil Bredesen into office, was BUSH COUNTRY. Here it is, Democratic home turf, Democratic incumbency. You'd think that was leverage, but all the same, they're conceding the election to Bush weeks ahead of November 2.

Why?

Well, they had a strategy. They would hope and wish that TN somehow fell into Kerry's lap. That's about the size of it.

Seriously, though: their strategy was to attempt to promote a few local races in a failed attempt to preserve the Democratic majority in the state senate, which might seem sensible enough on its face. Recent history shows, though, that they wound up spending all of their money in that losing strategy while they could have chosen to spend that money on leveraging a statewide party infrastructure for GOTV for all Democratic candidates, not just a few targeted races. Helluva tutorial in opportunity cost there, huh? But I guess you can expect that out of a state political organization whose sole purpose is to support Phil Bredesen, even if it does bear the legacy of being the statewide Democratic leadership vessel.

I understand that they're trying their best to keep their powder dry for the 2006 gubernatorial cycle, but the Republicans are hell-bent on taking that office back from Bredesen. If he thinks that his failure to show up for Kerry is going to win him points going into '06 with the GOP-leaning swing voter, I gotta call bullshit. He doesn't understand what he's up against. And pushing policies that alienate the unions (workers comp limitations favoring business) and the less fortunate (eliminating the state-sponsored TennCare system, leaving 400,000 people without health coverage) are going to wind up blowing up in his face. I don't know what he expects come 2006 in terms of national financial support from the DNC, but if I were [insert DLC-approved successor to McAuliffe here], I'd think twice before helping out.

I can't speak to the rest of the "southern" state parties (which by some bizarre fit of geographical spleen now includes Idaho and North Dakota), but here, they were not visible. The county parties were left to do the footwork without coherent state leadership, and with Phil Bredesen's self-loathing state party dismissing the 2004 campaign as hopeless, the result was pretty well predictable.

What's left, then? The national? Oh, well, they said "fuck the south" the loudest. "We can win without the south," says John Kerry. True to form, the national campaign spent little time and few dollars here. We need help, we need staff, we need money to help put out yard signs & make buttons & bumper stickers, we need advertising on the air, but we're left to fend for ourselves. It's pretty hard to win state-wide if the state doesn't believe in you, but when the national has you written off as well? It's called "self-fulfilling prophecy."

We are not hopelessly Republican down here. Even at the height of Jim Crow, this was the state that elected not only Al Gore, Sr. but also Estes Kefauver. While it might be fashionable and cathartic to place blame on the south for losing this election, we need vision from our brethren, not vitriol. We worked our asses off down here, and it's really hard to see people make a joke out of the sort of work that we put into winning this thing. Yeah, we have our issues -- but I know just as many Bible-thumping morons from Central Illinois as I do from Middle Tennessee. We just don't have the benefit of a Chicago metro area to swing the entire state our direction.

So, yeah, go ahead and have a giggle at the South's expense. But just remember how hard some people fought here in a uphill battle. Tennessee may have gone down, but it certainly was more of an effort than the election day coverage might have you believe. And we're smarting just as much as the rest of you are, only we live among the Bible-thumping, gun-toting, whiskey-drinking, dangerously undereducated cousin-fuckers that you so viciously rebuke and dismiss. You call them idiots, we call them our neighbors.

(Yes, I am fully aware of the trade-off. Having lived in Chicago, Denver, and Kansas City, and having seen enough of New York City and DC to know better, y'all can have at it. I'll trade my 20 minute commute and 1.3 acres for your 3 hours and postage stamp efficiencies any day of the week. Keep in mind, though, that I live in true blue Davidson County. Southern charm does have to meet certain minimum requirements for me. Nevertheless, that's a much broader discussion.)

Short story made long: Party politics are a collective effort. We won't ever win if the state and national leadership continues to say "fuck the south." It's a dangerous game of brinksmanship. Maybe instead of investing millions of dollars to keep Nader off the ballot next time, the DP can spend a few hundred thousand on party building in independent Southern states like Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

An abbreviated response to "An Open Letter to the Democratic Party"

1. You didn't give me clear positions on the issues.

You aren't paying attention.

I get the idea that what you're asking for are not clear positions. You're asking for simplistic positions.

2. You didn't convince me that you would defend America against the threats of terrorism.

Where you get your ideas about this, I don't know. Kerry made it very clear that he wanted to hunt down and kill the terrorists. What's unclear about that? Did you miss the part about Kerry wanting to send 40,000 additional troops, create 3 new divisions, and to hunt down those responsible? Did you miss what he said about Afghanistan?

Again, you're simply not paying attention.

3. You insulted my intelligence by the constant mantra of Kerry's service in Vietnam.

Your Republican friends insulted my intelligence by not firing someone over the Abu Ghraib incidents. Your Republican friends insulted my intelligence by constantly referring to 9/11 as if no one remembered what happened on that day. Your Republican friends insulted my intelligence by putting Zell Miller on their stage as a keynote speaker, as if that addled old jerk even represents the Democratic party in anything but name. Your Republican friends insulted my intelligence by endorsing the war in Iraq even after it was revealed that there were no links to Al Qaeda and no weapons of mass destruction. Your Republican friends insulted my intelligence by saying that the war in Iraq was about saving people there from Saddam Hussein. Your Republican friends insulted my intelligence by constantly referring to a liberal media that doesn't exist. Your Republican friends insulted my intelligence by saying Massachusetts like a 4-letter word.

4. Your constant references to the opinions of the rest of the world scared me

You need to wake up and realize that the War On Terrorism requires that we have strong allies -- and that if we alienate them and pursue our own reckless course of action, we will not be able to effectively contain the threat.

Failing that, you really should go out and see some of the rest of the world. There's a lot out there that you should experience, and I believe that if you had a healthier respect for other cultures, you might understand why your fear and arrogance here are completely misplaced.

5. You disturbed me with your demonization of the rich.

I must have missed this. I believe that Kerry talked a lot about taxing the rich -- that they needed to share fairly in the burden of fighting a global war. This is the only time in history where the wealthy were not asked to sacrifice. But everyone else did.

Wherever it is that Kerry said that the rich were evil? You are apparently hearing things that aren't there.

6. Here is something you could work on right about now: I could not stomach to listen to your incessant hatred of President Bush.

Since this is an "open letter to the Democratic Party," I believe what you're talking about are not the opinions of the national campaign, but the opinions of a number of people following the race closely that have strong personal opinions.

Contrast that with the vulgar, immature, incessant attacks on President Clinton. Those were espoused and encouraged by the GOP, right up to the top of the organization.

7. I don't think you really want my vote.

Here, I agree with you. Sort of.

I don't think Democrats would mind having your vote, but I think they're stupid for trying to chase after it.

Why? You're clearly a Republican leaning voter. They don't need you in order to win, but they don't "get" that the solution is to pander less to you and your kind. The reason that more people don't vote Democratic is because the Democrats are trying too hard to win voters like you, instead of focusing on their traditional bases of support. By trying to win so-called right-leaning moderates like you (which I find hard to believe, since your objections could have come straight from a list of GOP talking points), they're forced to adopt positions that alienate people from the process. More needs to be done to get people to feel like they're invested in the results of the election. 40% of the eligible population didn't even bother to vote this time, and among those, I'm certain that Kerry and the Democrats can find the 3% of voters who'd make the difference nationally, with or without you.

What they need to do is to stop feeling so timid about writing off your vote.

Maybe then, they'd feel free to take stronger positions on labor issues like the minimum wage and outsourcing, on minority empowerment, on health care issues, on getting corporations out of Congress, on enforcing voter rights, and so on.

Yeah, we'd lose you.

But I could live with that.

DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE

Well, here it is, America. The results are in. You had a choice, and you endorsed incompetence, gross negligence, indignity, unaccountability, failure, corruption, dishonesty, and arrogance. You did, however, save us from the horrors of gay marriage (as if denying someone a right that you take for granted is going to stop men from kissing each other).

Times like this, I'm sorry that I had hope. I regret feeling that there was a glimmer of a chance that I would get to be the gracious winner this time. I am angry at my own raised expectations.

I willed myself to believe that things would turn out in my favor during this election. This morning, I pulled myself into the office to face my tormentors co-workers.

"You don't change commanders in the middle of a fuckin' war, Andy. We needed to save those Iraqis from Saddam," I was told.

"Oh, ___, that's disingenuous. Mass murder and genocide happens all over this globe and there's no uniform moral imperative to get involved."

(Yeah, like you give a shit about Iraqis. Explain to me how we're saving them from Saddam's chemical weapons again? Would that be because we're killing them first?)

Ever since, there's been a constant hammering yowl pinging around my skull:

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUU???"

Ian MacKaye, screaming the introduction to Minor Threat's "Filler." I don't know where it came from, but it won't leave.

YOU CALL IT RELIGION! YOU'RE FULL OF SHIT!

Y'know, I think I'm going to get some mileage out of this anger/defiance/cynicism for a while. I was just saying last night to a friend of mine that situations like this make me want to quit my job, buy a case of cheap whiskey, and to start up a Pogues cover band, or something of the like.

Maybe I should make good on that.

I know that the people that run our desks and offices got so full
of the desire to grab enough money to run away and hide on, that
they let this thought run them, instead of the bigger plan,
well, this has always been a hard word to say, but
It could very truly be that our office people are doing the best they
know how to do,
But we had ought to teach ourselves better and higher than this
before we run ourselves and put ourselves into our offices.

--Woodrow Wilson Guthrie

The Eve of Election Eve

There's an old saying in Tennessee, perhaps it's in Texas, but I know it's in Tennessee. It goes something like this:

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around

Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray

We don't get fooled again

Baed on the inspiration of Abu Aardvark, I bring you my own little 527-style ad:

The Election Made Simple.

(apologies to Nick Lowe)

A side note to the Nader/Camejo carpetbaggers from Canada who where trying to rock the local vote before the R.E.M. show last night:

You're absolutely pathetic.

You have done no work locally. You have no local organization. You come from a foreign country to hawk Ralph Nader's wares in a battleground state 2 weeks before the general election.

Compare what you're doing to what the Davidson County Democratic Party is doing. Compare that to the political stick that the Music Row Democrats are swinging. I don't know if what you're doing is going to make any difference, but if it does, I'm hunting your asses to the darkest corners of Canuckistan.

Shame on you.

And Ralph, you bring shame upon the entire political process.

If Zogby is right, this race in TN is down to a couple of points, and Nashville is one of the few places where a significant Nader vote might emerge.

By taking money from Republicans, using Canadians to do your dirty work in close races, all the while proclaiming to espouse a new form of politics, you have portrayed yourself not as the salvation of the system, but rather as the lowest form of political slime imaginable.

R.E.M., Ryman Auditorium, Nashville TN 10/22/2004

When was the last time R.E.M. played a 2500 seat venue? I peg that around the time of the "Work Tour," circa 1987 when I saw them play the War Memorial Coliseum in KCMO. That was the era of Document. It was on the tail end of the Reagan Administration, and political statements in music were somewhat au courant. Little did we know at that time that the Republican elephant would continue to rampage for another 4 years, but that was also the time of Michael Dukakis.

Now Dukakis' former Lt. Gov. is duking it out with a different Bush, R.E.M. has been on a major label since then, and now they're back to playing small arenas in the southeastern US -- and just off the Americans Coming Together tour, Stipe is making few bones about his partiality.

R.E.M. showed up late Thursday to support a local rock benefit for the Music Row Democrats. Stipe congratulated my wife on all of her hard work on the campaign, and they soon after went about their way until the next night.

And during the encore, Stipe bore a simple white t-shirt which had a blue star within a red circle, with the word KERRY in bold print above. (I'm informed that this particular shirt is only available for premium contributions to the DNC. Talk about wearing your allegiances on your sleeve.)

"You may not agree with me," Stipe drawled from center stage. [Boos overwhelmed by shouts of KERRY! and 2 MORE WEEKS!] Then an unintelligible insult, apparently deciphered at the proscenium. Stipe, eyes peering sideways, backlighting the blue bandit mask painted across his face, replies, "I'm not afraid."

That undercurrent rippled through the evening. The band tore into some old standards, including the first track from the Document release kicking things off -- "The time to rise has been engaged!" That was the way the set started in 1987 as well.

Everything old is new again.

While we weren't "welcomed to the occupation," we were favored with an incredibly eclectic variety of songs. Many were from the new release, and were apparently unfamiliar to most people in the audience. But when they connected, the room was afire with enthusiasm. The crowd lept, screamed, sang, danced, wiggled, and craned their necks for better views. It was standing room only, save for a few times when they would indulge their most moody, introspective material. Mike Mills wore a rhinestone studded Manuel jacket, and took center-stage to sing "Rockville" in tribute to the late Jack Emerson, who was the local music hero that opened his home to R.E.M. back in the days when they were playing the quasi-legendary Cantrell's. Peter Buck looked every inch the rock star, and shredded the Gretsch Country Gentleman for the solo in "Walk Unafraid."

Chet Atkins smiled from beyond. (Y'all have never played the Ryman before, huh? High time.)

Ken Stringfellow (Posies, Big Star) and Scott McAughey (Young Fresh Fellows, Minus 5) were there in suport. They were constantly shifting positions onstage, and switching instruments. The only guy that didn't take another shift was Bill Riefen (Ministry, NIN), who capably handled the material, rather than providing the sort of programmed/thudding soundtrack one might expect.

Stipe tore the head off of "Life and How to Live It" to wind out the set. I lost my mind at that point.

He is obviously more comfortable in his own skin these days -- and their love for the material, their love for each other shone through every minute of the performance. It was a triumph.

Set:

Finest Worksong
Begin The Begin
So Fast So Numb
Animal
Boy In The Well
I've Been High
Make It All Okay
The One I Love
Aftermath
Bad Day
The Outsiders
(Don't Go Back To) Rockville
Electrolite
She Just Wants To Be
Final Straw
Losing My Religion
Walk Unafraid
Life And How To Live It

Encore:

What's The Frequency, Kenneth?
Leaving New York
Exhuming McCarthy
I Wanted To Be Wrong
Permanent Vacation
I'm Gonna DJ
Man On The Moon

Total time: approx. 2hr 30min

You blew the budget and you botched Iraq.

Now I'm "takin' my country back."

Download. Listen. Call up your local country radio station and request it.

(brought to you by the Honky Tonkers for Truth)

Not having implemented sitemeter, I have no idea if I'm getting hits on this blog. For what it's worth, it's not mattered much to me. So I have no idea if anyone is reading this. This blog hasn't been much more than a recycling bin for a few bits and bytes that I've posted elsewhere in the world -- but having a blog does make it easier to transfer information to a number of people. Say, for instance, letting people know where they can find a few samples of my photographs.

So, if anyone is surfing on in here from points unknown, welcome.

A bit about me... I'm a thirtysomething professional in Nashville. I work supporting a single large client for a similarly large communications company. (And here, I've always said that I don't define myself through work. Odd.) Anyhoo. My interests range broadly between homebrewing, photography, hiking, home computing (Mac neophyte, relatively speaking). I'm married, I have four bickersome cats who share the house with my wife and I. We also inhabit a home with a couple thousand compact discs.

Lessee... oh, yeah. Politics.

I've been suffering through a hangover which I got as the result of downing a couple of large bottles of La Trappe quadruppel Belgian Ale last night after the Michael Moore Slacker Uprising presentation down at the Gaylord Entertainment Center. So I've been hurtin' for certain today. But what's making my head ache all the more is the morning headlines from our "hometown" Gannett dishrag, The Tennessean. Now, I'm not much of one to go around blaming the media for the situation in which we've found ourselves lately. I was raised in a household of reporters and editors. My family and friends have been in the journalism biz for a long, long time. I do believe in the necessity of having a fourth estate in this here freedom's home.

That said, I'll be buggered if I can figure out what's going on with the print press in Guitar Town.

It's reminiscent of the weather forecaster who's calling for sunshine on the TV, while you're looking out your window and -- whaddyaknow -- it's raining.

So the storyline is this: Tennessee is out of play, it's a lock for the Republicans, and with weeks left to go, there's nothing but a widening, yawning lead for the GOP.

That's not what I'm seeing. I could go on about this at some length, but suffice it to say that most polls don't show the sort of delta that Bonna De La Cruz and her paper are pimping. Tennessee IS IN PLAY. This isn't over by a long shot. Zogby has TN pegged at less than 1% differential. When the dealin' is done, we'll see who was right, and based on track record, Zogby is my 3:2 fave to win.

Here's what's got me bothered, though -- and it's typical of how national politics have been locally discussed:

"Gov. Phil Bredesen said he is "cautiously confident" that Democrats can hang on to their majorities in the state House and Senate.

"There is no question I live in a state that is leaning Republican," said Bredesen, the first Democrat to win a statewide office since Ned McWherter's re-election as governor in 1990.

"The way the presidential race is shaping up certainly doesn't help to elect Democratic legislators," Bredesen said.

A poll by The Tennessean last month showed President Bush leading Democratic nominee John Kerry by 16 points.

There's two things terribly wrong here. One, that poll they refer to is horseshit. I've gone on at length about it here before (see below). But two, and more disturbing? Phil Bredesen -- our Democrat governor -- is conceding the race. I wonder if he believes what he reads in the paper. He must (and more's the pity). Either that, or he's listening to the wrong people (and still more's the pity). Yet, it is perfectly consistent with what we've seen out of the Governor's office during this campaign cycle. (Pitiful.)

You know what I've noticed? Bredesen has not been visible. Oh, there've been a couple of fundraisers held at his mansion off Frankin Road, sure. Yeah, he showed up when John Kerry came to town during the GOP convention. He even took a trip to Boston in order to make a show of committing TN's delegation to Kerry. But where has the political operation been that worked to get Bredesen elected? Where's the governor on the stump? How's he reaching out to his folks? Or -- even better -- why hasn't he been twisting arms and calling in favors and doing the hard work that it takes to light fires under a few asses?

Here's my theory: Bredesen is so scared that he'll alienate his "Bredesen Republicans" that he's been too chickenshit to take a public stand.

Here's why he's wrong: PHIL, YOU DON'T NEED THE REPUBLICANS TO WIN. YOU NEED YOUR BASE. And in case you've forgotten, those people are women, working people, union folks, minorities. Remember?

I mean, really. Here we have the one blue state in a sea of red... we have a Democratic state House, a Democratic state Senate, and OUR OWN DEMOCRAT GOVERNOR is too much of a pussy to say that out loud and proud. And he's so concerned about saving his own ass that he's not made a move to think big. Look at the opportunity that lay in front of him: He had the chance to show his mettle, he had the chance to jump in the middle of the fray and LEAD, but instead, he's talking down his own state, and he's mealy-mouthing the strength of his party constituency.

Here it is again: "The way the presidential race is shaping up certainly doesn't help to elect Democratic legislators," Bredesen said.

I know how to read, and I have a single response for the Governor and his political brain trust:

"Oh yeah? Well, fuck you, too."

I hereby nominate Phil Bredesen as Worst Supporting Actor in a Position of Uninspired Leadership. I used to think he was just a Republican in disguise, but I've got him clocked. He's cut from exactly the same cloth as Tom Daschle and Dick Gephardt. They're marginally competent hacks, but they do not have it where it counts. When it comes to gut check time, they buckle like belts.

I'm just... mortified.

What happened to "dancing with the one who brung you," Phil?

The Democratic constituency isn't what's missing. It's here, and it's working its ass off. It could use you.

If you only had the courage.

THAT'S what's missing.

For what it's worth, the only pic I can take credit for photoshopping is the one below.

So if anyone coming here from Hayden's weblog sees fit to copy and forward my take on Ernst Stavro Blofeld, feel free.

(This is the Donald Pleasance era Blofeld, by the way. I'm picky about my choice of Bond villains. So anyone that thinks that's Mike Myers as Dr. Evil, go find a copy of You Only Live Twice and see the original in action.)

Evil is a full-time occupation.



Advantage Kerry-Edwards.

Waterfall
Don't ever change your ways
Fall with me for a million days
Oh, my waterfall

Fall Creek Falls, rural Spencer, TN. Sept. 27, 2004

And as I walked on
Through troubled times
My spirit gets so down-hearted sometimes

So where are the strong
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony

'Cause each time I feel it slippin' away
Just makes me wanna cry
What's so funny 'bout peace love and understanding?

This was a much awaited set last night...



Nick Lowe, f. Geraint Watkins, Belcourt Theatre, Sept. 21, 2004.

This is another artist I don't know how I missed for so long. Most know of him either through his hit, "Cruel to Be Kind" or because of his marriage to Carlene Carter. Some also know him as the guy that produced Elvis Costello in his early years. Others may also know that he wrote "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding."

I'm somewhat at a loss for words. It was a flawless set; yet, it's one of those things that I think you really had to experience in order to "get" it. Suffice it to say that at 53, Lowe is still a master of his own tunesmithy, and that the fact that he didn't sell out a venue the size of the Belcourt is but a single testament to the criminal underappreciation of this artist.

(Sidebar: Steve Winwood, Chuck Mead, Gillian Welch, and Dave Rawlings were spotted in the audience.)

Recommended:

Party of One: Set including a cast so tight a cat couldn't scratch it; Bill Kirchen on guitar, Ry Cooder on guitar, Dave Edmunds on guitar and co-producing, Paul Carrack on piano.

Also, if you can find it, 16 All Time Lowes is a good career retrospective.

You lose sixteen points, and whaddya get?

A fat load of crap from the Nashville Tennessean, that's what. The headline shouldn't be about how the differential in Tennessee is Bush by 16... it should be why there hasn't been a consistent polling result in the whole few months running up to this election.

Bush may be ahead here, but I'm certain that the lead is single-digit.

Here's the methodology:

The Tennessean and Chattanooga Times Free Press poll was conducted by the national polling firm of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. of Washington, D.C.

It included a sample of 625 registered voters who said they are ''likely'' to vote in the Nov. 2 general election. Interviews were conducted by telephone over four days from Sept. 11-14.

The sample included people whose phone numbers were randomly selected and then weighted by exchanges to ensure statewide coverage and by county to reflect voter turnout in prior elections. (emphasis mine)

The poll includes a margin for error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. That means there is a 95% probability the results of the poll are within 4 percentage points higher or lower than the result if the entire population was sampled. For example, if a candidate scores 15%, there is a 19 out of 20 chance the actual result will fall between 11% and 19%.

Here's why their conclusions are wrong, wrong, wrong:

Tennessee's population of 5.8 million is not evenly distributed throughout the state. This poll has a built-in bias that will tend to skew down the potential Democratic turnout. The population is heavily urbanized, and the turnout in 3 counties -- Davidson (Nashville), Shelby (Memphis) and Knox (Knoxville) could easily determine the outcome of the election. Hell, the total margin of victory for Bush in 2000 was roughly 80,000 votes (a 6 point spread, for what it's worth) -- so one game at Neyland Stadium at 80% capacity could have swung the election.

Now, based on 625 people which were pulled from a geographically weighted sample of the state's 95 counties, they're trying to say that Bush would win by over twice that?

Even given Bush's dismal record? Even despite the fact that every other poll for the past couple of months has shown a statistical dead heat? Even given the phenomenal increase in Democratic activity, in voter registration, and in a visible public sentiment that is a lot more anti-Republican than it has been in at least four years? Even given that Tennessee's state house and senate are majority Democrat? And that the governor is a Democrat? And that the two largest metros in the state are heavily Democrat?

Sorry, Mason-Dixon. That dog don't hunt. This election may be determined by "geos," but not the way you're reporting them. Rural turnout may skew Republican by percentages, but you're taking from a smaller pool numbers-wise. If you win a county of 100,000 by a spread of 60-40, you still get beaten (and outweighed) by a county of 1,000,000 which splits closer to even. Hell, you gotta have five or six counties with a much bigger spread in order to beat back the huge metros.

And if Shelby County breaks for George W. Bush, I'll put up an elephant in my cubicle at work.

And then, there was one.

RIP Johnny Ramone.

Could it be that this vaunted War on Terror turns out to be a bigger sham than our fight against the international communist conspiracy?

I wasn't old enough to remember our long battle against communism directly, but history teaches me about a drunken sot by the name of Joe McCarthy who rode shotgun while on the Road to Hysteria once before.

We expended a lot of capital (emotional as well as financial) globally trying to defeat an economic system. The heart of that economic system, by the way, was the idea that labor -- in and of itself -- has inherent value. Not only does it have value, it imparts collective power to those who perform said labor.

Talk about your threat to the "established order."

Say all you want to about how we were targeting despotism and totalitarian rule, but honestly, we didn't have so much of a problem with that as we did with people fucking with our ability to extract profits wherever we wanted to. Go on, pick a "communist insurgency," and I'll show you a country where We The People's Proxy have actively supported ethnic cleansing, rape, genocide, bacteriological and chemical warfare, nuclear proliferation, repression, murder-as-a-one-off, coups d'etat, drug running, election rigging, starvation, black ops, propaganda, and covert wars when it suited profitable ends.

I won't say we've never done the right thing, but by and large, our history is rife with hypocrisy on this.

And here, we're at a crossroads of recent history. We're faced with a clear choice this November: whether or not to bow to those who would have us believe that the unquestioned global hegemony of American Military Might is a Good Thing, and those who find that battling the international force of terrorism requires complex thinking, adaptation, and international consensus.

Just in case you're not caught up, George W. Bush is the most brazen and craven champion of the forces that believe in extending the national security state into a world-wide paramilitary State run by the friends and family of the Bush Family. Not only that, but that the world is our plantation now.

The State of Our Union, 2004: "It's all up for grabs, boys. We just need to figure out now how to circumvent the last few checks and the niggling balances that prevent us from getting whatever we want, wherever we want it. And that means, coincidentally, that the vestiges of the liberal democracy that these pissants we call "citizens" were used to? Gone. Unions? Living wages? Not if we can help it. Available jobs? Opportunities? Take a job in a call center. Oh, wait -- that's moving offshore. Move to Bangalore. Or to the maquiladora."

That is the shingle that Bush has hung at the gate. If you got the money, honey, we got the time. And the firepower. So we'll go "shock & awe-in', and we'll have us a time." Consent was manufactured by a lazy fourth estate and a giggling troupe of totalitarians, and were abetted by a knot of appeasers known as Congress.

And honey, when there's no more money... well, you know the song. And the dance.

Let me ask an honest question: Why has the right gone so far to demonize every mark of progress of the past five generations? Why do you think they have such a problem with the word "liberal?"

Here's my working theory: All of the comforts that We The Actual People had earned over a few generations -- reasonable working hours, decent pay, decent benefits -- those are all at risk, and they are all fairly liberal notions. And, like I've heard it said, those things were earned for many of us because a lot of union guys got their heads stoved in for standing up for those things; things that really are, in a lot of ways, becoming "fringe" benefits. Fully sponsored health insurance for goddamned sure ain't mainstream anymore.

So, how does one go about pissing in the collective American face, calling it rain, and building the necessary consensus that will have a simple majority believe it?

I do my best to read my current history. I found the recommended ingredient. They said they needed a "catalyst."

Read the Project for A New American Century's white paper on transforming the military. Don't forget the part about The Need for a catalytic event in order to re-order priorities to make it possible for this vision to come about quickly. And a year prior to 9/11/2001, they predicted that it would take a Pearl Harbor type event to snap our society into the shape they needed.

Need I amplify this more?

Well, I was chilled to the bone when I read that. It showed in fairly bold print that the neoconservatives behind PNAC (including Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle, Jeb Bush, Doug Feith, Elliot Abrams, Zalmay Khalizad, Scooter Libby, Bill Kristol, and on and on and on) had opportunity on their minds when 9/11/2001 was dropped into their laps. (Presumably, the lap-dog Congress and the lap-dog Fourth Estate got out of the way.) And their collective sense of urgency and immediacy was unmistakable.

Wow. And terrorism was suddenly a matter of utmost importance. We were even declaring War on Terrorism.

Huh. I guess that wasn't as important when 168 people were pulverized in the explosion that toppled the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

How soon we (conveniently) forget.

Were you surprised that this building was blown up by a war hero? By a faithful, honorably discharged veteran of the Gulf War? By a white guy?

Just goes to show you -- not all terrorists are related to some guy named for the prophet Muhammad.

It also serves as a potent reminder for me. I think about the people in Oklahoma City that were slaughtered by Tim McVeigh -- and then I think, "Jeez. They were victims of terrorism too. So why not have Republicans say that we need Bush in order to protect us from wingnut whackjobs that are just sick enough to load up a Ryder truck with ANFO and blow up a building full of people who are, like the rest of us, working shitty jobs just so they can spend a few hours at home a day, and maybe provide themselves with basic insurance so they don't go broke if someone gets in a car wreck? Weren't their sacrifices just as significant as those people in NYC and in DC? Hell, why not try to link the Michigan Militia to Al-Qa'eda? It makes just about as much sense as invading Afghanistan to punish a group of Saudi extremists, doesn't it?"

Regrettably, those answers are easy.

But still, are our memories really that dysfunctional? Have our priorities already been re-ordered, and are they only as long as the next press cycle?

***

I bring this up because I was listening to Air America the other day, and they talked about the use of language by the opposing sides in the upcoming election. "Jobs" were mentioned 25 times or some such thing at the DNC. At the RNC, "job" or "jobs" have been mentioned twice. And once, it was used by Cheney in the context of "we have jobs to do." Terrorism dominates the language at the RNC. Just shows you their priorities.

But really, how threatened am I by terrorism?

Let's evaluate risks, here. Some things I figure that are more likely to befall me or someone that I know: joblessness, bankruptcy, medical emergency, impacted by global climate change, hassled by the cops, falsely imprisoned, infected by pollution, sickened by unsafe food, dead in a plane crash, struck by lightning ... ... ... (way way way down the line) killed by an Al-Qaeda sympathizer.

Do any of you know, personally, a terrorist?

Me, I don't know any. That's perfectly honest. I suppose that in some way, I should be frightened about that. But in a much larger sense, what kind of life would I be leading? Fear is not the guiding principle I choose for my existence. I find that there's a steep, slippery slope between prudence and paranoia under that paradigm.

And thus, we come full circle back to a Senate hearing in the 1950s which turned on the question of one man's sense of decency. Given the compression of our lives in the Information Age, the parallels should be painfully obvious by now.

You know, that's not to say that 9/11/2001 doesn't bring up huge memories of confusion, loss, anger, fear, defeat, and sorrow for me. But as far as that goes, I had no personal stake in the 9/11/2001 tragedy, other than the fact that I happen to inhabit the same soil as the Pentagon and the World Trade Center (lest we forget that the United States also contains Wounded Knee, Birmingham, "Death Row," and Ruby Ridge). And yeah -- the idea of getting caught up in a terrorist incident is frightening, but I like to think I can keep that in perspective. Should that ever happen, I would like to think that whoever survives me seeks justice for the wrong done to me, but maybe that would start with going after the actual perps. The pain that those people suffered is incomprehensible to me, and I have to say that I count myself fortunate that I was ... well, that I was who I was.

So -- where are my priorities right now?

I think about my choice. I am being asked to be complicit in a regime that asks me to repudiate terrorism, and to participate in a War on Terror that asks me to approve of killing people associated with "weapons of mass destruction program-related activities."

This brings me to "The Election." Bush supports a regime that means less civil liberty, less shared wealth, and less international discretion in favor of American interests. And, please recall, I don't know any terrorists. However, I know a lot of Republicans.

And goddamnit, if they think that what Bush is doing to our economy, to our society, and to the world is in our best interests? They're the motherfuckin' enemy. I can't do anything about terrorism, but I can do something about Republicans holding office.

I figure the risk to me from the latter is much greater than the former.

***

And, since Vietnam has become the metaphor for this election, I'm reminded of a man who refused to go along with a War that he didn't believe in, despite tremendous pressure for him to conform. He refused to be pressed into the service of his country when drafted; his statement of conscientious objection was simple, yet somehow, eloquent:

"I got nothing against them Vietcongs. Ain't no Vietcong ever called me 'nigger.'"

In other words, his war was to be fought at home. (Or, as Dick Cheney might have said, "I have other priorities.")

Of course, if he'd said that today apropos of the War on Terror, the devout Muslim who said this -- Muhammad Ali -- would probably end up at Camp X-Ray.

***

You better start swimming, or you'll sink like a stone.

Photography lessons from the front...

(carried over discussion from South Knox Bubba's website)

OK, here's an example of what I'm talking about:



Witness the softness around the head. It works for the rest of the shot, as the great egret has some cool plumage. But this looks like absolute crap in 5x7 print. I can't fix it no matter how hard I try to sharpen it.

Shooting info: 1/160 @f5.6; zoom 400mm, ISO 200.



Worse yet. The whole bird appears out of focus, but look at the pine needles! Bah! They're more in focus than my subject.

1/250 @f5.6; zoom 400mm, ISO 200.



But when it works, it works pretty well. This is the same bird, but I'm a little closer (notice how it fills more of the frame) and check out the detail around the eye and the beak. These are fairly skittish birds, though, and getting close to them isn't all that easy. This guy moved around a couple of times before he finally got tired of me dogging him.

1/200 @f5.6; zoom 400mm, ISO 200.

And here's something a little different...

A few years ago, I came into a wealth of 35mm color slides. My dad took them. He hardly ever shot color for prints that I can remember. Prints were done in Kodak Tri-X Pan 400 that he used to liberate from the darkroom at the old Danville Commerical-News. So I'm not as familiar with a lot of these photos.

I have been meaning to scan some of them in so I can make archives of these, or simply to have them in a more usable format. Unfortunately, the PrimeFilm 1800u is as big of a piece of crap as it was on the day that I first bought it, even if it does now have a useable Mac OS X interface. (A Nikon LS-40 is high on my wish list.)

But from these scans, perhaps you can get some idea of the genuine talent that he was as far as this photographic avocation.

Robinson St., Danville, IL 1987 (autumn, natch):



Lakeside fall color, date unknown:



Finally, the man himself, in one of the rare photos that was ever taken of him. I believe this was in the Sierras circa 1976. I remember coming to meet him at the Danville airport when he came back from this trip, but mostly because I got to play a lot of pinball while the plane was arriving late. There's a scad of slides from this era, and this had to be my favorite, despite the poor color rendition of the crappy film scanner...



(Foregoing images c. Robert Harry Wilson, 1947 - 1990.)

Here's a couple shots taken from the library:

1) Bald eagle, taken at Land Between the Lakes. She's a captive bird, and has been since her wing was injured.



2) Big stag elk, taken also at LBL -- this time, roaming free on the Elk & Bison Preserve.

I'd resolved to get my house in order.

So I start by reorganizing.

And then I find a trinket from long ago which reminds me that I'd gotten it in my head that I needed to get my house in order way back when.

Like I needed a reminder of some damned broken relationship, I find an ex-girlfriend's necklace.

You know, it hadn't even occurred to me to so much as think of your triflin' ass for the past couple of years. And here I find some of your bullshit junk jewelry among my belongings.

And I find myself really, really angry all of a sudden.

Reminds me of another time I thought I'd get my house in order.

Guess I have learned to tolerate a lot more mess than I'd thought.

Some great new writing on the new High Hat, even if I say so myself.

I am really excited, honored, and grateful to be involved on this project.

In other news: New dual 2.0Ghz G5 in the house. Photoshopping has never been easier.

Via Pandagon, we find that Republicans have discovered a savvy way to up their voter registration numbers in Jacksonville, FL:

CHEAT.

Yes, you saw that right. The same city where disputed ballots were thrown away by the bushel in 2000, here we have GOP canvassers pre-registering party choice on the voter forms for newly sworn-in immigrants.

What was that Bush v. Gore decision again? Something about how President Fredo was being denied his 14th Amendment rights; equal protection under the law because of... the fact... that... counting ballots fairly would tend to... uh... favor?... his opponent, like, unequally?

And this is in Florida. Again.

Coincidence?

Hearty shoutouts to Rogue Amoeba for their Audio Hijack product. Wow. Software that works as described! I especially like the scheduling feature. Now I can catch Car Talk even when I want to sleep in.

If I had more time to run a radio station from home, I think I might consider Nicecast as *the* option.

Not quite Pearl Jam.  Not quite Swearing at Motorists.

New acquisition Wednesday (Updated Thursday):

New acquisitions, aplenty!

The Flatlanders, Live '72.  Oh my!  A gem of a discovery... from the liner notes:  "On the night of this performance, only fifteen or twenty people were in the audience (a good crowd for the '72 Flatlanders)."  Makes me wonder if some of the small-set shows I've seen may yield legends sometime in the future.  Recording quality is good, even through my pitzy PC speakers.  Jimmie Dale's high lonesome featured on most songs.

Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Who Is This America?  Fans of the legendary Fela Kuti will find much to love here.  This was pointed out to me by D-Funk at Grimey's.  It's the sort of album that sells itself -- a perfunctory listen on the in-house system was about all it took to get me to grab this one.  I had to wait until they restocked, but it wasn't a long wait.  Catch Track 3, "The Indictment."  From the same people bringing you Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings.  If I've not mentioned them before, let me throw out that recommendation again (and again, courtesy of D-Funk).  Antibalas can be found on Ropeadope.com or Antibalas.com.

XTC, Transistor Blast.  4CD set of their BBC recordings.  My favorite bit may be the John Peel intro on disc one:

"Hello, my name is John Peel, and on tonight's programme, we're playing cuts from The Slutes, The Slots, The Groan, Exploding Truss, The Blues Bastards, one from The Geckos, uh... Hubert and his Pie-Tones, The Ear, The Nose, The Throat, uh... the Cassowaries from Hell are here; uh, and Inevitable Groin.  Uh, a couple of tracks by up-&-coming beatnik groups tonight... Frank and the Sandalmen, uh, and the Goatees.  The Goatees, incidentally, will have you trading in your parkas and Arab t-shirts for Beduins and Sloppy Joe, limit twelve them, I'm going to assure you.  So, on to tonight's first guests, and they're XTC, uh, and they're here to answer all allegations that they're 1979's answer to The Baron Knights. Well, see what you think."

I am but a mere piker.  John Peel, the hipster's hipster.

Anyhoo -- recording quality, excellent.  Track selections -- excellent (despite some cross-pollination with Fuzzy Warbles).  I think this one's OOP, but I was able to find this for $35 used.

(Coat of Many Cupboards is in the mail!)

Beastie Boys, To the 5 Boroughs.  Y'know, they might want to drop the self-aggrandizing hip hop cliches.  Their political stuff actually works.  I've thought that since Ill Communication, but then again, I'm not one to think that music shouldn't reflect one's politics.  Songs about children and puppies are another matter.  Those are almost never acceptable.  Regarding the album:  I like the more stripped down production here.  In a way, it seems like a tribute to Jam Master Jay's bare-bones style of mix.  Whether this is intentional, I cannot glean from the liner notes.

Nick Lowe, The Convincer.  Yep.  I'm convinced.  Actually, I'd become convinced once I'd found a copy of Party of One.  How I missed Lowe for so long will have to remain one of those personal mysteries.  I doubt that this album has scanned many more more than 20K copies, but as I can be oft-quoted as saying, that's fucking criminal.  Lowe deserves to be recognized as something more than a sidemouse.  Slated to visit Nashville's Belcourt Theatre on 9/21. I have my tickets. 

Sonic Youth (DVD), Corporate Ghost.  Videos from the DGC years, beginning with Goo.  I had no idea most of Goo was out there in video format.  I was especially tripping on the video for "My Friend Goo." Sounds great played really really loud.

Well, hell.  I know that there's more.  I just can't recall what.

GBV final touring schedule is out.  Five legs, 25 stops.  Pick one.  Go.

(If Naz is reading this, I'm considering Carrboro. And if Alan is reading this, I'm also considering Athens.)

A bit of sad news from today:



Jeff Smith, PBS' "The Frugal Gourmet," dead at age 65.

Hadn't heard much out of the Frug since his private woes went public back in 1997. I can't say that I know what drove the guy personally -- but I will say that he pretty much inspired me to get off my ass and to start cooking decent food for myself. I was never all that much for many recipes before I started watching his program, although I did make a dynamite tomato sauce for pasta then. But my repertoire was seriously limited, for sure.

He had a way of making cooking look easy. And he had a goofy manner that normally would have bugged the heck out of me as a viewer, but somehow, it never put me off. Quick with a joke or a smile, he offered practical advice like, "Hot wok, cold oil; food won't stick." I'd even watched some Justin Wilson at that point, although it was the Frug that had me picking up his book, "The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American," and had inspired me put together my first etoufeé. Simple, elegant, and tasty. He was in so many ways what Julia Child and her ilk never were for me: interesting, thoughtful, and motivational.

Even when the recipes weren't 100% on, he'd inspired enough confidence in my practice of cooking to improvise, and to choose my own manner of preparation.

For whatever troubles you had in life, Jeff, you were an important part of my young adult life.

And I bid you peace.

And one more... a laughing gull doing its best imitation of the dove of peace (although it's carrying seagrass rather than an olive branch):

Pair of snowy egrets (Egretta thula) parading in the shallows:

The green heron (Butorides virescens) playing hide & seek on a bridge piling.

A common dunlin (Calidris alpina) scouring an oyster shell bed during the aforementioned 'Teague trip.

A first attempt at bird blogging...

Here's a pair of laughing gulls (Larus atricilla) in the back channel off Chincoteague, VA (7/4/2004):

"Gary Shandling... Gary Shandling... Gary Shandling... Gary Shandling... Gary Shandling..."

Yeah, that's what started through my head when I heard about this nascent revolution. Leave it to me to get a piss-poor Butthole Surfers earworm in my cynical haze.

I know people are pretty pissed about this whole George W. Bush debacle. I sure am. And I've gotten some good righteous anger up about it, and what have I done?

I've read a few books. I've had talks at parties. I've made snarky comments on blogs. I pulled the lever for "the nominee" during the primary. I've gone to a screening of Fahrenheit 9/11. And I've given up a goodly amount of free time with my wife so she can go work on the Kerry campaign.

In other words, not much (aside from the time with my wife, which I miss quite a bit).

First, by way of an overview, my take on the furor over F9/11:

It occurs to me that while conservatives don't want this movie to be seen, most people I've talked with much about this flick on this side of the fence have deep reservations about this movie because of reservations they have about Michael Moore, and have said (in very broad terms) that if this movie is going to be made, it needs to be made differently. At least that's my take on it.

And while some criticism is surely warranted from both sides of the coin, it bugs me that some people hold higher standards for their entertainers in this country than they hold for their elected officials.

As a lifelong INFP, my perceptive side does battle with my ideals a good bit of the time. It's difficult for me to pass judgment on people's considered opinions when I know their hearts are in the right place. But I think maybe, just maybe -- Moore's really onto something and it bears considerable discussion regardless of the warts of his most recent movie. He's talking about the extent to which privilege has become so fully enmeshed with power in our day and age. He's outlining the modern-day conundrum of class here in bravery's home (which isn't supposed to exist, after all). He's talking not so much about the resurgence of imperialism so much as he is talking about how it's coming more out in the open. Conspiracy theories aside, there are points made that the punditocracy greeted with mordant chuckles of "grasping at straws" and "wild conjecture." But still, you gaze upon the [edited for effect] vacant stare [of [the president]] and it does take you to a place where you're staring at the hole in the NYC skyline and you gotta ask, "What in the blue fuck went wrong to let this happen?" I'll be the first to go on record as saying when a Bush -- or anyone, for that matter -- is asking not to hold inquiries into the failures that led up to 9/11/01 that they don't really have "national" security in mind. It's as simple a game as CYA, the same petty micropolitical bullshit that keeps so many of my co-workers in positions of gainful employment. "Ulterior motives?" Uh huh. What a damnable understatement.

Anyway, I heard John Kerry today talking about the scramble of people to reach the middle class, and how much he felt for those people. (I leave assessment of his veracity to the fertile imagination of whosoever decides to read this wriggling bit of mental effluvium.) But it struck me that this statement belies a huge truth: upward mobility is The Struggle which defines so much in American life for the underprivileged 98%. And hell, there's no mention of the middle class either trying to work its way forward, nor is there any mention of how many in the so-called middle class is scrabbling and scrapping in order to keep even the bare modicum of what that status accords today. Much of that is borne as high-interest unsecured loans, revolving at the hands of MegaCorpBank (conveniently located at the corner of Usury and Shylock in a town near you).

So I look to this November with significant trepidation. I really don't believe Bush has my best interests at heart, so I will dutifully pull the lever for Kerry (add /Edwards after this morning). But do I believe that things will change significantly? I struggle with that. When confronted with that question... say I'm discussing the effects of jobs moving overseas, and major employers running their HQ from bank boxes in Grand Cayman... do I believe that John Forbes Kerry will lift the first finger to put an end to that practice? My Majick Mental 8-Ball says "No."

And when confronted with the idea that Bush might win, with some apparent hijinks afoot -- will there be an ensuing revolution? Again, the 8-Ball says little to reassure me. But I'm supposed to ask again later.

But then again, the 8-Ball is about as reliable as a NY Post VP cover story. So I suppose that's about as good as it gets.

And that's gotta be good enough for now.

OK, so -- without much more ado...

August 24 is going to be one heck of a day for music.

Mike Watt & the Secondmen will release The Secondman's Middle Stand. 'Bout time, y'all.

Guided by Voices will release Half Smiles of the Decomposed, the final album of their storied career. (I tend to believe that Bob's had it with the GbV vehicle, but god knows what else will come of Circus Devils, Lifeguards, Acid Ranch, Airport 5, Go Back Snowball, The Soft Rock Renegades, Howling Wolf Orchestra, Hazzard Hotrods, Nightwalker, Lexo & The Leapers, or bands yet to be named. Tour shortly to follow, reportedly. Bet your ass I'll be there, wherever they get somewhat close. Watch out for me in Carrboro, Athens, Louisville, Birmingham, Memphis...)

And Steve Earle releases The Revolution Starts... Now. (Sheeya. If only.) But with song titles like, "F the CC," I can imagine that this one's going to be a barnburner. Hopefully this CD will take up where Jerusalem fell short.

And speaking of the revolution...

Consistency was never one of my strongest suits.

That said, I have few excuses for not updating this blog on a regular basis. I will, however, outline what the few of them are.

1) This was hardly meant to be a profession. I have a profession, and unfortunately, my unfettered internet access went fettered a while back. The web nanny even caught on to my blog once I tried doing my own FTPs and not relying on Blogspot to host ORO.

2) Inspiration is difficult to come by when (a) you grapple with long-term self-doubt issues like someone like me does, (b) you grapple with emotional troughs that embolden those old self-invalidating voices, and (c) when you just don't wanna. Somewhere along those lines lies the truth of the matter.

3) I figure that if I'm blogging more than The High Hat comes out with new material, I'm doing fairly well.

Yet I have figured out a few things to say, and then I'll figure out where I wanna go from here.

Technobabble Turns the Table

Is this Andy?

Yep. What's going on?

Yeah, this here's Terrell from World Motors. Wanted to talk to you about your car.

Is there something wrong? I just brought it in for an oil change and filter.

Well, yeah, but while we had 'er up on the lift, we noticed a problem. Looks like you goin' a need a Johnson bar retrofit.

Johnson bar?

Yeah. Helluva thing.

I've never heard of that. I hadn't noticed that there was a problem.

Well, naw. You wouldn't. These Johnson bars are part of the vertical torsion expanders on these newer vehicles. And you don't quite notice a problem in the VTE until it's too late. It'll look right 'n all, but when it comes down to it, and you throw that dang Johnson bar, car'll never run right again.

How does that happen?

Well, usually you start getting slippage in the centrifugal limiter bearing. That's the piece in the VTE where the Johnson bar connects to the pinometric unit.

Uh... huh. So what's the problem?

Johnson bar's bent.

Can't you just straighten it?

Well, you could, but s'posin' I did, I just wouldn't feel right about it. And you shouldn't be all that comfortable either. These just ain't any good once you've bent 'em once. You'll start just wearin' the tires out on your right side.

I see. I thought we went through this the last time -- something in the electrical system?

No, that was the Jackson harness. (keyboard tapping) Yep. And there's no indication you need to do anything thataways this time.

Can I get these used? After-market?

Uh, y'see, well, y'could. Technically. But you don't want none-a them Korean Johnson bars. Lotsa those come pre-vexed, and once you go 'n try 'n bias 'em, thing just don't wanna go in. Same goes for the used ones.

Is this something I can do myself? I can get a Chilton manual and...

Oh, man. Be sure you know what you're doin'. And just be careful when you do, cause when you back off that Johnson nut, the CLB is loaded up in a spring-mount. That'll just come a-flyin' outta there like a wild Slinky, and then you'd have a real goddamn mess on your hands, 'scuse my language. That's somethin' they don't tell ya in that manual. You'll also need a #5 sprocket wrangle, and it's gonna have to be reverse-threaded, cuz you got one of these imports, now...

OK, OK, OK. Sounds like too much work. Guess I'll go with the retrofit.

Yeah. Good call. I'm thinkin'... (typing keyboard) three hours labor, Johnson bar, vexed, biased... comes to about an even grand. I think you'll also want to go with the chromalated limiter bearing too, but I'll throw that in for you. Have it to you in... lessee... three days.

Uh... OK.

Thank you for your business! We sure appreciate ya.

Moved to a new location... bookmark this path...

Sue Gets a Hold of Hatch's Snake!

That was the adult content for Week 13? One weensie little pixellated teabagging?



So long, Hatch. Look forward to seeing what you have in store for final TC.

"Food! Food, food, food..." I love it. Even in defeat, I salute you.

Sinus infection redux. Does someone have a home remedy to recommend? Flonase only offers temporary relief, and most any OTC medication containing decongestants knocks me out. (This is the second go-round of the bug I've had since mid-January. Blugh.)

Much drama from the office today. Maybe someday I can fully disclose what's going on, but as it stands, I don't have many options. I'll just leave it at that, and say, whew. Stressful day.

Perhaps I can consider this recent tenure as résumé-gussy-up material. It is incredibly frustrating, especially being surrounded by people with decades of tenure. My recent go-round at WCOM was the longest stint I've had anywhere. I'm beginning to believe that the wave of the future (other than outsourcing, anyway) is working a series of jobs for relatively short (~5 year) periods. It's basically long-term temp work. Hey, low-wage earners can't escape it, so exempt employees may as well be next.

Next task: Figure out how to distill Concord Network E-Health reports in other ways, using only Microsoft Excel, because there's no way someone's going to drop $10K in my lap to get a decent statistical analysis package. (You'd think someone would learn how to use the custom options inherent in Concord, but nooooooooooooo.)

OK, whine mode disengaged.

On to Bosco's for a few semi-cold ones. I hope they have the Altbier in the cask.

Why does no movie theater carry these anymore?



Thankfully, Target does, although I'd happily pay $2 for a box of Jujyfruits at the local Regal. Gummi Bears are but a pale substitute.

Y'know, I really need to drag out my old cassettes.

When I started amassing anything remotely resembling my own music collection, I was a cassette tape fanatic. That coincides with my favored mode of listening to music at the time, which was jacked into a Walkman.

I probably have something on the order of 300 - 400 factory cassettes, and heaven only knows how many dubs.

I've been considering a number of ideas for submissions to the next HH issue, and one of them is how the music of my youth stands up for me today. After recently acquiring a copy of Bad Brains I Against I, and having listened the bits off the disc, I gotta say that it holds up for me like a comfy pair of Doc Martens. Going even further back, I have found that even Adam Ant still has this thing for me which transcends nostalgia. That is, I can listen to this stuff today, and it appeals to me in ways that I would not have even expected at the age of 17. At least, I don't think so. 17-year-old me hardly conceived of making it to 21, much less 35.

Which, by the way, I surpassed that mark on Feb. 6 -- sharing my day of birth with Babe Ruth, Bob Marley, Tom Brokaw, and ... Ronald Reagan.

New (to me) acquisitions on compact disc:

Tommy Womack, Positively Na Na (Checkered Past, 1998). For those of you who've read my screed in The High Hat's #3 issue, you'll already know that I like Tommy's work. This CD is no exception. Of particular note is his paean to The Dead Boys et. al, "Whatever Happened to Cheetah Chrome?" His tale of childhood revenge fantasies, "Skinny & Small," is also a lot of fun. That's what you get with Tommy. Fun. (I'm serious, find yourself a copy of Cheese Chronicles if you like music, and you like a good laugh. This book is a fast read, and it's indispensible if you've ever longed to live the rock 'n roll life.)

Superchunk, Tossing Seeds (Singles 88 - 91) (Merge, 1991). What I know about Superchunk could fill a thimble. Common wisdom says that if you're going to check them out, look to their early stuff. Based on at least 4 listens, I would say that's worthwhile advice. Crunching guitars, intelligent pop lyrics, uptempo bruisers. I can see what the fuss was about.

Joe Ely, Streets of Sin (Rounder, 2003). Venerable rocker in cowboy boots sneaks a release in under the radar, just as The Flatlanders issue their 3rd album (Wheels of Fortune, (New West, 2004)) in 3 decades and change. It's encouraged me to dig out copies of Musta Notta Gotta Lotta and Honky Tonk Masquerade. Joe's style might not be as juke-joint-shakin' as his "Fingernails" era output, but this is worth having if you're a fan. And I'm a fan.

Guided By Voices, Jellyfish Reflector (live recording, 1996). From the Under the Bushes, Under the Stars tour. Gotta say, this one doesn't grab my attention until they run through what they call their "new stuff." Maybe that's because that's about the time Bob would have gotten a decent buzz on. This is so-so quality bootage. It sounds OK, but Bob loses pitch a few too many times for my taste. I do like 'em live, but as the saying goes, "You really had to be there." RIYL GbV, otherwise, it's an easy pass.

Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Beasts of No Nation/O.D.O.O. (FAK via MCA Recordings, 2001). Two half-hour cuts, zero bullshit.

Awright, awright, awright.



I get it. But I didn't know you people actually checked these things.

I need a two-piece & a biscuit...

1) If you were making a soundtrack for your life so far – this song would have to be on it.
"The Good Earth" -- The Feelies. It'd be easy enough to list a bunch of songs about women who've managed to break my heart, but this one is from a particularly rough patch in my life. It was a few days after my dad died; I'd put this cassette into my Walkman and jacked it into the stereo so I wouldn't have to listen through headphones. My baby sister, Emma, started dancing along when this song came on. There's something of a relief from watching a 3-year-old bouncing around the house, rather than the other recent events.

2) A song from one of the CDs currently in your 1) car stereo 2) portable CD player 3) stereo (No MP3 or iPod players, just cause)
"Chains of Love" -- Dirtbombs Disc 1, Track 1 in the car six-loader. This is from an album of soul covers entitled Ultraglide in Black. Furious fuzz and percussion. Word has it they give great live show.

3) A song from the first album, cassette, or CD (whichever was first or the oldest that you still have access to) that you purchased for yourself.
"Dog Eat Dog" -- Adam & The Ants. I actually bought two that day; my first couple of purchases of cassettes with my own money were Men At Work Business as Usual and Adam & the Ants Kings of the Wild Frontier. So it was a toss-up between these, and A&tA won because I recently copped an Adam Ant comp. The music is actually better than I remember, which is often not the case with my nostalgia kicks. The stuff from Dirk Wears White Sox is especially worthy of a re-listen, especially in this age of garage redux.

4) A song without a word in its title. (i.e. numbers or acronyms)
"6V6 LA" -- The Meters. This is from a cutout bin snag at a Camelot Records in Boulder, CO. Camelot always did have the best bargain bin stuff of the chains (at least until Media Play came around), but this is by far one of the coolest things I've ever bought for super-cheap. I think it stayed in my disc magazine for 3 months.

5) A song from the year you were born (we’ll take written, recorded, or released)
"Here Comes the Sun" -- The Beatles. Significant for any number of reasons, but I'll take this one: When I was growing up, I was often given the option of what I wanted to listen to before naptime. I had my choice between Rod Stewart's Every Picture Tells A Story, The Beatles Sgt. Pepper, or "Apple Beatles," which was how I referred to Abbey Road. This song also begins what is probably one of the most perfect LP B-sides ever pressed.

6) A song with the name of someone in this music swap in it (doesn’t have to be in the title)
"William, It Was Really Nothing" -- The Smiths. My tribute to William Ham.

7) A song in a language other than English.
"Cerebro Electronico" -- Gilberto Gil. As far as so-called world music is concerned, I don't know how easily one can top the sheer force of Gil. From the LP 1969, coincidentally the year of my birth...

8) A song with a city or state/province name (countries don’t count).
"Ft. Worth Blues" -- Steve Earle. Earle's tribute to the late, great Townes Van Zandt. If you ever get the chance to see this performed on the Austin City Limits tribute to Townes, check it out.

9) Say you're planning a multi-day road trip, this song could go on every mix you make for the trip.
"Kit Kat Clock" -- Bottle Rockets. Catchy, head-bopping country pop from their 24 Hours a Day LP.

10) A song by a local artist.
"Message from the Birds" -- The Bees. Not to be confused with the Nuggets act. These guys kinda fall into the low-blood-sugar category, but their album is positively infectious. It's sorta emo music, minus 72.6% self-indulgent navel-gazing. Features the ample talents of Daniel Tashian.

11) A song with a color in the title (bonus points for pink, negative points for raspberry beret)
"Betty Was Black (And Willie Was White)" -- Bis-Quits. And a two-fer for this category. Written by Tommy Womack, a straight-up delta-fried blues rawka about the realities of interracial relationships. I dig the rhymes in this song, especially the couplet, "Fell in a bottle of Tanqueray/Fell in love that very day."

12) It’s 5am, your alarm is going off, this song would still make you smile.
"Cruel to be Kind" -- Nick Lowe. It's unfair that Lowe gets pigeonholed as a one-hit wonder as the result of having just this one hit, but despite its overexposure on MTV, this song still holds up as a pop masterwork. I suppose if you're going to have one hit, this ain't a bad one to have.

13) Either a cover you thought was an original or an original you thought was a cover (identify in case we may not know which & if a cover, identify the original artist)
"Freddie's Dead" -- Fishbone (Curtis Mayfield). The first time I heard the original was on some moldy-oldies AM station out of Chicago driving down the Eisenhower Expressway on the way back from work one night. I had to ask someone who was performing this tune, as up until then, I'd thought Fishbone had written this song. I was unfamiliar with Curtis Mayfield at the time, but in fairness, I gotta say that the 'Bone made this song their own.

14) A song that is about a specific movie or book or at least mentions a specific movie or book. (identify which one if it is not mentioned by name)
"Solar Sister" -- The Posies. The first line points out Theodore Dreiser's first work, Sister Carrie.

15) WILDCARD
"Self-Referenced/West Germany"-- Nels Cline Trio. This is one of the few covers of a Minutemen song which captures the fury of D. Boon at his best, and even improves upon it.

16) A song that has reached number one on a Billboard chart (state which chart and when).
"Rapture" -- Blondie (Hot 100, 1981). I had to dip into the wife's CD collection to come up with this one.

17) It’s a little bit country/it’s a little bit rock and roll – this song doesn’t fit a category as far as you’re concerned.
"Back Screen Door" -- Pat McLaughlin. Pat's been referred to as "the Van Morrison of Nashville." He can rock with the best of them, but he's also got a folksy feel to a lot of his music when he's not bluesy or just a shade left of country. The lyrics are intelligent, and you will seldom see an artist work harder on the stage.

18) I hate the artist, but I love the song.
"To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)" -- Ryan Adams. This is a bit of a cheat, as I really like a lot of Adams' work. It's just that he's such a colossal asshole that it's hard to be too worked up about his stuff. I really don't care much for him, but his work is impressive. Not only impressive, but almost instantly classic.

19) Wha? If anyone can tell me what this song is about, give me a call. (no fair using Mansfield Park)
"Lady Sniff" -- Butthole Surfers. "Pass me some of that dumbass over there, yeah boy." Near as I can tell, this is a send-up of a homeless blues artist who speaks in expressionist phrase.

20) Guilty Pleasure or I am embarrassed that I like it song.
"Two Tickets To Paradise" -- Eddie Money. Actually, I'm almost proud to admit that I like this song -- the studio work is impeccable, particularly the rhythm section work. It's just too bad that most of his other stuff is such twee crap.

*Bonus tracks – if you have the room and the inclination you can include any or all of these rare and never before mentioned bonus tracks.

21) TV theme song
"In The Street" -- Big Star (redone by Cheap Trick). From That 70's Show.

22) An unrequited love song.
Would have been "Untouchable Face" -- Ani Difranco had I had the room. Scrubbed, as was optional.

23) A song you love just for the title.
"I Married Her Just Because She Looks Like You" -- Lyle Lovett. Another artist which I find difficult to categorize instantly, even though he's most often lumped in the country category.

24) stumper?
"15 Kinds of Fool" -- Persian Rugs. Australian quartet comprised of ex-Hoodoo Gurus.

Welcome to 2004. High time for a blog update. First of all, there's a new face. The template needs some work, but I'll wait until I have a little more time to play with Dreamweaver to make that happen. As it is, lo-fi suits my needs.

Since last update: Married. Went to Australia. (The thumbnails are temporarily screwed up, and I'll get on that as well, but as it is, feel free to browse a few pictures from New Year's Eve. If you click on the pictures, you'll get the correct underlying photo, so don't be surprised.) Wedding photos are available by request; get with me via normal channels if you wanna make that happen.

I'm currently playing with my new favorite toy: The TiVo, with Home Media Option installed. Here's what makes that really cool: I can stream my entire iTunes catalog through the stereo over the home area network, by way of the TiVo. I can also view iPhoto libraries as slideshows. And you thought Powerpoint was boring!

Upcoming events:

Tennessee Primary, 2/10/04. John Kerry is in it to win it. Watch this space for other insights as the season develops.

Recent CD purchases:

Wayne "The Train" Hancock, Swing Time. Live set from the Continental Club, Austin, TX. Fun set.

The Kentucky Colonels, Livin' in the Past. If you like bluegrass and have not heard the White Brothers (Clarence & Roland), you owe it to yourself to check this out.

Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros, Streetcore. Initial listenings are way way way positive. I feel incredibly guilty for having taken Joe for granted. I doubt he knew this would be his final release, but it's a fitting memorial nonetheless.

Dos, Justamente Tres. Mike Watt & Kira exchange bass licks. The version of "Do You Want New Wave..." is worth the price alone.

Also -- find a copy of anything put out by the Detroit combo, The Dirtbombs. Ultraglide In Black is especially compelling. Funk & soul covers with a heavy layer of fuzz. The sweat is implied. They're appearing at the Exit/In this March, and I will be getting my ass there.

I'll do my best to do better at this in the near future. No promises, though.