No One Knows My Plan

Crowded House - Intriguer (2010)

2010-07-23T10:46:00.006-04:00

It wasn't until I was halfway through the fourth listen of Crowded House's latest CD Intriguer that I reconsidered my original opinion that I didn't like it as much as 2007's Time On Earth. Every review I've seen of it has mentioned that it takes repeated listens to begin to appreciate it's merits, so it seems that a lot of listeners are having a similar experience.

Intriguer is one of the classic Crowded House albums, and possibly the very best one. The arrangements are both stripped-down and lush all at the same time. I'm not sure how they did that, but it is proof that it can be done. There are some beautiful keyboard arrangements, especially in "Archer's Arrows" and "Either Side of the World," the latter being impossible to describe and must be heard to be believed - a really stunning track. Keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Mark Hart deserves some credit for laying down his tracks with generous amounts of finesse. A few songs feature some quite Beatlesque twists and turns and a few distorted, in-your-face guitar solos. There are lots of surprises, which is probably why this CD takes so long to process.

Clocking in at only 40 minutes, Intriguer is short but seems to be exactly long enough. It's not perfect, as there are a few engineering imperfections that bother me slightly. There are some distorted sound effects at the beginning of the opening track "Saturday Sun" that, along with the over-modulated bass track, give the illusion that the drums are distorted. The drums in "Even If," a beautiful, sparsely-arranged track, are played softly but cranked up loud in the mix, making them seem too harsh. These few sonic distractions aside, this is a very strong release from Crowded House and is highly recommended.

A change in direction for this blog...

2010-07-16T11:21:00.003-04:00

There has been a lot of political content in this blog in the past, but I have decided to shift the focus to short, concise CD reviews and recommendations. My first web site, Todd Town (1998-1998), was a music review site, but it was short-lived because I had trouble writing reviews that were less than 5000 words. Therefore, I would put off writing them and I never made much progress. This time I'll try to reel myself in and keep things brief, but still informative and hopefully entertaining.

Look for a new post in the next few days!

Republicanism- a Certifiable Failure

2008-11-13T01:45:00.001-05:00

Now THIS is satisfying!

In Honor Of Tim Russert

2008-06-15T01:23:00.004-04:00

Not many people know this, but I am an admirer of the late Tim Russert. I'd like to share with everyone something I submitted to the online political web site Democratic Underground. DU can be a great place to learn about what's happening in politics right at the moment, but it can also be a very mean place. During the last few days, many on DU, who are overly (and unfairly) critical of Tim Russert, have been suggesting that it is inappropriate of NBC News/MSNBC to be paying tribute to Russert for such a long period of time.

What follows is my Democratic Underground post of 6/15 on this topic:

I've been lurking on DU for about five years now, and just began participating in late 2006. I think I have about 80 or so posts, but no original posts - until this one.

I've seen some pretty ugly stuff on this site in the past five years, but I think it takes an extraordinary amount of callousness to suggest that it's out of line for NBC News/MSNBC to spend a few days paying tribute to their leader, the late Tim Russert.

I'd like for those who are so disturbed by the tribute to take a moment and imagine one of their co-workers collapsing on the job from a fatal heart attack. Imagine what it would feel like to know that there was nothing that you could do to help him. Imagine knowing that the assistance that his expertise provided you on a daily basis - the assistance that you counted on to get your own work accomplished - would disappear forever. If you worked in television news and this happened in your office, what would you do?

There have been many people who have said things like "I feel for his family, but I don't like his politics." These people don't know shit about Tim Russert's politics. He was a professional journalist, and asking difficult questions and holding people's feet to the fire was his job, no matter who was sitting in the opposite chair. Do I think he should have done more to expose the people that have nearly destroyed this country? Sure I do. Do I think he should have played the tape of Senator Obama leading the Senate in the Pledge Of Allegiance and shut down the flag pin controversy once and for all? Sure I do.

We don't know what Tim Russert's party affiliation was. He was most likely a Democrat, given his upbringing and his early professional career. It was his job to be unbiased. Those who think he was a "GOP water carrier" are delusional. The guy had class, and he did everything he could to remain objective and neutral. Maybe he didn't always succeed. Would you have always succeeded?

I read Tim Russert's first book, Big Russ and Me. It's an excellent book. It's very touching, and it has a lot of background information that explains where he was coming from on a personal and a professional level. It touched me personally because I was born in Buffalo, too. Those of us from Buffalo tend to defend each other. That should be easy for anyone to understand.

A lot of us here on DU look up to Keith Olbermann, as do I. Keith looked up to Tim Russert, and considered him to be a professional inspiration and a good friend. I'm sure Keith knows Russert's character better than any of us do.

I'm going to hang out here on DU for a few more days, and then I think I'm out of here. Why? Friday, while talking to a good friend (a progressive friend) about Tim Russert's death, we started talking about who might replace Russert on Meet The Press. My friend suggested David Gregory. I immediately started going on about how Gregory was a hack, a republican enabler that danced on a stage with Karl Rove - all stuff I read about here on DU. My friend looked at me like I had lost my mind. Then later that evening I watched David Gregory on television, talking about what his friend Tim meant to him, while fighting back tears. There's nothing wrong with David Gregory - he's just a guy trying to do his job - much like you or me. My friend is right - sometimes I do act like I've lost my mind. I think this place is making me mean.

I'm sure that further down this page I'll be accused of being a "repug" and a "concern troll," whatever the hell that is. I know that no one cares if I ever post again. But one thing is certain - I don't want to be associated with any group of people who think it's appropriate to tell me or anyone else how to mourn, or for how long.

Rest peacefully, Tim. I'll miss you.

Moving The Goalposts

2008-05-06T10:19:00.004-04:00

I'm breaking my "no-political-blog-posts-until-after-a-Democratic-nominee-has-been-chosen" pledge for this excellent analysis of who matters and who doesn't matter, according to the Clinton campaign.

Seriously - when is this televised train wreck ever going to end? It's like watching a loop of Joe Theisman's leg breaking non-stop for four months.

You weren't expecting a sports analogy, were you?

Happy Easter!

2008-03-31T23:26:00.003-04:00

Even though Easter was over a week ago, it's never too late to get that warm, fuzzy feeling.

On The Same Side

2008-03-24T09:51:00.007-04:00

I spent this past weekend with a good friend and her partner, who is an enthusiastic supporter of Senator Clinton. As we began to discuss and defend our respective candidates of choice, I was reminded of why I am a Democrat in the first place.

Why are we Democrats?

We see and understand the world beyond our borders, and our view of that world is not based on empty nationalism.

We want to end war, especially war based on lies.

We are not racist, sexist or homophobic.

We want all children to have an equal shot at getting a good education.

We want all people to have equal access to healthcare.

We think that no one should be poor, especially if they work.

Hillary Clinton's supporters have the same goals that those of us who support Barack Obama have. They are our sisters and brothers, and they share our desire to give our country hope instead of fear, and pride instead of shame.

I recently posted on this blog a plea to Senator Clinton to drop out of the primary race. I have removed that post. There will be no more discussion of politics on this blog until a nominee has been chosen.

I still believe in Barack Obama, and I will continue to support him. But I want my new friend to know that I will be happy if Hillary Clinton becomes our President.

Oh - and if you ever find yourself arguing about Democratic primary politics with a fellow Democrat and you want to shift the conversation back to our common goal of defeating Republicans, just start making fun of Fred Thompson.

Try it - it's easy, and it really works!

A More Perfect Union

2008-03-19T00:46:00.005-04:00

From Barack Obama's speech on race in America as delivered in Philadelphia, PA on March 18th, 2008:

I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation - the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.

There is one story in particularly that I'd like to leave you with today - a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.

There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.

And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.

She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.

Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.

Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."

"I'm here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.

This is how a President talks.

Dare to hope, and be proud of it

2008-03-02T02:35:00.004-05:00

"If one candidate is trying to scare you and the other one is trying to get you to think, if one candidate is appealing to your fears and the other one is appealing to your hopes, you better vote for the person who wants you to think and hope."

- Bill Clinton, 2004

Hillary Clinton is asking people to think that those of us that have been inspired by Barack Obama have been duped by a smooth-talking politician. She is saying that it's foolish for us to hope, or to envision a country where we put red-state/blue-state divisions behind us. Can you think of anything more insulting to those of us who choose to follow our hearts?

What would have become of FDR or JFK if they had a same-party primary opponent constantly hammering their supporters with the notion that it's foolish or naive to hope for something better?

This is bad politics delivered by a desperate candidate.

Reject it.

Si Se Puede Cambiar

2008-02-27T19:47:00.001-05:00

YES, WE CAN.

2008-02-05T09:17:00.000-05:00

I Stand Corrected

2008-01-25T18:11:00.000-05:00

My hero, journalist Keith Olbermann, always corrects himself when he makes a mistake, and it's time for me to put Keith's example into practice. In my review of the Styx concert posted below, I suggested that keyboardist Lawrence Gowan fell short of playing all of the keyboard parts on "Suite Madame Blue" because he was too busy posturing like a rock star.

Upon further review of the original recording it turns out that Gowan did play all the parts that exist during that song. And, if my memory serves me, Dennis DeYoung used to leave the keyboards and stand center stage during the middle part of the song as well. I've recently seen a YouTube video of Styx playing "Suite Madame Blue" at Wild Bill's in January 2007 that features Gowan in excellent voice, so I'd also like to apologize for saying that he sounds like an elf/chipmunk hybrid.

Maybe we wasn't feeling well. It is cold and flu season.

"Styx"

2008-01-21T00:44:00.000-05:00

I went to see "Styx" this past Friday night at Wild Bill's in Duluth, GA. While I usually believe that most people in bands are replaceable, in this case I call them "Styx" because this theatrical 1970's band is currently a shadow of it's former self. It's obvious that they are running from their progressive and theatrical past - personified by former keyboardist/vocalist/composer Dennis DeYoung.

Guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw, a solid and consistent performer, was good as usual. Lead guitarist James Young (who I expected to be annoying as usual) was surprising good as well, even though I continue to be uninspired by his leads. Bassist Ricky Phillips (formerly of The Babys and Bad English) looked out of place with his embarrassing Kid Rock hairstyle - he made no impression on me at all. Drummer Todd Sucherman was excellent, although he has a tendency to overplay during some of Styx's historically understated rhythm section arrangements.

This brings us to keyboardist/vocalist Lawrence Gowan. I have been told many times that this guy is a dynamic performer that "sounds just like Dennis." What I saw and heard was a guy in an ill-fitting jacket that might be able to find a way to play all of the keyboard parts if he could find the time between all the rock star poses. Lawrence played all the lead keyboard solos just fine. However, that's all he played, besides a little Hammond or piano here and there. During "Suite Madame Blue," a keyboard mainstay, he started at his rig, then moved to center stage for more posturing, then ran back to the keyboard for the analog synth solo. He made no attempt to play any of the orchestration. James Young had a keyboard rig himself that I assume was there for this purpose, but I never heard anything that he was playing.

Gowan is a pretty high-energy performer, but he's all about the image. And his vocals? Well, I won't mince words - he sounds like an elf. Or a chipmunk. I couldn't decide. Because of Shaw and Young's obvious attempts to de-emphasize any Styx tracks that might be construed as "wussy," Gowan sings "Lady," "Suite Madame Blue" and "Come Sail Away" and that's about it. There was no "The Best of Times," no "Babe," no "Show Me the Way" and no "Don't Let it End." (James Young singing "Lorelei" was a curious decision that I don't understand.) I guarantee you that if Dennis DeYoung (who I saw live a few years ago) had walked out on that stage and sang "The Best of Times," everyone in that rowdy crowd who thinks that Gowan "sounds like Dennis" would have been totally silent.

The best thing about the show was the hoped-for-but-not-expected appearance by original Styx bassist Chuck Panozzo. 60 year old Panozzo looked like a million dollars - muscular and confident. It was only while Panozzo was on stage that Styx looked like Styx. He only played two songs, but it made the whole show worth seeing for me.

Overall, it was an okay show with a few pleasant setlist surprises, like "Crystal Ball" played all the way through, and "Boat on the River." However, the band sounded sloppy and under-rehearsed. I'm glad I went, because I have been very curious about what it would be like to see them in 2008.

Safety first, Mitt...

2007-10-18T10:26:00.000-04:00

Is it wrong to love a photograph this much?

Consider this to be a photo captioning contest.

Have fun!

Oh, for the love...

2007-09-02T01:25:00.000-04:00

My dear friend Kassi Dallmann passed away suddenly on Friday, August 17th, 2007. She was 28 years old.

Kassi sat next to me at DG Systems in Chicago, where we were both assigned to the McDonald's advertising distribution team. It could be a stressful job, but Kassi helped to make it fun. When she would get frustrated, she would exclaim "Oh, for the LOVE!" I always laughed out loud whenever she said that, and I actually stole the phrase from her because I was so fond of it - always giving her credit, of course. Whenever Kassi had a day off or called in sick, it would ruin my day.

Kassi was also a working actress in the Chicago area independent theater scene. She leaves behind a fiance and many, many friends who will miss her terribly. She and I had been exchanging occasional e-mails for a few months before she passed. I'm so grateful that we had stayed in touch.

She'll never know how much I liked her. Or maybe she does know.

Goodbye, sweet girl. I hope your transition was peaceful.

2007 DCI Championship Finals

2007-08-13T01:16:00.000-04:00

The 2007 Drum Corps International competitive season is now complete. Another typically solid performance by the 1st place Blue Devils sealed the deal for them. Thankfully, the whiny, preachy and downright cheesy show The Cadets gave us didn't win it for them this year. It wasn't narration that ruined their show, it was bad narration.

Defending champions The Cavaliers came in third, but no one really knows why. They had great Billy Joel music, but what were the guard uniforms supposed to represent? Waiters? Limo drivers? And why did they win the high guard caption award?

Fourth place Phantom Regiment probably should have placed second, and they should have won the percussion caption. Fifth place winners Santa Clara Vanguard were stunning as usual - a victim of too much stiff competition. They were much improved since mid-season.

Carolina Crown's show made me wonder how a corp can put on a show that good and not win. The Bluecoats showed how economical use of amplified narration could be an asset and not a detraction, and at 94.050 they had the highest scoring 7th place finish in DCI's 35 year history.

The Blue Knights were competitive but not memorable, and the Boston Crusaders (also much improved since mid-season) probably should have beaten them. The Colts put on a solid, crowd pleasing show with excellent music, and The Glassmen had without a doubt the most flattering guard uniforms I've ever seen. Spirit from JSU's gorgeous music charts kept them in the top 12.

At #13, The Academy blew me away. Very aggressive, they will probably knock someone out of the top 12 next year. The Blue Star's curious uniform choices probably hurt their scores, but it's still great to have them back.

A 15th place finish for the Madison Scouts was this season's surprise. They have always been fan favorites, and when crowds complain that they are getting robbed (as they like to do), I usually disagree. This year, however, I think they actually did get robbed. I liked their super-cool rock music program and innovative guard concept. In fact, I thought their guard was much better than The Cavaliers, who won that caption. I also loved the drill, with it's partial Fleur De Lis motif. It was an innovative show that should have scored higher.

16th place Crossmen could always come back much stronger next year, and Pacific Crest's "What Happens in Vegas..." show was fun to watch.

Here are the scores:

DCI Division I Finals 8/11/07:

1. Blue Devils 98.000

2. The Cadets 97.025

3. The Cavaliers 96.350

4. Phantom Regiment 94.850

5. Santa Clara Vanguard 94.175

6. Carolina Crown 94.150

7. Bluecoats 94.050

8. Blue Knights 90.275

9. Boston Crusaders 89.100

10. Colts 86.150

11. Glassmen 85.750

12. Spirit from JSU 84.500

DCI Division I Semifinals 8/10/07:

1. Blue Devils 97.300

2. The Cadets 97.250

3. The Cavaliers 96.775

4. Phantom Regiment 95.400

5. Santa Clara Vanguard 94.050

6. Carolina Crown 93.875

7. Bluecoats 93.750

8. Blue Knights 90.450

9. Boston Crusaders 89.450

10. Glassmen 87.025

11. Colts 87.000

12. Spirit from JSU 85.500

13. The Academy 84.500

14. Blue Stars 84.350

15. Madison Scouts 81.850

16. Crossmen 81.600

17. Pacific Crest 79.525

Photo courtesy of Drum Corps International.

For more information, visit http://www.dci.org/

Dr. Brian May

2007-07-30T00:34:00.000-04:00

It is rocket science!

Queen guitarist Brian May turned 60 on July 19th, and soon he will have another milestone to celebrate. In May 2008, Brian is expected to receive his Ph.D. in astrophysics. Brian turns in his thesis, "Radical Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud," in just a few days. He will defend it on August 23rd.

Brian was an astrophysics student at Imperial College when Queen was formed in 1970. He stopped his degree pursuit shortly thereafter.

You can read more about Brian's accomplishment here:

http://www.space.com/news/070726_ap_queen_phd.html

Brian May is good people, and he's not a fan of George W. Bush or the war either. You can read his highly personal blog, Bri's Soapbox, here:

http://www.brianmay.com/brian/brianssb/brianssb.html

Here's a link to Brian checking out Genesis' Twickenham gig:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7uHRbeaGa0&mode=related&search=

Also, Queen + Paul Rodgers is nine songs into a new studio album that should be ready in 2008!

Keith Olbermann: "The truth shall prevail"

2007-07-20T00:17:00.000-04:00

For those of you who have never seen it, sportscaster Keith Olbermann anchors a nightly news program on MSNBC called Countdown. Mr. Olbermann has been compared to legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow many times, and with good reason. Occasionally, Keith will give a "special comment" editorial, usually at the end of the show. Last night's special comment (7/19) aired at the beginning of the show. A link to the MSNBC web site transcript and video link appears at the bottom of this post - I highly recommend watching the video.

Rather than gush about how great Olbermann is and how much I love him, I'll let his words speak for themselves:

It is one of the great, dark, evil lessons, of history.

A country — a government — a military machine — can screw up a war seven ways to Sunday. It can get thousands of its people killed. It can risk the safety of its citizens. It can destroy the fabric of its nation.

But as long as it can identify a scapegoat, it can regain or even gain power.

The Bush administration has opened this Pandora’s Box about Iraq. It has found its scapegoats: Hillary Clinton and us.

The lies and terror tactics with which it deluded this country into war — they had nothing to do with the abomination that Iraq has become. It isn’t Mr. Bush’s fault.

The selection of the wrong war, in the wrong time, in the wrong place — the most disastrous geopolitical tactic since Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia in 1914 and destroyed itself in the process — that had nothing to do with the overwhelming crisis Iraq has become. It isn’t Mr. Bush’s fault.

The criminal lack of planning for the war — the total “jump-off-a-bridge-and-hope-you-can-fly” tone to the failure to anticipate what would follow the deposing of Saddam Hussein — that had nothing to do with the chaos in which Iraq has been enveloped. It isn’t Mr. Bush’s fault.

The utter, blinkered idiocy of “staying the course,” of sending Americans to Iraq and sending them a second time, and a third and a fourth, until they get killed or maimed — the utter de-prioritization of human life, simply so a politician can avoid having to admit a mistake — that had nothing to do with the tens of thousand individual tragedies darkening the lives of American families, forever. It isn’t Mr. Bush’s fault.

The continuing, relentless, remorseless, corrupt and cynical insistence that this conflict somehow is defeating or containing or just engaging the people who attacked us on 9/11, the total “Alice Through the Looking Glass” quality that ignores that in Iraq, we have made the world safer for al-Qaida — it isn’t Mr. Bush’s fault!

The fault, brought down, as if a sermon from this mount of hypocrisy and slaughter by a nearly anonymous undersecretary of defense, has tonight been laid on the doorstep of... Sen. Hillary Clinton and, by extension, at the doorstep of every American — the now-vast majority of us — who have dared to criticize this war or protest it or merely ask questions about it or simply, plaintively, innocently, honestly, plead, “Don’t take my son; don’t take my daughter.”

Sen. Clinton has been sent — and someone has leaked to The Associated Press — a letter, sent in reply to hers asking if there exists an actual plan for evacuating U.S. troops from Iraq.

This extraordinary document was written by an undersecretary of defense named Eric Edelman.

“Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq,” Edelman writes, “reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia.”

Edelman adds: “Such talk understandably unnerves the very same Iraqi allies we are asking to assume enormous personal risks.”

A spokesman for the senator says Mr. Edelman’s remarks are “at once both outrageous and dangerous.” Those terms are entirely appropriate and may, in fact, understate the risk the Edelman letter poses to our way of life and all that our fighting men and women are risking, have risked, and have lost, in Iraq.

After the South was defeated in our Civil War, the scapegoat was Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and the ideas of the “Lost Cause” and “Jim Crow” were born.

After the French were beaten by the Prussians in 1870 and 1871, it was the imaginary “Jewish influence” in the French Army general staff, and there was born 30 years of self-destructive anti-Semitism, culminating in the horrific Dreyfus case.

After the Germans lost the First World War, it was the “back-stabbers and profiteers” at home, on whose lives the National Socialists rose to prominence in the succeeding decades and whose accused membership eventually wound up in torture chambers and death camps.

And after the generation before ours, and leaders of both political parties, escalated and re-escalated and carpet-bombed and re-carpet-bombed Vietnam, it was the protest movementand Jane Fonda and — as late as just three years ago — Sen. John Kerry who were assigned the kind of blame with which no rational human being could concur, and yet which still, across vast sections of our political landscape, resonates unchallenged and accepted.

And now Mr. Bush, you have picked out your own Jefferson Davis, your own Dreyfus, your own “profiteer” — your own scapegoat.

Not for the sake of this country.

Not for the sake of Iraq.

Not even for the sake of your own political party.

But for the sake of your own personal place in history.

But in reaching for that place, you have guaranteed yourself tonight not honor, but infamy.

In fact, you have condemned yourself to a place among that remarkably small group of Americans whom Americans cannot forgive: those who have sold this country out and who have willingly declared their enmity to the people at whose pleasure they supposedly serve.

A scapegoat, sir, might be forgivable, if you hadn’t just happened to choose a prospective presidential nominee of the opposition party.

And the accusation of spreading “enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia” might be some day atoned for, if we all didn’t know — you included, and your generals and the Iraqis — that we are leaving Iraq, and sooner rather than later, and we are doing it even if to do so requires, first, that you must be impeached and removed as president of the United States, sooner rather than later.

You have set this government at war against its own people and then blamed those very people when they say, “Enough.”

And thus it crystallizes, Mr. Bush.

When Civil War Gen. Ambrose Burnside ordered a disastrous attack on Fredericksburg in which 12,000 of his men were killed, he had to be physically restrained from leading the next charge himself.

After the First Lord of the British Admiralty, Winston Churchill, authored and enabled the disastrous Gallipoli campaign that saw a quarter-million Allied soldiers cut down in the First World War, Churchill resigned his office and took a commission as a front-line officer in the trenches of France.

Those are your new role models, Mr. Bush.

Let your minions try to spread the blame to the real patriots here, who have sought only to undo the horrors you have wrought since 2002.

Let them try it, until the end of time.

Though the words might be erased from a million books and a billion memories, though the world be covered knee-deep in your lies, the truth shall prevail.

This, sir, is your war.

Sen. Clinton has reinforced enemy propaganda? Made it impossible for you to get your ego-driven, blood-steeped win in Iraq?

Then take it into your own hands, Mr. Bush.

Go to Baghdad now and fulfill, finally, your military service obligations.

Go there and fight, your war. Yourself.

(Transcript courtesy of MSNBC)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19859124

The Way Of Truth And Love

2007-06-29T01:56:00.000-04:00

This afternoon as I passed the giant Turner Broadcasting sign at Williams Street, I noticed that it said "GANDHI - Tonight at 8:00 PM on TCM." As I was on my way to work, I immediately thought, "who's the poor soul who has to stay awake through that 191 minute film?" Then I remembered - it was me!

While I was watching the movie (yes - they pay me to watch movies), I heard a lot of quotes from Mahatma Gandhi that inspired me to be hopeful about our fear-shaken world. As our President and Vice President continue to act as if they are above the law, this quote really stood out:

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall - think of it, always."

I'm counting on it.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

2007-06-22T01:05:00.000-04:00

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip returned to NBC on May 24th to ride out the final episodes of it's only season. It is currently airing on Thursdays at 10PM, in ER's slot. If NBC had any sense they would just replace ER with Studio 60, but we all know that is not the case.

One would think that NBC would not be eager to repeat the mistake that ABC made in 2000 when they cancelled Aaron Sorkin's Sports Night after only two seasons. I hope that the lesson that Sorkin learns from all this is that he should not ever let any of the big four broadcast networks get their dirty hands on any of his genius. One can only imagine what TNT could have done with Studio 60, considering the massive success of their original cable TV series The Closer. Not to mention the fact that TNT and Warner Bros. Studios (where Studio 60 was filmed) are both part of the Time Warner family.

The sets were already built on the Warner Bros. lot, so it really is a shame that one of the Time Warner networks (TNT, TBS, HBO) couldn't have jumped in and saved Studio 60. I'm sure there was probably a legal or financial reason that it couldn't be done. Now, the sets have been dismantled and Studio 60 is gone. The final episode will air on July 5th, 2007. NBC will replace it next season with a remake of The Bionic Woman. Genius.

The pilot episode of Studio 60 is the only TV show that I have ever watched for a second time immediately after watching it the first time. The last three episodes that have aired, a multi-part string of episodes entitled "K&R," include the most moving and enlightened discussion of faith that I have ever seen on television. Luckily the DVD of season one will be out soon (TBA), and you can watch the four most recent episodes online at the following URL:

http://www.nbc.com/Video/rewind/full_episodes/studio60.shtml

After the success of The West Wing, NBC owed Aaron Sorkin at least a second season of Studio 60. I think I might be just about through with them.

Interesting trivia - the last episode of the first seasons of Sports Night, The West Wing and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip all have the same title: "What Kind of Day Has it Been."

The DCI Season Begins!

2007-06-18T02:13:00.000-04:00

This past weekend the 2007 Drum Corps International season began. For those who don't know, drum corps is like professional marching band. DCI corps consist of individuals between the ages of 14 and 21 and include drums, brass (multi-valve bugles), tuned percussion and color guard. Corps can also use amplified sound, such as spoken word and singing. The DCI season starts in mid-June and lasts until the DCI World Championship Finals in mid-August.

Sometimes the music is familiar, and sometimes new music is composed specifically for the corps. Color guard routines are choreographed like elaborate Broadway productions. The precision with which they play and march and the speed that they move is astonishing when you see it live. Drum corps also make quite a bit of racket!

To the un-initiated it might sound cheesy, but I assure you it is not.

Here are the scores from this past Saturday, June 16th:

Drums along The Rapids

Coon Rapids, MN

1. Phantom Regiment 72.800

2. Blue Knights 67.050

3. Colts 65.600

4. Blue Stars 62.650
5. Pioneer 53.750

Precision West

Pleasant Hill, CA

1. Blue Devils 75.900

2. Santa Clara Vanguard 75.400

3. Mandarins 63.400

DCI Salutes America

Annapolis, MD

1. The Cavaliers 73.900

2. Bluecoats 71.600

3. The Cadets 70.700

4. Carolina Crown 70.350

5. Glassmen 61.850

6. Spirit From JSU 60.900

By the time they get to DCI World Championship Finals, the scores will end up near 100.

Anyone who has seen and heard a DCI corps many years ago should give it another try. The activity has changed a lot, and for the better. There is a major DCI regional event in Atlanta on Saturday, July 14th 2007.

For more information, visit:

http://www.dci.org/

(Photo by Gail Evans, 2002)

Losing It

2007-06-14T01:40:00.000-04:00

I missed the Rush concert last night. I thought about going by myself, but I changed my mind at the last minute. I figured it would be tough to sit on the lawn by myself, and I didn't have a spare $80.00 for an actual seat.

"Losing It" is the name of a song from Canadian band Rush's 1982 album Signals. I can't think of a better way to describe what has happened to this band since about 1993.

There is some disagreement about when this downward slide actually started. Some say it started with 1982's Signals. I disagree, as I am a huge fan of what I like to call Rush's "technology era," which includes 1984's Grace Under Pressure, 1985's Power Windows, and 1987's Hold Your Fire. During this time, Rush used to have a section in their concert programs where they gave a detailed account of the recording process for each album. These albums took months to record, and were painstakingly assembled using massive amounts of programming. The results were dazzling - or dismal - depending on who you ask. Put me in the dazzling category.

Some say the slide started with 1991's Roll The Bones, but I think that album and 1989's Presto still have the magic. If you don't believe me, play something off the over-compressed disaster that is 2002's Vapor Trails, then immediately play anything from either Presto or Roll The Bones. Yikes.

I think something went wrong sometime during the making of 1993's Counterparts. That was about the time they professed their obsession with the overrated band Tool. It was also about the same time that bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Geddy Lee started talking about how after many years of writing on the keyboard, he had started writing on the bass. And that, I think, is how Rush lost it. Geddy started writing riffs, not songs.

1996 brought the boring Test For Echo, then in 2002 came the disaster that is the melody-free Vapor Trails. That CD is one of the most dismally produced and engineered CDs I have ever heard. It was engineered by Paul Northfield, who had just just completed Porcupine Tree's exquisite In Absentia, so I doubt it's his fault.

During the press tour for Vapor Trails, guitarist Alex Lifeson was quoted saying more than once that the reason they decided to stop using keyboards was because "keyboards SUCK!" Seriously. A grown man, so worried that he would become emasculated by being associated with any musical instrument other than the mighty and manly guitar, dismissed the king of all composition instruments, the keyboard. Never mind that keyboards were a major element of Rush's musical palette. Besides, Tool didn't use them, why should Rush?

So, did Geddy share Alex's disdain for keyboards, or did Alex strongarm Geddy into abandoning them? Nobody's asking.

This brings us to the new CD, Snakes & Arrows. It's better. Not great, but better. There are some keyboard textures if you listen very closely, and there are some moments where it comes close to having some actual drama. There are times on the CD, however, where Geddy seems to be trying extra hard to sing emotionally, like he's trying to force drama and beauty into songs that don't have any.

The engineering is much better than last time around. Rumor has it that producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters) told the band he insisted they use keyboards, and that they incorporate the complex rhythmic and melodic patterns that characterized their earlier works. You can tell, but still somethings missing.

Maybe they really have lost it.

What ever happened to Tool, anyway?

"Thinking Right"

2007-06-12T02:55:00.000-04:00

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Jim Wooten excels at making an ass of himself. Last Friday (June 8th) in his editorial page column Thinking Right, there were these prime examples:

Don't know the mayor of Doraville, Ray Jenkins, but he's earned a warm place in my heart for his handling of a petition from a group of residents opposed to a proposed Asian shopping center. Residents want stores that sell "traditional American food," said the petition-gatherer. It's the kind of phrase that'll get you pilloried in a politically correct world. When the woman tried to read the petition at a council meeting, Jenkins stopped her. "They meant well," he said. "I think they just didn't research before wording." The petition is no reason to deny the development, of course. I hate it when an ordinary citizen's ill-chosen words are used to represent a class or a community as bigoted.

That's great - I guess we're no longer responsible for the words we use. "Did I say you're a rice-eating bad driver? I'm sorry - I just didn't research before wording." And is there any other way to interpret the phrase "We want stores that sell traditional American food" other than bigoted? Is there a shortage of places to buy potato chips in Doraville? I guess it's not too difficult to earn a "warm place" in Jim Wooten's "heart."

Here's another one:

Set a withdrawal deadline to get the people out of Atlanta: 110 of them were killed last year.

Good ole' plain-spoken, common sense Jim Wooten. It's depressing to think that there are people in our city that are dumb enough to think that he speaks for them. And where did he get that number?

My friend Molly used to work at the AJC, and I've asked her about Jim Wooten quite a few times. Molly, my latest Jim Wooten question for you is this: Did you ever see him enter the men's room, or did he just pee in his pants? Seriously, this guy seems dim enough to come to work in mismatched shoes.

Somewhere Else with Marillion

2007-06-08T00:21:00.000-04:00

I didn't want too much time to go by before I mentioned Marillion's new CD Somewhere Else. Released in April, this CD has gotten a little lost amongst the highly anticipated and more aggressively executed Porcupine Tree CD Fear Of A Blank Planet and the much higher profile Snakes & Arrows by Rush. Somewhere Else seems a bit more understated than it's recent competition, but it would be an injustice if it was ignored. Much better than the recent Rush offering (more on that later), Somewhere Else is a powerhouse of subtlety and lyrical inspiration.

The CD is awash in sonic surprises that don't always make an impression right off the bat. Lots of creative sound effects and electronic flourishes make for rewarding repeated listenings. Some have said that a lower mastering level has made this CD sound inferior, but I disagree. Just turn it up a bit and it's all there. The guitar solos are some of Steve Rothery's best ever, and keyboardist Mark Kelly uses a very large variety of sounds, as well as more acoustic piano than usual.

The most political Marillion CD to date, Somewhere Else is eloquent, tasteful and never overbearing. The message is simple. Marillion wants us to notice things.

From "See it Like a Baby":

Look at it as though you've never seen it before

Try and forget it

So you can see it

And from "A Voice From the Past":

Give me a smile

Hold out your hand

I don't want your money

I don't want your land

I want you to wake up

And do something strange

I want you to listen

I want you to feel

Someone else's pain

Wake up. Listen. Feel.

Over 600,000 dead civilians in Iraq. 3,504 dead US soldiers. People drowning in their attics while President Bush ate birthday cake and played a guitar.

Wake up. Listen. Feel.

Sometimes it's good to notice things.

Paul McCartney day!

2007-06-07T01:12:00.001-04:00

This past Tuesday was the day we could all go to Starbucks and buy Paul McCartney's new CD "Memory Almost Full." (A very good CD, by the way.) The idea of being able to buy CDs at Starbucks instead of those noisy, overpriced, hip-hop laden things we used to call "record stores" appeals to me.

Anyway, while I was checking out, a Lexus-driving princess asks the barista, "Could you turn that music down? My friend and I can't hear each other talking." The barista replied, "No, I can't turn it down. It's Paul McCartney day!" Now, bear in mind that the music was not any louder than it usually is in Starbucks on any given day. Confused, the customer replied, "What is THAT supposed to mean?" If I had any courage, I would have replied, "Paul McCartney was a BEATLE, he's 64 years old, and he's going to be DEAD sometime in the next 20 years. Doesn't he deserve at least ONE DAY?"

But alas, I don't have that kind of courage. Maybe someday.

Now, if only we could buy athletic shoes at Starbucks - then we could avoid malls and hip-hop altogether.

Welcome to my new blog!

2007-06-07T00:40:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone...welcome to my blog! The title comes from a They Might Be Giants song from the album John Henry (1994). I'll leave it up to you all to discuss why I chose that title! Please feel encouraged to leave comments. Thanks for visiting!