Eminem's Mosh (Guerrilla News Network)

Eminem's getting involved in the election with this pretty sick video.

I think it speaks pretty clearly.

Clocks

So interesting weekend...the ones with shows always are. Last night began at the Rice Cafe, across from the C Note. Alex Tom and I had a quick dinner, before ducking into the restroom to through on some makeup for the show. We were going for ghoulish, but from what people tell me we got closer to Kiss. Oh well.

The show was great. A last minute scratch from the drummer necessitated a replacement, and my new friend Patrick Hernly performed amazingly well, seeing as how we'd never rehearsed, he heard the songs for the first time less than 24 hours before the show, and he played a 3 hour concert earlier in the evening. Nice work Patrick.

The stunt we planned with the pumpkin amp didn't go off. Apparently it had rotted out and was useless. Total bummer, and unfortunately that little errand made Ben and Pete late for dinner, and eventually led to Ben getting to the show late. But, he recovered nicely, and really played some great guitar.

After the show we hung out at the Note for a while, talking to the bartenders and dancing. Which, technically is illegal in the C Note, since they don't have a cabaret license. But I don't think anyone was going to complain, of the 6 people left in the bar. Late night, as the jukebox ran out of tunes, I performed a shot acoustic set in the bar for the people left, playing "Michael O'Brien", a new song about my godfather and great uncle of the same name.

Then we turned the clocks back...

Coffee?

Hi there. For those looking for a different place to catch tomorrow's musical stars, check out the Coffee House Tours website. The site is a catalog of coffeehouse locations that host music across the country.

Ummm...morons?

Check out this NYTimes story about how Broward County said it mailed absentee ballots, and the USPS says they never got them.

Come on people. This is the state that decided the last election. This is the state that, in my opinion, set us on a path to war, unbalanced budgets, cultural division. Only in the state run by the prez's bro can this happen, for very good reason.

Wonder how many ballots will be lost in Utah, Nebraska, Indiana, in Red Counties...?

How 'about those Red Sox?

Finally...the 86-year drought ends.

Party it up Sox fans. It's about time.

Cassini-Huygens Home (NASA)

This should be cool. The Cassini space probe will be passing close to Saturn's moon Titan this afternoon, and NASA should be getting some interesting photos from the encounter. Check NASA site for more details: Cassini-Huygens Home

Titan is believed to have large amounts of hydrocarbons in its atmosphere, and likely on the surface. Before you imagine a planet with gasoline oceans, think instead of the idea that the possibility of LIFE is actually rather high. It would be great if there was...unless we find some horrible way to screw things up for it. I bet Haliburton is already angling for the no-bid contract to exploit Titan's resources.

Nasrudin

Nasruddin used to stand in the street on market-days, to be pointed out as an idiot. No matter how often people offered him a large and a small coin, he always chose the smaller piece.
One day a kindly man said to him:

- Nasruddin, you should take the bigger coin. Then you will have more money and people will no longer be able to make a laughing stock of you.

- That may be true, said Nasruddin, but if I always take the larger, people will stop offering me money to prove that I am more idiotic than they are. Then I would have no money at all.

As Nasruddin emerged form the mosque after prayers, a beggar sitting on the street solicited alms. The following conversation followed:

- Are you extravagant? asked Nasruddin.

- Yes Nasruddin. replied the beggar.

- Do you like sitting around drinking coffee and smoking? asked Nasruddin.

- Yes. replied the beggar.

- I suppose you like to go to the baths everyday? asked Nasruddin.

- Yes. replied the beggar.

- ...And maybe amuse yourself, even, by drinking with friends? asked Nasruddin.

- Yes I like all those things. replied the beggar.

- Tut, Tut, said Nasruddin, and gave him a gold piece.

A few yards farther on. another beggar who had overheard the conversation begged for alms also.

- Are you extravagant? asked Nasruddin.

- No, Nasruddin replied second beggar.

- Do you like sitting around drinking coffee and smoking? asked Nasruddin.

- No. replied second beggar.

- I suppose you like to go to the baths everyday? asked Nasruddin.

- No. replied second beggar.

- ...And maybe amuse yourself, even, by drinking with friends? asked Nasruddin.

- No, I want to only live meagerly and to pray. replied second beggar.

Whereupon the Nasruddin gave him a small copper coin.

- But why, wailed second beggar, do you give me, an economical and pious

man, a penny, when you give that extravagant fellow a sovereign?

Ah my friend, replied Nasruddin, his needs are greater than yours.

.....
More Nasrudin Here

Greatest. Baseball. Article. Ever.

Check out this awesome article on quantum baseball (NYTimes - just register and set the cookie, already). For anyone who has ever thought that watching their team would jinx that team, rather than staying away, this one's for you.

'SNL' Gaffe Exposes Ashlee Simpson's Lip Sync (Billboard.com)

Another reason why people who are going to be musicians for a living should learn to play and sing, please. Yeah, right...the label blames a computer, and the artist blames her BAND!? Honey - catch a wake up, go take some lessons, spend some time actually playing clubs, honing your craft, getting to know your way around stage, how to cope when things go wrong, and then realize that only a total ASSHOLE blames the musicians they play with when things go wrong.

Hard to know who to feel worse for - her or her fans, assuming they're still out there.

If you can't pull something off live, don't try to pull it off in front of a live national audience.

UPDATE: Backpedal, Ashlee. Backpedal. Love your band, that's right.

No...please...not on the BART

OK, having worked for the Bay Area Rapid Transit once upon a time, I can understand why it mightbe considered a possible target, but you can't tell me that this is what democracy looks like.

Please...can i have my country back?

Before it's too late, check this link out

Hey, you might have seen this, but in case you haven't, check it out. This guy was trying to auction tickets to a wedding he didn't want to go to.

Read the comments and description below, and the questions to seller, too.

Too classic for words.

Moving along to the next thing.

OK, so now that we can look away from the baseball world for a day or so, returning to politics.

Votemaster over at the electoral vote map site has a good plug about the Supreme Court and the likelihood of appointments this next presidential term. Must be strange to be a Supreme Court Justice right now, people talking about your job like it's a commodity to be bargained on, but that's what those check and balances were all about, right? NOW has a good summary of what's taken place the last few years in the judicial nomination process.

10 days to go...

THEY DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YES!!!!!!!

Sox win the pennant, becoming the first team in baseball history is come back from 3 games down.

Oh baby!!!!

There's only one way to reverse the curse - do what no one has ever done. That's what the Sox are doing. If nothing else, we brought it back to a one-game playoff for the pennant.

Holy cow!

Tonight's show featured a Rick Cusick version of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame", who do I make out the royalty check to?

Wow. Do you believe in miracles?

To hope or not to hope...

What a game last night. I was watching it with a bunch of people who know nothing about baseball, and everyone enjoyed it. How could you not? Great theatre, all the drama, extra innings, Fenway Park, and Ortiz the hero yet again. Belhorn showing signs of coming out the slump, Damon coming alive, and the late inning heroics becoming commonplace. Here's hoping for another maasterpiece tonight, if I can actually take it.

Tonight's show at the Le Marquis should be interesting - trying out some new material, and digging up some old Simple Charlie tunes to trot out and revamp.

If you're interested, the gig's 7 to 9 at 12 31st St. But I'm sure you'll all be watching baseball...

It's Alive... ALIVE!!!

I guess it could be better... it could be 2-2 instead of 3-1, but it could be worse, like not having Pedro on the mound tonight.

If you stayed up and watched the whole game last night, you noticed that for the first time in a while, the Yankees didn't score a run in a few straight innings.

There's hope...

For you New Yorkers, tomorrow night check out Asiko Music at S.O.B.S. in the City. Show is at 8 PM, and it's worth chcking out this band. Their brand of funky groovy Afro-pop keeps your ass shaking, and when Foly brings out the talking drum, prepare to be amazed.

Ouch...

Wow. The Sox nation is smarting after tonight. No matter how big of a fan you are, this has to be pretty depressing, even for the Sox. The only questions left are can they avoid a sweep, and will the Pats score more tomorrow than the Yanks did tonight. Many of my good friends from Brown and from San Fran are Sox fans, which kind of makes me a Sox fan, and tonight there was not enough Guiness to soothe the beating that we were handed.

In other, more positive news, tomorrow I go into the studio with my brother William to shoot my first video, for Hardly So from East. When it's finished, I'll put a clip of it up here somewhere for comments.

Had dinner with my parents in the City tonight, at BECCO. Nice place, great food. Interesting discussion about the presidential race... They live in PA, so their votes actually matter in this one, and the fact that they're not sold on Kerry can't be good news for the Dems.

And my Uncle Roger is running for DA in Albany.

Nothing really riding on this, right?

This is Frank Rich's spooky comparisons to the Nixon Administration in the Times today. Kind of scary, since I grew up in the aftermath of Watergate, and what kind of country it grew us into. Ah... the 80's.

Everything works in a cycle, and so this makes sense that 30 or so years after Nixon, the BushCo people are trying similar thing. Or is it that the press has come full circle, and are back at a place where they allow themselves to be baited? Or have we the people finally reached the point where our collective Saturn has returned?

Also, there's the story about the reservists refusing an order. Quagmire...?

I hope the troops get to see the baseball game tonight. I guess it will be early morning there, hopefully they get a few hours of peace and can enjoy some sights from Fenway Park. Actually, I'm sure they'd settle for the few hours of peace, and nuts to the game.

Wind in the Willows...

Here we go... the world's frogs are in trouble.

Dr Stuart said: "This level of decline is ... extraordinary and serious because amphibians represent a very important part of the overall diversity of life. Since most amphibians feel the effects of pollution before many other forms of life, their rapid decline tells us that one of earth's most critical life support systems is breaking down."

Having skin that is porous to water will do that to you. Here we have an example of the problem with our current culture and media method of spreading knowledge. If it can't be "sound-bited" into a 10 second digestible piece of speech, people can't freaking actually contemplate the reality of the situation.

The envionment is like smoking - you don't know how bad things are until everything starts to go wrong, at which point it's too late to do anything but worry.

Outraged at the Outrage!

Finally...someone outraged at the outrage about the right-wing's over-reaction to the Kerry comment from the debate. Amazing that the party of KarlRove can actually appear to be upset about a what they call a political dirty trick...

"Hello, Polar Bear? It's igloo. Guess what? You're white."

In terms of campaign strategy, this is hopefully going to backfire. Again TPM has the goods on the goings on.

Why the left is cooler? We write better music.

Left Wing Country Music

David Hooper's Indie Musician Blog has an article on an interesting phenomenon: left-wing country music. As you probably know, most country music these days is predictably 'safe', targetting a certain demographic that doesn't want its boat rocked. Thankfully, some other artists are finally going on record (sorry, couldn't resist) as opposed to the status quo.

But after last night's debate, and BushCo's serious list of gaffes, misrepresentations, and spooky giggle-fits, anyone should feel fine with getting out their pen and guitar and penning something... More on the debate fun can be found on Josh Marshall's TPM. The most played clip of BushCo in history, and he denied ever saying it. But even that doesn't come close to the Tony Soprano comment from John Kerry (SeattlePI debate transcript):

KERRY: I want you to notice how the president switched away from jobs and started talking about education principally.

Let me come back in one moment to that, but I want to speak for a second, if I can, to what the president said about fiscal responsibility.

Being lectured by the president on fiscal responsibility is a little bit like Tony Soprano talking to me about law and order in this country.

(LAUGHTER)

Targets? Truth about Bagdad...

Story from a WSJ foreign correspondent in Baghdad.

Last February, some of my friends and I took to the streets with a few million other people to protest the start of this war. People were abused by the cops, ignored, and the truth about what the government was selling was buried, even by the Gray Lady.

Now we're here, the quagmire of Bagdad, where even the reporters have become targets. I can't imagine what the troops feel like. Thanks to our administration, who couldn't organize a party in a brewery, let alone fight a war on terror with two fronts.

Updated: They suspended this journalist until after the election after this got out.

Da mayor weighs in on the terror funding...

Mike is lashing out...

Say what you want about Bloomberg... I'll gladly listen. Frankly I think what's he's doing / has done to the schools in the City is completely wong, from appointing Klein as Super to changing the social promotion rules. If you want the kids to learn, strike the problem at the root, rather than trying to bandaid the problem, blame the kids, or blame the teachers.

On the other hand, Hizzoner recently signed a deal to bring a huge recycling plant to Brooklyn, which creates jobs and aids the recycling program that he all but nixed as too expensive right after he became mayor. And yes... you can't smoke in the clubs. As a musician who spends at least one and usually 3 nights a week in a club, I fully support this policy.

So take the good with the bad, I guess. Mike has managed to go from almost 0 popularity to actually getting some respect. He even got the Country Music Awards show in NYC for next year.

The gross failure of our national funding for security.

Uncle Sam doesn't love NYC as much as he should.

The other states with the highest per-resident spending of domestic security funds are also rural states with a single Congressional district: Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and Vermont. Together, these five states have a population of 3.2 million, about one-third that of Los Angeles County, one of many urban jurisdictions that would benefit from a formula based on risk because of its big ports and other potential targets.

Nice to know that the logic from the top is consistent. Wrong headed and illogical, but consistent.

Electoral Vote under attack

So electoral-vote.com is under attack. I noticed the past few days that it was, and today the site confirmed it.

Current Electoral Vote Predictor 2004

Yeah free speech!

Major League Baseball : News : Rivalry Row: Red Sox vs. Yankees

Major League Baseball : News : Rivalry Row: Red Sox vs. Yankees

What could be better than the Yanks and the Sox playing for the Pennant in October?

Anyone? Bueller?

Best Rebuttal to the "Conflicting Messages" Crap

Letter in the NYTimes letters about the war in Iraq:

Pararaph 2:

Our troops have firsthand experience in how the war is going, unfiltered by politics. They are perfectly capable of weighing conflicting messages in an election season. Maybe that is news to the political class that chose this war, particularly since few of its members served or have children in the military.

The future of radio...

Awesome, a giant finger in the faces of the media conglomerates who have ruined terrestrial radio. Stern's going to space. If any of the folks at Sirius are interested, I know a bunch of really good emerging artists...

More than debates - bold faced lies!

The Kerry-Edwards people HAVE to hammer home is that what's coming out of the other camp is simply not true. Perfect example is this article from Reuters on falsehoods from last night's debate.

"Both sides took aim at misstatements or exaggerations by their opponent, with Democrats angered by Cheney's claim to have never met Edwards before they stepped on the debate stage even though they met at a Senate prayer breakfast in 2001 and at the Senate swearing in of Elizabeth Dole."

Masters of the bold-faced lie, and so much in common with those they purport to be liberating people from. Taking another page out of that special playbook they're using...

The jokes just keep coming / what's really important

OK, so I'm no political guru but I try to stay on top of what's going on. The best political blog I know of is TalkingPointsMemo.com. Josh Mashall leans pretty much where I do, and he's great at packaging the bullstein coming out of the media outlets into a smaller, manageable package.

Apparently today there's a controversy over what John Kerry pulled from his pocket during the debate. What a joke... We knew that no matter what happened, ATPM would try to spin the whole debate as a Bush victory. So, when faced with what was clearly a loss, they're scrambling in any way possible to salvage their positions. Paul Krugman's article right before the debate (registration required...harmless) is worth a re-read, for its prescience and for what he might have overlooked, in terms of the internet banter.

The fact is that it doesn't matter what happened during the debate. The last 3 1/2 years of what's gone on in the world and this country is enough for any reasonable person to know that unless whatever JFK grabbed from his pocket had the locations of the missing WMD from Iraq, it's irrelevant.

Mark Fiore's political cartoons are always good at putting these events in their place.

Ok, back to the piano lessons....