A very decent op-edpiece in The New York Times differentiating between professors advocating a particular political or religious point of view and teaching students about those subjects. This is a rare bit of clarity in the shoutfest the Righties have started up in their quest to purge from universities an invented liberal bias that does not exist. What the Righties want is to eradicate any truths but their own.
July 25, 2006
July 17, 2006
Shaken to death
My cousin Susan died a week or so ago.
She was discovered dead in the bathtub in her apartment by her mother, who had come to see if anything was wrong after a number of unreturned phone calls. From what I'm told some time had passed between her death and the discovery of her body, adding an additional layer to her mother's profound grief in the form of the beginning stages of decomposition.
No autopsy will be performed. The proximate cause of death appears to be drowning, likely brought on by the after effects of an epileptic seizure. Cousin Susie was prone to seizures, had been since she was born, her life imbued by her struggle to control those seizures and live a normalized life. The speculation is that she fell asleep while relaxing in the bath, then seized as she began to awaken, apparently a common part of her seizure pattern. Her seizures sometimes lasted as long as several minutes, and she tended to roll to one side and assume the fetal position as the seizure came to a close. For many epileptics the end of the seizures is followed immediately by a period of unconsciousness. Somewhere between the ending of the seizure and unconsciousness, Susie drowned.
I'm 40, and best I can recall Susie was a year or two younger than I, making her 38-39 at the time of her death, an age in our society considered relatively young for such an end. Her passing has given me some pause, but not as you might think - a fellow epileptic with the inside knowledge wondering at my own behavior, potential risks to be avoided, the wisdom of taking a bath when home alone. No, her death gives me pause because she and I have not been close in many years. My seizures didn't begin until I was 20 years old, and we've pursued very different treatment paths. We both wanted the same things - a modicum of "normality", a way to live that resembled the lives of those around us.
Susie had a 20 year jump on me when it came to living with seizures, the familial strains it can cause, the tremendous side effects of the powerful medications used to exert some control over the frequency and severity of seizures, and the personality distortions they contribute to. When I had my first seizure, I was conscious during the entire thing as initially my feet, then progressively the rest of my body locked up so tightly I could no longer call for help. Fortunately I had chosen my dorm hall steps as the venue for my epileptic debut, so a number of people who had heard came running. My room mate at the time, Neil, was trained as a paramedic, and he tried to take control of what was happening, but I was so deep into the seizure, and the outside world was disappearing at such a fantastic rate that all I had to time to think before that last pinhole of light was swallowed by complete darkness was" Don't worry, Neil, I'm only dying."
I awoke trying to punch out an Air Force paramedic. He retaliated by giving me a hefty injection of Valium. We reconciled.
This is my personal perspective about my misbehaving brain. I've stepped back from the threshold of the intense surgical route my cousin chose, instead attempting to find my own way to live with them, around them, whatever.
Susie and I had not been close in many years, but I feel the loss of her as my cousin, as a human being, and as someone who had great courage and will to render herself "normal".
She was discovered dead in the bathtub in her apartment by her mother, who had come to see if anything was wrong after a number of unreturned phone calls. From what I'm told some time had passed between her death and the discovery of her body, adding an additional layer to her mother's profound grief in the form of the beginning stages of decomposition.
No autopsy will be performed. The proximate cause of death appears to be drowning, likely brought on by the after effects of an epileptic seizure. Cousin Susie was prone to seizures, had been since she was born, her life imbued by her struggle to control those seizures and live a normalized life. The speculation is that she fell asleep while relaxing in the bath, then seized as she began to awaken, apparently a common part of her seizure pattern. Her seizures sometimes lasted as long as several minutes, and she tended to roll to one side and assume the fetal position as the seizure came to a close. For many epileptics the end of the seizures is followed immediately by a period of unconsciousness. Somewhere between the ending of the seizure and unconsciousness, Susie drowned.
I'm 40, and best I can recall Susie was a year or two younger than I, making her 38-39 at the time of her death, an age in our society considered relatively young for such an end. Her passing has given me some pause, but not as you might think - a fellow epileptic with the inside knowledge wondering at my own behavior, potential risks to be avoided, the wisdom of taking a bath when home alone. No, her death gives me pause because she and I have not been close in many years. My seizures didn't begin until I was 20 years old, and we've pursued very different treatment paths. We both wanted the same things - a modicum of "normality", a way to live that resembled the lives of those around us.
Susie had a 20 year jump on me when it came to living with seizures, the familial strains it can cause, the tremendous side effects of the powerful medications used to exert some control over the frequency and severity of seizures, and the personality distortions they contribute to. When I had my first seizure, I was conscious during the entire thing as initially my feet, then progressively the rest of my body locked up so tightly I could no longer call for help. Fortunately I had chosen my dorm hall steps as the venue for my epileptic debut, so a number of people who had heard came running. My room mate at the time, Neil, was trained as a paramedic, and he tried to take control of what was happening, but I was so deep into the seizure, and the outside world was disappearing at such a fantastic rate that all I had to time to think before that last pinhole of light was swallowed by complete darkness was" Don't worry, Neil, I'm only dying."
I awoke trying to punch out an Air Force paramedic. He retaliated by giving me a hefty injection of Valium. We reconciled.
This is my personal perspective about my misbehaving brain. I've stepped back from the threshold of the intense surgical route my cousin chose, instead attempting to find my own way to live with them, around them, whatever.
Susie and I had not been close in many years, but I feel the loss of her as my cousin, as a human being, and as someone who had great courage and will to render herself "normal".
June 27, 2006
All about me
I've rambled and ranted about guitar players recently, perhaps as the initial sign of an impending middle age crisis. If that is the case, please shoot me before I start wearing Lycra shorts and leasing a Porsche. So far I don't feel the yearning for ice cream suits and shiny blue shirts with overly wide collars, so I think I'm safe, for the moment anyway.
Doesn't mean my self indulgence need end here. In fact, that is the core essence of blogging - self indulgence, an ode to the self, myself, me. Regardless of topic, extent of outside sources and links, blogging is at its heart a pursuit inherently All About Me. I don't mean to disparage anyone who engages in the practice but I also lend little weight to the notion that blogging is itself akin to responsible journalism. Note the use of the word "responsible", a term not entirely applicable to many major newspapers, and especially news developed for television, be it the nightly half hour of Death TV or the round the clock breathlessness of CableSpews. In the mix of all this the "blogosphere" (gag me with a laptop) is said to beat the major news outlets to the story. This all sounds like ideal citizen journalism, but most of it isn't anything more than energy for a feedback loop repeating poorly or completely unsourced stories, which then bounce in and out of the major media.
In the old days of named sources, the days when no self-respecting reporter would use the term "reportedly" in order to introduce speculations or utter fabrications to the construct of an actual news story, none of this drivel would see the light of the day. The blogosphere's sole redeeming quality has been its willingness to continue the pursuit of the details of a story even after it falls out of the bare minority of news organizations that have earned the moniker "responsible". This carries its own difficulties as many of these stories are already done to death, and the pursuit comes full circle as the hunt for clarity descends once again into a morass of rumor and allegation without evidence.
But hey, what do I know? The threshold of evidence required to get a story on the front page of a major news daily is remarkably low. Astonishingly so.
The good news is that Led Zeppelin II is still one hell of a record, put together in bits and pieces as the band toured the U.S. for the first time. What were once simple blues riffs were given an accelerant and a match, and an amp turned up to 11. Sure, you have "Ramble On", a juvenile lyric fill of Tolkienisms, but the music backing those pathetic lyrics is straightforward. Driving drums, inspired guitar lines.
Heartbreaker stands out on this record for me because again it highlights Jimmy Page's use of multi-tracked guitar to achieve a useful musical end. If you listen closely to the track you may discover that the best guitar lines in that song are not necessarily the blistering solos.
And to close the show is a clearly stolen blues riff over which Robert Plant uses a harmonica sparingly, backed by lots of good old analog reverb. I'm not completely enamored if his imitation of the sound of some of the great black blues singers, but that is washed away as soon as the electric guitar riff injects the song with a bit of intravenous amphetamine. Page again demonstrates why he is arguably one of the greatest riff-writers in all of rock history, and includes a bit of counterpoint to set it all into context.
There is only one thing wrong with this album. Zeppelin wound up in a court battle with Willie Dixon over whether or not "Whole Lotta Love" was too close for comfort to one of his own tunes. Instead of fighting a real blues player in court, the Zepp should have been more gracious about it and found a way to settle. Something a lot of people forget is that while white boys on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean were borrowing, imitating and outright stealing their American bluesmens' work, their idols and inspirations, those who made their brand of rock even possible had mostly been screwed financially by the music industry. It would have been a small thing for Zepp to part with a slice of their many millions and acknowledge outright that those who came before were worthy of recognition and recompense.
Doesn't mean my self indulgence need end here. In fact, that is the core essence of blogging - self indulgence, an ode to the self, myself, me. Regardless of topic, extent of outside sources and links, blogging is at its heart a pursuit inherently All About Me. I don't mean to disparage anyone who engages in the practice but I also lend little weight to the notion that blogging is itself akin to responsible journalism. Note the use of the word "responsible", a term not entirely applicable to many major newspapers, and especially news developed for television, be it the nightly half hour of Death TV or the round the clock breathlessness of CableSpews. In the mix of all this the "blogosphere" (gag me with a laptop) is said to beat the major news outlets to the story. This all sounds like ideal citizen journalism, but most of it isn't anything more than energy for a feedback loop repeating poorly or completely unsourced stories, which then bounce in and out of the major media.
In the old days of named sources, the days when no self-respecting reporter would use the term "reportedly" in order to introduce speculations or utter fabrications to the construct of an actual news story, none of this drivel would see the light of the day. The blogosphere's sole redeeming quality has been its willingness to continue the pursuit of the details of a story even after it falls out of the bare minority of news organizations that have earned the moniker "responsible". This carries its own difficulties as many of these stories are already done to death, and the pursuit comes full circle as the hunt for clarity descends once again into a morass of rumor and allegation without evidence.
But hey, what do I know? The threshold of evidence required to get a story on the front page of a major news daily is remarkably low. Astonishingly so.
The good news is that Led Zeppelin II is still one hell of a record, put together in bits and pieces as the band toured the U.S. for the first time. What were once simple blues riffs were given an accelerant and a match, and an amp turned up to 11. Sure, you have "Ramble On", a juvenile lyric fill of Tolkienisms, but the music backing those pathetic lyrics is straightforward. Driving drums, inspired guitar lines.
Heartbreaker stands out on this record for me because again it highlights Jimmy Page's use of multi-tracked guitar to achieve a useful musical end. If you listen closely to the track you may discover that the best guitar lines in that song are not necessarily the blistering solos.
And to close the show is a clearly stolen blues riff over which Robert Plant uses a harmonica sparingly, backed by lots of good old analog reverb. I'm not completely enamored if his imitation of the sound of some of the great black blues singers, but that is washed away as soon as the electric guitar riff injects the song with a bit of intravenous amphetamine. Page again demonstrates why he is arguably one of the greatest riff-writers in all of rock history, and includes a bit of counterpoint to set it all into context.
There is only one thing wrong with this album. Zeppelin wound up in a court battle with Willie Dixon over whether or not "Whole Lotta Love" was too close for comfort to one of his own tunes. Instead of fighting a real blues player in court, the Zepp should have been more gracious about it and found a way to settle. Something a lot of people forget is that while white boys on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean were borrowing, imitating and outright stealing their American bluesmens' work, their idols and inspirations, those who made their brand of rock even possible had mostly been screwed financially by the music industry. It would have been a small thing for Zepp to part with a slice of their many millions and acknowledge outright that those who came before were worthy of recognition and recompense.
June 6, 2006
Fire in the legs
I've got these little bites all over my right leg. Well, not so little bites that are taking days to heal.
They're nasty.
They're from fire ants.
Welcome to Florida.
Startling as the vampire like holes in my leg were the over-sized flying cockroaches. Fat flitting roaches. How fucking unfair is that? Nature cursed us with roaches to begin with, then gave them wings that are certainly not vestigial and asks us to be kind to her? Fuck that. I'm giving up my green ways until She rethinks this monstrosity. There is also a sub-tropical variety that isn't repelled by light as most roaches are. Quite the opposite. In yet another slap to the human face, nature has decided that the relative safety bright light provides from these insidious home invaders no longer applies. In fact, this particular sub species is attracted to light.
Next time you hear that bump in the night and go to investigate with your thirty pound baseball Maglite, reconsider. Those noises you hear, the clumsy stumbling over the garbage can, a whispered curse, are not produced by a potential burglar. They are the genesis of a trap, designed to get you to open the door and turn on that overpowered flashlight, sealing your doom.
So fuck nature. Screw recycling. I'm sick of rinsing cans and sicker of the mess left at the bottom of the container when I fail to do it. Fire ants and dive bombing roaches the size of a golf ball. I'm gonna go out and fill my tank with Super Duper Unleaded Environment Murdering Gasoline, and see how She likes that. Fucking bitch. I'll get you for those horror show bugs.
Well I'm off to the beach. Not a cloud in the sky, light breeze in off the Atlantic, temperatures slightly higher than I'd like, but pleasant nonetheless.
May 17, 2006
Gone Gamma
Flickr , the self-described coolest photo sharing site in all of creation has declared itself now in Gamma , status. This follows a period that saw many site functionality improvements, a Yahoo buy in, and an explosion of users. The developers have wisely kept themselves out of a numbers game in the face of the proliferation of photo sharing sites, some of a flavor distinctly different from Flickr, any others pathetic rip offs, devoid of useful features and any sign of community.
Not to say Flickr is perfect. One need only examine the rapidly lengthening threads in various forums to read of much dissent from the recent site changes. This happens every time the Flickrati decide to alter anything. I take it in stride - the entire project is still very much in development, and can do an amazing number and variation of things no other site centered around photography can do. I've found a place to extend my interest in photography, not only through uploading my own, but perusing the works of others by swinging my way through the endless vines attached to the infinite number of trees in the Flickr forest. It is possible to begin in one place and wind up many place otherwise not found except by choosing to peruse those photos "favorited" by a contact, or randomly entering phrases into the Tag search boxes and seeing what is returned.
I use a lot of the online offerings from Google , despite the cries of data mining and world information domination. Google is attempting to develop ever changing ways to deal with rapidly growing amounts and types of digital information (and analog too, if you consider the book projects), and most importantly, the relationships between bits of data indexed.
Beyond their stated mission, Google has wisely allowed individual employees and teams considerable leeway when it comes to project concepts, trial testing and sometimes, a public release. The latter often infuriates computer "experts" and avid participants of computer forums all across the Web. The complaint is that Google is basically releasing unfinished software and allowing the world to beta test it for them.
True.
This is compared by critics to Microsoft's sorry track record when it comes to developing and releasing newer versions of its' Windows Operating System. True, MS does usually release the latest Windows version knowing a billion bugs would pop up, other software would break and it would take the company months and even years to make major fixes in the form of Service Packs, which carry their own built in fuck ups.
I find the comparison between software written by a for profit company but released for free and not required in order for your computer to function to an entire operating system that is released as a finished product for a fat fee when it is clearly still quite broken absurd, and reeking of a particularly foul strand of sour grapes. Google responds over time to the millions of suggestions made about each of it's software offerings, improving and experimenting with new features, some of which don't stick if user feedback is overwhelmingly negative. The chronic state of "beta-ness" allows for this.
By contrast, Flickr offered limited free user account next to pair annual user accounts which offered considerably more storage and other features. Buying a pro account back then was a bit of a gamble - none of us had any clear idea if the site would still be around three months down the road or if our money and uploaded pictures would all be gone one morning. Flickr survived, was bought by Yahoo, and is still cool, a small miracle considering who bought it.
Not sure what the point of any of this ramble is except to say to those who obsess over every Gmail detail or an entire site re-rendering at Flickr - remain calm. A few days down the line and you'll have adjusted to the alterations, incorporated those you have use for into your routine and discarded those that prove personally worthless. In some cases, new features that totally suck will die a quiet death, and a very brief moment of reflection will have you wondering why you were so wound up in the first place. :)
Not to say Flickr is perfect. One need only examine the rapidly lengthening threads in various forums to read of much dissent from the recent site changes. This happens every time the Flickrati decide to alter anything. I take it in stride - the entire project is still very much in development, and can do an amazing number and variation of things no other site centered around photography can do. I've found a place to extend my interest in photography, not only through uploading my own, but perusing the works of others by swinging my way through the endless vines attached to the infinite number of trees in the Flickr forest. It is possible to begin in one place and wind up many place otherwise not found except by choosing to peruse those photos "favorited" by a contact, or randomly entering phrases into the Tag search boxes and seeing what is returned.
I use a lot of the online offerings from Google , despite the cries of data mining and world information domination. Google is attempting to develop ever changing ways to deal with rapidly growing amounts and types of digital information (and analog too, if you consider the book projects), and most importantly, the relationships between bits of data indexed.
Beyond their stated mission, Google has wisely allowed individual employees and teams considerable leeway when it comes to project concepts, trial testing and sometimes, a public release. The latter often infuriates computer "experts" and avid participants of computer forums all across the Web. The complaint is that Google is basically releasing unfinished software and allowing the world to beta test it for them.
True.
This is compared by critics to Microsoft's sorry track record when it comes to developing and releasing newer versions of its' Windows Operating System. True, MS does usually release the latest Windows version knowing a billion bugs would pop up, other software would break and it would take the company months and even years to make major fixes in the form of Service Packs, which carry their own built in fuck ups.
I find the comparison between software written by a for profit company but released for free and not required in order for your computer to function to an entire operating system that is released as a finished product for a fat fee when it is clearly still quite broken absurd, and reeking of a particularly foul strand of sour grapes. Google responds over time to the millions of suggestions made about each of it's software offerings, improving and experimenting with new features, some of which don't stick if user feedback is overwhelmingly negative. The chronic state of "beta-ness" allows for this.
By contrast, Flickr offered limited free user account next to pair annual user accounts which offered considerably more storage and other features. Buying a pro account back then was a bit of a gamble - none of us had any clear idea if the site would still be around three months down the road or if our money and uploaded pictures would all be gone one morning. Flickr survived, was bought by Yahoo, and is still cool, a small miracle considering who bought it.
Not sure what the point of any of this ramble is except to say to those who obsess over every Gmail detail or an entire site re-rendering at Flickr - remain calm. A few days down the line and you'll have adjusted to the alterations, incorporated those you have use for into your routine and discarded those that prove personally worthless. In some cases, new features that totally suck will die a quiet death, and a very brief moment of reflection will have you wondering why you were so wound up in the first place. :)
May 4, 2006
More Dinosaurs
OK, so last time I was extolling the virtues of Jeff Beck as guitarist extraordinaire, and mentioned only in passing a contemporary who is also a favorite of mine,Jimmy Page. He haunted the same London music scene Beck and Clapton did, but honed his skills doing more studio work than either of the other two. He eventually joined the Yardbirds in their final incarnation, initially as bass player, then lead guitarist when Beck left the group. It was in the midst of attempting to form the New Yardbirds followed on that Led Zeppelin formed.
I've been listening to the Zep catalog recently, and doing so out of order to avoid babbling about the chronology of the band, blah blah blah. All of that is readily accessible all over the Web. I just wanted to delve back into the music in a manner that escapes the tiny Classic Rock Radio box the band has been stuffed in since the format was invented 20 years ago. For anyone who cares, it was known as Album Oriented Rock prior to the all-the-same shite radio we have across the nation, and the playlist was still very much in the hands of the individual DJs. Of course hot records got more play, but they had a lot of leeway, so tracks other than the "hits" got decent exposure, as did bands then defunct or not selling in large numbers. In those days you could still call up and make requests, and if a song were already playing, get the DJ himself on the line.
But no more. Classic Rock Radio killed all of that, which is why the only DJs who become semi-famous in any radio market are a small number of live club DJs, and those numbnuts idiots that have turned your morning and afternoon commute into a low brow, vulgar shout fest. Gag me with a wet T shirt.
I digress. Please excuse.
So I'm listening to the original Zepp records out of order, letting the music wash over me, move me, drive me, entertain me all while I reconsider it in the context of the 25 years that have passed since I bought my first record. Zeppelin did release singles like most bands, but did little to push individual songs, relying instead on the full body of the music to carry a particular album, then backing it up with epic tour marathons. Unlike many bands in the very end of the sixties and into the seventies, Led Zeppelin did not travel with an opening act. They were the entire show, and still sold staggering numbers of tickets, setting attendance records all across the US.
So each album is a thing unto itself. I started with Houses Of The Holy, whose cover always looked as though it had been photographed under a sodium lamp, all weird orange and purple, and whatnot. The opening track (Song Remains The Same) has an insistent, compelling riff that pushes you right into the rhythm of the song. Page was consumed by the possibilities of his guitar in a way unlike Hendrix, who was said to have been frustrated by the disconnect between the sounds in his head and those he could actually conjure from a guitar. Page wanted to create layers of guitar voices, each one different but complementary to the others. One voice might be popping out the rhythm that Bonham's drums would pick up while another would add in chords edging on discordance, and the whole thing would somehow fall into place when it was so utterly clear from the first few notes that it couldn't possibly work.
Several songs from Houses Of The Holy appear on "greatest" compilations and Classic Rock (Heretofore known as CR cause I'm a lazy bitch) and rightly so, but this time around I found myself really smiling and grooving to the closing, and simplest track of the record, The Ocean. The recording is stripped way down, the guitar is loud and clean, and the riff as perfect as most of Page's riffs are.
Next up was In Through The Out Door the final release from the band before drummer John Bonham died. His death was a shock to the band, its fans, and the music world generally. Zepp had released their first record in three years, played a huge festival show at Knebworth, and was in rehearsal for a US tour when Bonham died. I can recall even now, reading it on Page 3 of the Stars And Stripes newspaper while in Tokyo. The only word from the band was "we're done". Just started tenth grade at The American School in Japan which was proving a very difficult transition and music was all the refuge I had. In other words, I was fucked. The ground beneath my very feet had betrayed me several times that week in a series of medium strength of earthquakes, and now the mighty Zepp had fallen.
And in truth, I wasn't lovin' the final record. In Through The Out Door spawned three very popular radio hits, only one of which I could really stand at all - In The Evening, mostly because of the groaning, murky sludge that lays the foundation for the signature riff to follow. That record does have its moments, however, but to my ears the hits, while well crafted rock tunes, are not what stand out. Two tracks, "Carouselambra" and "I'm Gonna Crawl" appeal most to me following this "relistening" I've been doing. The first does rely on a somewhat cheesy synthesizer sound, but once it gets rolling it's gone, and you can tell the guitar was slung way low down over Pages' shoulder as he tears the chords out. The mix is really dark, but that adds to the appeal. The second track also has too much synth for my tastes, but it falls quickly into the background. It's basically a blues track without the raunch, but plenty of testifying by Plant. Stacked against the monster reputation of so many other Zepp tunes it isn't much, but it really does close out this album on a strong note.
That's it for tonight. Thought I'd do more, but listening to entire albums is not something I do often enough anymore. The popular music industry is in many ways coming full circle. In the fifties and sixties in particular, it thrived on singles. Good old 45RPM records with that one song everyone had to have and a flip side that may or may not have been any good. By the mid sixties record companies were combining those few hit singles with other tunes already recorded by a band an releasing it as an LP. To the execs it seemed a sure fire way to sell more vinyl - the hits were on these 12 inchers, the kids loved the hits, so they'd buy these to get all they could from their favorite bands. The execs were right.
A lot of other factors combined with this economic motive to turn LPs into organic musical beasts. Some of the bands making whole LPs were also still releasing singles, but many fans were bypassing the two song 45RPM for the whole 33 1/3 enchilada. Now, in the era of computers, downloads (legal and not), and televisions' ability to push a song the LP (now in the form of a CD) is falling by the wayside. Most bands still make them even if they are nothing more than an unrelated collection of songs, but those who buy the music are moving away from wanting the whole thing. Think of how many CDs or LPs you bought primarily to get one or two songs off it. If you rip your music to computer, it is likely those tunes that never interested you in the first place are not going to make it onto your hard drive. Illegal downloading of music often centers around a particular song from really popular acts.
In other words, the single is where it's at, all over again. I currently have 13,033 songs on my computer in six different formats. And I've yet to finish ripping my entire CD collection. I've left off songs from many of the CDs I've ripped. Since my computer has become my primary listening place (one of my stereo speakers was rendered unusable after a cat knocked it over and rode it down to safety as it crashed into the wall. Claws and woofer surrounds do not mix well) the way I deal with the music itself has changed. It's all just files now, so I can move them here and there, copy them, back them up, alter their formats, and play them in any order I want, or ferret them out using various parameters, or just load up a gigantic list in Winamp , hit "shuffle", and let it fly. Beats the fuck out of craptastic radio, and has the blessed benefit of "next" anytime what's playing is not moving me to the groove.
More dinosaur ruminations for you all next time around. I may even finish my half-ass Page tribute/analysis/baseless rant.
April 23, 2006
Fuck all that...
it's time to get on with this.
I originally started this spastic blog with politics, news, and my muted outrage in mind. Over time, I've discovered that while my rage is less muted my will to pore over the daily news and other pertinent articles, process them, then spew here has waned. The three people who might actually read this already know what is really happening, how fucked up our country has become, and don't need me to understand that. When I started writing three years ago, just as the war was getting underway I could have been part of the alleged "blogosphere" had I the persistence. I did not, so Andrew Sullivan gets to be on TV, not me. :)
Tonight I want to talk about Jeff Beck . I had occasion recently to see a live show of his taped in Tokyo in 1999. I had pretty much given up on anything from Beck since somewhere in the 1970's when he was making extraordinary music incorporating ground breaking guitar playing. The meld was far more than much of the musical masturbation that passes for guitar technique these days, but it seemed to me his best days were long behind him. Then I encounter this unreleased DVD of a one night show recorded in Tokyo, backed by musicians I have never even heard of.
And there's Jeff, same hair he's had for 30 years, wielding a white Stratocaster and no pick. I thought the only modern electric rock guitarist left to play without one was Mark Knopfler . Nice to be wrong. The electric guitar is a difficult beast to tame and for rhythmic purposes, a pick can be a powerful tool. Beck plays brilliantly during this show, well in control of the music and his instrument, not skipping a beat or missing a note as tears through each piece. While his tone is certainly somewhat processed it is recognizably a Strat, and one in the hands of a master. From one phrase to the next it can go from singing to screaming but remain connected. Not all of the pieces played during the show appealed to me but I felt compelled to watch the entire thing just to see what he would do next, to hear the barely possible sounds come out of his guitar.
Beck was one of the "big three" English guitarists of the 1960's, alongside Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. All three of them were in the Yardbirds at one time or another but took rather different paths afterward. Beck's was the most divergent. Whilst Page made the Gibson Les Paul famous and invented a hundred now famous and familiar riffs, and Clapton made it safe for white men to play the blues and be really good at it, Beck rapidly moved off into less popular territory. After a few albums with Rod Stewart (Truth and Beckola) as lead singer (what a wasted talent he wound up being) that included the wildest rendition of "Jailhouse Rock" ever recorded, Jeff Beck spun himself off into the nebulous realm where jazz and electric music meet. His forays were not as relentless as say, John McLaughlin, nor were they intended to be some sort of spiritual machinery, but instead were examinations of how the guitar can be stretched into new territory and still be recognizable as an instrument. Beck played on those albums from the mid seventies as if he could barely contain the instrument in his hands, as if it were going to careen out of control and literally explode.
Aw, fuck. What the hell do I know.
Beck never achieved the fame of Led Zeppelin nor the reverence that surrounds Eric Clapton these days. Page can't play a lot of his own stuff any longer, not with the precision and energy he once had, and Clapton, while likely more technically perfect than ever, is dull as dishwater in recent years. So it was refreshing to see that one of them can not only still play, but can do so with energy and joy, right on the edge of chaos while still coming off as precise.
Like I said, some of the compositions didn't really do it for me, but Beck was utterly in his element.
Get these two records if you have any interest in what I'm talking about.
Blow By Blow
Wired
Next time maybe I'll write about the many virtues of belly button fuzz.
I originally started this spastic blog with politics, news, and my muted outrage in mind. Over time, I've discovered that while my rage is less muted my will to pore over the daily news and other pertinent articles, process them, then spew here has waned. The three people who might actually read this already know what is really happening, how fucked up our country has become, and don't need me to understand that. When I started writing three years ago, just as the war was getting underway I could have been part of the alleged "blogosphere" had I the persistence. I did not, so Andrew Sullivan gets to be on TV, not me. :)
Tonight I want to talk about Jeff Beck . I had occasion recently to see a live show of his taped in Tokyo in 1999. I had pretty much given up on anything from Beck since somewhere in the 1970's when he was making extraordinary music incorporating ground breaking guitar playing. The meld was far more than much of the musical masturbation that passes for guitar technique these days, but it seemed to me his best days were long behind him. Then I encounter this unreleased DVD of a one night show recorded in Tokyo, backed by musicians I have never even heard of.
And there's Jeff, same hair he's had for 30 years, wielding a white Stratocaster and no pick. I thought the only modern electric rock guitarist left to play without one was Mark Knopfler . Nice to be wrong. The electric guitar is a difficult beast to tame and for rhythmic purposes, a pick can be a powerful tool. Beck plays brilliantly during this show, well in control of the music and his instrument, not skipping a beat or missing a note as tears through each piece. While his tone is certainly somewhat processed it is recognizably a Strat, and one in the hands of a master. From one phrase to the next it can go from singing to screaming but remain connected. Not all of the pieces played during the show appealed to me but I felt compelled to watch the entire thing just to see what he would do next, to hear the barely possible sounds come out of his guitar.
Beck was one of the "big three" English guitarists of the 1960's, alongside Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. All three of them were in the Yardbirds at one time or another but took rather different paths afterward. Beck's was the most divergent. Whilst Page made the Gibson Les Paul famous and invented a hundred now famous and familiar riffs, and Clapton made it safe for white men to play the blues and be really good at it, Beck rapidly moved off into less popular territory. After a few albums with Rod Stewart (Truth and Beckola) as lead singer (what a wasted talent he wound up being) that included the wildest rendition of "Jailhouse Rock" ever recorded, Jeff Beck spun himself off into the nebulous realm where jazz and electric music meet. His forays were not as relentless as say, John McLaughlin, nor were they intended to be some sort of spiritual machinery, but instead were examinations of how the guitar can be stretched into new territory and still be recognizable as an instrument. Beck played on those albums from the mid seventies as if he could barely contain the instrument in his hands, as if it were going to careen out of control and literally explode.
Aw, fuck. What the hell do I know.
Beck never achieved the fame of Led Zeppelin nor the reverence that surrounds Eric Clapton these days. Page can't play a lot of his own stuff any longer, not with the precision and energy he once had, and Clapton, while likely more technically perfect than ever, is dull as dishwater in recent years. So it was refreshing to see that one of them can not only still play, but can do so with energy and joy, right on the edge of chaos while still coming off as precise.
Like I said, some of the compositions didn't really do it for me, but Beck was utterly in his element.
Get these two records if you have any interest in what I'm talking about.
Blow By Blow
Wired
Next time maybe I'll write about the many virtues of belly button fuzz.
December 3, 2005
Big Money
Wow.
The FBI busted a few people in West Virginia for buying votes - $2,000 worth! I feel better knowing our electoral system has been safeguarded against this sort of major voter fraud.
Full AP story.
The FBI busted a few people in West Virginia for buying votes - $2,000 worth! I feel better knowing our electoral system has been safeguarded against this sort of major voter fraud.
They allege Esposito gave $2,000 in government-supplied money to a resident who had offered to bribe voters on his behalf.Of course, the FBI will no doubt be turning it's powerful crime fighting abilities to the massive voter fraud and campaign finance abuses taking place at the national level, right? I mean, they are the Federal Bureau of Investigation...
They also credit the undercover sting operation for last year's guilty pleas by the sheriff of Logan County and the police chief in the coal-mining city of Logan, who both admitted to election violations.
The chief judge of West Virginia's southern federal court district condoned the tactic Thursday in an election fraud case against Perry French Harvey Jr., the man who allegedly accepted the $2,000.
Judge David Faber rejected arguments from Harvey's lawyer that the government had acted improperly by putting up a sham candidate.
Full AP story.
December 2, 2005
morris the cat meets jules verne at the end of time
morris the cat meets jules verne at the end of time
Originally uploaded by awfulsara.
This woman sees things the rest of us do not. Check her out.
November 25, 2005
Now playing on dust radio...
Chris Whitley has passed away. My world is a lesser place without him in it.
Read his obituary. Then go buy some good music, cause life is really fucking short.
September 8, 2005
To Sum Up
In better words than mine:
Read all of it succinctly put, here:
http://www.thisisnotover.com/archives/2005/09/heres_what_gets.html
Let's give him the benefit of the doubt that he was being prevented from acting by bureaucracy and the sheer magnitude of the situation. Where are the stories of how he was in his office freaking the fuck out because there were tens of thousands of Americans trapped without food and water? Where's the story of how he ripped a strip off of somebody, demanding to know what the holy hell the holdup is getting water and food to those people?
Read all of it succinctly put, here:
http://www.thisisnotover.com/archives/2005/09/heres_what_gets.html
August 31, 2005
Wading through The Inevitable
Statistically, this had to happen. Now, levees are failing and the city of New Orleans is vanishing under the rising waters. It is difficult to get the mind around the sheer scale of the destruction. I've seen some less than thinking people compare this to September 11. September 11 was two buildings, and part of another. This is thousands and thousands of buildings, perhaps, when all is said and done, an entire major American city. Sure you can compare death tols, but it is absurd.
At any rate, I suppose such comparisons are a feeble attempt to put this into some sort of perspective.
I can't really get my mind around it.
One thing, amidst the sensational media coverage that comes to mind: Why so much focus on looting? People are dead, more will die, and many remain to be rescued. Businesses are insured, or ought to be. They can write off their entire inventories as a loss and be reimbursed. Cops are wasting their time chasing people stealing armfuls of Pampers, snack foods, and drinks. Why, oh why is anyone trying to stop them, and why is the media beating the drum of "widespread looting?" It's inane, and irrelevant.
At any rate, I suppose such comparisons are a feeble attempt to put this into some sort of perspective.
I can't really get my mind around it.
One thing, amidst the sensational media coverage that comes to mind: Why so much focus on looting? People are dead, more will die, and many remain to be rescued. Businesses are insured, or ought to be. They can write off their entire inventories as a loss and be reimbursed. Cops are wasting their time chasing people stealing armfuls of Pampers, snack foods, and drinks. Why, oh why is anyone trying to stop them, and why is the media beating the drum of "widespread looting?" It's inane, and irrelevant.
August 20, 2005
The Politics Of Stupidity
I'm glad I don't have kids, who will enter a public school system being taken over by zealous, anti-science, anti-thinking religious barbarians, to be taught the bible in science class. In school boards and state legislatures across the country proponents of the redressed Creationist "philosophy" (now slickly termed Intelligent Design) are framing the debate as a need to teach the "controversy" surrounding the theory of evolution and natural selection. That controversy is wholly contrived by those who wish to teach it. Imagine for a moment that science classes started teaching that homosexuality is genetically driven behavior. These same nuts who want to subvert rational thinking would throw themselves beneath the wheels of school buses the world over.
Which proves my point...
Full article
Which proves my point...
Full article
August 11, 2005
Bone Dry
In April 2001 I wrote an article about the dwindling supply of water in the Great American Desert. The focus of the article was the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, a desert fantasy oasis of bright lights, limitless possibilities, and an abundance of water. Vegas is truly in the middle of the desert. Drive a few miles beyond the edges of it's sprawl and the air suddenly goes skin-wrinkling dry, no longer sprinkled with the water of a thousand fountains. Drive a few more miles and you come upon Hoover Dam, which stands astride the Colorado River.
The Colorado is the primary source of water for Las Vegas, and the city has now reached the limits of Nevada's allotment. Officials at the city and state level have known for years this day would come, and they have been preparing. All of the outdoor fountains in Las Vegas have been turned off, and the rest of the city is under strict rationing.
Just kidding.
Las Vegas, instead of generating and enforcing strict regulations on the use of precious water, has gone hunting for more to satisfy it's insatiable demand. It proposes to pump water out of the ground in Nevada and western Utah and transport it via pipeline more than 500 miles to Las Vegas. The local people living above that water, which nurtures their crops and keeps their patch of desert from completely blowing away, are protesting.
It will do no good. There is too much money at stake, too much political pressure being applied to stop this. The Bureau Of Land Management and US Geological Survey will likely confirm Vegas' contention that there is more than enough water for the city to suck 25,000 acre-feet (enough water to cover that acreage to a depth of one foot) per year out of the ground. And in a few years, when Vegas continues to expand and it's appetite for water grows sharper, it will reach out further, deeper, to slake it's thirst. Eventually, it will suck all the remaining water out of the western United States, dry up, wither and blow away.
And there will be no water left, not a drop.
The Colorado is the primary source of water for Las Vegas, and the city has now reached the limits of Nevada's allotment. Officials at the city and state level have known for years this day would come, and they have been preparing. All of the outdoor fountains in Las Vegas have been turned off, and the rest of the city is under strict rationing.
Just kidding.
Las Vegas, instead of generating and enforcing strict regulations on the use of precious water, has gone hunting for more to satisfy it's insatiable demand. It proposes to pump water out of the ground in Nevada and western Utah and transport it via pipeline more than 500 miles to Las Vegas. The local people living above that water, which nurtures their crops and keeps their patch of desert from completely blowing away, are protesting.
It will do no good. There is too much money at stake, too much political pressure being applied to stop this. The Bureau Of Land Management and US Geological Survey will likely confirm Vegas' contention that there is more than enough water for the city to suck 25,000 acre-feet (enough water to cover that acreage to a depth of one foot) per year out of the ground. And in a few years, when Vegas continues to expand and it's appetite for water grows sharper, it will reach out further, deeper, to slake it's thirst. Eventually, it will suck all the remaining water out of the western United States, dry up, wither and blow away.
And there will be no water left, not a drop.
August 2, 2005
Presidentus Ignoramus
If ignorance is bliss, we should all be the Shrub. From an interview with some Texas print reporters:
On Intelligent Design
Ron Hutcheson writes for Knight Ridder Newspapers: "President Bush waded into the debate over evolution and 'intelligent design' Monday, saying schools should teach both theories on the creation and complexity of life. . .
"Scientists concede that evolution doesn't answer every question about the creation of life, but most consider intelligent design an attempt to inject religion into science courses.
"Bush compared the current debate to earlier disputes over 'creationism,' a related view that adheres more closely to biblical explanations. As governor of Texas, Bush said students should be exposed to both creationism and evolution.
"On Monday the president said he favors the same approach for intelligent design 'so people can understand what the debate is about.' "
Hutcheson writes that Bush "didn't seem eager to talk about the topic."
Here, in fact, is the entire exchange, prompted by Hutcheson's question:
"Q I wanted to ask you about the -- what seems to be a growing debate over evolution versus intelligent design. What are your personal views on that, and do you think both should be taught in public schools?
"THE PRESIDENT: I think -- as I said, harking back to my days as my governor . . . Then, I said that, first of all, that decision should be made to local school districts, but I felt like both sides ought to be properly taught.
"Q Both sides should be properly taught?
"THE PRESIDENT: Yes, people -- so people can understand what the debate is about.
"Q So the answer accepts the validity of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution?
"THE PRESIDENT: I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought, and I'm not suggesting -- you're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, and the answer is yes."
July 28, 2005
Widget Me
Widgets are damn cool. Little desk top apps that do one or a few very narrow things, in a manner pleasing to the eye and convenient to use. Yahoo recently bought Pixoria, who created Konfabulator, the program that actually runs and controls these widgets.
I'm still giving it a whirl but I have to say it is pretty cool, works well, and with the acquisition, I expect the number, type and variation of available widgets to grow rapidly.
Test it out for yourself.
I'm still giving it a whirl but I have to say it is pretty cool, works well, and with the acquisition, I expect the number, type and variation of available widgets to grow rapidly.
Test it out for yourself.
July 20, 2005
hot blue day
hot blue day
Originally uploaded by fallsroad.
It's turning into one of those really damn hot stretches here. 99 today, hotter than that tomorrow and on through the weekend. I know, it's worse elsewhere, but I'm *here*, aren't I?
Getting pumped
Well, not really.
I'm currently going off my feed of bad CableSpews programming, so I've been unable to work myself into a righteous lather about the Shrub's appointment to the Supreme Court.
*Snore*.
Another right wing, pro-business, anti-regulation lawyer - sounds like most of the administration and its lackey army. Perhaps the 99 degree heat here on the Southern Plains has me in a profound malaise, but I really don't care who this man is. I already know what I need to know of him - the finer points of his particular stripe of neo conservatism doesn't interest me.
I also don't care about the upcoming nomination "fight" because a fight it will not be. The alleged "party of opposition" relinquished it's remaining shred of dignity when it chose to compromise with the majority party over judicial nominees, all of whom were more objectionable than the current one. This means the dog and pony show will be short, full of hype, and end in a near unanimous vote in favor.
Like I said, I cannot care about this. Those fucks running the show are already quite capable of fucking all of us in our nether holes - one more shitbag can hardly foul the waters any further.
I'm currently going off my feed of bad CableSpews programming, so I've been unable to work myself into a righteous lather about the Shrub's appointment to the Supreme Court.
*Snore*.
Another right wing, pro-business, anti-regulation lawyer - sounds like most of the administration and its lackey army. Perhaps the 99 degree heat here on the Southern Plains has me in a profound malaise, but I really don't care who this man is. I already know what I need to know of him - the finer points of his particular stripe of neo conservatism doesn't interest me.
I also don't care about the upcoming nomination "fight" because a fight it will not be. The alleged "party of opposition" relinquished it's remaining shred of dignity when it chose to compromise with the majority party over judicial nominees, all of whom were more objectionable than the current one. This means the dog and pony show will be short, full of hype, and end in a near unanimous vote in favor.
Like I said, I cannot care about this. Those fucks running the show are already quite capable of fucking all of us in our nether holes - one more shitbag can hardly foul the waters any further.
July 16, 2005
What's in a name?
Though I spent much of my first 20 years of life outside the US, my family always returned to the Washington, D.C. area. I grew up a football fan, specifically a fan of the Washington Redskins. The games at old RFK stadium were magical for a kid - totally sold out, raucous fans, marching band, players like giants smashing into one another, and the fight song, played and sung each time the home team managed to score.
"Hail To The Redskins", borrowing the tune from the Notre Dame fight song.
Indian themes are what this team's image was built on many decades ago, and it's logo is instantly recognizable. I had pennants and posters, trading cards and jerseys, all with that famous face, famous stylized letter R, and the name.
Time to change it.
A court case challenging the Washington trademarks stalled two years ago, but was revived yesterday on procedural grounds.
Teams want to have an image fans can understand and get enthusiastic about. It's a method of team identity, and a great tool for marketing. But there is no reason on earth that a team name, images, and theme need be denigrating to Native Americans. Try supplanting "Redskins" with "Jews" or "Micks" or "Spics" and so on. It just doesn't play.
I propose Washington change the name to Warriors, a more generic term for a fighting force, one that does not rely on specific racial typing and cannot possibly be offensive in the manner Redskins is now. The team symbol could be revamped into a fierce visage designed to strike fear into opposing teams, or at least sell jerseys and tickets. This isn't rocket science, and nothing says a team's name is set in stone.
Years ago Abe Pollen, owner of the then named Washington Bullets NBA franchise decided to change the team name. At the time the city was in the top ten for murder rates in the entire US. Pollen felt it was not appropriate for a basketball team to carry the name of a bit of metal designed to kill people. The team held a contest and the winning name was Wizards. Goofy, as is the new logo, but it's only a basketball team.
He set the right example. The Washington NFL team should follow it.
"Hail To The Redskins", borrowing the tune from the Notre Dame fight song.
Indian themes are what this team's image was built on many decades ago, and it's logo is instantly recognizable. I had pennants and posters, trading cards and jerseys, all with that famous face, famous stylized letter R, and the name.
Time to change it.
A court case challenging the Washington trademarks stalled two years ago, but was revived yesterday on procedural grounds.
Redskins Name Can Be Challenged
Appeals Court Ruling Keeps Trademark Battle Alive
By Karlyn Barker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 16, 2005; B01
Native American groups won another chance yesterday to challenge trademarks covering the name and logo of the Washington Redskins, which the groups say disparage millions of people.
The football franchise had appeared to prevail in the longstanding trademark fight when a federal judge ruled in its favor nearly two years ago. But yesterday the U.S. Court of Appeals said the case deserves another look because one of the plaintiffs might have been unfairly denied the right to pursue it.
"This keeps the case alive," said John Dossett, general counsel for the National Congress of American Indians, which represents 250 tribes.
The dispute involves six trademarks owned by Pro-Football Inc., the corporate owner of the team. The oldest is "The Redskins," written in a stylized script in 1967. Other trademarks were registered in 1974, 1978 and 1990, including one for the word "Redskinettes." The Native Americans said the trademarks should be taken away because they insult them and hold them up to ridicule.
The appellate ruling hinged on the question of whether the Native Americans waited too long to file their challenge. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled in October 2003 that the seven plaintiffs had no standing to complain because they did not formally object until 25 years had elapsed since the date of the first trademark.
But the appellate judges found that one plaintiff still could have standing because he was only 1 year old in 1967. They sent the case back to Kollar-Kotelly for review.
The outcome ultimately could affect millions of dollars in sales of Redskins paraphernalia. With a federal registration for trademarks, team owner Daniel M. Snyder holds exclusive rights to use the team name and logo on T-shirts, caps and other items, worth an estimated $5 million a year.
Teams want to have an image fans can understand and get enthusiastic about. It's a method of team identity, and a great tool for marketing. But there is no reason on earth that a team name, images, and theme need be denigrating to Native Americans. Try supplanting "Redskins" with "Jews" or "Micks" or "Spics" and so on. It just doesn't play.
I propose Washington change the name to Warriors, a more generic term for a fighting force, one that does not rely on specific racial typing and cannot possibly be offensive in the manner Redskins is now. The team symbol could be revamped into a fierce visage designed to strike fear into opposing teams, or at least sell jerseys and tickets. This isn't rocket science, and nothing says a team's name is set in stone.
Years ago Abe Pollen, owner of the then named Washington Bullets NBA franchise decided to change the team name. At the time the city was in the top ten for murder rates in the entire US. Pollen felt it was not appropriate for a basketball team to carry the name of a bit of metal designed to kill people. The team held a contest and the winning name was Wizards. Goofy, as is the new logo, but it's only a basketball team.
He set the right example. The Washington NFL team should follow it.
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