Coming Attractions

I've got more music this week and further political folderal, but I couldn't keep this one to myself. From the network that brought you fair and balanced! Enjoy.

----------------
Now playing: Feedtime - Fractured
via FoxyTunes

I Should Have Saved That Last Picture for This Post

Raptor Jesus is sooooo going to bite her.

----------------
Now playing: Red Red Meat - There's a Star Above the Manger Tonight
via FoxyTunes

Nero Fiddles...

Elitist wealthy pig John McCain and sniveling co-hort Joe Lieberman dined sumptuously with their respective spouses while hardworking (if blind and ignorant) Congressional colleagues tried to bail out Wall Street's fat, bloated corpse.

Vote Obama!

Screw John McCain.

----------------
Now playing: The Long Ryders - Looking For Lewis And Clark
via FoxyTunes

Best SNL Sketch Ever

What? This isn't a bit from Saturday Night Live? That's not Tina Fey? No freakin' way. I mean, really, the way the camera keeps cutting to that dumbfounded "I cannot believe what I am seeing and hearing" look on Katie Couric's face (I just assumed she was the Guest Host this week!) - that has to be scripted, right? Right?

----------------
Now playing: Plan 9 - Frustration
via FoxyTunes

Twirling, Twirling, Always Twirling!

We watched the debate last night, like some of ya'all probably did. We had cold Wisconsin beers and delicious hot snacks with cheeses melted on and in them for our eating enjoyment pleasure, but we also had our wits about us.

It didn't take very long to notice that McCain couldn't or wouldn't look at Obama. His body language was painful to watch. He was so full of contempt for Obama it leaked through his suit. (John, as Obama might say being the gentleman that he is, if you wear an adult diaper, sorry for that one). One Republican pundit said this was "classic McCain" in an attempt to dismiss it, because if McCain doesn't like someone, he won't even look at them.

Really? Then McCain must love Bush. He can't wait to throw his stiff arms around the guy and rub his expensive shoes on those thin little calves (I assume). Seriously, is this how he will act towards foreign leaders he doesn't care for or who represent countries that don't like us? I mean, that's every damn country in the world right now, including Spain - and thanks for that one, John! Where are we gonna get our tapas from now, huh!

Which leads me to the first of the two most disturbing aspects of McCain's performance last night:

John McCain sees enemies everywhere.

He's a true-blue never-die Cold Warrior. I kept waiting for him to say something about "the Commies" for chrissakes! (He did talk about the KGB...which hasn't officially existed since 1995, having been disbanded by Yeltsin). Threats everywhere. I think that if the United States isn't engaged in a huge idealogical war with all the keen and nifty political/economic/military repercussions of such, he ain't happy. His constant reiteration of the idea that America must win, win with honor, have victory, victory with honor (you see where this is going, right?) was like an echo from the past.

Which leads me to the second of the two most disturbing aspects of McCain's performance last night.

John McCain is stuck in the past.

He's still fighting Vietnam. That war never ended for him or for many of his generation. This is one of the reasons I couldn't have ever supported Hillary Clinton - I have no intention of refighting their generational conflict over Vietnam. If this were Clinton v. McCain right now, the culture war would be raging again. Not that they aren't trying, but it's so much harder to make muck when your leading culturista totem-girl is a bumbling Alaskan mayor.

And this leads me to the final aspect of last night's debate I want to touch on. The difference in style between McCain and Obama. I think this is generational, too, on one level. And it's something most of the pundits can't understand or wrap their heads around, especially those above a certain age, like Chris Matthews and Pat Buchanan and Wolf Blitzer and, oh, most of those morons. With a few exceptions, the pundits were all over Obama for not hitting McCain harder, for being gentlemanly and deferential, for treating McCain like an honorable opponent rather than a punching bag.

Dang. This is again the never-changing "Damned if he does, damned if he don't" meme, in that if Obama hadn't been the true statesman that he was onstage and had rather been the angry, in your face streetfighter the pundits wanted, he'd have been condemned as an - wait for it, you know it's coming, it's almost here! - "Angry Black Man"! The few pundits that either didn't expect Obama to be "All in that old white man's face!" or could read the situation without blinders on where those like Eugene Robinson, Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow who either aren't old enough to be trapped in this generational conflict or still retain the mental flexibility required to see the world differently than it has been, to envision it as it might be.

And it's that ability to envision the future, to see what might be, to freakin' dare think and act like the world can be different that has me voting for the Senator from Illinois.

Vote Obama!

Screw John McCain.

----------------
Now playing: The Stones - Fad World
via FoxyTunes

Where the Hell is Bill?

Don't get me wrong - I hate Bill Clinton just as much as the average Republican, maybe even more, since I ain't a Republican. Nor a Democrat, contrary to evidence. (And no way am I stinking Libertarian. Ha-ha! - those guys crack me up!)

But. As I like to say. But. Where the hell is Bill?

When it comes down to celebrity comics having to chide you for not doing enough for your party and its candidate, you know you're messing up.

I was going to modify the lyrics to this timeless political anthem to suit Bill Clinton more appropriately, but upon closer reading I see absolutely no reason to do so.

Sing along - you all know the tune!

Where, where the Hell is Bill?
Where, where the Hell is Bill?
Where, where the Hell is Bill?
Where, where the Hell is Bill?
Well, maybe he went to get a sideways haircut
Maybe he went to get a striped shirt
Maybe he went to get some plastic shoes
Maybe he went to get some funny sunglasses
Well, maybe he went to get an Air Force parka
Maybe he went to get a Vespa scooter
Maybe he went to get a British flag
Maybe he went to go Mod Ska dancing
Well, maybe he went to get a mohawk
And maybe he went to get some gnarly thrash boots
Maybe he went to go ride his skateboard
Maybe he went to see the Circle Jerks

Though long a traditional part of the American folk repertoire, this version is ascribed to a little known jugband/mimetroupe/blackface/vaudeville group from the American West, known as "Camper Van Beethoven." Historians assume the name of this travelling group was innaccurately transcribed from ancient sources. It's just too silly to be real.

----------------
Now playing: T.S.O.L. - No Way Out
via FoxyTunes

The New John McCain

He's old! He's pretty cranky! His left eye is doing weird things!

But this week he's reinventing himself as...the nosy neighbor?

Yeah, in order to divert media attention from the scandalous behavior of his campaign manager, Rick "Gimme the Money, Bitch! (Slap-slap-slap!)" Davis and his plummetingly unpopular VP pick, Sarah "I Kill Mooses!" Palin, John McCain proclaimed he was suspended his campaign (but he didn't), cancelling his teevee interviews (but he didn't) and jumping on the next plane to Washington (but he didn't).

Why? So that - eventually, when he finally got to Washington, about a day after he said he was going there - he could sit creepily in the corner at a meeting with Bush, Obama, a bunch of Congressional dweebs and that Frankensteinian experiment Paulson until it came time to butt-in and mess everything up.

Good job, John. By the way, besides keeping the press off your back, did this stunt have anything to do with the fact that you didn't bother to prepare for tonight's debate?

And if this isn't enough to have you rolling in the aisles, I give you this. Honestly, even I felt a little dirty, a little like I'd died inside, after reading it. Probably because I couldn't stop laughing. (Thanks to Dr. N for this link. He's like Dr. No, but doesn't have a vowel after the N.)

BTW, which actress was your favorite Gladys Kravitz? I think mine was Color Gladys, Sandra Gould. Probably because she was on the show longer than original B&W Gladys Alice Pearce. Who died in 1966. Sorry, Alice. I have very strong opinions about situation comedies. I welcome all and any responses and comments on this and any Bewitched-related subject matter. But not about anything else.

----------------
Now playing: MX-80 Sound - Boy Trouble -- Girl Trouble
via FoxyTunes

Git Yr Guns, Boys

Eleventh Dream Day - Live at the Cattle Club, Sacramento, CA (4/27/91) Part 1
Eleventh Dream Day - Live at the Cattle Club, Sacramento, CA (4/27/91) Part 2

Eleventh Dream Day - Live in Munich, Germany (6/30/91) Part 1
Eleventh Dream Day - Live in Munich, Germany (6/30/91) Part 2

I've always imagined that Eleventh Dream Day could've made a killer spaghetti-western soundtrack. Gnarled and tough and scary. Why? I dunno. Thin White Rope would probably be a more appropriate choice for something like this, but there's something in EDD's vocals more than their guitars that make me think of Clint Eastwood and serapes and vast unfolding landscapes of foreboding and apprehension. Gives me the shivers, it does, boys and girls!

EDD snuck up on me as a band. I read about their debut album but couldn't find a copy of it. My brother finally snagged one after a year of looking and then I had to play the waiting game to borrow it. So they'd been kicking around for a couple years by the time I finally heard that first album. And unlike most things one waits so long for with such high expectations - cue my dream of Dick Cheney publicly confessing his sins and then lighting himself on fire in the street while screaming "I done a bad, bad thing!" - there was no disappointment involved. Damn, that's good.

And these are good too. The German show is a radio broadcast and I'm not sure about the Cattle Club - it's either a really good audience or a soundboard. Though from the same year, they're not identical sets. There's enough variety in the setlists to please and, really, one of my favorite aspects of live recordings is seeing what a band does with a song before an audience and having several versions of the same song can be really interesting. That's why I've got hundreds of Neil Young boots. And I can go on endlessly about the hundred different versions of "Like a Hurricane" or "Cortez" and why you should hear all of them!

I'm giving ya'all two shows because I'm out of town Friday for some extra learning and thought you deserved it, putting up with my crazy-ass political rantings of late. You're good people and thank you for stopping by and reading and commenting. The 'monkey appreciates it very much.

Buy shit!

----------------
Now playing: Moving Targets - The Other Side
via FoxyTunes

How Angry Can One Man Get?

Not a bad question, I think. I was screaming at that BASTARD Paulson tonight. Or at his image on the televisual apparatus. As he lied to Congress. Saying that the decree in the 2.5 pages of plans on how to solve our financial clusterfuck (which a White House spokes-dick said today was months in the preparing!) about how all decisions will be "non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency" was simple politeness.

Yeah. He was just being polite. Of course he knows Congress will want oversight. But by declaring that they can't have any, he was being polite. To them. Get it? Surely, you must. It makes perfect sense. Right? RIGHT? PLEASE TELL ME THAT IT MAKES SENSE!

Is it okay for an atheist to take the Lord Our God's name in vain? I'd sure like to right now if I can. I even swore with real swear words above here. I try not to do that. That's for the comments section.

Is this the October Surprise all us lefty liberal no-good do-nothin' jerks have been waiting for? I mean, they let slip that this less than three page solution to the greatest financial meltdown of decades was MONTHS in the making. And the best they could come up with was "Trust us - we know what we're doing. Go look at shiny things now."

What has happened to this country? Where are we going? What are we going to do?

----------------
Now playing: For Against - Get On With It
via FoxyTunes

Seeing Red (aka Fun With Your New Head)

This is from the "This Will Make Your Head Spin So Fast It Will Leave Your Body and Attain Orbit as an Independent Satellite of Planet Earth" Department.

CBS News made several inquiries over the course of two days to another campaign spokesperson asking for details on any practical experience Palin had with Russia. The spokesperson said that campaign staffers were gathering evidence related to trade issues, but no such information was disseminated.

A spokesperson at the governor's office in Juneau directed all inquiries to the McCain/Palin campaign. Told that the inquiry was related to Palin's role as the governor of Alaska - not as a vice presidential candidate - the spokesperson said that state ethics legislation required that all questions “fueled by the governor's candidacy” must be directed to the campaign. The spokesperson provided a phone number for a campaign spokeswoman Meg Stapleton. A phone message left on Stapleton's voicemail was not returned.

Take it in. Let it fill you with joy. Know that you have now witnessed the most incredible example of Orwellian double-thinking double-speaking bullshit in American political history.

See: According to the McCain-Palin campaign, she has the foreign policy experience necessary to be the next President of the United States because of her state's proximity to not just one but two other countries that are not the United States.

Why? Because if you stand on tiptoes on some Alaskan island, you can see some Russian island fifty miles away. Oh, and then there's Canada. Can't trust them either.

But: When questioned about this "experience" and how it pertains to her possible Vice Presidency, we are told that this is not a relevant question. Because it is about her time as Governor of Alaska. Not about her time as a VP candidate...

Whoa! The Earth now has several dozen new natural satellites. NASA - are you tracking this?

----------------
Now playing: Tall Dwarfs - Nothing's Going to Stop It
via FoxyTunes

Science? or Magic?

Brian Eno & Robert Fripp - Live at the Olympia, Paris, France (5/28/75) Part 1
Brian Eno & Robert Fripp - Live at the Olympia, Paris, France (5/28/75) Part 2

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clarke.

I just thought that this would be a good quote to ponder while listening to this extraordinary concert, if "concert" is indeed the right word for it. It's really a lot more than that, though my bias shows in saying it. I find myself humming Eno tunes more often than is probably legal in some Southern states, Latin American dictatorships and happy fun cruise lines. Taking Tiger Mountain and Warm Jets are ingrained at this point in my life. After a couple decades of listening to them, they have become part of me. I would die if they were removed.

This is a legendary performance and I hope you enjoy it.

Interesting, to me, that Arthur C. Clarke rears his bespectacled head once again at The New Disease. I sometimes think I have no control over this blog.

Don't forget...buy shit!

----------------
Now playing: Sun Ra - We Travel The Spaceways
via FoxyTunes

I'm So Confused!

Evidently, I'm a closet Republican. At least based on the number of cars my family owns.

Mr. & Mrs. McCain own thirteen cars, a nice healthy prime number of vehicles. Likewise, Mr. and Mrs. Gomonkeygo have multiple vehicles - two, in fact.

But...but...but...Mr. and Mrs. Obama only have one!

Frack. If more cars means one is more inclined to be Republican, then I must be more Republican. I think this is how algebra works. I can't remember because I was too bedazzled by my high school math teacher's tremendous comb-over, white vinyl belt and array of dully-colored polyester suits to learn anything substantial.

All this car talk reminds me, I have to go re-attach the muffler to my '85 Camry. I noticed last night that it's just kinda hanging there about an inch from the ground. That explains most of the noises, I guess. Most of them.

----------------
Now playing: Killdozer - Sweet Home Alabama
via FoxyTunes

New Disease Vectors

Raptor Jesus says "I Love You!"

I've been really enjoying some new blogs (new to me anyway) of late and wanted to introduce you to them, in case you haven't found them yet. And send you towards some old friends of the 'Disease, too.

Old friends first: Nuzz Prowlin' Wolf and Nazz Nomad of Bleedin' Out. Good politics, great music, fun presentations. And, damn, but I wish I had Nazz's username. (Nazz has a cool format that I wish I'd thought of first and Mr. Wolf's blog is stylistically unparalleled - I love it!)

New now. I've been getting a lot great tunes (and making a long list of stuff I gotta buy if I can find it now that I've heard it) from Feelin' Kinda Froggy and The Doldrums. FKF specializes in unavailable music, mostly 80s, lots of rips from personal vinyl. Great stuff here. He's saved me having to rip some of my own vinyl, which I really appreciate. TD again has lots of 80s tunage you don't want to miss, lots of NZ rock if you miss that Flying Nun sound. What I really like though is the personal comments of the contributors. They've got some keen insight and when they love something they express themselves very well indeed.

Go now - enjoy! Spread your seed upon the wind! Multiply! Whatever!

----------------
Now playing: Killdozer - American Pie
via FoxyTunes

A Really Rough Ride(r)

McCain is the one with all the foreign policy experience, right? That's what he's been telling us, right?

So...how come he doesn't know who the Prime Minister of Spain is? And why won't he talk to him? Does he still think we're at war with Spain?

I don't need to belabor this. Others have done it well already.

Honestly, John, your age is showing. This isn't pretty; pretty damn ugly, in fact. Get out now. You're embarrassing yourself and the nation. We don't need four more years of Presidential embarrassment.

Vote Obama!

Forgive Us, Sarah - You Can't Help Yourself!

Did ya hear the one about how Sarah Palin's teleprompter malfunctioned so badly during her RNC speech that she had to ad-lib much of it? Yet she still managed to wing it and give the best darn speech of her life? Because she just thought of [Insert name of current state being campaigned in here] and it inspired her to go on?! Golly! She's smart on her feet, ain't she? She can think fast, can't she? She lies like a rug, don't she!

'Cuz, my country cousins, it ain't true. Sweet Sarah's got a problem. She's a liar. A big liar. A huge freakin' liar. And she just can't stop. But she wants all us heartland folk that she identifies with so much to think that she did it just for all us lil' people, people just like her, people who get thousands of dollars in per diem travel expenses to stay at home and work, people who have tanning beds in their homes, people who own seaplanes (yeah, she's got a seaplane!). Regular folk. With beehive hairdos. Like you and me and the B-52s.

I couldn't find a good picture of a liar with pants appropriately on fire, but I figure this one works because she'll be telling us next about her new moose urine-powered rocket pack that she uses to travel around Alaska in proper green fashion, ever since she sold that ol' luxury jet on Ebay. Oh, wait, that was a lie too!

----------------
Now playing: The Celibate Rifles - The More Things Change
via FoxyTunes

What Day Is This Again?

The Gun Club - Live at the Grugahalle, Essen, Germany (5/29/93)

Missed opportunities. Regrets. Otherwise known as, "Bands I missed."

X. The Cramps. Shockabilly. The Feelies (in '84). Thin White Rope. Snakefinger. Savage Republic.

And The Gun Club. Stoopid, stoopid, stoopid!

RIP Jeffrey Lee - "Cleopatra dreams on!"

Buy shit!

----------------
Now playing: The Church - Electric Lash
via FoxyTunes

North to Alaska!

The biggest political protest in Alaskan history took place this weekend folks - against their beloved Governor Sarah Palin!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! The numbers are in, it looks huge, yes we have confirmation - 1500 people showed up!

Huh? 1500? WTF?

Actually, that's not bad. It was raining and this is Alaska. They don't even have a million people in the whole dang state. Putting 1500 of them in one place probably raised the ambient temperature by several degrees too. Could even have tilted the Earth's axis slightly.

I'm only teasing, kids. I'd have been there if I'd have been there. Know what I mean? I did go out and protest against the invasion of Iraq before the invasion, me and missus gomonkeygo and lil' gomonkeygoboy. Had homemade signs and everything. In the middle of a freakin' blizzard of snow, sleet, wind and bitter cold, marching down our Main Street (yeah, we got a Main Street!) and getting honks from passing drivers. So I got sympathies for these folks out in the rain, though some of them in the pictures are wearing shorts.

I'm thinking and hoping that we're going to see more of this kind of stuff. Decent people taking to the streets to raise their voices in protest and in proud reclamation of our American political heritage, of the right to have a dissenting voice. (Some bastards up North tried to derail the show, sending phony faxes and making anonymous phone calls to the media announcing that the the protest was cancelled. Real Americans, they is.)

Last week in Philadelphia, for instance, McCain was drowned out by the spontaneous actions of Obama supporters when he was talking to one of his HUGE rallies (six local bidness-women in a deli - that's all he can pull without Palin in tow). Lots of people have called this rudeness; I call it political theater and I think we need more of it. My favorite piece of political theater was the MoveOn ad about General Betrayus. I wish I had a copy of that framed on my wall. It was beautiful!

And so are the people of Alaska who want their voices heard. Kudos, northern buddies, kudos!

----------------
Now playing: Guided By Voices - Revolution Boy
via FoxyTunes

Some Kind of Alchemy

Television - Live at Mother's, New York, NY (10/19/75)

It's the end of the week already. It's the end of the week, already? It's the end of the week already!

Damn. I think I lost a couple of days in there; this went by fast. Weekend already a few hours away. What are you doing this weekend? I'm going to a film festival. Well, not "going" as in buying a ticket and sitting down and enjoying odd little indie movies, but "going" as in working at one. Yeah, outside of this blog and the aforementioned legal-brainwashing job, I do have a life. (One mustn't forget The Porch!) I'll be selling tickets and popcorn and helping little old ladies into their seats and suchlike this weekend and next at our local film festival, which I've been working with/on for five years now. If you're in the area and want to see some great movies, come on by. Ask for gomonkeygo - they'll know who you mean.

Hmm. What? I dunno. Seriously, I've got a stuffed up head, bit of a cold, and it's having an effect on my concentration.

Oh, yeah - music! Here's the promised Television show. Looks like ya'all've been enjoying the Verlaine/Lloyd shows (did you know Richard has "amicably" severed his ties with Television to concentrate on his solo career?), so I'm guessing you'll like this one too. It's a pretty awesome early show and I recommend hoisting one in memory of the taper with the foresight to grab these sonic waves from the air oh so long ago. Tapers can be dicks; I've dealt with several dozen over the years. But they can also be saints. We owe them a lot.

Listening tip: Take the Verlaine and Lloyd gigs, open them in your favorite music editing program, convert each to mono then cut-and-paste them into one stereo file and play! Do you think it'll automatically turn into Television? Some kind of spontaneous musical generation, like the way moldy leaves become toads? I think so. Yeah, that's what I think.

As ever, buy shit! (Re-releases of classic Verlaine albums in just a few days!)

----------------
Now playing: Wire - The Queen Of Ur And The King Of Um (Alternative Version)
via FoxyTunes

Happy Birthday

The first thing I think of on September 11 is not the terrorist attack. I think of my Dad. September 11 is his birthday. He died a year before the attacks, fortunately. I say fortunately because it would have hurt him to have that day and his birthday conflated together for the rest of his life. I wish he wasn't gone; I miss him greatly. But that is one blessing at least in his passing.

Happy Birthday, Dad! I love you. Wish you were here.

Through Fields of Fire

Richard Lloyd - Live at The Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL (6/22/01) Part 1
Richard Lloyd - Live at The Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL (6/22/01) Part 2

And to wash the taste from our mouths of John McCain's backside (that is his ass he's talking out of these days, right? I'd hate to think that those dead, painted-on eyes are real), a guitar hero.

As promised. Richard Lloyd. Live. Pretty recent too. It's never a nice thing to say to someone "You should have seen what I was gonna get you!" I know because I've done this and I'm a stupid ass for having done it and I thought I'd learned my lesson about this. But...this isn't the show I wanted to share.

I was gonna give ya'all a Lloyd gig from an unreleased Swedish radio broadcast, live from the famous Mudd Club in Gothenburg on March 15, 1985 - that's what I intended to share. But it won't rip. The last three tunes all give me serious extraction errors and kill EAC. And this show is so freakin' hot!!!

Why bother to tell you? Well, I'm hoping someone out there has it and would like to contribute. I'm looking for a 320-bit rate rip, preferably, that we can add to this post as a bonus. Anyone wanna help? Pony up!

Television coming Friday, kids. Which show will it be? I dunno. The Lords of the Good Rip will let me know shortly. Pray for me, pray for Television!

Don't forget - buy shit!

----------------
Now playing: Polyphemus - Alexander's Words
via FoxyTunes

The Heart of Darkness

And the winner is...John McCain! For "Most Horrifying and Disgusting Political Advertisement Suggesting His Opponent is a Pedophile!"

Yeah. Just let that sink in. There it goes. Almost there...now - Scream! WTF! OMG! That can't be true!

But it is. In the latest of their attack ads, McCain and Co. have dusted off the already beat-down smear that Obama supports teaching explicit sex ed to kindergartners - with a twist!

I will not put the ad on my blog and I won't even link to it because it is contemptible. It is foul. You can find it on YouTube in a second if you want to see it. I've made myself watch it several times, gripping the arms of my seat to keep from tearing my teeth into the screen. The title of the ad is "Education" and it is ostensibly about Obama's lack of planning and depth regarding education. You might be interested in knowing that every quote used in the ad is at best taken out of context and at worst used as a lie; most are from op-ed pieces that actually savaged McCain's stance (or total lack of one) on education and the missing information gave kudos to Obama.

What is most foul about this ad is the suggestion, midway through, that Obama wants five year-olds in Illinois to know the graphic facts of sexuality before they can even read. This is another lie. And it gets worse when one reads the subtextual graphic imagery of the advertisement.

Like their previous ad about Obama as a celebrity, juxtaposing images of Obama, a giant stone phallic symbol and conventionally pretty white women, McCain is again playing the race card here. [See "miscegenation"]. And not just playing it - he's humping it for all it's worth. If you can stomach watching the ad, pay attention to the cut between an image of little children in school and its followup - a close-up of Obama looking downward, as though at children. Why this image? He's intended to be leering at them, smirking, perhaps even fantasizing.... This is supposed to put the image of Obama as a pedophile in the voters' minds. Nothing else. It is worthy of Hitler and Goebbels - they'd be mighty proud of McCain now.

John McCain needs to be a man and stand up and apologize to the American public for this ad. He should then fire his entire campaign staff and take himself out of the race. Nothing less will do.

Okay. Open fire!

----------------
Now playing: Guadalcanal Diary - Where Angels Fear To Tread
via FoxyTunes

Why Does John McCain Hate America?

Specifically, why does he hate his fellow veterans so much?

Me, I'm sick of hearing that McCain should be respected because of his service. I used to agree with this. No longer. The cynical and manipulative way in which he is now using his war experiences as a POW disgust me. He can't even keep his own story straight; he changes it to fit the audience he's in front of at the moment. This suggests that John McCain has either one of the most deeply cynical political minds in American history or he has not much mind left at all. Either way, it makes him unfit to be our President.

And now we have his daughter out shilling for him, telling every veteran in the United States that they are little better than dog poo compared to him and his family. Watch if you haven't, but not after eating. You will lose your meal and John McCain ain't worth chucking up even a single McNugget.



Then you can take the antidote and read what another wounded veteran has to say about John McCain and how he disrespects his fellow men-in-arms.

Vote Obama! Stop the lies!
Vote Obama! Stop the lies

UPDATE: And here's a way to help stop the lies. Check out how much you'll save from Obama's proposed tax cuts and send the link on - make it go viral! (This won't work for you mega-rich plutocrat trolls that are always lurking around the 'Disease! You'll just have to pray to Jeebus that McCain wins and protects you and your Nazi gold. Hey, that's the first time I've mentioned Nazi gold on the 'Disease!)

----------------
Now playing: Townes Van Zandt - St. John The Gambler
via FoxyTunes

Saint Sarah and the Cult of Wassila

Well, I couldn't stay non-political for long. Not after watching this.



Sarah Palin is, quite frankly, a member of a cult. A chanting, screaming, speaking-in-tongues, supernatural power-believing, religious war-seeking Christian cult.

And she'll be a "heartbeat away" from the Presidency if John (Straight Lies) McCain gets elected.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

----------------
Now playing: Wipers - Follow Blind
via FoxyTunes

Scientists, Writing Letters

Tom Verlaine - Live in Rouen, France (4/17/87) Part 1
Tom Verlaine - Live in Rouen, France (4/17/87) Part 2

I think my favorite thing about Tom Verlaine after his guitar playing/song writing is his name. Sometimes I think I like that more than anything else, honestly. What a cool bastard, stealing the name of an awesome French symbolist poet and reinventing himself as a poet of punk. Gotta admire that.

I was a word-head in high school already. I got dizzy on Whitman and Dickinson and just about puked my brains out of my ears when I found the Beats. But punk rock helped me get further into poetry than almost any other impetus. The sparesness of line in songwriters like Verlaine and the relationship that someone like him claimed by name at least with "real" poetry, the subversive action of that re-naming act, it thrilled me. I wanted to be like that. I wanted a new name and maybe a black velvet cape to go along with it. Before I was out of high school, I was reading Baudelaire and Patti Smith, Breton and John Cooper Clarke, this and that and everything all smashed together.

What was that D. Boon line: "Mr. Narrator, this is Bob Dylan to me"? Yeah. I couldn't separate poetry and punk and I still can't. I like to read while I listen. It's a good thing.

Where are we? Well, we had some Television a while back and you folks absolutely loved that. Tons of downloads and great comments. So, this week, here's the plan - some solo Verlaine, another equally solo Richard Lloyd and finally another Television to end the week. Sound good? You don't have to answer, 'cuz I know it does.

Ya'all probably think I forgot all about the original purpose of this blog - music. I didn't, just haven't had a lot of time to delve, think, sort, winnow, rip, upload and post lately. And relieving the stress on my heart and brain with snarky political posts is so much easier.

PS If you're looking for a new kind of kick, my wife and I just found an old one we'd missed somehow: Philip Lamantia. American surrealist poet. Dead now. But you should read Touch of the Marvelous or Blood of the Air. Wow. That's about all I can say. All out of print now, but dig around or go to your local public library (hope it has an excellent poetry section) and see if you can find him. Anyone got recommendations? Weirdness to read? Love to hear 'em.

----------------
Now playing: The Verlaines - Lying in State
via FoxyTunes

The Right Stuff?

Pardon me for a moment while I wrap myself in the flag...almost there...ouch!...God, how do the Republicans do this...oh wait, yeah, that's it, baby, that's perfect!

Okay, let's get started.

Did ya hear the one about Sarah Palin being unfit to command?

See, one of the first things our potential Commander-in-Chief, Sweet Sarah, did after getting the Veep nod from Big John was to...illegally give away the date her son might be deploying to Iraq - a clear and complete violation of what the military calls OPSEC or Operational Security.

Now, you or I might end up beat down in the streets or hijacked to a secret cell somewhere after being disappeared by any combination of local or state police/FBI/Army commandos/secret Ninjas - like has been happening in St. Paul for the last week, "Heil, McCain!!!" - but Saint Sarah gets a total pass on this.

Why? Because she's "qualified."

If McCain wins, we are doomed. Doomed, I tells ya, doomed!

PS Apparently for questioning Sarah Palin's qualification claims on Huffpost, I've been banned from commenting there. I haven't gotten a reply from Huffpost yet about this, but the last comment I logged was about her and this issue. So much for liberal media.

PPS Are you bothered by the media coverage of the savage macings and beatings the Minneapolis-St. Paul police are delivering to protesters and peaceful non-protesting concert-goers? Probably not, because the media isn't covering it. Not nationally. It's ironic that Rush Limbaugh called for riots in the streets in Denver, but we're getting them in St. Paul. Is that irony? Or just reality. I can't tell the difference anymore.

----------------
Now playing: Wipers - Land Of The Lost
via FoxyTunes

Vinylicious

I bought us some brand new vinyl just recently - special ordered the new Elvis Costello, Momofuku, from our local record store. Though why I call it a record store and why it has the word "Record" in its name is mysterious, because they stock not one single "record" as I define them.

Are you still buying vinyl? According to one vaguely disreputable news source, there is a real upsurge in vinyl production and sales. Lots of dweeby twentysomethings want to experience the hassle of cleaning, storing and moving vinyl for the rest of their lives. Welcome to our world, kids!

Just wondering - What do you play your vinyl on?


The picture above is almost identical to one of my vinyl players. I found this on a vintage audio gear site - theirs sold for almost $400! I only play albums made before 1970 on mine. And even then not everything - depends on the album, the time of day, the languor of the moment, etc - but it was my little Magnavox that made me a Byrds-fanatic for life, something my now-vintage 80s unit couldn't do. Allow me to explain, please...Naw, that's a story for another day.

Meanwhile, check out this really good, very thoughtful blog piece on the New Vinyl conundrum. It's also all about that new/old Tom Petty band, Mudcrutch. I'm not a big Petty fan - I've thought for thirty years that he needs to strip his records down to the bone and record in a garage - but I've read good things about this Mudcrutch gang. Anyone hear it yet?

----------------
Now playing: The Terje Rypdal Group - Ved Soerevatn
via FoxyTunes

The New Nuclear Family

Get ready, kids, 'cuz Daddy's home! And he brought a new Mommy with him! Yeah! New Mommy!

Maybe Daddy will stop hitting Bobby now. And looking at Cindy in that scary way.

But, why does Mommy have so many guns, Daddy? And why is Jan pregnant?

----------------
Now playing: The Buzzcocks - Different Kind Of Tension
via FoxyTunes