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This is not necessarily a good thing.....
"Bush administration officials" are telling CNN that Saddam Hussein will be hanged this weekend. Convention dictates that we precede any discussion of this execution with the obligatory nod to Saddam's treachery, bloodthirsty rule and tyranny. But enough of the cowardly chatter. This thing is a sham, of a piece with the whole corrupt, disastrous sham that the war and occupation have been. Bush administration officials are the ones who leak the news about the time of the execution. One key reason we know Saddam's about to be executed is that he's about to be transferred from US to Iraqi custody, which tells you a lot. And, of course, the verdict in his trial gets timed to coincide with the US elections.
This whole endeavor, from the very start, has been about taking tawdry, cheap acts and dressing them up in a papier-mache grandeur -- phony victory celebrations, ersatz democratization, reconstruction headed up by toadies, con artists and grifters. And this is no different. Hanging Saddam is easy. It's a job, for once, that these folks can actually see through to completion. So this execution, ironically and pathetically, becomes a stand-in for the failures, incompetence and general betrayal of country on every other front that President Bush has brought us.
Try to dress this up as an Iraqi trial and it doesn't come close to cutting it -- the Iraqis only take possession of him for the final act, sort of like the Church always left execution itself to the 'secular arm'. Try pretending it's a war crimes trial but it's just more of the pretend mumbojumbo that makes this out to be World War IX or whatever number it is they're up to now.
The Iraq War has been many things, but for its prime promoters and cheerleaders and now-dwindling body of defenders, the war and all its ideological and literary trappings have always been an exercise in moral-historical dress-up for a crew of folks whose times aren't grand enough to live up to their own self-regard and whose imaginations are great enough to make up the difference. This is just more play-acting.
These jokers are being dragged kicking and screaming to the realization that the whole thing's a mess and that they're going to be remembered for it -- defined by it -- for decades and centuries. But before we go, we can hang Saddam. Quite a bit of this was about the president's issues with his dad and the hang-ups he had about finishing Saddam off -- so before we go, we can hang the guy as some big cosmic 'So There!'
Marx might say that this was not tragedy but farce. But I think we need to get way beyond options one and two even to get close to this one -- claptrap justice meted out to the former dictator in some puffed-up act of self-justification as the country itself collapses in the hands of the occupying army.
2007 Celebrity Dead Pool
The recent deaths of Gerald Ford and James Brown inspire this post: A Celebrity Dead Pool for 2007. Since it's my game, here are the rules:
1. Pick ten celebrities who you think will die in from 1/1/07 to 1/1/08
2. You aren't allowed to murder the celebrity.
2. Saddam Hussein doesn't count.
3. The point system works like this: you get one point for every year UNDER the age of 90 that the celebrity dies at. Anyone over 90 gets negative points.
4. Whoever gets the most points, wins.
5. I am tagging Dependable Renegade, Power Pop, Multi Medium, Whiskey Fire, Dohiyi Mir. Everyone else is welcome to play too. Post your picks on your blog or in comments here, and I will announce the winner in 2008.
My picks:
1. Lindsay Lohan
2. Andy Rooney
3. Gary Busey
4. Mickey Rourke
5. Bobby Brown
6. Robert Downey Jr.
7. Natasha Lyonne
8. Nancy Reagan
9. Michelle Rodriguez
10. Fifty Cent
(Happy Xmas Kyoko
Happy Xmas Julian)
So this is Xmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Xmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Xmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Xmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight
A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Xmas
And what have we done
Another year over
A new one just begun
And so happy Xmas
We hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
War is over, if you want it
War is over now
Happy Xmas
I've got some really great news and I really need your help now!! Couple has been chosen to be in the final round of Rolling Stone (USA) magazine's Best Bands on Myspace contest.
Right now the Rolling Stone magazine staff has chosen us to be one of the top 5 bands of the day.
What we need you to do is to ask all your friends to go to the link below and vote for Couple by leaving a comment saying how much they like the song "Now That I Can See" and Couple:
http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2006/12/15/rolling-stones-best-bands-on-myspace-final-round/
Hope you can spread this email/news around and get as many people as possible to vote for us!! It's Rolling Stone magazine!!
Thanks so much for helping!!
Cheers!!
-aidil-
"They were dying slowly--it was very clear. They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now-- nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom. Brought from all the recesses of the coast in all the legality of time contracts, lost in uncongenial surroundings, fed on unfamiliar food, they sickened, became inefficient, and were then allowed to crawl away and rest. These moribund shapes were free as air--and nearly as thin. I began to distinguish the gleam of the eyes under the trees. Then, glancing down, I saw a face near my hand. The black bones reclined at full length with one shoulder against the tree, and slowly the eyelids rose and the sunken eyes looked up at me, enormous and vacant, a kind of blind, white flicker in the depths of the orbs, which died out slowly. The man seemed young-- almost a boy--but you know with them it's hard to tell. I found nothing else to do but to offer him one of my good Swede's ship's biscuits I had in my pocket. The fingers closed slowly on it and held--there was no other movement and no other glance. He had tied a bit of white worsted round his neck--Why? Where did he get it? Was it a badge--an ornament--a charm-- a propitiatory act? Was there any idea at all connected with it? It looked startling round his black neck, this bit of white thread from beyond the seas.
All Things Considered, December 13, 2006 · One of the most consistently popular bands in Nashville does not play country music, has no lead singer and doesn't plan to release an album. Instead, the Long Players perform classic albums, from beginning to end, before a live audience with all-star guest vocalists. Their shows have become a sensation in Music City.
The core of the band is Bill Lloyd (of the 1980s act Foster and Lloyd), Gary Tallent (who has played with Bruce Springsteen), and John Deaderick (Dixie Chicks, James Taylor).
And for singers, they band has used many, from Allison Moorer when they did Neil Young's After the Gold Rush to Kim Richey and others for Sergeant Pepper's.
Adrian Belew was part of the Blonde on Blonde show -- with special guests Al Kooper and Charlie McCoy, who backed Bob Dylan on the original.
The Long Players also have performed The Pretenders' self-titled album; The Band's second album; and Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True.
Listen to the whole thing: I was sort of dazed driving home after a root canal and a faculty meeting (toss-up as to which was more painful) and I heard the words "power pop" on NPR. "National Public Fucking Radio is talking about power pop?!?" I said out loud, speaking only to the fast food bags and unpaid parking tickets on the floor of my car.
1. Grab the book closest to you.
2. Open to page 123, go down to the fifth sentence.
3. Post the text of next 3 sentences on your blog.
4. Name of the book and the author.
5. Tag three people.
"Yes, I, my master, Honored Lord Bupati," said my mouth, and like a machine my hands were raised in obeisance for the umpteenth time and my heart cursed for I don't know how many times now.
"You! Why have you come only now?" his voice emerged more clearly from his throat, which was suffering the end of a bout of influenza.
The Dixie Chicks took the slings and arrows that were meant for all of us who were speaking out against Bush in that dark time four years ago when he was considered by many people in this country to be more of a religious figure than a politician. It was an ugly period and the Chicks were a profile in courage for refusing to back down. In fact they got their backs up when people started writing them death threats for daring to speak their minds and stood even taller. That's patriotism.
Good for the grammys for embracing them. And as a resident of Los Angeles, I couldn't be more proud to call them an LA band.
Look, every band and musician has their own Kool-Aid drinkers, the rabid devotees who jumped on the bandwagon early, likely for good reason: the music spoke to them.
For these guys, I have to confess I thought of them mostly as a novelty band, and certainly they have a wicked sense of humor which they're not afraid to display. But there's more, so much more to these guys than "One Week" and some of the other funny tunes. The word that keeps coming into my mind is "competence".
Pam suggested that that was 'damning with faint praise'. But it's really not. It means they are good at every aspect of what they do. These guys have listened to a lot of music, from '50s through now, and have remembered everything they ever heard. They write hard rocking pieces that might have been written by AC/DC, followed by power ballads that Journey would have written and recorded if they were, you know, actually good.
And the thing is, they do it without irony or ego, just with talent. There's no pompousness or posing, except in fun. Thus, they skewer many of the bands they quote, by doing similar music stylings, but in an earnest manner.
A MESSAGE FROM OPERATOR DOT
"Hi everybody! Operator Dot here, writing you from safe inside the TMBG secured e-commerce site. I'd like to pull you away from your turkey-and-stuffing sandwiches long enough to tell you about the new TMBG Holiday Bundles available right now at http://tmbg-catalog.stores.yahoo.net/holidaybundles2.html.
SAVE XMAS DOUGH AS WE DELIVER DIRECT TO YOUR HOUSE!
Check out the savings-packed bundles - there's sure to be one perfect gift for someone (or two or three someones) on your holiday gift list. We can deliver for Christmas via FedEx til Dec. 20th, but we'd suggest getting your orders in now for delivery via UPS because you save a lot in shipping. Discover the holiday magic at our super-easy website- the first 500 Holiday Bundle orders get a special surprise from the TMBG warehouse!
PODCAST PEOPLE
All year long TMBG has been ponying up the bandwidth for their podcast and while we know it's not exactly public radio, that stuff ain't free. If you dig it, I encourage you to show it by purchasing the official podcast benefit shirt. http://tmbg-catalog.stores.yahoo.net/benforbanant.html
AND WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?
We also are pretty gosh dang sure that, with DVDs, CDs and a bedtime book (along with pencils and refrigerator magnets), They Might Be Giants has the perfect gift for the kid crawling around your world. Go to the kids' stuff page at http://tmbg-catalog.stores.yahoo.net/kidstuff.html or check out the kid bundle below!
Love, Operator Dot"
New Stuff Bundle
Choice of Anteater shirt or girly No shirt + IO hat: $35. You save $10!
Add Venue Songs DVD and CD 2-disc set for $15 more!
Good Cheer Bundle
Venue Songs DVD and CD 2-disc set, Holidayland CD, Snowman sweatshirt, choice of t-shirt: $65. You save $20!
MySpace Bundle
Venue Songs DVD and CD 2-disc set, Holidayland CD, choice of Spine or User's Guide cd, Snowman sweatshirt, choice of t-shirt, choice of Gigantic or Direct From Brooklyn DVD: $100. You save $29!
Elf Bundle
ABC DVD, Bed book, choice of No! or ABC cd, choice of kid t-shirt: $50. You save $10!
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I am above all intrablogicological blogging blogger blogblogwars, as my loyal commenters know. It is only the partisanship of others that causes me to constantly be involved in blog-fights. After all, if everyone would simply agree with me, as they should because my opinions are nonpartisan, then they would have no cause to disagree with what I say. Why is this so hard for them to understand?
Besides, I hate the tawdry, childish namecalling that can so often characterize the blogosphere, the kind of silly namecalling that poisonous little putrid partisan toads like Glenn Greenwald delight in. He writes so badly! His sentences can be very long and are full of many different words. How duh of him!
Jane didn't really want to have an "interview" so she came over to my place for a couple of beers, and I got some questions in anyway. In fact we blabbed so much that I'm making this Podcast "conversation" a two part-er. This episode includes topics such as punk rock backlash, fat pets, political candidates, Nashville backlash, and masturbation slang.
We also devised a CONTEST exclusively for the Firedoglake community. You'll hear more about this in the Podcast but the Cliff Notes version for the technically challenged is this…
Contest Question: What is the common thread between Jane Wiedlin and Donita Sparks? (and it's not professional). The most accurate or most creative answer in the comments section will win. I will announce the winner in next week's podcast, Part 2 with Jane Wiedlin.
I found this musty handbook from 1962 in a pile of similarly musty magazines and articles in a booth at the Inman Park Arts Festival several years back. The illustrated cover was what initially caught my eye but then I glanced at the large bold lettering at the top and I immediately put it in my "to buy" pile. The cover is classic: your average white American family enjoying life as best as they can after an atomic attack. What I love the most about it is that Mom is in her day dress, apron and all, preparing dinner, and Dad is relaxing in his jacket, smoking a pipe, having just finished reading the liner notes to something by the Ray Coniff Singers, probably. I didn't even take a gander at what was inside until later at home. Most of what you'll find in the handbook is pretty standard construction "how-to's" -- it could've been sold at a Home Depot if they had them back then. In the table of contents you'll find chapter headings with titles like: "How You Can Survive a Nuclear War", "Build a Shelter Now", "Stock Up Now", "Have a Plan of Action Now", "While You Are in Shelter", "Evacuation", etc. This one was interesting: "Guerrilla Warfare", with the tagline, "It'll be done by the people who survive with equipment that survives." The chapter is filled with then-impressive photos of military weapons and vehicles: jets, tanks, missiles, and the like.
JANE AIRE AND THE BELVEDERES - ST (1979)The obscurity of Jane Aire & The Belvederes is a glaring exception to this rule, and fans of early new wave owe it to themselves to hunt down the band's sole LP. Jane Aire, like Chrissie Hynde, was a native of Akron, Ohio (an early punk/new wave breeding ground), who traveled to England to seek her musical fortune. Her sojourn resulted in a handful of singles but only one LP, her Liam Sternberg-produced eponymous 1979 debut (Virgin UK).
To modern ears, the album may sound too polished; in truth, it's closer to power pop than punk. But, the performances are spirited and the songs (many written by Sternberg) are memorable. Jane Aire's voice is a big, impressive instrument, and she uses it unabashedly, unaffectedly, and unpretentiously in a way few female singers do anymore. When she digs into rockers like "Breaking Down The Walls Of Heartache" or ballads like "Duke Of Love," she very nearly jumps out of the speakers and into your lap.
Jane Aire & The Belvederes has never appeared on CD, but, one of Jane Aire's early, non-LP singles, "Yankee Wheels" (not a particularly outstanding song) appears on the Stiff Records Box Set. The Belvederes, by the way, were, in fact, the Edge - a group in their own right. Their lineup included future Culture Club drummer (and Boy George paramour) Jon Moss, and they released a couple of records under their own name.
The famous Kirsty MacColl (R.I.P.) and the not so famous Rachel Sweet are contributing with backing vocals here to a great effect.
All night, there was a sort of weird clash between people who were there to see the bands and the people there for Daily Show-related reasons. It meant that the conversational din in the venue was absurdly loud during both the bands and the between-set comedy bits from the show's cast members, which ranged from really funny to not really all that funny. Jon Stewart wasn't there; his involvement was limited to a video introducing headliners Superchunk. Instead, most of the show's current correspondents came out to do different bit. My favorite was probably former correspondent Ed Helms, who came out with two other guys and played a totally straight-faced old-timey bluegrass song before introducing the guy from the Jersey fake-metal band Satanicide, who came out to yowl a power-ballad bluegrass cover of "My Heart Will Go On," which sounded sort of amazing. People shut up for that part, at least.
The team runs out to Motorhead's Ace of Spades
A Lincoln boys football team have won a sponsorship coup with a difference after striking a deal with heavy metal band Motorhead.
The Greenbank under-10s B team have the internationally renowned band's name on their shirts along with the band's motif - a skull named Snaggletooth.
The North Hykeham team also run out to the band's famous Ace of Spades track.
Team manager Gary Weight said the deal came about as he used to know lead singer Lemmy.
Maybe you’ve seen the trailer. A guy in a cheap suit jacket, brandishing a big microphone, approaches some unsuspecting young women after a concert. He is making a documentary, allegedly. His manner is naïve, but the questions he asks are plainly insulting. Still, the women are kind enough to play along. He says something weird about bra-burning. They respond politely. Nice.
But this isn’t that fake documentary “Borat.” It’s a real documentary, or at any rate an earnest one: “Before the Music Dies.” The interviewer, eager to make a point about the idiocy of popular music, has found these enthusiastic young women outside an Ashlee Simpson concert. He asks them if they are familiar with Bob Dylan. (At least a few of them aren’t.) He explains Mr. Dylan’s appeal, or tries to: “He used to inspire people to, like, drive to Washington and burn their bras.” Apparently Ms. Simpson has no such incendiary effect. Case closed.
“Before the Music Dies” is the work of a couple of concerned music fans, Andrew Shapter and Joel Rasmussen, who set out to document the decline of “raw, undeniable talent,” as Mr. Shapter puts it, “the kind that doesn’t seem to be around as much in these days of instant pop stars.” The satellite radio network XM is broadcasting the film as an audio documentary. (For more information, visit beforethemusicdies.com.) And the film is touring the country in do-it-yourself style; it is being shown in clubs, at colleges, and in private homes; tomorrow night a guy named Ryan in Minneapolis is inviting people over to watch it.
As for the eponymous group itself, Bram Tchaikovsky was born Peter Bramall on November 10, 1950, in Lincolnshire, England. He started playing guitar in his teens and was already in a group by the mid-1960's. In the 1970's he formed the All-Time Heroes, with James Roper playing bass, Majo playing keyboards, and Keith Line playing drums. They recorded some demos and also landed themselves a spot supporting Man on tour, but by this time they had become Roper. They changed their name again, reverting to a shorter version of their first name, Heroes, and put out a cover version of Bruce Springsteen's "Growing Up".
Bram originally auditioned for the Motors in February, 1977, and although he failed the first audition he was soon taken on, thus ending the career of Heroes. In 1978, while Andy McMaster and Nick Garvey had the Motors idling while they wrote songs, Tchaikovsky formed Battleaxe with Micky Broadbent playing bass/guitar/keyboards and Keith Boyce (formerly of Heavy Metal) playing drums. They put out a Garvey-produced single, "Sarah Smiles", on the Criminal label before signing to Radar. "Sarah Smiles" would later appear on their first album.
Now known simply by the name of their leader (whose split from the Motors was permanent, but apparently amicable), Bram Tchaikovsky set about recording Strange Man Changed Man in November and December, 1978, and January, 1979, at the Pebble Beach and Basing St. Studios. Mike Oldfield joined them to play tubular bells on the track, "Girl Of My Dreams", which broke into the US Top 40. Co-producer Garvey provided some backing vocals and the bass on "Lady from the USA", while former Heroes sideman Roper took some of the photographs for the album cover. Peter Ker and the members of Bram Tchaikovsky co-produced the album with Garvey.
Around the time the International Submarine Band dissolved, Parsons met Chris Hillman, the bassist for the Byrds. At that time, the Byrds were rebuilding their lineup and Hillman recommended to the band's leader, Roger McGuinn, that Parsons join the band. By the spring of 1968, Parsons had become a member of the Byrds and he was largely responsible for the group's shift towards country music with their album Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Originally, the album was going to feature Parsons' lead vocals, but he was still contractually obligated to LHI, so his voice had to be stripped from the record.
Gram Parsons only spent a few months with the Byrds, leaving the band in the fall of 1968 because he refused to accompany them on a tour of South Africa, allegedly because he opposed apartheid. Chris Hillman left the band shortly after him and the duo formed the Flying Burrito Brothers in late 1968.
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By the summer of 1972, he was prepared to enter the studio to record his first solo album. Parsons had assembled a band -- which included Harris, guitarist James Burton, bassist Rick Grech, Barry Tashian, Glen D. Hardin, and Ronnie Tutt -- and had asked Merle Haggard to produce the album. After meeting Parsons, Haggard turned the offer down, and Parsons chose Haggard's engineer, Hugh Davis, as the album's producer. The resulting album, G.P., was released late in 1972 to good reviews but poor sales.
Following the release of G.P., Parsons embarked on a small tour with his backing band, the Fallen Angels. After the tour was completed, they entered the studio to record his second album, Grievous Angel. The album was completed toward the end of the summer. A few weeks after the sessions, Parsons went on a vacation near the Joshua Tree National Monument in California. He spent most of his time there consuming drugs and alcohol. On September 19, 1973, he overdosed on morphine and tequila, and was rushed to the Yucca Valley Hospital; he was pronounced dead on arrival. According to the funeral plans, his body was to be flown back to New Orleans for a burial. However, Parsons' road manager stole the body after the funeral and carried it back out to the Joshua Tree desert, where he cremated the body. Phil Kaufman revealed that the cremation had been Parsons' wish. Kaufman could not be convicted for stealing the body, but he was arrested for stealing and burning the coffin.
I feel the Republican Party has misinterpreted the punk ethos. In the last week or so there's been a rash of news items--punks and rashes seem to go together--about Republican candidates and their droogies trying to do the blitzkreig bop on wives, gal pals, and political foes alike. You've got John Sweeney (upstate New York) accused of throttling his wife during a domestic disturbance, real Sid and Nancy at the Chelsea Hotel behavior. You've got Don Sherwood, accused of whupping on his mistress. You've got that alleged bout of Greco-creepo wrestling in Las Vegas starring Congressman Jim Gibbons. You've got Congressional battleaxe Barbara Cubin going all Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? on a libertarian in a wheelchair. Not even Lydia Lunch in her foulest moods ever went that far.
And then there's Senator George Allen of Virginia, who may dress like a phony cowboy, but behaves like Rat Scabies, without any of Rat's compensating charm. It is no secret that Allen likes to spit, which might appear to put him smack in the middle of the germy tradition of punk. Questioned about his projectile saliva dispersal, Allen's goon squad manhandled a modest truthseeker like Hell's Angels descending on a hippie at Altamont.
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In his very entertaining and instructive memoir New York Rocker, former Blondie member Gary Valentine observed that the scum chucking at CBGB's didn't start until the arrival of the Dead Boys, led by singer Stiv Bators lapped up his own vomit,* received a blowjob on stage, and peed into the bartender's work helmet, though obviously not all the same time. Valentine: "To me they were the first sign of the mental dry rot that would arrive in full with UK bands like the Damned." The scene got darker and gnarlier, the poets pushed out by the poseurs.
Republican poseurs such as Allen and the aspiring stranglers in his party are mimicking this late decadent phase of punk, not its early sonic idealism and adventure. I just hope one of them doesn't overdo the rough stuff and leave a dead body behind in the hotel room some night. Let Sid and Nancy be a cautionary tale to those Republican lawmakers looking to go a couple rounds with the next woman within fondling range.
Rush didn't get deferred from Vietnam because of a "tailbone defect," he had a pilonidal cyst, which is a hair-filled sinus on the skin over the coccyx. The problem is entirely within the skin, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the tailbone itself.
An idiosyncratic blog dedicated to the precursors, the practioners, and the descendants of power pop. All suggestions for postings and sidebar links welcome, contact any of us.