okay, speaking of balls . . . .

stephen colbert rocked the house at the white house correspondents’ association dinner tonight (042906)– i was alerted to this program by my step-son joshua and we tuned in just in time to hear steven colberts excellence– i quickly pressed the record button, temporarily forgetting that c-span is also available after the fact on-line– wow “sometimes i feel like a chi,chi,chi,chimpanzee–it’s a complex world– it’s so hard for a casual guy like me–” typical box what an excellent choice to present the failure of his administration to honestly deal with the press and the american people– (and of course also the failure of the press to honestly deal with the administration and the american people)– this was all done in quite the same style as a roast and george was a “sitting duck” or as he himself stated, “a sprinting duck”– my familiarity with this event is limited but i have been a big fan of c-span and the concept behind c-span since it’s initial inception and it’s great that they are showing this on tv as well as online–

i have spent the past week or so on a natural high since hearing that neil young was putting out an album (does anyone say album anymore?) dealing with the war, george and american current issues in general– i have been following the step by step process of “Living With War” and have been digging back into neil’s other stuff– i finally listened (on-line) to “Greendale”, the whole record and not just a cut here and there– i really like it and wish that i had given it a chance sooner– other than five or so of his earliest recordings i have only listened to “Harvest Moon” and i purchased and love “Prairie Wind”– so . . . in short i have been enjoying listening to some of neil’s music– “Living With War”, i love it– thank god some folks got the balls to speak (sing) out–

i have listened to the album about four times now and i think neil speaks for a lot of us– you got to give him a lot of credit for putting three new albums up on the web for fans to listen to as they please– that is an artist who is really sharing his work!!!

the day couldn’t really get any better but to top it off i noticed a link on msn about one of my favorite radio hosts “Limbaugh surrenders on drug charge” — sure it was all expected but it was kind of like a birthday cake– you knew it was coming all along but that does nothing to dampen the sweetness of the moment–

two great links

michael moore’s site has two excellent links, one of which hits close to home–

the first –

from the providence journal of the state of rhode island and the providence plantations–

War protesters find they do not stand alone

this is an article about a town (bristol) in which i spent several years as a child growing up in– bristol is a beautiful town, in which my mother still lives and kathleen and i visit as often as possible– living in upstate new york, we love the chance to get to the ocean, but don’t tell mom that (we really go just to see her)

even more interesting is that at the beginning of the war with iraq i was a supporter (i bought most of the lies) and my mother was a supporter of this group– several times while we were visiting, kathleen and i stood on the other side of the street and respectfully observed the peaceful folk that were protesting– now i look back and wish that i had had the sense to stand with my mother– both of my parents were on target with this war from the beginning and i was caught up with 9/11, feeling as though i had been personally violated as a new yorker–

the second–

from the editor and publisher which i am unfortunately not familiar with–

Neil Young, Son of Famed Reporter, Records “Impeach the President” Song

neil has recorded a song with a most appropriate title “Impeach the President”– being a big fan of neil’s, i can’t wait to hear this– funny, last night i was hanging around in one of crooks and liars comment sections which had to do with the dixie chicks new song– i was trying to make the point that back in the day musical artists used their art to carry political messages– it is great to see more artists doing this now– it’s time for the artists to take back the airwaves and get the message out– neil’s song will be an excellent addition i’m sure– now let’s just hope the radio stations and the d.j.’s have some balls too–

the dresden dolls

i had the opportunity to see several excellent bands sunday night– although i really don’t get out much to hear music anymore, this was an opportunity to listen to some music that i wouldn’t normally catch on my local classic rock station or on my favorite radio station (the whole family groans) npr (i listen to it constantly)– my step-son, joshua was interested in going and kathleen and i thought that it would be enjoyable so we picked up joshua and two of his buddies and headed out to the egg– the primary group that was playing (the head-liners) were the dresden dolls — i had heard the dresden dolls cd playing in the background several times when joshua visited and thought that they were a “cute” band– in hearing them on cd, they reminded me of the sparks, a group that i listened to in the early seventies during the glam-rock days, and the pictures of the two performers also complimented this view– i thought of their music as having a bit of a cabaret style–

the crowd–
when we got to the egg it was nice to see that a lot of the younger folk (kathleen and i had assumed that we would be the oldest members of the audience) were dressed for the occasion with make-up and outfits– in the waiting area inside, there were also fans doing performance art and there were face painters for anyone who hadn’t come pre-painted– i opted out as my mascara days are long gone by, but kathleen had her face done– we were pleasantly surprised also to see that we weren’t the only elders and definitely not the oldest–

the egg–
i had never (to my present knowledge) been to the egg before and although i found the whole building architecturally interesting i was surprised at how small the audience area was– it was about the same size of a large lecture hall at a college or university– we found our seats, and sat down and behaved like good folks do– the whole crowd appeared to be doing the same– amanda palmer of the dresden dolls commented on the arrangement later in the night, and i had to agree the seating arrangement led to a very polite and subdued audience–

the bands–
when we first sat down i saw that on stage was an upright bass and an acoustic guitar along with a drum set and a keyboard– i whispered to kathleen that the first act was probably more acoustic and folksy– then the reverend glasseye was introduced–

i spent the next fifteen or so minutes giggling insanely to myself– definitely a kick ass band– they started hard and fast and kept going until the end– incredible group– i only understood every 20th word that adam glasseye sang but hey, i’m getting old– right? i thought the group was fantastic and reminiscent of captain beefheart, the fugs and tom rapp and the pearls before swine, musically and spiritually–

kathleen wasn’t as enthusiastic about the group but i felt that they were the perfect opening act for the trilogy of acts and they could easily stand on their own–

the next group golem was more to kathleen’s liking but less to mine– this also was an excellent group with great musicians who knew their stuff– the music was announced as eastern european and the language was foreign to me– i would think that for those of us that were still rocking with the reverend glasseye, golem was a bit more conventional and reserved but for many that were scared senseless by the reverend, golem was a good re-connection with the mother earth– the performers in the group were excellent, as were both of the lead vocalists–

the dresden dolls– okay, do you remember the comment i made about their cute little song? uh-huh . . . anyone who has had the opportunity to see this duo knows that this is an excellent act that could play the largest stadiums and blow the crowd away– amanda palmer, the lead vocalist and keyboard player comes across as a performer that is doing more to the keyboard then playing it– to me it appeared to be much more personal, bordering on an intense sexual experience– and of course she was doing this for our enjoyment as well– brian viglione, the drummer, guitarist and back-up vocalist compliments amanda step for step– brian also appeared to be having an extremely personal relationship with his drums–

the two performers are on opposite sides of the stage in approximately the same position and their performance is an ongoing dance accompanied by the keyboard and the drums tribal pounding, amanda appearing to be pounding the keyboard and brian pounding relentlessly on the drums– and it all is done perfectly, in unison– the simple act of amanda reaching over to get a drink was accompanied by her fingers moving from one piece to the next on the keyboard– brian’s drumsticks flew several times to the audience who reached to grab them and when i looked to brian he hadn’t missed a beat and he again had two drumsticks in his hands– this duo has done their homework and they appear to know each other intimately as performers–

having studied music for many years and having been raised in a musical environment, by the end of the first piece the name bertolt brecht was bouncing back and forth in my brain– if i only would have noticed the name on amanda’s keyboard it would have all clicked sooner– but when brian came out from behind the drums to play the guitar and amanda came out to sing everything became much clearer– amanda introduced the song “amsterdam” by jacques brel– i thought i had died and gone to heaven–

if you haven’t seen them– see them– if you haven’t heard them, then listen– none of their music is “cute”– their music and the music they perform is full of life– not just the pretty side, the ugly underbelly too is shown– and it is shown in a way that the viewer has to either run and hide or continue watching and laugh out loud while wiping away a tear–

mental patient

msnbc has the following AP story up–

“Mental patient charged with threatening Bush

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – A Palestinian man faces federal charges of threatening President Bush over comments made while getting mental-health care, according to an indictment made public this week.

News of the indictment raised questions Friday about how to treat such comments by mental patients.

Federal grand jurors indicted Arafat Nijmeh on March 23 on two felony counts of ‘knowingly and willfully’ threatening to harm Bush — first by telling two workers at his treatment center that he wanted to castrate Bush, then a day later to Secret Service agents notified by the center.”

at first, the title really yanks my chain– “mental patient?”– that has a nice sound to it, doesn’t it? brings up the most positive impression of the character– no? of course i want to know the whole story– come on . . . is this “mental patient” a drooler??? is he pacing back and forth??? is he a psycho??? is he a schizophrenic??? is he a manic-depressive??? come on msnbc!!! don’t just put up an AP story!!! give us the good shit you lame bastards!!! and to top it all off, this individual also happens to be palestinian– well that’s reason enough to lock him up for a long time, isn’t it???

seriously, i can only wonder, how many americans would we have to lock up if we really knew what people think about george– and of course this will be next– the thought police will be knocking on your door before you know it– and then as the rock group cheap trick forewarned us . . . the dream police will be inside of our heads– scary, isn’t it??? whatever happened to free speech??? we can blow up mohammeds head in cartoons but we can’t talk about castrating george???

immigrants, matyrs and hats

i have been sitting back now for almost two weeks and i have been trying to formulate into some kind of cohesive textual form three things that have been driving me bugshit lately–

number one– a big business sidestep– insourcing–  the first would be the illegal immigrant situation which we have been dealing with (ignoring) on the mexican/american border– i’ve been watching this one out of the corner of my eyes and haven’t really paid close attention to how the liberal left is reacting to this– nor, for the most part have i been paying close attention to how the wingnut right is dealing with these issues– the main exception to this statement of course would be the dear old shrub and his guest worker program–

i am aware that there are many different sides to the issues involved with this situation yet you could tell me that one political group was leaning one way and i would believe it– that’s how uninformed i am– what i mainly understand is that if the shrub is for something like a guest worker program then we had better wake up and smell the coffee–

although i am for the idea of foreigners immigrating to america, i am against the idea that immigrant workers coming in to america will do work which americans supposedly won’t do– i don’t buy this for a minute– many americans do work as migrant workers and they survive and are productive members of our society by doing so– i believe that this is a myth that is supported by big business as an excuse to turn to the underpaid foreign migrant worker– when examined, it appears that the whole immigrant worker program is to benefit big business, screw the immigrant worker, and in the process screw the american public– in short, as long as the floodgates are open, immigrant workers can be exploited, kept from unionizing, and kept undocumented– god, that must be a benefit for big business come tax time, no?

what america really needs is controlled immigration which we can only achieve with secure borders, the unionization of foreign migrant workers (i am aware of the history of cesar chavez and the united farm workers, but when an foreign individual is worried about being deported, niceties like unions get put aside for a fast buck) health plans for foreign workers while they are working in the u.s., and the visual hope that their participation in the american economy will lead to citizenship–

in doing this america would secure her borders, raise the conditions of the migrant worker so more americans would also be doing this work, and allowing for immigration at the same time with controls applied–

number two– moussaoui knew what???  the main train of thought that i heard tonight coming home on the bbc radio was that moussaoui was guilty for the main fact that he knew about the plans to attack the u.s. with hijacked jets and this guilt qualifies him to be the proud recipient of the u.s. death penalty– martyrs line up at the door–  i couldn’t help but think– doesn’t that make the shrub eligible for the death penalty too??? after all, he was warned– he was aware of what al qaeda planned to do– and he could have prevented it all from happening–

number three– and finally, . . hats, have you noticed how many people are wearing hats???