July 31, 2005
LOOKING AT YOU
...then...
...now.....(with mark arm)...
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal...
SITTIN’ IN THE CLASSROOM
FEEL YOUR HEART GOIN’ BOOM
YOU START TO GET THE FEELIN’
AND YOUR HEAD BEGINS TO REELIN’
AND YA CAN’T HEAR WHAT THE TEACHERS SAY
BECAUSE THE NEWS IS GOING DOWN
ABOUT THE ROCK AND ROLL DANCE IN TOWN
AND YOU KNOW I JUST GOTTA HEAR THAT BAND PLAY
Pigdog: Any last words, or final thoughts?
Wayne Kramer: Yes. Just remember, when you're smashing the state, keep a song in your heart and a smile on your lips.
[thanks to Paul & the Corinthians, the MC5, Sun Ra Arkestra, Pigdog and especially to Brother Wayne Kramer]
...
July 29, 2005
EXPRESSWAY TO YOUR SKULL
...I hate music - it's got too many notes...
I caught some cat playing one of these guitars yesterday in the park near my office...oh no my fine feathered friend, this is no ordinary stratocaster. Look closely at the neck. There are a lot of extra frets there, eh?
you savvy? the extra frets pick up the notes-between-the-notes...I won't go into the history of just temperament or the harmonic series and all that, but I can definitely attest to the fact that it sounds very cool, if for no other reason than it enables the sound of a bottleneck slide simply by playing legato...
and since I have a neckless strat body at the moment, I was considering trying one of these out...but $549 for a neck? Shirley, you must be joking...sorry there, mr. microtone entrepreneur, but I already own a variety of slides, and I can plop one of them onto my pinky for nothin'....
might as well just buy one of the G&L guitars they're selling for two bills more and be done with it...maybe one day...
btw, I've been staying away from commenting on smelly politics lately, but there's a very compelling undercurrent right now about the not-so-noble efforts of now-incarcerated NYT reporter Judy Miller...the skinny is that she was the leading journalist covering the leadup to the Iraq war, and filed many, many stories on the alleged WMDs...when Joseph Wilson wrote his now-famous op-ed piece (also in the NYT) debunking the WMD ruse (and, by proxy, about two years of her reporting), could it have been she who fed the name of his CIA wife to Scooter Libby? What a tale for our time--this woman, who is being hailed in some corners as something of a hero journalist for going to jail instead of revealing her source(s), might actually be covering her own ass in doing so, and indeed might have been the one who instigated this Plamegate mess in the first place. Which would explain the Rove forehead being completely devoid of beads of sweat. However, that still doesn't change the fact that Scott McClellan is a snivelling milksop....
More on this if you're interested:
Arianna "Zsa Zsa" Huffington
Slate
Here's to an excellent weekend ... with much, much less death....
...
July 28, 2005
KICK OUT THE JAMS
...you gotta give it up...you can't get enough Miss Mackenzie....
just learned that I have backstage access to this Saturday's Central Park Summerstage show of the MC5 with the Sun Ra Arkestra!!!
what a trip--Wayne Kramer, with guests like Gilby Clarke, Mark Arm, Handsome Dick Manitoba, the Uptown Horns....
it's gonna be a stone gas, honey...
July 27, 2005
NEW ROSE
...please allow me to introduce myself...
by way of internet blog, I am formally introducing to the world...
muttley...
the little stratocaster that could...
and does...
and will...
Ingredients:
'91 (?) charvel strat body ... after eddie van halen caused a sea change in guitar sensibilities in the late 70s/early 80s, every kid wanted one of those funny strat guitars with the humbucker (I actually got this one--used--so that I wouldn't have to leave my precious Les Paul unattended in the studio)...so the market was flooded with cheapo strat bodies to cater to this demand (remember kramer guitars? oof. available in shocking pink. big hair. spandex. shudder.). now there might still be some folks out there who are trying to master "eruption" and using duct tape for decoration, but the hubbub has certainly died down -- so don't dismiss these cheapo leftover strats out of hand. the bodies are light, in this case slightly smaller than a fender body, and very resonant...definitely good material for a project guitar...
late '90s warmoth neck ... "boatneck" contour, compound radius, 6105 tall/thin frets, maple/maple, a little flame, vintage yellow finish ... thought this would solve all my fender strat problems, but in practice it was too much wood to match up with a body that is too heavy, too bright-sounding, and in combination, just not me at all (so yes, there is a fender strat body in need of a new neck and a third pickup--sounds like an autumn/winter project) ... but as it happens, a very good match for this body. the brighter-sounding wood matches up well with the darker-sounding humbuckers...sperzel locking tuners, graphite nut...because I was matching up with an original '74 strat, I had the headstock cut larger to match the original, and my clever brother-in-law does these amazingly realistic fender logos--this one's an early '70s "spaghetti" logo, copied straight from a photo/scan of the original...
pickups: seymour duncan JB trembucker in bridge position, fender 57/62 in the middle and humbucker of unknown make (all I can remember is that its former host had been set on fire) in neck position. gives me everything from snarling bite in the bridge position to twangy in-between with the single coil, a passable strat bridge tone in the middle and the no-name neck humbucker sounds loud and full...great for jazz/blues tones, throaty, woman tone, etc. in sum--it's a floor wax AND and a dessert topping--snarl to quack to shimmer to croon, with little bits of bakersfield. pretty much a swiss army knife of tone...
pickguard: green mother-of-toilet-seat ... from a tele makeover that I changed my mind on. carved it up to fit the new configuration...
bridge/whammy: it's the original from charvel... "floyd rose licensed"...works just fine, very easy to adjust height/intonation, and not stiff, even with all five springs...with fine tuners that I never use...and you sticklers might be wondering if it's still floating, as floyd rose systems were designed to do...nope. I blocked off the cavity with an old sears paint can opener tool which came from a collection of tools I'd inherited from my grandfather. it's nice to have something of his on a guitar I play everyday, it suits the purpose, and hey, it's vintage....
"caprice classic" logo: originally found in a gutter on houston street after a band rehearsal at 262 Mott. at the time it seemed like a good idea. I think my family had one of those growing up--a gold station wagon, which in hindsight would make a terrific guitar color...it was a little darker than, say, a gibson goldtop...
result/playability: because the bridge can be raised/lowered (unlike a fender-style bridge), I can get a ridiculously low action. last night I brought it way, way down, just to try out a fretless/heavy metal-type approach, and found that I pretty much hated it. I raised it up a bit. it's still pretty low, very easy on the digits, but within reason--it's probably a good candidate for a heavier gauge of strings (right now using .010's)...
total budget: $0. everything here was a leftover or in-house and unused.
mutt: a dog of mixed breed
motley: Having elements of great variety or incongruity; heterogeneous
...this dog can bark...
...
...so long, little George...
this just in: Governor Pataki announced today that he won't seek a fourth term. wonderful news. like waking from a long sleep, which Mr. P was so adept at producing...thanks for the memories George, you actually managed to make Hugh Carey seem exciting by comparison...heck, Mario Cuomo is a freaking rock star next to you...advice: skip the presidential race, go home and grow some tomatoes...given your speaking style, I'll bet that the plant world is going to just love you....
...
July 26, 2005
BLUES POWER
...you call it corn; I call it maize...
latest excitement in gear world: I just copped one of these, used. I'm going to send it to this guy to be modded: Robert Keeley
I got his distortion super ultra shred device, and it's a pretty chipper little box, in heavy rotation on my pedalboard...so I thought I'd give him another try--and send him the box to do his magic....it's as if I bought a Kia, disliked the acceleration, and sent it back to the factory to have a V8 installed. except perhaps less dangerous.
This box is reputed to go from a very big glassy clean boost to some sort of desirable brown flavoring on the distorto side. if so, I'll probably use it a lot--for lap steel, for single coil flavorings and I imagine it has utility in a variety of musical genres. I smell a winner. we'll know for sure in a few weeks, when I get it back and give it an A/B test against a stock factory model from my bro-in-law's boss pedal graveyard.
in other guitar news, further modifications to the frankenstrat (which I'm beginning to refer to as "muttley").....replaced the middle pickup with a fender single coil, and am going to trim the pickguard to fit the new neck dimensions tonight. finishing stages, some polishing...
btw, it seems like so many moons ago (because it is), but I was once dumped by a girl when I bought this very instrument (instead of spending the money to go visit her upstate)...I wonder if she's retained her curves over the years as well as that stratocaster has...
anyway, here's to years of happiness together...
...
July 25, 2005
TELEPHONE LINE
...I'm thinking of a number between one and ten....
I just got this in a spam email, and it amused me so much that I just had to share...apparently this is supposed to be the look of someone taking a telephone survey...
OK. I won't argue the outfit or expression or anything like that, but if I have one quibble it's how the photographer designed the pose....
She's using the wrong finger.....
...
July 22, 2005
ALL MOD CONS
...BALLS DELUXE...
the long story involving the mysterioso history of the frankenstrat has already been chronicled herein...stage guitar for early 90s band, sucky neck, tele rebuild yielded extra neck, swapped for that, added a few more pickups that I'd salvaged from other guitars (the neck humbucker is from a pete townshend-style on-stage demolition), liked it OK, but last night I agreed with myself when I decided that my level of dissatisfaction with this guitar was generally in-line with my feelings regarding a gen-u-ine fender strat ('74) which had already received a new neck some years back...so I went one step further and took that replacement neck off the fender and slapped it on the frankenstrat.
now I'm happy.
a few turns of the screwdriver to raise the bridge (it's reformed floyd rose hardware--no locking nut, no clamps, just the whammy bar) and it not only sounds great, but it's the shred-ready action I'd always thought about but never bothered with since the minute tweaks required seemed a waste of time, me being a medium action guy anyway. but honest to pops this thing is hereby happening.
you'll notice that in the above pic there is a les paul resting on the operating table...that job's a bit more involved...
guess this means I'll have to go get myself another fender strat neck. 's OK, it needs a rosewood slab to warm it up anyway.
happy friday.
...
July 21, 2005
EVERYTHING FLOWS
...don't need an attitude ... rebellion is a platitude...
Just wanted to say a big welcome back to new york city to my old pals Teenage Fanclub, who are still putting out sterling power pop music, and unlike their heroes -- beatles, byrds, big star -- they have enjoyed an enviable longevity (as per neil jung). ergo their songwriting and performance has become more and more steadily refined over the years... their new one, "man-made" is a deceptively intoxicating ear twister that seems to creep up from behind and never let go. I've had the chorus to the opening number, "it's all in my mind," stuck in my head on infinite loop since I bought the darn thing a few weeks ago (a prescient title, that). seemingly simple, with a bass/guitar/vocal interplay that locks in like a string quartet. and all the while, quietly stating its own particulars in its own unique way, as all great pop music tends to do--creating its own world to live in. the teen fannies' world is positively groovy.
and I'll just mention that raymond mcginley, gerry love and norman blake are also just genuinely nice people. in fact, it's startling that this group of nice guy lads actually turned out to be a certifiably great band. and I mean great in the sense that they've made records that I'll continue to return to for years to come. I don't think I'll be bringing the Goo Goo Dolls with me to the retirement home, but I surely hope that there's a copy of A Catholic Education, Bandwagonesque, Songs from Northern Britain, and especially Grand Prix packed in there with the Geritol...
so obviously, I'm disappointed that I won't be able to see them this time around. I don't have a ticket to ride. and my suburban dad duties preclude me from rushing out and trying to make the show. the last time I saw them, they dragged me up on stage to jam out on the last encore with them--a thrill I won't soon forget.
so while I keep good thoughts in the back of my mind for my old pals from Glasgow, I will focus on editing some guitar tracks I did recently for a pal's solo record. we're still pre-final vocals/pre-mix, but rather than leave everything to the end, I'm doing edits and overdubs in the comfort of my undisclosed location...
...summer in the city do what you gotta do....
...
July 20, 2005
DR. ROBERT
...yes, I'm preternaturally sexy, but dammit Jim, I'm just a man...
they ask me why
I'm such a hairy guy
I'm hairy noon and night
hair that's a fright
I'm hairy high and low
don't ask me why -- don't know!
it's not for lack of bread
like the grateful dead............................
(yeah I guess that last line kinda dates the lyric, huh?)
O My Peoples! Roe v. Wade? Conservative? Pro-Life? Yadda-yadda! There is one overriding reason this man should never serve on the Supremes! He is from Buffalo, New York!
Amazingly, Chuck Schumer, whose dogged nerdfights and bookish rasp I've always related to, inasmuch as he's the prototypical nudge-nudge-New Yawker, totally let me down when, after mentioning the seriousness of this nomination, and the importance of vetting the nominee thoroughly, dropped the pretense to praise him for being a Bills fan (one wonders--did he just get pulled away from a scotch & cigars clusterhump with Tim Russert?)...OK, Chuck, here's my thought on that: STFU.....
Anyway, I've got a lot of friends up in Buffalo, whose decision to live there I respect (even if I do not fully understand), so before I get a lot of defensive, angry emails, I'll just add I'm pretty sure that Judge JR ain't hanging out at the old Pink or the Continental ... from the looks of him, he's one of those cats who thinks of the family slophouse Friday Night Fish Fry All-You-Can-Eat Special as the tipping point of all cosmic excitement--hey Grandpoo! let's get crazy and order up some wings!...or at least he did until he finished law school and developed a taste for red meat...
Let the games begin...
...
July 19, 2005
THE CONTINUING STORY OF BUNGALOW BILL
...oh, I guess it's OK....as long as you haven't committed a crime...
...
July 18, 2005
WE ARE FAMILY
...how old am I? this many....
La Familia Stratcat had a rip-snorting good time on Saturday, in honor of little stratkitty's birthday...and stately stratcat manor is none worse for wear...but as I awake to the demands of yet another dank, humid day, I am flat out exhausted...and, of course, our 2-year old is charged and ready to motor...
is this midsummer? it would seem to be. I'm ready for that dream....
...
seemingly timed to coincide with stratkitty's special day, this site received its 1,000th hit last Friday. was it you? could be. sitemeter doesn't give me too many details. regardless, in the big wide world of media, 1,000 visits isn't much, but it's a nice number. planning site enhancements over coming weeks--I think it's time for a new guitar feature, and while I was considering adding a "comments" section for readers to respond to posts, I'm still on the fence about it. If anyone wants that, drop me a line....
...
SFU update: I half-suspected that after my recent diatribe over dissatisfaction with HBO's "Six Feet Under," that I'd probably end up watching the remaining episodes anyway. Wrong again. Last night I tuned in to see last Monday's episode, and I lasted nine minutes before turning it off in disgust. Click.
...
July 15, 2005
YOU'RE A BIG GIRL NOW
...happy birthday to caroline veronica, born 07/15/03...
A Prayer For My Daughter
Once more the storm is howling, and half hid
Under this cradle-hood and coverlid
My child sleeps on. There is no obstacle
But Gregory's wood and one bare hill
Whereby the haystack- and roof-levelling wind,
Bred on the Atlantic, can be stayed;
And for an hour I have walked and prayed
Because of the great gloom that is in my mind.
I have walked and prayed for this young child an hour
And heard the sea-wind scream upon the tower,
And under the arches of the bridge, and scream
In the elms above the flooded stream;
Imagining in excited reverie
That the future years had come,
Dancing to a frenzied drum,
Out of the murderous innocence of the sea.
May she be granted beauty and yet not
Beauty to make a stranger's eye distraught,
Or hers before a looking-glass, for such,
Being made beautiful overmuch,
Consider beauty a sufficient end,
Lose natural kindness and maybe
The heart-revealing intimacy
That chooses right, and never find a friend.
Helen being chosen found life flat and dull
And later had much trouble from a fool,
While that great Queen, that rose out of the spray,
Being fatherless could have her way
Yet chose a bandy-leggèd smith for man.
It's certain that fine women eat
A crazy salad with their meat
Whereby the Horn of Plenty is undone.
In courtesy I'd have her chiefly learned;
Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned
By those that are not entirely beautiful;
Yet many, that have played the fool
For beauty's very self, has charm made wise,
And many a poor man that has roved,
Loved and thought himself beloved,
From a glad kindness cannot take his eyes.
May she become a flourishing hidden tree
That all her thoughts may like the linnet be,
And have no business but dispensing round
Their magnanimities of sound,
Nor but in merriment begin a chase,
Nor but in merriment a quarrel.
O may she live like some green laurel
Rooted in one dear perpetual place.
My mind, because the minds that I have loved,
The sort of beauty that I have approved,
Prosper but little, has dried up of late,
Yet knows that to be choked with hate
May well be of all evil chances chief.
If there's no hatred in a mind
Assault and battery of the wind
Can never tear the linnet from the leaf.
An intellectual hatred is the worst,
So let her think opinions are accursed.
Have I not seen the loveliest woman born
Out of the mouth of Plenty's horn,
Because of her opinionated mind
Barter that horn and every good
By quiet natures understood
For an old bellows full of angry wind?
Considering that, all hatred driven hence,
The soul recovers radical innocence
And learns at last that it is self-delighting,
Self-appeasing, self-affrighting,
And that its own sweet will is Heaven's will;
She can, though every face should scowl
And every windy quarter howl
Or every bellows burst, be happy still.
And may her bridegroom bring her to a house
Where all's accustomed, ceremonious;
For arrogance and hatred are the wares
Peddled in the thoroughfares.
How but in custom and in ceremony
Are innocence and beauty born?
Ceremony's a name for the rich horn,
And custom for the spreading laurel tree.
-- William Butler Yeats
...
July 14, 2005
NOTHING FROM NOTHING
...what, me worry?...
You know what? I can't think of a single bloody thing to post today. I'm tired of the whole Karl Rove business, the impending Yankee-Red Sox series is exciting, but any comments now are purely speculative, things are cool at the house, with family due to arrive tomorrow for the big birthday party, all my music projects are in a summer doldrums holding pattern (it remains to be seen whether or not I have a "mole music" project to report on), with humdrum guitar maintenance projects looming, hardly worthy of comment....work has been predictable and unchallenging (as if it ever isn't), and the weather has been meandering between spectacular, middling cloudy, and torrential rain. So, what to say?
Have a nice day fatty.....
...
OK, here's something. made me laugh, anyway:
"Double Super Secret Background" Explained (by Stephen Colbert)
"It's just like regular background but with no tagbacks, frontsies or backsies, taken to infinity plus one on opposite day, circle circle dot dot now you've got a cootie shot. It was first pioneered by Edward R. Murrow."
July 13, 2005
IDIOT WIND
...go ahead. knock it off. I double-dare ya...
so I managed to get through the opening ceremonies of the MLB All-Star Game, with a sleepy little girl looking on as the gauze of slumber descended upon her. put her to bed and made it through an inning and a half, before the sound of Tim McCarver's voice began to light tiny fires of irritation amongst the haystacks of my cranial lunar landscape...at this point they began debating the merits of the Kenny Rogers ban. That's right, Kenny Rogers, the pitcher who received a ban for accosting a TV cameraman. In Texas. A couple of weeks ago. I know, it was a foggy memory for me as well, but apparently the cave dwellers over at Fox think that America has been having a hard time getting to sleep, knowing that a spoiled (and felonious?) millionaire is being deprived of his opportunity to play baseball. I tuned out, cleaned the kitchen, made something to eat, and every single time I checked back for the score, there was either a mention of Kenny Rogers, or Kenny Rogers actually pitching, or a dugout interview with Kenny Rogers....gee whiz guys, if this is the kind of special attention an individual player gets for committing assault, next year everybody's going to be doing it!
So once again, the midsummer classic was a big waste of everyone's time. Before they even threw out the first pitch, they'd lost me: maybe I'm just too much of a kneejerk liberal, but am I the only one who thinks that when both houses of our athletic congress convene for an exhibition game in the middle of the season of our National Pastime, that it is inappropriate for 50,000+ fans to stand for the British National Anthem? I'm sure we all feel for the loss of those Londoners, as we've been through it ourselves, but isn't there another way to show it? I pledge allegiance to no British entity, particularly since that nation was the perpetrator of so much terrorism upon my own forbears. Also, is Brian McKnight the best that Motown has to offer these days? If so, that's a pretty sad commentary. And I might add that there is clearly something wrong with the system when Derek Jeter is having a great year, is even used on the All-Star promotional ads, but isn't on the team.
So thank goodness for the saving graces of "Rescue Me" on Fx, where I redirected my attention promptly at 10pm. The second season sounded off with a bang and thus far hasn't let up--last night's episode was particularly entertaining. Check it out if you've been missing it ... note to my red state readers who might be thrown off by the drinking, fornication, coarse language, gambling, lying, cheating, and general-use bad behavior. Here in the blue states this is what we commonly refer to as a comedy....so, please, enjoy.
...
July 12, 2005
DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT
Today's Self-Evident No-Brainer Clear-As-Day No-Question Indisputable (Operative)
Statement of the Obvious:
scumbag.
weasel.
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
Remember us -- if at all -- not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.
--T.S. Eliot
July 11, 2005
BREATHE
...who's your daddy?...
The San Diego Padres are in first place. Is anyone afraid of the Padres? I don't think so. They've only got two more games in the win column than the Yanks, and you know it never rains in southern California...that's just one rained-out doubleheader.
The Yankees are 2.5 games behind their division leader going into the All-Star break. Despite all the prognostications for doom and failure, we're right there in the hunt. Last year, the Red Sox were behind the Yanks by 7 games at the break. And we all know what happened at the end of last season...
Meanwhile, the Mets, who have finally achieved a certain degree of respectability in their headlines and perhaps even a cautious optimistism to their media profile, remain in last place in the NL East. It's a tough division--they're in last place despite a .500 winning percentage. All teams in the division are solid performers, such as the perennial division champs the Braves, who currently trail the surging Nationals -- by 2.5 games.
Meanwhile, someone please hijack Bud Selig to an undisclosed location so we can all enjoy the midsummer classic...
...
July 08, 2005
RAINY DAY, DREAM AWAY
...a little sunshine never hurt anybody...
preparing for two big birthdays--mrs. stratcat turns 40 today, and stratkitty turns two one week from today...it's a steady rain in manhattan today but the weatherman says it's going to improve this weekend...
going out to the hamptons to see some friends (I'm a native, not a weekender) tomorrow, hoping for some rays of unfiltered sunlight, and maybe a swim...(dare I dream we go fishing? oh, probably not this time)....
so, it's a weeklong birthday celebration...with the grim and sobering news of the week, I welcome the opportunity to celebrate my family...
...
July 07, 2005
WHEN I'M 64
Events like this morning's bombings in London remind us that the job of world leader, particularly President of the USA, is not an easy one. And over the course of his term(s), the demands of the job do manifest themselves in his appearance, a premature aging which stands as a visible testament to the degree to which he has devoted himself, physically and mentally, to the welfare of the nation--it's right there on his face....
before ...................................... after
before ...................................... after
before ...................................... after
before ...................................... after
before ...................................... after
...
July 06, 2005
LOVER YOU SHOULD HAVE COME OVER
"The essence of life is the smile of round female bottoms,
under the shadow of cosmic boredom."
— Guy de Maupassant, who died on this day in 1893, aged forty-two
Teach the gifted children
teach them to have mercy
Teach them about sunsets
teach them about moonrise
Teach them about anger
the sin that comes with dawning
Teach them about flowers
the beauty of forgetfulness
Teach the gifted children
the way of men and animals
Teach them about cities
the history of the mysteries
Their vice and their virtues
about branches that blow in the wind
On the wages of their sins
teach them of forgiveness
teach them about mercy
Teach them about music
and the cool and cleansing waters
--Lou Reed
July 05, 2005
MY GENERATION
..hope I die before I get old...
a few vacation observations:
Point Pleasant, NJ: not much to shout about without sunny weather. Boardwalk amusements not my thing. Still, a few days alone with just the wife & baby, the ocean air, the minor pleasures of a king-size motel bed and unlimited towels, seemed to supplant the seemingly widespread shirking of child labor regulations and odd maintenance procedures (“they’ve shocked the pool! Everybody out!”)…
SCOTUS: what? Two vacancies coming up? Time for a battle royale, methinks…the confirmation hearings should be very entertaining...therefore, who else wants to join me in predicting that the GOP will want to push these proceedings into the stark relief of a September-October schedule, with its promise of increased TV ratings?
Live8: isn’t it time we just gave Grandpa a key to the shed and an unlimited supply of golf balls? Pete Townshend, Paul McCartney, Sting, REM, Elton John, Duran Duran, Pet Shop Boys, Bon Jovi…isn’t this the same lineup they had for Live Aid 20 years ago? Can’t these geezers leave well enough alone? Pink Floyd reunited? Who cares? Apparently not even VH1 gives a damn about this reunited supergroup either, as they couldn’t even make it through one single performance of “Money” before cutting to commercial during the guitar solo. The guitar solo! Puh-leeze—you subject us to Roger Waters’ old groggy froggy vocals, but leave out David Gilmour’s celebrated Stratocaster? Hey, I’m no Floyd nut like some I know, so no heartbreak here, but the whole thing was just awful. It’s just clear as day now—the degree to which VH1 (or MTV for that matter) holds the very art form which putatively feeds its programming—music—in complete and utter contempt. There’s time for a paltry few PSA’s about Africa, God knows there’s plenty of time for the many commercial spots, and certainly there was time for TONS of music-dummy talking heads to talk about the bands that we didn’t get to see—“but enough about with my platitude-laden comments regarding world hunger and the Soho boutique which produced this human rights t-shirt, let’s cut away now for 30 seconds of Coldplay”…
...fellas, the Gap just called, they want the outfits back...
Also, Green Day sang “We are the Champions.” Um, sorry about this, little Billie Joe, but your punk rock membership card has just been revoked…
NYC2012—is this the first time they’ve dedicated a fireworks display to a civic initiative that hasn’t yet been adopted? And what’s with the dedication to our troops AND the Olympics bid? Aren’t the troops already doing enough? Do we need to piggyback on their marketing cache with a cheap also-ran in the headline? Am I the only one who sees what a weasel this Mayor is? And wouldn’t the job of the troops—“fighting the terrorists there so we don’t have to fight them here”—be negated if they promote a genuine terrorism magnet—2012 Olympiad!— coming to our fair city? Hey, why not have a ‘dedication to our troops AND peace rally” … can’t think of anything more patriotic than that…but that doesn't fly anymore--there's no money in a peace rally--or is there? paging Mr. Geldof...
Ah well, there’s work to be done in the here and now. Deadlines, emails, the works. Let the games begin…
...
July 04, 2005
AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL
...sing it, Ray....
The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
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July 02, 2005
SINGING IN THE RAIN
...vacation update...
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