Is It Me, Or

Can you smell the stench of Madison Square Garden from here? Now, I understand that this b.s. is campaign rhetoric and it's just as smelly as the Democrats' from last month. However, to deliberately use the tragedy of September 11, 2001 (something that the commission DID find the Bush administration party at fault for) into votes. I could have told you that this would be done. I could have told you that songs, moments of silence, prayers, relatives of the deceased, and photos would all be part of the convention. And, since this being the GOP's party, the group is free to poke fun at the Dems all it wants; however, what the Republicans have done by attempting to capitalize on the deaths of 3,000 people is not only selfish and coldhearted, it's the most despicable actions taken by an administration at any time in the history of this country.

Beautiful Day

Tonight, as I watch tv with millions of people worldwide, I see beautiful things. I see an Olympic Games as thrilling, controversial, and unifying as any; where athletes and patriotic fans come to watch the physical ability of track runners, wrestlers, swimmers, divers, gymnasts, and myriad other athletes compete for personal and national pride. No president, prime minister, nor party chairman can take credit for the success of her or his Olympic team, only the participants can. Thank God no evil acts of terror or violence was unleashed on anyone in Athens, except for the barrage of Cadillac and McDonalds ads. Thanks, Athens, hello Torino, 2006.

Another beautiful event witnessed on tv was the practice of the American freedoms of speech, press, and peaceful assembly. Assembly it was, as dozens of thousands of patriotic and concerned Americans gathered in New York City to protest the regime of George Bush. As the Republican National Convention kicks off tomorrow with a flurry of party platform supporting speeches, the nation and world have seen the immense opposition to the Bush administration. One estimate pegged the numbers at 250,000, or what would be five times the number of attendees to the RNC. Coincidentally, I am teaching the founding of this country and the fight to guarantee the rights that my fellow Americans excercised today; I have to, as a progressive thinker, make my students aware of this. If we own these rights, we must practice them. If we are to maintain these rights, we must make others aware of them. If we are to create change, then we must responsibly reflect the true power and grace of Bill of Rights. Thomas Jefferson stated that the tree of liberty must be fertilized with the blood of patriots and tyrants every generation or so. It is time that concerned, progressive Americans will truly voice their opinions, speak their minds, and demonstrate to the nation that the current policies set forth by the current administration are not liberal, nor progressive, nor even conservative; they are regressive, and to such extremes that they need to be brought to a sudden and grinding halt. To think that the last amendment to the Constitution that denied Americans civil rights was enacted in 1918 which prohibited the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. Now, the same political party is attempting to dictate to the country how people are to conduct their own personal relationships while using executive powers to be able to surveil them at will. Today, we progressive thinkers are all New Yorkers and are with those real Americans in heart and spirit hoping that a peaceful example of outrage and disgust towards the current selected regime will be stopped in just two and a half short months. Let's raise our glasses, make a toast, and then open our mouths and declare that 'tis time to change this country.

Pay No Attention To the Man Behind the Curtain...

The news from this morning's San Francisco Chronicle boiled my blood, and after I picked up the New York Times, listened to NPR, switched to KPFA (94.1 in the SF area), then read CNN.com I found the same headlines screaming at me:

The Abu Graib prison scandal names the top military brass as well as the Secretary of Defense as those to blame for at least "contribut[ing] to the confusion over what techniques were permissable for interrogating prisoners in Iraq." (Front page).

The current administration can not keep its own members unified on the issue of gay marriage. Vice President Dick Cheney claimed that the status of gay marriages falls under state jurisdiction (Page A4).

The House subcommittee on the 9/11 investigation has determined that the current administration has classified too many documents in order to properly and efficiently fight terrorism. "There are too many secrets" and maybe too many secret-makers, said Christopher Shays, R-Conn.
"The tone is set at the top."
"This administration believes the less known the better."
"No one knows how much is classified." (page A3"

Reporters are giving statements in the leak of a CIA operative that, apparently is revenge for a whistle-blowing incident stemming back to bungled administration policies in 2003. Scooter Libby, chief of staff of the Vice President has been connected to the investigation. Columnist Robert Novak, who publicly released the name of the operative is also in the spotlight for possibly breaking the law in his actions (Page A3).

President George Bush has now, I believe, lost two high-ranking employees on his re-election committee who have admitted to "advising" the oxymoronic "Swiftboat Veterans For Truth," the right-wing smear group that has been airing commercials that can be judged from "politically-motivated" to libelous to downright fraudulent. This "527 organization" possesses the ability to air anti-Kerry ads as MoveOn.org has the same right to air anti-Bush ads. Members of the Republican party are calling for the President to disassociate himself from this group. The media have found direct parallels in this smear campaign to those the Bush team directed towards opponent John McCain in the GOP primaries of 2000.

As a concerned American with progressive political leanings and a (somewhat) religious man who sees the current administration that has waved the bloody shirt of religiosity, unity, and integrity in this light, I have come to the following conclusions:

This administration has created the first foreign policy outlining the proper and promoted use of torturing prisoners of war for the first time in the history of these United States. This is something that I am not proud of and will not condone. How do we as Americans claim that we promote liberty, justice for all, democracy, and freedom when we have outlined the physical and mental punishment solely for political gain? Is there any question that torture and abuse occurred in Abu Graib? How can there be, when documentary evidence exists that Donald Rumsfeld himself signed off on this most heinous policy. We must support all good Americans such as John Kerry by demanding Rumsfeld's resignation. This is not the first war crime he has committed. Let us place him in the same hall of justice, if not history as Henry Kissinger.

The GOP now pulls the "state's rights" line when addressing gay marriage but has forced itself in full violation of the 9th Amendment on issues such as health care, No Child Left Behind, the war on terrorism, demands for homeland security, the initial anti-gay rights amendment, cutting of abortion rights, the proposed anti-abortion amendment, faith-based organization funding, charter/private religious school funding, Internet privacy, environmental protection policies, and myriad other issues. How would Bush feel if California became the first state to refuse Army reservists being sent to Iraq to clean up the illegal and unsupported war he made? I don't own a pair of sandals large enough to equate the real "flip-flop" king in this election.

We currently live under the most secretive and anti-democratic regime since Richard Nixon, except only thirty years ago the Democrats had enough gumption to begin the impeachment process for that president. Thomas Jefferson is rolling in his grave, but that's okay because his headstone can not be seen through the pall of smoke that rises from the ashes of the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, The Statute of Virginia for Religous Freedom, as well as his Declaration of Independence which rails against the tyranny of a regime that refuses to follow Lockean principles of government by the consent of the masses. The majority of Americans do not approve of this man's actions, policies, or administration, and it is time that we stood up against this fascist and proclaimed, "'tis time we part!"

The CIA double-crossed one of its own after a whistle-blowing incident caught the agency with its pants down in the realm of poor terror tracking. The man, whose name eludes me but I believe is Wilson, is from the Bay Area, an alum of UCSB, and is livid that the Bushies (most likely Karl Rove) leaked his wife's name and blew her cover which flies in the face of national security. Imagine that, taking advantage of national security in order to politicize Bush's policies. Maybe we should all stop and ponder for seven #($&%^^% minutes to think of a lame excuse the next time terrorists slam themselves into our people, then claim that direct action would show weakness.

For sure, the Bush administration is directing the actions of the Swiftboat Veterans for Slander. Why is it that some of the men involved in the organization have gone on public record in the past to support Kerry's actions? And, why is it that a man like Kerry is being run through the ringer by an administration that contains not a single person that fought in combat (save Colin "Uncle Tom" Powell)? Dick Cheney had "other priorities," Paul Wolfowitz deferred, Donald Rumsfeld was busy, and George IV used his father's connections to slide him into a National Guard unit that still hasn't been able to fully prove that he did what his country needed him to do. John Kennedy's "ask not" inaugural address was spit upon by people like theis effete core of impudent silver-spoon, self-serving, hypocritical, two-faced pack of Judases that the true meaning of serving one's country means to further one's own political future by doing nothing on your own, relying on Daddy, and playing the religion, aw-shucks, midwestern, true-blue good ol' boy act? I'm sorry, but George Bush, who claims to follow the teachings and example of Jesus Christ has done nothing to convert this and many other Thomases who see that the truth and his message are not the same. George, according to the way you live, act, speak, breathe, and kill, YOUR GOD IS MY DEVIL. And, as Huck Finn, who knew b.s. when he saw it said, when faced with the threat of eternal damnation by a pack of hypocritical plastic leaders, "ALL RIGHT, THEN, I'LL GO TO HELL."

Late Addition!

Stop the presses! I've found it! The long-lost, longer-to-be-found 1973 album New Train by Paul Pena. Pena lives in the Bay Area and recorded some great music in the early '70s but New Train was his "best" album. I use the "" because upon wrapping up production, Pena's record company tied the album up in legal wranglings and so Train never saw the light of day. Finally, in 2000, the album was liberated by Pena and others trying to help the musician who had by the 1990s faded into obscurity and more or less from the music scene after struggling with health issues, the loss of his wife, and other personal crises. David Gans on "Dead To the World", KPFA's weekly radio show deadicated to the music of The Grateful Dead and Dead-related artists, spun the record when Train saw the light of day, and I remembered being bowled over by it. However, I looked and looked while in Fresno and never stumbled across it. Of course I could have purchased it via the Internet, but that's not very rewarding. I found it tonight at the family-friendly-grab-your-ankles-this-will-only-hurt-for-a-while Barnes and Noble bookstore for just shy of $20. It's worth it, and I say that having paid $20 for the first time for an album. Funk, gospel, r & b, country, straight ahead rock, flares of 70's singer/songwriter stylings; this record has it all. Listening to it I keep asking, "why hasn't everyone purchased this?" My favorite purchase of the year (due to the search for this white whale), right up there with the new live Derek Trucks album and the My Morning Jacket release from last year. Moving to Brentwood has really cramped my record buying and not really digging much contemporary music, I love finding treasures, either new or old, that make me feel like I've just discovered rock and roll for the first time. We all remember hearing "epic" records for the first time and being knocked out by those haunting sounds that instantly hooked us - The Allman Brothers' Fillmore East, Crosby, Stills, and Nash's first, Hotel California, Tommy, Born To Run, The Wall, anything by Dylan in the '60s, Layla. I'll never forget the first time I heard "Ripple" by the Dead, and it was by a rock band in the Sierra foothill town of Twain Harte where my parents once owned a cabin, and I'll probably never forget it. What album or albums do you remember changing your life? I'd like to know.

Modern Times

Last night, my wife and I finally got around to hitting our stack of Netflix dvds. I'm always a sucker for older films, and for many reasons. Firstly, there exists roughly half a century of celluloid tales that I've always read about but have never seen, classic films (either through technical or popular merit) that have influenced later movies, actors, and directors, who continue to entertain us today. Secondly, from the geek-historian perspective, I love how contemporary culture is portrayed, either as it actually existed, with its cultural artifacts, colloquial expressions, styles, fashions, and standards of beauty. Each era captured in film also tell morality tales, and for some reason I find that many told in the 1930s and 1940s, an absolutely critical time for the history of this country, still ring true today. I can't wait to see Peter Jackson's King Kong with its modern twists, The Grapes of Wrath still strikes a populist chord, and of course, anything with Orwellian overtures can have valuable warnings against Ashcroftian plots of totalitarianism. Last night, the film of choice was Charlie Chaplin's 1936 classic Modern Times, a tale of a tramp who finds modern times difficult for the working man, easy for the upper class, and ironically challenging for people to succeed on their own merits versus happenstance and sheer luck. The film starts off with herds of sheep rushing through animal pens, obviously and obliviously on their way to the slaughter. That scene fades to dozens of working men making their way up train stations, factory gates, and crowded city streets on their way to the daily grind. The machines dwarf the men, underworked but tyrannical bosses always in search of a buck, demand that the speed of the assembly lines are ratched up to increase productivity, and the workers ceaselessly serve as guinea pigs for fly-by-nights trying to push the biggest latest fastest best products into their work loads. While the Tramp always overcomes (very much a populist as well as socialist message by Chaplin), he does so not by working hard, but because he fails to let the grind kill him. As he walks into the sunset with his girl who loves him not for his success but for his virtue, Chaplin shows that only when one faces the next day as an opportunity to keep living will one truly make it.
Now, this film is a comedy. In fact, I laughed out loud for the first time at a film in a very long time. Physical comedy, innuendo, an incredible roller skating scene, and always run-from-the-cops caper madness make this film classic Chaplin. However, the messages of Depression-era America, the struggles of the working class, and the treatment of those who seek change for the populace, are apparent and no doubtedly added to the popular attraction for this film in the late 1930s. Hitler and the terrors of nazism did not exist in the United States yet, World War II was nowhere to be seen by Americans, and as historians have said, it was dawn, and the country was asleep.
Quite a bang for one's buck - morality tale, time capsule, caper comedy, and overall good fun. I'm still trucking through Birth of a Nation and then it will be City Lights. No, Tony, Chris, and Steve, not THAT City Lights, but another Chaplin flick.

Where Is the Outrage?

The Swiftboat Veterans For Truth - Yet another right-wing propagandist oxymoron if I ever smelled one. An ad-hoc organization with dubious financial and media support is only now trying to educate the voting public about the "failings" of John Kerry from thirty-five years ago. I wonder if members of this group were also supportive of the ads four years ago that accused Senator John McCain of fathering an out-of-wedlock black daughter. No maybes about it, George W. Bush's implicit support of this organization further justifies the necessity of his removal. Read here for more.

I know I'm going to jinx myself, and while I have not a single superstitious ounce in my being, I believe that November 2nd will be a day of change and celebration. Polls being conducted in each of the fifty states, according to websites listed on Altercation The Nation, and in Newsweek Magazine, show John Kerry well ahead of the current president-select. There are plenty of electoral votes to be thrown around, I know, but the chances of every state still currently in limbo going to Bush can not be that statistically high. If Kerry wins the popular vote by at least 6%, I'm calling that a referendum on the current administration. If Kerry defeats Bush by at least 40 electoral votes, I'm claiming it as a rejection of the Bushies. Hell, if John Kerry beats Bush with three dimpled chads and questionable ballots cast by felons in Florida, I'll hail it as an act of God. All I know, is regardless of who wins, I'm getting drunk that night. All I need now is the reason. :)

Did anyone see this? Costco is now in the box business, selling caskets at below-retail prices. There's only one problem, and it's major; they only come in packages of fifty. :)

I joined a book club with some neighbors of mine on my street. I've never been a member of a book club, but I've always relished the idea of sitting around, like in an eighteenth century French salon, talking literature and philosophy (at least outside of my undergraduate years). The book we chose is John Irving's A Prayer For Owen Meany. I hope I have the time and energy to commit, because this may be a good prospect.

While my wife still doesn't see the tragedy in this, I couldn't get tickets for Bruce's six-day VoteFor Change tour. :(

We Got Da Funk! (PG-13 for mild profanity)

I can't believe that I've waited this long to post this. I play in a band, Funk Shui, and lately we've been firing on all pistons. Consisting of five teachers and a farmer, the band practices constantly and gigs rarely. We played a scheduled gig in Brentwood Park as a part of Summer Nights, the annual summer run of music put on by the city. A stage on a flatbed trailer that included a folding lighting truss gave us a great vantage point over the lawn area that was surrounded by a grove of trees that separated the lawn area from the streets of little downtown Brentwood. We showed up after having a couple of beers that afternoon, soundchecked, and then hung out behind the rig waiting for our time to play. Just at seven o'clock, we rounded the corner and marched up the steps to an explosion of cheers and clapping. Looking across the lawn area, we saw that the park was JAMMED with people, including several dozen friends, neighbors, and close to one hundred students. We were told later that an estimated five hundred people turned out and more would have come but the police had to close the state Thruway and it appeared like it would rain. I said to myself, "it's all happening" quoting Almost Famous, the great Cameron Crowe film of a rock band I wouldn't mind sounding like. Each guitarist banged out several notes to balance sound, the drummer played a couple of fills, and we were ready to begin. With the drum cadence that starts the guitar riff to "Play That Funky Music" we were off. Bart, the lead singer, encouraged people to come up front of the stage and dance and what happened was something out of Lollapalooza - all of the kids and many adults bum-rushed the stage and made the most of a "mosh pit" that middle- and high school kids could create. We ripped through close to an hour of music, having fun, emulating our favorite rock bands, seeing people we knew, and smiling and pointing at friends and spouses when we could. We slowed things down to cover Otis Redding's "Dock Of the Bay" but one by one, each vocal mic and guitar amp began to hum at an extremely loud mid-ranged pitch. We stopped just before the bridge ("where's that confounded...") to see what the problem was. Chalking things up to Friday the 13th, we decided to put that song to rest, maybe to return later. Picking up with the next tune, we became the Ohio Players and really funked it up. "ROLLA COASTAAAAAAA of LOVE" "Say What?" "ROLLAAA COASTAAA, AA A AA OOOOH OOOOH OOOOH!!!" Making our way through a couple of verses, really tearing it up, we were ready to just nail the ending. "ROLla coastaaa of lo... ro... a c a s t ............" Turning, we all realized that Welling, the bass player, was frantically trying to get sound to emit from his amp. Nothing. Nada. Dead. Put a fork in it. Oh, God, please don't do this to us, I thought. We stopped the song, and told everyone that we were experiencing some technical difficulties and asked if everyone if they could please stand by. Soon, two minutes turned into five minutes and we told everyone that we would just take a break, so smoke 'em if ya got 'em type thing. Rushing behind the stage, Welling frantically ripped off the pickguard, fiddled with some wires and knobs and announced, "My pickup's burned out. My bass won't play."
OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH FFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUdge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! was my thought. None of us knew what to do. We stood there like deer in headlights, praying that we wouldn't have to end the gig. Suddenly, someone ran up to us and said that they had two basses at home and that they'd run and retrieve them. It must have taken them ten to fifteen minutes, and in the meantime, I was interviewed by the local paper, my friends were swamped by their students, I met one of my student's parents, friends told us how much fun they were having, and the entire time, I was developing my first ulcer. Finally, the basses arrived, we were able to get up on stage, tune, and play. I turned and yelled to Welling, "whoever gave you that bass, you'd better fellate that guy!" Thankfully no one heard, but we started off the second set with a spirited r & b cover and the night ended on a high note. Playing for another hour, we ripped through The Cars, Steppenwolf, and even closed with our best AC/DC cover. We thanked everyone, they cheered and applauded, threw flowers, asked for autographs, we were interviewed and photographed by the paper, and went to Pee Wee's for a beer, reveling in the greatest pubescent wet dream one ever had: we were rockers, and we kicked butt.

Monday morning, I donned my collared shirt and slacks, grabbed my papers and textbooks, and discussed the impact of the Townshend Acts in 1768, all the while thinking that some of these kids just two days before were giving me the Ronnie James Dio "devil horns" hand signs. Too cool.

More, Well, You Know...

Just humor me a bit. Today's the first anniversary of this. What an incredible time. While I expected much of the setlist, what just knocked me out was the shear intensity and passion put into every song, lyric, and guitar riff that I was immediately hooked. The stage slides, mic stand flips, and start-stops of the late-in-the-set closers were all routine, but for the first time in a very long time, I remembered that rock and roll can not only be a religious experience, it can be FUN.

The nursery's getting set up. I put the cribe together, moved some furniture up in the room, unloaded little outfits and socks and hooded towels and diapers and yet still I don't know if I'll be prepared for when the little thing shows up. I'm emotionally set and ready to embrace the most incredible experience of my life, but I sure hope that I'm providing a good home for him or her.

On that note, I need help with names! Middle names for girls are hard to think of, especially when you don't want it to be the latest flavor of the month. Any advice would be much appreciated!

Watching the Olympics, I'm not sure exactly how to make of the Iranian judokon that refused to compete strictly because his opponent was an Israeli. I thought that the purpose of the games was to connect with other humans in a global event that erased geopolitical, religious, and racial barriers. What was done in the name of supporting one cause or group over the desire to compete in a humanitarian setting will put a further bad taste in peoples' mouths who already hold much of Iranian culture and value systems in contempt. While I know that sometimes my nation has done some pretty lame things and wrapped the Olympic flag around it, but that doesn't speak for my wish to see people be able to assemble for the purpose of uniting the human race and not splintering it. Shame on that athlete, regardless of his nationality and home country and shame on the culture that can not see individuals for the flesh and blood they are.

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Today is my wife Heather's 30th birthday. She is the absolute center of my universe and we're celebrating today by going to my folks' house and, with family and friends, having a good time and spending the afternoon relaxing. I'm giving her a digital camera so we can take pictures of our first child, who is due early next month. In a way, I was hoping that the baby would come a couple of weeks early and arrive today, because my wife was born on her father's birthday. I love you, Heather, and am excited about our upcoming adventure!

On that note, Heather and I started dating ten years ago, and when newly dating couples start sharing information like birthdays, one always makes sure he doesn't forget a big date like that. For me, it was easy. When asked how I'd remember a date such as her b-day, I said, "I'll never forget that, it's the day Woodstock started!" Thirty-five years ago today, at 5:08 est, Richie Havens walked out on stage in a field near Bethel, New York, and performed in front of an estimated 400,000 people. He played first because the traffic jams kept the rock and rollers from delivering their equipment. We all know the history of that long, mythologized weekend of music, but for me, having a wonderful woman sharing a date of a wonderful event makes me feel just that much closer to the things that I love and the things that I can not remember.

With that, let's all raise our glasses and toast Phish, the band that is dancing its "last waltz" right now in Vermont. The band that has been together for twenty-one years is calling things quits and is celebrating its career with a Woodstock of sorts in its home state. The connections are amazing: tens of thousands of fans from all over the nation there to party; a major rainstorm that is closing the highways and turning the venue into a mudpit; stereotypically smelly and dirty hippies now getting a good rinse-off; and some incredible music from some incredible performers. I love Phish. I loved them more in the 1990s when their music was better, but the amazing talent of Jon, Page, Mike, and especially Trey keeps things boogying long into the night. Farewell, Phish, happy birthday honey, and long live Woodstock.

More History Stuff...

59 years ago - U.S. forces drop atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan and kill 70,000 instantly, at least another 70,000 from fallout and poisoning.

35 years ago - Sharon Tate and others murdered by the Manson family on Cielo Drive.

30 years ago - At 12:00 noon, Richar Milhous Nixon resigns the presidency, being the only chief executive to do so. He probably would have served jail time. Permanently stained the office of the presidency. Shakespeare couldn't have written his demise better. Been gone ten, and yet, I would rather have you than the simpleton from Texas.

9 years ago - R.I.P, Jerry. Think I'll listen to American Beauty and think of you.

Halliburton, Illegalities, Vice President Cheney!?

Reading the news today, can't you believe that this company did anything wrong? I thought that Dick Cheney ran that company like a church; honesty and humility being the two tenets of the business. Let's face it, folks, Halliburton and KBR are robbing the Iraqi people blind, they're bilking U.S. citizens for all they can, they're more than likely breaking the law and cutting corners all they can while they charge immoral amounts to do jobs that aren't getting done. If there's a hell and it's hot, I truly hope that one day Dick Cheney will have a shotgun seat there. Don't feel bad for him, though, because he'll have lots of friends to keep him company.

Speaking of all the terrible fighting about the MoveOn.Org tour to bounce Bush: Bruce is getting hounded by pundits and fans alike. Check out the boards at backstreets.com and you'll see even some of his diehards cursing each other and ready to physically fight to either denounce or support him. Often the issue of rock stars using their celebrity to influence people comes up, but Bruce said it best on Nightline when confronted by Ted Koppel. He retorted (and I paraphrase): "Okay, businessmen are supposed to just run businesses, not influence politicians with cronies, labor unions and ...." That did it for me. Anyone who doesn't believe that rock stars (or anyone else with loud megaphones for that matter) should try to influence anyone, you and I are living in subjugation of big business that could care less for our health, the environment, or the future health of the planet and its life all in the name of the almighty dollar. To rant on a tangent, you want to know why the radical left fringe like the Green Party exist? Because they actually have the interest of the entire world instead of themselves at heart. Now there's no way the Greens will ever take power in this country because we're brainwased with the glories of capitalism, but actually just stop and think about how the world would be if corporate profits were halted for the promotion of all people being well fed, sheltered, educated, and cared for. Utopian, I know. You may say I'm a dreamer...

Philly in October...

Back after several days of frantically getting my school year started. Just a whirlwind of students, AP papers, barely-dressed teens, and lost freshmen. That's public high school for you. At any rate, my school year's off to a great start and I'm looking to developing my routine really soon!

The news is out: MoveOn.Org! has thrown several mini concert tours in October to drum up support for regime change at home. Bruce is playing five dates starting in Philadelphia on October 1st. People on multiple message boards and listserves are ranting and raving about this mini tour, so I thought that I'd join 'em.

I believe that the relationship between artist and audience is deeper than one of performer and viewer. As a lover of much art and music, what cuts to my soul is not what a singer or artist does or how she or he does it. It is the way I gaze deeply into the artist and his/her work and see myself for my contradictions, losses, victories, and dreams. Therefore, I support and follow artists who continue to reveal more of myself and how I fit into the world to me; The Allman Brothers and Grateful Dead unlocked the beauty of free-form rock and roll with the spirit of a utopian vision; Coltrane unleashed a whole new realm of musical consciousness onto me, whether he cried (Alabama), screamed (Ascension), or worshipped (Love Supreme); Hopper reflected the grit and complexity of an ignored urban society and showed how vibrant and alive a city is. Bruce's music has opened similar doors for me. The plight of the working poor, the pain of losing ones you love, being able to still stick your chest out and say your name with pride - these Whitmanesque messages of understanding people and things to their core - that message has moved me greatly. Now, people are whining that mixing music and politics creates alienation, it divides, it lowers the value of art, and it splits what normally art universally bonds. I say "bull!" to that. Supporting an artist for her vision is the true role of a lover of art, not dividing an individual into artist / person. Maybe I'm passionate and too much so about this, but there's a reason why I am not a fan of Ted Nugent; there's a reason that I can respect the talent of Tupac Shakur but will not listen; there's a reason why Charlie Daniels will probably not be the next concert I catch, and there's definitely a reason why I enjoy Bruce's music and continue to see what he has to say.
Pretty lame rant, but I'm awfully tired from spending four hours a night grading papers after a ten hour day of work. The brain's not fully functioning. Before I do blow a gasket, I would like to extend a truly humbled, gracious thank-you to everyone who supported Heather and I at her shower last Saturday. I truly see how family and friends (that cliched 'village') is so necessary and appreciated in raising a child with love and support. Again, I am truly humbled.