Sailing To LaHaina

Actually, not really, though on Saturday my family and I head to Honolulu for seven days. We'll be visiting my wife's father and his family, whom I've never met. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the people I only read and read about. I'm not a big Hawaii kind of guy but the privilege of being able to go has me excited.

You know you're a yuppy homeowner when you remodel your backyard with nifty and trendy items that will make your house appear dated the second you put it on the market. While not selling my house anytime soon, we are making some additions and corrections to the yard. My biggest complaint is the damn lawn and its lack of purpose. Many historians have analyzed and critiqued the American love for and dedication to a living form that serves no other purpose but taking much desired time out of people's weekends to mow and weed. What's the purpose of my backyard lawn? For me to practice hating life, swearing, getting angry at my neighbors because theirs look better, for the neighbors animals to crap on, for weeds to drive me to drink. Just about the only thing that keeps me sane as I tend to my backyard sysiphusian weeding is a quote from Emerson: "a weed is any plant whose virtues have not been discovered". I'm still working on the thistles, ragweed and another vining plant with undiscovered virtue that plagues my weekends. Any rate, I'm hoping that with the changes to my backyard, I'll have my little West Coast sanctum sanctorum. I can't have my little mountain in Albemarle Country but hopefully I can have an outdoor fireplace and a little garden walkway.

I'm a bit troubled that the Republican-lead Congress failed to raise the minimum wage the same week it voted to give itself a three thousand dollar a year pay increase. For all of the aspirations and hope we place in our "elected" officials, I often despair that the system is run by the people it most benefits. Keep the minimum wage at $5.15, which it has remained since the GOP swept the House and began its full court press on the Senate. This, along with a national study showing that, for the most part, the middle class fails to exist in most major urban housing markets. This, for one simple reason: it can't afford to live in the cities. The urban poor are there with government assistance and every family member working her or his butt off just to pay astronomical rent in run-down conditions, the wealthy in their terribly expensive and oft-overpriced homes and apartments but the middle class, which has the option of fleeing to the suburbs and then hauling its ass back through rush hour commutes can't. What I wouldn't give to live in a wonderful city like Oakland or along the peninsula but I don't feel like being shot, mugged, raped or pillaged. By the real estate market, that is. Plus, in places where housing is "affordable", crime is sky-high and the public school systems are abysmal. So, shut up, Paul, take your kid to the little community pool and visit the city on the weekend, I guess. It's just that the cities are beginning to look as identical as the 'burbs but for different reasons. My home town, (which, by the way, I happen to really like), has the same box stores, the same boring house architecture (designed by art history flunkies) and the same suicidal commutes with poor urban planning. The cities all are looking the same, too: great cultural gatherings and sites, high crime in poverty-stricken areas where ethnic minorities who clean and labor for the wealthy often live in squalor, terrible parking, no chance of any middle class people living there, and the overall feeling that the situation will never change. What does need to happen in order to change our demographic makeup of our urban areas that would help our nation cut pollution, my wife's commute time, our schools to improve and our people to use space better?

Rock Opera Review

The Drive By Truckers, a southern five piece arming themselves with a whopping three guitars, are the modern day Stillwater, Cameron Crowe's all-time favorite fictional rock band from the early 1970s. The Truckers do possess a recognizable Crazy Horse sound and on their four year old album, Southern Rock Opera, they not only sing about the 70s, they recapture them - in a good way. Most derivitive music (not to mention the deathly painful trends in retro clothing) is vapid and empty. The Truckers, however, possess a passionate ability to deliver garage music like it's supposed to be heard; raw and gritty, lotsa guitar and huge solos, pentatonic riffing and indecipherable singing about that swamp swamp swamp swamp music. This concept album is the coolest one to rear its head in a while; there's even something that doesn't often pop up. Imagine artists and listeners with the attention spans to actually write and constantly listen to a cycle of songs that tell an overarching story and not just a five-minute ditty before the iPod shuffle kicks into something from your friend's record collection? DBT retell the story of a fated young man's life that mirrors the career of southern rock in the form of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Fiery crash just at their creative peak James Dean sort of thing. The Truckers don't win any awards for the structure of their songs but what they do deliver (thankfully as so many great bands' recorded music is hollow) is soulfull, simple mythical images that only hold true value when backed by wailing Les Pauls and thundering bass and drums. Did rock die in 1977? Surely not but as the Freebird rises from the ashes only to crash again, this southern band attempts to call Lazarus out of his tomb and I think I hear the door opening. After listening to this album twice today, I've changed my mind about their performance last week; I think I actually "get" them. Now if only I could see them again. Good thing my brother will have that chance, especially since the Truckers are opening up for the Black Crowes on July 29 at Penn's Landing, BECAUSE HE'S GOING TO THE CONCERT. Happy birthday, hermano.

Craaaazzzzyyyyy

I just ordered Ben Fong-Torres's new book, Becoming Almost Famous and look forward to the essays of rock and culture. I was turned on to this legendary rock critic by Cameron Crowe's movie of almost the same title. Also, i read a little of F-T's stuff in a couple of long-distance cross country roadtrips in the summers of 2001 and 2002. After moving to the Bay Area, I found that Ben lives in the SF region and often writes for the SF Chronicle. I even wrote him an e-mail once, asking about local radio and the Crowe movie. He politely wrote me back and even signed off with a "CRAZY", which makes no sense unless you see the aforementioned flick. Now that I'm planning the curriculum for my rock history course, I've had a wishful thought: maybe I could contact him and have him visit my classes! Whether or not he'd haul his derriere out to B-town to talk to a bunch of high school students is up to him; if I were him, I wouldn't do it, either. However, there's always a chance that he'd be willing and free to turn on eighty or so seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds about rock writing and the future of the industry of rock and radio. Doesn't that sound interesting? Oh, baby...

Where have You Been All My Life?

How many times have you picked up an album that's thousands of years old, never having heard it, always listening to what a "classic" it is, figuring, 'what the hell?', get home and realize that part of your life was missing until the second the first notes come out of the opening song? Just three hours ago I had another one of those moments. And, of all things, it's Mott the Hoople's "Mott" album from 1973. Who knew? All thirteen tracks (the extended version, this one), it's epic. I'll probably listen to it two or three times tomorrow asking myself again and again, "why not earlier?" My little public library back in the late 70s and early 80s used to have popular music albums (actual lp's) to check out. A couple of Duran Duran and Men At Work records, that one with Linda Ronstadt in the roller skates and short short short shorts, Darkness On the Edge of Town (dude, I thought, comb your hair at least) and Mott. I thought back then they all looked like a bunch of dorks with the disco light and the pastel color on the cover. Great, Brit rock with an edge. Are they prog? Art? Pseudo metal? Glam? All of the above? Whatever they are, they rock and thankfully I have another album for my music class to play.
Also, dang, Steve and Chris, Southern Rock Opera is amazing!!! Great storyline and cool songs. Much better than their latest, A Blessing and a Curse and I like it hearing how a modern Southerner makes sense of such mythic and mythological material, political and social. George Wallace and Lynyrd Skynyrd? Both modern day Icharus (sp?). Two discs for the price of one and much more musicality than then one I just picked up. Gotta go; new Frontline's on with Cheney going to the Dark Side. Then maybe one more listen to Mott.

What are your "where have you been all my life" albums of late?

What To Think of a Pardon?

News a buzz that Scooter Libby will be pardoned by W. in order to keep Dick Cheney from testifying to a grand jury about the illegal political smear game against Joe Wilson four years ago. Some say that Bush will wait until he's on his way out, others say sooner before later. What would the implications of a pardon be on the current political drama? How would voters react to that come November? Would that be the straw that breaks the camel's back to revolt againt the GOP? Would this action by Mr. Uniter and Decider kill all chances of a GOP '08 victory? What about the polls showing that Zarqawi's assassination haven't changed Americans' minds about the Iraq quagmire? This all may seem great for the left but there are a few problems:

What exactly would happen if the U.S. military just up and left Iraq? What would that do to Shi'ia strongmen wanting to ally with Iran?
What message would that send to the president of Iran who's loonier than a shit house rat as is?
What viable alternative choices have the Democrats truly presented for the American electorate? "We're not them" just doesn't cut it when it comes to, you know, (ironic AGAINST a Bush) "the vision thing". Where are Democrats on international team building? What do the Democrats stand for on protecting the environment and reversing half a decade's pillaging of standards by the Bush administration? Just what do the Democrats have to offer in education, jobs, fixing the current tax and health systems? We can't have another administration (regardless of party) just push these issues to the next administration and ultimately to the future to deal with. Why should my and my son's generations pay for the disastrous policies of today? Sorry, Mr. Cheney, but deficits DO matter; they may not to you as you'll avoid paying the AMT as well as any sort of real income tax based on the rapidly increasing value of your stocks that KBR are fattening. The country's in terrible fiscal shape and eventally, those lenders are gonna come a'collecting. Just what do we voters have to choose from, both in November and in two years? I'd like to know.

If I haven't already mentioned, my father is running for mayor of our small but growing suburban Bay Area city. This may not seem like much out of a town of 45,000 but we truly represent the "future" of state politics - an increasingly educated middle to upper-middle class community where most people spend over two hours a day commuting because transportation sucks who are tired of large faceless conglomerates gobbling up locally-owned businesses and bringing in terrible-paying low-end jobs. Water and property rights and suburban sprawl and the protection of the environment all the while embracing growth - what to do? My dad's been in local politics since 1992; I think he's got a good track record, a good relationship with many business, school and municipal officials and his family's history in the community are in good stead. I think he's got a strong chance of winning. Weird to think that I'll gladly help with his campaign, as he's a died-in-the-wool Republican. He and I clash on just about every major national issue there is and yet we see eye to eye on so many local topics. More to follow on this...

Bumper sticker I must have: I Never Thought I'd Miss Nixon

Sad News

Ironically on Father's Day, I'm announcing that my nine-year marriage with a wonderful woman is unfortunately coming to an end. At least according to professed marriage expert Dr. James Dobson. Last Monday, he was quoted of saying,

For more than forty years, the homosexual movement has sought to implement a master plan that has had as its centerpiece the utter destruction of the family. Barring a miracle, the family as it has been known for more than five millennia will crumble, presaging the fall of Western civilization itself.

Good thing, in light of falling poll numbers, a bitter fight erupting in Congress over the U.S. presence in Iraq, the news of a brutal My Lai-like murder of two dozen innocent civilians by marines and continued distress from Katrina that the president last week stumped for the anti-gay marriage amendment again. Any astute follower of politics knows that Bush used anti-gay prejudice to drum up support for his re-election campaign - for governor of Texas in 1998; he did the same in 2000 and his second re-election bid, this time for the presidency, only to allow the bogeyman to go back into the closet (pun intended). As one of the president's closest Texan friends said two weeks ago, "I don't think he gives a shit about it." However, for political expediency and the drumming up of conservative support for a raft of failed GOP policies, the far right wing of the Republicans was leading the charge again threatening to add the amendment that would "define" marriage. This amendment would be preceded by an amendment making the destruction of the American flag for political statements a federal crime. Where to start about these issues? First, this is continued evidence of an attempted fasco-theocratic movement in this country to mold, coerce and bend ALL citizens' modes of behavior and thought into a single, controllable Orwellian way of life, all of which is terrifying and (as of now) totally unconstitutional. Banning political speech? Scholars of the constitution know that only once was the constitution amended denying Americans' civil rights and freedoms and that succeeded so well that it was repealed (not to mention it was passed during a time of anti-German/European sentiment during WWI when pilloring the enemy also meant playing upon American xenophobia. Good thing that's all in the past). Onto the Dobson quote - obviously this well-intentioned and genuinely religious man's demagoguery has such holes that anyone other than a devout follower of him would see through them. Marriage as a monolithic institution for the last five thousand years? Old Testament leaders with dozens if not hundreds of wives; European nobility's marriage of cousins for the sake of consolidating wealth and power; millenia of arranged marriages only changing within the last two hundred years as middle class Americans broke from traditional custom and marrying (God forbid) for no other reason than love; countless statistics of marital rape and other forms of spousal abuse; the skyrocketing divorce rate and splintering of families (all judgments aside, the "breakdown" of families must be seen as an implied characteristic of marriage's definition). What exactly is Dobson talking about? Just exactly how will heterosexual marriage break down with the legalization of gay marriage? Straight people need no help with their failing marriages; how many divorced people do you know claim that 'gays made them do it'? Dobson's biggest failing is his inability to see that law in a modern nation has the role, not only of guiding social customs but to recognize changes in those customs and protect the freedoms and rights of all citizens; the denial of gays to marry (and just exactly how many people are we talking about anyway? A whopping total of five percent of the overall population? C'mon) creates a monopoly on a basic civil custom that the state should either open to all couples or get the hell out of. Now, Rick Santorum, if you're reading this, take your lame claim of people marrying animals, blah blah and stuff it. I don't see you starting an international effort to ban those wildly popular donkey shows in Tijuana. Nor do I see social conservatives attempting to ban gay relationships or even hetero pre-marital sexual acitivity. Isn't Mary Cheney already on her way to Hell in the eyes of Dobson and others? Aren't those also threats to the institution of marriage? Why not ban live-in couples? That's breaking down marriage as well; "getting the milk for free without buying the cow" as the cliche goes, doesn't hold up, especially in a time when many under forty desire lasting relationships but have seen their parents and grandparents fail in keeping their own marriages together. When fifty percent of straight marriages were ending in divorce (even among evangelicals), the argument for 'protecting' marriage falls flat. I've beaten this horse dead before, probably over a year ago, but it enrages me to see how GOP leaders push the agenda only when it helps rally the base only to ignore the issue after election time. It's a cheap and transparent way of manipulating people's prejudices for their own gain without any attempt to better society. The job of lawmakers, the executive branch and the judiciary is to keep society structured and together with as many people being included into the fold of social and national custom and practice. Until then, all the marital counseling, evening talks, bedroom intimacy, gift giving and emotional connecting are doing nothing to keep my wife and I from splitting. However, we are doing are best in protecting another tied and true American institution: we're in a legal fight for full custoday of our son. Gays are going to wreck him, too.
On a final note, is it ironic that the one state that as of now recognizes gay marriage (Massachusetts) also has the lowest rate of divorce in the nation?

This rant is based on the usually keen and insightful Rick Hertzberg's latest article in the June 19, 2006 issue of the New Yorker.

Happy 64th, Macca. I'd feed you as I still need you. Here's your postcard with greetings and please, have a drink on me. You are still the cute one and I'm sorry to hear about the news.

S P A C E . .. . . . . . . . .

Last night I had the privilege (?) to drive to Marysville, CA to catch the Black Crowes. The most rock and roll band in rock in roll, preceded by the Drive-By Truckers and Robert Randolph and the Family Band (both cool to see but nothing to really write home about) and performed two hours of solid Black Crowes stuff. Scroll below to look at the setlist and notice how many hits they played last night. Last night was for the hard-cores and the band itself. I enjoyed myself thoroughly though I'm paying for it right now. One of three things about last night:

1. Mid-week, off city, play whatever the #@&! we want
2. The mushrooms are more than the set decoration
3. Since the Allmans ain't coming to CA and Phil's not playing soon, we're filling in.

Good night - thirteen songs in a hundred and twenty minutes? Lots of twirl dancing or sitting wondering who you just paid to see. The band looked typical history-book r n' r - Marc Ford looking very Robbie Robertson a la The Last Waltz, Rich Robinson looked like he just popped off the Free tour, TWO George Harrisons (!) - Chris R. from All Things Must Pass (very cool long beard and hair) and Sven Pipien from the Concert For Bangladesh. Of course, Ed was Ed. Incredible interplay between the guitarists and Sven, I must say, is really stepping up and owning the bottom end of these songs. His bass playing was thunderous yet very melodic; he always knew how to fill the spot with glissendo riffs or sparse root note thunder. The shed was only about 3/4 full, which is too bad, as some really great music was put on for us last night. My biggest complaint were the false directions from the website and the drive - "just" out of Sacramento? No, Marysville was just under two hours away at nearly 80 miles an hour at one in the morning. Do check out the Instant Live recording as it's crystal clear and wonderful.

George Bush gave a press conference for nearly an hour this morning trying to capitalize on his surprise visit to Iraq yesterday. Journalists are finally putting some spine into their questions but Bush is doing his best to subvert and dodge the serious questions about Rove's dirty politics and the crisis in Iraq. Whether this shores up his numbers at all is to be seen; what I saw was a president that finally is admitting some huge failures. A president is not a king and he must be approachable and willing to see that a populace requires him to talk with them and not down them (the ulimate ironic insult in this case). A president must recognize the political winds and address times when they seem to go awry. A president can not dodge and duck forever in the guise of "freedom", "war on terror", "terror", "terror", and if I forgot, "TERROR!". I'm glad that Americans have begun to smell the odor of his decaying message but I have faith that they'll be stupid and prejudiced enough to remember their idiocy and bigotry in time to support Bush and the GOP since flag burning and gay people are truly the threats to national security come November. And then in December, we'll all forget again...

The Black Crowes

13 June 2006 - Sleepy Train Amphitheater - Marysville, CA [ USA ]

S E T L I S T »

WAITING GUILTY
STING ME
COSMIC FRIEND
YOUNG MAN OLD MAN
TOUGH MAMA
BALLAD IN URGENCY
JAM -> THORN IN MY PRIDE
YOU'VE GOT TO HIDE YOUR LOVE AWAY
SOUL SINGING
STEADY ROLLIN’ MAN
BY YOUR SIDE
NO SPEAK NO SLAVE
- encore -
BOOMER’S STORY

It's Been A While, i Know

shift key's still broken but school's out. I haven't posted in a very long time as things have been wicked busy. Lots to say. However much is important is up to others to figure out.
I caught Bruce last Tuesday night at the Concord Pavilion with my friend Chris. Check out his post from last week about the show. In a nutshell, the performance was so amazing that I've decided this band is who I want to meet me when I die. Never before have I laughed, danced, clapped, sung and cheered so much to. Bruce's energy was intoxicating and yet his only personality was that of ringleader, not rockstar. Eighteen musicians pouring their hearts and souls into songs that are older and bigger than they are. Bruce appeared in his element: surrounded by others making music, louder noise than him and yet harmonious, beautiful music for the soul written and performed by countless, often unknown people who tell tales with music. Just an amazing night.
About forty-five or so minutes of the performance was dedicated to political statements and protest songs, Bruce's included. An old Irish anti-war song, a protest to the Vietnam war, a re-written Depression-era song reinvented to depict the suffering of Katrina victims and Devils and Dust. The latter performed as a funeral dirge, Bruce may have just created yet another anthem for yet another age.

John Henry/O Mary Don't You Weep/Johnny 99/Old Dan Tucker/Eyes on the Prize/Jesse James/Atlantic City/Erie Canal/My Oklahoma Home/Devils & Dust/Mrs. McGrath/How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?/Jacob's Ladder/We Shall Overcome/Open All Night/Pay Me My Money Down (w/ Joan Baez and "Cousin Nicky")

Encore: Bring Them Home (If You Love Your Uncle Sam)/Ramrod/Rag Mama Rag/You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)/Froggie Went A Courtin'/When the Saints Go Marching In


I was tired and sore the next morning as I went to school to administer a disasterous round of final examinations but still can not stop myself from singing or remembering moments of Bruce's most electric, most satisfying performance yet. No intricate memories this time, I think I'll keep those for me.

This morning on NPR's Fresh Air, Teri Gross was interviewing Mary Cheney, whose new book about assisting her father's 2004 election seems to have already been forgotten just two weeks after its release. The interview, for which I caught about ten minutes of, was telling, however, in his summer-before-midterms climate that captures everything shallow about the Bush message and its substance. Cheney, of course, had her keywords and lingo ready to use when describing both her father and his boss as well as John Kerry, the Democratic challenger who probably would have won the election had it been executed democratically in the state of Ohio. Cheney carefully guarded her tongue when discussing Republican members of Congress who have recently been unabashed in their homophobia, as this is an issue that may very well split the party in the November election. What has most telling and sad was this woman who showed clear signs of strain from serving two masters: her father and his party and her own politics and beliefs on issues that matter to her. Here was Mary, defending Bush/Cheney's positions on gay marriage in a tone of respect while discussing her fourteen year relationship with her partner to whom she considered being married. The sad aspect of this is that she must remain torn if she is to still remain in the public eye a dutiful daughter to a family and party that thrives only when dividing families and citizens of this country on the bigotry and prejudice and religion of less than half this country. Cheney went on to disclaim that the Bush administration was "beholden" to the religious right; she claimed that it had governed freely and hoped that no administration would cowtow to such a small, splintered group. How said that candor and honesty were absent from these statements as the historical record of the last five years completely counters and disproves Cheney's words. If any president has been beholden to anti-science, anti-modernity, anti-education, anti-acceptance anti-tolerance, it's George W. Bush. I can only imagine his father (not one to be received kindly as a good leader himself) who felt it necessary to try driving Donald Rumsfeld out of his job in order to save his son's presidency and mark on history thinking that his son's biggest problem has been wrapping himself around such a flag of fasco-religionists. It will be the death-knell of any modern president to side with such a group of people. However, it is ironic that what we call religious extremism in other countries we call down-home patriotism in ours.