More Bruce

A second Oakland show for next Thursday was added and of course, I'm there!!! Back to back nights and while this is expensive, I set aside a little play money from optional work days this summer especially for this!!! I opted for a seat this time in order to have a different experience than the following night's rager in general admission. The band, as it makes its way across the country, is beginning to shake up its setlist a little more. "Backstreets" has been played once already and I'm hoping that he pulls it out in the Bay Area.

After continuing to listen to the new album like it's going out of style, there are two things I can add: the first is how much I really really like it. While I've already stated it, I find the record to be accessible and for more reasons that I originally thought. With that, I said that the seventh song on the record cooked though I thought the lyrics were a tad weak. After grasping the context of the song, I've come to see it as one of the strongest stories on the record. This, the "Catholic" song with its imagery of falling from grace and seeking for redemption is powerful, hooky and altogether solid.

The Boston Red Sox can't seem to get it together against the Cleveland Indians. The Tribe is clobbering the Sox 7 to 3 in the bottom of the 8th of the third game. I don't know why but I'm pulling for the team with the Green Monster. I simply wish to see the AL team win but I should be rooting for the Indians as it's been a long time since they went to the Series.

I'm a bit fed up with politics right now. You know things are bad when Vlad the Impaler travels to Teheran for the first time since Stalin and tells the world that Iran's nuclear program is peaceful. Trust me, I used to head the KGB. I may get in trouble for this one, but what was the House of Representatives thinking in voting to recognize the Armenian genocide of 1915? Now? First of all, what is the vote going to change? Why would we attempt to jeopardize our relationship with our only ally bordering Iraq? Now Turkey is threatening to invade northern Iraq to quash a Kurdish independence movement? We can't define the slaughter in Darfur but with ninety years of hindsight we can see that the Turks' great-grandparents need to be labeled killers. As a student of history and a former resident of the great city of Fresno, California, I have come to appreciate and identify with the history of Armenian Americans. This is not a matter of being racist. This is a matter of pragmatic politics in such a delicate time. Why not bring up the Reign of Terror with France while we're attempting to play 'history referee'? Unless, UNLESS, this is a backhanded Democratic attempt to drive a wedge in the war with Bush. By Deliberately irking U.S. allies, a divided Iraq would bring about a massive change in the nation's status and the American role there. Would it force Bush to listen to opposition? Will this resolution force Iraqi forces to begin finally running their own ship? Will this simply alienate the United States in the region further? I'm not a smart man but I know what foolishness is. This resolution is foolish.

Has anyone seen "Across the Universe"? This appears to be the same cliche-ridden bombast as Moulin Rouge but I still am curious about it. Even the NY'er gave the film props for its visual dynamics and great cameos by Bono and Joe Cocker.

Mr. "Syd Barrett", if you're out there, let me know how the "other" Bruce show sounds!