3/5

Well, the Dems, in typical fashion, are all willy-nilly and need a little more time to figure things out. In the meantime, John McCain decides to show up to the White House and have George W. Bush endorse him as president. Whether the Democratic Party gets its stuff together, John McCain just slit his own throat. He has tacitly just stated that he plans to run on a platform of the status quo, maintaining as much of the last eight years as possible, most likely contradicting most of the independent-minded aspects of his own Senate career. McCain the Maverick is what makes him attractive to independents and people who respect free thinking; McCain the Monkey grinder is exactly the opposite of what people have been wanting. The Democratic Party should be able to bury John McCain with the events of today; does this country really need or want more of the same? One hundred more years in Iraq, cowtowing to the fundamentalist right, making the elite's tax cuts permanent while ignoring the middle class. Is this what Americans want?

The Song Remains the Same continues to stun. It's amazing. And as overblown as Jimmy Page's soloing may be, there isn't any one player or band out there today with the energy or character as Led Zeppelin from 1973. Steve, this may be blasphemy, but the '73 run may top the '77 tour. Who knows?

Woody Guthrie - The Asch Recordings Vol. I
Tift Merritt - Another Country

Tonight, on the radio on the way home from band pratice, I was listening to KPFA's "Sing Out!". Starting the set was a fabulous acoustic version of Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic" which challenges Van's original. Just beautiful.