Subterfuge 101

The republicans held a debate this week that was supposed to be about the economy and instead of a thoughtful discussion of the issues that really matter to the American people (see also, the Democratic Debate) a shitstorm broke out that devolved into blaming the moderators, blaming the media, blaming the Democrats, blatant lying, and constant whining because such lies were subsequently exposed.

And we shouldn't be the slightest bit surprised.

Considering the republicans record versus Democrats concerning job creation, income inequality, tax cuts for the wealthy, Reaganomics, Supply Side Theory, Trickle Down Theory, Depressions, Recessions, standard of living, minimum wage, and any host of others that affects the working men and women of this country, the last fucking thing republicans want to be talking about is the economy.

Peace,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XLIV--Oasis: Wonderwall

When your first have kids, one of the many things you think of is all the things you have to teach them (don't run with scissors, look both ways before crossing the street) as well as the many things you want to teach them (baseball, how to make fart noises with your armpit).  But what you don't realize is how much they'll teach you--over the past thirty some odd years I've become quite well-versed in sharks, movies, dinosaurs, space, and a host of other topics that if I'd never had kids I'd still know next to nothing about.  And as you might expect, my kids have taught me a thing or two about music, too.

My beautiful daughter had a birthday yesterday, and as such we'll be marking that momentous occasion by celebrating my favorite song by her favorite band through her teen years (and a bit beyond):  "Wonderwall" by Oasis.  Oasis helped turn her into quite the Anglophile for a few years, and if memory serves, she and a friend of hers stood in line outside a Best Buy until after midnight to be among the first to scoop up a copy of  (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, the album from which "Wonderwall" originates.

The love for music is in the genes, I tell you....

Anyhoo, Oasis formed in 1991 and on the backs of the brothers Gallagher (Liam--lead vocals, and Noel--guitar and masterful songwriting) became quite the worldwide phenomenon for a number of years.  To say that, in their native England, they were as big as The Beatles (a huge influence on the band) would only be a small bit of hyperbole.  To this day, virtually any poll in England would have Oasis easily in the top five bands of all time and their albums Definitely Maybe and (What's the Story) Morning Glory? would appear in any top ten.  While not quite that popular here in the States, they did enjoy a great deal of success with three top ten albums.  Acrimony between the Gallagher brothers led to the band's demise in 2009, but their legacy in Britpop had long been secured by then.

One of the great underrated talents in music is a talent for understatement, and Oasis imbues "Wonderwall" with understatement from beginning to end.  From the acoustic guitar that starts it to the violin that slips its way in to the drums at the first break to the piano that slides in at its closing, the song is full of moments of quiet brilliance that take the song from being merely good to being uncommonly great.  And the understatement is the perfect companion for Liam Gallagher's vocals, which in a nutshell, are the song's greatest strength.  He delivers them with an almost matter of fact delivery that underlies his soul churning admission.  And the serenity of the instrumentation just makes the vocals that much more powerful.  As the song fades out you're left with a feeling of quiet hopefulness, and know that you've been under the spell of pure pop genius.

Did you know that a "wonderwall" is a barrier between the mundane and Transcendent Reality?  And that a true wonderwall has a slit or crack in it that allows one to see what lies beyond the wonderwall?  Me either, but telling someone "...after all, you're my wonderwall" sounds a whole hell of a lot cooler now, doesn't it?

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XLIII--The Shins: Sleeping Lessons

Sometime in the spring of 2007, we set out on a family outing, and as we left I grabbed my copy of  Wincing the Night Away by The Shins which had been recommended by my oldest son (nailed it!) and which I really hadn't had a chance to listen to in full.  We had about an hour drive and I figured it would be a good chance to familiarize myself with the CD.  Possibly because we were driving somewhere for the first time and I had to pay attention to the road, the album didn't make much of an impression on the way there.  On the way home though, with the Beautiful Girl enjoying a book and the Beautiful Boy fast asleep, "Sleeping Lessons" came on and after listening I thought to myself, "What the hell was that?"  And I listened to it again.  And again.  And again.  That night when I went to bed, I literally couldn't wait until morning so I could hear it yet again.

Recurring theme:  Such is the power of music,

The Shins formed in 1996, and are basically the brainchild of James Mercer, the lead vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter extraordinaire.  Buoyed by the featuring of  "New Slang" (another great Shins' song) in the movie Garden State (never saw it), the band developed a strong following and more importantly strong indie rock cred.  The Shins have had a a relatively small output--four albums in 19 years--and a couple of different lineups but nevertheless have had a penchant for diverse music.  Mercer has described the band as a "pop project" (bonus points!) and it shows--I've often thought they shared a great amount of musical style with a myriad of '60s pop bands.

"Sleeping Lessons" starts out...well, sleepily.  It's a contemplative synthesizer overlaid with plaintive vocals from Mercer, but you can feel that the song is percolating, that something vibrant is coming.  Truthfully, if the song had continued as such, it would have been a pretty decent little ditty, but at just a little past the two minute mark you're given a brief warning with a snippet of acoustic guitar picking before the song literally EXPLODES! with crashing drums and steam engine power chords from the electric guitars.  Mercer's vocals gain an urgency and edginess that weren't on display before and the explosive music doesn't stop, keeps its I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can bravado and even at the fade out you feel like the song is going to--thankfully!--go on forever.  "Sleeping Lessons" is one of those songs that make me realize why I never got into drugs:  when I wanted to get high, I always had rock and roll.  And "Sleeping Lessons" is an incredible high.

And what's not to love about a song that tells you "...You're not obliged/To swallow anything you despise...."

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

Christian charity

Since five predominately black churches have been set on fire in north St. Louis in the past month, I was just wondering when Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, et al were going to begin the rallies decrying the war on Christianity and threat to religious liberty occurring in St. Louis right now.

Oh, did I say predominately black churches?

Never mind.

Peace,
emaycee

Responsibility for thee, but not for me

Jeb! Bush and his handlers this week are trying to claim that George W. Bush "inherited" 9/11 and the recession that began in March of 2001, and that both were actually Bill Clinton's fault.

Funny how that when it comes to food stamps or welfare or unemployment insurance conservatives are always screaming about how the folks who need them should buck up and take personal responsibility for the errors of their ways, but when it comes to republicans taking responsibility for being asleep at the wheel on 9/11 or having habitually bad policies that lead us into economic ruin (tax cuts! tax cuts!) it's always someone else's fault.

It appears the only thing republicans are truly masters of is shoveling horseshit.

Peace,
emaycee

On Lamar Odom

So I'm sitting at Midas this morning, waiting for the nice folks there to finish the oil change on my car, when a local morning news show cuts to its entertainment reporter, and the first question she is asked is about the condition of Lamar Odom.

Now I don't want to imply that any life is more worthy than another, but it dawned on me that in the days since Mr. Odom's trauma somewhere a mother or father simply going back and forth to work was killed by an idiot driving drunk, that somewhere else a child was shot to death because some fool left a loaded gun where another toddler could get to it, and none of it registered more than a blip for a day on local news stations.  Meanwhile, because a man could shoot a ball through a hoop--a feat for which he was paid millions--we have been inundated in print, radio, television, and the internet with stories about the condition of Mr. Odom after he put himself in a coma by snorting cocaine while taking erectile dysfunction drugs in a whorehouse.  Has it occurred to anyone that Mr. Odom was using illegal drugs, that his use supports drug cartels, and that he was a participant in an act that objectifies, demeans, and exploits women?  Why on earth is such a man worthy of such an outpouring of concern in the media?

Sometimes, this country is just a little too fucked up.

Peace,
emaycee

Oops!

Joe Biden to enter presidential race, Fox News reports

This today, from the most watched news network in America.

Is it any wonder why so many republicans are so ill-informed?

Peace,

emaycee

Clueless Joe

Joe Biden speaking recently:

          "I don't consider Republicans enemies.  They're friends."

And it's good to see that Vice President Biden has no intention of improving on his non-existent showing in the 1988 and 2008 Presidential primary campaigns.

Maybe when it's over he and Jim Webb can reminisce about the (not so) good old days.

Peace,
emaycee

A tangled Webb

Jim Webb pulled the plug on his comatose campaign for the Presidency today, explaining that he'd entered the Democratic race accidentally, and really had meant to join the republican race.

It's not true, but it's a lot more plausible than the bullshit Webb passed off today about the Democratic Party moving too fat to the left as the reason for him ending his campaign.  Not sure what planet Webb was on when he became a Democrat, but the ideas put forth in the first Democratic debate are what the Democratic Party has been about since Franklin Delano Roosevelt opened a can of whoop ass on Herbert Hoover in 1932.

Webb will apparently now consider a run as an Independent, because some political advisers from an alternate universe have him believing that somehow he can convince another sixty some odd million Americans to join the three votes he'll get from the America's remaining Conservadems and make him the next President.

Riiiiiiiiiiight...

Peace,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol XLII--The Who: Baba O'Riley

The Beautiful Boy turns eleven today, and in honor of that glorious achievement, Friday Night Jukebox is going to pay homage to his favorite band (and, in my ever so humble opinion, the greatest rock and roll band ever), and his favorite song by said band.

Formed in 1964, the quartet of Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey. John Entwistle, and Keith Moon, have left a legacy that is arguably matched only by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan.  Between 1969 and 1972, The Who released three albums (Tommy, Who's Next. and Quadrophenia) that are worthy of any top ten list.  They also released a multitude of wondrous singles, were considered one of the best live bands ever, and set new standards for both music production and the use of the rhythm section (in this case, bass and drums).  Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grammys, and literally over a hundred million records sold--their influence on rock and roll has been felt far and wide.  And one thing you can say about the Who--there's no jazz or blues or classical influences.  They swore on their music bible in the church of rock and roll.

The most compelling aspect of "Baba O'Riley" is the sheer enormity of the song--there is a joyous power to it, and in it is the soul of triumph.  From the kid on Christmas morning excitement of the opening synthesizer movement to the front and center of the Entwistle's bass and Moon's explosive drumming the intro is one of the most recognized in rock and roll history.  It takes nearly a minute before Daltrey's vocals appear, and they are well worth the wait.  Bold, triumphant, and proud, Daltrey is a man on a mission.  And only when the first verse is done does Townshend's whirlwind guitar arrive, steamrolling the listener into aural ecstasy.  Throw in Townshend's unforgettable "teenage wasteland" vocal verse, a return to Daltrey, and closing it out with some dancing the jig fiddling and you have a song that underscores why you spent so much of your precious time on this planet listening to pop music, and makes every second of it ever so worthwhile.

Two more quick points:  first, the intricacy of the music and lyrics are utterly amazing in the simplicity (it's power chords and brevity in words) of the song and its sound, and second, that the Who were very much a sum of their parts.  Four men who literally had fist fights amongst themselves came together musically as one and created a song as close to perfection as a rock and roll can logically get.

Fun factoid:  The Beautiful Boy amazed his kindergarten teacher by being able to name all four band members and their instruments....

Not to ruin a lot of teenagers dreams that their youthful disillusionment was being addressed in the line "it's only teenage wasteland," but the line was actually a snide poke at the hippies who overdosed on acid at Woodstock....

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

Actions speak louder than words

It's unfortunate that it didn't receive the attention it deserved, but the Catholic Church announced this week that it had opened a homeless shelter in the Vatican.  While the number of homeless folks it will service is small, the impact it has is huge.  And it proves that when Pope Francis said, "How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?" that it was not only a statement about our priorities, but a mission to change them.

And it's nice to once in a while have something good to report about this crazy world of ours, and not just bitch, bitch, bitch about it.

Peace,
emaycee

The first Democratic Debate, in a word

For those of you who don't have the time for lengthy recaps:

Jim Webb:  Republican
Lincoln Chafee:  WTF?
Martin O'Malley:  SOL
Bernie Sanders:  Inspiring
Hillary Clinton:  Formidable
Joe Biden:  Superfluous
The Democratic Party:  Righteous!

Peace,
emaycee

Gulp...

The above poll gives credence to what must be the republican political strategy:  Who ya gonna believe--me, or your lying eyes?

We're eight years removed from the second worst economic collapse in our history, all under a republican administration, and a plurality of Americans think republicans can do a better job of keeping us prosperous.

And despite the fact that it was a republican administration that was asleep at the wheel when the 9/11 attacks occurred, lied us into a pointless war in Iraq, and then made such a mess of the governing coalition that it left Iraq in disarray and spawned ISIS, Americans overwhelmingly believe republicans can keep us safer from terrorists.

While I can't wrap my head around why Americans think republicans can handle these two issues better (all evidence to the contrary) and yet view the Democratic Party more favorably (the kind of conundrum for which WTF? was created), one thing is for certain:  there are far too many Americans with their heads stuffed too far up their asses.

Peace,
emaycee

Primordial sludge

With Ben Carson declaring this week that no amount of deaths from guns would be worth regulating the right to bear arms (read that again and try to imagine the gall it takes for Dr. Carson to call himself pro-life), and a group of gun advocates (who bastardized the word "patriots" by calling themselves such) protesting President Obama's trip to Roseburg, Oregon to console the victims' families, it's hard not to wish that such heartless assholes would crawl back in the dark hole they came from and leave the rest of us the fuck alone.

For fuck's sake, these people think a gun is more precious than a human being.

Peace,
emaycee

Greatly exaggerated

"The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."--Mark Twain

While there is bound to be a healthy dose of schadenfreude for Democrats in light of Rep. Kevin McCarthy's withdrawal from the race for the Speaker of the House, and the seeming disarray of the republican party in general, there also seems to be a lot of hope that this will translate into electoral success for the Democrats.

Forget about it.

I lived through Watergate, one of the worst scandals in American history, and a mere six years after a republican President resigned in utter disgrace, the American people elected another republican to the Presidency in one of the most lopsided Presidential elections we've ever had.  Even the stupidest of cats lands on its feet.

So while we'll still probably take the Presidency again, republicans will garner 48-49% of the vote.  Winning back the Senate is at best a fifty-fifty proposition, and taking the House would take a miracle on par with the raising of Lazarus.  The blue state/red state dichotomy is just too strong.

Still, you have to wonder about a group of people who would scream bloody murder if the local McDonald's hired an incompetent boob, but seem all too happy to hand over the reins of the most powerful nation in the world to a group of people who have shown absolutely no ability to govern simply because they have an "R" next to their name.

Peace.
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XLI--The Breeders: Cannonball

Some years ago I read a piece (no idea where, though I think it might have been written by Dave Marsh) wherein the author claimed that rock and roll lyrics were more or less vapid, and we listened to such tunes for the music.  While I wouldn't say I buy into this theory, it does have some merit.  For instance, I have loved "Cannonball" by The Breeders for a number of years now, and until I looked up the lyrics today I had absolutely no fucking clue what the hell they were singing.

Of course, I still don't know what they're singing about, but at least now I know they're using actual words....

I came a little bit late to "Cannonball"--like about a dozen years after its release (better late than never...).  I was watching some VH1 top 100 songs of something or other sometime in the 2000s when it came up on the list and as I listened it turned into one of those "How the hell did I miss this one?" moments.  Turns out The Breeders were a hiatus project for Kim Deal of the Pixies (a band that, oddly enough, I also came to sometime after the fact).  Formed in 1990, The Breeders have stayed together (more or less) in several different incarnations until the present, though outside of Last Splash (the album that spawned "Cannonball") the band has not enjoyed a wealth of popular success.  "Cannonball reached #44 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Cannonball" starts with a chant that's sounds like it came from the mouths of the Wicked Witch of the West's Winkie Guards (and who the hell knew they were called Winkie Guards?  Certainly not me, at least until about five minutes ago).  It quickly morphs into a bass line that is a wicked rat-a-tat-tat, to which a guitar solo is added which can best be described as what walking through a House of Mirrors would sound like musically.  Next in are some power chords, by which time if you're not shaking to the music you're probably in a coma.  And it's only then that Kim Deal's vocals come bounding in, and they're a cross between the pop sensibilities of The Bangles and the throatiness of Joan Jett.  The bass and guitars continue echoing around the vocals, with a few false stops thrown in, until the end--all in all, the best description I can give of the song is that it sounds like a roller coaster feels.  And just like a roller coaster, it's about four minutes of unbounded exhilaration.

Embarrassing Factoid:  While I'd love to use the line "The bong in this reggae song" as this week's lyric link, I have to admit that until just a couple of months ago, I thought the band was singing "Shimmy shake, shimmy shake" when they were actually singing, "In the shade, in the shade."  And my coolness quotient sinks like a rock....

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

Beware ye of the forked tongue

This, from Linda Upmeyer, the current speaker-elect of the Iowa House of Representatives:

"That's what elections are for, right?  Then, we need to go home and talk to the public and the public can send people to Des Moines that are going to represent their views accurately and consistently."

Fucking seriously?

I'm not sure if you have to admire the chutzpah of republican politicians or pity the ignorance of republican voters, but the idea of republicans representing the views of ordinary Americans accurately is Fantasy Island on steroids.  To wit:

• Americans overwhelmingly support Social Security.  Republicans want to privatize it.  Kowtowing to Wall Street accurately represents our views exactly how?
• American overwhelmingly support Medicate.  Republicans want to turn it into a voucher system.  Drooling over the insurance industry accurately represents us in what alternate universe?
• Americans overwhelmingly support immigration reform.  Republicans have blocked it at every turn.  Cowering to racists accurately represents us because....
• Americans overwhelmingly support stronger background checks on gun purchases.  Republicans won't let it so much as come up for a vote.  Sucking up to the NRA and the gun industry accurately represents us on what other planet?
• Americans overwhelmingly support the right to choose and have come to accept gay marriage.  Republicans are still pissing away tax dollars and valuable time on settled issues.  Grovelling to the religious right accurately represents us in what godforsaken way?

You get the gist.

Frankly, the only views in this country that republicans accurately represent are the moneyed interests and the crazies in their base, which leaves the vast majority of Americans shit out of luck.

But Rep. Upmeyer was right about republicans being consistent--they've been consistently bad for the country for as long as I can remember....

Peace,
emaycee

Split pea soup

At a recent speaking engagement in Houston, former Colin Powell chief of staff and retired United States Army colonel Lawrence Wilkerson floated the possibility of the United States eventually breaking apart.  It's an idea I've mentioned before, though I noted I thought it would never happen because Corporate America would have too much to lose.

Still, the farther along we get I have to wonder a) are our differences just getting too great (gridlock across the country politically, utter disdain on both sides for each other)? and, b) how much longer will the citizens of blue states want to subsidize the red states (especially southern) that seem to be clueless as how to fix their myriad of problems?  Add in the fact that the Corporate America lineup changes regularly and ordinary Americans contempt for it after the Great Recession, and you have a recipe for change.

Though I don't think it will be anything I see in my lifetime, I think as time passes it's not a matter of if, but when.  Unfortunately for the red states, eventually the blue states are going to get tired of paying for their problems, and as Wilkerson noted, the south is going to end up looking like Bangladesh.

Peace,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XL--Uncle Tupelo: Still Be Around

One of my fondest Thanksgiving memories is of one a couple of years after I'd moved to Michigan.  My kids had come to visit and after working my Thanksgiving shift for Kmart I was making tacos for our Thanksgiving dinner (don't laugh--tacos make a fine Thanksgiving meal).  My daughter was reading on the couch, my (now oldest) son was looking through my collection of CDs, and we were listening to  89/93:  Anthology by Uncle Tupelo.  I was stirring the Spanish rice when "Still Be Around" came on, and as music lovers are wont to do, I began singing along.  A couple of verses in it occurred to me that I wasn't the only one singing--when I peeked out into my apartment's family room my daughter and son were singing along as well. the three of us in not so perfect three-part harmony, enjoying the song as we went about our tasks.  And it seemed as natural as the fingers on our hands and the toes on our feet.

Such is the power of music.

Hailing from Belleville, Illinois (our home for fifteen years, give or take), Uncle Tupelo is considered one of the progenitors of alternative country (a notion they dispute) which is really saying something for a band that lasted only seven years and produced a mere four albums (though there is often strength in small numbers).  Oddly enough, considering I lived in Belleville through Uncle Tupelo's beginning, middle, and end, I came to their music in a rather roundabout way and long after their 1994 break up.  I was actually a big fan of Wilco, original band member Jeff Tweedy's post Tupelo band (I was also a fan, though to a much lesser extent, of Tupelo founder Jay Farrar's post Tupelo band, Son Volt), and on a whim my daughter sent a copy of Uncle Tupelo's Anthology thinking I might like it, too.  It was love at first listen.

Two minutes, thirty-nine seconds.  It is sometimes amazing how much can be crammed into two minutes and thirty-nine seconds of music.  Released on their second LP, Still Feel Gone, "Still Be Around" has a world-weariness to it that belies the twenty something ages of its writers.  Jay Farrar's vocals are perfectly understated and the song is driven by the simplest of melodies and some omniscient acoustic guitars.  Ostensibly about battling the ravages of alcohol (I think), I've always thought the song could also be a metaphor for battling the ravages of depression as well.  If anyone ever asked me what it's like to suffer from depression, I'd steal a line from "Still Be Around" and say it's exactly like, "..walking the line, upside down."  The song closes with an acoustic guitar break that's one part walking down the yellow brick road, and one part slamming on your brakes in the rain.  All in all, a fine addition to the folk canon.

Fun factoid:  The original members of Uncle Tupelo went to the same high school as my two oldest kids.  Go mighty Maroons!

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

King Jeremy the wicked

Another mass shooting, this time at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, leaving ten dead.  Ten more families whose lives have been irreparably shattered.  Another heartfelt address from President Obama on the shootings, and another well-reasoned plea for sanity in our gun laws.  More breaking news reports, more press conferences, more candlelight vigils, and more prayers.

And the same sinking feeling that once again--at least on a national level--that absolutely nothing will be done to reduce the chances of another mass shooting.

If Congress couldn't find the moral courage to strengthen our gun laws after 20 six and seven-year-olds were shot to death at Sandy Hook elementary school, it's hard to see how today's events will transcend previous attempts and suddenly give them the intestinal fortitude to pass stronger gun control laws.  Or provoke us to vote out of office those beholden to the NRA and its minions.

But still we can hope that finally this will be the mass shooting to force us to end all mass shootings.

Peace,
emaycee