Elwood Joins The Tea Party Movement

So this blog long ago became a music-only thing. Exceptions were made in 2008 because of the spirit and vigor of the Obama campaign. After the inauguration a year ago, I went back to writing about the music scene as I came across it. But as the Obama Administration devolved from the Hope that inspired people to the pragmatic, deliberative, and contemplative administration people grew to fear, the backlash reached a fever pitch that cannot be ignored anymore.

After Tuesday's results in Massachusetts, it is clear that the Tea Party movement in America is a legitimate force to be reckoned with. It is a movement about America and being angry about what is happening in America . It is also about being angry about what is being done about what they are angry about. It is about being angry about what they voted for in the first place and being angry about what they voted for in the second place. They are angry about government stepping in and about government not "doing something about it". Bluntly stated, they are just plain angry. But give them credit. For what started as a paranoid conspiracy theory over the President being a secret Kenyan-born Muslim al-Qaeda agent who also managed to be a militant Black Christian and a probable atheist at the same time has successfully and maturely evolved (if they believe in evolution of course) into a revolt against government, private industry, the super rich, the super poor, the upper middle class, the lower middle class, gays, straights, liberals, moderates, Republicans, Democrats, independents, capitalists, communists, socialists, anarchists, totalitarians, immigrants, native born, and anything that isn't mom and Apple pie and angry.

So after at first rejecting the anger of the Tea Party movement, and scoffing at it as being "inconsistent", "incoherent", and "frankly, looney tunes", I've decided to embrace it. Or rather, I've decided the Tea Party movement insufficient in the scope of its anger. Yes Mr. and Mrs. Angry American, you are too narrow-minded and limited in your view of what to be angry about. You are so busy complaining about your high insurance premiums and then about what the government may try to do to lower those premiums, you're leaving some important stuff out. While you are frothing at the mouth over a lack of jobs and then spitting blood over stimulus programs designed to create those jobs, whole categories of outrage are passing you by. So rather than join you, Oh Angry Ones, I am asking YOU to join ME. Expand the movement! If we're going to be angry about what's happening in America, let's REALLY take our enemies to task!!!!

Aren't you angry about...

Reality Television? And those who watch it? I don't know about you but I know I get angry knowing that this device spitting images at me has devolved into a mess of competitions and "real life dramas" among America's indigent populations (the working poor, the non-working poor, spoiled teens, the overweight, Guidos, and washed-up B-list celebrities). Low production values seem to go hand in hand with these concepts and that is doubly aggravating. What started out as a nice show called Who Wants to be a Millionaire, which showcased the vast majority of us to be randomly dumb, turned into personality-driven contests over forced marriages, business partnerships, and eating roaches drenched in snot.

Speaking of overweight, how about what goes on at the gym? You try to run on the treadmill in peace when some overzealous, brainless twit decides they are the ONLY PERSON in the vicinity so they stretch their arms out and smack you in the face. Or "WOOOOOING" loudly because they are so proud of themselves for doing what everyone else around them is doing in silence. I don't want to call these people un-American traitors to the country, but I will call them for what they are - IDIOTS.

Back to reality TV. American Idol? Really? We need this? Every year we get a gong show of morons trying to get famous for being inept at singing crap songs then we get a "serious" competition among boring Lite-FM yokels still singing the same crap songs? The only good thing to ever come out of this show may be that recent old guy doing the "Pants on the ground" song because it ties in to another cause of anger - guys with the pants on the ground. But the only way I can see resolving that crisis is walking around with sticks and having them - OOPS - poke something. Or wearing well-worn tightie whities and saddling up to these guys and going "ME TOO!!!!". GET ANGRY!

And on an issue related to American Idol - why aren't people angry about melisma? Why does every note need to be dragged out? Baaaaaaybaaaaaay. BABY! Baby dammit! Unless you are Al Green, stop it! And auto-tune! Auto-tune?! On everything?! I need to hear Baaaaaybaaaaay sung by T-1000? ARGH! Al Green doesn't need no damn auto-tune!

I know the tea party people are angry with the media for distorting everything. And I agree. Well there should be more to it than that. What's with the constant scrolling of news on the bottom of the TV screen? Who can read that fast? Why would you want to? Why is what the person just said repeated in a quote below them? Why are all the segments only 3-4 minutes? Why is everything a "developing" or "breaking" story despite the fact that nothing new has occurred in hours or days? Why are hosts of certain shows brought on as guests on other shows and given credits on the screen as if the viewer wouldn't know who they are?

The rapidity in the news is also blood-boiling in movies and fictional TV shows. The screen is constantly jump-cutting in movies these days. No shot seems to last for more than a few moments. When the camera does stay on one view it is bobbing up and down. There is loud music over the dialogue. Why? No one who is angry over how "fast" things are happening in Washington can not be angry over this. Seriously. We're peas in a pod on this. I know it.

And why has the font become so small in movies? Especially Indie dramas. I can't even read the credits anymore on my TV. What is the aesthetic purpose of this? We cannot afford to let this continue.

What is with the blasting of cell phone ring tones on subways like they were boomboxes in the 1980's? Are these jokers serious? I'd rather hear them snap the bubblegum in their mouths over and over. Actually we can do without both and we should not tolerate this.

And what is with the pole huggers on subways? You have to hug the whole pole? Other people have a right to use it, especially when it is crowded on that smelly thing facing inevitable service cuts. Stop being a selfish communist and let us use the damn poll we're paying taxes for!

I don't know why a one-sided cell phone conversation is more annoying than a two-way audible conversation between two presently vocal idiots but it just is. Cease and desist!

Yes I am very impressed with your loud story to your loud friends on the subway about how you were just about to beat the shit out of someone for some minor verbal offense at some point in the recent past. What's good, son? Your braggadocio, son. Shut up.

And speaking of loud, loud is the new keeping your arms crossed and looking bored at shows. No fooling. It used to be that the standard fare among yuppies, hipsters, and the yipster hybrids was to stand with the arms crossed looking judgmentally on the performer. But at some point in the last year or two, the custom has changed to just crashing show after show for no real immediate reason having to do with the artist and using it to talk loudly to your friends about stuff you could talk about any other time. The best is when the band gets loud, so these people get louder to talk over the music. Of all the things making me angry these days, this is possibly the new number one, replacing...

Bad bartender and waiter service. If you hate it so much and can't bring yourself to serve customers, let alone serving them nicely, QUIT. In this economy there is someone out there perfectly willing to take your job if you don't want it. I'd blame managers and owners for not firing these obnoxious, slack-jawed space cadets except they're the same way. You'd think a bad economy would not be the time that dining and drinking establishments would become a culture of laziness and not caring to impress but this is what happens when these places are founded or operated by trust-fund brats with nothing to lose. The same seems to go for most of the clientele I notice, including, but not limited to, the Stroller Mafia that think their babies belong anywhere, anytime. I am going to drink my drink and maybe go catch a movie. If I see a baby at either setting, there will be Red-White-and-Blue hell to play.

And now let's talk about the real crisis in America. The one that takes the cake. The one that should raise the ire of any red-blooded American more so than anything that Glenn Beck or Bill O'Reilly or Keith Olbermann or Al Sharpton could bring up. I am not talking about any sort of plan to remedy the health care that people dislike. I am not talking about any sort of job-plan for people who need jobs. I am not even talking about gay marriage or religious persecution or other cultural divides. I am not talking about mom-and-pop stores vs. Walmart or Joe's Coffee Shop vs. McDonalds vs. The oh-so-cute cupcakery owned/operated by a person with a Geographic body of water for a first name, and who is dressed like Weird Al Yankovic circa 1983 but who has none of the amicability. I am not talking about the suburban/rural perception of the city as a half-slum, half-Ivory tower hellhole that doesn't know that MOR Arena rock and country music are the only kinds of music that count. I am not talking about the urban perception of the suburbs as the ultimate in barbarism, a place of people who wouldn't know the difference between a big-sunglasses/converse wearing laptop musician living in a million dollar loft on their parents' money and drawers-dropped, sideways ball-capped-with-the-sticker-of-purchase-still-on kid from the projects. Man, I am not even talking about profiling or security or terrorism by organized force or terrorism by a lone madman.

I am talking about walking etiquette.

Standing at the top of the steps blocking the way. Zigzagging for no discernible reason or disability. Pushing and playing around and therefore knocking into people (and before you think I must be talking about hoodlums, this happened to me and it involved a grown yuppie man and his older well-to-do mother). Blocking doorways. Putting fliers in my face. Trying to stop me to sign up and give money to an organized political machine. Get. Out. Of. The. Way. Now I know this cause may be a bit foreign to most of the teabaggers because as typical Americans, they walk only from their door to the car to a door to the car to the first door they walked out of that morning. But I know that in spirit, these Real Americans can join me in fighting this most horrible pox infecting America. I hate people who can't walk properly so much, that I truly do consider they may be the Fake Americans Sarah Palin was talking about.

Now I know this may have all seemed conflated and irrational. Either my complaints are petty or I am not taking them seriously or the Tea Party's real qualms seriously. It's all serious. These daily hiccups cause as much disruption to the fabric of our society if not more so than any long term plan by any stuffed-shirt-"out of touch"-politician. I don't want any teabagger reading this thinking "Hey! This guy just basically said I am no better than a hipster or some street thug!" I want these patriots to know they have a friend in me. An angry friend. So come join me. Our first stop is to help Conan O'Brien against boring old Jay Leno. What? Conan is too edgy you say? You prefer Jay? He's what Real Americans are talking about?! What?! HOW DARE YOU?! I'M WITH COCO! THAT'S IT! I AM ANGRY! I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK!

Senator Al Franken?

In what is possibly the final part of the addendum of the 2008 Election, if the courts process affirms the presumed final tally, Al Franken - an original Not Ready for Prime Time Player on Saturday Night Live, the comedian who rejoined the show during one of its better eras, the political satirist that sought to be a more reasonable answer on the liberal side to the right wing machine, the guy who made a noble effort at a liberal talk radio network (he succeeded, as did Rachel Maddow, the rest failed), will be the elected Senator from the state of Minnesota, a New York Jew who defeated an incumbent Brooklyn Jew by the name of Norm Coleman - a man who lost to professional wrestler Jesse "The Body" Ventura for Governor 8 years ago, and who won the Senate seat in 2002 after his opponent - the amazing human being known as Paul Wellstone - died in a plane crash and the right wing exploited the fervor of the memorial service to gather opposition to replacement candidate Fritz Mondale.

But like I said, this guy is quite possibly (and now probably) the next Senator from Minnesota:

Rock n Roll Means Well: The Drive-By Truckers & The Hold Steady @ Terminal 5

The Drive-By Truckers; The Hold Steady
@ Terminal 5
New York, NY - November 6, 2008

A great week for America should, by all rights, include two of America's great signature sounding bands on their "Rock n Roll Means Well" tour. From the heart of the South come the stereotype smashing Drive-By Truckers, Alabama folk who make it OK for us Yankees to embrace a little bit of Dixie without the stench of trials & tribulations that have plagued other consciously-Southern bands (ahem, Lynyrd Skynyrd and uh...Lynyrd Skynyrd). Truly children of Muscle Shoals, as well as of the Dead and the Winter brothers and the immortal Allman Brothers, DBT have earned their stripes. Whether it be Patterson Hood's mix of Garcia-esque singing before punk-inflected vocal riffs or Mike Cooley's perfect southern alt-country twang (think Uncle Tupelo, John Hiatt, and a male Lucinda Williams all rolled into one), DBT crafts each song with a distinct purpose and no two songs sound alike, which is pretty significant considering how easy that can happen in this genre. The rockers work more than the slow ones, and the less jam the better, but that's this old Yankee's way, it doesn't take away from the talent.

Starting off with the ever relevant, "Stay Positive", the Hold Steady made sure to devote their set to the President-Elect. Tad Kubler wore a Bad Brains-style shirt that replaced that legendary band's name with you-know-who, and ol' Bobby on the drums simply wore a God Bless America t-shirt, reflecting the rediscovered patriotism flowing through the Fake America. Craig Finn said it was going to be a celebration and it sure was. "Massive Nights", "Banging Camp", and "Constructive Summer" were just a few of the anthems befitting the night. Though "Lord I'm Discouraged" probably didn't fit the sentiment, it was worth it for Koob's best solo.

And if it was a night for America (truly reflected in Patterson's story of his 88-year old great uncle putting away years of prejudice to vote for a black man), it was a night for the Gibson guitar company and a nice old man named Les Paul. Truly, if there was ever any doubt as to the best guitar in the whole damn world, those doubts can be squared well away thanks to this "Rock n Roll Means Well" tour.

And both bands playing "People Who Died" by New York's own Jim Carroll...well...how do you think it sounded?

This week should never end.

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: The Electric Slide Election Edition

• He did it.
• We did it.
• As an American, I don't think I've ever had a happier moment.
  
• John McCain proved in his speech that he still has more class and more dignity than the people he has surrounded himself with the last few months. If the McCain of this speech was the candidate of the campaign, Obama may not have had such an easy electoral college win.
• In equal measure, Obama's reference to the old Republican Party is exactly the kind of rhetoric that should bridge and inspire those who are willing to listen.
  
• Great goodness - George W. Bush is not only 70 days away from leaving the Presidency, he was told tonight by a distinct majority of the nation that if they had to do it over again, it would be thanks but no thanks. Vindication.
• I wonder what was making Sarah Palin actually cry.
• I would like to put into words, the true words, what I feel about Obama, about the moment, about this night, about the future, about what I appreciate, about my country but tonight, Tavis Smiley said it better than anyone (save maybe John Lewis) could:

Do You Believe In Miracles?

Four years ago, with the specter of the most totalitarian regime in American history keeping its lock on the White House, I was a very manic, paranoid, and angry person. Fortunately, it turned out W. Bush was more of a lazy oaf who just enjoyed winning elections more than he truly believed in what he preached and what was preached on his behalf (though the effects of what he has done on the down low in terms of our rights and freedoms is something that has to be carefully examined in the coming years). For all my screaming and ranting of "DIE NAZIS DIE!", the great Right Wing Balloon just sort of had its air taken out by its own ineptitude. And at the same time, with the breath of distance, I looked at some of my more extreme leftist cohorts and had to take a step away from their even more manic attitudes.

So comes Obama. Suddenly, the raging anti-intellectualism of the decade is made moot. Suddenly, sound judgment, temperament, rationality, reason, all that good stuff, was made acceptable again. While I don't really regret the rage I felt towards the Right Wing in 2004, I do regret not having the grace and composure of Barack Obama.

And while I do still champion progressive, dare I even say "liberal", ideas, I am more infused with the practical realism that Obama brings to the table. To be uncompromising in our ideals, but practical in our application, is as stable and correct one can be in governance, politics, and society. And also, a little dose of "get a grip" is a healthy thing. Now when my like-minded patriots on the left scream "It'll be fascism if McCain wins!", I know better.

John McCain shamed himself with his campaign in the last couple months but I won't hold it against him, in part because - should he indeed lose on Election Day - I assume he will go back to being John McCain of years past, and he will have a spot at the table in the new Washington that Obama will attempt to forge.

I amaze myself that I have consistently avoided a personal repeat of 2004. I don't find myself screaming at the people at the McCain rallies. And even with all the anecdotal and statistical stature of the racist and the ignorant and the hateful and the paranoid, I'm not full of blood boiling rage. I am more about my guy than I am against them (probably a first in my adult political lifetime, and maybe contrary to what I said earlier). And while I do fear, do worry, that all my bitter cynicism following 2004 may very well be justified on Election Day, I still have the hope, the positivity, that this all may very well just happen as it should.

If Obama wins, does he win because the American people saw the light? That except for the extreme nutcases on the right, the great muddy middle finally saw the goodness and nobility of progressive ideas as embodied by Barack? Probably not. Americans are just extremely fickle. But in the grand scope of American history, in all its complicated and multi-layered roads, to be at this moment in and of itself constitutes a little miracle. One doesn't have to believe in anything divine to believe in miracles. When human nature time and again outdoes itself after years of expected behavior, that's a miracle. For all the flaws and hypocrisies, what happened in Philadelphia in 1776 was indeed a little miracle. And despite the horror of what's been done to peoples on this (and other) continents since, every step forward taken by people (as complicated and difficult as they have been and can be), is a miracle. Slowly but surely, despite all our machinations, we continue to show the ability to make progress. Times are very tough right now, and even though the last four years didn't prove to be the second coming of Hitler, America always stands at the danger of not just falling backwards but veering off onto dangerously wrong avenues of thought and action. An Obama win (and of course hopefully a good Obama administration) would not only steer the ship of state back away from those dangers, it would mark another great miracle in the complicated and often tragic story that began all those years ago.

Yesterday, I wrote we're gonna do it for Studs. And we still will. But we're also gonna do it for Joey. Talk about miracles - he got his former friend and political enemy Johnny to play on this song (as well as "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down"). And even now, as the political and personal background to the sad Ramones drama still plays out, it remains a little miracle that someone like Jeffrey Hyman was able to succeed in his life, a life that was cut way too short. So let's do it for him. And Strummer. And Cash. And for all the rest - Neil, Dylan, The Boss, Billy, Costello, Bragg, John and Exene (and though he disagrees with us, the good spirit that is Billy Zoom because we love him anyway), and all the others who are responsible for me being a pathetic mush I am right now. But above all, let's do it for ourselves and for this country and idea that - at least for me - Barack Obama has made me give one last chance on.

Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel @ Hammerstein Ballroom (Not a Review)

Slowly but surely we'll all get a sense of what it was like inside the Hammerstein last night with The Boss, Billy, John Legend, and India Arie.

Caroline Kennedy introduces the guys

Glory Days (snippet)


New York State of Mind

Spirit in the Night

Allentown

Born To Run

People Get Ready (with Obama arriving at the end)

Hopefully more to come...

Even Dylan <3's Obama

How impressive is Barack Obama (even with his Jerusalem flip-flop pandering)? He even has Bob Dylan speaking out in support of him, and in uncharacteristically (for Bob) direct, blunt, non-cryptic, non-cynical terms.

Amazing.

Could the Dylan/Springsteen/Bright Eyes/Arcade Fire/Decemberists/M. Ward concert for Obama be not far off from now?

Decemberists + Obama = Mega Party

The record setting Obama rally in Portland this past weekend is still being talked about, and conservative pundits, who obviously having no idea who the Decemberists are, just sort of assume that the record setting crowd was mostly there for the band. Pitchfork isn't obviously taking into account that the Decemberists scored the Best Album of 2005 back under this old blog's list system, and, considering they also had a noted album in 2006, it is clear that this past weekend's party had little to do with Obama but with the much-renowned Pennypacker-Bump. This isn't to be confused with the Colbert-Bump, that the Decemberists also, presumably, benefited from.

I don't care...I still think the nomination will be taken away from him. That's cynicism I can believe in.

Boris Johnson For Mayor

Who wouldn't want this man to be Mayor of London?

Barack-n-Roll

The last Democratic debate brought the two candidates back from the brink of irreconcilable differences and brought the base back to loving both candidates, rather than hating one over the other. And not only was the session not the war that it was last time, it was barely a debate. It was more of a Democratic party strategy session, with a hashing out of the minor (though substantive) differences on a few issues. It was so encouraging that at the end, Wolf Blitzer felt imbued with the spirit to ask the ultimate question: Dream ticket?

And the dynamics have changed so much, the concept of Hillary being the number 2 isn't immediately laughable. For about 5 seconds anyway.

Tuesday: Clinton edges out Obama but doesn't finish him off. A few primaries down the road and by the end of the month or by mid-March, it's over. And she picks him for the number 2. They need each other now. They've come this far, and this country is in need of one, last desperate attempt to save it from the end that it appears to be heading for, that why-the-hell-not let's get a 2-for-1 deal. Yes, the concept of having BOTH a woman and a not-white candidate on the ticket will be met with "too much at once, too soon" but this is it. Do or die. Now or never. In 2008, the Democratic party will either nominate a woman or a black man. Do both and show the world that America can still live up to the 238 year old hype that it's never actually had a good hold of.

But don't count out the idea of Obama at the top of the ticket yet either. This is officially a movement. And there hasn't been a movement that doubled as a presidential campaign in a very long time. It is a bona fide movement. And not only is it about the number of people it is inspiring, it is about how it is inspiring and how much.

This shit may just be real, son.

-------------------------------

OK, OK I won't lie. Who are we kidding? What do you think is the real reason for the sudden change around here?

LOOK AT ALL THOSE HOT PEOPLE WHO LOVE OBAMA.

Did you really think I was finally excited again because of his flashy rhetoric and this dopey song? Do you really think the country can be saved by this guy and his hopes and his dreams? Brotha, Please. This about is the hotness. Look at these goddamned sexy sexy people loving this guy and this movement. I even had one of them checking me out on the subway because I was reading Vidal's Burr.

I mean, he even makes Scarlett smile. Legitimately smile.
Goddamn! Now that is what a movement is supposed to be like.

Les Sans Culottes: Unplugged and Out There

You may know this gentleman as Clermont Ferrand, but others may know him as Bill Carney, and while he has some important things to say, he also has a very cute cat:


And what in the hell is this?


You can find these and other videos on this site.