Peanut Butter Knife

A History of My Taste in Music Part III

2008-07-21T16:31:00.001-04:00

Part III 1991-92

Looking back, its tempting for me to, like many in my generation, pinpoint the time when I heard “Smells Like Teen Spirit” as THE turning point in my musical tastes. Make no mistake, that was huge, but while I didn’t realize it at the time, the signs were pointing to some major upheaval in my listening preferences.

To that point, being the “classic rock kid” was my thing, old people loved me because I somehow validated to them that new music sucked and the best sounds were from their generation. But I already made 2 exceptions for modern bands, R.E.M. and U2, especially the former. I was a big Byrds fan, so reading about Peter Buck and his Richenbacher in Rolling Stone hipped me to them. Towards the end of 8th Grade, Out of Time was released and I bought it the day it came out and played it in near constant Walkman rotation. It wouldn’t yet obliterate what I knew about music, but it made me more aware that there was more to new music than just hair bands and bubblegum pop.

Also around that time, Neil Young’s Ragged Glory became a very pivotal album for me. Although I knew enough about Neil to know that he’d always been an iconoclast, I also knew enough about the music that classic rockers made in the 80s to expect it to be cold, studio slick and not altogether good, no matter how legendary the artist once was. Ragged Glory was different. It was loud, it was filled with mistakes, it sounded like what it was 4 guys in a room playing rock and roll and it was awesome. Young’s tour for the album featured Sonic Youth as an opening act – I unfortunately didn’t go. But I read about their unorthodox guitar tunings and figured if they were good enough for Neil, I may as well check Goo out of the library. I don’t think I was quite ready for what I heard, but I did like “Dirty Boots” and filed the band away under “pretty interesting”.

There were other minor touchstones too: hearing the Velvet Underground while I wrote a report on Andy Warhol for art class, seeing World Party on SNL, hearing Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd, a pre-Nevermind article in Rolling Stone on the “Seattle scene” that I thought sounded interesting.

Then there was “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. I was in the car with my mom, I was in 9th Grade. I was listening to WONE and they said they weren’t sure whether they wanted to play this song, but they’d been getting so many requests for it that they figured they had to. Its part of the rock canon now, but seriously, if you were there in 1991 you know what I’m talking about. Hearing this song for the first time was an event. The guitars, they were aggressive, but they were so melodic and tuneful (and I was probably the only 14 year old who heard this and thought the intro sounded a lot like The James Gang’s “Walk Away”). And damn if I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but I could feel it. I doubt music had ever hit me on such a visceral level before. I remember going home and just flipping around to every rock station I could get reception on until I heard it again. I bought the album, I learned it on guitar but mostly what this song did is made me want to hear more.

You see, while I could appreciate the musical qualities of what I’d listened to up to that point; what it lacked for me was a real emotional connection. I was a depressed, misfit 14 year old kid from Cleveland, how was Eric Clapton singing about the dangers of cocaine or Crosby Stills & Nash harmonizing about the free lovin at Woodstock supposed to speak to me? Oh sure, I learned from it and I could appreciate it intellectually, or as entertainment, but it was never going to be mine. And my mom hated Nirvana. She liked just about everything else I played around the house, but this? Was this even music? And who else listened to this? There was a small group of kids that were already into these kind of bands. They seemed alright and not caught up in all the other bullshit of high school. They were into doing their own thing. And hey, wasn’t I already into doing MY own thing all along? This was huge, for the first time in my life I was finding an identity. And most importantly, some of these people were girls.

And then U2 came out with Achtung Baby and it was a totally strange record like little else I’d heard before. Were they alternative too? Clearly I needed a crash course in this “alternative” music. So, I did what any suburban kid with some magazine subscriptions and a spare penny to tape to a postcard would do: I signed up for the Columbia House record club under the “modern rock” genre and got my 12 free introductory tapes. I don’t remember what they all were, but some of them were as follows:

Primal Scream Screamadelica
Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians Perspex Island
They Might Be Giants Flood
The Ocean Blue Cerulean
The La’s
Sonic Youth Dirty
Violent Femmes Why Do Birds Sing?

And in the interest of full disclosure, not all of them were good (though don’t tell 15 year old me that):

Toad the Wet Sprocket Fear
Spin Doctors
The Soup Dragons

It still wasn’t enough. I had to know more. I discovered college radio, I taped 120 Minutes each week. I wrote down the names of anything that even sounded half interesting. I began redoubling my efforts at the library, discovering The Cure, The Smiths, Dinosaur Jr, and The Feelies this way. It may seem strange now, but back then these records were not found at the mall and weren’t written about everywhere, I needed a more reliable source and that’s when I discovered Alternative Press.

Far from the glossy mall-punk rag that its become, AP in those days was probably most akin to Magnet now in terms of coverage and placement on the mainstream radar, maybe even a little more on the edge than that even (would a band like Kitchens of Distinction merit cover placement on any magazine today?). And they were based in Cleveland, how cool is that? Here I read about bands that were even more obscure than what was on 120 Minutes. You couldn’t find their records in stores, at least not the ones in North Olmsted, Ohio. I had to find out what this was all about.

A History of My Taste in Music Part II

2008-07-21T16:30:00.000-04:00

Part II 1988-91

During our move I unpacked my mom’s records and decided that both Willy & The Poorboys and Cosmo’s Factory looked interesting enough to play, everything else was Broadway showtunes or easy listening. Fogerty, et al looked downright dangerous in comparison. I loved it right off the bat. It was so much more raw than anything I’d been hearing on 80s top 40 radio. It was also around this time that we got a computer with a 2400 baud modem. In those days, there were basically 2 things you could do with a modem. Sign up for Prodigy and call up the Cuyahoga County Public Library to reserve books and music (yes, I know about newsgroups and BBSs, but I wouldn’t discover those for a few more years). In a way, I was an early adopter to internet music. I could read about a band and look them up in the library’s catalog from home and have the records sent to my local branch. Then when I got them I could tape them for free. Seems primitive now in retrospect, but this was a new thing circa 1989. Since I now loved CCR and since I figured out that they qualified as “classic rock”, I started listening to the classic rock station in town and reading rock history books in order to fuel my late night library catalog searches. My Paves style flowchart would look something like this:

6th Grade: CCR, Eagles, Eric Clapton, Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Steve Winwood, Steve Miller Band

7th Grade: Jackson Browne, Crosby Stills & Nash, Allman Brothers, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Lou Reed, The Byrds, John Mayall, Bob Seger, James Gang

8th Grade: The Beatles (so late in the game, I know), Bob Dylan (same), Grateful Dead, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Pink Floyd, Yes, Led Zeppelin, Robert Johnson, R.E.M.

It’s here that I have to stop and make a confession. While some of the above bands I still love and others not so much, I have no embarrassment about any of it. Even my week of staying home “sick” from school in 7th Grade and watching TNN and getting into Foster & Lloyd, The Kentucky Headhunters and Alabama is not embarrassing and I see it as a crucial side trip in my musical history – even if I disowned it quickly (though Foster & Lloyd were actually pretty good). But there is one anomaly that I really can’t seem to figure out. Sometime in 7th Grade and continuing through most of 8th grade I became a huge fan of Jimmy Buffett. I had all the albums, I made my mom take me to one of his concerts, I read his short story collection, I wore my Jimmy Buffett t-shirts all the time. To this day, I have no idea what got into me and what made me do this, or how it fits in to the way I listen to music now, but I think it might go a long way towards explaining why my backlash against classic rock was so strong in my early high school years. Despite still enjoying songs from every artist listed above, I have no residual Buffett nostalgia, I can’t stand the guy’s fans or his music. Weird.

But far from being just a list of bands I was into at different times in my life, its important to mention at least a little of what else was going on. As mentioned, I was in a new school that was 3 times bigger than the one I grew up in, the kids were louder, the girls had big hair and the boys were more interested in beating people up than talking about baseball cards, funny movies and pop music. They all listened either to metal (probably why I still never got into it today) or the insipid late 80s teen pop that was booming at the time. A loner by nature, I made little attempt at fitting in and so I guess its pretty fitting that I let myself dive so deeply into music. Around this time, I also started feeling more estranged from my parents and they from each other. Fights were common and nothing from that era seems happy now. On a lighter note, I started taking guitar lessons. I wasn’t a very disciplined player and never practiced enough to be good, but I learned the basic chords which I know to this day and a lot about song structure. Also, being perhaps the only 13 year old in Cleveland’s west suburbs that knew more about Neil Young than New Kids on the Block, I was always a curious oddity in record stores, at my parent’s friend’s parties, radio station contests (I won Clapton’s Crossroads box set from WONE for knowing who Ginger Baker was), etc. All the old folks wanted to talk to me and were tickled pink that I could reel off the entire Joe Walsh solo discography or tell them about the recording sessions for Tusk. So I basically felt like I was 13-going-on-40 during these years. Only adding to my already burgeoning sense of weirdness.

Next up is high school, and while my tastes changed drastically and seemingly overnight, the seeds were all planted here and the shift more gradual than I remember now that I think about it. But that will have to wait for Part III: The Alternative Era.

A History of My Taste in Music Part I

2008-07-21T16:16:00.003-04:00

A few months ago, I started posting these lengthy rambling pieces about how my taste in music has evolved over the years on a certain message board I frequent. I stopped at roughly 1992 and I am now going to re-post the first 3 installments here in an effort to encourage myself to finish writing the rest of the series. Enjoy.

Part I, Birth-Elementary School.

Unlike alot of you here, I did not have musically inclined siblings (or any siblings for that matter) and my parents were not overly into music either. Actually, my dad was quite a music lover in his own way, but not at all hip and not at all a record collector, so I didn't really get too much of it passed down from him. All my musical discoveries pretty much through high school were my own. Preschool, really up through about 1st grade, my pop music memories are of a small handful of my mom's records that I would play on my Fisher Price record player: a James Taylor 45 for the song "Handy Man", a 45 for the funk-soul novelty hit "Chick A Boom" by Daddy Dewdrop, the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, and an LP collection of 50s hits performed by some anonymous hacks called "At The Hop". Plus whatever was on the radio in the car or around the house. Also probably by 1st or 2nd grade I was watching Nickelodeon alot and they had their video show "Nick Rocks" this is probably where I first heard Hall & Oates "Out of Touch", as well as stuff from Thriller. I asked for the Hall & Oates album for either Christmas or my birthday and got it and played it incessantly. Soon after I got a tape player and proceded to buy either with allowance money or from begging my mom, Hall & Oates' H2O and Rock N Soul Part I. I was pretty hooked on music by this time and started listening to top 40 radio (this would probably have been WRQC at the time). Though oddly, the stuff I gravitated towards the most tended to be on the more adult-side of top 40. This was mid/late 80s so that meant Huey Lewis, Bruce Hornsby & The Range, John Cougar Mellencamp, Crowded House, Squeeze, Wang Chung, Billy Joel, Robert Palmer, U2 etc etc mixed in with some of the wimpier hair metal (Def Leppard, Bon Jovi) and pop (Rick Astley, Whitney Houston). At some point I had tapes of all of those artists. As an only child, I mostly just stayed at home and found ways to entertain myself. One of those ways was by listening to Casey Kasem every Sunday Morning and making up my own lists of my favorite songs each week. I called it "Mike's Top 10" and at one point I had them all collected for the years I did this (mainly 1986-87) and stapled together. Not sure whatever happened to these gems. Probably lost in the fire at my parent's house a few years ago.

In 1988, I was in Middle School and we moved to a new suburb...This is the point where pop music turned from something to entertain myself with to an all out obsession. But that will have to wait for Part II.

I Give Up.

2008-04-14T15:35:00.003-04:00

When I first read this, I assumed it was just a joke since I don't watch cable "news" outlets. Turns out it is oh, so real:

On Hardball, while remarking on Sen. Barack Obama's reported request for orange juice after being offered coffee at an Indiana diner, David Shuster asserted: "It's just one of those sort of weird things. You know, when the owner of the diner says, 'Here, have some coffee,' you say, 'Yes, thank you,' and, 'Oh, can I also please have some orange juice, in addition to this?' You don't just say, 'No, I'll take orange juice,'..."

It turns out that I am completely unqualified to run for President. No, not just because I'm a militant agnostic ("I don't know, and neither do you!"). Not just because I'm short, even by Dennis Kucinich standards. Not even just because I didn't finish college. After the events of the last few weeks, according to the chattering classes in the fourth estate, I'm unqualified to run for President because I don't drink coffee and my bowling scores are lucky if they break 100.

I've lost interest in the Presidential race. Barack Obama isn't perfect but he's the best candidate to get this close to the nomination in my lifetime (if only because this guy was also a victim of media assassination far before he got to Obama's level). Gas prices are going to be triple what they were 8 years ago, the economy is nearing a crisis point we haven't seen since about 1929, we're in a pointless war that no one seems to want to end, it's 2008 and people are still antagonistic towards evolution, not to mention global warming science. I don't need to ennummerate every problem in this country, I think you get the point.

Yet our televised and print media, the places that for better or worse, most undecided Americans will turn to form their impressions of our presidential candidates, have decided (with a great deal of aiding and abetting from the Clinton and McCain camps) that the things that matter most to our country right now are these:

1. Can we trust a guy who doesn't bowl very well with the keys to the White House bowling alley?

2. Someone who chooses (healthier) orange juice over coffee certainly is out of touch with the concerns of working Americans.

3. How dare Barack Obama tell working class voters that they feel bitter for having lost their jobs and security after 20 years of Bush/Clinton economic policies! Only we in the media, with our Ivy League degrees, should be allowed to decide how the working class should feel!

Never before have Jon Stewart's remarks on Crossfire been more apt. They're not just hurting America, they're killing it dead and beating the corpse to a pulp. People are lulled into submission by the shiny graphics and gladiator-like presentation of these networks. This country will get what it deserves in November. The sorry thing is that the rest of us have to live with the consequences.

List of States I've Been To (In order of the approx. amount of time I've spent there)

2008-04-11T16:44:00.002-04:00

1. Ohio
2. Illinois
3. Wisconsin
4. Michigan
5. New York
6. Pennsylvania
7. New Jersey
8. Iowa
9. Indiana
10. Massachusetts
11. Kentucky
12. Vermont
13. Connecticut
14. Minnesota
15. Rhode Island

I've also been to North Carolina, South Carolina and the states between Ohio and those places, but I was less than 6 years old at the time and don't remember how long we stayed. So, I guess you could put those states probably somewhere between Iowa and Indiana.

Ohio Primary, Some Observations

2008-03-05T12:54:00.002-05:00

I don't want to wade too deeply into the divisiveness of yesterday's results. Needless to say, I'm disappointed in how things turned out.

I do want to comment though on one strain of thought I've seen bubbling in the media this week: The idea that SNL's pro-Hillary sketches the past few weeks played a part in her comeback. And while any effect it may have actually had is probably being overblown, what troubles me is from the standpoint of a comedy fan who has watched SNL since I was old enough to stay up that late, anything that gives Lorne Michaels the impression that his woefully unfunny show has any continuing relevance is a bad thing. I sat through last week's episode for the Wilco performance, yet I let out one guffaw the entire night. In the final sketch, Ellen Page made a joke about going to a Melissa Etheridge concert where Suze Orman had a booth to educate people on "gay mortgages". Yeah, that was the funniest thing I heard.

"Weekend Update" has become a tedious bore of poorly read one-liners. I might not like the guy's politics these days, but in the 80s at least Dennis Miller brought a much needed sense of irreverence to the proceedings. "The Daily Show", "The Colbert Report" and The Onion have been running circles around SNL in terms of political satire for nearly a decade now (well, Colbert for only 3 years, but the fact that TDS has itself already started to become eclipsed is even more of an indictment of SNL).

I realize the traditional media press corps doesn't quite get Colbert, and they are disdainful of Stewart for so effectively pointing out their asshattery, but please do comedy a favor and don't give SNL any more credence than it deserves. That show needs to be put out of its misery, or at least taken over by someone who actually understands how to do smart, yet gut busting comedy.

Then again, maybe I'm just as much a part of the problem. I'll DVR next week's ep to see Vampire Weekend.

As a post-script, I'd like to single out Tina Fey, who is a genuinely funny woman and as a one time head writer kept the SNL franchise from heading entirely over the cliff for much of the early part of this decade. "30 Rock" is a great show, but if you've paid close attention to the political aspects of the show, there's been a strong anti-Obama (and somewhat anti-Dem) agenda set forth. In one episode, Liz Lemon tells Jason Sudekis' character that "she'll tell everyone she's voting for Obama, but when she gets in the voting booth she'll pull the lever for McCain". In another episode an entire b-plot revolved around one of the characters referring to Obama as "Osama".

My History With Food

2008-02-26T15:31:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure if I've become a full fledged foodie yet, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to get there sooner rather than later. But if you ask anyone whose known me awhile and this development might come as some surprise.

For instance. I eat sushi any chance I can get now, but just 5 years ago, I wouldn't touch seafood raw or cooked with a 10 foot pole. I claimed I was "allergic" to it. Granted, this fear of seafood had some basis in reality. When I was just a wee lad of the age of about 8 or 9 whenever my mom would serve fish, I'd throw up. For the longest time, the smell of fish would make nauseous and any suggestion that I even try something from the sea was quickly rebuked.

So what changed? How did I go from the classic picky eater raised on fast food and potato chips -- the kid whose aunt threatened to call a social worker on my mom due to my "lean" physique -- to the burgeoning 30-something gourmet who will try anything once and who might accurately have the term "stocky" applied to him? Who lives to discover new restaurants and flavors heretofore unknown?

Some possible answers:

1. The Indie Factor. Yeah, I'm a bit of a recovering music snob. Somewhere along the way though, it mattered less to me to always be the first to discover a band or a genre. I still love music and collect vinyl, but my identity is not defined solely by what I listen to. But where is that seeking spirit supposed to land? Maybe instead of always having to find something new to listen to (and I went through it all: an electronic phase, an experimental phase, a jazz phase, a country phase, a world music phase -- sometimes concurrently) I've transferred that desire within me to food. Having been so isolated, culinarily speaking, all my life each new national cuisine I discover feels more new, the tastes so vibrant. Another indie band? Heard it all before, it can be good, it can be comforting to listen to, but can it really expand my ways of thinking at this point? Taste is also, I think, a more immediate thrill than sound.

2. The Vicarious World Traveller. If there's one thing I've always wanted to do and never have, its to make travel a priority in my life. For whatever reason: money, job, illness, etc I never seem to make it anywhere. OK, I did go to England on a semi-business trip in 2001, but that turned out to be a disasterous experience that I'd rather not relive in this public forum. Yet I'm always glued to travel shows like Globe Trekker and No Reservations. Always longing to be the kind of person who can pack up and wander around SE Asia by myself for a few weeks. At this point, probably not going to happen. But when I eat Vietnamese food, or (good) Mexican food, or sushi... I can have some of that cultural experience, at least in a second hand sort of way.

3. The Incrementalist. Perhaps I've been more adventurous than I give myself credit for. I can only respond to what I get exposed to and given my semi-sheltered, suburban existence to age 22, that exposure was quite limited. But there were signs. I discovered Pad Thai in college, but at the time Cleveland only had 3 or 4 Thai restaurants. Shortly after moving to Chicago, I even contemplated writing a zine with my friend (hi Katie!) that did nothing but review the Pad Thai in Chicago's literally hundreds of Thai places. Of course now, Pad Thai is usually the last thing I'll order in a Thai restaurant. It wasn't long before I was exploring the Indian restaurants along Devon Avenue, the Mexican places of Pilsen, or a great Middle Eastern restaurant in Evanston called Olive Mountain. I even accompanied friends out for sushi. I was too chickenshit to order any fish, but man did it look good, it was only a matter of time. When I moved back to Ohio, I had loads of time on my hands and access to the Food Network, so soon not only was I trying things in restaurants, but I was learning what went in to making things what ingredients were responsible for what flavors, etc (This was before all the semi-homemade 15 minute garbage infiltrated the network). Then came reading books on chefs and cooking, particularly the work of Michael Ruhlman. Now I'm discovering, not just food as world travel, but the pleasures of more high end cuisine.

I suppose there is probably truth in all 3 reasons, and probably other reasons as well. But I'm hoping the next stage in my food evolution will take place in part on this blog. Hopefully I can keep up with writing this time, because I've missed doing it.

Why I am Endorsing Barack Obama in the Ohio Primary

2008-02-15T09:46:00.005-05:00

So nobody is probably reading this thing anymore and thats fine, but I had a brief conversation this morning with Ms. 54 and she asked why I had gone from being ambivalent on the Dem candidates to an Obama supporter. Here's my detailed explanation why:

To be honest, the fact that I didn't hop on board the Obama train from day one says alot about some of the weaknesses in his campaign. He's a politician I've followed and admired long before he hit the national spotlight, so I should have been a natural supporter. However, his campaign floundered through much of last year, and to be honest I was waiting, hoping for Al Gore to jump in the race. Ultimately, I understand why Gore bowed out, but he was the only potential candidate that would have made me much more passionately engaged in this election. I liked Chris Dodd, but he never gained traction. John Edwards was great with his populist message, but I could never fully trust him, because he seemed a recent convert to progressive causes.

Issues:

Just about every expert following this race can tell you that there are very few substantive differences in Clinton's and Obama's platforms. Its true in his public appearances, Obama has been vague at times and skirts specifics, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have detailed, fleshed out proposals on nearly everything and they are all available on his website. Running a public campaign that doesn't delve into too many details is a campaign strategy, and one that Gov. Strickland (a big time Clinton backer incidentally) used very successfully in 2006. Unfortunate as it may be, many voters decide these things on gut feelings and style. John Kerry was a brilliant man who has worked his whole life for the public good, yet in 2004 he was scorned for being too much of a policy wonk, for not making that gut connection with a lot of voters and it cost him.

Neither candidate has an ideal healthcare plan, though I will say that Hillary's is better by a nose. Both health care plans are far and away better than the frankly, quite frightening "free market" based health plans of the Republicans. What disturbs me about Hillary on this issue is that she went from being a vocal advocate of the kind of single payer health plan that we need, to taking more money from insurance and pharmaceutical companies than any candidate in the race from either party.

Elsewhere, Obama has a very progressive platform on the future of the internet and a strong stance in favor of net neutrality. The Clinton camp hasn't really talked much about this issue, but Bill Clinton was responsible for the onerous Communications Act of 1996, which has done more to harm the state of free and independent media in this country than anything in our history.

I like Obama's recent calls for community service among young people. Its sad that we have come to the point where these things need to be instruments of policy, but it can only be a good outcome.

I suppose the biggest area of disagreement I have with Hillary is over the war. Quite simply, this issue more than any other is what made me engage so deeply in politics. I believed that the war was wrong from the start and it has ruined our country's reputation in the world and I'm not even sure that its able to be repaired in the span of one administration. Thousands of American lives have been lost in Iraq and exponentially more innocent Iraqi lives. Barack Obama had the sense of judgement to oppose the war from the start, and did so at a time when he could have paid a steep political price. Hillary voted to authorize the war and even now won't call it a mistake, which at least John Edwards had the courage to do.

Now that we're over there, there are no easy answers and both candidates have flawed, but similar plans for withdrawal. But at least they're both thinking about withdrawal, as opposed to John McCain's pledge to stay in Iraq for 100 years. However, I don't want a president that is going to continue to view our relationship with the rest of the world through a militaristic or imperialist lens. I also think that we need a president with credibility on this issue if we're ever going to begin to change the perception in the world of America, the bully; America, the tyrant.

Both candidates have been deficient in areas that mean the most to me, notably climate change, infrastructure and science. But I have faith in both of them to be better in these areas than we have seen in many years. I just wish they'd both be more bold in their proposals.

On Politics:

The moment that really started tipping me more decidedly in Obama's direction, was when we started to see many of Hillary's surrogates and then later Bill "The First Black President" Clinton himself trot out race-baiting, fear mongering attacks on Obama. And for as many warm, fuzzy memories we may have now of the 90s; it recalled the darker side of Clintonism. These are exactly the same type of tactics that we recoil from in disgust when George Bush and Karl Rove use them. Honestly, I'm tired of this type of divide and conquer politics. I've grown weary from it and have over the last few years began to tune out the messages of both parties. Its made our government small minded and bitterly divided. Barack wants to move past that and judging by the diverse coalition that he's cobbled together, he can.

Obama is not a saint in this regard either. His embrace of anti-gay bigot Donnie McClurkin at rallies in 2007 and later his personal (and flat out wrong) attacks on NYT columnist Paul Krugman were both leading factors in my not wanting to support him for some time. However, he's moved away from this kind of thing recently and has reclaimed some of the high ground that he held after the 2004 convention speech.

The campaigns each reflect such strikingly different structures. Obama represents an activist bottom-up approach to campaigning. He raises money from hundreds of thousands of small donors, and only 3% of his donors have given him the max amount. Meanwhile Hillary has begun to struggle financially because she relies on wealthy donors who have all maxed out in their giving, which is why I find it odd that she is claiming the mantle of the candidate who is fighting for working class interests, if you see who is financing her campaign the opposite appears to be true. In the bottom up approach, Obama talks in "we" not "I", every one of his supporters has a stake in his campaign. That just appeals to me more. And to further that, this has always been his message from day one, going back to his days as a community organizer in Chicago. Its in his nature to bring people together to solve problems.

Looking at cold-hard numbers, Obama at this juncture seems to have an advantage over McCain. One of McCain's top advisers and a former Bush strategist has even said he'll quit if Obama is the nominee since he's not interested in running against someone who actually has a positive message. There's a bit more of a dice roll with Obama, but I'm comfortable with it because he has never run from any of his flaws. Rather, he talks about them openly and diffuses the issues with ease. What worries me with Hillary is that she's down in the polls for the general election now, and there isn't a person in America that hasn't formed an opinion of her, many of them negative. Its hard to see how she turns that around.

Intangibles:

There is no question that no matter who is nominated, we are going to make history with our nominee this year. I'm proud to be part of the party that is going to break down those walls no matter how its decided. However, in a few areas, Obama gets slight edges here as well.

His youth is appealing. We've seen how the baby boomer generation has led this country over the past 20 years and much of it isn't pretty. I think its time the page was turned on that chapter. While Hillary being a woman is a definite positive in her campaign, that fact that Obama's background is bi-racial and international is also a positive and one that I think brings up some interesting possibilities. He comes from a humble background with roots in far flung places like Kansas, Hawaii, Kenya and Chicago. He's uniquely positioned to understand rural, urban, and suburban issues, immigrants and natives. He's supported in the south by primarily African American voters, but his biggest victories have been in nearly all white areas like Minnesota, Idaho and Maine. Quite simply, he has the potential to be a map-changer, a generational leader and we don't get too many of those coming along that often.

So, there's my case for Obama. I've said before, we're lucky this year to have two candidates who are bright, good on the issues, and have the chance to make history and a positive change in this country. I'll be happy to support either as the nominee, but for now, I feel more strongly that Barack Obama will make the stronger case for change.

Election Predictions

2006-11-06T10:07:00.000-05:00

I realize I've been MIA for much of the season and so, probably no one will be reading this. For posterity's sake however, here are my predictions for tomorrow:

Gov:

Strickland 58
Blackwell 39
Others 3

Senate:

Brown 53
DeWine 47

AG:

Dann 51
Montgomery 49

SoS:

Brunner 53
Hartman 46
Others 1

Auditor:

Sykes 52
Taylor 48

Treasurer:

Cordray 60
O'Brien 40
--I know a lot of others are predicting that this will be closer. Still, I think a lot of moderate Republicans are going to be looking to punish their own party for purging Bradley (who might have won this) in favor of an unfunded wingnut with little concept of what the state treasurer does.

Other local races: Sutton blows out Foltin 58-42, LaTourette beats Katz 56-44; Brian Williams beats Cousineau but narrowly, 51-49; Coughlin beats Hanna narrowly as well 52-48 (this will be the saddest result locally). Issue 6 wins 52-48. Downstate; Kilroy, Space, Wulsin and Cranley all win though the last two will be very very close).

Nationally, I see Casey, Whitehouse (in a nailbiter), and Tester (again, razor thin) all winning. I won't make any predictions about VA, but that might be the most dramatic national race to follow tomorrow night.

CT:

Lieberman: 48
Lamont: 43
Schlesinger: 9

If Webb wins in VA, that makes Lieberman something akin to a king, a very unpleasant thought indeed.

What happened to baseball? ...Or, Am I Becoming a White Sox Fan?

2006-10-04T14:58:00.000-04:00

Though I'm not usually pegged as being a particularly rabid sports fan, those that know me will surely recognize that baseball is up there with music, food and politics as a particular passion of mine. This year though, I was just never able to muster much enthusiasm.

I was raised to be an Indians fan, and since about 1982 when I was old enough to understand what those guys with the hats were doing with the balls and the bats, I've followed the progress of the Tribe game by game; on radio, on TV and in the papers (and later on the internet). It was a unique thrill to wake up in the morning and pore over box scores, memorize statistics and ponder various trade rumors and possibilities. I cut my teeth as a Tribe fan in the 80s when there wasn't much reason for excitement about the team. Players like Pat Tabler, Scott Bailes, Felix Fermin, and Brook Jacoby were among my early favorites. I watched what few "stars" we had getting traded away and go on to greater glory in bigger cities that I'd never seen. Yet every year, hope springs eternal and I'd be gobbling up the sports pages as rabidly as ever. Of course, the 90s were the payoff for me. I might not have suffered as long as most Indians fans, but I'd taken a few lumps to be sure. By now, I was old enough to grasp the finer points of the game. The strategy, a good defensive play, a pitcher's duel, or just the relaxing feel that watching/listening to the game has every spring and summer.

When the Tribe began rebuilding in 2002 I was on board with that as well. Though it sucked to lose guys like Bartolo Colon and Roberto Alomar, I knew the farm system had been depleted and felt like the prospects we were getting in return showed a great deal of promise. The rebuilding also coincided with my moving home to NE Ohio. I suppose on a symbolic level, I felt as though the Tribe's rebirth was mirroring my own attempts to get a fresh start and redefine who I was and what I was capable of being. I continued to follow the Indians as intently as ever through those brutal seasons of 2002-2004, I started keeping up with minor league players as well and attended Captains and Aeros contests. In 2005, it appeared as though the plan was coming to fruition with the Tribe staying in contention until the last day against an historic White Sox team.

Last October, I found myself in the hospital with an undiagnosed and completely baffling liver problem. In the end, this turned out to be the result of gall bladder disease and I was able to have surgery and have been in good health ever since. But for those first few months before being diagnosed, I didn't know what to think, it was the scariest time of my life. My first night in the hospital was the same night as Game 4 of the World Series and as I lay in the hospital bed with my roommate hacking and wheezing next to me, I found myself rooting hard for the White Sox to win it all.

During my nearly 4 years in Chicago, I'd felt a certain sympathy for the White Sox. Their fans were die hard baseball fans, yet the local media always gave significantly more coverage to the Cubs, even in 2000 when the Sox won the central. Wrigley may be a temple for the game, but so many people who pack the bleachers there are more content to drink beer and pay little mind to the glorious game unfolding around them. I don't mean this as a swipe at all Cubs fans (in fact the only MLB hat I own and wear is a Cubs hat), as a Tribe fan, I certainly admire their tenacity and dedication and have known many who are just as passionate and knowlegable about the game as anyone. Yet Sox fans had suffered just as much as their north side brethren with little of the "lovable losers" embrace that the Cubs enjoyed.

I was thrilled by the Sox watching the '05 Series. They were built around fantastic starting pitching and an offensive lineup of hard nosed rejects from other organizations. Their GM, at one time the only minority GM in the game, had been ridiculed mercilessly for his offseason moves and seeing his vision vindicated amidst so much criticism was a story that anyone can respect. I loved seeing the coverage of people all over the much maligned south side celebrating the Sox victory and I wished I was there in the city, feeling the excitement that must have been charging through the streets, even up to my old northwest side neighborhood (Irving Park/Pulaski area). Really, I wished I could be anywhere than some cold tiny room at Akron City Hospital. If the Sox could win the World Series, then certainly I could survive whatever this was affecting me.

At the time, I didn't question my loyalties. After all, the Tribe wasn't playing, so its not as though I was rooting against them. Besides, the White Sox had been suffering since 1919, longer than the Indians and with the way the Tribe looked in '05, '06 would be their year for sure, right? Then came the terrible offseason moves. Not even making a competitive offer on Bob Howry, trading away Coco Crisp and Brandon Phillips, and signing non-entities like Paul Byrd and Jason Johnson. While everyone else in NE Ohio was ecstatic about the Tribe's possibilities for this season, I had a sinking feeling that we were taking a big step back. This wasn't the AL Central of old anymore, we were now in the division with the world champs for the first time ever. As the season got underway, I began to notice that watching this year's Tribe play, whether they won or lost, was a joyless experience. The players didn't seem to have the same spark or personality of old, the manager talked in meaningless corporate double speak and the front office seemed ever content to rest on their laurels. I stopped watching the games, I looked at the box scores in the paper still, but not every day and not with the intent of memorizing the player's stats or the teams W-L record. Not even the late season additions of talented rookies like Jeremy Sowers, Ryan Garko and Shin Soo Choo really did much to rekindle my interest in the game.

Now the season is over and I'm left wondering. What happened to my love of this game? Is the increased corpratization, skyrocketing salaries and steroid scandals finally taking its toll on me? Was watching the 2006 Tribe really just that boring and monotonous that it sucked the life out of a lifetime fan such as myself? Or, did my (albeit temporary) defection to the White Sox last autumn shatter over 20 years of loyalty to the Indians? I've followed the Indians longer than I've followed anything else in my life. Certainly I've rooted for other teams before when the Tribe wasn't involved in a game or playoff series, but the 2005 World Series added a very personal dimension to watching those games that made it more than just watching a game. After the heartbreak of the '97 Indians, the '05 White Sox delivered for me at a crucial moment. But in the end, what does that say about me and my ability to stay loyal to the things that matter? On a grander scale, what does it say about my own attachment to place and to home and the aforementioned attempts at self-rediscovery?

Tough questions to be sure, and I may be over analyzing. After all, it is only a game.

Lost Sounds: 1. Gastr del Sol Camoufleur

2006-10-02T14:47:00.000-04:00

The first in an occasional series on great albums that may have slipped through the cracks of the modern musical hype machine.

Though GDS principal Jim O'Rourke titled his 1997 album of acoustic guitar instrumentals Bad Timing, perhaps that moniker might have been better applied to Camoufleur, Gastr del Sol's swan song, instead. The core duo of O'Rourke and David Grubbs had already split at the time of it's release, resulting in little press and no touring. Furthermore, the album represented a pretty significant shift in the group's overall sound (if not their approach), alienating fans of their earlier, noise-driven experimental work. Adding to all that, 1998 can be viewed in retrospect was the beginning of the end of the post-rock zeitgeist, leaving Camoufleur an underappreciated gem from one of underground rock's most forward looking eras.

It is hard to believe that this album is now almost 9 years old. At one time, I hyperbolically intoned that it was responsible for me moving to Chicago. Perhaps there were a host of other factors involved in that decision now, but its easy to see why I was so moved at the time. The melding of experimental sounds, international folk music (for lack of a better term), and classic Beach Boys-inspired pop was an eye opening brew that was not only in tune to what else I was listening to at the time, but led me down paths to discover music by artists as disparate as Edith Frost, Van Dyke Parks, Oval, Charles Ives, and John Fahey to name a few, not to mention a host of Indonesian gamelan recordings.

Musically, Camoufleur is an expansive musical soundscape where words wrap around acoustic guitar figures set adrift over a gently pulsing mix of horns, percussion, piano and electronics. "The Black Horse" begins with a fanfare of guitar, fiddle and drums based upon Vietnamese folk music before evolving into a meditative, vaguely Japanese acoustic guitar drone that sounds like a dark, rainy Fall evening. "Mouth Canyon" is O'Rourke's lone vocal contribution to the album, a reflective snapshot washed in a bath of steel guitar, listening to it feels like driving through a run down part of Chicago's west side at sundown on a wintry Sunday evening. Opener "The Seasons Reverse" is GDS' most upbeat moment, a shockwave to those who had come to expect brooding experimental sounds from the band. Acoustic guitar, drums and synths engage in a percolating tug of war that might be reminiscent of popcorn popping before giving way to dueling steel drum and trumpet solos (!) worked in so effortlessly, you'll wonder why more artists aren't using that combination. Edith Frost's vocals on "Each Dream Is An Example" are effervescent and seem to arrive in the song as if from on high. The coda to "Bauchredner" brings the whole album home with a soaring homage to Americana.

I've let this one sit on the shelf for much of the past few years. In part, as my tastes changed I seemed to move away from sounds that hinted of avant-gardism. I also went through a period right after moving back to Ohio where I was staying away from Chicago music. It cut a little too close to the bone for me. Through the magic of the ipod though, I've rediscovered this album over the last month and hearing it fresh once again, I can see why it captivated me so much at 21 when I was on hunt for new, exciting sound combinations; but I'm finding it relevant once again at 29, where the reflective, almost haunting moods are echoing with deeper resonance.

In short, this is an album that I wish more people had heard. Instant recognition and hype, however, is not usually a good thing; though to let this album slip into total obscurity less than a decade later would be the far greater tragedy.

Gastr Del Sol "The Seasons Reverse"

Gastr Del Sol "Mouth Canyon"

Buy here or here.

I Do Not "Believe In Cleveland"

2006-09-27T19:58:00.000-04:00

One of the things that I most regret not having the time to blog about over the summer was the gushing, hyperbolic coverage in the local media over Cleveland's bid to host the 2008 Republican convention. It looks like all that pandering went for naught, as Minneapolis/St Paul placed first in the sweepstakes. I wonder if City Council president Martin Sweeney (D?) feels stupid now for his "We want you. We need you. And we love you" remark? I can only imagine that he made this statement while kneeling under the VIP table in front of Ken Mehlman.

How can one believe in a city that spent countless dollars trying to woo the convention of a political party whose economic policies of the last 6 years have been a major contributor to Cleveland's ranking as the nation's poorest? Instead of sinking money into revitalizing neighborhoods, improving safety, and spurring the kind of innovative businesses that are needed to make Cleveland attractive to outsiders (I'd say "bring Cleveland back", but when you've been gone since at least the 60s its hard to say what you're coming back from) once again, local leaders place their hopes and dreams on dubious pie in the sky schemes like the convention, casino gambling or placing suburban big box retail on former industrial acreage. Did anyone believe for a second that the GOP would be willing to place its delegates in hotels as far away as Sandusky and Canton? Never mind your political leanings, this thing never had a chance. And while jobs and people flee the area, our leaders expended way too much valuable energy on something that would provide a one-time tax windfall at best (which would probably just be spent on another stupid feel-good ad campaign to cover up for the fact that this city's best years were a half century ago), or a massive headache and 4 more years of torture-loving, deficit spending, theocratic rule at worst.

Don't get me wrong. While I abhor the GOP from the very depth of my soul, Cleveland's Dem "leaders" play a big role in why this region has sunk to the low that it has. That's why the whole "Believe in Cleveland" campaign is so insulting. This town isn't in bad shape because the people who live here don't "believe" hard enough. They don't believe because they've seen incompetent leadership in the public and private sector. They've seen interesting ideas and people who wanted to make a difference turn their backs on the city when they couldn't get anything accomplished. They've seen their manufacturing jobs leave and are told about how "its a new economy", but so many of our non manufacturing corporate headquarters have packed up as well. While other former Midwestern industrial strongholds like Chicago and yes, the Twin Cities, thrive, we have leaders like Jane Campbell going to another photo op in her city owned SUV and making false promises about new housing that will never be built because no one wants to move here.

Finally, I don't want to confuse not "believing in Cleveland" with hating it or not wanting it to do well. But when another generation of leaders comes into power talking a good game and then rolling the dice on another crazy scheme and not accomplishing what they originally set out to do, I have to think: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. No amount of sloganeering will change that.

On a semi-related note: The Republicans were smart to pick Minneapolis for their convention. Located in a close blue state and bordering razor-thin swing states Wisconsin and Iowa, a win in MN & WI would more or less cement their designs on a pre-Fox Mexican style one party "democracy". Will the Dems be just as astute and pick Denver, giving a boon to their rising fortunes in the West, or will they be typically tone deaf and pick NYC? In the end, both conventions will only matter if there is any uncertainty over the nominee going in, not a likely scenario.

Playlist 9/18/06

2006-09-18T11:26:00.000-04:00

Thanks once again to Bart and WCSB for letting me have a chance to participate in Retro Week this year. The show was a lot of fun and being able to dig through the vinyl library again was a pleasure as always. Here's what I played this morning, including a link to audio of the 2nd hour. For some reason the disc from the first hour didn't burn correctly, so unfortunately I can't post that.

Hour 1

Jonathan Richman "Roadrunner"
Stereolab "The Noise of Carpet"
Cornershop "6AM Jullander Shere"

(break)

Jorge Benjor "Zumbi"
Gilberto Gil "Aquele Abraco"
Caetano Veloso "Tropicalia"
Teenagers in Trouble "At the Hop"

(break)

Papas Fritas "Way You Walk"
Lindsey Buckingham "Time Bomb Town"
Home "Gypsy"
Califone "Vampiring Again"
Plush "3/4 Blind Eyes"

Hour 2: (Click to listen)

Judee Sill "Jesus Was a Crossmaker"
Emitt Rhodes "See No Evil"
The National Trust "See No Evil"
Catfish Haven "Crazy For Leaving"

(break)

Wilson Pickett "Hey Jude"
Bill Withers "Do It Good"
Johnson, Hawkins, Tatum & Durr "You're All I Need to Make It"
Chi-Lites "I Found Sunshine"
Lambchop "I've Been Lonely For So Long"

(break)

Nagisa Ni Te "After A Song"
Graham Nash "Military Madness"
Neko Case "Margaret Vs. Pauline"
Gram Parsons "Brass Buttons"

(break)

Wilco "Via Chicago"

If you were listening and want more info on anything I played leave a comment below.

Radio, Radio (plus Random Ten)

2006-09-15T09:56:00.000-04:00

Well, my summer hiatus is turning into a fall hiatus it seems. My job has become especially busy and shows no signs of slowing down. Which sucks, because there has been plenty to blog about. Its hard when you have a post written in your head and can't find the time or energy to actually sit down and type it out. With election season heating up I'm sure there'll be plenty to write about. Hopefully there will be time to write it.

I'm posting today however, to let everyone know (if anyone still reads this) that as part of WCSB's 30th anniversary, I'll be taking part in "retro week" where past DJs are allowed to take over a show for one day. My turn will be this Monday, the 18th on Bart's "Stand Clear of the Closing Doors" from 7-9AM EDT (Interestingly enough, the original name of this blog was "Matengase Alejado de la Puerta" which means "stand clear of the doors" in Spanish and was printed on every rail car door in Chicago). You can listen locally on 89.3FM (in Cuyahoga and northern Summit counties) or online by clicking the link above. I'm hoping to record the show and post it here as well.

Oh! And I have an iPod now, so at the very least I can post my random 10 on Fridays!

1. Common "Be"

2. The Black Keys "Aeroplane Blues"

3. Richard Buckner "Brief and Boundless"
--Say what you will about the shuffle feature being completely random. But there has to be something to the fact that out of over 2200 songs, I maybe listen to 50-75 per day and something from Buckner's 1998 album Since never fails to play early on in the set. That's OK though, because its still a great sounding record, 8 years later.

4. The Valentines "Got To Get Yourself Together"
--From Lost Highway's R&B comp Night Train to Nashville, smooth soul with horns and harmonies. Perfect Friday morning listening.

5. Emmit Rhodes/The Merry Go Round "Lets All Sing"

6. Sam Prekop "The Shadow"*

7. Califone "Slower Twin"*
--*Great Chicago two-fer!

8. Guided by Voices "Bulldog Skin"

9. Thom Yorke "Black Swan"

10. Steely Dan "Black Cow"
--My black iPod evidently wanted to throw some love to some songs with "black" in the title. Combined with "Bulldog Skin", maybe its just a fauna fetish?

I also not so randomly listened to Catfish Haven's "Crazy for Leaving" a few times this morning. Hope to hear the rest of the album soon.

Commercial Interruption

2006-07-12T09:35:00.000-04:00

Let me just get this straight: I despise advertising and in particular broadcast advertising. Its shrill. Its insulting. Its repetitive. And its inescapable. I try not to watch too much television, but at the same time I'm not going to be one of these "I never watch TV" elitists either. After a long day of looking at tiny numbers on spreadsheets at work, a little vegging out in front of the boob tube isn't such a bad thing. To be fair, there is some quality stuff out there. I'm quite partial to "The Office" on NBC, "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations" on the Travel Channel and VH1's pop culture snarkfest "Best Week Ever", not to mention the occasional PBS gem. And no matter how much I may try to block the commercials out from my mind, they still find a way to implant themselves in my brain.

One advertising genre I find particularly loathsome are the "dumb guy" commercials. You know what I'm talking about. Usually some dumb, unattractive "dude" comes on screen grunting like an ape and/or yelling about sports or red meat or ugly inefficient American trucks and often he has a young, hot, smart wife/girlfriend to point out just how dumb he is, but its OK because "boys will be boys". If you want to know how much these ads bug me just ask Ms. PBK what I think of those TGI Friday's spots where a bunch of "bros" all order meat dishes and feel the need to scream about it and look at the guy who ordered "vegetable medley" like the queen of the prom until he stabs some other guys sausage link and screams about that. And its not as though I'm a vegetarian (although this commercial makes an awfully strong case) or that this offends me as a man or anything. Its just stupid and obnoxious and after the 54991st viewing of it, I'm convinced that I'm going to lose brain cells by being within a 1000 foot radius of any TGI Friday's establishment. Secondhand Sun had a great post about another one of these "dumb guy" commercials last month that pointed out a more sinister anti-female message being conveyed.

Having said all that, its not often that I find a commercial that actually offers some sort of meaningful and entertaining commentary on any aspect of society, however trivial. So I've got to hand it to the ad wizards who came up with Fruit of the Loom's latest campaign. In it, the various fruit-costumed underpants salesmen (last seen ogling supermodels in various states of undress backstage at a fashion show) decide to form a band and write songs extolling the virtues of Fruit of the Loom brand underwear in various musical genres. The first ad had our guys singing in a pitch perfect imitation of whiny Brit mopesters Coldplay and their soundalikes in Keane, Snow Patrol, etc. The new ad spoofs the jingoistic, cloying, Wal-Mart populism of modern "country" music with terrific aplomb. What both ads do (even if this wasn't the intent) is highlight the overly formulaic approach to modern popular music. I mean, if a bunch of guys dressed up as fruit trying to sound like Coldplay can write a song about underwear that sounds better than anything on the last Coldplay album, then exactly what elevates the work of Mr. Gwyneth Paltrow & friends above anything other than meaningless ad copy? Contemporary popular music becomes nothing more than a soundtrack to finding a parking spot at the strip mall or eating some processed slop at TGI Friday's. You can hear/see both songs here.

Years ago, Neil Young wrote a song called "This Note's For You" satirizing artists who sell their songs to corporations for advertising. Now, Neil Young's song has gone from funny to prophetic as bands stop pitching singles to radio and MTV and instead hire PR people to work their tunes to ad agencies. These days, when you hear the opening riffs to Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll" you don't think about how awesome Jimmy Page is on the guitar, or some time in your life when Led Zep's music meant something to you, you think of buying a Cadillac. What I love about the Fruit of the Loom ads is that they've brought this full circle. Who needs artists anymore? The Fruit of the Loom guys can do it better and I don't have to shell out $18.98 for the privilege of hearing it.

DISCLAIMER: My socks are Hanes and my boxers are from whatever generic brand they sell at JC Penney.

Now back to your regularly scheduled blog, currently on a summer hiatus.

UPDATE: The above link only has the video/mp3 for the country Fruit of the Loom song, the Coldplay parody is not online yet, but hopefully it will be soon.

Catching Up

2006-06-07T09:01:00.000-04:00

I feel bad. I've neglected the blog for nearly a month. Work has been so crazy lately that I just haven't felt the inspiration to write much, and when I do I can't seem to find the time or energy. And of course, the longer you put off writing, the more the pressure builds to write something good. Well, I need to put all that aside and take the plunge.

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

If you haven't seen RFK Jr.'s article in Rolling Stone about election irregularities in Ohio in 2004, I can't stress enough that this is a must read. I never really got too into the whole "Ohio stolen election" movement. I think in part because 2004 was the first election I really worked on and it was hard enough that we lost that admitting that the election was stolen would have added another level of frustration and anger to the mix. As well, I read enough commentary on the internet that was based on bad information and conveyed a lack of understanding of the events in Ohio that led up to 11/2/04 that made me skeptical of any claims of fraud. Kennedy's case however, is a strong one. In particular what stunned me was the bizarre tallies in the heavily GOP western counties that gave Ellen Connally a higher percentage of votes than John Kerry.

What made me want to blog about this article however, was the article's constant theme: that nearly every case of election tampering, meddling etc. can be traced directly back to the office of Ken Blackwell. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) went so far as to say that Blackwell "makes Katherine Harris look like a cupcake".

It's 2006 now and Blackwell is running for governor, he's also still in charge of elections in Ohio. In a perfect world, an article like this would lead to a public outcry for Blackwell to resign as Secretary of State while he campaigns for higher office. Has Ted Strickland responded to any of the allegations in this article? I know he has a wide lead in most polls right now, but I do hope that his legal team is prepared to fight this to the end, because that is what it's going to take in November.

UPDATE: Ask and ye shall receive. From a Strickland e-mail, the New York Times asks Blackwell to recuse himself from the '06 elections. Nice!

Site Meter Musings

2006-05-18T11:54:00.000-04:00

Over the last two days I've received several hits for people googling "Dan DiPiero". Now, I made a brief mention of Parma's mayor who goes by that name in a post several months ago on Cleveland's State of the City address. But somehow I don't think that these people are looking for the mayor of Parma, Ohio. I've done some of my own research and I can't seem to figure out why this name is suddenly so popular. Anyone have any clues?

Letter Meme: O

2006-05-16T16:34:00.000-04:00

So work has been crazy since I returned from Chicago and I apologize for the silence here at PBK. Heck, this simple post took me two days to finish. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon, though that is somewhat in doubt since I can't remember what "normal" is. With my brain fried from looking at tiny numbers all day and taking in vast amounts of new information that is neither a) interesting or b) making a whole lot of sense to me right now, my capacity for original ideas to write about is not doing so well. Instead, I present you with this meme.

The idea is that someone you know (on the internet) gives you a letter and you pick 10 words beginning with that letter and write a short bit about what it means to you. If you (the reader) want to get in on this meme action all you have to do is leave a comment and I will assign you a letter to post about in your blog.

Thanks to Ms. L of Ms. Prolix and Indie Rock Tournament fame for my letter.

Ohio -- The obvious one. My place of residence from 1976-1999; 2002-present. I suppose like a lot of Ohioans its a love/hate relationship. I spend a fair amount of time lamenting the lack of opportunity here, the poor urban planning, the crappy sports teams (Cavs excepted for the moment), the scary radical right wingers that control (or want to control) state government, the mind numbing sameness of a state that has been relentlessly suburbanized and just the overall decline of a once great location that people flee from in droves every single day. But if an outsider or a former resident tried to bring us down, I will jump to be one of Ohio's staunchest defenders. I don't know how much longer I can stay here, but no matter where I go, it will always be where I'm from. Ohio has molded me in ways both good and bad and provides me the foundation from which to build upon.

Oates, Hall and -- The first record I ever bought was the blue-eyed soul duo's 1984 LP Big Bam Boom I guess I must have been about 8, despite the regrettable title, the album contained the song:

"Out of Touch" -- I don't care how overblown the production is or how diverse and sophisticated my tastes have since become, this song features one of the greatest basslines of all time.

Obama, Barack -- Senator from Illinois. When I lived in Chicago, he would occasionally appear on Channel 11's "Chicago Tonight" roundtable show (think of it like "Feagler and Friends", but without the cranky old guy running things) and he always seemed to have impressive character. He's public property now and bloggers love to quibble over whether he's a savior or a sucker. When I read stories like this though, I still say he's on the good guy's team.

Ocelot -- Certain words I just like the sound of and this is one of them. Others include cucumber, celery and sumac. Fun fact: One of the few times that I was able to answer one of those puzzlers on NPR (can't remember which show, it might have been "Car Talk") the answer was "ocelot". I believe the question had to do with taking the name of a major American city spelled backwards with the second to last letter switched to the one before it in the alphabet (Toledo=Ocelot). However, they didn't pick my entry from among the winners. And hey, ocelots are kind of cute:

Other Music -- A record store in NYC where I could easily bankrupt myself.

Otani -- This is a Benihana-style Japanese hibachi restaurant in the valley. We had lunch there last weekend and with our coupon it was only $7. The sukiyaki steak is delicious!

Office, The -- Perhaps one of the greatest TV shows of all time. I got hooked on the DVDs of the UK version early on. Ricky Gervais is a comic genius, a very original comedic talent in an age of copycats. When I heard they were making an American version, I braced myself for the worst, but after a few lackluster episodes at the beginning that merely parroted the scripts of the British version, the American Office has grown into a truly great show in its own right. I think this is partly due to the fact that unlike the UK show, which was limited to telling a story over two short seasons, the US version can go into further depth with its characters and really let the writers loosen up and take the stories in a more natural arc. In addition, the American cast works really well as an ensemble (Jenna Fischer=swoon), whereas across the pond Gervais' immense personality overshadowed the rest of the show. I only wish the show was an hour, 30 minutes is not enough!

One -- As in one more of these to come up with. I never realized that it would be so hard to pick 10 meaningful words that begin with the letter O.

Olive Oil -- Things taste better when you cook with extra virgin olive oil.

That's 10. If you want your own letter, leave me a comment!

Return

2006-05-09T13:41:00.000-04:00

I'm back from Chicago. I am planning on writing a bit about the city and my impressions upon return over the next week or two. For now check out my photo gallery of the trip if you're interested.

Post Election Wrap Up

2006-05-03T09:23:00.000-04:00

First off, my post yesterday about the new voting system in Summit County drove the most traffic to PBK since I installed the Site Meter. So, if you found me yesterday and are returning, welcome! Thanks to Writes Like She Talks, Psychobilly Democrat and Ohio 2nd Blog for the links. If I'm leaving someone out, let me know.

Democrats

Ted Strickland-No surprises here. There's a lot to like about Ted Strickland. His Turnaround Ohio proposals are the type of forward-thinking leadership that has been lacking in this state from either political party. He seems like a very likeable guy who will play well across a broad range of demographics. Even my dad, who was from the same part of the state as Strickland, voiced his support for Ted last fall before he passed away. Strickland must be saying something right, because I don't think my dad ever voted for a Democrat in his life.

I still have some issues with Strickland. I doubt I can ever forgive him over breaking ranks with the party on the bankruptcy bill. His vote on the immigration bill and his backpedaling afterwards doesn't sit well with me either. However, his primary opponent was far worse, and now with Ken Blackwell running for the GOP its time to suck it up and put differences aside. Strickland starts out with a big lead in the head to head matchup, but he's going to have to run a stellar campaign to keep that up. Here's hoping that some of the heavy handed tactics he used in selecting the ODP chair don't come back to haunt him in November, because if Ken Blackwell is governor, I will move out of the state.

Betty Sutton (OH-13)-Sutton's win over Cafaro and Sawyer in the 13th district primary proves once again that a good ground game is still the most important factor in winning elections. Pho has a nice take on this from the vantage point of Sutton's victory party last night. I'm not too thrilled with the whole MTB photo controversy, but as Word of Mouth (the victim of this copyright abuse) points out, the blame lies with Compass Media, not Sutton. As for some of Sutton's other tactics that have drawn the ire of bloggers as of late, I'm not so concerned. She did what she needed to do to win and none of the attacks were false. Of the field, she really is the strongest candidate for November. In a year that favors Democrats, I think Sutton will pull 3-5 points ahead of Kerry's 56% in this district.

Subodh Chandra-What happened here? I know I should have expected this, as the Columbus Dispatch poll last week pretty much hit this nail on the head. I knew Dann would probably win, but I thought Chandra would be far more competitive than just 27%. He didn't get the ODP endorsement, but he did receive several newspaper endorsements and those of several county parties as well. Was it the name? Its not often in Ohio that we get to vote for a candidate like Chandra and I really hope that this poor showing doesn't discourage him from continuing to be active in Ohio politics, we need more people like him. Desperately. Marc Dann is a solid candidate and his work on the Noe scandal is to be commended, I'll have no problem voting for him in November. However, it will be with some regret at not being able to vote for what could have been Ohio's own Elliot Spitzer or Lisa Madigan.

William O'Neill-Democrats seriously need to start doing more homework on these races. Am I the only one who heard about this? Leaving aside whether you think you ought to be supporting a so-called Democrat that wants to teach Intelligent Design and display the Ten Commandments in public courthouses. Why would you support a candidate for the state Supreme Court who fills out surveys about what his views are on a host of issues? Oh yeah, that's judicial integrity (rolls eyes). I guess I'll find out in November what happens when you undervote on the ES&S optical scan system, because there's no way I'm voting for this guy and I'd sooner gouge my eyeballs out than fill in the oval for a Republican.

Others-In the Summit County Council race, I guess Ilene Shapiro just bought herself 6 more months to try and figure out what TEL is. Charlie Wilson won his improbable write in campaign in OH-6. Looking at his vote totals, I think he has a solid shot at keeping this district in our hands, but it will be a nail-biter.

Republicans

I don't have too many comments here. But one thing is for certain, the Ohio GOP is now officially the party of howl at the moon extreme right wing lunatics. How else can you explain how Sandra O'Brien won her primary for State Treasurer based on an anti-choice, anti-gay agenda against a more well qualified, moderate, incumbent (though unelected) opponent? State Treasurer?!?! What do god, guns and gays have to do with the treasurer's office? Hopefully this is a boon for Rich Cordray. As for the other races, I don't even want to discuss J-Ken anymore. OH-16 was a bit of a nail biter last night, though I don't know enough about either Dem to determine whether they will mount a credible challenge. Certainly can't do much worse than Jeff Seemann.

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On an unrelated note, I will be in Chicago Friday-Monday. I hope to get off a music post before then, but if not PBK will be pretty quiet over the weekend.

Optical Scan Voting in Summit County

2006-05-02T09:13:00.000-04:00

This morning I had my first experience with Summit County's new ES&S voting system. Unlike many other Ohio counties that have gone with Diebold's controversial touch screen machines, Summit County opted for an optical scan system. Though not the lightning rod that Diebold is, ES&S is not without its own controversies. The fact that Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel is a part owner of ES&S is certainly not a comforting thought either. If I were heading up a company that made voting machines, I'd probably want to distance myself from politicians of any stripe and make integrity a top selling point for my company. Then again, maybe idealistic notions like that is why I'm a lowly cubicle jockey and not in charge of some company.

I was running a bit late this morning and contemplated voting in the evening in case there was a long line due to confusion with the new machines, but election day is always very exciting for me and I decided I couldn't wait. If there was a long line, I could always leave and come back later. Fortunately, there was no line at all. In my precinct, I was the 15th voter at 7:30AM. The room looked kind of depressing and empty. There were no privacy curtains over the voting booths and since the entire ballot was on one piece of paper, the only thing in the booth was a pen. The ballots were torn off of a big book. It looked like more Dem ballots than GOP ballots had been handed out so far today. Not so surprising considering where I live, but encouraging nonetheless especially with a heated Republican primary battle for governor. A late 30s looking woman remarked to one of the poll workers who seemed to know her that she was "voting Democrat this year", anecdotal evidence that the tide may be shifting!

When I got to the booth, I was surprised by how minimalist the entire process is. If you're not familiar with the optical scan voting method, it is exactly like the scan-tron tests that you took in school. Each candidate is listed on a sheet of paper with an oval next to their name and you fill it in with the black ink pen provided (presumably these new machines aren't so picky about having a No. 2 pencil). The entire ballot was printed on 1 1/2 sides of an oversized sheet of paper. No book to flip through or card to slide in, it was very surreal. It will be very interesting to see how this works in November with all the constitutional amendments that will be on the ballot. I imagine they'll have to go to 2 pages. I don't live in the Akron school district, so I didn't get to see how they printed the levy.

After filling in my ovals, I was instructed to step over to the corner where a big grey box that looks a little like a copier was sitting. There a poll worker helps you slide your ballot into the machine and presumably if you made any mistakes, the machine will spit the ballot back out. Then you're done.
Remarkably simple, this process. My primary (no pun intended) concerns going into election day were that 1) there would be no paper trail to facilitate a manual recount if one was warranted and that 2) many people not familiar with optical scan systems would not fill in the ovals correctly and thus, not have their ballots counted. My first concern was answered because the ballot is a piece of paper and it gets fed into the machine. In fact, manual recounts might be even easier with this system since the candidates name is right on the ballot, as opposed to the punch card system which uses a number to represent different candidates. The second concern was only partially answered since the machine reads the ballot on site and will tell the voter if they made any mistakes. But I'm left wondering if it would be able to detect a mark that was too small or insufficient since it may just assume that the voter skipped that race altogether?

Overall, though it still seems a little odd to me, I am very comfortable with this system, if it is implemented correctly and the software works. The technology, in theory, should be sound. I've taken scan tests since I was in elementary school in the early/mid 80s and don't remember ever having a problem with the test reader messing up the scoring of a test. However, this being politics there's always someone trying to cut corners and hide from accountability. Psychobilly Democrat has been chronicling many of the issues that are being raised with this new system here in Ohio and I'll be interested in hearing their take post-election. Will Summit County have the same issues that other ES&S clients have had? Once we lose faith in our elections, we've pretty much lost.

Sorry for the poor quality of photos in this post. My cell phone is not the best camera in the world.

Short Takes

2006-04-27T11:35:00.000-04:00

--I'm sure many of you have been following the net-neutrality debate, and if you haven't, this discussion over at TPM Cafe should get you up to speed pretty quickly. I particularly liked this quote from Taylor in the comments:

The more you hear about the breathtaking stupidity of politicians about the Internet, the more you have to respect Al Gore's role in pushing funding for it, and the more egregious it is that this simple fact was turned into a national joke by clever propagandists and stupid inept utterly clueless alleged journalists.

Chicagoist has more on Bobby Rush's conflict of interest and why he defected from the Democrats on this vote.

--I was going to write something about Carol Moseley Braun's new venture and the stupidity seen in some of the reporting on it. However, Joanna at Second Hand Sun took the ball and ran with a far more biting and insightful take than I could have come up with. Good work, definitely check it out.

--Next week, I plan on doing a little photo blogging when I go to the polls and use Summit County's ES&S voting system for the first time. Psychobilly Democrat has been following this story all along and what they've found is kind of alarming. Well, not kind of. Very.

The tricky business of primary voting

2006-04-26T09:25:00.000-04:00

...Or how the hell did I end up in Summit County?

Next Tuesday will be the first Democratic primary I will vote in as a Summit County resident. For the most part, this doesn't mean a whole lot. I live on the OH-17 side of things where Tim Ryan is running unopposed in both the primary and the general, so I won't have to muddle through the mass of candidates vying for Sherrod Brown's old seat (though I kind of wish I were, watching this from the sidelines has been interesting, kinda too bad I won't be casting a ballot). The statewide races don't leave a whole lot of intrigue outside of the AG contest and I've looked at the candidates there and am happy to be voting for Subodh Chandra.

However, then we come to the Summit County Council at-large race. There are 8 Dems vying for 3 spots on the November ballot where voters will select the top 3 among the Dem and GOP nominees. The county council is a somewhat new concept to me. In Cuyahoga County, there are 3 commissioners that are elected by the entire county on an individual basis, which essentially means that the Dem primary is the election in such a blue county. Two years ago, I was faced with choosing between the Tims (Hagan and McCormick). I grew up in Cuyahoga County, I knew the candidates names well, I knew the issues involved and who was supporting whom in the race and what that meant. Adelphia cable had a debate between the two, I watched this, followed the race and made up my mind accordingly (I was a McCormick guy, he lost).

Now I'm faced with a decision to select the top 3 Democrats among names that range from vaguely familiar to who is that guy? I live in a part of Summit County that has Adelphia cable's Cleveland programming, so if there's any local TV covering this race I don't know about it. These races are too small for the candidates to have their own websites. So, I'm left with the newspaper. I subscribe to the Plain Dealer and I sometimes read the ABJ online, and both published election previews last weekend.

In each case, the papers toss a few questions at each candidate and they answer accordingly. Both papers asked about the proposed smoking ban, while the PD added questions regarding TEL, job creation and a possible sales tax hike. The ABJ asked about nepotism in county hiring practices. Almost without fail, all 8 candidates answered with somewhat wishy-washy non committal responses on every question or gave typical responses to unchallenging questions. There were two candidates that separated themselves from the pack, in ways both bad and good.

Pete Crossland earns points in my book for coming out strongly in favor of the smoking ban. I realize that the legislation as it stands now is somewhat flawed since it's not enforceable outside of the townships. But I think that its a good start and its better than nothing. I don't buy the old canard that smoking bans hurt businesses. If there is anyone that stops going out because they can't smoke, they're probably going to be replaced with 2 or 3 more customers who are willing to spend their money in a smoke-free environment. Not only that, even if a smoking ban did cut into some profits, I want politicians that will stand up for the public good over profitability. Plus, I give Crossland a lot of credit for standing up for something he believes in when most candidates are taking a pass on answering the question candidly.

Beyond that, on the TEL question most Dems expectedly come out against this horrible ballot initiative. However, Ilene Shapiro states that she "needs more time to study it before she can answer." I'm sorry, but if you've been living in Ohio and following state government even a little bit you know what TEL is, you know that there is strong bi-partisan support against the amendment, you have read all the articles stating what the negative effects are and the articles that show how a similar amendment has brought Colorado's government to its knees, and to say in a major paper that you don't have an opinion on this 2 weeks before the primary. Well, that's disingenuous at best, ignorant at worst.

So that means I have one candidate to support and one that I won't and I have to find two others among the remaining field of six. Are there more resources out there that can shed some light on this race?

Secret History of Country Rock: Michael Nesmith & Plainsong

2006-04-23T00:34:00.000-04:00

I'm going to diverge from soul music for a bit this week to highlight some other vinyl I've started to uncover recently. The history of country music's influence on rock is well-worn. By now names like Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, The Flying Burrito Brothers Sweetheart of the Rodeo and others are etched in listeners' minds as the pioneers of fusing the high lonesome sound with the soul searching immediacy of late 60s/early 70s rock. These early works spawned countless imitators The Eagles, Poco, Firefall, the likes of which today is generally associated with bland easy listening better suited to a day at the grocery store or dentist's office waiting room than out on the prarie. (I could make a case for early Poco as being almost on par with the Burritos, not today though)

However, not every ex-hippie with a guitar, a penchant for denim and a copy of the first Burrito Brothers LP was destined to pick up a guitar and write paeans to takin' it easy and playing dress up like long-haired extras from a Wyatt Earp movie. Here's the spotlight on two of them.

Michael Nesmith's place in the country-rock pantheon tends to be dismissed by most critics. By all rights he has as much to do with country and rock's fusion as anyone named Parsons or McGuinn, but today's critics can't seem to look past the Monkee on Nesmith's back and don't treat his work with the same reverence that they do Parsons. And it's a shame really because Nesmith has all the bona fides to back it up. Hailing from Houston, Nesmith grew up on country and blues. He did a stint with an early folk-rock group, simply known as Mike & John, before the Monkees came along. Nesmith left the Monkees in 1969, deciding to further his interest in country music by forming the First National Band. This was after Sweetheart but before the Burritos. Nesmith's work with the First National Band was more gentle and calm than Parsons' sometimes rollicking honky-tonk raves. If Parsons was Hank Williams, than Nesmith was Jimmie Rodgers, chronicling life in the New West as California was coming down from the American Dream and the tumult of the 60s.

Included here are two songs from Nesmith's 3rd and final album with the First National Band Nevada Fighter from 1971.

Michael Nesmith "Texas Morning"

Michael Nesmith "Propinquity (I've Just Begun to Care)"

Iain Matthews is known to folk music afficionados as one of the original members of Fairport Convention. Matthews influence on the group was more from the rock angle of that classic UK folk-rock ensemble. He grew increasingly disenchanted with the groups more celtic folk leanings and left soon after the group's first album was released. Matthews solo career never quite got on track, though he made several memorable recordings. Increasingly, he became more and more drawn to American folk and country modes and the formation of Plainsong in 1972 was the result of this interest.

After signing to Elektra, Plainsong recorded the harmony laden In Search of Amelia Earhart which found these Brits doing the California folk-rock vibe better than many of their west coast contemporaries. The album is loosely based around Earhart and the stories of her possible abduction by the Japanese. The album's songcraft and vision is quite evident, why Plainsong never amounted to much is really still perplexing considering how well they blended with the sound of their times. In any case, the group would record a 2nd unreleased album before splitting up. Coincidentally, Matthews and Nesmith would collaborate on several projects in the later part of the 70s.

Plainsong "Louise"

Next time, more Chicago soul with The Esquires!

With The Possible Exception of Teddy Roosevelt

2006-04-20T10:39:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the quietude around here this week. I've been kind of thinking inward and haven't felt the urge to blog about much. So, this will be a short post that is very timely in light of former Illinois Gov. George Ryan's conviction earlier this week on all counts in the "licenses for bribes" scandal that dates back to his Secretary of State days. Seems some folks think he should be remembered for more than just corruption and they've written a song about it:

Illinois First! Band "George Ryan" (mp3)

Probably the greatest fusion of politics, music and humor that I've ever heard. You need to hear this to believe how great it is. Apparently these guys write songs exclusively about Illinois history. I wonder if they've considered suing Sufjan Stevens?

On a completely unrelated note, is it wrong of me to hope that Ben Broussard doesn't play well for the Tribe this year? I mean, even when he gets on one of his hot streaks he is still not a particularly exciting player. I want to see Ryan Garko now!

Chicago Soul Part 1: Chi-Lites

2006-04-16T01:34:00.000-04:00

Some more soul music to get you through the week. Here is the first post in what I hope to be an ongoing spotlight on Chicago soul. This week I'm featuring two tracks from The Chi-Lites 1973 self titled album. Black music from Chicago is almost always exclusively talked about in terms of the blues, but the city had a sound that was distinct from that of Memphis, Philly, or Detroit. With deep roots in the vocal group culture of the late 50s, Chicago soul placed an emphasis on group harmony. The Chi-Lites were no exception, having begun their career as doo wop group the Hi-Lites before progressing into the soul era. Not as musically complex as Motown, slick as Philly Int'l or as funky as Atlantic soul, the Chicago sound tends to be mid-tempo and very melodic; the soundtrack for a city on the go. Listen to these tracks and try not to think of working men & women riding the L home or chilling after a long weekend.

Chi-Lites "Homely Girl" (Brunswick, 1973)

Chi-Lites "Go Away Dream" (Brunswick, 1973)

Some Links on a Friday Night

2006-04-14T21:23:00.000-04:00

Look over to your right. Yes, I've finally got the blog roll a little more organized and up to date. If you have a blog and you're a regular PBK visitor, please leave a comment and I will add you to the list.

Some highlights:

Second Hand Sun A new blog from a friend of mine. Joanna takes a look at a variety of subjects through a feminist lens. I recommend checking out her recent post on immigration.

Chicagoist The Windy City franchise of the Gothamist blog chain has assembled a terrific cast of local writers whose curiosity for all things Chicago past & present is served up with enthusiasm and the right amount of snark.

Subset of Derek Derek commented in the Henry Wallace post last week and I enjoyed his blog. See, its that easy.

Soul Sides and Captain's Crate are some of the best mp3 blogs I've discovered recently. Anyone who comes here to read the music posts would be well advised to check both of these sites out!

Analog Giant covers music, progressive politics, baseball and urban planning. No wonder I like it so much.

Yard Work contains some of the funniest baseball writing I've ever seen. Think The Onion, only about baseball.

This is just a random sampling. If I didn't include you, no insult was implied. I'll try and highlight some folks off the 'roll every now and again.

I also added links to some 2006 candidates as well with a focus on Ohio Dems along with a few others. I expect this to grow as we approach the fall elections.

Would you like a mass wedding ceremony with your sushi?

2006-04-12T09:10:00.000-04:00

The Moonies strange influence in DC is well-documented, but did you know that when you sit down for sushi in this country, there's a good chance that you're likely doing the equivalent of buying a copy of the Washington Times? Today's story in the Chicago Tribune was very illuminating about the alarming trend of religous sects openly aligning themselves with capitalist gains. Or, as one competing fishmonger so drolly put it:

"It's kind of tough to compete in this industry with a company that is so global, has a major presence in almost every market and that is driven by religious fervor," said Bill Dugan, who has been in the fish business for almost 30 years and owns the Fish Guy Market on Elston Avenue, near the original Rainbow shop. "We should all be so blessed."

The Moonies' seafood operations have taken over whole fishing communities in Massachusetts and Alabama. Scientologists basically own downtown Clearwater, FL. And of course there's the state of Utah. Is America slowly turning into a loose collective of theocratic city-states where service to God and the almighty dollar are one in the same?

Historical examples such as the Shakers and the Oneida colony have shown that religion and capitalism are not such strange bedfellows in America (in the case of the Oneida they were actually quite good in bed ), but what happens when that religous fervor is coupled with a messianic zeal and a lust for political power?

And what do you do when your craving for spicy tuna rolls conflicts with your political beliefs? I don't think I'm going to stop eating sushi any time soon, is this the price we must all pay for being so disconnected from our sources of food?

Cross posted at Unbossed.

MP3s!!

2006-04-10T22:12:00.000-04:00

And now the post you've all been waiting for! I finally set up a hosting account for mp3s so now you can listen to some of the music I've been writing about. As of now, I don't have a way to convert my vinyl into mp3s, so the songs I can post are limited to those I have on iTunes or some other services. I haven't decided how long I am going to leave these links up, but suffice it to say that these songs are for entertainment and/or educational purposes only and if you like what you hear, support the artists and buy their recordings. Of course much of this stuff is out of print so in that case, have at it since the suits obviously don't want you to hear it! I'm going to try and post 2-3 mp3s every weekend and I'll appreciate any and all feedback that you give me.

Without further adieu...

Lou Rawls "Dead End Street (Monologue)"/"Dead End Street" b/w "Yes It Hurts - Doesn't It?" (Capitol) I picked this single up over the weekend and I was disappointed to find out that it was slightly warped and the first 30 seconds or so are unplayable. Anyone out there have any idea if there is a way to "unwarp" vinyl? These Axelrod/Rawls jams are probably my favorite discovery this year so far. Axe's arrangements are so complex and rival anything that Brian Wilson or Phil Spector was putting out in the same era. Add to that some of the funkiest drum breaks this side of James Brown and the sound is intoxicating. Expect more where this came from in the coming weeks!

The Blackbyrds "City Life" (Fantasy, 1975) By request, here is the title track from the Blackbyrds LP I blogged about a few weeks ago. Upbeat and funky, The Blackbyrds managed to conjure up a gritty urban realism that comes across as a timeless soundtrack to life in urban America.

Syreeta "Harmour Love" (Motown, 1977) People googling this tune have driven the most traffic to this site since I first blogged about it in the same post as the Blackbyrds above. Perhaps everyone else is discovering this tropical soul nugget the way I did, from the movie Junebug. The album may have been a disappointment but for $1, I am perfectly content having this song in my collection.

Enjoy. I'll try and post some links to a few other mp3 blogs tomorrow.

Know Your New Dealers: Henry A. Wallace

2006-04-05T11:18:00.000-04:00

Cross posted at Unbossed

This post is the first in what I hope to be an occasional series on the key figures of the New Deal. Much as people today forget the sacrifices that labor gave in order for us to enjoy our current standard of living, there were also good people in government fighting for things that we now take for granted.

Name:Henry Agard Wallace (1888-1965)

Birthplace: Orient, IA

Positions Held:Secretary of Agriculture (1933-41), Vice President (1941-45), Secretary of Commerce (1945-46)

Early Years: Wallace hailed from a prominent Iowa farming family, who's name is still important today, through the publication of Wallace's Farmer magazine. His father, Henry C. Wallace was Agriculture Secretary in the Harding administration. In addition to serving as editor of Wallace's Farmer, Henry A. also experimented a great deal with seed hybrids, leading to the founding of the Pioneer Hy-Bred Corporation. Wallace's innovations in hybrid forms of corn would revolutionize agriculture in the 20th century.

New Deal: Despite being from a Republican family, Henry A. Wallace had become disillusioned with the party and its obsession with free-markets during the Coolidge and Hoover years. He campaigned for Democrat Al Smith in 1928 and served as FDR's advisor on agricultural issues during the 1932 campaign which led to his appointment as Ag. Secretary in 1933. Wallace was a committed New Dealer and saw in the New Deal a way towards accomplishing many of the agricultural reforms he had advocated as editor of Wallace's Farmer throughout the 20s.

Wallace headed up several New Deal administrations, most notably the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), which sought to end surplus production and promote a more collectivist mentality among American farmers. In addition, Wallace also promoted the idea of an "ever-normal granary" which stockpiled agricultural resources to insure against the negative effects of drought or other agricultural disasters. The USDA expanded quickly under Wallace's watch, but despite it's size, was often praised for its efficiency. Wallace broadened the USDA's scope to include several programs which endure today such as food stamps and a school lunch program.

Vice Presidency: Wallace's term as Vice President coincided with WWII and he took an active role in preparing the country for war, overseeing the Economic Defense Board (EDB) and the Supply Priorities and Allocations Board (SPAB), both of which sought to ramp up America's industrial output as the onset of war was looming. Wallace's scientific expertise was valued enough by FDR that he was also appointed to the secretive "Top Policy Group" which oversaw the development of the atomic bomb.

In addition, Wallace also began thinking about his vision of the post-war world, arguing that freedom and justice should be the ultimate goals once the Axis powers were defeated.

These roles were the most active any Vice President had been in history, as Wallace set the stage for the modern role of the Vice Presidency.

Post War: Party politics ousted Wallace from the VP slot at the 1944 convention, but Wallace's key role in FDR's administration was acknowledged in his appointment as Commerce Secretary. Disagreements with the conservatives in Truman's camp over Cold War policy would eventually lead to resignation in 1946. He worked for a time as an editor of The New Republic, championing liberal causes (imagine that!) before launching an ill-fated 3rd party bid for the presidency under the "Progressive" banner, though many sought to tie him (incorrectly) to communists.

With the presidential bid ended, Wallace returned to private life tending mostly to agricultural experiments on a farm in upstate New York. His views on the cold war moderated somewhat, Wallace didn't seem interested in reversing public opinion on him. Both Nixon and Kennedy sought his advice in the 1960 elections, and he was a special guest of JFK at his 1961 inaugural.

Key Quote: "To me a liberal is one who believes in using in a non-violent, tolerant and democratic way the forces of education, publicity, politics, economics, business, law and religion to direct the ever-changing and increasing power of science into channels which will bring peace and the maximum of well-being both spiritual and economic to the greatest number of human beings. A liberal knows that the only certainty in this life is change but believes that the change can be directed toward a constructive end." --from Liberalism Re-Appraised, 1953

Legacy: Though Wallace is probably exhibit A for anyone who wants to show that idealism and American politics are an incompatible relationship, Wallace also showed that idealism, when put to practical aims can have an impact on society. An ardent New Dealer, a believer in the power of collective action; Wallace was also a capitalist and an early advocate for free (but fair) trade. Wallace proved that these two trains of thought need not be antithetical to each other, that when our neighbors succeed, we succeed too.

Further Reading:

Selected Works of Henry A Wallace

The Life Of Henry A Wallace (a web bio)

American Dreamer by Sen. John Culver & John Hyde

Odds & Ends

2006-04-04T10:38:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to avoid doing too many of these sort of "round up" posts, but sometimes they work best, so here we go:

--Prime Minister Thaksin is going to step down in Thailand. I blogged about his tenure as a "CEO Prime Minister" in this post. Though he won last week's election, over 10 million people turned out to cast an "abstention" vote. I wonder how a "none of the above" scenario would play out in this country?

--Tribune columnist Jon Hilkevitch ponders what life in Chicago would be like if the Crosstown Expressway had been realized. Current plans for a combination of a rail/truck bypass sound much more sensible than the original plan for an 8-lane freeway that would have dramatically changed many of Chicago's interesting west-side neighborhoods.

--On that tip, I'm getting more and more interested in city planning, especially with regards to rapid transit systems. Could there be some sort of future in this for me? What kind of background do I need: public policy? urban planning? engineering? If anyone has insights, let me know. I am starting to feel trapped in what I do. I fulfilled one dream by going to Chicago to work at a record label, might I realize another by returning to work for the CTA?

--Thanks to UCLA for beating LSU. That was all I needed to ensure a win in my office NCAA pool. I've already spent the winnings on a digital camera, and I'm up and running on Flickr, so check it out. I'll be incorporating more photography in this blog as I go along.

--Finally, hopefully the long promised 7 Blunders post and some mp3 posts will finally materialize themselves this week. I probably shouldn't promise these things in such a public space, then the pressure is on!

Urban Coyotes

2006-03-29T10:48:00.000-05:00

Last year after I moved to Akron, I began driving through the valley on my way up to 271 N to work every morning. I started seeing these large, scruffy, mean looking dogs roaming around the fields and woods from time to time. One morning I had to slam on my brakes as one of these dogs raced across the road at lightning speed. My curiosity was piqued. Were these wolves? Wild dogs? It turned out that they were coyotes and up until that point I never knew that coyotes existed anywhere outside the desert regions of the country.

It turns out coyotes are turning up in increasing numbers in cities throughout the country due to their highly adaptable nature. This article from the Smithsonian does a great job of explaining this phenomena better than I can. It's really fascinating, I encourage you to read it.

In the west, they've dealt with this problem for years by encouraging homeowners to keep a close watch on their pets and not to leave pet food lying around outside. Not sure why this Chicago Tribune editorial thinks that midwestern suburbanites will find such tactics more inconveniencing than their western counterparts.

Unrelated

The Tribune also had another article about the perils of myspace yesterday. Yawn...I think this is becoming the lazy journalists new fallback story. Anyways, the only reason I bring this up is to point out my own myspace page and the fact that anyone out there who reads this blog who doesn't know me should stop by and introduce yourself.

Film Fest Wrap Up

2006-03-28T14:42:00.000-05:00

I took Friday off to catch 2 movies at the Cleveland International Film Festival. Unlike last year when we made a few bad choices, this year we saw two great films.

The Bow, Directed by Kim Ki-Duk This film is destined to make any list of my all time favorite movies for years to come. It's five days later and I'm still thinking about it. The story centers around an old fisherman and a young girl he kidnapped ten years ago. He's kept her on the boat all 10 years and is counting down the days until she turns 17, when he plans to marry her. Throughout the film, the two main characters do not speak any words. What you know about their relationship comes entirely from body language and facial expressions. If this sounds inaccessible, it's not. Stylistically, The Bow is similar to the other Kim Ki-Duk movie I've seen, Spring Summer Fall Winter...And Spring which showed Kim's absolute mastery of communicating with images, the essence of what film is. In addition to the body language, Kim also uses symbols like the Korean flag and Buddhist images in an iconoclastic fashion that speaks to the film's underlying theme of modern and traditional worlds colliding.

Kim portrays this relationship in a way that might seem surprising in that he does not turn the characters into hero and martyr, oppressor and victim. Instead you understand that the girl is being held against her will, but as the fisherman makes his living by chartering fishing expeditions for mainland fishermen, you also see him defend the girl from some potentially dangerous situations and you are never led to believe that he has compromised her physically in any way. The girl has also learned a great deal from the old man as you see her defend herself with his bow & arrow, as well as play music with the bow when he is away. The two entertain their boat guests by telling fortunes in a strange way that involves the girl swinging off the side of the boat while the old man shoots arrows at her and hits various parts of a Buddhist painting.

Inevitably, a teenage boy comes aboard the boat and falls in love with the girl, and she reciprocates. The boy introduces her to modern culture giving her an iPod and taking her picture with a cell phone. He wants to take her off the boat to see Seoul and to reconnect with her parents, who he discovered are still looking for her on the internet. Obviously this sets up a confrontation between the boy and the old man resulting in an ending that will have you questioning the nature of what it means to love and trust someone, to belong to someone else. I highly recommend this movie, should it ever receive a proper release theatrically or on DVD in the states.

Li Yu's Dam Street also deals with the fallout that's taking place in Asian society as it opens itself up to the modern West. Beginning in a small Sichuan town during the 80s, a young girl gets pregnant and is told by her mother that the baby died, when it was actually given up for adoption at the hospital. She is expelled from school and her boyfriend forced to leave town. Ten years later, Xiao Yun still lives in the town and performs with a Sichuan opera troupe where she becomes friends with a young boy who has a similarly irreverent attitude about life as she does. Of course, the boy is her son and the journey that takes her to learning this will have profound consequences on her life.

Li Yu is a rare female voice in the world of Asian film and made waves a few years back with her movie, Fish and Elephant, the first Chinese film to explore lesbian themes. Dam Street took home the award for best film at the highly regarded Asian film festival thats held annually in Deauville, France.

Asian cinema is so alive and exciting right now. I can only imagine that this must be what it was like in the 60s when each new movie from France or Sweden held new discoveries. The main difference, to me anyway, is while the triumph of European cinema was largely stylistic, taking chances on telling different types of stories that were more real than their American counterparts; Today's Asian cinema (especially right now from China and Korea) is not only finding ways to tell us new stories, but is also chronicling a major shift in world culture as these once closed societies stretch their feet and wake up to become dominate players on the world stage. Never before has film been able to chronicle such a shift as it happens, and as such these movies are likely to be studied for a long time as we enter the Asian century.

7 Blunders of Cleveland: Part 1, Attitude & Indentity

2006-03-23T10:23:00.000-05:00

As promised, this is the first in my series on the 7 Blunders of Cleveland, based on the Tribune's Chicago-based series. Not sure if I'll be posting this series every day for the next week, but I hope to have a few up each week. I've kind of grouped a lot of different ideas into 7 basic categories rather than listing every individual blunder (which could take years), so I hope this format does the idea justice.

I suppose there is some irony in starting off this series about some of the worst aspects of life in Greater Cleveland by saying that one of those aspects is the bad attitude we collectively have towards the city. But what struck me while coming up with this list of blunders were that they weren't all entirely unique to Cleveland. Other cities have had lousy school systems, poorly planned highways, a massive suburban migration, etc. but in many of those cases, the blunders were overcome or the damage mitigated by other things. Here, we have been fighting the same battles for over 20 years and I think some of that is due in part to the defeatist nature of most natives.

When LeBron James is bringing some much deserved sports attention to this town, people ask "How long until he leaves through free agency?" How many of you know suburbanites who won't set foot inside city limits?

There's been a lot of much deserved derision of the "Believe In Cleveland" campaign that's sprouting up on billboards and TV commercials as of late. Giving people an empty slogan won't turn this city around, but the very fact that someone thinks that we need to hear it still says a lot.

I want to turn now to the question of identity and how this ties in to civic attitudes. Every city has something, a claim to fame, a landmark or a culinary treat that the whole world knows them by. In Cleveland, there are several things that we could promote as our own, but instead most Clevelanders will tell you that's things are cooler elsewhere. The Rock Hall? Instead of pride, the reaction you'll get often centers around the fact the inductions are held elsewhere or that the EMP Museum in Seattle is better. Both legitimate beefs, but it does so much to reinforce our second rate status.

People gravitate towards people that exude self confidence and pride and they gravitate towards cities that do the same. As long as most Clevelanders think that this is a bad place to live, so will the rest of the country.

Forgive this long winded entry, but I promise that future installments will be shorter and snarkier.

Thailand Corp.

2006-03-21T10:38:00.000-05:00

I read an interesting article last week on how Thai citizens are also facing up to the nightmare of a "CEO Presidency" (in the case Prime Minister).

Much like Bush, the Thaksin administration has seen rampant cronyism, a crackdown on free speech, corruption and conflict of interest. While some of Thaksin's goals were far to the left of Bush, I don't see how the outcome could have been any different from a man who promises to run his country like a corporation. The idea that corporate governance is good for actual governance is one of the biggest fallacies of the post-Reagan era.

The top-down structure of most corporations is antithetical to the spirit of democracy. It does not allow for transparency or openness. The only accountability a corporation has is to it's shareholders, who are a closed self-selected group whose only insistence is on growth and increasing profits. Where free speech and innovation clash with these motives, they will be squashed. This does not make the corporation evil in and of itself, only amoral, which is why we need regulation to keep the beast in check.

In a democracy, government is of service to all it's citizens. In order for it to function properly, there needs to be full transparency. As a service to people, it's is incumbent upon government not to be wasteful, but that does not mean that it needs necessarily to be profitable. If a bus route is losing money but that same route is serving an underprivileged community by taking them to work, medical facilities and stores, the greater good here is the service to the community, and that's something that private enterprises can't compute.

Someone needs to stick up for government as a concept. Good government, but government nonetheless. If we keep trying to run our countries like we run our companies, democracy will die.

Sidenote: You could read this wordy post I just wrote, or you could just look at this comic which says it all much more eloquently.

Quiet

2006-03-15T16:55:00.000-05:00

I know things have been quiet around here this week as work has been very busy and exhausting. However, I've got some ideas for future postings. One is going to be a series based on the Tribune's very entertaining 7 Blunders of Chicago, only naturally I'd like to do the "7 Blunders of Cleveland/NE Ohio" and I'd like to get some suggestions on what you think should be included. Ralph Perk's wife going bowling, Burke Lakefront Airport, etc. So, if you have any ideas, leave them in the comments below.

Strickland: Broadband for Ohio

2006-03-13T14:43:00.000-05:00

It was just last week that I mentioned that expanding broadband access should be a key component of the Democratic platform in 2006. Now this morning, an email arrived from Ted Strickland's campaign (as they do several times a day, someone's mouse hand must be getting sore over there!) touting a plan to do just that.

On the surface, it seems like a pretty sound plan and won't involve spending any additional money that hasn't already been allocated. However, I'd like to know a few more details about this part of the proposal:

The Strickland/Fisher BroadbandOhio plan also includes strategies to work with private-sector telecommunications providers to ensure that affordable broadband connectivity is available to all citizens in every one of Ohio’s 88 counties.

At a time when many telecom providers are pushing for a use-based model of billing customers for broadband and fighting cities that are offering free wi-fi connections, I'm a little skeptical about these companies' willingness to play ball in the "affordability" game.

With that minor reservation aside, when added to Strickland's other proposals in TurnaroundOhio (especially the early childhood education plans), who says Democrats don't offer any good ideas? I hope some of the party's national leaders are paying attention to this.

Ghosts in the Architecture

2006-03-13T10:31:00.000-05:00

I was reading a travel article last night about Chicago in this magazine. The writer listed several spots in Wicker Park/Bucktown that I had never heard of and my assumption is that these places must have opened recently. Now these upscale boutiques and spas weren't places I'd be likely to frequent, but reading about them made me kind of sad. I haven't been able to get back to Chicago in almost 2 years. I had plans to go last November, but my sudden illness and hospitalization put that on hold. Despite this, I still feel a very strong connection to the city and my memories of living there seem very recent, even more so than other things that have happened in the time since I left.

This aspect of the article doesn't surprise me. Heck, even if I was still there it's possible that I wouldn't have heard of these places. Every time you turned a corner in Wicker Park, it seemed like a new condominium complex or a yuppie bar or a coffee house chain was going up where there was nothing the day before. This is probably why even though I lived in Wicker Park for roughly 2/3rds of the time I was in Chicago, when people ask me what part of town I lived I tell them Old Irving on the NW side, where I was for my last year or so. Old Irving is a pretty quiet neighborhood. It's too residential and far away from downtown to be either trendy or dangerous, yet it still has all of the architectural charm and intrigue of the city's more well-known enclaves.

I've always said that one of the primary reasons why I love Chicago so much is that it always seemed like there is so much history lurking around every block. I used to go for long walks on just about every nice evening by myself or sometimes with friends. Each building seemed to be full of stories to tell, a history of the city hidden beneath every layer of paint. Often, I'd take pictures and then write a letter to my friend Julie about my journey complete with a photocopied map of my route. I think this is a big reason why I hold on to these memories so fiercely. My life there was mine and mine alone. Every discovery made, each connection to each new place; I could lay claim to being another part of that history.

My life wasn't perfect during those years, far from it, if it had been I'd have never come back. Still, those were the best years of my life and I struggle every day in hopes of recapturing some of that feeling again. NE Ohio takes me for granted. It knows I'm tethered here, bound by family and tradition. Chicago is still speaking to me though, even if I haven't been by for a visit in quite some time.

Recommended Viewing:

In the Realms of the Unreal

Sidenote: I planned to do some more work on the blog this weekend that didn't materialize. However, I should be able to start posting mp3s with my music posts very soon, so I'm pretty excited about that.

Survey Time

2006-03-11T19:49:00.000-05:00

Tagged by Pho

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18 and find line 4.

Haruki Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase: "I shut the window and switched on the air conditioner, then set the two mugs of coffee on the table."

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can, what do you find?

Nothing. I'm about 4 feet away from the spare bed.

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?

Me playing Playstation baseball. Actual show: "The Soup"

4. Without looking, guess what time it is:

7:15pm

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?

7:32pm

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?

The sink and whatever is on the TV upstairs.

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?

Went out for lunch, groceries.

8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?

An email and then the stats of Corey Patterson on espn.com

9. What are you wearing?

Oliver green long sleeve t-shirt, jeans.

10. Did you dream last night?

Yes. I had a dream I went on vacation to Dover, DE for some unexplained reason and when I came home we'd been evicted from our apartment.

11. When did you last laugh?

Something Liz said, but I can't remember what now.

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?

Ugly wood panelling, a bulletin board and a 2005 Simpsons calendar that I haven't taken down yet.

13. Seen anything weird lately?

My dog, but he's always weird.

14. What do you think of this quiz?

Better than some.

15. What is the last film you saw?

LolliLove on DVD, The Squid and the Whale in theatres.

16. If you turned into a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy?

A house, then I'd travel extensively.

17. Tell me something about you that I don't know.

I guess it depends on the level of knowledge of whoever is reading this. However, since Pho tagged me and he doesn't know anything about me I will say this: My real name happens to be that of a famous athlete.

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt and politics, what would you do?

Free, high quality health care for everyone.

19. Do you like to Dance?

The one time I danced in public, I was in England and I got back to my room and found a sticker on my back that said "I'm an idiot".

20. George Bush.

This survey is getting obscene.

21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?

Marcey, Lucinda, Sophia...all possibilities

22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what would you call him?

Henry William Jordan (EDIT: I guess I just gave away the answer to number 17)

23. Would you ever consider living abroad?

Yes. For language reasons, the UK or Halifax, Canada sound most appealing; but Brazil or E. Asia would be tempting.

24. What would you want God to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?

"Good work"

25. 4 people who must also do this theme in their journal.

Anyone who came to this blog from livejournal or myspace.

The Dig: Part III, Vol. 1

2006-03-09T09:42:00.000-05:00

Last weekend was one of my most extensive digs in months. Friday we made an impromptu stop at Square Records in Akron, who had just gotten a boatload of new titles in, then Saturday we hit up several shops on Cleveland's west side. Suite Lorain (their website appears to be down, otherwise I'd post a link), a sort of mid-century modern antique store provided the best thrills of the trip, but I was still able to find a few gems everywhere I went. I suppose the main problem with buying vinyl at thrift shops/antique stores is that the quality of the records are not always checked and many LPs are missing inner sleeves, scratched to hell, etc.

I found enough stuff over the weekend that I really haven't had a chance to listen to it all, so this edition of The Dig will be done in multiple installments.

Thin Lizzy Jailbreak (Mercury, 1976) This one probably seems out of character for anyone who knows me well. It may just be nostalgia for my days working at Thrill Jockey when inevitably someone would play this album in the office about once a week. In any case, this is one hard rock album that I can totally get into. Perhaps I like this because unlike a lot of other classic rockers of the era, Thin Lizzy placed a good deal of emphasis on songwriting and melody. When things get heavy, its never bombastic or over the top, everything is done in service of the song. And the songs are irresistible. "The Boys are Back In Town" is one of the rare classic rock staples that doesn't sound stale after 30 well-worn years on FM radio. That song, together with the title track, should be included right along with Big Star, the Raspberries and Cheap Trick as blueprints for power pop. On the album's more tender moments like "Romeo and the Lonely Girl", the band captures a melancholic suburban rainy day feel and it's easy to see how bands like Belle & Sebastian can also lay claim to Thin Lizzy as an influence.

Another fun fact: The mid-70s Mercury Records logo features an image of the Chicago skyline!

Syreeta One to One (Tamla/Motown, 1977) Sometimes there are records that you are really excited to find, but then once you take them home that excitement wears off. After watching the movie Junebug, I became fixated on the sweet island flavored pop-soul song that played over the opening & closing credits. "Harmour Love" was written by Stevie Wonder who appears on this album (Syreeta is Stevie's ex-wife). With the song stuck in my head days after seeing the film, One to One quickly made it to the top of my "find!" list. When the album turned up in mint condition for $1 at Half Price Books in North Olmsted of all places, needless to say I was pleased. Unfortunately the album, as a whole, does not stack up to "Harmour Love". Anything released after 1975 is a gamble, as productions became slicker and the influence of disco begins to creep in. One to One suffers from both these traits plus an overreliance on slower gospel inflected numbers, which is not really my cup of tea. Still, "Harmour Love" sounds great on wax!

The Blackbyrds City Life (Fantasy, 1975) It's been a long time since a music magazine has really excited me and turned me on to new sounds, but since I started reading Wax Poetics a few months ago I'm feeling like I did when I was in high school discovering punk and indie music for the first time. Whole new worlds of sound are being opened up and this month's feature on The Mizell Brothers is no exception. The Blackbyrds were a jazz-funk group founded out of an association with trumpeter Donald Byrd's backing band. Like Byrd, they were produced by the Mizells and during the mid-70s their presence means that unlike many other jazz artists of this era, The Blackbyrds' music eschewed any stuffy academic pretenses, instead offering a stunning aural portrait of urban America circa 1975. The minimal lyrics were simple, almost chanted phrases that weaved in and out of the fluid rhythms and tight improvisational interplay of the musicians. Anyone who digs funk needs this album in their collection.

Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions ABC Collection(ABC, 1976) Last month when my car was broken into, I think more than having my stereo stolen, the item I was most upset about losing was my 2 CD Curtis Mayfield anthology. That collection has been in heavy rotation on my stereo for years since I found it used at Reckless Records in Chicago. This best of collection might not have some of the amazing tunes from the early years of Curtis' solo career, but it does me good to hear songs like "Gypsy Woman", "Keep On Pushin", "It's Alright" and others once again. The picture above is not the actual album cover, but it is the photo that the ABC art department used as part of its garish design.

Blog Against Sexism Day

2006-03-08T15:57:00.000-05:00

I know this was making the rounds a while ago, but since you still can't click on a music related site without seeing their amateur porn inspired ads, why not have a little reminder about why American Apparel is not what it seems?

RIP: Ali Farka Toure & Ivor Cutler

2006-03-08T13:50:00.000-05:00

The music world lost two of it's most original voices yesterday with the deaths of Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure & British poet/songwriter/humorist Ivor Cutler.

Toure was often credited as a sort of "missing link" between African music and American blues. The similarities are hard to mistake, and his music certainly has all the soul and grit that we associate with the blues. He's recorded several albums that have garnered domestic release, mostly on his own and a few in collaboration with others, such as Ry Cooder. Anyone who listens to PRI's "The World" on NPR will be familiar with his sound. That's Toure playing the little guitar riff during the "Geo Quiz" segment.

You can sample his music here. The link to "The World" above has an archival interview with Toure as well.

I was less familiar with Cutler's work, though American audiences might know him from appearing in the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour or through the late British DJ John Peel's championing of his work. Prior to yesterday, I had only heard a handful of his songs. I became aware of him through Jim O'Rourke's cover of "Women of the World", but never got around to exploring him in greater detail. Cutler's music reflects a certain brand of silliness inherent in all the best British humor from Monty Python to Ricky Gervais. His songs were often unbelievably short, but posses an undeniable charm.

You can listen to some Cutler selections here, but in honor of Blog Against Sexism Day, I recommend this song.

Roh Moo-hyun: Showing the Way Forward

2006-03-07T10:57:00.000-05:00

Last night, I found out that I've been added as a front-page contributor at Unbossed. I'm flattered to have even been considered as a writer there as they do some great work. Here's hoping I don't disappoint! My first post will be going up this afternoon, but here's a preview:

Does this sound familiar?

" (Candidate) used and even invented new ways of
campaigning that worked in concert with the changes
within society, whereas (the opponents) relied upon
traditional campaign tactics. (Candidate's) campaign
focused on communication, volunteers, and information
technologies...It represented the nation's first
large, voluntary support organization for an
individual politician. The association, 70,000-
members strong, became actively involved in party
primaries, electoral campaigning, and fundraising. It
organized rallies during the primaries and campaign,
led online debates, and initiated the movement for
small donations to be made to their candidate. Thanks
to the association's efforts, hundreds of thousands of
Internet users visited (candidate's) official campaign
site every day, exchanging and sharing views on
election issues during the campaign. They also helped
(candidate) accumulate...approximately U.S. $6 million
from 200,000 small-amount contributors."

No, the candidate in question is not Howard Dean; and the organization is not Daily Kos, MoveOn.org, ACT, or even DFA. The above quote is talking about Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea, though you'd be forgiven if you thought otherwise. Roh's electoral story does sound an awful lot like that of a certain former governor of Vermont. Two key differences however: Roh's campaign happened in 2001-02 and today, Roh Moo-Hyun is the sitting President of S. Korea.

Over here, those of us who became active in politics through the 2004 elections via the internet are facing what seems to be an uphill battle for legitimacy and more importantly, victory. After the heartbreak of the Iowa caucuses, netroots denizens were able to use their influence to bring attention to a number of races that would otherwise have been written off by the traditional party leaders. Though there were victories at state and local levels; and nationally, netroots support played a part in victories by Barack Obama and Stephanie Herseth; many other candidates fell short. Tony Knowles, Stan Matsunaka, Lois Murphy, Brad Carson, Ginny Schrader, Christine Cegelis, Jeff Seemann, and Paul Hackett to name a few. Some came pretty close, while others reaffirmed their long-shot status, but the question of how much influence the netroots actually had was still open to some debate.

So how was President Roh able to use these same methods with such a different result? The answer lies less in the similarities between Roh and Dean than in a few key national differences. And as such, Roh's story is very relevant for American progressives to be aware of.

Though there are some more obvious differences between the two countries, a key factor in Roh's election was that over 50% of the electorate were in their 20s and 30s. The so called 3-8-6 Generation (also known as the 20/30 Generation) had come of age during the harshly repressive right wing regimes of the 1980s. Many had taken part in campus protests to bring democracy to S. Korea, some had been arrested. As a civil rights attorney, Roh represented many of these students and learning their stories of torture and other human rights abuses, Roh became a leader in the pro-democracy movement. With this backdrop, its easy to see how the critical mass attained by the 3-8-6 Generation during this decade provided a rich environment for a progressive-populist like Roh to be elected. Their anger for having lived under repressive right wing rule for so long only fueled this critical mass.

Going hand in hand with being such a young country, S. Korea is also the most wired. The nation leads the world in just about every category when it comes to broadband internet access. Both countries have a total internet penetration of about 67%, however 80% of S. Korean internet users have broadband access in their homes compared to roughly 33% in the US. In other ways too, S. Korea is leading the world in becoming an IT society. PC purchases are subsidized for low-income families, 13% of the country's GDP comes from IT related fields (compared to 8% in the US) and what's more is that this broadband is faster than that in most parts of the world, as S. Koreans connect at 2Mbps, 4 times faster than those in western countries. In short, information technology is at the center of life in S. Korea, while it remains on the outskirts for many Americans.

Because of these advantages, and not despite them, American netroots organizers have much to learn from their Korean counterparts. It won't be long before broadband access begins to become more mainstream in the American household (and pushing it's expansion as a matter of policy is not a bad idea for Democrats either). In addition, each year millions more Americans raised on the internet will come of voting age. As these events occur, netroots campaigns will also move from the fringes to the center of American political life. In addition, the 2002 Korean election saw a 70% turnout. Having an informed electorate is having an engaged electorate and when voters feel like the issues matter to their lives, progressives win. Until then, we can keep making progress by following the lead of Howard Dean in reforming American party politics and maybe we can also look at the S. Korean experience for other innovations, such as the use of text messaging, and continued internet outreach by candidates after they reach office. Having leaders like Howard Dean and Roh Moo-Hyun won't hurt either.

Further Reading:

Broadband Penetration and Participatory Politics: South Korea Case

The Balancer: Roh Moo-hyun's Vision of Korean Politics and the Future of Northeast Asia

South Korea: At the Forefront of the Internet Broadband Revolution

Weekend: March 4-5

2006-03-06T10:34:00.000-05:00

I spent a good part of my writing energy this weekend on a piece for another site about South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun. I'll post a link when it goes up. Outside of that, I went on a vinyl dig in Cleveland that yielded some pretty fine returns that I'll blog about later in the week. For now, a roundup of interesting stuff:

--The Plain Dealer had an article Saturday on some misleading statistics found in the federal rankings of local school districts. It doesn't surprise me that Bushco would devise such a poor method of measuring school excellence, but what really blew me away was this:

In addition, if a district continues to have any subgroup fail - even if the student body as a whole passes - the state could eventually take control of the school or district, and even contract management out to a private company.

"My gravest concern of all is that in a few years we will have turned these systems over to the private sector, who will loot our cities and not educate our children," Estrop said, stressing he hopes he is wrong. "Their intent is on making a profit."

Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention when NCLB was passed, but did this little provision get much notice back then? Much like Medicare's prescription drug plan is a giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry, NCLB is merely the first step towards a for-profit education system that will have little oversight and ensure low-quality for low-income students.

--The schedule for the 30th Cleveland International Film Festival is out. The lineup this year doesn't look quite as appetizing as some years, but perhaps that's a good thing since every year, I end up missing a lot of things I want to see. Some interesting selections I hope to see include: The Bow, Dam Street, Portrait of a Lady Faraway, and Clearcut. I'll have to plan this around what's showing on the weekend or maybe take a day off on a Friday or Monday.

I miss the days when I was at CSU and the festival would always coincide with spring break. With little else to do, I'd practically live at Tower City, sometimes seeing as many as 3 films a day. I've seen so many interesting movies at the festival over the years: Men With Guns, Lawn Dogs (very underrated), Late August Early September, The Acid House, Children of Heaven, Stevie, In the Realms of the Unreal, Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself. Last night I made fun of how many times during the Oscars they felt compelled to remind us that we should be watching films in a theater and not on DVD. Though the desperation at this high profile event was, in fact, laughable; it is true. I wonder how much these films would have stayed with me if I'd only watched them at home on a TV screen.

--Pho has more on Capri Cafaro's new infomercial.

--Finally, Pandagon has been kicking my ass (in a good way) lately. Great analysis and engaging writing. Definitely check it out.

Give 'em Hell Ted!

2006-03-02T16:12:00.000-05:00

Between the well-publicized nuclear attack Ken Blackwell waged on Jim Petro last week, and now the GOP primary candidates both tacking to the right of the Taliban to curry favor with the hard line wingnuts of their party; one thing is becoming clear: 12 point lead or not, I hope Ted Strickland is paying close attention. There is so much riding on the gubernatorial race this year, Strickland is going to need to fight hard, because this state cannot afford what the Republicans have coming down the pike. After 4 years of Blackwell, TEL, etc lifelong Ohioans will no longer recognize this state. The brain drain will start looking at places like Indiana and Mississippi as a step up. A Strickland loss will probably be more devastating than 11/3/04.

So Ted, I hope you are looking at what Blackwell is doing to Petro and coming up with a solid plan to fight back and defeat him. We can't afford any less. And if anyone is wondering, I will be volunteering what time I have to the Strickland campaign and not just blog about it.

Follow Ups:

--Pho has more on Petro's patent lawyer fiasco here.

--After mentioning my love of archaic retail architecture yesterday, I found a few great sites worth checking out:

Malls of America
Dead Malls
Ohio Grocery MSN group Featuring photos and commentary by the incomparable Toby Radloff

Wednesday

2006-03-01T11:16:00.000-05:00

--I had a chance this morning to listen to the Betty Sutton podcast. I have to concur with most of those who were there that she is very impressive. Although she doesn't come across as the most forceful or polished speaker, she has a great conversational style of speaking that I personally find very engaging and also allows her to articulate her views in a way that aren't just empty soundbites, but believable mission statements.

If I had attended the event, I wanted to ask her about Democrats needing a unifying theme or message in 2006 and how she thinks she can contribute to that. I think I partially got my answer in listening to the podcast. Sutton mentioned several times about "not being afraid to ask questions" in addition to highlighting her work as an attorney on behalf of working people. This gives me the sense that she is there to serve and to make sure that government is working for the people. It also points to what I think needs to be a recurring theme in every 2006 campaign: accountability. Because right now in DC there is none, and I think its a big reason why people are turned off by politics right now.

--For those who may be wondering, I do not live in OH-13, though because of the way the borders of Akron and Cuyahoga Falls twist around each other, I could walk 100 feet in any direction and be in that district. So my interest in this race is as a committed Democrat and not a prospective voter. Fortunately, I am represented by Tim Ryan in OH-17 and he will be running unopposed in November.

--Looks like Jim Petro's in trouble again. Its nice to know that someone who has accused Ohio universities of being inefficient is doing so much to help them in that area by forcing them to hire law firms that don't even handle the type of work they need them for.

--Probably one of my favorite scenes in The Blues Brothers is the shopping mall car chase. Maybe this has something to do with my love of ugly, outdated retail architecture (which also explains my love of the original Dawn of the Dead). Now it looks like Dixie Square is about to be torn down. Its just too bad they couldn't have driven a car through it once more, for old time's sake.

--Finally, I wonder if these kids have seen Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man?

The Dig, Part II

2006-02-28T10:30:00.000-05:00

Another weekend, another dig. This time, we decided to head a few miles east to Kent and see what the record stores and thrift stores there had to offer. I was extremely disappointed. Not so much in the selection, but the prices were shocking to say the least. The Temptations LP I mentioned in last week's dig that I picked up for $2 at Square Records was $16 at Spin More in Kent. That's obscene. Nevertheless, I did manage to score a few choice finds this weekend:

Wilson Pickett Hey Jude (Atlantic, 1969) The world lost one of the great vocalists when Pickett passed away last month. Pickett's voice was able to shout, scream, beg and plead all while somehow remaining on key and in control of the song. Pickett's cover of the title track starts out nice enough, but really gets going in the coda where he lets loose on McCartney's tune, turning it into an anthem of lust and desire. Duane Allman's guitar playing is spine-tingling, matching Pickett's intensity and egging him on to greater heights. The electric guitar is in dire need of rediscovery by today's modern R&B producers, the analog buzz can do so much to accentuate a great soul singer.

Joni Mitchell Clouds (Reprise, 1969) I found this one at a very strange store called Turn Up Records off the main drag in downtown Kent. It was run by what looked to be a couple of anarchist hippies and had a small selection of new & used CDs and a few scattered cardboard boxes of vinyl. In the back of the room, there was a curtain and there were a bunch of kids sitting around watching the Lemony Snicket movie. The place definitely had a strange vibe. In any case, I've long been a huge fan of Mitchell's Blue, but have never really checked out her other material as deeply as I'd have liked. This album is a certified classic however, "Chelsea Morning" and "Both Sides, Now" are achingly gorgeous tunes. Listening to this on pristine vinyl (this looks to be an original pressing that has NEVER been played, SCORE!), I almost feel like I'm hanging out in Laurel Canyon and its 1969 all over again. Scoring this record also has me psyched for the next installment from The Numero Group, Ladies of the Canyon, a collection of rare private pressings of late 60s female folkies. Sounds delicious!

Isaac Hayes The Best Of... (Enterprise/Stax, 1974) This 8 song collection looks to be a budget bin release designed to cash in on Hayes' post-Shaft success. The cover is a lot different than the other Hayes Best Ofs I turned up on a google image search. "Walk On By" has been sampled by dozens of hip hop artists through the years and its easy to see why with the slinky lead guitar and funky drum breaks, still nothing matches the original with Hayes' deep voice presiding over the whole affair. Its easy to underestimate how ahead of his time Hayes was, but he led southern soul into a deeper, darker direction in the 70s and we still haven't caught up today.

More Hackett Dirt

2006-02-28T09:04:00.000-05:00

Sorry, I can't resist. Openers has this tasty nugget on a form letter Hackett's law firm is sending out to recent Cincinnati area accident victims. Hackett's followers were positively gloating when Hackett leaked his oppo-research to the Toledo Blade, claiming it as one more reason why Hackett was the better choice. Brown will be able counter attacks on his voting record with DeWine's own 12 year record, while the type of character assassination the GOP would have leveled against Hackett over this is exactly the kind of thing that would turn off the independent, gun-loving S. Ohio voters that gave Hackett his supposed edge.

Weekend

2006-02-27T12:48:00.000-05:00

--Unfortunately, I did not make it to Betty Sutton's Meet the Bloggers event Saturday due to an appointment. It turned out that I actually had the time of my appointment wrong and I could have made it after all, but by then it was too late. Hopefully, I'll be able to attend the next event. I'll probably write more about this event once the podcast is up, but for now there are good recaps here and here. My second-hand impressions of her are very positive. For those interested, Sutton's website just went up over the weekend.

--In other OH-13 news, Capri Cafaro is going to be pouring money into the coffers of local TV stations as the primary heats up. I'd include my own reaction, but this blog seems to sum it up just nicely.

--The Plain Dealer had an interesting article on HSAs, which I may write more about this week.

--Jeeves, I hardly knew you.

--I'm posting about this a little late, but anyone interested in the ethics of CD prices and the pressures that small record store owners are under in this post-iPod, big box world; I recommend reading this blog and the comments therein. This discussion comes on the heels of a local story about Cleveland's dying indie record store scene.

--I learned this weekend that Blogger and Safari don't like to play nice. So unless its urgent, PBK will probably be pretty quiet on the weekends.

Jia Zhang-ke: The World

2006-02-26T15:45:00.000-05:00

I've been wanting to see this film for over a year now, ever since the Chicago Reader's Jonathan Rosenbaum mentioned it in his top 10 for 2004 and again in 2005. The World centers around a Beijing theme park where visitors can "see the world, without leaving Beijing". The young people who work at the park as performers and security guards are mostly recent arrivals from outlying Chinese provinces. They ride a monorail into the park, they perform Indian dance styles in front of a mock Taj Mahal, eat lunch on the top of a fake Eiffel Tower (1/3rd the size of the real thing), or wear kimonos and sip tea outside a traditional Japanese house. Yet none of them have ever left China. Protagonist Tao quips while aboard a 747 that serves as one of the park's exhibits that she doesn't even know anyone that's flown on a plane. Its in this irony that the genius of the film lies. While modern China is becoming a major player in the global economy, its citizens are set adrift in a world that feels cold and alien.

What struck me about the film was both the stylistic and thematic similarities to the classic work of Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu. Jia even names one of the chapters of the film "Tokyo Story" after Ozu's masterpiece of the same name. But where Ozu focused on changes in Japanese family life in the aftermath of WWII, Jia is concerned with the changes in Chinese society as they evolve towards capitalism. The characters are alienated from each other and from the rest of the world, they spend much of their free time text messaging each other, never making any meaningful personal connections. A group of Russian workers come to the park only to be exploited when their passports are taken away. Their only way out of Beijing is through the sex trade, culminating in a moving scene where Tao recognizes one of the workers at a nightclub and despite the language barrier, their shared tears of commiseration a tacit acknowledgment that they are out of place in the new society. Tao wants to assert her independence as a woman, but this angers her boyfriend, Taisheng, who is trying to hold on to the values of their rural upbringing. Taisheng eventually winds up cheating on Tao with a factory supervisor who has been separated from her husband and sends Tao into depression. For Tao, Taisheng represents her only connection to a home that seems as far away as the exhibits at the theme park and his betrayal severs what tiny threads that still bind her to her past and to a Chinese culture that is fading as the country is brought into the world economy.

Stylistically, Jia's film combines some of the formal elements of Ozu with a few post-modern twists. Each text message sets up an animated vignette that adds to the film's dream-like qualities. Chapters are separated by scenes from a large-scale stage show that the park's workers perform at the end of the day, jolting the film out of its quiet solitude with a modern soundtrack by Lim Giong. These disconnects, and the disconnections between the characters, are what make this such a compelling movie. The ending may seem to some as forced or ambiguous, but the final words contain what I think is an underlying themethroughout and perhaps the most important message: This is only the beginning. Coming from China, Jia's perspective on our world is not grounded in having known only capitalism as a way of life, and as such, The World is a fresh perspective on the trade offs we've made for this global economy and one of the best films of the decade so far.

Jackson: The Drive for Regionalism

2006-02-24T10:30:00.000-05:00

In Frank Jackson's State of the City address yesterday, he laid out Cleveland's vision in taking the first steps towards greater regional cooperation. I'm encouraged by Jackson who is not putting the cart before the horse or looking to quick fix solutions like casinos and Wal Marts as a means of solving the city's woes. Cleveland needs to fix the nuts and bolts before we will ever be able to move forward and I think Jackson, who seems unimpressed with the glamour of the mayor's office, could be just the man to do it.

The question is, do other regional leaders agree? I'm encouraged by quotes in the above story by area mayors Judy Rawson of Shaker Heights and Dan DiPiero of Parma in wanting to explore tax sharing plans. What will be more telling however, is what will be response from the outer-ring suburbs? They have been the prime beneficiaries of business-poaching and tax abatements, will they see the benefit of a healthy NE Ohio region?

As an aside: I like Bill Callahan's idea to move the address away from the City Club and into the neighborhoods.

ODOT: Trust Us

2006-02-22T14:37:00.000-05:00

Michael Gill has an excellent piece in this week's Cleveland Free Times concerning the Cleveland Inner Belt reconstruction project. Few people would argue with the need to reconstruct this important stretch of highway, which serves as the epicenter of travel in and out of downtown Cleveland from all directions (except the soon to be downgraded West Shoreway). Between Dead Man's Curve, a crumbling bridge and some of the most treacherous ramps in the country, the Inner Belt is long overdue for a facelift. So considering the importance of this project, you'd have expected ODOT to have done their homework. Ummmm, no. It turns out that when ODOT builds a road, they aren't in the habit of doing an economic impact study. Ever. And after 3 years of this project, they still haven't completed one:

The most telling sentence of the morning was spoken as an aside, a footnote to an answer about why the agency hasn’t yet finished an economic development study that was promised six weeks ago. On the way to explaining, Proctor said simply, “This is the first and only economic development study ever done by ODOT. We don’t have a deep history of studying economic development” impacts of highway projects.

Perhaps because such a study will confirm what many area businesses have been trying to tell ODOT since 2003. Eliminating exits at Carnegie and Prospect is going to have a profound negative effect on those businesses and institutions that have grown up around those interchanges over the last 50 years.

OK, ODOT, you build roads, maybe the economic impact will be offset by the benefits to traffic flow and safety. So when you tell us that eliminating these interchanges and consolidating them at Chester Ave. will make the road safer to travel on AND won't cause gridlock when there are multiple events downtown, certainly you have done some traffic studies to back up these assertions? Right?

“The community has this gut feeling that this just isn’t going to work,” Haviland said. “And there’s been this absence of key information, like traffic modeling..."

Oh. So just how much planning actually goes into a $900 million traffic project?

OH-13: The Tangled Web

2006-02-22T08:31:00.000-05:00

With 17 (yes, 17) candidates running for Sherrod Brown's congressional seat, this promises to be the most interesting primary race in the state, if not the country. Fortunately, the good folks over at the Ohio 13 blog are doing an excellent job of helping to sort out everything that's going on, including this interesting nugget of political gossip.

Though I think this seat should remain safely in Democratic hands, I also think Cafaro is the weakest of the upper-tier Dem field (depending on whether you consider Gary Kucinich "upper tier"). If the above linked story is true, what I'm wondering is: How are these institutional supporters answering the questions about Cafaro's significant weaknesses as a candidate? Or are they just impressed by her money and intimidated by the fact that she will outspend all opponents?

I'm not trying to be sarcastic, because I'd really like to know if there's something in the picture that I'm missing here. If Foltin is the GOP nominee, he brings his own set of baggage to the race, but he should still be more formidable than the GOP's usual sacrificial lamb. We can't afford to put this seat in jeopardy with a weak candidate. Cafaro's money didn't help her in 2004 against a similarly scandal plagued Republican. In a district that only went 52% for Bush, LaTourette performed 11 points better against Cafaro. So I'm left scratching my head as to what Dem leaders are seeing as a positive in having Capri Cafaro as our nominee in the 13th.

Phraseology

2006-02-21T15:37:00.000-05:00

Twice today I've come across the phrase "say your piece". For some reason it never occurred to me that the word was "piece" as I'd always assumed it to be "say your peace". Fortunately, I'm not the only one who makes this mistake. However, the correct answer is here.

I think the confusion comes from these two phrases: "peace of mind" vs. "I want to give you a piece of my mind". For whatever reason I assumed that when you said your "peace" that you were getting something off your chest so you could have "peace of mind", not to give someone a "piece of your mind" which seems unnecessarily antagonistic in most cases when this phrase is used.

Anyone else have a take on this? What phrases have you misheard in the past?

The Dig, Part I

2006-02-20T10:28:00.000-05:00

I know I probably shouldn't have done this, but I couldn't help myself Friday night. There's only so long I can go without new music and I had reached my breaking point. So we headed to Square Records in Akron. I told myself I probably wouldn't spend too much since I thought I had picked Square pretty clean of stuff I wanted, but whatever their sources are, they just keep scoring some real gems. So, in what will be an ongoing series here at PBK, here are some short reviews of my best finds this weekend:

The Temptations, Cloud Nine (Gordy/Motown, 1969) Soul doesn't get more psychedelic than this. Finding a near-mint copy of this album for $2 is almost as good as my scoring Neil Young's On the Beach for a quarter at a Chicago garage sale (back in the days before it was out on CD and routinely fetching $50 on eBay). Side 1 features the newly Ruffin-less Tempts stretching out to their most expansive heights. The title track is a technicolor funk delight, while the group offers a highly original take on "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" that rivals Marvin and CCR. The real nugget is the 9-minute psych-funk masterpiece "Run Away Child (Running Wild)". Never could a better case be made for the superiority of vinyl than this track, which when played at the proper volume can make you feel like you are in the studio with Motown's session pros finding a vibe that they probably never knew they had. The interplay between the tight rhythms, soulful harmonies, and soaring improvisational funk/jazz guitar is unparalleled. Each listen reveals another subtle layer of complexity.

The songs on Side 2 are in a more traditional pop-soul vein, but Dennis Edwards vocals are beginning to point the Tempts away from the classic uptempo Northern soul sound and into some deeper territory that would define the soul music of the early 1970s. This record deserves to be mentioned among the greats of all time.

Dr. John Desitively Bonnaroo (Atco, 1974) With my recent fixation on Allen Toussaint, I suppose it was only a matter of time before I began discovering one of New Orleans' other soul legends, Dr. John. Desitively Bonnaroo seems like a great place to start too. The music is a deep-fried southern funk, with bubbling rhythm section and the patented NOLA chicken-scratch guitar courtesy of the legendary Meters.

"(Everybody Wanna Get Rich) Rite Away" is one of those rare grooves that begs for immediate repeat listening. Tom Piazza wrote a book on Why New Orleans Matters, but if there are still any non-believers in the house, they need to listen to this song or Allen Toussaint's "Soul Sister" to really get the idea.

Harry Nilsson Pussy Cats (RCA, 1974)Recorded with John Lennon during their hedonistic "lost weekend", this one is going to take a few listens before truly digesting, but my first impression is that this is completely brilliant. Nilsson was allegedly sick during much of the recording, but didn't want to let this on to Lennon and so you can hear his voice getting weaker and more desperate with each track. Lennon was probably loving it as the result is something not unlike the "primal scream" vocals on Plastic Ono Band. The contrast between Nilsson's voice and the backing tracks recorded by studio vets like Jim Keltner and Klaus Voorman only adds to the stark feeling of the album.

Chocolate Milk We're All in This Together (RCA, 1977) More NOLA funk produced by Allen Toussaint. Every time I go digging, I like to pick up something that I have never heard of before just based on album, cover, label, credits, etc. Sometimes I'm disappointed, but its always worth it because sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised, like in the case of this LP by Chocolate Milk.

By 1977, traditional funk and soul production was giving way to disco, which may explain why Chocolate Milk never had more than regional success. Tracks like "Grand Theft" must have been filling dance floors across the south in the late 70s, because the grooves are undeniable. Toussaint's genius cannot be understated here either. Even when the band overreaches on weaker material like "Help Me Find the Road", Toussaint's arrangements (especially on the vocals) keep things interesting, and more importantly, soulful!

Eddie Harris (& His Electric Saxophone) Plug Me In (Atlantic, 1968) Another blind pick, Eddie Harris was a jazz chameleon, often experimenting both in instrumentation and style. Here he plugs in the sax and comes up with some seriously funky Motown inspired arrangements sure to upset the purists of the time. The album feels all too short at about 27 minutes. The music isn't quite as remarkable as some of the other finds, but Harris' seems to have a great sense of humor and fun about his music that still makes this a worthy listen. A title like "Theme (In Search of a TV Commercial)" would probably be appropriate on many so-called indie rock albums today.

Billy Preston The Kids & Me (A&M, 1974) Preston's 70s material isn't known for its great depth or importance. He was always too pop for soul & funk fans and too funky for wider mainstream acceptance. His lyrics are often a bit trite as well. Still, he has a great voice and is a monster on the keys, so on his best material like "Nothin' From Nothin'" and the moog instrumental "Struttin'" his shortcomings are easily forgiven. However if you were ever wondering if the original version of "You Are So Beautiful" was actually good, I'll save you the trouble. It's not.

Why I Love Snowboarders

2006-02-18T11:15:00.000-05:00

I can't say I ever was a big snowboarding fan before this year. But watching the winter games, I have to say that I'm hooked. What appeals to me is the snowboarders sense of fun. Athletes often take themselves way too seriously, I think I'll rip my ears out the next time some jock spits out a cliched quote about "giving it 110%" and "taking it one game at a time".

That's why Lindsey Jacobellis is my new heroine:

"I was caught up in the moment," she said. "I think every now and then you might see something like that. I didn't even think twice.

"I was having fun," she added. "Snowboarding is fun. I was ahead. I wanted to share with the crowd my enthusiasm. I messed up. Oh well, it happens."

Now that's keeping it in perspective!

What's In a Name, Part II

2006-02-17T15:21:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I talked about the origins of my screenname; today, I will cover the name of the blog. The story is actually not all that interesting. Peanut Butter Knife was the name of a radio show I did Thursday mornings on WCSB from 1995-1999. The name has no special significance other than the fact that I love peanut butter and I liked the way the words sounded together. At the time how was I to know that there actually is such a thing as a peanut butter knife?

It was a good name and so instead of spending all my time coming up with the perfect name, something that is oh-so-clever, I thought why not revive this one?

Mr. Hackett Doesn't Go to Washington

2006-02-17T09:28:00.000-05:00

I think one of the reasons I finally got up enough gumption to begin writing this blog was in reading the endless amount of anguish from keyboard jockeys around the country over Paul Hackett being "forced" from the US Senate race to give Sherrod Brown a clean run at the nomination. I hadn't spent a lot of thought on Hackett. I live in Northeast Ohio and am well familiar with Sherrod Brown and his work in the House. I will be extremely proud to call him my Senator come November 2006. Hackett seemed like a stand-up guy and when he spoke about the Iraq War, he could wipe the floor with any candidate who could take him on. Unfortunately for him, a US Senator is going to have to deal with a spectrum of issues, and as Bush's speech on HSAs illustrates, the decisions the next Ohio Senator will make are going to have a profound impact on our everyday lives. When he veered off his Iraq message, Hackett seemed to mostly have his heart in the right place; but his positions lacked substance, especially when stacked up against Rep. Brown, who has been fighting these battles his whole life.

Still, I couldn't help feel some sympathy for Hackett's web supporters. It caught me off guard how large and how loyal his blog following was, but I'd been in their place 2 years ago when political pressures forced Howard Dean from the presidential primary. When people new to the political process see the sausage getting made (to use a tired metaphor), its tough to swallow. The key difference for me was in the reaction. Governor Dean's campaign put us on a path to reform. He gave us the tools we needed to get involved and stay involved in Democratic party politics, at a time when many of us had given up the party as hopeless. Hackett's followers on the other hand spoke not of staying involved in the process, but of seeking revenge. They pledged not only to withhold support for a committed progressive like Sherrod Brown, but to withdraw interest in races in Pennsylvania, Illinois and elsewhere. Some even were threatening to leave the party altogether.

I watched Frank Capra's film last night and I suppose the Hackett people see themselves as a bunch of online Jefferson Smiths, shocked and betrayed by a political force they once saw as their ally. It's a compelling story, but one I think misses the big picture. If the Hackett supporters are so insistent on "letting the people of Ohio decide", can they tell me how they thought Paul Hackett was going to get through a Dem primary heavily reliant on urban votes with his libertarian stance on guns? Or how about what voters in a state where public school funding may be the #1 issue would view his candidacy once they learn that his children are home schooled?

These Hackett supporters may resent how this whole thing played out, but Paul Hackett made the choice to drop out of the Senate race himself. What I resent is out of state bloggers for whom the war is the Only Issue That Matters, trying to tell us in Ohio that only Paul Hackett is an acceptable candidate. The truth is, we will never really know what went on behind the scenes, who said what to whom, etc. Hackett may be hurt that things didn't go his way, but there's no reason to believe that this was as diabolical as he made it seem. And who is the real Jefferson Smith in this story? The war veteran who saw DC politics up close and personal and decided to take his toys and go home, or the congressman who has spent his whole life fighting an uphill battle for progressive issues (what Smith might call "lost causes")? When I see Jimmy Stewart on that screen, I think of someone like Sherrod Brown who put his whole career on hold in order to try and derail an awful piece of legislation like CAFTA (and almost succeeding).

Whittington: Taking One For the Team

2006-02-16T15:03:00.000-05:00

So, let me get this straight. The GOP is glad he shot that guy now?

From the AP:

Republicans say they are pleasantly surprised that the intense media coverage of the hunting accident has shifted attention from the case of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff...The hunting accident "really has gotten Scooter Libby out of the press," said Deb Gullett, a GOP activist from Phoenix, who is chief of staff to the city's mayor.

Hi-ho Silver Line

2006-02-16T13:48:00.000-05:00

My screenname comes from the name of a branch of the CTA elevated rail system. I lived in Chicago for almost 4 years and I was enamored with public transportation the whole time I was there. Chicago is a city that bleeds history around every corner, and the "L" is part of the fabric that links you to the millions of people who called the city home over the past century plus.

The 54/Cermak branch was my favorite for numerous reasons. Until recently, it was the branch that had the fewest renovations. Traveling the Douglas in 2000 was probably a lot like riding it in 1900. The 54/Cermak winds its way through many long-neglected west side neighborhoods and one of the most intriguing aspects about Chicago was how a 3-flat in Douglas Park looks about the same as one in Lincoln Park. Looking out the window of the rail car you could imagine the vitality of those neighborhoods and the untapped potential for them to bloom again one day.

The 54/Cermak was the black sheep of the CTA system. It didn't run on weekends or very late at night. After the medical professionals exited at Polk, it served residents of these outlying neighborhoods almost exclusively. Surviving as their only link to the rest of the city. My stop for work was one after Polk, at 18th, although I did ride the length of the line a few times in something I hope to blog about later. Since the renovation, the 54/Cermak seems to be undergoing a renaissance with weekend service restored and now today's news that it will be severed from its longtime partner, the Blue Line to become it's own branch, the Silver Line. Perhaps most exciting about this news is that the new Silver Line will utilize the long-abandoned Paulina Connector. If you've ever driven around the United Center, you might have noticed a set of tracks that seemingly went nowhere and never carried any traffic. This is the Paulina Connector which fell out of favor once the CTA was rerouted to run down the middle of the Eisenhower Expressway. My first thought was that I must get back to Chicago just so I can ride on the Connector.

Fun fact: Anton Cermak was mayor of Chicago during the 1930s and died taking a bullet for FDR.

Welcome

2006-02-16T10:55:00.000-05:00

Here's something I've been meaning to do for awhile. I'm hoping to polish my writing skills and give myself some sort of creative escape from boredom. Hopefully the blog will gain more focus as it matures, but for now expect a hodgepodge of whatever is on my mind. Politics, music, film, it will probably all be covered here.