Pieces

How dare the World Champion Boston Red Sox try to include Coco Crisp in a trade for one of the best pitchers in baseball when our beloved WhiteSox are willing to offer their nothing-in-particular for the Carmines’ centerfielder.

Those other Sox have got some nerve.

WhiteSox fans pissed about the Angels acquiring Tori Hunter…forget about that shit. The Halos overpaid and if they didn’t the Dodgers were planning to do the same thing. There is still time for the nice Sox to get a guy in center w/out the desperation of overpaying for a thirtyandaging Aaron Rowand. I liked Coco Crisp as a backup plan. That seems to be slipping away.

The SOX have so many holes to fill after last year, there is no percentage in overspending for one player, even as important of a position as center. If they can’t land Crisp there is another.

Fucking great, Princess Leia will be playing center for the SOX come April.

My mood has been greatly lifted after today. Amazing what a good band practice and a nooner can do for a guy. When you’re on a losing streak the power of love and rock overcome all.

Those of you who are chagrined that I am still posting sports blogs here at the ajusted thing when DC started Killing for Sports let me say this…

I did more stupid sports over there in the form of a fond, fucked-up farewell to daredevil and douchebag…dare I say “douchedevil”? Evel Knievel.

May he rest in pieces.

Soon

I need to update my links and how. If you (who am I talkin to?) have looked at my profile you will see that I am a team member on a new blog

Killing for Sports

I still plan to post about sports here...

Sorry people with intelligence and interests that far outstrip mine

But the nasty nasty down and dirty sports shit will be there. Plus there will be funny, timely and well-written junk posted as I am not the only contributor. If you are a reader of this blog or a knower of me you can probably guess the other unusual suspects who'd be most likely to do a dorky sports team blog with moi.

We do so love the games where men hit, run, tackle, slide, throw, jump, dance, caper, mince...

Today

Today felt like a festering fucking wound.

If your day was better, well congratulations to you.

Fuck.

On the plus side, Alex settled on a name for his mouse.

Ace

...hopefully not as in "of Base."

That would make today absolutely perfect.

Dream Sequence Theater Part Something

Making slow but steady (dare I say daily?) progress on my short story about a three-legged raccoon.

That’s not entirely true.

The raccoon is probably going to end up being two-legged by the end of the damned thing.

Then dead.

I’m gonna be sued by my dear friend Bill Garver because a big character in his much bigger story is named the Raccoon. I can hear us arguing now…

Me: “Yes Bill I know your character is the Raccoon but my character happens to be a raccoon.”
Bill: “So you write about raccoons now. What’re you Davy Crockett?”
Me: “Um, I think you mean Daniel Boone?”
Bill: “No Ed it’s Davy Crockett. Read your Molesworth. Waitaminute, you don’t even read much. When did you start writing short stories?”
Me: “A couple-three weeks ago.”
Bill: “That’s it, this dream-sequence, fantasy-argument is over.”
Me: “Did you know that Kinch hid a radio in the coffee pot?”
Bill: “He did?!?!?!”

Do Not Kick It to Hester

KO's "Worst Player in the NFL" was absolutely hilarious tonight. And what have we learned about Chris Collingsworth?

Everything is esoteric to the former Bengals wide out.

Great game but damn, my texting thumb is sore. With the overtime my thumb will definitely be on the training table come Monday morning.

Alex got a mouse today and our family is very happy with its newest member.

Possible names thrown out by the boy...

Gunner
Buttspot
Brian
Ace
Domino
The Joker

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I am ready to get back with the bigDrag guys tomorrow night and solidify Whyspeak and start one more new song.

We will see.

Leaving Prague Unscathed

...sort of.

Nice dinner with Joe & Steener on Friday. Gave OD the last free track for the Old Kishwaukee Band record with instructions for eq'ing the thing. He knows what he's doing and it only scares me a little that he makes sense of my wishes in these matters.

We ordered bags for the bD CD singles. We will now have plenty of them to throw back at the audience when they throw fruit & newspapers at us. I'd say we were like the I Come In Peace guy, but he didn't have these snazzy bags covering the CDs he whipped at his victims.

Finished the Prague Orgy and that means I've finished the first three Zuckerman books plus the appendage, er, uh appendix to The Anatomy Lesson.

The most amazing thing about Roth in these books? He writes about his dick (or Zuckerman's dick) so effortlessly. No one I know comes close. But fuck, I don't live in a writers' colony outside of Bearville or some shit like that...

BEARS!

I live in DeKalb. My friends are talented enough, sure. This guy has been turned into a living treasure and has failed to be turned into shit as a result of a stupid amount of praise & prizes.

Incroyable!

What am I, Belloque (sp. Jeanz? Dr. Jones? somebody!) now?

I shouldn't talk about anyone's abilities. I have been reading these great books since summer and what am I saying here?

The guy is good because he's good at writing about his dick.

Started The Counterlife tonight. Looks like Roth is writing about his brother's dick in this book.

Meant to Be

I'm glad to see that the Garland for Cabrera trade paved the way for the Tori Hunter signing. Too bad he signed with the Angels!

Fuck.

Looks like Rowand is next on the list of possible new/recycled SOX center fielders. I'd rather have Hunter, but I'd rather overpay for Rowand than pay any money for Andru Jones.

Wayfaring Pilgrim

In honor of Thanksgiving, here's the great Roy Buchanan doing Wayfaring Pilgrim.

Yeah the song sounds a little too much like Summertime but what're ya gonna do. When I was in high school I loved this stuff. I thought I had the blues or some shit like that.

See, I was even more pathetic in my youth.

Traduced

Michael K, what’s with your ex-uncle-in-law? He works 20+ years for an organization. He is lauded as one the best baseball men in a franchise that sorely lacks such people. He starts when Wrigley is a graveyard and helps make it & the neighborhood the party landmark and hallowed baseball ground that it is today, he finally gets promoted to the job he’s always wanted…

…and then he quits

TO TAKE A JOB WITH THE BLACKHAWKS!?!?!

Sorry. I am pretending like I know people here but Michael K has mentioned meeting John McD and quiet frankly (even tho I have never met him) his accessibility to the Baseball Zeus (Bruce Levine) and the many interviews (and “years of friendship” with Chicago’s greatest baseball nerd…even bigger than moi)…all the time yappin on my Saturday morning radio…

Hell, I feel like I knew the guy.

What am I saying? I don’t know anybody. I don’t even like the cub. Also, I understand why he left. Whoever buys the northside ballclub is probably not going to keep McD as president. But let me suggest that his ascendancy following the farewell of Mister McFail was not nothing. He was supposed to be one of the people telling Hendry for a while that he needed an assistant. He fired some key morons in the cubs coterie of scouting douches. The rise from 66 wins a year ago to making the playoffs wasn’t all McD but he might’ve played a role almost equal to (but not exceeding) those of Hendry, his assistant GM, and Lou.

I thought the guy was ok and that’s all I have to say about that.

Looks like the Dodgers have stepped up their offer for Tori Hunter. I don’t think the SOX need to overpay for him. There’s a good market of free agent centerfielders left.

JUST PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE NO ANDREW – OR HOWEVER THE FUCK HE SPELLS IT - FRIGGIN JONES!

ScoPo designated for assignment, NOT THAT YOU SICK BASTARDS…

But that clears the way, I guess to continue the Josh Fields in left field experiment allowing he and Crede to be in the lineup together…

/providing my son’s favorite WhiteSOX is with the team next year.

Loud & Fun

Great, great great rock show Friday night and all three greats are deserved...or should there be four greats? In all the excitement, I kinda lost track myself.

A lot could’ve and should’ve gone wrong. Four bands, one stage…three opening acts setting up and striking their gear in front of the battle-damaged, yet surprisingly professional and loud as ever living fuck road equipment of Blue Cheer.

The last three shows of this year have been the best, most satisfying things I’ve done in rock for a long fucking while.

In Rockford we played to no one, but the bar owner was so happy that at one point he stopped the show to bring us a round of shots. Well, let’s just say he was so into it that he wanted to stop the show to drink with us. I dunno, maybe he just wanted to stop the show.

At any rate, the CJ’s gig was great although Cub Girl told me she was just out there and one of the performers was gunned down after the show.

The Old Dog is fine as far as I know.

The Ambersons show, I said enough about that but on a personal and musical level, very satisfying.

The Blue Cheer show, everybody played their asses off. Bog was great. We were afraid that we’d be the wimpy ones but I think we rose to the occasion.

The most important thing is the audience, as well as the band members had fun.

Sure it was a little weird signing autographs after the show for women who were older than my mother…

…and one had creepy, frosty blue contacts…

But that’s a minor complaint.

I’ve never done this before with any band I’ve opened for but as I was leaving to get my shit loaded in the Ford Fukus station wagon, I made it a point to tell Dickie Peterson, “It was an honor to open for you. You guys do this the right way. God Bless and good luck Mister.”

Then I let him get back to the rest of the well-wishers, wishing him well.

Great night. Great fucking night. I wish it never ended.

20 Without an H

While I have many fond memories of Jon Garland....

WHAT THE FUCK WERE THE ANGELS SMOKING TRADING A GOLD GLOVE SHORTSTOP TO GET A DECENT #3 OR #4 PITCHER?????

Garland is young and may have many great years ahead of him, but he is also on the verge of being a terminal nibbler. I like Garland and he was not @ 100% last year. Even if he has fantastic numbers ahead of him, I'm glad Kenny traded a pitcher for an everyday player who makes the SOX much better up the middle.

More on the numbers and other things later.

Good luck Jon Garland, you pitched the first game my kid ever saw, pitched great against the Angels in the ALCS and went pitch-for-pitch with that George fucking Bush looking asswipe Roy Oswalt. You did great for the SOX & here's hoping everyone benefits from this trade.

How long 'til pitchers adnd catchers report?

Blue State Cheer

The Blue Cheer show was the loudest thing I ever took part in & I had so much fucking fun. I may write more about this later. For now...

How? How? How? How can the race be too close to call between THREE Democrats in Iowa? How did Edwards keep and maintain this traction? I hope to fuck that DC and ROM the Spaceknight Emanuel are wrong as fuck re: how Senator’s OB & HRC will cancel each other out and the Haircut will swoop in and gather up the leavings.

I think, and I have some useful info in this regard, that Edwards is at 21% in Iowa because he put the bulk of his cash & foot soldiers on the ground there. The two separate groups that asked me to get involved with fucking Edwards both gave me the sense that people like me would be useful in terms of our close proximity to Iowa.

Even if I believed in J-Ed (worst nickname ever) I would not waste months of my life trying to help someone have a victory party on January 4th in the birthplace of Captain Kirk.

I think Edwards will get close in Iowa and fade because that’s where his people put everything and there is nothing but the candidate’s charisma and ability to raise new revenues left after that.

On the other side, I’m waiting for the slap-fight to break out between Mitt & the bass-playin’ Huckabee.

Chapter and Verse

I was working on a “Boom Boom” Mancini post (not about the famous fight with Duek Koo Kim but his first title bout against Alexis Arguello) but I was hit with a Runtime C+ + error. Yes, I am nerdy enough to type some of this nonsense into Word before I paste shit into my blog.

Nerd!

If I try the boxing post again, it will not be until Monday. I’m gonna try not to write anymore new B.S. posts over the weekend unless something on Meet the Press really gets to me. I know a few other dorks who read this thing (Michael, Chris & DC) wait all week for that show like me and may care to respond to such crap as well.

For the most part I will use Saturdays to post new pieces of fiction (although the short story draft I’m working on currently will not be ready for this Sat)

DUE TO THE BIG FUCKING BIG DRAG SHOW!

…oh, for anyone interested I can’t get a straight answer as to the price at the door. The best Otto’s would give me is “between $7 & $10”

I am prepared to say that bigDrag is ready to give the audience $10 worth of rock, but I understand if there are some who would rather see that money go to their liver enlargement funds.

Writing in the blog is not a pure pleasure, but it is a wonderful crutch. It has sufficiently replaced smoking in my life and for that I am truly grateful.

My other writing has suffered recently. It has not suffered in terms of quantity, I do it almost everyday. But much of it sucks. Much of it is not readable. Much of it is an embarrassment to even me and I have balls bigger than Texas. Anyone who has been involved in a project with me knows that I am willing to put almost anything out there and see what happens. I care nothing for reputation, at least when it comes to art or whatever.

Hell, I was the pukey guy on stage.

I’m hoping that by reworking some of these two-draft, pretty-close-but-not-real-literature short stories over the next few months will jump start something in my head and hard drive.

We’ll see.

Sometimes I lash out with the blame game in my head (if it’s in my head, is it really lashing out?)

Well I have pathetic thoughts, pangs of jealousy about those who have more opportunities to write or whatever. It’s just part of the excuse farm that is my life and I know I am not unique in this regard. I’m not saying ‘oh, fucking feel sorry for me boo hoo hooo, fucking hoo’

Writing, being a writer (or worse) thinking you are a writer can lead a man to mistake the blessings in his life.

So, the next fucking time I come home and start pissing and moaning (even in my own pissy & moany head) that there are so many distractions around here, people bouncing in and out, friends, kids, family obligations, noise, tumult…

I have to remember these things, along with the love and knowledge that comes from faith and a prayer life in Jesus, are what make my life worth living.

I must remember this, especially when I am writing and Alex is in his playland by himself or with his crew getting nutty. Even the screaming is not bad and if I am thinking rightly, should not be thought of as a distraction. They are alive. They live with a joy that should be a reminder and never, never thought of as anything remotely resembling a nuisance.

“Let the little children come to me. Do not shut them off. The reign of God belongs to such as these. Trust me when I tell you that whoever does not accept the kingdom of God as a child (does) will not enter into it.” (Luke 18: 16-17)

And Alex’s friend Luke is totally right about this. The kid is wise beyond his years. Hell ole Bookface edP is already quoting him chapter and verse.

Why I Am So Nervous

Why am I so nervous?

Parent-teacher conferences this week…

I asked Alex over the weekend: “I’m going to sit down and talk to your teacher this week. All the kids’ parents are going to do it. What do you think your teacher is going to say to me?”
Alex: “Some good things. Some bad things.”
Me: “Oh yeah? What are some of the good things she is going to say?”
Alex: “I am getting better at writing my letters.”
Me: “Oh yeah. I noticed that.”
Alex: “Especially my 9’s”
Me: “What kind of ‘bad’ things do you think she’ll say?”
Alex: “I talk a lot.”

That’s pretty much how it went. I think his teacher and student-teacher are fantastic and even though he says his they are strict I can tell he likes school. To quote David Yow, “That pleases me to virtually no end.”

Not sure Mr. Yow felt the same way about his school years but that is neither here nor there.

Pretty excited about the wrap up show of the bigDrag ‘Ought Seven tour, opening for Blue Cheer this Friday.

We’ll shut down the live shows for awhile and start recording the new material we’ve gotten together playing these shows in a relatively short period of time. There might be one or two other songs we add as well.

Looking forward to bigDrag recordings and a new, more manageable if not doable writing project of my own.

Two more weeks until I can sit down and have a final pressing of the OKB record to play for Cousin Mike.

Pretty sure Bill will sign off on anything so long as it doesn’t interfere with his new writing gig.

He made it very clear that his plate is full and getting fuller and while he had fun doing the Amberson show I am not going to ask him to do a bunch of crazy crap. Once boats start sailing into the lake here, me & Cousin Mike should be able to find some interested and slightly mad parties to help us do something.

Something bad.

Lots going on in my head. Let’s see if I can do any of it.

Is Up Down Again?

I will not back away from my statement that the Jr. Senator from Illinois represents a certain kind of hope that I find compelling in a presidential candidate. But when it comes to foreign policy, especially in nuclear negotiations, his insistence on direct diplomacy actually makes him sound tied to failed policies of the past. It makes him seem as if he doesn’t understand the realities behind our present success with N. Korea, let alone have a clear vision of the future of nuclear negotiations in a more volatile region of the world.

When I hear him talk about the US emphasizing something like one-on-one negotiations with Iran I can smell failure and humiliation. This is not to say that the only option is to blow Iran back to what it was before Cyrus the Great (ironically Cyrus the Great, the only non-Jewish leader praised in the Old Testament).

Sorry, didn’t mean to go Old Testament on ya.

But to hear Senator O talk about N. Korea forgetting that what put us on the road to success was our refusal not to play games one-on-one while the regime stalled, redirected its efforts and tried to find separate negotiators or confederates to play against us. Everyone forgets that Clinton (through former Pres Carter) negotiated a wildly unsuccessful agreement with N. Korea that gave them carrots up the ass and helped the idiots of that sick regime to redirect their efforts and eventually develop a far more real nuclear threat…and just in time to have a rocket program to potentially deliver the goodies to Seoul or Tokyo.

All while starving their own people.

eeeeeeYikes!

We should’ve given the carrots to the N. Korean people so they didn’t have to eat fucking bark.

Back to the present, nuclear negotiations w/ N. Korea were instigated (in part) by our unwillingness to talk to them one-on-one (a move I blasted gbushy for at the time I think I called it the Marcel Marceau approach to diplomacy, say nothing, just irritate all parties)…then they were brought to a realistic and desirable conclusion when conducted side-by-side with other powers in the region who have more at stake, more to offer, and more with which to punish the guy who stole Harry Cary’s glasses.

In Iran it is crucial that any negotiations designed to curb their nuclear ambitions include AT LEAST the fucking Russians. Doing otherwise gives Iran and Russia more power and influence than they have had in years and all at the expense of our interests in the region.

Sen. O supposedly exudes a forward-thinking image. Not in foreign policy. His discussions of talks, sticks and carrots, the value of getting our ideological foes to the negotiation table comes right out of foreign policy papers from the 1970’s.

The US has another player, with much to gain or lose that it can bring in to larger talks with Iran – China!

China’s thirst for oil, increasing global influence and nuclear experience make it the perfect partner in these things.

By the way, in bringing Russia and China into talks with Iran about developing nukes also helps us engage in ongoing dialogues with regimes that trouble us on a variety of levels. All the differences between the parties could lead to disaster, sure…

But the benefits of reaching a meaningful agreement are worth the risk.

//and quiet frankly doing something that radical with two vertices on the “Axis of Evil” (I know it’s dumbass talk but I wanted to get geometrical with this shit)…doing something that radical, that to me is forward thinking.

Wrong with Me

I try to improve myself, get better with my hang-ups...whatever....

But last night was proof that I am still one self-induced hissy fit away from a major coronary.

Swell.

A Strange Request

Our beloved Presidork offered this strange response to a reporter who asked him if the US was being soft on Musharraf…

gBushy: “I spoke with him on the phone earlier this afternoon. I told him to hold his election as planned, and to take his uniform off.”

THAT SICK FUCK!

On the phone, he tells the General to take his uniform off. I plan to review the tape because I’m not even 100% sure gBushy told him to hold his “election” fer cripes sake.

Musharaff suspends his country’s constitution and our president wants to get a little dictator.

It’s just as I always suspected. gBushy is a constitution-suspendin’ fucker.

Sorry.



Onto unrelated and infinitely more pleasant matters…

The Temptations Ain’t to Proud to Beg came on the radio at work today. Besides being a relief from the pap the We Play Anything Bad station pours over our sad heads all day…that song stands as evidence that my sweet love Kimberly Jo has excellent taste in everything except men.

Those who know my darling & I know that we both love the Stones for some of the same reasons, but some very different ones as well. Kim appreciates the great records the stones made especially from the late 60’s through Exile and she also enjoys parts of Goat’s Head Soup and of course Some Girls.

Me, I listen to the good Rolling Stones stuff, but I have a soft spot for the crap. I picked up a tape of It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll and took it with us on a trip to Eastern Illinois. Kim really got into their cover of Ain’t to Proud to Beg and asked me if she could dupe that one song. She said “Sorry honey. It’s sort of the only good song on this record.”

Despite my love for Fingerprint File, my sweetie was/is probably right.




In family news, Kim and I got our first ‘letter sent home from the teacher’ because Alex and some of his classmates made bad decisions and wrote on their desks. The boy’s got to stay in from recess next week and clean desks. The teacher gave the guilty parties a chance to fess up and Alex was one of the first to admit he did it and stand in front of the classroom with other desk defilers.

I told him that the desks were school property, but they were paid for by all the homeowners in the community in the form of property taxes. Our community does not like it when property taxes go up, so there’s only so much money the school can get from us. If it has to keep spending that money on new desks, the school can’t buy cool books on baby animals and the Civil War (his two favorite topics these days) and kids won’t have as many opportunities to discover cool things.

Alex: “Sorry dad.”
Me: “Don’t worry about being sorry. Just do a good job cleaning the desks when you’re in for recess and you will undo most of the harm you did.”
Alex: “Really?”
Me: “Yeah. No point in being mad about this. No point in saying sorry. You have a chance to make this right boy. Now go and do it, but give me a hug before you do.”
Alex: “Ok dad.”

I dunno if I handled that the right way. I’ve defaced tons of school property in my day (although I wasn’t gonna cop to that in front of the boy). I save my getting mad/yelling at the kid for the rare occasions when he does something in a truly uncaring and thoughtless fashion. No sense raising the stakes with some desk writing. That’s what I think anyway.

Besides, party of me is happy he is writing on his desk. This means that the OT is helping, doesn’t it?

If I ever need to scare the boy straight I'll just show him this clip.

Some people get parenting ideas from their faith, best-selling books, mommies on-line discussion groups, blogs, magazines and the fucking Super Nanny...

Me, I'll turn to Roky Erickson thank you very much.

What I Say

It's 8:30pm and this is the first time today I've had a minute to myself to write.

Fuck.

I've got nothing to say.







ok, all is not fucking lost. In an effort to chill out I finally heard the L. Fleischer (sp?) with the Cleveland Symphony performing Brahms Piano Concerto Numero Uno and it was impressive.

I don't know much about Brahms but I do know I find Number Two more relaxing than Number One.

Just like in the toilet.

Sorry.

Here's the famous Van Cliburn (or just 'CLIBURN' as the die hards called him)...

...here is the famous Van Cliburn performance of Number 2 circa 1962 somewhere in the Soviet Union.

I think Khrushchev was banging his shoe on the piano by the end of this gig.

Nice.

Khrushchev: "We will break you!"
Van Cliburn: "I don't know nothin' about that but your gonna break my piano ya fat fuck."
Khrushchev: "Rrrrraurrrrgh!"
Van Cliburn: "By the way, Lawrence Tierney called. He wants his face back."

I'm pretty sure that in addition to being a famous American pianist, Van Cliburn was also a time-traveling, semi-obscure, reference making wise ass.

At least that's what I say.

Wondering Loud

/or aloud or out loud whatever…

Why isn’t Benazir Bhutto more famous than she is? There’s three generations of (what’s the bullshit boring boring word the boring fucking people use to describe things in our gutter culture? “Drama”?) there’s three generations of drama bringing us to this point in the story. Her father was hung and her husband was accused (rightly or wrongly) of shady dealings which may have involved laundering money through Swiss bank accounts.

What’s sexier than that?

She’s battling the regime of the evil general allied with our whacky usurper from Texas. People voted her one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World or some shit like that. She’s 50, and much like Tina Turner, who battled another evil dictator – Benazir Bhutto is still gettin’ it done.

How can she get through to the Lifetime Nation that should adore her? After all she’s battling a MAN drunk with power…Maybe Lifetime or TLC or Discovery can put out a made for TV movie about her and the struggle in Pakistan NOT WITHOUT MY COUNTRY.

What does she have to do to crack our collective psyche? Get out of a limo sans panties after adopting some American babies?

On a serious note, I know Musharraf is through because when he makes public appearances fans no longer chant: “Mooooooose!”

Musharraf to aid: “They are booing me! They no longer say Moose.”
Aid: “No. Yes.”

He can’t even bullshit the General anymore.

On a more serious serious note, Bush should withdraw any sort of support for Musharraf, let the country go to shit and see what happens. It’s possible such horseshittery would draw out O’someone Who Been Hidin’ or his main henchmen who (unless they’re hiding in Newark, NJ) are probably somewhere in Pakistan.

Let the Bass guys come out of hiding to try to sweep up whatever control they can from the chaos. Making such elements more visible in a power grab is worth 1000x’s the no intelligence we’ve gotten recently on those douches.

I should’ve backed off in the first portion of this post. I don’t hate the gutter culture…

I’m a product of it.

I act like I have something to say but much of it is my worthless, angry opinion.

In peaceful times the warlike man attacks himself.

There’s an image of me I’m sure you’d all like to forget.

Turning Left

Fred Thompson has managed to sound wishy-washy about torture this morning. How do you do a thing like that? I do know this, one of his close political advisors knows how to fuckin’ party.

Check it out

Hey, it could’ve been eleven pounds of medicinal marijuana.

Martin apparently loans his Cessna to Thompson for his political sojourns across this great country of ours.

In honor of Philip Martin’s generosity, let’s all listen to the great Marvin Gaye.

Martin’s planes will continue to be at the disposal of the law & order guy until certain new campaign finance laws kick in. Isn’t that something about those laws? They always seem to take effect right after they would do some good, or they are always meant to deal with the next election.

It’s like Congress is saying “Shit, we better ban the campaign practices we used last time around. It’s criminal to run for office the way I did.”

Sorry.

I don’t care much for campaign finance reform. I find it un-American.

Of course I’m the idiot that thinks we should have the all drug Olympics.

Saturday Night Live was right.

I think salary caps are antithetical to real competition.

I will be happy if people realize that many of the pitchers faced by Barry ‘the Duke of Winstrol’ Bonds were gooped-up on as much gop as he was.

And I will never understand why they put restrictions on the engines of racing cars. That’s the only real competition. Who can develop the fastest (and potentially the most dangerous) machine…

…otherwise, it’s just turning left.

Work Hard Zutroy

...and each day you'll earn a shiny nickel.

Not Zutroy, the Zutons. I'm not sure if this band called it a day yet but I can't get this song out of my worthless head. Give 'em a try.

Did you have to go to jail
Put your house on up for sale
Did you get a good lawyer

I hope you didn't catch a tan
I hope you'll find the right man
Who'll fix it for ya

Kim and I were supposed to go on a date Friday. Alex was going to hang out with my folks but he ran a fever on Friday night. We all hung out together in DK. Poor kid, even the new Iron Man animated feature didn't perk him up.

He enjoyed it this morning and we spent most of the day hanging out as he recovered. Instead of shooting P I G in the basement, it became I R O N P I G.

We had to play it that way since we were pretending to be Iron Dad and Iron Lad.

Couldn't get Kim to go for the Iron Dad thing later, but after the boy went to bed we chilled out together and watched the movie about Robert Hanson, Breach.

Finally had a chance to check out the Jeff Beck North Seas Jazz Fest thing from last year. The song I found most enjoyable? Lopsy Lu. I don't know why. I'm sure there's better stuff from the show. This performance is straightforward and fun to listen to.

Some would say that is rare for jazz. Not me. I like jazz and whatever Lopsy Lu is.

Now finally (and this really should be the final finally - at least for tonight) apparently I am unable to live in the present. After the fun night of music with my friends the Magnificent Ambersons, I am reuniting with my old band from before the Ambersons and even before the floating Basement.

Dig our promo clip.

I'm the guy with the mask.

The Last Mile

ChrisB offers another provocative post re: Obama, Net Neutrality, and action (potentially) initiated by our government to…what? Preserve the revolution? I owe much of what I know to my smart and tech savvy friends and I know it does not take long before I am talking out of my ass on things like frontier technology, new markets and what is needed to create and maintain both…

What I do understand is rhetoric. I am not a libertarian. I do not think government needs to be told to go to its room and only come out when we need it.

I know I’m mixing metaphors or some shit here.

Bearing in mind I am not a libertarian, I find it strange that in order to have an unfettered internets we need pledges from political hopefuls that government will codify and ensure those e-freedoms that are fast becoming tantamount to inalienable rights.

WTF?

Go to Chris’ blog or BoingBoing for more thoughtful thoughts on such stuff.

Maybe I don't understand fully what network neutrality is or what its proponents want government to do, or what should be forbidden/off limits for commercial service providers re: the internet.

Liking but not loving the Lodger record. Thanks and much love to those who take the time to send me music…even if it is a fucking bastard that constantly rejects pages from me but still has the balls to tell me what I ought to listen to and how I ought to write.

Kicking Sand is great pop and this is from a guy that fucking loves pop music

Oooops, I don’t think the best song is on the mySpace page. Sorry, I let everyone down but those who know me should know to expect the occasional disappointment.

The rest of Grown Ups…meh. I can take it or leave it. One more listen is possible but then I’m off it.

I need time to listen to the 5 song the Falcon EP over and over again until the real The Falcon and Battlestar come to save my dumb, white ass.

Sorry.

Missed Holy Mass and that sucked. I had to get the coats and stuff to ChrisB’s. Thanks and much love to the OD for helping me with that task. I was hoping to see the Squirrel out there but no luck.

Making this Town Safe

...for decent chihuahuas to live here.

I've been kind of spinning my heels this week.

Heels? What am I, wearing Heelies?

Lots of activity that didn't lead me in any particular direction. I did a bunch of shit just because....um, I dunno why but it didn't yield anything particularly useful.

However, it was all worth it to see Alex the Cowboy (a.k.a. John T. Chance) and Luke the Chihuahua (a.k.a. Luke the Chihuahua) run from house to house in their fevered quest for the sweet, sweet candy.

Luke's mom, our 16th President and Alex's mom, my sainted wife and I soaked it all in as the boys brought justice to this here Halloween.

Came back to see PDawg who dutifully greeted his trick or treaters. He was out of candy by the time we made it back to Luke's house so we were greeted with a giant, metallic bowl of pumpkin mash.

PDawg wore a blue shirt with a disinguished sweater-vest (if such a thing is still possible) and he cut the figure of a young E.I. Lonoff (not that we are ever told what Lonoff wore or looked like when he was younger and there is no way of knowing since he is mostly fiction)

I think the point is, I am a bit jealous of my friend. Even working around the house with a bowl of pumkin mash he manages to look like a man, an artist of some substance.

Around the house I put forward image of a fat douche , waiting for his pork chops.

And that has made all the difference.