|
Up to the minute notes on the current state of free thinking and free living: Kentucky moonshine - original analysis and reporting from MoreThings, and all round pop culture museum of sight and sound - photo galleries, mp3 and video downloads.
Al Barger and MoreThings - getting people's goats since 1998.
Live free or die!
----
|
September 27, 2003
Elvis Costello on A&E's Live by Request
On September 25, 2003, Elvis Costello and the Imposters played live from New York City for the A&E network's Live by Request show. [CLICK HERE to see when it is re-playing.]
Obviously, two hours of live Elvis makes a sweet treat for any fan. We got lots of interesting Elvis, including some less frequent selections. "Clubland" was a fun thing to hear.
I was particularly pleased when an audience Applause-O-Meter passed up "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror" which is great, but common- in favor of "Beyond Belief," which I don't think I've seen him play live. I've heard the classic Imperial Bedroom recording probably literally 1,000 times, but it's never sounded quite like this. This ranks as my favorite performance of the night.
The title song "North" from his now three day old new album came, naturally, as a request from a Canadian fan. In truth, it was probably the least interesting song of the set.
Ol' Burt Bacharach called in to request "All This Useless Beauty," which he said was one of his favorite Elvis songs- even though it was not one that he was involved with. It was good to see this infrequently performed song- and the Bacharach endorsement carries considerable weight- but I still don't see this as a major Elvis classic.
This overall performance probably rates actually slightly lower than any of the several times I've seen him in person, particularly his October 2002 appearance in Indianapolis. He was perhaps just a bit more ragged, or sloppy here. It's all good, though.
Indeed, this is easily excusable as spontaneity and freshness. He played somewhat different songs than what he was playing live last year. He pulled out stuff that he hasn't played in a while at the drop of a hat. Plus, he plays things somewhat different from the record. He's really involved with the songs in the now, rather than merely running through exact replicas of the studio recordings in rote recitations. If it comes out a bit rough around the edges, that's absolutely cool with me.
I would also be remiss if I did not mention that Steve Nieve is a keyboard playin' mofo. He can jam out the rock stuff, the jazzy vocal stuff, anything- and add fire to it.
One thing he did do the same was the big main set closer, "Couldn't Call It Unexpected, No. 4" from the underrated Mighty Like a Rose album. [Now, if we could just get him to play "Hurry Down Doomsday" sometime] He likes to show off a bit with this one, by stepping away from the mic and projecting it out to several thousand fans purely under his own lung power. This is a pretty good trick, as it's not just a bit of shouting, but a real song with a melody to perform.
Actually, he went last year's performance of the song better, by turning it into an audience participation bit. He was waving his arms, conducting the audience. He led the whole audience, then parts of the audience in a chorus, then changed the bit they were singing and brought in other parts of the audience, who still sounded "like a choir of angels." This was pretty complicated stuff for an audience singalong.
Then he came back for a good, if inevitable, encore of "Peace, Love and Understanding," though it lacked that extra bit of urgency he had when playing this as guest host for Letterman right before the war.
All in all, this was why God invented Tivo.
posted by Al at 9/27/2003 06:35:00 AM
Pinkos and the English language
I try to be careful and precise with my written words, especially when I'm saying something that I know will be controversial about politics. I am highly cognizant of George Orwell's famous essay about "Politics and the English Language." I want to say what I'm really thinking, and to do so with flavor and some personal style- but I also want to be appropriate in my use of the language.
People sometimes object to any personal descriptions or criticisms as "ad hominem" or "to the person" attacks. Criticisms of someone's character do not answer how you would propose to pay for Social Security benefits, say.
To some extent, personal criticisms in politics are unavoidable, however. Math or physics operate on mechanical criteria. Either the formula is correct, or not- regardless of what you may think about the professor espousing it. Politics, however, to a significant extent is about people and personalities. You can't really talk about public affairs without sometimes talking about the people involved.
This leads me to considering the words I choose to describe political opponents, which is somewhat tricky. There are numerous considerations, depending on the circumstances. I don't want to just routinely villify anyone with whom I have any disagreement, and opposition comes from all sides and flavors.
I don't particularly mind if I speak harshly of Bill Clinton, for example. He already has made himself fairly demonic in a thousand ways, so there's not much danger of unfairly demonizing him with anything I might write about him. I wouldn't feel bad about describing him as an evil demagogue. The nasty bastard deserves worse language than that.
On the other hand, Barney Frank rates with me as a pretty decent fellow. Now, he holds a lot of socialistic and left-wing views with which I heartily disagree. Oh yes, sometimes watching him on the news I want to slap him- though I'm not sure that would discourage him. Anyway, I generally would consider him a smart and honest, if misguided, figure. I might call him a damned fool, but anything suggesting wickedness or dishonesty would not be right.
Sometimes you need generalized words, shorthand for groups of people or ways of thinking. The negative way to describe this would be to accuse one of "stereotyping." I try to be mindful of this, but the need for generalized terms is sometimes unavoidable. Analysis consists of picking out patterns and abstract associations, recognizing that this thing and that thing go together. Grouping is to some extent totally appropriate and unavoidable, particular when you're talking about self-selected groups, such as PETA or the NRA.
The most general group of political opposition I encounter might be broadly described as "people whose dumb politics piss me off." This would include, approximately, everyone. There are foolish damned conservatives, environmentalists, drug warriors, socialists and do gooders of all stripes. Even some libertarians cheese me off. Sometimes I piss MYSELF off.
Slightly more specifically, however, I most commonly find myself tangling with left wing types. I find myself thus needing a good generic descriptive word or phrase for a shorthand reference to annoying liberal types. I want something that will convey a lightly dismissive tone for people I think are not serious, reactionary knee jerk liberals who routinely jump on largely thoughtless, shallow and predictable ideological responses.
How should I refer to such people? Some would argue that one should maintain careful neutrality of language, maybe something like refering to them simply as liberals or left-wingers or esteemed colleagues or some such.
Blah! That's colorless, tasteless and lacking in style. Even worse, it doesn't communicate anything like what I'm really thinking.
Some of these folks get pretty mean spirited and ridiculous. I'm talking here about the kind of people who would describe anyone an inch to the right of Hillary Clinton as a "fascist hatemonger" for example. Some people can't hear the words President Bush without going into a seething rant about Dubya being a lying Nazi. I'm not that worried about offending their sensibilities.
On the other hand, I don't want to share that kind of hateful tone. I like to think I'm good-humored, and though I may speak sharply, I try to avoid being malicious or bitter in tone, even if some folks really deserve it. I don't want to pull my punches, but I don't want to be a hater either.
Also, most of the liberal schmucks aren't that bad. They may be misguided and foolish, but not necessarily wicked and hateful. Janeane Garofalo, for example, can get pretty silly, but she's not really a hater.
But what word can I use to broadly refer to all these people? I sometimes have used the word commie, but I'm not real satisfied with it. I would take that as a bit funny, but all the fellow travelers will choose not to see the humor in it. Also, in fairness, it is short for the word communist, so it might reasonably be seen to invoke at least some hint of the evil, murderous Joe Stalin et al. That's a bit much to lay even on such a schmuck as Sean Penn. I think he's an infantile idiot, not a mass murdering monster.
At this point, I really like the term pinko. For starters, it's clearly not as strong as communist or any derivative. It's pink, not red.
Also, it seems like it would be hard for someone to miss the humor in the term. The word is so archaic as to be amusing. It's from what, the 60s? It's a bit like saying groovy, which I'm also known to do. It has an inherent bit of camp value that even John Waters (a pinko himself, no doubt) might appreciate.
Indeed, the most famous usage of the word alive in popular culture comes from the highly humorous Charlie Daniels "Ballad of Uneasy Rider" wherein he's going off about "them long-haired hippie-type pinko fags." Even when this song was recorded thirty years ago, the term was an archaic cliche. I, for one, can't hear that word without thinking of this usage of it.
All in all, then, pinko seems to strike about the right tone. It communicates the idea of silly leftism, with a decent dash of humor that would seem to preclude someone thinking that I'm taking myself too 100% deadly serious.
Or do some of you pinko fags got something to say about it?
posted by Al at 9/27/2003 05:38:00 AM
September 25, 2003
Freedom of speech for me, but not for thee
From the Associated Press:
DALLAS -- Southern Methodist University shut down a bake sale Wednesday in which cookies were offered for sale at different prices, depending on the buyer's race or gender.
The sale was organized by the Young Conservatives of Texas, who said it was intended as a protest of affirmative action.
A sign said white males had to pay $1 for a cookie. The price was 75 cents for white women, 50 cents for Hispanics and 25 cents for blacks.
Pinko leftists are essentially fascists and hypocrites, as this story underlines. They believe in freedom of speech for me, but not for thee. The authoritarian or fascist nature of this jumps right out at ya, don't it? Then there is the lying hypocrisy.
Speaking of lying liars:
A black student filed a complaint with SMU, saying the sale was offensive. SMU officials said they halted the event after 45 minutes because it created a potentially unsafe situation.
"This was not an issue about free speech," Tim Moore, director of the SMU student center, said in a story for Thursday's edition of The Dallas Morning News. "It was really an issue where we had a hostile environment being created."
Getting shut down had NOTHING to do with the content of the speech, see. It was just a safety hazard to have this hostile environment being created. Mr. President, I smell a big fat commie rat. If it was even a fairly extreme fringe left wing speech or demonstration, I bet they'd have had the governor calling out the National Guard before they would have squelched pinko speech.
Name me even one incident where even the cheesiest anti-war protest, say, was shut down by police. "Conservatives might get mad" is not considered a legitimate reason to limit free speech- nor should it be, nor would any conservative expect it to be. If some right wingers were out destroying a press run from the Ball State Daily News, I'd be back at the ol' alma mater myself with a baseball bat to give the fools an attitude adjustment. If the shoe were on the other foot, however, I'd simply be commiting a "hate crime."
What are they saying here with this "hostile situation" business anyway? Obviously the right wingers were not violent. Were they saying that the blacks or Latinos would be expected to become uncontrollably agitated or violent? What's their beef? They were the ones getting the super-discounted cookies.
That's pretty ugly, but would come close to some kind of reference point with reality. There have been pretty numerous instances in recent years of various left wing and minority groups being horribly uncivil, shouting down speakers they don't like or engaging in serious vandalism, especially and least excusably on college campuses.
The NAACP sponsored Maryland gubernatorial debate last year springs to mind. No kind of right of center group would be tolerated in engaging in such behavior as went on there- nor should they be. Such a demonstration would be widely reported as a scandal, and denounced heartily and rightly by folks all across the political spectrum. Yet this ugly incident, nationally broadcast on C-Span, was not even considered a story.
Left wing types are known for shouting down conservative speakers on college campuses. At least one or two college newspapers had their papers stolen and destroyed wholesale in an organized manner for daring to accept a paid advertisement from David Horowitz' group arguing against reparations, for example.
Affirmative action isn't even the point here. Personally, I think the campus conservative groups who have sponsored these bake sales have a pretty strong point. Perhaps, though, you could have a discussion, with some liberals explaining why this bake sale does not make a good comparison to affirmative action. Then the conservatives could answer with their own argument.
Well, no they can't, cause they've been shut down by The Man.
I don't much appreciate when right wing types occasionally go on censorship drives, usually against pornography. They are at least being consistent with their stated principles, though. Further, going after smut peddlers might be seen as the start of a slippery slope, but it's still only on the edge. These kind of thug left wing tactics, however, are a straight shot at substantive political expression- the main central point of our whole idea of free speech.
Now, if the expression of your incorrect thoughts is determined to be "offensive" by the subjective whim of an Officially Oppressed Person, then you may just be screwed.
Somebody stop me before I offend again.
Oops- too late.
posted by Al at 9/25/2003 07:37:00 PM
Link Soup
morethings master
photo gallery index
MP3
new album
releases
lyrics
sammy davis
little richard photos
buddy holly pictures
fats domino images
chuck berry pictures 01/
02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12/
01/
02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12/
01/
02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12/
01/02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12
01/
02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12/01/
02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12/08/
09/
10/
11/
12/
la
24
lucille ball images james
blunt photos
clint eastwood pictures lena
horne images team
america pictures
robert mitchum photos
bruce springsteen pictures
mariah carey pictures
ann coulter photos
george clooney images
loretta lynn pictures
beatles pictures
white stripes pictures
andy griffith pictures
kill bill pictures
beverly hillbillies pictures
robin williams
frank zappa pictures
jerry lee lewis pictures
richard pryor photos
june carter johnny cash pictures
vic mackey shield pictures u2 photos
four seasons images
james cagney images
elvis presley pictures
country music
blog
dolly parton pictures
olsen twins photos
tom petty photos
tori amos pictures
joaquin phoenix images David
Bowie photos
Quills movie images
reese witherspoon pictures rolling
stones photos
fiona apple images kim
novak images ray charles photos marx
brothers pictures
prince rogers nelson pictures blazing
saddles images
sinead o'connor images
eddie murphy photos aretha
franklin photos
south park pictures homer
simpson images
bob dylan pictures elizabeth
taylor photos madonna
images
saturday night live pictures willie
nelson images hee
haw pictures james
brown images pete
townshend photos
tina turner pictures
dixie chicks photos
margaret thatcher photos
guns
n roses pictures
paula abdul pictures
jodie foster photos
amy winehouse
eminem
frank sinatra photos
van
halen images
satan
blondie photos
joni
mitchell pictures
merle haggard
images
rocky horror pictures
monty
python
|
|
