Halloween (again)

The havoc grin of cheshire moon -- that cat
sifting spotlight madness through gleaming teeth
so it drips heavy upon this midnight path
in puddles of oily rain that freeze my feet.
­­­­­­I splash across 14th Street glancing back
over my shoulder. She stretches out and yawns,
purrs an engine gust -- monoxide that
chokes my throat but somehow sickly warms
my frosted cheek and wet nose. There she leaps --
skyscrape-dodging grin of lunatic grace.
Behind me, above the trafficlights she keeps
up, tailing at a whisker's pace.
She stalks me with a smile I disbelieve,
her cheshire grin a mask to me, deceived.




This was recorded to cassette, very late at night, or very early in the morning, in the Bronx, in 1988 or 1989. King Me is singing, and I'm playing guitar. The music was completely improvised from the written lyrics. We tried this song with Here Are The Facts You Requested once, but just could not recapture the feel. Landscape and Vincent were written during the same session, and translated much better to the band. As quiet and hissy as this track is, I still love the mystery and exuberance in King Me's voice, even when he is just meowing. The poem is, by the way, a sonnet.

I Really Hope My Mom Reads This

The McCain/Palin campaign has been pounding the "redistribution of wealth" message into every other sentence over the last week or so, a coded phrase indicating a communist threat. This secret message is aimed at people my mother's age, who grew from adolescence to adulthood in the age of McCarthyism, blacklists, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the domino theory.

It reminds them of the cereal-box decoder-ring theater of their childhood: Alert! The sinister communist plot for world domination did not end with the fall of the Berlin Wall; rather it moved underground, to the south side of Chicago, where community organizers and former hippie radicals now prepare to infiltrate America's highest office!

For those who fear communism as the chief foe in the global battle for the human soul, redistribution of wealth is like the seizure of grain from church-going farmers to feed party leaders and their whores. They ignore the fact that the United States' progressive income tax is, by definition, redistribution of wealth. And for some reason they fail to see Robin Hood as a collectivist traitor to the crown. To them, he's a populist hero.

Amid all this recent discussion of wealth redistribution in the presidential campaign, it is worthy to look back at the New Yorker magazine's profile of Sarah Palin from last September.

“We’re not just gonna concede to three big oil companies of this monopoly—Exxon, B.P., ConocoPhillips—and beg them to do this for Alaska,” Palin told me last month in Juneau. “We’re gonna say, ‘O.K., this is so economic that we don’t have to incentivize you to build this. In fact, this has got to be a mutually beneficial partnership here as we build it. We’re gonna lay out Alaska’s must-haves. Parameters are gonna be set, rules are gonna be laid out, a law will encompass what it is that Alaska needs to protect our sovereignty, to insure it’s jobs first for Alaskans, and in-state use of gas’ ”—her list went on. In the past, she said, “Alaska was conceding too much, and chipping away at our sovereignty. And Alaska—we’re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs.” And she said, “Our state constitution—it lays it out for me, how I’m to conduct business with resource development here as the state C.E.O. It’s to maximize benefits for Alaskans, not an individual company, not some multinational somewhere, but for Alaskans.”

Alaska is sometimes described as America’s socialist state, because of its collective ownership of resources—an arrangement that allows permanent residents to collect a dividend on the state’s oil royalties. It has been Palin’s good fortune to govern the state at a time of record oil prices, which means record dividend checks: two thousand dollars for every Alaskan. And because high oil prices also mean staggering heating bills in such a cold place—and because it’s always good politics to give money to voters—Palin got the legislature this year to send an extra twelve hundred dollars to every Alaskan man, woman, and child.

I believe that most people would say that folks should pay their fair share, that the land, the earth, belongs to everyone, and that those who benefit most from our society's freedoms ought to bear the greater burden for society's upkeep. If that's socialism, then I guess I'm as socialist as Sarah Palin.

New Music

The iBand above is a good example of truly new music. It is music that could not have been made a decade ago, by people who were probably kids a decade ago. It couldn't be newer. The music itself is not exactly innovative, but the attitude and concept are totally current and fresh.

Each year I get a lot of new music. I am very interested in what pop musicians, particularly my favorite musicians, are doing right now. I want to hear the music thet're making this year, and compare it to their great albums of the past. I want to know if they've still got it, and if I can still get into it.

I am also on the lookout for new artists, but in the past few years, these have been the exceptions. As I get older, accumulating dozens of new albums each year, the list of artists I am following grows, which leaves less room to explore new artists.

So far this year I have at least 24 new albums, and 9 of them are by new artists. Most of these are not actually new, just new to me, having established themselves years ago. And most of them are local to Ithaca and upstate New York, or friends' projects. Four are new major-label artists, and truth be told M. Ward is not at all new, although She & Him is definitely a new project.

Vampire Weekend
She & Him
MGMT
Department of Eagles

IY
Thousands of One
The Sutras
Sirsy
Little Beirut

I have to say that my favorite albums of the year so far have come from these artists, which I take to be a good sign. I wonder which of them will put out a follow-up album that's as good or better? Which ones will engage my interest and curiosity year after year, until I am following their art with eager anticipation?

Make a list of artists whose next album you'll definitely buy. How long is this list? Who's on it?

Internet Hits

It may seem like you've seen this clip before, but trust me, you haven't. Thanks to my pal Michael Soprano for sharing this one.

I suppose it's ironic that viewers of a web page are counted as "hits," while some of the most popular web videos feature people getting hit. Slapstick has always been funny, but somehow it's freakin' hilarious, even profound, when it it happens to an unsuspecting everyman. Or to an innocent child.



Now, even though that's horrible, it's still funny.

One more.



It's a hit!

True Believer, False God

For 20 years or so our economic and civic leaders looked to Alan Greenspan to lead worship of the God of the Economy. Turns out, his libertarian ideas about regulation convinced our leaders that questionable financial practices, illegal for most of the 20th century, were in fact not a problem. He led us into the desert, then right off a cliff, and now laments his own epic failure of judgment, a crisis of faith. But as Greenspan sits before Congress dumbfounded, we are left surrounding his golden calf, now revealed to be just a worthless statue.

The old man is certainly rich enough to avoid any serious financial consequence of his own historic blunders, save the stain on his academic legacy. So I imagine that after his testimony is no longer required he'll retire to the comfort that a life lived in the seat of power affords him. And I wonder if in some moments he will pause and consider the fates of the millions of lives he touched in service of his libertarian ideals. How does it feel to have been so wrong about something so important?

Vote for Me or You'll Die

Seriously? You approved this message?

How to Make Your Head Explode

It's easy! Just visit any news site (CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, it doesn't matter which one), and find a political story (again, it doesn't matter which one). Don't bother reading the story, it doesn't matter what it says. Go straight to the comments.

Now, I understand that the ability to type is not limited to those who also possess the ability to reason, but still it astounds me how the "comments section" has become America's common marketplace for head-exploding ideas. Right-wing, left-wing, psych-ward, all are represented. Us Americans believe in some whacky-ass shit, and we're not afraid to anonymously beat it out of our keyboards.

When, O when will the apocalypse finally come? If you're tired of waiting, like me, you can explode your own head.

It reminds me of a wonderful Nellie McKay song:

Do you have a little time?
Would you like to ease my mind?
Talk for hours and never stop,
Chop your head off!
Be a lighter person,
brighter person,
nicer,
but you've heard it all before.

Gene Joke

Last Friday was King Me's birthday. Happy Birthday, King Me. Anyone who knows King Me knows what a "Gene Joke" is. It's a joke that's hyper-twisted in either a philosophical or sexual-scatological sense. Part of it is definitely the delivery, smooth and casual, as if the next words out of your mouth couldn't possibly be as weird or offensive as they are going to be. But with a smirk that knows how funny it is. Wuggie Norple tells a good Gene Joke:

So I said to my cat the other day,
"Be here now."
And my cat said,
"What are you kidding?"

Here's one of King Me's signature songs, and one of his great moments on stage. In classic Here Are The Facts You Requested style, this is a version of Pretty Part reworked as a soulful, smokey-club jam, Will You Dance With Me? This performance comes near the end of a late, weeknight show in Baltimore, circa 1993.

A Swimmer in an Indian Summer

We certainly have been experiencing Indian Summer here in New York this past week. That's not something I remember ever noticing in California. My cousin reminded me of this song today. It was written and recorded in 1987 by our high school band. King Me wrote the lyrics.

I can’t stand to sit in this town,
I’ve got to get up and move around.
Relaxed she sang a song to me
with a voice that rings right through your ears
like the rings right through a bull’s nose.
When the last Spaniard is sent out to pasture,
the ring’s the palace and the bull’s the master.

A swimmer in an Indian summer,
I know, I am.
Swinging from a tire,
let go, splash down.
Wipe dry fight off ticks:
Ick, ick
Rocky mountain spotted fever?
Fever! That’s not for me, sir!

That song was a lot of fun to play and sing.

(Un)Civil War

Shouts of "terrorist," "treason," and most disturbing, "kill him" now are routinely heard when Barack Obama's name is mentioned at McCain/Palin campaign events. It happened today in Pennsylvania, ironically the promised land for escaped slaves in the time of the Underground Railroad, now sadly one of the solid bases of racism and ignorance in America. But now that an Obama victory seems inevitable, given the low-road lying of McCain/Palin and the Republican campaign's inability to offer anything but more of the same, this ignoble degradation of our civil discourse has taken on an ominous tone.

Will the partisan right accept a President Obama any more than the partisan left accepted President Bush? Aren't we just setting the stage for another cycle of bitter divide? And now that racism, accusations of treason and terrorism, and threats of lynching have become part of the Republican campaign's identity, how will this fury dissipate after November 4, or January 21?

After Bush was re-elected, what you heard from the partisan left is that America was lost, and defecting to a place like Canada seemed like a good idea. I fear that the frenzy being whipped up in the right wing now will lead not to declarations of defection, but to declarations of war.

The partisan right now revels in a dangerous combination of racism, militarism, nationalism, and divine providence. It seems likely to me that when their worst fears are realized in President Barack Obama, some faction of those right-wing nutjobs will not be content to whine and dream of Canada. They will take up their bitterness, their guns, and their religion, and declare the next civil war.

As economic collapse looms, we must prepare ourselves for the chaos that will flow from the declaration: "That terrorist is not my President."

Tent City, Reno

Dan Hoyle writes at Salon.com:

A stark picture of what it means to be down and out these days has cropped up just four blocks from the towering casino hotels of downtown Reno. After a local homeless shelter reached overflow capacity this spring, people began pitching tents in the dirt of an open lot; a tent city of more than 50 structures has since sprung up. On a warm late September afternoon, I weaved my way around people’s makeshift homes, some adorned with T-shirts featuring arty designs, others guarded by plastic animal lawn ornaments. People’s stories were a potent mixture of misfortune, bad decisions and dwindling opportunities.

Are we edging toward another Tom Joad moment in American history?

An open letter to Republican voters

Signs in the crowd at McCain's rally in Virginia Beach.


Dear Republican voters,

Aren't you embarrassed by the lows the McCain campaign is sinking to? I know that you fear intellectuals, but do you also have to celebrate ignorance? Even the chairman of Virginia's Republican Party is unapologetic in comparing Barack Obama to Osama Bin Laden. Is the problem with your leaders, or with your rank and file?

I know many Republicans must have gone to college and become well-adjusted, kind, decent people with families and jobs and a love for their country. But your party seems to be riddled with idiots, and leaders who encourage them: people who think Obama is an Arab, people who think he's Muslim, people who think he's a terrorist, people who think he swore his oath of office on the Koran, people who think he's going to raise taxes on working families, people who think he's going to let Iran nuke Israel -- the list of insane, ignorant beliefs is long.

Can't some of you educated Republicans set the others straight? Or is this a strategy, a tacit admission that the only chance you have to win in November is to dumb down the electorate and suppress voter turnout?

Is that anything to be proud of? Is there anything more pathetic and sad than an American who stands behind the Republican Party's 2008 campaign of ignorance?

Sincerely,
Luddite Machine

Halloween

The havoc grin of cheshire moon -- that cat
sifting spotlight madness through gleaming teeth
so it drips heavy upon this midnight path
in puddles of oily rain that freeze my feet.
­­­­­­I splash across 14th Street glancing back
over my shoulder. She stretches out and yawns,
purrs an engine gust -- monoxide that
chokes my throat but somehow sickly warms
my frosted cheek and wet nose. There she leaps --
skyscrape-dodging grin of lunatic grace.
Behind me, above the trafficlights she keeps
up, tailing at a whisker's pace.
She stalks me with a smile I disbelieve,
her cheshire grin a mask to me, deceived.

Palling Around

Birth of a Rivalry

Nothing in sports quite compares to the combination of excitement and loyalty that a great rivalry creates. Rivalry is where sports passion reaches to the core of both the fan and (maybe more so) the athlete. I think we might be witnessing the birth of another fine baseball rivalry, between the playoff-veteran, storied-team Boston Red Sox and the young upstart, expansion-team Tampa Bay Rays. They will meet in the American League Championship Series, starting Friday, after spending the last few weeks of the season jockeying for the AL East division title. The Rays finally won the division, a franchise first, the Sox took the AL Wild Card spot.

The Rays have turned their team around in the past few seasons, going from a joke (the double-A's) to being four wins away from the World series. To say that no one outside of Tampa Bay ever believed this would happen--ever--is to understate the general assessment of the Rays before 2008. Yet here is a strong team with lots of passion, if not legions of fans. The thing to watch in this upcoming ALCS is whether those fans will materialize with a series win and a trip to the big show, or more interestingly, with a miserable loss to the division's new powerhouse Sox.

Will we more likely see a surge of fandom in Tampa Bay with the achievement of their team's wild dream, or with that opportunity denied? And how would the Red Sox fans react to being beaten by the once-oh-so-lowly Rays?

This upcoming American League Championship has the power to create a new great baseball rivalry. It will be a lot of fun to watch.