live music and liberal rants
Archive for September, 2006
September 22, 2006 at 3:06 pm · Filed under music
i didn’t get this posted right after the show on september 8th, so i’m doing it now.
putting politics aside for a moment, i thought i’d post a sample from the recent benevento russo duo show at the independent here in san francisco. the duo’s set was great, as were the opening sets by apollo sunshine and the jacob fred jazz odyssey.
keep an eye out for apollo sunshine. they’re a pop/rock trio (bass, guitar and drums, but with keyboards, pedal steel and laptop thrown in for good measure) that manages to conjure up about a million influences over the course of a single tune. their headlining set a few months back was a better showcase of their full range; the 45-minute set on september 8th suffered a bit from trying to do too much in too short of a time. here’s a better representation of the apollo sunshine experience.
but back to the original reason for this post: here’s the benevento russo duo doing their song “becky.”
benevento russo duo: becky [5:25m]:
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September 19, 2006 at 5:01 pm · Filed under politics
i’m in london on business right now and pondering my flight back tomorrow. i’ll have to dump the toothpaste i bought at the local boots chemist today, but not because it could be used to blow up a plane. you see, it appears that that whole scenario is a crock of shit. the real reason millions of people are being inconvenienced is that the bush administration is more interested in promoting fear in an election year than actually protecting travelers.
odd, isn’t it, that the US pressured the UK to make arrests just two days after anti-war candidate ned lamont defeated joe “d.i.n.o.” lieberman in the connecticut senate primary? it’s got that rove-ian stench all over it: anti-war = soft on terrorism. get it?
sure would be nice if we had a president who would have read the things he was paid to read, instead of clearing brush or pretending to read camus. chances are we might be able to keep our shoes on and carry our toothpaste with us when we fly. oh, and several thousand people would probably still be alive.
September 16, 2006 at 3:57 pm · Filed under politics
not that this is surprising in the least:
The CPA had the power to enact laws, print currency, collect taxes, deploy police and spend Iraq’s oil revenue. It had more than 1,500 employees in Baghdad at its height, working under America’s viceroy in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, but never released a public roster of its entire staff.
Interviews with scores of former CPA personnel over the past two years depict an organization that was dominated—and ultimately hobbled—by administration ideologues.
“We didn’t tap—and it should have started from the White House on down—just didn’t tap the right people to do this job,” said Frederick Smith, who served as the deputy director of the CPA’s Washington office. “It was a tough, tough job. Instead we got people who went out there because of their political leanings.”
we have a president who ascended to the position based on
his connections. why would we expect his administration to handle such an
important undertaking as
rebuilding iraq any differently?
(h/t nicole at crooks and liars)
September 11, 2006 at 10:08 pm · Filed under politics
keith olbermann is the only commentator on any major network or cable channel that has the balls to speak the truth night after night after night.
keith’s program, countdown – and in particular, his dressing-down of donald “my goodness” rumsfeld – have been breaths of fresh air in the tank of carbon monoxide that is today’s broadcast media.
but nothing could have prepared me for this.
Olbermann’s special commetary for the anniversary of 9/11
06:36
you must watch it. you must tell everyone you know to watch it. you must do what you can to encourage others to speak up as keith did and say the things that, deep down, anyone with a heart and soul knows to be true. enough is enough.
do keith a favor and let others in the media know that you wholeheartedly approve of keith’s eloquent truth. and, if you can, do something to ensure a democratic house in november.
September 11, 2006 at 12:59 pm · Filed under politics
i’m cribbing the idea from digby over at hullabaloo, but it’s important that people remember the real george w. bush on this tragic anniversary, not the one that rove and his crew are foisting on the general public with the help of an acquiescent media.
21st Century – 9 11 – George Bush in 2001
05:08
certainly anyone who lost a loved one on 9/11/2001 will be experiencing a unique and intensely personal type of mourning today. the rest of us, however, should be mourning something a bit more intangible—the loss of our country as we once knew it. in the days after 9/11, we had the world at our doorstep: anxious, eager and willing to help us through what everyone agreed was a horrific and barbaric event. but the neocons and their puppet president threw every ounce of good will away. every ounce. today we are the most despised nation in the world, in spite of all the good we continue to do, which is, in turn, in spite of the GOP leadership.
the compounded tragedy of 9/11 is that today, in 2006, we are a more fearful nation, a divided nation, a country teetering on the edge of financial ruin. our once-great republic has been rocked back on its heels from a series of crippling blows—not from al quaeda or other ‘islamofascists’, but from our own purported leaders. men more interested in lying, cheating and stealing than healing and rebuilding. these are dire times, make no mistake about it. but you won’t hear any words of hope from this cabal of selfish, malicious chickenhawk thugs. instead, you will be inundated with messages of fear, words and images of divisive vitriol aimed at anyone who dares voice dissent.
you have choices, however. you can choose not to live in fear. you can choose not to elect men and women that want to establish an imperial executive branch, a subservient (and consequently useless) legislative body, and a fundamentalist judiciary. you can change the status quo with your vote (unless you live in ohio or florida or southern california, of course). so do it.
anyone with a modicum of intelligence and an inquisitive nature can find the truth about the bush administration’s incompetence, immorality and utter disdain for true american values. it’s all out there in the public record, in spite of a mainstream media that would actually show bush congratulating matt lauer on his washboard abs without excoriating him for showing his true colors on a day like this.
vote democratic in november and let’s get rid of this asshole. our country depends on it.
UPDATE: lest i be misunderstood by the two people that may read this: ‘getting rid of bush’ means electing a democratic house to pursue impeachment. it doesn’t mean anything violent, and yes, i know bush isn’t running for anything. except perhaps worst president in history.
