So a few weeks ago Our Leader was visiting Ray Nagin's so-called Chocolate City, checking on the "progress" of reconstruction in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the colossal pigfuck that was Big Government's response, when he encountered a man who survived several days on canned food in his destroyed home before ultimately being relocated to The Mormon State. Upon hearing the man's tale, Our Leader replied, "So were you the only black man in Salt Lake City?"
Jeez, what an ass.
This administration, in its lame duck death throes, makes that of Nixon's seem like an episode of American Bandstand. The people of New Orleans-- my mother included-- deserve so much better than a flippant passing remark from Our Leader. Without a shadow of a doubt we will lose the war to "win the hearts and minds" of Arab Street when we dismiss our own constitutents at home. Yes, I know New Orleansland doesn't fit into the breadbox that is conservative culture, but is it really necessary to be so flagrant about your true feelings? I can't wait for the Oval Office tapes to be released 155 years from now, so we can hear what Our Leader really said and felt about us. It'll be better than the LBJ "too-tight-in-the-crotch" tapes.
Jeez, what an ass.
This administration, in its lame duck death throes, makes that of Nixon's seem like an episode of American Bandstand. The people of New Orleans-- my mother included-- deserve so much better than a flippant passing remark from Our Leader. Without a shadow of a doubt we will lose the war to "win the hearts and minds" of Arab Street when we dismiss our own constitutents at home. Yes, I know New Orleansland doesn't fit into the breadbox that is conservative culture, but is it really necessary to be so flagrant about your true feelings? I can't wait for the Oval Office tapes to be released 155 years from now, so we can hear what Our Leader really said and felt about us. It'll be better than the LBJ "too-tight-in-the-crotch" tapes.
by at 11:08 AM
To say things have more than dried-up here would be stating the obvious. We're busy people... busy people leading busy pathetic lives for even busier, more pathetic people.
Has the Knife lost its sheen?
In light of gamey current events-- face-hunting with the Veep and, more recently, Mt Rushmore banning abortion -- and the absence of our foamy minds committing larcenous words on this here site, I would say yes. But second-opinion leads me to say we just need our spark plugs changed. I cain't promise nothing, but I'll personally make a more concerted effort to post something, anything here. Preferably not "Brokeback Mountain" related, too. Talk about a dead horse.
The latest news is that over the weekend we recorded basic tracks for 7 new songs with Mike Lust. Why, you ask? Oh, I'll save that for another post, but it's for an interesting film project. But what about those 8 songs we recorded with Mike some 30 years ago? Perhaps Norman will be so kind as to get a few of 'em up on the site h'ere. I think Savage has a myspace account (oh, that's fey) and posted a few there. I guess y'all wouldn't know about that unless I mentioned it here.
Has the Knife lost its sheen?
In light of gamey current events-- face-hunting with the Veep and, more recently, Mt Rushmore banning abortion -- and the absence of our foamy minds committing larcenous words on this here site, I would say yes. But second-opinion leads me to say we just need our spark plugs changed. I cain't promise nothing, but I'll personally make a more concerted effort to post something, anything here. Preferably not "Brokeback Mountain" related, too. Talk about a dead horse.
The latest news is that over the weekend we recorded basic tracks for 7 new songs with Mike Lust. Why, you ask? Oh, I'll save that for another post, but it's for an interesting film project. But what about those 8 songs we recorded with Mike some 30 years ago? Perhaps Norman will be so kind as to get a few of 'em up on the site h'ere. I think Savage has a myspace account (oh, that's fey) and posted a few there. I guess y'all wouldn't know about that unless I mentioned it here.
by at 12:16 PM
Hey, long time no see, huh? I'm back. I've been kind of going through some personal things. But it is time to get my head out of my bum and get back into the swing of all things rock. FIrst up, we have a show next Friday at a new club called the Kinetic Playground. It is a sort of revival of a Chicago club famous in the sixties. It is right across the street from the Aragon, and there is free parking behind the club. It is also open until 4am! Holy shit, look out! A highlight, we will be playing with Winterhawk. They are one of the best bands going today and must be seen to be believed!
So who else is bored with the Supreme Court hearings? They're playing it on NPR and it is more boring than a pledge drive. Where's the high drama? The sprited discussion of the issues? The pubic hairs in the coke? Dude's probably going to get in, so ladies, if you've been meaning to get an abortion but just haven't found the time, now may be your last chance! (Sorry, that was crude.)
So who else is bored with the Supreme Court hearings? They're playing it on NPR and it is more boring than a pledge drive. Where's the high drama? The sprited discussion of the issues? The pubic hairs in the coke? Dude's probably going to get in, so ladies, if you've been meaning to get an abortion but just haven't found the time, now may be your last chance! (Sorry, that was crude.)
by at 9:17 AM
Squirrel Master Roy Black won't be around forever, Rush.
Judge OKs subpoenas of Limbaugh doctors
by at 10:29 AM
Ah, Christmas time again...time for Peace, Brotherhood, and Good Will to Men...and some more intemperate, insane polemics from everybody's favorite drunken Irish racist Bill O'Reilly about what the queers are doing to our soil...I mean Christmas!
Never mind the pagan origins of the Christmas Tree...and forget about the Roman Saturnalia that Christianity appropriated. This is just the same silly shit the culture warriors at FOX fling every year at this time, like so many XX WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR SEX LIFE!!! stories in Cosmo every year. Just change the numbers around, and you have a new article.
A lot of people seem to be buying this outrage of the month, too. I just got an earful from a co-worker about how THEY'RE TRYING TO RENAME CHRISTMAS TREES "HOLIDAY TREES" that sounded remarkably like O'Reilly's bilge. I really had to hold my tongue when she got to the "Political Correctness indoctrination" part...isn't that like so 1992? Come on, Patriotic Correctness is the new PC. If you don't have a yellow ribbon somewhere on your tree, we are turning you in, citizen.
Anyway, this is one "problem" you can't blame on those know-it-all Bordeaux-sipping liberals. What store would want to limit its customer base by wishing a "Merry Christmas" when it could pack in more shoppers with a more general, inclusive catch-all like "Seasons Greetings?" It's simple economics, really--and unless the COMINTERN has infiltrated the boardrooms of corporate America, it's pretty preposterous to claim that this is some kind of nefarious liberal plot. Hell, even O'Reilly's employer, FOX News, sells, um, Holiday Ornaments. Talk about mixed messages. Why does Bill O'Reilly hate America and capitalism so much?
And in the next second, this co-worker spouted how much she HATES, HATES the whole Xmas season. Really nice. That's what makes me think that Bill O's entire viewership is composed of the clinically insane...people just like him.
It's really Charles Dickens's fault that the Western World's Christmas is an observance that's paradoxically sacred and rife with secularism. Before "A Christmas Carol," Xmas was a pretty bawdy holiday, celebrated mostly by drinking and singing ribald tunes (in that respect, it still hasn't changed, thankfully). The Puritans and many Protestants shunned it entirely, not only because of the mode of celebration, but because--oddly enough--there's no mention of the exact birthdate of Jesus anywhere in the New Testament.
And speaking of "A Christmas Carol," Bill OhReally should lay off his obsession with George Soros, especially during the Christmas Season. There's enough latent anti-semitism in Dickens's story already, and Bill's constant perseverations about a wealth Jew who "wants to destroy Christmas" are pretty fucking racist. Blow it out your ass, Bill.
Hey, let's just agree that everybody has their own way of celebrating life in the midst of the coldest, darkest days of the year...and looking forward to the life and warmth of spring to come. Have a Happy Saturnalia, Mithras, Christmas, Hannukah, whatever you want. Have a good time, and shut up about how others celebrate it.
Never mind the pagan origins of the Christmas Tree...and forget about the Roman Saturnalia that Christianity appropriated. This is just the same silly shit the culture warriors at FOX fling every year at this time, like so many XX WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR SEX LIFE!!! stories in Cosmo every year. Just change the numbers around, and you have a new article.
A lot of people seem to be buying this outrage of the month, too. I just got an earful from a co-worker about how THEY'RE TRYING TO RENAME CHRISTMAS TREES "HOLIDAY TREES" that sounded remarkably like O'Reilly's bilge. I really had to hold my tongue when she got to the "Political Correctness indoctrination" part...isn't that like so 1992? Come on, Patriotic Correctness is the new PC. If you don't have a yellow ribbon somewhere on your tree, we are turning you in, citizen.
Anyway, this is one "problem" you can't blame on those know-it-all Bordeaux-sipping liberals. What store would want to limit its customer base by wishing a "Merry Christmas" when it could pack in more shoppers with a more general, inclusive catch-all like "Seasons Greetings?" It's simple economics, really--and unless the COMINTERN has infiltrated the boardrooms of corporate America, it's pretty preposterous to claim that this is some kind of nefarious liberal plot. Hell, even O'Reilly's employer, FOX News, sells, um, Holiday Ornaments. Talk about mixed messages. Why does Bill O'Reilly hate America and capitalism so much?
And in the next second, this co-worker spouted how much she HATES, HATES the whole Xmas season. Really nice. That's what makes me think that Bill O's entire viewership is composed of the clinically insane...people just like him.
It's really Charles Dickens's fault that the Western World's Christmas is an observance that's paradoxically sacred and rife with secularism. Before "A Christmas Carol," Xmas was a pretty bawdy holiday, celebrated mostly by drinking and singing ribald tunes (in that respect, it still hasn't changed, thankfully). The Puritans and many Protestants shunned it entirely, not only because of the mode of celebration, but because--oddly enough--there's no mention of the exact birthdate of Jesus anywhere in the New Testament.
And speaking of "A Christmas Carol," Bill OhReally should lay off his obsession with George Soros, especially during the Christmas Season. There's enough latent anti-semitism in Dickens's story already, and Bill's constant perseverations about a wealth Jew who "wants to destroy Christmas" are pretty fucking racist. Blow it out your ass, Bill.
Hey, let's just agree that everybody has their own way of celebrating life in the midst of the coldest, darkest days of the year...and looking forward to the life and warmth of spring to come. Have a Happy Saturnalia, Mithras, Christmas, Hannukah, whatever you want. Have a good time, and shut up about how others celebrate it.
by at 9:58 AM
At long last...Black Sabbath is going to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! Fuck Yeah!
It's ironic that Rolling Stone should be the proud tribune of this news--the very magazine that led the music press in its universal contempt of Sabbath and the Sex Pistols (who put out only one album--stupid punks). Look at any RS record guide and you'll see that the Ozzy-era Sabbath release suffers from quite a bit of rating inflation.
What was it that George Orwell said about controlling the past by controlling the present, again? What happened between 1970 and 2005 that made the albums more valuable than your contemptuous initial reviews show, Mr. Rolling Stone? Did the music on Paranoid suddenly get better in the intervening 35 years? Not likely.
I think the erstwhile opinions of RS's well-paid critics had as much validity as a Dick Morris prognostication. Toe-Sucker Dick has NEVER been right about anything, and yet FOX keeps him on as a trusted consultant. If he were a baseball player, he would have been busted down to triple-A status years ago. The real problem is that music journalists see themselves as hipster pundits, an awkward paradox. On one hand they're middle-aged teenagers, keen on showing off their industry-insider status and street cred like their first leather jacket and bag of ditchweed. At the same time, they play the anguished ivory-tower aesthete who can't seem to convince the rabble that DISCO IS GONNA LIVE FOREVER!
And they are never, ever wrong.
To paraphrase Zappa: written about people who can't play by people who can't write for people who can't read.
Tony should take his award and shove it up Jan Wenner's RIAA-lubed ass. Never Say Die, beyotch!
It's ironic that Rolling Stone should be the proud tribune of this news--the very magazine that led the music press in its universal contempt of Sabbath and the Sex Pistols (who put out only one album--stupid punks). Look at any RS record guide and you'll see that the Ozzy-era Sabbath release suffers from quite a bit of rating inflation.
What was it that George Orwell said about controlling the past by controlling the present, again? What happened between 1970 and 2005 that made the albums more valuable than your contemptuous initial reviews show, Mr. Rolling Stone? Did the music on Paranoid suddenly get better in the intervening 35 years? Not likely.
I think the erstwhile opinions of RS's well-paid critics had as much validity as a Dick Morris prognostication. Toe-Sucker Dick has NEVER been right about anything, and yet FOX keeps him on as a trusted consultant. If he were a baseball player, he would have been busted down to triple-A status years ago. The real problem is that music journalists see themselves as hipster pundits, an awkward paradox. On one hand they're middle-aged teenagers, keen on showing off their industry-insider status and street cred like their first leather jacket and bag of ditchweed. At the same time, they play the anguished ivory-tower aesthete who can't seem to convince the rabble that DISCO IS GONNA LIVE FOREVER!
And they are never, ever wrong.
To paraphrase Zappa: written about people who can't play by people who can't write for people who can't read.
Tony should take his award and shove it up Jan Wenner's RIAA-lubed ass. Never Say Die, beyotch!
by at 5:50 PM
Jeez, what a whore Bob Woodward has turned into. From bringing down Nixon to propping up the Bush administration...what a dismal career arc.
In hindsight, what better person to leak Plame's identity to than Woody? He'd been chasing the dragon ever since those halcyon days of Watergate--just mention the words "anonymous sources" and "top-secret information," and old Bob probably started getting flashbacks. The principal motivation for the leakers, however, was Woodward's disposition toward his sources.
The internal, professional struggle for Woodward and Bernstein during Watergate was the use of completely anonymous sources for their stories, which was considered unethical at the time. Despite the immense editorial and political pressures placed on Woodward, he would not give up the identity of Deep Throat--even if the prevailing notions of journalistic credibility demanded he do so. He bent the rules, and brought down a Presidency.
These days, that exception has BECOME the rule--reporters use anonymous sources all the time--and the White House was counting on this when they hatched the scheme to burn Plame. They dangled "access" before reporters like a Damoclean Sword; in turn, they were granted anonymity for dishing their insider info. And even if their information was 100% bullshit, lesser reporters like Judith Miller could be counted on to dutifully keep a secret. What reporter steeped in the legend of Watergate would pass up the opportunity to become a heroic, Woodwardian atavism?
What's even worse was how Woodward took every opportunity to publicly disparage Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and discredit the investigation without disclosing his own involvement. He's no different from the vapid talking heads on the cable news shows who never disclose their own proximity to their subjects or personal biases...Daryn Kagan's cozy relationship with arch-propagandist Rush Limbaugh and James Carville's barely-disclosed marriage to Republican operative Mary Matalin should be enough to disqualify both as impartial arbiters of truth, but the news organizations don't seem to care, as long as the ratings are there.
Bob is so close to the subjects of his hagiographies that he seems to identify with them--some call this Stockholm Syndrome. His primary fear was "being subpoenaed"--which is a legitimate fear if you actually wrote a story about it, Bob. You didn't--it was "almost gossip," wasn't it? Not worth writing about. If you don't write a story about it, you're therefore not acting as a journalist...which means you get to plead the Fifth Amendment, if you really wanted to "protect your sources." It's also known as obstructing an investigation, and makes you an accessory. Not as glamourous as a First Amendment plea, is it? Well, you may get your wish to share Judy's jail term, yet.
Woody, you've fallen so far. Consider this the revenge of Nixon. Somewhere, Tricky Dick and Haldeman are looking up and smiling at you, Bob.
In hindsight, what better person to leak Plame's identity to than Woody? He'd been chasing the dragon ever since those halcyon days of Watergate--just mention the words "anonymous sources" and "top-secret information," and old Bob probably started getting flashbacks. The principal motivation for the leakers, however, was Woodward's disposition toward his sources.
The internal, professional struggle for Woodward and Bernstein during Watergate was the use of completely anonymous sources for their stories, which was considered unethical at the time. Despite the immense editorial and political pressures placed on Woodward, he would not give up the identity of Deep Throat--even if the prevailing notions of journalistic credibility demanded he do so. He bent the rules, and brought down a Presidency.
These days, that exception has BECOME the rule--reporters use anonymous sources all the time--and the White House was counting on this when they hatched the scheme to burn Plame. They dangled "access" before reporters like a Damoclean Sword; in turn, they were granted anonymity for dishing their insider info. And even if their information was 100% bullshit, lesser reporters like Judith Miller could be counted on to dutifully keep a secret. What reporter steeped in the legend of Watergate would pass up the opportunity to become a heroic, Woodwardian atavism?
What's even worse was how Woodward took every opportunity to publicly disparage Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and discredit the investigation without disclosing his own involvement. He's no different from the vapid talking heads on the cable news shows who never disclose their own proximity to their subjects or personal biases...Daryn Kagan's cozy relationship with arch-propagandist Rush Limbaugh and James Carville's barely-disclosed marriage to Republican operative Mary Matalin should be enough to disqualify both as impartial arbiters of truth, but the news organizations don't seem to care, as long as the ratings are there.
Bob is so close to the subjects of his hagiographies that he seems to identify with them--some call this Stockholm Syndrome. His primary fear was "being subpoenaed"--which is a legitimate fear if you actually wrote a story about it, Bob. You didn't--it was "almost gossip," wasn't it? Not worth writing about. If you don't write a story about it, you're therefore not acting as a journalist...which means you get to plead the Fifth Amendment, if you really wanted to "protect your sources." It's also known as obstructing an investigation, and makes you an accessory. Not as glamourous as a First Amendment plea, is it? Well, you may get your wish to share Judy's jail term, yet.
Woody, you've fallen so far. Consider this the revenge of Nixon. Somewhere, Tricky Dick and Haldeman are looking up and smiling at you, Bob.
by at 10:05 AM
Loveable musical reprobate R. Kelly is caught on a sex tape again...well, maybe.
From the Toronto Star:
*Yawn* I don't know about you, but this sounds like a classic mafia-style shakedown, performed by psychotherapists. "It would be a shame to see your marriage wrecked if you refuse to visit Dr. Smegma's office for counseling." I can understand the Gospel/R&B angle of it--it gives the threat some verisimilitude--but come on: R. has probably been filmed having sex with most of the world by now. Ironically, whatever shock and embarrassment a public kinky sex scandal would have caused Sheffield has been forever muted by Tha R's involvement--it's small-time, dog-bites-man stuff. No wonder Sheffield called his bluff & went straight to his lawyer. Besides, he wasn't even married to Richards at the time the alleged tape was made.
Even if the sex tape is legitimate...at least R has stopped recruiting from the Babe Ruth Leagues. Good on him.
Just don't take the lie detector test!
From the Toronto Star:
A self-described minister was convicted in Chicago yesterday of trying to blackmail New York Yankees slugger Gary Sheffield and his wife by claiming he had a video showing her having sex with R&B singer R. Kelly.
A federal jury convicted Derrick Mosley, 39, of two counts of extortion and two counts of wire fraud for allegedly plotting to extort money from Sheffield and gospel singer DeLeon Richards-Sheffield.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Clarence Butler said Mosley asked Sheffield's business agent for $20,000 (U.S.) to destroy a tape that Mosley claimed showed Richards-Sheffield having sex with Kelly before she married Sheffield.
*Yawn* I don't know about you, but this sounds like a classic mafia-style shakedown, performed by psychotherapists. "It would be a shame to see your marriage wrecked if you refuse to visit Dr. Smegma's office for counseling." I can understand the Gospel/R&B angle of it--it gives the threat some verisimilitude--but come on: R. has probably been filmed having sex with most of the world by now. Ironically, whatever shock and embarrassment a public kinky sex scandal would have caused Sheffield has been forever muted by Tha R's involvement--it's small-time, dog-bites-man stuff. No wonder Sheffield called his bluff & went straight to his lawyer. Besides, he wasn't even married to Richards at the time the alleged tape was made.
Even if the sex tape is legitimate...at least R has stopped recruiting from the Babe Ruth Leagues. Good on him.
Just don't take the lie detector test!
by at 8:47 AM
Can't believe it. Vinnie Mac's got quite a pile of bodies buried under his back porch now. I wouldn't rule out foul play just yet...Vince probably wanted to cash in that secret million-dollar life insurance policy he had taken out on Eddie years ago.
Link
Looks like there will be another Hulkster in Heaven. Even though I'll only remember you as the guy who got the queso kicked out of him by dudes twice his size on the TV bouts, you were always a good sport.
Vaya con Dios, Eddie.
Link
Looks like there will be another Hulkster in Heaven. Even though I'll only remember you as the guy who got the queso kicked out of him by dudes twice his size on the TV bouts, you were always a good sport.
Vaya con Dios, Eddie.
by at 8:47 PM
Hope you all like the new look to KoS. I don't know about anybody else, but I was getting tired of the old Blogger-centric design of the entire site. (It didn't exactly scream "high society rock and roll band," if you know what I mean.) While a few things have changed, you can STILL tell us to fuck off in our comments links. I will warn you that the archives are not quite right just yet, so bear with me as I make a few more adjustments over the next few days.
Special Category 7 thanks to Lynn for helping me with the redesign--I couldn't have done it without you.
Special Category 7 thanks to Lynn for helping me with the redesign--I couldn't have done it without you.
by at 8:52 AM