Spent the afternoon going down memory lane with the Sex Pistols when I should have been pushing the lawn mower around the yard. Shit happens, I guess... the lawn will still be there tomorrow.
I happened upon that video because it was attached to an email from my dear son Jake. Of all the Juniors, he's the one I worry about the most, mainly because he seems to have inherited his dear Daddy's appetite for excess.
Jake is a brilliant musician, but like most brilliant musicians, he's scratching out a living in the restaurant business. At least he's learning the craft in a top end place.
He's also the kid who "borrowed" my original pressing of the original Sex Pistols album.
The 2008 Sex Pistols reunion concert at Brixton Academy was remarkable for a number of reasons, the main one being that Mr. Rotten and crew are still alive, and still rotten. Without Sid, of course; may he rest in peace.
I especially liked where he called out his audience for being England's working class. All creeds, all races, but singularly working class.
Class solidarity forever!
Where is this happening in American music? Bruce campaigning for Hillsy? Get the fuck outta here!
The Sex Pistols were originally part of the reaction to the Thatcherite destruction of the working class. Great to see that Johnny Rotten is still rocking and Maggie has gone to her reward.
As for Jake, he seems to be doing OK. Tells me he's catching up with some of the music he's missed in the past; Gregorian chant, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Islamic Sufi music.
Don't know how he missed out on the Gregorian chant. I had at least six inches worth in my CD rack. Remember those?
Anyway, it's funny how he managed to "borrow" all my really good stuff but overlooked the Gregorian chant.
But I still worry, as parents do.
I recall busting into the storage locker of a prominent drug dealer with my dear pal Johnny H. Said dealer is long dead so I guess it's OK to tell the tale. Nothing in there except a couple of sheets of blotter acid. We tried a couple of tabs and nothing much happened. So we ate the entire sheets. Took weeks before I could make a sentence again.
That kind of stupidity could kill you today. There is stuff out there that we could not have imagined in my youth. One bad party night with fentanyl and it's all over.
Stay safe, dear son.
Showing posts with label Bruce Springsteen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bruce Springsteen. Show all posts
Saturday, July 15, 2017
Saturday, October 22, 2016
Ten things I learned from today's Globe and Mail
1. Elizabeth Renzetti wants me to know that she appeared alongside Margaret Atwood at a fundraising breakfast this week. Her column on A2 was devoted to sliming Donald Trump, who really doesn't need any help with that. She is very sad that "a sizeable proportion of the electorate" is prepared to vote "an alleged groper" into the Oval Office. Don't cry Liz; it's happened before.
2. It must have been a busy week for Renzetti. In addition to rubbing elbows with Atwood, she's got a feature interview with Bruce Springsteen in the Arts section. Not only is he a mega-zillionaire rock star, I learned that he is quite an audacious political pundit with some astute insights. He likes Hillary and thinks she'd be a very good president, whereas Donald is a real danger to democracy. Who knew?
3. The Focus section is mostly focused on Donald Trump this week. Tabatha Southey assures us that "there's little to remark upon in WikiLeaks heavily hyped document dump." Really? Wonder what Brad Marshall, Luis Miranda, Amy Dacey, or Debbie Wasserman Shultz would think about that assertion? She's also alerting us to the fact that Bad Vlad, Donald's hero, is probably behind this WikiLeaks outrage. The most recent document dumps also illustrate that, while Obama may be right that it's impossible to rig an American election, the Podesta emails convincingly demonstrate that the Dem hierarchy is determined to try.
4. Joanna Slater and Affan Chowdry inform me that the suggestion the election could be rigged is "preposterous." Whew! Good to know!
5. Joanna and Affan also make the observation that Al Gore was gracious after being swindled out of the 2000 election. They're worried Trump might not be as gracious. Yes, when the preposterous happens, it's good to have a gracious loser who is happy to roll over... for the good of the country, of course.
6. Still in the Focus section, John Ibbitsson informs me that to steal the election would require corrupting the media, the pollsters, and the vote itself. On the last point, google "hacking voting machines." For the former, see what you can find in those innocuous WikiLeaks revelations.
7. John also throws in a plug for the journalism profession, informing me there's a "crusading tradition of the craft." Sorry John; the tradition of progressive muck-raking journalism was dead by the time Washington unleashed shock and awe to vanquish Saddam's arsenal of WMDs, to the enthusiastic cheer-leading of your profession. And that was a quarter century ago. Get real!
8. John quotes professor Arthur Lupia of U of Michigan who assures us that "voter fraud is a myth." Good enough then, I guess. That tidbit follows a paragraph which references Project Veritas. Two high-end Dem operatives, one of whom has allegedly made hundreds of visits to the Obama White House, lost their jobs this past week after they admitted hiring people to stir up violence at Trump rallies. Corruption? What corruption? Shades of Hitler's Brown Shirts?
9. Slate's culture podcast host Stephen Metcalf gets a guest slot in the Focus section. He informs me that in the Trump camp "...preparations are being made for a ghastly finale, in which populism is turned loose on democracy itself." Wow! That's some scary shit!
10. I don't want to leave the impression that Canada's newspaper of record was only about American politics today. I did in fact learn about Adam Capay, a young native Canadian man who has spent over 1,500 days in solitary confinement. Thank you Patrick White!
For that The Korean charged me $5.75. I'm returning the paper tomorrow to get my money back.
2. It must have been a busy week for Renzetti. In addition to rubbing elbows with Atwood, she's got a feature interview with Bruce Springsteen in the Arts section. Not only is he a mega-zillionaire rock star, I learned that he is quite an audacious political pundit with some astute insights. He likes Hillary and thinks she'd be a very good president, whereas Donald is a real danger to democracy. Who knew?
3. The Focus section is mostly focused on Donald Trump this week. Tabatha Southey assures us that "there's little to remark upon in WikiLeaks heavily hyped document dump." Really? Wonder what Brad Marshall, Luis Miranda, Amy Dacey, or Debbie Wasserman Shultz would think about that assertion? She's also alerting us to the fact that Bad Vlad, Donald's hero, is probably behind this WikiLeaks outrage. The most recent document dumps also illustrate that, while Obama may be right that it's impossible to rig an American election, the Podesta emails convincingly demonstrate that the Dem hierarchy is determined to try.
4. Joanna Slater and Affan Chowdry inform me that the suggestion the election could be rigged is "preposterous." Whew! Good to know!
5. Joanna and Affan also make the observation that Al Gore was gracious after being swindled out of the 2000 election. They're worried Trump might not be as gracious. Yes, when the preposterous happens, it's good to have a gracious loser who is happy to roll over... for the good of the country, of course.
6. Still in the Focus section, John Ibbitsson informs me that to steal the election would require corrupting the media, the pollsters, and the vote itself. On the last point, google "hacking voting machines." For the former, see what you can find in those innocuous WikiLeaks revelations.
7. John also throws in a plug for the journalism profession, informing me there's a "crusading tradition of the craft." Sorry John; the tradition of progressive muck-raking journalism was dead by the time Washington unleashed shock and awe to vanquish Saddam's arsenal of WMDs, to the enthusiastic cheer-leading of your profession. And that was a quarter century ago. Get real!
8. John quotes professor Arthur Lupia of U of Michigan who assures us that "voter fraud is a myth." Good enough then, I guess. That tidbit follows a paragraph which references Project Veritas. Two high-end Dem operatives, one of whom has allegedly made hundreds of visits to the Obama White House, lost their jobs this past week after they admitted hiring people to stir up violence at Trump rallies. Corruption? What corruption? Shades of Hitler's Brown Shirts?
9. Slate's culture podcast host Stephen Metcalf gets a guest slot in the Focus section. He informs me that in the Trump camp "...preparations are being made for a ghastly finale, in which populism is turned loose on democracy itself." Wow! That's some scary shit!
10. I don't want to leave the impression that Canada's newspaper of record was only about American politics today. I did in fact learn about Adam Capay, a young native Canadian man who has spent over 1,500 days in solitary confinement. Thank you Patrick White!
For that The Korean charged me $5.75. I'm returning the paper tomorrow to get my money back.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Queer lives matter too
There's been a gratifying push-back against those states that have recently been mining the homophobia motherlode with those so-called "bathroom bills." Those bills particularily single out trans people by writing into law that it is illegal to use a bathroom that does not match your genitals.
You may have presented as female for twenty years, but if you couldn't afford the surgery and are still carrying that unfortunate appendage around, well, it's now a crime to pee in the ladies loo.
Seriously, who makes this shit up?
This kind of micro-management of people's toilet habits seems a little unseemly for a great country like the USA.
They're playing with this sort of legislation in a number of Bible-belt states, and it's good to see that the world has noticed. Bruce Springsteen for one has cancelled shows on account of it. Cyndi Lauper hasn't cancelled but promises to pass along all profits to LGBT rights causes. Cirque du Soleil has cancelled shows, as will many other mainstream entertainment acts.
But what I'd really like to see is the old wang-danger himself take a stand for queer inclusion.
Come on Ted, we know you must have jammed with a few fags in the course of your fifty year music career...
Speak up!
You may have presented as female for twenty years, but if you couldn't afford the surgery and are still carrying that unfortunate appendage around, well, it's now a crime to pee in the ladies loo.
Seriously, who makes this shit up?
This kind of micro-management of people's toilet habits seems a little unseemly for a great country like the USA.
They're playing with this sort of legislation in a number of Bible-belt states, and it's good to see that the world has noticed. Bruce Springsteen for one has cancelled shows on account of it. Cyndi Lauper hasn't cancelled but promises to pass along all profits to LGBT rights causes. Cirque du Soleil has cancelled shows, as will many other mainstream entertainment acts.
But what I'd really like to see is the old wang-danger himself take a stand for queer inclusion.
Come on Ted, we know you must have jammed with a few fags in the course of your fifty year music career...
Speak up!
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