The Promised Land

Top 10 of 2010: The Roots–How I Got Over

2010-12-15T22:09:00.000-08:00

#3

The fantastic title track

I would put side A of How I Got Over up against the first half of any record released this year. This is an album with a great deal of purpose and the first few tracks establish that immediately. In the words of Spin Magazine”s Charles Aaron - "You'd have to rewind early-'90s Scarface or Wu-Tang for such convincingly cold-eyed hip-hop existentialism.”

The guest appearances on this album take it to another level. Monsters of Folk, Joanna Newsom, members of the Dirty Projectors and even John Ledged all make incredible contributions. My favorite guest spot though, belongs to STS who lays down an incredible flow on “Right On” – coincidentally my favorite song on this record. Some critics have likened this record to Curtis Mayfield’s Superfly and Maybe that’s why I love this album so much. I think the comparison dead is on in terms of the urban alienation that is at the heart of both albums. Like Superfly this is an album that no serious music fan should be without.

Top 10 of 2010: Shout Out Louds–Work

2010-12-14T21:32:00.000-08:00

#4

This is actually a pretty fun video

This was one of the first 2010 releases I listened to and its managed to stick with me since I first heard it. Similar to last year’s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix by Phoenix it can sometimes take a foreign band to remind you about what makes the American institution of Rock and Roll great. Work is certainly nothing groundbreaking. Just great songs, great production and fantastic sequencing.

There is a kind of wistful melancholy that makes it resonate with me so deeply. If you’re having an off year this album is like a warm hug. “1999” typifies the “how can I feel so nostalgic about something that wasn’t that long ago? Or was it that long ago?” feeling that I and many of my peers have experienced after college. So if you’re finding yourself in a mid-twenties malaise, give it a listen.

Top 10 of 2010: Superchunk–Majesty Shredding

2010-12-13T22:48:00.000-08:00

#5

Not many recent Superchunk videos on YouTube. This is pretty great though….

After watching artists like Ryan Adams and the Drive-By Truckers complete their slow slides into mediocrity this year the fact that Superchunk – one of the most consistent and influential bands of the nineties - can release one of the best albums of their career in 2010 seems particularly astounding. All reputations aside, if this album doesn’t grab you during the first four songs I don’t understand how you can call yourself a rock fan. This is inspired stuff.

And that what makes Majesty Shredding so different from so many other artists with similar careers. Everything that made Superchunk great from the epic hooks, the crunchy riffs and the punk attitude are all here and miraculously they still sound fresh today. I can’t say theres anything on here as inspiring as “Slack Motherfucker”……

But man does it come close.

Just for the uninitiated…

Top 10 of 2010: Ted Leo–The Brutalist Bricks

2010-12-12T22:45:00.000-08:00

#6

This is the first “Bricks” song that I heard–back in 2008 on my honeymoon in NYC.

My admiration of Ted Leo is well documented and The Brutalist Bricks was more than enough for me to keep believing in the supreme talent of Ted Leo and the musicians he surrounds himself with. Aside from the excellent “Bottle in Cork” and its accompanying video this album didn’t seem to get much attention and that’s a damn shame.

This album is the perfect distillation of everything that makes Ted Leo great. Influences ranging from Curtis Mayfield to The Jam mingle comfortably. Ted’s lyrics continue to be concise and speak not just to the world we live in but his struggle to find a place in it. I was lucky to see him play several times this year and am thrilled that I’ll get to see him play a solo show this February (interestingly enough I first saw him play as a solo performer).

These six top records were hard to sequence. On any given day any one of these could be named my favorite record of this year. To put it another way: for me – The Brutalist Bricks is as good as it gets.

Top 10 of 2010: The National–High Violet

2010-12-11T16:54:00.000-08:00

#7

The National always release top notch music videos. It’s a shame there isn’t a TV station that plays them.

High Violet marks the third entry in a very impressive hat trick by The National. While it doesn’t have the “instant classic” designation that Boxer had seemingly on arrival it makes the run of albums from Alligator to High Violet the greatest 1-2-3 punch since Elvis Costello’s first albums.

Another collection of ballads of white collar malaise High Violet builds on fantastic production that made Boxer such a classic. That fantastic drum sound and instrument separation are still there and Matt Berninger continues to expand his range. There are some more tender and intimate moments on this record like “Afraid of Everyone” and "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks". I strongly recommend getting your hands on the newly released expanded edition and giving the alternate version of “Terrible Love” a spin. It has the extra teeth that all of their songs seem to acquire in a live setting. Seeing them play at Pioneer Courthouse Square on a September evening may have been the highlight of Musicfest Northwest.

Top 10 of 2010: CR Avery–The Great Canadian Novel

2010-12-10T20:13:00.000-08:00

#8

Hilarious.

*REPOST*

My love of CR Avery is deep and well documented. His short set opening up for Billy Bragg at the PNCA in 2008 is still seared in my memory and remains the best opening set I have ever seen.

CR comes as close as any performer I’m aware of to channel Tom Waits during his beat poet phase. On top of that - he’s also a killer pop songwriter.

His latest release The Great Canadian Novel is his best album yet (although his best song is still “Disclosure” from Chainsmoking Blues). It begins with the punchy guitar riffs of the hilarious and sardonic “Folk Singer” and transitions seamlessly to the bluegrass-meets-hip-hop of “Town to Town”. The record hits a soaring high with the epic track “Channeling Frustrated Energy” - a torrent of verse poetry cascading over a Crazy Horse style riff interrupted by a blistering harmonica solo. The record ends with portrait of Pierre Trudeau and CR asserting his identity as a Canadian progressive.

Top 10 of 2010–#9 Typhoon–Hunger and Thirst

2010-12-09T15:24:00.000-08:00

#9

Typhoon - Starting Over (Live at OPB) from opbmusic.org on Vimeo.

I bought this album from the Tender Loving Empire store before meeting my cousin for lunch one day. After listening to it for the first time when I got home it became clear to me that Typhoon is the best thing to happen to this city since the food cart explosion. Having first heard of this band in our local alt-weeklies I knew I had to check them out when I listened to a full song during a Sound Opinions spotlight on Portland's music scene.

This is probably the most cohesive album on my list. The band may be comparable in size to Arcade Fire but they bring soul and discipline to the table instead of the bloat and dourness that makes The Suburbs my pick for most overrated album of the year. Hunger and Thirst runs like a very structured song cycle with each song being essential to overall work. Simply put – this is all killer no filler stuff. Even the “intermission” track serves a purpose.

Everything about this album from the poignant and haunting lyrics to the powerful horn and string arrangements makes it an instant classic. Portlanders should take a trip to the Tender Loving Empire store and pick it up as a gorgeous white vinyl set (that I would love for Christmas by the way) or on CD (which I uncharacteristically went with that day).

Top 10 of 2010 in 10 Days…. “Harlem River Blues”–Justin Townes Earle

2010-12-08T14:49:00.000-08:00

Well, its that time of year again folks. 2010 has been as great of a year for music as I can recall. Tons of great albums from new bands, developing bands and a few aging acts have shown that they still have some classics in them. I’ll be spending the next 10 days listing off my favorites one by one…..

#10

Great performance of the title track…..

My first impression with Justin Townes Earle was his sublime cover of The Replacements “Can’t Hardly Wait” off of Midnight at the Movies – still his best album. I was pretty excited to hear Harlem River Blues after hearing a few tracks from it at the show he played at the Doug Fir on Valentines Day 2010. It certainly didn’t disappoint.

The albums high points occur during the juxtaposition of Earle’s neo-traditionalist country stylings and modern tales of life in New York City. Songs like “Working for the MTA” sound like Hank Williams classics but their lyrics give them a sense of currency. The album is greatly enriched by the excellent guitar playing of fellow Americana phenom Jason Isbell who really shines on “Christchurch Woman”.

Certainly my favorite Americana album of the year.

10 Favorite albums of 2010 (so far)

2010-11-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

We'll see if this holds between now and December.

1. Janelle Monae - The Arch Android
2. Gaslight Anthem - American Slang
3. Shout Out Louds - Work
4. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks
5. Superchunk - Majesty Shredding
6. CR Avery - The Great Canadian Novel
7. Typhoon - Hunger and Thirst
8. The National - High Violet
9. Justin Townes Earle - Harlem River Blues
10.The Hold Steady - Heaven is Whenever

100 Favorite Albums: Patti Smith – Horses

2010-10-22T12:04:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow evening my wife and I will attend the fabulous Night Owl Record Show in SE Portland. Hundreds of vinyl enthusiasts will be pawing through crates and boxes looking for gems to add to their collection. We’ll be looking for (among other things) the decent copy of Patti Smith’s Horses that has eluded my wife and I for several years now. Sure, we could just pick one up on ebay for a fairly reasonable sum – but theres just something about the thrill of the hunt. The thought of pulling it out of a box, taking it home and dropping the needle and hearing it as it was meant to be heard.

Horses is - among other things – one of the best albums of the 70’s, as important as any album in terms of defining the punk movement, one of the greatest debut albums of all time and the definitive Patti Smith record. It also has the rare distinction of being one of those records that anyone with even a cursory interest in the history of American music should listen to.

Patti Smith was in my mind the first artist to successfully blend spoken poetry and rock music. Previous attempts were either vacuous or overwrought and pretentious (or in the case of The Doors: all three). In songs like “Free Money” and “Gloria” Smith’s rapid fire delivery has a primal quality that demands your attention. Its easy to forget how great of a singer she is. Her instrument is certainly unique and might be oft putting to people looking for something more conventional from female singers. Its her phrasing, tone and performance that make her great. Just like Bob Dylan.

This may not be the first post-modern rock record, but it is certainly one of the best - only inferior to Highway 61 and Born to Run in terms of rock pastiche. The reworking of “Gloria” that opens the album turns a bar band classic by Van Morrison's Them into a hymn of sexual and spiritual liberation. The “Land” suite on side two is a tremendous accomplishment that manages to stand up on repeat listens despite its length. This is simply as good as it gets when it comes to rock music. I eagerly await the day when I can listen to it as a complete work as it spins on my turntable.

My week with Last FM

2010-10-12T15:42:00.000-07:00

http://www.last.fm/user/Blake1984

I'm sure most people reading this have heard of the social media / music site called Last FM. I had always been meaning to check it out and finally took the plunge last week.

My favorite thing about the service is if you install a "scrobber" (I installed one with Media Monkey and its been great) literally every track you listen to is cataloged on your profile. This not only shows your friends what you've been listening to, it allows them to see charts and rankings of your favorite songs and artists. You can also integrate it with facebook, something I'm still figuring out how to use most effectively.

I was struck by how accurate my artist rankings on Last FM compare to how I would rank my favorite bands and artists in real life.

Elvis Costello, Steve Earle and Billy Bragg all have a few less plays than my bottom 4 so things switch around quite a bit. My only issue is that artists like Elvis Costello aren't grouped with "Elvis Costello and the Attractions" or "Elvis Costello and the Imposters" - if they were EC would be my 3rd favorite artist which is more accurate than just plain old Elvis Costello being #12 but #8 with the attractions. Guided By Voices may be a bit too high as well, since they have so many short songs its pretty easy to rack up a ton of plays.

I would definitely recommend last FM as a way of seeing what you're actually listening to on your PC. I guess the fact that most of its features only make since if you actually listen to a lot of music on your computer might be a turn off to some folks. Feel free to "friend" me if you use the service, I'm always interested to see what people are listening to.

100 Favorite Albums: Tom Waits - Bone Machine

2010-10-07T15:59:00.000-07:00

With an artist like Tom Waits who has produced so many influential albums its easy for one to slip under the radar a bit. I listen to at least one Tom Waits album a week and most often its either Swordfishtrombones or Rain Dogs - or Small Change if I'm feeling loungey. Whenever I listen to Bone Machine though, I am reminded of its outright brilliance. After the Harry Partch experimentation of Tom's 80's releases Bone Machine finds him in a more bluesy and percussive mood. On the harder tracks there is a sense of swagger that reminds me of Heartattack and Vine. Lyrically the album is a collection of songs are either about death, murder or decay. In many ways I think its Tom's most spiritual album. I listened to it today for the first time in a long time and feel that it stands alongside his best work.

"Going Out West" is as good of a place to start as any

100 Favorite Albums: Guided By Voices – Bee Thousand

2010-09-30T12:59:00.000-07:00

A week from this Saturday my wife and I are heading to Seattle to see Guided By Voices for the very first time – to celebrate the occasion I decided to revisit the first Guided By Voices album I ever heard: Bee Thousand.

Bee Thousand is a very special record. While each Guided By Voices album certainly has its merits (especially Alien Lanes) the band would never release an album of comparable quality. Its a bell to bell classic and the best album of the 90’s as I see it.

Bee Thousand is steeped in what frontman Robert Pollard calls “the four P’s of Rock” - pop, punk rock ,progressive rock, and psychedelia. I think of it as a collection of anthems like “Gold Star for Robot Boy”, “Echos Myron” and “Tractor Rape Chain” surrounded by experimental tone pieces. Pollard certainly has a gift for melody and a special creative energy – but I’m often taken back by the quality of his lyrics. To a casual observer they may seem like nonsense but as far as I’m concerned they are incredibly powerful and evocative. Take “Tractor Rape Chain” for example:

“Parallel lines on a slow decline – Tractor Rape Chain”

My favorite song on Bee Thousand will always be “Gold Star for Robot Boy”. In a saner world this would have been a top 10 single. Heres hoping they play it in Seattle on 10/09.

Thanks Ted

2010-09-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

Last night I saw Ted Leo for the 10th time at the Crystal Ballroom as part of Portland’s seminal Musicfest NW. As always with Ted, it was a great show. I also had the opportunity to see Ted play a radio session for KEXP and it was during that afternoon set at the Doug Fir Lounge with a vodka in my hand that I felt nostalgia creeping in. Those feelings returned later that night at the Crystal so I’d like to take the opportunity to reflect on them via blog post.

I did a little research this morning and realized that the first time I heard Ted Leo was in early 2003, over 7 years ago. It wasn’t a particularly great time in my life. I didn’t graduate high school the previous Spring (but damn did I do well on that GED test) and was living with my Mom at the time while working 5 days a week at an Ace Hardware - a job that I still have nightmares about to this day. Most of my friends were either still in high school and busy, or in college and gone. Several nights a week I would end up going on long drives with my friend Micah and think about how there wasn’t a single thing I really wanted to do with my life. I would typically stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning regardless of when I had to wake up the next day.

Some weekday night during this time frame I was watching the Conan O’Brien show and saw Ted Leo for the first time performing “Where have all the Rude Boys gone?”

It certainly wasn’t a life changing experience in and of itself, but listening to the two albums Ted had released at that point: Tyranny of Distance and Hearts of Oak – made me feel better about my life. Shortly after discovering his music I had the opportunity to see Ted play for the first time in the student union of Linfield College (I think…it might have been George Fox). I made the mistake of taking one of my friends that was still in high school and we ended up leaving before Ted even took the stage (although I did see him string up his guitar). Luckily for me it was only a few months later that Ted would return to Portland, this time on a solo tour that brought him to the now defunct Meow Meow club. The highlights I remember from this first show include a killer version of “The Sword in the Stone” – one of his most underrated songs in my opinion and a great cover of of the Split Enz classic “Six Months in a Leaky Boat”.

It should be noted that Ted Leo was the first real “indie” music I listened to regularly. More than that Ted was a gateway to another favorite artist of mine as his cover of “Keep on Pushing” inspired me to download a Curtis Mayfield compilation. At some point I realized that my three favorite musicians at that time: Eddie Vedder, Steve Earle and now Ted Leo all cited Bruce Springsteen as an influence. Around this same time I was seeing a girl who lived in Canada and we effectively broke up during a trip she took out here in August of 2003. After I dropped her off at the airport I was devastated and went to Best Buy to pick up a few CD’s to try to cheer myself up. The two albums I bought that evening were Bruce Springsteen’s Greatest Hits and Tunnel of Love. I didn’t take to them immediately - but before I knew it The Boss became a big part of my life and has been a constant ever since.

Later in 2003 I saw Ted Leo play with the Pharmacists at the (also now defunct) Nocturnal club. I saw him play there twice in a six month period so its hard for me to pick out highlights other than a killer cover of the Stiff Little Fingers “Suspect Device” and a show stopping “Ballad of a Sin Eater”. Its interesting to look back on these shows as I have no idea where these clubs were as I lived in the suburbs at the time and only went to Portland about once every few months and it always scared the crap out of me. It would have been hard for me to imagine then that only three years later I would be living in downtown Portland, hanging out all over the city and loving every minute of it.

I saw a lot of great music in 2004 including Neil Young, Damien Rice w/ The Frames and another Ted Leo show at the Nocturnal. I met my wife online that summer before she moved here from California. I thought I’d send her some CD’s for her drive up and made sure to include a copy of Hearts of Oak. She would later tell me that she listened to it several times on that long drive up from California and loved it. Soon after she moved here we saw Ted play the Bossanova Ballroom (which isn’t closed, but no longer hosts rock shows) in what I’m pretty sure was her 2nd rock show while living in Portland (the first was Pearl Jam at the Showbox, fittingly enough). We saw him play the Bossanova again in February of 2005 drawing heavily on Shake the Sheets material, I vividly remember an awesome version of “Little Dawn” that had an extended bass solo because Ted broke a string – it ended up becoming one of those magical moments that have made live music such an addiction of mine.

We missed Ted when he played the Aladdin Theater that year because we were up in Vancouver to see Pearl Jam. Before the show that evening at GM Place we turned on the news and saw what hurricane Katrina had done to the city of New Orleans and that remains my most vivid memory from that trip although the Pearl Jam show was spectacular as always. I’ll always regret not seeing Ted Leo play Victoria BC the next night since I didn’t have the opportunity to see him at all in 2006.

Ted played a blistering set at the Hawthorne Theater shortly after the release of Living with the Living in 2007 in what remains my favorite Ted Leo show to this day. We were about 3 rows back with our friends Curtis and Maureen and I think we all had some serious hearing damage by the end of the evening. He added a second guitarist in the return of James Canty which gave his songs some added texture and an epic quality. Ted played a long set that included a set closing “Biomusicology” (my favorite song of his by that point), an encore opening “Timorous Me” and a cover of “Rappaport’s Testament (I never gave up)” that was especially moving.

In 2008 we saw Ted Leo play twice on our honeymoon opening for Pearl Jam at Madison Square Garden. Both times the crowd was fairly apathetic. I recall overhearing a ten club member wondering out loud why Pearl Jam could never get a band like Silverchair or Bush to open for them. I shit you not. Ted Leo did play a great set that included some new material that would end up on The Brutalist Bricks and a great version of “Stove By a Whale”. The next time I saw Ted was another opening set, this time for Against Me at the Roseland Theater. I was by myself and left right after he finished because my wife was at home with a mean case of pink eye. He opened with a great version of “2nd Ave, 11 AM”.

I wouldn’t see Ted again until 2010 when he played two shows at the Doug Fir Lounge, one on a Saturday night followed all ages show on Sunday afternoon. The Saturday show was probably the better experience (aside from my good friend having to leave when his girlfriend at that time passed out) but the Sunday show had the better set list featuring some of my favorite songs from Tyranny of Distance. I finally got to see “Parallel or Together” – a Leo classic if there ever was one.

So I guess I’ve actually seen him 11 times, 12 if you count that radio session yesterday afternoon. There have been some rumors lately of Ted possibly hanging it up or going into semi-retirement and the thought of that really bums me out. By all accounts Ted is a great guy and should obviously make whatever decision is best for him and his family. Having said that though, Ted and his music have been an integral part of my adult life and not having a constant stream of Ted Leo shows and records would be quite an adjustment for me. Theres something about Ted Leo’s music in general, but especially his live sets, that really inspires me and makes me feel like regardless of all the injustice and tragedy that has beset our country in the past decade that everything will be okay. Or as ted sings at the end of “Little Dawn” - “Its alright”

So thanks Ted. I hope I get to see you play this song again someday.

100 Favorite Albums: Nas – Illmatic

2010-09-08T21:38:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that I’m not the greatest fan of the 90’s as a decade when it comes to music (or anything else really). But one thing about the 90’s that can’t be argued is both the quality and importance of hip hop music during that time. In the early to mid nineties you had three of the best hip hop records of all time dropping on the east coast during 93-94 - 36 Chambers by the Wu Tang Clan, Ready to Die by Notorious Big and Illmatic by Nas.

East coast inner-city life is fairly messed up to this day but it was especially bad in a pre-Giulianified New York City. Illmatic is an album that gets by on the strength of its singles like “Halftime”, “The World is Yours” and my favorite track: “Life’s a Bitch”

Its a convincing portrait of ghetto life that speaks truth to power in a way that only great music can. Its a shame that Nas has never been able to replicate his initial success. Theres something special about an artist being hungry, especially in hip hop.

2010 Greatness: CR Avery – The Great Canadian Novel

2010-09-02T18:52:00.000-07:00

As we enter the all important 4th quarter of this year (is it Basketball season yet?) its time to look at some of the noteworthy releases of 2010 before I start compiling that all-important “Best of 2010” blog post.

My love of CR Avery is deep and well documented. His short set opening up for Billy Bragg at the PNCA in 2008 is still seared in my memory and remains the best opening set I have ever seen. To give you some idea of how visceral the experience was – here’s a video of the tune he opened his set with:

CR comes as close as any performer I’m aware of to channel Tom Waits during his beat poet phase. On top of that, he’s also a killer pop songwriter.

This album will probably land somewhere in my top 5 favorite releases of this year when its all said and done – so needless to say I recommend you download it (legally) as soon as possible.

100 Favorite Albums: “Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely”

2010-08-02T22:11:00.000-07:00

**** out of *****

Although I thoroughly enjoy Come Dance with Me and Songs for Swingin’ Lovers this album is by far the best of the “concept albums” Sinatra released for Capital Records and made a lasting impact on the concept of an LP album as its own art form. Longtime collaborator Nelson Riddle is huge on this record, his lush arrangements set the melancholy tone and Sinatra sounds defeated, reflective and resentful simultaneously. This LP is best listened to alone on headphones while walking at night downtown and should be punctuated by hard alcohol of some kind.

Start with:

New Music Review: Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

2010-08-02T21:27:00.000-07:00

**1/2 out of *****

I’d like to applaud Win Butler and the gang for having the courage to take a bold and decidedly unhip stance against the suburbs.

But seriously folks - did you know that growing up in the suburbs can be an alienating experience? You will after making it through these 16 tracks. Win Butler and the Arcade Fire have been christened “The Next Springsteen” and the “Indie U2” by several critics but after listening to this album it seems obvious to me that Pink Floyd is the better analogy. Not since The Wall has there been an album with this many songs that so pedantically focuses on such a simple theme. Add in a melodramatic stage show, a fair amount of pretentiousness, “profound” lyrics that speak in platitudes and you have to wonder when Roger Waters will sue for royalties.

All the repetition might be easier to swallow if the record wasn’t so front loaded. There are six excellent songs that begin this album and make me wish that they had been released alone as an EP. Although you might not be able to tell from this review I really do like this band. Funeral is in my top 100 albums and Neon Bible had its moments. I’m afraid that this band will fall in to the trap that so many bands have and churn out a steady stream of releases that have a handful of memorable moments surrounded by mediocrity.

My 100 Favorite Albums

2010-07-28T18:40:00.000-07:00

Folks,

I’ve been meaning to post this for some time. I recently updated the list so now seemed as good a time as any to do a blog re-launch. My goal is to keep my writing honed by posting fairly regularly so I’m planning on writing a short review of each of the albums on here.

These are my 100 favorite albums in chronological order (for the most part). This list can, and should change periodically.

Album Name	Artist	Year	Rating
Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely	Frank Sinatra	1958	4
Highway 61 Revisited	Bob Dylan	1965	5
Rubber Soul	The Beatles	1965	4.25
The Exciting Wilson Pickett	Wilson Pickett	1966	4.25
Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul	Otis Redding	1966	4.5
Revolver	The Beatles	1966	4.5
Pet Sounds	The Beach Boys	1966	5
Scott 4	Scott Walker	1969	4
Let it Bleed	Rolling Stones	1969	4
Moondance	Van Morrison	1970	4.75
Roots	Curtis Mayfield	1971	4
Whats Goin' On?	Marvin Gaye	1971	4.5
Harvest	Neil Young	1972	4
Superfly	Curtis Mayfield	1972	5
The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle	Bruce Springsteen	1973	4.25
Horses	Patti Smith	1975	4.75
Born to Run	Bruce Springsteen	1975	5
Small Change	Tom Waits	1976	4.75
The Clash (UK)	The Clash	1977	4.75
My Aim is True	Elvis Costello	1977	4.5
This Year's Model	Elvis Costello	1978	5
Darkness on the Edge of Town	Bruce Springsteen	1978	5
Armed Forces	Elvis Costello	1979	4.75
London Calling	The Clash	1979	4.75
The River	Bruce Springsteen	1980	4.5
Big City	Merle Haggard	1981	4.25
Imperial Bedroom	Elvis Costello	1982	4
Combat Rock	The Clash	1982	4.25
Nebraska	Bruce Springsteen	1982	5
Hi, How Are You?	Daniel Johnston	1983	4.5
Murmur	REM	1983	4.5
Swordfishtrombones	Tom Waits	1983	4.75
Born in the USA	Bruce Springsteen	1984	4
Tim	The Replacements	1985	4
Rain Dogs	Tom Waits	1985	5
Life's a Riot with Spy vs Spy	Billy Bragg	1986	4.25
Talking with the Taxman about Poetry	Billy Bragg	1988	4
Pleased to Meet Me	The Replacements	1987	4.25
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back	Public Enemy	1988	4
Guitar Town	Steve Earle	1988	4.5
Damaged	Black Flag	1990	4.5
Reckoning	REM	1984	4.5
Bandwagonesque	Teenage Fanclub	1991	4
Don't Try This at Home	Billy Bragg	1991	4
Ten	Pearl Jam	1991	4.25
Frenching the Bully	The Gits	1992	4
Life's Rich Pageant	REM	1986	4
VS	Pearl Jam	1993	4.75
Exile in Guyville	Liz Phair	1993	4.5
Illmatic	Nas	1994	4.75
Vitalogy	Pearl Jam	1994	4.75
Bee Thousand	Guided By Voices	1994	5
Alien Lanes	Guided By Voices	1995	4.75
The Ghost of Tom Joad	Bruce Springsteen	1995	4
I Feel Alright	Steve Earle	1996	4.5
Brighten the Corners	Pavement	1997	4.25
OK Computer	Radiohead	1997	5
Stranger's Almanac	Whiskeytown	1997	5
Mermaid Avenue Vol 1	Billy Bragg and Wilco	1998	5
The Pilgrim	Marty Stuart	1999	4
Bone Machine	Tom Waits	1992	4
Summerteeth	Wilco	1999	4.25
The Mountain	Steve Earle	1999	4.75
Supreme Clientele	Ghostface Killah	2000	4
Heartbreaker	Ryan Adams	2000	5
Kid A	Radiohead	2000	4.25
Tyranny of Distance	Ted Leo	2001	4.5
O	Damien Rice	2002	4
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot	Wilco	2002	4.5
Jerusalem	Steve Earle	2002	4.5
The Rising	Bruce Springsteen	2002	4.5
The Fine Art of Self Destruction	Jesse Malin	2003	4
One Beat	Sleater-Kinney	2003	4.25
Love and Distance	Helio Sequence	2003	4.25
Decoration Day	Drive-By Truckers	2003	5
Hearts of Oak	Ted Leo	2003	4.75
Love is Hell pts 1 and 2	Ryan Adams	2003	4.5
Funeral	Arcade Fire	2004	4.25
Shake the Sheets	Ted Leo	2004	4.25
The Dirty South	Drive-By Truckers	2004	4.75
The Woods	Sleater-Kinney	2004	4.75
Little Rock	Hayes Carll	2004	4
Alligator	The National	2005	4
Separation Sunday	The Hold Steady	2005	4
Bang Bang Rock & Roll	Art Brut	2005	4
Smile	Brian Wilson	2005	4.5
Boys and Girls in America	The Hold Steady	2006	5
Magic	Bruce Springsteen	2007	4.5
Ash Wednesday	Elvis Perkins	2007	4.25
Pseudosix	Pseudosix	2007	4.5
Magic Hour Sailor Songs	CR Avery	2007	4
Boxer	The National	2007	5
This Is It & I Am It & You Are It & So Is That & He Is It & She Is It & It Is It & That Is That	Marnie Stern	2008	4.25
We Brave Bee Stings and All	Thao with the Get Down Stay Down	2008	4.25
Seven Mile Island	Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit	2009	4
Rose City	Viva Voce	2009	4
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix	Phoenix	2009	4.5
American Slang	Gaslight Anthem	2010	4.5
The Archandroid	Janelle Monae	2010	4.75
The Final Sessions	Hank Williams	(Various)	4.5

10 Favorite Records of 2009… In two sentences or less

2009-12-11T12:12:00.000-08:00

#10. The Pains of Being Pure of Heart – Self Titled

Horrible band name. Great album.

****

#9 Art Brut – Art Brut VS Satan

Frank Black kills it as producer. Eddie Argos continues to shine as a British, more sardonic Crag Finn.

***

#8 Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career

Scottish indie band continues to make great music by revisiting 60’s R & B. “The Sweetest Thing” and “French Navy” would be massive singles in a sane world.

Does this Video really remind anyone else of Hal Hartley?

***

#7 *Three Way Tie* Patterson Hood – Murdering Oscar / Drive-By Truckers – The Fine Print / Drive-By Truckers – Live in Austin

I decided to group these three releases together – The Fine Print (a collection of rarities and covers), Live in Austin (The Truckers’ appearance on Austin City Limits in support of their 2008 effort Brighter than Creation’s Dark) and Patterson Hood’s 2nd solo record Murdering Oscar (made up of mostly older songs that Hood recorded during a band hiatus). If I had to pick one of these three releases it would probably be Murdering Oscar as “Pride of the Yankees” is probably the best song about 9/11 not written by Steve Earle or Bruce Springsteen, but the other two records have really strong moments as well.

***

#6 Viva Voce – Rose City

This local band continues to gain steam with each release (and the addition of more members did a lot to beef up their sound). Sonically this is probably the most varied album on my list.

***

#5 Thao with the Get Down Stay Down – Know Better Learn Faster

Favorite album cover of the year. Creativity is the word here as Thao is simply an amazing songwriter.

***

#4 Justin Townes Earle – Midnight at the Movies

When I finally sat down and really listened to this record I instantly realized that Justin may end up being a much better songwriter than his father.

***

#3 Elvis Perkins in Dearland – Self Titled

“Shampoo” is without a doubt my favorite song of the year. Lyrically the best record of the year, hands down.

***

#2 Jason Isbell and the 400 unit – Seven Mile Island

Jason returns to his muscle shoals roots and steps out of the shadow of his former group. “Sunstroke” is simply breathtaking and “No Choice in the Matter” sounds like something Sam and Dave could have recorded.

***

#1 Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

My buddy Curtis was very astute when during one of our chats he made the observation that this was the “Boxer” of 2009 in terms of consistent critical acclaim. Deservedly so, in my opinion nothing else this year sounded as inspired as this did.

***

Coming next week…..

My 20 favorite records of the 00’s.

Numbers 20-10

Pearl Jam – Backspacer

2009-10-02T22:22:00.000-07:00

Three out of Five Stars

This has to be one of the most difficult things I have ever written on here.

On one hand I had to make sure that on one hand I gotten over the initial disgust of seeing them in a Target commercial and on the other hand I had to make sure I was over the initial euphoria that comes with seeing one of their live performances.

So yes, I am sticking with my initial review I gave on facebook after this album leaked, three out of five stars. 60%, a passing grade.

To my ears this record is composed of 4 excellent songs, 4 okay songs, and 3 bad ones. Very similar to every release they’ve had this decade in that respect.

But before I get to Backspacer, I have to say a few words about another highly anticipated 2009 release, one that dropped in January. Bruce Springsteen’s Working on a Dream.

Both records were produced by Brendan Obrien, both records were promoted by national campaigns (Bruce by his Super Bowl appearance, Pearl Jam by their Target deal). Both releases underwhelmed me upon first listen and continue to do so in part because they both sound tossed off and underdeveloped. Even more troubling, they lack the very depth that these bands are known and loved for.

Backspacer is better than Working on a Dream though (which I would probably give 1/5 stars for those wondering). Much better.

Backspacer starts with a 4 song punch reminiscent of Vitalogy. The merely adequate “Gonna See My Friend” is followed by the SUBLIME “Got Some” – Devo inspired riffs paired with a set of lyrics that are ambiguous in all of the right ways and one of Vedder’s most inspired vocal performances on wax. Period.

“The Fixer” is also excellent. Probably the 2nd best single of the year (“Shampoo” by Elvis Perkins being the first). Its chorus is powerful enough to make you forget about the mad lib verses (If somethings bland, let me put a little spice on it - if something's blurred, let me put a little clear on it). “Johnny Guitar” is great because its different, clever and fun.

“Just Breathe” is where the record loses momentum. It has a real dentist office quality to it and should have been relegated to B-side duty.

Eddie insists that “Amongst the Waves” isn’t about surfing - but really, he has to see why people would be confused. “Riding high amongst the waves” may be a relationship or life metaphor but it conjures up the image of Eddie in a wet suit catching a wave and smiling ear to ear. An image that makes you smile, especially when it was paired with the crunchy riffs of “Big Wave” from 2006’s “Pearl Jam”. I’m not a huge Radiohead fan but do you know what Thom Yorke does in his spare time by listening to his records? Neither do I, and thats how I like it. Unless its something where he wakes up sucking lemons. In that case………ew.

“Unthought Known” suffers from the same phenomenon that “Amongst the Waves” does, it sounds like the band is TRYING to write another anthem for its fans like “Alive” or “Betterman”. The lyrics are a bit too self helpy and derivative of some of their past work (I’m thinking “Present Tense” here) for me to buy into it. Eddies 110% commitment to it almost gets me there on certain listens though. Certainly in concert.

“Supersonic” is a fun Ramones pastiche. “Speed of Sound” is a really interesting song thats become a repeat listen of mine. It suffers from, again, underdeveloped lyrics and some odd production choices (the demo version isn’t perfect either, but is essential listening for Pearl Jam fans) but possesses a strong, driving melody and some very powerful imagery.

“Force of Nature” is at best forgettable and at worst an exercise in butt-rock.

“The End” is the 4th excellent song in this group. Intensely evocative and cinematic with Ed’s voice in rare form, literally wrenching emotion out of every syllable.

Sometime around the early part of this decade the media and fans began comparing Pearl Jam to jam bands like Phish and the Grateful Dead, citing their rabid fans, epic rock shows and sub par releases. Its a comparison that I agree with at this point, I’ve been compiling my 50 favorite records of the decade and only one Pearl Jam release is a lock (Binaural) with their 2003 collection of rarities Lost Dogs probably making the cut as well. But how many Pearl Jam shows would be in my top 50 concerts seen this decade? Oh, all of them.

Think back to the some of the best records this band has released: Vitalogy for instance. What made this band so great was their ability to mix their experimental and self indulgent tracks like “Bugs” with punk meets classic rock scorchers like “Last Exit” and flat out classics like “Betterman”. None of their releases this decade have come close to doing that. A few songs on Backspacer have the punk ethos, a few songs on Pearl Jam have the anthems and a few songs on Riot Act are great exercises in creativity but none of them really stand the test of time or would really demand attention if anyone besides Pearl Jam released them.

Is it unreasonable for me to expect this band to release a classic album at this point in their career?

In a word, yes.

Looking at some of their influences: Bob Dylan and Neil Young have released some quality work well into old age but have both had their share of awful, unlistenable records. Bruce Springsteen has released at least two awful records into his 40’s and has had to essentially jettison the qualities of his music that hes best known for to remain relevant (Solo records The Ghost of Tom Joad, Devils and Dust. Playing with a folk band doing Seeger Sessions. Magic and The Rising were excellent, but that would be only 2 E Street records in almost 20 years so you catch my drift). The Who are sill touring (surviving members that is), but are essentially a tribute band and haven’t done anything artistically relevant since that concert for New York on VH1 shortly after 9/11. Tom Waits is a great example of an artist aging gracefully but hes only had a handful of releases this past decade and has turned to acting as an additional creative outlet.

Looking at their peers: They are essentially the last of the Seattle scene standing. Chris Cornell had some mediocre releases with Audioslave and severely tarnished his legacy with a Timbaland produced solo album. Dave Grohl has done some interesting projects (Queens of the Stone Age etc) and has had massive commercial success with the Foo Fighters. But lets face it, The Foo Fighters have been incredibly stale since There is Nothing Left to Lose in 1999 and weren’t anything like Nirvana conceptually anyway. Trent Reznor and Billy Corgan (not Grunge acts obviously, but broke at similar times) have drifted in and out of semi retirement, released some decent stuff and from what I hear put on pretty good shows but haven’t had the same level of output as Pearl Jam in terms of frequency and quality.

Is it lamentable if this band keeps releasing records with only a few songs that stand alongside their best work - but keep playing epic rock shows that only a very small amount of bands can compete with?

Hell, no!

Seeing them in Seattle and Portland in September made that entirely obvious to me. This is a band that still has musical integrity, punk rock attitude and will always be more than the some of its parts. I’d still like to see them make a record that goes in a different direction (think electronica, or country or a bell to bell punk rock record) or see Eddie Vedder do a full fledged solo project (ideally one made up of all punk songs done with an outfit like Zeke or C Average) but even if they don’t: this band will always be a HUGE part of my life. And one worthy of all the superlatives that a music fan can offer.

But just like when the Blazers will inevitably lose a hard fought game to a Western Conference rival this year for lack of effort. I listen to this record and can’t help but think……

They could have done better.

2009 Halfway roundup Pt. 1: Records I've heard

2009-06-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

2 part series here. 2009 in Music, at the halfway point. Heres a list of albums released this year that I've heard. I decided not to include U2's last "record" because they're more like Cirque du Soleil or Celtic Women at this point. Next up: The Five best Records of 2009 thus far.

Artist - Album

St. Vincent - Actor

Art Brut - Art Brut Vs. Satan

Elvis Perkins In Dearland - Elvis Perkins In Dearland

Favours For Sailors - Furious Sons

Schuyler Fisk - The Good Stuff

M. Ward - Hold Time

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

Justin Townes Earle - Midnight At The Movies

Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

Booker T. Jones - Potato Hole

Viva Voce - Rose City

Elvis Costello - Secret, Profane And Sugarcane

Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit - Seven-Mile Island

Mute Math - Spotlight EP

Ramblin Jack Elliot - A Stranger Here

Harlem Shakes - Technicolor Health

Steve Earle - Townes

Casiotone For the Painfully Alone - Vs. Children

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Bruce Springsteen - Working On A Dream

Various Artists - Dark Was The Night

Song Analysis - Down to The River

2009-06-04T22:34:00.000-07:00

I’ve decided to use this blog to take an in depth look at some of my favorite songs. This piece will tackle Bruce Springsteen’s “The River” from the 1980 double album of the same name. Its regarded as one of his best songs by fans, critics and this blogger – I’d probably put it in my top 5 Springsteen songs in fact.

This song was, for all intents and purposes the first expression of to that point a long running interest that Bruce had in two American icons: Hank Williams and Woody Guthrie. “The River” certainly has an implicit political consciousness that reminds me of some of Guthrie’s work like “Pretty Boy Floyd”. Musically “The River” is patterned after Williams “I’m a long gone Daddy” (that title would later find its way into “Born in the USA””) and shares all the bleak and lonesome qualities of William’s best work. Clearly this was the point where Springsteen began to internalize the American folk tradition, much like Born to Run proved he had internalized American Rock and Roll.

So what about the lyrics? Lets go line-by-line.

I come from down in the valley

Already Springsteen establishes the economic conditions of the protagonist by using simple geography. Typically the poorer residents of a community live “down in the valley”. Think Everclear - “I will buy you a new house – in the west hills"

where mister when you're young
They bring you up to do like your daddy done

After an economic boom people are again finding themselves less mobile, both economically and geographically. Theres less class mobility as well. This is what happens during recessions, be they our current mess, the economic climate of the late 70’s that Bruce lived through, or the dust bowl era of woody guthrie. There is also a certain amount of destiny woven into the story here, and father issues, always father issues with Bruce.

Me and Mary we met in high school when she was just seventeen
We'd ride out of that valley down to where the fields were green

So its with Mary that he’s able to get out of the Valley. This is important to note.

We'd go down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
Oh down to the river we'd ride

The River is really the other main character of the song. Consider all the meaning rivers have. Think Mesopotamia. All the Biblical language surrounding rivers. Clearly The River in this song is also a symbol of life and vitality.

Then I got Mary pregnant and man that was all she wrote
And for my nineteen birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat
We went down to the courthouse and the judge put it all to rest
No wedding day smiles no walk down the aisle
No flowers no wedding dress

This is purely expository, but heartbreaking nonetheless.

That night we went down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
On down to the river we did ride

Despite all this, the narrator is still able to escape with Mary. Life is still full of possibilities.

I got a job working construction for the Johnstown Company
But lately there ain't been much work on account of the economy

This is where things go off the rails. Springsteen, like Steinbeck understood the spiritual dimension of work and what happened when good people found themselves in poor circumstances.

Now all them things that seemed so important
Well mister they vanished right into the air

Circumstances have changed. Instead of a life of possibility and opportunity its a life of obligations that can’t be fulfilled.

Now I just act like I don't remember, Mary acts like she don't care

This is where things get really tragic. How many marriages have been destroyed as a result of economic hardship. I’m no Marxist but its hard not to see the alienation that capitalism can create, even between life partners.

But I remember us riding in my brother's car

So he acts like he can’t remember. But he does.

Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir

The symbolism could not be richer here. He remembers her in a resevoir.

At night on them banks I'd lie awake
And pull her close just to feel each breath she'd take
Now those memories come back to haunt me, they haunt me like a curse

What could be worse than losing the things that mean the most? Not being able to forget them, to get any respite from your loss.

Is a dream a lie if it don't come true
Or is it something worse

This is probably the best line in the song. It reminds me of this poem:

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
"Harlem" - Langston Hughes

When I think of this line I think about some of the failures in my life. I had many moments where I failed because I didn’t try. I could always tell myself that things could have been different had I applied myself. The moments that really hurt were the times where I tried my hardest and came up short. Did the narrator’s dreams not come true because he didn’t believe in them? Or did they simply not happen for other reasons? What are those reasons? What does that mean? This is biblical stuff.

that sends me
Down to the river

Its these kinds of questions that send him searching – for things he can’t have and moments he can’t relive.

though I know the river is dry
Down to the river, my baby and I
Oh down to the river we ride

The first performance of this song:

Watchmen Review (no spoilers, I promise)

2009-03-10T13:08:00.000-07:00

In a move that should surprise none of you I saw the film adaptation of Watchmen last Friday. Amber and I strolled down to the Broadway Theater, a regal outlet across the street from the Schnitz known for its independent theater Mondays, low attendance and shoe box shaped auditoriums. Its been some time since I've seen a movie on opening day so the fact that we had to wait in line gave the whole experience an exciting lift.

There were things about the movie that were really strong. Visually Snyder nailed the comic panel by panel. Jackie Earle Haley brought Rorschach to the screen more authentically than any other actor in any other comic book movie. Heath Ledger was great as the Joker, but his Joker wasn't really patterned after a specific Joker in the Batman oeuvre, the way Rorschach on screen is a lifelike representation of Rorschach on page. Billy Crudup as Dr. Manhattan was also strong, especially in his origin scene (a high point of the film).

That being said, there are many areas in which this film failed. Really bad casting hurt it quite a bit. Malin Ackerman as Laurie Jupiter = epic fail. Lifetime movie quality. She brought down nearly every scene that she was featured in. Many other actresses could have nailed Laurie and still looked the part (Jennifer Connelly in particular would have been awesome). I won't go into it in depth in order to avoid spoilers but there was another poorly made casting decision that totally telegraphed the climax of he stort. Zack Snyder shouldn't be allowed to direct another movie, period. Hes great at visuals but, lets say less than great at everything else a director needs to do to make his film successful (not to mention his complete lack of subtlety). Patrick Wilson was great in "Little Children" and "Angels in America" but was really inconsistent in this film, a sign that Snyder isn't very good at interacting with talent. I know they had a lot to fit in a relatively short amount of time but the pacing of this film was way off. Specifically the scene in Vietnam (again, no spoilers) was cut in a way that robbed it of the emotional impact it should have had. The soundtrack choices were trite and obvious, the score wasn't particularly memorable and was too prominent in the mix.

There were several things in this movie that were significantly changed from the comic. None of the changes made were improvements, especially the ending. Everything that was altered was done in a way that made things more blunt and banal which betrayed the multi-layered nature of the source material What do I know though? I guess Slumdog Millionaire proved that people are still attracted to the most pedestrian narratives and need to have their hand held through things.

Snyder's Watchmen is still faithful enough to the material to be a worthwhile experience its just that whereas the comic is a deconstruction of the superhero genre that touches on fatalism, objectivism and cold war paranoia, the film is simply a meditation on the super hero genre and a pretty entertaining comic book movie with a downer ending.

So watch the movie - but please read the comic as well.

Music roundup

2009-01-13T21:57:00.000-08:00

Music related things that are getting me excited in 2009.

1. The new Springsteen record leaked this week and not surprisingly its pretty damn good. Not as good as "Magic" or "The Rising" in terms of modern E Street Band projects, but good nonetheless. I still need some time to process it so I'll probably wait to post my review until its official release date of 1/27 - who knows, I may not really "get it" until I hear it on the Vinyl I buy from Music Millennium that Tuesday.

2. The new M. Ward is being streamed on NPR and is quite good. Two cool covers (two of my favorite tunes actually, "Rave on" by Buddy Holly and blues standard "Oh lonesome me"), great guest appearances and killer arrangements. Definitely will be picking this up in Feb.

3. First confirmed show of 2009! Lisa Hannigan at the Wonder Ballroom. Amber and I have a lot of work left to do to get to our 2008 concert total, 17 more shows to be exact.

4. Neil Finn's "7 world's collide" project seems to be progressing quite nicely. They have tons of awesome videos up. The CD and DVD will be must buys as all proceeds go to Ox Fam

5. I should have a great mix next winter, looks like theres a lot of good stuff on the horizon:

Likely releases:

Steve Earle's record of Townes Van Zant covers
Ryan Adams
Neil Young
Lucero's major label debut
Townes van Zant reissues
Ted Leo
Damien Rice
Art Brut (with Frank Black producing!)

Possible Releases
Pearl Jam (damn they take their sweet time making records)
Drive-By Truckers
Some Glen Hansard related project
The National

Not Anticipating
U2 - No Line on the Horizon (each time they record something do they play a game of who can pick the most pretentious sounding title?)

In 2009 I hope to see........

Bruce Springsteen (not likely, should be a short tour)
Pearl Jam (sort of a crapshoot there)
REM (not likely, looks like they're done touring the last record)
The National - finally (likely, I can't say why I just have a good feeling)
Ted Leo (likely, dude needs to get paid, and should have a new record)
Steve Earle (see above)
Damien Rice
Art Brut
Ryan Adams
Cr Avery
Pavement (might finally happen this year)

Chilling

2009-01-12T00:44:00.000-08:00

Killer version of this song:

Bruce Springsteen
The New Timer (Autoharp) CAA 20005
http://www.mediafire.com/?1v4jqj4bnog

He rode the rails since the great depression
Fifty years out on the skids
He said you don't cross nobody
You'll be all right out here kid

Left my family in Pennsylvania
Searchin' for work I hit the road
I met Frank in east Texas
In a freight yard blown through with snow

From New Mexico to Colorado
California to the sea
Frank he showed me the ropes, sir
Just till I could get back on my feet

I hoed sugar beets outside of Firebaugh
I picked the peaches from the Marysville tree
They bunked us in a barn just like animals
Me and a hundred others just like me

We split up come the springtime
I never seen Frank again
'Cept one rainy night he blew by me on grainer
Shouted my name and disappeared in the rain and the wind

They found him shot dead outside Stockton
His body lyin' on a muddy hill
Nothin' taken, nothin' stolen
Somebody killed him just to kill

Late that summer I was rollin' through the plains of Texas
A vision passed before my eyes A small house sittin' trackside
With the glow of the saviours beautiful light

A woman stood cookin' in the kitchen
Kid sat at the table with his old man
Now I wonder does my son miss me
Does he wonder where I am

Tonight I pick my campsite carefully
Outside the Sacramento Yard
Gather some wood and light a fire
In the early winter dark

Wind whistling cold I pull my coat around me
Make some coffee and stare out into the black night
I lie awake, I lie awake sir
With my machete by my side

My Jesus your gracious love and mercy
Tonight I'm sorry could not fill my heart
Like one good rifle And the name of who I ought to kill

Coming Soon!

2009-01-09T11:22:00.000-08:00

1. Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska Live

2. Best Political Songs of the Bush Era

3. Best live performances I've seen

Okay, you decided

2009-01-06T21:30:00.001-08:00

A Ryan Adams project by the end of the week then. The subject may be surprising.

Rick Warren: A purpose driven Homophobe?

2008-12-23T21:45:00.000-08:00

As many of you know theres been a much anticipated rift between Obama and a great deal of progressive voters. The cause? Obama choosing Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inauguration. Where do I stand on the matter?

Well, as usual: somewhere in the middle.

The Gay community, and therefore the progressive community at large (as well as anyone who isn't a homophobic bigot) has cause to be concerned about folks like Rick Warren getting any political capital. He has, among other things, likened Homosexuality to Adultery and Polygamy, Opposed Gay Marriage on the grounds that it violates the free speech of Gay Marriage opponents (I don't find ANY argument against Gay marriage particularly logical or credible but this is certainly one of the weaker critiques. Its a bit like saying "Man these anti-discrimination laws violate my right to say racist things!!!!!") and is against Gay adoption. These positions are all unacceptable. People will often point to his work as an AIDS activist as some evidence of him being more progressive than other evangelical leaders, but his work on that issue has been mostly in Africa where HIV/AIDS is a predominantly heterosexual disease.

He has recently responded to some of these concerns visiting a gay thrift store and removing some language prohibiting gay people from attaining membership at Saddleback (four words: worst church name ever) from their website. I think its important to note that Warren is a fairly controversial figure in the evangelical community. Conservative evangelicals resent Warren addressing issues like Climate Change and find Warren's "Purpose Driven Life" book/movement a bit too close to pop-psychology for comfort. Liberal evangelicals (note: not an oxymoron) found Warren's purpose driven life materials a bit too commercial and yearn for an open and affirming (read: not homophobic) evangelical movement. If Obama thinks that Warren will be some gateway to the evangelical community he is sadly mistaken. Evangelicals are notorious for being strict ideologues, I've seen these people on the verge of screaming about issues like infant baptism and the ordination of female elders......A pro-choice politician? Puh-lease

What should keep lefties from hyperventilating? Pop quiz: Name the last pastor that gave the invocation at an inauguration.........still waiting........Okay, times up. I'm betting that you're probably like most people I've asked this question of and have reached the logical conclusion that this isn't even a very important role in the inauguration ceremony, let alone one of much historical significance.

Unfortunately due to the economy Gay rights activists will have a hard time making marriage equality seem like a dire struggle (although it is). Additionally Obama and most other prominent Democrats are against Gay marriage, although I do think we may see some progress on domestic partnership issues (I know, hardly a panacea).

Meanwhile Obama has appointed one hell of a secretary of Labor.

Its difficult to judge how progressive (or successful) president Obama will be over the next four years. Its important that we lefties stay vigilant, but retain some perspective and not let disagreements get in the way of our shared values.

Important weather update from Portland

2008-12-20T18:05:00.000-08:00

Top 10 Favorite Bands/Artists

2008-12-19T11:42:00.000-08:00

Always wanted to do this:

Top 10 Favorite Bands/Artists

1. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
2. Pearl Jam
3. Ted Leo
4. Ryan Adams
5. Steve Earle
6. Billy Bragg
7. The Hold Steady
8. Glen Hansard projects (The Frames, The Swell Season etc.)
9. Neil Young
10. Damien Rice

By the way, I'm prepping a lengthy post on Rick Warren that will drop either tonight or tomorrow night.

Countdown

2008-12-18T20:13:00.000-08:00

Holiday 2008 mix notes will be posted before 11:59 PM on Friday, December 19th. Sorry for the delay but the snow up here has made things crazy.

Coming Soon!

2008-12-13T18:40:00.000-08:00

Just pressed the 2008 Holiday Mix today. I will finish the artwork tomorrow and then start passing this baby out. After that I'll work on some notes that will be up here. This blog will then act as an archive for all of my mix related projects (I may start doing a summer mix).

My Goal this Christmas

2008-12-11T20:51:00.000-08:00

http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_121108_business_powells_staff_scale_back.52d7364a.html

Two words: Buy Local

More than any other time of year Christmas is when I go retail crazy. Not only do I buy gifts but inevitably I get a good share of Christmas cash as well. Usually I go for either price or convenience when buying gifts - taking a trip to best buy, fred meyer or even *shudder* the mall. The mall of all places! Not this year my friends!

I think between Music Millennium and Everyday Music, Powell's Books, the Vegan Mini Mall and various neighborhood shops I should be golden. Will it cost more? Maybe, but not much. In fact the really awesome thing will be for those of us music and book fans that will get to scoop up low price used goods with our Christmas cash. This recession will be hard on small and local businesses. If you value the character of this city then put your Christmas money where your mouth is and BUY LOCAL!!!!

Favorite Music of 2008

2008-12-02T20:38:00.000-08:00

The time is here. 2008 has been another great year for music, lots of releases from established artists looking for a return to form as well as some new bands trying to reach that next level. Here's what I've been digging in list form:

FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2008

Honorable Mentions:

1. Marnie Stern: This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That

I just discovered this record listening to Henry Rollins radio show. Simply put: this album is CRAZY. I'd venture a guess that if you pick this one up it'll definitely be one of the most avant garde things you've heard all year. Marnie certainly brings a creative voice to modern music and her guitar playing is incredible. Highly recommended.

2. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!

Nick and the Bad Seeds continue to rock our collective worlds. This record was just a few more "great" songs away from getting into my top ten, but was still worthwhile. As usual Nick's lyrics are the stand out, especially on "more news from nowhere" (featured above).

3. REM: Accelerate

I was pretty disappointed by this release. It felt to me like REM was trying a bit too hard to recapture the exuberance of their formative years. Still, even just a couple great REM songs is definitely worth your time.

4. Ryan Adams: Cardinology

This was a bit too much like 2007's Easy Tiger....only not as good.

5. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks: Real Emotional Trash

This record was great, but having a 10 minute song so early in really killed the flow for me. Nice to hear Janet from Sleater-Kinney still making great music after their hiatus.

Okay, now its for keeps.

#10 She & Him: Volume 1

This record has been all over top 10 lists for good reason as its probably the best pure "pop" record of the decade. These songs, along with Zooey Deschanel's voice feel timeless and the melodies remind me of anything from Brian Wilson to The Ronettes.

#9 Elvis Costello and The Imposters: Momofuku

Classic Costello here. Standouts are "American Gangster Time", "Pardon me Madam, my name is Eve" and "Turpentine"

#8 Martha Wainwright: I know you're married....but I've got feelings too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuX5Fwiaj70 (stupid UMG disabling embed)

Martha is one of my favorite female vocalists. I've seen her twice as an opener, one for the swell season and once for stephen malkmus. Some might call her wailing on songs like "Hearts Club Band" a bit histrionic, I call it transcendent.

#7 Billy Bragg: Mr Love and Justice

Its rare when an artist actually releases one of their best records roughly two decades after their first but Billy managed to pull it off. The usual quirky mix of songs about love and politics.

#6 Jenny Lewis: Acid Tongue

Classic examples of great songwriting are all over this record, I need to check out more stuff that Jenny Lewis has done.

#5 Spiritualized: Songs in A and E

"Soul on Fire" = Song of the year. Period.

#4 Drive-by Truckers: Brighter than Creation's Dark.

Hard to find a more consistent double record released this decade. This band manages to release an absolute gem despite membership changes. Patterson Hood turns out great songs like "The Righteous Path" and "You and your crystal meth", Mike Cooley steals the show with deep character sketches like "Bob" and "Lisa's Birthday" and Shonna Tucker gets all sultry with cuts like "Houston" and "Purgatory Line". Essential listening here.

#3 The Hold Steady: Stay Positive

Falling short of their last record "Boys and Girls in America" The Hold Steady still manage to fuse Springsteenian anthems with Hardcore sensibility to make an excellent record.

#2 The Helio Sequence: Keep Your Eyes Ahead

The best band to ever come out of Beaverton, OR released their latest record early on this year, but its managed to hold a spot on my ipod for some time now (best hard on vinyl though, obviously). Beatleesque melodies meet blistering drums in a cacophonous reaffirmation of the power of rock and roll.

#1 Lisa Hannigan: Sea Sew

Okay, so this Irish record will technically be released in the US in 2009 - but I didn't want Bruce keeping Lisa from the number one spot when this record is sooooo good. After being fired by Damien Rice Lisa manages to release a record thats better than anything hes done in the studio (live though, Damien is hard to surpass, the again I've never seen a full Lisa Hannigan show.) Every song on this record is perfect. Great arrangements, lyrics, performances (especially vocally) tones and textures etc. My favorite female artist of all time.

OTHER STUFF:

Discoveries

One artist I've always wanted to check out and finally did and one I just found out about:

Tom Waits:

Where have you been all my life Tom? Hoping to get the full discography with Christmas money. Still trying to wrap my ahead around some of his releases. Definitely in that top 5 living songwriters (with Springsteen, Dylan, Young and Wilson IMO).

CR Avery:

BEST. OPENER. EVER. More on that later. I'm hoping he'll come to Portland so I can take a big posse to be mindblown by his sheer talent.

Drive-By Truckers:

Aforementioned. Blew away by them at the Crystal. Records like Decoration Day will surely be in my top 50.

TOP FIVE SHOWS OF 2008:

#5 Ryan Adams – Elsinore Theatre – Salem, OR 1/25

First electric show with Ryan and the Cards. "I see monsters" was a KILLER closer. The Elsinore theater was immaculate and had tons of character. I'd love to see another show there.

#4 Billy Bragg w/ CR Avery - Pacific Northwest College of Art - Portland, OR 6/07

Again, BEST. OPENER. EVER. Billy is a can't miss live artist seamlessly weaving fantastic songs with great anecdotes. "The Spacerace is Over" was incredibly moving.

#3 The Hold Steady w/ Drive by Truckers - Crystal Ballroom - Portland, OR 11/22

It took a week to recuperate after rocking that hard. That should give you some idea of how badass that show was.

#2 Pearl Jam w/ Ted Leo - Madison Square Garden - New York, NY 6/24

In NYC on my honeymoon. Ted Leo opening. Madison Square Garden. Pearl Jam. Do the math. First night beats out second night due to the setlist.

#1 Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - Rose Garden Arena - Portland, OR 3/28

I managed to get in the pit and stand about 10 rows away from my idol. This was a real emotional night for me, one I'll never forget. My first E-street band show. Hopefully not the last.

Well, thats it for music in 2008. What did you listen to?

Film Review: Irreversible

2008-11-25T22:25:00.000-08:00

I'm not giving this a star rating because it was just so jarring I'm not sure what my opinion of it actually is. For those uninitiated Irreversible is a film by french director Gaspar Noe that runs backwards and depicts two incredibly brutal acts of violence in two scenes, the most brutal filmed in a single take nearly ten minutes in length. The performances are superb the camera work inventive and the score contains a low frequency noise designed to make viewers nauseous. I'd recommend this to anyone with an open mind, I'd love to hear anyones take on this interesting piece of work.

Film Reviews

2008-11-18T20:48:00.000-08:00

Just letting you folks know that I may have a big personal announcement to break on here in a few weeks. Pretty big stuff. I don't usually do this kind of thing on the blog, but I may be able to get a good post out of it, so I'm going forward with it.

Film Reviews

Body of War - This documentary was about Iraq war veteran Thomas Young. It was really well done and highly recommended, although I was surprised at how highly Sen. Robert Byrd (WV) seems to be regarded by the filmmakers. Former Klan member Robert Byrd. Just sayin'.

***1/2 out of *****

Requiem for a Dream - I'll be cycling through the three films made by Darren Aronofsky and several films starring Mickey Rourke in preparation for "The Wrestler" due out in December (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wrestler_(2008_film)). I've already seen Pi, but will screen it again, and hopefully I'll be able to catch The Fountain as well, despite its mixed reputation. Simply put this film wasn't perfect, but was excellent in every regard. Aronofsky is really creative with his use of editing and the performances were stellar. Out of every film I've seen so far this year, this is the one I'd recommend to people the most.

****3/4 out of *****

Two Words: Woah. Dude.

2008-11-13T22:29:00.000-08:00

http://io9.com/5086630/new-watchmen-trailer-is-full-of-organ-playing-death-dealing-craziness

Man, each new peek at this thing makes me more and more excited to see it.

Keeping in touch

2008-11-09T22:30:00.000-08:00

I've recently had conversations with several friends of mine that all reach the same conclusion: we all have no friends. Or at least it doesn't FEEL like it. Sure, I have friends, even one that I see fairly often, but its often in short, rushed encounters that don't really do much but remind me that I wish I saw my friends more often. As a strong extrovert I really enjoy 95% of people so its unusual that I really can only call around 10 people legitimate "friends" of mine. Acquaintances are lovely, but need not apply here. I have 51 "friends" on facebook though. Thinking about this 10 I've only seen three of them the past month, 5-7 this calendar year, and the rest before this calendar year. There are geographic boundaries to be sure, but the biggest boundaries are artificial.

The really unfortunate thing about this in my mind, aside from the loss of feeling loved by ones friends, is the missed opportunities for learning. I've learned so much from my friends, not necessarily things that are quantifiable (although in many cases I have learned a great deal) but things about myself, about people - about life. Its all very lamentable. Then again, I have certainly been in that mood lately.....a....lamentatious one? lamentative? This is the exact kind of thing a friend could help out with.

He did it!

2008-11-05T20:06:00.000-08:00

That was a real nail-biter. Hard to believe the man from Myrtle Creek just defeated the last Republican senator on the west coast.

The agony and the ectasy

2008-11-05T14:29:00.000-08:00

Well its still hard for me to believe what happened last night. Its important to note that this is still a centrist country (not center-right, forget the pundits) and this year the democrats managed to turn out more of their folks while the republicans net less of theirs.

For me this election is the exclamation point on the end of a very emotional year. Getting married, losing my Grandfather (my enthusiasm last night was severely dampened by his absence, it was so tough not being able to call him when Obama was projected as the winner) and now seeing most of my hopes for the nation come true, electorally speaking that is.

There were some disappointments though. The Senate race in MN was a real barn-burner, Coleman is barely ahead and the closeness will trigger a recount that won't matriculate until mid November, possibly January. There still isn't a projected winner of the Oregon senate race meaning that many folks who voted for Obama also voted for known douchebag Gordon Smith or didn't fill out the rest of their ballots. Talk about depressing. Right now smith is a head but Multnomah and Lane county have enough vote outstanding that many analysts are predicting a Merkley win of between 10,000-30,000 votes. We're also awaiting the results of the anti-union Measure 64 for the same reason. Neither of these contests should have been this close.

Most disappointing of all was the success of Prop 8 in California. If this measure had failed it would have been a huge stride in favor of marriage equality. I'm pretty disheartened that two of the groups that contributed to its success were African Americans (according to exit polls) and the Mormon church (they sunk a TON of money into this race). The fact that on the same night that African Americans had a milestone in their struggle for civil rights they contributed to the denial of marriage equality for the gay community is nothing short of tragic. It wasn't long ago that the Mormon community felt the profound sting of persecution as well, they were literally chased westward to Utah because of their beliefs not being accepted by society at the time. Our family is friends with many LGBT folks, many of them in relationships that lasted longer and were stronger than my parents marriage. These folks have the kind of relationships that I hope to have with my wife and the fact that they are continually told by society that they are inadequate and unaccepted is simply, fucked up, no other term gets the job done.

Checking in

2008-11-05T09:13:00.000-08:00

Last night was amazing, and I will write about the results of this election later today. I am waiting on some results but it looks like a mixed evening for those of us who are progressive and follow more than just the top of the ticket. I'll leave you folks with this until I'm ready:

Here we go!

2008-11-04T07:17:00.000-08:00

Alright folks, this is it. Hard to believe the day is finally here. Its time to find out if what we all think is going to happen actually comes to pass.

I'd ignore all the folks telling you things like "Oh, if obama wins Virginia hes likely to win all of the tossup states" and the like. I've said it before and I'll say it again: EACH STATE IS DIFFERENT. This thing ain't over until one man gets 270 electoral votes and thats all I've got to say about that.

14 Political Songs #14

Bruce Springsteen - Livin' in the Future

A letter come blowin' in on an ill wind
Somethin' 'bout me and you
Never seein' one another again
Yeah, well I knew it'd come
Still I was struck deaf and dumb
Like when we kissed, that taste of blood on your tongue

Don't worry Darlin', now baby don't you fret
We're livin' in the future and none of this has happened yet
Don't worry Darlin', now baby don't you fret
We're livin' in the future and none of this has happened yet

Woke up Election Day, skies gunpowder and shades of gray
Beneath a dirty sun, I whistled my time away
Then just about sundown
You come walkin' through town
Your boot heels clickin'
Like the barrel of a pistol spinnin' 'round

Don't worry Darlin', now baby don't you fret
We're livin' in the future and none of this has happened yet
Don't worry Darlin', now baby don't you fret
We're livin' in the future and none of this has happened yet

The earth it gave away, the sea rose toward the sun
I opened up my heart to you it got all damaged and undone
My ship Liberty sailed away on a bloody red horizon
The groundskeeper opened the gates and let the wild dogs run

I'm rollin' through town, a lost cowboy at sundown
Got my monkey on a leash, got my ear tuned to the ground
My faith's been torn asunder, tell me is that rollin' thunder
Or just the sinkin' sound of somethin' righteous goin' under?

Don't worry Darlin', now baby don't you fret
We're livin' in the future and none of this has happened yet
Don't worry Darlin', now baby don't you fret
We're livin' in the future and none of this has happened yet
Don't worry Darlin', now baby don't you fret
We're livin' in the future and none of this has happened yet
None of this has happened yet
None of this has happened yet
None of this has happened yet
None of this has happened yet

Just around the corner

2008-11-03T08:33:00.000-08:00

So here we are, one day separating us from what will be the most significant political event of this decade. Things are looking good, but in all seriousness, McCain could still pull this out. There are a lot of undecideds and Obama is just at 50% in several state polls - which could be in the margin of error and could lead to him losing in states like FL, OH and the like. That being said, the Kerry states plus IA, NM and CO firewall looks pretty damn good, and NV and VA are still looking good as backups. McCain's push for PA doesn't look successful at this point, but again, there may be some kind of racial effect here that doesn't exist in other states so its hard to tell. I'd prefer it if the networks were able to project a winner in FL soon, because then it doesn't matter what happens in PA.

Anyway, since we have a day left, here are my predictions:

National

1. Barack Obama will be president winning between 270-300 Electoral Votes

2. The Democrats will NOT win 60 seats in the Senate. I'm expecting races in MS, KY and GA to go for the GOP and will additionally predict Norm Coleman victorious in MN over Al Franken.

3. The Abortion ban in South Dakota will pass.

4. Prop 8 (Gay Marriage Ban) in California will fail.

Local Stuff

1. Dino Rossi will be a two-time loser in Washington State.

2. Jeff Merkley will do the unthinkable and finally beat the last Republican senator on the west coast.

3. One of Sizemore's shitty measures will pass.

4. Measure 65 will pass.

5. Kate Brown will be Secretary of State winning by a very small margin.

Well thats all for today. I'll post briefly tomorrow.

Favorite Political Songs #12 and 13

#12 Billy Bragg "Waiting for the Great Leap Forward"

#13 Steve Earle "Jerusalem"

Note the hopeful tone of these two today!!!!

14 Favorite Political Tunes #11

2008-10-31T23:31:00.000-07:00

public enemy - by the time i get to arizona

14 Favorite Political Tunes #10

2008-10-30T22:07:00.000-07:00

pearl jam do the evolution

lol

2008-10-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

Uncertainty and polls

2008-10-30T00:42:00.000-07:00

It was Christmas of 2006. My family was gathered in my Aunt’s family room after the usual Christmas dinner. The subject of conversation turned to politics which as usual, got me all excited. Being a partisan Democrat I was still elated by the results of the 2006 Congressional elections. After talking about the Democratic Takeover a friend of the family asked “So are you excited about seeing Hilary and Rudy Giuliani go at each other in 2008?” I hesitated and then expressed some reservations about Giuliani’s chances in a Republican Primary; his stances on social issues, a possible inability to resonate culturally with the republican base and his relatively small experience campaigning on a national stage were all things I cited. My Uncle seemed surprised by my analysis and mentioned that the polls he had read seemed to indicate that a Rudy/Hilary match up was likely, if not inevitable. Although my instincts seem rather prescient in hindsight its easy to see why my Uncle, like many others, had those expectations.

In an age where Americans are getting the information they want easier, quicker and more conveniently than ever the result of a Presidential election certainly goes against the grain. Its hard to even remember when this presidential campaign started, Democratic front-runner Hilary Clinton officially announced her bid on January 22nd 2007 (http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/20/clinton.announcement/index.html), McCain on the March 1st edition of the David Letterman show (http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/02/28/mccain.running/index.html), and Barck Obama on February 10th, 2007 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6349081.stm). The speculation, of course, started much earlier. I should mention that in the last national Newsweek Poll released on October 24th 2008 already contains some data on the 2012 Republican Primary with Mitt Romney leading the pack with 35% of registered Republicans, Mike Huckabee with 26% and Sarah Palin with 10% (http://www.newsweek.com/id/165570). Are we now destined for an Obama/Romney matchup in 2012?
Hardly. First of all, Obama hasn’t been elected to his first term yet. Secondly, the people conducting this poll for Newsweek presented respondents with a series of options. We don’t know if the candidates who were presented as options will even be running, yet alone if they’ll be politically viable. Furthermore, figures can suddenly appear on the national stage; just ask Barack Obama. Its easy to imagine someone like David Petraus having a significant effect on this poll were he listed as an option. And what about the voters of Iowa and New Hampshire? Someone like Tim Pawlenty may be able to connect with Iowa caucus goers more efficiently than Mitt Romney, much like Mike Huckabee connected with Iowa Republicans last January. Barack Obama certainly looked like the frontrunner of the Democratic contest after winning the Iowa caucus.

I think its important to note that although polls can be useful in terms of identifying trends, they’re hardly a flawless predictor of future events. That being said, I still find myself spending hours of my personal time reading polls. There is a dizzying array of polls on this election. I follow eight national tracking polls, one tracking poll that covers Pennsylvania and several state polls. I check three websites daily that assemble, weight and average statewide and national polls. I read crosstabs, compare the newest polls with other polls, check sample sizes, party identification, the record of the group conducting the poll and the pollsters own analysis of their work. I’ve began to wonder though, as interesting as the daily “horse race” is - are the polls I’m reading really giving me a greater ability to predict the results of this election? In an effort to quell that concern, I looked back at the accuracy of polls on past elections and found that process an insightful one.

One historical trend I found is of great relevance to the 2008 election. Although Gallup’s final pre-election polls aren’t always accurate at predicting the popular vote totals there have only been three occasions since 1980 where whoever was ahead in the pre-election poll three weeks prior to the election did not win the popular vote. The first of those occasions occurred in 1980 when Carter led Reagan by three points the third week of October. Reagan ended up winning the popular vote in that election by nearly 10 points. Its important to note though that the only presidential debate in 1980 occurred on October 28th and was largely regarded as a turning point in that campaign. The other incidents happened in 2000 and 2004 where Gallup had both sets of candidates tied in mid-October, Gore won the popular vote by .5% and Bush by 2.4% respectively. I should mention that Barack Obama was head by 7 in a Gallup poll taken three week prior to this election. In every election aside from 1980 with a clear frontrunner three weeks prior to the election (84, 88, 92, 96) Gallup accurately predicted the winner of the popular vote. In an issue of Public Opinion Quarterly Dr. Michael W. Traugott concluded that “In the end, the final estimates of the pre-election polls, the bread and butter of the polling industry, were very good at suggesting it would be a close race, with Bush the likely winner. In historical perspective, the overall performance was above average for the period since 1956.” (http://poq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/69/5/642)

One way analysts try to predict the results of a presidential election is by assembling polls of individual states in an effort to determine a likely winner of the electoral college. The website http://www.electoral-vote.com correctly predicted the winner of the Electoral College on their last prediction on November 3rd. In 2004 Zogby International infamously predicted that John Kerry would win the Electoral College by over 300 electoral votes (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1297588/posts). In 2000 ABC News, The Associated Press, CNN, Fox News, NBC News, The Orvetti Report, President Elect, the President Elect computer, Portrait of America, and the Washington Times all correctly predicted the winner of the Electoral College although none of these organizations predicted the actual electoral vote total. The website FiveThirtyEight.com has become popular in this election cycle partly due to their system of analysis out performing other analyst’s predictions of several contests in the 2008 Democratic Primary. The site is run by Nate Silver who compiles polling data using methodology similar to baseball sabermetrics. Silver currently predicts Barck Obama to win the Electoral College with over 300 votes.

The Historic nature of Barack Obama’s candidacy has some analysts wondering if Barack Obama might underperform expectations set by polls due to racial motivations of voters who are afraid to disclose their true preference. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as the “Bradley Effect” named after California gubernatorial candidate Tom Bradley who underperformed pre-election polls in 1982. Interestingly enough Bradley’s performance may have had less to do with race and more to do with polls of the contest consistently being within the margin of error and a larger push for elderly Californians to vote absentee leading Republican leaning voters to be under-sampled in polls (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/10/the_bradley_effect_selective_m.html). A new analysis done by Harvard Post-Doctoral Fellow Daniel J. Hopkins using new data from 133 gubernatorial and Senate elections from 1989 to 2006 found that “before 1996, the median gap (underperformance) for black candidates was 3.1 percentage points, while for subsequent years it was -0.3 percentage points.” Hopkins also argued that part of the “Bradley” or “Wilder” effect (referring to Virginian Douglas Wilder the first African American governor in America) may be related to individual candidates status’ as a front runner which may also lead to favorable polling inaccuracies. After doing a survey of the results 31 contests from the 2008 Democratic Primary FiveThirtyEight.com’s Nate Silver concluded that Barack Obama overperformed expectations set by polls in 19 States including states with higher percentages of white voters like Iowa, Wisconsin and Oregon (http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/08/persistent-myth-of-bradley-effect.html). A Presidential Election is certainly different than a Democratic Presidential Primary though, so its hard to tell what effect racially motivated voters will have on the final results.

Another difficulty in presidential polling is determining which voters will actually show up to the polls. Gallup has used whats called a “Likely Voter Model” with mixed results, most infamously in 2000 where on October 24th Gallup had Gore ahead of Bush by 1 point and three days later they had Bush ahead by 13 points. This cycle Gallup has a “Traditional Likely Voter Model” meant to mirror the 2004 electorate and an “Expanded Likely Voter Model” that estimates higher turnout by young Americans and minorities. Under this “Traditional” model a voter can be registered and say they’re determined to vote and still be excluded from the model if they didn’t vote in 2004. There has also been some recent concern that pollsters are undersampling young Democratic leaning voters because of a prevalence of cell phone only households among those under 30. Pollster Ann Selzer estimates that as many as 50% of voters under 30 rely on cell phone service (Selzer & Co).
Polling has been especially erratic this election cycle, a current survey of national polls has Obama’s margin of victory as low as 3 points (Rasmussen Reports) and as high as 14 points (Pew Research Center). There is a lot of anecdotal evidence to add to all of this uncertainty. On August 5th the New York Times reported that reported that “since 2005, Democrats have gained some 214,000 voters in the 26 states with available registration data while Republican registration has dropped by more than 1.4 million”. More than 540,000 votes have already been cast in Georgia and black voters have made up a disproportionately high percentage of those votes, accounting for 37 percent of Georgia's early votes when 29 percent of the state's 5.6 million registered voters are African American (Associated Press), this may be some indication of unprecedented turnout among African Americans. Oregon’s Vote By Mail system provides an interesting study for voter turnout. The amount of ballots cast prior to October 29th 2008 represent a 19% decline in turnout compared to the ballots cast before October 29th 2004. Interestingly enough is to compare the difference between 2008 and 2004 in specific counties. In traditionally Democratic counties like Lane, Benton and Multnomah County the decline in turnout is between 12 and 16%. In Republican leaning counties like Klamath, Douglas and Linn County the decline in turnout varies from 16% to a staggering 41.5% (http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/). This will certainly have some impact on races in Oregon, but again, if this trend is some indicator of a national trend in GOP enthusiasm and manifests itself in other states it could lead to some very interesting results on November 4th. The reason why I bring up all this anecdotal evidence is to illustrate the point that there are important trends that may not manifest themselves in polling. If certain groups are undersampled or oversampled then pollsters “Likely Voter Models” will be useless.

That being said I do feel that following polls, in addition to being a fun hobby, is a valuable practice. This is especially true when compared to the alternative of not following polls. Knowing that a certain candidate is ahead or behind can provide a meaningful context in which to view important events in a presidential campaign. If a candidate does something drastic like running a negative ad or naming an unknown Governor of Alaska as his Vice Presidential Candidate knowing that they’re behind in the polls may give you some insight into their decision making process. If you can’t decide between making a donation to a local political campaign or a national one it might be helpful to know candidates viability. Polls are great at providing some foresight as to who will decide the future of our communities and ultimately our country. By many traditional metrics it looks likely that Barack Obama will be the first African American president of the United States but things are far from certain. Unprecedented events occur on a regular basis and that’s what keeps me interested in politics (and checking dozens of polls everyday).

That informercial

2008-10-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

Heres my initial thoughts:

1. Could that have been anymore folksy?

2. Generationaly this will fall flat among Millenial and Gen X voters, Several important groups though: low information voters, white boomer women, seniors I think this may really resonate.

3. We really won't know how successful this was until Friday or Saturday at the earliest in terms of the trackers. I'm not sure when the Neilson ratings will be out, but judging by the demos they'll release we'll be able to get a good picture of who exactly saw this thing.

Big Oregon Poll News

2008-10-29T15:34:00.001-07:00

From the trib:

By Steve Law

The Portland Tribune, Oct 28, 2008, Updated 4.5 hours ago

Democratic state Sens. Kate Brown and Ben Westlund are in solid position to become Oregon’s next secretary of state and state treasurer, according to a new poll for the Portland Tribune and Fox 12.

Brown, a Portland Democrat, leads Springfield Republican Rick Dancer, a former television journalist, 38 percent to 32 percent in the secretary of state’s race, according to a new poll by Portland polling firm Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall Inc. Portland software engineer Seth Woolley, running on the Pacific Green Party ticket, had 4 percent in the poll, while 25 percent were undecided.

Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall Inc. polled 500 registered voters around the state from Oct. 23 through Oct. 25. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent.

Six weeks earlier, a Tribune/Fox 12 poll by the same firm found Brown led Dancer 33 percent to 25 percent, with 38 percent undecided.

Westlund, a Bend-area Democrat, leads Lake Oswego Republican Allen Alley by 39 percent to 28 percent in the treasurer’s race, the new poll showed. Constitution Party candidate Michael Marsh, a McDonald’s maintenance worker from Salem, is favored by 3 percent of voters, while 29 percent remain undecided, according to the poll.

A Tribune/News 12 poll by the same firm six weeks ago found Westlund led Alley 31 percent to 20 percent, with 45 percent undecided.

There still are a high number of undecided voters, giving Dancer and Alley a shot at winning, said Tim Hibbitts, who conducted the poll for Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall. But neither has narrowed the gap significantly since the last survey six weeks ago, and many Oregonians have already cast their ballots.

“Nobody’s really gained. What’s happened is the undecideds have dropped,” Hibbitts said.

If that pattern continues, “it benefits the Democrats,” he said. “It would be an upset for either Republican to win.”
New voters could swamp GOP

Secretary of State Bill Bradbury and Oregon Treasurer Randall Edwards are stepping down after serving two terms. Neither is allowed to run again because of term limits. Bradbury is pondering a run for governor in 2010, while Edwards is exploring his career options.

Kate Brown, who has served in the Legislature since 1991, was Senate majority leader until she relinquished that position last year to run for secretary of state. A lawyer by training, she has worked in family law.

This is Dancer’s first run for elective office after a long television news career in Eugene.

Dancer entered the race late, while Brown has been campaigning since the 2007 legislative session ended. She has raised $1.6 million since August 2007, much of it spent on a competitive primary against fellow state Senators Rick Metsger and Vicki Walker. Dancer has raised $370,521.

Westlund gained statewide name recognition in 2006, when he switched from the Republican Party to run for governor as an independent. He later pulled out of the race and switched to the Democratic Party.

Westlund made a fortune in the bull-breeding business, and also co-owned a kitty litter manufacturing company. He works as a health care consultant.

Alley left his post as Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s deputy chief of staff to enter the race. He is a former venture capitalist, and former executive at two local technology companies. He was president of Pixelworks Inc. and vice president of InFocus Corp.

Alley is relatively new to politics but his business credentials helped land several newspaper endorsements. Alley appeared to be picking up momentum with the endorsements, which can prove helpful in a race where voters know little about the candidates or the office.

But Alley entered the race late, after initially announcing he wouldn’t run. Westlund has been actively campaigning since the 2007 legislative session ended, and has raised $754,977. Alley started collecting money in March of this year, and has raised $463,993.

The souring economy and President George W. Bush’s lackluster support among voters makes Hibbitts and most other political analysts doubtful of any Republican gains in Oregon this year. The one exception is Westlund’s state Senate seat. He initially won election as a Republican, not a Democrat, so the GOP has a good shot at reclaiming the seat.

Oregon Democrats’ success in enlisting new voters makes it even tougher for Republicans. Oregon Democrats added 158,321 registered voters from January through September, an increase of 20.9 percent. Republicans added only 979 registered voters during that period, an increase of 1.4 percent.

Democrats have a 43.3 percent to 32.5 percent voter-registration advantage over Republicans statewide, as of Sept. 30. At the end of 2007, Democrats led Republicans 38.8 percent to 35.2 percent among registered voters.

stevelaw@portlandtribune.com

14 Favorite Political Tunes #9

2008-10-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

#9 Bruce Springsteen - American Skin

41 shots....
and we'll take that ride
'cross this bloody river
to the other side
41 shots... cut through the night
You're kneeling over his body in the vestibule
Praying for his life

Is it a gun, is it a knife
Is it a wallet, this is your life
It ain't no secret
It ain't no secret
No secret my friend
You can get killed just for living
In your American skin

41 shots
Lena gets her son ready for school
She says "on these streets, Charles
You've got to understand the rules
If an officer stops you
Promise you'll always be polite,
that you'll never ever run away
Promise Mama you'll keep your hands in sight"

Is it a gun, is it a knife
Is it a wallet, this is your life
It ain't no secret
It ain't no secret
No secret my friend
You can get killed just for living
In your American skin

Is it a gun, is it a knife
Is it in your heart, is it in your eyes
It ain't no secret

41 shots... and we'll take that ride
'Cross this bloody river
To the other side
41 shots... got my boots caked in this mud
We're baptized in these waters and in each other's blood

Is it a gun, is it a knife
Is it a wallet, this is your life
It ain't no secret
It ain't no secret
No secret my friend
You can get killed just for living
In your American skin

Wow

2008-10-28T20:03:00.000-07:00

Seven days to go.

Its hard to believe a moment I've been waiting for, really for four years is finally here. Things look good, but the stakes are too high for me to just sit back and enjoy this. I'll have tons of post-election data to look at starting on Nov 5th, but man, it just won't be the same. The past several months, really since Barack Obama won the Iowa Caucus have been euphoric for me. The presidential race, national senate and house races, the OR senate race, the OR secretary of state race, local measures, important measures in other states - its all going to wash over me on Tuesday. I wonder if I'll be able to contain myself, its getting difficult already.

Play us out Bruce:

14 Favorite Political Tunes #8

2008-10-28T15:21:00.000-07:00

The Clash - Straight To Hell

If you can play on the fiddle
How's about a British jig and reel?
Speaking King's English in quotation
As railhead towns feel the steel mills rust water froze
In the generation
Clear as winter ice
This is your paradise

There ain't no need for ya
There ain't no need for ya
Go straight to Hell boys
Go straight to Hell boys

Y'wanna join in a chorus
Of the Amerasian blues?
When it's Christmas out in Ho Chi Minh City
Kiddie say papa papa papa papa papa-san take me home
See me got photo photo
Photograph of you and Mamma Mamma Mamma-san
Of you and Mamma Mamma Mamma-san
Lemme tell ya 'bout your blood bamboo kid.
It ain't Coca-Cola it's rice.

Straight to Hell, boys
Go straight to Hell, boys
Go straight to Hell, boys
Go straight to Hell, boys
Oh Papa-san
Please take me home
Oh Papa-san
Everybody they wanna go home
So Mamma-san said

You wanna play mind-crazed banjo
On the druggy-drag ragtime U.S.A.?
In Parkland International
Hey! Junkiedom U.S.A.
Where procaine proves the purest rock man groove
and rat poison
The volatile Molotov says-

PSSST...
HEY CHICO WE GOT A MESSAGE FOR YA... SI...
VAMOS VAMOS MUCHACHO
FROM ALPHABET CITY ALL THE WAY A TO Z, DEAD, HEAD

Go straight to Hell, boys
Go straight to Hell, boys
Straight to Hell

Oh Papa-San
Please take me home
There ain't no need for ya,
There ain't no need for ya

Go straight to Hell, boys
Go straight to Hell, boys

Can you cough it up loud and strong
The immigrants
They wanna sing all night long
It could be anywhere
Most likely could be any frontier
Any hemisphere
No man's land
Ain't no asylum here
King Solomon he never lived round here

Straight to Hell, boys
Go straight to Hell, boys
Go straight to Hell, boys
Go straight to Hell, boys

Oh Papa-San
Please take me home
Oh Papa-San
Everybody, they wanna go home now

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_to_Hell_(song)

14 Favorite Political Tunes #7

2008-10-27T17:53:00.001-07:00

#7 Waist Deep in the Big Muddy

It was back in nineteen forty-two,
I was a member of a good platoon.
We were on maneuvers in-a Loozianna,
One night by the light of the moon.
The captain told us to ford a river,
That's how it all begun.
We were -- knee deep in the Big Muddy,
But the big fool said to push on.

The Sergeant said, "Sir, are you sure,
This is the best way back to the base?"
"Sergeant, go on! I forded this river
'Bout a mile above this place.
It'll be a little soggy but just keep slogging.
We'll soon be on dry ground."
We were -- waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on.

The Sergeant said, "Sir, with all this equipment
No man will be able to swim."
"Sergeant, don't be a Nervous Nellie,"
The Captain said to him.
"All we need is a little determination;
Men, follow me, I'll lead on."
We were -- neck deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on.

All at once, the moon clouded over,
We heard a gurgling cry.
A few seconds later, the captain's helmet
Was all that floated by.
The Sergeant said, "Turn around men!
I'm in charge from now on."
And we just made it out of the Big Muddy
With the captain dead and gone.

We stripped and dived and found his body
Stuck in the old quicksand.
I guess he didn't know that the water was deeper
Than the place he'd once before been.
Another stream had joined the Big Muddy
'Bout a half mile from where we'd gone.
We were lucky to escape from the Big Muddy
When the big fool said to push on.

Well, I'm not going to point any moral;
I'll leave that for yourself
Maybe you're still walking, you're still talking
You'd like to keep your health.
But every time I read the papers
That old feeling comes on;
We're -- waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.

Waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.
Waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.
Waist deep! Neck deep! Soon even a
Tall man'll be over his head, we're
Waist deep in the Big Muddy!
And the big fool says to push on!

Words and music by Pete Seeger (1967)
TRO (c) 1967 Melody Trails, Inc. New York, NY

14 Favorite Political Tunes #5 & #6

2008-10-26T10:58:00.000-07:00

Ah yes, already missed a day due to my wife's pink eye. Had to go to an immediate care place, only had to wait about an hour or so. Definitely a heartbreaking place, tons of folks without insurance with kids that had 100+ degree temps. Go America,

14 Favorite political tunes #5: The Day After Tomorrow - Tom Waits

I got your letter today
And I miss you all so much, here
I can't wait to see you all
And I'm counting the days, dear
I still believe that there's gold
At the end of the world
And I'll come home
To Illinois
On the day after tomorrow

It is so hard
And it's cold here
And I'm tired of taking orders
And I miss old Rockford town
Up by the Wisconsin border
But I miss you won't believe
Shoveling snow and raking leaves
And my plane will touch tomorrow
On the day after tomorrow

I close my eyes
Every night
And I dream that I can hold you
They fill us full of lies
Everyone buys
About what it means to be a soldier
I still don't know how I'm supposed to feel
About all the blood that's been spilled
Look out on the street
Get me back home
On the day after tomorrow

You can't deny
The other side
Don't want to die
Any more than we do
What I'm trying to say,
Is don't they pray
To the same God that we do?
Tell me, how does God choose?
Whose prayers does he refuse?
Who turns the wheel?
And who throws the dice
On the day after tomorrow?

Mmmmmmm...
I'm not fighting
For justice
I am not fighting
For freedom
I am fighting
For my life
And another day
In the world here
I just do what I've been told
You're just the gravel on the road
And the one's that are lucky
One's come home
On the day after tomorrow

And the summer
It too will fade
And with it comes the winter's frost, dear
And I know we too are made
Of all the things that we have lost here
I'll be twenty-one today
I've been saving all my pay
And my plane will touch down
On the day after tomorrow
And my plane it will touch down
On the day after tomorrow

#6 Ted Leo - Counting Down The Hours

Innocence it don’t come easy -- in a sense it never will
Accidents mean no one’s guilty, ignorance means someone’s killed
So I asked our Mr. Mellor how one gets to where one’s going
And he points to his survival, and he points me down the road
And I go on and on a-leed-da-lodda-lo
Wondering if I’ve got a soul and
Counting down the hours ‘til it goes
On a dark wet night in April, on a street in Jersey where
I went looking for some writing that I knew would not be there
And a punter from the Pelhams and the police, in the rain,
Were concerned more with the car than with the fact the light had changed
But after listening all morning, as I drove down 95
To a story of detainees who were barely kept alive
I could deal with trying to process with pigeons acting like they’re doves
But not with interference from the power lines above
As I went on and on a-leed-da-lodda-lo
Wondering if I’ve got a soul and
Counting down the hours ‘til it goes
And oh, precautions, yes precautions
But if you’re playing with a gun, well, you could kill someone
And in the dark it’s hard to know a friend
But I’m not angry, I won’t be forever angry
As I’m walking toward tomorrow with a rifle in my hand
And I’m thinking about New England, and I’m missing old Japan
And a mountain in California where a spring runs hot and cold
And if I told you I felt ageless, would you tell me I’m not old?
As I go on and on a-leed-da-lodda-lo
Wondering if we’ve got a soul and
Counting down the hours ‘til it goes

On and on a-leed-da-lodda-lo
Wondering if we’ve got a soul and
Counting down the hours ‘til it goes

Hearing this last night at the roseland was superb - more on that later.

Bold prediction

2008-10-24T22:06:00.000-07:00

Next week either McCain will have a better news week or Obama will have a bad news week or some combination of the three. By this time next week we will have a much closer race in the national trackers and state by state polling will be closer as well. I will check this for accuracy next Friday - hold me to that!

14 Favorite Political Tunes #4 "Al Gore" by Monkey Bowl

2008-10-24T14:11:00.000-07:00

More about Jeff Merkley

2008-10-23T17:08:00.000-07:00

Honestly the following links explain why you should vote for Jeff Merkley better than I could do in a post. Check these out:

http://www.blueoregon.com/2007/07/elections-matte.html

http://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2008/07/jeff-merkley-oregon-grown-netroots.html

This senate race is a simple decision to make. If you care about progressive values, vote for Jeff Merkley. If you approve of 90% of George Bush's policies, vote for Gordon Smith. The main reason why I supported Jeff Merkley in the Senate primary was his support of Payday Loan Reform as speaker of the Oregon House. As this race has continued I like him more and more. I'm confident that in the senate he will vote to protect the middle class, support teachers and students and help the most vulnerable members of our society. Yes, the DSCC's ads have been really negative but so has Gordon Smith's. Look at their plans, look at the record. Vote on whoevers policies you feel reflect your values.

14 Favorite Political Tunes #3

2008-10-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

Aint No Reason - Brett Dennen

there ain't no reasons things are this way
its how they've always been and they intend to stay
i can't explain why we live this way
we do it everyday
preachers on the podiums speaking to saints
prophets on the sidewalks begging for change
old ladies laughing from the fire escape, cursing my name
i got a basket full of lemons and they all taste the same
a window and a pigeon with a broken wing
you can spend your whole life working for something
just to have it taken away
people walk around pushing back their desks
wearing pay checks like necklaces and bracelets
talking 'bout nothing, not thinking about their
every little heart beat, every little breath
people walk a tight rope on a razor's edge
carrying their hurt and hatred and weapons
it could be a bomb or a bullet or a pin
or a thought or a word or a sentence.
there ain't no reasons things are this way
its how they've always been and they intend to stay
i don't know why i say the things i say,
but i say them anyway.
but love will come set me free
love will come set me free
i do believe
love will come set me free
i know it will
love will come set me free
yes
prison walls still standing tall
some things never change at all
keep on building prisons,
gonna fill them all.
keep on building bombs
gonna drop them all
working your fingers bare to the bone
breaking your back, make you sell your soul
like a lung is filled with coal, suffocating slow
the wind blows wild and i may move
but politicians lie and i'm not fooled
you don't need no reason or a 3 piece suit
to argue the truth
the air on my skin and the world under my toes
Slavery stitched into the fabric of my clothes
chaos and commotion wherever i go
love, i try to follow
but love will come set me free
love will come set me free
i do believe
love will come set me free
i know it will
love will come set me free
yes
there ain't no reasons things are this way
its how they've always been and they intend to stay
i can't explain why we live this way;
we do it everyday.

See what I mean? pt. 2

2008-10-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

The Hill:

(Regarding Pennsylvania)

"WILK radio host Steve Corbett said Tuesday he obtained an Obama campaign e-mail about the internal poll showing a tight race." The Obama campaign "wouldn't confirm the internal poll numbers, but said that the e-mail was sent without permission."

Wild stuff.

60

2008-10-22T17:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/10/17/senator_60/index.html

Friday, Oct. 17, 2008 13:02 EDT
The 60th senator

We know Virginia's Mark Warner and the Udall cousins in New Mexico and Colorado look pretty solid. Let's speculate further that Jean Shaheen holds off John Sununu in New Hampshire, Jeff Merkley defeats Gordon Smith in Oregon, Alaska's scandal-plagued Ted Stevens cannot save himself from Mark Begich, and Al Franken can finish his late-campaign run against Minnesota's Norm Coleman. And then, riding Barack Obama's coattails, Kay Hagan upends Liddy Dole in North Carolina.

That would mean eight new Democratic senators, giving Harry Reid 59 seats. (Including that Connecticut guy whose name we dare not speak, of course.) Where might a 60th, filibuster-proof senator come from?

How about Nebraska?

After he beat Republican Mike Johanns, the former Bush agriculture secretary, in a cow-milking contest last August, I blogged about the Democratic candidate, Nebraska Rep. Scott Kleeb. All good fun, but the actual Senate contest itself was one nobody outside the Kleeb campaign had on his or her competitive-race radar.

But now, with just three weeks to go, Johanns finds himself in a bit of a stew. It's not Stevens-level trouble, but the long and short of it is that Johanns apparently traveled in 2006 on taxpayer dollars to do the electoral bidding of Republican House candidates. That's a no-no.

Kyle Michaels of the New Nebraska Network has much more on this developing story:

http://www.newnebraska.net/showDiary.do?diaryId=1465

14 Favorite Political Tunes #2

2008-10-22T14:56:00.000-07:00

"FUCKED UP RONNIE" DOA

FUCKED UP RONNIE
you're fucked up ronnie you're not gonna last you're gonna die too from a neutron blast

chorus: you're fucked up ronnie you're fucked up ronnie you're fucked up ronnie you're fucked up ronnie.

i'm lyin' in a pool of blood, leave me alone i don't want your help anyway when they march us off to war will you be there to save the day (chorus)

See what I mean?

2008-10-21T21:04:00.000-07:00

Rendell wants Obama to come back to Pennsylvania.
Posted: 06:18 PM ET

(CNN) — Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has sent two separate memos to the Obama campaign in the past five days requesting that the Democratic Presidential candidate—as well as Hillary and Bill Clinton—return to campaign in Pennsylvania, Rendell told CNN's Gloria Borger.

Rendell said the McCain campaign is clearly making a push to win Pennsylvania, given the recent visits by the Arizona senator, his wife and his running mate. As a result, he wants Obama to appear in western Pennsylvania, Harrisburg and one more “large rally” in Philadelphia. Democrats generally worry that the race is significantly closer than what recent polls have suggested. According to Rendell, there is also worry among Democrats the McCain campaign has successfully raised the enthusiasm level among Republicans in the state.

“I don’t want to be selfish,” Rendell said. “But I’m still a little nervous, so I have asked Obama to come back. We understand he’s got demands from 20 different states, but we’d like to see him here.”

Obama's support appears to be weakest in the western part of the state, a region Pennsylvania Rep. Jack Murtha recently called 'racist,' and one where he badly lost to Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary.

Obama last campaigned in Pennsylvania on October 11, a week and a half ago. VP candidate Joe Biden made an appearance with Bill and Hillary Clinton in Scranton on October 12. McCain and running mate Sarah Palin have both made visits to the state this week.

The latest CNN poll of polls in Pennsylvania suggests Obama holds a 13 point lead over McCain there. CNN currently considers the state leaning Obama.

14 Favorite Political Tunes #1

2008-10-21T14:01:00.000-07:00

Since we're now two weeks away from the election I'm finding myself listening almost exclusively to politically themed songs. I've decided to post my 14 favorite political songs, one day at a time, starting today. These are in no particular order.

First up.....

Pearl Jam - Undone

A Riot Act era B-side I first heard this song in 2003, the year that I really started becoming politically active and aware. I'm a little less idealistic than I was then, but certain lyrics here really resonate with me "Can't wait for election day" in particular.

Last stop on the west coast line
South of the northern border
One small corner on my mind

Everybody, they know me there
Don't get any second glances
Chances are that they don't care

The world has come undone
Like to change it everyday
Change don't come at once
It's a wave... building before it breaks

Can't wait for election day
Witness the occupation
Corporations rule the day
Well you know the pendulum throws
Farther out to the one side, swinging
Has to sweep back the other way

The world has come undone
Another day and who can wait
Change don't come at once
It's a wave building before it breaks

All this hope and nowhere to go
This is how I used to feel, but no more
The world has come undone
Like a game that few can play
Change don't come from one
It's a wave... building before it breaks

On the subject of Pearl Jam - tomorrow will be the 5 year anniversary of my favorite show of all time. A great moment from that show:

Mega Blog Post week of 10/20

2008-10-20T22:03:00.000-07:00

After dealing with a death in the family I have returned to my blogging schedule.

Showdown in Pennsylvania:

According to several sources (example: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/20/mccain-camp-looking-for-way-to-win-without-colorado/) the McCain camp is seceding three former Bush states that Obama is ahead in (NM, IA and CO) in preparation for a last ditch effort to turn PA blue. Why are they doing this? Well, for Dems, PA is HUGE. Example, Obama could win every state Kerry won + NM + IA + CO AND win either MO, VA NV or NC and he would still lose the election if McCain managed to pick off PA. Obama would need to win OH or FL to offset a PA loss and I know, things are looking good in FL and are close in Ohio, but the Obama campaign has built this Kerry + IA, NM and CO firewall and its a damn good one. It gives them 273 electoral votes and puts McCain on the defensive - exactly where they need him to be. OH and FL are too iffy to bet on IMO - OH has some VERY conservative areas and FL has a wildly popular Republican Governor (and again, some VERY conservative areas, particularly in the panhandle). I guess another PA backup plan might be Obama winning Virginia plus any one of these states: North Carolina, Missouri, Indiana or Nevada - but man, theres a ton of intangibles there.

The question then becomes - Can McCain do it? Looking at the graph above, it certainly doesn't seem likely. Keep in mind though, Pollster.com doesn't weight polls for sample size or accuracy. FiveThirtyEight gives Obama a 9.5 point lead with a 4.5 margin of error. Real Clear Politics gives Obama an 11.7 point lead. Why am I worried? Kerry only won this state by 2.5 points. Obama got his ass beat in the primary - not always a great predictor of a national race, but certainly indicative of a general lack of support. Comments like this: http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/17764334/detail.html don't help things. Obama has a persistent Appalachian problem: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/12/134251/930/338/514258 . Lastly, the McCain camp MUST have some internal polls that put the race closer they aren't that stupid. If they win this election this powerplay will go down as one of the most brilliant political moves of all time. If they lose PA, it'll just be another failed strategy to put in the Obit.

Heres some more food for thought, racial politics are particularly caustic in Philadelphia and if a Democratic candidate doesn't run up HUGE margins in Philly and the surrounding suburbs they're sure to lose the state. Ed Rendell won the Gubanatorial primary in 2002 (http://www.post-gazette.com/election/20020522govrace0522p1.asp) by winning only 10 out of 67 counties, the general election results were similar. Keep in mind Rendell was a wildly popular Mayor of Philly, Obama is a guy who said that people in PA were "Bitter" and got his ass handed to him by Hillary Clinton. Now Rendell and Mayor Nutter are good Democrats and will work hard to get Obama elected, their political futures depend on it, but people like Senator Bob Casey need to work the traditionally republican areas around Pittsburgh and Obama campaign needs to show middle of the state some love. Send Biden to Scranton, Often. Bill and Hilary Clinton should make weekly visits. If the polls close in PA two weeks from Tuesday and the networks declare it "too close to call" its time to grab the paper towels and get ready to pee your pants.

Beaver State Roundup:

Blake's Oregon Voters Guide

The time is here. A Note: I am only making endorsements on certain races. I have my reasons......

*National*

President: Barack Obama and Joe Biden
US Senator: Jeff Merkley (I'll do a larger post about this race before the weekend)

*State*

Secretary of State: Kate Brown
State Treasurer: Ben Westlund
Bureau of Labor and Industries Commissioner: Brad Avakian

Portland City Council: Amanda Fritz

*Ballot Measures*

Measure 54: Yes
Measure 55: Yes
Measure 56: Yes
Measure 57: *No Endorsement*
Measure 58: Heeeellllllll no!
Measure 59: No thanks!
Measure 60: Heeeeeellllll no!
Measure 61: No, sir
Measure 62: Naw
Measure 63: Nein
Measure 64: Non
Measure 65: *No Endorsement*

Well thats it for tonight. This Saturday I'll be rocking out to Ted Leo and Against Me at the Aladdin Theater. My favorite tunes from both bands will play us out:

Man, Ted should definitely be closing.

Hearts and Thoughts,

Blake

BREAKING: Just as I finished this Blog it was announced that Barack Obama was leaving the campaign trail to go back to Hawaii to his ailing Grandmother. Now we'll get an accurate representation of how far John McCain has fallen. I'm hoping he'll yank all negative ads and put the attacks on hold. If he does so his poll numbers will probably continue to increase as a result.

A couple of things

2008-10-20T13:39:00.000-07:00

My Grandpas Obit:

Adelbert H. "Ade" Haffner
HAFFNER, Adelbert H. 'Ade' January 20, 1925 - October 9, 2008

Adlebert H. Haffner "Ade" was born in Hosmer, S.D., Jan. 20, 1924. His parents came west in 1927 and settled in Hillsboro. He graduated from Hillsboro High School in May of 1941. He served his country during World War II in the 18 Specials US Naval C.B. battalion in the South Pacific.

In 1946 he married Dorothy Schwartz and they had three children; son, Mark L. and daughters, Elisa Ann and Rose Marie.

During the '50s and early '60s he and his wife owned and operated Bill's Ice Cream store in Beaverton where he won several awards for premium ice cream.

Ade went to work as a letter carrier at the Beaverton Post Office in 1962 and retired from there in 1984. While at the Post Office he served three terms as president of the local union and served many years as shop steward.

He was a charter member of Oak Hills Christian Reformed Church and served terms as elder and deacon and was active in the choir for many years.

His passions in life besides God - family and country were classical music, opera, football, and chocolate.

He is survived by his wife, Dorothy; daughters, Elisa Ann Hickman and Rose Marie Newman; sister, Aurelia Wilken; and grandsons, Nathan Newman and Blake Hickman.

A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008, in Oak Hills Church, 2800 NW 153rd in Beaverton.

Remembrances to: Oak Hills Church Benevolence Fund.

Arrangements Entrusted to: Springer And Son Aloha Funeral Home 503-356-1000

The Text of my Eulogy from Sunday:

Thanks Nathan, and thanks to all of you who took the time to join my family today.

My Grandpa was someone who was always prepared, very prepared. I’ll never forget when he told me in the hospital that he needed me to get his electric razor to him - surprising in and of itself - but then he told me that he needed the small brush that came with it because he cleaned his razor on Wednesday and Saturday. Now as you can probably tell, I don’t use my electric razor very often, and to be honest with you my reaction was something like “you’re supposed to clean those things?”. So needless to say, this impressed me.

Much the preparations he made were done to make things easier for his family and the things he did to plan this event are no different. In many ways Nathan and I had a very easy task. The fact that he took the effort to write his own obituary instead of using the format the Oregonian provides made it easy to touch on the areas of his life that he wanted examined.

His main passions in life: God, Family and Country are passions that I share, so I’ll be focusing on those this afternoon.

But first I feel like I should tell you a little about my life. I’m Ade’s youngest Grandson, my Mother is his eldest daughter Elisa. As many of you know my parents divorced in my early teens and during much of my life I haven’t had a healthy relationship with my father. Because of that my Grandpa was as much of a father figure to me as anyone. He did more than anyone – anyone to support my Mom and I. He gave us his time, his prayers and we lived with my Grandparents for several months when we had nowhere else to go. I’ve learned what the word “family” means by observing him. I asked my Grandma if there was anything that she wanted Nathan or I to mention today and she said two things “tell people he was a super husband, and a super father”. And I certainly will tell you that he was a super husband, and father and the best Grandfather.

I believe that you can measure the impact someone has had in your life by how much they’ve affected the way you see the world. I really knew that my wife Amber was the one for me because as we got to know each other I began to see certain things differently. Those of us who follow Christ can attest that once we found faith in him, we saw the world differently. There is nobody else on this earth who has affected how I see the world more significantly than my Grandfather. One of the things he has passed on to me is his faith.

The book of James tells us that “faith without deeds is dead” and I can tell you that by that metric my Grandpa’s faith was vibrant. One of the ways my Grandpa lived out his faith was by connecting with other people. I’d like to do an exercise – will anyone who has ever received a note – or a card – or a joke from my Grandfather stand as you are able? This is what my Grandpa was all about. This was a man that, even during difficult times, felt deeply loved by God – just look at the lyrics of the hymn he picked for us to sing today:

“Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!”

The key thing is – his relationship with God not only enriched his own life, it moved him to enrich the lives of others.

An example of this occurred when my Grandpa owned an ice cream store. Now I should add that when you’re a kid hearing that your grandpa owned an ice cream store before you were born is a little bit like your parents telling you on December 24th that Santa came by early but forgot all your gifts. It feels like a missed opportunity. But I still loved hearing Grandpa talk about that ice cream store. For those of you familiar with this area it was in Beaverton on the corner of Cedar Hills Blvd and Canyon – theres a firestone tires there now, I often imagine what it might have looked like there when I drive by – and I’ll come clean here, sometimes I use it as an excuse to go get ice cream! One of the stories he told about that time was about a group of nuns. They visited frequently and one of them ordered the same thing every time, a vanilla cone with sprinkles. One day she was missing when the other nuns came in and Grandpa asked about her. When they mentioned that she was sick, he gave them a vanilla cone with sprinkles for her, free of charge. He did this until the day she passed and was given an award by the local bishop.

This is just one example of my Grandpa’s charity. When I was a teenager and active in the youth group of this church many of my friends would go on mission trips. My friends would always mention how my Grandpa had sent them a check. He gave to this church faithfully as any deacon can attest. He gave to a laundry list of charitable organizations and causes: the paralyzed veterans of America, Toys for Tots, the Portland Rescue Mission, the ACLU.

And although this is a bit embarrassing, until recently, he was giving Nathan and I a monthly allowance of fifteen dollars. He faithfully put all of his change in a savings account and every Christmas each of us would get an envelope with the words “Christmas Club” on it. I can’t tell you how honored Amber felt the first Christmas she got one of those envelopes, it was one of the many things he did that made her feel like a part of our family before we were married.

He wasn’t perfect though. He could certainly be stubborn at times. And the funny thing about that is there isn’t really anyone else in our family like that. He had his shortcomings but he always taught us the right thing. One of those things Nathan mentioned/could have mentioned as it was one of the sayings in his wallet: Honor is a gift a man gives himself. An example of that happened during World War Two. I’m sure I’ll embarrass myself in front of any military historians here, but bear with me. He enlisted in the Navy and served as a Sea Bee in the Pacific Theater. Now the CB was known as one of the safer assignments in World War Two, so this may surprise any World War Two veterans here when I mention that my Grandpa was injured during the war. One of the ships he was traveling in came under fire, but survived the encounter. During combat though a bomb (it was not live at the time) fell on his foot and broke several of his toes. Sometime later he was offered and refused a purple heart for being wounded in combat. He told me he couldn’t accept it when some of his friends had received more dangerous assignments and a few of them had lost their lives.

My Grandfather loved this country and was proud of what his generation accomplished during that time. Now I know I risk sounding like some kind of ersatz Tom Brokaw but as we celebrate my Grandfather’s life I feel the need to celebrate the contribution of his generation as well. There was something quintessentially American about that generation. It reminds me of the very old practice of barn raising. My Grandpa once showed me the home he built in Hillsboro and I asked him how on earth he managed to do it by himself. “I didn’t” he said. “My brothers helped, Dorothy’s family helped, our Neighbors helped, the church helped”. His generation worked hard, but they did so not out of self interest - They worked hard so they could make a meaningful contribution to their family and their community. I wasn’t surprised that my Grandpa mentioned his tenure as the president of the local Postal Workers union in his obituary because he clearly valued people coming together to solve a common problem. I’m deeply honored to be speaking before Pastor Howard Spaan who recently celebrated 60 years of ministry. For someone like myself who’s interested in a career in public service, the lives of people like Howard and my Grandpa inspire and challenge me with the profound impact they had on their community.

It saddens me greatly though, to think about certain members of my Grandparents generation. My Mother and her friend Sandy Twigg, who many of you know, have a ministry where they go sing at a local nursing home during the summer. She’s told me stories that would break your heart about elderly people with terminal diseases who haven’t had a visit from their family in months – People just like Howard or my Grandpa – left to die alone – discarded. I’m glad that my Grandfather died surrounded by his family in a way that fit the kind of life he lived.

I feel the need to examine my Grandfather’s passing in the wider context of the events of this past year. After these past few weeks many of you, like me, are worried about the future – wondering about the kind of opportunities your children or grandchildren will have in the years ahead. My Grandpa was worried too. He read the paper everyday, watched the news, listened to the radio. Every Sunday Amber and I would go have dinner with my Grandparents and my Mom and my Grandpa and I would talk about current events. His concern was always for the most vulnerable members of our society, working families, wounded veterans, the homeless, single mothers – Concerns he impressed on me since I was old enough to understand these issues. He would quote the book of Matthew and tell me that what we do for the least of our brothers, we do for Christ.

I’ve had dozens of people ask me what they can do for me and my family this past week. You’ve given us food, flowers your cards and your prayers. The most meaningful thing you could do for my family would be this: let my Grandpa’s life inspire you the way it inspired all of us. Start today. Now I know how these events are. You’re looking around, you see someone you recognize who you haven’t talked in years. You think “Oh, I’d like to talk to them, but I just don’t know what I’d say”. Today, for my Grandpa, who brought us all together, go shake their hand, talk about how you knew my Grandpa and what he meant to you. When you get home, think about a friend you haven’t seen in years, write them a letter, not an e-mail or a text message, write it in your own handwriting. Think of a charity or cause you believe in and give generously. Listen to your partner, teach your children, respect your elders and love your neighbor. Before my Grandpa passed he wrote letters to all of us in the family, to be opened after his passing. The last two words he wrote in mine were “Carry On” – that was his challenge to me, and that’s my call to all of you today – Thank You.

Pic of the week

2008-10-14T22:37:00.000-07:00

http://punditkitchen.com/2008/10/14/political-pictures-martin-luther-king-community-organizer/

Education

2008-10-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

Educational Background:

Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in
International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

Great Post

2008-10-09T12:50:00.000-07:00

More great stuff from Matthew Yglesias.

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/four_years_ago.php

On a personal note

2008-10-07T21:06:00.000-07:00

I don't usually do this but today my family got word from hospice that my Grandpa will be leaving us soon. If you could keep my family in your thoughts and prayers these next few weeks I would really appreciate it.

Obama 2 - McCain 0

2008-10-07T20:51:00.000-07:00

Well the snap polls have deemed Obama the victor again tonight. I think tonight's format sucked, but Obama did seem more presidential whereas McCain looked like a cranky old man. Especially the "That One!" exchange. If Obama can tie or win next week I think this thing is over, barring some unforeseen event.

Another Film Review

2008-10-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

Your Friends and Neighbors ***1/2 - *****

Interesting that the past two movies I've seen are about infidelity considering I picked them for two different reasons (Little Children to scope out Jackie Earle Hayley and Your Friends and Neighbors to see another Neil Labute Film). LaBute is known for writing about the dark side of human nature, I think hes adept at making characters that will completely disgust you but you'll find yourself relating to anyway. There were some pacing problems and it was hard for me to buy Ben Stiller in a serious role but there were some chilling moments in here (specifically the ending) that made the experience worthwhile. Recommended.

Movie Review

2008-10-04T22:48:00.000-07:00

Little Children ***3/4/*****
Picked this up on a movie madness run this afternoon. Staring future Watchmen stars Patrick Wilson and Jackie Earle Hayley as well as Kate Winslet. Well worth the 2 plus hours. Definitely some akward directoral choices and some missed opportunities. The scene with the book club was certainly heavy handed. That being said the performances were stellar, Jackie Earle Hayley in particular and I was more than engaged by the end. Recommended.

My blog in word cloud

2008-10-02T22:27:00.000-07:00

title="Wordle: Untitled"> src="http://wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/225604/Untitled"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">

Blog quote of the night

2008-10-02T21:17:00.000-07:00

Ezra Klein:

Seems that Palin kept talking about General McLellan when she meant General McKiernan. That's the sort of thing that might stick. Meanwhile, Palin says she loved being able to get up here and answer these tough questions without the "filter of the mainstream media." Weird that she used her closing statement so defensively. But whatever: Good for her. She should give up on politics and get a talkshow. Otherwise, she should learn how to answer the press's questions.

Palin lives.....

2008-10-02T20:02:00.000-07:00

My initial thought is tonight's debate won't last more than a few news cycles, certainly not after the debate this Tuesday. Additionally, Biden didn't take her out and she didn't assuage all of the concerns about her candidacy independent voters have. I'm not sure her decent performance will be enough to halt the Obama/Biden momentum of recent days and I'm certain it won't be enough to reverse the momentum of the race. I'm interested to see some polls on this, specifically among undecideds.

Can Bruce Springsteen get any more amazing?

2008-09-30T20:28:00.000-07:00

From Picthfork:

Yesterday, we noted that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band would take to a hastily-constructed stage at Tampa, Florida's Raymond James Stadium to rock the hell out of the Super Bowl XLIII Halftime Show on February 1, 2009. But while the opponents in that clash of large, sweaty men is being determined throughout the fall and winter, another, more urgent contest has taken precedence in the mind of Mr. Springsteen: the Presidential election. Bruce, as you might recall, enthusiastically counts himself among the loyal supporters of the Democratic Presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama, and he's putting his music where his mouth is by performing at an Obama rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this Saturday (October 4).

Springsteen will perform an unplugged set on Ben Franklin Parkway between 20th and 22nd Streets in an effort to get Democrats good and registered before the hotly contested swing state's Monday registration deadline. The show is free, but tens of thousands are expected to show up-- it's a free Bruce show a hop, skip, and a jump away from Jersey, after all-- and the Obama folks encourage interested concertgoers to sign up to volunteer at various Eastern Pennsylvania Obama headquarters in order to get access to "the best viewing area."

Me, I'd encourage you to show up early, 'cuz traffic on the Parkway is always a problem, and I hear some dude's gonna be blocking it.

General admission tickets can be secured online.

If you're not gonna be in Philly this weekend, you can always catch an earful in support of Senator Obama's campaign at upcoming events in Pittsburgh, Brooklyn, Chicago, or Cincinnati.

UPDATE: Springsteen will also play the Obama benefit "Change Rocks" at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom on October 16. It will also feature performances from Billy Joel and "exciting guests", but who could be exciting-er than Billy Joel?! (Via Billboard.com.)

****

I'm hoping this'll be broadcast on CSPAN. At the very least I'm sure some local news will come through. It'll probably be like the events he did for Kerry where he played 3-4 songs. This would be my ideal setlist:

Thunder Road:

Devils and Dust

Born in the USA

Long Walk Home:

De Fazio throws his hat in

2008-09-30T19:13:00.000-07:00

A number of house progressives who voted against yesterday's bailout bill, including Pete DeFazio, Donna Edwards and Marcy Kaptur, have just held a press conference unveiling their own proposal. Text below. Commentary to follow:

DRAFT

No BAILOUTS Act

Bringing Accounting, Increased Liquidity, Oversight and Upholding Taxpayer Security

1. Require the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to require an economic value standard to measure the capital of financial institutions.

This bill will require SEC to implement a rule to suspend the application of fair value accounting standards to financial institutions, which marks assets to the market value, no matter the conditions of the market. When no meaningful market exists, as is the current market for mortgage backed securities, this standard requires institutions to value assets at fire-sale prices. This creates a capital shortfall on paper. Using the economic value standard as bank examines have traditionally done will immediately correct the capital shortfalls experienced by many institutions.

2. Require the Securities and Exchange Commission to restricting naked short sells permanently

This bill will require SEC to implement a rule that blocks naked selling, selling a stock short without first borrowing the shares or ensuring the shares can be borrowed. Such practices many times harm the companies represented in the sales and hurt their efforts to raise capital. There is no economic value produced by naked short sales, but significant negative effects.

3. Require the Securities and Exchange Commission to restore the up-tick rule permanently.

This bill will require SEC to implement a rule that blocks short sales without an up-tick in the market. On September 19, 2008, the SEC approved a temporary pause of short selling in financial companies "to protect the integrity and quality of the securities market and strengthen investor confidence." This rule prevents market crashes brought on by irrational short term market behavior.

4. "Net Worth Certificate Program"

This bill will require FDIC to implement a net worth certificate program. The FDIC would determine banks with short-term capital needs and the ability to financially recover in the foreseeable future. For those entities that qualify, the FDIC should purchase net worth certificates in these institutions. In exchange, these institutions issue promissory notes to repay the FDIC, counting the amount "borrowed" as capital on their balance sheets. This exchange provides short term capital, with not cash outlay. Interest rates on the certificates and the FDIC notes should be identical so no subsidy is necessary.

Participating banks must be subject to strict oversight by the FDIC including oversight of top executive compensation and if necessary the removal of poor management. Financial records and business plans should be subject to scrutiny while participating in the program.

In 1982, Congress approved a program, known as the Net Worth Certificate Program, that allowed banks and thrifts to apply for immediate capital assistance. From 1982 to 1993, banks with total assets of $40 billion participated in the program. The majority of these banks, 75%, required no further assistance beyond the certificate program.

5. Increase the FDIC Insurance limit from $100,000 to $250,000.

The bill will require the FDIC raise its limit to provide depositors confidence that their money is safe and help eliminate runs on banks which are destabilizing to the industry.

****

I'm gonna have to mull this over a few times to come to a decision about weither I would support it or not. But at least they're trying. I guess.

Well there you have it.......

2008-09-30T18:33:00.000-07:00

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/four_george_fox_students_confe.html

FOUR students pulled this! Now I'm not trying to say that every student at George is racist, or that every evangelical is racist - but this incidents and others like it are indicative of a problem in the evangelical community. The focus on gay marriage, abortion and the militarization of Christian culture have all created an environment that fosters an "us vs them" mentality. The defacto segregation thats occurred between the suburban evangelical community and people of color is startling.

Its easy to see why these kids would see minority students getting different opportunities would be an injustice when they haven't been exposed to the evils of racism. Looking at what evangelical leaders write about - one could easily infer that the theological shortcomings of "The Shack", "secular" literature like the Golden Compass and their usual pet issues: gay marriage and abortion are all more important than racism. When evangelical leaders tie themselves to anti-affirmative action anti-immigrant politicians, these bonds become stronger.

What should be done about this? Churches need to make racial reconciliation a priority. Youth Pastors need to teach more social gospel theology - now I'm not saying throw the evangelical theology out the window (although again, I am not an evangelical, in case you couldn't tell), but students should be encouraged to not just to serve the poor in far away countries or in periodic visits to soup kitchens - they should build relationships with them. I'm willing to bet that in most suburban high schools and middle schools - regardless of how wealthy they are - there are probably significant immigrant populations. There lies the opportunity for an authentically "Christ-like" ministry - not sharing his word, but living it.

Now many of you might wonder why I felt the need to write this. Coupled with this dispatch from George Fox I recently heard a pretty disturbing account from a friend of mine. This friend isn't the type to make things up mind you. He hasn't been to church in some time but found himself in a conversation with someone who went to his former church. This person relayed a story about how they went to do some relief work in a place with a significant population of a certain minority. Along with an account of the work that they did they also offered their opinion about this group of people. They were "always looking for a handout", they "didn't deserve what they were getting since they weren't doing much before this disaster happened" and lastly they "certainly weren't like people in the mid west during a blizzard who knew how to pull things together".

Whats wrong with this picture? Now if this person was doing relief work out of the goodness of their own heart, or to feel better about themselves or even to brag about it thats one thing. But this person was a Christian and that Christian had done that work to follow Christ's teachings - his actions therefore, were quite simply, blasphemous in my opinion (that sentence was awful wasn't it?).

Now I'm not saying there isn't a strong social justice community in Christianity today. But my evangelical brothers and sisters have made me pretty darn concerned lately.

More racist Oregonians

2008-09-30T15:32:00.000-07:00

http://wweek.com/wwire/?p=13285

Less than a week after a life-size cutout of Barack Obama was found hanging from a tree on the campus of George Fox University, another public display of hatred toward the presidential hopeful appeared in a Southwest Portland neighborhood.

On Sunday morning, Sharon Martini of Bridlemile came across an Obama yard sign with the word “Nigga” spray-painted on it, just steps from the Bridlemile Elementary School playground.

“I saw the sign around 11:45 a.m.,” Martini said Monday. “In fact, it is still there, just not upright. I photographed it this morning laying on the ground."

Martini also discovered “McCain Palin Fuck Obama” written on two play structures at the school, which were painted over by Sunday night before a youth soccer event.

BY: Mariah Summers

As a community we need to watch this very closely. I know its just a handful of people, but even two or three racists can't be tolerated in my mind. At the very least I'm sending a donation as soon as I get my paycheck.

Blakes big blog post week of 9/28/08

2008-09-29T09:38:00.000-07:00

Top 3 things I'm likely to do this week:

1. Enjoy my first week of fall term
2. Enjoy my Wife's spinach lasagna
3. Punch the first person who blames this financial crises on minority homeowners directly in the mouth (for further explanation see http://www.stephenbainbridge.com/index.php/punditry/they_make_you_embarrassed_to_be_a_conservative)

National Politics Roundup:

THA BAYLOWT
This bailout vote should be pretty damn interesting, set to start at 1 PM EST today. So far from the debate one could infer the battle lines look like this so far:

Yep
Barney Frank (D-MA)
Gary Miller (R-CA)
Spencer Bachus (R-AL)
Mel Watt (D-NC)
Jim Marshall (D-GA)
Charlie Rangel (D-NY)
Tom Davis (R-VA)
Paul Kanjorski (D-PA)
Chris Shays (R-CT)
Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY)
Chaka Fattah (D-PA)
John Dingell (D-MI)
Maxine Waters (D-CA)
John Tanner (D-TN)
Jim Oberstar (D-MN)
Paul Ryan (R-WI)
Bill Foster (D-IL)
John Spratt (D-SC)
John Campbell (R-CA)
Melissa Bean (D-IL)
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Naw
Ron Paul (R-TX)
Virgil Goode (R-VA)
Gresham Barrett (R-SC)
Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA)
Barbara Lee (D-CA)
Ted Poe (R-TX)
Judy Biggert (R-IL)
Peter DeFazio (D-OR)
Darrell Issa (R-CA)
Scott Garrett (R-NJ)
Jeff Miller (R-FL)
Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
Louie Gohmert (R-TX)
Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI)
Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)
Todd Akin (R-MO)
Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL)
Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
Steven LaTourette (R-OH)
Michelle Bachmann (R-MN)

So far what we're seeing are members going beyond party lines to assert their own positions, ie what they actually believe should be done. What do I think? Honestly I have no clue. I am afraid that if the Democrats own this bill and it becomes unpopular Obama may get dragged down and lose in November. This would be really unfortunate for a lot of reasons, the least of these being that although theres a huge amount of blame to go around for this crisis - most of it goes to the bush administration.

THA DEBAYTE:

At times the whole thing seemed pretty tedious. I think Obama really did benefit from all those primary debates, but still, neither him nor McCain are great debaters. Looking at polling it seems that the whole thing was a victory for Obama. We'll see how the daily trackers go this week. If Obama continues this lead he could very well win this election. Thats assuming there isn't an October surprise around the corner.

***

Oregon Politics Roundup:

Obama effigy hung at George Fox
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hlnR7kQP7tXQKA0872BAweYKqPFQD93DPDBG0

You always have to cringe about stuff like this, especially when its in our state. Honestly I'm surprised stuff like this doesn't happen more often in insular evangelical communities. In my experience with churches I've certainly come across more than my share of implicitly racist, anti-arab and us vs them sentiment. In many ways mainstream evangelical culture has become the culture of suburban white America, I have a feeling we'll be dealing with the consequences of that for a long time.

Jeff Merkley: Kicking ass and eating Hot Dogs

http://www.pollster.com/polls/or/08-or-sen-ge-svm.php

Our Senate race is now one of the most exciting races in the country. How did Merkley do it? I think a great part of it has to do with Obama's coattails and of course the large gains in voter registration for the Oregon Democratic Party. I think another part of Merkley's surge is due to Gordon Smith's campaign. His ads have been too negative, the illegal immigrant scandal at Smith Frozen Foods and the fact that hes alienated his GOP support by praising Obama in his positive ads have all contributed to this opportunity for the Democrats to pick off the last Republican senator on the west coast.

Kate Brown and Rick Dancer - who are they again?

"According to a poll conducted by the Portland Tribune and Fox 12, 33 percent of Oregonians said they would be backing Brown, and 25 percent said they would vote for Dancer. That leaves 38 percent of voters undecided in the race for Oregon's Secretary of State."

Holy smokes! 38 Percent? I keep on telling people how important this race is, as the winner will decide our new congressional boundaries in 2010. I'm sure the upcoming debates will sway some folks, and again, Obama will have some nice coattails.

***

In other news.....

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND ARE PLAYING THE SUPERBOWL~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, an event over 30 years in the making. This also sets the tentative release for the next E street band album sometime in early 2009. Great news all around. My hopes for the setlist? I'd like him to play some of these kinds of songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_ynmzbFsh4

Highly unlikely I know. I just hope we get something more than Born in the USA era hits.

Movie Review:

"Slacker Uprising" - Michael Moore - 2008

Two Stars **/*****

Theres a reason why Michael Moore released this for free, it would have been panned unmercifully by critics. Although the musical performances are great the messianic attitude of moore is more than palpable. As usually he he portrays his opposition as idiotic whack jobs. Which is true in many cases, but I've encountered the same kinds of people among democratic ranks. He also makes a point of mentioning that the cities he visited went for Kerry as some evidence of his power of persuasion. Wow, large cities and college towns went for Kerry? NO SHIT SHERLOCK. Watch Michael Moore's next scathing expose about how rurual counties are more likely to vote Republican.

Funny Youtube of the week:

David Letterman........

2008-09-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

Makes up for the past five years of suckitude:

Woah

2008-09-24T19:47:00.000-07:00

Man, what a day. Needless to say we are witnessing some of the most significant events in American History - certainly the most significant since 9/11. I have decided to hold any comments about McCain's decision and the bailout situation in General until this weekend. Shocking, I know.

Top Three things I've enjoyed today:

1. Amber's Cooking
2. Tom Waits
3. This Video:

Tomorrow night......

2008-09-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

Tony Blair on Charlie Rose. Should be pretty darn interesting.

Will Washington residents finally grow a pair?

2008-09-22T23:46:00.000-07:00

http://www.masstransitnow.org/the-plan/

I must say, this initiative is pretty darn impressive. I've often been underwhelmed by public transit in the emerald city so I'll be watching this with a great deal of interest. Sadly, with the economy the way it is I'm not sure residents will vote for ANY tax increases (even small ones) regardless of the potential long-term savings. Still, with fuel costs increasing its hard not to see initiatives like this being more politically viable in the future (like a high speed rail connection between Portland and Seattle? A guy can dream can't he?).

Add this to their Gubernatorial race and Washington will be pretty darn interesting this November.

PS: How cool would a high speed rail connection between Seattle and Portland be?

Electoral College Tie

2008-09-22T23:04:00.000-07:00

Totally possible:

Thats just one scenario, albeit the most likely one in my opinion. What happens in this kind of situation? Michael Crowley fills us in:

"It goes to the House. But it's not one member, one vote. Instead, each state's delegation gets one vote, which is first determined by an internal vote within that state's delegation. Tied delegation votes nullify that state's vote. And it's the incoming House that votes--the people elected this November, that is--not the sitting House. God help us if it comes to that."

Believe it or not theres actually enough democratic delegations in red states that if delegations broke along party lines, Barack Obama would win. Now thats not accounting for the possibility of this tie happening with McCain winning the popular vote - which would certainly put pressure on representatives to elect McCain, especially those in red states.

More from Brian Beutler:

"Additionally, there's the small matter that, 204 years after the 12th amendment was ratified, we have 50 state and 50 state delegations--a dreaded even number that I suppose leaves open the possibility that the House vote could also end in a tie. I'm not sure at all what happens then, but if the House hasn't elected a President by March 4, then the vice-president (chosen by the Senate in a majority vote) becomes President. Obviously, Democrats would fare better in such circumstances."

If you think 2000 was dramatic (and it was) just imagine this scenario for a moment. We'll have to wait and see I guess.

A rechristening

2008-09-22T21:51:00.000-07:00

Thats right, I'm relaunching this piece. Heres what you should know:

The title: My favorite song for 4 years straight, somewhat of a thesis for my life (the sentiment of the song that is). Check it out here:

Weekly features: At least every week I'll give my thoughts on the presidential election and several Oregon races from now until November 4th. Also notice the fun poll on the righthand corner for y'all to participate in.

Reviews: From now on I'll be reviewing each album I purchase, each film I watch and each concert I go to using a five star rating system with a paragraph summary.

Random Thoughts: Expect these to continue.

This is quite the gauntlet I've laid down for myself - but I know it'll be worth it. Thanks for taking the trip with me -
Blake

This place is on the way to my Grandparents

2008-09-18T19:44:00.000-07:00

Chattel (excerpt) from Food Fight! Grocery on Vimeo.

Blow our minds Plouffe-dawg

2008-09-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

Positive Stuff

2008-09-17T11:34:00.000-07:00

Hey, I thought I'd inject some positivity up in this piece.

Positive thing #1: Obama Rising

McCain's bounce is all but over. Obama is up as of today in Gallup, down by only 1 in Rass and leading in several other daily trackers as well. State by state polls coming out this week will probably favor mccain partly because of a lapse, but take a look at where John Kerry was: http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2004/Pres/Maps/Sep16.html now take a look at where Obama is: http://www.electoral-vote.com/ Holy cow do we have less work to do. Kerry was barely holding IL! All Obama has to do is hold all the states Kerry did and pick up states like IA, VA, CO and NM where hes polling strongly and he wins. McCain doesn't really have many options when it comes to picking off a Kerry state (assuming PA and MI hold where they are) and will now be on defense in states like VA, NM and CO. Theres also the outside chance of picking up OH or FL, and if Obama does that, McCain is toast.

Lets not forget Obamas ground game. Pretty massive voter registration going on and unlike 2004 the Obama campaign has registered these folks and will have the resources in place to get them to the polls.

Obviously in many ways this thing is still a coin toss. Estimates have undecideds as high as 10%. Nobody knows which way those folks will break, and anybody that pretends to know is full of it. There are other unknown factors at play as well. What effect will Obama's race have on the end result? African American turnout may be unprecedented but there also may be some hesitance among whites to vote for an African American. Then again, there may be some undecided white voters who will vote for Obama just to make history. We just don't know. I am more hopeful now than I was last week though.

#2 Ted Leo has a new EP out
Really, he does. It Rocks. All proceeds go to charity. Check it out http://www.touchandgorecords.com/bands/album.php?id=478

#3 Fall is the best season to live in Portland

#4 Lisa Hannigans new record kicks ass

#5 September will be my last concert-less month of the year - and its halfway over.

Quotes to Remember

2008-09-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

“The fundamental business of the country, that is the production and distribution of commodities, is on a sound and prosperous basis.”

Herbert Hoover October 25, 1929

Something to keep in mind

2008-09-09T14:40:00.000-07:00

The New York Times
Dukakis Lead Widens, According to New Poll
Published: July 26, 1988

LEAD: In the aftermath of the Democratic National Convention, the party's nominee, Michael S. Dukakis, has expanded his lead among registered voters over Vice President Bush, the probable Republican nominee, according to a Gallup Poll.

In the aftermath of the Democratic National Convention, the party's nominee, Michael S. Dukakis, has expanded his lead among registered voters over Vice President Bush, the probable Republican nominee, according to a Gallup Poll.

This was among the findings of a national public opinion poll of 948 registered voters conducted late last week for Newsweek magazine by the Gallup Organization. The telephone interviews took place on July 21, which was the last night of the convention, and on the night after that.

Fifty-five percent of the 948 registered voters interviewed in the poll said they preferred to see Mr. Dukakis win the 1988 Presidential election, while 38 percent said they preferred to see Mr. Bush win. The poll had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points.

This represented a shift in Mr. Dukakis's lead from the 47 percent to 41 percent advantage he held in the last pre-convention Gallup Poll, taken by telephone July 8-10. In that poll, 1,001 registered voters were interviewed.

Nominees usually enjoy a lift in the polls after the nomination. Ed Slaughter, project director at Gallup, pointed out that in 1984, Walter Mondale's standing rose 12 points after the Democratic convention that year. But the improved standing dissipated within ten days, Mr. Slaughter said.

Another poll, conducted in Texas, also showed Mr. Dukakis gaining ground from the convention. The survey of 504 registered voters likely to cast ballots, conducted on Friday and Saturday by Peter Hart, a Democratic poll taker, showed Mr. Dukakis leading Mr. Bush by 50 percent to 40 percent. A survey of that size has a sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points. A Hart survey of 265 such voters for The Chicago Tribune from July 5 to 9 had shown the race even in Texas - 46 percent for Mr. Dukakis, 46 percent for Mr. Bush, with a sampling error of plus or minus six percentage points. DON'T BITE!!!

Words been passed, this is our last chance

2008-09-08T15:28:00.000-07:00

Things don't look good for the Obama campaign lately. This will be one of many posts on the internet today addressing the state of the race, and if you lean left you probably have the same sense of dread that I do. Its obvious that the polls are moving towards McCain. This may be a convention bounce but it may be something else, we don't know now, we may not know until its too late. All of us who thought Palin was a horrible pick are wrong - dead wrong in terms of the political ramifications. She has united and enthused a dying brand. Although I do think she'll have her share of mis-steps, maybe even a ton, maybe even enough to dissuade independent voters the Christian right won't care because they don't care whos right, they care about who shares their values.

Although I hoped Joe Biden would be at the top of the ticket this year I've invested a lot of emotional energy into Obama. His win in Iowa inspired me, his win in what was termed the "Potomac" primary (MD, DC and VA) moved me to tears his selection of Joe Biden thrilled me. I worked hard as a canvasser for his Oregon campaign. If he loses, I will feel a certain degree of responsibility.

Today I've been thinking about how other candidates might be doing had they prevailed. If Clinton had won we'd be hearing reporters question whether or not Black voters would desert the democratic party. The Clintons would probably be hitting McCain (and Pawlenty? who knows) hard, and more effectively. But Hilary would have a ton of work to do getting independents. How might Biden have played on the top of the ticket? I like him, but many surveys show that when he was picked as Obamas running mate he had low favorables. Richardson would have been interesting - Edwards would have been a disaster.

Is there any point to this? Probably not. But I'm definitely concerned about the Obama camp. Our best hope of winning was for Obama to stay ahead and simply nurse that lead through November. Now that hes down, I feel that only two options remain.

1. Win the debates. I don't mean to underestimate Palin, but I really do think that Biden will defeat her handily. My concern lies with Obama. Hes a great speaker, but was consistently criticized for underperformed in primary debates (I admit it, Hilary would have really shined here). Americans seem to mistake thoughtful answers for insincere ones. Obama will try to show both sides of every issue and McCain will be unequivocal and decisive. Obama needs to learn how to appear decisive.

2. Win the ad war. Americans say they hate negative ads, but they believe them anyway. The Obama campaign needs to form two narratives: a. McCain = Bush and b. Palin = Crook. They need to hit hard.

This is a good start:

There are some things keeping me optimistic. The Obama campaign's voter registration is one thing. The fact that the electoral college still looks decent is another. There is still a large block of undecided voters. I have a feeling most of them will go in the same direction down one of two paths. Obviously these voters are undecided for a reason - intrinsically they aren't enthused by either candidate. Do they go with the McCain = Bush narrative and vote against McCain as a referendum on Bush regardless of their concerns/lack of enthusiasm about Obama? Do they go with the Obama = dangerous meme and vote for McCain in the interest of safety regardless of their opinion about the Bush years? Do they stay home? Do they vote Nader/Barr/Write-in? We'll find out less than two months from now.

Whoops

2008-09-08T11:20:00.000-07:00

From Huffpo

Gov. Sarah Palin made her first potentially major gaffe during her time on the national scene while discussing the developments of the perilous housing market this past weekend.

Speaking before voters in Colorado Springs, the Republican vice presidential nominee claimed that lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers." The companies, as McClatchy reported, "aren't taxpayer funded but operate as private companies. The takeover may result in a taxpayer bailout during reorganization."

Obama picks Ted Wheeler as his running mate

2008-09-02T09:18:00.000-07:00

September 8th, 2008
Associated Press

After Joe Biden's mysterious disappearance in what has been called "a stunning gambit" a "Bold decision" and "fucking retarded" Barack Obama has selected Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler as his vice presidential nominee. In his remarks Wheeler said "I asked Barack Obama if he was sure about my chances of becoming Vice President and he said 'you bet', I then asked 'no seriously, are you sure' to which he replied 'yeah, quit asking so many questions already'".

"I wanted someone to go against Sarah Palin" the Land of Lincolner told reporters on Sunday "As many of you know Multnomah County is roughly the same population as Alaska only much cooler, they have a fucking aerial tram people - would you rather ride on a bridge to nowhere or a tram? I thought so". Ted Wheeler took office as Multnomah County Chair on January 1, 2007 after winning election in 2006 with 70% of the vote. He is both the Chief Executive Officer of Multnomah County government and the Chair of the Board of County Commissioners.

Senator John Kerry defended the decision on Sundays Meet The Press by saying "Multnomah County is just across the pacific ocean from China and Japan, logically Ted Wheeler has just as much foreign policy experience as Sarah Palin". Blogger Andrew Sullivan commented that Ted Wheeler might be the "key for Obama to tap into the disaffected Log Cabin Republican vote, oh wait, he didn't pick the Gay mayor of Portland? Bloody Hell".

When Obama campaign manager David Plouffe was asked to comment on McCain's decision to replace Sarah Palin with Joe Liberman he ran out of the room screaming "I told that asshole to pick Chuck Hagel - what did I do to deserve this shit?"

On the American Voter

2008-08-31T23:16:00.000-07:00

Heres something I don't do very often. Usually I'm pretty positive about the future of our county - but man there have been some things that have caused me either to worry or to feel like ripping my hair out.

A list of grievances:

A. I'm sitting here watching a Frank Luntz campaign focus group on CSPAN. The general consensus among voters are that both candidates "don't offer specifics" about social security. He then proceeds to play several clips of Obama and McCain talking specifically about social security making them all look like the idiots that they are. In this moment in time - IT HAS NEVER BEEN EASIER TO FIND OUT A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES STAND ON A SPECIFIC ISSUE. Both candidates (hell, even third party candidates) have exhaustive sections on nearly every issue important to most voters on their websites just a click away. It reminds me of Clinton voters who criticized Obama for not "offering specifics" when he had a several hundred page pdf file of his specific policies available for free download on his website. Did these people expect him to read all those pages at every campaign stop for seven hours straight? Have voters gotten so lazy that they expect to be force fed all the information they "need" to make a fucking decision?

B. While we're on that topic - Who the fuck are these undecided voters? On many important issues McCain and Obama offer a stark contrast. They've run very different campaigns, come from very different backgrounds and by all accounts would appoint very different individuals to serve in their administrations (and on the supreme court~!!!). Are these people so uninformed that they're unaware of these differences? Do they just like how it feels to say "I'm undecided" as if deciding between McCain or Obama will force them to forfeit some measure of intellectual integrity?

Now I have great respect for folks who say "none of the above" and support a third party candidate - at least they have ideals (I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos) and from the standpoint of a staunch libertarian a McCain/Obama matchup may not offer that much of a choice - but most "undecideds" aren't third party folks - they usually lean in a Liberal or Conservative direction. Are these people just too cowardly to take ownership of the consequences of their preferred candidate losing? After all "undecided" voters have no sense of responsibility to give their time or their money to affect the outcome of an election. I should know, you won't see me volunteering for Amanda Fritz or Charles Lewis - then again, they have just a LITTLE more in common than McCain and Obama do. That being said Republicans are now flaunting Sarah Palin's experience as the mayor of a town with 6,000 people so who knows, the next vice president may come from Portland City Council - maybe I need to go to some candidate forums.

C. I was listening to KPOJ today and heard a supposed progressive claim that Hurricane Gustav is proof that "God is a Liberal". First of all, this incident in the Gulf Coast may prove to be a great opportunity for Republicans - but secondly and most importantly people have died as a result of this storm. Families will lose their homes and an entire community will be at the mercy of the insurance industry. Has partisanship really caused liberals (surely this guy that called in isn't the only democrat thinking this) to become like the James Dobsons of this earth? It was only weeks ago that James Dobson encouraged focus on the family members to pray for rain during Obama's speech - remember how funny we all said that was? Guys?

In retrospect, this was probably a mistake. At the very least it was poorly written. Offering their one sentence response to Sarah Palin voters just offered up "Refreshing", "Good looking" and "Fighter". I need to avoid CSPAN after 10 PM or so.

On Sarah Palin

2008-08-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

Well done John. What a swerve. Lets get to it:

The good: She will obviously pick off pissed of Clinton supporters - especially non-college baby boomer women - read people who are stupid enough to vote for her in the name of "feminism" even though shes anti-choice. Yet another reason why she should have dropped out earlier. She neutralizes Obama's gains in Alaska (although really, its a small enough state, picking Pawlenty who would have given McCain MN would have been much better strategically). Choosing someone so new to the national scene does reinforce the McCain brand as a Maverick one. She will resonate with the evangelical community, not as much as Pawlenty, but more than Lieberman or Ridge.

The bad: For one, Biden will wipe the floor with her. Also, picking the Governor of the 47th largest state in the union, who is only 1.5 years into her tern and who has ZERO foreign policy cred kinda undermines your credibility when you attack Obama. Shes also an Alaska republican, a brand thats loosing steam in the state. It won't be too hard to tie her to Ted Stevens and the like.

The ugly: http://www.adn.com/monegan/story/478090.html

Biden we can believe in

2008-08-23T22:49:00.000-07:00

So yeah, I'm sure y'all are wondering how I feel about Obama picking Biden. Its definitely indicative of the O campaign getting bigger that the news was leaked - probably by ex-Clintonites I assume.

Joe Biden has been one of my favorite pols for a long time now. I feel the guy has a great life story, an engaging speaking style and a decent record in his 30 plus years in the senate. Hes a strong progressive, but has shown some independence on certain issues. As I mentioned in my last post, the guy is gaffe-prone. But a gaffe prone president managed to win in 2004 if I recall correctly, so its certainly not a disqualifier. His legislative achievements - VAWA and VCC/LEA among them are part of what made him stand above the 3 democratic front runners in my mind. His crusade against Robert Bork has certainly endeared him to many progressives, although many folks like myself have always been concerned about his actions regarding the death penalty.

Biden certainly brings a sense of experience to the ticket, will be a great campaigner and will smoke whoever McCain picks in the VP debate - especially Mitt Romney. Kudos to Biden for accepting the Job and kudos to Obama for not caving in to whining Clinton supporters.

Biden as Veep?

2008-08-18T21:11:00.000-07:00

I call swerve. I think a different pick will be announced before Friday. I think Biden brings certain strengths (good debater/campaigner, foreign policy cred etc.) and weaknesses (gaffe-prone, who gives a shit about DE etc,) just like everyone else. I happen to like the guy personally so I would enjoy the pick, I just think the O campaign is trying to surprise us.

My Rank of the top 3 according to the press (although I will not be surprised if O's pick is none of the following)

1 Biden
2 Kaine (Pro: VA will be important, Governors are great at conveying a message of change, Con: Weak stance on abortion will piss off pro-choice groups)
3 Bayh (Pro: Mild white dude with good looking family, may assuage some Hilary supporters Con: Former Hilary supporter, Mild stance on other progressive issues)

For some reason Richardson has sounded pretty good to me as of late. The guy was a diplomat, will ensure Latino turnout, helps us grab New Mexico - then again like every other pick he has some weaknesses like his unusual speaking style, and having a Black/Latino ticket may scare the crap out of certain (Read: racist) voters. Who knows. I'm sure as hell excited though.

I was a skeptic at first but these miracles work.......

2008-07-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

As many of you know - I have seen some concerts in my time. Few of them have been as enjoyable as seeing the Hold Steady at the Crystal Ballroom last night. All too often I let all the minutia of concert-going ruin the experience. The crowd, the setlist, the sound, the heat - I've realized - all bullshit. Last night I reflected on what Craig Finn's lyrics have meant to me over the past couple years and let out some pent up anxiety I've held in for a long time.

There was fist pumping, dancing, screaming and (surely) mild wife-embarrassment. The band played at Springsteenian break-neck speed, many songs back to back with little or no pauses. I left the Crystal Ballroom sweaty, and feeling good. The songs of The Hold Steady always remind me of a time in my life where I was quite lost between dropping out of high school and flunking out of community college. Reflecting on how far I've come while rocking out was a great combo. Now obviously I'm not saying thats what the Hold Steady's lyrics ARE about, they just happen to bring up that sentiment for me.

I think one of my favorite moments of a live show are when you hear a song in a different way, or more importantly, if you really HEAR a song for the first time. That happened to me last night when I really heard the title track of their latest LP "Stay Positive". Again, the lyrics happened to strike a meaningful chord for me last night: