Peanut Butter Knife

A History of My Taste in Music Part III

2008-07-21T16:31:00.001-04:00

Part III 1991-92

Looking back, its tempting for me to, like many in my generation, pinpoint the time when I heard “Smells Like Teen Spirit” as THE turning point in my musical tastes. Make no mistake, that was huge, but while I didn’t realize it at the time, the signs were pointing to some major upheaval in my listening preferences.

To that point, being the “classic rock kid” was my thing, old people loved me because I somehow validated to them that new music sucked and the best sounds were from their generation. But I already made 2 exceptions for modern bands, R.E.M. and U2, especially the former. I was a big Byrds fan, so reading about Peter Buck and his Richenbacher in Rolling Stone hipped me to them. Towards the end of 8th Grade, Out of Time was released and I bought it the day it came out and played it in near constant Walkman rotation. It wouldn’t yet obliterate what I knew about music, but it made me more aware that there was more to new music than just hair bands and bubblegum pop.

Also around that time, Neil Young’s Ragged Glory became a very pivotal album for me. Although I knew enough about Neil to know that he’d always been an iconoclast, I also knew enough about the music that classic rockers made in the 80s to expect it to be cold, studio slick and not altogether good, no matter how legendary the artist once was. Ragged Glory was different. It was loud, it was filled with mistakes, it sounded like what it was 4 guys in a room playing rock and roll and it was awesome. Young’s tour for the album featured Sonic Youth as an opening act – I unfortunately didn’t go. But I read about their unorthodox guitar tunings and figured if they were good enough for Neil, I may as well check Goo out of the library. I don’t think I was quite ready for what I heard, but I did like “Dirty Boots” and filed the band away under “pretty interesting”.

There were other minor touchstones too: hearing the Velvet Underground while I wrote a report on Andy Warhol for art class, seeing World Party on SNL, hearing Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd, a pre-Nevermind article in Rolling Stone on the “Seattle scene” that I thought sounded interesting.

Then there was “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. I was in the car with my mom, I was in 9th Grade. I was listening to WONE and they said they weren’t sure whether they wanted to play this song, but they’d been getting so many requests for it that they figured they had to. Its part of the rock canon now, but seriously, if you were there in 1991 you know what I’m talking about. Hearing this song for the first time was an event. The guitars, they were aggressive, but they were so melodic and tuneful (and I was probably the only 14 year old who heard this and thought the intro sounded a lot like The James Gang’s “Walk Away”). And damn if I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but I could feel it. I doubt music had ever hit me on such a visceral level before. I remember going home and just flipping around to every rock station I could get reception on until I heard it again. I bought the album, I learned it on guitar but mostly what this song did is made me want to hear more.

You see, while I could appreciate the musical qualities of what I’d listened to up to that point; what it lacked for me was a real emotional connection. I was a depressed, misfit 14 year old kid from Cleveland, how was Eric Clapton singing about the dangers of cocaine or Crosby Stills & Nash harmonizing about the free lovin at Woodstock supposed to speak to me? Oh sure, I learned from it and I could appreciate it intellectually, or as entertainment, but it was never going to be mine. And my mom hated Nirvana. She liked just about everything else I played around the house, but this? Was this even music? And who else listened to this? There was a small group of kids that were already into these kind of bands. They seemed alright and not caught up in all the other bullshit of high school. They were into doing their own thing. And hey, wasn’t I already into doing MY own thing all along? This was huge, for the first time in my life I was finding an identity. And most importantly, some of these people were girls.

And then U2 came out with Achtung Baby and it was a totally strange record like little else I’d heard before. Were they alternative too? Clearly I needed a crash course in this “alternative” music. So, I did what any suburban kid with some magazine subscriptions and a spare penny to tape to a postcard would do: I signed up for the Columbia House record club under the “modern rock” genre and got my 12 free introductory tapes. I don’t remember what they all were, but some of them were as follows:

Primal Scream Screamadelica
Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians Perspex Island
They Might Be Giants Flood
The Ocean Blue Cerulean
The La’s
Sonic Youth Dirty
Violent Femmes Why Do Birds Sing?

And in the interest of full disclosure, not all of them were good (though don’t tell 15 year old me that):

Toad the Wet Sprocket Fear
Spin Doctors
The Soup Dragons

It still wasn’t enough. I had to know more. I discovered college radio, I taped 120 Minutes each week. I wrote down the names of anything that even sounded half interesting. I began redoubling my efforts at the library, discovering The Cure, The Smiths, Dinosaur Jr, and The Feelies this way. It may seem strange now, but back then these records were not found at the mall and weren’t written about everywhere, I needed a more reliable source and that’s when I discovered Alternative Press.

Far from the glossy mall-punk rag that its become, AP in those days was probably most akin to Magnet now in terms of coverage and placement on the mainstream radar, maybe even a little more on the edge than that even (would a band like Kitchens of Distinction merit cover placement on any magazine today?). And they were based in Cleveland, how cool is that? Here I read about bands that were even more obscure than what was on 120 Minutes. You couldn’t find their records in stores, at least not the ones in North Olmsted, Ohio. I had to find out what this was all about.

A History of My Taste in Music Part II

2008-07-21T16:30:00.000-04:00

Part II 1988-91

During our move I unpacked my mom’s records and decided that both Willy & The Poorboys and Cosmo’s Factory looked interesting enough to play, everything else was Broadway showtunes or easy listening. Fogerty, et al looked downright dangerous in comparison. I loved it right off the bat. It was so much more raw than anything I’d been hearing on 80s top 40 radio. It was also around this time that we got a computer with a 2400 baud modem. In those days, there were basically 2 things you could do with a modem. Sign up for Prodigy and call up the Cuyahoga County Public Library to reserve books and music (yes, I know about newsgroups and BBSs, but I wouldn’t discover those for a few more years). In a way, I was an early adopter to internet music. I could read about a band and look them up in the library’s catalog from home and have the records sent to my local branch. Then when I got them I could tape them for free. Seems primitive now in retrospect, but this was a new thing circa 1989. Since I now loved CCR and since I figured out that they qualified as “classic rock”, I started listening to the classic rock station in town and reading rock history books in order to fuel my late night library catalog searches. My Paves style flowchart would look something like this:

6th Grade: CCR, Eagles, Eric Clapton, Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Steve Winwood, Steve Miller Band

7th Grade: Jackson Browne, Crosby Stills & Nash, Allman Brothers, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Lou Reed, The Byrds, John Mayall, Bob Seger, James Gang

8th Grade: The Beatles (so late in the game, I know), Bob Dylan (same), Grateful Dead, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Pink Floyd, Yes, Led Zeppelin, Robert Johnson, R.E.M.

It’s here that I have to stop and make a confession. While some of the above bands I still love and others not so much, I have no embarrassment about any of it. Even my week of staying home “sick” from school in 7th Grade and watching TNN and getting into Foster & Lloyd, The Kentucky Headhunters and Alabama is not embarrassing and I see it as a crucial side trip in my musical history – even if I disowned it quickly (though Foster & Lloyd were actually pretty good). But there is one anomaly that I really can’t seem to figure out. Sometime in 7th Grade and continuing through most of 8th grade I became a huge fan of Jimmy Buffett. I had all the albums, I made my mom take me to one of his concerts, I read his short story collection, I wore my Jimmy Buffett t-shirts all the time. To this day, I have no idea what got into me and what made me do this, or how it fits in to the way I listen to music now, but I think it might go a long way towards explaining why my backlash against classic rock was so strong in my early high school years. Despite still enjoying songs from every artist listed above, I have no residual Buffett nostalgia, I can’t stand the guy’s fans or his music. Weird.

But far from being just a list of bands I was into at different times in my life, its important to mention at least a little of what else was going on. As mentioned, I was in a new school that was 3 times bigger than the one I grew up in, the kids were louder, the girls had big hair and the boys were more interested in beating people up than talking about baseball cards, funny movies and pop music. They all listened either to metal (probably why I still never got into it today) or the insipid late 80s teen pop that was booming at the time. A loner by nature, I made little attempt at fitting in and so I guess its pretty fitting that I let myself dive so deeply into music. Around this time, I also started feeling more estranged from my parents and they from each other. Fights were common and nothing from that era seems happy now. On a lighter note, I started taking guitar lessons. I wasn’t a very disciplined player and never practiced enough to be good, but I learned the basic chords which I know to this day and a lot about song structure. Also, being perhaps the only 13 year old in Cleveland’s west suburbs that knew more about Neil Young than New Kids on the Block, I was always a curious oddity in record stores, at my parent’s friend’s parties, radio station contests (I won Clapton’s Crossroads box set from WONE for knowing who Ginger Baker was), etc. All the old folks wanted to talk to me and were tickled pink that I could reel off the entire Joe Walsh solo discography or tell them about the recording sessions for Tusk. So I basically felt like I was 13-going-on-40 during these years. Only adding to my already burgeoning sense of weirdness.

Next up is high school, and while my tastes changed drastically and seemingly overnight, the seeds were all planted here and the shift more gradual than I remember now that I think about it. But that will have to wait for Part III: The Alternative Era.

A History of My Taste in Music Part I

2008-07-21T16:16:00.003-04:00

A few months ago, I started posting these lengthy rambling pieces about how my taste in music has evolved over the years on a certain message board I frequent. I stopped at roughly 1992 and I am now going to re-post the first 3 installments here in an effort to encourage myself to finish writing the rest of the series. Enjoy.

Part I, Birth-Elementary School.

Unlike alot of you here, I did not have musically inclined siblings (or any siblings for that matter) and my parents were not overly into music either. Actually, my dad was quite a music lover in his own way, but not at all hip and not at all a record collector, so I didn't really get too much of it passed down from him. All my musical discoveries pretty much through high school were my own. Preschool, really up through about 1st grade, my pop music memories are of a small handful of my mom's records that I would play on my Fisher Price record player: a James Taylor 45 for the song "Handy Man", a 45 for the funk-soul novelty hit "Chick A Boom" by Daddy Dewdrop, the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, and an LP collection of 50s hits performed by some anonymous hacks called "At The Hop". Plus whatever was on the radio in the car or around the house. Also probably by 1st or 2nd grade I was watching Nickelodeon alot and they had their video show "Nick Rocks" this is probably where I first heard Hall & Oates "Out of Touch", as well as stuff from Thriller. I asked for the Hall & Oates album for either Christmas or my birthday and got it and played it incessantly. Soon after I got a tape player and proceded to buy either with allowance money or from begging my mom, Hall & Oates' H2O and Rock N Soul Part I. I was pretty hooked on music by this time and started listening to top 40 radio (this would probably have been WRQC at the time). Though oddly, the stuff I gravitated towards the most tended to be on the more adult-side of top 40. This was mid/late 80s so that meant Huey Lewis, Bruce Hornsby & The Range, John Cougar Mellencamp, Crowded House, Squeeze, Wang Chung, Billy Joel, Robert Palmer, U2 etc etc mixed in with some of the wimpier hair metal (Def Leppard, Bon Jovi) and pop (Rick Astley, Whitney Houston). At some point I had tapes of all of those artists. As an only child, I mostly just stayed at home and found ways to entertain myself. One of those ways was by listening to Casey Kasem every Sunday Morning and making up my own lists of my favorite songs each week. I called it "Mike's Top 10" and at one point I had them all collected for the years I did this (mainly 1986-87) and stapled together. Not sure whatever happened to these gems. Probably lost in the fire at my parent's house a few years ago.

In 1988, I was in Middle School and we moved to a new suburb...This is the point where pop music turned from something to entertain myself with to an all out obsession. But that will have to wait for Part II.

I Give Up.

2008-04-14T15:35:00.003-04:00

When I first read this, I assumed it was just a joke since I don't watch cable "news" outlets. Turns out it is oh, so real:

On Hardball, while remarking on Sen. Barack Obama's reported request for orange juice after being offered coffee at an Indiana diner, David Shuster asserted: "It's just one of those sort of weird things. You know, when the owner of the diner says, 'Here, have some coffee,' you say, 'Yes, thank you,' and, 'Oh, can I also please have some orange juice, in addition to this?' You don't just say, 'No, I'll take orange juice,'..."

It turns out that I am completely unqualified to run for President. No, not just because I'm a militant agnostic ("I don't know, and neither do you!"). Not just because I'm short, even by Dennis Kucinich standards. Not even just because I didn't finish college. After the events of the last few weeks, according to the chattering classes in the fourth estate, I'm unqualified to run for President because I don't drink coffee and my bowling scores are lucky if they break 100.

I've lost interest in the Presidential race. Barack Obama isn't perfect but he's the best candidate to get this close to the nomination in my lifetime (if only because this guy was also a victim of media assassination far before he got to Obama's level). Gas prices are going to be triple what they were 8 years ago, the economy is nearing a crisis point we haven't seen since about 1929, we're in a pointless war that no one seems to want to end, it's 2008 and people are still antagonistic towards evolution, not to mention global warming science. I don't need to ennummerate every problem in this country, I think you get the point.

Yet our televised and print media, the places that for better or worse, most undecided Americans will turn to form their impressions of our presidential candidates, have decided (with a great deal of aiding and abetting from the Clinton and McCain camps) that the things that matter most to our country right now are these:

1. Can we trust a guy who doesn't bowl very well with the keys to the White House bowling alley?

2. Someone who chooses (healthier) orange juice over coffee certainly is out of touch with the concerns of working Americans.

3. How dare Barack Obama tell working class voters that they feel bitter for having lost their jobs and security after 20 years of Bush/Clinton economic policies! Only we in the media, with our Ivy League degrees, should be allowed to decide how the working class should feel!

Never before have Jon Stewart's remarks on Crossfire been more apt. They're not just hurting America, they're killing it dead and beating the corpse to a pulp. People are lulled into submission by the shiny graphics and gladiator-like presentation of these networks. This country will get what it deserves in November. The sorry thing is that the rest of us have to live with the consequences.

List of States I've Been To (In order of the approx. amount of time I've spent there)

2008-04-11T16:44:00.002-04:00

1. Ohio
2. Illinois
3. Wisconsin
4. Michigan
5. New York
6. Pennsylvania
7. New Jersey
8. Iowa
9. Indiana
10. Massachusetts
11. Kentucky
12. Vermont
13. Connecticut
14. Minnesota
15. Rhode Island

I've also been to North Carolina, South Carolina and the states between Ohio and those places, but I was less than 6 years old at the time and don't remember how long we stayed. So, I guess you could put those states probably somewhere between Iowa and Indiana.

Ohio Primary, Some Observations

2008-03-05T12:54:00.002-05:00

I don't want to wade too deeply into the divisiveness of yesterday's results. Needless to say, I'm disappointed in how things turned out.

I do want to comment though on one strain of thought I've seen bubbling in the media this week: The idea that SNL's pro-Hillary sketches the past few weeks played a part in her comeback. And while any effect it may have actually had is probably being overblown, what troubles me is from the standpoint of a comedy fan who has watched SNL since I was old enough to stay up that late, anything that gives Lorne Michaels the impression that his woefully unfunny show has any continuing relevance is a bad thing. I sat through last week's episode for the Wilco performance, yet I let out one guffaw the entire night. In the final sketch, Ellen Page made a joke about going to a Melissa Etheridge concert where Suze Orman had a booth to educate people on "gay mortgages". Yeah, that was the funniest thing I heard.

"Weekend Update" has become a tedious bore of poorly read one-liners. I might not like the guy's politics these days, but in the 80s at least Dennis Miller brought a much needed sense of irreverence to the proceedings. "The Daily Show", "The Colbert Report" and The Onion have been running circles around SNL in terms of political satire for nearly a decade now (well, Colbert for only 3 years, but the fact that TDS has itself already started to become eclipsed is even more of an indictment of SNL).

I realize the traditional media press corps doesn't quite get Colbert, and they are disdainful of Stewart for so effectively pointing out their asshattery, but please do comedy a favor and don't give SNL any more credence than it deserves. That show needs to be put out of its misery, or at least taken over by someone who actually understands how to do smart, yet gut busting comedy.

Then again, maybe I'm just as much a part of the problem. I'll DVR next week's ep to see Vampire Weekend.

As a post-script, I'd like to single out Tina Fey, who is a genuinely funny woman and as a one time head writer kept the SNL franchise from heading entirely over the cliff for much of the early part of this decade. "30 Rock" is a great show, but if you've paid close attention to the political aspects of the show, there's been a strong anti-Obama (and somewhat anti-Dem) agenda set forth. In one episode, Liz Lemon tells Jason Sudekis' character that "she'll tell everyone she's voting for Obama, but when she gets in the voting booth she'll pull the lever for McCain". In another episode an entire b-plot revolved around one of the characters referring to Obama as "Osama".

My History With Food

2008-02-26T15:31:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure if I've become a full fledged foodie yet, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to get there sooner rather than later. But if you ask anyone whose known me awhile and this development might come as some surprise.

For instance. I eat sushi any chance I can get now, but just 5 years ago, I wouldn't touch seafood raw or cooked with a 10 foot pole. I claimed I was "allergic" to it. Granted, this fear of seafood had some basis in reality. When I was just a wee lad of the age of about 8 or 9 whenever my mom would serve fish, I'd throw up. For the longest time, the smell of fish would make nauseous and any suggestion that I even try something from the sea was quickly rebuked.

So what changed? How did I go from the classic picky eater raised on fast food and potato chips -- the kid whose aunt threatened to call a social worker on my mom due to my "lean" physique -- to the burgeoning 30-something gourmet who will try anything once and who might accurately have the term "stocky" applied to him? Who lives to discover new restaurants and flavors heretofore unknown?

Some possible answers:

1. The Indie Factor. Yeah, I'm a bit of a recovering music snob. Somewhere along the way though, it mattered less to me to always be the first to discover a band or a genre. I still love music and collect vinyl, but my identity is not defined solely by what I listen to. But where is that seeking spirit supposed to land? Maybe instead of always having to find something new to listen to (and I went through it all: an electronic phase, an experimental phase, a jazz phase, a country phase, a world music phase -- sometimes concurrently) I've transferred that desire within me to food. Having been so isolated, culinarily speaking, all my life each new national cuisine I discover feels more new, the tastes so vibrant. Another indie band? Heard it all before, it can be good, it can be comforting to listen to, but can it really expand my ways of thinking at this point? Taste is also, I think, a more immediate thrill than sound.

2. The Vicarious World Traveller. If there's one thing I've always wanted to do and never have, its to make travel a priority in my life. For whatever reason: money, job, illness, etc I never seem to make it anywhere. OK, I did go to England on a semi-business trip in 2001, but that turned out to be a disasterous experience that I'd rather not relive in this public forum. Yet I'm always glued to travel shows like Globe Trekker and No Reservations. Always longing to be the kind of person who can pack up and wander around SE Asia by myself for a few weeks. At this point, probably not going to happen. But when I eat Vietnamese food, or (good) Mexican food, or sushi... I can have some of that cultural experience, at least in a second hand sort of way.

3. The Incrementalist. Perhaps I've been more adventurous than I give myself credit for. I can only respond to what I get exposed to and given my semi-sheltered, suburban existence to age 22, that exposure was quite limited. But there were signs. I discovered Pad Thai in college, but at the time Cleveland only had 3 or 4 Thai restaurants. Shortly after moving to Chicago, I even contemplated writing a zine with my friend (hi Katie!) that did nothing but review the Pad Thai in Chicago's literally hundreds of Thai places. Of course now, Pad Thai is usually the last thing I'll order in a Thai restaurant. It wasn't long before I was exploring the Indian restaurants along Devon Avenue, the Mexican places of Pilsen, or a great Middle Eastern restaurant in Evanston called Olive Mountain. I even accompanied friends out for sushi. I was too chickenshit to order any fish, but man did it look good, it was only a matter of time. When I moved back to Ohio, I had loads of time on my hands and access to the Food Network, so soon not only was I trying things in restaurants, but I was learning what went in to making things what ingredients were responsible for what flavors, etc (This was before all the semi-homemade 15 minute garbage infiltrated the network). Then came reading books on chefs and cooking, particularly the work of Michael Ruhlman. Now I'm discovering, not just food as world travel, but the pleasures of more high end cuisine.

I suppose there is probably truth in all 3 reasons, and probably other reasons as well. But I'm hoping the next stage in my food evolution will take place in part on this blog. Hopefully I can keep up with writing this time, because I've missed doing it.

Why I am Endorsing Barack Obama in the Ohio Primary

2008-02-15T09:46:00.005-05:00

So nobody is probably reading this thing anymore and thats fine, but I had a brief conversation this morning with Ms. 54 and she asked why I had gone from being ambivalent on the Dem candidates to an Obama supporter. Here's my detailed explanation why:

To be honest, the fact that I didn't hop on board the Obama train from day one says alot about some of the weaknesses in his campaign. He's a politician I've followed and admired long before he hit the national spotlight, so I should have been a natural supporter. However, his campaign floundered through much of last year, and to be honest I was waiting, hoping for Al Gore to jump in the race. Ultimately, I understand why Gore bowed out, but he was the only potential candidate that would have made me much more passionately engaged in this election. I liked Chris Dodd, but he never gained traction. John Edwards was great with his populist message, but I could never fully trust him, because he seemed a recent convert to progressive causes.

Issues:

Just about every expert following this race can tell you that there are very few substantive differences in Clinton's and Obama's platforms. Its true in his public appearances, Obama has been vague at times and skirts specifics, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have detailed, fleshed out proposals on nearly everything and they are all available on his website. Running a public campaign that doesn't delve into too many details is a campaign strategy, and one that Gov. Strickland (a big time Clinton backer incidentally) used very successfully in 2006. Unfortunate as it may be, many voters decide these things on gut feelings and style. John Kerry was a brilliant man who has worked his whole life for the public good, yet in 2004 he was scorned for being too much of a policy wonk, for not making that gut connection with a lot of voters and it cost him.

Neither candidate has an ideal healthcare plan, though I will say that Hillary's is better by a nose. Both health care plans are far and away better than the frankly, quite frightening "free market" based health plans of the Republicans. What disturbs me about Hillary on this issue is that she went from being a vocal advocate of the kind of single payer health plan that we need, to taking more money from insurance and pharmaceutical companies than any candidate in the race from either party.

Elsewhere, Obama has a very progressive platform on the future of the internet and a strong stance in favor of net neutrality. The Clinton camp hasn't really talked much about this issue, but Bill Clinton was responsible for the onerous Communications Act of 1996, which has done more to harm the state of free and independent media in this country than anything in our history.

I like Obama's recent calls for community service among young people. Its sad that we have come to the point where these things need to be instruments of policy, but it can only be a good outcome.

I suppose the biggest area of disagreement I have with Hillary is over the war. Quite simply, this issue more than any other is what made me engage so deeply in politics. I believed that the war was wrong from the start and it has ruined our country's reputation in the world and I'm not even sure that its able to be repaired in the span of one administration. Thousands of American lives have been lost in Iraq and exponentially more innocent Iraqi lives. Barack Obama had the sense of judgement to oppose the war from the start, and did so at a time when he could have paid a steep political price. Hillary voted to authorize the war and even now won't call it a mistake, which at least John Edwards had the courage to do.

Now that we're over there, there are no easy answers and both candidates have flawed, but similar plans for withdrawal. But at least they're both thinking about withdrawal, as opposed to John McCain's pledge to stay in Iraq for 100 years. However, I don't want a president that is going to continue to view our relationship with the rest of the world through a militaristic or imperialist lens. I also think that we need a president with credibility on this issue if we're ever going to begin to change the perception in the world of America, the bully; America, the tyrant.

Both candidates have been deficient in areas that mean the most to me, notably climate change, infrastructure and science. But I have faith in both of them to be better in these areas than we have seen in many years. I just wish they'd both be more bold in their proposals.

On Politics:

The moment that really started tipping me more decidedly in Obama's direction, was when we started to see many of Hillary's surrogates and then later Bill "The First Black President" Clinton himself trot out race-baiting, fear mongering attacks on Obama. And for as many warm, fuzzy memories we may have now of the 90s; it recalled the darker side of Clintonism. These are exactly the same type of tactics that we recoil from in disgust when George Bush and Karl Rove use them. Honestly, I'm tired of this type of divide and conquer politics. I've grown weary from it and have over the last few years began to tune out the messages of both parties. Its made our government small minded and bitterly divided. Barack wants to move past that and judging by the diverse coalition that he's cobbled together, he can.

Obama is not a saint in this regard either. His embrace of anti-gay bigot Donnie McClurkin at rallies in 2007 and later his personal (and flat out wrong) attacks on NYT columnist Paul Krugman were both leading factors in my not wanting to support him for some time. However, he's moved away from this kind of thing recently and has reclaimed some of the high ground that he held after the 2004 convention speech.

The campaigns each reflect such strikingly different structures. Obama represents an activist bottom-up approach to campaigning. He raises money from hundreds of thousands of small donors, and only 3% of his donors have given him the max amount. Meanwhile Hillary has begun to struggle financially because she relies on wealthy donors who have all maxed out in their giving, which is why I find it odd that she is claiming the mantle of the candidate who is fighting for working class interests, if you see who is financing her campaign the opposite appears to be true. In the bottom up approach, Obama talks in "we" not "I", every one of his supporters has a stake in his campaign. That just appeals to me more. And to further that, this has always been his message from day one, going back to his days as a community organizer in Chicago. Its in his nature to bring people together to solve problems.

Looking at cold-hard numbers, Obama at this juncture seems to have an advantage over McCain. One of McCain's top advisers and a former Bush strategist has even said he'll quit if Obama is the nominee since he's not interested in running against someone who actually has a positive message. There's a bit more of a dice roll with Obama, but I'm comfortable with it because he has never run from any of his flaws. Rather, he talks about them openly and diffuses the issues with ease. What worries me with Hillary is that she's down in the polls for the general election now, and there isn't a person in America that hasn't formed an opinion of her, many of them negative. Its hard to see how she turns that around.

Intangibles:

There is no question that no matter who is nominated, we are going to make history with our nominee this year. I'm proud to be part of the party that is going to break down those walls no matter how its decided. However, in a few areas, Obama gets slight edges here as well.

His youth is appealing. We've seen how the baby boomer generation has led this country over the past 20 years and much of it isn't pretty. I think its time the page was turned on that chapter. While Hillary being a woman is a definite positive in her campaign, that fact that Obama's background is bi-racial and international is also a positive and one that I think brings up some interesting possibilities. He comes from a humble background with roots in far flung places like Kansas, Hawaii, Kenya and Chicago. He's uniquely positioned to understand rural, urban, and suburban issues, immigrants and natives. He's supported in the south by primarily African American voters, but his biggest victories have been in nearly all white areas like Minnesota, Idaho and Maine. Quite simply, he has the potential to be a map-changer, a generational leader and we don't get too many of those coming along that often.

So, there's my case for Obama. I've said before, we're lucky this year to have two candidates who are bright, good on the issues, and have the chance to make history and a positive change in this country. I'll be happy to support either as the nominee, but for now, I feel more strongly that Barack Obama will make the stronger case for change.

Election Predictions

2006-11-06T10:07:00.000-05:00

I realize I've been MIA for much of the season and so, probably no one will be reading this. For posterity's sake however, here are my predictions for tomorrow:

Gov:

Strickland 58
Blackwell 39
Others 3

Senate:

Brown 53
DeWine 47

AG:

Dann 51
Montgomery 49

SoS:

Brunner 53
Hartman 46
Others 1

Auditor:

Sykes 52
Taylor 48

Treasurer:

Cordray 60
O'Brien 40
--I know a lot of others are predicting that this will be closer. Still, I think a lot of moderate Republicans are going to be looking to punish their own party for purging Bradley (who might have won this) in favor of an unfunded wingnut with little concept of what the state treasurer does.

Other local races: Sutton blows out Foltin 58-42, LaTourette beats Katz 56-44; Brian Williams beats Cousineau but narrowly, 51-49; Coughlin beats Hanna narrowly as well 52-48 (this will be the saddest result locally). Issue 6 wins 52-48. Downstate; Kilroy, Space, Wulsin and Cranley all win though the last two will be very very close).

Nationally, I see Casey, Whitehouse (in a nailbiter), and Tester (again, razor thin) all winning. I won't make any predictions about VA, but that might be the most dramatic national race to follow tomorrow night.

CT:

Lieberman: 48
Lamont: 43
Schlesinger: 9

If Webb wins in VA, that makes Lieberman something akin to a king, a very unpleasant thought indeed.

What happened to baseball? ...Or, Am I Becoming a White Sox Fan?

2006-10-04T14:58:00.000-04:00

Though I'm not usually pegged as being a particularly rabid sports fan, those that know me will surely recognize that baseball is up there with music, food and politics as a particular passion of mine. This year though, I was just never able to muster much enthusiasm.

I was raised to be an Indians fan, and since about 1982 when I was old enough to understand what those guys with the hats were doing with the balls and the bats, I've followed the progress of the Tribe game by game; on radio, on TV and in the papers (and later on the internet). It was a unique thrill to wake up in the morning and pore over box scores, memorize statistics and ponder various trade rumors and possibilities. I cut my teeth as a Tribe fan in the 80s when there wasn't much reason for excitement about the team. Players like Pat Tabler, Scott Bailes, Felix Fermin, and Brook Jacoby were among my early favorites. I watched what few "stars" we had getting traded away and go on to greater glory in bigger cities that I'd never seen. Yet every year, hope springs eternal and I'd be gobbling up the sports pages as rabidly as ever. Of course, the 90s were the payoff for me. I might not have suffered as long as most Indians fans, but I'd taken a few lumps to be sure. By now, I was old enough to grasp the finer points of the game. The strategy, a good defensive play, a pitcher's duel, or just the relaxing feel that watching/listening to the game has every spring and summer.

When the Tribe began rebuilding in 2002 I was on board with that as well. Though it sucked to lose guys like Bartolo Colon and Roberto Alomar, I knew the farm system had been depleted and felt like the prospects we were getting in return showed a great deal of promise. The rebuilding also coincided with my moving home to NE Ohio. I suppose on a symbolic level, I felt as though the Tribe's rebirth was mirroring my own attempts to get a fresh start and redefine who I was and what I was capable of being. I continued to follow the Indians as intently as ever through those brutal seasons of 2002-2004, I started keeping up with minor league players as well and attended Captains and Aeros contests. In 2005, it appeared as though the plan was coming to fruition with the Tribe staying in contention until the last day against an historic White Sox team.

Last October, I found myself in the hospital with an undiagnosed and completely baffling liver problem. In the end, this turned out to be the result of gall bladder disease and I was able to have surgery and have been in good health ever since. But for those first few months before being diagnosed, I didn't know what to think, it was the scariest time of my life. My first night in the hospital was the same night as Game 4 of the World Series and as I lay in the hospital bed with my roommate hacking and wheezing next to me, I found myself rooting hard for the White Sox to win it all.

During my nearly 4 years in Chicago, I'd felt a certain sympathy for the White Sox. Their fans were die hard baseball fans, yet the local media always gave significantly more coverage to the Cubs, even in 2000 when the Sox won the central. Wrigley may be a temple for the game, but so many people who pack the bleachers there are more content to drink beer and pay little mind to the glorious game unfolding around them. I don't mean this as a swipe at all Cubs fans (in fact the only MLB hat I own and wear is a Cubs hat), as a Tribe fan, I certainly admire their tenacity and dedication and have known many who are just as passionate and knowlegable about the game as anyone. Yet Sox fans had suffered just as much as their north side brethren with little of the "lovable losers" embrace that the Cubs enjoyed.

I was thrilled by the Sox watching the '05 Series. They were built around fantastic starting pitching and an offensive lineup of hard nosed rejects from other organizations. Their GM, at one time the only minority GM in the game, had been ridiculed mercilessly for his offseason moves and seeing his vision vindicated amidst so much criticism was a story that anyone can respect. I loved seeing the coverage of people all over the much maligned south side celebrating the Sox victory and I wished I was there in the city, feeling the excitement that must have been charging through the streets, even up to my old northwest side neighborhood (Irving Park/Pulaski area). Really, I wished I could be anywhere than some cold tiny room at Akron City Hospital. If the Sox could win the World Series, then certainly I could survive whatever this was affecting me.

At the time, I didn't question my loyalties. After all, the Tribe wasn't playing, so its not as though I was rooting against them. Besides, the White Sox had been suffering since 1919, longer than the Indians and with the way the Tribe looked in '05, '06 would be their year for sure, right? Then came the terrible offseason moves. Not even making a competitive offer on Bob Howry, trading away Coco Crisp and Brandon Phillips, and signing non-entities like Paul Byrd and Jason Johnson. While everyone else in NE Ohio was ecstatic about the Tribe's possibilities for this season, I had a sinking feeling that we were taking a big step back. This wasn't the AL Central of old anymore, we were now in the division with the world champs for the first time ever. As the season got underway, I began to notice that watching this year's Tribe play, whether they won or lost, was a joyless experience. The players didn't seem to have the same spark or personality of old, the manager talked in meaningless corporate double speak and the front office seemed ever content to rest on their laurels. I stopped watching the games, I looked at the box scores in the paper still, but not every day and not with the intent of memorizing the player's stats or the teams W-L record. Not even the late season additions of talented rookies like Jeremy Sowers, Ryan Garko and Shin Soo Choo really did much to rekindle my interest in the game.

Now the season is over and I'm left wondering. What happened to my love of this game? Is the increased corpratization, skyrocketing salaries and steroid scandals finally taking its toll on me? Was watching the 2006 Tribe really just that boring and monotonous that it sucked the life out of a lifetime fan such as myself? Or, did my (albeit temporary) defection to the White Sox last autumn shatter over 20 years of loyalty to the Indians? I've followed the Indians longer than I've followed anything else in my life. Certainly I've rooted for other teams before when the Tribe wasn't involved in a game or playoff series, but the 2005 World Series added a very personal dimension to watching those games that made it more than just watching a game. After the heartbreak of the '97 Indians, the '05 White Sox delivered for me at a crucial moment. But in the end, what does that say about me and my ability to stay loyal to the things that matter? On a grander scale, what does it say about my own attachment to place and to home and the aforementioned attempts at self-rediscovery?

Tough questions to be sure, and I may be over analyzing. After all, it is only a game.

Lost Sounds: 1. Gastr del Sol Camoufleur

2006-10-02T14:47:00.000-04:00

The first in an occasional series on great albums that may have slipped through the cracks of the modern musical hype machine.

Though GDS principal Jim O'Rourke titled his 1997 album of acoustic guitar instrumentals Bad Timing, perhaps that moniker might have been better applied to Camoufleur, Gastr del Sol's swan song, instead. The core duo of O'Rourke and David Grubbs had already split at the time of it's release, resulting in little press and no touring. Furthermore, the album represented a pretty significant shift in the group's overall sound (if not their approach), alienating fans of their earlier, noise-driven experimental work. Adding to all that, 1998 can be viewed in retrospect was the beginning of the end of the post-rock zeitgeist, leaving Camoufleur an underappreciated gem from one of underground rock's most forward looking eras.

It is hard to believe that this album is now almost 9 years old. At one time, I hyperbolically intoned that it was responsible for me moving to Chicago. Perhaps there were a host of other factors involved in that decision now, but its easy to see why I was so moved at the time. The melding of experimental sounds, international folk music (for lack of a better term), and classic Beach Boys-inspired pop was an eye opening brew that was not only in tune to what else I was listening to at the time, but led me down paths to discover music by artists as disparate as Edith Frost, Van Dyke Parks, Oval, Charles Ives, and John Fahey to name a few, not to mention a host of Indonesian gamelan recordings.

Musically, Camoufleur is an expansive musical soundscape where words wrap around acoustic guitar figures set adrift over a gently pulsing mix of horns, percussion, piano and electronics. "The Black Horse" begins with a fanfare of guitar, fiddle and drums based upon Vietnamese folk music before evolving into a meditative, vaguely Japanese acoustic guitar drone that sounds like a dark, rainy Fall evening. "Mouth Canyon" is O'Rourke's lone vocal contribution to the album, a reflective snapshot washed in a bath of steel guitar, listening to it feels like driving through a run down part of Chicago's west side at sundown on a wintry Sunday evening. Opener "The Seasons Reverse" is GDS' most upbeat moment, a shockwave to those who had come to expect brooding experimental sounds from the band. Acoustic guitar, drums and synths engage in a percolating tug of war that might be reminiscent of popcorn popping before giving way to dueling steel drum and trumpet solos (!) worked in so effortlessly, you'll wonder why more artists aren't using that combination. Edith Frost's vocals on "Each Dream Is An Example" are effervescent and seem to arrive in the song as if from on high. The coda to "Bauchredner" brings the whole album home with a soaring homage to Americana.

I've let this one sit on the shelf for much of the past few years. In part, as my tastes changed I seemed to move away from sounds that hinted of avant-gardism. I also went through a period right after moving back to Ohio where I was staying away from Chicago music. It cut a little too close to the bone for me. Through the magic of the ipod though, I've rediscovered this album over the last month and hearing it fresh once again, I can see why it captivated me so much at 21 when I was on hunt for new, exciting sound combinations; but I'm finding it relevant once again at 29, where the reflective, almost haunting moods are echoing with deeper resonance.

In short, this is an album that I wish more people had heard. Instant recognition and hype, however, is not usually a good thing; though to let this album slip into total obscurity less than a decade later would be the far greater tragedy.

Gastr Del Sol "The Seasons Reverse"

Gastr Del Sol "Mouth Canyon"

Buy here or here.

I Do Not "Believe In Cleveland"

2006-09-27T19:58:00.000-04:00

One of the things that I most regret not having the time to blog about over the summer was the gushing, hyperbolic coverage in the local media over Cleveland's bid to host the 2008 Republican convention. It looks like all that pandering went for naught, as Minneapolis/St Paul placed first in the sweepstakes. I wonder if City Council president Martin Sweeney (D?) feels stupid now for his "We want you. We need you. And we love you" remark? I can only imagine that he made this statement while kneeling under the VIP table in front of Ken Mehlman.

How can one believe in a city that spent countless dollars trying to woo the convention of a political party whose economic policies of the last 6 years have been a major contributor to Cleveland's ranking as the nation's poorest? Instead of sinking money into revitalizing neighborhoods, improving safety, and spurring the kind of innovative businesses that are needed to make Cleveland attractive to outsiders (I'd say "bring Cleveland back", but when you've been gone since at least the 60s its hard to say what you're coming back from) once again, local leaders place their hopes and dreams on dubious pie in the sky schemes like the convention, casino gambling or placing suburban big box retail on former industrial acreage. Did anyone believe for a second that the GOP would be willing to place its delegates in hotels as far away as Sandusky and Canton? Never mind your political leanings, this thing never had a chance. And while jobs and people flee the area, our leaders expended way too much valuable energy on something that would provide a one-time tax windfall at best (which would probably just be spent on another stupid feel-good ad campaign to cover up for the fact that this city's best years were a half century ago), or a massive headache and 4 more years of torture-loving, deficit spending, theocratic rule at worst.

Don't get me wrong. While I abhor the GOP from the very depth of my soul, Cleveland's Dem "leaders" play a big role in why this region has sunk to the low that it has. That's why the whole "Believe in Cleveland" campaign is so insulting. This town isn't in bad shape because the people who live here don't "believe" hard enough. They don't believe because they've seen incompetent leadership in the public and private sector. They've seen interesting ideas and people who wanted to make a difference turn their backs on the city when they couldn't get anything accomplished. They've seen their manufacturing jobs leave and are told about how "its a new economy", but so many of our non manufacturing corporate headquarters have packed up as well. While other former Midwestern industrial strongholds like Chicago and yes, the Twin Cities, thrive, we have leaders like Jane Campbell going to another photo op in her city owned SUV and making false promises about new housing that will never be built because no one wants to move here.

Finally, I don't want to confuse not "believing in Cleveland" with hating it or not wanting it to do well. But when another generation of leaders comes into power talking a good game and then rolling the dice on another crazy scheme and not accomplishing what they originally set out to do, I have to think: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. No amount of sloganeering will change that.

On a semi-related note: The Republicans were smart to pick Minneapolis for their convention. Located in a close blue state and bordering razor-thin swing states Wisconsin and Iowa, a win in MN & WI would more or less cement their designs on a pre-Fox Mexican style one party "democracy". Will the Dems be just as astute and pick Denver, giving a boon to their rising fortunes in the West, or will they be typically tone deaf and pick NYC? In the end, both conventions will only matter if there is any uncertainty over the nominee going in, not a likely scenario.

Playlist 9/18/06

2006-09-18T11:26:00.000-04:00

Thanks once again to Bart and WCSB for letting me have a chance to participate in Retro Week this year. The show was a lot of fun and being able to dig through the vinyl library again was a pleasure as always. Here's what I played this morning, including a link to audio of the 2nd hour. For some reason the disc from the first hour didn't burn correctly, so unfortunately I can't post that.

Hour 1

Jonathan Richman "Roadrunner"
Stereolab "The Noise of Carpet"
Cornershop "6AM Jullander Shere"

(break)

Jorge Benjor "Zumbi"
Gilberto Gil "Aquele Abraco"
Caetano Veloso "Tropicalia"
Teenagers in Trouble "At the Hop"

(break)

Papas Fritas "Way You Walk"
Lindsey Buckingham "Time Bomb Town"
Home "Gypsy"
Califone "Vampiring Again"
Plush "3/4 Blind Eyes"

Hour 2: (Click to listen)

Judee Sill "Jesus Was a Crossmaker"
Emitt Rhodes "See No Evil"
The National Trust "See No Evil"
Catfish Haven "Crazy For Leaving"

(break)

Wilson Pickett "Hey Jude"
Bill Withers "Do It Good"
Johnson, Hawkins, Tatum & Durr "You're All I Need to Make It"
Chi-Lites "I Found Sunshine"
Lambchop "I've Been Lonely For So Long"

(break)

Nagisa Ni Te "After A Song"
Graham Nash "Military Madness"
Neko Case "Margaret Vs. Pauline"
Gram Parsons "Brass Buttons"

(break)

Wilco "Via Chicago"

If you were listening and want more info on anything I played leave a comment below.

Radio, Radio (plus Random Ten)

2006-09-15T09:56:00.000-04:00

Well, my summer hiatus is turning into a fall hiatus it seems. My job has become especially busy and shows no signs of slowing down. Which sucks, because there has been plenty to blog about. Its hard when you have a post written in your head and can't find the time or energy to actually sit down and type it out. With election season heating up I'm sure there'll be plenty to write about. Hopefully there will be time to write it.

I'm posting today however, to let everyone know (if anyone still reads this) that as part of WCSB's 30th anniversary, I'll be taking part in "retro week" where past DJs are allowed to take over a show for one day. My turn will be this Monday, the 18th on Bart's "Stand Clear of the Closing Doors" from 7-9AM EDT (Interestingly enough, the original name of this blog was "Matengase Alejado de la Puerta" which means "stand clear of the doors" in Spanish and was printed on every rail car door in Chicago). You can listen locally on 89.3FM (in Cuyahoga and northern Summit counties) or online by clicking the link above. I'm hoping to record the show and post it here as well.

Oh! And I have an iPod now, so at the very least I can post my random 10 on Fridays!

1. Common "Be"

2. The Black Keys "Aeroplane Blues"

3. Richard Buckner "Brief and Boundless"
--Say what you will about the shuffle feature being completely random. But there has to be something to the fact that out of over 2200 songs, I maybe listen to 50-75 per day and something from Buckner's 1998 album Since never fails to play early on in the set. That's OK though, because its still a great sounding record, 8 years later.

4. The Valentines "Got To Get Yourself Together"
--From Lost Highway's R&B comp Night Train to Nashville, smooth soul with horns and harmonies. Perfect Friday morning listening.

5. Emmit Rhodes/The Merry Go Round "Lets All Sing"

6. Sam Prekop "The Shadow"*

7. Califone "Slower Twin"*
--*Great Chicago two-fer!

8. Guided by Voices "Bulldog Skin"

9. Thom Yorke "Black Swan"

10. Steely Dan "Black Cow"
--My black iPod evidently wanted to throw some love to some songs with "black" in the title. Combined with "Bulldog Skin", maybe its just a fauna fetish?

I also not so randomly listened to Catfish Haven's "Crazy for Leaving" a few times this morning. Hope to hear the rest of the album soon.

Commercial Interruption

2006-07-12T09:35:00.000-04:00

Let me just get this straight: I despise advertising and in particular broadcast advertising. Its shrill. Its insulting. Its repetitive. And its inescapable. I try not to watch too much television, but at the same time I'm not going to be one of these "I never watch TV" elitists either. After a long day of looking at tiny numbers on spreadsheets at work, a little vegging out in front of the boob tube isn't such a bad thing. To be fair, there is some quality stuff out there. I'm quite partial to "The Office" on NBC, "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations" on the Travel Channel and VH1's pop culture snarkfest "Best Week Ever", not to mention the occasional PBS gem. And no matter how much I may try to block the commercials out from my mind, they still find a way to implant themselves in my brain.

One advertising genre I find particularly loathsome are the "dumb guy" commercials. You know what I'm talking about. Usually some dumb, unattractive "dude" comes on screen grunting like an ape and/or yelling about sports or red meat or ugly inefficient American trucks and often he has a young, hot, smart wife/girlfriend to point out just how dumb he is, but its OK because "boys will be boys". If you want to know how much these ads bug me just ask Ms. PBK what I think of those TGI Friday's spots where a bunch of "bros" all order meat dishes and feel the need to scream about it and look at the guy who ordered "vegetable medley" like the queen of the prom until he stabs some other guys sausage link and screams about that. And its not as though I'm a vegetarian (although this commercial makes an awfully strong case) or that this offends me as a man or anything. Its just stupid and obnoxious and after the 54991st viewing of it, I'm convinced that I'm going to lose brain cells by being within a 1000 foot radius of any TGI Friday's establishment. Secondhand Sun had a great post about another one of these "dumb guy" commercials last month that pointed out a more sinister anti-female message being conveyed.

Having said all that, its not often that I find a commercial that actually offers some sort of meaningful and entertaining commentary on any aspect of society, however trivial. So I've got to hand it to the ad wizards who came up with Fruit of the Loom's latest campaign. In it, the various fruit-costumed underpants salesmen (last seen ogling supermodels in various states of undress backstage at a fashion show) decide to form a band and write songs extolling the virtues of Fruit of the Loom brand underwear in various musical genres. The first ad had our guys singing in a pitch perfect imitation of whiny Brit mopesters Coldplay and their soundalikes in Keane, Snow Patrol, etc. The new ad spoofs the jingoistic, cloying, Wal-Mart populism of modern "country" music with terrific aplomb. What both ads do (even if this wasn't the intent) is highlight the overly formulaic approach to modern popular music. I mean, if a bunch of guys dressed up as fruit trying to sound like Coldplay can write a song about underwear that sounds better than anything on the last Coldplay album, then exactly what elevates the work of Mr. Gwyneth Paltrow & friends above anything other than meaningless ad copy? Contemporary popular music becomes nothing more than a soundtrack to finding a parking spot at the strip mall or eating some processed slop at TGI Friday's. You can hear/see both songs here.

Years ago, Neil Young wrote a song called "This Note's For You" satirizing artists who sell their songs to corporations for advertising. Now, Neil Young's song has gone from funny to prophetic as bands stop pitching singles to radio and MTV and instead hire PR people to work their tunes to ad agencies. These days, when you hear the opening riffs to Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll" you don't think about how awesome Jimmy Page is on the guitar, or some time in your life when Led Zep's music meant something to you, you think of buying a Cadillac. What I love about the Fruit of the Loom ads is that they've brought this full circle. Who needs artists anymore? The Fruit of the Loom guys can do it better and I don't have to shell out $18.98 for the privilege of hearing it.

DISCLAIMER: My socks are Hanes and my boxers are from whatever generic brand they sell at JC Penney.

Now back to your regularly scheduled blog, currently on a summer hiatus.

UPDATE: The above link only has the video/mp3 for the country Fruit of the Loom song, the Coldplay parody is not online yet, but hopefully it will be soon.

Catching Up

2006-06-07T09:01:00.000-04:00

I feel bad. I've neglected the blog for nearly a month. Work has been so crazy lately that I just haven't felt the inspiration to write much, and when I do I can't seem to find the time or energy. And of course, the longer you put off writing, the more the pressure builds to write something good. Well, I need to put all that aside and take the plunge.

---------------------------------------------------------

If you haven't seen RFK Jr.'s article in Rolling Stone about election irregularities in Ohio in 2004, I can't stress enough that this is a must read. I never really got too into the whole "Ohio stolen election" movement. I think in part because 2004 was the first election I really worked on and it was hard enough that we lost that admitting that the election was stolen would have added another level of frustration and anger to the mix. As well, I read enough commentary on the internet that was based on bad information and conveyed a lack of understanding of the events in Ohio that led up to 11/2/04 that made me skeptical of any claims of fraud. Kennedy's case however, is a strong one. In particular what stunned me was the bizarre tallies in the heavily GOP western counties that gave Ellen Connally a higher percentage of votes than John Kerry.

What made me want to blog about this article however, was the article's constant theme: that nearly every case of election tampering, meddling etc. can be traced directly back to the office of Ken Blackwell. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) went so far as to say that Blackwell "makes Katherine Harris look like a cupcake".

It's 2006 now and Blackwell is running for governor, he's also still in charge of elections in Ohio. In a perfect world, an article like this would lead to a public outcry for Blackwell to resign as Secretary of State while he campaigns for higher office. Has Ted Strickland responded to any of the allegations in this article? I know he has a wide lead in most polls right now, but I do hope that his legal team is prepared to fight this to the end, because that is what it's going to take in November.

UPDATE: Ask and ye shall receive. From a Strickland e-mail, the New York Times asks Blackwell to recuse himself from the '06 elections. Nice!

Site Meter Musings

2006-05-18T11:54:00.000-04:00

Over the last two days I've received several hits for people googling "Dan DiPiero". Now, I made a brief mention of Parma's mayor who goes by that name in a post several months ago on Cleveland's State of the City address. But somehow I don't think that these people are looking for the mayor of Parma, Ohio. I've done some of my own research and I can't seem to figure out why this name is suddenly so popular. Anyone have any clues?

Letter Meme: O

2006-05-16T16:34:00.000-04:00

So work has been crazy since I returned from Chicago and I apologize for the silence here at PBK. Heck, this simple post took me two days to finish. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon, though that is somewhat in doubt since I can't remember what "normal" is. With my brain fried from looking at tiny numbers all day and taking in vast amounts of new information that is neither a) interesting or b) making a whole lot of sense to me right now, my capacity for original ideas to write about is not doing so well. Instead, I present you with this meme.

The idea is that someone you know (on the internet) gives you a letter and you pick 10 words beginning with that letter and write a short bit about what it means to you. If you (the reader) want to get in on this meme action all you have to do is leave a comment and I will assign you a letter to post about in your blog.

Thanks to Ms. L of Ms. Prolix and Indie Rock Tournament fame for my letter.

Ohio -- The obvious one. My place of residence from 1976-1999; 2002-present. I suppose like a lot of Ohioans its a love/hate relationship. I spend a fair amount of time lamenting the lack of opportunity here, the poor urban planning, the crappy sports teams (Cavs excepted for the moment), the scary radical right wingers that control (or want to control) state government, the mind numbing sameness of a state that has been relentlessly suburbanized and just the overall decline of a once great location that people flee from in droves every single day. But if an outsider or a former resident tried to bring us down, I will jump to be one of Ohio's staunchest defenders. I don't know how much longer I can stay here, but no matter where I go, it will always be where I'm from. Ohio has molded me in ways both good and bad and provides me the foundation from which to build upon.

Oates, Hall and -- The first record I ever bought was the blue-eyed soul duo's 1984 LP Big Bam Boom I guess I must have been about 8, despite the regrettable title, the album contained the song:

"Out of Touch" -- I don't care how overblown the production is or how diverse and sophisticated my tastes have since become, this song features one of the greatest basslines of all time.

Obama, Barack -- Senator from Illinois. When I lived in Chicago, he would occasionally appear on Channel 11's "Chicago Tonight" roundtable show (think of it like "Feagler and Friends", but without the cranky old guy running things) and he always seemed to have impressive character. He's public property now and bloggers love to quibble over whether he's a savior or a sucker. When I read stories like this though, I still say he's on the good guy's team.

Ocelot -- Certain words I just like the sound of and this is one of them. Others include cucumber, celery and sumac. Fun fact: One of the few times that I was able to answer one of those puzzlers on NPR (can't remember which show, it might have been "Car Talk") the answer was "ocelot". I believe the question had to do with taking the name of a major American city spelled backwards with the second to last letter switched to the one before it in the alphabet (Toledo=Ocelot). However, they didn't pick my entry from among the winners. And hey, ocelots are kind of cute:

Other Music -- A record store in NYC where I could easily bankrupt myself.

Otani -- This is a Benihana-style Japanese hibachi restaurant in the valley. We had lunch there last weekend and with our coupon it was only $7. The sukiyaki steak is delicious!

Office, The -- Perhaps one of the greatest TV shows of all time. I got hooked on the DVDs of the UK version early on. Ricky Gervais is a comic genius, a very original comedic talent in an age of copycats. When I heard they were making an American version, I braced myself for the worst, but after a few lackluster episodes at the beginning that merely parroted the scripts of the British version, the American Office has grown into a truly great show in its own right. I think this is partly due to the fact that unlike the UK show, which was limited to telling a story over two short seasons, the US version can go into further depth with its characters and really let the writers loosen up and take the stories in a more natural arc. In addition, the American cast works really well as an ensemble (Jenna Fischer=swoon), whereas across the pond Gervais' immense personality overshadowed the rest of the show. I only wish the show was an hour, 30 minutes is not enough!

One -- As in one more of these to come up with. I never realized that it would be so hard to pick 10 meaningful words that begin with the letter O.

Olive Oil -- Things taste better when you cook with extra virgin olive oil.

That's 10. If you want your own letter, leave me a comment!

Return

2006-05-09T13:41:00.000-04:00

I'm back from Chicago. I am planning on writing a bit about the city and my impressions upon return over the next week or two. For now check out my photo gallery of the trip if you're interested.

Post Election Wrap Up

2006-05-03T09:23:00.000-04:00

First off, my post yesterday about the new voting system in Summit County drove the most traffic to PBK since I installed the Site Meter. So, if you found me yesterday and are returning, welcome! Thanks to Writes Like She Talks, Psychobilly Democrat and Ohio 2nd Blog for the links. If I'm leaving someone out, let me know.

Democrats

Ted Strickland-No surprises here. There's a lot to like about Ted Strickland. His Turnaround Ohio proposals are the type of forward-thinking leadership that has been lacking in this state from either political party. He seems like a very likeable guy who will play well across a broad range of demographics. Even my dad, who was from the same part of the state as Strickland, voiced his support for Ted last fall before he passed away. Strickland must be saying something right, because I don't think my dad ever voted for a Democrat in his life.

I still have some issues with Strickland. I doubt I can ever forgive him over breaking ranks with the party on the bankruptcy bill. His vote on the immigration bill and his backpedaling afterwards doesn't sit well with me either. However, his primary opponent was far worse, and now with Ken Blackwell running for the GOP its time to suck it up and put differences aside. Strickland starts out with a big lead in the head to head matchup, but he's going to have to run a stellar campaign to keep that up. Here's hoping that some of the heavy handed tactics he used in selecting the ODP chair don't come back to haunt him in November, because if Ken Blackwell is governor, I will move out of the state.

Betty Sutton (OH-13)-Sutton's win over Cafaro and Sawyer in the 13th district primary proves once again that a good ground game is still the most important factor in winning elections. Pho has a nice take on this from the vantage point of Sutton's victory party last night. I'm not too thrilled with the whole MTB photo controversy, but as Word of Mouth (the victim of this copyright abuse) points out, the blame lies with Compass Media, not Sutton. As for some of Sutton's other tactics that have drawn the ire of bloggers as of late, I'm not so concerned. She did what she needed to do to win and none of the attacks were false. Of the field, she really is the strongest candidate for November. In a year that favors Democrats, I think Sutton will pull 3-5 points ahead of Kerry's 56% in this district.

Subodh Chandra-What happened here? I know I should have expected this, as the Columbus Dispatch poll last week pretty much hit this nail on the head. I knew Dann would probably win, but I thought Chandra would be far more competitive than just 27%. He didn't get the ODP endorsement, but he did receive several newspaper endorsements and those of several county parties as well. Was it the name? Its not often in Ohio that we get to vote for a candidate like Chandra and I really hope that this poor showing doesn't discourage him from continuing to be active in Ohio politics, we need more people like him. Desperately. Marc Dann is a solid candidate and his work on the Noe scandal is to be commended, I'll have no problem voting for him in November. However, it will be with some regret at not being able to vote for what could have been Ohio's own Elliot Spitzer or Lisa Madigan.

William O'Neill-Democrats seriously need to start doing more homework on these races. Am I the only one who heard about this? Leaving aside whether you think you ought to be supporting a so-called Democrat that wants to teach Intelligent Design and display the Ten Commandments in public courthouses. Why would you support a candidate for the state Supreme Court who fills out surveys about what his views are on a host of issues? Oh yeah, that's judicial integrity (rolls eyes). I guess I'll find out in November what happens when you undervote on the ES&S optical scan system, because there's no way I'm voting for this guy and I'd sooner gouge my eyeballs out than fill in the oval for a Republican.

Others-In the Summit County Council race, I guess Ilene Shapiro just bought herself 6 more months to try and figure out what TEL is. Charlie Wilson won his improbable write in campaign in OH-6. Looking at his vote totals, I think he has a solid shot at keeping this district in our hands, but it will be a nail-biter.

Republicans

I don't have too many comments here. But one thing is for certain, the Ohio GOP is now officially the party of howl at the moon extreme right wing lunatics. How else can you explain how Sandra O'Brien won her primary for State Treasurer based on an anti-choice, anti-gay agenda against a more well qualified, moderate, incumbent (though unelected) opponent? State Treasurer?!?! What do god, guns and gays have to do with the treasurer's office? Hopefully this is a boon for Rich Cordray. As for the other races, I don't even want to discuss J-Ken anymore. OH-16 was a bit of a nail biter last night, though I don't know enough about either Dem to determine whether they will mount a credible challenge. Certainly can't do much worse than Jeff Seemann.

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On an unrelated note, I will be in Chicago Friday-Monday. I hope to get off a music post before then, but if not PBK will be pretty quiet over the weekend.

Optical Scan Voting in Summit County

2006-05-02T09:13:00.000-04:00

This morning I had my first experience with Summit County's new ES&S voting system. Unlike many other Ohio counties that have gone with Diebold's controversial touch screen machines, Summit County opted for an optical scan system. Though not the lightning rod that Diebold is, ES&S is not without its own controversies. The fact that Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel is a part owner of ES&S is certainly not a comforting thought either. If I were heading up a company that made voting machines, I'd probably want to distance myself from politicians of any stripe and make integrity a top selling point for my company. Then again, maybe idealistic notions like that is why I'm a lowly cubicle jockey and not in charge of some company.

I was running a bit late this morning and contemplated voting in the evening in case there was a long line due to confusion with the new machines, but election day is always very exciting for me and I decided I couldn't wait. If there was a long line, I could always leave and come back later. Fortunately, there was no line at all. In my precinct, I was the 15th voter at 7:30AM. The room looked kind of depressing and empty. There were no privacy curtains over the voting booths and since the entire ballot was on one piece of paper, the only thing in the booth was a pen. The ballots were torn off of a big book. It looked like more Dem ballots than GOP ballots had been handed out so far today. Not so surprising considering where I live, but encouraging nonetheless especially with a heated Republican primary battle for governor. A late 30s looking woman remarked to one of the poll workers who seemed to know her that she was "voting Democrat this year", anecdotal evidence that the tide may be shifting!

When I got to the booth, I was surprised by how minimalist the entire process is. If you're not familiar with the optical scan voting method, it is exactly like the scan-tron tests that you took in school. Each candidate is listed on a sheet of paper with an oval next to their name and you fill it in with the black ink pen provided (presumably these new machines aren't so picky about having a No. 2 pencil). The entire ballot was printed on 1 1/2 sides of an oversized sheet of paper. No book to flip through or card to slide in, it was very surreal. It will be very interesting to see how this works in November with all the constitutional amendments that will be on the ballot. I imagine they'll have to go to 2 pages. I don't live in the Akron school district, so I didn't get to see how they printed the levy.

After filling in my ovals, I was instructed to step over to the corner where a big grey box that looks a little like a copier was sitting. There a poll worker helps you slide your ballot into the machine and presumably if you made any mistakes, the machine will spit the ballot back out. Then you're done.
Remarkably simple, this process. My primary (no pun intended) concerns going into election day were that 1) there would be no paper trail to facilitate a manual recount if one was warranted and that 2) many people not familiar with optical scan systems would not fill in the ovals correctly and thus, not have their ballots counted. My first concern was answered because the ballot is a piece of paper and it gets fed into the machine. In fact, manual recounts might be even easier with this system since the candidates name is right on the ballot, as opposed to the punch card system which uses a number to represent different candidates. The second concern was only partially answered since the machine reads the ballot on site and will tell the voter if they made any mistakes. But I'm left wondering if it would be able to detect a mark that was too small or insufficient since it may just assume that the voter skipped that race altogether?

Overall, though it still seems a little odd to me, I am very comfortable with this system, if it is implemented correctly and the software works. The technology, in theory, should be sound. I've taken scan tests since I was in elementary school in the early/mid 80s and don't remember ever having a problem with the test reader messing up the scoring of a test. However, this being politics there's always someone trying to cut corners and hide from accountability. Psychobilly Democrat has been chronicling many of the issues that are being raised with this new system here in Ohio and I'll be interested in hearing their take post-election. Will Summit County have the same issues that other ES&S clients have had? Once we lose faith in our elections, we've pretty much lost.

Sorry for the poor quality of photos in this post. My cell phone is not the best camera in the world.

Short Takes

2006-04-27T11:35:00.000-04:00

--I'm sure many of you have been following the net-neutrality debate, and if you haven't, this discussion over at TPM Cafe should get you up to speed pretty quickly. I particularly liked this quote from Taylor in the comments:

The more you hear about the breathtaking stupidity of politicians about the Internet, the more you have to respect Al Gore's role in pushing funding for it, and the more egregious it is that this simple fact was turned into a national joke by clever propagandists and stupid inept utterly clueless alleged journalists.

Chicagoist has more on Bobby Rush's conflict of interest and why he defected from the Democrats on this vote.

--I was going to write something about Carol Moseley Braun's new venture and the stupidity seen in some of the reporting on it. However, Joanna at Second Hand Sun took the ball and ran with a far more biting and insightful take than I could have come up with. Good work, definitely check it out.

--Next week, I plan on doing a little photo blogging when I go to the polls and use Summit County's ES&S voting system for the first time. Psychobilly Democrat has been following this story all along and what they've found is kind of alarming. Well, not kind of. Very.

The tricky business of primary voting

2006-04-26T09:25:00.000-04:00

...Or how the hell did I end up in Summit County?

Next Tuesday will be the first Democratic primary I will vote in as a Summit County resident. For the most part, this doesn't mean a whole lot. I live on the OH-17 side of things where Tim Ryan is running unopposed in both the primary and the general, so I won't have to muddle through the mass of candidates vying for Sherrod Brown's old seat (though I kind of wish I were, watching this from the sidelines has been interesting, kinda too bad I won't be casting a ballot). The statewide races don't leave a whole lot of intrigue outside of the AG contest and I've looked at the candidates there and am happy to be voting for Subodh Chandra.

However, then we come to the Summit County Council at-large race. There are 8 Dems vying for 3 spots on the November ballot where voters will select the top 3 among the Dem and GOP nominees. The county council is a somewhat new concept to me. In Cuyahoga County, there are 3 commissioners that are elected by the entire county on an individual basis, which essentially means that the Dem primary is the election in such a blue county. Two years ago, I was faced with choosing between the Tims (Hagan and McCormick). I grew up in Cuyahoga County, I knew the candidates names well, I knew the issues involved and who was supporting whom in the race and what that meant. Adelphia cable had a debate between the two, I watched this, followed the race and made up my mind accordingly (I was a McCormick guy, he lost).

Now I'm faced with a decision to select the top 3 Democrats among names that range from vaguely familiar to who is that guy? I live in a part of Summit County that has Adelphia cable's Cleveland programming, so if there's any local TV covering this race I don't know about it. These races are too small for the candidates to have their own websites. So, I'm left with the newspaper. I subscribe to the Plain Dealer and I sometimes read the ABJ online, and both published election previews last weekend.

In each case, the papers toss a few questions at each candidate and they answer accordingly. Both papers asked about the proposed smoking ban, while the PD added questions regarding TEL, job creation and a possible sales tax hike. The ABJ asked about nepotism in county hiring practices. Almost without fail, all 8 candidates answered with somewhat wishy-washy non committal responses on every question or gave typical responses to unchallenging questions. There were two candidates that separated themselves from the pack, in ways both bad and good.

Pete Crossland earns points in my book for coming out strongly in favor of the smoking ban. I realize that the legislation as it stands now is somewhat flawed since it's not enforceable outside of the townships. But I think that its a good start and its better than nothing. I don't buy the old canard that smoking bans hurt businesses. If there is anyone that stops going out because they can't smoke, they're probably going to be replaced with 2 or 3 more customers who are willing to spend their money in a smoke-free environment. Not only that, even if a smoking ban did cut into some profits, I want politicians that will stand up for the public good over profitability. Plus, I give Crossland a lot of credit for standing up for something he believes in when most candidates are taking a pass on answering the question candidly.

Beyond that, on the TEL question most Dems expectedly come out against this horrible ballot initiative. However, Ilene Shapiro states that she "needs more time to study it before she can answer." I'm sorry, but if you've been living in Ohio and following state government even a little bit you know what TEL is, you know that there is strong bi-partisan support against the amendment, you have read all the articles stating what the negative effects are and the articles that show how a similar amendment has brought Colorado's government to its knees, and to say in a major paper that you don't have an opinion on this 2 weeks before the primary. Well, that's disingenuous at best, ignorant at worst.

So that means I have one candidate to support and one that I won't and I have to find two others among the remaining field of six. Are there more resources out there that can shed some light on this race?

Secret History of Country Rock: Michael Nesmith & Plainsong

2006-04-23T00:34:00.000-04:00

I'm going to diverge from soul music for a bit this week to highlight some other vinyl I've started to uncover recently. The history of country music's influence on rock is well-worn. By now names like Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, The Flying Burrito Brothers Sweetheart of the Rodeo and others are etched in listeners' minds as the pioneers of fusing the high lonesome sound with the soul searching immediacy of late 60s/early 70s rock. These early works spawned countless imitators The Eagles, Poco, Firefall, the likes of which today is generally associated with bland easy listening better suited to a day at the grocery store or dentist's office waiting room than out on the prarie. (I could make a case for early Poco as being almost on par with the Burritos, not today though)

However, not every ex-hippie with a guitar, a penchant for denim and a copy of the first Burrito Brothers LP was destined to pick up a guitar and write paeans to takin' it easy and playing dress up like long-haired extras from a Wyatt Earp movie. Here's the spotlight on two of them.

Michael Nesmith's place in the country-rock pantheon tends to be dismissed by most critics. By all rights he has as much to do with country and rock's fusion as anyone named Parsons or McGuinn, but today's critics can't seem to look past the Monkee on Nesmith's back and don't treat his work with the same reverence that they do Parsons. And it's a shame really because Nesmith has all the bona fides to back it up. Hailing from Houston, Nesmith grew up on country and blues. He did a stint with an early folk-rock group, simply known as Mike & John, before the Monkees came along. Nesmith left the Monkees in 1969, deciding to further his interest in country music by forming the First National Band. This was after Sweetheart but before the Burritos. Nesmith's work with the First National Band was more gentle and calm than Parsons' sometimes rollicking honky-tonk raves. If Parsons was Hank Williams, than Nesmith was Jimmie Rodgers, chronicling life in the New West as California was coming down from the American Dream and the tumult of the 60s.

Included here are two songs from Nesmith's 3rd and final album with the First National Band Nevada Fighter from 1971.

Michael Nesmith "Texas Morning"

Michael Nesmith "Propinquity (I've Just Begun to Care)"

Iain Matthews is known to folk music afficionados as one of the original members of Fairport Convention. Matthews influence on the group was more from the rock angle of that classic UK folk-rock ensemble. He grew increasingly disenchanted with the groups more celtic folk leanings and left soon after the group's first album was released. Matthews solo career never quite got on track, though he made several memorable recordings. Increasingly, he became more and more drawn to American folk and country modes and the formation of Plainsong in 1972 was the result of this interest.

After signing to Elektra, Plainsong recorded the harmony laden In Search of Amelia Earhart which found these Brits doing the California folk-rock vibe better than many of their west coast contemporaries. The album is loosely based around Earhart and the stories of her possible abduction by the Japanese. The album's songcraft and vision is quite evident, why Plainsong never amounted to much is really still perplexing considering how well they blended with the sound of their times. In any case, the group would record a 2nd unreleased album before splitting up. Coincidentally, Matthews and Nesmith would collaborate on several projects in the later part of the 70s.

Plainsong "Louise"

Next time, more Chicago soul with The Esquires!

With The Possible Exception of Teddy Roosevelt

2006-04-20T10:39:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the quietude around here this week. I've been kind of thinking inward and haven't felt the urge to blog about much. So, this will be a short post that is very timely in light of former Illinois Gov. George Ryan's conviction earlier this week on all counts in the "licenses for bribes" scandal that dates back to his Secretary of State days. Seems some folks think he should be remembered for more than just corruption and they've written a song about it:

Illinois First! Band "George Ryan" (mp3)

Probably the greatest fusion of politics, music and humor that I've ever heard. You need to hear this to believe how great it is. Apparently these guys write songs exclusively about Illinois history. I wonder if they've considered suing Sufjan Stevens?

On a completely unrelated note, is it wrong of me to hope that Ben Broussard doesn't play well for the Tribe this year? I mean, even when he gets on one of his hot streaks he is still not a particularly exciting player. I want to see Ryan Garko now!