The Big Ticket

how to disappear completely

2009-03-08T18:41:00.003-06:00

Right, so I pretty much abandoned this lil corner of the interwebs a long time ago. Will I boot it back up again? Perhaps, I've said I would plenty of times. Until then, you can still find me elsewhere online (if you care to do so):

MySpace : Facebook : Twitter : Flickr : Tumblr

all in the game, indeed

2007-09-24T13:42:00.000-06:00

MP3 Steve Earle - "Way Down in the Hole" (Tom Waits cover)

Apologies for the unofficial hiatus here @ The Big Ticket. Weddings, birthdays & shows galore have come & gone, and yet Keith Olbermann has remained atop the page. Ugh. Anyway, here's a teaser for the 5th & final season of HBO's The Wire, whose way-too-good-for-the-Emmys 4th season DVD will be in stores December 4th. Season 5 premieres on HBO January 6th, 2008. The theme song, performed this year by Wire guest star Steve Earle, also appears on Earle's new album Washington Square Serenade, in stores tomorrow.

olbermann: resign, bush/cheney

2007-07-04T01:45:00.000-06:00

Keith Olbermann's latest special comment re: Libby ~~pardon~~ commutation is a must-see, as per usual. Video also downloadable @ Crooks & Liars. Happy 4th, y'all.

rana flashback: here in the usa

2007-06-22T19:30:00.000-06:00

While my favorite band may be defunct for now (though offshoot Sam Champion is likely on the rise), I finally uploaded this old recording of them to YouTube...

RANA @ CBGB, New York, NY, 6/14/02

Good Book, Remember My Address, Not So Mopso, Skin and Bone, Ghetto Queen*, My One Dear Son, Sad and Lonesome, For Some Time, Carbombed Again, I'm Not Orfeo, It's So Hard (Believe Me), Loves It Automatic, I'm Comin' Correct, Bye Bye Love**, Bought and Sold***, Tampa in the Rain***, I Wanna Rock****, Buy Sell or Break***, Eggo, Ivy***, Ring in the Sand

E: Whenever You Can, Modern Day Cowboy, Baby's Got a New Bike, This Machine

This was the record release party for RANA's debut album, Here in the USA. The first 11 songs in the set (ending with It's So Hard) were the album in its entire sequence. Todd Deatherage Band, Darediablo and Plan Z opened.

* - the rap section was "Hot in Herre" (Nelly)
** - Cars cover, first time played
*** - new originals, first time played
**** - dedicated to Durant's father

setlist by Dr. Erik Swain

and three whole years passed by

2007-05-30T18:30:00.000-06:00

It's been almost three months since I began writing this post, which was to commemorate the third blogiversary here @ The Big Ticket (previous years' posts: 2005 & 2006), but the ensuing craziness that has come with moving into a new apartment this month (COUGARS!) & the delay in getting proper internets set up there has kept me from actually getting around to finishing it. But today is the day, it has to be. So let's celebrate!

MP3 Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - "The Birthday Party"
From Grandmaster Flash's Message From Beat Street best of disc.

From La Blogoteque's abfab Take Away Shows series comes this simple yet cinematic birthday tune from Swedish troubadour Jens Lekman (the song is off his 2004 album, When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog). The quiet, more somber tone of this song, played to an empty room, probably gives a better impression of my approach to finally returning to finish this post. I regret abandoning the blog for so long, but alas life sometimes gets in the way.

MP3 Tweeds - "I Need That Record"
This high energy track from some band called Tweeds leads off the solid Numero power-pop compilation Yellow Pills: Prefill, and it's a pretty decent sonic representation of that desperate, all-consuming need to hear the latest music, see the newest movies & tv etc that preoccupies media junkies like yours truly and propels us to express our excitement/emotioins about it - in my case through this now semi-fallow website that I've managed to keep running into its fourth year of existence. And honestly, I really want to get it back up & running on a regular basis more than just about anything right now.

Since I last wrote on this blog, the Channel 101 VH1 offshoot Acceptable.TV has already come and gone (though rumblings about a possible second season are encouraging). I am dumbfounded that I could have kept quiet about a project I was so excited about for so long, but alas that's what happened. It's frustrating. I often have a lot of trouble moving from 0 to 1, getting started & following through, a topic well-covered by zefrank at the start of the show's final week (the day after my blog b-day):

So while this isn't the perfect, well-thought out & thematically well-written post that I probably imagined/hoped it would be, I've decided to just put it up nonetheless. Yeah, I could have gone more in-depth on zefrank's musings on creativity, and possibly tied that to the interactive & inventive stuff going on at Channel 101 @ Acceptable.TV, and finally brought it all together to express my renewed hopes for this blog & my work on it, but then I probably would have stayed stuck on 0 like I have for nearly three months, biding my time until I finally got around to working it all out. So here it is, sloppy as hell, but at least it's something new, even if it's also kinda old.

MP3 Bishop Allen - "Click Click Click Click"
The nite preceding my blog b-day, I went by my lonesome to see NYC indie pop outfit Bishop Allen @ Triple Rock, which was good times indeed (hell, I bought all 12 of their 2006 monthly EP's). There are some more pix from the show @ my Flickr, but none of them are too astounding. Tonite I'm off to the Triple Rock again, this time to see the re-united original line-up of Dinosaur Jr with Anita, and I'll do my best to take some more dynamic photos this time around (assuming I can get up front without a major hassle). I don't know when I'll be able to get those pix uploaded or manage to post a re-cap of the show, as my internet situation is still in limbo, but I'll do my best not to be absent for so long again...

screw your case of the mondays

2007-03-05T15:05:00.000-06:00

MP3 Feist - "I Feel It All"
From Feist's fabulous forthcoming full-length, The Reminder, scheduled to be released on May 1st. More info @ All Things Feist.

MP3 MC/VL - "Cold Check It!" via The Current
From local throwbacks (and friends-of-blog) MC/VL's debut STANCE, available now at Twin Cities' finer independent music stores.

On an entirely different note, some of Sunday's best lefty political blogstuff from Gleen Greenwald:

Democrats have to internalize that this administration does not operate like previous ones. No rational person can doubt that they are limitless in their contempt for legal restrictions or notions of checks and balances. The last election, by itself, has not changed their approach and will do not so. They are not going to voluntarily comply with anything or disclose anything. They are going to have to be forced to do so.

And televised, highly publicized confrontations over the administration's hubris and arrogance and utter contempt for our legal institutions and political traditions is not something to be avoided. It is something we desperately need as a country. Issue subpoenas for all of this information, make them defy the subpoenas, and then demand that courts compel compliance. Create media dramas in which the administration fights to maintain full-scale secrecy around all of its legally dubious and extreme behavior. Americans hate hubris of that sort and do not trust this administration. Those are fights they cannot win.

And also from Digby:

But Ann Coulter and her vicious tongue has been a huge star on the right since her first vomitous anti-Clinton screed. That was ten years ago. She's been receiving riotous ovations at conservative meetings for years. Rush Limbaugh has been blowing his bile for even longer and he too is a highly respected member of the GOP establishment. The annual CPAC gathering has been selling items like "Happiness is Hillary's face on a milk carton" and "Muslim = Terrorist" bumper stickers like they were going out of style since they started.

This hideous face of the Republican Party has been obvious to those of us who have been paying attention for a long, long time. It is the single most important reason why our politics have devolved into a filthy grudge match.

For a long time liberals were paralyzed or indifferent as the GOP demonized liberalism as the root of every problem and pathology in American society. We were derided as unamerican, treasonous and evil. After the congressional harrassment of the 90's, the partisan impeachment, the puerile coverage of campaign 2000 and the resulting installation of a Republican president under very dubious circumstances, Democrats of all stripes heard both the Republicans and the media smirking at our outrage and telling us to "get over it."

And all of this was after Bill Clinton had moved the party to the center, had governed as a bipartisan compromiser and the Republicans impeached him anyway. Clearly, the Democratic party was blind if they didn't take the Republicans at their threatening words.

Do yourselves a favor & give both posts a full read.

sounds great, except for the vh1 part

2007-03-03T02:30:00.000-06:00

From the Channel 101 team & media mogul Jack Black comes Acceptable.TV, coming March 23rd to VH1 (in case you hadn't heard):

BTW: New 101 eps are now up, with swears & everything.

olbermann breaks down condi

2007-03-01T02:30:00.000-06:00

In case you missed it, here's KO's latest special comment from earlier this week, re: Condi Rice's false comparison between Iraq & WWII (video via Crooks & Liars).

bigtix07

2007-02-23T23:00:00.000-06:00

M4A BigTix07 [128 kbps / 75.2mb / running time: 79:55 min]

LCD Soundsystem - "All My Friends"
The Arcade Fire - "Keep The Car Running" (MP3 via Pitchfork)
Andrew Bird - "Dark Matter"
Low - "Breaker" (MP3 via Sub Pop)
The God Damn Doo Wop Band - "Jonny"
The Long Blondes - "Giddy Stratospheres" (YouTube)
Deerhoof - "The Perfect Me" (MP3 via Salon, video)
Blonde Redhead - "23" (MP3 via Pitchfork)
Yoko Ono w/Shitake Monkey - "O'Oh"
Feist - "My Moon, My Man"
Sally Shapiro - "I Know" (MP3 via Pitchfork)
Escort - "Starlight" (MP3 via Pitchfork)
Fujiya & Miyagi - "In One Ear & Out The Other"
Black Devil Disco Club - "The Devil in Us"
Lenny Kravitz - "Breathe (Chromeo remix - Al Dare edit)"
Spank Rock - "Rick Rubin (White Girl Lust Golden Era remix)"
Clipse - "Wamp Wamp (Pistol Pete remix)"
MC/VL - "Land of the Breaks" (Flickr)
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - "The Sons of Cain" (MP3 via Touch & Go)

It's been a while, huh?

Once upon a time, I really was a blogger (check the archives, for reals!)...

BTW: Added a new touch with the embed streaming audio, via DivShare.

olbermann on escalation, sacrifice

2007-01-12T06:15:00.000-06:00

Keith Olbermann scores another pair of KO's with his latest special comments, about President Bush's Wednesday nite speech and its call for "sacrifice." Both videos are available for download via Crooks & Liars, as per usual.

yeah, that's the ticket! 2k6

2006-12-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

M4A Yeah, That's The Ticket! 2K6 [128 kbps / 75.5mb / 79:52 min]

Junior Boys - "So This is Goodbye"
Hot Chip - "Over & Over" (YouTube)
Cansei de Ser Sexy - "Alala" (MP3 YouTube)
Gnarls Barkley - "Transformer"
The Knife - "Silent Shout" (YouTube)
The Strokes - "You Only Live Once" (YouTube)
Camera Obscura - "Hey Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken" (YouTube)
Lily Allen - "Everything's Just Wonderful"
Belle & Sebastian - "We Are The Sleepyheads"
M. Ward - "Chinese Translation" (YouTube)
Beirut - "Postcards From Italy" (MP3)
Love is All - "Felt Tip"
Islands - "Humans"
Sunset Rubdown - "Stadiums & Shrines II" (MP3)
TV on the Radio - "Wolf Like Me" (MP3 YouTube)
The Thermals - "A Pillar of Salt" (MP3 YouTube)
Destroyer - "Europian Oils" (MP3)
Man Man - "Ice Dogs"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Turn Into" (YouTube)

Countdown w/Keith Olbermann: Special Comments
Stephen Colbert @ 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner
the show with zefrank
Borat
The Office (USA) 3x01 - "Gay Witch Hunt"

Much more linkage & wordage & artwork still to come. Merry holidays!

best live band working period

2006-12-15T06:55:00.000-06:00

Pam & Eugene, originally uploaded by Mirka23 (from Irving Plaza NYC 6/10/06).

MP3 Gogol Bordello - "Mishto!"

Gogol Bordello threw down at First Avenue last nite.

Jaw-dropping as-per-usual. Never to be missed, people.

morning in america (whew)

2006-11-08T12:00:00.000-06:00

Despite this morning's wankerism from DCCC chair Rahm Emmanuel, another four years with a Republican govenor & the prospect of turncoat Joe Lieberman becoming the Senate's swing vote (oy vey, indeed), yesterday was a good one for Democrats & IMO America. Of course, as Happy might say, "We've only just begun." Glenn Greenwald has a couple great morning-after posts worth perusing, but I really only need two words to put a smile on my face today: Chairman Conyers.

Go for it, Johnny.

M4P Lily Allen - "Smile (radio edit)" - ~~free download via iTunes (this week only)~~

To keep your Wednesday shining oh-so-bright, a baby with an outrageously infectious laugh (via Ehrensenf via Rocketboom), Borat w/Colmes (who needs Hannity?), and an odd happy dance mash-up (via Headphone Sex):

And perhaps the President had a different kinda morning...

BTW: I meant to actually get this post up in the "morning" but oh well...

olbermann on today's election

2006-11-07T11:00:00.000-06:00

Vote 411 : Election Protection 365 : Veek the Vote : Video the Vote

Olbermann provides one more special comment before today's mid-term election, video via of Crooks & Liars course. As I mentioned before, Keith joined in on last week's FDL Book Salon, in which he mentioned a possible future book of special comments & even former ambassador/Bushworld pariah Joe Wilson joined in on the conversation. It's a little messy, but worth a look. And do that voting thing, btw.

MP3 Pavement - "Rattled By The Rush"
MP3 Pavement - "Heckler Spray/In the Mouth of a Desert" (4.21.94)
On your way back from voting today, go pick up the new Pavement re-issue, Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition. MP3's courtesy of Matador.

Let's throw the bums out. Haven't we all had enough?

ETA: Track tonite's results online at Talking Points Memo's Election Central.

bigtix06

2006-11-06T19:20:00.000-06:00

M4A BigTix06 [128 kbps / 75.6mb / running time: 79:56 min]

Los Campesinos! - "You! Me! Dancing!"
Tap Tap - 100,000 Thoughts (MP3)
Swan Lake - "All Fires" (MP3)
Oxford Collapse - "He'll Paint While We Play"
The Thermals - "Here's Your Future"
Sam Champion - "Be Mine Everyone (demo)"
Fields - "Heretic" (MP3 via MySpace)
The Mountain Goats - "Woke Up New" (MP3 via Insound / YouTube)
El Perro Del Mar - "Here Comes That Feeling"
Oh No! Oh My! - "Farewell To All My Friends"
Peter Bjorn & John (f/Victoria Bergsman) - "Young Folks"
Ben Kweller - "Penny on the Train Track"
The Shins - "Australia"
The Blow - "Pardon Me"
New Young Pony Club - "Ice Cream" (MP3 via Modular)
Jeffrey & Jack Lewis - "Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror" (MP3 via MySpace)
The Hold Steady - "Party Pit"
Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton - "Our Hell"
Christopher Willits - "Colors Shifting" (MP3 via Pitchfork)
The Decemberists - "Sons & Daughters"

I started this mix in early September & just finally got around to finishing it lately. Can you tell? ~~Anyhoo, further linkage & wordage to come shortly...~~

olbermann on apologizing

2006-11-02T14:00:00.000-06:00

Part One

Part Two

Once again, Countdown's Keith Olbermann is right on target with his latest special comment, regarding Senator John Kerry's recent botched attempt at humor & the media firestorm that has blown it all out of proportion. John Amato's Crooks & Liars has the video as-per-usual, just as it did last week for Keith's previous special comment, on the GOP's advertising terrorism during this campaign season. KO fans might want to check in Sunday (or is it Friday?) for week two of Firedoglake's Book Salon, where the MSNBC anchor will be joining in to discuss his book The Worst Person in the World (based on the regular Countdown segment).

And on Tuesday, be sure to vote. Need a reason? Read Matt Taibbi.

MP3 Hüsker Dü - "I Apologize"
From local legends Hüsker Dü's 1985 album New Day Rising.

MP3 Gram Rabbit - "Sorry"
From Gram Rabbit's latest release, Cultivation.

MP3 Billy Bragg & Wilco - "Christ For President"
From 1998's Billy Bragg/Wilco collaboration, Mermaid Avenue (Vol 1).

BTW: Didya know Billy Bragg has a blog? And doncha just love alliteration?

Before yesterday's statement of apology to any military personnel or their families that might have misundterstood the Senator's comments (after being amplified & distorted through the right wing noise machine), Kerry gave a gutsy, more in-your-face response to the media on Tuesday that actually made me proud to have voted for the man in 2004. In case you missed it:

On an actual humorous note, zefrank chastised Kerry yesterday for botching such an easy joke, and possibly calls ~~him~~ somebody a "stupid chicken" in the process. Or something like that. It made sense when I watched it, anyway.

the state of the blog is...in flux

2006-10-20T05:20:00.000-06:00

MP3 Sprites - "I Started a Blog That Nobody Read"
Here's a funny-yet-kinda-sad song about (generic) blogs gone unread from indie Brit-poppers Sprites, previously featured by The Catbirdseat (included in their August mix), Stereogum & CYSTSFTS. From the 2006 full-length Modern Gameplay, which I picked up from Darla recently.

In just a matter of hours, I will be off to the airport & on to Texas, traveling down south with the fam to attend my cousin Becky's wedding this weekend. But first, a few random notes & links on the state of this blog etc...

In case you hadn't noticed, I finally updated my local showlist & made it a wee bit interactive with the help of Eventful, which allows comments, pix, links etc on each show page & more. If you like, feel free to join "The Big Ticket" group to keep tabs on upcoming (or past) Mpls shows a bit more directly. I also updated the blogroll some, particularly the MP3 blog section - which seems to always be expanding. There are so many music bloggers out there doing such great work right now, it's easy to see how I've had trouble staying on top of the latest hotness, let alone find the time to provide quality content myself.

In anticipation of eventually (perhaps) dumping my .Mac account (which I've been pondering ever since they started cracking down on bandwidth a few months ago), I've changed the primary contact e-mail for this blog (listed in the sidebar) to thebigticketblog@gmail.com, which should match up nicely with the URL I'm planning to shift to onceI eventually make the jump to Blogger Beta. FWIW, the .mac address is still active & should be for a while.

I snapped the above pix a few recent local shows (more @ my Flickr via clicky).

MP3 Annie - "The Wedding (Lindstrom remix)"
I'm pretty much bolting out the door, so let me leave you with this hand-clappy Lindstrom remix track in honor of my cousin Becky's upcoming nuptuals. From Swedish popstress Annie's DJ-Kicks EP, available via iTunes. Toodles.

olbermann on habeas schmabeas

2006-10-18T10:00:00.000-06:00

In case you missed it...

Last week's Countdown special investigation (albeit a snarky one):

Video via Crooks & Liars.

I'm off to see Borat tonite, but I'll try to have something real up again soonish...

ETA: Hang on, Keith's got another essential special comment (from 10/18):

Shrill, shrill, shrill & thankfully so. This is a MUST WATCH, IMO.

unintentional rightwing humor

2006-10-11T08:30:00.000-06:00

MP3 CSS - "F**k Off is Not The Only Thing You Have To Show"
For whatever reason, this song has been in & out of my head for months, and now seems like an appropriate opportunity to post it. From Cansei de Ser Sexy's infectiously catchy (IMO) self-titled Sub Pop debut.

Annnnnnnywaaaaaaaay, the bewildering (and extensive) response to the post I hurriedly wrote two weeks ago today is pretty amusing to me. Notice that I never joined in on the whole dust up, in fact I didn't even realize it was going on until I finally glanced back at the blog on the afternoon following its initial posting (I spent that particular Wednesday nite helping my pal Mouk catch up on the new season of The Wire). I was sorta hoping to wait until the comment count got into triple digits before posting my proper response to the dust-up, but since the flow of ornery responses seems to have pretty much flat-lined, it's about damn time I started posting something new, don't ya think?

First off, I wish I could claim that the sexy gentleman in the featured photo was me, but alas there's little chance I could successfully fill out a tank top so well, nor could I throw together such a fetching ensemble so quickly. No, I simply found the picture, by NYC-based photographer Michael Simon, after browsing around Flickr a little, looking for interesting pix from the '04 RNC with which to pair with my annoyance at the Republicans' choice of my hometown for their '08 party convention.

No, I'm not the craaazed political activist/anarchist some in the comments might have taken me for. I'm just a music & pop culture blogger who hasn't given his site nearly enough attention in recent months (hence the random political posts popping up lately while I slowly work on my next mix, amongst other things). I dunno how local writer, Star Tribune contributor & apparent rightwinger James Lileks even stumbled across my little under-performing abode here, but his actual mention of my rant/post was actually mildly amusing:

If all goes well I will be able to have a king-hell concentration of media folk for the ultimate Jasperwood party, and I’d mention that to my wife now but she’d already start planning. Some others are planning as well - which bandana should I wear to hide my identity from the killer-klown thuglican waterboarders? (Link contains naughty languaged, as well as a picture that sums up the auto-damning genre in one neat image. Cinch that face-flag tightly, lad! The RNC face-mapping programs might be on to you! Replace those definate articles with authentic street patois for extra cred! Note: that shirt is not a wife-beater. It's a partner-persuader.)

While Lileks is not of my political persuasion & is clearly delighted that the Party of Torture will be coming to town in two years, nothing in his brief, drive-by mention of me went beyond good-natured ribbing. Even the pile-on post by Australia-based & (apparently) more prominent conservative blogger Tim Blair - whose questioning of my mental stability may have some merit to them, though I think he was simply refering to the previously mentioned picture of not-me since I don't actually know the guy) was no big whoop.

However, as alicublog was nice enough to point out at the time, the readers of these guys who proceeded to follow their links over & go buck wild with ornery comments are another story altogether. Some of the early highlights (or lowlights, as it were):

Anonymous @ 9/28/2006 04:48:09 AM:
I guess you only favor the first amendment when it's your free speech. In the hood they'd call you a punk, maybe a bitch.

spongeworthy @ 9/28/2006 08:00:53 AM:
From the photo, it's pretty obvious one of your arms is substantially larger than the other. From the post, it's pretty obvious why.

Anonymous @ 9/28/2006 09:05:25 AM:
I love it when whitebread dweebs put on a face mask and pretend to be revolutionaries. Look out, military industrial complex, some fuckhead has a website.

Anonymous @ 9/28/2006 12:14:27 PM:
And the left being "in the pocket" of the homsexual (sic) lobby, we all know how much you doggs hate pussy...

Bedrock Guy @ 9/28/2006 12:51:36 PM:
Hi. I've never been to the Twin Cities. Heck, I may come to the '08 convention now just to upset whiners and scum like the guy who writes this blog. What a punk.

Anyway, some random left-leaning people came to my defense (I guess) and the two groups of commenters (of whom I know probably none) got into a partisan bickering contest that I actually still haven't read all the way through. Doing so seems like kind of a waste of time frankly, given the uncivil tone of the "conversation" and the inevitable eye-rolling on my part IRT the whole dispute. The lengthy (for this blog) effort by conservatives finding this site via Lileks and/or Blair to hammer away at me (again, mostly because of the photo of not-me) eerily reminds me of some of the characteristics of the authoritarian follower, as detailed in John Dean's essential book Conservatives Without Conscience (see him discuss is with Olbermann over at YouTube), but mostly I have just laughed off the whole ordeal.

BTW: I suppose I do sorta apologize for the "asshat" comment from the original post, which was made out of annoyance & frustration more than anything. Pointless name-calling is just that, and there were plenty of other, more reality-based things I could have labeled the GOP as instead (bigoted, hypocritical, dishonest, homophobic, corrupt, pro-torture, etc).

My original post was also linked by Fern, a California-based "Jewish Republican" who makes too much out of my comments IMO:

At first I thought his post was kind of funny, but now I'm convinced that it is evidence of something very seriously wrong with the current state of affairs in America. Gone are the days when your political adversaries are "just wrong." Now, four letter acronyms for the legal definition of rape are used in conjunction with the name of your political foes. You refer to the conventions of "the other side" as mutual masturbation parties. You can't even stand to have your political opponents in the city in which you live. And beyond all that, you proudly display your hatred with absolutely no conviction behind your words because you aren't even willing to get arrested opposing such obviously evil, evil people.

So let's unpack this a little. Yes, I think there is "something very seriously wrong with the current state of affairs in America," though I doubt Fern & I would have trouble agreeing on what that "something" actually entails. I'm not sure what "four letter accronym" she was referring to, so I can't address that. The "mutual masturbation" crack may have been a wee bit out of line, but hey, I was pissed off & I legitimately think the Republican platform is full of bullsh** designed to get people to vote against their best interests. And while I don't have a problem begin in the same city as those on the other side of the political divide, having my hometown used as the GOP's election year megaphone (media oversaturation, motorcade-related inconveniences, severely enhanced swing state PR etc) just isn't my cup of tea, thanks. And yes, I'll probably be protesting, but no, I'd still rather not get arrested for doing so peacefully & in an orderly manner. Oh yeah, and I didn't refer to or label anybody as "evil" either - that's what President Bush does best (and see how well that has worked out).

MP3 Pelle Carlberg - "Riverbank"
But I digress. The Borf graffiti image at the top of this post was originally my second choice to accompany my initial RNC rant, but I doubt it would have gotten the visceral reaction that the one I chose received. For any so-called conservatives who are still ticked off by either image, or simply by the fallout of the still developing Foleygate scandal, give this lovely tune from Swede Pelle Carlberg's latest, Everything. Now! (MP3 via Labrador, originally posted @ 3hive back in early February), a listen & try to chill out. Or perhaps a word or two from Ray can calm you down.

For those who prefer their commentaries shrill & honest, check out Keith's latest special comment from last Thursday's Countdown:

Part One

Part Two

As always, via Crooks & Liars. Daily Kos diarist deepsouthdoug suggests that Olbermann's recent special comments are amongst the "greatest commentaries in broadcast journalism," and the Washington Post's Dan Froomkin notes that Keith is the only person in TV news channeling the public's deep dislike & distrust of the President (also via C&L). And for that public service, I say thank you Keith Olbermann.

MP3 Mark Mallman - "Turn On of the Century"
Lastly, here's a track I've been listening to quite a bit over the past couple weeks, from local marathon man/rocker Mark Mallman's recently released (and damn solid IMO) full length, Between the Devil & Middle C. Welcome to Mpls...

holy f**k, are you kidding me?

2006-09-27T16:05:00.000-06:00

BTW: My apologies for the pictoral lewdness. Then again, if the language used in the above photo is what rises to the level of "offensive" at this point, then those persons affected need to catch up on current events IMO. I'm confident you could find a thing or two down in GTMO that might also give someone touch of the vapors.

Via Daily Kos, apparently the pro-torture asshats at the GOP have decided to hold their godforsaken '08 ~~circle jerk~~ national convention (aka the RNC) in my muthf**kin' hometown (well close enough, since it'll be centralized at St. Paul's Xcel Center). Local meta-blog MN Speak links to more info from the AP (via local media juggernaut WCCO). Assuming I'm still a Minneapolis resident two years from now, I think it's safe to say that I'm going to be a very unhappy camper with so many Republicans invading & occupying my place of residence, what with their bullsh** propaganda caravan undoubtably in tow. I can only hope that my Twin Cities will show some of the same raucous (and necessarily shrill) spirit that NYC displayed with such gumption back in '04. I'd just rather not get arrested.

MP3 Blue America - "Have You Had Enough?" (download via MySpace)

ETA: According to alphaaqua over at Daily Kos, local political reporter Pat Kessler reported on tonite's WCCO news that the Democrats were only days away from choosing the Twin Cities to host their '08 DNC, but were pre-empted from doing so by the Republicans making their offer first. Ugh. Hey GOP, the Jerk Store called...

And on an only slightly unrelated note, tonite's Countdown had a must-watch special report on the lead-up to 9.11.01 (via Daily Kos):

While I feel like I've been way overdoing it on the Olbermann posts lately, I frankly cannot help myself. Anybody else feeling the Murrow-esque, Good Night & Good Luck vibes (and I'm not referring to the anchor's borrowed, reverential sign-off) from Keith's outstanding & vital reporting, especially in recent weeks? So while the repetitive Olbermann blogging may be a little awkward, as Mark E. Smith once said (albeit over & over), sometimes you just gotta "dig repetition."

olbermann on clinton interview

2006-09-26T08:15:00.000-06:00

Yowza.

Keith makes the (IMO warranted) leap to shrill speed with his latest special comment (which only seem to get longer & more ferocious the more he does them). Video via Crooks & Liars, YouTube embed via Church Committee.

Yes, our "tone should be crazed" at this point. Whew. More later, I gotta run...

twenty eight f**king years

2006-09-19T17:33:00.000-06:00

Yes, today is my b-day.

No, I'm not happy about it.

Thank you very much.

MP3 that dog. - "Old Timer"
From the now defunct that dog.'s 1996 self-titled debut.

MP3 They Might Be Giants - "Older"
From They Might Be Giants' 2001 album, Mink Car.

olbermann: bush owes an apology

2006-09-18T22:59:00.000-06:00

Yes, another Keith Olbermann special comment, and a damn good one at that. With the President trying to debate torture & the "vague"ness of "human dignity," how can I not post this kind of forceful & vital rebuttal? Video via Crooks & Liars as-per-usual, YouTube embed via 21st Century Church Committee.

olbermann on bush/ground zero

2006-09-12T10:35:00.000-06:00

Keith Olbermann nails it yet again. As seemingly always, via Crooks & Liars.

olbermann on bush/nazis/media

2006-09-06T08:30:00.000-06:00

"Have you no sense of decency, sir?"

Keith knocks another one out of the park. Once again, via Crooks & Liars.