Return of the angry left

I didn't watch last night's Presidential debate, because I've already voted, so this election has already happened as far as I'm concerned! I watched the Phillies - Dodgers LCS game instead, but switched to the debate between innings, and noticed that Barack Obama and John McCain were both writing notes with their left hand.

No matter who wins this election, it will finally mark the end of the failed right-handed policies of George W. Bush! Bush's dad is left-handed, so is Bill Clinton, and so was Ronald Reagan, so the U.S. went through a twenty year run of left-handed Presidents before the current right-handed one.

The next President will definitely be a lefty, and may also be the first African American President, so here's a famous left-handed African American singing a shout out to Joe the Plumber, Joe Sixpack, and all the other Joes from the last couple of Presidential debates.

Twenty years ago

It would be fitting payback if the Dodgers were eliminated from the postseason twenty years after this. Throw him the fastball, Eck!



Last night, TBS ran an "alternate reality" of this play where Gibson flied out to Canseco to end the game. A's win 4-3! I've been having trouble getting into this year's LCS games, because I'm cheering against the Dodgers and the Red Sox, but think that would be the best World Series matchup (Manny, Nomar, and Lowe going back to Boston).

I'm cheering for the Rays because of the Cinderella story and cheering for the Phillies because they aren't the Dodgers, but there isn't a lot of excitement in a Tampa-Philly World Series. The only sports history I can drum up between those cities was the 2003 NFC Championship, where the Tampa Bay Bucs beat the Eagles 27-10 on their way to taking it all the way to the top.

This year, I think the Phillies will beat the Dodgers in five, but the Tampa Bay Rays will take it all the way to October. And John Darnielle will love you like he used to, because he's given up on waiting for the Cubs to win it all!

2000s Man

Scott Miller tackles the year 2000 in this week's "Music - What Happened?" and says that the decade of the 2000s was "a little better than the 90s and not quite as good as the 70s", while saying earlier that the 90s were better than the 80s, so he puts it pretty high up as far as decades go.

I don't know if I'd agree with that, because there haven't been as many landmark albums (IMO) as previous decades, but I've definitely been exposed to more music in the 2000s. Mostly because this has been the decade of the mp3. Napster launched in 1999, but didn't take off until early 2000, and introduced the opportunity to find any song you wanted at the click of a mouse.

Free flowing Napster died off about a year later, but it's still possible to find an mp3 of almost any song you want if you know where to look. This has made it a lot tougher to make money in the music business, but has kept a level playing field for everyone.

There are only fifteen months remaining in the 2000s, and I still can't come up with a comprehensive list of albums of the decades. Here are some of my top artists from this decade who weren't around in previous decades.

The Decemberists
The Hold Steady
Ted Leo/Pharmacists
New Pornographers
Pernice Brothers
The Shins

I was trying to think of artists who've released at least four albums in this decade. The Pernice Brothers' first record was in the 1990s, but the others were all new in the 2000s. They've all put out three or four solid albums between 2001 and 2008, but most of their music evokes previous decades. These are all indie-level bands, and even though a couple have graduated major labels, they're successful enough to not have to keep their day jobs, but aren't getting to live like rock stars.

On the next level, I can't think of any artists who've managed to launch a superstar level career in this decade and sustain it. The closest I can think of is Radiohead, who started in the 90s and have managed to stay important. Most of the bands who play big arenas an amphitheatres are older ones, because there isn't anything in place to develop artists these days. On the other side of the success scale, there are fewer bands touring and fewer albums selling, so fans need to make an effort to find new music.

What I'm trying to say is that this has been a pretty good decade for music in general, but it's hard to compare it to previous ones. No decade will ever be as fruitful as the three years between 1966 and 1968 or (insert favorite three year period in the 70s or 80s), but I'm still proud of my planet!

Rocking The Vote

I received my California ballot over the weekend and dropped it in the mailbox today. The state was supposed to start mailing them out in early October, so I was starting to worry that I didn't get my ballot until the 11th. I've been looking forward to voting in this election, and have been checking the mailbox every day this month.

I've been registered as permanent vote-by-mail (PVBM) for the last three presidential elections, and was absentee before that, so I don't know if I've ever voted at a polling place. Just fill out the ballot and mail it in. It's also possible to check at the local ROV to see if/when my ballot is "counted".

California probably isn't going to be electorally significant in this year's Presidential election (55 EVs in the bag for Obama), but there are a few important state issues on the ballot, particularly Prop 8 (aka Prop-Hate, the anti-gay initiative). I voted No on every other State proposition just to ensure I didn't accidentally vote Yes on Prop 8!

Twenty Five Years

I attended my 25th high school reunion this weekend, which means I've been out of high school for an entire quarter century (class of 1983)!  By some strange coincidence, my high school in Singapore chose to have its 25th reunion in San Francisco, and about 25 of my classmates (out of a graduating class of 150) made the trip.   I live just across the bay, so it wasn't a very long trip for me, but some folks came from as far away as Australia.

Going to an American school overseas is a lot like attending school in a small town, and we have a really tight class that's had reunions every five years since 1983.  It seems like everyone in my class but me has gone on to get married and have kids and lead responsible lives, while I'm still living like a 40-year old college student, but we're all still in high school when we get together! On Friday night, we went to see an 80s cover band at some bar in North Beach, and I can at least take solace in knowing a lot more about bands and songs from the 1980s that my classmates do.

Since I was S.F. local, people were asking me about places to go and this restaurant or that bar, but I don't get out to the city very much, and almost never venture into the touristy Chinatown/Nob Hill/North Beach/Wharf area, so I was like a tourist in my own town.   I even went to see the Fleet Week performance by the Blue Angels, which I hadn't ever seen before.  Airshows are a lot like fireworks, because I'd never make an effort to see them, but think they're really cool while they're going on!      

Relatedly, I succumbed to peer pressure and finally joined facebook, so if any facebookers want to "friend" me, you know where to find me. Hopefully it's better than myspace!

And U can go there 2

More lazy weekend youtube blogging. Here's some long-forgotten Irish boy band, showing off their dance moves on TV back in 1982.



This single ("A Celebration") and its B-side ("Party Girl") are now out as extra tracks on the two-disc reissue of October. It came out a few months after the October album, and then deleted almost immediately. The b-side appeared on Under A Blood Red Sky('83 live album), but this A-side has been buried in sands of unavailability for the past 25 years.

They're finally putting our 25th anniversary reissue of Blood Red Sky along with Live At Red Rocks on DVD (but not BRD, the preferred by most Coloradoans).  I'm surprised that hasn't been released on DVD yet, and also surprised that they're clinging to the paltry eight-track version of Blood Red Sky instead of issuing an CD version of the entire Red Rocks show, like Cheap Trick did with Live At Budakan.

It's just a story

Am I the only person who reads something like this?

In the latest instance of inflammatory outbursts at McCain-Palin rallies, a crowd member screamed "treason!" during an event on Tuesday after Sarah Palin accused Barack Obama of criticizing U.S. troops.

..and immediately thinks about the Teardrop Explodes.



Another good one from 1981.