Undecided

David Sedaris on undecided voters..

To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”

To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.

The most interesting thing about the glut of national polls (for me) is to watch the "undecided" number trickle down as the election gets closer, and X+Y slowly approaches 100. In the Presidential race, the "undecided" number is around 3 to 4%, so there are still people in this election asking how the chicken is cooked.

But not many. The "win percentage" chart on fivethirtyeight.com now looks like a giant blue pie with a tiny sliver of red, and the tiny sliver of red goes all to 270 in the "Electoral vote distribution".   The seal is definitely meeting the deal in the 2008 Presidential race. 

Now I'm more concerned about 538's polling for California's Prop 8, which looks like a Jesus-fish, with the "yes" votes catching up in recent polls. Granting gays the right to marry and then revoking it is probably the cruelest thing California could ever do. If basic civil rights can be denied by a popular vote, it's probably better to never grant them in the first place. The undecideds are still at 8 to 10%, so there are still a lot of CA voters asking how the chicken is cooked.

Amoebasaurus Rex

Last Saturday, I went to see the Bye Bye Blackbirds in-store performance at Berkeley's Amoeba Music, the only show they've done so far to support their new album Houses & Homes.

This was the first time I'd seen a show at the Berkeley Amoeba, and it's a pretty good space to see a band. The stage is set up in the side space where the "non-rock" (folk, jazz, classical) CDs are, so it's kind of intimate and easy to see the band, but a good place to watch a show. The BBBs played a few songs from their album, and a few covers (Everlys, Byrds, Vulgar Boatmen) and rocked the room.

While I was there, I picked up a CD copy of their new album. This was only my third trip to the Berkeley Amoeba this year (I haven't been to the S.F. Amoeba at all), so it was kind of exciting to visit a real record store! I wanted to support the band and the store, so I payed full new price ($12.99) for a CD of H&H, even though I'd already downloaded the album from emusic. This gave me the credits of the album, to learn that Billy wrote "Leave a Light On" even though Bradley sings it, and Bradley wrote "Shed the Skin" even though Ian sings it.

I also know which songs feature Bill Swan and which ones feature Gil Ray, so the next time I see Gil I can say "great maracas on 'Original Lights', dude!" Plus there's the benefit of hearing the album in all it's audio glory, without any lossy mp3 compression!

The days of record stores are probably numbered, but I hope they stay around, because there's still benefit to having a physical CD purchased from a local store. For one thing, you can't see the Bye Bye Blackbirds playing on your iPod!

Barbara Lee continues to speak for me

I got this email from Obama For America today.

Dear Steven,

You can change politics in this country at every level -- up and down the ballot.

Our records show that you live in California's 9th district.

There's a candidate in California who's working to bring the change this country needs, and that candidate is Barbara Lee. Get involved and help bring change now.

  Congresswoman Barbara Lee for Congress: 
  Visit the website

Don't wait until Election Day to support Congresswoman Lee. Get involved today to make sure California has a strong representative to take our country in a new direction.

Thanks,

Obama for America

It's impressive that the Obama campaign knows that I'm in the 9th district, because congressional borders are kind of flaky around here. I used to be in the 13th district (Pete Stark's district), but got moved to the 9th before the 2002 election after Barbara gave her principled opposition against the AUMF in the 437-1 vote.

I voted for her then and voted for her in this Election, but Barbara Lee doesn't need my help to get re-elected. I live in one of the most Democratic districts in the country, where John Kerry won 85% of the vote in the 2004 election, and Barack Obama will probably win 90% of the vote in this election. And Barbara Lee will win 80% of the vote and get re-elected to another term. Like she always does.

One reason I chose to register as an Independent instead of a Democrat is that kept getting called about canvassing for Pete Stark or Barbara Lee when there wasn't any point because they might as well unopposed. My state senator, Alberto Torrico, is the Majority Leader and also isn't in any danger, so it's hard for me to be politically engaged at a local or state level with the same candidates continuing to win overwhelmingly. 

If the Obama campaign is sending this to everyone on their list, it should open up a lot of down-ballot races in other parts of the country. I'm especially interested in my parents district (CA-04) where Democratic challenger Charlie Brown (a good man) is running neck and neck against Republican Tom McClintock (a bad man). I wish I could convert my vote to a district like that where it might matter.

Rockin' in the Free World

Scott Miller takes on the final year of the fabulous 80s in this week's "Music: What Happened?", and ends up calling this song "one of the hundred best songs from the rock era." I agree.

I've never seen this video before, but it's a "radio edit" of the song that replaces "shag it" with "wag it"(?) Scott's mention of "the earth quaking" reminds me that we just passed the 19th anniversary of Loma Prieta. For Bay Area old-timers, that earthquake is our "We Will Never Forget".

Nearly all of Scott's 1989 selections are top notch, and I was trying to upload an audio playlist to 8tracks.com, but they're rejecting my uploads. If I were able to upload, here are the ten songs I'd choose from his list as my 1989 ten at ten (to honor the departing Dave Morey). Maybe tomorrow.

"I Wanna Be Adored" - The Stone Roses
"Good Thing" - Fine Young Cannibals
"This Woman's Work" - Kate Bush
"Last Of the Famous International Playboys" - Morrissey
"Veronica" - Elvis Costello
"Rockin' In the Free World" - Neil Young
"Roam" - The B-52's
"The Mayor of Simpleton" - XTC
"Debaser" - Pixies
"Free World" - Kirsty MacColl

Phillie Ray Series

Available about two seconds after Tampa Bay clinched the pennant.



After the Tampa Bay Rays blew a seven-run lead in the last three innings of the fifth game of the ALCS to give the Red Sox new life, I figured their achy breaky hearts were on the way to being broken. Boston has a history of coming back from the brink of elimination to win league series, coming back from 3-0 against the Yankees in 2004 and 3-1 against the Indians last year, so after they came back in that game, I figured they were home free after that.

The Sox held off the Rays for one more game, but lost tonight, so the 2008 World Series will feature the Tampa Bay Rays against the Philadelphia Phillies. I don't know who had that matchup before the season started! None of ESPN's so-called "baseball experts" picked the Phillies to make the World Series in their postseason picks, and only two people picked the Rays. These are two teams that weren't expected to be there, even when they both made the playoffs.

Unlike last year, I can't think of any Dr. Suess stories about Phillies and Rays, and right now can't even come up with a decent pun. Something like Phillie Ray Series = Billy Ray Cyrus, which wouldn't even pass muster at the New York Post!

As far as picks, I like Tampa Bay in a four game sweep, and think the National League should be reclassified as a minor league. With my picking prowess, this means bet the farm on the Phillies!

Say It Loud

Today I learned that Bob Beamon's 29'2" long jump (a World record that stood for 23 years) was the same day that U.S. sprinters John Carlos and Tommie Smith were suspended for giving their Black Power salute on the medal stand after finishing 1-2 in the 200 meter dash. Both events happened on October 18, 1968. Forty years ago today.

So I thought this would be a good time to break out this performance of the Godfather of Soul with his bad self in front of a 90% white audience on "Playboy After Dark".

Friday Faces

I borrowed Ogdens Nut Gone Flake from the library this week, because last.fm keeps recommending the Small Faces to me, and I only knew a couple of songs by them ("Itchykoo Park" and "Song of a Baker"). The latter song is the centerpiece of Ogdens, which has to be one of the strangest hit albums ever! I thought the Small Faces were more of an R&B/soul band, but most of the album is made up of a psychedelic fairytale about someone called Happiness Stan, that I looked up on wikipedia to see what it was about. After reading this, I'm even more confused!

When Happiness Stan looks up in the sky and sees only half the moon, he sets out on a quest to search for the missing half. Along the way he saves a fly from starvation, and in gratitude the insect tells him of someone who can answer his question and also tell him the philosophy of life itself. With his magic power Stan intones, "If all the flies were one fly, what a great enormous fly-follolloper that would bold," and the fly grows to gigantic proportions. Seated on the giant fly's back Stan takes a psychedelic journey to the cave of Mad John the hermit, who explains that the moon's disappearance is only temporary, and demonstrates by pointing out that Stan has spent so long on his quest that the moon is now full again. He then sings Stan a cheerful song about the meaning of life

Parts of Ogdens remind me a lot of the Dukes of Stratosphear, and was probably the main inspiration for Sir John Johns and the guys. Like the Dukes, the Small Faces never performed most of these songs live, but The Playbox Theatre in Warwick, England will be performing a theatrical version of "Ogdens Nut Gone Flake" in November, with music by the Small Fakers (a Small Faces tribute band). Here's the first part of "Happiness Stan" as performed (and mimed) in colour on Colour Me Pop in the summer of 1968.

The rest of the program is here, here, and here.