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    July 08, 2009

    United Breaks Guitars

    There are a couple of airlines I try to avoid, and thankfully, because of how its business is structured, it's very easy for me to avoid United. Via Huffington Post, I now see another reason to keep them on the "avoid" list:



    Full Story: http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/story... - In the spring of 2008, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago. I discovered later that the $3500 guitar was severely damaged. They didnt deny the experience occurred but for nine months the various people I communicated with put the responsibility for dealing with the damage on everyone other than themselves and finally said they would do nothing to compensate me for my loss. So I promised the last person to finally say no to compensation (Ms. Irlweg) that I would write and produce three songs about my experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world. United: Song 1 is the first of those songs. United: Song 2 has been written and video production is underway. United: Song 3 is coming. I promise. Follow me at http://twitter.com/DaveCarroll

    Who Would Imagine A King? Or Le Petit Prince?

    So, apparently, they were serious when they said "Memorial Service."

    It was easy to expect that the Michael Jackson farewell would be something of a VegasShields-jackson-b Lounge Room of schlock... but instead it was a non-denominational service in the Church of Everyone.

    The Church of Everyone is that secular notion of "religion" we have in our public consciousness. It's the reason the "religious right" can never completely win - because in one sense they already did, and in another, everything they try to accomplish is immediately co-opted. When a televangelist becomes more concerned with makeup and hairstyles, or the design of the set, or making the musical program more tuneful and upbeat... that's the Church of Everyone taking over.

    The Church of Everyone is vaguely Protestant, vaguely Christian, but tends to include new-age elements meant to cover outlying elements like Buddhism, Muslims, and the less religious. If there are bible quotes, it's usually something you knew about anyway, but often Old Testament, where Jews and Christians can all agree. The Church of Everyone covers your general events where some nod to religion is needed; it's especially good for weddings, and mass events... and Memorial Services.

    I hadn't expected a Church of Everyone service for Michael Jackson, but now, it seems clear, that it was the right way to go. The Memorial to Michael Jackson had, of course, it's uncomfortable, even tasteless, moments.  But at its best, it did actually provide closure, and befitted Michael Jackson's legacy... as the enormous celebrity with the very public life.

    Continue reading "Who Would Imagine A King? Or Le Petit Prince?" »

    July 06, 2009

    28 Days

    In the 28 days since the New York State Senate descended into chaos, I've said nothing; pretty much, I think the absurd state of affairs (oh wait, that state is South Carolina) speaks for itself. But hey, for anyone still getting familiar with the home game, here's a quick restatement of the obvious.

    More than anything, this is just embarrassing; four year olds with temper tantrums will at least wear themselves out with a round of crying, throwing themselves around and wailing about the unfairness of it all; these are grown men and women and really, they should be able to work out compromises. It's indicative of the kind of ferns we've been electing to higher office (I know I'm mortified to bear any responsibility for Tom Duane just now, my state Senator from back when I lived in his extended gay district) that essentially no one has stepped forward to show grown-up leadership skills and try to solve this mess.

    That includes David Paterson. Sure, I've been critical of Paterson for... okay, since like he started, but this is exquisitely awful. Paterson's attempts to sound commanding and above-the-fray are just about ludicrous, since he comes from the same operation and seemed no more inclined to lead it when he was there then he does now. And because no state Democrat can seem to come out and plainly state the obvious - look, he's got to go, and all of you know it - the party's leadership dithers.

    Pedro Espada and Hiram Montserrate are no one's idea of governmental heroes; the latter is facing charges of assault on a girlfriend (and folded like a card table when pressed by the Dem leadership, leading to the current 31-31 tie), while the former is an ethical mess waiting to unfold, who probably doesn't even live in the district he's elected to represent (I know... details, details). Indeed, what's given all of this such a Surrealist Theater quality is how the lies Albany tells itself don't even make it past the city line these days - listening to Senators claim "ethical responsibility" and "our need to do the people's business" is ludicrous. You realize we've been able to see you for - oh, just for me - the past twenty years or so, don't you?

    The solution is that there is no solution. Not with these guys (and gals). The palpable level of disgust with our state's government has yet to be tapped... but I suspect people will rather vote for a lawn chair than their sitting Senator, and while machine politics may thwart many ambitions, some sort of stiff breeze is bound to blow some of these characters out of office, none too soon.

    Conservative who hope for some kind of dramatic right wing realignment (that first week, when gay marriage opponents convinced themselves that Espada and Montserrate were proof of an antigay wave among outerborough Democrats, was a hoot and a half) are kidding themselves. But the real mortification, I think, belongs to rank and file Democrats, who have fooled themselves, for years, into believing that the state's crony-driven machine was somehow a model of liberal heroism. This, when much of what we have to show for Democrats these days are named Cuomo (Andrew, shaping up to be an impressively bigger dud than Dad), Kennedy (Robert Jr. ...and Caroline), or Clinton (both him, her, ...and Chelsea, actually). We've been sold a bill of goods, and we keep wanting to believe we weren't. That has to change. Are you listening Kirsten Gillibrand? Or will a primary with Carol Maloney be required?

    Something has to change, really it does. If we keep going with this insanity - doing the same political things over and over, expecting a different result - we won't need 28 days of political inaction... we'll need rehab. More than 28 days worth.

    July 05, 2009

    Who Made The Very First Move? (Left, In The Dark, Again)

    Being sick decidedly sucks... perhaps never more so than a holiday weekend where 24 hour news is dominated by 2 endlessly repeated and poorly understood stories... in my case, more about Michael Jackson andSarah-Palin_1 drugs... and Sarah Palin.

    In the rush to sort out Sarah Palin, the general fascination with "why" and "what now" seem kind of missing the point. What this latest move shows, most vividly, is that the conservative right has an enormous problem which Sarah Palin embodies: the fact that the political narrative of right-wing politics has gotten completely away from the people best suited to help craft the agenda, and is, instead, in the hand of attractive charismatics with unclear motives.

    Even as "serious" conservative types started analyzing all the possibilities, it was clear that Palin's real audience already got the message. Conservative true believers - the ardent "base" of the right - knew Palin had made the right choice because... well, she made it.

    It's the cult of personality surrounding Palin, the one which brooks nary a dissenting word about her, that's most indicative of the political problem the right faces. Aside from soberly asking whether a first term Governor abandoning office midstream can seriously be considered for future office, the most basic observation of Palin's clumsy, confusing attempt to explain her choice was that it did nothing to lay the groundwork for future office seeking.

    Continue reading "Who Made The Very First Move? (Left, In The Dark, Again)" »

    July 03, 2009

    Friday Mourning Feline

    Piper, Honey jan 08 017 

    R.I.P., Piper, Honey,

    a.k.a. Peepay Ohnay

    a.k.a. Love Dove

    a.k.a. Psssst!

    a.k.a. (snaps fingers)

    a.k.a. One who helped stabilize me after my move from NY to Balto. post 9/11

    Thanks for the years of love...and the occasional mousin'.

    jinb

     

     

    July 02, 2009

    The Faded Edge Of A Smudged Carbon

    For all the astonishing talent thrown at Public Enemies, the story of the spree and fall of John Dillinger, a Depression era bank robber, the biggest star is long gone: that would be Myrna Loy, whoseDepp enemies luminous face spruces up the film's final act, and overshadows nearly everything else going on. Okay, let's not be coy - she does, actually, overshadow every last thing. And given that all we're getting is a compendium of Loy closeups from Manhattan Melodrama, it's some indication of just how easy it is to steal the show in Public Enemies.

    Gangster films have an illustrious history in American cinema - one of the genres we probably can claim to have invented - but it's also true that the elements are so well known, it's hard to keep things fresh. Perhaps most depressingly, Public Enemies doesn't so much try to keep things fresh as try to dampen everything with "realism", debunking old tropes, de-glamorizing thieves and killers; it's admirable... but it's also misery-inducing, and Public Enemies never quite escapes the sour taste it sets up.

    With little fresh to say, Public Enemies settles for a kind of endless homage - there's that whole bit with Manhattan Melodrama, and a main storyline with Johnny Depp and Marion Cotillard that recalls much of what worked - less subtly - in Bonnie and Clyde. The piling on of past references doesn't really gel, rather it creates the feel of a smudgy copy that's one generation too many removed from the original. One yearns for dialogue that doesn't feel recycled or chases that felt less rehashed.

    Continue reading "The Faded Edge Of A Smudged Carbon" »