Month: September 2019

  • Frank Zappa

    I have nothing against him. I could pick him out of a lineup, but I couldn’t name one of his songs. There were a group of guys I used to hang out with in high school, and try to write comedy with who just loved the hell out of him. I couldn’t get into his music, but I could respect and admire his output and commitment to music, and to satirizing everything. Zappa embodies the definition of a true artist; A true artist does just create great work, a true artist is always creating work regardless of its value.

    I don’t have a deeper reason of bring that up other than it just popped into my head as I sat down to write just now.

    First thought, best thought.

    There is creation, and there is production, and that also means that there has to be consumption. Creation is the act of bringing an object or form into existence. Production is the manufacturing the same object repeatedly for consumption. Which leads to consumption which is using up of an object or form.

    There might be some bigger theory about art, but I’m not sure I can put those pieces together today. What I would like to say is that I think most people put themselves in one of those three categories, though I believe that you can be all three. Some people would like to be creators, but they are producers. The worst are consumers who think they are creators.

    Just some random thoughts.

  • Never Mind Trump, Here’s Abbey Road

    Today, I needed a change of pace, though I have not forgotten what is happening in the world.

    When I looked at my Spotify account this morning, FINALLY!!! The 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition of Abbey Road was released! (I am listening to it as I write… and as you read?) This isn’t a review, but I sure can tell you that even with my shitty computer headphones, the sound quality is sharp, and the instruments have been separated on their own tracks, giving a fuller sound that avoids becoming artificial, and too “studio.” I have always liked the fact that the Abbey Road studio was an instrument in The Beatles’ recordings. They used the space to capture echoes, and live mixed in the studio as they recorded, like a band would do “live.”

    Either way, this album was what I needed today. I have written about The Beatles, and all their albums often, and I have read books, and dissected all their songs.

    But Abbey Road… man, it is still an album that’s exciting, and fun to listen too, but more importantly, just makes me feel better if I’m having a shitty day. And I have been listening to this album since I was 16. Logically, I know that this album has nothing to do with me, recorded before I was born, but it is completely personal. Such a part of my life.

    Here comes the sun, everyone!

  • It’s Not the Crime

    Okay, so I have read a great deal today about the new Trump scandal. These are my thoughts;

    1. It’s never the crime, it’s the cover up. As far as I can tell, Trump broke this rule, bigly. The way Trump handled the Russian prob was to claim that he had no idea that what he was doing with Russia was illegal. That seemed to be the point Muller made, that he could prove intent. If Trump intended to commit a crime. This time around, if Trump’s lawyers and the Justice Department did try to hide these phone calls, and the whistleblower complaint, then that would show intent. They all knew it was illegal and had to stop it from getting out. To me, that takes away the argument that the call was innocent. The withholding of Ukraine’s defense money might also show intent.
    2. Attorney General Barr is all up in this. I know the NYTimes ran this idea first, but now that Trump is saying to foreign leaders that Barr will contact them, then Barr needs to answer why the President would think that. What conversations has Barr had with Trump about Biden? I know full well Barr will claim that he cannot talk about his conversations with the President, but is there anything at the Justice Department happening about Ukraine, and Biden? When did that get started? Who started it, and when?
    3. This is a stretch, but Rudy is going through a nasty divorce. I don’t think he has his head on straight, and can’t keep all of the truth, lines, and smoke from blending together. Investigators should lean on him, as I think he would be the first to crack.

    None of this is good…

  • It’s Happening

    I’m talking about the impeachment inquiry of Trump, and I find it very hard the believe that articles of impeachment will not be drawn up by the House. And there will be a trial in the Senate, which at this moment looks like Trump will be acquitted.

    That is the short and long of it.

    Now, I’m here to talk about the politics of it, and this is my crazy theory how the Democrats should behave if they want to win the 2020 election even with the acquittal.

    First, regardless that the polling shows most people don’t care, if you believe the President broke the law, then you have to go down this path. If you don’t it makes you look complicit.

    Second, I have heard the chatter that through the course of the investigation, the Democrats could change people’s minds and get the poll numbers in their favor of conviction in the Senate. Unfortunately, I believe that past behavior of the Senate is the best predictor of the future behavior of the Senate. Moscow Mitch will lead the acquittal charge.

    The way I see it, Republicans and Trump supports will stay just that, and nothing will sway them. That means what Democrats might lose with an acquittal are moderates and independents, and part of their own base. M and I’s will leave because no one is talking about the kitchen table issues they care about, and the Dem base will leave because it will appear that Trump is untouchable.

    So, how do Democrats win this situation?

    This is my thought…

    Once the Articles of Impeachment are approved by the whole House, go after Moscow Mitch and all the Republican Senators by saying that they are stooges, and will acquit Trump because they are spineless and put party ahead of country. Just like they did with health care, and taxes, and the environment, and all the other issues that matter. Treat the Senate trial as a far-gone conclusion, because the whole game is rigged, just like the economy. Spin it all back to Republican corruption. Even when Republicans will claim, and they will, that this trial is being forced on them as a political stunt, Democrats immediately hit back with that the Republican vote is a political stunt as well because they are afraid of Trump, and that Democrats would love to get back to the work of the people, but corrupt Moscow Mitch won’t let anything come to the floor of the Senate. So, let’s talk about the 2020 election and issues important to America. Just keep on the attack that Republicans are corrupt and the ones who rigged the game.

    Attack, and stay on the attack. Leave Trump alone. Articles of Impeachment was the best that Democrats could get, and don’t be afraid to say that. Admit it, be proud of it, and call out the other side for corruption. Don’t give in, and most importantly, don’t apologize.

  • Trump or the Emmys?

    These are the first two thoughts that popped into my mind when I thought about writing a blog today; do I write about Trump or the Emmys?

    I could say that writing about Trump, again, will do nothing but make me feel defeated and powerless. Yet again, we have another situation where Trump has gone and done something illegal, and then ho goes and gaslights the world into believing that he was doing everyone a favor for doing this thing, which in his opinion, wasn’t illegal at all. I think Bill Maher had the best reaction this past Friday which was that this will follow the same cycle of denial, then admitting to it but it wasn’t wrong, and then starting another scandal to make everyone forget about the first scandal. I also expect this to happen, which is why I feel defeated and powerless.

    Speaking of defeated and powerless, I watched part of the Emmys, and it was a rather dull affair. The only take away I had was the free broadcast television was now officially dead. SNL was the only over the air broadcast show to win, and the rest went to cable or streaming. This is the new entertainment world we live in. It is a little sad that free tv is no more, as what I mourn for are all the great 15 and 30 second commercials we will never see, as no one watches commercials. All of those jingle writers will be out of a job. Sad.