2005 Music in Review

This is what you do with disposable income and no long-term ambition...

April 27: Sarah McLachlan, Tingley Coliseum

-Sarah visited Albuquerque in continuing support of her Afterglow CD, which has two songs that gave me goosebumps live, Push and Dirty Little Secret. She gave a beautiful performance, despite an obvious bout with a head cold. Sarah's lead guitar player was staring at Caiona, so the evening had an odd subplot, as well.

July 16 & 17: Dave Matthews Band, Sound Advice Amphitheatre

-After you have seen a band 26 times, you fail to believe that they can surprise you anymore. However, my first experience hearing Louisiana Bayou, from their latest CD Stand Up, was a delight. That will be a showstopper for the next decade. Oh, and I heard #34 live for the first time during Saturday's set.

August 31: Dave Matthews Band, Journal Pavilion

-Show #29, and perhaps my last time seeing the boys live until at least 2007. Despite a setlist that catered to the casual fan, this was one of my 5 favorite DMB performances. Don't Drink the Water was more stellar than usual, and I am a sucker for having Ants close the main set with Billies sending us home happy in the encore. Add an interesting cover of the Beatles' Blackbird, and you have one kickass evening.

October 4: Green Day, Journal Pavilion

-American Idiot has been in regular rotation on my CD player, home computer, and iPod all year, but the live Green Day experience is unlike anything I expected. This was just a loud, in your face rock concert, with all the guitar riffs and pyro you can handle. Along with Pearl Jam in 2003, one of my most cherished concert memories. Despite the fact that Caiona & I almost got run over three or four times in the pit, Billie Joe and the band brought the goods all night long.

Back from a "brief" hiatus

Since last November, I have picked up a few helpful hints about this life. Unfortunately, most of them have come from President Bush, so take them with a grain of salt.

1. If your closest friend and advisor is about to be indicted for what amounts to an act of treason against the intelligence community, say nothing.
2. After a major city is left underwater by the worst hurricane in history, say nothing.
3. When Tom Cruise artificially impregnates a victim of Scientology brainwashing, say nothing.
4. Given the opportunity to nominate the critical "swing vote" on the United States Supreme Court, nominate a woman who sounds like the late night waitress at Waffle House. Then, take the time to promise the Conservative Evangelicals that she is not just your nominee....she's God's nominee.

In summary...thou shalt not speak, unless thou may nominate a redneck.

The question of faith & its role in this election

A close friend sent me the following e-mail:

Maybe, just maybe, there is more to God than you think. As always, I will read your blog over and over, and be objective. But you must understand, and it is clear that you don't, that the power of faith is more than just a mere whimsical idea for many people.

I have absolutely no doubt that the vast majority of church-going, family-oriented people in America voted the way they truly believed was in the best interest of the nation yesterday. W has made a connection with those folks that is sincere, and for many of the faithful, I think that he represents the very best of what can happen to a person when he/she accepts Christ as their personal savior.

However, I have a cynical view of the efforts made by Republicans all over America to place redundant amendments on the ballot "protecting the institution of marriage" as genuine. It was an overt scheme to attempt to convince those who might not have otherwise gone to the polls that the Christian ideal of heterosexual marriage was somehow under attack. It's not a leap in logic to see how they tried to tie that issue around John Kerry's neck, as though he had ever flip-flopped on the issue. He simply never has. However, just like the whisper campaign about John McCain's mental health in 2000 and the questioning of Max Cleland's patriotism in 2002, Karl Rove executed a flawless campaign which was based on disinformation and fear. These initiatives appeal not to our better angels, but to our inner demons, which leads the most devout among us to believe their choices have to be righteous, instead of simply making the right decision.

I was looking forward to seeing a Democratic President fight with a Republican Congress for at least one term, so that the government would stop doing things. Gridlock is a wonderful thing, because it keeps one side from overreaching. Despite W's fairly narrow win in so many states, he will take this victory as a mandate to keep doing EXACTLY what he has been doing for four years, and that is a dangerous notion. The best line John Kerry had during the debates was one that I had been saying slightly differently for months to some of my Democratic friends; "You can be certain and be wrong" That is the legacy of George Bush's first term in office, and for me, the primary reason I voted for Senator Kerry. I think George Bush got some very big decisions wrong, and I think most introspective leaders would take the time between now and Inauguration Day 2005 to reevaluate how they have governed. I firmly believe that W has no propensity for self-examination regarding his public decisions or private deliberations. Unfortunately, I think that is directly related to his sense of spirituality & purpose. I hope that I am wrong about that, but I would bet heavily against it.

Would John Kerry's election as President of the United States have changed the world for the better? Nope, and I never had any hopes that he would bring Americans together or unite the world in our efforts to combat terrorism. However, I do believe that he would have used the power of the Presidency to do a lot of very small things successfully, as Clinton showed was the model for success in domestic policy. I would trade another war in Iran or Syria to make sure every child under 18 was covered by health insurance. I would happily take away the tax breaks given to millionaires and pay down some of the deficit. The 2004 campaign was never about protecting family farms from liberal tax increases or keeping doctors safe from malpractice lawsuits, contrary to what Republicans spew out on a daily basis. It was about whether or not George Bush should have a blank check to continue the foreign policy he placed on the American people's shoulders since 9/11, and he succeeded in convincing enough white men & women in the Midwest that John Kerry would get them killed by terrorists while gay people marched up & down the street wearing their new wedding rings. That will be the true story of this election, but I don't think any journalist will be bold enough to write a revealing piece about those issues.

Oh well, we could always amend the Constitution so that Clinton could run again. He looked healthier six weeks after heart surgery than Kerry did during the whole campaign...

The hidden truths about tonight's results

This link is critical to understanding how George W Bush was re-elected tonight, despite a domestic agenda that consisted of unprecedented tax breaks in times of war and an education measure that has been critically underfunded.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041103/ap_on_el_st_lo/eln_gay_marriage_9

Read that article closely, because Ohio voters cast ballots by a margin of 3-to-2 in favor of the gay marriage amendment. Despite the fact that John Kerry has never wavered in his opposition to gay marriage, the Republican Party has conducted a campaign of "God, Guns, & Gays" all over this country since the election of 2000. In fact, after 9/11, they added a new wrinkle: "Fear".

What does this all mean, and why am I pissed? Here are the facts, and what the Bush team chose to argue instead:

1. Over 1 million people have lost their jobs since President Bush took office. However, almost half of the American people still believe Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11.

2. 5 million people have lost their health insurance coverage since President Bush took office. On the other hand, John Kerry doesn't hate gay people, and that is against the word of God.

3. The War in Iraq was launched under an assault of false pretenses, told far and wide by every Administration official who could find their way in front of a TV camera, leading to over 1,000 American soldiers being killed and 7-8,000 more being maimed. Then again, 9/11 changed everything, and Iraq was the central front of the "War on Terror"

4. John Kerry proposed absolutely no additional restrictions on gun ownership or usage in the United States, other than supporting an extension on the Assault Weapons Ban passed under President Clinton, which contributed to a significant decrease in the use of such weapons in violent crime for a decade. But President Bush has the unabashed endorsement of the NRA, and makes bold statements like "we're going to smoke them out of their caves" and he wears blue jeans.

Come to think of it, I honestly believe that millions of Americans have begun to live in a parallel universe, not unlike the community characterized in that suck-ass movie "The Village". Was it just Democrats who saw Osama Bin Laden on Friday, alive and well, taunting our citizens as if to say "Look at me, I'm alive!" I thought he was supposed to be caught, "Dead or Alive" as W liked to say back in 2001. Were Liberals the only people who noticed that the loss of jobs we have experienced over the last four years were more significant than those lost under the first President Bush, and yet somehow people in Ohio & Michigan seem to give W a pass because he's a "regular guy"? Is the Progressive mindset some type of brainwashed state designed to notice people in a state of paranoia about the long-term fiscal policies of our government, while millions of college students laugh when asked if they look forward to receiving Social Security?

I am profoundly disappointed with the immense pass that American voters have granted George W Bush tonight, because I do not believe that a man who feels that God put him in the White House for a higher purpose will change one iota in a second term. Quite the contrary, I believe the next four years will bring increased deficits, a further degradation of our tax base through more permanent tax breaks for those who don't need them, another assault on a "terrorist-harboring" nation like Iran or Syria, a greater disparity of wealth between the rich and the middle class, and millions more Americans without adequate health care coverage.

A Kerry presidency would have been necessarily moderate, due to a recognition of the divided nation he would have attempted to lead and a Republican Congress which I suspect would have regained their sense of fiscal responsibility immediately after inauguration. I would suspect that a President Kerry would have appointed several Republicans to his cabinet, including Chuck Hagel as his Secretary of Defense or National Security Adviser. Does anyone want to take odds that the Bush team's faces may change, but the philosophy will stay exactly the same? Goodbye Colin Powell, thanks for your sense of fairness and diplomacy. We'll find another white male with his itchy finger on the trigger button, more eager to blow things up than a 7 year old with a joystick in his hand.

God Bless America...it's ironic that Bush was only re-elected because so many people can't get God out of their heads when they go into a polling place. "God Help Us" is more like it...

Until the next terrorist attack (and oh, it's coming now...), I remain a Conscientious Objector.

As promised, my Anchorman thoughts...

Ultimately, the character belonged in a 4 minute SNL sketch, rather than take up 90 minutes of my life. Fortunately, Will Ferrell doesn't need my approval to make millions of dollars, so I suspect he'll continue to eek out a career.

In other news, I was home sick from work today. It is astounding what congestion and a difficulty while attempting to breath can do to your productivity. All told, I have been attempting to sleep for the past 31 hours, with limited success. That being said, I am looking forward to work on Thursday, since I am one of those lucky people who enjoys their job more than most anything else in their lives. (Isn't that sad?)

If you aren't watching already, check out Bravo's "Celebrity Poker Showdown" on Thursday nights at 9pm. C-List celebrities playing cards poorly. It's as fun as Shark Week on the Discovery Channel.

The countdown is on...

More than one, in fact...

Four more days until Barenaked Ladies & Alanis Morissette arrive in Quirky to entertain the legions of dehydrated New Mexicans. It's not as exciting as the WWE show Friday night, but I can't catch that in person, so my 2nd favorite band will have to do.

Most importantly, one day until John Kerry delivers the most important speech of his political career. Despite my stance as an ardent Democrat, I think Kerry is going to blow the opportunity to reach beyond party lines, and interested swing voters all over America are going to nod off halfway through. The lesson that can be extracted from the first 3 days of the 2004 DNC is that Bill Clinton remains the #1 Democrat in America, and most of the party loyalists are privately planning for the John Edwards Presidential campaign in 2008. Of course, over 900 American soldiers have already died in Iraq, so it remains possible that W will get fired over sheer mathematics. I have my doubts...

Finally, twenty-five days until Dave Matthews Band returns to Albuquerque, and I will be front row center thanks to my D.C. buddy Kim. Unfortunately, Kim will probably be spending the evening of August 23rd surrounded by post-it notes and mutes, rather than dancing along with DMB.

This should be an interesting experiment...

For those of you who are not held captive in Albuquerque, my mission is to inform, entertain, and intellectually stimulate.  If I fail in these endeavours, at least you'll get to read what I thought about the movie Anchorman...

See, in the business, we call that a tease! 

More later..............make that MUCH more later...