So this is it... my last go around with SG, when this billing period is up so is this account. over the last couple of months I just haven't been feeling it, I haven't been into it and really my money is better spent somewhere else... so to the cool people here, it was cool swapping messages for the last how ever long.... until we meet again... take care.
Sooo it's the 4th of July, and really I don't care. Its not that I have issues with The United States and what it means, or I should say meant.... I don't like to get to political here, but since it's the day we talk about the Birth of our Nation let me state for the record... My name is Eric and I was a high school Republican.
Now before I get a bunch of shit hear me out I went to punk rock/ leftie art high school USA. Really the power brokers in the school were former 60s radicals who enforced and preached a radical feminist social reconstruction agenda. As you might imagine most of the student population (about 98%) voiced social and political viewpoints slightly to the left of your garden-variety socialist. Its safe to say that the social science teachers liked having me in class because my presence didnt force them to play devils advocate, because I would and did gladly voice the right wing (really even then I was a moderate) point of view. They even gave me an award for it at the senior award banquet. I paid for my views, I was ostracized, taunted, bad mouthed, threatened and ignored for my view points ..
It was a huge culture shock to leave the people republic of Ann Arbor and find out that the rest of the United States (for the most part) still was living in a way where sexism, racism, and discrimination were commonplace . I couldnt even get my mouth to from the word pussy when I left high school, let alone any other degrading dehumanizing terms that are commonplace in the real world . But I digress
In college I flirted with more libertian points of view, but found that few libertians were interested in anything more than freedom from big government, but with out the personal responsibilities to their communities, and thats where I am sort of
I simply think that we need to look to ourselves and to each other to solve our societal problems. That means that we step forward and say that we will fund our local school, and tell the federal government to fuck its self then they want money to fix our schools. If we fix it first then they dont have any reason get involved. If we were to hold our local governments responsible for fixing issues, or better yet as a community fix them then we would have more control on how, when, why and which way they get fixed Basically its a case of the government that is most responsive is the one that is closest to you if your local mayor has more say in the school budgeting than the president, s/he is directly affected by the quality of that school. S/he will likely send his/her kids there, or the kids of the people next door, and is more likely to give a damn about the school ..
Ok enough of my soapbox . I will add one last item on the topic its funny to look back at high school and recall that all the lefties who couldnt shut up about how evil, selfish, into violence and generally bad republicans were, are the same people that threatened men, hated me and treated me like a lesser being because I had a different view point than the majority. Mean while my republican grandparents were the ones that gave me money, that cared about me, and that questioned my interests and hobbies but never shunned me for them
So you might be asking yourself how did some high school republican, with a Christian upbringing, and a career in Law Enforcement end up being off the scale politically and into punk rock? Thats another story I should try to figure out some time Until then I am simply a passenger and I ride and I ride
End Note: funny I was just recalling that the first time I stayed up all night was a fourth of July when I was in Jr. High school. I was reading a fantasy novel and stayed up to read it . That might have been the first time I read a complete book in one sitting
Lastly I dig Nordic films about dysfunctional families, and have found this Icelandic film called The Sea, which rocks, if youre a fan of Festen (aka The Celebration) you should check it out .
Now before I get a bunch of shit hear me out I went to punk rock/ leftie art high school USA. Really the power brokers in the school were former 60s radicals who enforced and preached a radical feminist social reconstruction agenda. As you might imagine most of the student population (about 98%) voiced social and political viewpoints slightly to the left of your garden-variety socialist. Its safe to say that the social science teachers liked having me in class because my presence didnt force them to play devils advocate, because I would and did gladly voice the right wing (really even then I was a moderate) point of view. They even gave me an award for it at the senior award banquet. I paid for my views, I was ostracized, taunted, bad mouthed, threatened and ignored for my view points ..
It was a huge culture shock to leave the people republic of Ann Arbor and find out that the rest of the United States (for the most part) still was living in a way where sexism, racism, and discrimination were commonplace . I couldnt even get my mouth to from the word pussy when I left high school, let alone any other degrading dehumanizing terms that are commonplace in the real world . But I digress
In college I flirted with more libertian points of view, but found that few libertians were interested in anything more than freedom from big government, but with out the personal responsibilities to their communities, and thats where I am sort of
I simply think that we need to look to ourselves and to each other to solve our societal problems. That means that we step forward and say that we will fund our local school, and tell the federal government to fuck its self then they want money to fix our schools. If we fix it first then they dont have any reason get involved. If we were to hold our local governments responsible for fixing issues, or better yet as a community fix them then we would have more control on how, when, why and which way they get fixed Basically its a case of the government that is most responsive is the one that is closest to you if your local mayor has more say in the school budgeting than the president, s/he is directly affected by the quality of that school. S/he will likely send his/her kids there, or the kids of the people next door, and is more likely to give a damn about the school ..
Ok enough of my soapbox . I will add one last item on the topic its funny to look back at high school and recall that all the lefties who couldnt shut up about how evil, selfish, into violence and generally bad republicans were, are the same people that threatened men, hated me and treated me like a lesser being because I had a different view point than the majority. Mean while my republican grandparents were the ones that gave me money, that cared about me, and that questioned my interests and hobbies but never shunned me for them
So you might be asking yourself how did some high school republican, with a Christian upbringing, and a career in Law Enforcement end up being off the scale politically and into punk rock? Thats another story I should try to figure out some time Until then I am simply a passenger and I ride and I ride
End Note: funny I was just recalling that the first time I stayed up all night was a fourth of July when I was in Jr. High school. I was reading a fantasy novel and stayed up to read it . That might have been the first time I read a complete book in one sitting
Lastly I dig Nordic films about dysfunctional families, and have found this Icelandic film called The Sea, which rocks, if youre a fan of Festen (aka The Celebration) you should check it out .
I have had more time to let the new records by Turbonegro and The Hellacopters sink in
and this time around its the Turbonegro entry that is the better of the two. Its got and accessible glam pop sheen that works well. Of course its also the record where they dont have a US release lined up, and its their one record to date that really has the most potential for a cross over mainstream success
.
Ive also been listening to tracks (iPod mixes) from the Chuck Norris Experiment S/T CD. Solid Hi Energy RocknRoll from Sweden, so if youre looking for something like the early punky Hellacopters check out The CNE.
Its strange when I you start hearing your friends, acquaintances and obscure bands on the radio. In the last week I have listened to or noted:
Kevin Patrick of New Math/ JBB was on the BBC radio show Shake Some Action playing a few gems from his collection
Little Stephens Underground Garage played Theres a Bimboo Under my Bed by Adam West
And then just today I have been watching the DVD of the Denis Leary TV show Rescue Me, which has the Von Bondies Cmon Cmon as its theme
I picked up the 101ers new album today and despite some apprehension I dig what I have heard so far.
Lastly I picked up the book Mix Tape: The Art of Cassette Culture edited by Thurston Moore. I have always been a mix tape fan, and miss the form. Its only been in the last couple of years that I have given it up, mostly out of laziness but also because so few people have tape decks anymore. I have lately taken to making CDR mixes, which while they still achieve the goal of letting someone know about and be able to listen to music that they dont know, is almost too simple.
Just the other day one of my friends from work had no idea who I was talking about when I mentioned that I wanted to see Bo Diddley at the Taste of Minnesota this year. I quickly asked her if she knew of: Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison ect none of which she knew anything abut. 20 minutes of point and click from my iTunes program and I had 20 or so odd tracks of early Rockabilly and RocknRoll on a CD for her. I didnt have to search though my records, my tapes or CDs. I didnt have to cue anything up, or hit any pause buttons. One click and my computer was burning the disc for her..
I have kept a lot my tapes from the past, there are others have I have let go or lost along the way. I am sure that there are tapes that I have forgotten about and ones that I would cringe at even the thought of the music that I put on some of my early tapes.
I know that I did write something about mix tapes here some time ago, so Ill shut up about it now ..
Ive also been listening to tracks (iPod mixes) from the Chuck Norris Experiment S/T CD. Solid Hi Energy RocknRoll from Sweden, so if youre looking for something like the early punky Hellacopters check out The CNE.
Its strange when I you start hearing your friends, acquaintances and obscure bands on the radio. In the last week I have listened to or noted:
Kevin Patrick of New Math/ JBB was on the BBC radio show Shake Some Action playing a few gems from his collection
Little Stephens Underground Garage played Theres a Bimboo Under my Bed by Adam West
And then just today I have been watching the DVD of the Denis Leary TV show Rescue Me, which has the Von Bondies Cmon Cmon as its theme
I picked up the 101ers new album today and despite some apprehension I dig what I have heard so far.
Lastly I picked up the book Mix Tape: The Art of Cassette Culture edited by Thurston Moore. I have always been a mix tape fan, and miss the form. Its only been in the last couple of years that I have given it up, mostly out of laziness but also because so few people have tape decks anymore. I have lately taken to making CDR mixes, which while they still achieve the goal of letting someone know about and be able to listen to music that they dont know, is almost too simple.
Just the other day one of my friends from work had no idea who I was talking about when I mentioned that I wanted to see Bo Diddley at the Taste of Minnesota this year. I quickly asked her if she knew of: Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison ect none of which she knew anything abut. 20 minutes of point and click from my iTunes program and I had 20 or so odd tracks of early Rockabilly and RocknRoll on a CD for her. I didnt have to search though my records, my tapes or CDs. I didnt have to cue anything up, or hit any pause buttons. One click and my computer was burning the disc for her..
I have kept a lot my tapes from the past, there are others have I have let go or lost along the way. I am sure that there are tapes that I have forgotten about and ones that I would cringe at even the thought of the music that I put on some of my early tapes.
I know that I did write something about mix tapes here some time ago, so Ill shut up about it now ..
quick reviews...
Hellacopters; Rock + Roll is Dead: sounds like more By the Grace of God type 70's rock, only without as many strong songs.
Turbonegro: Party Animals... See the Hellacopters review, only is Scandinavian Leather type stuff not By The Grace of God stuff
Epoxies: Stop the Future- I like it, but it's on the noisy side and really needs more pop to gather mass appeal
Screaming Trees: Ocean of Confusion- solid retrospective of an undervalued band... the bonus tracks are ok, but not great.
really I need to listen to all four of these albums a couple of more times, and luckily each one is worth listening to again.... but first I have to get that amazing 2 Cd Roky Erickson set out of my CD player.
Hellacopters; Rock + Roll is Dead: sounds like more By the Grace of God type 70's rock, only without as many strong songs.
Turbonegro: Party Animals... See the Hellacopters review, only is Scandinavian Leather type stuff not By The Grace of God stuff
Epoxies: Stop the Future- I like it, but it's on the noisy side and really needs more pop to gather mass appeal
Screaming Trees: Ocean of Confusion- solid retrospective of an undervalued band... the bonus tracks are ok, but not great.
really I need to listen to all four of these albums a couple of more times, and luckily each one is worth listening to again.... but first I have to get that amazing 2 Cd Roky Erickson set out of my CD player.
For the last couple of weeks have been reading a lot of crime novels. It started when I read about a new book by George Pelecanos who is a writer for The Wire which is one of the best shows ever to appear on TV. I picked up a couple of his book and did some research on him. Having read a half dozen or so of his books and taken a break from them to read other stuff I have formed a few thoughts on his work.
First I dig that he integrates music into his work. His characters are often listening to various rock, pop, soul (old school 70s Soul), punk, alternative and jazz music. It fills them out in the same way that other crime novel vets are filled out by mention of what kind of beer they drink or car that they drive and Pelecanos includes that kind of stuff as well. I wish that more pop lit, of which I consider the crime novel a sub-genre of, had the guts to talk about the pop culture that surrounds us all.
Secondly his stories are often filled with the juxtaposition of urban criminals and rural criminals. He talks about their interactions and culture clashes, even though at their core they are all the same, scummy dope pushing pussy hounds out to snatch as much cash as possible. Psychos either way, wearing Nikes or shit kickers, Stetsons or raiders hats.
What I realize about his stuff is that its much more about people caught up in the business of it all, sure he has a few psychos drifting though the books, but mostly its greedy fucks out to fuck each other for what ever they can get.
Speaking of psycho, the Pelecanos books led me to the work of Michael Connelly, who writes crime novels centered around Los Angeles and Los Vegas. I have read 3 of his books so far, Void Moon, The Poet and The Narrows. Void Moon was basically a caper book, with the main character, a woman which you really dont see all that much in hard-boiled crime novels by men, about prowl artist who is looking for that one big score. I enjoyed that book and it, along with a nice endorsement from Stephen King got me to read The Poet.
The Poet is a serial killer story (yawn! I was over those years ago) that was hyped as scary and tense, it was ok. By ok I mean it had its moments and some very good prose, but nothing earth shattering. More than anything I see that it was the twist ending and high concept idea of the book that surprised and delighted most people, but in the end it didnt have that mania and fire, that ultimate darkness of the human soul and flawed people that would make it really a classic to me. The Narrows is sequel with the same killer and the same FBI agent tracking him, along with another Connelly regular character along for the ride. Once again it was OK, and to be honest it hasnt inspired me to pick up any more of Connellys work, what it has done is sent me back to reading the real master of the modern crime novel, James Ellroy.
Its been a decade since I discovered his work. I read everything that he had written up to that point and have followed his work since then. He is one of the few authors that I kept up with in the late 90s when my reading habits changed and I gave up following Tony Hillerman, T. Jefferson Parker and Robert Parker.
I have been rereading one of his early books, 'Because the Night' which is the last of his Lloyd Hopkins books. Hes said that he created Hopkins because he was advised to create a series character and build a follow with the series. I heard him say somewhere that he really learned how to write novels from those three books. I read the books all those years ago and this is the first time that I have picked one up, and comparing it to the Connelly books I can see why I dont find Connelly all that shocking or dark.
Even when he was shilling for a crime novel career Ellroy had the magic. His plots are basic and really hes setting up a good monster and a bad monster for a clash at the end, but its the ride thats worth it.
When I was 18 I had a high school teacher tell me I was way too young to be as cynical (and I assume jaded) as I was at the time. He was right, so maybe thats why I dont find Ellroy all that dark, or scary. I find him to be honest about that darkness, just as I try to be honest about mine.
And this is where it gets personal; I have looked into another kind of darkness. I didnt have LA in the 60s and 70s, a murdered mother, a dying father, and a minor league crime career to inform my understanding of inhumanity. I had Ann Arbor Michigan; I had a dead father and a mother who refused to see the reality of the world around us. I had PC-FemiNazis telling me every male was a criminal in my high school. I had dopy we love everyone hippie crits living in ivory towers while slippie madness was fomenting under the current of that quite little college town. We may not have had the murder rate of LA or DC, but we had death just the same. A murder a year, and most of them were over the top, suicides, rapes, weird accidental deaths, and car accidents and of course drug O.D.s.
So I am going to keep on reading these crime novels and try to write my own. I have some ideas that I have been playing with for years, its a matter of putting them down and letting them out.
First I dig that he integrates music into his work. His characters are often listening to various rock, pop, soul (old school 70s Soul), punk, alternative and jazz music. It fills them out in the same way that other crime novel vets are filled out by mention of what kind of beer they drink or car that they drive and Pelecanos includes that kind of stuff as well. I wish that more pop lit, of which I consider the crime novel a sub-genre of, had the guts to talk about the pop culture that surrounds us all.
Secondly his stories are often filled with the juxtaposition of urban criminals and rural criminals. He talks about their interactions and culture clashes, even though at their core they are all the same, scummy dope pushing pussy hounds out to snatch as much cash as possible. Psychos either way, wearing Nikes or shit kickers, Stetsons or raiders hats.
What I realize about his stuff is that its much more about people caught up in the business of it all, sure he has a few psychos drifting though the books, but mostly its greedy fucks out to fuck each other for what ever they can get.
Speaking of psycho, the Pelecanos books led me to the work of Michael Connelly, who writes crime novels centered around Los Angeles and Los Vegas. I have read 3 of his books so far, Void Moon, The Poet and The Narrows. Void Moon was basically a caper book, with the main character, a woman which you really dont see all that much in hard-boiled crime novels by men, about prowl artist who is looking for that one big score. I enjoyed that book and it, along with a nice endorsement from Stephen King got me to read The Poet.
The Poet is a serial killer story (yawn! I was over those years ago) that was hyped as scary and tense, it was ok. By ok I mean it had its moments and some very good prose, but nothing earth shattering. More than anything I see that it was the twist ending and high concept idea of the book that surprised and delighted most people, but in the end it didnt have that mania and fire, that ultimate darkness of the human soul and flawed people that would make it really a classic to me. The Narrows is sequel with the same killer and the same FBI agent tracking him, along with another Connelly regular character along for the ride. Once again it was OK, and to be honest it hasnt inspired me to pick up any more of Connellys work, what it has done is sent me back to reading the real master of the modern crime novel, James Ellroy.
Its been a decade since I discovered his work. I read everything that he had written up to that point and have followed his work since then. He is one of the few authors that I kept up with in the late 90s when my reading habits changed and I gave up following Tony Hillerman, T. Jefferson Parker and Robert Parker.
I have been rereading one of his early books, 'Because the Night' which is the last of his Lloyd Hopkins books. Hes said that he created Hopkins because he was advised to create a series character and build a follow with the series. I heard him say somewhere that he really learned how to write novels from those three books. I read the books all those years ago and this is the first time that I have picked one up, and comparing it to the Connelly books I can see why I dont find Connelly all that shocking or dark.
Even when he was shilling for a crime novel career Ellroy had the magic. His plots are basic and really hes setting up a good monster and a bad monster for a clash at the end, but its the ride thats worth it.
When I was 18 I had a high school teacher tell me I was way too young to be as cynical (and I assume jaded) as I was at the time. He was right, so maybe thats why I dont find Ellroy all that dark, or scary. I find him to be honest about that darkness, just as I try to be honest about mine.
And this is where it gets personal; I have looked into another kind of darkness. I didnt have LA in the 60s and 70s, a murdered mother, a dying father, and a minor league crime career to inform my understanding of inhumanity. I had Ann Arbor Michigan; I had a dead father and a mother who refused to see the reality of the world around us. I had PC-FemiNazis telling me every male was a criminal in my high school. I had dopy we love everyone hippie crits living in ivory towers while slippie madness was fomenting under the current of that quite little college town. We may not have had the murder rate of LA or DC, but we had death just the same. A murder a year, and most of them were over the top, suicides, rapes, weird accidental deaths, and car accidents and of course drug O.D.s.
So I am going to keep on reading these crime novels and try to write my own. I have some ideas that I have been playing with for years, its a matter of putting them down and letting them out.
