August 2004 Archives

Suffering the slings and arrows of cramped housework, camping in the attic WITH TWO KIDS, and trails of LEAD DUST, it's been a blog-free week. MEA CRAPPA CULPA. But here's what we've been listening to: Toscannini GREATEST CONDUCTOR series, Brahms Fourth; Beastie Boys CHECK YOUR HEAD (organ! melody!); Burrito Supreme (Garth!); Christian Tetzlaff BRAHMS VIOLIN SONATAS; and on 88.1 WMBR, "Nothing But a Heartache," by the Flirtations.

I LOVE THE SOUND OF BREAKING GLASS: Brett Milano fries up Phish about right, making Rush sound reasonable by comparison. The following week in the same rag, Carly Carioli screeds on Little Steven's Underground Garage Fest. Most reporters noted note how Bruce introduced Rochester's Chesterfield Kings, but nobody reported on the lineup, what they played, or how other band bowed down to them (and the Lyres) backstage. Special mention: Somerville's the Charms.

This from Bagnews Notes (referred by First Draft and the mighty Atrios):

In his Arts (and Politics) column in the NYTimes about a half year ago, Frank Rich speculated that the biggest reelection blind spot for Bush had to do with his ignorance of popular culture. This article was written just as the wheels were coming off the Dean wagon, but at the same time, people were realizing how much his sudden rise was fueled by the (populist) internet.

Despite the skill and savvy of Rove & Co., the model they operate out of is a generation behind, geared too much toward the tools (direct marketing) and constituencies (Bush Pioneers, fossil fuel industry) of pre-dot com culture and consciousness.
[snip]

Despite the level of creative energy circulating now (eg: the backlash to Bush in popular culture; Bush has catalyzed an emotional, expressive response that is building exponentially toward November - viz. Bruce Springsteen's recent decision to get involved) it's not that Bush & co. are failing to push back on it, it's that they don't even register it.

[First Draft reply:] This has been my perception for some time. The zeitgeist has been moving left since the start of the Iraq War. It is leaving the Bush administration and the Bush campaign behind. Even putting Jenna and notJenna in the campaign are too little, too late to catch up.

Links to the Springsteen NYTimes editorial, and transcript from his Nightline appearance.

This Just In

Word of a televised Central Park concert during the RNC. (Not yet posted.)

Wisconsin Public Radio
Tuesday, August 10, 2004  at  10:00 AM
Veronica Rueckert's guest, after ten, says that, contrary to what conservative critics say, rock'n roll has helped baby boomers and later generations become better friends, better parents, and better citizens. Guest: Tim Riley, pop critic, "Here and Now", NPR. Author, “Tell Me Why: A Beatles Commentary”, “Hard Rain: A Dylan Commentary” and “Fever: How Rock’n Roll Transformed Gender in America” (St. Martin’s Press). Archive audio page, here's my segment in Real Audio format.

Quote of the Week

"What I can say is that's possible to make a very nice living and still get totally screwed..."--Harry Shearer on THE SIMPSONS in Ireland's Breaking News.ie.

Still trying to make sense of what I saw at the DNC on Wednesday night and how it got covered. The Fleet center was abuzz with scads of bright, young, energetic, active, idea-driven, hard-working people, and the journalists I saw on TV the day after were tired, cynical, self-obsessed, patronizing slugs. You couldn't get a seat in the hall after a certain point, but walking around the place was a pure thrill if only for the sport of people-watching and celeb sightings. A lot of us gravitated to the Comcast booth where a large-screen TV was airing a live feed, and crowds gathered for the major speakers.

Al Sharpton may not be Mr. Integrity, but he is a voice for change from within the system, and there was a serious thrill that passed through his audience as he left his text. Of course, we only learned he left his text after the fact, but it was clear that if much of his Bush stuff had been vetted, something weird was going on, it was way too frank and impassioned. And he had his audience riding on every wave, most people forgot who he was and a lot of his past and just rolled with it. It was news, it was electric, it was everything the DNC had airbrushed out of the proceedings: just by being there, Sharpton argued that Bush was far worse than any Tawana Brawley, and most of us enjoyed the red meat he slung. There was very little of substance to argue with when he said "If Bush had been President 50 years ago Clarence Thomas would have never made it to law school..."

This got him Sharpton into trouble, but only the kind a black man knows too well: damned if he stays on script, damned if he strays. "When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose..." Even soap liberals like Doris Kearns Goodwin and Newsweek's Howard Fineman told Chris Matthews Sharpton was an embarrassment, that even BLACK folks should be insulted (and we know how "black folks" love it when Whitey tells them how to feel). Matthews threw it down to a reporter at the podium who stuck a mic in Sharpton's face to explain "whatever it was you were riffing on..." As Jon Stewart retorted, "YOU WERE THERE!"

It all reminded me of Jesse Jackson's "hymie-town" apology in 1988 (?), which was seriously stirring and provoked a huge yawn from Sam Donaldson. Can't a flawed politician give a great speech? How long are we going to treat black politicians as fringe figures in American life? How come not a single network anchor is black? How come none of the talking heads I saw covering this convention were black? Why should blacks continue participating if Democrats and the media systematically neuter their presence?

ONE LAST THING: as the headline suggests, the DNC house band cooked, but I haven't been able to find anything so much as a lineup. Got a clue?