Liberals treat dogs like people, Conservatives treat people like dogs

Friday, August 27

Friday Fives

1. What is your dirty little secret, anyway? I have none that aren't already on the state of Colorado's 10 most wanted list 2. What were/are some of your favorite toys ever? I would have to say the big wheel brought me the most allowable maximum joy as a child. Next would be the bicycle, I lived on my bike 3. See if you can remember all the jobs you've ever had (paying, non-allowance related jobs) wanna see? bag boy, bus boy, KFC, Jack in the Box, telemarketing, Greenpeace, delivering Chinese food, Target, Furst Group, Nextel, Echostar, Nextel 4. What album influenced you the most in high school or college? in high school is was probably 'Electric Ladyland' by Hendrix, and college would definately be 'Siamese Dream' from the Smashing Pumpkins. 5. What are your top five pizza toppings? Five is too many, first off. We begin with pepperoni. A nice touch might also be green bell peppers and pineapple. Anyone who might put olives or mushrooms on a pizza is NOT YOUR FRIEND via Roy

Thursday, August 26

Friday Fives

ed note: this week, after a huge falling out with Roy over compensation... we have a guest questionater thingy person . His name is Dan, and he boiled up some good stuff for us. What follows are his questions and my subsequent rants. Gee, who needs Roy now?
1. In the late 60's and early 70's music was such a huge influence on our culture. We actually thought that music could change our world, and to some extent, it did. What the hell happened to that? Have the music makers gotten lazy or do we expect less from them? Good question. I wasn't born at the time, but I can speculate because I feel we are in a very similar time. First off, it seemed some great leaders got killed off. Some of those leaders were the Kennedy brothers, and Martin Luther King. All we had left in the leader department became musicians. Bad idea! For as much hope and goodness they hold... rock stars are basically self indulgent children who haven't matured past 21 years old. Anyone one of them who lived past 27 will tell you that. Oh yeah, most didn't live past 27.** 2. Do the powers that be in the record industry that try to sell us the shitty music that's popular today expect Brittany Spears and Justin Timberlake to replace people like John Lennon and Bob Dylan? As much as it seems we are only being handled swill... this is the music of our choosing. We wouldn't have Brittney Spears on every corner if people didn't buy her CDs. Of course the world would be a better place with more Joe Myers and less Backside Boys... but we have made our own bed here people. If you think pop music sucks, turn off your Clear Channel station and listen to some independent music. Go see a local band live. Try and spend 1 day without purchasing a single thing at a national chain store. We have some modern day Lennon's and Dylans (sadly though, Dylan is not one of them any more). It may be 20 years before we recognize them. 3. Do you think pop music will ever be as socially meaningful and relevant as it once was? Without question, I do. In fact, it already is. Look at the whole Dixie Chicks/ Toby Keith flap, that is some entertaining shit y'all. Pearl Jam have been ostracized for speaking out against the current regime, and Bruce Springsteen has put it all on the line to fight for change. These individuals, who lived through Nixon and Vietnam, are calling this the most important election of our time. This is a great and exciting and crazy time to be alive and aware. This is heavy shit my friend, because I feel regrettably that it is very much us vs them. That kind of sucks, because nobody wins when things are this polarized. 4. Does the "bling bling" mean more to the general public now than peace and love? I don't believe our values are any different than they ever were. Peace and love is critical for anyone to succeed and score the bling. Look at Maslow's Hiarchy of Needs. In order for people to be happy and successful and reach self actualization, they first need the basics: shelter, food, love. So, if even unconsciously, we all must have peace and love before we can do a thing. I feel for the Republicans, their self actualization goal is to provide for themselves... which is smart. However, I think Democrats like myself want to make sure that everyone possible can have their base needs met, then we can all go after actualization together. I also don't think we need to sacrifice anything to make this a reality. We just need to re-allocate some assets. 5. Am I preaching too much with this line of questioning? Not at all! These are exactly the questions that need to be asked! These questions are why there is still hope. It means people are thinking about these issues and are concerned. There is still good rock and roll, and we still have good leaders. Maybe we just have to look a little harder for them these days. via Dan ** seriously, all of them: Robert Johnson, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Pigpen, Brad Nowell, Shannon Hoon... the list goes on

Monday, August 23

Finally turned a corner

So, I finally turned the big corner this weekend on the whole digital music thing. It came in two parts. In a nutshell, I am working to go digital and flexible and get rid of all my CDs. I bought a 128 meg flash drive at Shitty Customer Service Company and love it. I can put two CD's worth of info on this thing which is the size of a pen cap. It was $20, and I already ripped an album onto it so it's paid for. God, I am such a dick. Why couldn't I have spent the $20 supporting a real musician who needs the sales figures to pay rent and keep from getting dropped by their label? It gets worse. Just tonight I was listening to the new Steve Winwood CD. I was listening to it on my computer, because that is where I listen to all new music (the car is tuned to NPR and it's KCUV online digital stream at work... I no longer listen to any Clear Channel stations.) Anyhow, I am thinking 'this is a really great disc, I should burn it to listen in the truck'! How wrong is that? I am listening to a CD thinking 'Hey, I should make this into a CD sometime!' I have become totally desensitized to sharing digital music. I don't even use Cds when I can help it. I drop everything onto my computers hard drive and work from there. Instead of getting into an ethics debate on all this digital music (of which I disagree with myself on almost every level), I just wanted to note that I have jumped over the edge of the digital music divide and have no intention of turning back. I should note a couple of things: this Winwood disc really is great, it's very jammy... but only in the sense of the man who INVENTED jam music. Steve Winwood is a rock god for one single accomplishment - he wrote and sang 'Gimme Some Lovin' as head of the Spencer David Group. Great song, huh? Oh, and he was sixteen years old at the time. Listen, I don't even wanna know what you were doing when you were sixteen, but I doubt you were inventing rock at the time. Traffic kicks monster ass too, but I can save all that for my other blog. A second point is that the very wonderful people at KBCO gave me this CD as a promotional thingy for something or other. Though KBCO is one of those Clear Channel stations, they have been nothing to amazing to my family. They sent us to Dallas for four days to watch Clapton play with... ah just read the piece. KBCO are good people, and it is possible Clear Channel is too... but I am sick of John Mayer and Dave Matthews. * part two to come - my goal of a disc-less society, and the irony of Napster manufacturing blank CDs.