"It (waterboarding) wasn't used when I was director of national intelligence, nor even a few years before that," he said. "I get concerned that we're too retrospective and tend to look in the rearview mirror too often at things that happened four or even six years ago." – John Negroponte, evil-doer.
Waterboarding is "an important tool." – Dick Cheney
"The things that I used to do, Lord I don’t do them no more." – Elmore James, poet
In a court of law, how much weight do you think this statement by the accused would carry, "Your honor, I know I stole that car, and used it to sell heroin, but that was in 2003, your honor. I don't do that no more."
Congress has it wrong. There is a taste for justice in America. American is now the face of evil in the world. The Republicans have crushed every ounce of the humanity, compassion, justice and morality that Americans thought they stood for.
Obama nor anyone else on the Democratic side can bring us together as long as the Republicans carry on as though they've done nothing wrong. The day that a major figure rises in the Republican Party who is sincere about working out America's problems alongside Democrats, any attempt by the Democrats to be "bipartisan" is doomed.
For proof, check the record of the 110th Congress. The Mitch McConnell's and John Boehner's of the world have not moved an inch. What's Obama or anyone else going to do about them? Remember, JFK and his brother may have inspired a generation but they were murdered along with Martin Luther King by people of the same mentality who waterboard, or order waterboarding.
The depth of the evil the Republicans and those who comply with them is staggering and unabated. Let's be clear about that. No need to enumerate their sins here. We know what they are. Congress does too, yet they will not act.
Criminals. Criminal acts deserve criminal penalties. A man goes to jail for years for the crime of smoking crack in a pipe. The Republicans get rich from their crimes. And laugh at people like us.
Congress, where is your sense of justice? Or are you just as complicit, cozy in your little club in Washington.
Americans want justice. We think of ourselves as a just nation. Where is the justice for the criminals of the Bush administration…from the top down.
Yes, you've heard all this before. No, it can't be repeated enough.
this also appears on huffingtonpost.com
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Thara Memory's New CD Captures His Mind and His Spirit
Thara Memory had a trumpet in his left hand. With the other he was gesturing to the musicians gathered around him in the rehearsal hall of the Musicians Union in NE Portland one bleak morning last week.
Janice Scroggins was at the old upright piano. Derek Sims was on trumpet, Renato Caranto was on tenor sax, Stevie Ray Mays played bass and Israel Annoh was on drums…five of the ten musicians he will have in his band at Jimmy Mak’s this Saturday, January 26, for a CD release concert.
Memory, as is his nature, was part conductor, part teacher, both intellectual and street. He traded abuse with Mays, chided Sims for playing too many notes, stopped a tune in the middle to tell Annoh to "swing the hi-hat." Paused to tell them all, "I'm coming back!" pointing out how he is getting a new set of lower teeth, and telling them that he was going to try a new treatment for one of the symptoms of diabetes that has ravaged him.
Yet he was forever Thara: smarter than you, can play better than you, knows everything from Beethoven to James Brown to Clifford Brown and back again. And if you're gonna play in his band, you're going to do it right.
The double CD album, Chronicles, is four years in the making and it is stunning. "The whole album is the adventures in my life," he told me. "To make sure that the beats didn't get lost. Many of them have. I listen for them, but the guys who are making beats now are not even thirty years old yet, they don't have any sense of history."
That's not old-school whining. That's the disturbing word from one still out on the frontiers.
Those beats are jazz, soul and funk. Anybody who has ever heard Thara's bands knows that he can throw down the funk as tough as anyone ever has, fly through hard bop with breathtaking agility, and play smooth soul music tender enough to make you cry.
It's all here.
Included on the album are four parts of a suite, "Alright Here We Go…" They are called "Hungerford H.S. Marching Band" after his high school near Orlando, Florida. That school set Thara on his musical journey.
"It had a very inclusive music program," he remembered. "We did everything. We played jazz in the marching band…concert band music…kept up with the new Ray Charles things, Miles things. It didn’t make any difference to us. We arranged, wrote, sang, danced…whatever was necessary. When I graduated from high school, I had two years of college training under my belt."
Caranto, trombonist Stan Bock, and Thara himself take sparkling solos, particularly Caranto on soprano sax, an instrument on which he's not as well known.
It's tempting to say that this album sums up the life of Thara Memory, given the state of his health. I choose not to think that way. His fire still lights up a room, and it will at Jimmy Mak's.
This was written for livepdx.com and appears there.
Janice Scroggins was at the old upright piano. Derek Sims was on trumpet, Renato Caranto was on tenor sax, Stevie Ray Mays played bass and Israel Annoh was on drums…five of the ten musicians he will have in his band at Jimmy Mak’s this Saturday, January 26, for a CD release concert.
Memory, as is his nature, was part conductor, part teacher, both intellectual and street. He traded abuse with Mays, chided Sims for playing too many notes, stopped a tune in the middle to tell Annoh to "swing the hi-hat." Paused to tell them all, "I'm coming back!" pointing out how he is getting a new set of lower teeth, and telling them that he was going to try a new treatment for one of the symptoms of diabetes that has ravaged him.
Yet he was forever Thara: smarter than you, can play better than you, knows everything from Beethoven to James Brown to Clifford Brown and back again. And if you're gonna play in his band, you're going to do it right.
The double CD album, Chronicles, is four years in the making and it is stunning. "The whole album is the adventures in my life," he told me. "To make sure that the beats didn't get lost. Many of them have. I listen for them, but the guys who are making beats now are not even thirty years old yet, they don't have any sense of history."
That's not old-school whining. That's the disturbing word from one still out on the frontiers.
Those beats are jazz, soul and funk. Anybody who has ever heard Thara's bands knows that he can throw down the funk as tough as anyone ever has, fly through hard bop with breathtaking agility, and play smooth soul music tender enough to make you cry.
It's all here.
Included on the album are four parts of a suite, "Alright Here We Go…" They are called "Hungerford H.S. Marching Band" after his high school near Orlando, Florida. That school set Thara on his musical journey.
"It had a very inclusive music program," he remembered. "We did everything. We played jazz in the marching band…concert band music…kept up with the new Ray Charles things, Miles things. It didn’t make any difference to us. We arranged, wrote, sang, danced…whatever was necessary. When I graduated from high school, I had two years of college training under my belt."
Caranto, trombonist Stan Bock, and Thara himself take sparkling solos, particularly Caranto on soprano sax, an instrument on which he's not as well known.
It's tempting to say that this album sums up the life of Thara Memory, given the state of his health. I choose not to think that way. His fire still lights up a room, and it will at Jimmy Mak's.
This was written for livepdx.com and appears there.
Candidates In Pissing Contest as Washington Burns
This week the U.S. Senate Democrats caved in again….twice. Once on re-authorizing illegal domestic spying by giving immunity to the Telcos' past criminal offenses. Next on the spare change hand-out which patronizes most of America.
That was bad enough. Bad enough to make one lose further faith in the Congressional Democrats who voted with Bush. It another example of the Democrats' litany of "we want to work with the Republicans and stop the partisan bickering," in action. In fact, 99% of the partisan bickering has come from the Republicans.
What's worse is that Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were absent from duty while this was going on, missing both votes and engaging in a juvenile pissing contest while campaigning.
Amidst the pissing, they had a few things to say about what they would do if elected. Back when they were running for Senate, they also told voters what they would do. Unfortunately, they did not promise those who voted to elect them to Congress that they would miss two of the most important votes of the year by talking smack at each other while running for President.
The media, needing no excuses to ignore substantive issues, loves a fight. Therefore, the two votes that Clinton and Obama missed were also missed by most of the media, or buried so far down that they bumped up against the day's Brittney Spears incident.
Since they didn't make the votes, they obviously couldn't talk about the issues, thereby ignoring the issues. Vicious cycle isn't it?
All this is supposed to make us have faith that either one of them can bring us change? For a dollar, maybe.
The Dems know they have us progressives by the balls. We have nowhere else to go. We're not going to allow another Republican to be elected, or to steal another election. There's no alternative. And Mayor Billionberg won't get us.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
Who is to say that, even with a Democratic President and Congress, what needs to get done WILL get done? I'll believe it when I see it and all I see is the Republican in the White House having his agenda furthered by a Democratic Congress, in the face of his overwhelming unpopularity in America.
To hope that the candidates will stop pissing on each other and begin to deal with their responsibilities as United States Senators and as the future President, is about the same as hoping you'll win PowerBall. And yet we go back and play again and again. That is our strength and our folly.
This also appears on huffingtonpost.com
That was bad enough. Bad enough to make one lose further faith in the Congressional Democrats who voted with Bush. It another example of the Democrats' litany of "we want to work with the Republicans and stop the partisan bickering," in action. In fact, 99% of the partisan bickering has come from the Republicans.
What's worse is that Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were absent from duty while this was going on, missing both votes and engaging in a juvenile pissing contest while campaigning.
Amidst the pissing, they had a few things to say about what they would do if elected. Back when they were running for Senate, they also told voters what they would do. Unfortunately, they did not promise those who voted to elect them to Congress that they would miss two of the most important votes of the year by talking smack at each other while running for President.
The media, needing no excuses to ignore substantive issues, loves a fight. Therefore, the two votes that Clinton and Obama missed were also missed by most of the media, or buried so far down that they bumped up against the day's Brittney Spears incident.
Since they didn't make the votes, they obviously couldn't talk about the issues, thereby ignoring the issues. Vicious cycle isn't it?
All this is supposed to make us have faith that either one of them can bring us change? For a dollar, maybe.
The Dems know they have us progressives by the balls. We have nowhere else to go. We're not going to allow another Republican to be elected, or to steal another election. There's no alternative. And Mayor Billionberg won't get us.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
Who is to say that, even with a Democratic President and Congress, what needs to get done WILL get done? I'll believe it when I see it and all I see is the Republican in the White House having his agenda furthered by a Democratic Congress, in the face of his overwhelming unpopularity in America.
To hope that the candidates will stop pissing on each other and begin to deal with their responsibilities as United States Senators and as the future President, is about the same as hoping you'll win PowerBall. And yet we go back and play again and again. That is our strength and our folly.
This also appears on huffingtonpost.com
Friday, January 18, 2008
How To Read Bill Kristol
There's one thing you can say about Bill Kristol, he's consistent.
He reminds me of the movie critic on a TV show I used to be on. The rule of thumb was if he liked it, I hated it, and if he hated it, I was first in line the next day to see it.
If I were to read Kristol's pieces in the NYT Op-Ed, that's how I would approach it. I don't ever plan to read one, and that paper has been greatly diminished in my eyes because they hired him, but if you really want to know what's going on, read Kristol and believe the opposite.
He hasn't been right about anything, not ever.
The latest example of what not to believe came when he said on Fox News that Sen. Clinton was faking her emotional moment in New Hampshire. He said it with great conviction. He was so wrong even BRITT HUME disagreed with him.
He says Clinton faked it? She must have been sincere.
Of course, he has been wrong about bigger things, Iraq for instance. Everything he's ever said on Iraq, for instance. There is blood on his hands which he has now wiped off on the Op-Ed page of the New York Times.
Meanwhile, if you're ever stuck someplace and you can't avoid Kristol, just use this rule: If Bill Kristol says something, always believe the opposite. You can't go wrong.
Remember, he's the man who said that the Iraq war "could have terrifically good effects throughout the Middle East," and "Very few wars in American history were prepared better or more thoroughly than this one by this president."
And Plan 9 From Outer Space is one of the great American films of all time.
this also appears on huffingtonpost.com
He reminds me of the movie critic on a TV show I used to be on. The rule of thumb was if he liked it, I hated it, and if he hated it, I was first in line the next day to see it.
If I were to read Kristol's pieces in the NYT Op-Ed, that's how I would approach it. I don't ever plan to read one, and that paper has been greatly diminished in my eyes because they hired him, but if you really want to know what's going on, read Kristol and believe the opposite.
He hasn't been right about anything, not ever.
The latest example of what not to believe came when he said on Fox News that Sen. Clinton was faking her emotional moment in New Hampshire. He said it with great conviction. He was so wrong even BRITT HUME disagreed with him.
He says Clinton faked it? She must have been sincere.
Of course, he has been wrong about bigger things, Iraq for instance. Everything he's ever said on Iraq, for instance. There is blood on his hands which he has now wiped off on the Op-Ed page of the New York Times.
Meanwhile, if you're ever stuck someplace and you can't avoid Kristol, just use this rule: If Bill Kristol says something, always believe the opposite. You can't go wrong.
Remember, he's the man who said that the Iraq war "could have terrifically good effects throughout the Middle East," and "Very few wars in American history were prepared better or more thoroughly than this one by this president."
And Plan 9 From Outer Space is one of the great American films of all time.
this also appears on huffingtonpost.com
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
This week's LivePDX.com music blog.
News and Gossip: LV's Goes Silent (For Now), Summer Dreams, Potential Awards Train Wreck
While I continue to devour Louis Armstrong's New Orleans, the best book on the history of jazz I've ever read...
The first glimmer of warmth and sun is in. Negotiations are underway for the 2008 Waterfront Blues Festival. They're working on getting the Pine Leaf Boys, the Cajun/Creole band from Southern Louisiana and featuring the amazing fiddler/accordionist Cedric Watson. Other New Orleans bands in the plans are a Stanton Moore trio and Alan Toussaint, who is in San Francisco on July 6. Money might keep him away. He's expensive. Nobody's confirmed. We can hope.
I have been lobbying/begging for Bonerama, Washboard Chaz and any band with Skerik in it.
Willamette Week broke the original story, but the Craig Marquardo saga continues. You may remember him from when he was caught in several lies when he was involved in trying to bring a major league baseball team to Portland. Turns out, lying is a full time business. Read the comments with each of those stories.
He now publishes Music Spectator Magazine and is behind the Portland Music Awards planned for the Roseland on Monday, January 28. Apparently he's up to the same old monkey-business. One broadcaster said, "We…have been in contact with some of the performers and musicians listed on his 'Nominee List,' and they're beginning to drop out like Poll numbers. Let's hope this isn't another of his 'Big Plans.'"
Another music insider told me, "…a lot of the bands who he says are playing never agreed to play." And yet another said, "…he’s way out of touch based on my ‘conversation’ with him — he talked for 25 minutes. I listened."
Also turns out he has started booking music at the Pine Street Bistro (formerly Abu Karim), which has been struggling since it changed hands. Someone who is involved confirmed that, "[The new owner] now has Craig Marquardo doing the booking and promo for him, of all people."
He's on the wrong track and headed for you.
The guitarist I mentioned a few weeks ago who is starting his own label? Terry Robb. The name of the label? PsycheDelta. It will be distributed by Allegro. The diva he's about to sign? Still embargoed. Robb produced John Callahan's album Purple Winos In the Rain. John self-released at first, but now it'll be on Terry's label.
What you learn when you hang around the NW Film Center's Reel Music Festival on opening night: 1) the very well dressed NW Film Center Regional Services Coordinator Thomas Phillipson is a closet accordionist who prefers Western Swing and wouldn't be caught dead playing polka; 2) the two Dylan films reinforced how mean and arrogant he was back then; and 3) people who come to music films and insist on humming along with the tunes should have their own private section. It isn't karaoke, idiots.
Pi-Rem is back open. Two of the owners are gone and the third has returned to his studies in Berkeley, but the show goes on! A new entrance around back replaces the riot-lighting in the old lobby entrance. Don't bother checking online, their site hasn't caught up yet.
The rumor is the sad truth: LV's is silent. Here's what Darrell Grant emailed: "For the moment, it is clear that LV's Uptown, as we knew it, is no more. While I sincerely hope the [new owners] choose to make music a part of the vision for the restaurant, and believe it would be to their benefit to do so, they are (rightly, in my opinion) focused on completing their remodel, and getting the restaurant in shape to promote it to the public and attract patrons. They have left the door open to future discussions on music at the restaurant, (and they kept the stage.)
I also have to take some responsibility in this transition, as it coincides with my desire to take a break from the ongoing weekly responsibilities of booking, administering and promoting a live music venue, which I've been doing for almost three years."
Was that Pink Martini I heard in an American Express TV spot?
Biggest regret of the week: New Orleans Saxophonist Reggie Houston invited me over for his red beans and rice, plus the BCS championship football game on TV, and I couldn't make it!
While I continue to devour Louis Armstrong's New Orleans, the best book on the history of jazz I've ever read...
The first glimmer of warmth and sun is in. Negotiations are underway for the 2008 Waterfront Blues Festival. They're working on getting the Pine Leaf Boys, the Cajun/Creole band from Southern Louisiana and featuring the amazing fiddler/accordionist Cedric Watson. Other New Orleans bands in the plans are a Stanton Moore trio and Alan Toussaint, who is in San Francisco on July 6. Money might keep him away. He's expensive. Nobody's confirmed. We can hope.
I have been lobbying/begging for Bonerama, Washboard Chaz and any band with Skerik in it.
Willamette Week broke the original story, but the Craig Marquardo saga continues. You may remember him from when he was caught in several lies when he was involved in trying to bring a major league baseball team to Portland. Turns out, lying is a full time business. Read the comments with each of those stories.
He now publishes Music Spectator Magazine and is behind the Portland Music Awards planned for the Roseland on Monday, January 28. Apparently he's up to the same old monkey-business. One broadcaster said, "We…have been in contact with some of the performers and musicians listed on his 'Nominee List,' and they're beginning to drop out like Poll numbers. Let's hope this isn't another of his 'Big Plans.'"
Another music insider told me, "…a lot of the bands who he says are playing never agreed to play." And yet another said, "…he’s way out of touch based on my ‘conversation’ with him — he talked for 25 minutes. I listened."
Also turns out he has started booking music at the Pine Street Bistro (formerly Abu Karim), which has been struggling since it changed hands. Someone who is involved confirmed that, "[The new owner] now has Craig Marquardo doing the booking and promo for him, of all people."
He's on the wrong track and headed for you.
The guitarist I mentioned a few weeks ago who is starting his own label? Terry Robb. The name of the label? PsycheDelta. It will be distributed by Allegro. The diva he's about to sign? Still embargoed. Robb produced John Callahan's album Purple Winos In the Rain. John self-released at first, but now it'll be on Terry's label.
What you learn when you hang around the NW Film Center's Reel Music Festival on opening night: 1) the very well dressed NW Film Center Regional Services Coordinator Thomas Phillipson is a closet accordionist who prefers Western Swing and wouldn't be caught dead playing polka; 2) the two Dylan films reinforced how mean and arrogant he was back then; and 3) people who come to music films and insist on humming along with the tunes should have their own private section. It isn't karaoke, idiots.
Pi-Rem is back open. Two of the owners are gone and the third has returned to his studies in Berkeley, but the show goes on! A new entrance around back replaces the riot-lighting in the old lobby entrance. Don't bother checking online, their site hasn't caught up yet.
The rumor is the sad truth: LV's is silent. Here's what Darrell Grant emailed: "For the moment, it is clear that LV's Uptown, as we knew it, is no more. While I sincerely hope the [new owners] choose to make music a part of the vision for the restaurant, and believe it would be to their benefit to do so, they are (rightly, in my opinion) focused on completing their remodel, and getting the restaurant in shape to promote it to the public and attract patrons. They have left the door open to future discussions on music at the restaurant, (and they kept the stage.)
I also have to take some responsibility in this transition, as it coincides with my desire to take a break from the ongoing weekly responsibilities of booking, administering and promoting a live music venue, which I've been doing for almost three years."
Was that Pink Martini I heard in an American Express TV spot?
Biggest regret of the week: New Orleans Saxophonist Reggie Houston invited me over for his red beans and rice, plus the BCS championship football game on TV, and I couldn't make it!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Mary Flower on my KMHD show Saturday Night!
Internationally-known guitarist and 2008 Handy Award nominiee Mary Flower will be my studio guest at 10:15pm on KMHD radio 89.1 fm and streaming at www.kmhd.fm. She'll be bringing in a set of music she's been listening to.
She's appearing with Reggie Houston at Mississippi Studios in Portland on Saturday Jan 26.
She's appearing with Reggie Houston at Mississippi Studios in Portland on Saturday Jan 26.
My livepdx.com Music Blog
I am writing a weekly music blog on livepdx.com. You can find it here. Here's last week's:
Blotto Barfly Bus on New Year's Eve
Tue, 01/08
by Tom D'Antoni
While sitting in the Pharmacy Café listening to the Meters on WWOZ (that's in New Orleans, y'all)...
Two vivid memories from New Year's Eve on the Barfly Bus: 1) horns blown in my ear, and 2) climbing to the top of Rocky Butte at midnight carrying a bottle of champagne, along with Jen Lane and the rest of the people from the bus, reaching the top and saying, "This is just too f---ing cold, let's go back to the bus and drink."
You get on the bus not knowing where they're taking you. Me and the spousal unit, a couple of friends and about 70 others piled on Jen's bus (one of six).
As far as I can remember, the itinerary went like this:
We departed from the Rialto (where I found out the best and cheapest Greek salad in town had been taken off the menu…along with a lot of other items). The crew on the bus ranged from normal looking folks, all the way to too-much-metal, too-much-ink, too-little-clothes, too-full-of-myself scenesters. Unfortunately, the scene was 1994.
The first stop was Tube, which used to look like something out of 2001(the movie) and now looks more like something from the set of Brazil (the movie), quite ruined, somewhat charmingly so, a 21st Century dive.
Second stop was Jen Lane's "office," Sewickly's Addition. Who didn't know we were going there?
Third stop was the Rumpus Room out past SE 92nd on Division, where there was karaoke and where the drinks really began to take their toll. One guy from the bus got a triple lap dance from three women from the bus. I wanted to sing some James Brown, but the DJ had none. Their loss.
Frigid Rocky Butte was next. It was a good idea, conceptually.
Fifth stop was sloppy. The hats, horns and noise makers were in the hands of the riders by now. It was loud. I think we were at Roscoe's on SE Stark out by 82nd. I do know that one guy fell off a barstool and a girl had to be held up. Things get fuzzy after that. Ok, things were fuzzy already.
Jen dropped us off at Dante's, where they were having a "Karaoke From Hell" marathon. I hiked back to the car, not subjecting my companions to the cold six-block walk.
I probably had a really good time. You'll have to ask somebody who saw me.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One more New Year's item: Funny that three of the top music bookers in town were all at the Bingo and Dream Band show at Kennedy School…Jan Haedinger (McMenamins booking agent), Lisa Lepine (Bite of Oregon booking agent) and Alicia Rose (Doug Fir booking agent). Mike McMenamin was there, too.
Speaking of Lisa, her New Year's day party was packed and was subsequently sent into orbit when Chervona, that wacked-out Russian band, showed up and rocked the house (pictured, photo by Jamie Lee Christiana). I'm writing about them in Friday's A&E. Their Old Russian New Year's Eve show is Saturday at The Bitter End.
A few more random notes:
The jazz community is holding its breath, waiting to hear if LV's Uptown has gone the way of the Blue Monk. Apparently the restaurant changed hands, and they may be eliminating the music.
OHM is going back to electronica, and guess who is back on Tuesday nights? Keith Schreiner (Auditory Sculpture), one third of Dahia, who used to own Tuesday nights at OHM. Looks like a solo gig for now. Just don't tell him I called it "electronica."
Jazztronica, of which Keith is also a part, is going to be at Jimmy Mak's twice this week, Tuesday at 6:00pm and Friday at 10:00pm. Good move on JM's part, trying them out late. Keith wrote "…hope to see ya. And yes I will be at Jimmy's and then hi-tail it to the Ohm on Tuesday...double booking nights are oh so fun, jeesh."
This just in: According to an email from an artist who works there and just lost a gig, The Green Room folks told him/her/it that they've lost their lease. Confirmed later.
Blotto Barfly Bus on New Year's Eve
Tue, 01/08
by Tom D'Antoni
While sitting in the Pharmacy Café listening to the Meters on WWOZ (that's in New Orleans, y'all)...
Two vivid memories from New Year's Eve on the Barfly Bus: 1) horns blown in my ear, and 2) climbing to the top of Rocky Butte at midnight carrying a bottle of champagne, along with Jen Lane and the rest of the people from the bus, reaching the top and saying, "This is just too f---ing cold, let's go back to the bus and drink."
You get on the bus not knowing where they're taking you. Me and the spousal unit, a couple of friends and about 70 others piled on Jen's bus (one of six).
As far as I can remember, the itinerary went like this:
We departed from the Rialto (where I found out the best and cheapest Greek salad in town had been taken off the menu…along with a lot of other items). The crew on the bus ranged from normal looking folks, all the way to too-much-metal, too-much-ink, too-little-clothes, too-full-of-myself scenesters. Unfortunately, the scene was 1994.
The first stop was Tube, which used to look like something out of 2001(the movie) and now looks more like something from the set of Brazil (the movie), quite ruined, somewhat charmingly so, a 21st Century dive.
Second stop was Jen Lane's "office," Sewickly's Addition. Who didn't know we were going there?
Third stop was the Rumpus Room out past SE 92nd on Division, where there was karaoke and where the drinks really began to take their toll. One guy from the bus got a triple lap dance from three women from the bus. I wanted to sing some James Brown, but the DJ had none. Their loss.
Frigid Rocky Butte was next. It was a good idea, conceptually.
Fifth stop was sloppy. The hats, horns and noise makers were in the hands of the riders by now. It was loud. I think we were at Roscoe's on SE Stark out by 82nd. I do know that one guy fell off a barstool and a girl had to be held up. Things get fuzzy after that. Ok, things were fuzzy already.
Jen dropped us off at Dante's, where they were having a "Karaoke From Hell" marathon. I hiked back to the car, not subjecting my companions to the cold six-block walk.
I probably had a really good time. You'll have to ask somebody who saw me.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One more New Year's item: Funny that three of the top music bookers in town were all at the Bingo and Dream Band show at Kennedy School…Jan Haedinger (McMenamins booking agent), Lisa Lepine (Bite of Oregon booking agent) and Alicia Rose (Doug Fir booking agent). Mike McMenamin was there, too.
Speaking of Lisa, her New Year's day party was packed and was subsequently sent into orbit when Chervona, that wacked-out Russian band, showed up and rocked the house (pictured, photo by Jamie Lee Christiana). I'm writing about them in Friday's A&E. Their Old Russian New Year's Eve show is Saturday at The Bitter End.
A few more random notes:
The jazz community is holding its breath, waiting to hear if LV's Uptown has gone the way of the Blue Monk. Apparently the restaurant changed hands, and they may be eliminating the music.
OHM is going back to electronica, and guess who is back on Tuesday nights? Keith Schreiner (Auditory Sculpture), one third of Dahia, who used to own Tuesday nights at OHM. Looks like a solo gig for now. Just don't tell him I called it "electronica."
Jazztronica, of which Keith is also a part, is going to be at Jimmy Mak's twice this week, Tuesday at 6:00pm and Friday at 10:00pm. Good move on JM's part, trying them out late. Keith wrote "…hope to see ya. And yes I will be at Jimmy's and then hi-tail it to the Ohm on Tuesday...double booking nights are oh so fun, jeesh."
This just in: According to an email from an artist who works there and just lost a gig, The Green Room folks told him/her/it that they've lost their lease. Confirmed later.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Clinton/Obama Joint News Conference on Race/Gender
TRANSCRIPT OF TODAY'S 9AM ET JOINT NEWS CONFERENCE WITH SENS. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY) AND BARAK OBAMA (D-IL)
Sen. Clinton: We have called this joint news conference today because Barak and I want to make something very clear to our fellow Democrats and to all of America.
Sen. Obama: For the past few weeks the two of us have been concerned about the tenor of the campaign. We do not want our supporters or anyone else to mistake what we say.
Sen. Clinton: First of all we are Democrats. Democrats stand for equal rights and justice, for all races, genders, sexual preferences, religious preferences...or no religious preferences. All of the legislation to insure these equal rights has come from Democrats.
Sen. Obama: We do not seek, as the Republicans do, to exploit divisions among people...to stoke latent prejudices and make political gains from them. And so we have come before you today to make a pledge. We don't apologize for criticisms we have made of each other's records or positions.
Sen. Clinton: No, they are an important part of the process of choosing a new President. What we want to make clear is that when we criticize each other, what we say is neither racist nor sexist. Therefore, we pledge here today that for the rest of the campaign neither one of us or our representatives will accuse the other of either racism or sexism.
Sen. Obama: This is new to America...an African-American and a woman, running for the highest office in the land, and against each other. We both acknowledge that there are race and gender tensions in America. We would be silly to say there weren't. But I tell you here today, that I will never play the race card.
Sen. Clinton: And I will never play the gender card. We know that there are some Americans who will never vote for a woman for president.
Sen. Obama: And some who will never vote for an African-American. What is important in this campaign is that we will not make any statements which might be construed to appeal to prejudice. We'll leave those to the Republicans.
Sen. Clinton: Also, we promise that we will not react to any statement by each other and make accusations of veiled racism or sexism.
Sen. Obama: We want our supporters and representatives to know that whatever we say is about what we feel is best for America. We're going to appeal to our natural constituencies, of course, we'd be stupid not to.
Sen. Clinton: But at no time are you or anyone else to construe that what we say has an ounce of prejudice or pandering to race or gender. After the nightmare of the past seven years, we seek to restore respect for ourselves as Americans and for the United States on the planet.
Sen. Obama: Let that moral compass come from us, by example. And with that...
Sen. Clinton and Obama toether: Let the best candidate win!
And then I woke up.
this also appears on huffingtonpost.com
Sen. Clinton: We have called this joint news conference today because Barak and I want to make something very clear to our fellow Democrats and to all of America.
Sen. Obama: For the past few weeks the two of us have been concerned about the tenor of the campaign. We do not want our supporters or anyone else to mistake what we say.
Sen. Clinton: First of all we are Democrats. Democrats stand for equal rights and justice, for all races, genders, sexual preferences, religious preferences...or no religious preferences. All of the legislation to insure these equal rights has come from Democrats.
Sen. Obama: We do not seek, as the Republicans do, to exploit divisions among people...to stoke latent prejudices and make political gains from them. And so we have come before you today to make a pledge. We don't apologize for criticisms we have made of each other's records or positions.
Sen. Clinton: No, they are an important part of the process of choosing a new President. What we want to make clear is that when we criticize each other, what we say is neither racist nor sexist. Therefore, we pledge here today that for the rest of the campaign neither one of us or our representatives will accuse the other of either racism or sexism.
Sen. Obama: This is new to America...an African-American and a woman, running for the highest office in the land, and against each other. We both acknowledge that there are race and gender tensions in America. We would be silly to say there weren't. But I tell you here today, that I will never play the race card.
Sen. Clinton: And I will never play the gender card. We know that there are some Americans who will never vote for a woman for president.
Sen. Obama: And some who will never vote for an African-American. What is important in this campaign is that we will not make any statements which might be construed to appeal to prejudice. We'll leave those to the Republicans.
Sen. Clinton: Also, we promise that we will not react to any statement by each other and make accusations of veiled racism or sexism.
Sen. Obama: We want our supporters and representatives to know that whatever we say is about what we feel is best for America. We're going to appeal to our natural constituencies, of course, we'd be stupid not to.
Sen. Clinton: But at no time are you or anyone else to construe that what we say has an ounce of prejudice or pandering to race or gender. After the nightmare of the past seven years, we seek to restore respect for ourselves as Americans and for the United States on the planet.
Sen. Obama: Let that moral compass come from us, by example. And with that...
Sen. Clinton and Obama toether: Let the best candidate win!
And then I woke up.
this also appears on huffingtonpost.com
Saturday, January 12, 2008
OK, I'm sorry
I have neglected this blog for a long time.
Don't ask.
Beginning with this week, I'll be active here again. I promise.
Don't ask.
Beginning with this week, I'll be active here again. I promise.
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