Finally: The Death of "Greed Is Good"

It's not all about the Benjamins anymore, baby.

Although it is still the defining principle in many people's lives, the concept that "Greed is Good," is dead. It rose to its despicable zenith in tandem with the rise of Reagan, and has been the guiding principle of industry, finance and government ever since.

Greed has been with us since the dawn of time and will remain, but in cyclical bursts, greed destroys enough to make those in the path of the inevitable result of unchecked greed take notice and do something about it.

Like regulations on how much greed is allowed.

Greed brought us to this place…unregulated, untrammeled, vicious greed. Greed has no morals or ethics. Greed has no regard for others. Greed feeds only the greedy and feeds on every thing and every one within grasping distance.

This Christmas Eve there will be no ghosts of the past, Christmas or otherwise, disturbing the sleep of the greedy. The greedy will be in danger of losing a percentage of their riches as a result of their greed. The rest of us feel a primal danger, one that most of us have never felt.

Yes, fear is upon the land. The fear of not being able to keep a roof over your head. Of not knowing where to turn when you watch your sources of income fall, one after another in the twinkling of an eye.

The week before the crash of 2008, I had been hired to write industrial presentation scripts for a company which was very successful at making them. They told me I could expect maybe five a week, if I could handle that. I assured them I could. That was on a Thursday, as the stock market crashed.

The following Monday went by without a word. Then Tuesday. I emailed them on Wednesday and got a worrisome replay on Thursday that said, "Stuff is hitting the fan this week. Clients are pulling out before the initial interview. Waiting for news, as far as what the fallout is., but things are much different than just two weeks ago. I’m sorry Tom… I’ll give you news as I get it."

I replied, "That was one chilling email." The reply? "Word."

On Thursday, I got an email which said that the company had lost so much of its upcoming business over the past week that would not need my services. Two weeks later another company, for whom I had been writing for a year-and-a-half fired my editor and was going to re-think its whole operation. I'm still waiting for my last check from them.

My story is being repeated over and over throughout America. The root of our misery is greed and the greedy.

And President Obama says it's going to get worse before it gets better.

The safety net is in place for the greedy who caused this mess. Where is the safety net for the rest of us? There is no place under the TARP for us to get out of the rain and cold.

The Greed Is Good pack are thieves. They've stolen our money, our hope and any sense of safety we had. And then we rewarded their greed with more money.

It's a cliché to some of us, other may have never heard it, but I will paraphrase Woody Guthrie who said, "Some will rob you with a shotgun and some with a fountain pen."

Or a handful of keystrokes.

For now, the concept that "Greed Is Good," has been discredited and for at least the next four years, we will have an executive branch of government which at least considers the rest of us.

Read Art Levine's Ecnomic Meltdown 101

My friend and Blogtalkradio co-host has put together a roundup of misery. He also posted this on huffington but it first ran on his blog.

November 17, 2008
Economic Meltdown 101: How We Got Here and How We Might Dig Ourselves Out
Here are some basic primers on the economic crisis:
This is the simplest presentation, with captioned pictures, one after the other:
here.

A clear explanation of how Fannie Mae wasn't the primary cause of the subprime crisis, but unregulated private sector loans subsequently packaged by Wall Street, has been done by McClatchy:
here.

If you hear this presentation from This American Life, or skim the transcript, it can bring home the issues home pretty clearly and in a personal way:
here.

Then here's a well-written lively overview in layman's terms:
here.


A video presentation of subprime mortgages, by PBS:, with props and an effort to make it clear:
here.

Paul Solman also uses simple cartoon images and other props to explain the screwy world of "credit default swaps" -- insurance policies on risky securities composed of risky subprime loans. Much of the world's leading economic institutions invested in assorted financial instruments that were built on the sandy of risk loans -- and no one factored in falling house prices as even a possibility.
Newsweek explains how credit default swaps became "The Monster That Ate Wall Street"

A mix of captioned pargraphs, with charts underneath, explaining how we got in this mess:
here.

Here's a detailed look in The New York Times how each deregulating or short-sighted institution and key player failed the public and the economy. Everybody with real power got it wrong, or did the wrong thing; others who tried to do the right thing were ignored or marginalized as greed and ideology triumphed:
here.

A more crisply written, anecdotal three-part series on the collapse of the subprime mortgage market and how it brought down Lehman brothers, etc was in The Washington Post in the "Bubble" series:
here.

You can keep up on economic news from a progressive perspective with Brad DeLong, among others, here:
here. And you can hear his explanation of our current crisis , the underlying shakiness of the economy, and why major domestic spending initiatives shouldn't be put off , heard in the second half hour of the "D'Antoni and Levine" radio show here, starting at 44 minutes, from mid-October:
here.

And NPR's Planet Money (useful if "objective") is also informative:, plus a daily podcast posted online:
here./

Finally, this month:
Michael Lewis takes us inside the world of those few analysts who realized what a flimsy house of mortgage-related cards the greedheads in the financial institutions had built their wealth on, how it was going to come crashing down, and few people in power bothered to listen. It's so long it's worth buying the magazine for it, but it's only for those who want a long narrative.

That's how we got here, and let's hope our leadership can dig us out.

How to get out of this mess? Read Paul Krugman , Brad DeLong, and the Center for American Progress for some sound ideas.

-- Art Levine

This Week's Music Blog

I'm still unsure if this is going to go up on LivePDX.com, so in case it doesn't:

While waiting to hear what's up with this site and my blog…..

Just got in from the Stephanie Schneiderman CD release at Doug Fir. She had Keith Schreiner with her, of course. James Beaton joined on keys. She said her dress made her look like a slutty cupcake. Like there's something wrong with that?

They did pretty much all of the tunes on Dangerous Fruit and added a Pete Krebs tune and another with Keith on didgeridoo. Aside from the usual rude Portland audience, everything was lovely.

Ran into Mercy Corps' Laura Guimond at the show. She is a music maven. I remember when she used to help Pepe (and the Bottle Blondes) Raphael by working the merchandise table at the Crystal. She was a full-time fan at the Fir.

I had Stephanie on my KMHD show last Saturday night. She told me Keith has a new solo Auditory Sculpture album pretty much ready to go. And just when were you going to tell me, Mr. Sculpture?

Plans are shaping up for Mayor Sam's inauguration celebrations. I'm sworn to secrecy at the moment, but it sounds like (a) great party(ies).

There's a thing called Pecha Kucha. They tell me it's "Japanese for ‘the sound of conversation and has spread to over 100 cities world-wide, including Portland. It is intended to gather creative individuals, designers, architects and artists to meet, network, and to share and discuss their work in an informal, public environment."

There is one of these things on Tuesday, November 18 at The Plant, 939 SE Alder. The deal? "Presenters are allowed 20 images, shown for 20 seconds each - giving 6 minutes & 40 seconds per presentation. This allows the audience to experience a diversee group of speakers in a relatively short space of time. After the presentations, the evening continues with drinks and music."

I've been told to write blogs through the end of the month. After that, I have not been notified. I'm very sorry to see Liz Hummer, LivePDX's editor, get laid off. She's a fine editor and I've enjoyed working with her here and at PDX Magazine. I hope to get to work with her again sometime.

These are not good times for creative folks…musicians, writers….pretty much all across arts and entertainment….editors, too.

Singer Barry Hampton is at it again. He writes:

Come join us for a special evening of sounds featuring Nefasha Ayer, Gabriel Teodros, and of course, The Triple Grip.
Nefasha Ayer, loosely translated from Amharic as "the wind that travels", explores a sublime mixture of influences: Ethiopian, South Indian, and American jazz to create a colorful imagery that makes one remember the simple power of music.
Featuring Vocalist Meklit Hadero, Guitarist & Composer Todd Brown, South Indian Saxist Prasant Radhakrishnan, Drummer Sameer Gupta, and Bassist/Flutist Eliyahu Sills.

Gabriel Teodros will explain in quite simple terms his love of verse with a transcendent set of his honest and truly haunting style of Hip Hop. He is also a featured artist on the Nefasha set.
Barry Hampton and the Triple Grip offer the original soul style that rings true, yet truly different, as they sound off with harmonies and a groove for the mind, body and soul.

Monday, November 17th @ the Someday Lounge. 125 NW 5th. $6 9pm

I don't usually run stuff like that verbatim, but I just did anyway.

I was talking with my friend and Blogtalkradio co-host
Art Levine the other night. He was on his way to a post-election party in D.C. He had investigative reporter Murray Waas in the car with him. Waas has broken many earthshaking stories, mostly about the Bush administration's criminal activities. Anyway, I had never talked to him before. He wanted to talk about music. Turns out he claims that his dad wrote the Mister Softee tune that has been annoying the hell out of me and a major portion of the universe for decades. He said his dad had sold the rights for $400 way back.

So now do you have that song in your head?

I have achieved my goal.

Sarah, How Can We Miss You If You Won't Go Away?

They're missing the story again.

Remember when Hillary was a lock to win the Democratic nomination? And so was Romney? And watch out for Fred Thompson?

Obama winning? Not a chance.

Conventional media wisdom has been wrong much much more than it has been right.

So when 14 million people are out of work, the American auto makers are about to close up shop and Secty. Paulson appears to have lost his mind… When President Barak Obama is putting together his administration at a time of great emergency…why is it all I see is Sarah Palin?

I mean, I like watching Republicans make fools of themselves as much as the next guy, something they have, thankfully, not ceased for a moment.

I suppose she thinks she's saying things that people like her want to hear, but she looks like a polar bear on an ice floe, floating out to sea, bellowing on her way out.

Note to TV and radio news directors and producers:

We nevah liked her. When Peggy Noonan says, "It's over," upon setting her eyes on Palin... When Palin's negatives went so far South, you'd think they were in Brazil looking for Summer… Maybe you should consider covering something else. A demolition derby. A lost dog….

Or an Obama administration that is about to sweep away as much of the Bush administration as it can, as fast as it can.

Grousing about Emanuel being "Too Tough?" Shut up and let the President work!

Why anybody would second-guess President-Elect Barack Obama (It's still thrilling to type that) is beyond me.

Has he not done everything right? Who knows better than him and his people about what to do next? When people were screaming for him to attack, attack attack, he played rope-a-dope, stayed on message and WON THE PRESIDENCY.

So when I read criticism that Rahm Emanuel is "too tough" for Chief of Staff, as Josh Marshall noted, calling it a Emerging DC Meme, all I can say is, shut up and let Obama do the work.

I remember the words of Gen. Tony McPeak (USF Ret.) who flew 269 combat missions in Vietnam and became a four-star general, serving four years on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. McPeak spent time with Obama on the campaign trail and was one of the generals lined up on the stadium stage before the acceptance speech.

He understands how tough Obama really is, and everyone who doubts it, from Republicans to pundits to heads of state of other countries better understand it too.

In describing Obama's toughness, McPeak was quoted as saying:

"He has gut-fighting sidewalk smarts that have allowed him to prevail when people said he couldn't. And he did it in a way that they didn't even know their throats were cut until they tried to smile."

People better understand the difference between anger and toughness. Bush=anger. Obama=toughness. You don’t have to scream and act like a cowboy to be tough.

No, Emanuel is a good fit. I'm not surprised at all.

Stephanie Schneiderman Charts New Course, Finds New World

By Tom D'Antoni

Stephanie Schneiderman and Keith Schreiner (aka Auditory Sculpture) may have re-invented the entire concept of singer-songwriters. Dangerous Fruit her new album, obliterates what had been fast becoming a stale genre. You may never think of singer-songwriters the same way again.

She is known for her Lilith Fair period, later a jazzier edge, and then several years with Dirty Martini.

He is known for being the electronics part of Dahlia, for the memorable Storm and the Balls remix Vastectomy, the hip-hop project Suckapunch, for Jazztronica and his own solo albums, all under the name Auditory Sculpture.

[Full disclosure: Keith wrote music for a documentary Greg Bond and I made. Rather than prejudicing this piece, it gives me insight.]

The result is a perfect marriage of her songs, his electronic soundscapes and his ability to bring out the best in female singers. He did it with Jen Folker, Storm Large and now…well, if you think you've heard Stephanie Schneiderman before, you haven't.

It all has to do with something he heard in his head.

"I sought her out," he told me. "I had approached her seven or eight years ago, when Dahlia was first popping and I was sniffing around for another project to work on." It wasn't until last January, when Dahlia played for Schneiderman's Voices for Silent Disaster concert series. (KPTV was a media sponsor.) He had an idea of doing some remixes of material she had previously recorded, and then possibly working up to an album of new songs.

"Her old style of music isn't something that interests me that much but a good song is a good song," he said. "I went over her house.. Instead of saying I want to do a remix I said, 'Screw it, I want to do an album. I have this radical idea of changing everything that you do, like your sound and I really want to get in there and rip your songs apart and put them back together,' and she was like, 'Yeah! OK!'"

"It was perfect timing," Schneiderman said over tea on Alberta St. "I wanted to do something different and I didn't know what it was. I just knew. I had this batch of songs. I had changed as a songwriter. I knew I wanted to push the edge, whatever the edge was for myself.

"I don’t' know if he knows this, but I was so inspired before our meeting,, I was gathering my songs together, finishing some things."

Things clicked for them on the first day in the studio. "It was pretty apparent from the second we started," said Schreiner, "that this style I had in my head, "and that she signed on to, and that we both worked together towards…was totally going to work."

Schneiderman adds, "We were both really blown away. He said, 'What I want do to is find the song in each of your songs.' That means to strip away the things that you don't realize you're doing…that emptiness is so nice. He wanted to keep things raw and open and let the vocals breathe in a different way and not fill every spot in."

The soundscapes he created for her, some close, intimate microphone work, plus not having to sing over a band allow for a quiet explosion of meaning in this collection of thoughtful, perceptive, sometimes seductive, sometimes loving, sometimes bitter songs "Twenty Slivers, changed from a sad, moody song…it worked to be more angry when I sang it," she said. "Maybe that song was really angry and I just didn't get there until he helped me get there.

"I felt like the other songs became more evocative because of the production. The words worked better."

Perhaps the most evocative song on the album is, When You Touch Me. Schreiner says, "It's the most honest marriage between my sound and her sound."She explains the line I've got this fire frozen in my heart, in the absolutely unforgettable chorus this way, "It's the idea of wanting something that you see and that you know is there but it's just a little bit out of reach."

I guarantee that you'll have that chorus in your head for weeks.

For all around musicianship, imagination, songwriting and pure inspiration, this gets my vote for best album of the year on any chart, in any genre.

CD Release:
Thursday, November 13, Doug Fir Lounge, with Kaitlin ni Donovan and DJ Dave Allen, 8pm door, $12

A Moment Which Will Last a Lifetime

How many I'll-never-forget-where-I-was-when's are happy memories? Think about it. From 9-11 on back to Pearl Harbor, since we've had instant mass communication, none of those moments are happy.

Last night was happy, and we'll never forget it.

We had some friends and family over last night. From 11 p.m., when I heard Olbermann announce that Obama had won, until the middle of the afternoon today, I have been speechless. Me! I get paid for words.

Obama had it exactly right. The night belonged to us. People of good will never gave up trying to make a better world and, in the words of Allen Toussaint's Yes We Can!:

Make this land a better land

Than the world in which we live

And help each man be a better man

With the kindness that you give.

I'm white. I know what this election means to me, but I was listening to national African-American talk radio this morning and one-after-another, callers were agreeing to a remarkable concept...maybe white folks weren't so bad after all.

Funny concept to some. Serious as death to others. Serious as lynching.

We're all looking at each other, and I mean everybody, in a new way today. Here in the People's Republic of Portland Oregon, there's a quiet sense of relief, although last night, on my block there were a lot fireworks exploded and much banging on pots. I know that these feelings are shared by people of good will all over the world.

How long will that last? Stay tuned.

But it's still fresh. And if feels good. And I'm beginning to be able to talk.

I can say this........WE WON!

Last Week's Music Blog

My editor at LivePDX.com has been laid off. I am not sure what the future of the site will be. They did not run my blog from last week, so I'm putting it up here.

We'll see what the future holds.

While discovering I don't need meditation to empty my mind of thought, It is a natural occurrence. So how come I feel stupid instead of enlightened?

So like, I know I had some news, but I just can't think of what it was. Or where I've been. I just deleted a sentence. It embarrassed me.

From the I've-never-heard-of-them-but-a-friend-says-they're-good department:

The Trio will be at on Thursday 10/30. According to my friend, they are, "Winners of the Manifest Award (Swedish Grammy) for Jazz Album of the Year (2007) – beating out the last release from the late, estimable Esbjörn Svensson (E.S.T) - and fresh from headlining this year’s Stockholm Jazz Festival"

I never heard of them either, but as Bill Royston told me at the news conference when he announced that the Jazz Festival would return…well I don't remember his exact words, but he said that most of the really forward-looking music is coming out of Europe. That's something to think about, especially since we don't get to hear too much of it, hardly any.

Berghe is a pianist, in case you were wondering. I'm wondering.

that unique series produced by and which has been selling out at for the past few months is moving over to the on Nov. 6. Appearing will be "Still Pending." Oh wait, that was the name of their last show. will be there.

Worth going to see.

As I wrote during the past summer in the O, "The microphone isn’t all that gets passed at the every-second-Tuesday “PasstheMic!” shows at Mississippi Pizza. Knowledge of what it takes to have a career in music is transmitted from pros to those just breaking in. That there’s a night of good music to hear is sometimes beside the point."

Not very often you get to steal from yourself. I used to be able to write before I emptied my mind of thoughts. Maybe I better go look in the recycling and see if my wife threw them out.

I would never use the phrase, "back in the day." And I might slap the next person who says to me, but back in the good old days, i.e. Before Bush, when Pepe Rafael was bursting on the scene with and he started throwing very huge and very naughty events, usually at the and mostly on Haloween.

Therefore, the 8th Annual (which is what he's calling it these days) will again be on Halloween and again at the Crystal. You can't get in without a costume, although since I'm going to dress as a washed-up hack writer, I'll have some explaining to do. Pepe is giving away 5K as part of "Portland's Biggest Costume Contest." I'm assuming it isn't for having the biggest costume, tho.

PP and the BB will play of course, also and

I miss running into Pepe. Maybe I don't get out as much. Last Saturday, at 3 a.m., I was in an all night bingo parlor in Beaverton. Just to watch, mind you. No sign of Pepe.

One of my favorite images is of shooting Pepe in 2000 before that year's ball. He was frantically searching his wardrobe for just the right gown. He found it, of course.

Looking for a parade? How about an altar building? How about both? Someday Lounge's Second Annual Day of the Dead Procession & Altar Building Party will be held on Saturday, Nov 1 from 3-6 p.m. Mixing myth, superstition and art:

We'll start with a 3pm sugar skull decorating session. We'll provide home- made sugar skulls and frosting to decorate. Participants are encouraged to bring additional decorating material.
We'll use these sugar skulls, and any other mementos brought by participants, to create community altars in the space. A true community art installation rooted in ancient cultural traditions.
As we create our altars, participants are encouraged to wear festive attire, and solicit the services of our house face painter. At 4:30, we'll meet in the North Park blocks to commence our procession through the Pearl and Oldtown. Banners waving, our party will be led by a marching band fit to rouse the dead. Then back to Someday Lounge for hot chocolate and movies.

Sounds like fun unless somebody wants me to pray to a skull made out of sugar, although consumable gods sound kindof attractive. Beats having to do all that kneeling.

Tis is Ursula from is putting together an evening of Gypsy, Balkan and jazz on Wednesday November 5 at
<3 Leg Torso,> a Balkan Gypsy band from Italy and featuring special guests from Fishtank Ensemble and Slavic Soul Party.

Crap, my mind's all cluttered again. Hope it doesn't last.

Are You Suffering from Election Insanity?

Are you finding it hard to focus? When you think about the possibility of McCain winning next week do you feel lost and bewildered at what that would mean to your life? Do you feel like your head is about to explode?

Me too.

Are you hysterically ambivalent? Do you go between watching and reading every single word spoken and written about the election, following every poll and poll of poll and poll of poll of poll...and never wanting to hear another pundit ever again, even Rachel Maddow?

Me too. Well maybe not Rachel Maddow.

Do you go from one frame of mind to another? From envisioning an America which has just elected the first African-American in its history and is in the hands of someone who knows what he's doing...with some hope for the future...to envisioning an America who has just voted out of fear and hatred and believed all of the lies...again?

Me too.

It's a good thing I live in Oregon, where an Obama victory is assured. And if the worst happens, it'll be a good place to stay.

I usually have an election-night party at my house. I may not. In 2004, everyone came over enthused. Remember the exit polls? Remember how you felt when it went the other way?

Think of that times, oh say, a hundred million this year.

Get a grip on yourself, D'Antoni.

I voted last week. In Oregon we have vote-by-mail. I won't debate the merits of that method, but when I filled out the ballot, I didn't have the feeling I thought I would have voting for Obama. I mean, I cried during his acceptance speech in Denver, didn't you?

I made a mistake while voting. My wife and I were sitting at the kitchen table filling out our ballots and I accidentally signed her ballot envelope by mistake. Even though it had her name plainly printed on it.

After absorbing the deserved abuse, I suggested we take our ballots to the election board and make sure everything was Kosher. It was. But instead of handing them to the man behind the counter like I thought I would, the African-American man behind the counter pointed to a light blue plastic box with a slot in the top.

I suddenly realized what I was going to do. I turned to my wife and asked if she wanted to put he own in. She did. It was obvious why.

My action of dropping my ballot in the box was quick but it seemed like I was moving in slow-motion and I filled up and flushed with emotion. I just got the same feeling typing this.

I felt like maybe my life had meaning after all. Maybe in some minuscule way all of the things I had done...written...put on TV...said on the radio...to try to promote love and understanding had somehow paid off.

And now I think, if McCain wins, will that all be washed away and destroy any remaining hope I had for America?

Like I said, can somebody make this election be over?

You feel that way too?

Is the McCain Campaign is Being Secretly Run by Democrats?

Seems that way.The Republicans appear to be following a script written by people who want to see them not only lose, but lose big and be humiliated and reviled at the same time.

What other explanation could there by for the sociopathic insanity of their campaign. One of these days a psychologist will write a book diagnosing the actions of John McCain, Sarah Palin, Rick Davis, Steve Schmidt and the rest of the bunch. Since psychologists don't deal with good v. evil, there will have to be a logical explanation of what seems to be pure insanity.

It can't be written off as "politics" or even "tough politics," as McCain likes to call it. It's more than that. What do you call constant lying? What name do you give to the attempt to destroy another human being's character? To paint him as a traitor? To play to hatred? Indeed, to stoke and cultivate hatred?

No, this is not to be forgiven. Barack Obama seems to be so convinced that nothing can be done without dragging the Republicans in with him and governing under an "American" umbrella, and an "Earth" umbrella. He must be much more forgiving than I am. Or perhaps he has something in store for the Republicans when he takes office. Like prosecutions of the Bush war criminals, for starters.

It appears that Americans have caught on. Only the haters are responding to McCain and Palin's lowest common denominator attacks, and those dimwits weren't going to vote for Obama anyway. Never has the word "base" been more apt. Other words for "base" are….dishonorable, ignoble, sordid, immoral, vile and corrupt.

That about sums it up, doesn't it?

Reap the whirlwind, Republicans.

Cindy McCain's Family Ties: Suds and Murder

We all know that Cindy McCain owns the beer distributorship that has made her a multi-millionaire, or rather that made her father a multi-millionaire. But do you know the sordid backstory of her father, James Hensley, and the scandals surrounding him?

Including the 1976 murder of reporter Don Bolles?

From: The Lonesome Trail: Cindy McCain's nontraditional campaign by Ariel Levy in the September 5, 2008 New Yorker

James--whom everyone called Jim--and his brother Eugene Hensley built their wealth on alcohol. After Jim returned from service as a bombardier in the Second World War, the brothers entered the wholesale liquor market and began operating two warehouses--United Sales Company, in Phoenix, and United Distributors, Inc., in Tucson--in partnership with Kemper Marley, Sr., a Phoenix businessman. (Police reportedly suspected Marley of having had a hand in the 1976 murder of Don Bolles, a reporter for the Arizona Republic who had written extensively about Marley's business and political machinations. Marley died in 1990.) In 1948, the Hensleys were convicted on federal conspiracy charges after filing more than twelve hundred fake invoices to cover up under-the-table sales of liquor to night clubs and bars throughout the state. Eugene was sentenced to a year in prison, Jim to six months, but, with the help of their lawyer, a former mayor of Phoenix, Jim had his sentence suspended.

Despite his criminal conviction, in 1955 Jim Hensley was granted a liquor license to start an Anheuser-Busch distributorship, which he called Hensley & Company.

But there's a lot more backstory than that. For more on the sleaze surrounding Cindy McCain's father, here's a roundup of stories from other papers compiled by Sam Smith. It includes this from the Phoenix New times on Jim Hensley's partner and the murder of reporter Don Bolles:

Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles wrote a series of stories documenting Marley's questionable performance in appointive posts he'd previously held. Bolles' stories doomed Marley's appointment, forcing him to resign soon after being named to the Racing Commission.

On June 2, 1976, Bolles was mortally wounded by a car bomb. Before lapsing into unconsciousness, Bolles uttered the words, "Adamson, Emprise, Mafia." He died 11 days later.

John Harvey Adamson confessed to luring Bolles to a Phoenix hotel parking lot and placing a bomb beneath the reporter's car. The bomb, Adamson testified, was detonated by James Robison, a Chandler plumber. Adamson testified he was hired to kill Bolles by Max Dunlap, a Phoenix contractor and close associate of Marley's. Marley had extended a $1 million loan to Dunlap, which had not been repaid. Adamson said Dunlap hired him to kill Bolles because Marley was upset over Bolles' stories.

Also read Beyond Booze: The Strange Roots of the McCain Family Fortune from July 2008 by Caitlin Ginley in Public Integrity.

Watch Crooked Senator Ted Stevens Endorse Palin

Obama's Rope-a-Dope

The Republicans have been George Foreman, hitting Obama with everything they had in their evil arsenal over the past few weeks.

Obama let them punch themselves out and then tonight he hit them with a solid right and then another and then a straight left hand.

The fight isn't over, but McCain is on the canvas.

Don't these people ever learn?

Obama is smart and tough. Very tough. McCain didn't know how tough until tonight. He might get up and throw some more punches, but they will have lost their steam...while Obama is loading up that right hand again.

Obama bomaye!

"Get on board, you don't have any other choice," happens to be the truth.

That's what one Hillary Clinton supporter said today. She's right. Any rational human who decides to vote for John McCain deserves John McCain, George Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, Alberto Gonzalez, Condi Rice, John Ashcroft, Ronald Reagan, big oil, polluters, homophobes, wife-beaters, racists, anti-abortionists and those who have besmirched any moral authority America had left.

Is that what you want?

Really.

Did Barack Obama's campaign win because the Supreme Court decided so? Did it steal votes? Did it disenfranchise any voters? Did Obama call Clinton's character into question? Does Obama have a clear record of fighting against women's issues?

The answer is no.

He won fairly and with dignity, which is more than I can say for the sore-losers in the Clinton camp.


Clinton waged a dirty campaign, but she earned the right to have her recognition at the convention. Other than that, she lost.

L-O-S-T, lost.

If John McCain wins because of former Clinton voters' support…..

You know, I can't even imagine what's in the minds of these people. Four more years of Republican rule?

Come to your senses, people.

Gen. Clark & Joe Biden's Statements Pretty Much the Same. Why No Fuss Now?

"I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president," – Gen. Wesley Clark, June 29, 2008

"These times require more than a good soldier." – Sen. Joe Biden, August 23, 2008

There's not a whole hell of a lot of difference between these two statements. Perhaps if Gen. Clark hadn't been officially declared a pariah by the weaker, more politically-correct folks in the Obama campaign, Obama wouldn't be perceived as not hitting back at the vicious Republican attacks on his character.

The simple fact remains that the plain and honest statement by Gen. Clark is right on the money.

McCain was a failure at Annapolis and a failure as a pilot. Yeah, we're sorry he got locked up for five years, but how many innocent people have we locked up in jails all over America? And how many more have we put through the same kinds of torture McCain suffered? In Guantanamo and our franchise dungeons all over the world?

Let's not forget, McCain's voting record on torture. He was against it when he was being tortured, and for it when it was politically advantageous.

It's time to stop kissing McCain's red white and blue butt on the subject of serving in the military, especially since he has supported Bush in denying our current military the equipment it needed to fight and protect itself, and in the shameful manner in which it has treated the troops when they came home, dead and alive.

So, stop saying how much you respect his service. Tell the truth. Call him on his pandering on his Vietnam experience. Dig up some other ex-POW's who will call him on using his experiences for current political gain.

And anyway, his five years in a POW camp over thirty years ago apparently has nothing to do with the situation into which the Bush administration has put us. Wait, maybe it has everything to do with it…and getting rid of the last of the pro-Vietnam War leaders is a good thing.

Our military is not to be worshiped. It is to be used as a last resort, and to present a strong face to those who would attack us. Period. They do the job they applied for, just like everybody else. Cops and firemen are no less heroes. Garbage collectors and those who deliver the mail, also.

General Clark? There are many of us who applauded your statement. I'm sorry you won't be at the convention. It's a big mistake on the part of the Democratic Party (no strangers to big mistakes).

Tom does a talk show live Thursdays at 5:30pm ET with fellow Huffingtonposter Art Levine. Listen here.

There's Something About Televangelists

I am reading "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins on the folly of religion.

Then I ran across this which proves it.

Russia: Foreign Policy Issue #1---Or SHOULD Be

On June 16, 2001, with Vladimir Putin at his side, George Bush said of the Russian President, "I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. "

That part of the story we know.

The part we don't know for fact, but can make an educated guess about is what Putin thought when looked Bush in the eye. Given Putin's actions since then it was probably, "Jesus, this guy is a fucking idiot. I can put anything over on this fool."

And so he did.

U.S. relations, or lack of them, with Russia should be a hot campaign issue. I mean, is there another country in the world with a giant nuclear arsenal who has invaded a sovereign country in order to control the flow of oil? Well, besides us.

Yes, Obama made a typically nuanced statement when Russia invaded Georgia, but it didn't say a whole hell of a lot. And it certainly didn't assuage my concerns. Of course, it was vastly superior to McCain's war-mongering on behalf of his client.

Is this the first time in American history that one of an American Presidential candidate's chief advisors was in the employ of a foreign government. Is there any doubt that McCain's statements on the Russian invasion are a direct result of Randy Scheunneman's lobbying contract with Georgia? I have no doubts at all.

Clearly, McCain never met a war he didn't like, except one where he's getting shot at.

Still, when Russia goes running around invading other countries, especially ones which use to belong to it, (Georgia = Sudatenland) and threatening others nearby (Poland), I expect Obama to tell us what he's going to do. If he's going to be running the show come January 20, I'd like to know his plans for Russia.

This should be the major foreign policy question of this campaign. A few religious nuts in the mountains of Pakistan don't even come close.

Tom D'Antoni and fellow Huffingtonposter Art Levine do a talk show on Blogtalkradio live on Thursdays at 5:30pm ET. All shows are archived. Listen here.

KMHD show with Guest Art Levine 8-16-08 10pm PT

Countdown ---Too Much McCain Bashing, Not Enough Obama Reporting

We know what Fox News' function is in the universe…the Republican Party line.

We know that CNN is still hopelessly stuck in the Crossfire concept of two opposing points of view, given equal weight even if one of them held that the world is governed by dancing cantaloupes wearing fake monkey heads and lime green leisure suits…and the other held that they didn't exist. Plus, except for Cafferty, it is the residence of boring pundits and conventional "wisdom."

That leaves us with MSNBC which is an uneven collection of solid reporters, airhead anchors, scenery-chewers and the stars of the channel Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow.

But although many of us rely on Countdown for our only national television leftie news, it is devolving into a McCain bash-fest rather than the only place on cable where we might find out what Obama is doing and saying. Yesterday Obama did not appear at all! It was all McCain bashing. The closest they came was a quote from an Obama surrogate put up on the screen as text, read by Olbermann.

When Obama was in Germany, Countdown focused not on what he had to say, but on what McCain was doing. There was much more of McCain in the supermarket than a thoughtful presentation of Obama's day in Germany. The Brian Williams grab at the end was a great touch, but that was not generated by Countdown This is a pattern. Yes, there is an obligation to point out McCain's daily errors and horrors, but where else is anyone going to find out what Obama is saying?

The networks are in the same Crossfire mode as CNN, they promote controversy rather than dealing in fact-finding, truth-finding journalism. With studies finding that there is more negative coverage of Obama than positive, Countdown's daily beatdown of McCain and Fox/O'Reilly is missing the point.

Congressional Interest in Bugliosi's Book on Prosecuting Bush for Murder

Two interesting items came out of my Blogtalkradio interview with prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi last week on his book The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder.

First, he had to end the interview because he was being called by "a very conservative member of Congress" who had opposed the Iraq War. Bugliosi would not name him but claimed that the member of Congress had heard the audio book version and that the book "had convinced him that Bush misled Congress." The former prosecutor said the member of Congress said he had bought more copies and passed them on to friends. Bugliosi also said that the member of Congress told him that he wanted to "pursue this matter and find out the truth after the election."
Listen to what Bugliosi said in the interview:

Listen to what Bugliosi said:


Who could it be? Was it Rep. Walter B. Jones, Jr (R-NC)? He invented "Freedom Fries" when France refused to support the U.S. going to war in Iraq, and then reversed his position on the war later on. Any speculation is just that, but suppose it was Mitch McConnell? John Boehner? Probably not, but I suppose we'll find out eventually.
Second, I asked Bugliosi who was worse George Bush or Charles Manson, who Bugliosi prosecuted and convicted. He said, "It's a different type of criminality," and then explained.

Listen:


Who do you think is worse?

also appears on huffingtonpost.com

Bush is Oil Companies' Scott McClellan

Why is it we should listen to anything GW Bush says on the subject of oil? In addition, why does he think we still haven't figured out that he is, was and always will be a shill for oil companies.

Everything out of his mouth concerning oil drilling, oil prices, oil anything should be treated as what it is, a message from the oil companies.

We figured out that his war was for the control of oil. Not for drilling more but for drilling less. Just as they haven't produced more domestic oil and gasoline, once they've officially gotten their mitts on Iraq's oil, they'll leave it in the ground. The less they produce, the more it costs. Simple plan.
The simpletons who believe that Bush is on any side of the issue other than the oil companies'? They're the ones who believe that Obama is a Muslim.

At least the Dems in Congress are on the right side of this one. Harry Reid said today, "We want oil and gas companies to drill on the leases they’ve been given,” according to The Hill. He could have added, "How about a few more refineries?"

What's pathetic is the tone Bush evoked in today's statement. Someone told him that the Presidency is a bully pulpit. He just remembers the "bully" part. His desperation is a dangerous thing. His lies mount even as they become more transparent.

He's Scott McClellan for the oil companies. And a bad one.

Obama: Change Comes Harder Than We Thought

When Obama said he wanted to bridge the divide between blue and red, some of us may have thought that he would be reaching out with his left-leaning hand to the middle and middle-right and pulling them closer to the left.

He never said that.

Perhaps we thought that we would emerge from such a bridging with all of our hopes and issues intact.

I don't believe Obama ever thought that.

Turns out it hurts to walk half way across that bridge. It hurts both sides. That this is the legacy of Republican politics is beside the point. Change means change for us, too. What is now being called the "Netroots," which yesterday was called the "Liberal Blogosphere," is all upset about some of Obama's policies. It has always been upset over his health-care plan, and even though there are many plusses in the FISA bill, and a giant loophole which allows an Obama Justice Department to investigate and prosecute the Telcoms, the blogs are screaming bloody murder over Obama's support for it.

I don't like that he supported it either. I'd like to see the CEO's in the same Federal Prison with many of the Bush administration.

I'd like to see Obama elected President first.

One of Obama's strengths is that he allows us to write our own beliefs on to his bandwagon. It's one of the things that make him such an attractive candidate. Blacks write their history on him, whites understand that he was raised by white folks. And on and on.

It's hard to compromise when you've spent your whole life being uncompromising, but what's the alternative? John McCain? Moving to a self-sustaining farm?

this also appears on huffingtonpost.com

Talon News Endorses George Pappoon, Really

That Jeff "James Guckert" Gannon, former paid shill purportedly representing "Talon News" at Presidential press conferences is still passing himself off as a journalist is funny enough. That he denies he had anything to do with a male escort service, the same male escort service that had a nude picture of him advertising his service(s) is a good Republican joke. They're awful good (or awful bad) at trying to convince you that your eyes are telling you something that just isn't true…like that naked picture of big Jeff is what? a doll?

What's funny is that Talon News has just endorsed George Pappoon for President.

Yes, the same George Pappoon that the Firesign Theatre has run for President for decades. Remember his slogan? "He's Not Insane."

There are lots of other very funny stories on here. Intentionally funny, not like Fox.

Could it be that someone else has gotten ahold of that domain? Maybe someone connected with Firesign Theatre?

A recent item read:

June 16, 2008
PALOOKAVILLE: Surrealist Presidential candidate George Papoon agreed to debate his opponents in a series of "Town Hall" meetings. Papoon had never agreed to debate anyone before, or had much use for any kind of personal interaction that didn't involve pet grooming, so his agreement marks an historic change in campaign strategy.
Neither Barack Obama nor John McCain agreed to the meetings with Papoon, so the effect on the horserace will be negligible. "Really, I'm all about the horserace, and grooming the horse after the race," said Papoon, relapsing into an unusual degree of consistency. "That," continued Papoon, "and Paraguay."

Don't miss "D'Antoni & Levine" (two Huffington contributors) live Thursdays at www.blogtalkradio.com/tomandart

Clinton as V.P. Grrrrrrrrrr....Well OK.

I think we're feeling a huge amount of residual fear and loathing of the Republican hate and slime machine; and a similar size helping of non-confidence in how Democrats have responded to it in the past. Both feelings are totally justified.

Will America vote for an African-American? Better to ask if they'll vote for someone with brains.

First of all, there is at least 20% of the population of the U.S. who hate Black folks, always have, always will. Ingrained bigotry is a part of human nature that will always survive. Face it. There's nothing we can do about it. Write them off. They were going to vote Republican, anyway. Republicans have portrayed themselves as the party of hatred and bigotry. Let them have it their way.

The ray of hope is that, except for those 20% (who believe that Obama is a Muslim, and all the other Rovian lies), none of the Republican slime has stuck to Obama.

Will America vote for an African-American with a woman as his running mate? If that woman is Sen. Clinton? As much as it pains me to say so, Obama would do well to swallow the bitter pill and take her on as running mate. And send Bill to be ambassador to anywhere.

It's a good thing that "white working class men" weren't watching the proceedings on TV Saturday when the Florida and Michigan votes were settled. Trust me on this, and men you back me up. There is a gut reaction in men, not based on logic, but solely on emotion, to women like the ones who wouldn't shut up, and kept screaming. Any man who has ever had an acrimonious break-up with a woman knows it and felt it as they watched. I know I did.

The male brain goes, "Will you please just shut the fuck up and leave me alone! Go away. I can't stand this shit anymore. No, really! You're driving me out of my mind. Do whatever you want, just shut up and leave me alone!" But they don't. And you feel like you want to run and never stop running just to get away from it.

This male reaction takes place no matter who is to blame, or if both are to blame. Maybe it's a female weapon. Did they talk about that in "Sex and the City?' It just IS. This isn't sexism. This is based on experience. If there are men out there who haven't experienced it, God love ya.

That is part of Obama's Hillary problem, if he offers her the V.P. slot. I never understood why the right wing hated her so much. I have a better idea now. She has waged a dirty campaign, not based on issues but on character destruction. I'd rather see Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebalius as his running mate, but I understand that sixteen million people voted for Clinton. I just don't know why.

The other part is what does he do about her Iraq vote?

As the campaign begins, I'm trying to hold to my original belief, that the Democrats could run a dirty catbox and win this year. Running a man with the intelligence and compassion of Obama almost seems like too much to ask for.

this also appears on huffingtonpost.com

Editing Error in my Dick Weissman Story

There is an editing error in the Dick Weissman story of mine in the Oregonian today. For reasons of space the editor changed my copy so that it read "The Journeymen are best known for "San Francisco (Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair).

Of course, they never did that song. Scott McKenzie, who was a member of the Journeymen with Dick from 1961-64, did that song alone years later.

Grrr.

Clinton Campaign Reduced to Sketch Comedy

The Clinton campaign has turned out to be as idiotically funny as the current TV spots DirecTV has been running. In the spots, "Cable Company" execs are sitting around the table and the CEO says, "People DirecTV has way more HD channels than we do. What can we possibly say to keep them happy?"

"Allow me to answer that," John Michael Higgins, the star of these spots says, standing up. "We make our channels louder. They're getting, 'Hello, this is the nightly news.' We give them, 'HELLO, THIS IS THE NIGHTLY NEWS!!!!!!'"

He picks up a graph and says, "Our sales are going to go up 800%...800%!" And then flipping it away he says, "This chart is broken."

In another spot, the CEO says, "DirecTV is doing very well with customer satisfaction. What do we do?" Higgins says, "I learned this when I was in business school…when I read about business school…in a book. We can't improve the service but we can improve the price, we can make it higher."

Another guy says, "You know, that's not a bad idea."
Still another guy says, "We can get people with disposable incomes to dispose of it to us."
"…and they don't watch TV."
"…they're workaholics. They wouldn't know HDTV if it sat in their laps and called them mama."

That's how I imagine the conversations must have been for the past six weeks when Hillary Clinton and her brain trust have met to discuss strategy.

To be specific:

"People seem to be hungry for change, what can we do?" Sen Clinton asked.
"Let's make sure we're the candidate who represents the status-quo in Washington!" replied Mark Penn.
"Yeah, yeah," Harold Ickes said, "experience says it all. People who want change will love that!"

"Obama is offering hope, what do we say?" asked Clinton.
"We say we're against hope!" said Penn. "Let's dash the hopes and dreams of a generation of young people who adore Obama and replace it with a shrill appeal to the worst in human nature!"

"Some people are writing that this is a turning point in the racial life of America, one in which the accumulated assimilation of black folks into the mainstream of American life is second-nature to everyone under the age of 40," Hillary said. "How can we make that work for us?"
"We can't," said Bill Clinton, "Let's belittle Obama's accomplishment, tell the public that Americans won't vote for a Black man for President and say that White folks are on our side."

Sidney Blumenthal piped up, "I've been doing a good job sending out these emails about how Obama is a Muslim but how can we maximize that?"

"Oh, I know," said Hillary brightly, "when Sixty Minutes asks me about it, I'll make sure I leave doubts in the minds of the viewers that he just might be a Muslim after all!"
"And that's why we love you, Hil," said Blumenthal, licking the bottoms of her shoes.

And then picking up a chart at a meeting last week, Howard Wolfson said, turning it one way and then another, "I can't make this chart work. No matter which way I turn it, we lose…pledged delegates, super delegates, popular vote, number of states won…what do we say?"

Hillary threw a glass of expensive wine at him and said, "We say we're winning. Look, the best way to make sure I'm elected President of the United States is to change the perception Democrats have of the Clinton family and get America to hate us!"

Mission Accomplished, Mr. President and Madame Senator.

Don't miss "D'Antoni and Levine," the new talk show with me and Huffington Post contributor Art Levine live every Thursday at 2:30 PT (5:30 ET) at BlogTalkRadio.
This week Art follows up his series on potential fraud in the upcoming election. The recent US Supreme Court decision to allow Indiana to ask for specific kinds of ID's is beginning to cause other states to think they can block voting rights, looking at Missouri, and other states,and other schemes already on the books to rob Americans of right to vote.
All shows are archived.

Listen to an hour of the "Bar" part of my KMHD radio show

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Obama---Acting Positively Presidential

In the past week, the media sharks have been swimming around Barack Obama, the Republican vultures and their surrogates in the Clinton campaign flying overhead ready to devour. What has been Obama's reaction? Calm, thoughtful, reasoned responses.

He has not lost his cool. He has looked positively Presidential. He hasn't threatened to wipe another country and all of its innocent men women and children off the map, as Clinton has, either.

He has responded to the Wright shitstorm in a proper and dignified manner…just the opposite of the snarling, hate-filled attacks on him. And the attacks are coming from all sides. Why do you think that is?

It is because he has offered hope instead of fear, reasoned proposals for dealing with the problems we face, and a realistic perception of the country and the world.

I know many of us have been despairing one minute and angry the next as the onslaught has escalated. We are up against evil, let's face it. The powers that rule will do anything to prevent change, and I mean anything.

I stayed away from the 24 hour news channels for a day and found myself thinking that their aggregate audience, if applied to one prime-time sitcom or cop show would cause that sitcom or cop show to be cancelled inside of a month. Most people don't watch them. They are a closed circle. One Obama has stepped outside of.

Compare the two news conferences we saw today, the angry, petulant, inarticulate, lie-filled Bush performance vs. Obama on Wright. Which guy looked Presidential to you?

Americans made the mistake of voting for a dope they could have a beer with. Many are making the same mistake with Clinton. Obama's cool cuts through all the bullshit. He is calm and reassuring. He doesn't pander. He looks presidential.

this also appears on huffingtonpost.com

Latest LivePDX Music Blog

News & Gossip: Jumpin' Joint at deLay Memorial Show II, Beliss Being Bad Girls on the Run
Mon, 04/28
by Tom D'Antoni

While humming Jazzfest in New Orleans (which I'm not)....

Last weekend's (4/20) second annual Paul deLay memorial concert, this one to benefit Ethos, may not have been standing room only, but the big ballroom at the Portland Art Museum was full and the dance floor rocking. Ethos, btw, is the Portland organization that teaches youngsters how to play music.

Speaking of youngsters, Paul's little grandkid was tearing around the ballroom all evening wearing sneaks that had flashing red lights. Paul would have dug that.

KMHD's Jan Mancuso's pasta salad was the hit of the green room. She and husband Ric do The Night on Thursdays, 9:00pm to midnight.

Sights at the concert: Terry Robb with his arm around Linda Hornbuckle talking about her new album, which he's releasing in July. Harmonicats' Bill Rhodes and Hank Shreve hanging out. Bass player Dave Kahl, who was one of the organizers, looking harried. Peter Damman looking cool (he never looks harried, even when he should be). Duffy Bishop joking about her very very red hair color.

Singer Joe McMurrian with harmonica player David Lipkind started things off with a very large bang. The rest of the night was one long happy jam with nearly everyone who ever played with Paul playing. Too bad pianist David Vest couldn't make it down from B.C. His boogie-woogie thunder was missed.

Noah Mickens and Nick the Creature have formally formed Portland Circus Works. They started off at the downstairs room of Rotture and called it the Hippodrome...to be a circus-themed venue. When Mickens left Rotture, he apparently took the concept with him. I hear that the room is going to revert to an all-ages venue again, but that's still up in the air. Mickens will have nothing to do with it.

Instead, they write: "Mssrs. Creature & Mickens will set up shop at 2410 North Mississippi. This former warehouse was brought to notability through the work of Maria Toth (Anonymous-I). Having made their name supporting creative spaces and green building projects for years in Portland, Anonymous-I is opening the 2410 space to showcase a community of performers and craftspeople to which Portland Circus Works is already a major contributor. This will become the the duo's Headquarters, housing the CircusWorks educational operation and offices while their events spread out to cover the whole city."

Their first event is at Mt. Tabor Legacy on Sunday, April 27. It's Wanderlust Circus.

Ever wonder what bands do when they're on the road? This just in from Melissa Underwood of Belliss: In Arizona, "We went to a funny ass bar in Flagstaff on Route 66 where Belinda and I put on fake personas (she was Apache and I was Scarlett) and we were from the Aouth. Not too far-fetched, we're half Tennessee-ean. Fortunately we didn't get into too much trouble...reminded me of college time bars, barfing in the bathroom (not us), chicks falling down stairs (not us), cowboys stripping (not good). Glad we survived those shots of SoCo and tequilla, but man was it good to hear Tone-Loc again! Saguaro cactuses are so beautiful!"

Extremo the Clown's new art car is a van (pictured). If you'd like to refresh your memory, watch my TV story on him here. You may remember the two hand puppets he would wiggle out the window at you while the music blared out of his old art car. He tells me, "Spanky (the chimp) loves it, in fact he has a new primate buddy that has joined the club. Freakensteinn and Daisy have been showing up lately but they don't seem to fit in as comfortably. For months they were out of the picture, but now they have appeared again."

I've missed them, but then I voted for Extremo when he ran for mayor.

Klezmocracy is back! They've managed to round up all the players in their new configuration in the same place at the same time (Saturday, April 26). The place is Mississippi Pizza where they played weekly gigs for a couple of years in with their former lineup. This lineup brings back Joe Janiga on drums, Ralph Huntley on keys and Courtney Von Drehle on sax, and adds Damien Erskine on bass and Jason DuMars on sax. They promise a lot of new material and some old faves, too.

Art Levine and I have a new internet radio talkshow

DC-based journalist Art Levine and I have started a mostly-political talk show on BlogTalkRadio, a fairly new site. We do it live...this Thursday live at 3:30pm PT. You can call in!
It is always available to listen to after it's over tho.
Check us out. Click below, or click on the player next to the top of the first entry of this blog.
Our page: www.blogtalkradio.com/tomandart

Latest LivePDX Music Blog

While wondering what's written in the notebooks Captain Beefheart must have been keeping all these years and listening to his Making Love to a Vampire with a Monkey On My Knee:

Following last week's item about Alan Jones' new jazz club comes word from saxophonist David Valdez that he has taken over booking at Pine Street Bistro. The infamous Craig Marquardo didn't last long there and did absolutely nothing for them.

It wouldn't take David too much to be better but he's making all the right moves. He is integrating the Nu Jazz cats and kittens like Andrew Oliver, (5/3), John Nastos, (5/23), Chris Mosely (5/17) and the all-female all-the-timeQuadraphones sax quartet (4/25). I've been dying to write about them.
Valdez isn't leaving out vets like Dave Frishberg
and Tall Jazz.

At least Valdez knows how to promote. He may have set the world's record for most appearances plugging a new CD with FOUR interviews on KMHD (including my show). He also had at least one on KBOO. Hey, some aggressive promotion is just what the jazz scene needs around here.

News from Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival booker, fine guitarist and cool cat Peter Dammann is mostly awesome. I asked him if he might be trying to get Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (the real Amy Winehouse). He replied, "I've been trying to get them here for three years. Made a big offer. They're going to Europe, then returning and playing the zoo in late July (25th)." Damn.

So far, he's telling me that booked so far are: Charlie Musselwhite, Elvin Bishop, James Hunter, Phoebe Snow; Gulf Coast Guitar slam with Sherman Robertson, Phillip Walker and Andrew Jr. Boy Jones; Canned Heat, Rosie Ledet, Lavay Smith, Classie Ballou.

Also, headlining, a Stax/Memphis soul tribute with Portland Soul Allstars (Louis Pain, Linda Hornbuckle, Laron Steele et al) followed by Isaac Hayes. Dammann says he, "Can't wait to see that rider..."

About two young guitar slingers, Joe Bonamassa, and Carolyn Wonderland, he says, "She's a grittier, more compelling and to my mind more talented version of Susan Tedeschi, from Houston/Austin."

On the Front Porch Stage, he says, "A battle of the 'bones: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, and Fred Wesley w/ Groove Sect (Offbeat award winner for funk band of the year last year); i.e., two of the funkiest trombonists on the planet, back to back on our front porch stage. The purists will insist Fred Wesley (James Brown, Count Basie, Parliament Funkadelic) is no 'blues' artist. But his blues cred and roots are about as deep as it goes: by the time he was 16 Wesley was touring with Ike Turner...."

I may go down to the waterfront and put my blanket down this weekend.

Peter is on his way to Jazzfest in New Orleans at the end of the month, "I'll be on a panel on the "International Festival Market" with organizers from other festivals around the country," he says, "including former Oregonian writer and percussionist Rick Mitchell (Houston International Festival). I'll also be sitting in with Charmaine Neville at Jazz Fest and at Snug Harbor, and have a gig with Reggie Houston at a little club in the 9th ward. And going to Ponderosa Stomp both nights to check out 'Lost Soul Queen' Bettye Harris among many others. And four days of Jazz Fest. Will I make it home in one piece?"

Does it matter? All that and Jazzfest too? Oregon Food Bank is banging on him to write a blog for them. It's a thankless job, Peter.

Cherry Poppin' Daddies have a new album coming out in June but they're playing Saturday night at the Wonder Ballroom. Their new album, Susquehanna is nothing like their big big big big hit. It is a story cycle in several genres. The closest thing to the jump blues that most people know them for (not us) is a dark tune about someone wearing wingtips and diapers. Nice to see Steve Perry's mind expanding (exploding?)

Jay Bozich aka King Fader reminds me that the CPD gig will be, "mixed by yours truly." Don't worry Jay, one of these days the rest of the world will understand what a huge role you've played in Portland's music scene. He has been the silent partner in Dahlia since they formed…and re-formed...but not reformed.

Patrick Lamb has recovered awful fast from that serious car accident. He was back at work playing with his band at the Rose Garden Tuesday night before the Blazers' game and at halftime.

Remember the 3 Leg Torso-fueled award-winning video I blogged about a couple of weeks ago? See it here.

The Terry Robb/Lauren Sheehan duo is a go. I was sitting in the patio of Vivace banging on this computer when it was warm the other day. Lauren was walking by. Don't know how she wasn't tempted by their coffee but she told me they're going to be making some demos and taking gigs.

Stop "Old" Jokes Now!

The time has come to stop making "Old Jokes." I shouldn't have to say that. In most societies old age is respected for accrued wisdom. Not in ours. In ours you get ridiculed, marginalized and completely discounted as though wrinkles and other natural aging processes disqualified a person from being a member of the human race. Worse, that normal aging qualifies the rest of the world to make fun of you.

There are many reasons to dislike John McCain. His age is not one of them.

In my youth, as a card-carrying member of the "Youth Culture," I may have fought against the older generation, but I never thought they were laughable. They weren't. They were in control, they could and would send me to certain death in Viet Nam.

This all started when people began laughing at the "I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up" commercials. I was in my 40's when they were running and I could never understand what was so fucking funny about an older person who was unable to get up off the floor after having fallen. I still don't. The heartless cruelty a person must have within them in order to find that amusing escapes me. And I'm the guy who wrote, "Grandma Turns Pet Dog Inside Out Looking for Lost Lottery Ticket" for a supermarket tabloid. THAT is funny, sick and funny, but not in the same way.

John Stewart should know better. His hair is getting gray. He's over forty, or looks it. He is the worst of the offenders. I understand others, the Sterns and Mancows of the world whose job it is to be cruel. But Stewart should be above making fun of someone simply because that person is old. It is symptomatic of why "The Daily Show" is shrinking in its popularity. Once you no longer have Bush to kick around, you have to go looking for targets, real or imagined. Since the writers' strike ended, they don't seem to know what's funny or what to do to be funny. So they take the easy way out, "old" jokes. Fat jokes, too.

I wish you could feel what it does to a person of age who is at least as aware as any 25 year old, and in most cases more aware. It doesn't feel good.

Try this: substitute the word, "Nigger" or "Jew" or "Bitch" or "Sand Nigger" or "Dago" for "old," either literally or conceptually. Now how does it sound? Still think it's funny?

One of these fine days, all of the folks who make "old " jokes will look in the mirror and perhaps pause, suck in their breath and say, "Oh my God. Did I really say that stuff? Look at me. I got old." And then they'll look around and find that people younger than they are pushing them out, not paying attention to them, discounting their talents and making fun of them, in public, on TV….everywhere.

I don't have to wish I were around to see it. I know it will happen.

Their smugness will be gone. Their snark in retreat.

Perhaps if they stopped the "old" jokes now, they might be better able to live with themselves later on.

I don't expect this will happen. I am a better writer, TV producer, radio DJ than I was when I was 30. I will not have the opportunity to prove that. Nobody wants to hire an old guy, no matter how good he still is. "Old" jokes feed this idea. "Old" jokes are a result of this idea. They even think there should be an age cut-off for driving a car.

So shall it be for those who now laugh. That's my only consolation. That and making fun of those stupid wool-hats the indie-boys wear.

this also appears on huffingtonpost.com

CNN's Disgraceful Push Poll on Obama

There they go again.

They being mainstream media. Remember them? They're the ones who bought and then brought to you the lies that led us to war in Iraq. The ones who laughed along with Rumsfeld. The ones who followed the lead of Karl Rove in telling you that Howard Dean was screaming like a lunatic when, in fact, he was yelling enthusiastically over a loud crowd. The ones who swift boated John Kerry as surely as the Republicans who lied about the Senator's service.

Today, after Sen. Obama's painfully truthful remarks about how politicians try to lead Americans to vote on the basis of fear and bigotry, and how people are sick and tired and yes "bitter" about how they've been treated, the Lou Dobbs Show on CNN ran this push poll:

"Do you believe that Senator Barack Obama's comments reveal his elitist attitude toward every hardworking American?"

It says "his elitist," not "an elitist" attitude as though his statements were proof of something that already existed, but was, perhaps doubtful. Viewers, why don't you validate that for us here in Atlanta!

In other words, Senator Obama, how long HAS it been since you've beaten your wife.

At 11:20 p.m. PDT on Friday night it stood 50-50, based on 18,453 votes. Under that total, CNN states, "This is not a scientific poll." Correct. It is a push poll.

The rest of CNN went hysterical, with lots of white faces calling Obama's remarks a "turning point." Sen. Clinton tore into the remarks ravenously, as though they were insults to working class voters. She was shameless when in fact it is the actions of "her administration" who allowed jobs to leave America and put us in the toilet in which we now find ourselves.

Her surrogates droned on about how the Republicans will jump on these remarks, something they beat the Republicans to, and were harder on Obama about.

Later on Obama was as eloquent as ever, calmly illuminating, even more sharply, what he had said before. That eloquence is elsewhere on this site but it bears repeating:

When I go around and I talk to people there is frustration and there is anger and there is bitterness. And what's worse is when people are expressing their anger then politicians try to say what are you angry about? This just happened - I want to make a point here today.

I was in San Francisco talking to a group at a fundraiser and somebody asked how're you going to get votes in Pennsylvania? What's going on there? We hear that's its hard for some working class people to get behind you're campaign. I said, "Well look, they're frustrated and for good reason. Because for the last 25 years they've seen jobs shipped overseas. They've seen their economies collapse. They have lost their jobs. They have lost their pensions. They have lost their healthcare.

And for 25, 30 years Democrats and Republicans have come before them and said we're going to make your community better. We're going to make it right and nothing ever happens. And of course they're bitter. Of course they're frustrated. You would be too. In fact many of you are. Because the same thing has happened here in Indiana. The same thing happened across the border in Decatur. The same thing has happened all across the country. Nobody is looking out for you. Nobody is thinking about you. And so people end up- they don't vote on economic issues because they don't expect anybody's going to help them. So people end up, you know, voting on issues like guns, and are they going to have the right to bear arms. They vote on issues like gay marriage. And they take refuge in their faith and their community and their families and things they can count on. But they don't believe they can count on Washington. So I made this statement-- so, here's what rich. Senator Clinton says 'No, I don't think that people are bitter in Pennsylvania. You know, I think Barack's being condescending.' John McCain says, 'Oh, how could he say that? How could he say people are bitter? You know, he's obviously out of touch with people.'

Out of touch? Out of touch? I mean, John McCain--it took him three tries to finally figure out that the home foreclosure crisis was a problem and to come up with a plan for it, and he's saying I'm out of touch? Senator Clinton voted for a credit card-sponsored bankruptcy bill that made it harder for people to get out of debt after taking money from the financial services companies, and she says I'm out of touch? No, I'm in touch. I know exactly what's going on. I know what's going on in Pennsylvania. I know what's going on in Indiana. I know what's going on in Illinois. People are fed-up.

They're angry and they're frustrated and they're bitter. And they want to see a change in Washington and that's why I'm running for President of the United States of America.

The misguided mainstream media may be right about one thing, this may be a turning point, the point at which Americans begin to listen to a politician who tells the truth and refuses to pander, to stoop as low as Senator Clinton and the rest of the Republicans.

That would be Barack Obama.

Here's video of his reply:



also appears on huffingtonpost.com

This Week's LivePDX.com Music Blog

While plotting to somehow arrange it so that no song ever again begins with an acoustic guitar going "chunk chunk-a-chunk-a, chunk, chunk-a-chunk-a, chunk chunk-a-chunk-a"…etc:
The Mt. Hood Jazz Fesitval is actually the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival again. On Monday, with saxophonist Red Holloway in attendance, they announced that the festival will come back to the campus of Mt. Hood Community College (also the home of KMHD) Friday and Saturday August 16 & 17. That's where it started in 1981. There are still bad feelings about how and why it left. Not toward the college, but toward those who ran it back then. No, it won't be like it was, but it's a good thing it has come home. More info later.
A new jazz club in Portland! And run by a musician! Come May drummer Alan Jones will be opening a club in the basement of the Green Onion near Portland State called The Cave at 636 SW Jackson St. (at Broadway). And hallelujah!!! Wednesday nights will be owned by Nancy King. There will be music on weekends, too.
Yes, of course Alan will be playing, it's his club.
There's some grumbling among and between the musicians over Jimmy Mak's new policy of booking two bands in one night. Two bands, one cover. Sometimes a band will open for another, sometimes they share the headline. I think it's a great thing for music consumers (us).
I reported last week that Margaret Slovak was having her shoulder examined in New York. Not exactly. She says, "I got a grant to go to NYC for two weeks to study with a classical guitarist, David Leisner, who has developed guitar playing techniques utilizing larger muscle groups in the shoulder/armpit to help regain right hand function due to injuries. The lessons went very well and I feel that these techniques will help me to get more of the use of my right hand back. It will still take a while to fully integrate the techniques but the study gave me a lot of hope! I had shoulder surgery in 2006 to fix the damage from the (auto accident)."
On the teenage blues front: Last Friday (Muddy Waters' birthday) guitarist/singer TJ Moor was thrilled to be able take the stage with Pinetop Perkins and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith at the Aladdin Theater while multi-instrumentalist Mac Potts, "danced the night away whirlin' and twirlin'," according to TJ. Saturday Mac played in the lobby of the Schnitz.
One good thing about working for nothing at KMHD is the DJ email list. For instance, a couple of weeks ago Jeremy Appleton, who does the awesome Soul Station show at 10 pm on Tuesday nights wrote, "Robert Parker is an Australian Sound Engineer and Broadcaster. Over the last thirty years Robert has developed a unique, award winning system for extracting high quality sound from early mono 78 rpm records. He has been collecting records since the age of around twelve - and has now amassed one of the finest vintage music collections in the country. It has formed the basis for 'Jazz Classics in Digital Stereo'. You can now hear the seris over the Web."
Brother/sister electronic/trip-hop duo Oracle with Keith Schreiner,
twin sister/sister duo Acoustic Minds
and Morgan Grace (among others) performing at a tribute to Billie Holiday? Now that sounds like fun. It's a benefit for November's Siren Nation Festival on Saturday, April 12 at The Fez. MCing is Tahoe Jackson. I wish she were also singing. Somebody has to get her to sit in on something that night.
Bassist Damien Erskine is always busy. There's finally a Klezmocracy gig coming up (stay tuned) and recently he signed with Alfred Publishing for an instructional book and a DVD. He ought to have one on how to grow and maintain an awesome half-a-goatee.
I won't jump the gun on a piece I have in this week's A&E section but one of the happiest happy hours in town these days features former Artichokians Kate Power and Steve Einhorn every Monday night in April at the Alberta St. Public House.
There are no Oregon bands nominated for Jammys
this year. You can vote there anway. I voted for Bonerama and Galactic.
Tom D'Antoni is a Portland writer and TV Producer/Reporter. Listen to his show on Saturday nights 10pm to 2am on KMHD 89.1 fm and streaming on the web at kmhd.fm.

A good time to remember this song

I'd rather support the people ho faught against the Iraq war than the ones who actually faught it in Iraq.

This week's LivePDX.com music blog

While trying to recover from two days in Bend "covering" the famed Pregnant Man story for Inside Edition:

Word from saxophonist/composer Patrick Lamb's wife Amy Maxwell tells me that he is home and recovering from last week's traffic accident at Grand and NE Weidler where his car was smacked by a dump truck. She said that the people who found him immediately after the wreck thought he was a goner. He was not. He has some broken bones, but after a couple of days in the hospital, he was released. She is grateful for all the good will sent her way…and Patricks's.

Not sure how long it'll be before he's up and playing again. The sooner the better.

Another medical report: Margaret Slovak is back from New York City where she was having her shoulder examined. The lingering effects of her own auto accident several years ago is one of the sad stories in the Portland music community. She was rear-ended not terribly far from where Lamb's car was hit.

And you thought drugs were the biggest danger to musicians. If I was a Portland player I'd stay away from Sullivan's Gulch!

3 Leg Torso is going to be "featured in the DVD release of Diary of the Dead, George Romero's latest zombie movie" according to Courtney von Drehle, the accordion leg of the band. & Teller, a short film by the silent half of Penn and Teller along with Ezekiel Zabrowski won one of the five first prizes in a George Romero-sponsored contest. That's how it gets on the DVD. They used the 3 Leg tune "Elliot's Dream." It comes out May 20.

Teller narrates the film which tells the story of how his Las Vegas hometown is overrun by those cute undead folks. He kills them, I hear. Violinist Bela Balogh said, "We’ve been licensing a lot of music lately…to Bill Plympton and others. Von Drehle added, “Though in retrospect, we were glad they didn’t ask us to help clean all that zombie make-up and glue off of them after filming!”

Think that rock operas are dead? A new one called Toy Room by performance artist Sally Tomato premieres April 4-6 at the Wonder Ballroom. A soundtrack album has already been released and a DVD of the performance will be released in the fall. Proceeds go to Portland Women's Crisis Line.

According to what they sent me, the show "chronicles the life story of the enigmatic Sally Tomato. Touching on her childhood and hurtling into a chaotic adult life, the story line moves through an abusive marriage on its way to rediscovering the innocence of youth. Throughout the play, Sally struggles to regain the ability she had as a child to rise above the mundane via her imagination. In the end she triumphs, finding that the toy room has always existed in her own mind – and reminding us that it exists in ours as well."

Sounds like a chick thing.

One of the happiest elements of the show is the return to the dance world of Clynthia Chimienti who came out of the late great PSU dance program and who hasn't been active for the past few years while getting her masters and launching her counseling practice. She does the choreography and plays the part of "Destiny."

Boomerific bass player Freebo who backed Bonnie Raitt, John Mayall, CSN (that's Crosby, Stills and Nash, kids), Maria Mauldaur and even Ringo Starr (although who didn't?), Neil Young and Dr. John (I don't remember that)….whew that was long…he's coming to Artichoke Music for a songwriting workshop on Sunday, April 6 2-6pm. He was Best Folk Artist in last year's Los Angeles Music Awards. F.Y.I. His real name is Daniel Friedberg.

R.I.P Sean Levert. According to news reports, " Sean Levert, a third of the 1980s R&B trio LeVert and son of lead O'Jays singer Eddie Levert, has died after falling ill while serving a jail term. He was 39. Authorities said Monday that an autopsy was inconclusive but foul play was ruled out.

Levert was sentenced last week to one year and 10 months in jail for failing to pay $89,025 in child support.

Wednesday is (was) Leon Russell'sLeon Russell's 67th birthday and he's still caught in a masquerade.

Art, waffles and music? Rich going, huh? Scott Stobbe of the band Zdrastvootie says, "I am having some of my compositions performed (a collage of pieces for trombone, oboe, violin, accordeon, toy piano, guitar and percussion) come if you can. Jace Gace makes good waffles and has beer!! There is also a free impov sextet on the April 9th show!!" It is sponsored by Portland New Music Society.

And on Friday, April 5, don't forget Rachel Taylor Brown's CD release gig at Mississippi Studios.

"The Real DB Cooper" ....a rerun

Here's a story I did last spring on a man who might be (have been) DB Cooper. Since they found a parachute the other day that might be his, I thought I should post this again.

New LivePDX.com Music Blog

News & Gossip: Sometimes Girls Rock! And Sometimes They Don't

While listening to "Give the Drummer Some More," from the new Greyboy Allstars album....

I have been putting off writing anything about the movie Girls Rock! I was thinking I'd just shut up about it, but it's been on my mind. I have not seen the film and have no plans to.

Don't get me wrong, I think the idea of a music camp for girls is a good one for all the obvious reasons, but in 2003 I did a TV story for OPB's Oregon Art Beat on the first camp. And I got my butt kicked because of it.

I had the nerve to actually show some of the girls failing. Like the movie, I'm told, I followed several girls through a day at the camp. I showed the teaching, the camaraderie of collaboration, the discovery that they could make music, etc. All the good stuff. I came back to shoot the performances at the end of the week. A couple of the girls I had followed were not bad, but a charming duo who I had shown writing songs together had been joined by two others who could not play at all.

As a result, the two we had followed were thrown off and were just awful. A painful moment, but a real one. I understand there are such moments of failure in the movie. All in all, my story was very positive, mostly triumphant even, but in this one case, not so much. I felt fine about the story.

A couple of weeks after it aired, I was walking downtown and heard a female voice calling my name. It was an adult from the camp. I thought she was going to tell me she liked the piece, since it was so positive. Instead she began to berate me because I had shown failure and how showing that failure could have damaged these girls.

I told her that I've always learned more from failure, especially in public, than from success. She didn't want to hear about that.

Then the following year, I called Misty McElroy, the founder of the camp (who later "resigned"), to offer her any publicity she might need from Art Beat. She snarled and told me where I could shove my offer. She was still pissed over my story.

More damage is done by adults sugar coating what's out in the real world, than by telling little Tiffany or Jason that they suck as musicians and probably should try something else. I had to learn it the hard way and the lesson stuck. It's a hard world, an even harder business, and you might as well learn it at the beginning. Part of "empowerment" is learning how to fail. When I have taught broadcasting, I always took a day of class to teach people what to do when they get fired. It's inevitable, so you might as well learn what to do.

Let the church say amen.

THIS JUST IN: Patrcick Lamb's wife Amy Maxwell reports that Patrick was in a "really bad car accident (Tuesday). He was hit by a dump truck, and is lucky to be alive. He is currently in the hospital at Emmanuel. He is scheduled to have an MRI (Wednesday) and get the final results on his other tests. So far everything is looking great."

Full details to follow.

Now back to regularly scheduled programming....

You won't find a better start to a Ron Steen jam than the one that will happen on Monday, March 31 at Produce Row. David Friesen's pianist Greg Goebel and Pink Martini's bassist Phil Baker will form the trio that starts the jam with Ron. Baker wrote "Cante e Danse," for Pink Martini's Hey Eugene! It's one of the prettiest tunes ever written.

Speaking of the Greyboy Allstars, that song is stuck in my head. Stop! Hold it right there. Give the drummer some more because the drummer ain't had none in a long time/he ain't had none in a long time/the drummer ain't had none in a long time. It goes on to name all of the band members. Guess none of them ain't had none in a long time. They're going to be at the Roseland on Friday, March 28.

Last blog I mentioned that trumpeter Ingrid Jensen was in town. Her set with Alan Jones and Dave Speranza to'e the roof off Jimmy Mak's last Monday.

Sorry I missed Jen Folker and Solovox at The Crown Room last Friday. Missing Jen anytime is a damned shame.