The Great Leap Forward

George W. Bush - Destroying America.

Consider this Financial Times article (found through MyDD by way of Daily Kos) detailing how the United States is going to get left behind. Our station in the world as fallen so far in such a short time. The long-term damage is incalculable. The world used to look to us for moral leadership. Today, we can offer none.

"Alberto Gonzales was one of the principal players in the Administration effort to legalize the worldwide torture of prisoners."

If you're down with that, what kind of American are you, anyway?

Here is a rant from Daily Kos member Hunter that should put everything into perspective - much more so than I ever could. Let's hope that this country comes to its senses before we irreversibly slide into third-world status. Because the Rethugs just don't care about freedom or justice, just money and power. If there's a hell, then that's where all Rethugs belong. That's right - all of them.

MP3 of the day #7: Matthew Ryan

Today we dip back into obscure late-'90s Americana. Matthew Ryan made his appearance on the music scene in 1997, eventually releasing two albums on A&M (May day and East autumn grin). After Interscope swallowed A&M up, he went the indie route, releasing a number of CDs independently. He's now on the Hybrid label, having released Regret over the wires. A live CD, These are field recordings, is just out and available through his site. He's still around today, in case you're wondering.

I just dug this one out of the storage bin and gave it a spin. You may want to do the same. Here's "Guilty" from his first CD, May day.

(update note: I went back and retitled the MP3 posts - easier to find if you care about that sort of thing - it doesn't seem to make the site any more popular, but maybe someday...)

(file removed Feb 25)

here's the part where I recommend the indie label 2024 Records

I found the Minneapolis-based indiepop label 2024 Records through Music For Robots.

I just spent the last hour listening to their jukebox. Lots of good bands here - The Olympic Hopefuls, Valet, Fitzgerald, Romantica, and Standbye. (Didn't care for The Plastic Constellations.)

Give 'em all a spin here.

Colin Meloy's Morrissey covers EP.

I believe I mentioned about this EP earlier this week. Go to the MP3/music blog Music For Robots to pick up 2 MP3s from the EP - "I've changed my plea to guilty" and "Sister I'm a poet".

Music For Robots main page here.

While I'm on the subject of MP3 blogs, here's another one recommended by a member of The Big Takeover mailing list - Fluxblog. From a quick glance, it looks like an all-over-the-place type of blog, musically speaking.

a bit of sad news about Martin Phillipps of the Chills.

If you don't remember 'em, you missed out. The Chills were a damn fine band back in the day. Grab a copy of Submarine bells if you ever see one. Martin is still kicking around - web site for The Chills is here.

Sad part is, Martin was busted for shoplifting last month. The music does not pay well enough. Maybe we can all help - order a copy of their new EP here at their website.

He also explained reinvesting The Chills' modest royalty payments into the band meant he was not living the life of the multi-millionaire rock star: instead, as a sickness beneficiary struggling with the expensive after-affects of hepatitis C, he was living on between $20 and $30 a week.

You can't hold him too responsible (but stealing is wrong) since he's had a lot to overcome (including a heroin addiction, apparently).

The Chills never achieved rock stardom and very little of their work is still in print. Send Martin some good wishes, perhaps? (The Chills' website is www.softbomb.com.)

If only we could get people this motivated about protesting the criminal Bush administration.

DC-area alt-rock radio station WHFS (best known for its summer HFStivals) went away on January 12. Two weeks later, it's back online at AOL Radio, thanks to some motivated listeners, who were unwilling to give up their Korn and were going to stage a protest rally next week.

(Side note: WHFS was replaced by a new Latino station, which should further underline the growing shift towards a bilingual America. Fine with me.)

A touching story, but why we get worked up over crap like this and American Idol when the really important topics like liars in the White House are continually overlooked? They lie to you every day and they're going to keep it up until we put a stop to it.

Hey America, you can save a marginally popular radio station from obscurity, but you won't lift a finger for democracy. WTF?

MP3 of the day #6: Superchunk

Today's MP3 comes from Superchunk - not one of my all-time favorites, but a rock-solid indie band of the '90s.  From their 1995 CD Here's where the strings come in, please listen to "Iron on". I just like the riff from this one. Listening to the mid-90s stuff makes me a little nostalgic for Iowa City, back before things got messed up.

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10 bands to watch in Boston.

The Boston Globe lets us know about 10 Boston bands to keep an eye on. The ones that seem the most promising to me are The Information (here is their page and here is their label's page - with a few songs to download - look around), Dear Leader (featuring Aaron Perrino from one of my personal favorites, The Sheila Divine - you can download their live shows here from www.archive.org) and Mittens, who get compared to Barenaked Ladies. Try 'em all!

once in a while...

you see a great post that makes a night worth of surfing worthwhile. This is one of those posts.

So me an George been sittin on the Ferril Wheel of Freedom for a couple days or so when I get to thinkin maybe somethin's wrong.

"Is the ride supposed to be movin?" says me.
"This is a great ride," says George. "This ride is a monument to the spirit an principles a Freeocracy."
"It's just that's it's not," says me.
"You gotta be patient with the ride," says George. "Rides don't work overnight."
"An there's all these fire trucks an rescue helicopters an people yellin 'get off the ride'," says me.
"There's always gonna be doubters an skeptics," says George. "People who hate the ride because of its freedom."
"An when we got on the Roller Coaster of Liberty it broke down too," says me.
"That's a great ride, a great ride," says George. "I know it cause I rode on it. I got instincts, see."
"In fact it looked exactly like the Ferris Wheel of Freedom," says me.
"You bought your ticket," says George. "You bought your ticket so you liked it. You know you liked the ride."
After a while I wave to one a the helicopters. George looks mad. "How you gonna ride the ride if you're tryin to get OFF the ride?" he says. I am ashamed!
"Is the ride supposed to be on fire?" says me.
"God bless this great carnival attraction," says George.

The blog is called fafblog! - that's all you need to know right now.