Scholars and RoguesScholars and RoguesA diverse band of thinkers, social analysts, activists, grousers, jesters, and troublemakers. We're different in many ways, but we share a general belief in progress, a conviction that smarter is better, and a passionate distaste for convention. Articles
Negativity in the Crossroads of America
2008-05-06 15:20:00 First, some recent history. Unfortunately, a familiar pattern has emerged. The Clinton campaign was afraid she’d lose, so they went negative in New Hampshire, and it worked. Then it was Wisonsin, where they went negative again. It was much of the same in Ohio and Texas. She ran a television ad suggesting that the youthful Obama could not be trusted if a world crisis forced the president from bed in the middle of the night. She questioned his ethics by repeatedly raising questions about his relationship with a disgraced supporter who, by the luck of the draw for Clinton, is the target of a federal corruption trial that began Monday in Chicago, where Obama lives. And, highlighting a meeting between a top Obama aide and the Canadian government, she painted him as a typical, two-faced politician who told the voters one thing about his intention to change the North America n Free Trade Agreement but with a wink and a nod assured a foreign government he would not follow through. I... More About: Crossroads
Happy Cinco de Mayo
2008-05-05 21:09:00 What you know about Cinco de May is only half the story. It is also known as the great mayonnaise mess. Most people don’t know that back in 1912, Hellmann’s mayonnaise was manufactured in England. In fact, the Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after its stop in New York. This would have been the largest single shipment of mayonnaise ever delivered to Mexico. But as we know, the great ship did not make it to New York. The ship hit an iceberg and sank, and the cargo was forever lost. The people of Mexico, who were crazy about mayonnaise and were eagerly awaiting its delivery, were disconsolate at the loss. Their anguish was so great that they declared a National Day of Mourning, which they still observe to this day. The National Day of Mourning occurs each year on May 5th and is known, of course, as Sinko de Mayo. Fooled ya! Cinco de Mayo is often mistaken... More About: Happy
ArtSunday: Neo-Poop for one and all
2008-05-04 17:28:00 Ahhhh. An unseasonably balmy day here in the flyover zone. Upstairs, my riotous infant had subsided into what passes for a nap these hellish days. Downstairs, the dogs and I were cautiously relaxing into sunshine and silence. I snapped open a can of Diet Dr. Pepper, settled into the spot on the couch that fits my rear just right, and fired up the trusty laptop to while away a blessed hour with Google as my friendly guide… and saw this: And said this: ?Good God. Jeff Koons just crapped all over my Google.? You know, I?m an ex-artsy type, dating from that long-ago era when Mr. Koons and Neo-Pop first oozed their way onto The Art Scene. I don?t argue with,?It?s art if I say it is?: not because I agree, but because years of painful experience have taught me that debating this point invariably results in an eye-twisting headache due to self-reproach and patchouli fumes. Dada? Yeah, yeah, I get it. Abstract Expressionism? Neither truly abstract nor effectively expressive, I mutt... More About: Poop
Imagine a secretary of state whose idea of foreign policy is abolishing nuc
2008-05-04 06:51:00 Especially at a time when the recent release of photographs of Hiroshima’s aftermath by an unknown Japanese photographer reminds us anew that nuclear weapons are not intended for use on another state’s military, but its people. “‘Everywhere you turn, you hear it,’ said Savannah businessman Ed Feiler.” What, that Clinton will pull it out? That we’ll attack Iran? No, think local. Turns out that Georgians are speculating whether Sam Nunn, their Democratic senator for 25 years, will be invited to join a Barack Obama ticket. It’s true that Obama was recently endorsed by Nunn. But why pick a guy who will be 70 by the election? Yes, he’s two years younger than John McCain, but he’s been out of office 11 years. Larry Peterson of the Savannah Morning News explains: “Nunn’s experience and expertise, especially on national defense issues and foreign policy, would offset what some view as Obama’s weaknesses. . . . And... More About: Democrats , Policy , Foreign Policy , Idea
Saturday Video Roundup: the worst of music video, part 1
2008-05-03 17:34:00 Howdy. And welcome back to SVR. We’ve recently offered up some of the greatest videos in music history (part 1, part 2, part 3), and today, in the interest of fair and balanced coverage, we felt a hateful need to ruin your Saturday morning by inflicting an ethical obligation to present some of the worst music videos in history. So, let’s get it on, shall we? First, what in the world would possess Deathtöngue to record a song with these lyrics? “Middle of the road, man it stanks! Let’s run over Lionel Richie with a tank!” Hmmm. Maybe it would be this 1984 video where an “acting teacher” stalks a blind chick. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-XctIJjp9 k Speaking of the thespian arts, not only is Milli Vanilli not singing, they’re not acting, too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSqV3rWM4i Q This is Jan Terri, and there’s so much going wrong here it’s hard to know where to start. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE2l6CPna4 M I... More About: Video , Music , Music Video , Roundup
My congressman?s advice on oil, gas prices ? not so good
2008-05-02 22:05:00 My congressman sent me his May 2008 newsletter today via e-mail to explain to me why gasoline prices are so high and what he’s doing about it. His analysis is unimpressive. According to the newsletter and its link to his Web site, Rep. John R. “Randy” Kuhl (R-N.Y.) says: Why are gas prices so high? The high price of gasoline results from the cost of crude oil, the world demand and supply for oil, our limited refining capacity, and taxes. [emphasis added] But what didn’t make his list? Rep. Kuhl did not mention the role of a weakened dollar in the cost of crude. Nor did he point to speculation ? which Congress said added $20 to a barrel of oil back when oil cost $70 per barrel ? as a root cause of precipitous price increases. According to Peter Way of Block Traders’ Oil & Gold Monitor: [W]e observed that a tug-of-war was developing between the regulars and the newer speculators that would influence world energy costs. Until recently, the contest ha... More About: Middle East , Advice , Bush administration , Gas Prices
Quotabull
2008-05-02 15:56:00 I think blogs are dedicated to cruelty, they?re dedicated to dishonesty, they?re dedicated to speed. ? Buzz Bissinger, author of ?Friday Night Lights? and other bestsellers, castigating blogs on HBO’s “Costas Now”; May 1. It?s one of the bigger Cadillacs. I?ve got a desk in it. It?s like an airplane. … I want them to feel that they are somebody and their congressman is somebody. And when they say, ?This is nice,? it feels good. ? Rep. Charles Rangell, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, describing the 17-foot-long, 300-horsepower, 2004 Cadillac DeVille he leases for for $777.54 a month; House rules permit members to lease any vehicle at taxpayer expense; May 1. While serving as Administrator, Ms. Doan worked to strengthen GSA’s ability to respond effectively during times of emergency and make government buildings more energy efficient. The President is grateful for her service and wishes her and her family the best. ? statement from White H...
Obama vs. MC Gravel: Fire it up!
2008-05-02 15:43:00 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYf7eiLqe2 U Thanks to TakeBackTheHouse. More About: Hillary Clinton , Obama , Mike Gravel , Fire , Gravel
The ?McCain standard? and the rise of the Calphalon Candidate
2008-05-02 01:46:00 If you’re following America’s electoral theater at all, you know that we have a candidate with a preacher problem. And that the candidate in question has been put in the uncomfortable position of having to repudiate some of said preacher’s remarks (while not alienating those voters in the flock who actually, you know, agree with what the Reverend was saying). In case you haven’t been paying attention, the controversial cleric has pronounced God’s doom upon certain of the nation’s citizens, and the backlash against him and his favorite for the White House has significantly damaged the candidate’s chances. Of course, I’m talking about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Barack Obama. Errr, wait … that’s not right. That’s not who I’m talking about at all. No, I’m talking about the Rev. John Hagee and His Maverickness, John Dubya McCain. You might recall (or you might not, since the Fourth Estate has devoted so few c... More About: Standard , Rise , Candidate
WordsDay: The Bloody Shirt and America?s history of terrorism
2008-05-01 19:49:00 The Bloody Shirt by Stephen Budiansky Most America ns don?t realize that a large portion of our country was, once upon a time, overrun by barbarians. That age of barbarians isn?t covered in most history texts, and when it is, it?s usually called the Era of Reconstruction. And as many Southerners resisted reconstruction, they resorted to acts of barbarism to impose their terrible will over the rule of law. Stephen Budiansky?s new book, The Bloody Shirt: Terror After Appomattox, explores this age of barbarism?for age of barbarism it was. No other word can suffice to explain the acts of terror and violence committed by large numbers of Southern whites in the decades immediately following the Civil War. Budiansky?s book pulls no punches, and as a result it conjures palpable feelings of raw anger, frustration, and indignation. Southerners perpetrated injustice after injustice to keep blacks from exercising their rights as citizens as human beings. Northern whites who migrated south to hel... More About: Terrorism , History
The Weekly Carboholic: Soil key to global heating too
2008-05-01 05:41:00 Dirt. It’s all around you. You wash it off your car. You run and hike on it. You buy it to plant your new roses in. And yet, according to an amazing Boston Herald story titled The Future of Dirt, soil scientists are only now beginning to understand how it really works. And given that the global population is expected to rise by about 50% in the next 50 years, we’re going to need to figure out ways to keep what soil we have from degrading and even improve the fertility of our dirt if possible. By 2050, according to Rattan Lal, a professor of soil science at Ohio State University, “All the necessities of food, feed, fiber, and fuel are going to be met by less than one-tenth of an acre per person, on average. And we already have seriously degraded a lot of the available land. So unless you can restore some of it you will just run out.” This warning is not hyperbole. There is evidence that ancient civilizations collapsed because the overused their dirt and... More About: Global , Weekly , Heating , El Nino
Kiss the monster
2008-04-30 17:11:00 First of all, I recall to your attention the extraordinary fact with which I began. To wit, that the human being, like the immortals, naturally places sexual intercourse far and away above all other joys — yet he has left it out of his heaven! The very thought of it excites him; opportunity sets him wild; in this state he will risk life, reputation, everything — even his queer heaven itself — to make good that opportunity and ride it to the overwhelming climax. From youth to middle age all men and all women prize copulation above all other pleasures combined, yet it is actually as I have said: it is not in their heaven; prayer takes its place. - Mark Twain , Letters from the Earth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88y50lWPnr Q Damn, P. Hux and Twain have it nailed, don’t they? Thanks to John Cavanaugh for passing this vid along. More About: Democrats , Kiss , Bill Clinton , Monster
Donors to Clintons: We gave at the office
2008-04-29 20:16:00 “In a campaign of surprises,” writes Daniel Henninger in a recent Wall Street Journal column, “none has been more breathtaking than the falling away of Clinton supporters, loyalists [and] friends. Why?” The answer, of course — after all, this is the WSJ — is “Money.” Henninger explains. “Once Barack proved conclusively that he could raise big-time cash, the Clintons’ strongest tie to their machine began to unravel.” Not the clearest writer, what he seems to mean is that big-money Democrats no longer feel compelled to donate large sums to the Clintons. That’s because Obama has found a way to draw money for the Democrats without bleeding them dry. “It is hard to overstate how fatigued Democratic donors in Manhattan and L.A. got during the Clinton presidency to have Bill and Hillary fly in, repeatedly, to sweep checking accounts.” Henninger continues: “Bill’s 60th birthday gala (tickets $60,... More About: Office , The Office
TunesDay: Ooh la la
2008-04-29 18:17:00 One of my favorite musical sub-genres is sort of an off-shoot of trip-hop, a sultry urban electropop district where the downbeat influence of Portishead meets up with all kinds of interesting characters dressed like David Bowie in the ’70s. California pure pop a la Burt Bacharach, for instance, which we find in the likes of Saint Etienne (and the solo work of singer Sarah Cracknell), Mono and Hooverphonic . These groups are almost always fronted by female vocalists, and every year or two I trip across another one that just blows me away. In 2002 it was Frou Frou, and in 2005 the duo’s singer, Imogen Heap , knocked us out with the brilliant Speak for Yourself. Black Box Recorder did two or three must-have CDs and singer Sarah Nixey’s solo debut last year was one of my Gold LP winners. Hooverphonic has a great new release out this year that will likely be in the Gold LP category, as well. Then there’s our band of the week, Goldfrapp, a British outfit fronted by s...
U.S. population to hit 1 billion in 2100, prof says
2008-04-29 16:36:00 It’s often difficult to get the attention of my students. But when I told them that it’s possible that a few of them would see the year 2100, and that most of their children surely would, they stopped furtively texting under their desks and began paying attention. When I was born just after World War II, I told them, the population of the United States was about 141 million; of the world, about 2.7 billion. Now, 62 years later, Americans tip the scale at about 303 million; the world’s population has grown to about 6.6 billion. A little extrapolation of U.S. Census data, I told them, shows the American population hitting 518 million at mid-century and 758 million in 2100. The world’s population is likely to grow to 14 billion at century’s end. Imagine what that world ? their world ? would be like, I challenged them. But I was too optimistic. In a report to be released today, a Virginia Tech professor estimates that between 2100 and 2120 the population of... More About: Prof , Billion
Nota bene
2008-04-29 01:20:00 Got hot links if you want ‘em! Headline of the week: CLINTON CHALKS UP KEY MEANINGLESS VICTORY. At Asia Times Online courtesy of Muhammad Cohen. (Yes, that’s his real name.) In her Los Angeles Times column, “My Winning Strategy,” Rosa Brooks writes of Hillary Clinton: “But they said I had to win by double digits to keep my campaign alive. . . . And I am alive! And kicking! And punching and biting and kneeing my opponent in the groin!” Last week Hillary said of Iran , “In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel , we would be able to totally obliterate them.” At Informed Comment, Juan Cole responds: “Clinton’s rather bloodthirsty pandering to what she thinks the Israel lobbies want to hear is likely actually to produce the opposite of the desired reaction in Iran itself . . . . [She’s] now just flailing around fantasizing about incinerating children in playgrounds in Isf... More About: Middle East , Iraq , Democrats
The anatomy of a FOX ?interview?
2008-04-28 19:17:00 by Josh Nelson In what will perhaps become Chris Wallace’s proudest moment, yesterday’s interview of Barack Obama offers a glimpse into the subtle efforts FOX makes to frame the debate. In the first 9 minutes all of Wallace’s questions and comments were about race. 9:03 A.M EST: WALLACE: But some observers, and some liberal observers say is that part of your problem is you come off as a former law professor who talks about transforming politics when the lunch bucket crowd really wants to know what youre going to do for them. Bob Herbert, columnist for the New York Times, happens to be a black man, says that Hillary Clinton seems tougher than you do. 9:06:32 Senator, for all your efforts to run a post-racial campaign, isn’t there still a racial divide in this country that is going to make it very hard for you to get elected president? Which created a perfect transition into… the real issue at hand. 9:09 WALLACE: I wasn’t sure whether I was even go... More About: Anatomy , Interview
ArtSunday: The artist who made his ego wait outside his studio door
2008-04-27 06:01:00 Most art students learn to appreciate art by studying its history. Thus they’re usually exposed to the figurative art of past centuries before they are to twentieth-century art, with its effusion of styles. But some have a natural inclination for the avant garde. For example, jazz, with the homage it paid to old standards and show tunes, seemed too, well, straight, for this author when he was young. His gateway to its wonders, current and past, was John Coltrane. Likewise, his portal into art was abstract expressionism, especially personal favorites Willem De Kooning and Franz Kline. In other words, if he falls for a figurative painter, that artist has got to be world class. Which is exactly the direction in which 27-year-old Michael De Brito is headed. When a friend referred us to his website, it was instantly apparent that realism, already revitalized in recent years, had gotten another bracing infusion in De Brito’s work. The copy on his site reveals his influences: &... More About: Artist , Arts , Studio , Made , Door
Saturday Video Roundup Smackdown: if you smellllllll ? what BaRock ? is coo
2008-04-26 17:57:00 Don’t tell me you haven’t fantasized about it. HilRod. BaRock. John Dubya McCain (one-half of the Double Talk Express). Three-way dance inside a STEEL CAGE for the USA Heavyweight Title. Yeah, I’m feeling ya. We’re getting there, too. This past Monday night on WWE Raw, all three candidates ran some lame smack for the national cable audience. In case you missed it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbaxHjxOlo 4 Yeah, that was kind of sad. Not sure what the point was, either - I thought they had settled this already. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJLTbN73AP 8 And forget when the phone rings at 3 am - who can you trust when the bell rings? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOIx4_aeNt s If you’re like me, you can’t wait for DNC vs. GOP on X-Box, huh? Well, that’s it for this week’s electoral edition of Saturday Video Smackdown. It wasn’t much for policy nuance, but I think we’ve all learned something. Or maybe we’ve just b... More About: Democrats , Barack Obama , Hillary Clinton , Roundup
Texas edumacation: no heathen Chinee allowed
2008-04-26 01:31:00 Since we appear to be celebrating educational idiocy lately, here’s a contribution from Don McLeroy, chairman of the Texas State Board of Education, which is currently embroiled in the hair-tearing, gut-wrenching, eyeball-poking process of adopting a new English Language Arts curriculum. Actual teachers and former teachers (not consultants, so who cares) raised concerns that the proposed reading list contained very few (4 out of 150, to be exact) books concerning Hispanic culture. The student population in Texas is approximately 49% Hispanic, which (because there are other races here, too, believe it or not) makes them… the majority. Yep. The ever-sensitive Mr. McLeroy’s response, according to Michelle De La Rosa of the San Antonio Express-News, was apparently prompted by a love of the English language and a profoundly limited culinary experience: However, McLeroy said he directed a group of experts to add examples of “good literature” to the list. He...
What does Sean Bell?s acquittal say about how we should judge police?
2008-04-26 00:29:00 I predicted three weeks ago that the cops who killed Sean Bell and wounded his friends in a 50-shot barrage would be acquitted. Given the burden of proof on the prosecution and the testimony presented in court, I just didn’t see a way the judge would find the accused guilty. Today, all three accused officers were found not guilty on all charges. As I’ve posted before, Bell was killed not because the police did anything criminal, but because they royally screwed up. They may have been cowards, they may have been trying to make a bust, any bust, to put a period on the end of their last night as a unit, but they were certainly incompetent. As a society, we have long tolerated incompetence in our police forces. Many of us even gladly tolerate outright criminal behavior from cops if it’s aimed at potential lawbreakers, reasoning that the accused, who have not been convicted of any crime, deserve what they get. It’s a strange attitude in a society predicated... More About: Judge , Police , Jackson
God bless Home Depot
2008-04-25 17:15:00 Finally, an American corporation is getting serious about supporting our troops and their families. Thanks to Mike Smith for the tip. More About: Home , The Onion , Home Depot , God Bless
Quotabull: ?We shouldn?t have to give employers complete control over our p
2008-04-25 16:04:00 You get used to listening to that Alvin and the Chipmunks voice. ? New York state Gov. David Paterson, who is legally blind, on the special tape recorder he uses to listen to long articles or books played “at speeds so fast, it is difficult for others to comprehend”; April 21. We shouldn’t have to give employers complete control over our private life so they can save a few dollars on medical care. ? Lewis Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute, which advocates for employee privacy, on a report that Whirlpool Inc. “suspended 39 workers who signed insurance paperwork claiming they don’t use tobacco and then were seen smoking or chewing tobacco on company property”; April 23. A coal-fired power plant in Bergheim, Germany. Building new coal-fired power plants is ill conceived. Give n our knowledge about what needs to be done to stabilize climate, this plan is like barging into a war without having a plan for how it should be conducted,... More About: Control , Complete , Employers
WordsDay: environmental issues?
2008-04-24 20:32:00 As we watch gas prices surge past $4 per gallon many places in the country and we receive ever more alarming reports of the self-destructive effects of our war on nature, it behooves us to indulge in what John Stuart Mill might have called the consolation of poetry. First, we look at Wordsworth’s warning to us in “The World is too much with Us”: The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon, The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers, For this, for everything, we are out of tune; It moves us not…. Then, there are Sara Teasdale’s lines to remind us of what the planet may be once we have, as Ray Bradbury chillingly describes for us in his short story of the same name, disappeared because of our folly: There will come soft rains and the s... More About: Environmental , Environmental Issues , Issues , Arts
What?s wrong with higher ed: A WVU nutshell
2008-04-24 20:05:00 Administrators at West Virginia University have demonstrated, both by their actions and their words, exactly what’s wrong with higher education in the US. In case you missed it, here’s the story. Heather Bresch is the chief operating officer (COO) of Pittsburgh -based Mylan, Inc. She is also West Virginia governor Joe Manchin’s daughter. The CEO of Mylan is a longtime contributor to Machin’s political war chest. So far, it’s a pretty familiar story. A child of a close friend and associate is promoted to a top executive job. But wait! There’s more! Ms. Bresch published a biography claiming an MBA from West Virginia University. As a routine check, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called WVU and, ding-ding-ding-ding-ding, there was no record of Ms. Bresch’s MBA award anywhere. Ms. Bresch protested that she had an agreement to substitute work experience for the final 22 (out of 48) hours she needed for an MBA, and that it was a records issu... More About: Wrong , Higher
Fattening up fashion models
2008-04-24 14:05:00 Is legislation the answer to ending anorexia in the fashion industry? “Project Runway ” has been a mixed blessing for the fashion industry. On one hand, it’s given us the chance to become acquainted with some of its leading lights, such as designer Michael Kors and everybody’s favorite dominatrix, Heidi Klum. Not to mention the beloved Tim Gunn. (Can he be Secretary of Design in Obama’s administration?) Also, it helps you appreciate how hard aspiring designers work. On the other hand, seldom before has the public gotten a good, long look at models. Not the slender, but still curvy, women who strut and preen through a Victoria’s Secret TV special or who grace the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, but your standard runway model. You can just hear viewers going, “Wow, they really are that thin.” Especially in comparison with Heidi, who’s brimming with good health, the Project Runway models look like they were shaped by Bodies by Da... More About: Fashion , Models
The Weekly Carboholic: Jet stream drift may confirm global heating models
2008-04-23 13:30:00 The jet stream has been described by many as a river of air in the atmosphere. It’s similar in that respect to the Gulf Stream in the ocean, and both serve similar climate functions - the distribution of hot air (or water) from the tropics toward the poles. In the case of the jet stream, however, it also moves around high and low pressure systems and is thus one of the more significant controls over global weather. So when something happens to the jet stream, it matters. And according to MSNBC, a paper from the Carnegie Institution shows that the jet streams in both the northern and southern hemispheres have been migrating toward their respective poles. This is noteworthy because it parallels one of the expected results out of various global climate models - as the Earth heats up, the tropics expand poleward and push the jet streams further toward their respective poles. Now, the authors of the paper have been careful to say that they cannot prove that global heating is t... More About: Models , Green , Global , Your
Colorado idiot?s ancestors were probably Virginian?
2008-04-22 22:24:00 While Rep. Bruce Douglas of the state legislature makes comments that make all thinking Coloradans squirm, back here in the Old Dominion, we’re hard at work trying to create our own crowds of illiterate peasants, thanks so much for caring. The Pittsylvania County (VA) Board of Supervisors has just voted to cut the school system budget for per pupil expenditures for the county’s school system by $686,000. This in and of itself might not raise your eyebrows, hard hearted/hard headed pragmatists that all you readers are - we’re in tough economic times after all. But, as those classic commercials say, wait - there’s more…. Pittsylvania County ranks 132nd out of 134 school districts in the commonwealth of Virginia in per pupil expenditures. Despite this abysmal ranking, declining performance on those always valuable EOG and NCLB based tests, and having the school system boast, among numerous problems, one of the commonwealth’s highest dropout rates, th... More About: Colorado , Idiot
Obama drama, part I: shooting the messenger
2008-04-22 20:37:00 by Rich Herschlag Senator Barack Obama ’s recent comments regarding bitter Pennsylvanians clinging to guns and religion were personally offensive to me, even before I took the time to consider how spot on they really were. My first instinct was to hunt him down, but I was fresh out of ammo and late to church. This is particularly vexing for Jews who don’t own a gun. Upon deeper reflection, however, I realized my personal holy war was actually the result of Senator Obama’s flagrant omissions. Truth is, there are many other things we Pennsylvanians cling to. Some of us cling to crystal meth. Unfortunately, there was recently a massive raid in the Lehigh Valley on a sprawling crystal meth ring, and now the stuff is harder to get around here than 87 gasoline for under 3.26 a gallon. Makes you want to blow someone to Kingdom Come. Here in Pennsie, in the absence of good union jobs, millions of us cling to fried dough. We never met a trans fat we didn’t like. You ha... More About: Drama , Viagra , Messenger
TunesDay: mad dogs and Englishmen
More articles from this author:2008-04-22 17:59:00 Luke Haines isn’t very well known in America, and that’s a damned shame. He got a little attention here back in the early ’90s when his first band, The Auteurs, released their fantastic debut, New Wave. And then - it was like he never existed. Maybe this is because his music is so quintessentially English - after all, he was arguably a significant influence on the Britpop movement, and even the most popular of those bands - Blur, Oasis, Supergrass - never made much noise on this side of the Atlantic. Nonetheless, he’s made a living for himself Over There, and has done so in a number of incarnations: The Auteurs, Baader-Meinhof, Black Box Recorder, and now simply as Luke Haines. Each version of his genius has its own interesting character (Black Box Recorder, for instance, was a trippy electro-pop collaboration with singer Sarah Nixey and John Moore, formerly of The Jesus and Mary Chain). In a world with better radio, he’d have had monster hits with all ... More About: Dogs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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