As the Country Cratered

I do think as the months roll out, and as Obama tries to get re-elected, this big, looming unanswered question will hang over him and the country...

Why didn't Obama go after and try to clean up the Wall Street mess?

Was it ideology? Was it money? Did he really think that the Wall Street moguls who wrecked the economy and raped the American Dream should just get fatter and wealthier as the rest of the country cratered?

The Boat is Sinking!

Yes, Kevin Drum gets it right. We are ruled by charlatans and cowards!

Status and Levelers

Our whole social world is an elaborate status game. Everything we do, everything we buy, the way we display ourselves to others, are all status signifiers.

This status game is an elaborate way to try to differentiate ourselves, to prove that we are unique and unlike anyone else; it's a game that helps us pretend that we are desirable and we will live forever. We are desperately intent on showing others that we are unique, and unlike anyone else. And in some ways we are unique and unlike anyone else.

But in some essential ways we are also alike, the same, no different. We are all just human beings who will live and die. And there are those experiences which make this very clear. Death is one of them. It's probably the ultimate leveler. Illness is another. Families too, our DNA heritage, and our relationships with mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers can also be "leveling."

Standing in line, riding a bus, going to court, or visiting any government office is a good leveler too. Being in an elevator for an extended time can be a leveler.

In some ways, we have all been created equal. But then again, we spend much of our lives pretending this is not so.

Figuring

I always thought I was going to "figure it out." I've got boxes and shelves full of books. I have spent much of my little life-time reading, looking to crack the code.

I've thought, and ruminated and meditated. I've filled my head and cleared my mind. I've worried and fretted, and then again, I've forgotten, denied and just rocked out.

There have been good times and bad times. I've got a few scars. I've accumulated lots of big and little disappointments. Like everyone else, I've lost people close to me. And like everyone else I've witnessed acts of madness, cruelty, kindness and beauty.

I have sometimes told myself it was all leading to something. Maybe there would be some accounting, or some kind of summing up, or there would be a lightening-bolt of clarity.

I'm not done trying to figure things. But it now seems a lot less essential. If there is a code, it's not really important for me to crack. Not sure if it's even crack-able.

I mean, I'm still totally fascinated and curious about what makes the world the world and what makes a human a human. But I'm a lot more comfortable with the idea that it is not all suddenly gonna "make sense." I'm not going to figure anything out. I mean I will figure out some things for myself, but there are big things that are not going to be "figured" by me.

I will live a life. And learn some things and forget some things. And that's really about it. And that's good and true and OK.

Stream of Consciousness Madness!

Working on a performance piece for the Abbie Hoffman Died for Your Sins fest in August. We've performed something like 15 consecutive years. It is always an inspiring kick.

My first take on a script was conjured in an early morning, caffeine-fueled session. 15 pages of Jack Kerouac-like stream of consciousness madness. At first I was convinced we should go with it as is, no editing. But then a read-through confirmed that this was not a good idea.

So it was back to the drawing board. Heavy editing and a new take. It's all starting to shape up. Just in the nick of time too! Now we have to memorize lines and somehow bring the text to life.

Always a challenge.

Belated Goodbye Dear Friend

It seems everyday there's a lesson. It's really the same lesson, over and over. And it's one that we learn to tune out.

But then sometimes, you can't tune it out. It hits you smack in the kisser. I had one of those this weekend.

And the lesson is: we live on the knife's edge. We live in a very delicate balance. And we can easily tumble off into the great unknown at any time.

I lost a good friend, a great soul, and he disappeared without really much of a trace. And there was no chance to say goodbye. He drifted into my life, and then drifted out. Like a cloud, a shadow.

I will remember his smile and dry sense of humor. I will remember our good times together and our battles in the trenches. We had some strange Don Quixote-like connection, locked in battle with looming windmills. Fighting for hopeless cases and lost causes.

And then at a key moment he slipped away and I found out well after the fact. No resolution. Just a quiet exit. And then silence.

Head Music!

And another thing on my recent Radiohead obsession - (Maybe I'm the last to know?), it all depends on how you listen to their work.

The big eye-opener (or in this case) head-opener for me has been: HEADPHONES!

I don't mean those sorry little pathetic iPod ear buds. That's a perfectly lousy way to hear music. Makes everything small, cheap and tinny.

I mean those big whomping studio-quality headphones. Get a set of those babies, put them on then try Kid A, or Amensiac, or Hail to the Thief, or for sure In Rainbows. The big, layered, complex sound of Radiohead will totally engulf you.

It is a sublime, supremely enthralling experience...

No kidding!

Radiohead the Best of Something!

My latest musical obsession: Radiohead's "In Rainbows." Finally got to it. I mean, I know I'm late to the party, but my obsessions work on their own time-clock.

I always forget how great this band is, and how baffling too. I mean, they work in a totally different sonic territory than any other band out there.

They are a hard to figure band. I mean, how they make their songs, and how inventive they are, and how their music seems un-graspable. Their songs do not remind me of anyone else's songs. I can't name one of their songs, can't hum a melody, can't sing a chorus. Their album seems like one long sonic landscape. It's not music that I would or could make.

Thom Yorke is a really great vocalist in a non-great way. He's unlike anyone else I can think of. This band is the best of something. Not sure what. Maybe they are just amazing, great, creative, musicians, artists, making something no one else even envisions doing. I mean, they really push the sonic envelope. And they mix all kinds of crazy-ass sounds and somehow pull it off seamlessly. Amazing, thrilling stuff.

Breath-taking. Head-scratching too. And did I mention they make me smile?

Kitchen Is Not Carnegie Hall!

The bank foreclosed on the building and kicked out all the tenants last year. So we had to move out of our cool performance space. Haven't found a new space yet. Looking for a sweet deal, or really a very generous and Enlightened Patron. One can wish, right?

So the last year our band has been meeting in our kitchen for rehearsals. This is not as crazy or stupid as it sounds. We can actually fit our band in the space, and the acoustics are pretty sweet. We have a p.a. set up for vocals, a bass amp, a guitar amp, and our drummer brings his hand drum.

We actually had some guests last night to hear our session. It was all quite nice. Not exactly Carnegie Hall but, hell, it works. And there's a refrigerator for cold drinks and our toaster is handy just in case anyone wants toast.

"Lights Out!"

Storms blew in last night and knocked out our power for a few hours. Literally in the dark. Suddenly off the grid, unconnected to the outside world.

It was sort of strange, and freeing too. Sat in the dark and watched the clouds rolling in, the lightening strikes, with heavy thunder rocking the windows.

Mother Nature calling "lights out!" Sometimes she gets to pull rank.

Did You Ever Listen to Your Self?

The more I hang with people, and the more I hang out with myself, the more I am convinced that we all are basically crazy. I mean, did you ever really listen to people? Did you ever really listen to your self?

Nuts!?!

And maybe that's not a surprise. I mean, the world seems nuts too. Did it all really start with a Big Bang? Are we all really "star stuff?" Are we all really related to everything else in the universe?

Did you ever look at your hand? Freaky. Strange. And hell, I'm not even stoned...

Much Trouble Results!

Once you realize that logic and reason are really just blunt force instruments that can be wielded simply to win an argument, you are no longer surprised that you will never see eye to eye with some people in the world.

In some hands logic and reason are not logical and reasonable. As Paul Simon once put it: "A man sees what he wants to see and disregards the rest."

And this failure to see eye to eye is sometimes completely, irrevocably, unbridgeable.

So then, much trouble results!

One Fell Swoop!

I'm surfing the web, reading news stories - politics, finance, events of the day, etc.

I decide, "Nope, not gonna worry about this one," "Nope, I can't contemplate that one," "Yikes, I will forget I read that one," "Holy shit, you've got to be kidding me!? I didn't even see that one!"

I dispense with the news of the day in one fell swoop of denial. I feel lighter already!

Land of the Blind!

They tell us here in the United States, that we live in a class-less society. We know that's a lie! Of course, that's not unusual, most of what "they tell us," is a lie. The whole convoluted edifice is built on an elaborate architecture of lies.

Once you see the lie, you soon realize you are swimming in lies, an endless stream of lies. Big ones and little ones.

So, of course, contrary to the lie, our society is ruled by a class of people. They are the envied and lauded class. They are the class that pretends that everyone is welcome, but of course that is a lie too.

Much of our politics has devolved into a battle of the classes. And finally the war of the classes is totally out in the open - the rich vs the middle vs the poor. There are no longer any excuses offered, there is no longer any pretending. The rich are shameless, they are squeezing the juice out of the middle class, and the middle class stupidly blames the poorer class. The unfortunate poor are the punching bags for everyone else.

It's happening in plain daylight. Still many people don't even see it. And then there are many who see it and lie about it!

The Zombie Road House

Our band went 40 mins north-west last night. A road trip to the road house. Visions of the Patrick Swayze movie dancing in our heads. It wasn't exactly like that movie, but sort of like it.

The trip was a short tour of the slow death of suburban culture. No burning buildings, but lots and lots of empty strip malls: big, hulking empty spaces, cheesy theme restaurants, the consumer paradise crash-landing on hard times. This is the land of sprawl: lots of manicured lawns, lots a stream-lined corporate headquarters.

It's a car culture. No one gets anywhere unless they have wheels. It's a culture that celebrates easy money and cheap gas. That celebration seems to be fraying around the edges, or no, it's collapsing in slow motion, vanishing before our eyes. Lots of deadness. A true zombie culture. A dead way of life. These people just don't know it yet.

The r&r show itself was pretty disappointing. A huge place, a hollow palace dedicated to gambling, drinking and lousy food: cold beer and big heaping plates of fried shit. I mean it just looked like mountains of fried shit heaped up on a plate! And much of the audience was big; I mean enormously fat. Maybe it has something to do with all the artery-clogging empty calories?! Who would of thunk it?

We played a short set. We gave it a valiant effort. But the sound was terrible. Loads of first class equipment, big amps, expensive p.a., a supposedly experienced sound guy, but it was all for naught. The sound was cheap, thin, booming, muddy.

We got out of there intact, but sort of muddied by the whole thing; vowing not to go back.

Delirious New York/Glorious Diversity!

I agree with Andrew Sullivan that the vote to legalize Gay Marriage in New York is a BFD! And I am someone who has never been married, and don't really want to get married, and well, it's basically not my issue.

But I love the fact that our society has "progressed" to the point where gay people are being recognized as having the same rights and deserving the same respect as anyone else.

One of the great achievements of the grand liberal, melting-pot American Experience has been the relentless march of Civil Rights (Human Rights!), for all. I am with the Dali Lama when he reminds us that we are all human beings and in that fundamental sense we are all the same. And our differences make us unique, and those differences should be supported and celebrated!

I love the grand diversity of the human continuum! I also love New York. One of the most amazing cities ever imagined and constructed.

This a small step along the way, but it is also a major step forward. It almost seems ridiculous that it's still even an issue, but the forces of Reaction are strong and backward and recalcitrant. But I do think that human beings can sometimes see clearly, and it is in everyone's interest to recognize the beautiful humanity of all those around us.

Those unhappy folks pounding old musty books declaring that we've pissed-off God need a major re-think!

We Pick Up Shit, So We Don't Have to Take Shit!

Let's say I was going to start my own Anarchist Collective of Dog Walkers. Which tune would I choose as our fight song? Iggy Pop's "I Wanna Be Your Dog," or Howling Wolf's "I Ain't Gonna Be Your Dog?"

I don't know, since I'm a wobbly Anarchist, not good at making up his mind, I'd say let's go with both!

But I'm am pretty sure what our motto should be: We Pick Up Shit, So We Don't Have To Take Shit!

Choose Love First

The wise ones tell us: find something that you love to do and do that for life. I do think this is great advice.

And remember what you love won't necessarily pay the bills, or make you famous, or make your neighbors envious. If you think those things are important, maybe you aren't really playing the game of love correctly.

I advise you to choose love first! And damn the consequences. Doing what you love to do is it's own justification and it's own reward. But choose wisely. Love can be all consuming. And the road of love can actually be a hard and lonely road.

They usually don't tell you that part. Following the road of love means you are on your own - you get to make the rules, and you take the responsibility for your life. You choose love even when it comes with all the other human baggage too: pain, sacrifice, loneliness and just plain LESS.

That's because love is actually more than meets the eye. It will fill you up! And that's the good life!

Awful People Run the World!

I guess when the revolution comes, and I'm pretty sure it is coming, (something has to give) I just don't think the rich folks are gonna suddenly wake up one morning and voluntarily decide to do the right thing, to share their wealth; so finally the great masses of the poor and unwashed will have to rise up, even if they don't want to, or even if they are too tired to raise a fist, and when the revolution comes (as per Mao) it probably won't be a dinner party.

At some point the hungry and oppressed ones will be pushed against the wall and they will just have to make a stand, and then the walls will start to shake and all hell will most likely break loose.

At least, that's my script.

It's clear that there are powerful, monied interests that rule the world, (here in the U.S. the vaunted middle class has been systematically robbed and dismantled!) and it's obvious that there is a class of folks who do not care if there are others suffering, and they are too arrogant and greedy and self-absorbed to see that it's really in their best interest to have an equitable society, to have lots, if not most, or really all, of the people of the world with more than just the basic necessities - well fed, well-educated, with health care and a decent pay for a decent day. There is more than enough to go around, we have a distribution problem and to fix it there needs to be a major reshuffling of the deck.

As Eschaton so succinctly put it yesterday, "awful people run the world!" And their day of reckoning is probably coming. Although, it may take time, and the poor, little folks will endure lots of pain and heartache first, before the new dawn breaks. If our last hope is for a class of benevolent rich people to wake up and fix things, I think we have a re-think coming!

It is a war of those with little vs those with much!

Don't want to sound like a broken record, but actually a broken record would be a good symbol for our times. A vinyl (oil-derived) platter, big and clunky, no longer useful, stuck in the tracks, needle skipping back over the same lines again and again. Making noise. Just plain noise!

My brother called yesterday and said, "everything is broken." I agreed. Yes, everything is broken. Or at least that's how it seems. And maybe again the Greeks are just ahead of the curve. They are just a little farther down the broken curve.

There is blood in the tracks. I can't help rooting for the people in the streets. It seems they are pitted against the bankers and those calling for more pain for the people who don't have anything already. It the same all over the world. The people in the streets against the well-heeled and well-financed.

My heart and head is with the people in the streets. Even if they don't have an answer or program. They are tired of being beaten down over and over while they are asked to bail out and make whole the well-heeled and well-financed.

It is a war of those with little vs those with much!