A quote from Tulsi Gabbard from the CPAC (?!?! a bold and shocking move for a Democrat) yesterday in Orlando. “Those in power see themselves as the high priests in a secular theocracy. This explains why they see those who disagree with them as heretics. So it’s not surprising that those who reject their leadership, these are the people who were targeted by Biden’s attorney general as domestic terrorists simply for holding anti-authority views,” she said.
I’ve never understood the “frothing at the mouth” political movements in the Land of the Free. These latest “progressive” movements are every bit as Oppressive as the so-called “Moral Majority” back in the 80’s, which is obvious…but the loudest voices of this “movement” weren’t yet born or at least weren’t old enough to be aware. I just never connected the dots. Makes sense to me now that I see it explained in this way.
I walked away from religion in my late teens, and I certainly don’t need to replace it with worship of government.
Tolerance and inclusion goes both ways. Agreeing to disagree doesn’t mean you “lose”. EVERYONE is entitled to their own opinion, even if yours is divergent from the “norm”.
Back when I was a kid music was going through some serious growing pains. It was the early 1980’s, Disco was D.E.A.D., Top 40 music was horrendous and punk rock was being diluted by “New Wave”, and I mean no offense by that. With but a few exceptions, New Wave music has held up better over the decades than a lot of punk has, but I digress…
New Wave was a blanket term that covered a lot of sub-genres. You had the synthesizer pioneers like Depeche Mode and Eurythmics, the New Romantics like Adam and the Ants and ABC, the grittier guitar-based bands like R.E.M. and the Replacements and all sorts of combinations and mash-ups along the way. Rockabilly made a comeback in the EARLY 1980’s, due to the Stray Cats bursting onto the scene, and they somehow got embraced by the New Wave crowd as well. It seemed there was a band with “Cats” in their name popping up every 7 minutes, you couldn’t keep track of ’em all!
One of the smaller sub-genres of the day was sort of a rockabilly/New wave/southern rock & roll hybrid, called by some “Cow Punk”. Personally I never really cared for that moniker, it seemed derisive and frankly there wasn’t a whole lot of “punk” to their music, other than a high energy and a quick tempo. Nonetheless, for a good 5 years or so, these cow punks kept slippin’ out the barn and winding up on college radio, where I became enamored of the sound. Big shout out to KSJS, KFJC and KSCU, those crazy college kids opened my ears and my mind to SOOOOO much amazing music back in the day…
So without further adeue, I present some of my all-time favorite “cow punk” tunes, or as I refer to it – that Twang Sound! Slip on your boots, straighten up the Bolo Tie and Enjoy!
Starting the work week on a Wednesday this week. Feeling a little discombobulated.
It was great to get away and I certainly have no regrets taking a couple days to help celebrate the kid’s birthday. Surprisingly, I feel like my batteries did get a little recharge, in spite of all the driving and poor sleep in the hotel. Today is actually the best I’ve felt since catching the Plague a month ago, so I’ve got that going for me!
Nothing terribly exciting to share today. I’m going through my backlogged stack of books to decide what to read next and I have a few shows coming up in March, so there will be more reviews forthcoming over the next few weeks.
Trying to get “caught up” is a never-ending task when more comes down the line daily, regardless of what is already on the docket. It ain’t dull, I’ll tell you that!
Today is our daughter’s birthday and to celebrate with her we’ve taken a trip up to Napa CA, the *world famous California Wine Country.
Personally, I don’t drink wine with the occasional exception of sparkling wines, so Napa comes in at about #437 on my Top 10 places to visist. But it is pretty, I’ll give ’em that.
Not too shabby…
The Mrs. and I are thrilled that at this age she still wants to hang out with her parents on her birthday and are happy to be here with her, we just can’t help but wonder how our kid ended up liking such sedate, boring stuff!
Nonetheless, it’s been a really nice trip. This town has one thing down to a science, customer service. Everybody we’ve encountered has been extremely helpful and nice. If we were more into wine we’d probably make more of an effort to come here, but it is a pretty nice (and quiet) place to spend a couple days.
Good food, good drink (from what I’m told) and a friendly atmosphere, what’s not to like? Nine thumbs up for Cole’s Chop House. The best pork chop I’ve ever had, hands down.
Happy Birthday kiddo! Hope you enjoyed your time up north!
Ah, the historic Fillmore in San Francisco! What a place! One of those “…if these walls could speak!” kind of places.
Just oozing with music history…
Countless legendary performers have graced the stage there since the equally legendary Bill Graham started booking acts there back in 1965. The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, the Who, even Frank Zappa! The list goes on and on of the pioneers, the all-out musical legends that have played there. To say it is a special venue doesn’t even come close. That being said, it’s been a LONG time since we’ve had an excuse to visit the Fillmore. As memory serves, our last show there was Dogstar back in 1997 or so (which was an epic show actually) Regardless, we were excited to get back there and share the place with our daughter who’s never had the pleasure.
I was surprised to learn there was a opener for the opening band, a Jake Pinto, who also happens to be “the new guy” I mentioned in my review from last night’s show. He started the night off with a half hour solo set, just him and a vintage Wurlitzer electric piano. He was quite good. I liked his songs, some more than others of course. But as I said to the Mrs.; I like his sound, but it really isn’t conducive to a live music setting. Just a little too mellow. I’m absolutely going to check out his recordings, as he’s a fine musician with a nice voice, but in a live setting his music was more appropriate to a dark lounge, where you’d be dropping in for the drinks, not the show. But, new discovery for listening AND solved the mystery of who the new guy with MCH is, so I give it a thumbs up!
Jake Pinto. Solamente.
Bay Ledges was up next and Wow! What a difference from the night before! They looked better, they played better and their energy level was off the charts. I was pretty impressed this time around. They definitely won me over and now they too are on my follow-up listening list to check out their recorded work.
Bay Ledges, killin’ it!
Magic City Hippies came out with essentially the same set as last night. But with the bigger stage to roam and a bigger crowd to vibe with (and the vibe of the room was ELECTRIC!), the boys just let it RIP!
The Hippies’ guitarist John Coughlin was in rare form, I think the best I’ve ever seen him. In my opinion this guy is the best guitarist nobody knows about. Seriously. The way he so effortlessly blends so many styles together- rock, funk, jazz, reggae – is impressive and his slide work is spectacular. But then, he’ll go and play a bunch of stuff that doesn’t even seem like sounds POSSIBLE from a guitar! The only other guitarist I can think to compare him to is Adrian Belew, who is a living legend.
John. Guitarist. Extraordinary.
And this is not to diminish Robby Hunter’s guitar playing. He’s such a compelling vocalist and front man that I always forget what stellar guitarist he is until I see him on stage. He takes the first lead section in the song Modern Animal and its a scorcher! And when he and John solo in harmony? Nothing finer on a stage, let me tell you.
Robby Hunter, starting fires!
The rest of the band was on point, solid as a rock as always. It was another great night of outstanding music, played by outstanding musicians, leaving everything they had on stage. And further reinforcement of Magic City Hippies being our favorite live band, ever.
There have been a lot of things over the last 2 years that have really taken the wind out of our sails. This “plague” that they’re still trying to convince of us nearly destroyed live music, but thankfully it’s starting to trickle back and last night we got to see one of our favorite live bands, Magic City Hippies!
Full disclosure, I (and my family) LOVE this band! We’ve got all their CDs, I’ve got everything they’ve put out on vinyl, the Mrs. and our daughter both sport their t-shirts…our Spotify libraries are chock-full of their music, the girls follow them on IG, and we’ve been to every Bay Area show they’ve done. If there was a fan club for them, like in the old days, one of the 3 of us would probably be the president of it! So yes, I am biased.
The Catalyst in Santa Cruz is *somewhat legendary. It’s been around for DECADES. I’ve been catching shows there since the 1980s and in fact even played a gig or two there myself way back when. I still love it there. Very cool vibe, great bands coming through, cheap drinks…what’s not to love?
To say we were anxiously awaiting this show would be the understatement of the century. We got in a groove of seeing roughly 20 shows a year, then Covid hit… and boy, did we need a fix!!! We’d been sitting on the tickets for months, and this show is our scheduled kick-off for a plethora of shows we’ll be attending over the next several months.
The opening band was Bay Ledges. I’d never heard of them, but MCH has had some great opening acts in the past, so our hopes were high.
The band was a two piece outfit, a drummer and a multi-instrumentalist/vocalist. Right off the bat, the odds are stacked against them in a live music setting. It’s tough to put on a compelling show with only two people up there.
Bay Ledges
I’ll give them this, their songs were pretty good. As a two piece they are relying on a lot of samples and loops to fill out their sound. For a drummer, this is an arduous task, as you’re locked in to a computer generated tempo that does.not.deviate. Bay Ledges’ drummer was rock solid in this regard and literally didn’t miss a beat. The vocalist had a decent voice and was not bad on guitar. He also spent a lot of time tapping pads and tweaking knobs…much like watching a DJ, which is slightly more fun than watching paint dry. That is honestly my only point of criticism for these guys. They played live music, they did NOT put on a show. They presented themselves as though they’d just returned from a day of checking out garage sales and they just generally lacked charisma. It had the feel of watching a couple buddies practice… The good news is that is easily overcome. With some effort and more gigs under their belts I’m sure they’ll become more entertaining.
Then the Hippies hit the stage. They opened with “Diamond”, one of thier newer tunes, and the crowd was drawn right in. Until this point I had wondered how they would pull off their new material live, as it is much more “studio-esque” than their earlier stuff, but I had NOTHING to worry about! The room was enthusiastic and in high spirits, and the band was simply on fire. They had a new guy sitting in on keys and guitar, and he fit in seamlessly.
That’s the new guy, far right.
The Hippies ripped out a solid 90 minute set, which unbelievably contained the entirety of my personal Top-10 from their catalog. Wrapping up the set with my all-time favorite song of theirs “Fanfare”, was the cherry on top of an unbelievably excellent show!
Close enough to the stage that I was able to capture the set list!
Then after the shortest break ever, they came back and just knocked it out of the park with the encore, rounding out my Top 10 by including “Indiana”, perhaps my favorite song from their Modern Animal album.
This show allows marked the return of their original drummer Pat, who’d (for reasons unknown to me) sat out the first portion of the tour. Pat is a fantastic, if unconventional, drummer and it was great to see him at the kit. The guys were obviously stoked to have him back on stage with them and they all seemed to be having the time of their lives.
Pat is BACK!!!
Magic City Hippies are one of those bands that, in my not-so-humble view, are BETTER live than on record. And their records kick ass. There are only a few bands I’d put in this category, and they’re all heavy hitters – U2, Dave Matthew’s Band, and Primus come to mind… That’s pretty good company.
Overall, I can’t say enough great things about this show. It was exciting, it was a great vibe, and it showcased some spectacular musicians at the top of their game!
Welcome back to California MCH! Thanks for an amazing night! We can’t wait for the next one, which thankfully is TONIGHT in San Francisco! We’ll see ya there, front row like always!!
Okay, first of all I must admit that I’m not exactly “into” zombie stuff. But then again I’ve had some fun within the genre. The movie Zombieland a few years back was fantastic and I did watch some of the first season of the Walking Dead, so I don’t find the subject matter without merit. This is however, my first zombie novel.
This book was gift from the Mrs. She’s not exactly into the genre either ( tho she does love shooting zombies in the Left 4 Dead games with our daughter!), she picked this up after reading a recommendation of the author, (whom neither of us had heard of) not this particular book, but she chose this title, because OF the title! I mean seriously, how can you NOT be intrigued by the idea of a zombie bake-off?
It was a quick read and although I cannot say it was well-written, I will say I did enjoy it. For what it was. There were several moments that literally made me burst out laughing, and that isn’t something you find in a lot of novels, especially in horror.
Sadly, (SPOILER ALERT!) the premise wasn’t actually about zombies HAVING a bake-off, but actually about zombies (an infected rag-tag group of professional wrestlers no less!) over-running a convention center that was hosting a cooking exposition.
If that isn’t one of the weirdest premises for a novel, I don’t know what is!
The book was pretty short, tho I can’t recall the exact page count…maybe 250? This short length works for what was essentially an extended length short story. There was virtually no character development, though there was certainly no shortage of “characters”, if you know what I mean. The action scenes were plentiful but those were the areas where the writing kind of fell flat. I get it though, describing an ultra violent, gory encounter with pro-wrestler zombies I’m sure is easier said than done. There was a lot of gore, so this is definitely not a book for the squeamish. But like I said, it’s also laugh out loud funny at times. It’s a great, fun read for a rainy weekend or a day at the beach, but just know it is essentially cheap thrills with no substance. If you go into it with those lowered expectations, you’ll probably enjoy it. Then again, if you have high expectations for a zombie novel…well, you might want to call your doctor because something is wrong with you.
I sincerely doubt this book will get a second reading by me, but it will get passed on to the family and friends that might get kick out of it. That being said, I will absolutely read more from this author. If I recall, this book was published in 2012(?) so he’s had a lot of time to hone his craft since this one came out.
So there you have it. If you like outbursts of laughter with your gore, give Zombie Bake-Off a spin, you’ll probably like it!
The other night, the Mrs. and I were watching the toob and an all-too-familiar commercial started playing, imploring the viewers to donate “just” a few cents day to help the poor and impoverished in Africa that are starving and have no medical care.
It was, as I’m sure was intended, a heart wrenching sight. Anyone with any sense of humanity would feel for these people and want to “help” these less fortunate souls.
But what struck me, was how this commercial in 2022 was almost EXACTLY like the ones all over the airwaves in the 1970s. And all throughout every decade since. And those are just what I can personally remember, they may have started earlier, I just have no personal recollection prior to maybe 1972. Geez, it got so common the South Park guys took a run at it, at least 10 years ago. Anybody remember Starvin’ Marvin from Ethiopia?
So this got me thinking… We’ve been “helping” the poor and impoverished of that continent for at least 50 years and nothing has improved? How can this be?
I’m as sure as can be without having actual proof that corruption on the part of the charities and any and all government agencies and/ NGOs is part of the problem, but surely that isn’t the only problem.
And it isn’t just Africa, we’ve seen this same plea for kids in Central and South America and Haiti too. And yet millions of dollars and thousands of voluneer hours later, all these places are still in squalor, with sick and malnourished people dying on the vine at every turn.
Have we disturbed the natural cycle of things? Is that why, in spite of decades long attempts to bring a better life to the less fortunate, its as bad or worse than it ever was?
We see similar things roll out here stateside, but more often from the grifting political class than charity organizations, but they do it too. It’s often for the children, or that’s how it’s framed anyway. “We’ve got kids that can’t learn on empty stomachs” so we NEED to raise taxes (or your donation) to provide discounted lunches to the poor. Then free lunches. Then free breakfast AND lunch. Then breakfast, lunch AND after-school care… The government’s solution is ALWAYS to take more from the “haves” to give away to the “underserved”. And the massive, decades long investment has brought dropping grades, lower graduation rates, and fewer kids ready for the real world. The “solution” to these drastic failures is always more money for more “programs” from the tax payer. Toward the end of that line we get the sob stories of the debt-burdoned; they’ve amassed six-figure debt to get their Bachelor’s degree in grievance studies, but now nobody will “give” them a job. They can’t pay back their student loans AND pay their lease payments on the new Lexus on a barista’s wages, so it’s back to the government’s trough for “relief” from their bad decisions… And then they have the gall to shout they’re protesting for “economic justice”?!?
Justice for who? Certainly not the tax payer bailing you out of a really bad life choice. I have a crazy, outside the box idea…I think all those people that paid those exorbitant tuitions and wound up with a useless degree and zero employment opportunities should ask the universities for refunds. After all, they sold a defective product, right? Many universities have endowments that reach into the BILLIONS of dollars, AND they already get government monies. If they are graduating students with no marketable skills, why should the taxpayers be further responsible for the costs? Maybe if the universities had some skin in the game, they would stop with the foolish feel-good degrees and indoctrination and get back to teaching valuable skills.
The last few years the pleas have started to rachet up to help the “unhoused”… No doubt there are many folks that ended up on the streets due to forces beyond their control, but far more are there only because of the choices they made and continue to make. In fact, just last weekend we encountered one, walking down the street on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, screaming obscenities and being generally aggressive to everyone in his path. And since this person clearly has nowhere to go, he will just roam the town, accosting everyone unfortunate enough to be in his path.
And the government’s “solution” to this problem, when anything is done at all, is to build housing units that come in at 6-figures per unit? Really? And the home and business owners who are unfortunate enough to be in the crosshairs when tent cities and squalor show up on their doorstep? Nothing is done for them. If they try to do something on their own, or <gasp> try to organize amongst themselves without bureaucratic nonsense, they are now the bad guys. Not the person shooting up in their doorway. Not the person breaking into their cars to steal anything that will get their next fix… There is such a weird logic surrounding this stuff… “Your problems are less important than theirs because you have more than them. So because you are “privileged” to have a roof over your head (note that what YOU have is never earned or deserved, regardless of how hard you worked to get it!) you have no right to complain about a junkie passed out in your doorstep.”
That’s a lot of gov’t cheese!
I don’t begin to think I know all the answers, but it seems pretty apparent that what we’re doing now, and for the last several decades, sure isn’t doing the trick. Things are worse in every metric.
Yep.
I think I’ve reached maximum empathy. Looking out for me and mine is exhausting as it is, and no small amount of elbow grease and sweat equity goes into what little we have. This is not to say “every man for himself!”, or to even imply that we should no longer help our fellow man. But let’s face it, your twelve cents a day isn’t going to amount to a hill of beans (figuratively OR literally) for the kids in third-world hell holes. How about instead, make a sandwich for a hungry person in your city? Or get involved in a community garden? Hell, even picking up trash off the road has social benefits. There are a dozen things you can do in your own neighborhood to make your “world” a better place. If everyone concentrated on their own street/town/county and made small improvements individually or with small, self-contained groups, lives would be changed.
The next time your local ballot asks “should we raise taxes/issue bonds/increase fees for…?” the answer should be a resounding NO. Nobody is more careless with your hard-earned money or accomplishes less with it than your government. Despite ever increasing tax rates, the problems compound annually. This isn’t news, it’s common knowledge. Don’t belive me? Spend 10 minutes here: https://www.openthebooks.com/ and you’ll never look at “government spending” the same. Its beyond outrageous! I’m not sure how Americans came to believe that the answer to all of everybody’s problems is MORE government, more regulation, more taxation. I will never understand this mindset.
And the next time your guilt compells you to call that 1-800 number and bust out your credit card to “help”, ask yourself “how much of somebody else’s 60-cents-a-day was used to film that commercial?” And how much are they paying to air it? That airtime, even on cheesy late-night stations isn’t inexpensive. I do believe -100%- that a business can be charitable, but I also believe any business set up as a charity, is suspect at best.
I understand that this post might make me out to be a cold, heartless bastard. And I am, sometimes. But generally speaking, I believe most people, like 90%, are genuinely “good” and Americans overall can be exceptionally giving and generous. Unfortunately that leaves a large pool of suckers to be preyed upon, by tugging at your heartstrings, for the 10% that have no conscience or morals…
I guess what I’m saying is try to be a good person, but be smart about it. Don’t let your kindness be taken advantage of by the unscrupulous.
I’m not trying to be a downer, and I do really try to keep this a positive place here, but this situation has been nagging at me for days now, just had to get it off my chest.
I am a very lucky man, married to a wonderful, gorgeous woman for over 30 years now. We still enjoy each other’s company, we still make each other laugh and we still have more in common than not, even after 3 decades.
But on this notoriously difficult “holiday” of Valentine’s Day, I know that most folks aren’t in the same boat as I. And for those without somebody special in their lives, or worse, if they’ve recently lost that someone special, today is especially difficult.
I just want to out it out there, to try to be just little more kind and compassionate towards those you encounter today. A friendly hello, a kind smile, those little things can go a long way for someone feeling the blues today.
And if you are fortunate enough to have someone special in your life, make sure you let them know. It doesn’t take money or a bunch of time, just tell that person how much you appreciate them being part of your life.
Helping someone have a better day isn’t difficult and we if all give it a try, we might just find ourselves in a better place.
The Boring Old Man 