Wednesday, July 27, 2011

...BECAUSE LOVE IS SUCH A LONG WALK

FROM PREVIOUS RUNS FOR THE BORDERS


I was out with AKA at the Borders in Dearborn on Ford Road when I bought the debut CD from duo The Kills, ‘Keep On Your Mean Side’. With the chain closing, I wanted to share a couple of tunes that I really like by the band.



Listening to this song again called to mind Beth and Ken, the video definitely captures their essence, at least as far as my idea of the two of them is concerned. The Kills used to draw comparisons to The White Stripes, but like the difference between the Motown sound fronted by Iggy Pop and Mitch Ryder, to which I think the early Stripes sound echoed, The Kills sound leans more to the Lou Reed school of Gotham cool, a little more cerebral and unaffected than the more emotionally raw sound from Detroit. At any rate, I think that if this song is available for Rock Band, that my friends from Northern Indiana should consider doing this song as a duet at a party!






One of the attractions that this song holds for me is the confidence that VV (link here for 'Cat Claw' song lyrics and here to the band’s Wikipedia page for their bio) chokes out the lyrics, sorta Joplin-esque, full of confidence and cigarette smoke.





The frenetic ‘M.E.X.I.C.O’ is a song that takes me back to when my first teenage love and I hooked up some plan to run away to Mexico! In the comments of the homemade video, the girl who shot it, ‘ilovejackwhitethemost’, left a comment trying to explain why she shot the video being that, “this is what happens...when I get bored”, as if her inertia somehow took away from the creativity she showed in her interpretation of the song. But I am partial to this comment left by ‘wethebest96’, which was ‘better than when I get bored’ and I tend to agree! Being brave enough to make this kind of effort is a special kind of something and is the kind of spark that I am trying to ignite in myself.




THE NOISE IN MY HEAD…


… it is still scratching away. I read a blog post that was of the opinion that the Obama administration is picking on the rich and made allusion that there were more people that ‘game’ the social safety net provided by the government. I always wonder why the myth of ‘the welfare queen’ (which was proven to be a gross exaggeration if not a deliberate lie) persists among the very people who would be helped by the programs that are subject to the draconian cuts suggested by the Rethulican Party? It isn’t like many of the people who are the most vehement against raising taxes are familiar with Hayek or Keynes, to discuss the economic impact of higher taxes on the wealthy, nor have they thought about reading Ayn Rand beyond parroting a quote or something that they think they heard or read somewhere else. And the source of my irritation is revealed.


I think that believing something requires confirmation of some of what they believe, as well as something more than a cursory investigation of the ideal they hold. That is why it can bother me when someone implies that I think deeply… not that I don’t think ‘deeply’ (I will concede that think I look through things with a different prism than most) but usually try to inform my thoughts so that I am not merely recycling dogma.


This irritation isn’t going anywhere soon. As it is, I try to avoid news programs… I haven’t even listened to NPR for two weeks and the only reason I keep draggin’ on Faux News (man, Beth really came up with a good one with that!) is because it is on ‘public’ televisions and I find it almost unavoidable. The case with the Swedish tragedy instantly would make me wonder what else they have been lying about as well as and why? There is no way anyone could argue that the network has taken a broad approach to making sure the story is filled with enough contradictions that if that is your only news source, you would have questions about other news outlets.


OH, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT..!


Okay. I admit. Sometimes I do think deeply about ‘stuff’. But it seems so natural that I don’t realize it until I am trying to understand something written by a German (Nietzche, Kant, or Schopenauer), or some other dead white guy, Aristotle, maybe. Rather think about stuff like this than the possible approach of Objectivist prophecy come to pass!!

6 comments:

Mr.Mischief said...

I remember reading somewhere that something like 58% of the people that had used a social welfare program ( home buyer tax credit, unemployment, etc etc) didn't think they were using any social programs at all-it boils down to ignorance of what social programs really entail and cover. I'd love to see when the same people try to use the water or sewer system, drive on public roads, or use anything that everyone else had chipped in on.

The music was good though, loved it!

Anonymous said...

If the Tea Party really got everything on their wish list, I think they'd be horrified.

Toon said...

Did you hear what one conservative (or "con", as I call them) commentator said about how the poor can't be all that poor if they have microwaves? Seriously?

Have Myelin? said...

Mr. Mischief, I think 58% sounds low, lol. But I'm not one to quibble.

I am dismayed with all of the goons in Congress. All of them, I don't care what party.

I don't think there is a soapbox big enough for my views. LOL.

Beth said...

Super cool song! Yeah, I could kick it like that. haha

You are right...the Welfare Queen myth was just that, and it was a big ol' steaming pile of propaganda. I was reading recently that the teabaggers in the House think that Pell grants are a form of welfare.

Yes, let's make sure that kids don't have a chance to further their education. If they do, they'll stop voting Republican!

Ken Riches said...

It is going to be a long two years, then hopefully the freshman tea baggers will be gone.

Wish I could rock like that :o)