Its over but no one realizes it? (if a tree falls and no one hears it...)

I'm rather exasperated with this election. I look forward to some time away from the politically charged and rarefied Washington DC air.

I think what is most frustrating is that the election has essentially been over since mid February and yet we continue to have these distractions on issues of race or elitism. By all logical interpretation Hillary Clinton needs to make up the difference to a large extent with super delegates and - in spite of all the distractions- Barack Obama is now within 20 super delegates of Hillary with less than 300 outstanding of which about 60-70 are off the table as they are add-ons which will largely reflect the vote from their states. In fact, what we are consistently seeing is that the super delegates far from coming to Hillary's aid have been consistently coming out in support for Obama which is why he has narrowed the gap which a few months ago was over 100 delegates. This original gap in super delegates responded largely to DNC super delegates appointed by the Clintons and perhaps their feeling some sort of debt. Can Hillary win the outstanding non add on super delegates 170 to 70 and win the remaining pledged delegates by 50? Judging on what we are seeing it simply challenges all logic to believe so. Moreover, can she even come close enough to revive the issue of seating Florida and Michigan in a way that is convenient for her? We are seeing even during the depths of Obama's campaign that he is still winning over the unpledged super delegates.

Therefore, considering the proportional representation used to allocate delegates, considering Obama is up about 155 pledged delegates this means Hillary has no chance. I suppose Obama could crater and his super delegates defect but what we are seeing is in my opinion a huge waste of time and energy which only serves the interests of John McCain and a Hillary Clinton candidacy in 2012. Obama has been the defacto nominee for two months now and people need to wake up instead of swallowing the media line. Some may not like it- including understandly those who need to sell newspapers- but it is simply too late to do anything about it! Sure, if we had known back then what we know now about Barack Obama maybe democrats would not have voted for him but we did not know it and thats just the way it is... Hillary picked up between 8-10 delegates in Pennsylvania. Technically she was further behind after Pennsylvania than before it voted given there were 158 less delegates from which to make up the difference. She did gain a little over 200,000 popular votes but the notion that being ahead in the popular vote should she somehow get there means the rules of the game don't apply seems nonsensical. It would be like saying that the team that won a close basketball game did not deserve to win because the crowd cheered loudest for the losing team. No. What matters is what happened on the court during the game played with agreed upon rules. The fact the crowd/popular vote may reflect a wish something different had happened does not change the score or electoral outcome.

Also one last point: while it is true that Barack Obama faces resistance from certain segments of the democratic party it is also likewise correct that there are many people who could never bring themselves to vote for Hillary Clinton. Instead of framing the issue in terms of "Why can't Obama close the deal?" as many media pundits/simpletons do why not raise the question of "Why can't Hillary close the deal?" After all Hillary began the election with every conceivable advantage and yet here we find ourselves today- April 30- and she not only could not close the deal but finds herself behind resorting to far fetched scenarios to even justify a continued presence in the campaign. That the media has elected to go along with this is not surprising as their job......... is to sell newspapers after all!

Or at least thats the way I see it...

Silver Beats coming and will be back up band for Chuck Berry at Virgin Festival!

I shit you not! This is for sure Seth's doing as he's of course organizing the Virgin Festival up at Pimlico and has had the Silver Beats in twice already (to open for the Killers and for a show of their own at 9:30 Club):

 

From the Silver Beats myspace site

 

 

Saturday, April 19, 2008

SILVER BEATS BACK IN THE USA!!!! Category: Music Konichiwa! It is our pleasure to announce that the Silver Beats will be coming back to the USA to perform at the Virgin Mobile Festival August 9th at Pimlico Park in Baltimore, MD We will be performing on our own and also as the backing band for Chuck Berry!!! The time of our set and Chuck Berry's set will be right before the Foo Fighters! Also performing is Jack Johnson, Kanye West and Nine Inch Nails, and many more tto be announced soon! On August 8th The Silver Beats will headline a show at BB King's Bar in Times Square in NYC!!!! More details coming soon!!!!!!! Arigato! The Silver Beats

Virgin Festival 2008 Line up announced Pimlico

(also I have heard the Silver Beats may be coming!)

 

From Pollstar:

Sat 08/09/08 "Virgin Mobile Festival"
Sat 08/09/08 Bloc Party
Sat 08/09/08 Cat Power
Sat 08/09/08 Chuck Berry
Sat 08/09/08 Citizen Cope
Sat 08/09/08 DJ Dan
Sat 08/09/08 Donald Glaude
Sat 08/09/08 Duffy
Sat 08/09/08 Erol Alkan
Sat 08/09/08 Ferry Corsten
Sat 08/09/08 Foo Fighters
Sat 08/09/08 Gogol Bordello
Sat 08/09/08 Jack Johnson
Sat 08/09/08 KT Tunstall
Sat 08/09/08 Lupe Fiasco
Sat 08/09/08 Paramore
Sat 08/09/08 Rodrigo Y Gabriela
Sat 08/09/08 Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
Sat 08/09/08 Soulwax
Sat 08/09/08 Steve Lawler
Sat 08/09/08 The Offspring
Sat 08/09/08 The Swell Season
Sat 08/09/08 Underworld
Sat 08/09/08 Wilco

Sun 08/10/08 "Virgin Mobile Festival"
Sun 08/10/08 Armin Van Buuren
Sun 08/10/08 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (B.R.M.C.)
Sun 08/10/08 Chromeo
Sun 08/10/08 Deadmau5
Sun 08/10/08 Iggy Pop
Sun 08/10/08 Lil' Wayne
Sun 08/10/08 Moby
Sun 08/10/08 Nine Inch Nails
Sun 08/10/08 Pendulum
Sun 08/10/08 Richie Hawtin
Sun 08/10/08 Stone Temple Pilots
Sun 08/10/08 Taking Back Sunday
Sun 08/10/08 The Black Keys

Bob Cranshaw- Master bassman!

Part of the treat last night at the Sonny Rollins concert was to also see and hear Bob Cranshaw play the bass. If you love the Blue Note lps as much as I do his name invariably pops up. For example he played the bass on Lee Morgan's The Sidewinder and Grant Green's Idle Moments (one of my favorite LPs). Here's a picture of Cranshaw with Bobby Broom on guitar. The band also included Clifton Anderson on trombone and Kimait Dinizulu on percussion with Kobie Watkins on drums. This was the same band that played on Sonny Rollins' last cd "Sonny, Please" with the exception of Kobie Watkins replacing Steve Jordan on the drums.

Sonny Rollins (with Bob Cranshaw) April 18 Kennedy Center Washington DC

Momentous night last night! Got to see Sonny Rollins with his band which includes the great Bob Cranshaw on bass. Managed to snap some pictures.

Four tickets to paradise?

CONFIRMED: There will be a new AC DC album in 2008!

this means things are going well in vancouver- they have been there working on the record for 6 weeks now so they would not announce this today if they didn't know they have it in the bag- and we can expect a new album and more importantly a tour!!!!!!...i do think this will be AC DC's final tour.

 

good news! gotta put some money in the ac dc concert fund!

 

 

AC/DC working on album for release later in 2008

1 hour, 26 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Australian rock band AC/DC will release its first album since 2000 later this year, according to a posting on the group's Web site (http://www.acdc.com) Friday.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers are working on the untitled project in Vancouver with producer Brendan O'Brien, who has recorded such acts as Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen.

AC/DC's last album of new material, "Stiff Upper Lip," opened at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 in March 2000, and inspired a yearlong world tour.

No tour details have been announced for the raucous rockers, who are known for such heavy-metal anthems as "Highway to Hell" and "Thunderstruck."

The new album will be AC/DC's first for Sony BMG's Epic Records label, which reissued the band's back catalog a few years ago.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman)

Stay classy Israel!

Personal Message:

wow! what a classy attitude on the part of israel towards the man who helped negotiate the camp david accords..i guess gratitude doesn't go so far as to cover helping ensure a former president's safety when he visits your country!! All for wanting to meet someone and talk!!

Israel snubs Carter, declines security help

Mon Apr 14 21:48:13 UTC 2008 By Adam Entous JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli leaders shunned former U.S. President Jimmy Carter during a visit because of his plans to meet Hamas and Israel's secret service declined to assist U.S. agents guarding him, U.S. sources said on Monday. "They're not getting support from local security," one of the sources said, on condition of anonymity. An American source described as "unprecedented" the lack of Shin Bet cooperation with the U.S. Secret Service, which protects all current and former U.S. presidents, as well as Israeli leaders when they visit the United States. Carter, who brokered Israel's first peace treaty with an Arab neighbor, Egypt, signed in 1979, met Israel's largely ceremonial president, Shimon Peres, on Sunday. But Israel's political leadership, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, steered clear of the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Joe Torre on Greg Maddux

I’ve always had a lot of respect for guys who just say, ‘Here it is, and if you beat me, you beat me.’ That’s the way he’s always gone about his business,” Torre said. “You don’t have to throw the ball 95 miles an hour to be a successful pitcher. I mean, I grew up in the big leagues with Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette and those guys who relied more on command than on blowing people away.

“A lot of times Maddux will beat you with his reputation,” Torre added. “Sometimes, hitters go up there trying to look for too many things. But he’s always going to give you a pitch to hit. The thing is, he has the knack of reading hitters’ body language. It seems every time you take a pitch it’s a strike, and every time you swing, it’s not. He just doesn’t throw the ball straight—and he’s got the guts of a burglar.”

I KNEW IT!!!!!!!!!!

 i could feel the buzz for AC DC growing in the air/atmosphere..i've been saying it for months that people are begging for some AC DC

 

and its now confirmed.. it ain't just me.. its happening folks!....  radio is responding

http://www.edisonresearch.com/home/archives/2008/04/it_started_a_ye.php

 

relevant highlight:

 

At Classic Rock, AC/DC (And The '80s) Gain Current-cy

Entry by Sean Ross

It started a year ago with AC/DC. The client was an upper-demo Classic Rock station that verged on Classic Hits. But they'd thrown a few more AC/DC songs in the test this time and suddenly we were staring at an AC/DC song that wasn't "You Shook Me All Night Long" on the first page. Everybody knew that "You Shook Me" had become an all-ages party song staple at weddings and bar mitzvahs, no longer considered edgy in any way. But "Highway to Hell" hardly seemed to have become that.

Since then, we've seen a pretty wide spread of AC/DC songs start to come back strongly in Classic Rock music tests - sometimes five or six titles with fairly similar scores at a given station. And while that band has had a renewed cachet lately -- used heavily in TV commercials and channeled by multiple newer acts for several years now - their graduation from peripheral act with one mass-appeal song to a more mainstream artist is just one indication that the boundaries of Classic Rock might finally be shifting a little.

More of my jibber jabber:

 

the point of edison research's piece seems to be that "classic rock" is finally expanding its boundaries..and some more classic classic rock stalwarts such as the rolling stones may be a bit played out..read it for yourself and draw your own conclusions..

 

i want to think that what we are seeing is people are beginning to reject the crap indie pussy no balls music movement typified by pansy bands- i will not bother to list them we know who they are..they can be found most nights at the 930 or black cat- and wanting more rawking... we are also seeing increasing sales/market presence on the part of bands responding to this.. think buckcherry which is selling out show after show and has sold over a million copies of their last album..

 

this is great news and the only hope for rock and rolll.. bring back the booze, bimbos and drugs or there ain't much to look forward too..

 

guitar solos can't be far behind...hell the revival of hard rock as distinct from grunge could finally be on its way

 

i guess in fairness we are talking about "classic rock"..but it is interesting that you go to any dc bar on a weekend night and people are rawking out to ac dc or bon jovi.. the bands that we listened to in the late 90s have hardly had any lasting impact...

Let it Rock!!!!!!!!!! Thank you General Franco!

One of the bigger odities in the Rolling Stones catalog is the spanish release of "Sticky Fingers"!!!!!!!

I'd wanted to own one of these for a long time. It is odd because of two differences from the Sticky Fingers we've all come to know and love. Released during General Franco's reign in Spain as dictator apparently at the time government censors objected to the song "Sister Morphine."

I'm trying to imagine how this happened and I think of some overzealous young clerk at a state censorship office having some problem with a song about drugs but his english was too poor to actually get much past the title. The clerk's alarm bell probably rang when he saw the proposed LP cover - designed by Andy Warhol- and featuring a real life zipper (more on that later)and jeans with a nice rock'n'roll package.. he probably then looked at the song titles and said "Morphine"?!?!? that sounds a lot like the droga "morfina"!!!! No no no we can't have that let me earn my bureaucratic wages by typing up a little memo on that... Of course the clerk's english was likely limited or he had no problems with a song named "Bitch"! perhaps the record company submitted the translation "perra" and the clerk thought the song was really about a dog! Brown Sugar didn't even have a translated song title and maybe the clerk chose to overlook that.. I guess the idea of "brown sugar how come you taste so good..just like a black girl should.." probably gets lost in Spain...Come out of the woodwork clerk! Time to cash in!

Anyhow as the story goes the Spanish government objected to the use of the song "Sister Morphine" and the Stones or their record label replaced it on the spanish release of the album with their cover of Chuck Berry's "Let it Rock" which in the UK was a b-side to the Brown Sugar 3 track ep single.. the "let it rock" was recorded live at Leeds University March 13, 1971 and includes Nicky Hopkins tinkling the ivories (he of the majestic solo on Monkey Man!)... So smack dab on Sticky Finger's second side instead getting the slow and ultra depressing sister morphine you get the revved up Chuck Berry rocker! I have to say being the ultra Chuck Berry fanatic I am I always wanted to own one of these..its just a bit of a different album without sister morphine... anyhow the original pressing was in 1971 in spain and the repressing which I bought is from 1980...its tough to find these (original or repress) and most people focus on the different cover (more later) but the fact that Chuck Berry still made his way onto a studio lp by the stones in 1971 is pretty incredible!!..(Note: Chuck Berry wrote some songs under the pseudonym "Edward Anderson" which is why it reads "E. Anderson" on the Side 2 label..his full name is Charles Edward Anderson Berry)

Here's a great youtube of the Stones performing Let it Rock in 1978 at their Fort Worth concert.

Open letter to Michael Gerson at the Council on Foreign Relations

You wrote "Young Obama's strongest arguments are focused on the failures of the past. The older man, by insisting on victory, is more responsible and realistic about the future."
How is it realistic to insist on "victory" when you don't even define what victory is?

It is precisely the term "victory" that is unrealistic and the ones employing it are the unrealistic ones! Wake up or we will be in Irak for no good reason bleeding ourselves dry for 30 plus years!

"Realism" would be to ask what "victory" exactly means and whether its achievable instead of simply stating "we must win!!!".. realism is to proclaim we won and skiddedle out of there- responsibly and in a measured manner of course- so that we can focus on the real challenges facing our nation. Realism is to accept what is self-evident to the eye willing to look!

Wake up Gerson! You are showing yourself to be extremely naive and "young" in accepting that "victory" is attainable. Honestly if this is the best the Council on Foreign Relations can do these days you guys might as well close up shop because all you did in your article is repeat the same old tired conventional "wisdom" and we know where that "wisdom" got us....

best,

serge in dc
ps remember "young" can be penetrating (einstein was young when he had his breakthroughs and so are most people when they make their mark) while "old" can be ossified... i don't know you but you're looking rather "old"...

Barack Obama is dead on

i will say that i have been saying what obama is essentially advocating for a few years now.. the great mistake vis a vis irak was not so much going in as the failure to simply declare victory once we got rid of saddam and just plain leave..

the world could have laughed all they wanted but we would have been rid of saddam - who by no means was our friend- and spared ourselves unecessary loss of blood and treasure not to mention creating a breeding ground for terrorists..without our long term continued massive presence there its hard to imagine that al qaeda would have given two farthings about the place..

morton kondracke- by no means a genius i readily admit- sums it up in these words:

Judging by his agile performance at Tuesday's Iraq hearings, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) now is opting for the famous George Aiken formula from Vietnam days: Declare victory and get out.

Or, rather, as an update on the late Vermont Republican's 1966 idea, Obama would declare the situation in Iraq "manageable" and drastically reduce American forces -- possibly, he suggested, to just 30,000.

Of the three presidential candidates displaying their intellectual wares in questioning Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, Obama surely was the most subtle and shrewd.

Then of course Kondracke messes it up by toeing the national party line that Obama is wrong because we can't leave now! No we must stay forever! Poor Morton just misses the point of what Obama is saying entirely: if we dont' define success in a measured realistic manner we will be there until the year 2034..by that point of course the US will have been bled so dry by this continued fiasco that we'll be begging Argentina to send us soybeans at a subsidized rate so our impoverished citizens can put food on the table!

For the rest of the article check it here

Speechless about this Craigslist ad..

BUSTY CHICKS Need 2 Tickets to Friday GAME 1 CAPS FLYERS - $50 (anywhere)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply to: sale-636594433@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-04-09, 7:18PM EDT


Have 2 extra tickets for a couple
of busty and exciting Capitals fans?

We'll cheer louder than anyone.
And maybe let you buy us some beer.
And maybe more.




Location: anywhere
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 636594433

What Moby said!

CNN: Do you still do that? Go out to clubs every night and crawl home as the sun's rising?

MOBY: I don't necessarily go out every night, but I'm 42 years old and at this point most of my friends are married and they have kids and they have quiet domestic lives, and I'm still going out like two or three nights a week until 5 or 6 in the morning. At some point I think in the interest of dignity I should probably stop, but I still find it really inspiring and it's still a lot of fun.

New Salman Rushdie book coming out..

Allright rejoice finally we get a new Salman Rushdie book. For details go here


I hope this one is readable..lately with Rushdie- i am embarassed to confess- I have difficulty managing to make it to the end.. I know I'm not the only one!

Shelby Lynne- State Theatre, Falls Church, Virginia April 7, 2008

Last night we trekked out to Falls Church to check out Shelby Lynne. Fortunately for us the show was at the DC area's finest live music concert venue. I don't say those words lightly but the State Theatre really is perfectly designed! You can eat at a nice table or you can stand up right in front of the stage. Meanwhile the food is quite good. If they only had a bit of selection on the red wine- rather than a mediocre house red- and served ice tea it would probably be just about perfect.

Anyhow I'd never seen Shelby Lynne live although I had heard her Christmas song "Squat" years ago and its a perennial holiday season favorite. I had purchased her last album and her new album- at Barry Manilow's suggestion- consists of songs associated with Dusty Springfield and was produced by none other than Phil Ramone and recorded at Capitol's legendary Studio A where Sinatra himself put together the finest string of performances in American pop/vocal history. You want to argue about that with me? Think about it before you do!

Shelby took the stage about 9:30 with a four piece band and we heard the opening drum lick of the song that opens her new album: "just a little lovin'" and you could immediately tell that Shelby was going to put her heart and soul into the performance. This was followed by about five other Dusty songs. At one point she waved an LP copy of her new album and joked about how it had taken her 20 years in the recording business to get on vinyl and as I knew from reading an article she wrote on the Huffington Post Shelby loves them old records much like I do! Anyhow she gave an LP to a kid standing front and center and it turned out it was his birthday so he got the works: lp, signed and dedicated, KISS etc!

The version of Tony Joe White's Willie and Laura Mae Jones, live, seemed to go longer than on the record and get into more of a groove. These are the advantages of live shows sometimes. Shelby then played some of her own songs which I'm not that familiar with including the one about cornbread and ice tea. I can't emphasize enough how what we saw last night was a singer really SINGING and really pulling it from down deep. Much like the article I read about her feelings on vinyl and ipods Shelby did radiate a sense of cool. After the show her roadie was kind enough to take my newly purchased LP copy of her new album backstage for her to sign with dedication and all. Very nice! Word is Shelby will be swinging by the area again and playing the Ramshead Tavern in Annapolis so don't miss it!

Santana April 6, 2008 Merriweather Post

Santana & Derek Trucks Band April 6 2008 Merriweather Post

I like the picture where you can see "Derek Trucks" in the big screen behind him right next to him.. These two shots are from the Derek Trucks Band's set last night at Merriweather Post Pavillion in Columbia, Maryland