whispering pines

Though I’ve been exposed to their hits over the years, the appeal of The Band’s music has always eluded me. Lately though, I just can’t get enough of them. Their unassuming songs place more emphasis on cultivating a groove and a feel than on impressing listeners with their musical complexity. The members, all multi-instrumentalists who shared vocal duties, each brought something different and equally valuable to the table. Capably getting down on pianos, guitars, bass and drums in an old-timey fashion, The Band made folksy, gripping music that appealed to those with an inclination to unfettered roots rock and an aversion to overblown and long-winded jams. The fragility of the vocal on “Tears of Rage” and the slow build on “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” speak to both the frailty and the grandeur of their sound. Too, most of the songs foster a sense of community (as evidenced by the film The Last Waltz), bringing people together for a good old-fashioned swig-n-snort sing-along.

LISTEN TO JAWBONE, THIS WHEEL’S ON FIRE and WHEN YOU AWAKE

musing

Why are smoky, working-class bars predisposed to blues music? It seems that every blue-collar drinking establishment that I visit is playing the blues. Maybe it's just good drinking music.

LISTEN TO CREAM

do you remember Walter?

Do you remember your earliest musical memory; the first time you heard and recognized music as more than just some organized sounds? I remember being confused as to how melodies worked and why the A-B-Cs sounded better sung than read. Of course at the time, I had no idea what a melody even was, but the fact that I was hearing and thinking about what made a musical hook catchy made me realize that music was something that I wanted to hear more of.

Like many others, I got started down the path to musical enlightenment by my parents. My dad listened to music at home and in the car. If I was around, I listened too. While he always had his stable of classics, I was enthralled by the cheesy adult-contemporary hits that were in heavy rotation on his radio. I recall being fascinated with how the sounds were arranged to make an affecting piece of music. I didn’t think too hard about it but, I knew what I thought sounded good, even if I didn’t know why.

By the time I made it to third grade or so, I was listening to pop radio on my own and jamming to Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 show. So at that point, whether or not I knew why I liked what I liked, my tastes and preferences were dictated by whatever chart-topping songs were being played on the radio. It wasn’t until I reached middle school that I began forming my own tastes and preferences, playing a more active role in seeking out music that I liked and finally, knowing why I liked it.

The big breakthrough and the spark that ignited my fiery passion for music in general came in sixth grade. We had a unit in choir class devoted entirely to the Beatles. This was my first real introduction to the Fab Four and I ended up getting in pretty deep. Their music was undeniably catchy; I could bob my head, tap my feet and sing along—it was a revelation.

Soon after, a friend and I both started exploring our dads’ old record collections and saturating our psyches with classic rock and oldies hits. As the years wore on, I continued to straddle the line between past and present, finding pleasure in the old music that influenced the new and appreciating truly original work. I just dig music—that’s all there is to it.

evolution of an idea

The Bowery Hotel is in New York. I've never been there but I thought this guy on their coaster looked cool. I liked his stance and the simple style in which he was drawn. I thought he'd make a good lumberjack.

I enlisted my friend Coco, a talented artist, to make some quick changes. She drew this up for me in a minute.

I took the drawing to Aaron at Icon here in Portland and he made a couple changes before sticking it on my side. I really like how it turned out and though I don't think my great-grandpa and his daughter, my grandma, would approve of it, I think it's a fitting tribute that I'm happy to keep to myself.

Great-grandpa was a nature-lover, a dedicated outdoorsman with a great appreciation for natural beauty. He had to take a job in the timber industry during the great depression in order to support his family. I never really talked to him about it before he died, but my grandma and her sister are full of engrossing stories about growing up in logging camps.

Ever listen to that song "Tattoo" by The Who? It's a real cool cut from their early days on which they sing about being a man and getting your arm inked. The chorus finds Roger addressing his new tattoo, “I expect I’ll regret you…you’ll be there when I die,” and commenting on what many believe to be a senseless lark. Think what you will about the sacred art of tattooing--its permanence, its fad status and the undeniable stereotypes it generates--I still think the whole affair can be pretty cool.

That’s not to say that I like all tattoos, oh no. There are some horrible examples out there, tattoos that tell the world how foolish someone was or is and tattoos that demonstrate someone’s impaired decision-making process. I like to think that my tattoos are pretty tasteful. Not only that, nobody can see them (and judge me) unless I take off my shirt. The tattoos are for me and I'm not trying to show them off. My body’s still a temple, it’s just got some decoration on it now.

election fever

It’s getting ugly out there, folks; people are at each other’s throats. I think I echo the candidates’ sentiments when I say that I can’t wait until November. Mud is flying, some of it’s even sticking. Things are heating up and right-leaning Fox News and left-leaning MSNBC are fanning the flames. The power of the blogosphere is becoming explicitly evident as fiction is being passed off as fact and vice versa. Youtube, only three years old and enjoying a newfound importance as a destination for more than funny clips and amateur movies, is littered with bogus campaign ads and misinformed homemade videos. Though I think it’s great that citizens are passionate about the particular candidate that represents their values and ideals, I also think that it speaks to the devolution of American culture when people get so worked up that they start getting violent with both their actions and their words. Shouting the N word at a McCain rally when Obama’s name is mentioned has prompted gentle rebukes from the Republican candidate. Conversely, when a deafening roar of boos greets the mention of McCain at an Obama rally and drowns out the speaker, the Democratic candidate too has to quiet his supporters. How is a voter to muddle through this mess to determine the candidate of their choice? Answer: turn off your television and examine the issues. The following are but a few of the ones that matter to me.

A lot of people choose who to vote for based on the candidate’s tax policies. I’m with just about everybody in this country when I say that I don’t want to pay more taxes. I do, however, recognize that everything costs money. The Bush administration squandered the biggest surplus our country ever held and now we’re in the deepest debt we’ve ever been while facing the most tenuous economic situation of our lives. Infrastructure is crumbling, crime rates are climbing and many people are finding their cupboards bare. There are times when our streets and highways are free of police because the department doesn’t have enough money to pay its officers. Imagine a policeman calling for backup and getting no assistance; the implications are unsettling. And we can’t complain about ‘kids these days’ if we aren’t giving them the tools they need to succeed. That means investing in education and improving schools. Many school districts in this country are so strapped for cash that they’re cutting school days out of the year, not to mention vital programs that keep our students healthy, stimulated, and off the streets. How do the Republicans expect the next generation to eventually take the reins of this nation if they don’t appropriate more tax dollars for education and invest in the future? ‘No new taxes, we want tax breaks;’ people, you can’t get something for nothing. Let it be known, I’m a firm believer that money doesn’t fix everything--but it certainly helps if it’s spent wisely.

On that note, and especially here in Portland it seems, many people complain about the homeless. What they don’t seem to understand is that the government-run mental health system is so under-funded that it can’t take care of many of society’s most vulnerable people. They end up on the streets, much to the dismay of the civilized citizenry who unrealistically expect these ‘crazies’ to shape up and get jobs or get the hell out of town. These people are ill and require help, not ignorance.

Abortion is a polarizing issue, but it’s still a choice that must be left to the woman. The Republican candidates have made their opinions painfully clear. To them, it’s a black and white issue. But who are they to decide what a woman chooses to do with her own pregnancy? If an expectant mother is unprepared to raise a child, what good would it be to burden her with a supposed ‘blessing?’ Criminalizing abortion could also lead to desperate women seeking dangerous operations free of government safety regulations while crippling the system that might end up having to support mother and child. By overturning Roe v Wade and effectively forcing women to have the baby for whom they are ill-prepared to care, the Republicans would really be ruining two lives: that of the mother and that of the child.

Humans evolved. We weren’t -POOF- created. It’s irrefutable science. Often a tough pill to swallow, science has been blowing minds since the world was determined to be round, not flat. I don’t think it’d get this far, but imagine the precedent that would be set if school curriculum included a unit on creationism (which the Republican vice presidential candidate advocates). Too, stem cell research is necessary to understanding how our bodies work and to finding cures to some of the horrible diseases that plague humanity. Ignoring these studies and calling for their abolishment on religious grounds is not only foolish, but dangerous. The fact that some of our Republican (and Democratic) leaders can comfortably refute scientific fact still troubles me. Go ahead and have faith in the religion of your choice, just keep it out of public schools and policy decisions.

I don’t know too many folks who want to spend their dying days unconscious and connected to life-support machines. But the conservatives, and the Christian right that make up a huge percentage of their base, would have you rot in a vegetative state, draining your bank account instead of dying with dignity. If the doc’s prognosis can be trusted, pull that plug and spare a family the pain of helplessly watching their loved one die slow.

Both Republicans and Democrats agree that this nation needs to end its dependency on foreign oil. What they disagree on is how we’ll accomplish it. Though the continued exploitation of the world’s cache of fossil fuels will get us nowhere fast, “drill, baby, drill” has been a popular chant at McCain-Palin campaign events. Ignoring the fact that the mantra makes people sound like morons at a monster-truck rally, the Republicans want to tap American oil reserves (until they’re dry (there’s hardly even any in there anyway)) and begin offshore drilling. The problem with that plan is that, in order to even get the oil, it will take nearly a decade to get the drilling and pumping machinery (not to mention all the infrastructure associated with it) operational. In the meantime, no progress will have been made on transitioning to alternative energy sources. If we really want to clean up our homeland and this planet, the US needs to take the lead and get the ball rolling on renewable energy. It will not be easy or cheap and it will require sacrifice but, in the long run, it will pay off and set a good example for the rest of the world. The preservation of natural beauty, the new jobs this movement will create and the improvement of the wellbeing of all living things are reason enough for me.

Nuclear proliferation concerns both parties. Worrying about Iran, North Korea and their allies getting the bomb is one thing, but keeping our nukes and telling the rest of the world that they’re not allowed to have what he have is quite another. It's hypocritical and sends them an ominous message. The fact that we’ve got enough nuclear weapons to destroy humanity as a whole can be perceived as menacing to other nations, regardless of our purported peace-keeping intentions and their rogue tendencies. If we’ve got our finger on the trigger, policing those who seek to level the playing field by developing weapons of their own, everybody on this earth feels threatened. Clearly, Iran and North Korea should not have the capability to wage nuclear warfare. However, threatening them will only encourage them to speed up their weapons development programs. “People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power,” said Bill Clinton awhile back. With that, a process of negotiation and joint disarmament is necessary to improving our international reputation as well as putting at ease the minds of concerned leaders and citizens by making the world a safer place. If however, the rogue regimes continue undaunted and refuse to disarm with us, I’m afraid that the consequences will have to be more severe than economic sanctions…and that’s a very scary thought…but at least we’ll have tried.

I understand that there are other pressing matters at stake, not to be overlooked or taken lightly. There are wars and other foreign policy issues, immigration debates, a crashing economy and uninsured citizens getting sick and going untreated. I won’t pretend to understand the ins and outs of those very broad subjects because I don’t know all the specifics. I do know however, that I’m very comfortable with what Barack Obama is saying about them.

John McCain is a smart man with a lot of experience who has actually been a fairly moderate voice in the Senate, something I can admire. But in being the President, and especially in campaigning for the office, partisanship seems to become more of a requirement and I just don’t like where his party stands on many of the issues. While seeking the presidency, McCain’s had to shift his own personal politics further to the right in order to appeal to the Republican base. He used to be pro-choice and he used to champion immigration reform, stances and actions that align more with the democratic position. Now he's anti-abortion and against immigration reform. Standing up for what you believe in and not caving to party ideology is what I call strength of character, something that many conservatives argue he exhibited in Vietnam and something that’s earning him their vote. This campaign has shown McCain to be more of an opportunist than a maverick, sacrificing his integrity and rolling over just to get more votes. That's not very maverick-y. Basically, I can’t abide by the decisions McCain is promising to make if he wins the presidency. Moreover, I have no confidence in Sarah Palin and I don’t think she is experienced or knowledgeable enough to serve as VP or to assume the position should something happen to McCain.

This, of course, brings up an example of the conservative criticism of Obama: his own lack of experience. Though I’m quick to criticize Palin for the same thing, I think it’s important to make the distinction that Obama’s campaign isn’t about experience as much as it’s about his embodiment of resolve, tolerance, intelligence, and patience with the notion of compromise and negotiation. Meanwhile, Palin is quick to tout her limited (and marred) experience as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska and governor of a state with a population comparable to that of my hometown of Portland, Oregon. She’s doing her best to convince voters that that experience is not just enough, but extremely valuable. Does she really think voters are dumb enough to buy that crock? Sadly, there are a good many that will continue to be sold on the ‘hockey mom’ posturing and her ‘regular gal’ characterization while overlooking the fact that she’s grossly under qualified for the office. To make matters worse for her and the Republican ticket, the McCain camp has been granting super-limited press access to her, for reasons obvious to Democrats, and unrealistically expecting the public to see her as an effective, capable leader.

Regarding Obama’s age and experience, I think that a young, eager politician will have smart, experienced people clamoring to serve in his cabinet and hitch their wagon to his star while the ‘maverick of the senate’ may find that he’s burned too many bridges over the (many) years and find himself hard-pressed for good, willing help.

As with all things, time will tell. Until then, educate yourself and decide on the candidate whose vision and values align most closely with yours. Vote.

dig this

Last week was Old Soul Week at the new GimDang, featuring classic cuts from the likes of Otis Redding, Sam Cooke and Joe Tex. Tune in for more themed weeks to come!

Taibbi on Palin

Even though I tend to agree with him, Matt Taibbi can be kind of a tool sometimes. I think he takes it too far on purpose though, just to get a rise out of readers. Here's an excerpt from his latest piece in Rolling Stone:

"Sarah Palin is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the modern United States. As a representative of our political system, she's a new low in reptilian villainy, the ultimate cynical masterwork of puppeteers like Karl Rove. But more than that, she is a horrifying symbol of how little we ask for in return for the total surrender of our political power. Not only is Sarah Palin a fraud, she's the tawdriest, most half-assed fraud imaginable, 20 floors below the lowest common denominator, a character too dumb even for daytime TV — and this country is going to eat her up, cheering her every step of the way. All because most Americans no longer have the energy to do anything but lie back and allow ourselves to be jacked off by the calculating thieves who run this grasping consumer paradise we call a nation."

fightin' mad over here, man

While the Republicans cry foul every time a legitimate assertion is made against them, claiming that the ‘liberal’ media is out to smear them with that ‘gotcha’ journalism, they neglect to understand that the bastion of conservative craziness, FoxNews, has a right-wing stance that borders on total subjectivity. Journalism is built on a foundation of objectivity, not personal opinion and bias. When a network is populated by rhetoric-spitting boobs like Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, there can be no hope and no expectation for unbiased, honest journalistic integrity. Moreover, even though said claims against the republicans are substantiated by reputable, non-partisan organizations, they still refuse to concede truth and somehow find a way to spin it and soften the blow. Their fellow party members nod in solemn agreement, seemingly accepting the bullshit they’ve just been fed. The republican base it seems, is conditioned to believe what they’re told rather than thinking for themselves.

whatserface

So all three of the artists featured here are totally rad. Mel Kadel gets buck with the inky pens and illustrates in a style all her own. Millard is her dude and though the medium is the same and his style is similar, the subject matter is more fun and juvenile. Sieben's hecka tight and is starting to get paid lately, doing limited edition work for Adidas as well as Volcom. I have no idea if the pieces they're showing are new or old, but I'm still stoked. Check it out if you're in the neighborhood and avoid the toothless guy with the eye patch--you don't want what he's selling.

abandon ship?

Have you checked out the new GimDang? http://gimdang.tumblr.com/