Relax, I’m not going to link Paula Cole, but I will link KT Tunstall. There ya go.
This is my review of Beer Tree Snickers Porter:
Music is a contentious enough topic for me to discuss being one of the members of the group that actually appreciates Metallica for their music and overlook their habit of suing everyone for copyright infringement. Remember that time they sued Victoria’s Secret? How ate up can you be?
Anyways, here’s something to get your knickers in a twist (TW: NPR):
Had Bad Bunny taken the stage, he could have — I feel safe saying, would have — offered something no other artist on the Grammy stage did: openly political music. The Puerto Rican star stood out amidst a notable array of celebrities who made statements in support of immigrants and against the violent actions taken against them and their allies by ICE. His two heartfelt acceptance speeches — one made his priorities clear when he said, “Before I give thanks to God, I’m going to say ICE out,” and the other was mostly in Spanish and dedicated to immigrants compelled to follow their dreams — were the most eloquent of a decent-sized handful of statements made during the main show and its much longer pre-ceremony. The array of “ICE OUT” buttons and incendiary offstage comments had many post-show analysts calling the event a fiery platform for protest and left Donald Trump fuming. Yet, as Craig Jenkins wrote in an excellent analysis of the night’s political rhetoric, gentility ruled the day, as it tends to do at such gatherings. Aside from that final, deeply emotional, deliberately bilingual moment, the night lacked much that matched the complex and urgent feelings raised simply by reading the news every day.
I know what you’re thinking, “who dat”? My best answer of course is don’t worry about it. They do talk about someone you have heard of…
Bruce Springsteen’s barn-burning broadside “Streets of Minneapolis,” had some chatterers wishing for a surprise Grammy appearance from the Boss. That was likely never a possibility, but to imagine it is exciting, not only because Springsteen’s song is uncompromisingly specific in addressing the violence that’s occurred in that city, but because it fits the narrow definition of protest songs most often welcomed into the mainstream. It’s an arena-ready polemic by a beloved rock star whose self-expression as a leftist fits the countercultural image set down by icons like Bob Dylan and his folk forefather Woody Guthrie. Its predecessors are obvious, starting with Dylan’s folk-based early songs and including festival favorites like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s elegy for Kent State, “Ohio,” punk and hip-hop perennials like “Clampdown” by The Clash and Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” and more recent grenades like Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” and Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright.” This list, and now Springsteen’s intervention, has defined the protest song in the rock- and hip-hop-era mainstream as a nearly-all-male endeavor drenched in swagger, indignation and unwavering belief in the right to speak out. For many music fans, songs like “Streets of Minneapolis” fulfill the mandate of protest music not only because of what they say, but because of who says it: the official rock and roll version of a rabble-rouser.
Since this piece asks a question but does next to nothing to answer it, I’ll take a stab at it. The protest song still exists, just nobody wants to hear it anymore. It could be that a song in protest of the current zeitgeist is a product of a older generation that comes up from time to time as nostalgia, or whenever Neil Young comes out of suspended animation. (Hi Canada) It could be artists today saw something like this, and asked themselves if this how they want their work to be remembered, in the cringiest manner possible?
I never heard Bad Bunny’s music, at least not without anyone pointing out who it was. I am however, old enough to recall multiple protest songs in my youth that came out in the wake of the Bush-era. Green Day’s American Idiot, or Incubus’ Megalomaniac are pretty good examples (relax I’m not linking them either). It wasn’t even that I disagreed, it was that I was “not a prog” on a college campus, and I was tired of being constantly inundated with the prog schtick by my sophomore year. It more or less turned me off to their music since then because quite frankly, how ate up can you be?
Speaking of cringe…
I can’t think of a redeemable quality this had, alcohol aside. Is it sweet? Yeah but its like…I see what you’re going for with the chocolate and the nutty notes but if you missed then why package it? Maybe the cost of producing anything these days is to the point where they have to package it and put it on the market to recoup any of the expense of development. That might explain Bad Bunny. Beer Tree Snickers Porter: 2.1/5
Cowboy music
Cowboy music
Cowboy music.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=38Vun2LYnoY&pp=ygUWQ3JhY2tlciBldXJvdHJhc2ggZ2lybA%3D%3D
*rolls eyes*
Cowboy music
Cowboy music.
Texas music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCL_IiUXiBc&list=RDeCL_IiUXiBc&start_radio=1
Cowboy music
Screwed that up.
Cowboy music
Cowboy music.
Why am I not surprised that he drives a thunder chicken.
Texas music.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=huiaoLVfvlc&pp=ygUkMjAnbWlsZXMgZnJvbSB0ZXhhcyAyMCBtaWxlcyB0byBoZWxs
Cowboy song
https://youtu.be/kCNNMkVNKf4?si=ZJeIRya4shW0wx2N
Cowboys From Hell
https://youtu.be/i97OkCXwotE?si=ij517t7v4wZA83ia
This list, and now Springsteen’s intervention, has defined the protest song in the rock- and hip-hop-era mainstream as a nearly-all-male endeavor drenched in swagger, indignation and unwavering belief in the right to speak out. For many music fans, songs like “Streets of Minneapolis” fulfill the mandate of protest music not only because of what they say, but because of who says it: the official rock and roll version of a rabble-rouser.
All I hear is pre-ejaculatory grunting.
23 orgasms in 17 minutes
I was genuinely wondering what was on the other side of that link.
K T Tunstall is yummy.
Tastes great, AND less filling!
https://youtu.be/ABhZQ_VRbsQ?si
RIP George Michael
Stunning and brave!
Never mind that leftism is thoroughly mainstream now.
It’s very funny that “trad wife” is now so stunningly off-kilter and different. (And apparently, very satisfying, as a human. (Full Disclosure: Never married.)) And apparently an evil sign of the patriarchy, or something.
Pendulums always swing. Someone posted a hiring status where the employer was like “It’s so rare and magical to find someone who isn’t *listed* as being fucked up in some way.”
“Not being fucked up” is a tremendously attractive trait, apparently. Sometimes the attention runs out, kinda like that sad, interesting and predictable link yesterday about people claiming disability at Stanford(?) so they could get single rooms, more testing time, etc. Along the “you’re cheating yourself if you *don’t* take advantage of this shit.”
The left hates trad-wives because they hate anything that stinks of tradition. And they hate children – they would rather throw them at a stranger than suffer the indignity of the mom caring for them (but apparently it’s OK if the dad is stay-at-home).
They’d rather *abort* the fetuseseses that *have* them. But I see your point, throwing the kids at schools than being the mom that cares for them. But I got confused by race. Last I saw, 70% of black kids just have the single mom. Though that exists with the white womyn, I can’t imagine it’s anywhere near that high a percentage.
Quick look says only 15% of white women, but that one also says only 47% of blacks, so I detect tomflammery with measurements.
A stay-at-home dad just proves how powerful and successful women really are, so the best way to take care of the house is to subjugate the ‘father’ to all the household labor, chores and errands that women were just complaining about. Cuz that’s fair, or something. Or they DESERVE IT! They were produced by the patriarchy and need to be made examples of.
SiL works at home with her business/ side-gig making textile thingies, but I have little idea how her numbers actually look. Bro’s good at his programming biz. “Patriarchy” has come from her lips many times. I’ve wisely kept mine shut.
*shocked expostulation*
Most pour ricans I know speak neither English or Spanish well.
The Texicans and Chicanos would always make fun of them when I was in the army for their speech.
I had a Major from the island over my section. He alone had the most influence in convincing me not to reenlist.
He is already well-known for hating the US in English. I wonder what he reserves for Spanish ears only.
Plenty of conversations I heard, loudly “Spanglish bla bla bla Sergeant Harris bla bla estupido bla bla bla like bla…”
American Idiot is an ‘interesting’ album. I’ll give them credit for trying something new for them, and it really isn’t a ‘bad’ album, though I haven’t listened to it in decades. (I was a junior in high school in ’03.) It’s also not a great album, though with some pretty decent tracks, IIRC, mostly cuz they don’t have the talent necessary. I expect to hear all the anti-US Imperialism songs at the Superbowl. I’m interested in which words they change to ‘reflect the current Zeitgeist,’ and which words they’re allowed to use.
As for Green Day: 1039/Smoothed out Slappy Hours, their first record, was my first album purchase, mostly cuz my older bro already had the others. Kerplunk! is fun for a sophomore album. Dookie is a fantastic album, well-seated in its time. Insomniac is kinda criminally underrated. I’m very pleased local radio plays Brain Stew/Jaded together like they’re indented. Nimrod is very uneven and not so good, but I’d say HItchin’ a Ride is one of the ‘best’ Green Day songs. That fucker is solid.
Warning is meh. American Idiot, again, a decent idea and out of their box, but yeesh. That was when I agreed with all the lefties in school who didn’t want the US poking its dick into more Middle Eastern hornets nests. That was forgotten after Bu$Hitler left. Christ, they’re always so unimaginative with their insults. Just compare to Hitler, no matter what. (To be fair, with Public Edu running minds, it’s not like the students have a whole lot of history to work with. But folk can remember Hitler!)
Tres Cool is a good drummer, though only in one style, and I’m upset that OUR Tres doesn’t get enough poking about that.
I like “Dookie” for what it is, and as a right-place right-time kind of thing, but I was never motivated to listen to anything else by them.
But jeez, aside from some cringe country numbers, I can’t think of a lot of popular tracks that go political and aren’t leftist. I wonder why that is. I suspect it is a function of leftists being so narcissistic.
Same. Many bands are cursed with their best work being on the first album. Like the Killers, or the Eagles.
Kerplunk was Green Day’s best album.
*intended Yeesh. Worst bit of autocorrect is when it goes to something that’s also ‘real’ and doesn’t let you know about a simple typo.
Also on Nimrod, that uneven album with a few good songs, King for a Day was covered by my bro’s ska band. He’s also a drummer (and a *fantastic* singer, which he kind of hides). That album also has the regrettable “Good Riddance (Time of your Life)” song that’s stupidly used at every high school dance, prom, wedding, and romantic event of that time, and still to this damn day.
The 90s were the best decade to grow up in (end of Cold War, nascent, rising internet, still had freedom from in-your-pocket spycraft, etc) but it still had its downsides. Mrs. Kinney in 2nd Grade was another. Cunt. Even Teacher Mom hated her.
That album also has the regrettable “Good Riddance (Time of your Life)” song that’s stupidly used at every high school dance, prom, wedding, and romantic event of that time, and still to this damn day.
If a song fits all of those things, it’s probably so vague as to be meaningless.
PS: How do I do quotes?? The word “quote” in brackets didn’t work…
Blockquote is the tag for quoting like I did above.
Green Day’s American Idiot, or Incubus’ Megalomaniac are pretty good examples (relax I’m not linking them either).
I don’t know Megalomaniac so I can’t comment on it. I’ve heard Green Day’s American Idiot and all I can think of is, “Are you serious? Pretty good example? Of what? Shit?”
I can’t think of a redeemable quality this had, alcohol aside. Is it sweet? Yeah but its like…I see what you’re going for with the chocolate and the nutty notes but if you missed then why package it? Maybe the cost of producing anything these days is to the point where they have to package it and put it on the market to recoup any of the expense of development.
I like chocolate peanut butter stouts, but this sounds not very good.
I preferred their first album. Since then I’m pretty meh in them.
It’s so cold out, traffic was noticeably lighter.
We finally reached 0. Heat wave!
Snowflakes in forecast for next weekend. Maybe. Extremely mild winter so far.
The NE seems much, much colder than in many years.
Miami finally reached an agreeable temperature. Was able to wake and bake… in the sun you potheads
Windy as hell here in Norristown. Anything not nailed down has flown away. Dusting of snow overnight now mostly blown off.
We may finally get some seasonal temps (30’s, 40’s) mid-week next week.
That’s warm enough for a bunch more naked guys to dance in intersections
That’s warm enough for a bunch more naked guys to dance in intersections
The LP must really have fallen if an intersection is the only place they can afford to have a convention.
79 in west-central TX. 3 or 4 days ago it was 40.
South Park nails it again.
https://youtu.be/3rS6zYSj1WI?si=NNJiSx_YGtm6zb_9&t=93
You can record all the music off of the radio on your tape deck you want.
And artists fought that tooth and nail too, IIRC.
I remember DJs intentionally overlapping songs, cutting intros and talking over the most popular tracks of the day to make it hard to record.
https://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/21/arts/issue-and-debate-royalties-on-recorders-and-blank-audio-tapes.html
This failed.
Funny thing was later they managed to get a tax passed on blank recordable audio CDs. However, data CDs were exempt. Non-PC people had special music only CD recorders and paid the tax. The rest of us copied pre recorded CDs onto data CDs.
I have lots of varied and contradictory feelings about intellectual property, a lot of which is verging on proggy, which disturbs me.
My absolute RAGE, though, is directed at Adobe. I’m absolutely willing to pay for your product. ONCE.
I believe nothing you pay for to download to an e.book is actually yours.
A. Do you mean you, the consumer, as in “If buying isn’t owning, then piracy isn’t stealing,” or do you mean it was never the producer’s to begin with if it’s available in digital?
and
B. Often, you can purchase/download from individual creators. I did that at the beginning, and am going back to it once I get my store back up and running. When you put your stuff on Amazon, it’s because of visibility and friction reduction. That’s the price yoh pay.
Subscription software is vile.
I bought Microsoft office a couple years ago for my laptop and now it tells me I can’t use it and have to pay them.
I paid for it already jerks.
It’s unfortunate that there’s not a free (as in libre) alternative that’s fully comparable to Adobe’s suite (although since I’m not a creative professional, the free tools are fine for me). The problem is… creative professionals are, for the most part, not technical, have highly emotional brand loyalty, and want something that “just works” like the product they baby ducked on in art school. Which is also why they tend to run their subscription-based software on their $3,000
PlayskoolApple hardware.Pat:
There’s also the support side of it. High level execs want someone they can get on the phone if something’s broken, not wait on a response in a thread somewhere.
True, although I could see a role for a Red Hat-esque company in that space providing the support and code base maintenance for a FOSS suite. I’m not really sure why that business model is so infrequently tried given the success of the Linux ecosystem.
Paula Cole.
Smuggling rasins.
Let me stay Spanish themed!
‘A harmful barrier’: new Florida law mandates all driving tests to be offered in English only
But only if that language is one of the favored ones.
Do leftists even hear themselves speak?
Obligatory South Florida sob story (literally)
Per Florida statue, “a customer who takes (and passes) the Class E Knowledge or Class E Driving Skills Test through an authorized Third Party Administrator may be randomly selected for a mandatory re-test without prior notice.” The law adds, “After a re-test with a passing score is completed in a driver license or tax collector office, the driver license will be issued.”
Just another cruel impediment to our third world four-wheeled menaces.
I have heard that immigrants used to be proud of learning English in order to succeed in the US.
Now every message they get is “don’t bother”, “your neighbors will we be taxed to cater to your whims”, etc. We are so progressive now.
This would now be dismissed as a MAGA hate crime
https://youtu.be/5ZQl6XBo64M
What language are all of the fucking road signs in?
Are we talking about Sikh truck drivers regularly crashing and killing people?
I believe CA again leads here…
Funny. The police department and I have different definition of “arrested”.
Cop places CBP officer in handcuffs during ‘misunderstanding’ at Progreso bridge
In NJ that counts as an “arrest”.
Bernal developed a reputation for being difficult to work with. On several occasions, he pulled over law enforcement officers for speeding.
Hidalgo County Precinct 1 Constable Celestino Avila Jr. said Bernal had cited a deputy constable for going 23 or 24 mph in a school zone.
What an asshole.
I love how allegedly criminal actions get downgraded to improper behavior and PC means laws don’t apply to the kings men.
It does in TX too, not sure why they are acting like that isn’t what happened. He was probably waiting for a bribe.
Didn’t Louis C.K. have a bit in his show where his lesbian downstairs neighbor came to his apartment to borrow sugar or some such and ended up begging him to fuck her? Like, she needed some real penis and he gave it to her, and THEN she comfessed she ALSO wanted a baby?
I don’t think Ann and Nancy Wilson are lesbians.
I don’t know, but it does sound like a Louis CK bit.
In reference to last night?
Yes.
So I’m watching the second season of Oshi No Ko.
It continues to be a top notch production of a well regarded manga. However, I’m torn. I’ve not read ahead in the manga which completed something like two years ago. A rather large bit of the fan base hated the ending.
I find imperfect works like this fascinating. Is the majority of the work worth the effort to consume even when as a whole the work is widely considered flawed.
An example of that in music for me is Mozart’s Requiem. Unfinished parts were completed after his death and it shows. It’s still a piece I really like, but don’t unequivocally love.
“A rather large bit of the fan base hated the ending”
And a large part of Dylan’s fan base hated it when he went electric.
If you enjoyed it that is the proper criteria.
Agreed.
My issue is essentially I know what’s coming isn’t great. Is it worth seeing if that’s true for me?
I’m more than likely to finish it and form my own opinion.
Kalifornia Krazy
Last February, the California Department of Justice sent a letter to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles warning that its refusal to serve transgender minors would violate the state’s civil rights law. In July, the hospital permanently closed its transgender health clinic.
Ceseña says he feels the state has been inconsistent in its support of the trans community. He and other LGBTQ advocates expected the state to sue Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and others well before the Rady lawsuit. And specifically, to protect civil rights for trans children.
“We need to stop with the letters. We need to stop with the announcements. We need to see action,” Ceseña said. “Our kids are suffering.”
Long tale of anguish and woe about Trump’s cruel heartless attempts to deny “gender affirming care” to vast numbers of suffering children, and the brave Californians standing up to him.
I can’t help wondering just how many “kids” we’re talking about.
“just how many “kids” we’re talking about.”
One is too many.
I see they dropped the “of” from the name so it’s no longer CHoLA.
Those parents should be doing time, not trying to fuck up their gay kids’ lives.
It won’t happen, of course, but a hundred years from now, people should be looking at stories like that the same way we look at pictures of 8 year old kids smoking cigarettes during their lunch break at the coal mine from the turn of the previous century.
Atlantic headline:
The Literary Ecosystem is Dying
Oh.
And yet I feel dumber every time I read something in The Atlantic.
I was asked to be a panelist at the Writer’s Digest Conference in 2011 about self-publishing. I was on 3 panels, one of which I didn’t think I was qualified for, but whatever. I was active on Twitter and very vocal about self-publishing, so I was visible.
The opening keynote was some old muckety-muck at one of the big publishers. He held up a hard-back book and said, “THIS is the Kindle-killer.”
Oh, honey.
Anyway, now it’s 15 years later and yeah, okay, mass market paperbacks are getting phased out (I haz a sad) and ebooks are still going strong, but NOT for long. The reading population, especially those who like ebooks, are (from what I can tell) GenX. (My mom LOVES ebooks and mostly reads on her phone, but she’s 81; people like her have one foot in the grave and one on a banana peel.)
My kids like reading books, but they have HATED ebooks from the time they were little, especially if I were reading to them, and their cohort is very much the same. For whatever reason, they couldn’t get involved in the words by themselves. They needed to SEE them. (I’m not talking about picture books, but chapter books and above.)
The kids in the generation after my kids’ love paper. Furthermore, they like trade paperback (6×9) (which was the self-publishing mark of shame for years). But! What they want is t to keep the books as knickknacks of that time they got all warm and fuzzy, and they like having trophies for their Insta and TikTok. Also, shelves full of books in series order is just pretty.
I like my bookshelves as well as the next person, but I buy hardbacks of books I’ve read in digital or mass market paperback that I love. I will not read in paper.
I think there are a few things going on here (and I’d love it if Heroic Mulatto could weigh in because I think there’s a linguistic component to this). First, GenX (and prior generations) first interacted with paper and when ebooks came along, they could transition from physical paper and ink to straight-up words without a blip. I don’t think little kids can (or should) be able to do that straight out of the gate. Reading a print book involves touch, smell, and sound, and your eyeballs have a whole lot more to see. It’s engaging on multiple levels, not just one.
IF my theory is correct and they don’t read ebooks, they’re never going to make that leap because they already know they don’t like it.
Lastly, a lot of the work kids like simply doesn’t work (or work well) in ebook. Dudes of a certain age who are berated for not reading fiction do read ebooks, but they’ll spend a lot of money on “trophy” books (special editions with gold edging, special covers, maps, etc.). Hell, I bought a set of books I have ZERO interest in because they were pretty.
But a hard-back book is NOT the Kindle-killer.
This is what I bought.
I dislike the new mass market paperback form factor (long and skinny). It’s uncomfortable to hold and read for me. Just like killing the former broadsheet newspaper size down. I hated reading a newspaper like a t-Rex.
That’s the “tall rack” size. I thought they stopped doing that a long time ago.
The reading population, especially those who like ebooks, are (from what I can tell) GenX.
If I wasn’t a GenX slacker, I’d say don’t lump me in with those people. But meh, I don’t care.
I’ll buy hardcovers for non-fiction only.
I will never buy another fiction book in paper form again, because ebooks are simply too convenient. Rarely, I miss the ease of turning back to an earlier page, or turning to a map or some other bit of reference, but not enough to change my mind about using ebooks.
I’m baffled to hear that younger generations are rejecting ebooks. If that’s true then I can only believe that vastly fewer of them are actually reading anything at all. Because books are inconvenient to collect and take up a lot of space. Idiocracy here we come?
All the young dudes (sub-30) I know, and the majority of my cohort, insist on buying physical books. The most common reason I hear is that they don’t like reading on their electronic devices because there’s too many distractions. IOW, they’re too fucking ADHD to open an ebook reader or PDF viewer and read the content without opening social media apps, games, porn, etc.
I like real books, maybe ’cause I never tried Kindle. I don’t keep books for books sake, other than reloading manuals, how to fishing books, etc.
I was in the used book biz for many years, I’m guessing 30% of our sales was paperback. Paperbacks will be around for awhile but with no new titles for the fiction readers it’s going to be a tougher market.
The suggested price of new hardbacks is unreal.
I buy books from the discounters, since I’m not so fussy about the author, more the subject. I finished a bio of Shackleton and immediately mailed it out to a friend in VA. Reading a bio of Sam Adams now, have about a dozen waiting. Coolidge, Cody, Custer, etc.
Heroic Mulatto is just a figment of our collective imagination who visits me in my dreams.
😢
The irony here seems mostly lost on the BBC.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62rexy9y3no
Influential
The campaign, “Resist and Unsubscribe,” was started by influential podcaster and business commentator Scott Galloway, who said he was increasingly frustrated by what he sees as the Trump administration’s indifference to protests and public outrage over immigration enforcement, especially in Minneapolis, where federal immigration officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens last month.
——-
Galloway, who also teaches marketing at New York University, believes the president mainly changes course on policy when financial markets are under pressure, pointing to how Trump dropped his plan to impose tariffs on eight European nations after it rattled Wall Street. So, Galloway created a website listing over a dozen companies that have either worked directly with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or play such an outsized role in the economy that a slowdown in their growth would send shockwaves to the markets.
“ I think this is a weapon that is hiding in plain sight,” Galloway told NPR. “The most radical act you can perform in a capitalist society is non-participation.”
Never heard of him.
He must be a Big Thing with the Nieman Marxists.
I assume he’s willing to give up his paycheck and start panhandling for his supper.
Hey, hey. Hey. Let’s not go crazy.
/Scott Galloway
Stone Sour’s “Come What(ever) May” is a good song, until you look at the cringe of the lyrics. Not that I’m Bush simp, but it’s just too unnuanced. TDS before TDS.
Since you are a Stone Sour fan, here’s something we can both enjoy.
https://youtu.be/klYtT4fabQA?si=ge-rmdQYyJxPsAKN
Can I just say how much I love that the Spanish language – you know, the language gifted them by the European conquistadors who raped and pillaged their ancestors – has become some kind of shibboleth of chicano/latino culture for the race-obsessed immigration activists?
Tim Kaine nods in agreement.
Same. For me it was SOAD. “Hey this is pretty good. Do they do any songs that aren’t about Bush?”
Some of their songs were about bad Chinese takeout.
In the 80s it was “does ________ do any songs that aren’t about (Reagan|Thatcher)”.
Angsty punks sing about center left politicians as if they were actual conservatives.
I have burnt ends.
That is all.
Sounds like its time for a haircut.
And you’re not sharing??
I am. With my gf.
Never stick it in a socket.
Refer to your own avatar.