Watching The Wheels

   

     

     

    

U Can Figure Out Who Is Who (I Am Me And U Are U)

I talked to Republicans last night - one guy, in particular, made sure I understood them. I did: 
They're done.

“Dealing with terrorists has taught us some things. You can’t deal with ’em. This mess was created by the Republicans for one purpose, and they lost. People in my district are calling in for Obamacare—affordable health care—in large numbers. These guys have lost, and they can’t figure out how to admit it,...So we sit here until they figure out they fuckin’ lost.”

"Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City": Christian Cinema - In Sound

Ooooh, see, listen. This is a pretty good Rap album from 2012 - and my hometown. Practically a documentary of a young guy, purely by circumstance, having to desperately try to stay alive in the killing field he was raised in and loves. Weird, I know. Being an atheist, I don't agree with it, right from the beginning, but I'll be damned if I don't respect this representation of the world, as readily as Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon.

Yes, it's that good, sometimes. 

A new-to-Rap listener tip:

Kendrick Lamar's a wordsmith, down with Dr. Dre, so I suggest headphones and your full attention:

A poet living life and death can trick you, and actually get deep,... 

Fear Of Music

David Wiegand has started an interesting conversation, about cover tunes, by stating "there are some songs that I just don’t want to hear again." I'm fascinated because - while he insists covers are everywhere - I never hear them anywhere anymore. I think what we have here is a semantics issue, and David Wiegand is incorrectly labeling the bad art he hears:

   See, I hear tons of bad "copies," in this shitty American Idol/The Voice/etc. travesty of a culture we inhabit, but absolutely no actual "covers" to speak of. Let me show you what I mean:

 

 This is The Rolling Stones doing their original hit song, "Satisfaction".

 

 And here's some TV fag, with a haircut, copying it.

 

 Now, here's Devo doing their "cover" of the same song. 

Notice it's vastly different, but - most importantly - it's ALSO original in it's own right.

 

 Here's another loser - too dumb not to play it straight - and also playing to what sounds like some god-awful drum machine programming.

 

 And here's some Country pickers covering Pink Floyd pretty well. Not brilliantly, but alright. 

My point is - if you want to claim a vibrant culture - there's no way anybody should be copying anything (except for parodies, which is all copies are) and also be expecting praise as an artist. 

These people are not artists. I know artists, and haven't seen one of us in a long, long time: 

I see lots of brain-dead parrots, but that's about all,...

My Ears!!! - What Have You Done To My Ears!!!

WARNING:

If you don't want to be left screaming the title of this post, we strongly recommend you leap right on by this little number and head on to the next one, because - and we're not kidding here - this video has the power to do some serious damage. Protect yourself. Protect your family. Don't go there. Not even for fun. This is not "fun". It's the artistic equivalent of waking up to find battery acid has been poured into your eardrums. Are we clear? Fine. What you do from here is on you:

It's out of our hands

NewAgers Hate Real Men (And Love Bad Movies)

"The ultimate object of anxiety is a living father."

-- Slavoj Zizek - the man who exposed NewAge as the corporate ideology - during his new must-see analysis of film, “The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema,” in The New York Times.

It Was Supposed To Be Bakin' - Not "Bacon"

"U.S. Democratic leaders are aggressively lowering expectations,..."

-- Naftali Bendavid, with more evidence you stupid asses just bought yourselves a pig in a poke - so you can't blame me - or The Wall Street Journal.