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Re: Political Culture: Still Two Americas

autodidact — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:03:04 -0000

P.S. Scuzzy in Watertown, NY, was no moderate. We all know this. Repeating the Democrat talking point does not make it true.

Re: Political Culture: Still Two Americas

autodidact — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:56:00 -0000

I think there are indeed two Americas. Responsible America and Irresponsible America. I hope the former is in the majority, but I'm not sure. If so, they cannot be happy. Leaving aside the wisdom of maintaining a war in one Muslim country and guaranteeing peace in a Muslim country next door, leaving aside the philosophical debate about who should control health care, the number one issue is indeed dollar bills flying out the door.

Responsible America thinks that those dollars should be spent in an efficient manner on things that will build up the long-term infrastructure of our nation. Responsible America knows that we cannot consume more than we produce, and that disadvantaging producers means an end to growth. But Federal dollars are not being spent efficiently, and often times they are not spent on projects that will be a long-term benefit. Both of those criticisms apply to the previous years of Republican control, but even more so they apply now. The primary conduit of "dollars flying out the door" is being funneled in direct and indirect ways to a finance industry guilty of massive fraud, and speculative activity that continues to increase the risk of a Black Swan event greater than the one we just experienced.

Mr. Obama must cast off the shackles of his big-money supporters in the banking industry and prosecute or at least remove the people who knew they were granting loans to people who could not pay them back, those who knew they were passing these bad loans off to the securities industry, those who were rating securities AAA that they knew were full of junk, those selling the tranches to suckers and then betting against those very same securities in the derivatives market... and the fraud goes on and on. These are the folks who've been bailed out with the vast majority of the "money flying out the door." (Obama even used those words in a press conference -- loaning money when they knew it could not be paid back. Why has there been no logical follow up question: "What you just described, Mr. President, is fraud. Where are the prosecutions???!!!")

Next, Obama must craft regulations what will create the kind of transparency, oversight, and incentives to greatly discourage such fraud in the future. He must set up a resolution trust as was done in the S&L debacle, to put bankrupt institutions into receivership, pay off depositors, sell off bad assets, and allow the economy to start moving again, free of these burdens of unpayable debt. Otherwise, we will see banks who borrow money from the fed at zero interest, and sock it away in reserves (not lending), or even worse, speculate with it! That's exactly what is happening now.

Obama has surrounded himself with men who advocate the opposite of these responsible actions. And we see the result. Destruction of the currency, ballooning unemployment, new bubbles forming in stocks and commodities, and the banking fraudsters taking home even greater bonuses. (The salary or bonus controls announced by the White House affect only a very few people in the industry, and I guarantee you they will find a way around those regulations. They always do.)

In South Park terms, Obama is acting like Goldman Sachs' bottom bitch, and Congress represents the rest of the ho's. He's creating or attempting to create an Atlas Shrugged-like unholy alliance between major industries like finance and gov't, health care and gov't, manufacturing (autos) and government, and who knows what is next?

Responsible America has had enough. What does that have to do with the election returns? Responsible America is more motivated than ever to vote for whatever will represent a roadblock to the fraud-irresponsibility-industrial complex. In this case, at the state level. Responsible Democrats will be discouraged to vote for those in their own party who are part of the problem. And Responsible Independents are increasingly realizing that Obama is not what they thought they voted for. Just another smooth talker who played them for suckers. (Hence the GOP got 60% of the independent vote in NJ, and McDonnell in Virginia got a whopping 66% of the independents.)

I still don't know if responsibility can win the day. I pray that it will. And I will pray for justice for those who have stolen so much from so many with the help of the "bitches" in both parties.

Please, I urge everyone to listen to Janet Tavakoli's interview on C-SPAN's Q&A program, as she describes the fraud that occurred, and the upside-down response of our government to it. Ms. Tavakoli is a Chicago-based expert on financial derivatives, President of Tavakoli Structured Finance, Incorporated. She can explain much better than I can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA20Am0pwtA

I do apologize for the length. There is no simple way to describe the wreckage and theft that is occurring in our economy. 10.2% unemployment (BLS U-6 unemployment figure now 17.5%). How's that workin' out for ya? For the bankers in Too Big To Fail institutions, very well, thank you. :thumbs up sign:

Re: Pop Goes the World: Derek Webb, “Jena & Jimmy”

autodidact — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:59:31 -0000

Has not Webb read Exodus 15:3? "The LORD is a man of war..." I guess God's opinion of war kind of depends on the war. Certainly we have not chosen our battles very wisely of late.

I'm intrigued by anyone that can be compared to Neil Finn. Worth investigation.

Eric, Bible-thumping Jesus Freak

Re: CD Review: Frank Sinatra, “Sinatra: New York”

autodidact — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:50:20 -0000

Sinatra's studio albums have not all been treated well on CD. The early Capitol CDs were a bit thin, but when they were remastered ("Entertainer of the Century" series), they were sonically butchered with signal processing. Rhino did a great job with the first Sinatra-Jobim album, though. I'm not sure about the rest of his Reprise catalog. Hopefully this new set has been treated with similar craft.

In the video department, one must lament that the Great Performances special from the late 1990s featuring the best Sinatra studio television performances has not, to my knowledge, been released on DVD. Some great stuff incorporated in that PBS television special is found on a DVD titled Frank Sinatra - A Man And His Music + Ella + Jobim, but it is out of print and very expensive. Thank goodness my library bought a copy.

Re: Unsolicited Career Advice for … Rush

autodidact — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:18:32 -0000

He's right, you know. And Geddy has lately taken to harmonizing with himself in the overdubs, so now he sounds like a frakking choir of coyotes being castrated. As they say, I hate it when that happens.

No, I love Rush. I really do. Except when Geddy is singing backup vocals for Geddy. Get that nice blond chick from Til Tuesday to sing with them again, I say.

Re: CD Review: U2, “The Unforgettable Fire” (Remastered)

autodidact — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:55:11 -0000

What about the loudness wars? You said, "There’s a newfound clarity to the recordings..." and I do not doubt you. I could say the same thing about some of the Rush remasters. But they also had the dynamics sucked out of them. Not totally, but enough to blunt some of the drama of Neil Peart's drumming and Geddy Lee's popping bass strings.

We almost need to see waveform plots of the old versus new to compare. Analog tape already squashes the musical peaks, and compression was added to some degree in the original mix. Yet the trend has become to squash the dynamics even futher upon remastering. (This was done a little on the Beatles Remasters, and though it is relatively benign, I hate it. The key word being "relatively.")

Eric the Cranky Audiophile

Re: PopDose Contest: Win ‘The Essential “Weird Al” Yankovic’

autodidact — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:50:43 -0000

Al's smoldering success is well-earned. I mean, he's never going to sell out a stadium, but he's kept it going and kept the quality level high. You gotta admire the craft and the self-deprecating humor.

Re: Vinyl Review: Mark Knopfler, “Get Lucky”

autodidact — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:02:48 -0000

You said the magic words: "Local Hero." That encourages me to go and at least give it a try before I buy. I haven't bought a Knopfler album since Golden Heart. (Though I did buy the Knopfler-Harris collaboration.)

Re: Jazz Don’t Hurt: Joni Mitchell, Jazz Musician

autodidact — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:57:34 -0000

I have most of Joni's stuff, but that one didn't click with me. The reviewer's advice is sound. Shadows and Light is the standout, and it is the best representation of that phase of her career (Hissing of Summer Lawns - Hejira - Mingus).

Re: Dw. Dunphy On… Defending Leno

autodidact — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:34:48 -0000

I think there's a simple answer or explanation to this. Some TV shows just go on too long -- they don't know when to quit. Leno has been going for umpteen years, and at this point he's going through the motions. Did you know he does 150 stand-up dates a year, in addition to his late-night shows/prime time show? When does he ever find time to drive his antique cars? If Leno took about three or four years off, maybe he'd come back with a fresh angle and be entertaining again.

I thought Smallville was great when it started, but somewhere along season five it started to lose momentum. When John Schneider left the cast, it was like the heart went out of it. But they're still beating the dead horse in season nine.

Maybe it was a merciful thing that Firefly only lasted 14 episodes or so. If it had continued, it might well have descended into freaky plots, unnatural mutations of characters, or other maladies.

By the way, I think cop shows can be done from now until kingdom come, but not if they are all made with the standard Hollywood template. I enjoyed 10 episodes of ABC's The Unusuals earlier this year, and I don't know if it could have been a great show, but it was different, and entertaining to me. Foyle's War is essentially a cop show, is it not? It was fantastic from beginning to end. One thing about British television, they do not force a schedule of 22 episodes per year, letting quality take an upper hand over quantity. This is a big flaw in most American television, and one reason why IMO shows are so prone to burning out or going off the rails.

Re: Do You Hear What I Hear? In Defense of Dylan’s “Christmas in the Heart”

autodidact — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:18:24 -0000

How do I respond to you without sounding like Scrooge? I guess if I drop some food in the local donations for the hungry bin that should take care of the charitable urge. I don't think Bob is pursuing any aspect of his career for the wrong reasons. It's not about him. I'm just talking about the work itself.

Although I am a big fan of Pirsig, I don't see how it makes the case for Dylan. Pirsig's thing was "quality" -- and at first in Zen he wrote about quality as if it was similar to Potter Stewart's take on pornography: We know it when we see it. Remember Porsig's classroom discussions and voting on which pieces of student writing had quality? Pirsig implied that we had an innate sense of quality. (Granted, this was a limited, unscientific experiment, but Pirsig wasn't approaching it from a hard science perspective. This is a practical explanation, not the full metaphysical Monty.) I don't think quality is just "what we like" it is more than that. I recognize quality in opera although I don't like opera. (And yes, I know this is an interpretation of quality that Pirsig would not agree with, but he does sort of use it in the book. In Pirsig's sequel, Lila, it seems to me that he actually redefined Quality, and there we're talking about something entirely different, so I'm leaving this aside because to me Lila was ultimately a failed attempt. Low quality. haha)

I see quality in Dylan's "Things Have Changed." A sprawling, but very unique and interesting song, with a good hook. But "I'm in love with the ugliest girl in the world" or "My wife's home town." I'm afraid those are so bad it's not even funny. Amateur hour. Play those songs for a classroom full of writing students and see what kind of quality marks they get.

Dancing bear circus? Nope, some high quality Cirque du Soleil for me, thanks. It's hard for an attack on Bob's music not to sound like an attack on his fans. I like much of his work, but lately (the last 15 years?) I really am failing to enjoy it, or even understand the apologists for it. Enjoy it, if you can. :)

Re: Do You Hear What I Hear? In Defense of Dylan’s “Christmas in the Heart”

autodidact — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:24:44 -0000

Well no, this is a straw man argument. The alternative is not American Idol vocalists. The alternative is real artists who can actually sing. I would cite Inara George's solo work. Don McLean. James Taylor, who just gets better and better.

I once wrote a review of a Dylan album -- Modern Times, I think it was -- where I described Dylan as the musical equivalent of the proverbial dancing bear. What's amazing about a dancing bear is not that he dances so expertly, but that he dances at all. That's what we've come to with Dylan's voice. That he can sing at all is amazing, but that hardly makes it artistic. Dylan is now a circus act. Wasn't it Randy Newman who questioned if Dylan even HAD a late period? I'm pretty much in that camp. No offense to those who enjoy it. We all have our guilty pleasures. Yes, I confess. I like Norah Jones! [Hangs head]

Bruce Cockburn made a Christmas album once. It is excellent. Track it down. Don't praise this one until you've heard Cockburn's.

Re: Jazz Don’t Hurt: What Is Jazz, Anyway?

autodidact — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:56:55 -0000

Sure, Phish and The Dead are jazz. Bad jazz. It's all jazz. There are only two kinds. Good, and bad.

I kid, I kid. I bought a Greatful Dead album download recently, and enjoyed it, although that particular album was not very jazzy, i.e. not a lot of improvisation.

I would say improvisation is the most crucial element defining jazz, though I would broaden the definition to include uniquely arranging or transforming the original composition through performance in some way. For example, Susannah Hoffs and Matthew Sweet have done two covers albums, and some of their covers come dangerously close to trying to reverently replicate the original recordings. Those kinds of "faithful renditions" are very far away from jazz. But when Shawn Colvin performed the Talking Heads' This Must Be The Place on her album Cover Girl, that was truly a transformation of the song. If not jazz, it was in the spirit of jazz.

Jazz is ripping music apart and putting it back together in a unique and hopefully still musically valid manner.

Re: Basement Songs: Shawn Colvin with Mary Chapin Carpenter, “One Cool Remove”

autodidact — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:05:17 -0000

I love this album! You are right -- she is as good an interpreter as she is a writer.

Also, check out Shawn's contribution on the Greg Brown tribute album. I don't know the title, but she sings Say A Little Prayer on it. Fantastic cover. In a bit of role reversal that song reminds me a bit of when my father was ill one time. But apart from that, I think she out-does Greg Brown's original recording.

Re: Political Culture: Seeing the Best (And Worst) in One Another

autodidact — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:49:17 -0000

You all can argue about conservative and liberal positions as you please. I don't want to be identified with the power elites in either group (the people who seem to define what is "conservative" or "liberal" these days), and what's worse, those same power elites do not represent the grass roots of any major segment of American society, as far as I can tell. Quite simply, we are all up a divisive philosophical creek without a representative paddle. That's the biggest problem we face. Politics was awfully nasty at the time of this country's founding. That is survivable. The capture of the government by forces which care not for the will or well-being of a majority or even 2/3 of the people -- that is not survivable, IMO.

Plus, as a Christian, I must declare that Jesus could not identify with what is called liberal or conservative these days. There are many false accusations and false stereotypes being pasted onto both sides, which obviously He would also oppose, in the name of truth. Then again, today his religious views would be called impossibly narrow (there is one path to salvation, and one only) and his moral principles impractically strict and intolerant. (No divorce? Only one sex partner??? America is not ready to swallow that. Nor are the gays who are getting married -- for the time being -- in my state.) Moral sickness is bipartisan and is not restricted to one philosophical orientation. The apostle Paul wrote in one of his letters, "the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so." Unfortunately, that appears to me to be where both camps are right now. But who will stand up for the common man? Even what "liberals" (the leadership labeled as such) are proposing will bring us all to ruin, because it is based on phony promises and bad math. It looks like the "conservatives" would ruin us, too, by a slightly different path.

Re: An Open Letter to Bruce Springsteen

autodidact — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:00:58 -0000

1. The artists could stop these shenanigans by technological means. Paperless tickets requiring ID at the concert hall.

2. The corporations could not gouge people on these tickets, which after all are a non-essential item, if people did not pay the outrageous prices for the original tickets or for the scalped ones. I might pay $40 or $50 to see Rush, but $200 to see The Police? I mean, really. The simple answer is to close your wallet and shut them down. Mrs. Reagan said it best: Just say no. (The bailouts are another thing entirely, as this was done by politicians, indebting all of us against the will of most of us. We had no choice in that.)

So basically, the artists can do their part to stop this. And if they won't, the concertgoing public can also stop it, if they want to. There are other choices. My friend saw Bruce Cockburn recently in a beautiful 300-seat venue, and purchased tickets directly from the box office.

Re: Vinyl Review: The Cars, “The Cars”

autodidact — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:42:40 -0000

You did not identify your vinyl gear. Mine is pretty modest and outdated by modern audiophile standards. Ariston RD-11s table, looks like a Linn but I'm sure does not sound as good. The platter seems to weigh about 7 lbs, though. Mayware unipivot tonearm. Audio Technica ML440 cartridge.

Last week I dusted off my turntable and played vinyl for the first time in two years. It was sort of humbling, because it made the CDs and MP3s I've been listening to lately sound second-rate. Mainly, I was a bit disappointed with the Beatles remasters, and decided that in the end, I will have to transfer my friend's vintage (but mint condition) Beatles Blue Box to CD for my stereo Beatles reference. Spaciousness? Yes, I suppose so, but what I notice is the dynamic immediacy of plucked strings and snare drum hits, and more detail from the midrange on on up. But then there are the warps, and bad pressings, and off-center LPs. Vinyl is maddening because its potential is so often unrealized. Mo-Fi usually hits the mark, though.

Re: The Popdose Interview: Neil Finn

autodidact — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:56:13 -0000

If I ever had a chance to talk to Neil, and if I had my courage screwed up enough to offer unsolicited advice, I might say that it is better for some artists (maybe most) to live with new material for a good while, before recording it. In Neil's case I base this on Try Whistling This compared to the later performance of those same tunes on Live at West 54th. I also liked One All more than One Nil. In both cases, the earlier versions seemed murkier somehow.

Even Norah Jones' third album, which bored the life out of me, took on some semblance of animation when performed live on Austin City Limits. If she had re-recorded the album after a year of touring with those songs, I might have wanted to purchase it.

I think Neil has a craftsmanlike attitude toward making music, and that's why he's lasted this long. I'm really glad he hasn't petered out like so many singer-songwriters. He's still concerned about the little details like "matching the middle eight to the third verse." That's why I'm still listening.

Re: Rock Court: The People vs. Eric Clapton

autodidact — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:20:45 -0000

Agree with tonys1. Clapton is not emotionally compelling. Hasn't it been downhill since Cream? Mojo mentioned the Crossroads Guitar Festival. The last one I saw (on PBS, probably the 2007 festival) had Jeff Beck smoking anything that Clapton played.

Now, Eric is a good guy, a pleasant singer and player, doesn't seem to be an ego-freak. But why people are still buying the records, or even the concert tickets, is a mystery to me.

Re: Mix Six: “Beatlesque”

autodidact — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:35:07 -0000

Thanks, Ted. I own all of these except Oasis and ELO's Wimp. I've never even heard Wimp. Surely Todd Rundgren has done some imitating of Beatles on his own work, besides the XTC production here. I say "surely" though I really don't know his catalog. I'm guessing, though.

Re: Mix Six: “Beatlesque”

autodidact — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:27:10 -0000

I'm going to somewhat agree and disagree. The comparisons I've seen between the 1987 CDs and the new 2009 remasters -- using software to compare the frequency balance -- generally show a bump up in the bass, and some sparkle added in the extreme high frequencies. On some of the graphs I've seen a drop in frequencies around 4000-5000 Hz, which would mean guitars have less nasty bite to them, and the vocals do lose some of the overtones.

I would have preferred a transfer to digital from the master tapes with as little equalization as possible, and no limiting or dynamic compression. I'm a purist that way. The 1987 CDs are said by reliable sources to be pretty faithful to the master tapes as far as frequency response goes. Yet, on A Hard Day's Night, I like how the bass bump in the remaster brings out McCartney's bass work.

Well, you can't have everything. My biggest beef is that they shouldn't have used any limiting at all. The bass and treble boost I can live with. But I noticed the same suckout in the treble you did, which makes vocals and guitars smooth, but artificially so. Let It Be Naked has the same sanitized sound to it, but not to the same extreme.

Re: The Friday Mixtape: 9/18/09

autodidact — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 09:38:08 -0000

Haha, another Orzabal solo album owner here. At least you picked about the best song on it.

I'm still waiting for my Beatles mono box. Probably I'll have no time for any new music from the day of its arrival until the end of the year.

There were some great Beatles covers last week. Tim Curry's I Will is a favorite, and seriously OOP. From the jazz side, you missed Al Jarreau's cover of She's Leaving Home. You missed George Benson's Oh Darling. (Benson did an entire album titled The Other Side Of Abbey Road.) Also, if any of you can track down John Abercrombie's cover of And I Love Her, it's mellow-licious.

Re: Calling All Questions: Neil Finn

autodidact — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 09:24:42 -0000

I was stumped for a bit trying to think of a good question, even though I like Neil and own a lot of his solo and group work. Let's try this:

Neil, you've found a niche in pop music, and when people buy a Neil Finn album or Crowded House album, in general they know what they're going to get -- melodic, clever lyrics, production that's not too lush, not too sparse. Commericially, if you were to try something radically different, like releasing a bluegrass album or electronic music, that would be a challenge. (Think in the vein of Norah Jones and her El Madmo punk band project, which was sort of quietly released and swept under the rug, so to speak.) Imagine Bill Gates became your patron, set a carte blanche budget up to a million bucks, and said, "Neil, make an album of a completely new kind of music, something you've always wanted to try," in what direction do you think you might turn?

OK, that might get the wheels turning. Heh heh.

Re: The Popdose Interview: Janis Ian

autodidact — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:18:43 -0000

Janis Ian played two songs on the very first Saturday Night Live broadcast, with George Carlin as host. Fantastic amazing live performances. I am just in awe of someone who can reach that level of perfection under the pressure of live TV. Check it out on DVD if you get a chance. Billy Preston played a tune on the same premier episode, but I can't remember what it was.

Re: Numberscruncher: The Magic of Medicare

autodidact — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:55:25 -0000

Funny, Ann. Your columns are under the heading "Numberscruncher," and yet this one seems remarkably devoid of relevant numbers. I want people to be informed and prepared for what is coming, so I hope those who want to see the future will check out these links and draw their own conclusions.

Social Security is doomed -- I defy anyone looking at a demographics chart to conclude that it is not doomed: http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/08/us-po...

If Social Security is doomed, Medicare is more doomed, if it is possible to be more than 100% doomed -- haha.

The demographics show that, compared to the future, we are living in the best of times with regard to health care expenditures. http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/08/healt...

Looking into the future, the general economy will be seeing the worst of times for some years to come. Bill Gross, the king of bond investors, speaks of a "new normal" economic growth rate of 1-2% (when we actually do stop contracting and start growing), while Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid will increase by 6% of GDP over the next 20 years. http://www.pimco.com/LeftNav/Featured+Market+Co...

In short, the White House projections on future budgets are fantasy, pie-in-the-sky. This includes projections on the alleged non-cost of health care reform. Since we are going to get squeezed from both sides in health care (less income than expected, increased demand for government expenditure), rationing must be the order of the day. While Palin used the inflammatory term "death panels" (the context of which she clarified -- with footnotes -- in a follow-up to the death panels post), Nat Hentoff is singing the same tune, minus the Palin hyperbole: http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/hentoff081909...

Hentoff, hardly a right-winger, says, "...now I am finally scared of a White House administration."

The numbers force the issue: Under ObamaCare, with government dictatorship over what insurance plans offer (and what they cost), who will get preferential treatment, i.e. who and what will NOT be covered, czar-like panels deciding life and death on a mass scale will be in the hands of unelected bureaucrats. Do the actions of government in the past twelve months convince you that our legislative and regulatory apparatus is working for you, the average guy? Do you believe that the competence and trustworthiness of the massive federal government will work in your favor (or your grandma), when it comes time to divvy up the health care pie? It's a question of faith, a question of trust, and to my mind, a question of gullibility -- a complete triumph of hope over experience -- if your answer is in the affirmative.

A final thought regarding Bill Gross' GDP estimates: If our government is borrowing 5% of GDP (the year it'll be closer to 10%, I think) and our GDP growth comes out at 2%, isn't that actually like a negative 3% in real terms, since we have just reduced future growth to pay for a phony positive GDP in the present? Remember this if GDP turns positive later this year or next year. Remember the amount the US Government/Fed is printing/borrowing (a tax on the future) in order to pump up growth to the anemic levels we might see.