Just 40 days into Barack Obama's presidency and I've already had it with ignorant, loudmouth conservatives and their
nonstop blather,
obnoxious whining and
shameless outrage. Are they going to keep this up for four (eight?) years?
In 2000, conservatives elected George W. Bush to the first of two terms, during which he and his ilk deeply damaged the nation and the planet. Have they no shame? Their guy -- and their policies -- screwed up or made worse everything from the economy to the environment to America's standing in the world. They tilted the tax code to favor the wealthy, allowed corporations to pollute without consequences, stuffed government jobs with unqualified loyalists, hurt people all worldwide by imposing their reactionary morality on social policies, unilaterally seized unprecedented levels of executive power, and even committed war crimes.
As a result of all of this incompetence and criminality, the American people turn away from the Republican Party and elect Democrats in large numbers, including a young, relatively unknown candidate with historic racial make-up and a funny name as president. Barack Obama and his administration are tasked with the unenviable job of fixing the damage wrought over the course of eight years (or, in essence, the 28 years since Reagan took office).
The reaction of conservatives is stunning. I want to bang their heads together to make them stop spouting the endless streams of piffle that assault my ears, as well as the rules of logic. There are some on the right who I read and listen to and admire for their intelligence and honesty -- for example, David Brooks and George F. Will (and even, sometimes, Pat Buchanan). These, however, are few and far between.
To hear House minority leader John Boehner say that Obama's budget raises taxes on every American when, in fact, it raises taxes on those making more than $250,000 -- and the stimulus just cut taxes on 95% of working people -- is completely dishonest. Whether taxes should be raised on the wealthiest Americans is certainly worth discussing and I concede that logical arguments can be made on both sides, but Republicans rarely traffic in logic. Witness Karl Rove this morning on ABC's This Week, or Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's ridiculous comment on volcano monitoring during his televised response to Obama's speech last week. (I went back and reread his remarks. Jindal said, "...$140 million for something called 'volcano monitoring.'" One wonders which of the two words escapes his understanding.)
If Obama's actions with regard to the economy, taxes, health care, education and the environment are "radical," as some in the GOP have been saying, it is only because their party has screwed up everything so badly -- or, to be fair, in some instances, we as a nation have allowed those areas to drift for far too long. The citizenry elected as president a man whose clearest slogan throughout the campaign was one word: "Change." Get ready, America. The times, as Bob Dylan sang, are a-changin'.
ZUMIX kicks off its Summer Concert Series on Sunday with the Seaport Festival, "a free afternoon of music, arts, crafts, games and prizes," this Sunday, July 3, at Piers Park. The event runs from 3 to 6 p.m. and will feature Smokin' Joe and the Henchmen, a classic-rock and soul band. Also on the bill are the ZUMIX Jazz All-Stars, a group of young people I saw play a few weeks ago.
The Boston Phoenix has a story (and photo, at right) on the firehouse turned music space on Sumner Street that Zumix revamped and opened just recently. I drove past there today and from the outside the building looks fantastic.
Woodstock wasn't the first music festival and it wasn't the last, but it is the event that we constantly reference to sum up an era, an ethos and a generation. Forty years ago this weekend some half-million people gathered on Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, NY, and the world took notice.
***ZUMIX is sponsoring a series of concerts in East Boston parks this summer. For example, tomorrow evening a duet called Sweet and Lowdown will perform from 5 to 7 p.m. at Bremen Street Park. Check here to see a schedule of performances.
With snowflakes falling outside my window and George Winston's CD December playing in the background, I want to mention a few things of interest:
It was 20 years ago today that one of the coolest and most influential albums in modern rock music was first released. Founded by a couple of UMass/Amherst dropouts, the Pixies coalesced in Boston in 1985. Two years later they released an EP titled Come On Pilgrim, and then in March 1988 a collection of 13 songs was released on an album called Surfer Rosa. The lo-fi sound and the offbeat subject matter would influence many bands in the future, including Nirvana. Rock 'n' roll has rarely been this cool.
On June 2, 1967, popular music -- and popular culture -- were forever changed with the US release (one day after the UK release) of the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The Herald reports today that U2 frontman Bono, in Boston for the past few days, was in East Boston yesterday, stopping for breakfast at Donna's, at the Orient Heights intersection, which is less than a half-mile from me.
A message board at Boston.com recently asked about bands people saw at the Channel, a club that was on the South Boston waterfront years ago. I posted an entry with the bands that I remember seeing there. Look for "Message 712.14."
Last night I saw legendary folk singer Utah Phillips at Club Passim, the legendary folk club in Harvard Square. Phillips is a folk singer in the old-time definition of the term: One who travels around singing the music of plain folks -- workers, activists, tramps -- and intersperses the songs with stories, poems, observations and political commentary.
It seems that payola is alive and well today. The illegal practice of the record industry paying radio stations to play certain songs is usually associated with the 1950s and 60s, but the FCC just negotiated a deal with the radio conglomerates Clear Channel, CBS, Entercom and Citadel that has the corporations paying a total of $12.5 million in fines for payola infractions (though they will, of course, admit no guilt). Further, the 1,653 radio stations that those four companies own will have to offer more time to play music from independent labels.
