Saturday, March 04, 2006

Music, Flanders and more

So it's Saturday and we all know what that means, Laura Flanders! I'll get to that in a bit. But you don't want to miss the broadcasts this weekend -- you never want to miss them, but this weekend has some especially exciting guest. No fair scrolling down to find out who. Let the antipation build. Anticipation, Anti-ci-paaaaation, as Carly Simon would sing it.

A few e-mails ask what I planned to say about the NSA hearing Tuesday (when Blogger screwed up and I lost my entire post)? I had evaluated the coverage on Pacifica and how important the coverage is. Yes, C-Span often has a camera in a room that lets you see what's happening. But without someone providing perspective, we can miss out on a lot. I was really impressed with the coverage Tuesday and had gone into why that was the case.

Larry Bensky and Elizabeth de la Vega did a wonderful job. I don't believe in trying to recreate what's lost (I'm speaking of posts but you could apply it to my life as well) so I won't go over all the points I made in the lost post Tuesday night, but I will say that they did a wonderful job covering the live broadcast.

As for the performance in the hearing itself, go read C.I.'s "NYT: Republicans seek a 'bridge' (Brooklyn, so they can sell it to you?)" because that's a fine job covering what many of us felt, as we listened with our jaws dropped at the realization that the Democrats still can't get the basics across (as a whole) and that the Republicans are more interested in party politics. You'd think the recent polls and Bully Boy's dropping numbers would give them the cover to find their courage, but thus far, that's not the case.


I've had two reviews at The Common Ills this week:

"Kat's Korner: Cat Power's Greatness"
"Kat's Korner: Nina Simone -- Golden"

The last one made it up the last day of February. Thank goodness, or I would have heard about, "Hey, you used to reviews all the time, now you're missing two months in a row." Those both would have posted on Sunday had The Common Ills not been "white listed" by Blogger/Blogspot. I went in Sunday afternoon since I was already up (long, long session with The Third Estate Sunday Review) and intended to post both and then go to bed.

No luck at all. They wanted "word verification" but it wasn't words, it was a string of letters and they need to work on their cursive writing. After I had 'failures to post' repeatedly, I finally gave up. The way it worked out, however, ("it is what it is") I ended up with one for Feb. and one for March. I do intend to do at least one more this month.

Tammy e-mailed that she got Cat Power's The Greatest and she loves it. But she said, "You always praise everything." I don't think that's true. I'm not interested in slamming someone who is really trying. So I'll take a pass on reviewing a CD like that if it's not my idea of wonderful but the person has really made an effort. I also only write if I feel I have something to add. Often that means that the male critics are piling on some woman so I'll use my voice to weigh in.

I outrighed slammed Carole King's The Living Room because e-mails kept coming in on that. I was very excited at the prospect of a live Carole King CD and had mentioned that album over and over before it was due to come out. When it came out, people kept e-mailing asking where the review was? If I hadn't pushed it so hard, I wouldn't have felt the need to weigh in on it after I listened to it. But I had pushed it and I didn't want anyone picking it up because I had built it up and then stayed silent after it was released.

With Stevie Wonder, I hated the lyrics. I noted that in my review and said to listen to it for his vocals and for the music. Stevie Wonder has a great singing voice. He's one of my favorite singers and it's a rare week when I don't listen to at least one of his albums. But I didn't care for the lyrics which seemed all surface to me.

But Tammy's right, I would rather praise than bury. Tons of crap is released every Tuesday. We're up to our ears in it. I don't see the point in making a crap release the point of a review.
That's not to say I won't weigh in on the Disney Kids at some point. But I would rather make the focus to steer you to something I think you'll enjoy.

Tammy also wondered why Aimee Mann's The Forgotten Arm didn't make my year's best list? I love the album. It wasn't considered for the list because of how I compiled the list. I went to my CD racks and pulled down all the CDs from this year that I had enjoyed. Then I spent a few hours deciding which ones to include.

Aimee Mann wasn't an option because it had been "borrowed" by Maggie. Nothing made the list without me listening to it (and others in the running) again. I didn't have Mann's CD so I couldn't put it on the best of. (I still don't have it back, hint-hint Maggie.)

There seems to be some trouble for people attempting to find Nina Simone's The Solid Gold Collection. It's an import, so you'll need to go to a store that carries them, probably. I did pick mine up at Tower (for less than ten bucks) so, if you have a Tower in your area, you can try them. You might also try ordering online but I'm told that's been no luck for two people. Besides Nina, the same company (and this was on a cardboard display rack so I'm guessing that all the Towers will have these CDs), you had (from the same company, England's Union Square Music, LTD) a Bob Marley collection, a Jame Bond collection and more. I was tempted by Bond Themes. Why? There are a few I enjoy. Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better," for instance. Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die." But I've never enjoyed a Bond single so much that I'd buy a soundtrack album (which is full of instrumentals plus the hit single). At less than ten bucks, that seemed like a smart purchase. The next time I'm at Tower, I might pick it up. But I went in for the Nina Simone CDs because two community members had already e-mailed about them.

A lot of e-mails went to The Common Ills public account over the last two reviews. They (C.I., Jess and Ava) finally just created a folder for them and told me to check it (instead of forwarding them, the way C.I. usually does). I wasn't aware so many people were reading them or that the community continued to grow so much. Dale e-mailed (noting "this is my first e-mail" to me) to say he'd picked up Cat and was loving it. He'd also picked up James Blunt and noted that "I was ahead of the curve thanks to your review." (In 2006, Blunt's Back to Bedlam has regularly made it into the top ten selling albums on Billboard's chart.) Which, to drop back a few paragraphs, is really what I'd rather do with the reviews. Get the word out on something you may not have heard of.

Every now and then, someone tries to figure out a way to get the word out to the listeners who are leaving the teen years but still hungry for music. It's usually an insulting mix of faded rock gods (male) with a new female face tossed in (inside the mag, not on the cover). Then the mags fail. (Has Tracks been discontinued yet?) I don't think we lose interest in music as we leave behind the teenage years. "The Circle Game" (nod to Joni Mitchell) goes on and on. But what you often have is less time. You're not in the mood to wade through a mag giving you product, product, product, here's an artist, product, product, product.

I try to write about something that speaks to me. I'm not interested in the bandwagon or being one more voice saying, "Bob Dylan is god!" Besides the fact that there are more than enough voices saying that, the fact remains that Dylan wasn't "the sixties." He was one voice. And in any period, only a small number of women will be included. Procol Harem, for God's sake, is remembered. There are a number of women who made consistently strong music at the same time but they're forgotten.

A man can do one trick nicely (one trick pony) and be applauded for the rest of his life. Women are left out of the mix. Their accomplishments get slighted and ignored. So if you're reading me here or one of my reviews, that's where I'm coming from. I'm saying, the sixties weren't just Bob Dylan. I'm saying, "James Taylor was never all that." (He has the worst intonation problem of any successful singer I know of.)

Who'll be remembered today? Of people on the charts, I'm not seeing anyone that really should be. Radio sucks. So let's drop back to the 90s and note the alternative genre. It's a fave topic in the last few months as various mags trot out their Kurt Cobain's covers and their "we look back" coverage. It's interesting to see slight bands like Alice in Chains, for instance, included in the coverage. As you go through those issues, note who's included and who is left out. Most of them include Hole and you have to wonder if Courtney Love's band made it into the issue only because she's a "wife of . . ." (Kurt Cobain, for the kiddies who may be lost).

Tori Amos has consistently sold. She's consistently created art and done so in her own voice. She is a part of the alternative music scene. But you don't see her in these "we remember alternative music." You don't come across The Breeders (who outrocked anything Alice in Chains could dream of with "Last Splash"). You don't see L7 or any number of women.

The writers, usually White and usually male, aren't interested. The women don't make the sports trading cards from which they read the "scores" and "stats" and then go on to write their features. I'm not shocked by the level of attention Liz Phair has gotten in the last few years. Why not? She's pure sex product these days (making some very generic music). It's easy to mention her and lament how bad she's gotten. Why? "Women can't rock!" That's been the cry for years and years and they're happy to have Liz to cite as an example.

The same White male critics that can find a place in the rock canon for the piano runs and mush of Elton John will turn around and close the gates on women. I'm not playing that game.

So hopefully, if you're new to my reviews, that helps you understand a little better. Dale loves Back to Bedlam and wonders if I still think the production is a bit much? Yes, I do. If you purchase the import Chasing Time: The Bedlam Sessions, you can hear James Blunt without all the fussy production. (First disc is a DVD which I still haven't watched. Second disc is music.)

Now let's talk Laura:

RadioNation with Laura Flanders
Does might make right?
The mighty dollar in US politics. The mighty nuke in global politics.
Saturdays & Sundays, 7-10pm ET on Air America Radio
John Bonifaz on the Supreme Court's most important election case in decades. Bush's bungled nuclear power ambitions and trip to India and Pakistan. Plus, voices demanding to be heard: Arundhati Roy, Walter Mosley, and an Iraqi woman's delegation led by CodePink's Medea Benjamin. And some hip-hop poetry, just when the world needs a new soundtrack. As always, a one-hour version of last weekend's program is available at http://www.thenation.com
It's all on RadioNation with Laura Flanders this weekend on Air America Radio.

Arundhati Roy! Medea Benjamin! Walter Mosely! In one weekend? And there even more. So make a point to check out RadioNation with Laura Flanders this weekend. And check out Cedric on the Oscars and Elaine on the diversity in the peace movement.















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Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Lost post

So Blogger/Blogspot screwed me up. I had a post. They screwed me over. Please do "investigate" the problem. And "investigate" it on Betty's end too. I'm angry and pissed. I thought Betty was about to cry.

If you're a community member, don't give Betty one minute of flack over this crap. She worked all night on an entry. She called me a few hours ago to read what she had so far. Now it's all gone. "Recover post" is an option on the screen. I tried it, didn't work. No surprise, it didn't work for Betty either.

She busts her butt to post to her site. She's got three kids, she's raising them by herself and when she can make time to do a post, she doesn't need this crap. No one does, but especially not Betty. She's got work tomorrow. (I'm freelance and my own boss.) She's got to get her kids up, get them their breakfast, drop them off at day care (except for the oldest who goes to school) and then go to work. She's got no time for this nonsense. This is utter crap. Blogger/Blogspot needs to get it's act together. I called C.I. and was screaming about this nonsense.

I didn't even realize I was screaming until about three minutes into the conversation. (Sorry about that, C.I.) I'm ticked off. I'm ticked off because I'm not going to recreate my whole entry all over again and I worked about an hour on it. I'm more ticked off because Betty has no time now until Thursday to post. She already feels like everyone thinks she just blows her site off (I know no member of the community who thinks that). Her sister came over and took the kids for a few hours tonight so Betty could have some quiet time to write. When her sister brought the kids back, it was get them bathed, get them in bed. Then, and she's tired, she's had a long day, back to the computer to try to finish the post she was working on. All that time she put into it and the whole thing is lost.

Two things I'll note here before I post this sorry excuse for a post.

1) My latest review is up "Kat's Korner: Cat Power's Greatness."

2) KPFA tomorrow:

Wednesday at 12:00 pm (Pacific Time)
Against the Grain
Iraq veteran and conscientious objector Aidan Delgado, whose unit was stationed at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison outside of Baghdad, talks about why he opposes the US occupation.
For resources and further information about topics covered on Against the Grain visit: www.againstthegrain.org

If you can't listen to KPFA on the radio you can use the link to listen online.

I saved this entry first (though Betty saved repeatedly and it did her no good). I'm doing the tags now but just FYI, the part below (before the tags), it was typed above the announcement.
I'm not fixing it. But so you can get the flow, it's where I was talking about what happened to Betty:

That's not right. They need to get their crap together. As soon as I tried to post and lost my whole entry, I called Betty (we've been on the phone reading stuff our entries to each other) to warn her "Do not post right now!" But she'd tried before I called and lost everything.

I am so mad. Hearing her voice and knowing how upsetting this was to her just pisses me off.
No one thinks she's a slacker. They probably think I am but I don't give a damn. But she's going to feel guilty about this all night and all day tomorrow and until she can grab time on Thursday to write her latest. This is crap. Blogger/Blogspot needs to get their act together.

This happened with everything at The Third Estate Sunday Review. That's why we didn't finish the editorial forever. And the final thing that the rest of them do (Third proper) went up at 2:00 pm my time (5:00 pm there time). It was noon when we started Saturday. We worked straight through. We started early so we could all get some real sleep. Didn't happen.

That's nonsense.








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Saturday, February 25, 2006

Ruth, C.I. and it's the weekend so Laura Flanders (RadioNation with Laura Flanders -- listen to it)

I've been on the phone most of the morning. With Ruth, she was wondering if she was writing her Public Radio Reports too long? Not at all. Everyone loves them. Dallas hunts down links for her posts and C.I. does the tagwork. Last week, I took dictation. Ruth dictated her post to me and it's an excellent report. But Dallas hunted down links while I worked on (my own) punctuation and spelling and hunted down tags. They can take a lot of time.

It is up now at The Common Ills, Ruth's Public Radio Report. Be sure to check it out. Ruth's noting Democracy Now!'s tenth anniversary. Ten years of quality broadcasting. Congratulations to Democracy Now! If you read the latest Ruth's Public Radio Report, you may want to count the tags: 60. And that's not every person she mentions got tagged.

Ruth said they seem so much longer now and I pointed out that she used to do several during the week and now just does one each weekend. She's worried that they are too long (despite the fact that everyone enjoys them and that I keep telling her that they aren't) so if you're a community member, drop her a line and let her know they are just fine length wise.

For this one, she interviewed some of us who do sites to get us to pick a story that stood out from Democracy Now! C.I. wisely goes "historical." Anyone who wants to e-mail, "B-b-b-but what about in ___ when Amy interviewed ____?" just got cut off at the pass. Truly.

That was a smart move. Other members were doing contributions before I started doing my album reviews there but I was one of the first to do a regular entry. And if I didn't like something and mentioned it (even in passing, I've only bothered to review one album that I didn't like at), everyone would want C.I.'s opinion and C.I. would avoid getting in the middle.
Now days, members are used to me (and a number enjoy the reviews) so if they think, "I disagree!" they are more likely to blow off my opinion (fine with me, it's a matter of opinion, feel free to disagree) or just write me themselves.

But C.I. gets stuck into a box where we all expect that it is "Speak for me!" all the time, 24-7. You'd think C.I. would lose it from the pressure. The only time I've seen C.I. "lose it" with regards to that was at The Third Estate Sunday Review when we're all working on an article and Jim's focused just on the article and not hearing or listening. C.I. will have to get loud and say, "That sentence can stay in but if it does, I need to take my name off of this because it will offend a number of members in the community." C.I. takes that responsibility very seriously.

It always surprised (and still does) me that no members have ever been offended by Ava and C.I.'s TV reviews. I guess because it's TV and it's funny, members just enjoy it. I'm not saying that there is anything offensive in the reviews. But C.I. and Ava offer opinions in those and there's never been any fallout. A member wrote me last year saying he was bothered by a joke C.I. made at The Common Ills and that he had e-mailed C.I. gotten a lengthy apology for it and now the member was thinking, "I really over-reacted." He wondered what he should do? I e-mailed him back to "leave it alone." And I told him that he's not the first person to do that and won't be the last. Learn from it and realize that a joke can be told even in "trying times" (I think that was what the guy said he used -- his problem was that C.I. was making fun of the Times about some article they'd half-assed done on a serious topic).

I'm glad that people give Ava and C.I. the room to cut loose in their TV reviews but I really wish members would extend that to the stuff C.I. writes for The Common Ills. When we're working at The Third Estate Sunday Review, C.I. can not just tell you what sentence might offend but also which members will likely be offended. Again, I couldn't take that kind of responsibility. Just keeping track of everyone and their issues alone would fry my brain.

You know who else has that kind of patience and tact? Laura Flanders. You can tell is just by listening. She believes strongly in her opinions but, short of someone making a jerk of his/herself, you can tell that she really takes care to respect people's feelings. (And you really have to make the ultimate jerk of yourself to tick Laura off.)


RadioNation with Laura Flanders!
This Weekend:
Do progressives need a new strategy in the culture wars?
Saturdays & Sundays, 7-10pm ET on Air America Radio
From South Dakota, Planned Parenthood's state director Kate Looby, Lynn Patrow of National Advocates for Pregnant Women and Charon Asetoyer of the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center on what's next and what's needed as the nation's cruelest abortion ban awaits the governor's pen.
Then, from the Chicago suburbs, Democratic congressional candidate Christine Cegelis on her grassroots primary campaign. Plus an Oscar preview with the Nation's culture-watcher Richard Goldstein.
And a media roundtable with New Orleanian Jordan Flaherty and "Information Is Power" reporter Terry Allen.
If you missed last weekend's live broadcast from Nevada, a one-hour version is available here: http://www.thenation.com
It's all on RadioNation with Laura Flanders this weekend on Air America Radio.

Lastly, in case anyone missed it, Cedric, who only blogs twice a week, did four entries this week (one being the joint entry we all did together). So make a point to check out Cedric's Big Mix. Why did I say lastly? One more thing, it's Saturday so Trina should have a new post up at Trina's Kitchen this evening. Check it out.





















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